Time: 25 seconds
Even after the rest of his Constitution erased itself from his vision, Time remained, its number steadily ticking down. 24 seconds, 23 seconds.
Kill or die it said. An unambiguous instruction that made his purpose here in Eldaviir known with immediate clarity.
20. 19.
The bunny rabbit ventured closer. It reared up on its hind legs, front paws dangling before its fluffy white chest, gray ears erect and angled forward.
15 seconds. 14.
Joren’s hand moved to his waist in a slow and steady motion, but found that his sword was not there. With a nauseating wave of panic he recalled having buried it in the belly of his last kill back in Isandros. Instead of retrieving it, he collapsed, succumbing to his own wounds.
8 seconds. 7 seconds.
Joren knelt down and reached a hand towards the docile creature. Its nose shifted side to side as if in thought, as though all its judgments took place inside the small, pink snout at the end of its face.
Joren’s heart lurched as the rabbit took three brazen hops in his direction.
4 seconds. 3 seconds.
The rodent’s eyes closed when Joren pressed his knuckle gingerly to its snout, stroked gently to its ears. With a swift motion, Joren seized the tiny body in his hands, twisted its neck until the hind legs gave up their protest and dangled limply. He was vaguely aware of a set of numbers accompanying this brutal act, one quantifying the damage inflicted by his hands, the other denoting the Blood from the bunny lost as a result. But he paid these no attention, overcome by the rush of survival.
Time awarded: 5 minutes
Kills: 1
4 remaining to reach Level 1
Exp gained: 1 Mind
New Mind total: 31
Each of these notifications faded from his sight, save the clock whose numbers continuously counted down at the bottom of his vision.
4 minutes 57 seconds
Five minutes to live. Five minutes to kill. He had never before in his life — in his previous life given much consideration to the small measures of time. Seconds mattered in battle, but his perception of them came through the distortion of adrenaline. Now, forced to watch each second pass into the graveyard of history, Joren’s experience of time was anchored to a clock.
4 minutes 43 seconds
No matter where he looked, he still saw it. Into the depths of the dense wood, where ferns blanketed the floor between mighty boles. Towards the canopy where a lively society of birds congregated. Always the reminder.
4 minutes 31 seconds
A distant clopping of hooves, too rhythmic for wild animals. Joren stole across the forest until he discovered a dirt road winding through it. Hiding himself behind a tree, he watched an approaching carriage. The driver seated on the bench was an old man in ragged clothing. As he steered the horse around a bend in the road, Joren cautiously peered through the window of the carriage to spy its occupants. Two women, one older and one younger, presumably the driver’s wife and daughter. Chests stacked up on the rear of the carriage. They were moving, he surmised. From where and to what destination were unknown, but the journey from one to the other had placed them in his path.
A rabbit was five minutes.
How much time for an old man and his family?
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Joren’s gut roiled with shame at having even entertained the thought. He threw his back against the tree as the carriage trundled past, waiting for the family to pass out of sight before he moved again.
He would just have to find another animal, a deer, perhaps. The forest-dwelling animals appeared trusting enough, he could lure one so long as he kept his posture nonthreatening.
2 minutes 47 seconds
But there simply wasn’t enough time.
He looked back at the carriage, now receding into the woods. How would he even kill the old man? Bludgeon him to death? What even was the quantified efficacy of his fist—
Unarmed blunt force attacks are informed by Body and expend Sinews, which naturally replenish. Effective strikes in quick succession will reduce target’s Blood. Efficacy determined by the difference between your Body and Mind and that of your target.
Joren reviewed this information as it scrolled over his eyes. By the time it finished, the carriage had pulled out of sight. From around the bend, the cries of its occupants reached back, clipped short by presumed violence.
Rushing through the forest, Joren came upon the gruesome scene. The mother’s body lay half-out of the carriage, lifeless arms resting in the dirt of the road. The daughter’s headless corpse fared a little better before she met her fate, managing to flee halfway across the road before a sword lopped off her dome.
The father, groaning his last breaths, dragged his belly through the dirt to reach his dead wife. As he extended his arm out towards her, a bedraggled bandit plunged his blade into the center of the old man’s back. The arm collapsed.
A second bandit, as unkempt as the first, rounded the horse and alerted his partner of Joren’s presence. They wore unwashed clothing, their hair had clumped into a gnarly mass at the back of their heads, and their swords looked chipped and uncared for. More importantly, they were stringy, no contest for Joren’s brawn. If he could relieve the first attacker of his sword, he would dispatch the both of them with ease.
1 minute 12 seconds
Nevermind waiting, he thought, and charged. The nearest bandit swung his blade through the air, but with so little skill Joren might have laughed had he the time to do so. Instead, he dipped beneath the sweep, then landed a right hook against the bandit’s ear. The bandit fell, the sword tumbling from his grasp.
Opponent Sprawled
Joren grinned, pleased with the ease of this battle.
But then a powerful blast struck his back that sent him careening to the ground.
Sprawled by Opponent
The twinkling remnants of magic glinted in the air, blinking out of existence like sparks. He turned and saw the second bandit with his hands raised, prepping a second attack. A mage?
Joren’s bewilderment gave rise to a set of numbers attending the bandit.
Target: Bandit
Blood: 2/3 Cups
Muscle: 1/1 Sinews
Soul: 1/2 Motes
Spirit: 25
Body: 8
Mind: 11
He had him on Body and Mind, but was at a clear disadvantage when it came to magic. Joren gathered his wits and rolled away from the bandit’s second attack, which struck the ground and left a violet streak across the road. Snatching the sword from the mage bandit’s still-sprawled companion, he sprinted the distance and plunged the blade into the spell-caster’s abdomen.
Target Blood Loss 1 Cup
Joren noticed the sudden presence of his Strength within his field of vision, informing him that he had 2 Sinews remaining. He withdrew the blade and expended another Sinew to stab the bandit through the chest, parting him his final Cup of Blood.
Opponent Felled
Time awarded: 4 days
Total Kills: 2
3 remaining to reach Level 1
Exp gained: 5 Body, 2 Mind
New Body total: 47
New Mind total: 31
Joren plucked the sword from the bandit’s chest, adding another corpse to the road. As he returned to the remaining foe, now scrambling back to his feet, he saw that a Sinew replenished. He drew a deep breath and used both to hack the bandit, bringing the sword down upon his target’s shoulder with such force that it nearly reached the navel.
Target Blood Loss 2 Cups
Opponent Felled
Time awarded: 1 day
Total Kills: 3
2 remaining to reach Level 1
Exp gained: 1 Body
New Body total: 48
Joren pressed his heel against the body to rip the blade from its gore. “Guess you weren’t as valuable as your friend,” he said.
The numbers faded again, but his Time occupied the bottom of his vision, an implacable stain.
4 days 23 hours 59 minutes 37 seconds
Breathing room. The better part of a week to gain his footing in Eldaviir. Where to start?
He looked over at the carriage, then down at the poor souls who would no longer require it. That’s a start. He moseyed over towards the carriage to inspect what he’d just acquired.