Chapter 6 – Beat the Devil’s Tattoo

He really could get used to being greeted with a bright smile. ‘I wonder if it’s like that if you have a girlfriend…ah I guess that will stay a dream for a while.’

They had a little chat, then Hall decided to try out his new training method after telling Lily about it, though she wasn’t particularly thrilled with the idea.

By now he didn’t even have to close his eyes anymore to see the stream of light coming out of his wrists and entangling the chains, he just had to concentrate a little and his shackles would become corporal.

*Ding*

You have gained a new skill

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Soul PerceptionBeginner10%Through continuous training and concentration you are able to sense the energy that the souls around you carry.

Effects:

you are able to see your own soul energy

focusing allows you to sense soul energy in a small radius around you

For achieving a closer understanding of souls and the power they carry you are rewarded with + 2 Intelligence and +3 Wisdom

‘Maybe I can use this for detecting enemies, guess by leveling it up I should be able to increase the range, right now I can’t even sense Lily even if she is right next to me. This could actually be really useful. Well there’s time for that later.’

Grabbing the chains carefully with both hands he grinded his teeth, feeling agonizing pain again, luckily he was almost used to it by now especially since it was reduced by his endurance stat.

He proceeded to wrap the chains around his arms, increasing the pain even more. But he kept at it, not backing down. Taking a deep breath he took a step forward, pulling the chains with all his might.

In an instant he dropped to his knees letting go of the shackles he held tight, the torment was just too much this time. He rammed his fist in the ground angered by his own weakness.

Meanwhile Lily put her hands on his clenched fist, trying to sooth his suffering.

With a roar he stood up, repeating what he just did, only to fall again. Over and over he rose and fell and rose again. Lily was close to tears seeing Hall tormenting himself.

Finally he managed to take a step with the chains wrapped around his arms, with grim determination he took another one and another. Slowly, unsteady, as the pain was taking his balance and his reason, but unwavering he took one step after the other.

Lily stood in awe as she observed the fire in his eye, his muscle bulging under the weight and most of all she was captivated by his unyielding will.

*Ding*

You have gained a new skill

*Ding*

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:I’m Still Standing (passive)--100%Unyielding in the face of agony, unwavering if pain torments you. No matter how often you fall, there is nothing that keeps you from rising defiantly to your feet.

Effects:

Endurance raised by 5%

With every 10% health you lose your damage increases by 0.5%

Attacks directed at your mind will have a likeliness of 5 % to fail

As if it was the bell after a fifteen round boxing match he went down without stopping his fall, planting his face straight into the ground. Within a second Lily was upon him, turning him around, hugging him and breaking into tears. “How long… how long do you have to torment yourself like this?”

His voice was weak but held resolve. “As long as it takes.” She cried silently on his shoulder until he gently pushed her away to stand up again. He wasn’t done, not by a longshot.

After Lily calmed down, he continued for another hour, significantly increasing his speed by pulling the chains, before devoting himself to studying.

Gaining a stat point in intelligence he stopped to eat and to quench his thirst, noticing that his food wouldn’t last much longer.

“Lily I have to gather some plants, could you do me a favor?” She eagerly nodded, glad to be of use. “I know this comes out of nowhere, but could you sing something for me and don’t worry about the song, anything is fine?”

If a ghostly presence could blush, Lily just did and shyly nodded. “I don’t know if I’m good enough but I will give my best.”

Hall grabbed the chains, wrapped them around his wrists to get better leverage and began pulling while walking outside.

Despite the agony, despite the torment, he started to smile as soon as he heard Lily sing. Her song carried a warmth he hasn’t felt in a long time. A sad, yet comforting sound washing like a wave of comfort over his tortured mind.

“It's been a long cold winter without you

I've been crying on the inside over you

Just slipped through my fingers as life turned away

It's been a long cold winter since that day”

He reached the well to refill his canteen and began to gather plants, berries and nuts.

”It's hard to find

Hard to find

Hard to find the strength now but I try

And I don't want to

Don't want to

Don't want to go on and speak now

Of what's gone by

Cos no matter what I say

No matter what I do

I can’t change what happened

No matter what I say

No matter what I do

I can’t change what happened”

Panting heavily he returned to the tower, lying down on the ground to recover his stamina.

“You just slipped through my fingers

And I feel so ashamed

You just slipped through my fingers

And I have paid”

With closed eyes he lay there, Lily beside him singing from the bottom of her heart.

” Cos no matter what I say

No matter what I do

I can’t change what happened

No matter what I say

No matter what I do

I can’t change what happened

No no I can't change

Just slipped through my fingers

And I feel so ashamed

You just slipped through my fingers

And I have paid.”

With a smile on his face he stood up. “Thank you, that was beautiful.” A simple compliment that still made her incredibly happy, so they both continued working together.

Luckily language skills were easier to raise than weapon skills as usually you would only use a few weapons but if you studied languages you would have to have knowledge of many different one. So he finally got what he wanted after around four days.

*Ding*

Your skill Sorian Language (Subskill of Ancient Languages) leveled up

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Sorian Language (Subskill of Ancient Languages)Beginner711%Additional Effects:

Able to understand the Sorian language

His Ancient Languages skill also leveled up to beginner level 2 though he didn’t really care about that.

Lily was excited he achieved something within days where she needed years. “That’s not surprising Lily, after all I had someone to teach me, you had to do it all by yourself.”

At last he could start reading those damn books and find an answer on how to get rid of this curse. But before that he had to do something else and walked over to the now empty pot, filling it with water.

Instead of just throwing everything in there he wanted to cut the ingredients into smaller pieces but couldn’t even find a single knife lying around that wasn’t so corroded it turned to dust after a single touch.

As he had no other idea he just proceeded to rip the grasses into small pieces with his bare hands, throwing them in the kettle. He mashed the berries, nuts and roots and also added them. Then he stirred and continued reading a thick, old book that seemed to fall to pieces in his hands.

*Ding*

You have created Mysterious Broth

Just because it’s different, doesn’t mean it’s good

‘That’s not really better is it?’ Still he just shrugged and started to eat. He barely believed it, but it was even worse than the one he made before. The viscosity was pretty much the same, vomit inducing and beyond disgusting. Unfortunately it tasted horrible too.

“Guess I won’t become a master chef anytime soon” Hall said tiredly, he was now online for around four days and needed some sleep.

“Lily this time I’ll be gone for a little more than a day, alright?” She just nodded a bit sad but also relieved he would finally take a break.

After logging out he took his clothes off on his way to the bed and was asleep before his body hit the covers. He slept six hours, got up, spent an hour lifting weights and another one practicing his close combat skills on his sandbag, constantly thinking about his next steps ingame.

After a snack and a quick shower he logged back into Novus Vita, where again he was greeted with a bright smile that made his day more pleasant in an instant.

This time he noticed something was wrong instantly. Lily again had lost some of her form, it was as if she would fade away slowly. “Lily what is happening to you? Please tell me.”

She first wanted to deny his claim that something was wrong, but seeing his concerned eyes she decided to tell him the truth.

“It’s the chains, they drain my soul energy. You are not affected because you have a body to restore your energy but as I am a spirit, mine is slowly drained. I probably fell into deep slumber as my power was almost exhausted. But as I am awake now I’m slowly fading away.”

Hall was completely taken aback. Horrified he stared at her. “How long do you have left?”

There was no need to ask her why she didn’t tell him, he already knew.

“Maybe a week, but I don’t think I can last longer than ten days.” He nodded, his face showing determination and resolve. He wouldn’t let her disappear, never.

He tried something he avoided until now. He approached the cursed book on the pedestal, as it seemed to be the item carrying the curse, it should tell him something about it.

The closer he got, the slower he became as if the tower wouldn’t allow him to get to the book. With a grim look on his face he pushed forward but simply couldn’t get closer than a meter. No pulling or charging at it helped, it was almost as if there was an invisible barrier.

‘Damn it, back to the other books then.’

He read dozens of books without a break, he read when he ate, when he drank and he even wrapped the chains that bound him around his arms multiple times, increasing the pain manifold.

But he didn’t care. He scrapped his plan about sleeping and training in real life and just logged out to eat and drink something once a day.

After eight days in the game Lily was barely able to talk anymore. Her form was almost completely transparent and he could feel her end coming. He slowly felt despair crawling up on him. He read hundreds of book so far.

Books about soul energy, about how it can be corrupted or cleansed. There were books about simple curses and dark magic. About spells evil beyond imagination and about how to counter them. Hell, there were even books about alchemy and poisons.

He even gained the Ancient Knowledge skill and its subskill Sorian Knowledge, which allowed him to use what he read if he decided to acquire certain classes or professions. It would have been paradise for a dark mage who specialized in potions but for him it was useless.

The only thing he gained was a noticeable stat bonus in wisdom, intelligence and endurance as he always kept his chains in corporal state and wrapped around his arms several times while sitting on the floor. By now he barely noticed the pain anymore.

His raised language skills allowed him to read at double the speed by now, yet he just couldn’t figure out how to break the curse.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it, I promised her I would get her out.” Hall felt anger, at himself, at the tower and at the one who made the curse.

After another day he felt it, the shackles between Lily and him were becoming lighter. They became transparent and he just knew, her demise wasn’t far away.

He wanted to scream, to curse, to cry, but nothing would help and then he finally found it, something he needed, something that gave a new spark to the dying flame of his hope.

The ancient scroll, almost completely rotten by time and the ink withered away, seemed to be written by a certain William Henley, it said:

I was wrong, blinded by the hate I felt for the churches that destroyed my people I taught my pupil spells too dark and too evil to comprehend. He wasn’t ready, his mind became corrupted by darkness and greed and he tried to destroy me to increase his power.

He made this curse to kill me, but it was strong enough to remain for centuries.

So if you read this, it is likely you were affected by the curse.

This scroll was written with the power I took from the tower as it was all I had access to in my spirit form.

So if you weren’t connected to the magic of this tower for a while, you wouldn’t be able to read this. I am deeply sorry for the fate my pupil bestowed upon you.

Yet there is a way to lift the curse. Ancient magic words, powerful enough to destroy the chains that bind you.

He was excited, finally he found it. His tired mind was wide awake again. Hunger, thirst, pain and despair washed away.

Before I bestow upon you the words that will free you I have to ask you, no, I beg you to right my wrongs as I am too weak after decades of imprisonment.

Destroy the book that contains the curse and hunt down my disciple. He has amassed enough power over the darkness to escape even death and is stronger than you can imagine, so it pains me to request this of you.

Quest: No Sympathy for the DevilThe great mage William Henley asked you to hunt down his disciple, Dravan, the last one of the Sorian people.

Dravan rules over a land of darkness unbeknownst to mankind where he controls an army of evil.

Difficulty: C+

Quest requirements: Be cursed by Dravan, survive the curse and find the scroll of his master

Rewards:

Restore what was broken, find what was lost and return what was stolen

Additional rewards depending on your actions

Failure: exceed the time limit of one year

A grim smile spread over his face. “Gladly.” He didn’t even notice what was asked of him and only saw his chance at vengeance.

Quest accepted

To release you from the chains that bind you, you need to read the words I left behind and that took decades for me to create.

They contain magic that can overwhelm the evil in this tower and to hide it from the eyes of my disciple there was only one place I could find that would cover its presence.

Using magic I carved them into the pedestal. To reveal them, touch the wood under the book and speak “Invictus”. Good luck, may the gods be with you.

‘DAMN, WHY, I WAS SO CLOSE.’ He roared furiously as he still hadn’t found a way to approach the pedestal. He thought it might be possible for spirits and that’s why the mage was able to carve the words in there.

But one look at Lily showed him there was no way she could do it, she was almost gone, her eyes closed, her hands barely visible, only part of her chest and her head left. He could already look through her as if she was made out of dirty glass.

He felt it, he knew, she wouldn’t last more than an hour. So he rushed over to her, grabbing her shoulders, he tried to reach her. “Lily, Lily, wake up, listen, I almost have it, please, just hold on a little bit longer.” At the end he almost screamed at her.

She opened her eyes. Even though she was almost gone, her eyes still held a lot of warmth as she looked at him bringing a transparent hand up to his cheek. “It’s all right Hall, you did more than anyone could ever ask from you.

I’m glad I was able to meet you, the last two weeks were among the happiest I can remember in my life. Thank you, I will miss you…” Her voice died down and with a faint smile on her lips she closed her eyes.

Tears were flowing over Hall’s face. Why wasn’t he faster, why wasn’t he better, why wasn’t he stronger, why couldn’t he save her.

He shook her shoulders to get a reaction. “NO PLEASE, LILY, you can’t leave me too…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH”

With a roar that shook the foundations of the tower he stood up, grabbed the chains and charged at the pedestal. “YOU WON’T TAKE HER FROM ME!” Again, it was like running into a wall, the chains burning into his flesh, weighing him down.

He didn’t care. He wrapped them around his arms pulling like a madman, pushing forward, the pain surging inside him. He didn’t notice. He got one step closer than ever before without realizing, the chains glowing purple and exuding black smoke, overwhelming his soul essence causing excruciating agony. He didn’t mind.

The chains were screaming, they screeched and wailed.

Anger, weariness, grief, sorrow and pain, everything accumulated inside of him. Maddening wrath and boiling rage filled his very soul as he took another step.

The soft blue colored light of his soul essence that was intertwined with the chains was almost completely covered by the sickening purple glow. His screams filled the air as he released his rage, tearing at the chains.

His face showed no signs of yielding, his stance was one of defiance. He put every ounce, every little bit of willpower he had left into his wish to save her.

As he was close enough to almost touch the book, the purple glow completely covered the chains, black smoke was creeping up his arms, his knees became weak and his head slowly sunk to the ground.

Only at the last moment he caught himself, his head still bowed. A brutal shout, one you would expect from a monster, not a man, found its way out his throat. His muscles bulged, a fire burnt in his eyes as he yanked his head in the air. Grabbing the chains with the power of a demon, or an angel, he pushed forward.

The chains seemed to explode in burning red light, his soul energy, not blue anymore, were filled with unimaginable will, turning it into glowing flames that would burn the devil himself. The appalling purple light was washed away, as was the black smoke, burnt by Hall’s power.

With a sound as if hell’s gates were forced shut, a metallic bloodcurdling scream of agony, the chains that bound Hall were torn from the ground, throwing him against the pedestal.

*Ding*

Through pure will of force and while suffering unimaginable agony you changed the properties of a skill

Chains of Sorrow changed into Soul Chains

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Soul ChainsBeginner10%The cursed chains that bound you, yielded to your will and now obey your command

Effects:

incorporeal chains can be imbued with the power of your soul, allowing you to wield them

chains are invisible to others as long as they are not imbued with soul energy

Through your actions you gained the stat Fighting Spirit

Fighting Spirit:

Decreases the pressure that NPCs and other players can give off due to having a higher level than oneself

Possible to cower creatures of a lower level than oneself with a glare

Temporally call on superhuman strength

Status point distribution is not possible.

Rise and Rise again

like the Phoenix from the Ashes

until the Lambs become Lions:

Through your actions you gained the rare stat Willpower

Willpower:

reduces the duration and the impact of movement impairing effects

reduces the duration and impact of damage over time effects

Decreases stamina usage

Status point distribution is not possible

You are the first player to gain the rare stat Willpower

Rewards: Initial points doubled

The stat fighting spirit was integrated into the rare stat willpower and will have double the value of the willpower stat

You are the first player to change a skill by force and without help

Rewards:

+2 Strength

+3 Endurance

+5 Willpower

A satisfied, be it tired grin spread over his face and with the rusty taste of blood in his mouth he stood up, tossing the cursed book from the pedestal like the piece of trash it was. “Just wait a little bit longer Lily, I will get you out of here.”

Raising his burnt arms he placed his hand on the pedestal. “Invictus”

Immediately blue runes appeared on the polished surface. He took a deep breath and after a glance in Lily’s direction he started to read.

“Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I challenge whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.”

When nothing happened he thought he made a mistake and watched Lily anxiously.

Then a blue glow started to emit from the ground, illuminating the whole tower before it faded away and left nothing but eerie darkness behind.

*Ding*

Because the magic words lost most of their power with the passage of time you are only able to shatter three indestructible chains, negating their penalties in the process as well as protecting you from the aftereffects of breaking the curse

So he finally made it, weeks of suffering found their end, here and now. He watched the chains dangling from his wrists and the one in his chest. He could start over. He could play the game with decent stats and without penalties if he destroyed the chains around his wrists. Smiling he let out a relieved breath and he didn’t even have to think about what to do next.

“Shatter the Chains that tie Lilith to this wretched place.”

A glowing light surrounded Lily, engulfing her in warmth, dismantling the chains on her arms and slowly returning her body and soul.

He ran to her, taking her in his arms and with a bright smile he watched her opening her eyes. “Welcome back.”

Lily was overjoyed seeing his face before hers and with a smile she buried her face in his chest shedding tears of bliss.

“Yes, I’m back.”

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Author’s Note:

Well, chapter number 6 is out, hope you enjoyed it

Our hero will soon start his adventure outside the tower, don’t miss it :grin:

Oh and as always, please tell me your opinions, suggestions and point out any mistakes you find, I appreciate the support :bye:

P.S: if anyone is curious, the song Lily sang was A Natural Disaster by Anathema