I slowly awoke to the sun warming my face and shining through my eyelids. I felt like I was waking from the kind of deep sleep that left you feeling weak and slightly drunk. I felt comfortable sprawled out as I was, and the desire to return back to sleep was strong. Unfortunately, my stomach was sounding a fierce rebuttal to the notion, and when I yawned my mouth felt bone dry. Someone nudged my side and I let out a whine in protest.
Another nudge got a complaint out of me: “Mm. M’tired. I don’t want to wake up yet.” My stomach let out another decidedly ferocious sounding growl, and this time I felt it as much as I heard it. I wasn’t just hungry; I was downright starving.
Ugh, fine. It’s supposed to be my day off still. I guess I’ll get out of bed.
I opened my bleary eyes and looked up at the… sky? Even though my head still felt fuzzy like I’d had one or two too many to drink, the fact that my situation wasn’t making a whole lot of sense right now started to set in. I sat up with a groan to look around and figure out where I was. I was in a forest that looked familiar, and the canopy let in a good amount of light to the grassy forest floor. Wait- was I still in the tower!? I looked around to try and see the beam of a beacon in the sky, and when I turned to my right, I immediately let out a shriek!
Sitting right next to me and staring at me was a scale wolf.
Ah! Sword! Sword!
I clutched at my belt where my sword would normally hang, but the scabbard was empty. The follow-up check for my knife yielded the same result. I was unarmed! My mind was racing as fast as it would go about how to handle this situation when the scale wolf opened its mouth and hissed at me. Normally a monster making monster sounds at me wouldn’t surprise me, but my surprise came when I sort of understood it. It wasn’t speaking a language, at least, I didn’t think it was, but I could understand the intent behind the hiss. For the sake of my own sanity more than anything else, I tried to put the message to words.
It had asked me something along the lines of: “Status?”
It dawned on me that I probably looked pretty stupid sitting there staring at a scale wolf with my mouth agape. I closed my mouth and wondered if the completely insane dream I had was a dream, or if it had actually taken place. Perhaps a status check was in order, so I reviewed the quick facts: my body wasn’t totally ruined, my arm wasn’t a twisted mess, and… wait. I traced my fingers over my chest, and I felt the series of slices that ran down the front of my armor. Looking down verified that it was sliced open down my front, caked in dried blood and burned black surrounding the dead center of my chest. My fingers were trembling as I flipped, snapped and unbuckled a half dozen closures before pulling it over my head and dumping it on the grass. The thin, short-sleeved shirt I wore under the armor was in a similarly trashed state. A bit worse if anything, since it was stiff with dried bodily fluids and it really stank.
I didn’t care for a moment that I was about to flash a monster that was casually sitting next to me when I stripped it off. I had to see what was going on under my shirt for myself. The blood on my skin flaked off easily as I ran my fingers over my belly and chest. There weren’t any signs of the mortal wound I’d taken the previous night beyond the dried, smelly remains still coating my armor and skin. My skin was unmarked with no sign of scarring. My fingers came to rest on my sternum between where more endowed women’s breasts would be. My mind kept telling me that I should expect horrific burns and a gaping hole where my fingers traced only smooth, unblemished flesh.
So, it really did happen, but I was fully healed? Wait, I’m being so stupid. My notifications are blinking, and I should see something different on my status panel. But first…
I looked at my shirt, and my lip curled at the thought of putting that back on. It was absolutely rancid, and I wasn’t going to walk around with all that nastiness covering me. I looked down at my lower half and saw that my leather pants were pretty much equally disgusting. Ugh, fine. I pulled it back on and wore it backwards so that the nastiest half of the shirt wasn’t scrubbing on my chest. My stomach roared at me, and the hunger pains grew so intense that I momentarily doubled over to try and alleviate the sensation. The fuzziness in my head wasn’t going away, and if anything, was getting worse. I was feeling incredibly weak as well, and nasty memories of going hungry for days at a time popped up. I suppressed them with a grunt and straightened up. I wasn’t a young girl anymore, I was capable of taking care of myself, and I needed food- now.
I looked over to my companion, for lack of a better word, and asked it: “Don’t suppose you have anything to eat, huh?” Grabbing my armor, I pulled it back over my head and re-fastened it around my torso. It was basically ruined, but choosing to forgo any protection at all was the sort of thing that only fools and mages did. The wolf was standing when I looked back over at it, and it hiss-growled at me again.
“Come,” was what I took it to mean. It hadn’t attacked me, and as far as I was aware, had been there since before I awoke, so I decided to just… go with it. For now, at least. I didn’t have any weapons or ability to really harm the wolf with how tough their scaled hides were, so it wasn’t like I could put up much of a fight against it. If it came down to a fight though, I’d bash it with a rock if it meant not getting killed. Thankfully we hadn’t gotten to that point yet, and I hoped it would remain that way. The wolf trotted off, and I shrugged to myself and followed it. I was a little wobbly and unsteady on my feet from the weakness that had taken hold of me, but I was able to keep up for the most part. While I walked, pulled up my notification window and there was numerous waiting to be reviewed.
[Sword Proficiency] has gained 5 levels and is now level 13!
[Sword Proficiency] has reached Tier II!
[Butchery] has gained 1 level and is now level 18!
[Awareness] has gained 2 levels and is now level 14!
[Nimble] has gained 4 levels and is now level 13!
[Nimble] has reached Tier II!
[Quick Mend] has gained 1 level and is now level 7!
[Parry] has gained 2 levels and is now level 9!
[Light Armor Proficiency] has gained 4 levels and is now level 7!
[Battle Cry] has gained 5 levels and is now level 7!
[Fighter’s Grit] has gained 8 levels and is now level 13!
[Fighter’s Grit] has reached Tier II!
You have gained 2 levels!
You have 12 stat points available to spend.
You have new skills available!
You have new skill slots available!
You have gained a new language!
You have gained new titles!
Dear gods, I made more progress in one night than I did in four months of training, and I don’t… I didn’t even do that much outside of the whole… nearly dying and getting reborn thing. [Status]!
Name: Senwyn Everhome
Level: 10
[Species]: [Human]*
[Class]: [Fighter]
[Strength]: (16)
[Agility]: (19)
[Endurance]: (18)
[Vitality]: (12)
[Intelligence]: (10)
[Wisdom]: (10)
Languages:
[Common]
[Draconic]
General Skills (6/6):
[Sword Proficiency] – Level 13
[Butchery] – Level 18
[Awareness] – Level 14
[Nimble] – Level 13
[Quick Mend] – Level 7
[Flee] – Level 8
Class Skills (6/6):
[Parry] – Level 9
[Heavy Swing] – Level 5
[Light Armor Proficiency] – Level 7
[Battle Cry] – Level 7
[Fighter’s Grit] – Level 13
[Forced March] – Level 6
Divine Skills (2/3):
<[Touch of Flame] – Level 1>
[Wyrm’s Feast] – Level 1
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I stopped dead in my tracks, and the wolf leading me turned to stare at me.
Divine Skills. DIVINE!? What is even going on right now!?
The fact that there were gods wasn’t surprising to me in the least. I never considered myself a faithful person and I didn’t attend any sermons or church services. I also knew that there were people who carried blessings of the divine and were able to manifest various aspects and powers of their god. Come to think of it, it wasn’t that they just carried blessings, they were usually visually marked in some manner that was distinct and obvious. I’d heard of things like runes inscribed into the skin like a full-body tattoo, having a glowing aura, or causing snowflakes to fall. Two things stuck out to me that gave me reason to pause. One was that I had never heard of a literal dragon god. The other was that at no point last night had it occurred to me that I had met a divine entity and entered into an agreement with it. I had nobody to blame but myself and my own ignorance. I thought it was just a normal dragon, or as normal as an extremely elusive species can be, at least.
And now I’m one of those people who have been touched by a god, and it’s for a god I don’t even recognize.
I let out a sigh and approached the wolf, who stood and continued to guide me through the woods. I tried to pay attention to where we were going and keep aware of my surroundings, but I kept getting wrapped up in my thoughts.
What’s up with my stats? I’ve never seen them in parentheses like that before. And why is there an asterisk next to my species? It’s great that I’ve learned a new language, and I’m assuming that’s why I can sort of understand what my snake-dog guide is saying. Who or should I say what else speaks Draconic?
Another, much more disturbing thought bubbled to the surface of my addled brain.
We eat these monsters, but they can communicate? I’ve never really thought about it before, but does that mean that I’ve been eating other sapient beings my entire life? I’ve heard that classes that can tame monsters can speak with their companions, but to what extent? Ugh, gods, this line of thinking somehow makes my job even worse.
I had to wade through some thick brush that the wolf leapt over, and once I did, I broke out into a tiny clearing with a craggy rock formation jutting out of the earth. A large entrance at the front led down into the darkness. My guide looked over its shoulder and hissed at me, which I took as a command to stay put. Or was it a request? If this wolf was speaking Draconic to me, then it was a difficult language to understand. I nodded and held up a hand to indicate that I’d comply and sat down in the grass. On a whim, I used [Consider] on my guide as it walked into the entrance of the den and disappeared from sight.
[Level 9 Scale Wolf]
It wasn’t much to work with, but at least I had something to identify it from other wolves. Assuming there were other wolves here. I looked around the area I found myself in while I waited and pondered how my entire life had been turned upside-down. Not more than a minute or two had passed when my guide returned, followed by an all-too-familiar sight.
[Consider]!
[Level 14 Scale Wolf Denmother]
I brought my eyes up to her from my seated position, and we exchanged a brief look. She chuffed, turned away and loped off into the distance. It was still surprising to me just how big these lower-leveled scale wolves could get. I could have ridden the Denmother like a horse, not that I had any intention of doing so. The thought of saddling one of them did get half a chuckle out of me, though. My guide had stuck around and reached out to me once again in the strange manner it had been using.
“Come.”
I was exhausted from the short ten to fifteen minutes I’d been walking to get here, but I got back up anyways. The wolf led me a few hundred yards through light forest to the east, where a small, swift-moving river flowed. I was so thirsty that I was willing to drink straight out of the river! I waded out and into the water, which only came up to my waist. It was cool and smelled fresh, and I was incredibly relieved to see the filth that coated me dissolving into a ruddy cloud behind me. Maybe it was stupid of me, but I felt like I had to say something to my guide.
The wolf cocked its head slightly in a very canine way when I said: “Thank you.” I gestured with one hand to it, then myself, then the stream and repeated my thanks once again, as if the gestures would help convey my meaning. It simply stared at me, so I unfastened my chest armor once again and took it off to dunk and scrub it in the water. When I felt like I’d gotten most of the nastiness out of it, I tossed it to the side of the river near the wolf and proceeded to remove and wash my shirt. The shirt was totally mangled and stained, but scrubbing the cloth against itself was able to get the crusty, sticky nastiness out and it smelled vastly better after being washed. I wrung it out and tossed it off to the side of the river. Although I wasn’t intending to do it at first, I realized that I didn’t want to half-ass my effort and wound up stripping entirely and washing the rest of my clothing and armor in the river.
After I’d submerged myself down into the smooth stone-lined bottom of the river I exhaustively scrubbed my fingers through my scalp and neck-length hair. In the partial privacy of the water, I scrubbed myself off the best I was able to do using only my hands until I felt as clean as I was going to get. I wasn’t a stranger to filth from growing up one step above a street urchin in Foundation. Working the past three years in a slaughterhouse though had sort of spoiled me. Washing with soap and running water was a requirement before each shift, and most of us also washed afterwards given the nature of the work. Public bathing like that had broken my sense of modesty a long time ago, but I did have to admit that it was a little strange being observed by a monster.
I think I took about half an hour to wash myself and what remained of my current belongings. During that time paused multiple times to drink and rehydrate myself. I was a bit worried about getting some kind of nasty stomach bug from the water, and I always made sure to lean forwards and drink upstream of where I was standing. It tasted clean and pure as far as I could tell and was honestly better than what you’d get in the average mug of water from a tavern. Despite the water being fairly cool, I didn’t find it uncomfortable or wind up getting chilly while I was immersed. It was refreshing more than anything and helped me stave off the desire to fall back asleep. I took several deeper drafts from the river before I climbed out and put my shirt, shorts and boots back on. The various loose pieces of my armor I strapped and tucked into my chest armor and it’s rigging. I slung my damp leather pants over one shoulder and carried the chest piece so that it could dry. Wet leather was an absolute nightmare to put on and take off, so I was hoping that I’d have the chance to let it dry out before I had to put it back on.
My guide led us back to the den, where it bid me to wait once again. I laid out my armor in the sun so that it’d hopefully dry faster, took my boots off to do the same and laid back in the grass. My energy level was critically low, and I didn’t want to do anything other than sleep. The weather on floor 10 was clear and sunny and the temperature was just perfect for me. With nothing better to do than see what the monsters had in store for me, I folded my hands behind my head and tried to ignore the hunger pains. Drinking a bunch of water had helped for a little while, but it wasn’t a real solution to the problem. If the monsters didn’t have something important for me to do, I was going to leave and make my way to the nearest gateway as soon as possible so I could get out of the tower and get something to eat. I wasn’t ashamed to admit that with the events of the previous night and today that I was hopelessly lost. There was a small settlement on 10 at the main gateway, but I didn’t have a means of distinguishing between the gateway beacons, so there was no way of telling if I’d be able to get food there or not.
I wound up falling asleep at some point without realizing it and was awoken once again by repeated nudges to my ribs. I scrubbed my eyes and sat up to see that the Denmother had returned and there was a dead elk laying next to me. It was in good condition, the Denmother looked to have snapped its neck with her jaws. My nose twitched and I could smell the blood of the animal clear as day, and my stomach clenched and growled in response. I looked up at the Denmother who was sitting on the other side of the corpse to gauge the situation.
She growled and hissed at me, and unlike my guide, I could understand her perfectly. There wasn’t the need to half-interpret what the guide was saying, it was as plain as words to my ears, and she told me quite simply: “Eat.”
I was starving to the point of it being painful and I felt even weaker than I did before I’d fallen asleep.
“Eat,” the Denmother repeated again. Wasn’t there an eating skill or something that I’d gained? I mentally flicked through the interface in my brain and read the descriptions of the two new skills I’d gained.
[Wyrm’s Feast]– Level 1
Passive I
The Ravenous Wyrm has blessed you with the ability to gain strength by devouring the flesh of those who oppose you. You no longer suffer any ill effects from consuming raw foods. You receive a slight penalty for the nutrition that cooked food provides you, but you gain a large bonus to the nutrition you gain from raw meats. Your digestion is significantly improved.
[Touch of Flame] – Level 1
Passive I
The blood of the dragon god courses through your veins, and his terrible power will reshape your vessel as he sees fit. Serve Vorthrax, The Ravenous Wyrm well and you will reap further rewards. You’ve gained a shapeshifting ability to draw out the power of your blood and enhance your draconic traits.
Tread with vigilance Devotee, for as you stoke the flames of your might, the dragon within you shall surely rise.
Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! I have a skill to eat raw meat? Ew, gross!
The Denmother apparently didn’t approve of my continued hesitation, because she got to her feet and snarled at me: “Toothless pup! Useless!” With that said, she planted her paws on the rear of the elk, bit into the elk’s rear leg and with a wrench of her neck muscles, tore the leg off and flung it at me. I tried to catch it and succeeded in wrapping my arms around the thigh when it collided against me, but it bowled me over. It had to be nearly half my body weight! I struggled to sit back up with it in my arms and wound up having to shift it to my lap before I was able to. That’s when the smell struck me like a blacksmith’s hammer bouncing off an anvil.
Raw elk meat and blood, and it smells so good.
My mouth was watering so hard I kept having to gulp down my own spit, but the thought of eating the still-warm meat straight off the bone was deeply upsetting. My rational brain wrestled with the conflicting feelings of wanting to throw up in revulsion and tear into the delicious-smelling meal. With a little sob, I pulled back the hide from the thigh and brought it up to my mouth. I couldn’t help myself, and copious drool was streaming out of my mouth. I had to close my eyes—squeezing out some tears of distress in the process—before I could take a bite of the meat.
It wasn’t anything like I’d expected it to be in my mind. Tingles of pleasure ran through my scalp and down my spine, and I felt gooseflesh rise on my arms and legs with the first mouthful. It was tender, succulent, and exploding with flavor. As a butcher by trade, I wasn’t squeamish around the blood or the texture of the raw meat, but this was an entirely different experience from even the best dishes I’d ever eaten. I didn’t even realize I was doing it, but I was literally whimpering as I scarfed it down by the mouthful. The primal need to fill my abused stomach with food overtook me and I found myself biting, tearing and gulping down the elk as fast as I possibly could without any other care in the world at the moment.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that I ate like an animal, because that was exactly what I was doing. I wasn’t aware of the time passing or the extent that I’d eaten before I blinked my eyes and found myself scraping my teeth against the cleaned bone of the upper leg. I’d even cleaned the lower leg as well, but somehow, thankfully, left the skin. I burped without any fore warning and offered the leg back to the Denmother. She huffed and up nodded at the one I was calling my guide, so I handed it off to them instead. They didn’t seem to have any issues with eating the skin and cracking the bone for marrow. I didn’t know how it was that I just ate what I did, much less how it was possible that I was still hungry afterwards. There had to have been a good thirty pounds of meat on that haunch!
I was starting to feel a relief from the weakness that had been sapping me all day, and I eyed the corpse. My hesitation from before was totally gone at the moment, and I wanted more. I didn’t have my knife or any of my other tools to harvest the body with though, and I wasn’t comfortable just going in face-first like a complete beast. I looked back up at the Denmother for help again.
“I don’t have my knife, will you… please help me with the other leg? I’m still hungry.”
She let out another huff and repeated what she’d done earlier after rolling the body over. I was back to gorging myself to try and fill the seemingly bottomless pit that my stomach had become. I started to feel satiated somewhere around halfway to two thirds of the way through the other haunch but wound up finishing it off regardless. I handed it off to my guide and covered my mouth to let out several belches. My hands and my face were both gross and I was half-tempted to lick my fingers clean, but I resisted the urge. The Denmother must have seen me looking at myself, because she let out a soft hiss.
The command was clear enough, and I was starting to get the distinct impression that this monster who had been assisting me didn’t like me when she told me: “Go clean yourself.” I stood and headed off to the river, and as soon as I got up, the wolf matriarch tore into the remains. I was about halfway to the river when I was reminded that I’d forgotten to put my boots back on and stepped on a pinecone that had been partially covered by debris. I grunted and checked my foot, but it didn’t seem to have done any damage to my skin. Getting all the blood off this time was far easier than the last trip, and it didn’t take me more than a few minutes to wash my face, chin, neck, hands and arms up. I wound up having to wash my hair again as well because I went to straighten it up and felt that it was clumping. I took care of the call of nature and rehydrated before returning to the small den’s location. The elk had been stripped clean when I got back, and both my guide and the matriarch were resting in the sun.
I took it as my cue to leave and return to civilization. My clothing and armor were dried out and I tried to be quiet putting it all back on. I finished up to see the Denmother sitting up and staring at me. I felt that I owed her my gratitude at the very least for not killing me, but also for the meal. A bit nervously, I approached closer to her until we were only about two yards from one another. She regarded me in silence with her bright green eyes. My eyes roamed over her form and took in details that I’d been unable to really see before. These monsters or… creatures were really rather beautiful. They were sleek and streamlined from snout to tail and were quite powerfully muscled. I was getting a better understanding for why adventurers tended to avoid them after the oddity of spending time with them today. They were much smarter than I think most people suspected, and both well-armed and armored.
“I’m-“I started, then cleared my throat.
Stay calm and focus…
“I should probably go, return to the city before I get into any serious trouble. I uh- Thank you, for helping me. I’m sorry for hunting your kind before, I was ignorant and didn’t know was hurting you and your…people?” I let the last bit linger in the air, as I was uncertain what to refer to a group of intelligent monsters as.
The wolf stared at me for a long moment then marginally dipped her head. She responded saying: “Scales protect. Seek other scales where you go.”
I blinked my eyes rapidly in confusion, and I asked a follow-up question: “Seek scales where I’m going? You mean the city?”
She bobbed her arrowhead shaped skull in agreement and explained further: “The Great One says to tell you a message before you leave. Humans and others dangerous, Devotees will hunt and kill you for glory. Trust no smooth skin, return to tower and grow strong fast, or you will die. Fight, grow, gain power to live.”
I stared at her with my lips parted. The message was clear enough, but I was frustratingly ignorant of things that sounded really very important to my continued survival. Not knowing what other courtesy to show to my host, I awkwardly bowed to her. She laid down and closed her eyes, our conversation apparently over. I looked to the sky and slowly turned in a circle, taking note of the beams of light shining up into the sky. When I felt that I had located the nearest one, I set off for it. I had a lot to think about on my trip.