Between the old bricked houses, sirens echoed in an old unpaved alleyway.
Police cars and ambulances gathered in the area, and people donning blue uniforms were busily erecting cones and a plastic barricade to prevent the curious people from venturing in. And that was for the best, as the inside of the alleyway would have traumatized anyone who witnessed it.
On the old cemented path, several bodies of men lay. These men wore simple clothes, had various tattoos on their bodies, were lifeless, and had either a long cut in the stomach or a slit throat.
Blood flowed freely, forming a pool of blood under the bodies. Scattered around the alley were bloody weapons such as bats, knives, knuckles, and even guns. All in all, the scene in the alley was bloody gore.
But one body stood out from the rest.
A man in a simple shirt and pants lay on the bloody pool of blood, but the man was at the center of the lifeless bodies. In contrast to the lifeless eyes of the surrounding men, this man's eyes were still lively.
The man lay in the warm pool of blood; his body was already starting to lose sensations. A knife impaled on his side as he sighed in acceptance.
He had accepted that his life would end here and had already prepared himself to face it.
As he lay there, his thoughts wandered back to the memories he had accumulated over the years of his life, full of regrets and missed opportunities. He was still young, with so much life yet to live, but it had not been a bad life.
He had loved, he laughed, he traveled, and he had experienced the beauty of the world hidden under the veil of despair. But as he kept thinking, his thoughts slowly became cloudy, and his vision became blurry.
He knew his time had come.
Taking a long final breath as he closed his eyes, a peaceful faint smile surfaced on his lips aimed at the starry night sky. The stars coldly twinkled, a reminder of the wonder of life. But for him, it was over, his 18 years of life had come to an end and right at the night of his birthday.
His body lay still, eyes closed forever. He had lived a good life, but now it was time to say farewell and bid the world adieu.
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"WHERE THE HELL AM I!?"
Sitting upright on a king-sized bed with blue sheets, with an expression of pure bewilderment, a young man looked at the room he was in. Majestic. In the room's center, there was even a fountain freely flowing. And on top of the fountain was a massive blue-colored chandelier emitting blue light.
"This... What happened?" He was confused by the turn of events.
Out of nowhere, a sudden pain assaulted his head, and a sudden influx of his own memories flooded his mind. He yelped at the intense pain he was feeling, like being nailed to the head.
After a miserable couple of seconds, the pain in his head finally subsided. He looked at his hands with disbelief.
Now, he clearly remembered the night he died a dog's death in a cold and unnamed alleyway outside the city. The feeling of hopelessness was so vivid that he knew it hadn't been a dream.
He clearly knew that he had accepted his death, but now he was sitting on a bed with ruffled hair.
Scanning the room with scrutinizing eyes, he caught a glimpse of a mirror standing upright. In the mirror, a young man with ruffled sky blue hair and dark blue irises stared at him with wide shocked-filled eyes.
The young man glanced to his side to make sure that the one reflecting was him. But as he found no one, he hastily got out of bed and dashed towards the massive mirror.
Looking shock at his own reflection, the blue-haired youngster muttered under his breath with doubt and excitement.
"The hell... Did I really transmigrated into another world?"
Looking at his arms, he felt certain. His arms back on Earth were comparable to those of an athlete, and his body was jacked with muscles. Although he rarely trains or exercises, it has been the result of him doing activities for the family.
Now he looked slim and a little frail. His tanned skin back on Earth had also been replaced by a milky white one. Also, in this body, he was dastardly good-looking.
After checking his body out for a couple of seconds, he fully accepted that he may have been transported to another world.
Just as he was going to jump around and celebrate his newfound life, he heard a familiar voice.
Ding! [[Aurora Energy Detected]]!
It was an emotionless, genderless, and monotonous voice.
"What the...The Pandora System? I'm still on Earth?" He muttered in obvious disappointment. His earlier joy had vanished. With the System here, he concluded that he was still on Earth.
Dejected, he listened and read the notifications carefully.
Ding! [[The System detects usage of Aurora Orb]]!
'Aurora Orb?' He commented inwardly with a heavy frown. He didn't know what that was, or even familiar with the term.
Ding! [[Reconstruction Ritual Detected]]!
Ding! [[Reconstruction Ritual Incomplete... Estimating... 80% Reconstructed Successfully]]!
Ding! [[Due to the incompletion of Reconstruction Ritual, the Wanderer's 'Soul' is 'Incomplete' and 'Unstable']]!
"My what!?" He unknowing yelled in shock reading and hearing the notification at front.
Ding! [[Soul Unstable... Estimated Time Fading Resumes... 150 Days]]!
"SH*T!" He cursed out loud. He hoped that what the System told him was an error, but the System could not possibly do that. He was dumbstruck by the series of events, but he was certain the System notification was true.
"Damning life! What the hell is the Aurora Orb anyway? Reconstruction Ritual? Fading!?" He reread the notifications once again.
Taking a deep chilly breath, he calmed down to a certain extent he concluded that the 'Aurora Orb' was used on him and was done so by something called 'Reconstruction Ritual'.
'This was probably why I'm was alive...'
After a pause, and racked his brain trying to find information regarding these terms.
"So that's what the System meant of my 'Soul' being incomplete...?"
When recalling his memories, some scenes would be incomplete or sometimes completely vanish. He was uncertain, but the incompleteness of his soul was probably the reason.
He frowned and sighed with mixed reaction. Should he be grateful or sad for forgetting? He shook his head and listened.
Ding! [[You have attracted a 'Gaze' from one 'Path']]!
Ding! [[The 'Path of Dreams' glanced at your direction]]!
He was jerked out from his train of thoughts by the notifications. Realizing what the System had notified, he panicked as he didn't know what to do.
"What the f*ck's happening!?" He voiced in fear and panic.
Attracting a gaze from a 'Path' was the first for him; they are seen as 'Gods' by the people of Earth and referred to as such. Attracting 'Their' attention was very rare, not to mention dangerous!
Ding! [[The 'Path of Dreams' wishes you 'Good Luck']]!
He paused completely.
". . . .hah?" A sound escaped from his wide open mouth when he heard the last notification with disbelief.
Ding! [[The 'Path of Dreams' shifts its attention away from you]]
Ding! [[Congratulations! A 'Path' has granted you a 'Blessing']]!
Ding! [[You have received 'Miniscule Luck' from the 'Path of Dreams']]
Ding! [[The 'Miniscule Luck' is a passive skill. Activation Automatic]]
Ding! [[The 'Wanderer' will now affect the 'Probability' in a miniscule degree]]
Staring at the notification with wide eyes, the young man reread the last couple of notifications to be sure he was not dreaming.
He couldn't believe it.
'I was granted a blessing? Why?' He questioned with disbelief and doubt. A blessing were incomprehensibly rare. When a simple gaze is rare, what more a freaking blessing!
Just as he was thinking, his train of thoughts were interrupted by another series of notifications.
Ding! [['Wanderer' is Detected to be in a 'Story']]
[[Story Scenario: The Necromancer '?' will attack the Town of Cion.
Clearing Requirement: Survive one attack from the Necromancer.
Clearing Reward: /3x Healing Pill/ /1000x Story Coins/]]
"Ehh... I'm inside a 'Story'?" He stared with wide eyes at the notification. He was genuinely shocked of the revelation.
Earthlings ventures into 'Stories' using special cubes. Inside, they would leave their body behind but their consciousness would go inside the 'Story' and complete 'Scenarios'.
Ding! [[Usage of Aurora Orb has affected the 'Story'... Processing...]]
Ding! [[The Grade One 'Story' will be upgraded to Grade Three 'Story']]
A frown surfaced on his faced when he heard that.
[[Story Scenario: The Necromancer '?' will attack the town of Cion. As the son of the Fief Lord, you are expected to defend the the town bravely.
Clearing Requirement: Kill the Necromancer by yourself and defend the town.
Clearing Reward: /3x Healing Pill/ /1000x Story Coins/ /1x Scenario Permanent Body/(Body can be take out of the 'Story']]
"So I'm really inside a 'Story'..." He voiced while looking at his reflection in the mirror.
'I'm possessing a 'Character'?'' He stared at the young handsome lad that was probably at the middle adolescent stage.
As guessed, inside a 'Story' there are 'Characters'. They acted like props in the 'Scenarios'. According to many studies done by Earthlings, they are not human or real sentient creatures—more like NPC's in games.
Thinking about it, his brows knitted together. Since this was a 'Story', there is undoubtedly an ending. The consciousness of 'Wanderers' were always forced out after the 'Scenario' ends.
'Will I die for real when the Scenario ends?' He asked in worry. He did not enter through a Cube, and his body was dead back on Earth.
'Will I puff out of existence? After all, I don't have a body to come back to.' He drew a cold breath thinking about it.
Although he had accepted death when he died in that unnamed alleyway, he wasn't willing to die again.
Ruffling his unkept hair out of habit, he squinted his eyes in suspicion. He wasn't particularly looking at something in the room.
"I don't know who you are and you probably have some shady reasons, but thanks for bringing me back from the dead." He uttered with mix gratefulness and suspicion.
Being resurrected from the dead was great, but he was not comfortable of someone playing his life like a chess piece.
"Pandora, show me my Status."
[[Wanderer: /Nameless/
Title/s: /Resurrected Wanderer/
Blessing/s: /Miniscule Luck/
Story Completed: None
Story Coin/s: None
Resumption of Fading: 150 Days]]
"Ouch..." An imaginary pain assaulted his chest seeing his lackluster Status. Although he was just a so-so 'Wanderer' he did completed a dozen 'Story' and possessed some Story Coins. But now, it was all gone.
"Even my previous Status were reverted," He muttered in sadness. He felt like those time he spent to earn Story Coins had been completely wasted.
His saddened gaze then fixed on the last sentence.
"Fading huh?" He was not unfamiliar with the term, but more familiar with the other calling, Death.
"I have 150 days... There's no mention of the 'Fading' being stopped in the rewards..." He shuddered. Alas, death was still following him even after dying.
"Pandora, open the Deus Store."
The ringing sound echoed and a screen appeared in front of him. Displayed in the screen were items neatly separated in columns along with a picture and descriptions.
"Search for something that can stop 'Fading'"
The columns of items vanished and three items appeared in the screen.
[Blood Coffin: An old coffin used by a certain 'Path' to stabilize his soul. Once used, the 'Wanderer' will fall into slumber for a year. When woken, the soul will be able to resist the 'Fading' for a thousand years.
Cost: /5 Trillion S-Coins/]
'IT CAN BE PAUSED!' He cheered inside. But when he looked closer, his happiness vanished when he saw the absurd price. His head blanked for a moment before despairing.
'This cost is absurd!' He bellowed while cursing the item for such a price. Even back on Earth, his S-Coins only amounted to several thousands!
[Samsara Wooden Ring: A ring crafted by a 'Path' from a branch of Yggdrasil. Once worn, the ring will stabilize the soul and temporarily halt the 'Fading' of any mortal for a decade.
Cost: /800 Million S-Coins/]
[Radiant Blood Pill: A pill created from a Phoenix blood that lived for a millennium. The pill can temporarily halt the 'Fading' of any mortal entity for a century.
Cost: /10 Billion S-Coins/]
Reading the short descriptions and seeing the price, the young wanderer sat on the luxurious bed with a blank look on the face. He thought how much death wanted him, so much so that it would follow even after dying once.
Thinking about his previous life and how it ended, his fist started clenching as his brows furrowed deeper.
"I WILL LIVE THIS TIME. I F*CKING REFUSE TO DIE!"
"PANDORA!" He yelled.
"Item Lock the Samsara Wooden Ring and Radiant Blood Pill,"
By item locking an item, it would show first when opening the Deus Store; he would be reminded that his days were counted and he would not slack off.
'I'll first get that item, and then gather more points to buy the Radiant Blood Pill' He thought to himself.
Taking a long breath, he calmed his mind and looked at his status again. The term 'Nameless' caught his attention. He knew his name was 'Ace Hearthold' from his memory.
"Why am I 'Nameless'?" Ace asked himself.
'Maybe its the result of the 'Ritual' that bought me back to life?' He shook his head. Although he was curious, he highly doubt he could get the answer now. It was better to be practical and focus on the present situation.
"Let's not think about that for now. I have to finish this scenario, FAST." He emphasized. The reward was only a thousand S-Coins, he still needed to finish a lot of 'Stories' to get the ring.
He then requested the System to show the 'Story' he was on. He read it carefully, not neglecting a single detail.
He then looked at the rewards. "A Permanent Body... So my 'Soul' is only 'Reconstructed' and I can't bring this body back to Earth due to it being part of the 'Story'."
This solved his question about the unchanged S-Coin rewards which he thought was unfair a moment ago.
He inhaled and closed his eyes.
"Let's speed run." He grinned.
"Pandora. Activate the memory transfer."
A sudden flood of information assaulted his mind about the 'Character' he is possessing. This time, he did not feel his head being hammered; instead, he felt nothing but the feeling of elevation.
Ding! [[Memory of 'Character' /Castileo Ed Trion/ successfully transferred to 'Wanderer' /Nameless/]]
A smirk surfaced on his lips. He opened his eyes and looked at the young man reflected in the mirror across the room.
Ding! [['Story' will now begin in
3
2
1]]!
"Great! Let's Finish This Damn Sto-!"
BOOOOM!