His eyes fluttering softly, Johan blinked slowly before they fully reopened. All he could see was pitch-black—nothingness—a void that stretched endlessly in every direction.
The darkness was heavy as he began to walk. It suffocated him like a blanket, sapping the warmth from his skin. The ground replied with a hollow thud, reverberating in the silent void with each step he took.
It didn’t take long before he realized he was no longer in the world that was so familiar to him. He was no longer in New York City. He was no longer in Manhattan.
But where else could he have been?
Attempting to clear his blurry vision, Johan viciously rubbed his eyes, but as he did this, a dim light from an unnoticed source paved a path across the terrain.
With the help of the small ray of light, faint shapes began to materialize out of the fog, revealing a most mysterious sight—rugged buildings and cobbled streets that, upon further examination, seemed to belong to another time.
“Great, just what I needed,” Johan muttered as he walked around the buildings. “First, I’m spat on. Now this?”
Fighting off the unease biting at his core, Johan took hesitant steps before compelling himself to continue marching forward. The buildings loomed over him like crumbling ancient monoliths that whispered tales of the forgotten and decay.
Steadying his nerves, he took a deep breath, his mind trying to understand everything that had happened. “Alright, Johan, focus up. How did we get here? Man, this is all kinds of weird…”
“Is there anyone out there!” Johan cried out, but the silence remained unbroken.
The veil of the fog began to open up even more, just enough for him to see that he was walking through some village of the past, one without any signs of life.
Rounding a corner, he thought he saw movement—a flicker of shadow in the corner of his eye. His heart quickened, but when he turned to look, there was nothing—only darkness.
“…This is becoming a bit too much for my liking…” Johan muttered, but he was determined not to let the creepiness of the unknown silence get to him.
He pressed on, and the village unfolded before his eyes like a labyrinth of narrow alleyways, each turn leading him deeper. But as he wandered through the maze-like streets, anxiety seeped into his bones. The air felt thick with impending doom, making one’s skin crawl.
Then he encountered them—shadowy figures moving slowly through the dim light piercing the fog. His pulse quickened when the light grazed one of their faces—it was a man.
“Hey! What is this place?! Do you know where we are?!”
The man paid Johan’s words no heed, ignoring them completely. His eyes seemed fixed ahead on some unseen point in the distance; his movements were mechanical and empty of purpose.
Johan watched as the man continued to walk forward before his body collapsed into the solid trunk of a tree, falling to the ground with a sickening thud. But instead of reacting like any average person would, he rebounded, standing up to repeat the same action, walking into the tree again.
It was as if the man had caught himself trapped in an endless loop.
“What the hell is going on here…?” Johan muttered, frozen at the sight unfolding before him.
Johan approached the man cautiously, reaching out to stop him from his mindless actions. “Hey… hold on.”
He grabbed the shoulder of the man, stopping him in his tracks. “I’m talking to you… Are you crazy? Snap out of it.”
The man turned, and for a second, his face morphed into a grotesque mask resembling that of a primal fear, the Leviathan. A wave of cold terror washed over Johan, sending shivers down his spine.
The man’s eyes had become hollow and void of life. It was as if his essence had been consumed by darkness, leaving only an empty shell behind.
Johan stumbled backward, his heart pounding through his chest. But as he flinched from the surreal sight, it quickly disappeared, and the man’s face returned to normal before resuming his relentless march into the tree.
“…S***… What’s going on here?” Johan whispered, shaking his head to clear the disturbing image. “Am I seeing things?”
Frustration and helplessness welled inside him as he watched the man continue his pointless action. “Just walk around the damn tree,” he said aloud, his mind racing with questions.
“…What did I get myself into?”
Johan pressed on despite everything around him and the fear that began to boil within him. He was determined to find answers.
Was he dreaming? Or was this hell in disguise?
But he knew he had to be ready for anything, whatever the case.
He ventured deeper into the village, walking the gloomy streets as the dread grew more robust. The alarming sights and sounds weighed heavily on his consciousness as he encountered more inhabitants.
Men, women, and even children alike whose actions mirrored those of the first, their movements automated, repetitive, and barren of any spark of life.
Then, a sudden realization began to take hold of him as memories of the bullet flooded his brain, eating away at the edges of his mind. “…Don’t tell me, but am I dead?”
After pondering the thought for a bit longer, Johan clenched his fist. “Goddamn it! I’m dead, aren’t I!? Dying young wasn’t on my list of things to do!”
Then, as if to answer his cry, the fog opened a small clearing overlooking a yawning abyss of darkness that seemed to stretch into eternity.
“That’s the only answer… I must be dead. I have to be. I’m strong, but not strong enough to take a bullet to the dome,” Johan whispered, his voice trembling under the reality of his situation.
“…So, then this place must be the afterlife? Damn, I guess I wasn’t good enough to be sent to a place with beautiful women floating around who wanna feed me grapes.”
As Johan fell victim to his perverted thoughts of women with white, luscious wings feeding him grapes from the vine, the darkness from the abyss seemed to close in. It was as if it had drawn him to the cliff’s edge.
Like a siren and her call, the void beckoned out for him, promising oblivion and bliss. He stepped closer, the darkness below pulsing with a life of its own.
Thoughts began to bombard his mind. What was the point of fighting the inevitable? If he was already dead, what harm could come from taking one final leap into the abyss?
Seemingly, as if planned, a melodic female voice interrupted his intrusive thoughts of leaping into the unknown. Johan then found himself face-to-face with a small creature floating at eye level.
She was a tiny imp, about two feet tall, with delicate, gossamer wings that shimmered in shades of green and purple. Her skin was a soft, muted lavender, and her large, expressive eyes were those of a curious child. Pointy ears peeked through her wild and tousled hair, which danced like wisps of smoke around her face.
“What do we have here? A functional mortal, I see,” the imp said as her tone trickled with delight and much curiosity. “You’re thinking about jumping in there, aren’t you? I advise you don’t. It’ll do no good for you in the end.”
Johan stumbled back from the cliff’s edge. Startled, his eyes widened as he tried to speak, but nothing came out. He had lost his voice in the presence of this new and strange creature.
“I hope you know you’re not dead,” the imp stated before he could voice his many questions.
On the defensive, Johan crossed his arms. “Oh, yeah? Then where am I? And how did I end up here?”
“All will be revealed in good time, mortal. But for now, let’s say you’re in a place between worlds.”
“A place between worlds?” Johan repeated. “…Limbo? So, I am dead, and who the hell are you?”
The imp giggled. “I told you already, you’re not dead, and as for me, I am your guide.”
“My guide?” Johan muttered. The look on his face made it clear that he was suspicious of the talking imp. “So, what’s your game? You stopped me from jumping. What do you want from me?”
The imp floated closer to his face. “What do I want from you? Hmm, well, you have a destiny to fulfill. I can’t have you throwing yourself into the abyss. Not yet, at least.”
“Destiny, huh?” Johan scoffed. “Sorry, not interested. Especially in the afterlife.”
The imp began to chuckle again, her laughter sending a chill through Johan as it echoed around them. He paused, unsure of how to respond.
“You’re certainly a funny one, much different than the others, but I’m telling you… You’re not dead.”
Clouded by the confusion of the imp’s cryptic riddle of words, Johan said, “Just tell me, where am I.”
Excitement danced in the imp’s eyes as she gave him a playful grin. “You are inside a place known as the Penumbra.”
“…The Penumbra…? It would help if you guys had a better PR team. What kind of name is that?”
“The name comes with the territory,” the imp remarked as she chuckled softly.
“Alright, so let’s say I agree with what you said, and I’m not dead. Then what am I doing here? And why am I here talking to you, a floating imp?”
“Ah, now there’s the question I was waiting for. Why are you here? Well, you’re here because, like I said, you have a destiny to fulfill. You have a role to play in the grand scheme of things,” she replied. “You see, mortal, the Penumbra is a realm of darkness and despair. A place where humans caught in it wander, trapped for all eternity.”
“That still doesn’t explain why I’m here. It sounds fun and all, but I want to go home. And all this talk about destiny, what if I say screw your destiny?”
The imp’s eyes broadened. “Oh, you can try, but best believe that destiny always has a way of getting what it wants.”
Johan glanced over the abyss, the void below, pitch black as if it would swallow anything whole. “Enough talk about all this destiny crap. So, what now? I wander around here forever?”
“No, not forever,” the imp corrected him. “But for as long as it takes to accept your destiny. Your purpose for being here.”
“Great. Just what I needed,” Johan muttered sarcastically. “More existential b*******…”
“You’re a funny one. I like you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Johan muttered, waving the imp off as he walked away. “Who doesn’t?”
“Hey, wait. Where are you going?” the imp asked, hovering alongside Johan.
“To look for a way out of this place,” Johan confidently asserted.
“Why not just ask me for help? If you ask politely, I’ll surely help. I am your guide, after all.”
“Now, why would I do that? I told you already, I’m sure as hell won’t be accepting any of destiny’s calls.”
“Funny and stubborn, are we?”
“Call it what you want. I’ll find a way out of here on my own.”
“But really, I can help.” The imp’s voice took on a more serious tone. “I can help you escape the Penumbra. All it takes is making a sanctioned vow with me. My power in exchange for your cooperation. With my help, you can leave this place behind.”
“Yeah, right. I’m not making any vows with you or anyone else here. I like having a soul, so I’ll keep mine, thank you.”
The imp smiled slightly. “You’re very different than the others; I’ll give you that. But remember, the Penumbra is a dangerous place. It doesn’t let people go easily.”
Ignoring most of her words, Johan replied, “What do you mean by ‘the others?’ You keep on comparing me to who? The braindead out there wandering?”
The imp floated higher into the air as her body faded into a shadowy mist. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. Good luck, mortal. You’ll need it,” she replied with a chuckle.
And with that, she was gone just as quickly as she appeared, leaving Johan alone with his thoughts and the eerie silence around him. He stood there momentarily, his mind processing everything that had occurred.
But regardless of what the talking imp said, one thing still wasn’t clear—was he dead? Even still, he wasn’t going to give up. He had to find a way out of the Penumbra and back home.
Although the imp had said he had a destiny to fulfill, Johan wasn’t interested. He was only interested in survival, and he was damn sure going to make it out of this place—on his terms.
