TWO

Und found himself on a floor. It had a pleasant coolness to it while being as smooth as polished crystal. He twisted around and managed to sit upright. His body was numb from horn to toe, or rather, bare head to toe. He was quite thankful for the lack of feeling through his body as he saw the dark grey of bone poking out of his chest, not exactly what he wanted to see. On the other hand, it did seem that he was alive and out of the culling camp. He peered at his surroundings, it was all the same as the floor: some kind of dark blue-tinted stone. Only then did he notice that the floor was strewn with piles of ash and slices of horns. Und felt panic rush through his groggy mind as he squirmed to get on his feet. He tumbled back onto the smooth stone, pathetic and helpless.

Faint tapping came from behind him. Footsteps? Und scrambled up to see where it came from. Two forms stood watching him. No, only one of them was standing, the other was floating, like cloth in the wind the form swayed gently in the air, but never touched the ground. Smooth black robes flowed out from his shoulders to past his feet. His head was hornless, instead a sea of black threads trailed from the top of his head to his shoulders. His skin too was odd, it was a pale tan, like someone had lazily wiped dirty marble.

The other man was somehow more foreign to Und’s eyes. He had never seen anything like the angled white material that made up his otherwise simple clothes. A geometric pattern of silver lines repeated along any bare skin. His face held a denser version of the pattern than on the rest of his body and on his head lay a white cube of cloth. Und felt uneasy about this one, he had learned it again and again; never trust a man who hides his horns. However, beyond all of that, there was something about the man that made him doubt his eyes. The strange man was actually glowing. It was an extremely steady light, more like the sun than a flickering torch, although unlike either of those it was a pure unfiltered white.

The floating man chuckled, and spoke in a language Und had never heard before. It was much softer than the Demurian that was used in all but the most isolated portions of his world. The glowing man made a curt remark before a ball of light came flying towards Und. All Und managed was a squeak before the ball reached him. The light diffused through his body, numbing any semblance of feeling he had left. Und a heard a series of popping sounds; he looked down and saw a rib being pulled back under his now glowing skin. The flesh around the wound fused together in white light before looking as good as new. It hadn’t even left behind a scar. He healed me! Und looked up to see the floating man now directly in front of him. The man held a long grey cylinder in his hand. Und had no clue what it was, it didn’t seem like a weapon, not an effective one at least. The man slowly lowered the object before tapping it on Und’s head.

Und vision went black for several moments before returning. Und tried to back away as soon as his sight returned, but he immediately noticed something in the center of his vision. A blue rectangle with white text inside, it wasn’t in Demurian or remotely similar to any writing he had seen before, but regardless he could still read it.

Welcome to the world of Surei’na. You have been awakened to the system that governs this world.

Due to the quality of the awakening stone used, you receive a fluent understanding of Arethisai and one Greater perk.

“What?” Und blurted out.

“There is much for you to process, but worry not. You will have time to yourself while we finish with the rest of the arrivals”, the voice came from the glowing man who was now standing in front of Und alongside the floating man.

Und could actually understand him, he was still speaking the same odd language as before, but now it might as well have been Demurian to Und’s ears.

The floating man spoke up, “We need to get ready for the next arrivals, you’ll be waiting for an hour or so before we bring everyone to the guild. Follow me.”

“Huh?”, was all Und managed before a gust of wind lifted him off the ground and towards a doorway that definitely wasn’t there before. Und was flying behind the floating man as they passed through several stone hallways. Their speed picked up as they continued and the fact the floating man never glanced back to check if Und had been squashed against a wall was both reassuring and unnerving. Maybe he wouldn’t care if Und died, or he might be delighted to not have to deal with him anymore. Und hoped that the man was just well practiced in whatever he was doing to transport them.

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Every single moment since he had gone through the darkness had given him endless questions. The boxes had gone away after he’d finished reading them, leaving him even more confused than before. Apparently, he was in a new world and a ‘system’ governed it? Nothing made any sense. How could he instantly understand a language he’d never heard before? The healing too, how was it so fast? Und didn’t even see any setup for a ritual. In fact, none of the things they did had any setup. Und shook his head, well if he truly was in a different world he shouldn’t expect that everything would be the same.

Before Und even realized they had reached their destination he found himself on a stone bench. A loud clap made him look up to see the floating man staring at him.

“You are the first of your race to enter this world.” His tone was serious. “As the first to identify you I received a powerful title.” Und tried to think up a response at the man’s sudden statement, but the man continued before he could get the jumble of words out.

“I, Fujiwara Eiji, am a man who repays all debts. In exchange for your gift, I have used an Epic awakening stone on you, the standard Uncommon stone would only grant a basic understanding of the local language and one Lesser perk. In addition, I will cover all registration and lesson fees for the guild.”

Und quietly stared at the man while trying to understand what he had said. Although he understood the language it was still difficult to figure out what exactly was going on. As far as Und understood, the man had received a promotion from finding him and was trying to pay him back. It didn’t really make sense, why would he get anything for looking at someone who went through a portal? He also mentioned that Und was the first of his race in this world. That part worried him. Was he really not a demon anymore? Und hadn’t looked like a demon since the incident, in fact he’d usually be called ‘curse-ed filth’ or something equally flattering rather than ‘demon’. Still, hearing that he was fundamentally different from what he’d always been…

“I am sure there are many things you wish to know, but now is not the time. For now think the word ‘status’ firmly in your mind.”

Name: Und

Level: 1

Race: Aorui

Age: 0 Days

Health: 32/32 (+5/hr)

Mana: 93/93 (+87/hr)

Stamina: 138/138 (+16/min)

Vit: (11)5

End: 16

Str: 12

Dex: 15

Per: 13

Int: 19

Wis: 17

0 Skill points remaining

Greater flawed soul

Mental fortress

Another blue box, though this one took quite a while longer for Und to process.

Und began reading through the box, trying to understand each row of information.

His name was in-fact Und, though it didn’t show his surname. Und remembered that his clan had disowned him after the ‘incident’, so that part should be accurate.

The next one was quite odd, was he on the first floor of the building? Why would what level he was at be important?

Race was a bigger question. Und had never heard of an ‘Aorui’. It didn’t even sound like a Demurian word, or maybe that was the name in Arethisai? The floating man- no, Fugiwaro, Fujiworu? He might know something.

Und willed the box to go away and, rather surprisingly, it did. He looked around and found himself alone. He took in the room and found nothing other than the bench he was sitting on and a small glowing dome on the ceiling. Four identical stone walls surrounded him, whatever entrance the man had used to bring him here was gone. With a sigh, Und returned his attention to the ‘status’.

The next one was age, only Demurian royalty kept track of their exact age, but Und was definitely older than that. Maybe that was the amount of time since he arrived here? That had to be it.

Health should be a measure of how healthy he was. Und wasn’t sure how significant 32 was. He could probably compare that to other people's health numbers to get a rough idea. There was a second number with some odd symbols surrounding it. The only part he could understand was the ‘+’ which meant to add, there was something similar in Demurian arithmetic.

Mana, he had no clue what that was. It seemed like however he learned the language it didn’t give him knowledge of every word. Maybe that would be asking for too much.

His stamina was 138, much higher than his health. Did that mean that he was unhealthy?

Und felt completely lost at the next rows of information. What's a Vit? Why is there a bigger number in that ‘()’ symbol. Why are they all three characters long?

Near the end he found more recognisable words, but they weren’t much better. He knew what skill and point ment, but what was a point of a skill?

Und felt similarly confused about ‘Greater flawed soul’ but thinking about that made a new box appear. He tensed at the sudden addition to his sight before starting to read.

Greater flawed soul: Your soul is more powerful than others’, but it is significantly damaged. +1 Int/level, +1 Wis/level, effect of Vit halved.

His soul was damaged? Und scowled at what seemed to be yet another thing to worry about. At least this seemed to have some positives, not that he could really understand what they entailed.

Und willed that window away and turned his attention to the final line. As he had suspected, a new box appeared when he focused on the line.

Mental Fortress: Immune to mental disorientation from any source.

Und wasn’t sure how often this would be useful but at least this one had no negatives. Well none that he could think of, when would someone want to be disoriented?

Und read through his entire status once more before he slumped down and stared at his bare feet. Without any context about this new world, his status left him with more questions, and no real answers. He would have to wait for the men to return and hope they would help him.