Vincent adjusted the strap of his satchel, typing away at his phone as he followed the flow of the crowded sidewalk.
He'd just left the campus behind, a few assignments done ahead of time, a decent lunch eaten for once, and no calls asking him to come in to work extra hours. The stars were finally aligning for him to be a little irresponsible and get some late-night gaming in over the weekend.
All he needed to do was check if the boys were free. Between college, work, and one of them even becoming a parent, he doubted it but there'd be no sweat off his back if they were tied up. With an entire backlog of half-finished and untouched RPGs waiting on him, he'd be enjoying his weekend gaming either way.
"Sorry." Vincent automatically threw out an apology as he brushed shoulders with someone, firing off the text to the group chat.
"Hold on, ki-"
A blaring horn, so loud that it overwhelmed the music of his earphones, filled the air. He snapped his attention upwards and came face to face with the speeding headlights of a truck.
Shi-
…
"Pull!"
Waves crashed against the ship, more saltwater filling the deck as soon as the remains of the previous wave washed off. That alongside the ceaseless torrents of rain brought on by the abrupt storm that ruled over the open sea, she could barely hear herself think. And yet the desperate yells of her men reached her from below.
She descended from the quarterdeck onto the waterfilled main deck just as they pulled something on board.
Or rather someone.
A young silver haired man soaked through to the bone. It was a miracle they managed to fish him out in this mess, let alone spot him in the first place. It looked like that's where the miracles ended, however. His breaths were shallow and the red light of the Pyro vision embedded into the silver bracelet clenched within his left-hand dimming.
He was on death's door.
"Bring him down to the crew quarters. The rest of you get back to it!" Beidou ordered over the raging storm. They couldn't just ignore the man but between the crashing waves, ceaseless rain, and poor visibility, they needed all hands-on deck.
The old man would do what he could, but the young man's survival would depend on his own strength.
…
Pounds and throbs assaulted his skull. His body, heavy and cold, felt as though it was swaying about. And his ears rang, almost deafeningly so.
He tried to move but managed no more than a groan of pain.
"Would you look at that? You actually woke up." A voice came from beside him. A woman's. He cracked open his heavy eyelids but struggled to make anything of the blurs of colors all around him.
"Wh-What happened?" His throat was scratchy, each sound a pain to form, but he forced out the hoarse words.
"You kicked the bucket, that's what."
He'd-He'd died? No, no, that had to be some kind of exaggeration. He'd been on his way home from campus then-then-
"Take a look at what's in your hand." The voice said, Vincent only now noticing the cold weight resting within his left hand. Raising it was a battle all on its own, his arm feeling less like a part of his body and more like some dead weight tied to his shoulder. More groans followed but he did manage it, holding whatever it was close enough that he could focus on it.
A gem, gray in color and embedded in some kind of thin silver bracelet, sat in his hand. It was no more than a strange piece of jewelry and yet he couldn't help but think that it looked lifeless. Empty.
"I've seen a lot of things over the years I've spent sailing the sea but a vision bearer still breathing after their vision goes dark? That's new but that's why they say there's a first for everything." The woman said.
"Vision…bearer?" He repeated the vaguely familiar term, unsure of what exactly it meant.
"Guess someone in your position wouldn't bounce back unscathed." As she spoke his vision began to clear little by little as his raised arm fell aside. "Hey kid, you know your name?"
"My name…" He trailed off as he got his first clear look at the woman he'd been speaking to. One blood red eye, the other hidden beneath swept bangs and an eye patch, and long black hair traveling along her back. It'd been years since he touched that game, but he recognized the get-up. Had he wandered into some cosplay event without any memory of how?
Distant yells came from above, the ringing in his ears easing as the room, what he now recognized as some kind of communal room full of beds, shifted about.
"Take some time to get yourself together." The Beidou lookalike said, standing up and heading towards one of the room's several doors. "I'll be back." She vanished beyond it and he numbly stared after her. This situation, whatever it was, could not get any weirder.
A sudden onslaught of light forced him to wince. The source? A floating blue window displaying the picture of a silver-haired man he didn't recognize, a collection of words, and numbers.
Name: N/A
Age: 21
Race: Human
Physical Stats:
Strength: High-Tier Grade 1 (140)
Agility: Mid-Tier Grade 3 (55)
Endurance: High-Tier Grade 3 (103)
Chi Stats:
Chi Capacity: Mid-Tier Grade 1 (89)
Chi Control: Low-Tier Grade 3 (5)
Chi Sensitivity: Low-Tier Grade 2 (19)
Ethereal Stats:
Willpower: Special-Tier Grade 3 (154)
Instincts: Mid-Tier grade 2 (72)
What the hell was going on?