《Warpriest of the Fortunate Fallen》


 Chapter 1

    My name is Patrick Lyons, and just 24 hours ago, I was a free man. I was just a generic twenty year old college student that you wouldn''t notice walking across campus. I was in general studies for the second year running, with no real plans on finalizing my major; I''m sure you know the type. Standing 5''11" when I wasn''t slouching, I wasn''t tall, but wasn''t quite short either. Naturally bulky, the few friends I had managed to connect with mentioned that I was what a tall dwarf would look like. Which is why I tended to play a dwarf in the VRMMO scene, even though the height difference threw me off.


    Unfortunately, VRMMO''s were what got me into this mess. I ran with a PvP clan called the War Priests, a bunch of guys and girls that I''ve been playing with for a little over four years now. The clan itself is relatively small, but we''ve made waves in several games, the most recent being Agean Online. Agean was our crowning achievement. Not only did our clan break into the top fifty worldwide, two of our members, myself included managed to break into the top 100 in the world. Nyx made it to 87, and I made it all the way to rank 42. The War Priests were well known in the big raids for showing up at the worst times and creating the best results. Our lowest ranked player was sitting at 891st in the world, and the simple reason for it is that we were all complete nerds.


    That was then though, and this is now. It''s odd how much 24 hours can change your life. Instead of laying back in my dive pod, I''m sitting behind a table in an interview room, staring at what I can only assume is a one way mirror. I can hear the analog clock ticking overhead, slowly and steadily driving me insane. To make a long story short, I was kidnapped on my way home from classes. Tranquilizer to the neck, dragged into an unmarked van, all to wake up in this very room almost twenty hours ago now. I was told that I was being held because of my game skills, but when I freaked out, they hit me with another tranquilizer and once I woke up, they let me stew, only letting me out once to go to a bathroom that was maybe thirty feet down the hall from the interrogation room.


    Glaring at the insufferable clock, I flinched slightly at the door opening, taken by surprise. In walked a woman in a neat suit, her brown hair in a sensible ponytail, and a distinct frown present on her face. She was followed by a massive man with more muscles than his suit should have tried to accommodate. The guy had a square jaw and a buzz cut. He looked like he lived in a gym, but the slate grey eyes hidden under his brow held a profound intelligence that put me on edge. "Mr. Lyons, I hope you''re ready to listen now, we''ve wasted more than enough time trying to get you to calm down." Myeyes snapped back to the frowning woman, but before I could reply, she continued, barreling over my rising indignation. "I want you to hold all of your questions for after I''m finished talking. This is a matter of national security and I don''t have time for your whining."


    I wanted to interrupt as soon as she said national security, but my protests were overridden once more. "America needs your help. In all actuality, the world needs your help, but I''m simplifying this for you. Our planet is facing a threat, and we need people like you. Gamers." That final word was said with a vague trace of distaste, and the man standing behind and to her right gave a soft chuckle, almost a snort, his eyes hard and drilling right into me, more penetrating than the cold of the table. "I can''t offer you the specifics just yet, but you''ll get them as soon as it becomes relevant. Congratulations, you''ve been drafted."


    The woman looked at me expectantly, her deep blue eyes glaring over a pair of thin wire rimmed glasses. For a brief moment I couldn''t find my voice, it felt almost like I was drowning, but I finally managed to splutter out "Drafted?! What do you mean I''ve been drafted?!"


    The man chuckled again as the woman let out a sigh. "Exactly what it sounds like Mr. Lyons. Your government needs you, and you signed up for the draft. You''ve been chosen for your skill as a gamer, and that''s all you need to know right now. My name is Ms. Erling and this man right here is Mark Gavre. You''ll be be getting to know him very well." She said, using her hand to gesture at the behemoth to her right, ignoring the small smirk and glint in the man''s eyes. This was not good.


    As she spoke, the mortal fear began to slowly drain out of me, leaving behind utter dread and a fair amount of anger. I was being drafted? They wanted me to be a soldier? Had they even seen me run? I may look big, but it''s only about half muscle, and I''m about as clumsy as a newborn cat. On top of that, they literally kidnapped me not even two days ago. "What the hell do you mean though! I''m pretty sure a draft doesn''t involve kidnapping people!"


    The man, Mark Gavre scowled and stepped forward, a voice like gravel coming out as he said, "Were you not listening, you little shit? This is a matter of national security. You think you should''ve been warned? You think we should have held your hand during what I can confidently say is the biggest threat to our way of life the world has ever known? We are scrambling to collect as many wastes of space like you as we can before it''s too late. It is to my everlasting regret that I have to be the one to whip you into shape, because I have never seen a less promising recruit." With that, he stepped back and nodded to the woman while I sat there in shock, wishing I could just fade into nonexistence. Not even my parents had ever been that disappointed in me before, and even though I didn''t know the guy, it honestly hurt. "Sorry ma''am."


    Ms. Erling frowned again, but replied "No matter, I suspect that may have shut him up for the time being. Take him to the others."


    "Yes ma''am." Mark walked around the table and grabbed me by the arm, directing my still speechless self out the door. We walked through a veritable labyrinth of hallways in silence, his hand still firmly gripping my arm. A few minutes passed before I felt brave enough to speak up. "Are things really that bad?" Mark spared a brief glance at me, barely restrained hostility in his eyes. "Worse." With that single word, we lapsed into uncomfortable silence again, finally turning into an auditorium that reminded me of a lecture hall a few minutes later. The auditorium was absolutely packed full of teens and a few adults my age or older. I even thought I saw one woman that may have been in her early to mid forties. Mark directed me to a seat, a small tray with food and some water on the desk in front of it. It was a very dry sandwich with what I can only assume was bargain brand bologna and a small bag of chips, but it was good enough to fill my empty stomach.


    A few more people began to file in slowly, mostly male but a few female, which confused me, because women weren''t legally required to sign up for the draft. The pit in my stomach was getting deeper as more and more filled in. This definitely wasn''t good. Looking around, I saw that most of the assembled crowd was muttering back and forth to each other. It was distracting enough that I almost missed the kid next to me trying to get my attention. Doing a double take I asked him what he said and he repeated himself. "What''s your tag?"


    I did another brief double take before I caught his meaning. "You mean my gamer tag?" His brown eyes lit up, and his shoulder length dark hair fell into his face as he nodded quickly. He was vaguely Indian, with an excitable smile that completely threw off the seriousness of the past day. He was thin, but didn''t at all fit the nerdy stereotype. If anything, he looked more like a metalhead. Long hair, band shirt, ears pierced several times, and a leather wristband with an odd pattern burned into it. "Oh, uh... I''ve had a few, but in Agean, I was running as Rider."The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The moment I mentioned my name, his face froze, before cracking into an even wider grin. "You did a fantastic job in the raid on Isla Sondi. Absolutely wrecked our Wind Knights. GanFishing at your service." He gave me an exaggerated bow, letting out a boisterous laugh that drew stares when my face descended into shock. GanFishing was ranked 11th in the world and was the leader of one of the biggest clans in VRMMO''s in general. Thunderstruck was a complete monster of a clan. Thousands of players, with hundreds at higher levels, almost all of them active in raiding. He sat back up with a smile on his face once more, slouching into his seat. "You can just call me Ganta though. Never thought I''d meet the War Priest himself."


    I let out a short laugh and then shook my head. "Nah, the War Priest is Nova. He''s the leader." To my surprise though, Ganta just shook his head. "Nova might have been your leader, but he wasn''t ranked anywhere near the best you guys had. Besides, Kympi always told me that you priests considered the highest ranking to be the leader in raids anyway."


    I shrugged and nodded in agreement. "We do, but still. I didn''t realize you knew Kympi." Before we could continue our conversation, the auditorium doors opened up once more, Mark Gavre walking through with two equally dangerous looking men just behind him. He stalked up to the podium, glaring out at the crowd until the muttering fell to a hushed silence.


    "Listen up, I''m only saying this once. You are now the 250 members of Operation Clear Skies, Sierra Company. You are 250 of thousands of people in the country, not even counting those worldwide who will be trained to do what you do best. I''m the poor unfortunate soul who has to get your bodies in shape so you can do whatever it is you do better than you could have before. You will be participating in a game very similar to those you have played before, but this time you will be relying on your own body." That last comment sent the entire auditorium into another spree of muttering before Mark could settle things down once more. "You will not be allowed to leave, and you must participate. I do not say that the entire world is counting on you lightly. To make a long story short, extraterrestrial life exists. There is a war going on under the pretext of a game, using a system similar to those you''re familiar with. Our galaxy has been fighting for well over two hundred years, and it''s our turn to help. It''s been made abundantly clear that if we don''t send warriors, our entire planet will suffer. With that in mind, I''m going to need the absolute best out of each and every one of you. I won''t train anything other than physical fitness, as I''m sure you all know much better than I do about the rest." With that last statement, a brief moment passed with visible disgust on Mark''s face. After a moment of awkward silence, he continued "While I''d love to send you back home and do this myself with trained individuals, I''ve been overruled. There are several busses outside. They''ll be taking us to a remote boot camp in Arizona. Prepare for hell, ladies and gentlemen."


    Seemingly done talking, he stormed out of the room, leaving the two men that had been standing behind him to herd everyone to a rear door, guiding us into a parking bay, dull black buses waiting. I''d like to say it was a short trip, but I was sitting next to an excitable Ganta and we live in Oregon. It was a miserable ride. The next few weeks were far, far worse however. We were up for eighteen hours a day most days, being drilled endlessly by Drill Sergeant Gavre and his band of sadistic brothers. Hiking, obstacle courses, conditioning, more conditioning. Gavre seemed to take perverse pleasure in whipping us into shape. The one thing I was thankful for was the fact that we were strictly kept from becoming a legitimate military unit. Apparently some administrator somewhere thought that it would affect our gaming ability or morale to be held to actual military standards. We were more or less allowed to find our friends from before and link up with them. So far, I had found Nyx, Kympi, Ganta, Sturm, SunCaller, and Jade. All of us were War Priests except for Ganta, but none of us complained. He couldn''t find a single one of his clan members in the Sierra boot camp, and we didn''t know where any other companies were kept. So in our eyes, he was an honorary Priest, and it wasn''t just the fact that he had stomped all of us in game at some point or another. He was legitimately a fun guy to be around, tall and wiry, shoulder length black hair. The guy was an absolute metalhead with the attitude of a saint. A foul mouthed saint with a sense of humor, but a saint nonetheless.


    Nyx was an extremely short Asian girl with black hair down to her waist and a temper shorter than she was. At 4''10", she was easily the smallest person in camp. She had a severe attitude, but if you could get past the caustic treatment, she was actually a deeply caring person with a good heart. It was just hidden behind miles of razor wire and claymores. Kympi was a 6''4" white guy with glasses and short blonde hair. His nose had clearly been broken before. He was a pretty quiet guy for being part of the Priests. All the others except Jade were loud and obnoxious. Jade was a mixed girl that you would never guess played games. She was well spoken and intelligent, more than slightly attractive, with a mildly pretentious attitude. I suppose having rich parents will do that though.


    I never did manage to find Nova, and seeing as it was our last day, I wasn''t going to get that chance. We had come a long way in the short months we had been training. Almost all the fat had left our bones, replaced by hard muscle. Flexibility had gone up all across the board after some professional rogues yelled at Gave about needing more well rounded training. I honestly think they regretted that outburst though. It was the last day and they were still doing extra miles on our daily jog. Apparently today we''re being picked up. We haven''t been told anything more than that, only that we need to muster in front of the mess hall after out morning calisthenics. The entire company has gotten quiet these past two days. Even Ganta is relatively silent, and he never shuts up. I tried briefly to pick up everyone¡¯s spirits, but it didn''t quite work. Everyone is stuck in their thoughts today.


    As we gradually organized ourselves into a loose mob in front of our mess hall, Gavre walked to the front of our mob and shouted "Fall in!" Before taking off at a light jog across our camp. I could hear Sturm swearing under his breath and just chuckled to myself. Sturm had been one of the poor rogues who had been doing extra miles for over a month now. Gavre led us to the open ground in front of the headquarters, but stopped us just before the clearing, looking up at the sky briefly then gazed at his watch. He turned around, catching the eyes of a few of us before he began speaking. "Alright listen up!" His eyebrows knit tightly together, a scowl forming on his face. "When you first got here, I didn''t like a single one of you. You were a bunch if spoiled, entitled pricks who had no idea what it meant to be a functional member of society. Guess what? I still don''t like you. I think you''re still a bunch of pricks, and I think it''s a horrible mistake that we''re sending you. I think you''re all going to get killed, and we''ll be next. With that said, I am proud of a few of you. There''s a few out there who actually gave their all and as pitiful as it was, it showed me you''re taking this seriously. I don''t like any of you, but those few of you that I didn''t have to drag out of bed every morning, thank you for not completely crushing my hope for humanity." His eyes flickered over a few faces, and surprisingly mine was included. "Your ride will be here soon, so try not to embarrass us. You might meet up with some other humans, you might not. It all depends on information we don''t have yet." Glancing at his watch again, the massive drill sergeant looked at the sky and muttered "Good luck."


    Not even a minute later, a massive boulder crashed into the dirt of the clearing, spraying soil, rock and dust everywhere. A cloud of dust blocking the boulder from sight.

 Chapter 2

    The clearing was filled with the sounds of coughing, dust billowing outwards from the impact. I couldn¡¯t see anything through the cloud of dust. I could barely see the people around me. The coughing gradually turned into swearing, one particularly near me, and I unconsciously grinned. That had to be Sturm. The man could embarrass even Gavre with how filthy his mouth was. As soon as Gavre crossed my mind, I glanced back towards where the boulder impacted just in time to see a dull blue glow begin pulsing. Gavre was silhouetted by the pulsing light, clearly holding his arm in front of his eyes as the light grew brighter and brighter. ¡°I think this is your ride, kids!¡± His voice shouted out, raw and filled with gravel. All of a sudden, there was a brilliant flash of blue light, and the cloud of dust was swept away by a massive blast of wind, leaving me with a clear view of Nyx falling on her ass and Ganta laughing hysterically at her. Beyond them though, was a six foot tall rectangular stone, covered with swirling patterns that held a dancing blue light. The patterns themselves seemed to be sitting both above and below the surface of the dark gray stone, and they even seemed to be moving independently. They clearly weren¡¯t carved.


    The rest of Sierra Company began to gather back together again, some having apparently tried to take shelter in nearby buildings. Most of them seemed wary, and to be completely honest, I couldn¡¯t blame them. Being taken away from home and thrown in boot camp was bad enough, not even counting the whole extraterrestrial portion. Not a single one of us had been told what to expect, or what would happen when we left. Most of us kept the practice of using our gamer tags as out names, but that was more to keep things light. The truth was, most of us were terrified, and instead of thinking about it, we worked out every day until we passed out avoid the whole fucked up situation. Two months had made all of us a lot closer, but the sad fact was most of us were highly introverted by nature. Still, by now I knew just about every body in our company.


    The heat of the Arizona sun beat down on us for a solid minute before anything happened. Our company just stood and waited, most of us were unsure of what we were waiting for; coughs and general murmurs rippled silently through the crowd. Suddenly, the patterns on the stone pulsed with light and a voice rang out in my head, deep and boundless. ¡°APPROACH.¡±


    Judging by the way everyone jerked, straightening their backs or tensing as if to run, everyone had heard the voice that seemed to resonate from their very bones. It had seemed ancient almost. Profound and beyond comprehension, the single word seemed to hold the wisdom of worlds, hidden just beyond our understanding. I saw familiar faces looking around, unsure of what to do. Before anyone could step forward or discuss the voice or the glowing boulder, the deep, rumbling voice spoke in our minds once more. ¡°APPROACH YOUNG ONES, AND BE BLESSED. THERE IS MUCH TO DO AND LITTLE TIME TO IT.¡±


    Gavre seemed to have heard the voice as well, and he turned to face us, his habitual scowl present on his craggy face. ¡°Well do you need a fucking invitation?¡± As soon as he spoke, several of the braver members scrambled towards the glowing stone. ¡°I didn¡¯t waste my time out here in this godforsaken heat just for you bastards to stand around quivering when the time comes to leave.¡± As he continued to talk, the rest of Sierra and I headed towards the stone, Ganta and SunCaller racing at the front. Nyx, Kympi, and I hung back, watching Jade and Sturm fight their way towards the front as well.


    Kympi sighed, running a tanned hand through his short blonde hair. His eyes were filled with trepidation as he finally spoke up, drawing our attention to him. ¡°We¡¯re actually doing this? Whatever this is.¡± He scratched at his chin before looking at the two of us. ¡°We¡¯re actually leaving Earth to play a game.¡±


    Nyx just nodded, seeming for all the world like she couldn¡¯t actually care. I spared her a quick glance before I replied, ¡°It honestly doesn¡¯t sound like it¡¯s going to be a game to me. It sounds like it will be a lot like a game, but not actually a game.¡± I gazed down at my own body, almost in disbelief as to how far I¡¯d come so fast. I was like an entirely different person. Broad, with defined musculature, still heavy, but with restrained power instead of a restrained gut. ¡°I don¡¯t think we would¡¯ve been trained this hard if it was actually a game. They would¡¯ve had us in our dive gear for that.¡±


    Kympi nodded thoughtfully, a small hint of a smile touching the corner of his mouth. We had continued to move forward, the front finally reaching the stone when the voice boomed once more in our heads. ¡°PLACE YOUR DOMINANT HAND ON THE KEY STONE. YOU WILL BE CHOSEN AND SENT. MAY THE UNIVERSE WITNESS YOUR RISE.¡±


    A faint murmur of excitement and anxiety rolled over our crowd. This was the first verification that we had gotten on what was going to happen. Even if it was cryptic as hell, I certainly appreciated it. It was more information than we had gotten in weeks. I stood up straight, straining to see the front, my neck stretching as much as it could. I was lucky enough to see a bright flash of light that shot towards the sky, almost like a reversed bolt of lightning. ¡°Holy Fuck!¡± Someone shouted out as the murmuring grew even louder, the excitement palpable. The next few minutes were filled with flashes of that reverse lightning and the crowd slowly shrinking in size. By the time we got close, I could feel almost a faint vibration in the air, growing stronger the closer we got to the stone. Nyx was getting grumpier and grumpier, bouncing on the balls of her feet and grumbling at us for holding her back, causing Kympi and I to burst out laughing. This, of course, just made her glare at us and stomp her way forward, her long black hair swaying back and forth while she shoved past a few of the other members of our company. I recognized them, but couldn¡¯t quite place them to a gamer tag off the top of my head. Kympi suddenly spoke up, that small smile still on his face, his eyes lighting up briefly. ¡°You should¡¯ve asked her out years ago, my friend.¡±


    ¡°Nyx?¡±


    ¡°No, that girl Janice from your gym class. Yes, you moron, who¡¯d you think I was talking about.¡± He turned to me with that soft smirk still on his face. His eyes were hard to read, but seemed caring enough. It was hard to tell if he was messing with me, but that wasn¡¯t really Kympi''s style. He was more of the moral support and light teasing kind of guy.


    I just scratched my forehead and arched an eyebrow, questioning him. ¡°Putting aside the topic for another time, do you really think now is the time for that conversation?¡± The tall man beside me just shook his head, and good naturedly called me a moron again before pushing ahead. I didn¡¯t understand what the big deal was and I wasn¡¯t quite sure what had even prompted him to ask. I just shook my head, and pushed forward towards the stone, one of the last to approach. That was kinda weird.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Up close, I could finally see what was causing the lightning effect. When Nyx reached out and placed her palm on the stone, the swirling patterns seemed to move up her arm, covering her with a rapidly increasing light. In the span of what was most likely only a second or two, that light reached a climax and Nyx shot towards the sky, her body no longer visible. The atmosphere around her path seemed displaced, quickly rushing in to fill the space behind her. I wasn¡¯t quite sure how it had happened, but it looked incredible. Quickly glancing back at the stone, it appeared that the patterns we¡¯re all still there, and they didn¡¯t look like they had moved from their original position, despite me seeing the light crawling up Nyx''s arm. I tried to puzzle out how what was now clearly glowing carvings could move like they had, with absolutely no success. Whatever was going on here was well above my level of knowledge.


    There were only about twenty of us left when it was finally my turn. The vibrating heat in the air almost burned. It was energizing and comfortable, yet almost volatile in a way. Like it contained an energy that was never meant to fit into this boulder. As I placed my hand on the surprisingly cool stone, a brief wind stirred in the Arizona heat. Just before the pattern began to crawl up my arm I had enough time to register that the patterns formed something that looked almost like a doorway. I had no time to think about it though, as suddenly, my world was filled with a pure light, and my body felt as though it was tearing apart. Without even a moment to scream in the blistering pain that rippled through me, everything faded to black.


    I was woken up by an annoyed grunt and a boot to the face. ¡°You Humans really need to stop doing that. I¡¯m not used to having to rush through this.¡± I groggily pushed off the ground, trying to focus on the origin of the voice. As the fog of sleep left me, I saw a middle aged man in flannel and jeans, a gray beard covering the majority of his face. ¡°I¡¯ll spare you the coming questions by answering them right now, I¡¯m on a time limit. No, I¡¯m not a human, I only look like one. It¡¯s meant to make you acclimate to the change in reality. You¡¯ll be sent to a world called Atar and yes, the other humans will be there as well.¡± The man grumbled a bit, shifting in his chair, and I took the brief moment to study the¡­ Cabin? I was in what looked like a log cabin. The walls were clearly wooden, the gaps filled with what looked almost like hardened clay. There was a fireplace on the wall behind me, currently blazing brightly. My eyes snapped back to the old man as he continued. ¡°Pay attention, boy. I am what you Humans would call a god, though I¡¯m much closer to a natural law or phenomenon. Don¡¯t interrupt, I still have much to say. Your world was selected to provide much needed warriors, healers, whatever was needed really. Your galaxy is currently in a civil war, which is a problem because of the universal war that the main government of your galaxy is also fighting. Your Earth government was given the choice between plunging your world into chaos and having those who thrived being taken offworld, or offering a certain amount of humans that could be trained from scratch. Your government chose the second, which is why I¡¯m currently so damn busy. Don¡¯t interrupt, boy.¡±


    I had been leaning forward, about to interject when he snapped at me. I wanted to talk more about the whole war thing, but I just sat back and frowned, waiting until I could get more clarification. Also, a GOD? I thought that we were supposed to be joining aliens, not gods. A frown began to cross my face as my eyebrows scrunched together. ¡°Normally, us gods wouldn¡¯t get involved this early, but the Celentiel Republic didn¡¯t want yet another race to join the growing resistance forces, which is why your Earth was given a choice. I think it was a bad one for what its worth.¡± The man shifted and scratched his beard. ¡°I suppose I should introduce myself though. Call me Dain. I¡¯m the Hermit. My generous brothers and sisters passed this job off on me because they think I should have more company.¡± He grunted, a scowl forming on his face. ¡°In normal circumstances, you¡¯d only meet me after reaching a certain level, something you¡¯ll find out later. Don¡¯t fucking bug me about it, there¡¯s things that people that aren¡¯t gods can tell you. Don¡¯t waste my time. Normally, I¡¯d send you off to one of my brothers or sisters, and they¡¯d give you a gift based on the type of person you are, but I¡¯m not gonna do that this time.¡± The stocky man leaned forward, his hands gripping the armrests of his wooden chair. His eyes were stern and stormy grey. ¡°This time, I want a stake in things too. From time to time I¡¯ll find one I want to guide. It rarely happens, so I suggest you accept. If you use the gift well, it can change your fate. If you use it poorly, it will destroy you.¡± Sitting back, he settled himself into the chair, sighing. ¡°So boy? What will it be? The blessing of the hermit, or trying your luck with one of my siblings?¡±


    Being perfectly honest, I wasn¡¯t ready to make that kind of decision, but I was still floundering over the rest of the information given. From the sound of things, we were chosen as sacrifices to prevent Earth from descending into chaos. This Celentiel Republic was the governing body of our galaxy and they were currently involved in a civil war and a war with other galaxies. If they weren¡¯t, Earth would already be involved in something. Since the Republic needs our support, we were given the opportunity to avoid that. Dain here was a hermit god who sent people to the god or goddess they were most like? I didn¡¯t quite enjoy the fact that in that case the best choice for me was a hermit. Glancing around the cabin, it looked almost bare. There was a bearskin rug on the floor, but other than some simple furniture, it was empty in the cabin. Dain himself was sitting back, rocking casually in his chair. His massive form seemed oddly relaxed for how much he had complained about being in a hurry. I cleared my throat before speaking up. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll stick with you.¡±


    A broad grin formed on Dain''s face, his teeth off-white. His flannel jacket strained against his body as he stood to stand, and it was only then that I realized just how muscular this god was. He reached out to grab my hand and pulled me up off of the ground. ¡°Excellent! Well then Patrick! Or should I call you Rider?¡±


    ¡°Am I going to have to go by a nickname?¡±


    ¡°Most go by an alias of some kind. Keeps others from going after family or friends. Plus it¡¯s just poor form.¡± The muscled hermit shrugged as he moved towards the door.


    ¡°Then just call me Rider.¡±


    ¡°Good choice. I like the name, by the way.¡± He paused by the door and turned to face me, a hint of emotion I couldn¡¯t place darting across his face. ¡°My siblings think I¡¯m stingy. My gift is not an easy thing to have, and will not help you immediately.¡± Dain coughed into his beard before continuing. ¡°It¡¯s all you¡¯ll get from me until I find you worthy of more. Now get the fuck out of my house.¡±


    With that, he opened the door, revealing swirling patterns of light, and the blinding flash from when I touched the stone tore me apart once more, searing me down to the bone. The last thing I heard before I passed out once more was an amused voice. ¡°You humans really need to stop passing out.¡±