by Sarah Lin
"What, are you going to torture it out of me?"
"No, I..." Bloodwraith swallowed his distaste and decided for a direct approach. "I am asking. I need to know if I can trust you, otherwise I can't leave you behind to report to them."
She let out a heavy sigh, her eyes dimming again. "I've told you everything I can remember. I'm just... an objective. All I know is a few things I've observed about the Forest of Beginnings. You need to leave through the mountain pass. After that... things will really begin."
"What happens to you after that?"
"It's difficult to remember. Everything gets foggy... I think I sort of... float along until the next adventurer appears. Everything goes back to normal, I think. At least, most of the adventurers I remember have hunted the wolves nearly to extinction, yet there are always more. And I forget everything they did, of course."
"I see."
Bloodwraith took another deep breath and considered his options. Staying here made him deeply uncomfortable, since this unnatural forest lay close to the incomprehensible world of the outsiders. He had already explored backwards and been unable to find the prison he had started in, or even the clearing where he had fought the Ghoul Lord. This place was clearly designed to introduce outsider abominations to their world.
But outside the pass... there, he was certain the real world lay. All the peoples and nations and organizations he remembered. Meara had suggested that she had been taken from the outside and he had seen nothing inexplicable aside from the boxes. His reality might be grimmer than he believed, but it wasn't all an illusion. Or so he told himself as he resolved to enter the real world again.
"Meara, I'm going to leave. Do you want to stay here and forget?"
"That would be easier, wouldn't it?" She gave him a bitter smile and then slumped out of the room. "No, I couldn't stand it - I would be better off dead, but there are worse things than death. As long as I've been here, nothing like this has ever happened. The next time... if they noticed that I was different... no, I can't take that risk. I need to leave."
"As you have been useful to me, I will assist you."
She cast him a strange smile, then continued moving about the room, gathering up her things. "I don't remember any adventurers saying anything like that. Oh, they definitely acted like it, but they wouldn't explicitly say it. You really aren't one of them."
"Just hurry, wench."
No condemning box this time. The boxes had been remarkably silent for their entire conversation. When he examined Meara, the box still declared her to be [Affection: 100/100 (Love)]. He found that slightly reassuring. Whatever entities had constructed this place, perhaps they could not see all. No doubt this reality was strange and incomprehensible to them.
Alternatively, they might have seen and simply not cared. Bloodwraith resolved to say nothing more of his real identity, just in case.
It took Meara little time to gather her things into a pack. She headed out of the cabin without looking back even once, but Bloodwraith found himself lingering. At least he understood why this cabin existed in the middle of a random wood now. Presumably the box gods did not understand that such things made little sense.
Yet he heard the growling of more wolves. Meara stood by the path, staring at them as if she didn't care whether or not they killed her.
Perhaps it didn't matter. But he wasn't willing to give up just yet. Bloodwraith shouldered his greatsword and headed toward the wolves and the mountain pass beyond.
Chapter 4
They marched through the woods in frustrating silence. Normally Bloodwraith was happy to avoid the inane babblings of others, and he particularly appreciated how silent the undead could be. But in this case he actually needed information from Meara and she refused to help. He was grateful on the few occasions that wolves distracted them.
She did nothing to assist, which wasn't much of a surprise given her training. But he had little patience for the way she just stood there as he fought, then began shuffling forward again as soon as the wolves lay dead.
Bloodwraith irritably brought his sword down into the earth in front of her. "Enough! We need to work together if we are to escape this infernal trap!"
"I'm not sure we can." Meara stepped over his sword and continued walking. He stared at her for a moment, then gave a growl of frustration. Pulling his sword back up to his shoulder, he caught up to her as they headed down the forest path.
"You certainly wanted to escape before, and you can only leave because of me. I expect some more respect!"
"I thought about escaping at first. The further away I get from the cabin, the less I'm sure it really matters." Her eyes wandered, never touching him or the way forward. "Everyone I knew is probably dead now. There's nothing for me outside. Getting away won't matter. I might as well die."
"That could be arranged!" Bloodwraith lunged ahead of her and grabbed her by the front of her cloak. She just stared at him, not flinching in the slightest. Since her gaze made him uncomfortable, he glared his way through it. "But you can't die yet. I still have use for you."
"How wonderful." Meara smiled bitterly and went back to walking as soon as he let go of her.
They continued in silence for a while longer, soon nearing the narrow mountain pass. Bloodwraith found himself increasingly tense as they drew closer, certain that the box gods would not allow things to progress so simply. The treasure chest had been guarded by an Alpha Wolf, so surely they would have set some sort of guard at the exit as well.
Something lurched from the rocks of the pass, stone flying toward Meara. To his surprise, Bloodwraith found himself grabbing the back of her cloak and pulling her out of the way. Some heroic instinct from Raigar's idiotic body, no doubt.
He ignored her falling to the ground and focused on the enemy. What had appeared to be some random rocks lying by the pass now moved together in a coherent form: a golem. Not a masterfully crafted one, but it was taller than him and made from solid stone. Nothing he could easily face with only brute force to rely on, but he didn't have a choice.
When the golem lurched forward, he hefted his sword and waited. It swung slowly, easily avoidable. As soon as he stepped aside from the golem, he swung his sword down into the rocky chest of the artificial creature.
His blade struck the rock harmlessly. Bloodwraith stared at it, then rushed backward in a panic as the golem swung at him again. He tripped as he avoided the crushing blow and skidded backward several paces.
[The opponent's physical defense is too high to be damaged with your current weapon.]
"Oh, sure, it helps to tell me that now! Feckless boxes!"
Shouting at them accomplished nothing, however. Bloodwraith hopped back to his feet and kept his eyes on the golem as it continued lumbering toward him. If attacking directly with his sword was useless... well, he didn't have many other tools as a barbarian warrior.
As he continued backing up, he noticed that the golem stopped. After staring at him a moment, its rocky head began to swivel away. When he stepped forward, it turned back toward him.
Bloodwraith stepped back and smirked as the golem began to trudge away. Most likely it only guarded the pass and thus wouldn't pursue beyond a certain distance. That meant he could go back and form a better plan. He could likely construct some primitive projectiles or perhaps even siege weaponry that could disable the construct's artificial body, if only he had enough time...
Which he didn't, because the golem was now stomping toward Meara. She lay where he'd pushed her, just staring at the approaching rocky death without expression.
"Idiot girl! Run away!"
She didn't answer, just watched. Bloodwraith scowled and considered just letting it kill her. It would finally rid him of a great annoyance... but he still needed the information in her head, he couldn't let it be crushed. As the golem reached her and raised a heavy fist, he charged.
This time he swung as carefully as he could: not at the rocky arm, but at the gap between two rocks. His sword cleaved
between them, severing the magic binding the golem. The rocks on the severed limb fell apart in a stony shower that just missed Meara's face.
Before the golem could turn to lift its other arm toward him, Bloodwraith reached down and grabbed Meara by the arm. He wrenched her to her feet and shoved her away, forcing her to stumble out of range.
The golem's leg hit him square in the back.
He smashed across the ground, lost his sword when he bounced, and rolled to a stop. Though he had been kicked some distance from the golem, when he struggled to get up, he found himself spitting up blood. His back felt like one solid bruise and screamed at him when he tried to force himself back to his feet.
By the time Bloodwraith stood up again, the golem was stomping toward him. He had rolled further into its range, his movement now limited by rocky outcroppings near the pass. The mindless construct at least ignored his sword as it approached, but that was no comfort if it squashed him before he could reach his weapon again.
As Bloodwraith stood there and watched his death approach, fury welled deep within him. Everything else had been offered to him on a platter, and now the box gods contrived something like this? How could a warrior defeat a rock golem, anyway? Perhaps it was punishment for interfering with the girl, in which case he regretted even saving her from the wolves in the first place.
It was closer now... and a strange power swelled up along with his fury. Not true magic, but close enough. Bloodwraith eagerly grasped it, felt the animal fury of the power, and hurled it toward the golem.
A burst of raw force erupted from his hand, striking the golem so hard that it staggered backward. Bloodwraith's eyes widened as he saw several pebbles fall from the artificial body. Though the power had not been enough to overwhelm the magic making the golem cohere together, he could finally fight it on more equal terms.
[New Ability Class Unlocked: Rage
New Ability Unlocked: Fist of Rage!]
"Fist of Rage? What kind of name is that?"
No, arguing with the boxes now was idiocy. Bloodwraith lunged forward, snatching up his sword and dodging around the golem before it could regain its balance.
As it swiveled toward him mindlessly, Bloodwraith found himself smiling. He began edging sideways, watching the golem's legs and keeping on the side of its broken arm. Simple-minded construct. While he moved, he felt for the power within him. Though he had expected to find it difficult to reach again, to his surprise he could immediately feel the potential inside himself.
Focusing on the golem, he let loose another burst of force - he refused to use the box's name - against its leg. The golem shuddered in its next step, the magic of the leg struggling.
Bloodwraith rushed in, ducking underneath the golem's wild swing. As soon as he felt the rocks pass over his head, he swung his sword sideways into the damaged leg. Though his aim wasn't as good, he still managed to break apart the connections holding the rocks together.
The golem crashed onto its side like an avalanche, remaining arm trapped beneath it. Good, just as he'd planned. Bloodwraith wanted to attack it again, but didn't realize just how winded he'd become. He saw something flashing at the corner of his vision and glanced toward it, which only called another box.
[Health: 54/126
Mana: 4/10
Stamina: 27/114]
Presuming that the box's evaluation was correct, then he would be able to cast this strange new ability one more time. That would not be enough - he needed to completely disable the golem or it might be able to pull more rocks into its field and attack him again.
Bloodwraith smiled as he realized what he needed to do. He raised his sword in one hand and concentrated mana in the other, channeling this strange spell again. It would be child's play to merge the two, granting his blade the explosive force of the spell. Though it might only last for one swing, it would likely shatter the spell binding the golem together entirely.
All the old habits flooded back to him. Power flowed from his hand, force willing itself into being and entwining with the iron of his greatsword. His body had no trouble holding the giant weapon, so as soon as the mana had gathered in it, he drove it down into the golem's body.
The sword clunked uselessly off the rock.
[Unable to create new skill!
Character level inadequate.
Intellect level inadequate.
Spellcraft level inadequate.]
"What? What the fu-" And at that moment, Bloodwraith realized that the golem was no longer as disabled as it had once been.
The stump of its remaining arm slammed into his chest and sent him flying backward. This time he managed to keep a grip on his sword, but when he crashed onto his back, he struggled to move. He had to be bleeding everywhere inside and his body was exhausted. Worse, despite being denied by the boxes, he'd wasted the last of his mana.
Beginning to pull itself together again, the golem limped toward him. The leg he had destroyed was nowhere near as strong as the other, but new rocks cohered enough for it to take stumbling steps. The most he could do was pull himself back upright...
At that moment, a rock bounced off the back of the golem's head. It paused, as surprised as Bloodwraith. Only when the construct began to turn did he recover himself and look.
Meara stood within the construct's range, hefting another rock at it. She picked up another rock, then fixed him with a flat stare. "After this, we're even. Alright?"
"Fine." Bloodwraith pulled himself fully upright, trying to move slowly so that the golem didn't focus on him. His body felt a little better now, but he couldn't take another blow like that. Worse, he lacked the mana to attack again.
"Just retreat." Meara was stepping back herself, still lobbing stones but getting closer to leaving the golem's range. Bloodwraith moved around the golem and neared her, though he refused to retreat entirely.
"We cannot just leave this construct be! It will restore itself if given too much time!"
"Just use potions. There are some in the pack I dropped, if you don't want to use yours."
Bloodwraith realized irritably that he had been carrying potions of his own and never considered using them. Trying to drink in the middle of battle had always struck him as so undignified, not to mention potentially complicated. Spells were a much simpler form of healing. Yet it was downright foolish of him to have ignored the resource available to him.
Not that he was going to refuse her offer. As Meara was forced out of the golem's range, he quickly found her pack. Within, he found several ordinary health potions like the one she had given him... and one that glowed green with mana. Bloodwraith eagerly drank one of each.
When he looked back, he saw that Meara had stopped just within the golem's range. Instead of continuing to throw rocks, she stared up at it. Would she just stand there and let it kill her? That could not be allowed now, even less so than before.
Bloodwraith roared as he charged, his body restored and mana transforming into raw power again. Before the golem could reach Meara, he struck its good leg with another burst of force. It staggered back but didn't fall, so he hit it with a second burst.
The golem crashed backward with the noise of an avalanche, but the spell binding it held. Bloodwraith leapt up onto its chest, this time wasting no time with elegance or technique. He simply cast the force spell one more time, directly into the creature's chest, then stabbed down into the collapsing rocks.
He felt the spell decay with the first blow, but not enough. The golem tried to claw at him, but it was growing weaker and he only staggered at the blow. Gaining his balance again, he tore his sword out of its chest and slammed it in again, over and over until at last the spell gave way and the golem crumbled apart into harmless rocks.
His hands and his head ached. Bloodwraith dropped his greatsword and leaned forward on his knees, panting for breath.
[Victory! You received 500 EXP and one Iron Golem Ore.]
What? Where? He had to root around in the rocks for a while before finding a s
tone that hummed with faint magic. It would have been easy to locate in his old body, but as the boxes had made clear, the laws of the universe refused to work as they had before. The bitter reverse side of his unfair advantages, he supposed.
Meara stood nearby, staring at the rocks wistfully. "You should have let it hit me. That would have been a quick way to go, at least. Probably no pain."
"You can't die yet, woman." Bloodwraith scowled at her, then moved back to pick up his things. "Come on, let's leave this place for good."
She stared at him, not yet moving. "If I cooperate, will you agree to kill me painlessly?"
"You're willing to cooperate now? Good. Follow me and talk." Bloodwraith strode into the pass, threatening to leave her behind. After a short time, he heard her footsteps behind him.
The pass struck him as simultaneously utterly ordinary and disturbing. There were a few rocks and shrubs between the rock walls, nothing remarkable. And yet the world seemed to press closer around him, distorting just at the edges of his vision. Every time he tried to look, he saw nothing, and he felt no magic, yet he knew something was changing.
To take his mind off the stomach-churning nature of it, he looked to Meara behind him. "If you want to earn your death, answer me. What else do you know of the outsiders that created this system?"
"You think they tell me their secrets? I haven't even met them, other than adventurers." She moved up to walk beside him, a mocking smile playing on her lips. If she noticed the strangeness around them, she gave no sign of it.
"You must know something. For example, you knew about the Master Lich, and others. That suggests that you were able to tell them something about the outside world. If you say that you know nothing of it this time, I will not believe you. And you do not want to test my patience."
"Huh, you're smarter than you look." Meara's gaze went blank for a time, then she slowly nodded. "Yes, I do have something... outside the pass lies the city of Cresthaven. Its underworld is currently dominated by a man known as Daek the Knife. Rumor has it that he is looking for adventurers to deal with some sort of problem he has, and offering a hefty reward for those who can help him."