Chapter 28
Days after the banquet, Dax stood high above the skies, suspended in the open air. Below him, the world basked quietly beneath the sun, calm and untouched.
He did not rush. He simply observed, allowing the natural essence of the world to flow into his senses.
In that still moment, a thought surfaced the face of an enemy.
"Kakarai."
He remembered the words he had spoken to him—the order to come to the Godfall Manor. A faint smile crept onto Dax's face.
"Oh! How lovely."
With a slight shift of intent, his body propelled forward, cutting through the sky as he moved out of the city shared by the Endo and Godfall clan.
As he traveled, Dax expanded his senses, recalling the unique feel of Kakarai's presence. The ominous weight he carried. The taint tied to the Blood God… and Solos. That strange familiarity lingered clearly in his memory.
He pushed his perception further, stretching it to its limit.
Midair, Dax closed his eyes.
In the darkness behind his eyelids, something emerged.
A thread.
Thin. Ominous. Floating.
It extended outward, connecting to a distant point.
His eyes opened.
The Origin Eyes were already active.
He saw it clearly now—the string drifting through space, leading toward a faraway location.
In an instant, Dax vanished.
⸻
He reappeared at the edge of the Vabos plain.
"How strange."
"Why is he still here?"
"How long does it take to travel?"
Dax watched coldly. The bastards aura was significantly weaker than what he had encountered since solos.
Dax followed the invisible thread deeper, his gaze sharp and unreadable.
Beneath a withered tree, Kakarai lay sprawled on the ground. His face was buried beneath dirt and tangled hair, his body twisting violently as if trapped in a nightmare.
"Vos! Vos! Vos! Vos! Vos!
Desh! Desh! Vos! Desh! Vos! Desh!"
He screamed uncontrollably, terror etched into every movement.
Dax laughed softly.
"Psychotic as ever," he muttered.
"I would love to see your mind break even further."
Without hesitation, Dax reached down and seized him.
He did not wake him.
He did not interrupt the dream.
Instead, he called out calmly.
"Epoch."
In response, space tore open.
A black hole manifested silently before him.
With no trace of mercy, Dax threw Kakarai into it.
Before turning away, he gave a single command.
"Drop him at the borders of the Backrooms.
And inform every entity within."
He paused briefly, his eyes cold.
"He is mine."
Dax laughed, striking his chest as though he had just captured something rare.
"Wonderful," he said with genuine delight.
"I finally have a proper test subject from this world."
His smile widened—pure, radiant, and unmistakably real. It was the most beautiful smile he had worn since arriving in this world.
"At last," he murmured, "I can begin to understand the humans here."
He paused, eyes gleaming.
"But first… I want to see his mind break."
Not a shallow fracture. Not fear alone.
"I want him shattered beyond what he already is," Dax continued calmly.
"That would be the ultimate experiment."
An experiment of the mind.
Hii!
Satisfied, he closed his eyes, turned away, and drifted back toward the House of Fall as though nothing at all had happened.
—-
Moments later, he was seated casually within his courtyard, basking beneath the sun.
It was important, to paint the mind with serenity before beginning an experiment. One must be calm—to observe clearly, to understand fully.
Dax reclined, soaking in the warmth, speaking softly to himself.
He reached out and picked up a strange fruit—one unknown to this world. A fruit from his lab.
He bit into it without hesitation.
'Sprawl fruit.'
A product of a deeply parasitic tree, one that fed endlessly yet produced nourishment in obscene abundance. Long ago, Dax had created it simply to calm his hunger.
But he was not hungry now.
He wanted to taste it.
Savor it.
One of his growing goals had become clear—to experience every flavor this world had to offer, to understand existence through sensation as much as thought.
When he finished, he rose.
With a thought, the gates to his lab opened. A black void yawned before him.
"It's time," he said quietly.
Stepping through.
⸻
The hallways beyond were cold and silent.
As he walked, Ceron followed—floating behind him like a loyal mechanical pet.
"Ah, Master," Ceron chirped brightly.
"You haven't returned home in so long. You made us very sad."
Its tone was almost pleading.
"Please don't do that again. At least visit once in a while."
Dax smiled gently at the childish robot.
Change.
It was something he had noticed recently.
Not just Ceron—but all of his creations were changing. From Inerous to the smallest automata, something subtle had taken root.
Humanity.
They were learning. Observing humans. Mimicking them. Integrating the data into themselves.
Dax wondered what it was about humanity that compelled even intelligent constructs to imitate it.
He did not dwell on it.
Turning away, he continued down the black corridors.
⸻
When he arrived, his smile returned—slow and fond.
"Oh," he murmured, "my lovely prison."
He stepped forward.
"I wonder if they're still here. My enemies… and my failed tests."
With that, he passed through.
At first, the Backrooms greeted him with white corridors—clean, silent, empty.
Then space tore he emerged into a yellow lobby.
Yellow walls.
Brown carpet and a damp, suffocating stench that clung to the air.
To most, it was unbearable, an endless maze.
Dax inhaled deeply, savoring it like fresh air.
"Ah…"
He smiled.
"How is he now, I wonder?"
Had Kakarai gone mad completely?
Or had only a single second passed for him?
Time here was different.
Dax understood that perception defined time. No one perceives time the same way. To some seconds goes by fast and to others it may be slow.
In this place?
Perception itself was warped.
"Welcome to level 0. Creator!" Voice echoed from the walls belonging to children and adults.