In the dead of night, moonlight pierces through the grey fog.
A wisp of cold air parts the mist, revealing a three-edged structure, jutting out at the shallow waters—endless as the sea.
Breathing in the dark, trapped in an eternal slumber, it lay within.
On its cold surface, dewdrops form, seeping through its concrete seams, trickling down as they splash against the dwelling husk.
Plop.
As it splashes into his forehead, triggering his body to shiver, like a spark igniting dormant senses, the dwelling husk awakens.
He breathes.
Each breath brought scraping pain to his throat, and as he exhaled, his breath bounced back at him, warming him.
Warm air, the pain, the smell. Sensations brought him to open his eyes.
With his eyes open.
Nothing.
Only darkness, he could see only the same colors as when he closed his eyes. The moment he opened his eyes and realized that he couldn't move, couldn't see, couldn't breathe properly, and yet his sense of touch remained.
Clatter! Clang!
It rained.
Raindrops clashed to the ground, sending waves of sound within, reverberating through his entire being, ringing his skull.
A long-forgotten sensation.
Within, sound echoed, ramping into a sharp, screaming sound, numbing his ears, whilst he writhes in pain, sheets of water enter through the crevices, gradually filling the coffin-like room.
The pain turned into comfort.
He remained still there, in bliss as water quickly filled the coffin-like room, turning his white cloth gray, but in an abrupt something moved.
A limb-like thing, twisting, splashing cold waters, as if it were a part of him, scaly and heavy. His entire body moved as it twisted, driving him to breathe fitfully.
The water level rose, reaching his neck.
He instinctual close his eyes as the water filled, removing air in the room, submerging him completely. But again, below him shifted, weighing him down. With its movement, he panics and flails around, scattering breath.
But in a brief light shone upon his eyes, not blinding but gentle.
A light...
He opened his eyes.
Above him, light spilled through the water, painting it in soft, endless blues. His breath drifted upward in trembling streams, each bubble swelling into hollow spheres that floated toward the surface before bursting soundlessly apart.
A sight so beautiful.
His chest burned and tightened as water filled him, yet he couldn't look away.
Thud!
Wrapped in blue and light, He realized that he could move, and in one motion, he hurled himself up, banging his head against a solid surface.
Thud!
Something above moved, a lid of some kind, and with its movement, a beam of light briefly entered through the slit, shining across his face.
Thud!
He again pushes, pummeling his head in motion against the solid surface overhead, in hopes of opening it. Each move he made, water whirled up and down, as light freckles in a slit.
Thud!
Colors of red spread like smoke, whirling with each move he takes.
Thud!
His vision blurs, and his body gradually turns heavy.
Clunk!
With him slowly losing strength, warm yet cold spun below his waist, pushing upward, springing himself out, like a jack-in-the-box.
His stomach rested at the edge of the structure, and with his face touching against the shallow waters, he lost his consciousness.
Coughs!
Water escapes through his mouth and nose as he then draws in air, with his shoulder rising.
The… light?
Where is the light?
Outside, it was dark—above and below, nothing but darkness stretched out forever. It was no different from the inside of the structure.
Dropping down flat on the ground, his left cheek pressed to the damp ground. There, he lay on his back and let out a relieved sigh, gazing at the sky—total darkness.
He looks at it as if something is out of normal.
Where is this!?
Why am I—
He grits his lips and grabs his head with his two hands as the sensation of needles poking inside his head suddenly arises.
My own thoughts are killing me.
He scratched his head, quickly carried his back, and sat upright.
Sensation of warm wind brushes his neck, followed by a sultry liquid pouring over his shoulder, which drips down at his feet.
He slowly turned and saw behind him a—
A monster!
Its orb-like eyes stared at him, dilating its pupil. Its face resembled that of a wolf, as large as an mountains, wings twice the size of its body…
Howl!
It's howl reverberated through his entire being. Its towering length of a neck stretched out to him, it stuck out its tongue, dripping its drool, and with one breath, the air pulls his body to its nose.
Splat!
One moment to another, it spreads its peacock-like wing and bares its teeth, as sheets of snot trickling from its nose, splurt out at him, drenching his body in sticky liquids.
It breathes out, exhaling warm wind, bellowing.
His shoulder hitched with its foul breath; he retched, tearing up as heat rushed to his face, shivering as his palm sweats profusely, the air starting to smell sour.
Disgusting.
His mouth floods with saliva, inflating his cheeks; its bitter taste gags him. The creature screeched, shaking the ground, as he hicks with his mouth full, suddenly gulping it all back.
The warm feeling in his stomach made him burp.
He kicked the ground and splashed water on its feathers, as he then started sprinting away...
Sprinting, flailing his twig-like arms, with each step, waves of water rippled at the endless shallows spread. All the while, the fog covered the entire surroundings, and he was running aimlessly.
He doesn't know where he's going, he doesn't know what he's doing, and everything just feels wrong.
One thing kept repeating inside his head in this situation: Run, anywhere that isn't close to this creature.
Panting, as he ran, it was quiet all of a sudden. Eerie silence, so unlike the chaos. He stopped and, with his posture tense, he slowly glanced over his shoulder.
In anticipation, he quickly spun back with his left foot at the ground, hurling the water as he then kicked his feet to the air, splashing a wall of water. With his feet in the air, intense fatigue set in, shaking him whole, like needles puncturing his head.
Out of balance, he collapsed, face-first, into the shallow water.
With sheer will, he dragged himself back upright, his gaze lingering on his flimsy legs, hundred ripples trembled across the surface, colliding and fracturing the reflection.
When, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a fleeting glimpse of a woman alone in the endless, shallow water. She looks at him from the corner of her eye, innocence blairs as she stares.
Howl!
@#$%!
He turned his head and saw the monster run at him, flapping its wings, sending tremors through the ground. As the ground shook, his balance broke and stumbles to the ground.
'Come on, move,' He yelled, pushing himself back up.
An inexplicable weight tugs at him, like a heavy appendage; it was as heavy as his arm, and felt like it was his limb, and in the corner of his eyes, he sees the ghostly woman, struggling as if pulling something. In curiosity, he looked back and saw—
A tail?
Before he could think, a blast of water surged between them, and its force sent him sprawling to the ground, skipping through the waters and sending ripples.
There he lay on the ground, unmoving.
Sudden ripples spread out of the water as he them stand back up, his blood trickling down his fingers, panting as he draws in air.
A blue feather floats in shallow waters.
He turned his head, looking for the creature, but a pillar blocked his face. Drifting as he changed his gaze, as though it weren't fully anchored to the world. Perpetually blocking wherever his eyes looked.
The pillar was as tall as he was, and with its crystal blue texture, he saw her.
Her clothes were soaked in blood, her skin was as pale as canvas, a complexion of porcelain, her hair flowed down like rivers of ink, and whenever he looked at her eyes, their eyes met.
It was anything resembling a woman, but something behind her waist moved; there was a tail. He raised a gesture to her, and it copied every move he took.
The sound of ripples echoed.
The pillar drifted closer opting him a closer look.
Everything that he moved, from his eyes looking away, from his hand twitching, the girl copied every.
It can't be—
He hurls his arm up, struggling, as he then brought his hand closer, twitching as he then pinched his cheek, in which the woman all did copy him.
It hurts.
He looked down, then above, as above as below, it is him. He realized the ghostly woman he'd feared was actually a reflection of himself.
"This can't be true," he said, laughing.
Even his voice turned into a hot lady's voice.
Even my voice—
"Argh! #$%^! My head," Xin said, rubbing his head.
The pillar/mirror rose into the sky, converging into a ball, convulsing, like a bomb.
Xin turned his eyes up and then covered his head with his arm, as he couldn't move his leg to run.
Boom!
Warm liquid splattered on his body, trickling down his body. A rusty smell.
Sensation of blood rushing to his feet, turning numb, his heart feels stuck, and heavy. He moves his drenched arm away and peeks through his arm, his eyes jittering.
...Blood?
He moved his hand outward, was confused as he saw his body perfectly fine, and before him, it floated, a transparent screen, on which white letters were inscribed. He reads.
"Welcome, Ye Xin," he said, raising his eyebrows.
Is this referring to me?
... A man's name?
His very own memory was a mystery to him, gender, name, birth, all of it scattered like puzzle pieces, in any which he can't seem to picture it, of what he truly is.
He raises his arm and finger, and he pushes his hand. His finger passes through the panel, and nothing happens.
"Status open," Xin said, unconsciously.
At his word, the panel shrank into a ball of water. It grew, this time larger. As it surged, something slipped free from within him.
He felt weak.
Xin covers his head, bracing himself.
Splash!
Ye Xin /█/ Lvl. I RP: 10
STR: 10 AGI: 5 DEF: 3 INT: 12
IVR: [][][][][][][][][][]
...IVR?
Before him, words within the panel then rippled.
Ye Xin /█/ Level. I Status: Wet, Cold
Health points: 10/10, Mana points: 03/10
Mind: 21/30 Stamina: 03/15 Raising Points: 10
Strength: 10, Agility: 5, Defense: 3, Intelligence: 12
Inventory: [][][][][][][][][][]
"Close."
His body felt heavy all of a sudden.
With his word, the panel then surged, shrinking down into a ball. Curtains of water crash down.
Whoosh.
A sudden gust of wind threw him off balance.
Xin stumbled and fell hard to the ground. As he hit the earth, he caught a glimpse of something overhead—a creature beating its wings, tearing through the thick fog and revealing the moon above.
His thoughts drifted, unfocused. The world blurred at the edges as his eyelids grew heavy, sinking shut despite his effort to keep them open.
Xin lost consciousness...
His fingers twitched.
Casting ripples in the shallow waters.
A perfect circle, spreading smoothly and soundlessly.
As it widened, from black to blue to anything it touched, at once it all turned white, textures flattened into light, darkness vanished.
"A system, well, aren't you lucky?" someone said.
Xin's hand stretched outward, casting another ripple. It overhauled the initial ripple, near and far, and everything turned white, from the ground to the sky.
Suddenly, he was standing all of a sudden.
He sensed something was wrong and opened his eyes.
The world turned all white, stretching forever, and in front of him, a tab floats alone before him.
Within reads: User Mana down.
Xin raises his hand.
Slow, deliberate, as if testing the world rather than himself. His fingers moved toward his face—toward the familiar weight of bone and skin—
"What's wrong, you got no mouth?"
-Tears were slipping down his cheeks. Questions raced through his mind—who to blame, did he deserve this, was this really it?
'Not again, I won't die again,' Ye Xin yelled, crawling at ground.
The thought of dying again broke him. As he closed his eyes, someone whispered. +[1]
[1] You must be asking, "What is this?" Well, dear reader, this paragraph is from the future chapter. Think of it as what comes next.