The wooden floorboards creak as I make my way up the stairsteps. The peak of the stairs leads to a closed door on the right side, which I quickly discover is unlocked when I open it with ease. I am greeted by the layout of the second floor, which consists of a hallway along the wall the stairway is next to, with another hall perpendicular to the first located at the middle of the floorplan. Directly across from the door to the second floor lies another doorway to a room. I go over to check out this room first, only to be surprised by the first locked door I have encountered in this place. I try forcing the knob to turn and pulling at the door forcefully, but no luck, it doesn't budge. I’ll give up on it for now, only because I plan to see if there is a key or something that I can bash the door open with somewhere in the rest of this floor.

Turning to the right and walking towards the other hallway, my stomach twists a bit once I get a better look at what lies opposite of the room I was trying to gain entry to, a cell. I figure that this building must have been where the police, or whatever the magical world equivalent to law enforcement is, resided, and that the barred off section of the second floor filling up the entire right side of the hallway must be to detain criminals, but I still get nervous around places designed around entrapment. I start to just stare at the iron chains still connected to the walls, and the manacles at the end of them.

My breathing quickens as I gaze at the chains, memories flooding into my mind as I just stand there, motionless. Images flash through my mind at a rapid pace, causing my head to spin. The moment I got into the back seat of that white car, leaving the orphanage with the two who I thought were my new family. The instant my world fell apart as I was pushed into that damned shipping crate with the other boys and girls. The sick smiles on the men and women’s faces as they-

*CLANG*

I’m broken from my spiraling thoughts when I hear something crashing into the metal bars in front of me. A skeleton in ragged clothes presses against the bars, thrashing out its arms towards me through the gaps, managing to get within a few inches of me with its clawing hands.

C’mon Chloe, snap out of it! You are no longer a slave of those bastards, they don’t have power over you anymore!

Calming down slightly, I bring my attention to the pitifully struggling skeleton before me. Like everything else in this building, the skeleton is in unnaturally good shape, with bones closer to white in color than the yellowish decayed look of the ones I fought outside of town and in the church. While its clothes are somewhat worse for wear, consisting of a beige shirt full of holes and grey pants in a similar state, the holes seem to come from tearing and ripping rather than decay over time.

Seeing its continued futile assault of the air in front of me, I start to feel a bit bad for the thing, especially after I consider the fact that the original owner of this particular skeleton must have perished whilst still stuck inside this cell. Feeling pity for the poor thing, I decide to put it out of its misery with a swift [Light Of Justice] jab at its skull pressed against the cell’s bars, swiftly ending its un-life, and am soon met by some surprising, but welcome, messages.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

[You Are Now In Relative Safety, Rewards From Combat Shall Now Be Distributed]

[You Have Destroyed (x1 Skeleton) And Have Been Granted Experience!]

[{Temiskyr Imp} Has Risen To Level 5! (+1 Recovery +2 Dexterity +1 Magic Power +2 Mana Control +2 Stat Points)]

[Due To Increasing {Temiskyr Imp}’s Level, You Have Been Granted The Active {Temiskyr Imp} Skill [Eyes Of Aspirations] Level 1!]

After distributing my two free Stat Points into Endurance and Strength as I have been the last 3 levels, I then go ahead and check out the skill I received for reaching level 5 in my subspecies.

[Eyes Of Aspirations]:

An inspection-type skill, this skill allows the user to gain basic information on something when they focus on it, with the additional effect of being able to obtain information on a sentient being's current immediate desire in addition to their available basic information.

Intrigued, I face the skeleton’s remains and try out the skill, only to receive unimpressive results.

(Destroyed Skeleton):

The remains of a reanimated skeleton that has ceased functions after losing its skull.

Hopefully it will be more useful on intact or living targets, especially since the skill description goes out of its way to specify “a sentient being.” I don’t know the extent of the basic information I might receive, but I do unfortunately know how to exploit someone's desires to my own benefit and survival. I can only hope that since it is called [Eyes Of Aspirations], that the desires it mentions are more goals or dreams instead of the kinds of desires I wish I wasn't familiar with. I won’t know until I encounter someone to actually use it on, so I won't stress out about it, and even if it's the latter, I can either ignore the second half of the skill or just not use it.

Having gotten all that out of the way, I turn towards the end of the hall, which has another door leading to a different room at the end, and start heading over to it. Fortunately, the doorknob easily turns and the door opens as soon as I try, emphasizing the fact that the room parallel to the jail cell is an exciting oddity for having its door locked. This room, however, is less exciting. Seeming to be an office of some sort, the small room at the end of the hall consists of a desk centered near the back of the room, with a few wooden shelves lining the wall. An intricately carved wooden chair rests behind the desk, and as I approach it, I notice something very interesting. One of the drawers to the right has an old padlock on it, which would be a pain to get open, if not for how it is hanging there whilst already unlocked.

Removing the open lock from the drawer and setting it atop the desk, I open the compartment and discover four things located within. A small, brown leather-bound book, a white feather with a metal tip at the end, a small black jar with a cork stopper in it, and lastly, and maybe most importantly, a metal keyring with a few different keys looped on it. I take the keyring and place it on top of the desk to go and try unlocking the other door up here, but I sit down on the chair and open up the leather book to see if it has anything interesting for me to read about, if I can read it at all, first. Opening to the first page, I am instantly disappointed once I'm met by a written language I have never seen before in my life, only to be shocked by the fact that I somehow know what the words on the first page say.

Littlecreek Town Guard Captain’s Log