(NARRATION) A pair of two youths sat close together, both of them were looking aimlessly at the river in front of them.
The one with black hair that was golden at the roots was hugging his knees and blinking in a constant rhythm.
Beside him, the other youth was doing basically the same… his mind, however, was preoccupied with a storm of thoughts, each of which was important to the current situation… well, most of them were at least.
‘Gahhh… of course it had to be Sammy, fuck, he’s gonna tell everyone what I did.
Shit, shit, shit!’ Grimacing at the things that awaited him in the future, Nathaniel sighed heavily.
The moment Sammy had seen him make the… gesture, he instantly said his full government name.
Which was the smartest thing to do, Nathaniel did the same right after.
After that they simply sighed in relief and decided to relax and sit, which was the only thing they could really do after all.
Nathaniel was closing and opening his hands constantly.
Then, after realizing that Sammy was clearly in a foul mood, he decided to start a conversation, and they had a lot to talk about, so it wouldn’t be small talk, which he personally disliked.
“So… what’s your situation…” Sammy’s eyes seemed slightly more focused.
He looked down at his wrinkly clothes and sighed.
“Well, I woke up in a river.
My lungs were burning, and I threw up a lot of water, along with the food that this body had eaten.
Which wasn’t much to be frank.” After a slight pause, he continued, “And well, then you came along and did what you did.
It’s actually a good idea, doing something that everyone in our world is aware of.” Nathaniel smiled but frowned right after Sammy finished fully.
“But still cringe.
Like, bro, you’re almost a grown ass man.
You could’ve said anything else.
Maybe you could’ve made the hand sign that dude in Star Trek does, or fuck, just something from JJK, like a domain expansion thingy, y’know.” “Yeah, yeah, I get your point.
It’s just that…
well it’s a widely known gesture, so it was the most logical conclusion.” He tried to intervene before Sammy could continue.
Sammy hummed like a wise man.
“…yeah, if we meet with the others, I’m telling them instantly.” Nathaniel released a small ‘tsk’ and sighed, deciding to change the topic and speak of something that mattered much more… yes, it mattered much MORE!
“Anyway, tell me what happened on the bus.” Sammy shivered slightly and frowned deeply.
“Amy looked panicked, and I stood up.
Lo and behold, you were gone, then she instantly seemed to decompose at a fast rate, and she was reduced to bone dust a moment later.” Nathaniel’s eyes widened as he looked at Sammy in shock.
He swallowed hard but held it together, making a fist that caused his untrimmed nails to dig into his palm.
“So…” Sammy shook his head as if anticipating the question.
“I don’t know, but I’m guessing she’s fine.
Well… she’s not dead most likely.
She’s probably somewhere in this fucked up shitty, terrible, odious world like the rest of us.
She wasn’t the only one that suffered that fate, though.” Nathaniel steadied his breath and nodded.
Thankfully, his theory was correct, everyone had been mentioning strange whispers, the same ones that he had heard.
So it was logical that they would be transported as well, the conditions they were transmigrated into were a completely different thing, however.
Sammy looked toward Nathaniel for a few moments, and after he saw him nod to continue, he obliged.
“Liam was… he was…” His breath hitched slightly, but he continued.
“He was swallowed by two white serpents with red eyes.” Sammy frowned.
Nathaniel, meanwhile, got lost in his thoughts again.
‘Two white serpents… I’ll guess they were scaleless.
So Wheel of Fortune.
If we were to awaken, would we gain an Aspect that corresponds to the Pathway?’ Sammy nudged his shoulder, Nathaniel was shaken out of his thoughts—literally—and looked at him with an apologetic smile.
“Try to follow for a bit.
It’ll be theory time after, alright?
Plus, I think we’ll both have the same conclusion.” Nathaniel nodded, and Sammy continued.
“Steven was devoured by a storm of pages and illusory books.
Martin was burned and turned to glass before shattering.
Damian had his body distorted before he collapsed in on himself and turned into a ball that lit up and disappeared.
After that, I felt like I exploded and boom, I was here.” After a bit of silence, Sammy looked to Nathaniel.
“So what are your thoughts on the situation?” Nathaniel pondered for a few moments and exhaled slowly, laying on the grass with a heavy chest.
“Well, I can confirm that I have something to do with CW.” Sammy nodded, then went to lay down beside him.
“I guessed.
Your seat had a bit of mist on it—or I guess fog—but it looked more like mist.” “Well, what I experienced was something slightly different.” He thought about how to word it and finally decided how to properly portray what he experienced.
“I opened my eyes and boom—the entire bus was filled with creepy passengers that looked like the original ones, but they were looking at me creepily.” Recalling that creepy scene caused shivers to run down his spine, and he cleared his throat.
“After that, I appeared above the gray fog, in the one and only Sefirah Castle.
And well, there was no table where the Tarot Club gatherings would usually take place, instead there was a throne…” Gulping slightly, Nathaniel continued, “On it was CW, and let’s just say he wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was CW.
He just threw the Uniquenesses of the Three Pathways at me and gave me some very encouraging words.” Nathaniel gazed around the foreign landscape that was NQSC and then turned to Sammy.
The handsome youth had his mouth agape.
“Damn.
Fuck.
Thank fuck I didn’t see Adam.” Nathaniel chuckled dryly and nodded.
“Yup.
Who knows, though?
We don’t really know if it’s Adam.
Might just be the original ASG.
Hell, maybe it’s Lumian even.” Sammy shrugged slightly, his hands tapping the ground.
“So long as I’m not a guinea pig for some grand plan, I’m happy.
And hopefully ‘he’ isn’t stalking me.” “Yeah, be aware of the Spectator and allat.” Nathaniel was lost in thought again.
After a few moments, he decided to speak up.
“So, let’s see.
My best guess is that you’ll get either Visionary or Sun.
Hell, maybe all five.” Sammy nodded and turned more toward him, giving Nathaniel his undivided attention.
“Amy… hmm, Twilight Giant, I suppose.
Or maybe Death, again, it could just be the entire Eternal Darkness.
Let’s just hope we don’t have someone with the Second Law.” After another bit of thinking, Nathaniel continued, “Martin is most likely both Demoness and Red Priest.
He was set aflame and cracked like glass, after all.” Sammy nodded while deciding to give his own opinion.
“I’ll say that Liam is Wheel of Fortune and Steven is either Hermit or Paragon.
Or, like we already established, could be both.” Nodding along, Nathaniel brought up two fingers.
“So Damian is likely Black Emperor or Justiciar—or both.
Now that just leaves two standard pathways left.” “So Goddess of Origin and Father of Devils.” Sammy looked thoughtful for a second before continuing with a heavy sigh.
“Did anyone else on the bus apart from us complain about weird voices in their heads?” Nathaniel shook his head, which Sammy had expected.
“So either they’re here and got transmigrated along with us, or they got transported a little before us.” Holding his face delicately, Nathaniel traced his facial features calmly.
Then his eyes widened slightly, and he stood up instantly.
Sammy was surprised and tried to ask something but was ignored completely as Nathaniel dashed to the water.
After examining his face, he narrowed his eyes in curiosity.
‘Brown eyes, brown hair… and strangely creamy white skin.’ After playing with his hair for a bit, he came to the conclusion that he no longer resembled the boy.
Granted, he was still frail in body, but his face, hair, and eyes were completely different—pretty much the same as Klein in the donghua.
Of course, his features didn’t hold the maturity that Klein did, since he was younger.
While observing himself, another reflection surfaced next to him.
Sammy looked at him and then at himself for a moment.
“I’m more handsome.” he replied matter-of-factly.
Pouting slightly, Nathaniel sighed.
“And you also have a brain as beautiful as wallpaper…” he lampooned.
“What did you say?” “Nuthin.” “You totally did.” “It’s just your imagination.” After a moment of silence, the two chuckled softly.
The day they had and were having was definitely a top three worst, yet it was nice that they were still able to joke… even if they were missing everyone.
Standing up, the two looked at each other and then at the distant silhouette of the skyscrapers and the artificial sky above.
“So, got a plan?” Nathaniel looked to Sammy with a raised brow.
“Why do you think I have one?” Sammy responded with the look of ‘oh please, you definitely do’.
Pursing his lips and smiling, he gave a melancholic look toward the distance.
“I do.
Just one though.” Sammy lit up and slapped his back, making the frail body that Nathaniel was in groan in protest.
“Of course you do!
You’ve always been a conniving little gremlin.” “Ohhh, and here I was, ready to offer you some food with the few funds I have.
Ahh, too bad, too bad indeed… for you, of course, you heathenous little mongrel.” With his piece said, Nathaniel began to stomp away.
Sammy instantly switched his tune, like any fatass would with the promise of food.
“Wait, comrade!
We are in this together!
We have to stick together.” Nathaniel kept walking as Sammy continued to spout words that would make even a drill sergeant blush at the sheer patriotic statements about the love between people of the same country.
‘Keep up the bootlicking, pretty boy.’ he lampooned one last time—one last time before the two of them entered the outskirts once more.
(STEVEN) Walking through the streets that were littered with trash, I barely managed to keep going, just due to the sheer amount of disgusting air I was breathing in.
Swallowing my irritation, I calmed myself down and sat on a bench that was wet with a liquid that I would rather not know about and leaned back.
‘So damn dirty.’ A shallow whisper of annoyance left my mouth as I lamented my situation.
It had already been two days since I had transmigrated into the world of Shadow Slave, and not even one of them was pleasant.
I had almost been hanged, and even days later my throat was still hurting like hell and was even scarred, granted, the rest of the body was as well.
Be it cuts or other blemishes, it looked quite hellish.
Since i had inherited the memories of the previous owner of the body i recalled how every single one had happened.
He was a deeply curious young man and was unfortunately abused by his mother and father, both of whom were dead now.
Still, proof of their existence remained only as the scars that marred the body of this poor boy.
‘Damn it, I can’t find anyone… are they in the city?’ That was a possibility.
Maybe only i was stuck in a situation that trapped me in a perilous place like this.
“Guess I’ll head to the market…” a self deprecating laugh escaped my dry throat.
“I don’t even have food… just a bit more water…” A tear escaped my eye as i blushed in frustration.
“Damn it… I’m even desperate enough to talk to myself like some sort of anime character… fuck this place.” After weeping like a war widow, I barely stood up, not caring that the back of my pants looked like I had given some very nasty gentleman a very nasty favor.
Letting out a long, suffering sigh, I went toward the market.
My stomach continued to growl in hunger as I took long and steady steps.
The market was a large and spacious place with a few stalls, each of which was made of old alloy that was scavenged from Spell knows where.
‘Ah… damn it… again.’ Even though I didn’t belong to this world, I still found myself using the regularly recognized terminology—like for Spell’s sake and even saying gods instead of gosh or simply God.
“Still haven’t said Damnation, I guess…” Raising a brow, I looked to the side as a small, frail-looking boy looked at me in confusion.
I held eye contact, and the boy simply sneered and walked away.
My mouth went agape, and unfortunately for me, I had still not grown accustomed to the disgusting and putrid air.
‘Holy fuckitty fuck!
That’s Sunny!’ After barely catching my breath, I stretched my gaze along the market but wasn’t able to see Sunny.
“DAMNATION!” Scratching my head, I ignored the dandruff that fell to the floor due to my unwashed hair.
‘DAMNATION, I could’ve maybe befriended him and had him carry me along!
DAMNATION!’ Some people gave me strange looks but went about their business.
“Haaaa…” Looking at the ground, I felt my lips tremble.
‘I should just wrap it up… at least for today, I guess…’ Standing up, I threw one last glance at the market and sighed at the writing I somewhat understood.
Turning my head, I began to make my way home—or well, to the small shack of old alloy that was fashioned into a house by the boy’s father.
However, I stopped in my tracks.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some familiar letters, ones that weren’t the same letters the people of this world used.
Instantly, a surge of adrenaline went through my body, and my desperation caused me to move immediately… Looking at the finely drawn graffiti, I read it and it said: Larping, Slander and Agenda!
Is the reason our HEARTS still beat!!!
A crooked smile graced my face as I saw those letters and looked to the arrows that pointed toward a crossroads.
Still holding onto that desperation, I rushed and came to the crossroads.
There, another bit of graffiti read: Whatever you do at the crossroads, TURN LEFT!
Grinning like a maniac, I rushed through the alleys and saw a few more pieces of graffiti, and finally… I stumbled upon a small shack that was barely held up by some rebar.
It looked more like a camp, a camp for homeless people at least.
As I approached it, I barely held myself back from tearing up.
Taking a few more steady steps, I moved closer and saw a large waste bin with a crackling fire within.
Around it were three people, a young man with black hair that was golden at its roots, a frailer-looking boy with brown hair, and a woman with long black hair.
The brown-haired one looked at me first, and the other two turned toward me as well.
The brown-haired boy’s eyes widened but still retained a bit of caution.
“So, who might you be, mister?” Gasping for the terrible air, I barely managed to speak.
Feeling the exhaustion slowly catching up to me, I extended one hand upward and pointed a finger to the sky while putting the other hand down on my hip.
“I am STEVEN SIMMONS!
Not only am I absolutely clueless, but I’m broke beyond compare!” __________________________ Author’s Note: Alrighty, we finally have our characters meeting eachother.
Hooray.
Now i have been thinking about the First Nightmares adn how to do them, how i do them will be YOUR choice!
Two very long Chapters(About 4k Words) that will focus on the four that have reunited in this chap, them being Nathaniel,Steven,Sammy and Amy.
Two very long chapters for Nathaniel(Since he is the MC) and just a recount of what happened in the nightmare of the others.
Lastly One very long Chapter for each Character other than Nathaniel, so Two for nathaniel and one for the other three that’s like 5K words.
Then again we can just have a flashback as to what happened in their own Nightmares.
Next chapter will be on Wednesday so see you then, next chap will probably focus on some chatting and making plans, we’ll also probably see how the other three are fairing.