I don't know how long I sat there. All I know is that at some point I stopped crying and passed out. ……….

I wonder how my parents are doing……….

That's it, I'm gonna quit feeling sorry and I'm gonna do something. I just don't know what yet……….

Maybe I should get stronger? No what I should do is go see my parents. But I can't protect them unless I do get stronger, then again during that time I'm training, they could already have been attacked.........

Eh fuck it. I'll figure it out eventually. For now I need to focus on the most important thing and that's seeing if I can find my grandparents’ bodies and bury them.

I look around for my grandpa's trusty dalmatian, but he was nowhere to be seen. I saw the spot where they had him tied up at. The rope rop snapped in half, he must've been scared by the fire and ran. So much for a reliable dog........

The fire already quit burning so I walked over to the remains of the house to try to find their bodies. The house smelled terrible. It was covered with rat corpses. When iiwas looking for my grandma I found her cat, Tom. He was burnt up and chewed on. After i got used to the stench, it only took a few minutes to find what I was looking for. Grandma was lying on her back, half of her burnt body was chewed up. I couldn't stand to see her like that. I dragged her body to the garden in her backyard. She loved it there. I then went back to find my grandpa. It took a little longer to find him because of all the rat corpses he was buried under. His whole body was covered in scratches and bites marks. His right eye was gouged out and a few parts of his beard were missing but he still looked as valiant as ever. I drag him over beside grandma. The two look so peaceful, in a messed up sort of way. I go to my grandpa's shed and grab a shovel. When I came back I saw Nessie trying to dig. I almost cried again, I was so touched. I pick her up and set her on my shoulder, she's gotten bigger and heavier too. She's a foot and a half long now and I don't think she's done growing either.

I start the laborious task of digging a large enough hole for two people. It's gonna take a long fucking time…………

About 5 hours later I was finally done. I dug a hole six feet deep and wide enough they could lay side by side and be comfortable. I put their hands together and started to fill the hole back in. When I was done I grabbed a bunch of stones and made a cross over their grave. I wasn't particularly religious but I knew they were. I hope they go to a good place. As I turned around to walk away a screen popped up.

[Spirit’s protection lvl1 0/100: Respect the dead and the dead will respect you. Grants the user a spirit's shield for a Max of 3 attacks before breaking. Cost: 50 MP Duration: One minute. Increases spirit purity stat and endurance stat by a small amount]

[Endurance stat has passed the threshold. Endurance 10]

“Spirit's protection?” I look behind myself and catch a glimpse of……. Something. Maybe it was just nothing. I left the newly buried graves with a smile on my face. My heart felt calm and at peace. I can now think clearly. Hmmm, really what should I do? Maybe I should go back to that cave and train more. By the time I get there it will be dark. Shit it's gonna be dark in that cave anyway, might as well go train.

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With Ness on my shoulder I hike to the cave. It doesn't take as long now that I know the way but it was still close to sunset by the time I got there.

When I got to the cave I immediately noticed a change. The mouth of the cave was darker than what it was before. It was a light gray but now the cave is pitch black. That wasn't the only change. As I looked into the cave I could see a small amount of light. I was so happy I didn't have to travel in the dark again. It's amazing what can be accomplished in a day!

As I walked into the cave I could feel the humidity rise. It was hot and moist in this cave. Why does that remind me of something?............

Anyway, I traveled with caution, I don't want to be surprised like last time. I kept looking up, shining the light on my phone wherever I looked. I kept my knife drawn, ready for anything.

OOMPH

Something flew into my back. So maybe I wasn't ready for that but anything else I would've been ready for!

I turn around and see a duo of bats. They're wings were bigger than the last time I saw them. The bats we're also longer and thinner, and two fangs popped out of their top lips.

As soon as I charged at them they flew up to where I couldn't reach them. They hovered there, mocking me.

“Son of a bitch………”

At that moment Nessie shot a [Solar Flare] towards the larger of the two. It swooped under it and I was able to jump and barely cut it with my knife. When it flew back up to avoid another cut it was hit by another [Solar Flare]. Woooo go Nessie! The bat had a few small burns but nothing serious. Meanwhile the other bat put some distance between us and sent out a shockwave aimed right at me. When it hit it felt like my insides were coming apart. In a total act of desperation I fling my knife towards the bat, hoping to catch it off guard.

CHH!

The knife struck it's eye! The knife surprisingly struck blade first in it's eye! It howl with pain. It flew against the walls, not knowing what to do to get the knife out. It hits another wall with it's head and it shoves the knife even further into its eye, stabbing its brain.

The other one had no better luck. While I was occupied with the other bat, Nessie launched shot after shot with near perfect accuracy. The bat, however, dodged each one of them with its superior agility but it still crashed into a wall and tore its wing, disabling it's flying capabilities. Nessie rushed towards the fallen bat. The bat tried to defend itself. It may have been graceful in the air but on land it was a huge clutz. The bat tried walking on its back legs but it immediately fell over and started crawling with its wings. During that transition Nessie leapt on its back and climbed up to its face. The bat tried rolling to get her off but when it was on it's back, it was already dead. Nessie shot a [Solar Flare] right in its ear, sending blazing hot sun energy directly to its brain.

“Sigh, I'm super hungry Nessie, I haven't had anything all day. Let's rest right here for now so we can eat. All the food in the house was burnt up so I'll have to skin those bats first.”

My stomach grumbled and complained the whole fight but it was only now I realized I was hungry. I began to skin the bats, the [Skinning] skill helped a lot. It took about an hour to get both bats ready to cook.

[Skinning leveled up to level 2. Animals are now somewhat easier to skin. Increases dexterity by a little.]

Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about!

We took one of the furs and set it on fire so we could cook the meat. There wasn't much, those bats we're mostly skin and bones.

We ate the cooked bat meat and I used the other fur as a pillow. With Nessie laying on my stomach I fell right to sleep………..