My fingers clenched painfully as the sword dug itself deeper into my chest, pulling out a piece of flesh and muscle as it went, blood gushing from both holes as I cried out in pain.

My mind became fuzzy, and the pain didn't seem know when to stop growing it was expanding at a alarming rate, everything seemed muffled and distant, I barely registered it even as the creature behind me laughed, enjoying watching me suffer.

this was my ninth time fighting the skeletal wizard already dying the previous eight times,

Only during my first encounter did it toy with me like this time

It had been quite a while since even though it had enjoyed hurting me that one time but after that until today it had become mild because in those seven times it had never tortured me, although that was a total surprise because he gave of the impression he preferred not to kill at all if he could help it.

And not for the nice reasons, as some people might except

But now he had no intentions of simply killing me, he planned on making sure I suffered and then enjoy watching me struggle to fight back. And after torturing me for hours now,

he figured that it should be safe to start with the final blow, cutting off my right hand, the most vulnerable part of a human.

That would surely be the end of me, for this monster was strong enough to kill me right there, and then enjoy it...That's usually when I begin screaming and sobbing, trying desperately to hide my fear as well as possible, but it was useless, the monster's ability to see through anyone's façade of fear made that impossible.

After all, monsters don't need to feel sad for their victims, do they?

The monster was leaning over me smiling evilly as he raised his blade, ready to plunge it into my neck when I moved, the wounds healing instantly as I rolled away, jumping to my feet in one fluid motion as I stood facing him with the broken sword still clutched tightly in my hand.

My thoughts were beginning to jumble as I couldn't even form proper sentences in my head

"you want to play?", I asked,

raising the broken blade high above my head,

"if you do I to will play".

"huh!? You've got some nerve kid! If I wanted to, I could easily snap those bones of yours in half and throw them to one side, but I'm not interested so instead, I'll make this easier." for the very fist time in my nine encounters the skeleton spoke surprising and stunning me for a moment but my mind cleared when I saw him lung at me with a deadly swipe.

I barely ducked in time, The blade sliced through the air where my head had been only moments ago.

He lunged again but I ducked again this time rolling to the left avoiding his attack and quickly jumping to my feet, brandishing the broken sword as I faced him.

My body trembled, my breath hitched and I fought hard to keep my breath and body under control.

I needed to calm down.

Calm the hell down.

What the hell is going on?! I shook my head furiously trying to clear the thoughts that swarmed my mind.

He was laughing again.

"You have guts kid, but they won't help you here". He suddenly swung his blades in quick circular motions and struck towards me from three different angles all within the span of a few seconds.

I was forced to dodge them all in rapid succession, unable to even defend myself properly, all the while losing a good chunk of me in the process.

The sound of metal clashing violently against metal filled the room as I spun around the room frantically trying to keep up with him. He was fast, and his attacks were ruthless as he tried his hardest to slice me to pieces.

"STOP!" an angry squeaky voice reverberated through the area

Suddenly his attacks stopped, and he jumped up on the wall in front of me, grabbing hold of the ledge and pulling himself up to the top of the wall.

His long white hair like hood whipped violently in the wind blowing past him, as his eyes narrowed into a wicked smirk as he pointed a bone-like hand toward me.

He cackled as the air began to warp and distort around us.

I took an involuntary step back as the distortion grew and started to spread in front of me.

I felt as though the walls surrounding me were vibrating, as though some sort of magnetic field was spreading throughout the room.

I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe and it hurt so bad I couldn't move.

"What are you doing, I said STOP!" the rabbit appeared in front of me in mid-air as the distortion grew rapidly stronger around me and then disappeared. His long brown fur ruffled in the gusty winds as he turned around to face his creation.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Apologies master I forgot", replied the skeleton.

The rabbit growled in annoyance

"What did you forget?".

"I forgot what we're dealing with now, my apologies master".

"Well you shouldn't have done that then", growled the rabbit, "now we will have to deal with it ourselves".

Then it turned toward me its beady little red eyes fixed firmly upon mine.

"Now, you tell me boy", he said calmly, "what in the name of creation are you doing?"

"Uh, fighting? I think", I mumbled, my voice sounding faint, as though it wasn't even coming from me, the voice seemed to be echoing from somewhere far away.

The rabbit snorted disdainfully and spoke again,

"Fighting!? Ha! You call that fighting I call that dying!".

He then looked down at my injured body. I was bleeding profusely, most of which was seeping through the clothes around my abdomen. The wound itself was deep, but luckily it would disappear soon.

He looked straight into my eyes,

"Is that why you are allowing yourself to be stabbed, impaled, burned, and beaten by this one? because you can heal fast in this world, right?!"

It sounded accusing but it also sounded like he was asking.

I swallowed hard as he gave me yet another scolding.

"Listen to me you Arrogant ignorant stupid son of a bitch, you will not heal like that in the world outside in the real world you are just like any other ordinary Riffraff you won't be healing, you'll be suffering in excruciating pain. Don't you know any better? Do you expect yourself to walk after having your guts ripped out ?", he snapped

I looked away from him, ashamed and embarrassed, and slightly confused as the pain slowly subsided but the pain remained the same.

"Do you realize what you are doing boy?", he yelled.

I looked back at him nervously as he continued

"Have you lost your mind? Are you truly going to fight like that, allowing yourself to be maimed just to kill a minor lich? Have you gone mad!?"

"I'm not mad sir! I'm-"

But he cut me off with another question.

"You think you're invincible, do you? now well boy you are in for a surprise the next time you get fatally injured you will die like any other cur! Do you hear me, boy? You will die without being able to do anything about it!! and that won't be all when you die I will trap you in your worst nightmare where you will feel every ounce of agony I inflict on you, and that is when you learn the true meaning of DEATH!! So stop acting like you are some immortal and just listen to me, I am going to tell you this once, fight like your life is at stake, that every breath you might take might be your last, and the love of your maker stop getting fatally wounded!!".

I flinched back from him when he grabbed my shoulders harshly, shaking my shoulders roughly.

The tiny rabbit hands shook me like a bear shaking a tree.

"If you don't understand how to handle this situation you are doomed, you will die before I leave this place, and if you continue to act like that you'll die anyway whether you live or die!!".

His grip tightened slightly as he glared at me, his expression darkening,

"I have never been one to give up and I have never been one to tolerate stupidity, I have given you a chance because I like you, but do not try to test my patience again boy, If you won't do better I will tear you apart and watch as you suffer for eternity, I hope it makes you happy".

His grip relaxed as he released my shoulders, letting go completely as he began moving again.

I looked down in shame.

He was absolutely right, I had no idea how to handle this situation. I didn't think he meant for me to fight him to the death, but I just couldn't stand being treated like crap anymore, I didn't care what he threatened me with. It was time to find out just who I was.

"CONTINUE!" the rabbit bellowed and before I could regain my bearings the skeleton warrior was upon me like a whirlwind.

My sword clashed with both of his, sending sparks flying in all directions but neither gained an advantage over the other and although I managed to block one swing of his blade he retaliated almost immediately and sent another blade crashing down against my sword creating a massive crack, causing me to jump to the side out of instinct.

However, I stumbled upon my own footing as I saw an opportunity to break free and I moved my body sideways trying to slip behind him and escape.

He didn't give me the time, however, and suddenly he launched himself forward at me again, slashing vertically, missing my head, but slashing dangerously close to my shoulder.

I cried out in pain as his blades grazed my skin. But then my arms suddenly burst into flames. And as the flames enveloped my whole body I found it hard to focus my attention on anything else other than how much I was burning.

"I warned you not to die,boy now you will suffer the consequences" the rabbit berated me sadly

I screamed as the flames burned my flesh

I fell to my knees as the intense heat of the flames caused tears of agony to stream down my cheeks. Suddenly I heard footsteps rushing toward me.

Then I saw his feet rushing toward me. Then a sharp pain shot through my chest.

Then nothing, no pain, nothing.

***

As I opened my eyes I found myself staring up into a familiar scenery, I was sitting in my living room, my old living room on earth.

A large smile broke across my face and for just a moment I thought the world might just be right again, I was back there and then. I knew this place; I recognized it instantly as home.

A smile crept across my face until it reached my ears as I finally remembered how it felt to be able to feel emotion without restraint. It felt so good to be back, I was back home, and I was safe.

As I smiled widely I realized my eyes were wet, I sniffed loudly as I wiped them furiously with the sleeve of my jacket, I missed this feeling so much! I looked down to see my former hands, I was back in my original body and back in one piece.

I jumped up in the excitement and started running around the room laughing with happiness.

And then I realized that my hands and clothes were covered in blood, there was so much blood everywhere! It was everywhere. My clothes were stained crimson and I was covered in red splotches of blood.

Blood was dripping from my nose, ears, mouth, chin, and eyes, I was covered in blood, and there was a trail of blood leading from the couch directly onto my bedroom door, which was now wide open, revealing my room, everything inside was stained red. I was covered in blood and more blood.

My heart dropped, fear swept through me and my stomach twisted into knots.

What could possibly have happened?

I didn't remember doing anything wrong, did I?

Had something happened to my parents, where were they?!

They weren't here, they were in their house, maybe something could have possibly happened?

Suddenly I moved toward the room on my own accord and as I stepped inside I stopped dead in my tracks unable to breathe for some reason.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed that my window had broken but what truly caught my attention was my wife, my now dead wife lying there motionless upon my bed,

blood pooling beneath her, her neck severed at the very top.

She lay on the bed in a pool of blood, her head resting on her right hand. She hadn't been attacked, she must've died peacefully, and the killer hadn't gotten away.

This was awful! I couldn't believe what I was seeing, I could only imagine what must have happened but still, it seemed impossible, I was standing just inside of my room looking at her lifeless face and it just wasn't possible..

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.................