Inside the cave, the rays of the sun entered from outside. With a slow chilly breeze, the rays of the sun hit Mrit’s face, eventually waking him up.
“It’s morning, huh? Yawnn!”
Getting up, he found Totopa lying on his back beside him, snoring like an old man.
“Get up, little guy. It’s morning already.”
Mrit looked at the bare belly of Totopa and poked it and rubbed it with his finger.
Hearing him, Totopa who was lying also got up while rubbing his big eyes.
If this scene were to be uploaded on the internet, it would have gained millions of views but let’s just forget about technology when we do not have a bed to sleep in.
Both got up and did their respective morning routine before sitting near the bone fire created by Totopa. With that, Mrit planned his next steps while sipping the herbal tea he made from the herbs he found around.
Slurrp!
“For now, I don’t know about where I am or which part I am in of this forest. With things as of right now, I have to make this cave our camp while I gather resources. I have to make some weapons, too.”
“Who knows, a monster might pop out when I will be sleeping.”
Although he has a little creature that can use magic, he still thought of making weapons for self defense.
After deciding things, he got up with Totopa on his shoulder as he again starts to rummage through the forest gathering various resources, fortifying his camp and so, 15 days passed by.
***
Inside the cave, Mrit sat and looked at a bowl full of water.
“The beard has grown too much. Same with the hair. Is this the effect of the herbal tea?”
For fifteen days, his hair and beard grew rapidly and now our Mrit has become a caveman, ready to start his survival channel in other world.
“Oh, shut up author.”
M-Moving on, within these fifteen days, he collected various fruits, minerals, and stuff. He also created a clay stove and some utensils using clay he found near a river. One utensil he is now using as a mirror by filling up with water.
While at that, he also created some weapons ranging from a bow, spear, dagger, axe, and some small projectiles with wood and stones.
“Well, now I will be able to hunt some animals or monsters, if I can find any.”
For 15 days, he didn’t encounter any creature or monster, not even a small animal like Totopa. Suspicious, he decided to move further from here.
“Now, for the next step, I have to leave this cave. Even though these 15 days passed rapidly, I cannot thank this cave enough to shelter me.”
For 15 days, he lived here, made many things, ate, and slept here in this cave. His life, which was so hectic, now felt peaceful. But his primary motive didn’t let him think so.
“To have my revenge against that goddess and those heroes, I have to leave. I couldn’t get to know the geography of this world from the priest of silver hero, so I have to get to a town or any place where there are people to know more about this world.”
When he was in the castle, both the silver hero and the priest never let him go outside of the castle. When he asked, they said.
“For now, the goddess hasn’t blessed you yet. So many might think of you as a criminal or a heretic if you got found out.”
“And for the second, your status window is locked as of right now. To not have yourself got harmed, we advise you to stay here.”
And with this reasoning, he spent his whole day there without going out of the castle or, more like the priest and king trapped him in the castle.
With that said, Mrit then prepared to leave as he packed every essential he can and removed the evidence of him staying there.
Leaving the cave, he for the last time looked at the cave and then moved on without looking back again.
***
On the way, he didn’t encounter any hostile creatures.
Slashing through the forest, he found many things as he collected them and moved on, and eventually, the sun disappeared and now it’s evening.
“Another day ended with no results. For now, I should set up a camp here.”
Many days passed by, doing the same thing again and again until, one day, he came across a gigantic cave.
“What the hell is that?”
In front of him, some meters across, a huge cave was there.
Its entrance, wide open, felt like the doors to something unknown, trying to call Mrit inside of it. Mrit from afar can tell that inside it was something that he cannot handle, yet the desire to explore and discover the secret there made his heart race.
“I have to go there. If my instincts are telling me not to go there, then it might have something that can make me powerful.”
For an average onlooker, it might seem absurd to go to an unknown place with equipment that of the stone age, but for Mrit who has faced death, it is a moment of excitement.
Having lost the emotion called fear long ago, his heart now strived to achieve his goal, and now his goal is to go inside that cave. With that, he then looked at Totopa on his shoulders.
“Totopa, I will go inside that cave. Do you want to come with me?”
When he was alone with his army of death, he never cared for his army, for he had limitless power to resurrect even the shredded meat into his minion.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
But now he has someone alive by his side, and he doesn’t want to have life get lost because of him. So he feared it was time for them to break apart.
“Topa? Topa!! Topa!!”
But contrary to his expectations, his little partner agreed with the same excitement as him. Nodding with excitement, Totopa climbed on Mrit’s head, looking forward to the cave.
“This little guy... So be it. Stick close to me and watch my back for me, okay?”
“Topaaa!!”
And so, both of them were prepared and ready to walk inside the cave with confidence and excitement, looking forward to the treasures this cave holds.
***
“It’s dark.”
Entering the cave, the darkness inside there welcomed him.
Clink!!..... Clink!!
Striking the stone tools of his, he created a fire torch and so the problem of darkness got resolved.
“Are you okay, Totopa?”
“Topa!!”
Hearing Totopa’s voice, Mrit then continued to move forward.
“It’s just like a normal cave. Wonder where the end of the cave is.”
In front of him was a long way from the cave with uneven road and obstacles, but passing them and walking some distance, he noticed that the road ahead got better. The walls also looked like the work of a human as the structure of the wall changed drastically with weird paintings and carving on them.
“Was this cave home of someone? The way the walls were designed with pillars supporting the roof felt like it was some sort of palace.”
The pillars and walls also had unknown carvings and weird inscriptions on them.
“And what’s with these carvings?”
On the wall, various carvings and weird letters were inscribed. Some were not visible, some were damaged, and some were barely visible.
“Is this the language of this planet? But where have I seen them?”
The inscriptions somewhat felt familiar to Mrit. Winding back into his memory, he tried to look for anything similar, but unfortunately, nothing came to his mind.
Not knowing the meaning of the carvings and inscriptions, Mrit left as he again walked further down the road. Further ahead, the road ended with a huge door of gold, full of carvings standing at the end.
“Woah... is that all gold?”
The door, even though covered in dirt, sparkled brightly. Coming near it, Mrit blew the dust away and again analyzed the carvings on the door when suddenly he noticed something.
“Is that a sun? And is that....”
In the middle of the door, there was a huge carving of the sun with its rays spreading everywhere. Following its rays, there were carvings of people that were basked in its rays, kneeling, praying to it.
“... Is this some kind of temple? ... A temple related to the sun?”
After thoroughly analyzing and checking the door, Mrit couldn’t understand more from the carvings.
Finally, he placed his palm on the door to open it. Upon him placing his hand, the door shook a little and then the carving of the sun suddenly glowed brightly, blinding both Mrit and Totopa.
The rays illuminated the whole cave, leaving every corner shadowless.
After a while, the light dissipated and the door slowly opened, following which Mrit entered inside cautiously.
Inside was a vast chamber, empty, with only one thing in the center. With heavy and careful steps, Mrit reached the center of the room. There, Mrit found a sarcophagus of stone, again with unknown inscriptions and carvings on it.
“Someone’s resting here, huh? Let’s not rest the dead.”
Mrit looked at the sarcophagus and passed by it quietly as he did not want to disturb the dead and partly because he was now fed up with carvings and inscriptions.
Straight on the way from the sarcophagus, he found another wall with multiple inscriptions on it.
“Who the hell made this cave? Fuck, I can’t understand even a single thing except that this place is related to the sun.”
Reluctantly, he tried to the wall to touch the inscriptions, hoping for the same reactions that had happened on the door.
As he just stepped near the wall, the carvings glowed like the sun. The rays focus on Mrit only, as the intense heat was focused onhim. It was like being in front of a magnifying glass, but shockingly, the heat never burned him.
It felt like a warm embrace, like sleeping under the sun in cool weather. Slowly, the rays focused on Mrit’s right hand and took a form, and then the inscriptions stopped glowing.
“What the...”
Left behind on his right hand was a stigma. The leftover rays quickly subsided over the skin, forming a symbol of the sun. Just then, a window he was so familiar with appeared in front of him for the first time in this world.
[Congratulations!
You have been blessed by the Sun.]
[You have gained the stigma of the sun.]
[You have gained access to the status window.]
[You have gained the authority of the sun.]
An aura, bright golden, enveloped him as the surging power of the sun then came out of the stigmata. But before he could even rejoice, something else happened within Mrit.
“Gahhh!!!”
An unimaginable amount of pain came over him as a dark aura slowly rose from his chest and covered the aura of the sun. He then fell, gripping his chest tightly while writing in intense pain when other windows appeared before him.
[Warning!!]
[The power of death within you is opposing the blessing of the sun.]
[Warning!!]
[The power of death is trying to absorb the blessing of the sun.]
[Warning!!]
[The blessing of the sun is fighting against the power of death.]
[Warning!!]
[Your present body cannot handle the collision between the mighty powers. Revert to the body of death to wipe out the blessing of the sun.]
[Do you want to revert back to the body of death?]
“...Hahaha...haha...do you take me for a fool? Never!! I will never go back to being in that body.”
Although writhing in pain, Mrit still gathered energy to look at the absurd proposal of the system in front of his eyes. After killing millions and sacrificing his home planet, he cannot go back to being death again.
Kneeling and vomiting blood, he endured the pain caused by the collision of the great power when he heard a creaking sound.
Looking up, he looked at where the sound came from with an absurd face.
“...Shit!!”
***
“Grrr..!!”
From the sarcophagus, a Draugr woke up, and he came out, sliding the stone above him. Clad in rusted armor, the draugr stood tall with a huge rusted great sword resting on his shoulder. His eyes, empty, glowed red and looked at the one who forced him to wake.
Far from him, Mrit kneeled in a not-so-good state with a black and gold aura colliding around him and a small creature frantically running around him.
“Grrr??”
Confused by the situation, the draugr approached them while his approach made Mrit’s soul almost accept the proposal of death.
Worried by the undead’s approach, Mrit, out of habit, tried to use the power of death, his long-time partner. He stretched his left arm, with the power of death focused on his palm, shooting towards the draugr.
The draugr, sensing the energy coming at him, held his sword straight and slashed with great force, forcing the energy of death to dissipate on the spot.
“...What?!”
Shocked, Mrit looked at the absurdness of the draugr’s power, who just erased his power of death with a slash, just when the system appeared in front of his eyes.
[Warning!!]
[You cannot control the undead in the weakened form. Revert back to the body of death to use the full power of death!!]
“Damn it. I will use the power of the sun then.”
Sensing the emotions of Mrit, the stigma upon his hand glowed brightly as it overcame the power of death. The black aura of death returned to his chest and vanished. The aura of the sun then took the shape of a breastplate, wrapping around Mrit’s chest.
“It can do this?”
Before he can even check or get excited about the breastplate, the draugr came, running like a bull slashing his gigantic sword everywhere. Dodging just in time, Mrit backed up further from the draugr.
Then, a bright system appeared in Mrit’s view.
[You can use the aura to manifest the part of the sun’s sword.]
“But how?”
[Focus the sun’s aura around your palm. You will be able to manifest it.]
With the guidance of the system, Mrit followed to focusing the energy around his palm. The aura then gathered around as it stretched, taking the shape of a sword that was rather familiar to Mrit.
Upon its full manifestation, the sword of aura looked like the sword that he broke back in his planet in his last moments.
“Sword... of salvation?”
***