Trudging through the empty halls, my mind is shattering, by the endless darkness where I can only see so far as my arms can reach, by the creaking ground my feet make with each step, by the sounds of whisper so close yet so far. The more I linger in this home, the more bizarre this place becomes. Roots start to grow below the furniture, the pictures start to mould the weird black box starts to talk gibberish as it spews flesh out of its tiny holes. And sometimes-
"Rehahreaagghhhhhh!!!"
*bang* *bang* *creak* *crack* *scratch* *scratch*
A loud wail rings so loud it shooks the world while something tries to crawl its way inside the house. Plunging its overgrown spiralling nail through the barred window while sometimes it peeks inside with its hideous six eyes. The scene before my eyes makes me want to tear my ears off before gauging my eyes out to escape this horror. And the only thing keeping me safe and sane is but a tiny black stick that projects a beacon of light which gives a small cone view infront of me. And it can be turned on or off with a flick of a panel in its body.
"She said the guy I'm about to meet is a reasonable man but this is clearly not the mind of someone sane!"
My lungs felt like it's burning, my arms and legs felt heavy that I have to strip off my armour and roam only with my pants on.
"There's no food, no water, but corrupted filth... And I can't use magic either. Is... Is this how those so-called Corruks live their lives outside? In fact, is this how the forest outside like? No, that can't be since I patrol there multiple times already."
(Where did they found their will to live?)
I'm hungry, yet feel so full, I'm thirsty yet my throat feels like it could drown. My body, still intact but it feels like I have lost all senses.
(I wonder is this what it feels to lose your mind?)
And I keep seeing visions ahead of me, my little sister running away into the dark tunnels ahead with fear on her face while the white monster with six eyes moves ever closer to her...
"I need to keep moving... I need to find that man- bleurgh!!!"
Feeling something scratching my neck, My knees fell and I was forced to barf out something from my stomach. Dirty black water similar to the one where I woke up.
"Dammit!"
I scream as I feel my neck burn.
*creak* *creak*
I turn on the light stick and flashing it ahead of me where the sound came from. The once cosy place where everyone could call home has turned into a hellish scape as if nature went wrong. Walls has started to grow vines while the scratching in the walls just keeps growing louder. The floors begin to rot and crumble, showing the black dirt filled with roots that came from below the furniture. The plants in the corner, once beautiful and healthy is now brown and dying, filled with nought but puss and pestilence.
"I have trained to be part of the elite force so that I can help Hyu. I can't let this pull me down..."
Even with all the shortcomings, I drag my weakened body ahead with one arm while lighting the path with the other. The hall is filled with doors covered by moulds and shrooms. Causing it to either get stuck or if forced, it usually breaks the door instead.
"Real question is where am I even headed?"
I keep crawling forward till a view of an open door comes to my eyes. I gather all my strength and stand up on my feet. Using the walls as a hold, I went ahead, ignoring all my pain and disability. Hoping that it is the end...
But all I see infront of me is nothing but a shipwreck of a room filled with nothing but parchment of monster scratching and empty see-through glass bottles filled with green fluid. And the thing sticking out like a sore thumb among all this is the clean steel table in the middle of it all. I take a look at my back and realize the way back is not there anymore.
(Should I be worried? After all, this place is much better than that infested place- no, if my guts are right. Then this place will soon rot like the previous rooms. Better scavenge the place quick).
Dragging my body forward, I went to inspect the place one by one. Starting with all the parchment and monster scratchings...
"I can't read any of this at all. The only thing I can comprehend is the pictures on the top left that are combined together by some weird thin bent metal."
A picture of some kind of fruit? Or something... Beyond all this trash though is a single brown notebook. My hands grab it without realizing it and I was starting to read the first page...
[August 8th, the Year 2079.
It was in the middle of a harsh winter-]
"Hold on! I can actually read this? No, screw reason! Then again, could this possibly be the goddess's gift she told me to find out herself? But then, why can't I understand the giberish on that black box?"
My eyes continue to read the notebook,
[But then again, we're in the northern part of Norway, bordering both Russia and Finland. So I can't complain about anything. It's serene, the waters are all frozen, the sky looks amazing, and this is just my place! The first day moving in and I'm finally got all my funding from the E.N.U and more coming soon every week. Maybe with all of this, my dream can finally be achieved... But daaaamn son, they must really want to know more about it huh? The E.N.U is really putting all their budget and taxes on science and educations. I mean, as of now, even colledges are free in certain studies.
The page ends with the next page having the same drawing of that rock-fruit thing. And a tiny section on the edge has a building with a flag on top.
[It has only been 3 weeks since the impact. And this meteor somehow terraforms the cold snow lands of Finland to a packed jungle when it first arrives. Everything getting close to it will suddenly become more vibrant. A dead plant will become green, a tree who lost its ability to grow leaves will start growing fruits and even the grocery banana (the Cavendish variety) was able to grow by itself when you stick its fruit near the damn thing, and with no soil nor water! Let me repeat that, with no soil and water! Haven't tested any high tier living being as of yet but that will be for future testings. At least one thing is clear is that this meteor doesn't make something overgrow."
The meteor's size is around 30 meters, small compared to the other meteor that had fallen to earth. I even dare say it falls in range with micrometeorites- wait, didn't I take the course of chemistry? So why the fuck am I writing about astronomy... Maybe I'll write that in another book. More knowledge equals more investors and more sponsors. Anyway, one thing is clear for certain, this thing is alive. And it emits a glow with a pattern like a heartbeat while also looking like a seed. I haven't checked the insides yet but I'll continue to write tomorrow, as of now, I'm going to check with all the body inspection games I have bought and set it all up.
P.S the only thing that sucks here is that even with all the advanced technology, why the fuck is there no signal!!! I can't search up anything here, so what's the point of having the latest phone! Maybe the government is jamming the signals since this is supposed to be a secret lab or something... One Spanish word I learn is that they are Estúpida pera loca].
"Hmmm, I feel, like this guy's an idiot who writes whatever in his mind... And why isn't the last words translated?"
I close my eyes and try to recall my memories...
"A rock that looks like a seed. Could it be- No, that's impossible."
(There's one fairy tale from the Theocracy in particular that has been spread throughout the kingdom. A picture book that entails the story of a certain saint and her paladin slaying the corrupted Goddess of Nature. But since she always revives, the saint and paladin use their combined power to banish her heart to hell where it burns for eternity by Libera's wrath so she couldn't revive anymore. And in the picture book, her heart is always described as big, tough as stones and shaped like a seed. But if what that dark goddess says is true, then she couldn't have been dead, after all, she was able to summon forth a champion. One logical thing is that she's alive outside of this world is now flexing her authority by being somewhere else...)
"Siiiiiighhhhhhhh... I'll think of this later."
Putting the tiny notebook in my pocket, I continue to look around the room. Other than the folders in the wracks, everything seems to be empty.
"I guess I'll continue on for now. The way this guy writes and this place reminds me of what Suri's parent workplace looks like. I'm guessing he must be a Prodigious Schola from the south. But, more worrying is that if what the report says is true, he might have the heart of a Dark Goddess with him and that's even worse. I need to find him fast."
*pssshn*
The door opens.
****************************************
"Urhghrghhh...."
(My head... It hurt so much! Damn, rabbits! Did I drink and got a hangover? Nah, can't be. I'm too old to drink. If I drink now, my kidney would rot...)
With my tired arms, I force my eyes open to the familiar ceiling.
"Fuuuck... Too exhausted to get up."
Feeling all my senses being assaulted by the worst conditions.
"Oof, I smell like rotten eggs. Maybe a bath will cleanse this putrid feeling."
As I try to get up, I felt someone holding me down. Looking below me, I see a little girl who's supposedly I can call my granddaughter if I have one... With her long light green hair stretching past her knees while wearing a cute outfit.
Clutching me close like a koala hugging a tree, she won't let me go.
"Wait, I admit I'm quite the pervert, but I am no child molester- oh hold on! I remember now..."
(After half a year of testing and experimentation, the head of UEN? Wait, is it the ENU? Ah, can't remember. Let's just say, they made a deal with the countries in the Saharan desert to terraform the place. The more the meteor terraform, the more the meteor begins to look like beating heart. And before long, the rock split apart and this girl was what came out of it...)
"Yes, that's pretty stupid and illogical now that I think about it. But if what science had taught me, sometimes the truth can be really stupid. And doesn't that mean, she's the first alien contact now that I think about it?"
[But Anselm, alien can be considered all living things, so all those bacterias that survive and enter the atmosphere from the Mars colony can be considered aliens-]
[Shut the fuck up Bobby! Nobody cares about that!]
[Shit, old habits die hard...]
Separating the little girl from me, I get on my feet and head to the nearest washroom and look at the mirror...
A white monster with six red eyes glaring back at me, it's teeth which is both sharp and dull bare their fangs open. Moving its bent hand as it sharpens its claws with its teeth.
"Am I high on narcotics too? What kind of illegal shit was I doing yesterday? I'm already on my fifties and I need to take better care of- Urgghhhhh, Aaah... At least, some good news is that they're kind enough to give me some staff to help but I wonder if-"
As if shit has hit the fan. My memories finally start to return. My staff made forged insurance and deed while framing me with a crime I never committed. Probably for political reasons and to acquire the "Heart".
"Ah right, my life ended and I was transported to another world. And this... This is but a fleeting dream. Been a while since I lucid."
I turn back and look at the little girl sleeping in my bed. I walk closer and went on my knees, caressing her small head, feeling thin green hair warming my hands. I begin to wonder,
"What will happen to you now, little Omena? I know being with me may not be the best time you have but I can only hope they don't do anything crazy to you. Now I know why I don't wish to remember much about my past life. I have so much regret, so many things I was almost finished to accomplished but failed to do so. The weight of responsibility and guilt will probably drag me down..."
"That's right."
"Huh?"
The little girl who I gave the name Omena never speaks even once and have to rely on signs and a lot of head gestures. But now, begins to open her mouth and soon her amber eyes.
"You who have taken care of me, you who had received my blessing. This is my gift to you. A new chance of life in my world."
"W-wait, you finally speak!? No, this must be me imagining how your voice would sound like. Hmm, I wonder where did I hear this before I wonder?"
"Shut up and listen to me you buffoon of a caretaker who feeds a child with only potatoes, broccoli and carps for 3 days straight!"
"Oof, you hit where it hurts the most."
Clutching my chest as I feel an invisible knife has plunged into my heart. She calms her self down and continues saying:
"I am not of your world and the moment you were taken away. I decided to disappear with you. I haven't got to speak with you properly so I wish to do it now as your body is hibernating."
"Hibernating? Ah, right. I fell asleep as I finish eating those fruits. Then again, are you perhaps the voices I hear back at the prison or something? If so, I 'm pretty sure you're supposed to be a dude."
She gives a sweet smile as she hugs the pillow tightly saying:
"I am both he and she respectively. I can be a Goddess and God as long as I see fit or whatever body I possess. The era of when I rule as natures incarnate has come to an end. So you, my Avatar shall live free and true as you see fit. As long as you live, I shall live alongside you. The children I raise that have now gone astray, shall now be yours to command."
"Really? No drawbacks? No secret prophecy I have to fulfil or something? I mean, last time you told me (with gestures), it didn't end well."
"That's because you understand not what a woman's heart feels like."
"Well forgive me. Maybe you want me to go make some ice cream while I was there. You seem to like those. I'll make sure it's from the river this time."
"N-no, I don't need that. Really, nothing at all..."
I nod at her remarks and ask one more thing.
"You know, your grandiose speeches is nice and all but before I went back there, may I know what kind of world am I living in? I mean, since you're God and all that. Shouldn't you at least tell me about it?"
She pulls the blanket to cover her body like a ball and gives the most innocent smile I've ever seen saying:
"Maybe that's a key you have to find yourself. A brand new era will soon unfold and a new power will soon sweep the world. Adventure awaits for you, and for those who dare it. So go my precious fruit of labour," before closing her weary eyes.
I sit on the bed as I continue to pat her soft head.
"Typical."
One word spewed from my mouth as I thought the days ahead. Feeling my sleeves being tugged. I look at her and she opens her eyes a little saying:
"Oh, and a friend of mine who's also slain by the champions of Libera has sent her avatar and is going to meet you soon in this dreamscape. So you can either wait or search for him. With my blessing, you should be able to communicate with everyone. Unlike her half-bake blessing."
"Ah, I see. So that was your blessing. Neat, I'm going to find him now. Sleep tight, my sweet Omena."
"Uhm..."
She nods and closes her eyes in peace. I stand on my feet and cover her with another thick blanket before kissing her in the forehead and leaving quietly. As soon as I open the door, I was greeted by a room that can be described as a hot burrito factory being hit by a typhoon.
"I am a man of organization and tidiness. I remember nothing of these-"
I hold my head as more information flows in.
"I remember now, I've been overworking myself to uncover the mysteries. Soon, I become unreasonable with my standards and demands for the last few months. I wonder if this is another reason why my staff betray me."
I look around the familiar room and took in the air.
"Now, where should I start I wonder?"
I look around, seeing only one path ahead, I nod and continue-
"What the fuck! A perfect piece of furniture made by one of the Australian wood association!? Man, and here I wonder where have you gone!? It's been a decade since!"
My body moves to the piece wooden chair by the edge of the room like as if my body is pulled by a magnet.
"This curve, this smoothness that's all handmade... As expected of them. Perfection... Yea, I think I'm gonna binge nostalgia for a while, that guy can wait- oh my god, buried in this reports is my personal idol head made by the cherry tree from America! Oof, the thickness is perfect and no hollow parts inside too."