“Wakey wakey…”
“Urgh…” Glenn startled awake, his head searing with an annoying pain, almost as irritating as the sarcastic voice that woke him up. Glenn opened his eyes slowly and jolted in surprise when one of them did so underwater. The feeling quickly snapped him out of his passive state and he hurriedly pushed himself up out of the water.
He felt like he had slept for a long time but yet hadn’t managed to get a wink of rest, his whole body in pain like he had been rolled over by one truck or two—maybe more.
Glenn rubbed his eyes and wiped off the water the best he could. A glance after he managed to get rid of the blurriness of his sight informed him that he was sitting in the pond under the previously floating white crystal. “Previously floating”, because it was now submerged in the water, its old magical appearance gone. The crystal wasn’t white anymore, nor was it pulsing with rhythmical beating. It was now just an old piece of rock, slightly translucent with moss growing on its sides.
It looked very dead.
“Cough…cough…” Glenn spat out the rancid water that had filled his mouth. What was once the best-tasting water he had ever drank in his life now shared the same properties as sewage? And it only made sense for the water to have this taste, when the pond was now some kind of old swamp with green and yellow moss floating atop the water’s surface, alongside some dead insects.
Quite the delightful soup.
“...Fuck me…” Glenn muttered as he carefully stood on the slippery underwater ground, before heading for a drier place. He stumbled for a few steps, his surroundings spinning uncontrollably. He forced himself to take a long breath before finally making it out of the water.
He collapsed on the ground, rubbing his temples in deep confusion and wonder. What…what the hell was that? That…that thing, calling itself Diamanes and proposing a deal… It had to be a nightmare, right?
Glenn stared at the water pond, sighing when he realized he couldn’t even drink to try and make himself feel better.
“...What a mess…”
A sneer echoed in the room, startling Glenn. He jumped on his feet and reached for the sword hanging on his waist. He scanned the surroundings while holding his breath, but saw nothing apart from the sunlight entering the underground chamber. The ceiling had collapsed at some point in time, opening an exit to this place.
“...Am I imagining things?” muttered Glenn while his eyes kept on searching through the room.
“Ha!”
A mocking voice echoed once again, this time coming…from his hand. Glenn looked down at his left hand, only to find that his skin had turned into a dark purple hue. He gulped in horror and slowly opened his clenched fist, unraveling a grinning mouth with red lips and pristine white teeth in his palm.
“D…Diamanes?!?” He asked in disbelief, struggling to even ask that simple question. The mouth opened and a red fleshy tongue came out of it, moistening the red lips.
“Yours truly! Here to give you a hand! HAHA!” Diamanes burst out laughing while Glenn merely stared at his hand, the pun bouncing off him ineffectively. He chuckled nervously, his eyes wide open as he scratched the back of his neck with his right hand.
“Do…Do I have a talking hand now?” Glenn’s face turned blank as he pronounced the words, making this nightmarish situation way too real for his taste. No, he had to wake up. This couldn’t be possible.
“Absolutely!” Diamanes exclaimed, more than happy to disrupt his host’s train of thought, “Do you know what’s the best thing?”
Glenn tilted his head to the side doubtfully.
“What?”
Diamanes grinned widely from one thumb to the pinkie.
“It’s real! HAHAHA!!”
Glenn sighed and rubbed his forehead. What—what was he supposed to do now? Just go around with a fucking talking hand? What the fuck? Diamanes simply continued to laugh, apparently enjoying the situation to the fullest. The laughter eventually subsided, and the entity sighed happily while maintaining its wide grin.
“You can’t even fathom how long it’s been since I’ve been out? Ahh, the outside world…” Diamanes chortled before shouting, “It’s GREAT to be alive!”
Glenn suddenly clenched his hand, muffling Diamanes’ laughter. He couldn’t live with this forever, could he?
“How do I get rid of you?” He asked coldly while opening his hand. Diamanes’ laughter died out.
“You don’t. Better get used to me, unless you want to cut your hand off!” The entity mocked, mockery which slowly changed to horror when Glenn unsheathed his sword and aimed it at his right hand.
“What if I hack you off?” Glenn hissed through his teeth, sweat pearling down his forehead. He didn’t like this situation one bit. Should he cut? Could he even do it? Diamanes waited in anticipation, before chuckling mockingly. Glenn sighed and relaxed his arm, giving up on cutting his hand away.
“What, you don't have the strength to do it? I can cheer on you if you want!”
Glenn shook his head and leaned back as he bit down on his lower lip. He couldn’t possibly willingly self-hurt himself. He had already suffered enough, he didn’t need to add another layer of self-mutilation.
Diamanes smirked and passed its tongue over its upper lip.
“Good choice, I would have grown back anyway!”
When Glenn heard that, he realized how hellish his life was going to be. Never a second to himself, always watched by this parasite…
“Wait—what? Parasite? You called me a PARASITE?” Diamanes exclaimed in outrage, making Glenn’s head ring even harder. Was he condemned to suffer the presence of this damned creature for eternity?
‘That means I won’t ever have any privacy again, won’t I?’ Glenn realized dejectedly.
“You have a talking hand, and you’re thinking of having privacy? Isn’t it an insignificant sacrifice to have my presence with you?” Diamanes asked in disbelief. Glenn groaned angrily and punched his left hand.
“Get the fuck out of my mind! Damn it!” Glenn yelled, even though he knew nothing would come out of doing so. His teeth clenched, he tried to relax and think of the future while lamenting this misfortune. He brushed his hair back while taking a long breath.
First thing first; sorting this mess out with the parasitic thing living in his left hand. And yes, he meant it when he was thinking of “parasite”. Glenn waited for a second, but the lack of reaction from the entity led him to believe it had accepted his wishes to not have his thoughts invaded.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Observing the talking hand, he noticed that the demarcation between the purple and white skin was located exactly at the start of his wrist, with some small spots indicating a more than probable growth of the purple area.
“I know I’m handsome, so you can stare all you want!” Diamanes exclaimed shamelessly as he grinned widely. Glenn flipped his hand to hide his palm, grimacing as he did so. This was disturbing. Very disturbing.
“Just…shut up.”
Diamanes chuckled, “Hey, at least admit the positive!”
“The positive?” Glenn questioned, less than amused. What could be positive out of this situation, where a monstrously evil thing was living in his left hand?
“You’ll never feel lonely again!” Diamanes annoying grin almost made Glenn take his sword out and try to stab himself again, but no.
“...I did enjoy having some privacy, though…”
“Whatever, stop being such a killjoy. Let’s get out of here first, alright?” Diamanes proposed, putting a stop to their banter and redirecting the focus on the most important matter at hand.
Glenn looked at the collapsed ceiling as he sighed. He should be able to climb out with a bit of effort. He glanced around at the underground chamber, verifying that he didn’t forget anything, before attacking his ascension. With his sword hanging off his waist and Jefferson’s pouch on the other side of his belt, Glenn climbed out of the ruins, escaping away from the mysterious dark chamber.
Glenn squinted and hid his eyes away from the light, momentarily blinded by the sun. He took a few seconds to let his sight acclimate to the sudden brightness. Holding his hand as a visor, he glanced at his surroundings. The mountain peak was far away, and the ground was not that far. He could have never guessed that the crystal room was built so deep in the mountain. But then it would explain the stupidly long walk from the encampment to the crystal.
He glanced at the top of the mountain, frowning when he found it to be in a different state than when he found it. Instead of the flat platform it previously was, it was now completely blown off, and there was no longer a peak as such, but a collection of smaller peaks. The gray stone had blackened like soot, and ash had accumulated on top of it. And it even seemed to start snowing, as the chilling air seemed to prove.
Glenn looked away and found the city he discovered back then, the massive one, a reasonable distance away. Perhaps he would manage to get there before night?
“That’s some wishful thinking. Are we going hiking, then?”
Diamanes seemed excited, grinning widely and snickering from time to time. Glenn’s eyelids trembled and a vein popped on his forehead, but he forced himself to ignore him. If what he was seeing was right, there were a few hours of forest to traverse before reaching the city’s surrounding area. He’ll have to mainly trust his directional sense to go in the correct direction.
“So, uhm, where the hell are we? I’m a bit of an alien, you know, so I’d be glad if you could give me some small explanations.”
Glenn froze in his steps and looked at his left hand. “Alien? Where did you hear that word? I’m pretty sure the concept shouldn’t even exist in this world.”
“I read it in your mind.”
Glenn sighed. “Of course you did.” He grimaced and shoved his left hand in his pocket. “Well, why don’t you search for the answer yourself, huh?”
The muffled voice of Diamanes came out of the pocket, “Because I’m trying to know you properly, mano a mano!”
‘What the—mano a mano? Do I have to endure those puns for the rest of my life?’ Glenn thought in disgust. He would probably enjoy and laugh at those, would they not be coming from an evil entity living rent-free in his left hand?
“I can hear you, you know?”
Glenn looked at his left hand, pondering. Since he was going to soon reach civilization, perhaps it’d be better to hide away this purple hand. It would probably not do him any good to be suspected of being possessed or something. Imagine being burned at the stake for something so dumb.
Well, considering he did have an evil being in his left hand, it seemed quite logical to burn him. Let’s still try to avoid the situation, though.
“Are you ashamed of me, Glenn? Don’t you like me being your hand, Glenn?” Diamanes’ mouth twisted in a hurt and sad expression, not that Glenn cared whatsoever.
“You’ll warm up to me eventually, mark my word.”
Glenn rolled his eyes; no way in hell would he ever trust this maddening piece of evil shit. He glanced down at his clothes, grimacing at the idea of ripping a piece off to use as a makeshift bandage to hide Diamanes. He noticed the small pouch hanging from his belt.
“I did pick that up from Jefferson’s remains earlier…” Glenn muttered. But the pouch was empty—he had made sure of it when he found it. Maybe he could rip it in pieces? That seemed like a poor idea;
“...Isn’t that a dimensional pouch? Lucky you, it’s a reasonably spacious one at that!” Diamanes exclaimed in appreciation. Glenn paused and raised an eyebrow.
“A dimensional pouch. Like in DnD?”
Diamanes smacked its lips, “Uhh, maybe? A dimensional pouch is a compressed dimension tucked inside a smaller container for storage purposes. Furthermore, it only weighs as much as the pouch itself; the items inside don’t contribute to its weight. And as a bonus, only the first person who opened it can use it. Until said user dies, of course.”
Glenn looked at the pouch with glimmering eyes.
‘This is…this is the jackpot!’
But how did it work? He tried putting his hand inside the pouch, but no matter how hard he tried to find something, there was nothing.
“This one’s about ten cubic meters. Not too shabby,” Diamanes flicked its tongue, before chuckling. Glenn raised an eyebrow.
“How can you tell?”
The usual wicked grin grew once more, happily mocking Glenn.
“I just can. If you want to know the content, ask the pouch in your mind.”
Glenn sneered, “Ask the pouch?”
He looked at the pouch and shrugged. Why not? This world was already insane; why not add more insanity to it? He closed his eyes and tightened his grip around the pouch, asking clearly what its contents were.
An image of a dark space appeared in his mind. Swiftly comprehending the process, he surveyed the pouch’s contents, finding more than a few interesting items.
The pouch held a collection of archaeology tools – a trowel, brush, strings, and stakes. A mirror and comb were also nestled within. Among the assortment, a map and a finely adorned sword stood out, along with a signet ring bearing what was probably House Jefferson's crest.
There also was a drawing of a man with something handwritten on the back. “Wanted, a hundred gold—Unknown”.
“It seems like your friend was quite popular in the wrong way,” Diamanes remarked. Glenn looked at the drawing for a moment, before putting it away.
“I’m not sure if it’s Jefferson’s drawing, since his body was reduced to literal ashes. And I didn’t exactly know him.”
There were also bandages and herbs, no doubt with medicinal virtues, but he wouldn't risk trying them. But bandages were certainly the solution he was looking for if he needed to hide Diamanes.
He also discovered what appeared to be this world’s currency; gold, silver, and copper coins. There was a lot of copper, a bit less silver, and a dozen gold coins. If this was a classical fantasy world, it would probably be a hundred copper for one silver and a hundred silver for one gold. Hopefully, this wouldn’t be that. It sounded like a hell of a bother. What would happen if he bought something worth a copper with one silver? Was he going to get ninety-something copper?
Glenn shook his head and stopped his tangent. This was a question for later, and it wasn’t worth his time thinking about. He would soon know anyway when he’ll step into the city.
Finally, he discovered provisions – a bundle of meatloaf wrapped in large green leaves, enough for ten days, along with an equivalent supply of water gourds.
His stomach grumbled at the sight, making him realize how hungry he was. He hurriedly pulled the food out of the pouch and ravenously devoured it. While stale, the food was far superior to whatever he had eaten ever since he came to this world.
“Are you crying? Is it that good?” Diamanes asked mockingly.
“Yes it is,” Glenn admitted shamelessly. He completed his meal and readied himself for what he hoped would be his last trek before encountering civilization. Glancing at the distant city, he recalled the map in the dimensional pouch. It would probably be a good idea to give it a closer look.
The paper crackled as he unraveled it. The mountain he was standing on was called the “Still Peak”, and the city he was looking at was “King’s Rise”. The two cities on each side of the battlefield he saw from the peak were called Satidipug and Eari. Said battlefield also had a name, the Retni’s Plains. The map was limited to the kingdom, which bear the lovely name of Munirp. There were more villages or points of interest indicated, but Glenn chose to reserve that for later. Right now, his objective was to get to King’s Rise.
Glenn adjusted his black coat and breathed out in the chilly air. He glanced one last time at the view, before beginning his descent. There was quite a way to go until the city. He’d have to cross the Morsquida’s Stream, which was flowing from the mountain and then splitting in two a few kilometers away from the city. If he understood the map correctly, there should be a bridge that should help him cross the stream, some distance down the stream.
“Well, here we go.”
“Hiya partner!”
“For the love of god…shut up.”