“Alright you two head up to get your classes, or do you have no class available yet?” Birse asked as he stood with the others gather around him, “Well we actually should have unique classes available, Kyll you still got the Snow Blur?” Sly turned to ask him.

Kyle glanced back before turning to look at the massive store entrance before them “It’s in my inventory, oh and Birse take this for the guild bank”, Kyle opened his inventory with a thought and momentarily watched the Snow Blur jumping from slot to slot.

He selected his gold and took out a couple hundred coins leaving himself a hundred twenty, two leather pouches appeared in his palms which he handed to Birse who took them with a grin “If only you all were merchants like us, damn bums” he glanced towards Sly as he put the gold inside his own inventory.

“We’ll ask around for information regarding this ‘Lilliana’, this is basically a central merching hub. Information is nothing more than a product, we’ll purchase whatever we can” Birse explained as he gestured them inside, “Go ahead and head up, we’ll meet back here in a bit” he said as he walked away from the group.

“Yo I’ll ask the guards, they may know some things the merchants don’t” Death announced as he walked over to speak with the ones beside them.

“I guess I’ll talk with the bartenders up top” Skill shrugged as he walked away.

“What about you Seren?” Sly asked the healer.

She hummed in thought “Hey lend me your wolf I’ll go ask around the other shops”.

Sly frowned “Don’t pull his fur and don’t let anybody else touch him…Don’t wanna be held accountable for lost limbs…or lives…“ he patted the direwolf’s neck “Go with her, don’t kill, bite, scratch, trash, pummel, throw, drop or injure in any way you got that you bastard?”.

The Direwolf stared Sly in the eye momentarily before growling “No pulling fur…” it responded.

Kyle and Seren stared at the beast in shock “It talks!?” they both reacted with.

Sly chuckled “He didn’t before the bond, you heard him Seren no playing with his fur or the tail either to be frank…”.

Seren frowned “Can I pet it at least?”, Sly shook his head as he sighed “Whatever, don’t blame me if you lose an arm”.

Seren put on a victorious smile as she petted the wolf’s snout “We’ll be good friends won’t we?” she asked the wolf, Kurt whined as it tried to step away in fear but was unable as Seren held it’s snout in a vice like grip “Aww it’s purring, come on doggy” she turned away just as Kurt spun around to run.

Seren grabbed hold of it’s tail and pulled the huge wolf with her as she walked, Kurt whined and howled out at Sly the whole time as it scratched at the ground trying to escape.

“Will it…be okay?” Kyle asked as he watched the pitiful scene.

Sly shrugged “It’s a direwolf not a dog, what could she possibly do to it?”.

They both turned to enter the Generalmart, Kyle spied Seren pulling Kurt towards the dye store before walking in.

“Yo I’ll go ahead and pick class you go turn in that fried hare” Sly waved as he walked off towards the staircase, “Yeah…Alright” Kyle responded.

He glanced around at the mostly empty Generalmart, (“Has everyone heard what’s going on?”) he wondered as he watched a handful of adventurers walking around not including his guild.

Walking towards one of the desks he opened his inventory and tapped at the almost hairless Snow Blur, it leaped off onto another inventory slot.

Kyle grimaced as he raised both hands, using the left he made the hare leap away and almost immediately after he tapped with the right just as the beast entered the slot.

He grabbed the Snow Blur as it hovered limp in front of him, closing his inventory he approached the salesman he had spoken to before “Here’s the blur” he raised the hare into the desk.

The salesman stared down at the poor Snow Blur in amazement “What ha-” he coughed his throat clear “Very well, I’ll handle it from here sir” he took the hare into his arms and it disappeared into a white mist that quickly dissipated. “Here is your reward sir” he forwarded both hands open towards him as suddenly a small cloth pouch appeared in one and a red orb-like gem in the other.

Kyle wordlessly took the rewards and dumped the coin pouch into his inventory, he momentarily stared at the class gem “What do you know about companions dying?” he then suddenly asked the salesman.

The man’s eyes widened in shock as the other salespersons that overheard glanced towards Kyle, “Sir I’m sorry but…a companionship contract is…a bond beyond death. If you’ve lost your companion you will be unable to contract with another, due to your companion’s soul still being bound to you…” the salesman bowed slightly “My condolences”.

“The soul of the companion remains bound to the master correct?” Kyle continued to question him, he straightened up and returned to his earlier professional demeanour “Yes…You may see that fact by opening your companion window” he explained.

Kyle remained expressionless as he stared at the man “Can companions be revived somehow then?”, the salesman shook his head “They cannot, their bodies are gone and to recreate a body that perfectly matches the soul…it is impossible without a Deity’s assistance”.

Kyle’s eyes narrowed “What Deities is there?”, a spark of hope within his voice.

The salesman shook his head once more “If you wish to learn about the Deities you should speak to a priest, unfortunately this continent is free of the religious and only the capital holds a place of worship”.

Kyle frowned “Why is that?” (“I’ve had my suspicions but..”) he thought he knew the reason but didn’t want to come down to that conclusion yet.

“The Elves worshipped the Goddess of nature, the HalfBeasts worshipped The Ancients, the Dwarves worshipped the God of steel, the Scalarians worshipped the God of fire and the Humans worshipped the twin Gods of light and darkness while shunning their older brother the God of shadows” the salesman explained“But none of them came to our aide when the demons and Devils appeared, none but the God of Fae who was betrayed by his own daughter the one you saw earlier today, the one we call Goddess of envy.

Oberon he was called, Deity and King of the Fae races. Along with the gathered heroes of each blessed race they fought the Dezol demon legions on the old Dwarven continent of Ruk, a shared continent. You see once the Dwarves and Fae lived together within Ruk, the Fae lived above with nature while the Dwarves lived beneath with the earth” he paused “The Fae disappeared first”.

The salesman crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he continued his telling “The demons appeared out of nowhere, corrupting and devouring all Fae in their path. The Fae Queen Titania, Goddess of blades…fought hard to defend her people as some escaped off the continent trying to make it through the ocean…In the meantime the Dwarves locked themselves inside their forts and hid…nobody knows what happened to them next…Some say the Devil Kings joined the fighting…it was a massacre”.

Kyle stared down at the desk as the salesman continued to speak “We worship none of the Gods because there is no point worshipping a being who won’t defend you in your time of need, very little still believe in their power…” he sighed, “I’m sorry for your loss but that is all I know, if you want further information on the Deities then head to Eslet but don’t get your hopes up adventurer” the man explained.

Kyle nodded “One last question, what happened to Oberon?”.

The salesman’s expression became downcast “After leading what remained of his people and the Dwarves to our continent of Barik, he gathered the heroes of the Blade, Spear, Arrow, Frost and Darkness. They fought back the demon legions who crossed the ocean chasing after Oberon but he was captured in battle due to his daughter’s betrayal and dragged away to sea…The legions never returned after that…not until now at least…”.

Kyle glanced at the other salespersons and their expressions “What will you do now?”.

The man grimaced “We’ll fight if we have to, die if we must. This is our home, our relief from the Elven Empire, relief from the Orc Horde, relief from the Ogre Dynasty”.

“Will none of them help you defend yourselves?” Kyle pushed for more information but suddenly another individual joined the conversation, “The racial kingdoms do not care for us, we are out-laws, fugitives, human friendly or simply…human” a grizzled old man walked up to the counter.

“They are too busy defending their own beaches from the Devil Kings, we already have demonic presence on our continent. They have no use for already corrupted land, for a weaker chess piece than the ones they already control” the man was entirely human looking within his sixties but still fairly fit, he wore rusty old chain mail with leather armour beneath it and had a short sword strapped to his side.

“What brings you to these parts sir?” the salesman asked the old man, a pleased smile on his face. “Duty…and personal” he answered grimly, “I rushed here the moment I heard the news, the capital is in disarray”.

Kyle frowned at the old man’s statement “The capital? Has the news reached it already?” he asked, a confused expression on his face.

The old man chuckled “Son the Dominion has agents all over the continent, how do you think they control such a free kingdom? Damn politics…” he looked around at the salesman “Here’s the request, pass it on to your manager as soon as you can” he handed the salesman a white scroll of paper rolled around two expertly crafted wooden handles with a sword’s pummel at each end.

“I shall immediately, sir is there anything else you may require of me?” the salesman asked Kyle, “No I’m done here, thank you” Kyle replied before turning away and began heading towards the staircase.

“Hey kid” suddenly the old man called out to him, Kyle glanced back “Yeah?”.

The old man was staring directly at him as he stood straight with arms crossed, with his grey short hair and cold green eyes Kyle thought he looked like some old war veteran.

The old man stared at him with a frown “What’s your name?” he finally asked, “Kyllix, you?” Kyle asked back.

“Draxxer, Draxxer Blade of the Esfeltian military. Tell me Kyllix, what do you think of the Goddess you spoke to earlier?” Draxxer stared him straight in the eye awaiting an answer, Kyle smirked (“So that’s how it is…”) “Your people’s use of the words ‘God’, ‘Goddess’ and ‘Immortal’ is unreasonable, they don’t need an army to destroy a continent. That being isn’t all powerful” his eyes became sharp and wide just as before he spoke with complete seriousness albeit the smile “That means she can bleed, if she can bleed then she can feel pain and if she can feel pain…” he let it trail off and turned to walk away.

Draxxer chuckled “The larger they are the harder they fall huh?” he mused, he turned to walk out of the building. Just before Kyle began climbing the stairs he glanced back at Draxxer and inspected him

Draxxer [Blademaster]-[{Beast of Chaos}] (Hero of the blessed blade) ???

Kyle’s eyes widened in surprise as he quickly turned and rushed after Draxxer, he stepped out of the Generalmart and looked outside. He looked around the small amount of town folk but Draxxer was gone, (“That format…name…classes…title…level…A player?...Beast of Chaos, Hero...”) Kyle’s mind raced with questions “What the fuck’s going on?!” he groaned as he rubbed his forehead.

“Yo Kyll what’s up?” Kyle turned to find Sly frowning at him, “He…I…there…” Kyle groaned in annoyance once again “I have a headache…” he rubbed his eyes.

Sly shrugged “I didn’t see you come up so I thought something was wrong, came down to check on you all but the others are still gathering information and you’re just standing around here bitching about headaches. What happened?” he chuckled as he spoke.

Kyle sighed “A lot, I’ll tell you all after I’ve put my head back together…I’m off to get my class” he walked around Sly and headed back to the staircase which he ascended. (“I figured he was someone important from that scroll and the speed at which he appeared here…All the way from the capital? How far is that? Teleportation? Some insane travel method? Not just that but…is he of this world? Or ours?”) Kyle contemplated the recent and sudden events as he climbed the stairs.

He stopped the moment he reached the top and studied the second floor, in the very middle was a single large obelisk similar to the ones in the plaza, except this one held each of the weapon statues as a single one. To one far side of the second floor was a large bar with half a dozen bartenders behind it, the rest of the floor was full of tables, mostly small round tables but a couple long ones lined the sides by the wall.

The place was fairly packed with players, almost half the tables were full and the atmosphere couldn’t be any more depressing. He walked up to the obelisk “Yo Kyll” suddenly Skill called out to him from one of the circular tables, Kyle turned and walked in his direction “Hey, was about to unlock my class”.

Skill hummed in thought as he stared emptily “Just sit down, you can interact with it from anywhere around here by focusing on it” he explained while continuing to stare, Kyle figured he was staring at some window “What you up to?” he asked as he pulled back a chair and sat down.

“Looking at the map, something just doesn’t make sense” Skill explained, “What doesn’t make sense?” Kyle opened his own map out of curiosity.

“It says this town is called something which I can’t pronounce for the life of me but the locals call it Frosthold, is my map wrong?” Skill explained his dilemma.

“Maybe the town got its name changed? Your map info might be old news” Kyle reasoned while putting away his map.

“Yeah you might be right, what’s the point of a town having two names” he shrugged “So what class you going for? Some unique shit Sly was talking about earlier, what did you guys get your hands on?” he asked with curiosity.

Kyle glanced at the obelisk and suddenly the class gem in his hand lit up bright red “A que- mission I completed for someone, got my hands on a legendary item which granted me and Sly the chance of unlocking a unique class within the Lord category, after we paid a hefty fee that is…” a window opened in front of him

“What happens when I pick a class exactly?” he asked as he stared at his only current option.

Skill bent his head back as he hummed in thought “Difficult to explain…different for everyone…there is only one similarity though, we all had a trial to pass. Like I got transported to some forest or some shit and when I came back it was like time hadn’t even passed, same goes for the others it all happened in an instant” he explained “Sly had the weirdest one I’ve heard of so far, some crap about ether…ethir…ethereal! Yeah that, some shit about ethereal beings. Don’t even get me to pronounce what he called them cause boy I’ll slit your throat” he joked.

“Trial huh?” Kyle glanced up at his indifferent expression then stared back at the class (“Lord of Slime…a timeless trial…”) a shiver went down his spine as he remembered his last encounter with slimes, “Fuck it let’s go” he gave up pondering on it.

Skill smirked “See you in a moment” he made a peace sign with his right hand, Kyle slowly tapped acquire (“Please don’t be t-”) his thoughts were cut midway as reality suddenly blacked out.

Kyle felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing and smelled nothing, not even the feeling of drifting in empty space or the feeling of any part of his body at all. He felt nothing, he only was.

His thoughts the only semblance of existence he still held (“What is this…where…”) he scrambled his mind trying to understand what had occurred.

(“Listen to it trying to understand”) a voice suddenly spoke but he heard nothing, he heard it but he did not.

(“Telepathy?”) Kyle thought as he recovered from his surprise, (“Who or what are you”) he asked.

(“It doesn’t understand but it knows”) the voice spoke again, Kyle felt strange listening to it as it sounded familiar but he couldn’t understand how.

(“It has doubts but it also holds truths”) the voice riddled, Kyle quickly grew tired of it (“I don’t have time for your riddles, what are you”).

Suddenly Kyle could feel his body “Wha…” he heard his own voice as he spoke, realisation came upon him “You’re…”.

The voice chuckled “I am not you child, worry not for that is true” the voice reassured.

“Then why do you…sound like me?” Kyle asked as he tried to feel around the darkness.

“I sound like what you believe my being would sound like” the voice answered, “More riddles…” Kyle sighed as he crouched down to feel the ground. “Where is this…” he asked as he felt nothing below his feet but stood above something nonetheless, “This? This is what you believe it to be, what you want it to be, sometimes what you cannot control it from being” the voice answered back in another riddle.

Kyle stood back up “This is my mind” he answered “What are you” he quickly questioned the voice again, suddenly he felt a hand on his left shoulder and reached out to it but felt nothing but his own shoulder when he did.

“I? I use to have a name, my kind use to have many. None of which you will know or understand, none of which matter anymore” the voice answered sadly, “Are you a God?” Kyle asked as his body began to tense.

“No” the voice answered bluntly “We are neither Gods nor Devils, we are neither good or evil, strong or weak, we simply are. We share only a single with them, we are immortal but we are also mortal. We never die yet we do, we are an existence of the physical and of spirit yet separate” the voice continued to riddle, Kyle thought hard over this one causing the voice to chuckle in amusement “I know what you are but at the same time I do not, I know you are a slime yet I do not know what a slime is” he answered.

The voice chuckled once more but this time it was no longer Kyle’s voice, it had changed and warped as if static on a radio “You speak true. We are the embodiment of misunderstanding, the soul of knowledge”.

Kyle dared not take a step as he recovered from the surprise that came with this change “Misunderstanding… wrong… knowledge… truth…” his mind raced to put things together “You are fake yet you are real… you exist yet you do not… emotion?... no… faith… neither…”. Kyle ignored the darkness as he closed his eyes and let his arms fall to his sides, he focused on one thing and one thing only, thought.

“Your body and soul both exist yet are separate therefore are not a complete living being, you are consciousness. You are the understanding of your own existence separate from your physical body, the slime is the physical body while you are it’s thoughts. It is reason while you are it’s sentience…” Kyle answered where his thoughts took him, he broke down the riddles and changed the main words indicated into their synonyms or further.

A second hand held onto his other shoulder as the voice suddenly spoke from behind him “Yes, that I am. That is what I am, thank you.” it spoke as if it itself had forgotten “You have passed the trial, now I shall give you what you passed for although the reward was unknown to you” the voice suddenly began speaking in some strange language as it made sounds impossible to pronounce while leaving blanks where it didn’t sound like it should have.

“You are of ours now, as such you require a name of ours. This name will hold your power, your existence, your reality. Go forth child for I name you” the hands suddenly pushed Kyle forward as he no longer felt the ground beneath him.

“Kyle Dean, Kyllix Void”

Kyle fell through the unending abyss of darkness as the voice echoed his name.