Jerev P.O.V

Jerev was sweating despite the snow that littered the ground around him. His muscles felt sore, and his body felt hot, yet he still had a job to do. He was a lumberjack, and he had a quota to meet. As such he stared at the tall leafless tree before him. He had already cut halfway into it and another good swing or two would bring it down. He glanced to his left and ensured everyone else was out of range. Stumps of other trees were scattered across the ground around him, but he saw no people in range. Several of his companions were further away and they held up their hands, indicating that he was safe to continue. They were all covered in thick furs but he still saw the gesture clearly. He nodded to them and turned back to the tree.

His grip tightened on the shaft of his axe, and he hefted it up to his shoulder. He sucked in a breath and let it out as he swung. It may have been the thousandth swing of the day, and it strained his muscles.

Clack!

His whole arm shook a little as the axe cut into the wood. It chipped at the partially broken tree, but the tree didn’t fall yet. He grunted and raised the axe again. One more, he was sure it would just take one more swing. Another breath in. He held it there for a moment and let it out slowly as he swung. The breath was visible in the chill air, and it spun around his arm as he swung with as much force as he could muster. In all his years as a lumberjack, Jerev never swung gently.

Crack!

The axe struck the wood loudly and slid through part of the bark. He didn’t even have time to pull his axe away. The tree toppled and he had to roll out of the way as it fell more to the left than he had intended. Snow covered his fur and face. He coughed as his body chilled rapidly in the snow. It was as cold as always, and he hated it even now.

Thump!

The tree fell behind him, but he ignored it as he drew himself back up. His axe was partly buried in the snow beside the tree. He walked over and picked up the dark brown shaft. The blade looked fine, but he would still sharpen it a little once he got back. Axes were expensive, and he found that a little maintenance helped a lot.

“Jerev! That was the last one for today! Grab some jerky and soup and head home.”

He turned and saw David, his boss, shouting at him. Jerev waved at him and walked back toward their camp. The jerky wasn’t very enticing, but the soup was. Jessica would love a hot meal now, and he was eager to return home.

The camp wasn’t much more than a hut but it had water and food inside. They always got enough to take home to their families, which was a huge relief for him. He couldn’t cook to save his life, and his daughter wasn’t much better. She at least remembered to use salt, but neither of them had a talent for it. He smiled at the thought, as he walked into the wooden hut. Inside he found a few claw pots sitting over a fire. The soup still bubbled. Despite the heat, he almost reached for it anyway. Then he thought better of it and simply used the long tongs to grab it. He hoisted it onto his pack. He had a rectangular pack with a basket at the top for exactly this kind of thing. He put the soup and jerky side by side, and covered it with some fur. That way the soup would stay hot. After checking to make sure there wasn’t anything else, he left.

The walk back home wasn’t long or hard. The dirt path was always empty of snow by now, so he wasn’t worried about slipping or falling. A pot full of hot soup might worry someone else, but he had made this same journey every winter.

His house was halfway down the hill, in a small home that was separated from the rest of the village. He still remembered his wife’s love of the place. She loved the solitude and claimed that she would walk twice as far if it meant freedom. He didn’t argue and had just worked to make her the best home she could imagine. Now that she was gone, he felt a little bit more alone in it. He smiled though as; he approached the house. Jessica was inside, and she deserved a smile.

Then he got close and saw the door. It was slightly open, and he knew something was wrong. Jessica always locked the door in the winter. She absolutely hated the cold and wouldn't let even the smallest amount of heat out if she could avoid it. He called out to her as he rushed through the door.

“Jessica. Is everything alright?”

The words were desperate, and he would be embarrassed and angry if this just turned out to be a joke. She did like pranks, but he felt a twisting knot in his stomach. He pushed through the hallway that felt too long and stumbled into the main room. The fireplace burned quietly, and he saw Jessica kneeling in front of it. Relief washed over him for a moment. Then he saw her hands.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jessica clutched at her neck as blood ran around her fingers. It stained her thick brown dress and spilled on the ground. The dripping noise stunned him. He just stared at her confused and disbelieving until he felt a prick in his back. A sharp pain brought him back, and he swung to see a man drive a knife forward. The blade slammed through Jerev’s coat and drove into his chest. He stumbled but didn’t fall. The image of his daughter clutching her neck vibrated in his mind, and he acted without thought. He moved faster than he ever had before.

His hands found the hilt of the axe, and he swung like he had a hundred thousand times before. The axe struck true and pushed it with all the strength he could. The strength of a lumberjack who had spent nearly two decades chopping wood. The lumberjack who sharpened his axe daily. His swing was mightier than a bear, and his axe ripped through the man. Jerev didn’t pay attention to him and turned toward his daughter who had fallen. He fell to his knees, ignoring the pain in his own body as he called out to her.

“Jessica, please.”

Be okay! He begged anyone that could help him. No one was there, but he didn’t know what to do. He bent over his daughter and tried desperately to hold her neck. Her eyes opened slightly when he touched her. She smiled at him vaguely and grabbed his arm. She felt so weak. He called to her desperately.

“Jessica! Just stay here, I’ll get the healer and…”

He couldn’t say anything else, and his daughter tightened her grip on his arm. She wasn’t going to let him go, so he carried her. He lifted her. At that moment, she felt even lighter than she had as a babe. He stumbled through his house, stepping past and ignoring the already dead man on the ground. The only thing that mattered was his daughter.

He could run all day without slipping, but he felt slow as he pushed through the door. The wood cracked as he pushed through it.

“Please. Please. Please.”

He begged and begged as he ran through the snow. His own blood ran down his body, through his furs, and stained the snow as he ran. Then something happened. He touched or felt something reach out to him. A golden light, a moment of power and inspiration and he clutched at it. He didn’t know or care what it was. All that mattered was his daughter.

Power filled him, and he pushed it into his daughter. He gave Jessica everything. Everything that flowed into him passed into her. Then he fell to the ground. His daughter slipped from his grip and fell into the snow. He stared and reached out to her. The power still tried to flow into him, but he pushed it into his daughter instead. Anything to give her another moment. She moved, raised her head, and looked at him with tears in her eyes. She clutched at her neck, and no more blood leaked out.

“Dad! I’m-m a L-live!”

Her voice shook, and he could help but smile at her. Thank you. The words echoed in his head, but he didn’t know who to give them to. He didn’t know what the power had been, but it had saved his daughter. He tried laughing but couldn’t. There was no strength left in his body for even that. He just lay there and felt his daughter rush over to him. She hugged him and spoke and cried. He heard none of what she said but smiled to see that she could do any of it. She tried to carry him, to move him, but there was no chance of that. She was barely thirteen summers and he was far too big for her. He felt her tears against his hair, and he used what little strength he had left to smile. He smiled and smiled as dark spots filled his vision.

His daughter would live. The villagers would take care of her. He was sure of that. That knowledge was enough to let him smile through it all. The black spots filling his eyes turned deeper and more encompassing. Before long he lost sight of his beautiful daughter. Her stunning red hair and blue eyes. Her freckled face that reminded him of his wife. Even without sight or sound, he smiled as he died.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Luke P.O.V

Luke sprang to his feet and searched for his daughter. Jessica, where was she? He needed to. Luke froze as the thoughts and memories clashed. He was Jerev. Then he was Luke, and it constantly switched between the two as he looked around the desolate grassland around him.

[What happened?]

“Jessica?”

He called out to her in a voice that was not his own. He searched desperately for her until the voice responded.

[It is Priscilla, what happened?]

Luke stumbled around for a second as his mind processed the words. His mind struggled to understand. Reality was different than what he knew. Two minds and memories existed inside one person, and he wasn’t sure which to trust.

“Priscilla, where is Jessica?”

[Who is that?]

“My daughter!”

Luke shouted the words. He barely even registered the fact that he could speak now. The shout seemed to startle the souls that had approached him and they stopped edging closer. Luke stared at the souls and reality began to reorient itself. They reminded him of where he was. This was a trial. That memory had just been another part of it. The realization brought him to his knees.

Jessica was fine. Relief swamped him at the thought, and he had to remind himself that he didn’t know Jessica. She had lived long before him. Before even classes and skills. Before magic and power. He knew that now. The memory had belonged to someone from ages ago. From a time before it all, and he understood something then. Jerev had been the first. He had been the first to touch upon this power that Luke was now reaching for. Luke trembled at the idea. He couldn’t even understand what a power like that was. What existed before even the classes?

His gaze snapped up, to the dozens of souls that were watching and waiting for their turns. He looked at them and hesitated. The trial would make him live through their lives. Even if it was only a tiny part of it, he learned everything about the person. He gained all their knowledge and memories. He became them for a moment. Was this something he could do? Would he still be himself at the end? He didn’t know, but he would do it. This was the trial, there would be nothing else. No matter how many dungeons he entered, he was certain that the trial would not change. He looked at the rest of the souls and reached for the next one.