I slipped into the unknown part of the forest and sat behind a tree. My breath was heavy in my chest, and my heart was pounding. I was in an unimaginable amount of pain, and it took everything that I had to stay conscious. I glanced at my notifications now that I had a chance to breathe, and I saw I was suffering from a broken arm and some darkness poisoning. The broken arm didn’t mean much to me since my natural regeneration would fix it.

But I would need Alinore if I wanted to cure the darkness part. I leaned against the tree and saw that the boss bar had finally vanished. Even so, that meant little to me. I knew he was hunting me. I took a deep breath and glanced around to see where I ended up. The trees here were even grayer than the other parts of the forest. In fact, I would say that they were sick. Something was afflicting them. I saw a zombie corpse nearby, and I shivered as I saw it was recently eaten. Whatever was here was something that I didn’t want to deal with.

I looked around the trees, and I felt like I was being watched by something, though I wasn’t sure by what. I sat there for a bit before I rummaged around in the small bag of holding that I kept around my waist and reached in for my emergency potion. This was a quick, oh shit kinda deal. This was one of those moments, mainly since this potion was rather expensive.

I brought the potion up to my lips; however, it shattered in my hands before I drank it. The crimson liquid splattered my pants, and debris of glass rained down. I instantly went on high alert and brought my sword to bear while trying to baby my broken arm.

“Well, well, well, look who we have here, lost in the woods. A little noble.” The voice was bitter and condensing and not one that I recognized.

“Who are you?” I asked as I pressed myself into the tree. The darkness hung around me with the fog, obscuring everything. I glanced around the area, trying to discern any movement, but there was nothing. A mere undead would have been incapable of a shot like that. Well, now I wasn’t so sure.

“Oh, no one, really.” The male voice tore through the shadows, and I saw a form materialize. It was a man that stood at roughly my height and was clad in a long, flowing black cloak with the hood raised. But what terrified me was the white dagger painted across the front.

I gritted my teeth and bared my blade towards him. I wouldn’t fall into the trap of asking why he was here or how he got here. That was pointless. I had a feeling why he was here, though. To finish the job that started long ago. “Well, sorry, I’m not ready to die.”

Two more assassins materialized from around the trees. One had a bow while the other had a long sword. I could easily fight them if I didn’t have a broken arm. But they broke the fastest way I had to fix that. I kept my eyes on the three of them as they circled around me. They were cautious, which would make moving on them a little more challenging.

The one with the sword dashed forward, bringing his weapon around in a deadly arc. I dropped my body weight down at the last second, and it passed over my head, leaving a gash on the tree behind me. Moving on instinct, I stepped forward and launched a jab towards him. The pain in my arm flared up as it shifted.

The assassin stepped back and parried my blade, and the other launched an arrow at the last second, causing me to fire a third quick step. I created some distance and tried to run. I dipped behind a tree and quickly activated lunge while monitoring my stamina bar. If I hit critical levels, I would die.

“Redrick running won’t save you. You are going to die here.” The man’s bitter voice was a small way behind me as I plunged deeper into the forest. Those blasted nobles and the power games that they played. I hated them. I hated them all. All just to solidify more power, and for what? It didn’t matter who they stepped on to get to the top, so long as they got there.

I held my tongue as I dipped behind another tree. This time, the feeling of being watched was even more potent, and it was coming from the trees. Now that I thought about it, it was odd that there wasn’t a single mob in this area. Well, ones that weren’t already permanently dead.

“Die here.” A voice rang above me. One that croaked and sounded like it had never spoken before. It was coarse, heavy, and, most of all, the hair on the back of my neck rose.

"Going to."

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“Die here”

More voices joined the first, each different, but they talked in unison, repeating the same word, each time, the voices getting clearer and more apparent, and sounded like the assassin that followed me. I shivered as I stared into the canopy and the forest floor, trying to cover all the angles. But I saw nothing, not until I heard a screech that filled the air. One that sounded like nails against a chalkboard. A sound that made me want to turn tail and run as fear coursed through my veins unbound.

My body froze and refused to react. The only thing that I could move were my eyes. My eyes quickly scanned the area in a panic before I saw a set of orbs that glittered in the night. First, there was one, then two, and more kept coming until I saw at most ten. They stared at me from the shadows of the trees. Just sitting there watching me. Yet, I could do nothing but stand there.

You have been paralyzed by fear

A few seconds passed by before I could hear the steps of another walking towards me. “Ah, have you finally decided to just give up?” The assassin’s voice sounded next to me, and I desperately fought to move, and I couldn’t even open my mouth to speak.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway.” I saw a glint of steel in the moonlight, and I screwed my eyes shut, mentally cursing every last member of the noble court. I would come back to haunt them all, and I would make them pay. However, the blow landed on my good shoulder, pinning me to the tree. My assailant let out a surprised shriek, and I opened my eyes.

I saw a scrawny creature with patches of long, stringy hair matted together by grease. Its eyes were muddy brown, and its teeth were all sharpened to a fine point as it bit into the shoulder of the assassin. Slimy flesh glistened in the moonlight as it rode the assassin as he tried to throw it off. More gasps of surprises filled the air around me as more of the creatures fell from the tree. Finally, my fear wore off, and I reached up and pulled the knife from my shoulder. Seeing my chance to escape present itself, I reached up and pulled the dagger out and quickly threw it to the side and made a run for it while everyone was distracted.

I ran for what felt like hours until I came across an area that looked as if it used to be a training ground, and thankfully it was empty. I stumbled over to a small structure on the outskirts and fell inside. My vision swam, and my body was going numb. My stomach twisted as nausea rocked my body. I rolled inside and stared at the ceiling as thoughts slowly drifted through my failing vision.

Was this how I was supposed to die? For the first time since my father died, I cried. I failed everyone, and, most of all, I failed myself. I dragged my team into this, and for all I knew, they could be dead. With much difficulty, I pulled myself across the floor and propped myself against the wall.

Even though those creatures caught the assassins off guard, I knew it wouldn’t last long. They would be after me soon enough, and then my team if they were not already dead now. I felt my heartbreak as I realized the depths of my failure. A dry cackle left my lips as I stared out across the training area as I replaced my weakness with rage. I refused to die here. I have never been this weak before. So why now? The rage helped push me to my feet, and another round of pain shot through me like a thousand fire bolts causing me to drop once more.

My health bar was slowly trickling down, and my anger faded. Please, I didn’t want to die. Not here. Not alone. I would do anything to not die here. As the sorrow flooded my mind, a thought drifted on the tide. Didn’t I still have something? The pain started to leak into my mind, and I became delirious as fire filled my veins. One that I faintly recognized as another toxin. What did I have that could help? It was something important, right?

I was slowly losing consciousness before it finally hit me. I had that summoning stone. I reached into the hidden pocket and stared at it. The patterns on it danced around and seemed to be filled with life as they took various shapes. The way the lines moved and shifted threatened to drag me into it once more before I shook myself out of it.

I held it in the moonlight, and I realized then just how fragile yet heavy it was. The way it seemed to weigh into my palm and sear my flesh with the coldness it seemed to radiate. Without another thought, I crushed the stone, and a line of text tilled my vision.

Please wait….summoning domain god…

God, huh? I thought it was just a simple core. I felt my eyelids grow heavy as time seemed to stand still, and a magical formation appeared on the training field before me. The shape was lost to me, but it reminded me of snow with how intricately they crossed each other as they spun around, locked in an eternal waltz. Pulses of violet light started to fill the air, followed by soft orange lightning bolts that struck the ground.

The pain that wracked my body came to a halt. My breath caught in my throat as a form rose from the middle of a formation. The first part that I saw was a mask covered in whitish purple and a color that I immediately recognized as being the same as ki. Then long, flowing honey brown hair caught the wind. The being was wearing a long, flowing cloak with colors that made me feel as if I was staring into eternity itself. The right hand was clad in some strange metal that reminded me of glass, though the left hand was clenched in a fist and covered in a myriad of scars.

I sat there dumbstruck as I realized I was staring at the core of the domain. I thought cores were supposed to be just, well, cores, not a living being. I used my analyze skill once more out of habit than anything else.

Level 1 Calixa Asteria Empress of Souls.

I felt despair at looking at her level. A level one? I may have just killed us both, but her color was one that I had never seen before on a named text, and that was the color of freshly polished gold. But just before I opened my mouth to speak, I saw another notification appear; this time, it was a global notification.

A boss in the domain has awakened and evolved into a unique race and boss type. Slay it to receive unique accolades.

As I stared at the Empress before me, I could only wonder at what I had done.