In the dead of night, moonlight pierces through the grey fog.
A whisp of cold air parts the mist, revealing a three-edged structure, jutting out at the endless shallow waters—endless as the sea.
It lay within, breathing in the dark, trapped in an eternal slumber.
With its damp air, dewdrops form. It runs, seeping through its concrete seams, trickling down as it splashes at the dwelling husk.
Plop…
It's cold—cold enough to shiver him awake, like a spark igniting dormant senses, feeling his gravitate at his feet.
He breaths.
With each breath he takes, he shivers in pain, and he scratches his neck. As he exhales, he opens his eyes.
Nothing... He blinks again...
It was only darkness he could see, the same colors he sees when he closes his eyes.
Suddenly, his breathing sped up.
There, he alone could not move, could not breathe, could not see, and yet his sense of touch remained.
Splish-Splash!
It rained.
Dropping like thunder, water enters through the crevices. Each drop reverberates through his entire being, ringing his skull.
A long-forgotten sensation.
He clenches his teeth, teetering, whilst water flows down at his feet.
Strangely, he stood there in comfort, as water quickly fills the coffin-like room, but in an abrupt something move—' Behind, below, it felt scaly and heavy, like a limb. It twisted, as if it were a part of me.'
*Gasp!*
A one last breath as the cold water fills, submerging him completely.
But again, it shifted, pulling him down.
With its sudden movement, he flails around, scattering his breath—the last of it—hollow sphere spreads, bursting. There, he opened his eyes, squinting in agony.
'I can't… Breath…'
He opened his mouth, gasping for air, but was greeted in blues, quenching his thirst, filling him full, inviting him into eternal slumber.
Thud!
In one motion, he hurled himself up, banging his head against a solid surface. It moved, a lid of some kind, a beam of light briefly entered, shining across his face as he moved something above him.
With such a sight, sudden strength washes over him, invigorating him, quickly making him restless.
Just a chance to survive, he again pushes, pumelling it open with all his might, repeating as it moves. Whirling the water up and down whilst red colors spread like smoke.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Again and again—
Clunk!
It opens whilst he springs himself out, hanging at the edge of the structure, like a jack-in-the-box. A structure so thin yet so durable.
Head against the ground, he coughed and gasped for air, and raindrops fell as he blinked both of his eyes open.
Outside, it was dark... as above as to below, nulling darkness stretched out forever.
'The… light?'
Where is the light that he glimpses inside? Was he just imagining things... or not?
Thunk!
Dropping down flat on the ground, his left cheek pressed to the damp ground. There, he lay on his back and let out a relieved sigh, gazing at the sky—total darkness.
The heavy rain stopped, light slice through to reveal a crescent moon.
Awe struck his heart; it was brief, but that light gave him hope. In solemnity, he gazed at the moon as it hovered above him, moonlight piercing through, casting curtains of dim light.
'Up there were no dark clouds to explain the downpour, only the endless black skies and the crescent moon.'
"As if the moon itself had brought the rain..."
"My voice changed... what has changed?"
He carried his back and sat upright, then stared at the horizon, like something stuck in his head.
'Normal, what is... normal?'
His very own memory was a mystery to him, like a puzzle scattered, in any which he can't seem picture it.
'What am I thinking hard about?'
Just the weird sound of a word he kept hearing and repeating on his thick head of his: Not again, I won't die again...
With no answers, he stood, looking down at his flimsy legs, and in the corner of his eye, caught a fleeting glimpse of—' A woman standing alone in the endless shallow water.'
Soaked in blood, skin as pale as canvas, smooth as porcelain, hair flowing like rivers of ink... It was anything that resembled a woman, but below her waist, a tail.
It moves.
She looks at him from the corner of her eye, innocence blairs as she stares.
Strangely, he felt no desire; rather, he felt unable to shake the feeling of certain uneasiness...
In an instant, he suddenly sprinted away.
Puff… Huff…
Sprinting, arms flailing—slender as twigs, with each step, waves of water rippled at the endless shallows spread.
He feels an inexplicable weight tugging at him—a heavy appendage, it felt like it was his, like a limb attached to him.
In curiosity, He looked back.
"A tail!"
As he said that, suddenly, waves gathered below, forming a pillar. Shaking the ground, in constant motion, he turned left.
The pillar drifted as he changed his gaze, following wherever he looked.
Whenever he looked, the pillar moved, sliding as tall as he was, its crystal blue texture reflected like a mirror.
In its reflection, he saw her, as whenever he looked at her eyes, their eyes met. He raised a gesture to her, and it copied every move he took.
"Is this... me?"
Upon a closer look, as above as below, it is him. He realized the ghostly woman he'd feared was actually a reflection of himself. Xin suddenly glanced down.
'This isn't me.'
Below his waist, it wasn't his body. Too big to be him. Biding his time, the pillar suddenly rose into the sky, then fell.
Splat!
There, he deliberately stopped and stood, shielding his head with both of his arms as it exploded, thinking he was in pieces. He peeked through his arms. Before him it stood, a pillar of water as tall as he.
White letters are inscribed upon it.
'Welcome, Ye Xin,' He reads in doubt out loud in his instinct. Frowning in confusion as he could read the words.
'Ye Xin?'
It felt like it was referring to him, Ye Xin.
Is this his name? Is it even a name?
A name he has no such recollection. With everything he thought, it was pointless. It felt like his head wasn't his or that something was at the back of his head—Blocking him.
Before him, words within it then rippled.
Ye Xin /█/ Lvl. I
HP: 10/10 Stats: Normal
Mind: 22/30 Stamina: 09/15 RP: 10
STR: 10 AGI: 5 DEF: 3 INT: 12
Inventory: [][][][][][][][][][]
↓Maximize↓
Strangely, he felt the need to press the arrows below. With his finger, he pressed through it.
But nothing happened.
"Maximize?"
At his word, the panel shrank into a ball of water. It grew, this time larger. As it surged, fatigue suddenly overwhelmed him. Xin crossed his arms, bracing himself.
*Splash.*
The transparent panel revealed more, within it reads.
Health points: 10/10, Mana points: 06/10
Ye Xin /█/ Level. I
Status: Wet, Cold
Mind: 21/30 Stamina: 09/15 Raising Points: 10
Strength: 10, Agility: 5, Defense: 3, Intelligence: 12
Skill: Aqua Ball |Mastery. Basic|
Inventory: [][][][][][][][][][]
↑Minimize↑
'Minimize,' Xin said with an embarrassed look.
The panel then shrank and sprinkled water down. He felt tired all of a sudden. Suddenly, he felt a warm wind brush his neck, followed by a sultry liquid pouring over his shoulder, drooping down at his feet.
Xin slowly turned away, as behind—
A monster.
Its bulging eyes stared at him, dilating its pupil like orbs. Its face resembled that of a wolf, neck long as a giraffe's, peacock-like feathered plumage, wings twice the size of its body…
Howl!
The cry reverberated through Xin's entire being. He frowned as he shivered, sweat poured from his palms as he shivered.
What can he do?
'Aqua ball!'
A watery sphere floated toward the beast. It stared at it warily. Sniffed, as it then spread its wings with ferocity and malice.
A chance!
Ye Xin then sprinted away.
Was it all for naught? All he knows now what is right in this situation is to run.
He doesn't know where he is going, he doesn't know what he is doing, and everything just feels wrong.
Meanwhile, the aqua ball meandered, colliding with the beast as it flapped, seeping into the thick feathers.
*Huff.*
Panting, as he ran, it was quiet all of a sudden. Eerie silence, so unlike the chaos he'd just escaped. Xin glanced over his shoulder. But instead of danger, he saw the creature floundering far in the distance, struggling awkwardly.
He smirks.
But suddenly, intense fatigue set in, shaking him whole, like needles puncturing his head; he collapsed, face-first, into the shallow water.
Ye Xin blacked out once more…
Lying left at the shallow waters, slumbering. Above him, a creature in the dark starts flapping its wings, parting the thick fog, and its wings shine like moonlight upon his eyes.
His fingers moved, rippling a wave in the endless shallow waters.
*Gasp!*
In heavy breaths, Xin wakes up, opening his eyes as he then stares blankly.
A nightmare.
It was something that he was sure he felt, yet nothing he could recall to ponder.
As if something in his mind is blocking him.
For his own thought, he brushed it aside and stood up, but as soon as he stood up, he saw something afar and beyond.
A structure.
A giant structure towering through the skies. Its sheer size looms in darkness, covering the crescent moon. At it, he saw the moon, casting pellets of shadow from the sky.
He stared for a long time, unsure if something about the phenomenon was abnormal. But his focus was disturbed as suddenly, he heard, faint, stony clapping echoed through the waters.
Closing in, as gentle voices drifted through the surroundings.
"The moon's really making it rain," Said awkwardly in an old man's voice.
Xin surprisingly understands what it said.
It felt weird as he understood them, filling his heart with suspicion.
*Slam!*
'???'
Xin was confused as suddenly a large rod appeared in front of him, sending him sprawling to the ground. As it drops, it sends tremors around, rippling the shallow waters.
He looks around for something, something that he can do about this peculiar situation. Beside him, a structure stuck out, and he quickly hid behind it.
It's the same kind of structure he was trapped in.
Afar, he took a peek and glimpsed three men darker than black and with indiscernible expressions.
As if they wore a mask.
Walking to the spear that flew towards him. Each step rippled through the waters, which Xin felt slashing into him. Suddenly, someone from the three deliberately stops. Xin then ducks flat to the ground, conventionally eavesdrops on their conversation.
"There, I saw it there," said the one who threw his spear whilst he looked at the other two.
"Are you sure you saw and heard the Simurgh here?"
"Yeah, it was here. walking like a chicken!"
The two men with spears looked at each other as they then looked towards him.
"Are you sure, Lim'ur?"
"You're not tired and just saw something—" In a brief second, his eye locks at Xin's direction, though he continued. "Something like that."
"I saw it clearly—not a chicken, it's the simurgh, the winged wolf."
The two men bickered like couples, though they looked like three black men.
Like a rat, Xin opened the lid, but found the interior far too deep. Doubt gnawed at him, as in his mind.
How could he escape if he hid inside here?
"Kras! Trust me, I really—"
*Clunk*.
-His hand bled, fingers purple and useless, pain radiating from his limp arm joints. He felt his vision swim and was hungry.
Tears were slipping down his cheeks. Questions raced through his mind—who to blame, did he deserve this, was this really it?
The thought of dying again broke him. As he closed his eyes, someone whispered. +[1]
[1] You must be asking, "What is this?" Well, dear reader, this paragraph is from the future. Think of it as what comes next.