What was I to do except run? Through knee-deep snow in a body that wasn’t mine. With legs that weren’t mine, with arms unfamiliar to me, with eyes not my own that gazed upon the falling flakes of snow. But my movements were natural, the senses were mine, the mind… was me. The purgatory I was trapped in was the definition of nothing, but this world was my new reality.
I took a breath against a snow-covered pine tree, thoughts of reincarnation, simulations, and mutations infested my head, but none could explain the numbers stuck to the top-left corner of my vision. I couldn’t swipe them gone with my hand or blink them away. I stared at the colored bars and they enlarged to be readable.
Health: 0/0
Stamina: 0/0
Mana: 0/0
“Zero points!?” I said aloud. “If I stay any longer in this fucking cold I’ll freeze to death.” I looked around and saw the tops of the trees lessen to the south. My [Stamina] fluctuated to negative decimals whenever I ran out of breath. I dared not push myself, I felt weak as is and the cold grasp of death pressed its icy fingertips against me.
Through the thickets, I saw the warm orange glow scatter across the dark. A lantern hung outside a wooden shack. I stumbled to the humble hovel and threw myself against the door. My fist met the pine and I could hear rustling inside.
The door swung open and there before me were two monstrous creatures not of this Earth. Ones of tusks and of muted green skin belonging to a fable.
“Shit… you’re orcs,” I said with labored breath.
She stared at me with wide muted red eyes, “You’re a hybrid!” She slammed the door with the sound of a metal latch locking it shut.
A masculine voice echoed beneath the door frame I leaned against. It sounded like bickering inside while I froze to death on the opposite end. The last thing I saw was the door open and a muscular orc pointing a sickle at me. But as my [Health] entered negative, all I could do was fall into the dark nothing.
What a cruel fate it is to have the Creator kill me mere minutes after my rebirth.
* * *
I was the most disoriented I’ve ever been. I knew not if I lived in a dream or entered the purgatorial abyss again. Green skinned monsters loomed over me, whispers of a lady rang in my ear, and numbers filled my vision.
I sat up in a panic. Bound by blankets of fur and placed in front of a fire, the two orcs stared at me. “We’re not going to hurt you,” the lady said.
The man beside her huffed and placed his sickle on a nearby table. “I thought his kind were extinct.”
“But he looks just like us!” she said.
His kind? Look like you? They placed a bowl of some multi-colored slurry in front of me. The flames of the fireplace flickered in the silver spoon that sat the stew. Within the reflection of the utensil, I saw my new self. The unkempt short black hair was mine. The bony jawline was mine. The dimples on the corners of my cheeks were mine. But the tusks were not.
Like a boar, the canines protruded from my bottom lip. It was unnatural that they didn’t feel unnatural. They were ivory white and came to a sharp point, enough to draw blood if I pressed my finger hard enough. My flesh was ever the same but a drab green crept under my sun-touched skin.
“I’ve heard rumors of others seeing them near Kamahlor. But I suppose they’re tall tales no longer,” the man said.
“Where am I? Am I still on Earth?” I said.
The orc furrowed his great bushy eyebrows. “Earth? You’re on wood flooring right now. Not soil.”
I rubbed my temples while I tried desperately to remain calm. “No, not the ground. I mean the planet.”
“Our planet?” the wife said. “You’re in the realm of Carrion, if that’s what you mean.”
I could see her arms were as big as her presumed husband’s when she ripped peppers off the vines that strung from the rafters. These ‘monsters’ I saw were no different than humans back home. Scary were their size, tusks, and skin, but now I was no different from them. A stranger of this world, like myself, could judge them no longer.
“Which moon did you fall from? Kyular or Gwelar?” The husband said with a puff of air from his tusks.
“Knock it off, dear. He’s had a long day and should rest,” the lady said.
My life had changed. Carmine was left back on Earth while I, a half-orc, sat amidst an orc couple and ate their stew. With each bite the [Stamina] and [Health] bars in the top left of my eyes raised above the zero I saw before.
But as I sat in the comforts of the home, the stew wore off, and my status bars returned to their original state. Within the confines of coziness and my own mind, I soon fell into slumber.
I was back home. The summer sun shone upon my face as I floated in a backyard pool. Green trees swayed above that flickered shadows down upon me. But as I gazed up high, the sky turned red and the sun turned black. Water from the pool evaporated into a gray smog. The leaves above wilted and the wretched branches contorted around my neck and limbs. My home disintegrated before me as I was held in an endless field of salt and sand. Incessant dings and the Creator’s laughter resonated in my nightmare.
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“Your [System] is ready, Karnyn. May you enjoy the wonders of your new home.”
I jolted awake. I prayed to any Earthly deity that would hear my wishes to escape this fantastical realm, but none responded. The sun’s morning rays glistened through the foggy windows. But as I stood to admire it, blue holographic screens blinded me.
[SYSTEM ACTIVE: WELCOME KARNYN]
It then swiped to the [Overview] menu screen and listed all of my attribute levels.
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Endurance: 0
Spellcasting: 0
Crafting: 0
I scoffed aloud. All zero. Of course. Everyone else at least got one in everything, but not me! With a focused eye on each of the attributes, a basic explanation appeared beneath. They were all self-explanatory: [Strength] increased power, [Dexterity] tied with coordination, [Endurance] paired with my [Health] and [Stamina], [Spellcasting] increased arcane power and [Mana], and [Crafting]… well… increased my ability to create items.
I didn’t know how I could increase these attributes or if I could, all I knew was that I was cheated. My orc bloodline didn’t give me any benefits to [Strength]. As well as the fact I was unable to distribute any points into the attributes at the start like others did before me.
More tabs were next to the [Overview] section. As expected, [Inventory] had only the new clothes I appeared in. My shirt was a rough maroon tunic while my pants were of brown linen. It was at this time that I checked my pockets and realized my phone and wallet were missing. Guess I’m not making it in time for the movie.
The [Skills] section was completely blank, unsurprising given my lack of attributes. Although I was surprised to see the [Map] being functional, it was the only useful thing the [System] menus had to offer so far. It was a small map of the surrounding topography and the village I was currently in. Labellum was small, but it showed a road south. The last menu listed my [Party Members]. The menu that shocked me most of all.
My smile grew from ear to ear as I saw two familiar names: [Elixir] and [Don]. That dork Alex just couldn’t help himself and decided to choose the same name as his online persona. Both of their locations were unknown, as well as their statuses, but I was thankful to know I wasn’t alone in this hell.
Soon after, the orc couple opened the door. The lady of the house held a basket while the husband held a sickle at his side. “You okay?” she asked, bewildered at my jolly expression.
I nodded and the brawny male orc cut to the chase. “We’ve spoken to the elders and they’ve decided that you cannot stay here any longer. We’ve prepared supplies for your journey.”
“Where will I go?” I asked.
“Anywhere but here,” he muttered.
The lady perked a smile and shrugged, “Following the road south will be most fortunate to you! We’ve heard rumors of others similar to you in other towns, so perhaps it’d be best if you joined them!”
It was like I was talking to my parents when they kicked me out of the house for college. The sour sting of rejection was there, but they were right.
“But this is for you! Should last you a few days if you savor it,” she said, handing me the basket. The man gave me his sickle and warned me of vague ‘creatures of the night’ but I was thankful nonetheless.
With clear blue sky above and the powdery white snow below me, I heard the metal latch of the door lock behind me, and made my way onward. To say I wasn’t excited for the journey to meet up with Alex and Don again was an understatement. However, the looming fear of a world completely unknown to me drove a nail into my stomach.
I knew not what lurked in the dark. If dragons ruled the skies. Or if highwaymen would have ambushed me on the road forward. All I knew was that it was morning, and I had to keep walking to the next town over. My map didn’t show of any civilization yet, only the mountains to the east and the river that flowed from it. But I pressed onward.
* * *
It was late into the afternoon before I noticed the [Auto-walk] ability had appeared beside my [Stamina] bar. As I focused upon it with my retina, my legs seemingly moved forward on their own down the path. Like cruise control in a car, I was free to not exert myself as much, and instead, focus on my menus or the view in front of me. When I closed my eyes, time seemed to have gone by faster, as if I was in a daze or daydream.
My eyes later opened to the purple twilight. Evening called. The time to find shelter or a tree to nestle under was paramount. The cold was tortuous in my light clothing, but the night made it deadly. I didn’t know how to make a fire besides slamming stones together, so that’s what I did.
The hardest part of bashing rocks together was finding the damn rocks in the first place. I shoveled snow with my hands until they turned a bright gray, desperate for pebbles. Although I couldn’t find anything below the cold, I cried with gratitude when I saw the cairns along the road.
Slabs of rough stone marked the edges of the path. I toppled the delicately placed rocks and carried the biggest one to a dry spot under a tree. Luckily, in these pine-covered forests, I was able to find pinecones, bark, and enough twigs for kindling and fuel. The pile was set and my sickle was ready.
The orc that gifted me the tool and the smith who created it would have wept if they saw what I was doing to their precious craft. I scraped the blade across the stone repeatedly in hopes of a spark. The blade dulled. My frail arms turned weak. The dark rose. The cold intensified.
In the final struggles of the night, my [Stamina] dipped lower and lower into negative decimals with each swing. In my final slash, a thin trail of smoke streamed. An ember glowed. Out of shock and of breath, I almost let it fade away with the wind. I scooped up the nest of kindling and gingerly blew on it and cradled it in my palms.
Come on. Come on. Come on! “Come on!” I shouted through chattering teeth. The faint wisps of smoke blew above. The fire roared. Engulfing my hand in fire, I was more afraid that I’d fall unconscious again and burn alive in a sea of snow. I dropped it in the pile of sticks I gathered and gazed upon its bright beauty.
I was able to survive the night alone, without the need of a ferro rod, bow drill, or lighter. All I had to do was lean my back against the bark, make sure the flame didn’t fall too far, and wait for the sun to rise.
The moon appeared above me through the branches of pine. “Silver and dusty as the one back home,” I muttered.
Its craters and patterns were different, but the size remained the same. Whether this was ‘Gwelar’ or ‘Kyular’ that the orc mentioned, I had no clue. In the black void of the night sky I couldn’t see another satellite. I assumed it had a different orbit but it could have been a story that was part of some orc-like mythos. I knew not. I cared not. The orange warmth beside me was all I needed.
In my restful state, my eyes shut gracefully and my dreams began to take over. But before I was able to envision an imaginative thought, my mind resonated with a shrilling Ding!