Chapter 12 - Banishment

The Orc roared as it charged. Its ragged clothes streamed outward behind it, taut from its lumbering speed. Each footstep it took shook the ground, flaking metal chips from the walls to the ground below.

Its black and grey-mottled avian companion sat snug upon The Orc’s shoulder. The creature’s beak protruded outwards in an innocent display of combative prowess. Not to mention the serrated teeth and set of fangs hiding beneath its exterior.

It wasn’t The Orc that made Tal shudder, but The Bird on its shoulder staring dead-on toward him with a certain uncanny intelligence.

The Bird chose that moment to strike. It took off from The Orc’s shoulder and zoomed toward Tal, snapping its sharp claws outward. It swooped down, extending its claws toward his throat.

Tal didn’t stay still, though. Instead, as The Bird moved to swoop, he made use of his increased Agility and Strength to leap away from its claws - and the trajectory of the rapidly approaching Orc.

Tal threw his arms over his head as he leapt, trying to protect himself from the creature’s claws as best as he could. But he hadn’t moved far enough. The creature’s claws pierced through the skin on his arm and into the soft flesh beneath. Tal recoiled, sharply yanking his arms down and out of harm’s way as the creature sped back to the safety of its burly companion.

He didn’t have time to assess the damage, but it felt terrible. His thoughts were only reaffirmed when he felt the blood trickling down around his arm. He wouldn’t let it break his focus, though. Not when he was about to be pinned to the wall and squashed by his approaching enemy.

The Orc let out a final yell as it got close. Then, it smashed down toward Tal with its thick wooden club.

But Tal was ready. As The Orc swung down in its attack, he rolled out of the way. Then, while The Orc was recovering from its overeager blow, Tal scanned the room for his fallen dagger.

There! He mentally exclaimed, dashing toward the spot his weapon lay.

Now better armed, he felt much more comfortable engaging his two enemies. But, of course, that wasn’t to say he felt safe. Not by any means. He could tell he was hopelessly outclassed, but he was determined to put his newfound powers to use.

He advanced forward, directly facing off against his opponents. They were once again approaching, already far too close for his liking.

The Bird launched itself forward, spinning as it dove straight towards Tal’s eyes. With the dagger in hand, Tal swung forward, slightly clipping the creature’s wings but doing no further damage.

Feathers fluttered to the floor. The Bird swung its small frame toward the ceiling, slightly deterred. But it was simply too nimble. It moved too fast for Tal to inflict more damage. Once again, he was being limited by his Attributes.

The Orc charged. Tal took the chance. He activated his ability as The Orc’s weapon closed in. He hoped everything wasn’t about to go horribly wrong.

Incorpearility Shift [Rare]

Level: 1

Mana Cost: 50-100

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Effect: You can target a particular area of your body, making that area go partially incorporeal for a small period of time. While in place the rules that govern the material realm will become far less burdensome.

Tal focused on the Orc’s weapon, precisely where it was about to make contact; the side of his chest. Something drained out of him. An uncomfortable warmth swept throughout his body briefly, leaving an icy cold feeling in its wake. Instant lethargy accompanied the end of the fleeting sensation.

The small section of his chest shimmered translucently, but it was too late for The Orc to notice. Its attack sailed through, finding no resistance to the now incorporeal part of Tal’s body.

Its eyebrows shot up, and it floundered forward, completely off-balance. Tal struck ahead, using the creature’s momentum to carry his blade deep into its bladder before stepping smoothly out of the way.

The Orc froze as the cold steel slid deep into its body. It wasn’t one to go down without a fight, however. It spun toward the human, doing its best to not appear wounded despite the intensely growing pain.

Seeking to aid its ally, the avian creature chose that moment to strike. But, in his battle with the Orc, Tal had forgotten all about it.

Tal disengaged his opponent, circling around The Orc, looking for a prime opportunity to finish off his enemy.

The Bird struck from behind, letting out an eager screech before it plunged its fangs deep into the back of Tal’s neck. Its jagged claws sunk deep, firmly securing itself to the human. Blood syphoned out of Tal’s neck in alarming proportions. Tal sunk to the floor as a dark fog enveloped his vision.

The Orc charged at the collapsed human, wincing as the wound below its stomach opened up fully. Its leg snapped backward before launching forward into Tal’s ribs. Its monstrous mass propelled Tal across the room in a sickening crunch before he struck one of the cavern’s walls.

The Orc spat toward Tal, its spittle mixed with the blood slowly pooling out of his own body. Then, before it could finish off the human, its legs gave way, and it collapsed into a puddle of its own making.

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The Bird looked toward the two and let out an exclamation that could only be described as a proud huff. They were both obviously too weak, nothing like itself. But more importantly, it had completed the quest the Tower had given it. Finally, it had earned its freedom.

The Bird stalked toward the human. It was time to finish the job and get out of its imprisonment.

Tal cracked open an eyelid. His Awareness Attribute bugging him awake just in time to see the beak of the stupid Bird rushing toward his eyes. It was too late for him to make any movements.

Instead, he reflexively used the first and only ability he had been granted by his awakened bloodline.

Incorpearility Shift enveloped his head only momentarily, but it was enough that The Bird sailed straight through its missed target. Then, with a final surge of effort, Tal swept his hand after the flying figure, smashing it solidly into the wall at his back.

He didn’t need the prompts filling his vision to know the creature wouldn’t be rising again. The red stain smeared along the wall told him enough.

As he watched, the blood faded into the wall, and it had been wholly absorbed in moments. Soon after, the entire corpse of the Bird followed.

Tal looked around the room, shocked at the abhorrent display of rapid deterioration. His gaze met his Orc friend, or what was left of it anyway.

Tal shuddered. I need to get out of this shit. He thought. He didn’t want to make the same mistake as last time. Notifications could wait till he wasn’t about to die. There was no chance in hell he would survive the third wave.

He tried to rise to his feet, only instantly collapsing in a fit of dizziness and exhaustion. Luckily, the stairs he had used to enter the chamber were close. If his feet wouldn’t take him, he would crawl.

And so, he began to force his body into movement. He had only just gotten to the entryway of the staircase before the machine-like voice of the chamber rang out again.

“Wave 2 Complete.”

Shit…

The words sparked some energy back into his overtaxed body, and with the last push, he forced himself down the stairs. He quickly lost control, and his descent transitioned into a floundering roll. The smile creeping upon his face, however, gave away his relief at his escape from the room’s deadly challenges.

Tal was still grinning hopelessly as his temple struck the corner of one of the stairs, and everything went black.

***

Tal awoke sometime later with a splitting headache. A headache only exacerbated by the constant stream of chatter launched in his direction.

“Are you ok? Well, of course, you are. Look at you. Your eyes are opening up right now! I’ll tell you what, you gave me quite the shock when you stumbled into my home like that! I mean, seriously, you couldn’t have knocked first? That’s just a little joke. I know you can’t do that, but I-”

“Just….Stop. For a moment…Please,” Tal spoke, trying to blink the spots from his vision. Thankfully enough, the onslaught had stopped as he had requested.

He stood unceremoniously. However long his sleep had been, he seemed to have made a miraculous recovery. He felt fine. A little tired and groggy - with a splitting headache, sure, but that was a long shot better than his previous sorry state.

Tal opened his blinking prompts, deciding that his new chatty partner could wait a little while. It definitely wasn’t hostile, so a little patience wouldn't kill whoever it was while he got his affairs in order.

Tower Of Judgement

Coward. You have ran from the challenges in your path!

While knowing when to retreat is important…you have taken one of the Tower’s gifts without paying the proper price.

You have consumed the Towers resources to forcefully awaken a bloodline. You have failed to follow through with the whole process. You have failed to pay the proper price.

Tower Marked has been revoked from your status.

You will be expelled from the tower in: 24 Hours.

Tal’s face dropped. He sensed he had made a big mistake. A mistake big enough to earn the Tower’s ire.

“Now don’t b-”

“Shutup! Just…stop,” Tal exclaimed back at the annoying voice. It was way past getting on his nerves. He stopped then, trying to calm down. It was all too easy to blame his lowered Charisma Attribute for his foul mood, but in reality, he was just on edge and not used to the company of other people.

The following prompts in his vision were welcome additions but not so much to put him out of his melancholy mood.

Level Up!

Level: 4

+4 Attribute Points.

Level increased from Level 3 to Level 4.

Secondary Attributes

Martial Awareness: 2

Martial Awareness Attribute has increased from Level 1 to Level 2.

Incorpearility Shift [Rare]

Level: 2

Level increased from Level 2 to Level 1.

Tal noted the abbreviated status windows with lacklustre delight. He was happy that the changes were given in a more easily digestible format, yet he couldn’t muster the appreciation he knew he would have otherwise felt.

He was being kicked out of his one opportunity to get ahead of the pack. And from the sounds of it, the unknown world outside the tower was its own breed of danger.

Before he forgot, he allocated his attribute points. As much as he didn't want to be, if he was going to be kicked out of the tower than he would be dealing with a lot more people. For that reason, he placed two points into Charisma, bringing it to 10. For his other two points he really wanted to place them into Constituion, but at 17, it was already his highest category. Instead, he tried to shore up his other weakness, placing his remaining two points into Agility and bringing it to a solid 14.

Tal belatedly looked around. Finding himself in what appeared to be a dojo. A skylight from above illuminated the room and gave Tal his first glimpse at something resembling the outside world from back home.

Scuffed but polished wooden boards lined the floor across the whole length of the dojo. Thick crystal pillars rose from the floor around the edges of the room, and from them hung a series of small unlit lanterns. Tapestries and artworks depicting various battles and weapons clustered the walls. So much so that the walls themselves couldn’t be seen through the abundant decor.

The room smelled strongly of burnt incense. Too strongly. And a thick smoke wafted around near the ceiling that just might have been those burnt incense.

Most notably, however, was the katana hovering in the centre of the room.

“Has no one ever told you it’s rude to stare?”

Tal jumped at the voice.