CHAPTER 2 /// HYPERBOLIC HELLSCAPE

A week before the events of Chapter 1

“I got one!”

Crystal, with her trusty fishing rod, slowly reeled something out of the waters. It was a rather small cod, wriggling at the end of the line as it desperately tried to let itself go.

“That’s pretty small,” commented Crystal. “I wanna have a bigger one for dinner!”

“At least you caught one… sigh,” complained Tesson, her younger brother. “My luck’s been terrible today.”

It was a late Sunday afternoon in Crepuscolo Village, and the skies were already a deep shade of purple. By that time, the village was already silent, and only the calm flow of the sea’s waves could be heard across the streets.

Crystal and her brother, Tesson, would often go fishing together every Sunday afternoon, hanging out on the shore while catching fish after they finished their homework.

Tesson placed his bait on his fishing hook and cast it into the waters, hoping to get something out of the seas.

Some time had passed, and Tesson already felt something dragging his fishing rod down, towards the deep waters.

“Crystal!” called Tesson, still struggling to fish his prize out. “I got something, but it's too strong!”

“Nice!” said Crystal. “Remember what I taught you, okay?”

“I'm trying!”

Tesson was visibly struggling already while trying to reel in his catch. The fish was too strong to the point where his body was also slowly being dragged towards the edge of the platform.

Crystal also found herself struggling just as something was caught onto her fishing hook.

“Crystal, help!” cried Tesson. “It’s too strong!”

“Hold on, I just got something...!” This has to be the biggest kind of fish we’ve ever caught. They can’t be this strong!

Suddenly, just as Crystal was focused on spinning her reel and pulling the rod out, she heard a huge splash to her left. It was her brother, Tesson, screaming for help as he desperately tried to stay afloat. Unlike his sister, Tesson wasn’t able to swim. 

“CRYSTAL, PLEASE, HELP ME!!!”

Tesson’s cries were muffled by the waters and were eventually drowned out as he sank deeper into the waters.

“I’m coming, hold still!”

Crystal tied her hair, rolled up her sleeves, and took the plunge.

She tried to wade deeper into the darkness, searching for her brother as they both neared the seabed, but as she went deeper, something about it felt off.

The surroundings were abruptly enveloped by a pitch-black; Crystal couldn’t see a thing, nor could she feel the cold waters biting through her skin. For some reason, she could feel her body falling through nothing.

“Tesson?” Crystal called out. “TESSON!”

All of a sudden, she fell onto something. A bit damp. Felt soft, yet had a rough texture. The absolute darkness was overcome by a bright, sickly fluorescent yellow blur, while the deafening silence of the abyss was pierced by a constant, low buzz that hummed throughout.

That was the last thing Crystal felt and saw before her eyes closed on their own, and before she was even able to see her brother again.

~*~

Crystal opened her eyes, finding herself on the gray, damp carpets of a strange, spacious room. She got up on her feet and scanned the space she was in.

She was in the middle of a room with stained mono-yellow wallpapers. The dim fluorescent lights were hung onto the wooden ceiling, illuminating the room with a nauseous glow, while perpetually making a buzzing sound enough to break the absolute silence.

The atmosphere of the place felt cold and moist, which became all the more evident as Crystal noticed probably the largest patch of mold she had ever seen on a wall.

“Hello?” Crystal called, her voice echoing across the seemingly infinite chambers. “Tesson…?”

She ventured into the desolate space hoping to find her brother and a way out, to no avail.

“I’m here!”

There wasn't a response. A human response, to be specific.

Just as she called out to her brother, she was met with a reply. To her left was a faint, strange rustling noise that seemed to come from behind a wall.

She went behind that wall and saw a strange dark, murky overgrowth with bluish glowing spots, seemingly spreading through the walls and the floor.

What on earth… Crystal thought, observing the otherworldly growth.

On the center of the puddle was a lump of the same dark stuff, only with a bony material surrounding it; It seemed like the very source of the overgrowth.

What are these?

Besides it were two more lumps coated with a mossy dark bluish material. On its surface were two dark protrusions that resembled vines. They seemed to move side to side like waves in a rhythmic pattern.

“Weird.” Crystal commented.

The vine-looking tendrils from the blobs glowed and made the same rustling noise Crystal had heard of earlier, seemingly responding to her.

Crystal scrunched up her face in disgust, still wary of the dark stuff. She ran from the scene, leaving in a hurry. 

She continued venturing into the strange, seemingly infinite backroom for quite some time now. The further she went, the more sudden the shift in the atmosphere got.

How did this place get so big? Crystal thought, just as she kept exploring. There has to be an exit. Maybe Tesson had gotten himself out by now.

The incessant hum-buzz of the fluorescent lights grew louder and louder with each second she spent in the place.

The musty, moist air she breathed in had an unbearable, burning sensation that swole and lingered in her nose and lungs.

The patterns on the yellowed wallpaper seemed to morph into different shapes and move on their own the longer she stared at them. 

She now found herself in the middle of a hallway with many locked wooden doors and exit signs that seemed to lead nowhere. She tried to open the doors, by twisting the knobs and by trying to budge herself in. In the end, nothing worked.

Not until one door in particular. It was made of a different material, darker than the others. It also had an exit sign hanging above it. This might be the room Crystal was looking for the whole time.

Please, let this be the exit.

She twisted the knob and flung open the door. Before her eyes weren't exactly what she expected, let alone wanted to see in the first place.

Crystal’s eyes widened in horror, and her body tensed up in fear. She found herself on a balcony, alongside many, many others, seemingly a part of a huge building. There were three more buildings of the same kind facing each other together, full of windows and balconies of a similar style, all forming a hollow courtyard together.

Crystal looked down from the balcony and realized how far up she was on the colossal building. The grounds of the courtyard were way too far beneath for her to even see what it looked like.

Crystal then looked up to see the skies but was instead met with the sight of more balconies and an extremely high tiled ceiling. The lightbulbs hanging from above turned themselves on just as she laid her eyes on the ceiling.

What is this place?!

Suddenly, the door behind Crystal slammed shut. She turned around and tried to open the door by twisting the knob and pulling it back, only for her to find out that it was locked.

“Who’s there?” Crystal asked. She then pounded on the door loudly in desperation. “Hello?! I’m still here!”

A creak could be heard around the metal railings of the balcony. The platform Crystal stood on sloped downward, almost falling.

Helpless, Crystal panicked and continued pounding on the door that was locked behind her.

“Help me, please!” Crystal begged, only for the balcony’s platform to continue to get weighed down. “This isn’t funny!”

Just as she knew it, the platform finally snapped from the wall and collapsed down, falling. Crystal held onto one of the railings as her one last desperate attempt at surviving.

~*~

Crystal woke up from the long fall, much to her surprise. She felt fine, though save for a radiating pain stemming from her lower back. Despite this, she tried to get up, continuing her search for her brother and the exit.

Crystal is now at the very bottom of the courtyard. The place was dark, and the ground was covered in artificial grass. She looked up and tried to find the balcony she fell from, only for her to fail as it was located way too far up from the courtyard grounds.

There wasn't any chance of returning at that point. Crystal needs to find another way out.

So Crystal walked into the entrance of one of the buildings. The insides were different from the rooms she was in earlier. Instead of the yellow wallpapers, the walls were painted with a stark white.

It was noticeably darker, due to the lightbulbs mostly not being turned on, though the ones that were had a fainter, white glow.

She was greeted with an empty front desk in the lobby. The wall behind it was vandalized with black paint, written in a huge text that reached from the ceiling to the floor. It spelled out:

DOWN WITH

THE GOLDEN HARMONY

Crystal wasn’t exactly familiar with what the Golden Harmony was, but it did ring a bell.

I’ve heard of it somewhere, I just don’t remember where. Why could someone possibly be that angry with this Golden Harmony thing, though?

She went further inside the building, finding herself in the middle of an office setting. There were many cubicles aligned with each other, each with a swivel chair. The desks each had a typewriter of Hypixel origin, stationeries, and reams of empty paper.

Unlike the lobby, the office was entirely dark. Crystal found a light switch and tried to flip it on, only for it to not work. She searched the drawers within the cubicles for a possible light source and found a flashlight in one of them.

She turned on the flashlight. It illuminated the entire workspace enough for her to see things. To her horror, the dark overgrowth she saw earlier appeared before her eyes, now in groups, forming larger puddles. They seemed to be on a pathway leading to another door with an exit label.

She didn’t have a choice. She had to risk crossing this mysterious overgrowth and pray for the best, in hopes of not catching some weird disease or encountering something weird.

Crystal mustered enough courage, now setting foot on the weird overgrowth. As soon as she got in, one of the viny protrusions rustled.

It can’t be that bad. I’ll just go as fast as possible.

Crystal took a few more steps, causing more and more rustling. By then, she had reached the middle of the office, near the epicenter of the growth. At that point, the exit door was a few steps away.

She then made her way to the supposed exit, now opening the door in relief.

Just as the door creaked open, one of the strange vines rustled, and a new, strange noise she hadn’t heard of before followed.

Crystal noticed something from near the corner of the room, pointing her flashlight in its direction as it gave out a soft shrieking noise.

It looked like a basin of some sort, made out of the same overgrowth and four sharp protruding bones on the corners. Inside of it were two glowing orbs, swirling in a counterclockwise direction. The orbs appeared to have three holes, forming something that looked a lot like a shrieking face.

The flashlight also revealed something written on the wall, just next to the strange basin-like blob.

IT LISTENS

Suddenly, the surroundings went dark. Crystal’s flashlight stopped working, but just as it did, she heard the rustling of the strange vines, followed by a series of heartbeats in the darkness.

She inspected the bulb, finding out that it was turned on the whole time.

Without hesitation, she turned back and ran for the exit, only for her to stumble, unable to see the exit door behind her as the mysterious darkness shrouded the surroundings.

Without warning, the ground rumbled as something in front of Crystal emerged, crawling outward the floor as it pushed itself up with its monstrous arms. It was a bulky, bony creature covered in the dark bluish overgrowth.

The creature was almost thrice her size, towering over her as it stood up. The creature notably had an open chest cavity with its rib cage poking out. Inside were three glowing orbs, similar to the ones on the shrieking blob. They seemed to glow and pulsate with every time the creature's heart beated

It had a huge head with two of the strange viny protrusions, resembling antlers. It had no facial features, besides a distinct, gaping mouth drooping downwards at the ends.

She hasn’t seen anything of this kind, nor has she learned about it or encountered it in her adventures. At this rate, it could be considered as an entirely different entity of its own.

It leaned in Crystal’s direction, looking like it was sniffing something out. Just as it did, Crystal crawled back. 

The entity’s viny antlers glowed with a bluish light as it moved. When it did, the entity stopped. Suddenly, it let out a roar at Crystal.

It shambled swiftly toward Crystal's direction and swung its arm, hitting her with great force. This caused her to be knocked back in the direction of the exit door, tumbling.

She stood up, slammed the doors open, and bolted down the hallway of the supposed exit, just as the entity gave chase, slowly catching up as the sound of damp, heavy footsteps drew closer and closer with every step she took.

Crystal had no time to assess the surroundings. She had to think fast. The hallway led her to nowhere, and at the end was another forking path.

With every heavy, labored breath she drew, and with every time her heart beat, she could hear the entity’s breathing and heart beating as loudly and as fast as hers. 

She reached the end of the path and turned to her right, leading to a series of stairs. It took the entity some time to get up, as it got stuck between corners at times.

By then, Crystal had successfully reestablished her distance between her and the entity, however, just as she had seemingly escaped, the entity slowly forced itself through the walls and railings. The entity then started to lower its body and covered its open chest cavity just as it vibrated. Without warning, it leaned back, and unleashed a shockwave from its chest cavity, managing to hit Crystal, throwing her off-balance and injuring her.

In the middle of the flight of stairs, as she was hit by the sonic boom, Crystal stumbled across a fire exit door and entered it. On the other side was the same backroom she went into, specifically in the room where she first saw the overgrowth.

Just as she headed near the puddle, the entity reemerged at the center without warning, prompting Crystal to turn back and continue running in the opposite direction.

Crystal went through narrow spaces, only for the entity to get through as it tore down the walls with relative ease.

Crystal now found herself at the place where she first fell into the backroom. She scanned for a nearby pathway, only realizing that she was surrounded by walls and that the only way out was behind the entity, who had successfully cornered her.

Helpless, Crystal backed into the wall and slumped to the ground, waiting for a chance as the entity swiftly edged in closer to her. 

By then, the entity is now right in front of her, with its arm raised, ready to strike her down in one go. Crystal hoped she could get through, but the entity had already blocked her way completely. Moments before the entity’s arm swooped down at her, Crystal closed her eyes, waiting for whatever happened next.

Swoosh!

The entity swung its arm and clawed at Crystal. However, the entity missed, as Crystal suddenly sank through the floor, just moments before the entity could even manage to dig its claws through her skull.

Crystal opened her eyes and was met with a familiar darkness and the feeling of falling through an empty space.

Just before she could even realize it, she was falling towards a pile of hay, going headfirst as she crash-landed.

After her fall, she sat up in an instant, scanning her surroundings. It was evening, and she was in the middle of a barn. In the distance, just across the pigpen, she noticed a few people heading to Cubecraft City, as well as Mel who was going in the opposite direction.

She followed Mel, in hopes of asking for help regarding what she saw earlier, but she couldn’t catch up with her at all.

After a few minutes of trying to follow Mel, she realized that she was heading to Frill’s office to sign up for the simulation.

Perhaps they could both help her and her brother.

~*~

“How was Tesson?” asked Crystal. “Was he safe?”

“Yes,” answered Frill. “He’s currently recovering in the Concorde Hospital, you could go pay him a visit.”

“Thank the stars!” exclaimed Crystal, just as she wept in joy.

“There, there,” Frill patted Crystal’s back to keep her company. “You should go take a rest now, you wouldn’t want to miss the celebration.”

“Celebration?”

Crystal rubbed her eyes and wiped the tears falling on her cheeks.

“Yes, Polar himself will organize the event to celebrate his success in creating the alternative process.” explained Frill.

He then handed over an envelope to Crystal, sealed with golden wax containing a mysterious insignia.

“At the Temple of Demeter, the Golden Harmony’s headquarters. It’s over at Concorde City too. See you there.”

“See you there, Frill…”

The Golden Harmony, huh?