Sometimes life changes for no reason. The interesting thing is whether these changes are good or bad.
Does waking up in an unknown world with many people who develop a crush on you count as a nice thing?
I got Elden Ring as a gift and my level of aggression/frustration shot up after like 10 minutes :')
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“D-Dain...help-”, your barely audible cry for help is interrupted by the enemy’s intention to cut off your pretty head. You can only dodge by a hair's width. At the moment the only thing your mind is capable of producing is the image of the vishap's claws piercing into your flesh and tearing you into shreds.
How did you get into such a situation again? Because you're incorrigible. That's why. While Dainsleif is dealing with the barrier mechanism that separates the center of Enkanomiya from the rest, you went on to explore the area by yourself. And – who would have expected it – you promptly found a feral monster.
As soon as you're back on your feet, there is already the next incoming attack. For someone who recently had a wound infection, you're doing pretty well, but monsters don't give a pity bonus to the weak. Towering over you, the vishap positions itself for its last but deadly blow. You close your eyes, too scared to see your own end. The few seconds feel like minutes. Fortunately, the pain never sets in. Instead, you feel the weight that has nailed your body to the ground being abruptly pulled away.
Hesitantly you open your eyes. The monster that tried to kill you with absolute confidence is now whimpering in the air. Some kind of dark blue ring has clung around its neck and now chokes it. Shocked by the events in front of you, you cannot avert your eyes from its suffering.
Eventually the struggle becomes less and less until it completely ceases. The ring disappears and the now dead monster falls to the ground.
“It would probably be wiser if you stayed close to me from now on.”, says Dainsleif as he approaches you. He kneels next to you and inspects your body for any visible wounds. “Are you all right?”
Instead of answering, you keep silently staring at the corpse.
Your companion sighs. “That thing won’t move no matter how long you stare at it. Come on, I’ve removed the barrier. We can move on.” After still getting no noticable response from you, he picks you up bridal style. “I don’t mean it personally, but you take it a little more to heart than I expected.”
To calm yourself down a little, close your eyes. “He’s not wrong... Technically, I’ve seen dozens of monsters die and killed some of them myself as well, but still, it hurt somewhere to see how hard it fought against its inevitable death.”
After a while, your body returns to its regular functioning and you open your eyes again. By now you seem to be very close to the center. More precisely: You are right in front of the building where Dainichi Mikoshi is. “Hey. Uh... could you possibly put me down again?”
"Of course." Carefully he follows your request. “It appears you have calmed down?” While he's still speaking, he walks on.
“Yeah, sorry. My head is probably still a little stressed from the fever.” On closer inspection you notice that your beloved pink ball has taken a cozy place on Dain’s head. “Awww... Rosa really likes you.”
“Your friend has been sticking to me like a leech ever since you went for your short exploration.”
"I consider this a good sign~" Smiling like a happy fool, you follow your savior. Your sudden good mood probably has its origins in the combination of Rosa's radiant pink color and Dainsleif's cold aura. You wonder... What would he look like in a pink maid's uniform? A question we will never see answered, unfortunately.
“Another thing... This...”, you pause, “... stuff you used against the monster, that wasn’t... elemental power, was it?”
“...No, it wasn’t. ...Are you familiar with such things?”
The way Dain looks at you makes you slighty shiver. “Not... really?”
“Sounds almost like a 'yes'.”
“Maybe a quarter or half 'yes' at best.”
Dainsleif stops and you do the same. “And from where?” Your hesitation in giving him an proper answer seems to decrease the temperature of the air around the man in front of you even further. “Come on, answer.”
“Why did the conversation turn into an interrogation? And why is Dain suddenly so... scary? Almost as if... Oh. Please, he doesn’t really think that I...”
“Uh I think you’ve jumped to a wrong conclusion. I don’t belong—” To gain a more comfortable distance from Dainsleif, you had taken a few steps back. A pity that the platform leading to the vishap duo not being at the top, but at the very bottom, so you now have a wonderfully long fall into the depths ahead of you. "Shít."
Your hand, which rushes upwards out of reflex, grabs nothing more than thin air. Dain is not here to save you this time.
While you don't hit one of the three walls while descending, it doesn't make the fatal impact on the ground any better. Your only consolation is that the hellish pain vanishes as quickly as it appeared.
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