Ethan slowly walked through the darkness, proceeding more cautiously, unlike how he waltzed into the corridor like he owned the place before. After his first real encounter with a monster-sized rat, he understood he had been careless. After all, no one would be there to defend him or correct his mistakes if he was chewed up by a wild animal, alone and in the middle of nowhere.

One brush with death in the forest outside was already too many for him. A second one on the same day? Well, that made him rethink his life choices as he proceeded with his search, taking care to light the corridor ahead of him. He took multiple pauses and listened, trying to make out any sounds in the dark corridor. The place seemed empty, abandoned even.

At times like these, Ethan wondered why he did not spend more time reading and watching survival guides. Instead, he was too focused on training and doing his own thing. At least I was not a fat office manager in some run-down store with too much extra weight, he thought, smiling at the image of him in a stained shirt.

He turned another dark corner, almost a hundred meters inside the castle. Since his fight a few minutes ago, he had not encountered a single soul. Ethan counted himself lucky. Sure, he was far away from home. From his parents, sister, and the few friends that he had. From the safety of the modern world and all the amenities that he took for granted.

I had boots, for god’s sake. Here I have nothing besides my wit and my fists. Life is so simple yet so complicated at the same time, he sighed quietly, observing the cold stone around him, wondering how old the place was.

Nothing made sense. Ethan always thought that the human mind was a fragile thing. All too dependent on the inputs it receives from the body. He argued multiple times with his father on those quiet family evenings about what counted as real and what did not. But, by the end of the day, those talks did not help him now. Whether he chose to believe his eyes and nose that told him everything he saw after waking up was real.

Ethan recounted the forest below. The smells and the sounds he did not notice in his mad rush through the woods in an attempt to flee as soon as possible. The trees were European enough. But larger, more primal. This must mean that wherever I am, it is not the tropics, he thought, proceeding slowly, step by step.

Thank god. I would not want to trek through the desert and the sand. But, on the other hand, the forest allows many more creatures to hide and ambush me. Maybe sand would have been easier after all. I only saw the cat monster, and even that was because I was lucky, he recalled and considered if he was willing to go back down there.

Ethan quietly mused as he turned another corner of the corridor with no doors in sight. He thought about the creatures this world had. If the rat was any indication, they were larger, vicious, and more dangerous than the ones he knew from his home. That meant that the humans if there were any, had to be able to stand up to them somehow. Surely there are other humans somewhere, he told himself.

If given a chance, Ethan wanted to avoid fighting the creatures, seeing no way to defeat them with no weapons or heavy artillery in the case of the cat monster. But, wait, the screens, he thought and paused in the dark corridor, willing his interface to life, surprised that it did not illuminate his surroundings, given that he could read the text.

Ethan Jorgeson

Bloodline: [Reborn]

Titles: [none]

Aspects:

* Soul: [locked]

* Mind: [none] (0%)

* Might: [none] (0%)

* Agility: [none] (0%)

* Recuperation: [none] (0%)

He examined the window that described him. Aspects. That surely must be the means to survive. But what are they? How do I get one? he questioned, hoping the windows would pop up as they usually did to explain things to him when he had a problem. But nothing happened. He waved the grey box away, annoyed, and continued to walk.

Well, running away is always an option—no shame in that. At least I found a freakin castle, he thought, looking straight ahead in the corridor, hoping it did not lead to a dead-end.

He thought back to the tunnel through which he had entered the castle and understood that it was most likely hidden, given how obscured it was from the outside. And the room downstairs most likely was a guard post of sorts. To make sure that no one entered this place. Who lived here precisely? he tried to understand.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Just as he was about to have another rant about how long the corridor was, he noticed a light a few dozen meters ahead. Slowly walking up to it, he saw a doorway leading into a room.

Ethan approached it, storing the crystal, and listened. Not a sound reached his ears. Finally, he peeked around the corner of the doorway and saw that it led to a room that resembled a kitchen.

Large, worn wooden tables took up most of the space in the room, looking no worse for the wear despite the meter of dust covering them. Bowls, plates, spoons, and crates were scattered in a jumbled mess of crockery.

It was an utter mess. As if people had left in a hurry and grabbed whatever they could. As a result, the room looked plundered, with many things left broken and shattered.

Ethan walked inside and took a look around in search of something worthwhile. After a few minutes of plundering through the garbage, he found a kitchen knife on one of the tables and observed it.

[Kitchen knife] (tool, unranked, common)

A true chef’s best friend (or mortal enemy of tough ingredients).

Great, these windows have humor, he thought and looked at the blade and noted it was made of iron. While dull, the knife was not rusted and had some edge left to it. This will do until something better comes along. At least I will not be unarmed for the next little critter I face, he thought.

Ethan continued his search through the kitchen. Since it was the size of his childhood’s one-bedroom apartment, it took a while to review everything. Many things were broken or in pieces - mugs, bowls, and plates made from ceramics you would expect to see in a museum. These people did not care much about the things they left, he observed.

He was looking for something to help him survive the castle, as surely there were more monsters around. Ah, there it is! He picked up a jug that looked to be more or less intact and observed it. Despite being covered in dust, it looked to be intact.

Ethan proceeded to store it, noting that it took up a slot in his storage space, as did all other items. Interesting what will happen if I add water to it. Will the water stay in the jug and count as one item? he considered.

He looked around and noticed that there was no water source in sight. Then, remembering the books he had read on medieval castles, he recalled that the kitchen staff used to get water from a well that must be somewhere nearby if it had not dried out.

It is getting dark, he observed, not wanting to go outside what looked like a relatively safe room in search of a water source. Finished with the kitchen, he walked further to the right from the entrance and found a closed door. Opening it, he uncovered what looked like a servant's room. It was mostly empty, save for a wooden frame that barely resembled a bed.

Ethan smiled as he breathed out some of his anxiety, uncertain of what to do when the dark came. At least I have found myself a place to rest for the night, he thought and looked around. He noticed some rags in the corner of the room and some hay that looked dry enough to use as a makeshift mattress.

Now I need to find some wood. If the tunnels below and the corridor were of any indication, it would get cold soon. And these rags will not be enough to keep me warm through the night. He looked to the right and saw that the small room had a fireplace but no wood stacked next to it.

Walking back inside the kitchen, he noticed a large fireplace in the far corner. Next to it, he saw that there was still some firewood left. He picked up a log and observed that it was not rotten and would do well enough.

He quickly added it to his storage, doing the same to all the other logs, noticing that they stacked the same way as the tokens. Hmm, how does it work exactly? Does the storage stack items of the same general type? Or is there something more to it? he considered for a second and shook his head.

Then, he looked for a flint and steel next to the kitchen fireplace, hoping the residents did not take it when leaving, quickly finding the thing. By the time he had finished searching the room and gathering tools and resources, the sun outside had set, casting the kitchen in relative darkness.

The small windows on the kitchen walls were not enough to illuminate the room, nor were they reachable to check what lay outside. Ethan sighed and returned to the small room he had found, dumping the wood next to the fireplace.

He lit a small flame in the thing, using just a bit of the hay next to the bed, and quickly added some logs. Finally, a warm fire sprung to life as he smiled, suddenly tired from everything that had happened during the day.

He looked at the door and closed it, seeing the fireplace was not clogged and the smoke did not flood the room. Do not want any light to bleed through the windows. Never know who is looking, he thought and took the hay, dumped it on the wooden frame, and laid some rags on top.

Finally, he laid down, slightly annoyed by the lack of a pillow, and looked at the brightly burning fire. The warmth calmed him as he relaxed, his eyes slowly closing. I wonder what tomorrow will bring, he thought as the sleep took him.