I suppose that, when I was younger, I could’ve been described as… arrogant. Cocky, maybe. Confident? Absolutely. And while I was wise enough to know that I could not yet take on a dozen monsters as a Level 1, that didn’t mean I knew that I was not infallible. That would come later.

Of course, my own prejudices and biases perhaps color my vision with rose-tinted glasses. No, even I, what with having millenia to contemplate all of my failings and shortcomings, am now clear-sighted enough to admit that my younger, mortal self was not just confident… but perhaps overly so.

In my defense, I had good reason.

Even secluded like my parents and I were, I had been exposed to just enough adventures to know, in theory, the process behind skill-altering, and more than enough to know how rare it was. And, well, I had done it- a lot, and within days of Awakening.

I also knew just how rare it was to have a Soul-Bond, even if I didn’t realize just how special Enyi was at the time. You see, Soul-Bonds cannot be forced in any way- the ever-present System knows everything, and is always watching… and if it thinks that the creature has been coerced or threatened at all, then it simply will not recognize the Soul-Bond and, depending on the severity of the transgressor’s actions, will possibly destroy their Status.

One’s Status is more than just numbers on a page, the physical measurements of your strength and progress… it is an active reflection of who you are. Your strengths, yes- but also your weaknesses, your life, an accurate representation of who you are and your legacy. If one were to have their Status destroyed, becoming Blackened (perhaps a fate arguably even worse than immortality, although… hmph. I don’t believe that it’s even worse… although it might be equally as bad), one with all of their past and future progress stripped away… well, in all of my long life, I have only ever met two Blackened. I watched it happen.

A brother and sister, the Dwalmar Twins. Mayven and Eglas. Just the sum of their parts.

The Dwalmar Twins were, at the beginning, good. Their mother had been raped and kidnapped by an opposing tribe, all of their friends tortured in front of their very eyes- their own tribe betrayed by their own father. Farmed for their xp. I suppose this sent them on a bit of a murder rampage.

A crusade of justice, they called it. Or at least, that’s what they declared it to be. But that’s the funny thing about declaring something, isn’t it? You can declare all you want… but in the end, that’s just it. It’s just declaring. It doesn’t really mean anything.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

It was just in the beginning of their crusade against Winlei that I met them. To this day, I don’t know what in the world they were doing in a random forest, the exact one I happened to be in, only finding me after I was on my own and with Enyi. Fate, they called it with awe in their voices. Fate, I call it now- although with a tad bit less reverence.

Of course, I did not wonder why they didn’t feel an immense sense of disgust when they first saw me. I did not wonder why they seemed to immediately think I was great.

I did, however, conveniently forget Mom Murderer and Perpetually Backstabbed. After this, I would not do so again. For your sake, please keep in mind that this was really my first and last attempt at friendship, besides Enyi, of course. I am not an idiot, after all, and even I can learn from my mistakes.

••••••••••

It was when I was running away from the dozens of unknown monsters chasing me that I barreled straight towards them. Two young Legendary Classers, like me, sitting around a flickering campfire in front of a ragged touse.

The boy was green-eyed and black-haired, with a cruel cunning hiding in the corner of his eyes that was easily disguised by an easy smile and a laid-back manner. A cold face permanently arranged in a smirk. Across from him, the girl. His polar opposite. Jumping up and down, hardly able to sit still- fiddling with a rusting blade, even as her curly blonde hair prevented her from seeing anything. A smile that, I now know, was a little too big with teeth a little too pointy, a little too perfect.

When I crashed into their camp, he didn't even seem surprised. He didn’t even look up.

“Seems like you’ve got a bit of a problem,” he said. “Don’t worry. They don’t like it here, although we will need to leave soon.” He still didn’t look up, continuing to gaze at the fire like it held all of life’s answers. “The name’s Eglas. Eglas Dwalmar.”

The girl didn’t say anything, although she clearly did want to. She was practically bursting with the effort to stay silent.

I smiled, unaware of the tension in the air. “I… Declan. But you can call me Dex.”

The boy nodded, finally looking up. “That’s my twin.”

He didn’t say her name. So, I looked at her. “And what should I call you?”

The sister beamed. Her entire face lit up, her huge smile filled with perfectly white, perfectly straight teeth. “Mayven! So glad to have you!”

••••••••••

And so… well. That was the beginning of the end of my innocence, and the true beginning of my transformation into the bitter god you see before you. You already know it doesn’t have a happy ending.