HARMONY [LITRPG / ISEKAI / PROGRESSION / OP MC]

“The horrors are reducing!”

“This is our chance! Let’s get them all at once!”

The shouts of the fighters rang out as fervor increased from the sudden news. Considering that the horrors were appearing fewer and fewer, they gathered together to make one final push forward.

The city was a mess, but thanks to the coordination of orders and the insight given by the leaders, the amount of casualties hadn’t surpassed the expected number. While there were plenty of losses, considering the overall situation, it would be treated as a miracle.

All due to the fact that the giant demon that had loomed over them finally vanished. When such a nauseating creature finally disappeared, it gave the fighters a much needed morale boost and kept them fighting for long enough periods of time, even going as far as pushing beyond their limits.

But finally, the horrors were defeated. Their numbers were just a pittance compared to before, and were being hunted down by the adventurers that had more than enough stamina to cover the areas.

The party that had been taking care of the forefront finally got their rest. Van let out heavy breaths, his chest heaving while his legs felt like jelly. He wanted nothing more than to lay down his head and sleep.

But he knew there was more to do. Particularly about their friend.

“Van, I’m worried about Aidan,” Haley said, grasping onto Van’s shoulder. She looked worse for wear, but she was as healthy as she could be considering she was at the rear guard this entire time.

“Yeah. No way he could come out unscathed against that thing, even if it is him,” Van agreed, prepping himself to stand. Even if he felt like he could fall over, he knew Aidan could be in an even worse position.

“I see that you’re all okay. That’s good–we’ll be heading out to find Aidan quickly.”

Turning, they found Nina approaching them looking not that worse off compared to the others. Then again, considering her high level, Van should’ve expected Nina to have come out fine against these horrors.

If that was the case, she should’ve been out in the city helping Aidan and Yin, but he kept those thoughts to himself. He knew more than anyone that everyone had their own way of fighting, and Nina was the sort to deal critical damage to unsuspecting enemies rather than going full frontal on a giant demon-like monstrosity.

Even now, recalling that figure would probably give him nightmares for who knows how long. He couldn’t imagine any man sane enough to actually try to fight it, especially fighting it alone. But that was the reason why, despite his exhaustion, he needed to be there for his friend.

The friend who had gone out of his way to save his sister from the perilous Red Riot, and the one who had taken care of them this entire time. He couldn’t call himself a man if he let a noble guy like that be in any more danger.

“Let’s go.”

…..

Out in the forest, where the sun was blisteringly hot against his skin, Aidan groaned out loud before wiping the sweat covering his brow.

“Hey dude, how long are we gonna do this?”

“Oh shut your bitching. We’re almost there!”

His brother complained again as he led their tiny team-up throughout the way. Aidan groaned again as he passed over prickly shrubs and annoying vines that stood in his path.

They had been making their way to the small hut their friend owned that supposedly had the coolers they needed for their trip. As for why the hell they would put them in such a far away hut this deep in a forest, Aidan had no fucking clue.

“Freaking rich people,” Aidan complained. “Always having the weirdest shit.”

“Hey, they’re the ones paying for everything, so stop yapping.”

“Yeah, good point.”

His brother kept making the way through until eventually they found the hut. It was made with simple stone, but he could see some important contraptions that seemed to work like a generator to keep the hut cooled. They ventured inside, and were met with a powerful gust of cold air that immediately made him relax. They soon quickly got the coolers out, with Aidan and his brother carrying two each.

“Man, it would be great if we had superpowers. These things are heavy,” His brother complained, much like Aidan did, but Aidan didn’t mind now that he got some nice breeze on his heated skin.

“If you ask me, I’d rather be in one of those isekais,” Aidan said. “Being able to learn magic and stuff is better in my opinion.”

“Oh yeah, definitely!” His brother laughed out loud. “If I get sent to another world, I’ll be an adventurer and go through some dungeons for loot!”

“Dude, you know in that scenario, going to a dungeon is like going into war, right? Like with guns and soldiers and stuff?”

“Yeah, but I’ll have magic and weapons to fight with. It’s all good!”

“Even I know that it’s not like in video games. If you ask me, it’s better to just focus on practicing magic and making a living out of it.”

“But where’s the fun in that?!” His brother whined. “Besides, won’t it be like one of those isekais where you get the system or something to level up? It’ll be just like a video game!”

“Oh, but I was thinking more like a realistic kind of world,” Aidan said, not bothering to figure that out.

It was already getting pretty fantastical with the talk of going to another world, but it was something these men often dreamed about ever since they were kids. Who didn’t want to live in a fantasy world where they could kick ass and not have to work tiresome jobs day after day just to pay their bills and rent?

It was hardworking, but it was peaceful as Aidan and his brother laughed and joked about what kind of builds they would make in their made-up world. Aidan would go for the classic mage, figuring that they were the laziest ones that didn’t have to train that much. As they kept talking, getting further into the details of what they would do, he heard another voice that made everything around him feel strange.

“What an interesting dream you have. I see that your world has advanced quite well.”

Aidan paused, holding onto the heavy coolers stacked on top of each other all the while. This would normally be taxing since he didn’t really exercise that often, but strangely he felt nothing as he turned his head around.

He spotted what looked like a woman, her appearance the very resemblance of a snowflake. Completely white in terms of hair color, skin complexion, as well as the robes she wore, with only a tint of blue around her eyes. Rather than being beautiful, it was almost to the point where Aidan couldn’t feel anything remotely human about her.

In a way, the word he would describe her would be divine.

“Who are you?” Aidan asked, forgetting his present task. His brother turned back around, his eyes widening.

“Who you talkin’ to?”

“Some chick just showed up in front of me,” Aidan answered.

“Huh, really?”

Despite hearing that, his brother didn’t really react all that surprised, or didn’t even bother questioning him. Even though it should be strange, Aidan still stared at this strange being, his mind already telling him that she was not human at all.

“Some chick, huh?” The snowflake giggled. “I guess that’s how I am seen by you otherworlders. But that doesn’t matter right now. I want to thank you for dealing with that utter mess back in Forontia while I have the chance.”

“The mess?” Aidan asked. His mind prickled for the information, but he was left blank. “Whatever it was, it sounds troublesome.”

“It was, and you are left completely brutalized,” She said, shaking her head. “Unfortunately I can’t do anything about it, and can only offer my thanks. You see, the cursed relic came from the time when the Meranians were practicing the dark arts on top of their creative technological advancements. If they had stopped there, they would have continued on for… mmh, I would say a few more millenia, but someone got a little greedy. Then again, everyone always gets greedy, so it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“Right…” Aidan nodded. “Were they like living in a scifi world or something? Like gundams and shit?”

“Sounds badass,” His brother replied.

“In a way, yes. I’m not sure exactly what gundams are, but from the feel of your memories, they do look mighty impressive.”

“Hey, that’s creepy,” Aidan answered.

“I’m a goddess. I’m allowed to do that.”

“No you’re not,” Aidan scoffed. “Wait, are you?”

“Who would question me? Even now, your mind can’t even comprehend the current situation. I feel a little bad for you, but this is the only way for me to contact you to see how you are doing. And it’s nice to hear that you’re doing fine from the look in your memories.”

“You make it sound like you sent me there on purpose?” Aidan kept asking. He was finally starting to piece together something, but like she said, it felt like his mind was whirling around in a soup filled with memories and imagination working against each other.

“It’s not easy to bring in new beings from other worlds, I’ll have you know. But I’ll be nice and tell you something interesting, even if you won’t remember it.”

“And you like it that way,” Aidan surmised, leaving the pretty snowflake to grin at him.

“It makes things easy. I needed a spirit to correct the imbalance in my sector of Primal Alpha. I chose you because you have the best affinity for harmony, and quite frankly, because you’re not a piece of shit.”

“I feel like you shouldn’t say something like that.”

“It’s fine. I’m a goddess.”

The snowflake self-proclaimed goddess stood up and approached him. Aidan only realized now that the coolers were gone, and everything beside him turned completely blank. Even his brother disappeared, leaving a gaping hole that stung him somehow.

“It looks like you’re coming to,” The snowflake said, still smiling at him. “You’ll be pretty damaged when you come to, but don’t panic. You’ll be fine. Just remember to keep your head forward and don’t look back.”

Aidan couldn’t even answer back. His mind was finally piecing things together, and soon pain entered his very being. Even the being in front of him was starting to look more and more inhuman.

Her figure grew in tremendous size, and her human features vanished. She still had that feminine physique, yet her presence made him want to buckle down to his knees and pray for forgiveness for his insolence.

A hand was lifted up above him, reaching the size of a planet as her eyes looked down on him. Unlike everything else, her pleasant blue eyes remained the same, just reaching the same size as her planet-sized hand.

“Just remember to keep going forward.”

…..

“He’s coming to!”

“Aidan! Aidan, you’re alright! We got you!”

“Get this man some potions, stat!”

Everyone clamored around him as he opened his eyes wide open. He took in heavy breaths as pain assaulted him in waves. He shivered, but not from the poor state of his body, but from his mind.

Did he have a nightmare just now? Strangely, he didn’t feel fear, but he certainly was shaken up by it. As soon as he realized his predicament, he finally relaxed.

His senses flew out of him, leaving him to realize that he was in the middle of a pretty ganged-up forest. Everything was broken down from the trees, to the land, and everything else in between. Finding himself without any hostile entities, he shortened his range to find himself surrounded by several people.

He instantly recognized them all as his party. Haley stood by his side, holding his head while Van stayed beside her. Nina stood by next to him, looking down with a passive stare, but her soul screamed otherwise.

Outside of that, there were several other people around that were increasing in number, but he noticed the Wise Guys leader Nicky giving out orders while both Bill and Ander brought in what looked like potion bottles to bring to him.

Now that he thought about it, his breathing was heavy and carried a raspy voice, and he felt something bubbling and stirring within his body that was coming alongside the pain. Even then, he tried to speak up.

“...Hey, is it over?”

“It is!” Haley said, her smile wide on her face, though her eyes were brimming with tears from sheer relief. “It is, so don’t worry about it, okay? Everyone’s fine!”

“Well, it’s less fine, but we’re alive,” Van, being the voice of reason, stepped up. Haley sent a glare at him, though he ignored it. “More importantly, how about you?”

“I think I’m alive,” Aidan said, and if he was honest, he was afraid to fully check it. In the end, he opened up his status sheet, ignoring the dozens of notifications pinging at him to get his attention.

His health was approximately 12 total. He was so sure that he had plenty more, but realized that he had boosted himself out the wazoo before the end of the fight against the Matriarch. He realized the issue instantly.

He was currently going through the period of weakness left behind by the enhancement pill. He wasn’t sure exactly how long he was out, but then again, he didn’t know how long the enhancement period had lasted either. Well, not that it mattered as he recalled actively using up all the power of the pill to make that last ditch effort, draining all the power into that final attack.

Thanks to that, his Vitality lowered, and his regeneration took a shot. He was lucky that his Health was up to par before his Vitality took the massive 25% hit from the weakness period.

Even then, he didn’t understand why Haley looked so frantic and why Van was giving him those pitying looks. Their souls were completely out of the ordinary, showing panic, fear, sympathy, sadness, and all sorts of things he had a hard time comprehending. Even Nina who stayed silent on the side was displaying those emotions from her soul, albeit at a more dampened state.

“Here!” Bill, who came up behind Van, handed a potion to Van and Haley. “The best ones we got from the other adventurers. How's he looking?”

“He looks stable,” Ander said, kneeling down beside him. It was starting to get a little crowded. “But someone help him drink the potion just in case.”

“Give it to me,” Haley said, and when Bill handed her the potion, she spoke in a soft voice. “Here Aidan, take this.”

She was very gentle at that, raising his head and helping him drink the potion. He thought they were taking it too far, but when he realized that he can’t even lift his head, he gratefully drank the health potion. It was utterly bitter, making his face scrunch up, but his health points slowly returned as the effectiveness took its time to heal him.

He tried to move any other part of his body, and quickly realized something was wrong. When he eventually looked down, he saw the reason why.

“...Huh, I lost an arm and a leg,” He commented, as if he was just stating facts.

His left leg and his right arm were cut off by the knee and elbow respectively, and there was that strange black substance that was probably the reason for the pain still going. He realized then that it was the very same dark energy that kept coating him throughout the entire fight, only except it got worse around his dismembered leg and arm.

He tried to recall what happened, and can only surmise that while he was dodging the internal attacks within the Matriarch using Phase, either his spell didn’t entirely work or he messed up the timing, because it was probably at those times when he lost his limbs. Honestly, he knew that in such a situation, only having to lose his limbs was probably the best situation he could ask for.

He wasn’t a fighter by much, only a mage casting hilariously overpowered magic from the distance. He couldn’t even heal himself, his mana completely bottomed out and unable to regenerate due to his weakness.

Was that the reason why everyone around him looked at him like he was about to die at any moment? The surrounding panic definitely matched the situation now, as well as the concerning looks on his friends’ faces.

“Hey, I’m fine,” Aidan said, though his croaking voice and shivering state definitely didn’t leave much for confidence. “I’m alive.”

“Aidan, don’t talk,” Van said, being as gentle as his sister. “Save your energy.”

“You’re taking this too seriously,” Aidan said, but he left it at that. It was decided that he’d just be babied by Haley for now.

Eventually the people surrounding them, the adventurers that came out to check the scene, finished their investigation and headed in. Along with them, their party also returned, with Aidan being carried by Van on his back. Van was a tall guy, and he carried Aidan despite his own large size with ease. All the while, Haley and Nina stayed beside him, acting as guards to make sure none of the adventurers bothered him.

That still didn’t stop Haley from asking him about what happened. Aidan recovered easily enough to talk, though he could barely move at all. His lack of limbs might also be the reason Van was having an easy time carrying him. Less weight to move with and all.

“It looked like you had a scary dream,” Haley said, surprising him as he finally remembered what he actually dreamt about.

He didn’t recall much, but he recognized the empty pang in his heart that was left behind. He smiled a little, recalling his family.

“Yeah… dreamt about my brother,” Aidan said. “After that, it kinda got… weird? I think I dreamt from when I lost my world.”

“Your… world?” Haley asked, her voice turning to a whisper.

“Ah… my birth home, I guess,” Aidan revised.

“Oh…” Haley let out. “Is… is he still alive?”

“I hope so,” Aidan admitted. “Maybe he’s somewhere out there. I don’t know. I don’t know if any of the people I lived with had survived. But I still hope so.”

“I hope so too,” Haley smiled.

“Thanks…”

Haley decided to leave it at that, and Aidan was thankful for it as he decided to just lay down again. He was still hurt all over, and his senses were starting to turn blurry as his head ached all over. When his health started to return little by little, it looked like his body naturally wanted more rest and slowly knocked him out.

After that, he was sound asleep, entering into a voidless, dreamless state.

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