"Jack? Jack! We have to move, now!"

Now stumbling to his still slightly dizzy feet, he at the scene of chaos and destruction all around him still, the bodies of dozens of ghouls littered about the acid pitted courtyard, as well as three fallen undead necromancers, the closest with clawed hands stretched out for where Jack had lain prone on the ground.

"What the fuck just happened?" Jack said, shaking his head to clear it, instinctively shoving the sheer silk something shimmering in his right hand into his pouch of holding to free up his hand as he caught sight of a fresh swarm of howling revenants charging for them, just as the massive titanic skeleton that had been tearing at the keeps walls abruptly arched back on clumsy legs that could no longer support it, as globe after globe of caustic death exploded into its side.

"I was going to ask you," Mitch shouted, grabbing his arm and pulling him along. "But those necromancers are out of commission, and that's all that matters. Now come on! We're getting out of this deathtrap before that dinosaur collapses on top of us. Move!"

And Jack didn't hesitate to do just that, or stint on potency cost as he summoned forth a shimmering crimson shield on his off hand, right filled with flame as the trio dove and dodged past milling disorganized mobs of revenants that attacked anything and everything with wild abandon as the entire town rang with the mighty boom of a titanic beast crashing back to earth, and Jack wanted to scream with the wave of potency, ecstacy, and agony washing over him even as Mitch and Jacob howled in sheer exultation.

"We did it, bro! We fucking did it!" Mitch hooted.

"Level fucking 8 here we come!" Jacob howled and laughed, his brilliant white blade blazing through any revenant that dared to close with him with a deadly crimson axe cleaving skulls and limbs to his left, and brilliant crimson flame blasting from the fist of a desperately running jack at his right.

And even Jack couldn't help smiling in fiercest delight, despite the peril of their situation sensing that he had somehow grown in profound ways when he should have fallen to his death before that lich. But now was not the time for reflection, he thought, as his blood armored fist pounded into the decrepit face of yet another charging ghoul, having mastered the technique of smashing in their teeth before they could even clamp down on his gauntlet, before unleashing fiery death down their throats.

"Ignis, Fucker!" Jack roared at his foe as hot liquid flame flash-fried the horror before him from the inside out as furious claws scrabbled ineffectually against blood-hardened earth armor and his crimson shield, Jack's spell instantly obliterating whatever fragile undead cords of power stabilized his foe as the rotting skull literally exploded in flame. And though a single piece of charred skull clipped his cheek, there was no pain.

Even Jack whooped for the sheer dark thrill of surviving against impossible odds his soul brimming with the hot sweet power of his foes transforming to flashes of insight and power, such that he felt several of his favorite skills all but ready to level up, sharing mad laughter with his friends in that odd moment of joyous dark communion, like a pack of fierce wolves revelling in their kills.

And that moment of sheerest exultation turned to something approaching dread, when Sharon's abrupt cry cut through the air.

Jacob's fierce grin became one of wide-eyed terror. "That's Sharon. No more time for fucking around, guys, come on!"

And race they did, for all they were worth, no longer concerned with saveage kills against the small bands of undead that dared approach, merely smashing them aside, decapitating if more convenient, then racing at full speed, so fast that had it been any great distance away, Jack would almost certainly have been left behind.

But there they were, in front of the building entrance, and Jack couldn't help but wince with shame at seeing nothing but splinters and shrapnel where the door had been warded.

Mitch sent a single glare Jack's way, and Jack wanted to crawl into the floor with guilt.

Then they heard a second scream and all thoughts of recrimination or excuses fled, the three racing up the stairs for all they were worth.

Seeing absolutely nothing on the first and second floors, which was almost worse than a disorganized mob of undead.

Jack exchanged an anxious glance with Mitch, both knowing it could only mean one thing.

Their enemies were striking with deliberate intent. The roof had been their objective.

"Better get that blade flaming hot, bro. Our girls are the target! Mitch roared, Jacob's only response being furiously muttered whispers as his blade suddenly blazed like a bar of brilliantly hot liquid gold.

Seeing only a single snarling sentry, a hideous twisted abomination of a man made of four legs, two heads, and one maggot filled torso. Instead of arms it had octopoid tentacles covered in eyes whipping through the air. And for it's head.

"Fuck!" Mitch screamed, at once recognizing the hideous faces fused into one horrific whole, eyesockets free of the orbs covering their arms they whipped forth with tentacles dripping viscious fluids Jack just knew would be fatal to touch... dribbling worms from still bleeding sockets as the mutilated faces gave forth a horrific shriek.

You have failed to save versus sonic attack! Eardrums ruptured!

Willpower check successful!

You have failed to save versus horror!

The messages flashing across his interface were understood in the blink of an eye. Just the time it took Jack to recognize this hideous abomination as the husband and wife he had fought so hard to save, less than an hour ago.

It was all Jack could do not to collapse, crying out for the horror of what he saw, faces twisted in something beyond mortal pain.

Souls aware of just how horrifically they had been warped and brutalized.

Beyond death, forced to twisted unlife.

To serve the masters doing everything they could to destroy them, and their town.

Jack screamed even as his ears bled and his balance threatened to give way once more. Though whether in terror or fury he could not say, looking into horror's desperate gaze as his bloodshield parried the most toxic of poisons.

Foul toxins that wouldn't just rot the flesh, but the very soul.

A trap Jack sensed could only be used with the freshly shriven, the horror before him beginning to rot as it stood.

There could have been only one purpose for this twisted abomination.

Only one target the twisted mastermind that had forged this being could have had in mind.

Jack and his friends, both of whom had somehow fallen behind, as if knocked insensate by the sonic blast Jack even now recognized as silvery threads whipping through the air.

Eager to drill into all their minds and deliver the same death that had been given onto it.

And with a single snip, the gangrenous threads caressing his friend's skulls had been cleaved free.

And Jack turned eyes filled with pity toward the monstrous horror gazing at Jack with a thousand eyes filled with fury and despair.

Shield and Weapon skillcheck successful! You have shield-rammed poisoned horror! Full body protection protects against contact poison. Your foe has failed contest of strength and skill!

Before crashing to the ground before Jack's onslaught, undead flesh instantly bursting into a thousand thousand bilious maggots as the foul black cord connecting those tormented fused souls to the necromancer above was sheared in twain, undead flesh boiling as the two souls trapped in torment struggled to burst free of their cage of horror, streaking for the heavens the body decomposed to putrid black slime and maggots in seconds.

"Jack! What the hell was that?" asked a Shaken Jacob, struggling to his feet, eyes filled with unspeakable horror.

Jack gave a bitter shake of his head. "It was the merchant I had thought we had saved. Damn it! They targeted him specifically. Him and his wife! How? Why?"

"Fuck if I know, kid. But you did damned good," said a shaken Mitch. "Now come on! We got to get to whatever bastard did this before he does the same to our girls!"

But Jacob gave an angry shake of his head. "You know what we got to do, Mitch. Right now! It will only take a minute, and if we don't..."

Mitch gave an angry curse. "Damn it, I know. We could all be dead." With a shared nod and a quick glance Jack's way, "Watch our backs!" They burst into golden flame as the air sung with their sudden ascension, both give short sharp barks of either ecstacy or agony as in the span of a single blazing instant, they ascended to level 7.

Jack didn't waste time, quickly summoning aid of his own. "Voco Apis!" he hissed, not hesitating to let his summons drink of his blood and potency, as big and red as he could make it. Every tool he could think of to prepare for the battle to come.

He caught Jacob's gaze. "You ready for this?"

"You know it!" He then frowned at what Jack was holding. "When the fuck did you get ahold of Silver Sheers?"

Jack shook his head. "No time. Let's go!"

But his friends were already racing ahead, Jack doing all he could just to keep up with players who had clearly left the 3-18 bell curve behind, at least a level or so ago.

And Mitch? Having started near 18 as a reward for picking a class that resonated so deeply with his soul? Jack found his prowess beyond fearsome as straight 24s in Strength, Vitality, Quickness and Finesse burst through what he sensed was a magelocked door with a shield slam that wouldn't be denied, Jack seeing a flash of light and bodies flying as Jacob followed with his blazing sword an instant later.

He couldn't help but feel a fierce surge of hope mixed with his horror as he crashed into melee once more, daring death's ire in the screams and howls of sudden melee madness, blasting out with fists filled with flame, sending a pair of revenants skittering back as he shield slammed a third before slicing out with his silver sheers, the hissing revenant collapsing like a marionette as silver flashed above it's tumbling head.

For long moments Jack and his brothers in arms fought back to back, just as before as an all too human voice screetched for their deaths as blazing golden swords, crimson axes, and rivers of liquid flame and silver sheers tore through their enemies.

Jack! Hot one, 3 oclock!" A command sensed far faster than spoken, so deep was their communion, the golden threads between party members forming that Jack could now sense as he immediately pivoted to his left and sprayed a trio of charging undead litches lashing out with whips of flame.

Moving like puppets, as if by a master who sensed their weakness, as if he had knownthat there was no way Jack could quench all three racing towards them with a single spell before those fiery whips tore through at least one of their necks.

So Jack laughed as mad inspiration flooded through his soul, seizing the potency and potential of a maelstrom of foes at his feet, and transformed his spell into that which could.

"Aqua Effusorium Majoris!" Jack roared as the water suddenly poured out of his open palm with the power of a water cannon, breaking their charge, extinguishing their whips, sending them crashing to the ground.

Breakthrough made! You have forged a Tier 2 Water spell! Waterspout is now Adept Rank. Adept rank perk retroactively chosen. Innovation is now in play! You may forge a new Tier 1 or 2 spell 1 degree of separation removed from Waterspout for every Adept Rank earned!

Greater Water Spout Rank 2 forged! This spell is an exact copy (save for magnitude) of its root! Full Perk tree (Potency) maintained! Automatically understood at Apprentice Rank 1!

You have successfully extinguished 3 Flame whips!

2 Skeletal Masters are Off Balance

1 Skeletal Master is Lying Prone!

And in the time Jack smiled his fierce vindication even as he crumpled to one knee, half his mana so damn quickly depleted with the forging of a new spell and boosting his Tier 2 spell for all he was worth, Mitch had already darted forward, crimson axe cleaving all three Skeletal Masters free of their unlife, howling in fierce glee as he claimed their dark essence for their own even as Jacob roared and cleaved a final handful of charging revenants the color of inky darkness with furious sweeps of his blazing golden blade. Heaving himself with spiritual exhaustion, Jack having no doubt that his friend had been pushing himself to his limit with all his buffs, wards, and powers, the true equalizer that had allowed them to shine so brightly against the undead host they had challenged that day.

"You will stop, worms. And you will do so now, or your bitches die!"

And they froze where they stood, even Mitch freezing so fast it was chilling, at the sight of a frail looking man with coal dark hair and eyes to match, glaring at them all with such hate. Two massive skeletal warriors dressed in plate and wielding greatswords stood motionless by his side as the puppet master, clenched his trembling too slender fist once more, the screams that followed snapping Jacks gaze to the trio of still living souls who each held slender daggers, plunged into their bellies.

Lauren, Sharon, and Sin's desperate gazes met Jack's own.

"Help us!" Sharon cried, before shrieking in agony as the snarling man twisted his hand.

Snarling and glaring pugnatiously Mitch's way as he gave a furious yell, axe and shield raised for killing.

"Stop it now, barbarian fool, or I swear your bitches entrails will be torn out long before you can to me!"

At which point both skeletal sentinals lurched forward, the puppetmaster cackling in twisted glee.

"I now have you where I want you. Exactly where I want you, fools! Thinking you could cross Excelsior, master of the dark arts, about to forge his realm at last?"

Jacob's eyes widened at that. "You... you idiot! Your a player, aren't you!? You think this is some kind of fucking game? This is no game, asshole! This is real! Those girls your torturing, they're real! This isn't a program! We're not algorithms, and there's no logout save death, idiot!"

The puppetmaster smirked. "I know that, idiot! You think I care about asshole jocks like you? it's assholes like you and highschool princesses like those bitches that made my life a living hell growing up! Excelsior was all I had!" The madman shook his head, eyes glittering with hate as he flashed a wide rictus of a smile. "My father worked on the program, he was one of the founders! When he told me they had finally broken through, that soon they'd have the energy they'd need to actually replicate a universe, I felt like my prayers were answered. And when I found out the world was about to end and all my enemies would die shrieking while I lived on, I couldn't have been happier!"

The youth cackled, and Jack's heart lurched, realizing that if he took off the ugly necromancer's robes, straightened the hair, and put on a suit, he would know exactly who this Excelsior idiot was.

"Eric! Eric Goldson. Is that you?"

The young man hissed and froze, glaring at the trio of men before him. "Who the fuck knows my name?"

Jack forced himself to take a deep breath and step forward. "It's me, Eric. Jack Gates."

Eric's eyes widened, he tilted his head, peering strangely at Jack who willed his helmet to shrink away, so his former acquaintance could actually see him.

The young man flashed a cold grin. "Well fuck it all. I believe it is you, Jack. I take it your dad snuck your family in ahead of all the billionairs and diplomats too?" he snorted with laughter. "Cronyism at its best!"

Jack forced a chuckle. "Yeah, pretty much. I guess that's how it played out for both of us."

Eric smirked. "So, did you actually manage to smuggle your elf into the game?"

Jack swallowed the sudden pain in his heart, flashes of the beautiful gengineered girl he had loved with all his heart suddenly piercing his soul. But all he said was. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Eric gave a bemused nod. "That's good. Fucking sweet, even. So why the hell aren't you with her now? Why are you and your asshole friends fucking with my new realm?"

"What the fuck are you talking about, asshole? This isn't your playground, this is a town with a thousand people trapped in the keep you're trying to murder!" snarled Mitch.

Eric nodded with such sangfroid it chilled Eric to see. "Yup. That's the cost to anchor my own soul-linked realm. A thousand computer generated souls form the matrix, and then I can shape it how I like! At least as far as undead themes go. No gardens or parks or any of that shit. But a bone castle soaring to crimson skies, crackling with eternal lightning and bloody rain? Hell yes! Best of all, I can feed on the energies of all my victims and can even learn the bloodwine crafting skill. Then I can be drunk and high all day and then the next step is getting me a harem of love-slaves and I'm all set for paradise, asshole! Whereas all you and your jock asshole friend and that damned sneek thief will be is fucking dead!" Eric roared, hissing a single syllable as a handful of silvery cords flickered through the air, smacking into a screaming Mitch and Jacob's skull, a smirking Eric giving Jack a pitying smile.

"Guess you're going to have to wipe, Jack. Won't be the first time I killed you, but you don't remember that. But hey, maybe next time you'll pick better quality friends. Hell, you were the least boring of all the kids my dad forced me to hang out with. Maybe I'll cut you some slack, the next time you cross my path," he said with a final sneer as a cord of silver identical to the ones that had drilled into his friend's skulls, tunneled through the air toward Jack's own skull. Jack's eyes widened with horror, tormented by the desperate criers of friends now shrieking in torment, a wild-eyed Mitch blubbering as he began disemboweling himself with his own axe, Jacob alone fending off the compulsion with a corona of golden light that, to Jack's horror, sputtered out and he began trying to tear out his own throat.

Eric's cackling laughter that Jack had always hated rang through the air.

Before stopping abruptly, glaring at Jack with slackjawed surprise.

As his silvery strand of compulsion was squeezed in Jack's shimmering hand.

"How?" his hissed, right before crying out, as Jack's blood bee stung him in the back of his neck.

You have won Contest of Skills! -8 penalty for challenging a Rank 8 Mind Lord with a higher Will than yourself! +5 for distraction of Toxic Venom. +5 modifier for manipulating an art specifically designed to counter Mind Lords!

But Jack wasted no time with words, spinning and twisting like a marionette, Blood Shield traded for silver spool as he gave the shimmering cord that only he could see in his hand a fearsome yank, causing a confused Eric to stumble over with a cry. Before shrieking as Jack's clever hands began reeling in the strands of Eric's psyche and soul, twining it into crimson thread as he spun forward with sheers in hand, snipping free two additional shimmering cords with a flash of silver, Jacob and Mitch stumbling back with a desperate sob and cry.

Eric began to wheeze and spasm, blood pooling out of his eyes as crimson cords flowed out of his body. Desperate hands flailing as he shrieked. "Stop! Jack Stop! Please!" Choking out final words as he collapsed with a desperate gasp, whispering the words "Kill them!" to the two sentinels now lurching from their defensive pose to the attack.

"Mitch! Jacob!"

"We're on it!" a trembling Jacob shouted, stumbling to Jack's side.

Before a furious charging bull of a frenzied warrior slammed into the first massive sentinel covered in ancient steel, and before that creature could even swing its greatsword, the berserking warrior had already charged inside its guard, slamming it to the ground, Mitch roaring his fury as his crimson axe pounded in the monstrous helmet before, with a titanic howl, cracking it open completely and blasting through it's skull.

"Look out!"

Before being impaled on the tip of the second knight's greatsword... but not before a roaring Jacob had plunged his now hotly glowing sword in its weakest point, between cuirass and helmet, effortlessly melting through the rusted links. The entire monstrostity emitted an unholy shriek as the paladin roared a word of power and the undead monstrosity burst in white-hot flame.

But Jack paid them no more mind, knowing he didn't have a second to waste, twirling about the battlefield as his spindle looped ever more of his enemy's psyche and soul, before desperately lashing out with his sheers and just clipping the terrible cord of compulsion compelling a gurgling Sharon to tear free her own entrails.

You have successfully snipped Silver Strand.

Skillcheck made! You have added additional filaments to your Soul Thread!

And with a final snip, Lauren collapsed as well, sobbing and shrieking in inconceivable pain as she dropped the dagger she had been carving out her own entrails with and curled into an agonized ball.

And right before Sin, gazing at Jack with helpless eyes, could hurtle himself off the roof, he collapsed like a marionette as Jack cleaved right through the taught string above his head, connecting Mindmage and victim, Sin immediately crumpling into a ball, though snarling his pain away as he crawled to the girls as if to protect them, glaring his absolute hate at the orchestrator of so much suffering, for all that Eric was presently choking and gurgling, feet slamming the ground with a deathly rattle as his bloody gaze locking despairingly with Jack's own.

"Please, Jack. For old time's sake?"

Jack slowly shook his head as he spotted the final desperate probe frantically trying to pierce his skull, dodging aside before his clever fingers deftly pinched the thread in midair and spooled it with the rest, before giving a final yank with his silver spool.

And before Eric could so much as blink, his head exploded in blood and gore when a roaring Mitch, unfazed by the blood pouring from his back, chained a maelstrom of power blows that utterly obliterated the former young scion who had once been one of the most eligible bachelors in all of Chicago, before embracing all his bitter hate countless lifetimes later, imperiling hundreds of innocent lives.

But Eric had already perished, the instant Jack had torn his soul completely free.

And all of them were knocked off their feet by a titanic roar that near deafened them as the shimmering black gate abruptly exploded into nothing and crimson skies filled with crackling lightning, glaring moons, and the shrieks of the damned faded to clear blue skies and the faint chirping of birds, the remaining revenants seeming almost to give tired sighs of relief as they collapsed into heaps of rotting flesh that quickly decomposed to nothing more than damp earth under the gentle light of the noonday sun.

You have successfully used your mother's ancient skills in the crucible of combat against overwhelming odds, igniting your own infinite potential as well. Congratulations! Tier 1 skills Snip, Pinch, and Spool are now Journeyman Rank 1!

Congratulations! Tier 2 skill Shear is now Journeyman Rank 1!

Perk feats retroactively chosen! You now have bonus modifiers to use Soul Weaver skills in combat! You understand with shocking intimacy how easy it is to spool up the silver threads that necromancers or Mind Mages use to manipulate their targets! Threads that connect predators to their prey far more intimately than most Necromancers, Mindmages, or Adept hybrid classes like Eric's own can possibly fathom.

You now enjoy skill checks to spool not just the psyche but the soul as well!

There's a reason why Mind Mages have sought to purge the world of Grey Witches for countless centuries, and why they fear your mother still!

Note. Although Soul Weaver class has not yet been chosen, your active use of those skills in combat triggers class enemy Disadvantage! Should any Mentalist or Necromancer sense your affinities and fully understand their significance, a less than favorable reaction role means they will do anything and everything they can to arrange for your death! Although tales of Soul Weavers and Grey Witches are relegated to a handful of whispered stories now seen as parables for caution and no more, those rare few that are well-versed in the history of your mother's people will seek to destroy you and all those who share your bloodlines.

Discretion is advised!

A new class is open to you! Deadly Master! Coined by you fallen foe, this class's arcane arts use Mental Mastery to dominate both the living and the dead, combining all the best elements of Mentalist and Necromancer, with minor affinities for Earth and Portal magics as well! With enough life force, you can imprint your will upon the bedrock itself. Create your own pocket dimension of delicious torment! Note. This class was specifically backdoored into the system by a father desperate to give his psychopathic son every advantage in the next life, so is the farthest thing from balanced!

Do you wish to take on the class of Deadly Master?

Note. Your genetic heritage incorporates affinities that are the antithesis of this class! Proper synergism will result in Elite class formation. Improper synergism will result in death.)

You have declined class selection at this time.

"Sharon!" Jack pulled his eyes from the entrancing spool glittering with so much terrible, wondrous potential, shaking hands now quickly thrusting it into the pouch that had no problem at all storing such ephemeral items along with his more mundane prizes. Seeming almost made for it, in fact, as he rushed to the groaning girl's side.

Beholding a sobbing Jacob, clenching his dying girl tight.

"I'm out of juice!" He sobbed. "Jack, I'm out of Juice!"

"Lauren's in trouble, Jack!" a now panicked Mitch cried out, frenzied killer of moments before replaced by a panicked boyfriend, already knowing what he had to do.

"Sana Injuriam," Jack whispered as he handed Jacob the last of his red potions, smiling bitterly as his mind was flooded with the horrors of countless battlefields, so many lives he could not save, the advantage of being tormented by so many nightmares not his own was that he had a good sense of how best to treat hopeless situations.

And much to his heartfelt relief, by the time he had exhausted himself to zero mana yet again after consuming the last of his mana potion, his friends were still among the living, and he had ranked up Basic Healing to Journeyman Rank 1, Sharon giving Jack the gentlest smile as he finally collapsed in a stupor so deep it was near catatonic slumber, letting the darkness claim him at last.