Letter from Bine the Lesser to Irsorth, Primus of Arrenth

My old friend, I hope that you receive this letter in time, as Genesis is blocking me from directly contacting you. We believe we have found evidence of the 1st Wave. It isn’t much, just a sliver of writing on a wall, but it was found on an untamed Dungeon World from your wave. To think that a Dungeon World has been around this long and remains untamed… You must find me as soon as possible. I dare not send what we have found` . The implications are too terrifying.

Walking over to the body of the Hunter, the man kneels down and pokes at it for a few seconds, analyzing the effects of my attack. In a motion so fast that my eyes can’t track his movement, he is suddenly standing in front of me and filling my gaze with his predatory grin.

“The kill was sloppy. You could have ended the entire fight with two of those projectiles if you let the stupid beast get closer and aimed better.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. After leaving me on this hellish planet for two months basically nothing, he has the gall to come back and criticize me on the efficiency of my first combat kill? Anger begins to bubble up to the surface and it obviously shows on my face as the man’s smile stretches even further, a small chuckle escaping.

“Huhuhu look at you developing some backbone, boy. You didn’t have that fire in your eyes a couple days ago.”

My anger takes a back seat as his comment makes me curious. Either the man is a certified madmen, which honestly wouldn’t surprise me given his attitude and actions, or there is more I need to know about Helldarvin. “A couple days ago? It’s been two months since you were last here”

He nonchalantly waves his hand. “This is a Dungeon World boy, time moves faster here than it does for the rest of the Universe. On Helldarvin it’s about a month to a day.”

Time moves slower on Helldarvin… the implications of this simple sentence explode in my mind. If the rest of the Universe moves at even somewhat of a standard time, then that means it’s only been about two or so days since I was taken from Earth.

Holy shit. I may be able to get back in time to make a difference.

The man knocks me out of my thoughts by literally knocking me onto the ground. “Stay in the moment. I hate people who get stuck in their head. If you bore me I’ll kill you.”

Two months ago this comment would have made my body freeze up in panic but I’m more tempered toward the concept of death now. It is impossible to live in a dangerous wilderness and not come to terms with the possibility of dying. The fear that this comment inspires only motivates me more. “What do you want from me then?”

“I want you to become strong enough to take power for yourself, to kill your enemies without a second thought. I want to train you rip your opponenets hope and stand on their bodies to become Primus” I can tell that he is trying to be inspiring in his own bloodthirsty way. Honestly I bet that most people would be jumping to their feet to train, throwing themselves into a brutal training regiment. The issue I have is that I have no idea what a Primus is.

“What the hell is a Primus?”

The man looks at me with deadpan eyes, frustration and anger clearly visible behind his face’s calm visage. He slowly turns around and walks to one of the outer trees before screaming a primal roar at one, branches and leaves flying off and into the forest. His hand blurs for a second and, with sword suddenly in hand, the tree tumbles over to the side. Panting in frustration, he walks back over to me.

It’s at this exact moment that I realize that, while this man is completely unstable and obviously unable to control his anger, his power is awe-inspiring. The force required to rip through the tree ... I may die during the training but if I survive I’ll leave Helldarvin a significantly more powerful individual. He walks back over.

“A Primus is the ruler of a planet, given the title by Genesis. All I know about the process to become one is that there is a lot of fighting involved.” He speaks through gritted teeth, obviously annoyed with having to answer my questions. His response just makes me think of more questions but I hold my tongue, not wanting to set him off and get killed.

After a few seconds of my silence he visibly relaxes, smiling in a less, but still slightly, predatory way. “Good. Keep your tongue silent and you’ll live to see another day. Now update me on your Status, Skills, and Ways”. This process takes a few minutes but, unlike last time, he doesn’t laugh as I read them out to him. After a few seconds of silence, he turns around and walks back into the forest, yelling back at me. “Invest your Way Points and follow me”

I look back at the Way Screen and smack myself on the head, not having realized that the past battle got me enough points to get another 50 into Hopeless. I add them in and then start jogging after him.

Nearly impossible dangers have thrown themselves at you and you have thrown them right back, ceding no ground and striving for life. Your singular will begins to strengthen your mind, endlessly battling against the miasma of hopelessness. +5 Willpower, +5 Intelligence

I feel my vision beginning to fade as I gasp for breath. Faul’s hand continues to constrict around my throat, squeezing with immense strength and holding me up in the air. My legs kick out to try and hit him in the stomach and my arms flail at his head in fists, trying to damage him enough to make him lessen his grip. None of these manage to do a single thing and his face remains in that terrifying grin. Just as my Health is about to reach 0, he lets go and I fall to the ground, coughing and gasping as much air that I can get into my lungs.

“Let this be an example to you. You are weak and I can kill you without a second thought. Recover and we will go again”

Still gasping for air, I sit down on the ground and slowly fall into Meditation, letting the anger I have for nearly being choked to death wash away. I regain my cool focus and begin to analyze the events of the last few hours, searching for a way to gain the upper hand.

I had followed him for about two hours, barely able to keep up with my low Stamina, until we reached another ring of trees. The center tree of this ring is barely out of the ground, a little sapling that has just begun its endless and fruitless climb towards the dark red sky. Little branches with sparse pines are beginning to just out of the body, giving it a strange adolescent appearance that seems out of place in the cutthroat forest.

As soon as my Stamina had recovered, the man had told me his name, Faul’Dir, and instructed me to accept his training request. Perhaps instructed is the wrong word. He told me that I either accepted the request or he would kill me where I stood.

Faul’Dir [Lvl ???] has requested to Train you. Trainers will be granted access to view Health, Stamina, and Mana amounts, as well as current Skills. Do you accept? [Y/N]

Still having value in my life, I quickly hit the Yes option. We then began our first spar. He obviously didn’t believe in holding anything back as I had to activate Mana Infusion within the first second to throw myself away from his charge. With more fluidity than the most graceful dancer, he spun on his leg and charged at me again. I managed to fire a single Mana Bullet before he was upon me but he was able to dodge without stopping. Before I had the opportunity to react, he was choking me and the spar ended shortly after.

The events of the entire battle recorded in my mind, I realize that there is simply too large a gap between the two of us for me to ever be able to put up a decent fight. I’m convinced he knows this as well, as evidenced by the complete beat down that he subjected me to. To my benefit, however, I gained 4 levels in Pain Resistance and 1 in both Mana Bullet and Mana Infusion. I open my eyes and look over at him, finding him lying against the sapling and staring at me.

“How do I get stronger? What do I need to learn?”

His predatory smile returns. “That’s the question I was waiting for. Now we begin.”