Janus and The Prince: A LitRPG Saga (The Nightmares of Alamir Book 2)

by Noam Oswin

  “I should what?”

  “There is no time! NOW!”

  I didn’t understand it, but I’d never seen Erzili panic before. Taking a piece of chalk, I wrote down on my right hand: RETURN.

  “Now what’s the –”

  Erzili vanished. Fort Zyvar as well vanished. The roof was gone. The sky was present. And there, thick in the air, was the smell of ozone.

  [CRITICAL DAMAGE TAKEN]

  Pain burned through my body so much that I opened my lips and let out a silent scream. I felt as if every bone in my body was breaking a thousand times over, and over, and over again.

  “Humorless one.”

  I didn’t understand how I was alive. How I was back here. Krvavi Lagoon was a crater. A destroyed, upturned crater, and the half-man, half-horse floated in the air staring down at me. The lake was vaporized. Onna’s body was vaporized. My armor had melted unto my flesh and molded itself unto my skin. The pain burned at me from every corner.

  “You are gifted with a powerful Epithet, humorless one.”

  “H-how?”

  “You are a Demiurge, but do not think yourself invincible, humorless one. For I am capable of at least this.”

  [Epithet Clash]

  Your [Duality] clashed with Giggles’ [Comicality].

  [Comicality] won.

  [Comicality] overwrote your [Duality].

  Epithet Clash Failed!

  W…what?

  Your Epithet Skill [Duality] was overwritten.

  [Path A and Path B] merged into one.

  You can no longer use your Epithet Skill [Duality] while within the Domain: Krvavi Lagoon.

  My heart froze instantly.

  “From the moment you arrived, this one sensed it, you were here, yet not. Present, yet absent. A powerful ability, truly, no doubt. To split time in two, to take actions yet not. Morpheus would have loved your ability.”

  Giggles let out a large sigh.

  “Unfortunately, humorless one, you still have much to learn. This one has been alive for over a thousand generations. Even if you are a Demiurge – it would be a shame for this one to be felled by a nightmare who has not lived up to one-tenth of my years.”

  Nononononono –

  My [Duality] was blocked. Blocked. There was no backup timeline left for me to retreat to. Both Path A and Path B had merged into one, which meant –

  Onna was dead.

  Real death.

  How? How? [Duality] had never failed. It had never failed. Not once had anyone been able to tell I was using two timelines, not Zlosta or Hoplite or Erzili. No one had ever been able to know I was splitting timelines.

  “My Epithet Skill, humorless one is [Comicality].” Giggles said. “For all things, truly, are comical. Life. Death. Existence. Power. To understand the humor within them is to no longer be bound by them. To accept or reject them as this one so pleases.”

  What….?

  ‘What sort of bullshit power is that?’ Sunny roared.

  Without understanding it, I found myself giggling. Then, pushing through the pain, through the deliriousness and dizziness, I found myself laughing. Laughing, at the absurdity of such a skill. Laughing, at the hypocrisy of finding such a skill absurd, when mine was just as absurd in different ways.

  “Ah, humorless one. It seems you have finally understood the joke.”

  “I…” my voice croaked. “…messed up… didn’t I?”

  “Do you fear death, humorless one?”

  “…no… not… not anymore.”

  “Then be at peace, humorless one.”

  “Wait…” I said. “…Onna. Her. Give… give her… back.”

  “The maiden?”

  “She… she doesn’t deserve to die… because I… I… underestimated… y-you…”

  “…indeed, humorless one. Alas, I have no reason to accept your request.”

  “P-please…” I croaked. “Just…”

  “Humorless one, you would use your final breath to plead for the life of another?”

  Onna said she was cursed. Cursed to wander Alamir forever, in search of a purpose she shall never find, and meet a pathetic end. What could be a more pathetic end, than dying pointlessly in an attempt to make herself stronger for the one person in the world she was devoted to?

  “I… just… feel… she doesn’t deserve… to die… like that.”

  The world around me faded, and I could only hope, at least, that Giggles would grant that request.

  “…nightmares must do as nightmares must. Yet, here be a nightmare who refuses. Ah… humorless – no, Janus. Thank you – for giving this old one a joke that has never before been told. This one shall remember it for years to come.”

  “So… you.… you’ll bring her… back…?”

  Giggles smiled at me.

  “No.”

  Your HP has reached 0.

  [You have Died]

  Chapter 18: Better Half

  All of my problems were as a result of the universe refusing to let me die.

  [The title {Phoenix} has come into effect.]

  [You have attained [Causality Manipulation Immunity] from being killed by an Epithet Skill controlling cause and effect.]

  There was something different, about my resurrection this time. I had not resurrected within Giggles’ Domain. I had not resurrected in a forest, or at the bottom of a crater. This was my third time truly coming back to life, and there was something different, in that I could feel my back on something smooth. Smooth, hard and not natural.

  [Hidden Command Prompt Found]

  [Command Prompt: RETURN]

  [Check] [If (True Death), Set Respawn Point = Near Name-Giver]

  [Recognizing Command Prompt…]

  [Analyzing…]

  [Checking Authorization Level…]

  [Authorization Found.]

  [Demiurge: Janus]

  [Tier 10: Nightwitch: Zlosta Janje]

  [Command Authorized.]

  The first thing that told me something was wrong, was the sirens. Loud, blaring sirens that jerked my body upright, causing me to slam my head into something solid. More than just solid. My hand felt for it, with [Earth Control] and my heart within my chest started to beat a thousand times faster.

  Concrete. It’s… concrete?

  Solid concrete.

  I was in a small, concrete grave. An empty concrete grave, I realized. Yet, the sirens were still loud enough for me to hear them?

  Where am I?

  ‘Janus.’ Sunny’s voice came. ‘That RETURN command that Erzili had us write… I think I know what it did.’

  You do?

  ‘It’s a guess, a wild guess, but first, let’s get out of this grave.’

  [Phantasm] sprung to life, turning my body intangible as I phased through the concrete. With a little bit of some work, I turned myself invisible as an extra precaution. No sooner had I phased myself through the concrete, did I collapse, clutching heavily at my stomach.

  Fuck.

  You are afflicted by the negative status [Blood Parched]

  –50% MP Regen Rate for as long as you remain [Blood Parched].

  You are afflicted by the negative status [Flesh Famished]

  You have [5] More Days Left Before You Die of Starvation.

  A full day has passed…

  [Daily Task]

  You were unable to complete your Daily Task.

  Penalties Incurred.

  Penalty:

  –100% Experience Gain for 24 Hours.

  Forfeited Four of Your Weapons/Armor:

  Tungsten-Copper Gauntlets

  Tungsten-Copper Brogues

  Stainless Diamond Armor

  Mask of Janus

  Four of your Highest Leveled Skills are Reset to Lv. 1:

  [Earth Control] Lv. 1

  [Excruciating Toxic Bite] Lv. 1

  [Pain Resistance] Lv. 1

  [Golem Creation] Lv. 1

  Your next [Daily Task] is in: 23h59m49s

  Fuck.

 
; ‘Talk about adding insult to injury –’

  Naked. I was naked, I realized immediately. On instinct I attempted to create a mirror with [Earth Control], but found myself instead holding a lump of smooth sand. I wasn’t even at a level high enough on the skill to be able to bypass the mineral refinement process.

  “FUCK!”

  ‘Fuck is right. Damn it our skills are weak as hell now.’

  “And whose fault do you think this is?” I snarled. “You had to go and fight Giggles! If you hadn’t –”

  ‘We’re the same Janus. How the hell were we supposed to know that Epithet Skills could clash with one another like some sort of ridiculous moves in a trading card game?’

  I grit my teeth even harder. “…we didn’t know. Erzili never mentioned it. If she’d mentioned it –”

  ‘You’re going to blame Erzili now?’ Sunny said. ‘So first, blame me, then Erzili, and who next? Going to blame Onna as well?’

  I felt the wind leave my gut. “She’s dead. All because –”

  ‘Look, Janus, this isn’t the time. Right now, if we are where we think we are, this isn’t the time for any of this.’

  I was naked. I was hungry. I was lost and I was weakened.

  Again, I realized. Again! Again!

  ‘What?’

  “Every single time I get close to comfort, every time I get closer to having the bare minimum required to be happy, I end up losing it all.”

  It was like this, as a skink, when I got my Domain destroyed. It was like this when I finally learned how to speak, but then Zlosta decided to attack humans, and I had to run away from Hoplite. Now, then, the only thing that had kept me alive in those trying times, my one refuge that had me believe without a shadow of a doubt that I could survive Alamir –

  It wasn’t infallible.

  [Duality] wasn’t infallible. It could be countered. Beaten. Overwritten.

  It was the only thing in the world I’d come to rely on –

  And I couldn’t even rely on it.

  “I’m… I’m done.”

  ‘What? You can’t be serious.’

  “I am. I’m done… with all of this.”

  ‘Just because Duality can be countered doesn’t mean we should give up. We still have our Phoenix title. We can still –’

  “We can’t!” I snapped. “Don’t you get it? We’re not the heroes of some epic saga. We’re not going to win with the overwhelming power of love or friendship. There isn’t an omniscient being lording over us and ensuring we succeed no matter what.”

  I grit my teeth. “All that’s in store for us… is endless failure and suffering. And I can’t… I can’t…”

  ‘…just like how mother couldn’t?’

  Ice pierced through my chest.

  “You… bastard…”

  ‘Quitting because you don’t have it in you to continue. Because you feel the situation is hopeless. Because you feel you can’t change anything. Does any of this ring a bell?’

  “This is different. She wasn’t thrown into a different world as a worm! She didn’t die time and time again! No, it was just one stupid man and she chose to quit rather than fight back –”

  ‘And what difference did her reasons make, to the people she left behind?’

  I snorted. “And who exactly is going to miss Janus the Demiurge when he’s gone? Erzili? Zlosta?”

  ‘If that is what you truly believe, and you feel you don’t have it in you to continue… then give me the wheels.’

  “What?”

  ‘Give me the wheels,’ Sunny repeated. ‘Sit back in comfort, and let me, the true part of you, be the one to handle the big bad world of Alamir.’

  I pursed my lips. “Why does it sound like I’m signing my soul over to the devil or joining the dark side?”

  ‘Does it matter?’ Sunny said. ‘The fact remains that no sane human person can survive Alamir. Not with our world’s morality and ethics holding us back. But if you don’t care anymore, and if you can’t do it anymore – what does any of it matter? Even if you have to sell your soul to the devil, what does it matter?’

  Something felt… wrong. “Are you… really… me?”

  ‘I am. But, in a way, I am not. I am your Nightmare-half. The instincts you suppress. The desires you push back. The nature and predisposition of nightmare tempered by human intellect. Whereas you, are the nature and predisposition of a human constantly tempted by nightmare instincts. We are two halves of the same coin. But that coin is weighted, and one side will always turn up more than the other.’

  “I…”

  I clutched at my stomach a second time from the overwhelming hunger, gritting my teeth when I felt it. Smelt it. The rich, wafting, unmistakable aroma of flesh and blood –

  ‘You’re not a bad person, Janus.’ Sunny said. ‘But you can’t deny your instincts. We aren’t human, anymore. No matter what memories we had in a past life, no matter what we feel and think – nothing we do can make us human anymore. And insisting that you are what you aren’t – it’ll never end well.’

  “ATTENTION ALL AAA UNITS! THIS IS PROMINENT MACEY! WE HAVE REPORTS OF A BREACH WITHIN SECTOR ONE-ZERO-ONE! I REPEAT! WE HAVE REPORTS OF A BREACH WITHIN SECTOR ONE-ZERO-ONE! POTENTIAL PLANEWALKER! ALL UNITS ARE TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT! I REPEAT –”

  Prominent? Sector One-Zero-One?

  ‘There is no time left. If you’ve made up your mind, then give me the wheel. Let the other side of you surface – and I’ll get us everything we’ve always wanted. Happiness, comfort, wealth, family – everything, no matter the cost.’

  I took a breath, closing my eyes.

  ‘You are a Nightmare of Alamir, Janus. It is time to act like it.’

  “…alright.”

  ‘Alright?’

  I opened my eyes.

  “Take the wheel.”

  A dark, malevolent laugh reached out from my mind, accompanying three dark words.

  “As you command.”

  Chapter 19: Recruitment

  “Ahh, it feels good to stretch like this. Now… let’s find out where we are…?”

  I examined the area. A garden. Cute. Sakura-trees were growing within the garden. Cuter. There was a pond, large koi fish, circling each other back and forth. The grass was carpet-tripped and excellently well maintained. I took two sniffs in the air.

  Clean. Cleaner than natural air. Lingering scents. Human. Female. Young. Oh, a virgin?

  I laughed my stomach growled heavily. I patted my belly, giving it a small rub. “Greedy little thing aren’t you. We’ll eat in a moment, first, let’s get a lay of the land and see where Erzili’s command sent us.”

  I sniffed the air a second time. My nostrils picked up the scent before my ears heard the voices. Human. Two. Male. Non-virgins. Healthy. One has high potassium deficiency. The other is anemic. My mouth watered and I had to wipe away the drool as I thought about best to season the meals that were coming in my direction.

  Although…

  “World Map.”

  Error!

  Scrying and Mapping functionalities are being obstructed by jammers.

  You cannot use the [World Map] Feature at this location.

  Jammers? Ah, that confirms it.

  “Hurry, let’s check this area –”

  I sighed. I couldn’t eat them yet. If I was where I believed I was, doing so would draw too much attention. Phasing through the nearest wall, I made a beeline in a direction that made me salivate the least. I could smell them, with their mix of perfumes, oils, and biological processes. The smell was like that aroma of turkey in the oven in the hours before a Thanksgiving meal. Their scents tickled my nostrils, their heartbeats pumped my ears full with their rhythm, and it was easier to evade them when I could predict their movements and paths long before they ever approached me.

  A High Ghilan was a nightmare that hunted Alamirians. A nightmare that adapted to hunt Alamirians. Back on earth, most apex predators avoided actively hunting humans because humans tended to react angrily
to the death of their loved one, and they would raze entire forests to the ground if it meant finding the beast that created a widow.

  To be a creature that actively hunted a human meant not having adapted that genetic understanding that hunting humans was a bad idea. Alternatively, in my case, it meant being a creature that was capable of not only hunting humans but surviving the wrath and fallout of hunting them.

  Following the lack of scents brought me to what appeared to be a large barracks. Phasing through the entrance, amusement rippled through me at the sight of the first door available. I approached it, marveling.

  “Automatic doors. With motion sensors to boot! Can you believe it?”

  The door swung open and close on its own will. There was a slot, at the side though, for which I could not fathom the use. [Gatekeeper] told me immediately that it was meant for keycards.

  Identified: Common Barrack Doors

  Details: Door created by the Alhamisian Adventurer Army on the sixteenth day of the Month of the Saint, 2135AE in Sector One-Zero-One, AAA Training Facility, Mid-Eastern Alamir.

  Door’s Structural Integrity: High.

  Door’s Special Ability: N/A

  Door’s Applied Buffs: N/A

  Memories Available: N/A.

  Door’s Soul: N/A

  No. of Times Door has been used: 999+

  Door Connections: None Assigned

  Note: The door is of Remitech Origins. A Black Keycard, or Equivalent Mystech or Remitech Knowledge is required to edit, delete, upgrade, bless or curse this door.

  “So, it’s as I thought then,”

  The Return command did exactly what I thought it did. It returned us to a place nearest to the person who named us. Essentially, near Zlosta.

  “I’m in the AAA Facility that captured Zlosta.” I realized, humming. “Which means I’m near Hoplite.”

  The Champion of Alhamis would get what was coming to him, but it wasn’t going to be now. Challenging him now would be unwise. Sighing, I dusted my palms and pointed towards the door.

  “[Open Gate to Fort Zyvar.]”

  [Gatekeeper Activated]

  [Error]

  You do not have the necessary knowledge to operate this door.

  You do not meet the requirements needed to create a connecting doorway.