If there is one person who I desire to see again the most, I guess it would be my youngest sister, Lara. After having four boys within three years of each other, I guess my parents decided to go the easy route and just adopt a four month old girl straight up from Korea when I was nine. This little girl would become my current roommate, 19 years old now with a full scholarship to the local state university, this hotshot girl is a crazy tomboy perfectionist who had to deal with four older brothers beating her at every game while growing up. I’m sure that’s what drove her nuts, which is why she spends nine hours on a school project for the perfect A when I would have spent a single hour and been happy with an A minus. She’s crazy and I love her, but don’t ask her what she wants to do after she graduates from undergrad. She hates that question.

  My other sister is a different breed. My parents weren’t looking to adopt again, but a friendly family we knew had the habit of adopting kids (they were at thirteen currently) and where looking at another potential adoptee, a three year old deaf girl in an orphanage in China. What connections that family had to be able to scout out a single child in a country of billions of people I have no idea, but when they decided it wasn’t feasible for them to adopt another, they floated the idea to our parents. Thee had adopted one already, what’s another child?

  Somehow the idea stuck and a year later my parents returned from a trip to China with a four year old deaf girl in their arms. I remember how unreal it was seeing my first sister arrive on a plane at four months old, seeing a four year old suddenly introduced as a sister was even more so. How are we supposed to interact with a kid who’s method of communication was point and grunt and had four years of life in an orphanage on literally the other side of the world?

  The wonders of technology availed themselves and soon Lara had a cochlear implant surgically implanted on her making her technically a cyborg. With her newfound hearing ability, she struggled to come to grips with language and learning, always behind in school.

  But Lara is, if nothing else, a bright golden flower, easily making friends everywhere she goes. Now she is fifteen and she has blossomed into a beautiful, if short, young woman, with a penchant for beating me in video games and for painting and drawing. My parents had been struggling for years to find a subject she could embrace and excel in and art seems to be the winner.

  My brothers got married and left the house before me, so they never got to see Lara grow up like I did and I don’t think they appreciate her as much as they should. They underestimate her intelligence and worth, in my humble opinion. I’m the favorite brother by far, but it’s only natural as I had spent years with her as a brother while everybody else had gotten married and moved away.

  I tolerate hugs from friends and family, but Lara is the only one I actively latch onto. She is so cute and small, her head stands basically at my chest. She fits right into my arms and a good poke to her sides always elicits a sharp, “Stop Greg!”. She likes holding onto me despite that and tells me about her day, her week, her latest drawing, painting, or adventure at her private school or whatever is on her mind. Nothing warms my heart quite like Lara does.

  Oh, God, please let me see her again.

  Despite my new burning ambition to immediately rush my enemy, a cooler head prevailed. Before I attacked, I really needed to figure out what and how my new barrier ability works less it fail me when I need it most. Which is why I had decided last night to rest and heal before I move out against my enemy. I also used the time to test out my new ability, and let me tell you, it is a good thing I did. There are severe limitations to its uses that would have gotten me killed had I relied on it overly much. Its mp cost is just staggering.

  I raided a small ruin that evening that I had used a few nights before, killing its small agruimen inhabitants and a small new species of bat like creatures that tried to literally suck the life energy out of me. The little alcove was dank and uncomfortable but was at least able to provide a little security to me. If skeletons wanted to stab my heart out again, they had to crawl through this little hole that served as the opening, just like I did. Normally, claustrophobia would have ruled this cramped place out but I am way beyond being over that. I cleansed around the inside of the small cave thing, including as much as I can with the mucky dirt below me. The cleanse would give me a few hours of peace but, soon, little insects like worms and centipedes would start emerging from the dirt and start eating me alive. I hate those things.

  The night was harrowing and dangerous, I almost died a few times from infection and this crazy new parasite worm burrowed into my stomach halfway through the night after I had dealt with the midnight curse. That was was awful, the worst part was that it didn't really hurt, I think it excreted a numbing agent. I only woke up due to a sudden trouble with breathing. The horrid creature had already eaten away most of my stomach and was now munching on a lung. I cleansed the demon and healed myself before getting back to my beauty rest. No zombies or skeletons found me, so it was a good night.

  Morning found me soon enough, half paralyzed with infections. I cleansed myself good and tried to eat a sparse breakfast of wynot bites before exiting, but after choking on the stuff for a few minutes I eventually gave up.

  Today was the day, wasn’t it? I can’t eat this stuff anymore, if I can’t get a win then I’ll just slowly starve to death. Probably really slowly too, considering my healing skill, it's probably not a pleasant way to go. I shiver at the thought. What’s worse, getting disemboweled and strangled by your own entrails by a laughing skeleton, or starving to death? I really can’t decide.

  No, I need to end this today. It's not about survival anymore, its about my sanity. I may have already crossed that line, but I sure hope not. I really need to see my Lara again and it won’t do if I return only to get stuck in an insane asylum or worse.

  C'mon, keep it together Greg.

  I’m now hiding in some bushes just outside of no man’s land around the temple. The gorgeous palace temple is huge and it's now one hundred yard diameter around its base is still empty and bereft of anything besides brown dirt. No muck either, which is annoying as that bacteria and virus filled goo is literally everywhere else here.

  If I had slept on a patch of this dirt near the edge, would all of those biting insects of worms from last night had gotten me? That’s assuming I’d be able to survive the dozens of zombies and skeletons patrolling around the temple. I’ve watched these people over the last few days, but for all their walking and moving around, they don’t leave the temple grounds. They just circle endlessly like a perimeter watch. I guess that mage did learn his lesson.

…

  This attack on the temple is not going to be a walk in the park. It’s probably going to be more like trying to defeat Lara in Super Smash Brothers while using the new-fangled controller. It takes the use of every dirty trick, every sneaky attack, every shameful strategy, every little advantage my years of video game experience can muster to defeat that little girl. And even then it's a toss up. That dirty girl, how dare she defeat her venerated older brother?

  Besides the army of zombies surrounding the temple with a few skeleton soldiers mixed in, there are three armored skeletons guarding the steps to the temple. Impressive steps, I must say now. While before the entrance looked like a poor porch to a house, the steps are now pillared and bright, with white stone instead of dirty gray. The undead troops look out of place in this glorious palace. I also see a few skeleton archers scattered around, up on higher raised platforms or on top of the steps like good archers should be.

  Besides the many zombies and skeletons, I was actually expecting to see more of the armored or archer types around, but I suppose there are several death squads scattered around the land looking for me. If everybody was gathered here, then I really would be in trouble.

  And, of course, the Guardian Skeleton is there. I think he is a unique summon for our dear mage, its the only one that has a modicum of self preservation and he is also the only one of that type I see. Which is good, because I don't know if I can handle just that one, much less a whole flock of them. He’s standing just outside the door with a perfect view of the whole space of no man’s land like a commander over an army. I suppose he is one.

  He’s the guy who burned down my house too, I remember that look he gave me as he left the site. He thinks I am scum. I suppose its his job to protect his master, but he made this far too personal. He’s the only one here besides the mage who has any kind of personality, and its a bad one.

…

  Yes, the animosity is real. I can definitely say, I hate him, please die. By my hand, preferably.

  I sigh as I look around. It’s going to be troublesome just getting to the door, who knows what kind of crap I’ll have to deal with once I am inside.

  I look up to the top left corner of my vision. The countdown is not there, meaning that Pesos is out there right now, stalking me. Her smarts are off the charts these days. If she had opposable thumbs, I’m sure she would be building traps and pitfalls for me by now. She is sure to attack me when it is the most inconvenient. She’s probably sensing my intentions now and is just waiting for me to be vulnerable. I wish she’d attack and just get it over with, I don’t want to have to deal with her along with the undead army. Time is on her side though.

  I glance around me, but I can’t see her. She’s around somewhere, definitely.

  I take a slow deep breath, one that won’t immediately infect me, and close my eyes. This is it. I’m resolved to do or die. I can’t keep living here in hell.

…

…

…

...

  Rats, I was hoping Pesos would attack me if I appeared vulnerable. I guess I was hoping for too much.

  Giving up, I open my eyes and take off my backpack, take my two skeleton daggers, tucking one into my waste in a makeshift sheath. I also have one attached to my left arm and one on my right thigh. I am no ninja, but I have learned you can never have enough daggers. It took dozens of tries and experiments to figure out the right placing of these daggers so that I don’t stab myself constantly and can still retrieve each of them easily during the fight. I don’t take Thor’s Hammer with me because I won’t be using flare during this battle, it uses up too much mp. I’ve become decently proficient with edge and I’ll have to stick with it for now.

  So, what’s my objective? Take out the Prophet of Regret, of course. The minions will keep spawning indefinitely, so attempting to kill them all would be futile. I just need to kill those standing in my way, bypass those I can bypass, bum rush the mage, and kill him. With any luck a cutscene will appear and send me back home. Or drag me down to the depths to meet Gravemind, I’m not sure.

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  I take one last look around and then rush in.

  It’s impossible to hide from zombies, I’ve learned that the hard way. I can’t sneak up on them and they always know where I am once they have sight of me or if I am within a twenty foot radius of them. I don’t know how they do it, magic is the obvious answer. Only the zombies have it though, it would be trouble if the stronger skeleton undead had that ability too, but I guess that would be too overpowered. But since the skeletons always keep a gaggle of zombies around, it makes it impossible for sneaking.

  Additionally, my speed is my greatest asset, I far outpace anything here, even the stupid guardian skeleton. Rushing in really is the best option for me, I believe, especially with Pesos out there waiting for me. I’ve tried drawing the zombies away from the temple before but many of them seem bound to the no man’s land.

  As soon as I enter no man’s land, the heads of dozens of zombies immediately turn my way. It's super eerie, but I can get a good dozen feet before they all start congregating towards me. The skeletons are right behind them too, following the radar like abilities of their lessors. I see on the steps to the temple the guardian become alert and look down at me. He then waves his hands at his men around him and the archers and armored skeletons start moving into positions of some kind. Then he looks back at me with his cold black eye sockets. Looks like he is ready for round two.

  I can’t spend too much attention on the steps though as soon enough bodies are congregating around me. With practiced smooth thrusts of my edged dagger, I easily take out the zombies in my direct path and then I practically walk over the bodies as they collapse. I am in a hurry, you know? The skeleton soldiers are lining up to be killed too, and soon enough I’ve got a couple of them under my belt too along with a couple vicious kamikaze stabs into my stomach with their own skeleton daggers. While painful, I ignore it, my healing abilities have created an unfortunate battle style where I unhesitatingly take wounds in exchange for death blows. That will surely catch up to me one day, but for now it works and that’s all that matters. I’ll heal it when I think it's too debilitating.

  I’m halfway to the temple when the first arrow shoots out at me. I dodge it easily as I saw it coming, but as always, I marvel at the accuracy of the skeleton. They don’t have a long range and their arrows aren't too fast to counter, but they only ever fire when they have a shot. And they hit where they aim. Its uncanny, their unerring ways, if I was a stationary target, or moved in a consistent direction, I would be pincushioned quickly.

  Another arrow shoots out at me and I am able to dodge it as well, but I can’t afford to keep dodging arrows, I’ll never make it to the steps. And in the meantime, the mass of zombies are still closing in around me.

  I press on, and soon another arrow comes at me that I can’t afford to dodge or risk getting entangled with a group of zombies. I activate my barrier for the first time this battle.

  In the path of the arrow a small half transparent wall appears, like a pane of glass forming a tight angle to me. It gives off a light glow, nothing much, nothing like the light a full flare would provide.

  It's a stationary thing and I almost run headlong into it. If I reached out and touched it it would feel cool and slippery, like ice but not nearly as cold. There isn’t much friction to be had there, I suppose it is an immaterial thing. Last night I had pounded on it with my fists to check its strength and it felt like I was slapping a concrete slab. It is very unyielding.

  I can’t move much while the barrier is active as the further I get away from the barrier the more expensive it gets. The arrow hits the angled barrier and is deflected away, actually hitting an approaching zombie in the chest. I doubt the arrow will do much damage to a zombie, but I smirk at the thought. Before, I had been at the mercy of the arrows, but now I have a counter.

  During the short time the barrier was up, I dispatched the three zombies with quick upper stabs with a dagger, directly up their throats and into their skulls. It’s almost too easy. While a regular strike wouldn’t have been enough to do any real damage, my edge skill effectively liquified any undead matter it touches, including the zombie’s brain.

  The barrier lasted only a quick few seconds and then shatters spectacularly, almost immediately after the arrow had glanced off of it. I learned last night that these barriers are super black holes for mp, a small basic one sucking up nearly twenty mp a second! And their consumption rate is directly related to the amount of force applied against them. The glancing blow from earlier has a relatively small additional cost, but a direct strike would surely have sucked a good fifty mp from me. I can’t afford such a thing.

  That said, there is almost no limit to its abilities, besides being stationary once its cast, as long as I have the mp to back it up. The bigger the barrier, the more costly the mp. I need to run a dangerous game of spending as little mp as possible to achieve the maximum results. A mis-calculation would leave me in a pinch.

  I suppose there is a reason I couldn’t have gotten the barrier skill earlier, I wouldn’t have had the mp to sustain it.

  If I create a normal barrier it will stay in existence until it drains my mp completely, unless I will it away. I discovered a far better use of it last night where I can invest just a certain amount of mp and lock it in place so that it exists until it uses up is allocated amount. This allows me to not to think too much about it as I haphazardly place barriers, but of course, if I mis-judge the amount of mp needed, I end up with a barrier failing and me getting hit with whatever it was intended to block. A fine line, indeed.

  I press on, healing a few of the more serious wounds I am getting and dodging as many arrows as I can and deflecting the rest of them with costly barriers. I know that I am extremely difficult to kill, so the most effect way to get me is to wear me down with infections and poisons, debuffing me until I am helpless. My avoiding the poisoned arrows is huge.

  The closer I get the the steps the more concentrated the arrows are and the denser the melee combat is, but I think I can use the mass of bodies in my favor a little. With a little effort I can block the line of sight for a few of their archers with the bodies of their own zombies. It works a little, but it would be best if I could just run a nice zig zag pattern at them. Unfortunately, that's not an option.

  I look up at the steps again, eyeing the three archers there, protected by three armored skeletons. The guardian is studying me too, and I give him a good glare.

  After a moment, I see him waive two of his armored skeletons forward and they march down at me, pushing their ally undead aside with their strong metal arms. Then the Guardian walked away back to the door of the temple and of my sight.

  What is he planning now? I don’t like it but I don’t have time to consider it as soon the armored skeletons will be on me.

  I have said it before, but I hate these armored skeletons, even more than the archers. They are skilled and have a long range with their swords and with that armor they are immune to direct attacks with flare. If they were wearing undead armor, like a chestplate of bones or something, I think I could get them easily, but with their steel or iron plating, I don’t know which, it is just unfair.

  Suddenly I see, out of the corner of my eye, Pesos stalking the edge of the horde. Her unearthly black coat and flame like feet are out of place in the dull brown and gray setting. Her eyes are staring at me, her red pupils glowing in hate. She walks silently, pacing as if waiting for a chance.

  Great, I knew she would appear, but seeing her now is making me anxious.

  Directly taking on the armored skeletons is not an option for me, so I try to take a detour around them, pushing through a crowd of zombies rather than facing their steel. I am much faster than them, so it should work. I just need to avoid getting bogged down less they reach me. Mobility is the key here.

  Several more zombies go down in my path, an I am thankful for my mp regen abilities. At 15 a minute I am gaining an significant amount back, especially as I use the skill edge on these weak opponents. The greatest use of mp so far has been the barriers reflecting the arrows, I am down a third of my total mp pool.

  Zombies have long stopped being a real threat to me days ago. Since I am no longer afraid of them, my quickness can allow me to dispatch them before they can even raise their arms to grab me. Without the shackles of hesitation, it's like they are moving at quarter speed. The greatest threat they pose are their physical bodies getting in my way, which is a serious problem. My physical strength has waned in my time here.

  I’ve steered a little off my course in trying to bypass the armored skeletons, I’m now approaching the steps from a little to the left of the white stone.The armored skeletons are still making a beeline at me through the zombies but even though I have to travel a large circle around them, I still have the speed on them. These damn arrows are a pain though, they are really hampering my movement.

  A moment later I miss one coming at me and it hits me in the back shoulder, slamming me forward a little, into the arms of a small zombie. I shouldn’t have spoken.

  With a grimace, I stab the zombie even as he gnaws on my left forearm, drawing blood. On my knee, I then reach back and pull out the barbed arrow with a strangled grunt. Of course, another arrows zooms at me and I am forced to cast a quick barrier to prevent additional damage. I invest fifteen mp into it and it last only for the briefest of moments to defect the arrow, it's ghostly appearance hardly noticeable in the chaotic battle.

  I cleanse and heal myself, pushing forward again as I notice the armored skeletons getting closer during my brief struggle. I glance at my mp and I feel a sinking sensation as I see its at 170. I’m not even to the steps yet and I have already used almost have of my reserves. Damn it.

  I notice one of the archers got a little too close to me, he must have moved to get a better angle on me. He’s still standing on top a ledge attached to the temple, and he was reloading for another shot at me. Foolish fool, his positioning got him a nice shot to my shoulder, but it's going to cost him.

  Without hesitation I flare my dagger and whip it at him. Thankfully, my aim is true and it glances off its right shoulder, exploding it and knocking him back. Excellent, one archer down. Even if he’s not dead, without his right shoulder, he is no longer a threat.

  I sense movement up on the steps and see that the guardian has returned and the mage is with him now. I feel a burning hatred rise in my chest as I look at the shallow and pale face of the mage. Am I going to have to fend of his projectile spells too? Despite my anger, I also feel a sense of alarm. Honestly, I'm not ready to battle the boss yet, can’t he wait back patiently for me look a good boss should?

  The mage doesn't look at me though, he appears to be shouting and gesturing at somebody on the other side of the clearing. Despite myself, I look at what he’s looking at and am shocked to see Pesos there, looking up angrily back at the mage.

  Another harsh yell I can't translate and fierce gestures and I see Pesos lower her head and head up to the mage, a beaten and submissive dog.

  Holy cow, what does that mage think he is doing? I can’t afford to pay too close attention, and the Guardian is glaring at me still, his spear still unraised, but I see Pesos come and then stand back from the mage like the unwilling hound she is. Some more furious shouting from the mage comes and the dog lowers her head again and sits up next to the mage resentfully.

  What’s going on? Did they have a falling out?

  I can’t give it too much thought as a large mutant zombie gets in my way and this one is especially tall. I can’t even reach its head with a dagger, how am I supposed to take it out?

  With regret, I use flare on my hand and and use my Holy Fist to punch straight through the large beast’s chest. Its guts and blood covers me in its sickening stench and goo. Stink, blast, that really sucks. I guess it is a good thing I didn’t eat this morning, I might have threw it all up then and there.

  As the colossus zombie falls I see the mage again, it looks like he is putting a spell or something on Pesos. An ominous feeling washes over me as I see a black tendril wrap itself around Pesos, then expand and cover the dog in a smokey mane. The dog snorts and skips about in agitation, but soon enough the procedure is over and the dog looks more dangerous than ever before. Pesos gives the mage a sharp snap once its over, but the mage pulls back his handin time. He gives Pesos a dark glare. I can hear Pesos’s growls from over here.

  Then I hear the mage shout and point at me and I can guess what he is saying.

  “There! You’re target is over there! Go get him!”

  Something along those line.

  Pesos turns her head toward me and her now bright glowing red eyes stare daggers into my soul. Excited energy bursts in her and she lets out a loud howl like a wolf.

  Then she pounces forward, her racing instinct seemingly coming into play. No longer is she playing along the edges, she is now making a beeline at me, snorting and blowing her acidic fire out of her mouth like a rabid dog. An aura, if such a thing exists here, starts growing around her, a black miasma cloud expanding as if to envelop the battlefield.

  Oh stink man, I don’t like the look of this. Did that damned mage give her a powerup?

  Despite myself, I recoil and step back instinctively. Bad move, the zombies I was outpacing start to grab me from behind and the armored skeletons are still closing in. It might not matter though, Pesos is coming in much too fast, slipping right through the crowd. I am forced to wrestle away from the two zombies that had grabbed me from behind and I smash their faces in desperately before I whirl around to face Pesos. I almost regret it as a pitch black fog and a fierce snarling hound slams into me.