Chapter 160: Am I Dying Right Now?

POV Eliza

I was dreaming. I had to be dreaming, because I saw images floating past my mind's eye. Images I knew and images I didn't know. My parents in front of our vacation home, my little sister in the pool in Tenerife. Mario, our Jack Russell terrier, chasing after a ball. Erica, my best friend, in various situations. And Monica.

Why did I see Monica, and why this particular scene? The evening Erica introduced her to us and I fell in love with her at first sight. But back then I was 13 and knew nothing about my sexuality and my preferences. At that time, I couldn't understand or classify my feelings. When I realized it years later, it was unfortunately too late. Monica introduced us to her new boyfriend that day. So she was straight.

I was in a bad mood that evening and Erica noticed it immediately. But I didn't give her a concrete answer and even years later I didn't tell her. It was too uncomfortable for me. I grew up in a Catholic household and my grandmother in particular was very religious. Therefore, a lesbian relationship would never have been tolerated. In addition, my mother had been mentioning for years how much she would like to have grandchildren. The whole situation ultimately led to me starting several relationships with boys, but they never lasted longer than a few weeks. We kissed occasionally, but I never felt anything special. We never had sex, and that was usually the reason why it ended. It almost happened twice, but I always backed out at the last minute.

But why was I remembering this now? I had tried hard to forget these embarrassing moments in my life. Was my life ending? They say that when you die, you see your life flash before your eyes. In these many images, there were also people I didn't remember. Was that normal?

During my studies, I had already taken a seminar on psychology in palliative medicine. From the descriptions of those affected, it sounded exactly the same. That could only mean one thing: I was dying. That was very tragic, especially for me. Just when I had the chance to make up for at least one mistake in my past. After my grandmother had recently passed away, I had finally mustered up the courage to confess my feelings to Monica, which I had been carrying around with me for eight years. I didn't expect a positive response, I just wanted to close that chapter. It was a shame, but then I had peace of mind. Hopefully.

But then I opened my eyes, although my vision was severely impaired. I also had severe pain all over my body, especially in my head. I raised my hand and examined myself. I had a wound on the left side of my temple that was bleeding heavily. I also had blood everywhere else, but it seemed as if I had no other bleeding wounds.

However, I had been less fortunate in other respects. I had at least two broken ribs, and it was likely that my left arm was also broken. In addition, the wound on my head was worrying. I had to stop the bleeding urgently and call for help as quickly as possible. I couldn't find a handkerchief quickly, so I took off one of my gloves and pressed it against my head.

When I tried to call for help loudly, no sound came out of my mouth. That's when I realized that I couldn't hear anything at all. How could that be? Had my eardrums burst and I had gone deaf? Or was my hearing impaired? Damn, there were now signs of a concussion. That wasn't good at all. I needed to get to a hospital urgently.

I couldn't get there on my own, but help should be on its way by now. I remembered that I was supposed to meet my friends in front of the role-playing store. There was no main road there, but it was still busy. So I just had to wait.

Several minutes later, there was still no sign of help. I had kept my eyes closed most of the time, but whenever I opened them, there were no lights to be seen. It wasn't dark, but I was still puzzled. Wherever I was, I was obviously alone. Then I noticed a change in the lighting in one direction, like a pulsation. It seemed to be getting brighter there. Maybe I was somewhere in a basement or something, and the exit was back there. In any case, that would explain why the ambulance was having trouble finding me. It was no use, I had to get out of here. Fortunately, I had no life-threatening injuries, although I was pretty sure I was severely injured. The urge to get away from here grew stronger and stronger, so I finally gave in to it.

There was a wall behind me, so I could hold on to it while I got up. It took quite a long time because as soon as I started to move, I felt dizzy and nauseous. So I really did have a concussion. Not good, but there was nothing I could do about it right now. I had to hurry because I noticed blood running down my face. This could be more dangerous than I thought.

Somehow, I managed to pull myself up. I could clearly hear the rustling of my clothes and the scraping of my shoes on the floor. I wasn't deaf after all, but then why couldn't I hear any cars or sirens? I was confused.

Step by step, I shuffled along the wall toward the pulsing sound. I had a hard time staying conscious, partly because there was a strong smell of blood. Had I always been so sensitive to it? My footsteps echoed loudly. The basement must have been very large.

I didn't know how long it took me to reach the opening in the wall. But at that point, I could hardly think clearly, so I didn't give it much thought. When I finally got a glimpse around the corner, I saw a small room that was empty except for a platform in the middle. On the platform, or rather floating 10 cm above the platform, was a sphere about 1 meter in diameter. The sphere was very dark in color, but not black. More like a dark purple. This sphere pulsated slightly and also illuminated the room slightly.

It also exerted a very strong attraction on me, as if it was calling me. I couldn't resist this attraction. So I stumbled towards the sphere, as I had nothing to hold on to. As a result, I fell onto the sphere, so to speak. What happened next was incredible, far too unbelievable. But I didn't just hear a voice in my head, I also saw some of the words written in front of my mind's eye.

[Potential candidate detected. Connection being established.]

What did that mean? As if I didn't already have enough headaches. I must be hallucinating. I couldn't think of any other explanation.

[Connection complete. Begin transfer.]

Transfer? What kind of... Urgh, what is this feeling? Something was being taken from me, but why? And what? In any case, I was getting weaker by the second and had to drop to my knees. However, my hand remained on the orb the whole time.

[Transfer stopped. Source insufficient. Check alternatives.]

The transfer was stopped? Had everything I had been taken from me? Could I finally be free?

[High potential identified. Sufficient resources available. Initiate increase in mana regeneration.]

High potential? Mana? What was going on here?

[Candidate reaches limit. Test initiated. Conditions for exceeding limit met. Initiate exceeding of limits.]

Limit?

[Initiate increase in mana regeneration.]

Was my memory playing tricks on me because of my headache, or did this seem familiar?

[Candidate reaches limit. Examination initiated. Conditions for exceeding limit cannot be met. Current classes insufficient. Examination initiated.]

Classes? What classes?

[Second class can be improved. Initiate improvement. Access denied. Insufficient requirements. Examination initiated.]

I understood less and less of what was happening around me.

[Classes cannot be improved in current state. Skill cannot be improved at present. Check alternatives. Alternative detected.]

There was an alternative? To what?

[Check potential for race progression.]

Race? Progression? But I was human. What was there to enhance?

[Dark elf race currently not upgradeable. Vampire race currently not upgradeable. Check alternatives.]

Dark elf? Vampire? Was this not about me at all? But then who was it about, and why was I hearing this monotonous computer voice in my head?

[Alternative detected. Manual progression possible. Check resources.]

Whatever this voice was, it had better hurry. I felt myself on the verge of losing consciousness.

[Resources insufficient. Check risk assessment. Excessive enhancement worsens development by 51.394%. ALARM! ALARM! Candidate's consciousness fading. Disconnecting thought connection to minimize risk.]

Then the voice in my head stopped, just as suddenly as it had appeared. My hand lost contact with the sphere and I stumbled back in shock. I fell on my butt and had to collect my thoughts. Then I heard a soft noise behind me coming from the large hall. Help was coming. I had to go meet it. I could only crawl, but I tried my best. However, just before the sounds reached me, my remaining strength left me and I had to lean against the wall. There I instantly lost consciousness.

POV Rescue Team

“Quick, hurry up. Maybe we'll get there in time and still be able to save her.” <Man 1>

“Are you sure? The Minotaur leaves no survivors when it wins, and nearly 2 days have already passed. At least since we were called for help.” <Woman>

“I won't give up until I see the body. Until then, I refuse to admit it. Come on, search the hall!” <Man 1>

“Over here, I found her. She seems to still be breathing, but she's badly injured. She needs immediate healing.” <Man 2>

“I'm already there. Medium heal.” <Woman>

“See, it pays to never give up. Even if I'm only right once, it's worth it. Get the stretcher ready, then we'll go back immediately.” <Man 1>