A distraught Alexandar laid Karen down on the trunk where extra coats are kept, large enough for her body. He had tears still streaming down his face, at this point Kyle and John had caught up to their dad. They were empathizing with this man who had for all their life been so strong, seemingly broken. “Dad, I know a lot has happened, I know that mom…” Kyle started but teared up himself. It was at this moment that in the still open door something resembling a man but with blue skin in a loin clothe with tattoos going up from his feet to his head in what John would describe as an “Avatar” style. Upon seeing the three standing there immediately let out a roar, John seeing this creature and not really understanding what was going on acted by instincts.

Still holding his axe John ran at the charging “blue creature” and swung. Unfortunately at the same time, the creature ducked and John’s swing went over its head. ‘Ahh, I can’t do a big wind up maybe a short swing will do.’ John thought as he was finishing the swing. the creature while dodging was able to gouge John’s midsection. John noticed that the “health bar” dropped significantly.

[Health - 19 = 23/45]

John gritting his teeth pushed through the intense pain, the reality of his dad and brother right behind him being attacked next drove him to hone his entire attention on the clear enemy in front of him. All coherent thought went out the window and John swung the Husqvarna axe far quicker and with more strength than any one human on earth had done before. Becoming one with his axe iming for the center of mass taking his father’s training at the range into account John missed his goal of the sternum but luckily it was where the heart would be on a human.

[EMPOWERED STRIKE HIT 72 DAMAGE] [Ding. you have killed 1X Swamp Miscreant Lvl 6. For defeating an enemy higher level than you extra EXP awarded. 2200 EXP] [Ding. you have LEVELED UP.] [STRENGTH INCREASE + 1] [AGILITY INCREASE +1] [EDURANCE INCREASE +1] [WISDOM INCREASE +1] [INTELLIGENCE INCREASE +1] [LUCK INCREASE +1]

John was in agony but as the stream of notifications of blue boxes filled his vision the weight of the situation hit him. He was dead or dreaming, or this is a really intense VR set. Any moment now cameras were going to come out and say “you got Punk’ed!” but they didn’t. Reality as John often mused is not what I want it to be, sitting down beside his blank-faced father and a gaping mouth brother, John did what any sane person would do in this situation. He gave a loud yell releasing his pent up frustration and anger and let himself fully grieve for the woman he lost, his mother.