Light spilled on me in fast drips, bathing my bandaged figure completely.
I was discharged after a few more days of rest, my sides hurt and stung. It was only thanks to the menders and doctors that I was able to move so freely at the moment, if not for that...Chances were, I'd be a vegetable waiting to be plucked.
'It's good that it never reached that point though.'
In the crowd flanking me I find my ride. A yellow, black checkered car with a glossy surface.
Opening the door to the car, the inside welcomed me brightly.
Leather seats, soft and clean comforted my back and buttocks as I laid down, seated on the warm seats. My voice came naturally.
"Plaza of section 15 of Baltan."
The taxi driver tipped his hat to me for a moment, and the car whirred to life as he pressed on the gas pedal, zooming away from the hospital.
Sections, rightfully as big as small cities were governed by different cities. Mio city governed 1-9 sections, while Baltan city governed 10-19 and so on and so forth.
There are 5 cities and 49 sections. It was more correct to say that these cities were different governments tightly enjoined together though.
And the names of these cities actually came from individuals. Each holding a story of their own.
Like Mio for example, an eccentric hairdresser in the past awakened as the Ice Queen, flipping her life upside down. Baltan, a playboy history depicted 50 years ago that awakened as the Solemn King where justice to him became true. Pylon, a man crazed with snakes became one when awakening. A delusional girl who wanted to rule the skies of the forever stretching cosmos became the Dragon Warrior adorned with golden jewels, her name was Layla. And finally, the man who never stopped to hunger for more food in his life became an endless void where demonic entities feasted on his never ending expanse of flesh till this day. Zantame.
Each and every single one of these people played a crucial role in sculpting this fictional world the way it was now.
In one way or another, these people were also still alive to this day.
The Ice Queen slumbered in her glacier in section 0. Baltan fused his body with a building in section 10 to forever be able to pass justice when his own aides would betray him eventually and be tempted with gold promises.
Pylon slithered around the underground, eating the earth and enjoying his life as a snake.
Layla on the hand, transformed into a dragon after killing and drinking the blood of the king of all dragons, flew to outer space in search of the 'End of All Expanse' and hasn't been sighted ever since, however, it is confirmed that she is still well and alive in the words of the magistrate in section 37. And in my personal experience as a regressor and transmigrator.
I could vouch that she was indeed well and fine...A little on the crazy side though. But help is help nonetheless
Now Zantame, that man truly had it the worst, I mean, imagine awakening to becoming an abyss where your own flesh never ended in their own dimension, unable to move for eternity.
'Genuinely how could anyone live with themselves after being essentially crippled for eternity, forced to be a junkyard for the humans to dispose of immortal demons they couldn't beat, feeling every tiny bit of pain each bite and destruction inside.'
Granted, he was the one who allowed it to happen, but the mental strength to pull something like that off....I wouldn't be able to permit that happening inside my body.
Truly, he was the strongest I've seen in that regard.
"Crazy man I say." I mumbled, remembering the altercations and deaths I faced meeting them.
Surviving an encounter with them was purely all about luck after all.
As I drifted further away in my daydreams, a static found me, attracting my eyes toward it.
On the taxi car, a screen lit by cartoon colors finally proved its use in distracting me.
It was on for quite some time, the driver didn't seem to have noticed as he was wearing small buds in each of his ears. Sometimes, he'd look at a picture propped well, hanging above the screen on the rearview mirror.
There was a date on it.
"...."
'She must've died in the dungeon war 50 years ago.'
The dungeon war, otherwise known as the battle between two supreme factions fighting for resources dragged the entire world.
It was the main reason why ordinary people like Mio, Baltan, Pylon, Layla and Zantame became so infamous and revered as 'pioneers' of the Awakeners Association.
Because of them, the world was put on a tight chain leash that tugged unlawful awakeners gone cocky.
'Well that's the short history about them.'
I sighed, drawing a breath as my fingers scratched my nape.
With nothing else to do in the car and with no battery in my phone. I naturally tuned in to the show the old driver forgot to turn off.
—I-Impossible! How is anyone capable of thwarting my perfect plan!?
The villain spoke, his monocle shook as he stared at the hero huffing heavily at his bruised body.
Soon, caught up with his breath, the shining hero spoke with a voice ready to shatter to the villain.
—H-ow e-else? I just tried until I could plunge that perfect ice cream of yours... Into the damn ground!
'I remember this episode...It's the 23rd of season 1 right?'
It was a show I watched at some point in this world, not sure when, but I did watch all of its seasons.
It was good. I found myself relating to the series more than I thought.
For reference, the main character William, was a regressor, his regression worked a little bit different than me though.
Unlike me, William's regressions occurred when he failed to capture the villain named Merlin.
'What was the name of it?'
Memories of the name seemed to slip by as I tried to remember harder.
'Ah, whatever, it doesn't matter.'
It wasn't like someone was holding me at gunpoint for not knowing a simple cartoon's name.
'Didn't she...Like this show too?'
I rock back against the leather seat, gazing outside with thoughtful arrays in my irises. To the sky with a deep shade of orange. Painfully aware that there are some things in this world that I can't just simply ignore simply because of my giving up.
'I have to save Ender.'
I massage my chin softly. Elbow resting a lil too close to the open window, letting a cutting chill in, slashing up my face hundreds of times.
'Not wanting to save the world from the impossible and wanting to save it from the possible were two entirely different things. In my honest opinion anyway.'
Ender needed to survive in this world, the world without her couldn't proceed forward if she didn't exist, leading to an early heat death of the world.
But even without that, I'd still clench my teeth, push forward and save her no matter the cost.
To put the frame nice and neatly, Ender held a special place in my heart when playing it for the first time.
She was the first free S-rank character I had gotten. In every composition, she'd be my number 1 damage dealer. All of my supports centered around her like planets to a star.
Of course, she wasn't the meta since she was free, which didn't change since her release.
However, there was one thing about her that put her above the other characters which confused many players.
Appearance.
She, unlike many others had consistent appearances throughout the storyline, playing a crucial role in each arc and each character story.
Despite her lackluster kit the devs gave her, she was basically one of the most important characters inside the entire game.
It wasn't long before the community dubbed her as the 'Nepo Princess,' being called the favorite child of the devs at the mere mention of her.
Which was understandable, I mean who would want to keep looking at the same character stealing the spotlight of other characters? Other than the fans of that specific character, not many.
I didn't care much, everyone had their opinions after all, just like me.
'Probably because she was my favorite.'
Her design had captured my heart in an instant, making it flutter around with butterfly wings. I was attracted to her as if I were a positive shard of a magnet dragged to her negative side.
She was beautiful, adorable in everything she did. Yet....Despite that.
"...."
She was also the most inhumane, disgustingly beautiful creature I had the pleasure of working with in all of my regressions. Her grasp around my nape deeply scarred the past me.
They say meeting your celebrities change you on the inside, and they weren't wrong.
They really, were not wrong.
"Ah!"
As my thoughts drifted further in dark clouds, the taxi driver exclaimed loudly, snapping me back to the present reality before me.
"How stupid of me..."
His mumbles reached me, drawing me further away from the window to his hand fiddling with the screen.
He turned to look at me, leaning slightly against the window sill. Eyes grey and the light inside them seemingly lost and sick of repetition.
"It's a show my daughter used to watch back in the day, she always played it in my car when visiting."
A smile shaped into a crescent thoughtfully stretched, a certain emotion drifted smoothly in the old driver's eyes. A memory so old and worn down that one could only explain it as a miracle for still remembering.
To those eyes, I respond. Scratching my neck ever so slightly.
"I see...I have a friend that watches that show. So I couldn't help but watch it when I heard it."
The driver laughed as he finally turned the small screen off. The light outside spilled inside the car, telling me that the world still moved.
"Ahaha! Sometimes cartoons do put us in a trance!"
"Haha. I guess that's true.."
As I forced a laugh, I kept my head low. The driver also seemed to have stopped talking and laughing, brewing a bitter silence of loss and reality checking, mixed terribly well along the long road ahead.