Before the massive titan of an eel could devour them, the old man teleported them from inside the building to the rooftop of a ruined and decrepit house.
The old guy staggered onto the rooftop, almost tumbling off if not for the skeleton's hand gripping his.
The skeleton looked around, still shocked but desperate to find out where they were. They appeared to be in some type of wrecked kingdom, with water flooding the streets and undead roaming the rooftops.
A gloomy aura covered the entire city as far as the eye could see. A heavy, black, threatening fog was also spotted shrouding the surface.
BOOM!
The skeleton swiftly redirected his gaze to the sound and witnessed the eel destroy a massive gothic-style castle with its body before sweeping it away.
It shook the rubble from its body, the dust sticking to the wetness on its skin, and sank into the wide moat that surrounded the castle.
The moat appeared to be quite deep, as the entirety of its body had disappeared back into it, triggering another flood in the kingdom. The waves poured through the city streets, crashing against the walls and doors of buildings.
Many of these buildings lacked doors, leading the skeleton to conclude that the occurrence had occurred countless times before. The skeleton couldn't help but see the elderly man in a new way.
Despite his ugly appearance, he was rather kind-hearted in saving a random skeleton in some dusty hall. When the old man sensed its attention on him, he whirled around to face it.
His wrinkled face had a slight smile on it, "My staff is unfortunately broken; if it weren't, my teleport spell would've gotten us home immediately." He then sighed and shook his head, "Such a lovely jewel was used to rescue you. You must remember to repay me, Khoran."
The skeleton nodded, then tilted its head, "Khoran...?" Its deep and icy voice repeated the name: "No... My name is Damien, sir." Damien gave the old man his name, eliciting a pitying reaction from him.
"No, no... Your name is Khoran. Your memories are simply making up the character you just created to explain your existence." Damien's head was then flooded with new questions after the old man told him this.
Damien's eyes were filled with uncertainty and confusion. He was certain Damien was not a persona he had invented, but something else told him differently.
'These memories...' The skeleton clutched the side of its head, anguish shooting through its consciousness as it attempted to recall memories that appeared to be clouded in fog.
Blurry visions of what appeared to be a familiar past wandered carelessly across his mind, jumbled and disorganised. On the other hand, "Damien"'s memories felt real; he now had 24 years' worth of memories in his memory.
And despite having his memories, Damien didn't feel like "Damien".
He didn't know who he was really, Damien or this person called Khoran? He needed more information. But what he did know was a vow he made as Damien.
'Be it past or present... nor future, I won't accept disrespect.' He repeated in his mind.
Damien then looked up and saw one of the undeads examining the rooftops leaping over to them. It, like him, was dressed in rusty armour, but it was in worse shape than his.
It, too, had no helmet and was a skeleton, just like him. The old guy stroked the skeleton's shoulder, signalling it to carry him. The skeleton swept the old man off his feet and placed him in a princess carriage.
He shuffled in the skeleton's arms before returning his gaze to Damien. "My name is Howrah, but I expect you to call me Master. Understood?" With an expectant expression on his face, he stared intently at the skeleton named Damien.
"... I'll decide later. For the time being, I'll address you by name. Damien responded, refusing to address the scroungy man before him as his master.
It would be demeaning if he addressed the man as such. The old man glared at Damien, "I saved you; this is the least you can do for me right now!" After seeing that Damien was going to change his mind, he sighed.
"Fine... However, I am going to make you work significantly harder than your fellow undeads. Will that be an issue?"
Damien looked at the skeleton that was carrying the old guy. He looked at its face and observed how it treated the old man with complete servitude. Damien was bothered by the sight, almost as if he thought it was serving the wrong master.
"Hmph... No issue at all, Howrah." Damien repeated his name as a manner of asserting himself in their relationship. Howrah couldn't help but sneer before sighing again.
"Let us make haste; I am hungry after you wasted two hours of my day due to your insistent refusal to be alive once more," Howrah said, his voice somewhat irritated. He patted the skeleton's shoulder again, forcing it to turn left and start moving.
Damien watched it hop across multiple roofs with ease despite carrying the elderly guy. Howrah yelled at Damien from over the skeleton's shoulder.
"I won't come back for you if you lose sight of us!"
Damien gave him a short nod before inspecting the root tops. They appeared strong, but he understood that trusting appearances is not always a good thing in life—something he had found in Damien's memories.
"I shall analyse Damien's memories once I reach the resting point."
Damien told himself before cautiously walking back. After walking to the other edge of the roof, he dashed forward and leapt onto the next rooftop.
Creak...
The eroded wooden planks that made up the structure creaked under the weight of his armour. Damien gave a metaphorical frown. "I must be careful."
He told himself again.
Just as on the other rooftop, he walked back and then ran forward before jumping at the last second and landing on the next rooftop.
During his journey hopping between roofs, he watched countless fights between various creatures in the ruined kingdom.
He discovered wolves, giant birds, undead, eels much smaller than the one he saw, and...
'Humans...?'