“What wonderful wisdom and will is required to rectify and remedy the ruin and ravaged corpse and restore it to its former glory. Anyone can hack a corpse to bits, but it takes a skilled hand and a keen eye to put one back together!”

—Horticus Humphries

Less than an hour later I was level 8.

Rand—Level 8 Vitality:15 HP = 378 Toughness:10 Strength:24 Skill:5 Viletaint:14 Intellect:5

Fujiko and Altarus had both hit level 7, and I could just feel how annoyed Jacob was going to be when he got back and saw all the progress we’d made.

Another Corpse Eater died as the sharp edge of Boucher’s (now my) shovel-axe came down with a full bar of Rally behind it.

Massive!

327

The gruesome dog coughed and died and vanished into a pool of Quintessence.

“You’re really liking that thing, huh?” Fujiko remarked as she lifted her hammer from the skull of two Rotting Corpses she’d just taken out.

“Ol’ Boucher knew what he was doing when he made this baby,” I smirked, wasting no time leaping back into battle while my Rally bar was still blooming. Blood painted the air as my sharp iron carved through their hanging flesh.

93—105—97—92—108

Shadowstep. Riposte. Massive.

One died.

Easy.

108—98—92—105—109

The corpse swung at me, narrowly missing me. Gripping my shovel-axe with two hands, I stepped forward like a major league hitter and raked the blade across its stomach, spilling its guts onto a fallen cluster of headstones.

Massive!

345

“And dead,” I announced as the thing’s health vanished. I knelt down, retrieved two vials of Soothing Syrup and 3 Mortal Shards from the ground. “We keep this up, and I’ll be level 10 in no time—”

My voice was cut off as something struck me—no, not quite struck as much as pulled at me as though a powerful force was trying to suck my soul from my body.

-25, -27, -31

My health ticked away quickly as I spun, searching for the source of the damage.

“Rand! Behind you!” Altarus shouted. Something flashed in the corner of my vision, and I spun and lashed out with my axe. A strange orb of purple and black swept slowly past me and my blade passed right through it with no effect.

A spell!

The Winchester cracked and I heard the impact of the bullet and spun to see two Seekers, players, advancing on us. By their position, they must have been hidden behind on of the fallen crypts, watching us, waiting for their moment to attack.

-28, -32

Whatever spell they’d cast seemed to move slowly through the air and suck health from whoever it came close to, wisps and strands of purple sprouting from the orb as it passed.

I Shadowstepped to my left and took cover behind a large gravestone while I sipped a syrup to heal. I peered out to get a better look at our attackers. The one in the front wore high boots and a thick leather duster jacket. In his hands, a Bloodletter.

Doom—Level 8

Beside him was the caster, the one responsible for the orb that had chewed away at my health like a passing virus.

Callahan—Level 7

He raised up again for another cast, but he wasn’t holding a femur like Jacob used. In his hands instead, was a disgusting looking gob of flesh spotted with black pustules and chunks of white fatty tissue.

“PKs!” Fujiko shouted. I drew my Blunderbuss and pressed my back against the gravestone, watching as the cooldown on Shadowstep ticked down. Just 3 more seconds. Altarus’ Winchester snapped again but the sound of shattering stone was its only reply—he’d missed. Shadowstep came off cooldown, and I clenched my hand so tightly around the handle of my axe that my knuckles went white.

All right, you sons of bitches. Here we go.

My right foot found a crack in the cobbles. I pivoted and lunged forward, closing as much distance between myself and the invaders as I could before Shadowstepping straight toward them. The look of shock on Doom’s face was priceless as I wraithed through his body. He spun and swung his Bloodletter, but I was expecting that.

Feel it! Rathborne’s words in my head.

I shot from the hip. My Blunderbuss spat, the satisfying recoil nudging me back slightly as the riposte sounded.

Dooooooommmmm!

He hit the ground on both knees and I laughed as I brought my shovel-axe down on the left side of his neck.

126

That’s it!? I thought as I stepped to the side as he staggered to his feet. But it was my first real attack on another player, and I realized I had no idea what to expect for damage. Monsters and players obviously had different stats and armor, and if I was to do the same damage to him as I’d done to the Corpse Eater or Gravekeeper Boucher, Doom would be dead from a single riposte.

“What the Hell..?” Doom stammered as he rose to his feet then fell again. I swung for his head, but he ducked and rolled behind a grave as another one of his buddy’s orbs crept through the air, plucking away at my health as it passed.

-26, -26, -28

Over his shoulder, I saw Fujiko dashing toward him, her massive hammer held low behind her in both hands, ready for a heavy swing.

-31, -29

The death orb, or whatever the Hell it was, was chipping away at me—I had to move. Doom slashed out at me with the Bloodletter, carving a hole in my calf as I vaulted over a gravestone and soared over him toward Callahan.

-56

Jesus! In less than three seconds, half my health was gone. I was down to 182. I swung out with my axe randomly as I arced through the air. The edge found Callahan, but just barely.

28

His bar was also about half way down, thanks to my riposte that opened the fight. But as I landed, I had an important decision to make—and almost no time to make it.

Heal or attack. If I popped a Soothing Syrup now, it would give Doom time to heal as well, or attack while I was vulnerable. If Callahan fired another orb, it might be enough to finish me off if I wasn’t able to get out of the way in time. But luckily (or unluckily), Doom made the decision for me.

He attacked, quickly dashing forward with his sword straight, thrusting its tip at my belly. I swatted at it with my axe, but he had all his weight behind it and I was only able to deflect it slightly. The blade buried itself in my side, which burst with pain.

-67

A debuff appeared—

Disembowel—15% weapon damage for 5 seconds.

Well, what’s his weapon damage!?

The first tick hit me.

-9

Okay, that’s not horrible, I thought as I sidestepped and raised my axe to swing. But before I could bring it down, my comrades joined the fight. A Precision Shot clapped into Doom’s cheek, spitting blood in a thin slash across the stone. Fujiko’s hammer said hello to his knee, knocking away a substantial chunk of health and dropping him to his knees.

-8

I gulped a Soothing Syrup.

+91

Doom was at half health and leapt back as I swung at him. My Rally bar was only beginning to fill as Altarus’ Winchester cracked again, missing Doom, but only barely. Behind me, I just knew that Callahan was readying another spell in our direction. I assumed it was an AoE by the way it had been sprouting its tendrils as it passed me, which meant it would hit Fujiko as well.

“You got him!?” I roared.

“Ye!”

I spun and dashed for the caster. Sure enough, his sickly glob of flesh was aimed straight at me. Boucher’s old axe hit him hard in the chin, causing his head to spin and blood to spray, interrupting his cast.

36

His health dropped more than Doom’s, meaning he had less total, and I didn’t hesitate as I sank my blade into his back.

MASSIVE!

78

He was almost half now, and my Rally bar was about to start raging. I hit again and again, and smiled as it filled.

35, 38

He was dropping hard as my bar filled. Altarus’ next shot found its mark. Callahan’s health dropped again—judging by the amount, the bullet had been about as damaging as my axe—maybe a bit less. He spun and raised his hands in a frantic attempt to to block my axe as it came down. Of course that didn’t work.

75, 76

His health vanished, the life left his eyes and he collapsed.

“Nice!” Altarus shouted. Grinning, I turned back to Fujiko as my Shadowstep came off cooldown. She was 1v1ing Doom, playing the range game with him, using the length of her hammer to her advantage to keep distance between her and the sharp edge of his Bloodletter. He only had about a third of his health left too.

We’ve got you, I thought as I dashed in to help her finish him off. My axe sank into the flesh of his thigh, obliterating almost all the health he had left.

68

I raised my axe to strike, but that’s when I saw it—a heavy wave of shadow, silhouettes approaching over a ridge of headstones, swords axes and guns held high. A roar pierced the air like the cry of an invading army.

More of them! I realized as I tried to count their numbers. I got to five before a bullet struck my shoulder, whipping me around. My foot caught something and sent me tumbling back. Before I hit, I saw Doom slip under one of Fujiko’s monstrous swings and down a Soothing Syrup, restoring a third of his health.

More bullets struck the ground beside me, and another caught my knee.

-25

The Disembowel debuff had ticked away, but my health was approaching half again.

“Rand!” Fujiko shouted. I rolled backwards and landed in a crouching position and looked over at her. Her eyes were fierce as she glanced at the incoming attackers and back at me. “We have to run!”

No! I thought, but when I saw at least five more of Doom’s allies closing in on us, I knew she was right. Doom was still below half health, and my Rally bar was full. Three seconds would be all it would take to finish him off. But we didn’t have three seconds. Lead pelted the ground. One struck my shoulder and the other grazed my cheek.

-25, -14

Some idiot blew his Blunderbuss at range. The slugs did nothing but rain harmlessly down around me as I got my feet under me and started to run.

Goddamn it! We had him!

“After them!” someone, I assume Doom, roared as we sprinted back the way we’d came. Altarus fired over my shoulder and hit someone who shrieked in pain, then spun around and joined us in our retreat.

“Who are these guys!?” Fujiko cried out.

“We could have had him!” I spat back angrily. There was nothing worse than losing a fight you knew you could have won. I could hear them closing in on us, the sound of boot heels against stone. A Rotting Corpse rose in front of me, but Fujiko and I struck it down, not killing it, just getting it out of our way. Somewhere to our right a Corpse Eater snarled, but we were past it in the blink of an eye and I heard one of Doom’s men scream out behind us as it attacked them.

“They’re closing in,” Altarus growled. Bullets sprayed and I heard their angry cries. Then, a familiar voice rang out.

“Get down!”

I barely spotted Jacob in front of us before a swath of terrible flame spat forth from his hands. Like a twisting inferno, an overloaded furnace or the mouth of a dragon, a fiery carpet blew toward us.