Cyrus crouched with both hands on his sword behind him as the guards approached him unaware. He closed his eyes while he stood waiting as the sound of hooves came closer and closer. Cyrus let the first one pass, without even being noticed. The second guard came soon after, and Cyrus’ eyes shot open. Swinging his blade low and across, he cut part of the horse’s leg, all the way up to the knee, throwing the guard several feet in front. However, Cyrus was not done. As the swing came to its end, he switched the direction and swung a backhand slash at the third horse that came after, causing the same throw for the guard. Not able to catch up to the speed of the fourth and fifth horse which came immediately after, Cyrus turned around with two horses on the ground beside him. He saw that the guards were wearing full body armor but no helmet, most likely due to the low visibility.

By now, the guards were aware of Cyrus and circled around to face him. Both of the fallen guards were able to get up, albeit groggily. Two of the mounted guards charged with swords raised high while the unmounted guards quickly limped toward him. Cyrus didn’t move. Actually, he couldn’t move. His body wouldn’t let him. If anything, his vision was beginning to get a little blurry and red, but he couldn’t figure out why. But just as quickly as it came, it went, leaving Cyrus just like he was before. He was confused but did not have the time to think about it because of the approaching enemies.

The mounted guards quickly approached, but that was enough for Cyrus, taking a knife out, he threw one at an incoming horse, hitting it in the throat. The guard this time was prepared but not well enough. He was thrown toward Cyrus as the horse buckled underneath, but the guard’s falling position indicated he was trying to right himself mid-throw. At the same time, the other mounted guard, swung downwards with a powerful arc.

To Cyrus’ surprise, the guard yelled, “Power cleave!” But what really caught Cyrus’ eyes was the blade as it came down. It shimmered brightly, not to the point where it was blinding but enough to light the entire sword! That must have been a skill! Why had the man said it, he did not know. But he had completely forgot about his skills because he had simply assumed they would not work since the menu would not work. And since the bandits never used one, he assumed there weren’t any in this new world.

In the game, a player never said their skill so as to not give the other player an advantage. Although players were free to call it out if they wished, there was no advantage for doing so. What made the game even better, after a certain update, was players no longer had to think of the skill’s name. As long as a player was able to practice enough, a player would gain muscle memory of the skill’s movements and the skill would just activate when performing with the intention of the skill in mind, no longer needing to fully think about the skill. That actually played a part into a player’s mastery of a class. Their dedication to their skills had to be excellent enough to have the skills become second nature. Although it did take time and quite a bit of practice, many of the truly better players like Cyrus were able to do it. Cyrus may have been the best at it, but there were many players right behind him, in that regard. All of that truly made the game an immersive experience for the player.

What would indicate a skill activating was the weapon of choice would activate. Activations were different depending on the weapon class and not all looked alike. In the game at least, the more powerful the skill, the less bright and harder to detect the activation became. That was because the creators felt that weaker players would try to exploit better players by gaining an understanding on their skill set so that PVP would eventually become easier for them since a weaker player’s respawn wasn’t too costly. This had actually occurred in the beginning of the game, since looting was possible, when low level players would challenge better players and try to take notes on their skills so that they could trade the information to closer level players. That’s why creators made it so only if opposing players were close enough in levels, they would be able to see each other’s activation. For something that wasn’t an intelligent species in the game like trees or animals, the activation was shown no matter what, and skills that weren’t for weapons had an activation where used, like the eyes.

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He would have to try a skill right now, he had to know. Cyrus gracefully dodged it at the last second with a spin and as he spun, he swung his sword horizontally going through the motions of his beginner skill ‘side slash’ at the falling guard’s neck. All that the other guards could see was the faintest shimmer in the moonlight. As the body hit the ground and slid to a stop, the head kept rolling leaving a bloody streak on the dirt road. Some of the blood splashed onto his face and clothes, the smell of blood wafting into his nose.

Cyrus, at the moment, was upset because he could feel the sword begin its activation, but immediately faded away, as would a failed activation in the game would do. The clean cut had just been a result of his sword mastery, not of a skill.

But the smell of blood got his heart pumping again. But the sound grew louder and louder, and Cyrus’ heartbeat pounded away in his head. He could hear it too clearly and it started to give him a headache. Closing his eyes momentarily, he tried to will it to go away but it wouldn’t, it only got worse. Cyrus couldn’t think, his head hurt too much.

Against his own will, his eyes opened and once again, his vision was blood red. But it was not blurry nor did it fade away. His senses sharpened even more and the smell of the blood on his face grew stronger.

His body was no longer in control. It was if something primal was taking over Cyrus’ mind and subconscious. All he could think about as his vision grew clearer, was his desire to see the blood of his enemies, but who his enemies were, even he could not remember anymore. He saw the guards up ahead and smiled a smile so wicked that even the gods themselves would be afraid. The blood on his face trickled down to his lips and he licked it, smiling even more.

Only one thought wandered into his mind. He was a High Elf, better yet known as Blood Elves, and killing was his right, his purpose. That was his sole right as the gods had granted the Blood Elves. And he would make sure it would rain red tonight so that he could have his fill.

A/N: Hey guys, so some of you commented about skills, and to be completely honest, I completely forgot.... orz. Anyways, I hope to try and add that in here because I didn't know how else to do it without completely redoing some parts of the novel. Hope you guys don't mind. Let me know if you guys think skills are a good idea or not or at least my version of skills were good or not. To be honest, I could never really like skills because the names always sound so cheesy. I wanted skills to be something that wasn't yelled out, but more of something you would just do, like when you're playing a sport, you don't think of the move as you do it... You just do it. JUST DO IT! Labeouf references aside, hoped that I kinda conveyed that. Sorry for the short chapter as well, but I have some RL stuff coming up.

Also, does the novel seem too forced these days? If it is, I feel like I should stop writing and trying to force things because that would just make it a crappy story and as much as it is for fun, I also have my pride in writing and would rather write a proper story (but that would mean I write one before releasing chapters). Anyways, be honest, and let me know what you guys think. Happy reading