The searing pain across White’s throat slowly faded away, along with everything material.

His body sunk into what seemed like quicksand, as it fell into nothingness.

Like revolving lanterns, each and every piece of his short, captive life was viewed regretfully.

If only he had the capacity to discern ill-will.

If only he could see everything in values. Right. Just like a game.

A game… huh. That would be nice.

Maybe then, everything would be as I want.

I could become as strong as a Hero.

A telegraphed path to fulfillment. The child wished he could have.

Fate… I would control it.

Player has unlocked the <Observe> function.

Player can now view Status Window, Favorability, and Skills.

Eh?

A single floating blue screen appeared before his eyes.

『If that is your wish———』

A whisper returned his thoughts.

Thoughts? How could it be.

Was it not a space of nothingness, a space of self-reflection in the afterlife? 

But in that moment, White had definitely regained his physical form; his breathing, heartbeat returned.

He stared down unfamiliarly at his hands, and turned to regard the voice.

There was someone else with him in his afterlife.

That figure that stood, no, floated a few steps in the air was peculiar. Merely a few steps away from White, she spoke.

『O’ you pitiful child.』

An inhuman beauty that forced all eyes away from her gaze. A warm aura that envelops his cold consciousness like the sun, a Goddess or an existence that was close to what one would call ‘divinity’.

“Kami-sama?” He said instinctively.

But there was something that felt amiss.

『If you want to see.』

Her voice.

『Bring me your eyes.』

Was unbearably cold.

“My… eyes?”

White felt something amiss, yet as he tried to take a step back…

…His feet turned grounded with miasma.

The goddess approached unrelentingly. Her fingers stretched unnaturally as bones creaked, fingernails long like needles.

“A…aaah….AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

And as she had declared, White’s eyes were forcefully extracted.

Unbearable pain coursed through his body, as if it had materialized for this exact reason.

Now floating in the palm of her hand, red miasma seeped into the eyeballs.

While White endured the pain in confusion, their irises slowly took on the color of blood red.

The abrupt surgery was met with a light giggle.

『Now, you can see.』

She walked closer, the eyeballs picked with her fingers.

And the brief moment before they were returned to where they once were, the ‘Goddess’ seemed to smile.

But somehow, White could not feel goodwill in her actions.

After all, her voice was cold.

『Now you can ‘see’, much clearer than before won’t you.』

White’s body ‘exploded’ in that instant his eyes returned to their sockets.

It fizzled in a large number of sensations, and he screamed.

“A̷̧̜͔̟̟͔̥̦͉̐̈́͊͌̀̉̽͘͠͠Ą̸̣̙̰̯̼̗̺̗̼̀̆͌̽̈̅̽̐Ä̵͉͉͕̰́̍̉̀A̵̧̧̯̱̬̱͈͒̑̑̏̂̀̋̚A̵̪͔̱̣̞̭̖̜̯̔̿̑͜a̸̛͉̘̦̪̭̹̯͑̇̈͐̐̅̕a̷͚̥̹͍̍̾A̴̡̛͈̗͙̗̜̽̂̃̉̊͌̈́͘͝a̴͔̟̿̏̅́͗̈́͆͂͜Ḣ̶̭͈͓̣͑̓͆͆̕Ḩ̷͓̤̦͗̎̃́̒̑͘͝͝͝h̵̞̓̈́̅̀̍̓͆͝h̴̥͈̭͙̰͂H̷̹͕̗͒͐͆̏̿̍̄͘͠h̴̡͚̱̰̩̏͛h̶̙͚̟̯̮̣͍̤͈̥̿͝H̶̝͌̈̾̐̽̒͌͂h̶̢̧̛̛͈̰̼͚̉̀̐̉̋̐͝͠h̷̡̨̰̝̠̣̮̦͇͑͌́̿̍̇̈̒̊͜ḩ̶̠̮̞͚̬̈́̈́̆̚͜͜

Loads of information coursed through his head.

The one blue screen before him began to expand and multiply exponentially until it filled his field of vision. Everything around White was red.

The numbers on the screens were grated with static and glitching with strange characters.

No longer thinking properly in the midst of this pain, White shut his eyes.

When he did, the noise in his head stopped. The pain subsided.

As if waiting on cue, the same beguiling voice spoke again.

『Please put in your hardest work as you have promised.』

“Pro…mise?” 

『Good luck, my sweet child.』

The metronome of blood dripping onto the water-like surface of the dream world doused the child with sleep dust. His eyelids slowly closed, amidst the pain. And then for a while, all he could focus on hearing was the sounds of blood drops. 

Drip…. drip, drip.

The constant sound of water droplets could be heard, that rippling note repeating itself every few seconds from a leak in the ceiling. For a while, it was the only sound produced amidst the stygian black.

“...Ghh…”

White, startled by the awakening of an unusual, painful nightmare, awoke and opened his eyes while lying sideways.

His hands immediately reached for his neck on instinct.

…There wasn’t any noticeable pain, but then White pointed out the parched feeling of his throat. A clear sign of dehydration. The only noises he could make out from his chapped lips were guttural sounds, so he stopped trying.

Where was he? White slowly sat up.

He was in darkness, lit only marginally by a pale orange someplace close. His eyes were completely useless until he got used to the dark. Not that it was anything that he wasn’t used to, but this time, the floor felt like cold stone and the surroundings smelt terrible. Was he in some type of sewer? White recalled visiting one. 

This place stunk. So much so that it stung and made him cringe and writhe. The slightest of movement caused his body to grate against the cold stone floor, and then he had yet another realization. Barring what seemed to be ragtags as clothing, he wasn’t wearing anything else. No undergarments or anything. There was a little accessory attached on his limbs, however. 

Metallic chains, those used to keep one captive.

What was this?

His hands felt up his almost bare body, and noticed another anomaly. His body was abnormally malnourished and boney. It didn’t feel like a body he had.

…”Had”. As soon as the child thought of it in past tense, he quickly understood, and recalled.

Didn’t he die? His neck was sliced apart by a piece of broken glass.

He would’ve died. 

If so, was this the afterlife? This dark and dingy dungeon?

White groaned, as he tried his hardest to shake off the grogginess in his head. It seemed like his memories were fleeting, and it got more painful as he tried to recall them. For the time being, he settled on focusing on the present. Despite the confusing setting he was now plunged in, White clearly was still alive.

Minutes, hours or perhaps days passed by. There was no concept of time for a child to be estranged in darkness and life after death. There was only a wait for change. His tears had long dried up, leaving only the festering smell of the underground.

Through the smell and unsavory conditions of his solitude, White eventually got used to the darkness, his eyes settling closer to the dim oranges. 

More time passed, and soon White realized those were torches. 

So he was indeed in some sort of cell. 

As a child, it was normal to feel desperation set in the moment they realized they were in a dark and unfamiliar place. However, White was already a victim of such conditions several times before. While still fearful of his predicament, he had already begun treating this cell like an escape room.

White took a deep sigh, and slowly crept towards the entrance of his cell. It was cordoned off by rusty, metal bars. And though he had a small frame, it still wasn’t enough to fit through the gaps between the bars.

Suddenly he heard movement.

Boots clacking across the pavement. It got closer and closer to his cell, along with a light that grew brighter as it approached.

Was there someone who was going to get him out? Either way, he should stick his head out to—

—White’s body was yanked violently from the back. 

And before he could make a scream of shock, the unknown assailant covered his mouth from behind, pulling him away from the metal bars.

“ᚴᛖᛖᛈ ᛩᚢᛁᛖᛏ, ᚺᚢᛗᚨᚾ. ᛖᚾᛖᛗᚤ.”

A beastly voice croaked in an unfamiliar language amidst their struggle. While White did not understand a word, he could tell the voice was hinting at caution. White nodded obediently without turning back, and the hand furtively moved away from his mouth. There were small scratches left on his cheeks, causing him to grimace in pain.

Before he could take a backward glance at his unruly cellmate, the light had now stopped before his cell. 

It was an adult dressed in an attire White had never seen before. He was holding onto a lamp, likely the source of the bright light. It was hard to make out the rest of the details with his eyes that were unaccustomed to the illumination. But he could clearly make out eyes of scorn and disgust directed at him, as he spoke yet again in a language that he had never heard of.

“ᛏᛋᚴ. ᚲᚢᚱᛋᛖᛞ ᚲᚺᛁᛚᛞᚱᛖᚾ.”

However, the adult did not seem to leave after that, as his eyes gazed further into the cell. A strong swallow of saliva down the throat, as a dangerous smirk grew on his unkempt mug. The metal clanking of keys could be heard, and soon the cell was opened and closed shut behind his entrance. The adult seemed to be a warden of sorts, White noted as the man kept the keys safely on the chest pocket.

Noticing his gaze, the intruding warden gave White a fierce look of intimidation, causing the child to shirk back on instinct. He could tell without a doubt, that he was part of those who'd kept him captive here. A dangerous adult.

Somehow, a blue window appeared before White as his gaze maintained on the man.

It had information strangely... like a game.

Regardless of the thoughts that raced within White’s little mind, that was all the attention he gave him. As the adult went further into the cell, his smile grew nastier as he approached.

White knew that look. It was a look that gave in to the darker, depraved desires of man. And he wasn’t the one being targeted.

It was his cellmate behind him.