The pounding of Elias’ head was killing him. “That's the last time I mix… wait what drinks did i mix together last night again? And was I even drinking last night? I don't remember.” Opening my eyes, I am assaulted by an overwhelming palette of colors. Too much for my addled brain to process. To counter this I slam my eyes shut, or at least I try. For some reason my eyelids refused to listen to me and close.
Slowly, as I try and figure out what is wrong with my eyelids, sight returns to me. As my vision was clearing I managed to make out some blurry details about my surroundings. I appeared to be just in the mouth of an alleyway, resting atop an open dumpster full of refuse. The many colors that previously blinded me were coming from colorful signs of women dancing through the air, positioned just outside the alleyway.
Before I can examine my surroundings further, I am distracted by a noise. “Come on Jackie, shits worthless. Just leave it.” A gruff falsetto voice says, drawing my attention. Shifting my attention to the right and farther down the alley, I spot two teens rummaging through the trash.
The teens were the weirdest pair that I have ever laid eyes on. The two of them, a boy and a girl going by their figures, were covered head to toe in reflective silver clothes. Clothes that then also glow a bright blue at the seams and in lines tracing up and down their figures. A matching hoodie, pants, and boots for both of them.
It was not just the teens' clothes that stood out to me but also their hair. The assumed boy had his inch long, bleached hair gelled up into a dozen individual spikes. The girl, obvious from her ample chest, had her hair in a somewhat less bizarre style with the left half of her head shaved bald while letting the brown locks on the right hang down straight until they cut off at her chin. It was a hairstyle similar to those that I'd seen before.
While I was observing the teens, they also noticed me. The boy's eyes previously roaming around the alley settled as they landed on my location. “Hey Sila, what about that?” the boy said in a surprisingly high, almost childish pitch as he approached. “Don't know. Seems kinda like some of that crap you see in that expensive jewelry store over on 105th,” replied the girl as she reached out towards me.
I was about to ask them what they were talking about when looking right at me but stopped when the girl picked me up. How could they pick me up? I'm a grown man for heaven sake and she is just a teen girl. A well muscled teen girl i note, but still, What the FUCK is going on? My downward spiral is interrupted when I notice the teens still in my vision. As in both teens still in my vision.
Looking at them was weird; like looking through a camera with a super wide lens. No matter which one I looked at, I could still see both of them even though the girl, Sila, was holding me out between them. Before I could further dwell on how weird my vision was, I was distracted by a string of text forcing its way into my field of view.
Do you wish to initialize the System?
Yes / No 00:00
TIME LIMIT EXCEEDED
AUTO INITIALIZATION OF SYSTEM BEGUN
…
SYSTEM INITIALIZING
Run bootStrap: [startup],
Startup = %10,
Startup = %23,
Startup = %54.
Startup = %76,
Startup = %99,
Startup = Complete,
Run systemWelcome: [autoSelect]
Initializing…,
SAPIENCE DETECTED,
Halting autoSelect,
ADVANCED PROTOCOLS INITIATED,
SYSTEM REBOOTING
…
SYSTEM INITIALIZING,
Run bootStrap: [startup],
Startup = %10,
Startup = %23,
Startup = %54.
Startup = %76,
Startup = %99,
Startup = Complete,
Run systemWelcome: [Sapience],
Initializing…,
Initialized
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Name Elias Race Dungeon Core Level 1 Tier Topaz
SP 100 Companion + Traits + Features +
No matter where I attempted to shift my attention, the screen was there. Ever present like some kind of sticker placed directly on my retina. “But wait. Why can my eyes see the ground under my feet? And why can't I see my feet? Where are my feet? Where are MY FEET? WHEREAREMYFEET!”
••••
Sob.
What is wrong with me. Why don't I have feet? I'm a freak. An ugly freak that never has anything good happen. Everything always goes wrong. Why do I try? Why do I care? No one else cares.
aaaahhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
••••
Sob.
Maybe i should just kill myself. But then dad, mom, my brother, and everyone else will be hurt. I cant hurt them any more. I can't stand the thought of what it would do to them. I am a horrible person. I already hurt them too much.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm Sorry.
••••
Sob.
Nothing matters anyway. Maybe i should just kill myself. I'm tired of always feeling like… this. Dull. Angry. Sad. I just want it to end. I JUST WANT MY SUFFERING TO END!
I just want it to end.
••••
Sob.
I mean, I could, it's as simple as just reaching up with my hands and twisting my head reallllly fast... But where are my hands? Where are MY HANDS? WHEREAREMYHANDS!
aaaahhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
••••
After an indeterminate amount of time freaking out, I finally got ahold of my emotions and came back to myself. Looking around I realized I was laying on top of a pile of twisted metal so rusted it was impossible to determine what it used to be. That same wide lens effect from earlier was still present. It made determining my surroundings troublesome to say the least.
Though that was one of many oddities I find myself facing. As during my long freakout I came to realize that I was without a body. Well not a body but a human body. You see, even through my whole ordeal, I still maintained awareness of my surroundings. Not being able to close your eyes while at the same time hearing everything within 10 yards would do that. But it was not just being able to see and hear everything, it was as if a part of my mind was always focused on my surroundings. Even weirder was the fact that I remember it all clearly. The stains on the ground of the alley I first woke up in. The bag I was unceremoniously stuffed in by those two teens. And even those teens' names (Jackie and Sila), faces, voices, mannerisms, and more.
I noticed way more than I ever realized in the moment, and I can remember every detail I noticed. Though for some reason, I could not for the life of me remember what led up to me being in that alley. Looking deeper, all memories from before that alley are hazy at best. While hazy memories are nothing new to me, it is normally only a certain few. Not all of them.
But everything from after i woke up in that alley is saved in my mind in *Car salesman voice* stunning 4k HD. Even the glimpse of myself I got in a mirror in that store where those two tried to sell me. Looking back I think I would have been pissed at the blatant disregard for the sanctity of my being if I was not so distracted by my new body. A Perfect Sphere of opaque yellow. Almost appearing as made of stained glass except for the differing shades of yellow that made up my depths. And yes it is MY depths. After my little meltdown earlier I have come to terms… maybe… with my new body.
Looking out beyond myself now that I am calm, well calmer, I slowly piece together my surroundings. Below me is the aforementioned metal, rusted into obscurity. Looking towards what I believe to be my front is open space stretching to both sides. Beyond this space is a towering pile of what can only be described as trash. A refrigerator missing its door. Random furniture in various states of disrepair. Thousands of food wrappers.
Behind me, the pile I am sitting on stretches towards the sky. Paying closer attention to it I manage to make out the forms of rusted cars, broken laptops, and what appears to be some kind of industrial machine. It appears I am in the town dump.
As fun as looking at my dismal surroundings is, it can't distract me from the elephant in the room any longer. Those boxes of text. What the hell were those? Thinking back on them, they appeared to be a command console that “initialized” something called “The System”. Why did I have a command console? I mean, was it mine? I assume so. It did appear in my vision after all.
Then there was that box at the end, after the system or whatever finished its initialization. The one that looked like a character screen from… Before I could finish that thought, something appeared in my vision. It was a black box with a green border. In Fact it was the same box from earlier. It was back.
Name Elias Race Dungeon Core Level 1 Tier Topaz
SP 100 Companion + Traits + Features +
Looking at the floating box of text hovering before me, I said the only words that could come to mind. “WHAT THE FUCK.”