“We are really, really sorry! Please forgive Charles, I'm sure had he known you were still there, he would have never dared to do something like that! Right, Charles?” said Johanna, while glaring at Charles, who was still slumped on the ground due to my judo-like throw.

“Yeah… sure…” groaned Charles in response.

“Mmh. It's alright, I guess” I responded, while shrugging my shoulders.

Johanna's face lit up at my response. Probably she feared the situation would rapidly deteriorate had I decided to respond aggressively. It was understandable, considering the risk had been there: for an instant, I had felt every semblance of reason disappear as the urge to tear off the arm holding the knife had presented itself. Luckily, I rapidly regained my bearings and stopped before it was too late. Furthermore, the surprise I had felt when I so easily lifted an armoured grown man, distracted me from that dangerous state of mind, and helped clear it away.

“Anyway, sir, may I ask what brings you here outside of the Perimeter, wearing such a… peculiar attire?” asked Johanna, clearly striving to be as polite as possible.

I immediately froze and fell into a deep thought. Barren land. Numbed people. Movements under my skin. Perimeter. Everything felt awfully familiar. I had this gut feeling I had already experienced these very same scenes, but couldn't exactly recall the details of it all. Moreover, I could feel a memory struggling to emerge in the back of my mind, but I still couldn't identify it clearly.

Johanna, probably seeing my unfocused look, tried to get my attention.

“Excuse me, sir, do you know where you are?”

I answered with a shake of my head, still concentrated on the nagging feeling of familiarity.

“Do you remember your name?”

Once again, I shook my head.

“Do you remember what got you in this state?”

Her continued questioning prevented me from focusing on my thoughts.

“Do you know anything?” I asked with a slightly bothered tone.

Johanna seemed to perceive my annoyance, as she started to ponder her words before uttering them.

“We have received a report about a group fleeing the inner city getting hit by a mana storm and were sent to inspect the area. That is all”

I opened my eyes wide. Barren land. Numbed people. Movements under my skin. Perimeter. And now, even mana storm. It couldn't be a coincidence. Finally, the suppressed memory came to the surface. Now I remembered clearly: I had many times experienced these very same scenes, the only difference being not In first person but while I was… sketching them out inside of my mind.

I had to reluctantly admit the reality of my situation: I had been transported into the very same world that I made. I knew for a fact I had spent most of my past life focusing on my fantasies instead of the real world, so there was no way I wouldn't recognize what was happening after all the data I had obtained, scant as it could be. I was now here, barely dressed, standing in the middle of my personal fictional creation. This should have been impossible, but was certainly happening anyway.

“So, me and these unlucky fellows were swept away by a mana storm, huh”

Many times I had sketched this scene in my mind: a group of people tired of living in fear under the ground decided to brave the dangers of the outside, were immediately engulfed by mana and ended up brain dead. This explained the crowd around me, but not the more important point.

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“But why am I still fine?”

The final question was mostly directed to myself. Then, it hit me. There was only a single kind of people in this world who could survive a mana storm: archumans.

Archumans, commonly known as archs, were humans enhanced by the preternatural force known as aura, which made them capable of acts normal humans could not achieve.

My mutating physiognomy, the movement I had felt under my skin and my abnormal strength all pointed in the same direction: I wasn't a regular human anymore.

For some reason, this made me incredibly glad: far from being disturbed by the realisation of having strayed away from my past nature, I was incredibly relieved by the fact I had become an enhanced human. In my personal hellhole, where regular humans couldn't live under the sun and were at the mercy of the events happening in the outside world, strength equaled life, and so my chances of survival were now a little bit higher. Moreover, I felt some unknown change inside of me was offsetting any possible emotional trauma and helping process the drastic change I had undergone. Soon enough, not being what I used to be anymore ceased to arouse any interest in me.

I quickly came up with a plan and addressed Johanna.

“Let's recap. According to what you are saying and from the look of it, me and these other fellows were a bit unlucky and got hit by a mana storm. Okay, I think I'm more focused now”

Far from being a source of power, ambient mana was the bane of humanity, a corrosive force consuming complexity. Differently from archs, whose aura generated a protective halo around them, regular humans were particularly susceptible to ambient mana, which eroded their bodies and minds, making them into puppets incapable of moving or even thinking. Luckily, I had become an arch and, although I was not completely immune, I risked significantly less.

“Oh yeah, yes, exactly, sir. Are you perhaps now able to recollect…?” Johanna tried to say before being interrupted by me.

“Nope, do not remember anything. Maybe some general knowledge, but nothing personal”.

I suddenly realised that this was true on many levels: I didn't know anything about my current state, nor about my previous one. I could recollect the general characteristics of my previous life, but couldn't recall many important things, not even my real name or family, assuming I had one. I knew this was fairly serious and deserved attention, but I also knew I couldn't spend time on it right now, and returned with my mind to the present situation. Moreover, I could feel the interest in the matter fade away by the minute.

After my words, Johanna thought about something for a while.

“Excuse me sir, but could it be possible you transitioned?”

I hid my rising smile under the palm of my hand, simulating a thoughtful expression. Johanna reached the conclusion I hoped for. The most reasonable explanation of how I, an arch, was suffering from memory loss after a mana storm, was simply that I hadn't always been one. As a matter of fact, high doses of mana poisoning could be able to forcefully compel the organism to evolve in order to survive, making a regular human into an archuman. This process had a notable downside: it usually left severe disabilities due to the inflicted damages and, depending on the violence of the triggering event and the time of exposition, could even prove fatal.

I could now pass my case as an ascent towards superhuman state triggered by the mana storm, with mild collateral damages in the form of memory loss, so I didn't need to force myself to come up with a bright excuse about why a person was taking a walk in his underwear among brain dead people in the middle of nowhere.

“Seems reasonable. It would explain my physical strength” I replied cheerfully.

“Oh, congratulations are in order, sir! This is wonderful news, don't you agree Charles?” said Johanna, while Charles, who had stood up, simply nodded, clearly still out of breath due to the impact with the ground.

Johanna's reaction was understandable: archumans were few and far in between and incredibly valued, since they were the only ones who could determine the species survival or demise. While normal humans lived burrowed under the ground, archs went around the world, gathering resources and mowing down dangerous beasts. I knew a single arch was more valuable to a settlement than tens or even hundreds of regular humans.

“Very well, if it is fine with you sir, I'd say we could return to the perimeter. Ah! There will be some paperwork to be done upon arrival… I know this might be a little bothersome to you, but it is the procedure” said Johanna.

“Oh, don't worry, it doesn't bother me at all. But before that, there is a teeny tiny issue we cannot ignore anymore”

Johanna loudly gulped. “May I ask what may this issue be?” she asked with a worried expression.

“I need clothes”