Chapter 8: The awakening

Shoun woke up on the floor. Night had fallen in the Mirror World, so the young man couldn't see where he was, but he felt the wooden floor beneath his fingers, leading him to assume Kaze had brought him back to their safe zone.

—Kaze?— Shoun asked cautiously. After a few seconds, he heard something move, and shortly after, Kaze's voice responded.

—I'm here.

—Good. How did the fight go after I passed out? Are you okay?

—I killed that thing. No new artifact dropped. I'm fine—barely got hurt, unlike you. Without my artifact, you'd be dead by now.— Hearing Kaze's words, Shoun felt a heaviness in his body. It was true that he no longer felt pain and his wounds were closed, but it wasn't good to be so close to death two days in a row.

—I'm glad... Let me check my status before we continue this conversation.— Kaze didn't respond, so Shoun assumed it was fine. With a thought, he opened his status window.

[«Name: Shoun Foster»

«Age: 17»

«Rank: Seeker»

«Title:...»

«Ascension Points: 26/100»

«Abilities»

«Electric Flow: Your very essence has been touched by electricity since birth, allowing you to control and use it to your advantage»

«Basic Electric Core: A part of your being, it exists and doesn't exist, both in your physical and spiritual body. It is where all your electricity is stored and generated, and it also allows the user to absorb electricity from other sources»]

—(26 points... That's double what I had before the hunt. Four must be from killing the four Grunts, another four from killing one of the Wretches, and I guess the remaining five are from killing the Alpha.)— Shoun took a moment to accept that he should now be much stronger. Though he was also surprised that the Codex counted his help in killing the Wretch. Still, he assumed it followed the widely accepted belief about how the Codex distributed points: participate to the best of your ability.— Alright, I'm done. For me, it was a total of thirteen points.

—That's a good number. I only got about eleven.

—Only eleven? It really does get harder to earn points as you advance…

—Yeah. When I was a Seeker, I could get a lot more points per hunt. But now that I can't earn points from Grunts, it's a bit limiting.

—Right... Kaze, about what happened earlier in the battle…

—What happened?

—You know, when I didn't listen to you and put us both in danger.

—That? It's nothing—

—It is something! I put us both in danger. It's serious. I promised to listen to you, to be your companion, but I almost got us killed!

—...

—...Sorry for yelling. It's just that I'm angry—not at you, but at myself. I hate breaking my word... but I always end up disappointing myself.

—...

—You know, when you told me what to do in that fight, I thought you were trying to use me as bait. I didn't consider that you wanted to protect me. I was too caught up in myself. Even during my fight with the Grunts, I only focused on fighting, but you were probably watching over me... Am I wrong?

—I promised to protect you, even if it costs me my life.

—That's what I mean. You keep your promises, but I betrayed your trust and my own word... all because I didn't trust you.

—You don't trust me?

—I didn't before. You were a stranger who dragged me into a strange world full of Vestiges, and you even dodged some of my questions. I knew you were hiding things from me, so I closed myself off. I didn't dig deeper, and I let my prejudices about you cloud my judgment and logic…

—...What questions did I dodge?

—Well, everything related to why you don't know simple things, like a handshake or the types of Vestiges. I really don't know anything about you. I even thought it was possible that Kaze wasn't your real name to begin with. I couldn't trust you if you were hiding things from the start.

—...If I reveal what I know, will you be able to trust me?

—...Normally, I'd say I already trust you. You've shown me you can keep your word. But I'd be lying if I said that you hiding things wouldn't harm our partnership. So yes, if you reveal who you are, it'll be easier to trust you.

—Alright... It's a bit disappointing, but Kaze is my name—though that's not entirely accurate. My title is "Kaze," but I don't actually know my real name.

—Huh? How is it possible that you don't know your name?

—Three months ago, I woke up in a forest near the city with no memories of anything. A Vestige appeared, chased me, and I killed it. I got the Codex, and that's how I learned my title.

—I think that leaves me with more questions than answers... Could you tell me more about exactly how that happened?

—Sure. It all started on a rainy night...

—------------------------------------------------------------

On a rainy night, a young man with half-black, half-white hair woke up on the wet ground. He looked up at the sky and felt raindrops falling on his face, but he didn't feel anything as they landed.

The young man didn't know who he was, where he was, or what he was doing there. Slowly, he got up from the ground and began walking aimlessly through the forest.

There was no drive behind his actions—he simply walked for the sake of walking through the dense forest. The only sounds around him were the rustling of leaves in the rain, the rain itself, and his own footsteps.

At one point, he came across a lake illuminated by the moonlight. He leaned closer to the water and saw his face covered by a half-black, half-white mask. He also noticed his spiky hair, split into the same colors. The rest of his body was completely naked, free of any clothing.

He simply stood there for minutes, feeling no urge to do anything else.

It wasn't until something moved in the water that the masked man reacted. He stared intently at the movement until, slowly, a head emerged from the water.

It resembled a crocodile, but its skin was completely smooth and black, visible only because of the moonlight reflecting off its body. Its legs had large claws, and, as expected, static surrounded its body. In several places, purple blood oozed from its wounds. Several claws were missing from its legs, and it was even missing an eye, indicating that this Vestige had narrowly escaped a fight but not without severe injuries.

The masked man stared at the Vestige. It growled and approached him, and for the first time, the masked man felt something—fear. He didn't know who he was, what that thing was, but he knew that if he didn't run, it would kill him.

So the masked man turned and ran. He didn't seem used to movement, so he was clumsy and made a lot of noise. The Vestige wasn't about to let its prey escape, so it chased after him.

The Vestige was gaining on him, getting closer and closer, swiping at his heels and trying to bite his feet. But the masked man narrowly avoided those attacks.

Both of them moved through rocky terrain, areas filled with sticks that tore at their skin, but neither cared. The masked man ran because he knew he would die if he didn't, and the Vestige wanted to kill its prey.

It wasn't until the masked man's body began to fail that the dynamic changed. His mind could keep going—after all, he felt nothing but fear—but his body couldn't keep up. As he got scratched and bled, his body grew weaker. Both he and the Vestige had been running through difficult terrain for hours at that point. Both were injured, but both were determined to achieve their goals—to kill and to survive.

The masked man fell to the ground. His legs wouldn't respond, but he still tried to keep running, getting up and falling in the process. Then the Vestige finally caught up to him.

The monster pounced on the masked man and began slashing at him, aiming to kill. He couldn't run, so his fear transformed. It no longer told him to flee—it told him to fight. Only one of them would walk away from this encounter.

Grabbing a large rock nearby, the masked man smashed it into the Vestige's head. Before it could react, he struck again.

They attacked each other relentlessly. The Vestige slashed and tore at the masked man's torso, while he struck back with the rock. Neither was willing to back down. It was kill or be killed.

Neither of them cared about the pain—they didn't feel it, after all. The only thing that mattered was who would come out of this alive. And the winner was the masked man.

With a powerful strike, he managed to push the monster off him. Then he switched positions, now on top of the Vestige. With all his strength, he struck and struck the beast's skull until it stopped moving and fighting.

A notification appeared before the masked man's eyes.

[You have slain a Grunt-rank Vestige. You are now officially a Seeker.]

Without warning, the masked man's body began to glow, repairing his previously damaged body and clothing him. When the glow faded, the masked man began to inspect himself.

Now he wore a black robe, with a shirt and pants of the same color underneath. His shoes were also black, contrasting with his snow-white skin.

—Where... am I?— he said in a hoarse voice. He wasn't used to speaking at all. The masked man continued to look around, now more aware of himself.— (It's a forest... Am I near the capital of the human nation?)

The masked man consciously decided not to speak, not just because of his lack of voice at the moment, but also to avoid another encounter with Vestiges. He was now a Seeker, but he didn't truly understand his abilities.

Following his newly acquired memories, the masked man wanted to open his status window. With that thought, it appeared before him.

[«Name: ???»

«Age: 16 years»

«Title: Kaze»

«Rank: Seeker»

«Ascension Points: 1/100»

«Abilities»

«Being of Two Worlds: You have the ability to cross dimensions and bring people with you to a new world, one plagued by great dangers and equivalent rewards. As an inhabitant of both planes, you can travel between them, but to bring your companions out, they must earn their exit.»

«Cutting Wind: A sword whose name has been forgotten by those it protected, but the wind it cut will never forget. You are the wielder of this sword, and it grants you basic control over the wind.»]

—(Kaze...)— Now the masked man—no, Kaze—knew what defined him, but he was still missing many pieces of the puzzle. He turned his attention to his abilities. After reading them, he willed a katana into his hands. It felt as natural to him as his own body, so he naturally sheathed it at his waist.

He was a bit confused when he read his second ability, but he quickly activated it, disappearing from the forest as if he had never been there in the first place.