Chapter 4: Crossing Into the Immortal Citadel

Peace slowly picked himself up off the alleyway ground and found himself violently shaking.

’W-what?!’

Revulsions flooded his mind, which had somehow gained a newfound humanity.

Peace bent forward on his hands and knees and began to vomit relentlessly onto the alley floor. Yet, despite the dim lighting, he was still assaulted by the violent array of colors flooding his mind.

A man’s loud shout filled Peace’s abnormally large ears.

"These three Soul Stealers shall be punished for their abominable heresy against god!"

’What’s happening?!’

For a second, Peace thought he was back on Earth, but that obviously wasn’t the case.

Draped in a tattered brown cloak, Peace crawled toward the wall of a building, passing a broken glass vial along the way. He used the building as leverage and pulled himself up, only to find his line of sight had risen. Not just a little either; he was taller than he’d ever been before.

"To defile his creation with their foul presence!"

Peace stepped out from the shade, and the sunlight nearly blinded him. He held up his arm to block it.

’My skin...’

It was a much darker shade than it had been on Earth, but his arm was back to normal. It wasn’t monstrous anymore.

Actually, his skin was unnaturally smooth, despite the grime coating his body, the scrapes on his palms, and the small shards of glass embedded there.

"To scorn his will!"

He was no longer in the body of a monster, but this body wasn’t familiar either.

Curiously, Peace brought his hand to his face and felt the smoothness of his cheeks, a stark contrast to the rough skin he’d had before. Then he slowly moved his hands upward and touched his ears.

They were long and pointy, nothing like a human’s...

’An elf...’

Elves in the game were known to be deathly pale — well, typical Day Elves. Judging by his skin color, he must have been...

’Did I possess a Night Elf?’

No wonder the sun seemed so blistering. The innate racial ability of a Night Elf made them weaker during the day and stronger at night.

But...

What about the monster’s body he was in? Surely going through all that wasn’t entirely for nothing? Well, not that he would complain about having a normal humanoid body...

If he did meet his sister as a monster, that reunion would probably be quite awkward.

Still, going through that harrowing and despicable experience was life-altering.

Visions of him devouring the corpse flashed through his mind. He nearly gave in to nausea again at the memory of the flesh’s texture in his mouth.

"For the crime of stealing our youth!"

Pushing past the matter of being in a different body... he knew where he was.

Peace stepped forward, stopping where the busy plaza met the alleyway, and looked toward the crowd gathered around three men at the gallows. All three prisoners were tied down with their necks stretched out.

A person with a long sword stood next to each of them.

Peace stared into the eyes of the gagged and crying prisoners.

"We shall sever their necks and let our children’s spirits be free!"

’They’re like me... I’m certain.’

He most definitely wasn’t alone in his predicament.

The executioners brought down their blades, and Peace winced, but he forced himself to watch as his compatriots fell to their assassins’ blades, their heads dropping to the floor.

It was disgusting...

’Who could do such a thing to a person?’

The crowd erupted in cheers over the slaughtered men, who looked no older than him.

One shouted.

"Be free!"

Then another.

"Be free!"

Then another joined in, followed by more voices until the cries of "be free" blended together like monks chanting a mantra.

To avoid drawing suspicion, Peace tried not to let his revulsion show outwardly.

Peace didn’t have the situation figured out, not at all, but the bits and pieces led him to believe that being covert was the best... Well, the only course of action.

From what he could tell, he would most likely be killed in the same fashion if discovered.

Whether he was in the game Enemies of Corruption or not, whether others were summoned with him or not, whether his sister was here or not, the only thing he could trust at the moment was his five senses.

Even then, he knew of many Resonances in the game that could fool those senses, so maybe even they weren’t to be trusted.

While he didn’t know what district he was in, Peace was most definitely in the last bastion of humanity untouched by corruption: the Immortal Citadel.

Peace rested against the wall of the building and checked the clothes beneath his cloak...

The tunic and long pants he wore were tattered, revealing his sleek yet muddied skin beneath. In his pants, he found a strange, balled-up note and a dozen bronze coins. He slowly unfurled the note and noticed two messages.

He read the larger phrase: ’Alea iacta est’.

Beneath it was a smaller one in fine print: ’C’est la vie’.

’Huh? Such... is life?’

Did the people here speak French? No, those people he heard in the forest were speaking in a tongue he’d never heard before. Well, the fact that he could understand them made no sense, but he, at the very least, knew they weren’t speaking a language he recognized.

And what was up with that first message?

’Latin?’

The youthful voice of a kid reached Peace’s long ears.

"Mommy, look! It’s one of the Night!"

Peace looked up and saw a kid jumping in place and pointing at him. He meant to return a smile, but instead gave the child a gleeful death stare.

"Get away!" The mom pushed the kid’s shoulders roughly. "How many times have I told you they’re dangerous!"

’Dangerous?’

While he knew there were some tensions and grievances between the different races, elves and humans tended to get along.

’...?’

Fretting over it wouldn’t reveal anything right now.

But there was a more concerning matter.

Behind the execution grounds was a large clock tower, a purple ribbon hanging from it.

’That ribbon...’

Assuming this wasn’t all a dream and he’d wake up in this body the next day, the dungeon was going to open — whether it would be his tomb or his lifeline, he wasn’t quite sure.

Still, he had to prepare as best as he could in the coming twenty-four hours.

Assuming this world had twenty-four-hour days...

The game did, at least.