《The Adventures of Bawb: the Forest of Monsters》


 Chapter 1

    I entered the astral realm while dreaming and found a portal so beautiful that I felt called to it. I opened the portal and immediately snapped back into my body, but this time I wasn''t lying on my bed. I found myself suspended in a viscous green liquid, with needles in my veins that fed me some sort of black serum through fine tubes. Floating in that strange capsule I felt numb and my vision was blurry, until after a short struggle I was able to see more clearly and move my arms and legs. Through the glass I saw figures pacing back and forth, looking and pointing at me, talking amongst themselves. I was a lab rat. They were experimenting on me, doing who knows what! Little by little, I began to feel the tingling all throughout my body as it began to wake up. I was afraid, but I felt strong. And I was angry.


    I began to pound on the glass, and the figures on the other side looked stunned for a moment. After several punches the glass didn''t break and the shadows on the other side seemed to relax and carry on. I could still hear the remnants of their voices through the thick liquid. How had this happened? Was this part of the dream? I had no oxygen mask, but I wasn''t running out of breath and the more time passed, the better I felt. After the better part of an hour, and by the way things were going, I realized they had no plans of letting me go. Was this some form of medical treatment? But what kind of illness makes you feel this alive? The black liquid flooding my veins didn''t look too promising for medicine, that much was certain. I considered for a moment that instead of pumping something into me, they might''ve been sucking my blood out; at least that''d explain the color. Would pulling the needles out kill me? One thing I knew in the back of my mind: whatever their purpose was, they had no use for a corpse floating in green oil, so if I tried to kill myself, they''d try to prevent it.


    Thinking that way, I removed the needle from my left arm and held it tightly, leaving a trace of black liquid that slowly fused with the rest. The figures on the other side got restless, but they shouldn''t have worried so much. After all, I was going to join them soon. With the needle in my hand I jabbed at the glass, and a visible crack appeared. I struck again, and by the third strike the cracks became so large that some of the fluid began to pour out. I leaned with my back against the rear of the capsule and kicked the fractured front using my entire body until it exploded forward with a gush of green oil. No longer being suspended, I suddenly had to support myself and the confusion made me stumble for a moment while I cautiously crept out of the capsule. I stood and tried to look around, but my eyes hadn''t adjusted to the change of environment yet. I rubbed my face and a sudden cough sprang up from the bottom of my chest, a cough that made me spew more of the green fluid through my mouth and nose. In that moment I heard one of the voices like an echo: "Hold him! Use the sedative!" Oh, if there was one thing I didn''t want, it was to be held and sedated like some wild animal.


    One of them snatched an injector from a nearby table and lunged at me. I threw a punch while trying to dodge, but my balance was off and the tubes that were still attached to my body hindered my movements. My fist missed the target and in the next moment I felt the injection in my chest. It must''ve hit a bone, because the pain was sharp and almost made me crumple over; the good part was that the sedative had no effect. With my right hand I grabbed the guy who''d injected me by his robes, and with the left I swept away the tubes from my body while the other two guys were still standing a few paces away. One of them suddenly snapped and ran through a door screaming for help, and the other scrambled to find another injector. I clocked the man who was trying to escape from my grasp and his entire head spun around before he collapsed. The other gave a squeak and stumbled backward trying to reach the door, but I ran up to him and pushed him against a wall from behind with all my weight. He fell, and before he could get back up I kicked him in the chest and the impact made him hit the wall with the back of his head. When they were both laying on the ground, I closed the door and examined the room.


    Aside from the huge broken capsule, the room had a long table full of different containers with blue and purple substances, a few bowls with powders and two sets of needles, scissors and knives. Beneath the table were several sets of drawers, and a few paces away was a desk with a thick book open on top, along with a pot of ink and three quills. On each side of the desk were two large bookcases almost filled with similar books. The only sources of light in the room were four jars full of glowing yellow balls hanging from the ceiling, two near the capsule, one above the table and one above the desk. I ran toward the desk and tried to read the open book, but couldn''t understand anything. It had strange writings, charts and several diagrams, as well as sketches of human body parts with notes around them. A lab rat, I knew it!


    I had a feeling that more guys would be coming to recapture me, and there were no windows to jump out of. I dragged each of the unconscious men and placed them on the ground blocking the door to gain a little more time. I grabbed one of the scissors and prepared myself, but nobody came. In the meantime I checked the drawers and found a few folded robes like the ones being worn by my captors. It was better than running around naked, so I put one on and waited a bit longer. It felt sticky against the mixture of blood and green oil that covered my skin, but since the bleeding seemed to be minimal, I forgot about the discomfort quickly. Still, nobody came, and it couldn''t be blind luck. They must''ve been waiting for me somewhere else, perhaps implying that there was only one exit. This looked like an underground structure, seeing that the ceilings were made of wood while the walls and the floor were stone, which meant I''d have to climb some stairs to escape. The stairs would be where they''d set the ambush, then.


    I climbed onto the long table and unhooked the glowing jar from the ceiling. It wasn''t hot, so my plan of throwing it in someone''s face wouldn''t be as effective as I thought, but the broken glass might still be enough to distract an enemy and having a source of light could be useful, since I didn''t know whether it was night or day at the moment. Thus armed with a jar of glowing balls and a pair of scissors I decided to venture out, especially because I wanted this part to be over so we could get on to the good stuff. After unblocking the door and peeking out I saw nothing more than a long hallway lined with doors that extended to my right and left, at least fifteen of them. There was nothing to signal the way out, so I took to the right and did my best to walk silently on the cold stone floor. At the end of the hallway was another door. I tried it, but it was locked.


    Stolen story; please report.


    After a few seconds of thought, I went back to the initial room and searched the unconscious bodies for the key, which I found in one of their robe pockets. I opened the door and found several wooden crates, shelves and pots full of assorted materials. The ambush could wait, so I picked up some of the items to see if anything was useful. One of the flasks had a pale green-yellow liquid, much closer to water than oil, which released a strong smell when I opened it. Something about it made me suspicious, and I decided to test it by pouring some of it onto a box. When the first drop touched the box, it immediately turned brown and released a faint white smoke. After a few seconds the small surface of wood became a dense black foam, and shortly after there was a hole in the crate where the drop had been. Some sort of strong acid; certainly useful. I put it in one of my robe''s pockets and left the storage room.


    It was clear by now that the exit would be on the other end of the hallway, so I carefully walked across it holding the scissors ready to defend myself. Another door, this time unlocked, and immediately afterwards a small empty space with a winding staircase going down and up. This got me confused, but I''d already committed to the idea of going up, so that''s what I did. As expected, I emerged into an open space where the light of my jar only showed several trees, two flowerbeds and a water fountain. The stars were bright, but I couldn''t see much further. Also as expected, four guys in leather armor were waiting for me, accompanied by the one who''d taken off running when I broke the capsule. The guards were holding clubs and torches, and one of them had a net like you''d see in a gladiator movie, and they all gave me strange looks for a moment, as if my robe had made them unsure of who I was.


    With little intention to stay and chat, I took just a second to look around and started running. Soon I saw a huge wall of stone in front of me, but instead of stopping I changed direction and charged toward a gate where a single guard was posted. As I approached, I noticed the gate was held shut by a beam of wood across the two pieces. The guard saw me coming and started toward me, but I kept running and simply slammed him in the face with the glowing jar when he was close enough. The jar broke into shards that cut him up and the glowing balls fell to the ground and scattered in all directions as the guard fell to the floor. I must''ve stepped on some of the broken glass, because a sudden pain ran through my entire leg as I made for the gate.


    The other guards arrived only seconds later, and one of them came swinging at me. He struck me in the back and I turned around on reflex to stab him with the scissors. I got him in the neck and he stumbled back before collapsing slowly to his knees and then onto the ground. The others were stunned and seemed unable to believe what had just happened. I braced myself as one of them finally regained his composure and came down with a swing of his club. I blocked some of the impact with my free arm, but the pain was intense. I tried to stab him in response, but his leather armor got in the way and he was able to retreat before I could attack again. In that moment I grabbed the wooden beam and threw it off to unlock the gate, then turned back around just in time to defend against another attack. The guard exchanging blows with me shouted at the two others behind him: "come help, you cowards!" and the strangest thought flashed into my mind. How could I understand what he was saying? It didn''t sound like any language I''d heard in my life, but I was certain of the meaning as I had been back when the robed guys tried to sedate me. Couldn''t be just intuition, right?


    The only way to know for certain would be to get them talking, so I tried something of my own: "back off. Back off! Let me leave now, and I won''t have to kill you." I said it in my native language, and they didn''t seem to catch any of it. What a strange set of circumstances, huh? Killing strangers in some sort of castle as if it was easy as a mere throw of dice. Back in my world I would''ve been shocked and terrified, regretting my choices in a shivering bath of my own cold sweat as the idea of being jailed for murder dawned on me, but here it felt so unreal, almost like a playground, that I felt only wonder and a slight worry for my life.


    One of the guards announced that he was going to fetch reinforcements and ran off into the darkness while the other two remained in place. The aggressive one must''ve wanted revenge for his comrades or something, because he lunged at me again with visible strain on his jaw. I evaded in time and picked up a club from one of the corpses. Pushing my back against the gate yielded no results, which made me think it must''ve opened inward. If I didn''t manage to open it before more guards arrived, it''d be my doom. But how, if the guys in front of me would bash me in the back of the head as soon as I turned around?


    At that moment I remembered the flask in my pocket and what it had done to the wooden crate. The gate was made of wood, but I assumed it''d be too thick to be melted quickly, and even then I''d risk getting burned trying to pass through the black foam. That meant I''d have to add more violent crimes to my already surprising list. I exchanged the scissors in my hand for the flask in my pocket, uncorked it with a flick of my thumb and began to fling the nasty liquid onto the two guards, aiming for their faces. As soon as the liquid touched their faces, faint strings of smoke appeared and their flesh turned black and bubbled. The two men screamed and dropped their weapons to rub their eyes, but it was no use. While they were writhing and stumbling backward, I tossed the flask away and opened the gate in a hurry.


    The outside was dark, but thanks to the starlight I could make out the shapes of distant buildings below. I ran without looking back, trying to figure out where to hide. They were going to chase me, no doubt about that, so I''d need to get as far away as possible soon. The night would make it harder for them to find me, but it''d also make it impossible for me to travel in this unknown land of dreams. While running I tried to discern where exactly I was and what paths I could take. At first it was a downward incline with a clear view of a city below, but after a few minutes I reached the base of the hill where there was a large square paved with cobblestone and surrounded by elegant buildings. I chose a direction based on my gut alone and continued at a slower pace until I reached an area with much smaller buildings and tighter streets.

 Chapter 2

    It must''ve been later than I thought, because I began to feel the cool scent of the morning much sooner than I''d expected. While walking in the city I eventually relaxed and forgot about my urgent situation. If it was a dream nothing would matter anyway, but if it was real, if I had somehow entered a different world through an astral portal, it could mean a revolution in our entire view of the universe. Would I return to my world if I fell asleep again? Would I have to consciously look for another portal to go back? The thought of cutting this adventure short made me want to stay awake. In spite of everything that had happened, I felt wonderful. No, I felt like that precisely because of what had happened. I had just stabbed my way out of a castle where a bunch of dudes were trying to run some weird experiments on me, of course I felt powerful! It was like the concept of fear had completely vanished from my mind. Now, I have to admit that such a state of mind might''ve been slightly dangerous, after all, it made me want to rampage and see just how far I could take it. Still, I wasn''t going to pretend like it wasn''t fun.


    When the sun came up I was still walking about in the city, and suddenly the streets that used to be empty were flooded with people coming out of their houses. Some of them were lively, some were complaining and nagging, but I didn''t see a difference. To me, this completely stereotypical medieval town looked every bit as charming as the most exotic vacation resort in Dubai. Not that I''d ever visited such a place, but who cares? Speaking of Dubai, how come I had spent a good portion of the night walking barefoot, wearing nothing more than a robe, in this generic representation of medieval Europe without feeling the slightest bit chilly? It must''ve been summertime, or perhaps the sensors of my body weren''t functioning properly. I looked at my feet, rubbed my hands together and touched my face, but nothing showed signs of being cold. Strong evidence to suggest that I had some sort of plot armor.


    Watching people go by, and getting some strange looks in return, I remembered that the guards in the castle hadn''t been able to understand what I''d said to them in my native language and, although I could understand every spoken word I''d heard so far, the writings on that big book were beyond my comprehension. This led me to believe that I''d been bestowed a partial knowledge of the local tongue which only allowed me to hear, not read or speak. A strange sensation, because the words weren''t available in my head until I heard them, but it was still a decent advantage.


    I decided to listen carefully to every conversation I could overhear and do the excercise of remembering the words and practicing their pronunciation. It wasn''t the most enlightening excercise of my life, seeing as most people couldn''t be bothered to discuss anything richer than gossip about so-and-so''s quarrel with who-cares-whom over the lack of commitment to household chores, but it taught me a few useful things; most notably: that I must''ve been a wizard, because "who else would wear such an ugly robe?" This confirmed that wizards were common enough in this world to be recognized by the average citizen, although I hadn''t seen any magic in the castle, which made me suspect that wizards were merely extravagant scientists.


    During my observations it became clear that the populace didn''t think anything of me, so I was relieved to know that I wasn''t an officially wanted criminal yet. I ended up following a pair of women who were taking a litter of six children to church. A good place to seek help, right? It was the tallest building I''d seen so far in the city, made of smooth stone with intricate decorations everywhere I looked: the bricks were colored in patterns, the windows were reinforced with slim columns carved in ascending flower designs and had detailed mosaics depicting scenes of people talking to demons on one side and beings of flaming light on the other, the immense doors had iron plates and handles molded like fractal branches, the ceiling had frescoes with golden accents and the pillars were carved to resemble totems of several humanoid heads with stern expressions piled on each other. It was impressive enough to make me feel ashamed of being there.


    But the most impressive thing was the priest. He wore the expected white robe with a red belt and golden edges, had the calm demeanor of someone who has no troubles in life and walked about greeting everyone with a smile. And his ears were pointy. Not slightly so it could be explained by reason, they were as long as his entire face like the blade of a knife. After noticing that, I took a closer look at him and saw that his eyes were large and his lips thin, all of which amounted to an unsettling appearance. I''d often seen drawings of elves and dwarves, but seeing one in the flesh was entirely different. If elves were supposed to be beautiful, then I had come across the ugly duckling. Perhaps it was a matter of getting used to it, or the people in this world had much different tastes. Would a female elf appear beautiful to me? It seemed unlikely, but punching scientists in a lab also seemed unlikely before I did it, so I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.


    He must''ve seen me staring, because he gave me a cautious glance and began to walk in my direction as soon as he was done chatting with the two women that I''d followed. As he stood in front of me I realized he was very tall compared to most of the humans I had seen so far, and his tone of voice, although soft, carried a hint of annoyance when he addressed me:


    "I don''t often see Academy fellows here, to what do I owe the pleasure?"


    "No Academy, I not wizard," I said, trying to make my message clearer by gesturing. He looked me up and down as if deciding whether to believe me or not, and I continued "I not find home, come church for, uh..."


    "You''re lost, is it? And just who gave you that robe?"


    "I are in Academy, I fight, I run, come church."


    "Oh my, what a mistake. That''s not blood, is it?" he said, pointing to my hands. How had I not noticed it before? Must''ve been too excited to care. I hesitated, and he took it for an answer. The elf priest furrowed his brow and looked around at the crowd which had already filled most of the pews, and it crossed my mind that he had no intention of sheltering a murderer.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "I not bad. Lost. Wizard bad." It would''ve been useful to conjure up the word ''help,'' but I couldn''t remember it.


    "Listen, I believe you, but this is not a good time to be discussing such matters. Go to the back and wait until I finish my sermon, then we''ll talk."


    "I listen sermon, learn words, learn talk good."


    "Fine, fine! Sit over there and hide your hands. Ah, miss Blabiddi, so good to see you!" he said, and promptly walked off like I didn''t exist.


    Taking his advice, I clasped my hands together in front of my body and covered them with my sleeves like a monk before taking a seat next to an old man about midway from the entrance to the back. As before, people didn''t think much of me besides noticing how ugly my robe was, although I couldn''t exactly compliment their outfits either. Why did the priest seem so nervous? It might''ve been his fear of dealing with a violent criminal, but aren''t men like him accustomed to seeing all sorts of cruel realities?


    I kept asking myself these questions while the priest gave his service, but didn''t strive to answer them. At least his existence hinted at the possibility of magic being real in this world. Would I also find goblins, dwarves, undead and other kinds of creatures here? Just the thought of it made me rock back and forth in my seat. How exciting! I had no intention to blend in and stay safe any more than strictly necessary, and since I was already a murderer, might as well roll with it. Now, of course I would risk getting chopped in half or tortured to death by my next enemy, or by the current ones, but my blood was so hot and the whole atmosphere felt so unreal, that losing didn''t even seem like a possibility.


    By the time the sermon was done I had calmed down, and when the crowd began to disperse I approached the priest again.


    "Come with me," he said, and headed into a small room with a desk, three chairs and a bookshelf. I sat across from him and waited while he rubbed the bridge of his nose and stared into the void. After a minute he spoke:


    "All this worry without a single drop of courtesy, shame on both of us. I believe introductions are in order. My name is Kihergan, I oversee the south-western brach of the Followers of the Light. What is your name?"


    "Bawb," I said flatly. New world, new name.


    "That''s it?" he replied after a pause, with his brows high up. I nodded, and Kihergan shook his head before continuing:


    "I must be honest with you, Bawb. We can''t hide you here. Things are already tense enough between the Followers of the Light and the Academy without us lending our facilities to one of their fugitives."


    "But, they..." I started, and he held up a hand to interrupt me as he began to speak again:


    "I don''t believe that you deserve whatever they have in store for you, Bawb. The Academy isn''t exactly known for its moral firmness. However, being innocent will only get you so far in a city like this, especially when your enemies are so prominent."


    "What I do? Not can go other place, not know!"


    "That''s what I''m trying to figure out, let me see... Ah, perhaps you could go with Galian, I doubt that the Academy will extend a search outside of Surom. Yes, that''s a plan!"


    "Who Galian?"


    "He''s one of our acolytes, due to visit the town of Brimbrom, to the south, in two days. He''s going there with a respected merchant called Stuart, perhaps you''ve heard of him?"


    "No, not know one thing" I said, shaking my head at my own poor attempt at communication. I meant to state my absolute ignorance of this world, its landmarks and inhabitants.


    "Don''t worry, all you need to know is that Stuart peddles many different kinds of goods. I''m thinking that we could smuggle you out of Surom and into Brimbrom in his cart. Disguised, of course."


    "Brimbrom safe?" I said, actually finding this plan exciting.


    "It will be for a while, but you shouldn''t linger there. Now, it has been awhile since my last visit, so the matter of where to go next will best be left for you to discuss with Galian once you''ve arrived," Kihergan said, twirling his fingers across his chest as he leaned back on his chair.


    "Thank you," I started, but he held up a hand again.


    "Not so fast, there''s one more thing to mention. Since you will have to wait, I suggest you find a discreet place. This may not be pleasant, but the slums are your safest option at the moment. Quite ironic, I know, but it is the truth. As you no doubt have confirmed, those Academy fellows can be much more dangerous than common thugs with knives."


    "And where be slums?"


    "Head east from here, you will know when you''ve reached them. Where exactly you spend your time is up to you, just make sure to come back in two days."


    "Will come back. Thank you," I said, and this time he nodded with a faint smile. He got up from his chair waving a finger, saying:


    "Before you go I''ll give you some clothes, that robe will get you noticed much faster than you''d like. Wait here."


    Kihergan left the room and came back a few minutes later with a bowl of water and a fresh set of clothing. He told me to wash my hands, get rid of the robe far away from the church and come back at noon in two days, and immediately left the office again in a hurry. I was left alone to change and process the new information I''d been given. The clothes were simple: a plain green shirt and brown trousers, no underwear and no shoes. Was this the extent of medieval poverty? After splashig some water on my face and washing my hands, I folded the robe as small as I could and exited the church. As I was leaving, a group of seven guys equipped with flashy suits of armor and weapons walked past me while chatting amongst themselves. By their varied equipment I could tell that they must''ve been some sort of adventuring party, but since those types have a high chance of being greedy mercenaries I decided to stay away from them just in case; it wouldn''t be strange for the Academy to put a bounty on my head.


    I walked around the city for a while until I was certain that my pursuers wouldn''t link the discarded robe to the church if they found it here, then I threw the robe into an alley and went on my way. Getting accustomed to this world made me notice things that had escaped me before, like the fact that nobody seemed bothered by the club I was carrying, since adventurers came and went armed to the teeth. The winding streets were a bit confusing, especially near the slums, where the entire atmosphere began to change subtly until it became evident that this area was a rat nest. Crooked buildings that appeared to be on the verge of collapse, rubble and trash strewn about, large patches of cloth hanging everywhere, no more cobblestone pavement, people sleeping on the street and only a few businesses that dealt mostly with food and assorted cheap trinkets. It was easy to understand why nobody would come searching for me here, since it looked just like a medieval version of the high crime neighborhoods of my world.

 Chapter 3

    It must''ve been past noon when I remembered that I hadn''t eaten anything since arriving in this world, and that thought made me hungry. I assumed that nobody would be giving away food or money in the slums, and finding a temporary job around here must''ve been equally unlikely, so I decided to keep searching for a place to stay and worry about food later. Roaming the slums looking for a job wasn''t a very glamorous adventure, but it was dangerous in its own right and I wanted to avoid stealing and causing trouble if possible. I might''ve been strong enough to defend myself, but two days was a long enough time for an enemy faction to prepare something nasty if I angered the wrong people.


    As I was considering my options and asking the heavens for inspiration, I came across a strange spectacle: several thugs were dragging a middle-aged man and a younger one out of a house and along the street in my direction while the screams of a woman could be heard from inside. The two men were badly beaten, but still tried to fight off the gang. I knew that they stood no chance. They''d just get knocked out trying to defend that woman who was at the mercy of those bastards.


    Angering the wrong people was a dangerous game to play, but what screams "adventure" louder than risking your life to help a bunch of strangers? I rushed in and swung my club at one of the thugs who had his back toward me. He heard me coming and managed to dodge just in time to avoid my strike. I shouted at the two men "Fight! I help you!" as the thugs insulted me and began to pull their daggers.


    I could see five gangsters in the street, plus three inside of the house. Good odds. I struck the one who''d evaded me square in the jaw and he fell to the mud like a sack of potatoes. The others didn''t seem bothered and approached me with the intent to surround me. The closest thug went for a stab, but I parried it with my club by striking his hand and making him drop the dagger. Without giving him a moment to recover, I bashed him over the head for a quick knockout. The other three tried to surround me, but as soon as they turned their backs to the two bloodied men, each of them grabbed the knife arm of one thug, leaving only one to attack me. He made to stab me, but I saw it coming and circled around grabbing his free arm to prevent him from facing me. Then I brought the pain down on the back of his head and he was reduced to a convulsing mess on the ground.


    While the two pairs were busy wrestling for the knives, I attacked again and brought another gangster down. The younger man was now free to help the older one with a barrage of punches that knocked the fifth gangster to his knees, where the older man finished him off with a kick to the head.


    "Grab knife and follow me!" I said to the men, who promptly did so before rushing into the house. Three bad guys and three of us. I was surprised to see a second woman there, already half naked. If we''d been just a little faster, we could''ve caught the remaining three guys defenseless, but they were already on their feet and ready to fight when we entered the house.


    I released a flurry of strikes on the closest enemy, who put up both of his arms to block until he couldn''t endure it anymore and exposed his head. My last blow crushed his nose with a spray of blood and laid him flat on his back. Meanwhile, the others exchanged knife swings and the two men that I was helping were on the losing end of the fight, although they hadn''t received any lethal wounds. The older of the two women threw a clay pot at one of the thugs and hit him in the back of the head, which was distracting enough to make him open his defense and let the younger man stab him in the gut. When the bleeding thug clutched at his abdomen as a reflex, the man stabbed him repeatedly while screaming like a maniac. At the same time I helped the older man by striking his opponent in the elbow, which made a terrible cracking noise, to create an opening. The older man wasn''t as vicious in his attack, but still managed to stab the thug in the eye and then in the throat.


    As the last gangster choked on his own blood and slowly collapsed to the ground, the older man dropped the knife and stared with a look of horror fixed on his face. The younger man was still jumpy from the rage, looking around as if searching for more enemies, while the two women hugged each other and cried kneeling on the floor.


    "Oh, by the Light... What did we just do? I killed... I just killed a man!" said the older man with tears in his eyes. I guessed that should have been my reaction back at the castle if I wasn''t such a heartless bastard.


    I went outside to give them some privacy and to loot the bodies of the thugs that were splayed in the middle of the street. Not much to find aside from four silver coins and a handful of copper coins. If this world obeyed the rules of stereotypical fantasy, that sum of money would be enough to get me food and a place to stay for the time being. As I was picking up my amazing treasure, people began to emerge from the nearby houses and sniff around. The neighbors had watched the entire fight, they knew exactly what was happening from the beginning, but only decided to come out after the trouble was over. Typical.


    They gathered at the house of the family that had just fought for their lives and spewed nonsense that made my blood boil.


    "You stood up to Knifey''s men, are you mad?"


    "Now they''re going to burn all our houses to ash!"


    "Why didn''t you just pay the fee and keep your head down?"


    On and on they went, until the younger man got fed up with their bickering and drove them away by threatening them with the still-bloody knife. As they passed me by, they cast accusatory glances at me, but none dared say anything. As I was getting up to leave, the older woman stopped me.


    "Thank you for helping us. Trouble ain''t over, but we''ll never forget what you did for us today."


    "No trouble." I meant to say ''no problem,'' but couldn''t remember the word.


    "Those sons of bitches been lookin'' for an excuse to touch my sister for a long time. Glad you were here, stranger," said the young man, still holding on to his rage.Stolen story; please report.


    "Glad to help."


    "We ain''t got much, but please let us know if there''s anything we can do to repay you," said the woman, who must''ve been the mother of this family.


    "I need food and place to sleep for two days. You can do?" I replied, and the woman nodded immediately.


    "House is small but we''ll make room for ya! And if them bastards come knockin'' again you can just kick their asses again!"


    I had no intention to act as a guard dog for this family, but explaining that would''ve been difficult with my limited vocabulary, so I simply remained silent. We entered the house and saw the father hugging his daughter, who did nothing but cry. Upon catching sight of me, he bowed his head saying:


    "Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I can''t even think about what woulda happened if you wasn''t here. Now we gotta take care of them dead guys ''fore they start rottin''."


    "I''ll do it, Pops. Just dump ''em in the old square, cover ''em up good," said the son as he made to pick up one of the corpses. His father stopped him and said:


    "Can''t just carry ''em like that, we gots wrap them up so nobody knows nothing ''bout it. Bring me some sheets or some sacks."


    Thus I watched them put the corpses in two large sacks and carry them off. I offered to follow just in case, but the mother told me not to worry and promised to serve me a bowl of soup, so I stayed. The daughter was still weeping while her mother stoked the fire, and only stopped when her father and brother, who came back after twenty minutes, told her to stop being an ungrateful brat. She switched to full anger in a heartbeat, and said to them:


    "You can''t ever tell Maxis ''bout this, you hear me?! This all happened ''cause of you anyway!"


    "Who be Maxis?" I asked, already anticipating the answer.


    "Just some fancy-pants rich boy who my little sister here been gettin'' all lovey-dovey with," said her brother.


    "We are in love and we''re gonna get married, you pig-headed bum!"


    "See how she tryna talk all fancy and elegant? Wake up, sis, he don''t love you! If he did, you oughta be livin'' in some manor, eating lamb and wine every day."


    So the quarrel continued for a few minutes, but I stopped paying attention. Seeing the fire alone was enough to make my stomach growl and I struggled to find anything more interesting than the promised bowl of soup at that moment. While I was waiting for the meal, the thought came to me that the unconscious thugs would have to wake up eventually, and I wondered what they''d do then. In the end I worried for nothing, because just as my soup was being laid on the table I saw the first guy standing up on wobbly legs and tumbling away like a drunkard, clearly still confused. After that they began to wake up and scurry off one by one until the street was clear again.


    By that time the sun had begun to set and I decided to ask the older woman some questions about this city. She was the only one to stay in the house after the two men had gone off to finish their work for the day and the daughter had expanded her tantrum by storming off with a friend who''d come to check on her after she ''heard what happened.'' Letting that girl run around on her own; in the slums and near dusk, no less; looked like a terrible idea to me, but her mother only gave a weak sigh and complained about her powerlessness. No wonder those gangsters wanted a piece of her ass, she must''ve been the local slut already! Still, it had been a convenient encounter for me, considering that I took no damage in the fight and walked away with a few coins, so I had no reason to oppose her antics.


    "I need work, where find?" I asked the woman, hoping she''d say something about an adventurer''s guild of sorts, but she only mentioned the local gangs hiring muscle, the brewery where her husband and son worked, the fields and the lumber mill outside of the city and the merchants at the main square before she got distracted and began rambling about unrelated matters. I was about to ask her about weapons, but changed my mind. If I was going to another town in two days, perhaps it''d be better to hold on to my money. Then I suddenly remembered what one of the neighbors had said earlier: "they''re going to burn our houses." What if they came back for revenge while I was asleep? What if they blocked all the exits and lit the house on fire? I needed a plan in case they tried something, so I made some small talk while waiting for the two men to return and looking around in search of potential emergency exits, but found none.


    In truth, the house was little more than a shack. One door, two windows, and everything was in one room. If someone decided to trap us inside and burn it down, our best plan would be to break down the door, but although the house was small and poorly maintained, everything in it was well built and I doubted our capacity to damage it fast enough to escape from the smoke. Why keep fussing about it? If we die, we die. At least it was easy for me to forget about the matter, since everything in this world made me feel like it was made purely for my amusement.


    It had gotten dark outside, so the family got worried about the girl who still hadn''t returned and went out to look for her. I helped the two men do rounds through her usual spots while the mother stayed at home, until we found her in a small shrine of the Light, like a humble church, praying by herself. I was a little surprised, but it must''ve been common for the people of this world. She was on her knees, but not in the way I''d expected. That didn''t make her less of a brat, and actually didn''t exclude my assumption that she was a slut, but at least it prevented her from falling any lower. After she''d been reprimanded by her family, we all went to sleep.


    The mother gave me a blanket and a pillow, and I slept on the floor. It was by no means comfortable, but after an entire day of fighting and walking around I was too tired to care. The next day I woke up later than the others, who were all gone. The house hadn''t been burned and all my possessions were still under my blanket, so it was a pleasant morning. I decided to go get some breakfast, for which I retraced my steps of the previous day searching for any one of the food stores that I''d seen. In a few minutes I found a small bakery and bought some bread for two copper pieces. I ate it while taking a stroll toward the center of town, out of the slums. Everything looked peaceful, the weather was pleasant and I saw few people out on the streets at that time, which must''ve been an hour or two before noon. When I got bored of walking and worried that I was too close to the center of town, it was time to turn back.


    I arrived back at the family''s house in the slums just in time to find the daughter searching for me.


    "Oh, Mister Bawb, I got bad news! Methinks the guards be lookin'' for you, I saw a herald talk about a 50 gold bounty for a man who gots just your face!"


    "That be bad. I leave now. Say my thanks to your family."


    "Is it because of what happened yesterday? So unfair! Them thugs were in the wrong, not us!"


    "Not worry, say you never know me and you be fine. Tell your family be careful. Good bye," I said to her, and immediately walked off deeper into the slums. I reached an area where the shabby houses became tents and the smell of human waste became so strong that I started to regret my lack of shoes and tried to mind my steps. It was disgusting. The only thing that made it tolerable was that unreal feeling which had never been interrupted. I was superior to this place, I was on my way out, I was a killer with no conscience and I wasn''t going to sit there and wait amidst the filth.

 Chapter 4

    Eventually, after dodging the occasional junkie and bargaining with a beggar for information, I arrived at a wide wooden building that looked as derelict as every other place in the slums where, according to the beggar, a nun gave free food and shelter to the sick and read them prayers to heal their diseases. I was perfectly healthy, other than a couple of bruises from the great castle escape, so it seemed counterproductive to go immerse myself in a room full of misery, but I saw no decent alternatives.


    The place was crowded, but not as much as I''d expected. It consisted of one room as large as three or four slum houses, full of bunk beds lining the walls and a small open space in the center where a fire pit, a cauldron and a few pans composed the kitchen. The nun was easy to identify thanks to her white attire and cap. She was a slim young woman with sharp eyes, and was preparing a meal aided by two little girls. Something about her made me suspicious, especially after she looked at me not with compassion, caution or indifference, but with a subtle glint that betrayed her thoughts so clearly that I could almost hear them in my head: "how much are you worth?" As I approached, she said to me with little courtesy:


    "Please wait until I''m done preparing the food."


    "I not need food, I come here to talk."


    She must have been caught off-guard by my way of speaking, like everyone else had been so far, as evidenced by her change in expression. I simply stood in front of her across the cauldron while she pretended to be busy stirring the soup, until she finally called everyone to eat and I stepped aside to let her serve the food to the line of people that gathered. After that, she and the two girls brought bowls of soup to those who seemed to be bedridden, and when she came back I was still staring at her. Finally she addressed me again:


    "As you can see, I''m a bit busy, so please make it quick."


    "I need place to stay."


    "Well, this town''s got plenty of taverns."


    "No money for tavern. You need money, I need place to stay. I pay you, but no money for tavern."


    "This is a shelter for the sick, you don''t belong here."


    Just as I was about to reply, a young boy came running to her side and stood frozen for a moment with his eyes like plates when he saw me. The nun turned her back to me and knelt down to speak with the boy, who whispered something into her ear. I couldn''t hear it, but I didn''t need to. His reaction had told me everything about the big secret news. She gave the kid a bowl of soup and sent him off.


    "Word are fast," I said, giving her a mocking smile.


    "Leave the child alone. It''ll cost you five silver to stay here."


    "Why did you change think? Learn something?"


    "Like you said, I need the money and you offered to pay me. So, five silver."


    "So, you make fifty gold and five silver, yes?" I said, and a flicker of emotion reflected on her face confirmed that I was right.


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about. You may sleep on the floor, we''re out of beds at the moment."


    "They give more bounty if time pass. Fifty gold, or ten times that if you wait." She stayed silent for a moment, looking at me with caution. I continued "You give me shelter for ten days, then you go get bigger bounty. I need place to stay for ten days, not care what happen after."


    "Are you saying you''re a wanted criminal? Then why would you just let me hand you over to the guards?"


    "I escaped because I have something to do, but after it be do I not care what happen. That is ten days."


    Of course I was lying, but greed seemed to get the best out of her.


    "Fine, you can stay for ten days. Now hand me the silver."


    "No. You get big money, I need not pay."


    "Then I''ll tell the guards you''re here right now."


    "Lose much gold for quick silver coins? How stupid be you?"


    She pondered for a moment and then served me a bowl of soup saying "Alright, but don''t cause any trouble around here. These people need me."


    I took the food with no reply. That night I slept in a corner, clutching my club tightly and holding the four silver coins in my other hand. It was uncomfortable, but I awoke the following day without problems. In the morning I saw the nun leave to purchase food and took that chance to sneak out. As I got closer to the center of the city, wanted posters with a drawing of my face on them began to pop up. It didn''t look exactly like me, but it was enough to make people take a second look when they passed me by. Thanks to my good luck, no adventurers were in my way to the church. It must''ve been half an hour before noon when I got there and Kihergan introduced me to the acolyte, a lad named Galian. He was a blond human with short hair and a timid smile. Despite knowing that I was wanted as a criminal, he trusted that Kihergan wouldn''t try to protect someone who didn''t deserve it and thus offered his help with enthusiasm. Kihergan gave me a cloak and bade us goodbye.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Galian guided me to a stable where he had two horses and a cart ready. He then told me:


    "Now to pass the border check and exit the city we''ll need to hide you. This cart belongs to Stuart, the merchant who''s going to take us to Brimbrom. You must hide among the goods before Stuart arrives, and when we''ve reached the town I''ll distract him so you can get out."


    "It is easy," I said with a nod, and Galian gave me a large sack. The cart was loaded with several of them, apparently carrying several types of merchandise like potatoes, dried meats, fabric, a few ingots of iron and even bottles of alcohol that were held by a rack. I climbed onto the cart, chose a spot in the middle of all the merchandise, put the empty sack down and sat into it in the fetal position. Galian grabbed some straw from the stable to use as filler and then put his cloak on top before tying the sack to close it. As I observed my confined position, a flash of doubt appeared in my mind. What if Kihergan had betrayed me and this acolyte was handing me over to the guards? I''d be captured without much of a chance to defend myself in this state. Oh, but what could I do? Adventure demanded risk, and trusting these guys was the only reasonable choice I saw.


    After a few minutes I heard Galian talking to someone, and in short order the cart began to move. What if they were delivering me straight into the Academy? Every time the cart stopped, I feared getting jumped by a bunch of guards. Luckily, nothing of the sort happened. In one of the stops I heard coarse voices and an answer from the man who must''ve been Stuart:


    "Halt! State your business."


    "I''m going to Brimbrom to sell merchandise, here''s my permit. This here is Galian from the church of the Light, he goes to collect herbs."


    "Ah, good day to you, Brothers. We''ll check your contents."


    I heard the wood of the cart groaning along with a chiming of metal as someone climbed onto the cart. I held my breath and remained so still that I almost became a sack of potatoes. I began to think like a potato, I was the potato. In less than a minute the guard jumped down from the cart and said:


    "All''s in order. May the Light be with you," and the cart began to move again.


    I was much calmer after that. Several hours of pretending to be a potato later, we arrived in Brimbrom as the sun had almost set.


    "Now all that''s left is to unload the merchandise. I''ll help you, Stuart."


    "Don''t worry about it, kid, I''ll just do it in the morning."


    "Perhaps that''s a good idea, sitting here for so long has me tired. Care for a mug of ale?"


    "Not today, I gotta go pay a visit to the mistress."


    Good news to me, that''d make everything easier. The cart stopped again and I heard the goodbyes between Stuart and Galian, then I felt pressure above my head lessen and I was free to emerge. Perhaps this is what legendary gods of destruction feel when cultists perform a dark ritual to release them. I thanked Galian and promised to help him collect herbs, and he answered:


    "Worry not, my friend, and focus on leaving this land as soon as possible. I will head to the tavern to get some rest."


    With that we parted ways, or so he thought. I waited for him to leave and then headed for the tavern myself. Of course, I didn''t know where it was. I roamed the streets until I reached a small square with a stone fountain where many people were gathered. The women carried lamps, the men and boys had shovels and wheelbarrows, and littered everywhere on the ground were corpses. Some of them were human, a handful appeared to be elves, and some had green skin and protruding teeth. Had that been my first sight of orcs? What a gruesome introduction.


    In the center of the square stood two people who were clearly adventurers: a woman in a wizard''s robe and a man in leather armor. They were speaking to a fat man dressed in more elegant clothing, surely some sort of authority figure, and I overheard something about "going to the ruins before it''s too late." It sounded like adventure, and my hands were already getting twitchy, so I approached them and said with my most determined tone:


    "I help you."


    They gave me blank stares and after a moment the man in armor answered:


    "And who''re you?"


    "Name is Bawb, I fight."


    "Nice introduction," said the girl, "we''re going to need a front-liner if we want to venture out."


    "Do you have equipment? I''m not going to entrust my back to someone who can''t even protect himself," said the man, whom I assumed was a rogue upon closer inspection.


    "Not have."


    "See if you can take the armor from one of those dead monsters, if it fits. We need whatever help we can get at the moment," said the fat man.


    I started toward an orc''s corpse and removed its armor, then put it on myself and off again. When they saw I was serious, the others began stripping corpses and passing their armors to me until we managed to get one that fit me reasonably well. In the middle of that process another man approached us with an expression of combined fury and sadness.


    "My daughter is gone! They must''ve taken her!" he said.


    "Calm down, Bastian, have you looked for her?" said the fat man, but the other one exploded shouting:


    "Of course I looked for her, you idiot! They clobbered me over the head and took her from my very arms. I have to go save her!"


    "Looks like our little party''s gathering interest," said the girl in a carefree tone which bothered all of us.


    "I am ready. When start?" I said after checking my armor again and grabbing a spear from the ground. My equipment wasn''t stellar, but something was better than nothing. The father of the kidnapped girl looked at us with determination and said:


    "We must go immediately, I''ll don my armor and join you."


    "How many orcs are there, again? We might need more than four people to stand a chance," the rogue said, but nobody paid attention to him. The father jogged off and later came back wearing a suit of leather armor. We looked at each other, and the wizard girl said:


    "My name is Holdreda, nice to meet you. I hope we make a good enough team to make it alive."


    "I couldn''t agree more. My name''s Bastian," said the father.


    "Avem," said the rogue.


    "I am Bawb. We must go now."


    The fat man wished us luck, although he didn''t introduce himself, and we departed in the dark like nothing could ever go wrong. At least that''s what I was thinking; the others must''ve been a bit more nervous than that.

 Chapter 5

    "According to the rumors, those ruins should be just to the east of Brimbrom and up into the mountains. Do you mind if we keep any loot that happens to be there?" Holdreda said to me and Bastian. It was clear that she was interested in the ruins even before the whole incident had happened, why else would she be so eager to follow the orcs? She wore an Academy robe, so it could be no coincidence. Bastian was desperate for one thing only, so he quickly answered:


    "As long as my daughter comes back safely, I don''t care about anything else."


    "It fine if I get weapons and orc ears for honor," I lied. Of course I wanted loot, but saying that from the start seemed like a good way to get betrayed by that greedy woman. The rogue didn''t seem any more decent, so for the time being I would observe. What could be in those ruins? My first dungeoncrawl had already started!


    "I know you''re eager to bring her back, Bastian, but we should rest before it''s too late. After all that fighting in the town I''m not sure I can keep up," said Avem.


    "Now that you mention it, I''m nearly out of spells for today, resting would be wonderful," said the woman. Bastian gave them a look of rage, but immediately supressed it and answered:


    "It''d be suicide to run into those orcs if you''re all that tired, but understand that this is my daughter''s life we''re staking here. Please don''t take any longer than necessary."


    With that, we got off of the beaten path and sat down underneath a large tree. We must''ve been in a forest, although I couldn''t be sure of the details in the darkness of the night. Truth be told, I wasn''t very tired, since my potato sack trip had been mostly a contorted nap, but letting the others catch a break seemed like a better idea than rushing in blindly. I offered to take the first watch while the others slept, but Bastian was in such a state of nerves that he couldn''t even close his eyes.


    "How much time pass after battle?" I asked him, but he answered something completely unrelated, he must not have understood my question thanks to my poor vocabulary. After two more attempts at communication we finally understood each other, and he answered:


    "If you arrived just at dusk then you missed the fight by less than an hour, but I can''t say for sure."


    "And how far be ruins?"


    "Not far, I hope."


    "You need not worry, monsters be travelling like us, take time to arrive at ruins. Your daughter is safe."


    "I pray that you''re right," he said in a depressed tone. Eventually he worried himself into sleep and I passed the time wondering when to end my watch, thinking about the spells that the wizard woman might know and the treasure that had these adventurers risking their necks like it was the normal thing to do. Most of all, I was curious about their strength, and analyzing the scarce information available was my main focus for the night. They had survived the battle and looked unscathed while many people had died, along with several orcs, so their power must''ve been considerable. On the other hand, it was hard to tell if the dead townsmen had been used as meat shields or as allies in the skirmish. In the end, my only conclusion was that I should avoid fighting these two adventurers, at least until I knew more about them.


    When the stars in the sky had changed enough to make a visible difference, I ended my watch and woke up Avem. I didn''t know much about astronomy, especially considering that this was a different world with its own rules, but it seemed like a good idea. The rogue wasn''t happy about being disturbed, but didn''t complain or try to ignore me. He must''ve been used to stressful situations of this kind. I, however, was not. Closing my eyes made me start thinking at random and noticing every little movement felt on my skin. What if a bug bit me? Getting destroyed by a fantasy spider sounded like a terrible way to fail in my adventure. I managed to catch some sleep, but didn''t feel refreshed when it was time to wake up.


    When the sun was just about to come out, we began marching again on the beaten path toward the mountain. The forest around us looked quiet and pretty, much different from what I was used to in my world. Along the way I paid attention to any animals that might have been roaming around, but only saw a few rabbits and birds. When we reached the foot of the mountain, Holdreda said:


    "The ruins should be close, watch for ambushes."


    From that moment onward we made a special effort to move silently and spot any potential ambushers before they spotted us; it proved to be a good approach when we saw two orcs laying down on some rocks further up. We were looking at the marked path to follow it, but climbed on rocks to stay a step ahead. As soon the orcs were in sight, Avem and Bastian readied their bows while Holdreda and I hid behind a large boulder.


    "We can''t let them alert the others, but there''s no way to sneak past them here," Avem said.


    "Then there''s only one option," said Bastian, and immediately shot an arrow that pierced one orc straight through the skull. Avem quickly let loose his own arrow before the other orc had a chance to react, and as the enemy stood up to run away the arrow struck him in the back. The wounded orc still ran, and soon we lost sight of him. Bastian made to chase him, but Holdreda grabbed his arm to stop him.


    "Wait. There might be more waiting to ambush us, we can''t start rushing now."


    "We''re already here and they saw us, there''s no time!" said Bastian before freeing himself from Holdreda''s grip and running up the path.


    "This is why you don''t take desperation into a mission," said Avem.


    "If he fight alone we all lose power, must go too," I said, and the other two agreed. We followed him running and stopped when we reached a plateau in the mountain. In it stood a wide structure that looked like a temple, surrounded by tall arches that seemed to make a bridge and columns which supported nothing, all covered in moss and vines. Huge trees pushed against the structures, making them stand inclined or bend at certain points, while their roots lifted the cobblestone from beneath and crumpled the ground. As soon as we arrived, arrows began whistling near us and we ran for cover. None of the archers appeared to be above ground level, clearly they weren''t expecting to be attacked or lacked the skills to climb onto the taller structures.


    The barrage of arrows was intense and we had to stay behind cover and take glimpses to eventually put together the picture. Eight archers, the main entrance to the temple was open and none of them were trying to get close or flank us. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Don''t run off, we need a plan," said Avem to Bastian, and then Holdreda interjected:


    "Orcs are sensitive to light, we have the advantage as long as we''re out here."


    "Then let''s finish them off before they retreat!" said Bastian.


    I had no bow, and just then it occurred to me that I should''ve looted the body of that first orc scout just in case. Even Holdreda pulled out a small crossbow. While they exchanged shots with the enemy, I stayed alert to repel any orcs that tried to flank us. None of them did; instead, they soon retreated into the temple and we were left alone.


    "You kill any of them?" I asked, but nobody replied. The orcs must have taken cover just like we had.


    "We have to go in," said Bastian.


    "They''ll be waiting for us," Holdreda said.


    "We have no choice and no time to waste!" he replied.


    "Wait. There might be another entrance," said Avem.


    "Did you not hear me? We have no time!" said Bastian again.


    "If you want to run right into those eight orcs and get cut to ribbons, be my guest. But your daughter would stand a better chance if we actually put thought into this mess," Avem replied.


    "Entrance where?" I asked Avem. To be honest, I was getting used to speaking like a caveman by now, it made some things a bit easier. I could have used much better sentences, but why bother?


    "This temple must have windows, with any luck they''ll be covered in vines and we can climb in through. We''ll get the jump on them."


    "Good idea, we go," I said. We followed Avem as he searched for an entrance that would suit our needs until eventually we found it. A large broken window, about five meters above us, with thick vines creeping through. We climbed with little difficulty and reached a ledge from where we could see most of a large room filled with plants, rotten wooden furniture and crates blocking passage from the main entrance. The only light in the room came from the broken window, and a group of orcs waited for us with javelins in hand pointed at the entrance. Although we were above and behind them, the orcs heard us arrive and immediately turned around. The light entering from outside made them pause for a split second, enough for us to react and compose ourselves.


    It was four of them against the four of us. We barely had enough space on the ledge to stand, staying there would have made us easy targets. I jumped down without thinking, rolled on the ground and sped toward the nearest orc with my spear. I stabbed him in the leg, removed the spear when he fell to his knees from the pain and stabbed him again, this time through the neck. At the same time I saw an arrow fly past me and get stuck in another orc''s armor as he tried to attack me. The creature let out an out of breath groan as the shot pierced his chest under the armpit, and his javelin arm went limp. He still stood, but had to fall behind cover to avoid another shot that came toward him.


    The two other orcs each threw a javelin, one toward me and the other at the window. The one aimed for me was easy to dodge, as the orc was shocked and unable to react in time to my close-quarters movement. However, the other javelin caught Avem in the shoulder and sent him tumbling down to the floor. The throw had pierced so cleanly that the entire javelin passed through his body and left a bloody hole marking the spot. He was lucky to be alive.


    Bastian had been the last one to climb, so he only reacted when Avem had fallen halfway down. Bastian had run out of arrows in the skirmish outside, so he jumped down pulling his longsword out in midair. He sprinted forward to cut an arm off of the javelin thrower that was still adjusting his vision after his window shot. The orc screamed as his arm rolled away and Bastian stabbed him through the stomach with his longsword.


    I saw my chance to strike again while the orc with the arrow stuck in his armpit was still struggling to pull it out, crouching behind a rotten pew covered in vines. As I made to attack, the other orc that remained lunged toward me with a sword in hand, and as I blocked, the wounded orc scurried away. For a moment I checked behind me to make sure that nobody had come for a flanking attack, and saw Avem drinking a potion. In a mere moment he was back on his feet.


    Holdreda shot at the orc that was in front of me; her arrow pierced the creature''s forearm, but it could still move and it slashed at me shouting something that sounded like a sentence spoken by a snorting pig. The sword caught me across the chest and I saw a spray of my own blood rise toward the ceiling. For that brief instant, I felt like I''d made a mistake. Was I going to die without having seen anything magical? And at the hands of an orc, one of the most basic monsters in fantasy! My body and my mind felt separated, only joined by the burning slash in my chest. The pain was deep, but I was too shocked to pay attention to it. I stumbled backward as the orc pressed his offense.


    In that moment I had only one concern: this orc had to die. If I was about to get killed in battle, at least I''d enact my revenge before attending the big party in the sky. I thrust with my spear, but it was too slow and the orc parried it. Was I really that useless? Even in a new world full of new things, I wasn''t even able to complete the first adventure. The orc swung at me again, but I was barely able to dodge it and fell to one knee as my legs gave out. I couldn''t see what my allies were doing, I saw no other enemies, heard no sounds aside from my troubled breathing and smelled nothing more than the scent of my own blood and sweat. No surrender. If death wanted me, he''d have to come see me in person.


    I swatted another attack to the side and countered with a thrust, but the orc defended himself again. Finally, an arrow came down and dug itself in the orc''s neck, passing well across his chest and probably into his lungs. He coughed out a thick mass of blood and collapsed in front of me. At least my revenge was immediate. I fell down with my back against a wall and nearly fainted, but Avem held my face and gave me a potion. I felt a sudden warmth in my stomach and in a few seconds the gash in my chest had stopped bleeding and I got up as if it was a mere flesh wound. I thanked him, thinking about the importance of preparation for an adventurer.


    "I can hear more coming, get ready!" Avem said, and I immediately grabbed two javelins from the ground. Bastian also got one that was leaning against a wall, while Avem and Holdreda prepared their weapons. We all took cover, preparing to ambush the incoming orcs with the same setup that they intended to use against us. As soon as one of the orcs appeared behind the crates and said something in its awfully coarse language, I threw a javelin that cracked his face through the cheekbone and came out through the back of his skull. After surviving certain death I was feeling like an even greater badass than before!


    Another three orcs began to push the crates away, trying to use them as cover at the same time, giving us a good chance to harass them with our shots. Two of them were wounded by the time they entered the room, and we prepared for another battle with a greater sense of strategy. I threw my other javelin and impaled an orc through the chest, enjoying the thrill of my bloodlust as he fell onto the floor gasping for air.


    Avem threw a small bag at one of the remaining orcs and upon contact it released a black substance that covered his entire body and hardened in an instant. The orc was glued in place and became an easy target for Holdreda, who launched an arrow from her crossbow and gouged out one of his eyes, although he survived. The other orc charged toward Avem and swung his blade with a battlecry. All of us let out a gasp as Avem''s head was cleanly severed from his body and twirled in the air with a burst of blood. His corpse hadn''t yet fallen to the ground when Bastian ran his blade through the orc''s back and spilled his guts out. I went for the last orc, still caught by the hard black mass, and stabbed him through the chest with my spear.


    When the battle was over, we surrounded Avem''s corpse and looked at each other.


    "Can we save Avem? Potion is powerful," I said, but Holdreda shook her head.


    "The best we can do is avenge him and find a good place to bury him," said Bastian.


    "Take his equipment, we might need it later," said Holdreda without a single hint of sorrow. Was she also a nerd from another world? That would explain why she had no qualms about looting the corpse of an ally. We looted the rest of the room and found some interesting things, among them a potion that protects the user and a scroll that debilitates the enemy, according to Holdreda''s magical knowledge.


    "We need to keep going, my daughter is still in here. We can find a place to bury Avem after it''s over," said Bastian.

 Chapter 6

    By now I had quite an accurate mental image of these people: Bastian was going to keep rushing our adventure and getting us killed for the sake of his dear daughter, and Holdreda was more than happy to stand aside and let us die for the sake of her loot. Neither of them were people I wanted to have in my team, as it was obvious that the next one to die would have to be me for their plans to work. I didn''t have enough power to betray them and escape, but my eyes were open.


    We advanced through the temple, which had little more than plants and rotten furniture, until we reached a staircase that went down into some sort of basement with glowing runes on the walls and a large door shaped like a wolf''s head. No orcs in sight, although their tracks were clearly visible in the stones of the underground room: blood had been spilled.


    "Nice door, but won''t open," I said, and Holdreda examined it squinting for a few seconds. She then said to Bastian:


    "Is your daughter a sorceress?"


    "Yes, we tried to keep her powers a secret, but magic isn''t exactly subtle. How did you know?" he said, although his expression told me that he expected a specific answer.


    "This door is a classic example of a bloodgate. It can only be opened by the blood of a certain lineage, but the heir must have enough magical energy to power the runes. The glow indicates that they''ve been recently activated."


    "Yes, I''ve heard that before. You''re a wizard, can''t you open it again?"


    "I''m afraid my blood isn''t magical, nor do I belong to whatever lineage this is."


    "Boring end, no more adventure," I said.


    "No, we have to get through this door, whatever it takes. She''s still in there!" Bastian said, and Holdreda replied:


    "Yes, I would also love to know what this bloodgate is guarding. Do you happen to know anything?" Her tone made me think that she only wanted to confirm whatever rumor led her to these ruins in the first place, it was no mere curiosity. Bastian said in response:


    "How''s that important? We only need to get it open and keep killing those orcs!"


    "Don''t be so imprudent, we need as much information as we can get to figure out how to open it. Any secret passwords, passages, rituals?" said Holdreda.


    "I know nothing of the sort."


    "Then what does your daughter know?"


    "Nothing! We did our best to keep her away from this, but that damned magic! It''s like it has a mind of its own."


    "It probably does. Did she have visions, nightmares? Did she speak in tongues?"


    "She knew someone was coming to kidnap her. She saw the attack to the town in a vision, but nothing else."


    "Interesting. Perhaps it is the work of fate?"


    "I don''t care whose work it is, I''m going to rescue my daughter. How about you blow up the door with a spell? Or you, help me break it down."


    "Now, don''t be ridiculous. If breaking it down was an option, a group of orcs would''ve been the first to try it, don''t you think?"


    "Then what? I don''t see you coming up with any brilliant ideas."


    "More information is good. We learn how to open door," I said, mostly out of curiosity regarding the loot that had everyone at each other''s throats. Would it be enticing enough to make me want a piece of it too? Sadly, Bastian didn''t seem convinced. He answered:


    "I''ve told you everything, it''s not a matter of how much you know," but I got the feeling he was lying.


    "Then let''s try this: if it''s your daughter''s blood it wants, yours must also work. You put in the blood, I''ll hit it with a spell and hope for the best."


    Bastian looked reluctant for a moment, but then agreed. He tore off a piece of his clothing that was soaked in blood from the fights and put it in the wolf''s mouth. Holdreda charged up a spell and I saw a mage in action for the first time since I arrived in this world. Her eyes didn''t glow and her voice didn''t resonate, it was all a combination of words and gestures along with a few odds and ends from a pouch that she carried. Still, when the spell was cast, I felt a certain wave of energy that bounced back and forth in the room until it dissipated. The runes didn''t glow any brighter, the door was shut and Holdreda looked frustrated.


    "Ugh, there goes a spell for nothing. Pray we don''t need it later," she said.


    "It''s the wrong blood. It must come from my wife''s side," Bastian said, and Holdreda retorted:


    "So you did know more. What is this about your wife''s blood?"


    "None of your business."


    "Then this door will remain as it is," she said, crossing her arms. By that point I was tired of their banter and it was clear that Bastian wouldn''t give away any more information, so I tried the only solution that came to my head:


    "Blood on ground, it is daughter''s blood. We use it, you cast spell. Give me sword," I said, and extended my hand toward Bastian. He gave me his sword and I used it to scrape some of the dried blood from the ground and carefully held the brown dust in my hands. I put it in the mouth of the wolf, along with dirt, orc blood, my own blood and whatever else might have been on my hands. They were dirty and sticky, don''t think I was comfortable with it.


    When everything was in place, Holdreda opened up a scroll, saying "This one has the lowest chance of being useful here." She cast the spell and immediately all the runes began to hum and shine, and the wolf closed its maw and swallowed what we''d given him. Then, it disappeared from the door and it slid open. I was mildly disappointed because it didn''t howl, but it was cool nonetheless. Behind the door we found a long, dark hallway, then a staircase going further down and huge chamber filled with orcs.


    They were moving crates, wooden beams, planks, rope and tools like it was a construction site, and in the center of the room stood a large monolith that they had tied with rope and were trying to mount onto a cart that was being built. Had they prepared all of this ahead of time? How did they get it down here so fast? They must''ve opened the door much earlier than we thought. We weren''t spotted thanks to our careful movements, but it was hard to stay hidden in this place. We waited and observed from behind a column, but the darkness was only offset by the faint glow of the monolith, so it was difficult to see further beyond it. The thing was at least four meters tall and three meters wide, and it appeared to be secured by a slab of rock on top of it with four columns to support it. Chained to one of the columns was a young woman who looked exhausted, with her head sagging like she couldn''t stay awake any longer.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "There''s too many of them, we''ll get crushed if we attack now," Holdreda whispered. It was true, no doubt, but Bastian seemed to have more information:


    "We''ll have to use the guardians, but then it''ll be a free-for-all. You two distract the orcs while I activate the guardians, then we run up the stairs and hold our ground until we can get the door open again," he said, and I gave him a confused look.


    "That your daughter? She in chains. How you save her?"


    "We''ll have to cut the chains before the orcs cut us down. Just give me a little time, I''ll take care of it."


    "Will these guardians attack us?" Holdreda said.


    "Only if we don''t get out of here quick," Bastian replied, and immediately snuck off into the darkness. Thus, this was the part where we all died to protect him and his daughter. Marvellous.


    "I not like plan. We die for stranger girl," I whispered to Holdreda, and she answered:


    "I agree, doing what he says is too dangerous, and he''s clearly trying to hide something. He might stab us in the back as soon as we''re out. I don''t want to let that poor girl die, but I don''t want to take her place either."


    "You have idea?"


    "If you drink this potion of invisibility, you can unchain her discreetly and then run away," she said, showing me a vial from her pouch which held a yellow transparent liquid.


    "They see me carry girl, they know I am here."


    "I''ll cover you, just make sure to not bump into anyone or make noise."


    "Fine. Give potion."


    I drank the potion and it immediately turned me and all my equipment invisible. It was a bit confusing, since I couldn''t see myself and had to judge distances by muscle awareness, but the difficulty didn''t prove to be an obstacle. The orcs near the girl were making noise and focusing on their own jobs, so I was able to walk there without issue. I circled the column where she was and saw that the chains were shackled to her wrists and around the column. I got a flask of acid from my bag, distinguishable from the vial of healing by the shape and size of the container, and poured it on the chains. The faint grey smoke made me worry, so I looked around and took a step back just in case anyone had seen me. When the chains were melted apart, it occurred to me that the girl still had a long stretch of chain on each of her arms, which might make noise if I moved her, so I used the remaining acid to melt the chains as close as possible to her wrists without hurting her.


    The entire process must have taken less than a minute, but having to be so careful made it feel a lot worse than it was. When I began to move the girl to haul her up, a thick mist appeared near me, blocking the view. At least that wizard woman had kept her promise. The orcs took a minute to notice that something strange was happening, but by then I was already back at the entrance of the chamber with the girl on my shoulders. When the orcs began to grab their weapons and shout, obviously saying something about the strange mist, Holdreda used another spell to create several moving lights near the monolith, inside of the fog. The orcs knew something was happening, but it took them a while to notice that we weren''t in the fog. Meanwhile, we prepared to leave the chamber.


    At that moment, we heard a heavy grinding noise and a strange rattling as shadows began to move toward the glowing fog. The orcs went crazy shouting and we could see them exchanging blows with a group of humanoid silhouettes, but we wasted no time trying to figure out what they were. We simply escaped upstairs and crossed the hallway as fast as we could, although we weren''t the only ones who thought about that. Behind us, four orcs came running and soon caught up with us. Holdreda threw a spell without hesitation, and a vibrating mist of several glowing colors was sprayed from her hands. When it touched the orcs, two of them fell to the floor like they''d been knocked out, but the other two continued and attacked her. I was still invisible, and they must have assumed that Holdreda was using magic to carry the unconscious girl.


    I simply kept advancing while Holdreda fought them, taking advantage of my invisibility. One of the orcs attacked with its sword and Holdreda grunted in pain, but still stood. She responded with another spell and one of the orcs fell to the ground after an invisible wave hit him. Seeing that only one was left and Holdreda looked badly wounded, I dropped the girl and charged with my spear. The orc didn''t even react as his brain was utterly scrambled by a single attack. My invisibility wore off at that moment, and I wondered if it was related to my attack.


    Holdreda drank a potion of healing and at that moment I realized that if such a potion had brought me back from the brink of death, it might also be able to awaken the girl.


    "Finish off the unconscious ones, it won''t last long," Holdreda told me, and I quickly put my spear to their necks one by one. Better safe than sorry.


    "Give potion to girl, we need blood to open door," I said, going to pick her up again.


    "You''re right, let''s do it when we reach the door."


    Once we were faced with the wolf''s maw again, Holdreda put her last potion to the girl''s lips while I drank mine. She awoke instantly, but was confused, unable to stand up on her own and spoke incoherently. I prickled her finger with my spear and put it to the wolf''s mouth for a moment, paying attention to its movements to remove the finger from its mouth before it bit down like it had done before. Just a drop of blood was enough to activate the door, and soon we were out of the hallway and back in the small underground room of the temple. We climbed the staircase without looking back and heard the door shifting behind us. It was unlikely that Bastian could ever escape at that point, hell, he was probably dead as soon as the skirmish with the guardians began, but who knew. Perhaps he had another bit of information that could save his life.


    On our way out we passed through the room where Avem died, still full of corpses and reeking of gore.


    "We need rest, bury Avem," I said to Holdreda while helping the girl to walk.


    "No, no, we should leave this place as fast as possible, rest and resupply back at Brimbrom," answered Holdreda, but I replied:


    "I tired, can not. Girl tired, can not. We need rest. You go alone." She seemed to ponder for a moment, and finally said:


    "Fine, you''re right. I''m almost out of spells and that orc nearly killed me, a bit of rest would be good. They won''t come back up, right?"


    "They can not. Wolf is hungry."


    "You''re right, let''s rest for a moment. Ugh, this room stinks!"


    I set the girl down sitting against a wall and went to pick up Avem''s head to join it with his body. Among his equipment was a shortsword that I didn''t take, his armor and a stick that looked like incense, but much thicker. I asked Holdreda, she told me it was a smokestick, so I put it in my bag. The girl had fallen asleep again, perhaps due to some form of torture inflicted by the orcs, and Holdreda was sitting in a corner with her spellbook in hand. I sat next to her and asked:


    "What you do now?"


    "I must prepare to come back here, we were so close! Do you know what that monolith was?" she said.


    "No idea."


    "That''s what I need to find out. If those guardians are still roaming about when we come back, we''re going to need much greater force to deal with them."


    "Is monolith why you come here?"


    "Of course! You might be looking for battle trophies, but I''m searching for something much greater. The Academy needs this discovery. We must absolutely return."


    "Need girl for door."


    "Yes, I''ll take her with me back to Surom, we must find out what she knows," she said, getting up and walking toward the sleeping young woman. It was my first time hearing the name of the city where this whole adventure started, a bit odd. I got up as well and stood behind her as she crouched to examine the girl.


    "Is sorceress different than wizard?" I said.


    "Indeed. Wizards like me learn magic through years of hard study, but sorcerers are an entirely different matter. They are born with magic in their blood, no need to practice, no study, no preparation. Another breed, and a very rare one," she said without even looking at me, almost like she was talking to herself and salivating over the prize she''d just caught.


    "She has mark on neck, that magical?" I said. Of course, it was a lie.


    "Where? Perhaps it--" Holdreda said until I ran my spear through her neck. She fell to the ground and I pierced her again, this time through the chest, just to make sure that she wouldn''t use a weird spell to come back to life. Now I had become a traitor, what a strange feeling. Dread, regret, excitement all together. It was too late to turn back, even if I had to face harsh punishments for that sin. My only option was to confront whatever may come with courage.


    The Academy must not be allowed to learn about this adventure, or about my part in it. All witnesses were dead save for the girl, but I hoped she wouldn''t remember anything. I waited for her to wake up so I could show her the corpses and tell her the sad story of the losses we sustained and the pain we endured trying to save her. After two hours of waiting, during which I looted and re-looted the corpses, that''s exactly what I did. She saw me moving the bodies of Avem and Holdreda, I let her watch as I performed some improvised burial rites and covered them with leaves, then I turned to her and said:


    "You awake, good. Have only orc food, sorry. You can eat, need energy for travel. We go back to Brimbrom."

 Chapter 7

    "To Brimbrom? Who are you, are you an adventurer?" she said with a cautious expression and a tone that tried too hard to imply fear. Really? After being kidnapped by orcs, and possibly tortured or raped by them, she was afraid of one guy who clearly had fought against the orcs and was offering her food? What a cheap trick. She was playing the victim so hard that I almost mistook her for a feminist. She wanted protection and was using her feminine tactics to gauge my disposition, so I made it clear for her:


    "Yes, I am adventurer. Rescue you, take you to Brimbrom, get reward. Orcs kill my friends, kill your father, we try to save you."


    "My father, what do you mean?!"


    "I mean your father dead. Orcs kill him. Not complicated."


    "By the Light, I... I understand. Where is his body? I must at least bury him properly."


    "Can''t do, too many orcs. They capture you again, I not save you again."


    "Please! You have to let me see him! I''m begging you," she said, clinging to me like girls do in dramatic anime scenes.


    "You can go alone. I go to Brimbrom," I replied, and she kept on the teary face for only a few more seconds before shifting to a cold expression in a single heartbeat. I turned around and started walking back, making my way to the outside of the temple through a passage and a room where the first defensive line of the orcs must have been. The girl stayed where she was, and I wondered if she''d really go and open the bloodgate again to check on her father. It was a worrisome thought not because of her safety, but mine. What if the guardians, whatever they were, came out into the open? What if the orcs had managed to win and were looking for vengeance? What if Bastian wasn''t dead? He could tell the people of Brimbrom that I betrayed him, or come looking for payback. I was an evil bastard now and I had to start planning like one to survive, but what was I to do? The girl was my only hope of learning the secret of that underground chamber, so killing her would be a waste. Besides, her magical powers were still unknown, so I couldn''t just risk getting obliterated before even spending the gold I''d collected in this adventure!


    Thinking about such things I made my way back to the mountain path and stopped briefly to look at the sky and prepare my mind for the journey. I''d just have to take the same route, but backward. Easy, right? The weather was pleasant, the sky was bright and blue, the weeds were swaying in the wind like nothing had even happened. I knew this was a victory for me, but a subtle hint of doubt kept swirling in my head. I decided to enjoy this wonderful world while it lasted and continued walking. No more than a minute later, I heard footsteps far behind me and knew by pure instinct who it was. Of course I turned my head to check, no adventurer can be so careless and I didn''t intend to let myself get ambushed in the wild. The girl had come running and when she caught up to me, she said:


    "Mister adventurer! I''m sorry, I wasn''t thinking properly back there. What''s your name?"


    "Your name first," I said after giving her an annoyed glance.


    "Oh, right, how silly of me! I''m Sabrina, pleased to meet you."


    "I am Bawb."


    "Bawb, thank you for saving me. I was just scared and... confused, you know? It''s still a shame that I can''t even bury my father, but I understand."


    "Your father brave, he kill many orcs. Be happy."


    "Right, you''re right. Are we headed back to Brimbrom now? I''m exhausted, to be honest, but anything is better than the stinky ruins full of corpses."


    I wanted to say ''you couldn''t be any more generic even if you tried,'' but my lexicon hadn''t reached that level yet, so I settled for "Yes. You are sorceress?" and you already guessed what she did in response: her expression hardened, she clutched at her chest as if trying to supress the painful memories and looked away before answering:


    "I am. It is my curse. I never asked for this magic, you know. Never asked for any of this."


    "Magic is good. It kill orcs."


    "No, it''s not. We shouldn''t be killing anyone, orcs, humans or else! The only thing magic has done is destroy my life, and now my family too."


    Oh, she certainly was a sorceress. Just listening to her made me feel like she''d cast a debuff on my intelligence, I could almost taste the soy frappuccino in the air.


    "Then stay with orcs. Is fun, yes? Orcs is your friends," I said laughing. She went into a rage, stood in front of me to cut me off and pointed a finger at my chest.


    "The only reason this happened is because of that damned magic! Because of something I didn''t choose, now my father is dead along with the townsmen who tried to defend their homes. You have no idea of what I went through, what I''m still going through, so don''t you dare mock me!"


    Yes, the experience was probably painful for her and a veritable tragedy for those other people involved, including my short-lived adventuring comrades, but magic was an absolute marvel and nobody would convince me of the contrary. This world was my playground, whether I succeeded or failed, lived or died, suffered or caused suffering, it didn''t change a thing. And since I was already a wanted laboratory abomination and the thrill of battle still had me high, letting some wench shout me into submission was not an option. I made to walk around her and continue on my way, but she stepped in front of me every time and grabbed my arm.


    "Let go. I warn you."


    "I don''t care! I was trying to be nice to you because you were supposed to protect me, but now I see you''re just a heartless monster who only thinks about killing!"


    That wasn''t true, I was also interested in looting. I tugged my arm away from her and kept walking, saying:


    "If I am bad, you go back to Brimbrom alone. Good luck."If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    After taking a few steps, I heard movement on the ground behind me and turned to look just in case. Couldn''t let the teenage girl throw a rock to the back of my head now, could I? It shouldn''t have surprised me, but it still did: she had dropped to her knees and begun crying. Soon it became no less than a tantrum, with screams and kicks to the air while rolling on the ground. I kept walking and, of course, she got up and chased me.


    "You''re not going anywhere, you can''t just leave me here!"


    "I can. I do."


    "You monster! Bastard!" she screamed, and in that moment I turned around by pure instinct as if a jolt of current had startled me, just in time to see her eyes glowing pink as a wave of colorful mist sprayed forth from her hands. I knew that spell, and it was nasty. I wasn''t able to dodge, and the mist passed through me like heavy drops of water. I made my best effort to resist it, but it wasn''t enough. In an instant my vision went black.


    When I regained consciousness, I still couldn''t see or move my body. Was I dead? Was it Game Over? Sleeping hadn''t sent me back to my original world, but if the girl had decided to slit my throat like I did to those orcs, it''d be reasonable to think I might have gone to the endless void, or to Hell. It must''ve been only a few seconds, but the uncertainty made me anxious to the point where I started to plan how to return to this world in case I got sent back to mine. Slowly I recovered my vision and saw the blue sky above, then my entire body began to respond and I got up faster than expected. My armor was in place and I still had my club, but my spear and my bag were gone. I looked around immediately and saw the stupid girl running further down the path with my spear in one hand and my bag hanging across her chest.


    Such foolishness. She must''ve wanted me to kill her, why else would she provoke me like that? I started jogging in pursuit, knowing that she would get tired much sooner than I, so as long as I kept her in my sight it was impossible for her to escape. Luckily, the terrain favoured me with good visibility. I grabbed a pebble and threw it at her with the full intent to hit her in the head. However, my throw missed by a considerable margin. No matter, the road to Brimbrom was more than long enough.


    As I ran, a powerful burning sensation spread throughout my body and made itself hard to ignore. It was pleasant and much more intoxicating than the normal feeling of excercise, so I wondered if it sprang from some primal instinct of the hunt or it had anything to do with my prey being a woman, hormones and all. I sensed the pulsating energy of the entire world as if I had reached a higher level of awareness, an unbreakable connection to the ether. Was this what monks felt after years of meditation? Maybe that spell had short-circuited my brain and was causing some trippy side effects. Whatever it was, it made me feel even stronger than before and all I did was hope that this powerup would last.


    Exactly as predicted, the girl''s pace began to slow down sharply soon after arriving at the foot of the mountain. Catching up to her was inevitable now, and she knew it. Even if she entered the forest, her only chance to escape was to beat me in a fight, and that wasn''t going to happen. She suddenly started rummaging through my bag, still trying to run at the same time, and I took offense. I sprinted and tackled her before she could pull anything out of the bag, and we both fell to the ground violently, with me on top. I made no effort to cushion her fall, being both angry and focused on retrieving my stuff. I pinned both of her arms above her head and she started screaming for help, which made me act rashly to silence her. Up in the mountain it didn''t matter if she screamed because nobody was around to hear it, all thanks to the orcs, but out here near the forest it was a different scenario. Adventurers, hunters, animals or new monsters, I couldn''t just let her attract that kind of attention. So, as any reasonable gentleman would, I headbutted her.


    My blow broke her nose to the side, but it wasn''t enough to shut her up. For a brief moment I got distracted with a peculiar thought: how come the orcs hadn''t broken her nose already? If she was struggling this much just to get away from me, a human who had saved her and only said a few mean things, it was only natural to assume that she''d put up an even fiercer fight against a band of killer monsters. Perhaps the orcs hadn''t cared about her screams and thus felt no need to use much violence, but that seemed to be an incomplete argument.


    "Give bag, or I hit you again," I said, trying to look around without letting her notice it. If she knew that her screams made me the slightest bit nervous, she''d never stop.


    "Let me go! Let me go, you monster, you fiend, you despicable rapist!"


    Rapist? Where had that come from? Perhaps this wench had some unfortunate fetishes; that would actually answer a few important questions. Whatever the case, this girl had an overblown image of herself if she thought that I was interested in raping her. As insulting as her assumption was for me, a sudden urge pushed me to take a step in a dangerous direction: I laughed and said to her "I not rape ugly wenches, only pretty wenches. Give bag, ugly pig." If any do-gooder adventurers had heard me, they would''ve surely attacked without hesitation, but luck was on my side.


    Like a seesaw, she suddenly flipped into her other mode: crying. She surrendered and let go of the bag while sobbing and snorting, slowly babbling on "Please... please let me go. Just let me go. Please! Let me go..." I was going to take her back to the town, until she decided to act like an insufferable brat and I decided to treat her as such, but now she was trying to paint me as her captor? The sheer annoyance of this idiot made me want to kill her for real, and when the thought crossed my mind I somehow committed to it and began to see it not only as a possibility, but a good solution. After all, she knew my name and would probably spin a crazy lie once I brought her back to Brimbrom. I had gone there to avoid capture in Surom, but the news would soon spread and the lies of a woman would only make everything harder.


    Could I just forget about Brimbrom and travel in a random direction? Could I take the girl with me to avoid killing her? It would also be harder than simply ending her now, because I''d have to keep constant watch on my belongings and sleep with one eye open. Bad idea. Something was pulsating. The bag, I could feel the magic inside of it. I grabbed my spear and held it to the girl''s throat, still sitting on top of her. With the other hand I checked the contents of my bag to make sure nothing was missing. The scrolls, the potion of protection, I felt their magical power as clearly as the heat from an oven. There was another thing, a silver brooch that I had picked up from Holdreda''s corpse thinking it''d fetch a good price. It radiated magical power!


    How had this happened? That spell had given me the ability to perceive magic. Was it some sort of side effect? An awakening? Yes, that had to be it. As soon as the thought appeared in my mind, I felt absolutely certain of it: I was a sorcerer. Whether it had always been in my blood or it was caused by something else, I didn''t know. For now I didn''t need to know where the power came from, only how to use it. I closed the bag and hung it securely across my chest, then I stood up and said to the sobbing woman:


    "Teach me magic, I let you live. Teach not, I kill you now."


    "What? I can''t teach you magic, I''m a sorceress. I don''t even know how to control it!"


    "You used spell, tell me how."


    "I don''t know. I don''t know!" she started, and immediately went back to crying when I pressed the spear lightly against her neck.


    "One chance. Tell me."


    "Please, I don''t know! Please. I just feel when it''s about to happen, then it happens, that''s it."


    "You feel? No control?"


    "No, no control! So please let me go."


    Useless. I stabbed the woman''s throat and held her down until she stopped writhing. Looking at her limp body I felt nothing more than a trace of worry, which vanished when I looked around and saw nobody. Thus the mission was officially a failure: treasure sealed, comrades betrayed, maiden murdered. At least it was fun and I managed to get a nice pile of golden coins that made me wonder about its purchasing power. Would I be able to buy tasty food with it? Perhaps a better suit of armor.

 Chapter 8

    Thinking about the tale I would tell, the road back to Brimbrom was shorter than it had been the night before. I arrived in town an hour before dusk and stopped in front of the first person I saw, a young man pushing a wheelbarrow, to ask about "place to buy food and bed," since I didn''t remember the word for tavern. He gave me directions, I thanked him and went straight there without a moment of pause. The first thing I saw inside of the tavern was Galian, whose name I struggled to remember by now, sitting in front of the bar with a foamy pint of beer in his hand. The mood in there was quite rowdy for a town that had suffered an orc raid just the previous night, with a round-bellied bard singing and flopping about on a small stage and several drunkards playing cards and shouting at the wenches to bring them this or that, and even a mysterious cloaked figure in a corner.


    Yes, I was tired, but how could I resist? I walked up to the cloaked stranger and said:


    "I am adventurer. You give quest."


    The cloaked figure didn''t acknowledge my presence and just continued eating, so I coughed and repeated my introduction with a little more emphasis on the adventuring and questing part. He lifted his face and stared at me from under the hood of his cloak, squinting with a cool expression, and I also squinted and stared back.


    "If you insist," he said after a drawn out silence, "but bear in mind that it won''t be easy. Take a seat."


    I made to sit across from him, but he waved his hands forward and shouted "No, no, sit closer! We can''t let anyone hear our conversation," so I looked around and cautiously sat next to him. He then leaned toward me and whispered:


    "I''m on an important mission, you see, a very important mission. Critical, I say. Now, don''t ask me what it is, I can''t tell you," he said and looked around briefly, but then continued, "Fine, I''ll tell you. My lord wants to build a new fortress in the southern forests, and he sent me to scout the area, see what we''ll be dealing with, you know? That place is rumored to be filled with monsters! I''m a great knight, but this job is too much for any single man, so it''d be great to count on other skilled warriors."


    "Who is lord?" I asked, and he gave me a puzzled look.


    "A lord is, you know, someone who rules over the land. Do you really not know what a lord is?"


    "Not what. I ask who lord is. Who."


    "Oh, I see now! My lord is none other than Siruba Furubasta, Count of the Jagged Mountains. Although I usually serve under his son Gurey, I was given this mission by the Count himself! It''s a high honor, so this mission must absolutely succeed."


    "Good quest. I help you, but need coin."


    "Don''t worry, my friend, we''ll both be handsomely rewarded for this!"


    "Handsomely rewarded for what, Giorgio?" said a woman with a stern expression standing next to the man, on the opposite side of me. She wore a cloak identical to his, but with the hood retracted. Her skin was so pale that it efficiently deflected my attention toward her eyes, which were a dull shade of green like the inside of a cucumber on a cloudy day.


    "For our exploits, of course!" the man replied after a brief startle. The woman put her hands on her hips and said:


    "We just arrived here and you''re already blabbering off to strangers?"


    "Watch your tongue, woman," said Giorgio as his formerly cheerful mood became sour in a moment.


    "You watch yours, or do you intend to let every enemy in the continent learn of our plans?"


    "Our lord''s enemies have much more important things to do than follow us into a tavern. Besides, this mission is not a secret and we''re going to need help, or do you plan to go into the forest with just the two of us?"


    "Of course you''d think that. And just who is this help you''ve found? Surely a famous adventurer," she said, throwing bile at me for no discernible reason. From that brief exchange between them I could already tell what kind of pair they made. The man turned to me and said:


    "By the Light, my manners! Pardon me, friend, but I forgot to ask your name. I am Giorgio, a knight of house Furubasta. This usually lovely lady is Alice, please excuse her, she''s had a rough day."


    "I am Bawb. Adventurer."


    "Pleased to make your acquaintance! Satisfied, my dear companion?"


    "You don''t expect me to trust that a single adventurer from who knows where will solve all of our problems, do you?"


    "Of course not, it will be the three of us! And if we can find more-"


    "I''m not going into that monster den, Giorgio, and neither are you. My mission is to make preparations and oversee the construction, and yours is to keep me safe, or did you already forget?"If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    By that point I was more than tired of this Alice and the smelly stick she must''ve kept stored up inside of her rear, so I rose and patted Giorgio''s shoulder, saying:


    "I go sleep now. Good luck."


    I walked up to the bar and stood next to Galian, who was too focused on his beer, apparently a fresh new pint now, to notice me. I waved at him from the side until he turned to look.


    "You''re still here? I thought you would''ve left the town by now," he said with a slight slur, apparently surprised. It had taken me more than two days to leave Surom, so I didn''t expect to move on from Brimbrom any faster, but he might have seen it differently. Perhaps I could''ve used the gold in my bag to purchase my way out of this town, but I still needed to gather more information and rest before trying that, and the idea of going to a forest full of monsters was intriguing, so I wasn''t eager to leave.


    "I am alive, it is good. You collect herbs?" I said while motioning for the bartender to bring me some food.


    "It is good indeed, I wouldn''t wish to die for some wizard''s research either. Ah, sadly, the collection of herbs hasn''t gone very well."


    "Why?" I said, sitting down at the bar next to him as one of the wenches brought me a pint of beer. As much as I avoided alcohol in my world, and the taste of this beer wasn''t impressive in the slightest, I still rejoiced. Drinking beer in a tavern after a quest, the universal celebration of adventurers!


    "Because of what happened to Stuart. Light be in his soul, such a tragedy," he said, and stared into his beer with a look of utter defeat. I asked again and he slowly looked back at me, saying "It''s best that you don''t know. Because he was always the one who hired the mercenaries to guard us, now I don''t have protection to venture into the forest."


    "Forest of monters?" I said.


    "Yes, it''s to the south of Brimbrom, where all manner of strange things grow. We''ve long had a deal with Stuart where he gives us transport, protection and supplies, and in exchange he takes a good portion of the herbs collected. That forest has been blessed with rich magic since the dawn of this kingdom, so its herbs are abundant and of remarkable quality, but so are its monsters. Hearsay has it that the forest itself births one monster for every breath that a maiden takes."


    "What maiden?"


    "I don''t know, perhaps all of them."


    "That make many monsters," I said just as the wench brought me two plates, one with beans and chopped up meat and the other with some sort of salad which looked like lettuce but had the color of an orange, with pieces of broccoli. It had the same taste as lettuce, so it wasn''t a distraction as long as I didn''t look at it.


    "Indeed. The edge of the forest is usually safe, but to go deeper inward has been the death of many adventurers."


    "And what you do now? No mercenaries, no herbs?"


    "Ahh, that''s what I''m trying to sort out. The church needs those herbs to heal the sick, otherwise we might see an outbreak in Surom... but I don''t know where to find those mercenaries and I don''t think they''ll want to work without payment upfront. My only choice might be to return and hire a party of adventurers there, but I can already hear Kihergan''s ''we can''t spare a single piece of gold, we are in debt as it is''! Oh, what am I going to do?"


    "I help you. Already go on quest to the forest," I said while chewing a mouthful of orange lettuce.


    "What, you''ve been to the forest?"


    "No, future be. I go scout forest with man, you come, collect herbs."


    "With what man? Why does he want to go there? Is he suicidal? Is he a monster in disguise?"


    "Not know, you ask. That man," I pointed at Giorgio, who was eating alone again. Galian gave him a quick look and then back at me.


    "The two of you, that''s it?"


    "Three. You come. Four if woman come, but not expect."


    "Is any of them a wizard, at least?"


    "Not know."


    "And you''re still confident in going there? Don''t waste the life you''ve barely saved, it''s foolish! Stuart always hired at least nine well-armed mercenaries, don''t underestimate the danger."


    "I am strong. Kill orcs. Is monsters stronger than orcs?"


    Galian looked at me with his eyes almost popping out of his head, as if asking ''don''t you remember cosplaying as a sack of potatoes? Are you even the same guy?'' and I smiled awaiting an answer. As foolhardy as I may have seemed to others, assessing the danger was a crucial part of my adventuring process; after all, I wasn''t generous enough to sacrifice my body for the eating pleasure of some ungodly faceripper. If the forest was more deadly than a band of orcs, I would prepare accordingly, but the quest wouldn''t be forfeited.


    "Are you referring to the raid that happened last night? Did you go off to kill orcs on your own?" said Galian, still with an incredulous air.


    "Yes, raid. Not alone, others help. They dead."


    Galian stared at me, slightly gesturing back and forth with his body and moving his mouth as if trying to conjure a coherent idea. No luck. I tried to relieve him of the pressure by meeting his gaze and giving a faint smile, to no avail. He mumbled things like ''how'' and ''why'' several times over, trying to convey to me that I should be as horrified as he was, and that the most appalling thing about this whole matter was that I wasn''t appalled by it. Eventually he gave up and looked at his beer again with a subtle shake of his head, saying:


    "Fine, this may very well be the Light''s answer to my predicament, as incredible as it is. The edges of the forest will have enough herbs to keep the plague from spreading, I''ll join you until I''ve collected what''s necessary and then we''ll part ways."


    "Good. You fight?"


    "The best I can do is impart the blessings of the Light, but you''ll have to protect me."


    "Is blessings powerful?"


    "Of course. He who walks in the Light can''t be defeated."


    "Then why not bless you and fight?"


    "Spare me your paradoxes, my day has already been trying enough," he said with a dejected face before gulping down his beer and asking for another. After that we ate in silence until I finished my meal and paid the barkeep. I also rented a room for the night, which took only three attempts to communicate. Perhaps I was getting better at speaking the caveman dialect.


    The room was on the second floor of the tavern. It had a bed, a chest and a small square table with a simple chair; exactly what I had expected. At first it felt strange to have a proper bed after sleeping on the floor for the past few days, so I began by sitting on it slowly and getting used to the sensation. It then occurred to me that I should plan countermeasures to prevent anyone from trying to capture me in the middle of the night, but by that moment I was already comfortable with my head on the pillow and the food in my belly made it even more difficult to stay awake. The last thing I managed to do before falling asleep was to take off my armor without getting up. I slept much more peacefully than anyone would approve for someone who carried several murders in his conscience.

 Chapter 9

    I awoke the next morning to a chorus of birds, a little over an hour prior to the sunrise, and I shot up to look at the door as if my brain had been left with an unfinished command. Nobody. I was happy to see that my adventure could still continue. While I was checking my armor and getting dressed, a memory of the thrilling chase arose in my mind. Perceiving the magical power all around me had been enlightening, to say the least, and I wanted more. I wanted to delve deeper into the mysteries of this world, mostly because I knew they would grant me greater power.


    The first thing I had to do was to evoke again that state of awareness. I emptied my bag onto the bed, picked up the five scrolls and the brooch which I knew had magical power and spread them as randomly as I could throughout the entire room; that is, I closed my eyes, jumped spinning around twice, walked two steps to the front and placed the brooch on the ground before tossing the scrolls in every direction, then I walked two steps backward and sat on the floor, still with my eyes shut. I focused on my breathing for several minutes, trying to clear my mind of any thoughts before focusing on the memory of that enhanced state of awareness. I remembered how it had made my body feel charged with energy, I remembered the bloodlust, the certainty that I was unstoppable, the thick flow of power in the air.


    At first it was faint, but then I felt the presence of each magical object like a bundle of signals all competing for attention. I stood up, still with my eyes closed and sustaining this awareness, and walked toward the nearest source of magic guided by my sensations. Thus I picked up one of the scrolls and repeated the process until every item had been gathered. It was real. Although alternative explanations came to me, I chose to believe that I was a sorcerer without questioning the source of this magical gift.


    Satisfied with my experiment, I finished preparing my equipment and went downstairs to eat breakfast. The hall of the tavern was empty, dark and silent, and the barkeep was asleep on a chair behind the counter. He woke up when he heard me approach, and without even a hint of surprise told me:


    "Here for breakfast? The kitchen opens again at dawn, but I can offer you some bread."


    "I eat bread then. You not sleep on bed?"


    "I do the night shift, then I go home to get proper sleep when my brother and his wife take over at dawn."


    While I ate my bread and made small talk with the barkeep, I kept thinking about magical power and what other spells might be available to me. How could I test my abilities? I paid for the bread and went outside just as the first rays of the morning began to emerge, and I looked for a removed place to sit and practice. The girl who''d awakened my sorcery seemed to hate her blessing, which must have been due to unfavorable reactions from other people. If that was the case, I had to be discreet. Walking toward the edge of town I began to think about my next experiment. Making fire would be fun, and possibly useful, but it was dangerous, flashy and certain to provoke some frightful reactions. Perhaps I could move objects, wouldn''t that be a sight.


    I climbed a tree in the forest just outside of town and began to focus while sat on a branch. I thought about plucking a leaf and holding it in the air, visualized an invisible force doing it and tried to channel my energy toward it, but to no avail. Perhaps that sort of ability was out of my reach at the moment, or my concentration wasn''t strong enough to make it happen. What if I needed to take another hit from a spellcaster to unlock more power? How would I even confirm that such a thing was needed? I didn''t want to run about provoking every mage in sight.


    After many tries and no successes, I began to get hungry. The morning had already bloomed and I could hear faint voices in the distance, it was time to go back to eat a proper breakfast. Upon returning to the tavern I found it active, although not bustling as it had been at night, and saw a man who wore no cloak, but had to be Giorgio: he was sitting at the same table in the same seat, had the same posture, the same eyes and was joined by the same woman. They were both unarmed and wearing plain clothes, which made me think that perhaps walking around in armor all day was a strange thing to do, even in this world. Still, I was an adventurer and being always ready was part of the job; or so I told myself.


    As soon as he saw me, Giorgio shouted in my direction:


    "Oi, Bawb! Come, sit with us!"


    The woman looked annoyed, but I waved at them and approached. As we exchanged greetings, a wench passed by our table and I ordered stew and vegetables, the same thing that Giorgio and Alice were eating.


    "I see you''re eager to begin our journey, my friend," said Giorgio glancing at my armor.


    "I am ready, but want better things. This armor is orcs."


    "What, you mean to say that it was made by orcs? It doesn''t surprise me, seeing how crude it looks," Alice replied.


    "Not know who make it, but orcs dead and I take armor. Want better now."


    "Worry not, this town has a fine blacksmith. I left my axe in his care, it needed to be reshafted after a fight with some bandits on the way here. I''m sure you''ll find something adequate in his shop," said Giorgio with a beaming smile, and I got envious and excited at the idea of defeating bandits. Perhaps he and I would get along better than anyone expected.


    "I find another man for quest, he give blessings. Name is Galian."


    "A priest?" Alice asked with a hint of surprise on her expression that only lasted a moment.


    "Yes," I said.


    "That could be excellent for us. Where is this fellow?" said Giorgio.


    "Not know. Was here yesterday."


    "Well, we should go look for him, this town must have a chapel. We''ll stop by the smithy too."


    "Then you two have fun. I''ll go take care of the important matters. Giorgio, try to not get yourself killed, will you?" Alice said. She got up and walked away without waiting for an answer. When she was out of view Giorgio said to me:


    "Don''t judge her too harshly. Sometimes pride gets the better of her, but she''s a brilliant girl. It''s no coincidence that our lord entrusted such an important mission to her."


    "I not care, only care about quest."


    "A pragmatic fellow, aren''t you?" Giorgio said, laughing. We talked for a little while until we finished our food and promptly set off to visit the blacksmith. Giorgio told me about Alice''s job as a stewardess under lord Furubasta, her unsurprising interest in gossip and his own distaste for spiced fruits; he asked me about my own background as well, but I avoided giving specific answers with the excuse that my vocabulary was too poor for a detailed explanation. To be fair, it was.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    On our way to the blacksmith, we came across the fat man who had sent me and the others off to rescue the sorceress. He approached us and, in a demanding tone, said to me:


    "So you were in town after all. What happened to the girl? Her mother has been screaming in my ear since you lot left! I already have much to do without her constant pestering."


    "Girl was sorceress. She dead."


    The fat man stared at me in shock and Giorgio looked slightly troubled, so I continued:


    "I almost die, drink potion, then rogue die, then father die, then wizard woman die," and I pointed to the gash in my armor where the lethal strike had cut me.


    "You... you''re the only survivor? Did you run away?" the fat man said.


    "No. I am strong."


    "Then why didn''t you save them? Why didn''t you save the girl?!"


    "Girl use bad magic, she die," I said, and it was technically true. The fat man began to rub his forehead and mumble to himself:


    "By the... by the Light. With all that''s been happening we don''t even have the manpower to give them a proper burial. Oh, what if more monsters come? We''ll be doomed!"


    "Worry not, my friend. We''re going on a mission to secure the southern forest, so you may rest easy," Giorgio said, placing his hand on the man''s shoulder with a solemn expression.


    "I hope you succeed, for all of our sakes. What am I going to tell that poor woman? Her family''s been destroyed," said the man, and I remembered something that Bastian had said before opening the wolf door.


    "That woman have magic blood. Ask her, she hide secret. Good luck," I said, and began to walk away, mostly to avoid further questions. I heard Giorgio trying to reassure the fat man, and after a few seconds he followed. When we were out of earshot, he asked:


    "What was all of that about? Magical blood?"


    "Yes, daughter was sorceress, mother hide secret. Orcs want magic door, people die because it."


    "That might become a problem in the future, you''ll have to tell me more about it."


    "Not know more about it. Woman know."


    "She must be facing difficult circumstances, this might not be the time to ask her. For now the mission comes first."


    "Where is blacksmith?"


    "Ahead, we''re practically there."


    As if on queue, a mass of grey smoke rose up from behind a building to my right, and a few paces later we stopped in front of an open doorway to a building that reminded me of a storehouse. The inside looked like someone had gotten comfortable in his own disorder. On every wall was a line of tools that seemed to blur together, save for one where the furnace and the chimney were, and in the middle was a pair of anvils mounted on wooden blocks among chains that hung from the ceiling and some buckets and racks and a grindstone and a large wooden wheel that for some reason was leaning against one of the anvils. I seached for a clear space to look at, but even the floor was covered in a layer of black dust with pebbles littered everywhere.


    Two men were working there, one at the bellows and the other polishing a knife, but none of them bothered to give us a proper greeting when they saw us enter. The man with the knife, whose body was thin and head was covered in short greying hair, shouted without looking away from his work:


    "Your axe is ready, right there on the rack. Just gotta clean ''er up a bit and she''ll be good to go."


    "Thank you, I''m eager to use it again. Bawb, this is the man about whom I spoke, he will surely be able to help you," said Giorgio, and the blacksmith gave me a curious look saying:


    "Must be looking for some new gear, eh, lad? Yours is barely holding together."


    "It be true. What do you have?"


    "The finest weapons and armor, take a look."


    Something about the whole situation seemed familiar to the point where I expected a digital interface to pop up in front of me and show me his wares, but no such thing happened. At least I could be thankful for how immersive this world was. I stood in place and looked around only with my eyes for a moment, wondering where exactly he kept these weapons for clients to examine, until the blacksmith got up from his grindstone and walked to a corner of the shop where a large tarpaulin was laid over a series of bumps. When he removed it, a thick puff of dust came with it and several boxes and two racks were uncovered. He motioned for me to come and see.


    "Any of these will do better than what ya got right now," he said.


    "How many coin?"


    "Lamellar and short chain coat for an ''undred each, scale armor for fifty, breastplate for two ''undred. Each comes with a helmet. For weapons, well, if ya like the spear, a guisarme will fit ya just fine."


    "What is a guisarme?" I said, and he replied by pulling something out of the bottom of the rack. It looked like a spearhead, but with a nasty hook to one side and a point on the opposite side. Just from its appearance, I was certain that nobody would enjoy getting caught by such a weapon. I asked him how much, he replied nine.


    "Gold?"


    "Aye, don''t expect me to sell any of this just for silver, lad."


    "Then I buy scale armor and guisarme," I said after pretending to examine the armors while I pondered upon their prices. I hadn''t known what to expect before coming here, but fifty-nine gold would leave me with a decent amount left over. I considered buying a sidearm, but didn''t want to spend all my money just in case I needed to pay for a carriage out of Brimbrom or an emergency potion. Speaking of potions, would I find an alchemist or equivalent in this town? I had little patience for a shopping trip, but it could make the difference between life and death.


    "Alright, let''s get you that armor fitted and then I''ll mount the guisarme," said the blacksmith. He asked me to take off my current armor and stand still while he took my measurements and adjusted the scale coat. The helmet, and my head, seemed to be generic enough to match well without any changes. As my new gear was being prepared, I sat on a box and contemplated my surroundings. Giorgio remained by the grindstone with his arms crossed, casting occassional glances at the weapons rack. It was clear that he wanted to buy something, the only question was whether he wanted another axe or a different kind of weapon. The rack held swords, maces, axes, hammers, bows, a few different models of spearheads, a strange hook with a chain, some spiky flails and even a fan with a sharp metallic frame. Giorgio certainly had plentiful options.


    As I took in the wonderful cancerous forge smoke, a feeling of joy sprang up in my chest. I was waiting for a blacksmith to finish my armor. I didn''t have work pending in some office, didn''t have a dog to feed back home, didn''t have a car to maintain or bills to pay, and certainly wasn''t bothered by the latest political news. I was waiting for the armor that would protect me in my next fight. Was I worried about coming back alive? Not in the slightest. In my world, we used to spend every moment carrying a thought that hung from our conscience like a heavy chain fastened to the ground: ''Home is a place and if this doesn''t get done, I can''t go back there.'' Our safety could be threatened, our rest could be hijacked and our needs denied. But in this world home wasn''t a place and my needs could go ignored, because freedom was more important than life.


    When the blacksmith was done adjusting my armor, I took off my previous cuirass, dropped it on the ground and put on the scale coat while he assembled my weapon. The armor fit me well, better than I had expected of a suit that wasn''t made specifically for me. With it and the helmet I felt protected, although my legs and hands could''ve used some attention. Soon after, the blacksmith gave me my guisarme and I was ready. He waited for me to confirm that everything was in order and I offered him my old armor and weapon, saying:


    "You want this? I not need it now."


    "I''m afraid I can''t offer ya gold for those pieces, lad."


    "No gold, it be free."


    He pondered for a moment, as if wondering whether my donation held any value at all, but eventually accepted it and called for his apprentice:


    "Jerry, come here. See what we can save from these, maybe the cords and a few scraps of leather."


    "Will do, teach. Pleased to meet you," he said to me in a hurry before skittering off.


    "If everything''s to your liking, it''ll be fifty-nine gold," the blacksmith said.


    "Yes, it be good. Here."


    "Thanks for your business! Now, let me take care of that axe for ya, ser knight." The man put away his shiny gold in a chest near the forge and fetched the axe from the rack. After a few strokes with an oiled rag it looked bright as a mirror under the glow of the forge, and Giorgio smiled like a kid when he grabbed it. To be fair, it was an appropriate reaction to such a fine axe. I noticed that its new handle had a sturdy look, and the pole of my guisarme also seemed robust when I moved it around. Not a single rattle in the spearhead''s base; the man certainly knew his craft.


    With our business finished, we bade farewell to the pair and I said to Giorgio:


    "Now to Galian, then to buy potion."

 Chapter 10

    "Potions, a good idea. Let us hope an alchemist lives in this town, otherwise the chapel will be our only option. Did the priest tell you anything about his schedule, by chance?"


    "No."


    "Right, you said that before. To find the chapel, then. It should be in the center of town."


    "We ask people where."


    "What? No, no need for that. They''re always in the center, it''s a custom in these lands, you know."


    Of course, this hadn''t stopped being a generic fantasy world. After walking for a while we found it near a well and a small marketplace. It was much smaller and more modest than the church in Surom, which didn''t surprise me, but it was bustling nonetheless. We entered and I looked around, but Galian wasn''t anywhere to be found. A flash thoughted into my mind: ''What if he was actually a ninja playing hide and seek with me?'' but I dismissed the silly thing with a shake of my head. Ninjas never play. Perhaps he''d scurried back to Surom to avoid being drafted into my quest.


    "This fellow, what was his name, again? What does he look like?" said Giorgio when he saw my dejected face.


    "Galian. Gold hair, short. Look like coward," I said, regretting my poor choice of words among the few that I''d bothered to memorize. The voice in my head agreed: ''He''ll get confused by that. Is the hair short, or the man?'' and I wondered when did my skullvoice get so growly. My following thought sounded normal, and I kept searching for a way to mend my clumsy description of Galian while Giorgio looked around and mumbled to himself.


    I paced back and forth inside of the church among the crowd, but found nothing and got ignored and shushed when I tried to ask any questions. Apparently the usual ceremony was about to begin. I went outside and around the building. To my absolute astonishment, or maybe not, I reached a small graveyard where Galian stood alone in front of a tombstone, waving a chain of incense and looking down. When I called out to him, he ignored me on purpose.


    "This is Stuart?" I said approaching him, but he answered without turning to look at me and still waving the incense around:


    "Stay back, I need to concentrate."


    So he was praying for the departed. A reasonable thing to expect from a man of the church. I stood and watched him as he began to walk around the tombstone tracing half-circles instead of doing full turns, holding the chain away from his face as if he didn''t want to breathe in the thin strand of grey smoke. I considered going back to the church to fetch Giorgio, but decided against it. A knight must at least be smart enough to find his way to the graveyard, right? Since I wasn''t sure about Galian''s determination, it was better to watch him. He could try to stall if he wanted to, but I wasn''t going to let him wiggle out of this adventure. At least not without a proper introduction to another priest or band of mercenaries. Or boy scouts that could carry our loot, whatever.


    I leaned against a tombstone and watched him with my most piercing stare until Giorgio came about and asked me what was going on. Like a mobster I pointed at Galian, who kept waving the incense, with a slight gesture of my chin and Giorgio gave me a look that seemed to say "so this is the part where we act all cool?" before crossing his arms and joining me in the bad-boy leaning pose. After a few minutes, Galian walked in our direction and introductions began:


    "Giorgio, Galian. Galian, Giorgio."


    "Pleased to meet you," said Galian, to which Giorgio replied with an enthusiastic handshake:


    "Indeed! I shall be honored and relieved to have you with us in this expedition."


    "I haven''t agreed to join you yet. Bawb, you change attires every time I see you. Please, excuse my mood, I''m still not sure that three men will be enough to survive in the forest."


    "Then what do you suggest?" said Giorgio.


    "That you forgo this expedition. The forest has changed. It doesn''t matter if you bring twenty men along, you''ll die."


    "What?! You not say that yesterday. What change?" I asked with little patience. Galian tried to give me a cold look and stand firm, but his shoulders collapsed into a sag with a sigh from his lips. I knew the reason before he spoke.


    "Stuart. In the edge of the forest. We only found his... his head. We haven''t seen a single clue from Edith, prayers be unto her. To tell you the truth, Bawb, I''m terribly frightened."


    The three of us gave a moment of pause, and Giorgio asked:


    "What was this man doing in the forest?"


    "Meeting his mistress."


    "What an unseemly demise," replied Giorgio with a stern and troubled look.


    "Stuart was a good man in spite of his faults. It isn''t anyone''s place to condemn him."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Yes, prayers be unto him. Let us hope he learns honor in death, and if he doesn''t, that your incense will spare him my blade."


    In that moment I saw another adventuring lesson flying straight at me like a loose arrow, spinning in mid-air and saying ''catch me if you can!'': choose your team carefully. Much to my shame, I merely took notice of it without catching even a feather of its fletching. Now, in my defense, I was too busy gushing over the plump bit of lore that Giorgio had tossed out. Would I get to fight ghosts? What a marvel! Would I need a special weapon for that? Maybe Giorgio''s axe was magical.


    "Impressive words, but can a dead man fulfill them? You''ve both been warned. Bawb, don''t make a mockery of this life you''ve barely kept." And with a slow turn of his shoulder, Galian tried to walk away.


    "We not go in forest, people in town die. You want that?" I said, grabbing his arm and holding a determined action hero''s gaze like they do in films. A good man wouldn''t let others be harmed just because he''s afraid, would he? I was aiming at his moral center.


    "It''s not my place to determine the fate of others, only the Will of Light shall decide." A miss, but I wasn''t discouraged:


    "Light give you power, it is your place to bless, to heal. You go to Surom, you kill Brimbrom."


    "No monsters have come past the edge of the forest, we still..."


    "Orcs."


    Galian gave pause with a grave grind of his teeth. Was he angry because I forced him to acknowledge the ugly truth he''d tried to hide? His visible inner struggle revealed in me an equally unpleasant idea: what if I actually convinced him? He might charge into his death because I couldn''t look away from a shiny quest. Why did I put so little value on the lives of others in this world? Perhaps it was another glimpse into the humanity that I had been suppressing to survive in the civilized world where I wasn''t afforded the perks of a visitor.


    In the vibrant silence, Giorgio spoke:


    "This new information is indeed troubling. This town is in danger, and it seems you''ve already had to bury a friend. How many more will it take to convince you?"


    "Release me. I can bring reinforcements from Surom, they will..."


    "Can not! They not here, not come before, you think they come now? We be strong, kill monsters, people not die." Had that been too blunt? I had to be careful, if any of them picked up on my bloodlust, my credibility would be hard to rebuild.


    "Galian, these people need us. I could send a letter to my lord and request aid, but I fear the town would be far gone when they arrive. In any case they''ll need information to prepare. Can you really walk away from this with your faith intact?" said Giorgio, and I was relieved. At least until Galian began to shiver and shed tears.


    "I''m sorry. I know what''s at stake, I know they don''t deserve it... but I don''t... I don''t want to die! I don''t want to be a head in the mud! I''m truly sorry. Please, let me go."


    What a way to break down. He''d seemed far more collected until now, although I had noticed a faint smell of despair on him when we spoke in the tavern. It had been difficult for me to decide whether Galian was rattled by the recent events or merely drunk and bored. Perhaps I wasn''t the most sensitive type, but more than that, I wasn''t one to care. His teary face sent me the sudden idea that he must''ve been thinking about Stuart''s death without pause, and what he showed me was his most condensed poker face.


    I stared at him for a moment that neither of us noticed, looking at his red eyes and following each round tear that fell from them. He must have spent the past couple of days treading the same spiral, repeating the same thoughts in his mind. By this point his desperate confession had become a rehearsed act, because he had surely been telling himself the same words. He was waiting for someone to excuse and forgive him. That was his mistake.


    "Bawb, let him go. He won''t be of any use to us with a broken spirit," said Giorgio in a guilty voice. While I agreed with him, I was so immersed in playing the bad cop that it wasn''t easy for me to just give up and be left with nothing.


    "You want to go into forest with no blessing?"


    "We''ll find another solution."


    I took a deep breath and released Galian''s arm along with it. A perplexing detail: neither him nor I had been struggling against the other. He hadn''t tried to break free in earnest, and my grip hadn''t been tight. Still, Giorgio had no way of knowing. If I had to take a guess, it must''ve been Galian''s own guilt which kept him there, as he didn''t leave even after he was unhanded. He surely knew there was nowhere to go. Staying in Brimbrom would cost him his life, but returning to Surom would cost him his honor. A young man such as him would instinctively know that you can''t preach love and salvation while turning your back on the innocent.


    "Not worry. We kill monsters, come back for beer. You can wait," I said to Galian, who remained quietly sobbing as I began to walk away. My back was fully turned when Giorgio asked him:


    "One last thing, my friend. Where is the alchemist in this town?"


    "Nowhere. There has never been one here. If you need potions, the priestess might be able to scrounge something up, but I wouldn''t expect much with Stuart buried as he is."


    Of course, it hadn''t occurred to me that the town might be out of herbs without its only supplier! But wasn''t alchemy more versatile than mere herbalism? I would''ve expected some colorful mineral powders, wildflowers and monster parts used as reagents, at minimum. Wasn''t this a fantasy world? At least it had a priestess, very common. If this world suddenly began to mix up the rules, I''d be at the risk of having to take it seriously. Now, here was my juncture: I had to take a guess on which stereotype this priestess was going to embody, but it wasn''t easy to choose between a soft-spoken blondie or a disciplined ravenhead. After flipping an imaginary coin at the speed of sound, it landed on heads before I could assign the options. Instead of imagining another coin, I decided to leave the bright colors reserved for the inevitable elf archer and thus placed my bets on the black haired toughnut.


    Giorgio thanked him and we went back into the chapel without a farewell to Galian. As we walked through the graveyard I realized that its tombstones were fewer than the corpses I''d seen strewn on the square upon first arriving in Brimbrom. There must''ve been another burial site in town, but why hadn''t Galian blessed it? Perhaps he had while I was away, or the priestess might have done it. And what about the orcs? The townsfolk must have thrown them in some ditch, but where? The cleanup had been too fast and, all things considered, most people here seemed undisturbed by the consequences of the orc raid. Getting used to violence is one thing, but this level of apathy was unsettling, even psychotic.


    No, I shouldn''t get dragged to strange conclusions by a thin thread of appearances. After all, I''d rather see people trying to play it cool than a town full of distraught relatives mourning their loved ones; it''d break my heart.