Chapter 20

I opened my eyes to fill them again with darkness. Open or closing the eyes didn't help much in this situation. I have no idea where I was. Dream? Maybe. Seems like a dream. But I never had any dream where there's nothing but darkness.

"Light! I want light." I wished. I waited. Nothing happened. I tried looking down at my body to find out there was nothing there either. It seems like I am a soul without a shape and floating in endless darkness.

"Ohh, the heavenly demon invaded the heart!

Let the heavenly demon invade my heart." This song again. But just like it came, it was gone.

I willed myself to move forward. It felt like I was moving, but the darkness was never-ending. I couldn't feel making any progress.

Time passed; for how long am I in this place? I can't remember. Even my thoughts are getting slow and sluggish. I wanted to think about the life I left behind. I can't remember anything. Who am I? I can't remember. How did I get here? I can't remember.

As if I was endless along with time. I feared for time to be stuck for myself too. After a while, I even forgot what time is. I even forgot to think.

Darkness is consuming me. I can feel it seeping inside me. I somehow get a notion that I should stop it. But along with time, it seems my thoughts are also getting stopped.

Darkness filled the void. I don't know how long it took. But I suddenly became a spectator to the darkness that became of me.

I became the darkness that filled the void.

Life? Yes, life? What is life? I don't know.

Eternity came and gone.

I can't feel anything anymore. I only exist now. How? I don't know. Darkness filled even my thoughts. Everything is dark!

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Later on, I learned from Regis and others that a girl at the age of sixteen or seventeen came with a ukulele. She was playing its strings and singing. The lyrics were weird, and everyone felt lightheaded after listening to them. If not for Lucy rushing toward the girl to stop her from performing any more notes, like me, everyone else would have fallen asleep too.

Lucy captured the girl and took away the ukulele.

Dana was the one to retrieve me from the swamp. They learned from the girl that her magic makes everyone who listens to it fall asleep. She was scared to pass the swamp, so she played the music. She said she came up with those on the spot about the strange lyrics. She always sings a different song, but everything and every note seem to be perfect after she starts to play. The lyrics are always about those who are hearing it. The person about whom the lyrics are getting to be the main target of her magic.

Regis, Dana, and Linda carried my body after what happened. Even after interrogating the girl, she didn't have any solution to wake me up. She said she only put others to sleep but never thought of any way to wake them up afterward. No wonder she traveled alone.

Two days passed as I was unconscious; Regis and the girls managed to find the mansion. It was not exactly a mansion, more like an estate. The whole place was so secured as if the house owner knew what was going to happen. It turned out it was an adventure house of a local billionaire who had a severe paranoia about doomsday. People might have laughed at him the days when he built the estate, but now we had to thank him for building it. The estate being empty, it seems even demons and other creatures didn't find it easy to enter.

The walls were high, and vegetation was limited. Whatever vegetation there was in the estate was in the bunker-like multi-layer basement.

Regis told me that anyone hiding in the basement would have survived a nuclear attack even as close as a kilometer away. The food storage was filled with enough food to feed a city for a few days. The owner was insane, so it seems. Regardless of how the owner was, he never made it here from the looks of it.

Regis and the girls were prepared to head back into the city but were held back for me, who was still sleeping soundly in a comfortable bed. Luxury in a time like this. So many days, I wished to sleep in a proper bed; now, I was asleep without even realizing it.

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"Who are you?" A question to the void. Someone is here, asking. I can hear it; I can think about the question, though at a snail's pace. I wanted to answer, but I didn't know what to say.

"Come back! Come Back! Come Back!" Echoed in the void. I have no idea how it managed to echo in place with no walls. Or was there? I tried to gather my will.

It was hard. Hard as hell. Something is not right. Something does not want me to think. Something does not want me to wake up.

But I can feel it. I wanted to wake up. Too long in this void. I am attached to it, but it was no friend of mine.

It's time to leave. But I do not know the way out.

The void of darkness, mysterious like the system.

The system? What was that? Why did I say about this thing? I did not know.

"The system!" I managed to utter a few words.

"Checking on the status of Program E192!" A mechanical voice rang in my mind.

"Status: Critical. Program E192 reached a critical condition of the mind to upgrade the system to level 3.

Process: System reset required. Program E192 should note that system reset will reset all system-related attributes. Still, Program E192 will receive all the current physical characteristics as a permanent upgrade before the system resets and upgrades. All levels will start from Zero, but all system-related boosts will have three times effect after upgrading the system. Awaiting confirmation." The mechanical voice relayed so much information.

System reset? I cannot understand anything related to this. But I have to wake up.

"System reset, confirm!"

"System reset, confirmation received."

Bang!

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I opened my eyes. I can remember everything now. Ohh no! What the hell did I do? I panicked and looked at my body. I was still slim; the system was upgraded. I will have to check all the details later. At least my physical attributes will be permanent now, and I will start from a new height this time, leaving a sigh of relief as I look at the room I was in. No one was in it. It kind of made me sad. I could guess everyone should be busy with their things. But still, deep in my heart, I wanted someone to wait for me to wake up.

Sighing again, I sat down on the bed. My body felt weak. It was.

I tried to activate < Touch of Gaia >, but nothing worked.

"Skill not acquired yet. Complete the current special mission to acquire the skill again."

Ohh forgot about that!