Dean looked at the message with excitement and confusion. ‘What? Three whole skills and I don’t even have a class?’ Dean tapped the screen to bring up descriptions for the newly acquired skills.
Black Arrow(Active) - A skill of pure destruction. Black Arrow is a skill manifested by the pure darkness that is Black Magic. It is a basic skill and will evolve depending on the user.
Lesser Soul Invigoration(Active) - They cry in pain and somber. The souls of those who were wronged and forgotten. Any soul that has been brutally killed in any way is allowed to be created as a “Forgotten”. The forgotten are the main army of ????? and are used for a multitude of purposes. The “Forgotten” evolve spending on how they are and how they died. Remember, not all Forgotten evolve, but they still get stronger along with the Lord.
A Special Kind of Place(Active) - A vacuum that is most comfortable to the “Forgotten”. It is used by the Lord to store his troops. The current amount of possible held “Forgotten” is 20.
Dean looked at the message in surprise, ‘Three skills? That’s a surprise.’ He tried to use the void skill and summon Nancy. He waved his hand and a portal opened and Nancy walked out, still the pitch-black figure she was. “Yes my lord, what do you need?”
“I was just testing my skill,” Dean said, “But since you’re here, why don’t you answer my questions.”
“Anything for the Lord.”
“Ahem, alrighty. First question, Why do you call me ‘Lord’?”
“It is because that is what you are; you are a savior and brought me back from hell.”
“Uh-huh. Second question, why was I able to see your memories?”
Nancy flinched, “That, I do not know. It may have something to do with me being the first of your army.”
Dean rubbed his chin, “Hmm. Last question, can you call me something else?”
Nancy looked up, “What would you like to be called?”
“Call me Boss. It’s not overbearing and doesn’t make me feel pretentious.”
“Understood, Boss.” Nancy disappeared into a black portal and Dean was left in silence. He turned around to the sounds of leaves crunching in the woods. Dean grabbed his sword and prepared to fight when suddenly, Angelo walked out of the tree line. He had an angry look on his face as he stomped his way to Dean. He grabbed Dean’s car and yelled in his face, “Who the hell are you?!?”
“What do you mean who am I? I’m Dean Ashford, just like I said a few days ago.”
“Are you one of them?”
“Who the hell is ‘them’?”
Angelo sighed and let go of Dean, “How come you are here?”
“A blue light surrounded me and sent me here.”
“How come you have that power?”
“Dude, how the hell am I supposed to know, it just came to me!”
Angelo backed away and rubbed his chin, “Hmmm, it seems the timeline shifted.”
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“What do you mean ‘timeline’?”
Angelo turned back around, “I’ll just be quick about the explanation, I went back in time.”
For some reason, Dean wasn’t surprised. “I knew something was up with you!”
“Now here’s the catch,” Angelo said, “You weren’t here last time.”
“Wait, what?”
“You weren’t part of the group last time, and it’s very confusing. I didn’t change the timeline that much.”
“You’ve heard of the Butterfly Effect right?”
“Yeah, I think that’s what happened.”
“Also, why are you trusting me with all of this information?”
“You’re an unknown variable, I need you to cooperate with me to change the future.”
“What will happen?”
“I, Jess, and Gavin were the sole survivors of this group in the last timeline.”
“What happened to the others?”
“They were killed by this place’s final boss, the minotaur.”
“Like the bug bull thing?
“Exactly, and it is very strong. I want to use that power of yours to push that thing back.”
“Are you sure it’ll work?”
“Yes, what you did to those skeletons was outrageous. It might work against the minotaur.”
“Okay, one more question.”
“Go ahead.”
“What happened to make you want to go back in time?”
Angelo hesitated for a moment, “Something really bad happened, and I was chosen to be sent back.”
Dean looked at the sky, “Looks like the sun is coming up, we should go.”
Angelo nodded in agreement.
-----
Dean and Angelo walked back to the campsite in silence. Dean was running through his head all of the questions he wanted to ask, but he knew now wasn’t the time, they had bigger fish to fry. Angelo woke up the other members of the group and they walked the last stretch of the journey. Everyone at the party was excited to leave except for Dean and Angelo, they knew what was waiting for them.
The atmosphere began to tense up the closer the group got to the gate. Angelo and Dean looked at each other multiple times, waiting for the worst to happen. Eventually, the group made it to the edge of the forest and to the flat green clearing where the gate stood, in the middle. Dean couldn’t see the minotaur anywhere, he looked and looked but couldn’t see him. Dean looked at Angelo in confusion while he was getting tense. Angelo slowly led the group across the clearing, waiting for the worst to happen. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw an ax flying towards him. Dean duck and barely dodged the huge weapon. Dean stood back up and saw the minotaur charging at him. It was huge, at least over 7 feet tall, and built like a bodybuilder. Its body was covered in fur and had the head of a bull, horns and all.
Dean rolled out of the way of the bull and drew his sword. He looked at Angelo and nodded. Angelo nodded back and ran with the group to the portal.
The minotaur grabbed its ax and slowly walked towards Dean. “You smell different from the others,” Its voice was growling and overpowering, “It’s confusing.”
Dean’s grip on his sword became tighter as he powered up Black Arrow in his other hand. The minotaur noticed this and reared back its ax before it brought it down. Dean had speed in the hulking beast so he rolled out of the way before he shot his spell. It connected to the minotaur and began to eat away at him. The minotaur laughed and ripped the black veins off of his arm. “That one hurt,” it said with a smile. Dean saw the group getting ready to go through the portal, letting his guard down. The minotaur took advantage of this and charged at Dean. Dean tried to react but wasn’t quick enough, resulting in his getting rammed by the flat side of the ax. Dean was launched across the field and collided with a tree, breaking his spine. Dean was sprawled along the floor, gasping for air. Three ribs were broken and piercing his lungs, his spine completely shattered, and internal bleeding.
Dean somehow managed to set himself up against the tree and watched as the rest of the group made it safely. He saw Angelo look back at him and nod his head. Dean could only smile.
He sat against the tree, slowly dying. He didn’t want to die and tried to stand up.
“Ahhhhrgh!!!” he screamed as he forced himself to stand up. As he stood up, he saw Nancy come out of the portal and made him sit down. For some reason, she seemed different. She had some facial features, and her eyes were more human. He shined some bright light and Dean could feel his wounds healing, “What’s going on?” Dean struggled to ask.
“For some reason, I evolved,” Nancy explained, “And gained a healing ability.”
Dean laughed, “How convenient.” He looked at the gate and looked at the sky, wondering what was gonna happen next.