I made my way through the city. I stood on the wagon bench, reigns in one hand, and a sword in another. I had scouted out the fastest way from the blacksmith out of the city. It wasn’t the shortest path since I had to go around an entrenched group of people, but thankfully it had stayed fairly safe since the last time I had checked.

The city gates were up ahead and there were a bunch of soldiers and thugs laying around. I pulled out two gold pieces with my hand still holding the reigns. The gates were open and there was no barricade which was one reason I had made my way towards this exit. “Have my gold!” I then threw a piece off to each side. I watched as all their eyes followed the gold pieces. I snapped the reigns as hard as I could and my horses took off.

“Stop him!” The man who appeared to be their leader called out, but they were all fighting over the gold pieces I had just thrown. I cleared the gate and was off down the dirt road. I had the horses keep up their run until we were out of sight of walls. I was going off into the wilderness for a bit. I wanted to put on bunch of levels before going to meet the Mystery Man.

(Author’s Note: Str, is pronounced as stir, as in ‘I stir my demon blood slushy to a ripe consistency.)

Str Mountain was off to the west down river from what I could remember of my former map. Terranan was a city that was to the south west on the other side of a large lake. I had the foresight to capture a number of screenshots of my map and had studied it extensively. For now I was going to head south to the end of the Salrin mountains and the massive forest that surrounded it. I knew the portion was called the Gloomwood on the east side of the mountains, but the south had been labeled as Dark Forest. If anything was going to have a lot of high level critters it was a place like that.

I passed farms along the way, but ignored them. Ulther had taken quite a bit of work and I wasn’t ready to train someone up again. As I sat in the wagon I went over all my gear carefully. I needed to pull my throwing knives by instinct. Weapons were great, but I needed the skill to use them.

At dusk, as I was looking for a campsite I saw a group of people approaching towards me along the road. A group of five people, probably players based on the difference in their physical appearance. I stood up on my cart and looked at them. Two had bows and the other three swords and shields. There was a nice patch of land next to a stream between the group and myself.

I stopped the wagon at one edge of the clearing while the group stopped at the other. We looked at each other for a bit. I had no MP to spare for an observe and I knew that the range was about thirty feet. Any closer and things would get a lot trickier if they learned my name. “Hello there.” A swordswoman called out.

I stood up and rested one hand on the hilt of my blade. “Hello there as well.”

“Will we have problems?”

“Not unless you start them.”

“No skills on each other, okay?”

“Very well.” That worked out for me anyways. I maneuvered the wagon into the clearing and the group approached.

“A lot of daggers you have there.”

“Just a precaution.”

“How is Balkor? Heard things were getting rough over there.”

“The city is in chaos. If you do decide to go in the city, you better be ready to fight.”

“I don’t-“

“Not now Ryan.” The lady shushed the guy who tried to talk. “I am-“

“I would rather not give my name. So you are welcome to withhold yours.”

“Ah, well, doesn’t really matter. I am Ezra and this is my group the Falcons.”

I hoped down from the wagon and every backed up. “It is a pleasure Ezra.”

“Holy shit man, was that fire coming out of you!” One of the guys said.

“Indeed, now I am going to unhitch the horses. I might suggest starting up a fire.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Ryan said. The group split up and a number of them gave me nervous looks. Ezra walked up to me while I was fiddling with various straps.

“Sorry for all the questions. Most of them are pretty young. Not much company out in the vast wilderness.”

“It is not a problem.”

“We really don’t want to fight.”

“Me either. Sometimes it is good to…rest.” I let out a small sigh.

“You want to talk about it? Things are pretty rough here in FEAR, but don’t you just love the experience. I have never felt more alive.”

“Indeed. This is an amazing experience.” I left the horses free and then turned to the wagon. Thankfully the food and a canteen weren’t hard to find.

“Wow, you sure have a lot.” I looked at Ezra and she held up her hands.

“It is paid for in blood and tears.”

“Yeah, just things would have been a lot nicer out there with a tarp like that.”

I picked up a piece of bread and some dried out jerky. I closed up the tarp over the top of the wagon and then went over to the nearby forest. I could sense the stares as the players watched for when a ripple of flames appeared in my wake. I picked up a large log and dragged it back next to the fire pit and sat on it.

“What level are you?” One of the girls asked. I didn’t say anything and just munched away. “Hey, you don’t have to be rude.” There was a long silence after that.

“Higher than all of you.”

“Hey, no need to be rude.” One of the boys said as he wrapped an arm around whiney girl.

“So why do you have fire coming out of you?” The girl asked. This was getting really annoying and Ezra wasn’t saying anything. She probably didn’t have that much control over the group as it appeared.

“If I tell you, then I have to kill you.” There was more silence.

“Hah, you are joking right?” Ryan said. I just kept chewing away, occasionally drinking some water.

“You really are no fun.”

“Come on guys, he doesn’t like talking.” Ezra said.

“He just pisses-“

“Enough!” I shouted. “Ezra, control your dogs or I shall cut them down.”

“Hey that isn’t-“ I threw a knife into the log he was sitting on.

“You are all weak. You seek to pester me and ask questions but offer nothing in exchange. I shared information about Balkor as a sign of hospitality and you continue to nag me. You know what, screw all of you, I am fed up with this.” I pulled out my blades.

“Hey now, no need to-“ Ezra began.

“Come on, he wants a fight.” Ryan said. The two boys drew their swords while the girl and other boy raced to restring their bows.

“Fear aura, one minute.” I watched carefully and all of them except for Ryan and Ezra squirmed a bit. I kicked a burning log out of the fire. One of the swordsman managed to block the log but was pushed back into the archer I had been aiming for, preventing them from stringing their bow.

Ryan charged forward. “Power slash!” He called out. I backed away from the attack allowing the slash to miss my chest by about six inches. I then leaned in and jabbed him in the shoulder. He let out a shout and backed away. My attack had been slowed by his leather shoulder guard and hadn’t gone that deep.

The other swordsman rushed at me. I jabbed at his face and like a rookie he brought his shield up to stop the attack. My other blade sliced across his calf and he went down with a cry. Ezra moved in on my flank. “Power slash!” She called out.

I couldn’t get out of the way in time. “Power slash!” I brought my own blade up to block. Both swords bent slightly under the sudden pressure and then Ezra’s snapped. She stumbled right into the path of my blade and it cut the top of her skull and brain right off her head. She gave me a shocked look and then collapsed to the ground dead.

“EZRA!” One of the boys called out. I was already moving to capitalize on their shock. One of the archers shot an arrow, but it was nowhere close to hitting me. The idiot should practice in his atrium. Ryan intercepted me and broke off my rush. The other swordsman was trying to stand, but thankfully the cut on his leg had left him incapacitated.

I threw one of my swords at Ryan. He brought up his wood shield and it clattered off the surface. I had been hoping it would blast through and pin his arm to his chest. No matter, I had already pulled out a throwing knife and began strafing around the campfire. It took three knives before I hit one of the archers right below the rib cage. She collapsed on the ground sending out coughs of blood.

I began throwing daggers at Ryan as I advanced on him, but he deftly moved his shield to block each attack. With my next to last knife I threw it at the other archer who had been trying to get a bead on me. The knife sunk into his forearm and his shot went off into the stream.

My SP was low and my Fear Aura just about up. At the speed I had been moving, I probably had about thirty seconds left before complete exhaustion. I took a two handed grip on Nus’ Awakening and moved in. He pushed his shield at me and thrust the sword over the top. He had clearly spent time training in VR programs. He kept his shield close and advanced with a series of short jabs. Just as I got the timing down, he changed tactics and began to slash and block. The shield was really pissing me off since every time I tried to attack he deftly placed it in the way.

I continued to circle around the campfire as we dueled. I wish I had enough MP to spare for an observe to check his SP. I could see he was tiring and sprung my trap since he probably didn’t have enough SP for another power slash. I let myself over extend placing my forearm in range of his sword. He swung down and I blocked with my arm guard and was careful to meet the blade head on so it wouldn’t slide off onto my arm. He was shocked at how his blade was suddenly stopped. I then slashed down with my sword on his elbow.

Flesh and bone parted and his arm separated from his body. We both looked at the stump and then he began screaming. I guess he didn’t train his pain tolerance. I stepped away and looked around. One dead, three critically wounded, and one with a minor arm wound. No major injuries, but almost out of SP.

What a pointless fight. Also the only one I really liked out of the group was dead. I began walking towards the boy with an injured arm. “Don’t run.” He began to piss himself. Well good to know I have that effect on people. I walked over to him and looked at his wound. Not that deep. I then slammed the flat of my sword into the side of his head and he collapsed.

The other two had logged out as the auto-pilot attempted to address their wounds. That only left Ryan who was sobbing on the ground. I grabbed his hair and dragged him over to the fire pit. I then shoved his stump into the coals, searing it shut. He let out a scream and then passed out. I killed off the other two critically wounded survivors and collected my weapons.

After cleaning them off I tossed a couple larger logs into the fire pit. As the flames rose I began sorting through the gear they had. Weapons were cleaned and put into a pile to be stored in the wagon in the mourning. I used some rope and tied up the one guy. I probably used too much rope, but better safe than sorry. At least he wasn’t turning blue.

For Ryan. I cut off all his clothes. After making sure there was nothing valuable I tossed them into the fire and burned them. I made sure his remaining hand and legs were tied up. With the fire built up I tossed the corpses into the flames. “Rest well Ezra, for you were a good warrior who did not deserve these idiots.” I then dozed off.

I woke up to the sounds of grunting. It was still dark. I walked over and it was the man I had gotten in the arm. “Shut up. I am trying to sleep.” I slapped him and then built up the campfire before going back to sleep. I woke up just before dawn like I normally did and set about eating a breakfast of bread and jerky. I found some fruit also that I couldn’t name and munched on that as well. Good stuff these players had.

I walked over and undid the gag on the one prisoner who had woken me up. He smelled like piss and shit. “What is your name?”

“Tom.”

“So Tom, you have a choice. I can kill you or you can listen to me.”

“Death, just make it quick.”

“Who said anything about quick? You all pissed me off. Now watch and don’t make a sound. Not a peep.” I walked over to Ryan. He was already awake. I ungagged him.

“Auto-pilot?” I asked.

“I will never talk.”

“Auto-pilot it is.” I put the gag back on. I then cut off his other arm and shoved the stump into the fire searing it shut and knocking him out again. I then untied him and set his naked armless body off to the side. I then walked back over to Tom.

“Obey, obey, obey.” He stammered out. I untied him.

“Take off your clothes and go wash in the stream. I am feeling vigorous this morning.” He blanched.

“I don’t roll that-“

“You can either make the best of a bad situation or else. Or you can kill yourself.” His face became even paler at that. He wasn’t that bad looking, though a bit tall and lanky. I tapped him with my sword. He quickly began to undress from his soiled clothes. Once done he went into the stream and I went up to the road. No one would be coming by for a bit since there was not a soul in sight at the crack of dawn.

“All set?” I asked.

“….yeah.”

“I want you to say, yes I want to proceed. Do whatever you want to me.”

“Yes…I want to proceed. Do whatever you want to me.” That should satisfy whatever system monitored for this sort of thing in player to player interaction. He really should have just killed himself or logged out.

“Put on the gag.” I tossed it to him as he stood there shivering. “Do it.” He tied the gag tight around his head. I saw him wince when he used his wounded arm. “Get down and spread them.” He did and I undid my pants and shrugged them off. I saw his eyes widen. “Now you understand the need for the gag.”

It was rough and violent and he passed out midway through. Not normally my style to be with a guy, but Ezra had died and the other one had almost finished bleeding out her guts when I had killed her. I washed myself off in the stream as Tom lay there bleeding out. I began to sort through all the gear the group had and back it away when he came to.

He let out a moan through his gag. “You can take it off if you don’t scream.” He ripped the gag off and began to cry. “Shut up, you are ruining my good mood.” He bit back the tears and let out a pitiful whimper now and then. Once I was finished going through everything he was still laying there naked and curled up. I let out a sigh.

I picked him up and carried him over to the stream and washed him off by rolling him into the water and then yanking him back out. I noticed some burn blisters where I had gone in and out. I guess my fire generation really heated things up to the next level. I then made him put back on the gag and get into position for round two. This time he didn’t pass out and just screamed and screamed through the gag as tears ran down his face.

Ryan came to as I pulled my bloody spear from Tom. I saw the look of confusion, then shock, and then finally horror. He then moved his arms and then looked at both of them. Then there was panic. He tried to remove the gag but couldn’t with his stumps. He looked at me with panic and then charged waving his stumps around wildly. I didn’t know what he was trying to do and just punched him in the gut.

He collapsed on the ground. I washed myself off in the stream and felt much better. I walked over to where Tom was moaning and bleeding. “Thanks, that helped get a bunch of frustration off my chest or out of me, well you get the meaning.” Checking to make sure I left nothing in the camp I hitched up the horses and set off down the dirt road making a poor attempt at whistling.

I thought what I would have done in Tom’s situation. I would have made the same choice and then kicked me in the groin and made a run for it. Well, all that worked because he was a spineless wimp. Probably following Ryan or Ezra around, since he felt lost. It had been tempting to try and bring him. In the end I just wasn’t in the mood to watch over someone and he probably wouldn’t survive long with that kind of internal burning and bleeding.

At mid-day I saw a woman with a sword in hand hurrying down the road. “Hey, you see a group of five people traveling together?”

“Yeah, why?” I prepared myself to launch a surprise attack.

“I am going to kill that slut Lisa for running off with Ryan. Bitch poisoned me and left me for dead. I bet she said I had died or something.”

“How much you care about that Ryan?” I asked.

“I am going to kick him in the balls for leaving me, why?”

“Well I took care of them.” She looked at me. “I cut off Ryan’s arms. Lisa, Erza, and one of the boys are dead and burned. Tom, well let me put it this way. While I am part horse he definitely wasn’t.” She stared at me and then burst out laughing.

“No joke?” She asked.

“Look up Rain of Blood, a video should be going up in a week or two.”

“You…your Kenji the Catastrophe.”

“Not my favorite nickname, but yes.”

“Holy shit, I love your work.”

“Much appreciated. You have anywhere to be?”

“Just chasing my former group to pay them back and then onto Balkor for some fun.”

“Balkor is shit and I hear the Order will be arriving in a couple of days.”

“Really I thought they were still a week out from their last announcement.” I just grinned at her. “Ah, you have your ‘sources’.” She did air quotes.

“So you want to tag along on my expedition. Hard to get a half decent team together now days.”

“Sure, tell me about it.” She tossed her pack on top of the tarp, sheathed her sword, and then climbed up onto the bench next to me. I snapped the reigns and the horses started off again.

“I see you didn’t go triple D size.”

“No way, did you see that one video of that girl falling over as she fought. I thought her breasts were going to rip off the way they were bouncing around.”

“The miracle of bras.”

“Tell me about it. Being a woman is tough out here.”

“Lots of pervy guys?”

“Oh my god, that was the first thing they all wanted when I ran into them.”

“Manners are a rare thing. I would at least take a woman out first.”

“To the wilderness?”

“Of course, so her screams of pleasure would be for me alone.”

“And the monsters.”

“I would slay them first so as to not be interrupted.”

“God, I can’t believe you really are Rain of Blood. You know there are copycats out there.”

“They lack the style and this.” I began rubbing my hand along the bench between us until a ripple of flame appeared. She jumped a bit. “I also never got your name.”

“Ah, it is Tora Mendel. I go by Tor. I really wanted Face Gnasher.”

“I know right, stupid name selection. I can call you Face Gnasher if you want.” She gave me a smile.

“Naw, just stick with Tor. You seem a lot calmer than your videos.”

“Editing, and viewer bias. All they see is the violence, not the backstory.”

“Interesting, so am I going up there?”

“Well if you want, I might consider it. But it depends.” She gave me a look. “On how violent we get together.”

“You are a pervy one.”

“I miss the witty banter to be honest from my last VR. My team of NPCs were just a bit too flat, no spice, no beauty.” I looked over and the sun was catching her at just the right angle. A hard angular face, short black hair, and a stub nose. At least she was symmetrical except for one small white scar running down the side of her face. At least she was only half a foot taller than me, so I wasn’t being lorded over. I gave her a six out of ten for appearance and ten out of ten for temperament so far.

“Gods yes, those a-holes were all stuck up. Especially that Lisa. I can’t wait to see, give me a spoiler? Please?”

“Alright, she was stabbed in the gut with one of my knives. She landed on the ground and twisted, making the wound much larger and spilling her guts. She logged out at that point and then I finished her off after beating Ryan.”

“Yes! I hope you got a good angle. Gods she was annoying.”

“I can agree with that. Kept asking about levels and skills.”

“I know, she just wouldn’t shut up. That smug grin of hers too. Ahhhh! My only regret was not getting her myself.”

“Well maybe we can hunt her down when she comes back and you can kill her again.”

“You say the sweetest things.”

“Question for question, either of us can refuse?”

“Hmm, okay, I go first.”

“Only if I come last.”

“You really must be missing out on the banter to go over the top this much.”

“Indeed I am, you don’t mind?”

“Nah, just don’t get grabby.”

“Never.”

“So what is the strongest thing you have killed?”

“That is tough. I am going to go with a Swarm Bulb. The thing was birthing little bulbs, paralyzing cloud, and the size of a two story house. Completed a legendary quest for offing it. You?”

“Damn, I haven’t had even come close to completing my current one.”

“It wouldn’t be to kill me?”

“No that would only be a hard maybe a medium. I have to create a unique spell. No clue how, but hey when I do it is going to be awesome. What about you what is yours?”

“Breckley.”

“Didn’t you kill the lord and his wife?”

“I have to kill the whole family, or maybe even the entire country.”

“Ouch, well at least you are good at that.”

“Haha, I swear it was all an accident.”

“Good luck selling that.”

“So, most violent thing in game so far?”

“Oh, this is a shocker.”

“Trust me, I can probably handle it.”

“Yeah, but...Alright. So these two players had cornered me. I wasn’t about to log off. Thankfully they weren’t part horse and told me to pleasure them with my mouth. I bit off the one guy while the other one was lost between my legs. The guy collapsed screaming and then I drove both my thumbs into the other guy’s skull.”

“New rule, no biting anything of mine.”

“Well maybe just a nibble.” I gave her a look and she burst into laughter.

“You got me.”

“Yep, don’t worry.”

“You seem like you would fit in with the Sparkly Rainbow Unicorn Princesses and their feminism empowerment vibe.”

“Wow, you actually saw them?”

“Yeah, scary as all hell. I mean they are like walking tanks. Their team name gives me a headache as well.”

“I actually know one of the girls in real life. Hardcore feminists.”

“Looking at them, they could probably rip a special part of me off with just a twist of their hips.”

“I wouldn’t try anything with them. Well I could, you not so good. They are all hardcore. Purity of body and mind and all that jazz.”

“You don’t say.”

“So how did you escape? They already have a reputation of being relentless.”

“My host was strong enough to distract them using some very powerful skills.”

“Care to share?”

I was silent for a moment. “Telekinesis.”

“Shit, that is a hardcore ability. I would so love to learn that.”

“Who wouldn’t?”

“Idiots.”

“Very true, so Tor, want to share stats.”

“Not on the first date.” She reached over and gave me a squeeze. I was grateful for all the relief I had gotten this morning.

“Maybe tonight, what would the horses think though?”

“That we are shameless.”

“That is it, a perfect team name, Shameless.”

“Ah, I like that, but a bit too pervy, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, well, something to think about.”

“I just thought of something, how did you skewer Tom if you make fire when you move?”

“Ah, well, he got a bit cooked.” Her eyes widened at that.

“Wow, and I thought I was evil. You really take depraved to a whole new level. I can’t wait to watch.”

“I might be tempted to send you an unedited one time view clip of the whole thing.”

“I am listening.”

“Well…” Dammit, it wasn’t like me to hesitate. “I want you to travel with me. Gods, I know we are together now, but I mean long term. I want people by my side I can trust and aren’t losers.”

“And you can screw.”

“That also. I don’t believe in love, but we would be kick ass together. Tor and Kenji, rampaging across the land, most powerful power couple.”

“I do like that. You better be grateful I know some chants to protect against your fiery member.”

“Well I do know all twenty four basic chants of the Church of Eight. Want to learn?”

“Really?”

“Teammates right?”

“Count on it.” She snuggled into me. I knew she was taking advantage but couldn’t find myself caring that much at the moment.

***

Author’s Note: Your reviews are like wood that fuel the fire of my writing. Just had some Ent sap and boom! You get an advanced review and all your friends notice. Then the FLAMING YOUTH of my writing FLAMES even higher.