Changing World- The Beginning

by Sergei Katz

  The “Shining Grass” spell was a very unpleasant surprise for the witch, who had expected the fight to be easy for her to win. Her attempt to create another shield failed, and Alex's arrow finally reached its target. The maniacal self-confident look left the witch's face, to be replaced by a loathing grimace.

  — How dare you! — A poisonous green cloud flew at the boy.

  Alex's attempt to dodge away from the attack wasn’t quick enough, and the cloud gained speed and followed the boy. The next second his whole body was covered with green sores, and he yelled out from unbearable pain.

  — And now it’s your turn! — The witch's hand pointed straight at me.

  I was expecting something like this, so I used a protective blow, although I didn’t expect much success. I just needed not to be where the witch hoped that I would be. Her strike didn’t reach its target, but I achieved what I wanted to. While still on the ground - but almost behind the witch - I launched the second “Falling Leaves” spell and began to apply “Penetrating Blows” one by one until my mana ran out. Unfortunately, none of them managed to damage a major organ, but finally, I was able to inflict some damage on the witch. As I was hoping, when the crazy woman saw the “Falling Leaves” spell, she concentrated all her energy to rot them away. The “Shining Grass” spell made this task a little more difficult, forcing the witch to concentrate even more. At the same time, my attacks were able to inflict irreparable damage on her right leg. That in turn brought down her level of concentration even further, and several leaves reached their target.

  I jumped up and began to walk around the witch, trying to make the most of her injured leg. Sadly, the fight was far from over: it was more like a temporary draw than a victory. Alex lay unconscious on the grass. My Copper Wing couldn’t get up in the air because of the bruising on his wings. I didn’t even want to think about my Phasm. He seemed to be in bad shape.

  However, the raven seemed to have recovered a little, looking at my Totem through its half-closed eyes, and then looking back to the fire. When the bird turned to the witch, hatred started burning in its eyes. The raven seemed to have gone mad. A moment later, the bird attacked the witch unexpectedly with all its anger.

  When the raven joined the fight, it degenerated from a tactical battle into a drunken brawl. The three of us were running around the whole glade like madmen. The witch had to move continuously, so the still drunken raven wasn’t able to fully coordinate its movements, and couldn’t attack at full strength. I had to constantly stay ahead of her, in order to be on the side of her wounded leg, since even in such a state the witch remained a dangerous opponent for me.

  The raven attacked with all its might, paying absolutely no attention to its defense. Its attacks with the beak and its claws sometimes reached their target, but the witch somehow managed to avoid all of my strikes. However, that was no longer an issue. The witch eventually started running out of energy and the skills that had helped her to evade my attacks, and that was what was going to bring us closer to success. The raven and I gradually developed a system: when my blows would make the witch dodge them, the grey raven would be in a perfect position to launch an attack. This strategy worked, and all of the bird’s blows found their mark.

  The line of the witch's lifeline blinked and then went out. Suddenly, a wave of air threw us tens of meters away from her body. The air around the defeated witch became foggy. The witch's body started changing its shape, like clay in a potter's hand. Then the air exploded, and a strange creature appeared before us. A huge coyote, one half woven of fog, and the other half black as coal. It had red eyes, due to the number of bloody veins through which blood oozed, flowing from one vein to another. The tail of the creature resembled a spine, torn from some other animal. Each paw of the creature had three claws, that were shaped like daggers and a green liquid dripped from them, most likely a poison.

  — Finally-s-s-s, — The creature’s voice hissed at us menacingly.

  As soon as the creature started speaking, the forest around the glade began to turn black as a night, as if the whole glade was being dragged into the darkness.

  — I always-s-s felt uncomfortable in my mis-s-tres-s’s-s body, but now there is-s-s nothing that can s-s-s-save you ... — I could feel the hatred dripping from every word.

  I went deaf for a brief time from the hissing noise emanating from the creature. I was taken completely by surprise to find it right next to me, and it kicked me so hard that I flew to the other end of the clearing. I had been hit by an unusual blow. I couldn’t move for a while, and the only thing that I could do was wait for the final finishing strike, but it never came.

  Gradually, I regained control over my body, and as soon as I did I turned my head towards the sounds of battle. I had no idea what to expect, but certainly not what I saw: the black creature was fighting against two ravens! Just to make sure that I was really seeing what I saw, I pinched myself, and then I looked to where my Phasm had been laying unconscious earlier. He was gone. I turned in the direction of the battle. My body still wasn’t cooperating with my commands, and I couldn’t even raise my hand. So, all I could do was watch on.

  It was really quite a spectacle! If the situation had been any different, then perhaps I would have found it amusing, watching as two absolutely drunken birds attacked the monster without a thought for their own safety. But instead, the monster was mocking them, easily dodging their attacks and counterattacking, so it was nothing to laugh about. It made me angry that I was still so weak that I had let the creature take me out of the fight with just one blow. It was clear that the witch had been programmed to fight against a group of at least five gamers in one go. I told myself that this was no excuse. I had to become stronger.

  The birds continued to receive a wound after wound. Each attack from the monster resulted in an injury, but it had so far been able to avoid any damage whatsoever. I felt that I had recovered enough to get back on my feet, so I decided to check on the boy.

  Somehow, I was able to crawl over to the exhausted boy on all fours. His whole body was eaten away with acid, but Alex was still alive. I couldn’t watch on as the child who wasn’t even sixteen yet was dying in such a terrible agony. I took out my small healing crystal and applied it to Alex. After the first application, almost nothing had changed, only his breathing became a bit calmer, but a couple of wounds had healed up. I applied the crystal a few more times, remembering that there were only twelve charges left in the crystal and I would need to recharge it as a matter of urgency or find a new one. At least that was my hope.

  Meanwhile, the boy’s skin gradually returned to normal. I applied the crystal healing stone one more time, and Alex opened his eyes.

  — How are you feeling? — I asked the boy.

  — Better now, — the boy smiled weakly. — What’s going on?

  — To be honest, I don’t know, — I confessed.

  — What about the witch? — Alex asked.

  I silently pointed in the direction of the fighters.

  — Wow! It looks like this raven can create clones of itself! — The boy said admiringly.

  — It's not a clone, — I grinned.

  — No way! — The expression on the boy's face was one of disbelief. — There’s no chance Little Morphy would get involved in a fight like that.

  — Not in a sober state no, but he's drunk as a mop!

  We enjoyed the spectacle for another moment or two.

  — Okay, we should probably help them, — Alex realized.

  He jumped up and pulled out an arrow. I gently stretched my arms and legs, and twisted my neck to make sure that my body was behaving normally.

  — Well, let's help them out then... — I said, then ran to the battle site as fast as possible.

  Even before I managed to reach the fighters, one of Alex’s arrows shot past me and crashed into the monster’s invisible shield.

  — Alex, keep firing, his shield won’t last forever!

  The creature heard me and si
lently attacked me. I was ready for this to happen and I successfully evaded its blows, then I counterattacked. Yet again my attacks failed to reach their mark.

  “What’s going on here? Why aren’t my attacks causing any damage?”

  I kept attacking, despite the fact that my attacks didn’t cause any damage, while I was thinking to myself: — “What am I doing wrong? How come my drunken Phasm and the raven cause it problems but I don’t? Eureka! They’re drunk, so they plan to strike in one place, but manage to hit a different one. The creature simply knew where I intended to strike.”

  I decided to strike another blow without consciously thinking about it. Easier said than done! I couldn’t help but think about what I wanted to do. Even if I wanted to dramatically change the trajectory of the blow, I was still thinking about it consciously, so that didn’t work out.

  “What if...”

  I struck and let the sword do the work.

  — Ouch-s-s-s, that hurts-s-s-s! — The creature hissed.

  The sword in my hand vibrating, clearly satisfied.

  — Take that you piece of dung! Come on, my sharp friend, now you can show us what you’re capable of, — I encouraged the sword.

  One blow, followed by another. I only needed to point it in the right direction, and the sword, driven by its own will, continued to strike.

  — Okay, that’s-s-s enough, enough! — The creature screamed. There was a shock wave, and we were all immobilized for a few seconds. Rapid strikes on the raven and my Phasm put both birds on the ground. Another quick blow and my sword flew behind the monster's back.

  The monster continued its high-speed attacks, and I had no choice but to dodge them. My attempts to get close to the sword were brutally suppressed. Alex was firing his bow like it was a machine-gun, but the monster’s shield still held. I didn’t even have time to use the healing crystal, as my life was literally melting away.

  Dodging the next attack, I became aware that the monster was no longer trying to protect itself. Without a conscious thought, my hand automatically tried to punish the creature for such a mistake and hit bullseye. The monster grunted in surprise and hissed in pain. I looked at my right hand: my sword was resting on it as if nothing had happened. Without ceasing the attack, I looked at the ground, where one of the swords lay.

  “So ... it’s you Little Morphy!”

  I caught a glimpse of the sword in my hand and saw two drunken amber eyes on the sides of its handle. My strikes hadn’t reached their target as I expected, because I was directing the sword, which meant that the monster knew where I was going to strike next. But at this point the monster again devoted all its efforts to defense, so it was clear that working out where the blows were going to come from wasn’t something it did by nature.

  My recovered Copper Wing and the awakened grey raven rejoined the fight. I was able to finally raise my real sword and use it in combat again. As he already had done once before, Little Morph transformed into a raven and he also rejoined the attack.

  The monster’s life line slipped into the red zone. Bloody veins came out of its body, enveloped us and started strangling us. We were unable to move. The monster also seemed to have lost all of its self-control, and only the new sprouting veins seemed to have any freedom of movement. One of the free growing veins expanded rapidly and flew at anybody offering any resistance. If I could have spoken at that moment, I would definitely had told the boy to run away to safety, but the vein squeezed my body so tightly that I couldn’t even breathe.

  Alex tried to escape at first, but realizing that it was useless, he sighed and took out a very unusual looking arrow made from mahogany, quickly firing it off. The arrow started glowing brightly and enveloped everything in burgundy colored smoke. The veins tried to stop the arrow, but were burnt only by touching it. I watched everything as if it was happening in slow motion. The burgundy haze came into contact with the vein that was holding me, and it also burned away. When I was falling, I saw the arrow penetrate the creature’s defensive spell, after which there was an explosion. The last thing I remembered was my head hitting the ground, and then I lost consciousness.

  When I came back to my senses, the fallen monster lay on the grass nearby. The only one who remained conscious was the grey raven, and he was deliberately trying to drag the dead creature to the fire. My head was buzzing unbearably. I looked around, as if through misted glass, and I felt that I was missing something very important. The raven, realizing that it couldn’t drag the former witch to the fire without help, looked at me in hope.

  — Well, if that’s what you need, — I sighed, — of course I'll help.

  I got up with some difficulty, went to the body of the creature and took its hind legs up. The monster’s carcass weighed no less than sixty kilos. In my current weakened state, I could hardly drag it along the ground. Gradually, my head returned to normal. Already having almost dragged the dead body to the fire, I finally realized what facts had I missed before.

  “In this world bodies disappear after they die, leaving loot behind them! The only time I saw a body that hadn’t disappeared was when I ran into that stranger in the forest, and then he came back to life!”

  Realizing this gave me strength. The bonfire didn’t give out any warmth, even when I stood close to it. On the contrary, a strange cold wind blew from it. The fire seemed to feel my approach, and its flaming tongues tried to reach out to me. I jerked to one side, leaving the body of the monster between me and the fire. But in the end I had to shove it into the fire: the flames, no matter how hard they tried, found it hard to reach the carcass. As soon as the first black-and-blue tongues of flame reached the skin of the monster, the flames enveloped it completely. There was a flash of light, and the corpse completely disappeared. After that, as if losing what it needed to fuel it, the fire started fading out.

  Then I heard a croaking from where the grey raven had been, and I heard the noise of a human coughing. A man stood before me:

  — Car-r-r!... “Cough-Cough”, You’ll have to excuse me, I haven’t spoken normally in ages. Thank you, Newcomer!

  A short and muscular person with a smart silver beard was looking at me. He was barrel shaped, with broad shoulders, and his arms were twice as thick as my muscular arms. I got the impression that this man was very strong.

  — You have rescued me from slavery ... — he began and coughed again.

  Thanks to you the first Grand Master Craftsman has appeared in this world. The world welcomes the Grand Master of the Smithy!

  You have obtained the reputation of “Legendary Seeker of Masters”. One of the great Masters has been saved by you. This reputation can be improved upon. Find and save four more masters.

  +2% added to the chance to find legendary items.

  +2% added to the chance to meet a legendary creature.

  Thanks to you there has been a small change in the world: the first divine messengers have appeared. To attain your goal you will need to accomplish 46 minor changes.

  You have accomplished the hidden legendary quest: “Enemies of the World”. The unknown ones do everything in their power to prevent the world from developing. To this end, everyone who could have become a Grand Master has been kidnapped and will soon begin to perish one by one. Find out who is abducting them and why they do it.

  — So, the witch didn’t lie to me about that! — The bearded man was delighted. — Allow me to introduce myself: I am Terin, the Skillful One of the clan of the Agate Dust.

  — I'm sorry to ask, but what kind of race do you belong to? You look like a dwarf to me, but I'm not sure.

  — Precisely, I’m a dwarf, — my companion grinned. — What else could I be? You are a strange one, Newcomer, but that doesn’t bother me – a good person is a good person.

  — Tell me, how did you manage to become a bird and come into contact with this foul monster? — I nodded towards the fire, where the creature’s body was still burning.

  — My desire to be the best ruined my life, — T
erin sighed. — Ever since my childhood I wanted to become the best blacksmith in the world, and one day a stranger came to us. She was looking for someone who could forge a walking stick for her from a strange metal. The metal was not from our world, but she promised that whoever would agree to the task, she would teach him or her all of her secret knowledge and make that person the world's first Master Blacksmith. No smith would agree to work with the unknown metal, but when it came to learning new skills, all the Master Blacksmiths laughed their beards off. How could a woman that had never held a hammer in her hands possibly teach them anything?

  I was a naive youth and had long been a journeyman in the employment of my former master who went by the name of Finn. I tried my best to get him to allow me to work with rare metals, but I might as well have asked him to let me forge metals out of feathers. The stubborn old man never gave me any serious work to do. I constantly asked him to give me some metal work to do or at least to prepare the basics. The bottom line was that I was ready to do anything to prove to the stubborn old man that I had been in the job long enough and prove my skills as a blacksmith. I met with the outsider once again and offered her my services, but I insisted that I wouldn’t do it on the clan’s territory. It had to be somewhere else. She agreed to my terms.

  But I had one more problem: I had to leave the clan's territory unnoticed. The outsider suggested that I could agree a contract between us. She told me that it would help me to leave the clan caves unseen, and every day that I worked for her, she would teach me the skills of a blacksmith. I would practice until I achieved enough skill to accomplish the quest that she had set before me. All this seemed to be a good deal to me: I am a quick learner, and I was sure that I could learn enough in a year to make the walking stick that she was craving.

  So that I could leave the clan unseen, she turned me into a grey raven. That’s when the slavery began! The witch, laughing, informed me that I was now little more than a collection of ingredients for her alchemy and that she had no intention of turning me back into a dwarf. She also told me that my skills would grow, but that it would never help me to achieve my dreams. Unfortunately, ravens don’t make good blacksmiths, — the dwarf’s sigh echoed with sadness.