Once Nick reached the temple, he stopped and looked around at the stone columns. He didn’t understand why he was sent here to be some hero. Someone without a wife and kids would have been ideal. Forcing those thoughts aside, he walked to the other end of the temple, curious where it led and trying to think about anything else at the moment.
The other side had even more columns and looked to be the actual entrance to the temple its self. It had a path leading down to the start of a large forest that spanned over a couple mountains. Deciding he had no interest in checking out the dark looking forest. He headed back into the temple in search of the shrine while wondering if the shrine was going to be another campfire or something else entirely. Now that he thought about it, he really should have asked the fox.
Nick sighed when he realized this side was exactly the same as the other, down to the painting and even the treasure chest. He eyed the chest before walking down the hall to the next room. He took a deep breath, resigning himself to walking though dozens of rooms again. His eyes widened when he saw an out place campfire under the painting in the next room. Walking over, a smile tugged at his lips, although it quickly faded when he realized the shrine lady was nowhere around. Assuming she meant for him to wait on her, he sat in front of the fire and placed his hand over it. An echoing bell rang out as his stat page appeared.
Nicklaus Bamford
Level
1
Essence
429
Essence required
473
Endurance
10
Vitality
10
Strength
10
Dexterity
10
Arcane
10
Intelligence
10
Wisdom
10
Attunement
1
“Come on, I should have enough to gain a single level!”
“You are close. These fallen are the weak and not worth much when it comes to essence. Nearly all Eve’s knights and warriors were sent to fight elsewhere.”
Nick quickly pulled his hand away to see the shrine keeper crouched next to the fire, holding her hand out.
“I’m glad you actually came. I have a lot of questions!”
“I’m sure you do. However, my time is short and I can only allow you three.”
Nick started to protest, but the woman spoke over him. “But first, as promised.” The lady waved her hand over the fire and Nick’s eyes widened as he saw his daughter at his parents sitting at the dinner table, he even got a glimpse of his mother and father before the scene shifted to one of his wife sitting in what looked like a hospital waiting room while trying to comfort his crying son. Suddenly the imaged vanished.
“What’s happening? Is my son sick?”
“I do not have the answers to either of your questions. All I did was show you the ones you wished to see.” The woman’s voice was completely mono toned as if she could careless.
“What will your third question be? I must be going soon to tend to the other Shires.”
Nick’s eyes widened, and he was about to say how that was unfair when he decided to keep his mouth shut. After all, she didn’t have to answer any of his questions.
One question is all he had now. And he had to be careful with this question. He wanted to know how to get home, but he had already asked about that and she told him the churches were the only ones with that power. He needed to ask about where the church was, and then there was the matter of the fox. Nick took a deep breath, slowly released it, and let his hands fall to his sides. The club description filled his screen, and he nearly jumped. Then he realized the most important question he could ask.
“Is there a way to remove this description from my vision?”
The shrine keeper pushed her hood back and looked up at him with her piercing eyes. As she did, her light purple eyes turned a sinister black. “I see your Hero talent is called Weapon Art” The woman continued to stare at Nick with her creepy black eyes. Nick wanted to ask what was up with all the demon eyes around here, but he had already messed up two of his questions. After a moment, she spoke. “Once you reach level ten, you will unlock a bit more of this talent, as for how to remove the description,” The black faded from the Shrine keeper’s eyes and she turned to him curiously, “you simply need to focus on the x at the top right of the description. Have you been fighting these fallen with half your vision obscured?”
Nick’s eyes widened to the size of saucers as he noticed the x at the top right of the scroll. In his defense, there were several strange markings on the scroll, particularly on the outside of the main writing, which was where the x was, making it blend in.
Nick focused on the x, and the description vanished immediately. He stood up, eyes still wide as his face twisted into outrage. “Who the fuck designed this scroll? I would have never found that x if you wouldn’t have pointed it out! This is ridiculous!”
The shrine keeper let out a what Nick assumed as a bemused giggle.
“It’s not funny! Ive gotten killed multiple times over this bullshit!”
The shine keeper began chuckling, as if it was the funniest thing she had ever heard.
Nick took a deep breath while trying to tune out the Shrine keeper’s odd laughter. He had no one but himself to blame he should had really paid more attention. With everything going on, he didn’t think about looking for a simple x at the top of the scroll.
“I apologize for my laughter. It’s just nothing even remotely interesting has happened around here in centuries. If you would had not killed the Wisp sent to guide you, then she would have explained this to you. I am not your guide, however I find you delightfully entertaining, make it to the next shrine and I shall show you more of what you seek and answer three more of your questions. Do try and not let the madness take you.” As the shrine keeper spoke, she slowly faded.
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“Wait… which way do I go?”
“Look to the shrine tainted Hero. Its flame shall guide you, farewell.” Then she vanished without a trace.
Nick was beyond frustrated with himself, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. At least he no longer had to worry about the club description in his view. To bring back up the description, all he had to do was set the club down and pick it again.
He turned his attention to the fire. He would need to make it to the next shrine if he wanted more answers. His son had him worried. He hoped it was nothing major. Though he had no idea if his son was even sick, or why his wife was in a waiting room. The thought frustrated him.
“I have to get home!”
Looking at the fire, he tried to understand what the Shrine keeper meant. “Its flame shall guide you.” He stared at the basic looking camp fire for a long while. At first, he thought it would show him the direction he was supposed to go, but there was nothing. However, the flame did look to be leaning one way. He thought it was the wind, but he was in a room and there was no wind. The fire was obviously tilting towards the direction of the path leading to the woods. Or maybe that was just his imagination. He didn’t want to go off on a wild goose chase. He needed to find a church and see what he needed to do to be sent home. The fox came to mind. He had a bad feeling about her, but he didn’t have many options.
Standing up, Nick made his way back towards the temple proper. As he did, he eyed the chest. Part of him wanted to open it, though he passed it by. It was most likely a trap. His eyes widened, and he took a few steps back. He had completely forgotten that the shrine respawned the creatures. Luckily both creatures were currently walking to the exits and didn’t notice him, he ducked back into the room.
“I hate this place.” Nick mumbled.
He was going to have to deal with them. At least he would have enough to level up afterwards. He watched for a few minutes, waiting for the best time to make his move.
The fallen would meet in the center and then turn to walk to the exits. Waiting till they were walking away from one another, Nick moved in, kicking the fallen in the back of its knees before he then began to bash its head in. He then quickly hurried out of sight just in time for the other one to turn and began marching back. He didn’t have time to drag the other one out of the way. To Nick’s surprise, the fallen just walked right up to the dead fallen and stopped and turned, heading back to the other entrance. He quickly moved in dealing with this one in the same manner.
“Okay then.”
It seemed only the red eyed fallen were the real threats, although the damage those spears could do was something he wouldn’t underestimate. Nick then went back to the campfire, ignoring the bell. He looked over his stat page.
Nicklaus Bamford
Level
1
Essence
531
Essence required
473
Endurance
10
Vitality
10
Strength
10
Dexterity
10
Arcane
10
Intelligence
10
Wisdom
10
Attunement
1
From what he could tell, he gained around one hundred essence from killing those two creatures. As soon as he thought about wanting to level up, he received a prompt in the form of an old translucent scroll.
Spend 473 Essence to level up, Yess/No?
Selecting yes, the prompt vanished and a new prompt appeared, asking him to choose which attribute he would like to increase. With little thought, he selected endurance. More stamina would improve his fighting capability. As he confirmed his choice, the stat page vanished. He watched the light he had come to think of as essence swirl up from his chest and go into the fire. At the same time, an orange spark from the fire shot directly in his chest, then his stat screen then reappeared.
Nicklaus Bamford
Level
2
Essence
58
Essence required
496
Endurance
11
Vitality
10
Strength
10
Dexterity
10
Arcane
10
Intelligence
10
Wisdom
10
Attunement
10
It was unfortunate that he only received a single attribute point, but the essence requirement didn’t go up much, so at least there was that. Once he was done looking over his stats, he stood up and swung his club at the air causing his stamina bar to appear, he couldn’t be sure if it was any larger but he thought maybe it was, although that could just be wishful thinking.
Nick had a decision to make. Part of him wanted to farm the spearmen for essence. It would be a simple matter, although time consuming. The other part wanted to go ask the fox which way the church was and go there immediately. After thinking about it for a while, he decided even if he found the church, there was no guarantee he could convince them to send him home. The Shrine keeper sure didn’t think so. Not only that, this world seemed to be full of creatures that wanted to kill him and he would surely have to kill more of these creatures to get even get to the church. If the churches refused him, then he would have to just become so powerful they couldn’t refuse him.
“To the grind it is.”
Level ten sounded like a good even number to get to, not to mention the shrine lady said something about a talent he had. He believed she had called it weapon art. It was something to do with the stat pages he seen for weapons.
Now that Nick had a better understanding of how to deal with these so called fallen and had nothing taking up half his vision, he went through the spearmen in short order. He spent more time waiting than he did actually fighting. Timing was everything here it seemed, and sneak attacks were key.
Going to the shrine, he saw he gained exactly one hundred and two essence. He wasn’t sure if this was the same every time or not, but he supposed there was only one way to find out. Nick killed both creatures five more times, giving him enough to level up to three. He spent his attribute point on endurance. It turned out he gained exactly fifty-one essence for each spearman.
Nick continued to take out the spearmen over and over. He considered killing the fallen on the stairs before he sat at the shrine, but he decided against it. The fallen with the red eyes was relentless, and he wasn’t confident he could deal with it without getting the drop on it, especially if the crossbow creature spotted him. The thought reminded him of the makeshift shield he never got to use. He had leaned it against the wall and forgotten about it.
As he killed the spearmen over and over, he glanced at the chest as he walked by. He really wanted some shoes and clothes. All the spearmen dropped were daggers, and that wasn’t very consistent. He hated this damn loincloth, and he planned to burn it when he got some proper clothes. It was unlikely there were any clothes in the chest and was likely a trap.
He had no idea how much time he had spent killing the two spearmen. From what he could tell, it had to be a couple of hours. He didn’t spend his essence deciding to just use it all at once. Nick was about to do just that, but decide to take a quick break and take a look outside to see if it was still raining. To his surprise, the sun still hadn’t gone down, and it was still on the verge of darkness. The thought of where to sleep crossed his mind and his brow creased. Now that he thought about it, the only time he had even felt tired was when his stamina was low and he hadn’t even gotten hungry or thirsty.
Nick absently walked out towards the tree while staring up at the sky as if it was going to give him answers. His mind raced. The idea that he actually died, and this was some sort of hell, was starting to seem like a reasonable explanation. He continued to stare at the dark clouds above as the rain lightly fell around him. Nothing added up, nothing made any sense, he was sent to another world as a hero. It was absurd! Nick closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Whatever the case, he would make it back to his family, regardless of what was happening. His thoughts went to his daughter and his son as a sad smile crossed his face. He wondered what they thought happen to him. Surely they would not think he didn’t just up and left them. He hated the way he left things with Sarah. The argument seemed so small now and petty now.
A sharp pain in his stomach had Nick’s eyes flash open. He grunted in pain and was barely able to register what was happening before he the second dagger stabbed into him. Red eyes stared back at him as he stumbled back in pain. He raised his club and weakly swung at the fallen as it lunged at him again. The creature easily sidestepped it and quickly stabbed him in the side twice as his red bar completely emptied.
YOU DIED||||