by Jamey Sultan
The walkway was about as wide as his shoulders, slick with water and algae from the constant barrage of waves crashing over it. “Why don’t Dwarves know what handrails are?” he grumbled to himself, grabbing on to the chain handrail to help keep his balance. Slowly he slid one foot in front of another, heading to a small door at the end of the pathway that his friends had disappeared into. He kept focused on the stone doorway ahead, trying to ignore the cold spray of the water that seemed dedicated to knocking him off the ledge. Halfway to the door, a surge of water slammed into him, lifting his feet off of the path. James screamed and held the chain in a death grip, knuckles white with effort, while his feet flailed in the water searching for a place to rest. After what seemed like an eternity, the swell died down and James gasped ragged breaths of relief.
When he finally reached the doorway, James was soaked, his hands numb. When he tried to let go of the chain, his hands wouldn’t respond, so he banged on the door with his foot in an attempt to get the attention of his friends.
As if in a dream, James heard voices and felt his friends grab his wrists and haul him into the room, slamming the door shut behind them.
James fell to the floor, gasping.
He heard footsteps approach. A worried voice said, “We need to get him to a healer right away.”
What was the voice talking about? He was fine. “I’m fine.” He said, pushing himself to his feet. He was slightly unsteady, but he could stand up on his own. James opened his eyes but couldn’t make anything out. Everything was dark and fuzzy. Rough hands caught him as he stumbled and fell , guiding him to the floor.
He heard a voice, distorted as if it were coming from underwater, “He isn't looking too good. We need a healer.”
That was the last thing James remembered before darkness claimed him.
The infection in your bloodstream is spreading. Your debuff [Sepsis II] has upgraded to [Sepsis III]
Sepsis III:
- [Delirious II]
- 50% to max HP
- 20 Strength
- 20 Constitution
- 20 Endurance
- 20 Dexterity
Rough hands grabbed him, forcing him down into a seated position. James fought against them, weakly pushing at the offending limbs. He tried to tell him to stop, but all that it came out of his mouth were unintelligible syllables. Then the darkness came again.
The next thing James remembered was a gentle hand holding his head and guiding him to cool sips of water. James pushed his eyes open a crack and he could see Nidra’s concerned eyes looking down at him.
James briefly regained consciousness as the rocking motion stopped. His eyes widened as he saw a dwarf pointing the crossbow directly at him. “Don’t move, Demon,”
A new notification popped into view.
The infection in your bloodstream is spreading. Your debuff [Sepsis III] has progressed to [Sepsis IV]
Sepsis IV:
- [Delirious III]
- 75% to max HP
- 50 Strength
- 50 Constitution
- 50 Endurance
- 50 Dexterity
James tried to respond, to tell the Dwarf that he wasn’t a demon, but his mouth wasn’t working. When he pulled up his stat screen, all of his stats were set to zero. He tried to unbuckle his seatbelt. Why was he belted in? What was going on?
James’ breath started coming out in ragged gasps as he descended deeper into confusion.
From somewhere close by he heard a female voice, urgently pleading. “Please... He needs a healer.”
Who needs a healer? Poor guy.
He felt someone unbuckling the straps holding him up and tried to stand, but nothing would move. He collapsed to the ground like a ragdoll and felt strong hands lifting him off of the ground.
Then, blackness.
Chapter 32
James slowly returned to consciousness, blinking blearily as he took in the surrounding room. He was lying on a comfortable cot in a windowless stone room with an iron door set in the wall. Cautiously, he tried to move his body and found that, with some effort, he was able to sit up.
A blinking notification in the corner of his vision got his attention, and he opened it.
The infection in your bloodstream has been healed. Your debuff [Sepsis IV] has regressed to [Sepsis I]
Sepsis I:
- 5% to max HP
- 2 Strength
- 2 Constitution
- 2 Endurance
- 2 Dexterity
Without the threat of death looming over him, James felt much better. He took in his surroundings, which didn’t take long. The room was practically empty, occupied only by the cot he was lying on and a bucket in the corner. James didn’t want to think about what the bucket was for.
He examined the cot, checking under the mattress to see if he could find anything hidden. In video games there was usually a helpful item hidden somewhere in jail cells, and that’s what this felt like. No dice. James continued examining every inch of the room. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he figured he would know it when he saw it.
The sound of metal on stone outside his door alerted James that someone was coming, and he retreated to the bed, pretending that he hadn’t moved. “Dinner.” A rough voice came from outside the door, followed by the creaking of a rectangular slot on the bottom of the door as whoever was outside slid a tray of food through it. James rushed over to the sound, trying to get a good look at whoever had slid him the food, but all he could see was a retreating pair of steel boots.
“Wait!” James called out desperately. “Where am I? Why am I here?” The last thing he remembered was climbing down the ladder with Arik
The guard ignored his questions, disappearing from James’ sight.
Sighing, James sat down to eat. His tray was laden with an odd-colored mush that he poked at. It was the worst thing he had eaten since coming to this world, but he devoured it with gusto. After he finished his meal, he sat on the bed, swinging his feet in boredom. This place needs a bookshelf or something.
Over the next few hours, his boredom progressively worsened. Without his pouch he had nothing to do, otherwise he would have tried to read his potion making book. Annoyed, he tried to meditate. When he closed his eyes and focused inward, he could see the Mana traveling sluggishly through constricted channels throughout his body, but it felt pointless when he couldn’t use it.
You have gained 3 Skill Ranks in Meditation.
You are now Skill Rank 8.
Once he grew bored with meditation, James tried to think up more to do. He tried pacing around the room, but quickly grew bored with that. He wished he had a book. Locking someone in a room like this was cruel, especially when they had ADHD. God, he was bored.
James sat on the bed.
He got off the bed.
He scratched his nose.
Eventually he couldn’t take it anymore. James didn’t know how long he had been in the cell, but it couldn’t have been more than a few hours. James pounded on the door. “Let me out. Let me out! Let me out!”
Nobody came.
“Fine. If nobody will talk to me, I’ll get out myself,” James shouted to nobody. He would escape using Shadow Step. Sure, his Mana bar was still completely black and read n/a, but he could feel the Mana moving when he meditated. There was no reason the spell shouldn’t work. James drew on his mana.
Pain unlike he had ever felt permeated his body, driving away all other thought. It felt like someone had taken a funnel and poured liquid fire directly into his brain, letting it trickle down his body. He collapsed to the ground, screaming and shaking, then blackness.
James woke up a short while later to the sound of soft footsteps outside his door. A key turned in the lock and the cell door creaked open. He heard a worried voice next to him. “What happened?”
James cracked his eyes open just enough to see a young Dwarven man kneeling by his side, looking at him in concern.
Name: Thon Munsey
Race: Dwarf
Level 35
Class: Healer
Thon was around four feet tall, with a long beard that separated into two braids which were connected to his mustache, giving him the appearance of having one very long mustache. If James wasn’t in so much pain, he probably would have laughed.
“What happened, James?” the Dwarf asked softly, helping him to his feet and sitting him back on the bed. “The Sepsis debuff shouldn’t have caused pain like that.”
“Not Sepsis,” James croaked. “Something else.”
The healer looked at him closely. “Something else?”
“Mana burns.” James said.
The healer raised an eyebrow in surprise. “At your level? How?”
“Crystals.” James groaned. “Please. The pain.”
The healer frowned, rifling through his robe and muttering to himself. “Now where is it?” Finally, he handed James a blue leaf. “Chew this.”
Popping the leaf in his mouth, James felt an immediate cooling sensation spread across his body, washing away the pain.
You have eaten [Wizard’s Coolant]
Wizard’s Coolant:
- 100% pain from Mana burns
James sighed in blessed relief, finally free of the pain that had been plaguing him since the fight with the Goblins. He wondered where he could get more of the plant.
While James giggled giddily with the sweet relief of the potion, and the healer turned to one of the guards. “Fetch Eugenius.”
The guard clapped a hand to her chest and marched off.
“By the way, how do you know my name?” James asked curiously. Abilities like his Death’s Stare ability were very rare. Most people didn’t see names hovering above everyone else’s head like he did.
“Your friends.” The Dwarf replied. “They’ve been quite helpful.” He chuckled to himself. “So far, you’ve been the politest prisoners we’ve ever had.” As he was talking, Thon pulled a clay pot from his robe, handing it to James. “Drink this.”
James’ head was starting to feel a little fuzzy from the painkiller, but one word in particular stuck out from the healer’s statement. “Prisoners?”
“Focus on getting better,” the healer said, nudging James’ hand. “Drink.”
James drank, almost spitting out the disgusting fluid. “What is this? Brake fluid?” He sputtered, trying to choke it down.
“Break fluid? No, just the opposite. It’s made to heal.”
“Never mind.”
As soon as he finished drinking the potion, James got a welcome notification.
The infection in your bloodstream has been healed completely. [Sepsis I] debuff has been removed.
James sighed in relief. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
“Please tell me why one of my students is so incompetent that they cannot handle a simple case of Sepsis?” A stern voice called from the doorway.
Name: Eugenius Tomic
Race: Dwarf
Level ???
Class: Lifegiver
Eugenius was dressed in snow-white robes with dark green accents and had an immaculate white beard that stretched from his chin to his toes. It was meticulously braided, without a single hair out of place.
“There better be a good reason you interrupted my work for a simple case of sepsis,” Eugenius grumbled. Somehow, he managed to look both annoyed and bored at the same time while he glared down his nose at the quaking apprentice.
“Sir… It’s not that,” the terrified healer mumbled.
“Speak up,” Eugenius snapped. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying.”
“Sir, his mana. The channels.”
Eugenius pushed the healer aside and approached James. “Never mind, boy, I’ll do everything myself.” Kneeling, he grabbed James’ hand, examining his palm. Green light shone on Eugenius’ fingertips and questing tendrils ran along James’ hand. Pulling a bright blue monocle out of his robe, Eugenius stared at James.
James shifted uncomfortably under the Dwarf’s piercing gaze. “You have the same class as someone else I know,” he told the Dwarf.
Eugenius froze, slowly looking up at James’ face for the first time. James fearfully met the Dwarf’s eyes, wondering what he said wrong.
Eugenius raised an eyebrow. “You know Lillian?”
“Nana?” James responded, equally surprised. “How did you know I was talking about her?”
Eugenius chuckled. “Lucky guess.”
“So how do you know Nana?”
“Know her? She taught me. How’s the old bat doing?”
“She’s doing well.” James responded, wondering how old Nana must be if she had taught Eugenius, who looked old even by Dwarven standards.
“How do you know her?” Eugenius asked James curiously.
James settled on a partial truth. “She was teaching me when I got caught by slavers. My group and I escaped here. That’s why we came up through the tunnels.”
Eugenius second eyebrow shot up. “You’re a healer?”
“No, she was teaching me how to fight.”
“Really.”
James could tell that the Dwarf didn’t believe him. “So how did you do this much damage to your Mana channels?”
“I used five Mana crystals at once,” James mumbled, embarrassed.
“Five!” The Dwarf exclaimed. “It’s a blessing you’re still alive. Can you channel at all?”
“No. Every time I try, I collapse in pain.”
Eugenius sighed. “As Mana flows through your body, it lets off energy. Abilities, even ones without an active or passive Mana cost, feed off of this energy. Luckily for you, the trickle of Mana that still flows through you is enough to support your Abilities, although I wouldn’t recommend picking up new ones or else you could cause a mana spasm. Your Mana channels could constrict and completely close off. Without any Mana flowing through your body, you’d die.”
James took a moment to process the news. “So. There’s no way you can heal me?”
“I’m sorry, but no. It is impossible to heal damage this extensive. You will never be able to use Mana again.”
With that grim pronouncement, Eugenius got up to leave. At the door, the healer gave James a knowing glance. “We will speak more about Lilian later. I would like to hear more about the specifics of your meeting.”
“Wait. Before you go, what’s going to happen to me?” James asked, worried.
Eugenius spared James one last sad glance as the cell door slammed shut behind him, leaving him alone in the cell.
Chapter 33
Once Eugenius left there was nothing to do. James cursed, wishing he had asked Eugenius for a book or something. He was bored. James pulled up his character sheet. He hadn’t checked it in a while and didn’t have anything better to do.
James
Human (Warrior of Darkness)
Level: 15
Health: 243/243Regenerates 4.1/hour
Mana: 0/0Regenerates 0.0/hour
Stamina: 340/340Regenerates 4.2/hour
Stats
Strength: 33Dexterity: 33Constitution: 34
Intelligence: 38Wisdom: 38Endurance: 33
Charisma: 1Luck: 2Resilience: 4
Spells
Shadow Step (Level 1)
Syreus’ Wrath (na)
Slick Skin (n/a)
Abilities
Death’s Stare (1/7)
Death’s Stare (1/7)
Imbue Darkness (4/10)
Arcane Armor (3/10)
Pierce the Veil (1/10)
Stronger Shadows (2/5)
Knife in the Dark (1/10)
Dying Will (n/a)
Spirit of the Sword (n/a)
Brands
Mark of Sytar
Divine Quest (Minor)
Liberator
Achievements
Dumb Luck
Clumsy I
Solo Dungeoneer
Mad Dash
James was proud of his prog
ress. Other than the loss of his mana, he had managed to hit level 15 in around two months, a feat which he thought was impressive. Too quickly, James finished looking over his status sheet and found himself with nothing to do once again.
He wondered what his friends had gotten up to. Arik was probably in the most trouble for bringing them into the city, but apparently the rest of them were in trouble too. Lucien had been having a very rough time lately, and James hoped the teenager wasn’t giving the Dwarves any trouble. The best way out of this situation was probably staying calm. After all, they hadn’t actually done anything criminal. Hopefully.
There was a quiet knock on his door, and James shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “Come in,” he called out hesitantly.
A female Dwarf entered the room. She was dressed in black, baggy clothing that hid her features along with a face-covering that masked everything but her eyes, which were a nondescript brown. She entered the cell silently and sat down facing James on a chair that one of the guards had quickly slipped behind her. Calm and impassive, she waited, not saying a word, just staring directly into James’ eyes as he read the lack of text floating above her head.