I made my way back up the tunnel and into the room. I turned over my ideas for how I was going to do this, and tiring not to second guess myself ...again. It only took five minutes for me to second guess everything that I resolved to do.

I sighed and bemoaned my lack of conviction in the face of big choices. Admittedly choices that could end up with me dead or worse. But this was the situation and so far everything has slipped into places that I don’t want to go.

So I continued until the once-doorway and found everything exactly as I had left it. The single burning brazier still lit the room and the non-flammable that just sat in the other bowl. Truthfully if I didn’t know any better I would say that it looked just like water from here. It’s clear appearance belying the not so subtle damage that it could cause at any moment.

I surveyed my equipment and tools and went over the more concrete plan for a way to carry this thing in my head. It would cost me a lot in the way of resources in the short run mainly in swords. But by my estimate, that meant almost nothing at this point, I could keep my undamaged blade and one more, before metal would become a problem. Or maybe not, maybe I had plenty and was overestimating. I would be the first to admit that this was not in my wheelhouse. We would just have to see.

My plan was a straight forward idea. I needed a way to carry these bowls around with me, without actually carrying them. I couldn’t drag them along, because while that would be ideal, they could spill over and then I would be in trouble. So I wanted something more stable. Nothing I could think of was without inherent downsides and the plan I chose was no exception.

But maybe this was wrong too. Again it came down to information. Whether I could move out of here and find somewhere else relatively secure and be able to get there, was still up in the air for now. For all, I knew I could be in the middle of these creatures lair and have no way out through miles of unending hallways, and if that was the case anything I did to try and carry along more stuff would just become a hindrance and I would have to drop it.

That brought me up short. If that was the case carrying just the one brazier would cover everything that I needed really. I could just leave the rest here. This room appeared out of the way if the two corridors that I had seen were anything to go by. And the fact that they had remained even after the monogreels took everything that had came with me, said that they must have had some idea what they were already.

I had already started getting all the metal together as I had these thoughts. My original plan was to forge a sled out of melted blades and the wooden poles for support. But now, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go through with that. My decision to move forward had remained of course staying here was continuous death from dehydration, in the best case, and that was not an option.

That doubt was stronger now that the rush from surviving whatever had happened with that energy. Now that I was feeling a little more like myself I saw that even though I still had that same sentiment extreme measures that I was considering were more than a little dangerous.

Doorways. That is what stopped me now. There was no guarantee that the door and pathways would be of similar or larger size to the seld. That would also be a huge problem if I had to retreat fast and keep all my weapons. I would have to leave them.

There had to be another option.

I thought about what I needed. Could I forge gear? The plate of metal that I had envisioned would have been rather simple, the tricky part would have been molding the surface to hold the braziers and finding a way to pull it. Anything more complex than that would be pushing the limit of what I could fumble my way through.

And then what would I make? There were no good options besides, armor and even then I wasn't sure I could move at all in what would have to be plate armor. Badly made plate armor at that. I had no training in any particular weapon, so any weapon was equally likely to be useful in my hands.

I tapped my chin in thought meandering about the room. Another part of my mind entirely had drifted to the structure that was apart of me. It was physically a part of me, I could feel it inside my body. At the same time, the feeling of the whole structure that existed in the back of my mind was not routed in my physical understanding but seemed to be superimposed over me. It moved with me and easily conformed to all parts of my body where it flowed mainly through my hands and torso.

The complex interplay of shapes and seemingly random patterns were cool looking. And meant absolutely nothing to me, I only knew what my character had been doing in-game at the time and it was an easy bet that they did the same thing. Not a sure bet, but I was willing to take that chance. But besides it simply being there it did nothing, I didn't have the same control over it as before. What was wet clay before was now fired and glazed. A finished product.

My momentary excitement over the thing had died down again and now I was focused on the side benefits that I had gained from the experience. Fortunately whatever doubts I had had about magic, were now effectively quashed my stubborn resistance had no ground to stand on after that ordeal.

Everything had felt real as now and I hadn't for a moment thought it was anything but a situation where I had put my life at risk because of ignorance. But that seemed to be a running theme in my new life, and I didn't see that ending as much as I would like it to.

Even the prospect of getting more of that cooling-energy... damn I couldn't keep calling it that now that I was out of danger. Things needed to have names, especially since I was most likely going to have to deal with it again eventually.

...'FIUAD'... yes that's what I would call it. Fuck-It-Up-And-Die. Direct, vulgar enough to grab my attention and a good reminder of today's lesson.

Frustrated I threw my hands up and sighed. I needed to keep that ideology from before but needed to be smarter about it as well. Unsatisfied I left the room once again and walked back to the brazier that still had the torch in it. I grabbed the torch and pulled it from the fire.

Only as the fresh surge of heat rolled over me did I realize that more than just the end had been in the fire and the wooden top section burned away. The metal head hit the ground with a clink and rolled way still burning with fire and leaving a small trail of flames itself as it went.

I almost screamed in frustration, keeping it in and swallowing my self-pity and recrimination. Slowly I followed after the end as it came to a stop. I had suspected that this metal was what had provided the fire, through some magical and altogether different method than the braziers did.

What they did share was an apparent immunity to heat. Or at least a heat conversion of astronomically high that even magical ever-burning flames couldn't heat the outside. Unlike the flames of the brazier, these did put out heat, once outside of whatever magical influence that the bowl had on fire, they seemed to be just regular flames.

Could this be useful? That was the golden question of the day.

I stood over the cap and contemplated it. It seemed to be stuck on the top of the stick and I could still see the bit of wood inside the end that hadn't been affected by the flames. That probably meant the inside was at least partially protected from the heat as to not destroy the wood.

I punted it back across the wall with the stick. Ugg... if I could only see...

I was back where I had started. Leaving behind most everything that I had collected for some uncertain venture it to the unknown. I growled. Unwilling to go and knowing I had to. Thirst would soon become a problem.

What I needed was to find my backpack. That was probably the best idea I had had. I wasn't even sure if it was still around. It contained drinking water, breakfast bars, my phone, and was a bag. I still wouldn't be able to see, but it would be a huge start. My phone was most likely useless now, but the rest would be worth having.

If the tunnels continued to be like what I had seen eventually I would have to fight again and I was not looking forward to that. I paced back and forth in the small tunnel and looked into the darkness beyond the light.

Time ticked on and no answers came to me. Then something snapped within me. I picked up the brazier with one hand and scooped the torch head into in. Dumped the branch into the flames, steadied the sword on my shoulder as I rested the brazier on my hip.

Then I walked steadily not thinking or listening to the voice that screamed in my mind, its desperate pleas falling on deaf ears as I marched with determination in the direction of the illuminated cave. Soon I passed the body and the voice was so loud that it contested with my thoughts in the depth of my mind. But I recognized it now something was influencing my emotions ... again.

Not something apparent as the almost failure in forming the structure had done, it was more subtle than that. I was not sure where the root for this was, but as before the influence grew more apparent as I resisted it. I marched against my mind, unable to say where the strength to do so came from.

Something in that moment was like a sudden rush of clarity the veil fell and for a split second, I had seen past the enforced indecisiveness in my head. A headache started to bloom as I walked on reaching the end of the tunnel and where I had turned back last time. An ice pick was being driven into my skull when I took that last step across the threshold. But a track of my mind held on. The pain grew with each step and slowly all parts of my mind were being consumed by the sourceless agony.

My vision darkened around the edges, I tasted a coppery tang in my mouth, blood most likely. My vision faded more after that, becoming a pinprick that matter not at all as I could not see already. My body moved on autopilot. The only thought was to end the influence on my mind.

Crossing that room was herculean labor. Mental labor, of course, I didn't think I had it in me to do a physical one. Then a thread snapped and I felt the backlash as awareness came rushing back to me and the pain faded. I collapsed to a knee. Out of breath for what felt like the hundredth time in just a few hours, as new challenges had been throwing themselves at me left and right.

It only took me a minute to catch my breath and stand up again. I wasn't physically exhausted this time, and whatever fatigue I felt quickly recovered while I was outside of whatever influence I was under.

I stood and looked around this new tunnel. The rock was a noticeably lighter shade of gray here and the smell. There were a thousand unidentifiable scents in the air. I hadn't noticed before but where I have had to breathe stale air for some time now.

I didn't look back as I started forward. Knowing that I probably would come back at some point was enough for me.

I maintained a steady if slow pace as to not miss anything of these tunnels, even if so far they had been boring at best and fatal at worst. To say that I was being cautious, was to say nothing at all.

This tunnel was relatively straight until it wasn't. The first twenty yards beyond the entrance were flat and even. Then came a turn to the right, as soon as I rounded the bend the tunnel began sloping downward and began winding out of sight.

So I began walking down it. After I rounded the first corner, I finally saw something that was new. A beam of light cut across the darkness of the tunnel, the open entrance to a room was visible even from here.

As I got closer I noted that the light seemed relatively steady and didn't flicker as the firelight I had with me did. I moved in a half-crouch next to the wall that the light spilled from. It was my luck really that I hadn't run into another patrol. I was beginning to think I might be wrong about those patrols anyway. Surely enough time had passed between when I first was killed to now that there should have been another one if they were on any regular schedule that is.

The other option was they were just two different roving bands that happened across me. That was seeming more and more likely, and what I thought was a guard had to have been some trailing scout or something.

I peeked into the room then instantly pulled back. I didn't get a good look at anything just enough to check for any enemies inside. There were none.

That was good. I stepped inside taking in the room more thoroughly. The room was well lit but I couldn't find the light source. Until I looked up. A familiar bowl shape only on a much large scale caught my attention. Maybe five times larger than the three I had or found or whatever.

I circled the base and saw that it was suspended like a chandelier, by chains from the ceil. The more powerful light and its scattering off the walls must have limited the flicker that a fire normally provided.

There were some other interesting things in the room as well. There was one wall that was much more craggy than the others as if that one had been left as is when the room was excavated and the rest were smoothed out.

There was also a glowing rock, on the other wall adjoining the badly cut face. It pulsed almost undetectably in the brightly lit room, with an inner light that was. It was a bright white stone and didn't have any other apparent purpose.

I was unwilling to drop anything scared as I was of a sudden encounter. I studied the white stone in the wall for a second, but unlike what I expected I couldn't see anything on there that might have been a rune. The plain wall just wasn't that interesting and while the massive lamp atop the room was no doubt filled with the same liquid fire that had been both a blessing and a curse to me, I was already struggling to carry my one out of three and still be able to do anything else. There was no way that I could take that monstrosity anywhere, even if I figured out how to get it down. And to tell the truth to myself at least, I didn't want it anyway. I didn't need another problem in my life.

I was about to turn back to the white stone and had already started to lift the sword of my shoulder when the hair on the back of my neck stood on need. It felt like it was trying to jump off my neck. I spun around and instantly noticed that something was happening in the room.

I felt the tell-tale build-up of power tickle my senses, and a visible dark stain was appearing in points all over the room. I didn't stick around any longer and quickly jogged around the edges of the room to get out. In the process spilling some liquid-fire and receiving some new burns on my skin. The flash was gone so soon that I barely noticed to pain.

Once I was through the door. I lay my brazier down next to me and get close to the wall to watch what happens inside the room. Whatever was going on in there was serious...magic I guess. That was pretty much an all-encompassing term, right?

Slowly the stain spread outwards. The amorphous blobs began taking on a definite shape.

I got a sinking feeling just then. Something tickled my mind, a thought that was yet to be had, an intuition that grated at not being known. The shapes continued to grow and grow outward. Before splitting off and beginning to grow downward.

Then it stretched up and grew into a tall form. Then the arms. It was obvious at the point that was forming was a god damned monogreel. A whole fresh squad of them.

I moved further behind the cover of the wall and set down the sword and took up the brazier carrying it on my shoulder and staying as close to the wall as possible.

I resisted the urge to douse them right away. Despite the risk and the inherent dangers, I was curious. These creatures were spawned in. That meant the dungeon idea that had been so appalling to me before was becoming more and more likely.

The process took a little time. But eventually, the new squad formed and were standing and grunting, completely naked this time, and looking about confusedly. Then the white stone lit up bright flashed.

They all were blinded and howled as the light blasted out, eventually, the howls stopped and I heard the mad scramble of feet. Inside the room, the eight monogreels were fighting and smashing into each other to get to the stone. They didn't seem to speak at all this time. The steady thump of flesh on flesh as they attempted to beat each other to within an inch of life was chaotic and brutal. I didn't think that they were trying to kill each, maybe they were like chickens, trying to determine a pecking order?

The first guy that got knocked out was pushed to the side by the movements of the others. They literally kicked him to the curb. With an uneven number, the chaos of the fight increased. They had no recognizable skill and didn't seem to behave like they knew more than how to swing their fists about wildly.

Even given that I still didn't think I could beat them in any sort of fight planning, strategy and good use of tools could help me only so far. I still had to be careful if anything this all out nothing held back brawl that they jumped into the moment they saw each other proved that as much as I looked down upon them. They still had the advantage than me in at least two areas, raw physical ability and numbers.

After the first guy went down the fight was relatively short, each time a monogreel feel the ones fighting ended up closer together. They never fought two against one. It took me a while to notice that, but after I did it became clearer with the exchanges.

Soon it was down to the last two. These were naturally the biggest and toughest looking ones out there. That surprised me as they had looked pretty similar when they had spawned none had stood out as these did now.

Normally I would have discounted it as a trick of the mind, or me not taking a good look. However, this was a magical world now, as I had learned from painful experience I could discount nothing. Maybe there was more to this brawl than simply violence and dominance.

As the last two wailed on each other I watched but couldn't see any changes happening, besides the obvious and when one fell the last didn't seem to be in great shape. But he didn't slow down and made his way to the white stone.

Belatedly I realized that this was a perfect opportunity. I turned the corner and raised my sword. And watched as the last man standing put his hands on the stone and sank to his knees, strength finally giving way.

I contemplated what it was I was thinking about doing. They were all down and posed no immediate threat to me, and this one even had his back turned. Did I want to kill them like this? Could I? It was one thing to act at the moment, adrenaline-pumping heart racing, life literally hanging on by a thread of chance, but another entirely to think about attacking what amounted to unconscious people.

Were they people? I wasn't sure, I had seen them appear out of the air, yes, did that make them less of people somehow, even youths. They didn't look or act like youths. But how was I supposed to know?

There was another softer flash of light and the last-man-standing was bathed in light. This was the time to strike, his back was turned and his focus on something else. He turned and walked to the wall that looked like the surface of the moon. Placing a hand on the stone.

For a second nothing happened then slowly very slowly the wall began to ripple and morph. The stone slowly began to flow across the face to his hand. I watched transfixed as I saw someone performing some magic right in front of me. I almost forgot why I had come in here in the first place.

I raised my sword high and walked silently lifting my feet and padded into the room. He wouldn't see me coming, and I had to believe that after two deaths at the hands of these creatures that they were hostile to me for whatever reason. Could I risk not attacking in this moment of weakness?

My indecision almost cost me before, almost breaking my sanity before I had overcome it. I stood and two deceive steps forward before pulling the blade over my head with as much force as I could bring to bear buried the curved end segment down into the back of its head. He collapsed without a sound, pulling the blade out of my grip as he went.

Red light flared and I watched it fade. There was no source and the only way that I could tell it had left him and entered me was that I saw the shimmer of light flow up the blade. I was not sure what it was, of course.

But I was not done.

I wrapped a shaky hand around the blade. Then another, I squeezed until my hands turned white and slowly moved the blade. I tried not to see the drip of gore and brains that coated the end. Tried and failed.

After that one, it was easier. I went around the room and brained all the monogreels. This was no different than what they did to me when I first got here. They are monsters, I saw them spawn for goodness sake. That's what they were dungeon mobs.

That was made easier as well by the red light the flared and flowed with each stab, after the first couple I focused on that instead of the deed itself and tried to figure out what it could be.

I couldn't bring myself the quite believe it even as I repeated the reasonable mantra in my head.

' we are at war. we are at war. they started the war. I was defenseless both times they attacked first. Once is personal, twice is a pattern.'

Like that, I slowly got through the grisly task. I had always known that I wasn't quite a good person, this only seemed to prove that on some level I was always right.

When I was finished I went outside the room. Needing something else to look at for a while.

As I sat there I felt the now familiar and terrifying cooling sensation of FIUAD as it slipped around the corner and up my arm. I was terrified to think of anything. The experience with my rampant emotions had left a vivid reason why not.

So as with the first time I had received this, without knowing what it was I let it travel into me, then through my body to that other space. I let my mind blank for a good twenty minutes before examining myself for that telltale feeling.

It was gone.

Breathing out a sigh, I focused internally on the structure I had built inside myself using the FIUAD. I hadn't been able to make anything out of it before. Now I focused on it and tried to pry apart its secrets.

I was starting with an advantage, I reasoned, I can at least assume for now that it will perform at least similar to the game, right? Well, I had to start from somewhere and that seemed the most logical. Even given the circumstances.

It took a minute for me to grasp the whole pattern as it existed inside me. The fine detail was not apparent in the memory but made obvious using the wire-thin strands of FIUAD.

The two spells that were active in the memory were the charge cast and the runic empowerment cycle. Neither of those did much without some third spell to cast after, however, they could be activated at least then not used. The power would dissipate and the runes would fade.

I had absolutely no idea how to activate them when it wasn't hot-keyed and macroed to hell. Now in a real body, I was at a complete loss. I reasoned that mana was the issue. I had none. And Illoya had bucket and buckets full. So did Hiron, who later become known as DreadKnaught. Too bad that I wasn't either one of them right now, as they could breeze out of here.

I the pattern mostly consisted of twists and spirals that looped together and ran along my arms, right down the center then coming back up and filling my torso with much the same. There was an odd patch of much stricter spherical shapes that were scattered throughout. They seemed to have a much more rigid design to them, almost, and I tentatively labeled them as the runic portion of the structure. It was hard to tell though as at the time I had them running concurrently and it seemed that the structure was interconnected at serval points in each of the five different spheres, which in turn supported the whole thing.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

My musings were interrupted when the soft pounding of many feet came from down the tunnel. The muttering guttural language a dead give away for what I would find coming round the corner any second now.

I jumped to my feet and brandished the sword. Before I snapped to my senses and lay it in easy reach on the wall and grabbed the brazier up. Holding the two edges palm down and ready to try and improve the technique of throwing liquid fire on my enemies.

My main weapon was not just the fire, but also surprise. So I decided to take the initiative again. I jogged lightly and rounded the corner, using what I could see of the torchlight as a guide to how far the leading creature was from around the bend.

When I rounded the corner I came face to face with a creature, its one eye widening in surprise, even as I pushed the bowl forward with all my strength.

It was much closer than I expected and with my shove, I made contact with his chest.

That was bad. Because of course now he wouldn't burn, quickly as I could I threw myself back and away. With the fire-altering metal gone, the tunnel exploded with heat, as I turned around the corner. I backed up quickly knowing that I had made a huge miscalculation.

I was thankful for the screams that I heard, as it gave me a sense that I did more than one person in damage.

The problem was that when I rounded the corner and pushed out it hit the chest of one of the monogreels. He was so startled that he hadn't reacted in time to get me. However, the moment that I had used so effectively in the past to distribute the liquid-fire and catch multiple enemies in the initial wave was gone.

I was sure that the first guy in the line was gone, having received most if not all the liquid fire. How many would come around the corner had yet to be seen. I had no time to berate myself over the mistake and prepared myself to fight a losing battle.

I willed myself calm. Nothing but my luck and my forward-thinking would win me this fight.

I had known that at some point that something would go wrong with my plans, whichever one I had chosen, and minimizing that risk was one of my goals. It seemed I had failed pretty spectacularly.

I could see the fire from around the corner and some even spilled over. Should I run for it? Is this enough of a delay to get out of sight?

Then a monogreel charged round the corner. Or staggered in more accurate. His sword was not up and he was pounding his feet on the ground, desperately trying to put out the fire that licked at his soles.

He saw me and his eye locked on me, finding the source and now outlet for his rage and pain. He advanced on me, lunging no doubt aiming to skewer me. It was a very similar situation as to what had happened before, except instead of being on my knees with already fatal injury, I was now holding a weapon while the creature was on fire.

This time would be different.

I backpedaled quickly and held the sword stiffly in-front of my body ready to ward off the oncoming rush. I wasn’t sure how much damage the fire was doing or would do, but right now he was still standing. The tunnel wasn’t big enough for the massive arcing swings that I had used before.

Just then the momentum of his charge ebbed, whether he had run out of steam or something I wasn’t sure but this was my opening. Almost in an attempt to copy his lunge, I did the same, although at this point I was only at about two meters from him. My heart was pounding as my mind registered the sword that was barely a foot away from my chest.

I ran forward swatting at the blade with my own, then hold it in two hands and then stabbed out. I closed my eyes involuntarily as the blade crossed the distance, at the last second I managed to open them. Just in time to see my sword impale the creature.

It screamed out arcing its back and throwing back its head. I followed through almost, on accident and dragged the blade down with all the strength I could muster. Red light again started to flow. It was faint and almost unnoticeable even in the gloom.

I celebrated for a single second, mentally high-fiving myself, but was interrupted when another one came around the corner. I had forgotten about the others.

“Focus fool, “ I muttered to myself and then the first one collapsed in-front of me, entrails spilling out the bottom of what used to be his torso. These two had the liquid-fire on and around there feet as well, although they didn’t seem to be as badly affected as the first one. I pulled back yet again into, what I hoped was, a fighting stance. A little bend in the knees straight back and trying to take in both attackers at once.

I was positive I could not take both of them at once. So I quickly tried to think of a plan. They seemed wary of me, or maybe just trying to wear out the fire on their feet. I watched the burn and turned the sword around in my grip.

I had seen javelin throwing done before but never attempted it myself. I held my ground and maintained my patience waiting for what I thought was about to come. I had seen it, I think, something registered to me that I should watch that back guy a little he was my target.

I noted the position of the first monogreel’s sword on the ground, about three meters to my left still resting underneath it’s fallen owners hand.

Just as I was about to second guess my intuition it happened. The one in the front made a little cry and his ankle gave out with the leg he stepped with. And of course, the one in the back noticed, his eyes jumping to this wounded companion. I threw.

I had not known I could throw that fast with such a heavy object. As soon as I released the sword I dove/fell for the new one I had seen. I heard the roar and hoped that meant I had hit something. This new sword was slightly wider and had no curve at the end and looked much more like a long sword from a fantasy movie if of course, that fantasy move had a truly realistic amount of blood and gore.

It took me a second or two to worm the hilt free of his hand and bring it round to face my enemies once again. The one who had succumbed to the damage down by the fire was recovering from the pain a little quick for my liking and was already on his feet if a bit unsteady. I focused on him and charged forward, blade leading, screaming in terror and rage.

He still seemed a bit stunned and couldn’t react in time to my sword stabbing up through his neck. I was shocked, not having expected him to die so easily. The now expected red light, and I pulled my blade free as the body collapsed.

I finally saw the result of my through. The blade was tuck through his upper thigh and he was limping quite heavily. His other hand gripped the handle and tried to remove it even as he went. That confirmed for me that they were both inhumanly tenacious and pretty stupid in this regard.

I felt my heartbeat increase yet again as I realized that I was the one who held the advantage yet again. I stepped back, avoiding the arms of the first guy as I watched this third approach me, all the while he got weaker and weaker.

A supremely alien feeling welled up in me as I found myself wanting to be the one that ended his life. Not his stupidity, my blade and my will that was what he would die by. I growled and stalked forward.

I could even register the surprise on his face as the change came over me. The first swing I took was not at his body and I ignored the sword he raised high as my blade connected with the one in his leg.

the blade ripped up and the incoming strike was thrown completely wide as I stepped back slightly. The blade had sliced almost completely through the leg. He fell heavily on to it, the oddly positioned blade making its way inside of his chest.

“YOU want to KILL ME!” I slammed my blade’s edge into his face and he fell back.

“Again.” slam. “And AGAIN!” slam. “I. WON'T. FUCKING. LET. YOU.” I punctuated each word with a mighty chop of the blade. “I. WANT. TO. LIVE.” slam. slam. slam. crack.

Something crunched and as I drew back my arm for another swing another couple of monogreels rounded the corner. I roared at them. My voice raw from the screeching, but still filled with bass and fury. These two who had been pretty uninjured by the fire. paused for a moment before dropping their weapons.

The turned and ran, almost falling over each other as they made their mad scramble for the exit tunnel. I gave chase to these foul beasts, screaming madly as I closed in on them. I jumped over a couple of bodies as they passed out of sight.

I stopped and fell heavily against the wall. Those last few moments had been a bit of a blur and I slumped against the wall surrounded by the dead. Exhaustion quickly rendered me unable to move and I barely noticed that energy enter me again. I let it settle again out of my reach.

The world spun around me and I felt that I was on the verge of unconsciousness. I pushed myself over that edge.

I was blissfully free of dreams.

<><><>

Allios stood above a field of battle. The screams and wails of the dying mixed with the desperate rage of the defenders as they tried to beat back the oncoming hordes. The Endless, the most ancient of enemies from back before the beginning of time. Or so the ancients said anyway.

Allios didn’t believe it. People were proven to romanticize their enemies, pushing them further and further away from themselves. To kill them and feel like they were doing something right. In this case, whether they were really from the before time was largely unimportant. They were powerful enough for that to be true.

Not all, of course, the incursion that was happening in front of them was one of the rather weaker creatures that spilled onto the world. Weaker was a relative term, of course, most of the creatures were from the first three circles were fodder to him that could be blown out like a candle in his very presence. Anything above the fourth would require him to look in that direction.

That being said he stood above the battlefield without moving, waiting for anything that would prove difficult for the champions to handle. He could see them in the distance, this was an important test of their mettle and would prove to be instrumental in bringing out their full potential. That was one reason these creatures were called Endless. It was difficult for him to not act, as he watched over the defense.

Occasionally the wall on the city below suffered a moment of struggle before a wave of power would wash away the few enemies before they could establish a proper foothold inside the defenders. They would win the day, as it was now at least.

The flap of wings blew a gust of wind around him. Allios enjoyed the air as the smell of death that lingered here was blown away, temporarily. He didn’t turn around already guessing who it was that came up to him.

“Your Holiness.” Valiea’s light voice reached him, just as he suspected, his head Valkyrie was not above checking on him now and again. “How goes the day?”

“Enough, Valiea. You know full well how I fell about that title.” Allios’ voice was smooth as silk even as he faced away from the kneeling beauty, dismissing her greeting without further comment.

“We will win this day... if nothing greater shows up.” The last part was almost a mutter.

Valiea took in the posture of her father and walked up next to him. “Something troubles you again Father. Will you tell me?”

“I can smell the coming battle. It was a toxic wind that blows from the depths of the abyss, something is coming here.” He confidently says.

Valiea frowns, “ahhh... I see that you have taken to repeating Clarisa. Please, Father, don’t. You just sound ridiculous.” She sighed out a heavy breath, holding back laughter.

“Eh! What I sounded dramatic and mysterious! You wound me, fair daughter.” He paused and ignored the snort of badly suppressed laughter from behind him. Feeling his chuckle flow out. then he becomes serious again. “You are right, of course. Clarisa has seen that something powerfully will come through this breach before we can close it.”

“So that is why you are staying out of this battle, I thought you were behaving unusually carefully today.” Just then Allios’ hand twitches and a wave of power rolls down the hill.

“I’m helping ... see” he gestures to the wall where soldiers who were about to be overwhelmed suddenly find their opponents simply gone.

“Yes well, there is something I have discovered that we must speak about after the battle.” Her tone is mysterious and light at the same time.

“Oh?” Allios has puts a bit more attention on her without taking his eyes from the battle happening below. Thinking for a minute his voice comes out almost too casually, “This is to do with...Anya’s...situation?”

“Yes. After a thorough investigation, I can confirm that she seems to be sneaking around with a man she seems to have found wandering the streets one day.” The much lighter topic puts Valiea in a better mood as well as thinking about her sisters' antics. “I believe she still thinks it is a secret. It’s cute how she thinks to hide something like this from her big sister.”

“Wait. Wait. This person. He is from here, then.”He gestures around, indicating everything around them. “The mortal planes.” It was not a problem just more surprising to think about.

“Yes, it appears so. I believe that he is a lesser nobility from one of the Faye people, maybe some variation on elvish or royal lines from a lower court certainly. I was unable to tell. But defiantly not from the fallen.”

“What does he do?” The casual question belied the weight that hid behind it.

“He appears to be studying weapon-craft under various blacksmith and foundry masters. They met while Anya was exploring some enchantment works for her research.” She sighs in disappointment, “their first date, as it were, was them working on some weapon improvements that applied to the weapons of the local champions.”

Allios focuses his attention on Anya who is flying above the battlements and dealing death from above with her bow. He instantly analyzes her flight path and scans the wall section over which she flies. There. A tallish armored figure stands with a sword in either hand and fights on a section of the wall that had needed no assistance from him over the hours of combat.

Even as he watches magic arrows fall into the crowd picking of pierce targets as the man hews the other down with assistance from soldiers.

“I think I--” his voice trails off as he feels the mana that always precedes a great beast making its way into reality.

Valiea sighs, having felt the disturbance as well. “I had hoped...” she trails off leaving that hope unsaid, but not unheard.

“No time for that now, pull the champions back and begin gathering them behind the walls.” Allios starts walking forward even as he gives commands. His eyes lock on a point in space, on the far left side of the city. “And tell Anya to get that man out if she wants him alive much longer.” The space was directly in the path of the beast that even now was pushing itself through the bounds of reality.

As he picks up his stride, sharp red light pours off him. The air is suddenly heavy and moves oddly under the constant influx of energy. Valiea can only roll her eyes as her father enters the fray once more.

A solid red javelin appears in his hand as his forward momentum flows perfectly through his body and the javelin flashes across space like a lightning bolt, like some god, had reached down with a paintbrush and lightly swept it over the sky. Which is not far from the truth.

This being on the oldest skills Allios has kept in his arsenal, it is extremely versatile as well as powerful. This is only a probe though.

The javelin has left his hand and is within meters of the target before the beast has even shown itself. The void cracks open, and a wave of flames explodes outward turning to ash anything remotely close to the three-meter flaming cut in the air.

Then it steps through, a being that is made of living rock and flames. The spear splashes against its frame doing almost nothing, except denting the rock armor a fraction.

‘Something strong indeed.’ Another bright red javelin takes shape in his hand. Expect this one is much more than the last one. Patterns of gold light dance along its surface that looks like some exotic red metal. A nameless power can be physically felt in the air if anyone were around to feel it. The mana in the air almost shivers in the presence of the weapon, before it too is gone leaping across the intervening space. Before splitting into twelve identical forms in mid-air, each staggered and arcing in union.

Having just stepped from the corruption into reality once again, and being attacked immediately the creature searches out for the source of the attacks. Before spotting him and the next wave of javelins coming in.

It bellows and the flames around it respond raging higher than before. Crawling off the ground into a protective shield.

The first few javelins bounce directly off the barrier, then clash of energies sounding like a dull thug as the force behind that throw is absorbed. The impact sends scorching waves of fire in oblique directions, a rebound while the javelin itself is sent flipping end over end off the shell before dissipating back into the air as if they had never been. Then the fifth stabbed into the barrier and stuck causing the flaming barrier to shudder. Then the sixth also stuck the shaking barrier, quickly followed by the rest until the barrier shattered.

The creature screamed as that least two in the wave found their way into its rocky form.

A low roar of approval went up from the crowd of soldiers who could see the giant enemy take the hits.

Allios grinned to himself and a third javelin was prepared, stronger yet again. This time reaching near the maximum of what Allios was capable of. The crack of displaced air drew everyone’s attention.

The creature was attempting to raise another shield but was unable, as the disruption caused by the projectiles was more than just on the physical level. Even if the two that had stuck in it didn’t hinder its body they had a greater unseen effect on its ability to defend itself.

The third throw was just as perfect as the first two. This one didn’t break apart, didn’t spread its power out, but focused it into the blade and the mass.

Being over a kilometer away gave the projectile plenty of time to be seen by all as it flew straight over the heads of the peoples who manned the wall and even as they watched beat back another wave of creatures.

Allios didn’t wait for it to strike the target before he jumped after it, at the same time reaching above his head to unslinging an ax. The large single head took up a large portion of the ax’s haft, although at also two meters long that wasn’t much of an issue.

With the powered leap into the air, Allios called to his power and unleashed it into the air. The thin red light dyed the air as he reached the apex of his jump forward, that had carried him over half the distance to the massive creature.

Valiea watched from afar as the massive figure trailed after his javelin like he was being pulled along with it. She looked up and felt the power in the air, before deciding it was time to obey the directions she had been given.

Leaping up much more gracefully than the raw strength powered flight that Allios displayed, she glides down over the same direct approach her father had taken. Sticking close to the ground and picking up speed as she follows the hill down to the city below.

As she watches the creature attempts to erect another shield in front of the javelin, but the weak defense is shattered, with enough force for the shards to be sent high into the air. Then Allios arrives and his ax falls with seemingly immense weight and power.

The blow cracks into the creatures head, biting deep into its face splitting the rock with ease. Although in only sinks about a foot into the massive creature, Allios immediately pulls back and using the massive form below him performs a backflip off the creature, just as the rest of the skill connects.

The mass of red energy that followed in this wake pulled itself together and mimicked the ax blow, only this one was ten times the size and carried the same energy density over a much greater blade.

Allios lands just in time to cover his face as the flaming creature is split in two with an incredible force that cracks the ground beneath as well as sending chucks of the enemy everywhere. He doesn’t celebrate however, as even amid his flying attack, Allios could sense the same feeling happening again and again in a tight cluster in front of him.

With a thought and effort of will, a sphere of energy expands around him. It glows a faint yellow and seems to be perfectly smooth, floating in between solid and pure energy states. Allios opens the skill up and allows more of its true potential to take form around him. There is only a subtle shift in hue and brightness to indicate anything has changed.

And seeing an opportunity he also calls upon another ability to convert energy into personal power. Then the air and space are sliced apart, the massive fire wave from earlier repeating again and again as more of the creatures emerge from the depths.

The intensity turns however when the flames suddenly are pulled from everywhere to the figure that stands ahead of them. Slowly a red tint is creeping into the world around him.

Allios lifts his ax again studying the new enemies with a keen eye from behind his shield they look very similar to the first, but with the Endless you could never tell solely by appearance.

Allios narrowed his eyes and subtlety shifted into a more serious posture. While he was confident in beating these things it looked like there was going to be more than an easy victory today.

<><><>

I woke up sometime later. The first thing I noticed was my throat was parched and day, I swallowed and felt the ache ease slightly. I had gone almost a full day at this point without water. Groggily I pried my eyes open and blinked awake looking around at the bodies scattered around me.

I stare at a red mass of lumpy something as my mind tries to figure out what is going on with that single piece of evidence. I am sure that I have never seen that before and let my eyes take in all the details.

The horrific picture becomes clear a moment later when I see the legs and torso attached to the mutilated remains.

Did I do that? I turn away and stand up, trying to understand what had happened. I had ... lost control near the end there. When I the fight started I was prepared to die and couldn’t see myself coming out of this. And when I did. I had a rush of something...pleasure, exultation...vindication. It was at that moment that I took back imitative, a small amount of control returned to me then. I had won the fight.

I only got here a day or so ago and I already felt so different. That outburst was not something that I remember ever happening to me before. The brutality and savage glee that I had felt were not emotions that I identified with.

I felt fear then, at what I would become if this involuntary change continued. Over a month, a year? More? Would I become some time of human monster? Revealing in the blood and carnage?!

I stood against the wall as I surveyed the tunnel. I let myself see the bodies and the blood. The death that I had brought to these creatures, no matter what they were, they were also alive and flesh and bone. I let it all in and touched up my mind. Wanting to see the reaction I had.

Nothing. Good.

I wouldn’t let myself be changed. Not like that at least. Empathy, also wouldn’t serve me here. I would have to find a middle path.

My crisis over, I pushed off the wall and looked around. I pulled the corpses together along the wall. They all had some manner of edged weapon and it was quite the arsenal I arrayed, six swords were just more that I couldn’t carry.

Next, I checked out the room that, seemed to serve as some sort of, spawn room? I wasn’t sure but so far that is what it looked like, no matter how improbable that sounded.

Inside the room, I looked around. The corpses didn’t bother me as much this time. I went to the wall were the victor of the brawl made been doing something to the stone. I glanced at the white glowing stone as I passed through, but I wasn’t reluctant to touch it, unwilling to have anything more that I didn’t understand going on inside me.

The uneven wall had frozen in the middle of whatever process the monogreel was doing, it had frozen with ripples in the surface quite visible. It looked almost like a lake’s surface if that lake was spread over a texture of rock. The dichotomy was strange and I had nothing similar in my memories of Earth, or the game at that.

In the center of the ripples, was a sword hilt, the wall seemed to be flowing to it. The metallic tilt jutting out of the surface like a sword sticking out of a lake. The imagery was not lost on me and I took a moment to appreciate the bizarre amalgam of a familiar scene.

I put my hand on the hilt and tried to yank it out. I held fast. I felt that no matter how hard it was tugged on it would not come free. I took a better look at it.

Where the stone met metal, I found the answer there was no division between the two, it was not a sword in the stone. I should have suspected given the evidence. The sword was actually forming or was forming from the wall itself, right now it was just a strange artifact of the wall.

I marveled at the senselessness and then had an idea and looked closer at the other rest of the wall. I wondered if this was why the wall was so uneven. Then I got a bit scared. So many weapons from this wall, I had no idea how many monogreel that was between me and an exit. Presuming one even existed.

My eyes went again to the white stone and I wondered. It was just sitting there, glowing faintly even in the light from above.

Why did they fight to touch it? And not just get weapons immediately. Did these creatures have the ability to manipulate the rock innately? And if so why was this the first I was seeing it?

NONO! Damn, I would not do that again, I had already made a mistake and it had almost cost me.

I looked up, ignoring the white stone. The massive, bowl of familiar colored metal hung above me. If that was what I thought it was then potentially a huge find, but like with everything else I couldn’t use it.

Why would anyone put it up there like that, it was so dangerous. Whoever designed this place was clearly not worried about earthquakes. Or maybe the whole room was warded against heat like I suspected an area around those bowls were. That was a risk I wasn’t willing to take of course, but the thought gave me a larger view of the world. Even if it wasn’t true the possibility existed, and I wouldn’t know until I tested it.

Was it possible for me to go for an hour without me running into anything? Although I was pretty miffed at this point that none of these creatures carried any food or more importantly water. I was starting to get a little worried.

Here I was in there home, such as it was, and no food or water. If these creatures didn’t drink or eat then, I also wouldn’t. I might end up eating them. That was a more enticing thought than I thought it would be.

It was clear that I might have a third thing influencing my mind. Something hungry. I had to admit to myself though I would have had the thought anyway. They weren’t human, so it wasn’t cannibalism, right?

I left the room and collected the pile of swords that I had put together before stacking them inside the room, then I dragged all the bodies into a pile outside.

It was gruesome work. I ended up using the wall where the body whose head looked like mush was, as I even the thought of trying to move that gave me a queasy feeling. The evidence that I wasn’t entirely there something I didn’t need reminding off.

After that task was finished I went for the brazier. Around the corner, I found an interesting scene. Off to the side, a fire burned and I realized it was the torch head that I had put in the bowl earlier. Must have been thrown out with the rest. Two bodies were in the middle of the room, they were barely half there, from the ground up they seem to be melted.

It took me a moment to figure out what happened.

These two must have been used as a bridge to cross the liquid-fire as it burned. That was more, forethought than I expected of these creatures. I didn’t want to speculate on whether these two poor saps were alive at the time.

Let’s see~~. Two ran, three died to me, and these two. That was only seven. There should have been one more, all the groups had eight in them so far. It was perplexing, then I realized that by the wounds only the first one was missing. That one I had run into... and dumped the entire contents of the brazier on.

There was no sign of him/it.

I dragged these two as well, piling them with the rest.

The brazier had refilled by now and sat flaming where I had set it earlier. It wasn’t much of a funeral pyre, but then again I was not at a funeral.

Besides swords, they had dropped a couple of torches which I stored in a row next to the haphazardly stacked swords. I wanted to move all my stuff up here, now. This room was only a couple of tunnels away and had only one exit. I wasn’t worried about the group that would show up here sometime later. I planed to time the spawn so I would know when to get out, but right now I was getting a headache and could only think about going to look for supplies.

So I scooped up my brazier and the smallest and lightest looking sword I could see. That wasn’t saying much unfortunately as I found it’s weight only slightly less than the original sword I had, with a very similar design.

I was getting pretty good at not cutting my head off at this point. But anything more than that I was winging it and hoping for the best. That seemed to be working out decently at this point, which was both due to my luck and I am sure there either total disregard of me as an opponent or their similar lack in and practical sword skill.

I was thinking it was a combination.

I waited for the bowl to refill and used the quiet moment to get my head together and continue on the mission I had assigned myself, for myself. Then moved out. I passed the telltale, patch of miss colored ground that indicated a liquid-fire burn. The lighter stone made it even more noticeable than in the far off, and the darker room that I had arrived in.

I passed the ever-burning torch head, deciding after the fact that it would serve as a good waypoint if these tunnels ever started to branch off. I wasn’t sure of the dynamics of cave formation but was pretty sure that they would make very little sense if applied to this situation.

However, I couldn’t stop my mind from trying.

There was only my light to illumine the darkness from here on, as far as I could see. Around the first corner, I found another tunnel with the same craggy stone walls. So I restarted my exploration.

I had another reason to be thankful that these flames didn’t put out heat, as my dehydration would have crept up on me much faster than it did. I followed the tunnels for only five more minutes before finding another room. This one was empty, aside from being the same as the first one that I had found.

I passed it, with only a quick scan for supplies that I would need. Nothing.

I moved on, at the end of this tunnel was the first branching path that I had seen down here. A stone division popped up in my path and the two tunnels veered away from each other, from the little I could see at their mouth.

I stopped and listened. Even holding my breath, and focusing on the way ahead of me. Any indication of anything would be good. At this point I was not hoping for anything, knowing how my luck had been I would probably be thrust into another life, or death...eh...eternal damnation, situation.

Nothing. A blessing and a curse I told myself, as per usual I will never be able to make an informed choice.

But even on Earth, did I ever have truly informed choices? I pondered as I set off, there was always a hidden side that only revealed itself after the face. The fine print of life, if you will. Well since it’s me your talking to then, yes I think I will. Well thank you m--

I coughed harshly. Water, right.