Law of The Web - Volume 1 Chapter 2 - The Voice in His Head

I snapped my eyes open, my breath catching in my throat as if I had been drowning and only now broke the surface for air. My body jolted upright, the splintered floor of the cart biting into my palms.

The musty stench of damp wood and unwashed bodies hit me hard, and the distant grind of wooden wheels against uneven terrain roared in my ears.

My head throbbed, and for a moment, I was completely disoriented.

“You’re awake… Are you okay? He beat you pretty bad, you know.”

Came a timid voice.

I turned sharply, my gaze locking onto a dirt-smudged boy who had spoken to me before. My heart skipped as my mind scrambled to make sense of what was happening.

“What?!…

I muttered, my voice barely audible, hoarse, and cracked.

‘This can’t be possible.’

I said to myself still processing the situation.

Memories flooded back, the blinding pain, the whip, and finally, the man slamming my head into the floor. I could still feel the phantom ache, a dull throb at the back of my skull.

“Where… am I?”

I asked, though the words felt like a rerun, an eerie echo to something I have done before.

The boy’s wide frightened eyes darted toward the hulking man at the front of the cart, but he whispered back, not wanting to make too much noise.

“The borderlands… They’re taking us to be sold… to somewhere they call the pits…

My mind reeled. He had said those exact words before, with the same tremble in his voice.

L

The boy tilted his head, confused by my silence.

“Are… are you sure you’re okay?”

Before I could answer, a sharp whisper seared through my mind like a snake hissing in my ear.

“Cause of death: internal brain damage. You have returned to a random checkpoint in time… However, keep in mind fate is a universal force; mortals cannot defy fate, the law has been set in stone, and records have been documented as such; what is meant to happen will happen as documented; the time till your fated death is 1 minute, 12 seconds… the objective this time around is an easy one; survive at all costs.”

I froze the moment I heard speaking in my head.

And even scarier, it wasn’t mine. It was cold, distant, otherworldly, like a machine preaching information out loudly.

“Your sanity has permanently fallen slightly as a result of dying twice. Fated End 1 has been documented in the Thread of Fate.”

The words slammed into me, each one burning into my soul with raw understanding.

“Who… what the hell is?”

I started, but the whispering cut me off.

“Your Law Beast, <Primordial Spider Lily>, has grown slightly stronger. As a result, your soul has become more resilient.”

I clutched my head, fingers digging into my temples as nausea churned my stomach. This wasn’t right. Nothing about this was natural.

“Each time you succumb and defy fate, your soul will increase in strength.”

The whispers stopped abruptly, leaving me panting and disoriented. My surroundings sharpened, every detail vivid, from the whimpers of the other children to the rhythmic squeak of the cart’s wheels and the stale air of the environment.

My heart pounded against my ribs. As I quickly realize something inside me has changed.

“You… shouldn’t talk.”

The boy whispered again, his voice trembling.

“If he hears you…

It was the same as before.

Exactly the same.

My jaw clenched.

My mind raced, piecing together what had just happened. That voice mentioned my Law Beast, the Primordial Spider Lily.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Then came the final whispers, crisp and unwavering.

“Documenting Fated Death. The cause of death has been recorded in detail. Second retry: Fated Death can be countered via the Threads of Fate.”

Threads of Fate.

My hands clenched into fists.

So that’s what this was?

I said to myself mostly.

I wasn’t just alive again… It would seem that I have been reset, sent back to this moment in time. To this checkpoint. And the cost of this second chance wasn’t just physical according to the weird voice in my head.

Still I didn’t want to die a second time.

‘…I need to find a way to prevent that grim future.’

“Hey, you’re not gonna shout again, right?”

The boy said, snapping me out of my spiraling thoughts.

“You really shouldn’t… We honestly thought you were dead when he kicked you in the stomach.”

I narrowed my eyes.

My memories aligned with the present, I didn’t die from a kick.

My head prior to now was smashed in. Last time, I had shouted, and spat in the man face in anger, which sealed my fate in that World Line.

‘But as things are I need to make a different choice to survive.’

And that is exactly what I did.

“I… won’t shout.”

I said, my voice steadier now, panic giving way to calculation.

‘I needed to think, to understand my situation. The voice mentioned The Threads of Fate. If I could counter my “Fated Death” maybe I could rewrite what was supposed to happen.’

It was painfully clear what had led to my death. In a moment of reckless defiance, I had spat on the scarred man, my anger boiling over as I caused a scene in the cart. That act of rebellion had provoked his fury, leading to the brutal strike that ended my life.

This time, I vowed to do things differently. If I could break free from that doomed script, if I could keep my emotions in check and stay silent, I might defy the fate that had been laid out for me, or at least try, all I could do now is cling to that hope.

The mysterious voice in my head had spoken of a “Fated Death” and the Threads of Fate, suggesting that my survival hinged on altering the course of events.

“Mhm.”

I murmured to myself, resolve hardening in my chest.

“I just need to stay quiet. If I don”t cause a scene, everything should fall into place, and I’ll survive this ordeal.”

More determined than ever, I let out a quiet sigh, my mind sifting through the jumble of recent memories.

The bite from P3, me waking up in this cart, the warning from the boy, the sting of the whip, the sickening crack as my head hit the floor, the fleeting darkness that swallowed me whole, it all felt so real, so recent. Yet here I was, alive again, my heart pounding in my chest as the cart rattled on.

This situation was beyond comprehension.

I was certain I had died, the memory of that final blow etched into my mind with chilling clarity.

So how was I here, sitting on the same splintered floor, surrounded by the same frightened faces? My thoughts churned, grappling with the impossibility of it all. The voice had mentioned a “checkpoint in time” and a “Primordial Spider Lily” tied to my soul. Was this some kind of Isekai. The questions swirled, each one more unsettling than the last, but I pushed them aside. Survival came first.

“For now let’s just focus on one thing.”

I whispered to myself.