He was falling.
From the sky.
Towards the ground.
The wind blew right on his face. On his skin. On the entirety of his being.
Pushing him.
The gravity, it pulled him. Accepting.
He couldn't breathe.
Wasn't he already accepted the death's call? The darkness, his old friend. Where were they?
Why was he here?
Falling.
He was falling.
The sky was blue, but hadn't he closed his eyes before?
The clouds were soft, but hadn't his blood spilled all over the floor? Seeping to be one with the earth underneath.
Indeed, he would be one with the earth soon.
Soon.
As he was falling and–
[Please wait for a moment.]
He heard the voice. Mechanical. Not quite low like a male, but not so high either to make it sound like a female.
It was even. Clean. Neutral.
[Deep scan incomplete.]
He saw the light purple screen with letters. Easily readable size in a clear font. Simple
[Please wait for a moment.]
But there was nothing simple about it.
The letters floated right in front of his eyes, falling down just like him. Harshly pulled by the gravity.
Will brushed it away with his outstretched hand.
The letters glitched.
[Deep scan incomplete.]
The voice crackled.
[Please wait for a moment.]
He did that again, trying to erase the annoying floating screen that mocked him.
[Error.]
[Failed to scan.]
[Try again?]
No.
[Deep scan starts.]
Will brought his hand to whack the screen away. Not wanting to see it again. But the mechanical voice remained.
[Deep scan incomplete.]
[Failed to scan due to undetected disturbance.]
[Try again?]
Will slapped it away for the umpteenth time.
[Deep scan starts.]
Still, it remained there, floating in front of his eyes, falling as he was.
[Please wait for a moment.]
Useless.
[Deep scan incomplete.]
The ground was a hundred times closer than before. But, just to his luck, it looked like he wouldn't plummet to the ground as another blue greeted him.
He would fall into the sea.
To be drowned.
Good.
A slow death, then.
[Failed to scan due to undetected disturbance.]
[Try again?]
No.
[Deep scan starts.]
Will didn't know what that was, but the floating screen refused to disappear. It only glitched, became discolored and then frizzled back into its easy-to-read and sizeable simple font.
He just wanted to die.
[Please wait for a moment.]
Why couldn't he die?
[Error.]
[Deep scan incomplete.]
He just wanted to die.
[Please wait for a moment.]
Then, from the corner of his eyes, Will saw something familiar. Someone familiar.
Disturbingly so.
There, on his right, another person was falling. He phased through the white clouds. Being pulled down by gravity.
Just like him.
Erik Fowler.
Naomi's murderer.
However, the only thing that differed was that Erik did something.
He did something, and he no longer fell.
[Deep scan comp–]
Before he could do anything about it, the sea swallowed him. It didn't hurt less than what plummeting to the ground must have felt like.
No longer falling. He was drowning now. Water filled his lungs. Suffocating.
Demanding.
His reflex kicked in. Limbs flailed, mouth opened to force the water away, but it only brought more coming in.
The sea was everywhere.
He would die.
But Erik would live.
It was unjust.
[Deep scan complete.]
[Registering a new user.]
[Status]
[Name: Will Leinster
Title: None
Specialty: None
Level: 1
HP: 1457/ 2421
HP Regen: 6.8
Physical Attack: 115
Physical Defense: 15
Attack Speed: 0.99
Mana: 515/ 515
Mana Regen: 3.6
Magic Defense: 15
Movement Speed: 240
Skills: None
Gifts: None
Items: None]
It only brought more annoyance.
He was going to die. Drowning in the sea. While the floating screen and robotic sound mocked him with words without meaning.
[Congratulations!]
Will started to lose consciousness. He would genuinely die now.
And Naomi's murderer would live.
The world was unjust.
[Welcome package granted.]
He wanted to be alive.
[You receive one-time use items – 1 Wind's Embrace Mask, 1 Black Eel's Swift Boots, and 3 Relentless Cloaks.]
Bubbles burst from his mouth, further draining the remaining air from his lung.
[Assemble to get 1 Hollow Wind Cloak?]
He didn't want to die.
He had to get out of the sea. He couldn't drown and die now.
Erik was alive.
He had to get out of the water, but his hands refused to move as his brain dictated. His lungs needed air.
He needed to get out of here.
[Assemble to get 1 Hollow Wind Cloak?]
He needed to get out of here, but the screen continued to get in the way. He had to make it disappear.
[Assemble to get 1 Holl–]
His flailing hands accidentally brushed the letters away. It didn't help. He was still drowning.
His vision blurred. So was the screen and the voice still mocking him with how meaningless it was actually.
[Assemble to get 1 Hollow Wind Cloak?]
What even was that?
[Hollow Wind Cloak gives you the ability to breathe and move freely underwater for the Time Left of three minutes.]
Oh. Yes.
[Hollow Wind Cloak assembled.]
[Hollow Wind Cloak activated.]
Under the words, Will saw a white bar slowly shortening. It blurred. Even so, he took experimental inhalation.
The next second, his lungs were filled with air. He could breathe again.
He was still for a few moments. Trying to discern the confusing situation he was in. But, it seemed pointless. After all, If the floating letters and that mechanical voice were to be believed, he only got three minutes to freely breathe underwater.
With a deep air intake, Will moved his limbs, swimming up towards the lighter water. He had to get to the surface before the time was up.
The bar indicating Hollow Wind Cloak's active Time Left almost disappeared entirely when he resurfaced. He could still see the floating letters, now displaying other informative words.
[Hollow Wind Cloak deactivated.]
Looking around, Will tried to locate land.
He could see the ground from the sky, even thinking that he'd ended up being a red splat on the hard, brown soil. So, the land must not be far.
[A new quest found.]
The screen flashed in purple light, along with its accompanying mechanical voice.
[Quest No. 1: Find a land.]
[Difficulty: Grade C.]
[Time Left: 1 hour 0 minute.]
[Status: Incomplete.]
[Reward 1: Chance to get a power-up item – Stone Fang Dagger or Violet Leaf.]
[Reward 2: You may choose your avatar from three random choices.]
Will slapped the screen away. Still unsuccessful.
Regardless of the strange screen and voice inside his head, he must get on the land.
[Unidentified object detected.]
Will narrowed his eyes at the purplish screen. 'What is it now?'
[Ranged area scan starts.]
[Object identified.]
[A shark is coming from the southeast. Approaching in three minutes.]
Great.