A World Of Decree: And The Seven Laws

A steady silence vibrated throughout the surroundings. Small insects can be heard crawling through cracks and holes in the walls, the crackling pops of flames dispersing from the torches on the walls, and the slow breaths being taken by Cartuja as he stood still.

He found himself in a very narrow, circular clearing in the middle of nowhere. Hallways were splitting off in different directions, all looking remarkably identical to each other. Without a single clue of where he was, or how he ended up in this situation, his steps guided him forward towards one of the halls.

The torches didn't give off too much light, but it was enough to see far into the distance. His steps echoed quietly, adding to the silent noises of the environment. Cartuja's senses were sharp, he could feel something approaching towards him expeditiously. Having a feeling his training would be put to the test, Cartuja pulled out a small bag of trail mix, gulping it down with one bite. The energy he would receive wasn't much, but it was enough for now.

He could feel whatever was approaching in the same hallway, slowly dimming the torches from a distance as it approached closer.

Only seconds away until it reached him, Cartuja stood still, unafraid of what's to come. As the final torch in front of him cut out Cartuja waited for some sort of attack or explanation, however, he never got one. He only felt a small cloud of black smoke whip past him, dimming the rest of the lights behind.

Luckily, he had a box of matches on hand, attempting to light the torches, realizing they were smeared in a dark, inflammable liquid now.

Cartuja shrugged, "Well that's annoying." Lighting another match as he continued traversing the hall, soon coming to another clearing with two different directions.

One hall was lit with torches on both sides, filled with a gentle breeze of uninterrupted wind. The other, strangely pitch black with a disturbing silence, one that seems too quiet to be interrupted.

Cartuja thought the torched hall would be the cliche way to resolve his situation, so he lit another match, slowly approaching the depths of darkness with the hall on the right.

The longer and longer he traveled, the closer and closer he approached what seemed like the outdoors. However, after a few minutes of accelerating his speed, his suspicions came true.

Standing at the edge of the hallway, which now resembled some sort of cave as he glared towards the outdoors. It seemed as if he was exactly where they all originally entered, standing in the middle of the mountains.

Observing the environment around him, some things seemed incredibly strange. The snow that was once falling with rage was motionless, stuck in mid air without a single trace of movement.

Cartuja could see every fiber of the snowflake branch off into the tiny molecules it had before melting in his hand. The wind seemed nonexistent, nothing moving, and nothing obstructing his view.

Deciding to go back, the cave he left was now gone, almost like it was never even there. Instead, a large wall stood in its place. The wall was just like all the others, covered in symbols in a language he didn't speak, and giving off a faint light of light blue that reflected off the bright snow beneath it.

He looked up at the sky, observing the motionless stars scattered across the darkness in space, noticing the moon was no longer visible. In fact, there was no moon, no footsteps besides his, and no life forms he can sense around him.

The only being he can sense was above him, which made no sense after glaring at the open sky. Everything else was lifeless, quickly disturbed by the same black fog approaching from a distance.

The speed at which it moved was on par with Cartuja, around 150 miles per hour. Witnessing the fog approaching from afar, he took a combat stance, slightly bending his knees and shifting his body at a comfortable angle for combat

Nevertheless, the fog stopped about 10 meters away from him, quickly forming into the silhouette of a man, followed by a construction of physical features and a face to put on display.

The face formed was disturbing to look at, even for Cartuja. He didn't have a mouth, nose or any sort of hair to be seen. It was similar to looking at eyes stapled onto a clay figurine, without any extra features. His skin was pale, destroyed by cracks and abyssal marks running up and down him like insects.

This man didn't wear robes, or anything for that matter. That was the only reason Cartuja could tell he was a man.

"I think you forgot your clothes man… Put that shit away." Cartuja howled to the man, who showed no interest in following his command.

Instead, the man began to speak despite his lack of oral communication, throbbing his croaky dead voice into Cartuja's head instead. "Why is it the law of Vibration was given to such a weakling like you. You're not worthy of such magic, no obligation for a true law."

"Listen bud, I don't care, nor did I want to be picked for this LAW. But something tells me you're gonna try to kill me or somethin' so let's get this over with." Cartuja responded out loud in hopes of the man hearing him regardless if he had ears or not.

Before either of them could make the first move, the sky above started growling, as if something was falling underground.

They both looked up, seeing the sky form a small crack that dropped a few rocks down next to Cartuja, sending him into a confused state of mind.

The crack quickly began to form larger, falling apart as hundreds of rocks fell from the sky, which now looked like a simple ceiling of a dark cave about 30 meters high.

With those rocks however, something else was falling beside them, a girl with familiar icy platinum hair, delicate skin covered in nothing but dirt, bruises and blood and a distant scream ascending in pitch every second.

Cartuja's eyes popped open in shock as he saw Paris falling from above, quickly dashing to the left to catch her.

He opened his hands wide, grabbing her out of the air swiftly and painlessly like a large egg he wasn't trying to break.

Paris stopped her scream, looking up at Cartuja who just saved her life, happy to finally see one of her friends.

"You good?" Cartuja asked, "Cuz you dont seem too good." Seeing her current condition wasn't an everyday sight for Paris.

"I've seen better," she coughed.

Cartuja put her down, letting her know they're not alone, "Get a load of this geezer. Seems like he wants me or somethin'."

Paris turned to see the n.a.k.e.d man, instantly screaming in disgust, "EWWW! What is that thing!?"

The man wasn't sure if she was referring to his inhuman appearance or his nudeness. Either way, he struck his voice into both their heads in anger, "How is this possible? How can Rosetta have died? There's not a single fragment of my imagination believing in your survival!"

Although he had no features on his face to show his emotions, Paris and Cartuja couldn't deny his disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, angered by Paris's presence here.

The snow was still frozen in mid air along with the winter wind, briefly catching Paris's eye. She turned towards Cartuja while reaching out for a snowflake before it melted with her warm touch. "What. Is this?"

"Don't know. 'Came here, saw n.a.k.e.d dude, you fell from the sky. That pretty much sums things up."

Paris replied with a small chuckle and a soft punch on his shoulder, instantly shifting her focus behind him. Cartuja noticed the smirk on her face turned around into seriousness as she locked eyes with the wall planted in the snow behind them.

"CARTUJA!"

"YES?" He replied in a sarcastically loud voice to show her enthusiastic level.

"That wall." She pointed, forcing him to turn around. "You need to kill the n.a.k.e.d guy. Or whatever he is. That will break the law, going to its rightful owner."

He looked confused but understanding, interrupted by the man's voice in his head once again. "I'm afraid that won't be happening."

Without a plan of action, Cartuja whipped back around to see no sight of the man. The only thing remaining was a large cloud of black fog, slowly expanding across the perimeter.

Cartuja reached his hand forward, "Grab it," signaling for Paris to take it.

Although Cartuja would be the last person she could imagine grabbing hands with, she had no choice, grabbing it with instincts of surviving. After a few moments the fog completely eradicated their vision, barely being able to see 2 feet in any direction.

They huddled close together until the fog disappeared to reveal their new environment. They were now standing in the same location where Cartuja found himself after everyone was taken away. Now standing in the same small clearing with four directions to choose from.

Cartuja let go of paris, "Stay close. I was already here." Making sure she stayed right behind him.

After choosing a random direction to go in, they quickly saw the n.a.k.e.d man far in the distance, before melting into the ground like a snowman.

Soon after, the ground began shaking, prompting them to start running in the direction of where the man just was. The quivering hall replaced the silence that originally crept through the environment.

Cartuja knew he could easily cover ground fast, but with Paris right behind him he had to run alongside her. However, a pale hand reached from the ground in an instant, grabbing Paris's calf and plummmiting her to the ground.

"AHHH!" She screamed in fear, slicing the hand off of her with a swift motion of her blade. Cartuja spun around quickly, noticing Paris on the ground, submerged from his view by the walls morphing together to create a barrier between them.

Cartuja slammed the bottom of his fist into the rocks as they formed the wall faster than he could react, "DAMN IT!"

Paris could hear him through the wall, but she didn't have the strength or energy to break it with a spell. They were both now in an endless hallway, separated by the smooth rocky wall, and the silence that crept back in as the shaking vanished.

They both started jogging in opposite directions, Cartuja sprinting full speed down different hallways which seemed to never end. He still wore his headband that almost began to slip off if it wasn't for a sudden stop.

He saw Paris running towards him at the end of the hall.

Paris finally Saw Cartuja at the end of the hall, picking up her pace to reach him.

Cartuja stopped, seeing Paris quickly approach him, and her features finally became visible the closer she got. Everything looked similar except her deathly glare, giving off an uneasy feeling to him. Cartuja aso noticed she didn't have her katana by her side, planting another red flag in his head.

Paris got closer to Cartuja, now being able to see his crooked grin staring back at her in an unsettling sensation. The ominous feeling crawled up her spine, questioning the reality of the situation.

Cartuja dashed as fast as he could towards Paris, dodging her to the right before wrapping his arms around her neck in a deadly choke hold. He squeezed her neck, ready to explode it with his strength until Paris started laughing uncontrollably before morphing back into the n.a.k.e.d man.

Catching Cartuja off guard he instantly let go, occupying his face in disgust, "UHHH.. F.u.c.k.i.n.g weirdo."

Before the man could make anymore moves, Cartuja dashed at him again, this time aiming for his featureless pale face with the grip of his fist. But of course, the man melted into the ground while laughing in Cartuja's head as he did so.

Meanwhile, Paris could see the Cartuja running at her vanish into a black smoke right before reaching her, questioning her surroundings even more.

Cartuja started to aimlessly run as fast as he could through the halls, increasing his speed to 200 miles per hour, without a single sign of an exit.

After a few minutes, he started to catch on, slowing his pace to a complete stop. He started to notice the halls always expanding, never stopping, always in motion to create more and more.

An idea seeming so illogical popped into his unintelligent brain, forcing him to place one foot behind him.

Now, he began to walk backwards, quickly ascending into a light jog and then a full on sprint. As he quickly reached his max speed in a backwards direction, he could see the hallway getting more narrow in front of him, until finally reaching the exit.

He quickly stopped as he noticed he was no longer in a hallway but instead standing in a spherical chamber underground, looking at the entrance to the hall he was just in slowly moving along the walls next to him.

The spherical shape of the underground chamber had dozens of entrances lit up by torches on both sides, dragging themselves up and down the walls. It all seemed to move in unison, causing no damage to the actual lining of rock that made up the sphere, and no logical sense of how it was happening.

Cartuja turned around and was met with the stare of the n.a.k.e.d man once more, standing tall in front of the law of vibration, the same one he saw out in the snow not too long ago. He also noticed the huge crack in the ceiling, one that was made by Paris as she fell into the snowy field, quickly realizing the scene was an illusion from before.

With no sight of Paris anywhere, Cartuja yelled as loud as he could to hopefully reach her somewhere in the depths of the halls.

"PARIS! IF YOU HEAR ME. RUN BACKWARDS AND DON'T LOOK BACK. TRUST ME!"

"Huaaagh." Cartuja inhaled a large breath of air to replenish the energy he used for the scream. Now, facing back towards the man, not letting him escape anymore.

Out in the distance, Paris could hear Cratuja's real voice echo through the hallway, leaving her in confusing thoughts scavenging around her head. Run backwards? Seems pretty stupid.. But he did sound pretty serious, she thought in her head while beginning her stance to run abnormally without looking back.

The nervousness she felt doing so almost made her stop. But with no other choices there wasn't much debating on her options.

"I don't know how you managed to figure out the pattern to the endless walls, but it's of no matter to me. Your life will still be mine regardless.." The croaky, n.a.k.e.d man's voice entered Cartuja's head once more, pissing him off for the last time.

"The law of vibration is what your after right? Well then come and get it." Cartuja said with full confidence as he raised his hands in a shrug along with a devious smile.

The man no longer filled his dead voice into Cratuja's head, instead, he said to himself, his last and final thought. "With p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e."

Before he could even blink with his devilish eyes, he simply felt Cratuja's long middle finger pierce the middle of his n.i.p.p.l.eless chess, not even seeing him move to attack.

Cartuja wedged his finger out, seeing black sand spill from the empty hole that filled the insides of the man's disgusting body.

"You see, although your halls kept moving me endlessly through this nasty a.s.s place, you stood still this entire time didn't you. You're not even a human are you? A being, no, a vessel to carry the law of vibration. You couldn't even react-"

Cartuja was interrupted by the man's body crumbling into a pile of black sand onto the ground. It happened so fast, Cartuja couldn't even finish talking to him.

The wall decayed to the ground, symbols losing their light blue glow, and a small essence entering Cartuja's c.h.e.s.t distracted him from his train of thought. A small pile of black sand piled cautiously on the ground, slowly evaporating into the midst of the chamber.

A faint scream could be heard in the distance, Cartuja turned around to still see the halls moving transversely throughout the spherical walls of the chamber, noticing a scream getting closer from one of them.

Once again, Paris was launched from one of them backwards, screaming to hopefully catch Cartuja's attention. Of course, he heard it and saw it, dashing in a heartbeat to catch her one more time falling from above.

He caught her swiftly, getting to the destination with time to spare, "Guess you owe me two now ain't that right?" Cartuja smirked with a slight chuckle.

Paris was annoyed, but thankful for her life being saved once again, "Make it one and we have a deal."

They both laughed, seeing the hallways start to lose their light from torches and begin falling apart. The ceiling started to collapse, sending rocks falling at a deathly speed from above.

Paris noticed one hallway at their level of elevation spreading wide, located behind where the wall of vibration once stood. They quickly began to run as rocks fell inches behind and in front of them until they finally reached the hallway.

There was no difference in this one besides the fact it was just simply larger, and one that seemed to lead to an actual destination.

They proceeded slowly and cautiously, seeing what awaits at the end.

"You think everyone else is okay?" Paris initiated their silent descend into the empty hallway with a question that Cartuja didn't feel he had the answer to.

"I don't know… I sense somethin' close by, be on guard."

Cartuja always had a keen sense for feeling magic levels of those nearby. However, he couldn't tell who it was, or what magic the carrier wielded.

Luckily enough, they stumbled upon a clearing, leading in three other directions with a small group of people approaching from the right.

"Be ready." Cartuja claimed assuredly, making sure they were both ready to be attacked.

Instead, they saw Laena, Faibel, and Calvin carrying an unconscious Leo on his shoulder.

"Professor?!" Paris said with a slight tone of fear pitched in. "Wh-"

"Enough!" Calvin interrupted without apologizing, showing his anger in his voice, "I'm glad both of you are alive. I think the answer is obvious, but have you two seen Atlas or Rina? I can't even feel their magic essence at all."

Cartuja and Paris exchanged a scared look, giving Calvin the nonverbal answer he was hoping to avoid. Calvin sighed in frustration and guilt, having the marks on his neck glow once more. He reached into his coat pocket, pulling out small bandages and handing them to Paris.

"Seems like you've been through hell. Right now I am not your professor, but simply your leader. And right now, we need to find Atlas and Rina!" He slammed his fist into the side of the wall.

Paris took the bandages happily, "Thank you so much."

Cartuja looked as Calvin began to turn around, seeing how serious the situation is. Calvin turned around, ready to start traversing the underground until Cartuja called out to him, catching him by surprise, "Professor… We'll find them, they're the strongest out of us, they'll survive. Right?"

Calvin stared at him, turning back around to start marching through the hall, "I hope so.."