Abby and I had started walking north after a slight break, I pointed, “Look there is a house over there, we should be able to rest there.”

Abby just stared at me, “Rest?”

I nodded and spoke up, “Yes, we have been awake for quite some time, we also have the shock of getting dragged into a new reality, I don’t know about you, but, I can use some sleep.”

Abby nodded, “I am not very used to fighting monsters yet, but I think hitting that frog with arrows wounded it.”

I stopped and looked at her, “No seriously? How did you figure that out, Sherlock?”

She just sighed, “There is no reason to be mean like that, maybe you are getting hangry!”

“What? I don’t get hangry.”

“Oh, yes you do, you probably need some pizza.”

I crossed my arms and spoke louder, “I had none at home either, you ate all of them.”

Abby sighed, “Just keep on walking to that house in the middle of the swamp that is in no way safe.”

I kept on walking while Abby sighed and slowed down. This place is whacked up, but it does not bother me too much, there are spirits to kill, frogs to murder and more, nothing too bad compared to the shadow man. Or other things I have done in the past. If that is all this new reality has to offer, then we will be fine. I'd do anything to protect Abby.

Abby caught up with me, “Here, you forgot to loot the frog, it gave these vambraces with a frog emblem on it, You can use them more than I do.”

“Thanks, Abby!” I equipped the vambraces. “I apologize for getting you dragged into this mess.”

Abby smiled, “No worries at all, Just don’t get me killed.”

I chuckled while speaking, “Like I would ever do that.”

Abby just sighed, and we walked in silence towards the house. When we made it, I noticed it was broken down, From the outside, this house looks old, but I think it once was wonderful. It has been built with brown bricks and has blue stone decorations. Small, octagon windows add to the overall style of the house and have been added to the house in a fairly asymmetrical pattern. As for the rooms, most of them seem to have been faded out of existence, except for the living room and a bedroom.

We walked inside, and I saw some broken down decorations, The couch could be used, barely, Cobwebs were everywhere, along with dust.

Abby walked into the bedroom, and she called out, “Well, at least the bed works.”

I followed her, “We cannot be picky. We have just landed in a new reality. We have no clue how long it will be before we reach another house. Who knows, the nearest village could be a few days travel from here.”

Abby took a few breaths and spoke up, “You have a decent point there, for once. It makes me think of those video games where you had to walk for days to find a resting spot.”

I nodded, “We, just, need to tread carefully from now on, ignore suspicious spirits, don't kill babies, and we will be fine.” I sat down on the bed with the gross mattress and checked it for any dangers. It is just an old bed, there is nothing wrong with it.

Abby closed the door and sat down next to me. “You are taking the door side.”

I shook my head, “Why?”

Abby laughed, “If someone breaks in, they will try to kill you instead.”

I laughed with her, “Like that would happen,” we laid down, and we fell into a deep slumber within seconds.

As I dreamed, vague images in my dreams appeared, a woman with white hair, I have no clue who she is, but it is not the first time I dreamed about her. Just her face, I cannot see her face, and when I try to focus on her face, it is just blurred more. It looked as if she were stuck in something.

I gasped awake, it is not something new for me, as I usually do not sleep well.

A man pointed a dagger at me, adrenaline started rushing through my system, along with rage. My eyes went wide, This was not good, some kind of bandit had snuck into the house while we were sleeping, and seemed to be planning to kill us. He is wearing some kind of cloth jacket with leather armor, and a simple leather pants. It reminded me of bandits in Skyrim.

When he came closer, I rolled off the bed against him, and we landed on the floor, struggling for the dagger, I managed to grab it and point it at him. I panted, “Attacking someone when they sleep, how low can you go?”

Abby had woken up from the commotion, I could just, feel her eyes burning on my back, I focused on the bandit. “What is your plan?”

He grunted and struggled to get the dagger, “I have been hired to kill you, no one mentioned something about a woman, look, I just need the money. If you let me go, I am not going to harm you anymore.”

My head started to throb. I felt my veins pumping blood faster, everything started to get zoned out. Just the idiocy of this stupid bandit, trying to kill me, how dare he, try to kill us while we are sleeping? If we let him go, he is just coming back, We should not make mistakes like in those video games. Let the low tier bad guy live, and he will bite you in the ass, yes, that is right, I can kill him just like—

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

My thoughts stopped there, After an elbow to the bandit's face, I grabbed the dagger, I twirled the dagger, it felt for a moment as if I were accustomed to weapons, but I did not how or why. Then I stabbed the dagger down into his heart, and blood gushed everywhere, it splattered up in my face. I heard Abby gasp, Instead of leaving it at that, my rage fuelled me.

I kept stabbing. “You motherfucker, how dare you to attack me in my sleep!” After a few stabs, I was covered in blood and I let the dagger drop on the floor. I grabbed his money pouch and put it in my inventory, I even stripped him from his clothes. Then I slowly got up.

Abby looked at me, “What did you just do, Steve?”

I looked at her while heaving and panting, “We are not in Kansas anymore, this is a dangerous world, he would have come back to kill us, and who knows, I might not have enough adrenaline the next time.”

Abby started sweating and panting, she bent forward and let her hands rest on her knees, while speaking up. “But, you stabbed him over ten times.”

I looked at the bandit, then back at Abby, “Yes, I kind of, let my rage guide me. That prick tried to murder us in our sleep, this is what we need to do, to survive. I am adapting.”

Abby nodded, “I do not agree with you, but I am trying to understand where your idea comes from, thank you for protecting me, I guess. You really seem to be able to handle weapons when you get angry, you went berserk.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, something is up with my rage, it lets me focus very well, we should leave before some other bandit comes to check on him.”

Abby pointed at the bandit, “What about him?”

I shrugged, “No one will know that we have killed him.”

Abby pointed at me, “If someone asks me, I'll tell them you killed him.”

I shrugged, “Fine, I deserve that, we should go,” I stretched my hand to Abby, she slowly took it.

We just stared at each other, “you know, I will never hurt you, right?”

Abby just nodded as a faint smile filled with sadness formed on her face, I am uncertain if she believes me.

We walked into the other room, only to be met by yet another surprise, a giant snake with bright red scales seemed to be strangling an insect.

Abby pointed at the exit, “We should just leave.”

I drew my sword, “We should help the insect.”

Abby shook her head, “You just, you know what, never mind, I do not understand how your mind works at all.”

I just looked at her, “Me neither,” I snuck over to the snake and raised my sword, the snake did not even see me yet. Then I rammed my sword down with a lot of force. The snake's head flew away, and the snake's body fell dead to the ground, the insect rolled over the ground.

It slowly got up, “Thanks for the save, you seem like a bloodthirsty warrior.”

I looked at Abby, “Did you hear that thing talk too?”

She nodded, “Yes, Steve, it talks.”

The insect sighed, “What is wrong with you two? I am just an Insectine, do you care to introduce yourselves?”

I sheathed my sword, “Of course, sorry, my name is Steve, as for my last name, don’t even bother with that, I am adopted, and I have no clue what my real last name is, But, if you insist, you can call me Steve Bloomington.”

Abby sighed, “He is trying to be modest, to seem like a nice man, My name is Abby Mercer, And what might your name be?”

The Insectine smiled, “just call me Funk. My last name just reminds of bad things, what are you two doing here?”

I scratched my head, “Well, to be honest. We are lost. And we are searching for a friend we lost on our way, Her name is Alice, she is small, oh, and her hair is red like fire. Have you seen her by any chance?”

Funk shook his head, “No, but I can take you to my village, we have people there with tracking skills.”

“Alright, we can do that, right, Abby?”

She nodded, “It seems like a good plan, why don’t you loot the snake?”

“Yeah, thanks for the reminder.”

Funk walked to the door as he spoke up, “Are you coming, Abby?” She nodded and followed Funk.

I started to walk towards the snake and looted the head, It gave me some snake skin, a few gold pieces and a random marble, I spoke to the air, “What am I supposed to do with this marble?”

Suddenly, the marble turned dark, it even whispered to me, “You can feel it, right, the dark power inside of you? It is best to embrace it. Who cares about the light, you already committed a few evil acts as Steve.”

I shook my head, “What is that supposed to mean? Will this marble help me?”

It seemed as if the marble nodded.

“Alright then, that is all I need to know. However, it might also bring me some bad luck to use a random item. Oh, well. How bad can it be?”

When I used the dark marble, silver light covered it, and then it vanished into me, nothing else happened, I shrugged before going on my merry way to take some random items from the house. Including the bed, seeing the bandit there did not bother me as much as I had expected.

When I walked outside, a raven flew my way and landed closely on a dead tree next to me. It just stared at me, It looked at my shadow, when I looked at it, something seemed off. I could not place what was off, It felt, as if it was looking at me.

Abby called out, “Are you coming already? It took you longer than we had expected, you probably looted some things in that house.”

I walked over, “Of course I took stuff, even the bed.”

Funk sighed, “So you are a thief?”

I scoffed at him, “No, I am the hero in this story, you will see!”