I slammed my hand towards the annoying beeping noise, soothing the alarm on my phone.
Fine, I knew I must have slept in again, but it's not like I had a job – I'd just adjust my sleep cycle once I found one.
I tried getting out of bed, only to realize I'm actually laying fully dressed on my sofa.
'God dammit, I should really curb this before it becomes a habit'
I could feel my right arm aching from this shitty sleeping position.
It was probably this shitty posture that also made me have some shitty dreams.
The details were fuzzy, but I could vaguely remember getting attacked by a goblin (a goblin, of all things!) in a dark cave, then nearly getting into PvP against some random veteran party, only to have their priests roleplay some pious devotion and convince them to let me follow them through the dungeon they just cleared, and even through the next level area – where we got attacked by higher level monsters. I think it was wolves.
'Anyway, the dream ended OK-ish. At least, I think it did.'
Suddenly, I got a creeping, ominous feeling that I was missing something.
Glancing back at the sofa, I could see the outlines of some dark, pitch black object, at the very edge of my vision.
'I must still be tired. Did I wake up too early? Come to think of it…'
Just as the thought came to my mind, I noticed the gray, dim light coming from the window, brought first by the first rays of the rising sun.
'Yeah. I'm already dressed, so why not go for a morning walk.'
Making my way to the door, my eyes strictly avoiding the direction of the sofa, I went down a step of stairs, and found myself outside.
The atmosphere could only be called tranquil – the smell of slightly wet grass, savouring the last remains of the morning dew; The scarce chirp of a bird; The empty streets, barely illuminated under the gray sky, creating the illusion of being part of a parallel dimension.
'God, I needed that.'
Walking through the gray streets, I felt all my unease slowly melting away, leaving only the feeling of serenity.
Suddenly, turning the corner, I saw a figure on the other end of the street.
A young man, slightly higher and more muscular than me, his green eyes seemingly piercing into my very soul.
But the most unsettling things about him were the sword strapped to his back, and the suit of bloodstained leather armor strapped to his torso.
'Nope.'
I turned around, returning to the previous street, and hastened my pace.
'The fuck is that guy's deal? Is he some kind of cosplayer? I mean, the leather looked pretty good, and the blood was very realistic too. Definitely better than meeting some fur suit freak. But then again, what kind of psycho cosplays in the middle of an empty street at dawn?! He must have -'
My thoughts ended abruptly, as I noticed a familiar darkness at the end of the street, slowly raking the shape of a...
Turning around, I saw the earlier figure, silently standing at the other end of the street.
I was now trapped between the two.
No, actually, the figure wasn't completely silent.
I could see his lips moving, and as I focused, I could make out some of the words.
"Yo… ole.. t."
'What? I didn't steal anything!'
I looked around, searching for an escape, and a nearby alley looked like the perfect avenue for just that.
I turned to the side, sprinting into the dark alley.
The buildings around me turned darker and darker, more crooked with every step I took.
"You stole it."
I could hear the voice closely behind me.
Suddenly - a fence! I've reached a dead end.
Slowly turning my head, I found the black haired youth steps away from me, his green eyes staring into my soul.
"You stole it… and now you're running away?!"
I was momentarily stunned by the sheer wrath suppressed underneath the man's previously-reserved tone.
In that moment, a strong hand gripped my shoulder, shoving me onto the fence.
"I!.. I didn't!.. I didn't mean.. What do you want from me?!"
At my desperate cry, the man's eyes changed, from barely-contained rage to ice-cold calmness, and an endless sea of hatred underneath.
However, those eyes were not looking at me – rather, they were looking at something in the distance, far beyond my reach.
"Revenge. I must have… revenge. And you… you will have to do."
The young man was no longer gripping my shoulder, but the feelings of dread and despair only grew stronger.
As my breaths became ragged and short, the young man opened his mouth one last time.
"You don't have much time. Better start moving… while you can."
I reluctantly turned my head in the direction his finger was pointed.
Beyond the fence, floating in the air, was a book – its cover black as the darkest night, its pages whiter than snow.
It was opened on its first page – not a single thing was defiling the pristine paper, except for a light teal string of translucent characters, looking as if floating above the page rather than in it.
The string of characters was short - [1046 days].
***
"HUFF- HUFF- HAAAA- Haaaaaa"
I woke up in an unknown bed, drenched in cold sweat.
No, this bed was not actually unknown. Rather, the room, illuminated by the mid-day sun, took me a few seconds to recognize.
My backpack was on the floor, as were my armor and sword.
For a moment, I just lay on the moist bed sheets, catching my breath.
'Actually, this isn't so bad. I could get used to this. The food is probably more bland, and maybe the mattresses are not quite on the same level, but I could get used to this. Maybe I can hunt some goblins for a living; they don't seem particularly strong, anyway. Save up money, buy a house somewhere, maybe meet a girl-'
'...and now you're running away?!'
The words reverberated in my mind, still vivid after my last dream.
'...don't have much time. Better start moving - while you can.'
sigh
I felt every fiber of my being resisting, begging me to just close my eyes and sleep a bit longer, or go outside for a run – anything but this.
Still, using the feeling of desperate urgency to overcome the feeling of dread, I finally opened my information panel once again.
At the bottom appeared the familiar message, different from last time by a single digit.
However, I noticed an even bigger difference – the first message, which previously appeared glitchy, was now much clearer.
The first part…
'Geas… greater? No idea what this word is. As for the details… what even is this?'
The strings of characters shifted as if in a mad dance. However, I could make out words from time to time.
"R#v*#%E" "YoU M%#$&" "f*$#e%" "C*$T ST*p" "E%ERY#NE"
Looking at the words, I couldn't help but think back to a certain young man I just saw in a dream.
'Could this have something to do with unlocking those memories?'
Thinking back, what else could be the catalyst for this change?
I couldn't think of any other explanation that made sense as well as this one.
'So the reason it was hidden… was because I haven't unlocked the relevant memories? It's like that short dinger's cat. As long as you don't look at it, it doesn't exist. Well, something along those lines, anyways.'
Could I have prevented this status from appearing?
I highly doubted it. Maybe delaying it was possible, but the way those memories just suddenly unlocked, this was bound to happen sooner or later.
Thinking back to those memories, I realized how much that short sequence had drained out of me.
In the future, I would reserve such intense trips down memory lane for right before sleep, unless the situation is dire and I'm really out of options.
'Alright, now I have to organize my thoughts.'
Currently, I had two main priorities:
First – figure out whatever I can about Geas and soul corruption or corrosion in general.
This was a world where literal gods existed, and their priests cast literal miracles in front of my eyes.
Actually, I also displayed some kind of superhuman abilities, and so did Bern, but that's beside the point.
In this world, someone - either some of the priests, or some mages - must hold the answers I need. Maybe some solutions, too.
Second – I had to learn much more about this world, and quickly.
It was clear I'm gonna be stuck here for a while. I wasn't even dreaming of suddenly finding a way back home, and even if such a way existed, close at hand, and was actually accessible, I had a creeping suspicion it would not help heal my soul.
No, not only did I feel my best hope of finding a cure would be in this magical world, I also couldn't help but suspect the source of the problem lay in the world travel itself.
'If I also consider that strange trait… could it be that, right before or during my way here, I saw something I shouldn't have?'
Of course, I still had no idea whether it happened instantly or involved some kind of process, but given everything I've seen so far, my working assumption was simple – somehow, my soul got dragged to this world after opening that damned book, ending up in Sebastian's body, and catching some eldritch STD along the way.
I'd update this theory as I went, but right now, it was the best I could come up with.
Of course, there were two other priorities which were currently 'locked'.
The first and obvious one would be to deal with the two soul conditions – however, this was locked behind my initial priority of understanding what I'm dealing with, as well as the second 'locked' priority, which was..
Getting stronger.
After everything I experienced, I understood the value of strength in this world.
Given my short impression of Bern, he seemed to be one of the top dogs in this town.
But did it really matter?
First, I haven't really seen much of this town yet. There could very well be people much stronger than him somewhere around here.
Second, even if he was the strongest around here, this was just a small town out in the middle of nowhere.
I somehow highly doubted he could even compare to Sebastian's father, let alone the twelve archmages ruling that country.
And, given that this country still existed, it probably had people of similar power.
Finally, with all his power (which was clearly a cut above my current abilities), Bern still couldn't go on this level of missions alone.
Maybe, being a rescue and escort mission, this one was an exception, but even if he just had to face that wolf pack alone, something told me such a fight could go either way, and that was if Bern had a few more trump cards, like that last skill he used, hidden away.
I had no clue what it'd take for someone (or something) to heal my soul, but all my years of experience reading mangas and playing video games told me that anything that has to do with the soul is probably on a different level.
And if I wanted a chance to fix mine, I had to get closer to that level, and fast.
Of course, all of this was still 'locked' behind actually understanding some things about this world.
What were those Paths? How does one train skills (which clearly had a proficiency meter)? How does one gain abilities or traits?
I had a lot of questions, and getting out of bed was the first step to get some answers.
However, the most urgent question was actually asked by my growling stomach.
'Where can I get something to eat?'