ch3: The stranger

After what felt like an eternity spent submerged in darkness, i rose up on my feet and trudged down the corridor.

I had no words left to mutter, and in sheer honesty, i have no clue what i could even say. This end of the corridor ended in a flight of stairs going upwards with a door on top of them. Perhaps, the cells were at the basement ,and if so i might really face opposition up there. I had no choice ,but to go up.

I opened the door and what i saw was indescribable.

I was on courtyard of this huge tower whose heights reached the clouds and above. A great fire burned at the top, and a light emitted from it that went around the world in the same vein as a lighthouse illuminates the seas and the world. I looked around me and saw huge open green fields with some rocks here and there,covered by the yellow-orange glow of the sun, as if sunset was quite close to happening.

But, the vistas weren't what was tensing me up. I finally knew what noises it was that i was hearing.No more the strange sounding sounds or the quiet rumbling fumbled my mind .Now, i knew what they were...

Giants.

Giants walked among us. Not all giants seemed to be of the same height, but even the smallest giant was clearly above 25 meters long. Most were walking naked, and could not be called human. They were shaped like human beings, but their faces blank and where their reproductive organs laid, nothing could be seen but rotten skin. Most were bald, and often their legs and arms scrawny. They looked like creatures straight out of a horror story by folklore tellers. But ,this was no folklore. This was real. Though, even am i am unsure of what is real and what isn't anymore. My memories remains foggy.

"Welcome,traveller."

A strange voice spoke from behind. I immediately turned and saw a man in armour with a cloak covering most of his body. He had no weapons, but i still had nerves coagulating somewhere in my heart.

"Who are you" i asked?

"Me?" said the stranger with a finger pointing at his face,"i do not know.If i knew, i wouldn't have been stuck here i think"

The strange talk made me question if i was even talking to a human being at all. His voice and mannerism to alien to those of a person.I instinctively summoned it.

INSPECT lvl 1 ACTIVATED!

Origins: FRIENDLY NPC????

Name:?????

lvl:?????

hp: ?????

mana: ?????

Strenght: ????

So npcs exist in this world. I guess my hunch was right. That friendly npc line is concerning though.What's more worrying perhaps, is the fact that i can't see his stats, but i can see his "origins".It feels like whoever put him here, or whoever he ended up here, made it his existence be so that anyone could check on where he comes from, but not who he is. Could i trust this man? Maybe the question mark is there because activate isn't sure and is just throwing a guess as to who he is. Could he really be human?

"What does that even mean?" i asked

"It means i cannot remember how i got here, neither does it seem possible for me to leave the tower" said the stranger while leaning his face a bit to the side.

I guess he is locked to this zone. Maybe he is here to instruct people like myself?

"How do i leave the tower?" i asked in a serious tone

"You sure you want to do that? It doesn't look very safe out there." The stranger looked out to the fields and the giants, before looking at me. I nodded, and he said,"I do not know how to get out myself, but there are a few minded people like yourself, gathering themselves downstairs. Perhaps you would like to talk to them.

My eyes shot up.

"There are other people in this tower?" i asked

"Of course. I imagine "they", did not think it a fair hunt if you all went one by one out to the fields. Or perhaps they just wanted fun. How could any of this be just."

The "npc" spoke in riddles, and i have to wonder if that's by design or if his "programming" simply went haywire. Eitherway, from the way he spoke, it seemed that these people were not hostile, and at the moment gathering up a group seemed like a good idea.Whatever world we were in, whatever it was that was happening, being alongside someone else to share burdens seems like a good idea. Unless, things down there have turned total anarchy.

"Do you know what is happening? Do you know who i am?" I asked, since i could see no other reason not to. Especially if he might be a tutorial npc gone haywire.

"Everything is happening. That is the issue. The trees, the plants, the stars, the planets, the races, the giants. All of it is happening. If nothing had happened, none of this would have happened, "the stranger unveiled part of his cloak and pointed at his lack of a right arm, "besides what does it matter to you who you are. You are just another one. The same as all other ones.Your name is an illusion of the "i".You will soon see what i mean."

The stranger turned and started walking,"that" pointing at a door, "is where you want to go." This breeze started flowing,making parts of his cloak turn into slight waves, and he got up the handrails and jumped off the tower.

"What?"

My blood started pumping, and guilt over my shock and body freeze over how strange the entire thing was started accumulating.

I immediately ran to handrail, hoping for the best of outcomes, but at the same time, hoping for the worst. Hope is a strange thing to hold in this world. Maybe that's why pessimism holds hands with hope in the universe.

I looked over the handrail.

Nothing. All i could see was the green field at the bottom of the tower. Maybe he used a skill or a spell. Maybe,he resets after his death. Maybe, whoever controls this world stopped him before he died.Maybe he was immediately eaten by wild animals no matter how unlikely that sounds.

For now it's a mystery. All i can say is that something is definitely not right. The beautiful glimmering sun, might make a man think otherwise, but something doesn't seem right. It's all hints for now, but i can't shake off the feeling something is wrong. I can't remember my past, the ai doesn't work right, my body feels different, those giants out in the world..

With all these questions in my heart, i headed towards the door the stranger wanted me to go. I hope the people i will meet know better than i...