I reincarnated in game

10 Awaken System

Darkness hung all about Hugh.  He tried to open his eyes; his eyelids felt like they weighed a ton and resisted his attempts.  He thought he could sense some movement around him; or is it he who was moving?

“Am I dead?  Am I alive, but just blind?  Maybe I am just dreaming …” Hugh struggled to make sense of what was happening.  He could remember the fall; he could remember hitting the ground but nothing after that … so why did it feel like he was moving?  He struggled to open his eyes once again; he was partially successful as only one eye opened a mere slit.  Through the narrow opening, he saw a blurry, indistinct body near him.  He tried to move his arms; his body did not respond; just thinking about moving caused him to become aware of the pain coming from every part of his body … “Well, if I am in this much pain, it probably means I am not dead!” he moaned. 

Blackness began to close in on Hugh once again.  He fought to remain conscious.  He tried to open his eyes once more.  This time, he could make out some shapes and colours, but the images seemed to be very jerky in their movements.  He felt something bump him; his head rolled to the side.  He appeared to be in a small concave of garbage; it had probably been created by the impact of his landing.  A mound of trash seemed to be passing by him ... he looked down towards his toes and saw that someone was dragging him by his feet.  He could discern that the person pulling on him was wearing a brownish, hooded cloak.  Hugh tried to focus on the figure in front of him.  At one point, he thought he could distinguish what appeared to be the side of a smooth, white, porcelain jaw of a very thin person, but he couldn’t be certain.  The pain was made worse by the jostling of his body over the uneven terrain.  He lost his bid to remain conscious, and, once again, drifted off into the darkness.

While he was drifting in the darkness, he once again heard the disembodied voice of the narrator from Ether Sword.  “You have reached a critical point.  You must choose to either exit the game and die, or use a Continue.  If you choose the latter, you will have to restart at Level Zero and work your way up from there.  Please advise which path you will choose.”

Hugh remembered his mother’s words; without hesitation, he chose to use a Continue.

“Good choice, Hugh.  Although you will be starting at the beginning again, you will be able to absorb from the five basic magic elements of water, fire, earth, wind and thunder.  These can be used individually, or mixed to make other branches of magic.”     

Hugh’s body began to rejuvenate as it started absorbing little bits of magic from the wind.  The particles fell and attached to his body; like raindrops, they flowed over him and seeped into his skin.  Hugh’s neurons fired behind his still closed eyes, however, his body remained inert.  His muscles, bruised and swollen; his bones, sore and broken, slowly started to heal.  His cuts faded; his wounds slowly closed and began to mend. 

In a few hours, Hugh’s consciousness returned and he was able to take in his surroundings.  He saw that he was in a small room; the walls were constructed of varying widths of the board, nailed to rough wooden posts, in an effort to keep out the elements.  He was lying on a hard, flat surface, fairly low to the ground.  It appeared to be a workman’s bench.  Not yet realizing the extent of his healing, he gingerly climbed down from the platform, wondering if the pain he had felt earlier would return … it didn’t.

He opened the rudimentary door.  The shack he had been in was situated on a low hill which overlooked a small village.  The buildings were pretty dilapidated.  There were various piles of junk around and between the houses; materials which appeared to have been scavenged from trash piles which could be seen in the distance.  Some domestic animals could be seen grazing on rough patches of grass; scraggly vegetables struggled to grow in what appeared to be a community garden.  There were some trees in the distance; it is likely they served as a source of building material and fuel to heat the homes.

While he was taking in his new surroundings, someone came out of one of the houses and turned to follow the narrow path leading up to where he was standing.  Hugh did a double-take; he closed his eyes, shook his head, and even considered pinching himself to see if he was truly awake … when his eyes re-opened, it was still there … above the head of the man climbing the hill, Hugh clearly saw an epithet which showed his level, health bar, occupation and attribute points … he was a level one villager, at full health. 

“Huh?  That’s weird!” Hugh mused to himself.  He then did a self-inspection.  He saw he was showing as a Crystal of mixed race, currently at level zero, with forty per cent health; one hundred experience points away from levelling up.  “That’s new … pretty good information to have if I might say so, myself!”

His introspection was interrupted by the villager, who said, “Hey, you’re alive?  We thought you were dead!”

“Yea, me too … but I used a Continue …”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing .., nothing …” Hugh replied, then asked, “Were you the one who brought me here?”

“No.  It was the wanderer who dragged you in.  We all thought her efforts were in vain because you didn’t look as if you were going to make it.  My name is Morris, by the way,” he said as he reached out to shake Hugh’s hand.

The epithet above Morris’s head blinked; now it showed his name, along with the other attributes … “Oh, it’s interactive … it updates as new information becomes available … that’s a plus!” Hugh commented to himself.

“My name is Hugh,” he replied, continuing the conversation.  “Where is this wanderer; I would like to thank her.”

“She usually hangs out in the tallest tree in the woods at the edge of the village.  She doesn’t talk to hardly anyone; keeps pretty much to herself.  Her place is at the end of that road down there,” said Morris, pointing to the left.

Hugh thanked him, and then set off in the direction Morris had indicated.  When he got to the house, he knocked on the door but received no answer.  He smiled to himself; the door was hanging at an awkward angle, just like the door to his mom’s place after it had been kicked off its hinges. 

Absently, his hand went to the urn around his neck … it was gone!