Time flew by.
Lynn had no idea how much time had passed-or perhaps time had stopped flowing altogether.
He only remembered calling forth the darkness that had brought countless deities down thousands of years ago. Despair and bone-chilling numbness had assailed him, leaving him utterly calm. He had recklessly dragged all of Hell onto the gambling table, because he knew that without their promise, everything he had done in Hell would be meaningless.
So had I secured that promise?
Through the haze.
He only remembered the chaotic darkness tearing apart the colors that blotted out the sky, descending over all of Hell like a great cataclysm.
Had they all died?
Or had they already fallen into the eternally silent Abyss?
The next moment.
His eyes snapped open.
Dazzling light flooded his pupils, leaving him unable to make out his surroundings. He instinctively raised a hand before his eyes, half closing them to shield himself from the glare.
His hand shifted unconsciously, seeming to brush against green grass.
When he finally adjusted to the light, he sat up in a daze and gazed at the sky, blue as far as the eye could see.
Birdsong and the fragrance of flowers surrounded him.
For an instant.
It almost felt as though he had returned to Earth, waking from a nap on a woodland lawn on a hazy afternoon, only to discover that everything he had experienced had been nothing but an afternoon dream. He had never fallen into that monster-filled Hell. He was still fifteen, still lying in his own backyard that afternoon. Nothing had changed.
Dazed, he braced himself against the tree beside him and stood.
But soon.
He shook off that haze.
This was neither Earth nor Blue Star.
There was no sunlight in the sky, nor any clouds. As