Smiley had not lost his consciousness, he could feel everything yet nothing. He was— at the mercy of the world… being carried around as he was stripped of all his senses. He felt a sharp needle-ish throbbing pain in his head.
And it suddenly stopped as the cold surrounded him.
…
Complete silence surrounded him.
Was it even the cold He felt? Or was it the warmth of someone. He could no longer tell what He was feeling. He should have fallen asleep or opened his eyes by now but something felt amiss… Someone kept on calling a unfamiliar name… yet His heart… was oddly silent.
"Did I survive? No… What is going on? Where am I being taken?"
The silent heart started beating again.
Lub dub.
Finally after some time, someone laid Him down onto something soft.
He slowly opened his dark blue eyes in cold sweat to find Himself already back in the house staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. He touched his forehead, swiping up his hair to find a small bandage under it.
He had not even hit his head hard and yet someone had placed a band aid over it.
Just then a voice came, 'Good morning sleepy head. I heard you passed out after reading a few words. Is that why you hate school?'
He glanced over to see Ayla smiling at Him and said "Huh? Who are you talking about? Where am I?"
He looked at His arms to find see unfamiliar hands, 'T-This isn't my body. I was drowning just a moment ago…'
He smiled thinking, 'Oh… did I get Isekai'd?' He smiled even brightly, 'I don't have to repay my mountain of debts!'
Ayla asked, 'What are you grinning for?'
He stared at Ayla, 'Is she the one who summoned me? Haha. What did I get?' as he thought of Cheat abilities, Systems and cultivation. Still stuck in his own delusions he thought, 'Mountains of riches and girls awaits me!!!'
He immediately tried to stand up but stumbled back on his feet, losing control over him. Ayla caught him and said, 'Just keep on laying down for a bit.'
He tried to escape, "No… I am fine alright~", and thought 'What the heck is this body? Dang it… this body is way too weak.' as he tried to focus his blurry eyes 'Even a bedridden patient in a coma isn't this pathetic And What the hell is wrong with his heart. Every vein of this body hurts.'
'I guess I will need to fix this body first~' yet His smile slowly faded away as He lost control over him, feeling like his heart was failing Him, right after being isekai'd into this boy's body.
Ayla grabbed him tightly as he was about to fall and said 'You are not going anywhere. I told you to lay down' which was more of a threat than concern to which Smiley narrowly opened his eyes which had now returned back to dark as his blue eyes were eaten away.
Smiley seemed slightly confused but gave up instantly on Ayla's demand as he thought, 'I do not want to mess with someone who sent the so-called "strongest person alive" flying.'
Ayla asked, 'Tell me what happened?'
Smiley laid down and held onto his chest, feeling his heart beat.
Dub Lub.
Thinking to himself, 'Its normal…' but my memories were fuzzy.
Smiley told her 'Don't worry about it. This happens once in a while. It goes away after some time when I lay down but this one lasted longer than usual.'
She spoke showing concern, 'People do not just "Pass Out" out of nowhere. He told me your whole skin went pale and your eyes reflected no light. He thought you were dead…'
It slightly annoyed Smiley to be declared deceased twice already, wondering if Death is Ananke's ex from whom he "hasn't moved on from" that he keeps on recalling death every chance he gets to joke about it. He asked, 'So where is he?'
'He went out to fill out the papers for you.'
Smiley touched his forehead once again to find a bandage placed over it. Ayla said 'The nice guild lady gave you that cute bandage on your head. I heard you almost hit your head but she covered it.'
Smiley recalled her cold face, 'Yea, no way it's her…'
Ayla spoke angrily 'But that idiot… how come he did not catch you when you were falling down.'
Just then Ananke came back smiling, all sunshine and rainbow, 'Guess whose back…' but froze after seeing Ayla fiery gaze directed at him which caused his flowery atmosphere to burnt to crisp as he thought, 'What did I do?'
Ananke coughed and went straight to Smiley asking, 'What were you thinking just before you passed out?'
Smiley said 'About registry?'
Ananke pressed 'Yea, can be of any small detail'
Smiley responded 'Nothing really. Why do you keep pressing it?' to which Ayla coughed which made Ananke to back down in realization how uncomfortable it would seem to others.
But weirdly enough, Smiley's expression was not one of those who seemed uncomfortable at all like he was used to it by now.
Ananke paused, 'Firstly I should congratulate you on finding your trigger.' as he used his wind to bring forward a pen.
Ayla said surprised, 'Trigger is a Pen? The same one as that boy whom you accidentally slashed down during the academy duel?' worried she asked 'How will he write at school?'
Smiley ignored the obvious red flag once again while Ananke held the pen in his fingers, 'Its too soon for that' as he pointed and showed it to Smiley.
Of course Smiley took the worst possible path and grabbed it without a clue while Ananke was busy talking to Ayla which surprised both of them.
Smiley was able to easily hold it but Ayla instantly snatched back the pen and Ananke kept shaking Smiley by the shoulders asking, 'Why did you just grab it as if you already hadn't passed out from doing it before? Do you want to die?'
As Smiley was being shaken, he thought, 'I might die from all this shaking.'
Ananke jokingly cried, 'Do not walk towards the light just yet!' but ironically the only thing Smiley saw was Ananke and the ceiling as he jolted him back and forth. A red flag almost like a sign from the heavens above. Ayla stepped in and hit Ananke, 'Stop shaking him so hard! Not everyone is as strong as me.' which made Ananke completely pause.
Looking at Smiley being completely stable, Ananke took the pen and put it into his hands once again to see no reaction.
Ananke said confused, 'I— guess not…' only to be met with another strike by Ayla, as she yelled 'Are you crazy? Why did you just give it back?'
Ayla noticed Smiley was completely fine holding the pen to which she finally calmed down, 'Oh…'
Ananke, glaring back at Ayla for hitting him, explained, 'I guess I was mistaken…'
Ayla taunted acting all cute, 'Tehe, I guess, so was I' but this time hitting Ananke with girl's privilege… and it was highly effective.
Sigh
Ayla asked 'But are you sure he was using OG? And you could have caught him.'
Ananke scratched his head 'I am sure of it and I did try to grab him but his OG collided with mine and sent a shock into my body which kind of honestly shocked me.'
Ayla sighed, disapproving his sense of humor while Smiley asked 'Shocked?'
'When two people have OG and one of them is actively using it. The other person can feel a shock from others body but it only works if they are hostile towards another which is similar to Clash of Originality.'
Ananke explained, 'For some reason, you were hostile towards me. If anything then mine would have accidentally harmed you if I hadn't let go—' He talked like admitting his guilt, 'That's why I thought you were dead when you fell to the ground after I grabbed you.'
Smiley looked at him and said 'That's kinda scary.'
Ananke reassured, 'But don't worry about that. It's not a matter of trust. Your body probably tried to do whatever it could to protect you when you fell unconscious' and he pressed one of his fists into his heart while raising his other hand with the palm facing forward, 'I bear no hatred against you so my OG would not kill you… probably.'
Smiley 'You do not sound convinced yourself.'
Ayla pressed her fist against Ananke's head, 'Can you stop scaring him for once?'
Ananke said 'I was only joking. OG does not harm you that way. The most you will feel is a shock but it's pretty harmless since I have control over it. Although, I had some doubts but you really have low OG for it to run out the moment you accidentally activated it. But rest up for now and do not do anything. We don't want you dying due to lack of OG if you accidentally use your trigger.'
Smiley asked, 'How do I find the trigger?'
'Trigger is a medium which allows you to control the flow of OG. It varies on what defines a person because OG is literally caused by "What people desire and believe in" so if enough people believe something defines you then that thing would become your trigger. As for me, it was my "Glowing Red Eyes*" in the past so it was a pain for me to even use my OG normally but now I can just use wooden sword as a medium which helps out.'
^* Explanation: Since Ananke needs a trigger to wake his eyes (make them glow), having glowing red eyes as trigger would mean he needs to awake his eyes just to trigger the thing that is already active. This makes it impossible to awake his eyes the normal way.
Ananke looked at Smiley's dark eye, 'I suspect you were using your OG without activating the rose. I think your body likely shut itself down to protect you as people go insane when they try to wield originality without any medium or rose. You are lucky that you did not die that instant.'
This just meant if Smiley's trigger was a pen and he had grabbed that pen just now without, he would have died due to lack of OG (due to corruption*) or he would have overloaded his mind beyond limit and died on the spot.'
Corruption: After first usage of OG, Corruption starts to infect your body. Think of a human body that has a mold and that mold is sealed till the first time you use your OG. After that you are exposed to outer elements which start to corrupt and infect you slowly. They must periodically release your bad part of OG as Corruption alone has killed many low leveled Awakened. The higher OG you use the more that mold will tear apart and expose to outer elements.
Ananke continued, 'Awakening is the easy part but surviving as one is entirely different. If one does not know they have awakened then it's their certain death that awaits them. This is one of the reasons why I brought you here.'
'This is why a trigger needs to be something "common" that you can easily find and use but also "uncommon" so you do not accidentally drain yourself. Triggers can be anything from an object to an emotion.'
Ananke thought to himself as he looked at Smiley smiling while talking to Ayla, 'And even a Smile can be a trigger… But if that were to become true then you either have to become an emotionless monster to survive or die trying… Is that why your memories are missing? Did someone seal it off to protect you from the curse of "Smiling Kid" in previous timelines? And what is with those dull black eyes the moment before you passed out. I have never seen someone's awakening eyes being taken away.'
Ananke regretted, 'I just wish for you to keep on smiling like that without having any worries I had.'
Smiley turned towards Ananke, 'Can you stop staring at me like that?'
Ananke's cold eyes turned bright as he smiled, 'Haha sorry about that, I was lost in my thoughts thinking about you' which gave Smiley the wrong idea as chills ran down his spine, 'What was he thinking about me?' covering himself.
Ananke thought, 'But of course, I can not tell him that or else he might develop a trigger's disorder leading to his death. I must keep his memories hidden until he finds a better trigger.'
Ananke asked, 'So what do you say?'
Already confused, Smiley started to jump conclusions, 'Huh? What is he talking about? And wait, isn't he married?'
Ananke continued, 'Don't worry. It will grow (OG) in time. We got lucky as only few people know about your Awakening. If it was revealed in the Guild then it might have been spread throughout the country in no time. For now just think about your guild test.'
Smiley was reminded of the guild as he asked 'Oh— Yea the test. We were talking about the test.' nodding to himself.
Ananke seemed puzzled, unaware of his protagonist-like "handsome" face and misinterpreted words caused any confusion and replied, 'It was going to be today but they postponed it to the start of next week as you passed out.'
Ananke looked back smiling and said 'But on the bright side, we can train and warm up in the meantime.'
Ayla once again angrily said 'At least let him at least rest properly'. She shifted her gaze towards Ananke and whispered worried 'And you too'
Ananke and Smiley just accepted their fate in front of Ayla. Somehow Smiley felt at home right at home… except for the misunderstandings Ananke had created that day.
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Extra(s):
The Isekai'd person (Mr. Unnamed NPC 405):
---------------
Before:
I wish I could just escape my debts… I will do anything, Dear God.
After:
Dang it, I did not escape my debts to get stuck into a sick child's body.
Author Note: "Good bye Mr unnamed NPC 405. Hope to never see you again"
Total time He survived in this world: Less than a Minute.
=========
Extra:
Ayla and Reincaranator:
---------------
"Mr. Unnamed NPC 405" looked at Ayla and thought, 'She must be the princess or a priest who will guide me in this world.' While Ayla was ready to save Smiley as she grabbed Smiley's arm with one hand while hiding the knife behind another, 'I will safely apprehend him'
Ayla (Path Of Pupperter) was warned by Ananke earlier to be careful that some other from her path (Path of Pupperter) was trying to harm the boy and was fully ready to save Smiley from "Mr. Unnamed NPC 405".
She already had doubts after seeing Smiley's speech change and his eyes color changing.
Note: (Path of Puppetter) are extremely sensitive to details.