He felt the masked man's presence reappear as he put his hands onto the chair Abel was on. He felt the world shift and turn, and then he felt the light on his eyes and he opened them. He hadn't even realised that he had closed his eyes at some point. He looked around and saw only dust and sand around him in an endless expanse. It seemed exactly the same as the location he had been in when he had first Transmigrated into this world.
Abel: Where is this?
Brother Shade: The Perimeter.
The masked man held his hand up, putting it against the air and pushing it. The sky opened up and Brother Shade stepped through, dragging Abel and his chair through alongside him.
Brother Shade: So many people live their life in ignorance of the truth. Unaware of the fact that this world is so much more than any of them could truly understand. A world where the sun never sets is doomed to burn and turn into ash in under a month. Especially with a sun as strong as ours. Welcome to the Perimeter, from here on out you'll be feeling the full force of our sun.
Abel: I don't understand any of that.
Brother Shade: Bask in its glory.
Brother Shade stuffed a gag into Abel's mouth, threw him and his chair, sending them a number of meters into the space beyond the Perimeter, as the sun rose into its top and brightest position. The sand and stone surrounding him began to boil. His skin began to char and burn as if the sun had dipped him straight into lava. He was burning alive under the sun and there was no way out. He was going to die, and it was absolute agony. He could feel it, creeping into his burning flesh, death was coming for him.
Kaelen- The real Kaelen had been experiencing this when he had "died" and been switched out with him, Abel Cyrus. He knew what was coming, he knew the pain that was coming. Burning skin, melting sand, gagged mouth. He had thought it a dream, but now he was here once again. Dying. This was his fate, something he couldn't escape, the only reason he hadn't died to this is the previous two Save States was because he was busy being killed by Talyndra to be captured and killed by Brother Shade. He hadn't been able to escape then, and doubted that he could now, but he had been distracted by the sudden Transmigration back then, so it wasn't impossible that he hadn't seen everything that he could do. There could be a way out, there had to be, otherwise he would be stuck forever in a death loop.
[Notice: New Mission]
[Accept / Decline]
Even on his deathbed, he wasn't going to break his promise. No more missions. [Decline]. And almost in response to his declining of the new mission-
[Notice: Status effect gained]
[Burning, Tier I: Lose one (1) health from your current health total every second.]
[Health Points: 25/25 (-1) -> 24/25]
The heat grew ten fold, and hurt like hell. It wasn't something he could ignore anymore, and the gag was stuck in his mouth pretty tight. If he couldn't deal with even that, then there was no way he could think his way out of the chair itself.
[Notice: Status effect increased]
[Burning, Tier I (+1) -> Burning, Tier II]
[Health Points: 24/25 (-2) -> 22/25]
It just kept on getting worse. There was nothing. Nothing he could do. He was dead. He was going to die.
[Notice: Status effect increased]
[Burning, Tier II (+1) -> Burning, Tier III]
[Health Points: 22/25 (-3) -> 19/25]
Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.
[Notice: Status effect increased]
[Burning, Tier III (+1) -> Burning, Tier IV]
[Health Points: 19/25 (-4) -> 15/25]
NO! There was something! Something he could do to live! Or at least something he could do to live longer! Kaelen had managed to get [Burning, Tier XI], he had seen it in the [Lost Stats]. But at this rate he wouldn't even manage [Burning, Tier VIII]. There was something Kaelen had managed to do to stay under the sun without actually taking damage, and he had to find it.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[Notice: Status effect increased]
[Burning, Tier IV (+1) -> Burning, Tier V]
[Health Points: 15/25 (-5) -> 10/25]
And the key to these extra few seconds that Kaelen had carved out from this unescapable fate before being replaced by him were hidden somewhere in his memory. There had to be something! Kaelen had figure out something that he couldn't!
[Notice: Status effect increased]
[Burning, Tier V (+1) -> Burning, Tier VI]
[Health Points: 10/25 (-6) -> 4/25]
[Notice: Death imminent]
-And yet... He was already too late. He would be dead within a second. Whatever Kaelen had figured out was lost to him. He was dead anyways.
[Notice: Status effect increased]
[Burning, Tier VI (+1) -> Burning, Tier VII]
[Health Points: 4/25 (-7) -> -3/25]
Kaelen... I'm going to figure out what you did. Eventually.
[Notice: Skills leveled up]
[Death Watcher, Level 3 (+1) -> Death Watcher, Level 4]
His mind snapped into place and his eyes shot open as he gasped for breath and began to pant.
Abel: *pant* *sigh* ... Kaelen... Just who are you? How did you manage to survive that for a bit? What did you manage to figure out that I didn't?
He had died four times now, including the very first, the one that had happened almost immediately upon Transmigration. Twice to the sun, once to Talyndra, and once of his own volition. Not including the one by Talyndra and the suicide, all of his deaths had been to that situation. It was likely the main event of the Save States that he was experiencing and he had just been unable to reach it in the first few actual Save States he had experienced. Meaning the most logical way of finding a new save point and potentially ending the death loop would be to get past that event and hope it ended there.
He could think of two ways to get past that event. He could either avoid the Festival and hope that he wasn't kidnapped, or he could keep on playing through his death under the sun until he found out and perfected Kaelen's secret survival method. He had absolutely no idea how the second would work, so he would be forced into doing the first. Meaning he had to play a waiting game without a guaranteed prize.
There was a third way to get past the event, but it was impossible. Beat Brother Shade in a fight. Brother Shade's stats were higher than all of his, even including those [Lost Stats]. If he had them he would only beat Brother Shade maximum health and dexterity. There was no use thinking back over this, he had already thought this whole possibility through when he first met Brother Shade. It just wasn't happening. His only hope of a way past the event with guaranteed results would be a sudden, new, fourth way that he didn't know about, but he had no hints of how to find something like that. Perhaps there was something hidden away in the final few pages of the [Help Menu] that could help him?
He made his standard makeshift clothes from the bedsheets and was about to open up the [Help Menu] to look over the last bits, but he was interrupted by the sudden sound of knocks on the door. Talyndra was already here. He had been thinking over the possibilities for far too long, and would now have to face a completely reset Talyndra, hoping he didn't do the wrong thing and get himself killed for the fifth time. He went over to the front door and opened it, and as he had come to expect by now, Talyndra was there.
Abel: Hey Talyndra. -And before you ask. Yes. I know my clothes are bad. I ran out of Lux again even after Blazing my possessions. My bad.
Talyndra: ... Uhm... I don't really know what to say now... At least you're aware of how you look, right?
Abel: Yeah. -Hey. I don't feel too great, do you mind if I skip the Festival today?
Talyndra: Skip? You? That's not like you at all Kaelen. I remember when you went with a broken arm once because you had quite literally nothing left.
Shit. Just how much did Kaelen like the Festival? Was it not something he could avoid now that he had Kaelen's body? He definitely couldn't admit that he wasn't Kaelen, he already knew how that would go.
Abel: I'm... Not doing great...
Talyndra: You're so pale... Do you want to talk about it?
Pale? Well he had just died all of a minute ago. The sensation had left him and his memories of it seemed to be automatically dulled every time, as otherwise he'd be a shattered wreck by now. -No, the reason didn't matter. He could use this to get out of the Festival.
Abel: Not really. Do you mind?
Talyndra: Not at all. I'll be going then.
Abel: Bye.
He slammed the door shut as fast as he could. It was reading time.
