Fog and Shattered Glass

If I were to describe the town of Fulova in one word, it would be strange.

We entered Fulova on a foggy day.

The townspeople seemed normal, the buildings were sturdy, and as I walked on the streets nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Maybe it’s this strange smell that is ever pervasive in this town. It’s not just the smell of corpses and excrement like Raya said, but I just can’t figure out what the secret ingredient is.

Not to mention the name of the town. It feels like there is some sort of joke waiting there but I can’t seem to find the right punchline. Fulova lotta shit? Fulova dick?

–It doesn’t sound right. It doesn’t roll off the tongue.

But even more than that is this strange feeling I’ve had since I got here. Everything feels strange even though the things happening around me look normal. I talked to Raya about it but she didn’t seem to notice anything.

It’s the kind of feeling that’s hard to describe.

Maybe you could call this intuition. But it doesn’t even feel as tangible as that. I just know something isn’t right here.

After we settled at an inn, I couldn’t get this strange feeling out of my head so I went up to the roof of the building to get some fresh air and a better view of this town.

Though the fog was thicker than it had been a few moments ago, I could still make out the outline of a man standing on the roof.

Walking closer to him, I could also see what he was standing on.

He was balancing on the lip of roof, closer to the edge than I had ever truly been.

- - - - - - -

???: Oh hey man, what’s up?

Noticing my footsteps behind me, he turned around and greeted me with a smile. He seemed strangely energetic, like his body was rushing with adrenaline.

I remember feeling that way myself.

Adam: Pretty good man, what uh… what are you up to?

???: Oh me? I’m just about to jump off this roof and kill myself.

Adam: Right, sounds… fun. Wanna talk for a little bit before you leave? What’s your name? I’m Adam.

???: Ah, sorry for being rude Adam, my name is Samuel. Are you goanna try to stop me?

Samuel stepped a few feet away from the edge and towards me.

It felt kind of awkward to just be standing like this so I sat down on the floor cross legged.

This made it even more awkward because I was now looking up at this guy, but then he sat down in front of me. So… success?

Adam: It would be pretty hypocritical of me to try and stop you from doing this, but at the very least I want to learn a bit about you and remember you if you do decide to go through with this.

Samuel: Yeah, I mean I want a reason to keep living but no such thing exists anymore. My parents and family died long ago, I have no money, no girlfriend, no friends, and I’m ugly as fuck.

Adam: hm, that’s a pretty good reason to kill yourself. I would probably do the same as you right now if I were in your position… It would take a lot of effort to change your life for the better so it’s a lot easier to just embrace the void. It’s all meaningless in the end anyways.

Samuel: Hah, so you understand the feeling. Then why are you here right now?

Pax: You could say that my attempt failed. After that, I got a chance to start over. But now, I’m not so sure if I was lucky back then or not. I’ll have to wait and see if it was worth it… You know, If there is still a part of you that can see even the tiniest bit of hope then I’d advise that you take that chance. I could help you out if you wanted.

Samuel took a few seconds to come to a conclusion and then stood up.

Samuel: Thanks Adam, I appreciate the offer but there would be no point to that. I would just be inconveniencing another kind person and making myself a burden. There is no saving me in the end. I’m too weak and, like you said, everything is equally meaningless.

Samuel walked over back to the edge as I calmly watched him.

He turned around and smiled at me.

Samuel: I hope that I don’t see you again for a long while.

Then he fell backwards into the fog.

After a second or two, I heard a thud in the distance.

I walked over to the edge of the building and looked down at where Samuel fell.

I saw his corpse but it was too foggy to make out the finer details.

Turning around, I spoke to the now empty rooftop.

Adam: What was the point in showing me this?

From the thick fog, a man stepped out with his geta.

He had short but messy beard, a topknot, and carried a sword over his shoulder. His loosely worn kimono added to his vibe of a “homeless samurai.”

???: The report said that you were emotionally and mentally weak, so I thought that this setup might work. Heh, who’d think that you’d do barely anything to stop that man from killing himself. Is it because you realized that this is a dream?

Adam: No, I only realized that this was a dream towards the end, when I felt my emotions moving unnaturally. If you wanted to harm my weak psyche you should’ve shown me something bad happening to Raya. Something like this can’t affect me.

It was in that moment that I happened to look down.

For some reason there was a small hole piercing through the middle of my chest. From it, some blood was leaking out.

???: heh, I gues it did work, but only a little bit.

I healed the hole in my chest while remaining wary against this strange man.

Adam: Was that a real man who just died there? Who are you?

The strange man’s geta clomped as he casually walked to across the rooftop while answering my questions.

???: Of course he was a real man. Someone at your level would instantly realize it if he were completely fake. And if you’re wondering, if you die in this dream, you die in real life too. Though it’s pretty late, my name is Lucius Drogo, welcome to my dream world.

Adam: So you’ve finally caught up with us? Why target me first?

Lucius: You don’t give yourself enough credit. Any wound we deal to Raya would instantly be healed by you, right? It’s only natural that we would take out the healer first.

Adam: I’m flattered, but aren’t you insulting my intelligence by so clearly buying time for your friends up in the real world?

Lucius: What are you talking about?

Adam: You think I can’t control my body if my mind is over here? Raya is currently fighting some fodder over there. From the looks of things, it doesn’t seem like your friends are putting up too much of a fight.

This entire conversation was just me buying enough time to establish a link with my real world body.

With blood manipulation, I can puppet my body around and help out Raya even if my mind is elsewhere.

Though I can’t see or hear anything, because Raya is still holding my hand in the real world I can also heal her. I can also tell that she’s unsheathed Ryuzu’s Fang.

Ryuzu’s Fang can grant its user the ability to sense their surroundings through electromagnetic waves. Raya managed to transfer a portion of this to me so I can vaguely see where the enemies are in the real world.

This only works because I’ve digested a portion of Raya’s soul in the past.

There are a lot of enemies around Raya, but they’re all weak. The main problem lies in how I’ll be able to escape this dream world.

Lucius: Interesting! It’s a shame, but in that case I’ll have to kill you now.

The fog stirred as Lucius grew several times in size. The surroundings changed into an open field with tall grass.

Hooded figures wielding katana’s stood up all around me.

I smiled nervously as I surveyed my surroundings.

Adam: Lightwork