Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (hardest books to read txt) 📕

chamber, though it was coated in a layer of filth similar to the rest of the building. Three cots lined the wall to my right, while a small kitchen area took up most of the left side of the room with an ice chest and dining table. There was another door on the far side of the room, and an opening on the right wall half-covered by a hanging sheet. I watched the room intently for movement, then entered and closed the door behind me.

Through the dull yellow light, I caught a glimpse of something shiny on the farthest cot. I approached cautiously, wary of some sort of trap, but when I reached the bedside, I saw that the shimmer came from the reflective face of a sword. It was made of a beautiful light blue metal and was etched with strange runes along one side. The crossguard was heavy and unadorned, guarding a worn leather grip and a pommel ringed with a small golden band. A smile spread across my face as I examined it, although I didn’t know why.

My observations were interrupted by a loud crash against the far door of the room. I crouched in cover behind the cot and watched the small viewport in the door for movement. After another impact, a face appeared in the window, and a chill raced down my spine. Whatever was standing on the opposite side of the door was definitely not human.

The creature had slate grey skin, a nose that seemed to have no holes, and a gaping, circular mouth that hung open to reveal multiple rows of teeth. I barely had time to notice the secondary features before I became transfixed on just one: its eyes. They shone through the darkness with an eerie purple glow, completely devoid of pupils or irises. My stomach turned as I tried to identify the creature to no avail; whatever it was, I had never encountered anything like it in my entire life, and it terrified me.

A guttural scream echoed out from its cavernous mouth as it spotted me behind the bed. It smashed its head against the viewport, completely destroying the small window and sending glass shards raining down onto the floor before me. After another bellow the face disappeared, replaced with a spindly arm that reached through down towards the door handle. Fingers much too long for its hands brushed in searching waves until they curled around the metal latch.

There was a faint click as the mechanism released before the door violently burst open. Seeing the full form of the creature for the first time was disturbing; it was so close to human in its build, but everything was a degree off from normal. The skin was perfectly smooth and featureless, stretched taut over hyperextended joints that bent in sickening directions as it moved.

With another roar, the creature lunged across the empty space towards where I cowered behind the metal cot. I screamed and reached out desperately for the sword beside me, praying I would miraculously learn how to wield a blade in the fraction of a second I had left in life. When my fingers contacted the leather-wrapped grip, I felt a surge of mana pour down my arm and into the blade.

Energy crashed through my body like lightning, electrifying every fiber of my being. It felt as if a dense fog had lifted from my mind, and I remembered things that had been lost to me moments before. The room snapped into a bright focus as time dilated and slowed the Thrall before me to a snail’s pace. My hand curled around the familiar sword handle as I sprang out to meet my foe head-on. The blade whipped up in a flash, easily slicing through the monster’s outstretched arm. I leaned to one side and let its body brush past me, then gripped the sword in two hands and brought the cutting edge down through its neck.

Iridescent blood gushed out over the mattress as the head and torso separated. The head bounced and rolled along the stone floor, purple eyes fading to a dull white as its life quickly drained away. I wiped the edge of my sword on a small clean portion of the bedsheets and took a moment to collect my thoughts.

“They’ve reached the living quarters,” I said out loud, taking care to speak clearly and with emphasis. “That means the defenses in the main entry have finally given out. I have to move out to the central chamber and secure it at all costs.” I moved to the bureau at the back wall, directly past the doorway. Wiping a hand across the filthy mirror attached to the wall, I regarded myself coldly.

I was barely able to make out my own features through the dim yellow light and the silver blood on the glass. Dull eyes peered back at me from sunken sockets surrounded by bruised and wrinkled skin. White hair hung down past my shoulders, matted and crusty with old blood. There were multiple cuts on my forehead and cheeks which looked to have scabbed and peeled repeatedly, leaving the skin puffy and infected. I scowled at my condition.

“Don’t. Forget.” I repeated the words to myself. “Don’t. Forget. Don’t. Forget.” As I spoke, I pulled a silver orb from my bandolier and retrieved the needle from the fastening. Without breaking eye contact with the mirror, I punctured the orb and pressed the small button at the top of the needle. The orb swelled and began to glow with a faint orange light. After replacing the needle in the top of the bandolier, I held the orb up directly above my face and crushed it in my fist.

Orange liquid burst out as the thin silver membrane popped, coating my hands and face in the warm fluid. I wiped the excess from my skin and flicked it away, leaving the rest to sizzle and evaporate over my wounds. When I opened my eyes and examined myself again, the