“This is….a level two...area?” I huffed as I sat back down on the step.

Yes.

“Why did my bleeding stop?”

You leveled up. Congratulations.

“Thanks.” I wheezed. “Put two points into magic, and one point into Perception. I want to be able to use spells as readily as possible, and I want to do away with my glasses.”

Why not become a warrior instead?

“Because I want to be a mage,” I stated as I took a deep breath.

You’re not going to change your mind?

“No.”

Fine.

A moment later, a burning sensation spread through my eyes, and in my core. I could see a little bit better.

“So what will happen once I kill the last thing in this, ‘enclosed space,’ whatever that means?”

You will leave, and the door will close.

“So I’ll have time to look around?”

You will.

“I...I suppose I should get going.”

I pushed myself off the step and pulled the spear out of the dead ratman’s back. The point snagged on the gambeson, so I had to put my foot on its back to tear it out; the serrated blade tore through cloth and flesh on its way out with a stomach-churning shluck.

Before I face the second one, perhaps I should use Repel, even though it might not do much good, it would still provide me with some level of protection, right? I tapped my forehead with the wand.

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“You that bind them all, protect me from those that would bring me harm.”

The invisible shell formed around me, and I put my wand back in my pocket. I hoisted the spear to my shoulder and set my backpack down on the ground. Right now all it was doing was throwing off my weight distribution. There was a window right next to the front door, I approached it as stealthily as I could and peeked out. Across a cobblestone street, was a house, done in a wattle-and-daub style. Like those that you’d find in recreations of medieval cities.

The sky was covered in a thick fog, that extended down to the ground, but didn’t seem to cloud my vision very far, as I could make out the figure of something on the roof of the building beyond the street, and an abandoned carriage right outside of the door. What should my plan be? With his positioning, it should be a ranged unit, right? So right out the door, I’ll duck behind the carriage...then? Then what? What could I do af—

Boom.

The window shattered, and a sharp pain grazed past my left arm. I ducked behind the wall. Shit. I suppose I wasn’t being as sneaky as I thought. I grasped my arm just as the last shimmering shards of the Repel fell away. The bullet seemed to have just grazed my arm. Shit...he knew I was here, now even exiting the door would be a mistake...wait, maybe I wouldn’t have to. How long would he wait until he went to check to see if he hit his mark? I fell away pretty quickly there...If I don’t move, perhaps he’ll think I’m dead. I gripped the spear to my chest, crept my way to the door, and pressed my back against the wall between it and the window.

Minutes passed until I saw a bit of breakage in the light that bled in from the bottom of the door. I squatted down and pointed the spear toward the door as it slowly swung open. The barrel of a rifle peeked through, first: sweeping the area by the stairwell with a swing of its barrel. It was followed by the ratlike head of the ratman who shot at me. I spring forward as soon as I see him, and he turns the barrel toward me. Too late. The spear found purchase first, as the point drove all the way through the creature’s throat, and into the wood of the door behind it. I grabbed the barrel of the rifle and pulled it to the side right before it could fire, and then yanked it out of its dying grasp.

I pulled the spear out, and let its body fall to the ground in front of me. I won...Did I win? I won. Elation rushed through me. What is this feeling? This euphoria? It was as if I had never lived before this moment. As if every second before this one was wasted. Was it the bloodshed? No. Just looking at the pool of sticky ruby liquid sent my stomach spinning. No...it was something else. Perhaps there’s something wrong with me. Or perhaps, just perhaps, I was made for this and had only just now discovered my calling.

I wiped the point of the blade on the dying creature’s clothes and stepped outside of the building.

I had to stoop my head so it didn’t bump against the top of the threshold as I stepped outside, into the wide, open street, and I stood, agape. The fog that had been crowding the skies fell down into thick curtains on either side of the two houses here and around the backs of each. I approached this fog of wall. It was as if it were made of a strange gel; it bent inward at my touch but didn’t part at my presence. It was like a wall of fog.

An entire city laid out before me. A city I couldn’t reach. Figures moved from beyond the wall of fog. In the distance, I could see rising spires, and tall walls hinting at cathedrals and castles unseen. A boyish sense of adventure welled within me. Despite the injuries that I had sustained during the scuffle, and how close I had come to death, I feel alive. For the first time in a decade, I feel completely, and utterly alive.

“What is this?” I asked of the Shard as I tried to push my hand through the thick gel-like wall.

This is what happens when nearly all the gods and spirits of a world are killed, or driven to near nonexistence. It is the fate that will await our world, and why Roki and his forces are looking to invade our’s. Eventually, this world will die if left like this. And blink out of existence entirely.

How many millions of lives used to dwell within this city? No one stirred beyond the fog, save for the familiar silhouettes of ratmen, and things, no doubt, loyal to Roki. All other sentient life...snuffed out by the war god, who now looked to do the same to my world. A silent rage filled me. A silent conviction; born.