Eiden walked toward the center of the open area and checked his surroundings. After making sure that no one was nearby, he relaxed his arms and took a deep breath.
"Now, I need to create a Fire Bolt without imagining it," he muttered to himself. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the feelings of that moment. He tried to recapture that warm flow of energy from within, the wave of flame he felt in his veins.
"I accidentally imagined it... It's so difficult!"
Eiden concentrated for a while longer. He opened his palms and tried to mobilize the energy within him. After a while, tiny sparks appeared between his fingers, but the Fire Bolt he expected never formed.
"Damn it!" he muttered through clenched teeth. "I can't do it without closing my eyes!"
He tried again. Larger sparks began to appear between his fingers, orange and red glimmers dancing around his hands. But still, the sparks wouldn't come together to form a proper ball.
"Maybe a different approach..." Eiden thought. He extended his hand and made a pushing motion forward, as if pushing an invisible enemy. A few small fire particles shot from his fingertips, but they extinguished after a few centimeters.
Eiden took a deep breath and wiped his sweaty forehead. "This is harder than I thought. It's easier when I'm in danger. I had to imagine then too, but it formed more easily."
He made several more attempts. Each time, more sparks appeared around his hands, but none transformed into a stable Fire Bolt. The sparks sometimes grew brighter and larger, sometimes remaining as tiny glimmers.
"Maybe I'm not capturing the right emotion," he thought. "Maybe I need a strong emotion like fear or anger."
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine himself in a dangerous situation. He started thinking about the Flesh Grubs. Then the giant spider... the Flesh Grub Queen...
Suddenly his brain filled with something different. The Flesh Grubs and spiders had been erased from his mind, replaced by something entirely different. A dark, endless sea-like expanse, composed of millions, perhaps billions of creatures. Eiden's breath caught.
The image appearing before his eyes began to clarify. These weren't ordinary insects. Beings he had never seen before, not belonging to this world... From their bodies covered with black, steel-like shining shells, protruded sharp limbs resembling spearheads. They were of different sizes; some as small as a human, others larger than a tank. They all moved together, behaving as if they were a single organism.
Eiden fell to his knees, pressing his hands to his head. "What is this?" he whispered, his lips trembling. The images were becoming clearer, more vivid. He could now count each creature's six, eight, sometimes twelve limbs. But the most terrifying thing was that each had six eyes – red, bright eyes irregularly scattered across their surfaces.
Eiden's heart began to pound wildly in his chest. "No... no... this can't be true..." he muttered.
The sea of creatures was now advancing toward the image of a city in his mind. Massive structures of glass and steel, towers reaching to the sky... Eiden had never seen such a place before, but somehow it felt familiar. And the creatures were flowing toward this city, tearing apart everything in their path.
He began to hear screams in his ears. Women, men, children... All trying to escape this black wave. Some were being torn apart by the creatures' sharp limbs, some were being caught and dragged away. Eiden felt as if he were watching all this chaos from a single point, from a high place. As if he were there, in that city, at that moment.
He was drenched in sweat. He noticed his hands were trembling. But worst of all was that the image of these creatures seemed familiar to him. He had seen them before. He couldn't remember how he knew them, but he recognized them. And the fear he felt from them penetrated to his bones.
Eiden suddenly began to cry uncontrollably. Tears streamed down his cheeks like a flood, his breath coming in gasps. He wanted to open his eyes, struggled to escape this terrible vision, but he couldn't. It was as if an invisible force was keeping his eyelids closed, forcing him to look at this nightmare.
"No... please... no!" he whispered with trembling lips, but even his voice sounded foreign to him.
The image in his mind changed. He was no longer watching the city from above. Now he was seeing everything through the eyes of a man on top of a high wall, watching the approaching chaos below. Cold sweat was running down his entire body.
And then he saw them. The insects. Thousands of them. Perhaps millions. Like a black sea invading the city in waves. And now they had begun to climb the wall where he was standing.
"No... no... NO!" Eiden screamed. He wanted to open his eyes but something seemed to be preventing his eyelids from opening. It seemed to want to show him everything that was happening.
He was holding something in his hand. A heavy, metal object. The object was constantly vibrating, tingling his hands, numbing his entire arm. It had different protrusions and a trigger. With each jolt, he felt a recoil toward his shoulder. It made a deafening noise every time the trigger was pulled. A heavy, metallic smell filled his nostrils.
He pointed the object in his hand at the insects. With each shot, dozens of them were shattered, black and green fluid splattered everywhere. But for every creature he killed, dozens more took its place. They were relentless.
Eiden could feel the man's fear. His hopelessness. His exhaustion. He was experiencing all of these emotions as if they were his own. But worst of all, these feelings didn't seem foreign to him. Somehow he knew this man. He knew this memory. He was feeling the same emotions.
And then, unexpectedly, one of the creatures—much larger and faster than the others—reached the place where the man was standing. It lunged at the man's abdomen with its spear-like extended limb.
Eiden felt a sharp pain in his stomach. A sharp, burning pain. It was as if that limb had pierced his own body.
The creature lifted the man into the air with its limb that had impaled him. The man screamed, but the sound quickly turned into a hoarse gurgle. Blood was spurting from his mouth and nose.
Then the creature hurled the man and threw him into that black sea. The man hung suspended in the air for a moment, then fell among thousands of insects.
Eiden experienced that moment. The man's fall. The insects swarming over his body. Each one tearing at his flesh with sharp limbs. The pain. The unbearable pain.
But the man was holding something in his hand. A small, oval object.
And then, a burst of light. A deafening noise. Fire. Tearing flesh. Shattered insect shells.
In Eiden's mind, everything first turned white, then black. Then, deep silence.
In the open area at the edge of town, Eiden opened his eyes. His face was wet with tears. His heart was still beating wildly. His hands were shaking.
"What was that?" he whispered, his voice shaky and weak. "Was that a memory? My memory?"
The images in his mind were still fresh and vivid. Insects. Death. Destruction. And that man... who was that man? Why could Eiden feel his pain, his fear, his final moments so clearly?
Eiden slowly got to his feet. His legs were still trembling. He held onto a nearby tree for balance. He tried to take deep breaths, tried to calm his mind.
"This can't be imagination," he said to himself. "So real, so... vivid. This must be a memory. But how? When?"
He strained his memory, tried to remember his past. But there was a void in his brain. His memories, his past, who he was... all of it was blurry, fragmented.
The forest was silent. Only the slight rustle of the wind through the leaves could be heard.
As Eiden tried to understand what the vision he had seen meant, he noticed something. There was a Fire Bolt in his hand. Perfectly shaped, stable, bright orange.
"Interesting..." he muttered, looking at the Fire Bolt. "Maybe this is what I need to cast magic."
He waved his hand, the Fire Bolt slowly dissipated, leaving small sparks in the air. Eiden lowered his hands and took a deep breath.
[Time remaining until the next Wave: 312 hours.]
"Woman in my mind!" he called out, raising his head to look at the sky. "What are these? Why am I seeing such images? What is this countdown?"
A few seconds passed. The forest was as silent as ever, only the rustle of leaves and distant bird calls could be heard. Eiden had begun to think he would not get an answer when he felt an invisible change in the air. It was as if there had been a shift in the universe.
[The images belong to a past reality. Remnants left behind by the Swarm.]
The voice echoed in Eiden's mind.
"Swarm?" he asked, in astonishment. "Those creatures I saw... are they the Swarm?"
[Your soul comes from a different reality. A reality that the Swarm has consumed. Your memories aren't yours, they belong to your soul.]
"So there are two different souls in my body?"
[Not exactly. You died yesterday morning in the battle. Your soul was completely shattered, about to be lost. As a last resort, we placed the soul of the man from that reality into you. The soul of the dying man experienced some distortions while transitioning to a different reality.]
"So inside my body there are both fragments of a lost soul and a damaged soul?"
[You must stop the Swarm.]
"I won't do anything until you tell me exactly what they are!"
[Current survival chance: 0%]
"If... I can't stop them... will the things I saw in those memories happen again?"
[Inevitable. The curse of the Swarm is upon you. If not this world, another world. If not this reality, another reality.]
Eiden's body suddenly tensed. His throat knotted, his breath caught. As his lungs gasped for air, his heart was beating as if it would break through his ribcage. His fingers involuntarily cramped, his nails digging into his palms.
"No, no! Take them away from me! Let someone else deal with it... I... I'm too scared. Help me! You can give me some powers, can't you? Give me powers that can destroy them!"
[If you want to become stronger, do what we tell you. Save yourself and the living beings in infinitely different realities. Preserve the cosmic balance. Complete the missions.]
Eiden slumped down at the base of the tree, leaning his back against the trunk. His thoughts were thrashing in his mind like fish caught in a huge net. What would he do? Could he escape? Couldn't someone else bear this burden?
He closed his eyes. Took a deep breath. As he drew the air into his lungs, he smelled the forest — earth, pine, and a slight moss scent. A real, tangible, and reassuring smell.
He needed to accept the reality of his situation. The visions he had seen were the future, if he did nothing. Countless worlds, countless living beings, all were in danger. And for some reason, unknown powers had chosen him.
"Why me?" he whispered, his eyes still closed. "Why was I chosen among so many people?"
No answer came. There was only the soft rustling of leaves and the distant sounds of birds. But perhaps this was the entire answer. Life went on, and if Eiden did nothing, these sounds, these beauties would disappear.
In his mind, he replayed the vision he had seen. Insects, destruction, death... People's screams, their flight... And then, that man's final moments. His pain, his fear, his despair...
Eiden's body trembled. But this time not from fear, but from anger.
"No," he said firmly, opening his eyes. "I won't allow this to happen. Not in this world or any other."
Slowly he stood up. His knees were still shaking, but this time not from weakness, but from determination. He felt a new power within him, a sense of purpose.
Eiden looked at the sky. Clouds were drifting in the blue sky. The sun was pouring its warm rays upon him. And for a moment, he felt the value of all this beauty, all this life.
"I'll do it," he said, his voice no longer trembling, but strong and determined. "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll stop the Swarm. I'll protect this world, all worlds. I won't die."
There was no longer fear or surprise on Eiden's face. His eyes were hard and determined like steel, his brows furrowed. His shoulders straight, his posture powerful. He was now ready not to flee, but to fight.
Eiden immediately returned to controlling the Fire Bolts. He extended his hand and focused his mind on a point. An orange glow appeared in his palm, slowly taking shape and transforming into a small ball of fire. This time he was more conscious, more controlled. And he didn't even need to imagine it.