~Thorben~

As they exited the former castle of the duke, they left both of the massive latticed gates up and started the trek back to their horses. His damned HUD notification light kept blinking in the corner of his vision. He couldn’t think about anything other than getting the girl home safely. The half hour seemed to stretch out into an eternity, where Thorben’s mind singularly focused on getting this girl to safety. The horror of the day was eating away at his soul, and he felt as though he were struggling to stay afloat. Thorben clung to the current mission. He’d get her to safety. He clung to this thought like a drowning sailor to a piece of driftwood.

Tanrin moved closer to Thorben. “Thor, let me carry her for a bit. Give your arms a rest.”

Thorben simply shook his head. Feeling no need for words at the moment, he continued walking. His arms burned, but he embraced the suck. I need this. I need to do this. He knew he wasn’t responsible for the evils he had uncovered. He knew that he had done all he could, or at least his brain told him it was aware of this notion. His fucking heart didn’t agree, and he kept playing the scenes over and over in his head. How could he have done better? How could he have gotten here sooner?

He kept seeing the eyes. The sergeant’s eyes filled with twisted glee as he prepared for torture. The eyes of the victims in the cages staring vacantly into the great beyond. The eyes of Mason staring in horror at his rescuer. The eyes of the guards as they awoke to their life blood being purged from their bodies. The flash of surprise in the eyes of the wizard as the wand entered his eye. The pure evil that radiated from the eyes of the Lieutenant. The look of shock and fear in the Duke’s eyes as Thorben claimed his soul. His soul? Wasn’t his name Elroy? Who the fuck was Karen? Thorben forced the thought aside and focused on the eyes, drawing strength from his mental anguish.

Before Thorben realized it, the half hour eternity was over. They had reached the abandoned barn and could reclaim the horses, allowing them to make it to town and back before nightfall. As he laid the girl down to get the horses ready to ride, voices erupted on the other side of the barn. He motioned for Tanrin to watch the kids as he crept around to investigate.

“Watch out everyone! It’s an angry, bedazzled unicorn!” A voice taunted.

“Shut it DungeonBuddy41623!” a second voice said. It struck Thorben just how strange the tone was. The unicorn spoke with rage, yet still sounded oddly chipper.

“Yeah watch it DungeonBuddy. He might cover you in glitter from his pretty horn,” another voice said.

“Fucking hilarious KittyKrusher69,” the second voice said in a mixture of happiness and strain.

What the hell is going on here? He thought as he tread around the corner, eyes scanning for danger. He stopped cold, mouth hanging open, as he surveyed the scene in front of him. It was like a fairy tale from his childhood had come to life and was being tormented by a couple of oddly dressed people. Was there really a tattooed pink unicorn being held captive by what appeared to be mercenaries of some sort? Above each of their heads he saw a green bar, a name, and the letters ‘lv’ followed by the number one.

“Might need to change your gamertag from HellsFury81 to FurryBlows. You could even get a guild going here for all the furries! I can see it now ‘Baherune FurCon’! Hell, you already have your fursuit!” DungeonBuddy said as he poked at the unicorn with his rusty looking sword.

“Ouch, damn it, stop that, you prick! It’s a glitch. You have no idea who you are messing with. I’ll kill you. You little shit!” HellsFury shrill scream made Thorben’s blood boil.

The mercenaries were red in the face from laughter as they continued circling the unicorn. They poked and verbally assaulted it incessantly. They had tied the unicorn down and it could not rear up or put up a defense of any effectiveness. “Oh God! The fluffy, adorable Bronie is going to tell it‘s little mommy on me,” DungeonBuddy said with another jab of his sword.

“Yeah, embrace your fursona!” KittyKrusher said. Chiming in as he slashed his dagger.

Thorben saw their eyes and snapped out of his stupor. Their eyes were just like Dorn’s. The eyes of a dwarf who had tormented him mercilessly his whole childhood. These were the eyes of a coward masquerading as a tough guy, and Thorben knew how to deal with them.

He lowered his hood, stood up, and marched over towards the trio. “What is this disgusting, weak, pathetic looking thing?” He said as he got closer. All three of them turned in his direction, and Thorben saw them tense up.

“What do you want… Thorben Deepiron? And how the fuck are you level 24 already?! This is a starting zone!” DungeonBuddy asked in a more than unfriendly voice.

“My reputation must precede me! I didn’t realize that I was famous! I want to know what that disgusting, weak, pathetic looking thing is?” Thorben said in response, mustering his inner Dorn. He saw their eyes glimmer as their mouths curled up in a smile. It was the all too familiar anticipation of meeting a kindred douchebag spirit. He’d seen that look enough on Dorn’s face.

“Listen here you ugly bark sniffing arrogant fuck!” HellsFury yelled.

“I wasn’t talking about you, HellsFury. I was talking to you,” Thorben said, gesturing towards Dungeon Buddy. “What in the fuck are these two ugly dick licks?” Thorben continued looking straight in the eyes of the unicorn and gestured at the others. As comprehension finally slapped the two wannabe tyrants in the face, the unicorn began laughing hysterically. Without waiting for them, Thorben connected his elbow with DungeonBuddy’s jaw twice and was a bit surprised to see a bar above his head turn half red as he flopped to the ground. He followed up with a leg sweep, knocking KittyKrusher onto his back and slammed his fist into his throat.

Normally he would have left it at that, but after all the depravity he’d seen in peoples’ eyes today, he couldn’t have stopped himself if he wanted to. As DungeonBuddy shook his head and tried to get up, Thorben stomped his heel down on the man’s family jewels, eliciting an unholy cry of pain. He proceeded to do his best to rearrange the features on his face. The strange bar above his head turning almost completely red before he moved on to KittyKrusher. The dagger wielding rogue was clutching his throat with one hand and pushing himself up with the other while simultaneously trying to maintain a grip on at least one of his weapons.

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Thorben saw an identical dagger lying on the ground in front of him and picked it up. “A dual wielder, huh? Here, let me give you some pointers. First, stand sideways, not straight on facing your target.” He modeled the lesson for the dipshit. “Second, hold your blade with a forward grip with the blade up. Like you would hold a hammer. This is the best grip if you don’t have any knife training.” He lashed out quickly, slashing a deep gouge in the man’s dominant arm, causing him to cry out and drop his knife. “See how firm my grip was, and how I could maneuver the knife? Most people think they should hold it the opposite way, but unless you have extensive martial arts training, you are asking for trouble. Go ahead, pick it up.”

“What the hell, man?” KittyKrusher choked out. “No need to be a dick. It’s just a game.”

“Ah, it’s a game now, huh? Tormenting others is a game to you? Lucky for you, I like games. In one smooth motion, he flipped the knife in the air, snagged it by the blade, and sent it flying through the air to embed itself in the man’s palm.” A scream of agony followed.

“I don’t recommend that grip, not very practical. I have to admit that it is harder to drop, though.” Thorben said as if giving instruction to a pupil. “However, I find knives to be limited in their combat usefulness. I much prefer this,” he said as he materialized his Katana. “This allows for reach,” he said, slicing the man’s other arm. “I can pierce with it as well,” he said, driving the tip of his blade into KittyKrusher’s thigh. He watched as the strange bar above this man’s head leapt down to well under a half. “My favorite game to play is called ‘pick a limb.’ I’ll let you go first, pick a limb.”

The man couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “This was supposed to be a fun game! Why would a level 24 mess with a level 1?” KittyKrusher said through clenched teeth. “I’ll be back as good as new in 24 hours, so why do this, man?”

“Pick a limb.” Thorben said. The steel in his eyes betrayed his jovial tone.

KittyKrusher saw now what was about to happen, and sweat began pouring down his forehead. “Come on, man. I can pay you. How much? Do you prefer store gems or in-game currency? Come on, how many coins is it gonna take?” He kept limping away.

“Pick. A. Limb.” Thorben said. Joviality morphed into menace.

“Fuck you!”

“Okay, I’ll pick,” Thorben said as he decapitated KittyKrusher. He watched the body crumple and the head roll before coming to a stop against a rock. Its eyes were still blinking as if the brain hadn’t yet realized what had happened, but they went vacant soon enough. He bent over and picked up the head and tossed it towards the remaining thug. He heard a snicker as the lifeless head slammed into the thug’s chest, causing him to attempt a quick crab walk retreat while holding his crushed testicles. Again the eyes betrayed, the hate peeked through the haze of pain and horror. The empty glaze of death replaced this as Thorben eased DungeonBuddy’s body of the burden of supporting his head. He moved quickly and cut the restraints on the unicorn, dismissing his blade as the ropes fell to the ground.

“Holy shit, you badass mother fucker! I mean… I have seen some shit. Hell, I’ve done some shit, but that shit was fucking epic! Thanks for the save, by the way.”

“No problem. I have a deep-seated dislike of people who find joy in inflicting suffering on others. What was that all about?”

“Some asshole beta testers hassling me over this bullshit glitch.”

“Glitch? What’s that?”

“They said that the beta launch of ‘Baherune Reborn: Earth Transcended’ was going to be the smoothest ever. It would put past RPGs to shame. Of course, I get stuck in the form of some damned tween’s dream mount. We were supposed to all be able to pick a free mount as a reward for testing this game out. The only bike they offered was the ‘Unicorn Dazzler.’ Turns out it wasn’t the bike, but an actual fucking bejeweled unicorn. Guess you know what they say about making assumptions.” HellsFury said in his high-pitched voice, with his front shoulders doing something that resembled a shrug.

“I see you have been making some new friends,” Tanrin’s voice called out. “Hurry up, Thorben, let’s get going. We should do our best to get back to Fairview, so maybe a healer will see the girl. Bring the pink horse. We can use her for the children.” He didn’t wait for a response and turned back towards the children.

When Thorben turned back to HellsFury, he could almost see the steam pouring out of his ears. As his face contorted in rage, he screamed, “That’s it! I’ve had enough of this game. I quit!” He disappeared in a puff of smoke. The corpses of the two wannabe tough guys followed suit soon after. Thorben glanced around but couldn’t see anyone around. He headed back to the others, when he heard a shocked cry followed by a stream of shrill curse words. As he made his way around to the front of the barn, this pattern of a cry followed by cursing repeated itself a few more times.

Tanrin met him as he rounded the corner and held out a hand to stop him. “Something is wrong with that pink horse. He keeps disappearing and reappearing in the doorway, cursing the whole time she is visible.” Sure enough, HellsFury was doing just that, blinking in and out of existence, swearing like a drunken sailor, or at least like the drunken sailers from his voyage over the Matadiac Sea. His face turning a dark shade of pink that bordered on cherry red. Thorben felt it was best to let this play out without interfering and sat down next to his brother and the kids. The girl was still unconscious, but the boy stared on in bewilderment, brandishing the sword with a vice like grip.

After a good fifteen minutes, HellsFury trotted over and flopped down, panting. “Ain’t that some shit! Can’t even quit. I should have never accepted this stuff as payment. Cash, hogs, or farkle are the only way to go. I know better.”

While the girl was still asleep, the rest of them stared blankly at the unicorn, unsure of what to say. The silence extended out long enough that HellsFury caught the hint. “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

“Maybe we should talk as we make our way to Fairview?” Tanrin suggested. He warily side eyed the unicorn.

Thorben explained their need to return the children to Fairview. Upon hearing the shortened version of their current quest, the unicorn’s demeanor became serious. “I’ll carry the boy, minus the sword, if possible. You ride with the girl so that she won’t fall.”

They spent the next hour swapping stories. Thorben learned HellsFury was a person from the same world as Aldwin and the other semi-immortal players. He was part of a club called the “Hells Angels.” Supposedly, he was a ‘regional officer’ in a place called Denver. His ability to enter Baherune as a beta tester was a partial payment from an acquaintance of his for ‘something he did.’ He wouldn’t elaborate on that something, and Thorben got the impression that it wouldn’t be wise to press him. He had shared a bit about his club association, but hadn’t given his whole personal history. Thorben had a good feeling about him. Something resonated with him, an impression that he was the best of friends and the worst of enemies. An honorable spirit who lived by a code of honor that often flirted with socially accepted norms, if not blatantly ignoring them. He wasn’t sure if the same applied to this organization, but his gut told him that HellsFury, the person, was someone he could get along with.

Apparently, access to this game was extremely limited. There was a rigorous vetting process to ensure what he called compatibility. HellsFury had bypassed this process and gotten his equipment and code through what was essentially a straw purchase. Though now it appeared he was having difficulty logging out, but aside from the initial outburst of epilepsy inducing anger, he didn’t seem too concerned by that fact. No matter what his history on the off world, one thing was crystal clear: the look in his sparkly eyes when Thorben had told the story of finding the children told him all he needed to know. May the gods have mercy on anyone this unicorn found that perpetrated evil acts on children. The only request he had was to “power level” him so that he could fuck up whoever did this.