10. Moist eyes

"Wakey wakey…"

An annoying, mocking voice woke Glenn and made him grumble in displeasure. His body shivered from the extreme cold. The young man opened his eyes slowly and jolted up in surprise when one of them opened underwater. The feeling quickly snapped him out of his lethargic state. He felt as if he had slept for ages but hadn't rested at all.

His whole body felt in pain as if one or two trucks had rolled over him. Maybe three, when he thought back to it. He rubbed his eye, trying to get the water out of it as best he could.

He was in the water beneath the white crystal, a crystal that didn't shine, pulse, or do anything anymore. It was previously floating magically above the small pool, but now it was submerged inside it, its magnificence lost. It seemed...dead.

Struggling to sit up, he spat out the unpleasant water that had filled his mouth. The previously magical properties had been replaced by a foul, muddy taste and smell. Even the look of it had changed to a swampy look, with some green moss floating atop the water's surface, as well as some dead insects. Quite the delightful soup.

Having a hard time standing up thanks to the slippery underwater ground, and feeling groggy, he grumbled and struggled to get out of the pond. His head was ringing badly, and felt heavy, as though he had a hangover. When he finally made it out, the first thing he did was sit down and take a deep breath while massaging his temples. He stared at the dirty water, despairing at the fact that he couldn't even drink water to make himself feel better.

"My god, was this a nightmare? I feel horrible."

A snickering sound emanated nearby, causing Glenn to jump in surprise. He scanned his surroundings but saw nothing apart from the fallen ceiling, which now allowed a bit of sunlight to enter the room.

"Am I going crazy?" He asked aloud dubiously. What was wrong with him?

"Ha!"

The mocking voice echoed again, this time originating very close to him. Glenn looked down at his hand and noticed that the skin on his left hand had turned into a dark purple hue. Curious and slightly apprehensive, he opened his hand to find a swirling white symbol in the center of his palm, surrounding a malicious black tongue.

"Diamanes?" He asked, having a hard time believing he was even pronouncing those words.

A small, red mouth appeared, encompassing the tongue, smiling happily while showcasing his pearly white teeth.

"Here to give you a hand! HAHA!" The pun seemed to amuse the being a lot, to the contrary of Glenn who didn't even remark it.

"I…I have a talking hand now?" Glenn's face turned blank as he struggled to process the information. Sadly for him, Diamanes decided to not give him time to understand anything.

"Absolutely! And you know what's even better?" The entity exclaimed, happy with itself.

"What?"

"It's real! HAHAHA!!"

Diamanes laughed for a few more minutes, showing his happiness to the astonished Glenn.

Eventually, the laughter subsided, and the entity sighed contentedly while maintaining a wide grin.

"It has been sooo long since the last time I could see the outside world! Ahhh, it feels GREAT to be alive!"

"Am I cursed or something..? Does it mean you'll be with me all the time?"

"Absolutely."

Glenn didn't waste a second, and unsheathed his sword at his waist with his right hand, aiming the stabbing part at Diamanes. The mouth froze, waiting with anticipation, before chuckling mockingly. Glenn sighed, relaxing his arm.

"What, don't have the strength to pierce your hand?"

Glenn shook his head, disgusted.

"Yeah, I'm tired of being in pain and all."

Diamanes smirked, passing his tongue over his upper lip.

"Good choice, I would have grown back anyway!"

Glenn realized that he would probably never be able to get rid of this parasite.

"What? Parasite? You called me a PARASITE?" The outraged voice of this unwanted comrade made his head ring even more. He'll never be alone again, having to suffer this damned creature.

'No happy time for me anymore, then. Ugh.' Glenn thought dejectedly.

"You've got a cool talking hand, and you're thinking of 'happy time'? Are you for real?" Diamanes seemed to have a hard time believing what he was hearing in his host's mind.

"Get the fuck out of my mind! Damnit!" The young man yelled, but he knew nothing would come of it.

With a desperate expression stuck on his face, Glenn lamented his recent misfortune. Holding his head with the non-talking hand, he tried to think about what he should do next. He pulled back his hair, taking a long breath.

Observing the "cool talking hand" more, he saw that the demarcation between his normal skin and the purple was situated exactly at the end of his hand, at the beginning of the wrist.

"Are you looking at me because I'm handsome?" Diamanes' voice shifted, getting a tone of pride and a bit of shyness. It was particularly disturbing.

"Just… Shut up." The young man couldn't possibly imagine his future with this... thing messing with him all the time.

"Hey… At least see the positive!"

"The positive?" Glenn asked, bemused. What could be positive with having an evil-devil-monstrous left hand?

"You'll never feel lonely again!"

"But I liked my privacy…"

"Whatever, stop being such a killjoy. Let's get out of here first, alright?" Diamanes put a stop to their banter, focusing their attention on the most important matter at hand immediately.

The collapsed ceiling caught Glenn's attention as he sighed, revealing a way out formed by the fallen material composing the room's roof.

'I should be able to climb out.'

He jumped from rock to rock, making with way up with difficulty, but after a few minutes of struggle, he did manage to get out of the dark underground chamber.

The sun shone a bright light on Glenn's face, blinding him. He took a small moment to habituate his sight, before opening his eyes once again. Holding his hand as a visor, he looked at his surroundings. At least a hundred meters below the mountain peak, he found himself disoriented and uncertain of his exact location. He could have never guessed that the crystal room was so low in the mountain.

He looked at the top of the mountain, but it was not in the same state as when he entered it.

Instead of being completely flat like it was before, it had been completely blown off, and there was no longer a peak as such. The gray stone had blackened like soot, and ash had accumulated on top of it. Without even talking about the snow that started to deposit itself on the peak.

Looking at the surroundings of the mountain itself, he deduced he was on the south side, as he could see the biggest city in front of him, a reasonable distance away but still a pain to cover.

"Are we going hiking?"

Diamanes seemed excited, smiling in his hand (a profoundly disturbing scene) and snickering randomly from time to time.

Glenn just ignored him and tried to plan his road, but he couldn't see anything with the treetops hiding the ground. He'll have to trust his directional sense to go in the right direction.

"So where are we? You know, I'm a bit of an alien, so I don't know what's going on."

"Where did you learn the word 'alien'? I'm pretty sure it shouldn't exist in this world," asked Glenn, taken aback.

"I read it in your mind."

"Of course you did. Well, you can just look for the answer yourself, right?"

"Yeah, I could, but I want to get to know you properly, like, mano a mano."

'What the—do I have to endure those puns for the rest of my life?'

"I can hear you, you know."

Glenn looked at his hand, thinking that it might be better to hide it or cover it with something if he wanted to go somewhere public.

"Are you ashamed of me, Glenn? Do you not like me being your hand, Glenn?"

The latter made an extremely tired expression, not even bothering to answer.

Diamanes sported an overly confident smile. "You'll warm up to me eventually, mark my words."

Glenn rolled his eyes, knowing it had no chance of ever happening.

Thinking of using his clothes as a makeshift glove to hide Diamanes, Glenn noticed the small pouch hanging from his belt.

'It's true that I picked that up from Jefferson's remains earlier.'

Without further ado, he decided to check what was inside. Opening it, he could only see darkness, even though he didn't lack any light. Putting his hand inside it, he couldn't feel anything, not even the sides of the pouch. Swearing, he put his whole arm in the small pouch, the latter being the size of a fist.

"Lucky you, it's a dimensional pouch! And a reasonably spacious one at that!"

Glenn raised an eyebrow.

"A dimensional pouch?"

Diamanes beamed, relishing the opportunity to showcase his superior knowledge.

"Cough, a dimensional pouch is a compressed dimension tucked inside a small container for storage purposes. Furthermore, it only weighs as much as the pouch itself; the items inside don't contribute to its weight. And as a bonus, only the first person who opened it can use it. Until he dies, of course."

'This is… really incredible.'

Baffled, Glenn was reminded once again that common sense didn't apply in this world, and logic was a flexible concept. No, logic simply didn't exist. He should prepare himself for even the most nonsensical situations.

With a flicker of his tongue, Diamanes licked his lips. "This one's about ten cubic meters. Not too shabby."

Hearing this and lowering his eyes, Glenn interrogated his hand.

"How can you tell?"

The usual wicked grin appeared.

"I just can. If you want to know the content, just ask the pouch in your mind."

'Ask the pouch?'

Puzzled, Glenn complied, attempting to mentally access the pouch's contents. An image of a dark space with assorted items emerged in his mind. Swiftly comprehending the process, he surveyed the pouch's contents.

The pouch held a collection of archaeology tools – a trowel, brush, strings, and stakes. A mirror and comb were also nestled within. Among the assortment, a map and a finely adorned sword stood out, along with a signet ring bearing what was probably House Jefferson's crest.

The crest depicted a shield with a peacock on it spreading his feathers. It looked like it was made out of gold.

There was also a drawing of a man with something written behind it. "Wanted, a hundred gold—Unknown".

"It seems like your friend was quite popular, in the wrong way."

Glenn shrugged his shoulders, not caring.

"We don't even know if it's him, since the remnants of his body were a pile of ash and some loot. And it's not like I knew him."

There were some bandages as well as some herbs, probably with medical virtues, not that he would risk himself to try them. But that means he would be able to use the bandages to hide his unwanted companion.

He discovered what seemed to be this world's currency: gold, silver, and copper coins. He was too lazy to count them and figured that he would naturally come to know the importance of each of them when he got to the city.

Finally, he discovered provisions – a bundle of meatloaf wrapped in large green leaves, enough for ten days, along with an equivalent supply of water gourds.

His stomach rumbled at the sight, and he realized how hungry he was. While not fresh, the food was far superior to anything he'd eaten since arriving in this world.

"Are you crying? Is it that good?"Diamanes mocked.

"No, I just got some dust in my eyes."

Completing his meal, Glenn readied himself for what he hoped would be his final trek before encountering civilization once more. Glancing at the distant city, he remembered the map in his possession and decided to examine it for insights.

The mountain he was on was called the "Still Peak", and the city he was looking at was called King's Rise. The two cities on each side of the battlefield he saw from atop the peak were called Satidipug and Eari, left and right, respectively.

The battlefield was called Retni's Plains. There were other things on the map, but he decided to look more later. Taking a deep breath, he started to go down the mountain, with King's Rise as his objective.

He'd have to cross the Morsquida's Stream, which was flowing from the mountain and then splitting in two a few kilometers away from the city, but there was supposed to be a bridge that should help him do that, a few kilometers down the stream.

"Well, here goes nothing."

"Hiya partner!"

"Just...please, shut up."