Foster saw the starry sky above him, framed by the crowns of the trees he was surrounded by. Everything seemed just so unreal, but he himself felt surprisingly calm.
"I don't know those stars..." He whispered, trying to figure out if there was anything he could recognize up there. But there was nothing. No constellations, no familiar patterns, nothing. But at the same time, Foster didn't feel anything like panic or fear in response.
"Is it because of that... mental recovery?" Thinking back onto what those floating message boxes told him, he pushed himself off the ground. Foster's whole body was still completely covered in blood, most of which had dried at this point. He felt some pain in his chest, and bruises and smaller cuts were still covering his arms, legs and torso.
"Some broken ribs... a bit low on blood... Eh, I can live with that, I guess." With a load groan, heeding from the pain caused by his movement, Foster stood uip. His clothes had been mostly ripped up, but at least he wasn't running around naked.
Foster's mind felt eerily calm. It was a bit unsettling in itself, but he really didn't mind. Rather, he welcomed it. After all, if he were to start freaking out, he might have a tougher time figuring out what's happening.
"Is this that thing Jon was always into..? He made me watch some anime with him, but I never really paid attention." Foster thought to himself, "But if it is that thing, then... Erm... 'Status'?"
He felt a bit silly for trying this out, but it was the first thing that came to mind when he thought about those weird floating message boxes. And to his surprise, it actually worked. In front of his eyes, a translucent, slightly glowing rectangular pane appeared. It was like something in a game.
---
[Name: Foster Odin Locke][Age: 23]
[Race: Human][Class: None]
[HP: 11/25][MP: 10/10][SP: 17/30]
[Attributes]
[STR: 13][AGI: 15][END: 16]
[INT: 11][WIS: 10][CHA: 14]
[Titles]
-[He who is one with Death]
-[Otherworlder]
---
"Huh... It fucking worked..." In an attempt to see the information a bit better, Foster leaned forward and nearly pressed his face against this floating pane.
"I have no idea what any of this means. Is that high? Low? Average? And the fuck's with that title bit... 'He who is one with Death'? And 'Otherworlder'?" He focused on both of those lines the most for now, and it didn't take long until he saw something pop up in front of him once more. Two more of these message boxes.
---
[He who is one with Death]
[Rating: Unique]
[Description: A title specially created for Foster Odin Locke in response to the special circumstances under which he synchronised with the Archaic Records. He was brought close to death and recovered through it with the help of the system.]
[Effect: ???]
-
[Otherworlder]
[Rating: Legendary]
[Description: A title belonging to all those whose souls and bodies originated in another world.]
[Effect: None]
---
Foster looked at the two boxes one after another, but that didn't help all that much when it came to his confusion, "Alright, I get how I got the first one, but what's up with that second one... Fucking 'Otherworlder'? Another world? How's that even-" He was just so confused. He was trying to say that this was clearly impossible, when he remembered that creature that he encountered earlier. It didn't seem like anything that existed on earth, at least. Did that mean that this really was another world? The stars seemed foreign to Foster as well, although he would like to call himself quite knowledgeable in that field.
"Maybe I'm just super fucking high?" He suggested to himself, but that didn't make much sense either, it's been a while since he had taken anything like drugs. The boss would get pissed if he tried their wares, after all, "The stars seemed unfamiliar as well..."
Foster tried to think about what he was supposed to do, and in the end, just let out a deep groan, "Ah shit... Guess I just gotta go? Erm... I don't think there's gonna be anyone looking for me here... But maybe there's some kinda ranger station around or something. Must be a way to find it." With heavy, exhausted steps, Foster started to make his way forward. That was the only way he could really go, after all. He had to find his way out of this forest somehow. Maybe finding a river would be a good first step.
With such thoughts, he made his way through the thicket that made up the forest. There were no paths, so he got stuck plenty of times.
"God fucking- ow!" He exclaimed, hitting a bug off his arm. It was some kind of huge beatle or cicada. But when Foster hit it away, it was like he hit a rock, "What the fuck was that?"
Curiously, he looked at where the bug landed. He managed to spot it a few meters away, as it was trying to roll over onto its stomach again. Foster squatted down and picked it back up to take a closer look. To his surprise, the bug's exoskeleton was really incredibly tough. It was a dirty white color, and from inbetween the cracks of its exoskeleton and its weaker parts, something like a blood-red color shone through.
"Huh, looks like bone and blood. Neat." Foster said with a light grin. He looked at this beetle with a light smile as he let it go. It flew off immediately and landed on the side of one of the trees.
"There's all kinds of stuff here, huh?" His confusion slowly being replaced by curiosity, Foster continued through the forest. He found many interesting things. Weird bugs he's never seen before, and plants that seemed absolutely crazy. Although, the further he continued forward, the more things took on a certain theme.
Those bone-beetles became more frequent, and the trees seemed withered and dead. There were plants that looked like they were drenched in blood, covered with sharp thorns.
"Maybe I should turn back." Foster muttered, "Maybe walk into some other direction..."
He sat down on a decently-sized rock nearby, and started to think. It had been brightening up for a little while now, and it was around then that the sun finally hit Foster's eyes directly, "I haven't even been walking around for that long... I was really out for a good while, huh?" He muttered to himself as he rubbed his eyes, "Maybe I should find somewhere to sleep? But that'd be a dumb idea if there's more of those weird fucking dogs are running around..."
Foster closed his eyes in thought. A few minutes later, he came to a conclusion for what he should do, and opened his eyes as he stepped off the rock again. But all the thinking that he just did turned out to be completely useless, since he then saw something that changed everything.
He saw a person's silhouette! They were standing inbetween him and the sun, so they were hard to see, but it was definitely a person. Immediately, Foster started running over toward them with a broad smile, "Yo! You're a life-saver, I'm completely fucking lost!"
He ran over toward this person while waving his hand. However, instead of approaching Foster as well, or even just waiting there, the figure turned around and began to walk away.
"Hey dude, just wait a second! I really need your help right now!" Foster exclaimed, getting somewhat pissed off. It seemed rather rude to just walk away when someone obviously needed your help. Luckily, however, it didn't take long for him to catch up to this person. He ran up beside them and turned his head.
"Again, could you maybe help me or something? I don't have any money with me or anything, but... but..." Foster finally looked into the face of this person, but it took him a moment to register what exactly he was seeing.
This wasn't a person. Maybe it used to be, but not anymore. All the skin and flesh that used to be on its face rotted away, leaving nothing but a boney skull. The empty eyesockets were illuminated by the sun, showing that there wasn't even a brain inside through a small crack on the inside.
"Holy fucking shit... What are you?" Foster asked, "Is this like an animatronic? Or a puppet or something?"
Confused, the young man pressed his hand onto this creature's chest to pull away the shirt of the martial-arts uniform that it was wearing, trying to see whoever was carrying this fake upper body. However, all that he could see were more bones, with a glowing glass orb floating in the center of its torso where its heart was supposed to be.
Without a moment's hesitation, Foster pulled the shirt back over this creature's chest, before staring into its eye-sockets.
"Are you, like, an actual skeleton? Is that even possible?" He asked confused, before squinting heavily, "Maybe I am high after all..."
This creature, the skeletal man, turned its head toward Foster. It was just staring at him, or it would have if it had any eyes to do so. Its lower jaw slowly split from the rest of its skull, as a voice with an impossible source flowed out of its nonexistent throat.
"?%!&$§/`´&///(..." This voice echoed through Foster's mind. It was in a language that he didn't understand in the slightest.
"Ehh... What?" He asked, startled and confused. It was able to talk, even if Foster didn't know the language. And it seemed fairly reasonable to him, or at least the skeletal man didn't seem aggressive in the slightest.
Slowly, the creature raised its hand and pointed its palm at Foster. Once more, it said something, but it didn't seem directed at him directly this time, although Foster didn't know how he knew that. A few moments later, a voice could be heard in his mind. The voice was the same as the one he heard from the skeleton just a few moments ago..
"=&§(°!^." This voice no longer could be heard outside in reality, but instead was something that simply echoed through his thoughts like an internal monologue, even if it wasn't his own. And he quickly knew what those words he didn't know until just now meant.
"Do you understand me?" The voice asked, and Foster stared back a bit taken aback, "Yeah, I understand you..." He muttered, and the skeletal man slowly nodded his head and continued walking.
"Come with me. We shall speak as we walk." The voice added. Clearly, it must come from that skeletal man, although Foster still had no idea how this was possible.. But this was the first 'person' that he had encountered here in this forest, so it felt like a good idea to at least try and talk to him for a while.
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