“IMPACT!”

Aiden heard the words loud and clear, felt the mana in the air thin the way it always does before every teleportation. He’d been teleported enough times to know how it worked. It wasn’t about mana strength or level or anything of the kind.

You either withstood it or you did not. The ones who did not were people who didn’t know how to prepare themselves.

Or at least that was what he’d been told. Fear was another thing that affected teleportation effects.

The world turned a dark blue. It was deep and all consuming. Then Bandiv vanished.

Aiden held his list in his hand, wondering at the names that weren’t crossed out. He’d sent Ded to a certain broker of information and had been funneling a certain portion of his daily stipend from the palace into payment for this broker’s services.

Ded was the go between for them for now, until Aiden was ready to meet the man. In Aiden's old life, he’d eventually found a team that worked for him in the Order. They had not all been part of the Order, though. In fact, two of them had been mercenaries not adventurers.

He wasn’t surprised that the broker couldn’t find Olstead. Aiden had no idea how long Olstead had been in the Order before he’d joined them. For all he knew the man might’ve always been in the Order.

Shewa was a tricky situation. After their breakup in his past life, she’d driven Aiden mad enough times that sometimes he’d looked at Spell Binder and wondered just how bad it would be if he got a little too close to her during one of his swings whenever they were working together.

He had never done anything close enough to that but he’d wondered. Still, she was one of the best at what she did, and he knew how to handle her to an extent. Thinking of her made him feel odd. While she had been a terrible girlfriend, she hadn't been without her good and her reasons. Besides, it wasn't like he had been perfect. He'd had his issues too.

The names on the list belonged to his team. His old team. They were the people he required to do the jobs he knew he needed to do. But some of those names were sentimental. Zen for one was replaceable if Aiden was being honest. His name was only on the list for sentimental reasons.

But did he really want them? Were they even good at what they did now as they had been in his previous life? Eleven years were a lot of years.

Aiden paused as he noticed something wrong.

He knew how teleportation worked and had been waiting for the disorientation that came with it, but his mind was still functioning properly. Right now thinking was supposed to be difficult.

His brows furrowed in thought as he tried something.

Aiden raised his hand in front of him, brought it up then back down. Up’s still up. And down’s still down.

Something was wrong.

Finally, he raised his head from the piece of paper and looked around him. The darkness of deep blue surrounded him. He was still in the carriage, seating. Beside him was Valdan and in front of him was Elaswit.

The princess had something of a pained expression on her face, like she was trying to take a really huge dump. Everything was also frozen.

This wasn’t right.

Then Aiden watched as the carriage slowly dissolved. Bits and pieces flowed away like sand in the air as it disintegrated right in front of him. Around him.

It started from the roof, releasing them into the emptiness of the darkness around them. When it got to their head level, Elaswit’s arm shattered like a crumbling sand castle and was blown in the nonexistent wind.

Aiden wasn’t sure what was going on. Was this what happened during a teleportation? Many theories he’d read simply believed that teleportation magic somehow folded the space around them so that the teleported simply appeared on the other side. Teleportation was practically instantaneous after all.

Others speculated that it worked on the same principle as those who had teleportation skills. The magic tore a hole in the world and deposited the teleported on the other side.

But this? This was literal disintegration. And it wasn’t even pretty. He started when Valdan’s thigh burst into smoke and Elaswit’s head followed immediately after.

There was just something wrong about sitting opposite a headless princess.

Calm down, Aiden. This is just teleportation, nothing’s wrong with them.

Even then, it was an odd sight.

But why am I aware of everything?

He’d experienced at least eight long range teleportations in his life and he’d been awake for none of them. There had always been a process. Teleportation came with disorientation, confusion, then reorientation.

It was a standard process.

And when you came to Nastild the first time it was with geometric signs, a summoning circle appearing over your head, then you just disappeared.

The same rules hadn’t been followed this time. He remembered it clearly. Ted had watched him crumble like sand. He’d seen it too as he’d lost his hand.

Just as everything around him was going.

There was something in there, some alteration that had affected him. Probably a side effect from coming back in time. There was…

Everything crumbled as one. They did not take their time like they already were, they just turned to dust and scattered away, blown away by a nonexistent wind.

Aiden was left alone, sitting on the air with a piece of paper in his hand.

He looked around him and found the darkness swirling. It was moving, sifting through itself. It felt as if it was an extremely thick mist and someone kept shooting balls of air into it.

Wait, he thought, looking around, realization coming to him. I’m the ball of air.

The darkness wasn’t what was moving, he was.

But he couldn’t feel his movement. As far as he was concerned he was stationery. So what the hell was—

[Resilience 50.03% --> 62%.]

“What the hell?”

Aiden stared at the notification in front of him. That was well over a ten percent jump. Mastery didn’t take such a skip unless you were under a very significant amount of pressure.

And he wasn’t.

Or was he?

This was new to him. Teleporting without actually teleporting was unheard of. Even people that used teleportation skills didn’t know what happened between when they teleported and when they arrived. According to the few he’d met, it was like blinking. One moment they were at point one and the next they were at point two.

What was the possibility that simply being aware during a teleportation was already taking a blow to his resilience?

[Resilience 62% --> 67%.]

Aiden looked around. Now he was getting scared.

There were mysteries in the world of Nastild, mysteries he had failed to uncover in his past life. But this was not one of them. This was not even a mystery. It was an accepted truth. On earth, the mystery of what exactly the earth’s core looked like up close was not something you considered ever uncovering. It wasn’t even on the list.

Right?

Before long a sudden jerk went through Aiden. It was like somebody struck him all over the body with only one blow. It was sudden and immediate.

[Health – 82%]

“What the hell?”

[Mana – 68%]

Aiden stared at the alert. Why was he losing mana? And why the hell was he suddenly dying.

[Stamina – 88%]

He rushed up from his seated position and another physical blow struck him all over the body. It staggered him but he did not fall.

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[Health – 78%]

[Mana – 63%]

[Stamina – 82%]

This wasn’t right. Simply being here was killing him.

He needed to get out.

How did someone get out of a teleportation? Aiden’s mind ran through everything he knew about Nastild and the functions of the world and found nothing to answer his question. It was unsurprising, though.

There was no answer to this.

“I need to get out of here,” he muttered, still, panic slowly wrapping itself around him.

Even the attacks he was receiving were not leaving pain. They were just chipping away at his life stats.

[Resilience 67% --> 71%.]

It was also building his resilience. But at what cost? What good would making it to perfect mastery in [Resilience] do for him if he was dead?

Aiden’s mind was still racing when the atmosphere changed. It was still as dark as he remembered it, but mountain peaks seemed to be appearing in the distance, stretching as far as the eyes could see.

And there was something behind them. As if it was being kept away. Compelled by his curiosity, Aiden squinted at it, trying to make heads or tails of what he was looking at. He wasn’t even sure he was staring at mountain peaks. They could easily be illusions, figments of his imagination. His mind trying to find familiar logic in the illogical.

You have used skill [Detect].

Only one word came to mind at the sight of the notification.

Shit.

That was not a good sign. If [Detect] was activating involuntarily, then it meant there was something to detect.

Please let it be the mountain peaks, he prayed. Please let it be the mountain peaks.

It was not.

There was a darkness behind the mountain peaks. It was darker than everything else. And now Aiden could almost make a shape out of it. It was like an entire horizon that dwarfed the mountain peaks. Larger than life itself.

The air around him grew heavy and a heavy pressure brought Aiden down to his knees immediately. It crushed him on all sides and forced the air out of his lungs.

It came with pain and he couldn’t breathe.

[Health – 78% --> 63%]

[Mana – 63% --> 48%]

[Stamina – 82% --> 59%]

Aiden coughed up blood.

His body trembled and his hands shook.

The pressure did not let up.

You have used skill [Detect]

Aiden’s mind couldn’t focus on the notification. Just at the edge of his vision his life stats continued running down. He felt his blood trickle from his own ear. His vision grew blurry. His heart beat slower in his chest with each passing moment.

[Resilience 71% --> 83%.]

His chest tightened and he felt something warm in his stomach. He tasted metal in his mouth. Against his will, his gaze was pulled back to the mountain peaks, drawn to it. To the dark horizon beyond it.

It terrified him.

The horizon dwarfed the mountains, dwarfed everything. He knew in that moment that he wasn’t looking at a horizon. Whatever that was, dwarfing everything, it was not a horizon.

[Health – 63% --> 32%]

[Mana – 48% --> 21%]

[Stamina – 69% --> 12%]

He was dying too quickly. It was as if the realization was killing him as well.

Aiden couldn’t believe it. A second chance at life and he was going to die from simply living. It wasn’t even ludicrous enough to be funny.

It was a terrifying thing to know you were dying but not know why. It was a horrible way to go.

But Aiden knew why. He knew it deep in his soul. He was staring at the reason he was dying. Against his will, his skill continued to activate.

You have used skill [Detect].

He was using the skill but he wasn’t seeing the effect. Nothing was—

A simple notification appeared over the horizon. A bleep when compared to its vastness. But Aiden could read it.

[Multiverse Agent Lvl ?????]

…

[Resilience 83% --> 92%]

…

[Health – 32% --> 18%]

[Mana – 21% --> 02%]

[Stamina – 12% --> 08%]

Then the horizon moved.

Aiden understood what it meant when powerful men claimed that fear was a very powerful force.

It was about to kill him, after all.

…

Everything crashed into Aiden in one swift motion. It was like stars colliding. One minute he was staring at the impossible, the next he was back in a world.

The air around him trembled and he sucked it in with every breath. He filled his lungs, dying even as he did. He could smell blood. He could taste blood.

There was sound too. A lot of sound. He felt other things around him but he couldn’t react. He was terrified of moving. His fist held on to a tiny piece of paper with the most unimportant piece of information right now.

The familiar brown floor of a carriage stared back at him, stained red in his own blood. Between him and the carriage ground was a simple notification.

[Health – 02%]

[Resilience (Mastery 98%)]

None of them mattered.

He heard his name but wasn’t sure he was allowed to answer. Could the [Multiverse Agent] hear him? Even now, back in the real world, was he free from it? Was he even allowed to breathe?

There were more mentions of his name. People were trying to talk to him. He was sure of it. But his mind refused to function properly. Aiden knew he had to ground himself, focus his attention on something real.

Where was he? He hadn’t forgotten, but he needed to still remind himself. He was on a trip to the south, to the hospitable manor of house Naranoff.

Why?

Because time was moving too slowly, and he couldn’t just sit idly by and twiddle his thumbs while waiting for Brandis to send them to the town of cannibals. He wanted to check out the cave in the south, see if he could get a unique skill while he waited.

Right?

Or was there more?

The tension was ebbing from his body. His fear and panic were subsiding. He could breathe freely again. He heard his name once more but it didn’t come from any familiar voice.

“What the hell?” he muttered to himself in a weak voice, the experience of what had just happened going through him.

What had he just witnessed?

Was that what he had made an enemy of? Was that what a [Multiverse Agent] was?

How did he even fight such a thing? How did you fight something that dwarfed mountains and spanned horizons? Something that killed you without even being aware of you?

The answer was simple.

“I can’t fight that.”

It took a few minutes of panicking and chaos before the carriage settled down. Valdan looked like a mess. His hair was chaotic and unkempt from running his hand through it every two seconds.

Aiden wasn’t entirely sure if the knight was worried over the king’s guest or a training partner or a friend. It was difficult to tell.

No it isn’t, he thought as he held a health potion in his hand, his palm wrapped around the round tube. That you can’t tell says more about you than him.

Aiden paid the thought little attention as he uncorked the potion. His hand continued to tremble. In front of him Elaswit was panicking as well, but hers was more contained. She looked more confused than worried.

Aiden’s shaking hand moved the potion to his mouth.

“Slowly, Aiden,” Valdan said with a soothing voice that couldn’t hide his panic. “Don’t rush it.”

Aiden put the potion to his mouth. The liquid inside the glass container was green, as all health potions are. It tasted like tea and freshly cut grass.

[Health 02% --> 08%]

Aiden drank slowly.

They’d given him health first because it was most important. There was no importance in stamina or mana if health hit zero.

Everyone waited. The panic around was subsiding as Aiden drank. Valdan had sent anyone who could see inside the carriage away.

When he was done with the potion, emptied its contents into his stomach, he dropped the empty vial unceremoniously and eased himself back to a sitting position. He remained on the carriage floor.

[Health 74%]

He was in the safe now, unlikely to die from being squeezed a little too hard by someone a little too strong.

Valdan gave him another vial. “What’s it up to?”

“Seventy-four.” Aiden took the vial from him.

The second vial contained blue liquid. It seemed mana was next. As Aiden uncorked the second vial and started drinking, Valdan looked more worried.

“That’s a full health potion from my personal stash,” he said. “Aiden, something’s very wrong. What happened?”

Aiden finished the mana potion and his mana stat came up.

[Mana 88%]

He looked at the empty vial then at Valdan. He shook the vile gently. “A full mana potion from your personal stash?”

Valdan nodded, frowning.

Well that was a rookie move.

Everyone knew that you didn’t use a full strength potion unless you were in a combat situation and needed to full points. Also, they were more expensive than the partial recovery potions.

“Can I get a partial for stamina?” Aiden shook the empty mana vial once more. He dropped the empty vial on the ground. “This one only got me up to the eighties.”

Valdan stared at the empty vial. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Aiden didn’t think so. It was rare but there were instances where a person was so damaged that their life stats needed natural time to heal.

Damages like those were more qualitative than quantitative. For instance, if someone of his level survived a blow from someone with levels in the hundreds, such a thing would lead to such a situation.

Aiden eased himself back and sat on the ground.

He finally took notice of Elaswit. The princess didn’t look so worried anymore, but she was giving him an odd look.

Aiden cocked a brow at her. “You good?”

She shook her head. The action was slow, reflective.

“What kind of world did you come from?” she asked. “What was your world like?”

Aiden paused. He hadn’t expected that.

“It was a fun world,” he answered. “Video games. Electricity. Internet. It wasn’t so bad. For the most part it was peaceful too.”

Thinking about earth made him smile. It was nostalgic.

“Are you sure? Was there no violence?” Elaswit frowned. “You are a sharp contrast to what you describe of your world. Even the look on your face says you miss it. But…”

Valdan stuck his head out of the carriage and a moment after, he returned with a vial of yellow liquid.

Aiden took it from him. “Partial recovery?”

Valdan nodded. “Designed to give at least a thirty percent increase.”

Thirty percent worth of stamina was better than what he currently had.

Aiden’s breathing was normal now. His stamina had increased by a few percent by its own. He could breathe better. With his health and mana increased, he was practically in good health.

He uncorked the stamina potion but didn’t put it to his mouth.

“What do you mean by a sharp contrast?” he asked Elaswit, instead.

“Pain,” she said without missing a beat. “You handle it too well for someone your age. The teleportation disoriented you so badly, for some reason, that you practically almost died. And yet… here you are, like this was simply a walk in a park. What kind of world did you come from that you have no fear of death?”

I have no fear of death?

Elaswit had no idea just how wrong she was. Aiden was yet to meet a living being that did not fear death. If it was capable of thought, death would definitely terrify it. There were those that welcomed death, but they were different. You could not fear what you crave.

“I fear death, princess,” he said, staring down at the yellow liquid that would recover his stamina. His memory took him back to a time when he had done something daring and stupid, a time when his interface had informed him of his own death.

Aiden shook the thought from his head. “I just do not let it control my life. But every day I escape death is a day I do not die. I can’t spend such days remembering that I might die.”

Elaswit frowned and Valdan placed a hand on Aiden’s shoulder.

“She’s right,” he told him. “Even your response is not something to come from a child who lived life in a peaceful world. I know you stand by your words that your world was good, but it is hard to believe you. Perhaps you grew too accustomed to the world you lived in that you think whatever it was putting you through was normal. I would like to see this world if I one day can, Lord Lacheart. I would like to see a world that made you so at so young an age.”

Aiden looked the knight in the eye. You’re living in it.

He left the words unsaid and instead said, “I strongly believe that will not be possible.”

Then he drank the stamina recovery potion.

[Stamina 8% --> 14%]

…

[Stamina 32%].