Isekai'd into New Meridian

A Flower Blooms as the Bird Falls

I made my way back into the treeline surrounding the dig site and proceeded to replace my combat prosthetics with my recreational prosthetics. After I swapped my prosthetics, I began my trek back to Scallionus while admiring the Life Gem I acquired. In the light of the moon, the eyes of the gem sparkled gently as I felt its smooth surface within my left hand. Now that I was paying more attention to it, I was surprised to feel the Life Gem giving off a faint amount of warmth. It felt soothing, sort of reminiscent of the feeling of placing your hand by a nice fire after being out in the cold. It was almost inviting...

I stopped, my mind finally drifting to my reasoning as to why I have this blood-red gem in my left hand in the first place. I glanced around me, seeing nothing but trees. I was alone, in a secluded place far away from prying eyes. If there was ever a place to swallow the Life Gem; out here in the middle of a forest untouched by civilization would be a location. No one to see, no one would know...

I let out a resolute sigh as I gripped the Life Gem tightly in my left hand, steeling myself for what I was about to do. It was strange, my goal was almost complete and yet I couldn't help but feel my anxiety begin to rise. Would it hurt? Would it be as simple as swallowing the Life Gem? I shook my head to dissuade those doubts from my mind. Without a second thought, I shoved the Life Gem into my throat and swallowed.

I felt my esophagus distend as it tried to accommodate the size of the Life Gem. It was without a doubt the weirdest feeling I had ever felt; feeling the Life Gem travel all the way down through my chest and into my stomach. I stood still waiting for something to happen, but after a few minutes, nothing had occurred. I relaxed my body, feeling the tension melt from my muscles as I took in a breath of air.

With the Life Gem integrated into my system, I continued my journey back to Scallionus feeling a sense of jubilation as the world seemed to spin happily with me. However, the spinning didn't stop as a wave of disorientation and nausea hit me. I lost my balance and fell over my suitcase before landing onto the grass beneath me. I got onto my hands and knees; my eyes closed as the world continued to spin like a top. Then, I felt my heart begin to palpitate as though it was swelling like a balloon. It hurt; no words could describe how painful it felt as my heart seemed to burst only to regenerate back together before bursting again. It was spreading now, my veins and arteries beginning to swell as blood rushed into them before they too would burst only to regenerate to repeat the process. I opened my mouth to scream but no words came out as a torrent of blood evicted itself from my body. I opened my eyes, the blood vessels of my eyes now aching painfully. However, it was what I saw that made my heart sink like a stone as horror began to overwhelm my brain.

My blood wasn't just red; amongst the scarlet was a pale, ghostly blue liquid that I've seen only once before. I looked at my left arm and saw the vessels underneath the skin glow the same ghostly blue. I felt my mind begin reeling as memories began flowing back into my mind. It was like I was back there, my arm gone and Vannisa bearing down upon me. Her hands thin and skeletal, her hair white as a skull, and her skull emblazoned eyes staring into mine. She smiled down upon me, an unnatural, twisted smile that distorted what little human features she had remaining upon her face.

Vannisa: "What did you do, Dahlia? Did you make an offer you couldn't refuse?"

Her voice echoed and sounded like a multitude of people talking in terrible synchrony that made it sound like a choir of the damned. But before I could think any further, the pain within me doubled as I began seeing images of things I'd never seen. A room full of junk with a skeletal dinosaur looming over me with several floating columns hovering below what looked like a miniature galaxy. Then, I was standing in front of a girl in a dress with pieces of different colored fabric and what looked like little stars looking up at me in horror. Something about her seemed familiar; but again, I was in an ancient kingdom with a ziggurat standing proudly in the center of the capital. Finally, I saw three shadow figures standing tall above the Skullheart, their faces obscured in shadows.