CHAPTER 66: ’VICTOR’

The stranger’s voice carried clearly over the white noise while I stood there in stunned silence. Hearing both of my names called out at once rattled me in a way that only Evanka had.

’Who is he? No, what is he?’

He certainly hadn’t appeared in my story. I would remember writing something like him.

"Why so silent, Leon? Are you shocked? Did you forget about your old life that quickly?"

The stranger tilted his head at my continued silence. In doing so, he looked down at his body.

"Oh."

He was a humanoid, in the sense that he had the vague shape of a human. That was where all similarities ended though.

His body was a mass of constantly shifting black, white, and red strands. They moved sharply, with no rhyme or reason, and produced a sense of discordance even worse than the chaotic world around him. The white noise took on a sharper, tenser cadence the closer I got to him.

There were no eyes, no ears, no facial features by which I could call the stranger human. He was, in all essence, an Entity.

"Perhaps it is my appearance that scares you. You will have to forgive me there, it’s been so long since I’ve last seen a person."

He snapped his fingers and his body warped. Darkness morphed into skin, chaos became a simple dress shirt and dark trousers. The stranger changed into a rather pale and familiar person.

’Victor.’

He had turned into me.

"Ah, this is much better, no?"

His dark eyes shifted toward me as his lip curled into a slight smile. I couldn’t stay silent any longer.

"Who are you?"

’Victor’ ignored my question, simply closing his eyes and pushing himself lightly on the swing.

"So you do talk. It’s rather rude to ignore a greeting, Leon. Ever heard of pleasantries?"

"Who are you!?"

"Why shout the same thing again? Come on up here, let’s talk properly. I won’t bite."

I looked warily around the surroundings before sighing and indulging him. Climbing up the hill, I noticed it to be less solid than the ground below, like a pile of constantly shifting sand.

Still, I climbed it with relative ease, and it wasn’t long before I stood face to face with him.

He still had a light smile on his face as he evaluated me.

"Who are you?"

"Isn’t it rather obvious?"

"Victor?"

Even that didn’t feel right.

Although he currently looked like Victor, that feeling of dissonance still remained. The world felt more unstable around him. At some level, I could tell it was just a skin, a façade.

"No. How could I be that pitiful child? You killed him after all, didn’t you? Or have you forgotten that too?"

Unconsciously, my voice rose at the accusation.

"Stop playing games and tell me what you are!"

He covered his mouth in mock surprise.

"Oops, looks like I touched a nerve there."

’Victor’ removed his hand from his mouth. Beneath it, I could see his smile growing even wider. It was a genuine smile.

"But fine, if you so desperately wish to know, then I shall tell you. It’s rather simple, actually. I am you."

"What?"

"More accurately, you are me. No, you are less than me. You are a worm, an insect, a..."

"Cut the bullshit. What the hell are you?"

He tilted his head back as though confused. His tone was still genuine.

"But I just told you, didn’t I? I am you."

I didn’t pay attention to his parroting as my brain raced to find a proper answer.

’He called me worm.’

An idea lit in my head.

There was only one other being that had called me worm during my entire stay in this world.

"Are you the..."

"No, I am not the voice from the system. I’ll be killing that harlot soon enough, but not before I kill you, dear Leon."

"Kill me?"

"What would you suppose one does to a parasite living in his body? It is only right to take back what’s mine, is it not?"

The stranger hadn’t shifted his tone even once throughout, and that same jolly smile played on his lips. He even began humming a light tune as he enjoyed his swing.

I could only stand there, completely dumbfounded at what was even occurring.

’Who is he? Better yet, what is he and why the fuck is he in my inner world?’

There were so many questions that I didn’t even know how to start solving the issue. The bastard wasn’t helping either with those utterly nonsensical answers of me.

’He is me? He plans to kill me, and the system? What?’

I felt my mind spinning in circles at the implications. There was something entirely wrong with this world. A character like him. I’d have known if I did.

He—

It was then the humming stopped. The little swing came to a stop as well, and I saw the stranger stand up. He still wore his friendly smile.

"You still seem rather confused, Leon. Perhaps a demonstration is in order."

His right hand morphed, twisted, and glitched, turning into an even more chaotic, shifting mass of dark, white, and red. The background noise picked up in pitch and strength, to the point it painfully stabbed my brain.

Then his hand was in front of me. The mass had formed a claw, its sharp fingers stopping right before they could pierce my face.

It all happened in an instant, leaving my mind racing to catch up with it.

By the time I did, I quickly realized why I wasn’t dead yet.

Wrapped around ’Victor’s’ arms and body were transparent, glass-like chains that reminded me of the system’s interface.

It seemed he had expected the interference, as his face didn’t change, and just as instantaneously he was sitting back on the swing.

He let out a wry chuckle.

"And here I thought that wench would let me have some fun for once."

I could almost hear the disappointment in his voice, and perhaps I would have if my mind wasn’t elsewhere.

’I almost died.’