During the bus drive to school, I notice that all people seem to have this smoke around them.
Some more, some less, and in different colors.
When I compare them to each other, it appears to be a little linked to how well they look.
The more active ones seem to have more smoke around them as those slumped down in their place in the bus.
I try not to become distracted with this stuff and start to ignore the smoke.
I've got this feeling that this is rather delicate information and I shouldn't spy on it.
Finally, I make it to school.
I really want to find a quiet corner for myself and sit it out, before anything unexpected regarding my current bodily and also general situation happens.
I had enough monsters in the last hours.
And the fact that occasionally eyes would plop out around me which I need to hide, is a good reminder that still something is wrong.
Fortunately, during the rush-hour, no one really pays enough attention to notice.
So I try to just keep a low profile.
If not for...
"Iori!!! Finally you made it here! Slept in again, huh? You should start with little cardio exercises that might help to activate your metabolism!" (C)
Uhh.
First, hell is the smoke around Chiaki bright.
Intense yellow-white and a not ignorable glow to it.
I said I wouldn't inquire anymore but this is literally invasive.
And second, does wandering through the nightmare realm count as cardio exercise?
After all, I am not too sure if you could really describe the results as beneficial for the body.
"I will think about it. Was just a hard night, okay? Please go easy on me." (I)
"Yesterday you had also a bad night. And the day before too. No chance, today we go on a city tour!" (C)
To be honest, physically I feel great. Mentally quite shaken but not the slightest bit tired.
"Urgh, but nothing excessive!" (I)
"Fine, but I expect some commitment!" (C)
And I expect not to be thrown into horror-dimensions during my sleep.
We can't always get what we want.
Since she has devoted herself to this task, Chiaki accompanies me to class.
I try not to look at the colored smoke of others but realize it will be futile to keep this up for the rest of my schooldays.
Instead, I just look a little around me without thinking too much.
When Makoto enters the classroom he greets me with a friendly smile.
His aura, which I am very sure this smoke resembles, is blue but of a darker color than I thought.
Thinking about Chiaki's sparkling sunshine thrower of an aura, I think the brightness has something to do with having a positive attitude.
A serial killer who hates all humans might be much darker, but still could have a big aura.
Not that Makoto is a serial killer.
It might just mean he has more problems and stress than I'm aware.
I lay my head on my desk, and try not to think thoughts that might teleport me to unpleasant places.
After some time, I notice the exchange student entering.
Shortly after this comes the realization that my head lies downcast on my desk.
Half-panicked I catch an eye that followed the girl while traveling alongside my neck.
I mean it literally moved on my skin.
Because of my sudden movement, I get some stares.
But none of the horrified "why-the-hell-is-there-an-eye-kind".
Yet after this, I feel completely distressed.
The panic is visible.
I'm breathing a little harder
Desperately I try to quell my panic and slow down my pounding heart.
Wait!
It doesn't!
My heart isn't pounding fast!
It isn't pounding at all!!!
What's wrong?
Am I dead?!
My complexion worsens and the number of stares grows.
Fortunately, the teacher finally enters.
Before I get questioned I pull myself together.
Class begins and the stares end like this.
If not for the exchange student.
First, I feel her glare, rather hostile.
Then it somehow changes, grows restless.
Uneasy I look behind.
Horror!
She looks as if she's in mortal fear.
Panicked.
A look I might have had several times last night.
I cannot make out what she's got, but after some looks I notice something.
She has no smoke!
No smoke means no aura and her demeanor tells me that something's up.
And this tells me I have to question her something.
The teacher doesn't get to the point, but because I feel right now totally awake I understand everything much easier.
Even if I'm a little distracted at the prospect of a talk with this weird panicking girl, who continuously looks to the door as if waiting to rush out at a sign.
And as soon it comes in form of the ringing bell she does.
So flashy that now everyone stares at the door she just left through.
I notice from my place in the center that she climbs the stairs in the hallway.
After this demonstration of suspiciousness, I become curious and decide to follow.
Made easier by the fact that everyone else stays and talks about this show right now.
I follow the staircase and ultimately find a quivering mess on the upper floor.
"This can't be! What is it doing here? I need to get away! Out of its sight! Maybe it hasn't noticed me? They aren't too invested in their surroundings. Yes. Good. Just leave the city! Or the country! The plane? Might help. Hide your existence! Just don't appear on this monster's radar!" (exchange student)
Okay, this was quite much and at the same time completely random jabbering.
The way she shakes herself while hugging her legs is quite a sorry state to look at.
She stands up and tidies herself up to leave.
As soon as she comes to the corner our eyes meet.
"IIIEEEEEEEEEHHHHHK!" (exchange student)
Promptly she jumps away, falling on her butt, scurrying further back to the wall.
This look is pure dread and tears gather there.
Are they black or is this just kajal?
Before I can ask why she looks at me as if I'm the reaper she starts to change her posture to her knees, slamming her head with quite some force on the floor and sputters:
"P-p-please! I didn't want to trespass territory. I didn't know you had chosen this place. I will quietly vanish and never come back. No reason to act. Really! Please, let me go!" (exchange student with very weird attitude)
This girl looks like someone a criminal organization is about to liquidate.
"C-could you please calm down for a moment? I didn't say I want you to vanish." (I)
"R-really? You're not going to eat me or throw me into an endless void?" (exchange student)
"Ehm, no?" (I)
This girl has certainly to answer some questions.
"B-but then... Why... I-if it's allowed to ask, what does an outer god do here at this place? Even on this plane?" (person I will definitely question now)
"Outer god?" (I)
"Y-you don't know? Oh, yes the old ones aren't this much on track with developments. W-were you in seclusion or something like this? If you wish I can relay everything I know to you." (exchange student)
While this sounds rather promising, I've got the feeling there was a misunderstanding.
"Seclusion? Old ones? God, I'm fourteen! Furthermore your classmate! We might not have talked much, but am I this pale?" (I)
"Ah, y-yes the girl. D-did you skin her? Not that I question your methods, but if you don't keep appearances for her life, you might get questioned. I-is this alright?" (exchange student)
"Skinned? I didn't get skinned!" (I)
However, if I think about what the eels did...
"Brrr, not really at least. Are you maybe confusing me with someone? I am the same I always was!" (I)
"Do... Do you think you are that girl? M-maybe your memories mixed up?" (exchange student)
She grows visibly uneasy and looks at me as if I am the strange one here.
Maybe I am, but not in that way.
"No, I'm not confusing! I am I and my life was rather normal until yesterday the most hellish trip ever started!" (I)
"A-apologies! I didn't want to question you!" (exchange student)
"Just stop this self-degrading attitude. Why don't we give us our names? Mine is Iori Nomia and yours?" (I)
"I-I am Zika, but around here I am going by the name Karin Caspers. D-do you know that names hold power? N-not that someone might control y-you, but mine... P-please don't bind me!" (Zika)
"Listen, I'm almost certain that you have the wrong idea about me. I just have some questions and hope that you can help me to answer them. Since yesterday I'm going through quite some heavy stuff and really need help." (I)
"Y-yes, i-if I can help you." (Z)
"First, stop this quivering. I already said I wouldn't harm you. Just, do you know anything about creepy, nightmarish worlds with far too much evil stuff trying to eat you? That would really mean much to me." (I)
"S-sure. A plane beyond. One of the countless worlds drifting in the ether. B-but I wouldn't know a specific location with just this." (Z)
I take a deep breath.
"Good. Then I am not crazy. Now to the next question. Why do you act like I am going to do these things you mentioned earlier?" (I)
"Be-because you're an outer goddess?" (Z)
"And this the point where I don't get you. How do you come to such an idea? I am a perfectly normal human girl. Or was. (I)
Hard to come to terms with this, okay!
Yet now she looks at me as if I just escaped an asylum.
"A-Ahem, d-despite the point that there is an eye on your neck..." (Z)
Hurriedly I cover it and make it vanish.
"You are emitting this kind of pressuring dread one would feel with an outer god. I... I felt it only one time before, many eons ago, but would never forget this feeling of paralyzing fear." (Z)
"W-wait! Eons? Y-you aren't human?" (I)
Okay, I never thought I would ever see mortal fear and a pitying "you-are-kidding-expression" at the same time on someone's face.
"F-fine, I get it. Not human. What are you? Or better, what are you doing here? Surely not trying to graduate, right?" (I)
She looks scared to the ground, uneasy about what to say next.
Finally, she comes to a decision and addresses me again.
"I feed on human's negative emotions. Sipping my fill from them. N-nothing excessive, only the bit they release here by themselves. This place makes most of them lose it on their own. Stress, anxiety, frustration, envy, even sometimes unrequited affection. This all amasses here free for the taking." (Z)
"This... This isn't harming them, right?" (I)
"No! No! Like I said, just what they release by themselves. They might only feel a little dull." (Z)
No idea if she's lying.
Considering her demeanor, she might tell me everything to avoid displeasing me and get thrown into that mentioned void.
"Okay, just to set this right. I am no outer goddess or whatever this is you think I am. I am simply the same person as yesterday and all the days before. I have no idea about anything going on here and really, really need help before I lose my mind." (I)
At this comment, her face distorts completely.
"No, no, no! Don't lose your mind, please! You might... Please don't destroy this plane! I'm begging you!" (Z)
If before it was fear for her own life, as if I had placed a gun on her head, this is a new level of panic.
This sounds more like I would threaten to burn her family alive and already started pouring gasoline on them.
"Wait, I don't want to destroy anything! Why do you say this?" (I)
"The havoc you will bring if you go crazy. It might at least destroy this land, if not completely shattering the balance! Please keep it together!" (Z)
"Urgh, I get a headache. I simply don't understand this all. All I had was a nightmare this night and today the whole world looks upside down for me." (I)
"Dream? You are a plane walker? Yes, naturally, you are a goddess." (Z)
"Damnit, no I'm not! I tell you till yesterday I was just a completely average girl. Then I went to bed and suddenly find myself in some weird hellscape, where the planets are arranged into a necklace, the whole ground is purple, and everywhere are monsters! From horror-eels, over gluttonous monstrosities to..." (I)
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!" (I)
My words reverberate through a large barren plain.
And maybe caused a quake.
Just one wrong thought and I am back here?
And there is my good old friend maw-monster.
And again it jumps at me.
And again my body reacts in an automated manner to eradicate it.
This time my hair spikes it with countless needles.
Maybe a concession to my wish not to tatter my uniform again.
As soon my hair draws back the creature is gone like always.
I have simply no capacity for this right now.
I was just about to get answers.
Time to get back!
"School hallway! School hallway! School hallway!" (I)
After reading your other two series I've been eyeing this with great interest in the hope it would turn into something equally good. And I must say, you've absolutely hooked me at "please don't destroy this plane!". MC that can accidentally wipe out a whole plane of existence with a stray thought, I can dig that. Compared to Iori, Shari and Erys' troubles suddenly feel so pedestrian.
If I have to give even the tiniest bit of critique then it's that your cover image is really, really dark. I get that dark is sort of the vibe you're going for, but seen from afar it's little more than a black blob. It could be my monitor, but I checked on three different screens and one of those is fairly well-calibrated.
I know about the color. Guess this mostly happened because of the compressing. The funny is, it's brighter if you look from above on the screen. On a big scale it's still dark but one can see the details. Was really a journey to get that one.
Great that someone is interested enough to come just because it's from me. I feel honored. (my heart almost sank at the first sentence, waiting for the "but")
@expentio Haha, sorry for scaring you for a bit. That must be my awesome cliffhanger writing skills leaking into real life. To be honest, it's really not that hard to grab my attention. All it takes is not letting your MC shrug off horrifyingly traumatizing experiences like they're no big deal. In that regard, your writing is a breath of fresh air.
I've actually been silently fangirling on your writing for a while now. It's just that I only got around to creating an account yesterday.
And yeah, the cover is mostly fine on the story page itself. It's the scaled-down version used in listings that loses too much of the subtle details. A lot of that is a result of the rather blurry thumbnail generation on this site, so not much that can be done about that. Such a shame though.
@Muddy You know, I hate this kind of MC as well. Often enough to directly drop a story for me. Maybe even one of the reasons why I wrote mine.
Desde el tema de la mitología lovecraft, si tuviera que comprarlo con música, esto es música pop comparada con lo oscura que puede ser.
Hasta el punto de que incluso varias realidades pueden "superponerse", se cruza una dimensión a otra o un "plano" imaginario de existencia ... o "dentro" del mundo del caos, compuesto por caminos, pasillos y formaciones de carne. , dientes, masas amorfas y retorcidas criaturas de pesadilla, seres más allá de la razón humana y que una "mente mortal" con solo su presencia o con una mera "representación" y símbolos enloquecería.
Entre muchos otros, etc, etc.
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ps: oye, esto es bastante ligero. Entretenido, en sus propios términos. Pero el tema de Lovecraft es ... pesado.
ps2: on this page there is a story with the theme lovecraft, the first chapters are quite chaotic and difficult to read (due to the erratic nature of the character, unbalanced mind, mental instability, etc, etc, shown in the narrative) either because of its " mental illness "or because of what he had previously investigated and was" filtered "in his head.
I can tell you the name by private message if you are interested, although it is not suitable for all public ...
ps3: sorry to edit this message again, I wanted to comment one thing: theoretically in the myths of lovecrart, cthulhu is "sealed" (forced to "sleep") under what remains of the ancient atlantis.
well, it goes without saying that he tries to "wake up", hence the famous "call of cthulhu" used in the titles of various games. Most are from the cults of the deep race (associated with Dagon and Hydra, they are not "gods" but are idols of worship as members of the oldest race ... that does not mean that they also have "power"), What the goal is to awaken Cthulhu, but the conditions to do so are pretty rare.
Apart from that, there will almost always be preparations by the "opposite side" other interdimensional alien races that extend their hands in a "mortal" and that is the pawn to move inadvertently and prevent all this, a mortal who in some way or another is involved in all this is "helped" to stay sane and continue to support, etc, etc.
But always under the name of "the seeker of truth" or the one who "can see". In games and novels he is almost always a private detective, with different origins, a former police detective, ex-military man, blamed for some crime that he did not commit but used as a scapegoat, etc, etc. But always the same, in a way related to these hidden events for normal people.