PAL.ADIN

9

The fire crackles, imbuing the room with holy light.

It was a peaceful night- no ambushes, no traps. The house was safe, for now.

It had been a few hours, but the sun showed no sign of rising.

I pulled out the book. The book given to me by the Guildmaster- I was thinking of it the whole night. I knew little about this world, but.. there's probably something in here I can learn. All I have to do is just not read about anyone.

I turn the page. I hear her voice. The Storyteller- her voice was alluring, irresistable. A siren's lure? Nothing, compared to this.

I manage to touch my left eye- it's regrown. Fully working, but I can tell I've still been looking into the future too much. One more 'spell', and it might burst. It'll be useful if I truly.. want to continue reading this.

It's hard to stop focusing on the book, her voice filling my mind with her eldritch charms, only barely can my will resist it. I shut my right eye, putting the book into the far edge of my left eye's field of view, the sound of her voice growing quieter as I move it..

Why does this always happen to me? Every time I want to do something, it always end up with me blowing up my eye or going insane.. usually both. But, I must learn somehow.

I start reading. The pages flip and turn- to exactly where I want. It's reading my mind, in a way. How horrifyingly interesting, to read the mind at any point in time, for information usually held so secretive.

My mind is drawn to the book, once more.

"O.. Orks, no longer a true race. Their bloodlust has drawn them to the chase of immortality to continue the butchering of man, their wish was granted. They became a race of somewhat magical origin, only able to reproduce through curses branded on others, only inheriting the bloodlust, not the physical properties of a Ork- except for increased strength and stamina. It is rare, however, and is found in only 0.0001% of all sentient races, except for those incompatible, such as the mysterious human race known as the Others."

The page flips, and I am greeted by a story of a huntsman, by the name of..

I look into the future, as I feel blood drip down my face and I become blind in my left eye, closing the book in the instant it happened and shoving it in my ring.

I feel the urge to pull it out again, wanting to immerse myself reading the stories of those who are strangers to me, getting to know them personally. I fling my right arm in the searing heat of the fire, distracting the urge by clouding my mind with thoughts of scorching myself even further to feel the new sensation of..

Damn it! This made it even worse! I yank my arm back out, to find it barely even scorched. The flame was holy in nature- of course it'd go straight through my skin.

I hear the birds chirp, reminding me of.. the time? I lose perception of time so fast, it can't just be me at this rate. Time seems so unstable here, a mage focusing in time could thrive- but that'd be horribly unbalanced.

Right. I've forgotten- this is.. still a game. Just a game, nothing more. My mind is becoming ever more distorted as I stay here- I must find some time to log out eventually. Have a good game of poker, perhaps. I don't think I know how to play, but poker is always good.

I hear movement, and I stand up, with my sword drawn- only to find that it's just Coralline waking up. I sheath my sword, looking at her. A mess- her hair is everywhere, there are bags under her eyes. How did her hair even get messed up? I only carried her into a bed..

I put down a bottle of that mana-water I stored, hopefully it should be useful to wake her up. She seems much too dazed to do anything.. I'll check outside while she does something? What do sirens do in the morning, be like regular people?

Probably, actually. There's no real difference.. until she tells me about the ones that fully live at sea.

I lift up the bar as I hear her rustle through her things- I'm not even sure where she put all her stuff. I walk outside, shutting the door behind me. The surroundings are much more observable now- the forests are a bronze leading into gold. The path leading is different- there are tracks near me, but they look unfamiliar. Must be a local creature, but it's not the wyvern. Too small to be one, if it follows the standard tradition.

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I poke my eye socket- the eye had begun the regrowing process, but it won't be ready for a few hours. If only I used it to divine what happened if I stayed in this cabin. No, it wouldn't work even if I looked into the future- it would simply be too far ahead.

The tracks don't look that old.. but they are quite odd. They're more like holes in the ground, like.. a spider. But most spiders don't have holes the size of a table leg- even if it's smaller than what I presume to be the wyvern, it surely can't be too far off overall.

Spiders build webs, or most spiders do. So then this must be something like a tarantula? Well, that would be a favorable matchup for me- we're both heavy as all hell, the hairs shouldn't effect me nor will the venom. Unless they decide to give the spiders magical powers here, in which case I am sure the general populace will never want to go into the woods.

These woods though, they've got to be a high-level area. It must be the border between the Glided Forest and the natural green forest, for I see traces of both here.

I look back at the cabin- it must have done something to transport me here. A double-edged sword, in a way. It brought us closer to the objective- and danger. I'm probably going to run into that massive spider though, because spiders love keeping awareness of the surrounding territory.

There's a few options here..

Retreat, and fail the quest. I'm not going to do that for obvious reasons..

Stay in the cabin and hope I don't get transported across the country again.

Or just try to fight that spider.

I'll go with option three- a favorable matchup as long as it focuses on me. But I need to alert Coralline, I don't want her stepping on a line of silk and alerting the presence of the presumed spider.

I open the door, to see her putting out the fire and readying to exit out, her face looking much better than before. She seems refreshed, and the water I put beside her is gone.

"Spider nearby. Big one, be ready to fight. We've got to move."

She looks at me in confusion as I point to the hole in the ground, then to the environment around us. This place is questionable.. time accelerates and dilates, then I always manage to travel across the country some way or another through non-conventional means. Or as conventional you could get, anyway. There's probably a day of travelling before we get to that wyvern anyway.

I lead her outside, listening for any sounds that weren't our own as we travelled along the forest, as the green trees slowly start to disappear and become bronze, and bronze becoming golden with slight marks starting to appear on the trees.

I really hope Urik isn't here- he'd probably die from everything, or I'm always really unlucky. His armor would be near useless against the wyvern, and this spider is terrifying enough as it is. Actually, I might have inherited my deep fear of spiders from Fransica- I really hate spiders. I've never noticed it until now, but I always tensed up when I mentioned or heard any species of spider.

I think I hate them more than these damn goblins that come around every so often, even if splattering heads is fun. It's like paintball, that archaic 2000s sport, in a way. Except a lot more red.

I hear a clicking.. like a bat's ability to use echolocation.

Ah, fuck- something's tracking us.

"Get ready- something's here. Run if you need to. Don't spout shit about I won't leave you, or I'll just kick you back to the cabin myself."

She seems a tad bit hurt at my words, but it is out of concern. I think, anyway. I hear her warm up her voice, and I hear that clicking stop, and leaves crackle and twigs snap. I really don't wanna lose control, even if it's my only real way of fighting. Think smarter, not harder?

"Try to sing something a bit fast paced for me- I think I'll need it."

She nods, and I hear her start singing.

I unsheath my sword, only to hear the whirling of something and the running of footsteps. I dodge a hook, as it whirls around and deflects on me purely to the fact that I'm made out of.. something metallic. Really need to study metallurgy..

The spider.. and a humanoid. This isn't going to be very favorable anymore..

The chain batters against me as I feel it finally hook against my arm, the chain wrapping around me.

I feel the crescendo of the song empower me as the thing with this chain and I compete in a contest of strength.

I'm likely several times heavier than him, though. This'll be easy..

I can always fall back on my bloodlust if all else fails, but I don't really want to do that. There's still that spider to deal with..

I feel the pulling grow stronger, and I almost lose my footing. Don't tell me that spider is pulling too..

"Coralline, stay behind me. I'll deflect the blows, and think of something with your water magic. Don't stop the song unless you have to."

She keeps singing- which I assume is a yes, because she keeps adjusting her position in accordance with my movements. How does magic work here? Another question for later..

I hear shouting- a skill command? It sounds vaguely human.. but it's a seperate language. Russian? Perhaps it's a similar language created here. That confirms I'm fighting against something human.. and that spider. I feel something dripping into my veins, as spikes emerge from the chain surrounding my arm into my flesh.

What a interesting technique! Clever, and ingenious..

Too bad I'm still immune to poison.