Zavry cursed deeply as his annoyance was more than what he had wanted. He stood as he cursed again tightening his hands into a fist.
He had wanted to bathe early when the floor was still dry…and also prepare himself like a little morning jog or workout.
"You should not even be worrying about that now," Rune spoke, as if correcting him on something.
"What do you mean?" Zavry asked. He knew that tone. When Rune used that tone, it meant what he was about to say was no good…
"You did not take the voice orb from the aliens last night…" Zavry's eyes widened. How could he have forgotten that? Rune continued,
"This means you are going to start your mission all over again." Zavry moved his hands as he pulled his hair angrily.
"And you did not fucking remind me about the voice orbs!" he said, sitting on the floor as he rested his back on the sofa area.
How could he forget the main reason for the mission? The voice orb. After killing them, he was meant to take their voices.
"You can't blame me. My head had been blank. I told you something felt weird about that mission, like things were going too smoothly and predictably, and the way they died… was too smooth." Zavry was silent as Rune words made a little sense now.
It was the fact that he knew Rune must have been aware of this at midnight when Leon had woken him up, so why did he not say anything?
"You would have to start from the beginning, and that would not be a problem as you could fight the high ranks, then the low ranks, and take their voice orbs. The faster this happens, the better for you." Zavry was just silent.
"Your body antidote has killed the rat poison, so that would not be a problem. I feel level one would be quite hard, as according to what I see, if you die at the mission, you are finished for good.
Remember, it is only one life you have, which is this, Zavry. Are you sure you want this? You could live a normal life. After all, in this era, being mute is not—"
"Shut up. I am in," Zavry deadpanned as Rune spoke.
"Very well then. You have just twenty minutes before your mission," he spoke as Zavry stood. He could simply start anew.
Thankfully, he had not gone far with the last mission, and he had been quite rash and careless. He walked towards the bathroom. As he entered, he noticed a folded towel atop the cupboard, guessing that one was his.
He walked towards the shower as he began to strip.
"Bro, why are you acting like you've gotten a stroke? You have thousands of people to kill and yet you just went back to level one. Let's just say a hundred you've killed so far, and you are already acting like you saw your ghost," Rune asked.
And just as he was about to speak, Zavry turned on the shower, boredly. The cold water seeped into his skin, calming his nerves as he closed his eyes.
"Bro, don't forget to wash that smelly hair of yours." Zavry took the soap as he cleaned himself quietly.
This was the bath he needed. He did not know how he managed to survive without a bath since last night after that useless, not-worth-it fight.
"You know, even if you have a voice, there would be no difference. You don't go outside, you don't talk to women except, of course, when they are the ones talking to you or you are in a fight… but bro, I hope you are not living an illusion."
"Very dumb of you to use a word you know nothing about the meaning… and we both know the other reason why that voice was taken from me, and you know the difference,"
Zavry spoke as Rune fell silent. He did know, that was why he was convincing Zavry this much, knowing the chaos of it all.
"Bro, you have to understand we are not in the past. You have to understand that this is 2056."
'Says the ancient plant'
Zavry simply turned the shower knob, moving back immediately.
"Fuck!" he cursed as he turned it to the other side quickly. He had mistakenly turned it to the steamy one. Now it was back to its coldness.
"It seems like you are yearning for chicken so much you wanted to use yourself for an example," Rune spoke, in the tone that said, as expected of you.
Zavry clicked his tongue again boredly as the water fell onto his hair, pushing the soap away.
After he was done, he stepped out and grabbed the towel to wipe his hair.
"Rune, how many minutes left?" he asked as Rune spoke calmly,
"You have two minutes left." Zavry nodded as he realized he might not be taking breakfast or even lunch, as it was already afternoon.
He moved as he picked up his dirty clothes. He tied the towel round his waist after cleaning himself. He knew that Leon had gone for the game, as he had said earlier.
It was better he was alone—he did not want some stupid question from Leon about his virginity and random talks about women.
He moved to his trouser pocket to see if he would find anything, and gladly he did—that coin the little girl had given him. He slipped it into his new pants.
He slipped on a simple shirt and pants, as he did not want to make things or himself stand out, especially as he had no idea where they might be going for his mission.
'The audacity of you is surprising. Knowing you are a broke person, I expected your pride to be lower than three percent, but it seems to pass a hundred percent. Why else would you wear somebody's clothes like that without asking them?'
"Leon doesn't wear these, you fool… and always go straight to the point. That long principal's boring speech made no sense at all." Rune simply scoffed at Zavry words.
As Zavry moved his fingers, creating a portal, they entered and finally reached the door which led them into the tiny room once more.
Zavry's eyes scanned for the torn book, but it was nowhere to be found.
"The book has gone extinct, as your level ends. When beginning another level, a new book is given."
Zavry's eyes finally rested on the black book with covers. He stared at it as it stood out—it was unusual, as all the books here were coverless and looked rough.
He moved to take the book. The cover was rough as stones..so tough that if you ran your hands on it, there was a high possibility of a scratch.
He opened it and, to his surprise, the book was torn. It was like each page was deliberately torn.
Every page was intact, but while one page was left torn only in the middle part to show another, another page would be torn only at the top, and another only at the bottom. The thing was—they were torn only for a single word to fit in.
He moved to the first page, or rather, paper—as a name was written boldly:
KATRISHA
Rune finally spoke, "This name sounds odd, not modern."
"Where are we heading, Rune, and who am I killing?" Zavry asked.
"He is a sorcerer of red magic, but I have no idea who that socerer is so you would need to detect," Rune spoke, then added,
"We are going to the past, year 1159."