All I could recall at this moment was how cold it was. Every part of my body felt so numb. I kept my eyes closed, afraid of what horrors would await me if I opened them.
I decided this was the time to ask myself the question I had slipped my mind: What was my goal?
My experiences since I woke up had been nothing but hell. There were times I didn't even feel like this body was mine; other times, it felt as if I shared this body with others.
'I had no experiences to call my own; my way of expression probably belonged to someone else.'
Stop.
'Take this step by step. Rushing isn't going to get me anywhere.'
I need a goal to run towards, an anchor for all my actions from now onwards. I need to stop being confused.
I don't care whose body this is; it's mine now, and I'll use it to achieve my goals – whatever they may be.
The unfamiliar sensation of my consciousness travelling at unnatural speeds hit me suddenly as I felt my mind aligning with my body.
I coughed violently, forcing myself to open my eyes. I looked at the woman beside me with obvious confusion on my face. I wanted to ask her many things because it didn't take a genius to know she understood what had just transpired within me. I felt different.
My senses were sharper, and my brain processed faster than before. I felt stronger than normal. My injuries no longer hurt as much as they had before.
I asked the first question that had been bothering me since I met this strange... woman. Let me refer to her as a woman for the sake of simplicity.
"What are you?"
She laughed—a laugh that sounded melancholic.
Isn't the question, who are you?"
I remained tense as I looked at her, ignoring the reply as it was not an answer to the question I had asked.
"No sense of humour, I see."
She sighed.
"I am under no obligation to tell you what I am, but I can tell you my name."
She paused and seemed to think about it for a while. 'How does a person forget their name?'
"Styx."
"Jug-eum."
"Wait, is that what he told you?"
I played dumb because I couldn't yet trust this... woman.
"Who?"
"A being with wings who told you that."
It was clear she knew who I was talking about.
She looked directly at me, and I suddenly felt an immense pressure. If I weren't sitting down, I would have already been forced to my knees. All my wounds felt like they were about to reopen.
I gritted my teeth. They were the same; beings far above my level, beyond what I could reach in my current state.
No. I could never reach them, no matter how long I took. Her obsidian eyes bore into me, and I felt like killing myself due to the sheer intensity.
I used my hands to stay upright and looked at the woman beside me. I stared her dead in the eyes. It was a stare-down, though the victor had already been decided the moment it began.
I felt my vision blur, and I began to see red at the corners of my eyes, but I continued looking at her, not fearing what this might mean for my physical condition.
When I couldn't take it any longer, she sighed and closed her eyes. The pressure I had been experiencing vanished, and I could finally breathe again.
"I guess his crazy plan might actually work."
I wanted to ask if the person who made this plan she was referring to was the being, but I could feel the effects of my stare-down with 'Styx'.
My mind felt like mush, and my vision was blurry with red blotches all over. Most of my wounds reopened, and I felt too weak to support myself with my arms again, so I just fell on my back.
I felt just as I had when I was in that realm—closer to death than I had ever been. I felt strangely comfortable, as though this was a state I was meant to be in all my life.
I could barely make out the outline of Styx as she hovered above me. She poured some liquid on me, and as soon as she did, I felt my wounds closing up, the pain leaving my body, the red blotches clearing from my eyes, but my vision remained blurry.
As if she sensed this, she poured some strange liquid into my eyes, causing them to become slightly clearer.
"Do you want to know why you do the things you do, nearly killing yourself every time?"
"Do you think you were given this life to throw it away at any slight challenge or inconvenience? Have you ever bothered to think about what had to be sacrificed to bring you here?"
I felt water droplets fall on my face as I heard her voice crack. I realized the liquid that fell in my eyes were her tears. I thought back; in an effort to find who I was, I had strained this body more than was necessary, which in turn caused it to incur damage.
'Why is she so concerned about me? We just met.'
Wiping her tears, and took a deep breath, then she crouched and whispered into my ear—
"Let me let you in on a secret: you and that being share something in common."
My ears perked up as I sat up to hear what she had to say.
"Both of you are incredibly selfish."
My mouth dropped. I thought I was going to get something useful relating to who I was when she said she wanted to tell me a secret. I was not expecting a verbal dagger to the chest.
"I will not allow history to repeat itself, especially with you."
Before I could even ask her what she meant, she kicked me, and I fell back into the river.
The last thing I saw was her diving in with me, and her hands holding the sides of my face.