Chapter 4 - Awakening(4)

We start travelling to our destination with only a few stops for hunting. We travel day and night instead of stopping when it gets dark. Instead of stopping when the sun says goodnight, we stop twice a day for two hours each so everyone can rest or hunt monsters, depending on your preference.

I choose to rest. There isn't a lot of talking involved because we are still in the forest, it's also because we don't know each other very well. We travel day and night so it takes less time than usual to close the distance. What should have taken five to six days is cut down to three days.

During this time I did try to hunt. Many monsters were roaming around the forest waiting to be killed and sold. Apart from the aggressive, there are weaker monsters and they won't attack unless provoked, the aggressive ones are usually the weaker ones.

Stronger monsters have their own territories while the weaker ones are still fighting for places to call their own. It is only in the last stop I managed to hunt a single monster. It was a slime. They are rare, not because they're strong or valuable but because slimes are one of the weakest monsters. They are rare and easily killed so finding one is hard.

I'm lucky there was no one else here since they would have taken the kill. The only weapon I have is a pocket knife. I set the knife to attack mode and chase after the slime. I catch up to it easily because I've conditioned my body with training. I only have to stab the monster thirty times before it stops moving. It's not that bad considering it's my first battle... It's not that great considering I've been training for more than four years and I also got a dozen shallow cuts.

I'm certain the monster is dead when a core drops. It's a small one, barely two inches. I don't expect much from the core since it has close to no mana in it. What I did not expect was a blurred screen to appear in front of me. I try grabbing it but my hands go through it. There is only a single sentence on the screen, more like a question. The question is wavering and fading in and out of existence.

[Absorb core to activate? Y/N]

I'm not sure what it means. Activate what? How do you absorb cores? I've never heard of something like that. I look between the screen and the core. Eh, why not? This core is only worth 3 or 4 credits, it may be more since it's a slime but it won't hit above the 10 credit mark.

"Absorb."

[Confirmed.]

"Now what?" The core disappears from my hand and then... nothing. Nothing happens. "Sigh. I know I didn't imagine it."

Before I have time to think about what's happening my watch beeps. I set a reminder for five minutes before the carriage leaves. I rush to the carriage and we reach the city in a matter of hours.

When we reach Igylex tower we all have to show our Guild-issued IDs to pass. Isadora pays the entry fee for us and tells us she booked an inn for the night before we're on our own. All of us thank her and split up. It will take half a day for me to travel from here to Ciethy. There isn't much between the two cities. If I start walking today I'll be there before the sun goes down.

"I don't want to though."

For some reason, I feel sluggish. My body's tired. Am I getting sick? That shouldn't be possible. Ah, whatever, I'll think about it later. I eat a few plates of food. Almost three times more than usual. Something's going on with me. I don't have time to think about that, as soon as I close the door to my room I see the floor rushing towards me. Huh?

I open my eyes to darkness.

"Where am I?"

(Your consciousness)

"Who said that?" I look around... and I can't see anything. Am I blind?!

(For someone so smart, you're an idiot)

"Did you kidnap me?"

(Who would want to kidnap you?)

"Well damn." That hurt.

(Gimme a second kid. I'm just gonna look through your memories)

"Wait, why?!"

(If I'm gonna take over someone's body I need their memories)

"You're taking over my body?! Hell fucking no!"

(Why are you lying to yourself?)

"...I- I don't know w-what you're talking bout"

(In the last 3 days you've contemplated killing yourself every second you were conscious. The effort it takes to mentally, willingly and subconsciously block and ignore every one of those thoughts is... unnatural.)

"So what? I'm suicidal?! So fucking what?!! You'd do the same if you saw your girlfriend, the love of your fucking life, the life you thought you were gonna spend with her. My life, she was my life, she was my... My life, the person I would have given my life to, she was in that room pretending to be a fucking train"

(What do trains have to do with this?)

"She was getting railed by 7" I laugh, a laugh too forced to be real. I'm the only one laughing.

(Fucking hell. BPD, disassociation, insomnia. You ate once in the last three days and the cuts you're hiding under your shirt. You're suppressing everything with humour and working yourself to the ground. How long will you last if you keep going like this?)

"..."

(I'm not telling you to get over it. I'm telling you to process this properly. If you don't, it's gonna affect you later on. The more you try and ignore it the more it's gonna hurt. So hurt, hurt as much as you can now so you get over it.) I feel a warmth from the voice, it wasn't there before.

"W-Who are you? Why are you helping me?"

(I am... We are... Hmm, you'll find out later. Ohh, you just awakened!!)

"No, who are you?"

(You... aren't worthy.) It almost feels like whoever this is has a finger under my chin and turns me side to side to inspect my face. It feels different every time it happens. (... yet)

"Where am I?"

(You have quite a powerful ability. When you break the chains of humanity come to us. We will be waiting for you)

"You haven't answered anythi-" I feel a pair of lips on mine. My mind stops, I can't think of anything apart from the feeling.

(A little gift from us. We will not allow procreation but we will allow you to mate. Be ready.)

"N-" Before I can say anything I lose consciousness? How does that work? I wasn't conscious in the first place.

_____________________________________________

How's everyone doing? Yeah, I'm tired too.

Anyway, I finally got a Kofi so here's the link if y'all wanna donate or support me. 

https://ko-fi.com/mobj108871

Another thing is I haven't decided yet but I might be making another novel but it will only be on Webnovel, I'll put the links somewhere if I do start it. I was offered a contract by Webnovel but I'm not going to take it since this is my first book and I want to get my name out there before committing to a single website first.