The space where once had lain the carcass of an enormous cave bear was now just torn shreds of meat and gristle, the whole forest floor and side of the mountain painted as if it were a scene from a haunted hotel in a horror movie. The metallic scent of blood mixed with the earthy aroma of the forest, creating a juxtaposition of life and death. The trees, tall and ancient, stood as silent witnesses to the carnage, their leaves rustling softly in the breeze.
I looked it over with now sober eyes, Jeldorain inside of me grunting and munching on some spiritual facsimile of the grotesque buffet that I had dug into. It chilled me that I had given into this desire. Memories of my old world flashed before my eyes—family dinners, laughter, and the simple joy of a shared meal. How had I come to this? It iced me over to reflect on how much I enjoyed it. I’d dug in deep and with wanton abandon, and it had tasted and felt so good.
The forest around us seemed to close in, the shadows growing darker and the sounds of nature eerily silent. The weight of my actions pressed down on me, and I felt trapped between two worlds—my past and this new, brutal reality.
The munching inside of me stopped, and I felt the presence of a satiated Jeldorain float to stand beside my soul.
That was magnificent, he reveled, frosty joy radiating from him in all directions. A true delicacy. Stick with me, Ryan, and we’ll make this whole world into our buffet.
The thought crossed my mind that I was a vagrant in this world, with no real hope to ever get back to my own, and I briefly contemplated his offer. After all, what did I have to lose?
Gritting my teeth, I shook my head. “No, this is enough. There will be a way home. We just need to find it. Now, how about you help me figure out this whole leveling thing.”
My body shuddered and I briefly thought that Jeldorain was going to refuse me, but he surprised me with a mental nod and a welcoming bow. Together we entered into the center of our spiritual meld, looking over the letters and numbers of my character sheet.
Character Name: THORACK, the top of it still read. I let out a gusty sigh and Jeldorain laughed heartily. You can change it, you know, he said, laughing harder when my eyes widened and I stared him full on in his frozen, blue-skinned face. Muttering under my breath, I thought at the letters, watching them shudder and fade into my own.
RYAN, they read. It felt good to see that. A step back to where I came from.
Beneath the name was the still life profile image of Jeldorain doing his very best to intimidate whoever he was looking at, his mouth wide open and his jagged icy teeth shining in the light, his massive arms cast backwards as if they were about to clap someone into a bloody mess. The infernal made for an intimidating figure, I had to admit.
We do, Jeldorain stated proudly, reading my mind and responding warmly like a father proud of his son.
Continuing past, I read through the Attributes:
Strength: 20
Endurance: 20
Agility: 16
Wits: 10
Intelligence: 14
Luck: 6
This looks like something I can change, I noted, looking back at the monster.
He nodded. You can raise an ability point every 5 levels. So your next shot at it is level 10.
I growled, moving on to the Resource Pools.
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Level: 5
Hit Points: 100
Mana Points: 70
Stamina Points: 50
Skills & Abilities:
Freezing Kusarigama Mastery
Raise Skeletal Ally
S-Rank Skills:
Whips and Scourges
Whirlwind Attack: Attack all enemies in range in a circle around the user.
Disarm: Attempt to snag and acquire a weapon from an enemy’s hand.
Swing: Snag a protruding overhead ledge or object and swing over the ground in a 180-degree arc.
Weaponcraft:
Fuse: 20 stamina (500 gold)
Upgrade: 10 stamina (100 gold)
Repair: 10 stamina
So what can I change here? I asked.
Jeldorain’s blue eyes wandered over the rest of the sheet. You can improve 1 skill per level. Which might not seem like much until you realize that unlike the regular training-based progression, this is a way to skip the checks and just be better at whatever it is you choose. Your hit points, mana, and stamina will all increase on their own, randomly, with a set of variables known only to the gods.
I nodded, thinking of what I knew from this world. It was so much like Lords of Chaos. And in that game, at the higher levels, you were taking damage pretty much constantly. So something that could help me heal or evade would be good. I looked over my sheet and a sudden shock rolled through my mind.
I can choose any ability? I asked. He nodded, a slushy glimmer in his eye. Turning back to the sheet, I thought of healing and spellcraft and about did a jig when it appeared.
E-rank Spellcraft:
Minor Healing – Heal 1 hit point per second at the rate of 1 mana per hit point.
Grinning from inside my body, I thought the words LEVEL UP then let it all update through my sheet. I popped up to Level 6, my Hit Points went to 120, my Mana Points jumped to 84, and my Stamina Points went to 60.
Things were looking pretty tasty. I thanked Jeldorain and swam back into reality. Just in time to see Kevinar picking his way through the flesh-strewn wilderness.
“I don’t suppose you saved any for me?” he asked, his face twisted into an amazed smirk.
I shrank back, surprised and embarrassed, gesturing at the mess around us. “You—you aren’t disturbed by all of this?”
Kevinar shrugged. “I’ve seen worse. And it isn’t as if cave bears aren’t good eating. Do wish you would have set a little aside for me, though. Laid over late night coals, cave bear makes for a tremendous meal in the morning. I’m tempted to take some of these meat scraps but I’m worried that they’re full of ice-infernal slobber.”
Appreciation and gratitude washed through me. “Thank you. It means a lot that you aren’t freaked out.”
Kevinar nodded. “We’ve all got something hard to deal with. There’s no point in me making it harder.”
The predawn light began to paint the sky with hues of lavender and pink as we walked, casting a soft glow over the trees and mulch. The forest came alive with the chirping of crickets and the distant hoot of an owl. Dewdrops glistened on leaves, and the air was filled with the fresh scent of pine and moss. A cool mist rolled through it all, coming to my knees, and I felt serene. The feast had been good for me, I decided, no matter how strangely it had been undertaken.
The battle as well.
When we arrived back, the first rays of dawn were breaking on the horizon. The sounds of nature were growing in their intensity, and I saw a squirrel slip by, darting to the trunk of a tree and scrambling up in an instant. Golden light bathed everything in a warm ethereal glow, signaling the new day, while the bloodied aftermath of the night battle lay strewn around, a testament to the day prior.
“Shh,” Schustak said, stepping out from a bush with a finger to his grotesquely chapped lips. “Give them another hour. This is a time of communion and worship.”
I stopped and stared at the goblin, wondered what he was on about, while Kevinar moved over to the trunk of a tree and sat down, cross-legged, closing his eyes. Abruptly he began bobbing forward and backward, as if he were rocking out to some unseen tune. Despite my feelings towards him, I turned to Schustak with a question on my lips.
“What is happening with Kevinar?” I asked.
Schustak turned his head, looking annoyed. “He is meditating to gain back the energy he has expended through the night. For us, we rely on sleep. For him, he may simply gather new energy from his surroundings. It is a complicated process, and I have important things of my own to take care of, by the way,” he said, turning on the last word and moving over to what seemed to be a small shrine made of local rocks, moss, and a single branch. Curious, I watched him.
First the goblin laid both of his hands on the branch, muttering words in a language that I couldn’t possibly understand. Then he raised it up, above his head, speaking the words into the sky, before laying it down again and repeating the process. A green aura slowly intensified in color around him as he did so, and I filed the whole bizarre ritual away as a future question for my next outing with Kevinar.
With any luck, it would give me a way to exploit this world’s system and grant me additional gaming resources with which to battle and quest. And if it didn’t, there was always the possibility that it would show me a weakness in Schustak. One that I could exploit mercilessly when push finally came to shove.
Jeldorain nodded inside me, rubbing his hands together and grinning as he bathed in the light of my scarlet rage.