Kalin opens his eyes, only to be surrounded by the familiar darkness... this time however, Kalin notices a difference, in the distance there is a faint golden crack disturbing the complete darkness, as Kalin concentrates on the crack, it starts to move.
The crack gets larger ripping the darkness and utterly destroying it replacing it with a radiant golden light, as if it was trying to envelop it all... but it suddenly stops it's growth, and the nostalgic voice that he has grown accustomed to starts to speak... or cry.
The sound of her tears falling was like the sound of metal hitting the ground, Kalin wanted to comfort the girl for some reason, tell her that it would be okay, but he couldn't move, and he was forced to listen to her cries.
After what felt like an eternity the girl stopped crying, instead, she sniffled and started to say something with a cracky voice, "I'll see you soon... Jack" With that Kalin wakes up.
He looks up at the hospital ceiling beads of cold sweat rolling down the sides of his face and then to his surprise someone else speaks, "Are you... alright?"
The sudden voice startles Kalin but he regains his composure and looks at the person, it is Carra "Ah, yes I'm fine"
Carra nods and gets up from the chair slowly walking up to his bedside she suddenly turns serious as she looks at Kalin, which makes his sweat even harder, "What's up... why are you staring daggers at me?"
She looks at his injuries which were healing unexpectedly fast, "How are you healing so fast" Kalin looks surprised at this question, to be honest, he was wondering that too, he didn't have a regeneration skill or anything
Carra continues to speak, "Were you in the trials?" if Kalin had water in his mouth he would've spit it out at this comment, he contemplates lying to her but he decides to be honest "Umm... Yeah I was, but I don't have any healing skills"
Carra looks surprised at the answer, "Are you sure? maybe you got one and didn't realize it" Kalin looks at her and then he looks down at his bed, "I'll check then"
[Status]
Name: Kalin
Age: 18
Str: 7
Agi: 9
Def: 10
Mana: 6
Skills: [Novice Sword Mastery] [Pain Resistance] [Better Recovery]
Titles: [Jack Of Nothing] [Goblin Killer]
'Huh... she was right' he focuses on [Better Recovery] and the skill description pops up
[Better Recovery]
This skill belongs to the talentless Kalin who has been flung, stabbed, punched, kicked, and pummeled to a degree that can't be recovered, but he did anyway, skill's effects improve the body's natural healing twofold and gives the user a 2x stat boost (30 seconds) when on the brink of death.
Carra stares at him, as he tries to calm himself down from the excitement of obtaining a new skill and a good one at that... finally managing to do so after a few deep breaths, he turns to her and says with a calm voice, "Nevermind, I guess I did get one"
Carra responds, "I figured, because the person who brought you here said that you'd be fine" Kalin gets surprised at the mention of his savior and asks, "That person who saved me, do you know who they are"
Carra answers his question after a moment "That person was very weird, they came in and without even making a sound they plopped you on the reception desk, blood splattered everywhere it was like throwing a wet sponge at a wall, but after doing that they just simply turned around and left, we couldn't identify them because they were wearing a suit of golden armor,"
Kalin looks dejected and Carra walks around his bed to the side closer to the exit, after patting him on the back she says, "Well, don't worry too much, they're easy to find in a crowd"
After saying that she leaves Kalin alone once more, and Kalin watches as the door slams shut, Kalin after processing their brief conversation in utter silence, lays back on his bed, turning the TV on to watch some more Jeopardy.
A contestant whom Kalin was rooting for was up... the question was, 'What is the capital of Kentucky' The contestant whose name is Mark pondered for a moment... the suspense was killing Kalin, 'Come on... it's Frankfort!'
Mark slams his hand on the button with utmost confidence, "Host, What is..." The camera does a dramatic zoom-out, and a quick pan at all the other contestants and Kalin leans forward in anticipation
The camera focuses back on Mark and his lips start to rise... beads of anxious sweat falling down his chin, rightfully so, A million dollars is at stake, and he can't afford to get the answer wrong, knowing fully well the weight of his answer he confidently says, "Des Moines!"
As soon as he gets the answer wrong he falls to his knees and it goes to an ad, Kalin turns the TV off and now with nothing to do, he decides to go out of his room for once for a walk.
He gets up from his bed, nearly falling from the pins and needles from not moving for so long but he holds onto the bed for support and waits for it to pass.
After it does he walks to his door slowly opening it and flinching at the sound of the creaking door, he peeks his head outside, the dark hallway of the hospital makes it look incredibly scary.
The atmosphere of the hallway and creaking reminds him of the house in the endless forest, which only adds to the haunted feeling.
But he wasn't actually scared... that is until he heard the sound of muffled cries and sniffles, he looked at the floor and he saw a person, the person was sitting with their back against the wall, they had their knees pressed against their chest and their face obscured by their arms.
Quickly recovering from the fright he inspects the person more closely, it turns out they weren't a ghost. They were wearing the same hospital gown as Kalin, and from what Kalin could see from their body they were most likely his age or at least very close to it.
As he inspects the mysterious person they say in a muffled voice in between sniffles, "What do you want?" knowing he's been caught he walks out of his room and into the hallway, "How did you notice me?"
The person nonchalantly states, "I have a skill for it" Kalin gets shocked at the mention of a skill... he had done some research on the trials and it seems it affected only a small fraction of the whole population.
Something felt off about this though, in thatwhite room he was in before he was put into the endless forest, he didn't see her in it... there were only about a hundred people and he had seen all of their faces... yet he didn't recognize this person.
"I didn't see you in that white room though... so how did you get a skill?" the girl stares at him like he's an idiot after he asks, "Did your moderator not tell you..." Kalin has a confused look on his face, the person sighs and continues talking, "There are millions of those white rooms, did you think you were special or something... no I guess we are, out of the billions who didn't get put in."
A little overwhelmed by the sudden influx of information Kalin decides to swap the subject, "So... why were you crying then" The person who still has their face in their arms is visibly flustered by this question as they mutter, "I wasn't!"
Kalin puts his hands up knowing not to push the subject decides to ask another question, "How'd you end up in here then?" the girl sits silently for a moment, making Kalin think she fell asleep, but then she starts to speak, "Monsters."
'Is that it...' Kalin thinks to himself but she continues to speak, "When you come back from your trial you are in the exact same spot as when you were put into them and a flood of monsters appears nearby, I was at home when it happened so... when I was brought back my entire house was destroyed, it was like a tornado had hit it straight-on, it was all at the hands of one orc and that same orc... was towering over my mom and brother."
She takes a deep breath to compose herself and continues, "I rushed over to it with my weapon in my hand but it was too late, they had been hit by the orc their bones and flesh were torn apart, luckily they lived but... I don't know if they'll ever wake up again, and it's all... because of me."
As soon as she got done she started to tear up again, quickly stopping herself from crying, for the first time she raised her head from her arms, turning her head to look at Kalin, and he finally sees what she looks like.
The first thing he noticed about her was her peculiar hair color, it was a light blue and cut shoulder length, it was unkempt and slightly dirty yet it had a certain luster to it still.
Her eyes which were also light blue had a sharp and dangerous aura, which was a stark contrast to the stressed expression and red puffiness on her face which seemed to mitigate all the feeling of danger one would feel by looking into them.
Snapping him out of his analysis, the girl's stomach grumbles loudly and she starts to blush, Kalin smirks and asks, "Want something to eat?" the girl nods and points down the hallway, "There's a vending machine down the hall, can you get me a sandwich"
'A sandwich from a vending machine...' He wonders how that'd taste, and smiles at the girl, "Sure, i'll go get you one" With that he leaves and walks to the left the hallway's lights flicker as he walks towards the vending machine, he could've sworn he saw something move through the corner of his eyes, but there wasn't anything there so he continues walking but at a faster pace.
Luckily nothing happens on his way to the vending machine and he looks at the contents, the variety of snacks is enough to overwhelm somebody, from healthy to horrible for you, there's something for everybody. In the middle is a ham and cheese sandwich in a triangle package, he pressed the buttons for it "E12", shortly after inserting some of his last change that was in his uniform's pocket, ham and cheese sandwich falls down hitting the bottom with a silent thud.
Kalin crouches down to grab the sandwich and he stands back up, he raises the sandwich to look at it, indeed... they looked as good as a sandwich from a vending machine should.
Kalin walked back in the eery silence to the girl, it's so quiet that he expected to turn the corner and not see anything, but the girl was sitting in the same spot but staring at the wall patiently waiting, her stressed expression had calmed and she now looked slightly lonely.
Interrupting her focus on the wall Kalin taps her shoulder startling her, "Ah, jeez you scared me, why are your footsteps so quiet!" Kalin hadn't noticed it himself but he was indeed walking stealthily, it was a habit from ambushing goblins in the forest, "Don't you have a detection skill" Kalin responded.
"Yeah, do you think I'm using it all the time, that's a waste of mana!" the girl gets angry at Kalin's continued stupidity, "I get it... I get it, my bad" he chuckles at her reaction, and hands her a sandwich which she snatches from his hands.
She peeled the plastic wrap off it and grabbed the sandwich, quickly taking a bite, she was devouring it like she had been starved for days.
He looks at the girl who is still sitting down on the cold floor, but with a much nicer complexion and expression, "Thanks for the sandwich... by the way what's your name?"
Kalin had thought he had introduced himself but he hadn't, so realizing his mistake he introduced himself, "Ah yeah... my bad, my name's Kalin" he extended his hand for a handshake which the girl accepted.
The girl returned his introduction with her own, "Nice to meet you, Kalin, my name is Theia, my parents were obsessed with mythology so that's why they chose it" Kalin didn't even know that her name was associated with mythology but he didn't want to seem dumb so he responded, "Hoh... I see"
After their short introductions, Kalin went back to his room quickly stumbling to his bed and plopping onto it, he crawled to a good sleeping position and placed the blanket over him, closing his eyes and trying his hardest to erase the sandwich from his mind, Until he fell asleep.
That night he dreamt of something... it wasn't the familiar voice of that girl, nor the voice of that gruff man, it wasn't even the golden tear... all it was, was a hill, the hill looked as if it was untouched by civilization, the grass covering it is perfectly green and brimming with life. Atop the hill stands a magnificent oak tree, its branches softly swaying in the breeze without a care in the world.
Occasionally the image of this pristine hill overlaps with another, the picture of what looks like a peaceful village that's been burnt to cinders... he stands in the middle of the destruction, watching as the once peaceful village's last standing buildings become smoldering flames
Even then... the tree erases the distress, it gives peace, and it erases pain. Kalin wonders if he can stay with it forever... just watching it, he wonders who "HE" is. he tries to look down but he's uncapable, his head is anchored, all he can see is the tree... and he's fine with that.
But the tree is getting... covered by something, a deep raven black, Kalin tries to reach out, aiming to save the tree, but he can't... all he can do is watch, as the tree is destroyed, no! devoured, a single tear falls from his eyes. landing on the floor with a resounding thud.
And he awakes. That same tear rolls down his face and lands on his hospital bed without a sound, he wipes the tear off his face with his arm, 'What... was that?' he thinks to himself, but his sadness is interrupted by an unexpected notification, [Unique Title Obtained: Observer]
'A title?' Kalin thinks about the tree for a moment, for some reason, the pull on his mind which it had in his dreams isn't as intense as when he was looking at it, though he still adores it, he wonders how he even got a title but understands it was most likely because of the tree.
He thinks to himself [Observer] his thoughts reverberate in his mind like screaming in an empty cave.
[Observer]
[This title belongs to The [Jack Of Nothing] who has observed "???" the title allows the user to inspect other Users abilities and understand foreign objects better]
[Effect 2:???]
[Effect 3:???]
'Crazy! It's a title with three effects, but I guess I need to unlock them first, I wonder how?' as he hypothesizes how to unlock his new title's effects, he senses someone on the other side of his door, somehow he knows it's not someone he's familiar with, the person opens the door and walks in.
They're wearing a sleek white lab coat adorned with a stethoscope, and a pair of glasses with a clean black frame, his build is quite lanky, and he has a small scruffy beard. On his chest, a nametag dangles with the person's name written in bold black text, "I'm Neil, I'll be doing a routine checkup today if that's fine"
Kalin looks at him from his bed putting his hand out which Neil shakes, "I'm Kalin nice to meet you" The doctor laughs, "I know who you are, you were in one of those terrorist attacks right...?" Kalin wonders what he means by that so he asks, "Terrorist attacks?"
Neil looks at Kalin for a moment before answering, "Yeah... everyone says it was monsters that attacked all these monuments and such, but that's simply illogical, it's much more likely an attack from a foreign nation" Kalin suspects this must be the most popular belief, given the lack of mass hysteria that would usually be the result.
He shrugs it off though, he doesn't need to know the truth anyway, "What do I need to do for this checkup?" Neil looks at his clipboard before answering, "Take off your shirt" Kalin gets confused by the boldness of Neil, "Hm? My shirt..." Neil nods.
"That's where you were injured right?" Kalin realizes what Neil means and quickly complies, Neil looks at his skin which is now almost fully healed only leaving a long scar down his side, "Interesting... I guess it wasn't as bad as we thought, In any case, you could leave as soon as tomorrow, I'll leave your clothes right here"
Neil places Kalin's school uniform on his bed, it's now been thoroughly cleaned without a single trace of his nor that monster's blood, he holds them and stares at them for a moment, only moving when Neil leaves and he hears the door close behind him.
He goes to take a quick shower as he hadn't his whole time in the hospital, the relief of fresh hot water hitting his skin is euphoric, like small beads of warm heaven, sadly he has to cut it short as he feels the water getting colder.
Grabbing a towel from the towel rack he wraps it around his lower body, grabbing another to dry his hair which had become slightly longer, after drying off he puts on his uniform, which is also the only article of clothing that he owns after his apartment collapsed.
He goes back to his bed and lays down, staring at the ceiling for the last time, tomorrow he would have to go back to school and find a place to stay, he had a lot on his plate but he shakes those thoughts away, slowly turning to his side and closing his eyes until he fell asleep.