A staring contest of legendary proportions broke out. I gazed into the red eyes of my adversary. The dark wolf was leaning forward, nose pointed straight toward me. Neither of us moved. I didn't want to be the second one to move, so I slowly began to back away.

“Please be a good little hellish monster-”

The wolf made a short growl and lunged. In a display of unparalleled agility and reaction, I pivoted backward to my right, tripping on something stubborn, and falling to the forest floor with a clatter. The wolf was on me in a split second, its mouth around my leg as it chewed. It continued to gnaw as I shouted and tried in vain to reclaim my tibia. The wolf lay down on the ground and continued to chew, holding my leg down with its massive paws. I stopped panicking when I noticed my health bar.

[HP: 74/75]

It didn’t even hurt much. I watched the wolf as it licked my leg and continued grinding its teeth into its new bone.

“So… that was unexpected.” My scaly guide spoke from his new perch at the top of my skull.

“Quite. Do I not get automatically attacked by monsters?” I queried.

“I can’t say for sure. Some will probably not care that you are a fellow monster, they can still collect souls from you.”

“Okay. What are souls for though…Lizard? I saw them on my stat page, but I don’t have any” The lizard nodded sagely.

“Call me Kent. You gain souls by killing things. Your collected souls can be redeemed in the Blood Emporium. There you can buy Stats, Skills, weapons, you name it.” The Wolf was still minding its own business as much as it could be while trying to eat me.

“How do I get there?” I gingerly tugged my leg ineffectively.

“You have to get a ticket first. You can get tickets to the emporium through notable victories. We need to get you there as soon as we can, so we can work on that once we figure out our wolf situation.”

I pulled harder at my leg, and the wolf noticed. It began to growl at me through its clamped jaw.

“Just break off a rib or something to get rid of the dog. Not like you’re using them, and it will probably grow back or something. Maybe.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Won’t it hurt though?”

“Yeah, it will. Grow some balls.” I could have sworn I heard the rolling of eyes above my head. I wrapped my fingers around one of my lower ribs, and I pulled at it. I increased the force until it snapped off, the brittle bone shattering into jagged shards.

[HP: 64/75]

“Ow!” It hadn’t hurt as bad as actually breaking a bone should, but it didn’t feel nice. I tapped the wolf on the snout with the rib bone. The beast clamped its jaw onto the intruding rib and proceeded to chew on it. I slowly reclaimed my leg, backed away, and stood. The furry fiend was fully preoccupied with the rib. Poking where my rib was missing, I didn’t see any sign of it growing back.

“Oh… You don’t have passive regeneration, do you? We need to either find some kind of solution, or you’ll be dog food pretty quick.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I sighed and turned back to the cave.

Examining the interior, I looked through the few things the hermit owned. This was a hermit hole, a tiny space with only the essentials. I had gained consciousness while sitting at the rotting desk, inhabited by a few papers and a dry inkwell. I examined the hermit’s books. There was so much decay and dust that I could barely read the covers.

[Holy Book of the Church of Al’Shamaah: This book details the ancient stories of the deity Al’Shamaah, one of the largely forgotten gods of the beginning ages. Reading it in its entirety will allow you to join the Church of Al’Shamaah

Quality: Uncommon

Durability: 9/20

Creator: -Unknown-

Date of Creation: -Unknown-]

[Gospel of Philosophy - Marcellus I: this book is a collection of philosophical musings. Reading it in its entirety may grant a bonus.

Quality: Rare

Durability: 6/20

Creator: -Marcellus-

Date of Creation: -Unknown-]

“I definitely wouldn’t mess with religion quite yet. Or maybe at all… On the other hand, the philosophy book could be useful. Probably grants a bonus to your Wisdom stat.” I took a moment to decide whether Kent was being sarcastic. I decided he wasn’t. He continued,

“You need to get yourself some souls. You can use them to buy repairs to your bones, become stronger, and more. Souls are everything.”

“So I should go find a village to burn or something.” I left the cave, carrying the philosophy book with me

“You know, that's a pretty good start. Imagine all the souls you could reap at once.” I grabbed the lizard off my head as he made a strangled cry. I stared Kent straight in the eyes, but his gaze didn’t meet the hollow voids of my skull.

I pointed a long bony finger at my chest.

“I am not a monster.”