Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Reon's body quivered as he saw the beyond frightening scene before his eyes. The sound of chewing, bones cracking under the mastication of large teeth belonging to the giant of a man before him was indeed horrific!

The giant was sitting down with its legs tucked in, knees facing up like a child. Most of its body was hidden by the squirming darkness. Its body was full of taut and well toned muscles, its sandy skin revealing strange red veins that ran amok along its entirety.

What made all of this worse was the fact that this giant's peculiar red eyes never left Reon as it slowly devoured the body of the old man who was supposed to be Reon's first opponent!

That gaze alone told Reon that there was no escape.

Soon, the giant finished its meal and smiled widely at Reon, its hands resting on its knees.

"It's been a while. You challengers have been especially hard to find all these years, ahaha. I underestimated how big this place is. Come closer and let me have a good look at you," the giant said in a boisterous, yet childish voice.

Reon found himself walking over slowly, even as he tried to hold himself back!

The thought of attacking the first thing he saw had already left his mind as all that remained was a deep-set fear of what was to happen next.

What was this giant?

Was he meant to fight it?

Ridiculous!

Though he couldn't ascertain how strong it was, it still gave off a rather chilling pressure.

As Reon reached within five meters of this giant, it suddenly puffed up its cheeks, taking in some air and blew hard at the surroundings!

The unmovable darkness that surrounded them was immediately blown back and erased under the twister-like force of wind that was released!

Reon was even more shaken!

The unrelenting force brought about by the wind left no traces of the darkness as what remained were the clear walls, floor and ceiling, where a small spot of light illuminated everything!

"There we go," the giant said. "I haven't had a decent conversation with someone in a long time. I've forgotten how it goes. Oh! That's right! It's common courtesy to introduce oneself first, aha ha!

My name is Sause. What's yours?"

Reon didn't want to respond, yet...

"Reon..."

"Ah... a lovely name, aha ha! Nice to meet you, Reon. I have proposal for you. Would you like to hear it and agree to whatever it is because you have no choice in the matter whatsoever?"

"Gladly..."

"Brilliant! I like you already! You see, the idiot who created this place locked me up in its bowels right before he died. I managed to escape a few years ago, but this place is just so darn huge that I can't seem to find an exit! Would you happen to have a way to get out?"

"No, but my friends do..."

"Oh, there's more of you? Great! Where are they?"

"I don't know, we were split up when we came in..."

"Oh, that's a shame. But hey, there's a quick fix aha ha! Come closer..."

Reon walked up to the giant whose name was Sause, and the man leaned in to give him a big whiff!

A moment later, the giant's eyes brightened, as he wore a content smile.

"Aha ha! No problem! I'll find them," Sause said and snapped his fingers, causing make three long, ethereal threads that swam in different directions to appear.

One was blue, the second was red and the last... was colourless, barely visible.

"Would you look at that? You have some interesting friends. I can't wait to meet them. If we end up getting to be such good chums, I wouldn't mind taking them for a bite. Aha ha!"

Reon had been answering Sause's questions nonstop, but his face depicted the absolute horror that he felt inside.

'What is this monster?! This feels so wrong! My body won't respond! We shouldn't have come here! I can't control my body! It knows where the others are?!

Can we even survive this?' Reon's mind spat out hysterical thought after hysterical thought as he gazed at the innocently grinning figure before him.

The giant stood up, but it's full height was limited in the enclosure which was not designed to house its size. Still, the giant reached almost four meters in this state and it went on to grab Reon by his torso.

"Let's go and find your friends. Make sure to tell them that I'm a good acquaintance of yours."

Sause turned into a blur in the next moment. He shuttled with god-like speed into the wall which exploded, making way for his charge.

***

The double doors screeched open and a burst of chatter and laughter assaulted Skullius' ears immediately!

...!

A magnificent yet horrifying scene appeared before him beyond the doors.

A massive space that was littered with luxurious tables and chairs appeared.

Multiple chandeliers made of precious gems lit up the vast enclosure, giving it a bright, bountiful feel.

The setup of the entire room, if it could even be called one, was incredibly beautiful. An exquisite red and gold tapestry laid on the floor with glorious paintings and sculptures on or near the walls.

Hundreds of men and women who were sharply or curiously dressed were conversing with each other animatedly while sipping on expensive looking drinks and eating premium quality food.

Their laughter from time to time would have made one feel as though they were back to the normal embrace of civil society, but Skullius, who had opened the doors felt otherwise.

His affinity to [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light] drew him to things that most wouldn't be able to notice.

Spots of light flew around like fireflies in this hall, unhindered by any physical object; they simply passed through.

Soft wisps of dark mist rolled around close to the floor, which was rather... unnerving.

The icing on the cake was the fact that all the people in this place emitted these wisps of darkness too from their bodies while above their heads, a curious golden white halo could be seen.

"Dear me! We have a guest!" a burly man cried and rushed towards Skullius with a big smile intending to give him a big bear hug.

He had combed back brown hair and blue eyes that expounded a vivacity so rare and chilling that Skullius was compelled to dodge his embrace warily.

"What's going on here?" Skullius asked with a dark, frightended look.

"Oh, dear friend. We're celebrating Fulgardt's death. Always and forever. It feels like yesterday when he passed, but it's probably been thousands of years now," the man answered.

"You're celebrating?"

"Why, of course!" A cheerful smile bloomed on the man's face as he explained. "Each and every one of us is someone who has aided Fulgardt in some way. Giving potions, lessons, doing him favours - many little odd things. Fulgardt sought us all out and gathered us for one last banquet before his death. He said that it was the duty of a man's acquaintances to celebrate his death... eternally.

So that's what we do. We celebrate... for eternity."

"...?" Skullius stared blankly at the man. A closer look told him that he (the burly man) was struggling to keep his smile up. His eyes were squinted into crescents, marking the sheer effort he was putting into securing this forced facade afloat.

Skullius saw the same thing etched upon the faces of everyone he gazed at. Some of the men and women in this place were actually leaking tears from their eyes as this torture wasn't something they could do anything against.

The burly man before Skullius oozed of the darkness that resonated with his keen affinity. Skullius confirmed that it indeed was [Evil Darkness]. The halo above him also resonated with [Just Light].

Did Fulgardt combine these two elements to somehow keep everyone here alive?!

Skullius couldn't fully wrap his mind around it.

This was bizarre as flesh!

"What am I supposed to do here?" Skullius thought aloud.

"How about you join us? We haven't had another guest in years! Surely you'd want to celebrate Fulgardt's demise with us!"

The enthusiasm packed within the sentence made Skullius grimace as he thought carefully.

GRRRRR!

GWAGWGWAGWA!

"...."

The sound came from Skullius belly. It was a ravenous growl unbefitting of any human stomach!

"You must be hungry. Please, come and eat!" the burly man said, gesturing towards a table.

Skullius was led to a seat after he reluctantly gave in to this discount version of his hunger.

He found bountiful foods that did nothing to catch his carnal attention - as he couldn't smell - presented before him.

All the Discount Human wanted to do was eat and get rid of the literal gnawing sensation coming from his stomach.

Thus, Skullius picked one of each of the crisply roasted, majestically baked and masterfully refined goodies and placed them in his pristine white plate.

'Hmmm. What on earth am I doing? This actually feels.... vaguely familiar,' Skullius thought as the scene and his movements made him reminisce of a time he didn't remember.

Skullius grabbed some meat first.

The moment he did, a grand silence appeared as everyone in the room suddenly turned to him, paying extreme attention to his movements.

Even the burly man who had invited him merely looked at him with a daring gaze, his smile faded.

"Dear guest. Please eat. This celebration is in honour of a great man after all. So please..." he urged.

Skullius was freaked out by the sudden change.

Why were these people behaving so strangely all of a sudden?