Chapter 32 - Introductions

Not long after they’d pulled the corpse into the woods for a private lunch, Trey was munching down ravenously. His two minions ate in a curious trance while they watched their master go to town, not sure what to make of this human.

“You have gained 1 strength from consuming a fresh kill.”

“This is a suitable amount of money.”

Trey turned his head, wiping the blood, grease and gastric juices from his mouth onto his forearm and scooting over to watch Atharost counting the coins. There were a couple of different types: the typical bronze, silver and gold that he’d expect to see in a game like this.

“Mind if I see one of those bronze?” Trey called out, placing a palm upwards and outstretched. Atharost promptly placed it in his master’s hand, and the very moment that bronze hit Trey’s skin - another notification popped up.

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System Message:

This is your first time interacting with money in-game. Please take time to memorize the following information.

Across both the Nirvana Worlds in Beta and the Labyrinth Worlds of the finished product, you will encounter a number of valuables that make up the economic demographics of this universe. I, the All Spirit, have set up numerous altars where people can not only pray... but can also exchange money for goods. Goods at these altars are cycled out at random every month, each altar having different randomized varieties at any given time at a maximum of 100 spawned items. From clothes and food, to pets and weapons, you will be able to purchase valuables from me with the game’s currencies. Keep in mind, these altars usually grant up to an item quality of (10) Epic in normal circumstances, with most items ranging far below that. Exceptions do apply at random. When the items for that month run out, they will not be refreshed until the beginning of the next month.

In this way I have given a base value to many items in-game. However, All Spirit altars are hard to find and far between… so levels of inflation or even deflation are still found in various territories.

In your gaming experience, you will find out that aside from mining the needed materials - you will also be able to kill Spree units that drop currency from their cores. Killing other Earthborn will also result in a currency drop based on their danger rating, the higher the rating the more money will drop.

The following system is all relative to a single U.S. Dollar, is simple, and straightforward. One more time: there will be inflation and deflation based on what territory you are in. Good luck in your endeavors, and here is the generalized or averaged set up for in-game currency concerning relative prices at the All Spirit altars:

1 copper = 1 dollar 1 silver = 10 copper = 10 dollars 1 gold = 10 silver = 100 copper = 100 dollars 1 platinum = 10 gold = 100 silver = 1000 dollars 1 nethma = 10 platinum = 100 gold = 1000 silver = 10,000 dollars

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“Yo, how much do we got?” Trey called out, closing the notification and looking to Atharost. “You count it yet?”

Atharost was chewing on one of the biceps of the recently deceased corpse and nodded after swallowing. “3 gold, 22 silver, 15 copper.”

Trey did the math, beginning to eat again. 535 good old American dolla bills was the equivalent.

But Trey didn’t know how much that was truly worth here, considering inflation was a thing. Was this a poor country? If it was, the money was worth even more than the All Spirit’s average. If it was a rich country however, it’d be likely that items’ prices would skyrocket and he’d have a hard time living on that meager amount of money for long. The same concepts were true back on Earth where a dollar bill in the United States was not much, while taking that same dollar bill to a 3rd world country increased its value tremendously. So what was the relative pricing here?

[English Dialect] “Hello…?”

Trey perked up and immediately whirled around at the sound of spoken English. Other than the All Spirit or Sithis speaking into his mind, he hadn’t heard anyone talk in his native tongue aloud.

The source of the word was a blonde man Trey’d never seen before. He was rather tall, muscular, and even Trey could tell he was handsome. He usually couldn’t tell with other guys... but this one was obvious, and the newcomer stood staring at him with a slightly disgusted and questioning look.

Trey started to speak but he immediately realized there was still a piece of the culn’s abdominal muscles hanging out of his mouth. He spit the food out and wiped the blood on his arm, standing up spitting a couple more times just as the infernal jaws disappeared to reveal his normal facial features underneath… excluding the horns and eyes that never seemed to go away no matter what he tried.

[English Dialect] “You speak English?” Trey asked a moment later, folding his arms and cocking his head to one side.

Jason blinked, slowly nodding and taking in the gruesome scene rather well... considering what he’d already been through that day. [English Dialect] “Uh… are you from Earth too? I know the All Spirit talked about… other people coming. Are you one of them?”

They held one another’s gaze until Trey broke into a grin. He stepped forward and held out a hand. “Name’s Trey. I’m from Dallas, Texas. What about you?”

“Los Angeles!” Jason said, relieved and taking Trey’s hand to shake it despite the blood covering Trey’s limb. “Oh my god, I wasn’t sure if I’d heard you right when you came out of that portal earlier! Jesus man, I can’t believe this is happening to me…”

“Pshh. You’re telling me.” Trey laughed, then gestured to his minions. “This is Atharost, and this is Rivia. You’ll meet Napoleon in a few days after he respawns, he’s the imp that died early on in the fight. He’s a cheeky bastard but I like him, and I think you will too.”

Jason waved to Trey’s minions curiously, letting his eyes linger on Rivia. “So… they’re yours?”

Trey nodded.

Jasun cocked his head to one side. “Minions? I thought I’d read something about that when I first got here, something concerning Willpower and minions, that is.”

Trey nodded again. “I was able to become an ‘infernal summoner’ class. It allows me to make pacts with demons.”

Jason had guessed as much and he was more than a little envious of the power Trey wielded. “Huh. I haven’t gotten any opportunities to get a class yet. Not even one. I wonder how that all works out.”

Trey shrugged and invited Jason to sit. Jason did so and pretended not to care as Trey dug into the half-eaten corpse of the culn soldier.

“I started out in Oblivion, got killed like twelve times or something. It really sucked, but I ended up having some opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.” Trey muttered between bites during the gruesome display of carnivorous consumption.

Jason took time to consider what Trey was saying and shook his head in disbelief. “You died? Seriously? I’ve been wondering what it would be like, or if it was even a real thing. How’d it feel?”

“How do you think it fucking felt!? What kind of question is that!?” Trey yelled. He hadn’t been able to control the anger that flared in him at the stupidity of those words, but he knew Jason didn’t mean any harm by it. “Ugh… Sorry man. I really don’t like thinking about it. Each time… was painful beyond anything you’ve experienced. The worst was being mocked after a drawn out battle before death, it hurt my pride… but being eaten is pretty bad too. There was this gargoyle when I first arrived that ate me a couple times and I could literally feel myself torn apart bit by bit while simultaneously suffocating and being digested before it all went black. It was terrible, and I don’t want to ever experience it again if I don’t have to.”

The awkward silence ensuing the reply was enough to even make Atharost uncomfortable. The ifrit’s eyes shifted from Earthborn to Earthborn and he gradually went back to eating in solemn silence. Rivia just watched, unspeaking and unmoving from where she’d eaten a tiny piece of pectoral muscle from the culn warrior’s corpse.

“Uh… I didn’t mean to bring up a touchy subject.” Jason let off an apologetic smile. Noticing the blood along the faces and hands of the three others sitting with him, he thought he’d let them know about where to bathe.

“There’s a stream out by Borthome’s house in the woods. You can clean yourselves off there, and probably should do it before you meet his family. They lost someone… so they’re going through a hard time as it is, and don’t need you all scaring them senseless.”

Trey frowned sadly, licking the blood off his own fingers and nodding. “Sorry… Do you know Borthome? I’m supposed to meet him tonight for a place to stay...”

Jason nodded happily and laughed. “Yes I do! I may have just started dating his daughter… but I’m still trying to figure that out! I was actually the one who recommended to Borthome that we give you a place to stay… given that you were likely Earthborn.”

Trey let out a humph. That was a little overly trusting.

From around the trunk of a large tree a small rabbit hopped into view. The cute little thing poked its head around one of the large trunks and twitched its nose at them only to have the ifrit’s tail strike out and lacerate the rabbit’s neck. It was a clean kill, and Atharost got up to claim the little creature before walking over and presenting it to Jason as a sign of friendship.

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “For you. Even if you are a lowly human.” Atharost stated, giving the most forced smile Trey’d ever witnessed. It was hard for him not to laugh.

Jason tried not to scowl in disgust but graciously accepted the carcass with a forced smile of his own and a nervous laugh. When Atharost was satisfied that he’d done his part in making peace, he sat back down and began eating some more of the culn.

Jason gave Trey a curious look, still holding the small animal’s carcass in his hands as warm blood trickled down his fingers, but he didn’t get any explanations. Trey only watched and smirked, and Jason had absolutely no idea what the large intimidating demon had just said.

[English Dialect] “So… how long have you been eating people?” Jason asked with genuine interest, though he was still quite disgusted. He put the rabbit carcass down on the ground but quickly picked it back up when Atharost stopped what he was doing to gaze questioningly at the blond man.

Trey nearly choked on a piece of meat due to laughter after catching Jason’s expression, swallowed, and then coughed. He shook his head in disagreement. [English Dialect] Culn are not people. They are animals, but I’ve had a serious change of appetite ever since I acquired my demonic traits.”

“Oh?” Jason said, still curious. He glanced to Rivia, who was picking through her food slowly and not making eye contact. “Don’t you have one of those culn helping you?”

The question got a sinister chuckle that seriously made Jason question Trey’s sanity. Eventually Trey did reply, though it wasn’t what Jason had been expecting.

“She was forced into a contract. She’s basically a slave.”

Jason’s jaw dropped and he immediately became angry. How could Trey force someone else into a contract? Slavery wasn’t right. He looked back to Rivia, then to Trey. “What the actual fuck? Dude, that’s just wrong!”

Trey spat in Rivia’s direction, glaring at her a moment. “They’re not even real, just pieces of code.”

“We don’t know that!” Jason protested only to receive a glare of his own. “Plus, if they’re code then so are we! Have you thought about it like that? Do you feel any less alive?!”

“They killed me in cold blood.” Trey angrily stated. He didn’t falter at all under Jason’s accusing stare. “Along with the few friends I had in Oblivion. When I finally escaped that fucking gargoyle’s lair after being used as a god damn chew toy for who knows how fucking long… I got to one of the culn facilities. It was like a processing plant, they were growing these big larva things in cesspools and feeding humans as well as dwarves to them alive. I tried to get them out… but the culn caught us in the mountain pass.”

Trey spit again and clenched his fists in rage. “I still remember Farthom… the old man I promised I’d get out. He had his granddaughter with him… she was just a little girl. Less than 10 years old. Her name was Inis and she was the cutest kid you’d ever seen!”

Trey’s voice wavered as he spoke, a knot in his throat had formed and the hot searing rage just wouldn’t go away.

“I… I tried and I couldn’t do it. The culn found us and killed all of them… including me. When I finally woke up again, and after dying a couple more times due to my own stupidity, I finally found out where those mother FUCKERS lived.” Trey slammed a fist into the ground, quivering in anger and ignoring the glances his minions were giving him as Jason listened intently.

“So… I snuck in. I killed their leader. I killed his soon to be wife. I slaughtered them just like they slaughtered those innocent people... I don’t know how many, but it was a lot. And you know what? They deserved what they got. I found some of them drunk and asleep after a feast where they’d strung up my body and had been eating humans alive or taking turns raping the women. Even my father… Even he would have been disgusted, and he’s a fucking mafia boss. Then, when I found THIS bitch-”

Trey slapped Rivia across the face with his tail, surprising her with a loud clapping sound and causing her to yelp. She sat there in stunned silence, not knowing what they’d been talking about and starting to shake. She was too afraid to move lest she make her master angry and her lips began quivering again.

“She tried to stab me with a knife. I broke her arm, broke her nose, and forced her into submission.” Trey continued, his anger receding slowly but steadily as he got ahold of himself. Then he gestured to the ifrit. “And… I met Atharost here too. He saved my life, though not on purpose. When I saved his life in turn, he pledged himself to me… signing a contract to become my minion.”

Jason didn’t even know where to begin. There were so many things that were just… that were just so wrong with this story. Eating humans? Feeding them to larva-like creatures, or being put on display for the culn to do it themselves? Is that what these cultists had intended for Elise and her family?

Holy shit…

“These minions are my property.” Trey finally stated confidently, crossing his arms and legs to sit indian-style in a posture as if daring Jason to contest his right. “As is the imp when he gets back. My class revolves around dominating minions and I will do whatever the fuck I want with them. I treat Atharost and Napoleon kindly because they were kind to me, but this culn wench? She deserves what she got. If I want to use them to fight, I’ll do it. If I want to use them for labor, I’ll do it. If I want to sacrifice them, I’ll do it. Don’t talk to me about what I can and cannot do.”

Neither Rivia nor Atharost could understand the conversation but both could see that it was headed in a downward spiral... based on Jason’s facial expressions and Trey’s body language.

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “Is everything alright, master?” Atharost asked hesitantly, dropping his food and folding his arms.

Trey nodded but kept his eyes on Jason, waiting to see what the blonde man would say.

A long drawn out exhale left Jason’s lips. He leaned back, looking up into the blue sky between the treetops. Dropping his chin to examine Trey again, he started off with a grimace. [English Dialect] “I think we got off on the wrong foot. Look man... Honestly I think what you’re doing is kind of fucked up. I disagree with slavery to my very core, and now that I think about it… your class is itself just a fancy name for ‘slaver.’ But you’re right… They are YOUR minions. If this really all is just a game then maybe you’re fine for doing it. Anyways... let’s get off this subject, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to say thank you for coming to help us. You could’ve just ran, but instead you stayed and fought. For all I know, the people I’ve grown to like very much could have all been eaten by the culn you seem to hate. So… Thanks.”

Jason put out a hand again with a genuine smile. “Would you be interested in binding to this forest’s runestone?”

Trey wasn’t sure if he trusted Jason, but he was absolutely sure he’d be able to beat him in a fight. With Atharost on his side, he doubted Jason would try anything either. So he took Jason at face value and with an accepting half-smile of his own he shook Jason’s hand again.

“Absolutely. No way in hell I want to end back in Oblivion if I die again, I’m not even sure if I’d be able to get back. So please, lead the way.”

***

A large hole had been dug for Mattis near the house Elise and her family lived in. His immediate family was unknown to him, and he’d grown up an orphan... so no one other than his widowed wife Corela and her kin were there to set him into the ground.

Corela’s lips trembled and a tear fell onto the charred remains of her husband as she said her final goodbye. “I love you, Mattis. So, so much. You left me too soon... and I hope with all of my heart that we meet again in the afterlife…”

Corela turned and buried her face in her mother’s chest and continued to tremble. Her father, Borthome, sadly picked up the dead man and gently set him down in the grave. He had been a writer, a farmer, a kind husband, and a good man.

The hillside they’d chosen to bury the man had been his favorite spot to sit and write. It overlooked the rest of the village and Corela had spent many, many hours over the past two years sitting with him on this hill. Because of the recent atrocities committed, with the ruin left in the wake of the attack, their tiny community wasn’t as pretty as it had once been from this high up… but it was still the place Corela had insisted on.

[English Dialect] “What are they doing?” Trey asked softly, watching the small group from afar along the wood’s edge. They’d just come back after binding at the Mehre Forest Runestone. The trek through the forest had been a long one, but Trey was glad to be anchored to somewhere other than Oblivion. A great sense of relief had washed over him as soon as it’d finished processing, and his status page was updated to reflect the new bound point.

“Some sort of ritual for the dead… not sure beyond that.” Jason replied. The family was placing candles out in rings around the hole, lighting incense and starting to clap in unison while they continued to mourn. Faster and faster the clapping went until they lifted their hands into the air simultaneously - and froze.

They stood like that for some time, not knowing they were being watched. Eventually, Corela screamed to break the silence and began wailing, driven to her knees with her loss bearing down on her. She hugged her pregnant belly and sobbed for what seemed like an eternity before Jason and Trey felt like it was ok to approach.

[Human Dialect] “Jason! Did you find-” Elise began while running forward and stopped short when she saw Trey. The redhead’s bare feet slowed to a walk, and she seemed a little anxious with a glance at Atharost.

Her little brother, her two sisters and her parents all turned in unison. Estela held her eldest daughter Corela as the woman weeped for the loss of her husband, but her sorrow was more controlled now and she was able to contain herself upon seeing the arrival of Jason.

[Human Dialect] “I… am sorry for your loss Corela.” Jason humbly bowed his head. “If there was something I could say that would make it better, I would… but I know they are just words, and words cannot bring Mattis back. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

Corela acknowledged the gesture with a nod and wiped the tears away on her sleeve.

[Human Dialect] “I see you found him. Is he from your world after all?” Borthome remarked, stepping ahead of his family and walking over. He pat Jason on the shoulder with the blonde man nodding yes and looked Trey over, a little hesitant with the two demons flanking him.

“My name is Borthome, and this is my family. I would like to thank you for your help in freeing us, and you are more than welcome to stay under my roof while you find your place in the world. What is your name?”

Jason took the time to translate for Trey, explaining to Elise and her family that Trey’d spawned in Oblivion and had learned the demon tongue as his innate language instead of human tongue because of it. Trey smiled and extended a hand of friendship which Borthome took in stride, appreciating the hulking man’s firm grip and confidence.

[English Dialect] “Tell them my name is Trey, and tell them that I owe them a favor for their kindness. Also, tell them that I am sorry… for not being able to do more.” Trey bowed to them in appreciation, trying to be as respectful as possible. He knew it would be hard to lose loved ones. Although he had a knack for violence, even though he could be a ruthless son of a bitch and his morals were sometimes questionable, he couldn’t stomach it when truly innocent people got hurt.

The culn had deserved to be killed. The cultists had deserved to be killed. Rivia had deserved her enslavement. But these people, just like the prisoners back in Oblivion. They had done nothing to warrant what had happened to them. It made him both angry and sad to think about it… because he was powerless to change it. He couldn’t rationalize it, couldn’t excuse what had happened, and it made him furious.

Smiles and kind words were exchanged between the two groups and even Trey’s minions were involved. Within the hour, Borthome and his family had led Trey back home to one of the only cabins in the village that hadn’t been ransacked. They began to fix up a meal, exchange stories with Jason as an interpreter, and laughed late into the night while making the very first efforts in teaching Trey their language.