This Clueless Hero

My vision cleared up to see... a skeleton with a few pieces of rotten flesh still attached to it. Within its skull was a small white bean ball.

The skeleton was shambling forward. The skeleton's jaw was not moving, yet a voice was emitting from its head.

"Plants... plants are not enough. The human soul does not have enough synergy with plants. Though the efficacy has increased, allowing me to capture souls from decades away, it is not enough. But... I am getting closer."

My eyes scanned the surroundings. The other three were no longer here, in fact, it was an entirely different room.

The room was a similar size to the room I was just in, but there were no cracks lined along the walls. There was a dim orange light emitting from a single torch that was stuck in between the skeleton's ribcage.

In the skeleton's hands was a glass box, it was holding it tenderly, close to its chest.

"The true direction was never to contain the soul within a phylactery, but let it exist independently. Yes, this should work. It will work."

The skeleton held up the glass box with both hands. Underneath him were many strange scrawlings in blood. The patterns vaguely resembled a circle and there were five green glowing beans at the perimeter of the scrawlings.

For a few moments, nothing happened. The skeleton was simply standing there, keeping the glass box high in the air.

Then a gentle wind began to blow, so gentle that it seemed to be my imagination. The wind picked up and became louder. The winds whistled, then wailed loudly.

The scrawlings on the ground were gradually being blown away by the wind. The five glowing green beans were already floating in the air, circulating with the wind.

The skeleton's jaw was wide open.

"Yes, yes. Come, my child! You may not have been born when you were living, but now you are given a new life from the dead!"

The winds became violent. The glowing green beans were broken into small pieces. Fragments of the beans and blood were circling around the center.

Cracks were appearing across the skeleton's bones, but the skeleton in question did not seem to realize it. Cracks also began spreading across their walls and the light from the skeleton's torch was blown out.

Though the room was plunged into darkness, a faint light was being emitted from inside the glass box.

The light was very weak at first, just barely illuminating the skeleton's face. However, the light continued to grow brighter and brighter.

The pale blue light lit up the whole room and a clear wailing sound filled the room.

The skeleton gently caressed the side of the glass box.

"It is ok my child, you are now filled with the breath of life. Don't worry, you will not have to wait long for your mother."

The skeleton began to cackle, its bones making grating sounds against each other.

"It's the light! The light has finally come. What was it that she called it? Yes, a lamppost."

The ground gently rumbled and a thin black pedestal rose from the ground. The skeleton placed the glass box onto the pedestal like it was a feather.

The winds calmed down and the light erratically dimmed.

The pedestal rose and as it did so, stone wrapped around the black box and made a small black hat for it.

Once the... lamppost stopped rising, the skeleton stared at it in awe.

"Soon... soon."

The light from the lamppost brightened again, blinding me.

Once the light died down, my eyes refocused to see... a baby?

It was a claustrophobic room, roughly 2 meters high and 2 meters wide. The room consisted of white walls and a small black pedestal in the middle, holding the baby. The baby was giving off a faint light that lit up the small room.

Crying filled the room and the baby was flailing its limbs around. The baby had many terrifying dark red scars all across its body. The scars were in the form of gashes that cut deep into the baby's skin.

My hand tried to reach out to the baby, but it was surprisingly hard to move my arms. My eyes were drawn towards a path in front of me.

...What was this?

My hand continued trying to reach out towards the baby, but before it got close the crying became louder and louder.

My teeth grit, in pain from the incessant crying.

I fell to one knee before I knew it and the baby with the pedestal began to warp.

The baby and the pedestal appeared at the end of the path in front of me. It was roughly ten meters away from me.

Behind me, was a strong wind pulling me backward into a black void. However, my foot was planted on the floor.

For whatever reason, I wanted to move forward.

The crying hurt my ears, the wind was pulling me backward, and there was a heavy pressure on my mind when my body moved.

Slowly, I got up to my feet.

My mind was in terrible pain, but my foot took a step forward.

My feet were sliding backward. My body was trembling as a step was taken forward.

The progress made hardly matched the progress lost from the wind pulling me back.

Yet, my body kept moving forward like it was unaware of how little progress it was making.

What was happening?

My eyes caught a glimpse of my body, which was made from a cloud of ethereal black dust.

The walls began to crack and the void was swallowing the room. It seemed the room was not going to hold up for much longer.

A frown appeared on my face and my body took another step further.

It was painful. It was so painful to continue walking forward.

Yet, for some reason, my steps continued.

The pressure on my body was crushing and the crying was hurting my mind.

But, the grating crying did not seem annoying to me.

My eyes were focused on the crying child and my body continued forward.

...But my mind was becoming muddled. My body of black dust was breaking apart.

Not to mention the room was already beginning to break down.

The progress made was no match for how fast the void behind me was slowly swallowing the room.

My body desperately took another step forward, as slow as it was.

Despair seeped into my heart.

Could I even make it?

My eyes focused on the crying baby in front of me.

...How long have you been here?

All alone, in an endless darkness...

The times Mildred gently hugged me flashed in my mind.

Tears began falling from my black dust body.

Something in my heart was lit aflame.

It was the pure insanity that drove me forward.

A tear fell down my face as my entire being embraced the pain, taking step after step forward.

Each step was heavier and harder than the last one.

It seemed as though my body was being crushed at the bottom of the ocean.

My vision was blurry and it was hard to tell if I was even moving.

The crying was getting louder and the wind was pulling stronger.

My steps continued forward and a scream came from me.

The baby was five meters away and a meter behind me was the void, slowly consuming the room.

My speed was still too slow, the void was catching up.

My teeth were grit and my body forced itself to move faster.

Too slow... I was still too slow.

The flames of insanity grew. It grew large enough to raze down the whole world.

...Then my eyes glazed over.

I was running through the forest.

A small knife was in my belt and a gemstone in my left hand. My lungs were taking in ragged breaths and my eyelids were erratically blinking out of sync.

It was the middle of the night and my body was shivering. There were small cuts all over my body that swelled and became purple.

My head turned to a cave and my feet stumbled over towards it.

My right arm remained at the side limply, swinging around uncontrollably.

The cave was dark, but that did not seem to concern me.

My teeth were grit and my body was shivering. A grunt seeped past my teeth and mana was drawn from the crystal.

A small ball of fire appeared beside me.

My mouth hung slightly open and my lungs forcefully took in a deep breath.

My body suddenly froze.

There was... heavy breathing coming from deep in the cave.

A frown appeared on my face, but my steps continued forward.

The small ball of fire lit up the path a few meters ahead.

The breathing was getting louder.

My eyes narrowed, my vision could just barely make out a black horn.

I took another step forward.

...There was a four-horned demon. It was less than two meters high and one of its legs was bent the wrong way.

With a flash, I was back in the room with the baby.

The baby was right in front of me.