The blond seemed sardonic. Tall, blond, and handsome. He was around my age, maybe older. He looked quite mature, as did the dark-haired one. The dark-haired was the serious type, I could tell.
I was sprawled on the floor, contemplating on what to say.
These men had firearms, but the items looked outdated like something from the Victorian era.
...would they dare shoot a poor stranger as I am?
"Bunny," said the dark-haired man, referring to the blond. For some reason, I knew that it wasn’t their real names, "are you fucking serious?"
Bunny coyly shrugged. The way he acted was like a boyish child with no care for the world.
"What a worrywart you are, Four-Eyes—"
The spectacled man flinched in annoyance.
"That’s not my pseudonym—"
"Can’t you see this patient?" He beckoned him to look at me. "He’s half-naked, so you can take one good look at him."
I was still looking like a splatter on the chilly floor as this sober-since-birth man glared down at me.
His gaze was so earnest that I felt a little shy.
I had no idea what was wrong with my body.
I decided to stare back: this "Four-Eyes" had deep blue eyes that were almost cobalt. Pinkish pale skin to complement it. He was shorter than "Bunny" but we were nearly the same height. He was probably around my age. Oh, he has a piercing; one silver hoop on one side and three silver hoops on the other. How asymmetric.
Four-Eyes blinked.
"You don’t fucking say."
Then, he turned to Bunny in disbelief.
"You don’t fucking say, do you, Bun."
Bunny smirked.
"I do say."
They stared at each other in contrary expressions. I felt sandwiched between them.
"Who woulda thought we’d find an illegal mage ’round here!"
It was not long when I was led out of the hospital and into the outside world.
Inside the hospital was sort of like a sanctuary for me.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve been there for so long that feeling moonlight on my skin was rather uncomfortable.
How long, actually, was I in there?
It couldn’t have been more than a decade, for that meant I was a pre-teen when I first slept.
...how long was it, really?
For some reason, I was slightly afraid of the answer.
But, that fear was built on fiction, on my assumptions.
Chances are, I was only there for a while.
The current reality, though ruined, was beautiful nevertheless.
"Hey, Narrator," I muttered under my breath, turning away from the two men. I knew that asking this system would be like communicating with a wall, yet I persevered. "How long have I been asleep?"
[...]
There was a screen that appeared in front of me. But instead of words of a response, there were three periods that formed an ellipsis.
...why bother typing it out if you’re not going to answer?
I turned and stumbled out of the doorways, fist clenched in annoyance, with no footwear, so I was able to reunite with the earth and feel it on the soles of my feet. I was able to reexperience what life had given us.
For a moment, I thought that it reminded me of childhood.
The trees, the faux light the blue moon gave that was akin to sunlight, and the sky’s clear blue.
It was stupid.
There was no childhood in my memories for me to look back on.
But the thought that my family was out there comforted me a little.
At least, I really did hope that they existed somewhere, worrying for me. This would probably be the cause of my living on despite everything.
I raised my chin, but didn’t look up to the sky. I’ve seen it before through the hospital window. I turned to the room I was once in, and, for a moment, could have sworn there was a figure of light looking down on me with melancholy.
And, even then, I was sure that the moon wasn’t visible in the morning.
...was it morning?
I spoke nothing, but from the gazes of these two men, they were sure to be curious about me. Their gazes weren’t sharp in the least, but rather hesitant.
The two men, after a few moments of silence of me taking in the world before me, led me away.
The tallest tower I’ve ever seen stood solemnly from afar like it was the center of the universe.
I had no idea where I was being taken to, only that I was referred to as an "illegal mage."
Whatever that means.
We walked along ruined buildings which had vines and algae beginning to grow on its nooks and...
We went past corpses of both men and women, children and seniors.
I didn’t know if I should raise a question.
I didn’t know if I was brave enough to know.
The silence had lasted more than two hours now since our hike and was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
Four-Eyes could be seen visibly bothered.
He eventually spoke, kicking a bone.
"How long have you been asleep?"
That doesn’t matter. I don’t know myself. Where are you taking me?
"See, what happened to this planet—the nephs called it Earth-667. Guess that’s where we are—is the beginning of the apocalypse."
I don’t want to hear it.
"It’s been two years since the apocalypse began."
"...huh?"
That garnered my attention.
I’ve been asleep for more than two years?
That can’t be right.
In the last two years, reality has morphed into something as strange as this?
What are nephs?
Apocalypse?
I had forgotten the majority of myself, only leaving common sense.
I had forgotten my friends...
My family...
[You, Regulus Locke, have no family.]
[Regulus only has the Narrator.]
My breath caught in my throat.
This Narrator...
Bunny stopped walking.
[Braham Lee can see through you.]
Who..?
Bunny, with his tall stature, towered over me. His dark brown eyes’ pupils were constricted and they looked down at me with a terrifying gleam.
"Your Lord Reverie, aren’t you?"
[My Lord Reverie.]
I was beginning to fear the capabilities of the Narrator.