The words slowly faded as Nick floated in the void once again. He was safe now. This place was where he truly belonged, after all. There was no pain here and things were so much simpler now. Although his thoughts felt like there were coming from far away. But that didn’t matter he was where he was supposed to be. Standing there in the rain was the smartest thing he had ever done. It brought him back home. Home… was this home? For some reason, it felt like something was missing, but what? Everything he could ever want was here. Though there was nothing here, but that’s exactly what he wanted. Right? He then felt a soothing warmth. It didn’t take him but a moment to locate this warmth. A red ball of light floated far off in the distance. Nick knew all he had to do was wait for that light to reach him and these silly thoughts of home would vanish. He would also get to be warm. The light needed to hurry so he could be warm now. He missed the warmth. It was slowly moving to him, but it wasn’t fast enough. While staring at the red light, Nick tried to move towards it but couldn’t move. Suddenly, red eyes flashed into his memories and he felt an odd sensation wash over him. It took him a moment to realize what it was. It was hate boiling just beneath the surface. He realized he had unfinished business in the form of revenge.

Nick’s eyes flashed open, and he let out a roar of defiance. That fucking red eyed creature had killed him again. He wanted nothing more than to kill it. Nick did his best to calm his racing mind and forced himself to sit. He didn’t need to run out there in a mad dash. It took all his willpower to just sit there. Every fiber of his being wanted to charge out there and kill the creature. He told himself he would kill it, but only after the rage left. He refused to let it control him.

His thoughts moved to his daughter. He remembered asking her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She had told him she was going to be the president. When he asked why, she told him so he wouldn’t have to work all the time and they could spend more time together. The memory had a stray tear run down his check. He wished he had spent more time with her now that he was looking back. There was just always something to be done.

Once he calmed his mind, he saw his club laying next to the fire. His eyes widened when he realized he was in the temple. Nick had been so overtaken by rage; he didn’t even realize where he was. He had nearly run off bare fisted at the creature in a blind rage. Was this the madness he was warned about? He had to be more careful. He still felt the urge to kill the creature, but it wasn’t overwhelming. Surviving this place and returning home was all that mattered. When he returned, he would take his little girl on that camping trip he had promised her! His family was what was truly important and the one thing that he wanted more than revenge.

Placing his hand over the fire, he realized he had lost all his essence. Taking a deep breath, he picked up his club. After closing the description, he headed out to reclaim his essence. Nick hadn’t even thought about the red-eyed creature walking across the bridge. He remembered seeing it coming across the bridge when he was first watching it. He had to be more aware of his surroundings.

Red-eyes likely just seen him standing there and ran over and stabbed him. He felt foolish for just standing out there like a moron. Each time he died he felt an overwhelming rage, and he wanted to unthinkingly charge the creature that killed him. He briefly wondered if his eyes were turning red before pushing the thought down. At least he was aware of the growing rage, but that did little to calm it. He did his best to push the thought of dying away. He didn’t die after all. He was still here. Focusing on it would take him nowhere good. He would not fail his family.

Nick slammed his club into the back of the second spearman’s head, knocking it to the ground as his club began to lightly glow red. One more hit to the head finished it off, and he walked out of the temple to collect his essence. Once he gathered his essence, he immediately went back into the temple to use it. He didn’t want to take the chance of losing it again; he didn’t know if there was some sort of limit on how many times he could lose it.

As he placed his hand over the fire, his stats appeared. Even with all the time spent killing the two fallen, he was only able to gain two levels. He placed both his points into endurance and hit confirm. The essence flowed from him and the spark shot into his chest as his stat page reappeared.

Nicklaus Bamford

Level

5

Essence

186

Essence required

603

Endurance

14

Vitality

10

Strength

10

Dexterity

10

Arcane

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10

Intelligence

10

Wisdom

10

Attunement

1

Nick stood up. “All that work for two measly levels.”

The Shrine lady had said something about these creatures being weak, and not worth much essence. Deciding this was not a good place to farm essence, he headed toward the fox.

After dealing with the two spearmen, he could definitely tell his stamina bar increased. He wanted to test out how many heavy swings he could get in before his stamina ran out. But he would have plenty of time to do that later.

As soon as he walked around the tree, the fox lifted its head. “Ahh, the tainted hero returns,” Kami said, “come sit, your tea is still warm.” A cup then appeared, floating above the straw mat.

“Uh, thank you,” Nick said as he sat on the mat. “Could you please tell me where the church is?”

“You will have to be more specific. There are multiple Churches.”

“Which ever church would be most likely to send me home.”

The fox looked at him curiously, its third eye closed. “I’m unsure if any Church would send a hero home. Though if any would be willing, it would be the Church of Adventure. Though they would likely want something in return.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “Okay, and where would I find them?”

“Breath, calm yourself, you are far too weak. You would first need to leave this cursed place.”

Nick looked on in confusion, “what do you mean by leave this place?”

Kami began lapping at the tea floating in front of her, “go on try your tea, it is quite good.”

Nick’s breaths were coming faster now. He needed answers. He looked down at the tea. And then back at the fox, who was casually lapping the tea. He took a sip and was pleasantly surprised. “This is good!”

The fox grinned as a response. Before Nick realized it, he had drank his entire cup, and the teapot floated over and poured him another cup.

“This land was cursed by a dying Demon King many centuries ago. It has now spread to the entire continent. I can tell you are anxious and ready to go so I won’t bore you with the details, however the curse is slowly growing. I’m not sure what Beatrix was able to tell you before you killed her.” Nick winced at the mention of the Wisp he killed, but the fox continued without pause. “The reason the Churches summon heroes is to fight back the curse and keep it from making its way to the mainlands. These mainlands are where you will find the churches.”

Nick sat there for a minute, trying to take this in. “but why me? Why was I brought here I’m no hero?”

“I’m unsure why you were chosen. That is something only the Church of light or Beatrix would have an answer to. However, despite what you may believe, you are a hero. You have the undying ability. I’m sure you have experienced this already. Though I must warn you, even though you can’t die, it doesn’t mean you will get to keep your mind if you continue to die,” the fox then yawned, “It’s about time for another nap,” Kami said laying her head down, “by the way you aren’t the only Hero in Eve at the moment, the Hero of Adventure is in the ruins at this very moment. They would likely be able to tell you if the Church would send you home.”

Nick’s eyes widened, and he stood up. “The ruins I arrived in?”

“The very same,” Kami lazily said.

Nick turned and immediately began heading that way.

“Tainted one, you may be forgetting something.”

Nick turned to see the fox laying with her head down, eyes closed and his club on the mat.

“Thanks! And thanks for the tea, it was great.” Grabbing the club, he started towards the bridge.

“I expect you to return and tell me how you met your mate,” Kami said.

Nick turned, looking at the fox curiously. “Okay, yea sure, I’ll tell you about it, though it’s not really all that exciting.”

Nick wanted to rush across the bridge, and down into the ruins, but he waited. He needed to get the drop on red eyes. If there was another hero, then they too had to be pulled from their world. At least from his understanding.

Would the hero be from his world or were there are multiple worlds? Nick could barely wait. He had to talk with this other hero. This was the best lead he had on returning home since he arrived.

When Nick seen the creature, a burning rage built up. He forcefully calmed himself and waited. He knew it was the madness trying to take hold. As soon as Red-eyes turned back across the bridge, he started towards it. It was almost reflex now. He kicked the back of its knees. It didn’t stumble as far as the spearmen, but it still stumbled and Nick swung his club, impacting the back of its skull with a popping sound. The red hue letting him know the rot effect had taken hold. However, he ignored that, not planning on leaving the creature alive long enough for the effect to make much difference. The blow to the head stunned the creature. He moved in and hit it again and again, its health bar dropping with each blow. His stamina bar was refilling nearly as fast as it drained. He didn’t give this much thought as rage filled his mind and he pounded the creature’s skull into the ground. Nick didn’t stop until long after the light swirled up and into his chest. He then took off across the bridge. He still had two more to deal with.

The stamina bar refilled before he made it halfway. At first he thought it was do to leveling it up, but that didn’t make sense he had used it on the spearmen and he only had a bit more stamina it didn’t fill his bar faster. The only thing that he could think of was the tea the fox gave him. Once on the other side of the bridge, he didn’t see the crossbow creature anywhere, so he continued down the stairs. He made it to the bend before he saw the crossbow fallen at the same time he heard the click. He moved as quick as he could, throwing himself next to the cliff, however he was too slow.

The bolt pierced his shoulder, and he winced in pain. The creature dropped its bow and pulled out a dagger. Despite the cross bolt stuck in his shoulder, he swung his club in an overhead swing. He was aiming for the creature's head, but the pain, or the fact that something was lodged in his shoulder, caused him to miss and he only got a glancing blow. It was enough to cause the creature to stumble back. The next swing hit true and the next one finished it off, and the light swirled into his chest. Nick’s stamina bar was refilling at an insane speed, which was fortunate because the fallen at the bottom of the stairs was now lumbering towards him. Once it was within range, Nick shoved the end of his club out as if to stab, which stopped the momentum of the dagger wielding creature but also shot a sharp pain down his shoulder. But he pushed through and followed up with a crack to its head, causing it to stagger back and fall off the stairs. Once it hit the ground essence swirled up and flew into his chest.

He noticed his stamina bar was recovering at its normal speed now.

“I have to know what was in that tea.”

Now that he was no longer in combat, his full attention went to his shoulder as it flared with pain. He was going to have to deal with the bolt. Taking a deep breath and trying to not think about it, he ripped it out. “Ahh Fuuuck!”

He quickly walked towards the campfire while holding his shoulder. He didn’t want to respawn all the creatures, but he needed to heal. Placing his hand over the fire, he instantly felt better as the bell chimed out somewhere off in the distance. If there was something to help his stamina recover so quickly, then there was likely something to help his health recover. He then remembered his club had a healing ability, though he still had no idea how to use it. He would need to ask Kami about that. But first he needed to find this Hero.

Now that he thought about it, what was this hero even doing in this place?