"SO FUCKING WEAK!" A blunt force hit Math in his side, forcing him to wake up.

Math shot up before stumbling over himself, falling back onto the ground, coughing, and grasping his side.

"FUCK!" Math got kicked in the stomach, rolling on the ground in pain, squinting at whatever had hit him.

Math didn't have his glasses, unable to see what was in front of him, shrouded by a blur before being picked up by someone else beside him. They stand him up, quickly patting his back as he groaned in pain, barely able to stand.

"You okay?" This person asked, it sounded like himself... it sounded like Math speaking to himself.

Math was confused to hear his voice coming from a different person, looking over to them before being hit in the face this time instead of his body.

"FUCK YOU!"

He woke up.

**** MATH ARNOTTIR ***

I woke up in a cold sweat from a peculiar dream.

I was in my room, a cold patch placed on my head, my body still hot from a fever.

I cursed under my breath, shifting out from my bed and heading to the kitchen before being body blocked by Freyja.

"Go back." She demanded, grabbing me by my collar and placing me back on my bed.

"W-what...?"

"I'm taking care of you, lay down."

No... wait. I'm going crazy. I'm not in my room, I'm in her room.

"W-wait... am I in your dorm?"

"Yes, you are, now lay down. I have to leave soon and I don't want you hurting yourself," She sighed, "We'll have to delay the dungeon expedition until you get better, so for now, just rest. It's just as important as training after all."

"Thanks..."

"No problem, here," She placed a bowl down on a small cabinet near me, "Eat that while I'm gone. You can go to your room later."

"Okay." I nodded, grabbing the bowl with a cloth she handed me and using a spoon to eat whatever it was.

It was porridge, good porridge at that.

She left as I started eating and I passed out after finishing the porridge.

[...some...fucking Math!]

My eyes crept open when hearing the voice. I recognized my name and was wondering who it was coming from.

I raised myself off the bed, looking around the room.

[PATHETIC FREAK!]

It felt clear in my ears, and loud.

My ears were ringing, standing up from the bed with my hands on my ears, opening windows, trying to find anywhere and anything that could've been making the noise.

I kept cursing as I put a finger in my ears, to fix them or something.

[Jesus, you have to be stupid!]

"What!?"

This was probably the most confused I've ever been.

Someone is talking to me... no... that's my voice... but where?

It's not coming from me, so where is it coming from?

Am I just talking to myself without realizing it?

I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, "I'm probably just disoriented from the fever, probably just cursing myself out and mistaking it for someone else."

I shook my head, heading straight out the door, noticing Freyja's kitchen.

I walk over to her fridge, taking out water and chugging it down, drops of it trickling down my chin and falling on either my shirt or the floor.

I could feel my body cooling down.

[It seems you're going mad.]

The voice of the serpent was ringing in my head. I couldn't help but jump but I got used to it quickly.

"Serpent?"

[Yeah... it's me.]

It was odd hearing its booming voice in my head, maybe I'm just going crazy?

[You are...]

Wait, how?

[I'm real, but it is true, you're going insane.]

"How are..?"

I blacked out again, finding myself back in my bedroom, sweat drenching my entire body.

"W-what? What the fuck!?"

When I appeared back in my room again, my brain was in chaos.

There wasn't a single cohesive thought that I had during that time and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

My body felt normal, and my head didn't ache, but the noises in my head just kept getting louder and louder until it was just a collage of images, and voices, quieting down all at once when it got way too loud to bear, clutching my head.

Again though, my head didn't hurt or anything, it just felt, irritating. No pain, just immense irritation.

Why is this all happening now?

If anything, everything was going well... is it because of the serpent, who, why?

What do I do?

*****

I managed to recover after two days and before I got ready for the dungeon, Beatrice and Mikael confronted me.

"Okay, so here," They pointed at a picture of me, it looked a bit like something I'd do but different enough that it was odd. "You ignored us here but we decided to guide you to your room anyway."

"A-alright, what next?"

"Here, this was just yesterday," Mikael pointed at another picture of the same confident-looking me that they had shown me before, "We decided to try and befriend you like you weren't 'you,' and found out something."

"What did you find out?"

"You called yourself 'Stolt Titus."

"Stolt?"

[Do you know what that means?]

The serpent had been speaking to me once in a while, but... I don't know he seemed off. I thought it'd be best to mostly ignore him though.

I don't, what does it mean? I thought to myself, assuming he could hear me like that.

[You don't know what your name means right? Should I explain it?]

What does it mean?

[I gotta say, you weren't the creative type."

"Can you tell me already..." I mumbled.

"Hm?"

"Sorry, I'm talking to myself, trying to think."

[No... there is no point. It'd just ruin the fun.]

I threw my head back in my chair, looking to the ceiling.

"That's two... What do I do...?" I paused, sighing multiple times, I felt like I was becoming manic, "Fuck... what... there are the gaps," I flash my fingers beside my head, "And then... I don't..."

"Hey... Math," Beatrice leaned forward, "We should look into this."

"Not now... I don't want to... I want to become strong first... I need priorities."

"But... this... this is bad."

I shook my head, "This isn't something I'm ready for... but..." nodded, "I think I have an idea on what it is."

"What is it?"

"I think it's dissociative identity disorder..." I forced it out of me in one quick sentence, swallowing the spit that had pooled under my tongue, "B-but... the question is... why now?"