“Hey, watch it!” an angry pedestrian waved his fist at Tenur.

“Sorry!” Tenur apologized as he picked up lost speed once more.

The road he was running through was full of pedestrians – perfect for blending in, or so the thief thought. What he didn’t know was how the toys he stole were emitting an aura of fertility, instilling and amplifying the lust in those within a certain radius around him. Ordinary people and common mages could not discern the aura’s existence, but for one as used to it as Tenur was, the thief’s location was practically a beacon.

As he felt the position of the thief turning into an alleyway, he grinned delightfully. Finally, I’m tired as fuck, Tenur thought as he slowed to a walk, knowing the alleyway was a dead end.

Yet, when he looked into it, the thief was nowhere to be found except for a dumpster. Strange, he mused while entering the alleyway to get a closer look, the aura is thickest around here.

The dumpster was situated just beside the left wall, making the right path a choke point. Tenur smirked to himself when he thought he knew where the thief was.

Clenching his fist, he jumped through the chokepoint while yelling “Found ‘ya” and prepared to confront the thief who he thought hid behind the dumpster, but there was nothing behind the dumpster, just a bunch of organic garbage waiting to be turned into compost.

Tenur lowered his guard as he rubbed his chin. With the hair behind his neck flaring up and his gut cramping all of a sudden, it was too late for his instincts to warn him. A loud “thunk” sound resounded through the alleyway, the echo diffusing into the streets and attracting attention –the thing the thief did not need of all things. Quickly realizing his mistake of using a trashcan’s cover as a weapon, the thief dropped the metal and ran for the only entrance and exit.

While the whole scene happened, Tenur was stunned. He couldn’t think clearly, and darkness was gradually crawling from the side of his eyes to the centre. Everything went blurry, but then he heard something else, something similar to what happened when the metal cover hit him.

Thung He turned around to see what happened. From what he could perceive, the thing that made that sound was dull and large. The blindness was beginning to set in, so he couldn’t make out the figures holding the weapon. His knees weakened as he fell onto all fours, then his stomach churned whatever was left in it. The vomit stank below his face, but the fact that he couldn’t see was all the more scarier.

“Help…” He muttered weakly in hopes of getting assistance, before passing out on the spot, falling stomach first onto his pile of vomit. The last thing he heard was the voice of a male saying “Hold…”

Darkness.

What’s this floaty feeling?

Hmm, my butt itches… scratch scratch

Tenur tried looking around, yet to no avail. He tried standing up, but there was no ground to stand on. Faced with an endless nostalgia, he couldn’t help but think he was in somewhere familiar.

Feels familiar, he thought as he moved his arms around, hoping to at least be able to propel himself forward. It didn’t work though.

Hmm, my dick itches. He tried to scratch it, but somehow it didn’t work. Huh…

Out of nowhere, the recent memory of being hit from the back struck him. He laughed at the pun. Ironic. Even though he was struck once unprepared, he thought he wouldn’t get struck again.

His crotch itched again, yet he wasn’t able to satisfy it.

Perhaps this was what hell felt like… Stuck in an abyss, eternally devoid of any companionship other than the itch on his crotch…

He was proud, though. Not of his reflection, but of his tailored product. Creating the dick suit was the first time he had converted a fertile mana statue into a fertility magic product. It was truly incredible, given the droplet of skill he had. Denka had even been surprised, saying “I’ve got no idea how you can convert something so ridiculous into an abomination”. It was one of those times where he was praised for his work –or that’s what he thought.

Either way, it had given him many ideas on what kind spell to prototype next. Something useful that doesn’t require a lot of thought to use, perhaps even harvest his hand movements to operate. The fact that these tools would last until almost forever –or that’s what he assumed anyway– meant the spell and magic had even more applications. He was quite sure Denka would consider his new spell another ‘abomination’ again, considering his spell wasn’t quite exactly using the unique niche of fertility magic.

He floated around, sure that he’ll be waking anytime soon and return back to reality. Yet, nothing happened. It was just endless floatation in a black space.

Black… Hmm…

The thought made him think about those black toy soldiers he once had as his present. His father had gifted them to a five-year-old Tenur, and to think he still remembered the joy of playing with them… It was obvious the memory held more emotion than just fun and excitement. They held joy and happiness, reminding him of how the warmth from his family had shaped his natural habits and behavior.

While reminiscing, he was suddenly aware of the memory gradually losing its integrity. No, that’s wrong, it’s… distorting? The scene, the image, the emotions… all of it, they felt warped.

Somehow, Tenur got the feeling what made the memory a memorable one was no longer in its original state. These memories… they began to hold sadness instead of joy, disinterest instead of excitement and worst of all, the warmth that resided within those memories began to morph into something cold, distant. He shivered even though it was just a memory. Was it always this cold and dark?

As the memory dulled, his mind began releasing its grasp on it. Slowly, but surely, it faded away, until it felt like nothing more than a blurred caricature of a comic book. What was happening, Tenur was sure it was wrong, it felt wrong, by instincts. Yet he couldn’t stop it from happening. And soon enough, it was nothing but a bad memory that was forgotten in the passage of growth and time.