I've spent two months building up to this and I know you will probably be caught entirely off-guard and be pissed. I'll just tell you that I based this chapter on a writing prompt from a friend. The prompt is: Delusion.
I stood up quietly.
Looking at this new world around me, my mind blanked.
"Where is...Everything?"
The world was a flatland. Not a single structure in sight. Dust and rock.
My arms were devoid of any imprints except the ten red marks.
My strength was gone.
"Tom? Charlie? Julius? Anyone?"
Just then, a woman appeared before me.
I knew her name somehow. Vivian Arian. The rank 49.
"You..."
She opened her mouth, her eyes glossing past me as if she were talking to someone else,"She's still in a state of delusion. Increase the dosage."
Intense pain racked me as I found myself transported to another body, strapped down to a chair, several people staring at me fearfully except one.
I remembered why that name was so familiar now.
My personal doctor: Vivian Arian.
"What? Isn't the world gone? Isn't the world destroyed? What about Arakan? Doesn't he want to go back to Japan?"
"Shock her."
"GAAR—KSSSHH!" I panted as rationality hit me like a ton of bricks, the stern look on her face scaring me.
"Artemis, Artemis. You've been a bad girl, haven't you? Why did you kill those kind doctors tending to you? All Dr Lucius did was want to leave for a bit. All Dr Charlie wanted was to get you to eat your medicine. Yet, you killed them. If it weren't for your medical condition, you'd have been sent to the electric by now."
"What are you talking about? Let me go!"
"You've really gone off the deep end, haven't you? Don't you remember anything at all? You were off mumbling things about magic and beasts. Magisters, was it?"
"What have you done with everyone? How did you take my powers away?"
"Powers? You've really gone mad this time. Just what kind of delusion have you gone on this time? First it was being a god, then going into a video game, then being set on another planet and now a completely different world? Let me guess, you were the bad guy in your story again? The one going around stirring up trouble? Darling, you're nothing more than a killer. These delusions of grandeur..."
"So, Dr Arian, how is she?"
"She is a little delusive but in between periods, very much sane. She's more than fit to stand trial."
———
I snapped my fingers, clapped, called out to no end. No spells formed.
I punched the walls till my hands were raw and bleeding.
This was some delusion. Some dream I had probably been affected by. This was some trial I had to pass to ascend, I knew it. Just, what was the key to escaping this place?
———
"...Sentenced to the electric chair."
The realisation had hit me when my dazed mind heard the voice of the judge.
It sounded just like Tom.
"Tom? Tom! Is that you? You bastard! What have you done to my powers?!" I screamed at him,"Is this revenge for not helping you kill Arakan?! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"
"Restrain her!"
I thrashed wildly, biting down on the officers,"Tase her!" Sharp pain struck my side, only making me laugh out louder,"COME! KILL ME! I HAVE LIVES TO SPARE! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
With quick, thinking, I jumped the nearest guard, strangling him with the cuffs as a sadistic grin blossomed on my face. This was it! This was the way to escape this spel—
Bang.
I fell back with a smile, ready to get back up once more.
Only this time, there was no cold voice to call out my lives remaining.
I slammed to the ground, eyes staring blankly in disbelief at the red marks on my arms. Exactly 10. Unchanged.
The cold, sinking realisation rammed into me like a truck. They weren't just red imprints.
They were scars. Nothing else.
I was just stuck in a delusion I refused to acknowledge.
I was simply a killer.
Nothing else.