I crossed the hall with a purpose and paused to kick the door open then thought better of it. I’ll start easy and let her decide how hard she wants it. Instead I knocked on the door to let her know I was entering. I stepped into the office and found it empty so I moved through the dark apartment slowly. It wasn’t dirty but I could smell blood and piss in the next room so I picked up my pace. What I found even broke my heart a little.

Alyssa lay with her back to me rolled over on her right side with sheets loosely pulled across her figure. It seemed she wasn’t even bothering to get up to piss now as a yellow stain spread across her bed underneath her. Her hair covered her face though not well enough to disguise the crust of tears. Something primal stirred in me as the condition she had devolved to settled against my brain. Foolish girl. I looked inwardly as the Reaper stirred for the first time.

“Alyssa.” I called out softly. She didn’t move.

“Alyssa” I stated with more urgency. She still refused to acknowledge me.

“Alyssa” I reached down and shook her foot, her skin was clammy and cool.

“Go away.” She mumbled underneath her arm into the pillow at her head. Finally a response.

“You look like shit.” I couldn’t help it, I was getting irritated, the Reaper was impatient.

Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks and she shrugged her single shoulder in response.

“You gonna get up?”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I need you up.”

“Why? I’m pretty worthless now.”

Aaarrrrrrrrrrgh…

“Why’s that?” I decided to play along despite my flaring impatience.

“Got one arm, not much good for anything but a fuck now, am I?” She cocked her hips in my direction. When I didn’t take the bait she continued, “See, not even good for that, just a failure.”

Failure? What?

“The fuck you mean, girl!?” I raised my voice and she flinched and turned to look at me. I saw that most of her upper body was covered in bandages but she wore no shirt and her breasts hung free. I was starting to get pissed off.

She looked at me for a long moment before answering with a shrug and rolled over turning her back to me. Fuck this shit! I stalked over to the single window in the room and ripped the shades off the hooks. Light poured in and stung her eyes and she squirmed and rolled over to hide from the assault on her senses. “Leave me alone” She whined.

“GET THE FUCK UP!” I yelled. She looked over her missing shoulder at me in shock.

“Why?” I expected her to yell back, instead she quivered and shook, “I almost died Karl, I failed you.”

I looked at her in disbelief. I didn’t have a response so I gave in to the Reapers pressing need to punish her foolishness. Because, in reality, that’s all it was. Foolish self loathing. Maybe it had always been there. I suspected she had been severely abused before the system. And when she gained her class and fought by my side she was absolutely terrifying. I hadn’t realized she was venting her pain. It stood to reason that when she was defeated so completely that something broke in her. The problem I had was it was all bullshit and she refused to see it. Foolish. Foolish. FOOLISH! The word thrummed in the back of my head.

“One last chance, put some clothes on and meet me in the Training Yard, or I’ll drag you there naked myself.”

I looked around and found her swords propped against the wall. As I picked them up she responded weakly “Fuck you, Karl. Go away.”

I spun around and snatched her by her ankle and threw her through her balcony door. The pins in the hinges snapped and the door fully broke free as her mass shoved it over the balcony and she followed in a squeal of terror. I heard voices of alarm from outside as I stepped onto the balcony and watched her tumble through the dirt ass over head. I tossed a balled up t-shirt at her as she came to a stop with her face in the dirt a good 50 meters from the building.

“Put it on!” I demanded.

She awkwardly rose up on one arm and both knees and glared at me as fresh scrapes and cuts began to bleed through the thin Northern Arizona dirt that had coated her body as she tumbled. “What the fuck, Karl!?” She yelled back at me weakly.

I threw her weapons at the ground in front of her and she scrambled backwards as they clattered in front of her. “Dumbass, I only have one arm!”

“So does Samantha, and she saved your life if I understand the recording properly.”

She glared at me though didn’t move for the shirt or swords. About this time a crowd had gathered between the bonfire and the training yard where their leader and defender argued. No one said a word as we stared each other down.

“I’m no good to you as I am, Karl.” The fire that was building in her eyes began to fade and I couldn’t suffer that. For some reason I couldn’t allow her to fail herself. She had been with me from the start and I wasn’t going to give up on her.

“Stop whining!” I roared. “YOU SPEAK FOOLISHNESS, ALYSSA!” I shot off the balcony so fast the dust below me roostered into the air as I rocketed towards her. Her eyes shot wide as I smashed the ground in front of her and caused the ground to crack at my feet. She froze in terror as I reached out and grabbed her by her chin and lifted her to her feet. “You have only failed yourself.” I whispered harshly.

I shoved her back to the ground and turned my back on her and looked contemptuously over my shoulder. “The time for words is over, Pick up your sword and fight. If you speak that foolishness again, I will kill you where you are.” I wasn’t sure if it was me or the Reaper that spoke.

I took a step away from her as she stared at me in horror. I had barely a moment’s notice before I heard the scrape of a sword on the ground and activated Reaper’s Fluid Grace. I heard a weak roar of defiance behind me as my body moved before my mind could react and her sword slipped beneath my arm as opposed to through my kidney. I spun away from her attack and shifted back away from another manic swipe.

She unleashed ragged breaths as she stared at me in anger. Still not going to put a shirt on? Whatever. She lunged forward in another weak thrust. I side-stepped to the side and swung a light backhand across her face. She knew I wasn’t going all out and the fire in her eyes flared. She activated SHADOW WALKING and disappeared from my sight. Unfortunately for her my skill Soul Tracking kept a lock on her and I snapped a kick behind me as I sensed her presence attempting to stab me in the back again. She grunted and fell backwards out of her shadows then quickly sprung up and readied herself for her next attack. A chant rose up around us as the native population of my settlement moved to the front of the circle to watch the fight. A pair of drums soon joined the chant and the fire in Alyssa’s eyes steadily grew.

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Nandi Thrush was standing watch on the West gate when the sound of a door breaking and a girl squealing split the air. She spun to see a mostly naked Alyssa tumbling into the dirt in front of the bonfire and bunkhouse. A balled up black t-shirt soon followed as well as her swords bouncing across the yard and the big man that owned the settlement stepped onto her balcony. The two began arguing and then the man she knew as Karl yelled and then appeared in front of her cracking the ground. She didn’t see what happened next as she jumped to the ground and ran up to get a better look.

When she arrived she saw Alyssa get kicked out of the shadows by Karl and found all the major players of the settlement watching from the steps of the Admin building including Karl’s strange plant lady companion and the creepy spider lady. She walked over to the group and decided if she was going to get solid answers it would be here.

“The bloody hell is going on here?” She asked the group and Junipher looked at her with a quick smile then turned her attention back to the fight.

“Karl calls it ‘tough love’.”

She watched the girl who was only wearing a pair of boxers launch a flurry of attacks that Karl dodged with ease. The whole time he was doing this he was moving the fight back to the training yard. Alyssa seemed to sense his ploy and she melted into shadow and appeared behind him with a wicked slash that Nandi was sure would bisect the man. Instead he dropped low to the ground and struck out with both his fists into her bare chest. The girl was thrown back 5 meters before her nearly bare ass skidded across the ground for another 5 meters. This in turn landed her squarely in the nullification zone of the training yard.

“Ok, I get that she’s been in a funk, but isn’t this a bit much? Also, Where the bloody hell are her clothes!?” She asked in bewilderment just now noticing the natives had begun what sounded like a battle chant. Is everyone in this town bloody insane? She thought to herself.

“Karl told her to get dressed.” The old Battlemaster, Eli, said with a shrug.

She watched as Karl rolled his shoulders and entered the training yard. Alyssa spat blood into the ground as more scratches and cuts from her most recent tumble through the yard sprouted bits of crimson across her body. She rose awkwardly with her sword in front of her and stared daggers at the man that had once saved her life.

“You ready to fight me for real, foolish girl?” He deadpanned and began to strip all of his gear.

“FUCK YOU! YOU’RE JUST LIKE THE OTHERS!” She roared her defiance.

A harsh laugh echoed across the courtyard that Nandi realized was coming from deep in Karl’s throat. The chanting increased in intensity as did the drum beat. Many of the onlookers flinched as his next words whispered across the settlement seemingly from everywhere.

“No, you foolish girl, I’m worse. I’m the Reaper. Now prove your worth.” Nandi shivered in fear and felt her legs go momentarily weak. Around the camp the effect was even more pronounced on those with weak wills. Some collapsed, others began to cry and the smell of piss and shit drifted from somewhere behind her. She quickly ran a hand over her private parts making sure it wasn’t her own offal she smelled.

Samantha leaned forward mesmerized without the slightest hint of fear. The spider lady flinched but watched the battle with intensity as Alyssa and Karl launched at each other. Junipher began muttering to herself then turned to the spider woman.

“He’s entering another Trance! Choox’il, be ready, the Reaper has taken over and I suspect they will both need much healing when this is done.”

“He’s a Dream Walker!?” Choox’il exclaimed to the other strange woman, “And what is this Reaper?”

“His Advanced Class, the Merciless Reaper of the Foolish. It came to him in a Trance just before he leveled, then it was available for him to choose.”

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As Alyssa swore at me I felt the same feeling from the night before come over me and I was watching different possibilities flash before me. All involved the half naked woman in front of me finding her fighting spirit. Right now she was simply pissed. She needed to show me more though. More importantly she needed to show the Reaper she wouldn’t allow her foolish ways to rule her. I watched variations where she gave up and walked into the desert to die naked and alone. In other variations she would give up the fight after I pressed too hard too fast and allow me to kill her. And kill her I would, for I am nothing but a man of my word. In other instances I overestimated her ability and found myself run through or headless.

Balance needed to be found. Dodge, Strike, Parry, Block, repeat. Finally a version of future events solidified in my vision. She came roaring from my side and I sidestepped enough to avoid losing my head but allowed the blade to bite into my shoulder then lashed out with a vicious backhand that sent her tumbling. She sprung to her feet spurred on as my blood painted the ground between us red. In the background the drums beat louder and the coyotes howled their approval.

“GOOD GIRL! DO IT AGAIN!” The Reaper roared from deep in my chest.

“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU! I’LL KILL EVERY MAN THAT LAYS A HAND ON ME!” Alyssa roared back. Her rage became a palpable thing as the foolishness of her youth sloughed away in the inferno that was her heart. I could taste it eroding as she charged me again.

I let her close then stepped to the side as she passed and lashed out with my hand to grab her hair that was flowing in the air from her movement. I yanked hard as it pulled taut with her passage and brought the back of her head to the ground. Her feet came out from underneath her due to her momentum being violently arrested. Before she could open her eyes I kicked her hard in the ribs and sent her sliding across the training yard to slam through several of the training dummies.

This was it. This was the moment in my vision that I knew would make or break her. She would die in shame or steel her nerve and become the Shadow General to the Unwilling Monarch. She stumbled to her feet and the Reaper’s pride radiated inside me in time with my own. As had been predicted she somehow forced herself into Shadow Walking. Soul Tracking and Unwilling Monarch’s Foresight worked in tandem to tell me when to move so I let them do the work and flinched in pain as she streaked out of the shadows past me and cut clean through my right side, just above my hip, from back to front. Blood streamed off her weapon and I staggered in pain.

I felt the headache from the Trance building in my head as the chanting and drumming stopped behind me. “‘Bout damn time you pulled your head out of your ass.” I muttered through gritted teeth.

“Asshole.” She panted in response. A small smile began to creep onto her face as she wavered.

“Oh yeah, you’re fired.” And then we both collapsed in exhaustion in the middle of the training yard.