* Welcome Hero! You have been Summoned by the Ritual of Salvation! You will have unique races and classes to choose from to help you in your quest to save the world!

I tipped my head to the side and threw up. Or I tried to, but my stomach felt empty. Then I read on.

* You gain the Title [Hero]. This Title grants the following perks: [Mental Resistance], [Fast Healing], [Heroic Presence].

* Please Choose Your Race from the following list: Error! [Forced Selection – Ritual Runes] Race Selected! Kitsune!

* You will receive a bonus to your agility, intelligence, and charisma!

* You have an affinity with the [Fire], [Lightning], [Nature], and [Illusion] schools of magic!

* You gain the innate Traits: [Fire Immunity], [Dark Vision], [Fox Spirit Form], [Spiritual Senses].

* You have gained the skills: [Acrobatics], [Arcane Mana Manipulation], [Curse Resistance], [Poison Resistance], [Lightning Resistance], [Charm], [Disguise], [Insight], [Sleight of Hand], [Stealth].

* You have no class! Please choose a class from the following list to gain your first level:

Error! Class selection is limited due to [Slave Collar]!

Updated list:

Slave

I blinked a few times, and the words did not go away. The screaming also did not go away, so I tilted my head to the side to see what was going on around me. It was sort of difficult to see through the windows of text, but not impossible. My first thought was that I was in a bad fantasy movie's demon-summoning ritual dungeon. My second thought was, "Okay. I'm dreaming still.” I was on a cold stone altar, I think, inside a cell in the middle of a room with minimal lighting. My cell was little more than a barred cage and was part of a circle with eight other cells that looked the same, each with another terrified woman or girl trapped in them. The only lighting in the room came from a torch near a set of doors on one wall and a few candles scattered around each of the altars. I took this all in, and then my emotions started to crawl back to life, and I realized this dream felt very, very real. Terror crawled up my spine, and with the jolt of fear and adrenalin, I tried to sit up and find an escape. The short rattle of iron links and choking pull against my throat proved that the previously mentioned slave collar was real, and it was chained to the altar. I was trapped.

With fumbling, disoriented fingers, I grabbed my collar with both hands and began trying to find a catch or release in a panic, a state of mind that was becoming far too familiar today. Before I managed to coordinate my effort into something useful, a deafening crack! resounded painfully through the room. Everyone went silent, and knocked out of my hysteria, I turned my head toward the noise. As I looked around for the source of the sound, I noticed there were more figures in the room as they all began to move. Somehow, I had missed them with how still they'd been standing. They looked tall, not a difficult feat from my current point of view, and most were wearing robes and masks. I instantly thought of Walmart Halloween Cultist costumes before remembering I was literally chained to an altar by my neck, and the snark faded. Most were in one of the cells where the screaming had been coming from. I could see several had clawed hands and either had odd-colored and textured skin or… fur. I wasn’t sure, but either one made them more terrifying.

Then the crack sounded again, and I looked to see that it was the heavy wooden door to the room. Dust fell from the stones of the walls and ceiling, and the door looked like it was about to buckle. The robed figures all moved quickly towards the door, and I went right back to trying to find a latch on the collar around my neck. The list displaying the slave class floating mockingly in my vision while I fumbled with it. The haze over my mind was quickly fading along with any hope that this was just a dream. Everything had been so sudden, and now that I had a moment to think, the panic was fading, but the fear was not.

I knew I was grabbing onto a collar around my neck and scratching my skin against cold stone, yet I still managed to say the most generic thing possible.

“This can’t be happening. This isn’t real.”

“Oh good, that is a relief.” I heard from the girl next to me. “I was getting worried.”

I wanted to laugh, and only the fear of bringing attention to myself stopped me. I gave another weak and frustrated yank on the collar, trying to find a way to get it loose. It was impossible. It had no seams at all. I couldn't even imagine how they'd gotten it around my neck, and despair was starting to sap the little strength I'd found.

Then the crack! came again, only this time with the sound of stone and wood shattering and a sharp pain in my leg. Splintering wood burst across the room, and one of the pointy bits decided to find its new home in me. My hand flew down to it at once, and without thinking about what I was doing, I yanked it out and covered the wound while breathing through my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut against the pain. Someone, one of the creeps in the robes judging from the voice, yelled, "It must have sensed the residual magic!" and another was yelling, "This place is supposed to be abandoned!" It took me a moment to grasp they were not speaking any language I’d ever heard before, and I absolutely should not be able to understand whatever guttural noises they were making.

Between that and thinking to myself, "Oh my god, that wooden missile was the size of a Coke can. I'm going to bleed out and die!" I didn't bother looking over to see what they were talking about. Instead, I steeled myself and looked down at my wound to see how long I had left to live. After a moment of wiping away the sludge and blood, I could see I was, in fact, bleeding, but not as badly as the shock made me think. Also, I had a chip of some kind of grey wood in my hand, a little bigger than a toothpick. An idea struck me with sudden clarity at the same time as the Mission Impossible theme song, and I went back to feeling at that collar for a keyhole. A moment later, a roar exploded through the room, making me jump and throw my emergency lock pick across the cell. I just froze up, more embarrassed about what I had just done than anything else. Then, I remembered something was roaring. There was a flash of light and a yell of a few words before a loud crunch. I really did not want to look, and I was able to maintain that for about two seconds before the new, more deep-sounding screams of the cultists began.

Then I did look and immediately regretted it. At first, I wasn't even sure how to process the monstrosity gleefully ripping the people in the room apart. It took a moment for me to understand what I was looking at. It stood at least ten feet tall on two short back legs with two very long arms that it used like a gorilla. Only these arms were winged like a bat. Its eyes literally glowed red. Not a Hollywood demonic bright red but like blood reflecting a candle. Its head was a mix of a bat and a human with far too many large, sharp, pointed teeth. Before I could think to look away, it slapped a clawed hand through one of the robed figures' heads. Blood and brains sprayed across the floor. Before the body hit the ground, it snapped its massive jaws down on another cultist, taking off his head and most of his chest with a quick shake of its maw. I froze. Everything sounded like ringing in my ears. I didn't even register what happened for a few seconds before something snapped me back to reality. I gasped for breath as I remembered to breathe. Shrill screams of the horror-stricken chaos pierced the air. In a blur, a second monster burst into the room, lunging savagely into the cultists now scrambling desperately for an escape. I didn't think. I couldn't. I did the same thing, grabbing the iron around my throat and franticly trying to pull away from the altar. I managed to choke myself, and I could feel the burning from the stone altar tearing into my bare skin. Another horrible scream died out, and a sudden chime and new words scrolling across my vision caught my attention, startling me out of my hysterics.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

* Your [Slave Bond] has been broken. You are no longer owned by Al’gaxan.

While that did seem like a significant improvement to my situation, I was still chained to an altar by a collar, and a glance confirmed that, yep, I still only had the slave class listed. And then, because the world wasn't done with me for the day, two very loud metallic crunches echoed through the room as the monsters recognized there was more food in the cells. They tore through the bars to the first cell in a heartbeat, and the first monster snatched the trapped girl up by her legs and bit into her stomach so fast it almost looked like a blur. The second one was there an instant later, biting into her from the other side. The bones cracking between teeth and the wet sound of viscera falling to the stone were going to haunt me for the rest of my very short life. She had to have been dead before she felt anything, small consolation that was. Everyone was panicking as they quickly moved on and smashed into the next cell with a girl who looked like she had passed out from terror. I couldn't watch. I wished I couldn't hear. I tried hard to ignore everything and find where the chain was connected. I thought maybe I could disconnect the chain at least so I could get off the altar. After a moment of fumbling, I knew the chain had no ends or connections. It came out of the altar stone and was part of the collar. It was hopeless. "I'm going to die here" was all I could think as I stopped moving.

I had no idea what else to do when someone shrieked out, "Oh god, I have skills; how do I use my skills!?" My head jerked in the direction of this amazing genius. I'd played games before. Games had skills. This was like a game. I should be able to use my skills. I didn’t have dice, so I knew it must be a mental thing. I started to say as much and then saw her shrieking because they were already in her cell. There was only one cell left, and then they'd be in mine. I also realized I hardly remembered what skills the announcement said I had, and I almost cried. In desperation, I yelled, "What skills do I have, you stupid box?" and the box answered.

Personal Status

Name: -

Race: Kitsune

Titles: Hero

Class: -

Attributes:

Hit Points: 10/10

Mana: 10/10

Stamina: 30/80

Strength: 8

Agility: 14

Dexterity: 12

Constitution: 8

Resilience: 8

Wisdom: 10

Intelligence: 14

Charisma: 14

Arcana: 10

Aurora: 0

Affinity: [Fire], [Lightning], [Nature], [Illusion]

Perks: [Mental Resistance], [Fast Healing], [Heroic Presence]

Traits: [Fire Immunity], [Dark Vision], [Fox Spirit Form], [Spiritual Senses]

Skills: [Curse Resistance] 1, [Poison Resistance] 1, [Lightning Resistance] 1, [Acrobatics] 1, [Arcane Mana Manipulation] 1, [Charm] 1, [Disguise] 1, [Insight] 3, [Sleight of Hand] 1, [Stealth] 1.

Attribute Points: 0

Skill Points: 0

Well, that just didn't seem helpful. I stared, dumbfounded at what I should do, until I heard a "Yip!" from the cell next to mine. My head jerked in that direction, and the girl in the cell next to mine was gone. A small red fox sat on the altar, watching the monsters tearing their way into her cell. They leapt at her, and she, being too small for the collar to fit, leapt back at them, right between their legs. I think they were too stunned to react for a moment, and then they both tore after her as she bolted for the door.

"Huh." was all I could say. So, it was time to sort that out. I tried saying "Fox Spirit form!" out loud like a loon. Predictably, nothing happened, so I focused on the skill in my mind. That didn’t really help until I thought about being a fox. Then I felt …. Odd. In a flash, the world grew around me. I was pulling closer to the center of the altar, and my vision was changing. Suddenly, everything seemed colorless, like night vision, though I could still see the yellow in the flames. Everything had little wisps of white smoke rising off of it, except a couple of the corpses that had black and red wisps of color pouring from them. As I changed into my [Fox Spirit Form], I had shrunk in size until I was in the center of the altar on my back, and the collar was far above my head. A chime rang out in my mind.

* You have freed yourself from the restrictions of-

And with a thought, I blew that out of my vision in what felt like a natural action. "Kind of wish I could have thought of doing that earlier!" I … Chirped? to myself? Okay, foxes can't talk. Right. I flipped right up onto my feet and made a break for it, not knowing where to go. As I went through the door, I was immediately bounding up a flight of stairs. Halfway up these stairs, it occurred to me that I had no idea how to move on four legs like a fox, but I kept going because it seemed to be working anyway. Why question a good thing? The top of the stairs led to an open door and a four-way intersection of hallways. I heard a clamor from the left and figured that was where the other fox ran, probably trying to shake off pursuit, so I went straight. The place felt like a maze as I went from one random hallway or room to the next. I was quickly lost after a few bends, more so than I already had been. I ran into several dead ends and empty rooms before. When stumbling out of one such room, I saw the other fox come bolting around the corner straight at me. The monsters came right behind her, slamming into the wall as they tried to make the sharp turn behind her. I could see the wisps coming off the other fox - much more substantial than any before and bright blue. That wasn’t on my mind long, though, because the same effect was pouring off the monsters chasing her in a bloody crimson, making them so much more horrifying.

I turned and ran. It was unfortunate for everyone involved when I realized that they were now ALL following me, and this was going to be worse than when I got all of my friends lost hiking in the woods for almost two days. After a few turns backtracking, I zipped to the end of the hall, avoiding all the useless empty rooms, and jumping off the wall to help me turn right - a direction I surely hoped I had not yet gone and saw a pair of closed doors ahead with a broken away corner at the bottom. I wasn’t entirely sure I'd fit, but I ran for it and dived for the gap. I didn't really have a choice. This had been going on for a long time, and I was already exhausted when we started. I felt so heavy, and it was hard to force myself to sprint, but I managed. My fur, which is now and always will be very weird, buffered me from the jagged wood, and I slipped through. I was finally outside.

* Now Entering "The Desolation of Kingsgrove"

Looking around, I saw it was night, which would explain the darkness and the few stars I could see between roiling clouds. The "Desolation" part of the name was very apt. This place was a ruin. Not like cool ruins where you can walk around and explore neat things. Nearly nothing was standing over two feet tall outside of the wreck of a castle I had just escaped from. I smelled the blood at the same time as I saw that there were dozens more corpses and a few more red auras glowing in the corners of my vision. I kept running, looking back over my shoulder only once, but I didn't see another fox come out. I wasn't sure if she understood I was lost or just split up to try to lose them, but she didn't follow. I didn't want to think about the other possibility.

After running for what felt like nearly an hour and feeling so exhausted that every movement hurt, I stopped. I was at the limits of whatever Kingsgrove used to be, and there was only wilderness ahead. I looked around and saw nothing close by, and I no longer smelled the blood in the air. It was silent here. No insects or animals were making any sounds, and I had no idea if that was a good thing or not. I thought I could see dark wisps in the field ahead, but I was too exhausted to investigate. The sun wasn't rising, and I wasn’t ready to get even more lost. I was so tired that even continuing to walk was difficult anyway. Looking around, I found a space between some fallen stones of what likely used to be a wall and hid in the gap. It turned out to be a few feet deep. I curled up as far back as I could in the small hole I'd found and watched the entrance, waiting for the sun to rise. I'm not sure how long I was there before I fell into a restless sleep.