《World Core》 Prologue ¡®What happened?¡¯ Was the first thought that came through his mind. He couldn¡¯t remember, his mind was blank and his memories nowhere to be found. Nothing. He attempted to remember, but failed miserably. He tried again, and again, and again. He couldn¡¯t remember, but he wouldn¡¯t surrender. He needed his memories. Again, again, again, again. He kept on it for a long time, until he finally found something. His name, Elias. He was Elias, a lesser noble who lived with his parents. He was fourteen years old, his family wasn¡¯t particularly rich, and were just minor nobles of a town. But how did he end up here? What was here? Elias looked around. Nothing. An empty, endless, black void. ¡®I am asleep?¡¯ He wondered, what other explanation could be for this? He attempted to wake up, but failed. He tried again and failed, again again and again. He failed each time. If this wasn¡¯t a dream, what it could be? Elias had no idea. But then another memory, this time like if someone had forced him to remember, came to him. While they were traveling, they were assaulted by bandits. His father was killed, and they took his mother. The bandits knocked him out, and when he woke up¡­ He was being buried alive. That was a distant memory. Like those that happened a long time ago and you barely remember them. Then it had been a long time since it, right? Now his questions were answered. He was dead. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡®I¡¯m supposed to be scared now.¡¯ He thought. Elias didn¡¯t feel anything. He was dead, so he should be in panic or in shock. Even if he was a cold-blooded assassin he should be affected by this. But the scarier is that this didn¡¯t scare him. ¡°So? I am supposed to pass my whole un-life floating in a black space?¡± He said loudly, more bored than worried. ¡°No.¡± A voice said. It was monotone, like a robot. ¡°Who are you?¡± Elias asked, not really curious. ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter.¡± The voice said annoyed by the question. How it showed annoyance while having a monotone voice? Who knows. ¡°So¡­ What I¡¯m supposed to do the rest of my un-life?¡± Elias asked the voice again. Not because he was particularly curious, but because he had nothing else to do. ¡°You are to be reincarnated, like everyone.¡± The voice like if it had repeated this processThousallionsof times. ¡°Like everyone?¡± Elias said again. ¡°Yes. Everyone gets reincarnated but most don¡¯t retain their memories, you are a special case, however. You are to be reincarnated as one of the most complex, simple lifeforms.¡± ¡°Complex simple life-form. You are contradicting yourself.¡± Elias said, but the answer came almost Immediately. ¡°No, I¡¯m not, simple lifeforms are simple lifeforms, the most complex simple life-form, is still a simple life-form when compared to¡­¡± The voice said flustered, but stopped abruptly at the end. ¡°Compared to¡­?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Okay¡­? So, what I¡¯m going to be reincarnated as?¡± Elias asked, showing a tiny glint of curiosity that faded as quickly as it came. ¡°As a World Core.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to be reincarnated as the core of a world?¡± ¡°No, you are going to be reincarnated as a powerful crystal in the deepest parts of a world, that will control most aspects of it.¡± The voice answered. ¡°So I¡¯m going to be reincarnated as a magic rock.¡± Elias said. ¡°No, you are going to be reincarnated as a complex-but-not-so-complex life-form that is created when an astral object acquires enough mass and mana to gain sentience and materialize it conscience as a magic crystal at its center.¡± The voice explained again. ¡°I¡¯m going to be reincarnated as a magic rock, that also happens to be the core and conscience of a world.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± The voice said. ¡°I¡¯m going to be some kind of god?¡± ¡°Not the kind of god that is omnipotent, but yes.¡± The voice said to him. Then it came a tomb-like silence. It lasted for a good ten seconds before Elias broke the ice. ¡°Good, something else? Or I can reincarnate now?¡± Elias asked. ¡°First you will have to learn how to control your new body, many lesser simple lifeforms will seek the power of a World Core.¡± Then, the black void began twisting and changing, color began to appear in the previously peerless black, and then, slowly, the black void turned into an empty, perfectly square cave with no visible exit. At its center, a perfectly round gem about the size of a head illuminated the room. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. It changed color constantly, giving a mystical feel, and it floated three feet above the ground. ¡°This is my body?¡± Elias asked, looking at the crystal. ¡°Yes.¡± Said the voice on his mind. ¡°Then why I¡¯m looking at it from another perspective?¡± ¡°Because your conscience isn¡¯t tied to your physical body, and you can freely move it around. But not outside your domain.¡± ¡°And how big my domain is?¡± ¡°The whole planet.¡± Elias was almost stunned by this. Almost. ¡°Your core absorbs the heat of the world¡¯s center, making it survivable. Now, you first need to know how to manipulate your domain.¡± The voice said, and it began to give Elias instructions. Elias didn''t understand the first part but shrugged it off. Why would the center of a planet not be survivable? ¡°Focus on a specific part of your domain, imagine it like it is, and then imagine the changes you want, that way you¡¯ll be able to change it.¡± Elias did as he was instructed, and focused on a specific wall, he imagined how the carving of a winged warrior appeared on it, and it did. The wall shifted loudly as the carving was formed, and after a second, it was done. ¡°Good work, now try to make another room.¡± The voice said. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit much? From carvings to entire rooms?¡± Elias asked. ¡°Don¡¯t object me, young soul.¡± Elias just followed the voice order, and attempted to make another room. The result was¡­ Better than he expected. He made an exact copy of the room besides it, and connected them with a simple passage. The copy didn¡¯t have the giant magic floating crystal nor the carving of a winged warrior, though. ¡°Good work. Now you know how to manipulate, it¡¯s time to learn how to create. Focus in an empty space within your domain, and imagine a simple object like a rock or an iron sphere appearing on it.¡± Elias attempted to do it on the empty room, but he couldn¡¯t resist the urge of imagining an exquisite marble table with many diamonds encrusted in complex patterns. The result being an angry voice. ¡°I said something simple, young soul! If you do it wrong the result could be catastrophic!¡± The monotone-yet-angry voice nearly yelled at Elias. ¡°But you did a good overall work.¡± The voice commended him. ¡°Now, tables won¡¯t protect you from greedy mortals, so now it¡¯s time to learn how to make your own underlings.¡± The voice said. Elias would have been excited weren¡¯t from the strange condition that he was in. ¡°Voice, why can¡¯t I feel emotions?¡± Elias asked the question he should have first asked, to which the voice replied: ¡°Your emotions have been temporally removed to make the reincarnation process easier and smoother. Now, focus, try to make a¡­ Rock golem.¡± The voice said. Elias didn¡¯t ask more and just did as he was told. After several failed attempts, Elias finally did it. A clump of several rocks appeared on the floor, scattered, but after a moment they began to float and clump together into a humanoid shaped. The result was a clump of rocks sticked together into a humanoid shape, and that somehow was ¡®alive¡¯. A rock golem. ¡°Good work.¡± The voice said. ¡°As a last thing you must learn, how to destroy your creations. You can only destroy things created by you. Now, focus on the thing you wish to destroy, and imagine it disappearing up to the last atom.¡± The voice said, and seconds after, the rock golem disappeared in many blue-ish particles. ¡°You have done well, young soul.¡± The voice said to Elias. ¡°But, what I¡¯m supposed to do as a World Core? What would be my purpose?¡± Elias asked the last, vital question. ¡°The purpose of each World Core is different, and I can only tell you so much, but for now, your mission will be that of keeping the mortal races alive.¡± The voice said. ¡°Now my mission with you is completed, I wish you luck, World Core #675.536.951.512, I have 5.132.677.521.655.397 more souls to reincarnate. This is our farewell, complex-simple-lifeform.¡± Then the voice banished, and Elias was left alone. Then, suddenly, a flow of emotions came through him, and he shouted at the top of his notexistent lungs. ¡°I DIED!?!?!?¡± Chapter One ¡°Dead.¡± Elias said. He couldn¡¯t believe it. He spent an entire hour knowing he was dead, but he didn¡¯t care. He instead spent his time learning how to ¡®control his new body¡¯. That didn¡¯t made any sense. He wanted to see his father again, to hug his mother another time, but they were dead, and so was he. Why did he keep his memories? Couldn¡¯t they erase them and make him start anew? Elias thought that they had made him keep his memories just to watch him suffer. He was going to suffer. His family was gone. He was gone. Everyone was gone. He had nobody now. ¡°WHAT DO I DO!?¡± He shouted, but got no answer. He couldn¡¯t even cry, because he was no longer human. Didn¡¯t that mean that he was a monster? He was a lonely monster now. He didn¡¯t want to be a lonely monster. But he was. And he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. He was just a boy. He didn¡¯t even make it into adulthood, his family was taken away by the greed of humans. Then, did humans deserved to be saved? Such horrible beings should be saved? War, hunger, suffering, pain. Everything they had done until now had been evil. They hunted and mass killed monsters because of their precious parts, or because they were ugly, or because they tried to feed themselves on their cattle. Who was the true monster? No. He was going insane. He had seen it before, on the slaves. They become mad and do horrible things. He didn¡¯t want to be like that. He wasn¡¯t going insane. He missed his family and wouldn¡¯t see them again, but he wasn¡¯t going insane because of that. There¡¯s good people out there. Right? Like¡­ His father, he was human, but he wasn¡¯t evil. That¡¯s why humans should be saved. Or so he thought. He wasn¡¯t a monster. Even if his body wasn¡¯t human, his soul was. In the end, he didn¡¯t know. He was just a teen, after all.
After some hours of reflecting, mourning, reflecting and mourning, Elias accepted his reality. He looked around his core room, not knowing what to do. Should he make some monsters to defend? That made sense. But what if someone came and saw the monsters, then mistake him as evil? Then Elias realized that this was the center of the world. And that no one would probably come here ever. Then it was okay to create some monsters, just in case. Elias then focused, he remembered what the voice had told him to do. ¡®Focus on a space, imagine a creature, and force it into reality¡¯. Elias imagined a knight in white armor, wielding a sword and having an inspiring aura. Then, suddenly, space distorted and from that distortion, came a knight. It was tall, almost 6 feet tall. Its pure white armor reflected the changing light of his crystal like a mirror, its sword was sheathed on his waist, inside a scabbard made of a strange, white leather. His face unseen, covered by an unnatural shadow coming from his helmet. It stood there motionless, awaiting a command from his creator. Elias thought it was a bit creepy that he didn¡¯t move even an inch, but it probably was a mindless being, but just in case, he decided to speak. ¡°Hi?¡± Elias said, but the knight stood there unmoving. ¡®So, it is mindless.¡¯ Elias thought. He then made four more knights. They weren¡¯t knights thought, just monsters that looked like knights. ¡°You¡­ Stay here and protect my core.¡± Elias ordered them, trying to look imposing, and failing miserably. ¡®Now, what do I do?¡¯ He wondered. Should he go to the surface and explore this new world? It would be strange if he was in the same world he was born it. ¡®Maybe magic doesn¡¯t exist here¡¯. Elias was excited by the endless possibilities. He decided to go explore his new world. ¡®But I¡¯m the world core, so I would be exploring himself?¡¯ Elias left aside those strange thoughts, and began going up. As he thought his conscience was going to crash with the stone, it went through it as if it wasn¡¯t there. ¡®Convenient¡¯ He thought, and started going fast, really fast. So fast that when he finally got to the surface, he kept on flying until nearly reaching the clouds. Elias was surprised. He knew he was going fast but he was going way faster than he thought. It¡¯s hard to measure one speed while going through solid rock. Elias looked down, and realized that he was above a tall mountain. Snow covered it¡¯s peak and a forest was at it¡¯s base, that extended many kilometers. Said mountain was familiar to him, but he couldn¡¯t tell why. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Elias descended to the mountain¡¯s peak, and started to admire the beautiful view. He was beginning to realize what was given to him. He had reincarnated as a god-like entity. He could create anything out of nothingness. Of course, he couldn¡¯t create an almighty, unbeatable servant to protect him. He had his limits, he discovered this on his own. If he created too many things or something too strong it would tire him. It was like physical exercise. Creating something simple, like an insect or a rock was so easy that it didn¡¯t tire him at all. Creating 50.000 armed and powerful orcs required effort and wasn¡¯t easy. And creating an all-powerful weapon that could disintegrate entire planets with just touching them was waaaaay out of his league. In the end. He wasn¡¯t an omnipotent god. Only a very powerful being. Not THAT powerful, but very powerful. Elias then started flying around, looking for civilization.
¡°But arcane magics don¡¯t depend on a god to power it, arcane will always work no matter what. You can¡¯t say that about divine magic, right Clement?¡± A girl around 20 years old said to a middle-age man. Grath couldn¡¯t do anything but ignore the discussion that was happening right behind him. Alysa and Clement always discussed about this topic. What is superior? Arcane or Divine magic? To him they were both the same, but it seems that divine magic relies on a god, while arcane magic doesn¡¯t. It was stupid, but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. ¡°But divine magic shows the gods that we, their faithful servants, still believe in them. If we don¡¯t show respect to our makers, then we wouldn¡¯t be better than the monsters roaming the wilderness.¡± Clement said. He was a warrior-priest, a warrior capable of using healing magic. He used a cloak and religious clothes, but below them he had an armor. Alysa instead wore a white robe and casual clothes, she wielded a quarterstaff that doubled as a magic staff, and she had a dagger strapped to her side. Grath was the stereotypical warrior, wearing heavy armor and an oversized sword that had serrated blades. They were adventurers, and were currently heading back to the city of Artheral. They had just finished their mission. Hunt down a wild chimera that was causing trouble to the local nobles. ¡°You two could please stop arguing for a minute? You have been discussing since we killed the chimera. I¡¯m having a headache now.¡± Grath said. He hit his head during the fight with the chimera and the between Alysa and Clement just made it worse. They then stopped. Grath would usually let them argue without saying a word, so his headache must be really bad. They continued walking in silence for several minutes. Far too much silence. Far too long. They should have started arguing again. Something weird was happening. Clement was just praying in silence, but Alysa seemed nervous. She had been acting strange ever since they defeated that chimera. She was sweating a bit. That would be normal, but the fact that she didn¡¯t stop looking behind her every once in a while, began to worry him. He had to ask. He then walked up to her, and put his hand on her shoulder. She jumped a little and brought her quarterstaff to his face. He had scared her, so he also had to pay the price. And with a thud, his headache worsened. Grath brought his hand to his face. If his headache was bad, now it was terrible. ¡°Grath!¡± Alysa shouted to him, while Clement watched amused. ¡°You got some quick reflexes there.¡± Grath said while stopping his nose bleeding. She had hit him pretty hard. ¡°Don¡¯t scare me like that!¡± She nearly shouted. ¡°You are lucky that I didn¡¯t use a spell!¡± ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right.¡± He said. ¡°But tell me, what''s wrong?¡± He asked her, and she resumed her nervous demeanor. ¡°There¡¯s something watching us.¡± Chapter Two Elias had been following a group of adventurers he had found roaming in the forest. His doubts about the world were cleared when he saw the ensign of the kingdom on the shoulder pad of the warrior. A diamond shape with the top of a snake head in its center. He wasn¡¯t on a different world. He would recognize the ensign of the kingdom of Studel anywhere. He was hoping that they would lead him towards a town. They were carrying the remains of a chimera, so they weren¡¯t weak, and most probably they were heading towards a city or at least a small town. He couldn¡¯t protect a civilization if he didn¡¯t find it, after all. Two hours passed by as he kept on following them. The girl of the group seemed nervous for some reason, and when she whispered something to the warrior, the group stopped talking. Since then it was a silent walk. Elias didn¡¯t understand what was happening, why did they became so serious suddenly? He dismissed it. He was too bored to care. The group walked for another hour until at they arrived to a grassland. At the distance, a medium sized town could be seen. It had neatly arranged stone walls and the shadows of the guards could be seen walking on them. Four tall towers, each on a corner of the wall, oversaw the surrounding grassland. It was both a way to attract visitors and a tactical advantage. Any army would have to go through the grassland, and they would be vulnerable to the archers and wizards on the tower. Of course, Elias didn¡¯t get this and just thought that they were there to look cool. The group walked into the city after a short inspection by the guards. Elias saw banners of the Studel kingdom on several places. The city was large. People was everywhere, walking to their homes or works, playing with their children or shopping. The merchants were attempting to sell to the passing people, saying out their ¡®cheap¡¯ prices out loud, and showing their merchandise. Most of the houses were simple, made of stone and wood. They were mostly white and brown, and every single of them was different. There were stalls lining the streets, were the aforementioned merchants tried to sell. Elias had seen this sight many times when he was human, but seeing it from an aerial perspective was a whole different experience. He even saw as some men did business of debatable legality in an alley, but he decided not to interfere. The Studel kingdom was a medium sized country. They had several mines on their territory, making them very rich, but they depended on importing for most other things. It had several allies, but also some enemies that were seeking the many mines on their territory. This caused frequent skirmishes in their borders, but since most of the attacking soldiers would suicide when captured, the Studel kingdom didn¡¯t know who was it¡¯s enemy. This made it distrust every other kingdom, even its allies, and that made it harder to import. Nonetheless the kingdom was still thriving, and that showed how competent their king was. TheNonetheless group of adventurers then began to head to the local Hunter¡¯s Guild. Elias separated from them, he was going to¡­ Elias then realized that he didn¡¯t know what to do. He couldn¡¯t think of anything. They had just told him to ¡®keep the mortal races alive¡¯. But from what? Themselves? Who knows how long it had been since his death. Hundreds of years? One hour? He didn¡¯t know about a major threat to mankind, elves or dwarves. Elias was at a loss here. He had to find out what was the threat to the ¡®mortal races¡¯ that he had to stop. For now, he just guessed that he had to keep them from destroying themselves, but ¡®War is inevitable, it is the human nature¡¯. That was something he had read in a book some time ago, and having nothing to do, or more specifically, not knowing what to do, he decided to investigate to see what was wrong. And so, Elias began his research on the major threats the world was facing. ¡­ Alysa and her group walked through the city heading for the Hunter¡¯s Guild. The strange presence following them, seemingly vanished when they entered the city. What was watching them exactly? She couldn¡¯t tell. Alysa only knew one thing, it was powerful, very powerful. And that scared her. There was the possibility that they had lead an evil and very powerful being to the city and that thought made her shiver. What were they thinking? They should have gone somewhere else, not a highly populated city while being chased by whatever that thing was. It was dangerous and they had led it into the city. How stupid they were for doing that. Alysa felt a hand on her shoulder while she was submerged on her thoughts. She snapped out of it and looked around to see who it was. She wouldn¡¯t make the same mistake twice. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°It is gone?¡± Clement asked her with a serious look on his eyes. She smiled lightly. ¡°Another advantage of arcane magic over divine. Yes, it is gone.¡± She replied to him. Her smiled didn¡¯t last long, though. ¡°What was that thing?¡± Grath asked her, but she couldn¡¯t answer that question. It was far too strong to know even where it truly was, much less what it was. ¡°I-I don¡¯t know, but it was very strong, far too strong for us to deal with.¡± She said. It could have killed them right away but it didn¡¯t, it wanted something from them. She then realized what it was chasing them for. It wanted to get to the city. Alysa opened her eyes wide in surprise, or maybe panic. ¡°What did it wa-¡± Grath was interrupted mid-sentence by a hysteric Alysa. ¡°The city! It was chasing us to get to the city!¡± She nearly shouted, most people in the street looked at them as if they were crazy but they didn¡¯t care. She then began to run at top speed towards the town hall, where the city lord resided. Grath and Clement looked confused to one another, and the people at the street were even more confused, but passed it as something of adventurers. Alysa ran with all her might, she had to warn them, before it was too late. She rounded a street and increased her speed. Behind her, Grath and Clement were catching up, still not fully understanding the situation. ¡°Alysa! Wait!¡± Clement shouted while running behind her. Alysa crashed with a man. She fell to the ground with the man, but she swiftly stood up and continued her race, leaving behind an angry man. ¡°Explain why-¡± Once again Grath was interrupted by something. This time it wasn¡¯t a hysteric girl but a loud boom. The ground shacked and on the distance a thick pillar of black smoke could be seen rising. It was the town hall. Alysa halted on her feet and stared at the smoke. ¡®Too late¡¯. Clement and Grath stopped beside her, looking at the same thing. ¡°What happened?¡± Clement murmured. Alysa said nothing, and neither did Grath. When they arrived, they saw as the big structure was missing a large chunk. There was chaos around it, a large crowd was formed around the destroyed town hall. Alysa couldn¡¯t understand why they did this, instead of running away from the obvious danger. ¡°What happened here?¡± Grath said. A formation of soldiers appeared heading towards the ruined building. Some of them separated from the main group to keep the crowd controlled. They were the city guards. Then, from inside the town hall, a scream was heard. A man came running out of the building. He had blood splattered on his face. Several guards attempted to go and apprehend the fugitive suspect, but before any of them got close, something penetrated his chest and he fell on the ground, dead. The guards then realized that the man wasn¡¯t trying to escape the scene. He was trying to escape from something. From the town hall something extremely fast came out. It was so fast that it had only been a blur and in the blink of an eye, the two nearest guards had bone-like spikes coming from their foreheads. Blood began to come out of their mouths and foreheads as they fell to the ground. The creature then stopped, and Alysa could see what it was. It was tall, around eight feet, it wore a black, tattered robe with several holes on it. It held with it¡¯s skeleton-like hand an old, but intimidating scythe. Its wicked blade was black and had many dents, but Alysa knew that it could cut better than the sword wielded by the guards. The creature looked around itself, its gaze briefly met with Alysa¡¯s and in that instant, she could see it¡¯s face. It was a skull, a putrid skull with rotten meat around it. Most of its hair had rotten out, but there was the occasional long, white hair that fell to its side. It had two blue, glowing spheres floating on its eye sockets. It seemed like if it could see into your soul and rip out even the most hidden of your sins. Alysa knew what it was. A Reaper. The reaper gave out a stunning and terrifying scream. So loud that Alysa had to cover her ears, and so loud that it could raise the dead. Literally. The three formerly dead men stood up, shaking. Their eyes shining the same fiery deep blue of the Reaper¡¯s. The undead abomination then charged at the crowd, and began claiming the souls of those unfortunate enough to be near it. Alysa watched helpless as it took the lives of many men and women with a single slash of it¡¯s scythe, then another, and another. It had been her fault. She should have known. The last thing she saw was a bone spike flying at her, before falling into the ground. Chapter Three Alysa woke up, not in a plaza surrounded by panicking people and ravenous undead, but in a bed. A simple, rustic wooden bed. She looked around, the room she was in, was small. Besides the small bed, there was a wooden circular table with a small candle. The room had a bigger table at the middle standing over a carpet and an empty wardrobe in a corner. She had seen this layout many times. This was one of the many rooms of the Aurelius inn, the inn she and her group usually came to rest after a hunt. How she made it here? The last thing she could remember¡­ She was going to die. She should be dead yet she was here. For a moment she thought this was the Arcanum, but quickly got rid of that idea. She hadn¡¯t been important enough to make it there. Then, was this the Soulrest? She quickly disposed of that idea too. She wasn¡¯t dead, it was clear. But then¡­ How did she¡­ Then, footsteps were heard outside. The door knob slowly turned to the left and a figure walked inside the room. It was Grath. He looked tired. He had a wound on his arm, as if someone had cut him with a blade, and he had eye-bags, as if he hadn¡¯t slept in a good while. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re awake.¡± Grath said to her. He had a relieved face. ¡°Grath?¡± Alysa asked in a sleepy voice while sitting on the bed, she had just woken up, after all. ¡°You¡¯re okay?¡± He asked her in tired voice, concerned. ¡°What happened? Where is Clement?¡± Alysa asked, ignoring his question ¡°We¡­ Will talk about it later. Clement is helping the other priests in healing the wounded.¡± Grath said while staring into the roof, deep in thought. ¡°Come on¡­¡± Alysa said, lightly punching him in the shoulder. ¡°Alysa, you¡¯re talking while asleep.¡± He said, pinching her cheek with no reaction from her. Even her eyes were still closed. ¡°Not true¡­ I am perfectly awake an¡­¡± She couldn¡¯t finish her sentence, as she had just fell asleep. Grath sighed, and slowly put her back to bed, but as soon as her head touched the pillow, she slowly opened her eyes and sat up again. ¡°No no no no.¡± She said, waving her hands. ¡°I just need to splash some water in my face and I¡¯ll be as good as new.¡± She told, to herself or to Grath? Nobody can tell. Alysa lazily stood up from the bed, and started to walk towards a water bucket in the corner, normally used for washing hands or vocal hygiene, if you had the necessary tools. She splashed some water on her face but her expression remained unchanged, a bit more and¡­ ¡°What happened?¡± She asked Grath concerned, now fully awake. Grath looked at her, a bit amused by her attitude, but he wouldn¡¯t let anybody know. ¡°I¡¯m not into details, so everything you have to know is that when you froze in spot, Clement saved you. You then fell unconscious on the floor. Clement, the city guards and I kept the reaper in check until the knights of the church arrived and put it to an end.¡± He explained to her. Alysa nodded during the whole story and looked at the ground. Alysa lips moved slightly as she was about to say something, but Grath spoke first. ¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize. You¡¯re just a young woman after all. The first time seeing undead is hard for everyone, but you¡¯ll get used to it.¡± He said. ¡®I don¡¯t want to see an undead ever again.¡¯ Alysa swallowed those words down her throat, not having the enough courage to say it loud. Alysa just stared to the ground. She had slayed many orcs in battle, killed countless goblins that she came across, she even hunted down a chimera! How could she have been immobilized by fear like if it was her first battle. No matter what Grath said, she couldn¡¯t forgive herself for it. Grath seemed to have seen the complicated expression on her face, and said. ¡°Everyone make errors, Alysa. We are not perfect gods, but mere flawed mortals.¡± Stupid. It was stupid. What was the purpose of even trying if you can¡¯t achieve perfection? Everyone had a weakness. She had found hers. Undead. She had a traumatizing fear of undead. Alysa was not stupid, she realized this. She had to overcome that fear, but could she? Grath walked outside, snapping her out of her trance. She looked at him and he returned her a glare. Of pity? Of understanding? Of what is that glare? Alysa couldn¡¯t see it. ¡°Come downstairs when you¡¯re ready. We have something to discuss.¡± He said, and closed the door. Alysa stared at the door for a few seconds before standing up. How could she become a great mage and ascend to Arcanum, if she paralyzed in front of a mere undead? She wouldn¡¯t allow it. She had to overcome this fear in order to achieve her goal. With her heart full of determination, she went to the water bucket once again¡­ And began to wash her teeth¡­ With her finger¡­ And no toothpaste.
When Alysa finally went downstairs, Grath and a woman she hadn¡¯t seen before were talking in a table in one of the corners. The inn lower floor was a bar and the upper one were the actual rooms. The ones with a soundproof enchantment were more expensive, because they didn¡¯t allowed the sound of drunk men inside. But that didn¡¯t mattered now. Alysa went to the table and sat down besides Grath. The woman was wearing a black dress that looked expensive but nobody was paying her attention, Alysa wondered why. ¡°I think I must present myself. I¡¯m Ellya Reanfred. Grath has spoken plenty about you, Alysa.¡± The woman, Ellya, spoke. Alysa shook her hand with a bit of caution, she didn¡¯t trusted strangers right away, even if they were friends of their friends. ¡°I¡¯m from the D.G.P.K. I was sent to investigate about the¡­ Incident of yesterday.¡± She said. Yesterday!? It¡¯s been a day already?! Alysa was shocked. She had been unconscious for an entire day! Why did Grath didn¡¯t¡­ But she didn¡¯t ask him so¡­ ARGGHHH! Alysa wanted to grab her hair and rip it out, but she refrained. After all, it¡¯s just a day, right? There¡¯s no need to worry. Alysa sighed, and cleared her mind. D.G.P.K. Defense Group for the Protection of the Kingdom. They were the ones who dealt with spies or internal threats. It made sense they were here. But what did they wanted with them? ¡°As you may know, a powerful undead such as a Reaper appearing in one of the most important cities of the kingdom is¡­ Unacceptable.¡± She lightly clenched her fist at the last word. Grath didn¡¯t noticed by Alysa did. ¡°Our¡­ Secret agents tracked down the source to an abandoned building, far from here.¡± The woman said. Alysa knew well who these ¡®Secret agents¡¯ were, and this time, she was the one to clench her fist, but she didn¡¯t took the effort to hide it, unlike Ellya. Ellya looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and continued her explanation. ¡°Originally, we were going to send out own agents, but we suspect that this isn¡¯t something made by a small group.¡± Ellya said. Alysa didn¡¯t understood. Wasn¡¯t it obvious? A small group wouldn¡¯t be able to create an undead so powerful as the reaper. ¡°And we decided to not send them. If this is indeed a bigger organization, then once they learn that we have discovered through¡­ Unconventional means, they may retreat. And we can¡¯t allow that. So we decided to contract mercenaries, and make it look like if they stumbled upon it by accident.¡± She explained their plan. But since they didn¡¯t wanted their enemies to know, they had to make the contracts personally, so¡­ The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°So I decided to ask help from my friend, Grath, and his group.¡± She finished. ¡°I can¡¯t make this decision alone, this decision depends on you and Clement.¡± Grath said, looking at Alysa. ¡°Once Clement finishes his duties as a priest, we will make a choice.¡± He said. ¡°Also, the reward is quite generous. Three hundred silver coins.¡± He said in a low voice, to not allow someone to hear. Three hundred silver coins¡­ The reward for a normal job was five or six silver coins. The money alone was enough to make Alysa forget that this mission included undead. Tons of undead.
Elias wasn¡¯t blind nor deaf, and noticed the ruckus caused by the reaper. He didn¡¯t wanted to interfere directly because making appear three ogres in the middle of the city didn¡¯t seemed like a good idea, and probably would make more chaos. He was a teen, not a fool. And right now, Elias was in a depression. When he arrived at the scene, the first thing he saw was the mangled corpse of a woman with an arm missing, and the second thing he saw, was how said corpse stood up with its single arm, and attacked a defenseless old man. He had heard stories about the brutality of battle, but that was beyond his expectations. People was dying everywhere. Blood came down the sky like rain, and he was sure that if he had a human body, he would have puked. He wanted to cry. He had never seen a corpse ever in his life, and then, he was there, seeing how hundreds of people was dying. He even thought about running away, but he realized that his real body was safe, buried kilometers down, in the center of the world. That helped him a little, but not too much. He wanted to help them. He knew that he could put an end to this if he thought a bit but the shock didn¡¯t let him think straight. Now that the event was over, he could thing of countless ways in what he could have helped. He could have created monsters that looked like the city guards to help, he could have made a thunder fall into the undead monster that was taking countless lives, he could have done this. He could have done that. He could have done ANYTHING. Yet he stood there, watching, mighty but defenseless. This made him question once again. Why him? Why was he chosen from the millions or billions or trillions of souls? Why not chose some century old, extremely wise old man that lived in a tall mountain instead of him? He couldn¡¯t find any logical reason. He thought that he could go insane at any moment if he kept thinking about it, and an insane world core was something nobody wanted. So he decided to do something instead of mourn on the past. So Elias decided to track down the source, and punish them. He felt that it was his responsibility, after doing nothing to help them before. And because he didn¡¯t forgot that he had to protect the mortal races, so he couldn¡¯t allow someone cause chaos in the middle of a highly populated city. And most importantly. It was his chance to become the knight in shiny armor most dreamed to be. Or something like that. But deep within, he knew that he was doing this, so that he could forget that frightening scene. The corpse of the woman and the face of the poor old man¡­ Would be engraved within his heart forever. To do so, Elias had done something few would be brave enough to do. But since he was the mighty core of the world, he could just do it. He listened on the conversation between several high ranking men of the D.G.P.K. (Like a mix between the FBI and the CIA) They talked about some hidden crypt buried in the outskirts of the city. Elias then knew it, that¡¯s was were the responsible was hiding. Or so he thought. And after hearing about its exact location, he went to punish the cause of his most recent trauma. And now, Elias was in a plain, watching as the seven lizard men he had conjured, dug into the entrance of the crypt. He wasn¡¯t the most creative when it came to making monsters, and neither the smartest one. He had forgotten that he could just dig the hole himself with just willing it, or that he could just phase through the dirt. Elias had still a lot to learn about being a World Core. The lizard men were just bipedal lizards with long arms and legs, nothing too interesting, and once they finished digging Elias changed their shovels for sharp iron lances. The entrance to the crypt was like one would expect it to be. An ancient archway made of stone held together two old iron and rusted doors. There was a carving of a large skull on each door. The archway had also carvings of many undead beings along it, some of which Elias didn¡¯t recognized. The intimidating entrance made Elias doubt for a bit, but then he ordered the lizard men to march inside with their spears on their front, prepared for combat. Elias would make them pay for what they did to these people. For what they made him feel. The lizard men, sensing the anger of their master, became angered themselves.
As the seven lizard men walked along an old room, that was made completely of stone, Elias realized something. Isn¡¯t this supposed to be a crypt? Then why there is furniture inside? The room they were currently in was large, large enough to have two pillars supporting it. There were many stone tables and chairs as if it was a dinner hall, and it was strangely clean. There were even dishes in the table, and they were recent. And by the number, there was at least a dozen people inside this crypt. Nonetheless, this just gave Elias a reason to make even more lizard men. The now eleven lizard men examined carefully the room, until footsteps could be heard from inside a door. The door opened and a hooded figure walked outside, and after giving five steps, it realized that there was something wrong. Eleven pairs of snake-like eyes were staring at it angrily, as if they wanted to eat it alive. The man tripped due to the shock and fell to the ground. He did the only thing he could do in this situation. He screamed for help. One of the lizard men jumped on top of the man and stabbed its spear on its chest viciously. Blood spurted out and covered the lizard man face. To Elias, this scene was also somewhat shocking, but not as much after what he had seen, and he knew they deserved it. The shouts of the man where silenced after the lizard man pulled the spear out, the man heart stuck on the spearhead. Now it was becoming too much for Elias. The lizard man devoured the heart with a chomp, without any hesitation. The scene made Elias sick, but he resisted his urge to throw up. Mainly because he couldn¡¯t. After that hurried footsteps were heard coming from the door. It was opened again, and this time no man showed up but at least six fully armored skeletons. They rushed out of the door one after another, making clattering noises as they ran into formation. These skeletons were not like the stereotypical skeleton, no, they had rotten meat all over their bones, some even had their half rotten eyes still on their sockets. Their skin was rotten and stuck so close to their bones, that Elias couldn¡¯t tell if he was seeing bone or skin. These were REAL undead skeletons. They used to be REAL people with REAL families. Elias repressed his anger, mostly because he had a bit of fun looking at the battle between skeletons and lizard men. The lizard men awaited his order to charge at the piles of bones. And once he gave it, a dance of iron, bones and scales started.