Jarod heard a heavy footstep, and the chink of metal. It sounded as if it were just outside of his bedroom, but that didn’t seem right, he would have heard the door open, and of course he lives alone. He pulled out his earbuds and paused his game, an RPG he was rather fond of.

He stepped out into the living room kitchen dining room combo that was the second of two rooms in his apartment, and spoke.

“Hello? Anyone there?” And when he saw the intruder, his heart skipped a beat.

Standing in his living room was some kind of medieval knight, with shining black armor and a heavy spiked mace at his side. He raised a finger to Jarod, and said something in a gutteral language. In his other hand was that vicious looking mace. Jarod noticed he was standing on a half empty pizza box, which was meant to be his dinner tonight. An odd thought to come up, given that he had more pressing concerns.

“Listen, I don’t have anything worth stealing, my computer is like seven years old at this point and that pizza you’re standing on is the product of the last of my bank account.”

The man spoke again, in that strange language. Why did Jarod even try in english? It’s not like this strange man could speak it. But suddenly, he started to understand the words he was saying. This new ability was accompanied by a sharp pain in the sides of his head. A splitting headache like nothing he’s ever had before.

“-and your dungeon lair is pitiful. Give me your artifact and I will be on my way.” He demanded. His voice was incredibly deep, but he also was about seven feet tall. So not exactly the weirdest thing going on.

“My what?” And at that point, Jarod noticed that in the place of his door was a glowing mirrorlike surface, which rippled like the surface of water.

“Tell me, monster, why do you assume the form of a human? Reveal your true self.”

“What do you mean I’m not human?” The knight took a step forward, and Jarod jumped in fear with a high pitched yelp.

“Hm, so you are.” He said as he continued his approach. Jarod backed into the corner of his living room, and cowered in fear. The stranger grabbed Jarod’s shoulder hard.

“But it seems, you are something more. You are the artifact.”

“I’m a what!?” The strange knight hoisted Jarod onto his shoulder, and Jarod only remained limp and confused as he turned around and crouched through the doorway to pull him through.

The room was now very quiet. The portal in the doorway closed soundlessly to reveal an untouched door. A fly buzzed around for a moment, before it landed on the old pizza.

Jarod was no longer in his apartment, of that he was sure. The room was dark, the walls looked like carved stone in a cave. Upon stepping through the doorway, the people of the room wore black cloaks, and chanted three times. “He has returned, he has returned, he has returned.” His captor carried him through the halls, men in lighter armor and black robes moved out of the way for him. Jarod shifted his position for just a moment, and brushed his hand against the knight. A floating blue window appeared in front of Jarod as soon as he did so.

Class:

Defiler Knight (tier 4)

Stats:

Strength - 25 Endurance - 21 Agility - 14 Willpower - 20

He yelped, but nobody around him seemed to notice the screen. He tapped himself.

Class:

None

Stats:

Strength - 0 Endurance - 0 Agility - 0 Willpower - 0

Magic:

Analysis - skill: rank 0 Spirit harvest - spell: rank 0

Gear:

Pajamas, Disposable ballpoint pen (43%)

Jarod thought that they were exercise clothes, being stained sweatpants and an offwhite undershirt. But he supposed bizarre magic would be entitled to whatever opinion he wished. He assumed the screen was this ‘analysis’ skill, but spirit harvest sounded… ominous.

The defiler knight stopped moving. They were at the end of the hall, in front of two heavy wooden doors, an image of a skull burned into them. The room had a thick wooden desk and an older robed man sitting at it. His hair was stark white, and slicked back. Papers were stacked neatly, and he looked up from scribbled notes. The defiler knight dropped Jarod onto the cold stone floor, then knelt to the man at the desk.

“I have returned with a bounty.”

“So soon?” The older man stood up, and looked at Jarod curled up, cold on the floor.

“Where is it?” The older man asked, as he looked up from Jarod, and to the knight.

“You’re looking at it.” The knight did not look up from the floor. The old man’s eyes widened with a confused, but hopeful surprise.

“Such an expensive ritual, for such a weak human.”

“But an artifact, as well.” The old man touched Jarod, and Jarod felt a cold presence, as if he were being read like a book.

“So he is, this is different. What is you name?” He gave Jarod a light kick. More of a tap to get his attention, really.

“Jarod.” He weakly squeaked.

“Jarod, tell me what land you’re from.”

“Philadelphia.” He winced. That probably didn’t mean anything to these random cultists from a magical portal.

“If I may, your grace, I found him in a strange room with unrecognizable architecture. Out of the windows I could see strange towers of steel in the distance. The portal has closed, but I am certain it was a massive realm that is completely foreign to us.”

“I see.” He paused.

Jarod looked up at the man, and met his eyes for just a moment. His eyes were pure black, unsettling. The man broke eye contact and went to his desk to open a drawer. He pulled free a small bottle with a swirling red energy inside, as if there were a fire inside. He held the bottle to Jarod.

“Consume it.”

“Your grace, are you sure?” The knight did not look up from the ground. The old man said nothing, and still held the bottle. Jarod didn’t see much of a choice really. He felt awful, like he was being tossed around like a ragdoll and forced to dance on puppet strings. But still, when a man with evil eyes, and assumed magic powers tells you to drink some weird potion, you drink the damn potion. So he grabbed the bottle with a shaky hand, uncorked it, and tilted it back as if taking a shot. And oh did it burn when it went down, not quite a liquid, solid, or gas, it filled him as if he had swallowed fire. Pure energy dissipated into him. His heart burned, and he clutched it for pain that lasted for only a minute. Then, his mind left him.

He found himself in a grey expanse. It didn’t feel like being lost in a void, but he knew it was somehow in his mind. He was sitting cross legged, and in front of him sat a small creature, like a human, but only knee high, and it had a long lizard-like snout and blunt teeth. It chirped at him, its body was not solid, seemingly it was woven out of strands of fire and energy pulled from nothing. Jarod could feel its emotions. Fear, namely, but it wasn’t afraid of him. He held his hand out to it, like he would offer to let a dog sniff it whenever he met a new one. And it crawled towards him on all fours. It nipped his hand, but it didn’t hurt much at all. He flinched, but stayed calm. The creature in front of him crawled into his lap, and soon melted into him, a soothing warm feeling that washed away the pain. Then he returned to the moment, the exact moment where he had entered that strange ‘spirit place.’

Consumed: Salamander spirit

Willpower increased to 1

New Magic!

Spell learned - ember: rank 0

Jarod felt slightly more calm, as if he had more control of his mental faculties, more resistance to the intense fear and confusion. Only some, however. Again, the old man touched him, reading him like a book. This time, Jarod saw him as well. But if he noticed, he sure didn’t show it.

Class:

Dread Magi (tier 5)

Stats:

Strength - 6 Endurance - 5 Agility - 10 Willpower - 40

“So, Jarod, it seems you are a curiosity. Both an artifact, and a human.” He paused, to think for a moment.

“Take him to the vault.” He added.

“Of course.” The knight stood up, and again slung Jarod over his shoulder. This time they went down a spiral staircase, until they reached a large lobby. A dark red carpet laid along the stone floor, again the entire room seemingly carved from a single stone. The bannister of the staircase was a smooth black marbled with grey, and large pillars held the undoubtedly heavy ceiling in place. The main hall had several armored guards with halberds, two massive stone doors stood proud, immovable even. Once they reached the ground floor, the knight turned to a new door. He unlocked it to reveal a staircase, with no light to see the descent. Before they took the first step, the great entrance doors shattered inward, a knight in silver and gold trimmed armor at the front, followed by a veritable army of soldiers in similar colors.

“Shit!” The defiler knight threw Jarod into the dark hall, then slammed the door as he turned to face the incursion.

Jarod fell into the dark staircase, luckily he caught himself before he really started tumbling. It was pitch black in here, and he really wished for some light. In that moment, a small fire lit at the tip of his finger, like a burning match. It hovered above him, so it did not burn, but he instinctively knew that if he were to touch it, it would hurt the same as any other fire. Then it hit him. Magic. It was really that easy? He had just made fire! With his mind! If he weren’t completely absorbed by fear, he would probably faint in shock at just that. He thought about heading back up to hide with those folks in the silver armor, but he could hear the screams of battle and couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t mistake him for one of these cultists. He could stay in place, but that had the same problem. So he ran down the stairs, his adrenaline was pumping enough that he could keep from tripping. He wasn’t exactly the most fit person around. In fact he was slightly chubby, if he had to admit it.

At the bottom of the staircase was another door, he didn’t hear anything but the sounds of battle from above, so he pushed the door open. The room was simple stone, with a wall made of some kind of metal that glowed with dark red runes. And in the center of the room was some kind of beast chained up. It looked like a wolf, but its eyes were glowing like hot coals, and its body blended into shadow. It was chained to a peg in the center of the room, but it raised its head to see Jarod enter, and it immediately stood up and growled at him. It was a deep growl that threatened Jarod to his very core. He was not going to hold his hand out to this beast, he had decided.

However, it was chained up, and he was free to go back to the staircase. But he felt, deep within, that he had another option. He flicked his hand, and the fire at the end of his finger flew in a straight line towards the beast. It wasn’t particularly large, in fact it was about the size of a golf ball. The beast jumped up and swallowed the fireball, like it was a treat. It stood suddenly at attention, as if waiting for Jarod’s next move.

No… Jarod thought. It couldn’t be that easy. He tossed another fireball, with an underhand to give it a gentle arc. The beast caught it again. Its tail rose and wagged. It was, in fact, that easy. Jarod, after tossing a few more of these fireballs, walked closer, and began to look around the room. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything but that large steel wall, with all the engravings. Jarod approached the beast, and held his hand out, it approached, and sniffed his hand, before bumping its nose into his hand.

Monster: Hell hound

Stats:

Strength - 8 Endurance - 7 Agility - 9 Willpower - 3

This didn’t make more sense, but at least it didn’t try to kill him. Jarod wondered if his abilities would work on non-living things. He figured it was worth a try. He walked up to the ominous wall, and placed his hand against it.

Enchantment:

Arcane vault - Rank 20

This vault is powered by the soul of a demon.

He was certain when whatever fugue state he was in wore off, he would snap for good. Demons? Real demons? Well, it could be worse. Though, he was always too curious for his own good.

“Spirit harvest” he whispered, and his hand that touched the wall began to glow.

Again, he was in that grey void, this time instead of a small implike creature was a massive formless swirl of black and red energy. He was about to speak, when a booming voice dominated the area.

“Who do we have here?” There were crackles of lightning within the cloud as it spoke.

“My name is Jarod, and who are you?”

“A demon does not share its name, child. Tell me, why are you attempting to pull me from this enchantment?”

“Well, because I can, I think.”

The demon laughed.

“Not every day does a meal walk into your mouth.” The cloud approached Jarod, and it swirled around him for but a moment, and then all at once it closed in on him. He began choking on the black smoke, and it began to hurt. A pain so sharp, so fierce that he could barely believe it was happening. He writhed in pain, spasming on the floor. Was it a floor? Within his own mind? He could not ask these questions, for the raw pain eclipsed them. He began to subconsciously search for anything within him to help, anything to set him apart, or give him an advantage against this oppressive energy. It was too much, and suddenly he couldn’t remember his parent’s faces, or his those of his childhood friends. It was stealing his sense of self. He tried to focus on his name, but it became hard to remember. Jarod. Jarod. His name is Jarod. He forced himself to remember. Names, it said something about names. He focused on his analysis skill, put all of his energy into touching this entity and discovering something, anything new. And he touched it.

Skill up!

Analysis rank increased to 1

Alazitosaz, guardian of halls

Monster:

Greater Demon

Strength - // Endurance - // Agility - // Willpower - 37

“Alazitosaz, guardian of halls! Let me go!” He shouted. Immediately, the tendrils of smoke released from him, and cowered back as if touching him stung.

“How!?” It said, pained.

“Alazitosaz, guardian of halls, be harvested.”

And Jarod found himself standing in front of the metal wall, the glow had left the engravings. The hellhound sat by his side panting happily. In his hand was a small glass bottle, a swirling cloud of black smoke crackled with lightning within. At about that point, Jarod fainted.