The door behind the altar that the priest had come out of during the service was unlocked, slamming open as I ran into it and into the narrow hallway beyond. There was a fork that went right and left. Not giving myself enough time to hesitate I went right, the shouting behind me getting louder. The pounding of many boots sounding like a small cloud of thunder in the maze of hallways. The whole time I was running and turning down new corridors I felt an itch at the edge of my awareness, the moment my thoughts landed on it that itch opened up before me into new text.
[Congratulations Awakened. Your Class information has been added to your Status.]
[You have 3 unspent Attribute points]
[You have 15 unspent Skill points]
“Attributes?” I said dumbfounded. The word snagging my attention because it was in almost every video game or RPG I’d played. Even in the middle of my mad dash for freedom I felt a mad chuckle bubble out of my chest. Did I have attributes now? Like Agility, Strength, and Luck? That was impossible. How could that even work? That defied everything I knew about how reality.
An older woman carrying folded bedsheets came out of a door ahead of me and I narrowly dodged out of her way before she cried out in fright. Tossing her folded sheets in the air dramatically as she fell back. “Sorry!” I yelled back as I continued on. Refocusing on the attribute notification again. I knew instantly what I wanted. Out of all the builds I’d played in games the ones I’d had the most fun playing maxed out the Luck stat. Luck builds were always viable in my book if not overpowered in some games. And if I was gonna get away from the guards, I’d need all the luck I could get.
“Luck. Luck. Luck.” I whispered as I reached out for a door.
My hands turned on the knob as I pulled open the door. The stunned face of an armored guardsman standing in front of me. The space behind him was the same antechamber of murals I’d seen before I’d gone into the Cathedral’s main hall with the altar. Where a whole contingent of guards was searching, some of them keeping the crowd inside the main hall calm. I’d been sprinting for a solid minute in those back hallways and instead of finding a back door I’d run around in almost a damn perfect circle.
The guard in front of me made to tackle me but I slipped under his outstretched arms and ran for the massive open door.
“He’s running for the door! After him!” I heard behind me. My thoughts panicked as I realized Luck was not going to miraculously save me.
“Speed! Speed! Speed!” I cried out as I hoped there was a speed stat I could boost. I turned my head to look behind me. My eyes going wide at the sight of the guards sprinting at me in full plate. I was no athlete, but I knew I was a fast runner. In a flat race with a head start there should be no way adults older than me in medieval armor should be so damn fast. The open door of the church lay right ahead of me but at the pace the guards were moving they’d catch me just outside the door.
As if sensing my desperation another blue window opened up. Simple but I understood it almost instinctively.
[Spellbreaker Attributes]
[Dexterity: 0]
[Wisdom: 0]
[Unspent Attribute points: 3]
Even running for my life, I couldn’t help the twinge of surprise at seeing only two attributes. Slightly upset for some reason that despite being in a reality where blue text and Classes were the norm, I only had two attributes listed and they were both zero. Figures.
I had just made it out the door but I could hear the guards right behind me. Wisdom seemed like it would be damn near useless in this situation, leaving Dexterity as my only hope. Right as I reached the stairs on the outside of the church I slammed all three points into the only stat, praying that it would help with my escape. Instead of the burst of speed I expected to get I felt an instant wave of energy wash out over my body, cooling and warm at the same time. Then in the same instant I reached the top of the stairs and that pool of energy did something I hadn’t even considered.
It turned into lightning and fried me from the inside out.
Like I’d been hooked up to a high voltage power line. My legs fell out from under me as I convulsed. If I had been moving slower I’d probably have been fine except for the bruising, but I hadn’t been moving slow. No, I had the great honor of hurling myself down those holy steps at a full sprint.
In the brief moment I went airborne falling down the steps. I’d had enough sense to at least try to protect my head as the thunder raged in my body but in the midst of whatever adding those points to Dexterity had done to me. I could barely raise my arms above my head. The fingers on both my hands burning with fire as I tried to keep them curled as they madly twitched. Then gravity did its magic.
The breath was ripped from my chest as I smashed into the stone steps. Over and over as I rolled and writhed. My vision dimming at the edges as my head bounced off the stairs. I’d fallen down most of the steps at that point. Then before I could do anymore damage to my body, before I could crash down the last set of stairs. Something changed. Like a switch being flipped the pain and lightning in my body from adding those points cut off all at once and I just knew how to move. I adjusted my fall and instead of slamming into the next steps like I’d hit every other before it I rolled into it. My feet pushing off the edge of a step as I came up and pushing off with a force I didn’t know I had in me. I soared over the last few steps, turning over in the air with a grace I definitely didn’t have a minute ago. And landed on the street in a crouch.
My head whipped back towards the steps completely forgetting my situation for a moment as my mouth fell open. Did I just..?
That fall hadn’t messed me up too bad. Thanks to my, what the hell even was that? A midair somersault? I could barely get a cartwheel right. How the hell did I do that? I was still going to turn into a black and blue patchwork of bruises, that was for sure, I’d be sore as shit for a good while too, but I could still move.
“Halt you!” One of the guards boomed again. A group of them making their way down the stairs quickly but not nearly as fast as I had. Since they were using the stairs as God intended instead of my clearly heretical method. Running still seemed like the best idea I had so I picked a direction and ran. Putting some real distance on the guards this time. Even with my battered condition I felt good. No, actually I felt really good. The feeling was like an energy and lightness all in one. Like how it feels to take off heavy weights and move without the heaviness you’ve grown used to.
I quickly reached my max sprinting speed from earlier and passed it as I kept moving faster. Even through the pain and fear of being caught I couldn’t help a grin at the sheer speed I was moving at. I wasn’t going to turn into the Flash, but I was moving faster than I’d ever ran in my life. If I hadn’t been chased out of that Cathedral I’d have whooped at the simple joy of the feeling. People who saw me coming parted and those who didn’t I managed to dodge around with surprising ease while still keeping my momentum. I could still see the guards coming at me from behind but my points in Dex had almost nullified their speed advantage over me from earlier.
“Seize him!” the shout exploded behind me as I noticed some more guards on the street ahead of me. I was running on what was basically a wide side walk. With the street traffic next to it being made of carts being drawn by various creatures. I cut through the crowd and broke out onto the street. Weaving around the cart traffic and getting yelled at by various wagon riders. A giant lizard thing pulling a cart snapping at me as it barely missed my arm. Once I was on the other side of the street I bolted into an alley between two towering buildings.
The alley was covered in shadow from the buildings blocking the sunlight but not nearly as much as I’d need to hide. As I moved further along its length. I knew I had to come up with something to get the guards off my tail. Still running as fast as I could while not tripping on the trash and refuse in the alley, I opened my still waiting notification from earlier.
[You have 15 unspent skill points]
Expanding the notification took me to a new menu that listed only my newly acquired skills. Small Blades, Sneak, and Meditation. Since there was no way I was going to start swinging against a bunch of fantasy super cops. Small Blades was out. And the thought of me trying to meditate my problems away while guards sprint tackled me was just comically stupid. I focused only on Sneak and what it had to offer me. I nearly stumbled over an uneven cobblestone as the Sneak skill expanded in my mind to form three branches of grayed out lines. Each branch had its own name and was filled with darkened nodes all of them growing out from Sneak.
I smiled in relief at the familiar sight. Amid all the new sights and sensations of the new world. And apparently committing a crime by complete accident. It was almost heartwarming to see something so familiar to my gamer brain as Skill Trees. One of them lead straight out of the Skill, emblazoned with the same name as the Skill it was growing out of.
[Sneak Skill Tree]
[Active Sub-skills: 0]
The two other Skill Trees were different in a way I hadn’t noticed before. Instead of growing out of Sneak itself the next Skill Tree was growing out of Sneak and Small Blades together. Like the tree was a union of the two Skills.
[Sneak Attack Skill Tree]
[Active Sub-skills: 0]
The last Skill Tree came out of the union of Meditation and Sneak. A weird combo I wasn’t quite sure what to make of.
[Deceitful Mind Skill Tree]
[Active Sub-skills: 0]
Even as rushed as I was I felt a thrill at being able to actually pick skills like a video game character. Ordinarily I’d probably spend hours pouring over my options to find what worked the best for what I had in mind. But time was a luxury I didn’t have. The Sneak Attack Tree sounded awesome but again. Attacking guards was dumb. The Deceitful Mind Branch was an unknown to me and too risky to gamble on. So I focused solely on the Sneak Branch and the skills, or sub skills I suppose, in reach. There were a bunch to choose from, spread out like the wide bottom of a tree of leaves would be. But I focused on the nodes that seemed to be the most helpful at the moment.
[Sneak Skill Tree]
[Low Profile: You know how to make yourself less noticeable. Especially while crouched.]
[Prowler: Creep up to and around others without their awareness. Increased movement speed while hidden and crouched.]
[Quick Cover: Find places to hide and understand how best to utilize them. Increased enter and exit speed from cover.]
The voices of the guards drawing closer decided it for me. I glanced over my options and was about to put a point into all three at once before I remembered the stairs again. Running behind a nearby wooden box I braced myself for whatever the hell happened when you picked skills- er sub skills? I focused on Low Profile and mentally clicked it. Spending one of my skill points. I braced for pain and felt…no it wasn’t something I felt, it was like remembering something you’d forgotten about. Except instead of being a single snippet of info barely recalled it was a torrent of instantly comprehended instincts. Cascading all at once into a whole. Images, sounds, examples and all. It wasn’t just some low quality YouTube video my brain had downloaded, no. It was an entire blockbuster movie and then some. The Low Profile Extended Edition.
I stared at my Skill Trees in awe. And the fourteen more points of pure potential just waiting to be used.
“Oh.” I breathed out slowly. “Okay, yeah that could definitely be habit forming.”
I didn’t just understand how to hide I knew how to hide. Making immediate use of the skill I’d just learned I shifted my weight, feeling strangely comfortable as I crouched. I moved out from behind the box and moved deeper into the alley, where it opened up into a small square. Getting the sense from Sneak that it would be a better place to hide. It looked like your average dingy back alley. Just full of haphazardly stacked wooden crates. Considering I was in some high fantasy super city it was depressingly normal.
I just got behind a weather beaten pallet with seconds to spare before a contingent of guards made it to the square.
“Spread out and find him!” a familiar voice from the guards shouted. Bennett had led the charge and was red faced with anger. I winced at the sight of him as I peeked around my box. He probably thought I’d used him and Gregor to get into the Cathedral or something. He moved ahead of the others around him as they carefully combed the area. “That bastard just awakened, and I’ll bet my ass he picked up Low Profile or Quick Cover. Anyone with Sharp Eye start from the left side and make your way around. You three! Keep moving that way and signal the others if you spot him. We are not letting that Syndicate, Preservationist fuck get away with awakening in our Temple!”
My jaw fell open as the Bennett actually named the very skill upgrade I’d been so proud of a second ago. He couldn’t do that, that was cheating! But admittedly, it kind of made sense that guards in this world would know what to look out for Skills wise. Ducking a bit lower I opened my Sneak Tree again and looked at all the points I had left. It hurt to use them all like this but hey, desperate times, desperate measures.
I felt that Low Profile could be upgraded somehow. So that’s what I did. Two points went into Low Profile. Upgrading it to Low Profile II. Then I went ahead and picked up Prowler and Quick Cover as well. Spending six points total to level them both twice. Since I already knew that learning new Sub-skills wouldn’t be as disastrous or painful as changing my attributes mid sprint. It still felt a bit like a fire was going through my mind, but it was… like nothing else really. In that area of my mind that held Sneak and its Sub-skills. New connections formed. Information rushing into my mind like a raging river. Suddenly, Low Profile was joined by an entire expanded universe of sneaking. Sequels and all.
These were only he first available skills for someone with Sneak sure. They wouldn’t be able to turn my average ass into a shadow ninja or anything like that. But the skill upgrades I purchased combined with my three points in Dexterity made me good. Really good.
All of a sudden, getting away from these guards sweeping the area for me didn’t seem so impossible anymore. The exit to the alley was on the other side of a small maze of good cover. Perfect for a newly minted Rogue. I moved along the edge of crates as far as I could go. Bennett stomping towards my hiding spot. I’d stopped in front of a torn open crate with a ragged tarp over it. With Quick Cover II as my guide I slipped into the crate, barely nudging the tarp covering it as I lay flat on my back inside.
I could hear Bennett’s footfalls outside my hiding spot as I held my breath. Staying silent as possible. There was a lurch outside as Bennett tore away the tarp and bent down to peer inside. Snarling in frustration he got up and stalked somewhere else.
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My hands and legs strained as they were pinned against the topmost corners of the crate. My face pressing into the wood as Quick Cover II buzzed to indicate I was safe. I let out a quiet sigh of relief. That had been way too close. Almost horror movie close. My eyes flickered as I touched back down on the bottom of the crate and reopened the Skill Trees menu I’d dismissed. I needed every edge I could get. The Sneak Attack Tree was still out of course. I honestly hoped I wouldn’t have to use it. But maybe Deceitful Mind had something I could use my last six points on?
[Deceitful Mind Skill Tree]
[Distraction: You know the best way to distract others. From searching enemies or the hapless masses.]
[Rogue’s Eye: You can gauge a person’s general awareness of their surroundings. Increased ability to gauge other’s sight-lines, field of view, and perception.]
[Mind Map: Your memory is like a high steel trap when moving through new locations or reading a map. Heightened clarity and recall of memories pertaining to spatial awareness as well as other’s last known locations.]
There were so many different skills to choose from. From Skills that were morally questionable, all about being sly and stealing to some that were more geared towards forging signatures and leaving messages hidden in plain text. It was almost a bit too daunting to go through. Even without the imminent threat of getting arrested by the fantasy police and thrown into the fantasy gulag. But I snapped out of my indecision and focused on three skills. Distraction, Rouge’s Eye, and Mind Map. Without giving myself any time to hesitate I spent three points to pick up each Sub-Skill. And dropped two of my last three points into Mind Map to upgrade it for good measure. Leaving me one point left just in case.
The changes were, at the risk of sounding cliche as hell. Like magic.
That same sensation of branching fire tore through my mind. Each Sub-Skill finding their proper place in my brain. Mind Map spun itself to life in my head, pulling together my brief impressions of the space as a whole before I’d hid. It was almost like having an actual map suspended in my head. One I could rotate and zoom in on at will. The only caveat being that It was foggy in parts, those places being the ones I hadn’t focused on. It was far from a get out of jail free card but I still grinned like an idiot anyway.
I have a mini-map. In my head. I thought wondrously. Awesome.
I peeked out of my hiding spot and saw a guard about half a dozen feet away from me. I could feel Rouge’s Eye lighting up as I watched the man. The Skill mentally drawing lines on the ground as it gauged the safest distances I could move around him without being seen. There was even an intangible cone of… threat? That started from the guard’s eyes and radiated outward. Moving with his head as he turned. Some kind of representation of his cone of vision. I had been worried about getting found before but that fear felt hollow now. The thrumming whispers of all my new Sub-skills breaking down what seemed like an impossible situation into a problem I could solve if only I didn’t make any mistakes.
I eased out of my cover and held low in a crouch moving along the row of crates as the guard focused on something else. Prowler easing my steps forward as I avoided any stray rock or rotted chunk of wood that would give me away. I held my breath as I moved to squeeze past him, coming close enough to reach out and touch the man if I’d wanted to. But I kept moving, keeping my body directly behind his head as he looked back at the space I’d just passed over.
Letting out a quiet sigh of relief as I rounded a crate to crouch behind. I consulted Mind Map’s picture of the space, double checking my options as I looked for the safest route to the alley’s exit. One that would take me past as few guards as possible. Bennett had moved to the far end of the space, closest to the exit. He was pacing around more than patrolling. Like a big angry cat waiting on a mouse. The other guards were notably less pissed off, but still doing their duties.
There was one path that would get me out of this alley but would also take me past several guards. I’d have to distract them.
Stalking forward my new Distraction Sub-skill whirred to life as it pulled together a plan. Almost unconsciously, my hand reached down and palmed a small rock. There was a gap I’d have to cross without any cover. To the side there was a guard who was getting close to rounding a bend ahead of me and spotting me. I flicked my hand out and pelted the rock in a light toss behind the man before he could spot me. He turned around, club raised as he checked his surroundings.
I didn’t waste time and crossed the gap between the crates across from me with a silent roll that put me on the other side. My heart pumping loud at the thought of being found. Thinking stealthy thoughts, I weaved my way around more crates as guards moved around the alley. I paused as the guard nearest me swore in a frustrated huff turning to the guard he was searching with. “There’s no point to this. The Rouge’s clearly fled.”
His buddy raised an eyebrow. “And why do you think that?”
“He’s newly Awakened.” The guard said testily. As if that explained everything. “We would have found him within moments were he still here. There’s no conceivable way he could have hidden from all of us searching.”
“True.” The man agreed. “But he also shouldn’t have been able to outrun any of us. Don’t you have a speed type Attribute?”
The man glowered now. “He took us all by surprise, he didn’t outrun us. I’d have had him in the Cathedral had Powell not let him slip past.” Then he did something that really caught my attention. He raised a hand to his neck to the same tattoo Gregor had just under his chin and it sprung to life, becoming a glowing spiral of script that connected up to his mouth.
“No sign of him here Bennett!” The voice that left his mouth was amplified in the same way I’d heard as I was chased out of the Cathedral earlier.
“Then check over there!” Bennett shouted back not using the same megaphone trick for some reason. “My Skill says he’s still here!”
The guards moved away grumbling and I took my chance. Creeping through the spot they vacated and out towards the end of the alley. Hoping they wouldn’t chase me beyond their perimeter. I was almost through to the exit before my newfound instincts flared in my mind. With a smoothness I definitely hadn’t been capable of this morning I pulled open the lid of a turned over box and swept inside holding the lid just barely open to peek around me.
I felt more than saw the guards passing me by right outside my hiding spot. Coming from the same exit I’d been just about to waltz through. After a tense minute of waiting for any stragglers to pass and then even longer to make sure the coast was clear. I popped out and did my best stealth speed walk to the end of the alley. Leaving the guards behind as I Came out into the light of the late afternoon sun.
The street was clear of any hunting guards as I melted right into the crowd. Walking down the street with the mass of people. My eyes landed on the river again. The one that seemed to serve as the city’s highway. I shook my head in wonder at the thing. Flowing from building to building, there were even little rivers that broke off from it that split in other directions.
With the threat of capture by the guards behind me my body sagged as my adrenaline petered out. All those freshly forming bruises from my epic spill down the Cathedral’s steps making themselves known. It was actually a bit of an effort to keep pace with the crowd now. Even with my new points in Dexterity. I kept my head on a swivel as I walked, nervous that another patrol of guards might find me again. Thinking about how I was essentially on the run from the fantasy equivalent of cops made me feel even more wrung out. What the hell am I doing here? I’m not asking that in a metaphysical sense. If there was a higher power responsible for bringing me here it had clearly been scraping the bottom of the barrel. I mean what the hell do I do now? I’m a Rogue, or rather, a Spellbreaker that just so happens to be a Rogue. Something that’s apparently a big no-no here. Does that mean I can’t get jobs? Oh God, do I need to get a job? I groaned at the thought and ran a hand through my hair. Not at all exited to find out where I fit in the high fantasy job market. What did that leave me?
I looked over my Class and its Skills as I walked, frowning despite how much I liked the feeling of having them. The weight of what a Spellbreaker was and could be was almost a comforting weight in my chest. Small Blades, Sneak, and Meditation humming quietly in the back of my head. Now that I had a moment to breathe I gave a moment to how each Skill seemed to…was itch the right word?
My fist was slowly clenching and unclenching, over and over as Small Blades kept trying to find the handle of a knife. So, I moved next to a building and flattened my hand against it. Trying to suppress the wave of discomfort I felt at realizing I wasn’t carrying any knives on me. At the same moment I stopped moving Sneak flared up to life in my head, imploring me to keep moving with the crowds and use them as cover. Meditation on the other hand was trying to push me into a lotus position on the ground. Trying to convince me that sitting down in the middle of a crowded street to center my thoughts was the best idea ever.
“Ugh.” I grunted. Holding my other hand to my head as I pushed back against the sensations. “Okay. Find some magic Tylenol first. Then find someone who can explain…” I looked at the city pointedly.
“Everything.”
I would have loved to have stopped for a moment to get my bearings, but I wouldn’t get that chance. As if the universe itself decided that I hadn’t had enough yet. I watched as a guardsman rounded the corner. And despite the distance between us my eyes widened as they locked with Gregor, the prismatic shimmer I’d seen once before in his eyes going hard with recognition.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” I said as I turned around and started running. I glanced over my shoulder and my eyes almost bulged out of my head as Gregor started sprinting towards me. Terminator style.
Whatever lead I’d had over Gregor being separated by a whole ass street was eaten up in a matter of moments. Without any convenient alleyways in sight, I darted towards the open building to my right.
Like I’d seen before, the bottom of this building was entirely open to the air. The building above it supported by massive pillars adorned with colorful frescoes. Brought to life by the shimmering sunlight refracted through the winding river of water in the sky. With a barely formed plan of escape in my head I started making my way up the nearest staircase. The magically amplified shouts of Gregor behind me warning people out of his way as he pursued me. I made it onto the first landing and upon seeing the river still floors above me I kept climbing.
“There’s nowhere to run Toby!” The shout thundered through to me as I ran. Gregor was catching up to me and I’d only have one shot to make this work.
“Just come in peacefully! It doesn’t have to be like this son!” I had just made it to the fourth floor when I saw what I needed. The wide open balconies that stretched out over the street. I could no longer see the floating river of water above so that must mean that it was below, right?
I ran towards the balcony knowing I’d need the momentum to jump into the river and not splatter onto the street like an idiot. I heard Gregor make the top of the stairs and cry out in alarm as I reached the balcony and…
Okay. Honestly in my head it seemed like a great plan. An epic swan dive into the great big river in the sky as guards shake their fists at me as I floated away. It would have been perfect. Just one problem.
I, unfortunately. Am not an action hero.
So instead of speeding up at the edge of the balcony I panicked as my brain cut through my adrenaline-fueled haze to slap me upside the head with preservation instincts. My arms windmilled as even my extra points in Dexterity weren’t enough to arrest my momentum enough to keep me from hitting the low balcony wall and tip over.
My arms reached out desperately for the ledge as I fell away from it. There was a single instant of pure mind blanking terror before I slammed into something solid. The sudden pain of the impact only encouraging my arms to grip tighter to the stone sculpture that had saved my life.
Looking down just like they tell you not to do if you’re scared of heights. I shook at the wave of vertigo at watching my feet dangle five stories above the street below. Frantically I clambered up to kneel on the side of a massive stone sculpture of an angelic woman. I’d been hanging off the side of her outstretched arm. I shimmied closer to her shoulder and once my feet met solid stone I relaxed ever so slightly.
“Do you want to die you fool!” Gregor shouted from above safe on the balcony as he stared down at me wide eyed. “The Blackwater Syndicate don’t give a damn if your alive or dead! But I do!” Gregor put one boot on the edge of the balcony’s rail as he made to climb up over it.
The statue had angelic feathered wings that instead of training behind her curved forward along her outstretched arms. I looked down and saw that the river was still below me. Less so now that I was below the balcony and any jump towards it would be dangerous without a running start like I’d had before. But if I jumped from the edge of the wings…
“Just tell me who put you up to this! And I’ll do what I can to get you fair treatment!” He said trying to talk me down as I slowly inched towards the edge of the statue’s wings.
“Look man. I’m sorry!” I said honestly. “I just got here and I had no idea any of this was real! I was being really stupid and insulted the pope because he was being mean to a fox!” I was rambling and getting closer to the edge of the wings. I felt a spike of anger at the people who were crowding around the balcony and watching from the ground. Bastards. What the hell are you looking at?
As I forced myself to get closer to the edge my mouth had been running completely on autopilot. “…and my boss was yelling at me and I got fired so when the numbers started going up and isekai’d me here I was like ‘this is fine.’ And I…I…I just really don’t want to get thrown into a dungeon alright!” I stammered out in a panicked rush.
Gregor’s face was a mass of confusion during my entire rant but the moment I said dungeon he stiffened. And his face grew red with anger. “The Shield Guard would never threaten a man with a Dungeon sentence. We are nothing like those Elven savages! Whoever has forced you into that Class will not be able to harm you in our custody. You have my word!”
“No dungeon?” I said irrationally hopeful. Maybe there was still a way for me to come out on top and explain this whole mess of a situation without getting thrown into some fantasy super jail.
“Yes. The cells on the east quarter are not pleasant by any means but they’ll be more than enough to-”
“How is that different than a dungeon!” I shouted. Was he playing a game with me? Oh no good sire, it's not a dungeon. It’s our finest hole in the ground complete with two pieces of straw you can pretend are a bed and our highly rated poop bucket. I was no history major. But I distinctly remember the myriad of torture devices and human rights violations that were medieval dungeons. Nope. Nu-uh. I’ll take my chances with gravity thank you very much.
“Wha…” The man seemed at a loss for words before coming back at me. “You're not making sense son! What are you talking about?”
I barely heard him as I turned back towards the edge again. Judging the distance to the river one last time before steeling my resolve. I kept repeating in my mind how I had three more points in Dexterity than I’d had this morning. That I could make the jump easily. That gap in between me and my getaway was nothing. Yup, barely an inconvenience…
“Don’t!” Gregor shouted.
With a massive heave I flung my body over the edge. Hearing multiple people cry out behind me as I jumped. I’d put my entire body behind that jump and with the enhanced agility I now had it easily helped me push out far enough from the building to fall into the river.
Before I hit the water, I flailed in the air trying to right myself into anything approaching a dive but it was no use. The water rushed up to meet me as I slammed into it full speed. My vision went dark for what I’d thought had only been a moment but when I opened my eyes, I was deep in the river. Twisting as the current caught and pulled at my body. I reflexively opened my mouth to take a breath and before I could come to my senses a bit of water went into my lungs. I writhed as I tried to fight the impulse to cough the water I’d inadvertently breathed. And frantically swam for the surface.
My head felt some resistance as I cleared the water and sucked in as much air as I could while also coughing my lungs out. I felt a stream of water flow up and rush past my head as I rapidly blinked my eyes open. Looking up, the vertigo was almost enough to empty my stomach.
I had hit the water hard enough to have sunk most of the way through it and instead of heading back up I must have gotten turned around and came out on the underside of the river. I was moving fast along the current as the street below raced by. I floundered as I tried to push myself back into the river. The glowing sigils that made up the bottom sparking and flickering against my hands as I swam against gravity. A small part of my brain made a note of the trail of leaking sigils I’d made that stretched back an entire city block before I got my head back in the river. Righting myself properly this time I swam upwards, the shadow of a boat drowning me in shadow as it passed above, and I broke the surface of the topside of the river.
Rather than try to tread water I flailed an arm up to grab the lip of a passing barge. Glad that it sat low enough in the water for me to pull my upper body onto it. I panted as I rested my bruised and abused body. My eyes taking a moment to register the blue text in my vision.
[You have broken a new Spell Form: Hydrolocked Containment Sigmata]
[You have not learned any Spell Splinters]
I dismissed the message. Too tired to try and understand what it meant. With a grunt of effort, I pulled the rest of my body onto the side of the barge. The rest of the space on it taken up by cargo of some kind. Without anyone chasing me I lay on my side and watched as the river I was on split apart. Relishing the break from the constant running. The river the barge took going away from the opulent buildings of the city’s center. The river dipped in elevation as the buildings surrounding it became more deteriorated and run down. With a gentle lurch the sky river connected to the ground, flowing like a normal river. It slowed down drastically compared to before, now moving at a sedate snail’s pace.
I closed my eyes as I lay on the barge. Spending the next few minutes doing absolutely nothing. I would have loved nothing more than to pass out right then and get a couple dozen hours of rest and relaxation. But life, being the asshole it was, never missed an opportunity to kick a guy while he’s down.
“Next shipment’s ‘ere boss!” said a loud voice somewhere on shore. My eyes snapped open as I watched the wide opening of a warehouse draw closer. It was massive. Built over the water it loomed over my impromptu ride covering me in shadows for a brief moment. Giving me enough time to get my shit together and squeeze into the innermost stacks of crates and cages. As the barge moved into the warehouse’s interior, I felt the tug of someone snagging a rope on the barge and pulling it into a dock. The glowing light of lanterns lighting up the boat as I tried to make myself as small as possible.
“Aight you mutts, get a move on! Shit ain’t gonna unload itself!” A raspy voice called out as I heard movement make its way towards the barge. I pressed myself into the wood of a crate as I peeked out through a gap. My gaze immediately locking on the six foot tall lupine humanoids stalking towards the barge. Even hidden in the mess of crates I could see the glint of inch long claws on them all as one of the wolves pressed ahead of the others. The white of dagger like fangs reflecting the light of the lanterns as it spoke. My stomach dropping as I heard it.
“This one is different.” He growled. His voice a rumbling thrum as he took another step. Yellow eyes shifting as they scanned the barge. Searching. “I smell… fear.”