JULY 23rd, 2014.
A black void, yet again… the same dreaded figure standing amidst it, paired with the repetitive ticking of a clock.
You…!
Wasting no time at all, Seth slams his feet against the black liquid surface of the void, bursting forward into a dash toward the back of Yggdrasil’s head.
With each step, the black of the floor ripples against the force, making its way closer and closer to Yggdrasil.
Before Seth’s raised right fist can connect with it, though, Yggdrasil’s head twists and snaps back, biting off the latter half of his forearm as a spray of blood replaces the space where his hand used to be. Seth holds the stump of his arm, yelling in agony as he slumps down.
“Hah, and what did you think would happen…?” Yggdrasil, amused, points toward his missing forearm with a wide-grinned smile. “Are you satisfied, fool?”
Seth’s knees hit the black liquid as he winced in pain, trying to cover up the bleeding. He barely noticed what Yggdrasil had said.
“Fine, then… Place that wound against the floor.”
Seth, considering himself out of options, throws the head of the stump against the floor as it burns the wound shut upon contact. Seth holds it down with his other hand as he yells through gritted teeth, trying to bear the pain.
“All of this, for a woman who tried to kill you… or no, would’ve killed you, had I not taken over.”
What the hell…?! I thought spirits couldn’t…
“Harm signers?” Yggdrasil says while finishing Seth’s thought, “You’re not currently in a space where you can be physically harmed… if a man ripped your arm off in a dream, would it be missing when you wake?”
Seth clicks his tongue, slowly standing up to face Yggdrasil. Despite his burned wound, he does so with an internal resolve that cannot be broken. Taking on a defensive stance with his right foot in front of his left, he holds his only intact fist out toward Yggdrasil in a sign of defiance.
“You truly are entertaining, human. It’s spectacular, how little concern you put into your own preservation. But I didn’t call you here for a meaningless fight.”
Not letting go of his stance, Seth cocks an eyebrow.
“Why the hell would I ever want to sit and have a talk with you?”
Yggdrasil chuckles, though its light laugh is more spat out than anything else.
“Because you don’t have a choice… we’re both bound by this contract, directly to the Council’s will.”
…Dammit.
“There’s no use in bickering like this, so I’ll tell you: if you die while synchronized with me again… I’ll take control of your body, as I did against that Reaper.”
Seth glares at Yggdrasil’s absent eyes, hatred soaring through his pupils.
“I swear, if you ever…”
“If I do, it will be your fault. I’ve explained the terms to you, now you must follow them. And there’s one other thing…”
Yggdrasil points to itself with its index finger, cocking its head with an insane and distorted smile.
“...I think I’ll take a more active role in my entertainment from now on.”
It begins to step toward Seth, each movement forward creating harsh ripples on the ground as they press themselves against Seth’s ankles. He slowly retreats backward, but it’s not much use as Yggdrasil towers above him before he can even react.
“Look forward to it, signer.”
As its body slinks forward quickly, Yggdrasil’s teeth envelop themselves over Seth’s skull as they chomp against his neck, piercing into the skin collectively…
…Before his head is ripped clean off.
. . . . .
“AGHHH!”
Seth wakes up screaming, a delayed reaction from, well…
Having his head bit off.
His living quarters inside TWR’s main building are just the same as they were before he passed out the previous night… after a long day of hunting that fire elemental, anyone would go right to sleep. Except for Yasu, of course. He had plentiful amounts of paperwork to do.
What the hell was that?! I’m still alive?!
Yes.
A voice inside of Seth’s head that wasn’t his own resonated like jackhammers had been forced into his ear canals, almost instantaneously making him feel sick.
“Ugh… I’m… probably just exhausted. Nobody’s even here…”
Seth, you truly… are the densest human.
Nope. No. Nah. I— yeah, no, that’s a voice inside my brain. I should go see the medical ward and get put on medication to treat schizophrenia, because—
Wait, “human”?
You’re kidding me…
Seth realized it shortly after it spoke again. Yes, the worst outcome had come to be:
Yggdrasil was now actively present inside of his head.
Get out.
That isn’t going to happen.
I said… get out.
No.
I will bash my skull against—
Yggdrasil chuckles, inside of Seth’s brain. As one could imagine, that’s an incredibly uncomfortable, offputting, and dreadful feeling.
And then I will kill everyone you—
Yeah, shut it. I don’t want to hear you speak, especially in MY head.
I am starting to miss the time you were so terrified of me that you could barely utter a word.
And I’m starting to miss when you were just a B-rate horror monster that showed up in my dreams and nowhere else.
A monster? I am a god… centuries worth of respect to my—
SHUT UP!
Even Yggdrasil is silenced by that, as it becomes too annoyed by Seth’s audacity to continue to speak. Seth, however, is nothing but relieved due to that development. Waiting for a few moments with a raised eyebrow, he realizes that Yggdrasil has, at least for now, stopped talking completely. Satisfied, he begins to get dressed and heads out of his room toward the cafeteria, locking the door before he leaves. Upon reaching the entrance of the cafeteria’s hall, Kat’s voice calls out to his right.
“Oh, it’s Seth. How’d things go with Yasu yester—”
Upon getting a better look at Seth, she quickly cuts herself off, raises her eyebrow, and stares at him with a slightly concerned glare.
“...You look like you got hit by a truck.”
Seth looks over and weakly, tiredly waves toward her.
“Does an unknown amount of ignited methane count?”
“Ah. It was one of those fire elementals, huh?”
Seth stumbles forward, rubbing the lower lid of his right eye with his right hand.
“Yeah…”
Are you not done with the Reaper? Eat something. Now.
Seth’s eyes widen as he stumbles forward, almost falling down after the unexpected return of Yggdrasil’s voice.
“Uh, Seth?” Kat leans forward to check on him while he starts to stand back up straight, “Are you… feeling alright?”
Seth quickly turns around with his palms upward, claiming his own innocence.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, just… groggy…”
He turns around again, cursing under his breath at Yggdrasil.
Never speak again.
I will do as I please.
You asshole…
“I don’t know… you’re acting weirder than usual,” Kat begins to say, still leaning forward behind Seth and staring at the back of his head, “You might want to go see one of the nurses.”
Did you hear, Seth? The Reaper thinks you are… weird.
So help me, I—
Seth unholsters his Mazen-45 and presses it against his left temple, cocking the hammer back with his thumb.
Kat blinks in muted surprise as she watches this unfold in front of her, knowing literally nothing that is currently going on inside of his head.
We aren’t synchronized right now. Which means you can’t go berserk. If I die, I’ll just go somewhere else.
How illogical… and why have you not eaten yet?
Seth grimaces in anger, lowering the gun slowly back into his holster as Kat’s shock finally fades with another blink.
“Seth, maybe you should…?”
Seth turns around quickly, pointing at himself with his index finger. He looks tired and annoyed, though stares at Kat with alarming urgency.
“I need to go talk to Liam about something. Right now.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
. . . . .
“PFFTT— HAHAHAHA…!!”
Liam’s laughter echoes throughout his office as he holds his stomach, completely throwing away his otherwise always formal demeanor.
“YOU?!” He asks between bated breaths, unable to get the question fully out for a few moments, “YOU HEAR YGGDRASIL IN YOUR HEAD?!”
He bursts out laughing yet again, almost guffawing while Seth stares… unimpressed, to say the very least.
This signer is quite annoying.
Wow, you and I agree on something for once.
Liam trails off his laughter, wiping his eyes as he shakes his head.
“No, no, I apologize, it’s just… that is very interesting, indeed…” He can’t help himself as he coughs out a chuckle after he says this.
Liam clears his throat, putting his right fist up in front of his mouth as he does.
“Right… then, may I ask Yggdrasil a question?”
Seth raises an eyebrow for a short moment, then slinks back in the chair to the front of Liam’s desk. Kat stands behind the two of them, watching in silence.
“Sure, go for it,” Seth responds.
Liam places the back of his hand underneath his chin, resting his head upon it. He takes on a serious tone, shifting his eyebrows downward to glare at the thing behind Seth’s eyes.
“You are a ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, are you not?”
The two words uttered in the middle of the sentence sounded purely like gibberish, as if someone could freely speak in reverse… it was not a natural sound, and hearing it felt wrong.
…
Yggdrasil remains quiet, though Seth can hear the resemblance of a mouth gaping in shock, a small stirring of a tongue. Even Yggdrasil couldn’t reply to what Liam said, though Seth knew it figured out what it meant.
“It sounds like it's…” Seth trails off, still slightly shaken, “...At a loss for words.”
Liam chuckles to himself, smiling at the thought.
“Yes, well… not many signers can speak in his native tongue. Judging by your reaction to him… it seems that he really does speak to you. Fascinating. If the Administration heard about this… you’d probably be turned into a lab rat!”
Seth’s eyes widen as Liam points toward him, taking the circumstances very lightly.
…What? How can you say that so casually?
“So…” Liam drops the playful tone, glaring again toward Seth, “...Don’t tell anyone. For your own sake.”
He taps his desk with four fingers in a row, starting with his index finger and ending with his pinky.
“But outside of that, I have good news for you!”
Seth sighs, realizing that he’s not going to get answers, let alone Yggdrasil removed from his brain somehow.
“Right… and what’s that?”
Liam excitedly smiles, clasping his hands together.
“Keith and Asuna will be arriving shortly!”
Seth then hears an audible, prolonged groan from behind him, coming from the corner of the room Kat’s pressing her back against.
“Seriously…? That guy…? Ugh…” she rolls her eyes in disgust, put off by Liam’s words.
Liam, trying to elevate the feeling inside the room, claps his hands together before waving them toward both Kat and Seth.
“Now, now. Don’t be like that! It’s always fun—”
SLAM!
The doors behind the three of them burst open, slamming into the sides of the wall next to them inside of the office.
“E-eh…?” Liam trails off, realizing there’s a hole in the wall where the doorknob landed now.
“HEY, HEY! LIAM…!” A voice comes from the red-haired, tough-looking man in the doorway.
This man believes himself to be the epitome of “cool”, and as such, he cannot wear anything conventionally. His high-collared, black suit jacket? Rested on his shoulders with a diagonal belt strap holding together the two front halves. On his face? Dark shades that hide the details of his eyes. His teeth? Sharp… they look as if he casually bites onto metal regularly. More like a shark’s than any human’s. On his back was a long, sheathed sword, the same color as his suit.
Finally, both of his arms, covered by burgundy bandages containing runes spread throughout his forearms and wrapped around both of his hands, only leaving the top two segments of his fingers free to be seen.
This man in front of them was truly…
“KICKASS! I need something KICK. ASS. LIAM!” he yells, cutting everyone’s perception of him off suddenly. “C’mon… a better entrance than just flowers and food! Where are the explosions?! The fanfare?!”
At this moment, Seth has a very simple thought. It’s as blunt as they come. Had he really met a person who became so obnoxious, so quickly, before?
The answer was no. This was untrodden ground to him.
“Hey, hey, hey! Who’s the kid, Liam?” he walks over to the front of Liam’s desk, slamming his right palm against the top as he points his left thumb over his shoulder toward Seth. Even his regular moments are overly animated.
Liam looks at the man, and then back at Seth, and then back at the man again.
“Yes… this is…”
The man smiles, putting his arm around the back of Seth’s chair, grinning like they’ve been friends for an unsaid amount of years.
“SETH! Right, right! This is the Seth guy I’ve heard so much about, huh?”
Liam blinks a few times at the man now placing his arm over the headrest of Seth’s chair, not sure what to think, or say.
“...Right, and…”
“The name’s Keith, kid! Lemme ask ya something. Do you wanna be strong, huh? Do you like kicking ass?”
Dude, how am I supposed to respond to this?
Are you asking me?
Out of all the “people” that I could ask, you would NOT be one of them.
Keith pokes the side of Seth’s head, looking down at him.
“Oi. Listen when your senior speaks to ya. Do you like kicking ass, huh?”
Seth looks over at Liam in an attempt for assistance, who just gives him a simple thumbs up and supportive smile in response.
I’m really going to punch that snake one day.
“Yeah… sure…” Seth hesitantly responds, looking off to the side as he catches a glance of Kat, putting her hands over her mouth and trying her hardest not to laugh.
Is this hazing? Am I being hazed by everyone right now?
Keith places his hand on Seth’s shoulder, gripping against it.
“Huh… so you’re not that sure, are ya? Or maybe… yeah, maybe you like being weak.”
Seth squints toward him, wondering if he heard what Keith just said correctly. Noticing his smug, sharp grin and crossed arms, he assumes that he did, but arrogantly decides to challenge it anyway.
“What’d you say…?”
Keith grins again, leaning down in front of Seth.
“You. Like. Being. Weak. If you don’t… why don’t ya prove it to me? One on one, signer against signer.”
Liam sighed, figuring that it was going to come to this sooner rather than later.
“Yes,” he apprehensively says, taking his palm off against the center of his face as he places it back on the table in front of him, “This is a good opportunity to show Seth the training facilities. Now, introduce yourself properly.”
Keith looks back at Liam, then back at Seth, and then finally back at Liam before the realization hits him and his eyes widen to visibly show it.
“Oh, right. Yeah, junior… no, kid… I’m your new kickass mentor.”
He lowers his head down, grinning at Seth ferociously.
“Nice to meet ya.”
Are you around? Are you sure I didn’t die and I’m not in Hell right now?
You are alive.
Damn.
Keith picks up Seth by the back of his shirt collar as Seth’s eyes widen while he’s launched out of his chair and pulled out of Liam’s office, dragging his legs across the floor.
“What the— HEYYYYY?!” Seth exclaims in surprise as he looks behind his shoulder at Keith, trying to pry his hand away.
“I’m borrowing the kid for a spar!” Keith yells down the hallway and Kat bursts out laughing while hearing Seth’s continuously fading protests, holding her legs with both hands so she doesn’t fall over. “Gonna be back later, Liam! LET’S GO!”
Kat slowly stops laughing, wiping the tears out of her eyes.
“Are we…” she trails off with a gentle chuckle, “...Are we gonna go save Seth, or…?”
Liam sighs, slumping back in his chair.
“Well, I certainly don’t feel like it.”
Kat chuckles, exiting the office as she nonchalantly waves over her shoulder toward Liam, offering him a goodbye.
“Yeah… I’ll go order the idiots some lunch, one of them will probably pass out after they eat.”
Kat closes the door behind her, as Liam glances toward the obvious hole in the wall left by the initial slam.
“..My wall...” he mutters to himself, pitifully.
Shortly after, he decides to repair it using Keith’s next paycheck.