“God I just want this life to end” a young man sighed. as he popped a tab of acid and relaxed on his couch an old memory floated to his mind. “Ren don’t cry we’re almost home” a voice as sweet as honey cooed. “Mom just let him cry like he always does” scoffed the young girl next to ren. The mother slightly laughed as she turned to face the boy again unclipping her seatbelt as she did. “Honey keep your seatbelt on” the man driving reprimanded the woman paid no mind to his words though as she lightly pet the boys head. “Alright when we get home today ren I’ll make your favorite dinner!” A bright smile came to the boys puffy cheeks. Ren shook his head to clear his mind “pointless memories” he sighed as he looked around his room. His room was dark the only light in the house came from the tv in front of him playing an older movie. Ren stood up and stretched his body as he strode to the bathroom to check in the mirror and splash some water on his face. As he stared in the mirror he examined himself, his dyed crimson hair, which was normally rather short, was now about to his shoulders. he had recently been keeping it tied up for work but he had the next two days off and figured he should spend one of those getting a haircut. His eyes a dull blue shook for a moment as he seemed to recall an old friends words ‘maybe if I keep making fun of your hair everyday you’ll finally get it cut’ he scoffed as he thought of the young girl he knew. ‘I should visit her’ ren thought as he took off his tie. He had yet to change out of his work clothes but he simply couldn’t find the energy to do anything else. So he simply sat back down in front of the tv and waited for his trip to start.
[minimum number required for a requiem reached] “ohh so the little apes don’t enjoy the world of peace?” A vicious voice drew a rhetorical question to himself. “Well I suppose I should spice things up to keep them entertained shouldn’t I?” With a sly laugh he stood up from his pure white seat and began typing some strange programs into a screen in the air.
[proceed with the revelation?] the screen questioned “obviously why would I click it if I didn’t want it to start!” With a twirl of his body the entity pressed yes.
“Damn it’s been six hours and I haven’t hit my peak yet this shit is strong!” The man with long crimson hair seemed thrilled that his trip was still going strong. ‘I should grab something to eat’ he thought as he stood in front of the convenience store closest to his house. He had been standing there for about forty minutes now but to most of the workers this was his usual antics on a Friday night. Finally working up the courage to enter he immediately grabs some chips and soda off the stand next to the register, and put them on the counter.
“Anything else ren?” Questioned a cute girl In her twenties.
“Yeah a pack of menthol stoges I don’t care which brand” he laughed this girl Amelia had been his childhood friend since his families funeral.
“Coming right up!” She said with a smile “that will be fourteen ninety nine.”
Rens mouth fell open “fourteen?! Come on Amelia you had to grab the most expensive pack?!” He practically yelled.
“Well maybe you’ll stop smoking if I do this every time” Amelia laughed as he handed her the money. As ren stepped out and lit his first cigarette of the night he chuckled slightly to himself and continued down the street. He decided to take a shortcut back to his house, so he cut through the alley way next to the gas station. About halfway through the dim alley something strange appeared in his line of sight. At first he thought it was simply one of the many homeless people that lived around here, so as per usual he kept walking only to stop in front of the person and give away some of his chips. However when he bent down ren noticed that it was anything but another person.
The skin from the thing in front of him was green and filled with abrasions. Some parts were purple and bruised while parts of his arms and legs we completely void of flesh, allowing the yellow bones underneath to show.
“W-what the hell is this?” A hushed stutter escaped rens lips. The body that he had found was leaning up against a dumpster and the wall almost as if it were asleep. Ren was busy spinning around trying to calm his self down so his trip stayed mellow when his foot kicked the leg of the body. “Eeeeek” he screamed “holy fuck that’s so gross” he gagged as he tried to scrap the skin off his shoe. Ren was so engrossed that he didn’t even notice the corpse had gotten up and shambled to him until it was right behind him. He felt the cold pasty hand grab his arm, his lips shivered as he thought ‘ there was only one thing in this alley with me’ ren spun around quickly and tried to back away causing him to lose his balance, as he looked down at the alley way around he looked for anything to defend himself. The corpse continued its advance towards him, the putrid smell almost making ren throw up. ‘I don’t understand, zombies are supposed to be just a scary story why is one here?!’ His thoughts screamed out. His adrenaline was causing his mind to race he patted the ground around him mindlessly until his hands found an empty beer bottle in some trash. The corpse rushed forward its yellow teeth open as its jaw came unhinged. The bottle flew threw the air guided by ren’s panicked arm, his breath was heavy as shards of glass exploded from the bottle. Ren couldn’t help but turn his head when the shards flew, he could still feel the neck of the bottle in his hand. There was the sickening sound of rotten flesh hitting the pavement when he finally caught his breath. If you asking yourself what rotten flesh sounds like hitting the pavement imagine a tub full of blood and organs, now imagine that tub sloshing onto the ground. Ren had no time to think however as the corpse was shambling back to its feet ‘fuck fuck fuck’ this one thought raced through his mind, his hand clenching the bottle tighter he ran forward while it was still disoriented. his mind was currently a wreck, ren was currently unable to cope with the situation he found himself in. ‘How is a corpse walking around, is this a prank? No there’s no way this is a prank that thing felt to real. If not a prank then what, everything was normal five minutes ago....maybe I’m just having a bad trip’ he finally settled on something to blame and steeled his nerves. Ren thrust forward with the bottle as he came into range of the corpse the broken glass easily slid into the beings neck separating the bones, the creature tried to moan but black blood filled his throat. As the light from its eyes diminished ren stood there blood now covering his hands and face, his eyes locked with the creature. ‘I... I killed something...’ his mind distraught, up until a few minutes ago this was a normal Friday. ‘What if this is just a man, what if he was just looking for food that would explain it after all there’s no way a corpse could be moving around, ...but if so then I just took a mans life with my own hands....I have to get home now!’ Sweat beaded on his forehead as he dashed through the alley back towards his house, about half way there rain started pouring. Ren now soaked from head to toe blood dripping from him burst into to his house and immediately jumped in the shower. He changed into his usual relaxing clothes and burnt his old work uniform ‘I’ll just get a new one’ he thought as he turned on the tv and switched it to the news. ‘What do I do, if I really did kill someone it was in self defense right?’ He kept repeating the events in his mind looking for anything that might clear his name he was so focused, that ren didn’t even notice the tv was full of static. In fact when he finally did notice he flipped through the channels and not a single one worked ‘did I forget the cable bill?’ In frustration he shut off the tv.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Ohhhhhh so this is the one huh?”
A sweet sound filled rens ears as he hurriedly looked around “who’s there?!” His voice raised when he didn’t see anyone.
“I’m simply a guide and you are my master” the voice said matter of factly
‘I really must be losing my mind first a corpse and now voices’ a self deprecating chuckle escaped his throat as he asked” a guide for what? And where exactly are you?”
Slowly a faint ball of light appeared before ren.” I am here, and as for your first question I’m here to guide you specifically through the turning point. Although there are many more guides out there for others I am specifically yours!” The ball changed to a warm pink color as it said this.
“What’s the turning point?” Ren asked however the ball simply disappeared, what replaced it however was a sort of game like screen.
[ congratulations you’ve unlocked the rare title “first blood” as compensation for your achievement you’ve been awarded the following:
Choose any three skills(beginner) for free from the store
120xp
One free (beggar)weapon and armor from the store]
“Holy shit this really does mean I’m going insane” ren held his breath he was absolutely stunned by this. No words could describe how he felt at this moment but before he could process it another screen blocked his view
[character] [store] [equipment] [skills] [titles] [party] [friends] [chat]
This screen seemed to be the base screen for whatever was going on, ren in an attempt to understand decided to go through it one by one.
[character:
Name: Ren caste
Age: 20
Race: human
[stats]
Agility: 11
Strength: 7
Willpower: 12
Wisdom:9
Intellect:10
Endurance:6
Stat points to invest: 4]
“I don’t know if these seem a little low or if I’m just weak” ren remember playing plenty of rpgs in his time and he knew one thing.... he absolutely sucked at them.
[store]
[weapons/armor]
[skills]
[items]
As ren clicked the store he was greeted with several options, he decided to check skills then weapons and armor to go ahead and use his achievement.
[store
[skills]
Rank: beginner (all other ranks locked)]
[ agility enhancement
Endurance enhancement
Diverse languages
Self realization
Flame
[Weapons]
Staff
Dagger
Wand
Bow
Sword
[armor]
Leather light chest plate
Cloth padded armor
Old cloak
Leather light helmet
Ragged hood]
‘Hmm all of these seem kinda ratty though I guess they are beginner items’ ren sighed as he checked through his choices. While a few things did catch his eye most weren’t worth it. “For now I guess I’ll choose [diverse language], [agility enhancement], and [self realization]? What’s that?” Ren asked the last one out loud as he did the system seemed to confirm his choice and gave him the three skills, this caused ren to yell “ahh fuck if I’d know it was voice activated I wouldn’t have said anything yet!” “ fine I guess I’ll just be more careful next time” he let out a defeated breath as he chose staff and old cloak as his weapon and armor. ‘Though I guess I don’t have to give much thought to this since it’s probably all just part of my trip, this is one of the most realistic trips I’ve ever had’ a small smile broke onto his lips when he thought this. Having finished using his achievement he entered his room ‘though it’s been both fun and weird I should probably sleep the rest of this off and figure out what happened’ having thought this he let his head hit his pillow and drifted off for the night, tomorrow he would wake up and everything would be normal the thing he saw in the alley would just be a dead dog and he would have lunch with Amelia.