Chapter 03

It wasn’t too difficult to guess that the men in black weren’t careless enough to not lock the cell which could only mean one thing, someone is trying to help him escape. 

Whoever it is, they came here, cut the ropes tying his arms and left the cell open before leaving. But if that was really the case why didn’t they wake him up? Is it because this is all the help they could offer him? 

This place is filled with cultists. He couldn’t imagine what the black cloaks would do if they discover that one of them is helping a prisoner escape.

Guess I’m on my own from this point... 

He has to move quickly before they come to check on him and discover what was going on. He didn’t have enough time to come up with a plan, even if he did he knew far too little to come up with anything useful. All he could do is move and hope for the best.

“Alright…”

Although he was still terrified to his core he took another deep breath and braced himself before slipping out. As he had concluded earlier, the cell was actually a hole in the wall, one of many lines up in two rows. 

His was on the top row and with how dark it was he ended up falling, being unable to correctly judge the distance to the ground. 

Ignoring the pain he quickly moved toward the wall to his right. His blood was pumping fast as his heartbeat raised. 

Breathing in relief after a few seconds he kept my posture low and walked along the wall one slow step after the other trying his best to make out his surroundings in the dark.

The room, or tunnel to be more accurate, had no source of light and he was barely able to see anything. Because of that he was startled when he noticed that thing in the corner of his field of view. 

Two blue parallel lines and a small white dot between them. When he instinctively turned in their direction they moved as well staying in the corner of his field of view. 

He paused for a moment then slowly moved his eyes. As expected, the lines and dot followed staying in the corner of his sight. 

No, rather than moving it’s more accurate to say they’re a part of his vision, almost as if they’re pinned to that exact spot no matter where he’s looking.

Strange…

He focused his eyes on the white dot. Three seconds later something suddenly popped up out of nowhere startling him into falling on his butt.

What the hell…!

It was a small blue square twenty centimeter across. Most of it was half transparent with blue lines forming a peculiar shape.

Is this… a map?

He immediate realized what those strange shapes were. It was a very simple map showing the path he had taken so far. The white dot most likely indicates his current location and since the two blue lines connected at one end it is safe to say the way he came from was a dead end.

Hesitantly, he reached out to touch the small square. The moment his fingertips touched it however it suddenly disappeared returning to the corner of his field of view. 

This is almost like a video game… Is this what virtual reality look like? Am I in one of those games?

This isn’t the time to ponder over such matters. I need to hurry up and get out of here!

He has already crossed out the possibility of all of this being a dream, wondering whether he was trapped in a game or not was just a waste of time.

Shit. If I had known this I would’ve watched more of those anime things people keep talking about…

He remembered some classmates talking about shows where the protagonist ends up in a game world. If he had known he would end up in a situation like this he would’ve watched one or two.

Shaking the idle thoughts off his head Drake began moving once more making sure to stay low and quiet. 

With each step he took the lines in the corner of his sight extend a little. After a while each one diverged in a different direction followed by the appearance of a third line. Soon enough the tunnel split in two opposite directions just as indicated by the small map.

Shit... which one should I take…?

Left or right? How would he know which one is the right route? 

The odds are the same no matter which way he goes so he just picked the left route and resumed his slow advance. After a few steps, however, he once again came to a stop as he heard a voice coming from the end of the tunnel. Soon enough a faint orange glow came into sight and he quickly retreated to the corner he came from.

“Hey! Let. Me. GO! I said let me go!!!” 

As the voices approached he began to make out what they were saying. 

“Do you think you’ll get away with this!? You better let me go or-"

“Or what?”

“Or you’ll feel my wrath!!!”

“Yeah yeah, just shut it and walk.”

Peeking from behind the corner Drake saw two figures walking in his direction. One was a black cloaked cultists same as those who attacked him earlier. The other was just a kid and from what he said and how he’s being pushed by the cultist it’s safe to say he’s another prisoner just like Drake.

This is bad! They’re definitely heading for the cells!

Drake turned around and quickly made his way back to the dead end he left behind. Those two were heading for the cells. If the black cloak notices that something is off he would most likely lose his chance to escape. 

Why the hell is this happening to me!!?