I clawed my way through the frozen waste, my abdomen packed with snow to staunch the bleeding, and a length of skin from the bear that had tried to kill me three days ago. My fingers were bloodied and cracked, and my skin was burned from the constant cold. “Shit...keep going....I'm not fucking dying out in this god forsaken shit hole” I muttered on bated breath. It was fucking cold, and I had been struggling for three days since the plane crash. I woke up in the cabin of a plane with a six foot piece of steel rammed through my abdomen. It must have missed anything vital, not that I knew enough to really check. Everyone else was dead, and if I hadn't gotten out before the flames reached me I would be too. I could still remember the smell of burning flesh. It should make me sick, but at this point it just made me hungry.
I had broken a rib on the metal pole pulling it out, and had to stitch myself up with thread I cut from a dead man's silk lined coat, a broken fishing hook, and a shit ton of cheap vodka. Luckily the plane kept a lot of small alcohol bottles on board. My phone went dead yesterday...but I had to be getting close. The first thing I did after I got away from the plane was pull up a map. I wasn't getting a signal anymore, and I guess whatever relay the plane was using was toast. It showed a small town a few hundred miles from the last recorded location. I had headed for the nearest river, and was following it south, hoping that I'd find someone along the water...people like river front properties after all.
Last night I spent wrapped in a dead bear, burning what little I could find of kindling. Maybe I should have waited with the plane...what the fuck made me...shut up. Stop it. Focus. Get your ass to civilization...I think my ankle was broken. Didn't matter. I'd pack it with ice if I needed to. I wasn't dying out in this shit hole. I refused to...
Fourth day and I was stumbling. I...maybe I should have hunted...god but the pain was unbearable. I couldn't think straight anymore...It was a lot just to breath. As I stood upon the precipice of a hill, the snow cleared for a moment and I could see lights in the distance...Civilization...I was going to live. 'Just a few more steps' I thought as I pushed myself forward, falling into the snow completely numb. I saw the blood then. My stitches had popped again...fuck. The cold worked against me this time. The snow got heavier, and the world went white...
Standing naked in an endless void of white, I looked around confused. 'Was I dead?' I asked.
A window popped up in front of me.
PLEASE SELECT RESPAWN OPTION. NEW REINCARNATION, OR AVAILABLE SPAWN POINT?
I considered for a moment. “Jesus, I must be going crazy.” I said glancing around. “Seriously?” I asked looking back and forth in the endless white. “Uh...Available Spawn Point I guess.” I said pushing the option button.
The screen disappeared and I floated in the white expanse for a long time...it was hard to tell how long, but eventually the window popped up again.
SPAWN POINT ACQUIRED. COMBINING TEMPLATES. PLEASE CUSTOMIZE AND DISTRIBUTE POINTS.
Class: NONE
Subclass: NONE
Profession: NONE
Abilities: 20 points
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 20
Endurance: 5 (Frail Health)
Intelligence: 50
Power: 10
Luck: 1 (Cursed Existence)
Health: 50 HP Regen: 0.5 HP/day
Mana: 500 MP Regen: 2 MP/day
Skills:
Athletics: 200/400
Climbing: 30/400
Engineering: 300/400
Manufacturing: 50/400
Mathematics: 200/400
Medicine: 10/400
Pain Tolerance: 170/400
Perception: 30/400
Persuasion: 10/400
Singing: 200/400
Survival: 30/400
Swimming: 30/400
Combat Skills:
Swordsmanship: 150/400
Aikido: 200/400
Tai Chi Chuan: 50/400
Wing Chun: 30/400
Blessings: Blessing of Aphrodite, Enchanting Voice
Traits: Superior Magic Recovery, Intellectual Aptitude, Creative Aptitude, Heroic Strength, Heroic Perseverance
I laughed. The entire composition was ridiculous. First off the skill lists were laughable. I had screwed with martial arts since I was a child, but as a way to relax more than anything. I'd grown up doing gymnastics and an assortment of other sports, which had gotten me more injuries than I could count, but it looked like this system was rather generous. Sighing, I began fiddling with the screen, finding portions of it unresponsive. “For fuck sake.” I grumbled. “Who the hell designed this piece of shit?” I asked, before slamming my fist into the screen in frustration, causing a small explosion of light at contact, a ripple, and a crack.
The screen fizzled, went dark, and started to glitch. After a few moments a white static creeped across the screen from the lower corner. I could hear whispers in the noise..familiar voices. Not that it mattered. People heard and saw a lot in white noise. It was an open medium for the imagination...but fuck if it wasn't creepy right now.
“Whatever, just let's get this the fuck over.” I said, pressing on the class 'button' again, causing it to glitch again, before a blank drop down menu appeared. I pushed the button a few more times, and a dashed line appeared in the space. “Oh, Guess I get to...write in something?” I asked with blank look. “No options...well, that's fucking stupid. I could write anything? How about gobldygook? What class is that dipshit?” I asked the screen, which got no response. “Well, what the hell.” I said, writing in God into the slot. “How do you like that you piece of shit?” I asked. The screen cracked again, and the static spread. The screen errored out again, flickering in distortion of multicolored light.
RECOMPILING...
ERROR...
RECOVER...
ERROR...
….
…
…
OVERRIDE...
RECOMPILING
1%..
10%...
40%...
80%...
100%
SELECT DOMAINS:
The screen provided a number of options, but quite a few of them were grayed out. With the crack in the screen seeming to spread, I randomly punched Creation, Magic, and Knowledge. The screen flickered again.
Abilities: 2500 points
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 20
Endurance: 5 (Frail Health)
Intelligence: 50
Power: 10
Luck: 1 (Cursed Existence)
I considered for a few moments as the available points blew up, and shook my head. “Whatever.” I said distributing the points. It was hard to tell what the scale was, but I knew I didn't feel like facing a life of bad luck and poor health. As it was I had to guess at what a lot of things did, as the screen errored out when I tried to get information.
Cursed Existance removed. Luck Trait added: Divine Providence
Frail Health removed. Endurance Trait added: Divine Regeneration
Intelligence Trait Added: Knowledge Absorption, Mental Fortress, Perfect Memory
Power Trait Added: Divine Magic Regeneration, Divine Presence, Alter Reality (Limited)
Dexterity Trait Added: Improved Accuracy, Extreme Precision, Inhuman Reflexes, Divine Alacrity
Strength Trait Added: Heroic Strength
Endurance Trait Added: Heroic Perseverance, Divine Endurance, Divine Aegis, Divine Immunities, Divine Health
Class: God (Rank 1)
Subclass: NONE
Profession: NONE
Abilities: 2500 points
Abilities: 0 points available
Strength: 150
Dexterity: 400
Endurance: 241
Intelligence: 600
Power: 600
Luck: 600
Health: 2410 HP HP Regen: 24.1 HP/second
Mana: 6000 MP MP Regen: 120 MP/second
Skills:
Athletics: 200/400
Climbing: 30/400
Engineering: 300/400
Manufacturing: 50/400
Mathematics: 200/400
Medicine: 10/400
Pain Tolerance: 170/400
Perception: 30/400
Persuasion: 10/400
Singing: 200/400
Survival: 30/400
Swimming: 30/400
Combat Skills:
Swordsmanship: 150/400
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Aikido: 200/400
Tai Chi Chuan: 50/400
Wing Chun: 30/400
Blessings: Blessing of Aphrodite, Divine Beauty, Divine Presence, Enchanting Voice
Traits: Alter Reality (Limited), Creative Aptitude, Extreme Precision, Heroic Perseverance, Heroic Strength, Divine Abilities, Divine Aegis, Divine Alacrity, Divine Health, Divine Immunities, Divine Limits, Divine Magic Recovery, Divine Providence, Divine Regeneration, Divine Resistance, Domain Powers, Immortal, Improved Accuracy, Inhuman Reflexes, Intellectual Aptitude, Knowledge Absorption, Mental Fortress, Perfect Memory, Superior Magic Recovery,
Divine Abilities: Arcane Mastery, See Magic, Fabrication, Divine Identify
Domain Powers: Divine Senses, Remote Sensing, Create Magic Items, Communication, Remote Communication
Something was 'wrong' with what I was looking at. I looked over the sheet, but I couldn't get it to respond as the crack spread further. The color distortion was bleeding into the environment as the static spread. As a drop of multicolored static fell like a bead of water, it hit a ground I didn't even know was there, causing ripples. The static spread outward, and the whispers grew louder, causing sharp pain right behind my eyes. “GOD DAMN!” I screamed as the pain set my nerves on fire. My body was cold again, and my flesh felt numb as my brain was on fire. I gritted my teeth, before the pain reached insanity inducing levels. Anger boiled in my heart, rage consumed, to fight back against the pain of being gutted and split apart. “BETRAYAL!” the whispers screamed to me from the void. I felt nothing but pain, and rage...and then nothing.
I wasn't sure when the pain receded, but I heard a high pitched scream break the madness. There was a crack of thunder, as lightning burned in my flesh like it were a storm cloud incarnate. I opened his eyes into the darkness, and saw a crying woman hovering over me grasping at my numb body. “Gods No! MY BABY!” a beautiful woman screamed into the night.
“Quiet you stupid elven whore!” a man reached out to grab the woman hovering over me, wrenching her away. The woman let out a scream, as three other men came into my peripheral view. Panic filled my brain as I watched the woman struggling against the group of men, but my body felt numb. It felt wrong somehow, everything felt wrong.
“Stop.” I said in a high pitched whisper. I knew pain, I could deal with pain, if only this damned body would fucking respond. I groaned softly as I crawled at a dirty cobbled stone street. The scent of human excrement was in the air, and god the air smelled horrible. “Stop it. Get away from her!” I said, my voice strange in my own ears.
“Awe, looky here boys. The little bitch wants some too! She looks old enough to have a bit of fun with. Maybe she'll survive before we finish with her.” one of the men said, approaching me. I was lifted into the air, and slammed into one of the walls of the alley. The man looked huge, and his breath smelled like stale beer and rotten fish.
“NO! LEAVE MY BABY ALONE!” the woman being accosted by the other three men screamed before one of them closed a hand over her mouth.
Strength slowly returned to my body, the numbness receding leaving only a dull pain as my limbs started to respond again. A calmness overcame me in that moment, while the large man in front of me starting tearing my clothes. With a jerk, my foot slammed into the man's knee sideways, with a sickening CRACK. The brute let out a scream, and started to fall.
The moment my feet touched the ground, I brushed the wrist and elbow of the man, and twisted, spinning the other man's body in a blur and slamming him into the ground. Without thinking my foot slammed into the man's throat with a crunch, breaking something and causing the man to spit up blood as he struggled uselessly to get air.
The other three men turned toward me, getting only a moment to respond before I was on them. Accelerating in a flash, my foot slammed into one of their ankles as I used one arm to throw his suddenly crumbling form into the wall. There was a crack as the man's neck snapped from the force of his head slamming into the wall. The next man attempted to grab me, but I ducked low and slammed my fist into his crotch. The man let out a high pitched scream and fell forward.
My leg hooked up behind me as I leaped backward, catching another man by the neck as I spun my body around him, using the force inertia to unbalance him and throw him into the man I had just crotch punched. The third man lurched at me, but I ducked down, my elbow coming up into his sternum with a CRACK, as I flipped him over. I reached down, and grabbed his head by the hair, and slammed him into the cobbled stone street. I heard a sickening crunch as a I did it again, pulling back to see a bloody mess of a face. Letting go, my body spun as my leg flipped, my foot coming down on the back of another man's head, knocking him unconscious. The last man simply stayed down, grabbing his crotch and whimpering.
The beautiful woman in the tattered clothes stared at me with tears in her eyes, and suddenly pulled me up into a hug. “Faith...Oh gods, faith...” she said before dragging me from the alleyway into the dark streets beyond. Her hand pulled at mine moving us at a desperate pace. I just followed mutely, confused as the adrenaline bleed from me. I could still feel the numbness fading slowly, as vitality returned to my body.
The streets were filled with people wearing odd clothing, most little more than tattered rags that looked like they were made out of sack cloth. The streets were dirty and dark, though there was an occasional lamp hanging at the street corners. Horses appeared occasionally, but the people riding them ignored everyone around them, giving spiteful sneers when they did look down upon the dirty masses around them. This place was a shit hole, and frankly it smelled like it.
Perhaps a dozen minutes later, we pulled into a three story wooden building with the words 'The Drunken Harlot' carved into a wooden sign. A silhouette of what I assumed was a barmaid holding a pint of ale was under it. There were a dozen people outside, quite a few making lewd noises on the sidewalk...'Was this woman taking me to a whore house?' I asked myself before we got inside.
“Jasmine, you stupid elven whore! Where the fuck have you been?” a tall muscular older man with a gruff looking beard, and broad shoulders called out from behind a bar. A few of the 'harlots' working gasped as they saw us. Three of them crowded in to look at her, while I glanced around the room. It was mostly empty, strangely enough. I assumed that any of the clientele were either upstairs, or outside at this point in the night. There were a few sturdy looking tables around the entry hall, and small cushioned alcoves with curtains around them...I shuddered at the thought of someone actually 'sitting' in those.
“Jasmine! What happened? Are you alright? Oh...Is...Is that Faith?” one of the woman asked looking slightly down at me. She seemed to have an amazed look on her face while she touched my arm. I felt lethargic as the man from behind the bar pulled the three harlots away from us, causing a few mutterings of disapproval from the women. He looked down at Jasmine wearily, then at me with a look of confusion, followed by a slowly twisting smile...was that Lust?
“Well...What have we here, Jasmine? Has your little Faith here blossomed a bit?” he asked, groping at me. If I didn't feel overwhelming lethargy I would have broken his hands. As it is, I just felt a numbness in my body fading while the sound of static grew louder at the back of my mind. “Shit.” I said as my legs gave out, falling back into Jasmine's arms. “Baby!” the elven woman said, pulling me close, and swatting the other man's rough hands away. I felt confused, but oblivion was beckoning and it refused to wait.