I'd reached a natural stone arch acting as a bridge from the fields I'd been marching through, to the rock pillar. Underneath was sheer cliffs down to dunes leading to a large lake. The pillar on the other hand stretched up to the sky. It didn't seem natural, maybe some god made it or something. The village probably knew the story, but they wouldn't of shared it with me. Didn't matter anyway.

The problem I was facing was stood on the bridge. It was a boar. It's tusks could gore me pretty badly and it was going to be a lot tougher then the hares I'd come up against. I'd have to bait it off the bridge, so i grabbed a rock and approached with my knife cautiously. It watched as I got closer and snorted violently. Once I was close enough, I chucked the rock right at it's face. It squealed as the impromptu projectile bounced off its head and charged me. It was a damn sight faster then I thought it'd be and had to fling myself sideways to get out of the way. I stumbled into a roll and faced it again. It had already turned around and was facing me down. It charged again but I was ready for it this time. I dodged left and raked my knife across it as it passed by. As the knife connected it wrenched my arm backwards and I grunted in pain as the shock shot up my shoulder and the knife was ripped out of my grip. It felt like it had nearly dislocated my shoulder. Shit. I flexed my arm to check it still worked, then watched it come back. This time I rolled away from it's charge on purpose, and was able to grab my knife back from the floor. There wasn't even a scratch on the boar, but my arm was throbbing and I'd had to recover my weapon mid fight. I had to close the distance, and stop it from charging. I dodged it's next run and chased after it, but when it turned it immediately flung it's head up at me, and I had to step back quickly to avoid the business end of it's tusks.

It was taking all I had just to avoid it's teeth, there wasn't any openings I could find. Just as I was starting to panic something slammed into the side of the boar. It was the slime! the little blob hadn't managed to do any damage, but it distracted the piggy bastard and I took the oppurtunity. I shoved the knife at the only vulnerable point I could see and with luck the blade sunk deep into it's eye. It squealed in pain and lashed out at me, gouging a line across my left arm as I failed to get away in time. FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKAGGGGH. The pain was almost unbearable, but I managed to keep it together and jumped out of range. The boar glared at me with it's remaining beady eye, and I realised my knife was now wedged in it's other eye's socket.

I pulled my other knife out with my right hand and held my wounded left arm close to my chest. Blood ran down my arm and dripped off my elbow, while blood ran down it's face and dripped off it's chin. We were both wounded, but now I had an advantage. Pigboy didn't have an attack slime. I sidled right and the boar kept it's focus on me. It went as I hoped and once it was in the blind spot, my gelatinous partner bounced off the boar's hide. When it swung at the sudden attack I darted forward and jabbed at it's remaining eye, but it staggered out of the way. But now it was dodging me. It swayed it's head, trying to keep the slime and me in view, so I jinked forward to catch it's attention. As it swung it's tusks to fend me off, the slime bounced off the back of it's head. It was knocked off balance as I swung and I got a clean cut across it's face. It oozed blood, but was shallow. The knives just weren't sharp enough to do decent damage. But the hilt where it's eye used to be told me to try stabbing instead of slashing. I waited for the slime to distract it again and tried jabbing at the beast. It squealed and I left a bloody hole where I'd struck.

I knew how to damage it now, but I needed something decisive. If this drags on, the boar could get a lucky hit in or the blood I was losing could start causing problems. I had an idea, but it was risky as hell. If it worked I would win though. I let the slime beat on it's side a few times, until I'd lost the boar's attention. I switched the knife to an underhand grip and edged closer. Then I leapt. I landed right on it's back and grabbed it's fur with my left hand, screaming as pain flared up from the wound. I wrapped around the top of the pig and slammed my right hand down as hard as could on it's neck, burying the blade into it.

The boar squealed it's loudest yet as I gripped with my legs on the bucking beast. It staggered under my weight but didn't fall, as it kicked and thrashed to try and dislodge me. I held on over the objections shooting up from my left arm and used the knife grip for extra purchase. The slime kept slamming into the boar as it struggled against me. I held on for my life for what felt an eternity until, finally, i felt it collapse as its legs gave out. It started listing to one side so I leapt off to avoid getting crushed under it. It rolled onto it's side, kicked weakly, then stopped moving. The slime slammed into it one more time but it didn't react. I'd won.

My right hand was slick with blood, so i wiped it clean as much as i could, then pulled a bandage I'd stolen from the village and wrapped it around my gored arm. I recovered my knife from it's neck then tried to get the one in the eye. It took a lot of heaving, but it came free, now with a prominent chip in the blade. It must of gotten wedged in the skull. Then I just sat there for a while, exhausted. I nearly died just then, and this region is known to have very weak creatures roaming around compared to elsewhere. I'll be stuck here forever if the altar doesn't give me something to survive with. I had to keep going.

Once I had recovered. I used the hole in the neck to skin the boar, then I butchered it's meat. The slime happily absorbed the bones and guts left over, and now I had plenty of food to keep me going. Finally, I crossed the bridge, and began the climb up the pillar.

The path up the pillar wound up the outside, but cut into tunnels inside fairly regularly. Again, it didn't seem like it had formed without some sort of intervention. The outer path was clear of monsters, but was somewhat treacherous. I had to cling to the wall at some points, and found a few rope ladders that had likely been installed by previous caravans. I realised at the first ladder that the slime couldn't climb it, so I had to pick it up. After the fight with the boar, I felt I couldn't leave it behind. It didn't seem to mind, and blorbelled in my hand happily. it was strangely warm slung under my arm, it looked like it should of felt cold.

Inside the pillar, the footing was more stable, but monsters lived in it. bat-winged baby imps flew through the shade of the cavern. They were cute but still a monster and I needed to be cautious. The first one that attacked me was a challenge. It flew out of reach so I couldn't attack it off my own initiative, and while it wasn't as fast as the boar, it was small enough that i when I dodged it's attack, I couldn't catch it with my knife. It also had a little fork thing. Maybe it was mimicking a demon with a pitchfork? Even that small though, it'll cause me serious injury if i took it lightly.

If i couldn't parry or dodge, then maybe I could utilise my size advantage. I planted my feet and kept my knife close. As it dived at me again I waited until the last moment then thrusted my knife straight at it. its momentum carried it straight into my knife. My arm reverberated painfully as it impacted on the imp, but I was able to keep my arm firm and stopped it's fork even reaching me.

I pulled the recently corpsed imp off my knife and dropped it on the floor. I didn't like the idea of eating a humanoid baby thing, but didn't mind the slime eating it, so let it go ham. I did pick up the fork though, something about it was calling me. It wasn't very well made, even my discarded trash knives were better weapons. The handle, two handed on the imp, was just about large enough to hold in one hand. I thought i wouldn't be fussed if I broke or lost it, which clicked with something at the back of my mind.

I progressed forward and soon came across another baby imp. Now that I knew a successful, if slightly painful, method of dealing with these flying nuisances, I was ready to experiment to find a more efficient method. as it hovered above me, I held a knife in my left, and in my right was my new fork. As it dived, I hurled the fork right at it. It span through the air and bounced off it's shoulder. The imp flinched and was knocked off it's trajectory and I was about to jump at it to finish it with my knife, when suddenly the slime slammed into it. Unlike with the larger boar, the little imp was devastated by the blobby bodyslam, and was thrown up in the air in an arc, then crumpled to the floor. That worked too I guess. I collected the fork I threw and the one dropped by the latest demonling, and the slime ate the corpse.

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We continued up the climb, dealing with any obstacles in our path. I'd counter any hares we came across, performed the one-two combo with the slime on imps, and I'd carry it across any difficult terrain. It wasn't easy going by any means, I accumulated several scratches and cuts from the fights and the landscape, and I was careful to wash them out at every water point we rested at. Even then, the gouge in my arm from the boar was starting to burn alarmingly. If that was an infection, I was in serious trouble. I took the bandage off and redressed it and, just, hoped.

After several more days I rounded the last bend in the path and found myself at the top. I was not in a good way. I was covered in wounds, my clothes were stained with my own blood, and the burning in my left arm was now volcanic. i didn't dare look under the bandaging. I was going to lose my arm. Even if I could survive cutting it off myself, the bloodloss would kill me. If the bloodloss didn't the first beast to attack me would.

I'd been pushing forward out of sheer determination to reach the top. I had no confidence of getting down again, but I could finish my mission. The slime rubbed against my leg in a way I took to be worry. It seemed far stronger then when we met, and I was satisfied it would probably survive without me. I'd come to like the little gooball.

In front of me was the altar... thing. I'd forgotten the name, but that didn't matter. I'd made it. I could get a power from it. Even if I died, I could die as something other then the outcast of some crappy little village. I stepped forward and prepared to activate the Altar of Thingy.

...

I had no idea how it worked.

Sssssshhhhiiiiittt. It never occurred to me I had to turn the damn thing on. Do I chant a prayer? Do a dance? I scanned it for any clue of what to do, but nothing. My left arm reminded me about the whole infection thing then by blooming excruciating pain up my shoulder so hard I nearly threw up. I was going to die. I was going to die stood in front of the objective that had driven me for months. I was at the finish. I was past the finish, but I was still going to die here. It was too much, the dejection, the pain, the fear all just welled in my throat and I screamed at the sky, the gods, the everything and slammed my fist into the altar. Then the world disappeared.

Please do not punch the equipment.

Oh. Guess I got it to work.

This is the Realm of Beginnings.

I was in a white void. I couldn't see any walls, and I couldn't feel the ground under my feet. I also couldn't see my feet, or any of me for that matter. It was disconcerting, but at least I couldn't feel my infected arm right now. I couldn't see who was talking, and I wasn't sure I could even hear them. It felt like her words just landed in my mind. I was assuming it was a her.

You have striven long and hard to arrive here. Your ordeals are greater then most who arrive at an altar and your determination is unmatched. Power granted to you by the gods will reflect this.

Too right I'd bloody striven.

Others dismissed and disparaged you for circumstances unreasonable. You have risen above those who would hold you down.

Dismissed and disparaged? The bastard mayor broke my leg two years ago, that was a bit more then 'disparaged'.

I'm talking about the verbal abuse, that leg thing counted as an ordeal.

Oh. Wait, whoever was talking to me could hear this?

Yes.

Oops. Wait, things counted to something? What was going on? Do these powers just get chucked at whoever met invisible criteria? Or was I the only one who didn't know this?

What? No. We don't randomly assign power, it's judged what would you are worthy of and what you will do with it. A nutcase being given the ability to destroy the world would be a bad idea, right?

I could follow that logic. But wouldn't that mean that everyone that had a shitty life would become stupidly powered?

..Not every tormented soul has the capacity to hold such power, most would become corrupted and a greater threat themselves.

Your resiliance and determination grants you ability to wield the element of Darkness.

So, I was going to be evil? I wasn't sure I was up for that.

Just as your mirror of Light is not good, Dark is not evil. It is those who wield power that determine it's alignment.

I didn't buy that. Without the warm light from the sun, people would die in the cold and dark. Gods knew I'd been close to that myself in the past.

And when that sun's light burns the flesh of those trapped within it, the blessed shade of the dark is a miracle.

What about thieves or murderers? they happily skulk about in the dark.

..Uhh, oh, and that same darkness will shelter the weak, and hide them from predators. For the monsters that use the dark for their nefarious ways, there will now be a greater threat they shalt fear. There shalt be the Dark Hero. There shalt be YOU.

..Shalt?

Ok, look, other kids getting to this altar can't hear me, alright? Usually I just say "bam, swordsman" or whatever and it's done. Only heroes can actually hear what I'm saying, and they've never talked back before. I didn't write the script for this, so I'm having to wing it with all these bloody questions.

Woah, sorry about that.

Ugh, whatever. Look, you're going to be the Dark Hero. Each element has one hero and they're like top tier powerhouses. The flipside is you need to be hero-ey. Saving princesses and slaying evil, that sorta thing. Powers come with responsibilities and all that.

Responsibilities? Hopefully they would be written down somewhere.

Naaah nah nah, it's not like that. It's more like you think "what would a hero do here" and then if you do that bam, heroing. You'll get an advisor entity as well, who will have their own idea of what a hero should do, so if you come up against a more complicated problem, you can beat out a solution between you.

This didn't seem the most well thought out method.

Well, the gods came up with this system, but they knew a god hero would have different priorities to a mortal hero, so it's largely up to you. As long as your not slaughtering kingdoms for fun, you shoud be fine.

This sounded like something I'll have to figure out as I go, heroes didn't feature much in my life until now. What was my 'advisor entity' going to be like though?

Give me a sec, I can look that up. It is going to beeee.... Beginning.

WHAT?!?

Ow! Even without ears, shouting that loud hurt. Who's Beginning? What type of name is that anyway?

It's MY type of name! Hey, I can't do this, I'm the altar admin!

What? Why?

Oh. But I couldn't of-

I was getting the feeling I was hearing half a conversation.

You are, give me a bit. Look, my name is Beginning, why can't another altar-

No, I'm not trying to-

Just-

Uggggghh.

Was... she going to be ok?

Yeah.. so, basically, that village of yours? Completely ballsed it up. The point of the pillar was it's supposed to be a trial for the kids. The adults have been doing it for them, and then blaming the gods for their pampered brats getting duff powers. And the one kid to pass the trail in decades they treated like crap. So the altar here is getting closed. That means I'm unemployed, so my new position is as your advisor. Sorry about this.

Wait, so... the worst thing that could happen, worse then what they were terrified I could do; the altar getting destroyed, is happening because of how they treated me? If they had treated me better, this wouldn't of happened?

Yeah.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHAAAAAA

Ow! Too loud!

Sorry, sorry.

Agh, it's whatever, we're running out of time here. There's one last thing, sort of good news and bad news.

What is it?

Well, usually your body will get altered to handle your new power, but even by hero standards, your getting a shedload of power. Your going to need to be altered to the point of... well... you'll be a completely different person. Still your mind, but everything else will be new.

That seemed odd but I supposed it was fine. I wasn't especially attached to my body. It was covered in scars, I had a couple toes missing from the village's tender care, and my growing beard was straggly at best. As long as my new body was alive, I didn't care. what was the good and bad news though?

Well, good news is; it's a total heal! So that nasty infection in your arm's as good as new! You even get those toes your thinking about back! You'll even be well fed, so no worries of starving right away!

That was good news!

Bad news; This is going to be the most excruciating pain you have ever felt in your life.

... Fucking bring it.

FUCKFUCKFUCKAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH.