The Window Ghost
An ethereal spirit appeared one day, curing me of this diseased body. Why this happened is a mystery to me.
It stays dormant most of the time, only pinging at me when it needs my attention, like an infant. It neglects to answer a majority of my questions, also like an infant.
NOTE #1: A [SKILL] is one of many rewards given to me for completing these "quests" given by this ghost.
- From the journal of Solas Morningstar
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Ping!
[https://i.imgur.com/zEXuUs3.png]
Why am I still standing here like a mute idiot?
I need to move. I twitch my toes and my feet. But my legs were cemented firmly in place, completely magnetized to the ground.
Blood lust began emanating from the bushes, stabbing at my skin and my body temperature started to rise. Sweat began slowly trickling down my cheek, as the killing intent grew more intense. I didn’t know what to do, and my mind was fogging over. My breath began to quicken and my heart started to beat out of my chest, like a thundering drum.
Someone.
Anyone.
A sharp pulse rocketed through the back of my head.
SCREAM. NOW.
Everything suddenly went quiet.
At the top of my lungs, I released a guttural roar.
“ARGHHHHHH!”
My voice echoed throughout the clearing. Birds hidden within the trees scattered in every direction, startled by the noise. Apparently, not the only thing being startled, as the red figure shook, taken by surprise. Seemingly unsure how to proceed, it slowly stood up.
My body had stopped shaking, and my mind was unclouded.
Now.
I pivoted, bolting towards the opposite end of the forest clearing. The instant I did, a needle-like blade zipped passed my hip, embedding itself into a large oak tree nearby.
Keep going.
Pushing past the branches of the surrounding flora, I felt the raking sting of cuts and scrapes open up on my arms and face, something I could not afford any attention to. Run faster.
Two more needles fly past, one gashing my lower leg. A burning pain shot through my calf, but I grit my teeth and stomped my feet, picking up speed. I need to stay away from any clearings and move between the trees. I wish I knew the Tilian forest like the back of my hand, but it has been years since I have even touched this ground.
I heard feet kicking up dust behind me and my stomach dropped. He was gaining ground.
I wanted to look back, to see how close the pursuer was on my trail, but I knew that would be stupid. I don't want to trip over nothing and then end up dead.
But he was getting closer. My heart started beating out of my chest. Don’t look, don’t look. Please, just keep running. Look forward.
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The footsteps went from a light tap into a heavy thud.
Oh no.
“WHERE ARE YOU GOING, BOY.” A roar echoed behind my ears, just as a large force bull-rushed into my back, bouldering me into an oak tree.
Fuck. I fall face-first onto the floor, winded from his tackle, my upper spine screaming in agony from the impact of the tree. It suddenly became harder to breathe, stabbing pain and nausea preventing me from inhaling. I look up from a fetal position, tears streaming across my eyes and blurring my vision with salt water.
A bearded man two meters in height towered over me, skillfully spinning needle knives in both hands. He was clothed in poorly stitched leather, clearly fashioned from different animal skins. Not dressed like a civilian.
Dressed like a bandit.
Kneeling next to me, he looked at my wounded leg and saw the dark red blood running down to the forest floor, staining the grass and dirt.
“Interesting. So you all bleed the same as we do, eh?” The man scoffed, scratching his unshaven beard with the knife.
Pointing a knife at my throat, he tilted his head to one side.
“How did you do it?” He inquired.
“D-Do what?”
He raised a knuckle and smashed it down across the face. Immediately feeling my nose crack under the pressure, I brought my hands up just as the blood vessels burst and filled my mouth with blood, making a larger mess of the forest floor. More tears flowed into my eyes from the stinging that followed.
I yelped out in surprise and scuffled backward, hitting the oak tree behind me, still holding my lower face as my hands started staining crimson.
Pushing the knife towards me once again, he used the edge of one to push my hand down, observing the flow of blood and grinned. “How did a piece of dog filth, diseased to the point of no return, suddenly become … like this?” Gesturing at me with the other knife.
Before I could answer, he raised his elbow and smashed down on my face again.
I cry out, as the ridge of my broken nose crunched inwards further. I can't do this. This man was fully intending to end my life.
“Wait! Please!” I shove my hand out in front of me trying to push him away. But he was too heavy. I fell on my back instead, and he proceeded to jump on my body, his weight crushing me beneath him. Hard of breathing, I feebly forced out the next line.
“What the hell do you want from me?”
He stared at me as if I asked a stupid question. “For our plan to have worked, you should’ve stayed ill.” Annoyed, he twirled the needle knives in his hands.
“And of your own accord, you decided to completely turn it to rubbish." Sighing, he leaned in, his face inches away from mine, breath heavy with the smell of alcohol.
"The big man sent me to only observe and report, but after what I have seen, that no longer seems unnecessary.” He continued to ramble.
But he was going to kill me soon. I could feel it in my gut.
I need to make a move. Something. Anything. But he was at least twice my height and far more built, not to mention he looked like he had combat training. Nothing was coming to mind--
Another pulse hit the back of my head and the same voice whispered again.
His eye.
That was something.
I grit my teeth, glaring the yammering brigand straight in the eyes.
“Fuck you.”
[https://i.imgur.com/GtSovcJ.png]
Snapping and tearing. But only for a second, and I paid no notice to the pain this time. Once the changes ceased, I felt the familiar surge of energy force its way into my body.
With another roar, I sit up and smash my forehead into his nose. With gravity working against me, there was not enough force to do major damage, but it was enough to stun him, and his weight tilted off me. I proceeded to stick my right thumb in his left eye and pushed inwards.
The force induced a squelching under my thumb, as the eyeball slid past my finger and popped out of its socket, hanging on by a string of flesh.
He sat there for a second, completely oblivious to what had just transpired. He slowly stood up, his fingers aimlessly fumbling around his empty eye socket, tracing down his lower cheek and chin, eventually locating the dangling ball of meat. Delicately cupping it in his hand, he stared at the eye and it stared back. He then looked down at me, only to see me holding both of his needle knives.
I leap at him before he can react, and thrust the two knives at him. He raises one arm to block the incoming attack, both knives piercing the forearm. But with my newfound strength, I smash the butt of the hilt, forcing his forearm towards his face, one of the knives stabbing into his other, intact eye. Instantly rupturing, a stream of blood flowed down his right eye.
This time, he reacted, falling onto his back.
“WHAT IN THE GODDAMN FUCK.”
He stood up and began flailing his hand around, the other one protecting his eyeball from swinging around.
It looked painful.
“WHERE ARE YOU?”
“TELL ME RIGHT NOW, DOG FUCKER.”
“WHERE ARE YOU?”
“WHERE ARE YOU!!!!”
He began frothing at the mouth. Losing himself to the unending pain, tears started rolling down his face. He collapses to his knees with his back toward me.
With one more needle knife, I thrust it into the side of his neck. Another gush of blood. But he still flailed about, crawling on his knees around the forestry, bumping into every oak tree on the way, reaching for anything, before slowly passing out. His head smacked into the cold, hard ground. Slowly paling, motionless.
To be continued ....