The Completion Quest

The world around me disappeared. I found myself back in the wet darkness I was in before when I first met with whatever was inside me. I tried to move, but I couldn't feel anything other than the odd wetness that surrounded my skin. It was difficult to comprehend where I was.

The voice that came from behind me but also everywhere was also there again, and it greeted me.

Y̶o̵u̶'̵r̸e̷ ̷b̸a̴c̵k̶ ̶a̶g̷a̴i̴n̴ ̷a̵l̵r̸e̷a̵d̸y̶.̴

In the distance, a familiar colour burst into existence. It was the teal-blue colour of the System's Window. A System Message had appeared within the darkness.

Quickly I realised that the Window was getting closer to me, or I was getting closer to it, there was no way to be sure of what was happening. The Window filled my vision and I read the words on it clearly.

[CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU HAVE FULFILLED THE COMPLETION QUEST PARAMETERS FOR ITEM:

LEFT ARM OF THE ████████████.

ITS TRUTH CAN NOW BE REVEALED.

VIEW ITS TRUTH?

YES | NO]

J̶u̵s̶t̸ ̵k̵n̶o̵w̴ ̴t̶h̵a̷t̷,̵ ̸o̴n̴c̵e̸ ̷y̵o̸u̸ ̸w̵i̵t̷n̵e̸s̷s̶ ̸t̴h̸e̷ ̵t̵r̷u̷t̶h̸,̶ ̸t̷h̷e̸r̵e̵ ̷i̵s̶ ̷n̶o̸ ̷t̷u̵r̵n̵i̵n̸g̸ ̴b̷a̸c̶k̸.̶

The voice now sounded the most normal than it had ever been before. It was as if I was starting to get familiar with it, and with every meeting, I understood it a bit better. This time, there was barely any distortion or effects as the voice spoke. I felt like the voice was genuinely warning me about the seemingly important choice that I was about to make.

"Yes."

A System chime echoed through the darkness like I was in some sort of chamber and the Window disappeared. It was quickly replaced by a glitched System Window that had an alarming dark-red hue instead. A mess of a warning message displayed just within the confines of the broken Window:

[WARNING!

An AN0M/?Y Has ßeEN d3Tec{[D.

UNregIST==eD meM0*Y PLAyiN9.]

Another chime, this time extremely distorted and deep played, and a reddish light that seemed to originate from the middle of the glitched Window pulsed out and through my point of vision.

With a similar effect that the System had used to teleport us to the different tasks in the Tower, little specks of dust fell around me as I looked around. I saw the dust fall to its pre-determined spots and a foreign, dark, and icy surrounding started to form around me. I could barely see details in my immediate surroundings, but it looked like there was ice on the ground and I was in the middle of a forest of some sort.

The voice that had spoken to me from everywhere but nowhere was now audible and originated from where I felt my mouth should be and I realised that a soft mist formed every time I breathed out. Except I wasn't the one that was breathing.

I was in somebody else's body, and I wasn't the one who was controlling it. I was simply watching. That message that appeared in the previous glitched Window, did that say 'Memory'?

I realised I was watching somebody's memory from their literal point of view.

"What is the status of the Dimension Gate?" the voice spoke with an air of dignity and superiority. There was no distortion now, and I heard it through the person's ears that acted like my own. It was smooth and deep, but not too deep, but in the question, I heard a little bit of anxiety as well.

I looked up into the dark, moonless, and starless sky as the body I was in tilted their heads upwards and breathed out slowly. I watched the mist disappear into the night helplessly when a rustling through the trees came from the right.

The head turned towards the sound, but I couldn't see anything. A voice did come from the direction the head faced. Its voice was higher pitched and shook with fear.

"The enemies have managed to successfully bunker down and repelled our forces at the Dimension Gate…"

Because of the low light, I couldn't see exactly what happened, but suddenly, I heard a flurry of thudding footsteps in what sounded like dirt, several branches breaking somewhere nearby and a chilling scream that seemed like it was right in my face that morphed into a gurgle as I heard some sort of flesh tearing.

My head swirled as my brain tried to comprehend what was happening as I could only see and hear what little I could.

The person whose memory I was watching spoke darkly from what seemed like my own mouth, "I guess I'll have to do it all myself. I'll just force my way through."

A red pulse swept out into the distance from my chest and the dust reshuffled itself to create a new scene. It was now daytime, and the memory owner was sitting down, and their head was tilted towards the ground.

All I saw was simple dirt and pebbles, and it looked like the new scene was also from within a forest. Was it the same forest as the previous one? I had no way of telling.

My attention got caught not on what was around me, but more on the body of the memory owner. From the awkward angle that I was given, I could see familiar grey scales. The same type of grey scales that appeared when I saw my left arm morph before I blacked out when I stood in front of Mobito. Only these scales seemed to be snugly covering the whole body.

From what I could tell, the memory owner seemed to have a humanoid body. I could see four long, yet lean limbs. Two legs and two arms, though the proportions were slightly off from my own limbs. The arms and legs were too long and thin, yet the hands and feet were slightly bigger and more animalistic than normal human hands and feet.

I couldn't work out the sex of the memory owner, as even though they weren't wearing any clothing, there were no sexual organs of any kind that I could see.

The memory owner chuckled through my mouth and sighed as they straightened up on their feet. As they brought up their hand towards my — no, their face, I finally realised in horror that their hand and lower arm were completely soaked in the familiar blood-red liquid that looked like blood.

In a quick motion that my brain struggled to comprehend as the body bent over and straightened once more, the memory owner started to playfully throw and catch a severed human head. The viscera continued to drain out of the neck and drip down to the ground as the thing I was looking through the eyes of continued to mess with the head.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to leave. I wanted to wipe the horrific sight away from my eyes and from my memories.

But I couldn't. Was this what the voice meant when it warned me that there was no turning back?

I watched helplessly as the memory owner made their way through the forest out into some sort of clearing. In the near distance, to my surprise and shock, I saw a majestic wall of stone that seemed to be surrounding a village or town. The wall towered over even the memory owner, and there was a massive wooden gate close by that started to slowly open. The stones had the same bluish hue that the ruins in Task Two had, and I remembered what the Stranger told me then, that the area was created by the System based on the old world.

Was I seeing a memory from someone that existed in the old world?

The memory owner laughed suddenly that jolted me back into the moment. I noticed a group of seven humans exited the gate and quickly but carefully approached the memory owner. Before they turned to face the party of seven, I noticed that on top of the stone, several armoured soldiers appeared to peer over the edge to see what was happening outside their walls.

The seven started to separate and slowly approached the memory owner in a half-crescent pattern. It seemed like they were trying to surround the memory owner.

I quickly glanced at everyone as the memory owner casually turned to each of them and I noted that they seemed to have similar gear and weapons as many of the adventurers I saw going through the inn in Shinobu City. One looked like they were a swordsman. One looked like a shield bearer. There was even a ranger that handled a bow that looked like a long bow.

Only two of the seven didn't have any physical weapons. They were dressed in thick robes, one black and one dark blue and the one in the dark blue held a wrinkled, thick staff.

The staff holder placed both hands on the wood and held it in front of him at the memory owner and started to chant something just out of the reach of the ears I was listening through.

The staff started to glow and suddenly, an intricate circular pattern appeared on the ground around me — the memory owner. Once the pattern completed itself, chains shot out explosively from the ground and started to swirl around, gradually tightening, and getting smaller around the memory owner.

It laughed as the chains wrapped around its body tightly before they returned quickly back into the ground. The force made the now trapped being dropped the human head they held. It looked like it was some sort of snaring spell and from the way the staff holder sweated and focussed, it seemed like it was a strong one. However, the memory owner didn't seem to care.

"Oh no," they mockingly cried, "You've trapped me."

The swordsman produced a battle cry as his sword lit up from what I assumed was some sort of spell and in a split-second, the man appeared right in front of me and swung his glowing sword. As soon as the glowing blade touched the grey, scaly skin, sparks flew out and blinded my vision for a bit. Though when the memory owner looked down and I saw the area where the swordsman swung, I couldn't see any slice or mark. The attack had no effect on the memory owner.

The swordsman backed off in a flash again and cursed. I then saw the ranger pull back on their bow and shot a glowing arrow. I winced as a reflex as the arrow looked like it was being shot at my shoulder but was shocked when the arrowhead seemed to have slid on the surface of the being's skin and the arrow shot off diagonally behind me. The scales had redirected the trajectory of the arrow and once again, the memory owner was not hurt.

"Ouch!" cried the memory owner, acting like he had been hurt. Even I could tell he was acting badly.

"Are you all done now? Can I have my turn?" the memory owner goaded.

Suddenly, crystals of ice started to appear in the air around me, around the memory owner and even around the humans attacking them. The head turned and I saw the black-robed party member had conjured what looked like a massive ball of ice. The ball of ice floated in the air in front of them and they forcefully motioned both their arms closing in on each other, and the ball of ice seemed to react to the movement as it got smaller and smaller, the ice and magic started to compress and tighten in on itself.

With a violent movement of their arms towards the being, the palm-sized ball of ice that emanated frost shot through the air quickly right at the memory owner right in the middle of their chest. The mysterious grey being cried out in pain as the force threw them back violently against the chains of the snaring spell that held them to the spot of the spell. Frost spread throughout its body, and I could see tendrils of the ice encroach at the bottom of my vision before they slowed down after covering the bottom half of the being's eyes in light-blue ice.

The memory owner seemed to have been frozen by the ice spell at a weird angle, being held up by the chains of the snaring spell. All I could see through the ice was a clear blue sky.

Nothing happened for a moment before I heard cheering in the distance from what I assumed were the soldiers by the village walls that watched the quick interaction. Yet I was still there, waiting. If this being had been defeated by the group of humans, why was I still there?

A low, cruel laugh started to form from the being's chest, slowly getting louder and louder until the distant cheering stopped. I heard ice cracking and in a smooth movement that shook off the ice that covered half of my vision, the memory owner straightened themselves back up and looked at the shocked humans.

The memory owner whistled in a breath and looked down at their chest and I saw that there was a faint circular mark on their chest where the compressed ice ball had hit. The being looked up again and I saw the black-robed human had stepped backwards in shock at the development.

"I am quite impressed," the voice said, loud enough for everyone who was invested in the scene could hear, "that last attack hurt a little."

The memory owner then stepped forward like nothing had been holding them back. The chains that wrapped themselves tightly around their legs put up no fight as they snapped free from them by seemingly walking casually forward. The chains that wrapped tightly around the being's arms also snapped as the grey being waved its hands around like they were stretching its muscles.

In a split second, I found myself looking down at the black-robed mage as the memory owner towered above the human. Everyone else screamed in terror and the other warriors lunged in a desperate attempt to save the mage, but the grey being raised his left hand and a pulse of air flew out and knocked them all away.

The grey being then started to clench his fist and I could hear the other warriors start to scream in pain. The mage in front of the grey being finally spoke and as they looked up to meet the eyes of the grey being, the eyes I was watching the memory from, the grey being stepped back and unclenched its fist as if it had taken a surprise attack.

"Please!" the mage begged. Her striking blue-grey eyes seemed to pierce through the grey being and right into me, "We surrender! Don't kill them, please!"

"No!" the swordsman's strained voice called out from behind me, "Princess, don't!"

The grey being slowly spoke, "You're not like any other human I've met."

And suddenly, I found myself staring at the dirt on the ground again. The grey being's knee pressed up seemingly under my chin. The being had knelt on the ground in front of the mage — no, it was a princess the swordsman had cried out.

"No," the grey being declared, "I surrender. Your will is now mine."

Another red pulse ripped through the scene, and I quickly found myself in a new location. It was night now, and when the being gazed up, I could see a familiar moon and many bright stars filling the sky.

When the being gazed back down, I saw a silhouette of a woman against the starry horizon. The being approached the woman and as my eyes adjusted to the light, I realised that the woman was the princess from the previous scene.

She sat silently gazing at a beautiful moonlit vista at the edge of a cliff as the being paused and watched.

In a quiet tone, the princess spoke, "How many times have I told you to stop watching over me in the darkness like that?"

The grey being chuckled as it walked up and sat next to the princess It let its long legs dangle off the edge, copying what the princess was doing.

"I'm impressed that you noticed. I was really trying to hide my presence."

Even in the low light, I could see the princess smiling when the memory owner turned to her.

"You've been travelling around the world with us for the last four years," the princess said, "I'm sure that even Stephen has softened up against you a little bit after all the times you've saved our lives during our travels."

The princess glanced behind her, and the being followed her gaze. I could see a soft glow from a campfire a little bit away from the cliff edge. The being chuckled again, "Yeah, I think I really damaged his pride when I deflected his sword so easily."

There was a short silence after the princess and the memory owner stopped laughing.

"Why did you suddenly surrender yourself all those years ago?" the princess asked quietly.

The being turned its face down and stayed silent for a few moments then glanced back towards the princess. When they finally answered her, their voice was soft and quiet.

"You intrigued me."

A loud chime rang around me that caught me by surprise. The surroundings around me started to distort and glitch and I was thrust out of the point of view of the grey being back into darkness.

Suddenly, the voice boomed through my head once again. Though it wasn't distorted, it was heavily laced with wrath and pure hatred.

"Stop!" the voice demanded.

"Stop! Or I swear—" it boomed once more.

The only thing I could do was just listen in the darkness as the voice continued to demand — or beg. At one point, I couldn't tell which.

"I swear that I will kill you and everyone else aligned with you!"

"No matter what!"

Y̴o̵u̶ ̴v̷i̷l̴e̷ ̸█̷█̵█̶█̶█̵█̵,̷ ̸I̶ ̶w̵i̷l̸l̵ ̶f̸i̸n̶d̵ ̷y̶o̴u̸ ̶a̶n̵d̸ ̷k̶i̴l̷l̷ ̶y̵o̸u̴ ̴a̴l̴l̵.̵

Another red wave pulsed and for a split-second, I saw the sky, but it wasn't clear and blue like last time. This time, however, up in the air I saw a bright portal that stretched across a massive portion of it.

Humanoid figures dressed in glowing robes peered down at me, and if I could have made a noise I would have screamed. The part where the figures' faces should have looked like they were contorted and malformed. What was left was a jumbled grid of squares that covered the faces. Each square was the size of an eye and the effect looked like a visual puzzle that had not been solved.

It looked so surreal but so vivid and tangible while I couldn't fully work out whether the horrifying sight was from the System's attempt at censoring the image of the memory, or if that was what the figures had for faces when the grey being created the memory.

I tried to scream but nothing came out for a moment. When I finally found myself back in the familiar wet darkness, I heard my own voice screaming.

I gasped for air and hung there in the dark silence and caught my breath.

A glitched, dark red Window appeared in front of me.

[CONGRATULATIONS!

COMPLETION QUEST FOR ITEM ACHIEVED!

ITS TRUTH IS NOW REVEALED!

GATHERING REWARDS...]

"I don't understand," I gasped, "What did I see?"

The voice spoke from the back of my head again, though this time there was no distortion.

a portion of the truth, it said.

"What does it all mean?" I asked.

The voice didn't answer. I was left in the darkness, the eerie red glow from the glitched Window in front of me was the only source of light.

"What happened at the end? What were those things?" I called out.

they killed her, the voice said quietly, they allied with ███ and she died so that their plans could succeed.

"Who was she?" I asked the voice, quieter now. After a short silence, I rephrased my question, "Who was she to you?"

she was everything, the voice said quietly.

I didn't know how to respond. I understood from the tone what the voice meant. I understood that what I saw was only small snippets of its story with the princess and the old world, and it was a history that the System didn't want anyone to know.

but it has been an unbelievably long time since then, the voice suddenly declared as a familiar System chime echoed in the darkness.

The Window flickered in and out of existence and suddenly, the "gathering rewards" message was replaced.

[WARNING!

AN UNFORESEEN BREACH OF THE PARADIGM SYSTEM HAS BEEN DETECTED.]

this is what i've been waiting for, the voice said, and the Window was suddenly invaded by the darkness that surrounded it.

The Window flickered back to the "gathering rewards" message.

this is only the beginning, the voice told me calmly, the perfect opportunity to overcome this world will soon come. make the right choice, not for my sake, but for yours.

and hers.

I gulped as the glitched Window finally revealed my rewards for achieving the Completion Quest for the Left Arm. The message in the Window looked different from before as I read quietly.

[congratulations!

completion quest for item achieved!

"a portion of my truth has been revealed."

rewards:

-certain censorship of the paradigm system has been removed.

-unique passive skill: hand-to-hand master unlocked. you're now a genius at hand-to-hand combat. user is now able to utilise all hand-to-hand combat and grappling skills and techniques automatically.

-user has unlocked the hidden achievement:

"vessel of the demon prince."

-user has fulfilled the requirements to start the hidden quest:

return of the demon prince: collect all the cursed body parts to bring the demon prince back into the world.]

Suddenly, I found myself not standing in front of Mobito on the rack, but in the middle of a stony room. I heard a soft gasp to my side and when I turned, I saw Kat, rush at me and hugged me tightly.

"You're back!" she cried, and I awkwardly patted her on the head.

I looked around and couldn't see the rack that I had stood in front of, then I realised that Saizo was also missing.

"Where are we?"

"I'm not sure," Kat sniffled, "We got moved somewhere and I was alone with you for a little bit."

I looked down at Kat and asked, "Where did Saizo go?"

I saw Kat open her mouth to say something in the dark when a terrified scream scared both of us so much that we jumped a little from behind me. I finally recognised what the room was that Kat and I found ourselves in.

It was a bedroom, a lavish one, and against one of the walls, on a massive, thick bed, a young woman had sat up and scrunched up her sheets to herself. She reached over and turned a handle on a contraption on a table next to her bed and a flame appeared out of nowhere. It cast striking shadows all over the dark room.

"Who are you?" the young woman screamed. Her voice was fearful, but it also had a demanding and royal tone in it, "And what are you doing in my private quarters?"