The first guard through the door approached her quicker than she recalled the other two being. Yet even with how fast the man moved and the speed at which he started to swing his sword, Grace noticed that she was even faster.

The sword in her hand came up, blocking the attack as the man slashed at her.

His eyes scrunched as he looked at her, confused, wondering how in the world she hadn’t dropped the sword or budged when their weapons collided.

Grace felt the same confusion for a moment. The shout of another man coming at her broke her stupor, and she shifted her hip forward, kicking the first warrior in the gut and sending him flying back across the room and into the burnt-up wall.

A crack of wood snapping as he tore partially through it was heard, and the house creaked and shifted.

The second attacker hesitated a moment as he swung, seeing his partner flung across the room like a horse or something had kicked him and not some sixteen-year-old girl.

Not allowing herself more than a smile at what had just happened, Grace moved forward, the sword almost telling her what to do.

She dove under the man’s awkward swing and came up to her feet, punching her fist into his side. The chain armor bit into her skin, tearing it up a little, but the man wheezed as the air in his lungs was forced out, and he was sent sideways into the wall, slamming partially through it as well.

The third guard paused his approach, seeing what had happened to his two allies, and looked at Grace.

She stood there, admiring her left hand and the body of the second guard now slumped against the wall.

The last guard turned, racing out the doorway, and Grace cursed as the man ran.

You have to kill all three…

A voice sounded in her head and almost made her wince as she took off, finding her steps driving her farther than usual.

She stumbled, almost dropping the sword as it took a few steps to figure out how to run. The guard was already ten yards down the street and running for a section of town that wasn’t burnt to the ground.

Chasing after him, Grace caught up to the guard in mere moments, jumping at him and tackling the man.

Her sword flew from her hand, and as they rolled in the ground and mud, the guard ended up on top of her.

He sneered, grabbing at his hip where a small dagger was.

As his hand snaked toward it, Grace reached out, caught the man's wrist, and squeezed, trying to stop him. Bones cracked and shattered, and the guard cried out in pain as Grace felt the hand go limp.

“Wha… what are you…” the guard blubbered, his face drawn tight as he fought against the pain.

Punching him in the chest with her right hand, the man flew back a few feet, wheezing coming from him as he held his chest, lying on his back in the road.

Grace jumped to her feet and stood up, looking at her hands and seeing barely a scratch or cut.

“What has happened to me?” she muttered aloud, feeling her hands and fingers, verifying that nothing was broken or injured.

The guard whimpered, trying to catch his breath as he scooted on his back.

“Stay… stay away please… I got a family… I got…”

Grace rushed to the man and jumped on his chest.

“I had a family, too!” she shouted. “Your people killed my parents!”

Not realizing what she was doing, she yelled at the man, cursing his family and Grimdon as her fists pounded against the guard's face.

After a half dozen blows had connected, a hand touched her shoulder.

She spun, fist flying, and it hit a hand. Her hand stopped, and she looked and saw the now middle-aged man, dressed in his same black outfit, standing beside her and smiling.

“Well done… well done indeed!” he cheered. “Far better than I could have hoped! Now, stand up, and let’s go finish off the one that is still alive.”

Grace made the mistake of glancing down at the man she was sitting on. His face was gone, replaced with something resembling ground raw meat with bones. She examined her hands again, seeing blood all over her black skin and bits of bone sticking to it.

Quickly, she wiped the blood and bones on her pants leg, shaking them, and felt her whole body trembling.

“What have I done… I’ve… I’ve never killed someone before…”

Laughter came from beside her, and she turned, seeing a look of pure ecstasy on the man’s face as he leaned back and howled.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

When he stopped, he shook his head and pointed toward the building she had run out of. “You have actually killed two, and one is suffering. You need to end him, and then I will heal your Lilly and reward you for obedience.”

His voice made her stand up. She couldn’t help but obey. As if her body was a puppet on strings.

“What are you doing? Why are you making me do this?” she cried out as they walked toward the building. Tears were streaming down her face as she felt the wind blowing down the street at her. “I don’t want to do this!”

She spun like a hand had grabbed her and turned her like a top.

They were face-to-face. The man stooped down a little as his hot breath came from his nose. He was huffing and glaring at her. She could feel his displeasure like some animal about to consume prey.

“Listen to me closely, little girl, and do not forget what I say. We struck a deal. You made a pact. The power you have is not yours to claim until you achieve something so great nothing can hold you back.” He paused, putting his finger against her chest and driving a nail into it.

Pain came from everywhere in her body as if her life was being drained out of her through that one point.

“When I tell you there are consequences for not completing a quest, know I will not hesitate to punish you. Now go in there and finish the quest, or you will find yourself dead, left here with these bodies, and we both know what will happen once the town finds all of that.”

Grace felt a cold chill run through her until the man pulled his finger from her chest. Power surged through her again, and she took the deepest breath she could remember, nodding and staring at those black eyes.

She turned on her own and raced into the burnt house, looking to see which of the two were still alive. A slight groan came from the man she had punched in the side.

A pool of blood was gathering around him, seeping out of the chain armor around his chest.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she grabbed the man’s head and snapped it around.

A tearing sound came, and she lept back, a shriek escaping her lips as part of the man’s neck tore and blood began to spray and gush out.

*Ding*

A sound echoed in her skull, and a red window popped up.

***

Quest Completed: Prove Your Words

Reward:

Choose one of the three following Abilities:

* Heal

* Empower

* Persuade

***

Grace stared at the screen, reading it a few times, then turned when she sensed the man she knew was there.

“What do I do?” she asked, waving her hand at the screen that filled part of her vision. “How do I know which one to choose?”

With a sigh, the man shook his head before moving to check the first man she had attacked. “You get to decide your path. The abilities should be pretty obvious by the name. I won’t explain them, and until you pick, you won’t know how powerful each is.”

He turned back to her and held up a finger. “Had you completed this quest without me having to force your hand, know that the options would have been stronger. You will find that absolute obedience is rewarded on a higher scale. Now, just say the choice of the one you want. After that, the system will give you basic knowledge.”

He bent down and ran his hands along her dog’s back.

Lilly jumped up and gave a short growl at the man before sitting on her haunches. He smiled at the average-sized dog and scratched his chin for a moment. Leaning over, he took his finger and jabbed the sharp nail into the dog's head, a yelp coming from it until he stopped.

After he pulled it away, Lilly’s golden fur changed, turning dark brown and eventually stopping at a smoke color. Her eyes flashed red momentarily before returning to their hazel shade.

“What did you do?” Grace asked as she raced toward Lilly, who turned and gave a happy bark, licking Grace’s hand and face as the girl drew her close.

“She deserved a reward for trying to protect you. She will grow like you, stronger as she helps you complete tasks.”

Confused if this was a gift or a curse, Grace ran her hand along Lilly’s back and glanced up at the man.

“This is the last time we should meet for a while. You should pray that we don’t need to meet anytime soon.” Leaning down, he scratched Grace’s hair, not caring that she grimaced at that action. “Behave, complete your quests, or suffer. Now go loot those bodies, take your food, and get out of here. You have less than five minutes before another group comes.”

The man took a step back and, in a moment, was gone.

Grace spun around, checking to see if he was hiding somewhere, but she could feel that he was gone for good.

“Come on, girl, we need to move.”

The past few months had taught her one thing: nothing should ever be wasted. Ignoring the blood, she started digging through the men’s bodies, searching for coin purses or something that would be worth her keeping.

She quickly collected the four small daggers from the corpses in the room with her, tossing them in the sack she had with the food. Only two had any money on them; it was three silver, a fortune compared to what she usually had.

Time was ticking down, and when she stepped out the door, she could make off in the distance toward the corpse in the street, people walking near the front of it.

Even with the sun setting and casting its long shadows over the burnt husks of the buildings she was surrounded by, her time was up, and she knew it.

“Let’s go, girl!” she said quietly, running down the street along the edge of the buildings, bending down and staying low.

Twenty minutes later, she found herself at the place she called home.

It was a dingy, rotted-out building that barely kept the water off their heads when it rained, but her brother and she had room. The man who ran it with his thugs let her stay for a percentage of anything she brought back. She buried two knives in a hiding place and stashed a third in her backup location. The last dagger she hid up the back of her shirt. Grimacing, Grace slipped the coins into her mouth, swallowing them, knowing it would be unpleasant to retrieve them later, but if Max shook her down as he always did, this was the safest way to keep them.

The bitter taste of the metal was replaced with a bite she took from one of the loaves of bread. It was still fresh, and the crust hadn’t hardened over so severely that it would chip a tooth like most bread she had acquired.

She gave a small piece to Lilly, who scarfed it down without hesitation.

“Come on, girl. We need to go find Levi.”

As she took a few steps toward the building, the small red window appeared again.

***

Ability Selection Required: One minute till no ability will be granted.

***

“Shite,” cursed Grace as she scanned the three options again.

What to pick…