After what seemed to be an eternity, Louise finally found himself in a familiar room. His eyes were blank, still unable to comprehend everything that had happened to him.
"I'm back..." he muttered as he looked around. He was still sitting in front of his computer, and looking at the time... "So it's true. Time, in that place, is inconsequential..." He remembered the words Ymir said before he got out. If his calculations were right, he had been in that place for almost a month, and yet not even a minute had passed when he returned. What a strange phenomenon...
Louise, however, didn't have time to think about these things. He was simply too exhausted. As such, he stood up and jumped onto his bed. He wanted to rest his weary mind. He wanted nothing but the embrace of sleep as he closed his eyes.
After all, who wouldn't be exhausted after dying a thousand times?
When Louise opened his eyes again, what he saw was darkness. His heart beat accelerated as he became fully awake. He stood up, and only when he saw the red lights coming from his computer did he slowly calm down.
"I feel terrified, huh..." Louise smiled wryly. What jolted him awake was fear from the depths of his heart—it was the last death he had experienced in that passage before finally reaching its end.
"You no longer fear death, but you should." These were the words Ymir spoke as its black figure expanded and enveloped Louise.
At that time, Louise was, indeed, no longer afraid of death. From painful deaths to peaceful deaths, from self-inflicted deaths to natural deaths, he had experienced them all. But what made him feel no fear about it was the fact that... he would still continue living. He would die, yes, but then he would find himself in another place, alive, before getting killed again.
At times, he would suffer a mortal wound and bleed to death. At other times, he would just fall asleep, only to wake up in yet another place. He had experienced so many kinds of death that he had slowly built up an immunity to pain and fear of death.
It was, in truth, a little strange. Why had he seemingly forgotten his fear of death? At some point, it felt like he was just watching a movie play out in front of him instead of experiencing the ordeal himself. This enabled him to focus on the things around him rather than his own death. And through this, he finally understood what was coming... Or at the very least, he had a vague idea about what earth was about to be subjected to.
Unfortunately, the path of death lost its meaning when Louise stopped trying to understand what death was all about. And so at the end of the passage, Ymir had to show him—
There, what Louise experienced brought him pure, unadulterated fear. All his memories—from the present to the moment of his birth—appeared in front of him. And then... they were gone.
As if devoured by the darkness, all of Louise's memories slowly vanished. He lost recollection of the many deaths he had experienced. He forgot his meeting with Michelle today... And then it continued on and on.
Slowly, he forgot the friends he recently met. He forgot the memorable times he had in the events he had joined the past year... All of the years in his life gradually vanished, and he felt as if he had lost a part of himself. As time went on, the only thing he could remember was a child learning how to bike for the first time.
That child, just who was he? And then that child vanished, too. And all that was left... was nothing.
Louise lost all of his memories, his identity, and his very existence. This was death. Once he died outside of this place, this was what death would mean. He would simply cease to exist, and all that made him who he was would vanish along with him.
And when Ymir brought him back, this fear was ingrained in his heart. He remembered... and understood that what he experienced in this place weren't true deaths. Once he died outside of this place, there was simply no turning back.
Louise took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He sat down on his bed, feeling tired once again. The adrenaline pushed him to become as alert as he could be, and now that there was no real threat, exhaustion washed over him.
"What the hell. I just woke up and I'm already so tired." A sigh escaped Louise's lips as he got up and turned on the light in his room. Afterward, he looked for his phone. Strangely enough, it was nowhere to be seen. He looked at his bed and then at his computer table...
"There you are." He finally found his phone under the computer table. He must have dropped it there when he entered that place.
He picked it up, and the moment he did, he felt an unfamiliar sensation in his middle finger. He hurriedly moved the phone to his left hand and raised his right hand. There, he saw a familiar yet unfamiliar black ring. And then he remembered...
"This is the Soul-mending Ring. This can either be a gift or a curse, you can choose. Just remember, never remove it unless you are strong enough."
These words echoed inside Louise's head all of a sudden. He looked around before saying, "Ymir?"
However, no one answered him. Even after a few minutes of silence, there was nothing. He was suddenly lost in thought as he sat on the chair in front of his computer.
He stared at the black ring, thinking about the words that popped up inside his head. "Soul-mending Ring… Too ominous. But is it the reason I'm still… me?"
This thought was a little random, pieced together from the small information he had gained from Ymir's words. He realized that, since he had experienced a thousand deaths, shouldn't he be feeling some sort of trauma? Shouldn't he be deranged by now? He was confused, incredibly so. Dying so many times… Shouldn't he have turned insane by now?
"Or I'm already insane enough that I don't feel much about it?" These words, casually spoken, came from the depths of his heart. However, his eyes still stared at the ring. He was curious; he was eager for an answer. He wanted to take it off despite Ymir's solemn warning.
He put his right hand in front of his face and stared at the black ring for a few moments. He observed every minute detail about the ring, but aside from the wave-like line around the ring, there was nothing else special about it. Then, he decided to take it off. Slowly but carefully, he pulled the ring off his finger. Before he could completely pull it off, however…
"AHHHHH!"
All he felt was pain, which made him scream so loud that he must have woken up everyone in the neighborhood. He pushed the ring back onto his finger and slumped down. The pain he had experienced just now was almost impossible to understand. It felt like he was being stabbed by thousands of needles on every part of his body, inside and out. It was a sensation that made no sense at all. Fortunately, this pain only lasted for a few seconds before he was able to force himself to push the ring back to its place.
Tok! Tok!
The door was suddenly opened, and what presented themselves in front of Louise were the worried faces of his family.
"Are you okay?"
"What happened?"
These questions came from his mom and his sister before they could even see him. His dad, behind them, also had a worried expression as they rushed into the room. It seemed all three of them were jolted awake by Louise's scream.
Louise was slumped in his chair, his expression a little unsightly. He was sweating all over, and he was even trembling.
Lucia quickly went toward him in a panic. "Is he having a stroke, a heart attack? Do we call an ambulance? What happened? Are you okay?"
Julius observed for a moment before saying, "There's no time. We need to get him to the hospital."
"Pa, he can't speak! Did he have a stroke?" Lucia was trembling as she got near her son. She was incredibly anxious, and she felt like her heart was about to leap out of her chest. She was incredibly afraid that Louise would die.
Irish was a little bit sleepy at first, but the events unfolding around her fully woke her up. Seeing her parents in such a panic, she knew something bad must have happened to her brother. She immediately asked her mom what she could do, and so she was tasked with getting clothes for her brother and a towel to be brought to the hospital.
Louise, on the other hand, wanted to stop them, but he could barely move at all. The pain was gradually subsiding, but it would probably take a few minutes before he could fully regain control over his body. The shock his body just went through was simply too horrible.
He honestly didn't know why he was still conscious, but such questions were quickly pushed aside as what remained from the pain still coursed through his body.
His mom stayed by his side while his dad rushed downstairs to prepare the car and transport him to the hospital.
Things went by in such a rush, and by the time Louise was able to move his body, he was already dragged into the car, about to leave the house.
"Ma, Pa, I-I'm fine." Louise was finally able to speak, shocking everyone around him.
Lucia held his hand tightly. She was terrified. She had watched a lot of dramas these days, and she saw scenes where dying people were able to say things properly just before their deaths. She was very afraid that this was indeed the case for her son.
"Don't worry. Just hold on, we will arrive at the hospital soon," Lucia spoke with tears in her eyes.
Irish, who was sitting in front, had also begun crying. "Don't die…"
Julius looked back to his son and spoke anxiously, "We'll be there soon. You need to stay awake!"
Louise put on a bitter smile. The pain had subsided, but another feeling overwhelmed him. He didn't know his family loved him so much. It was such a peculiar feeling that he was stunned for a while before he could react. "I'm really fine now. Seriously."
He squeezed his mom's hand in an attempt to comfort her. However, this only served to make her cry more. She really believed that he was about to die…
It was already 9 in the morning when they arrived home. It was… quite a racket? Louise was not unfamiliar with the emergency room. His mom, Lucia, had been rushed there a few times in the past due to gallbladder issues and hepatitis. In fact, it was only six months ago when they last went there.
This time, however, was just a mess. Louise persuaded his family to just go home. He told them that he was perfectly fine and all that, but his mom just didn't listen. Even his sister was adamant on getting him to the hospital.
As such, by the time they arrived, Louise was already up and about. He didn't seem sickly at all, contrary to the state he was in when his parents found him. He was, however, still pushed by his mom to the emergency room in order to get checked.
As for the results… he was healthier than ever?
Even the doctor was confused. He already had records in the same hospital in the past, and things just didn't make sense. After all the ruckus, they ran him through some blood tests and a chest x-ray just to make sure everything was really alright, and well, the results simply befuddled them.
They were asked to go home soon after the test results were done, Louise already as strong as a bull.
His family was left perturbed, but all of them were incredibly tired after this ordeal. Each of them left to their own rooms after questioning Louise whether he was really alright. Soon, Louise was back in his room, finally able to have time alone to think about everything.
After a few minutes of calming himself down and drinking a glass of water, he sat on the chair in front of his computer table while staring at the black ring on his finger. "Just what is this? Soul-mending Ring… Is it healing my soul or?"
He thought back to Ymir's words that echoed inside his head. "Never remove it unless you're strong enough."
That statement was indeed a warning, and for not listening to this warning, he was rewarded with such immense pain. He was still curious, however. In truth, he very much wanted to try removing it again. It was not like he was a masochist, but he had theorized that this ring, especially with its name being Soul-mending, had to be some sort of a seal.
After going through so many kinds of deaths, he couldn't understand why his mind was still intact. He was never a person who had a strong mind. He was, in fact, a little too weak, and his number one defense mechanism against stressful things was to block them out—to try and overwhelm them with other things that he wouldn't exactly feel them. Because whenever all the stress entered his head, he was very susceptible to breaking down, which already happened a few too many times in the past.
And for this reason, he knew there was no way he would be okay after everything that just happened to him. Now, though, he finally had an answer. "So this ring helps me keep my mind intact. Removing it is equal to re-experiencing all that. Fair enough."
He looked at the ring and put down his hand. He sighed deeply. An answer, regardless of whether it was wrong or right, was still an answer. He could only prove it in the future. For now…
"I guess I should check my messages… Damn. I've been away since last night."
Unfortunately, when he was rushed to the hospital, his phone was left in his room, as such, even though he was fine and had a bit of free time, he was left with nothing to do but take a nap.
Upon opening his phone, what stumbled in front of him was a number of notifications. It was already 9 a.m., and he had yet to check anything since he came back. What a mess… Guessing that there would be a lot of things to read, he decided to return to bed, lie down, and take things slow.
In truth, he wanted to check his discord first. He wanted to message Anna that he was still alive before anything else. That girl must be worried by now. However, a certain group chat in messenger caught his eyes. It was the same group chat for novel enthusiasts from around the world, which—for many, many reasons—was named Loli Dragon Inc.
Upon opening it, an intriguing topic presented itself in front of him.
—Loli Protector: I don't know if I just dreamed everything, but I clicked on a game and saw three doors.
The first message Louise read was from a guy who called himself Loli Protector. This name was a reference to lolis in anime and novels, especially one that had a loli dragon, which was his favorite. He had branded himself as such, and his motto was: All lolis must be patted. Well this guy, whose real name was Tim, was the group's mascot. He was the ultimate stay-at-home anime and novel enthusiast (an absolute weeb) due to his health concerns. As per his descriptions, he had too many health problems that he could die if he ever went out.
In any case, this message of his was the one that seemed to have brought the group back to life.
—ChickenV: You too, huh.
—Frappe: What door did you choose?
—Loli Protector: Green, of course. The yellow and red doors felt too dangerous. My gut feeling was screaming whenever I looked at them.
—ChickenV: Tell us more.
—Loli Protector: No.
—K-pop Simp: So did you just go there and... you know...
—Tim: No!
—ChickenV: We all know what you did there, Tim. Hahahaha.
—Tim: I'm fine with 2D girls, but 3D... Hell no.
—Garbage Collector: How about 3D ****nari girls?
—Loli Protector: Interesting. But that place didn't have that.
—Frappe: Wait, so everyone went there? How about you, @Moxick, @A Bad Conartist, @K-pop Simp, @Garbage Collector, @Neety, @Witch?
—K-pop Simp: What's up?
—Witch: You guys, too? OMG...
—A Bad Conartist: Zup?
—Loli Protector: I became a viscount reigning over a small territory. And then I had to find ways to provide food for my subjects.
—ChickenV: So how did it go? Did you make them eat your ***?
—Garbage Collector: Hahahahaha!
—Loli Protector: Not telling, you bish.
—A Bad Conartist: It seems everyone did go to that place… By the way, where the hell's Louise? @Moxick
—Frappe: Oi, @Moxick. Last online 12 hours ago. He ded?
—ChickenV: Probably ded. @Moxick
—K-pop Simp: Are we talking about Tim's sexual delusions again?
—Loli Protector: No, you dolt!
—ChickenV: Seems our ultra simp is clueless.
...
This was the latest conversation that began just a few minutes ago. Louise's sleepiness disappeared all of a sudden. It seemed it was not only him who found himself in front of those three doors...