*Clink* *Clink* *Clink*

The sound of a metal shovel digging into the ground. The tip of the shovel kept pressing into the rocks underneath the surface.

A solemn faced young man was standing in a grave that was only a few feet deep.

The young mans face was puffy and his eyes were bloodshot from shedding to many tears.

I had been digging for hours…the sound of the shovel smashing into the rocks…the wind rustling the trees…the atmosphere was too calm.

“He fucking died…He really died.”

I couldn’t believe it actually happened. My master was dead. Every time I thought the word my body seemed to tense up.

Gor’thak was…well Gor’thak. I couldn’t even fathom anything killing that man.

I had only known the man for a week and he already held a place in my heart. Gor’thak was my future goal.

I believed that he was the strongest man alive. He was the conqueror. The hero…no the savior of my race.

“Gaaahhhhh!” I yelled.

I picked up the shovel and smashed it into the ground over and over again. Digging this grave was the only way he was able to vent his frustration.

For digging a deep hole. +1 Str, Vit, and End

I looked up at the message that popped up in front of my eyes. ‘This game is mocking me.’ I thought.

I swung my shovel at the blue box, but nothing happened. The shovel merely slid through the imaginary box and hit the ground below.

When I picked the tool back up and tossed it to the side of the grave the dirt had a small indent the size of the shovels tip.

Maneuvering my way over to the edge of the hole I pressed my foot against the dirt wall and pushed myself up and onto the field.

Gor’thaks body was wrapped up in some sheets I found inside of his cottage.

I stared down at the unmoving mass. If I pretended for second I could almost hear his annoying voice.

The stupid way he never used ‘I’ and how he referred to himself in the third person all the time.

I had so many things that I hated about him…so many things.

I hated the way he thought he was the most important and the most powerful person in the world.

I hated the way he trained me by going above and beyond…beating the shit out of me.

I hated the way he treated me like an incompetent idiot.

I hate…I hate…I hate that he died without saying goodbye.

I hate that he left me all alone.

“Come back, please.” I pleaded with the lifeless mummy as I kneeled down beside it.

I stared at the wrapped up corpse for a few minutes before finally giving up. My master wasn’t coming back…he was gone.

Picking up the Gor’thaks body I hauled him over to the edge of the grave and dropped him in the hole.

I didn’t have any fancy electronic mechanism to lower him gracefully into the grave and he was dead so I figured he would forgive me.

The shovel felt lighter than it was before. I couldn’t figure out why, but with each clump of dirt I tossed into the grave the lighter it became.

Soon the hole was nothing but a memory as I patted down the mound of dirt with the tip of my shovel.

I sat in front of my master’s grave. I hadn’t yet found a stone of piece of wood to serve as a marker. That was something I would go about finding later.

Now that the hole was finished I had no way to vent my pent up rage and frustration.

I needed to focus on something, but the only goal I had in front of me was way to long term.

I needed to become a lot stronger in order to take on the Verathan King and his soldiers.

‘Meditation’ The thought popped into my mind.

The seven pathways meditation had always made me feel calmer and more relaxed. That was exactly what I needed.

I took a deep breath and focused on the sounds around me. The rush of the wind as it exited the dense forest and soared to freedom across the dense field in front of my master’s cottage.

My mind started to quiet down as it was lulled into a state of meditation. I could feel my worries starting to wash away.

A thought popped up in my head…more like an image. It was a picture of my Gor’thaks lifeless body the first time I found him.

Damaged Soul -50 HP

I let out a muffled cry as I felt the pain in my chest. It was unlike any pain that I had ever felt in my life.

My soul was literally crying out in pain.

I knew that I had made some mistake somewhere in my meditation to have caused such significant damage.

I needed to meditate though…I needed the calmness it provided.

Taking another deep breath I focused on the sounds around me and on the swaying trees that I could see a few hundred feet in front of me.

I descended deeper and deeper into my meditative state, but the longer I meditated the more ugly raging emotions and horrid pictures would pop up.

Damaged Soul -75 HP

There has to be a way to do this. To break through and stop the thoughts form interrupting my trance.

I focused on the sounds around me with all my might. I strained my senses to the max.

I flooded my mana to the uppermost point in the seven pathways.

Suddenly I could hear farther than I could before…the leaves on the tree’s had so much more detail.

The world around me became so much clearer to me and for the briefest of moments I forgot about everything….my master…my grief…everything.

For taking continuous soul damage you have been knocked unconscious - 30 Minutes.

I felt my body go limp and fall to the ground. I was cast out of Ethaessa and woke up in the black void that served as the border between the real world and the fake one.

I couldn’t bring myself to get out of my pod. The blackness of the void felt oddly comforting to me.

My master left me alone, but in the void I was truly alone. No was around to see me cry or laugh…or just sit in silence.

Thirty minutes had passed fairly quickly. Soon I heard the familiar dinging noise that alerted me that I could now log back in.

Welcome to Ethaessa

The window popped up like a light in the midst of the valley of darkness. It pulled me out of my emotional stupor.

I lifted my hand slowly and pressed my finger against the ‘Log In’ button that was right below the welcome icon.

I felt a sharp pain in my chest as my avatar came to life. Apparently, I had not completely recovered from the massive damage I had taken to my soul.

I stood up slowly and looked around…the area was filled with a massive amount of people.

I could barely see a few feet in front of me. Hundreds…maybe even thousands of Cherubim were gathered on the field.

I stumbled forward towards my masters grave, but ended up being blocked by several Cherubs.

“Wait your turn youngling.” “No cutting in line.” “Who the hell are you.”

Being greeted by so many different voices made me really want to know what was going on. When I had been knocked out I was alone, but now that I was back it was almost like all the Cherubim had come to invade my space.

I tried to weave my way around and make my way to the grave, but I blocked at every turn. I started to get really pissed off.

I just wanted to finish Gor’thaks gravestone and get the hell out of here so I could forget.

Someone bumped into my shoulder. “Watch it, kid.” I heard the mans voice, but all I felt was my anger rise another few notches of the scale and turn into full-fledged rage.

I grabbed my hands to my head and inhaled the largest amount of air that my stomach could hold and then I screamed.

“KAIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!”

My voice was like thunder as it scared the crap out of everyone in a hundred foot radius.

“Get out of the way and let me get to my master’s grave.” I called out.

The cherubs around him started to move back and clear a path and I walked the short distance to the mound of dirt that was sticking out of the ground.

Beside the mound of dirt was a group of flying cherubs. They all were the size of children, but had the faces of old men and woman.

The group of older men and one woman turned to stare at me. “You dare interrupt the sacred burial of our savior.” The most senile of the men yelled.

“You dare trample on the ground of my masters grave…get the fuck out of here. All of you.” I retorted.

I older woman with wings turned to calm the senile looking man down. “Kah’zar!” She chastised the man.

“This is Gor’thaks apprentice…did you forget already. He told us he was passing down his mantle to the next generation at the last council meeting.” She reigned the old man in.

“Ah. I forgot about that. What would I do without you Fei’dra.” The old woman blushed and turned away.

“Gor’thak must have not told you about us. We are the council that governs all of the cherubs within the Ruins of Nulia. We came to perform the proper burial rights so that your masters soul could rest in peace.” A man named Gul’drac explained the situation to me.

After hearing the mans words I started to feel a bit better. My boiling rage went down a few notches…back to the pissed off state I was in before I fell unconscious.

I took a few steps back and tried to blend in with the crowd, but the crowd around me stepped back as well…so I gave up on trying to meld.

The ceremony took about an hour or so. It felt like minutes to me, because the only thing on my mind was the picture of Gor’thaks body when I found him.

The four members of the council approached me when the ceremony was coming to an end. They knew I was a bard from a brief chat they had with Gor’thak before he died and they wanted me to sing a song to mark the end of their savior’s funeral.

I nodded my head up and down, but on the inside I was in a state of turmoil. My mind was in complete chaos and I didn’t know what I should sing to convey what I was feeling.

I didn’t want to release the pure anger that was pulsing through my blood in a song in front of all these cherubs.

A thought popped into my head…I didn’t have to create every song that I sang as a bard. I could pull some songs from the modern world.

So I decided to take a song that I heard at my grandfather’s funeral. It was a fairly popular song in my world, but here it would probably be the first time any of them heard it.

“Well I heard there was a secret cord that david played and it pleased the lord…”

I didn’t know if the song was to religious or if the words didn’t fit, but to me it was a calming and beautiful song.

I enhanced my voice by using my mana. Thousands of Cherubim stood around me in silence as I sang.

I sang out the song in its entirety…each and every verse. It wasn’t until I finished the song that I could hear the sound of people weeping.

I turned in a complete circle. Men were comforting their wives and struggling not to cry themselves, while the children simply expressed their grief openly.

New Subset Skill: Song of Sorrow

Waving the the window away I took a second glance at the people that surrounded me.

I was not the only one that my master left behind…all of the cherubs shared a strong love for the man. To them it was as if they lost a family member.

“It is a wondrous sight is it not? I tend to be cynical most of the time and think that people are beyond redemption, but then I stumble across something like this.”

I jumped in the air, because I was caught off guard. I turned to look at the most fascinating creature I had ever seen.

It was a woman…or at least what I thought was a woman. The person had long black flowing hair and the eyes of a cat. She was tall and her skin was covered in black scales in some places and skin in others. In the center of her forehead was single white horn…very reminiscent of a unicorn.

“Yes it is a beautiful sight. To see that he was so admired.” I exclaimed softly.

I was about to turn away from her before she grabbed my neck and forced me to stare directly into her eyes.

“You…Kai. Apprentice to Gor’thak have shown true understanding of what it means to be a Bard.” She reached up with her hand jammed it into the center of my chest.

I started to let out a scream, but I felt no pain. It was almost like she was not even touching me.

I could feel a tinging sensation in my chest…like she was grabbing on to my soul. “Your master wished me to allow you to take the ascension test after your training was complete, but unfortunately he is dead.”

“So I came early to inform you where you could find me once you had trained more, but I stumbled upon your little song.” The horned woman spoke quickly.

“Creating your own song is the first step in ascending to the second order, but manifesting true emotion in your song is the next step to reach the third order. So I am at an impasse…” She looked into my eyes as if she was studying my entire being.

“It is rather to improper to awaken someone so untrained…but my heart is telling me that it must be done.”

The woman produced a tremendous amount of mana before she sent a large pulse of light out of her body and into mine.

“Come find me in the future…youngling Kai. I am the Saint Order Caretaker…Eunuch Khan.”

Ascension – 2nd Order

Ascension – 3rd Order

Pages and pages of blue boxes berated me and the woman disappeared. “Huh!?”

Chapter 10: Status

Status WindowName:KaiAlignment:NuetralLevel:12Class:BardRace:CherubGender:MaleTitlesNoneFame:70Infamy:1000-Health:250 / 250Health Regen:2.0 / SecMana:300 / 300Mana Regen:2.5 / SecStamina:400 / 400Stamina Regen:4.5 / Sec-Strength:24 (+18)Agility:28Vitality:28Intelligence:29Wisdom:39Endurance:43Luck:2 (+18)-Attack:10-15Defense:15 (+42)Physical ResistancesSlashing:10 (+14)Piercing:10 (+14)Crushing:15 (+14)Elemental ResistancesFire:10%Water:10%Wind:10%Earth:10%Light:10%Darkness:10%

Skills/Abilities:

Spoiler : Tough Skin: Intermediate Lvl 1 (14%)

Willpower: Novice Lvl 9 (31%)

Seven Pathways Meditation: Novice Lvl 6 (18%)

Mana Manipulation: Novice Lvl 7 (43%)

Voice Manipulation: Novice Lvl 4 (5%)

Song Manipulation: Novice Lvl 7 (37%)

-Song of Renewal: Novice Lvl 8 (24%)

-Song of the Slumbering: Novice Lvl 3 (33%)

-Song of Sorrow: Novice Lvl 1 (2%)

Sword Mastery: Novice Lvl 3 (35%)

-Rapier Mastery: Novice Lvl 8 (11%)

+Rapid Thrust: Novice Lvl 2 (13%)