I was not the epitome of kindness when I was still alive. I was a bully at school and would have continued to be so if not for Ma's strict guidance. Heck, I might even say I was an inherently evil man if I needed somebody else to tell me that my actions were wrong. I recalled the times I stole the class nerd's food every lunchtime because Ma didn't have enough money to feed me.
Still, those were things I had already made up for. Every bad deed I had done during those times, Ma had made sure that I atoned for them by apologizing to my victims. And even if I didn't, those things shouldn't have been enough to banish me to Hell upon my death.
Yet here I was, floating in the middle of nothingness. Oblivion. Most people interpreted Hell as a place of fire and brimstone, but in truth, it was just an absolute void. Calling the place dark would be inappropriate. Heck, calling this a place was also wrong.
Hell was a… state of being rather than a location. It was a state of being in oblivion. There was no right or wrong, light or dark, cold or hot. There was no sense of sight, hearing, smell, or touch. There was simply my consciousness, knowing it still exists, and then nothing. I would have preferred Hell to be a place of fire and torture instead of this bleak emptiness.
For an unknown amount of time, I existed in oblivion. It felt like minutes and millennia at the same time. At times, I felt myself still hoping for salvation. But most of the time, I felt myself breaking and descending into insanity. Sometimes, I was both sound of mind and insane simultaneously. Like I was both a past and future version of myself.
It was trippy as fuck.
Eventually, though, something found me. That ‘something’ was a giant hand that ripped through oblivion and took hold of my entire being. Once it had a good grip over me, it pulled me through infinity and dropped me to the bloody ground.
I meant that in the literal sense. The ground I landed on was utterly soaked with blood. The dark soil squeezed out crimson liquid like a sponge when I pushed myself up, and when I stood up, I found myself standing in the middle of a field that was completely covered with rotting corpses.
That's when I realized that I was alive again. I could feel the blood coating my body, smell the stench of rotting corpses, hear the cawing of the crows, and see the gore-stricken fields all around me.
Like a madman, I laughed as I relished the sensation of living once more. Never mind that I was transported to some kind of brutal battlefield, I was alive again! Returned from the dead! Holy fuck, that technically made me a buff version of Jesus.
And just as soon as I started celebrating my return, an oppressive presence appeared behind me. I turned around and saw a huge warrior that loomed over me, which said a lot about their size given that I was a veritable giant myself.
The warrior, a huge figure covered in black steel armor and a horned helmet, stared me down like I was an insect. Strapped to his back were two huge claymores that could split me in two with a single swing, and his skin emitted a red aura that rolled off him in intimidating waves.
The warrior opened his mouth to speak, and then my eardrums burst.
I AM SKORM, GOD OF BATTLE AND CARNAGE.
I fell to my knees as my ears and eyes bled from the sheer force of his words. But even with my ruptured eardrums, the warrior's words continued to scrape and scour the inside of my skull.
REJOICE, MORTAL, FOR I HAVE CHOSEN YOU TO BECOME MY CHAMPION. TAKE MY BLESSING AND KILL IN MY NAME. LET THE WORLD OF MORHAVEN WITNESS THE TRUTH OF CARNAGE.
By the time the warrior finished talking, I was already balled up on the ground as I covered my ears. His voice made me feel like my brain was being scooped out of my skull with a serrated spoon, yet it continued to enter my mind without mercy.
When I regained my senses again, I was no longer lying on the corpse-covered fields. I was in the middle of a raging blizzard, the powerful winds crashing against my body like a tidal wave.
“FUCK!” I shielded my face from the snowstorm as best as I could. I could already feel my beard and balls freezing from the sheer cold.
I took a moment to get my bearings and assess my new environment. The blizzard limited visibility to a few meters in front of my face, but judging from the sharp incline of the ground I stood on, Skorm the Fucker had dropped me on top of a fucking mountain. It was a miracle that I didn't just slide down the slope and die after the bastard left me here in the cold. Heck, I'm even surprised that I was still alive despite being in the middle of a blizzard wearing only my shirt, cargo pants, and boots.
Without any idea what I should do in this shitty situation, I decided to make my way down the mountain as fast as I could. I risked tumbling down to my death, but I would die faster from the cold if I stayed here any longer without shelter.
I began trudging down through the thick layer of snow as I rushed to find any kind of shelter. I didn't even care much about being careful because my fingers were already starting to turn blue. I didn't wanna die looking like a fucking Smurf.
Just as my luck would have it, I tripped on a jutting rock buried beneath the snow. I began tumbling down the slope like a ragdoll, hoping that I didn't bash my head against a hard surface. The world jumbled in my senses as I rolled and rolled down the mountain.
Thankfully, a large piece of rock took pity on me and stopped my descent by blocking my path. My body slammed into the large fucker feet first, and I watched with morbid fascination as my legs snapped and the bones protruded out of my flesh.
“Oh shit,” I whispered as I stared at my ruined legs. It was a surreal experience because I was not feeling a single ounce of pain, either because of the adrenaline or because my legs had frozen long ago.
But maybe the world really did take pity on me, because the large rock that stopped my tumble turned out to be an outcropping of stone, and beneath it was a cave. It was the shelter I sorely needed from the storm.
“Looks like when God opens a door, He fucking breaks your legs,” I muttered. The proverb probably went something like that.
I pulled myself into the cave like a zombie, my ruined legs leaving behind a trail of blood. I should probably be concerned about that, but my stupid brain was still in shock. The only thing I had in my mind was to get in the fucking shelter.
When I finally did reach the cave, the first thing I did was assess the damage. It did not look good. My kneecaps were dislocated, and my shin bones were now jutting out of them like a pair of eyes staring at me. It was almost funny how both my legs incurred almost the exact same injuries. Symmetry is beauty and all that.
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Some part of me already knew I was done for and was just making light of the hopeless situation. Having broken legs wasn't something you could afford to have when stranded on a mountain, primarily because there was no ramp for wheelchairs. Not like I had one, anyway.
But to my utter surprise, my legs were healing. Fucking healing, and I could see it in real-time. My flesh was squirming like worms were crawling beneath my skin, and although it was really slow, my wounds were closing.
“What in the fuck is happening?” I whispered in shock, then I realized something was nipping at the edge of my consciousness. With an instinctual mental prod, a status screen straight out of a video game suddenly appeared in my vision.
Status
Name: Bob Dinkle
Age: 35 years
Level: 0
Race: Human
Class: —
Skills
—
Traits
Divine Body - Your body has been constructed by a god. Your body recovers faster and is resistant to ailments.
Accolades
Champion of Carnage - The God of Battle and Carnage has chosen you as his Champion. Combat proficiency and battle intuition are significantly improved.
For the next few minutes, I blankly stared at the gamer fantasy bullshit in front of me. My mind was still confused. What in the actual fuck was going on? Being lost in oblivion— or rather, the Void— then being plucked by a god of butchery or somethin', then being dumped on top of a frozen mountain without any heads-up? Skorm the Fucker could've at least given a tutorial or some shit.
I was pulled back into reality when I started feeling pain. The adrenaline must've worn off because my knees were now killing me (hah!). I welcomed the pain, though, because it was proof of life.
Then I realized something important. My flesh was healing, but my bones were still jutting out of my skin without any signs of returning to their original positions. By the rate at which my flesh was healing, my wounds would soon close with my shin bones still peeking out of my knees.
I would have to reposition them manually.
“Fucking hell.”
Steeling my resolve, I gripped my right shin bone and pushed it down as hard as I could. Immense agony washed over my mind as I screamed, but there was a satisfying pop as my shin bone went back into place. I still couldn't move the leg due to the torn ligaments, but I could already see them slowly reforming.
Then I looked at my other leg. “Fuck you, Skorm…”
I did the same with my left leg, and after a long round of cursing the bastard who dropped me on a fucking mountain, my bones were now all good once more. My ligaments and muscles were slowly reforming in front of my eyes, and by my estimation, I should be fully healed up in an hour.
At least the bastard had given me some help.
As interesting as it was to watch my knee grow, it lost its novelty after fifteen minutes. Instead, I shifted my focus to the RPG bullshit that just showed up in my vision earlier. With a mental prod, it popped back up in my field of view.
Status
Name: Bob Dinkle
Age: 35 years
Level: 0
Race: Human
Class: —
Skills
—
Traits
Divine Body - Your body has been constructed by a god. Your body recovers faster and is resistant to ailments.
Accolades
Champion of Carnage - The God of Battle and Carnage has chosen you as his Champion. Combat proficiency and battle intuition are significantly improved.
This shit was straight out of a gamer's fantasy. Too bad I never had the time to play games in my previous life, so I was completely unfamiliar with how this thing was supposed to work out.
Based on my crude understanding, Status displayed my biographical data, though I had no idea what a ‘Class’ was. Skills should be displaying my work experience, though I wondered why it was empty. If a decade of working in construction is not worthy enough to warrant an entry, then I don't know what is. Traits seemed to list special stuff about my body, and lastly, Accolades seem to contain my achievements.
Of course, I had no idea if my assumptions about all this were correct. I guess I'll find out if I survive and get the chance to ask other people around here.
My musing was interrupted by a low growl coming from deeper within the cave. I looked into the darkness and saw several pairs of shining eyes that materialized into a pack of white-furred wolves. They were huge, as tall as my waist, and that was considering my large size.
“Well of course the cave I find is fucking occupied.”
Now that I saw the mangy mutts, I realized that the cave stank of wet dogs. I would've noticed it sooner if I hadn't been busy gawking at my newfound X-men ability. Now I was facing three wolves eyeing me like a piece of steak.
“Now now, who's a good doggy?” I said placatingly as I tried to stand up, but my knees were still crippled. I was helpless.
The wolves growled as they approached me. “Dontcha even try it, punk. I know a gal who has a kink for dog pelts.”
The wolf in the lead pounced, and I socked the motherfucker straight in the nose. The wolf whimpered loudly as it fell back behind its companions. “Hah! That's what you get, punk!”
It turns out I celebrated too early.
The remaining two wolves growled as they went for my legs, and I couldn't do shit as they pulled me by my feet deeper into the cave. I shouted in pain as I got dragged across the floor, and the wolf that I punched earlier returned with vengeance in its eyes. It pounced at my neck, and despite my attempt to block it with my arms, it still managed to reach its target.
The furry bastard proceeded to rip my throat out by biting a chunk out of my neck. I turned into a veritable blood fountain.
I felt panic consume my mind as I started drowning in my own blood. There was blood everywhere, and it was only a matter of time before I died of blood loss. The edges of my vision were already darkening.
I put one hand on the grisly wound on my neck to stem the bleeding, no matter how futile it was. With the other hand, I reached for the asshole who tore my throat out. Luckily for me, the bastard was greedy enough to go in for another bite, putting itself inside grabbing range.
Just as the wolf was about to take another bite of my premium meat, I reached my hand deep into its slobbering mouth and took hold of its tongue in a death grip. Its eyes bulged in surprise, and right as it jerked back, I pulled my hand in the opposite direction.
With a wet squelch, I tore the fucker's tongue right off its mouth.
The cave was suddenly inundated with the wolf's loud whimpers as blood flowed out of its mouth rapidly. The two other wolves paused from pulling me into their cave and backed away warily as they watched their companion go ballistic.
With one hand still clutching at my neck, I pulled myself over to the wall and propped myself up. The bleeding on my neck was slowing down, though I don't know if it was because the wound was slowly healing or because I was running out of blood. Judging by how my vision was now going completely dark, I'll have to say it was the latter.
For the next few minutes, I simply sat against the cave wall as I listened to the whimpering wolf. The intensity of its cries had been steadily weakening, which hopefully meant it was dying. As for the other two, I had no idea what they were waiting for. Now was the perfect time to kill me, yet they didn't try to pull me into their cave any further.
Eventually, the whimpers died down as its owner TB 2 -died along with it. And upon its death, a bright line of text suddenly popped into my darkened vision.
[You have slain a Frost Wolf. Experience gained.]
[Congratulations! You are now Level 1. You are eligible for a Skill choice.]
[Please choose a Skill below.]
1. Unarmed Mastery - Provides a boost to proficiency in unarmed combat and enhances the damage of unarmed attacks.
2. Minor Physical Resistance - Slightly reduces all physical damage taken.
3. Minor Regeneration - Slightly increases the rate of natural healing.
Normally, I'd have thought that I was hallucinating with all these texts popping up in my vision. But after recent events, the least of which is getting my throat torn out by an oversized mutt, I decided to just take everything at face value.
After reading everything, I immediately chose the Skill that could hopefully get me out of my predicament.
[You have gained Minor Regeneration Lv.1]
Right after the text disappeared, my body suddenly felt warm for the slightest of moments before the biting cold of the mountain returned. I tried to sense myself for anything new, and after a moment, I realized that my neck wound's bleeding had finally slowed down to a crawl.
It looks like Bob Dinkle is going to live another day.