Nate didn’t even have time to dodge before a pair of shadowy claws had stabbed him through the chest. The beast’s speed and strength were so much stronger than his, it was unreal. He didn’t have the slightest chance to even think of doing anything against it and he was already dead.

The claws that extended out the back of his chest were used to lift him into the air and throw him against the wall.

Nate felt his ribs break from the impact as he slid limply to the floor. There would be no quick end for him. The monster in front of him was looking to play with its snack, and he couldn’t manipulate the menu fast enough to leave the avatar.

He felt everything as it toyed with him. Every smack, broken bone, and bite it took, Nate felt and screamed himself hoarse. It was a tender mercy when he finally passed out from blood loss several minutes later.

This time he woke up right away and grabbed the closest trashcan to throw up in.

Small bruises were already forming all over his body as he leaned back on his bed a few minutes later. He was covered in a cold sweat, and his heart was still racing.

That had been an eye-opening experience, and not in a good way. Apparently, once there was enough damage, some of it would still come through to his actual body. He would need to watch out for that in the future in case he took too much damage in too short of a time span. He needed to let his actual body heal properly.

He also needed to learn how to fight and grow stronger. Of course, the growing stronger part was entirely out of his reach right now. He would have to pick his fights carefully in the future and go up against only the weakest ones that entered the dungeon.

Right now, though, he just needed to lie there and process everything that had just happened. It had been horrific and painful. It was something he would undoubtedly have nightmares about. He had just been so powerless…

He wondered if that was how the original Nate of this world had felt as those kids burst into the room when he was trying to awaken his core? It was both a terrifying thought and something that made him feel a little closer to the person who had inhabited the body before him.

Nate slowly curled into a ball and began to cry. It had been years since he last properly cried on Old Earth, and now he found himself doing it near constantly on his New Earth. It was exhausting and emotionally cleansing.

He found himself opening up more and regaining that sense of wonder that a teen was supposed to have. At some point in life, adults lost that, he certainly had. Now he was slowly finding it again for this new life of his.

“Do you feel up to eating?” His mother asked a while later, sticking her head into his room.

Nate uncurled and slowly stood up, wobbling from side to side. His bad knee almost giving out. “Yeah, I think I can handle dinner.”

“Are you feeling alright, sweetie?” She pushed the door open further and took in his appearance with a frown. “You aren’t looking so good.”

“Gee, thanks, mom.” He ran a hand over his face, wiping away the salty tracks from his cheeks and around his eyes. “I’m fine, I just had a weak moment earlier, is all.”

“I’m sorry Nate, I wish there was something we could do for you.” She engulfed him in a hug.

“It’s…” He exhaled and hugged her back. “It’s life mom, I’ll get healed one day and then I’ll either move on with my life or I’ll get even.” Nate chuckled. “I’m not happy with it, but that’s the way it is. As long as you and dad are fine, I can keep going.”

“We’ll do our best to stay safe then,” She released him with a chuckle of her own, almost missing his wince. “What was that?”

“What?”

“That wince when I stopped hugging you. That shouldn’t have hurt, so why did it, Nate?” His mother demanded.

“I’m not sure what happened, okay?” Nate muttered. “I woke up with a bunch of bruises all over my body earlier. It’s kind of what led to me breaking down.”

“Let me see them!”

He rolled his eyes and lifted his shirt, displaying the wealth of bruises to his mother.

“Is that all of them?” She asked after a moment.

“No, I have them all over,” Nate admitted.

“I don’t think this is a symptom of your ruined core and meridians. It must have been caused by something else. Niall, come up here!” She called.

It took him a minute, but soon enough, Nate’s dad was standing in the room with them, examining the bruises on his son.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“What caused them?”

“He doesn’t know. He woke up with them,” Nina answered.

“Let’s call the healer and see what they have to say.” His father decided after a moment.

“Will they even come?”

“They will. They’re being pressured, but not to the same extent as the alchemy guild. The healers have more autonomy since no one wants to piss them off. You never know when you might need healing after all.” Niall quickly made the call and hung up. “They’ll have someone over shortly to examine you.”

His parents left him alone for a few minutes while they went to wait for the healer to arrive. He was an old man, with wizened eyes and the spark of power to go with them.

“Guild master!” Nina and Niall gasped out when they opened the door. “What are you doing here? We were expecting one of the apprentices.” He had to fight to hide the bitterness from his voice and only partly succeeded.

“That is exactly why I am here,” The old man told them, entering the house without waiting for an invitation. “Take me to the boy. I want to see for my own eyes how badly we have mistreated him.”

Nate had limped from his room to the top of the stairs when he heard the commotion. He didn’t recognize the healer; however, he saw the way his parents were treating him.

“Sir, I’m Nate.” He winced, as he put a little too much weight on his knee.

Even after two months, he still had problems with doing that on occasion. What was worse was the overcompensation was already beginning to mess with his other knee. Twinges of pain could be felt as it flared from the abuse. He put it through.

“Hello Nathan, I’m George Trellow, the local master of the healer’s guild.” He walked up the stairs with more energy than someone who looked his age should have.

Nate swallowed and stepped back, his eyes flicking to his parent’s. “What brings someone of your importance to our house?” His leg buckled as the knee they had never finished fixing crumpled.

“That,” George said from above him. “Rarely do we keep getting calls for the same patient time and again. Yet, we have come to look at your knee many times over the last two months. It piqued my curiosity, and I wondered why none of the other healers had bothered to simply fix you.”

“And what did you find?” Nate asked with a pained grimace as he straightened his leg.

“An interesting story, along with people not doing their job and giving excuses mainly. Come, let’s get you onto your bed so I can do a proper examination of you. Let’s see what I can fix as an apology.” He extended his hand to the boy on the floor.

“Master Trellow, are you sure about this? Surely someone of your stature could have simply asked one of his subordinates to do this?” Nina wondered from behind him.

“Trusting in them is what led to this situation in the first place. So, no I couldn’t.”

Nate accepted his hand and gingerly got to his feet, being careful of his knee. “If you could help, then I would really appreciate it.” He said, at last, once more standing before the guild master.

“Well, let’s see what I can do then.” He motioned towards the room with an open door. “After you.”

Safely back on his bed, the guild master had him strip down to his boxers before they began.

“That is an impressive array of bruises you have there.” George looked suspiciously at Nate’s parents.

“It wasn’t them if that’s what you’re thinking.” He hurried to explain. “I don’t know what happened. They were just there when I woke up earlier.”

“Is this why you called the guild?”

Niall nodded. “We wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with him. He showed us the ones on his chest but had mentioned that they were all over his body.”

“Interesting, well let’s get started then. If you would please lie back, I can begin.” George gently pushed Nate into the position he wanted and then began his examination.

First, he started poking and prodding him, feeling his muscles and the area around his knee. Occasionally, his eyes would gleam as he used an energy-based healing skill to inspect him. Finally, he pulled away with a frown and shook his head.

“I am going to have to discipline my people most severely after this. I can heal your knee and even strengthen it some. You will need to eat more food afterward to offset the calories lost in the healing process. The same goes for the other side as well.

“You’ve been overcompensating on your right knee and abusing it. So, I’ll need to heal it at the same time. The issue is the bruises. They’re odd… I don’t even know how to describe them. It’s as though they were caused by a monster attack, and yet not at the same time. I’ve never seen anything quite like them.”

The guild master shook his head. “I can heal them without an issue. However, I’m worried that they’ll simply come back again since we don’t even know what caused them this time. Which brings me to the final item, or rather items, I suppose.

“His meridians and core… which he shouldn’t even have. It’s a fragmented half-formed mess that I’ve never seen the like before. It should have dissipated, yet it hasn’t. I’m not sure how it’ll affect him when he goes to form a new one either. It could help or hinder that particular endeavor.”

“We know his meridians are are in terrible condition. The alchemy guild refuses to make the medicine he needs to heal them.” His mother replied bitterly. “We didn’t know about his core though.”

“I think I can help with that as well. It won’t be perfect, or even that much of an improvement initially, but it will be something. Each time I come over, I’m willing to work on repairing his meridians and core. If that’s agreeable?”

“Why would you be willing to do so much for me?” Nate asked, afraid to even to hope the man was serious.

George sat on the edge of his bed in thought, his gaze lingering on the three of them before answering. “I used to be married, many, many years ago. This was long before I became the healer I am today. Back then I was still just a nobody, a few steps out on the path of life. I had a wife and a young son, several years younger than you.

“An incident happened while a bunch of kids were playing on the playground. The daughter of a local powerful family got hurt, nothing serious, just a scratch to her face. It could have been healed without an issue, so there wasn’t even a scar. The family ordered everyone who was playing with her at the time to be eliminated. That included my son.

“My wife couldn’t stand the loss and we separated. I, in turn, threw myself into my work.” He swallowed. “Anyway, I guess you could say that I see you as an opportunity to redeem myself, if only a little. To do what I couldn’t for my own son. Now I have the power to stand up against the families like the ones that hurt your son, and mine. I’ve just been waiting for a chance.”

“In that case, I say let’s get started. My body isn’t going to fix itself.”

“This is going to hurt, especially when I start on your meridians and core. I’ll be pulling them back into position a piece at a time.”

“I can handle pain.” Nate grinned fiercely up at them, his eyes shining with determination. He had lived with pain for over ten years before he died on OE, and he had just been tortured to death by a monster. He could handle whatever George was going to do to him.