To Ascent A Lie

I... can't breathe....

Huuuughhhh...

I can't... f*cking BREATHE!

My mind is shutting down.. fuck, fucking life, is this the end...? Will I die again like previously?

No, no, I have to live. I swore to only live for myself, I can't die, not again, no, I won't die. I'm not ready to meet with them again. Not now, not ever.

I don't want to see that smug bastards expression in hell.

Haha... it seems my lungs are filled with 70% water. Analyzing data... my memories corrupted. I'm starting to forget everything.

What a way to die, huh.

Xin struggled to breathe and he felt himself drowning, being pulled underneath with an incredible amount of force. No matter how much he tried, he wasted oxygen in water, air bubbles escaping from his opening.

His eyes turned bloodshot from the lack of oxygen, his face turning red with a slight bluish hue, the pressure on his nasal sinus increasing, as he tried to twist his body.

He had long realized that he wasn't dragged to the water on purpose. In fact, his foot had somehow gotten stuck to a snake-like creature that had shifting black and white scales, except the creature did not have any features.

He couldn't even tell its head from its front.

If he did not know any better, he would have thought the creature was made from pure static.

His eyes slowly closed with his mouth swallowing mouthfuls of water, him seeing the cold, light bluish light on the water.

His eyes slowly closed, and everything turned black.

...>...?

"Cough- kgh -ugh!"

A young man who was lying on light turquoise tiles started coughing on the white marble floor, before he started wretching water as he squeezed his stomach.

His hair was disorderly and wet, draped and sticking to his forehead, his eyes still red from the lack of oxygen and chlorine, as he wiped his saliva and bubbles from the corner of his lips, slowly sitting up as he leaned on his forearm.

"Where... am I? Did I seriously die again?"

Still breathing hard, his vision regained some clarity, as he observed where he was calmly—or at least pretending to be. His rough breathing slowly started to slow down, his pounding heart lowering its frantic beating against his ribcage.

-Before...

He ultimately punched down the marble flooring in evident frustration, a sound echoing in the empty location he was in, no other sound resounding other than the soft ripples of water.

"So I died again, huh? It seems like someone really likes hitting the restart button on me. Must be really fun watching me drown in low resolution, huh, you fucking bastard, whoever-the-fuck-you-are?" With a hollow burst of laughter, he ran his fingers through his hair to the back and breathed out, before he kneeled to the ground, and slammed his forehead to the marble.

"I" He slammed

"Died" Raised it.

"Again" Slammed it

"And" Raised his head

"Again" Clenching his fist, he punched the marble floor, blood dripping from his fists and forehead that had torn from the impact.

Staggering, he slowly stood up and leaned his back to the marble walls, his fist clenched tightly, as he raised his head to the cold ceiling that shrouded him in a faint blue light.

Narrowing his eyes, he spat, gritting his teeth in evident frustration.

In reality, Xin had no idea how he had ended up at this location, but at this point, he could care less. Everything was too messed up, but he was too exhausted to care about those small, insignificant details.

All that was important to him is where he would go from now, and what he should do.

A head-piercing headache threatened in his mind, the stinging in his eyes due to the chlorine didn't help either.

He did not doubt that he had died; the feelings were all too familiar to be a mere simulation or illusion, and he was accurately aware that he had previously drowned.

In the past, he used to joke about the idea of being able to return by death, brushing it off as a blessing more than a curse, but now, he could confidently summarize that death was by no means something someone wanted to experience.

At least not in the painful ways he had.

Xin closed his eyes for a while, as if organizing his distraught thoughts.

At first, he thought 'it' might be behind this. But even that didn't add up—not with how inefficient this setup was. He'd think about it later.

Well... for instance, if it really wanted to break him, there were more effective and efficient means than just throwing him off in some empty places with no human activity other than weird paranoia.

Xin's lips curled in mocked contempt at his own ridiculous joke. He wasn't even sure that the paranoia activity was something to even consider alive.

Sighing in evident powerlessness, Xin decided to continue walking to where his fate had led him. He opened his eyes slowly, before blinking, taking in everything in his view.

Upon seeing the wall in front of him, Xin blinked once more, as his eyes widened.

"Wake.. up? What do they mean?"

In front of him was a white, unblemished marble wall placed in front of him with an exit sign seated atop of it, colored green similar to the one back on earth. Yet, what made him widen his eyes were the black scribbled drawings atop and around the door.

They consisted of badly drawn eyes, scribbled, and many of them traced several times, creating an eerie image.

One particular eye stood out, the eyeball of the eye seemingly melting on the wall. Yet what made him feel an immense amount of fear were the words on the wall—

[WAKE UP. DON'T TRUST REALITY. IT'S WATCHING YOU.]

Xin went silent, his eyes narrowing at those words, as if they held a deeper meaning than they showed.

However, he suddenly turned his head to the side.

The corner of his eyes had caught a shadow of something quickly moving. His eyes urgently scanned the water, yet there were no signs of anything, which made him rub his eyes for a moment, and making him bite his lips, his eyes looking everywhere possible.

"Who is there?"

His voice echoed in the empty location dozens of times, bouncing off everything, before he subtly gave up.

In the end, he simply rubbed his forehead, his brain moving at an impossible speed, as he decided to enter the door.

Across his location there was another door, but his instincts warned him he would meet the cold embrace of death if he considered moving there.

The thing that made him most fearful was that, in this location, his instincts went haywire. His instincts that he had honed over years of death and life situations were simply... useless here.

He laughed bitterly at his hopeless situation, his eyes sharpened.

His eyes were half-closed, as he spoke, his voice dripping irony.

"So you want to break me, don't you? Well let's see how far you're willing to go then. You're watching, right? Then keep watching, keep watching, because when I find, pray that I don't shove a metal scorching rod up your ass."

Had Xin known that no one was watching, and that he was alone in this place that was isolated even from the void, perhaps he would have second thoughts on those words.

His defensive mechanisms booted up, as his fear and agitation slowly transformed into irony and sarcasm, his gaze flickering to everything as if it were mere furniture in a normal home.

Eyebrows furrowed, lips into a thin line, body tense.

He walked to the door and slowly traced his fingers over it, yet flinched and removed them when he remembered how his previous death was triggered.

Scratching his head, he took one last look at the drawings on the wall, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Nice decor you got there, got to give credit to whatever IKEA ghost made this."

However, just as he was going to walk into the door, he suddenly came to a halt.

His footsteps echoing, clothing dripping water on the marble floor, leaving a trail behind.

He wiped his forehead that had water dripping down from his hair, shaking his hair in response, water droplets falling.

He took off his shirt in response, which revealed his eight-pack abdominal muscles that he gently caressed.

With a narcissistic grin, Xin looked over to the shiny marble tiles that reflected his quite handsome face.

Leaning forward, he gently traced his sharp jawline in unhidden pride, a glint of fascination etched across his face.

"Oh my, who could this handsome man who looks like a sculpted art of heaven be? Wait, no way, how could this man be me?"

Chuckling to himself to try to reduce his stress, he directed his attention back to the shirt that he had forgotten and began twisting it, the water pouring out.

After a while, he put back his shirt that looked like an unironed rag that came straight out of a dishwasher, and did the same with his pants.

His 10-inch little brother was left dangling in the air, shivering slightly at the unfamiliar exposure of humidity.

Putting back his pants, Xin gently patted his clothing, before looking back to the door.

He gave a confident grin that hid and slowly ventured into it.

+++++++

"First things first, what do I do from here?"

Stretching his arms, Xin looked around him at the unfamiliar location he had found on the other side of the door. Sniffing his burning nostrils, his eyes ventured to the depth of the water, where the depth could not be seen.

Now he had to think twice before stepping on water. Who knew what waited for him in there.

His mind ventured back to the odd writing and drawings on the wall. For some reason, these locations seemed to prefer having many drawings on the walls that seemed to give ominous premonitions.

Thinking about those words, the term 'wake up' could signify that where he is could be a dream. Yet it didn't make sense at the same time.

It wouldn't make sense for the location itself—or some odd entity—to have written those on the walls without an ulterior motive, unless these things have been drawn by a living being similar to him. Still, that didn't add up, comparing with other facts.

It's also worth noting that 'how the hell is there something alive writing in my dream possible' thought is worth mentioning. Thus, we could confidently cross out that this location is not a dream.

Ok, thought two. I was kidnapped by some being. That seems the most plausible, and putting aside the 'wake up' term for now, could it be possible he got kidnapped by some being or deity?

Rubbing his chin in thoughtful contemplation, his gaze wandered to where he was.

Truth be told, none of what was on the wall made sense. It almost seemed as the whole thing was a setup. If not for what he had experienced over the previous hours, days, or weeks—well, he had no idea how much time had passed here—he would have thought he was having some kind of nightmare that he didn't deserve. Ahem, definitely.

"What kind of weirdo says 'I'm watching you?' Is he some kind of pervert...?" Shivering at the thought of someone ogling him, he straightened his back and rolled his shoulders a few times to prepare for whatever he would be doing.

Shaking all these thoughts aside, he focused on what was in front of him. In reality, the real issue lied completely somewhere else, the issue that he tried to ignore with a lighthearted laugh.

His returning by death.

His eyes shook for a moment at the thought, before stabilizing as he observed where he was standing.

However, he almost tripped when he saw an image flicker in his eyes for a moment at the same exact time.

The writing was colored in blue, yet it felt like it was wavering similar to water.

And what was written.

What entered his view.

Was one word.

2X.

What came out was not his nervousness, but his sarcasm. His heavy breathing. His disbelief.

"What do you mean by 2X?! Why do you keep on f*cking giving me secret encrypted codes? Do you think I could do shit with it?"

Walking in the water, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Well, I don't understand what you're trying to say, so..." Raising his middle finger, he smirked.

"FUCK YOU! Show me what you can do to me, you wholesome sons of whory lesbian bitches!"

The corridor stretched forward, endless and dreamlike.

Xin stood on a narrow mosaic path submerged just beneath shallow water.

Just beyond the path's edge, on the sides, the water deepened into blackness—lightless, still, and ominously silent. One step too far, and he'd vanish into a depthless void.

The contrast was stark: shallow clarity underfoot, abyssal shadows all around.

It felt less like walking through water and more like trespassing across a veil.

And yet, stood the head of a broken head of statue with closed eyes, like that of an ancient deity, slumbering in the dark area, showing its sheer size to appear despite being in a deep part.

The high, narrow walls enclosed him tightly, coated in jagged ceramic fragments.

The shards were arranged like teeth or scales, shifting faintly under cold blue light.

Some pieces bulged outward, others caved in, giving the illusion the walls breathed. The patterns hinted at images—but none that stayed when looked at directly.

Above, a matte black ceiling absorbed all light.

Between the walls high up, massive horizontal and diagonal beams—obsidian or metal—crossed at impossible angles, like some alien skeleton.

The geometry was off, intentionally wrong. The world bent here, even if subtly.

Yet, Xin continued to walk over the path in deep thought, as if he had already gotten used to the location. He kept track of where he was walking to make sure he didn't slip into the depth that god-knows where it ended, if it truly did.

He realized the water had properties unlike other the first time he drowned, unpredictable.

When he tried to resist the water last time he was being dragged into the depths of the water, he found out that he couldn't.

Not that the water was thick, nor was it too light, it felt like trying to swim in air.

He also noticed that the water didn't carry his reflection.

He raised his head to the cold light in the ceiling that reminded him of his first location and halted, looking in front.

When would he reach the end? Why did it seem the path was endless?

No matter how much he walked, there was no exit shown to him. Nothing that showed he had moved a single step. He looked around him in exhaustion, or so he thought, only to realize he wasn't.

With a look of disbelief etched across his face, he found the only difference was that he was a bit thirsty, yet he held on to his thirst, focusing himself on walking, his speed faster this time.

+?+

An unknown amount of time had passed.

Currently Xin had submerged his head underneath water, yet this did nothing to his unquenched thirst. The coolness wasn't enough.

"W-water..."

His exhausted eyes hungrily scanned the water in front of him, considering with the mind of a madman if it was safe to drink.

He shook his head, trying to control himself from drinking it, understanding that he had no idea about the effects of the water on his body. He became more hopeless as he realized that he looked like he did not move a single inch from his spot.

The water held chlorine, so he held himself.

1X.

Unbeknownst to him, the writing had appeared once more, but he had thought he was hallucinating.

All he needed was water.

+?+

Unable to hold it in, Xin submerged his head under water, drinking mouthfuls. His breathing became more erratic, as mouthfuls of water entered his parched throat, flowing through his esophagus and into his stomach.

A word flickered into his mind for no occasion.

[Don't Trust Reality]

He became confused why those words came across his mind, yet continued drinking in ignorant bliss.

However, pain soon overcame him in his lower body.

"W-whats happening...?"

A nerve-wracking pain came from his lower stomach and traveled to his side, making Xin hold his stomach at the pain he had never experienced before.

He tried throwing up, only to find nothing came out, and he fell to his knees to the shallow tiles, and tried gagging, only to find he was unable.

Tears formed at the edges of his eyes, and a few drops of blood fell from his nose, on the surface of the water.

An immense pain wracked his brain, as he felt his left eye twitching uncontrollably. He tried to stand up, but slipped and fell to the depth of the water

His eyes widened and he opened his mouth with a shrill scream, yet found himself unable to speak, his body paralyzed. He tried resisting the temptation to close his eyes. Forever.

Yet unable to, he slowly surrendered to his impending death.

The last time he would open his eyes.

0X

OVER