"Hey! Hey you! Are you going to sleep forever?"
Jolting William awake was a wild looking man in a brown cloak. Looking around, the room William was in had expensive monitors and space like equipment from floor to ceiling.
"Hellllllooooooo??" The man waved his hands in front of William as William aimlessly looked around the room. "Man, you are making me regret saving you…"
"Where am I?" William whispered.
"Oh geez you really don't understand anything do you." The cloaked man put his hand up to his face showing his disappointment. "You owe me quite a bit of money, and from looking at your stats, you're quite possibly the weakest kid I could've saved."
"Wait," William remembered. "Where's my brother? Did anyone else survive?" William was frantic and seeing the boy beginning to panic, the Mage pulled out his grey staff and forced it against William's forehead.
All at once memories that were not his own pushed their way from the staff into William's mind.
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Darting through the fog, the man expertly twirled his staff shooting out sparks of white light as beast after beast fell dropped to the ground. His curly black hair bounced against his brown cloaked hook in the wind as he raced towards the town. Even though it was clear that the memory belonged to the man, William watched from a third person perspective, watching the man but unable to move or interact with the situation at hand.
"What kind of void attack is this??" he bellowed as he expertly used his white magic to slice through each of the menacing monsters with ease. Nearing the village, he witnessed the carnage as the bodies of villagers and guards began to litter the streets.
"Ahhhh dang what a mess!" He expressed seemingly to no one. From nowhere, another figure apparated next to him from the fog. They wore a green hooded cloak instead of the brown one the memory belonged to. Taking off their green hood, an older woman began to speak,
"Jin, now isn't the time. Search for survivors." She was commanding, and the man, now known as Jin, grew quiet and started to enter buildings while dispatching any monster he came across. Eventually, Jin came to the barracks, and waltzed inside. The gruesome sight was almost unbearable for William, but Jin kept walking over bodies and came to the second floor of offices.
Beasts attempted to assassinate Jin from the shadows with their claws and inhuman screams, but Jin's expression remained unfazed and moved his staff at a speed William couldn't keep track of. Sometimes, his staff would explode with white sparks and burn through the creatures, but other times, his staff made a clean white blade that cut through the shadowy beasts in one swoop.
Hearing a child yell, he dashed into the room where William and Joseph were. William had just fallen to the concrete floor, and Jin shot one of his white explosive lights into the monster hovering over Joseph. William sighed with relief knowing that his brother had been saved by the man. Jin moved so fast to Williams side that the wind made a rushing noise.
"Please help him," Joseph whined out.
"Don't you worry my man!" Jin smiled at Joseph as he closed his eyes and tried to find the status of William. Unsurprisingly, William had no system, and Jin frowned. William watched himself on the ground perplexed. He looked dead. His eyes were still open and the blood from his body seeped all around the room. Jin focused harder, and William's eyes began to glow.
"AHA!" Jin yelled with excitement. "Wow that was a lot of credits." He pointed to Joseph, "You two are gonna be in debt for a longggg time," he started to laugh.
"Well, there's not much more I can do at this point. The boy's wounds should close on their own, and when that happens, take him to the entrance; don't worry the monsters are gone now."
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The memories halted, and Jin exclaimed,
"Aren't I awesome!" He chuckled.
Even more confused, William asked, "How did you save me? Are my parents and friends okay?" The expression on Jin's face darkened.
"Some survived, and some did not. I believe your mom is okay according to your brother, but your father on the other hand…"
William had expected this much, but he couldn't hold in his tears.
"Woah Woah Woah! I'm sorry I had to tell you but on the brighter side, I gave you the Ryko system and used an ability from it to save you!" Jin beamed with pride.
The only thing William could think of was not his life but of the cackling of the beast staring him down as he lay dying. He couldn't save his brother, and now his father was presumed to be dead. The demonic grin of the beast melted into his mind telling him he couldn't save them.
"You couldn't save them. Pathetic." A dark, sinister voice echoed in his mind.
"It would've been better if you had died instead of your father." It continued.
"You were nothing in the face of power. Useless."
"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" William cried out grabbing his hair ferociously.
Jin watched not knowing what to do. It was obvious this boy had experienced trauma, but the young boy had started to snap in front of his very eyes. Quickly, Jin cast a spell while the spiraling William started to shout louder and louder.
"Oh boy," Jin muttered. He knew he should've let the headmaster go in before him, but he couldn't resist talking to the boy he had paid a small fortune to save. Like the universe had read his mind, the headmaster was already behind him and had witnessed William's outburst as he entered the room.
"Jin, it seems like you should leave." A rough yet calm voice said behind Jin, whose embarrassed expression was like a child caught stealing candy.