'AAAAAAAAARGHHH!'
I clutched my rib hard enough to hear a creaking sound from them and tried to get away as fast as I could from the person who had caused me this pain. However, as someone who barely knew how to walk and was void of vision, in a few steps I was rolling in the dirt.
Overwhelmed with horror, I try dragging myself back as far away as I can get, however, the person caught up and placed a hand on my shoulder. In my panic, I didn't notice it before but the palm of this hand has no softness to it. That's when I understood, that this hand also belongs to an undead. The voice spoke again before I could process if they were a friend or a foe.
[Rest assured young one, I'm not an enemy unless you want me to be one.]
'Since they are also an undead, it should be possible that they are indeed not hostile. For now, I think it would be a good idea to listen to them. I will have to keep my guard on, however, since from their words it sounds like they have quite the temper and such people are usually very unpredictable. For now, I should play it safe.
Thus I moved my right hand next to my mouth and using my five fingers, I mimicked the action of speaking followed by a questioning gesture.
[So you are indeed a newly awakened one. No wonder you can't speak. This might hurt a little, please bear with it.]
Before I could respond, they moved their hands once again to my forehead, while using the other hand to restrain me so that I could not even move a muscle.
This time the pain, however, was nothing compared to when that weird voice said something about the Seal of something being unleashed. Also unlike earlier, I feel a flow of something in my head as if something is being stirred ... or arranged? I'm not sure.
After what felt like an eternity, They finally released my forehead and something wonderful but creepy followed.
In a land filled with impenetrable darkness, there was a tiny dome barely 3 meters in diameter at the very center of the dark world. This dome was filled with very dim lights, and at the center of the dome, stood a tall skeleton wearing full-body leather armor and a leather hood on their head. There was another skeleton right beside the standing skeleton but this one was completely naked and lying on the ground with their head held tightly within their bony hands.
[Phew. So it worked. The image in your mind is nothing but your vision.]
'This!? This is my vision? Where am I then?' I pondered upon hearing the seemingly impossible explanation of the image. That's when a realization dawned upon me. In order to verify I waved my left hand and sure enough, I saw the fallen skeleton in the dome waving his left hand.
'How is this possible? Is this like one of those GTA games my grandchildren used to play? Why does my vision seem like it's from the third-person perspective?
Sensing my bewilderment, the voice, this time sounding clear and masculine replied,
[The undead usually do not have eyes, ears, or organs to produce intelligible sounds. Hence they sense the difference in surrounding energies to observe their environment.
Compared to most beings that use their eyes, we undead use what's called the Death Energy around us to sense the light and interpret our surroundings.
Sound gets transmitted through vibrating particles and we once again detect those changes using death energy. You should now be able to hear faint noises like the blowing wind, rustling of leaves, and other similar things.]
Understanding how my vision and auditory senses work baffled me. I can indeed hear the noises of wind, leaves, and other natural sounds. However, one thing I still could not understand is how the ability to speak works as I'm sure this wretched body has no vocal chords.
While I didn't need to look at someone while speaking with them, perhaps as a force of habit, I looked at him with a curious gaze mimicking the actions of speaking again with my fingers.
[Ah yes, there are many ways we can speak. In order to speak like regular humans, we can manipulate the Death Energy around to make the particles vibrate.
I tried that before however, since you had just awakened, it seems the knowledge of language was not yet completely transferred since you didn't show any signs of understanding me.
The other method of conversation is what I am using right now. It's basically imprinting my thoughts on your consciousness. This, however, is a very complicated process and it's a skill that needs to be gradually developed with practice to be able to effectively convey your thoughts. Since I have just helped you with the assimilation, I think you should now be able to speak using the first method. Give it a try.]
'I should be able to vibrate molecules using energy manipulation? Aren't you expecting a lot of out me?' Bitter at the words of the man in front of me for giving me false hope, I resolved myself to give it a try anyway...
"I AM THE GOD OF ALL MANKIND..."
"..."
"..."
"It's alright young man don't be too embarrassed. The First-Word syndrome is a very commonly diagnosed syndrome amongst youngsters that awaken."
"..."
"..."
"I ... was 104 years old before my death."
"... Uhm Uhm, I see, nice weather isn't it? I'm sure you must have a lot of questions to ask."
"Ah yes, I almost forgot. I apologize in advance in case there are just too many questions.
First of all, I'm Marcus Williams. What is your name esteemed sir?"
"Ah, excuse my manners, a self-awakening in a once-in-a-century phenomenon.
I'm Dark Knight Gerard from the Guild Pioneers of the Dark" said Gerard announcing his title and guild with pride.
"I see. What is a guild then?" I asked back as I finally had an opportunity to collect credible information about this damned world.
"A guild is an equivalent of organizations you might have seen during your life. However, one thing that differs for a guild is that they have a main objective something that is the purpose for the guild to be formed and everything else is just a means to an end.
As you must have guessed, our guild, Pioneers of the Dark is a research-based guild."
"I see, in that case, Esteemed Dark Knight Gerard must be an academic."
"Enough with the Esteemed and titles. Just call me Sir Gerard. Also, research is just for the top-ranking folks at the guild. While I'm not at the bottom ranks, I'm one of the means to an end person working for the guild. You see while the main objective is research-based, research needs a lot of funds and a way to acquire funds is through trade. Trade in turn requires the production of materials and transport and many other logistical details including the need to protect the cargo.
That's where people like me come in. Being a skilled warrior, I was hired to guard the merchant convoys and by becoming a guild member, I could receive the support of the guild to further elevate my strength along with an acceptable salary and the guild has a trustworthy member guarding their cargo thus drastically reducing the chances of conspiring with bandits."
"I see, that makes sense. Sir, in that case, how does the guild ..."
"Enough about guilds for now. You should already have all the answers about guilds within yourself as this is common knowledge ask me something interesting."
'To think I almost blew my cover as a transmigrator from another world on the very first day. I will have to let this topic rest for a while. In that case, let me ask the few questions that would drive me crazy if I don't find the answer soon enough.'
"Sir Gerard, there's something that's been bothering me since the beginning of our conversation. I know I'm no genius and I'm sure speaking, listening, and seeing with this skeleton body is a much more complex process as compared to the human body. However, since you have appeared, in less than 100 breaths, I have become able to do all three of them simultaneously as if I have been doing these for years. Can you tell me what happened when you put your finger on my forehead since that was when I started seeing for the first time?
"HA HA HA HA ..." A roar of laughter escaped from Gerard's mouth with an expression that usually detectives have when it all comes together.
Looking at him laugh hysterically like that had I been human, I'm sure I would have spoiled my pants.
'Did I somehow give away information saying I'm not from around here? Still, he cannot know for sure from just one sentence.' Thinking very carefully about my next words, as they could decide my fate, I opened my mouth and then -
"I see. It seems you have lost most of your memories from when you were alive. Listen to this carefully as I will explain only once.
Almost every being in this world has their soul imprinted by higher beings. We have no idea who these higher beings are however, we know that there's more than one of them and their Seals imprinted on the creatures help them with their growth throughout their lives.
These seals are activated when a suitable form of energy enters our body. For undead like us, it is the Death Energy or Dead Mana or Qi of Netherworld as they are referred to in different regions of this world.
When I touched your forehead, I just gave your body some of my Dead Mana, and that must have unleashed the Seal imprinted on your soul."
'I see, so the Seal wasn't anything unique that hateful entity bestowed upon me, it's something that every creature even the undead possesses.'
"Then is me learning the talking, visual, and auditory skills this fast also due to the Seal? Is it something that increases the intelligence of the bearer thus speeding up the learning process?" I asked in anticipation of having an enhanced intellect.
"Both yes and no. You have learned these skills due to the Seal. However, that is because the Seal contains the knowledge of all these skills and once it gets unleashed, the knowledge gets released to be slowly absorbed by the brain.
Usually, the absorption would take around 2 months, however, with a little use of my Dead Mana, I arranged the information for your brain to absorb through your body and hence you were able to absorb most of it instantly which was also why the process was much more painful than it should have been.
You have absorbed the vocal, auditory, and vision skills along with the language that we are currently speaking in. The only part remaining should be the knowledge of the continent as that is not very necessary, you can absorb that knowledge on your own in a month."
'I see. Despite him showing me goodwill at every step along the way, for some reason, I'm unable to trust him completely. However, my only other option is living alone in this forest until someone else stumbles upon me. I guess this is an easy decision.'
"Sir Gerard, first of all, I want to thank you for explaining to me the ways of this world. Secondly, I do not have any memory of my kin and as I have just awakened, I have no place to go. However, I wish to live and learn about this world. Would you be willing to look for some work for me at your guild until I can get myself on my feet?"
And thus began my professional life in another world.