I saw a bright white light shining down upon me, it blinded me but I couldn't close my eye. I had no eyelid to blink, with nor any arms to block out the rays, my eye was slowly being burnt up. Yet I didn't mind; for as long as I felt pain, I was still alive. I was forced to stare into the radiant orb in the sky. What little was left of my body was still confined in a single spot.
Over the uncountable years, I had gotten used to the sensation of nothing, of being nothing. Occasionally I would look out upon the world and ponder a few things, but right now my consciousness had shut down. Every few seconds my heart would produce a golden spark, they glittered before dying out, but this time the golden sparks managed to reignite my consciousness.
I choked on air as I came to, my throat was parched and my lungs felt as heavy as stone. The blood circulating through my veins had been replaced with liquid agony. I couldn't scream: I was missing the majority of the organs and muscles needed for that action.
My body suddenly collapsed to the ground. I felt coarse sand scorch my skin, it ate away at the surface of my body and was dyed red by my flowing blood.
I threw my body into the ocean. Saltwater entered my nostrils and throat.
I couldn't see in the darkness of the sea, but I felt a giant figure moving towards me.
I screamed in confusion, and swam up.
I rolled down a pile of corpses, and landed in the center of a colosseum. Jeers echoed from the empty stands as a metal gate was raised.
A gross mix of red and black magma spilled forth from the opened gate. Jeers turned into ear screeching whispers.
I spun around when I felt someone's steaming hot breath wash over the back of my neck.
Spartacus with his sword raised high into the sky.
Anger surged through me, the burning desire of revenge filled my being.
I couldn't fight him, I didn't want to die.
As the magma approached me, saltwater rained down and flooded the colosseum. It filled my lungs, my veins, my bones, and my brain. I drowned.
My eyes snapped open when I choked on my vomit. As the urge to vomit once more crawled up my throat I rolled over and broke into a coughing fit. Blood. It was blood that I was vomiting, I half expected it to be saltwater. When I finished a window popped up.
System Rebooting Interrupted!
"Oh, fuck off." I groaned, as I curled my body into a ball, the stone I was laying on was too cold to sleep comfortably. "Wait, wait, fuck." The memories of what had just happened became clear.
I sat up and inspected my body, the good news was that it was all in one piece, the bad news was that my clothes were ruined. My shirt wasn't unwearable, it just looked really stupid. My pants were trash, having been sliced in two it couldn't support itself anymore. Not to mention that they were stained in blood and other bodily fluids that leaked out.
I was glad I was alive in the first place. I couldn't remember the exact number, but at the rate I was bleeding HP I thought I would be dead in seconds.
'So, this isn't a dream?' I mentally asked myself. When I first found myself here I had assumed it all to be a lucid dream, with that mindset I didn't even bother doing any critical thinking and just followed the flow. "System, can you explain what is happening?"
All Life on this World, Intelligent or Not, will Cease to Exist at Some Point in the Near Future.
This System was Created to Find and Assist the Hero who would Save the Future.
Unfortunately the Previous Candidate had Altered the Stability of this World.
The System has been Adapted to Accommodate the Alterations.
You are a Hero Candidate, just One the Infinite Amount of Candidates.
As a Hero Candidate you Receive a System.
"Oh, is that all?"
Yes.
'Okay, well fuck. So that doesn't help me at all, it could've just told me a ROB did it for the LOLs.' It really didn't help being told that I was basically just another Gamer in the infinite sea of other Gamers.
'Well fuck all that shit, let someone else find a way to save the universe.' I'm sure there's a Gamer out there who could save the entire multiverse, I'll just wait for him to stumble upon this world and save it from ruin. In the meantime I'll find a way to get to America, where at least there I'll be able to function normally in society. As a born and raised American I didn't have the slightest clue as to how I'll get an identity, education or a job in Japan, not to mention all the cultural differences I'll stumble over. So I decided to leave it all behind and go back home.
I slowly stood up from my feet, I felt a little woozy, probably because of blood loss or something. As I struggled to use the piece of my torn shirt to tie my pants together, a few windows popped up.
Cthulhu Fhtagn (D): Call forth Horrors from the depths.
Cthulhu Fhtagn (D) has Ranked Up from continuous use.
Spell Granted by Cthulhu Fhtagn: Gn'bthnknyth (E)!
Gn'bthnknyth (E): Transform a Horror into a Replacement Body Part.
"Yeah, sure, cool, whatever." I wasn't in the mood for this Gamer bullshit, sure it was fun to read about but I wasn't going to repeatedly risk my life just so I can get stronger and then fight stronger enemies, I didn't want to get stuck in a cycle of pain that only a masochist could enjoy. I wasn't the type of gamer who played on nightmare mode, I didn't bother with completing achievements, if a game had a stupidly high learning curve then I wouldn't play it.
My personal life was hard enough to manage, and I only enjoyed what I considered fun, there's was no way I would ever willing submit myself to mental or physical torture. I was kinda bummed that I wouldn't be able to use my System to get ahead in life, but I didn't want to draw the attention of anything supernatural, so that meant I had to seal away my system.
As I managed to get my pants to stay up on my waist, I took a few steps and when it held, I headed for the door. Once outside I saw the moon and the stars, but I didn't care about them. I had to hurry up and escape Kuoh Town before I got noticed by anything. After scanning the wide tree line that surrounded this building for the exit, I found a clearing.
I walked a few feet past the clearing and came upon stone steps leading down. The instant my foot made contact with the stone, space twisted. The night sky and the surrounding trees vanished, leaving only a staircase in this Mirror World. Before I could voice my confusion at the sudden Cross, I noticed that a man was standing on the steps below me.
He had indigo hair and eyes, and when a cold wind traveled between us, his kimono and ponytail fluttered gracefully. In his hand he held an almost comically long sword.
Mission: Defeat Sasaki Kojirou.
Reward: Servant Card Sasaki Kojirou.
My nerves buzzed with electricity, and my body was sliced three times over in a single swing.
'Cross Back!'
Space twisted and my body was propelled backwards, I tumbled into the clearing. I stood back up after regaining my bearings. "What the fuck was that? I didn't want to Cross!"
Scanning Dimensional Distortion!
Results: This Distortion Crosses Anyone Attempting to Use the Stone Steps.
"Fine! I'll go through the woods then." I walked into the woods. "Fucking stupid dimensional distortion, fucking stupid Sasaki Kojirou, fucking stupid System." I mumbled under my breath as I stumbled my way through a forest in the middle of the night.
I had finally found my footing when space twisted again. My mind went blank at what I saw in the Mirror World. A young blonde girl with orange eyes, wearing a red plaid shirt, blue overalls, brown stockings, gloves and boots, she was just standing still, staring at the stars. What had shocked me was her size, none of the surrounding tree tops had even reached her ankles.
Mission: Defeat Paul Bunyan.
Reward: Servant Card Paul Bunyan.
As I stood there, frozen, her buring orange eyes locked onto me. My nerves buzzed and my entire body was crushed beneath her boot.
'Cross Back!'
Again I was propelled backwards as space twisted. "System?" I asked as landed on my ass.
Scanning Dimensional Distortion!
Results: This Distortion Crosses Anyone Wandering The Woods.
"Great! Fan-fucking-tastic! Oh boy I sure do love being railroaded! What kind of garbage game is this? Huh!? Isn't it supposed to be an open-world exploration!" And well I went on and on about my gripes with this entire thing for a while. While rambling I had returned to the abandoned building, which was clearly once a church, and went to the left of it.
Again space twisted, but before I could even think about Crossing Back over, I saw the most beautiful woman. She was dressed rather oddly, in a way that showed off her thick thighs, smooth midriff, and her bountiful cleavage. As she walked, well sashayed, towards me, I wanted to thank whoever allowed us to meet.
Mission: Defeat Mata Hari.
Reward: Servant Card Mata Hari.
'Why on earth would I do that?' There was no way I'd even consider doing such a thing, not to someone I knew I could entrust my life to.
Mata Hari was just about to be within arms length of me. I hoped it wasn't too much to expect a kiss from her, even just a hug would be fine with me. As she reached her arms out towards the sides of my head, I closed my eyes and leaned in. The electricity zapping along my nerves ruined my mood, but not as much as having my head be crushed between two soft and delicate hands.
'Cross Back!' I thought reflexively. Space twisted and I felt my heart ache, I began to wonder if my Instinct had been wrong.
Inflicted by Charm!
I noticed out of the corner of my eye. 'Oh, yeah. That's a thing she has.' Disappointed, I trudged off and tried going around the right of the church.
Unsurprisingly, space twisted. Surprisingly though, I didn't feel worried. Being here actually felt good, I let out a sigh as I felt the tension leave my body. Looking around I didn't spot anyone, and if I wasn't in danger then why shouldn't I relax.
Then I noticed that a girl was standing in front of me. She had brown hair and green eyes. I smiled at her cute smiling face. I opened my mouth for small talk, but blood dribbled out instead. I noticed that there was a burning feeling in my abdomen so I looked down. The cute smiling girl had plunged a knife deep inside my gut, she slowly dragged the blade upwards, slicing through my body like butter.
Mission: Defeat Charlotte Corday.
Reward: Servant Card Charlotte Corday.
'Oh, Cross Back, I guess.' That's what I've been doing for a while now, and I didn't see a reason to stop.
As I appeared back in the real world, my knees gave out and my body crumpled to the ground. My body was rapidly losing its warmth. Like the last time, I used Blade Works Healing to stop the bleeding.
Inflicted by Relax!
'Oh, fuck.' I would've probably cried if I wasn't currently inflicted.
I was still losing blood. "Gn'bthnknyth!" I said before with gritted teeth and bated breath. The puddle of blood that leaked from my body turned dark green and coagulated together into something resembling a slug with a mane of tendrils. The creature, a Gn'bthnknyth as it was called, slithered through my open wound and I felt it expand. Then I passed out.
