"I accept."

This is it.

I can finally fight my first, real battle. Well, not so real, but still, it’s a duel.

I can see a counter starting to count down from 10 to 0. The NPC, Arthur, was starting to ready himself too. He’s holding his two-handed sword in front of him with the blade aiming up. He’s slowly rising his arms so that the blade’s tip is aiming diagonally away from me. He’s probably going to make a standard down slash, as soon as the counter hits 0.

I start to ready myself too, I already have an idea as how to attack. I shovel my left foot a bit to the left, so that my feet become a shoulder width apart. Then I turn my right shoulder towards Arthur, and my left away from him. I drop my right sword, so that the tip is aiming down, and my shoulder and arm are totally relaxed. My right sword is aiming at his feet, while my left sword is aiming in the opposite direction. I slowly turn my left wrist, so that at least the sharp side of the blade is aiming at him.

This stance is ideal for me, because I’ve always been more of a counter type. I’ve always had good eyes, which are able to see when the opponent is in a position where I would be able to strike, without receiving any retaliation from the opponent. My tactic this time, would be to wait for him to attack, and just when I would be hit by his sword, I would turn sideways dodging his attack, while at the same time striking out with my right sword at his throat. This is a pretty daring attack, because if I dodge too soon, he can just adjust his attack, and hit me with his initial swing. But if I dodge with the right timing, then he won’t have any chance to block or dodge my thrust at him, because he’ll still have the momentum from his swing going. You might wonder what I was going to do with my left sword, but I would just use it as a feint, so that he might get distracted while I’m aiming for his throat with my right sword.

I patiently wait, and block out all the unnecessary emotions, that’s something I’ve always been able to do too, I can just maintain complete focus at the task at hand, and block out all the anxiety, fear, rage and other emotions.

The counter hit 0, and as I thought, Arthur immediately makes a step forward, trying to hit me as fast as he can.

So far, so good.

Just when I want to make a step diagonally towards him, so that I can dodge and strike at the same time, I realize my mistake.

He’s way too fast!

Damn it, I was only thinking about how this game would improve the damage of the hit, and not the speed. Arthur probably used a skill that boosts his attack speed, as he is a knight class. No, I won’t let you make an example of me!

Seeing that the sword in my right hand will probably not make it to his throat before he’ll hit me, I quickly raise my left sword to parry his swing.

I can barely handle the impact, but I managed to direct the force of the blow from his swing away. After Arthur hit the ground with his sword, I make a few steps, to gain some distance from him.

That… was way too close!

If I attempted a block there, he would’ve broken my sword probably, and me along with it. I will probably only be able to parry his attacks, instead of blocking them. The difference between the two, is that blocking would mean to stop his sword completely. While parrying is directing the force of his swing in another direction. That way I don’t have to use a lot of power, and will still be able to effectively dodge his attacks.

Arthur was still standing in the same position, while I was making a few steps away from him. He slowly raised his sword, and had a mildly surprised look on his face. He probably thought he could win with that first skill of his. Well, I won’t let him.

This time, I face him fully from the front. I point both my swords in his direction this time, and instead of pointing one shoulder at him, I aim both of them to the side. This way I can fight more effectively with my two swords. That initial stance was only to make one counter. Both the tips of my swords are pointing diagonally upwards, and were aiming at his throat.

Arthur suddenly made a charge at me, and was holding his blade to his side.

Alright, I can still see what he’s going to do, it’s going to be a horizontal slash.

This time, I won’t make the same mistake. There’s only one way to win, although it will depend on one thing. And that is, the amount of esteem he has for me. Seeing he’s a knight, probably expects me to face all of his attacks head on, just as he will face all of mine. But this will be his downfall. I’ve never been a type to fight in an honourable way, where you declare all your attacks, and never backstab someone.

Sorry, but I fight to win, and not to maintain my honour.

I gained quite some distance from him, while I retreated after our initial clash, that meant that he has to take a few seconds to run towards me, before he can strike me. This time span will be enough for me, to win.

When Arthur is only a few steps away from me, I throw my left sword at him.

I’ve never been a sublime thrower, so I didn’t expect it to do any damage, this is only to have him lose his concentration a little bit. Even if I lose my second sword in this clash, it doesn’t really matter because I’m already planning to end the duel in this phase of the battle.

He easily dodged my sword, by just making one more step to the right. But this gained me enough time to close in on him. He lost sight of me for a split second, which was enough to suddenly come up in his vision.

Arthur was a little bit surprised, but it looks like it doesn’t bother him much, he’s probably just planning to cut through any technique I throw at him.

Just when he stopped charging at me, and while he was flexing his shoulders, to make the horizontal strike with his sword, I use the one technique he would never have expected.

I spit in his face.

I see how his face twists in disgust, and how he lost his concentration for an instant. But, because he’s still a veteran soldier, he still follows through with his destructive sideways swing.

The only thing I achieved, was that his blade made an arc that was a little bit higher than his initial idea.

That’s because the moment something hits your face, no matter how well you’re trained, you will always have the reflex directing your movements to your face, to protect it.

If you’re trained really well, then you can prevent this a little, but your techniques will still rise a little bit.

That’s exactly what happened.

Arthur was first planning to hit me on my hips, but because I spit in his face, he directed his blow to me around halfway my arm, just a little under my shoulder.

I was aiming for this, because the height of his swing will allow me to duck under it, and hit him at the same time.

I won’t jump to him, so I’ll just drop myself to the ground, towards him. As I start falling, I turn around in the air by setting of with one foot. I can see his wooden sword pass my face with only a few centimetres of distance.

I threw my left sword, instead of my right sword, on purpose. Because I already saw that Arthur was left handed. This meant that he would cut from his right, to his left side. Because of that, I could dodge his strike, in the initial phase of his movement, and he would have less time to adjust his swing to still hit me.

Arthur apparently used all his power in that horizontal swing, probably expecting me to try and block his attack. Just before I pass his hips while falling, I reach out with my right sword, and hit his right side, just above the hip, while I’m still in the air.

I hit the ground, and the only thing I can hear around me, is silence.

You have won the duel.

Whoa, I’m glad we didn’t decide on what part as the body counts as ‘a clean hit’. The system decided this was a clean hit, so I’m satisfied.

The only thing I’m unsure about, is how Arthur will take the result of this duel… I understand it was a little cowardly to resort to spitting in someone’s face, but it’s still a duel. If this would’ve been a fight for one’s life, then I would’ve done everything to survive. Or well, that’s the mentality I’ve grown up with.

The people standing around the arena were suddenly starting to cheer, I think most of them didn’t see me spitting in Arthur’s face. So they must’ve thought I won purely on skill. There were a few who were mumbling about how it was unfair to use the honour of a knight to win, but well, I’ll just ignore them for now.

“Lad….”

Arthur raised his big, two-handed wooden sword, and rested it on his shoulder. He then proceeded to turn around, to face me.

At least… He doesn’t look angry.

“That was quite a nice fight, I forgot how it was to fight a real battle, and this surely felt like one. I’m a little disappointed that you resorted to an underhanded trick, but I used a lot of these methods while fighting life and death battles, so I can understand. Tell you what, I want to make a deal with you. I haven’t fought in a long time, so I’ve been getting rusty. I can see you have a little experience, but you’re still a shrimp compared to me. Let’s have a few more duels, every time you win, I’ll buy you a simple weapon of your choice. And every time I win, I’ll have you keep me company for a day. And you’ll spar with me, while I guide you without any complaints.”

Arthur smiled, and raised his eyebrows at me. Probably waiting for my response.

That does seem like a nice deal though… I can still afford to miss a few days, for now. I still have 12 days before I promised to party up with the others. And if I can get some free weapons while I’m at it… Then I can finally start practising with sais, nunchakus and a spear.

“Sure, I’d be honoured to have more duels, with someone as experienced as yourself.”

***

Damn it, this lich has lost it, I’m sure of it.

He has been speaking gibberish for 16 days, and I’ve been running errands the whole time.

I have enough of this shit.

I’ve only been working diligently for him, because I was promised great power. But if he keeps this up then I might really attack him out of frustration.

Yesterday, after getting different ingredients for him, for 15 days, he finally told me that he only required one more ingredient for a certain ritual.

I gave it to him, and he immediately started scrabbling on the walls, and on the floor.

He also told me, that he needed me to get this ingredients for him, because he couldn’t leave the shop himself. I had to get these ingredients for him, because they were needed for the ritual, through which he would bestow great powers upon me.

But I’m not stupid.

That lich, I’ve already figured out his real motives.

A few days ago, I started to really become suspicious of him. He was getting happier with the day, and I sure as hell don’t think it was because of my company. I never trusted that guy, to begin with, but I had to get way too many ingredients for a simple ritual.

There were quite a few weird ingredients too, things like elven ears and teeth… He directed me to some merchants in dark alleys who sold these kinds of things.

I followed him without complaints for a while, it was still a quest of course. No use in getting angry at an NPC.

But now he’s really done it…

A few days ago, I started researching online for rituals concerning these ingredients. Unfortunately all the results came up negative, but that didn’t stop me at all. I thought it might be a good idea, to ask the people trained to destroy evil things.

Yes, the priests.

---A few days ago---

I wasn’t going to sell him out yet, as I still wasn’t really sure if he’s really fooling me. Or if I will really receive his ‘grandiose’ powers.

I don’t trust him, but for now, it might still turn out to be the truth.

Lost in my thoughts, I finally arrive at the church. Time to look for someone who has some experience with dark rituals. They might know what is happening. The only thing I should watch out for though, is that they’ll see me as the one participating in the dark acts. I somehow have to fool them in believing that I’m strictly researching about this for the greater good.

I walk towards a priest who didn’t look very occupied, he had short brown hair, and looked like your usual boring priest.

He directed his attention to me, and asked a question:

“Hello friend, how may I be of service.”

How to go from here… I can’t act too suspicious, or he’ll just call divine retribution on my head. Well, not like he can, but by manner of speaking of course.

“I was wondering, is there any chance, that I might access some books about rituals the church has in its ownership.”

The priest starts thinking deeply before he speaks up:

“Any specific rituals in mind or…?”

As if I’ll give him any more information.

“Ah, no, I’m sorry, I only know a little bit about the ingredients needed.”

The priest looked disappointed for a moment, before changing his expression to one filled with enthusiasm.

“Well, I might not be able to help you, but I think I know someone who is!”

The priest turned around and already started walking to some destination I didn’t know about. He’s probably expecting me to follow him like an obedient dog.

I can’t repress the urge to sigh behind his back, I don’t like these busy body types.

Always assuming things like how people will follow you, just because you know something they don’t.

As I follow the priest in the church, we take a few side paths, and arrive in front of a small wooden door. I’ve never been here before, but it looks pretty peaceful.

The boy knocked a few times on the door, before opening it, and urging me to enter.

I walk through the door and I enter a small, cosy little room with a lot of books. There was a desk present, with an old bald man with a grey beard, sitting behind it.

“Hello, young one, how might this one be of service to you?”

Looks like this guy is your average, humble, old person.

Let’s try playing the nice, innocent guy.

“Hello, I have some questions concerning a ritual, I only know about the ingredients, but not about the purpose of the ritual. I went to ask the priest over there,”

I nod my head in his direction before continuing:

“and he told me that you’re the most knowledgeable around.”

The older priest starts chuckling a little, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. I wait for him to finish, but he keeps chuckling, and starts staring into space after a while.

I make a fake cough to try and get his attention, he suddenly jolts his shoulders, and starts looking at me again.

This guy is so weird, I think he’s starting to go senile.

“Ahh, yes, you have come to the right place. Back in the day, I have had to deal with quite a few rituals concerning the healing of people. That is what you’ve come here for, isn’t it?”

Didn’t I just tell him that I only knew about the ingredients…

“I have no idea what the purpose may be of this ritual, as I only know about the ingredients. I thought that maybe you would be able to help me, figure out the true purpose of these ingredients combined.”

It took me a while to finally have him understand about what I asked of him. I showed him a few ingredients and as luck would have it, he did know something about what I was asking him.

“Ahhh, yes, these ingredients are a little different than the ones I used back in the day, but they have really strong healing properties. The method was strongly disliked though, because it takes the life essence from one source, to heal another. It was banned after a while, because the priests sometimes couldn’t control it, and lost a lot of power in the process. It took them years to recover.”

That son of a bitch.

A lich doesn’t have any life essence. So anyone can guess what he has in mind for me…

The sucker wants to revive himself, and sacrifice me whilst doing it.

Giving me great power my ass.

I started talking with the older priest some more.

---Back in the present---

“At last, thou hast complet'd the tasks thou wast given, and anon I can finally execute the ritual. great power will be bestow'd upon thou, if thou will just wait fain.”

It had been a few hours since I gave him the last ingredient he needed, and he was still preparing the things he needed to get done.

He had already drawn something like a hexagon on the ground, and urged me to stand in the middle. I did as he said, and waited patiently for the new popup to appear.

At last, he finished his preparations.

*Ting*

Quest Complete!

The undead are never at peace

You have brought all the ingredients the undead shop owner required. He has promised, that he’d trust you, if you’d be able to finish fetching all the ingredients. You have done so, and the undead trusts you now.

Reward: The undead trusts you now.

*Ting*

Quest: The Role Of the Living

The undead has promised you great power, through a ritual. Step in the hexagon, and endure the ritual to come. You will receive the reward the undead has in store for you.

Difficulty level: Unkown

Quest requirements:

-The undead must trust you enough

-All necessary items for the ritual must be present

Reward: ???

As I step into the middle of the hexagon, the lich suddenly started floating. He was emitting a lot of power, and you could see his eye sockets lighting up.

“One will anon initiate the ritual, and endue forth the great powers thou hast been waiting f'r.”

A magical barrier surrounds me, which makes it impossible for me to leave. I try to touch the walls, but they won’t let anything through.

Alright, here we go. I’ve been waiting for this.

After a few seconds the lich starts laughing:

“One wilt confess, this one hath conjur'd the man thou had follow'd to this shop, all to lure thou inside. One cannot leave the shop, but this one's conjur'd familiars can, although they can't interfere with the outside ordinary. This one despises living like this, and hath been yearning f'r the living flesh again. thou will serve this purpose. one will take thy life essence, and walk among the living yet again!”

The glowing of the lich, reaches its pinnacle when suddenly a flicker of surprise could be seen on the lich’s face.

***

As I reach out to the scythe, I decide that it might not be the best idea. For some reason it took a little bit of willpower to force back my hand. Almost like the scythe has mesmerizing powers…

Nah, probably not.

The question now is: Do I break the seal, or do I leave it and report it.

If I report it to the priests, I’ll probably not gain anything out of it. They’ll just say ‘oh, thank you for your cooperation.’ And when I’ll ask for a reward they’ll simply tell me that having done something benevolent will be a reward upon itself.

As if I’d let them.

Alright, I have decided. I’ll break this seal.

I still remember that pickaxe we used to break some rubble in other floors, so that it was easier to carry.

Before I leave the room with the seal, I sent Glinc a pm, telling him that something special has come up, and if he wanted to join me.

I received no reply… Why is he ignoring me?

I start walking through the maze of narrow paths, leading to that hated stairway. I quickly walk up the stairs, and leave them behind me while walking towards the room we had all our tools in.

Luckily enough, the room was quite close to the stairs, we didn’t have to walk a long way with all the tools we used to clean the rooms, on the lower part of the church. We used brooms, pickaxes, and dusters…

I open the door, and I see all the tools we used, in exactly the same way as we left them behind. It was quite the rubble, as we always dropped the tools back where we found them, immediately as we were finished with them.

I didn’t bring any tools with me this time, because I first wanted to inspect what kind of room the remaining one was. I surely didn’t expect a seal like that…

I have to move a few items, to finally reach the pickaxe. There were a few other pickaxes, because we left the ones we used for the 12th room behind.

When I started walking to the room again, I can see a familiar, brown haired priest enthusiastically walking. Just when I was about to look away, I can see Warrific following him. What is he doing in the church? Didn’t he say that he was going to become a necromancer?

Such a hypocrite.

Anyway, he’s probably busy. I soon forget about him as I was occupied with the quest at hand. I rush back to the room, and start doing some work.

Damn, how many swings will this even take. I’ll be stuck here for a while, I guess.

I start hacking away, and notice that the durability drops with 1 point every 3 swings. It’ll take me around 400 swings to break the seal. Better start working.

I keep swinging my pickaxe, and after a short while, I lost track of time.

As I got in pleasant rhythm of swinging I could see small bits of the rock slowly breaking off the main part, and just when I got to a part where I was completely focused, it broke.

Not the seal, but my pickaxe that is.

I didn’t expect that to happen… I forgot to check the durability of the pickaxe.

No worries, I’ll just get another one, and start working on the seal again.

I rushed back into the room, grabbed a new pickaxe, and returned to the seal.

I check the durability of the seal first, and notice how it went down with 100.

Good, only 100 swings remaining.

I start working on the seal again, and to my surprise, 100 swings went by pretty quickly. I smash the pickaxe for the last time on the rock, and I see how it breaks open.

I take a few steps back, and expect the scythe to fall on the ground, as the rock was supporting its handle at first.

What I didn’t expect, was that a shadow would materialize in front of me, and would take a hold of the scythe.

Damn, I’m not sure what I was expecting when the seal would break. I thought it would just be a high class weapon which I could sell. That way I would profit the most.

I feel a shiver going up my spine, and force myself to keep watching the shadow that just appeared. Well, I’m saying shadow now, but it was slowly transforming in something of a skeleton. A robe appeared around the shadow, and soon, there stood a full skeleton before me. His bones weren’t white, but more of a rusty red. He also grew hair on his head, which had a shade of dark, green hair.

“Mortal, are you the one who unsealed me?”

The scythe that was sealed in the rock, was starting to glow in his hand. It was emitting a scarlet sort of power, which made you think that it would wither everything it touched.

“Answer. Me.”

He looks pretty dreadful like that, but I didn’t have the feeling that he would suddenly attack me. I think I may survive this if I’ll be honest with him:

“Yes, I was. I found this rock, holding your scythe. I proceeded to get a pickaxe, and break the seal.”

“Ah yes, it is a marvellous scythe isn’t it?”

He eyed me with a look of appraisal in his eyes. I feel like he only sees me as a tool.

“‘Lifecutter’ is its name. Fitting don’t you think? Were you also after the scythe, when unsealing it?”

Of course I was! But not like I’m going to tell you.

I won’t fall for that trick…

“No I wasn’t, I thought it might be a good idea, to unseal someone, who has been sealed for at least decennia. I had an idea, that it trapped someone who was wrongfully seale-.”

Before I could continue my explanation, there was resting a scythe on my throat. The skeleton with green hair, had disappeared before I could react, and reappeared right in front of me.

“Mortal, I do advice you, not to lie in front of me again. I, however, do have uses for mortals that are willing to lie, in order to survive.”

How did he know? Is he bluffing?

I don’t think he is. It might really be a better idea to stop lying.

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“Good. I like mortals that understand the situation they’re in. I’d be fine with leaving you here, and have you collect some dust. I’m even fine with killing you, and be done with it. But, I do appreciate loyal followers. Would you be willing, to become my follower?”

I have no idea what he exactly means… If he literally means following around him everywhere, I don’t think that’d be worth the hassle. I don’t want to become an errand boy.

I’d rather give up this avatar, or just die once. But it might be worth my while to ask him for some more specifics.

“I’m sorry, but can you explain some more?”

“Once, I had great strength, but over the time I was sealed, it slowly disappeared. I need followers, and time to regain my strength. For now, I’ll lend you a part of my powers, and in return I will have you obey me when I seek you out. Don’t worry mortal, my business is not solely in this realm, so I won’t summon you a lot. But when I do, you must obey me. I’m still weak, so it won’t be a lot of power, but as you grow stronger, so will I, and so will your powers, in return.”

The skeleton looks at me expectantly.

I think, I might take this deal. If he’ll really grant me powers, then I’ll probably get a unique class that sounds pretty strong. I can already guess that he’s someone of great power, because he’s letting loose a pretty strong energy.

“Alright, I’ll become your first follower.”

The skeleton starts laughing at me, and you could see he was clearly mocking me.

“First follower? Don’t get ahead of yourself, you’re still a mere mortal. I have acquired many followers over the years, and a lot of them will jump to death at a mere word from me. Don’t flatter yourself thinking you’re the first one to follow me. But mark my words, you will become powerful, in due time, and when you do, I’ll call upon you. Don’t ever think about disobeying me, or I will cut you down, before you’ll ever be able to react. First of all, I want to see if you’re worthy of my power. If you’re able to pass my test, then I’ll grant you a little of my power. Are you ready?”

Quest: Every seal can be broken.

Nerull has been unsealed, and is willing to give you a reward for performing the act of unsealing him. If you pass his test, you can become his follower, and he’ll grant you a part of his power.

Difficulty level: ???

Quest requirements:

-Unseal Nerull

Reward: A part of Nerull’s power.

***

Notes:

Okay, so that's it for now, this was what I had written already, the upcoming updates will be a bit slower. I'm aiming for one or two chapters a week, but it may be more, or it may be less. It depends on how busy I am with school.

If you enjoyed it, please drop a comment, and if you disliked it, also drop a comment, telling me why.

I'm open for critics, so just tell me, and I'll see what I'll do with it~

(btw - how are the perspectives, are they easy to follow, or is it confusing when the view switches between characters?)

-Tensaiz