Terminal Fantasy 1. How Did I Get Here?

"Huh?"

'Are my eyes closed? Why is everything black? '

I blinked.

'Nah, my eyes are definitely open. But why is it so dark? Wait, where even am I?'

I tried to look around. Everything was pitch black. No, actually, now that my eyes were adjusting, I could roughly see... A stony outline?

This was when I realized I was standing.

‘Probably in a... cave? Wait, what is it I'm holding in my hand? Is that a-’

Squinting my eyes, I followed the dark outline of what appeared to be a pretty long sword, the hilt of which I was apparently leaning on.

'Ah, must be one of those lucid dreams.'

My heartbeat, which I only now realized was pumping like crazy, started to slow down again.

'Damn, this almost feels real. I'm even starting to feel this dank cave sll. Anyway, I don't like lucid dreams. They always turn into so nightmare by the end. Guess I'll just force myself to wake up.'

It's not like I've had many lucid dreams in my life, but on the few occasions I did, I learned you can usually force yourself awake once you realize it's a dream.

However, sothing was strange.

For so reason, my senses felt much sharper than they had any right to be in a dream like this.

‘Wait, co to think of it, did I ever even sll anything in a lucid dream? I think I’ve heard sothing about slling in lucid dreams, though…‘

I could also distinctly feel the rough stone floor under my boots, the weight of the sword in my hand, the slightly tight... wait, what am I wearing?

I moved my hand over my chest, only to realize the thing I'm wearing is made of so kind of leather. The outline felt pretty hard, but this was definitely leather.

Now that my eyes were properly adjusted to the darkness, I could roughly see my own hand. A white cotton sleeve could be seen underneath the iron bracer, covering my arm-

‘My arm, isn't it slightly larger than I rember?’

Haaa… Haaa...

It was now that I noticed my heart was racing again.

‘No, I need to calm down.’

Haa, Haa, Haa-

I felt my chest getting tighter, my breathing becoming more ragged. Seems like calming down was not on the nu.

"What the fuck?"

I couldn't help but curse out loud. Only that, my voice sounded slightly different than usual, which definitely didn't help.

Feeling a weakness in my legs, I couldn't help but sit down on the cold stone, barely keeping myself from tumbling with the help of the sword.

Usually, I'd be worried about catching a cold, but at present, this was the last thing on my mind.

I waved my hand in front of my face, suddenly realizing the movent felt light. In fact, I barely even noticed the weight of the braces, which probably weighed at least a kilo each.

Taken from , this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"No, seriously, what the fuck?"

Feeling panic starting to set in, I gritted my teeth and tried to organize my thoughts.

For so reason - probably due to the shock - my mind felt foggy, but I took a deep breath, and did my best to recall.

‘What was I doing?’

It's been a few months since I've lost my job.

‘My job?’

Ah, yes, after my last IT support job didn't work out, I've been trying to get a new one for the last few months.

Money wasn't too tight, and since I lived alone, I could probably scrape by for a few years if I really wanted.

'Wait, this is too far back. What was I doing recently?'

The fog in my head stubbornly refused to clear, but as I focused, more and more mories started to return.

‘Earlier this week, I had a phone interview. Can't rember who they were, but it doesn't matter.

Yesterday... yeah, just finished that Sci-Fi book. It was about.. ah, yes, the bounty hunter who accidentally saved the illegitimate child of an interplanetary gacorp's owner, only to find out the child, who was actually one of the owner's clones, was to be killed, because he accidentally discovered the dark secret behind the corporation's... wait, why am I even thinking about this useless stuff?'

‘Next day... I rember I vowed to finally clean the house.’

Of course, I decided to postpone it again (for the last ti, I swear), and instead I...

‘The library!’

I started going to the town library a few months back.

Usually, if I read anything, it'd be online, but so guy on a forum brought up a topic of online novels vs physical books, and, with all the free ti on my hands, I decided to give it a try.

Surprisingly, I've found so pretty good stuff.

Of course, there was a lot of chaff, but among the obscure stories by unknown writers, there were definitely a few hidden gems, especially so of the older books.

And so, today, I was going to return that last book, and scour the fantasy section in search of new discoveries.

'Hmm, why is it getting harder to rember? I definitely... Yes! I found my next book. What was it?..'

I rembered the book standing out to because of its pitch-black, old looking, yet also strangely srizing cover.

'The title was... hmm? Why can't I rember?'

I rembered picking up the book, reading the title and the first page, and taking it to the reception.

But no matter how hard I tried to rember any of the contents, it was as if the images in my mories were distorted by so kind of static.

I did, however, rember the old lady at the reception giving a strange look.

‘Wait, I think she said she didn't even rember this book being in the library.’

But, there was a protocol for this type of stuff, so she plastered so temporary barcode on the back and let take it.

It was already pretty late, so I picked up so pizza on my way ho, and decided to start reading right after dinner.

'I rember sitting on the sofa, ready to open the book. But why can't I rember anything else?'

I tried my best to recall anything else, but it was as if my mories were cut off right at that mont.

I felt the cold sweat at the back of my neck.

‘Why? Why can’t I rember?’

No, there had to be sothing. For so reason, I felt like there was sothing I'm missing.

Trying to rember again, I suddenly felt the sa strange, indescribable feeling that I felt right as I was about to open the pitch-black book.

Gathering every shred of will I had left, I tried my best to focus on that feeling.

And the mont I finally grasped that feeling, suddenly, translucent symbols and words suddenly covered my vision.

【Na】Sebastian (Ǎ̸ͅḷ̷̆ê̴͕̳x̷͎̪̎ ̵̭͗͐S̸̞̒̉m̴̝̙̈͠i̶̟͖͐t̷͔̣͗̌h̷̝͘͝)

‘What the hell?!’

In panic, I tried to shake my head, but the writing didn’t disappear.

Instead, it appeared to ‘scroll down’, as different words and descriptions blurred past.

‘What is-’

Suddenly, the rapid flow of translucent symbols stopped, as if there was simply nothing more to scroll through.

The new line sent a chilling, ominous wave down my spine.

[Soul Contamination] - Your soul shall be corroded in 1047 days.