Fighting Monsters In Another World: An Isekai LitRPG Progression Fantasy

Chapter 29 “There are things it is better to forget”



Chapter 29

“There are things it is better to forget”

Again, all was darkness.

Until it was no longer dark.

A beautiful starry sky was drawn high in the celestial vault and little by little the edges of the small garden in front of the entrance of the apartment building where Kalysto lived appeared around her, like fresh paint stains being washed away by the rain.

Kalysto looked up at the clear night sky when the loud flapping of a group of pigeons startled her.

Strange, why are they flying at this hour? As she wondered at the unlikely event, the cold night breeze blew against her face, ruffling the skin on her arms. She buttoned the thin jacket she was wearing over her waitress uniform. I should have packed a thicker jacket this morning. She thought as she pulled out the keys that unlocked the gate that led to a short stone path through the flower-filled garden in front of the front door to her building.

She looked up one last time and saw a shooting star pass by. Then, after closing her eyes for a second, she made a wish.

“I want to be able to travel the world and never have to worry about getting money again,” she whispered and looked down. For some reason, although she could have sworn she was alone, she seemed to sense the presence of someone else approaching her and trying to hear her words. So she turned around, wanting to find that strange presence, but saw no one else around her. However, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, assuring her that she was being watched.

But along the lonely street lined with apartment buildings, there was only her.

At the end of the block, she caught a glimpse of Amanda’s husband’s car still waiting for the traffic light at the corner to turn green, after the couple had been kind enough to give her a ride home after finishing her night shift at the restaurant.

“I wish I had a magic wand and the power to cure people with it,” she whispered to the lonely night, remembering how bad and depressed Amanda looked that night after receiving the news that a tumor had been found in her brain.

Although it would be ideal if I could get rid of all this tiredness too. She could barely keep her eyes open and her brain functioning. Even though she was only a few feet away from her warm and comfortable bed, it was already a little after midnight and she had had an absolutely exhausting week. And tomorrow she had to get up early to take her last exam of the semester.

Then she thought better of it.

“Although if I could have magic and also speak any language, that would be even cooler,” she wished, then remembered that wishes weren’t supposed to be said out loud, so she looked around and after making sure no one else was there with her to hear it, then shrugged, downplaying it.

A small firefly glowed around the bush that bordered the entrance to the building, it almost seemed as if the insect could understand her words as it flickered brightly and approached her as Kalysto inserted the key into the entrance gate.

But its hypnotic light seduced her, making her forget everything else for a few moments and stare at it as her mind went completely blank, her body completely motionless in front of the entrance gate. As she watched the little insect intently, as if nothing else existed in the world.

Fairy! Said a voice deep in her mind. Causing Kalysto to awaken from her hypnotic trance. She blinked, full of confusion, as she looked around, observing that there was no sign of Amanda’s car or her husband on the lonely street. She felt out of place and shook her head to shake off the groggy feeling.

“I’m not a child anymore to go around thinking about those stories,” she scolded herself, as she struggled with the key that had gotten stuck in the lock, not allowing her to pull it out, but not allowing her to turn it and open it either.

She knew she should no longer believe the nonsense her father had once told her so many years ago. He used to like to go out with her in the backyard in the middle of the night behind her mother’s back, and tell her stories by the light of the moon and the shining stars. At eight years old, she was thrilled to hear stories about his travels and the other cultures he had known, as well as all those stories he had made up for her.

Perhaps that’s where Kalysto got her love of books and travel. But the only trip she had ever taken was when she moved from the town to Blasky.

“This will be our little secret, my little princess. Okay?” He always told her when she joined his nightly escapades, until one night, as she watched him from her bedroom window, he looked back to make sure no one had followed him and she saw him stop just before the beginning of the thick forest that bordered the mining town where she was born. But that time, unlike the others, he shook his head when she motioned through the window to join him, as she always did. And as she felt the pain of his rejection as keenly as if it were happening all over again at that moment, and not as a mere memory that had come out of nowhere into her mind, her whole environment suddenly changed. And she ceased to be the young twenty-one-year-old waitress who came home late from work on a Friday night, and became a little girl inside the room she had grown up in.

The same room that starred in some of her nightmares.

Wounded by her father’s rejection, she watched him walk in silence as she placed her small hands and pressed her forehead against the cold glass of the window.

“Daddy?” she heard herself say, losing all control over her body. Becoming the simple observer of an event that marked her life and started the beginning of her misfortunes.

If only he had never left us, that man would never have ruined our lives. She thought and wished she could close her eyes and get away from this place. From something she no longer wanted to relive, and yet she had to watch helplessly as it all unfolded again.

Her mind and emotions were mixed with those of that time, to the point where she became unsure which of these two versions of her was the real one, and which was not.

Am I dreaming?

Then everything just stopped mattering. And she went back to feeling like that little girl who just wanted to have her father’s approval and spend more time with him. And she noticed with childish delight how her father’s skin seemed to glow with a light of its own as he paused under the shade of an old, leafy tree, illuminating the dark night as a shaft of moonlight pierced the thick clouds covering the sky and unveiled his lone figure. Making him appear ethereal.

He looks like an angel. She thought.

Soon after, a strong light blinded her and by the time she could look back toward the forest entrance, her father was gone.

And he never came back.

Kalysto’s heart clenched at the painful memory and she clenched her fists feeling her nails dig into the palm of her hands and those two versions of her that had been unified for a few moments separated again, allowing her to become aware of her adult version again. And she wished with all her might that she would never have to witness that scene ever again. One that, no matter how hard she had tried to forget as she grew up, she had never managed to do so.

Again, the darkness devoured everything around her. Her mind went blank, and she stopped seeing herself inside the body of a child. The smell of the flowers in the garden flooded her nose and a second later, it was morning. The morning sun shone high against the front door of the apartment building she lived in and her cell phone alarm sounded from inside the right pocket of the sweatshirt she was now wearing.

Wasn’t I wearing my work uniform just now? She thought, feeling confused as her head began to ache and pulled out her cell phone to turn off the alarm.

7:00 am I have my final exam in an hour! I can’t be late!

Her alarm said. Then Kalysto frowned.

She was sure she had already taken that exam. She even remembered how easy it had been to answer the questions.

“What the hell is going on here?” She whispered, all her senses on alert at the strange déjà vu. I could have sworn I was having a nightmare just a moment ago. At what point did I shower and get dressed for class... Did I even get to eat breakfast? She carefully observed every little detail of the small front garden, looking for a clue as to what was out of place. Then she noticed that, although she was carrying on her back her heavy backpack with everything she needed for that day, including another change of clothes, along with a pair of jeans, a clean t-shirt and her work uniform shoes, the strange thing was that her backpack didn’t weigh anything. That’s not normal... my backpack is always heavy.

She looked carefully at every little detail around her sensing that something was not right, from the small firefly glowing lonely in the bush surrounding the fence in front of the building, to the garden flowers decorating each side of the cobblestone path leading to the outer fence.

But nothing seemed out of place.

“What’s going on here?” She whispered. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and immediately, that voice deep in the back of her head interrupted her.

Shut up, we’re not alone!

And as if it was a movie, her body moved on its own, putting the cell phone in her pocket and pulling out her keys as she approached the gate leading to the street. Kalysto’s body let out a long sigh, and the words came out of her mouth without her being aware of it as she remembered that morning her landlady had once again tried to play matchmaker between her eldest son and her.

“I’ll have to find another place to live soon. It’s a pity, I really liked living here,” said her body. The firefly left the bush it was in and approached her, almost as if it wanted to offer her some comfort. Her body paused to watch it, while time seemed to freeze in that instant and Kalysto was startled by the momentary loss of control over her body. It was at that moment that out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the edge of an almost transparent silhouette trying to approach the firefly in front of her.

Wait, a minute! Isn’t that the same firefly I saw before that orc...? But her thoughts were interrupted.

There it is! Shouted that other voice deep in her mind and her headache exploded and Kalysto felt as if her head was being split in two, as she forced herself to have full control of her body again.

Come on Kalysto, focus! Focus! She scolded herself, and soon after, just as she began to see the outline of a feminine nose just inches away from her, two windows appeared in front of her eyes.

[The passive skill Mental Defense has been activated.]

[The passive skill Pain resistance has been activated.]

And just at that moment, she became the master of her body again. Then she raised her fist and struck hard at the face of that unknown female figure.

“Who the hell are you and what were you trying to do to me?“ she shouted, forcing the woman to take a step back.

“Impossible!” said a voice she had never heard before. “You’re not supposed to be able to resist my skill!” The surprise in her voice only annoyed her further.

“I said, who the hell are you?” She growled, and hit her three more times until the edges of her figure became a little duller and the woman fell to the ground. Then Kalysto sat on top of her and threw another punch against her face, then closed all the windows that had appeared and obstructed her vision.

She needed to get a good look at the face of this new enemy.

A sun-tanned skin stood in front of her, and a woman in her mid-twenties with black hair and eyes stared at her in surprise and annoyance. But Kalysto did not give her time to counterattack and instead put both hands on her neck, full of rage.

“Answer me!” she shouted at her. “What the hell did you do to me? Where are we? How did you get here? You don’t belong to this memory! Who are you?” And as the unknown woman struggled for air, all the surrounding color blurred, melting and melting them both into utter darkness. “Get out of here! Get out of my mind!” was the last thing she heard herself say until there was nothing left but shadows and emptiness.

Screams echoed all around as the afternoon light flooded her view. It took Kalysto a few seconds to realize that she was one of the people screaming before stopping and turn to see that the woman she saw a few seconds ago was lying convulsing on the floor of what appeared to be an infirmary as she continued to scream. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the twins and Koden along with Edward, who ran to her as soon as they saw she was awake. Meanwhile, a group of guards dressed in armor and with a sword sheathed against their waists were arguing with a group of people, among them an older man standing near the door. The rest of the people, most of them each prostrate on a stretcher, watched them as they were being attended to by people in light gray robes. -This is a kidnapping! If you don’t let me out of here right now, I’ll call the police! -one of them shouted.

At that instant, several turned to look at her and the woman screaming on the floor, her screams overpowering those of the older man with the brown beard who looked to be in his forties.

“What happened?” Koden said, approaching her.

“Are you all right?” Edward shouted, running to meet her. At the same time, two men in gray robes ran to help the woman on the ground who was dressed in a white robe.

“What happened?” asked the last two, Kalysto deduced from their attitude that they were doctors.

“She attacked me,” Kalysto informed them. “She forced her way into my mind and attacked me,” she added, realizing how true those words felt as she said them, regardless of the fact that the one who had physically assaulted the woman had been herself. But that felt more like self-defense than anything else, and for a moment, silence reigned in the large room.

“First, they kidnap us and lock us in this room! And now they attack the younger ones too? This is it! I’m calling the police!” Then the older man with the beard tried to take his cell phone out of his pocket and the guards, seeing that suspicious movement, rushed at him, drawing their swords. The rest of the people, who were wearing common Earth clothes, got up from their stretchers and also ran to try to help.

Then chaos broke out.

Two hours later everyone was locked in a prison.

Thick stone walls separated each cubicle in which each of them was locked in solitary confinement. Thick metal bars blocked their escape and at the same time, were their only window. Though the only thing Kalysto could see was Koden locked in the cell opposite hers.


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