The essence of Sougath smashed into Joe, trying to crush his spirit. Waves of memories that were not his own flooded into Joe’s mind. He saw massacres and beatings. Violence on every level. And fear. Fear was everywhere.
The spirit of Sougath thrived on terror, even before he earned the Mark of the Moon. Joe saw Sougath as a captain leading his troops to perform ghastly horrors, atrocities so vile the surrounding villages didn’t even try to fight back, lest they suffer the same fate. He saw a boy in a Spartan-like temple to the war god Stryff, holding a rival's head underwater until he was sure the other would never challenge him again.
Scenes of brutality and intimidation, of a lust for rage and desire for the dread in others. Joe was drowning in unspeakable hungers that he could barely fathom, let alone fight back against.
Relentlessly, Sougath was grinding Joe out of existence.
The invading spirit found Joe’s fear of death and made it into a crushing mountain. Joe had died choosing to be at peace but he was still mortal. Under his layer of acceptance, lurked everyone’s deep primal terror of death. He felt that fear now more than he ever had on Earth. Having somehow been given a second chance, life became so much more precious to him. He could not imagine there would be a third chance. Once the vicious soul consumed his spirit, Joe would truly be gone forever.
A growling voice filled his mind. ‘You are doomed, little thing. I will become the Wolf King and you shall be my vessel. Fate has decreed it. There is nothing you can do. Surrender and die or suffer and die. These are your only choices.’
Joe was utterly disconnected from the real world, trapped in this spectral assault. He was not even sure if he was actually conscious. He could not feel his body. All he could sense was a hurricane of darkness that was ripping through his being.
He sought for his own memories but the only ones he could find were those that fed the dark essence invading him. His flight through the woods, hunted by guards of Crowfield. A gartroll driving its spear into his chest. The doctors telling him about his first tumors. Goblins slashing him with knives while he was helpless to stop them. Water filling his lungs as he was trapped in the river. Days after chemotherapy, curled up on the bathroom floor in misery and puke. Hah’roo lying broken and bleeding.
He searched his mind for something else, anything else.
It was not memories but a flashing caught his mind’s eye. Even in his subconscious mind, Hawking was letting him know that he had alerts awaiting his attention. Seeing no better option, Joe toggle open the first one he saw.
Your skill [Healer's Ward] has increased to rank 3.
Joe could not believe he had wasted a scrap of his failing willpower to open such a pointless message.
“Not … helping … Hawking …” Joe groaned amidst the pain and horrors tearing apart his spirit.
Yet the flashing remained, somehow more insistent than it had been a second before.
Joe looked again and saw that there were a bunch of basic skill improvements but those were not the ones that were flashing the brightest. He locked his awareness onto the brightest of the messages and willed it open.
You have slain Sougath the Night Skinner.
Joe had already seen that header a second ago but, when he opened it fully, there was so much more.
You have reached level 9 in your Healer Class. You have gained 1 unassigned attribute point.
You have reached level 10 in your Healer Class. You have gained 1 unassigned attribute point and the following trait and skill.
[Centered] +1 to Spirit. You have gained 1 common spirit-based skill.
[Warding Heal]: You can impart a ward on a creature against damage for 15 seconds after each use of a healing skill on that target. Damage done to the targets while the ward is in effect is reduced by 15% plus 1% for each skill rank you have with this skill. Cost: Modest Mana.
Having reached level 10, you may now select a Secondary class.
You have reached level 11. You do not gain an attribute point on this level.
You have reached level 12. You have gained 1 unassigned attribute point and a trait and skill for that class.
Your encounter with Sougath the Night Skinner had ended. The changes to your abilities by the Mark of Death have ended.
[Sanctuary] has reverted back to [Stealth]. [Stealth] aids your ability to perform actions unobserved or unnoticed. It applies to movement and hiding, as well as actions such as sleight of hand or thievery.
[Iron Will] has reverted back to [Iron Mind]. [Iron Mind]: You have Major Resistance against Domination and Confusion effects.
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A feeling like a steel wall slid through Joe, dislodging Sougath’s crushing hold on his soul. While Joe was in too much physical and mental pain to truly enjoy the euphoria of leveling up, the changes it wrought were exactly what he needed. [Iron Mind] threw up a barricade that blocked the fiend’s attempt to possess him. The increase in Spirit gave him a bit more strength of mind to combat the hateful specter as well.
Sougath’s shade roared in fury and redoubled his assault. The churning cloud of dark and vile imagery attempted to envelop Joe, smashing into his defenses and rocking Joe’s spirit.
Even though the enemy was filled with prophetic might and savage ferocity, the dwarven heritage trait gave Joe a massive defense. Sougath hammered on the mental barricade. Empowered by the Mark of Moon, the beast tore at the iron wall surrounding Joe’s psyche. As strong as the dwarven trait was, Joe could feel cracks already forming in his defenses.
Realizing he had more unspent attribute points, he immediately dumped all the unspent points into Spirit. His sense of self solidified. Within the miasma of haunting visions, he finally was able to uncurl from his fetal ball. With a spirit now in the double digits, Joe suddenly had the means to fight back.
He looked at the black shrieking tempest churning around him and assessed it.
Sougath the Night Haunt: Level 20: Elite Spirit: Lurker/Controller
Just naming it helped. It was no longer a formless overwhelming horror. It was whatever was left of the werewolf. Something he could try and fight.
Joe imagined a glow wrapping around himself, pushing back the darkness. In his minds-eye, he saw himself. At first, it was just a flickering of light in a storm of swirling shadowy creatures. The shadow beasts loped around him growling at the light that was driving them away from his body. The more he focused on his spirit and pushing the image outward, the brighter he blazed.
Finally, he stood in a ring of light. All around him, a hurricane of smoke-like wolves clawed and bit at his mental barrier. It felt like at any moment they would push through and swamp his mind again. The light was not a strong enough defensive image. But if there was one thing Joe had plenty of, it was imagination.
Flaring [Iron Mind], Joe recrafted the scene he was trapped in. Instead of him cowering on the ground, assaulted by the nebulous miasma of terror, Joe willed himself to be standing on top of a dwarven fort made of solid iron. In his hand, he wielded a mighty hammer that was his Spirit. The black spectral wolves scrabbled at the wall, trying to climb it. Most failed to find any purchase on the metal rampart. The few that did were sent crashing back down by hammer blows long before they reached the top.
Finally, with Sougath’s spirit no longer crushing his mind, he could take stock of himself. He split his focus keeping most of it at the wall but letting a sliver assess the state of his body. What he found was a gut punch of churning agony. The pain distracted him enough that the wolf's claws began to crack the iron barricade.
‘Shit!’
Focusing on the mental battle again, Joe first reinforced his barrier and then imagined a plinth beside him, like one you would see at a monument. A bronze plaque became his interface to Hawking. It listed all of his remaining messages. This made it easier for him to stay in the battle for his mind but deal with the mess that was going on with his body.
After smacking down a wolf, he looked over the list and saw one message that loomed ominously over the rest of the skill updates. It read [Lynacthropic Corruption]. Joe willed it to activate and the bronze sheet grew in size to accommodate the large block of text.
A corruption is beginning to alter your pattern. This corruption, [Lycanthropy], is not compatible with your ability to interact in Illuminaria as a mortal. If the corruption overwrites your pattern you will become a monster. Monsters have entirely different growth models and limitations from mortal. Typically [Lycanthropy] can be purged by high-level curative spells as long as they are administered before the rising of the next month’s full moon. Unfortunately, this strain of Lycanthropy is mystically empowered, making it especially virulent. Your pattern will be fully corrupted within the next 6 minutes.
Due to unique aspects in your pattern, alternative solutions are available to you. Please select from the following:
[Acceptance] Allow the Lycanthropy to overwrite your pattern and transform you into a monster. You will have additional options regarding the [Spirit of Sougath], the [Mark of the Moon], and other features should you select this choice.
[Negation] You possess the [Mark of Death]. You may transform the Lycanthropy into another form of corruption, one that will give you additional time to seek a cure. As the purpose of the Prophetic Mark is to engender greatness, not alleviate misfortune, the mark will dissipate and your destiny will no longer be marked. This option is only available due to the confluence of competing Prophetic Marks.
[Transformation] Lycanthropy is an affliction but the [Mark of Death] can transform it into class features. Typically such a feature would be incompatible with standard mortal races. Your possession of the exceptional racial ability, [Anyone], will allow you to adopt the transformed features as skills. You may transform a feature into a skill with an open attribute point or by acquiring a new skill and trading it for the lycanthropic feature. Each feature transformed in this manner will slow the advancement of the corruption. This option would maintain your prophetic role and you would retain the [Mark of Death].
Joe felt stretched incredibly thin to be making such a monumental choice. Ruling out [Acceptance] was easy but the choice between [Negation] and [Transformation] was not.
Joe had never been sure how he felt about being a person of significance in this world in the first place. He had never had delusions of grandeur or the desire to be famous or influential. He had been happy living his life on Earth as an unknown, just playing games or being with his dogs. [Negation] would mean a return to normalcy. He could pick a decent class that would pair with Healer, giving him the independence he had been craving. He would no longer need to be an enemy of Duskrug’s nobility. He could just enjoy his new life, free of the conflict and the burden represented by the Mark.
On the other hand, when Joe created characters for games, he did not settle for the expected mundane options. He did not play the cookie-cutter brainy wizard or the classic burly, armored fighter. Joe’s existence in the fantasy worlds had been possibly the best thing about his old life. It was based on creative ideas and pushing boundaries.
Here he was being offered a chance to create something totally unseen in Illuminaria.
He had been running and hunted almost ever since he entered this world. The safe and easy path had a great deal of appeal. Even so, he knew he couldn't take it.
In his heart he was sure of one thing; taking the harder road would mean troubles, but if he wimped out and took the easy road, he would wonder for the rest of his days what he had given up for a bit of comfort. That would be a real regret, one he could see hating himself for taking.
You have selected [Transformation].