Ank

As a child, carefree, I ran to the top of a hill, laughing all the way through. At the peak of the inclination, as I turned around, I had an unimpeded view of the entirety of my village; every one of the few dozen daubed buildings by the river, the canoes anchored onshore, the extensive grains farming fields. To the east and north, the vegetation grew wielder, greener, and the true untamed, dangerous and mysterious jungles. To the south and west, the grass was just ever so slightly more yellowish, and I knew that, finding it somewhat funny, if someone was to take one of these two directions, they would reach a desert either of hot sand, or cold ice.

I felt pressure on my hand, and saw Hunah holding it. She showed me a smile full of gapes from fallen teeth, and pointed the other side of the hill to me.

When I turned around, I was taller, stronger, and I noticed my sister’s hand had grown bigger, and she became more feminine in general; we were both young adults then.

“Hey, there’ no one around to marry (and I’ll break your kneecaps if you actually touch your sister), so why don’t you become a messenger, just like I was?”, a tall and muscular man with blue skin and feathers, and the head and wings of a bird asked me. My dad.

He had a past of wacky adventures as someone who worked delivering letters all around, and was quite proud of it; it was how he met mom, actually.

“Please, dear, don’t put funny ideas in our kids' heads: they will find a respectable and safe job”, a red-skinned woman, who looked almost identical to a human, if not for her sharp shark-like teeth, replied. Mom. Lighting up, and raising an index finger, she added: “like an architect or alchemist job!”

My twin sister and I exchanged an uncomfortable look, before I asked back:

“Uh… We were thinking about something easier, though… like ‘fan waver’ for some rich guy or something?”

There was a minute of silence, my mom’s eyes going blank, as she seemed to freeze in place, until my dad laughed loudly, and rested a hand on my shoulder, saying:

“Knee caps.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll become a farmer of something!”, I quickly answered back, raising my hands in surrender.

Suddenly, the entire village population was surrounding us and shaking their heads and laughing. Many had lost their children for the epidemic a few years ago, resulting in both of us, twins, being kind of “adopted” by everyone. And Hunah and I loved our few neighbors back just as much as they loved us; the hunter-leatherworker couple, the lumberjack-carpenter couple, the villager elders couple, everyone.

It was just another one of our antics, another uneventful day. A happy day.

Until it wasn’t.

My neighbors' laughs were the first one to stop, and as I turned to them, and saw each and every one of them spitting blood, eyes widened, and hands reaching for me, as they tried and failed to ask for help, for their chests had been open, and their hearts removed.

Right when I was about to scream, I felt my fingers touching my palm, as my hands completely closed, Hunah’s grip not there anymore, and when I turned to look for my sister, I noticed that all my limbs had been tied in place, and I was completely immobile, able to only listen to my twin sister’s screams filled with pain, and face my own parents going through hell in the hands of an old man; he, and dozens of copies of him, tortured dad and mom and Hunah.

After I had everything taken, it was my time to experience all the pain that the world had to offer, and, slowly, the old man started to peel off my skin.

As the torturing blade touched my body, I threw my head backward, to scream, and saw her: laying on top of a giant mounting of cushions, long green hair, and green eyes, she ate away the fanciest cuisine, indifferent to our suffering. The [Goddess], Umi.

I sprung up, seating on the dirt, gritting my teeth, frowning, and bearing my teeth so much that my facial muscles pained me. My nails left trails on the earth, as I scratched its surface while sleeping.

“Oh my, that’s an angry expression”, I heard a familiar voice, and noticed I was seating beside a campfire alongside Taffy and Hunah, who seems to have just awakened too. Clouds covered the moon, and I couldn’t see beyond the campfire.

Like I have been doing every single morning since the retired adventurer took me in, after taking a deep breath, and massaging my face with a hand, I replied:

“What are you doing here, Taffy?”, my face had turned back to the same tired, sleepy-like, little expressive face as ever.

There was a pause, as the woman “stared” me with her closed eyes and a thoughtful expression, but after giving me a warm smile, she finally replied:

“What do you mean? I told you way back then, right? I go to the city once a year or so, and now it's time to make another visit.”

“A- A year have passed already?”, I stuttered.

“You took one month to kill the 1st king, ten for the 2nd, and seven for the 3rd, 18 months of 20 days each. A year”, Taffy explained, beaming. “Of course, I bet there was lots of walking and stuff in between this time, but nevertheless.”

“So, a year has passed already…” and I was still struggling to kill a weak [God]. I shook my head, adding: “No, I’m sorry. Thank you, Taffy, for taking care of us.”

“Oh, my! Don’t even mention, this time you really would die if I came just a second later, you know? You lost all for limbs, had most of your internal organs destroyed, and all of your skin was burned to crisp; and your sister wasn’t in a much better state either too, once she pulled you back.”

I scratched the back of my head, embarrassed. I just didn’t die immediately by the explosion because Hunah pulled me back, hu?

“Sorry. We… really weren’t thinking straight back then”, sighing, I added: “And we already owe you so much.”

“Yeah, for everything you did to us during this past year”, Hunah completed, massaging her temples and seeming to have also finally get out of her altered enraged state of mind too. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, Taffy.”

“Oh… Oh, my…”, the older woman, blushing, covered her mouth with her hands. “You two may call me mommy if you want!”, she screamed, then pressing her cheeks and waving on her place, beaming.

As I shook my head in negative, blushing nervously, the retired adventurer’s request being a little too much, I finally noticed with clouds coming out of the moon’s way, and allowing me to see more than just a few meters beyond the campfire: we stood just in the area of the forest cleaned out during our fight with the [God], the heart of the scarred and burned battlefield existing just the other side of the unmade dirt road.

I exchanged a look with Hunah, and she seemed to notice that too; she asked, sweat forming on her forehead:

“T- Taffy… Where are we?”

“Oh, my? Don’t you remember? My healing should be almost perfect, no memory loss should be left behind… Oh, well: here is where you two killed the small [God] who made this road its territory, right? I didn’t personally saw the battle, but there are clues of it everywhere”, the older woman explained, unfazed, keeping the same smile I was already used to see on her face.

My sister and I, on the other hand, had our mouths open, eyes widened, and bodies frozen, too shocked and scared to do or say anything.

What did that mean? Didn’t the retired adventurer care at all? We killed a [God]! One of the most sacred beings in existence! Creators of the world, people, and everything, the praised ones! Owners of the entire planet itself, the unquestioned heads of the biggest empires and kingdoms, of all societies!

I couldn’t tell for how long I’ve been staring Taffy, catatonic, but the older woman finally sighed, and explained:

“Don’t worry, I don’t really care about what you did.”

“W- Won’t you kill us?”

“Oh, my!”, The retired adventurer laughed while covering her mouth with one hand. “Don’t be silly, mortals have more than a few reasons to dislike their deities, right? If someone found a [God] that they could actually take down, everyone would do so, right?”

I… Didn’t think that the last statement was true, but, well, at least we lived?

“I see… Thank you”, I answered back, unable to contain a smile, the entire situation being just situation just so bizarre. “Actually, our village was entirely offered as a sacrifice to a neighboring [Goddess], alongside our parents, and, well, the two of us too”, I, for some unknown reason told Taffy the truth.

“So, the reason why we want to get strong is so to… well, kill those who wronged us”, Hunah completed, apparently feeling the same way.

“Oh, my, oh my, when kids open up, what should I do, what should I do…?!”, the older woman looked around, despaired. “Here, have some food!”

Both of us, twins, busted into laughs as the powerful 100+ levels retired adventurer nervously pulled a slice of bread for each of us from her pockets.

“Thank you, Taffy, we were really getting hungry already”, I said, wiping away my laughing tears.

As we bit into the bread, the older woman said, holding her cheeks and blushing yet again:

“Oh, my, I’m really getting attached…!”, when she noticed my sister and I looking back and smiling, she coughed, clearing her throat, and asked, trying to look the same as always: “So, how are your [Attributes] now?”

I opened the menu screen, and was immediately thrown back, almost not believing what I was reading. Still, however, I didn’t want to let the carrying Taffy waiting for longer, so I quickly distributed my gained points, and presented my [Attributes] publicly at the same time as Hunah did:

[Name: Ank

Race: Half (Messenger + Filled Teeth)

General:

Level: 100

Class: Summoner Boss

HP: 1000/1000

MP: 2485/2485

SP: 505/505

Attributes:

Strength: 101

Resistance: 200

Magic: 497

Perception: 200]

[Name: Hunah

Race: Half (Messenger + Filled Teeth)

General:

Level: 100

Class: Multi Soldier

HP: 1000/1000

MP: 505/505

SP: 2485/2485

Attributes:

Strength: 497

Resistance: 200

Magic: 101

Perception: 200]

“Uhm! Your [Attributes] are started to climb the ‘barely livable’ scale! But, that isn’t all, right?”

“Well, we still haven’t chosen new skills and spells if this is what you want to know”, I explained, ignoring the implication that fucking 100 levels wasn’t even barely livable.

“Oh, my? Don’t tell me… You haven’t open your [Titles] menu until now?!”

“What do you mean?” I replied, starting to navigate the green screens for the mentioned section. “[Titles] are super rare stuff, there’s no way w-”

[Titles:

“Godslayer (very rare):

Reward for: Killing a member of the [God] species

Effects: boosts aura and aura-related skills and spells by 100%; allows to focus aura in a single target - WARNING! Effects of aura focusing can vary, will result in instant death for any target with less than 1/10 of the users [Level]!”

“Speedrunner (Very rare):

Reward for: Reaching [level: 100] within a mortal lifetime (less than a hundred years)

Effects: Boost EXP gain by 100%”

“Dungeon Finder (Very rare):

Reward For: Finding and completing an unexplored [Dungeon] for the first time in the pocket dimension’s history

Effect: Deals 100% more damage to any kind of corporal protection”]

My sister and I had received 3 (Very Rare) [Titles], each of them gifting us with an equally impressive new ability.

“None (Unique) or even (Legendary), but (Very Rare) seems all right…”, Taffy seemed pensive; and I seriously started to fear what kind of absolute monsters were the other adventurers too. Clapping her hands, she finally concluded: “Oh, well, that is it for tonight; I’m sorry for the poor dinner, but I didn’t have much time to cook, healing you two and everything. Let’s sleep, now, for we have a few kilometers to wall tomorrow, and many things will change, after all… It will be your first time in the Adventurer’s Guild city, the Beginners' City, right?”