Liam kept his head bowed as he placed the bouquet of flowers by the grave. His eyes had long since dried out of tears and his voice had ran out of things to say. All that remained to do was collect his scattered thoughts, one’s that had been drifting around his head since the accident. His fists clenched in rage when he thought of it, but the sight of his mother’s final resting place doused any feelings of anger with a hollow emptiness that he wasn’t sure would ever be filled.

Elizabeth Karr had spent the better part of her life looking out for him and he owed every bit of the man he was today to her. He had taken a job in a different city in the hopes that he could look after her like she had done him but in some twisted joke of fate he had been called back home after only 6 months to find her dead. With no one else to handle her affairs, the duty had fallen to him and until today he had not found the time to grieve.

A clap of thunder broke him out of his reverie and he looked about to see that there was no rain. Dark clouds covered the sky but no storm blew to explain the sound. Another rumble echoed through the empty cemetery, but this time it did not come from the sky but the ground instead. Loose pieces of gravel vibrated as the tremor passed beneath his feet. A third sound reverberated through his skull as the second faded, a menacingly low growl that physically shook him from head to toe. It lasted for only a few moments, but they stretched from the fear of the unknown that had sparked inside of him. Then, with a flash of light, words began to appear in front of him.

[System Initialising…]

[Host found…]

[Displaying Status…]

[

Name: Liam Karr

Race: Human (Earth)

Path: None

Class: None

Titles: None

Level: 0

HP: 110/110

Stamina: 130/130

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 10

Vitality: 11

Endurance: 13

Intelligence: 15

Willpower: 17

Free Attributes: 0

Traits:

None

Skills:

None

Powers:

None

]

Then, without warning, they were gone and Liam was met with a low wail from behind that made him turn around. A spectral form floated half a foot above the ground in the shape of a man. Its ghostly transparency made it hard to see its features but one thing was certain, it was looking at him. With another wail it lunged towards him, causing him to backpedal and almost trip over his own feet. Spectral hands grasped at him and he twisted instinctually to avoid them, spinning around in the process. Now facing away from whatever it was Liam found his feet under him and started to run. A frigid cold on the back of his neck let him know it was not far behind and he didn’t dare look back for fear of the action slowing him down. But just because he was looking forwards didn’t mean that he could see where he was going. Just as he had begun to gain pace he tripped over a headstone and was sent tumbling to the ground.

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In his panic he scrambled to grab something, anything, and happened upon a branch from a fallen tree. He snatched it up and spun round, swinging with the full force of the motion… only for it to go right through the ghostly entity. With no way for him to escape, it moved its hands into his chest, going right through his skin like it wasn’t even there, and placed its chill touch upon his heart. He felt its beat slow as a blinking box appeared in the corner of his vision. His eyes, frantically looking about to figure a way out of this situation glanced over it and it expanded to cover the centre of his sight.

[Status Effect Inflicted: Spectral Hold

Reduce Vitality by 0.5 for every second in contact with source.

You will die if Vitality reaches 0.

Recovers at 0.1 Vitality every second once removed from source.]

He scanned over it, the alien text heightening his fear even as he barely comprehended it. Still, after reading it he tried to see past it to figure a way to escape and to his surprise it disappeared. Then, as he once again caught sight of its hands through his chest, he came up with an idea. He simply got up. Passing through it cause him to be hit by a wave of cold, but adrenaline was carrying him now and he would not be stopped by a mere change in temperature. He took off again, leaping over a tombstone to get back onto the path and ignoring the wail that came from behind him.

A new notification popped up and he opened it for a second to glance over before dismissing it the same way he had the first.

[Willpower check passed, Hidden Status Effect: Fear defeated.]

His thoughts raced at the message but he grabbed that part of him and through it to the back of his mind. He could figure out what was going on later but for now he needed to escape his spectral stalker. He raced towards the cemetery exit, warmth slowly returning to his body now that he was free of the Spectral Hold. He passed between rows upon rows of tombstones before the gates came into view. There was just one problem, what had just been another part of the graveyard before was now a gaping crevice that stretched as far as he could see in each direction, a split in the earth that spanned several times further than he could jump, and he was running right for it.

He made to turn left, but he spotted a group of spectres similar to the one chasing him watching him with malice from the sidelines. He then looked right to see a pair of large, red eyed, starving dogs sniffing around some of the tombstones. Neither side looked like a direction he wanted to go in and a low wail from behind spurred him onwards, fear gripping his heart as if the ghost were upon him once again.

Adrenaline pumped through him as he grew closer and closer to the gaping wound in the earth, fighting against the unnatural fear that had a hold over him. He had no choice than to keep running forwards since turning left or right wasn’t an option and his traitor of a mind wouldn’t even entertain the thought of turning back around and running back through his pursuer. That left him with two options, stand still and let the malicious supernatural being catch up, or keep moving forward. It was obvious which he would choose.

Still, the fact it was his only option didn’t solve the issue he was quite literally running into. In a couple dozen more paces he would run out of ground to cover, so he had to come up with something quick. He was close enough to see into the crevice now and he could make out a dim blue light that lit up the walls. He noticed that the sides slanted downwards towards whatever was emitting the light and a plan came to mind.

He reached deep within him to find the resolve to do what had to be done and was surprised when he found it. Either the situation he was in had unearthed something about himself or he didn’t really consider any of this real but he would take what he could get. He was at the crevice in the next few seconds and instead of stopping he stepped off the edge, leaning backwards to attempt a slide instead of a fall. Rocks dug into his back as he succeeded, sparing a glance upwards before he picked up too much speed. The spectre seemed to hit some sort of invisible barrier when it tried to follow him down and so stopped there to stare down at him. He grinned back up at it as another notification appeared at the corner of his vision.

Luckily, the crevice wasn’t too deep and he reached the bottom quite quickly, only a few moments passing from the start of his slide until the end. He bent his knees to absorb the shock of the landing but still felt a jolt that shook his whole body and made his teeth clack together painfully. Another notification appeared below the first, blinking to get his attention but it would have to wait. In front of him was another creature from the fantasy books and from how it stepped towards him he could guess that its intentions were the same as the last he had met. Advancing upon him was a bone axe wielding skeleton with blue light spilling from its skull and joints, and it did not look happy to see him.