"You do this every single time!" Sathuna yelled. Giving a different reaction to the one i expected. "And like a fool i get scared every time!" Grabbing a magazine at her desk she rolled it up and went around to begin hitting me with it. "Its because of you, you mad bastard that i have nightmares!"
Being whacked with the magazine repeatedly i let it just happen even as my skin stung before beginning to block her attacks with my arms
"Of course we know your name! The only reason I haven't told you is because its the same reasoning behind why I can't allow you to see your face either you fool! It was your friend who decided we call you 'Strife' instead but it's completely unprofessional from my point of view!"
Freezing up i wondered how Sathuna knew that. Not even in the other world did she know that. After all, the time i gave myself the nickname 'Strife' was in hell. In the ring of greed by the first being i can remember to ever show me kindness.
Sighing loudly Sathuna tossed the magazine back onto her desk. "Urgh! I knew it was a bad idea to take that doll away from you but it was so dirty!"
"Doll?" With more questions suddenly I unfroze.
"Your shadow as you keep calling it. Though you clearly have one already." Clutching her head Sathuna seemed very drained. "Thorn as you named it. It was absolutely filthy after years of you drooling on it when you slept. If i knew you'd regain your reason just because i had to take it while you were sleeping i would have done it so much sooner!"
This frustrated attitude was like the Sathuna i knew but it wasn't on point. Even so i was more concerned with a different focus. "Where is Thorn now?"
"The wash. Do you have any idea how much grime you got on that thing after five years?" Sathuna asked exasperated. "You never let go of the damn ugly thing. And before you ask you'll get it back during dinner."
I didn't like the idea of Thorn being an inanimate doll in this world. Arguably it was worse than the parasite that argued with me repeatedly. There's no doubt he would complain a lot as well if i told him about this.
Hopefully in the other world, Sathuna's preparations are progressing smoothly. I don't want to lose the only comfort i know can always be with me.
At the same time i thought this chains rattled in the distance and this world replaced in and out with the shallow world of water i was at before. With the obsidian swords, inky hands and sinister snake and fish skulls all across it.
"No daydreaming!" Hitting the top of my head Doctor Sathuna solidified this reality.
"The fact you're hitting a patient only makes me more certain this world is fake." I said while rubbing the point of impact.
"Unfortunately for you its the one way i can keep a straightforward conversation with you." Catching the time on the clock on the wall Sathuna sighed. "Eleven o'clock already? This went by quickly. Well, let's see if you still call this world fake when your friends arrive."
With perfect timing a knock came from the door behind me into Sathuna's office. Making every hair on my neck stand on end with goosebumps as a terrible chill ran up my spine.
"Oh. That must be them now? Come in!"
As the door opened i could feel something maddening already creeping in. I didn't need to turn around to se it. Just standing here i could already tell whatever was beyond the door was something i would not be able to accept immediately.
Chains rattled in the distance and all of a sudden the office seemed too small. Water flooded from the cracks like my senses were drowning themselves along with the room. Voices blurred around me through the eel skeleton infested water as i refused to took anywhere else but straight ahead of me with my warping vision.
A sharp pierce of a finger lightly pressed into my back through my shirt, and on instinct i twisted around. Readying to throw a fist but stopped lifting my arm halfway as i saw the man who hooked a pen into my back.
He was Japanese, good looking with spiky dyed blonde hair tied up in an Afro ponytail. And he had a muscular build with a scar running across his nose.
"...Tatsuo?" I said going pale with dread as I recognised him.
"You look like you've seen a ghost, old friend." He smiled gratefully when our eyes met and said, "it's been ages since you've properly recognised me."
Immediately going into a hug Tatsuo left me not a second to regain my reason as this world became so much more weird. "But... i saw you be cut in half? In the ring of heresy i watched you die. How are you... here?"
"That was just a bad dream of yours." Tatsuo said assuringly.
"Sathuna, why didn't you tell us he was back to normal!?" Beside Tatsuo a short blur rushed past and pointed her finger up at the doctor. "We exclusively asked for you to do this, remember?"
"This development only happened an hour ago." Sathuna said back with a shrug. "Besides, Miss Vera, you were visiting today anyway. I thought it would be a nice surprise for you."
Grabbing Tatsuo's face i could feel the warmth radiating from his face. The slight roughness of his growing beard on his cheeks. The irritation on his face as i touched was detailed enough to confuse me further with the annoyance and relief in equal measure. He was just glad to see me interacting with him properly.
"You gonna stop touching my face yet?" He asked.
As i was about to pry open Tatsuo's mouth to look inside. Vera yanked me away and pulled me down. Forcing me to look at her as well.
She was a short Italian girl with dirty blonde hair with streaks of dyed red hair among her naturally curly hair. Her green eyes bright and inquisitive about everything they saw just as I remembered.
"Why are you so focused on him instead of me?" Vera asked upset.
"I... saw him die." Keeping my gaze on Tatsuo i still couldn't make any sense of this. "In the other world... i watched you die right in front of me. Cut clean through. How are you here?"
"Huh?" Looking confused Tatsuo thought for a moment before slightly pulling down his shirt to reveal a big scar across his chest. "Oh~! You must be talking about that time we went to my hometown in Japan together. My uncle got upset that my business was doing better than his and tried to kill me. Was put in the ER for months, man."
Bewildered i wondered if this was true or not. From what i remember meeting Tatsuo in the ring of heresy in Hell, what he said matches what i remember from the end of teh six months we spent together.
In a panic i asked to Vera, "i abandoned you in the ring of greed, didn't i?"
"No, no. You had an emergency while we were in Rome together and had to bail on our library tour. Before that some fat guy was harassing me before you punched their lights out." Vera said as if proud of my actions like they were her own.
Recalling my memories from the ring of greed what she said was similar. In the ring of greed my time was largely spent in a place called the Akashic Library reading books endlessly for eon's before it was attacked god giant made of repulsive gas. In the attack I saved Vera from dying and killed the god giant but was whisked away by hell to be taken back to my prison cell in hell before moving onto the next ring of hell.
That accursed white room.
Both Vera and Tatsuo's stories matched what i knew about them, there were differences in detail but the overall narrative was nearly the exact same.
This doesn't make sense. No sense at all. How can this world have what i lost in the other one?
Noticing my mental struggle Doctor Sathuna stepped in. "It seems your friend is still getting to grips with returning to the real world. Like before his memories have been twisted to accompany belief the other world is real instead of this one. So i would like to ask you both help him fill in the gaps in his memories before he relapses. If we're lucky he might not relapse at all and regain his his place in the real world."
Patting my back Vera and Tatsuo's were quiet. Being tender with me while i noticed just how sinister Doctor Sathuna's gaze felt on my back. It felt like she was a dark poison that was sick of me resisting her.
When i turned around however she was completely normal. Being no different to an ordinary person in how she looked as she looked at me confused.
"We'll see how he feels." Tatsuo said cheerily.
Vera grabbed my hand in hers and started pulling me out the office. "Come on. We'll head to your room so we can talk privately. There's so much i want to tell you about now that we finally have the chance after six years!"
Exiting Doctor Sathuna's office a tightening feeling coiled through my head accompanied by the sounds of chains rattling out of sight and the snapping fish and serpent skull's everywhere around me.
"This is your room in the mental institute." Vera said. Acting a little meek as she brought me to a door. "When your... not in the padded room this is where we usually find you."
Tatsuo opened the door for us and inside i was immediately met with familiar sights in the small room that comprised of a bed, some shelves, a toilet, and a desk.
There was a small plant on a shelf painted gold. A harmless soft rubber sign hanging from the pat with 'Sefirot' scribbled onto it.
Then i saw the boxing gloves with a clock crudely drawn on them, a stick shaped like a sword, and a pole of pens made to look like a spear. My weapons [sigrid], [ekrix gauntlets] and [fragarach spear] in the other world.
Drawn on the wall in black marker was a sequence of nine rings following up a sound-wave of sorts. Each one labeled with my nine authorities while the line itself was labeled as my [aspect: taken devourer] with ominous drawings around it. What caught my eye the most about it was the scribbling at the top of the line.
'What is the crown of divinity? Where is the tenth ring? What is the tacet sequence? Why is there no tenth? What crown is needed?'
It must be talking about the tenth ring in the ring sequence method. A myth that even i, one of the creator's of the ring sequence method, have never achieved. Even the me in this world was looking for a way to reach it.
"Do you remember what this is?" Vera asked as she suddenly lifted a book up from the desk in the condensed room.
Reading its cover i muttered, "the Chronifarion? Thats where Taul wrote all my journey's in."
"Taul was the name of a snake you and Raptor found when exploring Malaysia." Tatsuo said.
At the same time i was surprised to learn that Raptor was also someone that existed in this world. Perhaps everyone i know intimately exists as an independent person in this world. Even my wife maybe.
"In truth it was actually you who wrote the Chronifarion." Vera said as she started flipping through the pages while sat on the messy bed. "Nine months after you were first admitted to Empyrean Crusader mental institution. You started writing it and with some help from me and Tatsuo we got it published after hiring an editor. It became a success on the market after that."
"There was some recourse when it was discovered the author was clinically insane and thought your shadow was in the shape of uh... whats those half-human half-snake things called again?"
"A naga." Vera answered for him.
"Right. A naga. You thought your shadow was a naga's." Tatsuo clicked his fingers in appreciation. "Thanks to Vera's smarts though that situation was turned around to make the book more popular. Its thanks to the funds from that we could hire a top-notch psychiatrist like Doctor Sathuna to look after you. Even try to cozy up your room best we could."
Gesturing to the fluffy red carpet underfoot and the drawings on the walls Tatsuo made his point.
The gaps just keep getting filled, i thought.
Catching my eye a picture frame caught my focus and picking it up a wave of dread rushed over me. It was a picture of myself, a little less scar covered, with a regular raven perched on my shoulder leering perversely at a group of women with me as i ate an apple.
"...you know who that is?" Vera asked as she came to my side.
"Its Thorn." I said certain. The sadness i could sense from Tatsuo and Vera was palpable in the air, leading me to ask, "...what happened to him?"