West of the city of Astreal, lay a flat, disgusting underdeveloped city, Verstri. It was, arguably, the ugliest, most disgusting place in the Kingdom of Planta … arguably.
All the buildings looked different — with generations of craftsmanship to thank. Though they weren't exactly pleasant to look at, being made from wooden poles, cement, and mismatched decorations. The houses sat in neat rows — perhaps to emphasize just how ugly the city really was.
Tables and chairs were scattered outside the crooked houses, making the narrow lanes feel cramped. With vendors crowding nearly every corner, it wasn't exactly a pleasant sight.
In one of these chairs, there was a 16-year old girl. She had red hair, unkept, dirty, and ruined the visible past beauty it possessed. Her eyes were brown. She was wearing a black shirt, black pants, along with white sandals.
She was in a shadow, a large shadow. The shadow of a towering wall. The wall's shadow engulfed the entirety of Verstri.
She looked at the wall, turned her head slightly to see a gate. The gate was 120-metres tall. 20 metres above the humongous wall. Its circular head was the part sticking out.
The wall was thick. 40 metres thick. Guards were around the entrance, inside the entrance and inside Astreal. The gate was barred. With half a foot of space to squeeze through, guards standing by 24-7. And a height that no one could climb, the wall was invincible….At least there should have been....
For some reason, no guards were present.
Along with that, the girl felt a sense of familiarity…
A sense she could not rush away.
***
Mio walked out of his home, something was off.
His mother had told him to attend a glorified ritual at the church. What reason did he have to deny? The church would never endanger him…..
Passing by countless buildings, Mio feels strange. He can't tell what makes him feel this way. Passing over a bridge he ponders on various things.
The provinces of planta, his mother, Blessings of Marly… Hell, he even almost thought of those abominable 'monsters'.
Passing over the bridge, he looks at the water underneath. It felt off. Something felt missing.
'I've walked this bridge a lot now, haven't I?' Mio wasn't sure.
Entering a church, he sees a multitude of seats. Behind the seats, was a door.
A young man with black short hair came through the door.
He brought him into the room. He placed his hand on a Testerty.
It glowed.
As it did he felt sleepy.
And everything went black…
***
Again and again, Mio, without noticing it, lives through the same day.
….
***
Passing over a river via bridge, Mio ponders on Blessings of Marly.
Each Blessing came with a creature. This creature resided in one's soul.
Usually, this creature is of no help. Simply residing in one's soul. But there were some rare cases in which they were affiliated with the blessing directly.
Cases such as:
A priest in the capital of Planta, Beru. His Blessing allowed him to change the taste of food that he eats… at least we thought it was him. Instead, his creature was the one who chose what the food would taste like. Usually it was based on the creature's personal favourites.
***
After reaching the church, he pressed the Testerty, and then slept. The only difference was that now he wasn't in his original room.
***
"It has been quite a while, Mio."
The voice was soft, but Its mere being made Mio shiver.
At first, Mio was confused as to where he was, but now he slightly understood.
He was still in his room, it was just that the entire world was engulfed in a blue-grey fog. Along with this, everything felt off. It felt as if they weren't real objects, but cheap replicas.
"Do I not have enough presence for you to even acknowledge me?"
The voice said it with a saddened, sarcastic voice.
Turning his head, Mio finally saw the source of it.
A Fully black being, well almost.
The creature had various white scratches on his body. The most apparent was a 'x' shaped scar in the center of his chest.
There were a few leaking injuries. But they were quite minor. As if he had just gotten in a fight with a rabid cat.
Mio couldn't be mesmerized by the mysterious body just yet. As he looked at him, various memories flowed into his mind….. If you could even call them memories.
It was the same setting over and over again. Although they had unique thought processes.
"This is a blessing of that damned church rat. He had infected you about 3 years ago…."
Mio's eyes widened. He had a general idea of the situation.
A Blessing of Marly had placed him in a constant state of hallucination. In this illusion, you would relive the same day over and over again.
"To escape this hallucination, you have to kill both the Fiend, and the host."
After a long pause, he continued.
"I've already dealt with the Fiend, but you have to deal with the host. But don't be fooled, although you might be able to defeat him here, this is simply an illusion. After killing him, you would break the Blessing's ability and your mental state will be sent back to the…. real world."
With a sigh he speaks again.
"What lies there is beyond my ability to conceive. Only you can deal with what comes after."
Mio, finally speaking, said something that caught the creature off guard.
"I understand all of that…. But With all respect …. Offered? What is my Blessing?"
"Is that really what you want to know? Not more information on the time loop?"
Mio produced an embarrassed smile.
The creature stared at him with an annoyed expression. And with a sigh, he answered.
"I can't explain all of that right now. The Blessing you got us in is disrupting my connection with you. Please kill that bastard, if you don't I'll have to fight that… thing… again"
As he said this, the imaginary world began to crumble.
The creature spoke one last time.
"My name is Void… by the way."
The walls of his room peeled like wet paint, dripping into the fog. His bed cracked like old paper. Void's body flickered like a dying flame
And so the world crumbled.
***
Looking out the window beside his bed, he sees a repetitious, red and brown blur of towering houses. His house was not on the ground. Astreal was known for the high structures of houses, they called them apartment buildings, something unlike any other city did.
Turning his head slightly, he sees a tree. It was hovering over him, making the seemingly giant apartment building seem small. The only reason Mio had even bothered to grace the damned thing with his gaze was because its shadow was heavily obstructing his view of the dreadful city…..
But he quickly took these pivotal thoughts out of his head. He had a strange goal after all.
The church member still took breath after all…...