Nuriel discreetly turned his head away to hide his wince. To avoid acting like a weirdo, he decided it would be best to act like a normal person, right, normal.
This world resembled that of 19th century earth, cross-referencing to what he was familiar with in human history, things like mixed rooms would be seen as scandalous. He began questioning whether his reaction was the result of himself or his body's instincts.
"I'm alright with that" Nuriel answered before turning his way towards the flight of stairs.
'as long as my roommate isn't some irresponsible bum... no, that's unlikely, Owhen University doesn't hire bums'
He made his way to the second floor, greeted with lines of doors. He began counting each of them till he found his designated spot.
It was exactly at the end of the hallway, room number 121. Even if this was his new home, he didn't know if his roommate was present inside, so knocking first was needed.
He tapped on the door a few times, just loud enough to be heard and quiet enough that it wouldn't sound like he was banging the door.
Hearing footsteps approaching from beyond the cover of the door, he prepared himself as best as he could, rearranging his tie, and patting some dust off his shoulders to make his unremarkable appearance a bit more bearable.
The door creaked wide open.
"Yes what is it?" an enchanting voice entered through his eardrums, removing his tiredness away from existence.
Luscious dark hair, emerald eyes, and unparalleled beauty. Nuriel knew he looked above average when he first inhabited his new body, but now he started to doubt if that was true.
Without pause Nuriel answered, his aristocratic instincts kicking in, saying his greetings before formally introducing himself. "I'm your roommate from now on, I hope we get along" he said with a slight bow.
"I'm Vivienne, where's your key?" she asked.
Nuriel presented it to her, proving that he actually belonged there and wasn't some creepy stranger trying to hook her up into something dangerous.
"Alright, come in"
'...that was easy' Nuriel thought.
Entering the room, he looked around. It was quite a spacious area, even more so than his previous apartment. There was also a balcony that connected to the living room, but instead of showing a cityscape, it showed the prominent peaks of mountains and the expanse of greenery in the distance. His nose imagined the flowery smell that was even better compared to the polluted streets he used to live close to.
But most importantly, everything was spotless and new. Although his new roommate only arrived yesterday, he hoped that her beauty didn't come with the flaw of being lazy.
He continued to look around, standing in the middle silently.
"The bathroom's over there"
Nuriel twitched. Vivienne's words struck his soft spot deep.
"Thanks, if you don't mind telling me, where's my room?" he asked. He wouldn't want to randomly open doors and stumble upon his roommate's bedroom, that would be crossing the line.
Vivienne pointed to a wall near the window. Saying his thanks, Nuriel proceeded to make his way to his very own sanctuary.
The room was nearly the same size as his old apartment. A desk space near a window, a closet, and a large bed. He forced every muscle fiber inside him, his muscles twitching, wanting to just slam onto the bed and fall asleep.
After about an hour of preparing and organizing his things and taking a cold shower, only then.
Slam.
The mattress bounced from the impact. The train disaster, the near death experience, the sleepless night. He held back his tears as he rubbed his face on the pillow.
Not even a minute passed and he was already knocked out cold.
. . .
[Server rebooting]
[Welcome Nuriel]
Nuriel woke up from the floor made from nothing. He knew where he was at. His instinct screamed to leave the space and just sleep his worries away but.
'Back here again'
He stood himself up. Previously the space didn't have a striking appearance, but now there were more stars and he could see even more colors painting the sky. Now it truly looked like he was in the vastness of the cold dark expanse.
Everything seemed to be fine and normal, whoever that unknown entity was, it didn't affect the space he was in but Nuriel kept his anxiety on standby if anything similar occurred.
Turning around, his eyes caught something not too far away.
'A chair? perhaps a new feature'
He moved towards it to have a closer look. The chair looked monolithic, its cubic shape and cold concrete looked unpleasant to look at, even more unpleasant from his butt if he decided to take a seat on it.
But suddenly, the chair was surrounded by a thick fog that came out of nowhere, before settling down to the empty floor, and revealing a different chair.
'a bean bag?' Nuriel questioned himself. It seemed that his thoughts were connected to the space although it didn't surprise him if the scepter had the capability to do that.
He hesitated sitting on it but suddenly an idea came up to him.
The bean bag was surrounded by a mysterious fog, before settling once more.
What appeared was an exotic dark wooden chair with intricate yet simple patterns. It had a high back rest that stretched beyond his standing height. It was also cushioned with a crimson leather-like material that was stitched in diagonal crossing lines, forming diamond patterns.
Nuriel approached it and turned around. He tried holding something in by squishing his lips and eyes.
'it's my own personal space, I should sit in a chair like this one... right?' he thought, still unsure.
A chair fit for royalty. He could've raised the chair even higher by imagining it but that would've been too much. The chair being on the ground floor was enough for his liking.
He eased his back and rapped the armchair with his fingers as he crossed his legs. No. After a second he uncrossed it and sat normally.
Before he could think of a better way of seating, something appeared before him.
A small cube that was about the size of his closed fist descended above him, settling still near his diagonal right, in level with his head.
It had no features to look at other than the clear and pristine metal shine it had as a texture. It silently floated near him, slightly bopping up and down and spinning.
He moved his fingers to touch it.
A screen appeared before him, just as he did so.
[Untainted scepter fragment]
[Class: Deity]
Before he could analyze the scepter up close, more things appeared in his eyes.
In the distance he could see streaks of lines, going at different directions, some far and some just close enough for him to reach. They seemed to stretch out indefinitely, like a cosmic spider web.
The line in front of him glowed a dim white color. It looked solid in the core, but was surrounded by a haze-like substance, like a dandelion, only stretched.
Nuriel thought about touching it. He reached out his fingers before stopping. 'Let's not touch things I don't know'
He laid back and took a relaxed posture, resting his cheek in a closed fist. He sat silently with his eyes closed.
. . .
Did he look cool, Nuriel asked himself multiple times. He enjoyed his posture for a few minutes before getting back to diagnosing the space he was in.
"Check internal database"
[There is no data available...]
Nuriel stayed quiet, before prompting another request.
"What are these lines in front of me?"
[Unknown]
He sighed, but it wasn't surprising. You can't describe something you have no data of. However, instead of asking, he could order it to analyze.
Surely, he thought, his Scepter could do something as simple as analyzing, especially something with the class of a deity.
"Analyze it"
[Analyzing]
[The lines represent minds]
He raised his brows when he read the last words. 'Minds?' He looked at the many lines in front of him. There were a lot—maybe about twenty or more. He examined their visual details. The ones furthest away were much dimmer compared to the one directly in front of him.
'Could they represent people?' he thought. Counting the lines, he was certain it didn't account for the thoughts of everyone on the planet.
'It could be restricted by proximity...'
He decided it was the right time to experiment. Raising his arms, he reached for the line in front of him.
His fingers made contact with the light. It surprised him, he could feel it. More importantly, it was cold to the touch. However, nothing happened.
In experiments, what do you do when nothing happens? Obviously, you'd play around with it until it does something.
He pressed his fingers down. The line came under tension. Despite its endless stretch, it all angled down, his finger the focal point.
Letting go, the string of light vibrated, creating a hypnotizing wave, leaving afterimages as it oscillated in quick intervals. It was like strumming a string instrument, such as a guitar.
A long, high-pitched tune surrounded his ears as incoherent voices and whispers began flooding his mind. It didn't hurt him, but it left him confused.
. . .
After a while, the string made from light stopped vibrating, along with the tune and voices.
'That was certainly something' Nuriel thought. He tried piecing the voices he heard together, but came to no conclusion.
If these were truly the minds of people, then he should be able to understand them clearly, instead of a mess that made even his ears feel dizzy.
Perhaps it was the lack of connection or rather, the strength of it.
He extended his arms once more, but stopped just shy of touching the string.
Another string streaked across him, so close he wouldn't even need to extend his arms.
'Another one?' Nuriel looked at the new appearance. This time, it was brighter and colored in a golden hue.
He didn't hesitate. He touched the golden string, pressing on it further before releasing it.
Unlike before, the melody that came from strumming it was pleasing to hear. The whispers were much softer, more vivid.
He stared at it, noticing it didn't grow weaker like the last string. In fact, it grew bigger. The waves formed large enough for his head to pass through.
He felt a connection to it as if he himself was being sucked into it.
Nuriel didn't resist, choosing to let his mind wander into the melody.
His vision blacked out before waking up in a strange office.