…

I don’t know where I am…

Hell, I can’t even remember which way I came from!

Allan…

You poor, poor child.

I gently picked him up in my non-material arms, and chose a direction at random.

North(?) it is.

…

…..

………

“Guu?...”

Shhh, don’t worry Allan, we’ve only been wandering around the impenetrable darkness for an hour or so, I’m sure we can get back home soon.

“Gu.”

His little blue eyes moved left and right, peering into the black night.

“Gu?!”

Ssshshshhshhhhh…!!

I know it’s super spooky and dark and cold but don’t worry I’ll keep you warm and cozy for as long as I can Ally!

“Gu…”

D-, don’t look at me like that!

I didn’t do this!

A-, anyhow! We must almost be the-,

*Shuffle*

Hii!!

I clutched onto Allan, who didn’t make a sound in response to the rustling of the bushes.

“Chihiihihi…”

Wh-, what was that?...

Are-, are those eyes…?

From within the bushes, a thousand little red eyes peeked out.

At me.

And Allan.

Oh fuck.

“CHIHIHEIEHEIHEIEHIEHEIHEIEHI”

“CHIHEIEHIEHEIEHIEHIEHEIHEIHEIHEHEIHEIEH”

“CHIHEIHIEHIEH”

“CHIHIEHIEHEIHEIEHIHEIEHE”

Oh god oh fuck that’s a lot.

You remember that rat-thing I killed earlier?

There’s a bunch of them.

Like, fifty.

At least.

Can they turn off their glow or something?...

I have no idea, but…

I need to protect Allan.

This is going to be-,

“Chie!”

- You have lost 1 mana. -

Ouch fuck!

One of the rats fucking bit me!

I’m… not going to die here, right?

This kids life hangs on me!

We’re not going down like this!!

But, then, ho-,

“Chieheie!!”

- You have lost 1 mana. -

Argh!

Alright, fuck, uh, this is going to hurt even more, but…

Arg-,

- Due to transmutation into plasma, you will now lose 1 mana per second. You have a total of 21/40 mana. -

Come here you piece of fucking shit I’ll burn you alive

“Chie…”

Ah! Don’t retreat on me! Come on man!

It’s just fire!

Lunging at the little hairball, I pressed my one burning finger into its fluffy little belly, which immediately caught on fire.

Ooo, nice and hot.

“CHIEEEEEEEEEEEE-”

The little piece of furry shit ran in circles for a second before runnings away into the darkness, most likely never to be seen again.

The rest of the rats stared at me blankly.

Come on, I got plenty of mana to burn…!!

“.......”

- You have gained 6 mana and 4 exp for defeating a Will ‘o Wisp. -

Niceeeee, now fucking get over here

“Ch-, CHIEEEEEE!!”

A rat lunged at me, shrieking like hell all the while.

Yeah, just come and get i-,

“Guu?...”

OH FUCK ALLAN

Using my burning left hand, which wasn’t clutching Allan, I attempted to grab the rat from the air.

It must have been an acrobat of sort, since it twisted in the air, clutching onto my arm instead of being caught in my burning hand.

“Chiehiehie!”

- You have lost 1 mana. -

Fuck!

This is gonna hurt, but fuck it, I gotta set fire to my arm!

I could probably get entirely intangible so they would go through me, but then they would probably attack Allen, which is just wo-,

- You have lost 1 mana. -

Ow fuck okay!

My entire arm burst into flames, causing the little shit to screetch loudly before falling to the ground in agony.

- You are now losing 5 mana per second due to the size. -

Fuck shit put it out!

- You are now losing 1 mana per second. You have 12/40 mana left. -

FuuuuUUUUCk

“CHIIEeeeeee-...”

- You have gained 6 mana from defeating a Will ‘o wisp. -

Alright! Fuck! Get over here!!

Can I?...

If they won’t come to me, can’t I just…

Extend my burning finger to them??

Hehe.

Hehehehehe.

HEHHEHEHEHEHHEHEH

FUCKING DIIIEEEEEEEEE

“Ch-, CHIEEEEEEE-,”

“Chi-chi-CHIEEEE”

“CHIIIEEEE OWWW FUCKKK CHIEEEEEEEEEE”

“CHIEEEE”

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA

- You have gained 5 mana and 3 exp from defeating a Will ‘o wisp. -

- You have gained 6 mana and 2 exp from defeating a Will ‘o wisp. -

- You have gained 3 mana and 4 exp from defeating a Will ‘o wisp. -

- You have gained 7 mana and 2 exp from defeating a Will ‘o wisp. -

- You now have 33/40 mana and 21/40 exp. -

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH BURRNNNNNNNNN

HAHHAHAHAHAHA-, wait.

Where did they go?

Look to the left, nothing.

Look to the right, nothing.

Eh?...

GAH-,

- You have received magical damage from the Light Strike(lv.2) spell. You have lost 6 mana. -

Whaaaaatttt???

I spin around to where the blast came from.

Is-, is that?...

A tiny pyramid of rats.

Ten rats stood on eachother, their individual manas forming into one.

The one at the very top was standing on its hind legs, arms in the air, tail and glowing ball high above its head.

M-, mage?!

“Chiechierrma chierraroro chieie chiorma…”

The mage mumbled some spell(maye??), making the eyes of the other rats light up, and say:

“”“Chieronomo!!”””

All in unison, as light started gathering in the glowing ball.

Th-, this is?!?

The light shot out in a beam, and if I hadn’t already been shielding me and Allan, it would definitely have hit me.

- You have received magical damage from the Light Strike(lv.2) spell. You have lost 4 mana. -

Ow fuck!!

Shit!

Take my flaming vengeance, heRATic!!

“Chie!?”

Flame spilled out of my hand, knocking the tower of Ratylon right on over, and as the flaming construction crumbled in flames, the mage looked up at me, stating:

“Chie, chiehie, chiehie chi. Chie!”

Ch-, chie.

I see.

- You have gained 32 mana and 12 exp from defeating 9 Will ‘o whispers. -

- You have gained 17 mana and 6 exp from defeating Willy. You now have 40/40 mana and 39/40 exp. -

...Willy…

You were a great foe.

“Chie…”

Chiehie…”

I could hear squeaks all around me.

From every bush and every tree and every little corner between the roots of trees, a squeak could he heard and a pair of read eyes gleamed.

“Chiechiechiechiechiehciechiehciechiechiechiechiehciechiechiehciehicceichiehchichichcehecicehcheichiccihceichichichichcihichcihcihcihcichecihceichechicehehciehcihehhceechcihi….”

…

That is… extremely worrying.

“CHIEEEEEEEE”

One rat squealed loudly, lunging at me from the top of a tree.

Aha! Time to bu-,

Oh

Fuck

All the rats just lounged.

At least twenty or thirty of them.

I didn’t even had time to thing before I cradled Allan in my arms, and set my whole body ablaze in a glorious, single blast of magical fire and fury. I couldn’t even hear the dying shrieks of the endless charred rats before I had used up all my mana and the world went dark.

As I hoped to god Allan survived, I heard messages popping up in the back of my head.

- You have gained 4 mana and 2 exp from defeating a Will ‘o wisp. Exp has hit 40/40, you have leveled up to Lv.3. Mana storage has increased from 20(+20) to 30(+30). 60 exp required to level up. -

- You have gained 5 mana and 3 exp from defeating a Will ‘o wisp. -

- You have gained 6 mana and 2 exp from defeating a Will ‘o wisp. -

- You have gained 3 mana and 4 exp from defeating a Will ‘o wisp. -

- You have gained 7 mana and 2 exp from defeating a Will ‘o wi...

- You have gained 3 mana and 1 exp from defeating a Wi...

- You have gained 8 mana and 3 exp from defeati...

- You have gained 4 mana and 2 exp fro...

- You have gained 7 mana and…

- You have gained 9...

- You have...

- Yo...

...