Sorrow, Relief, and Warning

It started off slow. Time seemed to turn into a standstill as Drew's eyes fogged over with swirling spirals of white light.

Then came the sensations.

He felt a familiar hardboard beneath him as he laid flat upon it. The air was chilly and only a slim crack of moonlight could be seen from outside the shuttered window in his small room.

Drew sat up suddenly, breathing deeply and rapidly as he saw the familiar room that sent shivers down his spine.

"No, No, NO, NO!" He began saying with desperation.

"This can't be happening!" He thought as he placed his hands on his head and curled up to try and escape from the prison he was in.

'It can't have been a dream... it can't have... it can't have...' He said as he mumbled incoherently.

After a long time, Drew noticed something seemed wrong with himself.

'I'm not in my old body!' He thought with joy as he stared at his muscular and larger frame.

Though the cooling sensation was not present in his mind at this time, he still managed to calm down after reassuring himself that he hadn't imagined his time spent in Lune.

He felt his hands, face, and feet were numb as he slowed his breathing and tried to calm his rapid heartbeat.

'A panic attack... I forgot about those...'

After a few minutes of deep breathing and meditation, the anxiety that filled his body became lessened to a bearable level.

He opened his eyes and observed the familiar room around him closely.

Inside this small box-like room were a simple wooden board, a stack of books and school supplies, and a small stack of three pairs of clothes that were neatly placed in the space beneath the shuttered window.

"Home Sweet Home..." Drew said in a low voice as the room was just exactly as his room was just a few months prior when he was back on earth.

This place was the place he had spent his entire life... All eighteen years of his existence were spent in either this tiny prison or spent doing errands and chores for his family.

He went to school and that was what kept him sane. But he never made friends. He didn't know how to talk to people very well because of his lack of contact with people throughout his childhood.

Drew was locked in this room... all day long unless his family needed him for something... and all he could do was sleep, eat the leftovers they gave him, and work on his school work.

'Anxiety... Depression... I nearly forgot about them after going to Lune,' Drew thought as he remembered the freedom that came from escaping this dreadful world.

'The only time I could ever really relax was when they sent me to the store and I could enjoy the scenery on the way there... And look where that got me. Dead. But it was probably the best thing to ever happen to me in my entire life,'

He had gone through hardships in Lune. But nothing like what he suffered on Earth.

'I can still remember the beatings I got for speaking up or doing something wrong...' He thought as he remembered his bruised and battered body before he learned to keep his mouth shut and just obey their commands.

His body ached every day. He knew not to speak up because his parents were careful where they hit him. They wouldn't leave too heavy of an injury or would always make it look like an accident.

He had tried to speak out before... but his parents were regarded as respected individuals in our community. They could 'Never' do those horrible things, so he must have been lying.

'System... can you make me leave this place?' Drew asked gently as he felt himself fall deeper and deeper into his memories.

[Confirmed. Activating [Focus] skill to resist mental status that has been self-inflicted...]

Relief flooded his body as he heard the familiar sound of the system's voice ringing in his mind.

'Focus must have not activated since it was my mind causing whatever this is and not an outside effect...' He thought while waiting for the System to get him out of this hell hole that was even more terrifying than the endless void he was once trapped in.

[The System has detected that this memory contains faint traces of high-quality magical energy that is foreign to the host. Would you like to extract energy this energy before leaving [Memory Fragment]?]

'I guess?' He asked hesitantly.

'Perhaps it's part of the memory magic that is affecting my mind,'

[Confirmed...]

A warm suction feeling filled Drew's chest once more as he felt his mind be relieved of an invisible pressure that he had not noticed prior to this moment.

His thoughts were clearer than they had been in the past two months. His memories were still foggy and his past wasn't very clear... but he felt like his thoughts were faster than before.

[100 points of energy have been absorbed from the foreign energy source. The host will now exit the [Memory Fragment]]

---

Drew felt vision return to him and he stared at Gill who looked a little regretful at punishing Smith, his eyes still staring longingly at the door.

Drew's mind quickly adapted back to reality but he stumbled for words to reply to the old dwarf.

"Er... A kid has to learn somehow... But don't be too harsh on him,"

"He's just a kid," Drew said as he found his voice once more.

Gill's gaze shifted back towards Drew and he nodded in agreeance.

"Tis true. A young lad must learn but he should not suffer,"

"And he won't if I'm around,"

Drew nodded and respect filled him as he stared at the Dwarf who seemed to see Smith as his kin in a way.

"You best be going now, I have work to do so I can prepare for your arrival to the guild,"

"Oh yeah, that reminds me of something... Just how many people are in the Black Strings?"

Gill smiled mysteriously and eyed the curious Drew who had innocence written all over his face.

"I can't tell you the full numbers due to respect for our member's privacy but... there are a few thousand Recruits or potential candidates across the Kingdom of Seas,"

"As for Dark Hands, the amount is much less, numbering only at about one to two hundred,"

"The ranks above Dark Hand will be explained in orientation but there are very few who reach a rank higher than Dark Hand in the Guild,"

"Even being a Dark Hand is something most thieves can only dream of,"

"So like I said before... If I say you are qualified, I mean you are qualified. No questions about it" He said with a grin.

Drew smiled lightly and gave a half bow at Gill's compliment.

After that, Gill headed off to a back room after locking up shop and sending Drew off. But right before Drew walked out the door Gill cursed in a strange and harsh language.

"Wait a moment, I forgot to give you your gold,"

"I'm sure you will find it of use if you plan on getting better gear,"

Drew halted in his place at the word 'Gold' and turned back excitedly.

'I expected to get it at orientation... but if I get it now, I might be able to get some good supplies. Especially if I can find Jazzy again,'

Gill quickly headed back behind the counter before counting out 11 gold coins and putting them in a nice and secure coin purse before sending Drew off with a considerable amount of cash.

Drew walked the streets with newly found vigor as he didn't feel quite as poor as before.

'Joining the Black Strings only seems to have benefits,' He thought while looking through the wares in the hope to find something worthwhile and in his price range.

He walked through the market stalls but something that Drew wasn't aware of was a tickling sensation on the back of his neck.

A voice crept into the bottom of his mind and whispered something that would have chilled Drew to the bone.

'Be wary... for devils hide in the nices of places... In the dark... but shrouded in light,' The voice croaked in warning before crawling back into the nothingness from which it appeared.

Drew felt his hair stand on end as his instincts told him that someone was watching him.

He quickly turned his head around and searched for anyone whose gaze was lingering upon him but found none.

'Someone is watching me...' He thought as he pretended to go back to acting normal.

'I should be careful...'

-

He searched through the market stalls but found that most items held a dark aura around them that wasn't similar to the magical absorbing quality of Jazzy's items.

'System, do you know what type of magic this is?' Drew asked the system hopefully as he stared at a set of black glasses that looked to be made out of brilliant crystal.

[Magic signature coming off this pair of glasses is similar to that of a lesser effect of Unique Affinity: Curse Magic]

[It is most likely that it is an item that was affected by the Advanced Type: Enchanting Magic with the intent to cause a harmful effect on the wielder. It may also be some sort of death magic though the chances of that being the case are low due to the rarity of Death Magic and a large number of black aura items in this market]

'Hmm... I had a feeling it had to do with dark magic of some sort. I can hardly believe that cursed items would be sold so commonly within the Black Market,' He thought while getting angry at the audacity of these merchants.

After almost deciding to chew one of them out, he relented and came to the conclusion that it was best to not draw attention to himself any more than he already has.

'I better get back to Flux...' Drew thought as he remembered his new Wolf Friend.

'I miss him already...' He thought while smiling at the mental image of his smiling face with his tongue sticking out in joy.