Extra's Descent

After Belle left the room, he finally had time for himself.

Sitting on the bed, Brandon retrieved the notebook from his inventory.

"..."

It was quite thin, and he wasn't confident there were a lot of pages.

But he couldn't complain.

Flip—

And thus he started scanning its contents.

He wanted to take his time and read it slowly. Plus, Accelerated Cognition's cooldown wasn't worth it.

"It's so thin."

He could estimate there were only a total of ten pages.

And to his surprise…

"...A diary."

Yet for some reason, the pages weren't utilized efficiently.

The words were written quite largely with blank ink, which filled about the entire page.

The first page.

—Stop.

And that was about it.

—Please, don't leave me.

The same went for the next page.

—Why won't anyone listen?

"..."

What did it all of it even mean?

Who was it even implying to?

If he put the three page's words together, then it could form an entire sentence.

"Please don't leave me. Why won't anyone listen?"

—Don't go.

And that went for the next page.

—I can't do this anymore.

—No matter what I do.

—No one listens.

—Don't have much time.

—Visions.

—I need to find him.

And that was the last page.

"..."

Cryptic.

Way too cryptic.

Who was him?

Who did he need to find?

"...!"

Something caught his attention, and Brandon's eyes widened.

There was some kind of doodle on the back cover of the last page.

"This…"

It was yet again, another magic circle.

Was it the final piece of the cryptic puzzle?

"..."

And it was already glowing.

Reaching out for it, he felt the smooth surface of the notebook.

Pouring mana into it, the circle started emitting an even brighter glow.

"Khh…!"

A sudden pressure bore down on his hand.

His hand started losing its color. The veins were popping out and his hand was gradually turning purple, as if it was losing blood.

But he persisted.

Not until he had poured enough mana for the circle to activate.

And once he did finish…

"Akh!"

Visions started flooding his mind like a fever dream.

Flames.

The once elegant Academy had turned into nothing but rubbles.

"Ukhhh!"

His head started aching unbearably.

Thud!

He slumped down on the ground and gripped his head tightly. He felt like wanting to rip all the hairs on his head.

The sky had turned dark, and the moon was up.

But the moon…

It was red.

"Aghh!"

He rolled around relentlessly, unable to find any respite.

Thwack!

And banged his head on the ground.

The visions continued.

The scenery shifted.

The area seemed to be a bunker of some sort.

Notebooks, tomes, elixirs, magic circles, all strewn on the floor.

A familiar man with black hair and gray eyes stood with wide open eyes.

Blood seeped from his mouth as well as his eyes.

It was none other than Jin.

BOOM—!

A blinding light engulfed the entire scenery, once it faded, there was nothing left.

A large crater was left behind it, and Jin was nowhere to be seen.

Was he…?

And yet again, the scenery shifted.

Long golden locks, azure eyes, adorning what seemed to be battle armor.

An unfamiliar figure.

The scenery was nothing but rubbles and flames.

The same red moon was up, casting its red glow on the surroundings.

She stood rigid, and was fixed in her position with a sword in her hand. Behind her was a myriad of different weapons that stayed suspended in the air.

And…

Blood seeped from her mouth.

Spurt!

A hand impaled right through her.

Thud!

As the hand was recalled back, she slumped down on the ground.

And she closed her eyes.

Who…?

It was all too fast for Brandon to comprehend anything.

The vision's scenery had shifted yet again.

Portals opening.

Wraiths emerging from the portals.

A single flag that impaled on the ground.

And it burned until it was nothing but ashes.

A familiar man stood alone amidst the wreckage.

His jet-black hair ruffled by the breeze. His ocean-blue eyes squinted, as blood trickled down his face.

It was none other than Raven Blackheart, the protagonist of the story.

"Kahhh!"

The pain persisted, piercing through his head like sharp daggers. It was all vivid, unlike the previous visions the auditory senses were there.

"Haa… H-haaa…"

And he could hear Raven's laborious breathing.

The Wraiths weren't the only ones present.

What Raven was currently facing didn't even nearly fit a Wraith's description.

Several blurry figures descended down from the sky.

A hollow blinding light cast down on Raven.

The ground shook intensely as the entire atmosphere was engulfed by the blinding light.

And as the light faded….

Raven disappeared.

No traces, nothing.

As if he was never there in the first place.

He was,

Dead.

And the visions that were akin to a fever dream ended there.

"Haaa…."

Gasping for air, Brandon laid on the ground, transfixed by what he had just witnessed.

It looked like…

The end of the world.

Was that the novel's ending?

How?

How was he able to see those visions from the magic circle?

He had seen three figures from the vision, precisely, their deaths.

Jin.

An unfamiliar woman.

And Raven Blackheart.

But the woman was someone he didn't know.

Why had he seen her death as well?

What happened to the rest of the main cast?

What was the woman's importance for Brandon to have seen her death?

And,

…Just who is the original Brandon Locke?

What was his role in all of this?

In all of those visions, he had not seen himself nor his own death.

Was it his point of view?

If that was the case, then how did he survive to witness all their deaths?

So it wasn't his point of view then.

So were they… Prophecies?

Foresight?

Was it the original Brandon Locke's ability?

Questions.

Too many questions.

And yet he had no answers to them.

"Hoo."

Catching his breath, Brandon got up and sat down on the bed.

Retrieving his phone, he scrolled through his contacts and dialed a specific person.

Jin.

Ring… Ring…. Ring…

The call didn't get through.

"Tsk."

He clicked his tongue.

Ring… Ring… Ring…

Once again, Jin didn't pick up.

"Damn it."

He continued calling him.

Again.

And again…

And again…

.

.

Over thirty five calls, and Jin had never picked up a single one of his calls.

"Fucking pick up. I'm trying to save you."

He called him once again.

"So. Fucking. Pick. Up!"

And yet again, Jin didn't accept his call.

But that was when Brandon recalled something from the visions.

"The bunker."

He might be able to find Jin there.

However, he didn't know where the bunker even was.

He recalled once again.

The notebooks, the tomes, they were eerily similar to the ones Brandon had.

So did that mean…

"Jin knew the original Brandon?"

Another question.

"Fuck."

And yet again no answers.

But now his goals were clear.

The novel's ending really did end in a tragedy.

He was now determined more than ever to change it.

The reason for his transmigration…

It must've been a call for help.

From the diary, the original Brandon seemed like he was grasping for straws.

He must've had those visions as well, trying to tell the people around him but no one would listen to him since he was still a child.

It was of course speculation.

The one person who must have the answers to everything was Jin.

But for the meantime, he seemed to be ignoring Brandon at the moment.

Three years.

That was the deadline Jin gave him to join the Primordials.

Looking at the time on his phone, it was already 11:00 PM.

But this was no time to be laxed.

With such thoughts, a single thread extended from his finger.

Every second, the future was looming close.

And thus he trained for the entire night.