I thought Kendrick would be grateful that I’d just saved his life but instead, he soaked the hand I had covering his mouth with an overmoist tongue. I would have screamed and smacked the puddle he left there across his face if it wouldn’t draw the Croc's attention. Of course, it would, so all I could do was wrap my free hand around his throat and squeeze.

Sasye must have objected to my rough treatment of her Master. Moments after my fingers dug into Kendrick's stubbled skin her needle-like teeth sunk deep into my ankle.

It hurt but not as much as a bite from Stella would have. The pain level wasn’t reflected by the severe drop in my health bar. The thing was almost at the point that it would start flashing. A single bite was enough to almost kill me. What the hell?

I let my hands drop and backed away, not sure what else to do.

Kendrick was beaming like a kid who had just been told they could buy all the candy they wanted. “What was all that about, Jackroller? Were you afraid for little old me?”

The Croc roared and lifted its clawed arms, charging toward us with thumping footsteps that shook the ground.

“Kendrick, we have to move!” I bellowed.

“Oh, you sweet summer child,” Kendrick said with a simple shake of his head. “You still don’t understand who I am do you?”

The Croc was almost upon us. I drew my sword, holding it with both my hands in a futile attempt to stop my body from shaking. When Nora found out I’d gone off on my own and gotten myself killed again she was going to come visit me in the underworld just to kill me herself. Why was I more scared of that than the Croc barrelling down on me?

Kendrick lifted a hand, his eyes locked on me, and snapped his fingers. Sasye spun in the place where she stood and trotted off toward the Croc as if she were going for nothing more than a simple afternoon stroll.

The Croc lunged at the tiny orange creature only to be thrown backward with an enormous and perfectly round hole burning through the center of its chest. With the sudden appearance of the gapping hole came a boom like thunder. I marveled as the red health bar floating above its head dropped to empty without so much as pausing in the zone where it would flash a warning.

Sasye landed lightly on the other side of the monster, delicately prancing aside as the beast crashed to the ground and began to glow. The small fox's fur had been stained blue by the Croc’s blood giving her a eerie appearance that had my throat clamping up.

Kendrick didn’t so much as turn to watch the brutal and sudden death of the King Toilet Croc. He stood there staring at me, the grotesque grin on his face only growing as he saw the horror envelope mine.

Sasye came back to sit beside Kendrick. I stumbled away from her, almost bumping into the NPC still standing behind his chest.

“Happy thieving,” the black-clad NPC said.

I ignored the pretend human. My mind bounced around as it desperately tried to find a way to escape being trapped in the alleyway.

“What’s the matter, Joe?” Kendrick asked taking a step toward me.

I Blinked and stepped into the slowed-down world that I prayed would be my salvation. I ran, pressing against the wall as hard as I could to avoid Kendrick’s sluggish lifted arm. Sasye’s eyes flashed as she moved, uninhibited by my skill. She moved with a speed I couldn’t match, blocking my path and staring at me with a look that almost made me wet my dacks.

I stopped my forward rush. Blue drops of half-congealed blood dropped from Sasye’s coat, splattering by her small feet.

“What do you want?” I asked the fox as the world around us returned to normal leaving Kendrick to turn himself back around to face me.

“Naughty, naughty,” Kendrick said. “Running away from your friends is not nice.”

I flicked my sword between the two of them, unsure who I was most scared of. “Who are you really?”

Kendrick’s smile faltered and vanished as his suspiciously manicured brows dropped over his eyes. “I’m Master Kendrick, sweetheart. Who do you think I am?”

“No. You are not a player. You’ve always been different. Who are you?” I shifted the tip of my blade to Kendrick’s fox friend. “And who is she?”

Kendrick’s relaxed pose changed into something more guarded. His eyes left mine for a moment, shifting up and to the left. “I can’t tell you that.”

I didn’t know whether to be angry or scared that it sounded like he was telling the truth. “Why not?”

Kendrick walked around me and picked up his friend, holding her close to his chest. The blood-soaked into her coat smeared across the exquisite gold embellished leather armor he was wearing.

“Look, Joe,” he said in a voice that sounded nothing like his own. “You’re just going to have to trust me, alright? I like you. More than I’ve liked anyone in hundreds of years. But that means nothing to them. This whole world means nothing to them.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Sasye let out an angry growl and sunk her teeth into Kendrick's hand. The man’s eyes squeezed shut as he flinched. My eyes shot up to look at Kendrick’s health bar but all it did was make me swallow hard and stare.

Where Sasye’s bite had almost killed me all it did to Kendrick was take a chunk smaller than the width of my pinky finger. If I ever needed a reminder that he was different, this was it.

“Look,” Kendrick said. “I think it’s time I left. Keep doing what you’re doing. Complete as many quests as you can, as fast as you can. Do you understand me?”

“Kendrick, this isn’t…”

Sasye turned her head toward me and yipped, the sound of it enough to drop me to my knees. My sword clattered over the ground as I clamped my hands over my ears, pressing so hard my head started to ache. The daylight burned my eyes, even when I pressed them shut, leaving behind flashing spots on the back of my eyelids.

The pain took a long time to dissipate but when it did I found myself alone in the alleyway.

“Happy thieving,” the NPC said.

Okay, so I wasn’t completely alone. I just might as well have been.

I clambered to my feet, eyeing the giant pile of bones that had once been a King Toilet Croc. Kendrick, in his haste to run away from me, hadn’t bothered to loot the beast. Yay for me, I guess?

I waltzed over to it, keeping an eye out for any other evil little monsters that wanted to tear me to shreds. I looted the Croc, enjoying the collection of goodies even though my mind had been morphed into a deflated balloon where a halfway decent brain had once been.

New Item Received: Gall bladder of a King Toilet Croc

Description: What does a gall bladder even do? If it helps, this one is royal. That’s got to be good, right?

New Item Received: Vial of Royal Croc Blood

Description: A vial of the bluest blood known to Croc kind. Useful in crafting potions. Gives an instant boost to the potency of all potions crafted using it as the main ingredient.

New Item Received: Golden Crown of a King Croc

Description: Feel like rubbing elbows with the gentry? Well, nothing will get you closer than donning this finely crafted crown of gold and jewels. Plonk in on your head and walk with your head held high as the peasanty bows in reverence.

Please note: The crown has no mystical effects. If you want to truly become royalty you will need to back your claim with good breeding and a mountain of gold.

5,000 gold received!

Quest updated: The Witch of Evermore

Description: The witch is brewing a powerful potion, one that’s sure to knock the beastly Crocs on their ass. Collect the following items to get a taste of the sweet, sweet elixir. 10/1 Vampire Bat Wing. 2/1 Gall bladder of a King Toilet Croc. 0/1 Venom of the Nightstalker Rattler. Happy hunting.

The sheer amount of notifications made my head spin. It wasn’t enough though. I would have liked another level or two from killing the monster. Too bad all that experience went to Sasye, leaving none to share around.

I should have been doing precisely what Kendrick had said and rushing off to complete the quests the strange black-clad man behind me had doled out. There was somewhere else I needed to be though. Before I could get there, I needed to collect something important.

I weaved through the streets at speed, using my Blindsense to avoid any fights or unneeded encounters. There was no time for that. There was no time for anything. I shouldn’t have let it get this far but I was stubborn and angry. It’s not much of an excuse but it is what it is. I couldn’t change it, all I could do was try to fix it.

The street outside the tavern was crowded by Elemental Wallabies like the universe had decided to fuck with me one more time. Like it hadn’t done that enough up until this point.

I Blinked to get into the middle of the pack before slamming my sword into the ground and sending the startled wallabies flying. The shock wave was intense even for me, draining everything I had just to fuel it.

I ran the moment my Shadow Pulse exploded, unable to Blink across the distance with my resources so low. The wallabies didn’t take long to reorientate themselves. A ball of fire seared my ass as I flew through the doors of the tavern. Phlegm bellowed and leaped over the bar, throwing a bucket of ice-cold water over me to douse the hungry flames.

“Thank you,” I managed as I continued to move, taking the stairs two at a time.

“What the hell?” Phlegm cried.

I didn’t have the time to answer him. I shoved open the first door in the hall and charged inside, skidding to a halt on the hardwood floor.

Nora was strewn over the bed in a position that didn’t look in any way comfortable. Stella snarled and snapped, showing every one of her pointed teeth as she leaped to her feet.

“Stella, it’s me,” I shouted, throwing up my arms to defend myself.

Stella hit me hard anyway, sending me crashing to the ground. My head bounced off the floor as she painted my face, her tail wagging with excited fury.

“Yuck, get off me. Come on girl, we have stuff to do.”

“If the pair of you don’t shut up you’ll taste the bite of my axe,” Nora mumbled from the bed.

I shoved Stella gently away from me and climbed to my feet, rubbing at the large bump forming on the back of my head. “Get up, we have to go.”

“Piss off.”

I ran to the bed and started shaking her. “I’m serious, wake up.”

The window creaked as it opened behind her. My hand was on my sword before I’d even lifted my eyes. The little orange fox standing there glared at me before dropping the broken bolt onto Nora's bedspread. The creature yipped and then vanished, almost like it had never been there.

I would have thanked Captain Fluffers if I wasn’t panicking over the present he’d left behind. My body was shaking as I reached for it, rolling the splintered shaft between my fingers. The day was cool but my body was burning with intense heat that couldn’t be explained by being lit on fire only a minute before. The realization had come to me too late, that was clear now.

I grabbed Nora and yanked her to her feet, ignoring the string of curses she spouted at me.

“Stop your bitching and move your ass,” I bellowed. “Gabby’s in trouble.”

Nora's face turned from splotchy and red to sickly pale in the space of a few seconds. She ducked down and snatched her axe from beside the bed before hightailing it out the door with me and Stella on her heels.