I am here, but not. I am vanishing, I know that I am, I do not know what it means. I do not feel alive, but not dead. What is this? Who am I? What am I? How did this happen? Why is this happening? When is this? And other thoughts and questions swelled up inside the void. It did not make sense. Moving but staying perfectly still, like a statue and a terrified animal at the same time. The colors could only be seen in monochrome, but every color, even those that are outside of human comprehension, could be clearly seen. Left, right, up, down, north, south, east, west, all of them were the same direction, but they were different at the same time. It felt as if it was messy and dirty, but also clean and sanitary. It was like those moments from before birth, and after death. It was indescribable, something humans, no all life couldn’t have possibly understood.
“Uhh…” A young man’s voice could be heard. He was laying down in a meadow, it was colored with enchanting emerald green grass and pretty flowers of all colors, shapes, and sizes. “My head hurts.” The man said. He had awoken to an earth shattering migraine. He had gotten up and started to look around. At first he was groggy and sluggish, but then he realized what he was looking at. The place he was in was mysterious to him, but it was also new. The man knew that this picturesque scene was not like anything he had ever seen. This was the first time he had ever seen nature and its beauty. The shining sun lighted the world, and its warmth conveyed how much nature loved life. The clearness of the air, and the pleasant smells were also new to him, he knew he had never experienced these gifts from nature. He walked around silently, taking in the fresh air. He remembered nothing, he knew of things, but not his own memories or his identity. But even so, he knew, it was all new to him.
He wandered around, wanting to see everything in this space. Wandering, wandering, wandering this wonderful meadow that looked as if it created life. Then he heard rustling in the grass, he turned around steadily, not wanting to alarm the newly arrived being. Rustle, rustle, shake, rustle, and a couple of squeeks were mixed in with the rest of the noises. The man sneakily crept closer towards it, wanting to observe this creature. The noises stopped, two beady little eyes popped out of the grass and observed the surrounding area. They analyzed the shapes before them and saw a man creeping closer. The two beady eyes jumped out of the grass with a gray fuzzy body following it, if it was to be described it would look like a large mouse with the ears and tail of a wolf, and the paws of a cat. The name of this being was displayed above its body, its name was: “Lowly Minor Mammal Chimera”. And under its name there was a red bar labeled “HP”, and to the left side of its name it had shown the label “Lv.” and the number five next to it. The sound of a growling animal was produced from the chimera, and for an instant that could be the only thing that was heard.
As the small chimera stood its ground ferociously, the man noticed something in his peripheral vision. He thought, what's this doing here? A green box on the top right was found, he subconsciously opened the box and its contents spilled out and spread throughout his peripheral vision. On the top left a bar that stated “Name” appeared, under that was a red bar labeled “HP”, and next to both of those was the “Lv.” label, the number one, and a blue bar that was labeled “MP” under them. The green box then turned see through. What is all this? He thought. But, he had little time to think if he wanted to survive the fight that was about to commence.
Its paws slammed into the ground as it was rushing to punish the one who had invaded its territory, breathing hard and fast as to keep its speed. Running, hopping, sprinting, dashing, and a plethora of other words could be used to describe the chimera’s speed as it approached the man, with its sharp claws out and its jaws ready to bite. But, when the chimera was about to strike, the man dodged. It was what could be great against a small creature, but not a large one. The man stepped out of the chimera’s way. So the chimera, determined to defend its territory, its friends, its family, its love, it's everything, tried to strike again. And missed, and missed, and missed, and missed, and missed, and missed, and so on. It was so tiring, it was level five, so killing a level one opponent should be easy. Or that’s how the chimera thought. But, that wasn’t the case all the time, high stats and levels could be a good thing. However, a good strategy could beat out stats, having higher numbers doesn’t mean you get to win automatically. The chimera grew extremely tired and restless at the same time. And so it stood on its hind legs and let out a sound so shocking, it would make even the most staunch people believe they couldn’t believe their own ears. The creature that looked like a mouse with some features of other animals, let out a bark. A bark, from what looked like a mouse. A bark, the sound usually associated with dogs. A bark, the sound dogs use to intimidate intruders. The mouse creature just barked.
The chimera looked up and saw that the man wasn’t intimidated, just confused. And the mouse felt too tired to try to do anything else to the human. So in the mouse chimera’s heart, it decided to remember this human, and declared a truce. Although the man was even more confused when rather than try to attack, the chimera was squeaking at him. The chimera turned around and left the area that he fought, the now confused man in. In the man's vision, he got a message that popped up. The message stated, “Lowly Minor Mammal Chimera has fled, [Name] was given 15 exp. [Name] is now Lv. 2” The man thought for a moment. Huh, I remember something like this, although it was different. Vidja gayme, game vidya, oh I remember video games. This is like a VR game, and it has RPG elements. Although it feels a little too real to be just that. I mean with VR, you could see, but you couldn't feel the things you were touching. Also the smell was limited to where you were in the real world. As he thought about his current situation it was approaching nightfall.
The sun and its lovely warmth were getting ready to leave, and the moon was coming out. As the young man struggled to find materials for a shelter, he tried to remember his own life, his identity and his memories in particular. Nothing came up, nothing at all, a sheer cold hard nothing. No matter how hard he had tried, nothing came. And, went he did try, powerful migraines, stabbed at him and prevented him from doing so. So there he was, out in the wilderness, without food or shelter, and a powerful migraine. He may have thought. Oh, my how wonderful. In a blatantly sarcastic way. He knew of things and common knowledge, but nothing about himself. He didn’t even know his own name. Restlessness clawed at his very soul, telling him to find the answers, but he was also tired because of the day’s events. He desperately tried to sleep the night off, but he couldn’t sleep. He had to find something to do or it would drive him crazy. He opened up the green box in the side of his vision and looked over everything again, the things he saw previously were there, and he had noticed a blue box on the bottom left. He didn’t have much time to look over it previously, but his curiosity begged him to do so. So he opened the blue box. When opened it was split into several sections. These sections were split based on individual tabs at near the top of his vision.
First was the status tab,which stated:
Lv. 2
HP: 12/12
MP: 8/8
Atk: 8
Def: 8
Int: 8
Spd: 8
Cha: 8
Lck: 8
Affliction: None
Race: Human Lv.1
Job: Unemployed Lv.1
Exp. 15
Race Exp. 1
Job Exp. 1
Special Effects: None
Next, was the equipment tab:
Head: None
Torso: Otherworldly Item (Shirt)
Legs: Otherworldly Item (Pants)
Arms: None
Accessories: None
Weapon(s): None
Then, there was the magic tab:
Arcane: None
Divine: None
Natural: None
Utility: None
Special: None
Then, there was the information tab:
Monsters: 1
Items: 2
People: 1
Places: 1
Monster Manual
Item Manual
Map
Personal Journal
Then, there was a strange tab that was unreadable. He looked over it and found nothing. So he looked at the final tab. It was called the memory tab. It was blank, it was completely blank, so blank that it looked like an artist’s canvas before the painting. He thought. That’s strange, why would there be a tab that was completely covered and a tab labeled ‘memory’ with nothing on it. Unless it has something to do with my missing memories. But, why would that be, if that was the case? Am I here to do something? What is it? Then as if finally loading a document, a word, bar, and a percentage appeared, “Loading: 15%”. Fifteen percent? Well, if I get my memories back when that number reaches one hundred, it won’t take that much time. Or would it? He kept questioning himself and got no answer. “Well, that’s enough thinking. Time to check the other stuff again.” First was the status tab. His level was 2, and it showed off his individual stats. Besides the stats, the things that intrigued him the most were the race level and the job level. How were they different from regular levels? I may be able to change jobs, but can I change race? Why am I level one in human? Did I have a job before? What is the difference between job and race experience to regular experience? His brain was wrapped up in thought again. Eventually he moved to the equipment tab. “All I have is nothing but a white shirt and white pants. Why are they registered as otherworldly items?” He began to think out loud, but he didn’t care. He moved to the magic tab and said. “I have no magic. Is it possible to learn or gain magic powers? How do they work? Are there sub-classifications of the types of magic?” Then, his attention shifted to the information tab.
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The information tab was split into two sections, the top one was a counter, and the bottom one was able to be interacted with. The man looked over the selectable options, and selected the “Monster Manual”. A new window appeared that was labeled “Monster Manual” at the top, and in the list of monsters only one entry could be seen. “Lowly Minor Mammal Chimera”, was the only one in the manual and only one that the man has seen. An image of the one he fought had appeared, on top of the stats, and information on the monster. Although, most of that information was blank. “So, I have to find out more about them to gain more information in the manual. Or at the least, it seems to be the case.” He exited the “Monster Manual”, and selected the “Item Manual”. A window similar to that of the Monster Manual appeared, but with a few changes, one was the label “Item Manual”, the other was the fact that there were two entries. He selected the first entry, it was the Otherworldly Item (Shirt), it just had the image of the shirt he wore. Then he selected the other entry and it was the exact same, the information section was glitching out, if there was any information it was gone forever. He then exited the Item Manual, and selected the map. The only thing he could see on the map was the locations he himself saw and traveled from. And there was a marker near to wear he had woken up. “Huh, so it’s like that. Would the locations on a paper map also get registered?” He exited the map. The last option that he hadn’t selected was the “Personal Journal”. He opened it and saw nothing, it appeared that he could write entries in the journal himself. “What to write? Should I write about today? Hmm… I don’t know. Well, I should go to bed. I might be busy tomorrow.” The young man closed the boxes as he tried to go to sleep.
Then the world shook, the young man was jolted awake. What felt like earthquakes moved the world itself, split the earth’s plates, cut mountains and volcanoes. Thousands of thundering lightning spears crashed into the ground, raging storm clouds pouring out a sea of water. Waves quickly turned into tsunamis as wild gusts of wind changed into hurricanes and tornadoes. The young man sprinted away to find shelter, any shelter. He had run straight into the forest, hoping to find cover. Trees got pushed around by the incredible wind, animals did their best to hide from this terrifying storm. Volcanoes started to erupt, and blizzards completely covered cold areas. Fire spread from the places that the lightning struck, burning everything. The young man ran and ran. He had no time to look around, no time to think. This wild calamity was too much. This chaotic situation. One moment a peaceful and serene landscape, another is an event to end countless lives. This is what it is like in a Chaos Rift. Little did the young man know where he was, and what that meant.
The young man passed through the forest, landed under a large tree, and took a minute to breathe. While he ran, the storm had gotten worse, and worse with no end in sight. But, what was in his sight would be his salvation. Are those buildings? Out here? I thought I was nowhere near civilization. He had thought for a bit. Then, the area around began to shift. The grassy plain in front swiftly died and became what could be called a desert in the course of five seconds. The trees of the forest began to wither away into dust. Without anything to hide under, the young man decided to run to the buildings that looked as if it was a city being built in front of his eyes. As he sprinted towards the growing city, through the desert, the city reached out towards him. The desert was in the process of shifting to an urbanized area. Roads formed under his feet, an countless number of buildings were being built in the time it took the young man to take a step. Not only were buildings being created, but structures also got deconstructed, reconstructed, torn down, replaced, and any number of other things shifted.
The storm had calmed after the desert had formed and the city began to take over, but the man was still running. What’s going on? Why is this happening? This is insane! His countless reactions to the situation at hand flooded his mind. Carriages became cars, clothes and other products on the shelves changed from old to relatively modern styles. The young man slowed and felt exhausted, he needed a break. He stopped and looked around. The buildings and technology were advancing in the matter of seconds while he ran, but then it slowed down to a number of minutes, and appeared to be getting slower. This world seemed empty of sentient life, to him at least. He stood and analysed the area around him swiftly. It looked like the area near a city hall of an average city in the twenty-first century. This place is familiar. I should find a place to rest. Now, with a new quest, the young man set out. To find a bed, in this self generating city. “Loading: 35%”.
As the sun rose in the sky, the young man also got up. He felt refreshed and ready to take on the day. The room he slept in was what could be called a three or four star hotel. With no other people, he could sleep wherever. Although, he thought it strange that he hadn’t encountered any other people. As he stole food from the hotel’s kitchen, he thought about the events of yesterday. It was strange no matter how you put it, amnesia, video game mechanics, a place that can shift near randomly into something else, animals that look like they have been fused with parts of other animals. Then he asked himself a question. I should check the map, how did it change? The map opened. The young man had seen that the city had overtaken the areas that he had already seen on the map. So it updates without my input. How does this work? While he thought, he brought the food to a table for one. “Loading: 60%”, could be seen on the memory tab. It rose up to sixty percent. That’s rather quick.
The young man finished his meal and put the dishes away after he was done with them. Then, he felt like he needed to let something out, something inside him, something repulsive. He needed to take a shit. The young man swung open the bathroom door and did his business. After, relieving himself, he washed his hands. He noticed the mirror hanging on the wall above the sink, and he saw a man. A young, red haired, blue eyed, man in his early twenties stared right back at him. His face was without freckles or acne, but he had shadows under his eyes. He was slim and around six foot in height. He stopped for a moment, it was as if he was trying to recall something but then having it slip. “So, that's what I look like.” Turning away from the mirror, he left the bathroom and headed out into the mysterious city. “Loading: 75%”.
The near endless city streets grew even slower than before. What once took minutes, now took hours. Everything was still advancing, but slowing down. Older car models were replaced with newer versions. What was once clear water, slowly became murky with pollution. The healthy air began to slowly change to an atmosphere of poisonous gasses. The city started to look much more like the time he had come from. From the perspective of someone that lived in the twenty-first century, it would look like sci fi mixed with a bit of dystopia. When the young man traveled through the growing city, something inside grew nervous, although he himself doesn’t remember a thing. The first realistic synthetic limbs, robotic limbs that look and feel like the real thing, appeared in the city, as well as brain chips, computer chips that act as an ID that connects your brain to the internet, and mostly functional AI. “Loading: 85%”.
The young man wandered aimlessly, the more this city advanced, the more it looked like what he knew as the modern world. Whenever he thought about this an odd feeling came up, in a way this is supposed to be familiar to him, but he just got an ominous feeling about a world getting closer to the modern world. “Loading: 95%” He stopped and felt a chill up his spine. “Loading: 100%” A sign that read “Black Obsidian Company ''. “Opening: Memory Package”. Unconsciously, he clenched his fists. An overwhelming feeling of dread flooded his mind, he didn’t want to see that again. That thing would take the souls of hundreds of millions, that thing would over work and kill people, that thing would enslave every single man, woman and child. That thing would consume every other company, that thing would poison the world. But at it’s worst, it would murder his family and would crush his soul. He knew what that hellhole was, that corporation would swallow up the world. “Deleting: Memory Tab''.
With rage and despair wheeling up inside him, he screamed. He turned and punched the nearest wall, wanting to release these terrible thoughts. Screaming mixed with manic laughter and pounding from his fist that dented the hard wall had sounded. The face of his shifted with every torrent of emotion he could possibly muster. Waterfalls under his eyes, moving parts of his face constantly changing to different expressions, the violently human-like animalistic sounds escaping him. He knew what it was, he knew what he was, he knew who he was. He didn’t want to remember, he wanted to be anyone else. He remembered the world he came from, the loss of his mother, his enslavement by what that corporation would become, the poisoned air, the polluted water, the suppression of his mind. In that world he couldn’t go outside. In that world the higher ups abused their power, and hung it over the peoples heads. In that world you couldn’t say anything against the Corporation, if you wanted a better life. In that world people in need were ignored. In that world every single inconvenience would result in debt, that includes even the most minor of them. In that world the Corporation controlled everything. In that world kindness didn’t exist. In that world hopes and dreams were thrown away and treated as if they were garbage. That wasn’t a world he wanted to go back to. “Deletion: Complete”.
He punched and punched until his fists began to bleed. He exhaled and inhaled in order to calm down his swelling emotions. He wasn’t like this normally, but with lots of his memories coming back to him at once, the emotions, thoughts, and pain in those moments also returned. He needed to relieve himself of these returning emotions. His head hurt, he suddenly remembered most of his life, and needed to calm himself. Even the most powerful minds would need to take a few minutes to process most of everything they have ever experienced coming back at them all at once. Eventually his head stopped pounding and his breathing became more steady. What was that? And why did I lose my memories in the first place? It appeared to be some form of amnesia at first, but would that really explain having most of them return in that way? No, it had to be something else. He searched through the tabs that he knew of, but didn’t find what he was looking for. Where did it go? It was right here. What happened? He found nothing. Am I going crazy? It was here? Could it be that this strange place is affecting me somehow? This place defies all explanations. Could simply being here in this place mess up my mind? How long was I here?
That was when he had noticed his right hand, it was bleeding. What? A synthetic arm shouldn’t bleed. What looked like scarlet teardrops flowed out of his knuckles as he was left stunned by this. Then without thinking he gripped his elbow with his left hand, but noticed that the mechanisms that were supposed to be there were replaced by flesh and bone. He quickly moved his left hand up and down his arm. There was no metal, plastic, or synthetic skin. Without a doubt, it was real. This can’t be real. I can’t believe it. Is this my real flesh and bone arm? Wait, if my right arm is fine. What about my lungs? His eyes turned downward, pointed at his chest. Without any hesitation he pulled off his shirt and touched his chest. He found his chest without any machines, puncture wounds, or scars. It was like his previous chest was replaced with this new one. “If anyone did this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” A very jubilant countenance formed, but was immediately followed by more thinking. How could this happen? Although, I am grateful for getting parts of myself back. It is a little odd. Why did it happen to me? Why am I here? Is anybody else here?
In the excitement and confusion, he didn’t notice the changes to his status. He was mostly the same, but with a couple of changes. His HP was reduced by three, he became afflicted with the confusion condition, and he gained a new job. “Wage Slave Lv. Max”, this job had no abilities, it was worthless, stupid piece of shit job class. But, that wasn’t even the biggest thing. His name tag got changed to a name the young man knew very well. After all, he was born with it. The young man’s name was… Jack Carlton.