With nothing but a blue sky before me and the edge of the rooftop below, I came back to my senses.
The tears had stopped. My fingers twitched and then moved.
I was finally in control of my body.
My hands trembled as they wiped off the tears on my face and then I stepped down from the edge.
In an instant the rooftop began dissolving into grey mist. The empty space stretched more and more without any sound.
But my hand remained and the system wasn't announcing the end, it wasn't over. I still needed to kill the boss.
I began walking in a direction.
The sound of footsteps and doctors rushing a stretcher came back to my mind.
I had a feeling, I'd never again get the chance to see that person's face. Were they the dead parents from the illusion? Were they based on a fleeting distant memory of my parents that I don't remember anymore?
After walking for a long time, a distant cry could be heard and a familiar city emerged. Except this time the roads and buildings were all broken down with no sign of life.
The buildings were still standing. Intact, for the most part. Windows unbroken, was broken uncollapsed, streetlights lined the roads, some still lit, others flickering weakly.
Cars were left where they had stopped. Some doors ripped off. One had its windshield shattered inward, another was flipped onto its side, metal warped but not burned. Trash bins lay overturned, contents scattered, not by wind but by force.
Storefronts showed signs of impact with their windows broken, but the interiors were largely untouched. No looting, even though there were obvious signs of struggle.
Walking inside a convenience store, I waited carefully by the window, making sure I can't be seen from outside. Several seconds afterward a drone quickly flew by on the street.
It certainly wasn't a drone for rescue operations.
Sigh.
Whatever was happening here, as long as I can grasp the way I needed to go I'll be able to learn it. But there was somewhere I wanted to go first.
Home
I began jogging.
Between a school and a bank stood an old apartment complex. On the fourth floor, there should have been an apartment numbered 404.
As I reached the building, a fourth-floor window shattered and someone fell. A split second later, a robot leapt out after her.
Just before she touched the ground her descend slowed and her hood slipping back to revealing her face, blonde hair framing features that made my breath catch.
She looked exactly like me.
Without hesitation, she bolted down the street, the robot in close pursuit.
I quickly chased after them.
Anything can happen inside an illusion world, but it was still flabbergasting to see a doppelganger.
The girl turned a corner into an alleyway and the robot followed behind her.
I approached the alley cautiously and peeked around the corner.
The girl had been cut off. Another robot stood in her path, blocking the narrow exit. The first closed in from behind. For a brief moment, none of them moved.
They faced each other in a tense standstill.
Crumple.
The sound below my feet was impossibly loud.
Both robots and the girl looked at me who was peeking into the alley.
The girl's eyes were especially wide after seeing someone who looked just like her.
Oh dear.
She moved first.
The girl lunged forward and drove her foot into the robot closest to me. Metal rang out as it staggered back. Before I could react, she grabbed my hand and pulled me after her, breaking into a run.
Her voice tore apart between breaths.
"Who—are—you?"
My lungs burned almost immediately, my stamina was terrible compared to hers.
"There's no time"
Her hand tightened but we continued to run.
We turned a corner at full speed and burst into the city square, the two robots still right on our heels.
Suddenly between the city tower and skyscraper a gigantic baby appeared as large as a 5 store building.
"There!" The girl pulled.
We ran across the city square and the two robots chased fast.
"BonBon!"
The baby looked in our direction and then at the two robots following us.
"Don't slow," the girl yanked my arm again.
We ran.
Every step felt heavier, like the air itself was thickening. Behind us, metal slammed against pavement. We reached the edge of the square just as the baby's shadow swallowed us.
I glanced back.
The baby's massive hand had grabbed one of the robot by the torso and lifted it into the air. But the other one was still chasing us.
The robot lunged at us.
"BonBon!" the girl's screeched and then pushed me forward.
I stumbled and hit the ground hard, the air knocked from my lungs.
In the same instant, the robot slammed into her. She was driven down beneath its weight, metal scraping against the pavement as it pinned her.
"BonBon!"
The baby giggled and shook its hand holding the other robot as the robot began dragging the girl away who was struggling to get out of the robot's grip.
I scrambled up from the ground and kicked the robot. But the robot gripped at my hand too and despite how many times I kicked it the sheer metal thing just didn't budge.
It continued to drag the both of us forward no matter how much we resisted.
"BONBON!" the girl screamed angrily.
At that moment the sound of giggling stopped and a big and chubby hand grabbed the robot and lifting it. The hand grabbing onto me was still free and pulled up along with it.
"Bonbon!" the girl's scream could be heard.
The baby's other hand reached for me, wrapping around my body and pulling in the opposite direction.
For a brief, horrifying moment, I was caught in the blind.
The robot refused to let go. Metal fingers bit into my wrist as the pressure increased, my arm screaming in protest, tendons burning as if they were about to tear.
Pain shot through me, sharp and blinding.
Something was going to give.
"Stop! Stop!"
A whirl of wind suddenly blew past and the robot's hand was cleanly cut through. With the remaining piece of the robot's hand still clutching to me I was gently returned to the ground by the baby.
The girl ran up to me and the baby's grip quickly crushed the robot.
"Is your hand okay?"
"The joint might be dislocated."
The girl began prying the robot's fingers off revealing a section that had turned blue and purple. One of her hand was also covered in bruises as well.
I looked away and the footsteps fell away.
From a little afar a voice yelled, "BonBon! Crush them, crush them!"
After a sound of metal being crushed reverberated through the air, the footsteps came back.
"You, who are you?"
My mouth moved, "Is your name Yun?"
"Yes"
"Where you a hospital patient suffering from an illness that no doctor could explain but every day if you stay awake for more than 3 hours pain shoots through your body"
There was a pause.
"...yes"
I opened my eye and looked at those familiar eyes I saw everyday before saying, "I am you."
The girl spoke still confused, "Well, of course you are my doppelgänger. I am asking where you came from and how could there be the two of us?"
"This is the 23rd floor of a dungeon and this floor is based on illusions."
I turned to looked into her eyes as she looked at me like she was talking to a retard, "You and this whole world is an illusion based on my memories."
Bwaaat!
There was a long and big sound of farting followed by a foul smell.
We both turned to look at the giant baby.
It looked at us with a pitiful face, and then blinked right before it started crying. The two robots that had already turned into a piece of metal fell from the baby's grasp.
"Waaaah, waaaaah!"
There girl hesitated for a moment before sighing and striding away to sooth the crying baby.
The crying was incredibly loud... but the smell was foul. It didn't dissipate, instead it was probably increasing. Maybe the baby had pooped...
I seriously need to find a way out of here.
The broken remains of the robots lay scattered across the square. Twisted metal, torn plating, exposed internals wires.
I stood and walked toward them. From afar the girl glanced.
I crouched and pried open a cracked section of plating. The internal structure was slightly glowing and the familiar power of consciousness could be felt dissipating into the air.
It was peculiar, why had I never felt the power of consciousness before meeting this robot? Technically, wasn't the whole fog world made from consciousness too?
From the corner of my vision, the girl had stopped soothing the crying baby and was now staring at the robots too.
Suddenly she jolted and shouted. "We need to go, more of them are coming"
"What?"
"We need to go now! The robot had informed the others!"
Then she turned to the baby in a hurry and spoke some commands to it.
The shining metal of the robot gleamed under my feet.
I am afraid it is already too late to escape. But more than that insight wasn't urging me to leave either. In fact it was the opposite. "Hey, I'm not leaving."
The girl, no the other me's face contorted in disbelief. "Are you still trying to clear the floor? What if the dungeon was a dream? What if it's not real?"
I looked into her eyes.
What prompted the next question, I don't know. Maybe it was her eyes gleaming with light or the perpetual liveliness she just seemed to exude. Isn't it weird that she acts and behaves in ways I don't remember behaving myself?
No, actually I do remember acting this way. But my memory is weird. I must've forgotten a lot of things whole getting reincarnated.
"Do you remember your parent's face?"
Her eyes were brown, no it was actually hazel. Someone, I don't remember told me that before.
"Yes"
I ran towards her my hand grabbing hers as the baby's massive hand scooped us up, the ground dropping away beneath my feet. Then after being placed gently on the baby's back, we went on our way.