Chapter 78 Stuck In Limbo

Lee Seng watched as the man in the fedora hat came closer. His abdomen area was burning and it grew with each step the hat man made. The hat man clicked his tongue and shook his head. He stopped right in front of Lee Seng. A nose and pair of eyes formed. The hat man was pale like a corpse and his eyes were red like blood. His eyebrows sprouted and were black like a raven.

"You smell like a Realmwalker, foxling." The hat man spoke. He leaned in a sniffed before moving back again. "You reek of him."

"Smell like a Realmwalker? Him? Who? T-the--" Lee Seng stopped. His mind flashed and the shadow man appeared in his head. The hat man nodded like he knew what Lee Seng was thinking about. "The shadow man...?" Lee Seng said quietly.

"The Realmwalkers will be reminded." The hat man nodded. His blood eyes stared straight past Lee Seng. Lee Seng shivered uncomfortably and the hat man sighed. He waved his hand and the hold on Lee Seng vanished. Lee Seng moved backwards to give himself space.

"R-reminded of what...?" Lee Seng stuttered out. The hat man glanced off to the side and then back to Lee Seng. He pointed a gloved finger to Lee Seng and then started to slowly move his finger clockwise.

"Leave before you really cause trouble, foxling. Your kind shouldn't play around in my space." The hat man said. Lee Seng felt the flickers start. He looked around and watched as the hat man kept moving his index finger in a circle. "Don't come back." The flickers grew and the noise of the crowd started to fill the air.

Lee Seng watched as the hat man kept moving his index finger in a circle. He continued to watch until the hat man stopped. The flickering and blending stopped for Lee Seng and the hat man tilted his head.

"Peculiar," the hat man said. "A mere babe defies me?" The hat man shakes his head as he passes Lee Seng. Lee Seng turns to watch him exit the broken and overgrown arena.

"S-so how am I s-supposed to leave?" Lee Seng asked. The hat man ignored Lee Seng's question and with a single step, he vanished into thin air. Lee Seng began to chuckle. His nerves and anxiety were spiking in every direction. "Oh god, what the hell am I doing? Everything. Is. Weird." Lee Seng threw his fist into his chest a couple of times and looked around.

"A mere babe defies me?" The hat man's voice echoed in Lee Seng's head. "Your kind shouldn't play around in my space."

"Why would I play around in your space?" Lee Seng shuddered. He jumped around and shook his hands furiously. "I don't even wanna be here. And what does he mean by 'your kind'?" Lee Seng ruffled his hair and groaned in frustration. The hat man didn't help him one bit and his growing feeling that the shadow man really did have something to do with this.

Lee Seng's tail swung around, nervously as he continued to run down every scenario that could've happened and the scenario the did happen. His mind raced for answers on what he should be doing and how he should handle being in so-called 'Limbo.'

"Argh!' Lee Seng slammed his foot. His tail raised high and he let out a deep breath. "No use in thinking about this! Keng, are you there?"

'You're overworked about that?' Keng asked.

"T-that? Of course I'm freaking out! How would you feel if you just suddenly poofed into a place that's dead and void of anything human and a creepy hat man with no facial features sprouts facial features and tells you you're in Limbo?!?"

'That was a summary.' Keng sighed. 'Let's not get ahead of ourselves, kay? You're in Limbo and it is true you aren't supposed to be here. I honestly don't know what to tell you to get out, but you have to find the way now.'

"What about Olivia and the fight? What if she loses and they notice I'm gone?"

'They probably already know you're gone. You poofed, twice. You've been gone longer than the last, Lee. Take a deep breath and steady yourself. I don't know why we got pulled into Limbo, but we just have to navigate our way out.'

Lee Seng nodded and took a couple of deep breaths. His abdomen area burnt like a never-ending fire while his chest hurt from the leftover amount of energy from Ritsuka's Angerfang. The wisps fluttered around his body and were slowly making his injuries go away. The only thing that would probably continue to bother Lee Seng was the burning feeling in his abs.

"Fine. Let's not worry about anything else until we're both out of this." Lee Seng turned to look around. The run-down and overgrown gym did seem like an exact replica of where he was. "Let's assume Limbo is an exact replica of the world. I know where I am, currently, and will navigate that based on that. I just need to figure out how to get out of here. Do I wander or...?"

'Keep your mask on at all times while you're here.' Keng warned.

"Why?" Lee Seng asked. Lee Seng could feel Keng shaking his head and turned to look at his turning tail. "Are those stories about people going into Limbo or the in-between or the afterlife or whatever, true? Are the shaman stories I heard from Mom true too then?"

'Just keep your mask on. You don't want to cause pull unnecessary attention to yourself while you're here.' Keng answered. 'If fantasy truly became a reality in the real world then the stories about Limbo or the in-between or the afterlife has to be true then, right? Whatever things you've heard stem from some truth. If all the fantasy stories became real then that means this place could actually be the real deal.'

Lee Seng tried really hard to not go down that rabbit hole of thoughts. He had in inkling feeling that all of those shaman stories could be real, but he didn't want to accept that. Keng was right, though. If fantasy became real for all those people who grew up reading it, then it was more the plausible that the stories he heard from his Mom were true.

Shamans who traversed to the spirit realm and came back. If many people before the Biohuman point did that, then there would definitely be people who could and would do it now.

"Realmwalker." The hat man's voice echoed in Lee Seng's head. Lee Seng shook his head and stepped out of the raised arena. He made his way towards the exit, watching his step along the way.

Lee Seng pushed the door open, listening to the loud groan of the door as he pushed through. Vines and weeds snapped and the door flew open. The stale smell of nature lingered in the air. The lights were all off and Lee Seng's ruby and sapphire eyes moved to the right side of the hallway. The sound of footsteps walking away echoed and a man in a fedora hat turned the corner.

'Isn't that the hat man?' Lee Seng thought.

'I think it is... Are you gonna follow him?' Keng asked. Lee Seng moved into the hallway and started after the hat man.

'He's the only person I saw while I was here, so he must know the way.' Lee Seng turned right at the end of the hallway and saw the hat man on the other side of the hall. The man seemed to be standing there, waiting. 'Is he... waiting for me?'

'Why are you literally asking every question people in horror movies would do?' Keng asked.

'How do you know those tropes?' Lee Seng answered with a question. He started down the hallway, looking around at run-down Academy hallway.

'I might've watched enough tv from your memories to know.'

Lee Seng grinned and shook his head. He knew Keng had gone through his memories, but he didn't expect Keng to be one to watch movies from his memories. He wondered which movies and tv shows must've popped up in his memories then.

As soon as he made it halfway down the hall, the hat man turned the left corner. Lee Seng picked up the pace and decided he would close the distance. As soon as he rounded the corner, the hat man was already turning the right corner.

"How does he move that fast? Is every ghost scene like this?" Lee Seng wondered. He ran down the hallway and turned the right corner. The hat man was now walking straight down the hallway with no care in the world.

"Hey!" Lee Seng shouted. He could feel the blur effect overcome him and he started to sprint down the hallway. The hat man seemed to always be equidistant to him. He slide to a stop as doors came into view and the hat man seemingly blended through the doors and was standing near the overgrown cement roads.