The vision of Anna Wara

There was a little blonde girl standing in the middle of the forest. That was how the memory flashback I was currently seeing started.

All around her, the winds were picking up, causing the trees, leaves, and grass to sway in the breeze. The sky was dark, signs of an incoming storm on the horizon. Out of nowhere, lightning struck within the clouds with a thunderous boom, and the biggest portal the girl had ever seen, a massive white void the size of the moon, began forming up above. The memories came in fragments after that.

Nightmarish creatures poured through the portal in waves. Some were flying, others ran on all fours. They were everywhere, killing people, slaughtering them, eating them. They came in different shapes and sizes, different classes and abilities, different types, intelligence, and intentions.

There was chaos and suffering in every direction the little girl turned. No one could stop the monsters. Not entire kingdoms, not entire armies. Nobody. The monsters had free rein over everything and everyone, and they were doing as they pleased.

These truly were the last days for humanity. The entire world was rapidly coming to an end. The little blonde girl fell on her knees and began crying. Soon, she was also consumed by the darkness.

And just as abruptly as the vision appeared, it ended. I suddenly found myself standing alone in a dark void. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound. It was the end of existence, the end of all life.

***

“Hunter! Wake up!”

I slowly opened my eyes and found myself staring up at the high ceiling of the cursed castle. That's right, I was still in here. I had been grinding for levels, and shortly after killing the Zombeast, I passed out from an incoming memory flashback. Damn, my head hurt like crazy. What was that strange vision just now?

“Hunter, are you okay? Can you hear me? What happened?”

“Yeah,” I replied to my AI companion as I got to my feet, rubbing the back of my neck. “I think I'm fine. Not sure what happened, though. But it's probably nothing to worry about.”

“Oh, okay,” Rachel responded, sounding a little confused. “But check this out. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

She brought up my stats screen in the center of my vision, displaying it in full.

__________

Basic Info:

Name: Hunter

Age: 22

Height: 7’2”

Weight: 360 pounds

Class: Monster Slayer, Weapon Summoner

Level: 38

Skills:

Combat Level: 68%

Weapon Summoning: Level 27

Cooldown time for summoning: deactivated, multiple item spawning now unlocked

Available Weapons and Items:

Bow

Arrows

Sword

Dagger

Gloves

Book

Spear

Special Abilities:

Weapon Summoning by Voice: Available

AI Companion: Active

AI Capability: 34%

AI Spell Casting: Available

Enhanced Speed and Agility: 38%

Brute Strength: 30%

__________

I was speechless for a moment, not really sure what to say or do. After only just clearing the first floor, I was finally strong enough to take on a Widowmaker without fear of it overpowering me.

I was ten times stronger, faster, I had a new skill, and I was free from the cooldown timer on my summoning ability. I could endlessly switch between my weapons now. Granted, I only had a few of them to work with at the moment, but having the limit removed entirely was already a huge advantage.

"That's cool," I said, smiling as I stared at my stats. "I see you also got a new skill of your own." My gaze focused on where it said: AI Spell Casting: Available. "Does that mean we can use magic now?" I asked.

"First of all," Rachel began, "I get a lot of skills, abilities, and upgrades I do not show you." She closed out of my stats window and brought up her own. It was basically a long list of custom updates, bug fixes, performance enhancements, and adjustments: the kinds of things only she would find fascinating.

"As you can see, it's mostly just boring background maintenance work," she said. "Things you don't have to worry about because I already got it covered. But I wanted to brag a little about the new one I got, and that's why I showed it to you."

"Oh? How very professional of you." I mocked, calling out the near childish behavior of my AI companion. She simply laughed it off then continued talking.

"But yes, we are able to use magic now, and guess what? The black book you found back at the cabin, well, as it turns out, it's a spell book, and, drum roll please... I can read it. Yay."

"Awesome," I responded to Rachel, smiling, and genuinely impressed by our progress. I resumed walking through the mostly empty second room of the castle, searching for a way down to the next floor. I soon found a flight of stairs. The steps led down to a single wooden door.

"It's going to take some getting used to, plus there's a bit of a learning curve, but yeah, we can use magic from here on out."

I went down the flight of stairs and placed my hand on the doorknob. The image of the little blonde girl flashed through my mind in that moment. "What the hell was that about?" I muttered.

Up until this point, I had mainly been receiving flashbacks of my previous life—nothing more, nothing less. So why was I suddenly seeing the memories of someone else? Someone I didn't even recognize.

It seemed like whoever she was, she had been having visions of her own. Nightmares of monsters pouring into this world and killing everything in sight. For a kid her age, it must have been traumatic for her to witness, over and over again, every time she closed her eyes to sleep.

"Hunter, you okay?" my AI companion called out to me, checking on the reason for my momentary halt in action. "Is it about the dream you just had?" she asked, taking me by surprise.

"How did you...?"

"How did I know about the dream?" she stated, completing my thought before I could even finish articulating it. "Whenever you go to sleep, your brain sends out these signals that tell me you're dreaming. This is how I know you saw something just now when you were unconscious. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later," I responded, my head lowered. "For now, let's just focus on clearing out this castle and finding the wizard."

Sword in hand, I pushed open the door to reveal the second floor, which was almost a one-to-one identical copy of the first. Fire lamps hung on the walls, bathing the interior in a soft glow. Black-and-white checkered tiling decorated the ground. And at the center of the large room, it looked like I had a welcome party already waiting for me.

A bunch of regular zombies numbering up to twenty, and four ten-foot-tall Zombeasts standing behind them like undead commanders.

I stepped into the large room and closed the door behind me. This was going to be an interesting fight.