Chapter 2
Belmont
Contrary to popular belief, getting knocked out and waking up fine is not something that happens to normal humans. That is why Belmont was extremely lucky and, in the meantime, extremely unlucky to fall and land while staying completely conscious.
As fortune had it, he landed softly on his back even after a fall of about 15 meters. Unfortunately, the arrow that had pierced his shoulder was slammed at an angle breaking the head and pushing the arrow back out somewhat, which in itself was good but the pain he felt made it seem like he had preferred the arrow to remain where it was.
Secondly, he landed on something pointy and sharp, something that penetrated his side, piercing him just below his ribs. The combined pain of his wounds was enough to momentarily make him forget about his situation, there was only the pain. Blissful horrific pain. But slowly the pain receded, enough for him to clamp down on the scream he didn’t realize he had let loose. He managed to take a slow breath before the pain returned in force.
Several minutes passed as he just lay there and focused on his breathing. The pain muted his other senses so he didn’t notice the smell of rot and decay at first. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was at the bottom of what looked like a wide stone well, except the sides of the well had stairs coming out of the wall, circling to the top which was covered by a dark mist.
Lowering his eyes, he saw that the stairs had been destroyed several meters above the floor, making escape that way impossible. He wondered who had built an old well just inside the entrance to a mansion. But then he remembered what he had happened before falling. Something was wrong here; he would have thought himself dreaming if it wasn’t for the pain he was feeling. Pain always made things real.
Looking around again he saw that to his right there was a cavemouth about two meters tall and three meters wide leading into a pitch-black tunnel. Everything was silent except for his labored breathing and occasional grunt or whine. He craned his head without moving to try to see more around him but he was somewhat stuck in a pile of something soft and squishy.
Looking to his left he came face to face with a dead woman, her unseeing eyes looking straight into his. Her throat was slit and the wound had opened up even more due to her fall, so much so that she was almost decapitated.
Belmont screamed again and with a heave, he pushed himself up away from the eyes of the woman and out of the pile of corpses he had landed on. Screaming in pain, in terror, and fear he puked all over the packed dirt floor, muddy and soft from the blood of all the dead.
It was too much, the pain, the smells, the terror of it all. He didn’t even notice the blinking light at the edge of his vision. All he knew was fear and pain right now. Standing on all fours he managed to grab the thing which had pierced his side and pulled, managing to dislodge it. That it turned out to be a piece of broken bone and Belmont stared at it in horror.
He was about to throw it away when a squeal echoed in the silence. The well was dimly lit by the small amount of light coming through the dark mist above him, so Belmont had a hard time seeing all the details of the room, thank God. Except now his eyes franticly searched for whatever made that sound.
The light let him see something large scurrying out of the tunnel, a dog-sized creature, squeaking and smelling the air. Belmont couldn’t make out many details except for the glowing eyes that fixed upon him. With a high-pitched shriek, it charged him.
Belmont reacted just in time bringing the bone up in front of him as the creature threw itself at him. The bone slid into the shoulder of the creature and it squealed in pain but it didn’t die. It wriggled and flailed around in pain and panic.
Holding it off with the piece of bone Belmont flipped it under him and with a surge of adrenaline and strength, he threw himself flat upon the bone with a sickening crunch the bone pierced almost through the creature and it froze. The creature took another few breaths before stilling completely.
The silence and calm that the creature's death brought were broken almost immediately by a torrent of dark smoke appearing around Belmont. Dark shapes twirled faster and faster around him until he stood in the center of a small hurricane batting at the corpses and the walls of the well.
With a sound of thunder, the dark mist flowed into Belmont and he could feel something entering him, changing him. He felt as if he was being stuffed like a plush toy. His mind, body, and soul were filled with energy, an energy he’d never felt before. It was euphoric, he had never felt more alive. As suddenly as it appeared it all vanished leaving the area eerily still.
Belmont rose on weak legs. He was shaking from fear and adrenaline but he had never felt so good in his life. The wound on his shoulder and his side were gone and it felt like he had slept 10 hours and had eaten a full breakfast.
He slowly walked over to the wall of the well and put his back towards it. He shakingly put his hands on his knees and tried to calm himself. Breathing slowly, he managed to calm himself down somewhat. He noticed the blinking light then and as he focused on it; his vision was filled with text.
You have entered the Dungeon of the Lone Peak
Congratulations!
You have been awakened upon the path of the Gods.
You are now a level 0 Initiate.
Choose a Path to specialize in a Class.
Available Paths: Path of the Warrior, Path of the Mage, Path of the Rogue, and Path of the Summoner.
Your affinities have been awakened.
Fire 1%
Water 25%
Earth 1%
Air 1%
Holy 0%
Death 100%
Your traits have been awakened.
Warning: A trait has activated and changed your parameters.
Traits: Apocalyptic Being – You have the ability to grow freely
System Breaker– You break the System
Avatar of Death and Destruction – You are destined to break all of the worlds
Your attributes and skills have been awakened.
Due to your traits, your status, attribute points, and skills have changed to better suit your destiny. You will not be able to access your Status until a path and specialization have been selected.
A wave of dizziness swept over Belmont and he had to catch himself on the floor as he toppled over, holding back even more puke. His black robe was covered in blood, puke, and gore from his landing. He quickly pulled it off and tossed it away. Luckily, he had jeans and a t-shirt on underneath and he had on a pair of brand-new caterpillars or at least they were brand new an hour ago. Now they were covered in mud and blood.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Ignoring his appearance for the moment he focused on the wall of text. This all seemed important to him but he just couldn’t bring himself to feel anything about it. His situation was what it was and he had to focus on surviving now nothing else mattered, only strength mattered.
A thought flickered in his mind. That wasn’t right, nothing of this was right. That flicker was quickly suppressed by his darker emotions again. Things were as they were, he needed to take control, to find a way out of here, to survive and nothing else. No one would stand in his way. No that wasn’t right at all. He wouldn’t let it go, he couldn’t. That wasn’t who he was, people who knew him always said that he was too caring. He always did too much and went too far in helping others. But Belmont had never seen it that way. He liked helping, he loved meeting new people, and he was a good man.
At that realization, pain spread from his chest and he gasped once more. A new text appeared.
Affinity re-awakened.
Holy 1%
Emotions poured into Belmont again and he almost wished he hadn’t done that as fear and grief blossomed once more in his chest.
He quickly calmed his breathing again and focused on his situation. He was shocked and afraid but he had always been a rational person. He was not in the states anymore or if he was, he was somewhere very strange, terrifying, and disgusting.
He did his best to avoid looking at the pile of corpses but the smell was harder to ignore.
The dark tunnel and the dim light around him sent old primal fears down his spine. Images of monsters and painful deaths crossed his mind. Putting his back against the wall once more he took a calming breath.
Focusing on something that he felt was strangely familiar but still completely impossible, he focused on the texts in front of him, reading them thoroughly.
The messages were reminiscent of all the roleplaying games he had played throughout the years.
His heart started pounding again as he read the messages. What did they mean? The apocalypse? System Breaker? He was a nobody, a young man studying at a foreign college for easy credits and free education since he came from a country with a great education system. He would never bring about such changes or destruction or whatever else these traits foretold.
“This is bullshit, Dorilingus.” He was startled by the sound of his voice; it echoed in the silence. He chuckled at the reference as he always did but the unease didn’t go away. No matter what some damn floating text said, he was a good man from a good home and he would do good things here. Wherever here was.
As soon as he finished reading the last text, more started to appear. He wondered what the re-awakening meant, would these affinities and stats change who he was, was that why he had felt so cold and emotionless before? It must be, he regained something within himself, something he had lost by whatever was happening to him.
Ignoring those thoughts, he focused on the new text. This text was different, it had been white text upon a black background before, that he could barely see through. Now the text was a burning black so dark it could easily be read against the dark backdrop of the well or pit or whatever he was stuck down.
You have awakened on the Path of the Gods; they have deemed you worthy of walking the path to the Heavens, even with your blasphemous origin.
Choose your path now.
Available Paths.
Path of the Warrior.
Path of the Mage.
Path of the Rogue.
Path of the Summoner.
Specializations will be offered after you’ve selected a Path.
The text was frustratingly lacking in details about the paths. They were straightforward in their names of course but not having more details was bothering him going forward. Normally when he played, he didn’t go for much information he just picked a role that fit his playstyle. But being in a situation of life and death like this, when a giant ass rat could eat him at any moment, made him want to pick more carefully. A glance towards the dark tunnel showed no sign of movement and it was still silent, he cursed and looked over his options again.
The Warrior was probably a melee fighter, but did that mean Fighters and Barbarians, or was there more to it? If he wanted to be an archer or a gunslinger, (if guns were even a thing in this world) should he pick that path, or was that under the path of the Rogue?
A rogue to him was a thief, a skulker, or an assassin. But it could also mean a person not following the rules, a free man to some perhaps. He noticed that there wasn't a path for a worker or trader, did that mean those weren't classes or were they hidden somewhere amongst the paths available to him?
Mage was obviously a magic user; the thought of magic was not as shocking as he thought it would be, after all, he had been through a lot already, but he still paused at the thought. Who hadn’t dreamt of throwing around fire or doing weird magical shit at some point growing up?
But they were usually weak physically and right now he needed to be able to survive. He paused at that thought. Would the paths alter him physically as well as give him abilities? Would he even get abilities or skills from this? He didn’t know and he wouldn’t know until he made a choice.
He focused on the path that would give him the greatest chance for survival at the moment, or so he hoped.
Path of the Summoner. Logically it would give him allies to fight for him since he had no experience with violence and no gear or weapons at hand. He was surprised that he actually killed the rat and he got away scot-free. It was then he realized just how good he felt, he had noticed it before but now he noticed that his wounds had all closed without leaving so much as a scar. Was that part of the leveling system or was that only due to his awakening?
More questions, always more questions. Bel needed to act before all of this left him or he woke up or whatever would happen to him next. He had nothing but his wallet, his keys, and his plastic dagger. Scratch that, he had nothing but his wallet and keys. He needed to find somewhere safer to shelter and a way out of this well, the only path available was deeper into the tunnel or building something to reach the broken staircase.
He looked around and the only thing he had to use was corpses, so tunnel it was. For that, he needed help.
He focused on the interface as he thought of it in his mind, he brought up the Path of the Summoner and with a mental command selected it. A slew of notifications popped up and scrolled across his vision but he couldn’t see any of them as a wave of energy and pain rolled through him.
You have selected Path of the Summoner.
A class has been assigned due to affinity. You have been given the class Necromancer.
Due to your affinity and traits, a merging has occurred. Choose a path to infuse with. This choice is permanent and cannot be altered by any means whatsoever.
The pain was immense. It was even worse than getting shot and stabbed just a moment ago. It was the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. His stomach was churning, his muscles spasming and his head felt like it was splitting in two.
He blindly lashed out with his mind.
You have selected Path of the Warrior.
A class has been assigned due to affinity. You have been given the class Death Knight.
Merging initiated.
Path of the Summoner and Path of the Warrior has merged into Path of the Necro-Lord.
You are the Necro-Lord.
A sense of relief and pleasure came over him as the notifications scrolled by. He barely saw them as the pain leaving made his head drop and his mind fuzzed over and all he wanted to do was sleep. The stress, the pain, and everything that had happened in the last thirty minutes were too much and he felt himself tipping over as he fell asleep.
As Bel slept, his dreams haunted him. He had never had a problem with nightmares. But now all he saw was death and blood. He was standing on a battlefield at night, the dead were stacked like cordwood around him, and the grass was soft and wet from all the blood leaking into it. He spun around, and all around him, dead eyes stared back at him. They were mostly humans, but there were also fantastical creatures such as Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Orcs, Goblins, and several other races. They were warriors and mages, clad in fine armor all with the same tabards and standards. They surrounded him, and it was clear to him. He had killed them all.
He was clad in black armor, splattered with blood. His gauntleted hands held a sword and shield both soaked in blood and full of grime. He could hear a thumping rhythmic sound approaching. He turned around and from behind the mounds of corpses, an army marched toward him. Armored-clad warriors and magic users in robes walked side by side with creatures from nightmares, creatures with too many teeth and claws. They were all dead and their eyes were glowing green in the darkness. As they saw him, they opened their mouths in unison screaming.
“Bel – Lord of the Apocalypse, Destroyer of Worlds!”
No, this couldn’t be happening. He turned to run from the approaching horde and came face to face with an unfamiliar man dressed in plate armor with a white tabard and the symbol of a rising sun on it. It was a handsome man with olive skin and long blonde hair. He was staring at Bel with deep green eyes, emotions clear on his face. Hate and anger mixed with love and despair.
“You were my friend Bel. Why? Why did you betray us like this, after all, we did for you? The others are dead because of you and with them the world.” The man's face twisted in a snarl and a sword materialized in his hand before he stabbed it through Bel’s chest.
Bel woke with a scream.