《The Adventures of Rat Damon》Chapter 2
Advertisement
While the whole Jerald incident was one of my better successes, it was hardly the norm. More often than not, the harsh reality of life as an undersized rat in the warren would find a way to beat me down. There were times where my intelligence won the day only to have my victory snatched from me by others. Life was unfair, and more unfair to some than others. Such was the case on one particularly noteworthy afternoon.
A lanky white rat pulled me aside as I was walking back from the hunt to turn in my scavenged berries to the quartermaster and spoke suddenly in a most serious manner. “Runt, you keep this losing streak up and Lord Vincent will be displeased - most displeased indeed. I don’t think you ‘preciate the extra help I’ve been given ya, but you saving my ass that time can only buy you so much goodwill, if you catch my meaning.”
“I know, I know, Diller, but what am I supposed to do? At least I made quota today, so that should buy me a little breathing room, right?”
Diller had been the closest thing to a friend I had. Once, I had come upon him outside where he had fallen into a deep crevice while trying climb a steep incline in a rocky area near the gorge where he was trying to harvest moss that was known for its healing properties. He was an agile sort and as such would often be given the more dangerous jobs and had the reputation of being one of the more successful rats. The day I happened upon him he was trapped quite a way below ground level and I had saved him by biting off a large vine from a tree, harvesting it all in one piece, then anchoring it near the edge of the crevice and tossing it down to him. He climbed it like a rope and always had a soft spot for me and would try and help from time to time.
Advertisement
Diller nodded reluctantly and was about to respond when his eyes locked onto something and visibly stiffened.
“What the hell are you looking at, mate?”
“Don’t look now, but it appears your good friends are back, and they look none too happy,” Diller said under his breath, beginning to form a smile that just wasn’t matching his body language. “Hiya, gents, how are things? A fine day we had today, eh?”
I slowly turned around to face what I had expected, and their timing couldn’t have been worse.
“This don’t concern you, Diller. Get lost! Me and the boys need to have words with our good friend Runt here,” the brutish newcomer at the head of the approaching group warned.
“You sure you don’t need. . .” Diller began, but never finished. “Yeah, we were done discussing things anyway.” The wiring rat shot me a knowing glance and shrugged helplessly and quickly absconded.
As I turned to face the group of about a dozen serious looking rats, they surrounded me and Val, blocking off any attempt to escape what was coming. This probably didn’t matter anyway, since even the slowest of them could run faster than me. This was going to be a problem.
“Oh Runty, you knews this was comin’, right? I mean, you didn’t think you’d just get away with it, did you?”
“Um, whatever did you mean, my good man? Surely, we can diffuse this obvious misunderstanding. I’m sure no harm has been done that a pack full of raspberries couldn’t fix?”
Val stood there for a moment, looking contemplative after hearing something about berries, but I knew full well that the well of intelligence in this one was quite shallow. This was going to set me back a way, but it would be hard for me to survive with broken limbs or worse.
“I think that could help a bit, drop your pack on the ground and I will have me a look!” Val said with a faux-friendly demeanor. After reaching over and inspecting its contents, he nodded to himself, as today I had made one of my better hauls. “Not bad, Runty my boy. I think this may work; it will do nicely.” He picked up the bag and tossed it to one of his lackeys. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
Advertisement
What? Was that it? I thought for sure they brought the whole group out for something, I don’t know, more?
“Let’s head out, boys!” Val made a chopping hand signal over his shoulder toward the area they had come from and started to turn around to leave.
I breathed a large sigh of relief as this was not how this normally went down. The best I could typically hope for was at least a good beating. Not today, I guess. I guess it could be worse, I could have been kicked in the . . .”
A searing pain shot through my nether region as something hard embedded itself painfully in my crotch.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Val spoke as he turned once more to face me. “A little salamander told me something today about my good friend Jerald. He told me a lot of something about my good. . . friend. . . Jerald.” His eyes, moments ago having been almost smiling in delight had turned exceptionally dark. “It seems to be you had something to do with that, with your stupid shiny metal thing! Before we continue, I just wanted you to know. It’s not personal.” Thinking slowly, he seemed to have come to an epiphany of some kind, “You know what? I guess it is personal!” And he proceeded rush me and beat the ever-loving rat-shit out of me.
As he began, I noticed the weight on me beginning to build as the others joined in the one-sided melee. Teeth, claws, tails and elbows all began to pummel me at once. ? This hurt more than anything I had experienced before; it was pure agony. to move on the bottom of this beat-down pile.
Over time, I had developed a sort of sliding scale between one and ten to classify my beatings, the worst of which was a Pain Level 8, aka PL8. I had received that after someone lied and said I stole his chew toy, which of course was completely ridiculous as that was a filthy habit. I ended up receiving a lot of bruises, a few scars and my tail had been broken in three spots. Today was shaping up to be at least PL9 and rising.
My world had become pain, and pain alone, the ability to think about anything except for my injuries became next to impossible. I could vaguely sense thinking at least this couldn’t be any worse when, of course, it did. My right eye was lit with excruciating pain as something sharp pierced it as I heard something along my spine make a very disconcerting snapping sound.
The gang was in rare form tonight, and it appeared they weren’t going to stop until I was dead. With the crack from my spine, my pain seemed to fade somewhat and within that moment of relief, I had enough metal clarity to realize I was dying. I guess such was life, with the strong preying on the weak. The natural order of things could not be denied, no matter how clever one was. They were the strong and I was, well, the weak. At least I had this time to briefly reflect on that before my end. We rats worshipped no deity or anything like that, so I began to mentally prepare for my return to the dirt as my vision, what was left of it, faded, and my grip on consciousness fell away. I had done good – for a runt.
Advertisement
Dungeon of the Dead [hiatus]
The dungeons in this realm usually do not develop truely sentient personalities until much later on in their life. As such they are unable to generate the power the Dungeon God needs to function. Plus when they do develop their personalities, they are usually sociopathic killing machines because...well...their dungeons. Because of this the Dungeon God isn't doing so hot, and in a latch ditch attempt to preserve his Godhood he creates one final dungeon that will have a personality immediately. Unfortunately this particular dungeons seems to be just a little.....incredibly stupid. Due to the dungeon not paying attention during its earliest moments it ends up being a dungeon of the undead. This dungeon is the Dungeons Gods last chance and if it fails he will be stripped of his power by the other deitys and his creations will be exterminated. As the sentient races throughout the land despise undead and seek to destroy them where possible, this could well mean the extinction of the dungeon race...
8 156Forsaking Reality
I am a genius. My talent for fighting is peerless, yet my talent for destruction has reached the pinnacle. My family is gone. My friends are gone. Those dearest to me are gone. Everyone I know and love are gone. And yet I... I remain. For I am the sucessor to life. Yet, I will also be the one to end it. Current Release Schedule: At least 4 a month
8 146Beta Zero
You have been selected and given THE choice... From the depths of your desire and desperation you have elected to accept OUR invitation... Your pain and suffering has brought you this chance and through pain and suffering you may yet become more... Arise ye tortured and damned. Your World has abandoned you but you are not yet forgotten. For the Operators it was a chance to learn. For those participating it was a chance to rise. For the Host it was a chance for survival. For Wren and Hiidan it was a chance to exploit... the SYSTEM. This story is sexually, religeously and all kinds of other types of irreverant. Consider yourself warned. Hey, new author here and a relatively new author otherwise. Feel free to take a crack at my writing at whim. Oh, and show the love! The cover is a shopped picture donated from a friend. In other words, I have permission to use but that permission doesn't extend beyond the use as my cover.
8 92We Are Humans
In a distant future where humans are thought to be extinct through the death of their own creations, The Machines. An earth rebuilt by the AI where they now rule the planet with an iron fist until one baby boy is found and changes it all. follow the grim and wretched journey of Axel Iridian, the boy who will change humanity and machines alike as he struggles with his beliefs and discovers the truth behind the extinction of mankind and the rise of The Machines.
8 177Alternate Worlds
This is actually a group of short stories I did some time ago. The first group are 3 stories, all starring the same Protagonist but with different foes and ways of how the stories play out. Past this I have other story lines that I have done this with and will likely use this heading to put them out there. - Note: The Book Picture is the location of the Portal the car went through. There are 4 such statues set across from each other and then two of the large pillars, set across the street from one another. New Story Line: Lost is about a man lost in a world that Used to have summoned hero's, ones where the mages who did the summonings did not close the pathways properly, so sometimes people from all across time, space, and dimension end up falling in to their world. Some become heroes, some 'Demon Lords' and some something else. I have 3 versions of this story which I will put here, one chapter a day. 2cd version was massively flawed, which I only realized while sharing it. As such I am skipping it and moving on to the 3rd version. The 3rd Story of Lost is about a man who mysteriously fell in to a world based on video games, complete with leveled zones, levels of skills, professions and so forth. Being from a world like ours, with the knowledge of these things, gives him a decided edge and better potential than normal. --------------------------------------- New story - New Life, Old Soul is the story of a man who used desperate experimental magic to grant himself a new life in a new world. This is an Iseki story with a single twist as no outside force dropped or summoned this soul to its new life. Come and see what sort of world and life this willing traveler of Realities unknown experiences. I will try and post once a day, though times may vary depending on my the wierdness that is my life. ^-^ ------------------------------ Cosmic Chaos A Void Maker tried to destroy several realities, by forcing their crystal shells in to each other. The AOs of those realms fought back the best they could, including a desperate play of opening random portals between the divergent universes and the void. Several things, peoples, and animals fell through these portals. In the grand scheme of things very little of this had long reaching consequences. However, Some of these universes gained new time lines from these events.This is a story of one such event, of one very lost traveler dropped in to a very different world than the one he came from. Tags: Isekai, Gender Change (Male to Female), Magic, Drama (lets face it most of my stories have a bit of this in them even when I don't tag them thus, though I don't know how 'Realistic' the characters are.) -------------------------------
8 240~Mi querido Auron~
Historia de el amorcito de AuronPlay x Luzu. Disfruten uwu
8 53