Will opened his eyes and found himself laying in yet another unfamiliar room.
Attribute Gained: Unbreakable-Passive
He read the text and decided to open it further.
Unbreakable-Passive
Level N/A
You have seen and spoken with the unfathomable, which none can compare. Your mind is steeled by the event. Immunity from mental effects.
He closed the window and sighed. He couldn’t quite remember what had happened but he figured that was a good thing. Will glanced around and started sitting up.
“Woah there. Hold on,” a man in a suit ran up and pushed him back down in the bed, “Just lay down, doc's orders.”
“What happened?”
Again Will glanced around and took notice of the various cabinets and shelves filled with bottles and jars along with various implements. He didn't recognize all of them but the simplest ones were what you'd expect to see in a hospital, just not as sterile looking.
“Boss said you ran yourself straight through a wall after you started screaming again. Didn’t even slow down none... You ended up nearly turning your head into mash, didn’t he doc?” Skunk said from the door. The doctor turned and gave him a pointed look.
“I’m afraid the simpleton is mostly correct. You received brain trauma two days ago and we even lost you for half a minute. You’ve been recovering since,” he said.
Will passed that through his head, he almost died from running into a wall? “Why’d I run into a wall? Was something chasing me?”
“’fraid not, you had a pretty nasty hex on you. Looks like it caused frightening hallucinations and its strength alone was enough to worry me,” the Doc said.
“A hex?” Will had no idea what that even was.
“Don’t feel bad, I doubt you even knew what was happening to you. Whoever hexed you was powerful. Not only was it strong but it had a way to hide. I didn’t even notice it until after your heart stopped and I’m trained in magical and scientific medical techniques. I'd swear it appeared at that moment if not for the fact that no one here is capable of putting any hex on you... That being said, you are lucky they relied on hiding it and tied to your heart beating. I might not have been able to remove it if they’d anchored it instead,” the Doc said. Will vaguely felt that there was something missing but also that he shouldn’t, under any circumstances, try to figure out what that was. He also knew now that there were no nanites in his body and somehow advanced aliens were involved but that was another terrifying subject to look into. Which meant he wouldn't be doing it any time soon...
No, now he knew. This was his new body and there was no way to get back, magic was real, and there was some sort of supreme power that governed this dimension using what was basically a computer algorithm. To question it meant something about darkness visiting him, again. Will had no idea what that meant but his hair stood up at the very thought. Considering his new attribute, it wasn’t an effect. The fear was real even if he couldn't remember why.
“So that’s why he freaked out? When can he go doc?” Skunk asked.
“Now that he’s awake, let me do an examination and if he’s fit, he can leave as soon as I’m finished,” The doc said while shooing the deputy out of the room. He turned back when the door was shut, “That’ll be three dollars as well, I know you didn’t intend to- Well, thank you for being understanding.”
Will handed over the money to pay his doctor bill and let the doctor poke and prod him until he was given a clean bill of health. He got up and thanked the doc, who was simply known as Doc, and walked out of the man's clinic and pharmacy with his belongings. The darkness gave Will pause as he stepped into the street but he quickly calmed down when he realized it was normal darkness, a peaceful, quiet darkness with a sky full of foreign constellations and a single moon.
Not sure where else to go, Will decided to head to the saloon and cough up the money to rent a room for the night. It was a long day and he was still reeling from what had happened. Both the parts he couldn’t remember and the parts that he now knew as fact… he’d never see his family ever again.
He walked into the large, main room of the saloon and he could swear a record scratch as soon as people noticed him. It was a very quick ripple effect going through the saloon as everyone turned to look at him.
“Back to your drinks!” He heard Jakob’s voice come from the stairs, “Man was hexed. He’s not some lunny.”
That really didn’t make Will feel much better but slowly had an effect on the crowd. The deputy came down and threw an arm over him and led him to the bar. He held up two fingers to the bartender as he sat down on a stool.
“I’m just getting a room,” Will said. Besides not feeling like drinking heavily two nights in a row, he didn’t think it was a good idea to drink after a head injury that nearly killed him
“Eh, a room?? Ohhhhh. I got ya. I recommend Betsy, she’ll help you sleep better,” Jakob smiled wide and reached for his shot. The bartender slid it away from him.
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“The Sheriff said if you give him a hard time, you’re getting tossed out of here for a week,” The bartender informed him,” Skunk included.”
“What!? Come on, boss can’t do that,” Skunk protested.
“No, he can’t but he asked anyways,” the bartender held up the shot glass.
“And you told him no,” Jakob said hopefully.
“And I told him I’ll do it for one week but if you two argue it's one month,” the bartender took the shot himself and gave them each a look.
“Alright, no talking about the hex,” Skunk hung his head low. Will could have sworn it sounded more like disappointment than shame. Seemingly satisfied the bartender started pouring two shots for the deputies.
“Ummm… I’d just like a room… and a bath or is it too late for that?” Will took the moment of silence to get what he needed.
“Nope, can do both,” the bartender changed his tune. He gave a whistle and pointed at Will. He turned around and saw a young brunet walking toward him. He vaguely recognized her as the one that was sitting on his lap the night before.
“Ah, I didn’t mean-”
“Relax, she’s the one who drew the short straw, she’s got to fill the tub,” the bartender informed Will. The young woman came up and wrapped her arms around Will before standing on the horizontal support of the stool and leaning over the top of him. He could feel the back of his head sink slightly into her modest cleavage, “Sorry Lizzy, bath time. Clean water.”
He could feel her droop from the news. She leaned back and put a finger on Will’s forehead while he stabilized them both by holding onto the counter. She gently pulled his face back to make him look up, “Cold, warm, or hot?”
“Umm at least warm, I guess,” Will said, looking at her like she was upside down. She nodded and then pulled her blouse lower to push his head in between her breasts.
“Just a reminder if you need help or want company later,” she pulled away and kissed him on the forehead before letting him go, “It’ll be ready in twenty minutes.”
She turned and as he watched her go, she undid the lower part of her dress. Revealing the weirdest sexy underwear Will had ever seen. It was a cross between sexy lingerie with thigh-high stockings and granny panties. Not his taste but few of the men in the saloon seemed to enjoy the show though.
Will turned back to the bartender, paid for his room, bath, and a glass of water. He sat there waiting for his bath to be fixed. It didn’t take long and he was ready to go.
The following morning, Will set out. His first stop for the day wasn’t the barbershop or to set out hunting. He made his way to the jailhouse. It wasn’t for bounties this time.
“Mornin’ Will. How ya feeling today?”
“Ah, good, sheriff. Just wanted to say thanks for… you know, yesterday,” Will awkwardly thanked the man. He wasn’t sure what Sheriff Teddy had done but from Skunk’s comments, it had been the sheriff who had gotten him to Doc.
“Think nothing of it, part of the job,” the sheriff raised his cup of coffee in a toast. For once he wasn’t sitting behind his desk with reading materials but was drinking his coffee and walking around with a dust rag, half-heartedly cleaning the office. “Got a new bounty in while you were out.”
“Really?” Will said a bit more relaxed. He was grateful for the change in topic. He walked over and looked at the bounty board and found the one that hadn’t been there a few days before.
It had a rough sketch of a man on it. The guy had a scar on his pointed chin and another on his neck. According to the far more informative wanted poster, he was thought to be in his mid-twenties, had blue eyes, brown hair, was five foot six, and weighed a hundred and thirty pounds. It took Will a moment to run the measurements through his head to convert them to metric. The man had stolen a chestnut horse with white socks… Will was surprised it wasn’t a bakarna and wondered why he had yet to see any horses in Silverstead. He shook his head and reexamined the wanted poster, the fugitive had last been spotted riding into the high desert and the reward was $50 to bring both him and the horse alive!
“Musta been a damned good horse,” the sheriff supplied.
“Must have… Curious, why aren’t there any horses in Silverstead?” Will asked. The sheriff stopped his lazy dusting and gave him a skeptical look but shrugged and continued dusting the cell bars.
“We only have the one stable and Bakarnas eat horses,” Sheriff Teddy told him. It made sense when he put it like that. He could imagine that horses wouldn’t like to be in the same building with the demon horses, even if they were secured. It’d be like housing them next to a cage full of wolves.
“Gonna have to pass on that one. Not sure if I’m ready to travel all the way back to the desert by myself yet… unless? How much does a Bakarna cost?” Will asked.
“Best you could get one for is $15… maybe,” the sheriff moved to sit down.
“Well… guess I’ve got something to work towards. I’ll catch you later, Sheriff,” Will waved as the sheriff mouthed Will's farewell before giving a slight wave as he pulled out another book.
Will thought about going to the barber but decided against it and headed towards the abandoned side of town after buying food from the store. He was going to go hunting and thought about looking at the mine. Silver dust didn’t sound that great but he still wanted to see. If his pitiful luck held, maybe he could scrape up a dollar or two worth of the precious metal.
The walk to the mine was largely uneventful and he considered buying a fishing rod as he followed the river. It’d be expensive but he could at least catch some fish to eat. Then again he could keep some of the meat from his hunts as well. That was thoughts for later though when he had the money to spend.
“Okay, let's see… silver?” Will scratched his head while he tried to remember anything about the metal from his experiences or education. He’d taken Geology and Chemistry in college, both for their applications in material science but it’d been years since he did that. He'd also been in a silver mine before... on an asteroid but he'd been too busy to pay attention to the product they were mining with people shooting at him...
Deciding just to look, he made his way to the mine entrance. The portal was wide open with rough timbers and he could see several meters down the shaft.
A sudden realization dawned on him, “I’m a fucking idiot. I don’t have a flashlight!”
Feeling a bit annoyed and not wanting to walk back to Silverstead, Will started getting an alternative together from the ruins of the miner village. He still didn’t want to set foot inside the buildings but he managed to find a few sturdy pieces of wood and some old rope. A quick trip to gather some dry grasses and he assembled a few torches. Now he was ready.
The shaft was dusty and dry but easily wide enough for him to move freely. It was his first time being in a mineshaft like that, though. So he was a little apprehensive about the fact it wouldn't have modern ventilation and he already noticed the lack of concrete or steel supports. But it seemed stable.
Anyways, his intent was to just go as far as the first fork in the tunnel but when he found it, he stumbled across something else. It came as soon as he stepped into the crossroads at the center of the fork. Will stood there dumbfounded once again as the strange voice entered his head.
*** You've entered the Silver Depths Dungeon***
*** Age: Young***