Chapter 21: Five monsters and new factor curse

The same shiver-inducing chill that surrounded the throbbing orange ball was still engulfing the between spot. The surroundings remained cold and gloomy as he avoided the light, knowing that it had a mesmerizing quality that made Brandon want to touch the orb.

He gazed deep into the darkness long enough to notice the light emitted by the orb, which helped cast an almost discernible shadow.

"Hey, glad you're here. "We need to talk," whispered the encircling voice from the darkness. When greeting Brandon, the voice seemed delighted, adding:

"The display of power I showed you is only a fraction of what you are capable of. But first, I need a more comfortable place to converse." As it said this, Brandon heard a loud snap, as if someone had done the deed with their fingers.

The space between vibrated slightly, and a small protruding bean-like stalk plant began to develop at a rapid pace. It swelled to the size of the medium-sized Brandon, it suddenly glowed enough to blind Brandon as he covered his eyes, a thought flowing from his mind 'Why do I always have to close my eyes when I am here?' he joked.

"Open them; it is over," replied the voice.

He opened his eyes to observe the enhanced environment, which appeared to be a therapy room with a sofa for the patient or client to relax on, as well as the therapist's chair.

 Brandon was examining the new environment with a sense of familiarity and concern written on his milk-white skin. There was a small tree in a pot in the corner of the room, windows that gleamed with light that kept pulsing as if someone was fiddling with the lighting, and the space was silent.

Brandon became scared as he noticed photographs springing up on the walls like chickens laying eggs, and he quickly recognized what this location was.

After being removed from the islands after successfully killing the hostiles and escaping into civilization, he told the general that he would require months of therapy when he returned home and did not want his family to see him this way. They thus made an appointment with renowned therapist Doctor Tenley.

He was a thin man with a long nose who hung back and needed a cane to walk with a limp. While many who saw him considered him a lifesaver, Brandon came to view the doctor as a monster after just one week of visits.

During his first three days, he appeared to be a compassionate man with a loving heart, asking him questions about the experience such as:

"How did you survive that assault that night"

"I was still asleep when it began; the militia somehow slipped into our camp and executed our sergeants, privates, and lieutenants in the dark of night. A fellow recruit's cry shook me asleep, and as soon as everyone awoke, they began shooting at us, someone was in our room waiting for us to wake up. We do not sleep with our weapons, such as knives and guns, because we assumed we would be safe in the camp, and regulations and rules were employed of course, but we were mistaken.

"I was top bunk, so I was able to jump onto an unsuspecting soldier and wrestled to the ground, I thought that I could get his knife and use the bottom of it to knock him out cleanly and treated the others for their surrender using a gun" Lesley took a breath and added:

"So, we wrestled on the ground; his motions and maneuvering on the floor were those of a veteran soldier. He overpowered me and pushed me to the ground. While he was on top, he pointed his rifle at my forehead and was ready to fire. When a loud bang was heard, one of the cadets shot the soldier who was about to kill me.

"He fell on top of me, and the blood flowed cleanly. I was covered in his blood in seconds, and when I saw it, I had no idea what to do. I remained there stunned as the body lifted off of me; he could hear screaming, bullets fired, a lengthy pinning sounds that gave me migraines, and nausea, and I began to vomit; fortunately, someone was able to tilt my head to vomit with my head facing the ground.

"Doctor, I had never seen blood before in my life that was coming from a dying person of course; I assumed that I would be able to work about it like in video games. I played ones with blood and gore to prepare myself for the real thing. I survived because my fellow cadets were there for me, and there were just a few of us sleeping in that tent. They helped me get through the difficult moment, and I felt safe as if I were back home, but it was our big mistake. We should have left the tent when I finished vomiting, but the militia arrived with backup due to the commotion we produced.

"They opened fire on all of us, and I fled for the restroom door without realizing it. I had to think quickly in the turmoil, so I wrenched the toilet off and jumped into the slag of excrement. Doc, I could still smell the pee and excrement all over me; they filled my nose, and I could still see their faces, their last feelings inscribed there, and voices saying that it should have been." Lesley stammered as he grabbed his head, repeating the last line that should have been as he wrapped himself into a ball and swayed back and forth, repeating the words 'It should have been me.... it should have been me'

Until Brandon found himself on the floor, doing the same thing he did before the recollection could continue. Abrupt flashbacks of recollections of what Doctor Kenley had done to Lesley caused him to scream. He saw the Doctor turn on a machine that discharged electric shocks and sprayed me with water to increase the current's speed. He was a sadist who took pleasure in other people's suffering to fix him.

This agony lasted days, and there were occasions when I was unable to leave his office. The void chose this location on purpose to teach me something, or he didn't know, as Brandon begged for it to stop, tears streaming down his cheeks. In the actual world, he appeared to move his body, as if he were shaking off horrible dreams.

Brandon continued speaking while repeating a different word as the world returned to the space between light and dark:

"Put me under the tree, the tree"

The place vibrated as a purple tree appeared near Brandon. Some fruit was near him he slowly grabbed the apple and took a bite, the more he bit into it the more he felt his mental baggage loosening as he ate it.

Brandon sat up and held his head in discomfort, carefully breathing in and out to settle his nerves. He wiped away his tears and continued:

"Don't ever put me in that place ever again"

He shouted to the silent darkness, and the emptiness responded in a sorrowful tone:

"I didn't know you were going react like that, apologize I thought you had moved on"

"You can't move on from that," Brandon remarked angrily.

The emptiness remained silent for a long as it stated:

"You must learn to move on; comprehension is two-dimensional. You might be misunderstood or understood. If you are unable to solve this, power comes from facing your limitations. Your memories will be your power's constraint, and you will be unable to regulate it properly."

Upon hearing that Brandon wouldn't be able to gain powers like other isekai and that memory would limit his potential, he was a little shaken.

Then a notion occurred to me: the bits of Brandon's memories must have affected him in some way because something about his memory felt altered. He knew he had been electrocuted, but not by Doctor Kenley; there was no Doctor Kenley in Lesley Dorn's memory.

'What is happening?' Before he could delve more into reality, he overheard the void speaking in an agitated tone:

"Damn the curse's negative effects; it seems to be damaging your original memory. If this continues, you will be forced to endure traumas and false memories if I do not resolve the issue. The fruits have temporarily alleviated the effects, via eating them and that is why you wanted to eat some when you had that problem"

"Okay, listen, this environment is not conducive to reminiscing at all. The betwixt place is a mental realm designed to advance power; it is usually easy to recall things here. Remembering may assist you gain insight on how to increase your strength. However, the fact that this power you have been bestowed is cursed has some terrible consequences for recalling your history. By remembering here, you are opening a back door into the mind, which is easily tainted by the curse."

"So, this place isn't a representation of my soul's appearance and color?" Brandon asked.

"Not really?" the voice said. "This is my thought space, and it was contaminated long ago. I felt that establishing an environment in which I could explain the curse to you, would be more enjoyable for you. But I ended up taking it from my corrupted mind, damn this what I get when I choose a person instead of a rat"

Hearing that, Brandon stood and answered with hints of understanding:

"You made a back door by extracting your original memories and are now mixing with my memories and the original's memory via curse boon"

"Fortunately, I was able to close the door before it was too late." Do you still want me to explain the benefits and skills that come with it?"

Brandon was able to refresh himself by taking a deep breath and thinking, "That memory was corrupted; I should try to recall when I leave this place. It's already scary here."

Brandon leaned against the tree and looked away from the throbbing orb once more. "You can continue; there is no need to explain the corruption. I'll comprehend once I'm out.

"Very well, let me explain. I swallowed five different types of monsters that had been tainted by the curse during my blank days. The first is a Tree-yin, also known as a resource chameleon, its power revolves around plants which can manipulate all plants and use their traits to gain skills and attributes. You can make plants sprout from the ground as long as there are seeds underground or nearby, you can create thorns, branches, leaves, etc."

"Skills may include green thumb, plant wall, thorn wall, thorn gauntlet, wooden limbs, herbal master, herbal alchemy, and lastly plant management. Plant control allows you to form a connection with the plants you want to manipulate by touch or mental concentration on the plant or seeds. Green thumb promotes growth in adjacent plants that you contact with. Plant wall and thorn wall are defense skills that activate via seeds or neighboring plants, depending on the type.

"Throne Gauntlet is an assault skill that armament your wooden limbs, strengthening them. However, some of the skills become active when the curse body is activated, and it also has causes and negative repercussions.

"Skills such as green thumb, herbal master, and herbalist do not require a curse body activation. You can use them based on your knowledge which helps form an understanding. Then there are effects like the Lull, which sends individuals to sleep based on how you interact with them, as I did with those punches while in that form. Do you currently have any questions regarding those fundamental skills?"

Brandon paused for a moment before asking:

"What were those white-hair-like things that were tearing the body apart to bone and dust?"

The nothingness chuckled briefly:

"Oh, those are your roots; they collect nutrients without putting them into your mouth"

"Roots and nutrients..." Please wait a minute. Are you telling me I ate that person when he was still alive?"

"Not exactly, but your Curse body has consumed the nutrients to replenish your ability utilization. "A small price to pay."

Brandon wanted to vomit and wondered whether someone could puke in someone's thoughts when he asked:

"That thing, that crawled into my mouth was it you?"

"Yep, in my early stages after anything happened. I can't tell you much about that unless you get the second monster quickly, because that monster can restrict curse degradation of memories. I'll tell you after you finish that step and move to the second class."

"Oh, okay, I understand a little bit," Brandon said aloud without thinking it through.

"That's wonderful; now I'll teach you about the disadvantages of using Tree-yin abilities and forms. The consequence is singular: you will become hungry and must eat right away to avoid acting like the vampire did when he was starving. You might eat someone by accident, so for now, just try to learn about photosynthesis.

"Photosynthesis, don't I have that power?" Brandon inquired, perplexed, as he remembered the apples he had eaten from his body. "Isn't that photosynthesis?"

The voice laughed.

"I have an understanding of the ability, but you don't. I understand the process of making food, but you do not. My expertise and understanding differ from how you will interpret it; therefore, you should build your understanding and use it. If you unlock that understanding, I will teach you some basic knowledge on how to improve your abilities."

"Okay I see; I have but one question before I have to leave this creepy place"

"Ask"

"Why help me?"

After a long silence, Brandon heard a sigh and a melancholy tone:

"Because I understand the agony of being powerless in an unknown environment that wishes to harm you or is afraid of you, change in reality can be hard for people who don't understand their new reality. You needed power, and I'm providing it to you, in my days nobody gave a hand. I don't want anyone to experience that term in life"

It laughed pitifully and went on, "I don't like being in a rat's body either. Being ignorant and limited to two ideas is boring.

After Brandon heard that, he closed his eyes and vanished into vapor right away. The nothingness groaned as the darkness surged and created the shape of a human with no distinguishing characteristics on his face, near the light. It turned to face the sphere and said,

"I think we found the one, my love"