Alex couldn’t believe his luck, here he was in what might be called a dive-bar in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by what felt like a good part of the small town’s population, including several people too young to drink. It seemed the bar was the hangout for teens and parents looking to have a night off. Music, food, alcohol, and dancing what could be better. A happy fun vibe spread throughout the rustic building, it didn’t reek of desperation or most of the negative feelings that some places had, and it lacked the overt shady vibe brought about by being filled with criminals and creeps. Hell, there were no bullshit children there. The owner was in his opinion a damned genius, the design and activities available catered to all ages parents could bring their kids and have a good time hanging out with neighbors and friends. Teens could hangout and blow off some steam, and adults could mingle. He severely doubted it would work in a larger city but here it felt like the town hangout, filled with a deep sense of community.
After eight years of active duty with the Marines and four long deployments overseas, he had decided that he would take a breather. Road trip around the country before he settled down for the grind of civilian life. He didn’t have any family left, no girlfriend, and a seriously disillusioned mind when it came to politics. He was looking for some of that slow life calm, and here it was in a small town whose name he hadn’t bothered to learn with some good food and drink.
Oh yes, there was also the absolute hottie that had walked up to him during a game of pool. He had been playing with some of the teens and younger adults. They largely ignored the scars on his face and the guarded stance. When lo and behold a fucking vision had walked in. Early twenties with dark hair and laughing eyes.
He had no idea why she had approached him, but he wasn’t going to look too hard. Unless she was bait for a mugging. Well, that might be fun too, unlikely given the whole vibe of the town. It wasn’t every day that a girl completely out of your league got your attention and seemed to genuinely want to spend time with you, especially when you put in no effort. So, he did what any male that wasn’t a pussy would do he went with the flow. One thing had led to another, and he left the bar with her.
With the girl snuggled under his arm and leading him back to his rented room in the only motel in town he felt that this night really couldn’t have looked better. She looked as eager to get there as he was, and he certainly wasn’t going to complain. Neither of them had any illusions about what would happen, good old fashioned naked fun.
They had walked a block when he couldn’t help himself anymore. Both of them had wandering hands. Stopping in front of a narrow alley between two buildings on main street, he turned towards her and leaned down for a kiss. She had looked up at him eagerly and pressed herself close. It saved their lives. His brain screamed and trained instincts drove equally trained reflexes.
There wasn’t any conscious thought when he yanked her down into a sideways roll, standing up and spinning her into a throw to the doorway in front of him. His right hand slid behind his back and pulled his concealed carry .40 caliber pistol. That hand tracked the shape that exploded out of the alley. It had hunched over when he moved trying to catch them as he dodged, tearing chunks out of the sidewalk before slamming into a parked truck.
Alex didn’t hesitate as soon as the target that was moving way too fucking fast had stalled, he emptied his magazine into it. Fifteen rounds as fast as he could fire one handed into a target larger than a person at about five feet. In about four seconds.
He didn’t miss.
The thing and it was a thing let out an inhuman sound something between a roar, a scream, and a pain filled screech. He didn’t waste time getting a look at the thing, never stay in the ambush zone, he grabbed the surprised girl and hauled ass down the sidewalk to the next street ducking around the corner he tucked her to the wall and reloaded.
For the first time since the start his brain turned on, he caught a mixture of emotions on her face going from surprise to anger and finally to resignation. He got the feeling that she wasn’t surprised by whatever that thing was, it was leftover surprise at what he had done. Oddly while it felt like she was surprised that it was here. She wasn’t surprised that it existed or that it attacked.
His pistol snapped up as another creature barreled out from an alley further down the side street, he waited until the thing had reached its slowest trying to turn and charge. The next magazine worth of rounds punched heavily into the face and shoulders dropping it to whine piteously as it bled out and desperately clawed towards them.
Alex executed what may have been the fastest reload of his life, just in time to hear a slight scraping sound behind him. Grabbing the girl yet again he threw himself forward twisting to land first and get his gun lined up. Fire bloomed down his back as claws tore through where he had been. He wasn’t quite fast enough. It didn’t spare the third creature. After a second of mind numbing pain as he landed on his damaged back he found that he had opened fire, purely on instinct, several shots dropped the thing as it loomed up for a finishing blow dropping backwards.
Standing up he fired at the humanoid silhouette that had been several steps behind the creature, the last rounds missed as the fucker dodged at inhuman speed, but it had given him time to regain his footing and push the disoriented girl off. He dropped the pistol, he had just emptied his last mag anyways. His left hand, the one that he had on the girl for most of this, dove behind his back for the other thing he kept there. The cloaked (yes cloaked like a fucking cultist) shape was off balance, it might be enough, a glint in its hand telling him it was armed. So far Alex hadn’t had time to really think, only react his mind was still trying to catch up with what had happened, instinct told him not to let the bastard recover.
The custom made K-bar, a replica of the bayonet he had been issued during service, caught his opponent on the left shoulder barely missing the vital crap of a torso stab. His shoulder hit the guy in the chest forcing another stumble as they both got down the nastiness of a real knife fight between people who knew what they were doing. Flashing arms and the few metal on metal contacts was all Alex knew for the next few seconds. He couldn’t track the motions and was relying on training and his gut. Desperately putting his non vital meat in front of the opponents blade. Both of them had taken several cuts both deep and shallow as well as a few stabs.
The fight didn’t last long, it couldn’t both were losing too much blood, had too many muscles damaged, and there was only so long you could go all out like this. It finished with Alex sweeping his knife around his opponents blade arm and a brutal off-hand downward stab where the neck met the shoulder. He finally got a look at the attacker as his hood was pulled down by the knife revealing a bald, wrinkled purplish skull and a vertical peanut shaped mouth with too many teeth and several tentacles sticking out, and pure black oversized eyes. At this point all he cared about was the creature being dead, and something told him that it was, slight changes in its features a subtle relaxation in its eyes and the boneless drop after he planted the knife.
Alex slumped back to the wall suddenly losing his strength as the massive dose of adrenaline bled out of his squishy brain, followed by pain and an inability to breathe, caused by the ornamental knife sticking out of his sternum. His vision was going dim as his own body pumped out its blood, he knew he was dead, nothing would stop it.
It sucked but well it was what it was. There were certainly worse ways to go, and it was almost inevitable with how fast the opponent was. Knife fights sucked. Short, fast, and brutal they lacked most of the things other weapon-based combat had. No parrying or keeping some distance. Close in and cut away. You never walked away uninjured and blood loss was a serious concern even when you won. A shitty end to a great night. Whatever, the girl was safe, the bad guys were dead, the only thing left was to see if the Valkyries were real and would take him to the afterlife.
The girl whose name he couldn’t even remember getting stepped over him and looked down. No attempt to patch his injuries or hysterical shouting, no running off, no finding help. None of the panic or confusion he would have expected just a sad and determined resignation. Looking back as he faded a lot of the night was weird and hazy. She crouched down and quietly spoke.
“I’m sorry.” And she really seemed to be. “I didn’t expect them to be here, still chasing me. A night of fun after a hard task was done. I really was looking forward to tonight.” A small smile graced a fading face.
“No one will really know what happened here, they will think you were attacked on your way back to your hotel room by a mugger with dogs. That you killed them at the cost of your own life. They shouldn’t be here; you’ve saved many lives. Valor and sacrifice will be rewarded, sleep, go in peace.”
With those final words she leaned forward and kissed his forehead, then there was nothing but darkness.
~ * ~
The darkness gave way, lights like stars in the night sky drifted before him as he sank into the void. He didn’t have a body and thought was sluggish and muddied.
Drifting along until he felt a pull, subtle and deep. A small nudge changing his direction.
No feeling of time and his mind couldn’t comprehend it like drifting in and out of a dream. He “closed” his eyes and slept.
The next time he perceived it was as the night sky became red and angry. Turbulent, he was no longer sinking or drifting, he was being thrown around crashing against cold icebergs and rocks. Feeling like he was drowning, unable to move but trying to flail about only brought brief sensations of breaking a surface to gasp a breath before being pulled and forced under again.
A sharp pull grabbed him by the center of his formless being and hurled him down hell’s asshole. He crashed into a mountain of knives that stabbed and cut at him as he tumbled down the slope, never getting caught even after feeling like he had been impaled. The cuts left an excruciating lingering pain as the outside of himself seemed to reform once the blades no longer pierced him, as wires dug under his skin before ripping out after tangling themselves about important bits. A confusing and blurred out mess of different pains assaulted him like he was being stoned to death followed by suffocation and strangulation all as he tumbled down towards the center of the vortex. Each tumble and bounce brought some new pain. Endless and horrifying he couldn’t move or scream. He hit the bottom, what he could best describe as boiling acid that ate away at everything, he was slowly dissolving him as he sank melted and slowly drowned. Until it stopped.
Completely overwhelmed he flopped boneless onto a hard ground finally at rest, no drifting or moving just stopped, surrounded by a freezing wind and a smooth cold floor.
His mind eventually reset, he had no idea of how long he had been here, but his mind had crashed then eventually rebooted and he could truly see and feel for the first time since the fight. A fight that felt further away than it should not just in time, but also strangely distant like how combat had always felt far from home on a deployment.
Alex had been through some serious shit in his life; injuries that could very easily have killed him. Pain that made you break out in a cold sweat from its memory or kicked you in the balls while you slept.
Burning shrapnel through your chest. The horrifying pain of punctured lungs filling, coughing to clear them only to scream then choke on the blood and pain. The pain of frantic corpsman digging into flesh to stop the bleeding. The pain of being shot and stabbed, the pain of being tossed like a ragdoll from an explosion. Soldiering on though excruciating pain because there was no other choice. Nightmares of that pain returning or of it never ending.
None of those had compared, it felt like something in his mind and somewhere deeper in him had broken, the pain still lingered in the back of his mind sharper than a memory but deeper. Injuries still there that he could barely perceive now that he was no longer formless. He was staring up for God knows how long at broken ceiling tiles with old water damage. Some pain you can’t fight through, it wasn’t like the movies.
You just shut down. Your mind and body can only take so much before you can’t focus or prioritize; people who hadn’t experienced it didn’t truly know. They couldn’t, everyone thinks they will take a bullet like a bad ass. Like they won’t drop and find themselves unable to coordinate from a measly bullet in a non-vital area. They think they won’t babble about useless crap until it happens, they think that crying out for your mother can’t happen. They don’t understand that the people in that situation have largely shut down. Most of their minds aren’t present. The screaming for help for someone to make it stop or the desperation to let someone anyone know whatever important thing is popping into their head.
This was where Alex found himself unable to move or even think, barely registering what was going on. No comprehension of the situation, no will to pull himself together or escape the cold. He was unable to pull a coherent thought or memory together. Barely able even feel what was going on.
Just as his mind began to push him out of pain induced shock something happened, he began to feel feverish, hot on the inside and cold on the outside. Trembling as the inner heat continued to rise painfully. Thinking to himself ‘no no no nonononono’ in what remained of his mind. It spread like he could feel something growing inside roots pushing though his veins, his muscles, digging into his bones.
Still overwhelmed all he could do was slowly roll onto his side and curl up as the universe threw what he hoped was a final ‘fuck you’ at him.
Shivering from both the pain and the cold. He was slowly able to pull himself together. No idea how long it had been. He finally was able to notice his nakedness and could begin to care about the cold. He was filthy covered in a grimy and gritty cold sweat. His head felt like someone had shoved glass into his brain through his eyeballs. A small part of him recognized that he was feverish and confused, almost delirious, he needed to move, get out of the cold.
Pain existed for a reason to tell you that you’re hurt so you can take the appropriate measures. He slowly rolled to his stomach and got to his knees crawling towards a wall for support. A single non movement thought crossed his mind “Why… just why?” He barely noticed that he had spoken aloud.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Slowly getting his feet under him Alex leveraged himself up, trying hard to focus, he took stock of his surroundings. He was in a hallway one of those outer ones one a multistory building the glass and walls near him had been broken, it vaguely reminded him of a destroyed building in a combat zone. ‘Get out of the wind’ was the thought that crossed his mind first. He stumbled towards the nearest intersection and rounded the corner. It led to a cubical farm except everything was slightly off, small things materials being different the few relatively intact stations had odd objects where he expected computers or other office supplies.
It was also decayed like it had been abandoned or survived nuclear fallout. No bodies passed through his head before he decided he just couldn’t care right now. He moved forward looking for… well he didn’t know what he was looking for. Despite his survival training he just couldn’t focus, all he could really do was keep moving. After shuffling through the cubicles, he came to another hallway, interior this time. Being out of the wind helped but it was still cold as all hell 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit out of the wind. Killing cold, and the feverish heat was dissipating from his body. Sweat starting to freeze.
He did see a skybridge at the end of the damaged corridor heading to a building that seemed to have power. That was his goal. It would have seemed trivial in different circumstances, but he was pleased to be able to hold that one simple task for the moment. Move forward or die.
Not much of a choice really and he honestly didn’t think he could get moving again if he stopped.
Pushing down the hall with the open doors in sight he hobbled his way forward. Passing rooms and barely glancing in due to lack of energy, and out of fucks to give.
Almost at the double doors that looked like security doors you would see is any office building, the ones with small windows filled with mesh. He froze hearing a scuffing sound and the click of claws on a hard surface followed by a low rumbling growl behind him.
He turned, he shouldn’t have, but he did and saw a creature round the corner behind him. Low slung with dark coloration, six limbed. Four for running and two stabbing arms that looked to be bone on its back behind way too many teeth and too much drool. The size of your average wolfhound. Both paused locking eyes for a second… it was almost heartfelt. Hit him right in the feels.
The creature hunkered down ready to charge, and Alex… ran. Making it to the doors and slamming them closed a bare second before the Zergling wannabe rammed headfirst into the door he braced behind nearly throwing him back. A large deadbolt stood in the center had his undivided attention grabbing it and pushing didn’t work so he bashed with hysterical strength feeling a few bones in his hand give way with unpleasant cracks until it slid into place. He leaned into the door and slowly lifted his farthest foot up. Giving a hateful glare at the broken glass that shredded the bottom of his left foot.
‘Of course, the glass on the skybridge is broken and of course its inside’. Why wouldn’t it be? “Well fuck you too world.” He spoke sarcastically to the sky or rather the roof of the causeway. Reaching down to pull a large piece of glass from his foot so it didn’t go deeper when he stepped away.
The creature had banged on the door a few times futilely, but the deadbolt was three inches wide and over an inch thick of what looked like steel. Now he was back in the wind. Hopefully the doors at the other end weren’t locked. A sharp bang followed by the squeal of tearing metal would have told him he was a dumbass for staying by the door rather than continuing to move but pain got to him first. A line just under his shoulder blades and another right along the outside of his left butt cheek and thigh while he held his foot up.
That fucker must be standing on the wall. A glance through the narrow window as he did a one foot hop away showed the creature tilted sideways as it tried to kill him through the door and missed. It glared at him though the meshed window it breath fogging up the glass. There was an intelligence there more than one would expect from an animal. Close but not quite human, filled with bloodlust and an uncompromising animal hunger.
Thoroughly done with this shit Alex hobbled his ass away looking as carefully as he could for more glass. Luckily the wind had pushed most of the fragments to the sides and corners of the skybridge. He managed to make it to the doors at the end and slapped his hand on what appeared to be a palm reader.
The doors before him clicked open. He didn’t think or even have the energy to spare to think how weird that was.
Allowing him to stumble inside, into a moderately warm and powered building. A dim atrium greeted him lit by a few security lights that stayed on and the ambient light from outside the glass. Undisturbed dust and the lack of sound made the back of his mind stop screaming so loudly and settle in with weary watchfulness.
He scanned the room with confusion, things didn’t click. It wasn’t helped by the similarities to what one normally expected. Small oddities that made your eyes glance over them only to jump back to confirm that “yes you saw that correctly”, and “doesn’t quite fit”. He stumbled over to a bench by the wall, over it was a cabinet that most would recognize by its placement and how it fit into the room. A bright red with the symbol of a compass rose done in a brilliant white. All near a still flowing water basin like a small decorative fountain.
Everything about the area, including the arrangement of furniture screamed medical supplies. Opening the cabinet to find that it was full.
That drove his mind once again into wakefulness at the possible danger it represented, but he couldn’t figure out why at the moment.
Pulling out the supplies he began to treat his injuries, staying far away from most of the chemicals and syringes. Again, noting that they were not quite right. Glass and not plastic. That thought brought most of the oddities to light. The cabinet didn’t contain modern materials or sterile packaging.
It didn’t matter and he kind of doubted that truly dangerous stuff was in there. Probably just basic medical supplies. Bandages, pads, some cloth, thick and stiff leather, and the metal tools found themselves spread out on the bench. He sat down and triaged himself.
‘Foot first might need to move, the cuts are shallow already scabbing over. No signs of frostbite and hypothermia and that can’t be solved here.’
Using a pair of tweezers with a rubberlike tip to pull out the glass embedded in his foot and water from the fountain next to him. The only positive here was that the glass hadn’t been too fine, it was almost as thick as the glass from a cup and not the thin easy to break stuff. The wind on the bridge had likely swept smaller pieces to the sides.
‘Still going to need stiches and a proper cleaning. Just got here and I already hate this place.’
He decided he had no choice but to test some of the chemicals from the cabinet. Foot injuries were the absolute worst when it came to surviving, at least among the minor ones. Limited mobility, can’t stay off it, and typically very dirty even when being careful. One of the bottles smelled like high proof alcohol and after testing a small amount on a scrape he got to work scrubbing the wound. He had to bite down on another rag to avoid screaming, though he suspected that stitching the wound up would be worse. He applied a damp rag to his foot and got to work clearing up the more minor injuries.
He needed his hands to steady before he stitched up the foot and to muster his still limited focus.
During a deployment one of the Corpsman had taught him how to sew up a person both with and without tools. Luckily, he did have tools as well as needle and strong thread. All in all, a well put together suture kit. More smothered screams, lots of pausing, and deep breaths later and he had the wound sealed up.
He also had another layer of cold sweat on him. Quickly bandaging the remaining wounds he paused to assess his supplies. He stretched his brain to find a way to allow him to walk somewhat uninhibited. Yes, he could run on the injured limb, but it would fuck up all the hard work and likely make it worse. He fashioned some sandals from the leather and reinforced them with the wood that was likely meant for a splint. Then he tied a rather thick clump of bandages to the bottom of his injured limb.
He had no idea how long this all took, but it was getting darker. Drinking as much water as he could from the basin and putting back most of the supplies, he got down to searching the place. Right now, he was concerned with finding somewhere to rest and gather basic necessities. Clothes would be nice. He needed to keep his hands free for now. Unfortunately, nothing in the medical cabinet was a viable weapon.
The room was largely circular with walls that gently curved up like someone building floors inside a sphere and he was closer to the bottom. The ground covered in a thin layer of undisturbed dust, this place felt empty and a bit welcoming. No sounds no movement, and a deep silence without being oppressive. Walking carefully to one of the curved windows Alex looked out.
The whole skyscraper, probably 50-60 stories in total, was hollow. The bubble he was in had power and was disturbingly suspended over open air. There were a few signs that rest of the building had at least some function beyond being a support for the bubble, the occasional office. What looked like elevators and several partial floors crisscrossing the empty space.
There were also monsters, odd shapes he saw moving around. Some flying, others hanging, more crawling or climbing about the place. Though it seemed that this bubble was protected. Alex did notice that the while the creatures avoided the place it was more like they couldn’t see it and not a sense that they were afraid or weary.
“Whatever if they get me I’m dead. If something worse is in here I’m dead, so far in here is better, at least is warm and out of the wind.” Alex whispered to himself.
Resolving to be more careful he continued to look around, the area looked like a reception room. It made sense considering it was an entrance to the place. When he came to some stairs, he decided to go up first. Usually, the important stuff was at the top, if the civilization that built this place was like humanity at all.
Now moderately safe and out of the dangerous levels of cold, and after having a chance to somewhat reorder his thoughts. He did take the time to search looking through rooms and checking for dangers.
The hollow sphere he was in was surprisingly small for what it was ‘only’ the size of three or so mid-class homes when it came to square feet. Six levels, a large but functional assortment of what he assumed was household materials. Kitchen, living room, storage, and a big library. The rest was taken up by workshops. Personalized work rooms not appearing to be set up for multiple people to work in.
The piece de resistance however was well… all Alex could think of was a magic generator sitting on the lowest level with a material storage area around it. It was clearly a device that provided power but had been etched with glowing runes and ‘magic circles’. Stacked nearby where processed materials and they were why he had returned after a quick check of the place. Steel rods that highly resembled rebar.
Gathering a heavy and awkward stack of four bars he returned to the main entrance. He jammed two of them diagonally through the door and its handle making the door unusable for the immediate future. He had cleared the space he was trapped in so even if it was his only exit, some less than optimal solutions would be necessary, such as forgoing an easy escape. That left the final room he had glanced in but refused to deal with it at the time. The bedroom. Taking the final two bars with him to the top floor.
Alex felt silly gimping along naked holding what amounted to a very awkward club or a blunt spear. He left one bar at the entrance to the room and moved to the only corpse he had seen since his arrival. A tasteful bedroom that would have been right at home in a 40’s or 50’s upper-class house. A body laying peacefully on the large bed. Although body might have been a stretch it was a skeleton, no flesh, no rot, and certainly not a mummy. Dressed in a clean white night shift, arms crossed over its ‘stomach’, no jewelry on its body. Everything this person might have been wearing was placed neatly on the bedside table with a letter.
At this point Alex was not ready to assume that being obviously dead would stop his fucked-up luck. If this thing was only mostly dead and woke up, he intended to bash it to pieces. He carefully took the letter and began reading.
If you are reading this, then I am dead. I do not know what disaster has struck my homeland. If you came for clarity I have none to offer beyond the events prior to my passing which I will detail below. I hope you have better luck than I did but whoever you are know that everything here is at your disposal I have left no traps or tricks. I left my home unlocked to anyone that hadn’t been corrupted by whatever malady had been unleashed. It was my hope at first that any survivors in the city might make their way here so we could help each other but as I write this, I know it was in vain. I do not believe that whatever corrupted this land can be cured nor do I hold hope for anything but an expedition or a rare survivor to be reading this. I sincerely hope that anything here might be useful. I have two small requests however if you can. Please bury my body with the box on the table. The box contains keepsakes from my family, all largely worthless and unhelpful, there is little of value in the box, and I won’t begrudge someone the useful items I might have otherwise placed within. The objects inside are sentimental keepsakes from my family and I would like them kept close to my remains, it is a traditional thing among my people. If you can, bury me near a river as I had the most memorable times of my life and cherished memories of my family. Spending the day watching my children play laughing with my late husband and falling asleep with my parents. I do not wish to be buried in my now corrupted homeland. One of the items I have left should make this a simple task, it is a storage necklace I had made for my daughter, she passed before I had the chance to give it to her. It has a very large capacity and even if you take everything in my home there would not be a problem transporting my body. As for the rest of the items on the table, most of them are generic magical items, their exact nature can be found in the books in my library. Most could be found anywhere in our lands. They are of a higher quality than normal but two of the rings I set aside may be of service one blocks most of the corrupting influence of negative mana alignments. The other is my house signet. That signet may allow you access to several places within this empire as my family was highly placed and my work meant I was rather trusted. Its primary purpose is to link to my home here and control several of the more complex enchantments.
As for what happened to these lands I do not know. One day many of the higherups just got really agitated and the mages started talking about an event. I have no details on what might have happened, it did cause a massive upheaval in the local environment. Mana beasts going on rampages and leaving their territories. Lost contact with cities, and villages. Patrols and scouts simply disappeared and even magical methods of scrying and enchantments on later groups reported nothing. Then there was word of cults and demons sweeping through the already panicked lands. At some point during the chaos a group of criminals managed to kill several of our leaders. They were oddly united several of them used to be enemies and fought each other as fiercely as they had the government. In any case that was the final nail in our coffin. Too much had happened too quickly and those that should have taken charge ended up distracted by other events or scrambling to save themselves while grabbing as much power as they possibly could. I was getting ready to move out as well, the city was falling apart, the help I had thought to offer was becoming a hopeless task. It was my intention to leave and help survivors reestablish themselves old woman though I was. I felt that I could have been of use, and dying here pointlessly made no sense. I was too late. The event had pushed out waves of negative mana, lethal levels of it. That wave swept over the city before anyone even noticed. An old injury left me susceptible to negative mana poisoning that is part of why this tower is so protected, and why I have the ring. Even small amounts of negative mana left me sick and in crippling pain, amounts most people could easily ignore. So even after the initial wave became bearable for most I was trapped. Here in my home, I watched my city burn and I saw my people die. When the cities power failed a week or so later and the monsters became all I saw in the streets I decided to end my life rather than to waste away in here. I am so tired. I want to see my family to pass on. So, I took poison to end my life on my terms and peacefully pass in my sleep. I also consumed a potion from the church that would consecrate my remains, preventing me from rising as an undead should the enchantments on my home fail.
Whoever you are I wish you the best of luck even if you refuse or are unable to fulfil my selfish request.
Alessa Silverspite
“Well, that’s some heavy shit.” Alex mumbled. None of the furniture had anything inside he figured it was part of her planning to move. The only objects were on the table with the empty vial of poison. He gathered the belongings and left. Jamming that door with two bars. He currently did not have a method for body disposal and apparently undead were a thing so… Nope he was not going to take the letters word that the body was safe. One of the closets yielded some blankets and he proceeded to find the most protected area he could before collapsing into oblivion. The stress of the day and his immediate safety as guaranteed as it could be, he simply couldn’t keep going, he had already been catching himself fading in and out of awareness like the totally exhausted. His last thought before sweet darkness took him was that this had to be the shittiest reward he had ever received.