Rain poured relentlessly from the somber sky, soaking the streets of the city. Through the misty downpour, a man trudged wearily, shoulders hunched against the cold. It was 1 a.m., the night had been long, the workday grueling, and exhaustion clung to him like a shadow. As he walked, he found his fatigue catching up to him as he narrowly lost balance. He continued until he eventually stopped at a stop light. No cars were in sight, but he still obeyed and wait until he could continue forward.
As he stood on the rain-soaked sidewalk, gazing down at the shimmering puddles below, his reflection seemed to reveal more than just his physical form. In the mesmerizing ripples, he caught glimpses of his inner turmoil - a dance of emotions that he had long kept hidden from the world. The raindrops distorted his image, distilling his struggles into haunting visions: the depths of depression that threatened to engulf him, the emptiness that echoed within like a hollow vessel, and the monotony that painted him as a canvas of boredom. It was as though the rainwater held a mirror to his soul, forcing him to confront the truth he had so vehemently concealed.
"The hallucinations have started," the man chuckled to himself, but his laughter bore the weight of despair, a haunting echo of torment in his voice.
As his laughter died, he heard nothing but the rain pour down. The reflection from the rain had started to force the man to relive his life and how he got here. The light had switched, but the name didn't move an inch. He stood reflecting on the very words that weighed heavily on his heart. Words that he had always fallen to when his life started going downhill.
"I'm sorry," the man whispered.
A solitary tear escaped his eyes, a poignant realization of the depths of his self-perceived inadequacy. Those words had become his constant refrain, an apology he offered whenever he felt the slightest discomfort or inconvenience. He hated himself for uttering them and despised his inability to stand up for himself.
"It's always 'I'm sorry' instead of 'No' or 'I won't tolerate this'," he mumbled bitterly.
But the blame was not solely directed at his inability to assert himself; it was his life as a whole that he found disheartening. A wave of introspection washed over him, and he found himself revisiting his past, a time when he had been desperate to be someone he wasn't - someone cool and intriguing.
In high school, he yearned for acceptance and admiration, feeling overshadowed by the charismatic students who effortlessly commanded attention. To compensate for his perceived shortcomings, he had concocted elaborate tales about his life outside of school.
During lunch breaks, he would gather his classmates with stories of his vacations, claiming he had traveled to other countries and experienced the vibrant culture the world had to offer. Each story had gathered a bigger crowd. He weaving a web of deception that ensnared his peers' interest. Addicted to this attention, he had done research on countries, gather information, learned of obscure events, and created a timeline of every country he had created. He may have been a liar, but a careful one. He remembered being the center of attention, his two gifts in life were holding a poker face and lying until the very end.
"Chile was such a mesmerizing place," he exclaimed, spinning another tale with practiced ease. "Though I must admit, the Easter Island heads gave me a bit of an eerie feeling. But oh, the food! The empanadas filled with mussels were an unexpected delight."
The words rolled off his tongue effortlessly, concealing the truth behind yet another skillful deception. The previous night, he had spent hours researching Chile, but little did his peers know that his newfound knowledge had become the key to their rapt attention throughout the entire lunch break. The allure of their admiration was irresistible, compelling him to continue his web of captivating lies.
For the initial months, he continued with his summer lies. However, as the actual events of his vacation faded into the past, he found himself craving the intoxicating attention he had garnered. He had begun descending into the addiction of lying. The allure of being the center of attention was too irresistible to relinquish, pushing him towards bolder, riskier fabrications about his current life. Every word that left his lips became a web of deception, intricately woven to sustain the illusion he had crafted. Truth had become an elusive concept, replaced by a carefully curated façade that masked his reality. In truth, that entire summer had been spent immersed in the fantastical realms of Elden Ring and other enthralling virtual worlds. Fitting for a person who had lost sight of reality.
The breaking point arrived when he boasted of having a front-row seat at a recent NBA game, eager to impress with a play-by-play account. To his dismay, a keen-eyed classmate, who had attended the game in question and at the front row, saw through his fabrication. Panic engulfed him, and he hastily conjured up an apology and a feeble excuse, claiming he had been a few seats behind due to missing all the front-row tickets that had been sold the day before.
Unfortunately for him, the astute student promptly exposed the truth - the tickets had been sold out well in advance. The cafeteria erupted in laughter, and he stood at the epicenter of their amusement, stripped of his false pedestal. It was a bitter taste of reality, as the weight of humiliation crashed down upon him.
From that moment on, the fear of exposure haunted him, and he watched anxiously as the fragile threads of his lies threatened to unravel. It wasn't long before each of his lies were exposed. The laughter and ridicule followed him throughout his high school years, a constant reminder of his folly. He had traded authenticity for fleeting attention, and the price had been steep - a loss of credibility and genuine connections.
His web of lies unraveled his friendships and even drove away the only girlfriend he had ever known, leaving behind a trail of lingering trauma from his high school days. The weight of humiliation and the lasting scars of that experience haunted him, fueling an overwhelming desire to vanish into obscurity, where judgmental eyes could no longer reach him. The once enticing spotlight now terrified him, and the idea of confrontation and fabricating more lies had become unbearable. Inevitably, he withdrew into a cocoon of insecurity and self-doubt, seeking solace in the shadows to shield himself from the harsh glare of the truth.
Another memory resurfaced, a time when he had chosen to avoid conflict rather than stand up for himself. It had been a lively college party with his newfound circle of friends, and as fate would have it, he found himself at the center of a heated argument. At that moment, he had felt the rising urge to defend himself, to assert himself. Yet, the familiar allure of attention enveloped him, and he hesitated, succumbing to the fear of being in the spotlight.
Instead of standing up for himself, he had chosen the path of least resistance, offering an apologetic retreat to quell any potential discord. The words of confrontation that lingered on his tongue remained unspoken, suppressed by the fear of having eyes on him. At that moment, he had over the authenticity of his voice. It was a choice that haunted him, gnawing at the core of his self-esteem, as he realized he had yet again sacrificed his integrity to maintain the fragile façade of acceptance.
At last, his mind returned to the present as he became aware of the passing minutes he had spent rooted to that very spot. Lost in his memories, he had unwittingly entered a trance-like state. Above him, the lamppost cast a gentle glow that illuminated his somber visage, his features etched with the weight of introspection. As the rain continued to cascade from above, he found himself transfixed, gazing upward, as if seeking solace in the downpour that mirrored the storm within his heart.
"If only I could redo it all," he whispered to the rain, a desperate wish for a chance to start anew.
As if fate were listening, a distant rumble interrupted his thoughts, growing louder with every second. The man turned his head, eyes widening in shock as a massive truck careened towards him, its driver losing control. In a heartbeat, terror engulfed him, and before he could react, the truck mounted the sidewalk, its destructive force bearing down upon him. He closed his eyes, bracing for impact, believing his life was about to end.
The world turned dark, and the man felt himself succumbing to an overwhelming sense of weightlessness, drifting away into an enigmatic void where all that remained was the essence of his consciousness. There, in that intangible realm, he found himself unable to grasp any sense of physicality, left only to contemplate the choices and actions that had brought him to this surreal juncture.
"Am I dead?" the thought echoed through his bewildered mind, struggling to comprehend the inexplicable reality surrounding him.
Surprisingly, the abyss of darkness seemed serene, as if embracing him in a gentle embrace that transcended earthly comprehension. In this timeless realm, where thoughts seemed to dance in ethereal space, he began to grapple with the notion of his own life. Surprisingly, what he had imagined as a sinister abyss akin to Hell, presented itself with unexpected beauty, almost akin to a celestial tapestry of the unknown.
And just as he was resigning himself to this enigmatic afterlife, a subtle glimmer pierced the darkness, drawing his consciousness toward it like a moth to a flame. It was an elusive light, an ethereal beacon, beckoning him forward without the need for physical form or senses.
As if guided by an invisible force, he felt himself being drawn closer to the radiant light, and in that intangible journey, the light seemed to intensify, flooding the void with its brilliance. With each step towards the light, he shed the remnants of earthly concerns and embraced the profound tranquility that enveloped him.
As he drew nearer to the source of illumination, the boundaries of his consciousness blurred with the essence of the light, as if on the precipice of an indescribable revelation. In this ineffable union, he felt a profound connection to something beyond his comprehension - a revelation waiting to unfold, transcending the realms of both life and death.
Suddenly, the darkness dissipated, replaced by an unexpected sight. He was no longer in the rainy city, nor in that void. Instead, he stood in a prison cell, the iron bars cold against his touch. Confusion clouded his mind as he looked down at his hands, realizing they were different, unfamiliar.
"What...what happened?" he stammered, trying to make sense of the inexplicable events.
His mind spiraled with a whirlwind of confusion. How was he still alive? Why was he confined within this peculiar prison cell? And most bewildering of all - who was he? As he reached out to touch his body, a jolt of realization coursed through him - his once mundane and unremarkable form had transformed. His hands now felt rougher and more solid, and a newfound strength surged through his being, leaving him feeling invigorated like never before.
Before he could make sense of his altered existence, an abrupt disturbance snapped his attention away. A pebble collided with the back of his head, and he turned to find himself confronted by an astonishing sight. Before him stood a group of beings, an enigmatic blend of humans intertwined with the characteristics of animals - rabbits, goats, and lions among them.
"Who are you, Stranger?" inquired the largest lion, its fierce gaze locked onto him.
"Who am I?" he echoed the words leaving his lips with a hint of incredulity.
In this new body, he no longer was his former self. An entirely different person from himself. At this moment, he could be whoever he wanted to be.
Just as perplexity threatened to consume him entirely, a sudden apparition materialized before his eyes - a shimmering screen, as if projected from an ethereal source. It hovered in front of him, displaying a mission for him.
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Beginner's Quest: Who am I?
(Easy) A Farmer from Lithgow
(Medium) A Traveler
(Hard) A Legendary Knight from Overseas
Rewards wold be determined based on the lie difficulty.
Penalty for not completing the quest: Death
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"What?" thought the man, his mind reeling as he grasped the gravity of the predicament he found himself in.