It didn't feel real. I had just talked to him last night and now he was dead. His body just lay there, unmoving like a marble statue staring into the distance. The sound of Scott sobbing while holding on to his son's body was the only noise as everyone sat in silence. Diana's cries soon joined in creating a sad melody of a lost child. It was heart-wrenching to watch as the two parents grieved for their son. Derek was their only child and now they had none.
When so many of the family had numerous children it was odd that Scott and Diana had only had one. Neither of them was inclined to have any more after the problems that occurred with having Derek. Diana's pregnancy was rough and they didn't want to go through that again so that left Derek to be their sole child.
My mind became a haze after finding the body. My body went through the motions but my mind was elsewhere. Someone had died and I kept wondering who would be next. It wasn't a question of if anymore, it was who. It felt shitty to hope that it wouldn't be my sister or my father and wish for the demise of other family members but a small part of me still did.
Even though someone was dead, it didn't make the bodies go away. It didn't make the spikes rebuild themselves. It didn't butcher the boars for food. The world continued and we had to continue on with it. The parents were left to hold their son and the rest of us got to work. The bodies were moved and the debris was picked up. Arrows and javelins were collected. Ashley used Cleanse on the blood and soon the battlefield was clean, except for the holes we dug and the divots from magical explosions. The grass was trampled and thrown up in spots but there wasn't anything we could do about that.
While we were cleaning up Scott walked over to the hill adjacent to ours and started to dig. He said he wished to do it alone and everyone respected his wishes. Diana just sat next to where Derek was lying with a blank look on her face. Some tried to comfort her and be there for her but it was like she wasn't even conscious, just staring off into space while she gently rubbed Derek's hand.
We couldn't keep the kids in the bunker forever and they started to fuss about being left in there for so long. We kept them in there longer than we usually would since we didn't want them to see the body. It was inevitable that they would, but everyone was just putting it off until later. Nothing would change between then and now so I thought it was best to rip the band-aid off. Then again I didn't have kids and it wasn't my decision.
My uncles got together and with some of the wood scraps that we had they built a coffin. It didn't look the best as it was made from all kinds of different wood and the mismatch of the pieces being all different sizes, but it was the thought that counted. The heartless side of my brain thought it was a waste of time but I snuffed that thought out as soon as I had it.
This wasn't for me, this was for Scott and Diana. Throughout it all the volume didn't go higher than a soft whisper, the sounds of the forest permeated the camp while we went about our work.
After the coffin was finished and the hole was dug, we all gathered around to watch and give Derek a final send-off. It wasn't a fancy funeral procession but I thought it was done with more care than some of the funerals I've been to before.
The kids were brought out of the bunker and their parents had to give them the talk. Most wouldn't understand until later what it really meant to not see someone again.
So with his family surrounding him, Derek was gently lifted and placed inside the coffin that was made for him. Scott and his brothers all grabbed a corner of the coffin and started their slow march to the adjacent hill where the grave was dug.
Watching my father and uncles be the Pallbearer for Derek was an experience I'd never thought I'd have. There were tears and crying that followed behind and eventually, the procession ended at the grave.
Scott cried the whole way while carrying his son to his final resting place. It was more tears than I had ever seen the man shed. Both parents gave a speech with warm words about what Derek wished for the future and his aspirations in life that wouldn't come to pass.
It was a sad affair that lasted a couple of hours as we all took our time to come to terms with his death. It was improper to do but Granddad ushered us back towards camp before we stayed too long.
I saw where he was coming from and we didn't have a lot of time to spend grieving, but what kind of world did we end up in if you were too busy to have a proper funeral?
We slowly made our way back to camp and the silence from before gradually lessened. The kids led the charge getting the conversation going and once it had, the quiet spell broke. Sounds of cooking followed after and we stayed on happy topics for the course of dinner.
Afterward, I finally opened the notifications for the previous battle.
You have contributed in slaying {Highland Boar – Level 5}. 8 Points earned.
You have contributed in slaying {Highland Boar – Level 4} 6 Points earned.
You have contributed...
...
You have contributed in slaying {Earthhide Boar – Level 9} 12 Points earned.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
You have successfully defended your claim! Extra experience awarded. 160 Points to all who participated.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
The notifications didn't feel the same now that one of us wouldn't receive them anymore. The excitement of improving was muted. As a group, we got over 6,000 points just from that wave alone, which was enough to buy the wall just from that. Now that we had enough points for the wall we all congregated toward the pylon to see what would happen when we completed it.
With the final point added, there was a bright flash of light followed by a rush of energy that exited out of the pylon. The energy rushed to the edges of our land and started morphing reality.
I watched as what seemed like trees grew out of the earth at a speed visible to the naked eye. The tree had no leaves or branches on it remaining a single straight trunk extruding out of the ground only to be joined by another log right next to it a moment later.
It took mere moments and where there was once nothing, a wooden palisade sprang from existence. Logs two feet in diameter encircled the camp in a protective shield of wood. After the logs finished growing upward they were topped with a sharpened tip that peaked at 10 feet into the air.
Before the energy dissipated, it culminated for the finale of the magical performance. Runes started to embed themselves onto the wood which radiated a sense of power that was confounding to look at.
It was like watching a law of physics being born, only we could watch it unfold as the magical circuits spread from log to log in a grand tapestry of magnificence. The engineer in me stirred to find out how this power worked, how it felt so real even though I hadn't a clue what the lines meant.
The sense of wonder I felt at watching the events unfold completely drowned out the dark thoughts I had before. There was a childlike giddiness in me that wanted to go examine the lines in the wood. I clamped down on that urge before I acted but I was definitely spending some time examining it later.
When the runes completed, the edges of the wood drew together and where one log met another it melded together so that there were no gaps to be seen. After the energy was gone the glowing lines dimmed before retreating into the surface of the wood, hiding the magical aura it once had.
Everyone took a second for their minds to comprehend what they just witnessed. The first to break the stunned silence was predictably one of the kids.
"THAT WAS SO COOL!!!" Anna screamed out, pausing in between the words for emphasis.
What followed was her chanting for them to 'Do it again!'. I agreed with her and too wished to see it again.
Before the excitement could go too far, we remembered the event we had just come from and toned it down. It felt wrong to have the emotions of the funeral followed by the light show we just witnessed.
Everyone took a moment to walk the perimeter of the new addition and look over the wall that we purchased. Walking around revealed four large gates facing the cardinal directions. The gates opened out, away from the camp, and were quite heavy to move.
To open them you had to remove the wooden bar that was used as a brace for the gates and set it aside. The gates extended up the height of the wall and were taller than they had any right to be. At 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide the gates could welcome a giant into the camp and it wouldn't have any problems.
As I was walking around the wall I tried to examine the runes that I had seen before but I couldn't sense them no matter how hard I tried. It was disappointing to know that they were there but had no way to see them.
As a group, we did some tests to see how sturdy the thing was and the results were shocking. Even if all of us pushed on the gate together the thing didn't budge an inch. Someone tried to climb it and didn't make any progress before falling back down.
There were no places to use as hand holds and the wood was too strong to use a weapon to dig one out. It would take far more power than we had to climb it. Since we tested the possibility of going through it, and then over it, it only left the possibility of digging under it.
Digging up the earth at the base of the wall revealed that the logs extended deeper into the ground than what was initially believed. With our tests completed, confidence started to come back to us after our defenses had failed after the last wave.
It felt like this thing could stop the charge of the boss flat without even breaking a sweat. The new addition happened right when we needed it most, there was no way we would be able to rebuild all of the defenses that broke before the next wave came.
It took a while for the curiosity of the new addition to die down, but eventually, everyone returned to camp and settled in for rest as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Lying alone in my tent gave my mind the needed chance to catch up to all of the events that unfolded over the course of the day and when it finally did, the sheer magnitude of events finally hit me. We woke up and fought for our lives against raging beasts, followed by hours of rest, recovery, and cleanup. Pain at the loss of a family member and the funeral of a loved one. Excitement and wonder at the new arcane world that was hinted at.
All of those emotions felt in the period of a single day really mess with your mind. I had never been the best at dealing with emotions and it felt like someone was trying to short-circuit my brain with all of the events that followed one after another.
Like a child playing with the thermostat, my head cycled from nervousness to fear and panic. Fear and panic morphed into triumph and pride at beating the wave. That fell to tiredness and exhaustion after the adrenaline left my system. Shock and sadness at finding the body, followed by grief and despair at what was to come.
The emotion I felt right now wasn't any of those, it wasn't fear, panic, or despair. It also wasn't pride triumph, or happiness either. It was determination. Sheer determination drowned out all of the others and sat at the forefront of my mind.
I couldn't continue to be this weak. I wouldn't allow any other family members to die, I wouldn't let anything else happen that I didn't want to happen. To get that kind of power I needed to do more.
I needed to hunt beasts and level as quickly as I could. The conversation with my father be damned, I wasn't going to sit here and let my family member's lives be dictated by whether or not we were strong enough to beat the wave.
I would remove that variable from the equation and get so strong that I would carry them through this if I had to. It doesn't matter if leveling as quickly as possible had potential detriments, no downside in the world could beat the possibility of having to bury more of my family in this foreign world.
I couldn't be reckless about this though or it would be me they were sending off next. I would have to train like there was no tomorrow, taking everything my body would give me, then go back for more. I'd have to pick my battles wisely as an injury would lead to downtime and that would result in time I could have used training.
My face hardened and my mind was set, there was nothing anyone could do to stop me. I would carry on where others couldn't, I would drag my family to the finish line no matter what this sick and twisted tutorial would throw at me.
I had my plan, now the only thing left to do was rest for a few hours before getting up early to put it into motion.