I was enveloped by the darkness again. After waiting there for a long time I noticed a faint ball made of light moving somewhere in the distance.

I tried to move towards it, but then I realized that I didn’t have a body which I could move, I was only a bodiless consciousness. Instead of moving body I imagined myself floating towards the light, but this didn’t work either.

undefined

How do I reach that light?

Suddenly the light ball shot towards me as if it could hear me. Or was it me who moved? I could not tell, because there weren’t any reference points in the darkness.

Hal what’s going on?

Even though Hal always answered my questions he didn’t reply this time.

So I’m on my own, huh.

When the light reached me it didn’t no longer seem so small, it was at least twice of my size. It was bright, but wasn’t blinding.

I touched the surface of the light ball and suddenly i was no longer surrounded by the darkness. I was floating in the sky above the clouds. There was another person floating in front of me. That person was a young man clad in a blueish robe which looked like it was pulled out of the Chinese mythology. He had a long black hair almost reaching his waist, His face was above average, but not to the point of being stunning.

After a while of silent floating in front of each other the man said:

“Well, well, what have we here? Are you another void parasite which hides between worlds or maybe a soul transmigrating to another world? So which one of these are you, a parasite or a soul? ”

“Uhmm... I’m neither?” I answered.

“Then how did you manage to get here? Only parasites and souls can travel between worlds through this realm.” The man asked.

“I don’t know either. It shouldn’t work this way” I answered.

“What do you mean by it? Ahh never mind let me check it myself.” He said and then touched my forehead.

I felt as if something was looking through my memories. My whole life was replaying before my eyes, I relived every memory he checked. Thanks to him I was slowly starting to remember my identity from before the accident. Of course the man was skipping parts which he deemed uninteresting, so I didn’t regain much of my memory, but I remembered how I was taken from an orphanage and put through the training no child should have been put through. I remembered my first kill, how I was scared of killing another human being and then how I finally got used to it and no longer felt anything, before finally reaching the most recent events.

“I see… so it was partially my fault. Sigh.” The man said while taking his hand off my forehead.

“Your fault?” I said confused.

“Ahh… You see I was strengthening the veil that separates different worlds and it interfered with your already mostly unstable teleportation.” He answered.

“The veil? Different worlds? And how did you read my memories? Who are you? Are you some kind of a god?” I bombarded him with questions.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down lady. I know you are confused, but don’t bombard me with so many questions at the same time. To start with, you may call me Keeper. I’m responsible for maintaining integrity of the veil separating different worlds, so they don’t interfere with each other. Furthermore I’m not a god, although I wield powers that may seem godly to some people. Anyway I’ve got a bad and a good news for you, which one do you want to hear first?” Keeper answered.

“Start with the bad news.” I replied.

“I can’t send you back to your original world, because even though I can reinforce the veil, I can’t send people through it and you’ve already crossed it.” He said.

“So what are the good news?” I asked.

“You are currently 547 light years from the closest sun, but I can transport you to a planet similar to Earth from your universe.” Keeper answered.

“How are you going to do this?” I said.

“Just like that.” He replied and then snapped his fingers.

Suddenly I felt a strange pull and everything around me started dissipating back into the familiar darkness. After less than a minute I was again surrounded by the similar darkness.

I was strolling around the crossroads dimension when suddenly something broke through the veil and a naked body of a woman appeared before my eyes. From what I could tell her left arm was missing, but the wound was cauterized, so no blood was flowing out. She wasn’t dead yet, I could sense a faint trace of life in her body, but I could also sense something strange about her.

I wonder if she is a void parasite.

I decided to enter her inner mind to check if she is one of these filthy shapeshifting creatures. After I entered her inner mind I found myself completely enveloped by a darkness. Usually when you enter inner mind of other creatures you can see the scenery generated by the subconsciousness of that person. It could approximately tell you the true character of a person. But it was as if her inner mind was impregnable fortress. I spent 2 hours looking for her mind avatar, but I could not sense it until it called towards me.

I dashed in the direction of her avatar, afraid that if I don’t hurry I might lose her again. Her avatar looked exactly like her body except it had it’s limbs intact. It was exceptionally big for a human’s avatar, usually it’s at most one sixth of its current size.

After I reached her she looked at me for a while before finally touching me. I used that moment to reverse situation and transport her into my inner mind. I changed my appearance to more humanlike to make her less nervous.

“Well, well, what have we here? Are you another void parasite which hides between worlds or maybe a soul transmigrating to another world? So which one of these are you, a parasite or a soul? ” I asked her. It was a test. I knew she was not a soul, but I was not sure if she was a parasite. So no matter which one she’ll choose it will be a wrong answer.

“Uhmm... I’m neither?” She answered confused.

Is she really not a parasite?

“Then how did you manage to get here? Only parasites and souls can travel between worlds through this realm.” I lied again.

“I don’t know either. It shouldn’t work this way” She said.

What does she mean by it? I have a feeling that she isn’t lying. Ok! I’m going to risk it, if she is a human then I’ll be safe.

“What do you mean by it? Ahh never mind let me check it myself.” I said and then I started looking through her soul’s memory. She had a really interesting life, but I didn’t have enough strength to maintain soul reader for a long time, so I only watched the most interesting parts of her life. After I reached the most recent memories I finally understood what’s happened to her.

Interesting. I could send her back to her original world, but I could not watch her develop, since that world is maintained by another keeper. I think I’ll send her to my world, so I can finally have some new entertainment.

“I see… so it was partially my fault. Sigh.” I lied.

“Your fault?” She said while giving me a weird look.

“Ahh… You see I was strengthening the veil that separates different worlds and it interfered with your already mostly unstable teleportation.” I answered.

“The veil? Different worlds? And how did you read my memories? Who are you? Are you some kind of a god?” She asked me.

At least I won’t have to lie when I’m answering these questions.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down lady. I know you are confused, but don’t bombard me with so many questions at the same time. To start with, you may call me Keeper. I’m responsible for maintaining integrity of the veil separating different worlds, so they don’t interfere with each other. Furthermore I’m not a god, although I wield powers that may seem godly to some people. Anyway I’ve got a bad and a good news for you, which one do you want to hear first?” I answered.

“Start with the bad news.” She said.

Yes! She caught the bait.

“I can’t send you back to your original world, because even though I can reinforce the veil, I can’t send people through it and you’ve already crossed it.” I lied.

“So what are the good news?” She asked.

Truthfully these are good news for me.

“You are currently 547 light years from the closest sun, but I can transport you to a planet similar to Earth from your universe.” I lied again.

“How are you going to do this?” She asked.

“Just like that.” I answered and transported her to my origin world.

Now let’s enjoy the show.

After roughly one hour of floating in the darkness and thinking about what has happened I started suspecting that Keeper has tricked me, but then I saw familiar notices.

Energy at 5%

Energy levels are high enough

Initializing systems

Waking up

I no longer felt as if I was floating. I could clearly feel that I was lying on something soft. I realized that the current darkness was an effect of my closed eyes, so I opened them and looked around. I was lying on a straw bed in a small room with a wooden walls. There were no other furnitures in this room.

I was about to get up when a girl has entered the room. From her looks you could say she was around 14 years old. She was wearing a red dress of woollen cloth. The dress was fastened by a girdle around the waist.

“ᛟᚺ᛬ᛃᛟᚢ᛫ᚨᚱᛖ᛫ᚨᚹᚨᚲᛖ᛬” (Oh, you are awake.)

Huh what was that? I can’t understand this language. Hal can you somehow help me?

“Checking the database… No matching language found… Checking the database for similar languages… 4 languages found… Language learning in progress… Language learning 45% complete.” After Hal informed me I felt another surge of knowledge, but this time it wasn’t accompanied with the ego integration..

Great! Now I can at least understand most from what are they saying to me, but I think it’s a little too early for me to start speaking in this language.

I nodded towards the girl, to confirm that I was awake. The girl then ran out of the room joyfully shouting

“ᛗᛟᛗ᛭ᛞᚨᛞ᛭ᛋᚺᛖ᛫ᛁᛋ᛫ᚨᚹᚨᚲᛖ᛭” (Mom! Dad! She is awake!)

Sorry for not updating, but you know IRL issues (nah… not true ISSTH isn’t going to read itself)

You can find runes mapping here.

I will also post chapters on my wordpress page