novelraw Chapter 418: The Palm
Chapter 418: The Palm
A middle-aged woodcutter trudged through viscous, ankle-deep mud, dragging a felled log behind him.
The log carved a deep furrow in its wake.
Lu Li glanced down at his own feet, then up at the sky. A thick canopy of clouds obscured his view. All around him stretched a landscape of dark green swamp, overgrown with moss and tangled vines. The air hummed with the songs of birds and the buzz of insects.
It was, perhaps, the first time Lu Li had seen any sign of life in this world with his own eyes.
The retreating woodcutter didn't give Lu Li much time to take in his surroundings. A muffled groan echoed, followed by the sound of a fall, and the vision shattered. Lu Li’s consciousness snapped back to his body.
The searing, suffocating sensation in his lungs returned.
In the viscous depths, Lu Li slowly turned his head. The disappearance of the Face-Worm had drawn the attention of the surrounding dark shadows, which now drifted toward him like jellyfish.
Malicious faces gradually materialized all around him. Lu Li looked down into the gaping abyss, then up at the nearest Face-Worm, and swung his Spirit Gun.
Every movement in the viscous depths was sluggish, all except for the hatred blazing on the Face-Worm’s features.
The scene shifted abruptly, and Lu Li was once again pulled into a vision of death.In a dark, damp cellar, a single candle flickered weakly, casting the trembling shadow of a kneeling figure against the wall.
A quiet, whispered prayer drifted through the cellar, which was thick with the scent of a herbal brew and the ineradicable stench of decay.
Lu Li moved slowly through the cellar, his real body mimicking the same movements in the viscous depths.
Moving to the side of the kneeling figure, Lu Li saw the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around its body and the object of its prayers: the Old Mother of the Swamp.
The prayer in the cellar gradually faded. The figure swayed and, a few seconds later, collapsed, unable to rise again.
A dark red cloud enveloped the statue of the Old Mother of the Swamp, then vanished in an instant.
Torn from the vision of death, Lu Li exhaled the last of the air from his lungs.
The acute lack of oxygen began to cloud his consciousness, stripping him of his reason.
More and more Face-Worms drew near, brushing against the swings of his Spirit Gun, only to dissolve and disappear.
Lu Li found himself in a wooden hut. Beside him, a pair of natives in loincloths sat eating.
He frowned, not yet fully recovered from the suffocation and disorientation. Only within these visions of death could he briefly maintain a clear mind.
The endless stream of Face-Worms kept pulling him into visions of death, but Lu Li could see no way out of his predicament.
The Mother of the Swamp was sealed away by the Old Mother of the Swamp, and Anna was on the outside, oblivious—and even if she knew, there was nothing she could do to help.
The natives were speaking a language Lu Li couldn't understand; it wasn't a local dialect, but the common tongue spoken with a heavy accent.
Lu Li looked outside. The smell of rotting mud and the dark, hanging vines told him he was still in the swamp.
He slowly raised his arm. The gesture seemed foolish in the vision, but in the viscous depths, the approaching Face-Worms would likely drift into the Spirit Gun, allowing Lu Li to remain in the death vision a little longer.
This was his only chance.
His next stop would be the abyss, calling his name.
Not wasting any time trying to understand their words, Lu Li headed for the door.
He wanted to confirm one more time if the moon he had seen before was real.
But death did not wait. The crash of an overturned table sounded from behind, and Lu Li was instantly dragged into the next vision of death.
It was the natives from the village in the swamp again. They were hunting on the edge of the Shadow Swamp when sudden danger befell them.
Then, the visions of death came one after another, spanning a vast stretch of time from the immemorial days of the early swamp to the demise of Tenebrae's inhabitants just a few days ago.
Witnessing death after death, so vividly it was as if he were experiencing them himself, Lu Li learned everything about the Mother of the Swamp.
He saw the moon several times in the death visions, but it was no different from the moon of his own world. He never again saw the strange, eerie, indescribable moon he had witnessed the first time.
The origin of the Face-Worms also became perfectly clear to him.
They had once been followers of the Mother of the Swamp, or innocent victims who had died because of her.
Their souls had become part of the Old Mother of the Swamp's power, eternally imprisoned within her shell, denied any peace.
An elderly man in a worn gray suit appeared before Lu Li, a small suitcase in his hand. He was walking through a dark alley toward his home.
The alley was dimly lit, but the old man kept to the wall, cautiously making his way forward.
He had died before the Night Calamity.
Lu Li, after a glance at the night sky, lowered his gaze, his dark pupils narrowing.
A Head Balloon with a grotesque smile floated over Lu Li’s head and drifted slowly toward the old man.
Lu Li reached out, but his sluggish movements wouldn't allow him to grab the dangling neck of the creature or follow it. He could only watch as the Face-Worm floated up to the unsuspecting old man, coiled its neck around his, and lifted him slightly...
The vision shattered, and Lu Li was thrown back into the viscous depths. He opened his eyes. The Face-Worms hovering around him were now approaching with a strange fanaticism and greed.
Lu Li didn’t understand why the Face-Worms hadn't approached him before, but he knew he would soon be pulled into another death vision.
Suddenly, one of the Face-Worms before Lu Li was shoved aside by another.
It was the face of Oliver.
He stared intently at Lu Li and lunged for the First Pistol in his hand.
“Brother...” Jojo’s voice drifted through the cabin door.
Lu Li remained silent, watching Oliver, who looked toward the door in confusion.
The death vision foretold Oliver's demise.
“Oliver...”
Jojo called out again.
This was how Oliver had died.
The campfire and oil lamp had cast a bright, warm light, but when they arrived, the embers had already grown cold.
“I’m here! I’m here!” Oliver answered loudly, nearly stumbling into the fire. He scrambled to his feet and rushed toward the door.
The call was coming from just outside. Oliver hastily moved the chair that had been barricading the door and was about to open it when Lu Li raised a hand, stopping him.
But this was only a death vision. Lu Li was seeing what had already happened and could do nothing to change it.
Unable to see Lu Li, Oliver couldn't open the door and could only shout helplessly, "I'm here!"
Then it was over. Lu Li’s consciousness returned to his body, only to slip away.
The suffocation had robbed Lu Li of his ability to think; the lack of oxygen finally dragged him into unconsciousness.
He didn't see how Oliver finally disappeared.
His black hair and cloak billowed around him, his hand still gripping the Spirit Gun tightly. Lu Li’s body, now without his control, began to sink into the dark, bottomless abyss.
At that moment, an invisible, slender hand emerged from the void and gently touched Lu Li's back, halting his descent.