He was bamboozled by the Status Window.
Waving his hand through the translucent panel did nothing. He tried swiping, pushing — anything. "What kind of witchery is this…?" he muttered. But one line kept dragging his eyes back.
Curse.
"What curse?" he whispered.
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
"Orien!"
Darius.
Orien froze. The same voice. The same day.
"Come on, little brother," Darius called from outside. "Let's take a stroll. Maybe hit the bazaar, browse some weapons… then head to your big ceremony. Today's the day you become one of us, eh?"
Orien's heart pounded. No. Not again. I'm back… at the start.
His stomach twisted. "I'm not going," he called back. "I… I'm sick. Stomach's a mess."
"What?!" Darius barked a laugh. "This is your day. You miss this, it's back to the mines for you."
"No, you don't understand," Orien stammered, waving his hands in frustration at nothing, at everything. He couldn't tell Darius about dying, about the dagger, about the glowing red eye. Not without sounding insane.
"Orien?"
The door creaked. Darius stepped in, uninvited. He didn't live here — hadn't in years. Their mother threw him out the day he turned twenty-one and joined the Shadow assassins. But now Orien was twenty-one. And here Darius was, striding into the little one-room shack like it was his.
"Something's wrong with you," Darius said, shutting the door behind him. "Talk to me."
Orien gasped, desperate. He couldn't spill the truth about regression. Not yet. So he spun a lie close enough to the truth to work.
"I… I heard something," Orien said, lowering his voice. "From beggars in the slums. You know the ones I'm talking about, information passes like wind among them. They say there's going to be an assassination attempt on Governor Cale. And that… that I'm being set up as the scapegoat."
Darius blinked. Then his jaw tightened.
"How did you even buy information from them" he sat down beside me, "Can you fetch me some mead"
Orien got up "Mead, we are not rich like you brother, maybe a glass of water. even that rich coming from us"
And a sound came behind oriens back "So they really are turning your first mission into a trap."
Orien froze.
His blood ran cold.
Slowly, he turned toward Darius. "I never said about this becoming my first-."
Then pain.
Blinding pain.
Orien looked down to see a blade buried in his stomach.
His brother's blade.
"I taught you to read people, didn't I?" Darius said softly.
The words hit harder than the wound.
And suddenly, it all made sense.
The cues were right there.
When they walked the bazaar — Darius's nervous little jokes.At the ceremony — how his brother's eyes had never met his.The final goodbye before they parted ways. And now — the excessive sweating, the details he shouldn't know, filling in information Orien had deliberately left out.
He'd been lying this whole time.
Orien tightened his grip on the blade sunk in his stomach, blood running down his fingers. "Why?" His voice trembled. "Why, Darius?"
Tears rolled down Darius's face. "There are powers at play you don't understand. Blame your origins, Orien. This is for the greater good. For my people."
Your people?
The words cut deeper than the knife. They're my people too. Thalri blood runs in my veins. You bloody traitor.
Was he crying for real? Or just pretending — so Orien wouldn't come back to haunt him as a vengeful ghost?
No… Orien's rage boiled. To hell with that. I'll haunt you anyway.
But his body betrayed him. His knees buckled.
Darius whistled.
Shadows stirred. Hooded figures emerged from the corners of the little house. Assassins.
Even his brother wasn't working alone.
Why? Orien's mind screamed. Even if they frame me, what do they gain? Why put our family in danger?
But no answers came.
His vision blurred.
Memories flashed — games in the alleys, rough sparring lessons, Darius sneaking him scraps of food when they had none.
All of it.
Gone.
Darkness swallowed him.
Knocking.
The same knocking.
Orien's eyes shot open.
Morning light. His ceiling.
The same voice outside his door.
"Orien!"
It was Darius.
And floating in front of him:
[Status Window Notice!]
Status Window
Name: Orien SolisRace: Human (Cursed)Class: ThiefLevel: 3
HP: 300 / 300MP: 0Stamina: 400 / 400
Attributes:
Strength: 12
Endurance: 10
Intelligence: 15
Dexterity: 13
Perception: 18
Willpower: 30
Skills:
Swordsmanship (Basic): +5% effectiveness with small bladed weapons, +10% when dual wielding
Silent Step (Novice): Movement generates minimal sound
Survivor's Instinct: Faster reaction in life-threatening situations, improved emotional reading
One with the Shadow : Blend into darkness, become a shadow
Detect : Appraise items & living beings, revealing hidden details and stats
Titles:
None
Status Effects:
Hunger (Mild)
███TIME REGRESSION███ (CURSE):