by Erik Colombe
John threw out his hand, and a string of purple lighting thrust themselves from his fingers. He could smell his own flesh as it sizzled and popped, but he smiled as the god screamed in pain. He held onto the incantation as he poured as much of his mana as he could into it. It regenerated slowly over time, but too slow to get a second chance.
His mana ran dry, and he collapsed to his knees. The smell of his blackened fingers and the pain kept him from passing out. He saw the god fall on the ground ahead of him and struggled to rise to his feet. His stomach fell as he saw the god’s back split open and a serpent, the size of a bus, erupted from her flesh. Her face was still that of a young girl, but her hair was made of a wet sludge that looked like seaweed. Her arms thrashed wildly as she pulled free of the little girl mask she had been wearing.
“That’s just not fair.”
“Life’s not fair, but don’t fret, you won’t have to worry about it for long.” The god laughed. Her voice had changed into a sound that scraped, slithered, and burrowed into his ears.
John used his sword to rise to his feet. He tried to cast a spell, but nothing happened. The god swiped at him, like a cat playing with its food. He cut her hand with his sword, making shallow cuts that looked more like paper cuts on her giant hands.
He took a breath; he needed to do it now.
“Oscillating blade.” He said, his voice hoarse.
He ran his finger along the middle of his sword as the god swung her arm at him again. He threw up the vibrating sword to block. Her hand came down against the blade, and a lump of green scaly flesh floundered next to him. The god screamed in pain as she clutched the stump of her hand to her chest.
John raised his sword between heavy breaths. The god grabbed him in her good arm. He was trapped. He tried to wriggle free, but couldn’t move.
“Know your place, food!” The god said as she raised the stump of her other hand. She chanted a few words and her hand regenerated. She ripped the sword from John’s grip and tossed it to the ground where it shattered into a thousand pieced. She opened her mouth, revealing large fangs ready to rip into him and finish the job.
John looked down at his broken sword. His arms were pinned to his side, and he needed a weapon. He tried to yell, but the god squeezed harder. He sucked in a breath.
“Oscillating bullet storm.” He yelled as loud as he could at the shards of his broken sword. They rose into the air and buzzed like a swarm of angry bees. They flew quickly into the god’s head. She dropped John as she swatted around. He hit the ground hard, but refused to take his eyes from her face. He couldn’t afford to lose concentration.
The tiny pieces of metal had pierced her skin and shredded her insides. Her nails tore at her skin as she ripped pounds of flesh trying to reach the little pieces of metal that sawed and bore through her ancient body.
“It hurts! Make it stop!” She screamed before she hit the ground with a thunderous crash.
“Please.”
John felt what little mana he had quickly run out after that and knew the blades had stopped their work.
“Shit, I forgot to ask how to get back home.” He said as he slumped down and passed out onto the blood-soaked courtyard. He slept on the cold stone for hours only to wake to the sun rising above the tree lines. He had slept all night. He quickly jumped up and looked around him to see the god’s body still lay there in front of him.
“So no ‘it was all a dream’ bit huh.” He said.
He clutched his arms around him to stop his body from shaking. He cast a spell for a fireball that lit in front of him, and he let it grow until it was a smokeless fire. He stroked his hands near the fire’s warm. He checked his reflection in the lake, and he was caked in dried blood now; he looked like death itself. He washed as much of the blood as he could off his face; it stuck to his clothes and refused to come out. He would need to clean them later. For now, he needed to find someplace with food and lodging. He made his way out of the forest.
“Which way was the exit again.” He said to himself. He jumped when a waypoint appeared in his vision.
“That way, huh?” He turned around from the original direction he was going to go and making his way to the exit. His stomach growled with a
fierce hunger, and he felt every step as his muscles screamed about his mistreatment of them while in his heroic crusade. He checked his inventory. He didn’t have any food or water. Hunger and thirst had not been a thing in the game, and while you could buy food, he had never wanted to waste the inventory space. He found a minor stamina potion that was still in his inventory. He drank it. It tasted almost familiar, like an energy drink that had gone flat. His muscles and stomach quieted, just a little. Enough to make the walk less painful.
He kept an eye on his radar, but apparently after beating the god, there were no more dangers in this area as he didn’t see any red dots come towards him. Now that nothing was coming to kill him, and the time to view the forest, it was remarkable how beautiful it was. He was able to look around, this was the most he had ever been exposed to naturally, and he could see the forest was full of fruit bearing trees.
He picked a few and used his analyze magic to check if it was safe to eat. It was safe and had a bunch of stat boosts that John didn’t bother to read in his hunger. It tasted pretty good for fruit in the middle of a cursed forest. He quickly picked a few and added them to his inventory in case he didn’t find a place to sleep the night; he would at least have food.
He followed the waypoint and stopped. He had something he needed to do before he left. It was easy to get lost in the forest, and he was getting frustrated as he walked in circles. He was about to mess with the waypoint when he remembered one of the many skills he had acquired in the game. It was like the analyze skill, something that didn’t have a lot of use when you had access to playthroughs and guides, but now seemed like the most reliable thing he could get.
“True Hunter!” He said, activating the perk from his skills list.
It allowed him to follow footsteps and see like a trapper, but it only worked for one quest and just got shelved after he had used it. Now, he was able to see not only his tracks, but also the tiniest bug that lived in this hell hole.
He saw the intricate ecosystem that was around him that was long past its expiration date. It seemed to start with the animals as he could see the corpses of gigantic beasts. Some looked similar to the ones he had seen in the game. Large dog-like creatures with spiked tails, bears with lizard scales, snakes with wings, and so many others he couldn’t recognize anymore. The further he walked, the more the corpses he saw were less, and instead, they were just skeletons. Whatever was keeping this place alive had died.
John reached the open grave. The body inside was now decayed and faceless. While he covered the body, he hoped that the souls of the dead here were able to go home to where ever they belonged, now that he had killed the god that had tricked and killed them.
When the grave was filled, he felt empty inside. Not only because he was hungry, but also because he would be the lone person to know the truth of all these graves. He was learning more about this world and how he could interact with it. More importantly, he was learning more about himself. He could access his inventory and stats' screen now. He checked his mana gauge. He saw it was full, and summoned the elements. He didn’t use words this time. Instead, he used the motions he had seen in the game. The way the characters had stood, the way their arms moved when they had used magic, and a little of his own improvisation. He danced.
“I’m so happy there’s no one around to see this.”
He moved his body with a flowing rhythm. His magic responded, water collected at his feet and pooled around him everywhere he stepped. He changed his movements to hard and commanding motions that demanded the mud to do his bidding. It rose out of the ground with a large stomp of his foot. While it hung in the air, he spread his hands, palms out to face the mud slab in front of him. Fire erupted from his palms and cooked it until a clay tablet sa
t before him, created, and solidified with magic; it had the durability of steel. He called down lightning and wrote an inscription on the tablet.
“The god-slaying army rests here. May they know peace now that their work is done.”
He looked at it and smiled until he saw a message pop up in front of his vision.
“New title added: God Slayer.” It said.
“Now, that is a dangerous title to hold onto.” He thought.
He rested and ate more of the fruit he had found before he ventured out of the forest. He didn’t have a clue as to where he should go; he just knew he wanted to go back home. This place was magical and left him in awe, so he didn’t feel a big hurry, but one god had just tried to take his soul and had almost succeeded. He needed to be careful in case there might be another one out there. He walked out of the forest and continued to go until the trees started to thin and light streamed through the branches, revealing his path. He knew he was out of the dark forest when he could finally see animals filled with life bounding through the forest instead of festering skeletons of nightmarish design. He reached the road, but it wasn’t the same path he knew.
“In the game, this was supposed to be a dirt path that connected to a village. What the hell is this?” John said.
He was staring at a fully stone road instead of the tiny dirt trail that had been in the game. The road looked like it was in disrepair, but it was still well traveled. He started to follow the trail towards where he knew should be a village.
“I wonder what else could have changed.” John said, walking forward.
Part 2
John had earned the title of god slayer. He could move and shake the earth beneath his feet, manifest water into deadly jets that could slice through rock, create fire that burned only what he wanted to be incinerated, and could command the air to levitate objects, and summon down lightning on anyone who was dumb enough to piss him off. He had been brought to this world as a sacrifice to gluttony and had come through the trial bloody but alive. Despite all this power, he was still forced to walk for hours on the badly kept cobblestone road of boredom. In the game, you couldn’t go two minutes without getting a quest, but this was an actual world, filled with nothing. He was beginning to believe there really might not be anyone else in this world, until he came to the next straight away in the road, and he could see something in the distance.
It was large, but too far away to get any details. As he got closer, he could see it was a small, one horse cart with a thin tarp over the back, used to keep out the weather. The horse was untethered and laying on its side.
“Hello, is anybody there?” he called out and immediately felt something sharp dig into his back.
“Don’t move if you value your life,” a gruff voice said behind him.
John turned around in surprise, knocking the knife away with his bare hand. Where there should have been a deep gash, there was only a paper cut. His eyes flicked up to the right, where he had placed his health bar earlier.
Negative 10 HP flashed by his health bar and then another Plus 10 HP.
Good my health regeneration still works.
He looked over to the person getting up and going after their knife. John drew his sword
d and pointed it at his aggressor. She stopped. He motioned for her to back away from their weapon
“It’s dangerous to play with knives,” John said.
He was able to get a clear glimpse of his attacker. It was a woman a few inches shorter than him. She was wearing a tan cotton shirt with matching trousers and leather bound sandals. She wore a dirty cap that covered her hair and a handkerchief that covered her face.
“Take off the handkerchief and tell me why you attacked me.”
She did, and he could see her face. She was a beauty, green hair that reminded John of a summer lake, blue eyes, and red freckles adorned her face. He judged her to be a few years older than him.
“Only bandits and thieves sneak up on an honest merchant,” she said with a crass accent that hurt John’s ears.
John sheathed his sword.
“Well, I’m neither, and it’s not exactly sneaking if I call out ‘Hello’, now is it? I’m just a traveler looking to see if you need a hand and if I could get a lift.”
“Are you blind? My horse has a broken leg. I’m not going anywhere; just waiting for a bigger caravan to come through if I’m lucky. Very few dare to take this path because of how near it is to the dark forest.” She said.
“Well, I’m good with a few spells. Let me take a look.”
“T’ain’t no one that has that kind of magic, ‘cept priests.”
“What are you talking about? Where I’m from, its gaming 101,” John said.
“Gaming what?”
“Never mind, just give me a second.” John walked over to the horse, where it kicked and whinnied at him. He walked over to its head slowly and brushed at the horse’s mane, waiting for it to calm down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out some half-eaten fruit from the dark forest, letting the horse eat from his hand. It ate gladly and relaxed its body against John.
An exclamation mark flashed in his vision, and he looked down to see a notification.
New Skill acquired: “Animal Tamer”; level 1.
Effects: Animals are more friendly and trusting towards you.
John looked up to see the girl’s face, but she hadn’t moved or seemed to notice anything was different. He walked over to the horse's broken leg and gently laid his hands over it. He talked gibberish to the horse, trying to keep it calm.
“Good horse, nice horse.”
While he spoke, he gathered his mana to his hands and slipped in the syllables for the healing spell from the game. He imagined the bone knitting back together and saw the leg twitch back into place. It was so subtle that his hands covered the leg snapping back into place, leaving no trace of the break.
Moment of truth, John thought as he placed both hands on where the leg had been broken and massaged the spot. He didn’t get kicked in the chest and took that as a good sign the healing spell had worked. He was about to brag, except he noticed the girl was looking at him horrified, like he had just summoned a demon to tear out her heart, instead of a level one healing spell. He quickly decided against bragging.
“Your horse was just overworked. A little food and he’s fine now. Mind if I get a lift?”
The girl just stared at the horse’s leg, not responding, lost in her own mind. John snapped his fingers in front of her face. Her eyes turned to his.
“A ride. Can I get one?”
“Huh? I mean, of course. Which way are you going?”
“Same way as you.”
“Which way is that?” Saarka asked looking up and down the road.
John pointed the way he had been walking, the same way the horse and cart were pointing.
“Of course. Let me just saddle the horse.”
John stuck out his hand, trying to be less intimidating.
“My name’s John. Nice to meet you.”
She took his hand and shook it awkwardly, lightly by his fingers.
“Saarka.”
“Pleasure,” John said as he helped saddle the horse. He mostly watched intently, trying to remember the steps. He didn’t know how long he would be in this world, but he doubted they had cars.
A notification appeared in John’s vision.
New skill learned: Observer
Effect: All learnable skill based knowledge is recorded and can be watched until mastery is gained. Cannot be leveled up.
It’s not YouTube, but I’ll take it.
John and Saarka got in the car and snapped the reins urging the horse forward.
“How long has this road been paved?” John asked.
“Longer than I’ve been alive. Why does it matter to you?”
“I’m wondering if I’m lost.”
“Where are you going?” Saarka asked.
“I’d like to go home.”
“Where’
s home?”
“I don’t know,” John said.
“Ay, you’re lost.”
John watched the cobblestone road disappear underneath the cart. He needed intel if he was going to stay hidden, but he didn’t know how to phrase the question: ‘I’m a god killing, world traveling, shoot lightning from my fingertips son of a bitch; how do I get home without making a fuss?’
“What’s the name of the town up ahead?”
“It’s a city, called Fort Trellis. Big place, easy to get lost.”
Right name but wrong size, John thought. In the game, it was more of a village. A quick place to get some materials, maybe a rare fruit, depending on the in-game season, but there were literally five houses.
“Any recommendations for a traveler new to the area?”
“Depends, do you have any coin or looking for work?”
John thought about it for a minute. He did have money from the game in his inventory, but who knew if it was worth anything? He doubted an inventory management system was commonplace in this world and didn’t want to draw attention to himself. He thought about his inventory system and moved his fingers while his hand was still resting next to him. His inventory opened in his vision. Saarka didn’t seem to notice the screen hovering in front of John as he flicked his fingers and the screen moved to highlight the 9000 gold coins he still had and moved one over to his avatar. After he closed the inventory, he felt a small weight in his pocket and fished out the coin.
“What will one of these get me?” he asked, holding up the coin.
John saw Saarka have to stop her jaw from dropping.
“That’s worth two months’ wages. Who in the name of the high priests are you?”
John looked the coin over.
Crap, he thought. He didn’t have any smaller change. In the game, the gold coin was the only means of payment. At least it still had worth, but nothing attracts attention more than a rich stranger.
“Like I said, I’m just a traveler from very far away. This one coin is my entire fortune after I’ve fallen on hard times, but it seems I’m going to have a hard time spending it.”