Why Are My Dreams Realistic?

Chapter 11: Exploring The World Of The Unknown : (part 1)

</> Data Processing… </> 

</> Character status preset… </>

</> Complete!!! </>

What was it… That dream. I don’t remember how it started and ended—only a gist of a beautifully created cloud and an innumerable quantity of papers lying around. It felt like I’d died, yet my pieces weren't shattered and crossed the borderline of death.

It’s so dark. My eyes wandered the empty space as I looked for my friends who weren’t there. It’s just a state of chilling gloom to a place where my body just drifts with nothingness. A finale? Or a beginning of the end? Will a light come? Or I’ll be stuck here for a while? It's a waiting game for a never-ending time.

ㄴ Greetings, worldly traveler. The world is in a dire state of heroes. Destruction awaits for that world in a month, and an unforeseen amount of death would be unleashed on the people of that world.

{Heroes? Destruction? Where is this voice coming from? Was it an echo, or was it talking to my head?}

ㄴ To enter the world, a sacrifice must be made.

{A sacrifice?}

ㄴ A sacrifice to give the other part of you to a world needing reconstruction, a vow that binds your life to the succession of the world.

{A sacrifice? Do I need to sacrifice myself from this world? A world I’m not segmented in any history.}

ㄴ That’s correct. You are sacrificing yourself in the unforsaken world of ruins and destruction.

“Are you talking to me? How can you hear me?” 

ㄴ I am merely a guide for you in this world. A sacrifice that you need to make is for yourself to know who you are. Take a look.

Suddenly, light glimmers in the distance with figures and noise. The crying of the children. The blood of the old. The smell of death. It was a world in destruction where only the remaining humans were alive from discrimination of race.

The rampant destruction of the world had turned everything to ruin. It's heavy. I feel like the story of this world's sin was a lot to carry—an insufferable task that leads to nothing but falsehood and destruction.

A sacrifice is a task that I’m not fond of the context. An act that leads to nothing but inevitable pain in your chest that leads to guilt and regret. I don’t dare to sacrifice myself or act as one. I’m a person who’s afraid to face everything and would relinquish everything just not to suffer.

ㄴ That’s your choice, which I respect. You can proceed now just as I’ve hoped for your answer.

{What do you mean? I.. I don’t understand. How can you hear me!?}

ㄴ Please choose the class and subclass that you’re currently seeing

{Hey! Wait! Stop!}

ㄴ Please choose the class and subclass that you’re currently seeing

A text scroll appeared before me like a flame flicking by the minute. It slowly dissipates in the darkness as it hurriedly forces me to choose.

ㄴ Please choose the class and subclass that you’re currently seeing

{How can I choose when you’re forcing me to do so!? How sure am I that I’m not going to die, nor are my friends!? You!!}

ㄴ Please choose the class and subclass that you’re currently seeing

It chooses a ‘fighter’ class and a ‘mage’ for a subclass as if it already knows what I will choose. It didn’t even bother to tell me what it was and repeatedly told me the same words over and over again. I continued to beg it to stop, but it was already too late.

A purplish rift appeared on my side, forcefully pulling me towards it. Its gravitational pull was so immense that my body slowly bent and turned into a string piece by piece as if I was being pruned outside this enclosure.

“No! No! Stop! Stop it!”

ㄴ You have successfully picked your class. Welcome to your world. 

“No! Stop! Not yet! I have to talk to you! Answer me!”

I continued to yell to the voice that echoed in the darkness. I waited as my body slowly became pieces of strings that flew toward the rift. There’s only half of me, but I waited until it gave me a definite answer. But it only talked as if despondent to answer.

ㄴ Sorry. My words wouldn’t be able to help you even if I talked to you. I’m just part of this system in one of your stories. I’ll see you when the time comes or when he’s not there.

I have a dismayed look. I sighed with disappointment as I imagined it in my thoughts. I perished and disappeared in that place without even a shed of doubt, only an annoyed face. It came to me with disappointment at the word that the voice used. My chance to know myself had turned to naught of dismayed answer. It was a piece of useless information I had no use for.

******

Excessive. Redundant. Words that only play a role tell nothing but a piece of sadistic information that alters my thoughts as I traverse into nothingness or the afterlife of a storybook. 

</> The system has given you your status. Please see your class if it’s aligned with you. </>

Where is this voice even coming from, I wonder. These voices probe my brain, with their voices telling me something I didn’t know. It’s painfully annoying that they might’ve known something about me, yet they hid it like an object.

As I opened my eyes, a bright light greeted me of a new day, but it wasn’t sunlight but a mere light bulb that flickers inside a room. There’s a sound of water droplets that echo in the distance. Bolts and chains hit each other from the rotating cogs and wheels. It was loud enough to be heard and reproduce a loud banging sound in a room as large as the park earlier.

ㄴ Character Status:

~Mori

Class: Fighter

Subclass: Magician

Title: Eldritch Knight Of ****

Age: 14?

Gender: Male

Level: 1

My status flashed on my side, seeing only my name and the position the voice had picked for me by force. 

- This is okay. Although unusual for me and too annoying for me since it was a mage. Mage is a weak class. 

Atelier retorted, hinting that he was dissatisfied with what happened earlier. Of course, I’m also mad at it. I have no choice but to follow someone else's voice.

“Atelier…”

My age is fourteen, that’s what I know. My title below my class was an eldritch knight, but what is an eldritch knight? I haven’t learned anything yet, and new words immediately popped up. My hands were burning from a fiery flame on my palms. It doesn’t hurt. It was majestically beautiful—the orange hue of flame on the palm of my hand.

I looked around and noticed Mirai, Flure, and Louis were in deep slumber. I tried to wake them up, but there weren’t any signs of them waking up. They were still alive. My thoughts of them that they might’ve died from something was nothing but me worrying.

Everything is so heavy. The atmosphere in this space was erratic. The whole place was shaking occasionally, and there was no aperture where sunlight could pierce the area where I was currently. A pungent smell of chlorine, rust, and decay lingers. It was a strong smell that I needed to put a fire around us, filtering the air slightly.

“Haa…”  I put my hands in front of the fire I’ve made from the woods and leaves lying around. The warmth it transferred to me was calming as I waited for them to wake up. A fleeting sensation of chill and warmth swaddles my body as my mind drifts from exhaustion.

 - You can sleep if you want. You don’t have to wait for them to wake up.

“No… I have to wait for them.” I said.

- Mhm.. If that’s your choice, then I won’t stop you. 

It’s a waiting game. A game in which I’ll put myself in a daze as they wake up—a game I created to pass the time.

******

As time passed, they woke up one by one from their deep slumber. The atmosphere had changed slightly as the rotting air was slightly filtered from the fire. It wasn’t heavy to breathe the air now; it was only comfort and chills.

The first one to wake up was Mirai. Her face as she wakes up is like a princess, where her face glitters from moisture on her cheeks. “Yawn~, Mori..” As she woke up, she smiled.

I waved at her and smiled. “Hey.” 

Then, the two woke up from their slumber. “Hey, Mori…” Flure says as he woke up. Louis was having a hard time opening his eyes fully. He must be one of those people who couldn’t wake up from their alarm clocks.

“Haa…” Mirai sighed. “That was such a long pick. I couldn’t even decide what to choose since everything was so great.” She says as she looks at her character status in this story. “Say, could I see yours, Mori?”

“You want to see mine?” 

“Yeah, I want to see what you choose.” with a smile on her face.

“O-okay..” I hurriedly opened my character status, displaying what I’d chosen.

Mirai looked at it earnestly as if she was studying something in it. Sometimes, she’ll nod as if she understands something.

“Aren’t you gonna ask us, too?” says Flure. His character status was already on display, like Louis, who was still deadly tired.

“Oh, hahaha. Sorry. I’ll look into yours now.” says Mirai. She grabbed my hand as we walked towards Flure and Louis. Mirai also looked at the character status of the two with such gusto as if she was planning something far ahead.

ㄴ Character Status:

~Flure

Class: Fighter

Subclass: Samurai

Title: The Righteous One

Age: 14

Gender: Male

ㄴ Character Status:

~Louis

Class: Paladin

Subclass: Devotion

Title: The Devoted One

Age: 14

Gender: Male

“I see. I guess you guys have chosen the things you wanted to be. Oh well, this would be fun!” says Mirai with a grin on her face.

I noticed that grin on her face that plans far ahead where she would surely do something unnatural. Even though I’ve only spent a day with them, it felt like I’ve known them for quite some time. 

As Mirai grins at our status, Flure slowly walks up to me awkwardly. “Psst… Mori..” he whispered. I pulled him towards me and let him sit beside me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“We should team up. I know what Mirai is thinking. She’s going to do that thing again.” he says as he whispers. At first, I was confused about the ‘thing’ he was saying, so I asked him.

“What’s the ‘thing’ that you’re saying.” 

“She’s going to make this a game in which whoever wins there would be a constituent prize,” he said.

A prize? I wonder what prize it was. Thinking of that prize is a significant boost for me, a lever that puts my soul at ease.

As I think of the prize I would get, Mirai turns around and announces what Flure said earlier. 

“So since this a story with level. I’ve decided!” she raised her index finger, pointing to her level. “I’ve decided that we should compete who would raise their level to the maximum first!” she said with enthusiasm.

Without any hesitation, Flure quickly yelled his answer. “I’m teaming up with Mori!” he said. Mirai looks at us. She was pretty shocked to hear that.

“A-are you sure, Mori?” she said.

I nodded.

I looked at her. She seems dejected as if I failed her expectation that I would choose her. But since Flure asked me first, I should indulge him.

“Sorry…” I said to her.

“Don’t worry, Mirai. I’m sure that Mori would be having fun with me!” Flure says, coaxing his word with a smile.

“You should trust Flure, Mirai,” Louis said, who just woke up.

Mirai looks around, finding the right words to tell me. Then she closes her eyes, accepting the decision I’ve made.

“Okay then,” she said.

She slowly walked towards me and held my hand. She looked me in my eyes with her teary eyes, then let go.

“Haa… I thought Mori would join me with this conquest, but I guess I’ll postpone it for later. So, I guess we should start now, or else I would throw a long tantrum.” she said with a smile on her face.

“Okay. We’ll go left then.” Flure said.

“Sure. We’ll go right.” Mirai said.

As we walked to our designated path, we took a second to look at each other again. Then Mirai yelled something about a message. “Make sure to look at your chat messages! There seems to be a communication system!” she said.

Flure and I both looked at the communication system. We found it in the character status beside the item box we all have. It seems like a small rift containing items that you’d put.

“We found it!” Flure yelled. I raised my hand, indicating that I also found it. 

“Okay then. See yah!” she yelled.

We turned around, facing our enemies that lay on the path as we embarked on a journey for a month of longing for happiness.

</> Date: 01/04/**** Time: 13:50:13 </>