Worlds In Limbo

Her increasing heartbeat deeply contrasted with her movements. 

She held a calm expression. She moved her limbs slowly and carefully, feeling the cold, sharp air wrap around her flushed body while the ever-increasing darkness enveils her from anyone leering at her.

'What is... What is happening?' The whooshing air gave a sense of uncomfortable closure.

Her crimson, blood-colored hair cascaded upward, flowing elegantly through the air as the twilight highlighted the crown of scars she gave herself, gleaming like rubies as she plummeted downwards.

[Fall Damage Immunity Has Been Activated! You're Still Going To Feel The Pain Though.]

A message appeared in front of her eyes, typing itself out as Rhian quickly read it with an absent mind before seeing an image of a man mocking her. 'What...?' 

The air got warmer as she gripped tightly on the glaive. 'A-Ah... will I be fine..?'

The ground came into view.

"AAAGGGGGHHHH!!"

Rhian plummeted to the ground with intense force, flattening her lungs in an instant as all the air in her body left faster than light. The visceral screech was followed by numerous pitiful gasps, with Rhian letting go of the glaive to try grasping at her chest. 

The message replays in her mind. No damage was dealt, but she felt every bit of pain that would have happened. The would-be shattering and destruction of every piece of bone in her body, the would-be exploding and puncturing of her organs, and the would-be instantaneous death all weigh on her.

'A-Ah-AH' Her fingers spasmed over her chest, trying to claw their way in as air continued to be absent.

'I-I- S-Stop-' Her ears started to ring constantly and irritably; her eyes began to blur from the swelling tears; her arms halted their movements as she felt detached from her limbs, feeling useless as they all limped on the ground.

But the second passed, and her body inflated full of air, pumping into each vessel and fiber of muscle, effectively rejuvenating her completely. "A-Ah-" Her gasping slowed, feeling somewhat strengthened again, flexing her numb fingers. 

"W-What the hell?" Her vision and hearing were now unclogged and unblurred, allowing her to take in the desolate and fragmented land. "Why- Ah... Where am I?" 

The ground was filled with holes of differing shapes and magnitude; the trees had missing leaves and branches, while some even fell from having an entire part of their trunks missing, causing slight tremors through the ground. 

'Incomplete' was the only word that came into Rhian's mind. The barren forest only had one or two perfectly standing trees, while others seemed to have withered, fallen, or never even existed in the first place. The ground shared the same sentiment: feeling like something should be there isn't.

'This... this all feels so weird...' 

There was a severe absence of light, caused by the towering difference in height between Gaia and this land. It was also plagued with an abundance of fog, stretching from the sky and into the craters in the ground.

'This... feels so creepy...'

Even though it was the afternoon, it looked like a foggy night.

Rhian took in her surroundings and finally acknowledged the words.

'Options...?'

The word floated a few centimeters from her before breaking into six bordered words stacked upon each other as they slowly drifted to cover a large portion of Rhian's field of view.

[You]

[Inventory]

[Bestiary]

[Quest Log]

[Incrementals]

[Help]

'What is this? This looks like a game...' Her eyebrow was raised, perplexed about her current situation as the 'Help' button enticed her. 'I guess it wouldn't hurt to try...' Her arm moved toward it, but the words immediately disappeared as a large panel appeared.

[What do you need?]

'It- Does it read my thoughts...?'

[I was created to read your intentions.]

Her face lit up in curiosity. 'Ah... This is interesting... At least I can sort of hang onto something more... familiar.'

[You are in Japan. Specifically, Okinawa Island.]

'J-JAPAN?!' Rhian's eyes were completely widened, utterly shocked upon receiving the answer, while sweat started to cascade down her face.

[This was caused by a Catalyst placed by the Strider.]

[You are unable to comprehend the answer yet.]

'W-What? Am I-'

[You are not in a simulation. This is reality.] 

Rhian was bewildered, stretching her cheeks and pulling her hair, waiting for the pain to turn into a numbing sensation. 'What is happe-'

[The Strider has completed The Sundering.]

Her eyes were locked in on the panel words, becoming even more pale and more confused as her questions were answered.

[The past three days you spent in the association were but a 'tutorial'. This is the start of The Game.]

' 'The game'?!' Rhian quickly raised her right arm, trying to touch and even punch the panel of words but her arm only kept phasing through it. Frustration was then added to her puzzlement. 

[The Game was devised by the Striders to help you gain strength through means you are familiar with.] 

Her eyes squinted. "F-Familiar? THERE'S NOTHING FAMILIAR ABOUT THIS INTERACTION!" Her yell was dampened, but Gideon heard her constant rants.

"M-Miss Rhian...? What the hell is thi-" He glanced at the void, before squinting his eyes, seemingly in pain at what he saw. 

"H-How did it k-know-" Gideon pointed at the point, which gave Rhian a clue he was also a part of 'The Game'.

"Mister Gideon. Relax. I-I don't believe what's happening now, but I'll explain it to you slowly." Rhian stepped closer to the distressed Gideon, gesturing with her hands to calm down as she guided him to sit down.

"W-What is happening?" Gideon said shakily.

Rhian suspected he was rather old. His comments about having a wife and child assisted.

"Take a few deep breaths," Rhian instructed Gideon as he quickly obeyed, taking numerous deep, rhythmic breaths.

"Alright... So, in short... We're participating in a game," Rhian said with a forced cheery tone.

"A-A game?" Gideon's mane drooped and even dimmed in color as his breathing became erratic again. "G-Game l-like-"

"Mister Gideon! Calm down, please!"

"R-Right..." 

This was the man with the missing arm. Gideon was a courageous man, standing up as the leader of his squadron, but this was nothing he was used to. The achievements he has obtained? His wife and child? His Sanctuary? All would be for naught if he doesn't survive this 'game'.

'He... looks so pitiful...' Rhian was... helpless. She couldn't empathize with him as she had no family and no country she would fight for, and she certainly can't help the distressed man calm down entirely.

"H-How are we in a gam-" Gideon looked into the void again.

"A-Ah... 'Strider'."

"I am... unsure why we are in The Game, but this 'system' is built to be familiar to us, which means this thing... will work like an actual game," Rhian explained slowly as she confirmed Gideon's understanding before continuing.

"Games.. like what? Shooter games?" 

'Shooter games? They have those types of games here?' Rhian was intrigued, but the situation didn't call for inappropriate geeking out.

"Ahm.. well, no. I think they're more like a classic RPG game," Rhian pointed into the void as she spoke, forgetting the panels are 'client side.'

That's what you refer to these kinds of things, correct?

Anyways, Gideon nodded, confirming he was familiar with the genre.

"Then... what should we do now? I don't think we have q-quests-? To do." Gideon was somewhat calm, but he was still visibly distressed.

[You currently have no quests.]

The system replied quickly as her head was panning toward it. 'What.. can I do?' She was pondering, hard. She didn't want to venture into this... eerie and weird Japan, but there was not- "Mister Kurayami! Where is he?!"

The sudden mention of his name alerted Gideon, who explained that his body slipped out of his grasp when they were plummeting toward the ground, but when he landed, Kouki was nowhere to be seen.

I swear... I'm not even doing this... but by mere coincidence, the duo heard a loud crash, prompting them to go investigate it.

Is this one of her striders? So damn annoying...

Anyways, the source was, of course, Kouki Kurayami.

He donned his Runes: The yellow spiked halo, the purple hollow disc, the red veins, and the black Runes covering his face.

[!New Quest!]