Mythos Of Narcissus: Reborn As An NPC In A Horror VRMMO-Chapter 286: Ishmael’s Viewpoint: New Haven

I laid flat on my back, staring up at the vast, endless sky.

Carcosa’s heavens stretched above me in their eerie, unchanging hues—deep orange bleeding into amber, framed by the distant flicker of unknowable constellations. A sky that never truly darkened, never truly brightened. A sky locked in its eternal twilight.

I had never seen a sky like this before.

It was different from the ceaseless, starless abyss of the Unloving Sea. Different from the cracked, fractured skies of the dimensional distortions I had witnessed before.

It was… stable. Static.

And in that stillness, I finally noticed it.

The exhaustion.

A deep, dragging weight settled over my limbs, pressing into my bones like lead. It wasn’t just physical—it was something deeper, something that seeped into the very fabric of my being. I felt wrung out, like I had been plunged into ice-cold water and left to dry under a scorching sun.

Every inch of my body ached. My breath came in slow, ragged intervals, my lungs burning with the aftershocks of panic and exertion. I tried to steady it, forcing myself to breathe in—hold—breathe out.

Slow. Deliberate.

I counted each breath, grounding myself in the simple, repetitive motion.

Inhale. Hold. Exhale.

I was still alive.

That was all that mattered.

And then.

A face appeared in my vision, looming over me with mild curiosity.

Golden eyes, sharp and alight with the kind of energy that suggested far too much experience with absolute madness. A wild mess of silver, tousled hair, contrasting her darker hue of skin.

Naosi, was the name.

She leaned forward slightly, hunching over, her expression somewhere between mild amusement and genuine concern.

"You good?"

My entire body jerked in response.

I immediately shot up, instincts overriding rationality—

And nearly headbutted her in the face.

Naosi, to her credit, reacted fast. She leaned back with uncannily fast reflexes, narrowly avoiding what would have been an unfortunate, skull-cracking collision.

We both froze.

For a moment, there was only silence.

And then the full weight of my actions hit me like a collapsing wave.

I had just tried to headbutt my savior.

"Oh, gods—"

I scrambled back, panic surging through me in an uncontrollable rush. Without thinking, I willed the Harpoon of Endless Blood away, the weapon dissolving into a crimson mist as I dropped to my knees in a frantic, desperate motion.

And then—

I grovelled.

"I’M SO SORRY, I’M SO SORRY, I’M NOTHING BUT A LOWLY WRETCH—PLEASE, OH MERCIFUL LADY, FORGIVE ME FOR MY EXISTENCE—"

Words spilled from my mouth in a chaotic mess, a storm of apologies and self-deprecating pleas that even I couldn’t control.

"I SWEAR UPON EVERY OUNCE OF MY PITIFUL, WORTHLESS LIFE, I AM LESS THAN DIRT, LESS THAN A SINGLE GRAIN OF SAND—A SLAVE-EQUIVALENT LIFE FORM, UNWORTHY OF EVEN SPEAKING TO YOU—"

I pressed my forehead against the deck, whimpering like some pathetic wretch at the feet of a monarch.

This was it. I had officially lost control of my dignity. Not that I had much of it to begin with.

I kept going.

"I SHOULD BE CAST INTO THE VOID FOR MY TRANSGRESSIONS, I SHOULD BE THROWN INTO A PIT OF NEVERENDING—"

A hand patted my head.

I went stiff.

Slowly, cautiously, I peeked up.

Naosi was crouched beside me, one hand resting on my head, the other propped against her knee.

She had the most tired expression I had ever seen on a person’s face, yet at the same time, the most friendly one.

Yora, standing just behind her, merely watched with the kind of patient, blank stare one might have when witnessing a particularly strange animal exhibit.

Naosi sighed.

"Alright, yeah, that’s enough of that." She lightly ruffled my hair once, then withdrew her hand.

"You done?" Yora asked with unsureness.

I sniffled. "… Maybe?"

Yora tilted her head. "Are you always like this?"

"… I don’t know," I muttered. "I think my brain is permanently malfunctioning."

Naosi gave a wry grin. "Well, congratulations. You’re in the right place for malfunctioning people."

I blinked. "… Huh?"

Naosi straightened, stretching her arms behind her head. "I already reported you to my higher-up. You’re free to stay on the Landship until you decide what you wanna do."

I stared at her.

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"You mean… I can just stay?"

Yora nodded with eyes closed and slightly annoyed. "So long as you don’t cause any more disturbances."

I gasped, hands flying to my mouth.

"Oh, blessed bastioneers, guardians of civilization!" I wailed, clasping my hands together. "How merciful! How kind! How utterly undeserving I am of this grand gesture—"

Naosi chuckled. "Oh no, she’s a chatterbox."

Yora hummed. "I think she’s just socially starved."

I ignored them both, practically vibrating with overwhelming gratitude.

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! MAY YOUR GLORIOUS LIVES BE FILLED WITH PROSPERITY—MAY YOUR PATHS BE LIT BY THE GUIDING HAND OF—"

Naosi grabbed my wrist and dragged me up to my feet, like a defenseless sack that needed premature action to be transferred from place to place.

"Alright, alright, enough dramatics. You’re coming with us."

And just like that, I was being escorted through the Landship.

I had never seen anything like this.

The inside of the Landship was… impossible.

It wasn’t just larger than its exterior suggested—it was vast, spanning distances that should not exist within the constraints of physical space.

A world within a world.

Massive corridors stretched endlessly, their ceilings towering high above, woven with intricate patterns of unknown alloys. Suspended platforms floated in midair, interconnected by shifting walkways that resemble themselves in fluid, mechanical motions, responding to the presence of those who walked them.

The walls pulsed faintly, alive with a quiet, humming energy, lined with glowing veins of technology I could not even begin to comprehend.

They seemed to be in the same nature of Theotech, or maybe Calamity Objects?

It was too vague and too processed in its origins, that I couldn’t really comprehend its nature as a technology.

Everything here moved—not in a chaotic, disordered way, but with purpose.

"... By the whale."

The air smelled of steel and ozone, of something almost sterile yet rich with an underlying scent of fuel, scented oils, and old parchment—a mixture of industry and knowledge.

I tried to take it all in. I failed.

I had lived in floating wrecks, in ships that barely held together, in places where every plank of wood and scrap of metal was a matter of survival. I had lived with scarcity, with decay, with the ceaseless hunger of the Unloving Sea gnawing at my heels.

This place however, was overwhelming with abundance.

Structure. Advancement. Civilization.

I had never belonged to a world like this.

My feet felt heavier as I walked, as if each step dragged me further into a reality I wasn’t meant to exist in.

And yet—

Naosi and Yora kept walking, and I had no choice but to follow.

The first thing I noticed was the relaxation area.

A large, open space filled with plush, reclined seating. Air here was different, lighter, warmer—like it had been filtered to feel less artificial.

In the corner stood a snack dispenser, its polished screen displaying an assortment of food selections. But what caught my attention wasn’t the machine itself—it was the adorable chibi-like sign above it, featuring a drawn figure enthusiastically promoting the food inside.

I squinted.

But before I could dwell on it, Naosi nudged me forward, as she explained everything that was in my peripheral vision.

My mind was still drained by something, so all of their explanations were somewhat coming from one ear and escaping through the other.

I could only focus on their lips moving.

We moved past a bathing facility, steam curling through the gaps in its sliding doors, carrying the faint scent of floral oils and heated minerals. The sound of running water echoed within, a gentle murmur of relaxation and warmth.

A place to bathe. To relax.

Not in the freezing, salt-ridden depths of the sea, not in the stale, rationed reserves of collected rainwater.

But freely, without fear of running out.

The thought was almost unfathomable.

Further ahead, a meditation room came into view—a silent, dimly lit space where figures sat in quiet contemplation. The walls pulsed with a faint, rhythmic glow, as if responding to the thoughts of those within.

Obviously, I had never been in a place like this.

A place that valued clarity instead of mere survival.

And then—

I saw the observation deck.

I nearly stopped in my tracks.

The hall opened up into a vast chamber lined with reinforced glass, stretching from floor to ceiling, providing an unobstructed view of the outside world. At the same time, it also appeared to be not visible from the outside. I have no idea how it works.

I saw Carcosa’s sky.

A twilight canvas of burning orange and deep gold, marred with shifting, abstract formations of floating landmasses and unknown structures drifting like lost constellations.

I had never been given this kind of perspective before.

The sky had always been something distant, something above me, something unreachable.

But here—

It was laid out before me, endless and consuming, yet away and segregated by a translucent barrier.

Something in my chest twisted, an emotion I couldn’t name—longing, maybe. Or grief.

And then—

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I a girl with a blue hair.

She stood just ahead of us, watching with a calm, unwavering gaze.

A child-like individual, small in stature, with soft blue hair and piercing blue eyes.

There was something serene about her presence, as if she belonged to the stillness of this place.

She raised her hand in a slow, deliberate motion.

She waved.

Simple. Unhurried. Almost… welcoming.

I hesitated.

And then, awkwardly, I lifted a hand and waved back.

She didn’t speak. She only smiled.

And for some reason, that smile stuck with me.

But before I could ask who she was, before I could even form the words—

Naosi moved forward.

"This way."

I cast one last glance toward the girl, my curiosity lingering even as my feet carried me forward.

Eventually, Naosi led me toward a chamber lined with reinforced doors, each marked with a unique sigil.

She stopped before one of them and placed her hand against the interface. A soft beep echoed, and the door slid open, revealing—

A guest room.

Spacious, well-furnished, illuminated by a soft, ambient glow.

A proper bed, with neatly arranged sheets. A desk, lined with an assortment of unknown utilities. A storage compartment, sealed but easily accessible.

Far more luxurious than anything I had ever slept in before.

I stepped inside.

And for the first time since I had arrived—

I exhaled.

The weight on my shoulders, the tension in my limbs, the relentless sense of displacement—it all settled.

For now, I had a place to breathe.

To rest.

To exist.

I turned toward Naosi, words lingering at the edge of my thoughts.

But before I could speak, she smirked.

"Yeah, yeah. You’re welcome~"

And with that, she left me to my thoughts.

Alone.

In a place that wasn’t mine.

But—

For now.

It was safe.