New Spell Created: The Witch of Izalith You Bound a creature from your world’s video games to an elemental affinity. I mean, wow. I’m actually pretty impressed. Good job. Mana Use: 3000 Mana over 1 minute (includes Mana Regeneration). Sacrifice 100 Mana to sustain Binding (Sacrificed Mana will not be regenerated). Congratulations! You have created a fully-fleshed out Binding! As one of the first to create a Binding with full knowledge of its abilities, skills, weaknesses, life experiences, family, and all of the other aspects of what makes a creature intelligent, you will be rewarded! Your Bound creature has transcended from being a Bound Elemental and became a permanent companion! Time and Space are convoluted, and you have broken through these barriers to bring something from another world to this one! You have been granted the title [Void Walker] to commemorate this amazing achievement! Void Walker - You have gazed into the Void, and returned unscathed. Even more, you have brought something back from that inescapable darkness. All creatures Bound have a higher chance of Transcending! All elemental proficiencies increased by 10%! All things come from the Void, and to the Void we shall return after our cycles have completed. As a [Void Walker], you have gained insight into the world around you, and the skies beyond. Go forth, and know that the Void is watching you.

Holy fucking Christ… Jake froze as he read through his notifications. Wait, how much mana did that take? Jake checked his status, focusing on his mana.

Mana: 510 Mana Regeneration: 22.5 m/s

Thinking things through, over a minute he would have 1860 total Mana, with 1350 Mana regenerated. How the fuck… Wait, my smokes! They double the regeneration! Doing the math again, he comes up with 3210 total Mana. Jesus, I almost didn’t have enough. But isn’t this regeneration a little insane? Most of my abilities only cost a paltry amount of mana. Is it because I haven’t been using my abilities to their full potential? Or is it because I’m such a low level with stupid stats? Another screen appears before him, this time from Lilith.

Hey, ummm. I’m not too sure if you should have this title. It kinda breaks you, making you too OP. I did not expect you to pull something from your world, or know enough about it to make it Transcend. So, yeah. I might have to remove those additional proficiency abilities. Depends on what the commenters think. I will probably keep the gains in your three elements though. I mean, the only reason why you were able to summon her in the first place was due to your Fire proficiency. I’ll get back to you on that!

Fucking Giggles.

“Human…” The melodious voice of the spider-woman Quelaag broke him from his thoughts. “Is everything alright?”

Shaking his head, he looked back up at the beautiful woman. “Yeah, sorry. This world is a little different than what I’m used to. Have you had a chance to get used to it yet?”

She nods. “Yes, when I was brought here I gained quite a bit of insight into this world. I can still remember my old one, but it is strange. Almost as if that world was a dream, and this one is reality.’ She daintily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “When will you summon my sister?”

“I want to wait for that.” Jake stood up and dusted himself off. “I do not have the required knowledge yet to heal you or your sister.”

Her lower spider body growled at Jake, molten magma dripping from between its fangs. Quelaag gently patted in between its eyes, calming the beast. She looked back up at Jake with a frown on her face, her black eyes glinting dangerously.

“My sister is all alone now, except for that servant of hers and the Knight of Thorns. I cannot protect her from here, and even now there is a chance that something means her harm. I do not think that you are holding up your end of the bargain.” Her spider growled again, forcing Jake to take an involuntary step back.

“My lady,” Jake tried to think of some way to placate the angry woman and spider. “Your sister is not alone.” Shit, how to describe this… “Your world’s time is convoluted. Have you seen yourself in a mirror, or your reflection in a pool of water?” He waits for her to nod. “Now imagine that your reflection is another copy of you. The same experiences, the same knowledge, and the same thoughts. Now imagine hundreds of mirrors, each with a reflection and their own world. Your sister is in each of these worlds as well, being protected by you.”

The steely glint in her eyes began to fade, and she gained a faraway look. Jake continued his speech, seeing the effect on her.

“You are still there, still doing your duty as an older sister. But I intend to change that. When I have the required strength and power, I will bring the Pale Lady here and break her from her curse. I do not want to do it yet, since I am not too sure if she would be able to survive on this world without the shards of the Dark Soul to sustain her. I beg for your forgiveness for my selfishness, but I think it would be best to wait.” Jake bowed his head towards Quelaag. God damn, that was long winded. Hopefully she doesn’t just kill me outright. I don’t think I could face Giggles after being killed by my Bound creation.

“Very well,” she said quietly. “I think that I understand. I am still performing my duties, and I will have a chance to be with my sister again. I will hold you to that, human. If you do not do the things that you have promised, I will personally tear your soul from your body and devour it.” Her lower body growled again, but not the spider part. An awkward silence fell between them, before Jake spoke up quietly.

“Are… Are you hungry?”

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The motley crew sits around a campfire. A human digs his teeth into a steak, playing around with shadow tendrils just for the fun of it. A small silver fox sleeps soundly, each exhale sending a small cloud of cold air into the night sky. An Orc is staring with his mouth open, meat forgotten for the moment, at the creature sitting awkwardly next to the human. The large spider body with a beautiful woman attached to it at the waist is tearing at a Holy Cow that was killed earlier in the day, while the human portion was daintily eating some seared meat from a skewer.

Lok’Ruc’s mouth closed with an audible snap, and he stared at Jake. “What… is that?”

Jake swallowed the steak in his mouth, “That is my Bound… Companion, I think?” He goes back to eating, taking another bite before speaking with his mouth full. “Apparently, because I went overboard with creating her, she has become a permanent intelligent creature in this world.” He shrugs, and goes back to eating.

Lok’Ruc continued to stare for a few moments, before sadly shaking his head with a sigh. I know that he had potential, father Earth, but to create something from pure imagination and give it a life? I am not too sure if you are ready for this type of change.

Quelaag shot the Orc a small glare. “I should be asking you that, green one. I was cursed from my foolhardy of a mother playing with powers she did not understand.” She glanced at Jake, “like someone else here,” she said quietly under her breath, before going back to speaking with the Orc. “I do not know what form of magic has deformed you, but I pray that it has not addled your mind to the point that you would cause insult.” She went back to taking small bites of her skewer, ignoring the cracking of bones coming from her spider body devouring the cow.

Lok’Ruc glares at the arachnid. The spider stops eating, and glares back. A low growl emanates deep from within its throat, small droplets of magma falling from between its teeth, lighting the grass underneath into flames. With a wave of her hand, Quelaag absorbs the flames into a small ball, and absorbs it into her body. The spider goes back to eating the cow, the heat from its mouth cooking the raw meat while it is eating.

“Human,” Quelaag speaks to Jake, who is lying back, enjoying a smoke after a good meal. “Can I kill the green one? It is angering my other half.”

“The name is Jake, not human.” Jake takes another drag, expelling the smoke into the air. “And no, he is my trainer for now.”

“Woman,” Lok’Ruc growls dangerously, “I am the strongest of the Lok’Sharush. I will not be brow-beaten into submission by some succubus and her deformed pet.” Lok’Ruc stands, and walks into the distance. “The Earth has only tasked me with training you until you are able to Bind an element. I will return to my band.” He hefts his Warhammer onto his shoulder, stroking his beard. How will I explain this to my people? A tri-elemental with the ability to create sentient Bindings… Lok’Ruc grunts. I will tell them to be wary. If the younglings wish to test his strength, I will do my utmost to thwart them. It would not do to have my band annihilated by Fire and Dark. To think that a youngling such as him could accomplish this in three days…

Quelaag stares at the retreating figure until it is swallowed by the night. “Huma… Jake, I do not like that green one. I believe that he is planning on betraying us.”

Jake looks at the woman. “What makes you think that?”

“I can sense it.” She continues staring off into the darkness. Shrugging her shoulders daintily, she glances at the human lounging in the grass. “Now what shall we do?”

Jake takes another drag, thinking. “Well, we can go into a village to see if there is anything to do. I also need to increase my level, to get stronger. To do that, I have to kill things.” He goes silent, thinking of what was to come.

Quelaag gently patted the spiders head, a low grumble emerging from its throat. Full, the spider curled its legs underneath it, and begins to fall asleep. She remained silent for a few moments, thinking. She looked over to Jake.

“Can we not do both of those things at the same time?”

Jake takes a moment to process this, and then an evil smile begins to grow on his face.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jake sighs, scratching the stubble that had begun to grow on his face over the past few days. Well, if this is not a set up for an ambush, I do not know what is. A fallen tree blocks the road that the trio were travelling on. Mizutsune and the unnamed spider, surprisingly, were becoming fast friends. The fox would dart around, throwing small icicles at the spider, who shot them out of the air with small globules of molten fire. They seemed to be having fun. Jake could occasionally see Quelaag making quick glances down at the small fox, her eyes holding a soft light. I bet she wants to cuddle. Bringing himself back to what was in front of him, he walked slowly up to the downed tree.

He looked at where the tree had broken, and saw clean cuts into the wood with small wood shavings scattered around the base of the stump. Oh yeah, definitely an ambush. He cranked his neck side to side, feeling the satisfying pop of cartilage in his spine. Might as well have some fun with this.

Putting on a stage voice, he spoke loudly to his companions. “Oh no! There seems to be a fallen tree blocking our path! What shall we do? I really hope that nothing bad happens to us!”

“Ye don’ hav ta be such an ass abou’ it.” A gruff voice speaks out from the underbrush, and a Dwarf walks out, holding a massive crossbow. He was, to a point, short. A bald spot on the top of his head was ringed by fiery red hair, a large bulbous nose covered half his face. The other half was covered by a long red beard, braided with rings to accentuate the color, leaving only a small place for his small beady eyes to look out beneath his hair. The Dwarf raised his crossbow at Jake, and whistled sharply.

Ten other bandits exited the trees. They were a strange group, Jake could make out several different races. A centaur stood proudly, wearing makeshift armor and brandishing a rusted longsword and shield. A cat-girl: long ears on top of her head, a tail swishing from the small of her back and cat-feet, bounced back and forth in excitement, twin daggers dancing between her fingers. What looked like a bipedal lizard was slowly swinging twin axes back and forth, a feral grin splitting his face. The others were of these three races, with the dwarf being the only one of his kind present.

“Now, ‘ow bout ye give us all ye hav’, and we ca’ keep this fro’ gettin ugly?” The dwarf grinned, showing tombstone like teeth.

“Oh no!” Jake continued speaking in his stage-voice.” Bandits! Oh, what am I to do!?!” He began to dart back and forth, acting as if trying to figure out what he wanted to do. “Oh, wait.” He stops, and turns back to the marauders. “I know!” Black tendrils exploded from the surrounding darkness, wrapping around the human completely. Black armor slowly appeared on him, no light reflecting off of the plates. Gauntlets with violently shaking tendrils appeared over his hands. His face formed into a gross imitation of a wolf, with burning purple eyes and long teeth. The mask opened its mouth, black liquid stretching between the gaping jaws. “I’m going to kill you.”

He exploded into movement, thrusting his hands out towards the Lizardman. The tendrils wrapped around his arms and legs, and with a violent wrench, he was ripped in two. Blood and gore burst from the body like a ripe melon, and Jake threw the desecrated corpse to the side. A blizzard of ice slammed into the centaur, cutting into the legs and unprotected stomach of the horse body. Its intestines fell from deep gashes in the soft leather. The Centaur stumbled then fell over on its side, trying to pull the ropy inside back to where they belong; on the inside.

With a roar, a second Lizardman charges Jake, but was slammed into the ground by a large black body. Gritting its teeth, the Lizardman looked up only to see a massive maw filled with sharp teeth close around its face, burning the body in the process. The Lizardmans screams were quickly cut off, as a scimitar of fire quickly descended and gouged into the twitching body.

The Dwarf launched his crossbow at the biggest threat to its eyes, the large fire-wielding woman riding atop the giant spider. Quelaag arced her body backwards, the bolt sailing within inches of her large breasts. Blinking to himself, the Dwarf couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wha’ the fuck! The lady’s fuckin naked!” A globe of molten fire landed on the Dwarf, and he couldn’t point out the obvious anymore, due to all the screaming that was tearing its way through his throat.

With a feral grin, Jake grabbed another marauder with his tendrils, and threw it violently into the air. “Pull!” A large shard of ice flew from the tiny fox, and impaled the flying bandit, blood exploding out of its back. “Nice shot Mizu!” He latches onto the next one, and whipped it around to slam into an archer that was preparing her bow to fire. He began slamming the enwrapped bandit into the archer, not stopping until all he heard was wet squelching, instead of the screaming.

Let’s see that was three for me, two for Mizutsune, and two for Quelaag. An explosion of flame followed by the sounds of bits and pieces falling onto the ground split the air. Make that three for Quelaag. There should be three more, I think. Looking around, Jake couldn’t see any more people to kill.

“Quelaag, did you see where they went?”

“I saw two run off into the woods, and another ran past the tree.” Quelaag gently patted the giant spider, who was happily chewing on the Lizardman corpse. “I believe it would be foolhardy to chase them, we have already wasted enough time with this distraction. Thankfully, I will not have to feed my other half for a while.”

Jake scratched his chin, the stubble making it itch. “Alright, let’s continue on. After looting these poor fools of all their worth, of course.”

You have defeated Brigand Lvl 5 You have defeated Brigand Lvl 5 You have defeated Brigand Lvl 4 Your companion Quelaag the Witch of Izalith has defeated Brigand Lvl 5 Your companion Quelaag the Witch of Izalith has defeated Brigand Leader Lvl 9 Your companion Quelaag the Witch of Izalith has defeated Brigand Lvl 4 Your pet Mizutsune the [Twin-Tailed Frost-Bound Fox] has defeated Brigand Lvl 6 Your pet Mizutsune the [Twin-Tailed Frost-Bound Fox] has defeated Brigand Lvl 3 You have gained 2 Silver and 193 Copper

Wow, these guys were really weak. Jake takes out one of the silver coins, letting it glint in the sun. So this is the currency, huh. Pretty standard. I would assume 100 Copper per Silver, and then 100 Silver per Gold. They might have a higher currency, but this seems pretty standard.

Jake pocketed the coin, and continued walking, cutting a path through the tree blocking his path with blades of air. Well, that fight sure was fun. Going to have to do that again sometime.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Panting heavily, Kitana ran full force through the trees as if her life depended on it. And, in a sense, it did. The cat-girl’s mind kept replaying those horrible scenes over and over in her head. The shadow-wrapped man tearing through her brothers and sisters without a care, the naked woman riding a spider burning Daine, the only father figure she had growing up, into a pile of ashes. Even the cute fox brought death and destruction on her young life. The people of this world might be racist, but the group she was with was the closest thing she had to a family. They were the outcasts of society, and they banded together to fight through the good and bad times. And now they were gone. All of them were gone.

Blinded by tears, she slammed headfirst into a tree. Yowling and clutching her head, she sat on the forest floor, before curling up on the ground in the fetal position. Gasping and shuddering, she couldn’t bring herself to move any more.

The crunching of approaching feet shot a new wave of panic through her. She tried to stand up, to scramble into the trees, to do anything, but her muscles would not respond. So she sat there, hearing her death approach her. A figure slowly materialized through the trees, and stared at the shaking cat-girl.

“P-p-p-please, n-n-no more.” She stammered through shaking teeth, feeling wetness spread through her pants. “I w-w-won’t t-tel-l an-ny one. Please, le-eave me al-l-l-one.”

The figure stopped, and stooped down to the terrified feline. “Young child, what makes you cry so? Are you alright?” A deep, kindly voice breaks her from her terror. She stares at the figure for a few moments, before coming to a decision. Crying, she latches onto the man and begins to wail.

“There there,” the man pats her gently on the back. “Everything will be all right.” In the darkness of the woods, a small red, pulsing light could be seen in the man’s hand, as he wrapped it gently around the cat-girls neck. “This will give you strength, my child.” Her tear-streaked eyes bulged, and a pain-filled scream rebounded through the dark forest, before changing into a roar of anger and hatred.