Theodore woke up abruptly. He was breathing erratically, and a panicking gaze of his swept up the room.

Sweat was rolling off his face. It was only seconds later that he noticed it was only a dream. It was his oldest nightmare.

He let his body fall back on the bed. His back was drenched in cold sweat, and his shirt was already soaking wet.

He had never forgotten his past. His real past, not the fabricated one. He was always reminded of it in every moment he lived. Nevertheless, he didn’t have nightmares of it for years. His mind wondered about yesterday’s events.

His fingers made a sign, and the skill window appeared. A sigh escaped his lips. At least what happened yesterday wasn’t a dream. Probably.

He didn’t know what to think about this situation. Maybe he was really crazy, like everybody once told him. His eyes transfixed the ceiling. He half hoped everything he was living right now was real, not a product of his imagination, partly because it was interesting, but mostly to make sure he was sane. To him, that was of the utmost importance. The moment he would be sure he was insane, he would finally know that all his past was only an illusion. He would really be without identity.

He shook his head helplessly, and then got off the bed. His mind was fully awake, and he had a long day ahead. A part of him had a violent desire to log into the game again, but he contained his urges. He had always been like that, getting addicted to a game once he started it, no matter how crappy it was. For Origin, it was more a matter of dealing with his traumas. He knew he became scared of extreme pain, and the best way to rid him of that.

A small crooked smile appeared on his face. He was still thinking of Origin as a game. No matter how far from reality the idea seemed, it was probably a real alternate world. A good night’s sleep had calmed his thoughts and washed away his panic, and the fact that he was in the middle of all this mess didn’t seem that alarming anymore.

He took a quick shower to wash away the remnants of his grogginess. Holidays were just starting, and he had to look for work. He didn’t really need money right now, but by experience he knew he would have a need for it in the next school year. Theodore had made it a habit to work part-time in each of his holidays.

He dried his body then wore fresh clothes. A quick peek at the mirror showed him unkempt grey hair like usual. He decided to again leave it that way. It always bothered him to have organized tidy hair, he could never really feel at ease in that state.

He made his way to the kitchen, and his grey eyes spotted the coffee bottle. With careful movements he prepared a cup of coffee, and then sat on his chair, slowly taking in the ice smell.

He loved coffee.

As he slowly sipped the contents of his cup, his mind started drifting. He had a session with his psychiatrist next week, and he wasn’t really looking forward to it. It was a pure loss of time and energy. A thought crossed his mind. It would be interesting to show his psychiatrist the game windows that plagued him. He thought about it for some more time, giggling at his predictions of her reaction. He wondered if other people could see his windows. He would have to cautiously check that.

He looked at the corner of the table. It was still broken. He ran his finger through the smooth surface, and then probed the ragged broken part. This was real. Everything was real. He had really taken out a sword of his inventory yesterday and broke a small part of the table. He tried to calm down his breathing.

On a whim, he opened the inventory window. On the sight of it, he took a sharp intake of breath. His hand kept scrolling down, but he never saw an end to it. Weapons. An endless number of weapons. Swords, maces, daggers and weaponry of all kinds and sizes were there. Spears were the vast majority though. The young man felt like he was holding a bomb.

A black spear caught his attention. It had an unusual feel to it. Mesmerized, he reached out with his hand, and touched the panel with the tip of his index.

He had expected the spear to shimmer into existence, instead a sharp bolt of what almost felt like electricity ran though his body. He felt an insane amount of pain for an instant, and then lost control over himself. He couldn’t even scream. He lost awareness of some parts of his body, and then fell limp on the ground. Phantom pains were assaulting him everywhere. He felt his consciousness dimming very fast. The smell of burned flesh wafted into his nose, but he couldn’t make sure of the state of his body, as his sight was already lost. He knew this smell. He had smelled in many realistic games. It was the smell of burned corpses. His mind was too weak to even feel panic. A soft whimper went out of his lips, before he lost consciousness.

Theodore opened his eyes, and then sat up abruptly. He was dead, he was sure of that. His body had been completely burned back then. His eyes scanned the surroundings, and he was surprised to find out he was still in the kitchen. The cup of coffee was lying next to him, completely broken, with its remaining content spilled out. The young man didn’t feel any regret about the waste. He had more important matters to be concerned about. He looked at his body. To his surprise, under his burned clothes, his body was completely unharmed. His skin looked even more pristine than before. He didn’t understand. He couldn’t understand. An unusually blood red panel greeted his eyes:

Warning

Wielding this weapon at your current skill level may deal irreparable damage to your body. Are you sure you want to proceed forward?

YES

NO

Without thinking he tapped the no button. The irreparable damage part was scaring him. He got enough damage just from touching its panel. He didn’t dare imagine what he would get from actually wielding the weapon.

With the corner of his eyes, he looked at the skill window. Sparks were still coming out of the black spear panel, but they were slowly dying off.

He couldn’t understand what exactly had happened, but he knew he had been on the brink of death back then. Real death, unlike death inside the game. Uncontrollable gasps assaulted him, and his body started sweating profusely. It felt so unreal to him, as it was the first time of his life he faced death so closely.

His wary eyes settled on the inventory window again, and fear started overtaking him. This thing was extremely dangerous, he was now completely aware of that. His whole situation was dangerous. As he lacked enough information, he would never know when he would make a mistake which consequences may be fatal.

He noticed he was still on his knees, and he slowly got up. His shirts and pants were only burned rags now, and he was almost stark naked. Fear was still having its clutch on his heart, as he leaned his body on the table. He wondered about how he didn’t die after that earlier. His clothes were enough evidence to be sure that he hadn’t been dreaming. Maybe he did die and respawn afterward. He frowned. Such a way of thought was too unlikely. He wasn’t inside a game, this was reality. If he really believed he could respawn, and it proved to be false, he would unwarily lose his life one day. He would believe such a thing once he found concrete proof of it.

He looked up and his frown deepened. He lifted up his hands in complete submission. There were too many things he couldn’t understand. He had now two bars below his health bar, while he only had one yesterday. The new bar was grey, and eerie sort of grey. This fucking game system hadn’t shown any notification about that. He had to try to understand everything on his own. He felt helpless whenever he thought about that. His health bar was completely filled. He shook his head. He understood nothing. He only knew he was about to die back then.

His fingers started probing the broken part of the table as he tried to calm his thoughts. He remembered the events of yesterday, and his mind finally made a connexion. The bruise on his wrist yesterday had healed instantaneously; maybe the same thing had happened again… The pain earlier was short, but he didn’t want to experience it again. He had to check if he could really heal though. No matter how painful it may be, he had to get more knowledgeable about his situation.

His hand went to grab a nearby knife. He was going to inflict a small wound on his arm, and he felt extremely nervous about it. It wouldn’t really be that painful, and he got plenty of such wounds in his life, but it was a different story to inflict it on himself with his own accord.

He gritted his teeth, and let the edge of the blade sink into his flesh, cutting apart his skin. It felt weird to have such a wound slowly inflicted on him by himself. It felt slightly painful, but it was nothing compared to the pain he had once experienced. He kept sweating though.

He hated pain. He preferred to not feel even the smallest amount of it.

Once scarlet drops of blood started dropping on the ground, he couldn’t take it anymore and took out the knife. He felt a small burning sensation as the fresh wound came in contact with air, and blood started spilling out. The pain started receding though, and in the blink of an eye, the wound closed up, reforming the skin to its former state.

Theodore widened his eyes in awe. He had doubts, but it still awed him once he saw it with his own eyes. His finger started probing the once wounded part of his arm. Besides some leftover blood, the skin was completely undamaged, as though he never got a wound there. He didn’t know what to think of it, and his thoughts became scrambled. To what extent could he heal? Would any wound on any part of his body heal? What about his neck? And brain? Would his limbs grow again if they got cut off?

He didn’t wish to try any of these. It was too dangerous.

He gripped the knife more tightly, and slashed his thigh. Before he could even feel pain, the wound reformed itself, and his skin became unblemished again.

A fit of wild laugher took over him. This was completely insane. He could heal his wounds in an instant. A thought crossed his mind, and he made the skill window appear. His grey eyes scanned it over, and he noticed the change. His skill, Soul link, was still level 1, but at least its progress became 0, 02%.

The young man thought again about what he knew of the skills in Origin. They didn’t grow by using them numerous times, but by having a better understanding of them. The only noticeable thing he had understood earlier was his healing abilities. It must be related to this particular skill.

He looked at the progress again. 0, 02%. It seemed as though was a lot deeper than that, and did a lot more than he could imagine. He would have to find out what all of his skills really did.

He sighed. He still had many things to understand about Origin.