Haha! Gotcha! You didn’t think I could slow down my posts without first posting the mundo chapter I talked about some time ago did you?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After catching up to Alexis, I explained that I didn’t mean anything by finding the bedroom, and showed her the key; it seems she hadn’t been paying full attention when the loot dropped. Needless to say she had become lost in her own delusions, but I gave her my word nothing would happen until she was ready, sealing the promise with a kiss, we entered the castle.

The castle was just like one you find anywhere, grey bricks, torches and wooden furniture, whatever really. There were more skeleton warriors inside, at the end of every hallway or door there was a pair standing guard. We tried using turn undead on a warrior while I tried to kill the other, but even with consecration I couldn’t deal enough damage before it broke out of the crowd control, it was too dangerous, when it broke out of the crowd control it went straight for Alexis in a mad frenzy, luckily I managed to kill it before it could kill her.

Without armour she really couldn’t survive against it for long, but I was there fast enough, and the moment the fight was over she burst into tears over the pain, she really was a cry baby, but a professional cry baby, once I knelt down and started kissing the booboos on her legs better she stopped crying, but she almost fainted again.

Due to the sheer amount of guards at every door it took us a good while to get around, the castle itself was a square of sorts with towers at every corner, the inner courtyard was what we saw at the top of the outer courtyard stairs, the towers had stairs going up and down the heart of the keep, at each stairs was another pair of warriors, looking at the stairs going down to the basement the warriors were at level 34, the trail lead upwards so I’m guessing that means the boss is in the basement.

Following the trail upstairs we went up to the fourth floor, it seems this was where all the rooms in the keep were. Exploring a few of the other rooms, a couple of them had a single goblin zombie, other than that the rooms were ransacked; eventually I found what the light was leading to. The room in the middle of this floor, at least eight times larger than any of the other rooms, I could tell this since as we were going around the rooms, the right hand walls had individual rooms, but the left wall was completely devoid of door until we came upon the king of doors.

Black, silver, and gold metals mixing into intricate patterns, plants, animals, weapons and more made up these wide doors, in the centre where the two doors met, was a hole the size of the medallion, the trail of flame had disappeared and now only one flame remained, burning away in this slot.

Naturally I took off the necklace, the flame was still there in case you were wondering.

“Alexis, out of curiosity do you see anything like a flame in that gap?”

“Mm, yeah it’s black and white sparks are coming out of it.”

So anyways curiosity sated, I slotted it in the gap. Suddenly the entire floor rumbled, Alexis even lost her balance, but I caught her and was rewarded with a kiss on the cheek and a hug, oh my, I might be the one blushing now, how daring.

Looking back at the door, a bright milky silver-ish light was creeping out of the medallion, like tendrils it came out of the medallion, coating the entire door.

Eventually it gave one final flash and the shine died down, the entire door carvings and all, was now a milky silver colour, curious I touched it and ripple went through the entire door as though it were made of water, it seems Alexis and I had found the st*rgate.

“Alexis, I’m going through to inspect it, if I don’t come out within 15 minutes, assume that I’ve died or have been enslaved, my master Theo Redgrave lives in Wallenheim, if you head to the south exit of the forest, whistle for the white horse grazing in the field, his name is Maximus he’ll take you there.”

Putting my hand on the surface of the silver door, it began to ripple continuously, taking a deep breath, I prepared to go through and meet my destiny.

“NOOOOOO!”

Turning around to check what was wrong with Alexis, it turns out she had jumped at me.

“I won’t let you go alone!”

Uh damn, it was too late for me to properly catch her, we both fell backwards into the portal.

You have entered a pocket dimension.

You have been recognised as the owner of the pocket dimension, only you and your party members will be able to enter.

In front of me I could see an upside down spiral staircase, what a weird dimension, it was made of a pure black shiny material, perhaps obsidian, the railings and the walls were white, the ceiling seemed to be made of mahogany and the floor of white stone, oh wait I was on my back wasn’t I, something in my hand was soft as a pillow, checking the other hand, there was two of them, just to check I gave them a squeeze.

“Mmn”

Yup it was the most glorious kind of pillow.

“Ahh, sorry Alexis, it was just the way we fell you know.”

She got up with a blush, and I followed her up.

“Umm, no sorry it was my fault for jumping like that, I just didn’t want you to leave me behind.”

She looked me in the eyes.

“Boys like playing with breasts don’t they?”

Uhhh, damn what am I meant to say to such innocent eyes, well I can’t tell a lie.

“Yup, we definitely do, only certain kinds of boys don’t, but I’m not like that.”

“Mm, yeah, my sister said so too.”

“Umm”

Ears bright red, she looked back down at her fingers, fiddling with them once more, a soft voice snuck out.

“If it’s just... playing with them... I might… be… okay with it”

“As long as you’re certain you don’t mind”

Not daring to look me in the eye, still staring at the floor she nodded.

Putting my left arm around her shoulders, since I was a bit taller than her it felt natural, I slid my hand under her shirt and grabbed the soft meatbun close to me, her skin was silky smooth.

“Mmn.”

“Let’s explore this pocket dimension okay?”

“Mmn, ok-AAH”

Hehe, I flicked her nipple hard there, Alexis you shouldn’t let boys play with your meatbuns you know, your sister is right, we’re all wolves you know.

Well, for a pocket dimension, it was certainly a dimension, despite no torches there was still light, anyways so, going up to the first floor we found a large Japanese onsen, stones and trees too, it even had a night sky complete with stars. I tried to jump and touch the top but couldn’t, even shooting a Shadowbolt it just reached maximum distance and dissipated, my passive hadn’t activated at all and it was still daytime outside, so I assume it was some kind of magic. My starter area was definitely western in nature, but since I got the tanto, I guess somewhere a Japan existed here, and thanks to that there was this huge bath here.

The second floor was a dining room complete with a mahogany dining table fit for seven people, it was a rectangle table with six ornate golden chairs with red cushioning on the side, the seventh chair at the head was something of a throne made out of obsidian with dark purple cushioning, the tableware also reflected this, the cutlery, plates and bowls were made of gold and obsidian for the head, they had elaborate carvings, I think some parts were magic circles.

There was an adjoining room which was a kitchen, the sink even had hot water and cold running from it, some kind of magic tool.

There was everything in this kitchen, cupboards with more cutlery, plates and cooking utensils, in terms of magic tool appliances there was everything you could need, fridge, freezer, oven, hob even a food processor/whisk. All of this was made of gold, talk about being rich, as an experiment we went back down and tried taking a couple of golden plates out of the pocket dimension. But it didn’t work, the one in our hands disappeared, and the one in our inventory did too, going back to the kitchen, we found they were back in the place we took them from.

The third floor was some kind of war planning room, in the direct middle of them room was a stone table with a map of sorts on top of it, sadly nothing was written on it, but when I touched the table, on the middle of the map Wallenheim appeared, just a name and dot , and this castle too, but only under the name of walker’s lair, I suppose it would update to the best of my knowledge, or as I explored more of the world, as a test I had Alexis touch the map as well, the writing currently on the map shifted to the south and in the north some place called Estariel was marked, but rather than just a dot and writing, a borderline appeared, a landmass in the shape of a cross.

“Estariel is where you started then?”

“Yeah, this map is quite interesting, the whole of Estariel is that cross shaped city state, all 7 major gods are worshiped there.”

“Major Gods?”

“Yeah there’s 7 of them, for the elements, but they all have other aspects and names, umm.”

“What’s up?”

“I’m sorry Zeke, but I didn’t bother learning about the other gods, and my sect is really secretive so I’m not allow to talk about it.”

Hugging her closer, I gave her a kiss.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

Walking up the stairs to the final floor, I swapped my hand to her other meatbun, the first had finally gotten enough attention, oh right and we finally arrived in what justified the medallion’s name as the master bedroom.

It was a large room, with a massive bed, I’m talking freaking huge, I thought Ellie’s bed was excessive, nothing more intimate than a single bed, but this was about four times that size, like how many wives did this guy have, that bed is big enough for about twelve people. The bed itself was a large square canopy bed, the bed posts were intertwining gold and obsidian, the curtains and covers black, the pillows were evenly spaced, but there were three large dark purple pillows in a pile in the middle, and about fifteen smaller red pillows on the rest of the bed, the sheets were also black with gold embroidery, birds and flowers namely.

There was also an en suite shower room big enough for several people, the shower part was a waterfall of hot water coming from the tops of all the walls, including the entryway, back in the room I noticed a desk, there was also a matching large ebony bookshelf next to it, but it was empty, on the desk was an envelope, written on it was “To my successor”

“This letter, is definitely for me, you wanna read it with me.”

“Okie dokes.”

“There’s only one chair at this desk, let’s go read in bed.”

“Umm- AHH”

Hehe, flicked her again.

“Don’t worry, I gave you my word nothing would happen until you’re ready, you trust me don’t you?”

“Mm, yeah.”

We got into the bed, to get to the center we actually had to crawl on it a bit, getting in the middle I got comfortable and Alexis snuggled on my chest, I had her open the letter and hold it for me since my hands were busy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My first memories involved eating leftovers scavenged from a trash heap, parents? Who knew what happened to them, they could have died trying to save my life, they might have thrown away a worthless child, and it was something I would never discover. My childhood was spent like a normal street urchin, thieving, pickpocketing and scavenging, but even then I was the best, I could steal the bread made for the nobles, I could pick the pockets of the most well-guarded merchant and I knew all the best areas for scrap, the others were nowhere near my level of intellect.

But then something happened, I could no longer slip through the crowds, I could no longer flee through the tight alleyways, but I had become stronger, though mind you at that point I was still a weakling, I was just the strongest pissant in the slums. There were brutes that would take tribute from the sneakier children, they never bothered me before, I was too fast for them, but now I was stronger than these brutes and would offer my protection to the thief-lings, for a small tribute, what would happen if they refused? Let’s just say they received a visit from a brute.

Eventually a shady old man had come to the slums, recognizing my talents he bought my allegiance as his hired muscle. The old man was a mage of sort, he had come to the slums to perform his experiments, now they truly were unspeakable, but life in the slums had hardened my heart and the gold was good. At some point while helping him with his experiments, he showed me that I had a natural affinity for magic and taught me some things, under his supervision I killed the elemental in my orb of discovery, something he seemed very proud of.

Now knowing a bit about the trial of magi in my old age, only the most talented mages will pass the trial, the trick of the trial is spells of the same element and mundane attacks won’t work against any of the elementals summoned. You have to either; have shown talent in mana manipulation so you can strike it with a spell different to your affinity which is rare, or even rarer is to have more control over mana than the elemental summoned, the elemental summoned is equal to your level, thus you need to better at controlling mana than an elemental of the same level, when your intelligence and affinity are higher than the elemental’s, when you attack the elemental it tears its own energy away from it, causing damage.

Continuing on the operations increased and a lot of people were missing, but since it was the slums the nobles didn’t care, thus the guards didn’t care, and neither did I, until one day. You see, during my childhood I had a friend, in hindsight she was my first love, she was a pincher who had worked the streets with me, when I had grown she had too, but into a blossoming flower, she was still able to pick pockets, the younger children adored her like a sister and she took them under her wing, we were quite the team, one the carrot, one the stick, but we were still too young to act on our passions, I don’t think either of us knew what it was we felt at that age.

One day she had turned up in the old mage’s shack, his knife was plunged through her heart, lifeless eyes that seemed to stare into my soul, they haunted me to this day, my rage was unquenchable, I stared the old man in the eyes as I ran him through with the sword he had given me, he looked completely surprised, I don’t even think he knew why I killed him, he had begun to treat me like his own son.

I realised then why I was angry, it wasn't with him, he had been killing as long as I knew him, no I was angry with myself, if had been smarter, I could have predicted this and stopped it before it happened, if I had been stronger I could have protected her, if I was faster I could have saved her, but I was too slow to reach her when she needed me, too weak to protect her, I was wallowing in a foolish sense of superiority and she was dead because of me.

That was when I began to try to become stronger, all this time I had the foolish of pride of thinking I was better than the slums, but I was just another piece of the filth that covered these streets, what good was being the best scum. I took the old man’s shack as my base and began to learn his magic, darkness, illusion and soul magic, the darkness and illusion magic would help me in battle, but his soul magic was something very specialized, though I wouldn’t understand it for a while. At night I studied the magic he had left as a legacy, by day I went to fight stronger and stronger monster to forge my skills, all the while I trained the thief skills I had lost from my childhood, at some point I had picked up a white wolf pup with red eyes, something about her eyes reminded me of the love I lost.

A few years had passed, I was now a young man and my skills had improved considerably, my darkness magic had improved considerably, it would weaken enemies and defend the user but I had actually found a way to pick locks with darkness magic. One thing you should know is that damage was not part of darkness magic, in fact the primary spell Shadowbolt only dealt damage because of the lack of knowledge of dark mastery, in fact I had learned that the shadow elementals Shadowstrike ability from my trial of magi, it did no extra damage, but it would pierce through any armour and drive the afflicted mad.

Illusion magic was very versatile, limited only by the imagination of its user, while at first they were just illusions, eventually they would deal damage based on how much damage the person afflicted thought they were taking, needless to say this was amusing. Under the wing of the royal knight captain who had appreciated the areas being safer from monsters I had begun to learn magic swordsmanship and began my own path of fusing illusion magic with my swordsmanship.

Finally in my studies of soul magic I had learned what the old man was planning all those years ago, in an ancient ruins he had discovered an ancient ritual, one that would create a weapon with a soul that would absorb part of the soul of every being it killed sharing its gained strength with its master, this had been how some of the weapons of legend were made, though when he died the ritual had lost its accumulated power and needed to be started again.

So I began to continue his work I needed power; a thousand innocent souls; a pure black gem, the heart of a demon, this had to be prepared with ancient magic to become a receptacle for the souls; a physical body for the weapon, the old man was to use his dagger, gaining a tool for more powerful rituals and spells; and lastly a suitable soul for the gem.

The soul would be reborn in the weapon and its previous life would determine how the weapon would grow. Of these I had the gem, already prepared for the ritual by the old man; the soul, a unique white wolf whose strength far outgrew her peers; the sword the old man had had smithed for my name day it was an intricate piece more than it was for battle, but the sword itself would grow stronger, or so the ritual detailed and lastly a thousand souls, but they had to be of innocents, I guess that was why Rose died by his hands and not I.

Now you may be contemplating that I was no better than the old man, that I was becoming like him, that I was becoming evil. You can only say this because you’ve held power, the power to oppress others , to take what is theirs and make it your own, perhaps it wasn’t you but maybe your kingdom that did it, no matter what the ritual implied, no one was truly innocent.

Soon enough I had completed the ritual, even killing my loyal wolf Ghost. As though to recognise my efforts I was granted a class unheard of, the bonus every level was +3 to Dex and Str, +2 to Int, 8 points was never seen in humans, later in life I realised it was to do with Ghost.

This was when my talent truly took off, before this I had been better than average but now I was so much more, a decade had past and I was so much more than the guttersnipe king. My strength was of a legendary level, my sword was powerful every soul it took it grew stronger and stronger, many duels were fought but never did my opponent walk away, my sword skill improved and as it did the sword illusions began to flitter somewhere in between illusion and reality.

Because of my close friendship with the royal knight captain many threats to the kingdom had been quelled, my magic was also mastered, my darkness magic was terror incarnate and I had successfully fused illusion magic with swordsmanship, another thing unheard of, for the first time in my life I was truly strong I was a master in my own right, I was in the limelight and the people of my kingdom had my name in their hearts, and in the light I found my second love, the daughter of the royal knight captain.

We had two beautiful children, a strong son and beautiful daughter, the kingdom was at peace, marrying my loving wife I had gained a surname a title and land, my childhood seemed to be nothing more than a shallow lie, my anger quelled, I was a hero now. How humorous when I received my class I received a message from the gods, it said I had corrupted the ritual of heroes, but now here I was, a hero in my own right.

But peace didn’t last forever over a dozen villages on the outskirts of a dragon’s lair were burnt to the ground, it had never attacked before, but a subjugation force had been put together, naturally myself and the royal knight captain volunteered. We entered the den of the beast with an army in tow, a black monstrosity towering above man stood, seeing our army it claimed it hadn’t burnt the villages but we simply assumed it feared for its life, we would not find it easy prey however.

A black flame had engulfed our army, those who fell, rose again from the dead, soon it was just my father-in-law and I against a weakened beast, when my father-in-law finally fell, I felt the rage that had hidden itself during peace, in the border of life and death I created the most profound sword skill of my life, a strike that would end the life of the beast.

Even the beast sensed its power and with its final words it cursed me even now I feel it’s words vibrate in my soul, “You may have killed me, but you have killed yet another innocent, ‘hero’, with my bile I curse you, with my dying breath I curse you and in the next life I curse you.” The beast came in to devour me but my sword was profound and struck true, into its mouth and to its brain, I felt the sword shatter, the beast’s last attack had taken my arm off.

I screamed in agony and a burning sensation struck my arm, the flesh turned black but the burning sensation continue for a moment longer, I then got up and dragged my arm out of the beasts mouth with the sword still in it, the blade had shattered and lost its luster, the blade had been broken once before and had been reformed by a grandmaster at great expense, but I myself noticed our link severed, the soul was gone, my class had not changed but my bonus points were gone, my mana was sealed or gone, I turned to the entrance to leave, I had had enough of this place of death.

At the entrance stood two men, one the general who had lead the army here, the other the third crown prince, he explained as he kicked me over to laugh at my powerlessness, it had all been part of a coup, he had gathered the subjugation force full of troops loyal to the king, he had burnt the villages down, all to send these people to their deaths at the hand of a dragon that had a legend of being un-killable for several thousand years, he had never expected us to defeat the beast. Seeing my powerlessness he said that as thanks for giving him the dragon’s hoard, if I grovelled on my knees before him, if I kissed his feet, if I licked the underside of his boots and begged for my life he would let me go to see my family again, needless to say I did it all, my strength was gone, pride was nothing without strength.

Soon I had reached my keep, on the way I had tried to get my arm healed but even an oracle said it couldn’t be cured by anything short of a miracle, my sword and magic were gone, the sword that had made me a legend was also gone. I entered the keep and no one greeted me, only dead bodies left where they had been slain. I hurried into the courtyard, a pile of the maid’s uncovered bodies had been made, their throats had been slit, my wife wasn’t among them, but then I saw a scene, the one that tore out my blackened heart.

In the inner courtyard under the tree my family often picnicked under was my son, with 5 daggers they had nailed to him to the tree, one through both his hand, then one through both of his elbows and knees, underneath him was his bare mother and sister, defiled by the sins of man, my daughter, she was still just a child.

“Father, you’ve finally come.” My son choked out words from a dry throat “Those men they were monsters, they attacked without warning, eventually we had to surrender. They killed all the men, then they gave the women a dagger, they made a game of it to have their way with them until they slit their own throats, they knew who I was so they made me watch, even mother and sister, I said not to give up, I knew you would come for us, they lied and said you had died against the dragon, mother couldn’t take watching sister in such pain so she, she.” He looked away for a second to where his sister lay “This angered those vile monsters, they hurt mother badly, she wouldn’t give up, they saw this and when they had their fun they killed her too, but I knew you would come!” The light began to dim in his eyes “father, where’s your arm?”

Those were the last words my son spoke, I fell to my knees and began to dig their graves with my left arm, and for the first time in my life I cried, I gave one final kiss to each of my family and buried them under the tree together. I began to plot, it was the prince who had done this, once again I would gain my power back and kill him for his crimes, and the first part was to break the dragons curse.

Years of isolation had passed and I had learnt more about magic than I thought I ever would, reaching the grandmaster level I had managed to break the curse and had prepared the ritual a second time and had even improved upon it, my arm was gone for good, the curse was gone but I had spent too much time without it, and with it most of my sword skill faded, so I needed magic to compensate.

However I still wouldn’t go through the ritual a second time, as I prepared to find souls for the ritual, I had discovered not three years from the coup, the third prince, the general and his closest guard a mercenary troop known as the blood brothers, the ones that had carried out the attack on my castle and the perpetrators of a number of similar events had all been killed, every single one of them without fail, the first princess has led a successful rebellion and killed him.

That’s when I realised the dragon’s curse wasn’t to weaken me, the curse was to forever deny me my revenge, the curse didn’t cause me to fail to save my family, even without it I was too weak to save them, if I was smarter I could have seen the through the intentions of the prince, if I were stronger I could defeat the dragon without losing my arm, and maybe if I was faster I could have it in time to save my son, but I was too weak, peace had dulled my senses, no I had allowed it to make me ignore the lessons of my childhood, I had ignored the importance of power, I had forgot to look for the hidden intentions of people and the price I had paid was my family.

My years of preparation were for nothing, the ritual was ready again, but I had nothing left to live for, so I made plans for a successor, to pass on this power, and to pass on a legacy, though I wish you fair better than I did.

And so I beg you, the one who is my worthy successor accept this power, accept my gift, for if you don’t you will eventually fall prey to those with more power than you. The ritual of power I have prepared for you, with this letter is a black gem, I have prepared the base soul for you, take my sword you can use it in the ritual to improve your own weapon, my own improvement to the ritual, I left my corpse unburied in the courtyard to watch over my family, defiling my corpse is just another step on your road to power, remnants of the dragon’s curse are channeled through the land, killing any animals born and cursing unwanted grave robbers, so it will definitely won't be stolen. You will also need a weapon of your own, the weapon itself isn’t important as even the weakest pig iron dagger could become a blade to slay the gods under the ritual.

In the black chest is a number of items I have prepared to help you on your way, it will only open once you’ve received my class. Inside is a ritual helmet I have created, wearing this while developing one of your beginner level spells will allow it to evolve to a more powerful spell, a pendant that will create an illusion in which I will be able to pass on my sword style and illusion magic to you and lastly the obsidian lodestone attuned to my pocket dimension.

This lodestone will allow you to summon the door to your location, due to how this works the door will exist at both your location and this castle, upon leaving you will be able to choose which destination you want to go to. But be aware using the lodestone again will change the location of the second door, no one except those you allow will be able to enter this dimension through either door, I hope you can use it to keep safe, those who you truly love.

The hard part is to take one thousand innocent souls, please harden your heart and do it, I beg of you, the same way I begged for my life that day, for if you don’t accept this power, if my legacy isn’t passed on, then my life truly would have been worthless.

~Felix Steelhart~

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Btw, there’s an anecdote as to why this chapter came out so much bigger, I was at a friend’s house and seeing the opportunity I borrowed her laptop and wrote this in bed, it was so much easier, and I was so much more productive. This can be put down to four factors.

A) I type a lot more naturally when a keyboard is in my lap, like it’s easier and I make less mistakes, this is because I grew up using a laptop my dad bought for me as a kid, it was my only possession, he was such a good guy, then my mum broke it to spite me T.T, I didn’t get another ‘til my dad bought me one again.

B) I often end up standing up and practising martial arts when I could be writing this story, I like, pace up and down practising my hits, having the laptop in my lap stopped me from getting up so often, I didn’t even get up for water.

C) After, you know what, sometimes I get wired, maybe?

D) In the dead of night I seem to be much more productive, I am the batman!

So anyways ignoring the second two reasons, since I’m abstinent for the exam season, and all my exams are in the morning so I need good sleeping habits, I totally need to repair my laptop, which will be about £200, atm I can save about £8 a week, but that’s if I don’t eat while at college, so like after my exams I’ll be looking to do that, and hopefully if I manage to bypass the 50k donation limit, if anyone feeling generous that will go towards it.

This will mainly be after my exams though, since my posts will be a bit sporadic until 5th of June, like 2-7 days per chapter, but either eventually I’ll have the money to repair my laptop so I’ll put that on the agenda. When I get the laptop repaired I’ll definitely increase the amount of work I do, other than that, when I hit the 50k I’ll put a poll up on how I should express the increased productivity, also I’ll have more time to hand after my exams, so it’ll be something on the lines of, same length chapters but more submissions, 2k or 3k words daily, or save up chapters for 6-9k words and submit maybe 2-3 times a week.

Anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter, next one maybe this weekend, if not after Weds.