I physically couldn’t write anymore. My fingers were stuck as the true desperation of my situation finally became evident. I could do nothing about this. The very gods were against me. I couldn’t simply ‘pull myself up’ from this situation. This was it, game fucking over. It was done. At least when I normally fucked up, I could’ve blamed myself, focused on what I did wrong, and fixed my behaviour. It wasn’t like I fucked up, no. This was just pure, sheer, and utter lack of luck.

Why do evil people always get lucky?

I barely had a moment to breathe thanks to Liz being busy doing… whatever the fuck rich ‘people’ did. Probably drinking the blood of children or something. It all started hitting me like a brick, as if the slight release of the pressure gave me enough time to live to realise how fucked I was. Before this, it was about survival, which the human body recognised, and made us fearless against. Now it was… more than that. It was a long term struggle, one that my mind convinced me that I could never win.

I pulled myself up from the book in front of me. It was full of disjointed notes about whatever the fuck Liz was talking about. It was like last year all over again, when the pillars descended on earth. I barely picked up the pieces last time, with a group of friends who all had more optimism than me. How the fuck was I meant to pick up the pieces this time? I am torturing myself by going against the herd at this point, but I can’t abandon my beliefs THAT I DESERVE TO BE FREE.

No matter. It will get better. It will always get better. It has to. I got up from my chair, but I forgot why I did it the moment I finished moving. The chair was calling to me, to be comfortable in my misery. Or maybe even the bed if I didn’t even want to pretend to be productive. Yet, I resisted the temptation, and opened the door to the living room. I walked through it, then another door and finally reached the ‘outside’.

The wind was nice. The grass was nice. The sky looked nice. It was all so damn perfect… So why was the dread still there? Who was I kidding? I know why. Because dread couldn’t be defeated by distractions.

“You alright?” Samoylo was here, standing with a much better posture than me.

“Yea. I just needed some air.” He clearly did not believe it. God dammit! Why do words fail me NOW of all times? No, no, just let me do my thing brain, stop being depressed. “It’s supposed to help clear my mind. It stops me from worrying so damn much.”

“Well, that’s true, but we both know your problem won’t be solved by a mere five minute break from reality.” He was right. Didn’t stop the dread though. Nothing would’ve. “I bet you’re thinking there’s no escape now, right? Well, you’re right. You can’t escape, probably. Unless you get really lucky.” How the fuck was this meant to make me feel better, you russian cunt?

“Alright? Thanks for confirming it?” I said before he chuckled.

“Give me a second to get to my point. Yea, you are pretty doomed right now, but what good does it do you to feel bad about it?” Huh? What, was I supposed to feel good about being enslaved? Seriously? “It gains you nothing but a worse life. Sure, your life will never be as good as it was before, but it can be better than what you have right now if you just hope, if you dream, and embrace your own goals, independent from what life is giving you.” Bullshit. What good would goals get me? I am fucked, and all goals are gonna do is keep me comfortable in a world full of thorns.

“Why are you even here? You aren’t being forced to, and you could collapse this whole cult just by leaving with all your notes. You don’t even seem like a big believer in the Revifier.” He nodded along to everything there, which only made me angrier. He can so casually acknowledge his freedom in front of me?! Smug prick, I’m gonna–

“What good would that do anyone? You’d suffer more for two months before the cult got destroyed, and then you’d suffer more from being Liz’s adventuring buddy. The two Brits would lose all their current purpose, Jack would probably end it all on a bang either by himself or by going to the hardest dungeon in the world. And Fred… The old man would lose his one and only customer. This place is shit, and I hope it fails, but the people in it need guidance, and Liz sure as hell isn’t going to give it to you.” Huh.

You wouldn’t know how much I had to argue with Liz just so she would let me walk through the city without her near me at all times. She could still see me, probably. Her magic abilities were endless, so I’m sure she had something in her arsenal she could use to stalk me. Yet, the whole city was filled with hope, and right as I started questioning why, a piece of paper landed next to my foot. I picked it up and turned it around.

“Ian Defeats King Of The World!”

“Earth Is Free!”

Huh? Ian… did it? No fucking shot. The king’s empire was going to disappear overnight, and without it… a new era of conflict was going to start when the celebrations were done. It would certainly not matter to me. I was still a slave, no matter what colour the flag of my country was. Well… not really. I was already getting a headache from knowing how Liz would react to it being red.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“What is this?” Of course she’s here. I couldn’t be left alone for too long. She grabbed the paper from my hand, and her look just couldn’t be described. If I wasn’t sure that her skin was tough enough to withstand a nuke, I would’ve been worried that one of her veins would pop.

“Ian won, so now you’ll have to deal with a smug Samoylo instead of an apathetic one.” I was sure that Samoylo was a spy at this point. It had been a couple days since the last meeting, but Samoylo often found himself ‘outside’ at the same time I was, so I got to talk to him a lot. He’s too normal for this cult, and absolutely hates Liz and all she stands for, and thus I deciphered that he was a spy to… someone. I didn’t know who to yet.

“Ugh. Why were YOU happy when you saw this?” Is she dense?

“Because I also hate the empire. I don’t want Earth to become a generic Isekai world.” She raised her eyebrow at that. Right, she probably didn’t know any Japanese words.

“Ise-what?” All languages got clamped down upon except the common universal language, that the goddess made sure to implant into our mind. It’s much easier to trick people you can actually talk to.

“It means something like ‘other world’ in an old world language. It became a genre after a while, where people got reincarnated and sent to other worlds, like you. The other worlds were generic and always the same with a few tweaks.” She slumped and then clamped her nose bridge with one of her hands.

“Ok, so you don’t want Earth to become a magical wonderland?”

“No. Especially if it has people like you on top.” My mark itched. I had to walk a very fine line when talking politics with her, especially when Eva or Dave was in the room, but they weren’t so I could be a big bolder with my statements.

“Eugh, stop talking to Samoylo so–” She suddenly stopped talking because… yea, I had no idea.

“You alright there?” Why the hell was she staring at a random woman?

“We need to go. Now!” She grabbed and tried teleporting, but the woman was already at the place she tried teleporting to. “Shit.” She… swore? She barely even did that when I angered her. This must’ve been bad.

“Who are you?” I said, in her stead.

“A… friend.” The woman was dressed in all white, which meant she was rich. Only rich people could get away with white, UNSTAINED, clothing in a city. Her clothing was military in nature, with her suit neatly fitting on her body. Every line of the fabric was deliberate, every highlight of colour on it brought attention to her medals, or upwards to her face.

“I need specifics. I wanna know why Elizabetha is scared shitless of you.” This really wasn’t the time to make my mark burn, LIZ!

“Ohoho, is she now? Well, I might as well bless you with that information. I am her rival, Charlotte, a princess from the world she was born in, and that she was sooooo jealous of. And you are?” Oh shit… She might’ve actually been useful. If she’s her rival, I can use her to kill Liz. At the same time, I don’t think I’ll be able to resist Liz’s burn for more than a minute.

“Her slave. Name’s Mariel.” Her eyes widened a little before she smiled at me. Where was that blue light coming fro– Oh, my mark is glowing blue.

“Seriously Elizabeth? You think someone who’d talk to me so casually despite my aura can be contained by a mere mark? So hypocritical of you.” Huh? I am currently contained by a ‘mere mark’.

“Look, I don’t care if you have a rivalry going back centuries-”

“Millenia” Said Charlotte, interrupting me.

“Sure, whatever. Elizabetha doesn’t wanna talk to you, so you ain’t getting a word from her.” If I had to defend my worst enemy just so the flames of hell didn’t open up on my neck the moment the blue light fades, then that was just what I had to do.

“And what makes you think you can dismiss me? Do you think Elizabeth over there is that scared just because I can beat her? No, it's way worse than that. I know something she doesn’t want you to know.” I raised my eyebrow just in time to see some obnoxiously bright light fly past my shoulder and towards a Charlotte who deflected it with her newly summoned sword. “See?” Alright, I better get out of the way. I’m not dumb enough to stand in between a tornado and volcano.