A harbinger of death appeared before him, greeting him with open arms.
No amount of preparation allows someone to comprehend the vast terror that creature instilled in his heart.
The beast was larger than any logic could explain, disgusting, repulsive, and capable of forcing anyone in its path to kneel. Giovanni did not even try to run, because it would have been a futile effort.
He reduced his own noise to the absolute minimum, stopping his breathing and refusing to move a single muscle in his body.
The aberration was blind, or at least appeared to be.
Its burned eyes could not be merely decorative, so he wagered everything on that as his hidden card.
The sound of footsteps was conspicuous, but what about the sound of sand shifting? The wind constantly dragged it along, and the sand beneath his feet would be no different.
He moved as slowly as a slug that way, but it was his only remaining hope. Even in his fantasies, he imagined himself being torn apart, let alone in practice.
The threat did not move without purpose.
It used its countless legs to search for the pathetic intruder who dared to profane its lands with his contemptible presence.
The plaza surrounding the central tower was enormous and would buy Giovanni enough time to get far enough away to have a chance to run.
Each second passed slowly. The nostrils scattered across the insectoid body sniffed relentlessly for a trace of the boy.
"Just a little more..."
A roar shook everything once again, without warning.
It took immense willpower to keep himself from revealing his position through a foolish mistake, like a stumble or a startled scream.
The cluster of enormous buildings surrounding the tower was closer now, but that brought the young man no comfort.
Even if he fled from there and escaped the danger, his way of completing the nightmare would also slip through his fingers.
He did not have time to devise a wise and calculated plan to steal the medallion. Damn it, he did not even have enough time to see the sun rise!
Perhaps the best option was to run and throw himself at the enemy. Who knows, it might work. The worst that could happen was being grafted alive.
His thoughts wandered, seeking comfort in dry humor, but his heart remained empty, cold.
The light that was supposed to be his salvation was the worst kind of trap, one that offers hope before destroying it right in front of you.
Failing to find a solution soon would mean that the three torturous days he spent fighting for his life would end in a tragic finale.
The beast approached the gates of light and seemed to sniff something on their surface; his blood. His palms were covered in cuts thanks to the shard he wielded as a weapon.
"Damn it! Are you serious?!"
The human torso delighted in the aroma, a pleasure that seemed to have been absent from its menu for many centuries.
Its sadistic, insane smile stretched from ear to ear, the skin tearing open to reveal monstrous teeth.
Even with dozens of meters between them, the burned eyes turned toward Giovanni, staring into the depths of his soul. He would be tonight's feast.
The need to conceal the sound of his steps was useless now; he needed to run faster than he ever had in his life.
In the same amount of time it took him to cross the few meters between himself and some narrow streets amid the buildings, the centipede moved with supernatural speed.
The distance shrank in a matter of seconds, and by a hair's breadth, the colossal stinger did not pierce his body from neck to feet.
Perhaps for the creatures that once lived there, those paths were wide enough, but for the body of such a massive abomination, they were nothing more than a crack.
The chimera did not seem frustrated by the prey's brief escape; one might even say it was entertained. Even amid the dark madness that consumed it, the monster still displayed an extravagant and cruel personality.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!"
He saw the creature vanish like a blur, likely heading for an alternate route.
Unlike Giovanni, who was a headless chicken there, the corrupted king knew the terrain like the back of his hand.
His relentless sprint through streets and unfamiliar paths was chaotic, turning wherever it seemed tighter and more inaccessible to his hunter.
Shop signs, carvings etched into the walls, and the unique architecture were nothing but a blur at the edge of his vision. He wished he had time to appreciate them like before, but now he had bigger problems.
One thing he always kept in mind was where he was heading, whether north, south, east, or west. He might be ignorant of the paths, but he had to cling to the little knowledge he had.
Returning south was certain death. The piles of debris offered no protection or cover; he would be captured in seconds.
The northwest, where he had come from, was not ideal either. There was nothing useful there.
A possible point of interest was the north, which should be the location of the second main gate leading deeper into the Canyon.
What did that mean for Giovanni? Nothing, but there might be something there, and that was enough to try.
Another possibility was the east. He had no idea what lay there, but from atop the dune it seemed relatively untouched, which offered better hiding.
"Whatever! I just need to lose this bastard!"
Regardless of the direction he chose, he would be ambushed in one of the wider streets the moment he stepped out of the cluster of massive buildings.
The enormous city could easily be divided into three circles that served as sectors. Wide streets acted as intermediaries between them, facilitating movement.
In the central area, the constructions were monumental, extremely close together, and thick.
The area beside it was likely residential, if he had to guess, with buildings of varied and irregular sizes.
It was precisely in that southwestern area that he encountered the grafted warrior, and because of that, he doubted the eastern one would be much different.
The problem lay precisely in the street dividing the two areas. It was as spacious as the ones connecting the walls to the center and would certainly accommodate a colossal monster eager to skewer him in half.
Giovanni had just witnessed its speed and knew that no matter how fast he ran, he would be impaled in seconds.
He had only managed to escape earlier because he was at the entrance of a street too narrow for its stinger, and even then, it was a close call.
As he frantically reasoned through a plan, something on the ground a few meters away caught his attention.
The opening must once have been covered by a lid, but it was open and broken.
Looking into the darkness below, he expanded his senses and analyzed the terrain, managing to feel an underground path stretching beyond the limits of his power.
"It's pitch black down there!"
The surface was not much better. Night had already fallen, but the golden and divine tower offered some degree of visibility. If he descended, he would have to navigate in complete darkness.
He could still rely on his special sense to guide himself, but he would be defenseless against any threat. But honestly, there was nothing worse than what awaited above.
He crouched and gripped the edge, judging the distance to the bottom before letting go and disappearing into the shadows.
A few drops landed on Giovanni's head.
Confused, he looked up and noticed that along with the night, rot was falling from the sky. Soon it would rain instead of snow.
The smell was similar to that of the chimera's bodies, a connection that left him unsettled.
Not wanting to spend more time than necessary exposed to that horror show, he followed the path that seemed better preserved.
The journey was slow, full of dead ends. The city floor had collapsed in many places, permanently sealing paths to his destination.
The north was especially inaccessible, since he would need to pass beneath the central tower. The phenomenon that destroyed it turned everything near its foundation into rubble.
Deprived of many choices, he focused on trying to find a clear route to the east. The sound of the rain outside was muffled, but not entirely inaudible.
Rot seeped through cracks and openings, slowly flooding the underground, something that should have filled him with urgency, but he lacked the strength to move any faster than his current pace.
Affected by the temperature, his body slowed, and the infection was like insects crawling through his muscles, reproducing and growing.
He never imagined he could endure so much suffering and still remain standing. It was hard to define the boundary between the indomitable human spirit and madness.
Perhaps it was precisely the lack of choice that allowed him to continue. If he had the option to lie down and allow himself to die peacefully, he would gladly accept it at that point.
But all that awaited him was pain upon pain in every choice, so he chose to keep trying to escape this nightmare.
It was hard to judge the exact distance he had traveled down there, but he should already be in the residential area or a bit beyond. All he needed was an exit.
There was always the possibility that the mutant centipede was waiting for him just on the other side, but thanks to the rain, his scent must have been partially masked.
"Here it is..."
A bit of light escaped from a circular opening in the ceiling, the degraded lid failing to seal the hole.
He took several fragments from the demolished underground walls and stacked them one by one to create an improvised staircase.
After that, all that was left was to drag the lid just enough to squeeze through the opening, finally returning to the surface.
He looked to the skies to orient himself, seeing the city walls, the tower at its center, and the canyon wall in the distance; he really was to the east.
He searched among the ruins, searching for... something. Something he himself did not know.
At this point, he was deceiving himself, pretending he was making progress when in truth he was only delaying the inevitable.
There was no magic sword that would grant him the power to fight the enemy.
There was no guardian who would come to save him from his plight.
There was nothing and no one, because he was alone. He would die alone, far from everything he loved, surrounded by a false world that hated him.
The beast's roar grew louder, drawing closer.
He had been found again, less than a minute after emerging. It would take a little while before it reached him, but it made little difference.
He ran again, heading straight for the walls. He wanted to put as much distance as possible between himself and the aberration.
The last sector of the city was precisely the farthest from the center; the outskirts were the only place to escape.
His skin swelled, forming small yellowish blisters, and the few that appeared on his foot burst, creating open wounds. He was already more dead than alive, and his legs seemed ready to give out at any moment.
At the end of one of the streets, he found himself face to face with the colossal wall, and just above it, the canyon cliff rising even higher.
Several small structures were piled there, leaning against the city's main defense. He entered the first one he saw, resembling a market, and collapsed.
He tried to move his legs, but they did not respond.
He tried to move his arms; they only trembled.
Adrenaline had carried him far, but that was the limit.
At that point, all that remained was to make peace with his own end.
He had done his best, gone farther than he ever imagined. He had seen magnificent things and crossed the desert in a unique adventure.
He had lived happy years alongside people who loved him. How many others would not want to be in his place? The inhabitants of the outskirts of the real world did not have access to clean air, real food, or safety.
He was happy and grateful for the little comfort he had. It was all right.
But then a laugh echoed.
The laughter was his own.
"HAHAHAha! Urgh! hahaHA!"
What a joke... and it was not even a good one. It was the most despicable and unfunny kind, the sort that made a smile wilt.
Who would accept something like that? WHO?! Of course, he did not want to die! After so long, just when an opportunity to become someone important had arisen, all this shit decided to happen.
Who cared if other people had suffered more than him while growing up? None of them could understand even a fraction of the agony coursing through his body.
There was no happiness in this miserable hell, and he wished that every inch of this nightmare would burn.
The sound of his laughter attracted the beast. Its steps stopped right in front of the market. The aberration knew its prey was cornered and therefore did not hurry.
Its body lowered, allowing the human torso to stare at Giovanni from just a few centimeters away.
The fingers of the muscular, monstrous man ran over the body the young man inhabited, until they stopped at his thighs. Sharp nails pierced skin and fabric alike, sinking into flesh.
It would start with the legs.
Giovanni, in his final moments, could only remember the description of something he had read at the very beginning of all this.
[Miracle Bearer] Attribute Description: "The burden of miracles is conceived in the golden boy, but fulfilled only through light."
He closed his eyes and faced the light emanating from the medallion. A desperate, painful smile, perhaps mad.
Somewhere above, something trembled. The gentle movement of sand began as a delicate flow, then became a river in motion.
The ruins scattered across the desert were not exclusive. Many of the colossal fragments of the tower had fallen above the canyon, along its edges.
It was impossible to move them, both because of their size and their mythical composition, which denied his power. But who said he needed to control them?
At that moment, his other two runes, which had not activated even once during the nightmare, began to glow, burning in his mind.
The balance holding that piece of the tower at the edge was fragile, and only a single intervention was needed for everything to collapse.
Giovanni was incapable of controlling rocks, and the reach of his power was far too small to imagine touching the top of the canyon.
And that is why he needed a miracle to survive. A miracle that was the consequence of the light about to suffocate the boy in the darkness of death.
While one of the attributes allowed him to perform a feat of power beyond the limits of his current rank, the other strengthened the potency of the increase, all for mere moments.
The rocks split apart, yielding without explanation, breaking the foundation that held something in balance. He only moved the first domino; gravity did the rest.
In a violent motion, the leg disconnected from the body, bones and ligaments tearing like paper, fresh and contaminated blood spilling uncontrollably. It no longer mattered. Nothing mattered anymore.
A massive shadow fell over the area of the wall. Even the centipede froze when it noticed, but it was already too late.
A block of divine stone large enough to turn the aberration into an ant descended from the heavens, accompanied by an entire section of the canyon collapsing under its weight.
Seeing fear in the face of the nightmare creature before everything was crushed filled Giovanni with an exotic sensation.
Perhaps that was divine justice.
And that was how Giovanni died.
[The Penitent's Medallion has been shattered.]
[The gates of the Divine Tower of Sekh'Tal open once more.]
[Pilgrim, receive your light!]
In the lonely darkness, the spell whispered again.
[You have slain a Corrupted Demon, Remnants of Amun-Sekhar.]
[Wake up, Giovanni! Your nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal...]