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“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
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There was a time when he didn’t bother to think. He’d go out and do whatever his heart led him to, and as fun as it’d been, it led to some stupid things that he’d wish he could go back and fix, before bonking his idiotic younger self on the head.
Those truly were the golden days, when everything was still bright and clear, everything separated in a clear black and white. He’d go to school, do stuff, come home, and he’d meet with his family again. They’d have fun together, force him to do his homework, eat, and kiss each other goodnight before they retreated to their beds.
But every dream ends when the dreamer wakes, and he’s always forced back into reality, his dreams growing shorter and shorter each time.
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After his timely excursion into the Singularity, with him waking up at the back of the school in the dead of night and an arm missing, he headed straight home and promptly dropped unconscious onto the sofa. Thankfully, both his parents were out of town doing…something, so they wouldn’t have the shock of seeing their son missing an entire limb from their body.
They would come home eventually though, and they’re in for the shock of a lifetime.
He didn’t come to school the day after, or the day after that. He spent the time laying on his bed, idly staring at the ceiling and mulling over everything that’s happened.
Namely how…surprisingly successful his first dive into a Singularity was.
He had nothing then. No weapon, no training, no armor, no powers to help him, nothing. And somehow, somehow, he’d survived and killed what he assumed was the boss monster of that Singularity. It was honestly incredible now that he was looking back at it.
And he was pretty sure he came out of the damned place bearing some new gifts.
The thing he immediately found out was how fast his injuries were healing. His body didn’t suddenly have super regeneration or anything, but most of the injuries on his back healed after a good night of sleep, leaving behind scars that mixed in with the other scars he’d gathered through his life.
Then there was his seeming invulnerability to heat. This one he figured out when he accidentally tipped his hand into a pot of boiling water. He didn’t feel anything then, and even when he placed his hand over his active stove, he didn’t feel much. It was discomforting actually, especially because he couldn’t have any more warm showers.
But what could that gift be?
He’s looked through the internet to see if any other ‘Divers’ had similar powers, but from what he’d seen online, he’s alone in this matter.
Norman sighed, running a hand through his unkempt hair. Trying to speculate would bring him nowhere, and he was so, so bored after two days of doing nothing. He needed to move, to use his body lest it break from atrophy.
Like going into another Singularity, maybe?
Like hell, he decided a day ago. It was stupid! Going back to another Singularity after you almost died in one sounds like an absolutely terrible idea, one that’s probably going to lead to him actually dying.
Time went, and as the clock ticked on, his conviction slowly eroded away. No matter what he did, the idea always snuck back into the forefront of his mind, and he couldn’t help but remember his experience in that dark caverns, fighting for his life as he tore down monsters after monsters.
It made me feel strong, he realized. He felt far stronger than he’d ever felt in the last years of his life. With his life on the line, all the words and beatings he’d received felt like nothing, and the only path to go was forward. He felt…free, in a sense.
And he wanted to feel that again.
He grit his teeth.
There really was no getting this out of my head, is there?
Getting up from his bed for the first time in hours, he walked over to his study desk and grabbed the kitchen knife he’d placed there a day ago. He walked down the stairs, took one quick swig of water from his glass, and went out of the house, carefully keeping his knife under his jacket as he walked the fairly empty streets.
Singularity E – 007238. It’s the ‘current’ newest Singularity found in his city, having been found by a few construction workers a few months ago at the back of their designated working area. The inside was said to be a hall of stone bricks, the style reminding them of a medieval castle back centuries ago.
The three went inside, and two came out. One died inside, and the other two managed to tell the local government of it, before one of them died.
Mörra, evil spirits possessing ancient armors of a time long past, taking the form of the warriors who once wore such armors. Powerful and agile, not limited by the normal confines of a physical body, and highly resistant against physical attacks. Though strong, their spirits have bonded for far too long, and they have become corporeal, allowing them to be destroyed along with the armor they possess.
But it still makes them a high threat, especially in a town without many active and strong ‘Divers’. The longer a Singularity goes unfinished, the more volatile it becomes, and like a star, if its balance falters, it’ll collapse onto itself, before blowing up the area around it, spilling its contents out into the real world.
It’s the main reason why no one’s allowed to visit Greenland anymore.
Crossing the streets, he noticed the sudden influx of people, and the many whispers floating around. Following the tide of the crowd, he follows the sidewalk and reached a fairly small empty plot of land, with metal pipes and construction tools placed haphazardly around a flickering blue portal.
Why is there so many people?
“Huh? You don’t know kid?” Norman blinked and turned to his right, looking at the mustached man who’d answered him. “A group of thugs ran inside with a girl to escape the police. The police have been here for an hour, and no signs of them coming out.” The man frowns. “I don’t think they’ll come out alive.”
“But…why would they kidnap a girl?” He asks softly, his voice slightly hoarse from disuse.
“Who knows. Said the girl looked important, but other than that? They’ve got nothing.” The man turned to the gate and scowled. “If only some of those damned Divers can come here then everything will be fine.”
It was a complaint, but he heard something else hidden in it. Worry, fear, anger, and hope. Why would he sound so compassionate for some girl who he doesn’t seem to know?
“Sir…do you know who that girl is?”
The man went silent for a moment, before scoffing. “No.”
Ah, I see.
It was a façade, a mask he put up to hide what he truly felt inside. A small lie to comfort himself. He knew it. He’d heard it many times. He’d done it many times himself.
What the man’s relation to the girl I, he didn’t know, but the eyes he had when he stared at swirling gate, he knew it too well.
It was of a parent waiting for their child to come home.
“Wait, kid!” He could hear the man shout, but he ignored him, pushing past the group of people and reaching the police line that’d been erected.
“Excuse me, but please step-” A policeman said, but he took off his hoodie, showing his missing right arm to the world, and the man went silent, and so did the crowd. With no one holding him back, he hops over the police line and stares right into the swirling mass of light blue, before taking out his knife and jumping in.
Everything blurred, and in seconds he was on solid ground once more. But the dirt he stood on was no more, instead switched by the cold unfeeling brick of stone. Walls of stone brick stood around him, and the hallways lit by the torches placed upon the walls. Much of the décor the seemed to have been here were gone.
Well, at least the information’s accurate.
Honestly, what was he thinking, jumping right in with people watching him? Speculations were going to start running through the town, and it wouldn’t be long before they found out who he was.
But that man, he wanted, needed to see that girl come back alive. It made his heart ache, reminding him of the time that he fell down to the weight of the world, running away from the home he’d grown in. Police officers found him several days after his disappearance, and his father only saw it fit to put him under even more punishment.
However, his mother had only cried, apologizing as she hugged him for dear life.
He would never forget the eyes she had when they met again.
Suddenly, the door a distance away burst open, and a bodiless set of armor stepped in, the empty eyes behind its visor glowing red.
Mörra, born of sin and spirits of greed.
It stood before him, its sword poised and aimed for his head, but Norman feared not. He’d survived horrid creatures before, with his body bleeding and life draining, with no light to guide him and no weapon to aid him.
And there is a parent waiting for their child to come home.
He leaped forward to a run, ducking under the Mörra’s sword before kicking it straight on the chest. The possessed armor slid back, and he stifled a groan of pain as he felt his bones screech slightly. The Mörra shrieked, and with the ferocity of an animal it rushed forward, its sword stabbed forward towards his abdomen.
But it was predictable, and he turned his body to the side to avoid the blade. Pointing his knife’s edge forward, he swiped up, and tore the gauntlet off from the armor. The metal came crashing down, together with the sword it’d held. It stopped moving, probably shocked, before it shrieked again.
Then Norman drove his knife through its visor, and the Mörra stopped moving altogether.
…I see.
With the Mörra’s death, he confirmed some things, namely how his body was better than he remembered. He was pretty sure he wasn’t able to kick a hulking mass of metal back a few feet and break apart a gauntlet made of metal with a knife. He also didn’t remember his legs having enough power in them to dent metal by kicking it.
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How and why that was possible, he didn’t know, but it was probably the ‘gift’ he received for completing that previous Singularity. It’s fairly common knowledge that completing a Singularity would grant the Divers a ‘gift’ of sorts, whether in the form of weapons, knowledge, or strange powers.
Speculation could be left for later however. For now, he had a girl to find, and he wasn’t sure how deep her and her kidnappers had gone into this Singularity.
That familiar surge of power came again, one he’d so desperately wanted to feel again, and he smiled.
Let’s do this!
He ran through the opened door,
And right into the line of fire, with tens of arrows descending down on him.
Shit.
Thankfully, he noticed it fast enough to stop his run and jump back through the door, letting the arrow stick into the stone floor before him. The first wave over, he ran back through, his knife held readily in his left hand. The armored archers reached for another arrow and notched it on their wooden bows, filling the air with the creaking of old wood.
Another volley is fired, and he managed to avoid any major injuries again, though some of the passing arrows did scrape him by. The archers began to notch another arrow again, but Norman had closed in enough, and stabbed his knife into one of the archer’s head, before knocking down another to his right and stomping down hard on its head.
Both helmets cracked, and their motions ceased. Shrieks filled the room, though he could see that they were clearly panicking, their archery unsuited for such close combat. A smirk began growing on his face as he kicked and slashed down the many Mörra archers, basking himself in the feeling of power each fallen Mörra granted him.
Soon, the power trip ends, and the room is littered with many unmoving armors, their helmets either cracked or stabbed through. After a quick search through the litter, he continued through the next door to meet with a group of Mörra knights. Unsurprisingly, he had some trouble, having to balance 5 possessed armors skilled in close combat.
He managed though, slowly chipping away as he took them down one by one. He did receive a nasty slash to his back when he was knocked down, but it gave him the opportunity to kick the Mörra’s helmet up and crack the thing, ending its life.
It was from there that the tide of the battle turned to his side, him kicking and stabbing them apart.
His kitchen knife did shatter at the end of that skirmish however, but he was lucky enough to find another knife strapped onto the side of one of the armors.
More rooms came after that, all he cleared, though not all he came out unscathed. Even with his new enhancements, dodging a hail of fifty arrows or so was impossible, though coming out of that with an arrow stuck in his right shoulder as the only major injury was a blessing on its own.
And, hey, he didn’t have a right arm anymore, so that injury didn’t disable much!
He also didn’t expect there to be Mörra mages as well, though it was quite amusing to see their ‘Fireballs’ do nothing against him. The Mörra mages who shot ice and wind weren’t so amusing however, and he found himself needing to strain himself to defeat them. Their long-range was bad enough, but the barriers they could cast around them made them even worse.
Though they should really have learned to make their barriers go down to their legs. It made their feet a very easy target for him to knock down.
But, that aside, the deeper he went into this maze-like ‘castle’, the more empty rooms he came across. There were robes and pieces of armor littering the floor, along with several holes peppering the stone. Whoever had kidnapped the girl came in with guns, and was probably not far.
Norman picked up his pace, speeding through any filled rooms he found. After a while, he was only running through open doors, with no enemies waiting to attack him. The silence was quite eerie actually, and he found himself slowing down, carefully looking around the room for any Mörra waiting to jump on him.
Then he began to see puddles of blood, fresh blood, and stifling the rising disgust in his stomach, he continued on, knowing he was close. Slowly, the sounds of rapid gunfire began to fill the silence, accompanied by the manic shouts of men.
He sped up, and he came up to one large wooden door. It was unlike the others. Where they looked natural and sturdy, this one looked regal, decorated, like a door leading towards an important area of the castle. He took one long breath, then another, before proceeding to kick it open.
All movements stopped, and it gave him time to survey the situation.
And frowned. He did not like it. He could see a horde of Mörra knights attacking the ragged-looking men in brown and black clothing, with a line of Mörra archers and mages at the back, their own attacks readied. Unlike the previous Mörra, the ones here held newer, more polished equipment.
Around the room, several bleeding bodies were strewn about on the stone floor, some cut apart into pieces.
Only three of the ten men were still alive.
The battle soon continued, and the sudden continuation caused the men to flinch in shock, giving the Mörra knights ample time to strike, stabbing two of the three and ending them. One last man remained, and as he attempted to run to him, an arrow struck him in the head, the sharp object piercing right into his skull.
He fell down, bleeding, and dead.
He vomited then and there, despite not having eaten for the last ten hours or so. He was…partially used to seeing blood now, but seeing the terror on their faces as they bled out, their life slowly leaving them? He couldn’t handle it.
But he soon noticed a bright yellow dome sitting around the fallen thugs, slowly flickering as it began to fade away. The light dispersed, and inside, was a girl, her hair a shining white and her eyes a glittering gold.
Then she turned to him, blood running down the side of her face and tears streaming down her cheeks. Ever so slowly, her lips curved to a hopeful smile,
As a rain of arrow and fire descended upon her.
Like hell.
A flame lit within him, and he leaped forward with speeds far faster than he’s previously achieved. He dropped his knife, and wrapping his hand around her, he barreled forward and out of the way of the blast. They rolled and crashed onto the nearby wall, though he made sure to shield her from most of the impact.
The battlefield fell into another lull. Slowly, the girl opened her eyes, fearful, hopeful. He smiled, if only to assure himself that they’d get out of this alive, but it seemed to have put some of her fears to rest.
He looked back to the horde of Mörra, and he knew he couldn’t fight them all, especially not together.
He had to escape.
“Hey…” He said as he sat up and kneeled, “Get on my shoulders. We…we need to run.” He made sure to keep most of his bubbling fear and worry out of his voice. The girl nodded, and after getting herself suited on his back, he took a deep breath, stared down the Mörra knights,
And ran.
He burst forward, past and under the Mörra’s swords, dodging the incoming volley of arrows, and jumping and backing away from the rain of wind and fire. He quickly made it to the door, and with the horde of Mörra hot on his trail, he retraced his path back towards the Singularity gate.
“…Tell me if anything’s coming, okay?” I said as I ran, and though I don’t turn back to see it, I could feel her nod.
Noise filled the previously silent hallways, and he bit his lip, stifling the pain his injuries were causing. Though not numerous, the wounds he’d gathered through this expedition were agitated, and the added weight on his back helped tear them open even further.
But complained he did not. He couldn’t be weak now, especially with a large group of Mörra knights chasing him. As much as he wished to go faster, he didn’t have the energy to do that, and his legs were already tired as they were. Any faster than this, and he might tear a tendon or two.
Then again, he was running as fast as a car, somehow, so he wasn’t going to complain about that.
After what felt like hours, hope could be seen in the distance, in the form of a swirling blue portal. But as he began to close the distance, the sound of cutting air was heard, and he only had a moment to hear the girl’s warning cry to twist his body. His eyes caught the sharp steel sword heading this way.
Before pain filled his being, as the weapon stabbed deep into his abdomen.
He nearly fell, but he held strong. With some effort, he pulled out the sword, pushing past the pain and threw the sword back. And it’s with satisfaction that he watched the sword stab and blast through the Mörra knight who’d attacked him.
Had he watched further, he would’ve noticed that the sword he threw was glowing orange.
But, with his retribution served and task completed, he let himself collapse into the portal, letting them both fall into the swirling mass of light blue before any of the Mörra knights could reach them. The world twisted, and the pain in his stomach blasted through his system.
He fell unconscious as soon as he hit the dirt.
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“Mom, why are they carrying big sis away…?” He’d once asked, his naïve mind still not knowing of mortality. His mother didn’t say anything, but she’d dropped down to her knees and cried, and he could do nothing but try to comfort the grieving woman.
It was the moment when everything began to break.
At some point, the word ‘family’ meant nothing to him. There was only him and his mother, with the world out against them. He stood silent for her, keeping everything he’d suffered under a tight wrapping of lies and smiles, but doing so hurt him. It cracked his heart ever so slightly each time he’d lied, and he’d find himself inching closer and closer towards the kitchen top every midnight.
His mind would wander back to his deceased sister, and ponder on what might’ve gone through her mind as her life slowly left her body. Was she sad? Angry? Happy? Relieved?
He’d wonder so as he held the kitchen knife against his arm, idly watching the blood running down the sink from the new cut he made on his arm. It wasn’t healthy, but he couldn’t help it. The feeling of relief it brought him in his darkest moment was what kept him going.
Perhaps that was why he had such an affinity with knives?
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Slowly, Norman opened his eyes, squinting slightly as he let his eyes adjust to the light. The blur in his vision slowly faded, and he saw a clean white ceiling above him, propped up by the clean white walls around him.
He pushed himself up, and the white blanket falls away to reveal the green hospital gown he’s in, along with the IV tube latching on his left arm. He stared at it for a moment, before turning his eyes towards the window to his right, and the starry night sky waiting outside, the moonlight casting a thin shadow upon the floor.
…Where…is this?
He was obviously in a hospital, but what hospital? He’d been to the local hospital in his town several times, so he knew what it looked like. But this place was cleaner, more sterile, and the outside scenery was completely unfamiliar to him.
He sighed and dropped back onto the bed. His second ‘Dive’ was done, and it was…hard. That final horde of Mörra really was terrifying now that he looked back on it, and he was thankfully smart enough to retreat instead of fighting them.
But…
He smiled. He did it. The girl who’d been kidnapped by those thugs was alive, and he’d managed to bring her out of the Singularity. Granted, his back felt like hell, and even with the painkillers he could feel in his system his abdomen still felt like shit. But she was alive, and so was he.
Now, all that’s left to do is for someone to complete the Singularity before it explodes.
And when that explodes, everything will disappear.
The prospect made him uneasy. He had a sneaking suspicion that the horde of Mörra he met wasn’t the last, and that there was something far bigger and stronger waiting at the end of that maze-like castle. There were no effective Divers in the town, and he couldn’t see any reason for any other Divers to divert their time and come here.
This town was…ordinary. It had no attractions, no special places, no historical remnants, nothing. It was but a humble little town, and a small town like this probably couldn’t afford to pay a Diver from outside to come here.
Which left him.
Could he complete that Singularity? Perhaps after some time building up his body, but the Singularity’s been active for several months now, and who knows how long it’ll last before it goes supernova? E-Rank it may be, but the crater it’d leave after its explosion far surpassed the size of any crater humanity’s research could ever create.
He clutched his chest, biting his lip as he stifled down the suffocating feeling in his chest. He vividly recalled the faces of the dead he’d found, the fear that forever remained on their faces. He could clearly remember the horror etched into the faces of those killed by that large Lügmen, and the desperation frozen on the faces of those thugs.
What if he ended up like that too, his life cut short by some abomination of sin. Would he scream for help like they did? Would he try and run like they did?
Would he-
“You’re awake?” Norman blinked and turned to the right, seeing the door to his room opened and the mustached man he saw earlier standing at the doorway. The clean suit he wore was changed with a doctor’s coat, and a small clipboard was held in his left.
He’s a doctor?
“And still fairly hot as well.” The man said with a frown, looking at the monitor by my bedside. Not that he could feel it, since it seemed like he could no longer feel heat. “Are…you alright? Anything hurts?”
“…N-No.” He croaked out, and the man walked into the room, placing a careful hand on his forehead. “38°C. It’s been stable for 10 hours…” The man stared at him a while longer, before suddenly backing off, a shy smile on his face. “…Ah, um, sorry. I tend to get quite deep when I’m examining something.”
“My name is Steven Jones. Just Steven is fine.” He said, a small smile present as he held out his left hand. How thoughtful, Norman thought as he brought up his hand and shook it. The grip was…surprisingly gentle, like that of a mother’s.
He found it oddly fitting.
“I’m…Norman Gray…uh, just Norman is fine.”
“Norman it is.” He said, smiling, and bowed. Norman blinked at the action, and any replies he had faded when he began to speak. “Thank you.”
Steven sniffed softly, and it’s not long before he realized that the man was crying. “When Gabriel was stolen, I panicked. And when she was forced into that Singularity, all my hope was lost. There weren’t any known Divers in the town, no one I could trust to bring my baby girl back, to bring her safely without question.”
“But you…you ran in there, and you came out with her on your back. I…”
“…Thank you, Norman.”
He was struck silent. It’d been so long that he’d heard such heartfelt words, and slowly, his lips began to curve into a smile. “It’s okay, Mr. Steven. I’ve…only just met you, and I don’t know much about you and that girl, but…”
Mother’s cries echoed through the room, apologizing, begging for me to stay.
“The feeling of losing someone…I understand that, and I don’t want anyone to feel that. So…” Steven looked up to him, and there on the boy, he saw a smile, a smile a child as young as him should never have. “Stay strong…both for yourself and her.”
So that your family may live on
The man smiled. “I will.”