“Ugh…”

As I open my eyes the blinding light from the sun forces me to cover my face with my hands.

Why am I on the ground?

My head hurts.

Slowly my eyes adapt and I take a look around me.

The sky looks more colorful than normal.

I’m laying on the ground in front of my cabin.

I’m guessing that I fainted, that’s weird, I was feeling perfectly normal just before fainting.

It’s been a while since the last time I went down to the city, maybe I should get a medical checkup.

What a bother.

Let’s just wait a couple of days, if it happens again I will go to the city to get checked.

Yeah, that’s a good idea.

I get up from the ground.

Inside my cabin I take a look at the clock in my laptop.

[15:04]

It’s been a little more than three hours since I passed out.

My aunt should have seen me laying on the ground.

She’s always here a 13:30 to get me for lunch.

Did something happen?

I should go take a look at the farm.

When I’m about to open the door I notice a ring in my hand.

Weird… I don’t remember wearing a ring.

As I take a closer look the word [EVOCATUS] is engraved on the top.

I’m certain I didn’t have this ring before.

What? I can’t take it off.

It’s stuck on my finger.

I stand there trying to get it off my finger around ten minutes.

What the hell is with this ring?

I walk to my laptop and do a quick search for [stuck ring removal]

The first link is [6 Ways to Remove a Stuck Ring]

Method one is moving the ring around until it’s removed, nope, tried that one already.

Method two, use a lubricant.

Maybe I can ask my aunt for something to get it removed.

I’ll do that.

Then it comes to my mind the word engraved on the ring.

I wonder what it means.

I type [Evocatus].

A retired soldier from the roman army who is summoned to come back?

Evocatus is the latin word for summoned.

“Evocatus… uh?”

Suddenly a book appeared in front of me.

At first look it gives an ancient kind of feeling.

On the cover inscribed the same word from the ring [EVOCATUS].

But what it’s more shocking is the fact that the book is floating there, right on top of my hand.

How is it doing that?

Magic?

Am I still unconscious and having a dream?

This doesn’t feel like a dream.

The back of my head still hurts, enough for me to realize that I’m awake.

Then I decide to open the book and take a look.

Gabriel Hess – Level 1

What the f? Why is my name on the book?

Level 1?

This is too strange.

Also there are some numbers and what I would recognize as stats from a game.

Then I get to the later half of the page.

Skills:None

After that the rest of the page is empty.

Somehow I feel offended by the book.

I might be a social outcast, but I’m quite confident on my carving skills.

On the next page there is a drawing of a knife.

Written below the drawing

Simple knife – Level 1Description: a usually sharp blade attached to a handle that is used for cutting or as a weaponSkills available:None

All the other pages on the book are empty.

I returned to the page of the knife.

Why is there only this knife on the book?

“Simple knife…”

Just as I muttered the name, I felt something different on my body.

There it was, on my belt a simple knife sheath was attached and inside was the exact same knife drawn on the book.

I took it out and held it.

There is something different about this knife, it doesn’t feel like any other knife I’ve ever held.

I can’t really tell what’s different, but I know it is.

*Whoosh*

Neat.

The sound as I slash the knife through the air feels great.

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I try for a few minutes, somehow it feels right, it’s like this knife was made to be held by me.

The book is still floating next to me.

“Evocatus”

And just like that it disappeared.

Yet the knife is right there on its sheath.

I repeat the process, making the book appear and disappear. After that, I make the knife appear and disappear.

It’s quite simple.

With the book opened you just have to say the name of the knife and it will appear, repeat the name and it disappears.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

That is my cousin.

She sounds desperate.

I leave my cabin and run towards the sound of the little girl crying in desperation.

From my cabin to the farm takes around twenty minutes walking.

It doesn’t take long for me to arrive near Annie, who is running in my direction crying.

What the hell is that?

A kid sized humanoid creature with a rat head is pursuing my cousin.

As they get closer I notice the ratman is wielding what looks like a short sword, traces of blood left over it.

What is going on here?

If it wasn’t for little Annie I would turn around and run away.

I can’t leave her.

The knife is still on its sheath. I take it out.

My body is trembling.

I’ve never been much of a fighter. I’d rather talk it out or run away when talking doesn’t work.

My little cousin arrives and hides behind me.

The ratman stops and screams something pointing its short sword towards me.

I don’t understand.

What is this creature?

Is it intelligent?

It looks fierce.

Suddenly it swings the short sword.

I’m too slow and with Annie behind me I can’t avoid it.

I barely manage to block its attack with my knife.

Even though it’s about 140 cms tall, its strength is nothing to joke about.

Annie notices she is bothering my movement and backs up a few steps.

My arm is trembling.

Can I fight this? Can I win? Do I have to kill it? Can I?

I’m not confident about this.

Damn it.

Then I focus on the remains of blood over the sword.

The little girl wasn’t bleeding.

Is it from my uncle? My aunt?

I feel rage taking over my mind as I swing the knife towards the creature.

It blocks my attack.

Then I notice both my knife and its sword are around the same length.

My arms are longer.

I have a reach advantage.

Little by little de ratman backs up as I swing my knife.

It can only try to dodge or block, I give the creature no chance to counter.

My attacks get fiercer as I get confidence.

“AHHHH”

Pain.

Blood.

My stomach is bleeding.

It is just a scratch, yet it hurts too much.

The ratman gets the upper hand and gets more aggressive.

I dodge the attacks as they come.

I can’t remember the last time my heartbeat was this fast.

Is it fear? No…

Somehow I’m excited.

It’s been too long since the last time I felt this alive.

The pain, the fear, every swing of my knife.

“DIE”

I shout loud, some sort of war cry.

It surprises the creature as I start running towards it while holding my knife with both hands.

The knife enters from below its head.

It doesn’t gets the chance to react.

The impulse from my running makes me fall on top of its dead body.

Blood spurting from its neck.

Disgusting thing.

I vomit.

Is it really dead?

Afraid it will attack me I back up as I watch the corpse, it doesn’t move.

I killed a living creature.

Did I really take a life?

Tears fall from my eyes.

There was no other choice.

It was it or me.

The sobbing girl behind me takes away my guilty thoughts.

I turn around and see the girl crouching holding her knees while crying.

“Annie?”

She looks at me with tears and snot on her face.

Then she runs towards me and hugs my waist, a desolate cry filled with sadness.

I don’t need to ask what happened to her parents to know I will never talk to them again.