The last I saw was Taro raising his arms to the scorching sun before I was returned to the snowy forest. The immediate altering of temperatures left me clung to my wolf pelt. The cold sucked out any warmth from the desert and left me to freeze beside my extinguished fire.
At least it’s day now. The Gods can teleport us as we please, lock our menus, change the time of day, have us kill one another, yet they couldn’t have given me a better spawn. With chattering teeth, I took a step down the southern road before the [System] pop-ups spammed me.
Attributes Leveled-Up!
[Strength] — LVL 0 -> LVL 1
[Dexterity] — LVL 0 -> LVL 1
[Endurance] — LVL 0 -> LVL 1
[Crafting] — LVL 0 -> LVL 1
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I could increase my attributes. I thought I was doomed to forever be cautious of death from a single mosquito bite or a chilly breeze, but no more. I was like everyone else… although a little behind.
Skill Leveled-Up!
[Firemaking] — LVL 1 -> LVL 2
Skills Discovered!
[Butchering] Acquired!
[Tailoring] Acquired!
[Cooking] Acquired!
I immediately opened my menus and in the [Overview] page I saw my newfound stats.
Health: 10/10
Stamina: 10/10
Mana: 0/0
Monsters Slain: 1
Players Slain: 0
There must've been a delay when I killed the wolf but why the hell is my [Mana] still at zero? How do I level it up if I can’t even cast a single spell!? I blinked to see other menu screens; my [Inventory] listed the [Direwolf Pelt] I wore.
The sound of crackling electricity echoed behind me and blue arcane particles formed the silhouette of a knight in steel. I kept my hand on my sickle while the knight looked at his hands and surroundings.
“Taro?”
The knight unsheathed his sword and gazed in the reflection of the blade.
A familiar Japanese voice resonated from the helm, “I look good, don’t I?”
I laughed and patted him on the back, “You look great for someone who died!”
“No thanks to you!” Taro sneered.
“I’m sorry Taro, I really am. But hey, I killed the beast and you were rewarded with a second life and some new gear. Not too shabby, huh?” I didn’t know how else to talk to someone once dead, let alone one that was killed by my lack of actions. I wouldn’t have blamed Taro if he decided to drive a spike through me at this instance, but I was thankful he chose not to.
We partied with one another again and continued our journey down the southern path as if nothing happened. While we [Auto-walked], all I could hear was the crunch of snow and the metallic clinging of Taro’s armor. I gazed through my menus but I was most intrigued by my party member’s stats.
Taro Matsuno
Health: 10/10
Stamina: 10/10
Mana: 60/60
Monsters Slain: 0
Players Slain: 1
Fully healed, a level-up in casting spells, and a mark that would forever tell of his killing of Cescov. I prayed the amount of other hybrids I’d have to kill would stay zero throughout my life. The only stat I wanted to stay the same. Killing another was inherently wrong, but to willingly slay a fellow man in a world full of monsters and malicious gods? It made no sense to me. I knew not what I would’ve done if I had been in the colosseum instead of Taro, but it made no difference now.
* * *
89 miles were behind us as the Irsha River lay before us—that was what the [Map] revealed anyway. Taro and I were only a mile away, but the snow fell again and camp had to be made. The river headed westerly to the coast, spilling from the looming mountains of the east. I could see the twinkling starlight that reflected off their glistening snow caps on the horizon.
With my [Firemaking] skill, I was able to produce a spark that kept us warm for the night with ease. My eyes were now keen to pick branches that would burn the slowest, and ones that would make the fire brighter. I imagined Taro was impressed, although it was hard to tell under that steel helm of his. He sat cross-legged with the longsword in his lap; I couldn’t tell if he was asleep or staring into nothingness.
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I was pressed under a tree when I realized how much I missed my bed. It was too hard to count how many times I complained about the full-size mattress in my dorm, but now I yearned for it. Hell, I missed so much of my old life. The food, the bathrooms, the lights, the cars, the cracked sidewalks, and roads full of potholes, I missed all of it. I needed to escape Carrion. But even in my dreams, I was unable to flee.
When I opened my eyes, an ocean of blood under the two moons of Gwelar and Kyular surrounded me. They peered down at me as if they were the Creator’s eyes. I heard trickling beneath my raft of twigs and saw the first body rise. Cescov. The half-dwarf with a broad nose and braided beard treaded the crimson surface. White were his eyes like the moons above. Soulless. More trickling. More bodies. Taro, Alex, Don, Sage, the elves that sat beside me, and all others rose from the depths beneath with fileted flesh and gouged eyes shining a hollow white. They laid still, surrounding my raft. One grabbed hold of my boat. Then another. Then another. Then another. All tried to clamor aboard.
My movements were useless. It felt like I was chained to a mast and waded through water at the same time. I was unable to push away the corpses until they began to sink me, bringing me to the maroon red depths of the abyss. My lungs were filled. My skin was stained. The teeth of a leviathan closed behind me as I drifted into its black lusterless maw.
In the void, I heard a voice. Gentle was her whisper as it entered my ears. It wrapped my body in warmth while I sank deeper into the beast. Her voice was muffled but I carried with me one line she spoke before I awoke. “You will fall, before you rise.”
* * *
Gray was the sky and white was the ground when I rose from my bed of snow. My hands were still stained, but not red as I expected. My green skin tone still felt unnatural, after all, I had my previous tanned skin for 21 years. It became darker in the summer and paler in the winter, but it was mine. This… was not.
Taro washed himself with boiled snow when I got up to relieve myself.
“You should bathe too,” he said sternly.
“Is that a suggestion or an order?” I asked.
“A polite order.”
“Tsk. Whatever you say, elder.”
Gone are the days of warm morning showers, I thought. Without a towel, I hugged the fire in order to dry myself while I hopped from foot to foot in the frosty air. I put on my damp starting clothes and wrapped myself in the direwolf pelt.
My teeth chattered as I put on my boots, “H-happy now?”
Taro nodded and gave a fictitious smile.
Past the pine and down the dirt path, the Irsha River was in view, and the town of Kamahlor stood behind it. I could sense an emotion from Taro for once since his return: a sigh of relief. I couldn’t help but join him in the sigh. We practically skipped along the wooden bridge that hovered over the icy rapids.
The smell of smoke rose from chimneys and fell into our nostrils. We felt warmer already. Orcs stared at us as they swept the powdery snow off their porches. I asked around for a place to stay and they pointed me down to a building called Snowed-Inn on its swinging sign.
“Cute name,” I said.
“Unoriginal,” Taro muttered.
An orange glow flooded beneath the doorframe. We could hear the murmurs and the dull laughter within. But upon opening the door, Taro and I were met with an extinguished candle blown away by winter’s breeze, and deafening silence from hybrid orcs alike.
“More humans?” One whispered.
“Where’d they come from?” Another said.
“Where’d they get that armor?”
One of the half-orcs dropped their mug of ale as they stood from their stool and bellowed to all, “Is that Taro the Mage!?”
The whispers and questions quickened from them all. Doubts, skepticism, and suspicions swept through the air until they asked the knight to perform a spell. Taro grumbled and clenched his fists. He relaxed his grip when the arcane threads of snow formed into an icicle. He launched it into the wooden floor at the base of a skeptic’s feet.
Every patron inside gasped but a cheer soon followed. Tankards that swirled with brown booze were forced into our hands and chairs were cleared for us at the small bar. Surrounded by over a dozen hybrids, we were queried about our origins, our spawns, and our stats.
“All my stats are pretty low,” I wryly chuckled. To these strangers, I didn’t want them to know of my curse. I had no need for idle sympathy or questioning of what the Creator said to me.
“But you slayed a wolf haven’t you? Must’ve leveled somehow!”
Yeah. To level one. “I gained a few skills like [Butchering] and [Tailoring] but not much else. Taro did most of the work with those spells of his!”
It only confirmed to everyone that Taro was this almighty mage that won in the Arena everyone was forced to spectate. Luckily, he enjoyed the attention and the free drink, while I enjoyed the diverted attention. As much as I enjoyed being around others that were stolen from Earth, I wanted to find Don, Alex, and get the fuck out of here. But wood walls, a shingled roof, and a fireplace were hard to escape from when the cold winds rattled the door to the outside.
It was at this time that a true orc walked through the entrance. He towered a foot above all of us, wore an apron under his cloak, and carried a barrel on his shoulder. The crowd cheered and tapped into the oak container.
He gruffed at Taro and I when he first saw us, “There’s more of you?”
“Billions,” Taro said.
“…I’ll need more kegs.”
“You the owner?” I asked.
“Aye. Name’s Borno.”
“What is that? Italian?” I joked. The orc gave me a furrowed brow and continued pouring cups of ale.
“May we stay here for the night?” Taro asked.
Borno sighed and looked around to his other guests. “I have no more beds. You’ll have to share with the others or sleep on the floor.”
The steel-draped mage hummed his thoughts while he looked around, “What of payment?”
Borno widened his eyes and licked the edges of his tusks. “You actually have something to pay with?”
Taro grimaced and shook his head to the dismay of the orc. Borno groaned and rolled his eyes. “None of you have anything to pay with,” he muttered. “I should’ve kicked you all out when the first of your lot started pouring in! I pray with a closed fist to Irokirth that all of you leave with the caravan tomorrow.”
“Caravan?” Taro and I asked in sync.
“Aye. Here to drop off and trade supplies with nearby villages and towns. And you better tell all of how welcoming I was to you lot on your travels!”
“Where will it take us?” I asked.
“Across the entire damn continent of Cosara if you wish. It never stops. An endless cycle of bartering on the road. Sounds exhausting.”
“Will it take us to Hubloc?”
“That’ll probably be the first damn place it goes to after reaching Labellum. It’s the biggest city that I can think of.”
I was hoping you’d say that. It’s the best chance I have to find Don and Alex. Beats staying in this frosted hell anyway. Me, Taro, and the rest of the hybrids slept in the cozy hostel. Snowflakes fell outside the window of a purple twilight while we awaited the caravan that would take us to the capital of the continent.