《Book about reincarnation》


 Chapter 1: The New World, Again

    There I was, sitting with my back against the wall of the large, pointy-roofed house, its white walls painted red with my blood, my vision blurry and my head hazy.


    I put some pressure on the wound in hopes of stopping the bleeding - ¡°Well shit¡­ I have a feeling this is the end¡­¡± I thought then looked around only seeing that my final days in this life would take place in between two dumpsters.


    I let out a sight - a sign of me accepting my faith, ¡°Maybe just bleeding out to death is alright.¡± I wondered lifting my hand off the wound and slowly my eyes closed.


    A few minutes passed¡­


    ¡°This is taking a while¡­¡± I thought - opening my eyes and looking down to see that the bleeding from the wound almost stopped.


    ¡°God damn it¡­¡± I stood up realising I wasn¡¯t going to die and instead was just laying around in some dirty alley, disgruntled I began heading home, complaining to nobody in specific on the way - ¡°What¡¯s the point of stabbing someone if you¡¯re not going to do a good job?!¡±


    Earlier I got stabbed by some homeless guy - he wanted some change and I was less than eager to give away what little money I get from my job - so being the rational fellow he is he stabbed me, searched my pockets realising I had nothing but half a chocolate bar of unspecified an unspecified brand and decided to take it and run.


    As I walked rain began to pour down - ¡°Fantastic¡­¡± I thought - remembering my cat was going to be pissed since I didn¡¯t let him in this morning - it¡¯s not really my cat - he just kind of comes and goes. I never gave it a name, I¡¯m bad with those.


    On my way I tripped on a piece of paper which must have absorbed the rainwater becoming the worlds most slippery surface, I landed face-first into the puddle on the side of the road, I lifted my face from the puddle and was instantly blinded by the headlights of a car - ¡°Looks like I get to die today a-¡±


    When I opened my eyes I was faced with the blinding light of the sun, confused I sat up - I looked down disorientated, everything was strangely big - the grass felt weird and thick - the leaves curled strangely and even the light of the sun seemed off - around me were fields of grass and flowers - mounds and hills littered the otherwise flat area.


    I reached down with my hand to my abdomen feeling nothing out of the ordinary - "What the hell - isn¡¯t this is a bit early?" I wondered looking around and realising that I in fact reincarnated¡­ again.


    The moment the confusion from my immediate realisation faded away, all colour must have drained from my face - now painfully aware of my situation, I let out a cry of rage in the empty fields around surrounding me. "FUCK!".


    You¡¯d think that after dozens of dozens of lives I¡¯d get used to reincarnating - but I think my reality is a bit broken - I¡¯m not supposed to remember all these lives!


    I stood up - stumbling at first when I saw my foot was entangled in the roots and grass - it looked like I crawled out of a me-shaped hole in the ground.


    "I hoped I was done!" I cried - my voice sounded dry and raspy as a slight breeze blew in as if to cool me off.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I get for having any resemblance of hope¡­¡± I scolded myself.


    I stumbled down the hill I found myself on - on it stood a large tree - it had a thick, dark bark with many branches that curved upwards - much like the leaves on said branches, when I made it down the hill I found what looked like a dirt road - overgrown and with large holes seemingly patches up with rocks,


    "Not the reaction I expected - but that''s alright." a voice said from behind - desperately I spun around only to see a black cat laying on the grass, it''s fur seemed smooth and silky, it''s eyes following me as I moved.


    "Fantastic - this place has talking cats!" I complained,


    "Ah - I take it you remember your previous lives already then?" the cat asked - its voice was masculine and deep yet very smooth.


    "...do you have something to do with this hell I had to go through?" I asked,


    "Don''t think too highly of yourself - everyone dies and reincarnates - you just happen to have a good memory when it comes to that stuff." the cat replied,


    I sat down on the grass next to the road, placing my head in my knees.


    A few silent minutes passed - "...so...what are you doing?" the cat asked, I looked up - looking him deep in the eyes, "I''ll just sit here until I die..." I replied,


    "..."


    "..."


    "...Are you being serious?" the cat asked - its tone suggested it was waiting for me to say it was a joke.


    "I''ll just keep doing this until I run out of worlds to appear in," I announced - my speech muffled.


    "Sorry to ruin your plans - but there are infinite worlds." the cat said almost apologetically.


    "..." I looked up at the cat blankly, "Sorry, could you repeat that?" the cat continued to look at me - an expression of pity on his face.


    "There is an infinite number of worlds, you can''t ever run out of them, and even if you did they go in a circle - you know," he repeated.


    "...What do you mean? If there is an infinite amount how are they going in a circle?!" I demanded - the realisation of being double-stuck in the world dawned on me harder than before - I let myself fall onto the grass behind me - blankly looking into the sky above me - watching it''s warm red and purple hues - with a belt of yellow light where the sun was setting,


    ¡°This is what I get for having some sort of hope¡­ Why would this time be different - of course, I¡¯m back in some other world - FANTASTIC!¡±


    ¡°...right¡­ regardless - I¡¯m here to stop you death-spree,¡± the cat explained,


    ¡°Oh - I¡¯m glad you decided to step in after two-thousand-eighty mother-fucking years of torture!¡±


    ¡°Actually - I¡¯ve only been monitoring you for the last one-hundred - I needed a bit of a break after watching you go through life for aeons.¡± the cat sighed,


    ¡°Oh - I see - thanks for helping me out of that burning building! OH WAIT - THAT WASN¡¯T YOU, THAT WAS THE FIREMAN!¡±


    ¡°How do you know I didn¡¯t help you through the fireman?¡± the cat asked smoothly,


    ¡°Because the fireman proceeded to decapitate me with his axe - remember, the whole witch trial thing I got involved in¡­IT WAS GREAT, YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!¡±


    ¡°Alright - relax - I get it, you had a few tough lives and you¡¯re a little tired of the same routine - you can¡¯t solve your problems by jumping off a building or setting yourself on fire¡­¡±


    ¡°Got me this far¡­¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t! There is no end goal or some magic get-out-of-life card, you¡¯re stuck here like everyone else!¡±


    I was slightly surprised by the rising tone of the cat, he must be getting pissed.


    ¡°Look - for one, this place looks really far from civilization, I don¡¯t really feel like walking for potentially days in hopes of reaching a town,¡±


    ¡°So you plan to kill yourself?! How¡¯s that even a solution - never mind a good one?!¡±


    ¡°You see - my feline companion - this is a very complicated concept, I don¡¯t blame you for not understanding¡­¡±


    The cat didn¡¯t reply and just let me continue,


    ¡°If I die here - there is a decent chance that I¡¯ll appear in a world where I¡¯m born in a city,¡± I explained.


    ¡°Step one¡­ death, step two¡­ appear in a civilized place,¡±


    ¡°And if you don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Go back to step one.¡±


    ¡°Look¡­ I know this may be a foreign concept to you - but did you ever consider how you¡¯re affecting your families?!¡±


    ¡°I mean¡­ it¡¯s not my fault they decided to have a kid.¡± I shrugged,


    ¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t think anyone expected their child, a five-year-old might I - add to make a hemlock poison cocktail and off-themselves in the makeshift lab in the basement¡­¡±


    ¡°Meh - I don¡¯t care¡­¡± I shrugged,


    ¡°Do you know how you affected your family that time!? They decided to drink the poison too because they got so depressed!¡±


    ¡°Oh I know - I felt sorry for them so I left them a vial each.¡±


    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t expect a sociopath like you to understand the concept of empathy - but you can¡¯t keep doing this!¡± he insisted,


    ¡°Oh really? Watch me¡­¡± I immediately began holding my breath - my face turned blue before I fell back on the ground - opening my eyes a few seconds later - ¡°Well shit¡­ I hoped that¡¯d work¡­¡±


    ¡°You tried this in so many worlds and you still think it might work?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s worth a try - you know - next time I get locked up in some dungeon - by the way, thanks for your help back there¡­¡±


    I let out a sigh and stared off into the sky for a bit.


    "There, there - I''ve been watching you for a while now and I decided you may need some help," the cat walked up to me placing a paw on my hand.


    "Why?" I asked,


    "Because I have the previously mentioned empathy - and I don¡¯t feel comfortable letting you drive another young couple to suicide because their son decided to tie a plastic bag onto their head, plus you died over one-hundred times under the age of fifty¡­ and about half of those deaths were your fault!" the cat explained - taking a deep breath when he finished,


    "How were they my fault!?" I asked tilting my head up slightly to look it in the eyes,


    "...the bungee jump..." the cat''s word reminded me of the life about five lives back - I got really depressed and signed up for a bungee jump - and while the instructor wasn''t watching I attached the cord to my neck and jumped off.


    "Ok... that''s one." I replied slightly looking away,


    "The goat incident," his words were filled with disappointment,


    "At least that was creative," I argued remembering the time I was reincarnated as a farmer''s child - I got my memories back when I was about ten and got pretty depressed - with no painless way of killing myself I though up a plan, we were goat farmers - and we had these gun things that bludgeon the goats to death in an instant - but they were always kept locked away by my dad - so one day I cut the fur off a goat - made a goat costume and stood in line in the slaughterhouse.


    The cat sighed again - "yeah, that''s the disturbing part..." he replied,


    "Regardless - I''m here to make sure you make it to the ripe old age of...at least adulthood," his voice sounded like he was almost pleading with me - "Well - if death''s not getting me closer to non-existence, guess I have to figure something else out." I decided,


    "Well - if that keeps you alive, I don''t mind," he replied.


    "Ok - well, cat... where do I live?" I asked looking around me seeing no house - "And why am I not like... an infant?" the strange circumstances I found myself suddenly confused me,


    "...About that - I don''t know why you''re... you know - not a foetus right now... so, I guess that''s something you have to figure out yourself," the cat said - he sounded sincerely sorry but didn''t sound like he planned to do anything.


    "So... I don''t have a house, family or source of income..." I asked,


    "Right - you can manage, right, You''ve lived so many lives." the cat said reassuringly.


    "Hey, cat - can you come here for a second?" I asked - uncertain it agreed and walked over - "Sure, why? -"


    I grabbed it''s hand and squeezed the pillow with my thumb and index finger making the sharp nail pop-out - "I''ll give the next one a shot," I announced before moving the claw over to slice my wrist - the cat jerked the hand back cutting my finger in the process,


    "Ow - the hell, cat?" I wiped the blood on my clothes - that''s when I noticed how weird they looked, I was wearing a white sleeveless tunic looking thing - "Stop that - I''m not letting you die, damn it!"


    "Come one - just one more time!" I pleaded, I stood up and looked around seeing not sharp rocks - and I''m not using round rocks ever again - I''m telling you, worse method ever.


    "Let''s make a deal - if you die of natural causes in this world, I''ll tell you a secret way to get out of the cycle!" the cat suggested frantically,


    When I heard the offer I froze for a moment - "So if I die of natural causes - you''ll tell me the secret to ending my eternal misery." I asked,


    "Yes - of course, that''s only if you''ll still be interested after experiencing the joys of life!" he replied, but by then I was already walking off down the road in hopes of finding a forest.


    "Wait! Where are you going?!" the cat asked - it was a lot faster than me,


    "I''m looking for a forest - preferably with bears or wolves," I replied - "That''s not a natural cause! I mean old age or disease!" he elaborated.


    "Alright." I continued walking regardless.


    "Where are you going now?" he asked,


    "I''m just going to go relax in the forest - preferably next to a decomposing corpse of some animal - it would be terrible if I caught some disease and ended up dying," I replied,


    "Damn it - no, you have to die of old age - that''s the new rule!" he exclaimed.


    I let out a groan and stood still for a second before turning back and walking back to where I sat. "Fine..."


    "And where are you going now?" he asked - the tone sounded concerned,


    "I saw the perfect rock earlier to induce a coma, earlier," I replied thinking about the round rock from before.


    The cat stopped following me and just sat down - "Would you stop that! I''m telling you not to give up, yet!" his voice was different than before - he sounded legitimately angry.


    "Cat - I don''t know why you won''t leave me alone - but I''m sick of the human experience - if I have to live to get the information from you I will, but I don''t know what you expect me to do," I replied - my tone devoid of any emotion,


    Aside from anger and schadenfreude, I don''t feel much in the way of emotions, I haven''t for a long time - I got pretty good at putting up a facade for people - I spun around to face the cat, a wide grin on my face "You''re right mister cat, I guess I should give life a shot - since this is my last one!" I exclaimed,


    I saw the cat''s expression remained unchanged - I loosed the muscles on my face letting it return to the neutral look - "It was worth a try..." I sighed,


    "I told you - I''ve been watching you for a long time now..." the cat replied - I looked at him for a bit before looking down - "I''m sorry for making you worry so much..." I said in a quivering voice - the cat''s expression softened - "Stop it, I know you''re faking it - but it''s still hard to watch." he scoffed.


    I switched to smirk in almost an instant - "Well - I might just consider a career as a performer in this world." I said with a pout before sitting down on the grass and switching back to my normal expression.


    "Right - can I at least get some information about this world," I asked,


    He looked at me for a second - seemingly making sure I''m serious before replying - "Yeah - check your pocket."


    I did as commanded and pulled out a small metal plate.


    "What''s this?"


    "Consider it a starter gift - it''s against my personal code of conduct to help you - but since your current circumstances are so... odd - I guess this is necessary."


    I looked down at the plate seeing what looked like a character profile about me - "Name... blank... I guess I''ll come up with something."


    "Age... eight... That''s why everything is... big ... " I said looking at the trees around me, then I looked down at my hand seeing they were small too.


    "Let''s see... gender... female..." I looked over to the cat - "What the hell is this?"


    "What?"


    "I always reincarnated as a man or the equivalent in the given world - what the hell is that?" I demanded,


    "Is that a problem?"


    "Yeah - a bit one - how am I supposed to play this game without a joystick?!"


    The cat let out a sigh - "Look - your body is completely out of my control, I''m just here to keep an eye on you - if you have a problem with your body, send God a complaint!" he replied,


    "You mean there is a God?"


    "Of course - who else could create all this?"


    "That bastard owes me some answers..." I mumbled in a low tone,


    "Right... well - now that you know everything you need to know, I''m going to leave you - remember though - I''ll be keeping an eye on you." the cat reminded me before disappearing into a puff of black smoke.


    From the look of it, if I continued heading along the road I¡¯d reach a massive mountain in the distance, I decided to nickname is ¡®mount Neverest¡¯ since it¡¯s a place I¡¯d never visit.


    To the right side of the road was a forest of what looked like black trees with lime-green leaves with black branch-like patterns on them, the trees had branches which curved up kind of like the hair of those troll dolls that used to be popular a while ago.


    As I walked I noticed the road was starting to get steeper and steeper, to the left of the road a cliff was visible, from the looks of it¡¯d be walking along its side, that is if the road goes that far, worse case scenario I take a leap off the cliff and hope to be reincarnated in a world with flatter terrain¡­ wait, no - the cat will give out to me¡­


    Lucky the road did go all the way up, as I walked I realized another major difference between this world and the last one, the rock. Granted I know that Earth can have a lot of different types of rock, but this rock looked pale white, it wasn¡¯t quite as nice a marble but wasn¡¯t a weak as chalk either.


    When I made it to the top of the cliff, I followed the road for another while until I walked past a weird-looking bush - it was just a small cluster of what looked like rolled-up leaves filled with a lot of small orbs, they kind of resembled crimson-red caviare, naturally my first instinct was to try some, I tried to take out just one of the orbs but it turns out they are all connected, I guess it¡¯s more like a raspberry in that regard, I bit into it realising something strange, it tasted weird, it was sweet, sour with the tiniest hint of salt but it was more than that¡­as if there was an extra taste I didn¡¯t have a name for¡­Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I decided that as fun as eating suspicious fish-egg looking fruits was, food poisoning in the middle of nowhere wouldn¡¯t be as fun - imagine the conversation with the cat ¡°Oh - it¡¯s you again - it¡¯s only been a day and you died of dehydration from crippling diarrhoea because you eat random fruit you found growing along the side of a road?¡±


    considering the lack of modern infrastructure, abundant plant-life and talking cats, I¡¯m inclined to believe this may be a less developed world, in that case, it¡¯s good the cat didn¡¯t follow me, a woman with a talking cat is guaranteed to be burned on a stake - not to mention a literate one.


    One thing I noticed was the fact that despite the fact the sun was setting, it was still bright outside, granted the colours were changing, where previously a warm reddish-yellow light illuminated the world now the light was becoming a darker purple with hints of blue, maybe in this world day and night don¡¯t differ in the same sense as on Earth, regardless I continued my way down the road until I noticed something in the distance, it was a town.


    Going to a town for the night beats sleeping in the wilderness, even at this distance I could tell that this wasn¡¯t a modern town, I was almost certain at this point that this is a medieval world¡­granted that¡¯s just the general term used to describe the ¡®castles and sword time¡¯ by us non-historians.


    The closer I got the more of the town I could see, the gates were relatively small located between two hills which were seemingly used as natural walls, with a drawbridge held by long black chains going over what looked like a man-made moat, the water in which poured in from three large holes in the wall, each had a metal grate in place, in a way they resembled sewer-pipes and that¡¯s most likely what they were¡­


    The walls themselves were built from that white rock cut into rectangular bricks of the white stone, there was a wall walk, fenced off from the outside and covered by a thin wooden roof held up by wooden poles placed in what looked like maybe three-meter intervals along the inside and outside edge of the wall walk.


    As I approached the gate, I noticed a few guards sitting by a table, playing some sort of card game by the looks of it, their clothing looked mostly decorational, it consisted of cloth tunic with a stripy blue and purple pattern, they wore what looked like normal black trousers under it, over the cloth they wore metal elbow and knee protectors, metal boots or maybe just metal armour placed over the boots and smooth metal shoulder pads.


    As for weapons they had a sword a the hip, it¡¯s hard for me to decide if it¡¯s a longsword or a shortsword so let¡¯s just say it¡¯s a medium sword, on their back, they had a shield with the same colour pattern as their clothes and propped up against the wall were three long sticks with blades attached to the end, kind of like spears.


    Thanks to the preoccupied guards I was able to enter the town easily, or maybe people were allowed to just go in and out of towns¡­I guess this is an indicator that there is no big war going on here since the security would be a lot more serious.


    When I entered the town I was met with a large variety of smells, sounds and colours, the area directly in front of the gates was filled with people, the city was lit with what looked like glass bottles of glowing liquids of various colours.


    There was a large variety of shops too, I walked down the colourful streets of the town, seeing the colourful roofs of the houses, they were all very pointy and made of coloured tiles.


    I continued walking through the town¡¯s winding alleys and roads - as it stood I had three objectives - one; find a place to stay, two; find a job and or win the lottery and three; hopefully, find a way to not exist anymore.


    I came across a large wooden sign with some sort of text I couldn¡¯t read - the sign was attached to the wall at eye level, the language looked completely alien to me, it looked a bit like runes, but unlike the normal runes I saw on earth - exclusively on TV, of course, these ones were very smooth, curvy and organic looking,


    I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned around to see a blue-haired man with large, round orange glasses, he said something to me which I obviously didn¡¯t understand - he was smiling and didn¡¯t look like he was going to stab me so I just assumed he was telling me not to wander around the town at night alone¡­


    Before even waiting for me to say anything he kept walking and soon was completely out of my view¡­ this brought up a pretty important question, did that man have blue hair? Was that the natural colour or does this world have hipsters too? Is the hair colour consistent across his entire body?


    Confused - and slightly concerned I decided to head down the alley and through the gate to the large area with the undecipherable text,


    The place didn¡¯t look as nice, in fact, it mostly consisted of wooden shacks and the occasional stone building with dull grey roofs - the ground was uneven and most windows had holes and smashed glass.


    People were sitting around small fires with pots of some blue boiling liquid which created pale blue smoke which clung to the ground creating an artificial fog of sorts, the paved ground looked worse with large holes filled with mud and a lot of grass and other plants growing from the cracks.


    I decided to investigate the blue pot and as I leaned in closer I began to feel light-headed - falling over and onto the muddy ground, I stood back up and saw the other individuals keeping their attention on me and laughing frantically - as if they saw a young child choke on cigarette smoke,


    Well, I had a chance to see the nice-part-of-town, and now I had a chance to see the ghetto-part-of-town, I decided that I¡¯d rather go back to the nice part, but when I turned around I found my way was blocked by a group of shady looking people, they wore cloaks and had swords on their hips, granted, I didn¡¯t know if they¡¯re shortswords of daggers.


    I decided to that they were most likely not interested in me, however, I wasn¡¯t willing to find out who their target really was and so I decided to look for a different way out, I walked through the shady looking district eventually finding an exit, I was about to leave when my path was blocked again by the same figures who seemingly dropped down from the roof of one of the houses.


    I turned back again, hopefully, I was hoping to find a way out that wasn¡¯t blocked by suspicious cloaked figures, after another few failed escape attempts I managed to spot what looked like a fence leading to a park - it was old and rusty but I saw it led to a larger flat area filled with grass and a few trees, with my sights set on the fence I began broke into a sprint, immediately fell face first and decided to switch to a quick jog instead - before I managed to get away I felt something pull me back, pushing me against a stone wall near the face which I hoped was an exit from this ghetto-looking area, I did manage to get a better look at the cloaked figure, they wore solid black masks with no eye-holes and the previously mentioned cloak, underneath they wore a black jumper with brown leather straps onto which small pouches and more tiny knives were attached - as well as a cylindrical wooden tube,


    The figure took a step towards me which I interpreted as a good moment to get the hell out of there - I broke into a sprint, running through the alleys - thank god this body''s muscles didn''t all but disappear like my last one.


    I must have caught the figures off guard because I didn¡¯t head directly for the exit, instead, I headed for the closest thing to the main street in this mess of a district.


    As I ran I came across what looked like a small weapon''s shop, I based this off the large wooden sign with the picture of a sword and shield on it, I hopped inside shutting the door behind me, quickly I looked around the shop seeing a large balding man confused and slightly annoyed about why I just burst into his shop, he began saying something, the door splintered into bits as an explosion came from the other side - I poked my head out through the hole seeing one of the cloaked figures holding a cylindrical device I now assumed worked like a cannon against the door.


    I felt a tug on my shirt as I was picked up by the shopkeeper who now looked terrified as he hurried off through the back-door of his shop, grabbing a shiny sword while he was at it - I must say, being carried isn''t half bad.


    We ran through what looked like a really big warehouse, towers of crates and boxes lay strewn across the entire area, what little blue moonlight came from outside through the small windows illuminated the mass of dust in the air,


    Several explosions came from behind us again - I guess the cylinders worked like flintlock pistols - you only get one shot, you better not miss your chance to blow.


    I felt a knock on my head - it was the shopkeeper trying to get my attention, he kept saying something to me but I didn''t understand what he said so I just said the first thing that came to my mind "SORRY I DON''T SPEAK ENGLISH" I exclaimed - mind you, believe it or not - I do in fact speak English, the man just looked at me in confusion, by now I too was confused by the situation.


    I saw a bright blue light appear behind the man, at first I thought it might have been something in the warehouse - but upon closer inspection, I noticed it was one of the assassin people with bright blue light coming from under their feet - was that magic? (Yes)


    I saw the assassin person take out another cylinder - realising we were about to be shot I elbowed the man in hopes of getting him to either move out of the way of the blast or at least fall down - he didn''t do either, in fact he just looked back at me only seeing the assassin as a side effect, that caused him to take a sharp turn to the right, narrowly missing the various small projectiles shot out from the weapon.


    Ahead of us, I saw what looked like a large door - on one hand, this was great - it''s a way out, on the other hand, we would have no time to open the door before becoming convenient knife storage devices.


    To be fair, if the guy dies - he''ll just respawn somewhere else, most likely without memory of this place.


    I considered ditching him and using him as a distraction, but he went out of his way to help me...then again us dying together isn''t much of a "getting-even" action,


    On our way towards the gate through the tight hallway of boxes, I''ve noticed several pots of some back substance in jars and loose piles - I waited until I saw a pile big enough and grabbed onto the large piece of cloth under it, collapsing the entire pile of dust and boxes into a small barricade.


    The man looked back looking relieved until the cloaked figures simply climbed over the blockade and continued their pursuit - although it looked like my plan bought us a few seconds.


    When we were about to reach the doors the assassins were way too close, at this point, I was contemplating where I should get stabbed to avoid the suffering - although it looked like the shopkeeper preferred broken bones over stab wounds because he just charged head-first towards the door successfully crashing through it, causing bits of wood to fly out around us.


    We now found ourselves in what looked like an even more shady part of town, and here I was hoping for some big market area,


    The man was become visibly tired by now - breathing heavily and looking red-faced.


    It looked like he was heading towards the large gate on our left, it looked like it led to a fancier place based on the more colourful sign - as expected he made a turn to the left only to be blocked by more of the same figures pointing their cylinder-guns at him, in an instant he tossed me aside before being shot, from the looks of it only his arm and leg were severely hurt - but soon another cloaked figure came over to finish the job - with a swift kick to the middle of the torso the man just...stopped...


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to be able to speak English, would you?¡± I asked with one raised eyebrow, for as much as I didn¡¯t mind death itself, the process of being stabbed could be pretty unpleasant - I mean nobody likes pain¡­except for masochists, but I never got those people, but you know - you do you.


    Regardless, the cloaked assassins didn''t reply.


    ¡°Well¡­I didn¡¯t live very long, but I made it to eight¡­I guess that¡¯s something¡± was the only thought going through my head at the time,


    In a flash, the image of the cat appeared - and his promise of letting me get out of this God-forsake cycle,


    ¡°I can¡¯t die yet!¡± I exclaimed - regardless of my statement I was picked up by one of the figures, I struggled and trashed in an attempt to escape - kicking and scratching the hand which held me by the neck.


    ¡°If not for that stupid cat, I might have thanked them¡­¡± I thought before drawing my leg back and planting it firmly in the figure¡¯s gut - making them hunch forward as they gasped for air - quickly I reached down into my pocket, retrieving the metal plate and placing it between my middle and index finger in an attempt to create a makeshift brass-knuckle.


    I planted my fist into assassin¡¯s mask - I felt a crack but was unable to see it - I tried to go in for another one before another figure grabbed my hand and twisted it behind my back.


    ¡°Well¡­ he can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t try¡­¡± I thought before closing my eyes in anticipation of the sweet release of death.


    From further down the alley I saw a vibrant blue light,I turned my head to see that it was the blue-haired guy from before, is this some kind of turf war? ¡°I¡¯m rooting for the blue-haired guy.¡± I thought,


    In an instant the blue-haired guy moved from the end of the alley to inches away from me, a blue trail of sparkles leading back to where he was a second ago, on his hands were two glove-like items, each had three blades attached essentially creating artificial claw-weapons, in the split second after the moment he moved from one side of the alley to the other he turned his leg by ninety-degrees and planted a solid kick with the lower part of his leg to the cloaked figure¡¯s neck causing it to fall over limply only twitching occasionally.


    Two other cloaked figures appeared - as he went in for another kick the cloaked figure seemingly bent their body mid-air, coiling around his leg and planting a knife into his shin - the man let out a short yelp before grabbing the figure by the head and seemingly creating a red circle in his hand - a roaring flame appeared in his palm as a fierce grin spread across his face - the grin quickly faded and so did his flames when he turned to me and let out a sigh before saying something, he planted a quick chop to the assassin''s neck causing them to fall limply to the floor.


    The last one made a move for him, he quickly dodged the attack - stepping back, each step he took back was returned by the cloaked figure - eventually it took out a dagger which was seemingly coated with some sort of powder, his eyes focused on the blade, he never noticed the second dagger which headed towards his throat until it was too late.


    With a bang, the cloaked figure fell to the floor - ¡°thank fuck I didn''t have to reload these gun things the assassins use¡±... I tossed the gun aside realising it was a one-time thing - I doubt this world would be that convenient...


    He turned to me asking me something again, as expected I didn¡¯t understand any of it - ¡°I wish someone in this God-forsaken world spoke English!¡± I wished - the blue-haired guy asked me something again - ¡°I don¡¯t even know the language and the cat just left me here¡­¡± I complained aloud,


    The blue-haired man paused for a second, ¡°Oh...my god... you speak English?!¡± he asked seemingly surprised but in a good way,


    ¡°Fuck, I wasted my wish on you!¡± Pointing at the rather confused, blue-haired man - ¡°Umm... I¡¯m sorry? I think¡­¡± he replied uncertainly.


    ¡°Well, at least I know there are some normal people in this world¡­¡± I thought before looking at his hair, glasses and the fact he just killed multiple people, ¡°Well, relatively normal¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey - so, why did you ignore my warning earlier?¡± he asked,


    ¡°I can¡¯t speak the language - or read it,¡± I explained plainly,


    ¡°Ohhh - I guess you must be from abroad then.¡± the man concluded before apologising - ¡°Sorry about that, I didn¡¯t realise.¡±


    ¡°Alright - let me ask you a quick question - what was your previous life?¡± I asked - ¡°Earth¡± he replied,


    ¡°Right, I don¡¯t know about you - but I¡¯ve been through this kind of stuff before - and let me tell you this world is weird.¡±


    The blue-haired man raised an eyebrow - ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°I mean¡­ I just appeared here earlier today - no language or anything.¡± I explained.


    ¡°Wait you mean to say¡­ you¡¯re literally just back from earth?¡±


    ¡°Yeah - I got run over by a car." I clarified.


    The blue-haired man stood there dumbfounded for a second - his claw weapons seemingly disintegrated into blue sparks before he moved his hand to fix his glasses.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take this the wrong way - but that¡¯s hard to believe, and what did you mean when you said you have experience with this kind of thing?¡±


    I let out a sigh - ¡°Doesn¡¯t really matter - anyway, thanks for the help,¡± I walked over to one of the bodies,


    ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°These kinds of people always have some change on them¡­¡± I replied feeling around in the corpse¡¯s pocket - taking out some coins - they glistened in the blue moonlight and looked like they¡¯re the equivalent of copper coins - for some reason most worlds really like having the shiny metals as the more valuable coins - I placed them in my pocket with the metal plate before turning back to the guy.


    ¡°Guess I¡¯ll leave the rest to you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll¡­pass¡­¡±


    ¡°Suit yourself.¡±


    I didn¡¯t take any gold from the rest for fear of being weighed down or being targeted as a rich individual.


    ¡°So - do you know why they tried to kill me?¡± I asked


    ¡°Right - about that, some big aristocrat is going through this town today - for some reason these guys really want him dead - I saw them creeping around so I told you not to go there - I guess that though you were a messenger or something - since they never saw you around here before.¡± he presented his theory,


    ¡°So I really look that out of place?¡±


    ¡°Yeah - I mean ¡­ you walked into the slums for no reason?¡±


    ¡°I was sightseeing,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Anyway - it¡¯s been a while since I saw someone with the ability to keep their composure in a fight so well - good job,¡±


    ¡°I mean - worst case scenario I¡¯d be out of this world,¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know - it looked like you tried to put up a fight to me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡±


    ¡°Well - I¡¯ll get going now.¡± I turned around ready to leave when I was stopped by the man ¡°Wrong way.¡±


    I turned around and followed the man out of the slum and into the main area of the town - a place filled with people and shops.


    ¡°You¡¯re a life save¡­ a double life save¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it - it must suck not knowing anything about this world, eh?¡± he laughed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t even get me started¡­¡±


    ¡°Well - looks like this is where we part ways, I¡¯ll go look for a place to stay,¡± I explained,


    ¡°Yeah - I wouldn¡¯t count on getting a room in here any time soon¡­¡± he replied,


    ¡°Why not? Is this place some big tourist attraction?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not it - remember how I told you about the aristocrat - well, all sorts of people are coming from across the country to kiss their ass - the prices everywhere are pretty ridiculous - it¡¯ll pass in a week or so.¡±


    ¡°In that case - mind doing something for me?¡±


    ¡°Sure, what do you need?¡±


    ¡°Mind leading me to the main gate?¡± I requested - he agreed and we walked all the way out to the front gate - ¡°Right - I¡¯ll go find some place to sleep.¡± I explained.


    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯ll manage?¡± he asked,


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine - I already have a good place,¡± I explained.


    ¡±I totally don¡¯t - but it¡¯d be pretty awkward to ask if I could crash at his place - so I¡¯ll just go sleep in some field - chances are I won¡¯t see this guy around ever again.¡±


    ¡°Oh - I see, well I guess I won¡¯t hold you up then - I¡¯ll see you around.¡± he said - ¡°By the way - I¡¯m Adam,¡± he explained,


    ¡°Right - see you.¡± I walked off into the distance - walking back to the cliff area - I felt a grumbling in my stomach - ¡°Damn it body - I don¡¯t have time for food¡­¡± on my way I walked past the strange bush with the fruit¡­


    ¡°Disease or starvation¡­¡± I thought - but before I could decide I was already stuffing my face with the fruit,


    ¡°These are actually really good - I can imagine these being good in jam¡­¡± I thought before feeling a tightness in my gut - ¡°looks like I spoke too soon¡±


    I ended up throwing up the berries over the cliff,


    ¡°Christ¡­ my head¡¯s killing me¡­¡± I mumbled to myself - ¡°I¡¯ve killed myself for less¡­¡± I though - almost like I was trying to threaten my body into not feeling like shit.


    Eventually, I made it back to the hill I started off at - I found the me-shaped hole in the ground and slipped back into it - placing some of the grass and roots back over me before Looking up at the sky.


    ¡°This world sucks¡­ and I can¡¯t even kill myself¡­ I wonder if I killed myself could I negotiate with the cat to let me try the same deal in the next world?¡±


    ¡°I have to say¡­ I expected something a little fancier¡­¡± a male voice announced - I sat up ready to use my improvised brass-knuckle only to see Adam, I let out a sighed and laid back in the hole.


    ¡°You realise you¡¯re stalking someone with the body of a child?¡± I asked,


    ¡°...Yeah well - I kind of expected you¡¯d do something like this,¡± he replied sitting down on the ground cross-legged.


    ¡°So¡­ you plan to sleep in the ground?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t change the subject - why¡¯d you follow me?¡±


    ¡°You rarely see someone from Earth - and not to mention the whole being one-day-old business - I guess I wanted to ask you some more questions tomorrow - but I expected I¡¯d be waiting outside your house and not staring at you sleeping in a hole in the ground.¡± he laughed


    ¡°Ah yes, this changes everything - you¡¯re didn¡¯t come to stare at me - you came to sit outside my house through the night¡­¡±


    ¡°...you¡¯re making this a lot worse than I intended¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve slept in the ground for a good few lives - you learn to appreciate it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah - that¡¯s another thing I wanted to ask about - are you saying you had more lives than just this one and the one on Earth?¡± he asked,


    ¡°yeah - dozens upon dozens that I can remember,¡± I explained,


    ¡°Damn¡­ that¡¯s a crazy concept for me to think about¡­¡±


    ¡°Why - it happened one - I can and did happen again.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to happy about that!¡± he laughed,


    ¡°That¡¯s an understatement - but I have no interest in making friends here, you know?¡±


    ¡°Damn - you¡¯re really not sugar-coating it, are you?¡± he asked with a smile,


    ¡°Nothing personal - but I¡¯ve been over this situation, and I¡¯m not interested.¡±


    ¡°Well then you must know my offer - I have a spare room at my house, you can stay there, I can even teach you the language or magic.¡± he offered,


    It¡¯d be a lie if I said I didn¡¯t consider the offer - both of those things are all but necessary to my survival - and I might not get another chance like this,


    ¡°It sounds likea deal I wouldn¡¯t want to pass up, but what do you get out of it?¡± I asked,


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Aside from someone to talk to - I still want to pick your brains when it comes to the other world and Earth of course - plus I¡¯d hate to pass up the opportunity to help a fellow Earthling,¡± he explained,


    I let out a sigh ¡°There is no way he¡¯s being honest right now..¡±


    ¡°Fine - it¡¯d have to be stupid to pass up an offer to learn the language from an English speaker.¡±


    ¡°Good - then let¡¯s get going.¡±


    He reached into his pocket pulling out a silver ring with a red gem - after putting it on the gem began to glow at a circle filled with runes appeared below up - ¡°What the hell is this?!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a teleportation spell!¡± he exclaimed and before I knew it I was standing in what looked like a flattish area next to a cliff - sheltered slightly by an overhand.


    ¡°Where are we?¡± I asked.


    ¡°This is my house,¡± Adam said pointing to the large - seemingly single-story house - it had a pointy yellow roof and tall fence going along its side - some strange flowerbeds decorated the front.


    I looked to the side - seeing everything was far lower - in fact, it looked like we were on a mountain surrounded by thick forest - ¡°Why does it look like¡­ we¡¯re on a mountain?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because this is a mountain,¡± he explained.


    ¡°I take back the comment about him being relatively normal.¡± I thought before following him indoors.


    The floor was made of polished wood, the walls were nicely made from what looked like painted plaster, and the ceiling was a pure white, from the looks of it this was the living room, there was a blue fluffy rug in the centre of the room, there was a couch and an armchair both a matching dull blue, as for lighting it looked like the room had electric lighting, but upon closer inspection there were white crystals inside glass bulbs attached to the ceiling creating the illusion of modern lights.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask you about it - is this magic?¡±


    ¡°Yeah - but that¡¯s nothing - there are some people with some really impressive powers.¡±


    ¡°Huh..¡±


    ¡°Guess you really are new here if you don¡¯t even know about magic¡­¡± he laughed,


    ¡°Is magic really so well known here?¡± I asked thinking back to all the things I suspect were magic from before - like the lights used in the town - or the glasses guy''s teleportation thing.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s weird that you¡¯re new to this world¡­in every case I¡¯ve heard of - people are born here and later on in life regain their memories of the previous life,¡± Adam explained if he was telling the truth and I really am an anomaly¡­well, actually I don¡¯t think that changes anything¡­


    ¡°Anyway, I guess that means you really know nothing about this world, huh?¡± Adam asked thinking back to how I ignored his warning back when I first saw him and how I didn¡¯t know magic was a thing.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I replied confirming Adam¡¯s concerns.


    ¡°Except that there is this weird caviare looking fruit you shouldn¡¯t eat,¡± I added.


    ¡°That¡¯s kind of rough¡­¡± Adam said scratching his head, ¡°Anyway - we can talk about it tomorrow, for today you should go get some sleep - preferably not in a field.¡±


    ¡°You can take the room at the end of the hall, the on on the right is the toilet.¡° he explained before heading down that same hallway but turning left to the door opposite the toilet door, ¡°If you need anything just let me know,¡± he said before closing the door.


    ¡°Well¡­he certainly is trusting of others¡­¡± the voice from behind me commented it was that damn cat¡­


    I turned around only to find that I was alone in the room, I headed to my room and went straight to sleep.


    ¡°Today was way too lively for me¡­¡± I sighed to myself before passing out in the bed,


    When I woke up I had a chance to get a better look at my temporary room, there was a wardrobe, drawer, desk with a drawer built into it and a large chest, I also had a window which when looked through showed only the rocky side of a mountain.


    I got out of bed and headed out through the hallway and into the living-room, it seemed a lot nicer with the warm yellow-red hues of what I assume is the day in this world coming through the window.


    Adam was already awake and sitting on the couch mixing something in a bowl.


    ¡°What¡¯s up, glasses guy?¡± I asked seeing Adam was already up and seeing that he was sitting hunched over a bowl, Adam looked up from the bowl and at me, ¡°Oh, you¡¯re up!¡± he looked down to the bowl, ¡°Ah, well that¡¯s just ¡­ my hobby - this world doesn¡¯t have tea and I¡¯m desperately trying to re-create it.¡± Adam explained,


    ¡°Interesting hobby, how¡¯s it going so far?¡± I asked looking into the bowl seeing that Adam has in fact been mixing various dried up herbs together, ¡°Well¡­let¡¯s just say it¡¯s been a few years¡­¡± he laughedblushing slightly, it was evident he was embarrassed due to his lack of actual results.


    I sat down on the armchair, ¡°This place looks so modern.¡± I commented.


    ¡°Thanks, I didn¡¯t have much to do all these years to I went about rebuilding the home I remember,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°All right, there are a few things I think I need to explain to you, especially since you¡¯re new to this world.¡± the Adam said taking the bowl off the table and moving it over to what I assumed was the kitchen before coming back.


    ¡°But first, you said you don¡¯t have a name, right?¡± he asked - laughing a bit as he asked the question.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said reaching into my pocket and pulling out the small metal plate from before,


    ¡°Did you have this when you appeared?¡± Adam asked looking at the small metal place in my hand.


    ¡°Yep, it was in my pocket when I appeared in this world for the first time yesterday,¡± I explained.


    ¡°Hmm, well, just come up with a name on the spot.¡± the man suggested.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised I never thought of that myself, after all¡­ all names are made up anyway, but what should I call myself¡­ this is why I could never become a parent, I¡¯d ruin the scene when you have to name the kid buy just standing there for like twenty minutes straight and going like ¡°Alright¡­ just call the child Jim,¡± and the nurse would be like ¡°But sir, it¡¯s a girl¡­¡± and it¡¯d be an awkward situation for us all¡­¡±


    I sat there scratching my chin.


    ¡°Well - what kind of name would you like?¡± he asked trying to help me think of something,


    ¡°I don¡¯t know - the fact I¡¯m a girl this time isn¡¯t making this easier¡­¡± I sighed,


    ¡°Wait¡­hold up - are you telling me that not only did you come from more than one world before this one - but you were a guy before?¡± Adam looked completely in shock.


    ¡°Yeah - although that¡¯s weird even by my standards - I¡¯ve been a dude my entire lives - and now¡­ bam¡­¡± I sighed.


    ¡°I guess you could try and think of something that can be used for both genders - like Charlie,¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°How about Alex?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°I guess, it¡¯s gender-neutral¡­¡±


    ¡°Now then, I need to explain some things about this world, Alex,¡± Adam said, both his voice and expression became more serious.


    ¡°Wait, no. I can¡¯t¡­ I keep imagining a video game character when you use that name...¡± I said interrupting Adam¡¯s serious talk.


    ¡°Alright¡­ I guess choose another name¡­how about Mary?¡± asked Adam.


    ¡°Nah, It¡¯s bad luck to call myself anything livestock-related¡­¡± I said thinking about the goat incident,


    Adam wasn¡¯t sure how to reply - and so he just moved onto his next suggestion¡­


    ¡°How about¡­ Annabelle?¡±


    ¡°Too feminine¡­and it''s like the doll¡­¡±


    ¡°What doll?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°You know, the one from the horror film.¡± I explained, ¡°I wasn¡¯t really a fan of horror movies back on Earth.¡± Adam admitted.


    ¡°Whatever¡­ how about Emily?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Nah, I knew an Emily back on Earth - it¡¯d get confusing,¡± I replied.


    ¡°You know what¡­ how about we leave the name for later.¡± Adam suggested, he sounded defeated.


    I shrugged, ¡°Sure.¡±.


    ¡°From what I understand, except yourself, everybody who comes from Earth is born here, we remember Earth like a vivid dream later on in life¡­we don¡¯t know what exactly triggers the memories to appear but they usually appear by fifteen at the latest or not at all.¡± Adam explained.


    I just sat and listened.


    ¡°As you saw before, this is a world where magic exists, and while from what I see we have a slight advantage over the people of this world when it comes to learning and mastering new abilities, strength-wise we are no different than them,¡± Adam explained,


    ¡°It¡¯s important to keep in mind that this is, for the most part - a medieval society and as such it will seem a little dated to us modern people,¡± Adam spoke more matter-of-factly.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say that while I have confirmed the existence of animal-people they are in fact not cute cat-eared girls but rather feral beasts with claws and fangs,¡± Adam said with a sad sigh.


    ¡°As for the political side of things-¡± Adam began explaining but was cut off, ¡°I¡¯m good, I¡¯m not bothered to learn about politics here,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Thank god, because I¡¯m not bothered to explain¡­¡± Adam said breathing a sigh of relief.


    Adam scratched his head, ¡°I think that¡¯s all the big stuff.¡± he said with a grin scratching his chin.


    ¡°Except for the cat-girl info, that info could come in handy¡­by the way, do the people of this world know about people from Earth appearing here?¡± I asked


    ¡°Generally no, plus if you keep insisting you¡¯re from another world you could get in trouble with some questionable individuals¡­ Granted their tolerance for the supernatural is greater than the peasants back on Earth since magic is a thing here¡­ There is one specific group you should stay clear of - but that''s a topic for another day.¡±


    ¡°Good to know¡­ I¡¯ll try and avoid being stabbed by the locals in the future.¡± I said resolutely.


    ¡°Good - now, like promised - how about we move onto some magic lessons?¡±

 Chapter 2: Learning Magic

    Adam and I walked out to the back of the house - it was a large fenced off area with a wooden shed built under the rocky overhang sheltering it from rain or snow, the garden itself was divided into what looked like three areas, two of which held plants - although one had what looked like a greenhouse covering the plants - a path made from slabs of rock let to each of the areas kept separate by short fences.


    The entire left half of the garden was dedicated to small clusters of plants growing with no greenhouse whereas about half of the remaining space was dedicated to two long greenhouses storing various plants I didn''t recognise - they had metal frames with sheets of what looked like glass.


    Lastly, the remaining quarter of the garden located close to the sound on our right was a raised-up wooden construction with three steps leading up to a flat wooden surface with a table and four chairs - a device resembling a charcoal-grill stood on the right side of the steps.


    "This place looks fancy¡­" I commented upon seeing the nicely decorated garden.


    "Yeah - well - believe it or not, I have a considerable amount of time on my hand," he replied - despite his dismissive words he sounded proud of his accomplishments as he looked onto the evenly spaced-out crops - flowers and herbs littering the garden.


    I followed Adam to the table where he sat down - I did the same.


    "Right, so if you want to learn some magic - I guess I should explain some basics first..." Adam began, I nodded.


    "Basically - there are two core types of magic, voluntary and involuntary." Adam explained, "So if I create a fireball and shoot someone - that''s voluntary magic - but if I''m born with a magic curse that makes people around me burst into flames - that''s involuntary magic." Adam waited for a response from my side,


    "That seems kind of obvious..."


    "Yeah - but for example, some mages can''t turn off invisibility - or they can make their wounds heal automatically"


    "Alright..." I Wasn¡¯t quite certain about the concept of involuntary magic - if anything it seemed odd to mention something so random.


    "Now - in order to give you a slight advantage of the average magician in this world - I''ll tell you the inner workings of magic - granted we have pretty limited technology in this world - but with the help of magic you can find the information if you know what to look for."


    I nodded uncertainly,


    "Basically you have to think of your brain as a computer - the computer can accept commands in the forms of the various different mediums and calculate the way reality needs to be shifted to execute the given command."


    "The concept known as mana is actually just a type molecule in the body - it''s kind of like ATP in a way, the body uses ATP to move muscles and stuff - you need mana to process spells and execute them - the mana itself is created from calories in the body."


    "So if I want to cast a lot of spells I need to eat well?"


    "Essentially, yes - there are some downsides to magic, the brain-computer never really turns off - so unless you meditate or learn to control it in another way it will burn out - either from the brain tissue itself becoming damaged or your body converting all energy into mana."


    "Is it really that bad?"


    "Most mages don''t live past thirty..." Adam replied - the mood turned sombre for a second before the smile returned to hist face - "Anyway - you don''t need to worry as long as you don''t overuse your magic too much."


    I nodded.


    "Right, next is the spell medium." Adam said - he scratched his head, "The only really important ones you need to know are...cyclic, runic, sonic, idolic, kinetic and cognic."


    "The Cyclic medium consists of creating a magic circle with mana - it''s the least specific - you can''t produce complex easily, it''s also the most susceptible to change since the circles vary depending on one each user," Adam explained.


    "Runic is more powerful but less convenient - they are also not limited by time - so enchanting weapons and making scrolls is a possibility, the characters you use can either be existing ones or custom ones you invent yourself - much like the cyclic medium this one is also heavily reliant on your perception of reality."


    "The sonic medium - unlike the other two can come in a lot of different varieties - singing, chants, instruments or even just words - if you associate mana use and a concept with a phrase, note, sound or word you can give that word power - you could make the word ''acorn'' make people burst into flames."


    "Idolic relies on your faith it items like potions - dust and artefacts to produce a magic effect - like brewing a potion that makes things turn into slime or a bag of dust that puts people to sleep."


    "Kinetic mediums are also useful - it lets you initiate a spell with the snap of your fingers for example - really it''s just like the sonic medium except with body movements instead of sounds."


    "The cognic one is the hardest to explain... it''s like using your imagination...for example, imagining the phrase ''health'' could spontaneously create a health potion in your hands - it''s powerful but also dangerous - what if you get pissed and annihilate someone by accident." Adam concluded.


    "I guess I can''t use all of them?" I asked,


    "No - as a general rule of thumb you get to use one or two well, and then three or four are completely out of your reach," Adam concluded.


    "Alright - so do I get to pick the ones I want to be good with?" I asked, Adam, let out a laugh in response "S-sorry, n-no ... you don''t get to pick." He covered his mouth with his palm to try and hide the laughter - I just continued to stare at him coldly until he stopped.


    "A-alright...ok...sorry..." Adam took a second to compose himself again.


    "You just have to try them out...and see what you''re naturally capable of doing," Adam replied.


    "I see, what are you good at?" I asked - I was hoping it¡¯s the same magic type as my one, he could teach me more then if I had a medium he didn¡¯t.


    Adam''s cheeks turned a bit red as he awkwardly replied, "Cyclic..."


    "Just cyclic?"


    "Yep..." He replied avoiding eye contact.


    "..."


    "..."


    "Damn, that must suck..." I replied,


    "Actually, I don''t even use magic all that much - so it''s alright," Adam said with a shrug - his smile faded slightly though,


    ¡°Still - you seem well informed on the topic¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got some experience, I went to this fancy magic academy a few years back.¡±


    "How''d that go?"


    "...I''d rather not talk about it."


    "You failed."


    "Don''t just assume that!"


    "You totally failed."


    "I quit of my own free will if you must know."


    "Whatever you say."


    "Right, let''s check what I''m good at¡­" I suggested - "Alright - one more thing - the amount and strength of your magic is dependant on your mana -" Adam''s explanation was cut off by me, "I think I get the gist of it¡­ use mana to cast spells - mana is some sugar or something." I replied dismissively waving my hand away.


    "Fair enough." Adam laughed, "First of all you have to make sure you''re releasing mana - it''s different for everyone, just try to visualise some way of releasing it." Adam explained.


    "Technically you''re not releasing mana - but triggering it to be transported, but it just seems that our monkey-brains don''t like that idea so we just visualise it like this..."


    "I don''t need an in-depth dissection of everything, you know," I replied, fed up with paragraphs of fantasy-science-talk.


    "Alright, alright - just one last thing, your mana will get thicker over time, but for now you''re going to run low on mana pretty quickly so be careful."


    I closed my eyes - at first I was uncertain as to what mana is supposed to look like - my first instinct was a blue liquid but that''s just because of the typical depiction of a mana potion...


    For some reason the image of mana as a white light came to me naturally - so I imagined white light radiating from my centre of mass out, "I think I¡¯m doing it - what now?"


    "Alright, now try a simple fire spell - you can''t just come up with it on the spot - so I''ll describe it to you," Adam explained...


    Adam went in-depth in his explanation of every aspect of the spell I was meant to remember, from the colour - feel - temperature and even the speed, to imagery and words I have to keep in mind while creating it.


    "Right... now make sure to memorise this spell as ''fireball'' " Adam instructed.


    "Okay - I think I got it¡­" I said uncertainly - I already forgot most of what he described.


    "Now, try one of the methods..." Adam instructed,


    At first, I tried the cognic method - no matter what I imagined - nothing happened, next I tried the kinetic method, I snapped my fingers creating a small spark which disappeared almost instantly.


    "Alright - looks like that''s one of your mediums - it wasn''t too bad for the first time too..." Adam said,


    I wasn''t sure how to do the idolic or iconic medium test - so I picked a pebble off the floor and imagined the same spell from before....nothing.


    That left the cyclic, I extended my hand trying to create the magic circle...Adam mentioned the image of charred leaves and the sun as one of the important things to visualise... but a leaf-shaped circle? That''s a bit misleading... so I just decided to make a simple fire pattern circle - I opened my eyes and saw that I was in fact, creating a magic circle,it looked like suspended neon lights glowing an amber-orange light - "Alright - looks like cyclic is also something you can do, to fire it - try mixing in some kinetic - for example clench your fists or spread your fingers." Adam instructed,


    I clenched my fist - to both the surprise of me and Adam what came out was an endless stream of flames, I could feel the heat on my face - even though my clothes. The entire area around us became illuminated with afiery light - the shock seemingly broke my concentration because the flames stopped coming at very quickly.


    I turned to Adam, "You promised a fire-ball, not a flame-thrower, glasses-dude!" I complained - ¡°I can¡¯t see myself casting this in a city next time I¡¯m being attacked by masked figures¡­¡±


    "I have no idea what you did there - but that was amazing!" Adam exclaimed, "...but how did you do that?"


    "I kind of forgot most of what you told me to memorise for the spell...so I improvised,"


    "Wait.... what do you mean...you improvised? - you can¡¯t do that!"


    "Well...fire is orange and looks like fire so I made the magic circle orange and look like fire...that''s it..." I explained.


    "Well, at least we know your dominant element..." Adam said seeing the smoke trail left after the flame.


    "My what?"


    "You see, elements are divided into four classes - rated from class A to class D, where D-class is stuff like air, fire, water, air, light, electricity or ice."


    "C-class elements are more like... iron, grass, lava, sand..."


    "B-class elements are less physical concepts - reflections, space, gravity, speed, music,"


    "A-class elements are things like...time, memory, emotions, "


    "So do we only get one?" I asked,


    "No, most people can use a dozen or so - but only one or two are dominant." Adam clarified.


    I created a blue magic circle with a wiggly outside, to look like swirling wind - when I opened my palm I created a massive cyclone,I shut my hand for fear of damaging the rock overhand.


    "...A-alright...guess you may have two dominant-" I cut off Adam by creating a long beam of lightning,


    "Ah...ok...three" Adam''s voice began getting more and more defeated the more elements I tried - from the looks of it I can use any element from D to B, I haven''t been able to time travel or make myself happy - "Looks like B is my limit..." I said.


    Adam clicked his tongue a few times,


    "You done showing off?" he asked jokingly.


    "Yeah - I guess-" before I finished my reply I fell face-first into the wooden platform we stood on - tasting a metallic substance in my mouth.


    I snapped back to reality a bit latter laying down on two chairs outside, "Thank God, you''re alive..." Adam said relieved,


    "What happened?" I asked placing my palm against my forehead where I felt a throbbing headache.


    "You used up too much mana - I have no idea how much mana you have to be able to cast even that many spells - it''s safe to say you have some unique magic abilities¡­ but you¡¯re not immune to mana depravation."


    We decided to wrap up the magic lesson for now¡­


    Adam and I sat in the garden - ¡°So - what did you mean yesterday? About the other worlds?¡±


    ¡°Before I was born on Earth - I lived on this massive desert planet of slime-people, a few lives as human-like creatures, one super high-tech one, one basically in the stone-age - I lived at least two lives as a goat¡­¡±


    ¡°Really? How was it? Like did you ever meet someone from one world in another world?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...no¡­I didn¡¯t¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ me neither¡­ I was just asking because I hoped my family from Earth world come into this world sometime - I guess it¡¯s possible that won¡¯t happen then¡­¡±


    Adam¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change - but somehow I knew he was sad,


    ¡°Well¡­how is it to have lived collectively for hundreds of years?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been conscious for two-thousand-eight-hundred-eighty-two-years now - but allegedly we were in this loop for a lot longer than that¡­¡±


    ¡°TWO-THOUSAND YEARS?!¡± Adam exclaimed in disbelief - but as he looked onto my sombre expression he knew I wasn''t bragging,


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I can¡¯t say I remember the details of the first few by now¡­ but I remember my last twenty lives or so in great detail¡­ but I can remember bits from every life, friends - family - deaths...¡±


    ¡°Guess that must¡¯ve sucked¡­¡±


    ¡°I guess I just got used to it.¡±


    A while of silence passed before Adam spoke up.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be heading to town now, you wanna¡¯ tag along?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°The one from yesterday?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but not the shady part, I¡¯ll have to run some errands and stock up on supplies, you can go stock up on whatever you need in the meantime,¡± Adam replied.


    We left through the modern-looking front door leading to a smaller front garden with several flowers, specifically these strange plants which stood vertically, coiling in circles as they climbed higher, changing from a pale white to green to vibrant red, where the red started thin, long, hair-like red strands stuck out.


    ¡°What are those?¡± I asked pointing over to the flowers.


    ¡°Weird aren¡¯t they, they¡¯re called spring flowers, because of the stem looking like a spring,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°So, are they just decorations?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sort of, you can technically make some very strong hallucinogen from the hairs,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Right, so not only did you bring an eight-year-old to your house in the middle of nowhere - with the promise of teaching them magic, no less, but you¡¯re also cultivating drugs here.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like that - I just like the way they look - you have to appreciate the little goodness in everything, y¡¯ know?¡± Adam laughed.


    ¡°I won¡¯t be taking life lessons from someone with those glasses, glasses-dude,¡±


    We walked down the hill until we reached a forest of tightly packed trees, the forest looked weird, the trees looked like at-least ten different varieties with colour ranging from dark red to bright yellow, but none looked green.


    We walked through the forest - there was a surprisingly well-kept road leading through the forest - the leaves sheltered us from the hot sunlight as we walked.


    Suddenly I felt something grab me by the arm - I looked back only to see what I can best describe as a loose collection of grass and leaves - stacked on top of one another into a tall wobbling tower, reaching slightly higher than Adam¡¯s height.


    ¡°Oh got the plant is eating my arm - it seeks revenge on the vegans!¡± I exclaimed - despite my sarcastic remark I desperately tried to get my hand loose of the thing¡¯s grip.


    ¡°It¡¯s called a dryad. They live in the forest and generally avoid coming out.¡± Adam explained no taking his eyes off the creature.


    The creature stepped closer towards me with every word it spoke,


    ¡°Yes - it is I, the mighty dryad of the forest, crawl before me mortal-¡± just as it was about to finish it stepped on my foot and instantly recoiled - ¡°Oh - sorry,¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­worry about it?¡± I replied uncertainly.


    The top of the dryad turned towards Adam slowly, ¡°I see you¡¯re not alone today¡­¡± the dryad said leaning towards me, if it had some sort of spine, it would have to be broken by now.


    ¡°Yeah, this is my friend who will remain unnamed,¡± Adam said.


    ¡°Actually, if I come up with a good name, I¡¯ll let you know,¡± I said looking at the dryad, ¡°Bold of you to call us friends, glasses-guy.¡±


    ¡°Right, this is my unnamed acquaintance.¡± he reiterated with a sigh,


    We continued walking - ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but it seems like Adam isn¡¯t a big fan of the dryad thing¡­¡±


    When we reached the gates we continued walking towards the centre of the town - it was filled with stalls and tents selling all sorts of items - Adam handed me a small pouch. ¡°Well, since you don¡¯t have a way of making money yet, here,¡± he said.


    ¡°It¡¯s exactly ten silver, for comparison, I¡¯d say one copper is about one pound, dollar and or euro,¡± Adam explained. ¡°And one silver is one hundred copper.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, I guess, what are you going to be doing?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I have to buy some supplies and check out the florist if any of my orders came in,¡± Adam explained, before handing me another thing, a silver ring, with a blue gem.


    ¡°If you try to propose to me I¡¯m calling the guards.¡±,


    ¡°Oh, shut up, it¡¯s a ring of recalling. It¡¯ll teleport you back to the house. Just use it of you¡¯re done shopping or in trouble.¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Alright,¡±


    Adam left the alleyway and headed off somewhere, stepping out of the alleyway, I was greeted by many blocks of neat houses with pointy blue roofs, the houses were mostly built from brick and the roads in the town were paves with large white stone slabs, when I stepped onto what I assumed was the main road I could see that the entire town or rather a city was built at a slope going down from where I was until I reach a massive body of water I could only assume was the sea, I looked in the opposite direction seeing that I could already see the large walls and gate which presumably led out of the city, so if I wanted to find any interesting shops I should head down in the direction of the water.


    After about twenty minutes of slowly walking down, seeing various carts and carriages pulled in most cases by weird ostrich looking birds, except they had a long grey feather and short beak resembling a chicken¡¯s beak more than an ostrich¡¯s.


    Eventually, I made it to what was more or less the centre of the city, it was a massive open area devoice of houses and except for a few statues and a massive fountain, it was exclusively filled with stalls and tents.


    The area was very crowded and actually quite difficult to move around in.


    I walked through the stalls looking at several weapon stalls, and armour stalls.


    Eventually, a stall selling something resembling bread caught my interest, when I approached the stall I was greeted by the large looking man, he had a fuzzy, dark red beard and was seemingly balled. I gestured at the bread and he said something to me, this was when I realised I forgot to tell Adam I can¡¯t understand anybody here.


    That was when I got a genius idea, I gesture to my ears and shook my head to show I¡¯m deaf.


    The man scratched his chin before showing me a one with his fingers.


    I reached into the pocket and pulled out one copper coin before handing it to him, in return he gave me the piece of bread, it was more of a loaf, I tore a piece off and bit into it, the crust was crispy while the inside was soft and fluffy, the crust itself was seemingly flavoured somehow, upon closer inspection the crust had cheese caramelised to flaky crisps on it, the man was watching me this whole time - seemingly to get some feedback.


    I showed the man a thumbs up to which he grinned and returned the gesture, thank god a thumbs up still means the same thing here as it does on earth¡­ Imagine if it meant like ¡°your bread tastes like ass.¡±


    Next I moved over to t clothes stand, it sold a lot of fancy dresses, some casual clothing, It was a bit hard to pick something out, Considering my current size I had a choice between some skirts and shorts, obviously, I took the shorts. There was a grey-blue jumper which I also picked out, I repeated the same deaf act with the clothes merchant and paid fifty copper coins.


    As I made my way past the other stalls I noticed a lot of merchants selling tall blue bottles of some sort, my first guess was that it was some sort of potion, but now I think it might be alcohol, I decided to buy a bottle to check it out.


    The merchant looked at me before shaking his head and gesturing me to go away, that¡¯s right, I forgot I look like a kid.


    I sighed and moved on, I saw a sign with a big black boot, I guess it¡¯s a shoemaker''s shop, it was located at the very end of the open area.


    As I stepped inside I was struck by the strong smell of wax and some other chemicals I wasn¡¯t sure of. The interior was dusty and pretty empty except for a table behind which sat an older looking man hammering something into a leather boot.


    I moved up to the till and just placed a silver coin on the table, shoes were always expensive back on earth, I guessed that trend would be the same here.


    The old man took the coin, looked down at my feet which were currently in what I will refer to from now on as my starter gear, that being sandals.


    The man slowly made his way through a wooden door behind him with the silver coin and re-emerge with three pairs of boots, a taller pair of sandals, seemingly high quality. A pair of light brown boots, they were pretty long but I think they¡¯d fit, and what looked like generic black leather shoes.


    I decided to go for the tall ones because I always wondered what those would feel like¡­ they felt horrible, at least until I figured out I can loosen a string on the back to get some more flexibility.


    Right, I got the clothes¡­ what would someone typically get next¡­ a weapon!


    I went back to the weapons stall, and hoped they¡¯d sell a kid a weapon¡­ they did.


    The stall belonged to a bearded man, he was thin and wore a metal breastplate, from the looks of it, excluding weapons I could never hold like great-hammers and long-swords I was left with the choice of a dagger, a wooden sword and mace, there was also a bow but the man kept talking about it, obviously I didn¡¯t understand anything he said but I assumed he was saying it was old and potentially broken.


    I decided to buy the dagger, it was made from what looked like one solid piece of some metal with a grim of leather and it cost me one silver coin.


    Alright¡­ that¡¯s two silver and fifty-one copper gone, leaving me with seven silver and forty-nine copper, the clothes vendor even threw in a bag for free.


    With a large sack of clothes, some bread and a dagger I used the ring to return to the mountain, at first I didn¡¯t know how to use it but I just imagined pouring mana into it and I just kind of appeared back outside the house.


    It''s hard to describe the feeling of being teleported - there is not flashing lights or the world going black - you just go from seeing one thing to seeing another thing in an instant - personally, it made me a bit sea-sick


    When I walked into the house, I realised it was still empty.


    I decided to use this as an opportunity to work on some spell casting, I headed to the garden where I sat on the patio and repeated the steps from before, but this time I wanted to create some ice.


    I closed my eyes, I imagine a light blue, almost white circle its outside would have little bits jutting out like the branches of a snowflake, I imagined the circle in my hand, I opened my eyes and the circle was, in fact, floating in front of my closed hand, I opened my palm ready to have a giant ice crystal but instead I unleashed an ice-Gatling-gun which spewed the ice bits everywhere across the garden.


    I saw the ice fall into some flower beds and into some bushes, I didn¡¯t know much about plants but I don¡¯t want to kill any of Adam¡¯s flowers¡­


    That was when the idea struck me, I could try to make a spell which would pick up the ice or just trash in general, It¡¯d come in handy with all the magic I¡¯m testing out here.


    I closed my eyes and imagined a blue snowflake circle, except now there were magnet shaped branches too. I opened my eyes and opened my palm causing all the ice to fly in from all direction into my palm, it was filled with dirt and leaves.


    ¡°Well, that worked better than expected¡±¡­I decided to get rid of the evidence by tossing the chunk of dirty ice over the wooden garden fence.


    ¡°OW!¡± Cried a deep voice and a thud followed.


    ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s the sound of somebody else¡¯s problem¡± was the first thing that came to my mind, but since it was kind of my fault I decided to go have a look at whatever was on the other side of the fence, I considered the idea of walking around the house, before I got another great idea, why complicate things, when I can use magic.


    I decided to try and keep my eyes open this time, and I imagined a point exactly where I was looking, I imagined a greyish-white circle of swirly patterns suspended in mid-air, I placed a foot on it and while it wasn¡¯t as solid as I¡¯d have liked it would have to do. I repeated this process a few times making a staircase leading me up the fence, I decided to nickname this spell air brick, creative I know.


    I looked down only to see the dryad, or rather what remained of the dryad, for instead of the usual leafy green giant, I saw three small, green humanoids scrambling on the floor to get back into the costume.


    For just an instant my blank expression was replaced with a surprised ¡°What?¡­¡± expression.


    ¡°Are¡­ you guys alright?¡± I asked.


    The three stopped their movements before looking at me, I could see the figures more clearly now, they looked like children, although I guess that¡¯s a bit of a common trope for nature-related stuff, it¡¯s always a child or an ancient tree man with a leafy beard¡­ it¡¯s weird.


    The three huddled into a circle as if they had something important to discuss, occasional looking back at me.


    They broke the circle up and turned to me, from what I could tell it looked like there were two boys and one girl, although they all had long hair and similar features so it was just a guess - the tallest one was holding his hands over his head - I guess I must''ve bruised him pretty badly.


    ¡°So¡­are you guys alright?¡± I asked again hoping they¡¯d say yes and I could go back to messing with magic.


    The tallest one of what I presume are dryads spoke to me, ¡°Yes, we are alright.¡± he exclaimed before being knocked on the head by the girl who, assuming age and height was proportional for the dryads was the middle child, ¡°No, he¡¯s not. Some maniac threw a chunk of ice at him.¡± she explained.


    ¡°Whoever did that must be a real monster,¡± I mumbled putting on my best surprised expression.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty convenient how they speak English, I guess Adam must have taught it to them.¡±


    ¡°It was you, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Asked the shortest of the dryads.


    ¡°Do you have any evidence?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It must have been you!¡± Asked the tallest one.


    ¡°Yeah, like that''s going to hold up in court.¡± I sighed.


    I hopped over the fence and gestured the tallest dryad to come closer.


    ¡°Come here, I¡¯ll try and heal you,¡± I said - this was a great chance to have a shot at some healing magic.


    The tallest dryad walked over to me and moved his hands apart revealing the massive hole the ice created in his head, pieces of the ice were still lodged in the head.


    "Ehhh... are you feeling alright?" I asked looking at the clear green liquid pouring from the wound.


    "I think so - don''t worry about it, I''ll heal in a few days."


    "I don''t think you will, tree-child." I said thinking of a way to heal him - what am I supposed to use, is there somegeneric "healing magic" that works on everything?


    I poked at the green, rigid flesh in his head - it was just one solid mass of plant with some holes, presumably for the blood-like green stuff.


    "How do I do this?!" I thought frantically, "Plants need...water! and sun-light!"


    I created a light blue magic-circle, it''s outside wobbly and wavy like water, the moment I clenched my fist a jet of water shot out, water sprayed everywhere blocking my view - I relaxed my clenched fist and as the spell ended I saw that the dryad was now headless, sitting in a pool of shredded grass and mud.


    "Aaaaaaaa......" I stood there unmoving, turning my vision to the other two dryads who watched on, seemingly unphased by the decapitation.


    I turned back to the headless dryad - much to my surprise he lifted his hand to feel the stump of where his head one was.


    I moved his hand back away from the wound and started thinking again - I decided to try the second idea - sun-light, that said I don''t want the dryad to burn up in a ray of sunlight.


    "Is that part of the treatment?" asked the middle dryad.


    "M-hm, yep - that''s the... French Revolutionary Technique..."


    "What''s French mean?" the smaller dryad asked.


    "It''s this one place famous for deca- for healing a lot of people!" I explained.


    "You''re putting to much power into it! Can you seriously onlyuse one magic circle!?"


    "Relax this is all part of the plan!" I replied, meanwhile I thought "THERE IS MORE THAN ONE CIRCLE!?"


    I created a golden magic circle with a second ring - I kept the phrase "DON''T BURN THE CHILD!" in my mind whilst creating it.


    The moment I clenched my fist a white light illuminated the area, after a few seconds of this I stopped the spell and turned to see if the dryad healed.


    To my horror, the dryad looked shrivelled and dry each move making a crunching noise.


    "Are you sure you know what you''re doing?"


    "Yep - absolutely!" I exclaimed grabbing fistfuls of the mud from the ground and smearing it onto the dryad in hopes of him regaining some moisture.


    Seeing the dryad slowly soaking up the water around us filled me with relief but at the same time, he was still missing the head.


    I began to panic as I looked around me - I decided to try the generic healing spell, a lime-green circle with vine-like tendrils coming off from the outside, when I clenched my fist a green light appeared - I noticed nothing was happening so I touched the stump and a head popped into existence- and kept growing and eventually exploded into green slime.


    "I think I healed it too much!"


    "And is that also a part of-" I interrupted the dryad''s question "YEP - THAT''S THE JFK METHOD!" I replied.


    I repeated the process but this time making another circle to specify the strength - the results were the same except slower.


    After some more circles and more explosions, I discovered something useful, I created the circle and only moved one finger in, instead of clenching the whole fist.


    The head appeared and much to everyone''s surprise - didn''t explode!


    "Alright - good." I said satisfied with my handywork and relieved that my kill-count in this world remains at a stable zero.


    "So you can heal after all!" the female dryad exclaimed.


    "Yeah, what can I say - I''m a bit of a professional." I replied.


    "Thanks for the help! Are you Adam''s friend?" the dryad I just finished healing asked - "More like Adam-supported free-loader." I replied.


    A "pop" noise from behind caused me to turn around - it was Adam returningfrom the city - large brown bags filled with bottles and jars.


    "Hey, did I leave the door locked by accident or something?" Adam asked seeing me standing around in the field on the side of the house.


    "No, no - I was just healing one of the weird green people after someoneattacked them with ice."


    "Ah - I see... wait the what?"


    Adam put his bags down and walked over to me seeing the three dryads, they didn''t say anything upon seeing him but instead just remained silent.


    Adam pinchedthe bridge of his nose in frustration- "I thought I told you guys to stay in the costume."


    "We did - but we came over to see what all the magic was about and when suddenlya chunk of ice flewout and hit us."


    When they mentioned the ice I averted my gaze and began the in-depth inspection of the house - anything to not admit I treated that child''s head with my ice like it was the titanic.


    "Well, unless you want to get hunted down and killed I suggest you get it fixed."


    Their eyes lit up as they heard the threatening news - in a panic they started picking up the leaf-tower costume.


    "Now get back into the woods, you shouldn''t be out in the open like this."


    "R-right!" the oldest dryad gestured the other two to go to the forest and then he too retreated into the woods.


    "Why would anybody want to hunt them down?" I asked confused about why Adam was so concerned.


    "They wouldn''t - it''s just that I don''t like having them out here..."


    "So you scared three children into spending their lives living in the woods wearing the leaning tower of leafs as a costume because you don''t like them being up here?"


    "Yes - essentially, although technically a passing human could attack them just because there is no real repercussions to doing so."


    "Fair enough - I just wanted to make sure."


    "Anyway - why did they come here anyway?"


    "I was testing out some spells, and a chunk of ice flew out and crashed into the dryad''s head - so I hopped over to heal him and then you showed up."


    "Damn mana vampires - they can heal themselves, there was no need for you to waste your mana."


    "Yeah they did mention something about beign able to heal but at that point I was in too deep to stop."


    "What?"


    "Metaphorically."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Too deep in the process of healing." I clarified.


    "The more you explain it the worse it sounds..."


    "You''re the one dragging children into the your house in the fucking mountain..."


    "Touche..."


    Adam let out a sigh as he looked over to make sure the dryads were already out of sight - "Seriously though, you don''t want them draining your mana - you won''t realise until it''s too late."


    "I''m fine, see?" I asked gesturing to my still being alive.


    "Still, you should always keep your distance - don''t let them trick you into spending time around them - they may look and act like humans but in the end they''re monsters."


    "That''s a bit harsh..."


    "It''s a scientific term here - it''s something that isn''t either a recognised race, like humans, elves or dwarves and is not a farm animal, pet or insect." he explained.


    "Besides - maybe they can choose when to drain the mana and when not to."


    Adam didn''t reply, sensing the sombre mood I decided to end the conversation.


    ¡°Never mind - forget the mana vampire thing, a little mana loss never killed anyone!¡± I replied.


    Adam stayed silent, leading me to believe it may have actually killed someone.


    ¡°Now I feel like the bad guy¡­¡± I though.


    "Still - on the off chance they''re not walking plant monsters - I think you should consider at least explain the situation to them."


    "Maybe... since when are you a good person though?" Adam asked with a smug smile.


    "Let''s just say I spent one too many lives living in the woods because someone lied to me about therebeing people after me - granted the moment I got my memories back which was at the age of ten or so I decided to off myself since this life was kind of shit."


    "That''s depressing."


    "Yeah, so I went out and it turns out there were no giant owl demons waiting for me, much to my disappointment might I add."


    "...ok - well, I guess I should at least tell them they don''t have to wear the costume I guess..."


    I let out a sigh, ¡°Well, It¡¯s getting dark, tomorrow you can go down to the forest and apologise - I might as well go and say I''m sorry for the ice incident.¡±


    Adam sighed too, ¡°Yeah, I guess I should.¡± we made our way inside of the house where Adam sat down on the couch.


    "By the way, how''d you heal that dryad anyway?"


    "Well, I tried a few way - but eventually resorted to a generic green-circle healing spell." I explained.


    ¡°I doubt the magic did much, you don¡¯t know that kind of spell.¡± Adam laughed.


    ¡°I just improvised.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I was going to ask you about that, do you actually know a healing spell?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I used it to heal up the dryad.¡± I explained.


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty unusual, I mean the fireball spell could have been pure luck¡­but to just come up with a healing spell¡­is too unusual.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be able to just invent spells like that,¡± Adam explained.


    "The story we were taught back in school for how spells work is that in the realm of the Gods there is a massive stone tablet - each time a spell is cast it gets chiselled into the stone - with our mana being water which will seep into the carved pathways which represent spells - instead of creating new spells."


    "So new spells aren''t a thing?"


    "They are - it''s just that they are stupidly rare, an exceptionally trained mage, with in-depth knowledge of the laws of magic as well as a legion of mages sending him their mana is able to slowly ''carve'' a new spell - but there is a whole ritual to it, no matter how strong you may be - nothing justifies what you did."


    "Guess I managed to guess a spell." I shrugged.


    "I guess that must be it..."


    ¡°Actually - on the topic of magic, earlier today I did this weird thing, I made two magic circles.¡±


    ¡°Basically, each circle is like a command, so the first circle is the element and place of casting, and the second could be anything from the strength of a spell to its shape.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Is there a limit to how many circles you can have?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, although it varies from person to person - four is the generally accepted limit, granted in your case I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you could have ten since you can apparently pull new spells out of your ass,¡± Adam commented looking kind of salty about the whole ordeal.


    A short while later - we split up and each went to our beds before going to sleep¡­


    "Tomorrow is going to be one awkward day for Adam." I thoughtas my conciousness left me.


    Meanwhile on the outskirts of the woods surrounding Adam''s house...


    A group of armoured men marched deeper - "We''re meant to take them alive - but the prince demanded we slay one as an incentive." said one of the men in a hushed tone - they were all human - wielding swords and staffs.


    "How can we be sure there are actually any dryads in this forest?"


    "The local town informed us about them, the kingdom wouldn''t touch the job - but the prince isn''t like those paper-pushing idiots..."


    "Silence, both of you! You''ll alert the dryads of our location!"


    Finally they came across one of the small clearings in the forest - where the grass grew longer to form a soft carpet on which slept the three dryads.


    "Shouldn''t they be in a village?"


    "The villages were exterminated by the monster hunters you idiot!"


    "Still - what if there aren''t any more of them?"


    "Three children can''t survive in the woods alone - there has to be a whole tribe."


    "It doesn''t matter - burn the tallest one, we''ll take the other two back." said one of the men before approaching the dryads.


    The next morning in Adam''s house...


    The warm red morning light illuminated my room,


    I got dressed and headed out through the white door to the living room.


    "Hey, you''re up!" Adam asked, he was standing in the living room by the front door, he was tapping hisfoot so fast it''s a miracle I didn''t hear it up until now.

 Chapter 3: The Dryads

    The warm red morning light illuminated my room,


    I got dressed and headed out through the white door to the living room.


    "Hey, you''re up!" Adam asked, he was standing in the living room by the front door, he was tapping he foot so fast it''s a miracle I didn''t hear it up until now.


    "How long haveyouup?" I asked seeing the bags under his eyes,


    "Oh, you know... I couldn''t sleep." Adam said scratching the back of his head as he tried to force a smile.


    "You know you could have gone yourself, right?",


    "No way, that''d be awkward... besides they''re probably pissed at me."


    I shrugged and headed for the door.


    We made our way down the same path down the mountain as yesterday, down to the forest,


    Adam was walking ahead of me and as he reached the tree line he stopped.


    "Maybe we shouldn''t do this... I mean if we just leave them alone they''ll get over it." Adam said nervously.


    "I don''t care, I guess itwouldsave me the walk," I replied.


    "Great! Let''s go back." Adam said as he did a one-eighty and walked back uphill to the house - "No... I need to confront them about this..."


    "Ok... "


    Adam walked down the hill, I was following him...


    At the border of where the forest ended - he stood tapping his foot and occasionally looking back at where I stood,


    "So..."


    "Give me a second!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Maybe I shouldn''t..."


    "Adam - I''m going to be perfectly honest with you - Idon''t care..."


    "But if you make me walk up and down this fucking hill one more time, you''re walking alone."


    "...Yeah - you''re right..." Adam took a breath and stepped into the forest, as we made my way further into the forest I picked up a bitter scent.


    "Do you think they''re cooking something?" I asked recognising the smell was smoke.


    "Dryads don''t need to eat food and they generally tend to stick to raw plants when they do, Why?" Adam replied uncertainly.


    "Don''t you smell the smoke?" I asked.


    "No..." Adam replied, his tone was slightly concerned.


    When we reached a clearing Adam described as the dryad''s home we were greeted with an unpleasant scene, the ground was charred off leaving blackened dirt and soil, in the centre of the clearing was a large pile of ash and stones, amongst the ash lay a humanoid figure, the dryad was now shrivelled to about half their original size, the leafy hair burned off and the flesh a flaking black - its small figure pressed down by a large stone.


    Adam rushed over to the charred body, "Damn - he looked like burnt asparagus..." I thought - I didn''t say it out loud,


    "H-hey, mind casting one of this healing spell?" Adam asked, his tone worried and panicked - I guess I did owe them a favour after that ice block incident...


    I went over and placed my hands over the still-warm body - creating two green magic circles - one on each hand.


    "I''m no doctor - but this is looking pretty bad..." I replied wasting mana on a dead body,


    "Try bigger circles - or just another spell!" Adam pleaded, I let out a sigh and cast the same spell except for the fact I imagined the circles being larger - as you''d expect, the dead body was still dead.


    "Mmmmm - Yep, it''s dead," I concluded, standing up and wiping the black dust off my hands,


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I stood there silently, Adam fell to his knees seeing the remains - and expression of fear and pain painted on its face.


    "Why are you so upset all of a sudden?"


    "..."


    "I thought you said they''re just mana vampires..."


    "Dear God! It must be the sunlight!" I exclaimed - Adam didn''t reply.


    "You''re right... maybe I don''t have the right to be sad now..."


    "I''m glad we understand each other," I replied,


    "Still... I have to find whoever did this..."


    "Have fun..."


    "..."


    Adam stood up and the claw weapons from before appeared on his hands - he didn''t say anything before walking off down the same road,


    At this point - I still sat around the dead child - that sounded a lot worse in hindsight...


    "So... are you just going to sit here and look at the kid?" A voice I found all too familiar said from behind - it was the cat.


    "I mean - not much else to do," I replied,


    "You know - you could have tried some fancier magic..."


    "What''s the point?"


    "True - he is most definitely dead by now - I doubt even you could change that..."


    "So - are you here for a specific reason?"


    "Are you saying I can''t come over and visit my friend, now and then?"


    "Bold of you to call me your friend after leaving me in the middle of nowhere..."


    "Regardless - I''m quite interested in what you''re going to do now..."


    "What do you mean? I''m going to go back to Adam''s house... maybe sit on the couch and wait till he comes back - or practice some magic in the garden..."


    "So you''re really not affected by the death of the poor kid?"


    I raised an eyebrow,


    "Right - I should have known you wouldn''t care..." the cat sighed,


    "Well - why don''t you bury him?"


    "Why?"


    "..."


    "I''m going to let Adam do that and get some closure," I replied, placing the back of my hand against my forehead dramatically.


    "If you don''t care then why did you come out here in the first place?"


    "..."


    "Perhaps you wanted to see Adam and the dryads make up? Or did you want to apologise for that incident with the ice?"


    "..."


    "Plus - what about how you defended the dryads yesterday?"


    "..."


    "Are you done?"


    "Almost - I just came to let you know that there is a really nice spot in the woods if you''re looking for a quiet place - it''s a very isolated spot most day..."


    "..."


    "Oh - actually, today might not be a good day - I was going there on a walk and there was a group of strange armoured men - it looked like they were keeping some hostages too... It''s a nice spot aside from that - an old crumbling tower on a hill."


    "..."


    "...that sounds like a terrible spot - I can literally just go to the house..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "I''m off for a walk I guess..."


    "Oh - I guess I wouldn''t want to get in your way - please, go ahead." The cat walked behind a tree and seemingly disappeared.


    I walked back to the house - took the dagger and headed down the road - "This is actually a nice forest..."


    After what felt like a solid twenty minutes of walking I reached a split in the road - if I took the road to the left I''d be going deeper into the forest and if I continued straight I''d reach the end of the forest - I can''t help but feel Adam would try and search the forest before heading out - and so I took the left turn,


    After another while of walking, I saw more smoke - my first guess was "I wonder if they''re burning another green child.." I headed over to check - stopping mid-way - "I shouldn''t get involved... if I die I might not learn the secret to escaping the cycle of rebirth..."


    I sat down for a bit outside the large camp-looking area - the large palisade obstructing my view slightly, I was able to see smoke and the roofs of the tents inside,


    "On one hand... if I don''t go inside... Adam might die and I''ll get to keep the house... on the other hand... actually... there aren''t all that many consequences..."


    "I guess the two other plant kids are most likely going to be put under thermal processing too... and I''ll lose my language teacher... plus the cat will give me shit for this..."


    "To be fair it did seem like he wanted me to do something... After all, he did give me the tip on where to find them..."


    "Maybe he doesn''t want to tell me the secret after all? Nah - he''s really against me dying overall...doubt he''d set up a trap like this..."


    "...Oh for God''s sake! I''m not going to screw around like the Indecisive glasses guy - I''ll just go inside, worst case scenario I use the ring to teleport out!" I thought looking down onto my hand and seeing the red-gemmed ring.


    Motivated - I stepped towards the gate, looking inside to see Adam''s head on a large chopping block surrounded by large, muscular men from one side - beside him stood an even larger man with a bushy beard and massive axe.


    "Nope."


    I turned around and started speed walking away from the area - "Don''t care, absolutely zero fucks given - he should have thought the idea over! Who just runs into a camp of people who look like they breathe steroids?!"


    As I walked I heard a noise from behind me, I looked back and saw what looked like an arrow stuck in the soil - I looked to its source (based on its angle) and saw what appeared to be a woman wielding a crossbow,


    dressed in a dark purple shirt reaching well past her waist, almost like a disturbingly short dress, she wore shorts, granted they where long for shorts and a cloak that kind of looked like a poncho, it was a dull grey colour, she also wore a light purple scarf which was too heavy to flow in the breeze.


    "Watch where you''re shooting that damn thing!"


    "..."


    Another arrow flew towards me, although I guess technically they weren''t arrows they were crossbow bolts, it scratched my cheek causing a stream of crimson blood to pour from the wound - "Are you one of the people from the town?" that''s when it dawned on me - this person most likely couldn''t speak English - and so with the few words I picked up from Adam I tried my absolute hardest to find a way to insult the person.


    "YOU... NOT... HAPPINESS!" I exclaimed pointing a finger at the now confused assassin - she took a second to think over what I said before loading another bolt into the crossbow - which I took as my cue to leave - moments later another arrow hit behind me - thank God she has the accuracy of a bad guy in an action film¡­


    After a solid five minutes of running the idea dawned on me... "Why not just burn her with magic?!"


    I turned around - extending my hand forward and creating a bright orange circle the shape of a fire - I clenched my fist and tried to concentrate on the imagery - I don''t know why but I didn''t even have to try that hard to be able to visualise the stuff from before - like the spell became recorded in my mind...


    A long beam of fire - charring the leaves and scorching the wood - more importantly, I looked like I hit my target!


    I felt a little weak in the head after that - for a second the world spun - but I didn''t pass out so that''s a step in the right direction...


    I felt a cold surface touch my throat - when I looked down I saw the blade of a dagger, almost through instinct I walked forward causing my head to be bulled back by a head from behind - "What the hell are you doing?! Are you trying to slice your throat!?"


    "Sorry - muscle memory," I explained.


    "What?"


    "..."


    The hand-spun me around revealing me to be standing in front of the girl from before - "Whatever... before I can cut your throat, I have some questions..."


    "Actually, if you couldnotdo that - that''d be great..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "What are you doing to Adam!?" the girl demanded, shaking me by my collar - her previously calm and collected persona completely disappeared the moment she asked the question,


    "...excuse me?"


    "You heard me, wench! What have you been doing to Adam!?"


    "...I''m a man."


    The girl''s face remained unchanging for a while as she looked me in the eyes for some form of dishonesty - after seeing nothing her face turned red before she let go of me,


    "I didn''t realise Adam was into guys..."


    "GOD NO - he said he''d teach me magic if I came to his stay with him - Christ that does sound bad... that''s not the point - I''m just staying at his house until I know the language and I can leave."


    "Oh - that''s a relief..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Nice weather we''re having..." the girl tried to change the subject,


    "Yeah, yeah... really is kind of nice..." I''m glad we understood each other,


    "Well - that was a nice chat - but if you want to go see Adam you might want to hurry up - some bearded guy tried to chop his head off earlier," I explained


    The girl''s eyes shot open as she grabbed by the collar again - "She''s going to tare my shirt..."


    "WHY DIDN''T YOU SAY THIS EARLIER!?"


    "Because some maniac was shooting at me!"


    "WHERE IS HE!?"


    Without saying anything I pointed to where the camp was, resulting in the girl running off - still holding onto me and dragging me behind - occasionally running into speed-bumps like sticks, rocks and the occasional small rodent.


    "Hey - mind if I ask you a personal question?"


    "What is it?"


    "WHY ARE YOU TAKING ME WITH YOU?!"


    "That doesn''t seem like a personal question..."


    "I BEG TO DIFFER!"


    "I can''t have you staying alone at Adam''s house - what if you poison his food, or install bear-traps in the floor?"


    "I''d say pitfalls filled with spikes are more along the lines of what I''d do..."


    "Pfft, amateur..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Right, I don''t know if I should feel safe being dragged by a potential murderer to a camp of axe-wielding bodybuilders, or if I should be worried... OH NO - I KNOW PERFECTLY WELL."


    I considered using magic to get out - but by then we were already too close, "that''s right! The ring," I thought!


    I looked down at my hand seeing the gem on the ring was cracked - "I''m in a bit of a tough situation here - if I tell her I don''t want to go it might just be pouring gasoline onto the fire... but if I come up with a good excuse she might let me go!"


    "Hey~ You wouldn''t happen to know if I can use a damaged teleportation ring? I''d teleport to Adam''s house - bring some medicine, y''know?" I asked lifting my hand to show her the ring - she looked back to see the ring "ADAM GAVE YOU A RING?!"


    "IT WASN''T GASOLINE IT WAS NAPALM,"


    When we burst into the camp - the girl wielding her crossbow and me wielding the dagger I considered using on her hand to get myself loose,


    "Adam - where are you!?" she demanded - the people around the camp turning their attention towards us,


    I pointed towards the chopping block - the girl''s head followed where I pointed until she saw Adam''s decapitated body,


    "..."


    "..."


    She dropped me to the ground, holding the crossbow in one hand and taking a good luck at everyone in the camp - the girl began her assault - at a speed well past the realistic abilities of a human she began firing and reloading her crossbow - upon closer inspection I saw a small yellow circle on her right palm, I guess this was a spell.


    Despite the speed, her aim was off - and only a few hits actually struck anyone - mostly on the shoulders and legs,


    At this point I was stuck considering another escape - "I bet I could get away - it sure is a shame Adam''s dead - but who cares, not me..."


    "She is actually pretty fast... I''m surprised she doesn''t -"


    "I''m out of crossbow bolts..." she complained as the people who previously hid behind tables and inside tents charged out quickly apprehending us...


    As we were dragged to the large tent the girl was kicking and screaming - meanwhile, I got used to the whole being-dragged-around thing and just went with the flow.


    Inside were several wooden stocks - chained to the ground with large black chains, as you''d expect we were placed in said stocks,


    "...Nice job back there..."


    "..."


    "Really - I love the way you came prepared to fight an army of pissed off men,"


    "..."


    "I totally agree with your style - waste all your ammo and hope for the best,"


    "..."


    "...this isn''t any fun if you''re not going to react..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    She sat there - her head in her knees seemingly mourning Adam''s death...


    "Voice 1: Go on - start a conversation!"


    "Voice 2: I can''t think of a single thing I want to talk about with this psychopath..."


    "Voice 1: you''re one to talk..."


    "Voice 2: ...you''re talking to yourself right now..."


    "Voice 1: Heh - yeah... I guess we might have some more serious problems than we expected..."


    "Voice 2: ...what would we talk about anyway? Like the weather?"


    "Voice 1: A man just died and that''s the best we can do?"


    "Voice 2: Fine, I''ll think of something..."


    "So - how long do you think he suffered before death?" my question did get a reaction but in the form of judgemental staring and not words,


    "Voice 1: NICE - great job buddy! YOU COULD CONSIDER A CAREER PRODUCING SANDPAPER WITH HOW SMOOTH THAT WAS,"


    "Voice 2: I tried my best!"


    "Voice 1: THAT IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM"


    "What is wrong with you?" the girl finally said something,


    "Aha - that that voice one, it worked!" I announced - much to the girl''s confusion,


    "Never mind that - why don''t you tell me how you met Adam?"


    "Voice 2: What the hell man - I don''t give a shit about that!"


    "Voice 1: YOU ARE NOT TOUCHING THE STEERING WHEEL EVER AGAIN!"


    "Why do you care? You don''t even seem phased by his death..."


    "I mean... I''m not phased with any death, really... - I wouldn''t mind dying if not for a deal I made with this one cat."


    "...Right..."


    "Anyway - talking about the glasses-guy beats sitting in silence so..."


    "...I guess you can consider me Adam''s...closest friend."


    "...that''s kind of sad."


    "We met about...twelve years, three months and seven days ago..."


    "Ok - that''s awfully specific..." she didn''t reply to my comment,


    "I met him when I was in a bad situation... My parents and siblings passed away, and he was the first one to - you know... come and help me out,"


    "I guess he walked around helping random kids even back then..." I commented with a sigh,


    "So what - did he drag you to his house in the mountain too?"


    "Well - actually, back at the time he used to live with the monster-hunter guild..."


    "... if only this guild was here to help him out..."


    "...funny you should say that..." contrary to what she said, she didn''t seem to find the situation funny,


    "What?" I looked at her then looked around before noticing the crest of a dragon with a sword through its skull on the inside of the tent...


    "...This is the monster-hunter guild isn''t is...?"


    She nodded silently,


    "..."


    "..."


    "What''s your name by the way?" she asked,


    "I don''t have one."


    "What do you mean?"


    "I mean - I just appeared in this world a few days ago - I still didn''t come up with a name," I explained.


    "...You are the strangest child I ever saw..."


    "Well - you are the strangest crossbow-wielding woman I know."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    The silence returned and as such, I decided to look around a bit - I shuffled over to the exit of the tent - getting a better view of the outside, "Hey - quick question, was Adam secretly a scarecrow?"


    "..."


    "Because it¡¯s not - I think that wasn''t Adam we saw get decapitated..." I said pointing (albeit with great difficulty) to the group of men picking up the limp hay-filled doll designed to look like Adam,


    Her eyes lit up as she moved over to confirm what I said, "That means Adam could still be alive!"


    "I don''t see how you got that conclusion - if anything this proves their hatred..."


    "Maybe that was just the...practice decapitation..."


    "...as unlikely as that is - there is no blood at the chopping block, guess that''spossible."


    Two men carrying another doll walked over to the chopping block - placing it down as the bearded man walked over, axe in hand and chopped the head clean off.


    He knelt down and looked at the cut before saying something and gesturing for someone to come over,


    "I wonder what he said..."


    "He said to bring the real one over!" the girl exclaimed string to stand up and wiggle her way free of the stocks, the black chain making noise and gaining the attention of the bearded man - who walked over to us,


    He asked me something, "What did he ask?"


    "He asked you if you know Adam."


    I frantically shook my head,


    The man continued to look at me - I just did my best to put on an innocent expression and eventually he gave up - shrugged and turned to the girl - they had a short conversation - eventually the bearded man went to the centre of the room where all the chains joined together and lifted the massive, solid metal cylinder out of the floor and carried it outside, it''s as if we were attached to a bath-plug.


    "What did you do?" I asked looking over to the girl - "They offered us front row seats for the execution."


    "FANTASTIC - WE MIGHT EVEN GET SEATS IN THE SPLASH-ZONE"


    "The what?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "I hope you have a plan for us to get out after this..."


    "Why don''t you use some of that magic you used before - the fire?"


    "Well - that''s because I have absolutely sure I''m going to pass out," I explained,


    That''s when two men carried Adam out - his entire body was tied up until he resembled a sausage from which only his head and shoes stuck out - He continued to struggle - they placed his head on the chopping block before the large, ginger-bearded man stepped up to him with the axe - it''s handle was made of dark wood and the head was large and rusty,


    "Adam!" the girl called out - some of the people turned to look at her - that group included Adam who turned towards us, when he saw her he stopped struggling and seemingly awaited his decapitation,


    "I don''t think he''s too thrilled to see you..."


    "No, you''re just imagining things..."


    "Are you doing alright over there?" she called out,


    "Ah Dohn Beher (I''ve done better)" his speech was muffled by the piece of cloth tied over his mouth.


    "Buy us some time and I can get us all out of here!"


    "...eh?"


    "Hurry up!"


    "Alright - I need you to translate for me!" I replied,


    "Hey - ginger-beard-guy!" the girl spoke on my behalf...


    He turned towards her with a raised eyebrow,


    "You seem to really dislike this blue-haired stranger!"


    "Don''t you think decapitation is too clean a death for him?"


    Adam''s eye lit up before she even translated the message,


    "If I were you - I''d skin him alive or maybe burn him piece by piece until he dies a slow and painful death..."


    The bearded man scratched his beard, "I know you''re a reasonable barbarian - nowadays the art of brutal mutilation is all but lost - you have to do your part to keep it going!"


    The man looked towards me, an expression of disgust followed by admiration came over him - he said something which the girl translated for me - "He asks you for the cruellest method possible."


    "How much longer do you need to get us out?"


    "A minute or so..."


    "Alright..."


    "My fellow barbarians - It is true that like the most brutal method is often the best, however, I am convinced that physical pain is not the worst form of torment!"


    The men looked towards me like a student looks upon a teacher - "Picture this - prepare a cauldron - fill it with water before inserting the victim and place it over a low flame before covering the top - now over potentially day the person is cooked alive - every breath fills their lungs with hot, humid air as their sweat and waste fill the pot - every few hours you can crack open the pot to let in some oxygen extending the torment - until they pray for the sweet release of death, only for their hopes to dissolve away much like their burned skin in the form of a fresh breath of air - guaranteeing countless more hours of torment in this hell!"


    When I finished my speech I had to take a breath, I looked over to the men and towards the girl, she looked at me with disgust as making her say those words - tainting her tongue,


    I looked towards Adam who seemingly passed out,


    And so the entire camp was filled with silence before in the distance a clap came, then another until the entire camp applauded my speech - the bearded man walked up to me, placed a hand on my shoulder and knelt down before saying something which - as you could have guessed, the girl translated - "I thank you, child - for sharing with us the wonder and passion for the pastime we cherish so much... it is good to see that the younger generations still have what it takes to fill our place one day."


    We exchanged a glance before he grabbed my chain and crushed it with his bare hands,


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Before we could get any further a bright light illuminated the camp, blinding me - when I was finally able to see something I noticed we were no longer in the camp, in fact, the girl was dragging Adam and me by the collars away from the camp,


    "What the hell was that?!"


    "I cast a light spell, I blinked out of the stocks and cast a speed spell to get out of the camp..."


    "...WHY DIDN''T YOU DO THAT BEFORE?!"


    "I needed to save up enough mana to cast this many spells in succession - thankfully Darthold released you himself saving me some mana..."


    "Wait, how do you know his name?!"


    "I told you already - Adam made me join the monster hunters guild, Darthold is the leader..."


    "He didn''t seem to recognise you..."


    "I changed my image a bit..."


    At this point, the still tied up Adam woke up - I took the gag out of his mouth and threw it out - "Hey, glasses-dude - how are you doing?"


    He looked like he was in shock - "PLEASE DON''T PUT ME IN THE CAULDRON!"


    "Relax that was just to buy some time..."


    Adam seemed to calm down slightly - he looked around getting a decent idea of the situation - "...what the hell was up with that story?!"


    "Yeah - how do you just come up with things like that?!"


    "You told me to buy time - so I bought some time!"


    "You scarred Adam for life!"


    "It''s not that bad - I''m alright now..."


    "See, he''s alright!"This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Wait, how''d you come across this psychopath?!" Adam ask gesturing towards the girl with his eyes,


    "I was on my way to your rescue when she started shooting at me,"


    "That''s not true!"


    "Yeah - that sounds like something she''d do..."


    "Adam!"


    "So - Adam, how''d you manage to piss them off?"


    "It''s a long story..."


    "She already told me you were in the monster-hunter guild before..."


    "Ah - great, I''m glad you''re talking behind my back like that, Lily!"


    "It''s not like that - I thought you were dead!"


    "OH BECAUSE THAT MAKES IT BETTER!?!"


    "Relax - she saved your life,"


    "This woman''s been stalking me for years now..."


    "I call it friendship at a distance..."


    "Why the distance?" I asked,


    "Adam insisted there be a distance..."


    "Ok... as fascinating as your... friendship... is - I''d like to hear more about why Adam was almost killed by his guild?"


    "It''s a misunderstanding - A friend of mine from the guild died because of me and they''re kind of upset about it..."


    "It''s wasn''t your-" Lily was cut off by Adam "I DON''T NEED THE INPUT OF A STALKER."


    "I guess this dead person was important to the guild?"


    "yeah, it was Darthold''s - the ginger-bearded man''s daughter..."


    "Ah - so it all comes together!"


    "So how''d she die?"


    "You can''t just ask these things!" Lily complained,


    "We were sent out on a mission... and - eh... we had to go off kill this group of monsters.......and......"


    "I guess she was killed by the monsters?"


    "I...don''t know...maybe..."


    "Did you forget or something?"


    "...no..."


    "Let''s change the topic..." Lily suggested,


    "We slaughtered the entire village... burned the whole place leaving nothing but charred remains and the burnt wooden huts..."


    "What kind of monsters live in huts?" I though...


    "She decided to keep some small ones and... one day she just didn''t wake up..."


    "So... you''re not the killer?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Oh look, guys! Can you guys see that?"


    "What?"


    "A different topic of conversation - let''s investigate it further!"


    "...fine" I sighed,


    Eventually, we made it back home - Lily dropped Adam off at the couch,


    "Phew~ Looks like we made it back in one piece!"


    "Yeah - Adam almost became two..."


    "Can one of you untie me already?"


    "Sorry man - no idea how to do that," I replied,


    "You hear that? You have to do it, stalker..."


    "Oh - Adam, I''d love to do that... but-"


    "But what!?"


    "But if I do it, you''ll kick me out of the house again!"


    "I''ll do it regardless!"


    "There, there, you need some rest..." Lily said patting his head,


    "Leave me alone, woman!"


    "...right - I''d love to let you guys do your thing right now... but I believe Adam was meant to go and rescue the green kids?"


    "He''s not stupid enough to run out there and get killed by the monster-hunters!"


    "The hell I''m not!" Adam exclaimed struggling to get the ropes loose.


    "Are you seriously planning to go out there and hope for the best?!"


    "Of course!"


    "Yep - that sound exactly like something he''d do..."


    "Back me up here - we can''t just sit around!"


    "..."


    "Seriously?!"


    "I mean... did you think I''d opt to go off and die now?"


    Adam took a deep breath and sighed a drawn-out sigh,


    "Alright... what do you guys suggest?" he asked,


    "We need to find out where the dryads are - no point going off to die now..."


    "Actually - I know where they are, according to a certain talking cat - they''re kept in some abandoned tower on a hill," I explained,


    "..."


    "..."


    "I don''t know about you guys... but I wouldn''t want to put my life on the line based on what some magic cat said..." Lily replied,


    "Yeah no - me neither but -"


    "Let''s go there!"


    "Yeah... though he''d say something like that..."


    "...I think I know where the tower is... there is this one abandoned watchtower in this clearing in the forest - I may have kind of lived there for a while..." Lily explained,


    "I thought you lived here?"


    "never," Adam replied - "not yet..." Lily corrected Adam.


    "Where do you live then?"


    Lily put a finger to her lips and laughed,


    "...Lily...Lily where the do you live?" Adam asked nervously,


    "That''s not important~"


    "IT''S SOMEWHERE IN THE WALLS, ISN''T IT?!" Adam demanded,


    "Of course not! I have a proper house!"


    Adam squinted trying to confirm if she was lying or not.


    "..."


    "Alright - it''s weird you had to insist you''re not homeless - says a lot, dunno if it says a lot about you or glass-guy, but it says a lot."


    "Alright - let''s focus..." Adam said in an uncharacteristic burst of logic.


    "I can get us to the tower - but we might get attacked by the monster hunters,"


    "I don''t think any of us have a good chance of distracting them for long enough..."


    "I could use some of the magic to distract them..." I thought - "But can I risk it? It''s not like I don''t want to help the dryads... but I can''t die - I have to keep my priorities straight..."


    "He and I will go straight for the tower - you can do something useful and scout ahead of us." Adam proposed pointing at me when he said "him"


    "That might work..."


    "Alright - let''s go!" Adam exclaimed trying to go towards the door, seemingly forgetting he was tied up and fell face-forward onto the floor - "Would someone cut me loose already?!"


    I walked over and cut his ropes, instantly he jumped to his feed - wiping a nosebleed with his sleeve and hurrying over to the door, Lily and I followed him, Quickly Lily cut in front of Adam and me - creating a blue magic circle beneath her feet and launching herself up to the branches of a tree above us.


    We were on a straight path as described by Lily - so there was no need to worry about having to have her guide us.


    I looked down at my dagger - I wasn''t ever a fan of fighting, in a few lives I was lucky enough to win the genetic lottery - but most of the time I was the one getting stabbed or beaten.


    "GET DOWN!" I heard Lily call out - confused I ducked down only to have my foot caught on a root - I looked up seeing a beam of lightning shredding trees and even larger rocks in the way,


    "Are you alright?!" Adam called out - "Think so..."


    A smooth voice of what sounded like an adolescent man said something I couldn''t understand - "It''s the monster hunters!"


    I poked my head out slightly - seeing a pale, black-haired man with dull, grey eyes and glasses - he wore a long black robe and black cloak - if not for the fact he could literally be a necromancer in this world, I''d call him emo¡­


    He raised his hand and without any magic circles a bolt of what looked like water shot towards me - it was too fast to dodge and so I took it head-on - being knocked to the ground and feeling an immense, throbbing pain as I felt the skin get torn off my face from the pressure of the water,


    I couldn''t see anything - I guess my eyes were damaged too - the pain was really something else, but dying as much as I did helped build a resistance.


    I gave Adam a discrete thumbs up before pretending to pass out - I proceeded to discretely heal myself - when I regained my vision I saw a twisting vortex of grey clouds suspended above me - "Shit..."


    Last-minute I was pushed aside by Adam casting the spell which shot him forward - it was called "boost", I guessed that based on Adam sometimes announcing the name of the spell before casting it.


    I looked back seeing that Adam has also managed to avoid the incoming lightning bolt which not only lit up the area - but also managed to melt the earth and soil into a bubbling lava-like mess.


    "Who the hell is this guy?!" I asked in frustration,


    "No idea - but he said he decided to go out here to trap us!"


    I decided to risk being blinded and looked up - I saw the man turn his attention towards me - he said something to which I - still, couldn''t reply.


    "Who are you?" he asked - I was shocked at his ability to speak English - "What the hell?...is he from Earth too?!" I wondered - my question was answered by him personally, "No - seeing as you were unable to understand me - I used magic to speak to you telepathically."


    "Well - in that case, is it possible for you to stop attacking us?"


    "No..."


    "Thought so..."


    "But I have no reason to kill you personally - you must be a skilled mage to be able to heal your wounds after my water bolt..."


    "What do you have against Adam anyway?!"


    "He''s caused a friend of mine great pain - This is not a matter of personal hatred on my behalf."


    "Do you mean that ginger-beard buy?"


    "Correct, Darthold - he''s the leader of our guild."


    "What if he was wrong about Adam?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "He thinks Adam killed his daughter right?"


    "I assume Adam told you about it then..."


    "Yeah - but according to Adam''s version of the story he didn''t kill the girl - it was some monsters that drained her mana!"


    "Interesting... and you believe the murder suspect?"


    "Well, he helped me survive in this world so far... and we''re trying to save some kids at the moment,"


    "Kids?"


    "Yeah - these two plan-kids - Adam''s been keeping them as pets or something and someone kidnapped them."


    "So you''re saying the reason you put your trust in Adam is - because he helped you?"


    "Not shredding my face with a water bolt is also a big plus in that regard."


    "Understood - I will deliver this information to Darthold - if he rejects it you will most likely die."


    "Can''t say I''m looking forward to it for once..."


    "What the hell is that mage doing?!" Adam asked quickly moving over to me,


    "He''s off to tell the ginger-beard guy you''re not the murderer..." I replied,


    "Alright, maybe that''s a bit of a stretch - it''s more like... he''s going over to say Adam''s collaborator doesn''t see him as the murderer... I''m starting to like our chances less and less..."


    "How do you know?!"


    "Telepathy..." I replied.


    "That''s a thing?!"


    "Apparently..."


    "Doesn''t matter - let''s hurry!"


    We moved to where we heard Lily''s voice - she was sitting on the ground - pressing her hand against a wound on her stomach - "I was wondering why she didn''t help us!" I exclaimed realising it''s because she was dying.


    "Wait - whyareyou dying?"


    "...I tried to shoot him, but the bolt just flew back at me..."


    "Damn, he''s over-powered!"


    "It''s alright - we''ll remember you, Lily," Adam said turning to leave,


    "It''s alright - I can just heal her..."


    "No, no it''s too late... we must let her go..."


    "It''s alright, you can heal me any time..."


    "No - we cannot do that - her soul will never find peace if we bring her back,"


    "Adam, she''s still alive..."


    "Yes - sometimes I feel like she''s still around too - let''s give her a proper burial..." Adam said dragging her over to the lava pit from before,


    "It''s what she would have wanted..."


    "IT''S NOT WHAT I WANT!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "...fine heal her..." Adam sighed,


    "I was planning to, regardless..."


    I walked over and healed Lily - feeling dizzy already I sat down and took a few deep breaths before standing up.


    "Are you alright?"


    "Yeah - I''m fine... I think the healing magic takes more mana than I expected..."


    "Sorry about that..." Lily said apologetically...


    "Don''t worry about it..." I replied - "Now, let''s get going..."


    We continued to head towards the tower - at one point we were able to see it - before we were surprised by a whistling noise - I looked up seeing a volley of arrows in the air - "Guys - look up!" Lily warned,


    "Yeah - I see it..."


    "How many archer?" Adam asked - "About twenty," Lily replied - "did she count the arrows?!"


    We sped up - at this point I was barely keeping up - Adam looked like he was about to die of exhaustion - Lily was the only one who was in decent shape.


    The arrows came from above - we seemingly ran past the area where the arrows landed - at this point, the trees above us blocked out most of the sky - if there was another volley incoming - we''d never know until the end...


    Suddenly I felt myself being tossed to the side - I fell to the ground, looking up to see what happened only to see a sword swing past where I stood - suddenly a man dressed in leather armour appeared, the sword in his hand.


    "They''re using invisibility magic!" Adam called out,


    Lily used the boost spell and stood atop on of the trees - a golden circle appeared in the sights of her crossbow - "There are four of them - look on the ground for footprints!" she instructed - I looked around seeing footprints appearing - it looked like someone was running towards me, I grabbed the dagger from my side and swung is - not feeling any resistance I guessed I missed - next I felt a blunt hit to my back causing me to fall over,


    I rolled to the side and with the dagger held in front of me I charged at the area where the invisible person stood last, I saw sparks fly as I struck something hard - next, I felt a sharp pain in my gut - I looked down seeing no blood - guess I must have been punched...


    I fell back - a sharp pain spreading across my body as I felt a piercing pain in my arm - "Arghh! FUCK!" I cried seeing the stream of blood gushing from my wound - it shot out covering the invisible blade of my attacker - it looked like they tried to wipe the blood off but in the process their hand also became visible - I extended my hand and created a red magic circle before unleashing the fire spell from before - suddenly the still-invisible person burst into flames - screams could be heard as they stumbled around before dropping down resulting in the spell wearing off.


    My vision began to blur - but I couldn''t pass out - "If I pass out... I''ll get stabbed... I''ll get shot by arrows... or-" the realisation struck me,


    "ARROWS!" Lily called out as another volley of arrows flew towards the ground - this time striking not only around us but also impaling some of the invisible people - "There are two left!" Lily explained "Guh!"


    I looked over, seeing Lily was being choked by one of the invisible people - "Well fuck... I kind of hoped this world end better... well... Let''s hope Adam can-"


    My thoughts were interrupted by the splash of blood coming from Adam''s torso, shooting out and covering the previously invisible person as Adam fell limply to the ground, "Adam?"


    "..."


    "..."


    I was starting to see double - the world did three-sixties around me as I started to feel the effects of not being passed-out while mana-deprived intensify.


    "Not again..."


    "Why does this always happen..."


    I tried to move towards Adam - Lily dropped from the tree Limply - landing in a bush next to Adam,


    "Am I just bad luck to be around?"


    I tried to stand up - the dagger I held limply thrown out of my hand by another invisible figure,


    "If my mana pool is so empty... then why can I still create magic circles?"


    I opened my hand creating an orange magic circle - it had only a dim glow and faded in and out of view - I clenched my fist and a slow stream of fire came out - at best keeping the attackers away...


    I felt my mouth fill up with blood as the flames from my spell got dimmer and the circle shrunk.


    "Now even my magic is dying on me.."


    "I knew this world was a load of shit since the beginning..."


    "Don''t overcast like that..." the voice came from my head again,


    "Glasses guy?"


    "My name is Abe - as expected the boss doesn''t buy your story..."


    "It''s alright - looks like we''re on our way out of this world anyway..."


    "However - Darthold has decided to help you out since the children shouldn''t suffer on Adam''s behalf..."


    "Oh - that''s nice, I''ll let Adam know if I run into him in the next life..."


    I felt myself getting picked up by the neck,


    "Well, looks like I''m getting chocked - it was fun chapping to you glasses-guy..."


    "You''re not behind choked..."


    I forced my eyes open slightly seeing the glasses guy bending my head forward letting the blood drain from my mouth before leaning my head back and pouring a clear liquid down my throat.


    "What the hell what that?"


    "It''s a mana potion - go heal Adam and the girl," he instructed before lifting his hand into the air - I looked up and saw a swarm of arrows suspended in mid-air,


    I turned my attention to Adam and rushed over - I pulled out the sword and began the healing process - when I was about to lose hope he seemingly snapped to life with a gasp - "Oh good... you''re alive..."


    "I moved over to the bush from which I dragged Lily''s limp body - I repeated the same healing process and she woke up a lot faster than Adam, "


    "What happened?" Adam asked,


    "You got stabbed - she got choked - I almost died, then glasses dude appeared - gave me a mana potion and told me to heal you guys," I explained,


    We all looked over to Abe who with nothing other than his mind collected the arrows in mid-air - rotated them and started firing them on at a time at high speeds like a Gatling gun.


    ¡°They¡¯re using magic to shoot these arrows¡­ what a waste¡­¡± Abe sighed.


    ¡°REALLY!? HERE I THOUGH THEY WERE USING A MACHINE GUN STUFFED WITH ARROWS! OFCOURSE IT¡¯S MAGIC!¡± I complained.


    Abe said something without telepathy - "He said he''s starting to run out of mana - we''re meant to keep going forward."


    Without further discussion we headed towards the tower - with no more enemies in sight, we finally reached the big clearing where the hill was located - "What the hell..." we all uttered in unison when we saw a large force - dozens of men - wearing armour and wielding sword and shields.


    From the distance came the sound of a horn - "Let''s hope it''s the monster hunters..." Adam exclaimed before rushing towards the small army - the men seemed poorly trained - if it was a one-on-one first Adam would have surely won - but his chances were a lot worse now - from the rear Lily was having a shoot out with the five or so remaining archers atop the tower - most were skewered by Abe with his arrow-Gatling-gun


    ¡°Who are those people?!¡± I asked concerned for Adam¡¯s safety¡­ I mean¡­ I don¡¯t want to be homeless again.


    ¡°I used telepathy to ask Darthold to send some men over to hole - he insisted on sending an army - still it might be for the best¡­¡± Abe clarified.


    Feeling no negative side effects when it came to mana-loss so far, I cast the fire spell - bigger than before towards the army - making sure not to hit Adam by accident - well it''s fair to say I was out for the rest of the fight after that - but I managed to take out ten or so men - I saved up just enough mana to heal on or two people - the army began to push Adam back - the number overwhelming even his fast moves - suddenly the ground began to tremble as from the other side of the clearing the men could see - a group of a dozen or so barbarians - dressed in furs - wielding maces and axes and even a flaming mace in one person''s case.


    The barbarians forced the army to separate - with a vast majority of the men focusing on the newcomers - leaving Adam to pick off the remaining men,


    Another group of barbarians came from behind where Lily and I were - leading them was Darthold, the ginger-beard guy - over his shoulder he held Abe - "What are you doing?" I asked


    "Sorry, could you ask that again?" Abe''s voice asked in my head,


    "Why are you being carried by the ginger-beard guy?!"


    "I ran out of mana... I burned through sixteen mana potions today."


    Darthold put Abe down beside me and started walking toward the battle - the clashing of blades and ringing of metal filled the area - Adam - with his claw-weapons cut through dozens of men - when Darthold walked over he started punching them - that''s right - punching them, he punched a man - so hard that the armour deformed on his back and front - that person''s organs must be pink chicken-nugget-slime now...


    Darthold and Adam seemingly had a conversation in the midst of the fight - "Hey, glasses-guy - could you translate what they''re saying for me?"


    "Alright..."


    "I hear you''re in the mood to help somebody''s children for a change!" Darthold commented whilst squeezing the heads of his enemies...


    "Yeah - but since when are you capable of reasonable decisions?"


    "Don''t think I don''t plan to snap you in half once this is once!"


    "I guess that''s fair!" Adam stabbed the claws through the eye-holes of one of the men''s helmets,


    "So? Who are these plant kids?"


    "The dryads..."


    "Oh, the trophies from the dryad village..."


    "..."


    "So you couldn''t keep your wife or the dryads safe!"


    "..."


    "Wait, Adam had a wife?"


    "Yeah - she''s the one he killed." Abe replied,


    Adam cast a boost spell slicing through a few men as he moved resulting in a bloody mist formed from the men who''s blood sprayed out a crimson stream turning the earth beneath them into mud - the attack let Adam''s back open leading to him getting slashed again, turning back and landing a kick to the attacker''s neck making them fall over limply, as another attack slashed him from behind.


    "Don''t you dare die before I get a chance to skin you alive!" Darthold commanded,


    "Tempting offer..."


    From inside the tower stepped out a man - dark red hair tied into a ponytail behind his head, blue eyes and a defined jawline,


    "Looks like he''s in charge of them..." Abe explained,


    The man was dressed in vibrant red armour with a golden trim - a red cape attached to the front of his armour with fancy golden pins.


    "Who are you people?" The man demanded - his voice was loud and assertive, yet seemingly unphased with the dozens of corpses littering the battlefield,


    When the question was asked - the men fighting Adam and Darthold stepped back - their weapons still drawn but they allowed for the men to answer.


    Adam took a few deep breaths - "Are you the one who took the dryads?!" he demanded,


    "Watch your tone commoner - unless you think you can drag this fight on any longer..."


    Adam clenched his fists at the comment - looking down at the shallow cuts on his arms and feeling the several deep cuts on his back, with the corner of his eyes he saw Darthold who despite his unchanged stern look - was also covered with cuts and bleeding.


    "We''re here to get the Dryads back!" Adam replied - in a slightly calmer tone,


    "What would you want with those monsters? You seem too skilled in combat for slave traders, are you mercenaries?"


    Adam grit his teeth at the suggestion of keeping the dyads as slaves - "They are not property for you to take! Return them at once!"


    "We''re getting nowhere with this..." the man sighed, waving his hands as his men returned to combat - he sat down, cross-legged - watching over the battlefield,


    The armies shrunk - the field was covered with so many dead and so much blood that it looked like a shark-infested pool,


    With only about ten of the original thirty or so men from Darthold''s camp surviving, and a dozen or two of the men from the red-armoured man''s side feeing into the woods - the battle was over.


    His legs shaking like a new-born deer - Adam walked over to the man - "We''ve won this fight - return the d-"


    He was cut off by the man standing up and drawing a sword from his side and a shield from his back - "I have to admit - you killing my underlings is a little annoying... but judging by the amount of damage you''ve taken from those weaklings - you''re still below me."


    He raised his blade - bringing it down before Adam - the blade hasn''t as much as grazed his flesh but Adam was sent flying back across the battlefield - "WATCH OUT - WE CAN''T HEAL YOU IF YOU GET HURT NOW!" I warned him - Lily focused her crossbow on the man, she shot out a single crossbow bolt hitting him in the torso - just as Lily celebrated a direct hit she noticed the armour hasn''t even been deformed and the bolt shattered into splinters,


    "Go on, mercenary! Show me that threatening face of yours again!" the man demanded - not a hint of pleasure or hatred on his face - only focus.


    In an instant a line cut through the battlefield - shredding the dead and dying men below him - it was like the boost spell from before!


    Quickly he brought down the blade onto Adam - the blade almost stabbing into Adam when he cast the boost spell shooting him back,


    Adam looked down to see his jumper torn and the skin also covered with cuts - "I don''t need to touch you to kill you." the man taunted - as Adam looked back up to him he saw a distorted line of air coming towards him - "Air magic..." Abe said - "He''s using air magic to damage Adam at a distance."


    "Can''t you do anything about it?"


    "I''m already using up too much mana translating the fight for you..."


    "Crap - I forgot about that..."


    Another bolt flew towards the man - this time about to strike his head when it exploded into bits just before touching him - "Are you done trying to shoot me, yet?" the man asked, looking over towards Lily who was already loading a second bullet into the crossbow.


    The man looked back towards Adam seeing that he was already boosting towards him - blades in hand, the man moved his shield in their way - as Adam crashed into the shield he limply fell to the side - his left arm seemingly broken from the impact as evident by it doing a loop-ta-loop, something which (although I can''t confirm as I am not a trained specialist) seems to be a bad sign.


    "I admire your determination, commoner, if you join me I could offer you anything you would want..."


    "My name is Liel, the youngest prince of Exversia, I am second in line for the throne,"


    "I don''t give a shit... about your... stupid politics..." Adam blurted out, he tried to stand up but fell back, it looks like his leg is also busted.


    "Have you not suffered from the reign of the king? Have you not lost anything? Have your parents or siblings not been drafted for an avoidable war?!"


    "The only one taking something from me right now, is you..."


    The prince looked at Adam, his glasses were broken revealing eyes filled with hate and rage - his clothes torn - his bones broken - covered with blood and mud - it was impossible to tell who''s blood is who''s¡­


    "Are they really that important to you? Are you willing to die or kill dozens to get your hands on two animals?" Liel taunted.


    "Don''t call them that..."


    "Would you allow them to attack travellers and sap them of their mana? They are a parasite in this country - they make nests and spread like a disease!"


    "They haven''t done anything wrong! why should they pay the price for their kin?"


    "Are you trying to tell me that a cub should be released into the woods because it is not a grown bear yet? Idiotic!"


    "We have almost cured this disease, and you would try to stop us!?"


    "You are just like my father, you would make us suffer for your sake!"


    "You can keep you daddy issues for yourself! Parenting is hard, y''know¡­!" Adam replied.


    The man slowly walked over towards Adam who tried to move away but his leg was grabbed by one of the dying men on the ground - "What the hell!?"


    "You may see me as the tyrant her - but this is the will of the people - and we will not put it below the ideals of one man!" the sword came down on Adam - stopping just shy of his head,


    Adam looked up and saw the man was being held by the head - the one holding him was Darthold - the two dryads atop his shoulders.


    "Nice try - but you can''t hurt me - I have a wall of hardened air around me..."


    "I see..." Darthold replied - as he put more pressure on the invisible wall.


    "Not giving up?" the man cracked a smile as he felt something warm running down the side of his head - he moved his hand up to touch it - revealing that it was blood - "What are you doing?!"


    The man tried to break free - next his nose began to bleed until eventually he passed out and fell to the ground.


    "...how did you know... you could increase the pressure inside of the shield to make him pass out?" Adam asked,


    "I didn''t - I just hoped it''d crack eventually..."


    "Heh... that... sounds about... right..." Adam fell face-first into the blood-mud conscious,


    "Go heal them..." Abe said handing me a bottle,


    "Why didn''t you just give me this earlier?!"


    "What part of that fight could you have changed with your magic?"


    "...I could have taken out a few more men earlier!"


    "And then you wouldn''t have been able to heal them up - or you would have gotten caught up in the fight - Adam would try to help you and get killed in the process..."


    "...guess you''re right..."


    "Then go heal Darthold and Adam." Every word he spoke was cold and devoid of emotion,


    I headed towards them - stepping over the bloodied bodies of the enemy and over to the two wounded men.


    I dragged Adam out of the blood-mud and started casting the healing spell - "..." - "..." - "Come one, Adam..." - "..." - "Adam?"


    The wound was already gone but he didn''t reply...


    "Five more minutes..." he pleaded trying to roll over to the side only to choke on some mud causing him to sit up.


    "Good...he''s alive..."


    I walked over to Darthold and started casting my healing spell, within a few seconds he was back to normal.


    I looked back only to see that not only the corpses, but also Liel and the few survivors all began glowing a pale purple light as they disappeared with a flash.


    ¡°Where the hell¡¯d they go?!¡± I asked turning towards Adam before realising he was still doing his whole ¡®almost dying¡¯ thing and turned towards Abe instead - ¡°It looked like teleportation magic - considering the number of people teleported¡­ it would have had to be the wizard¡¯s court.¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Wh- ¡­Never mind¡­ Let¡¯s just go home¡­¡± I said with a sigh.


    On the way back, Abe and Lily filled me in on the details I missed.


    ¡°Why the hell would a prince have so many people here in the woods?¡± I asked,


    ¡°Well, it was clear he wanted to capture the dryads - and he displayed a clear distaste for his father, it¡¯s a safe bet it was some sort of rebellion,¡± Abe replied.


    ¡°A rebellion?! Here I thought the politics here were calm and nice for once¡­¡±


    ¡°They usually are¡­¡± Lily repliedasshe was also uncertain of what was going on.


    ¡°Probably family business¡­¡± Abe replied lazily.


    ¡°Wait¡­ one thing still seems off, what were you guys doing here in the first place?!¡±


    Darthold was the one to reply (his reply was translated by Lily) ¡°We¡¯ve been looking for the blue-haired brat for a few years not - a while back one of our¡®interns¡¯ spotted someone matching his description so we¡¯ve been looking here - honestly we never thought to go look specifically in the mountains¡­¡±


    ¡°Convenient,¡± I commented.


    ¡°I know¡­¡± Abe replied.


    We made it back home, Lily dropped Adam off on the couch and I passed out the moment my head met with the soft pillow on my bed.

 Chapter 4: The Monster And The Ogre

    That day I woke up early, so early in fact that the usual bright-yellow light morning light was blending with the night time lights creating an interesting mix, I waited for Adam in the living room, he stumbled out of his room a decent two hours later than usual and walked like a crab that shat it¡¯s pants.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± I asked laying on the couch with my legs propped up on the armrest, one arm handing off the couch centimetres off the cold wooden floor.


    ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡± Adam¡¯s voice sounded guttural, like if you were to hold your breath and tense up all your muscles before speaking.


    ¡°I overdid things yesterday and now my everything hurts¡­¡± He explained.


    ¡°Here have something to drink,¡± Lily said handing Adam the white mug filled with a clear brown liquid.


    ¡°Ah, thanks¡­¡± He grabbed the mug and headed to the couch where he sat next to me.


    ¡°Wait a minute, why is she here?!¡± Adam shouted,


    ¡°She came in a bit earlier and I had nobody to talk to so y¡¯know,¡± I replied not taking my eyes off the ceiling as I lay on the couch.


    ¡°Just have a sip of the drink, you¡¯ll feel better,¡± Lily suggested as she gestured towards the mug.


    Adam turned from Lily to the mug, he eyed the liquid, sniffed it and turned back to Lily before asking, ¡°What did you put inside it?¡±.


    ¡°Oh, some honey, a bit of lemon, some hot water¡­and some red spring flower seeds¡± Lily whispered the last part really fast.


    Adam spilt the tea out onto the floor without breaking eye contact with Lily who screamed a little as she saw what he was doing,


    ¡°NO! I SPENT ALL NIGHT DIGGING THROUGH THE SPRING FLOWERS TO GET THOSE SEEDS!¡± she cried as she dropped to her knees.


    ¡°Why are you so mean¡­¡± Lily asked collapsed on the floor next to the spilt liquid.


    ¡°YOU TRIED TO DRUG ME!¡± Adam rebuked.


    ¡°But that¡¯s only because you won¡¯t-¡± Lily¡¯s justification was cut short by Adam, ¡°DON¡¯T TRY TO JUSTIFY DRUGGING PEOPLE!¡±


    A loud knock came from the door, Adam stood up to open the door, carefully eyeing Lily to make sure she didn¡¯t have anything in mind.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Adam asked cautiously, his hand inches away from the door.


    No response, the tension in the air rose, Adam turned to look at Lily, she shrugged grabbing a hold of the crossbow she had God knows where.


    I sat up and visualised a snowflake patterned magic circle, as soon as I would open my palm I should let out a spray of ice shards.


    Adam didn¡¯t have a weapon handy, so he would have had to fight with his bare hands if the attacker came - or so a though, I would eventually find out he uses a spell to make the claw weapons appear and disappear.


    Another silent moment passes, the sweat ran down Adam¡¯s forehead.


    Adam shot all of us the are-you-ready look, we both nodded and so Adam raised his hand, with his fingers he gestured the countdown until opening the door.


    Three¡­


    Two¡­


    One¡­


    With way too much force, Adam swung the door open, it hit the wall causing an audible bang which broke my concentration I opened my palm shooting out a spray of icy chunks, the next scene happened in slow motion, as Adam slowly turned around to see the ice flying towards him,


    ¡°Boost!¡± the words came from Lily as a bright green flash came from behind her, launching her in front of Adam taking the hit from the ice and sending her flying out the door with the ice and rolling down the hill.


    ¡°S-sorry¡­¡± I said, but I was still in a good deal of shock, I could have killed Adam¡­


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m fine,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°But what about Lily?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, right. Her sacrifice will not be forgotten.¡± Adam said in a sombre voice, but he couldn¡¯t keep the grin off his face, "he must REALLY hate her" I thought.


    I looked down to find the source of the knock, it was Abe, the black-haired book worm from yesterday, passed out, head pressed against the door, now laying on the floor.


    After noticing him Adam gave Abe a swift kick to wake him up.


    ¡°Eh? Ah?¡± Abe looked around the house he was now laying on the floor of before starting to talk.


    ¡°The boss said he¡¯s taking the dryads to the camp for today and that he¡¯d return them this evening.¡± Once Abe recited the message he went back to sleep.


    ¡°Damn, Darthold is really getting into the grandpa thing, isn¡¯t he?¡± Adam laughed as he turned back to me.


    ¡°I guess?¡± I replied uncertainly, after all, I didn¡¯t actually understand the message delivered by Abe.


    Adam looked down to Abe again, he kicked him one more - ¡°If you¡¯re that tired just come inside, you can sleep on the couch for now.¡± He offered, I found it strange how trusting Adam was, that said I did like that Abe guy.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, the ground here is quite comfortable¡­¡± he replied lazily.


    Adam picked Abe up, and dragged him to the couch before he let out a sigh, ¡°Is Darthold really working you guys this hard?!¡± he asked.


    Abe shook his head, ¡°Not really¡­I¡¯m just replenishing mana by sleeping¡­although I guess we were up late yesterday¡­¡± Abe said through a yawn.


    ¡°Were you guys partying or something?¡± Adam asked it¡¯d make sense - after all they did win a battle not too long ago¡­


    ¡°No, it was work¡­¡± Abe sighed sadly.


    ¡°Work?¡° Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°Yeah, didn¡¯t you guys hear? The town of Boren, east of the capital is allegedly under attack from some monsters¡­¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Well, did you guys find any monsters?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Nah¡­just some corpses... but you know¡­ it¡¯s near the capital so corpses are to be expected...¡± Abe didn¡¯t need to finish his reasoning, ¡°Yeah, I getcha¡¯¡­¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Well, did you hear that? Looks like they¡¯re some monsters creeping around the towns near here! This is our chance to show you around!¡± Adam laughed.


    ¡°I have literally no idea what you are on about¡­ teach me the fucking language already!¡± I demanded.


    ¡°Fine, fine, but it¡¯s not something you¡¯ll just learn in a day,¡± Adam warned grabbing a book from the bookshelf next to the door and walking to the armchair, I sat on the couch, next to the (admittedly short) sleeping figure of Abe.


    "I''ll have you know I already learned a fair bit of languages..." I replied.


    "Ah - that''s right, so do you remember all the languages you ever learned?" Adam asked.


    "No, I''d say I remember the previous world''s language perfectly, and then every world before it my language skills decrease by like fifty percent... except for the profanities," I explained.


    "I see, well learning this language shouldn''t be a problem for you!"


    Adam opened the book he took out from the small shelf located in the space between the couch and armchair.


    He taught me a good bit in the short time we were bothered to actually work, my vocabulary was tiny but I had a grasp on the grammatical rules of the language about an hour into learning, it¡¯s actually a lot easier than English, except for the written form which I didn¡¯t bother to learn, giving what is most likely the average level of education in this world.


    The grammar resembled English - but it was boiled down to caveman speech in a way.


    ¡°Right, I think that¡¯s enough learning for today!¡± I exclaimed after add or take two hours of work, ¡°Yeah¡­I haven¡¯t worked this hard in years¡­¡± Adam sighed.


    ¡°You mean you did this kind of stuff before?¡± I asked, ¡°I mean, yeah - I forgot you had to learn the language at some point too.¡± I answered myself before he could say anything.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant, I used to go to this big magic school way east of here,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Wait, you were a magic nerd?!¡± I asked in shock, Adam didn¡¯t seem like an expert when it came to magic... though he did manage to explain the laws and types of magic to me, someone with literally no magic knowledge.


    I''ve seen a lot of world with ''magic'' - but it''s either just a property of the world like chemistry or a simple law of physics - keep in mind these laws change world to world so I didn''t bother learning more than I needed to survive and or kill myself.


    ¡°I was good in practice, but the theory made no sense to me¡­ I was a professor of microbiology back on Earth and now I had magic explained to my through myths and stories about Gods...¡± Adam said seeming embarrassed.


    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to use a lot of magic in practice either¡­¡± I commented.


    ¡°What do you mean? I use boost and¡­ I used fireball a few times¡­¡± Adam stopped for a second, ¡°Actually, I was also bad at memorizing spells so I don¡¯t know all that many...¡± he hung his head down in shame with an embarrassed smile.


    ¡°By the way, is there a reason he¡¯s sleeping here?¡± I asked pointing over to the sleeping Abe.


    ¡°He was up late searching a local town for some monsters,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Oh yeah, you mentioned something about monsters earlier,¡± I exclaimed thinking back to the event.


    ¡°Well, wanna go check the place out?¡± Adam asked,


    ¡°The monster town? I mean we don¡¯t have anything better to do¡­¡± I replied.


    "Yeah, plus if we kill the monster the people will shower us with money and admiration!" Adam added,


    "...and here I thought you''re doing it for the good of the people..." I said smiling.


    "Dear God you''re smiling!" Adam exclaimed.


    "I smile all the time..." I replied confused.


    "Yeah but nobody''s getting injured or insulted!" Adam added.


    "Your opinion of me is disturbing... and what''s worse accurate..."


    ¡°Oh! And if we¡¯re lucky you might get a chance to chat with the native speaker! Except me that is¡­¡± Adam exclaimed.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go¡­¡± I said patting my side to make sure I had my dagger and the few spare coins I keep on me just in case I get into some trouble¡­or just get hungry.


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Adam said standing up, stretching and walking towards the door - I followed.


    We made our way down the mountain, to the left was the way to the town of Rennel, to the right was the way leading to the capital, we turned right and kept walking past the road which led to the capital until we left the forested area and entered a dry looking rural town, the entire landscape looked flat and was mostly covered in fields, the fields grew what looked like corn, tall crops with a round ball-like top, it was see-through and filled with some sort of liquid, the stem was thick and dark green, the leaves which covered the relatively straight stem was small and plentiful, they grew like hairs obscuring the stem itself - they were green in colour but had dark purple edges, as for the ball like fruit, it was orange and the liquid was either yellow or clear.


    ¡°What the hell are those?¡± I asked looking at the crops.


    ¡°They¡¯re called ullar trees, the liquid is crystallized into sugar and the skin is pickled and used for cakes and stuff, it kind of tastes like a canned peach when ripe... except kind of floral, and the inside tasted like a cross between honey and vodka,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°So mead?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, meadhas an alcoholic taste, but it doesn¡¯t have that odour that vodka does, in the process of making the sugar, we take the alcohol that fumes and cool them to make alcohol! The stem is used as food for the birds.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°I guess no part of them goes to waste,¡± I said looking at the ullar trees closer.


    ¡°It is quite an impressive system.¡± Adam agreed,


    Turning back to the road I was greeted with the large stone walls, they were only about two meters tall, they were made from old, damaged stone bricks.


    The wall was pretty thin, when you go through the massive open gates which didn¡¯t even have actual doors anymore, on the inside the walls had piles of dirt creating a slope you could climb.


    The inside was mostly small houses, they were made from stone bricks, less damaged than the walls but still pretty worn out. The roofs were created from grey-red and orange tiles, despite the rustic aesthetic the place was very clean, the roads were dirt but they were extremely flat.


    At the centre of the town stood a massive wooden construction, the base of which was stone. The wooden building had several platforms attached to its sides with stairs and ladders linking the different platforms, the sides of the building had massive barrels, so did the top of the buildings.


    The massive metal pipes led down the side of the building and through the ground down to a well, where the pipe cut through the path there was a wooden bridge placed over it.


    There were little to no people outside, no children, not merchants, only an elderly woman sweeping the front of her home and two men sitting on a fence discussing something.


    ¡°Well, this place looks lively¡­¡± I said sarcastically looking at the houses,


    ¡°It is a rural town, and people are going missing on top of that.¡± Adam justified the empty roads.


    We walked towards theolder woman, but before we got a chance to ask her anything she hurried over to her housebeforeshutting the door.


    Next, we set our sights on the two men, we walked up to them and I let Adam do the talking.


    ¡°Hey there, we heard there¡¯s been some stuff going on in the town lately,¡± Adam said trying his best to look reassuring.


    ¡°First I¡¯m hearing about it.¡± Grunted the man sitting closest to Adam.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be that way, we¡¯re here to deal with this so-called monster,¡± Adam said playfully giving the man a thumbs up.


    ¡°We¡¯re telling you there¡¯s no monster!¡± the repeated sounding more irritated, he more a grey t-shirt with short sleeves and an unbuttoned front down to about midway down the body, he was tanned - it¡¯s evident he worked in the fields.


    His hair was black and short, his arms were thick and covered in hair, his trousers were black and made of what resembled tracksuit material.


    Physically the man looked a lot larger than Adam.


    The man that sat on the further side of the fence wore a similar outside, but with long sleeves and a straw hat, he had a longer face with sunken green eyes and spiky red hair which hung down to his shoulders.


    He was a lot paler than the other man, he was also a lot thinner.


    ¡°Are you telling me this town always looks like this?¡± Adam asked obviously knowing they¡¯re lying.


    ¡°What the hell are you implying?¡± the larger man demanded - grabbing Adam by the collar,


    ¡°Alright, look here, there is nothing in this town, no monsters, no murderers, no nothing!¡± the man roared.


    ¡°Now, now - we just want to help!¡± Adam said calmly.


    The man drew back his fist ready to plunge it into Adam¡¯s face, grinning the whole time Adam dodged the punch, stepping forward - hooking the man¡¯s neck and placing his left foot behind the man¡¯s right leg causing him to fall over before placing him in a headlock.


    ¡°Come one, buddy. Help us out!¡± Adam pleaded,gently squeezing his neck, notenough for him to chock but enough to show him that he could choke him.


    The red-haired man let out a sigh, ¡°Leave him alone, I¡¯ll explain the situation to you¡­¡± he said not taking his eyes off the mid-day sun.


    Adam let the man out of the headlock and stood up patting the dust off his clothes, ¡°Thanks!¡± he exclaimed patting the clothes clean of the dust.


    "Somehow I don''t see us getting showered with money and gratitude now..." I though.


    ¡°I do have a question, what do you intend to do if you find the monster?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Kill it of course,¡± Adam replied with a shrug.


    ¡°And if you can¡¯t?¡± the red-haired man slowly turned his head towards Adam, his eyes looked empty, with bags under his eyes.


    ¡±They will run for the hills and hope someone qualified deals with it.¡± Adam shrugged.


    The red-haired man let out a long sigh, ¡°Name¡¯s Owar, I¡¯m the owner of the brewery here.¡± he introduced himself, he was pointing to the large wooden structure.


    ¡°I¡¯m Adam, and this is¡­they don¡¯t have a name, so just call the nameless child.¡± Adam explained the last part awkwardly.


    I lifted my hand slightly as if to wave a ¡®hello¡¯ at them,


    ¡°The guy down here is Derl¡­he¡¯s the head farmer round these parts¡­¡± Owar said gesturing towards the man rubbing his necks after bring chocked.


    "So the big building''s a brewery?" Adam asked.


    "Mm, though we''re runnin'' a bit low on people."


    ¡°Where are you guys from?¡± Derl asked in a raspy voice.


    ¡°We¡¯re from south-west of here,¡± Adam explained pointing his thumb back towards where we came.


    ¡°Well, I bet you guys heard about the murders¡­¡± Derl said looking towards some house.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard there were some murders, that¡¯s it,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Over in that house, the body was spliced into pieced, the guts were missing - that¡¯s why we assume it¡¯s a monster or an animal,¡± Owar said moving his head towards the building directly opposite where we stood.


    I followed Adam¡¯s gaze, ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Allegedly someone got killed in that house,¡± he replied.


    I moved towards the house and looked in through the window, there was no body, but the walls and floor were coated in blood.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty bloody¡­¡± I said looking over to Adam.


    ¡°Did you bury the body already?¡± Adam asked the men,


    ¡°Yeah, what was left of it was buried two days ago¡­¡± Derl replied.


    ¡°Were there any other victims?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s been one person a day for the last two weeks, and today the population is down to six including us two¡­¡± Owar explained, he stood up picking up something Adam and I didn¡¯t notice until now - a long scythe.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting here until the ugly son of a bitch shows up tonight¡­¡± Owar said in a sombre, exhausted tone.


    I tried to open the door, finding that it wasn¡¯t locked.


    The room had a strong smell of iron and rot - I stepped inside-the centre of the room was essentially a large puddle of blood.


    The walls were filled with bookshelves, there was a table in the corner of the room with two chairs and one bowl set out.


    When I looked at the walls closer I saw one long gash cut into the plaster wall of the building, I stepped out of the building and made my way towards Adam - ¡°There¡¯s some big scratch mark thing inside,¡± I explained to Adam.


    ¡°Anything else?¡± He asked.


    ¡°A lot of blood, a lot of books and a table.¡± I listed off everything inside the building.


    I looked up only to see a massive hole in the roof - "There''s also a pretty big hole in the roof."


    "Yeah - we can all see it from out here..." Adam replied.


    "So I''m just that short eh?.." I thought.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not much of a clue¡­¡± Adam sighed scratching his head.


    I shrugged, ¡°So what about them?¡±.


    "Guess it''s some big bird that snatched up the victim..." I concluded uncertainly,


    "And then placed them back neatly in the house?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.


    "Don''t underestimate the evil nature of birds... they wanted us to see the body..." I replied.


    "...you don''t like birds... do you?" Adam asked awkwardly.


    "Not in the least..." I replied.


    "Why?!" he asked confused.


    "Some things are best left unspoken..." I replied thinking to the life where I was abducted by a bird and grew up on a secluded island for four years only to be found by a passing ship which was destroyed by a massive bird, the next day I washed up on the beach of the same God-forsaken island... I was the bird''s prisoner...


    ¡°The red one is some important guy, he said he¡¯s waiting for the monster to show up so he can kill it,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Alright, ask him what kind of people the monster goes after, maybe it¡¯s like that one show with the dog solving mysteries - like the monster actually slaughters people brutally to scare off the villagers so he can take over the place,¡± I suggested.


    ¡°So¡­ are you suggesting the monster is a disguised villager?¡±Adam took a second to think of the implications of a human wearing a massive bird costume devouring human flesh meant for humanity as a whole, then turned back to the people ¡°What kinds of people does the monster go after, is there a specific demographic?¡± he asked.


    ¡°He started off with the children and the sickly - now he¡¯s after the elderly¡­¡± Owar explained.


    Adam turned to me, ¡°Sick people, kids and old people in that order, I guess regular adults are next on the chopping block.¡± he explained.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Alright I replied grabbing my dagger,


    ¡°Where was it seen last time?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Are you planning to just go stab it?¡± Adam asked with a raised eyebrow and a doubting smile.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be bait, and then I¡¯ll stab it.¡± I clarified.


    ¡°Well, allegedly this house there is the most recent murder scene.¡± Adam clarified pointing to the house I just left.


    ¡°Are there any kids or sick people left?¡± I asked.


    Adam asked the men and returned with the reply, ¡°There is one sick kid, but she¡¯s been bedridden for most of her life so she¡¯s most likely not even noticed by the monster.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Alright, assuming I have a one-hundred per cent chance to get attacked, and being sick and being a child is the same for the monster, that¡¯d be three-hundred per cent,¡± I exclaimed,


    ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll let us drag the bed-ridden child out into the streets,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Even if the kid dies, that¡¯s a one to the rest of the village ratio - I¡¯d say they¡¯re being unreasonable.¡± I shrugged.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s this thing called morals, it¡¯s not something you¡¯d be familiar with.¡± Adam laughed.


    ¡°Go on, ask them where the kid is.¡± I sighed.


    ¡°Hey, so can we go see where the kid is? I mean that¡¯s the most likely target now.¡± Adam asked Owar.


    ¡°I dunno¡­ I doubt she¡¯d be of any use to you two, she can¡¯t speak properly since she''s hardly ever awake - a pity really¡­ poor kid¡¯s done with life from the start¡­¡± Derl replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, she might be the next target-¡± Adam was cut off by Owar,


    ¡°So she¡¯s bait?¡± he asked,


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t phrase it like that, but¡­. yeah.¡± Adam relented.


    Owar let out a long sigh, ¡°You westerners have no morals at all do you?¡± the man scoffed before standing up and walking towards the big wooden structure.


    We followed him, walking up the stairs and through several hallways, the walls were wood, but the floors had a carpet in some places.


    We eventually reached a door with something written on the door, the man stood against the door, he took a deep breath and opened the door revealing a horrifically pink room,the walls had pink wallpaper, the floor was covered in a fluffy pink carpet, the bed in the centre of the room had a white bed, with pink sheets.


    In the bed lay a person looking either my age of a few years older, she had a shade of hair I find hard to describe, it¡¯s not blond¡­but it¡¯s yellow¡­ like a very saturated yellow colour.


    "Why are you keeping this child in the brewery? Shouldn''t you look for a doctor?"


    "Well - we tried getting doctors in here - but they weren''t able to do much." Owar replied - "Also this place servers as my house as well - it''s not just a brewery..."


    ¡°So this is the dying kid?¡± I asked rhetorically seeing at this did, in fact, look like a dying kid.


    ¡°What do you think is up with her?¡± I asked stepping up to her,


    ¡°Don¡¯t get too closer, you¡¯ll get sick.¡± One of the men in the doorway warned - Adam translated the warning into English for me.


    ¡°So - what is the disease?¡± Adam asked, ¡°It¡¯s the coughing disease¡­¡± the man replied.


    Adam let out a sigh and turned back to me, ¡°They just called it a coughing disease, around these parts that just means something that makes you cough as a symptom¡­¡± he replied disappointed.


    ¡°So coughing¡­she has a fever,¡± I added touching her forehead.


    ¡°Adam, what are the chances of this just being a really bad cold?¡± I asked.


    ¡°As a semi-qualified medical professional, I can tell you a flue doesn¡¯t last this long¡­ a bad flue can last ten days, a cold will clear up in three¡­ they can lead to worse problems but that¡¯s about it.¡± Adam clarified - "That said, we are making the assumption the bacteria and viruses here ar the same as on Earth - which is a bit of a stretch..." he added.


    "I mean... we have trees here too, though..."


    "You mean other world don''t have trees?" he asked.


    "Depends - I''d say about one in ten worlds can be compared to Earth, out of those about ninety percent are earth-like when it comes to plants and stuff."


    "So there are worlds with... like... no fungi?"


    "Yeah - I''m no scientist but there are a lot of types of life you guys are missing out on," I replied.


    "Like?"


    "Like for example clouds - they were the equivalent of cells suspended in air - they grew like plants so instead of fields of grass there were vertical layers of massive clouds - as a cool side effect sometimes it rained fruit - as a not-so-cool side effect sometimes it rained rock-hard nuts that annihilated all life below."


    Adam looked visibly excited at the mention of this kind of life.


    "I wish I got a chance to study them..." Adam said disappointedly.


    "We still have a child to fix..." I said pointing at the kid.


    "Ah - right, children first, clouds second..."


    ¡°Ok, how do we fix it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We kind of have more pressing matters on our hands right now,¡± Adam replied uncertainly.


    ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m not bothered to wait for her to wake up and I think I¡¯ll get in trouble for slapping her until she wakes up, so would you cure this?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I guess¡­antibiotics and water.¡± Adam shrugged,


    ¡°Alright, alright, and what does and antibiotic do?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Kills bacteria¡­¡± Adam seemed concerned with my lack of medical knowledge.


    ¡°So if I used magic to annihilate all bacteria inside of this girl¡­¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Then she¡¯ll die¡­¡± Adam finished my sentence.


    ¡°What do you mean!?¡± I asked confused.


    ¡°Bacteria in our gut help us digest food and absorb the nutrients from it,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Alright¡­what if I just remove the bacteria from her lungs?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I mean¡­ it¡¯d help, but it¡¯s not like the bacteria are located exclusively in the lungs, that¡¯s just where the most obvious symptoms are,¡± he replied.


    ¡°Alright, so clear lungs of bacteria, cast a healing spell in case I fucked up, anything else?¡± I asked.


    ¡°If you could make a spell that specifically increases the number of lymphocytes in the blood that¡¯d help,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Ah yes, ¡­lymphocytes¡­my favourite¡­¡± I said showing Adam I have no idea what he¡¯s on about.


    ¡°White blood cells,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Oh, there''s no need for you to speak like a smart-ass, we know you''re smart!¡± I exclaimed not knowing what to do.


    I created a tiny white circle with little spikes - basically it looked like the outline of a white blood cell, I visualised how the spell would work - I imagined it like a ray which penetrates the body and interacts with the blood.


    I opened my palm creating a ray of white light which shot out from my palm, I hovered my palm over the girl making sure not to overdo the spell in any one place.


    ¡°Right, this should be good!¡± I exclaimed, as a side effect I discovered the type of magic emitted from the circle depends on your expectation - as in I wanted a ray and the spell shot out a ray... then again, you have to really concentrate on what you want - you could get a random shape... so if I imagine a projectile I could shoot people with the spell, good to know, but I think creating more circles to describe how the spell works would be safer!


    Now I created a black circle, I associate it with death and stuff - I made it the shape of a bacteria¡¯s outline - you know with the little bits sticking out, I imagined the lungs being highlighted like in a video game.


    I clenched my fist and was able to see the pale green light visible through the skin and clothes of the person.


    ¡°She should be alright now¡­¡± I commented confused as to why she wasn''t alright instantly.


    ¡°I guess she¡¯s still tired, you¡¯re always low on energy after being sick,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Alright, how do we fix that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Food and drink I guess.¡± Adam shrugged.


    ¡°...¡± I walked to the passed out girl, raised my hand and preceded to slap her until she woke up.


    ¡°WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO THE SICK CHILD!?¡± Derl cried stepping closer only stopping when the girl sat up and began coughing violently,


    ¡°Fuck,I thought she was cured already¡­¡± I complained.


    I felt her grab me by the hand - and then snap it.


    I looked down at my hand which now hung loosely as a horrific pain radiated my arm.


    In almost and instant I cast the healing spell onto my hand but I could still feel the pain persist for a bit.


    I took a deep breath and took out my dagger, ¡°What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing?!¡± the no longer sick girl demanded


    ¡°WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN!? I CURED YOUR DISEASE AND NOW YOU¡¯RE BREAKING MY BONES?!¡± I demanded ready to shoot the child but Adam grabbed me from behind restraining me.


    ¡°No, you were just slapping me around, weren¡¯t you?¡± she asked in the same low, threatening tone as before.


    ¡°To wake you up!¡± I explained.


    ¡°STOP MAKING EXCUSES!¡± I cried back.


    ¡°Dude, dude, isn¡¯t it weird that we can understand her though.¡± Adam awkwardly butted in,


    ¡°SHUT THE FUCK UP!¡± the girl and I cried in sync.


    Adam breathed a sigh and walked over to the men to explain the situation.


    The girl began coughing violently again,


    ¡°Adam, explain,¡± I commanded pointing at the couching girl at a safe, non-wrist snapping distance.


    ¡°The alveoli are still swollen, I guess,¡± Adam replied with a shrug.


    "Ah yes - I''d hate to have swollen ravioli..." I replied straight-faced.


    Adam walked over to the girl, ¡°Alright, so you know how to speak English, does that mean you¡¯re from earth?¡± he asked.


    She didn¡¯t reply for a second,


    ¡°Wait¡­you mean you two are from Earth as well?!¡± she was looking more excited and less violent.


    ¡°Yeah, my name is Adam and this is Nameless child.¡± Adam introduced us, she girl looked over to me again, with more of a doubting and less of a murderous look.


    ¡°That¡¯s a weird-ass name¡­¡± the girl said as an insulting grin spread across her face.


    "Adam, that ain''t no child - lucifer reincarnated as a little girl..."


    ¡°Actually he couldn¡¯t come up with a name so he just goes by Nameless child,¡± Adam explained, although he too was smiling.


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty sad¡­¡± the girl said looking at me with the same grin.


    ¡°That¡¯s it, I¡¯m shooting you all,¡± I announced.


    Adam let out a weak laugh before seeing me raise the dagger into the air, causing him to yell out to the men telling them to run, before anyone could react I found myself at the receiving end of a kick from the allegedly sick girl, sending me through the thin wood walls of the building and out, luckily for me I landed in some tree, otherwise I would have surely died from a fall that long.


    I got off the tree and started taking pot-shots at the large wooden construction with weak fire spells,


    Meanwhile, inside of the building, the girl walked over to Adam who was seemingly regretting some decisions, ¡°Hey, do you have a coin or something?¡± she asked.


    Adam reached into his pocket, ¡°Sorry I only got¡­.one, two - four copper on me.¡± Adam said apologetically.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, one will do,¡± she replied taking the one coin, she took the sheet off her pillow and placed the coin inside, she walked up to the big hole she created, she started spinning her makeshift weapon before releasing it in my vague direction, it hit the tree splintering it into bit.


    Moments later I raised a leftover twig with the sheet tied to it as a makeshift white flag.


    ¡°How¡¯d you do that?¡± Adam asked in awe, ¡°I mean if you were bedridden surely you¡¯d be too weak to do that.¡± he added.


    ¡°I dunno,¡± the girl shrugged.


    Adam turned back to the villagers, ¡°H-hey¡­do you guys know the parents of this girl?¡± he asked awkwardly.


    "Like were they demi-gods by any chance? Was it Hercules? It was Hercules wasn''t it?"


    ¡°N-no¡­but according to the note left by whoever brought her here, she¡¯s a half-ogre,¡± Owar replied.


    ¡°A half-ogre?¡± Adam asked in shock, he turned back to the girl seeing that she does in fact not resemble an ogre.


    ¡°Anyway, thank you for the help, and yeah I¡¯m from Earth.¡± the girl said stretching.


    ¡°No problem, but I¡¯m not the one that healed you.¡± Adam laughed awkwardly pointing to the hole in the wall.


    ¡°Oh¡­crap¡­that¡¯ll be awkward,¡± the girl said scratching her head,


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, he¡¯s not as terrible as he seems.¡± Adam shrugged.


    ¡°Hah, I thought it¡¯s a girl.¡± she laughed.


    ¡°It¡¯s complicated¡­¡± Adam replied reluctantlynot mentioning how willing she was to snap the wrist of a child.


    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s go. I have some questions for you guys,¡± she explained.


    ¡°Alright, but first, what¡¯s your name?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right, feel free to call me Kate, it¡¯s what I went by back on Earth,¡± she explained.


    ¡°Alright, where are we going?¡± Adam asked following the girl as she pushed the two men in the door to the side.


    ¡°We¡¯re going down to see this friend of yours,¡± Kate replied heading down the wooden construction¡¯s halls and stairs until they reached the remains of the tree was near.


    ¡°Yo, I hear you¡¯re the one who healed me, after all,¡± Kate called out to me.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I was trying to tell you before you tried to kill me¡­¡± I replied still in shock almost dying twice today, looking to what remainedof the tree.


    ¡°Stop being a baby, you¡¯re alive aren¡¯t you?¡± she asked rhetorically,


    I inspected my arms and torso to make sure, ¡°Yeah, turns out I¡¯m alive¡­heh¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Anyway, thanks I guess,¡± Kate said, I didn¡¯t reply,


    She turned back to Adam, ¡°So, do you guys know why we¡¯re here?¡± Kate asked,


    ¡°No idea, but there are a few other people from Earth I heard off, aside from that we¡¯ve no clue,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°I see, and what can you tell me about this world?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­it¡¯s a fantasy world, we have magic - just about all plants and animals are different, and the people don¡¯t speak English, so you need to learn the language.¡± He explained.


    ¡°Alright, one more thing, why¡¯d you two come to help me out anyway?¡± She asked.


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t our plan, we had nothing to do and we heard that there is some monster in this town - the locals said it goes after sick people and kids, so when we found out you¡¯re both we decided it might be the perfect opportunity, that said we ended up curing your disease so y¡¯ know.¡± Adam clarified.


    ¡°Oh¡­so I¡¯m meant to be bait?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Kind of, I mean it¡¯d go after you regardless. Think of it as ¡­ us guarding you.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°No worries, I¡¯m interested to see what this monster looks like!¡± she replied before looking over to me, ¡°But I doubt the nameless brat would be of any use.¡± she laughed.


    ¡°They¡¯re quite the skilled magician,¡± Adam replied.


    Kate rolled her eyes, ¡°Sure, he can heal some people, and he had that dagger looking thing, but what good would it do against like¡­ a dragon?¡± she asked.


    The two men from outside caught up with us, ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± they demanded,


    ¡°She can¡¯t speak the language yet, so I can translate for you guys if you want.¡± Adam offered in response.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Adam proceeded to explain everything that happened, at first the men seemed reluctant to believe that they¡¯re from another world, but seeing as they could speak a different language and were generally weird people - they eventually believed them.


    ¡°So the wall crasher is from this Earth place too?¡± Owar asked,


    ¡°Yep,¡± Adam replied quickly.


    ¡°And she agreed to be bait?¡± Derl asked?


    ¡°Yep,¡± Adam replied again.


    ¡°When¡¯s it coming?¡± she asked, Adam, translated the question to the two men who replied with ¡°It comes out around midnight.¡±


    ¡°Did you make sure the monster isn¡¯t staying in the wooden building?¡± Adam asked the men, ¡°No¡­should we, boss?¡± Derl asked looking at Owar.


    ¡°I guess¡­but you better tell us if the monster shows¡­¡± he warned Adam who just nodded.


    As the moon and or sun rose higher into the sky it was near midnight, Adam, Kate and I sat around a small fire occasionally seeing a lamp¡¯s light from inside of the wooden building.


    "So... it''s always day?" she asked looking at the sun-like moon emitting a pale blue light.


    "No - not really, I mean we sleep when the blue sun is out... guess it''s harder to see..." Adam replied.


    "I understand, the light during the day emits more colours than the night meaning we can recognise more colours during the day and as a result see better."


    "...maybe." Adam shrugged.


    "Still, it''s hard to believe I''m not even human here!" she exclaimed.


    "Yeah, half-ogre!"


    "What are ogres like here?" Kate asked,


    "They''re... about two meters tall, greyish-yellow skin, they''re mostly nomadic and live in the deserts," Adam explained.


    ¡°Damn, I wish it¡¯d hurry up already.¡± Kate sighed,


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I enjoy the atmosphere,¡± Adam replied staring into the starry night seeing the big blue moon coating the world in a blue hue,


    ¡°Screw that, I just want to beat the crap out of some monster already¡­¡± Kate replied.


    She looked over to me seeing me still limply sitting hunched over on the grass.


    ¡°Maybe I overdid my introduction a bit¡­¡± Kate said looking at me.


    ¡°He¡¯ll be back to normal eventually,¡± Adam replied dismissively.


    In the distance a loud creaking noise was heard grabbing everyone¡¯s attention, they saw one of the massive barrels used for storing alcohol was starting to shake, the lid was taken off as a tall lanky humanoid stepped out, it¡¯s legs were bony and no thinner than tree logs, but he was at least fifteen-meters tall, with stretched out grey skin, and a small round head, two massive eye sockets, they were empty and coated with the grey skin on the inside as wells, it¡¯s mouth was an ¡®M¡¯ shape with several hundreds of needle-like teeth twitching in different directions, for the nose it had one hole torn-open in its skin revealing it dry, leathery flesh, black and almost crumbly looking.


    On its head were two massive antlers they looked like they weren¡¯t in fact covered in the skin, and were a solid black colour.


    The beast jumped down and sniffed the air, slowly it turned it¡¯s attention towards the fire, where it eyes Adam, and I before turning to the Kate.


    Slowly at first, the creature moved towards us before breaking into a gorilla-like sprint.


    ¡°What the hell is that?¡± Kate asked seemingly shocked by its grotesque appearance.


    Adam took out his claw weapons swiftly attaching them to his arms with the small brown buckles on the forearm bit of the gauntlet.


    ¡°Boost!¡± he exclaimed create a blue circle under his feet which shot him forward towards the creature allowing him to bury his claws into the back of the creature¡¯s leg, the skin was harder than it looked and the flesh was also tough.


    I handed the dagger over to Kate,


    ¡°N-no - you keep it!¡± she demanded,


    I didn¡¯t have time to argue and walked towards the monster ignoring Kate¡¯s protests.


    I created a red magic circle with a flame pattern, inside of it I had a grey-blue circle with swirly wind shapes, I imagined it would fire one projectile and as the monster drew closer, dragging Adam who¡¯s claws were lodged in it¡¯s flesh I opened my palm before closing it resulting in one fire projectile - as soon as it hit the creature it exploded into a bright light which fizzled charring it¡¯s flesh and causing its flesh to flake off, the fire exploded in the direction I was aiming, if there were any houses behind the creature they would surely be charred by now.


    The creature stumbled falling over and landing face-first into one of the small buildings.


    I felt a sudden bout of nausea as I bent over spewing what I could only assume was blood, I guess this is the result of using more mana than you have¡­


    ¡°What the hell did you do?!¡± Kate demanded as she made her way towards me,


    I felt my vision going dark - when suddenly I had the best idea yet, I created a white circle with arrows going towards me, and a blue mana circle inside, I made sure to make the grass my target, I was able to gather enough mana from the grass to stand up.


    I saw the creature stand up, the skin growing over the charred off pieced of its body, it¡¯s attention still fixated on Kate.


    ¡°It¡¯s regenerating!¡± Adam called out eventually wriggling his claw weapons lose and creating some distance between them before casting ¡®Fairy fire¡¯ on the creature, the blue fire did minimal damage to the creature,


    ¡°Fairy fire drains the creature¡¯s mana, maybe it won¡¯t be able to regenerate now!¡± Adam called out,


    ¡°I¡¯ll shoot it again!¡± I called back, I created the same fire spell as before except I made the air circle bigger, the bolt shot towards the creature emitting a whistling noise as it flew before exploding into a roaring flame completely removing its head causing the creature to once again fall forward, this time onto the ground.


    ¡°Great, looks like that¡¯s done¡­and I¡¯m not even dead-¡± I was cut off by another volley of blood spewed out from my mouth,


    ¡°Shit¡­why am I bleeding from mana loss of all things¡­?¡± I asked rhetorically before absorbing some of the mana from surrounding plants.


    ¡±Is it dead?¡± Kate asked,


    ¡°No idea¡­I¡¯ll go see¡­¡± I replied standing up and walking towards the charred body, before long it began to twitch, soon it stood back up letting out a furious roar before running on its two legs straight for Kate, I already had the fire spell ready,


    ¡°Don¡¯t! -You¡¯ll burn her too!¡± Adam cried.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°DON¡¯T YOU DARE¡­¡± Adam threatened,


    ¡°Fine¡­¡± I grumbled to myself before casting boost, shooting myself forward and kicking Kate out of the way.


    ¡°Hey!¡± she cried as I kicked her (admittedly with the aid of the boost spell) a good few meters away, I felt a tightness around my torso as I saw the creature picked me up and began moving me closer to its massive open mouth,


    ¡°Hang in there!¡± Adam called out boosting forward slightly trying to get over to me as fast a possible,


    ¡°No rush, I¡¯ve died recently - I don¡¯t mind giving it another shot,¡± I replied jokingly, my voice still panicked.


    ¡°WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?¡± Kate demanded,


    ¡°You deserved the kick, that¡¯s all!¡± I replied.


    ¡°And don¡¯t you think for a second this was of my own goodwill, Adam told me not to char you, and I just wanted to kick you around for a bit-¡± my explanation was cut off by the creature throwing me into its toothy jaw, where I evaded most of the teeth and fell straight into its stomach.


    Kate rushed over to the creature a mix of rage and confusion temporarily becoming courage, she rushed over ignoring Adam¡¯s warnings, stabbing and beating the creature who simply regenerated after every hit.


    "Fuck... this was a bad idea!" she called out.


    It picked her up, squeezing tightly as it threw her into its mouth, aside from getting cut on the arm she really suffered no damage, she fell down into the stomach only to land in a pile of decaying bodies of the local villagers, they formed an island in the lake of stomach acid.


    ¡°Oh, hey. Nice of you to drop in.¡± I said sitting on the beach of this island.


    ¡°You¡¯re alive!¡± she exclaimed.


    ¡°Surprisingly, I guess it¡¯s good that humans are hard to dissolve in stomach acid.¡± I shrugged.


    She looked around seeing her surrounding, seeing that she was standing on rotting and torn up remains of dozens of people she let out a scream followed by vomiting,


    ¡°Go ahead, it¡¯s a stomach we¡¯re surrounded by puke¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°What the hell¡¯s wrong with you?!¡± she demanded looking over to me,


    ¡°Not much, how about you?¡± I replied.


    ¡°How can you stay so calm in a place like this?!¡± she cried looking around seeing that everything was covered with blood.


    ¡°Oh, did you know some of these people?¡± I asked realising I may be rude by not reacting to her dead friends.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t know any of them¡­but still¡­¡± she replied clenching her fists.


    ¡°Relax, I¡¯ll wait for Adam to get us out,¡± I said trying to calm her down.


    ¡°How am I supposed to relax in a stomach filled with dead people!¡± I heard her throwing up somewhere again.


    Once she was done I walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, ¡°It¡¯ll be fine, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± in the most uncomfortable voice imaginable.


    She didn¡¯t reply for a bit, ¡°You¡¯re shit at comforting people¡­¡± she laughed slightly.


    ¡°Yeah, I used to get that a lot¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°I could usually get us out with magic, but I¡¯m too low on mana right now,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Is that why you were throwing up blood earlier?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s weird - I don¡¯t know how my throat and mana are connected but hey.¡± I shrugged.


    A bit of silence passed, ¡°Sorry about snapping your wrist earlier.¡± Kate said apologetically.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I healed myself up,¡± I replied.


    I looked over to her seeing that her hand was bleeding, ¡°Speaking of, I can probably still heal your hand with the mana I have.¡± I offered,


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, this place is gross enough as it is without your puking blood everywhere¡­¡± she replied.


    I suddenly got an idea, what if I suck the mana out of the monster itself!


    I created the magic circle from before and made the monster itself my target, I felt the stream of mana coming from the creature as it began to shake, with my other hand I create a weak ice spell freezing the stomach acid allowing Kate and I to walk over to the massive hole that now appeared in the other of the creature, it turns out that without the mana the creature not only can¡¯t regenerate but it also just falls apart.


    Kate and I managed to get out of the monster, falling onto the dead grass outside,


    ¡°We¡¯re actually alive!¡± she exclaimed.


    ¡°Yeah¡­I¡¯m surprised too¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well¡­welcome to the new world¡­¡± I said unable to hold back a sadistic laugh as I saw Adam run over to us seemingly just as exhausted.


    ¡°Oh, hey Adam, you look pretty tired¡­¡± I commented seeing him literally look like he was about to cry.


    ¡°Shit, you two are still alive!¡± Adam exclaimed.


    ¡°Yeah¡­it¡¯s weird, right?¡± I asked.


    I felt a slap to the face from my side, it was Kate, ¡°That¡¯s for kicking me earlier¡­¡± she sighed before standing up,


    ¡°So violent¡­¡± I said before turning to Adam,


    ¡°I hope you have the teleportation ring,¡± I said looking at Adam,


    ¡°I think I do¡­why?¡± He asked.


    I lifted my hand revealing my ring, ¡°Because otherwise, you¡¯re walking alone¡­¡± I said using the ring to teleport home, Adam didn¡¯t appear for another few hours, eventually, he stumbled back into the house, ignoring the note attached to the door and falling right into bed.


    I slept through most of the next day, Adam didn¡¯t even wake up until really late in the night, finding that Abe was in fact still sleeping on his couch.


    Late that night Adam was sitting on his Armchair drinking another experimental tea when Darthold popped his bearded head in through the open door, ¡°I¡¯ve come to return the dryads and pick up Abe!¡± Darthold announced as he grabbed a hold of the still sleeping Abe and dropped the two dryads off near the door.


    ¡°You realise he was sleeping here for like two days straight?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Abe¡¯s Abe.¡± Darthold shrugged.


    Adam turned his attention to the Dryads.


    ¡°How was it?¡± Adam asked looking at the two dryads, they wore different clothing than usual, they had fur coats.


    ¡°It was fun!¡± Exclaimed the smallest dryad, he was wearing a fur tunic.


    ¡°Yep, we went down to the stream and we hunted some bears and then we had fun at the camp.¡± The oldest dryad elaborated, she too had new clothes, a plain fur dress.


    Adam ignored the part about hunting bears.


    ¡°Sounds like fun, nameless kid and I were off fighting monsters,¡± Adam said looking as if he was waiting for praise.


    "Oh! Cool!" said the tallest dryad.


    "I know right! Anyway - do you guys want something to drink or?..." Adam asked.


    ¡°Nah, I should get going. I''ll see you tomorrow.¡± Darthold said as he waved back to the dryads.


    ¡°How about you guys?¡± Adam asked. This is when he realised he had no idea what they¡¯re called.


    The two dryads looked at each other for a second before shrugging, ¡°We¡¯re fine, thanks.¡± he turned to leave,


    ¡°Hey, mind if I ask you guys something?¡± Adam asked the dryads turned back waiting for the question.


    ¡°What are your names?¡± Adam asked, he felt really bad for having to ask, he assumed they¡¯d be offended.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right we never got a chance to introduce ourselves!¡± Said the older dryad.


    ¡°I¡¯m Cloe, and this is Al,¡± the oldest dryad said pointing to her brother.


    ¡°Cloe and Al, alright. Thanks.¡± Adam said standing up and bringing his mug to the sink.


    ¡°Good night~,¡± the smaller dryad said waving back towards the house before accompanying the now oldest dryad back to the forest. Adam was shocked by this for a second but he returned the gesture, ¡°Yeah, you too.¡± knowing they made it back alright, and knowing he can close his door now that Abe was gone, Adam fell asleep on the couch.


    The next morning after the short lesson of the language Adam went outside to water his plants only to find that they are all dead.


    ¡°I bet it was that damn Lily!¡± Adam complained to himself.


    ¡°Don¡¯t blame me I didn¡¯t touch your plants¡­except for the spring flowers I guess,¡± Lily replied.


    ¡°A; why are you here, B; then why are they dead?¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°I guess it¡¯s because of the plant disease spreading around,¡± Lily replied.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t even bother answering A¡­ wait what disease?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°I do a decent bit of travelling for work reasons, and all across the world, plants are rotting and no new seeds grow¡­ there are some exceptions but even the grass is looking dry.¡± Lily said pointing and the lime-yellow grass.


    ¡°I see¡­ that¡¯s pretty bad. I¡¯d expect mass starvation if the crops fail¡­¡± Adam commented.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, the wizard''s court is working on a cure,¡± Lily replied.


    ¡°The wizard''s court?¡± Adam asked - his eyes narrowed in suspicion.


    ¡°Mm-hm, they even called for a mass collection of crops to make a cure,¡± Lily added.


    ¡°I see how it is, so they gave up already,¡± Adam said nervously.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Lily looked at him concerned and confused.


    ¡°I know the wizard court well, they don¡¯t give a single shit about the commoners, they¡¯re collecting food for the famine that¡¯s about to happen if the wizards from there have given up, then this is a real catastrophe¡­¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Wait, we don¡¯t know that for sure!¡± Lily argued.


    ¡°...yeah¡­ I guess you¡¯re right¡­maybe things changed.¡± Adam said with a sigh.


    ¡°...are you alright?¡± Lily asked - this was not the side of Adam she usually sees.


    ¡°Y-yeah, I¡¯m just pissed that my flowers died¡­ I¡¯ll go drink some fake tea¡­¡± Adam said as he turned to go indoors, ¡°Oh, and thanks, Lily, for letting me know.¡± Adam said as he stepped inside the house and closed the door.


    For a second Lily though Adam was being nice before she heard the door lock.


    Adam sat slumped on the couch, he wouldn¡¯t expect Lily to know this since she isn¡¯t from earth¡­ but Adam knew no disease that could kill all types of plants around the entire world, not to mention how fast it happened¡­ no this had to be the work of some magician¡­or perhaps a wizard?


    ¡°Are you alright man?¡± I asked - "I¡¯m starting to feel that that¡¯s all I say nowadays¡­"


    ¡°Y-yeah. of course it is, why wouldn¡¯t it be?¡± Adam replied in a panicked voice.


    ¡°In that case, mind getting off me?¡± I asked as Adam jumped off the couch realizing I was sitting there this whole time.


    ¡°Sorry, man!¡± Adam apologized quickly.


    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s all good. I didn¡¯t need my ribs anyway.¡± I replied sarcastically sitting up.


    ¡°That aside, I¡¯m pretty sure something is wrong,¡± I added.


    Adam let out a long sigh, ¡°Yeah¡­you¡¯re right, according to Lily all plants around the world are allegedly dying¡­ the current explanation the public is told is that it¡¯s a disease¡­¡± Adam explained.


    I¡¯m no scientist, but with the years I spent in front of the TV watching nature documentaries, science shows and the sheer amount of hospital-based shows I had a decent idea of the abilities of diseases.


    ¡°Can a disease spread everywhere? Surely different types of plants would be resistant to different stuff¡­¡± I asked Adam only nodded.


    ¡°I forgot a decent amount by now, but I used to be a professor back on earth, I taught microbiology,¡± Adam said.


    ¡°Show-off¡­¡± I grunted to myself.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean, no pathogen can target all plants, not to mention that the idea that it would have spread everywhere already is crazy¡­¡± Adam¡¯s voice became more panicked as he spoke.


    ¡°So do you think it¡¯s magic?¡± I asked - I felt I knew the answer but even if I was correct, would there be anything we could do?


    ¡°I¡¯m almost certain, it must be some sort of instant death curse targeting plants, but this kind of spell would require an ungodly amount of mana, the only place in the world I can think of that could have that much¡­ is the wizard court.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Is that like a mage guild?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Not exactly¡­ a mage is a person who practices magic as a profession, for example, court mages, army mages and mercenaries, although a man selling balloons made from mana is still technically a mage as well.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°So what is a wizard?¡± I asked.


    ¡°A wizard is just a title, it¡¯s anyone who is a member of the wizard court, essentially an organization which aims to collect skilled mages from around the world, or so they¡¯d have you believe¡­ A good few times they used their ever-expanding power to pressure the governments around the world to act as they wish, they tend to stay out of most of the world¡¯s troubles luckily¡­¡± Adam¡¯s tone was becoming irritated.


    ¡°In that case, is the disease our problem?¡± I asked,


    Adam didn¡¯t reply for a while.


    ¡°What I¡¯m asking is, are you going to investigate it, we¡¯re not some sort of heroes and we have no obligation to go do anything for this world,¡± I explained my point of view.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s right¡­ We don¡¯t have to act¡­¡± Adam said, he seemed distant¡­


    ¡°Actually¡­ no¡­ I have people in this world I care for, Cloe, Al, Darthold and all the people at the Camp.¡± from the distance Adam heard a loud ¡°AHEM¡±


    Adam sighed, ¡°And I guess I have acquaintances like Lily too¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s so cold¡­¡± the distant voice of Lily complained.


    ¡°So, I guess what I¡¯m saying is that you may not have obligations in this world, but I do,¡± Adam said with a satisfied smile.


    ¡°YES, I pulled off the cool speech!¡± He thought to himself.


    There were a few seconds of silence before anybody spoke up.


    ¡°Man, Lily¡¯s right, how cold. I have friends here - like I think me and that one guy from the bandits with the glasses really hit it off.¡± I said sarcastically.


    ¡°Plus I¡¯d hate to have the dryads hurt¡­ That old man carried me around for a bit so I guess I owe him something in return¡­¡± I continued naming off people.


    ¡°But seriously, all I was asking is if you¡¯re going to take action, and I guess I have my answer,¡± I said with a shrug.


    Adam smirked, ¡°Yeah, sorry for thinking you¡¯re such a loner¡­¡±


    ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡± I asked,


    ¡°I guess we should train a bit, I can''t be all sore for two days after every bit of trouble we could run into!¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Right, I guess I should train my magic,¡± I said getting up and getting ready to leave.


    Adam grabbed me by the collar, ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t! We won¡¯t have Darthold to carry you around everywhere, so you¡¯ll need to get in shape too, you lazy ass.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too cruel, man.¡± I cried and I tried to break free of his iron grip.


    ¡°I am a proud member of the couch potato community and this is abuse!¡± I added.


    ¡°Besides, you¡¯ll need more than just magic to survive the outside world, you need at least some combat ability,¡± Adam added as he let go of my collar.


    I let out a sigh, ¡°Yeah, I guess you¡¯re right¡­ Still, I don¡¯t know what weapon to choose, I guess I have a dagger but that seems like more of a sneaky weapon rather than an oh-my-god-there¡¯s-a-bear-chasing-me type of weapon.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess you have a point, plus I¡¯d have no way of teaching you anything about fighting with a dagger¡­ what do you think about ranged weapons?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯d be best, I don¡¯t think I could take too many sword slashes as I am right now¡­¡± I commented looking at my petite form.


    ¡°Yeah, but a bow would be useless in close combat, a crossbow is a decent mix but the amount of fiddling with it to reload it could be too much¡­¡± Adam thought about the different types of ranged weapons.


    ¡°Blowpipe?¡± He suggested.


    ¡°No way man, that would look really stupid,¡± I replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s notall about looks¡­- no you¡¯re right it would look stupid¡­¡± Adam ended up agreeing with me.


    A few seconds of silent contemplation passed.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Man, I wish we had guns here¡­¡± I commented.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Adam replied


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± I exclaimed, ¡°I could make a gun with magic!¡± I explained.


    ¡°That¡¯s genius¡­ but you¡¯d have to carry a ton of ammunition on you at all times¡­ ... ... I know!¡± Adam exclaimed.


    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°There is this one blacksmith I know, we¡¯ll ask him to make the weapon from a blueprint, of your creation,¡± Adam said, he sounded excited about the idea of a gun in this world.


    ¡±I don¡¯t see how this solves our ammo problem¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I have an idea for that. The real question is if you can make a blueprint of a gun.¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°I saw a lot of TV shows talking about how stuff is made, but the only one I can really remember in any detail is a revolver,¡± I explained.


    ¡°Yeah, that should work, I¡¯ll bring you some paper,¡±


    Adam said as he left the living room, he headed to his bedroom where he returned from with a small stack of what looked like old, stained paper, he placed it in front of me and then handed me a piece of black chalk¡­ or was is charcoal? I¡¯m not sure, but I know it felt terrible in my hands, it¡¯s like how some people hate the sounds of a fork scratching a plate, I hate the feeling of chalk.


    And so began my long task of trying to sketch out a blueprint of a gun, that I only saw a few times.


    Later that night Adam entered the dimly lit living room, he saw me sitting on the couch and perfecting the sketch. ¡°Still working on it?¡± Adam asked with a sympathetic voice.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess I don¡¯t want it exploding in my face,¡± I replied with an exhausted yawn.


    Adam laughed at that comment.


    ¡°Shut it, perv,¡± I replied sarcastically.


    Adam went over to the fridge, I wasn¡¯t quite sure how it worked, but he said he essentially cheated while making the fridge by using magic ice that never melts.


    Adam opened the fridge revealing the variety of vegetables and fruits, along with some raw meat and a few small shelves, Adam opened on of the shelves and inside were several vials of a bright yellow liquid.


    He took out two of them and placed one on the table before me, ¡°Here, they¡¯re like homemade energy drinks.¡± Adam explained.


    Without questioning anything at this point, I grabbed the vial and downed it in an instant.


    ¡°I was going to say that for a person your current size you¡¯d only need one-third of a vial, but okay.¡± Adam was trying not to laugh as he downed his vial and sat down on the couch next to me.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I didn¡¯t need my liver anyway,¡± I replied not taking my eyes off the page.


    ¡°So this is how you make a gun?¡± Adam asked looking at the scribbles before him.


    ¡°I think so, that said making ammo is a whole different problem, we¡¯d need saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur,¡± I explained.


    ¡°Were you a terrorist or something back on earth?!¡± Adam laughed.


    ¡°No, man. I told you I just watch a lot of TV.¡± I explained waving my hand dismissively.


    ¡°Is that so¡­¡± Adam replied leaning back on the couch.


    A few hours earlier - far from Adam''s house...


    The pitter-patter of rain masked Lily''s wet footsteps.


    She headed to one of the outer districts of the capital city of the human country - Excersia.


    The large crossbow she wore on her back covered by the fur cloak she wore.


    A man sitting under a roof of what looked like an inn sat down - he was rubbing his hands to warm up whilst smoking a pipe, Lily headed towards the shelter provided by the roof and stood with her back pressed against the wall of the inn.


    "You waiting for someone?" the man asked in a raspy voice - "No - just waiting for the weather to clear up," she replied,


    After a while of silence Lily let out a sneeze - and as if the man was waiting for his cue - he asked "Need a handkerchief?" he extended his hand holding out a piece of cloth folded into a neat square.


    "Thanks," Lily replied opening up the handkerchief revealing a detailed portrait of a person, as well as time and location - the folded it up and pretended to wipe her hose before handing it back to the man.


    "Thanks,".


    "Anytime," he replied in a sudden, sombre tone before heading back into the building - minutes later Lily left, walking down towards the alley and using boost to jump up onto the roof of one of the buildings - she took out her corssbow - moved the quiver from her back to her side, counting about a dozen bolts, she loaded a bolt into the crossbow and waited for the person to appear.


    Moments later a group of armoured soldiers walked out and lined up into a rectangular shape - she noticed they were standing next to the tunnels which she planned to use as an escape route - that shouldn''t be a problem though - there are a few other ways out of the city.


    In front of the group walked out another armoured guard - this one wore what looked like a cloak on top of their armour and had a different helmet shape.


    "So that''s him..." Lily mumbled remembering the description given on the handkerchief - "A well built, adult male with a pale complexion and considerable facial hair - a captain who was planning to act against orders for whatever reason."


    "A-alright - I''m afraid the captain is a bit late today...so I''ll be filling in for him until he shows up..." the timid voice of a younger man spoke, Lily lowered the crossbow when she heard that - she hoped the captain would show up soon - "Since the prince''s faction has mysteriously vanished a few days ago - all the higher-ups are scrambling to keep things running..." the man explained.


    The man started reading something off a piece of paper which he sheltered from the rain with one arm, Lily was busy thinking about why the captain of the guard would betray their orders - it''s a good job - pays way more than working as a hitman and or hitwoman


    .


    "-Oh, and here he is..." the man announced stepping aside letting a larger looking armoured figure walk up - this one had larger shoulder pads, a flowing blue cape and a breastplate that must have left loads of room inside.


    The figure spoke up "Good to see this many men signed up for the mission." the voice was deep and Lily instantly imagined the speaker to look like the portrait on the handkerchief.


    She aimed the crossbow up at the man, waiting for the right moment to strike so that the bolt would fly through the eye hole in the helm - "Y-yes. that''s our new recruit from Arneval - always glad to see more people from the north join the military!" the man explained before the man who spoke before left to line up with the rest of the soldiers - looking slightly out of place due to his sheer size.


    Suddenly the sound of a carriage cut through the sound of rain - as it pulled up to the men - a person dressed in bright gold armour stepped out - red gems decorated their armour such that it sparkled even in the rain.


    "Ok - he''s clearly an important person - though he''s a little too fancy for a captain..." Lily though as the person walked up to the front and cleared his throat revealing a soft angelic voice - "Uh - hey. I''m here on behalf of the church of the four gods - and I''d like to take a second of your time to talk about our holy order..." Lily felt a shiver up her spine as the man spoke.


    "So - like, as you all know, it''s commonplace for knights to become paladins, and to do that they have to join an order - and I''m here because our order is actually - like - really low on members..." the man spoke making exaggerated gestures.


    "So - if any of you are interested in joining the celibate order - please raise your hand..." the man waited for any response - eventually the large man who recently joined the rows of soldiers raised his and - "Ah - glad to see someone interested!" the man exclaimed to which the figure replied "No - it''s just... I wanted to ask a question." he replied.


    "Oh - well, go ahead!" the man exclaimed giving the man a thumbs up.


    "What does celibate mean, exactly?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Umm...it''s like...just this thing...we are..." the man was uncertain how to reply and so just handed out some leaflets which the soldiers took out of pity before leaving.


    "W-well...that was an interesting person..." the man in the front announced - "I think that''s all the big stuff - now we''re just waiting for the captain and - oh there he is!" the man stepped aside as the normal-looking man walked out in front of the men - his face looked exactly like the portrait - Lily aimed at the man who wasn''t wearing a helmet - and pulled the trigger - the bolt shot towards the man and as Lily was ready to see the area coated in a crimson shower - nothing happened.


    Uncertain of what happened Lily loaded another bolt and shot again - looking at it closely she noticed it was getting hit from somewhere else - she looked around seeing another cloaked figure standing at the opposite rooftop - it was a man holding a slingshot, he too was aiming for the captain.


    Appalled by his rude behaviour Lily loaded the crossbow again and shot him a warning shot which he shot down in mid-air with one of the rocks he used as ammunition for the slingshot.


    The man shot her an angry look before quickly pulling back the slingshot - Lily was an expert but there was no way she could load a crossbow as fast as he can with a slingshot - she saw the rock fly towards the oblivious captain before once again it disappeared - both Lily and the man were in shock - he looked up at her and Lily just shrugged they looked around seeing a girl with a longbow in her hand standing on the roof next Lily.


    Lily started pointing at herself and making the sticking up her index finger as if to say "I was first." the girl nodded and placed an arrow into the bow and shot it at Lily - the arrow was quickly stopped by the man''s slingshot - the bow-girl now looked over to him with a ''what gives'' look to which the man gestured a knock one he head as if to say ''Are you crazy!?''.


    The bow girl replied by pointing at Lily, gesturing the number one - then pointing at the captain and gesturing the number two.


    Fed up with the confusion the man tried to shoot the captain once more - this time none of the string-based weapon users could reload in time - his projectile was stopped once again - confused he looked around - both of the girls sighed - that''s when the man spotted another hooded figure with a blowpipe standing very close to the captain - Lily panicked realising she might lose her target - the man quickly reached for the next stone to load but the bow-girl was one step ahead of them and already fired her projectile - the arrow flew like the wind - cutting through the rain and penetrating her target''s skull.


    The bow girl looked at Lily and the man on the other side with a blank expression before giving them a thumbs up - Lily looked over realising she didn''t shoot the captain - but rather the blowpipe guy who was now laying on the ground dead.


    The two assassins shook their heads violently as if to silently scold the bow-girl for her actions to which she just sat down on the roof - seemingly upset.


    Lily looked over to the slingshot guy - he gestured at himself, then the captain, then Lily than the captain - they both get a shot at killing him.


    Lily thought about it and just as she was about to agree a massive rock flew in from somewhere - it was at least two meters in diameter.


    Almost in slow motion Lily, bow-girl and slingshot-guy looked over to see a cloaked figure standing far beyond the walls of the district with a trebuchet - they quickly looked back to the rock seeing it crumble into pieces - they squinted to see what caused it shocked to see that not only was it the blowpipe person - arrow still in their head - but also the soldiers didn''t seem to have noticed the boulder being hurled and then broken in their general area.


    "Did he just break a boulder with a blowdart?" the bow-girl asked blankly causing Lily and the slingshot-guy to put their index fingers to their lips - but it was too late - the soldiers heard her (but not the boulder) - "Who''s there?!" the captain demanded before him and several of the soldiers were crushed by the trebuchet''s boulders.


    The bow-girl and slingshot man ran away almost instantly - the blowpipe guy stumbled away - trying to remove the arrow from his head but it was stuck.


    The surviving soldiers fled - seeing this Lily took her opportunity and jumped off the roof and ran into the tunnel.


    A massive collection of tunnels under about half of the city - they are long since abandoned - and are used by various shady people thanks to that fact.


    Heading down the wet, slimy stairs made of large stone bricks which became worn over the years of water dripping from the ceiling.


    Lily took a deep breath now that she was in the clear - that said the tunnels were completely dark without a torch, Lily could have cast a light spell - but for all she knew she could have been followed down here, she decided that as long as she sticks to the walls she''ll be fine.


    Suddenly she felt a cold breeze - that wasn''t all that abnormal in the big open tunnels - but it was accompanied by a tap - Lily realising it could be a tunnel-rat turned around - they won''t stalk prey that seems lively.


    After what felt like a few minutes of silence Lily turned around and started walking only to bump into something big and cold - it felt like dry sack filled with tightly packed flesh - after falling to the ground she stood back up - hearing more tapping behind her, although now it resembled scuttling - she rushed towards the exit - hearing the noise come closer and closer - the occasional breeze became a constant stream of cold air which surrounded her.


    Seeing the light now within her grasp Lily felt her leg grabbed by what felt like a coiling ring of sharp teeth - she created a bright white circle in the palm of her hand - for a second the light illuminated the disgusting creature, it looked like massive maggot - with grey hide and several unevenly-sized legs - several of these legs were pressed down on her leg - the razorblade like teeth digging into her flesh.


    The creature recoiled from the light - thrashing as it returned into the darkness still clutching her leg.


    "Boost!" she exclaimed as a blue circle appeared on the sole of her boot launching her towards the exit seemingly safe now she stumbled out - the throbbing pain from the severely damaged leg was hard to ignore - it was bad with the adrenaline but by the time she made it into the forest outside Adam''s house she passed out, hearing footsteps coming closer as she did.


    Back at Adam¡¯s house he and I were done with the blueprints, Adam was trying a new batch of his pseudo-tea while I was making another attempt at the language, I made Adam only speak in the language to me so I¡¯m forced to learn it.


    ¡°So, how are you?¡± Adam slowly pronounced the words so that I could understand.


    ¡°yes.¡± I replied not understanding a single word other than ¡®you¡¯.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re getting better!¡± Adam exclaimed.


    ¡°Really?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, last time I asked you how are you, you replied with ¡®no¡¯ so I¡¯d say this is a step in a positive direction,¡± Adam explained sarcastically.


    ¡°Very funny,¡± I replied equally sarcastically.


    A knock came on the door followed by the voice of the older dryad, Cloe.


    ¡°Come in!¡± Adam said as he made his way to the door, he only now realised it was getting bright outside.


    Adam opened the door seeing the two dryads, Cloe and Al, holding what looked like an improvised stretcher made from sticks and large leaves, on the stretched lay the injured Lily seemingly unconscious.


    ¡°We found her bleeding outside of the forest and remembered she comes here sometimes so we decided we should bring her here.¡±


    ¡°Is she alive?!¡± Adam inquired nervously.


    ¡°Yeah, we closed her wounds with some special roots but she¡¯ll need to remove them as soon a possible,¡± Cloe replied.


    Adam clicked his tongue as he heard the news and sighed, ¡°Oh well, I guess it can¡¯t be helped.¡±


    Adam took the disturbingly pale Lily off the stretcher and carried her to his room over his shoulder. ¡°Looks like I¡¯m sleeping on the couch today.¡± Adam sighed before turning back to the dryads standing in the door.


    ¡°Thanks for helping her out, I¡¯ll make sure she¡¯ll buy you some snacks once she¡¯s back to normal,¡± Adam said with a smile.


    The two dryads exchanged an excited look before turning back to Adam. ¡°Great, then we¡¯ll get going now,¡± Cloe said as they both waved bye to Adam, who once again did the same.


    ¡°Move over, I want to go to sleep,¡± Adam said as he sat down on the couch.


    ¡°Just go to sleep in your room, man,¡± I replied.


    ¡°There is no way in hell I¡¯m sleeping in the same room as that psychopath,¡± Adam replied with a yawn.


    I got off the bed and decided to head to sleep too, as I fell onto my bed I awaited the moment when I¡®ll pass out¡­ but I didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Damn it, I can¡¯t sleep¡­¡± I groaned to myself, it must have been that energy drink I got from Adam.


    What the hell am I supposed to do¡­ I don¡¯t want to be asleep while Adam does all the cool things¡­ I guess all in all I can¡¯t give out that much about this world, it¡¯s more violent, there is a crossbow-wielding murderer sleeping next door, I¡¯ve lived with a tea obsessed adopted father of two grass people who are out in the day doing stuff with a literal camp of barbarians¡­it¡¯s a hell of a lot more interesting than life on Earth... most lives for that matter...


    I never realised when I fell asleep, I woke up to strong rays of light outside my window, I looked outside expecting to see the usual scenery but instead I saw large patches of dead grass, the tree leaves were turning brown and falling off mid-summer, Adam was right about this not looking like a natural phenomenon.


    I made my way to the living room where Adam was sitting, already awake.


    ¡°Sup¡­¡± I asked - my tone the usual morning end-me-now tone.


    ¡°Aside from crippling back pain, I¡¯m good,¡± Adam replied, I saw he was fiddling with a few vials of the energy drink in his hand.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t drink too many of them y¡¯know.¡± I told him with a sigh.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I know mom,¡± Adam said with a defeated chuckle.


    ¡°Did you check on Lily?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Nope, sleep is very important for the body to regenerate, besides it¡¯s not like she could be hurt that badly¡­¡± Adam said in a reassuring voice.


    I rummaged through the shelves in the kitchen for the ingredients I¡¯d assemble into some breakfast.


    ¡°Make me something too!¡± Adam said without even bothering to look towards the kitchen.


    ¡°Fine, what do you want?¡± I asked, I already had something in mind.


    ¡°I¡¯m good with whatever, really.¡± He called back.


    ¡°Alright.¡±


    I never really got the appeal of cooking back on Earth, I mean what¡¯s the point of putting effort into something that¡¯s going to get eaten? Like what¡¯s the point of ice sculptures¡­unless you live on the north pole or something - that said humanity was doing it¡¯s best to melt that place too last time I was on Earth so the metaphor might break down in twenty years or something, however recently I gave cooking a shot, I started off with some scrambled egg, than I slowly got onto more and more complicated things, I¡¯ve yet to burn down the house so I¡¯d say I¡¯m doing fairly well.


    In a bowl, I mixed together two cups of flour, some salt, some sugar¡­ I think I was meant to add baking powder¡­or was it baking soda?... what¡¯s the difference anyway?! either way we don¡¯t have any.


    Next, in a separate bowl I beat a few eggs, I added a splash of milk and mixed it into the flour mixture. Allegedly you¡¯re not supposed to over-mix it, but whoever came up with that rule has too much time on their hands and is trying to complicate cooking for us normal people¡­


    (After all the pancakes came out pretty tough so maybe I should have mixed them less¡­)


    I served the pancakes with some butter like they do on TV, there were exactly ten pancakes so I decided I¡¯d serve three per person, that¡¯s including Lily, leaving us with one I was hoping to bring to the dryads to try, if they like it than I¡¯d take them into account when making pancakes, for all I know they could be starving out there¡­


    Or maybe I just like seeing people eating my food


    ¡°Here you go,¡± I said placing the plated pancakes in front of Adam with a fork, I also put my ones down with a fork next to his, I then headed to Adam¡¯s room to bring some food to Lily.


    I opened the door only to see Lily in a euphoric state of bliss laying on the bed rolling around in what I assumed were Adam¡¯s clothes.


    We made quick eye contact before I placed the food down on the floor and slowly backed out of the room.


    As I re-entered the living room I saw Adam finishing off his second pancake.


    ¡°Is she awake?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°...y-yeah¡­don¡¯t go in there for a while¡­she¡¯s changing¡­or something¡­¡± I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the large pancaked with some melted butter and placed it in a wooden box resembling a primitive lunch-box.


    ¡°Are you going somewhere?¡± Adam asked seeing me walking towards the door, a look of disgust still on my face after the image of Lily which lingered in my head.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯m going to bring a pancake for the dryads to try out¡­ you can have my ones¡­ I lost my apatite.¡± I said as I closed the door and made my way down the path to the dryad¡¯s forest.


    Adam shrugged and slid my plate over to his side.


    On my way I made sure to inspect the plant life around the forest, it seemed to be doing alright when it came to plants but I heard significantly fewer insects than usual,than again I¡¯d consider that a good thing, insects and owls are the spawn of evil¡­and jellyfish. I mean come on they literally don¡¯t have a heart.


    ¡°Hey, dryads!¡± I called out, out from a bush shot out the two heads of Cloe and Al.


    ¡°Yes?¡± Cloe asked in an excited voice.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got some food I¡¯d like you to try, if you¡¯ll like it I¡¯ll bring you it more often,¡± I said, I¡¯m not good with kids so I just tried to speak as nicely as possible, not to mention my grasp of the language is still imperfect, and I didn¡¯t want to be so dependent on English, since I could only communicate with a hand-full of people with it.


    ¡°Food?¡± Al the smallest dryad asked looking over to the box I was holding.


    ¡°Yep¡­ so I guess I¡¯ll just¡­leave it down here.¡± I said placing the wooden box down and pushing it in their general direction.


    ¡°Thanks¡­eh¡­.sorry, what¡¯s your name?¡± Cloe asked she was squinting her eyes as if she was trying to recall my non-existent name.


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t have a name¡­ I couldn¡¯t pick one so I decided to stay nameless.¡± I explained.


    ¡°Oh, I see¡­ so what should we call you?¡± Cloe asked although Al¡¯s attention was clearly drawn to the box.


    ¡°Ehm¡­ I don¡¯t mind what you go with.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Anyway, just bring the box back whenever,¡± I said with a shrug as I made my way back up to the house, thankfully the awkwardness of that encounter successfully wiped the image of Lily in a pile of Adam¡¯s clothes out of my mind.


    ¡°Did they like it?¡± Adam asked, returning from the kitchen, presumably after washing the dishes.


    ¡°I dunno¡¯, I¡¯m not good with kids and the whole conversation was a bit awkward so I left ASAP.¡±


    With a loud crash, Lily left Adam¡¯s room and stumbled her way into the Living room.


    ¡°Feeling better? Perhaps feeling good enough to let me sleep in my room? Eh?¡± Adam spoke with a wry expression.


    ¡°Y-yes. I¡¯m sorry about all this¡­ I need to tell you something¡­ in private¡­¡± She glanced at me for a second before continuing to stare at Adam.


    ¡°Alright, I got the message,¡± I said, hands raised in the air lazily before leaving to the bathroom.


    Little did Lily know I was still listening to everything through the closed door.


    ¡°What did you want to tell me?¡± Adam spoke in a tone suggesting he was annoyed and tired at the same time, most likely from sleeping on the couch.


    ¡°There is something wrong in Exversia,¡± Lily explained.


    ¡°Aside from a few bars, nothing is right in that city¡­¡± Adam replied half sarcastically and half realistically.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean! There were dozens of these¡­humanoids in the tunnels beneath the city, they were pale and violent!¡± Lily rebuked,


    ¡°Yeah, I believe you¡­ that said that is the description of a vast majority of the people who live in Exversia.¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, they felt wrong¡­ what kind of people collect in the tunnels beneath a city, in such large groups before trying to stab them to death?!¡± Lily demanded.


    ¡°Drug addicts and drug dealers, that describes about fifty to seventy percent of that city¡¯s-¡± Adam was interrupted this time.


    ¡°FINE, I¡¯ll go back alone!¡± Lily stomped out of the building shutting the door behind her and walking off down to the path, past the dryads and past the monster hunter camp.


    I left the bathroom, ¡°Do you really hate her that much?¡± I asked sitting down on the couch.


    ¡°If I didn¡¯t, I would have told her to remove the stitched from the would or they¡¯ll decompose inside,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Christ man that¡¯s dark¡­ but admirable¡­ in a twisted way.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about her, she¡¯s an idiot, but she¡¯s an idiot with a lot of survival experience, I¡¯m not sure why she felt like she needed to tell me this but, hey¡­women,¡± Adam said as he leaned back on the couch.


    I didn¡¯t say anything and just leaned back too.


    ¡°So how did you meet Lily anyway?¡± I asked eventually.


    ¡°It¡¯s a bit of a boring story¡­ I can tell by your behaviour that it¡¯s the same gown ass, albeit lazy and unmotivated man inside that body of yours, but for the rest of us, and by that I mean us that remember Earth, we usually only remember it later on in life, and sometimes we can dismiss it as a fantasy altogether.¡±


    ¡°Thing is, my childhood was all sorts of messed up, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m refusing to talk about it because I¡¯m scared by it or something, I just don¡¯t want people to think I¡¯m selling them a sob story for some sympathy,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it man, I would never dream of giving you any sympathy,¡± I said reassuringly, yet sarcastically.


    ¡°Basically, my parents were really big fans of magic, I mean like send your son abroad to study magic from the age of seven in a super fancy school and disown him when you find out he¡¯s only slightly above average,¡± Adam emphasized the word slightly.


    ¡°In other words, I went from living like a snobby noble to living on the streets, granted a few years later I got picked up by the monster hunters and I guess you could say my life¡¯s been going pretty well from that point on¡­except you know¡­¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°I guess I had a bit of a hero complex, not that I walked around in a cape or anything like that, but I liked acting like the selfless hero¡­ I guess nobody suffered from that act so it¡¯s not like I regret it.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t exactly back to eating fancy cheeses and drinking vintage wine, but I made a decent living with the monster hunters, every week or at-least whenever I could I would walk down to Exversia, the big capital city round¡¯ here and if there were some homeless kids I¡¯d buy them some bread and soup or just hand them some money. I stopped giving money to adults after I met this one homeless man who kept trying to beg me for money and immediately going off to get drunk, I felt betrayed, man.¡±


    ¡°Keep in mind I was kind of sore after my parents backstabbed me, so it¡¯s fair to say I wasn¡¯t exactly all that rational.¡±


    Adam began telling his story¡­


    It began when I was sixteen or seventeen, I did my usual tour of the streets when I saw a new face, or rather a new head since the face was planted obscured as the figure was sitting in a foetal position, with dirty white hair and bruised feet and hands.


    ¡°Hey, are you alright?¡± I asked, ready to hear out the tragic back story and comfort the poor soul oh-so-heroically.


    The pale, dirty face of the perv we all know and sometimes tolerate looked up at me, she was a bit younger than me at the time¡­and most likely still is.


    She didn¡¯t say anything and just went back to silently sobbing, my first reaction was oh well, guess the hero act would be wasted on her, there weren¡¯t any people around to praise my heroism so I just left her there.


    Next week, unsurprisingly, she was still there.


    ¡°Hey, I remember you!¡± I said as I approached the girl, sitting in the same place as before, granted she looked even worse than before.


    She looked up at me again and again didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Y¡¯know you¡¯d get more money if you interacted with the people,¡± I said not quite sounding upset, but more disappointed.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want your stupid money.¡± The person we now call Lily said.


    I was shocked by this, maybe she wanted to starve to death or something? I got pretty depressed when I was left alone.


    That was the first time in a very long time that I was speaking genuinely to someone outside of the monster hunter camp.


    ¡°Damn, this place looks like shit¡­¡± I commented.


    She didn¡¯t say anything¡­


    ¡°Are you really all that sad?¡± I asked.


    ¡°of course¡­my parent¡­and my brother¡­they¡¯re¡­¡± Lily¡¯s voice became shakier until it became impossible to understand and I just got confused and left.


    Next week, I walked past the same stops, as usual, go to the east side and visit the orphanage ran by the old man, he¡¯d always go on about how generous I am¡­ I didn¡¯t get a chance to listen to his praise this time, I had somewhere to be¡­ Lily was once again my last stop.


    I saw her there, in her usual spot, this time no longer sitting in the foetal position, but rather just sitting pressed against the wall of the building, the same rags she wore up until now, getting dirtier every time.


    ¡°You know, starvation is a pretty crappy way to go¡­¡± I said handing Lily a piece of bread I pretended to have got for breakfast and instead selflessly gave it to her, in reality, I just got it specifically to look good, I¡¯m not sure for who¡­before you ask I wasn¡¯t interested and am still not interested in her, but I guess I felt good just putting on this fa?ade.


    She meekly took the bread, at first it was a small bite and before I knew it I watched her eat the whole thing before standing up and leaving.


    It was only on my way out of there that I realised ¡°Holy crap I didn¡¯t wait for her to thank me¡­¡± now you may think this inspired me to be a better person or something, but in reality, it was like a genuine cherry atop my cake of lies.


    I kept up my ritual, I started realising Lily was looking worse and worse every day, not only was she horrifically thin, but she was looking bruised as well, this was something that the heroic I couldn¡¯t¡­care less about¡­


    That said, I found myself looking for a justification to help, I was up all night in the camp, which was located near the city back then, and once I decided that if she¡¯d see me heroically saving her from whoever was attacking her, surely she¡¯d give in and praise me as the glorious saviour I obviously am, I was able to plan what I¡¯d do the next day.


    I went to the city one day earlier, and after I ran all my stops, I mademyway to where Lily usually sat, there I saw the sight that haunted me for a long time, it was Lily, being held by the throat, a gentle stream of blood trickling from her mouth and nose.


    ¡°Why can¡¯t you manage to get money like the other kids, you brat!?¡± The man demanded landing a punch to her gut.


    But this was not what scared me, it wasn¡¯t the blood or the sight of four grown men beating this defenceless girl, it was that split second when I looked at her and she looked back, that short exchange of eye contact¡­ but what was I to do, this wasn¡¯t one man¡­ this wasn¡¯t one teenager¡­ these were four grown-ass men¡­they could have had weapons¡­and so I did nothing¡­ I fled.


    What was I supposed to do?¡­.


    Never once have I felt worse, not when my family disowned me, not when I ended up living on the streets for years, and not when I tried to drown myself in the canal to be done with this world¡­


    This was a different brand of pain, this was the pain of helplessness.


    Not even the next day, that night I went back to the city and headed to that alley.


    I saw that same, white-haired girl rolled up in a ball of sadness, laying on the street and I couldn¡¯t explain the feeling I felt¡­ It wasn¡¯t pity or regret¡­well maybe some regret¡­no I felt rage, a blood-lust, unlike anything I felt before.


    I didn¡¯t know what to say, I sat down in that muck and dirt and mud beside her, took off my fur coat and threw it over to her.


    At first, she didn¡¯t react.


    ¡°You¡¯ll get sick¡­¡± she said, sniffling as she said it.


    ¡°Nope, I can¡¯t,¡± I replied plainly.


    I sat there for the several hours, I saw the moon above me, the whole time I was looking for a way to apologise, screw the hero act I thought, if I needed to get on my knees in the mud to apologise I would.


    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± She asked, sitting up slowly and placing her back against the wall.


    She placed half of the coat she was using as a blanket to cover me up, but it ended up with it only being able to reach around to one of my legs.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about before¡­¡± I said I felt a tightness in my throat as I said that.


    ¡°I-it¡¯s alright¡­you have nothing to be sorry for¡­in fact you¡¯re too nice to someone you don¡¯t even know¡­¡± for the first time since I saw her, she spoke with a smile albeit a sad one.


    ¡°You¡¯re wrong¡­ it¡¯s not because I was nice¡­I just wanted to feel good about being nice¡­¡± I replied It took all the manliness I had left in me not to start crying there and then.


    ¡°Then why are you here?¡± Lily asked with a half-smile.


    ¡°...¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond, I knew why I was there¡­ but the truth was I genuinely wanted to help this poor (literally and figuratively poor ) girl, but my mind at the time couldn¡¯t comprehend such pure thoughts on my behalf and so I replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡±


    After some silence Lily spoke up, ¡°Thank you.¡± she said, leaning her head onto my shoulder, at the time, that that was pretty sweet, nowadays I gotta¡¯ lock my windows at night or she¡¯ll sneak into the house¡­


    I waited until morning, ¡°Thanks for staying with me for the night¡­ and thanks for letting me use that coat¡­ you should go back home now.¡± Lily tried her best to make a full smile.


    ¡°I will, soon,¡± I replied.


    It must have become clear to her what I planned to do at this point because she grabbed a hold of my hand.


    ¡°Don¡¯t do anything stupid, those men¡­they said if I do something stupid they¡¯ll track me down and kill me and everyone around me¡­¡± Lily pleaded.


    ¡°Really?¡± I asked, ¡°How would they find you?¡± I asked.


    Lily lifted the dirty rage of a dress-up slightly revealing a seal, it¡¯s like a tattoo that does magic stuff.


    I put a hand on Lily¡¯s forehead wiping away some of the dirt, ¡°I promise if you¡¯re ever in trouble again, just let me know and I¡¯ll help you out.¡± I said.


    I grabbed Lily by the hand, ¡°I have a plan.¡± I said as I dragged Lily out the city and back to my home, that being the monster hunter camp, you may think that they may have had a problem with my plan but nope, if nothing else those monster hunters are fiercely loyal, when I told them my friend was in trouble they just asked how they could help and I mean every last one.


    For the next few days Lily lived with us, there was a fair share of women in the group so it wasn¡¯t as awkward for her as it could have been.


    They got her new clothes and whatnot.


    Every day until the fourth night Lily was clearly nervous, she must have wanted to escape but I explained the situation about her being threatened to Darthold (yes he was still in charge back then too) and he agreed we need to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn¡¯t run away until the plan is complete.


    That night, we saw a few men with torches approach the camp, there must have been ten of them or so, they walked into the camp, their laughing and sniggering stopped very quickly as we lit the lights in the camp revealing the fact they were surrounded by a small army of armoured, muscular men with axes and swords, they tried to turn to run but the exit was also blocked off.


    I won¡¯t lie, we were a bit sadistic at the time but we killed every last one of them.


    The next morning Lily was told that they wouldn¡¯t bother her anymore, and long story short she thanked us - I asked Darthold if it¡¯d be alright for her to stay with us, he was alright with it, she agreed and¡­yeah¡­ that¡¯s about it.


    Adam finished telling his story.


    ¡°...damn you were a dick as a kid.¡± was my only comment on the story, that said that whole story explained why Lily was so into Adam, I won¡¯t stroke his ego but I think he acted pretty heroic towards the end.


    ¡°Anyway¡­ I¡¯m not sure what she¡¯s on about now, something about spooky monsters in the tunnels.¡± Adam made a wriggly motion with his fingers like when people try to show something really isn¡¯t scary.


    ¡°Damn, man¡­ Nevertheless, I think you should go check it out, you did promise her you¡¯d help her out.¡± I replied.


    ¡°...I hate how right you are sometimes, you know that.¡± Adam said that with a straight face, and a hint of disappointment and annoyance in his voice.


    Adam got off the couch and headed to the fridge to get some drink, aside from his tea obsession he also tried to recreate some other drinks like orange juice and lemon juice, granted some of those fruits exist here but unlike earth a lot of them haven¡¯t been cross-bred to taste like they do, for example, the melons here are the size of a fist and actually taste like ass, and lemons don¡¯t even exist.


    I¡¯ve proven with my tea and cola experiment before that I can create things I remember the taste and texture of here, there are some limitations though, I was never a health freak back on earth so I never read the labels on the backs of stuff, in other words even if I remember the taste of some multi-vitamin, I can¡¯t create it here with the same properties as back on earth.


    Adam stood in front of the open fridge as he looked around for anything he¡¯d want.


    ¡°I guess I should go over and check¡­but nowadays Lily¡¯d most likely be able to kick my ass if she wanted¡­ in fair combat at least.¡± Adam said he was trying to justify his inaction.


    ¡°I¡¯d go¡­ but I don¡¯t have my guns yet¡­¡± While this was my excuse for not going, it wasn¡¯t wrong, if there was actually something down there I¡¯d be dead weight.


    Meanwhile, far below the city of Exversia - through the maze of chambers and tunnels - some flooded or infested with sewer rats, stood the massive compound - in the massive room, almost as big as a lake - the building stood on massive metal stilts almost resembling an oil-platform.


    The light from it illuminated the massive area, like a candle in a massive empty room - who knows what stirred below - in the cold, dark waters.


    The silence of the darkness was contrasted by the loud footsteps of the people walking on the platform - the sound came from several armoured men and people from the mage-wing of the military.


    The military defaults wore heavy iron armour - with short capes and shields, the mage variant wore black trousers, a dark greed greatcoat with thick sleeves, tall black leather boots with metal plates over the toes.


    The robes also had a hood - most people chose to wear it, along with the rarely equipped gloves to stay warm in the cold conditions of what they called the under-lake.


    In total five people were moving across the metal platform - two mages, two military defaults and a more heavily clothed figure, a woman - looking like she was in her mid to late twenties - aside from the greatcoat, puffier trousers and bigger boots and gloves, she also wore a beret - her hair tied into a ponytail.


    While different ranks in the military did have different badges for their ranks - their hats were at all points of the rank-ladder, just decorational.


    The group made their way through the platform towards a large wooden door, reinforced with metal plates, the woman in the lead opened the door revealing what looked like a laboratory.


    Inside the laboratory sad a man with black hair, it was messy.


    ¡°Hey, boss¡­¡± the man¡¯s words sounded tried - as if he either just woke up or was ready to fall asleep at any moment.


    ¡°Charles¡­¡± the person he referred to as boss replied almost as a greeting.


    ¡°What brings you down here?¡± Charles was sitting on a black spiny chair - something not typically found in this world, on the right side of the room ran a long, unbroken line of desks with boxes of papers and pencils.


    ¡°Well - aside from looking for a certain escapee-¡± she raised her voice as she said escapee, ¡°- I¡¯m here to get the progress-report, I had to come get it earlier because the higher-ups want it spell-checked this time¡­¡±


    Charles looked a little embarrassed - ¡°Sorry about that, still going through a bit of a rough patch with the language¡­¡±


    She let out a sight ¡°Regardless - I¡¯m also here because - as hard as it is to believe - the general of our military, a person currently holding one-third of the power over all of our military strength is skipping work.¡± as she talked she walked over to another spinny chair - turning it to reveal a white-haired man, who looked like he was in his mid-forties - he looked thin and lanky, with small dots for eyes - dressed in the same uniform as the woman except he also more a scarf, he was holding a white mug filled with a light brown liquid, it was steaming - that¡¯s what gave away his position.


    His expression was still slightly shocked - ¡°Yo¡­¡±


    ¡°Hot chocolate?¡± he asked moving the mug over to the woman who looked like she was about ready to choke him.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡­ DRINKING HOT CHOCOLATE WHILE WE¡¯RE ON THE BRINK OF WAR?!¡±


    Charles, looking guilty quickly moved the mug sitting on the side of his desk down under the desk.


    ¡°We have tea too¡­¡±


    ¡°GET YOUR ASS BACK UP TO THE OFFICE!¡±


    He leaned back on his chair, taking a sip of the hot chocolate - ¡°I¡¯m entitled to thirty days off annually.¡±


    ¡°THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO THINK ABOUT YOUR HOL - wait, how many days off do you get?!¡± the woman¡¯s tone shifted dramatically.


    ¡°Thirty days, the perks of being a general.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°N-Never-mind that! You can¡¯t be slacking off now!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m doing no such thing¡­ ¡± his tone switched to a more serious one.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been working on something big down here for a few days now - it¡¯s all about to come together¡­¡± he explained.


    ¡°...what is it?¡± she was starting to get concerned - ¡°What is this big secret - what if it¡¯s classified? ¡­Do I want to know?¡± she thought,


    Without saying anything,them man turned in his chair, pulled out a folder and opened it, as he placed it on the table a picture slid out from the inside.¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an image of the central mountains - specifically the big one in the middle, ¡± he explained.


    ¡°Is something wrong with it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so¡­ it¡¯s all been slowly coming together over the last few days - I had to get Charles over there to help me out with it¡­¡±


    He pointed to the middle of the picture - ¡°see this little house?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know which piece goes where¡­¡± he said pointing at the roof.


    Confused she looked closer realising this was not, in fact, a picture, it was a jigsaw puzzle.


    ¡°...are you playing with jigsaw puzzles down here instead of doing your job? And you dare call it work?¡±


    ¡°I told you, I¡¯m on holiday - I¡¯m just saying that I am in fact doing something,¡± he explained.


    ¡°The roof takes up two pieces - but the two roof bits are interchangeable - so I don¡¯t know where to put which one¡­ this is driving me mad¡­¡±


    With the speed of a titan, he dodged a series of blows from the now irritated woman.


    ¡°Stop it! You¡¯re making a mess!¡± a different person ran over - it was a woman - seemingly an intern or some sort of apprentice - she rushed over, picking up sheets of paper which were blown off the tables thanks to the fighting.


    ¡°A new part-timer?¡± the woman asked with a raised eyebrow,


    ¡°Something like that - she just walked in here one day demanding a job - this is a secret military base so it¡¯s either giving her a job or execution so¡­¡± Charles¡¯ reply left the woman confused - she looked Issac, the general to ask if that¡¯s really a good idea but he was already busygetting input from the part-timer on how to determine which jigsaw bit goes where¡­


    ¡°ISSAC!¡±


    Issac sighed - ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go back to the office¡­¡± he let out a sigh before walking out ¡°Which teleporter takes you to the castle?¡±


    ¡°We had to close that one - take the green one - it¡¯s the closest,¡± Charles explained.


    Issac nodded and walked away only to poke his head in through the door and say ¡°I¡¯ll be back once she leaves¡­¡± to Charles who just gave him a silent thumbs-up.


    ¡°ANYWAY¡­ I¡¯m going to need that report now,¡± she explained.


    ¡°Charles, who is this woman?¡± the part-timer asked discretely,


    ¡°Ehh¡­ that¡¯s eh¡­¡±


    Charles looked towards her - ¡°What¡¯s your rank again? I¡¯m bad with that stuff.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Lieutenant-General¡­¡± she replied seemingly upset with Charles for forgetting.


    ¡°Yeah - so she¡¯s like¡­ four ranks below Issac?¡± Charles said uncertainly.


    ¡°Three actually, also - you shouldn¡¯t refer to your superiors by their first name¡­¡±


    ¡°We have to - it¡¯s an order.¡± Charles shrugged.


    ¡°...let me guess¡­ the general¡¯s orders?¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°Now - the reports¡­¡± Charles stood up patting his pockets and checking the shelves before turning to the intern - ¡°Be a dear and bring me the top-secret reports for me from the office, alright?¡± Charles tossed her the keyring with a small skull key-chain.


    She caught the key and replied with an ¡°O-kay!¡± then she headed out the door and rushed to the office.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Seriously if you want some hot chocolate, I can get you some.¡± Charles offered, thinking that was the reason for the awkward silence.


    ¡°...you just handed the office keys¡­ to a stranger¡­ and tasked a part-timer and a stranger with bringing top secret info!¡±


    ¡°How much damage can a kid cause?¡± Charles shrugged.


    ¡°You mean aside from accidentally releasing the you-know-what or leaking secret information.¡±


    ¡°It was Issac¡¯s suggestion, you know¡­¡±


    ¡°The fact our general would do something like this is even more concerning than if you did¡­¡± she said in defeat before hearing the door open loudly as the part-timer returned with a notepad filled with various papers.


    The mood in the room changed slightly as the part-timer handed the Lieutenant General the notepad - ¡°As you can see, we continued expanding the serum - from the looks of it every vial we get can be expanded to about fifteen-hundred percent of its original size without changing its effect on living things¡­¡± Charles started explaining the results of the recent experiments.


    ¡°As usual, none survived the process - however unlike the first few batches - we¡¯ve managed to keep these in human-form consistently.¡±


    ¡°There is no greater difference between the elven, dwarven or human subjects - the animal-people seem to struggle longer before turning, but the end result is the same.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ attempting to place them in a tool has shown some promise at first - before it was discovered that the souls were being attached to the bacteria covering the blade and not the blade itself.¡±


    ¡°So the souls can only inhabit living things?¡± the Lieutenant General asked,


    ¡°Technically all it needs is a soul - so, for example, a human, bacteria or plant, even viruses.¡±


    ¡°Could you place a soul in a sword for example?¡±


    ¡°No - a soul placed in a tool is the same as a soul in mid-air or in some rocks, it¡¯ll either move on or¡­¡±


    ¡°About that - the wall should be covering most of the planet already.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed¡­¡± Charles sighed pointing to small glass plates - ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to grow a special colony of fungi for a while no - now they barely even survive much less grow¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s alright - Issac said it¡¯s just temporary¡­¡±


    ¡°...right¡­¡±


    ¡°Anyway - I¡¯ll get going now¡­ I have to read over this to make sure you don¡¯t talk about -¡± the Lieutenant General cleared her throat ¡°Implanting lemon fouls into best subjects¡­¡±


    Charles turned red at the reminder of his spelling before turning away on his spiny chair.


    ¡°Well, are you ready to get to work?¡± the intern sounded excited to get to work,


    He took a deep breath, ¡°M-hmm¡­¡± he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with a flame that appeared at the tip of his index finger.


    He walked over to the big metal door on the other side of the room and opened it revealing something akin to a torture room - blood and chunks of flesh covering the floor and table - cages filled with animals and people littering the sides, tables of black swirling liquid all over the shelves - hanging blades and tweezers drip blood down onto the floor.


    ¡°Don¡¯t smoke in here!¡± the intern demanded - seemingly upset.


    ¡°It¡¯s disturbing how that¡¯s the biggest concern for you in this situation¡­¡±


    On the table lay an elf - arms, legs and neck clamped to the table, a rag in their mouth to muffle their speech - Charles cleared his throat and began going over the routine he had with the test subjects - ¡°Hello - my name¡¯s Charles, you have been selected to take part in the Exversian top-secret experiment - we would appreciate your full cooperation, else we will be forced to target your family and friends.¡±


    ¡°And I¡¯m Pam - I will be recording the experiments!¡± the part-timer said excitedly.


    ¡°Right¡­ let¡¯s get to work¡­¡±


    ¡°O-kay!¡±


    ¡°Today we¡¯ll be covering¡­ ¡®the effects of taking the solution orally and taking it internally.¡¯ ¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡±


    ¡°Just hand me the scalpel¡­¡±


    ¡°Gotcha!¡±

 Chapter 5: The Hooded Figure

    The cloaked figure entered the town surrounded by a field of ullar trees, in the centreof the town stood the massive wooden structure with various platforms, there were stone walls located around the entirety of the town, carts with pots and sacks travelled to and from the town frequently,


    The figure removed their hood revealing a head of white hair and red eyes.


    The man walked into the city seeing two guards chatting about being transferred to this town recently.


    The white-haired man approached the two men, ¡°Evening¡¯ boys.¡± he said as a greeting.


    ¡°Ah, you must be another one of the traders, go on into the city- the others are setting up their stalls around the big wooden thing.¡± the pleasantsoundingguard said gesturing him inside,


    ¡°No, actually I¡¯m here because I¡¯ve heard about some monsterkilling people in this village, I came here to deal with it.¡± the white-haired man explained.


    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re a bit late for that! Some guys showed up a few days back and killed the alleged monster.¡± the guard explained.


    ¡°I see¡­thank you for the information.¡± He said before stepping into the city, he looked around for the corpse, but he only saw the shallow hole in the ground where the creature must have fallen.


    Carrying several scrolls the blond-haired Kate hurried past the white-haired man not even noticing him - he entered the only large building except for the massive wooden construction in the middle of the town, it had the words ¡°Drunken Demon¡¯s Inn¡± written above the door, it was clear this was a relatively new construction.


    Stepping inside he saw two men sitting at the chairs by the fire, one red-haired man, the other was massive in comparison.


    The white-haired man sat in the back when he was approached by another cloaked figure who sat down beside him, ¡°Hey there.¡± the figure was notability shorter than him and sounded like a woman in her early twenties,


    The man didn¡¯t reply,


    ¡°Not a talkative person, are you?¡± she asked,


    The man took a while to reply, ¡°I see that wand of yours, I¡¯m confident I can snap your neck at this distance before you could use it.¡± he replied coldly.


    ¡°Is that really any way to speak to a lady?¡± she asked pulling her hood back revealing a long head of pink hair, ¡°Are you interested in finding out what went on here too?¡± she asked with a soft grin on her face.


    ¡°Are you suggesting something?¡± he asked turning to face her, it was clear she had malicious intentions in her head.


    ¡°Of course not, I wouldn¡¯t cooperate with someone who is against our cause,¡° the girl said with a shrug.


    ¡°But seeing as we both need to find the same thing, perhaps it¡¯d be in our best interest to¡­ coexist whilst trying to achieve our common goal,¡± she suggested.


    ¡°I have no intention of working with you - that said, I¡¯m not interested in killing you right now,¡± he replied.


    ¡°How cold of you, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re doing anything wrong¡­¡± she argued,


    ¡°I honestly could not care less what you think of your actions - that said, it seems like the culprits have disappearedalready,¡± he replied.


    ¡°True, but what if I was to tell you that I have a lead?¡± the girl asked leaning over towards the white-haired man.


    He let out a defeated sigh, ¡°Fine, but if you try anything - I¡¯ll make sure to snap that pretty little neck of yours¡­¡± he warned as a grin spread across his face, before quickly being suppressed and returning to a calm smile.


    The white-haired man gestured one of the waitresses to come over, ¡°What can I get you?¡± she asked,


    ¡°Beer,¡± he replied plainly.


    ¡°Ahem,¡± the pink-haired woman beside him sounded irritated, he let out another sigh, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll take one beer andabottle of rat poison.¡± he clarified.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry sir we don¡¯t sell poison here¡­¡± the waitress replied uncomfortably.


    ¡°Fine, two beers, but if you hypothetically had some form of poison, put it in her beer,¡± he instructed,


    ¡°We won¡¯t - I¡¯ll get you the beers in a second,¡± she exclaimed before hurrying over to the front of the inn and filling two large pints of beer.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s this lead of yours?¡± the white-haired man asked, his red eyes lazily observing the candle which lit their table.


    ¡°You know that big wooden building in the middle, it was shot with fire magic, judging from the charred plants outside the mage who used the magic is quite powerful¡­¡± she explained,


    ¡°Yeah, and if they were able to kill a demon, it means that they¡¯re skilled too¡­It¡¯s more than just talent¡± he added.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why I need to track them down!¡± she exclaimed slamming her fists on the table.


    ¡°Right¡­and place a demon soul inside of them?¡± the whitehairedman taunted,


    ¡°As if we¡¯d waste a specimen like that for some infantry¡­¡± the girl laughed.


    ¡°So that¡¯s what they are to you? Infantry?¡± the white-haired man asked seeing the waitress bring the two pints over, they each took their pint and began gulping it down.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be like that, you know you were more than a disposable pawn!¡± she said in a sarcastic yet reassuring tone,


    ¡°Gee, what kind words¡­¡± he replied slamming the pint down on the table and gesturing for the waitress to bring him another.


    Meanwhile, the girl took her time drinking, ¡°More importantly, I¡¯m sure we could hook you up with a job if you changed¡­¡± she was cut off by the white-haired man ¡°No, and the next time we meet it will most likely be as enemies.¡± he explained.


    ¡°Are you sure -surelyyou are going todie, why not just live your life somewhere in the mountains?¡± she asked taking another sip of her beer.


    ¡°I could askyou the same thing,¡± the white-haired man asked.


    ¡°I can¡¯t, I believe in the boss¡¯ goals,¡± she replied.


    ¡°And his methods?¡± he asked,


    A silence came over the two for a while,


    ¡°It¡¯s for the greater good¡­¡± she sighed sombrely.


    ¡°So what, your boss still wants to piss God off so badly he¡¯llpop down and fix all suffering?¡± the white-haired man asked with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°It is God¡¯s responsibility isn¡¯t it?¡± she replied with a question,


    ¡°I don¡¯t know - but I know God doesn¡¯t give two shits about any of us nowadays, ¡±


    The waitress approached the table with the third pint placing it on the table, the white-haired man extended a hand with a few copper coins,


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to know who¡¯s in charge of the village?¡± he asked,Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    The waitresstook three coins covering theprice of the three beers, ¡°I guess you could saw Owar runs things around her.¡± she said pointing over to the red-haired man sitting next to the larger man.


    Adam stood up and chugged the entire pint down placing it back onto the table before heading over to the two men,


    ¡°I take it you¡¯re Owar?¡± he asked looking at the red-haired man,


    ¡°Yeah, what can I do you?¡± the red-haired man asked brashly,


    ¡°I was wondering if you know any details about the one who killed the monster.¡± the white-haired man explained.


    ¡°That depends¡­why do you need to know?¡± Owar asked,


    The white-haired man reached into this long coat and pulled out a sack of coins, ¡°Is this what you need?¡± he asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean, I¡¯m askin¡¯ what you want with them,¡± Owar replied pushing the sack away - quickly recoiling his hand after touching the sack and realising it wasn''t filled with money, but some wet bloody substance.


    The white-haired man stood silently for a while, unbuttoned the coat slightly, revealing a black scaly body, a red light coming from under them.


    ¡°I can be very persuasive - but I¡¯m just here gathering info¡­so if you cooperate I¡¯ll just leave you be.¡± he offered with a wide smile.


    ¡°You can¡¯t scare me, either answer my question or leave.¡± Owar sighed,


    An explosion of purple flame erupted from the fire, the flames spread across the entire inn blocking off the doors and windows - the panicked patrons and waiters began screaming in horror as the flames began closing in on them.


    The white-haired man turned to look at the hooded girl who was now walking up to him, ¡°Whoops, my finger slipped!¡± she announced apologetically waving the wand in front of the man, it was a simple wooden stick with a purple gem attached to it.


    ¡°F-fine we¡¯ll tell you everything we know, just stop this!¡± Owar cried and in an instant, the flames disappeared.


    ¡°Now then, I¡¯ll leave the negotiations with you.¡± the pink-haired girl announced as she headed back to her table.


    ¡°You two are monsters!¡± Derl, the large man sitting beside Owar taunted,


    ¡°Can¡¯t argue with that - but I¡¯ll have you know I came here to kill the monster - I¡¯d watch out for the pink-haired one if I were you,though¡­¡± the white-haired man replied, ¡°Anyway - go ahead and tell me everything you know,¡± he added.


    ¡°Most of the damage was done by this one kid who talked in some other language, there was also a blue-haired guy with stupid glasses,¡± he explained.


    ¡°Why were they here?¡± the white-haired man asked,


    ¡°They said the heard there was a monster here so they decided to go and kill it¡­¡± Owar replied.


    ¡°And the demon? What did you do with the body?¡± he asked,


    ¡°Some people showed up offering to clean up the corpse, they carted it off in its - they said they¡¯re going to burn it somewhere up north,¡± Owar explained avoiding eye contact with the white-haired man.


    ¡°What kind of people?¡± he asked.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know, they offered to clean up the body so we didn¡¯t ask any questions,¡± Owar replied.


    ¡°Describe what they looked like,¡± he instructed,


    Owar took a second to scratch his red hair and let out a sigh ¡°They wore long black coats with little owl crests on their chest - they had hoods and scarves¡­they showed up and cut the body up before loading it onto these carts and dragging it away.¡±


    The white-haired man took a second to go over the info before patting Owar on the shoulder, ¡°Thanks, man.¡± he said before walking away - back to the pink-haired woman.


    ¡°Well, how¡¯d it go?¡± she asked,


    ¡°A crest with an owl and long black coats.¡± the white-haired man explained.


    ¡°The wizard¡¯s court¡­¡± she replied not even halfway done with her drink.


    ¡°They carted off the corpse, allegedly they agreed to clean it up for the villagers - I¡¯m sure they just want to take it apart to get some more info about us¡­¡± he replied with a restless sigh.


    ¡°So, do you know where they went?¡± she asked,


    ¡°Allegedly they went north, but I doubt they¡¯d be honest¡­¡± she shrugged.


    ¡°So, where are we heading?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Simple, I¡¯ll make a little light show and wait for them to come¡­¡± the white-haired man replied with a wide grin.


    ¡°Just the kind of brute solution I¡¯d expect,¡± she replied with a sarcastic sigh.


    ¡°My favourite kind,¡± he replied.


    They walked out of the house and climbed up the wooden platforms along the side of the wooden buildings - at the top the white-haired man sat down on the ground, seeing the brightblue-moonand or sunhe lifted his hand into the air causing it to swell and burst revealing black scales, writhing and twitching.


    They emitted a red light and a flame appeared in his palm, the flame turned white in his hand creating a light so bright the wood around them started emitting smoke, he threw the ball of light into the air causing it to explode filling the entire night sky with a white light so bright the moon seemed like a black hole in comparison.


    ¡°They¡¯re hardly going to come here if they¡¯re blind!¡± the pink-haired woman complained rubbing her eyes.


    ¡°They¡¯re wizards, right? I¡¯m sure they have healing magic¡­¡± the white-haired man replied.


    After a few minutes of relative silence, the white-haired laid down on the wooden platform on top of the building and awaited the arrival of the wizards.


    The pink-haired girl sat down opposite him and leaned back on the wooden pole behind her.


    ¡°How long do you think it¡¯ll take them?¡± she asked,


    ¡°No idea - guess they have teleportation magic or something¡­¡± he replied,


    ¡°I doubt they¡¯d figure that stuff out¡­¡± she laughed, ¡°I¡¯m the only person in the world allegedly able to teleport,¡± she replied proudly,


    ¡°Good for you,¡±.


    ¡°I expected more of a reaction¡­¡± she replied with a disappointed sigh, ¡°Well, it¡¯s not really teleportation anyway.¡± she shrugged,


    ¡°You¡¯re revealing your enemy your abilities?¡± he asked,


    ¡°Call it¡­a handicap for you,¡± she replied with a shrug,


    In an instant the girl faded away into a cloud of smoke leaving black marks on the ground, she appeared not far from the white-haired man with a wide grin on her face, ¡°Ta-dah!¡± she exclaimed proudly.


    ¡°So you just turned invisible and walked over to me?¡± he asked,


    ¡°Aw, you¡¯re no fun¡­¡± she pouted before walking back to where she sat.


    ¡°...So, how are you holding up lately?¡± she asked bored with the silence,


    ¡°Travelling and killing monsters,¡± he said looking at her,


    ¡°That¡¯s like telling a gardener you burn flowers for a living, you know¡­¡± she replied irritated,


    A long silence occurred¡­


    ¡°So, what are you doing?¡± the white-haired man asked,


    ¡°Oh, you know - I¡¯ve picked up painting recently¡­¡± the white-haired man cut her off, ¡°You know what I mean¡­¡± he hissed.


    ¡°Like I said, you¡¯re no fun¡­¡± she sighed, ¡°Well, like I said - I¡¯m confident the boss could squash you like an ant - but if you¡¯re curious you could come back to us and¡­¡± again she was cut off, ¡°I¡¯ll pass¡­¡±


    ¡°I find it hard to believe you stooped so low¡­¡± he sighed disappointed,


    ¡°Says the homeless murderer¡­¡± she replied,


    ¡°I¡¯m serious, leave your boss - I don¡¯t want to kill you.¡± he pleaded,


    ¡°Aw, could it be I have won your heart with¡­¡± she was cut off by him again, ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m already taken.¡± he clarified.


    ¡°Damn, didn¡¯t even hesitate do reject me, huh?¡± she asked somewhat shocked but not seriously upset.


    ¡°This body I¡¯m possessing - I¡¯m only borrowing it, and when I¡¯m done wiping you guys out I¡¯ll get my own body and me and her can be together,¡± he replied,


    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m not going to betray my ideals for the sake of a life where I betray myself,¡± she replied simply.


    ¡°Too bad¡­¡± he sighed before turning his attention back to the town centre, he saw purple magic circles appearing on the ground - two men appeared on wielding a staff, the other a long butcher¡¯s knife.


    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s finally time for some fun¡­¡± the white-haired man said cracking his knuckles before jumping off the building landing in the centre of the town, this grabbed the attention of the other two mages,


    ¡°Are you the magic-user who cast the spell?¡± the staff-wielding mage asked,


    ¡°That¡¯s me, now it¡¯s my turn for the question.¡± he replied, ¡°Where is the demon¡¯s corpse?¡± he asked,


    ¡°That¡¯s the wizard¡¯s court business, civilians do not need to know that.¡± the mage with the staff replied,


    The white-haired man clicked his tongue in irritation, his hand exploded into a writhing mess of black scales and lava-like flesh, glowing a bright red light.


    He ragged the staff-wielding man squeezing him slightly as he causing him to pass out instantly, he tossed his limp body up to where the pink-haired woman stood.


    ¡°Don¡¯t kill him - I¡¯ll have some fun with this one for now¡­¡± he yelled out raising his amorphous arm - before slamming it down on the man, surprisingly he blocked it with the blade, cutting into his arm.


    The blade emitted a red light causing the man wielding it to grin, ¡°Now I got you monster¡­¡± he said in a sickeningly high pitched voice


    ¡°What?¡± the white-haired man asked as the wielder of the blade swing the blade to the side causing his arm to fly off leaving a gaping wound which leaked blood onto the ground.


    ¡°THAT¡¯S IT! BLEED! BLEED OUT AND DIE YOU MONSTER!¡± the mage laughed as the white-haired man fell to the floor into a puddle of his blood,


    ¡°Shit¡­looks like¡­I should have paid more¡­attention¡­¡± he said as he slowly closed his eyes - dramatically falling to the ground, the back of his palm pressed against his forehead.


    ¡°STOP FUCKING AROUND AND KILL HIM!¡± the pink-haired girl demanded upon seeing the man laying on the ground bleeding,


    ¡°Quiet you! I¡¯m coming for you next!¡± The mage laughed stepping over the man laying on the ground,


    The mage stopped when he felt a sharp pain to his shoulders, he looked to the side seeing that he was missing both arms, the turned around in shock as the blood shot out everywhere, ¡°What the hell?!¡± he cried looking at the white-haired man holding the two hands, his missing hand was now back, ¡°I¡¯m borrowing this body, so please be gentler with me.¡± he said sticking his tongue out,


    The mage fell to the floor leaving his blade on the ground, the white-haired man picked the long butcher¡¯s knife off the ground and strapped it to his back.


    ¡°Nice!¡± he exclaimed looking at the craftsmanship of the weapon.


    The man looked over to the staircase leading up to the wooden building seeing the girl walking down, passed out mage in hand.


    ¡°Alright, Let¡¯s get going!¡± he exclaimed grabbing the man, he made his fingers red hot as he pressed his index finger to the man¡¯s forehead creating a loud hissing sound as the man woke up screaming.


    ¡°Welcome back!¡± he exclaimed planting the man back on the ground, ¡°Now you will lead us to where you took the body!¡± he explained patting the man on his head.


    ¡°A-alright! Anything you say!¡± he cried as he began walking,


    They headed north-east for several hours until they reached what looked like a camp, there were several mages cutting, taking apart and experimenting on the corpse of some monster, most likely the one from the town.


    ¡°Thanks for the help!¡± the white-haired man exclaimed before smacking him on the back of his head, causing him to pass out before tossing him away.


    "You should''ve killed him." the girl pointed out.


    "Unlike you, I''m not a complete psychopath - nothing to gain from that."


    The camp was located in a flat depression in the ground in the middle of a hilly area, most likely modified with magic, the tents were light green with what looked lie grass growing out of them, upon closer inspection it was fake - like camouflage, at the centre of the camp was a deep hole in which lay the body, it¡¯s parts put together with clearly visible marks where it was cut, scaffolding and platforms littered its frame as several men and women in black coats and hoods performed experiments on it and some were recording information into notebooks with what seemed like magic.


    Runes were placed on the ground, carved into pieces of stone maintaining a large spherical portal most likely leading to their base, but it was guarded by four figures wearing the same coats but plated with metal and crystals.


    The man sat down and observed the corpse, ¡°Looks like it was killed from mana loss¡­¡± he replied,


    ¡°What do you mean? It was clearly burned!¡± she exclaimed in a hushed tone so as not to be noticed.


    ¡°Look at it, the burn wounds are healed over slightly, but the entire surface is dry and cracking - at the same time it doesn¡¯t look like it was crushed or anything - leading me to believe it was either drained of mana or its soul was removed, and the second one is highly unlikely,¡± he replied.


    ¡°Guess you have a point... but what about the hole in its gut?¡± she asked,


    ¡°Maybe they tried to cut its stomach open to retrieve some bodies?¡± he suggested,


    Moments later the man stood up, ¡°Anyway, I guess I¡¯m done here.¡± he replied looking at the moon beginning to set,


    ¡°What do you mean? You came to just look?!¡± the pink-haired girl asked,


    ¡°The soul is gone, it¡¯s just a hunk of mean now - I guess it¡¯s in your interest to stop them from researching it, but that¡¯s not my problem,¡± he replied patting his clothes clean from the dust before heading back.


    ¡°Whatever, guess I¡¯ll char them all.¡± she shrugged as she reached for the wand under he cloak, before setting the camp and corpse ablaze with bright purple flames, leaving nothing but black marks and ash where the camp stood moments later¡­

 Chapter 6.1: The Dwarf In The Swamp

    <h1></h1>


    ¡°Are you sure we¡¯re not lost?¡± I asked Adam looking around the swampy area, there was no path for us to go along, the closest thing to a road was the lack of foliage in certain areas of this overgrown swamp - with every step we risked being dragged down into the loose mud,


    I turned back towards Adam with quiet dismay pretending I didn¡¯t just see that.


    The rain pommelled the canopy above us letting no single drop hit the water, instead the leaves were shaped funnels, when the pressure from the water grew too great the log of the tree itself would start releasing a trickling stream of water from small finger-sized holes in its bark into the surrounding water - these trees were affectionately nicknamed ¡®pissing trees¡¯


    ¡°What¡¯s up with the trees here? They look stupid as hell¡­¡± I commented on their strange shape,


    Adam walked slow deliberate steps so as no to have his boots sink in the mud, ¡°It¡¯s the water, this water is actually really sour.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°The trees here only absorb nutrients during the rainiest seasons when the water is more diluted, other than that they cut off their root¡¯s access to the soil and water, the rain is their only source of water,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Damn, evolution is weird¡­¡± I commented.


    ¡°Yeah, their bark constantly produces a mucous which stops them from being corroded by the acidic waters,¡± Adam added.


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t the trees just evolve to¡­not have to do this stuff though?¡± I asked.


    Adam didn¡¯t reply for a while, ¡°Look - evolution doesn¡¯t promise the best solution - it promises a solution.¡± Adam said.


    For a while, the conversation ended and was replaced with the sound of splashing, insects and the strange sound created by the rain splashing into the large leaf-bases water containers above us.


    ¡°Does that mean we¡¯re walking through acid right now?¡± I asked Adam calmly.


    ¡°I mean¡­technically, but human skin does a pretty good job not melting in these PH levels,¡± Adam replied casually.


    ¡°Are you really sure we¡¯re not lost?¡± I asked


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure. Quit asking me that!¡± Adam said in a brusque manner.


    ¡°I dunno man, that piece of driftwood looks kind of similar,¡± I replied looking over to a chunk of what looked like a rotted log, it flipped around slowly revealing what looked like a massive grey-blue leech clinging onto the wood, its thick pulsating body lifted it¡¯s head and turned to my direction before going back to tormenting the piece of wood.


    I turned back in


    ¡°As if the mosquitoes weren¡¯t bad enough I have to put up with you¡­¡± Adam sighed smacking the side of his neck where he was presumably bitten by a mosquito.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you decided to get the weapons before going to look inside the tunnel just so you can drag me there with you¡­¡± I complained.


    ¡°Stop complaining, you needed your weapons anyway, plus we can¡¯t risk blowing the entire tunnels up with your over-powered magic if something was there, that¡¯d collapse half of the city,¡± Adam said shooting me a look usually reserved for cats that are about to push something off the table.


    In the distance, light illuminated the cold, dark, foggy swamp.


    ¡°There it is!¡± Adam exclaimed speeding up in order to get to the building before me, there was a wooden platform with a little step-ladder into the water, it started at the base of the hut and forked out into three different direction, luckily one was close enough to us so I¡¯d be able to get out of the water, I climbed the ladder after Adam and when I looked back down into the water my blood ran cold when I saw the massive leach from before must have been following me stopping inches from the ladder as it sank back underwater slowly, had it possessed eyes I¡¯m sure it would have been maintaining eye-contact.


    ¡°I am not going back into that water,¡± I said out loud, this was a message to both the leach, Adam and my future self.


    The house was seemingly built into a cliff, or rather a hill was chopped in half and into that half, a wooden house was built, it looked like a shabby one-room house, it stood high above the water level being help up thick logs, a rope ladder leading up to the door.


    Adam began talking in the other language, this time I understood most of what he said, but I still didn¡¯t quite feel comfortable speaking to any native speakers of the language.


    ¡°Hey, Ern. You still in there?¡± Adam called out as he was making his way up the stairs.


    ¡°Adam?¡± A deep voice asked, out came a short, stout man. His long grey beard covering most of his face, his large bulging nose and thick eyebrows greater than any humans¡¯.


    ¡°What brings ye to my home out here?¡± the short man spoke in a rougher accent making him harder to understand.


    ¡°I got a job request for you,¡± Adam said walking into the house, the house was small, but there was a small door built into the side of the wall facing the hill face, presumably it led to a more spacious area.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said with a raised hand.


    The bearded man turned towards me, his expression changed to a more serious one, ¡°Who are ye?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t have a name at the moment,¡± I replied.


    The bearded man raised an eyebrow as he turned to Adam.


    ¡°Boy, you better have a good reason to be wandering around with a nameless child.¡± the short man said in a threatening tone.


    ¡°WHY DO YOU ALL THINK I-¡± Adam groaned, took a deep breath before continuing, ¡°Look, Ern - my dear friend¡­ this nameless child is a grown-ass man¡­ turned into a child through magic¡­a curse¡­ an age and gender reversal curse¡­¡± Adam struggled to come up with an explanation towards the end.


    ¡°I see¡­¡± the bearded man, presumably called Ern said scratching his beard, the doubt was evident from his face.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s right,¡± I replied with a shrug, I had to fight off the urge to pretend to be a helpless child just to mess with Adam.


    Ern breathe a sigh of relief, ¡°I see, well good to know. My name¡¯s Ern. The only dwarf in this godforsaken swamp.¡± He said as he extended his gloved hand towards me.


    I shook his hand only to realise it was extremely hard - if I was to try and stab him, I¡¯d dull my blade¡­that sounded bad, it was just a comment on his meat¡¯s toughness¡­that¡¯s even worse¡­he¡¯s hard- okay no, never-mind.


    ¡°What brings ye to me, lads?¡± Ern asked sitting on the small wooden stool.


    ¡°We need you to make us a weapon, we got the blueprints,¡± Adam replied tossing him the blueprints I worked tirelessly over.


    ¡°I see¡­what is this supposed to do?¡± Ern asked looking at the mechanics, ¡°Oh, I see¡­it¡¯s like a musket¡­but¡­I don¡¯t see how it¡¯d fire anything like this¡­¡± he explained.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, we¡¯ll be using spell-orbs as ammo,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Spell-orbs? You mean the little spell holding crystal balls? Why?¡± Ern asked.


    I was just passively standing there, looking around the room. The entire house seemed well made¡­also, did he say he was a dwarf? Are there elves then? A shiver rand down my entire being¡­owl-people¡­


    ¡°I got ya¡­alright¡­give me a few hours and I¡¯ll get it done¡­¡± Ern replied.


    ¡°Sure, mind if we stay here until then?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll bring you something to drink,¡± Ern said heading deeper into his house through the wooden door.


    ¡°Man, I need to go over the language again, I swear to god I thought he said he¡¯ll be done in a few hours,¡± I said with a dismissive laugh.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. He said he¡¯ll be done in a few hours.¡± Adam clarified.


    ¡°I thought this kind of work took days?!¡± I exclaimed.


    ¡°For a human, yes. But for a dwarf, this is child''s-play.¡± Adam laughed.


    ¡°Besides, Ern is no ordinary craftsman, he used to be one of the top six craftsmen back in Underran, the capital of the dwarves,¡± Adam added.


    Moments later Ern kicked the door open, holding three large pints about the size of my head, he chugged his and placed the two pints down in front of us on the table.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Adam and I said at the same time before seeing the dwarf retreat back into the back.


    ¡°Well, drink up,¡± Adam said holding back a chuckle.


    I picked up the pint, I was never really into drinking back on earth¡­when you have nobody to drink with and the alcohol had little effect on you I didn¡¯t see the point.


    I tipped back the massive pint to sip some of the beer or ale or whatever was inside, by mouth seemingly set on fire as I tasted it.


    ¡°WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!¡± I demanded.


    ¡°Spirits, dwarves drink that stuff like water,¡± Adam said laughing.


    ¡°I usually just leave mine, I doubt Ern will mind having our pints after he¡¯s done working,¡± Adam added his laughter dying down.


    I didn¡¯t say anything for a while¡­this was my chance¡­I could show off to Adam.


    I reached my hand towards the pint, officially giving up on that movie adaptation, and moved it closer to my mouth.


    ¡°w-what are you doing?¡± Adam asked, his smirk turned to shock.


    I took a large gulp, then another, and another.


    While drinking I never broke eye contact with Adam, his face went from laughter, to shock, to concern.


    ¡°Due, stop! That pint is like one-third of your body mass!¡± Adam cried as I continued to drink down the liquid.


    After I was done I slammed the pint down onto the table, looking at Adam who eyed his drink.


    ¡°How the hell are you still alive?¡± He asked, seemingly fully serious.


    ¡°Jokes on you, you can¡¯t poison me, I¡¯m already dead on the inside.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Just joking.¡± I replied waving my hand dismissively, ¡°Nah, but really¡­¡±


    ¡°Man, you are a little drunk after all.¡± Adam laughed.


    ¡°Shut up and drink your drink!¡± I replied.


    ¡°Nah, man. I still need my liver.¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Coward,¡± I said under my breath with a sigh.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°NOPE, you¡¯re not going to peer pressure me with your mind games!¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Too bad, cowards¡­¡± I replied.


    Adam picked up the pint and began chugging it, it was clear to me he gagged a good few times in the process, he had to stop a few times to take a breath.


    Adam was breathing heavily, ¡°See¡­I did it¡­¡± his speech was slurred.


    Adam looked at me only to be shocked by the grin on my face.


    ¡°W-what did you do?!¡± Adam demanded.


    ¡°Oh nothing, but since I¡¯m under-age here, I turned the spirits to water before drinking it.¡± I had to hold back sadistic laughter as I spoke, I showed Adam the inside of the pint revealing a small blue magic circle.


    ¡°Y-you tricked me-¡± Adam fell face-first onto the table.


    ¡°That¡¯s what you get for screwing with the one and only master of magic and witchcraft - the great¡­ yeah, I¡¯m nameless¡­I forgot¡­¡± my expression soured towards the end of the speech.


    Many hours later, about two hours after Adam woke up with a crippling headache Ern walked out of the room, he was dressed differently, with a dark black apron and no gloves.


    ¡°At last, it¡¯s done,¡± Ern said before seeing the dead-looking Adam trying to shush him,


    ¡°SHHHhhhh¡­ please¡­quiet¡­¡± Adam pleaded, an expression of pain, nausea and regret on his face.


    ¡°Well I¡¯ll be damned, he actually drank it for once!¡± Ern exclaimed seeing the empty pint glass, he then looked over to my pint and was shocked upon seeing it too was empty.


    ¡°D-did you actually drink it?!¡± He asked, if not for the fact he was speaking his jaw would have been dropped.


    ¡°Technically yes,¡± I replied.


    The old dwarf wiped a single tear of pride from his eye, ¡°There is hope for ye humans yet¡­¡± Ern said handing me the finished products, they were still warm to the touch.


    I took a closer look at the weapon, it looked rough when compared to the painted ones back on Earth, the metal composing the body of the gun looked brownish-gold in colour, the handle was made from what felt like wood - but it looked black and had a glossy look it,


    ¡°How did you make it so fast?¡± I asked still impressed by the creation.


    Ern walked over to the cupboard to my left of where Adam was sleeping, he took out a metal fork, it only had two spiky bits unlike the four I¡¯m used to, he cracked his wrists as his palms began glowing a bright white light causing Adam to grunt something and roll over to the other side.


    ¡°Dwarves use a racial ability called Blood Forge, it lets us head our hands hot enough to melt any metal,¡± Ern explained slowly pressing his large lands together encasing the fork in a furnace of sorts, when he opened his palm I saw the fork has become a pool of blowing red liquid, Ern placed the empty hand on the counter clenching it tightly and only leaving a small gap on the top, he then used his hand-based crucible to pour the liquid into the small hap of his clenched fist.


    I looked in amazement as Ern opened his hands revealing a perfectly shaped fork.


    ¡°How did you shape it like that!?¡± I asked in amazement.


    ¡°Dwarves have a good few tricks up their sleeves.¡± Ern laughed a hearty laugh.


    ¡°Anyway, thanks! I wonder how are they meant to shoot things.¡± I wondered,


    Adam groaned as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a pouch of clear glass balls.


    ¡°Adam this is not the time to play with marbles,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Shut up and stick one in your gun¡­¡± Adam replied.


    I did as instructed and planted a single marble-like object into the spinny -ammo-circle of the revolver, I stepped outside and pointed the gun to a nearby tree.


    I pulled the trigger, I heard the ball crack and a solid white needle-like ray shoot out and into the tree seemingly doing no damage.


    ¡°Woah, this is awesome! You did a great job Ern!¡± I commented,


    ¡°Thanks, lad, but in reality, all I did was follow the blueprints.¡± He replied with a hearty laugh.


    Adam curled into a ball in the corner of the room, ¡°Go test your weapon out or something, use magic to create more of those orbs and try imbuing them with magic energy...¡± Adam suggested.


    ¡°Alright¡­ Thanks for everything Ern, I¡¯ll come back to collect Adam in a while.¡± I said.


    ¡°No problem, watch out when you¡¯re out there though, there are some pretty dangerous beasts in these bogs,¡± Ern warned before picking Adam up over his shoulder.


    I walked a good distance away from the house to be able to test out my weapon without damaging anything, it wasn¡¯t as hard to travel around the bog as it is to reach Ern¡¯s hut thanks to the wooden platforms suspended a foot or so above the murky water held up by ancient logs, at one point the path cut through an extra-thick tree creating a tunnel offering people some protection from the rain.


    My first task was to figure out how to create the bullets, after feeling one I imagined it as a solid ball of glass, filled with some sort of magical power.


    Those could be fired as intended but didn¡¯t have any effect.


    I perfected the shape, physical property, weight and appearance of the balls.


    For ease of use, they would have different colours depending on the effect it would have, in the centre of the solid sphere of glass was a piece of text which magically always faced the reader and emitted a gentle light so I could identify which bullet was which in the dark, it was like a label.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    I could create the bullets in this way, but it would be easier to name them so I can just ¡°save¡± the blueprint for them mentally.


    I decided on the name ¡°Magic Bullet¡±¡­I know, but keep in mind I don¡¯t even have a name, I¡¯m just not good at these things!


    Now that I had the basic bullet, I decided to create a handful of them, and put them into the sack-bag-pocket thing from my old clothes, I tore it off because it¡¯s what I thought I¡¯d keep my money in but since the money I got from Adam came with a pouch I decided to just keep it handy, I should get a proper box for them though¡­ I¡¯m keeping the magic circle recipe for these a secret though.


    I imagined the balls as holding fire inside, and when I opened my eyes the magic bullets were a vibrant orange-red colour with the text ¡°Fire Bullet¡± in the middle surrounded by a swirling vortex of orange flames like streaks.


    I loaded six into the gun and did the thing where you spin the spinny -ammo-circle of the revolver and it makes that clicking noise.


    I pulled the trigger and shot for - about a meter or so, a spray of fire, it was like a single shot flame-thrower, the tree I shot charred in an instant as the ash fell into the water causing it to boil.


    ¡°Alright¡­ I should probably make them weaker¡­¡± I decided¡­


    I spent the next few hours creating various new spells and experimenting with the admittedly few limitations of the system, I found it pretty easy to create new ammo, but the mana drain over time became exhausting to the point where I had to take a good few breaks.


    Here is a breakdown of the bullets I created for practical use.


    Flame bolt; a tamer version of the fire shot from before, it shoots a single projectile of fire at high speeds, leaving the fire at the place of impact.


    Freezing bullet; a freeze-all bullet, I won¡¯t encase people in ice like in video games, but it can create a thick enough layer of ice over water to walk on it or shoot it up to the clouds to make it snow.


    Healing shot; it¡¯s actually just a heal spell attached to a bullet¡­it¡¯s just like you expect except it stings a little wherever you get shot.


    Mana shot; it¡¯s a mana-recovering projectile, the amount of mana one gets it equal to the amount of mana I pump inside when creating it, so it¡¯s more of a mana battery.


    Iron shot; it simulates shooting a chunk of iron as a projectile, good for bludgeon people.


    And lastly my favourite invention!


    Pain shot; it¡¯s my first attempt at an illusion spell, you feel the pain, and imagine the wound and bleeding and whatnot, but after a few minutes it goes away, I¡¯m not quite willing to test it out on myself just yet though.


    For the most part, I had to use trees at my test subjects, aside from anti-tree crimes comparable with earth¡¯s deforestation attempts, I think I¡¯m really getting a hang of this weapon.


    In the distance I saw a large pile of what resembled grass and moss - naturally the first thing I decided to do is fire a fire bullet at it to see if it¡¯ll burn, of all thing I expected to happen the last was that the spell would be reflected back at me, I managed to dodge it just in time, I looked back seeing a hole burned through the tall bushes behind me.


    I looked back to the pile of moss seeing that it was moving, it rose from the murky water revealing it to be a bipedal grass monster with no facial features.


    Its arms were a much thicker than its legs, it walked like a gorilla - or rather ran.


    I fumbled with the bullets trying to grab a different one, I picked out the iron shot and loaded it into the gun, I pulled the trigger as a chunk of metal flew at the beast tearing chunks off revealing the writhing tentacle-like like insides as they spilt out into the water pulling up dead debris and plant life only to add it to its mass, seeing the opening I took out the fire bullet and shoot inside of the creature, the spell did bounce around inside of the creature and since it already regenerated it¡¯s body the spell eventually went off charring the creature which fell into the water causing it to start steaming.


    I took a look at the creature, not fully sure it was dead I loaded another iron shot into the gun and fired at it causing chunks of the creature to spray out littering the bog with plant bits, the creature released a guttural cry as it began rolling around trying to collect more plant material.


    ¡°WHAT¡¯S YOUR PROBLEM, I WAS SURRENDERING!¡± the creature cried turning the part of its body that must have served as the head towards me,


    ¡°No, you were paying dead¡­¡± I replied loading another few iron shots into the gun, ¡°W-W-WAIT, NO MORE, I GIVE UP!¡± the creature cried lifting it¡¯s thick arms into the air above it¡¯s ¡°head¡±.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take this personally, but you are the definition of a swamp monster,¡± I said pointing the gun at it.


    ¡°But I didn¡¯t do anything!¡± the creature cried falling to its knees.


    ¡°You tried to burn me with my spell earlier!¡± I exclaimed.


    ¡°I can¡¯t control the magic reflection ability!¡± the creature exclaimed,


    ¡°Alright, but you were charging towards me, I bet you were going to engulf me into your disgusting slimy body,¡± I said squinting my eyes in judgement.


    ¡°...That¡­that hurt, man¡­¡± the plant monster said looking down in embarrassment, ¡°And I mean¡­you set my insides on fire earlier¡­¡± the creature said shrugging awkwardly.


    ¡°No, I mean you look like you are the Amazon rainforest,¡± I said pointing at the creature.


    ¡°...I¡­I mean sure, I put on a few pounds - but you know how it is, the plants are dying and the leaves are falling¡­and I happen to absorb a few¡­¡± the creature said uncomfortably.


    ¡°A few tonnes¡­¡± I said quietly for myself, but loud enough for the creature to hear.


    The creature looked at me for a bit before lifting its arm to scratch the back of its head area, ¡°I¡­I think I¡¯ll get going now¡­¡± the creature said before slowly walking away and eventually sitting down behind some tree.


    At first, I was satisfied with my psychological warfare, then I realised that I just shot and insulted a pile of plants¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but feel like I¡¯m the bad guy here¡­


    For a split second, I wanted to apologise, then I remembered this is a pile of foliage, so I decided to bury the guild and move one like a responsible adult.


    I looked down to my wrist seeing it was red and hurt quite a bit.


    The recoil on the gun is pretty rough though, I was shooting a lot recently, but my wrists hurt like crazy, I used the healing shot on my wrist and that helped the pain, still I should keep my arm¡¯s limitations in mind.


    Soon after that, I saw Adam heading my direction along with the wooden platform, ¡°Havin¡¯ fun with the weapon I see.¡± He commented.


    ¡°Man, you don¡¯t even understand how much fun this is,¡± I exclaimed.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re less useless now¡­¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Do not underestimate my lack of skills,¡± I warned Adam.


    ¡°Right, well are you ready to head back?¡± he asked looking over to me,


    I shifted my gaze to the water whereupon closer inspection I saw the blue-grey figure of the leach from before.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna¡¯ stay here for a while¡­¡± I replied sitting down on the wooden platform.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we don¡¯t have to go through the swamp - we have the recall rings remember?¡± Adam asked lifting his hand revealing the red sparkling ring.


    I looked down and realised I too still wore my one, ¡°Oh - thank fuck I have the ring,¡± I said with a sigh of relief, Adam looked at me and grinned, ¡°Come one, it¡¯s not that bad here.¡± he said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about you but I¡¯d just stay here. That leach is after me.¡± I said squinting my eyes as I looked into the murky depths of the water.


    ¡°Whatever you say.¡± Adam shrugged before activating the ring sending him back home, I used my one next and in an instant, I appeared outside the front door of the house,


    It looks like the ring doesn¡¯t always teleport you to the same place.


    When we entered the house I immediately headed to the bathroom to wash off the mud and slime from the swamp, my list of hated animals expanded by one today, at first place we have owls, followed by jellyfish and in third place we now have leaches.


    When I was done I headed out to practice some more with the revolver, after all the magic wouldn¡¯t be any good if I can¡¯t hit my target.


    I should ask for a sub-machine gun in the future, I¡¯d be the best medic, just spraying the battlefield with healing spells!¡­ actually, I doubt I could keep up with healing my wrist from all that damage.


    Adam stepped out to the garden, I was there too, shooting at the sky trying to improve my grip and limiting how much the recoil swings throws me around.


    ¡°You should get some sleep, we¡¯re going to check out that place Lily was talking about tomorrow,¡± Adam said through a yawn.


    ¡°Right¡­ I¡¯ll get going in a bit.¡± I replied.


    Adam shrugged and went back to his room to sleep.


    ¡°How are you enjoying life?¡± a familiar masculine voice asked, it was the cat.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you¡­how great¡­ well, it was good seeing ya¡¯ but-¡± the cat cut me off as I was about to finish my sarcastic remark,


    ¡°Don¡¯t go to the tunnel with Adam tomorrow.¡± the cat said in a demanding tone.


    ¡°Thanks for the advice, I¡¯ll still go though,¡± I replied matter-of-factly.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t meant to get involved with them you dumbass, you were meant to live a normal human life!¡± the cat exclaimed, his tail standing tall as he hissed.


    ¡°Hm, hm, good point, counter-point, I don¡¯t care - at all,¡± I said plainly.


    ¡°If you go there you are sure to die, or at the very least get involved in some things you shouldn¡¯t!¡± the cat argued.


    ¡°Cat, how old are you?¡± I asked simply.


    ¡°...A lot older than you, anyway,¡± he replied.


    ¡°That explains it,¡± I exclaimed.


    ¡°Explains what?!¡± he demanded.


    ¡°Your dementia, since I already told you I don¡¯t give a shit like five times and you seem to not be aware of that,¡± I complained.


    The cat was silent for a bit.


    ¡°Look¡­ there is something very wrong going on in this world¡­ and it¡¯s all my fault¡­ please¡­ don¡¯t get yourself involved while I¡¯m working to fix things.¡± the cat pleaded.


    I guess he wasn¡¯t just a dick¡­


    ¡°Look here, cat. I don¡¯t intend to die tomorrow, that said I still have to go.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?! Why?!¡± the cat demanded.


    ¡°It¡¯s your fault really. If you didn¡¯t bring me here I wouldn¡¯t have made so many f-¡­ Acquaintances¡­ and I can¡¯t let them die.¡± I said almost laughing.


    ¡°...¡± the cat didn¡¯t reply.


    ¡°I think I messed up again¡­ fine¡­ if you want to go die that¡¯s your business¡­but it¡¯s in my interest to keep you alive, so I¡¯ll be going with you.¡± the cat said.


    ¡°Suit yourself.¡± I shrugged going inside and shutting the door as I did.


    ¡°Maybe I should just tell Adam that we shouldn¡¯t go since there is actually stuff there¡­ah - but Lily might still go¡­plus potentially Adam could go because he doesn¡¯t want Lily to die¡­well¡­okay, maybe that last one was a bit of a stretch¡­¡±


    The next day¡­


    I woke up in my bed, I sat up, got dressed and headed to the living room like every day.


    ¡°Look who¡¯s up!¡± Adam exclaimed.


    ¡°Took them long enough.¡± added the cat¡¯s voice.


    ¡°God damn it, cat! Why are you in-¡± I looked to the source of the sound and I saw that the cat was now less of a cat and more of a human, he was about the same height as Adam and wore an elegant black suit with a long black coat and a fedora.


    ¡°He said he¡¯s your friend,¡± Adam said pointing over to the cat-voiced human.


    His hair was grey and short, he had a beard and moustache, both short and wiry, his eyes were a crimson red.


    ¡°Definitely not.¡± I corrected Adam.


    ¡°How cold, you know me since you came to this world!¡± the person who I assume is the cat said.


    ¡°You have a name or something, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Naturally, any normal person does.¡± He commented.


    I took a deep breath and sighed.


    ¡°It¡¯s Uriel.¡± the cat-man said.


    ¡°What a dumb-ass name,¡± I said under my breath.


    ¡°I heard that,¡± Uriel replied.


    ¡°Alright, look here, Urine-ell, why are you here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to pretend I didn¡¯t hear that first bit, as for why I¡¯m here - like I told you yesterday. I came here to come with you guys.¡± Uriel explained.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need, it¡¯s probably just some drug addicts or dealers my friend saw,¡± Adam said reassuringly.


    ¡°They¡¯re not,¡± Uriel said with an irritated sigh.


    Adam raised an eyebrow, ¡°Then what are they?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Basically¡±¡­the man scratched his chin.


    ¡°Imagine each world as a country, they are very different, some have different laws, cultures, food, people - but fundamentally they are still just countries.¡± The man explained,


    ¡°Now imagine that if you die in one of the countries you are sent to the next, then the next and so on in an infinite loop.¡± he continued his example,


    ¡°Now what if you fall out of the cycle?¡± he asked rhetorically, ¡°You become what we call a lost soul - sometimes this happens to a soul by accident, but usually it¡¯s done as divine punishment,¡± he explained.


    ¡°Do keep in mind how rarely we get involves, that¡¯s how terrible those lost souls are.¡± he continued.


    ¡°No, if one of these lost souls was to attach to a host it would be able to remain in this world without being pushed out like they usually are. In other words, someone is stuffing lost souls into living hosts to create demons.¡± Uriel concluded.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go,¡± Adam said before he and I left through the door.


    ¡°Man, I think your friend needs to lay off the drink,¡± Adam said in a hushed whisper.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s been drinking a lot ever since his castration, besides we¡¯re not even friends,¡± I replied with a whisper, covering my mouth so as to make it clear I¡¯m whispering.


    ¡°SHUT THE FUCK UP, BOTH OF YOU!¡± Uriel demanded as he ran up to catch up to us.


    ¡°We¡¯re going into the den of real evil, and you two are most certainly going to die, I¡¯m going with you to TRY and stop your imminent death,¡± Uriel exclaimed with a sigh.


    ¡°Chill, I got my revolver,¡± I replied spinning it on my index finger like they do in movies, except I¡¯m not good at it so it was a bit slower and actually looked kind of dumb.


    ¡°Right¡­ and your friend here? He has his claw thingies?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°Yeah, what about you?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll improvise,¡± Uriel replied with a shrug.


    This gave me and Adam a moment of pause.


    ¡°Wait, you keep going on about how big of a deal this is, but decided to go in without a weapon!?¡± Adam exclaimed


    ¡°Relax, I¡¯m not as weak as you humans!¡± Uriel replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the point!¡± Adam exclaimed.


    Uriel turned to Adam surprised.


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re just doing this to show off, aren¡¯t you?!¡± I added.


    Uriel let out an irritated sigh, ¡°LOOK, I¡¯m not trying to do something as trivial as boosting my ego at the cost of my life, that said I have been around and kicking ass for a LITTLE longer than you puny humans.¡±


    ¡°Look, he¡¯s bragging again¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, if what you¡¯re saying is true, then you¡¯re doing the equivalent of telling a child you¡¯re a better driver than them.¡± Adam elaborated.


    ¡°OK, look. What I¡¯m saying is, that I¡¯m older than you¡­ OK¡­ and as a result¡­ I¡¯m better at some things, and worse at others!¡± Uriel tried to explain, his temper growing ever thinner.


    ¡°Give an example,¡± Adam said.


    ¡°And example?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°Yeah, give us an example of the thing you¡¯re worse at than us,¡± I said.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°I - I¡¯m¡­not very good at chess...¡± Uriel replied.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Adam and I just kept walking towards the human capital of Exversia, sadly Uriel caught up to us quickly.


    On their way down they were greeted by the dryads, Cloe the oldest dryad greeted the group with a bashful ¡°Hello.¡±


    ¡°Hey guys, how¡¯s things?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Good! We¡¯ll be heading to some festival with Darthold tomorrow!¡± The shorter dryad, Al exclaimed.


    ¡°That¡¯s nice, mind if we tag along?¡± Adam was clearly looking forward to it for some reason.


    ¡°of course not! We¡¯ll go tell Darthold right away!¡± Cloe exclaimed as they rushed off through the grass and bushes.


    ¡°Such nice kids¡­¡± Uriel commented.


    ¡°Yep, they sure are,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Hey, Adam. What¡¯s the festival all about?¡± I asked realising that I just know that it is a festival and nothing more.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a festival. The human kingdom has two of these a year and they don¡¯t really represent anything.¡± Adam shrugged.


    ¡°That said - they always bring out experimental booze from the dwarven country,¡± Adam said, I could see his mouth almost watering.


    ¡°So is there anything to do other than alcoholism practice?¡± I asked,


    ¡°I guess, there are these games where you can win stuffed toys and stuff¡­¡± Adam explained with an uninterested shrug.


    ¡°I bet the booze is going to only get more expensive now¡­¡± Adam sighed sadly.


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The whole plant dying business,¡± Adam replied,


    ¡°I didn¡¯t realise you two heard about it already,¡± Uriel said in a patronising tone.


    I was about ready to shoot him at least a few times but Adam butted in ¡°Wait, you know about that, too?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Naturally¡­¡± Uriel gesture to the dead grass and falling leaves of the forest, ¡°I¡¯m not blind.¡±


    ¡°Do¡­do you know the reason for this?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°I know why the plants are dead, I have no idea why someone or something would do this to the world,¡± Uriel explained.


    ¡°Mind explaining it?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Guess not¡­¡± Uriel sighed, ¡°Do you remember my explanation of the world from before, the way the worlds are linked in a massive circle?¡± Uriel asked.


    Adam and I both nodded.


    ¡°Well, for whatever reason some force in this world is keeping the souls somewhere. Like a wall, this means that the world ahead of this one is starved for new souls, nothing new can come to life there, it¡¯s a dead wasteland¡­or will be once the survivors die off. It seems that the soul shortage finally reached this world, nothing new can be born, soon enough they¡¯ll realise that includes animals and people.¡± Uriel explained.


    ¡°Wait¡­so how come are the trees losing leaves?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I guess each leaf counts as an individual life¡­¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°You catch on quickly¡­unlike HIM¡­¡± Uriel said looking at me.


    ¡°So all life will end¡­¡± Adam said, his eyes were filled with shock hidden behind the amber glasses.


    ¡°It was going to anyway¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s meant to keep going in a circle until they can enter heaven!¡± Uriel exclaimed.


    ¡°Why won¡¯t your god just come down and fix it then!?¡± I burst out, I guess I was holding more rage than I realised.


    ¡°BECAUSE HE CAN¡¯T!¡± Uriel exploded.


    We stayed silent after that for about twenty minutes.


    ¡°I¡­is he dead?¡± Adam asked the colour completely drained from his face.


    ¡°What?! NO! What¡¯s wrong with you people?! It¡¯s god!¡± Uriel replied, seemingly disgusted with the suggestion.


    ¡°...¡± Uriel didn¡¯t say anything for a bit¡­


    ¡°He¡¯s trapped.¡± He finally explained.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    Adam was confused too.


    ¡°I mean, he literally locked himself in heaven by accident,¡± Uriel said with an embarrassed sigh.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°IS GOD RETARDED OR SOMETHING?!¡± Adam demanded.


    ¡°The person responsible for creating the entire universe¡­nay universes LOCKED HIMSELF IN HIS OWN CREATION?!¡± I followed.


    ¡°Woah, Woah, relax there¡­ no need for that kind of language.¡± Uriel explained.


    Meanwhile in the capital of the human kingdom, Exversia¡­


    The massive castle stood upon the tallest part of the city, which was a large hill with a cliff on its side.


    The castle was built from white bricks, the massive drawbridge always down, the many tall round towers made the place look like the castles you¡¯d see in a fairy tale.


    The interior was divided into large terraces held up with walls.


    Like a layer cake with every layer getting smaller in radius, but hollow inside so one could walk through the large open area, it resembled an indoor car-park in a way, except there were a few more walls and staircases leading up, depending on the layer there were kitchens, cleaner¡¯s rooms, a treasury or two, until you reached the top of the third layer where you¡¯d be met with may guards and if you walked past them you¡¯d reach the throne room.


    Through the cold looking halls of the castle¡¯s keep lit by a combination of the rocks that emitted light when wet and the massive glass windows lining the hall in one almost unbroken line, where nobody except the cleaners and guards wandered, walked the general from before, on his hip he carried two long rapiers, his clothes the same as usual say for a few more medals.


    ¡°What¡¯s up bro.¡± the general said in his monotone voice as he walked into the room with the large wooden door, inside was a bed in which lay the sickly looking man.


    The man on the bed coughed a guttural cough into a fine silk cloth he kept in his hand, he looked like the definition of diseased, pale, with a dried-out looking face.


    ¡°Issac¡­what brings you here¡­¡± the man asked exhausted.


    ¡°Oh, you know. I just came to ask how my boss is doing.¡± The general, now revealed to be called Issac replied.


    ¡°How caring of you.¡± the sickly man replied sarcastically.


    ¡°I know, right,¡± Issac replied.


    He reached into his pocket pulling out a small box of cookies, he extended it towards the man on the bed, ¡°Want a cookie?¡± he asked.


    The sickly man laughed causing him to cough after, ¡°You¡¯re the only one I know who¡¯d as me that question so casually.¡± the king wore a weak smile.


    Issac cleared his throat, ¡°Perhaps you highness would partake in the consumption of this baked good?¡± Issac asked again.


    The king reached is think arm over to the box picking out the cookie with the red paste on top, ¡°That wasn¡¯t a complain, you know.¡± he laughed.


    ¡°Yeah, no way I could talk like that.¡± Issac sighed.


    ¡°And are you sure there is nothing else you came for?¡± the king asked, ¡°I know you for a long time now, Issac¡­¡± he added.


    ¡°Aww thanks, boss,¡± Issac replied.


    ¡°You were always such a pain in the ass.¡± He added.


    ¡°Never mind then.¡± Issac laughed.


    ¡°To think you¡¯d be poisoned by an elf of all races,¡± Issac said, the king has always been criticized for his diplomatic behaviour concerning the elves as a race since they were hated for their past of war and conquest.


    ¡°Issac, it was one elf¡­¡± The king replied.


    ¡°One elf is enough, I understand your approach towards elves¡­but seriously if you don¡¯t stop it I¡¯m going to think you have an elf fetish¡­¡± Issac said only half-seriously.


    ¡°What a horrible subordinate I have¡­making fun of a dying old man.¡± the king laughed.


    ¡°That¡¯s a stretch¡­maybe a hundred years ago you¡¯d have died from poisoning but nowadays the king has so many mages and healers it takes effort to die.¡± Issac replied.


    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right¡­¡± the king said before sitting up in his bed.


    ¡°How has the wizard situation been going?¡± the king asked looking at Issac with pleading eyes,


    ¡°The nobles all agreed to proceed as planned without your input. We surrendered.¡± Issac replied.


    ¡°I see¡­it was probably the right thing to do..if a man who can manipulate our souls gives us a choice to side with him¡­it¡¯s best we do.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been rumoured that he wants to create his own country,¡± Issac said looking over at the king.


    ¡°I see¡­so it¡¯s either defeat or annexation¡­¡± the king sighed.


    ¡°Yeah, and with the world greatest powers fighting each other we¡¯re too drained of resources to stand a chance against him¡­¡± Issac elaborated.


    ¡°Issac¡­if this country is on it¡¯s way to destruction¡­ you don¡¯t have to put yourself in danger, you¡¯re free to flee¡­¡± The king said, it was true that he loved his country, but he thought it wasn¡¯t right to put the weight of the nation on a citizen of the country other than the king.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, plus so far there has been no confirmation of whether this great wizard is even interested in world domination,¡± Issac said in hopes of cheering the king up.


    ¡°Well, my break¡¯s almost over, I best get back to work before the Lieutenant General scolds me again,¡± Issac said walking back towards the door.


    ¡°Consider what I said, Issac.,¡± the king said before switching back to a more comfortable position.


    Issac closed the door behind him, and walked through that same hallway, he looked out the windows where he saw the princess dressed in a fine yellow dress speaking to some maids in the field of flowers growing inside of the royal garden.


    ¡°General¡­¡± a feminine voice said from behind - Issac spun around on his heel to see the figure behind him - the figure wore a bland cloak and looked short - ¡°Oh it¡¯s you¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you¡­¡±


    ¡°Yep - I brought the potions¡­¡± the figure opened her cloak revealing dozens of small vials of the swirling black liquid.


    ¡°I would appreciate if you stopped appearing like this in the open.¡± Issac sighed,


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that - this weeks batch is even more concentrated - this one should last you for a good while!¡±


    ¡°I see, thanks again for helping us out with this.¡± Issac was cautious around this woman, but she provided the black potions - something they were absolutely not in a position to refuse.


    Issac took the potions and placed them on the inside of his coat - ¡°Again, thank you for your help.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it! I¡¯m human after all - I¡¯d hate to have Exversia at a disadvantage against Underran and the filthy Dwarves¡­¡±


    ¡°Right - and we did as you suggested, we¡¯ve switched out subjects from criminals to Dwarves and Elves.¡±


    ¡°Good, I have to admit I was worried the kingdom would be too prideful to use the potions, but I guess I underestimated you guys.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve been keeping this a secret from the lower ranks, but if you say the Dwarves are planning to use the same tactic¡­¡±


    ¡°Right - they¡¯re prideful so they¡¯re using these potions as trump-cards, that¡¯s why you need as many demons as possible!¡±


    ¡°Of course¡­ I do still think that we shouldn¡¯t act too aggressively - we don¡¯t want to start a war if it¡¯s at all avoidable.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s totally up to you, I just hope you make the right choices!¡± with that said the woman walked away from Issac, a black smoke surrounding here - ¡°I must leave now - goodbye, General.¡±


    Issac didn¡¯t reply.


    Meanwhile outside, atop the tallest tower in the castle the figure reached into the other side of her coat - pulling out a wand, ¡°Right - it¡¯s time to activate the alleged dwarf demons¡­¡± she said through a chuckle.


    As she raised her wand into the sky she began sending orders to the furthest demon from the city, stating them out-lot, speaking directly into the wand - it was planted far enough so she could make it attack any village and blame it on the Dwarves, provided nobody saw it appear.


    Much to her surprise - neither the demon, nor the commands went anywhere.


    ¡°That¡¯s right - someone killed that demon¡­¡± she exclaimed angrily - remembering the mages court trying to take apart the demon corpse, forcing her to destroy it with the mages for fear of them finding something.


    ¡°Oh well, demon number two will have to do¡­¡± she said disappointed as she started casting the command spell - ¡°The sun is still out - so it won¡¯t live for too long¡­ perfect.¡±


    The ground began to tremble so strongly that she could feel it even all the way up to where she stood.


    From outside the walls a massive, skeletal creature stood up - it¡¯s back arched backwards, its arms hung low, they were so long that it was able to touch the ground - it¡¯s head was solid black, contrasting the leathery peach skin stretched over its torso and limbs, the head looked like a raisin that began twisting in on itself.


    Within seconds of the dust which the creature tore from the earth settling, it burst into flames - it made a slow swing at the walls of the city, it¡¯s thunderous smash shook the city, roofs collapsed, towers fell and the underground trembled.


    Soon after the creature fell back - ¡°Nice showmanship!¡± a voice said from behind her - she turned around revealing a blond man squatting down next to her, he wasn¡¯t wearing a shit - but was wearing a red coat.


    ¡°What are you doing here, Ed?¡±


    ¡°The boss said you could handle this yourself but I can¡¯t help but feel you¡¯ll mess something up¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have you know everything went as planned!¡±


    ¡°Right - and pray tell, what are you going to do with the body?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°The mages court will go off digging through them again, did you forget already?!¡±


    The figure pulled her hood off revealing a pink head of hair, ¡°Ah! I didn¡¯t think of that!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, no kidding¡­ your carelessness will get you killed one day.¡±


    ¡°Relax - if I hurry I can still-¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I popped a few explosion scrolls onto it beforehand.¡± the blond man said dismissively.


    The girl breathed a sigh of relief - ¡°Thanks for that¡­ ¡±


    ¡°Whatever, just try not to think about what you¡¯re doing in the future - I¡¯m serious.¡±

 Chapter 6.2: The Dwarf In The Swamp

    ¡°No need to worry! It¡¯s just a little mix-up!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to ask the boss to put Emi in charge of Exversia¡­¡±


    ¡°NO! - Don¡¯t you dare Edward!¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°I AM NOT GOING BACK TO SUBJIGATING VILLAGES IN THE MIDDLE OF GOD-KNOWS-WHERE!¡±


    The man sighed heavily - ¡°Fine¡­ but if you pull some dumb crap like this again-¡±


    ¡°Stop overreacting or I¡¯ll get the wrong idea.¡±


    ¡°Pfft - dream on shorty¡­¡± the man scoffed before standing up and reaching into his pocket for a necklace with a smooth, round, red gem in a small golden cage - it was a teleportation device, although rings are more common nowadays.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to report that I¡¯m done, I won¡¯t mention your screw-up¡­ for now¡­¡±


    ¡°Thank you~!¡± the woman said giving him a confident thumbs up.


    Edward disappeared creating a small breeze as he disappeared.


    Meanwhile; Adam, Uriel and I were at the entrance of the tunnels.


    ¡°Wait, so are these¡­like the sewers?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We should go in now before it¡¯s night,¡± Uriel suggested.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°...so these are the sewers¡­¡±


    Stepping inside I was struck with a stale, fungal scent, followed by the scent of rotting meat.


    ¡°It might actually smell worse than a sewer¡­¡± I commented.


    We walked down a long staircase, it was made of stone and without Adam¡¯s torch I wouldn¡¯t have been able to see anything, if I had a fear of heights - I would have died there, because there was no railing or anything, I was just hoping the moss and slimy stone steps wouldn¡¯t make me fall to my doom.


    ¡°This place reeks of death¡­¡± Uriel commented.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Adam agreed, his glasses were becoming fogged up due to how cold it was in the tunnel.


    A loud guttural scream caused us all to panic, losing my footing I fell down ¡°OH FUU-¡± I was cut off by water rushing into my mouth - quickly I sat up and tried to stumble to my feet after hearing the loud splashing noise.


    ¡°Light!¡± Uriel exclaimed as the entire room became illuminated with the light equivalent to an average day outside, it came from the ball which appeared in Uriel¡¯s open palm, the ball mas made from five magic circles with the smallest one the very top and bottom and the biggest in the middle, they all rotated in different directions.


    As his light illuminated the tunnel we were finally able to see what was truly inside the tunnel - it looked like a bipedal dog, the size of an elephant - with human teeth and massive, twitching eyes that observed us - it¡¯s fur was a wet, greasy, dark brown with black patches.


    The monster let out another ear-piercing screech - ¡°It¡¯s a demon, you don¡¯t stand a chance against it.¡± Uriel said, seemingly a little disappointed - maybe he was hoping for use to be able to go in deeper into the tunnel and see something even worse, or maybe he hoped we could actually deal with this threat.


    Seemingly disregarding the light spell the monster pressed forward, ramming into me making me painfully aware of how fragile the human body is, with the might of a small truck it pushed me into a wall, even for someone like me who died two hundred times - the fact is, the nervous system is not carried over from world to world, only your state of mind.


    Just barely holding back a shriek of agony I fell down into the water limply, Using the height to his advantage, Adam leapt off the stairs and onto the monster¡¯s back, digging his claws into it - the tactic wasn¡¯t very effective - in fact it turned out even less effective than expected with the monster swinging around and jumping up and down until Adam fell down into the water.


    ¡°Like I said - you¡¯re outmatched!¡± Uriel announced before letting go of the light spell, bathing the room in darkness, soon after the room became illuminated again - the light coming from the spear which Uriel held in his hand, its tip massively oversized, the entire spear looked like it was made from pure light.


    He pulled his arm back, before tossing the spear towards the monster, it dodged it again - its unusual ability to dodge attacks and charge at people was problematic.


    While the monster stared at Uriel - evaluating whether or not it should charge at him or not, it was caught off guard by Adam who dug his claws just above the creature heels in hope of immobilising it.


    The creature reacted with a shriek and an attempt to dodge again, this time stumbling and crashing into a wall - it¡¯s gaze focusing on Adam who was watching Uriel - the monster followed his gaze only to be met with a solid-light spear to the torso, instantly charring it so that only a charred husk remained.


    ¡°Well - I think that should be a decent enough explanation for you two aren¡¯t meant to be here¡­¡± Uriel said with a raised eyebrow.


    I was a little buy being in crippling pain to react to Uriel¡¯s attitude problems.


    I slowly reached down into my pocket, pulling out a handful of healing bullets and crushing them in my hand - suddenly feeling my ribs become ribs again with a snap.


    ¡°FUCK that hurt¡­¡± I complained, standing up and spitting out the blood that pooled in my mouth.


    ¡°Shit, I forgot about you, sorry!¡± Adam hurried over to me where I raised a thumbs up until I was done spitting blood - ¡°I¡¯m good, no worries¡­¡±


    ¡°Thank for the help man! What was that spear anyway?¡± Adam asked looking up to where Uriel stood.


    ¡°It was one of my only offensive spells - creatively named ¡®Spear of light¡¯ ¡±


    ¡°What a stupid name¡­¡± I cackled wiping the blood from my mouth before realising we¡¯re still standing a dark room - no guarantee more of them won¡¯t appear.


    ¡°Riiiight¡­. Well, in any case - you two should get going before another one appears.¡±


    ¡°What about you?¡± the question was asked by Adam, ¡°I think I¡¯ll stick around and see what¡¯s wrong with this place,¡± Uriel replied.


    ¡°Seriously? We can¡¯t leave you-¡±,


    ¡°What I¡¯m saying is, you¡¯ll die before you¡¯ll prove useful.¡± he reiterated,


    ¡°Well, you heard the cat - let¡¯s get going.¡±,


    ¡°Alright - if you¡¯re absolutely sure then-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure. I¡¯ll be out in twenty minutes or less.¡± Uriel said smugly before gesturing for us to leave already.


    We did as instructed and despite my not-so-subtle hints to leave, Adam insisted we wait outside the entrance.


    Adam sat down on the grass, pressing his back against the walls of the entrance - which double as the city walls.


    He looked upset with something, I just couldn¡¯t figure out why.


    Adam began tapping the ground with the tip of his foot, slowly and rhythmically at first - soon his tapping devolved into a frantic thumbing.


    ¡°Adam, stop that before you collapse the fucking tunnel on him.¡±


    I looked up confused before looking around seeing dust and crushed grass from where he molested the ground with his boot.


    ¡°Shit - sorry!¡± he said embarrassed before letting out a sigh.


    ¡°Are you feeling alright?¡± I¡¯m no psychologist - or even just a socially qualified person, but it was clear that Adam was bothered by something.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine - I hate being this useless in a fight¡­¡± He sighed,


    ¡°...yeah - I know what you mean.¡±


    ¡°...I mean, I¡¯m sure we could come in handy in a fight - we could distract the demons for Uriel¡±


    ¡°I guess¡­¡±


    ¡°Plus what if he runs out of mana?¡±


    ¡°What are you two talking about?¡±


    We looked over, knowing well that it wasn¡¯t Uriel, as a matter of fact, it was Lily - ¡°What the hell are you doing here?¡± Adam demanded,


    ¡°I told you - if you didn¡¯t want to help out - I was going to deal with the monsters myself,¡± she explained patting the quiver on her hip - it held arrows with golden tips which emitted a strong light.


    ¡°What are those?¡± I asked - I¡¯m still not sure what element Uriel¡¯s magic is made from - whenever I try to make light it¡¯s pure white.


    A solid twenty minutes passed with no response - ¡°That¡¯s it, I¡¯m going inside!¡± Adam exclaimed, I gaze down to the tormented soil, each individual drain of soil decimated under the fury of Adam¡¯s impatient foot tapping.


    ¡°I¡¯ll come too!¡± Lily added taking one of the arrows from the quiver, Adam didn¡¯t really respond to her - ¡°Good luck guys!¡± I replied to both.


    Adam spun around on his heel before starting to walk towards the entrance, then he stopped and turned back - ¡°Wait you¡¯re not coming?¡±


    ¡°I mean, I¡¯m low on mana as it is - and low on ammo too¡­¡± I explained.


    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah - we can¡¯t bring a child into the monster-filled sewers.¡± Lily agreed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a child. Also - I¡¯ll have you know it¡¯s a bit late for your parenting, I¡¯ve almost gotten myself killed there today already.¡±


    ¡°Tsk¡­¡± she turned away for a second - what¡¯s her problem?


    ¡°In any case - the stalker and I will go get Uriel back, If we¡¯re not back in ten minutes-¡±


    I cut him off ¡°It¡¯s alright - I¡¯ll make sure to remember you guys fondly.¡±


    ¡°I was actually hoping you¡¯d call for backup.¡±


    ¡°Nah - I can manage remembering you guys alone.¡±


    Adam let out a reluctant smile accompanied by a sigh and went into the cave, summoning the claw weapons from seemingly thin air again.


    Lily followed, crossbow ready.


    ¡°Voice 1 : Shouldn¡¯t you go with them?¡±


    ¡°Voice 2 : Look - if you want to get yourself killed, go ahead!¡±


    ¡°Voice 1 : ¡­¡±


    ¡°Voice 2 : Alright - maybe you shouldn¡¯t have the ability to get yourself killed again.¡±


    ¡°Voice 1 : It¡¯s all that fucking cat¡¯s fault¡­¡±


    ¡°Voice 2 : I know, right? We could have killed ourselves until we reincarnate as monarchs again.¡±


    ¡°Voice 3 : What do you guys mean!? You wanted an out all this time, you got one!¡±


    ¡°Voice 1 : I guess¡­¡±


    ¡°Voice 3 : Remember - that bastard promised a way out - so you better keep his promise!¡±


    ¡°Voice 2 : Didn¡¯t he say he was some angel or something?¡±


    ¡°Voice 1 : I don¡¯t know - wasn¡¯t listening¡­¡±


    ¡°Voice 3 : Well - that would imply, he has to be all honest and stuff!¡±


    ¡°Voice 1 : Yeah - so as long as he doesn¡¯t die or something like that, we¡¯re good!¡°


    ¡°Voice 2 : Yeah! Maybe he can give us the secret early!¡°


    ¡°Voice 1 : ¡­I dunno¡­ I don¡¯t really want to rush things¡­¡°


    ¡°Voice 3 : Don¡¯t tell me you want to live?!¡°


    ¡°Voice 1 : NO! That¡¯s not it! I¡¯m just-¡°


    ¡°Voice 4 : He¡¯s saying Uriel might cancel the deal if we ask now!¡°


    ¡°Voice 2 : Would he?¡°


    ¡°Voice 1 : Thanks 4¡°


    ¡°Voice 4 : I gotcha, fam¡°


    ¡°Voice 3 : Alright - for now we wait¡­¡°


    ¡°Voice 2 : By the way¡­ isn¡¯t Uriel like¡­ dying in the tunnel?¡°


    ¡°Voice 1,3,4,5 : WHAT?!¡°


    ¡°Voice 2 : Weren¡¯t you guys paying attention!?¡°


    ¡°Voice 3 : IT¡¯S TUESDAY - IT¡¯S YOUR TURN TO EXIST!¡°


    ¡°Voice 2 : That¡¯s not how it works and you know it¡­¡°


    ¡°Voice 1 : Wait, no - he¡¯s in that tunnel.¡°


    ¡°Voice 2,3,4 : At worst he¡¯s dying - no dead.¡°


    ¡°Voice 3 : Fuck¡­ all in favour of going and saving cat say aye!¡°


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Voice 4 : All in favour of protecting our only way out say aye!¡±


    ¡°Voice 1,2,3,4,5 : AYE!¡±


    ¡°Voice 3 : Thanks 4¡±


    ¡°Voice 4 : Any time, Fam¡±


    ¡°Fuck, I¡¯m hearing the voices again¡­¡± I think to myself feeling the sudden urge to go help out my way out - I mean cat¡­


    Meanwhile, deeper inside of the tunnel stood Issac, he was sitting in the wooden chair he dragged out from outside peering into the darkness of the tunnel, he knew the creatures were staring at him, but judging by their inaction they weren¡¯t commanded to disobey him yet.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    ¡°General.¡± the same voice as from before came, the cloaked figure appeared.


    Issac didn¡¯t even bother to turn around.


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡­¡± Issac asked, his expression unchanged.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t act - I will¡­it¡¯s in your interest to cooperate,¡± she said.


    ¡°And why is that?¡± Adam asked turning around in his chair, his eyes shot open when he saw that the hooded figure was accompanied by the Lieutenant General, Catherine.


    ¡°Why are you here?!¡± Issac demanded, not noticing the fact that her expression was blank, she held a blade to her throat.


    Issac evaluated the situation for a second, ¡°What did you do to her?¡± Issac demanded.


    ¡°Actually, we haven¡¯t done anything. The Lieutenant General got possessed by one of the lost souls, it seems she lost the battle for her body¡­¡± A sickly chuckle came from underneath the hood of the cloaked figure.


    ¡°For some reason, she was going around the big lab you guys have deeper into the tunnels - she was in search of someone following the ¡°earthquake¡± earlier¡± - she was referring to the giant demon from before.


    Issac let out a defeated sigh, ¡°It would seem that you got me.¡± he said.


    ¡°Indeed, now - will you do your job?¡± The cloaked figure asked.


    Issac didn¡¯t say anything for a while¡­


    ¡°Fine¡­¡± He said, looking over to the Lieutenant General who seemingly returned to her senses, dropping the blade and falling to the floor, pushing back against the wall.


    ¡°W-what happened?! What did I do?!¡± The Lieutenant General was clearly in a state of confusion.


    ¡°As your first task you will take care of some intruders¡­¡± the cloaked figure pointed over to the dark tunnel - ¡°We¡¯re not sure who they are - it¡¯s on powerful soul followed by two average souls - and in the distance there is a bit of an anomaly trying to catch-up to the two in-front.¡± She explained.


    The hooded figure leaned in towards the Lieutenant General, whispering something into her ear before back away.


    ¡°I just made it so if you come back without having disposed of those intruders, she¡¯ll slit her throat.¡± She added tossing the blade towards the Lieutenant General before she turned into a black mist disappearing quickly, saying a quick ¡°Bye!~¡± before completely disappearing.


    ¡°Well, ¡­it appears we¡¯re in a bit of trouble¡­oh well.¡± Issac took out a small vial of red liquid from his pocket. ¡°Drink it, it¡¯s a health potion and stay here,¡± Issac commanded.


    ¡°But what are-¡± Catherine¡¯s question was shot down by Issac ¡°That was an order,¡± he said, as he began heading into the dark abyss of the tunnel, the beasts seemingly ignoring him.


    Footsteps rushed towards him, it was three people, a blue-haired man with round glasses and metal claw weapons, a woman with a crossbow, an elegant looking man wearing a black suit and coat with a grey beard and moustache and a child with¡­a gun?¡­


    ¡°I didn¡¯t literally mean twenty minutes!¡± Uriel sighed,


    ¡°Well - how were we supposed to know.¡±


    ¡°And why is he here?¡± Uriel asked looking towards me.


    ¡°I CANNOT LET MY TICKET DIE!¡±


    ¡°...alright.¡±


    ¡°Still - those arrows of your work wonders on the demons!¡± Uriel said turning towards Lily.


    ¡°Thanks - I had to work overtime to afford these.¡±


    ¡°Oh - where do you work?¡±


    Adam put a hand on his shoulder - ¡°You¡¯re too innocent to know that.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s an assassin,¡± I explained.


    Uriel¡¯s expression shifted to a more awkward one, ¡°Oh¡­ I see¡­ so a paid killer¡­¡±


    ¡°I know - truly despicable scum.¡° Adam said turning towards Lily with a disappointed expression - disregarding the dozens of people I personally saw him kill earlier this week.


    ¡°Why¡¯d you tell him? Now they¡¯re judging me!¡±


    ¡°First of all, Adam always judges you - second of all - think about how it sounds when Adam describes your job as ¡®not for innocent people¡¯ ¡±


    Lily thought about it for a second before turning red with embarrassment and turning towards Adam and Uriel - this time it was her with the expression of disappointment - that said Adam was sniggering to himself.


    ¡°Yo,¡± Issac said looking at the group, were they adventurers or something?


    ¡°It¡¯s dangerous in here! You should get out of here before the monsters here tear you apart!¡± Uriel advised.


    Issac laughed a little.


    ¡°How very compassionate of you, please reconsider this situation though,¡± Issac suggested.


    Uriel was silent while he was thinking about it.


    ¡°He¡¯s on their side,¡± Adam exclaimed.


    ¡°Nonsense, why would a human with a clear soul ally with the fel souls?!¡± Uriel demanded.


    ¡°I¡¯m very sorry about all this, the monsters here are my doing,¡± Issac explained.


    ¡°What?! So then you¡¯re the one who¡¯s stopping all the plants from growing?!¡± Adam demanded.


    ¡°Yeah, Adam¡¯s drug-flowers are dying because of you!¡± I added.


    Issac raised an eyebrow, ¡°Y¡¯know I¡¯m still the general of the army¡­ you shouldn¡¯t be telling me this¡­¡± Issac said with a casual sigh sighed.


    ¡°Answer the question!¡± Uriel demanded.


    Issac sighed, ¡°No, I¡¯m just an underling¡­y¡¯know make monsters in return for not having the entire country wiped out¡­then still get the country wiped out - that kind of deal.¡± Issac explained.


    ¡°So you¡¯re working for the bad guy¡­because you though the bad guy would honour your dead about him not being a bad guy to your county?¡± I asked hoping he¡¯d realise his obvious mistake.


    ¡°In hindsight, maybe this could have been predicted. But hey. It¡¯s too late now.¡± Issac shrugged,


    ¡°Regardless, sorry I couldn¡¯t chat longer, I¡¯ve been sent to kill you,¡± Issac explained.


    ¡°Fine by me!¡± Adam replied as he placed the two claw fists in front of his face, much like you would with boxing gloves.


    Issac charged in first, he was fast and like a bolt of lightning, he pierced Adam¡¯s arm.


    It became very clear to them that he was far more experienced than them¡­well¡­maybe except Uriel, but he had to keep the light spell going.


    To their left was a large drop to where presumably water would be, instead of water there was mud and several writhing monstrosities hidden in the darkness.


    ¡°Cat, I can cast the light spell if you go fight him!¡± I suggested,


    Uriel nodded and released the light spell bathing us all in darkness for a moment.


    I created a massive halo of light, where the halo was a three-layer magic circle of pure yellow light, it filled the entire tunnel with a warm light like that of the sun, that said with my mana or whatever the casting limit is called - I¡¯d only have enough to cast that spell for ten minutes max¡­ if I add the three mana shots I have left, I could keep going for about twenty¡­


    ¡°What a capable magic user you have there,¡± Issac said.


    ¡°Yeah, they can come up with spells on the spot it¡¯s great!¡± Adam exclaimed as he released several jabs towards Issac, each one blocked by his blades, Issac blocked his attack with one blade and used the other one to stab his leg.


    Adam let out a yelp of pain.


    ¡°FUCK¡± he exclaimed.


    Uriel placed a palm on Adam¡¯s back, ¡°Heal¡± the words echoed in the cave as Adam was enveloped in a bright light stopping all pain and removing any wounds.


    ¡°Alright, now you may fight me,¡± Uriel said cracking his knuckles as he stepped in front of Adam.


    ¡°Alright, no probs,¡± Issac said with a shrug.


    In an instant a solid white chain shot out from Uriel¡¯s sleeve, it moved towards Issac who slashed it causing it to turn to a cloud of pale white dust after shattering into bits which filled the air.


    ¡°Hmph¡­nice trick, but I bet it costs a lot of mana.¡± Issac laughed.


    ¡°What gives you that idea?¡± Uriel asked with a smirk.


    ¡°The fact you¡¯re laying on the floor right now,¡± Issac replied.


    ¡°Oh¡­right¡­didn¡¯t notice¡­¡± Uriel replied.


    But I have, I loaded a mana shot into my gun a snot it towards Uriel, the bullet was about to strike him when Issac cut it mid-air with his rapier.


    ¡°ARE YOU EVEN HUMAN?!¡± I cried.


    ¡°I hope so,¡± Issac replied, he was looking at Adam who stood up now.


    ¡°Fairy Fire!¡± Adam commanded as a blue blaze from the two-circle magic circle under Issac, the flames seemingly did no damage to him.


    ¡±Yeah¡­I wouldn¡¯t rely on this kind of magic against me, these uniforms are created courtesy of the wizard¡¯s court and are resistant to all harmful magic¡­¡± Issac explained.


    Adam stood up for another hit, he tried to lunge for his middle torso only to be hit right to the side of his neck by the metal handle of the rapier, one on each side. Adam fell to the floor getting minor burn wounds from the fairy fire¡­


    ¡°So, you say your friend can alter the function of spells¡­?¡± Issac asked.


    The fire disappeared leaving behind a cloud of light dust in the air.


    I loaded a pain and healing bullet in that order into the gun, I shot the pain one towards Issac causing him to block it again with his sword, allowing me to shoot the healing one towards Adam.


    Adam stood up and planted a solid hit to the man¡¯s back with his weapon, however, the metal blades simply slid off as if Adam was attacking a chunk of steel.


    ¡°WHAT THE HELL IS THAT UNIFORM MADE OUT OF?!¡± Adam demanded jumping back to make some distance between them.


    ¡°Hell if I know, I leave that stuff up to the wizard¡¯s court nerds¡­¡± Issac shrugged before pointing his rapier at Adam once again.


    ¡°And no¡­he can make new ones on the spot¡­¡± Adam spoke through exhausted gasps, Adam was no amateur when it came to fighting but this man was a monster.


    Adam looked to me and Uriel who was laying passed out on the ground.


    ¡°You two get the hell out of here¡­ I¡¯ll try to buy you some time.¡± Adam said defeated.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t allow that, if they try I¡¯ll be forced to slash them from behind,¡± Issac replied.


    ¡°Damn¡­so you won¡¯t even let me die in a cool way?¡± Adam scoffed.


    ¡°Oh, shut up, as if I¡¯d let you feel all high and mighty before death,¡± I replied.


    Uriel was seemingly knocked out, honestly, I thought he¡¯d be stronger, though his healing was pretty strong.


    ¡°You there, what¡¯s your name?¡± Issac asked looking at me.


    ¡°Why does everybody keep asking me that? I don¡¯t have one!¡± I replied somewhat pissed off.


    ¡°Oh, is it a slave or something?¡± Issac asked with a disgusted expression on his face while looking at Adam.


    ¡°Nope, he just had a hard time picking one is all,¡± Adam replied, propping himself against the wet, slimy wall with his claws.


    ¡°...so did his parents never name him or something? How cruel.¡± Issac asked.


    ¡°No¡­he just started existing at eight,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Wait¡­what do you mean?!¡± Issac demanded, he was seriously confused by this.


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t understand¡­¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°...wait¡­are you from another world by chance?¡­¡± he asked.


    The question shook everyone, except Uriel who was out cold.


    ¡°...you mean¡­you¡¯re from earth too?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Heh¡­so you are from earth¡­¡± Issac¡¯s face shifted to a sorry attempt at a smile.


    ¡°Damn, for the first time¡­ I finally met someone from earth¡­and now I have to kill them¡­¡± Issac said, his voice shaky if he wasn¡¯t the man he was he might have cried.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to kill us!¡± Adam cried.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, the truth is I have no choice because it¡¯s not my life that¡¯s on the line here,¡± Issac said.


    ¡°What do you-¡± I was interrupted by Adam, ¡°I get it¡­ you were told to kill us, otherwise, someone dies.¡± Adam asked.


    Issac nodded.


    ¡°I see¡­ in that case¡­ there is no point trying to convince you¡­¡± Adam said with a sigh.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Issac replied sadly.


    ¡°Get ready to die,¡± Issac added before pointing his blade towards Adam again.


    The fight continued, for every decent punch Adam would be skewered by Issac¡¯s blade,


    ¡°Wind Fist!¡± Adam said as a massive chunk of what looked like solid, glowing air rushed towards Issac from the three-circle magic circle from in front of Adam, it knocked him back at first but shattered soon after.


    While Issac was getting up Uriel cast another spell, ¡°Radiance!¡± a pinkish-yellow light poured down on Issac - as if the sun itself became a liquid - it came from what looked like a cylinder of magic circles, they radiated a pale white light.


    ¡°I told you, magic will have no effect on me!¡± Issac said calmly taking a second to feel the texture of the liquid light pouring over his face.


    ¡°Apollo¡¯s blessing!¡± Uriel said as a bright yellow light began radiating from Adam¡¯s boots, there were small yellow circles on the soles of each shoe. ¡°It¡¯s a speed boost!¡± Uriel explained.


    ¡°Thanks!¡± Adam made sure to make use of every second he could, he rushed towards Issac, so fast that only a blur remained of the light from the boots, leaving a trail of where he moved in the tunnel.


    Like a lightning bolt, Adam slashed Issac with his claws.


    ¡°So it looks like it is possible to hurt you!¡± Adam laughed as he jumped back, Issac was too slow to cut him down.


    To us the scene looked as if Issac was desperately looking around for his attacked always getting stabbed in either the side of his back, his uniform and the ground below them became stained with blood, Adam¡¯s impossibly fast movements battered Issac for every side.


    ¡°I¡¯m low on mana, I¡¯ll take over the lighting for now,¡± Uriel said casting his light spell allowing me to join into the fight.


    With one swift movement, Issac was able to catch Adam by the foot allowing him to plunge his rapier directly into the flesh of his leg and cut the muscles leaving his leg limp.


    I loaded a heal spell into the gun, I aimed it at Adam and fired.


    Issac tossed Adam aside and moved in place of Adam to take the hit healing himself back to full health.


    During the entire fight Lily¡¯s been shooting any demons that tried to reach for us from the holes - the arrows she fired incinerated them almost instantly - with every bolt she fired it was as if four to eight people she was paid to kill were fired off into the distance, she saw her net-worth fall with each bolt shot.


    ¡°FUCK!¡± I cursed in rage as I decided to switch to offensive magic.


    ¡°Ice Block,¡± I said as a massive chunk of ice appeared before me rising from the three magic circles located next to each other, they were a pale-blue colour.


    ¡°I told you, magic can¡¯t hurt me!¡± Issac said in a bored tone.


    ¡°Maybe magic can¡¯t but the physical weight of the massive boulder of ice should!¡± I called back while firing the block of ice and creating several other ones, I created purple circles which applied mass amounts of kinetic force to the ice.


    Issac was able to keep the barrage of ice projectiles at bay with the swift movements of his rapier, shattering the ice into dozens of pieces with each slash.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t I try out some magic?!¡± Issac asked, jumping out of the way of the ice projectiles and leaping behind Adam who¡¯s Apollo¡¯s blessing has run out.


    This caused me to cease my ice block barrage as I got prepared to improvise a shield spell.


    ¡°Black lightning,¡± he said causing an arch of lightning to shoot from his fingertips, it was a black colour with a crimson glow, he aimed his finger-gun, at the end of his index finger was a tiny black magic circle. He pointed at Adam and with a swift snap of the finger on his other hand, the black lightning shot straight through Adam and arched on the wet floor for a split second before disappearing.


    Adam jumped back, covering the place where the lightning his time with his hands and he fell to the ground with a gasp.


    ¡°...Ahhaaaactually that didn¡¯t hurt at all¡­man your magic is weak!¡± Adam said patting his torso which he was pleasantly surprised was still there.


    ¡°Weird, usually none of you should be left standing¡­I guess it¡¯s the light magic.¡± Issac shrugged.


    If the spell was that powerful, I needed to learn it, so I essentially stole Issac¡¯s spell but changed the colour so it¡¯d work in this situation.


    ¡°Regular Colour Lightning!¡± I commanded as the same arching lightning appeared on my fingertips, I pointed the finger-gun at Issac and snapped my fingers causing a long bolt of lightning to shoot straight towards Issac, the recoil was insane and my air my was off causing Issac to only loose one leg and one arm in the process.


    He fell to the floor with a loud thump¡­


    ¡°Damn¡­that must have been one hell of a spell to get through the anti-magic armour¡­¡± Issac sighed.


    ¡°Yeah, you still have a chance to surrender, I can probably heal that whole no arm no leg thing,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Heh, the more you say that the worse I feel for having to kill you¡­¡± Issac said using his rapier as a walking stick.


    I looked down to Adam, ¡°Dude, are you alright?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡­that was one awesome spell! You have got to teach me that shit when we get back home!¡± he laughed standing up but failing horribly.


    ¡°BOOST!¡± Issac¡¯s words caught Adam off-guard as evident by Issac being able to stab Adam through the torso once more.


    I looked into my ammo pouch, ¡°I¡¯m out of healing bullets!¡± I yelled out loading four flame bullets into my revolver.


    Adam kicked Issac away causing Issac to fall over and his rapier to fall down into the pit.


    ¡°We disarmed him!¡± I said excitedly, I looked over to Adam only to realise that he too was laying on the floor.


    ¡°Looks like you guys really managed to screw me over¡­¡± Issac said seemingly accepting his defeat.


    ¡°Heal Adam!¡± Uriel commanded.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I hear you.¡± I replied not taking my eyes off Issac I moved over to Adam and placed one hand on his torso, ¡°Heal¡± I said as a lime-green magic circle appeared - light filled the inside of Adam¡¯s torso causing him to seemingly regain consciousness with a gasp, I breath a sigh of relief and turned to Issac.


    I moved closer to Issac, ¡°So¡­are you going to give up?¡± I asked.


    ¡°...I can¡¯t¡­the least I can do I die trying¡­¡± Issac replied with a defeated smile on his face.


    ¡°So once we kill you the person will die?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Most likely, however, if I was to let you live - she would certainly die,¡± Issac explained.


    ¡°So your friend is being held, hostage?¡± I asked.


    ¡°She¡¯s possessed if I come back without having killed you she¡¯ll slit her throat,¡± Issac explained, stumbling back to his feet.


    ¡°So, hypothetically¡­if we made it to her before she kills herself¡­I could un-posses her?¡± I asked.


    Issac stood with one hand against the wall, the wounds on his arm and leg stumps were charred so he wasn¡¯t losing blood.


    ¡°If you could do something like that¡­then yes¡­but I can¡¯t take that risk!¡± Issac replied.


    ¡°In that case¡­let¡¯s fight! Let¡¯s fight to the death!¡± I exclaimed,


    ¡°That¡¯s the plan¡­¡± Issac replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll heal you up first though,¡± I explained.


    ¡°You¡¯ll what? Why?¡± Issac asked.


    ¡°Well, we will be fighting, it would suck if you lost mobility because of your missing limbs,¡± I replied.


    I walked over to Issac and cast a healing spell, after ten or so seconds of uninterrupted healing his leg and arm returned.


    ¡°Quite the impressive healing spell you have there¡­¡± he commented.


    I took out my dagger, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s fight!¡± I exclaimed.


    ¡°What the hell are you doing?! You don¡¯t stand a chance against him!¡± Uriel called out.


    Adam stood up but kept his distance.


    This was my chance, I cast ¡°Boost!¡± based on how it looked, it just pushed the person forward a few meters or up to a solid target.


    I shot past Issac launching myself ten meters forward.


    Issac turned around to face, he ran towards me and I boosted four meters in the opposite direction, I turned around to see him, he rushed towards me again and I boosted another ten meters forward.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to attack?¡± Issac asked.


    ¡°Nope, what¡¯s the point with my strength?¡± I asked.


    We repeated the boost routine a few more times, ten forward four back, rinse and repeat.


    Adam and Uriel were slowly following us, eventually, I was finally able to see the person standing at the end of the tunnel whom I presumed to be the possessed person.


    I boosted towards them and placed a palm on their forehead, she looked like she was in her early twenties to late teens, she wore the same uniform as Issac, she was seemingly awake and just standing in the corner of the tunnel, her eyes were completely blank - like how you can tell plastic eyes apart from real ones in a matter of seconds.


    This was not the ideal setting but I had to get casting,


    I needed to think of a mechanism to get this to work, and I had to think of one on the spot - I created twenty-three magic, going from head to toe, each one was a thin fragile white circle, soon enough I saw one shatter - when Issac used the black lighting it was weakened by the light spell, if I make a weak enough light spell it will break due to the presence of the dark soul.


    I increased the power of the surrounding two circles immensely, to the point that I made the rest disappear, I made the two circles close in like a vice until I saw the light face as a smoky white orb started to appear at various points on the girl¡¯s torso.


    I continued tightening the circles, the fact I wasn¡¯t stabbed yet was proof that Issac either understood or now understands my plan.


    I squeeze the two circles into one, and move them out, showing a flattened greenish-black smoke trapped between the two circles.


    The two circles shattered, letting the ball of smoke bounce away into the darkness.


    ¡°Shit, it got away!¡± I exclaimed before being crushed by the now unconscious body of the passed out Lieutenant General.


    ¡°Somebody get her off!¡± I cried out for help trying to crawl away.


    Issac only just caught up to me taking the Lieutenant General off me and putting her aside.


    ¡°That was one hell of a risky game you played¡­¡± Issac said.


    ¡°yeah, well I hoped you ran out of mana by now and couldn¡¯t boost¡­¡± I replied catching a breath of air.


    Issac extended his arm to help me off the ground, to which I gladly accepted the helping hand.


    ¡°Well¡­what now?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s safe to say this place isn¡¯t safe for me or the Lieutenant General¡­¡± Issac replied - the bored look returned to his face.


    ¡°Nameless child, can I ask you a favour?¡± Issac asked.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s two favours actually, first¡­want you to get the Lieutenant General away from this place, at least for a little bit.¡± Issac said.


    ¡°Well I¡¯ll need to contact my home-owner,¡± I pointed back at Adam, ¡°But I think we got it covered.¡±


    ¡°Secondly I¡¯d like you to hold off on telling her that I¡¯m alive,¡± Issac said, he sounded hesitant.


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Now that I¡¯m free to act how I want, I no longer wish to side with the enemy. I¡¯m going to go take them out or at the very least do some damage, I know the Lieutenant General well, she¡¯d try to find me and die trying to go with me.¡± Issac explained.


    ¡°...So you¡¯re now against the demons?¡° I asked.


    ¡°Demons are the least of our concerns I¡¯m afraid¡­but yes.¡± Issac replied.


    ¡°Fine, but you¡¯re taking responsibility for her being pissed about lying to her,¡± I warned him sarcastically.


    ¡°Seriously¡­you people are weird as hell¡­sorry for cutting all of you up earlier¡­¡± Issac said apologetically.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, we would have done a lot worse if it was us in your situation,¡± Adam replied casually, although he seemed pretty salty about being stabbed.


    And so Issac left the tunnels through a different stairwell than us without much of a goodbye.


    We headed out of the tunnels, keeping the light spell going so as to keep the demons at bay, agreeing to take the Lieutenant General back to our home for now.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking... so what kind of death are we going to make up for Issac?¡± I asked.


    ¡°How about he tripped and fell onto his sword?¡­because he didn¡¯t want to kill us¡­or something?¡­ Like he did on purpose.¡± Adam suggested.


    ¡°It¡¯ll do, it sounds pretty noble actually¡­¡± Uriel said scratching his beard.


    ¡°So what are we going to do about those monsters or demons or whatever?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, ¡­we should probably deal with them¡­¡± Adam sighed.


    ¡°Why not just bust the entire tunnel open so they fry in the sun?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I guess that could work!¡± Uriel exclaimed.


    ¡°There is a high risk of¡­y¡¯know¡­collapsing the entire city in the process.¡± Adam pointed out.


    ¡°True but we would defeat an army of monsters trying to destroy said city.¡± I pointed out.


    ¡°No¡­we really should consider the consequences of this¡­we should evacuate the city¡­¡± Uriel pointed out.


    ¡°...ah yes let¡¯s just pop over and go like¡­¡± Adam cleared his throat and put on a higher-pitched voice ¡°GeT oUt oF ThE CiTy, WeRe AbOuT To Blow It tHe FuCk Up!¡±


    ¡°...no need to be rude.¡± Uriel shrugged.


    ¡°He has a point though, nobody would listen to us nobodies.¡± I pointed out.


    ¡°We¡¯ll think of something¡­¡± Adam sighed.


    Adam was carrying the Lieutenant General over his shoulder, she was pretty heavy for her size, and Adam was still pretty exhausted.


    ¡°Wait, let¡¯s use the teleport rings!¡± Adam suggested, the relief on his face was the definition of bliss.


    Lily was walking a few meters ahead of us with her head hung low.


    ¡°Sure, but didn¡¯t we leave them at home?¡± I asked.


    As Adam desperately looked through his pockets, his expression became the definition of terror, and unspeakable horror that one could never comprehend, the very act of betrayal, losing hope and existential dread seen nowhere in nature and beyond.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright¡­ we¡¯re not too very far away.¡± I said patting him on the shoulder.


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky you look like a kid or I¡¯d drop kick you right now¡­¡± Adam complained.


    ¡°Relax, relax, I can carry her.¡± Uriel offered to pick the unconscious girl over his shoulder and carrying her a decent ten meters before putting her down and demanding a break.


    Lily was definitely best suited to walking - she didn¡¯t seem too tried after the whole ordeal - on the other hand, she was still grieving, holding an empty coin pouch.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I get for trying to show of¡­¡± she though to herself thinking the population of this country is about to suffer greatly from her trying to get the money back


    In the end, Adam had to carry her back up the mountain, while Uriel just looked in embarrassment.


    When we made it home Adam was first in the door where he fell flat onto the wooden floor, using his leftover strength to toss the Lieutenant General onto the couch.


    Lily looked around, seeing me and Uriel crawling our way up the hill on all fours.


    ¡°I WAS NOT DESIGNED FOR LONG JOURNEYS!¡± I cried.


    ¡°Shut up¡­ weakling¡­¡± Uriel replied he was keeping up with me for a good while until he passed out a few meters away from the door.

 Chapter 7: The Festival

    <h1></h1>


    It was the middle of the night, the bright moon illuminating the world with the usual blue was masked by the clouds causing the night to be dark for one.


    The man walked in the muddy grass which engulfed his tall leather boots, he wore long long black coat with long sleeves obscuring his hands and with a high collar obstructing his mouth and nose, only his ruby-red eyes were visible, is pale skin vibrant in comparison to his snow-white hair which clung to his face because of how wet it was, it was short only long enough to reach past his ears.


    He stood outside the entrance to the tunnel, watching as the constant stream of water from outside poured down the steps. The cold interior of the tunnel was filled with the sound of trickling water, joining together into a loud waterfall.


    He didn¡¯t have a torch in his hand or a light spell, regardless of this he still walked in the pitch darkness without a problem.


    ¡°one¡­two¡­four¡­ten¡­twelve dead¡­¡± he mumbled to himself upon seeing the corpses of the spider-like monster Adam, Uriel and I killed earlier.


    From inside of his sleeve he pulled out a long butcher¡¯s blade, it was about almost half a meter in length, with a leather-bound grip.


    As he walked on the wet stone, he dragged his long blade behind him, was the stone not so wet it would have surely created sparks.


    In an instant from inside of the water-filled canal going through the middle of the tunnel came a massive arm, seemingly made from writhing flesh, it swung towards the man knocking him against the wall such that it cracked.


    The man fell limply to the floor for a few seconds, when suddenly his head snapped back to its proper placement, his entire back pulsed and writhed for a second before he stood back up.


    ¡°I¡¯d appreciate if you stopped resisting¡­ I¡¯m borrowing this body so please be gentle,¡± he said with a wide toothy grin and pointed his weapon towards the beast.


    He took a single step forward and just as he did the creature shot a volley of other smaller arms towards him.


    Effortlessly the man sliced them off with the blade in one clean slice.


    The creature within the depths of the flooded canal recoiled, ¡°Who are you?!¡± it demanded in a shrill distorted voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m disappointed you don¡¯t recognise me.¡± the white-haired man laughed.


    ¡°...don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re a lost soul like us?!¡± The creature demanded.


    ¡°Bingo! And I¡¯ll give you another tip, my name starts with A~¡± the man added.


    ¡°Wait!? you¡¯re a named soul?!¡± the beast demanded.


    ¡°Yep, care to take a guess which one? Tell you what, if you guess I¡¯ll make sure you get a quick death.¡± he offered.


    ¡°Abeyth?¡± the creature guessed.


    ¡°Wow, two questions right in a row, congratulations!¡± the white-haired man exclaimed.


    ¡°W-WAIT?! WHY WOULD YOU SLAY YOUR KIND?!¡± the beast cried, he pulled his arms back and pressed up his form against the back of the wall, his face looked like a dog¡¯s, with a wide snout and black lips, no nose, long black hair covering its form, and two massive eyes glowing a pale white light, from it¡¯s back came the tendrils.


    ¡°My kind? That¡¯s a funny thing to say. Here I thought we were just stuck in the same shit-hole for a few hundred millennia, I find it disturbing that you hold some pride in that fact.¡± Abeyth said, his eyes narrowing as his tone grew more fierce.


    ¡°What of the others?!¡± the creature demanded.


    Abeyth shrugged, ¡°How should I know, maybe they¡¯re still outside, maybe they¡¯re somewhere in this tunnel, in which case they won¡¯t be for much longer.¡± he said.


    The creature in the tunnel began to make a run for it, it headed towards the tunnel exit before falling over suddenly, it looked back and it saw a long scaly arm holding it back, the arm was growing out of Abeyth¡¯s small human body, it slowly pulled the creature back towards him.


    ¡°How cold of you, and not to mention rude, to run away from your superior.¡± Abeyth laughed as he lifted his blade.


    ¡°WAIT, if you kill me the human I¡¯m possessing will die too!¡± the creature cried and without hesitation, Abeyth brought his blade down on the creature''s snout cleaving it in half.


    ¡°You are such a strange bunch, you are telling me of all people to care about a human?¡± Abeyth scoffed.


    He turned to face the deeper part of the tunnel where he saw several hundred eyes some even bigger.


    ¡°Who¡¯s next?¡± He asked with a grin as he dragged his blade towards the horde of monsters.


    Later that night, he left the tunnel covered in blood and chunks of mutated flash.


    ¡°Well, ¡­that¡¯s done¡­guess I should get rid of that trash while I¡¯m at it¡­¡± Abeyth sighed as he turned back towards the tunnel, from inside crawled a small humanoid looking creature, it was clear it was caught in the crossfire between a fight since it was slashed by still alive.


    ¡°You¡¯re too late¡­this nest was emptied days ago¡­¡± the creature laughed a crackly laugh.


    ¡°Whoops, I missed one.¡± Abeyth chuckled.


    He kicked it¡¯s frail figure back down into the dark tunnel and extended his palm, it quickly became overgrown with black tendrils and tiny scales, without saying anything a colossal stream of molten lava appeared filling the entire tunnel, a loud crack was heard in the city, the very earth must be breaking from the heat and gasses trying to escape, too bad.


    As the lava was done being poured, it¡¯s surface was still soft but it became glazed over with clear black glass-like rock until eventually, it became solid.


    Abeyth walked away from the scene, heading back into the wet forest, where this time the earth wasn¡¯t quite as wet as it has been scorched by the radiating heat and some puddles of water that still remain bubbled and boiled into a greyish-brown mess, allowing Abeyth to slip away unseen into the foggy, misty woods.


    ¡°I guess I should head back before the sun comes out¡­I can¡¯t risk damaging this body permanently.¡± Abeyth said as he patted his shoulder.


    He headed to a cave, the entrance was covered with hanging vines and something which resembled blinds made from tried grass.


    He headed inside and waited for the slightest bit of light outside, when he leaned back on the rocky cave and relaxed, his eyes glazed over as his body began to snap and re-shape itself, it morphed into a more feminine shape, with hair that was much longer, and a less muscular body, the voice and eye colour changed, the eyes were now an amber-yellow colour.


    ¡°Hm? Oh, it must be morning again¡­Abeyth must have gone to sleep¡­ guess I should get cleaned up.¡± the now feminine sounding white-haired woman said as she headed outside.


    Meanwhile, back in our house near mount Neverest¡­


    I sat up in bed, my entire body aching from the journey up the mountain, I stumbled out of bed, propping myself against the wall as I walked until I reached the door, I swung it open only to be met with a blade to my face.


    ¡°WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!¡± the Lieutenant General demanded holding a knife from the kitchen.


    I recoiled slightly at the question, I considered moving out of the way but decided being stabbed is marginally less painful than moving right now.


    ¡°Thing is, I don¡¯t have a name¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°What do you mean!? Where are we?! Why am I here?!?!¡± the Lieutenant General demanded she moved in closer placing the back of the blade against my throat.


    ¡°If you¡¯re gonna¡¯ stab me go for somewhere less painful, no need to be so sadistic about it!¡± I demanded.


    ¡°I can go for your eyes if you prefer?!¡± the Lieutenant General replied, it was clear from the look in her eyes she was no longer the panicked person from before, she seemed well composed¡­for a person about to stab a child to death that is.


    ¡°Look, miss Lieutenant General person - we were told by some general dude to help you out. So if you could take that knife-¡± I was interrupted by another question,


    ¡±Is Issac alright?!¡± the Lieutenant General cried.


    ¡°Earrmmmm¡­¡± I clicked my tongue a few times, ¡°Define alright¡­¡± I finally said.


    The Lieutenant General fell to her knees dropping the knife to her side,


    ¡°What happened?¡± the Lieutenant General asked, her voice shaky.


    I put a comforting hand on her shoulder, ¡°Move I need to go to the bathroom.¡± I said, after not getting a response for a bit I just stepped over the Lieutenant General and headed to the bathroom.


    The Lieutenant General composed herself quickly, ¡°Something is off about that child¡­how can she be that cold¡­¡± she thought to herself.


    After I left the bathroom I stepped over the Lieutenant General again and headed back into my room to retrieve my revolver, you never know when they¡¯ll come in handy.


    ¡°...wait¡­answer my question¡­who are you?¡± she asked again.


    ¡°I told you, I don¡¯t have a name. I¡¯m just some dude that lives up in the mountains here¡­¡± I explained.


    ¡°¡­what happened to Issac?!¡± the Lieutenant General demanded.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to need you to just trust me when I say this, okay,¡± I said looking over at the Lieutenant General.


    She nodded.


    ¡°So we were in the tunnel¡­¡± I said slowly.


    She nodded.


    ¡°And Issac was told to defend the tunnel of you¡¯d die or something.¡± I continued.


    The Lieutenant General didn¡¯t react but kept listening.


    ¡°But I think he heard that I can come up with spells on the spot, so he wanted me to pull some ghost¡­soul¡­demon thing out of you.¡± I explained.


    ¡°W-wait, so you got the demon out of me?¡± the Lieutenant General asked looking at her palms.


    ¡°Yeah, but it cost me a hell of a lot of mana, so you better feel special, anyway so your friend just¡­¡± I did the circular hand motion you do when you¡¯re looking for the right word to use.


    The Lieutenant General kept looking at me as if I was about to say the punchline to a joke.


    ¡°Impaled himself on a weapon.¡± I finished.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°So Issac died by accident?¡± The Lieutenant General asked.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s more like he ran directly into my friend¡¯s claw weapon,¡± I explained.


    The Lieutenant General didn¡¯t say anything for a long while.


    ¡°Look, it¡¯s early, why not have a nap?¡± I suggested.


    ¡°...¡± the Lieutenant General didn¡¯t reply, she just kept looking down.


    ¡°...how about I make us some breakfast? I¡¯ll get Adam to tell you about how he kill- never mind¡­¡± I felt awkward so I just clime over her again and went into the kitchen.


    ¡°Wait¡­he can¡¯t be dead!¡± The Lieutenant General cried,


    ¡°Look, I¡¯m no good with all this feelings stuff, I saw him die,¡± I replied.


    I felt a smack on the back of my head,


    I turned around and saw that it was Uriel, ¡°Watch it, cat!¡± I warned.


    He pulled me aside ¡°You¡¯re being a prick!¡± Uriel said in a loud whisper.


    I raised my hands in defeat and backed off.


    Uriel made his way next to the Lieutenant General, ¡°Miss, are you feeling alright?¡± he asked.


    The Lieutenant General looked at Uriel with eyes devoid of anything resembling emotions, a nihilism I¡¯d be jealous of.


    Uriel extended his hand, ¡°Let¡¯s go get some fresh air and you can tell me what trouble you, miss.¡± He said extending his hand toward her.


    The Lieutenant General slowly reached out to Uriel¡¯s open palm and they walked out to the garden.


    I decided that as little as I cared about smooth-talking, anything I could use fuel to make fun of Uriel with later on was worth listening to his cringe-worthy conversation.


    I followed them discretely, sitting behind the wooden door outside.


    The Lieutenant General sat on the patio next to Uriel.


    ¡°I understand that you¡¯re still in shock over what happened, so I won¡¯t ask you to talk, I will do my best to speak for the both of us, but feel free to speak up at any moment, miss,¡± Uriel said.


    I was gritting my teeth a little at this point, could he be any worse?! I guess he could be referring to her as ¡°m¡¯ lady¡± but he¡¯s close to that level.


    ¡°I understand someone dear to you has passed away recently,¡± Uriel said, to anyone not paying close attention to he, you¡¯d think he was just looking around the garden, in reality, he was inspecting the Lieutenant General¡¯s facial expression out of the corner of his eye.


    Uriel considered the circumstances, their hair colour was different, same with the eyes, that¡¯s only a fifty per cent chance of being related, judging by the age difference she could be his daughter or maybe stepdaughter¡­Uriel decided to go for the broad relationship.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure he was something a great parental figure to you,¡± Uriel said, her eyes widened and softened slightly letting Uriel know she took the bait, now he had to make her open up.


    ¡°of course, I would have no way of truly knowing your relationship, but he really cared for you. Even in his final moment he specifically asked us to help you out.¡± that line was a risk, if the Lieutenant General switched her attention back to the fact that Issac was dead, Uriel would be back to square zero.


    ¡°Mhmm¡­he was my a friend, I think he knew my father¡­¡± The Lieutenant General responded, her eyes closed slightly and a tear began forming as she spoke of her father.


    In this situation, Uriel was at risk of evoking the wrong kind of memories, she got sad at the mention of her father¡­so she either loved him, and he died or he was a terrible parent¡­ She responded to Uriel¡¯s parental figure comment¡­ either way, it¡¯s safe to assume the father is out of her life at the moment.


    It was time for Uriel to use his special ability, the ¡®ultimate topic swap¡¯ it allows Uriel to branch off of the uncomfortable topic without changing the core subject.


    ¡°I see¡­ so what was Issac like?¡± Uriel asked - he heard the name Issac brought up earlier.


    ¡°...he used to walk around bored¡­he never smiled¡­but always seemed cheerful and made jokes¡­even though we pleaded for him to speak like a normal person, he¡¯d always use weird slang and we¡¯d laugh about it when he¡¯d leave.¡± the Lieutenant General spoke in a nostalgic tone.


    Alright, step one is complete, Uriel cracked her shell and now it was time for her to open up of her own free will.


    Uriel put one a more cheerful tone, ¡°Yeah, I know what it¡¯s like to have an old man who seems disconnected with reality.¡± this was the mine, the happy tone and casual statement should trigger some anger within the Lieutenant General, if this failed then Uriel might have just alienated her, but he used her previous stunt with the knife as basis for her bold personality.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like that!¡± the Lieutenant General replied her tone irritated.


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t understand!¡± she exploded.


    And the mine has been triggered, now Uriel just waited silently as what the Lieutenant General just said sunk in, as a high ranking member of the army, it was fair to say that the Lieutenant General would have some sense of justice leading to the guilt she should soon feel.


    ¡°...I¡¯m¡­sorry¡­¡± the Lieutenant General said.


    ¡°No¡­I¡¯m sorry¡­I shouldn¡¯t have compared the two situations it was really rude of me, I think I should leave.¡± Uriel said standing up slowly.


    ¡°Wait, no¡­¡± the Lieutenant General stood up and placed an arm on Uriel¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t want to be so rude after you went out of your way to cheer me up.¡± the Lieutenant General said in an apologetic tone.


    Uriel turned around, ¡°No, it¡¯s alright, let¡¯s go inside and have some breakfast, Hmm?¡± Uriel asked extending his hand.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± the Lieutenant General said taking the hand gain and following Uriel indoors.


    As I heard them come closer I scurried away from the door and rushed to the couch.


    The two entered the house.


    ¡°Oh, hello there Miss Lieutenant General and cat.¡± I said trying to look casual while laying on the couch, I decided to copy Uriel and refer to the Lieutenant General as ¡®miss Lieutenant General¡¯.


    She shot me something similar to a mix between a disgusted and a pitiful look.


    ¡°Why, hello there nameless child,¡± Uriel said walking to the kitchen.


    Damn, this Lieutenant General person isn¡¯t too fond of me¡­it¡¯s not like I actually did anything to her¡­


    Uriel gestured to the three barstools next to the counter in the kitchen.


    I watched him from the couch.


    ¡°Do you feel in the mood for any specific dish?¡± Uriel asked.


    The Lieutenant General thought to herself for a second, ¡°N-no¡­I don¡¯t mind, I guess I¡¯d like some fish¡­¡± she sounded unsure.


    ¡°Some fish you say? No problem, miss Lieutenant General ¡± Uriel said taking some materials out of the fridge and cupboards.


    ¡°Please, call me Catherine¡­¡± the Lieutenant General said in a friendly tone, Uriel actually managed to get through to her, but how?!


    ¡°In that case, please call me Uriel,¡± Uriel replied with a slight polite bow.


    ¡°HOW THE HELL IS HE ACTING SO SMOOTH, THAT BASTARD!¡± I thought to myself digging my nails into the couch.


    ¡°Hey, pipsqueak!¡± Uriel called out.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know any pipsqueaks around these parts,¡± I replied sarcastically.


    ¡°Stop being a smart-ass and get us some fish,¡± Uriel commanded.


    ¡°Hey Uriel, one thing first, mind answering me a quick question?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What is it?¡± he asked with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°Before I tell you to go fuck yourself, do you want me to bring you some lube?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Ha-ha very funny, just get on the fish already,¡± Uriel said.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve only ever had cod so that will have to do,¡± I said with a shrug.


    ¡°Your sad culinary pallet is not my problem, but fine, cod will do.¡±


    The Lieutenant General looked at Uriel and I with intrigue.


    ¡°One cod, comin¡¯ up,¡± I said standing up and imagining the raw fish from before, for some godforsaken reason my parents wanted to buy sushi once because it was trendy, I tried the one with cod and one with tuna and both tasted like ass.


    I imagined a dark pink chunk of meat, I had to guess the shape of the full fish so I made a 3-D sculpture of a fish with cod meat in my arms, I¡¯ve noticed that the more I make the same kind of a thing, the less magic it uses, as if the spell got more carved into reality making it less effort to cast.


    Uriel took the chunk of meat from me and moved it to the chopping board.


    ¡°Woah, that was amazing mister Uriel!¡± the Lieutenant General said in an excited tone.


    It¡¯s not like I want attention or anything, but of all creatures in existence why is it Uriel that¡¯s taking the credit?!


    ¡°Just Uriel will be alright,¡± Uriel said cutting the fish in half revealing it was solid meat with no guts.


    ¡°Alright,¡± she replied.


    Uriel cut the fish into slabs or fillets, he placed them in a large bowl along with some oil, vinegar, lemon juice which I had to spawn as well, salt, pepper and some green herbs he just smelled to identify.


    After letting them soak he placed them in a large ceramic dish with some of the marinade and threw in some lemon slices.


    He placed it in the oven and when he took it out the meat turned a pale white colour with a light bit of brown caramelisation.


    ¡°Would you like some nameless child?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m good, I¡¯ll have a sandwich,¡± I replied.


    Uriel shrugged before handing the Lieutenant General a plate of the fish, she didn¡¯t expect anything this fancy, she assumed Uriel would just fry some fish with a bit of salt.


    ¡°This is amazing!¡± she exclaimed.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear it,¡± Uriel replied sitting down next to her eating his portion of the food.


    ¡°Where did you learn to cook like this?¡± the Lieutenant General asked using the fork to take apart the tender strands of meat.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I think I just picked up some skills as I went, I guess it¡¯s because I enjoy making food that others enjoy. There is really nothing else to it.¡± Uriel replied with a smile and a casual shrug.


    ¡°BeCaUsE I EnJoY MaKiNg FoOd ThAt OtHeRs EnJoY, BULLSHIT YOU¡¯RE JUST TIRED OF EATING INSTANT NOODLES IN YOUR LONELY ASS APARTMENT!¡± I called out.


    A silence fell over the room for a while.


    ¡°Gettin¡¯ a bit personal there, nameless child?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°I''ll never eat another cup of instant noodles again...this life or the next¡­¡± I murmured and walked back to my room.


    I sat beside my window looking outside, damn¡­Uriel is such a prick¡­


    I was observing the beautiful outside world¡­ dead grass¡­dead trees¡­Lily pressed against Adam¡¯s window.


    I waved casually to Lily.


    She waved back cheerfully.


    I opened the window, ¡°Adam isn¡¯t in there you know, I think he¡¯s asleep next to the front door¡± I said.


    ¡°What? Really?¡± Lily seemed disappointed.


    She walked up to my window and clicked something on the bottom of the windowsill causing it to open like a door, I was beyond the point of feeling concerned for my life in this house so I didn¡¯t even react.


    ¡°So, are you ready for the festival this evening?¡± Lily asked sitting on the side of my bed.


    She wore her usual outfit, with the poncho-like cloak, light-purple scarf, long purple dress slash shirt and shorts.


    ¡°Oh, yeah. The dryads mentioned it back yesterday.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯ll be going with Darthold earlier, Adam and I were meant to meet up with them later on,¡± Lily explained.


    She began speaking more seriously, ¡°So I assume you¡¯ll be joining Adam and I?¡± she asked sounding pretty disappointed.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that to you, I¡¯ll head in there an hour late or so and join up with the group then,¡± I explained.


    Lily failed to hide her excitement when her entire face turned red, ¡°Yes¡­an hour alone with Adam¡­¡± Lily murmured to herself.


    ¡°...right. ¡± I said awkwardly, in reality, it was in my best interest not to witness whatever the hell was going to go down at that festival between those two.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be leaving now,¡± Lily said standing up and moving towards my door.


    ¡°See ya¡¯¡± I said.


    ¡°I guess this is a good time to work on my aim with the revolver.¡± I sighed


    I left through the window so as not to see Uriel and sat down creating a few more bullets, I had about thirty now.


    I created the same fish from before since it only took half the mana creating a new item to serve as a target would, and placed it down on the dead grass against a steep hill.


    I stood a good few meters away and took aim.


    I had six-iron shots in my ammo spinny circle.


    I fired the first one, it dug itself deep into the hill but missed horribly, damn it¡­


    Alright, so all the bullets get dragged down by a different amount, the iron shot most of all¡­ if I aim higher I should be able to hit the target¡­


    I tried it and successfully shot right through the fish which exploded into pieces.


    Alright, aim higher with iron shot¡­ next fire shot¡­


    I shot it around the target and noticed that unlike the previous shot this one flew higher up, my guess was that it heated the air causing it to become less dense and move up.


    To compensate for this I shot lower, however, the wind was also a problem, I had to compensate for the wind¡¯s effect over the flame.


    After some experimenting, I got a good grasp of how to use the fire shot.


    The healing shots and mana shots were easy to use so there was no need to work on those, same thing with the pain shot.


    The ice shot gets dragged down like the iron shot but not quite as much.


    I shot it at the annihilated pile of fish chunks that once served as my target and got a grasp of how it worked quite fast.


    ¡°I wonder what kind of things I could do with these bullets¡­¡± I think I got the perfect idea, I imagined the place where the bullet hit as a variable holding the coordinates to the location, next I¡¯d take my coordinates at the time of the impact of the bullet as a variable, and swap them, this way I don¡¯t have to think about complicated stuff like space-time, just swapping two variables!Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    I call this bullet the transportation bullet!


    I used magic to create one and surprisingly it was a lot cheaper than just to come up with them traditionally, I guess the simpler it is to imagine the less mana is needed to process it, good to know.


    I created ten of these bullets, loaded six into my gun. The bullets were bright purple with the word teleport inside.


    I shot one a few feet away from me and magically I appeared there in an instant.


    It made me a little bit seasick but it was too fun to stop.


    The experience was strange, the sound changed in an instance, and my eyes were blinded for like¡­ a millisecond, the movement happened to impossibly fast I couldn¡¯t even see it happen.


    I shot one really far downhill.


    And before I knew I was falling off some trees, I shot one down onto the floor so as not to crash into the floor too hard but I only slightly improved my situation since it seemed my momentum variable was the same.


    I shot a bullet back to the house and fell down off of the wall of the house, luckily it was a small house.


    This was fun¡­and painful, but I need to figure out how it works before I kill myself with it.


    I entered the house through the window again and sat around in my bed, I took the out bag of money for before since I¡¯d most likely need it at the festival.


    My body still hurt like hell from yesterday and now it¡¯s even worse thanks to that fall off the tree, this could have been avoided if I remembered to keep Adam¡¯s teleportation ring on me¡­ wait how doest it work exactly?¡­


    I took out my dagger I had laying around on the floor, somehow magic was imbued into the ring itself, leading me to believe that in theory, I should be able to ¡°enchant¡± stuff.


    Wait¡­could I make scrolls too? Like could I do the thing that they do in games where you have a single-use spell in a scroll?!


    I looked around my room for a source of paper, unable to find one I considered going outside to see if Adam had any - but I can¡¯t do that! The cat is busy flirting with the Lieutenant General person¡­kind of weird how she never told us to use her name instead¡­


    I tried to imagine the spell from before, the one where I summoned some cola - except now I¡¯d like to summon some paper,


    It worked, I gave the circle a yellowish-paper colour.


    Now with the ability to summon paper on command I created a pile.


    First of all, I attached what I nicknamed the ¡®destruction¡¯ circle, it¡¯s a grey circle with a choppy rough outside - as if it was torn up, inside-outside of it I placed what I will refer to as a ¡®logic¡¯ circle, it¡¯s white and consists of a smooth circle shape with the exception of a few jutting out bits, essentially I could attach a logic gate like ¡®if¡¯ to something, next inside of the damage circle I placed a generic red-fire spell, but the shape had hands on it - meaning you can touch the fire, lastly I placed a small white circle at the very centre of the other circles, it was just a white circle with the number ¡®1¡¯ on the outside, this was a bit of a long shot but I hope it works!


    Next, I created another circle, on the opposite side, a logic circle in the ¡®if¡¯ shape followed by blue circle meaning ¡®magic or to cast¡¯ followed by a destruction circle.


    Next on the bottom of the front page, under the biggest circle, I placed a big circle, it had a number ¡®1¡¯ design too, but it was dark grey and thinner.


    My hope is that since the other one is thicker and brighter is will work as the stronger circle and be like the trigger, so when I trigger the ¡®1¡¯ circle, whatever is inside of the darker ¡®1¡¯ circle is executed, it resembles programming a bit, I was watching this series on TV where five people were brought in for a ten-episode show to make the best game they could - thing is one of them was a professional game developer and one didn¡¯t know anything, they were told that there is one expert and one idiot in the room, it was kind of funny - but that aside, that show is the reason why I have some understanding of this stuff.


    Inside of the ¡®weaker¡¯ number ¡®1¡¯ circle, I left a lot of free space¡­this isn¡¯t the most elegant design but it will do!


    I used magic to get a copy of the scroll and placed a simple light spell inside, (a bright white circle with a design with ¡®sun rays¡¯ )


    I tore the scroll in half - it burst into flames which were warm but didn¡¯t burn, and created a bright flash of light blinding me for a minute.


    Now I just memorised the ¡°blueprint¡± for this and called it ¡®basic magic scroll¡¯ ¡­I seriously need to work on the names¡­


    I made a whole pile of these scrolls since I wouldn¡¯t be going anywhere dangerous today - I could afford to spend some mana screwing around!


    If these work, I could create all sorts of magic stuff in this world¡­ I could have all the money and power I could ever wish for!!!


    In reality, I just couldn¡¯t be bothered to act all power-hungry¡­That¡¯s a lot of effort you know¡­


    I heard a knock on the door.


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked - the door swung open to reveal it was Adam, it was evident from his posture that he did not sleep well, can¡¯t blame him to be fair.


    ¡°You, doin¡¯ anything?¡± Adam asked standing in the slightly open door, one hand on the wall for support.


    ¡°Kinda'', wait I¡¯ll show you what I¡¯ve been working on.¡± I said as I transferred the fish making spell (consisting of about forty circles) into the lower part of the scroll under the weaker ¡®1¡¯ circle, it was meant to create the fish from before.


    I handed Adam the paper.


    ¡°Go ahead, rip it in half,¡± I said.


    Without any further question, Adam tore the piece of paper in two only for a 3-D fish sculpture made of cod flesh to appear in front of him as the paper flew out of his hands and began burning away into a fine dust.


    ¡°Dude¡­that was awesome!¡± Adam exclaimed.


    ¡°I know right! Think how much money we could make selling these!¡± I added.


    ¡°Yeah, and since they¡¯re single-use it¡¯s not like we¡¯re handing people super overpowered magic or anything!¡± Adam continued.


    ¡°Do you think you could do this kind of stuff to things other than paper?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°I think so, I was thinking about putting some magic on my dagger,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Man, could you enchant my claws to do something cool?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I shrugged, it¡¯s been forever since I was this excited last time, it¡¯s not like I have anything to use my power towards¡­ that said it would make for some super cool party tricks.


    Adam left my room and returned with his claw weapons, I started off simply, I added a fifty per cent speed boost to the weapons, basically I took the boost spell they love so much around these parts, and set it to always be active - but to also not be as strong as a real boost spell - or it¡¯d tear Adam¡¯s arms off¡­, it¡¯s hard to describe these things in words.


    ¡°There you go, it should make you faster,¡± I explained, the entire experience had me drained of mana.


    ¡°Thanks, man!¡± Adam exclaimed looking over the weapon before turning to me, ¡°A-are you feeling alright?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡± I asked puzzled by the strange question.


    ¡°Your face is kind of ¡­covered in blood?¡± Adam replied uncertainly.


    I moved my palm up to my face, I must have been too busy making the spells to notice the whole falling-of-a-tree thing managed to cut my face up a bit.


    I crushed a healing bullet in my hands causing me to feel the wounds close leaving me with nothing but a dirty face left after the injury.


    Right, guess I¡¯ll leave the rest of my scroll work for when I¡¯m not about to run out of mana, in case of an emergency I can use the mana shots I have left, but it¡¯s only enough for the equivalent of three or four shooty-ice spells.


    Plus knowing our luck something stupid will happen at the festival, I just know it.


    ¡°I just fell off some tree.¡± I shrugged,


    Adam laughed it off and headed to the kitchen.


    And so I sat around all day in my room avoiding Uriel and the Lieutenant General because my day was shit enough as it was, meanwhile during my time of inaction Uriel and the Lieutenant General talked for most of the day, Uriel explained in minor detail that I¡¯m a dude and that Adam may have kind of maybe¡­killed Issac, although it¡¯s not quite like that since Issac just threw himself on the blades but they were in a fight to the death so Adam would have obviously tried to kill him anyway.


    Later that night, after Adam was dragged out by Lily, and Uriel left with the Lieutenant General, I was left alone in the house, I waited the hour I promised to Lily and made my way down the mountain, the was a village east of the mountain, basically you go left instead of right on the road leaving the mountain, don¡¯t ask why we have a road to the mountain or who paid to have it built.


    I passed the monster hunter camp where there was barely any people, just a few older people keeping watch I waved to them out of politeness and they waved me over, I had to endure a decent half an hour of stories from this one guy who looked like he was at least over a hundred years old, I really never asked to know what the festival was like fifty years ago, of sixty, or forty, in fact, it¡¯s safe to say I don¡¯t give a shit about anything he told me.


    Now you may think I stayed and listened out of politeness, but he was just too deaf to hear me say ¡°I DON¡¯T GIVE TWO FUCKS ABOUT THE TYPE OF SNACK THEY HAD AT THE FESTIVAL TWENTY YEARS AGO!¡±


    He was holding onto my arm too, so unless I decided to break it I didn¡¯t have a way to escape, at last, I resorted to my teleportation bullet and made a run for it.


    When I reached the village I was surprised to see that it was completely different than the one I got my ass whooped at a while back.


    The was a long road going in a straight line through the town, wait¡­I should have paid more attention in geography¡­ wait¡­.it was ¡°linear settlement,¡± I think. It¡¯s weird how we never came here - I mean it¡¯s so close to us, there were tons of multi-story houses and a lot of people next to food stalls and other kinds of stands.


    There were a ton of red flag hanging off houses and long lines of red flags handing on ropes between houses.


    There were street musicians and from the looks of it a lot of wealthy people.


    ¡°Hey there little girl, would you like some festival buns?¡± A man at a stall asked, at first I assumed he was talking to someone else but I remembered how I look so I sighed and turned to the stall.


    ¡°Sure, how much are they?¡± I asked I was surprised to see that it was the man from the city from before, the one who sold me the cheese bread.


    ¡°Wait, cheese-bread man?!¡± I asked in shock.


    ¡°Wait, mute child?¡± he asked, we shared a short silence.


    ¡°Wait I thought you can¡¯t speak!¡± the man exclaimed.


    ¡°Well, actually it¡¯s that I didn¡¯t know the language.¡± I shrugged.


    ¡°Damn, what brings you so far from Equoria?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Actually I live round¡¯ here. By the way, I¡¯m a man.¡± I explained.


    ¡°Seriously? You look like a girl!¡± he laughed.


    ¡°Yeah, I get that a lot, also I don¡¯t have a name,¡± I added.


    ¡°What?!¡± He asked he was clearly shocked.


    ¡°Yeah, I just never decided on one¡­ most people just refer to me as ¡®guy slash girl¡¯ or ¡®nameless child¡¯ ¡± I explained.


    ¡°You¡¯re by far the weirdest customer I¡¯ve ever had, Lil¡¯ man.¡± the cheese-bread man exclaimed.


    I shrugged ¡°So, about these festival buns¡­¡± I continued.


    ¡°Right, they¡¯re filled with sweet, creamy cheese and sprinkled with some sea salt, they¡¯re five copper each,¡± he explained.


    ¡°Usually they¡¯d be cheaper but the price of flour increased because there are rumours that next years wheat crop will die.¡± The cheese-bread-man explained.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have four¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°Four?! Where are you going to fit all those?¡± the man laughed.


    ¡°I have sorrows to eat away,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Woah, you alright there kid?¡± The man asked, his laugh turning to a concerned voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m just joking, I stopped feeling anything a long time ago,¡± I replied with a lazy wave, I slid the man a large copper coin, I learned one large copper coin is equal to ten small ones.


    The cheese-bread man took the two large coins and gave me the four buns, each one a pinkish red with some of the yellow-white cheese filling seeping out.


    I walked through the densely populated area looking for an area to eat my buns quietly.


    I noticed a seemingly abandoned bench in an open area between two houses, a bit of an alley.


    It was completely empty so I decided to go there and eat my buns in peace.


    As I sat down listening to the distant noise I opened the bag and took out a bun.


    I bit into it, the soft, layered crust of the bun was flaky and slightly buttery, when I reached the soft cheese filling I was shocked by an explosion of flavour, it was sweet with a hint of sour and a flavour very similar to vanilla, the little bit of salt sprinkled on top was also pretty refreshing because the filling was so sweet.


    ¡°Hey there¡­¡± a familiar voice said, I looked back only to see Abe sitting in the corner of the alley, I sun around to see who it was.


    ¡°Abe? What the hell are you doing here?!¡° I asked confused.


    He seemingly shivered a bit before speaking in a disgusted tone, ¡°They dragged me out here, but this place is horrible! There are so many people I don¡¯t know and it¡¯s noisy and it¡¯s just horrible!¡± Abe complained, despite the bold claims he seemed more tired than angry.


    ¡°Heh, guess you¡¯re not really into the big public occasions?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nah, I¡¯m planning to go home as soon as the crowd dies down,¡± Abe explained.


    Beside Abe sat several cats and kittens, they dig their claws into him as they climbed up and down his body.


    ¡°You seem to get along well with animals,¡± I commented seeing the cats.


    ¡°You think so? It¡¯s only cat¡¯s that understand me¡­ we like to sleep¡­ we like to eat¡­ we don¡¯t like loud noises or massive crowds, we don¡¯t seek total isolation we just want to stay out of the spotlight.¡± Abe almost fell asleep as he spoke.


    ¡°Don¡¯t sleep here you¡¯ll get robbed!¡± I warned him.


    ¡°Sorry, I used too much mana today¡­¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°What are you using the mana for anyway?!¡± I asked remembering how Abe is always asleep or on his way to be.


    ¡°It¡¯s a long story¡­¡± Abe groaned, as he rolled over to his side, I stood up and dragged him to the bend and off the trash, he was surprisingly light even for me.


    ¡°Here have a bun,¡± I said handing him one of the still warm festival buns.


    Abe blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes before taking the bun, ¡°Thanks, friend¡­¡± Abe cracked the bun in half letting the warm cheesy mixture pour out onto the floor.


    ¡°Dude! You just wasted the best part!¡± I complained.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I like the bun itself, it¡¯s plain and tasteless¡­my favourite,¡± Abe said as he began chewing on the bun, the cats from before crawled over to the poured out cheese and began licking it.


    ¡°Oh, I see you left it for the cats,¡± I exclaimed.


    ¡°Yeah¡­they should get something out of all that noise caused by us humans,¡± Abe replied.


    I shrugged.


    ¡°So, you still didn¡¯t explain how you used up all that mana,¡± I said eating the second half of my bun.


    Abe spoke in his usual exhausted voice, ¡°you see¡­ever since I was a child, I was extremely sickly¡­by age ten I was completely immobilized.¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°I can relate, back home I couldn¡¯t get off the couch either,¡± I said, not fully seriously.


    ¡°I see, then you should know what it¡¯s like to have life pass you by while you¡¯re stuck in one place¡­¡± Abe said.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± I said, I just realised my joke caused me some trouble and I¡¯d have to just go along with it.


    ¡°Well¡­I don¡¯t¡­I didn¡¯t care¡­is standing in the sun or being in a lake really something so amazing that I should feel bad over not being able to take part in it?¡± Abe asked.


    ¡°I just sat at home and read books when I was able and when I couldn¡¯t I¡¯d just try to sleep and read books in my dreams,¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Wait¡­wait so you had dreams¡­about reading books¡­you could do anything and you decided to read books?!¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s because I could to anything I decided to read books, what joy would I get from climbing a mountain? Swimming across the sea? Fighting dragons?¡­ I was fully satisfied with reading my books.¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Damn¡­you must have been pretty lonely,¡± I said.


    ¡°Not really¡­my parents and sibling wouldn¡¯t come close to me because of the disease, but they were always in the house, I¡¯d hear them walking past my room sometimes, and I couldn¡¯t make friends without first going out, besides I was a night owl so I would always stay up in the night reading in the moonlight or if I could muster the strength to light one, by candlelight.¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°I did have one friend though, an old sickly cat,¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°It was an old white cat, blind in one eye and half deaf, covered in scratches and fleas, It looked ancient like it was older than me.¡± Abe laughed a bit at the description.


    ¡°I always called him gramps¡­because his fur near his face looked like a beard, his face always looked like he was grumpy about something..¡± Abe said.


    ¡°He visited me every night since I was ten, up until I was sixteen, my disease got worse and I the ability to feel anything with my hands, I saw gramps walk in through the wooden windows like he usually did, I saw it in his eyes, the look that said, ¡®go on, die you bastard so I can die¡¯ ¡±


    ¡°It seems humans live longer than cats, even diseased humans and I outlived gramps¡­ he walked over to me, leaning in to do his usual head-butt against my hand, I couldn¡¯t feel it anymore but I saw it, the tired eyes of a veteran cat.¡±


    ¡°He slept next to me that night, and eventually got off and stumbled away into the night, I never saw him again¡­I knew he died.¡±


    ¡°...did he like¡­bring you mice to eat or something?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, gramps never ate in my room¡­ he just sat there, sometimes on me sometimes next to me and he¡¯d leave by sunrise.¡± Abe replied.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s why you¡¯re so fond of cats,¡± I said taking out a second festival bun.


    ¡°Wait, you still didn¡¯t answer my question! You just talked about a cat for the last ten minutes!¡± I exclaimed.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right¡­after gramps didn¡¯t come back I wanted to go look for him, for the first time in my life I had nightmares about gramps being sick laying on the cold wet ground dying of disease for days while I lay around at home. From the books, I learned about magic and with my limited understanding of magic I created a spell to make myself able to move.¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Wait, you can make spells up too!?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It seems I had a large mana pool, but creating new spells permanently decreases the size of your mana pool, that¡¯s what gave me the title of archmage after all¡­¡± Abe explained.


    "Wait, alright. Finish your story first, then I¡¯ll ask you my remaining questions." I said beckoning Abe to continue the story.


    Abe sighed and continued.


    ¡°Long story short I never found gramps, but I figured out how to walk, granted my walk was more like a drunk puppeteer playing with his doll rather than a normal walk but it did the job.¡±


    ¡°Not too much later I heard that disease spread through the town and that someone was stumbling around town spreading the super rare disease only I had in the town. ¡°


    ¡°The villagers did the only reasonable thing they could and decided I should be burned on a stake to fix the problem. Those were more primitive days of society, nowadays I¡¯d get a quick death via guillotine¡±


    ¡°As I was dragged out of the house my parents were helpless to do anything, they just watched and pretended to laugh with the other villagers¡­I¡¯m sure it was just so they wouldn¡¯t get into trouble¡­¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°While I was on the stake I, the villagers started throwing torches onto the pile of wood and hay. In my panic and rage and confusion, I did the only thing I thought was right in the situation, the thing every child considers when they learn of magic¡­the forbidden fruit of all wizards and mages¡­I chose to let my body burn, but I refused to die. I became a lich.¡± Abe explained.


    Abe paused for a bit, ¡°I think that¡¯s about it¡­¡±


    ¡°Wait, so you¡¯re a zombie?!¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, a Lich. I¡¯m switched from using food and air and stuff to mana as fuel for the body, I¡¯m also using mana to stay looking young and avoid disease.¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Second question, so if I was to invent a spell¡­I¡¯d lose a considerable amount of my total mana pool?!¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s say the average person has ten units of mana, this means that they will passively regenerate ten unites of mana regardless of circumstances. If they choose to create a spell that nobody ever taught them, they¡¯d lose five unites permanently, but they could teach that spell to someone and they¡¯d lose no units¡­now if you later decided to make a similar spell, it might only cost you five units this time, while a more complex one might be even more¡­¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Alright¡­so an average person could handle one spell¡­I might not be screwed just yet¡­¡± I thought.


    ¡°Granted in reality, creating one spell would cost in the thousands of mana units¡­that¡¯s why only gods and talented humans can come up with spells.¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Is there a way to measure mana pools?¡± I asked nervously.


    ¡°Yeah, I can get it checked for you if you want¡­¡± Abe offered.


    ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s okay, you won¡¯t run too low on mana?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­that kind of spell should need little to no mana.¡± Abe explained extending his hand in front of him, he placed a palm on my forehead and runes began appearing in thin air.


    ¡°Right¡­let¡¯s see¡­one¡­two¡­three¡­¡± Abe was counting something¡­I hope it¡¯s not mana units¡­what if I only have like three left?!


    ¡°It looks like you do have an unnaturally big mana pool,¡± Abe said.


    ¡°How many units?!¡± I cried.


    ¡°Well¡­that was just an example¡­mana is measured in volume, basically an average peasant has like¡­a glass¡­ a craftsman with some magic might have a bucket, a mage will have a pond¡¯s worth, an archmage should have a lake, but in my case, it¡¯s more of a pond.¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Please tell me I¡¯m not a puddle!¡± I pleaded nervously.


    ¡°You have a sea¡­¡± Abe said.


    ¡°What do you mean¡­like¡­the letter ¡®C¡¯ ?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, as in you mana volume is like a sea, that said you mana composition and regeneration is complete trash,¡± Abe explained.


    I looked at Abe in confusion.


    ¡°Basically you can make an ungodly amount of new spells, and you can keep a lot of spells active at the same time, but you¡¯ll burn through a sea¡¯s worth of mana in an equally ungodly amount of time, on top of that your mana is pretty thin¡­without getting into the magic-theory it just means you need more mana to create the same thing, but since new spells aren¡¯t physical things you shouldn¡¯t worry about creating too many¡­¡± Abe explained.


    ¡°Do keep in mind, your mana pool is not like a physical organ, but it does obey some laws, don¡¯t drain it completely or it could fold in on itself and stop you from being able to cast magic altogether for a while,¡± he added.


    I breath a sigh of relief, ¡°Man I was worried there for a second¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯d suck creating a super cool spell you can never use because your maximum mana became too low¡­¡± Abe sighed.


    ¡°So..are there many people with mana pools like mine?¡± I asked hoping to get some sense of scale, plus I could always use an ego boost.


    ¡°Not exactly¡­there were some people throughout time, mostly mages of legend, who had mana pools even bigger than yours, that said I doubt there are many people alive to match your mana pool at the moment,¡± Abe said finishing his bun.


    I took out four of the five mana bullets I had saved up and handed them to Abe. ¡°Here, you can break the bullets if you¡¯ll be in need of mana,¡± I explained before standing up off the bench.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be going now if I see Darthold I¡¯ll tell him to get you home once you¡¯re done,¡± I said leaving.


    ¡°Thanks¡­by the way¡­¡± the was super exhausted at this point, leaning his head against his hand.


    ¡°Don¡¯t go overboard with strong magic¡­we mages¡­can¡­sense strong magic¡­¡± as Abe was about to finish his sentence he fell asleep and started snoring.


    ¡°Seriously¡­you¡¯ll get robbed¡­¡± I sighed as I walked away, two buns left.


    I left the alley, the bun bag in hand, joining the crowd and heading through the stalls and stands.


    What do people do at festivals¡­I guess I could go drink¡­I doubt the medieval people have too much against me drinking¡­now that I think about it people just had nothing fun to do.


    As I walked one stall caught my attention, the stall was filled with piles of books. Back on earth, I wasn¡¯t one for reading but it beats having to go outside, plus I might be able to find something for Abe¡­


    I looked through the books, I saw a few cookbooks¡­some mythology¡­some magic books¡­


    I picked up three books, one about the mythology of the country and two about magic and how it actually works.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take these three,¡± I said pointing at the books and lifting the three books slightly.


    ¡°That¡¯ll be three silver.¡± the bored-looking man said,


    I took three silver out of my bag and slid it towards him on the wooden stall, he seemed surprised by the fact I have that kind of money.


    I took the books and continued walking down the long road of shops and people, soon enough I saw Darthold sat at a stall next to two large piles of plushies


    I walked up to him, ¡°Hey, Darthold. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be with the dryads today?¡± I asked looking at the game he was playing.


    ¡°I am! Look behind you.¡± I turned back to the pile of stuffed toys, fair enough two dryad faces were sticking out of the pile.


    ¡°Oh, hey guys,¡± I saw with a wave.


    ¡°Hello!¡± they replied plainly, their eyes were filled with pure excitement for all the stuff they got.


    ¡°You guys want some festival buns?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Snacks?!¡± Al exclaimed excitedly.


    I placed one of the cheese buns in their mouths since they were trapped in piles of toys.


    They tried to say something but their mouths were full so I just came out as an ¡°Mnmhhmm¡± albeit a pleased one.


    I looked back to Darthold, ¡°So what are you doing?¡± I asked looking at the pile of smashed glass, next to it the man who I assume is the owner crying into a plushy.


    ¡°It¡¯s easy, you just have to hit the target, if you smash the target in one hit you get to go again for free!¡± Darthold exclaimed with a hearty laugh as he got ready to throw another ball.


    The owner looked up only to collapse back into the stuffed bear he was crying into,


    Effortlessly Darthold smashed the glass bottle targets into tiny shards.


    ¡°Hand it over¡­¡± Darthold said with an extended arm.


    The owner took the bear out from under his tear covered face and handed it to Darthold.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m afraid¡­ w-we¡­ran out of¡­prizes¡­the game is closed¡­.¡± the owner stuttered out, turning to leave he heard the sound of smashing glass, he looked in horror as he saw another target was smashed.


    ¡°B-but sir! We¡¯re out of prizes!¡± the owner cried,


    Darthold just looked at him for a while, ¡°That¡¯s a nice hat you have there¡­¡± he said.


    ¡°Right, well I¡¯ll be leaving now, remember to collect Abe from the alley near the festival bun stand,¡± I said waving a lazy goodbye.


    ¡°See ya later!¡± the dryads called back.


    It¡¯s weird how they speak in unison sometimes.


    I headed through the crowd to some other game, this one was spectated by a tonne of people, I squeezed through the crowd to see what was going it, it was some archery game¡­played by Lily¡­they let her use the crossbow¡­


    I heard the sobbing of the owner already, I made my way up towards Lily who never took her eyes off the game.


    ¡°So, watcha¡¯ doing?¡± I asked.


    ¡±Oh, nameless child.¡± Lily breathe a sigh.


    ¡°Just¡­getting rid of some pent up aggression¡± She explained, I looked over to the game to see that every single target was shot with at least a dozen crossbow bolts, the splintered wood covering the floor, on one side of the range lay a part-timer - I¡¯m fairly sure she was alive but there was no way to know from the opposite side (the one leading to the storage room) crawled another part-timer clutching a table as a shield presumably to protect himself from the arrows in order to rescue the other part-timer, granted it looks like the table was seen as a moving target and was also filled with bolts at which point the part-timer passed out, while the owners sobbed in the storage room.


    ¡°So...did your plan not work out?¡± I asked.


    Lily took aim at the table again, ¡°It¡¯s not that it didn¡¯t work out, it¡¯s just that Adam would prefer to get drunk instead of play games with me!¡± Lily complained.


    I slowly lowered her crossbow, ¡°Please, spare the part-times.¡± I said as the man from behind the table rushed out to get the girl and sprinted back into the storage room where the owners congratulated him on the heroic task.


    ¡°Why not go drink with him?¡± I asked.


    ¡°...¡± Lily didn¡¯t reply.


    ¡°SHIT!¡± Lily exclaimed.


    ¡°I was so preoccupied being pissed off, Adam might be getting hit on by other girls at the pub!¡± Lily added.


    I was going to correct her since that¡¯s not what I meant¡­but I just went with it.


    ¡°Thanks, nameless child! Feel free to take the reward I saved up in the game.¡± Lily said as he ran off past the crowd to the pub where Adam hid from Lily.


    I walked up to the storage room, with the owners.


    ¡°So, she said I could take the prize for her, so feel free to keep it,¡± I said.


    The owners returned to their sobbing as the two part-timers walked up to me.


    ¡°Hey, little girl. We¡¯re sorry, this game is closed for the time being.¡± The girl said patting my head, you should go back to your parents.


    For some reason, the image of Uriel as a parent appeared in my mind, such disturbing imagery¡­


    I took out the revolver, loaded a pain bullet and pointed the revolver at her.


    ¡°Alright, no problem, could you just smile for the camera for a second, miss?¡± I asked pressing the revolver against her head.


    Blissfully unaware of her situation the girl nodded, most likely not knowing what a camera actually is.


    She was pushed out of the way by the part-timer who hid behind the table, he was a scrawny looking guy in his mid to late teens, he was pale, with light blond hair. He wore a white blouse and brown trousers, same as the other part-timer and owners.


    ¡°WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING POINTING A GUN AT RANDOM PEOPLE?!¡± the man demanded.


    ¡°Wait, you guys know what a gun is?¡± I asked.


    The man covered his mouth, he looked around for a second realising that nobody paid attention to him.


    ¡°Look, little kids like you shouldn¡¯t be walking around with guns!¡± the man said in a hushed voice, with my blank expression I shot the man in the foot with the pain bullet.


    ¡°AHH!¡± the man cried, rolling around on the floor crying.


    ¡°Stop being such a baby, it¡¯s a magic bullet it won¡¯t actually hurt you,¡± I explained.


    ¡°LIKE HELL IT WON¡¯T!¡± the man cried.


    ¡°Anyway¡­¡± I pointed the gun towards his guts, ¡°Are you from Earth by any chance?¡± I asked, my finger on the trigger.


    ¡°Yes, indeed child¡­I was chosen by the gods to be born into this world to spread love and peace!¡± the man exclaimed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t feel too special, including myself and excluding you, I know like¡­three and a half people from earth and one inter-dimensional cat thing.¡± I explained.


    ¡°wait¡­you mean you¡¯re from earth too?!¡± the man cried.


    The man crawled towards me clutching to my boots, ¡°If you don¡¯t get the fuck off right now I¡¯ll shoot you right now.¡± I warned him aiming my gun to his head.


    ¡°Come on, this is the first time in sixteen years I¡¯ve seen someone from Earth!¡± the blond man cried.


    I shot him a few more times but he wouldn¡¯t let go so I just dragged him behind me.


    I walked through the festival, it looked like I was getting close to the end of the crowd, I was dragging the blond man attached to my left leg over the rocks and dirt of the road in hope of getting him off, he was surprisingly heavy, I heard a scream as I saw dozens of people flee in the opposite direction, I made my way past the crowd making sure to let a few of the people trample the blond guy.


    In the distance, I saw a pile of corpses¡­or more likely passed out people, granted seeing people black-out-drunk at festivals should be expected if my sources (TV and Internet) are to be trusted, but not like this¡­women, children, some still clung to life as they tried to crawl away


    ¡°And for my next song¡­¡± the voice said before it began to sing.


    That was when I heard the horrific sound, it was like a drunk walrus trying to sing, I looked to the source of the gut-twisting noise only to see that it was Uriel on a makeshift stage, around him an unconscious crowd, except for one.


    It was a battle of god-like proportions which I had to fight on the inside, on one hand, I wanted to go tell him how awful his singing was, but on the other hand, I wanted to get as far as I possibly could from his banshee-like voice.


    I picked up a rock off the floor and took careful aim, I tossed the rock in his vague direction, as it flew closer to the source of the evil it began flying in a different direction, the vibrations from his unholy voice¡­they must have thrown the stone off its course¡­


    ¡°WHAT IS THAT NOISE?!¡± the man attached to my leg cried.


    ¡°It¡¯s Uriel! I mean the cat!¡­ I have to stop him from singing¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?! No, we have to flee!¡± the man around my leg cried.


    I took a deep breath, ¡°I can¡¯t let the entire world end like this¡­it¡¯s just too cruel¡­even for me.¡± I explained.


    I took a step towards the stage, I felt the air grow thicker as the vibrations became stronger, despite the fact I only walked a few feet it felt like miles, the man around my leg was clutching onto my leg harder than before.


    ¡°Let go damn it! It¡¯s dangerous!¡± I cried getting even closer, I saw the particles of dirt and soil take on a ripple-like effect as I drew closer to the stage.


    ¡°Never! You might be the asshole who tried to shoot us earlier¡­but I can¡¯t let a child die like this!¡± he yelled back.


    ¡°We might both die!¡± I said - I moved my hand up to wipe the thick red stream of blood that began flowing from my right nostril. (maybe a slight exaggeration)


    ¡°It¡¯s alright¡­we can stop this¡­¡± the man replied, his grip loosened as he fell limply to the floor.


    With a sudden sharp pain, I felt like I¡¯ve gone deaf, what happened looked like slow-motion to me, the man fell to the ground bouncing slightly as he began slipping back further away from the source of the noise.


    ¡°Sorry¡­looks like this is a job for me¡­¡± I said as I valiantly kept going further, I passed the only person still looking vaguely conscious in the crowd, it was the Lieutenant General¡­of course, it was the Lieutenant General¡­


    I kept moving.


    At this point, the pressure from the waves of sound was too much, and I fell to my knees, was this the end of my tale¡­this seemed strangely anticlimactic.


    My vision began to blur, as I began falling backwards ready for the cold rocky embrace of the earth to end my suffering I was surprised by the warm embrace of someone else, it was the blond man from before, blood streamed from his ears and nose, but a desperate grin clung to his face as he used the leftover strength to pick me up at this range maybe with my mass¡­maybe I could at least fly closer to Uriel¡­


    He threw me over the leftover benches and directly onto the stage, I looked back only to see a spurt of blood escape the man¡¯s mouth as he fell back, a satisfied grin on his face¡­


    I used what little strength I had left to tackle Uriel off the stage as his ¡°singing¡± stopped, I was able to hear again, ¡°YOUR SACRIFICE WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN!¡± I cried looking over to the blond man from before.


    As Uriel opened his eyes he looked around only to see what he has done, piles of people, my face bloodies and a hero lost.


    ¡°Oh¡­ what happened here?¡± Uriel asked looking around the battlefield.


    ¡°This¡­is all your¡­fault cat¡­¡± I managed to say, the difference in air pressure now that he stopped singing was so strong I felt a sharp pain in most of my organs.


    I looked over to the Lieutenant General who despite her polite smile was already out cold, presumably since the start.


    ¡°Oh - it must have been my hymn spell, I guess I activated it by accident,¡± he replied looking around panicked.


    That was when I lost consciousness.


    When I opened my eyes I was greeted with the warm light from outside, I got out of bed feeling a sharp pain in my head as I stood up.


    I stumbled out of my bedroom and into the living room, I swung the fridge open and took out a handful of energy-drink vials Adam stored in the bottom shelf.


    ¡°Good, you¡¯re alive, nameless child,¡± Uriel said from the distance.


    ¡°Yeah, I find that fact hard to believe, too¡­¡± I replied making my way to the couch where if fall with a mug filled with energy drinks.


    ¡°What happened yesterday after your¡­singing¡­incident?¡± I asked saying the word singing in air-quotes.


    ¡°I carried you and Catherine back here, we ran into Lily and Adam on our way where the festival-goers insisted we leave,¡± Uriel explained.


    ¡°Alright, so we got kicked out¡­I should have seen that coming.¡± I sighed as I downed the entire cup of very potent energy drinks at once.


    ¡°And¡­eh¡­¡± Uriel was scratching the back of his head uncomfortably.


    I raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°Sorry about yesterday, I guess I should hold off with my auditions to ¡®fantasy world got talent¡¯¡­ at least for a while.¡± Uriel sighed with an apologetic smile.


    ¡°You don¡¯t say¡­anyway, did you guys do anything after that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, but we did get something from a person at the festival to deliver to you,¡± Uriel said handing me a paper bag.


    ¡°I hope it¡¯s chocolates¡­or money.¡± I mumbled as I emptied the contents of the bag onto the table, it was a few letters¡­


    I picked one of the letters up, it read as follows¡­


    ¡°I am writing to you on behalf of the royal festival and holiday council, you and your friends are officially banned from taking part in, or coming within a one mile radius of any festivity taking place in this country, note that the punishment has been severely reduced by your alleged actions of heroism during the terrorist attack (presumably Uriel¡¯s singing) and as a result you may choose to repeal this decision when next visiting the royal capital.¡±


    I read over the letter, ¡°Uriel, you just ruined my fucking Christmas!¡± I complained.


    ¡°What?! How come?¡± He asked taking the letter and reading over it, as he read his eyes widened before he folded the page in two and placed it back onto the pile.


    He was speechless.


    ¡°Thanks a lot, cat¡­any way. How¡¯s the Lieutenant General?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Who? Oh, she left this morning.¡± Uriel explained, he weakly pointed towards the front door.


    ¡°Oh, good,¡± I replied sifting through the other letters.


    ¡°Most of these are for Adam¡­oh another one labelled ¡®nameless child¡¯ ¡±


    ¡°Never come back, sincerely -The town of Derfal.¡± I read this one out loud.


    I picked up another letter,


    ¡°My shop is out of business because of you, we all hate you.¡± I read this one out loud as well.


    ¡°I wish I could punch you in the face, you festival ruining sons of-¡± I was interrupted by Uriel ¡°Okay, okay, I get it¡­I screwed up¡­¡± he sighed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much, I bet most of the damage was done by Lily shooting people at various games¡­¡±


    ¡°Sorry about that!¡± I heard Lily shout as the carped was lifted by the opening of the trapdoor in the floor.


    ¡°Lily¡­you really shouldn¡¯t¡­do that¡­¡± Uriel held his thumb and index finger between his eyes as he sighed in disappointment.


    ¡°Relax, it¡¯s just couples businesses, you wouldn¡¯t understand,¡± I said waving my hand dismissively at Uriel - by now I realised this is just how they liked to do things.


    Lily nodded furiously, ¡°Exactly, you wouldn¡¯t understand.¡± she agreed.


    ¡°You two had a really twisted image of relationships and I won¡¯t even bother correcting you,¡± Uriel said sounding more pissed off by the second.


    ¡°Wait¡­where is Adam?!¡± Lily asked panicked,


    ¡°Isn¡¯t he in his room?¡± I asked before I walked over to his room despite the fact Lily already said he isn¡¯t.


    I looked outside and saw that Adam was in fact passed out on the dead grass outside.


    Come to think of it, the entire landscape of the land was looking dull, the lush greens and fields of flowers were replaced with a dry brownish-grey.


    I kicked Adam until he was awake.


    ¡°Dude, get up,¡± I repeated, adding a little force to my kicks each time.


    Eventually, Adam sat up, the side of his face bruised from the kicks, ¡°Man, why can¡¯t you just wake me up like a normal person?!¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Relax,¡± I pulled out the revolver and shot him with a healing his square in the forehead.


    He recoiled from the pain, ¡°Holy crap it worked¡­it cured my hangover!¡± Adam exclaimed as he stood up and walked into the house, ¡°Yo, come over here mister nameless!¡± Adam called, I made my way inside and asked him ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±


    Adam gestured me to his room.


    ¡°Man, this is starting to really look like a porno and I¡¯m not interested,¡± I said I¡¯m not comfortable with this kind of relationship.


    ¡°Just shut up and come inside, I need to tell you something.¡± he sighed.


    I shrugged and walked inside, I sat on the bed and faced Adam who stood by the door, ¡°So, what is it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I got a lead on who is killing all the plants, or rather who is blocking all the souls as Uriel explained,¡± Adam said.


    ¡°Wait, you actually did something useful yesterday?!¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Adam replied, he didn¡¯t sound as excited as I hoped, so I prepared for the worst.


    ¡°If my sources are trustworthy¡­and you can¡¯t get more honest than a drunk man at a pub¡­granted that¡¯s also the most likely setting for made-up stories, anyway¡­¡± Adam took a deep breath.


    ¡°There are rumours that people are being recruited from around the entire world into some sort of cult - I¡¯m not quite certain on the details except for the fact that they aim to literally piss god off¡­¡± Adam explained.


    I went over the info in my head for a bit¡­¡±Alright, I think I got a decent idea of what¡¯s up¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just a start but at least it is a start.¡± Adam sighed.


    ¡°So do you have some sort of plan yet?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah actually, I¡¯m thinking of going out and tracking down the cult and collecting more info on them,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Sounds like a good start, but we need a place or person to start¡­¡± I commented.


    ¡°Yeah¡­about that ¡®we¡¯ part, sorry about this man but with how much you stand out we¡¯re guaranteed to be suspicious as hell,¡± Adam said apologetically.


    ¡°You just want to get drunk alone¡­¡± I said squinting my eyes in judgement,


    ¡°Your lack of faith hurts¡­¡± Adam sighed smiling an uncomfortable grin.


    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right, I may stand out a little bit.¡± I relented letting out a sigh.


    Adam moved out of the way, ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯ll be leaving sometime this week, by the way.¡± Adam added.


    I nodded, ¡°make sure to take the teleportation ring with you, nobody¡¯s going to be there to carry you home.¡± I said hesitantly.


    I opened the door causing everyone standing pressed up against the door to fall inside.


    ¡°I should have expected that¡­¡± Adam sighed seeing Uriel and Lily laying on his floor.


    ¡°ADAM YOU¡¯RE LEAVING?!¡± Lily asked grabbing a hold of him and shaking him violently.


    ¡°Yes - I¡¯m - lea - ving - tomor - row!¡± Adam cried as he was being shaken by the hysterical Lily.


    A few seconds of shaking alter Adam passed out, look like the hangover didn¡¯t go away completely.


    <h1></h1>

 Chapter 8: Into The Capital

    ¡°Alright, Uriel, Nameless child - before I leave there is still something I would like to do while investigating the alleged cult - I found out that something happened in Exversia,¡± Adam explained,


    ¡°What happened?¡± Uriel asked we were sitting at the living room table, the chair arranged in a circle.


    ¡°Allegedly a massive crack appeared with molten rock pouring out,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Did those idiots build the city on a volcano?!¡± I demanded thinking about the fact it was built on high ground, I didn¡¯t expect them to be this reckless though.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s worse, the entire underground tunnel was flooded with lava,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Someone wanted to kill the demons in there¡­¡± Uriel concluded,


    ¡°That¡¯s what I thinking, but what if that¡¯s just one of the demon¡¯s abilities? Like what if they¡¯re still down there, but they filled the tunnel with lava to stop anyone from going down there!¡± Adam proposed,


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to flood it then? It¡¯d be less suspicious and would still deter people from going in there!¡± Lily suggested,


    Adam ignored the suggestion.


    ¡°Yeah, if you don¡¯t want people coming to look for you a giant pool of glowing, liquid rock is not the best option,¡± I commented,


    ¡°Yeah, you might be right, nameless child - It¡¯s most likely an attack on the demons¡­but who would carry out an attack at the cost of the capital?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°What about the wizard¡¯s guild?¡± I asked,


    ¡°They¡¯re a likely suspect - but I¡¯d say they¡¯re more likely to cut them up and use them for experiments at the cost of the entire city ranter than destroy them,¡± Adam replied,


    ¡°Maybe there is some demon infighting?¡± Lily suggested getting no reply from Adam.


    ¡°It¡¯s not impossible, I mean demons aren¡¯t exactly all the same - some are more reasonable and some are chaotic beasts,¡± Uriel explained.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to take your word for it,¡± Adam replied.


    Lily pouted and marched out of the building shutting the door behind her.


    ¡°Good job, Adam.¡± I sighed sarcastically,


    ¡°Psychological warfare!¡± Adam exclaimed giving me a thumbs up,


    ¡°Don¡¯t pat yourself on the back for that¡­¡± Uriel sighed.


    ¡°Seriously though, we should go and investigate what¡¯s going on in the capital,¡± Adam said resolutely.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go have a look,¡± I suggested patting my side making sure I still have my gun and ammo on me.


    Uriel, Adam and I got up and headed towards the door, I only had a few coppers on me in case I got hungry.


    We headed down the road, turning towards Exversia.


    As soon as we came into view of the city we were shocked by the number of carts leaving the city, dozens of bodies wrapped in reddish-yellow cloth carted off by hooded figures, the carts pulled by a strange bird-like creature.


    Over the city, a large cloud of smoke remained.


    We headed towards the city, at the large gate we were stopped by the guards, ¡°Sorry - the city¡¯s closed to all non-locals.¡± the moustached guard said sternly.


    ¡°We¡¯re here to help out, we can heal people,¡± Adam explained hoping to sway the guard¡¯s judgement,


    ¡°You can heal? Hell - we can always use healers,¡± he sighed stepping aside to let the group through.


    We stepped into the city seeing the dozens of people sitting along the walls of the buildings - burns covered their bodies, from small pink wounds on their arms to charred off limbs.


    The scene looked grotesque.


    ¡°Alright, do any of you plan of helping me heal the people?¡± I asked turning to Adam and Uriel.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m going to go check out the actual damage first,¡± Adam replied turning to the scene of the collapsed chunks of the city.


    ¡°I¡¯ll help out,¡± Uriel replied.


    I looked around to see who was in the greatest need of healing - I saw a few guards sitting in a small military tend, in front of them lay unfinished bits of bread and several empty bottles of alcohol.


    I approached them, ¡°Are you guys alright?¡± I asked,


    One of the men looked over to me revealing half of his face was black, his hair mostly missing.


    The other two stared off into the distance, one of them was missing both arms, but it looked like they were amputated.


    I used the generic healing spell from before - in a matter of seconds the man¡¯s face was back to normal, his eyes also returned - I couldn¡¯t do much for his hair.


    He was at a lost for words, ¡°W-who are you!?¡± he asked feeling his face and closing one of his eyes to confirm he can still see, ¡°Feel free to call me nameless child, go help out the civilians - I¡¯ll hear your friend up.¡± I explained to the man who stood up and headed back into the city.


    I looked around, realizing I don¡¯t want to get in trouble because of my magic, it¡¯s useful so I¡¯m sure somebody would want to exploit it, I looked around seeing a roll of bandages, presumably used to wrap the dead.


    I wrapped my hands and face with the bandages leaving only my eyes sticking out. I picked up a cloak which lay strewn in the corner pulling its hood over my face.


    Now that I¡¯m anonymous I can help out.


    I walked up to the amputee, I cast the healing spell, within forty or so seconds his limbs returned and seemingly the man snapped out of shock, he turned to me asking who I am, ¡°I¡¯m the nameless healer.¡± I replied.


    I¡¯m bad with names.


    I rushed over to the next group of people, it looked like they were merchants.


    They had a few burns but overall, they seemed to be the lucky ones,


    I continued rushing around the area from one person to another, out of nowhere I felt a tug on my cloak, I turned around to see it was a kid, ¡°Are you hurt?¡± I asked seeing that he looked unharmed,


    ¡°It¡¯s my brother - can you make him alright?¡± he asked pointing to a cart filled with several other bodies.


    My stomach sank as I saw where he was pointing, ¡°I don¡¯t think¡­he¡¯ll be alright¡­¡± I said turning back to the kid,


    ¡°No! He was breathing when they put him in the cart!¡± he insisted,


    I that¡¯s the case, then I had nothing to lose, I walked over to the cart and placed a palm over the wrapped up body the kid pointed out - after a minuted of solid healing the body stayed still.


    I turned towards the kid and shook my head causing him to fall to the floor, somebody was calling the kid¡¯s name from the distance as evident by him turning to look at who it was, a red-haired girl looking a lot older than the kid, sixteen or so - rushed over to the kid, I made my way away from them as fast a possible.


    I made my way to the gate of the city remembering there were a lot of people with minor wounds there, when I got there I saw Uriel sitting down next to a few people, at first I thought he was slacking off until I saw the wounds on the person beside him slowly disappearing, I guess he didn¡¯t want to attract any attention either.


    Seeing that the people are being healed by Uriel I decided to head deeper into the city.


    Soon I found myself surrounded by worse cases than before, people still breathing with most of their body red and blistered, I performed the healing like usual, I worked out a handy time table for healing burns, too!


    A first-degree burn: five seconds,


    Second-degree burn: ten to fifteen seconds,


    Third-degree burn: twenty seconds to forty seconds,


    Fourth-degree burn: A solid minute of healing,


    Missing limbs or literal holes in the body: Two to five minutes.


    As I was finishing up healing the crispy man I started to feel dizzy, I didn¡¯t want to start throwing up blood here so I reached into my pocket for two mana bullets and crushed them with my teeth.


    As I made my way through the crowded streets I eventually saw the cause of the damage, a massive crack in the ground shooting blisteringly hot steam up, I noticed a few victims of this trap and rushed over to help, a mother and child - seemingly in the middle of their escape they got surprised by the steam - the child was crying as she sat beside her mother who was seemingly blinded by the steam.


    I reached to my side pulling out my revolver, I loaded it full of healing bullets and shot one at both the mother and child, in and instants the mother regained her sight and while the child didn¡¯t stop crying I assume any wounds were cured.


    I almost felt weird at the perspective of not wanting to complain about having to help people, it¡¯d be easy for me to say that I was roped into it by Adam or guilt-tripped into it by Uriel - but the fact was I was feeling kind of nice after helping them¡­I hope I¡¯m not going soft now.


    I walked past the steam fissure and over the buildings in the distance I could see the massive hole where the very ground of the city began to collapse and fall into the pool of lava.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I tried to approach the area seeing that it was barricaded by walls of what looked like sand, from what I saw the sand was being brought in by various mean, upon closer inspection I saw that it was being brought in by the monster hunters guild, Darthold was carrying two actual wheelbarrows of sand, standing on top of the sand was Abe who was casting a water spell, his range was too low but it was enough to create a pools which seeped into the cracks cooling the lava, that¡¯s when I realised that he must have been the reason the water was turning into steam and shooting out around the city, I rushed over to Abe.


    ¡°Dude, stop that!¡± I called out, Abe stopped casting the spell and turned to me, ¡°Oh, hey¡­nameless mage¡­don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯m not running low on mana or anything,¡± he replied lazily fixing his glasses,


    ¡°Shit, you realised it¡¯s me?!¡± I exclaimed, ¡°Wait no! That¡¯s not it! - stop using water magic, it turns to steam and erupts all over the city hurting people!¡± I explained, a look of shock spread on Abe¡¯s face.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize¡­¡± she said apologetically,


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, we¡¯re working on healing the people - do you have any ice magic?¡± I asked,


    ¡°No¡­actually, I have a snow spell - it¡¯ll just make it snow in a small area.¡± Abe replied, ¡°Alright, that¡¯s fine - cast it onto the burning buildings, I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be any good to make it snow on the lava.¡° I recommended.


    I hopped over the pile of sand, I placed a healing bullet in my mouth in case I got hurt or pinned down without access to my bag.


    Seeing the difference in the number of damaged buildings, the smoke and steam filled the air making it hard to breathe - the bandages over my mouth helped me considerably.


    I looked to the side seeing cheese-bread-man carrying people out of some building, I had no time to say hi so I kept moving, I reached the end of the street and the tiles themselves became loose as they neared the edge of the crater.


    I removed the healing bullets from the revolver, and replaced them with ice shots, they have a wide area of effect - so I may be able to harden the surface of the lava, I shot a bullet towards the lava, for a single second the surface turned black before turning red and eventually melting away.


    I took out every ice shot from my pouch, I had about ten or so, I threw them into the lava, I didn¡¯t expect the mixture to be so explosive, sharks of hardened rock shot out, aside from a few small bits only one large piece cut my arm, I used a healing spell to close the wound.


    I reached into my pouch taking out two mana bullets, crushing them in my hand.


    I had to think of a way to cool the lava, I can¡¯t use water¡­or ice¡­


    That¡¯s when I got the idea, I created a brand new spell, I created a massive magic circle, the target was the lava - the circle was red and served as a heat vacuum, I started to drain all heat from the lava by converting it to mana, soon my head began to feel dizzy - I think I might have too much mana¡­ I started mass producing mana bullets, I filled my entire ammo pouch, eventually, I had to throw them into the nearby crate.


    I felt the nausea clear up - I guess that means the mana output of the circle was low, I let go of the spell, I sat down on the ground breathing heavily¡­


    Shit¡­that was risky¡­imagine if I swelled up like a balloon and exploded into a mana nuke!


    I stuffed my pockets with the mana bullets before kicking the rest of the mana bullet crate into the remaining hole in the earth.


    I made my way back, looking in into the houses as I walked, through the window of one of the houses I saw the figure of a green-haired man, he didn¡¯t seem hurt - but he was clearly passed out, his hair was about as long as mine, he looked like he was in his late teens or early twenties.


    I picked him up over my shoulder, damn, why am I the one carrying grown-ass men.


    I moved the man over to the wall of sand tossing him over it, ¡°What did you do?¡± Abe asked looking me, ¡°I used some magic to remove all head from the lava and turn it into mana.¡± I explained.


    Abe didn¡¯t say anything for a while.


    ¡°Nameless mage, if anybody asks you - say you got a scroll from me which cast that spell,¡± Abe instructed,


    ¡°What? Why?¡± I asked.


    ¡°If the wizard¡¯s court finds out - you¡¯ll be pursued for the rest of your life.¡± he replied, ¡°I¡¯m already a member of the wizard¡¯s court,¡± he added,


    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯ll be fine?¡± I asked,


    ¡°Yeah - I made sure to hid my ability level from them - I bet they¡¯ll believe it,¡± he replied.


    ¡°Alright, oh - while I¡¯m at it¡­¡± I grabbed the pouch at my side which served as my pocket, it was filled to the brim with mana bullets, I handed it over to Abe, ¡°They¡¯re like the ones I gave you back at the festival.¡± I explained.


    ¡°I see - are you really sure about this?¡± he asked, ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry about it - I have a few spare¡­¡± I said patting my ammo pouch which was mostly filled with mana shots now.


    ¡°Oh - is see, thank you. - You should go find Adam as soon a possible, with the dirty work done, the wizard¡¯s court is sure to come and try to figure out how.¡± Abe said apologetically.


    ¡°Guess you guys don¡¯t get along either¡­¡± I said thinking about how Adam disliked them too, ¡°Alright - I¡¯ll get going.¡± I said waving Abe a casual goodbye before rushing over to the entrance.


    I saw Uriel sitting casually on a stack of crates, he was drinking something from a wooden cup, the whole area cleared up - no injured people or anything.


    I removed the bandages and cloak tossing them aside.


    ¡°I see you did your thing,¡± I commented seeing most of the people were back to normal.


    ¡°I did all I could,¡± Uriel replied with a sigh, he gestured with a nod to the several people who lost family, friends, loved ones - some couldn¡¯t live with the fact that they experienced so much pain and just sat with an expression of horror and shock on their face.


    ¡°This world really is fucked¡­¡± I said looking at everyone, sure I helped out a few people - half of them are probably going to be homeless now¡­


    Uriel didn¡¯t have any wisdom to offer - after seemingly stopping the crisis and helping the people, Uriel and I headed out of the city, waiting for Adam to come back¡­


    Twenty minutes earlier¡­


    Adam walked around the city its walls blocking off the smoke - the earth surrounding the entrance to the tunnels were seemingly covered in solid black rock, it was clear to Adam now that the tunnels were, in fact, the epicentre of the attack.


    The massive pools of boiling mud contrasted by the dry cracked soil - both seemingly interwoven into the soil¡¯s surface - no plant-life remained aside from old, dead trees.


    Adam looked into the dry soil seeing footprints leading away from the tunnel - through what may have once been a forest, he decided to follow them, the further he walked away from the tunnel the more the soil returned to normal, the dry crunch of his boots turned to a wet squelch soon enough.


    After a decent fifteen minutes of walking, Adam wasn¡¯t sure if he was listening to the echo of the forest or if he was listening being followed, in a flash he spun around to look at who it was that was following him - his eyes bounced around the forest spotting nothing out of the ordinary,


    ¡°Is anybody there?¡± Adam asked - he decided that if it was a curious peasant or maybe Uriel or me - it¡¯d be best to just ask - if it was an enemy then they already know Adam is suspicious of them - since he turned around so rapidly, he was greeted by silence.


    Uncertainly he continued walking, soon what resembled a cave came into view - furthermore, it looked like somebody was living there, piles of stones with black scorch marks, cleanly sliced logs resembled seats and clothes and sheets were hung up with rope between some trees, Adam moves closer to the mouth of the cave, grass and twigs were hung up - each bundle tied together with grass thin strands of grass, Adam peeked his head into the cave - the grass blocking out all the light forcing Adam to cut the grass loose.


    "Hello? Are you in here, lava monster?" Adam asked, hearing no reply Adam headed deeper into the cave - "I promise I''m not mad, I''m just disappointed..." Adam added still hearing no reply - Adam stepped out of the cave he looked around the entrance hoping to get a clue regarding the owner of this cave, as Adam was inspecting the area loud stepping sounds echo around the area, he moved his gaze to the source of the sound finding that it was a hooded figure wielding a curved dagger - "What the hell?!" Adam exclaimed as crouched down dodging a slash from the blade, a few drops of glowing purple liquid from the blade fell onto his jumper turning some of the fabric a bright grey-white colour.


    Adam quickly rolled to the side - turning back to face the hooded figure "Hey, can''t we talk this out?!" he asked frantically - the figure lifted their hand from under the cloak revealing a large hollow cylindrical item, before Adam could realise what it was he heard a loud bang accompanied by a flash as the gunpowder filling the item went off shooting out a handfull of pebble-sized items across the battlefield - narrowly missing Adam''s vital spots a few of them cut his arms and legs causing a shooting pain to radiate through Adam,


    Stumbling back from the momentary shock Adam found his back pressed against something - he turned his head to see what it was and when he turned back to see his opponent they were already inches away from him - knife in hand they pulled their arm Up ready to bring the blad down on Adam, he couldn''t dodge this one.


    A loud whistle came from nowhere - at first, Adam thought it was the blade, but even the assassin jumped back from Adam and looked for the source of the noise - when both Adam''s and the assassin''s gaze turned to the crossbow bolt lodged in the ground.


    Realizing the situation they were in the figure reach into their cloak, they tossed the cylindrical device aside and pulled out another one, pointing it at Adam as a now exposed fuse same near igniting the gunpowder - the assassin turned their attention to the direction from which the crossbow bolt came from, they couldn''t see anyone - they turned back to Adam seeing that he was no longer there, the gun-like device fired as several crossbow bolts skewered the figure - two bolts to each arm and leg, one to the shoulder and one to the gut.


    At this point, the figure let out a yelp of pain - before trying to escape but collapsing soon after the attempt due to their injury.


    "Damn - couldn''t you have shot them earlier?" Adam asked turning toward the woods, by now he realised it must have been Lily.


    From the top of one of the trees near Adam, Lily dropped down casting a weak boost spell to soften her fall. "And that''s another favour you owe me," Lily announced placing her crossbow back onto her back - attaching it with a leather strap.


    "Yeah, yeah..." Adam replied dismissively before he turned towards the figure - he headed towards it, snapping the bolts off before removing the cloak revealing the bloodied body of a well built, black-haired man, he turned him around hoping to interrogate him but he was surprised to see that the man had stabbed himself with his own poison blade as he was falling - perhaps it was intentional...


    "Well...he''s dead..." Adam announced scratching his head.


    "I doubt an assassin would tell you all that much..." Lily replied with a shrug, she reached into her pocket pulling out a notepad and pencil, she wrote down a quick line under the ''Times I saved Adam'' tab - it was at a solid five now.


    Adam''s expression now turned to a wry frown, "So - care to explain why you were following me?" he asked in a slow irritated manor.


    "That''s easy, silly. It''s because I saw the assassin following you for a while now," she replied with a shrug.


    "And you decided not to tell me!?" Adam demanded - a combination of shock and rage on his face.


    "Adam, if I was to tell you about every suspicious person keeping an eye on you - you''d always be worried, looking behind your back and stuff." she shrugged.


    "Wait...are you implying there are more?" Adam asked,


    "..."


    "..."


    "...Lily..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "...Perhaps...." she replied flipping through the notebook letting Adam see glimpses of crude sketches of people, "It depends on the season, we have the mages court a few times a year, the thieves guild one a year or so, the occasional thugs who pop up and try to collect the bounty on your head, we have the -" Adam cut Lily off while she was listing off the various groups spying on Adam, "HOW DID I NEVER NOTICE ANY OF THESE?!" Adam exclaimed as he started frantically looking around.


    "Well, most of them are assassins, Adam - you''re not supposed to see them," she replied bluntly, "Besides - if I see some amateur trying to get too close I tend to take them out," Lily added.


    Adam let out a disheartened sigh, "That explains why you always disappear at night..." Adam said placing his thumb and index fingers against his eyes in frustration.


    "Oh my, could it be that the stone-hearted Adam feel worrie-" before she got a chance to reply Lily found her face in the firm grasp of Adam''s hand, "A-Adam?! What are you doing?!" Lily asked panicked as he began dragging her back to the castle, "Stone-hearted...I''ll show you stone-hearted..." Adam mumbled to himself,


    Once they reached the gates of the city Adam released Lily''s face - which now displayed Adam''s face printed into it.


    "This isn''t how you repay someone for saving your life..." Lily pouted,


    "Sorry - I couldn''t find an Axe," Adam replied bluntly,


    Both Adam and Lily turned to see Uriel and I left the city


    "Looks like you guys had fun..." I said looking at Adam''s all the blood covering Adam''s clothes.


    "Don''t worry - most of this is my own," he replied.


    "I don''t feel much better with that knowledge..." Uriel announced before casting a healing spell, several golden-white magic-circles appeared causing Adam''s minor wounds to close up.


    "Thanks, man," Adam said to which Uriel only gave a nod.


    "Well, how was it?" I asked.


    "I found this weird cave - somebody lived there for a while and it looked like they fled in a hurry," Adam replied remembering the still hung up clothes and the lack of any beds or sleeping bags in the cave.


    "So the culprit could not a demon...?" Uriel asked.


    "It''s possible...but we can''t be certain that it was the culprit lived there," Adam replied.


    "Anyway - how was it inside the city?" Adam asked.


    "It was pretty horrific," Uriel replied thinking back to the wounded people, the children and adults - even the stray animals.


    "Well - I hope that didn''t scare you too badly." Adam laughed,


    "I''d hate to have to go see all the people..." Lily said - a clear expression of discomfort appeared on her face.


    "It''s alright - we healed most people - at least those who were out on the streets," I replied,


    "Indeed, and a certain nameless mage solidified the lava," Uriel said smugly.


    "Yeah - that''s why we came here - didn''t we?" I asked - I hated when Uriel did this... when he acted like I was some big hero concerned for the lives of the people. The fact is, if I cared for the lives of the people I could have searched the houses, I could have given them healing bullets to use when I''m gone... why I did what I did - I don''t know - I guess it''s pity, not compassion.


    Adam, Lily, Uriel and I headed home, I went to sit down on the couch - finally able to relax a bit, I guess it''s nice that I''m not out of mana for once.


    Uriel headed straight to the kitchen, he opened the fridge door pulling out some eggs and milk - "Adam, do you have any salt, here?" Uriel asked looking through the cupboards and ceramic pots holding various substances, "No, sorry - I used the last bit yesterday." Adam replied apologetically, "Hold on, I think I can make salt." I offered, I walked to the kitchen, taking a small plate and pointing my index finger at it I created a white magic circle on my finger..."hold on..." I instructed trying to visualise the salt crystals, the white colour and the flavour,


    "Is something wrong?" Adam asked seeing me struggling with creating table salt.


    "Synthesis spells are difficult - the more accustomed you are to the material the easier it is to create - granted most elements come to us naturally," Uriel explained,


    "That makes no sense - I know what salt is," I said confused.


    "Knowing what it is and using it are two different things, did you look at the crystals, did you see how it forms or dissolves?" Uriel asked, obviously I didn''t.


    "That makes you creating that cola a few days back a little sadder," Adam said with thinking back to how easily I created it.


    "Well, it''s not like I know cola in all that much dept," I argued, that''s when I had a sudden idea popped into my head."I guess I did see how cola was made on TV once..."


    "I guess you never watched the ''how to make salt'' episode?" Adam asked jokingly.


    "The series had exactly sixty-five episodes, I guess that''s all the stuff I can create on the spot..." I said somewhat disappointed, "Well - it''s never too late to study more material!" Uriel suggested.


    Uriel returned to the fridge, he took out some meat from which he trimmed the white fat - he placed the fat onto a pan to melt it, he fried some scrambled eggs on the fat - it''s interesting how he added milk to the beaten eggs.


    Uriel took out a jug of what looked like oil and whipped it with some egg yolks - adding vinegar when he was done.


    Uriel wrapped the eggs in a blanket of some kind of leaf - it resembled a massive cabbage leaf - placing a thin line of the white sauce on top.


    "It''s actually amazing how fancy your scrambled eggs are..." Adam said - I nodded in agreement.


    Uriel placed three plates on the table and one in the fridge - "What''s with the fourth one?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.


    "Lily usually comes home just before sunset - I tend to leave the meals in the fridge," Uriel explained,


    "...I knew she comes here at night." Adam said squinting - irritation in his voice.


    "You really should be nicer to her," Uriel suggested.


    "I think I''d rather drink boiling water after eating a jar of chilli paste," Adam replied bluntly.


    "It''s okay, Adam." I said placing a hand on his shoulder before I turned to Uriel and squinting, "I can relate." I added.


    Uriel let out a "hmph" followed by a smug smile before sitting down and digging into his meal.


    After the meal, Uriel did the dishes, Adam continued trying to produce tea and I read the language book, Adam headed to bed first, I went next leaving Uriel in the kitchen alone...

 Chapter 9: Adams Departure

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    <h1></h1>

 Chapter 10: The Country Of God

    Somewhere very far away from the human country¡­


    Amongst the dead trees resembling black, burnt-out matches stood a tall citadel, a massive black tower with one massive gate, around it stood buildings and walls, ten or so con-centric circular walls, ten meters or so.


    The other buildings were black, as if you took the black rock and raised it with magic, then placed another slab of rock as a roof.


    Around the place walked people, some wore robes, others casual clothes, you could describe the place as a cluster of random people - there were human, elves, dwarves and even the beastfolk.


    ¡°What a pain¡­I wonder why they¡¯d call us over now of all times¡­¡± the blond man asked, he walked slouched with his hands in his pockets, a long red coat and black trousers, other than that he was shirtless.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but if the boss is calling us over it must be something important!¡± Exclaimed the smaller man, he wore a white mask in the shape of a rabbit, long blond hair escaped from the sides, he wore a simple sweater over a white shirt and brown trousers.


    ¡°It better be something important¡­¡± the girl in the back replied in a lazy voice, he dragged behind the group and had long grey-blue hair which covered her face leaving only her mouth visible, she wore a simple dark green hoodie and black trousers.


    ¡°You sound exhausted as ever, Emi¡­¡± the smaller man said with a worried look on his face.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t have a proper sleep cycle you¡¯ll never get rid of those bags under your eyes.¡± The blond man said slightly annoyed.


    ¡°Whatever¡­I wonder where Angelica went¡­¡± the blue-haired girl now revealed to be called Emi wondered out loud.


    ¡°I hope she¡¯s alright¡­¡± the smaller man said concerned.


    ¡°I bet she bit off more than she could chew and we¡¯ll be sent out to bring her back.¡± Laughed the blond man before the group reached the front gate of the black tower.


    They walked into the tower past several rooms, until they reached the room labelled ¡°Meeting room¡±


    They walked inside and saw the five chairs located around a circular table, on the fifth chair sat a man who looked like he was in his early twenties, with pale chestnut hair, yellow eyes and pale skin along with a generally frail-looking figure, he wore a white blouse, black trousers, thick gloves and a scarf.


    ¡°Hello everyone, I¡¯m glad you could make it.¡± The man spoke in a soft and caring voice.


    ¡°Hey, boss.¡± Said the blond man sitting down casually in his chair.


    ¡°Hello, Edward.¡± the man replied.


    Emi walked to her seat silently and sat down properly for just one second before using her arms as a rest for her head.


    ¡°Sorry about them, boss.¡± said the smaller man with an apologetic smile.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Gill, it¡¯s so boring here when it¡¯s just me and the uptight politicians¡­¡± the man sighed.


    Edward looked at the man¡¯s gloves and scarf - ¡°Alright you alright, boss?¡±


    The man looked puzzled, ¡°What do you mean?¡± he asked looking around before realising he was referring to the gloves and scarf.


    ¡°Oh - turn out, building a citadel on the north pole isn¡¯t the best idea!¡± he replied jovially.


    ¡°Edward seems alright¡­¡± Emi pointed out gesturing to his shirtless figure.


    ¡°Edward could be naked, rolling around in the snow and he¡¯d insist he¡¯s too warm.¡±


    ¡°What can I say, I¡¯m warm-blooded,¡± he replied.


    ¡°In any case, we¡¯re getting someone to fix it¡­ but it¡¯s difficult.¡± the boss said letting out a sigh accompanied by a smile.


    ¡°What do you mean¡­ difficult?¡±


    ¡°So, turns out an organisation composed entirely of nihilists results in some¡­ problems when it comes to getting them to do stuff.¡±


    ¡°Where¡­ is this technician now?¡± Gill asked the boss replied with ¡°Under the table.¡±


    Gill, Emi and Edward looked under the table seeing that the middle-aged, bearded man was on the floor in the foetal position under the table.


    ¡°Are you¡­ alright?¡± asked Gill.


    The man replied without looking towards him, ¡°¡­I¡¯m just¡­ working through some stuff¡­¡± he replied before rolling over to the other side.


    ¡°...Boss¡­ is it okay to let him lay her during our meeting?¡± Edward asked with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°I mean¡­ do you want to drag him out?¡± the boss replied.


    ¡°Drag him out?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s been here for over a week, I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s been eating and I don¡¯t want to know where he¡¯s been¡­ you know¡­ but at this point, he might just fuse with the floor.¡±


    A while of awkward silence passed.


    ¡°Hey, boss¡­where¡¯s Angelica?¡± Asked Edward looking over to the empty seat.


    A silence filled the room. ¡°I¡¯m afraid she was murdered¡­rather brutally¡­¡± the man explained, the smile disappearing from his face, and while the rest of the room looked enraged, he only looked sad.


    Another silence¡­


    ¡°Boss?¡± Edward tensed up, he had a bad feeling about what¡¯s going on.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid¡­ Angelica passed away.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡°


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Who did it?¡± Asked Sebastian, from his voice it was easy to tell he was upset.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I have a decent idea of where it happened¡­¡± the boss replied standing up.


    With a careless flick of his wrist, a map appeared suspended in the room.


    ¡°The human kingdom, near the central mountain¡­that¡¯s where she died¡­I¡¯d like you to retreat her body at the very least¡­¡± the man said as with a snap of the finger the map became four maps each appearing at the different sides of the table, even by the empty seat.


    ¡°Damn it¡­I knew she should have-¡­¡± Edward complained smashing his fists on the table.


    ¡°It¡¯s entirely my fault, I intend to take full responsibility for her death¡­and I intend to exact justice as well.¡± the boss explained clenching his fists as he spoke.


    Edward turned to the boss as is ready to take him up on the offer before leaning back in his chair, ¡°You know we can¡¯t hold you responsible for this boss¡­I¡¯ll go¡­¡± Edward said standing up and heading towards the door, he took the map with him.


    ¡°Wait, we¡¯ll go with you.¡± Sebastian offered before being shot down by Emi, ¡°We have our own tasks¡­¡± she said before turning towards Edwards,


    ¡°If you¡¯re in any danger just come back¡­don¡¯t try to act tough¡­¡± she warned Edward.


    ¡°Yeah, I know¡­I¡¯m not an idiot,¡± he replied before leaving.


    ¡°After we¡¯ve dealt with this issue¡­ we¡¯ll continue with stage three¡­" the boss announced snapping his fingers as an image appeared from the centre of the table.


    ¡°Stage 1: Pit the countries against each other.¡±


    ¡°Stage 2: Start the soul block to starve this world of new souls.¡±


    ¡°Stage 3: Unleash the first wave of the demon legion from both poles.¡±


    ¡°Soon God will come down and fix this rotten world¡­ all the world¡­¡±


    ¡°Are you sure he¡¯ll come?¡± Emi asked.


    ¡°In every world alone the entire cycle, it is believed by most that god created these worlds, if they are broken it is his responsibility to fix them¡­so we¡¯ll break his toy and keep it from running until he comes down and fixes the world¡­¡± the man explained.


    ¡°And if he abandoned us?¡± Emi asked.


    ¡°There is no excuse for inaction.¡± the boss explained with a smile.


    ¡°Guess you¡¯re right boss¡­¡° Emi sighed as she stood up ready to leave the room.


    ¡°Are you leaving already?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯ll be done with the elven country by next week¡­¡± Emi replied casually,


    ¡°Great job!¡± the boss complemented Emi before turning to Sebastian.


    ¡°What about you, are you leaving already, too?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Actually, I have some time off¡­I guess I can keep you company for a while.¡± Sebastian replied with a smile.


    The boss breath a sigh of relief as he stood up and walked over to a separate room returning with what looked like a board game.


    Emi left the room before she got dragged into the game.

 Chapter 11: Spore Of The Moment Decision

    Meanwhile at Adam¡¯s house¡­


    Adam made his way down along the road through the dryad forest believing that the town where the festival took place is the most likely place to find Ark.


    Adam made his way down the mountain and towards the town, he walked through the forest, noticing that the trees of the forest while still losing leaves seemed healthier than any other trees Adam saw on his journeys.


    Adam walked down the path, almost in the town now, he saw a house on its outskirts with a wide-open wooden door, like a quest-marker the door invited Adam to investigate the inside.


    Adam took a look inside and was immediately struck by the odour of rotting meat coming from the inside, specifically from a blackened skeleton laying in a pool of purple-black slime.


    ¡°What the hell¡­¡± Adam asked out loud as he took a step inside, he pulled his shirt over his nose and walked into the house, walking up to the pool Adam noticed the purple slime was eating its way into the wooden floor¡­¡±Acid?¡± Adam thought as he leaned in closer to the horrific scene, there were no clothes left neither were there any remains of the flesh.


    Adam walked out of the house, taking a second to breathe some fresh air before making the short journey to the main town before he could reach the city he saw a destroyed house.


    ¡°What the hell happened here¡­¡± Adam sighed walking over to the house and seeing the charred wood, upon seeing the various fragments laying around the ground Adam concluded that it had to have been an explosion, he looked around the area seeing a strange trail in the earth, they resembled claw marks¡­


    Adam decided to follow the claw marks, seeing bits of blood along the way past a certain point, a clear trail was cut through the fallen leaves.


    Eventually, Adam reached the end of the trail and saw another pile of purple ooze and a black skeleton handing above some rocks by a spider web.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why¡­but I feel spidey may be involved in all this¡­¡± Adam though looking at the web.


    He reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of the energy drink, he chugged it down and used it to scoop up some of the purple slime.


    Adam turned back, sample in hand hoping to be able to figure out just what it was, and if it was what he thought it was, maybe he could create an antidote.


    Adam walked back towards his house, deciding not to stick around the town.


    On his way out Adam spotted strange carvings in the trees around the woods, some of them were leaking sap meaning they¡¯re freshly cut.


    ¡°Are these runes?¡± Adam thought to himself, ¡°What does this one mean again¡­colour - no it¡¯s more like light¡­ - no, it¡¯s wind¡­damn, these are hard to memorize.¡± he complained to himself before continuing his way back home.


    As Adam entered the dryad¡¯s forest he saw more of the same rune, ¡°It¡¯s on the tip of my tongue¡­it¡¯s something to do with wind¡­ no, it¡¯s movement!¡± Adam exclaimed satisfied as he continued walking up the mountain.


    As Adam left the dryad¡¯s forest he froze in place, ¡°Wait¡­movement?¡± he thought, in the distance stood a man, he was blond with a long black coat and red trousers.


    Adam saw the man carving one of the runes into the earth - specifically the road to Adam¡¯s house and stepped back as he began casting a spell.


    The earth shook below Adam¡¯s feet as he realised what was going on, a brilliant blue amber light filled the sky, like an aurora coming up from the ground itself, Adam sprinted towards the house seeing it collapse into a large crack which appeared in the ground, Uriel, Lily and I were on our way down the hole and Adam followed behind, granted I¡¯m not sure if he fell or was concerned about his drug flowers falling into the dark abyss.


    Moments later the entire area was illuminated by a bright blue light, I started to feel numb as my vision blurred and eventually I lost consciousness.


    I opened my eyes, out of nowhere I felt the urge to gasp for air, in front of me was a massive rock, around me were piles of rubble.


    ¡°Thank fuck I don¡¯t have claustrophobia¡­¡± I exclaimed despite being alone as I tried desperately to turn around in hopes of being able to get out of wherever I was.


    I felt a throbbing pain in my head¡­¡±Alright, ¡­alright¡­think about this logically¡­¡± I told myself before I began going over the recent events¡­


    I got shot back on earth, and re-spawned here, I got my ass beat by some country-side-thugs and later go my ass saved by Adam¡­


    That right¡­Adam¡­he should be somewhere here¡­


    ¡°Adam?!¡± I called out in hopes of getting a response, much to my disappointment I was met with complete silence.


    ¡°Uriel?¡± I called out slightly more quietly¡­I hope to god Uriel isn¡¯t here...


    I was met with a pleasant silence. ¡°Get your pseudo-angelic-cat-ass over here and help me out!¡± I added - nothing.


    ¡°Lily?¡± I called out - nothing.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, I can use magic!¡± I exclaimed, I visualised my surroundings, granted it was pretty dark, but since I could see the rock before me, there had to be some light coming in right?


    I imagined a spherical barrier radiating from the centre of my mass, everything within the sphere would disappear if it was rock - nothing.


    ¡°What the hell¡¯s going on?! Did I run out of mana or something?!¡± I cried, looking around again I noticed a small crack from which the light came, I decided that while crawling over there would most likely be pointless..since I can¡¯t fit in the crack, it¡¯s slightly better than dying in the relatively dark stone coffin, and so I wriggled my way forward towards the crack, as I thought it looked pretty hard, I reached into my pocket in hopes of finding my weapon - bingo!


    I managed to get my hands on the revolver and through some miracle managed to load the small crystal bullet into the gun.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope it¡¯s not the flame bullet or I¡¯ll be charred here¡­¡± I exclaimed as I held my breath and pulled the trigger, a large chunk of metal appeared at the tip of the gun smashing the rock, ¡°LUCKY!¡± I cried as I wriggled my way out of the hole and into a larger-looking cave.


    ¡°Right¡­ok¡­¡± I gasped for air ¡°Thinking positively¡­Uriel might be dead¡­¡± I said - I looked around the cave and much to my disappointment I saw Uriel laying flat on his back.


    I let out a disappointed sigh loud enough for Uriel to hear, ¡°Hey, get up!¡± I called out walking up to him, seeing his usual black tuxedo covered with dust and his hat missing exposing his white hair, the same colour as his beard. The tips of his hair kind of resembled cat ears.


    His silence had me worried, I walked up to him but fell onto the ground when I realised my legs were completely numb.


    I crawled over to Uriel on all fours, I culminated all of my first-aid knowledge into one action.


    I pulled back my arm and slapped him across the face so loud the sound resonated in the chamber for a decent thirty seconds.


    ¡°WAKE UP YOU BITCH!¡± I called out before slapping him again.


    For a second Uriel was engulfed in blue light which soon disappeared into small sparks which coiled their way around the air before disappearing as well.


    ¡°Where the hell am I?¡± Uriel asked looking around.


    I slapped him one more time just for good measure.


    ¡°Slap me again and I will shove that hand so far up your-¡± his warning was interrupted by my reply, ¡°We¡¯re in some cave,¡± I said with a shrug.


    ¡°Don¡¯t ignore me¡­Wait¡­a cave?¡± Uriel replied, he felt his head for any injury and proceeded to try to stand up before falling to onto the rocky floor of the cave.


    ¡°Hah, idiot!¡± I said with a satisfied grin.


    ¡°Stop being as asshole¡­where is Adam?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°Do you think I¡¯d actually come to your aid if I knew where to find Adam?¡± I asked with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°One day¡­you¡¯ll become a good person¡­ for some reason¡­for some god-forsaken reason, I still believe that¡­¡± Uriel said with a sigh before standing up, I stood up next.


    ¡°So, any actual idea where we are?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°Nope,¡± I replied with a shrug.


    ¡°I remember a bright light and the house shaking¡­next thing I know I appeared here.¡± Uriel said rubbing the red palm-shaped bruise on his face.


    ¡°Same, I guess the entire mountain collapsed¡­¡± I replied looking at the rocks¡­


    ¡°We should look for Adam, cast a light spell or something,¡± Uriel commanded,


    ¡°Yeah, about that. I can¡¯t cast magic here for some reason.¡± I replied, I extended my hand and tried to cast the create a fish spell, (A spell that creates a 3-D print of a goldfish made out of solid cod flesh) but nothing happened.


    Uriel extended his hand and tried to cast the light spell from before, only for nothing to happen.


    ¡°Strange¡­let¡¯s try to concentrate on getting out first before we dwell on magic stuff¡­¡± Uriel decided before looking around for the source of the light in the room, it was a small crack in the floor which seemed man-made, Uriel and I walked towards in and peaking inside we saw what looked like a relatively modern looking living room.


    I dropped down into the room which was seemingly lit with torches, Uriel followed.


    ¡°Yo, Adam?¡± I called out.


    Out from behind a door walked out Adam, he wore his usual bluish-greenish-grey jumper, brown trousers and amber-lensed glasses.


    ¡°Look who finally woke up¡­¡± Adam said seemingly relieved.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Before that¡­¡± I looked around the re-make of the previous house but carved out of the cave, ¡°Are you really so attached to this house that you¡¯re going make a full one to one scale copy in rock?!¡± I asked dumbfounded by the house.


    ¡°What can I say, it¡¯s been a few months and I can¡¯t sit around in a cave can I?¡± Adam asked with a shrug, specifically a one-shoulder shrug. Upon further inspection, one of his arms was in a make-shift cast.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± I asked looking at what I presumed was a broken arm.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s fine, I broke my arm a while ago, since no magic works down here I had to fix it the old fashion way,¡± Adam said with a grin and a thumbs up.


    ¡°So you can¡¯t use magic either?¡± I asked disappointed.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess that means that the both of you are magicless, as well?¡± Adam asked, he looked disappointed too but managed to keep a smile on the entire time.


    ¡°Yeah¡­wait did you say months?!¡± Uriel asked surprised.


    ¡°Yeah, you two were under the effects of some spell, I guess that¡¯s how you two survived the rock-crushing thing and the months-of-no-food-or-water thing.¡± Adam shrugged.


    ¡°Makes sense¡­¡± I replied walking over to the stone couch, it was surprisingly comfy¡­it was still cold though.


    ¡°Anyway, before we die from breathing in all that smoke from collective months of burning torches, you guys wanna¡¯ play a game?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°At this point¡­, I¡¯m not even going to complain¡­¡± I said with a sigh.


    ¡°WELL, I AM!¡± Uriel stepped in.


    ¡°Relax, I¡¯m just kidding, it there was no air-flow down here, we¡¯d all be dead for a while now.¡± Adam laughed.


    ¡°So you¡¯ve been surviving here for months already?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, there is a small stream of water coming in from somewhere above and other than that I¡¯ve been living off moss and mushrooms¡­I won¡¯t like I¡¯d kill for some meat.¡± Adam said, his voice starting to sound more depressed with each word.


    ¡°I guess this means we¡¯re stuck here¡­wait, did you see Lily?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I think she went out to look for food a while ago,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Ah, good¡­I thought you¡¯d do something irresponsible and just leave her to die.¡± I laughed.


    ¡°For the love of God, have some faith in Adam!¡± Uriel complained.


    ¡°Exactly!¡± Adam agreed.


    ¡°So how long is she gone?¡± I asked.


    ¡°A few months,¡± Adam replied with an uncertain shrug.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    A knock came from some door.


    ¡°Delivery?¡± Adam asked as he moved over to the door, I think those mushrooms might have taken a toll on Adam¡¯s psyche.


    Adam opened the door seeing a mushroom¡­except it had legs and arms¡­it had a mouth, with two large teeth on each side of the mouth, and glowing yellow eyes.


    ¡°...Guys¡­I think I need to lay off the mushrooms¡­¡± Adam said in a shaky voice as he pointed to the admittedly cute create.


    ¡°No, no, I think its the carbon monoxide poisoning, because I see it too,¡± I replied.


    ¡°What are you two talking about,¡± Uriel said in an irritated tone as he walked over to the creature, ¡°They¡¯re called puffs, they are a relatively peaceful race of mushroom people,¡± he explained patting the creature on its head.


    ¡°I see, so it¡¯s just a mushroom?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°No, they¡¯re a sentient race of humanoid mushrooms,¡± Uriel explained.


    ¡°Wait¡­so do they have souls too?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Of course, in fact not too long ago you were a puff too!¡± Uriel complained pointing over to me.


    The puff waved use over as it began walking out of the house.


    ¡°I hate escort missions¡­¡± I complained as I stepped out to follow the mushroom.


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re actually following it?!¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it seems like the obvious way to progress the plot¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡±Oh look, it¡¯s a puff town!¡± I exclaimed pointing to a collection of large mushrooms growing by a small stream.


    ¡°Very convenient¡­¡± Adam commented.


    ¡°Nope, they¡¯re just mushrooms¡­¡± Uriel explained walking over and poking them.


    The puff kept walking down the stream until we reached a large collection of wide capped mushrooms growing out of the sides and floor of the cave.


    ¡°Alright¡­so is this a puff town?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I guess¡­¡± Adam said with a shrug, he rushed over to one of the houses picking the roof up and looking inside, he swiftly put the roof back down and came back to the group red-faced.


    ¡°Well, what did you see?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nothing I can say to somebody looking your age¡­¡± he commented speeding up to avoid further questioning.


    Out of sheer curiosity I decided to head over to one of the houses and take off the room, I peaked inside seeing a bunch of puffs surrounding two other puffs, they had a little fight where all the puffs started beating up the one puff leaving the second one for later, spraying mushroom blood and guts all over the inside of the mushroom house before turning to the other puff.


    I felt bad for the leftover puff and decided to pick it up and carry it out.


    It was a small purple puff, as soon as I took it away I put it onto my shoulder and we kept walking, it seemed relieved as it laid down and breath a tiny, high-pitched breath of relief.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a puff town, this is the puff ghetto¡­¡± I commented before catching up to the larger puff leading us forward.


    Soon we reached a relatively large wall of stones, with an improvised moat, I saw the town was made from mushrooms like the ¡®puff ghetto¡¯ but some were bigger, there were a large number of tiny puffs, but there were a good few larger ones, seemingly guards.


    There was a large, wide road going through the middle of the town, like a road for the bigger mushrooms¡­it was just barely big enough for us.


    I saw the even smaller puffs looking out at us from outside of their tiny windows, so this is what it¡¯s like to be tall¡­


    I noticed that they had unusually advanced homes, they had chimneys, glass with some source of light coming from inside of the house, and I¡¯m pretty sure I saw a tiny chair and parasol on a mushroom-porch!


    We were led down to the centre of the area, there was a stone castle, reaching slightly past my knees, the roof of the castle was a large mushroom.


    The puff made several squeaky noises and several more came from inside, the mushroom moved aside revealing a human face buried down to their neck in the soil, with a mushroom crown.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Lily?!¡± Adam exclaimed recognising the hair and eyes.


    ¡°Is Lily the name of this human?¡± Lily asked.


    ¡°...yes?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I see, in order to communicate with you, we have taken control of the Lily brain,¡± Lily announced.


    ¡°Alright, alright¡­she¡¯s alright¡­right?¡± I asked admittedly concerned for Lily¡¯s well being.


    ¡°...Perhaps¡­¡± Lily replied in an uncertain tone.


    ¡°Right, well that¡¯s a risk I¡¯m willing to take!¡± Adam announced excitedly


    ¡°Regardless, during our routine venture to the great caverns (Area near Adam¡¯s house) we found you, we were cautious at first¡­¡± Lily paused.


    ¡°However our kingdom now finds itself in a crisis¡­only you can help us!¡± Lily exclaimed.


    ¡°We¡¯re good, do you guys know a way out?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We thought you may say that, and that is why we decided to hide the only exit from the underworld¡­¡± Lily replied.


    ¡°And if we choose not to help you and let¡¯s say¡­destroy your entire civilization?¡± I asked looking at the guards armed with small twigs.


    ¡°In that case, your friend Lily will die,¡± Lily replied.


    Before I got a chance to reply Adam put a hand over my mouth, ¡°That¡¯s a sacrifice I¡¯m willing to take!¡± he exclaimed.


    I felt a slight tugging on the side of my shirt, I looked over and saw the tiny puff I picked up earlier, I stepped aside, ¡°What¡¯s up mushroom? You don¡¯t want me to commit mass genocide against your people?¡± I asked.


    The puff started nodding its head furiously.


    ¡°Well, too bad.¡± I shrugged causing the puff on my shoulder to quiver.


    I looked over to it again seeing the big puppy eyes it was making at me, ¡°Oh, come one, a little genocide never killed anyone.¡± I replied.


    I let out a long sight, ¡°Fiiiiiiine¡­what do you want Lily?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I would ask that you aid us in a war.¡± Lily finally said,


    ¡°Oh, so we still get to commit genocide,¡± I said with a relieved shrug.


    ¡°You¡¯re actually going to help?¡± Uriel asked, his eyes full of pride in my vaguely human action.


    ¡°Yeah, my pet got upset about slaughtering their people¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Dear¡­dear god¡­that¡¯s¡­A NICE WAY TO REACT!¡± Uriel was almost crying as he spoke.


    I felt a tiny slap on my neck, I looked down ¡°What now?¡± I asked.


    Despite the lack of lips I could tell the puff was pouting as it turned away from me cross-armed.


    I let out a sigh¡­


    ¡°Well, Lily¡­Where is the enemy?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The enemy is located west of here, towards the dark abyss and the great lake!¡± Lily exclaimed I looked over, ¡°Alright, so it¡¯s the pile of rocks next to the puddle and the crack in the floor¡­¡± I commented, the pile of rocks I assumed to be the base of the so-called enemy was only about forty meters away or so.


    I walked over the houses, passing the puddle and crack before walking up to the enemy castle, essentially a large pile of rocks vaguely the shape of a cube.


    I dug around inside pulling out a bright red puff, it had lime green dots on its cap and it tried to struggle free but my titan-like grasp kept it firmly in place.


    I walked back to Lily dangling the red puff above her, ¡°Is this the enemy?¡± I asked.


    Lily was at a loss for words, ¡°Y-yes! Indeed it¡¯s the villain! Please, slay him immediately!¡± Lily demanded.


    ¡°About that¡­what did he actually do?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I mean¡­he¡¯s the leader of a foreign castle¡­he just¡­needs to die¡­¡± Lily replied.


    ¡°...Right¡­but isn¡¯t that the same for you from his point of view?¡± I asked,


    ¡°No, we¡¯re a peaceful kingdom, we¡¯re just actively fighting the enemy before he attacks us first,¡± Lily argued back.


    ¡°No, that means you¡¯re the one attacking them¡­¡± I planted my palm into my face slowly careful not to throw my puff pet off my shoulder.


    ¡°Ok¡­ok¡­Let¡¯s make a deal.¡± I proposed, ¡°If you come out of Lily¡­I¡¯ll squish the red puff right here and now.¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Really?!¡± Lily asked before I answered an old, dried-up looking puff marched out of her mouth, I picked him up.


    ¡°What is this!?¡± squealed the puff in a high pitched voice.


    ¡°Oh, I can understand you!¡± I exclaimed before walking out of the castle walls, ¡°Uriel, take care of Lily!¡± I called out before picking a stone off the ground, placing it in the pond and placed the two puffs onto it.


    ¡°What is this, human?!¡± the pull cried seeing his situation.


    ¡°You can solve your little problem in a civilized way,¡± I announced before walking off away from the (admittedly large) puddle.


    I looked over to the shoulder puff, ¡°Well¡­I wonder why I can¡¯t understand you¡­¡± I asked.


    The puff shrugged.


    ¡°I guess you can understand me¡­¡± I said.


    The puff nodded.


    ¡°Do you know what their fight is all about?¡± I asked It¡¯s not like I cared that much¡­but it beast sitting in silence¡­I looked back to Uriel who was fighting with Adam over whether or not to dig Lily up.


    I looked back to the puff.


    It nodded its head.


    ¡°Cool, cool¡­so is it like¡­a family thing?¡± I asked


    The puff nodded again.


    ¡°Damn¡­I guess that means the red guy is... like¡­the shrivelled up guy¡¯s son?¡± I asked.


    The puff nodded again.


    ¡°Alright, alright¡­guess that should mean the situation should stay relatively civil, right?¡± I asked.


    The puff shrugged.


    ¡°Yeah¡­monarchy and stuff¡­¡± I sighed.


    A silent moment passed.


    I felt a slap on my shoulder, I looked down to the puff again, ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked -the puff pointed at me.


    ¡°My name? Yeah¡­I don¡¯t have one¡­I never decided on one¡­¡± I shrugged.


    ¡°I guess I should ask you for your name¡­but I couldn¡¯t understand anyway¡­¡± I concluded.


    ¡°So are you a dude or a girl?¡± I asked.


    The puff started waving its hands, or as they say ¡®throwing up them gang signs¡¯


    ¡°Riiiiiiiiight¡­¡± I replied uncertainly.


    ¡°Well¡­what do you think they¡¯re doing?¡± I asked rhetorically looking over to the rock.


    The red puff started writing a diary on some leaves blown in by the wind using his own blood, it was too small for me to read.


    The king puff was busy building a shelter from himself with the use of a leaf and a twig.


    ¡°Not good¡­they¡¯re not talking things out¡­¡± I said before grabbing a rock off the ground and tossing it into the water causing some ripples the puffs interpreted as large waves.


    The red puff started holding onto the rock as the waves crashed onto the shores of their makeshift island.


    His grip was becoming loose when a wave taller wave hit him directly pushing him onto the rock causing him to pass out, the older puff hesitant at first walked over to drag him under his shelter.


    ¡°See they can cooperate!¡± I exclaimed, my shoulder puff was sitting down too.


    I felt a slight pinch to the back of my leg.


    I looked back only to see a group of puffs clad in black insect parts and moss¡­¡±Are these¡­puff assassins?¡± I asked looking over to the shoulder puff who was cowering behind my collar.


    I turned to the so-called assassins, ¡°Alright¡­kidnapping and mind-controlling Lily is one thing, but you made my pet upset.¡± I sighed in a threatening tone before flicking one of the assassins away causing him to splatter blood onto the rocky floor as he fell down, the rest charged in. I picked one up and threw him onto the puddle, as if I was skipping stones, the impact itself split him into bits it also made giant droplets of water rain down onto the rock island.


    I grabbed two into my hand a pressed them dry, there was one missing, he was climbing my arm on his way to my pet puff, right before he reached it I picked him up, ¡°So, the rest of them were just decoys?¡± I asked somewhat impressed by the puff¡¯s abilities, out of nowhere another puff climbed my arm trying to get the other puff free,


    *Puff noises* (Captain, I¡¯m here to get you out!)


    *Puff noises* (Forget me¡­you can still escape¡­)


    I started to squeeze a bit harder.


    The puff began leaking puff blood from its mouth, *Puff noises* (It¡¯s too late for me¡­ you can still make it out!)


    I picked the puff up, ¡°You know what, I think you might be the boss or something¡­¡± I said flicking the smaller puff assassin away into the water, for the better or for worse he landed in the shallow, muddy water.


    I took the puff assassin I¡¯ve been squeezing this far and reached into my pocket pulling a familiar red orb, ¡°Fire bullet.¡± I chuckled before placing it inside of the puff¡¯s mouth and tossing him towards the roof of the cave, as he hit the stone roof the orb broke unleashing a comparably massive ball of fire charring the puff assassin.


    The puff which landed in the water struggled to drag its crippled body onto the shore.


    ¡°Fear not, pet puff. I have protected you.¡± I announced looking over to the puff peaking out from behind my collar.


    I looked back to the stone island, both puffs were clinging onto the rock as the disturbances in the water shook the stone itself,


    The red puff was clutching the rock with one hand and holding the king with another, a breeze came through the cave as the change of air temperature affected the air density causing tiny gusts of winds which caused bigger waves.


    Along with the breeze came rock fragments, they blew across the rock island, they flew past like razor blades,


    The red puff must have realised he can¡¯t hold on any longer, he used the leftover strength to toss the king puff onto the rock island as he himself sank into the water, the king puff reached out towards the red puff but his hand got sliced by a piece of debris.


    I felt another slap on my neck, ¡°Yeah, I gotcha¡­¡± I sighed before walking over to the stone island and pulling out the red puff out of the water and picking the king puff off the island.


    I dropped them off in the centre of the puff town.


    ¡°So, will you show us the way out?¡± I asked.


    The king puff looked down, ¡°Alright¡­¡± he sighed.


    ¡°Alright!¡± I reached for my shoulder puff, ¡°By the way, I found this puff earlier and I just kind of carried it around for a while.¡± I said placing it down on the floor.


    The king puff and the red puff were silent.


    ¡°Human¡­are you aware who it is you were carrying around on your shoulders?¡± the king puff asked.


    ¡°Nope, it¡¯s a great pet,¡± I replied causing the puff to pout.


    ¡°This, human. Is the missing princess of the puff kingdom!¡± the king puff exclaimed.


    ¡°Oh, neat,¡± I replied with a shrug.


    There was an awkward silence¡­


    ¡°Right, so if you could point me and my friends to the exit¡­¡± I asked.


    ¡°...Y-yes¡­I guess I did agree¡­please wait until tomorrow¡­you can stay at our inn¡­¡± the king suggested.


    ¡°We¡¯re good, we¡¯ll stay at home¡­wait how do you guys tell the time?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We have scouts outside.¡± The king explained.


    ¡°I see how it is¡­any you are absolutely sure we can leave tomorrow?¡± I asked while shooting the king puff a threatening stare.


    ¡°Naturally, first I have to arrange an escort and all those things!¡± the king explained in a squeaky voice.


    I sighed and walked over to Adam doing my best not to crush any of the puffs, ¡°You, Adam. Let¡¯s go back, they said we can leave tomorrow.¡± I said seeing that Uriel had successfully managed to get Lily out of the hole in the centre of the town and was now dragging her over to the direction of the house.


    Adam was squatting down next to a small house, looking into the house through the hole he made by picking the roof up.


    ¡°Adam¡­What are you doing?¡± I asked walking up to him, I looked inside of the building and turned to Adam, ¡°Adam¡­are you actually looking at a puff brothel?¡± I asked in disbelief of how low Adam could fall.


    ¡°That¡¯s not it! Remember I taught biology back on earth, this is just¡­interesting¡­in a sciencey way¡­¡± Adam said uncertainly with a shrug,


    I let out a sigh before making my way home, catching up with Uriel and helping him drag Lily while I was at it.


    When we entered the house we dropped Lily off on the couch, ¡°Well, what now¡­¡± I asked looking over to Uriel,


    ¡°Well¡­since they won¡¯t let us out until tomorrow¡­there isn¡¯t anything to do really¡­¡± Uriel said scratching his beard before heading over to look through Adam¡¯s cupboard eventually pulling out a stone rectangle.


    ¡°What is that?¡± I asked


    ¡°I have no idea, but there is something written on it¡­¡± Uriel said placing it down.


    ¡°I can¡¯t read the language¡­¡± I pointed out.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, you thought it wouldn¡¯t come in handy¡­¡± Uriel said with a sarcastic grin.


    ¡°Just read it already, cat!¡± I complained.


    ¡°STOP CALLING ME THAT!¡± Uriel cried slamming his fists onto the rock floor before freezing as the pain shot up his arm causing him to let out a yelp.


    ¡°Stop acting like a bitch and read the damn thing!¡± I demanded.


    ¡°Alright¡­alright¡­¡± Uriel said in defeat, ¡°it reads..funopoli¡± he announced.


    ¡°...Funopoli¡­¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, any idea what it means?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡­I know¡­Adam is taking the copyright threat seriously.¡± I said reading over the name.


    ¡°What?¡± Uriel asked confused.


    ¡°Nothing, it¡¯s a game,¡± I explained.


    ¡°Wait¡­a game?¡± Uriel asked,


    ¡°Yeah, the original is about¡­like¡­it¡¯s basically capitalism the game.¡± I explained uncertainly.


    ¡°What?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°Dude¡­I thought you¡¯re like, super well informed about all the world¡­¡± I replied - this time I got my chance to return the sarcastic grin.


    ¡°As if, there are too many worlds for me to memorize everything¡­¡± Uriel began looking kind of embarrassed, ¡°Plus¡­earth is too weird for me¡­¡± he admitted.


    ¡°I mean¡­it¡¯s weird to hear that earth is the weird place when we¡¯re in a cave off mushroom people, but ok,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Whatever, let¡¯s play the stupid game already,¡± Uriel demanded.


    ¡°Fine, open it up. We¡¯ll need to wake Lily up first, the more people the more fun.¡± I explained.


    ¡°Wait... did Adam design the characters after us?¡± I asked looking at the four small figurines after Uriel opened the small box.


    ¡°I think so, I guess I¡¯m the hat,¡± Uriel said picking up and inspecting his pawn.


    ¡°Then I guess that makes the gun me,¡± I said taking my one.


    ¡°The teacup it obviously Adam,¡± I said looking over to the fourth pawn, a literal stone carving of a pile of crap.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°I think this might be-¡± I was interrupted by Uriel who said ¡°Yeah definitely¡­¡±, we both looked over to the sleeping Lily with pity before deciding not to wake her up to play the game.


    ¡°Right, so I assume you know how to play the game?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I played it by myself once, my parents bought me the game for Christmas and I had nobody to play it with so I learned the rules,¡± I explained.


    ¡°That is that is the single saddest thing I heard from you,¡± Uriel said with even more pity in his eyes than before.


    ¡°Shut up, it¡¯s not like I wanted to play the game with anyone!¡± I replied.


    Uriel just kept shooting me that same pitiful look,


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    I took out the four stone tiles inside which when placed beside each other into a square make up the playing board, I put Uriel¡¯s pawn on the start square labelled ¡®Start Here¡¯ same thing with my one.


    I gave each one of us five brown coins and five green coins¡­


    ¡°What about the other pawns?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to give money to pawns that aren¡¯t in the game¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°So you¡¯re not going to use the other pawns?¡± Uriel asked.


    ¡°Why would I put pawns that nobody is going to play on the board?¡± I asked rhetorically.


    Uriel picked up the pawns and placed them down, ¡°It does no harm for us to include them.¡± Uriel shrugged.


    ¡°Sometimes, I can¡¯t tell if you are just that¡­annoyingly nice or if you¡¯re just trying to piss me off¡­¡± I complained before rolling the dice.


    ¡°One¡­¡± I announced before moving my pawn one square forward, it read ¡°Warebears attack you, you loose one brown coin, if you don¡¯t have one, you lose a green one, else you go back to the start¡­¡± I surrendered the one coin¡­


    ¡°Alright, now you go¡­¡± I said tossing the dice to Uriel, ¡°Six,¡± he announced, he moved his pawn six places forward before reading the square aloud ¡°A small inn, you can buy it for one green coin.¡± Uriel put one green coin away before pulling out a little green-stone house figurine, ¡°Keep in mind the green ones are mine.¡± He said placing it down on the square.


    I roll again, ¡°Five!¡± I announced, ¡°Finally, luck is on my side!¡± I said as I move my pawn forward by five only to realise I landed on Uriel¡¯s inn, ¡°Ah, welcome to my inn!¡± he exclaimed upon seeing this, I looked to the bottom of the square, it had ¡®1B¡¯ written in small text, I guess that¡¯s the amount I have to pay for stepping on it, I had Uriel one brown coin,


    Uriel looked over to me, ¡°Why are you paying me?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Because I landed on your square,¡± I explained, slightly irritated at this point.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, you can stay for free, I¡¯m sure my inn can stay in business despite letting one person stay the night for free.¡± Uriel shrugged.


    ¡°THAT¡¯S NOT HOW THE GAME WORK!¡± I exclaimed handing him the dice.


    Uriel: 6 Brown, 4 Green


    Me: 3 Brown, 5 Green


    Uriel rolled again, ¡°One¡­¡± he said, a grin spread across my face, ¡°Oh, too bad, it¡¯s ok though - sometimes, luck just isn¡¯t on our side.¡± I explained.


    Uriel moved forward by one, ¡°Upon leaving the inn, you are approached by a group of bandits! They demand your money or they will kill you, which will mean returning to square one.¡± Uriel read looking down to see an ¡®at least 2B¡¯ written on the bottom of the square.


    ¡°Ooooh, that suck!¡± I said with a wide grin, before seeing Uriel place six brown coins on the square.


    I wasn¡¯t sure why he did this¡­but to be fair, he did a lot of stupid things.


    Uriel: 0 Brown, 4 Green¡­


    I roll the dice, ¡°three¡­¡± I announce, moving my pawn over, ¡°Surprise square!¡± I said as I reached for a card, ¡°You found ten brown coins behind the couch!¡± I read with excitement before grabbing ten more brown coins.


    Me: 13 Brown, 5 Green


    Uriel rolls the dice, ¡°One¡­¡± he read again, he moves over to the square, ¡°Looks like your competition stalked you, move one pawn closest to the start to the square ahead of you.¡± Uriel narrated before grabbing the cup pawn and moving it to where I was, Uriel then took out a surprise card for the pawn.


    ¡°Swap your money with someone else on this square¡­¡± Uriel read.


    Me: 0 Brown, 0 Green


    Adam: 13 Brown, 5 Green


    Uriel: 0 Brown, 4 green.


    Without saying anything I roll the dice, ¡°Six¡­¡± I grumble before narrating the square ¡°Multiply your money by two! -Enjoy~¡±


    I just handed Uriel the dice¡­


    He rolled the dice¡­ ¡°One¡± He announced moving onto the surprise square, ¡°Add the value of all player coins on this square, and divide by two, that is your current balance, if it is not a full number or not an even number, round up and or minus one coin,¡± Uriel said,


    0.5(13 + 0) = 6.5, Round up to 7 and minus one 6 Brown, Green remains the same since the value ends up as 8, except for Adam who looses 1 Green.


    Me: 0 Brown, 0 Green


    Adam: 6 Brown, 4 Green


    Uriel: 6 Brown, 4 green.


    ¡°GOD DAMN IT¡­he¡¯s taking advantage of the other pawns¡­is that even allowed?!¡­ I guess I might as well cheat too¡­¡± I decided.


    ¡°Hey, you have Adam on your side, I think I should get Lily.¡± I suggested, I expected him to protest but he just said: ¡°Sound fair, I¡¯m glad you learned from your mistakes.¡±


    I rolled one for Lily¡¯s pawn, ¡°one¡­¡± she moved onto the werebear square and had to move back since she has no money.


    ¡°LILY YOU LITERAL PIECE OF SHIT!¡± I cried, causing the real Lily to wake up and jump up, ¡°Adam?!¡± She exclaimed looking around, ¡°No, no, sorry, I was just screaming at your pawn in the game.¡± I explained waving Lily to go back to sleep.


    I roll the dice for myself, ¡°one¡­¡± I moved one forward¡­ It was a bland square¡­


    ¡°What does a blank square mean?¡± Uriel asked.


    A devilish idea was born in my head, ¡°Oh, that¡­it means that we¡­fight¡­¡± I came up with some a random excuse.


    ¡°A fight? How does that work?¡± Uriel asked,


    ¡°Simple¡­¡± I look at the cards¡­¡±We just think about who would win the fight with the give land and pawns¡­¡± I explained.


    ¡°I see¡­a very creative game!¡± Uriel exclaimed.


    ¡°Exactly!¡± I replied, ¡°Well since this is me, I have the teleport bullets so I teleport beside your Inn.¡± I explained moving my pawn to the square after the inn.


    ¡°Alright, in that case, I think I win,¡± Uriel replied uncertainly.


    ¡°Why is that?¡± I asked looking around the board.


    That was when I imagined it, I move towards the inn¡­ready to take the enemy castle when suddenly¡­ I¡¯m surrounded by a group of bandits¡­ Uriel pointed to the bandit card, ¡°It says at least 2 brown, I gave them six, by giving them all I have I hope, nay pray that they will help me in my hour of need if such a time comes!¡± Uriel exclaimed.


    I looked over to my money pile, no coins¡­this means I¡¯m dead!


    I flipped the board and left leaving Uriel along in the living room, except for the now sleeping Lily.


    A few minutes later Adam walked into the house seeing Uriel on his knees picking up the bits of the game and putting them in the box, ¡°I see you got a chance to play my game!¡± Adam announced excitedly.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty well designed¡­except for one of the pawns.¡± Uriel sighed.


    ¡°It was funny,¡± Adam replied shamelessly.


    ¡°So, I guess you played it with nameless child?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we didn¡¯t want to wake Lily up,¡± Uriel explained.


    ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°He failed horribly, despite cheating¡­¡± Uriel sighed with a smile.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a game of luck for the most part.¡± Adam shrugged.


    ¡°True, but as a member of the heavenly host my karma is so high it¡¯s basically impossible for me to lose a luck-based game.¡± Uriel laughed, closing the box and putting it away where he found it.


    ¡°Remind me not to gamble with you.¡± Adam laughed.


    The next morning¡­


    A knock came from the door, Adam opened the door looking down to the two neat rows of puffs, in between them a taller puff with a puffy hat and twig-trumpet,


    ¡°...Uhmmm¡­yes?¡± Adam invited to puffs to say whatever they wanted to announce.


    In a high pitched voice, the trumpet puff announced¡­ ¡°The one referred to a nameless child is requested at the capital.¡±


    Adam took a second to go over what he just heard and walked over to the hole leading to the cave where I was sleeping, ¡°Dude, the mushrooms want you to go to the mushroom town.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Great¡­maybe we¡¯ll be let out of here already¡­¡± I said as I slipped out of the cave-hole and into the living-room,


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked looking at the puff herald.


    ¡°Your presence is required in the capital!¡± he replied seeming irritated.


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Alright, guess I¡¯ll just go¡­¡± I relented and headed towards the capital.


    Uriel poked his head out the door, ¡°¡­you were hoping he¡¯d carry you back, didn¡¯t you?¡± he asked.


    The puff looked down, ¡°Yeah¡­¡± he sighed disappointedly before turning back and slowly waking back to the capital.


    After a while of walking - about five minutes, I reached the town.


    I crouched down by the middle of the capital which was now rebuilt into an improvised castle.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s you, nameless child!¡± the king puff announced.


    ¡°Indeed it is¡­can I leave now?¡­like¡­leave the cave?¡± I asked impatiently.


    ¡°I will honour my promise-¡± I interrupted the king¡­


    ¡°Great!¡± I exclaimed


    ¡°But first-¡± I interrupted him again,


    ¡°Oh shit¡­¡± I sighed.


    ¡°Nameless child, our people may have faced the crisis with the other kingdom alone¡­¡± the king spoke in a dramatic tone made slightly less dramatic by its high pitch¡­


    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t¡± I commented.


    ¡°And we would wish nothing more than to let you go and live your lives¡­¡± the king continued.


    ¡°Than let us go live out lives!¡± I commented more irritated.


    ¡°But alas, we fear a civil war may start¡­¡± The kind explained.


    ¡°I¡­don¡¯t care,¡± I explained slowly shaking my head.


    ¡°You see - there are two big factions within our country¡­¡± the king explained.


    ¡°Figure something out, and let us out¡­¡± I¡¯m slowly getting more pissed, do they want me to solve all their problems for them!?


    ¡°So, we¡¯re considering an arranged marriage¡­¡± the king finally explained.


    ¡°I don¡¯t c- wait¡­you actually came up with an idea?!¡± I asked in shock.


    ¡°Yes, we think this would benefit both parties, and strengthen our relationships!¡± the king elaborated.


    ¡°That makes sense¡­good for you guys,¡± I said giving them a thumbs up.


    ¡°So you agree?¡± the king asked.


    ¡°Sure, why not. You marriage usually solves these problems I think¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Great, then with your blessing we¡¯ll wrap this up today, and let you and your friends go before the day ends!¡± the king announced excitedly,


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go let the guys know to dress up fancy¡­¡± I said before turning to leave, I turned back, ¡°That was a joke, we haven¡¯t had clean clothes for months and we¡¯re living off mushrooms.¡± I explained straight-faced before leaving.


    Once I made it back home¡­


    I violently swung the door open, ¡°Guys, we¡¯re invited to some wedding.¡± I announced.


    ¡°This is kind of sudden, who¡¯s getting married?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Some mushrooms, it¡¯s a political thing.¡± I shrugged.


    ¡°Alright, second question¡­are we allowed out yet?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Not yet, we have to go to the wedding first I think, otherwise I¡¯m starting to consider regicide¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Whatever, let¡¯s get this over with¡­¡± Adam sighed,


    Uriel stepped out of the bathroom, ¡°When is the wedding?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I guess we can head over whenever¡­¡± I explained.


    ¡°Maybe they¡¯ll send the trumpet guy again!¡± Adam said excitedly.


    About an hour later we made our way back to the capital, the only one of us looking vaguely formal was Uriel with his usual tuxedo¡­


    When we entered the town, the puff-peasants were throwing confetti made from torn-up flowers and leaves at us as we walked through the central road.


    ¡°Damn, I didn¡¯t realise we¡¯re such a big part of this¡­¡± Adam said looking at all the puffs.


    ¡°They¡¯re just excited!¡± Uriel said dismissively.


    There were four piles of moss around the central ¡°castle¡±, most likely serving as seats for us, we all sat down.


    A puff wearing a pope-looking hat walked out of the castle, ¡°Welcome everyone, today we have gathered here to celebrate the union of two very important people, which was in no way brought about by the king as a way of stopping the potential conflict.¡± the pope-puff read.


    Out from inside of the castle walked out the princess-puff wearing a dress of white flower petals,


    ¡°I wonder what the guy looks like!¡± I whispered to Adam somewhat excited.


    ¡°Specifically, we will celebrate the union of the princess of the puff kingdom-¡± I looked over to Uriel who had a massive grin, thanks to that I missed the princess-puff¡¯s name, whatever¡­


    ¡°and the newcomer, nameless child.¡± the pope-puff announced.


    Despite the puffs cheering, Adam, Lily, Uriel and I were silent.


    Eventually Uriel unable to hold his laughter in any longer burst out saying ¡°G-good for you, man!¡± through his frantic laughing.


    I turned to Adam, he just shrugged and gave me a thumbs-up, ¡°WAIT, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DO YOU MEAN BY THAT THUMBS UP!?¡± I demanded.


    The crowd turned to Adam and me, ¡°I dunno, I wouldn¡¯t want to miss the chance to marry into royalty.¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°What is the problem, I thought you agreed to the marriage earlier today?!¡± The king puff inquired.


    ¡°I THOUGH IT¡¯S AN INTER-PUFF MARRIGE!!!¡± I cried back.


    ¡°...That¡¯s pretty bigoted of you¡­¡± the king puff said quietly.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    I stood up, reaching for my gun.


    ¡°You either show me the way to the exit, right now or I destroy your entire civilization, here and now,¡± I warned.


    ¡°Perhaps tomorrow-¡± the king was interrupted by the loud explosion coming from the fireball I created by shooting a fire bullet into one of the town¡¯s four districts.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°I think he¡¯s bluffing¡­¡± the kings whispered to his advisor, I loaded an iron shot into the gun and pointed it towards a random wall, I pulled the trigger releasing a chunk of iron crashing through the wall, I repeated this a few times the cave shaking each time the iron hit the wall.


    ¡°ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, we¡¯ll show you the way out!¡± the king cried.


    ¡°R-really?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Y-yes¡­right away¡­just please¡­spare our kingdom¡­¡± the king pleaded.


    A toothy grin spread across my face as I uttered one, single phrase ¡°I¡¯ll spare your kingdom¡­.¡± the puffs seemingly breath a sigh of relief,


    ¡°Maybe tomorrow¡­¡± I added loading another fire bullet into the gun, I felt two arms grab me from behind, it was Adam, ¡°IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, YOU BETTER TELL US WHERE THE EXIT IS!¡± he cried, the puff king pointed towards a seemingly normal wall, but when Adam ran up to it, he saw a crack just barely wide enough for them to leave through.


    When we made it out, Adam released me causing me to fall down to the floor as I felt a rush of energy, it was at that moment that I knew, I could cast magic again!


    ¡°Think you want a little overboard?¡± Adam asked gasping for air.


    ¡°Nope,¡± I explained regretting nothing.


    I turned to Uriel, ¡°You knew about it, didn¡¯t you?!¡± I demanded.


    ¡°What gives you that idea?¡± he asked pretending to be surprised.


    ¡°I saw that smile¡­plus you are a terrible liar¡­¡± I added.


    ¡°Well, since you want to know so badly, I spoke to the trumpet-puff after you left him, I agreed to bring him back in return for him telling me more info.¡± Uriel shrugged.


    ¡°...I say this a lot¡­but I mean it this time. Screw you, cat.¡± I hissed.


    I pulled out the gun and shot one bullet at the cave crack, before shooting an iron shot at it, causing the entrance to be closed off forever¡­


    ¡°It¡¯s for the best¡­¡± I sighed, finally relaxing a bit.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so sure about that¡­¡± Uriel said with a slight grin.


    ¡°Uriel¡­what the hell did you do?¡± I asked.


    He opened his hand revealing the princess-puff¡­¡±Uriel¡­¡± I said before taking a deep breath.


    ¡°It¡¯s rude to leave the bride at the alter, you know,¡± Uriel said sarcastically.


    I couldn¡¯t think of an insult which would hurt Uriel¡­but I did eventually think of something.


    A grin spread to my face again, ¡°Hey¡­Uriel¡­¡± I said


    ¡°Y-yeah?¡± He seemed concerned about what I¡¯d do next.


    ¡°I guess I don¡¯t mind¡­but you do realise you just separated this poor soul from her home and culture, alienating her forever, what if the air here kills her, or what if she dried out in the sun?¡± I asked.


    Uriel¡¯s expression turned to horror as he turned back, before looking over to the puff, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, I swear I¡¯ll fix this!¡± he cried as he began trying to dig the rubble up with his bare hands¡­it was pretty ineffective.

 Chapter 12: Enemy Of My Enemy

    Ark was wandering through the forest far away from the mountain, and rather near to the capital, he limped as he walked, it¡¯s been a while since he got into that fight by the mountain, he wasn¡¯t able to get his wounds healed up.


    Ark placed a palm on the web-bandage covered stab-wound in his abdomen causing a sharp pain to shoot up his body, if he had eaten anything he would have thrown it up by now, the bandage itself didn¡¯t absorb any of the black blood making it look clean, so Ark never changed it.


    Eventually, Ark stumbled by a cave, it had hanging leaves and hay at its mouth, he walked inside noticing a sleeping bag, he walked over to it laying down on his back and breathing deeply, He hasn¡¯t slept for days now¡­


    ¡°Excuse me, are you hurt?¡± a woman¡¯s voice asked causing Ark to sit up violently only to feel crippling pain from his wound.


    ¡°Relax, just lay down!¡± the woman said in a panicked voice, she rushed over to him, placing a palm over his head.


    ¡°If¡­you try¡­anything¡­¡± Ark tried to sound threatening.


    ¡°Don¡¯t go to sleep!¡± she cried feeling how cold he was, ¡°You won¡¯t wake up,¡± she added.


    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­underestimate¡­my stubbornness..¡± Ark replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of the wounds for you, you¡¯ll make it out alright, I promise!¡± the white-haired woman promised gently peeling the web-bandage away, whether Ark chose not to or was too weak to stop her is a mystery.


    ¡°Did you change these?¡± she asked.


    Ark remained silent.


    She rushed over to the corner of the cave bringing out a bucked of water, in it was a rag, she gently drizzled the water onto the wound washing the dried, slimy blood away.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to cast healing magic on you now.¡± She announced quietly before putting her hands an inch above his stab-wound and closing her eyes, a pale green light appeared in her hands, small drops of light, like snowflakes of pure healing, fell onto his skin.


    ¡°This will help with the blood poisoning and the pain, but you¡¯ll have to say here for at least two days, alright?¡± she explained to Ark.


    Ark, while still awake was staring off into the roof of the cave.


    His consciousness seemingly fading in and out, he suddenly felt something hot on his head, he didn¡¯t have the strength to sit up, ¡°It¡¯s just a cloth soaked in warm water.¡± the woman explained.


    At that point, he could no longer keep his eyes open and drifted away into a deep slumber, when he eventually opened his eyes he was met with a white-haired man.


    ¡°Yo.¡± the man said with a smirk.


    ¡°Where am I?¡± Ark asked looking around.


    ¡°Just some cave, you collapsed and an ever-so-kind woman helped heal you up.¡± the white-haired man explained.


    ¡°...where is she?¡± Ark asked.


    ¡°Why you don¡¯t seem like the kind of person to be concerned about her safety?¡± the white-haired man asked.


    ¡°Just answer the question¡­before I¡­¡± Ark struggled to stand up but was unable to move still.


    ¡°Before you what?¡± the white-haired man taunted.


    Ark summoned his spider legs, thicker than before and longer, they picked him up, with Ark only hanging loosely,


    ¡°Well, this is a surprise.¡± the white-haired man laughed.


    ¡°So you¡¯re a demon,¡± he added.


    ¡°Screw you!¡± Ark cried before launching two of his legs like spears towards him, with a single swift movement the man grabbed both of them and snapped them off, the bits he broke off turning to smoke, instantly he shot out another leg and as the white-haired man turned to break it off he didn¡¯t notice the web tied around his legs which Ark pulled on making the man fall to the ground.


    Despite the fall the man didn¡¯t react much, ¡°How rude, let me tell you who you just dared to push to the floor.¡± the man said in a threatening voice.


    ¡°I don¡¯t give a shit¡­¡± Ark exclaimed - a grin spread across his face as he tied his arms and legs with that same web, ¡°I guess I can take my time interrogating you¡­¡± Ark said unable to hide his excitement as he moved his remaining legs towards the man¡¯s torso.


    The man stood back up snapping the webs around his arms and knees, Ark spits some of his venomous spit at the man who blocked ever drop with his arm, a grin spread across Ark¡¯s face, but it immediately disappeared after Abeyth simply tore his venom covered arm off tossing it aside.


    ¡°My name is Abeyth.¡± the mas announced, seemingly waiting for some sort of reaction, ¡°Well, since we¡¯re getting introduced, then I¡¯ll let you know my name is Ark,¡± Ark said his tone fluctuating in pitch as excitement grew too big and he plunged his spider legs into the man¡¯s torso.


    He shot a long stream of webs covering Abeyth¡¯s entire body except for the head.


    The legs dug deep, but Abeyth didn¡¯t react at all, ¡°Hey¡­you are a demon, right?¡± Abeyth asked uncertainly.


    ¡°Me? Nah¡­ I just have a soul or two more than I should.¡± Ark exclaimed filling the man with more holes, he didn¡¯t react.


    After a while the tired up man sat up, snapping the webs and beginning to laugh, ¡°I see, sorry, sorry, I thought you¡¯re a demon.¡± the man explained patting his clothes clean, with his two hands.


    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± Ark demanded when he saw the man laugh despite being filled with holes.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, I told you my name because I assumed you¡¯d recognise me, Abeyth, but turns out you¡¯re still mostly human.¡± Abeyth laughed.


    ¡°So are you some sort of demon?¡± Ark asked, not hiding his spider legs yet.


    ¡°Define ''demon''¡­¡± Abeyth said looking over to Ark.


    ¡°You know what a demon is! Stop playing dumb.¡± Ark commanded.


    Abeyth sighed, ¡°Damn, you¡¯re no fun¡­¡±, ¡°Yes, I am a demon technically, although for one reason or another I¡¯m looking for a way to get rid of to other demons and the one creating them,¡± Abeyth explained.


    Ark moved back to the bed not taking his eyes off the man, ¡°What a coincidence¡­so am I¡­¡± Ark said, seemingly the adrenaline wore off and his mobility yet again, disappeared.


    ¡°Interesting¡­ and by the way, that woman who healed you up, that¡¯s me.¡± Abeyth explained.


    ¡°...you don¡¯t look like a chick¡­¡± Ark said looking at the man again,


    ¡°Her and I have a deal, I¡¯m borrowing this body during the night and she gets it back for the day!¡± Abeyth elaborated.


    ¡°Wait¡­so you are a demon?¡± Ark asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s such a broad term,¡± Abeyth sighed, ¡°A demon is just a name invented by you cycle souls to call us outcasts, we were thrown out of the cycle for various crimes, that said you calling me a demon is like you calling a lion a fly because they are both animals.¡± Abeyth lectured Ark,


    ¡°So, you¡¯re off hunting other demons?¡± Ark asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, all they want to do is go around destroying this world, to be fair by now they have been¡­marinating in each other¡¯s hatred, envy and so on for aeons..¡± Abeyth explained.


    ¡°Then why aren¡¯t you like that?¡± Ark asked.


    ¡°...I never said I wasn¡¯t.¡± Abeyth replied, ¡°Regardless of how it looks, we are still cast out for crimes beyond your understanding, I don¡¯t seek the destruction of this world, or to take pleasure from the suffering of innocents, but I¡¯m no good guy.¡± Abeyth said as a sinister grin spread across his face.


    ¡°Well, isn¡¯t that convenient, I guess we have some things in common¡­¡± Ark scoffed.


    ¡°So, you said your name is Ark?¡± Abeyth asked awaiting confirmation.


    ¡°Yeah, what about it?¡± Are replied.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you join me, the girl isn¡¯t much of a fighter so I can¡¯t stray far from this cave, since if she was to be attacked during the day I¡¯d be helpless, if you were to tag along, you could repay her for saving your life and you could kill some demons while you¡¯re at it,¡± Abeyth suggested.


    ¡°Tsk, I never asked for help,¡± Ark complained,


    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s weird like that. I don¡¯t get it¡­¡± Abeyth sighed, ¡°But that¡¯s why I¡¯m here.¡± he added.


    ¡°Fine, whatever.¡± Ark relented.


    ¡°Great, in that case, how about I help you out with your soul configuration first?¡± Abeyth suggested,


    Ark¡¯s eyes widened with interest, ¡°What do you mean, soul configuration?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I see¡­alright, I¡¯ll explain how this soul business works.¡± Abeyth announced, sitting down and drawing diagrams into some dust on the ground.


    ¡°Your soul is like a never-ending battery, it¡¯s used to keep your body working, there are millions of world, each one with endless souls however because of some cosmic laws most people forget their previous lives,¡± Abeyth explained.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Basically, in your body you can only have one-hundred per cent soul power in control, for example, in your case I think you have two¡­or three souls, that means you have three-hundred per cent soul power, only one hundred of which is in use, by changing which souls are used in what amounts you can maximize your power and remain conscious while using said power.¡± Abeyth elaborated.


    ¡°Fine, but if you try to mess me up, I¡¯ll kick your ass for real,¡± Ark warned.


    Abeyth just smiled before planting a hand on Ark¡¯s forehead before he began casting the spell.


    ¡°Your original soul has been depleted to sixty per cent, the spider demon soul is at one-hundred, there is a weird sub soul next to the spider one, it¡¯s about forty per cent, I think I see a¡­there is an empty soul¡­it¡¯s at one-hundred¡­weird¡­¡± Abeyth said looking at the souls.


    ¡°For the sake of remaining human, you shouldn¡¯t go under fifty per cent of your original soul, so let¡¯s set it to fifty-fifty with original a demon soul, for some reason about one-third of your total soul power in use was the blank one.¡± Abeyth laughed.


    ¡°All done,¡± Abeyth announced stepping away from Ark.


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel any different¡­¡± Ark replied summoning and dismissing his spider legs, the bits Abeyth broke off were back to normal.


    ¡±It¡¯s not a massive difference, but you¡¯ll be visibly stronger in combat,¡± Abeyth explained.


    ¡°...Could I change these myself?¡± Ark asked,


    ¡°In theory, yeah. But it¡¯s kinda risky.¡± Abeyth shrugged.


    ¡°Whatever¡­so do you have a plan or something? Or are we just going to sit around in the woods hoping the enemy appears?¡± Ark asked sarcastically.


    ¡°Of course we have a plan! It just so happen I that the certain someone who is summoning the demons decided to start up a country.¡± Abeyth explained.


    ¡°I see¡­and I assume that¡¯s where we¡¯re heading?¡± Ark asked.


    ¡°Right, you and the girl can get going as soon as the sun rises, I won¡¯t be able to appear until the sun sets, so if there is some big problem, just try to wait it out,¡± Abeyth suggested.


    ¡°Do you know the person doing all this?¡± Ark asked after a while so silence.


    Abeyth let out a sigh, ¡°Asking personal questions already?¡± he laughed, ¡°No, not personally, but he did screw me over before, and I¡¯m one vengeful son of a bitch¡­¡± Abeyth said with a sadistic grin.


    The sound of chirping birds warned Abeyth about the coming sunlight, ¡°Well, I¡¯m out.¡± he said before sitting own, a variety of cracking and snapping sounds later Abeyth¡¯s body now looked like the girl, or was it her body previously looked like Abeyth¡­


    The girl looked around, ¡°Oh¡­it¡¯s morning already¡­¡± she said, her eyes widened slightly as she looked over to Ark relieved to see that he was still alive.


    ¡°Thank goodness, you¡¯re alright,¡± she said looking genuinely relieved.


    ¡°Tsk, you could have warned me that you¡¯re half-demon¡­¡± Ark hissed.


    ¡°S-sorry about that, I was busy¡­with your wounds¡­¡° she looked over to Ark seeing that his wound was already open and leaking.


    ¡°What happened?!¡± she asked rushing over and applying healing magic to help the blood cloth.


    ¡°Forget about it, I made a deal with your demon-boyfriend, we¡¯re meant to head to the demon creator¡¯s country or something,¡± Ark explained.


    The girl blushed at the boyfriend comment but exclaimed: ¡°You can¡¯t go like this, you¡¯re wounded!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯ve been through worse¡­¡± he sighed before putting his palm over the wound, filling it with his webs.


    ¡°So do you know where to go?¡± he asked,


    ¡°Y-yeah, but are you sure-?¡± she was cut off by Ark, ¡°Let¡¯s go then¡­¡± he commanded.


    The girl tried to protest but Ark just walked out into the morning sun which stung his eyes, but overall he felt better.


    ¡°Alright, just give me a minute, I¡¯ll get changed!¡± the girl said frantically as she rushed over to the mouth of the cave pulling the grass down like blinds.


    They walked for what seemed like hours in the blistering heat, ¡°It¡¯s so hot¡­¡± the white-haired girl complained, Ark found out her name was Sarah.


    ¡°Well, you should have taken some water before you left the cave!¡± Ark complained.


    ¡°But water is heavy¡­¡± Sarah said in an exhausted tone,


    ¡°Whatever, let¡¯s hope there¡¯s a stream nearby¡­¡± Ark scoffed picking up the pace, upon seeing this Sarah collapsed to the floor, ¡°Go on without me¡­¡± he said in a dramatic voice waving Ark away.


    ¡°Damn, you really must be exhausted to be sleeping on an ant¡¯s nest.¡± Ark said looking over to the girl who recoiled at the idea of laying on an ant¡¯s nest before looking around frantically, ¡°You tricked me!¡± she complained pouting.


    ¡°You were trying to trick me¡­let¡¯s keep going. If you have the strength to jump around you have the strength to walk.¡± Ark barked before continuing walking, albeit slightly slower than before.


    After Sarah caught up to Ark a while of silence passed.


    ¡°Hey Ark-¡± the girl began but was cut off.


    ¡°No,¡± Ark replied.


    ¡°Ah! You don¡¯t even know what I was going to ask!¡± Sarah complained.


    ¡°I still won¡¯t do it,¡± Ark replied.


    ¡°Just five minutes!¡± Sarah pleaded.


    Ark stopped, ¡°No, I¡¯m not carrying you, walk by yourself like an adult!¡± Ark yelled before turning away and staying silent for the next twenty minutes or so.


    ¡°Hey, hey Ark!¡± Sarah was almost screaming in his ear at this point, ¡°WHAT!?¡± Ark cried.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± Sarah said apologetically.


    ¡°Then just stay quiet!¡± Ark pleaded.


    Eventually, Ark reached a bridge, it was a large wooden bridge going over a deep overgrown hole with a shallow stream at the bottom, on the other side of the bridge sat a group of men by a fire, they haven¡¯t noticed Ark yet.


    Sarah and Ark made their way across the bridge, halfway through they were approached by the men from the other side, ¡°Hey, what brings you, kids, out here?¡± one of the men asked.


    ¡°W-we¡¯re just passing through!¡± Sarah explained.


    ¡°Well, if that¡¯s the case, we¡¯d hate to be in the way.¡± the man said stepping aside letting Ark and Sarah cross the bridge and continue on their way through the forest.


    After a few minutes of walking Sarah breath a sigh of relief, ¡°I was worried there for a second¡­¡± she said looking back to make sure nobody was following them.


    ¡°Don¡¯t relax just yet, you don¡¯t actually the thing they just sit there for nothing, do you?¡± Ark asked.


    ¡°Wait, you mean they¡¯re following us?!¡± Sarah turned back looking around.


    ¡°They¡¯re most likely in the woods,¡± Ark explained, after hearing this Sarah ran up to Ark sticking close to him.


    ¡°There¡¯s no way they¡¯d keep up with us while staying off the road, it¡¯s either a separate party, mages or worst case scenario assassins.¡± Ark shrugged.


    A sudden whistling sound came from the woods, when Sarah turned to see what the source of the sound was she saw a blade flying towards her, just before stabbing into her it changed trajectory landing on the floor, she turned to look at the blade seeing it had a thin we attached,


    ¡°You¡¯ve lost the element of surprise, come out and fight us properly!¡± Ark demanded.


    After receiving no response Ark wandered around the area, he walked in a square around where Sarah stood still in shock after almost being stabbed.


    Eventually, Ark returned to Sarah where he sat down on the ground, ¡°Well, guess I¡¯m staying here until they come out¡­¡± Ark proclaimed gesturing Sarah to sit down as well.


    A while later a group of ten people stepped out of the woods and towards Ark. Judging by the clothes they were assassins, they wore cloaks and had long collars and hood, both men and women.


    ¡°Finally, I was worried you cowards would stay in the woods forever¡­¡± Ark sighed.


    He stood up and carried Sarah a few meters away before returning, ¡°We¡¯re sorry, but we can¡¯t spare the girl.¡± One of the assassins announced, it was impossible to tell if it was the leader or if they even had a leader.


    For a second Ark froze up, he looked at them and thought about what he just heard, ¡°Oh, I understand, you think I was trying to get her to run away!¡± Ark exclaimed, before starting to laugh.


    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m sorry¡­that¡¯s not it.¡± Ark raised one hand into the air, then jerked it down quickly before loosening up and cracking his knuckles, ¡°Go ahead, try and kill her.¡± he said gesturing with his hands towards her, upon closer inspection he was holding a thin thread in his hands.


    ¡°You guys are just in time if I didn¡¯t get a chance to kill something I¡¯d go mad from listening to her.¡± Ark laughed.


    ¡°He¡¯s gone man, either that or he thinks we¡¯ll leave him alone if he was to go mad.¡± A female voice in the back said with a disappointed sigh before starting to walk over to Sarah.


    ¡°Ark!¡± she exclaimed.


    ¡°Just wait¡­¡± he said as a grin spread across his face.


    As the assassin walked towards Sarah she suddenly bumped into something, it was like a wall, a wall made out of thousands of thin webs¡­


    ¡°We walled her off!¡± the assassin announced.


    Ark was becoming irritated, ¡°No, you don¡¯t get it¡­¡± he announced, ¡°I boxed all of you in with me¡± he said, he began moving towards the assassins and a few of the cloaked figures in the back began their retreat to the forest only to find out that they were in fact, walled in for real.


    ¡°Heh, neat trick, kid¡­but it¡¯ll take more than that to take us down!¡± the man at the front cried as rushed towards Ark daggers drawn, he rushed over panting a solid punch to Ark¡¯s face causing blood to ooze from his face.


    ¡°Hah! Not so tough now are you!?¡± the man laughed as the other assassins moved in to take Ark out quickly.


    Ark drew one single spider leg, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll give myself a handicap¡­go ahead¡­try and kill me¡­¡± Ark said, he was unable to contain his excitement any longer and rushed back at the man who punched him stabbing him in the arms and legs with inhuman speeds, to an average person it looked as if he was being shot with a cannon as massive holes erupted in the man¡¯s body, when Ark stopped the man fell to the floor limply.


    Ark looked up seeing three cloaked figures moving towards him, right before they slashed him with their blades he skewered their arms with his single spider leg before turning to the rest and displaying his rather lively hanging decorations.


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave you three for later, alright?¡± Adam asked as he used the web to make a cocoon around the three before tossing them into the corner of the square arena.


    ¡°Four down¡­six to go!¡± he exclaimed before moving in, five stood in a defensive ¡®c¡¯ position, in Ark went in for the kill at least two of them should get a chance to stab him.


    One was missing though, a female assassin was climbing over the wall of webs, with a single web Ark grabbed a hold of the woman pulling her over to his side, ¡°Hello there, sweaty¡­it¡¯s rude to run away from a fight you started¡­how would you like me to dice those legs of yours?¡± he threatened.


    A voice came from the other assassins, ¡°Leave her alone, she¡¯s still in training, she¡¯ll never wield a dagger again!¡± the voice cried,


    ¡°An assassin in training, eh?¡± Ark asked, he picked the girl up, patted her shoulders and gestured her back to the group, ¡°Go ahead, you can go.¡± he explained pushing the girl towards the group.


    As the girl met up with the group, she stood in front of them, ¡°Go on, get out of here¡­there is gold at the hideout¡­enough for one person to lead a decent life¡­¡° a rough masculine voice said.


    A rogue standing near the backhanded the assassin in training a dagger, ¡°I doubt I¡¯ll need thin for long¡­¡± the woman said in a shaky voice.


    The girl tearfully moved towards the back of the group and towards the wall which she intended to climb over.


    ¡°Just one more thing,¡± Ark said raising a finger in the air, the assassins saw that there was a web tired around his pinkie leading to the girl,


    ¡°Sorry to do the eye for an eye thing but remember what you told me?¡± Ark cleared his throat, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t spare the girl.¡± he said a grin spreading across his face with every word before he pulled his pinkie back as a loud crack came from the girl¡¯s neck, her head a rotated about one-eighty degrees too far back.


    The sight caused one of the assassins to throw up into the blood-soaked road, the man who told her about the gold charged in first,


    ¡°HAVE YOU NO SOUL!?¡± he demanded landing a punch to Ark¡¯s face, then another, and another, Ark stood perfectly still throughout the entire affair, ¡°Are you done?¡± he asked stabbing his spider leg into his abdomen, despite this, the man continued his assault to Ark¡¯s face.


    ¡°How rude¡­are you calling me ugly?¡± Ark faked offence before summoning two extra spider legs and tabbing them deep into the man¡¯s eyes¡­so deep he died instantly¡­


    ¡°Tsk¡­overdid it¡­¡± Ark cursed before tossing the man aside, ¡°Don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯ll make sure to savour our time together¡­¡± Ark said licking his lips as he took another step towards the remaining four assassins.


    ¡°Looks like at the very least we managed to push him to his limits!¡± one of the men said in a shaky albeit reassuring voice.


    ¡°Yeah¡­that¡¯s something¡­¡± another laughed.


    Upon hearing this Ark¡¯s smile disappeared, it was replaced by a pitiful look, ¡°I feel sorry for you, the fact is none of you imagined the possibility you¡¯d die today¡­in fact, if you were fighting anyone else¡­you might have survived¡­¡± Ark¡¯s sombre look faded away as the toothy grin returned before Ark summoned the three other legs, bringing him to his maximum of six.


    ¡°So then, would you rather be skinned alive, gutted or maybe- ¡± Ark¡¯s tone rose in ecstasy until he reached a frantic pitch before being cut off, ¡°Ark¡­¡± Sarah¡¯s voice came from behind him, he looked back seeing her pressed up against the wall, tears streamed down her face and blood oozed from small cuts on her hands, she must have been trying to get through the wall for a while.


    ¡°STOP THIS!¡± she cried, the word echoed in Ark¡¯s mind much like a foreign word that sound similar to the one you know.


    ¡°What-what do you mean?¡± Ark asked confused, a look of innocence and confusion on his blood-smeared face.


    ¡°Stop this¡­please¡­you¡¯re acting¡­you''s not acting like a human!¡± she cried slumping down to her knees still pressed against the web wall.


    Ark was starting to feel dizzy, what did she mean by stop¡­was she on the enemy side?


    Ark placed a hand on his head as a crippling headache spread across his entire head, after a while he stopped, and stood up straight, he turned towards Sarah, ¡°Are you¡­on their side?¡± Ark asked plainly.


    ¡°NO! Of course not!¡± she replied frantically.


    ¡°THEN SHUT YOUR GOD DAMN MOUTH!¡± he cried back, he turned to the remaining four, ¡°You are my enemy¡­¡± he clenched his fists as he slowly took steps towards them, ¡°You aren¡¯t human¡­¡± he continued, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­you¡¯re not human¡­would a human attack two helpless kids in the woods?¡± Ark was mumbling to himself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll hold him off¡­try to dig under the webs!¡± the female assassin who gave her dagger way instructed as the other three assassins rushed over towards the web wall.


    Ark¡¯s mind was blurring, so was the world he saw, ¡°Who are you people¡­you¡¯re all going to die¡­but who are you?¡­¡± Ark¡¯s speech was become slurred as he walked over to the female assassin who stood there in his way, arms wide open, no weapon.


    Ark moved in close, very close, so close he was speaking softly directly into the woman¡¯s ear, ¡°who are you¡­¡± he asked, seeing that Ark was clearly delirious the woman took advantage of this to buy more time, ¡°I-it¡¯s me¡­you know me¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡­do¡­¡± he asked¡­¡±I can¡¯t¡­I don¡¯t¡­remember¡­¡± he continued,


    ¡°Try, thinking about who I am¡­go ahead.¡± he placed a reassuring hand onto Ark¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°...m-mom?¡± he asked uncertainly.


    ¡°Y-yes¡­that¡¯s me¡­¡± she spoke slowly and softly, despite this her heart was racing.


    ¡°You¡¯re here¡­you really¡­are here¡­you¡¯re back¡­¡± tears stream down Ark¡¯s face.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯m here¡­¡± she replied as ark collapsed to his knees, ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­I¡¯m very sorry¡­¡± Ark spoke, ¡°But I¡¯m going to send you back now¡­¡± he said stabbing the six spider legs into the woman¡¯s back, stabbing himself in the process.


    ¡°Wha-¡± the woman was struggling to speak because of the blood.


    ¡°Go tell dad¡­I¡¯ll be coming soon¡­¡± Ark said through a tearful smile and he collapsed in the blood-earth mud.


    That was when Ark lost consciousness, the spider legs still sticking out but standing sill.

 Chapter 13: The Farms

    "I still can''t believe our house collapsed like that..." Said Lily whilst sounding exhausted.


    "You mean my house!" Adam corrected her, he was looking pale, paler than usual.


    "Are you sure we don''t need to take a break? You look really ill." Uriel asked - this is like the fourth time, considering he wasted most of his mana healing his hands after the cave incident where he tried to un-collapse a collapsed cave entrance.


    "Yes - I''m fine, no need to worry about me..." Adam replied turning around to give Uriel a toothy grin only for blood to begin leaking from his mouth prompting Adam to quickly turn away from Uriel who was about to force the group to take a break.


    "Nameless child, heal Adam already!" Uriel demanded, I was walking behind the entirety of the group - I was in the middle of a very intense staring match with the puff.


    "I tried - remember, I can''t remove poison!" I replied not breaking eye contact with the puff who didn''t even seem to be trying - that''s when it hit me, do mushroom people blink?!


    Upon closer inspection, I saw the puff shed a tear - "Aha! So you do need to blink!"


    "Then create a poison-removal spell!" Uriel demanded,


    "I don''t want to waste my mana pool!"


    "What does that mean!? - Aren''t you going to need the spell eventually?!" Lily demanded.


    "Guys, it''s alright - we''re almost at a village, we''ll be fine." Adam pointed towards the large hill ahead of us, it was covered with houses - big and small - with many almost looking like mansions.


    Around us were deep ditches, one on each side - and an endless expanse of farmland to our left and right - in them worked people, they wore usual clothes for the area - vests and generic peasant clothes underneath.


    A river cut through the farmland and as a result, we had to go over a wooden bridge - it looked unusually well kept.


    "Doubt much grows here nowadays with all the... dying of plants." My remark was contradicted by Uriel who pointed over to the massive field on the right - "They seem to be doing alright for themselves." he said pointing to the cartful of some root vegetable they farmers were hauling.


    "Adam, are you sure you don''t need a -" I interrupted Uriel, saying "Uriel if you ask Adam if he needs a break one more time I will use your vocal cords to tie a noose to end my suffering..."


    Uriel shot me a short judgmental look before turning back to Adam - "You need to go to the doctor as soon as we go into the town." he insisted.


    "Alright, alright - I really should." He replied sounding drowsy.


    About twenty minutes later we managed to make it to the town, it was broken up into four ''levels'' where the first one was seemingly filled with the peasant houses and shops or businesses.


    Above that was an area filled with slightly fancier houses and the occasional inn or more specific shop.


    "Right, let''s head over to the higher ground, I''m sure that''s where the doctor is," Lily suggested.


    "You''re probably right - how about you take Adam there, whilst nameless child and I look for a place to stay?" Uriel offered.


    "Good idea!" Lily replied much to Adam''s disappointment, although at this point he''s too exhausted to comment on it.


    He meekly reached into his pocket pulling out a small sachel of coins and tossing it over to Uriel - "That should be enough..." he commented before starting to fall down - luckily he was caught by Lily.


    "Alright - let''s go..." I replied, my vision was going blurry, the corners of my eyes field of view going black as my eyes stung like the mouth of that one guy who ate chilli peppers with mints to ''even out the spiciness''.


    In fact, it almost seemed like there was a solid-green man standing in the field for a second - couldn''t confirm it because the puff''s single tear became a torrent of tears - "I must be close to victory!" I thought.


    Meanwhile, the puff was scared out of its mind wondering why I''m giving it the death stare for the last hour or so.


    "Alright - let''s go, we need to find a place to stay before it gets dark." Uriel said before grabbing me by the arm and dragging me towards the second ''level'' of the village in hopes of finding a decent inn.


    As soon as we walked up to the staircase leading up - we were faced with two guards - luckily they were asleep, otherwise, they might have a problem with letting in random people into their fancier area.


    I''m relatively certain the guards had tails though - maybe it was just an ass-scarf though.


    When Uriel and I made it to the top of the stairs we were faced with two more sleeping guards, we eventually made it to an inn looking building - it was round in shape, like three intersecting circles, with the middle one being the biggest - almost in resemblance of the head of a certain animated rodent.


    The two circular parts were decorated with tall glass windows stretching all around them, they were stained yellow, orange and red.


    The front of the inn had a little roof over the door - the building itself was made of two of these shapes - one large one (the three intersecting circles) and another three-circle shape above, like a miniature of the one below it.


    over both was a red-tile roof.


    "This place looks pretty pleasant," Uriel commented stepping towards it.


    "Sure does!" I replied my vision almost completely gone at this point - not wanting to go blind I let out a sigh and blinked, giving the puff the victory this time - "You win this one..." I said bitterly before turning to see the building.


    We stepped inside resulting in the entirety of the place shutting up. "How the hell did you two get in here?!" a rough voice from the back demanded, it was a tall, muscular man with white hair and a tail.


    "Who used a marvellous invention referred to as stairs to get here, you should give them a go - they''re great!"


    Uriel shot me a look saying something akin to "Don''t stroke the fire"


    "Are you serious?!" the men shoved a table aside causing it to break in half as he walked up to me.


    "Yeah - it''s great! You should give them a go!" I continued, I was still bitter about the starting contest and really needed to let off some steam.


    The man walked towards me, he was seemingly ready to punch me when he got a closer look, realising my body was still that of a child.


    "Is this brat your kid?" the large man asked stepping up to Uriel, who didn''t seem afraid as much as worried.


    "No, actually I''m just here to get a room," Uriel said apologetically.


    "Is that so?" the man said placing an arm on Uriel''s shoulder, "Yes..." he replied uncertainly, the man was clearly trying to squeeze Uriel''s shoulder to intimidate him or something, but it didn''t really have much of an effect.


    Confused the muscular man pulled back his fist and punched Uriel in the face, Uriel''s pose didn''t change at all, it was as if the man punched a wall.


    Uriel grabbed the man''s hand and moved it away from his face - "Are you alright? You seem kind of stressed out."


    "URIEL, THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO PLAY THERAPIST!" I called out getting the attention of the entire inn, except Uriel and the man who punched him - "Uhmm... what... did you do?" the man asked,


    "That''s not important, did something happen in this town? Everybody here seems quite distrought."


    A short silence followed - "It''s legal trouble - nothing a peasant like you would understand." the scoffed, less aggressively now before walking back to his table, realising it was now cracked.


    Thinking that things went better than expected I turned to Uriel only to find that he was, in fact, walking towards the man - I was about to call out to him to tell him he''s going to get punched again before realising I don''t care, so I followed him, keeping my distance.


    "It''s alright - I''m not your average peasant, maybe I can help." Uriel offered leaning over to the man.


    At first, the man didn''t reply.


    "It''s the human kingdom - they''re trying to get us to give up the land we reclaimed - now that all the plants are dying - we''re one of the only places left that still grow crops."


    "You could try and negotiate a fair price with the kingdom - I''m sure they''d be more than willing to pay for the land."


    "As if - it''s not the king, it''s the nobles - one of them rode in here yesterday threatening us with treason if we don''t hand the land over for free, others offer us a hundredth of the value of the town alone."


    "Shouldn''t you come in contact with the king then?"A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "Since he was poisoned we have no access to the castle or the king, what''s worse is that the village leader would have to go and the nobles made it clear they could arrange for an ''accident'' while he was travelling all the way to the capital, us nobodies have no chance of getting to even enter the castle."


    "I understand... do you know what''s keeping the land fertile nowadays?"


    "...no..." the man replied averting his gaze from Uriel.


    "I see... this really is a bad situation..."


    "Hmmm, and on top of that about a third of the villagers left - that this rate we''ll be missing the people to defend ourselves against the nobles."


    Suddenly a loud noise came from behind us as a group of guards marched in "Somone killed the guards defending the stairs - did anyone here see anything suspicious?"


    Confused I thought back to the time we were going up the stairs and we saw the sleeping guards - they probably refused to let Adam and Lily into the higher up levels so Lily... did her thing...


    "No big deal - I''ll shoot these guys with fire bullets and make a run for it." I thought but much to my surprise the white-haired man from before said: "No, nothing here, men."


    I turned towards him with a look of confusion.


    "A-ah, boss - alright! We''ll go search the third level then!" the man announced.


    After the guards left and closed the door behind them I turned towards the white-haired man "What the hell are you planning?"


    "Don''t get me wrong, if they tossed you in prison we''d be left with more mouths to feed - it''s best you two leave now." the man said shooting everyone in the inn a look as they everted their eyes from the group.


    "Well, Uriel - you heard the teable-tosser, let''s go."


    "We''re sorry about this, we can''t leave right now, our friend is getting treatment in this town," Uriel replied.


    "I see, the doc''s a good man, I''m sure he won''t rat your friend out - but if you''re caught I can''t help you."


    "It''s alright - you''ve done plenty for us already," Uriel replied before turning towards me.


    "We''re going to need a way to blend in."


    "..."


    "And I think I have the perfect idea for how."


    "..."


    "Nameless child, I''m going to need to to use your magic to create me something..." Uriel said with a grin.


    He demanded I ''spawn'' him some thread, needles and some felt.


    My concern turned to disgust as he handed me the finished product of his fifteen minutes of work - a pair of fake cat ears and a tail.


    "Uriel, before I hove both that tail where there the sun doesn''t shine, would you mind telling me what these are?" I asked,


    "It''s a costume so we can blend in," he explained.


    "I could have done this with magic you know..."


    "You''re the one who complains about depleting your mana pool."


    "Yes, but wearing a cat costume is depleting my dignity."


    "Just put it on already!"


    So yeah... we all go fake animal ears and tails... not sure how I feel about those... below is a run-down of who got what.


    Uriel - Cat


    Me - Dog


    Adam - Rabbit


    Lily - Fox


    The puff got a full-body frog costume


    Later that day...


    Uriel was in the room we rented for about double the price someone wearing in any way convincing costume would.


    I use magic to create something too, I walked over and handed the item to Uriel - "Oh, a gift? What is it?" he asked, with a completely dead look and dog ears and tail I replied: "It''s a noose, please use it."


    That night¡­


    Uriel headed to bed, Lily and Adam were still missing - "I guess it meant he''s hospitalised" I thought before rolling to my other side - I was struggling to sleep, the whole cave experience messed up my sense of day and night.


    I looked to the side and saw the puff - it was asleep laying on a pillow I took off the bed and placed on the little table on the side of the bed.


    Unable to sleep I sat up - seeing that Uriel was already passed out and not wanting to wake the puff up I decided to go outside for a walk, it was getting pretty cold so I took the blanket and wore it like a cape - I''m paying five gold for this room, I''ll summon a dark god if I fucking feel like it...


    Going outside I saw that there were no stars, no night lights, it judging by the fact it was actually dark for once, I guess it must''ve been cloudy.


    I looked around with what little light made through the thick clouds in hopes of finding a bench of some sorts - you never appreciate computers and televisions as much as when you''re the only person awake at night with nothing to do.


    I''ve become a lot more social ever since I appeared here - even I have to admit that, back on earth, or any of the previous worlds for that matter - I would have been not only happy but almost hoping for this level of isolation - "This world is making he soft." I thought looking up at the round outline of the night-time sun cutting through the parting clouds resulting in a few blue rays falling down clouds and down onto the ground.


    I followed the rays with my eyes only to see that they led to someone in the fields, a person was farming in the middle of the night, with no lights, in this cold.


    I rubbed my hands together to warm up a bit before deciding to go speak to this nocturnal farmer - I made sure I had my fake-ears and fake-tail which was attached like a belt for anyone interested.


    I walked down the relatively steep slope down to the farm area, seeing that the person was in fact just tilling the soil.


    "Isn''t it a bit late for this kind of work?" I asked walking up to the man who turned to me with a judgmental expression causing me to recoil a bit - "Are you alright?" I asked causing him to shift to a more confused look.


    "What are you doing out here?" he demanded.


    "I mean - if I was to tell you I got stuck in a cave full of mushrooms which forced me to commit genocide on them so we could leave - would you believe me?"


    "..."


    "Out home got destroyed so we came to this village since my friend was ill," I explained.


    "I see, so you''re not from around here..."


    "Yeah - you seem pretty ill yourself..." I remarked seeing his green skin.


    "I''m not buying that disguise, so why don''t you get rid of it." the man said annoyed before returning to tilling the soil.


    "Yeah - I knew it wouldn''t fool anyone." I sighed taking the dog ears and tail-belt off.


    "No - I meant your child disguise..." the man said confused about what to him must have looked like me tearing off my ears and tail.


    "Oh, this isn''t a disguise - it''s my real body... for better or for worse..."


    "No normal child should be able to see us - you can''t fool me..."


    "Did you say us?" I asked looking around only to suddenly realise there were a dozen or so more people.


    "That''s right - most people can''t see us, only the ones with a specific spell - which means you''re here on behalf of the mayor..."


    "Who? He wouldn''t happen to be the village leader here?"


    "That''s right - it''s him..." the man pointed to the tallest layer of the city where stood a massive mansion, a place a noble wouldn''t mind staying while his castle is being renovated.


    I looked at their green skin and hair before realising what I should have from the start - "Wait - are you guys dryads?" I asked prompting the man to squint his eyes as he placed the hoe he used to till the soil over his shoulder, he has long hair which was a shade darker than his skin, a short beard and moustache - his clothes were tattered and plain looking.


    "That''s right - what about it?"


    "Nothing, it explains the skin colour - that''s all."


    "I guess you dryads don''t feel the cold..." I remarked seeing them standing in the field - men, women and children all diligently working on the fields.


    "Of course we do! - but that doesn''t seem to concern the mayor..."


    "Well... can''t you just... not work here in the middle of the night?"


    "We don''t have a choice - the mayor used magic to make us invisible to the people and chain us to the soil itself."


    "Alright - so to clarify, you''re telling me that the people of this village are making you dryads slaves?"


    "That''s right - it all started when the crops started to die - we offered to help the villagers since we''ve been living here for a long time now - since this land isn''t human territory we weren''t persecuted."


    "But the moment the mayor realised they could have a monopoly on the food supply in the entire country he decided that he''s going to exploit us - at first we complied, but soon enough we were tossed in here like animals forced to work to feed our ''masters'' " the man explained looking over to the field, some dryads seemed dead on the inside, upon closer inspection their hands were covered in cuts and bruised - thanks to their healing properties though I bet they will disappear soon.


    "So do the villagers know about this?"


    "Yes - but they deny it out of guilt, the mayor''s official explanation is that we left - that we just decided to leave one night."


    "Why don''t you just stop working then? - It''ll be useless for him to keep you guys here if you''re of no use to him."


    "We already thought about that... but he resorted to killing those who opposed him - he threatened to pour poison into the field is ''they were going to be useless anyway'' "


    "Is it really worth living like this though?" I asked,


    "We all have something to live for, human - even if that something isn''t something we can do or say." the man said looking over his shoulder to a small dryad struggling to till the soil.


    "I see, so it''s an illogical attachment..." I commented,


    The man actually smiled for once - "A little, I guess - but there is nothing we can do but live to see a better time."


    "I''ll get going now..." I said turning away from the field-dryad and heading back towards the inn, sitting outside and realising I still can''t sleep - "How can a growm-ass man like him say something like that with a straight face..."


    I looked up towards the night-sun which now illuminated the field through a round opening in the clouds.


    If I didn''t want to - I could just close my eyes and not see them - yep, just an empty field doing its thing - fielding.


    "Cold this time of year isn''t it?" A void asked from somewhere around me - "Yeah - if you''re in the mood for stabbing me or robbing me, please wait a bit - I''m broke at the moment." I replied.


    Somone looking like a child around my age stepped out from inside the inn - I couldn''t tell if it''s a dude or a girl - god damn traps...


    "Surprisingly I''m not here to stab you," they replied walking over to me.


    I drew my gun and pointed it at them - it wasn''t loaded so it was a bit of a bluff.


    "How are you going to shoot me without bullets?"


    "How do you know?"


    "Look - I''m just here to talk, put down that gun and let''s have a chat!" they offered with an innocent smile.


    I slowly tried to place my gun back into its holster only to realise that it was already there - did I even draw it?


    "Who are you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow - "I relaxed slightly upon realising that if this person wanted me dead - I''d probably be dead."


    "I just want to have a little chat!" he exclaimed.


    "...did you bring food?"


    They went silent for a bit, "I''m sorry what?"


    "You came for a chat and didn''t bring snacks?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "...what do you want?" they asked with a sigh.


    "Biscuits and a cup of tea," I replied.


    They snapped their fingers and before me appeared a platter with some biscuits and a mug of tea.


    "Did you add sugar to the tea?" I asked,


    I saw the child''s eyebrow twitch as he asked - "How much sugar do you want?" whilst trying to maintain a polite smile.


    "Two," I replied holding up two fingers.


    He tossed me two sugar cubes which I proceeded to place in my tea.


    "Now then, how about we have that chat?"


    "Alright, let''s start with introductions," I replied.


    "Ah - right, you can call me Deus!" he announced.


    "A cool - I thought you were God or something," I replied.


    "I am God," they replied.


    "I don''t know - you must be a pretty powerful being if you can create tea - which doesn''t exist in this world..." I replied.


    "But you don''t know what real tea tastes like, do you?" they replied with a smug expression.


    "...damn they''re good..." I thought,


    "Thanks!" they replied.


    "And now you''re a mind reader?" I asked,


    They replied with a smug smile.


    I proceeded to image in the most horrific thing I can - an abomination - I looked over to God seeing that he was disgusted but more so in me than the image itself.


    "This is why I don''t like you people..." he replied shivering slightly.


    "Anyway - what do you need ''God'' " I asked,


    "Well, since you''ve got all of life figured out - I came to see how you''re going to deal with the slavery going on here."


    "Why don''t you do something about it?"


    "Why should I? Do you personally deal with every little death in an ant colony?"


    "I wouldn''t have an ant colony if I wasn''t prepared to deal with it."


    "But what if you got one, and now you''re stuck dealing with it - do you annihilate it all?"


    "I guess so..."


    "Well - that''s not an option - so should my entire existence be agony for the sake of you guys? I mean the ants..."


    "Look, you''re asking the wrong person for your existential crisis - go ask Uriel or something."


    "Uriel? Isn''t he retired?" they asked,


    "Allegedly he was assigned to deal with me or something like that..."


    ''God'' laughed to himself for a moment before turning to me "That cat never changes - tell him hi from me, alright?" they said before getting up and stepping away.


    "So that''s all you had to say?"


    "Not exactly - but let''s call this our first appointment - I''ll be back soon - until then I''ll leave you a little gift!" ''God'' said before snapping their fingers, disappearing and leaving me with nothing other than a weird feeling on my right hand - I looked over and saw that it was a ring... "I have a bad feeling about that..."

 Chapter 14: The Past

    The morning came, leaving the sky still clouded, but letting enough light through to make the outside visible, the birds chirped, the people went about their business and Uriel was already awake - knitting something with the thread I made from him the day before.


    He was sitting on the side of his bed, a relatively small one - it had a white pillow and green covers, I looked over and saw that the puff was in fact also awake, seemingly just sitting and staring off at the ceiling.


    "I see you''re awake..." Uriel remarked glancing over to the blanket from under which I popped my head out. "Yeah, good morning..."


    "More like noon..." he sighed.


    "Whatever..." I sighed sitting up, "By the way, some ''Deus'' guy or girl wanted me to say hi to you." I said through a yawn.


    "Ow!" Uriel yelped in pain as he pricked himself with one of the needles - staining the white item he was knitting with a drop of red.


    "What do you mean!? - the Deus!?" he demanded.


    "Guess so - they looked kinda short, light hair, yellow eyes, wearing brown shorts, purple jacket over a pinkish shirt and what I can only describe as a purple paddy cap," I explained.


    "That sound similar to them... but-" I cut Uriel off before he could finish,


    "They also wore green crocks and socks," I added.


    "Holy shit it''s them..." Uriel said to himself.


    "Yeah, well - he just popped down to hand me this ring and talk about ant-farms or something." I shrugged.


    "A ring?"


    "Yeah, look," I replied showing Uriel the bright green gem I wore upon my index finger.


    "..."


    "What is it?"


    "..."


    "It''s a magic cancellation spell placed in a ring..." Uriel replied causing me to feel a chill run down my spine.


    "WHAT?! THAT BASTARD CALLED IT A GIFT!" I cried desperately turning away from Uriel and casting a light spell which only manifested as a little flash,


    I tried a fireball but all I got was a spark.


    I tired water but I just got my finger slightly wet.


    I tried desperately to remove the ring, but it wouldn''t move - as if it was welded to my skin.


    "It''s as if your magic was decreased to a millionth of its original power!" Uriel remarked causing a lightbulb to appear above my head, no literal - at least not this time...


    "That son and or daughter of a bitch!" I complained before putting on the fake ears, tail and my shoes.


    "What''s going on?!" Uriel asked confused - I turned back to him "A certain deity just threw down their gloves and I''m about to shove them right up their ass!" I replied storming out.


    "That bastard''s testing me, he wants to make an example of me!" I thought I could almost hear him talking "I''ll dilute your power to my level spread across every soul in the world - leaving you with a stupidly small fraction of your power, I''d like you to ''take responsibility'' for this ant-farm and show me for reference..." actually... I think that may have literally been the voice of God in my head... still sounds like an ass...


    I marched down to the fields - unlike before there were hardly any farmers out, guess the harvest was over for now.


    I was only able to see the dryads as quick flashes, I made my way to the tallest, hoping that it was the man from yesterday - "Dryad man, are you here? I can''t see you very well right now - so I''m hoping you can hear me."


    "A rather influential person - has recently made a ''bet'' with me that I can''t help you guys - and because of this bed - I lost most of my magic powers, that said - I intend to get them back - and as a byproduct, I have to free you guys - I can''t tell you guys how, since I don''t have a plant - but I feel you should know about the plan at the very least."


    I waited for a bit, not seeing any Dryads around me - I guess that''s an ''ok'' - I turned around and headed out from the field and towards the second layer of the city - where I looked around for the doctor.


    After a solid fifteen minutes of searching, I found one, luckily for me, this world is large - it was a small building, I can''t imagine more than four people laying down comfortably inside.


    I knocked on the door - "Hey, you there, doc?"


    "Come in!" the voice of a woman called replied - I stepped inside and saw a woman with long black hair, wearing a blood-stained apron as well as gloves - on her head she had animal ears - specifically dog ears, as well as a tail, the tips if both were white.


    "How can I help you, child?" she asked, keeping a professional smile plastered on her face.


    "One lethal injection please," I replied,


    "What?"


    "Nevermind." I replied - "I''m looking for a certain blue-haired man." I added.


    "Oh, you must mean Adam - he''s still recovering," she replied,


    "Well, technically - I''m looking for the girl that''s most likely at his side right now."


    The doctor''s expression soured - "Oh, you mean her." all she did was sit here and threaten me during the operation so I told her to leave - but then she set up a camp in my basement and no I can''t go inside..."


    "That sounds like exactly something she''d do..." I replied looking around for the entrance to the basement seeing a long staircase leading down.


    "Lily, I''m coming downstairs - don''t shoot me!" I called out before making my way down.


    I opened the wooden door revealing several beds, one of which had Adam, looking slightly better laying on it, on another bed sat Lily with her crossbow aimed not at me but in my general direction.


    With her normal expression and not a hint of concern at the fact she''s pointing her weapon in my direction she asked: "Oh, it is you - what''s up?"


    "Well - some things happened while you guys were here..." I began.


    "Okay..."


    "God came down and basically just gave me the middle finger and said: fuck you, solve my problems." I continued.


    "Right..."


    "And I lost my magic..."


    "Uh-huh..."


    "So I need you to get in contact with some people, ASAP." I continued.


    "Right - as much as I''d love to do that, Adam''s ill - and I can''t leave his side!" she replied.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "I thought you''d say that... So I took the liberty of bringing an incentive..." I explained holding up the animal costume for Adam.


    "W-what is that?"


    "Uriel made these for us so we can blend in - but if you don''t want to see Adam dressed up as a bunny that''s fine, I guess."


    "..."


    "I also brought a second one for you-" before I could finish Lily breathed a sigh and said: "Fine, you win... what do you want?"


    "I need you to get in contact with two people - all the info is on this page," I replied handing her a piece of paper and the animal costumes.


    She raised her eyebrow as she looked through the page - "That''s not very specific... should be easy enough though... are you sure?"


    "yeah - I got a plan, below is a list of ''terms'' I''d be offering."


    Lily nodded and headed out quickly - "I''m going to get back at you for that costume..." Adam said meekly.


    "You better focus on not dying for now - what''s up with you anyway?" I asked.


    "It''s just the mushrooms I ate - the doc said I''d be fine in a few days," he explained.


    "Ah - good, well, in that case, I''m going to get going now," I replied.


    "Right - maybe I can get some sleep without Lily here..." he sighed before resting his head on the pillow behind him.


    I climbed up the stairs and headed towards the third layer of the town - unlike the first and second it was guarded, and I didn''t have the magic to distract them...


    What was I supposed to do even if I got there? I kept forgetting I wasn''t a one-man army anymore.


    "I need to have a plan..." I concluded uncertain of what to do, I returned to the inn and laid down on the bed.


    "I need to think of something!" I announced no realising the room wasn''t actually empty but was in fact occupied by the puff - who looked over to me seemingly thinking I was requesting help.


    I look towards the puff remembering I can''t understand it - I thought back to earlier the day before, when I could have just used magic to help Adam but was too lazy too, I could have made an artefact to communicate with the puff, or make us a portal - why didn''t I?


    It was as if I chose to handicap myself for some reason...


    "I''ll figure something out - I''ll definitely figure out a way to understand you, my mushroom acquaintance, as soon as I get my magic back..."


    "I''ll go to the mayor, tell him that if - no... my whole plan revolves around the idea of getting the nobles to cooperate..." I said everything out-loud, looking towards the puff as if I was looking for advice.


    The puff looked at me blankly - "You were a princess or something, right? You should be good at strategy!" I replied.


    The puff looked away blushing slightly.


    "Hmm... right, princesses rarely strategise wars, do they..."


    "So nobody can see the dryads... the people think they left... the mayor knows they didn''t... the dryads are a persecuted race... but with the ability to grow crops with magic... they are imprisoned..." I felt my head begin to spin as all these bits of information made me realise more and more that I wasn''t a strategist.


    "Why not tell the nobles about the dryads - they will be ''arrested'' since they''re monsters - beforehand you negotiate with the nobles to offer the dryads better-living conditions and maybe a segregated village in return for a percentage of their crops - else the dryads will refuse to cooperate?" Uriel offered, he was standing in the door-frame.


    "That... could actually work..." I replied, not bothering to point out how I didn''t notice he was there.


    "Right? And when we stop whoever is destroying the world - we will be able to get them released to live normally!" he added.


    "I''ll need to go ask them about it - but I think that may work..." I replied.


    "Wait - you knew about the dryads?" I asked,


    "Nope - I was just listening in one you - that and I saw you talking to yourself in the fields," he replied.


    "That said the latter is fairly typical for you," he replied with a smug look.


    "Yeah, screw you too."


    "..."


    "..."


    "So - Uriel, why are you still here?" I asked,


    "Are you talking about this room or existentialism?"


    "When that Deus person came down, they seemed surprised that you''re here with me, their omnipotence is lacking, but I doubt they have memory issues."


    "..."


    "I... I''ve been doing it out of boredom!" he replied,


    "Boredom?"


    "Right! God was gone for so long I''ve gotten bored and decided to help some poor soul out - you know how we angles are, helping the poor and what not!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Cat...."


    "Fine - Let''s just say I made a poor decision a while back, and I''m trying to... atone..." he explained.


    "What did you do?"


    "It''s more like something I didn''t do - technically you screwed yourself over!"


    "What did you do?"


    "I mean - it''s your fault! I just feel bad because I didn''t stop you."


    "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, CAT!?" I demanded.


    "..."


    "..."


    "...promise me you won''t do anything stupid If I tell you..." Uriel replied,


    "Would I ever?" I asked,


    "..."


    "..."


    "Fine..."


    "Alright..."


    Uriel began telling the story...


    Aeons ago, back before any life was created was God - for some reason that nobody could comprehend he created the first angels - only eight, Amon, Ala, Beleth, Bune, Chort, Ghoul, Ifrit and Legion.


    He granted them permission to live free - so so they did, creating planets - mountains, forests, seas, laws of physics, magic and much more.


    Until one day these angels with the power akin to Gods decided to explore the other worlds - creating different worlds like art-projects.


    Making each world alien and strange - changing the very laws governing the worlds.


    Everything changed when they created the first mortal soul - not a human, but a similar race - and so every other angel made their worn, the realisation the angels were playing God, the actual God fell into a frenzy - demanding each angel prove their allegiance by slaying their creations and offering up their abilities.


    Two stepped up to God''s throne and offered every soul they created along with their magic - following that God banished them from heaven and sent them out.


    Appalled at this behaviour Amon confronted God - stating that God told them to do whatever they wish - but alas God decided that he wasn''t interested in arguments and banished Amon out of the world altogether.


    The remaining five fled, one by one God tracked them down and had them banished - eventually only two remained - Ifrit and Ghoul, realising that it was only a matter of time before they were caught, they created a plan that had no right to work - they attacked God.


    Unlike the modern angels - God created the eight with the power comparable to a fraction of his power.


    They were sure to lose - but what God didn''t expect was that Ghoul and Ifrit were ready to die if it meant the other would succeed - this illogical, unplanned idea led to God dying - upon the throne of God sat Ifrit, turning to see his ally Gould was already gone - along with the body of God.


    Overtaken by grief Ifrit created a being designed to be God - granted he only had a fraction of God''s true power, so the creation was imperfect - he called this creation Deus - before slaying himself, leaving the new God to rule the world he didn''t create or truly comprehend.


    We aren''t sure what happened before that - since the only way this new God could even know about this was thanks to the invention of a banished god, a law called ''time''.


    Determined to have things work out this time God decided to create a new host of angels - weaker ones, he created four angles Hartiel, Moiel, Koiel, Toiel.


    They were created with the purpose of handling the world - not interfering with it unless necessary - surely there was some merit to mortal life that this new God didn''t yet understand.


    As the number of souls grew God created each of the four ''arch angles'' a group of regular angels - about twenty each.


    That is how Uriel came to be - created to work under Toiel, a kind and merciful being - I was also assigned as Toiel''s second-in-command.


    Gabriel was the second-in-command of Moiel, she was a very logical arch-angel, often taking care of issues regarding the value of life and the such.


    Abeyth worked under Koiel - a sly albeit honourable angel.


    And then there was Hartiel - they were an ass, they could see the world burn and wouldn''t bother doing much at all - they just sat around in their room - which mind you, angels didn''t have rooms until Harital created on for themself.


    Surprisingly Uriel and Hartiel were not on the best of terms at first - Uriel would always go on about how if he had Hartiel''s power - the world would be such a great place.


    to which he''d reply: "Yeah - but I doubt that''d be all that great - I mean we need suffering to enjoy stuff right?"


    "What do you mean enjoy stuff?! We''re angels with a divine purpose!" Uriel would argue.


    "Yeah - but we''re also souls, just slightly cooler ones." he''d reply.


    "Relax - we''re not meant to intervene unless it''s important, right?"


    Eventually, Hartiel was called in before God - he came back different - slightly more normal much to Uriel''s satisfaction, except this kept continuing for a long time - until eventually, they broke.


    Hartial started marching towards God''s throne - on their way he was stopped by Uriel,


    "I''m not doing it!" He replied plainly.


    Uriel was followed Hartiel - seeing that he stormed into God''s ''room'' and announced: "I demand you reconsider your decision!"


    "You truly are the only one who can ''demand'' anything from God with a straight face, eh?" God laughed.


    "My mind is set, you will-" hartiel cut God off - "Fine!"


    Hartiel marched out from the room, followed by Uriel - "Uriel - stop them, for their own sake." God commanded,


    At the edge of heaven - stood Hartiel, a big argument broke out between hartiel and Uriel which ended with Hairtel saying: "I''ve made my mind - I''m leaving." before entering the mortal world.


    On his way a bright light - like that of a sun shot him - contorting their very soul, shaping it to that of a mortal, making their body and soul separate - their body crashlanding on an alien world and their deformed soul landing elsewhere.


    That was God''s punishment for hartiel - their sacred body, magic and name lost - leaving them a husk, which would roam the mortal worlds - when God left - locking himself away and saying he lost the key and to "Give him a minute until he finds it." Uriel decided to go down and try and explain what happened, help Hartiel find their body - but much to Uriel''s horror Hartiel has been living like a degenerate for the last few aeons - suicide, murder, theft, depression, emptiness, apathy - barely even human - seeking only an end to it all - and their deformed, albeit not mortal soul unable to let go of the memories of the past lives.


    Uriel appeared before them - but much his dismay, they didn''t remember him - nothing from before they appeared in the mortal world for the first time was remembered by Hartiel.


    Realising that Uriel couldn''t do anything about their body, unable to find it even after aeons of looking, realising God specifically told Uriel that it was for the sake of Hartiel that he shouldn''t let him leave - but Uriel failed at his task - he was determined to at least let hartiel live the life of a propper mortal.


    But something about them refused - as if by nature.


    And so, one day Uriel decided that he would do something he hasn''t even done - lie, give the person some hope and let them think there is an out - in return for a proper life, a taste of normality, hoping that they will not abandon life again.


    However - it seemed like the world wasn''t on their side - Hartiel has, in fact, found their body - which was through some magic hidden from that world for all this time - and now Uriel himself doesn''t know if hope for returning Hartiel to his own life is an option - but he finally has a chance for normality.


    A stairway to normality or an elevator to divinity, with a ninety percent chance it will fall down to the pits of despair again.


    And that''s... everything...


    Uriel finished his tale.


    "So where the fuck am I in this?!" I demanded having listened to a decent twenty minutes of mythology you''d expect from some Greek x Roman god fanfic.


    "You are either a dumbass of an asshole..." Uriel replied irritated, "But I guess that ''s something that never changed..." he thought.

 Chapter 15: The Dryads Again!

    I sat in our room at the inn - Uriel just finished his story which had nothing to do with me what so ever, when Adam poked his head through the door to the room.


    "In any case - there is still the chance that the mayor will threaten to kill the dryads if they are to be taken..." I pointed out.


    "I doubt he''d be that cruel..." Uriel replied looking at me as if I was over exaggerating.


    "Did you forget that time I committed genocide against mushroom people because they wouldn''t let me out of a cave? - people do extreme things whilst under pressure." I replied.


    "Pressure?"


    "I mean - I don''t know how safe you felt in a collapsed cave - but I was on edge!" I replied.


    "..."


    "What?"


    "You were afraid?"


    "..."


    "Heheheh - guess you''re not immune to primal emotions after all!" Uriel laughed in a sarcastic high-pitched voice whilst covering his mouth.


    "Cat, you are the ban of my existence."


    "That''s why I''m here!"


    "Hmmmmm"


    After a solid five minutes of staring at Uriel trying to convey my pure, unadulterated hatred through a glare so venomous it''d scare most venomous reptiles home crying - I had a sudden realisation, not quite a plan but more of a short-term idea - my favourite kind.


    "Uriel, do you still have any of the thread I got you earlier?" I asked looking around my ammo pouch for the purple bullet.


    "A bit, why?" he asked grabbing a handful of thread from the cupboard in the corner of the room.


    "I need to you hold on to something for me." I take the thread and wrap it around the purple bullet - "Don''t touch the bullet itself - but I need you to drop it when you see a big fireball outside." I explained.


    "What are you planning?"


    "I''m going to go to the mayor''s house and look for some dirt I can find on him," I replied.


    "I see - that may even solve the dryad situation without the need for the nobles."


    "Right - so when you see me shoot a fire bullet, drop the string - the bullet will shatter and I will teleport back here!" I exclaimed proudly of my invention.


    "What if you fire the bullet and I can''t see it?" Uriel asked with a tone suggesting he''d scold me for not thinking the situation through properly.


    "It''s fine - it''s a wooden building and I have a handful of fire bullets left - if anything you should worry about the people inside!" I clarified - that was a lie by the way - I only have two fire bullets left.


    I poked my head out through the window, took out my gun, loaded the purple bullet and shot it at the mayor''s house - suddenly I appeared in the mayor''s garden - luckily for me, I landed on something soft.


    I looked down only to see that I was standing inside of a person - "SHIT!" I exclaimed getting off only to realise they were already dead, for a second I began to panic - "shit, Uriel''s gonna be pissed - and Adam''s probably going to think of me badly, no - maybe I can convince him that he did it!" my thoughts were interrupted by the realisation that the girl I was standing in a second ago was dead from a stab wound to the throat, and no my feet being teleported inside of her.


    I breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from my forehead - "You sacred me, woman!" I said - my tone relieved.


    I shook my boots clean of the blood and continued on my way to the front or preferably back door to the mansion.


    Soon I found myself in a grove - beautiful hedges surrounded me and patches of rose flowers.


    "How can these still grow here?" I wondered realising this must have meant dryads must be held here too.


    "Hey! Is there a dryad here?" I whisper-yelled.


    My reply came in the form of a tap on my back - I spun around seeing that there was nobody behind me.


    "Alright - I don''t know how many of you there are - but I''m working on a way to get you guys out," I explained.


    I didn''t get much of a reply until I looked down and saw that writing was appearing in front of me - it was written with mud.


    "Sorry, I can''t read all that much..." I said kneeling down and looking over the runes before me.


    I recognised the runes for ''I'' and the number one.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "If you''re alone drawing a circle - otherwise draw an x shape," I instructed the dryad who replied with a circle.


    "Alright - is there a reason you''re the only dryad here?" I asked,


    circle.


    "Do the other dryads know?"


    circle.


    "Are you being kept here by the mayor?"


    x.


    "Is it someone important?"


    circle.


    "Is the person from the mayor''s family?"


    circle.


    "Wife?"


    x.


    "Daughter?"


    x.


    "Son?"


    circle.


    "Does the mayor know about this?"


    no reply.


    "Alright - thanks, I''ll go inside and see if I can get any dirt on the mayor!" I explained.


    Before me appeared an image of a boat drawn in mud - was this a clue?


    I stood up and headed through the garden and towards the mayor''s house, sneaking up to the door I was able to hear the sound of two men inside talking - "At the stairs to the second level, it''s strange that whoever killed them managed to escape."


    "True - I bet it''s those damn elves..."


    "Kevin - we know it''s a human, not everything is the fault of the elves..."


    "Fuckin'' elves..."


    Realising I was unable to make it in through that door unnoticed I loaded my gun with iron shots - I only had three left, if I didn''t miss any of the shots I would be fine.


    Just as I was about to make my way into the house I was surprised by a cloth hitting me on the head, confused I looked up only to see a woman dressed like a maid waving her arms at me - confused I waved back.


    "Hey there - nice weather we''re having!" I replied.


    "What?!" - "It''s cloudy as hell!"


    "And what are you doing trying to make small talk in a situation like this?!"


    The maid assaulted me with question and complaints.


    "I''m practising talking to people, you know..." I replied.


    "What?! No - I mean what are you doing here?"


    "Oh - I''m... here to deliver milk."


    "Milk?"


    "That''s right - I''m meant to bring it directly into the mayor''s safe."


    The maid let out a sigh, "Look - I know you''re not the milkman." she explained.


    "How come?!"


    "You look like you''re ten."


    "...I''m working for my family! We''re very poor!"


    "..." the maid didn''t reply.


    "My father left me to live in vegas and sneak his mixtapes into people''s ''alright meals'' " I explained.


    "What is an ''alright meal''?!" the maid demanded getting off track.


    "It''s the copyright-friendly version of another fast-food restaurant''s meals - not only does the name ''alright meal'' keep us legally safe, but it also helps us display that they taste ''alright'' at best," I replied in a loud whisper.


    "... what?"


    "Hey - do you have like a really long rope I could borrow real quick?"


    "No! "


    "How about your hair? You got like a three to four-meter long hair I could climb?"


    "Does it look like I do?!" the maid demanded,


    "Could you ask the others in the mansion for rope or long hair for me please?" I asked,


    "Fine - give me a second- HOLD UP, NO I WON''T!" the maid exploded with a deeper voice than before.


    "Tch - that''s no way for a maid to talk to a guest!" I replied looking away from the window she stood in.


    "YOU''RE NOT A GUEST!"


    "I''M THE MILKMAN!" I exclaimed.


    "WHERE IS YOUR MILK THEN?!"


    "I''m a different kind of milkman!" I replied.


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN A DIFFERENT KIND?! WHAT DO YOU DO THEN!?"


    "I TAKE THE MILK PEOPLE LEAVE UNDER THE PILLOW AND EXCHANGE IT FOR MONEY!"


    "THAT''D MAKE YOU THE MILK FAIRY, DUMBASS!"


    "THAT NAME WAS TAKEN BECAUSE THE MILK FAIRY EXPANDED INTO SELLING MILK!" I clarified.


    "So you''re just taking the milk fairies original job?" she asked with a pinched bridge of the nose and a raised eyebrow.


    "That''s what the hoe gets for taking my job!"


    "YOU JUST SAID YOU''RE A DIFFERENT KIND OF MILKMAN!"


    "That''s only because she took my job! so I took hers! If not for her my father wouldn''t have left." I said in a dramatic voice.


    "Seriously, get out of here!" the maid whisper-yelled.


    "Can''t - I''m here on business."


    "What kind of business?"


    "Potential manslaughter," I replied.


    "The guards won''t let you in, anyway! Get out before you''re caught!"


    "I''m good - thanks!"


    I heard an irritated groan come in from outside before she tossed something else out the window.


    Much to my surprise, I was hit in the face again - this time with a maid costume...


    "No..." I replied.


    "It''s the only way to get inside!"


    "I can just slaughter the guards," I argued pointing at the gun.


    "You can''t just kill people."


    "Nah - I''m pretty confident in my abilities, I can show you."


    "NO!"


    Eventually, I relented and put on the costume - I felt my self-respect drop by about two-hundred per cent that very moment.


    Keep in mind I wore it over my normal clothes.


    I was haunted by the idea of anyone seeing me in this - christ if Uriel saw me in this I think I''d hang myself...


    I took a deep breath and did my best happy/innocent expression before going in through the doors.


    "Hmm? Who''re you?" asked the anti-elf guard.


    "Who me? Oh - I''m just the maid in training!" I announced doing my best to speak loud enough to be heard by the other maid.


    I heard the rushed footsteps going down the stairs - "There you are!" it was a blond-haired man,


    "Oh fuck..." I thought.


    "Ah yes - sorry for being late!" I replied doing my best to stay in character and not shoot anyone.


    "Oh, lord Liym - you hired a new maid?" the not anti-elf guard asked.


    "Yes, I decided that since my father and brother both have private maids I''ll have one or two, you know..."


    "We''re glad to see you''re finally going in their footsteps!"


    "Sure... anyway, let''s go maid!"


    The blond man dragged me upstairs through the fancy-looking halls - the cream coloured walls with a base and large round windows.


    The blond guy wore long brown trousers and an unbuttoned coat - under it he wore a dark green shirt - he looked like he''d be seventeen or eighteen.


    I grabbed the gun and reloaded it - "Thanks for the help man, but- " I placed the gun against their head and felt him recoil as he spun around.


    "It''s me!" he cried - "I''m sorry, do I know you?"


    His face flushed red for a second - "I was the one dressed up as the maid!"


    "..."


    "Stop giving me that look! Without me you''d be dead!" he argued,


    "It''s cute that you think that..." I replied.


    "Anyway - why were you dressed up as a maid?"


    "...I dunno..."


    "...wait a minute..."


    "What is it?"


    "Don''t tell me... you''re a trap!?"


    "What''s that?"


    "A guy looking like a woman on purpose." I clarified - in an instant, my tone switched from horrified to mater-of-factly.


    "No, no - that''s not it, I would never!"


    "..."


    "I dressed up like that to help you get inside!"


    "...How so?"


    "... I was making sure the clothes were comfortable so you could still make an escape whilst wearing them," he replied.


    "That''s bullshit and you know it!"


    "This isn''t the time for that anyway!"


    I let out a sigh - "Alright, you''re right... my names is ''nameless child'', who are you?"


    "I''m Liym, the youngest son of the mayor."


    "Oh go there''s more of you..." I whispered,


    Liym raised an eyebrow.


    "Anyway - why are you here?" he asked,


    We walked through the long hallway, it had a dark-red carpet with a vibrant yellow border.


    "I''m trying to find dirt on the mayor - did you know about the dryad situation?"


    Liym looked down seemingly upset - "Yes... My father and brother are keeping the dryads imprisoned and my older brother, Ebyn is keeping one as his bride."


    "Bride?"


    "Yes - I don''t know the details but she''s trapped in our garden."


    So that''s who I talked to...


    "Liym - why are you helping me?" I asked the question that lingered since he threw me the costume.


    "...don''t get me wrong, this isn''t a favour..." he replied.


    "Oh?"


    "Once the world realises what my family is doing, whether the one who finds out is noble or selfish - we will be punished..."


    "Mmm, I guess you want me to save your ass, no worries - we''ll figure something out."


    "No, not me - please, don''t let them execute my father and brother!"


    "... what?" I was overwhelmed by confusion - wasn''t his family the guys responsible for the dryad situation?! He recognises that they are wrong, why isn''t he glad to see them get punished? Is he evil too?!


    "Why? Why do you want me to help your family?" I asked.


    Image courtesy of ''TheWeebGod''

 Chapter 16: The Yellow Hipster

    The blond man - Liym, stood completely silently for a solid five seconds before replying - "What do you mean why? Isn''t it obvious?!"


    "No! Your family is responsible acts considered evil - why do you want me to protect them?!" I demanded.


    "A-are you even human!? - I don''t care what they did - I mean... I do, and that''s why I want to help you stop them, but they''re my family - I don''t want to aid in their deaths and I don''t want them to die even if I didn''t have anything to do with it!"


    Again I was confused - what the hell was his deal, I have killed my family members before - sometimes they were evil people, sometimes they weren''t... and this man acknowledges their evil... but wishes to protect them?


    "If your family became criminals, wouldn''t you still cherish them!?" Liym went on the offensive, asking questions one after the other.


    "...doesn''t it depend on their crimes?"


    "Why? What crimes are too much? What about murder?" Liym continued.


    Again my head was filling up with confusion - "Wait - no, slow down!"


    "What about the motif? What if they broke the law for you? What if you would have gladly broken the law with them? How much of a hypocrite can you be!?"


    I grabbed my gun and pointed it towards his head - "Shut, the fuck, up."


    The man turned towards me, his face wasn''t fearless, his hands trembled and sweat droplets clung to his forehead. "I - I''m sorry, I got carried away..." he said looking sincerely concerned, "But I can''t back down - if you want to use your magic tool to kill me then I cannot stop you."


    "I don''t understand," I replied.


    "I don''t understand why you value your family this much, so much you''d die for the sake of them, not that your death would protect them..."


    "But I would." He argued.


    I let out a sigh, "You''re either stupid or suicidal, at the very least ridiculously stubborn."


    The man smiled a nervous smile - "I''ve been told that in the past."


    I put my gun away - "Alright - as long as they cooperate I won''t shoot them on sight." I replied,


    "T-thanks I guess!"


    "Anyway - take me to your father''s room or office or something," I instructed.


    "Alright, it''s this way..." Liym said before walking further down the hallway - eventually, we came across a large, white door with glass windows - the glass was slightly green and had a bumpy texture making it difficult to see inside.


    Liym knocked on the door three times - "Father? Are you in there?" he asked, no reply.


    He opened the door and inside was a wooden desk - a fancy leather seat and four bookshelves, two on each side with little cabinets and two paintings - one of the village and another of a group of people - one of the people looked like Liym, aside from him there was also a grey-haired man with a moustache - a black-haired man and a blond-haired woman.


    "Is that your family?" I asked looking at the painting.


    "Yes, the woman is my mother and the older looking man is my father," he explained - he said looking at the painting fondly.


    I walked over to the desk - I opened one of the shelves and found a load of papers as well as a black, leather-bound book.


    "A journal," I exclaimed before taking the book and flicking through it.


    "Well, what''s it say?" Liym asked anxiously looking over to me.


    "Yes... it''s as I expected..." I exclaimed.


    "I-is is that bad?"


    "Your father is a registered sex offender and a serial killer to boot," I explained.


    "WHAT?!"


    "I''m just kidding - I can''t read," I explained tossing the book aside.


    "...that wasn''t funny..." Liym said breathing a sigh of relief.


    He walked over to the book I tossed aside, he picked it up and began reading its contents out loud - "Dear diary - today I was visited by Liym, it was nice of him to drop by..."


    "Aw, that''s nice..." Liym commented upon reading those words.


    He continued reading seeing I gave him no reaction to his comment. "Though I wish he could stop dressing up as women..."


    Liam''s face flushed red - "I mean really, has he no sense of self-respect? Is he punishing himself for some horrible sin by making everyone look down on him?"Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Liam''s face turned even redder and his voice trembled as he read.


    "And we sure do look down on him - I mean, it''s difficult since he wears high heals half of the time but-" Liym shut the book and tossed it out the window - shattering it in the process.


    Through tears, he said: "No clues here, just... just family business."


    "Alright," I replied with a shrug.


    "YOU COULD SHOW SOME SYMPATHY!"


    "I''d love to - but we''re trying to find your father''s shady business, I can empathize later."


    "You mean it?"


    "Absolutely - his crimes aside I feel sorry for your father."


    Liym just sat down and rolled into the foetal position before saying: "I''m sorry for existing - maybe I could go bury myself in the fields and help fertilise something, maybe I''d be less of a disappointment..." Liym kept an empty look on his face, accompanied by a forced smile.


    "Kay."


    I grabbed Liym by the collar and started dragging him behind me as I walked - "His office didn''t have anything interesting - take me to his bedroom!" I commanded.


    "Just keep going forward... then take the first right."


    I followed the direction through the unchanging hallways until I reached a room with large white doors - no windows this time.


    I opened the door and found the room empty - nothing but a large bed with bright blue sheets, a wardrobe, mirror and a table with a book and quill on it.


    I planted Liym on the chair - "Read it."


    "What''s the point - I bet it''s just more complaints about me..."


    "Bold of you to assume your father cares about you that much..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Just read the fucking book."


    Reluctantly Liym started reading - "I was down by the riverbank the other day, I remember going down here as a family a few years back... the truth is that it''s quite beautiful here this time of year..."


    "See - you''re not that important to your father!" I exclaimed as an attempt to cheer the man up.


    "..."


    "They colourful flowers reminded me of the gay-ass way my son was dressing and as a result, I returned home."


    "..."


    "..."


    "That''s a bit... harsh..." I commented.


    A knock came from door behind us - it was a man with a deep masuline yet soft voice "Liym? What are you doing in father''s office?"


    I turned around seeing a large, black-haired man - looking a solid fiver or ten years older than Liym.


    "I think this man drained all your masculinity and kept it for himself," I replied seeing his chiselled jawline and the eight-pack protruding through his clothes.


    Speaking of which, he wore long black trousers and a button-up shirt.


    Despite this - his eyes were cold and open as wide as humanly possible, basing on the fact they were blood-shot, it isn''t hard to tell he either never blinked or has recently been stabbed in the eyes.


    "Well, I''m out!" I announced getting no reply from Liym - I reached for the gun and shot a fire shot through the windows of the room, I saw the large man charge towards me but in the very last second I found myself in the inn, in the distance echoed a loud noise akin to glass shattering - that muscly dumbass fell out the window...


    "Took you long enough!" Uriel complained breathing a sigh of relief.


    "Sorry I guess?" I said uncertainly.


    "Regardless - did you find anything?"


    "Nope - and what''s worse the family are all psychopaths..."


    "What do you mean, psychopaths?"


    "The father hates one of his kids for being a trap - that same kid demanded I don''t kill his family EVEN IF they''re guilty - plus the older son looked like a human and more like the result of a magician trying to summon satan, but he screwed up and used protein powder instead of bone dust and ash."


    "..."


    "And they''re keeping a dryad captive," I added.


    "..."


    "I''m pretty sure you''re the psychopath..."


    "How so?"


    "Is it really that hard to understand that he wants his family to survive?! - or is it she? I should ask them..."


    "Relax - traps don''t have feelings," I replied upon hearing Uriel''s confusion.


    "I hope you''re joking - and even then that was poor taste..." He replied.


    "Nothing out of character for me then," I replied.


    "That''s exactly the problem..." he mumbled to himself.


    "I found no dirt - but the dryad said it was the son that was keeping her captive - and judging by the trap''s behaviour I''d say it''s safe to say it was the muscular man''s doing..."


    "Would you stop calling the son - ''the trap'' ?!" Uriel demanded.


    "Woah - relax, I''m just joking." I clarified.


    "Yes - I know that - you know that, that poor guy slash girl doesn''t!"


    "That''s what makes it entertaining!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "FINE - I''ll call him by name next time I see him..." I relented.


    "Good!"


    Uriel suddenly looked towards the window and quickly blurted out: "GET DOWN!" before tossing me aside as the glass shattered and a bright light filled the room.


    "Yo! Uriel!" a voice said - I opened my eyes only to see a man, or maybe a boy is the better word - he wore brown shorts and a bright orange hoodie with one conjoined pocket in the front. a red shirt was visible from under the hoodie and a head of orange hair was visible poking out from under the hood - his eyes were glowing red - just his retina.


    "Gabriel!? What are you doing here?" Uriel demanded.


    "Relax, grandpa - I just here because I got bored - I''m just back from Earth actually."


    "..."


    "Hm? Oh my... is that who I think it is?" Gabriel asked leaning in towards me - "Gabriel!" Uriel barked by was stopped when Gabriel shot him a menacing look - "I''m just here to observe... but you know I have the advantage in here - right?"


    "Uriel - is this guy your friend or...?" I asked,


    Gabriel made a shocked expression - "What?! He never told you about me?!"


    "Nope..."


    "It''s Gabriel - remember, one of the second-in-command angels," Uriel explained, he seemed concerned.


    "I getcha - why does he dress like that?" I asked looking at his clothes.


    "What do you mean?" Gabriel asked,


    "I mean... you look like you''re trying to cosplay a wheel of cheese..." I explained.


    "What?! I''m sorry for having interesting and vibrant colours!" he exclaimed pointing to my clothes - "A colourblind person''d call you bland-looking!" he argued.


    I began staring into Gabriel''s eyes and he looked back - it was an intense staring battle.


    "You look like an angsty teen and the colour pallet of the Sahara desert."


    "Bold words coming from someone who doesn''t even have a specified hair colour!"


    "It doesn''t need to be specified - it''s on the cover - unlike yours," I exclaimed smugly much to Gabriel''s aggravation, as evident from his twitching eyebrow.


    "Yeah? Well, I bet I''d be a more interesting protagonist anyway!"


    "Like hell - if someone can relate with you as a character that''s a sign of mental illness!"


    "THE HELL DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOU!?"


    "What are you two talking about?!" Uriel asked confused.


    "SILENCE, BACKGROUND CHARACTER!" we both exclaimed at the same time.


    [Please wait - technical issues...]


    After a few minutes of arguing...


    "Hmmph! Whatever, I''m going to go find my own party - and we''re going to have the best adventure!"


    "Whatever, orange-boy!"


    "SHUT IT, BLANDY"


    "Blandy?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.


    "Like bland but with a ''y''! NEVERMIND - I''m leaving!"


    Gabriel sprouted a large pair of yellow wings and flew out as fast as he crashed into the room in the first place.


    "What a prick..." I said with a wry expression.


    Uriel breathed a sigh of relief... "We''re lucky he didn''t try to pick a fight..."


    "Is he really that strong?" I asked,


    "Yeah - back in heaven he was a member of ''God''s Eraser'' - like assassins except they''d hunt demi-gods and whatnot."


    I let out a sigh - "Stuff''s pilling up again..."


    "What now?" Uriel asked looking at the large hole in the wall.


    "I guess we''re going to have to move somewhere else... "I shrugged.


    "I meant about the dryads!"


    "Ah - well, we''ll wait for Lily to come back with the nobles - until then... I guess we should look for a place to say..." I explained before feeling my stomach grumble, "Let''s get some food first..."


    "I wonder what Lily''s up to..." Uriel wondered as he followed by downstairs - meanwhile, I was wondering how I''m going to explain why a chunk of the wall is missing.

 Chapter 17: Gabriel

    Gabriel walked down the dirt road - the cloudy sky keeping the sun away and bathing the world in a greyish-orange colour.


    "That dumbass!" Gabriel yelled stretching an arm out into the distant field, shaping his fingers into a gun shape, with his index and middle finger acting as the barrel of the gun - a violent burst of flames shot out from the tips of his fingers digging a massive hole where the flame touched the soil.


    "Who the hell do they think they are?! - they''re a regular mortal now!"


    "Relax, man - you''re making so much noise..." the voice of a woman scolded Gabriel who turned towards the source of the complaints.


    "A human?" he asked as his eyes darted around the surrounding fields only to be met with a black-haired woman laying on the floor - seemingly sleeping - it was Emi.


    "What is a human doing out here? How did I not notice them?" Gabriel thought.


    "Who are you?"


    Emi stood up lazily, she stretched for a bit and with a slouched stance answered: "Nevermind that, are you the one who just flew into our world?"


    "How does she know this?!" he thought.


    "Whatever - it''s probably you considering the fire spell you cast earlier..." she replied through a yawn.


    "I''m ordered to kill you or take you back to the base - personally I''d rather avoid killing you - so will you cooperate?" she explained.


    "...right - well, as much as I''d love to screw around in your world - there are some problems going on outside of your little world, so I''m going to get going..." Gabriel said still confused but not at all concerned.


    He sprouted wings - massive yellow wings, each about four meters long.


    "Suit yourself..." she replied reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a handful of rocks and started tossing them at Gabriel who lazily dodged them.


    "Hmm... right... I''m going to get going - but the people you should be bothering are most probably still in the town back that way." Gabriel said pointing back to the town where Uriel, Adam and I were going about the usual, boring business while this was going on.


    Gabriel tried to fly up - but before he could fly too hight he was faced with an invisible wall - "W-what?" he looked back only to see Emi drawing a knife from her pocket.


    "Too late - I used those rocks to mark out a perimeter, now you''re in my dream field..."


    "Dream field?"


    "Think of it as a zone where my imagination becomes reality..." he replied as Gabriel felt the gravity become stronger as he crashed into the ground.


    Emi walked up to him - "Now then... I guess you don''t intend to cooperate?" she asked placing the knife against the side of his face.


    "Step back!" Gabriel demanded as Emi looked down she saw that tendril-like runes spread across the surface of the ground - in truth they were less like tendrils and more like the angular lines like those of a circuit board.


    A flame erupted from the ground - it burned Emi badly, leaving her arm charred and par hair and clothes partially burning.


    Gabriel looked towards her, "Sorry..." he murmured quietly before realising she didn''t react to the fire - in seconds the flames disappeared and both her hair and skin were back to normal.


    "Neat trick... how about I double the weight of the air?" she asked as Gabriel felt an even heavier force pushing him into the ground - "Honestly most people die a lot earlier - good job..." she shrugged.


    "So it''s not gravity! It''s the air becoming heavier!" Gabriel realised before becoming engulfed in white-hot flames - "I thought you had me there for a second..." he said sitting up - "For a moment I thought you''d kill me, but hot air goes up - and my flames are hotter than your air heavy!" he exclaimed before slowly trudging through the dense, clay-like air towards Emi who let out a sigh as Gabriel found himself now stuck in a ball of water which was suspended in the air - within a fraction of a second Gabriel''s flames resulted in a powerful steam explosion - as the water turned to steam and expanded - tearing the earth and Gabriel in the process.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Gabriel opened his eyes - thanks to the fact his body is not that of a regular mortal he was alive - but he felt some of his ribs were cracked, and two of his fingers were blown off.


    "Resilient..." Emi said with a wry look before making the entire ''roof'' of the invisible box they were stuck in become covered with sharp knives, each one pointing down.


    "A hundred? No, a thousand... yes, each blade will be a thousand time heavier..." Emi decided.


    Gabriel looked up only to see the blades blink from being suspended in the sky to being impaled in the ground and also in his back and arms.


    "Ugh!" he grunted in pain before falling to his knees and blood pooled below him - his mouth became filled up with blood, each gulp of blood he spit out was replaced by another within seconds.


    "You must be pretty tough to be able to keep those knives impaled in your back... how about ten thousand time their weight?" she taunted before doing as she though - the knives flew straight through Gabriel landing in the ground.


    "Did you change your mind yet?"


    "..."


    "Hm? are you dead already?" she asked with a sight - "Sorry about that - I really didn''t mean to be this cruel, I didn''t expect you''d suffer for this long," she said before imagining a large cloth over Gabriel''s body.


    "Guess I''ll apologise too... because I may have tricked you too..." Gabriel announced.


    "So you are alive..."


    "Your spell''s permitted is a cube right?"


    "That''s right..."


    "Tell me, do you know anything about the arch-angel Moiel?" Gabriel asked.


    "Nope..."


    "Well - they''re my boss... or rather were... and let''s just say they were really into symmetry and straight angles..."


    Emi''s eyes widened as she looked around only to see her perimeter''s corners becoming engulfed in bright yellow flames - "You can mess with the temperature in here all you want - but these flames will just keep getting hotter!" Gabriel laughed as the fire spread from the corners to the walls making a glowing cube of fire (except for the ground which was too uneven for the flames to spread).


    "I see..." Emi replied.


    Gabriel sat up - "Well - I am a part of God''s eraser! - think of us God''s assassins!" He replied as a white flame covered his body - then disappeared leaving him completely unharmed, his fingers were back and even his clothes were back to perfect condition.


    "Heh..." Emi laughed weakly - "It''s good that you told me that - when the boss felt a presence enter this world - he described it as a powerful soul, and I planned to just hand you over to the boss to make you into more mana - but we might have a better use for you..."


    "What are you saying? Leave before you get burned alive!" Gabriel exclaimed angerly.


    "What part of ''I control this perimeter with my imagination'' don''t you get?" she asked with an annoyed yet tired look - she snapped her fingers and the flames disappeared - the very ground itself became metal which rose up taking the form of a guillotine.


    "I''ll take your soul - and your head to make sure you don''t regenerate..." she replied as a blade came down onto Gabriel''s head slashing it off cleanly - next his soul flew out of his body and into a bottle Emi created - "The trick is - I don''t alter this world - I create it - no matter what spell you cast I could have replaced it with empty space," Emi shrugged.


    Gabriel''s head became pale as she wrapped it up in cloth and placed it in her pocket - as she dismissed the cubic perimeter she heard the sound of glass breaking, she looked down only to see that Gabriel''s soul has itself become engulfed in flames as it shot out into the fields.


    "Uhhh... I''m not bothered to chase it down... whatever... we have an overpowered body with no soul... it''ll do... "


    Emi looked down at the corpse with the blank expression - ".... did he piss himself?"


    Meanwhile, Gabriel''s should shot through the fields - "SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT! SHE''S SCARY AS HELL!" he cried as his soul started to run low on energy and had to resort to bounding around on the ground.


    "What if she follows me!? What is there''s more of them?! WHAT IS SHE HAS A CLONING MACHINE!"


    Suddenly Gabriel''s soul bumped into something, in fact, it did more than that - it flew into it and got stuck.


    "Woah - did you guys feel that?!" Al asked looking around - "Feel what?" asked Darthold - he was walking a bit behind them, "I don''t know - like a really strong gust of wind?" he asked uncertainly.


    "It''s really windy out today," Cloe replied - she was dressed in new clothes - this time skirt and hoodie, both brown - Al was wearing his usual clothes.


    "Guess I was imagining things..." Al said with a shrug - "I bet you''re just tired from all this walking - we can stop at the next town..." he replied.


    "Alright," Al replied uncertainly.


    "I know that place, boss - It''s a village full of mostly beastfolk." said one of the monster hunters - he was holding a rolled-up tend over his shoulder -, not just a cloth one - I mean like a full, room-sized tent, the big wooden pole and wooden floor included.


    "That''s fine - we didn''t get a chance to ask around down here, let''s hope we find him... or Adam and the bunch at the very least."


    "It''s rare for abe to just disappear like that..." Darthold said scratching his beard.


    "Maybe he went to look for Adam?" Suggested Cloe,


    "Or that guy that looks like a little girl?" Suggested another monster hunter.


    "In any case - he''d surely tell me beforehand!" Darthold complained - "Speaking of telling me things beforehand - why didn''t you tell me you two were useless from the start?!" he demanded looking back and seeing Arthur and the girl from the festival dragging a large sack - inside of the bulging sack was a mountain of stuffed toys and clothes belonging to the dryads.


    "We really didn''t have to take them all!" Cloe said feeling bad for the two carrying their things.


    "No, no, we did - what if you get dirty seventy-eight times in a row?" Asked one monster hunter.


    "Mmm, or what if someone attacked you and you''d get dirt?" asked another.


    "Nonsense - I''ll snap the neck of whoever would dare to attack my grandkids!" Darthold announced.


    "R-right, forgot... what if it rained though?"


    "I''D SLAY THE CLOUDS!" Darthold announced.


    "What if they fell into a puddle?"


    "I''d kill the earth which became mud for standing in the way of my grandkids," Darthold replied nonchalantly.


    "A- ... of course you would..." the man gave up.

 New Story announcement and why this story is on hiatus.

    I''m here to let you guys know that I''ve placed this story on hiatus and more importantly hopefully get some of you to check out the other story I''m working on!


    New Story (Binary Progression)


    The new story takes place in an MMO - the moderators quit, the server is in chaos and the game is by no means beginner-friendly.


    A duo (and soon trio) form a party in order to help the newcomer to the game level up - the party consists of a raid-veteran turn roleplayer (not necessarily a good one), a newcomer to the MMO genre as a whole, and a cheater who takes advantage of the lack of authority to make a business.


    The story is a comedy divided into serious and funny arcs - if you enjoyed the humour and dislike the structure/inconsistencies of ''The Chronic Reincarnator'' I''m confident ''Binary Progression'' will be at the very least drastically better than ''The Chronic Reincarnator''Stolen novel; please report.


    https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/28689/binary-progression-the-wild-west-of-mmos</a>


    Why is this story on hitus?


    There are four main reasons...


    1) There was simply too much technically wrong with the story to keep it afloat


    2) That characters weren''t particularly interesting aside from some gimmicks,


    3) Nothing interesting happens for half of the 100k story :D


    4) I''m confident I can do better, nobody is more sore about me no longer writing for this story than me, this felt like my magnum opus - but I''d be a horrible writer to pretend everything is alright and waste your time with sub-part writing.


    I do think I will continue the story in the future - after all, there is a lot of world-building that''s done, and I think the concept as a whole was not bad - but that''s going to take time and dedication which at the moment I''m pouring into ''Binary Progression''


    Regardless of whether you choose to check out ''Binary Progression'' or no - I''m grateful for your time and views - and I wholeheartedly apologise if you feel you wasted your time by engaging with this dumpster fire of a story.