Her body was fire, her blood lava in her veins, a burning agony ripping through eternity. Her mind, her body, her soul, they screamed. But she did not, could not.
The ink invaded her, rushing into every orifice, every crack and hole it could find. It rushed down her throat in a river, choking her, filling her lungs and burning her spirit. It stormed through her eyes, flooding her skull and igniting her brain. Raced into her nose and ears, finding her immune system, her nervous system, and immolating it. It came from below, filling her body full of the foul ink. A fire accompanying every touch, every flood, an agony so soul rending, she prayed for death, begged for it. She begged until her mind could no longer conceive thoughts, the very act of praying, of begging, too much for her fragile mind.
There was only pain.
An agony and an eternity. A duo made in the deepest reaches of hell, the blackest of pits where no light reached, no mercy called. They danced through her, hand in hand, a never ending performance of torment.
She did not die, and yet, she wished for it.
And then, like it never was, the pain was gone. The eternity faded as time reclaimed her. Like the brightest light, the loudest symphony, a release from a destiny beyond hell, she heard it, a call upon her consciousness, a screaming in her mind to move, to fight, to swim.
She tried to breathe, panicking as water flowed instead, rushing to destroy her lungs. She coughed, expelling what little precious air she held, but her mind was clear, unnaturally so. She felt as if something had happened to her, something dreadful, something… she could not remember.
She watched, following the air released in her cough as it ran to the surface. She found herself, she was floating, upside-down… underwater.
Panic sparked trying to rage into an inferno, but she quelled it, crushing it in her mind before it could truly form. With a spin and a powerful kick, she was swimming. Oriented to the surface and rising. Luckily for her, she didn’t appear to be deep as with only several kicks, she shattered the surface of the water.
She gasped as she broke the barrier between life and death, greedily drinking mouthfuls of sweet oxygen between coughs. Her green eyes glowed as she searched around.
The sky was dark, a beautiful navy sprinkled by countless shining stars. A soft warm breeze blew through her hair, caressing her soaking face. Her searching gaze froze as she stared up, wild eyed. There were moons, plural, one, two, three… fuck, seven moons? Something was very very wrong.
Her thinking was cut short as she felt something brush against her leg, something hidden beneath the water. Her barely recovered breath caught in her throat, hitching within her newly sated lungs. The panic returned, stronger than ever, a force she couldn’t quell. Something within whispered to her, a lesson, of staying calm and swimming away slowly. A lesson in… Fuck that! She screamed in her mind, her limbs moving almost unconsciously.
Her head spun, quickly locking onto the beach near to her. It was only fifty yards away, such a simple swim, it was all but trivial. That is, if she was alone.
She didn’t think, she acted, her instincts taking the wheel as she took off toward the shore. Pierce’s voice hammered into her skull like a mantra.
“Every good treasure hunter’s gotta know the basics, swimming, surviving, and fighting. Now, kick your legs, arm over arm, excess breaths are wasted effort, time you could use swimming faster! Again! Again!”
She’d loathed the tough lessons, always wishing Pierce would take it easier on her. But right now? Now she was more than thankful for his high standards.
A sharp pain stabbed into her heart at the thought of Pierce, but she pushed it away. She could think on it later, there was time for emotion later. Right now it was survival, right now it was adrenaline. The substance flooded her like a drug, precious to her like liquid gold. It pushed away her panic, her worries and straying thoughts, pumped into her muscles, pushing them further, working them harder, it stormed through her nerves, pushing her perception and intuition to almost supernatural heights. The substance allowed her to just barely react in time to the danger.
It came from below, fast and fierce. The danger prickled in her mind like a sixth sense, pushing her muscles on instinct before her mind ever caught up. She rolled haphazardly in the water, hardly maneuvering enough, but hardly was just fine.
Its jaws snapped where her body had been only moments before. Barely breaking the surface before, with a flip, burying itself back into the water around her. A large scaled body, longer than she was tall. Teeth like razors, scales looking almost metallic, glinting in the bright moonlight. Powerful fins propelled it with a speed she couldn’t even dream of matching, and a tail that looked powerful enough to shatter her bones. She was entirely, incomprehensibly, incomparably, outclassed.
Almost as if reaffirming her thoughts, a voice that sounded oddly annoying filled her mind.
[Steel-Scaled Thresher : Level unknown.]
[Congratulations! You have learned-]
Shut the fuck up! She roared in her mind. Her heart was already beating so wildly, she feared it would shatter through her ribs. Her vision was tunneled onto the beach before her, taunting her with its proximity.
She didn’t hesitate, didn’t falter. She was again swimming with everything she had and more, pushing her body to bring her to that shore, to safety.
But it wasn’t ever going to be that easy.
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Her sense of danger flared like a siren in her mind, pushing her body, but she wasn’t fast enough. An agony ripped from her thigh as she felt a thousand knives rip into the tender flesh. She screamed as an unopposable force yanked her body beneath the surface. The water that forced its way into her open mouth tasted of iron, of blood, her blood. She screamed again, releasing her oxygen as the creature twisted, its razor-sharp teeth tearing through her flesh and muscle, tainting the water with her blood as it ground her apart.
The agony was unbearable, like a spike of flame burrowing into her mind.
[Congratulations! You have learned: Pain Resistance!]
[Pain is-]
She ignored the rest, the pain in her mind enough to drive away the annoying voice. But the agony had lessened, even though still unbearable, she could think, even if it was just barely.
In a desperate act of defiance, she twisted her body around, orienting onto the creature ravaging her leg. Her fear and pain burned into a red hot rage as she lashed out, her hands going for one of the creature’s eyes. She dug with everything she had, jamming her fingers into the jelly-like substance of the organ. The agony in her leg doubled as the creature thrashed more than ever, but she held firm. Her vision blurring, she stabbed her fingers deeper, her nails tearing at any and all she could find. She gouged with everything she could, swirling her fingers to do as much damage as possible.
With a sickening noise, audible even underwater, the creature detached from her leg.
She didn’t hesitate. She muscled and pushed with everything she had, even using the leg that screamed in agony. She didn’t stop as she broke the surface, only drawing in the breath she needed before continuing to the shore. There was nothing in her sight, but the shore. Nothing but the safety that sand could provide.
She crawled on her hands and knees, well knee, her limp leg unresponsive and dragging behind her. She crawled, putting as much distance between herself and that foul water as she could. Tears fell from her eyes as the adrenaline left her, short aching sobs wracking her chest. She feared it, but she knew she had to look.
Her leg was utterly devastated. So many gashes were torn in her flesh, it looked as if she’d stuck her leg in a woodchipper. Too much bone was visible, some even sheered off and stuck to her bloody flesh. More like pulp. She thought grimly. Blood was gushing from the horrifying wound at such a rate, she was shocked she was still awake. Her ears rang, her head dizzy, fuzzy. A trail of blood marred the sand, leading from the dreadful water to where she now rested. And as she went to get something to bind the wound with she realized, she was completely naked. Bare as when she was born.
“Fuck.” She cursed.
[Congratulations! You have survived a Steel-Scaled Thrsher while level zero! You have been granted experience.]
That same annoying voice returned to her mind, but she didn’t have the mental energy to push it away.
[Congratulations! You have injured a Steel-Scaled Thresher while at level zero and submerged in water while completely alone and defenseless! You have earned experience.]
She scoffed at that. Alone and defenseless was an understatement.
[Congratulations! You have made it somewhat in one piece to the beach! You have been granted experience.]
[Recalculating Base Stats…]
[Stats increased!
Vitality: 10
Strength: 8
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Determination: 15
I’m going crazy. I took some weird drug, and I’m blacked out in some dingy motel room. This is all one big, fucked up, drug trip. Yep!
But the sudden rush that filled her body as the voice finished speaking was odd. It was oddly pleasurable, making her moan softly. A feeling like no other coursed through her, the feeling of energy, of power, of life.
When the feeling faded she was left lightly panting on the beach. Her body felt… well, she felt good! More than good! She felt packed full of energy, like there was lightning in her blood, her mind was clear like a fog had been lifted, unfortunately, that reminded her of the very real agony that beset her from her shredded appendage.
Her heart jumped in her chest as her mouth fell slightly with shock. Her leg wasn’t better, far from it in fact. She still looked like she’d tried to kickbox an industrial blender, but it was improved. Her flesh hadn’t knit itself back together, and even looking at the gory mess she’d once called a thigh made her queasy, but the torrent of blood had ebbed, turning to a slight trickle. Blood still flowed from the mangled flesh, but she could nakedly see it clotting and stemming.
“What the fuck?” She cursed aloud. Her mind was jumbled, overwhelmed.
She fell onto her back, resting her aching head on the somewhat warm sand. “What the fuck?” She panted. “I swear, on everything I am, I will never go swimming again.”
She couldn’t stop the laugh that burst from her belly. “Fuck you, fish.” She laughed, holding two special fingers tiredly up at the ocean.
[Congratulations! More than half your base stats have reached the maximum of humanity with one of them even exceeding it! You really are a weirdo! You have been granted five free stat points to increase any attributes you please.
[A base stat has exceeded the limit of your race by 50 percent or more, you have been granted five stat points to increase any attribute as you please.
Her good mood was never meant to last, interrupted by that annoying voice in her head. She thought about stopping it, but the memory of ecstasy, of life flowing into her veins, stayed her hand.
What if I accidentally make it disappear or something? That’d suck, I think? But maybe if I could make it sound like less of bitch…
Another prompting alert interrupted her musings.
[You have gathered experience! You have reached the required age limit of your race! Please open your status to select an influence… or don’t, I don’t really care.
“Umm…” she stuttered. That last bit sounded… human. “And like a total bitch at that.” She muttered before looking about like someone might’ve heard her.
“Alright! Shoving all the weirdness aside for a moment, let’s say I embrace everything around me! An open mind leads to many an opportunity! Or something like that.” She grumbled. “Whatever. But how do I open my status?”
She fussed about for several long minutes, trying many ways to open her status, but nothing seemed to do the trick, and she was beginning to grow seriously aggravated.
“Hellooooooo! Bitch-in-my-brain, you there?” She called out. “Yoo-hoo! Anyone home?”
Her patience was running seriously thin. “Fuck!” She cursed, yelling into the air. “Get your shit together, Arienna!”
As she focused on herself, the being she was instead of the bitchy voice in her brain, something clicked, and a transparent blue window appeared in her eyes.
[Arienna Dubai
Age: 18
Race: Human
Vitality: 10
Strength: 8
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Determination: 15
Unallocated stat points: 10
Influence: Unchosen
Please choose an influence at your earliest convenience!
“I’m definitely high, or-“ her rambling cut off as another answer invaded her mind. “Or I… died.” She whispered it now, memories flooding her like rapids. Details become painfully clear in her mind’s eye.
The storm, the ice, the cliff, falling. Her and Pierce stumbling in the dark stone tomb. The weakness she felt, the weakness she saw in Pierce, carrying him as his life trickled away. The fighting, the creatures, the coffins. Pierce, in his final moments, his hands limp in her own.
She choked on a sob, her eyes running with a new kind of tears. “We- we found it.” She sobbed at his memory, at the loss she felt without him. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She curled up on the beach, her forehead hugged against her working knee, the mangled leg still limp in the sand. She stayed there, letting her memory flow with her tears. All the time she’d spent with Pierce, the best three years of her life.
She saw his smile, his curly brown hair. She saw him laughing as she fell into a canal, saw him scolding her as she trained beside him. She saw, and she cried.
She cried out all the sorrow, all the rage, all the fear, the loss. She cried until her eyes ran dry, her choked sobs painful in her chest. When she could cry no more, she fell, letting her body slump sideways in the warm sand. Her green eyes stared, red with tears, at the tiny waves lapping against the shore. She stared at the gentle light of the moons as it reflected serenely off the water.
She closed her eyes to it all, falling into a deep, dreamless slumber.