I think, when I first met him I was in my thirties, or maybe I missed a decade or two somewhere. This whole area repeating itself over again and again, similarly to a crappy rpg with low budget. It was easy to lose yourself in it. Same lines, same events. I remembered sometimes, I liked to spice it up by stealing or fighting someone. It was kind of funny even, seeing a man’s shocked expression as I effortlessly dodged his advances. Until he drawn a sword or his other ‘compatriots’ joined him. I once set a building on fire too. Partially by accident by once the fire started I decided to help it a little. The guy was a dickhead and also ironically a mage.

He told me that I could cast spells as well as the horse dung could rule a country, adding on the side that in Semeria that is a complement, following it with a kick to my bum. See a dick. He did live in the end, but usually would leave on the next day.

There was a loop where I did convince him to teach him, but he would generally leave the next day. Teleportation I figured. Here in the toilet, there in the king’s chambers. See a dick nonetheless.

Regardless these here are just details. When I first saw him I thought of demons and monsters. The first fight I had with him wasn’t particularly human either… for most part at least, I couldn’t remember the last half of it for so long…

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The man or rather the demon lifted its head, slightly tilting it to the side, judging. A helmet with 4 long horns, ebony as the shade he was standing in, reflecting the blinking screens of the hall.

His claw dropped. In silence they stood for almost a minute, him seemingly sizing Kai up and then Kai thinking of how he will move. What strategies to use and how bad of a situation that he was in. If the opponent looked like a high level player, Kai himself looked like he just finished the tutorial.

Only the beeping sounds from computers interrupted this almost ‘serene’ atmosphere. This wasn’t pleasant and when the demon started walking towards him, it became even less so.

With each new step more lights fell on him, reflected from his armour. His plate or rather, scale armour looked draconic-ish. It really implied that he was a high levelled player.

Kai felt cold sweat and chills running on his back as he noticed something about the thing. The light was passing through him despite being reflected, as if he was a blur, yet still physically there. As if the man was partially detached from this place.

“Yeh nah, thanks but I’m not doing this.”- said Kai as he released the grip of his axe, leaving it hanging on his hip, reaching for a small box in his pocket.

“Enjoy.”- he added as he shifted the lid off it.

Shadows appeared out of the box, taking shapes, first of the wolves, a wolf pack, crouching, quickly approaching it pray, then with a synchronous jump morphing into 9 necks, hissing and barking at each individual.

*choom*

Blood steamed off his claw, wolfhead smashed in the floor. The man himself was screaming or rather roaring like a wild animal, before the other serpent grasped him with its teeth and then propelled him in the nearby wall, mauling him down couple of times before that.

The shadows continued escaping the box, now almost forming the serpents’ body. Kai felt the grasp of the box, the little human hand, digging its fingernails into his flesh, screaming for release.

“No.”- he said, smiling sarcastically, moments before he closed the box. The wolfhead that stormed to him, disappeared back into shadow as its siblings did, only ghastly breeze moving through Kai’s hair. The hand disappeared and the only thing left in his grasp was a small iron box with a wolf fighting a snake etched on its side.

“This should solve it like.”- he gazed across the room where the man should be lying.

He found it always strange, how quickly it is to flung a person in the air and how very much unexpected it usually is. View of the hall was replaced with a view of the ceiling, just to be clouded by the dark for a solid 5 seconds.

He growled, body wanting to vomit but nothing coming out. He tried to wipe blood off his nose, but his hand was not responding. He felt all the pressure of the gravity on, as if not for the meat holding it, it would simply fall off. Leaning on the wall, he stood up, noting that there was a little red stain where his head was. With a pop and a scream his shoulder was back in, arm moving.

He grasped his axe and braced for the worst.

His body moved left, half- staggered rather, inadvertently dodging demon’s fist aimed for his head. It was just his normal fist, but it still entered the stone of the wall quite easily. Sidestepping back, he again barely dodged the man’s claw, pieces of wall flying in Kai’s face, the thing tracing a a giant abrasion though wall.

He knew that the claw would leave nothing of him but the stain on the floor.

Another swipe and he dodged barely again.

It was strange, even though the thing in front of him had human shape, the way it moved, the way it attacked… was animalistic, monstrous, no technique, just pure power and speed.

With a sidestep to the side, away from the creature’s scary offence, Kai decided to initiate offence of his own. Blacking out for a moment he almost lost his balance, but recovered advancing to the monsters side. The axe clanged hitting a side of the armour, but the edge still went in, but only barely.

Pulling the axe, the irons touching, screeched leaving a spark, too bright for the neon. He moved back in hopes dodging its claw completely.

The iron went into his chest, scraping a mark, definitely a scar, scratching the bones, ripping the flesh out. Abashed he couldn’t react to the punch, sending him into the neon ceiling, breaking the lights.

The floor felt cold, contrasting so much to the blood flowing out of his chest.

He could hear them, many whispers. Some, telling him what to do, others telling what not to, some blaming him, some soothing him and some just screaming. Screaming be let out, repressed, freed trapped, combined, collapsed, devoured. His mind screamed with them, with the voices, the whispers.

He kissed the floor in tears, then his body lifted straight as if a puppeteer picked up his doll, invisible strings attached to him, whispers. He gripped his axe tighter, whispers holding his fingers, tying them to the handle. He moved his hands, moved his legs, following the whispers, trailing whispers, screaming whispers, spinning in whispers, bleeding whispers. His other hand itched to take something, disappearing and reappearing as if in shimmering haze, trying to grasp whispers.

The thing jumped back, scraping 5 lines in the floor when it landed. The claw morphed, shifting, switching shapes, disappearing back into human hand. The spikes slowly withered, leaving only black plate armour, the helmet was gone all together, revealing a man in his thirties with snow-white hair and pale skin.

The man staggered, covering his face for a moment, touching it as if it he hasn’t felt it in ages. He stepped aside dodging Kai’s axe, whispers trailing the blade. He felt slight pain on his cheek, jumping back 5 meters. He looked at the boy’s other hand and in it was… something. Spear shaped haze or distortion of some sort. The light passing through distorting, reflections taking on strange shapes, dark coming as it was enveloped in neon. The man knew what it could be. He grinned that the art was not lost.

Like a wild hound, Kai turned and propelled his whole body on the opponent, twisting mid-air. The blade in his hand was screaming as it was trailing shapes through the air, literally. The man was a little bit surprised, but despite that, managed to dodge the sloppy attack, grasp his hand and lightly punched him in the chin.

The screaming quietened down until the only echo in the hall was of the computers conversing between each other.

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Author's Note

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Allright another character... spooky skeletons are spooky. What are those whispers? Who is that guy? Why is Kai not acting like an asshole? Tune in for the nex... Ugh.

Anyway next chapter as usual max 5 days. Pls point out any mistakes. Cheers!