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Chapter 2. Tempering Will

  Chapter 2. Tempering Will

  Right as Oblivion started speaking in its monotone tone a searing pain radiated from my chest. I fell to the ground and writhed in the pain, noise not even being able to escape my throat. I didn't remember much from my previous life but I knew this pain was far beyond anything I had ever experienced before. It felt like hours as Oblivion rattled out percentages until it finally said 100%. When it did, the pain abruptly stopped and I sobbed in delight. I gripped my shirt and pressed my fist into my chest, it was all I could do to try and regain my breath.

  Gritting my teeth I groaned and spat out with righteous indignation. "You failed to mention about the excruciating pain, and that the core would fuse into me?!"

  "Quest: Unlock System. Quest Information: Gather 5 Oblivion Cores. Quest Status: 1/5 Oblivion Cores Gathered. Quest Reward: Unlocks System."

  I screamed and laughed as insanity crept into my mind. "I'm in Hell, there's simply no other explanation, hahaha!"

  "You have exited your plane of reality and entered Oblivion."

  Rolling my eyes I picked up my stick of Nitherith or whatever and assessed it, it was in perfect condition. Good stick. I sighed, held the stick tightly, and resigned to myself that I would not let this place get to me. For whatever reason, even after being through what I just had, my conviction only grew stronger. I may have been outwardly upset and exhausted but deep down a part of me wouldn't let this place best me so easily. Well, I was mentally exhausted to be specific. After absorbing the Oblivion Core I felt in better condition than I did before so I was just tired of the insanity going on around me. It was definitely overwhelming and the moment I started to become accustomed to this bizarro world I may as well be too far gone.

  I noticed that the screen had disappeared, so with a thought, it reappeared, and I looked over everything it displayed. It reminded me of games and stories, but if I tried to think about specific memories, there was just a fog. All I had were vague concepts and ideas of knowledge, it gave me a deep sense of imposter syndrome. It was like my previous life was just a dream and everything that made up me, was gone. I was unsettled by this the more the feeling cropped up.

  Placing my hands on my face I rubbed it, sighed, and decided to stop procrastinating the inevitable. This place put a challenge before me and I'd be damned if I didn't complete it. I didn't have anything else to do so why not put everything I had into surviving this place and not letting it get the better of me? From now on I'll face every weird and horrific situation head-on, and try to ask Oblivion better questions to get more out of the thing.

  I "Hey Oblivion, what's your favorite food?"

  "Oblivion does not possess a 'favorite food'" Oblivion responded, my voice coming out of the thing when referring to "favorite food".

  "Creepy...alright, how about this, how long have you been around, and before you tell me you aren't alive or don't exist we are both standing here talking."

  "Calculating...Calculating..." Oblivion started, his face displaying numbers all over it. "Iteration 53,432,578: 3,467,234,987 Aeons, 798,658,230 years, 6 months, 1 week, 4 days, 15 hours, 20 minutes, and 45 seconds since the start of this Iteration of Oblivion."

  "Woah..ok, ok, what is an Iteration?" I asked as I continued walking and scouting for potential threats or prey."

  "An Iteration is the repetition of a process or occurrence."

  "Right." I thought of how to phrase what I wanted to know but just decided to not put all that much thought into it "So, you said Iteration 53 million something, what did you mean by that?"

  "The current Iteration of reality is 53,432,578."

  "Wait, so there have been 53,432,577 previous versions of reality?"

  "That is correct."

  "Hold on, does that mean that everything that has happened has happened millions of times before, like a loop?"

  "Until this Iteration, withstanding minor details, that is correct."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "Until this Iteration...does that mean this Iteration is different somehow?"

  "That is correct"

  "Wait, so...have I been here before, in other Iterations?"

  "You have not entered Oblivion before this Iteration."

  "Well this conversation had been very insightful and given me much to think about, but I'm going to go kill whatever that is now."

  "You have discovered, Oblivion Jackrabbit. Oblivion Jackrabbits are solitary creatures that have a ferocious bite and kick. Oblivion Jackrabbits hunt smaller creatures and rifts but don't shy away from fighting off bigger creatures if threatened."

  Similar to the wolf it was much larger than a normal Jackrabbit, if my vague recollection of Jackrabbits is correct that is. However, unlike the Oblivion Wolf, this Oblivion Jackrabbit seemed normal enough, but I wouldn't let that fool me. They are probably harder to deal with than Oblivion Wolves, I can see them being very fast and dangerous.

  Thinking back on the fight with the Oblivion Wolf, I remembered the painful bite it inflicted on me and instinctually grabbed my arm. I noticed that it was completely fine interestingly, I hadn't even thought about it as the pain from the core fusing with me completely overpowered the pain in my arm. But it was now fully healed, which must mean the core not only made me a bit stronger but restored me as well.

  A devious grin flashed over my face at the realization. I think it's a good time to mention my resolve is still strong and that I'm not suicidal.

  The rabbit was hopping around and sniffing the ground as if it were searching for something. Not long after a slight pressure washed over me and an ear piercing ringing noise reverberated out. Accompanying this was a swirling disturbance in the air, it was like a heat wave the way it warped the background and surroundings. As soon as this phenomenon started the jackrabbit stopped and stared at it. Then, it's mouth opened.

  Did I really have to fight this thing? I'm sure I could find something else...maybe another wolf, or two. I think I would actually rather fight three wolves at the same time than this thing. As I said, its mouth opened...and opened, and opened some more for good measure. It then went up to the swirling disturbance and seemed to lock onto it with Its mouth opened to an impossible degree, a whole 180 degrees. The disturbance reacted as the ear-piercing noise turned into a resounding roar, shaking the area. It felt like time itself shook as I was disoriented. When I came back to the rabbit was done and staring directly at me.

  Surprised I had been spotted the hair on my body stood, instinctual fear coursing through me. There was no running away now so it was time to put my plan into action. It may have been exceedingly risky but embracing the insanity felt like the only sane thing to do in this place.

  Now...what I was about to do would normally be seen as foolhardy and the epitome of stupidity, which was accurate. As the creature rushed toward me I reciprocated this gesture by running toward it in kind. This in itself wasn't that foolish of an idea but the next idea I put into action sure was. Meeting the bunny head on I let the creature grapple onto my arm as it jumped at me. I gritted my teeth in anticipation as the creature opened its mouth wide, wider than seemed possible, and clamped down. Using my stick, I plunged it into the thing's head but before it died, it left a small present for me.

  My right arm was completely bitten off! Its ginormous mouth had wrapped all the way around my arm and had tugged it clean off right as I had stabbed it. The stick went through its fur, skin, muscle, and bone then finally into the brain with almost no resistance. Groaning in pain I saw its body melt into a thick sludge that quickly started disputing into smoke.

  I gagged as the obtrusive smell once again hit my senses with tears also streaming down my face. However this time it wasn't quite as bad, but more in the way being shot once wasn't as bad as being shot twice. If there was anything left in my stomach it would have most certainly been emptied from of me.

  "You have defeated an Oblivion Jackrabbit. Reward: Oblivion Core 1."

  Not wanting to wait much longer, as I was bleeding out, I quickly went for the core. But before I was able to touch it I heard what sounded like...something moving toward me quickly. Looking behind me I spotted two Oblivion wolves belining it for me. I could quickly absorb the core and heal before they got to me but I would be in too much pain to fight if I did that. Gritting my teeth I was starting to regret my brazen strategy. If I had to guess the strong smell that was emitted from the rabbit as it died must have attracted these unwanted guests.

  Now that I knew the wolf's weakness I could easily take advantage of it and deal with one, but two? This could easily get out of hand and I wasn't looking forward to the battle but it was my only option. I glared at the wolves approaching and stood my ground.

  They reached me and attacked in tandem, one biting onto my left leg and the other into my right side. There was nothing else I could do but let them attack me and try to prevent any life-threatening attacks like a bite to the head or something. As fast as I could manage, I sunk my stick into their heads one after another. Luckily, I got both of them before they got away. They were still attached to me and had even bit down more so I got to work at separating the first wolf's head.

  Slamming the stick into the wolf biting my leg, each attack only sunk its teeth deeper into my flesh and bone. Through the blood loss, excruciating pain, and nauseating smell the wolves gave off, I was feeling myself start to lose consciousness. I worked feverishly putting all my effort and focus into decapitating the first wolf and finally accomplished the monumental task right as the second wolf was starting to come back to. The monster was still somewhat aware through its disoriented state but only enough to keep itself firmly latched to me.

  I stabbed my stick back into its head a few times making sure it was good and out of it before starting on it next. I had gotten down onto a knee when decapitating the first wolf as it was hanging off me adding extra weight and hurting a good deal. Now that I was onto the second one I would need to get it off me as I had no good angle. I stabbed the stick into its jaw like I did with the first-ever wolf I faced and it thankfully detached from my side.

  I coughed up blood in pain and fell to the ground but now was not the time to pass out. Making sure to reapply the disorientation on the Oblvion Wolf I stabbed it in the head. Bringing my stick up in one hand and bringing it down, it took all I had to keep up this assault blow after blow. The wolf was starting to get up as its head was almost fully separated from its body so I decided to take an unorthodox approach.

  Using my foot to keep the wolf on the ground I used my hand to pull the rest of the head off. I plunged my hand into its flesh and gripped its horrifically disgusting insides and pulled. With a wet squelch, its head was finally free from the rest of its body. I heaved heavy breaths and then fell onto the quickly liquidizing corpse of the Oblivion Wolf. Face first in the disintegrating mess of a creature the last thing I heard before the darkness claimed me was the ever-present voice of Oblvion.

  "You have defeated 2 Oblivion Wolves. Reward: Oblivion core, 2.

  Current Main Quest: Initiation. Main Quest Information: Survive until Initiation. Main Quest Status: In progress. Time remaining until Initiation: 335 hours, 17 minutes, and 57 seconds.

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