[You have died.]
The mechanical voice of the artificial space resonated again, cold and indifferent. But it wasn't the end.
[Evaluating performance...]
[Evaluation rating: Pathetic...]
[Penalty: Geas of Seven...]
[You are now the servant of the Spirit of Desires and under the obligation of finding the seven lost spells. Failure to comply will result in a fate worse than death...]
"Agrrh!!"
I groaned as a massive headache tore through my skull, feeling as though my brain were being scrubbed with sandpaper.
'What is going on? Am I dead? Or am I still dying?'
After a few agonizing minutes, the pressure subsided.
As my vision cleared, I realized I was staring at the same tall, weathered statues and the same dead ghoul I had left behind.
I was back in the Hall of Fame.
I frowned, my heart still racing from the phantom sensation of being crushed.
"...But I... didn't I die?"
[Yes, you did.]
A new voice, feminine, sharp, and undeniably real, answered my question.
"!!?"
Startled, I scrambled to my feet, spinning around with my hand on my holster. There was nothing there.
Just me, the dead ghoul, and the black staff lying in the pit.
"Who is it?" I demanded, my voice echoing off the ancient stone.
[The staff.]
"...What?"
[Grab the staff! I won't be able to communicate like #@ th#@&—]
The voice began to distort into static.
I narrowed my eyes, stepping back. "Are you saying I need to touch the staff to talk to you?"
Silence.
"Hello?"
Nothing.
The hall returned to its tomb-like quiet. I sat back down on the cold floor, my mind a mess.
I was alive, which was a miracle given that a five-meter-tall frost gorilla had just turned me into a red smudge, but the "penalty" weighed heavy on my mind.
'Geas of Seven? What the hell have I gotten myself into?'
"Haa..." I let out a long, ragged sigh and plopped onto the floor. "I don't give a damn anymore. Looks like I'm headed for the grave one way or another."
The last traces of evening light faded from the hole above, leaving the hall in total darkness.
As my head touched the stone, the memory of Korga's fist smashing down flashed behind my eyelids. My body shivered violently.
'Hell! What was I thinking? Challenging a Greater monster? I must have been out of my mind.'
I bit my lip, silently cursing my master.
That old man had trained me to believe in the impossible, to stare down gods if I had to.
And then he'd gone and died on me, leaving me with his reckless philosophy and my own broken body.
Ten years. It had been ten years since he found me half-frozen in the northern mountains, a bear trying to drag my unconscious body into a cave.
I still didn't remember a thing before that. He had raised me, taught me, and helped me manage the curse of my own skin.
Spirit Body.
My body was a leaky bucket, pouring out soul essence faster than it could produce it.
When the essence ran out, it started burning my life force. It was a death sentence, the last person with this condition hadn't made it past six. I was eighteen today.
'Eighteen... happy birthday to me.'
I'm probably the first of my kind to see this age, and I'm spending it on a dusty floor in a ruin.
I had always dreamed of traveling the continents once I got my adult pass, but without a cure, I wouldn't make it past the city gates.
[Boy.]
I lifted my head. The staff was vibrating slightly in the pit.
[Plea^& gr& it.]*
I stared at it for a long minute.
'Might as well give it a try.'
I stood up and walked to the edge of the pit.
"Listen! I'm going to grab you, so don't play any tricks on me. Alright?"
After a pause, a small, desperate whisper reached my mind.
[...I won't.]
I hesitated, then reached down. "To hell with it..."
I gripped the black wood and pulled it free from the cloth. I braced myself for another explosion or a trip back to the arena, but... nothing happened.
I blinked.
"Now what?"
Instead of the girl's voice, the mechanical one returned.
[Would you like to bind with Gisella?]
"What is this?"
[This is a binding process,]
the feminine voice answered, now crystal clear and echoing inside my head.
[If you bind me to your soul, I will become your exclusive weapon.]
"Gisella? Is that your name?"
[Yes.]
"Were you the one who put me through that hellish trial?"
[...Yes. But only—]
"Alright, we're done!" I loosened my grip, ready to toss the thing back into the dirt.
[No, please! Listen to me!]
Her voice sounded frantic, almost human in its fear.
"Speak," I said, keeping my hand loose.
[...I-I... m-me...]
she stuttered, her composure breaking.
"Are you even human?" I asked, my curiosity piqued by her strangely emotional behavior.
[...I don't know.]
"Then why should I bind with you? Give me one good reason why I should tie my soul to a stick that just killed me."
[Don't you want answers about the trial and the penalty? I can help you.]
"Didn't you create that trial?"
[No.]
"Then how do you know about it?"
[I don't know... it's just... in my memories.]
"Okay," I sighed, rubbing my temples.
"Back to the main point. Why did you lure me in?"
[...I was alone. I just needed... I just wanted out.]
Her voice was so small I almost felt sorry for her.
[And there is no prize. The trial was never meant to be cleared. It's a trap.]
I went cold.
"So you basically dragged me into a death trap because you were lonely?"
[I am sorry! You were the only one around... I didn't think...]
I stayed silent for a long time, the weight of the staff feeling heavier in my hand.
"Can you do something about my Spirit Body? Can you stop the leaking?"
[...I can help,]
she whispered.
"How?"
[First, you must bind with me.]
I inhaled sharply, trying to keep my hopes from skyrocketing. I was a dying man anyway; what was one more soul-binding contract?
"Would you harm me? Or the people around me?"
[I won't.]
I looked at the black carvings on the rod, the runes faintly shimmering in the dark.
If there was a chance to live, to actually see the world beyond these ruins, I had to take it.
"Alright, Gisella. I have a thousand more questions, but they can wait. Tell me how to do this."
[Thank you... just say 'yes' to the guide message.]
The mechanical voice chimed in right on cue.
[Would you like to bind with Gisella?]
I took one last look at the ruins of the Hall of Fame, then squeezed the staff.
"Yes."
And then, a fresh wave of agony hit me, and I realized that being crushed by a gorilla might have actually been the gentler option.