The rattling of a chair hitting the floor resonated in the small, dark room around me. The reflection of my face contorted in frustration was reflected back at me from the dimly lit computer  screen. I took a moment to give myself a murderous glare, infinitely reflected between the glossy screen and the deep, unending void within my pupils. There was a permeating silence, up until the point when the air conditioner started back up, ending its short rest. The low humming noise broke my focus on the screen and my mouth slowly dropped into a frown as I ran my hands through the curly, dark brown mess that I call my hair, eventually leaving them to rest on top of my head.

    “Why can’t I come up with any ideas…”

    My head dropped, prompting me to sigh in an effort to relieve some of the depression I accumulated from my hopeless endeavor. 

    “Some people just make it look so easy, and yet… I can’t even write a chapter that’s more than a thousand words without being on high alert for Yaoi…”

    I made a vow to finish this story, but at this point, I’m not too sure if I can follow through. All that’s left is for me to continue writing and hope for the best. Even with the character being as easy to write as it is, I’m still having difficulty with all the plot holes I’m leaving in the wake of my typing.

    “Besides, what guarantees that it won’t end up like the other stories?”

    It almost felt like I had lost something important while writing those, which was the main reason that I had stopped. Otherwise, I would have continued with them and tried as hard as I did with this one. Honestly, I’ve been surprised over and over by my tenacity with this thing.

    Well, I am the one that started this when I typed those first few words on my phone two years ago, and I won’t be the one to end it. No matter how horribly homosexual this story becomes, it will continue. It will continue through all the homosexuality it brings. (Not to say I’m against that type of thing, it just kind of puts me off how I unconsciously insert it. Haha, insert.) 

    At least I know that I’m on the right track. There hasn’t been nearly as many chapters made, and there are much longer delays; however, despite all that, it still somehow has more followers and a rating already. The changes are going well, but I hope they won’t be lost due to that upcoming interlude… I mean, they could always just skip it when it gets to the strange parts, right...?

    Wait, there’s no point in thinking that, this story is strange as it is. If someone is following it, then there’s no way they’ll disappear from something so simple. Worse has been written and read here, so there’s no worries.

    “It’ll all be fine if I continue writing, then.”

    Just as I said that and sat down, the power went out, and the little light that was present from the computer was snuffed out.

    “F-...udging hell! Now the hurricane takes down the power lines!?”

    I stood back up violently, flipping over both my desk and my chair. The sound of multiple objects hitting the ground and the breaking of glass disturbed the peace once again.

    Trying to process what just happened, I stared blankly at the black expanse before me.

    ‘Was that… my computer...?’

    Deciding not to think about it any further lest I confirm my fears, I prepared myself to go to sleep. 

    I laid in my bed, fearing what I may see tomorrow while I gradually descended into a deep sleep.

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  I woke up to a disturbing sound. An extremely guttural roar invaded my ears, preventing me any further sleep. Taking a look at the digital clock on my bedside table, I saw a ‘6:32 A.M.’ displayed.

    ‘What’s going on this early in the morning? Is that the hurricane?’

    Getting up from a rather awkward sleeping position, I moved over to a window cautiously.

    “Oh. Maybe it is the hurricane.”

    Through the stained glass, I could see various objects flying around in the wind, though most were lightweight. The objects mostly consisted of plastic bags, grass, and the occasional candy wrapper. Deciding to check up on the situation, I left my room and exited from the front door of my apartment onto the streets below. The sound that I heard obviously couldn’t have been made by plastic bags and grass, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Besides, I needed some sunlight anyways, though I don’t know how I would get that with how cloudy and obviously lacking of sunlight the sky was. It almost looked like it was midnight.

    On the way down from the concrete stairs right outside my front door, I could see the silhouette of a man with a build on the larger side. Who could that be, other than my good gopnik friend Ivan?

    Ivan is my neighbour that moved in at around the same time as me. He is a rather large russian man, more muscle than fat. Somehow, he looked slightly larger than usual, though that could have been the wind messing with my vision.

    “Hey, Ivan!”

    I yelled as I started to walk over to him. Seeing no reaction, I assumed that the wind was preventing my voice from reaching him. Just to make sure, I yelled a little louder this time.

    “Hey, Ivan!!”

    He still didn’t turn towards me, but I heard a voice with a thick accent coming from behind me. Hurriedly turning around, I saw a pair of unmistakable pecs.

Stolen story; please report.

    “Yes?”

    “Wah! How did you get over here so fast?”

    “What do you mean? I was in my living room when I heard you calling.”

    Man, this guy sounds just like your average Russian stereotype. Wait… If this is Ivan, who’s that guy over there?

    “That means… I think we should get back inside, Ivan, unless you know that guy over there.”

    “Hm?”

    Ivan let out a sound of contemplation as he looked over in the direction I was pointing. I looked over too, only to see that the figure was closer. Much closer

    “Uhh, he’s a bit closer than last time… We should really get going.”

    My Russian friend nodded his head as he turned around to walk back to his apartment. Right when he did, the figure disappeared, a burst of air that disturbed even the heavy winds surrounding us now following close behind; I looked around frantically, yet it was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, another sound reached me from behind. This time, however, it wasn’t the heavy accent I got so used to hearing. It was the sound of wet meat being slapped.

    I turned around to see the glossy black armor you’d expect a villain in some fantasy novel to wear. I continued to look upwards, until I saw an empty space where the head should be, and something even further above that.

    “Why the hell does this thing have a name tag?”

    Over its head, there was a name tag that you would expect to see in an RPG, with a level adjacent to the name, and a health bar right below it. It showed the words ‘Dullahan, Level 108.’

    “Oh hell, I’m in some deep shit now…”

    I started to make another 180, when I remember what happened when Ivan did the very same thing. What happened to Ivan himself? He was the source of that wet slapping sound. No, he wasn’t masturbating. He was a freaking corpse being slammed back and forth. Actually, he was more like a lump of bloody meat and broken bones now that I looked at him…

    I took a moment to release the contents of my stomach into a small puddle before I genuinely started my escape. Wiping my mouth, I adopted the safest strategy going by the available information. That is, slowly walking away backwards, keeping my eyes glued to its back.

    Sadly, it didn’t work as I had hoped. Instead of the expected result where the Dullahan continued flinging around poor Ivan, it turned, holding up its head in a tight grip to stare at me. The gruesome, ever present smile on its face gave me the chills as it disappeared again. It reappeared right in front of me, with a fist buried deep in my solar plexus. 

    In the very next moment, I found myself flying high in the air. In a moment of tranquil detachment, I looked around at the apex of my parabola. I felt weightless, yet my body felt hypersensitive to the sensations around it. In the moment of calm, I realized that I’m already at least a kilometer away from the coast, over the ocean, and still moving. Then the pain comes back to me, the ruptured organs and broken bones. The pain was overwhelming enough that I didn’t understand why I was still alive.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!”

I move past the apex, and start to fall, the wind drowning out any further screams. My hair that was usually either pushed to either side, covering the respective eye, is moving fluttering about randomly, rapidly, in resistance to the wind. I stared at the sky as I finally realize, just like the very character that I had written; I’m about to- no, going to die.

Another wave of pain hit me as the surface tension from the water further breaks my pitifully beat-up body. Reflexively, I take in a breath as I prepared for my descent into the water. My brains efforts got me a lungful of water, that forced me to once again open my mouth for ro cough out the water, resulting in a shortening of what little remaining time I had.

My velocity took me deep into the water. Deeper, deeper, deeper still. Until the water eventually slowed my descent to a snail's pace. What little light I had left from the already dark day shows me a large, orange eye, covered in a thin film. The pupil alone is as large as my head. I panic as I realized that the method in which I die will go from bad to worse. The effort of moving my body, however, was futile, as it was already too broken to function properly. All that occurred was a more intense pain and a faster death. My consciousness loses grip as quickly as it came back to me when I woke up on this fateful day, pulling me into a permanent sleep.

Before I died, I heard a voice. So short, so silent in the depths of the ocean, that I may not have heard it were it not for my hypersensitive state and close proximity.

“How pitiful, for someone to die this early into the integration…”

The last of my processing capabilities put me in a state of confusion, unable to understand what the deep, gravelly voice meant. It continued, though my capability to hear it was reduced even further.

“I su-...ose… fine fo-... to give h-... an-... chance.”

...Chance…?

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...A Chance…?

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...What does it mean… by a chance…?

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Congratulations!

The Lord of the Sea has offered to give you another chance at life.

Would you like to accept?

Yes

No

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Might as well...

Congratulations!

You have successfully obtained the comatose body of Ralf Faelan!

You now have access to all features of the system: not all are available without discovery. Additional features may be added or created if conditions are met.

You now have access to your status screen: this may be henceforth used in any area, regardless of system restrictions.

You now have the ability to access all features of the nexus: additional features may be added as you progress, or due to special conditions being met.

Effective movement may not be possible due to disfigurement of your body: this may be restored through a variety of available methods. (These methods cannot be found with assistance from the system.)