The two creatures continued their descent down the never-ending hole. Its walls glisten with colours that shine with changing lights, sometimes flashing instances of a time that is either yet to happen or should never have happened. Holes in Time.
As they fell, their bodies shifted unnaturally—morphing, changing, reversing. The tall, faceless girl grew smaller as features of a face began to be revealed like a facemask being torn. The monstrous creature's skin shedding off as the more human skin underneath is revealed.
As this occurred, another figure began speeding towards them from above. Emiria was the first to regain her existence, body, and consciousness as she groaned "urgh… fuck."
Snapping her eyes open the moment she registered the feeling of falling, she looked around quickly before screaming, "WHAT THE FUCK?! WHERE AM I!" She began screaming as she fell.
Doxcen began to regain consciousness as well. His eyes opened up slowly as he began to register where he was.
"What… the–" Before he could finish his words, the loud shrill finally began to register, "WAAAAHHHHH!" It was loud enough for him to immediately snap out of the daze.
There he was, falling in a pit with no end in sight. Beside him was his sister, screaming and crying as she fell with him.
"Emiria!" He tried getting her attention, no progress. She continued screaming, tears continued pouring. Doxcen had to do something, "AHHH–ow!" So he flicked her neck.
She had this look of shock, rubbing her neck as she slowly turned to look at him, tears still streaming as she struggled to breath.
Doxcen grabbed both sides of Emiria's head as he began calming her down, "Emiria, breath." Thankfully, it actually began working as she breathed slowly, following the example of Doxcen.
Even as they fell, Doxcen remained there, a rock in the continuously moving background. Emiria, somewhat calmed, spoke in a quivering voice. "What's going on?"
The two talked, trying to find comfort in their company instead of the feeling of falling. Never letting go of Emiria, Doxcen began to talk about embarrassing memories to keep her from crying or screaming again.
Emiria began to calm down, joining in on the conversation with a red face and a smack to the arm of her brother. So they began to laugh.
Emiria began pulling on his hand as he kept his iron grip, forcing him to spin around, "w-wait!" Sadly, she didn't listen. In the end, Doxcen got motion sick as she laughed her ass off.
Still, they continued falling no matter how long it had been, "So when do you think we'll reach the ground?" Emiria said, much calmer now.
"I don't know-" before Doxcen could continue talking, a feeling of being watched overtook both him and Emiria.
The walls flickered at random images of time, past, present, and future, some they remember, some they don't. After a whole moment, the walls began repeating one picture endlessly, the light blue glass panel. Flashing one word. 'ERROR.'
One of the images began flashing random colours before tearing itself free from the picture, floating in front of the two, specifically Doxcen.
On it, the words began forming on the panel.
「『PLAYER』 SYSTEM ACQUIRED.」
It moved directly in front of Doxcen as it continued on.
「BEGIN DATA RECOLLECTION」
Emiria was hugging tight on his arm as the walls returned to a normal, ever-changing gradient of colours.
"Doxcen! What are you staring at?" She smacked the back of his head, snapping out of his trance.
"Emiria, it's a system thing."
"A what? Is that some other needy thing?" Even if it sounded mean, she indeed sounded curious.
"A system interface. A litRPG type thing. Using numbers and stuff to show progression..."
While Doxcen explained, Emiria slapped his head again, "Okay! I get it! Just quiet up about your nerd explanation!" Emiria seemed much calmer, more relaxed seeing Doxcen being his usual, nerdy self. "Explain it, terms I can understand."
Doxcen had sighed as he tried to rack his brain with anything to explain what a 'system' was, or this 'interface.'
"It's like… a mirror that lets you see… your self with your… 'skills' and how strong you are." Emiria nodded along as he fumbled his words.
She snapped her fingers and nodded one last time, "I get it! So, where is it?"
'Emiria can't see the system,' Doxcen thought as he turned his face back to the panel. It had circles going around in circles as it loaded. Percentage value rose at a snail stuck in tar's pace.
Once it reached 80%, a resounding tick could be heard as if there was a grandfather clock falling with them.
Tick—
Tock—
Tick—
"T■c■." A voice that cut out here and there could be heard behind the two. Doxcen quickly turned around with Emiria as the two recognised him, the blurred figure.
"Bro! It's him! That's the one I saw!" Emiria yelled, pointing at the blurred figure,
"Me too!"
The figure turned and began to float forwards in a walking motion, as if he wasn't falling with them.
"M■r■e■." As the blurry figure spoke, the walls of the endless pit flashed more pictures, of a group of people smiling and laughing. All their heads were blocked out by… something, it had no distinguished shape, it was neither a scribble nor a solid shape. It was just censored.
"Y■u m■s■ r■m■m■e■ t■e p■s■." The figure most likely tapped his head with his finger, there was a blur around the man that intensified the more he tried to focus.
As he finished speaking, the blurred figure took a light step back, his hand moved to press his head in what looked like pain, most likely in pain. The panel that was near Doxcen shot out confetti with a joyful sound, party horns and crackles.
Doxcen, frozen in a momentary shock, turned his gaze towards the blue hue of the panel, where the words etched into it overlapped, both readable, yet still fighting for space.
「CONGRATULATIONS!」
「■ ■ ■ ■ ■」
Doxcen could only understand the dominating words; the other was too illegible to understand.
「INITIATING SYSTEM 『PLAYE—
Initialization.has.failed.due.to.interruption.Failure.to.initialise.will.end.in—」
「■'■ ■.」
「Overide.complete.Initialisation.of.The■.will.be.taken.over.by.Console.but.until.takeover.is.completed.the.system.panel.used.shall.remain.as.Player.sorry.for.the.inconvenience.」
Flashes of code far more complex than anything ever began to overtake the panel, before it finally fizzled down into a different panel.
「Doxcen Lotradict LV - E
▪︎Str - ◇□◇"♡¤♡○
▪︎Spd - •¥•6•6~■~"~♡~◇
▪︎Int - •♧£"£"♡○♡•~¡~
▪︎MP - ♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤
SKILLS
▪︎ Translation - ★☆☆☆☆
— More Info
▪︎ Jluzvyzopw - [■]
— Tvyl Pumv- 」
In front of Doxcen, the panel shifted, more modern than before. Rather than a simple looking plane of glass, it was more sleek and had a steel texture. The words appeared like a projection from a projector that didn't exist.
"Testing…. testing… Hm? It seems it's finally lifted!" a voice—both regal and proud—could be heard from beside Doxcen. He turned to the voice, his eyes shining with a new gleam.
His arms were fully robotic. His eyes were covered with a blindfold with a heart symbol over his right eye socket, with a muffled sound of ticking being faintly heard. The back that held something that Doxcen faintly recognised as wings, softly fluttered behind him due to the pit's upwind. Above him was the most eye catching detail, a glowing crown symbol from a chess piece.
With a tick from somewhere, it felt as if Doxcen had stopped falling, as Emiria yelled in shock, "There's ground! Doxcen!" while moving her body to be behind Doxcen slightly, staring at the man with doubt and confusion.
A tick—not muffled nor from a specific area—was heard as everyone stopped falling, a platform had formed under them.
"What the…" Doxcen mumbled, looking down at his feet before snapping up at the figure.
"There's ground! M-Doxcen look!" Emiria yelled as she shifted her body to use Doxcen as a shield against the mysterious figure. Her gaze focused on the man as well.
"Who are you?" Doxcen's voice came out more steady than what he had expected, causing the man to catch himself before speaking.
"Hello Doxcen." The man gave a nostalgic smile. "It truly has been a long me."
"The fuck is that s'pose to mean?" Doxcen sputtered as he moved his arm to cover Emiria, more concerned for his sister than trying to make sense of the mystery man's riddles.
"Sadly I can't. It is… 'gone' in a sense." He spoke in a hushed tone, as if the world was able to hear. As if, by any reason, millions of ears were on them.
A purposeful silence was cast, before continuing. "However, sad as it may be, your cyclical journey must begin once more." his head was in a slight downcast. "To help you grow once more, I must send you to a place you knew so well."
"What the hell are you spewing now." Doxcen interrupted, he had a weird feeling inside him as he listened to the man, maybe it was rage, maybe nostalgia. He didn't know, yet he had to stop him. Something in his very being wanted to stop the man.
"[U-78.FantasyVer3.0.]. Goodluck… really."
He tapped his feet as the ground below the two vanished, causing them to fall. This time, there was a ground. He spoke once more, "One final message; Find the bird of the demons."
As Doxcen fell, he saw the man grinning in a reminiscing way as something in the pit changed, falling with a new smell of air, new sounds, new gravity.
♡
For Emiria, it was the same before Doxcen gained the system, just a blurry man with a flickering voice that cut out.
She hid behind Doxcen even further as she tried to understand why Doxcen had also started talking in that cut in and out of hearing, full of buzzing static.
Emiria noticed the same blurriness in Doxcen's pupils as the man's whole body. Still, she had to trust him. There was no one else she could. She could only hope everyone is safe.
♥︎
The man stood there, the 「Console System」 hovered in front of him as he looked up, watching the Console as the Console "stared" at him.
「You know that this loop won't change anything.」
"I know it won't; that's up to them. If not, this rotten corpse will never change." The man replied as the words continued to change.
「No. It will. And when it does. You will see. You will see the truth as well.」
The man looked behind him, as if seeking someone who wasn't there, "There are witnesses. You must know it's rude to listen to another person's conversation. Change the P.O.V. Now."
「Alright then.」
The Panel's etched words changed to a screen that showed a message. Oh dear, it seems I'm losing sight of the two.
「FORCEFULLY CHANGING POV IN 3… 2… 1–
{Concept: Ruler} → {Concept: Last ■}
–♤♡◇♧ → □♡◇♧」
The siblings plummeted, faster and faster, as if something was pulling them, guiding them. Emiria, seeing Doxcen's eyes literally steaming, deduced—with a slap or two—he was out cold
Emiria was decelerated gently while Doxcen was shot out, smacking his back against a tree as he slumped down.
That is where I, The Words you Read, will stop. Leaving Emiria cold, afraid, and alone… damn Variable.