8 Ceremony

[Consciousness 97%]

[Consciousness 98%]

[Consciousness 99%]

[Consciousness 100%]

'Hmm' Prometheus woke up, feeling incredibly dizzy. He tried to move his hand over to his bedside table, trying to silence his phone but instead he lost his balance and just twisted strangely, falling from the bed.

The youth's face met the cold stone floor with a loud snap, making him wail. His confused mind was rapidly flooded by a wave of pain.

'Damn' he though, while trying to get up from his position on the ground. He tried to push himself up, only to lose balance once again and fall flat on his face a second time.

'What the fuck' Prometheus looked at his right side and was met with a brow skinned lump of flesh moving weirdly where his arm should have been. After a moment of panic, he suddenly remembered: the delivery, the strange guy, the black sphere and the fact that he was back in Illusory Thunder.

The last thing he recalled was him waiting for Syndra, the crazy friend of the previous owner of his body, Sif the hunter. She was supposed to go and speak on his behalf to a certain Old Hag, trying to get him a marriage deal that would save him.

"When did I fall asleep?" murmured the young man, getting up and sitting back on the large king sized bed. He didn't remember falling asleep.

'Yeah, I guess that reincarnating was a stressful, especially in a body so fucked up' he considered, trying to find a motive for his mysterious little nap.

His eyes moved around the room, in the direction where he remembered was the narrow wooden door. Instead he found a rack of weapons. Spears, to be precise.

"What the fuck"

It was in that moment that he realized that the room where he was in wasn't that similar to the one he had in his memories. Wooden ground? No, this one was cold black stone! Shabby bed? No, this room had a giant bed in black metal with a large and comfortable elastic mat.

The walls weren't of wood either, they were made from large rectangular stones. There were many racks filled with countless weapons, especially spears, tridents and javelins.

"Where Am I?"

[Location: Blacksmith's House, Basement]

[Do you want to open Map?]

[Yes/No]

The sudden and weird voice of the System made Prometheus jump in fight. He then looked at the interface that appeared before him: the blacksmith's house? What the fuck was he doing in the basement of a blacksmith?

'No, what I am doing in anybody's basement?!' the youth was understandably confused: just a moment ago he was in a wooden room, healing from his wounds and now he was in some creepy basement filled with weird weapons.

Talking about injuries: Prometheus looked again at the stump that was the only thing remaining from his right arm. It was healed! Completely healed!

'How on earth it is already healed?'

The young man started to move around, trying to see if there still was something that still did hurt him. Nothing! His body worked perfectly.

"Rise and shine, young man" exclaimed a hearty female voice as a large number of locks snapped open on the the west side of the room. Then a large metal door creaked opening, and a robust woman with curly black hair entered the room.

"This is the day, young man! Marriage! Isn't this great? We all waited for so long for this!" she laughed happily, looking at Prometheus with a loving gaze.

The youth listened to her words and tried to make sense of them, but his mind was keeping to thing to the sound of the locks opening.

'Wtf, was I locked in here?'

Locked up in a basement? What on earth was happening?

Here, put these on!" ordered the woman with a firm voice, putting a new elegant black oriental tunic on the side of the bed. "Come on, hurry up! The others are waiting to get going!" she encouraged him.

'Maybe it's a marriage tradition? They drugged me and locked me in a basement... what a fucked up tradition' he considered dubiously. 'Well in the end the most important thing is that the marriage is on! I need to make it happen before my time is out!" he roared internally.

He immediately went on his feet, putting on rapidly the clothed that she provided while she weirdly watched him from the side. Prometheus felt that is was a little creepy for the middle aged woman to look at him while he was changing, but then he remembered that he was going to marry and old person that he never met.

'Maybe she thinks I have a fetish and she's trying to get some of this...' considered the young man, looking at his well defined but heavily scarred naked body. The woman didn't do much, only watched with the same happy expression plastered on her face until Prometheus finished preparing himself.

"Let's go now" she firmly said, starting to move. The youth followed behind the large woman that led the way outside the basement and into a small living room. There, a small group of people was waiting for them.

"This must be my other friends"

Their names were displayed in little plaques hovering near their head, making it easy for Prometheus to recognize them from the little story that the system fed him about Sif before.

"It was time, let's go" said a black haired youth sitting between two thin guys that looked exactly the same. He looked annoyed, almost as he didn't want to be there.

"Don't be rude, Darius... this is a great day for our young man!" said immediately the robust woman, with a strange voice while giving the young man who talked with a nasty look.

"Ah... ah... yeah, sorry... your right! S..sif, let's go buddy" stuttered weirdly the black haired young man, trying his best to give a smile to Prometheus but failing miserably.

'These people are fucked up in their heads... I don't want them anywhere near me, let alone at my marriage'

Yet, he couldn't just do what he wanted. He needed the marriage to go as smoothly as it was possible.

'I'll put up with these morons for now'

He looked around the room, trying to find the woman that made all this possible. He liked Syndra, she was weird but kindhearted and she was literally saving his life with this marriage thing.

The people in the room seemed to notice that he was looking for someone and started to smile wryly.

It was the black haired woman that intervened again, trying to assure him.

'Syndra is waiting for us there, silly... let's go!'

Prometheus didn't get how she could know that he was looking for the red haired girl at first, but then simply considered that it was because she was the person with whom he spent more time. It would be pretty strange if his best friend didn't show up to his marriage.

They all started moving, getting outside from a side door and finding themselves in a garden surrounded by large hedges. It was morning, the air was fresh and a timid sun was shining from under a cover of white clouds. The garden was almost fully occupied by a large white tent, where some people could be already seen inside.

Prometheus immediately realized that it was the place where the ceremony was supposed to take place. He was pretty impressed by the whole thing.

He was pulled by the black haired woman towards the tent. When he entered, the first thing he saw was a old man with a large flaming red beard. He looked at him with pity then he gave a nod to the women that was pulling him alongside her.

"Go sit somewhere, be good" he grunted harshly. Then he rapidly moved away, bringing the woman with him. The maimed youth was disgusted by such a rude behavior, cursing him inwardly.

'What a dick, why did they invite him if he doesn't like me?'

He really couldn't understand why a person like that would come to the ceremony. Maybe because it was a small community and everybody was invited?

'Still, it sucks'

Left alone, Prometheus moved his gaze all around the tent: there were at least a dozen people there, but strangely no one seemed able to meet his gaze for more than a couple of seconds. They all diverted their sight from him, like if they were afraid of him somehow.

'Well, I do look like a murderer for hire... plus the previous owner of the body was a weirdo that only cared about hunting and practicing with a bow'

Finally, between the countless faces present, the young man found Syndra. She was sitting next to a group of other girls, chatting. Smiling, Prometheus started moving towards her.

The young red haired saw him coming, and a flash of sadness appeared in her eyes. She moved to meet him, giving him a hug and friendly smile.

"Ehy buddy, are you ready? You won't let me down, now, will you?" she jokingly asked, her gaze faltering. There was something wrong with her expression, but Prometheus couldn't tell what she was thinking.

'Maybe she's bi and now she realized that she committed a grave mistake by committing only to chase girls' thought the youth, suddenly getting closer to the girl to make sure the people around him wouldn't be able to overdevelop him.

"Listen up, although I'm not that big on the whole harem thing, but... let's be honest for a second... the more the merrier" he said, looking the girl right in her eyes with an upright tone.

"What?" shock appeared on the redhead eyes, and her mouth opened in surprise. Prometheus felt an headache coming, trying to correct what he just said.

"I'm just saying, never say never... plus free love is very..." he started saying, but he was interrupted by a acute scream of joy coming from Syndra.

"You spoke!" she cried loudly, attracting the attention of everyone in the tent.