Night troubles 1

A screen appeared before his eyes. The voice was not there, thankfully, but it left a message attached to the message. She was watching, even if she could not interact with him, by now.

[THE START OF YOUR JOURNEY:

REWARDS: 1500 XP

STATUS UP: +10 END, +5 STR, +7 SUP, +10 RES

AKING PITY ON YOU, I DECIDED TO GRANT YOU A NICE REWARD FOR MY MESS UP.

ROLL A MYSTERY BOX WITH SIX REWARDS. I GUARANTEE AT LEAST ONE WILL BE GOOD]

[ROLL MYSTERY BOX]

The name of the quest has changed. No big deal, but the rewards were lacking. Lacking too much for his states, the worst reward was a mystery box.

Ellianor sighed and clicked on the button. Resigning himself to a gacha.

'It is not even a ten-roll one. What a cheap master I have.' She had him on a tight leash, a master was an accurate analogy.

[Uncommon Armor: Heat absorbing armor: An armor made of metal, able to regulate its temperature to always be pleasant in cold or hot temperatures

Common Armor: Leather armor

Common Weapon: Short sword

+10 Stat Card (Applicable to any stat) 

Uncommon Skill: [UC] COMBAT DETERMINATION: ALLOWS THE USER TO PUSH THROUGH WOUNDS AND DAMAGE AS LONG AS HE KEEPS HIS DETERMINATION AND DESIRE TO WIN.

ULTIMATE ITEM: HEART SOUL LOCKET: IT GRANTS YOU ONE EXTRA LIFE ONCE IN A WHILE. RECHARGE TIME MAY VARY DEPENDING ON THE INJURY DEALT TO YOUR BODY]

The equipment was dumped on his inventory, now vacant because of the absence of Testament.

As Ellianor already suspected even before rolling it, all but one item was useless. The skill at least had a usage and a nice effect.

The locket appeared on his hand, a golden and orange locket made of metal. It had the form of a sun and a moon overlapped.

'Fitting.' He opened it, but the inside of the locket was empty.

There was no picture, or even a mirror, just the shiny metal that showed a slightly distorted reflex of himself. '

It works as a revive, I think.' With a sigh, Ellianor placed the locket around his neck.

He had no reason to not use something that could save his life.

'I guess you gave me that to avoid another situation that I end up dying out of nowhere.' Like against an abomination, or a demon.

'I don't know what is the corruption, and demons or why those things attacked that space station in specific.' The demon wanted Kissenn, but why it wanted was another question without an answer.

It could have been because taking her aligned with its objectives, or she was the target of the attack since the beginning.

'So many branching paths.' It was almost like the stream of a river.

Never ending, and branching into smaller currents as it progresses. Ellianor closed his eyes, attempting to sleep a little, God knows how much he wanted to rest after so many nightmarish situations back to back.

(...)

Ellianor's sleep was not successful. He was on the bed for at least a few hours, that he cared to count, but not a single ounce of sleep came to him. It was so problematic.

A side look revealed that Kissenn was already sleeping.

'I only hope that your dreams are better than mine.' Maybe that was why he could not sleep in the first place. The nightmares would haunt him in a quite literal sense.

It already haunted his waking hours. Ellianor got up, stretching his limbs a little, his bones and joints cracked a little, but it was not that bad.

'I am so sore… makes sense.' After everything that happened… who wouldn't be sore?

He walked out of the room, and back to the corridors. It was dark as the lights were out in an artificial "night".

Ellianor didn't feel confident to explore the rest of the station on his own, so he returned to the hub. 

As he expected, it was dark, and even the embryonic dragon was sleeping right in the middle of its egg. There was no one there. Ellianor walked to one of the sofas and sat there.

His eyes were on the ceiling, as the cherry blossoms were faintly moved by the force of an artificial breeze.

The air was cold and humid, but not unpleasant. It was refreshing in a sense. The dark painted the hub in a new light.

While it was full of life and people a few hours ago, full of energy and life, now it was peaceful and calm.

The type of place you could open a cold one, and think about life with all the time in the world.

'Do they have beer?' In light of recent events and circumstances. Ellianor felt that maybe a whisky or vodka would be good calls.

'Bitter, and a neutral-sweet taste.' It was like his life.

It was bitter, but now it had some tint of sweetness and hope. For a moment, the thought of raiding the fridge and going through it in search of some alcohol crossed his mind, but Kissenn did it already.

It would paint a bad light to just do anything you wanted on someone else's house.

'This is a workplace, actually.' Ellianor self-corrected himself. Everyone there was a coworker. 'I will just wait for the night to pass.'

He held an arm over his face, his breath slow and tired, some tints of sleepiness washing across his face. It was hard to keep up with everything that kept on happening. 'I will adapt.'

All adults had to reach a point in life where they would just adapt, or be crushed in life…

'Effective, but a sad thought all the same.' He wanted a drink, but there was not even one lying around.

Ellianor opened his eyes, and something caught his eye. The sparks of a blade being sharpened, and a gingerhead on a dark corner of the room, his magenta eyes stuck on the blade he sharpened.

"I see you finally noticed me. Troubles sleeping, new guy?" The gingerhead talked amicably, but his voice was devoid of emotion or interest, almost like a robot, his magenta eyes stuck on the blade he sharpened.

An almost single-minded devotion to that sword. "More or less, and you? Couldn't sleep as well?"