Chapter Text
“Whoever I end up sending this to, I’m in the storage zone, just out the back door and in the room to the left of the security room. I might be still alive, so come down here or send someone else to come grab me. Situation is bad. I hope this gets to you soon.”
Arlan’s shaky hand sent the voice message to the first contact he saw on his phone. He couldn’t read the name. Everything was so blurry. He felt blind. Any kind of monster could just turn the corner and take him out, and there’s no one there to stop it.
He was alone.
Really, weirdly, alone. There were people fairly close by, but he had never truly felt this alone.
With a shaky breath, he pressed the record button again.
“The funny thing is, none of the monsters I fought today even laid a scratch on me. They didn’t have the chance. My lightning shatters apart their armor easily. Every muscle in my body felt like fire with each blow, which, in retrospect, was probably a very bad sign. It was the adrenaline that kept me from realizing that I was probably hitting myself with the lightning a little more than usual, and that the little nicks from swinging my sword a bit too recklessly were beginning to add up.”
“After a few hours of fighting, I was just heading back to the main area to get healed up. The cuts were beginning to sting, and my fingers were numbing. There were only two creatures blocking my way, two of the.. orb creatures. The, uh.. I’m actually not going to try on the name. I could have just used my claymore normally, but these ones are especially weak to lightning, and it could take them out with one hit each. My unfocused mind was really just thinking about getting back to Peppy, so the decision to use just my hand to shoot the bolt was subconscious. I’ve only ever done it a few times, and each didn’t turn out great for me. As expected, the orbs died instantly, but there was.. severe recoil. I don’t remember what happened, but I think that when I lost consciousness I dropped my claymore onto my side, cutting a gash there, and likely fell pretty hard on my head to the floor.”
“I regained consciousness some while later, seeing stars for what seemed like minutes. My body was completely numb, but when I regained feeling I kinda wish I hadn’t. I still couldn’t move for a while, but I was able to scoot myself up to the wall and assess the situation. Here’s the rundown. Large gash on my left side, not sure how deep it is and ah… not exactly willing to find out. I managed to stop the bleeding, but I still lost a lot. It’s a fight to stay awake. My entire right arm is still numb, and the hand is severely burnt. I can’t see the rest of my arm but it’s probably that way too up to my chest. I find it difficult to move my head very much, and breathing hurts. My legs can move a little bit, but not much. I need to get outta here soon. I’m just stalling for time with this recording. There's this crawling feeling in my stomach that something’s just around the corner, and it’ll jump as soon as I stop talking.”
Arlan paused for a moment. That.. wasn’t right, was it. There was something deeper crawling about in the shallows of his brain. He took a moment to consider this, just breathing. He shifted his eyes over the blank room around him, as if seeing something that wasn’t there. He carefully scrutinized the corners, and what he came up with was..
nothing.
With a pained sigh, he continued.
“Actually, I’m maybe more scared that nothing’s going to happen at all. That I’ll just sit here and silently slip into unconsciousness. ...I probably won’t even notice it.”
A shiver ran down his spine at the thought
“This might be weird, I’ve always had this sense that some… karmic force was watching me, about to bite me back. I didn’t expect it to happen so fast. That’s lame. I thought the way that I’d die would at least be flashy, that I’d at least have a moment of knowing I was going to die, right? To have my life flash before my eyes. Maybe that’s what I’ll dream about when I fall asleep.”
Arlan winced.
“Have I really just accepted that I’m going to die? I should be talking about something different if I’m trying to stall death.”
He paused.
“I wonder what I did, to get karma, if that’s what this is. I don’t know what I’ve done. I’m not perfect, but…” His voice breaks up. “Maybe it’s my ideology. The whole “give it your all.” I’ve had this attitude since I can remember, and it worked without fail, really. I just get a little scratched up, and I wear my scars with pride.
Why not today?
Everything I ever did could have been a wrong choice, and I wouldn’t know. I should really take a good look at myself after this. I hope there’s a place in the afterlife where I can think.”
Arlan took another shuddering breath. His eyes were completely closed now, his voice becoming hoarse from talking. He needed to keep talking, though, else he would fall asleep. All of his pain was becoming a distant afterthought. He just needed to keep talking. How long had it been since he last had water, though?
“I don’t know. It’s just a guess.”
Arlan’s voice gave out, and he sat in silence for a while, sleep tugging at every fiber of his being. But he kept on thinking just for a little while, panicked thoughts falling into unconsciousness.