Theresa had always longed for something beyond her simple village. Yet day after day it was more of the same. She woke up long before the sunrise, alongside her mother and together they prepared breakfast, which was little more than reheated soup from the previous night and stale bread.
“Go fetch your siblings, Theresa. I shall get your father,” her mother said.
“Yes, Mother.”
Theresa took the few steps across the common area to the curtained off corner that served as a bedroom for the young children. She gently pulled it aside and gazed lovingly at the four children sleeping. The youngest was holding tightly onto both her little doll and one of her brothers.
“Good morning,” Theresa called gently as she shook each one’s shoulder, “It is time to rise and start the day.”
Each grumbled a tiny form of ‘good morning’ as they woke, earning another smile from their eldest sister. Once sure that each had fully woken up, Theresa moved over to the other curtained corner where her own bed was. She pulled it open, followed by the divider, shaking the shoulders of the two boys sleeping there.
“Wake up. Father is not going to wait for the two of you,” Theresa said a little gruffly.
“Go away,” one of the boys groaned, slapping her hand away.
Theresa was undeterred though. She grabbed onto the boy’s nightshirts and pulled, dragging them from their cozy spot. First one, then the other, fell to the floor as they lost the battle against their eldest sister. The thud of the impact jarred the two awake.
“You will never be a good wife if that is how you act,” mumbled one of the two.
Theresa frowned within, keeping her gentle smile plastered on her face. What her brother said hurt, even if it was in jest. While Theresa longed for something more, something exciting to happen in her life, the safety and security of a family of her own was a more realistic future. A future that really was not too far away, when she thought about it. She knew her father was talking with a couple of men about marrying her off, likely within the coming year. She was already sixteen, and her prime rapidly passing.
Breakfast went fast, being so simple. The large family sat together and, after saying a prayer of thanks, ate their meal in relative silence. Once complete, their father left with the two eldest boys in tow to continue their education about tanning hides. The two younger boys and her younger sister gathered their simple collection baskets and went off into the safe parts of the nearby forest in search of wild berries, vegetables, and other fruits. The youngest sister stayed with Theresa and their mother, helping pull from the small garden a few items barely ready so as to be something for that night’s meal. Once done in the garden, Theresa helped her mother complete the other household work before having a short amount of time to herself.
As her youngest sister wanted to go to the river, Theresa escorted her there. Together they played in a calm pool at the edge of the river. It was fun as the pair splashed water at each other, and Theresa wondered if one day she might be able to have this sort of fun with her own daughter.
There was the snap of a branch being stepped on nearby, drawing Theresa’s attention. Three young men stepped out of the forest, stopping at the sight of the two girls.
“Oh. Pardon us,” one of them said, “We didn’t know that a couple of girls would be here.”
“That is alright,” Theresa replied, “We were just leaving.”
Theresa gave her sister’s hand a subtle squeeze to indicate to just follow along. Theresa led the way as she tried to pass the men. A hand fell on her shoulder, stopping her.
“Hang on there. You’re the tanner’s daughter, ain’t you?”
Theresa bit her tongue, as she did not really want to answer the question. Instead she merely gave the man a gentle smile.
“Sir, I apologize, but my sister needs me to take her home right away. As you can see, she is quite wet from the river, and I fear she might catch a chill.”
One of the other men pulled her sister away.
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“Run on home, little girl. We need to have a chat with your big sister here.”
Her sister looked absolutely terrified as she glanced at Theresa.
“It will be alright. Go home and have mother get you changed,” Theresa managed to say, maintaining a false air of calm.
Her sister nodded, eyes still showing terror at the situation before running off towards the house. The four remaining watched her go.
“You know, I’m sure one day she’ll be a pretty little thing too. Too bad she’s the tanner’s daughter too,” said one of the men.
“Yea. Fitting that the whore is the only one that could put up with a tanner. Too bad your mother’s a good little housewife now. I would’ve liked to visit with her from what my father told me,” cackled the second.
“The tanner’s trying to marry this one off from what I heard,” said the third.
“Really? What a waste. Nobody would want some woman who smells of rotting flesh,” the first said, “Better off being the new town whore.”
Theresa closed her eyes. She had known that this was likely going to happen. From the moment that she had learned of her father’s work and her mother’s past, it made sense why everyone had kind of sneered at and avoided her. It was why her father was struggling to marry her off. It was why she longed for something beyond the future of this poor village.
“Let’s teach her about her role!” echoed the overly enthusiastic reply.
It sounded distant, as Theresa did everything to detach her thinking from her sensations. She felt the hands as they began to touch her, yet even those felt distant. There was a tug and she felt her clothes start to tear. She frowned as she thought about the number of stitches it was going to take to fix that.
A distant sounding shout echoed through her detached mind, and the hands disappeared shortly after. There was more shouting, but Theresa kept her eyes shut. Then there was the sensation of falling, which forced her eyes open, only to find herself standing in a ring of stone archways next to a stone obelisk.
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Tess’s memories of her summoning to the Tutorial flashed through her mind as the scythe closed in. The fear she felt now was both different, yet similar to the resigning fear that she had felt to her near fate then.
“But now I’m not powerless.”
Tess’s fear shattered, and she bent backwards to dodge the scythe. It caught only a few strands of loose hair. She spun about, placed her hand on the ground as she thrust a kick towards the Essence. The kick made contact with its arm, sending the scythe flying from its grasp. She performed a one-handed backspring to right herself.
“Earthen Grasp,” she called out.
A stone hand rose from beneath the Essence and grabbed it. Tess brought her own hand slamming into the palm of her other hand. The stone hand brought the Essence crashing into the ground, shattering the stones at the impact site.
A metallic shing rang out, slicing the stone hand and rendering the spell useless. She was not sure how, but the Essence had remanifested the scythe in its grasp. Tess smirked as the thing let out a deathly howl.
“Stone Shot.”
Utilizing the shattered stones beneath the creature, Tess launched her next magical attack. Pellets of stone shot upwards through the creature, cracking bones and tearing through its billowing garment.
“Like swiss cheese.”
The creature let out another howl as it charged again. Tess brought the stone pellets back around and hit it again from the side, just enough to throw off its aim. The hit gave Tess the opportunity to deflect the deadly scythe blade with her dagger, but forced her again to lose control of her spell.
“Burn. Ignite!”
“Die!”
The pair shouted at each other in the midst of their heated battle. Tess’s next spell caused the Essence’s tattered robe to catch fire while the creature tried a backswing this time. The blunt staff side threw her dagger’s deflection off enough that she was not immediately disemboweled by the following blade, but it still caught her in the thigh. Tess crumbled to the ground as the pain overwhelmed her.
“That actually hurt,” she managed through gritted teeth.
She glanced up in enough time to dodge another fatal blow so that she only took another wound instead.
“Light Bind.”
Luminous chains sprung into existence and caught the Essence, holding it in place.
“Stay there a minute. Heal.”
She followed up with mending her own wounds. Within moments, she was back on her feet. She cautiously walked towards the Essence, noticing a glowing orb of some sort within the chest.
“Should have just started with immobilizing you. Learning experience,” Tess commented.
The creature only continued to struggle against the chains, but she could see that its efforts damaged it. It was time to end this. Bringing the dagger forward, she cast one more spell.
“Flame Blade.”
Green fire sprung forth upon the blade, which she promptly thrust into the glowing orb. The creature’s howl was even louder, if that was possible, until the orb shattered as though it were made of glass. Instantaneously, the body went limp. She released the binding spell and watched as the creature fell to the ground, nudging it with her toe.
A loud rattling shook the arena. Tess watched as the audience of skeletons collapsed where each was into piles of bones with no life, or unlife. Finally, a chest appeared at the center of the arena.
You have cleared a dungeon. Would you like to exit?