My feet pitter and pattered as the splashes I made with every heavy step dampened the socks I wore. The brick concrete roads were layered with puddles and soaked in water from last night.
I was dashing across the flooded streets in a hurry to get to the guild house: I had overslept this morning.
'Last night, it was raining like crazy. I wonder when it'll finally get warmer here.'
"Hah... they really should make the guild closer."
My feet slightly ached in pain as I walked, the wet socks weren't helping either as I felt like I was stepping on a dirty rag.
'I'm almost there, finally.'
I looked down ahead of me at the concrete road, there was a massive, dirty puddle right before me as the concrete was cracked and chipped. The neglect of care for this place was relatively evident.
The houses were constructed with simple wooden medieval designs even though there were smart phones and modern cities with magic powered trains.
They looked run-down as if the entire house was a dusty attic with supports barely holding up the roof of your house. There were countless cracks and fractures in the walls of the houses around me.
But...
A house was missing. My home.
Or well the place I called my home.
My breath hitched, a sharp single breath escaping from my agape mouth.
'What?'
The Phantom Guild, overnight, had fallen.
The people who I cherished as friends. The comrades who had fought tooth and nail with me. The home that I had found after losing my own.
The friends I called brothers and sisters.
Gone–not a single trace of them left.
The beams that barely supported our guild had broken off like twigs, scattered around the remains of the place.
'I always thought the place was gonna collapse... but I never thought it would.'
The times I slammed my fist against the already cracked walls or when I broke a wooden beam and was heavily scolded by Reyna.
"I really should've treated you better, my friend."
It seemed weird, strange–yet to me this place was alive.
We made it alive.
And now that there is no "We." It's gone. No longer alive to tell the tale of The Phantom Guild.
The tale of the Ghost Detective.
'That nickname was really really stupid.'
I didn't cry, but my eyes flooded with water, it felt like I was just on the cusp of tears, but I couldn't.
I wanted to, but the tears just never flowed.
All the memories flooded in, and I just sat there puzzled, completely puzzled, at the idea that it was all gone.
'I just can't wrap my head around it. It's gone. It's really really gone.'
A single tear flowed from my eyes gleaming like crystals of ice.
"I'll avenge you... I'll find who did this. I won't let them go. I won't."
I promised to them; I promised to me–the people who did this. They'll suffer.
I'll pay them back a thousand-fold.
'I need to go. I shouldn't stay here for too long.'
My feet still ached; they were even colder than before. It felt like I was walking in an ice-cold lake as the splashes of water soaked the cuffs of my pants.
However, I couldn't feel it. No, I just didn't care.
'I need to get home, find out who did this, and I need to make a plan. Are they looking for me? My house is far from the guild so they shouldn't be able to find me. Should I move?'
Hundreds of thoughts, questions sprinted through my head like a herd of bison. It felt heavy just like my eyes. I had to rush to the guild so I couldn't brew a cup of coffee.
'If I didn't oversleep. Would I have saved them?'
"Hah..."
'Who am I kidding? I'm too weak even John could beat me.'
Sure, for a kid, I was a genius, but in front of real awakeners. I was a bug, a footnote to be discarded. My body was simply too weak to take advantage of my skills.
My breath was haggard, it was rugged, sharp, and heavy–but I didn't care. Even if I grasped desperately for air as I walked, even if I was practically limping back to my house.
I needed to get home. I needed to plan the next move.
'My apartment building, it's just up ahead.'
I thought the broken remains of the guild was the worst of it...
a head, lifeless, the former glimmer and shine in their beautiful eyes gone. There was no blood just a fleshy, ragged head left in a small cardboard box.
"Reyna..."
Her red hair flowed like silk as if it were a rich fabric, her crimson eyes that used to meet every guild member with glee and welcome.
Had met mine's with nothing.
It was in pristine quality, no dirt or dampness as if it had been washed and cleaned like a shirt before being placed before me.
A gift from The House of Ember. Take good care of it, Ghost Detective.
My body collapsed to the floor; it had completely given out. My butt and the palms of my hands struck against the hard floor. My breath hitched, it grew faster, sharper like a flashing blade.
My eyes were shocked completely open–How? How did they know?
My breath thundering, blaring in my ears like a siren. I was truly grasping for air as I began coughing, my sides ached, and I gaged out, saliva dripping from my mouth.
I clutched my chest, my heart ached. Fear resounded in my head, drumming into it like a hammer.
And I ran. I ran, the pain in my feet burned and ached with every step, but I kept running.
My entire body trembled–a mix of fear, cold, and devastation.
'I need to run. I need to run as fast as I can! I have to escape! They know where I am.'
I just kept running, I didn't know what from, I didn't even know if they were in my apartment.
But eventually, my legs had given out. I collapsed into a wall of an alleyway; the concrete ground was damp and covered in dirt and grime, but I didn't care.
My bottom was completely soaked, and my clothes were ruined. Splashes of water covered every part of my white sweater and deep brown cargo pants.
I looked as if I had just walked out of a swamp, as dirt and water clung to my body.
The walls around me were cracked and damaged like every other place here.
Trash, papers, wrappers, bottles they were all scattered against the floor as I kept breathing.
My throat was burning, jagged, it felt like daggers were slashed across my throat.
Then I saw it...
a crimson red book. It was untouched by the dirt, pristine and red just like–
'No, no, no.'
I backed up into the wall, but I wasn't moving anywhere as I kicked my legs against the water-covered concrete.
Dirty, brown water splashed against the book, but it was still completely fine.
'Where did this come from? Is it a trap? Did the House of Ember leave it for me?'
My knees hit the concrete further ruining my pants, but at this point, it didn't matter.
My fingers trembled, spasming like a broken doll, and yet my index finger barely scratched the surface of the book.
A bright light flashed before me–information, knowledge, words etched into my memory as if they were always there.
"Lumen Kalov, The Hero. The Protagonist. You'll be the one to save the world."
A voice began speaking, but from where?
It was husky, raspy, you could tell the man was tired, his voice was low and brittle as he spoke.
"Now who should be the female lead?"
Clicking and clattering, the tapping of keys on a computer.
"Agh!"
I clutched my head in pain, it burned like my head was set on fire, my fingers digging into my temples.
Lumen sat there, The House of Ember–The man who killed his family sprawled out in front of him. His sword hung low, as he looked up at the sky and said "Reyna... forgive me."
Lumen, his sword flowing across the battlefield with a dazzling speed. All the demons that stood before him were cut down in an instant. Black ichor gushed out of their bodies like geysers. A pure display of his pure, raw power.
As the last demon general was slain, Lumen once again drew his sword, it glowed in a holy warmth radiating the field in a brilliant light; it contrasted the blood splattered across his clothes and his eyes devoid of life or warmth. Black ichor still dripping from the cuffs of his shirt.
"You're telling me… my entire life isn't even real?"
My hands trembled vigorously, my fingers clutching as if I were trying to dig into the dirty wet concrete.
My fingers twitched and spasmed like a broken puppet, a marionette who had learned too much.
My throat still burned, and the air I was just desperately grasping for all escaped. Sharp and heavy, I desperately tried to catch the air I was exhaling, but it just kept rushing out. Faster and faster, louder and louder.
Resounding, shaking in my ears with every breath.
"Why!?"
"Why me!? Why did I have to be the protagonist... why?"
I clawed at my scalp, pulling my hair downward, clutching onto my strands of golden hair, they used to shine brightly in the light, but now. Dirt and water clung to the hair like a dirty kitchen rag.
"How? How...?"
And then a robotic, clear voice resounded in my head as if giving me a reminder that I'm truly in this world.
[Congratulations, you have unlocked Forbidden Knowledge.]
[Gift Acquired: Keeper of the Forbidden Knowledge.]