Overkill: Incarnations Chapter 2: Chapter 2: QUID QUO PRO
Read chapter 2 of Overkill: Incarnations by Kudo_Aosakka on NovelPedia.
The digital shrill of the alarm clock sliced through the silence of the room. On the bed, a young man with striking dual-toned hair, stirred beneath his blankets. He reached out a sluggish hand, fumbling blindly until his palm finally slammed down on the snooze button. He sat up, the sheets falling away to reveal a series of intricate, dark markings across his torso and arm. He stared at his hand, his expression caught between confusion and exhaustion. "Was that all a dream?" he muttered to himself. The memory of it was vivid, a sharp contrast to the mundane morning that it felt real. He shook his head, trying to clear the mental fog. "I shouldn't think too much about it." His stomach grumbled as the mundane reality of hunger soon took over. He stood and made his way to the kitchen, his mind still half-anchored in whatever vision he'd had. He checked the counter where he thought he'd left food. "Nothing?." He walked around the small kitchen to search other possible places he must have left his leftovers, food held an important spot in his heart. "The ramen I made isn't here," he noted as a frown deepened on his face, further enhanced by his hunger. He turned to the fridge, hoping for a backup. "I think I left some in the fridge..." He pulled the handle, but the light only revealed empty wire shelves and a cold gust of air accompanied that emptiness "Huh? It's empty!!??" A strange unease began to settle in his gut. It wasn't just the ramen. The very air in the apartment felt thin, shifting. He turned toward the door, intending to head to the store. "I guess I need to buy some at the... gro...ce...ry store?" Before His voice trailed off as he stepped through the doorway. He wore his slippers .However, afterward, he wasn't in his hallway. He wasn't even in his building. Behind him, his entire apartment began to distort and dissolve like a glitching digital file. "HUHHHHHHH!!!" he yelled, spinning around. The walls were stretching, pixelating, and then… snap. The building vanished into the horizon of a vast, white void. "What tha..." He stood alone in a literal ‘nothingness’. There were no streets, no sky, only a seemingly endless white floor and towering, distant pillars reaching the white haze above. He couldn’t help it as panic surged ,his composure ran amok. "Where did everything go? Where did my house goooo!!" "What just happened?" he whispered, his small figure dwarfed by the scale of the empty world. 'Then that wasn't a dream...' He lampooned inwardly. -"Finally, you're awake." The voice was cool, regal, and laced with an effortless authority. He spun around to find a woman with long, flowing hair and a piercing gaze watching him from a distance. "Kuro... or should I say , Kuroshiraga Arufa... No?" Arufa stared, his breath hitching. The woman sat atop a massive, ornate throne positioned at the top of a grand staircase, flanked by gargantuan pillars that reached into the white haze above. "A hit from Truck-kun does take its toll," she continued, her tone almost mocking. "I thought you'd never wake up... Took you long enough." "Who are you and where am I?" Kuro demanded, his voice echoing in the vast space. -"Who I am isn't important to you right now," she replied, leaning forward slightly. "You're currently within my Supreme Realm . However...; you do know where this is headed, right?" Arufa's eyes narrowed. "How did I get here?" "I redirected your path to this place," she said simply. "Listen... I've got a task... or rather, a favor I need to ask of you." "Favor?" Arufa repeated skeptically. "There's an item I need you to collect from another world... Different from your own world, yet at the same time, similar. " “Talk about free labour"Kuro snarled “Its well within my power to send you back to were you where headed”the woman retorted “Scratch that , let's call this forced labour” Arufa looked up at her with a defiant glint in his eyes. "What do I gain from doing this,anyways?" The woman didn't flin