Janus and Oblivion

by Noam Oswin

  “That masakh... what was it?”

  They do not know how to answer.

  Chapter 10

  Demise

  I felt... nothing.

  [You were defeated in battle]

  [Your Domain has been destroyed]

  [Evolution under Duress Completed]

  [You have attained the Title: [Phoenix] from completing an evolution under duress.]

  [The title: [Retaliator] has come into effect]

  The lack of the ability to feel anything was the first sign of something having gone awry. I was vaguely aware of being conscious, and I knew I was buried under rock, ground and rubble, yet, I could not feel that either.

  I reached for the earth, and as I felt myself go through it.

  Status

  Name: [Unnamed]

  Race: [Undead]

  Specie(s): [Shade]

  Level: 1

  HP: 200/200

  MP: 400/400

  HP Regen: 20/Hour

  MP Regen: 40/Hour

  Negative Effects: [Extreme Weakness to Light]

  Positive Effects: [N/A]

  Title(s): [Reincarnated] [User] [Gorger] [Larvae Slayer] [Jonah] [Parasite] [David] [Agkistrodon Slayer] [Genocidal] [Retaliator] [Phoenix]

  I phased through the ground, attempting to glimpse at myself. I lacked hands or arms or legs and was nothing but a dark floating blob. A dark floating blob that could not touch anything. Not the earth, not the soil, not a tree or a leaf –

  I was a ghost.

  I... died.

  [NOTICE]

  [Your physical body was destroyed at the point of evolution]

  [You have unlocked the Racial Class: [Undead] and their specialties]

  [As an [Undead] you gain significant weakness to light, holy items, exorcisms, prayers, good emotions and the seven virtues.]

  [You are strengthened by darkness, demonic essences, rituals, negative emotions and the seven vices.]

  [You do not require food or water to exist, however, you can still die a second and final death if your health reaches zero.]

  I died.

  The realization that I died was strong. I always believed that I would survive until I became something that walked on two legs and could speak. I believed I would progress from being a skink into being something else, and more –

  But this was not an evolution.

  It was a regression.

  I lacked hands and legs again. After spending time as a worm and then as a leech, I believed I was past the predicament of lacking hands and legs – but now –

  Not only did I lack hands and legs, I lacked the basic ability to interact with my surroundings. I tried to touch the earth, and I simply went through it. I tried to feel a stone and it ignored my existence.

  Could I, at the very least, speak now?

  I tried to say something –

  And I had no mouth.

  No –

  I tried to scream and silence mocked me. No sound emerged from my form for there was no place for sound to emerge from. No vibrations could be felt. The world remained ignorant and uncaring of my plight, and save for the privacy of my thoughts, the universe was unaware that a person was screaming.

  No – not a person – a shade – a ghost –

  I wanted to laugh bitterly but I could not do that either. I desired to strike my hands against the floor in frustration, but I lacked hands and I could not impact the world. I was a ghost of a floating blob, unheard, unseen and unfelt.

  I cannot even end my own life.

  It was a morbidly amusing thought. The only way I could die now was if someone were to kill me. The ability to decide whether I lived or not was no longer within my palms – ah, wrong analogy, I did not have palms.

  Fantastic! Oh, indeed, wonderful. How many days has it been since my reincarnation? Six days? A week? Yes, yes – I believed it has been a week or so. In merely a week after being reincarnated, I managed to die again. Merely a week –

  I wanted to giggle. One week. I managed to survive and live for one week as a small forest creature. The absurdity of it all was ridiculous. This entire situation was ridiculous. I was a floating incorporeal specter, breaking fundamental rules of physics and reality – this was overwhelmingly ridiculous.

  So what now?

  The smoldering, steaming remains of Refuge Creek left me with nothing. I floated above the simmering heat, noting how it failed to affect me, and found the ashy remnants of my corpse. There was nothing salvageable from it. The crumbled pieces were just... dirt. I touched it, attempting to see if I could do something with it. My form phased through it as though it were not there, rendering my attempt moot.

  Or so I thought. I noticed, slowly, that the ashes were shifting. Vibrating. Excitement flowed through me at the thought of regaining my body –

  Except, it was not only the ashes that were vibrating. Pebbles and sand were moving erratically on the ground around it. The earth itself seemed to be in a constant state of flux. I knew that this was not my own doing, so there was no doubt that this was the doing of something else.

  Something cracked. It was the earth splitting. The creek, or rather, what was left of it, was becoming highly unstable. The ground split with cracks spreading outward from it, except these cracks were not random. They were organized, inexplicably so, forming into what almost looked like... writing.

  The splitting stopped.

  I hovered upwards to gain an aerial view. The sight that lay before me that of numerous cracks in the earth forming a large, concentric diagram. It reeked of something that one would effortlessly call ‘occult’ or ‘demonic’ and as I was about to scoff at the notion of ‘demons’ being real, I remembered the fact that I was currently a ghost.

  “Come.”

  A single word delivered crushing gravity unto my form until I found myself slammed against the floor. The realization that I could touch the floor was disregarded in lieu of the overwhelming amount of pressure that wrinkled me against it.

  “Child of the Mother. We have watched your progress.”

  My lack of ability to speak made it impossible for me to ask the thousands of questions barreling through my mind.

  “The death of the serpent is the first key. The death of the creek by the Kadulja is the second. The death of the Kadulja is the final requirement.”

  I do not understand –

  “Accomplish this feat, and you shall be rewarded. Hurry now, Child. The curtains of opportunity draw to a close.”

  The ominous pressure ended. The voice vanished alongside with it. The cracks on the ground rapidly receded, healing over like a scar until their presence vanished entirely. Where it not for the fact that I was still touching the earth, I would have believed that everything I experienced was an extremely vivid hallucination.

  [The special title [Agkistrodon Slayer] has come into effect]

  You have unlocked the ability to undergo Quests!

  Quest: Felling Trees – I accepted.

  You can find more information about Quests on the Quests page.

  The further things progressed, the further I began to wonder if I was somehow inserted into a game of sorts. Now, I was being tasked by some sealed evil being to kill something called a ‘Kadulja’ in order to free it, textbook fantasy at its finest. I did not have to do it, although, I wagered the benefits of doing so.

  I lacked direction. Indeed, I could continue onwards killing rabbits and animals in order to gain levels and evolve, but my knowledge of this world was limited. I was vulnerable to be blindsided by something I did not know or something that I thought I knew, only to realize I was wrong. I wondered how far I would go, before suddenly being ambushed again. If that happened, there would be no second chances.

  Additionally, as a ghost, my odds of integrating in normal human society was already laughably low. This was not even counting the fact that I was no doubt considered some sort of monster, hence why I was attacked by nine wolves and that spell-caster, who no doubt fashion
ed themselves the champions of good.

  In traditional fantasies I knew of, there was always a battle with the forces of good against that of evil. Regardless of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ being arbitrary, I was not daft to the fact that I was rapidly aligning towards the range of the latter. I possessed titles that called me genocidal and one that made it easier for me to kill infants and children, which were things that some would firmly call ‘evil.’

  Even if it was ‘evil’ by such terms, there was little to lose from setting this being free and killing whatever creature a ‘Kadulja’ was. There was everything to gain, such as access to more information, and the favor of a being that was no doubt tremendously more powerful than I was. Ingratiating myself with those of superior power would guarantee my safety until I no longer needed their protection and promptly overthrew them. This was the method my father used in his younger days before creating his conglomerate.

  It was simply business.

  Of course, playing the role of a loyal employee/minion was going to be immensely degrading, but nothing in this world could ever be more degrading than crawling on the earth as a worm and eating larvae to survive.

  I now possessed a feasible short term goal.

  Quests

  Quests are doable activities, missions and/or exploits which will always grant you great rewards, but often have large consequences on your fate and that of the world at large. They are divided into (Special Quests), which are unlocked upon completing a certain criteria, (Epic Quests) which can only be given by beings of great influence and power, and finally (Mythical Quests) which are only unlockable under the rarest of circumstances.

  You have (1) uncompleted Quest.

  Epic Quest: Felling Trees – I

  You have been tasked by an unknown being of great power to kill something called a ‘Kadulja’ in order to free it from its imprisonment. It is most likely not a benevolent being, and the ‘Kadulja’ may be a truly fearsome opponent.

  It is advised that proper preparation is done before undertaking a quest of this difficulty.

  Quest Giver: [Unknown Being]

  Quest Difficulty: [Tier 8]

  Time Left: 6 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes and 31 Seconds.

  Quest Rewards: [Unknown]

  Quest Failure: [Unknown]

  Perfect. There was enough time to make sure my skills cooled down, and enough to get the hang of this body before I charged headlong into battle with an unknown opponent.

  Proper preparation. True, I needed to prepare against this enemy. More than just preparing my offense and defense, I needed to know everything I could about it before hunting it down. Was it another snake? It could be, considering Agkistrodon was one. I hoped it was not something ridiculous like a dragon.

  [You have regained your ability to physically interact with the world due to concentrated exposure to immense magical energy]

  [You consumed a significant number of creatures as a Purple Tongued Skink]

  [Due to the title {User} you have attained the cumulative skills of these creatures as you evolved.]

  [Do you wish to install the skills of the creatures you have consumed?]

  [Yes]

  [No]

  These were the skills of the wolves and rabbits I killed weren’t they?

  [You have chosen to install the skills.]

  [Installing {User} skills...]

  [Skills Installed]

  [You have attained the skill {Rabbit’s Ear Lv. 1}]

  [You have {16} copies of this skill.]

  [Combining copies...]

  [Copies Combined]

  [{Rabbit’s Ear Lv. 1} has undergone massive evolution into {Greater Rabbit’s Ear Lv. 6}]

  [You have attained the skill {Rabbit Leap Lv. 1}]

  [You have {16} copies of this skill.]

  [Combining copies...]

  [Copies Combined]

  [{Rabbit Leap Lv. 1} has undergone massive evolution into {Greater Rabbit Leap Lv. 6}]

  [You have attained the skill {Wolf’s Tracking Lv. 1}]

  [You have {4} copies of this skill.]

  [Combining copies...]

  [Copies Combined]

  [{Wolf’s Tracking Lv. 1} is now {Wolf’s Tracking Lv. 5}]

  [You have attained the skill {Intimidation Howl Lv. 1}]

  [You have {4} copies of this skill.]

  [Combining copies...]

  [Copies Combined]

  [{Intimidation Howl Lv. 1} is now {Intimidation Howl Lv. 5}]

  Convenient. Indeed, the ability to track with the scent of the wolf would be useful in hunting this Kadulja creature, but more than that, maybe I could use it to hunt the person that attacked me.

  Wait. I remembered the words that the creature spoke. The death of the creek by the Kadulja is the second key. The death of the Kadulja is the final requirement. The creek was destroyed by this... Kadulja. That meant...

  I was killed... by this... Kadulja?

  The urge to prepare burst through me at the thought of the sheer irony of the task in which I was given. To kill the being that tried and attempted to kill me. Indeed, the irony drove me to rapidly commence my plans. The first step, was with my title.

  Title: [Genocidal]

  Details: An epic title. Fighting against opponents of the same species of an enemy you have previously killed grants you +10% Attack, +10% Defense, +10% Damage Dealt and +10% Damage Reduction. For every opponent you slay that is of the same species of an enemy you have killed before, you gain a permanent +25 Points to allocate to either your HP, MP or Regen. Fighting and not killing an opponent of a species you have killed before deducts –50 HP Permanently. This effect stacks upon each consecutive kill for each species.

  Species Kill Count:

  [Common Rabbit] x 16 = +160% Attack, +160% Defense, +160% Damage Dealt, +160% Damage Reduction against [Common Rabbits]. You Gain: 425 Points on Next Kill.

  [Silva Wolf] x 4 = +40% Attack, +40% Defense, +40% Damage Dealt, +40% Damage Reduction against [Silva Wolves]. You Gain: 125 Points on Next Kill.

  Available Points: 3,650

  My death could have been avoided had I merely bothered to look up what this title did before now, had I allocated the available points, before now – had I been prepared for the eventuality of an attack –

  Yet, my overconfidence and my defeat brought me the destruction of the creek, and an opportunity to gain further power and influence. Had I never lost, I would never have been found.

  Are you certain you wish to allocate points to these stats?

  [Yes]

  [No]

  It was simply part of life’s unpredictability.

  HP: 1000/1000

  MP: 3000/3000

  HP Regen: 245/Hour

  MP Regen: 265/Hour

  Six hundred points to HP, and two thousand six-hundred points added to MP, two hundred and twenty-five points each, added to HP Regen and MP Regen. With the aid of my [Genocidal] title, I could quickly acquire power. It came, of course, at the cost of killing creatures, but this was the beauty of it. Rabbits, I could kill in the hundreds, the thousands, and be capable of breathing in their general direction and watching them die.

  I needed to begin my immediate preparations for the Quest. The first was to find a place lay low and plot my plan of attack. Following that, I needed to understand all my titles and benefits so as to avoid the mistake of ignorance. The next was to meticulously go through my skills to ensure I was not underutilizing any one. Succeeding that, I would start hunting creatures by the dozens. The final task was to begin tracking down this ‘Kadulja’ person.

  Once I found this ‘Kadulja,’ I would be sure, to give it them my thorough thanks.

  Chapter 11

  Purpose

  I trailed away from the wreckage of the creek and hovered deeper into the forest. My [Extreme Weakness to Light] negative effect said that as soon as the sun came up, I would begin to take heavy damage. Already, I could tell that the world around me was regaining the vibrant energy of the sun, a
nd I hurried to find a place that was suitably dark and isolated enough for me to take cover.

  I discovered that I could no longer use most of my physical skills. [Herculean Strength], [Cheetah Sprint], [Excruciating Toxic Bite] and anything that required I had a hands or legs or a mouth was permanently locked to me until I became tangible again.

  Thankfully, the speed at which I floated through the woods made up for the inability to sprint as I used to. In addition to that, physical attacks or other forms of damage phased through me harmlessly, so I did not have to worry about being attacked by anything in the forest.

  I went in deeper than I ever bothered to explore before. Leaving the areas filled with trees and shrubbery, I found myself approaching what seemed to be a small mountain. I did not even know that there was a mountain within the Final Sanctuary Woodlands. I did not even realize how vast said woodlands were.

  Flowing adjacent to the mountain was a river. As it was still early in the morning, the river appeared to be unvisited by anyone or anything, and I went to it, marking it mentally as a notable feature on the landscape in case it was ever important.

  I followed the river upstream, attempting to find its origins and perhaps find a suitable cave or cavern that I could hide within until nightfall again. The sun was slowly creeping up, and I was rushing my best to avoid being caught by its glare.

  The harder I searched, the less I seemed to be able to find what I was looking for. The river twisted and turned itself numerous times and continued to expand the further up I went.

  The sun’s harsh rays peaked over the horizon just as a cave finally appeared before me. I barreled into it, going deeper within until there was not the slightest whiff of sunlight. Deeper until the light from the entrance faded.

  I came to a rest at that moment. Mentally, for I did not feel the physical need to rest. The cave was spiral in pattern. Bats hung upside down upon stalagmites at the top, and the sound of dripping water resounded.

  I moved to a small rocky outcropping and attempted to ‘sit’. I phased through the rocks instead and grumbled within my mind. I needed to will myself to touch objects or I would just phase through them. I tried again, managing to ‘sit’ this time, and I began scrolling through my titles, searching for vital pieces of information I may have missed.