After my epiphany about Abby being a magical creature, I took her apart to ask her about it.

Abby smiled at me, “What is it, Steve?”

“How can you use magic?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, I just can. Why?”

I shook my head, “that makes no sense. Alice told us, only magical beings can use magic. Alice and I have silver eyes, we are, something. But what are you?”

Abby gasped, “Oh my god, I must be a magical being.”

I facepalmed myself, not because Abby just realized it, but the fact the both of us just realized it “Yes, that is what I am saying. Is there anything you can tell me that might explain this?”

Abby put her hand on her chin, “Well, I can only think of one thing that comes close to the strange things we have seen lately.”

“Alright, hit me.”

Abby punched me in the face.

I immediately put my hand on my cheek, “What was that for?”

Abby grinned, “You said hit me.”

I chuckled, “I meant tell me what you were thinking, not actually punch me.”

Abby laughed, “I know, idiot, but I could not pass that one up.”

I sighed and shook my head, “just tell me what you wanted to tell me.”

Abby nodded and turned serious, “Alright, you know about my sister, I convinced her, we could go joyriding, and I caused that accident.”

I let out a deep sigh as I recalled how sad Abby was when she first told me about Molly, her sister. “Yes, you drove on the highway and lost control of the steering wheel, you hit another car and flew off the highway. Your sister died upon impact, you crawled out and were mysteriously unscathed.”

Abby sighed, “There is more to the story.”

I put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her, “You can tell me, Abby.”

She let out a deep sigh, “Alright. A man saved me. He looked a lot like you, actually. Just, different. And there was this woman with him, but I could not see her very well. Oh, and I can recall something floating behind the woman. The woman had blonde hair, the man as well. The man had a beard. Much like yours, only clean. He said his name was Micheal. And he came to save me. Something about time?”

Abby started pacing back and forth, she let out a few sighs before speaking up again. “Micheal injected me with something. He jammed the syringe in my neck and injected silver goo, the injection also had something black in it. Then my wounds healed and bones snapped into place. The man named Micheal got up, he said, I would be a sleeper agent for the beginning of the end. Whatever that means. When I looked in his eyes, he did not look like himself, more as if something had taken control over him, an unwitting pawn. The woman, on the other hand, she seemed to be pulling the strings. I am sorry, Steve, I do not remember much more than that.”

Something in my mind clicked, that name, “Micheal? Why does that name ring a bell? Micheal? It sounds so familiar. There has to be something with that name. Micheal? You said he looked like me?”

Abby nodded, “It could have been your dad. He had the same silver eyes.”

I gasped, “Wait, really, but how?”

Abby shrugged, “How should I know?”

“But if that could have been my dad, is the woman my mother?”

Abby sighed, “I really do not have the answers for you, Steve.”

I put my hand on my chin, “Did she have silver eyes too, or white hair?”

Abby looked a bit confused, but she answered anyway, “No, like I said, blonde hair, but I did not see her eyes. Maybe you should just let it stew for a while.”

I nodded, “Whatever this Micheal did to you, it made you a magical being. As for what the beginning of the end is, I do not know. We should continue onwards to Brickton, we will not get answers by just standing here.”

Abby nodded, “Sorry that I do not have the answers for you.”

I sighed, “It is alright, the important thing is that you are fine. As for the answers, we will find them.”

We walked back to Funk, he looked at us for a moment before speaking up, “Are things okay between you two?”

I nodded, “Yes, everything is fine between us, right, Abby?”

“Yes, we are fine.”

Funk smiled, “Good, then we should go on, there is a long road to travel.”

Funk had cleaned up our camp. We started walking towards Brickton. While we walked, I was deep in thought, that woman I see in my dreams had white hair. Who is she? Who am I? Are the memories I have, even real? What am I even thinking about? All of these new revelations, coming to this place, it must be slowly driving me insane. That man Micheal, he could be my dad, or maybe a friend of mine? There is nothing I could do about it right now but try to find an answer somewhere.

Things seemed to be calm on the road, for now. I heard Funk and Abby talk with each other, but I did not pay much attention to what they were saying. It did not seem like important information, it was probably just small talk. The landscape did not change much either, it is as if we have been walking forever, but we keep ending up in the beginning. But that is not true. We were getting closer to Brickton. And hopefully, someone there knows where Alice is. Or how to find her. It would be wonderful if Alice could tell us more about this reality. She also seemed to know things about me.

Abby suddenly talked to me, “Are you alright back there?”

I looked up, it seemed I had been staring at the ground while thinking, “Oh yes, why?”

“We were just wondering, you have been silent for a couple of hours now.”

“I am just brooding.”

Funk chuckled, “Why does that not surprise me?”

I looked at Funk, “How much longer is it until we reach Brickton?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Funk looked around, “It is probably going to take a while, luckily, the road is calm, but it is best if we set up camp soon. Then we can reach Brickton tomorrow before Noon.”

Abby nodded, “That sounds like a plan, dusk is setting upon us, and you told me dangerous beasts come out after dusk.”

I looked at her, “Did he say that?”

Abby nodded, “You were probably not paying attention.”

Funk laughed, “I love how you keep teasing him.”

I sighed, “Up ahead is another one of those giant trees.”

We walked over to the tree and Funk checked it out, “This one will do perfectly. Are we going to divy up the tasks the same?”

I nodded, “Fine with me.”

Abby agreed and we started setting up camp. It did not take long before we all sat there eating a rabbit, well, Funk had mine. Luckily, Abby gave me a small piece of her rabbit.

Abby yawned, “I am turning in.”

Funk nodded, “Me too. That boss fight tired me out.”

They both looked at me. “I am going to keep the fire going for a while. Go sleep, I need some time alone. They both nodded and went to sleep in the hollow tree, which still freaked me out. Like, where does a hollow tree come from, one where you can sleep in safely?”

As time passed, I sat near the fire and leaned back. That is when I saw a woman walk towards me. “Hello there, are you Steve?”

I looked at her before answering, she wore leather armor, almost the same as that bandit. Light blue, layered hair double braided to reveal a lean, cheerful face. Heavy pink eyes, set wickedly within her sockets. “Yes, my name is Steve, and who might you be?”

She smiled, “my name is Sasha. Sorry if I am interrupting you.”

I smiled back at her, “Oh, no worries at all. What are you doing here?”

She drew her sword, “I am here, to kill you.”

At that notice, I turned grim and dived for my sword, but Sasha pushed me aside and sat down on top of me, restraining my arms. “I know, you killed my husband. She pointed her sword at my throat. You know, the bandit in leather armor. I am a shaman and the dead tend to go past me before going to either the ethereal vortex, or any other destination. My husband tried to get money to feed our baby. Do you feel any regret for killing him?”

I just gulped, not expecting that to bite me in the ass this fast, she is using cheats. “Well, do you want the truth?”

Sasha nodded, “I will know if you lie.”

I smirked, “Alright, I enjoyed killing him.”

Sasha grunted and pushed the sword on my throat, and blood started leaking down to the ground. “You are a foul monster!”

Sasha stared at my eyes, “Something is, off. She touched my blood, she just, stared at it. It can’t be. This is impossible. You should be dead, extinct. But you seem to be weakened, this is the perfect moment to kill you. Or do you wish to seek the path of light? We can leave right now. I will tell you what you are, and how you can contain and control your power. With how strong you are, you might even be able to get my husband back.”

Sasha seemed to be thinking out loud. “But why are you so weak right now? This is my final offer, come with me now, and I will not kill you.”

I closed my eyes, I did not want to go with this lady. I let rage fill my body along with dark energy. With all my might, I pushed my arms up and threw her off me.

She immediately tried to grab her sword, but I grabbed it instead. We started struggling for the sword. It slipped aside, I quickly sat down on top of her. “Damn you, I was just trying to enjoy a nice warm campfire!”

I grabbed her throat and started strangling her. She attempted to push me away, but it was of no use. The light in her eyes slowly started to fade. She went completely limp, after about three minutes. I let her go and enjoyed her being dead.

I let out a deep sigh out of relief, she suddenly twitched and grabbed the sword and stabbed it through my gut and I yelled in pain, “Goddammit!”

She expected me to go down from the pain, I laughed, and I punched her in the face, again and again. Blood spurted everywhere, pieces of skin flew around as her eyeball rolled away. Pieces of brain matter started flying around as I kept punching her face. My knuckles started hurting and I had to stop. From all the impacts, they had started to bleed.

I panted and heaved, in pain, exhilarated from the thrill, and her face looked like a mashed potato. But, I had kept punching her, I was outraged for that sword she stabbed through my gut. And it hurt like hell. Blood gushed out of my wound, it leaked, and dripped. “Damn, that is nasty.”

I suddenly heard gasping behind me. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw Abby stare at me. “What happened Steve?”

“This woman tried to murder me, hence the sword inside of me.”

Abby stammered, “Bu, but, her head.”

I slowly nodded while coughing up some blood and spitting it on the floor, “Yes, it is as good as gone. It is much better this way, wouldn’t you say?”

Funk had woken up and sighed. “That is not how I would have handled it, but it is clear you are going to leave a wake of corpses behind us.”

Funk looked at Abby, “Could you try to find some black herbs? They are near the waterfalls, and don’t wander off too far, it is dangerous to wander alone at night. You, Steve, sit down and don’t pull that sword out just yet. We can use some of her leather to patch you up. The herb will stop the bleeding. Can I check your wound? My mom taught me a lot of herblore, healing practices, and other arts.”

I nodded as Funk kneeled beside me, “This wound is not fatal. You have been pierced through your intestine. With some proper care, you will be fine in no time. Just lean back and let us take care of you. We can bury that corpse afterward.”

I sighed, “She deserved to die. I wonder how Alice is doing right now.”

Funk looked at me, “Just, don’t talk, you already lost control. Knocking her out would have been good enough.”

I grunted, “Fine, I will shut up for now I mumbled, she deserved that.”

Funk stared at me, “That is not shutting up.”