I was standing in the snow. The sky was blackened with the clouds. The trees were so tall they seemed to to hold up be more than massive spikes. All around me were the bodies. Torn armor, broken, and maimed. Slowly they began to rise, one by one. The symbol of a circle of chains with a sword adorning them.

At my feet, one began to rise and tried to kick it away. I struggled against it, unable to shake it. My heart sank as it’s broken form clung to me. The head lulled back and revealed the face Anna. Her mouth wording something that I couldn’t understand. Slowly her twisted arm reared back with a knife.

“Again?” a voice boomed through the area. Anna had disappeared. The rising dead faded away as a my hands where covered in blood. “Again.”

The forest trees caught fire and a red light bathed everything. I looked down at my hands and saw them drenched in blood. A city appeared from the ground like a growing mountain. “Again and again. Death and dying. Killed and killing.”

The city began to burn and I could hear screaming. Pleas for help deafened me. I dropped to my knees and tried to cover my ears to no avail. The pressure dropped me to the ground. The voice, like a creature that held me down, growled, “Kill. Rage. KILL THEM ALL!”

I woke with a gasp, sitting up right, and grabbing my face. I instantly covered my mouth and bile rose. I stumbled up to my feet, moving around whatever was in my way. I wasn’t even aware of where I was yet. Once I had moved away, I dropped to knees and to my hands. I stared into the night lit snow as my ragged breathing slowed. I could still smell it. All of it. The smoke and the blood.

There was too many questions in my mind as my stomach evacuated itself. Moon light was all that lit the area around me. Had any of it even happened? I leaned back staring at my own hands. At first, the site of the blood startled me. Though they shook, I realized they were perfectly fine. The corpses had already frozen. The snow held a grotesque brown color. The remains of the camp still sat where they had burned.

I looked down at my own body. My clothes were stained completely. There was new rips added to the entire thing. I frowned at the feeling of the winter cold touching me directly on the skin.

I just had to check. If I was to walk away, I’d need to see if the adventurers had gotten away. I turned and looked at the clearing again. The body’s sat everywhere. Some piled where they had tripped over each other and were slain.

They where no where to be seen. A relief came to me. They had survived. Then something else hit me. I reached out for Veline, only to realize she wasn’t there. I looked up past the trees to the full moon and began to laugh bitterly. I had not lived. They had left my body in the snow and ran.

Of course they had fled. It was only natural. It was what I wanted. They were safer that way. Plus, my plan was to spread rumors anyways. I dropped my head and my jaw tightened. Yet how had I died? Who else but them could have. It would have been smart to. I had, in whatever state I was in, tried to kill them.

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My mind turned instantly to the voice and dream. What had happened? When I snapped back to reality, my entire body was healed. I had struck so hard to rip through a metal shield. I traced where the wounds I had received from the hero had been. I couldn’t be possessed. That had been made clear during my training.

Was what I saw in the dream just that? Was the voice not real? I narrowed my eyes. Was I going insane? Had everything began to catch up to me? Or was something much worse happening? I hadn’t ever considered the full extend death may have had on me. Where my eyes just the first sign of something much worse?

Yet, standing there among the dead. A certain excitement was mixing with my fear. Weakness had caused so much to go wrong. I had slaughtered what looked like an army. Even if they were a bunch of unarmed corpses that barely could walk right.

Then the sight of Harmond’s face returned to me like a rock had struck me in the chest. I gripped my hands and took a deep breath. I watched as my breath escaped me slowly. I whispered, “Got to keep moving.”

I was about to call back Veline when something caught my eye. A form dropped directly onto a pile of bodies. A rage burned in me as I saw the demon standing there. It felt like an insult from fate itself.

A tall, black furred creature shaped like a human torso with no head. It’s long arms tipped with claws that brushed the ground. A giant maw of teeth frowned under beady little eyes. It asked, shocked, “You are alive?”

Almost trance like, I turned to look at it. That odd feeling was bubbling up in me again. The devil began to grin as it said, “All well, I’ll just beat you to death and drag you back that way.”

It leaped forward, readying it large arm to throw me. I rolled backwards, but it wasn’t enough distance to avoid a claw rending me across the arm. Now, covered in the wet, disgusting frozen filth of ground and stood up right again. My own teeth were brought to bare as I hissed in pain. The demon wobbled a bit as the lesser of it’s kind began to pour out from around it’s feet. The monstrosity said, “Half a year or so. Bet you still cry about that girl. Killed a few people have you? Still not even able to fight. How boring.”

Before I had time to think about that, I was thrown across the clearing and into a tree. The devil growled, “Do it again.”

I gasped loudly as pain rocked my entire form. As I hit the ground, one of my arms was twisted oddly. None of the fingers responding at all. Breathing was difficult. I couldn’t even manage to get up. It taunted, “I suppose whatever happened was just another moment of someone saving you. Maybe the Sparing Grace gave you a little help this time? The gods sure do love a sad, pathetic loser.”

Each breath was a struggle. I tasted blood. The black form let out a wicked chuckle and said, “I put work into that horde of dead. I had to rely on the backup plan of poisoning that toy of yours. All those corpses. Yet someone else was to blame for your victory. You are so weak.”

I wanted to scream at the creature, but I barely could manage a grunt. All the anger, all the hatred, everything I had been through. None of it mattered if I was too weak. It continued, “You killed a few people and did a little training. Half a year and you thought you’d get somewhere? Against us? You fight not only the demons but literal gods! What arrogance you have. Yet you are so boring.”

As I lay there, unable to even move, all I could think about was how much I hated it. Not just the devil before me, but the entire situation. I had done nothing to deserve any of it. My previous world was terrible and this one was worse. Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, it all would come crumbling down. What could I even do then? The demon just began to laugh at me as I struggled desperately to move.

“Let it free,” A voice growled quietly into my ear. My mind flashed to that dream. “Let free the howl of death. Throw open the gate between life and death.”

I could feel that feeling again. It was slowly growing. The demon’s laugh trailed off. Then, it gloated, “If your misery and rage wasn’t such a rare feast? I dare say we’d just put you in a jar and bury you till we needed you to ring the bell! Ah, yes. You don’t even know why we want to do that. You are a blind rat in a maze full of dragons. You don’t even know who all the heralds are.”

Slowly, with the one hand that still responded, I formed a fist. That feeling was growing more and more. I looked at it. The voice growled a question, “Or will you die again? Weak and pathetic? You can feel it. It calls out to us. Howl, hound. Howl. Make it see what you really are. Kill.”

My breathing was picking up. The wheezing becoming more frantic. My entire form began to shake. I could feel it. That feeling was coming to a peak. Hatred and rage began to cloud my mind. The voice repeated that last word repeatedly as I heard the demon mocking me still. My eyes turned back to the demon who stopped mid sentence. It’s grin faltering slightly.

I could feel the magic practically flowing through me as if I wasn’t there. There was incredible pain as my bones began to move in my own body. Every mending bit of flesh screamed into my mind vivid and detailed pains. Yet, as I got up, only one thing on my mind. I stood up fully. It felt like nothing else mattered anymore. The ghostly form of a spear formed in my hand. The frown of the demon turned back to a grin as it said, “Ah, what an odd side effect. Now we’ll have some fun.”