The Sun Plain- a vast landmass in the Soleris Kingdom that was completely and utterly empty. Although the ground was rich with resources, nobody dared build villages in it. The reason for that stands right in front of our eyes.

As if separated by an invisible border, the terrain suddenly changes from a healthy-looking earth to disease-bearing wet soil, with grass so purple you could probably make dye out of it.

The Great Swamp is an area so dangerous, every single known expedition into it had been abandoned or, in case it was an NPC expedition, wiped out. The little information known about it was from books or the aforementioned players who couldn’t even make it to the center.

Almost every monster in this area is the level of a boss monster and is very likely to be able to inflict some kind of negative status effect, the more prominent one being poison. Although players had reported that some parts of it looked desolate and devoid of monsters, adventuring players from around the continent had reported seeing huge, dead forests, marshes full of dead vegetation, mountains, broken down fortresses, countless caves and very muddy areas you could barely walk through. These areas all held their own unique types of monsters, including a very good number of cultists and the respective area’s boss monster. And to add salt to the wound, monsters seemed to appear from nowhere and there was no limit to how many could spawn, a characteristic shared by all the high-level zones in the game.

“We’re here. The Great Swamp, one of the most dangerous areas in the game, is right in front of us.” The horses were going crazy as we step close, almost launching us off their backs. Paprika, however, which has a tighter control over her horse, inches a bit closer. As soon as the horse’s hooves touch the soil, his leg sank about 20 cm in it. The horse panics and starts moving wildly. Unable to resist, Paprika gets yanked off her horse and hits the ground just when the horse started running as far away from the swamp as he can. My horse was no better however as it basically shoots me off its back with overwhelming force. I held a tight grip on the reins, but after getting dragged about 5 meters, I realize it had no intention of stopping and let go of them. I roll a couple of times before finally getting back to my feet. Paprika comes near me, holding her hat with one hand and her staff with the other. Her robes are completely covered in dirt but she doesn’t even bother brushing it off.

“There go our supplies.” She says.

I sigh heavily, rubbing my eyes.

“5 seconds into this journey and things are already going horribly. I knew I had bad luck, but this is just ridiculous! What on earth are we supposed to do now?”

“Your guess is as good as mine Jack...”

I sit down on the ground with my legs crossed, trying to think of a solution. The more I think, the more desperate the situation seems. Anxiety arises and my critical thinking skills dull. I go up to the swamp and try to walk on it but my foot plunges straight through the mud. Fuck, guess that’s out of the picture as well. I walk around trying to figure something out but to no effect. Even if we die here, we’ll probably spawn in the exact same place. I stop pacing around and sit down again.

“Did you think of something?” Paprika asks after some time has passed.

“Yeah, I thought of something,” I reply dryly.

“Oh? Well, tell me!” She looks at me expectantly.

“We’re fucked.”

“What?” Surprise flashes in her eyes.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said we’re absolutely screwed!”

“That wasn’t the answer I was expecting…”

“Well, sorry to disappoint,” I say sourly but she just shakes her head.

“No, no there must be something we can do!”

“There might be, but I can’t fucking think of any! Our food and water rations are gone, along with our means of transportation and all our other supplies. We’re right at the edge of one of the most dangerous and uninhabitable areas in the game, and we don’t even have food or water! Any wildlife that lives in the plains disappeared once we were in a 500-meter radius of this place and it’s impossible to go back to the capital since it takes 5 days by fucking horse to reach this shithole! I mustn’t have been thinking straight. What possessed me to think we could make it through this?” I run my hands through my hair thinking about all the reasons we shouldn’t have come here. In the end, there were too many to even bother… After a minute of depressing silence, Paprika suddenly spoke.

“I have some food and water in my inventory.”

“How much?” I respond slowly, wary not to get my hopes up.

“This much” She pulls out a small waterskin and 2-3 pieces of salted beef jerky.

“Oh, really fucking helpful. How much do you think those are going to last us?”

“Well excuse me for trying to help!”

“Help? Please, those won’t even last us a day! Use your fucking head!”

She clutches her fists but relaxes them almost immediately.

“Look, Jack. I think we should calm down.”

“How can I calm down when our supplies are gone?”

“I’m frustrated about that too! But it isn’t my fault that the horses ran off!”

“Well, maybe it is!”

“Excuse me?” She almost shouts.

“You just had to get close to the swamp, didn’t you? Now we’re stuck with fuck-for-all supplies!”

Her eyes take a scary shade as she frowns like an angry bear ready to launch at its prey.

“Well, it’s a start! Don’t be such a massive jerk about it!”

“Oh, shut the fuck up and fuck off you utterly useless piece of shit! Fuck off, just fuck off! Nobody fucking needs you!” I shout.

Her brows rise up in surprise, but quickly furrow into the angriest expression I’d ever seen planted on a human’s face.

She looks at me below her furrowed brows for what seems like an eternity, her dark-grey eyes piercing holes through me. I look back without saying a word, never averting my eyes from hers. Her expression stiffens before relaxing once again. She breathes deeply, in through the nose out through the mouth, sighs, rubs her eyes and with the calmest face imaginable turns her back to me.

“That’s exactly what I plan to do. Screw you Jack.” She walks off towards the swamp, putting the meager supplies in her inventory.

Her figure gets progressively smaller as she walks towards the swamp without even looking back.

What is she thinking? She’s gonna get slaughtered for sure, that dumbass. Oh well, she can suit herself.

I look at her receding back for what seems like an eternity while sitting cross-legged at the edge of the swamp, anxiety levels rising by the second. Only when I couldn’t see her anymore do I come back to my senses, and oh boy does it hit me like a truck. Yes, a very mean and cruel truck called reality, where your actions have consequence you cannot reverse, no matter what.

What just happened?

My brain takes its sweet time processing the information once the turbidity caused by my anger fades away.

…

…

…

I did it again, didn’t I?

I did it again… I can’t keep my balance and fall on my back.

What the fuck was I thinking?

My god, what have I done? The consequences of my actions fully sink into my brain, leaving deep, painful depression marks.

Fuck! Shit! I’m a fucking asshole! Why did I lash out at her like that? I acted like an absolute piece of shit!

FUCK! I punch the ground like a child throwing a tantrum, making thick clouds of dust rise up towards the sky.

I should just kill myself… I’m garbage. Garbage, garbage, garbage. Utter trash. I should just log off, forever. This struggle is useless when I haven’t even changed one bit from that time! Hehe, how detestable can one person be?

I bring up the menu and get ready to tap the log out button but my finger stops midway. As if something is wrestling over control of my body, my finger just stands there, shaking. I grab my wrist and try to inch it forwards but it was like some supernatural phenomenon we just pushing me back. What the fuck! After wrestling with my own hand, I let it finally fall down to the ground.

Fuck. Has my stubbornness reached the level of psychosis? I’m a fucking mess, lashing out at Paprika like that and now even my body doesn’t respond to me, and I’m playing a fucking game. I feel like I want to bite my fingernails off, and chew on my tongue till I choke in my own blood! It feels exactly like that time… Oh, fuck me what should I do…

No, is that even a question at this point?

I should… I should be apologizing to Paprika instead of sitting around. Unlike before, this situation hasn’t reached the point of no return yet. At least that’s what I hope. I pray with every fiber of my being that my fuck-up is not irreversible.

I slowly get off the ground and start walking in the direction she was headed in, some kind of invisible weight now sits on my back, making my shoulders slump. As soon as I step into the swamp mud, my foot gets submerged into it, as if the world was complementing my hopeless feeling. Fuck! I

“PAPRIKA! ANSWER ME PLEASE!”

No response… Shit. I bring up the menu and send her a message. No reply.

Aah, fuck it. I keep walking forwards forcefully dragging my legs.

The scenery changes drastically the farther in I go. Leafless, dead trees are scattered here and there, their roots completely rotten and their trunks home to thousands of vile-looking mushrooms. A strange clicking noise can be barely heard from inside these trees. There is no grass anymore, just purple, corrupted mud. The sun’s light doesn’t even reach the ground, blocked by grayish clouds that seem to not move. The air grows staler as I go deeper as if something is rotting beneath the earth. There have been no monsters yet, however. The area around me is very quiet, almost tranquil. This worries me more than the threat of monsters. Why is it so quiet?

The mud reaches up to my knees now. It’s getting progressively worse. The stench is now fouler than ever. My gag reflexes kick in from time to time, forcing me to hold my breath. The trees were now long gone too, with only a couple of branches littering the mud. Some sort of mountain in the distance gave me hope that I will soon reach solid land. I keep going, slowly crawling through the filth.

As I take another step, I trip and fall face-first into the mud. I quickly get up and brush the mud from my face with my forearm. Did I trip on some monster?

I immediately turn to look, my sword drawn but… nothing pops up. I don’t have enough courage to stick my hand deep in the mud, so I just turn my back to it and walk as fast as I can, blissfully ignorant of what horrors hid beneath the purple surface. Thankfully, nothing attacks me when my back was turned… It wouldn’t be long however before that luck ran out.

After an eternity of dragging myself through the mud not far from me stood solid land. It was still repulsive, diseased and corrupted, but anything is better than this. I don’t even care if I have to fight a dragon as long as I get out of this thick, filthy mud. I speed my pace up a bit, eager to finally step on solid land. I drag my feet faster, not caring at all about being heard.

But even through the sound of my feet splashing in the mud, the sound of something clicking its teeth is still audible.

Something grabs my leg with astounding power and lifts me up towards the sky before slamming me in the mud as hard as it can. I only realize what is happening when the mud starts covering my face and suffocating me.

My instincts kick in and I start thrashing violently beneath the mud, trying to escape from my unseen enemy. I kick and roll while clawing mud away from my face so I could breathe.

Maybe one of my kicks landed, maybe I cut it with my sword when I panicked but for some reason that thing lifts me up from the mud, still holding my leg tightly. The monster now was in clear view.

A giant worm-like creature, about 5 meters in length, towers above me. Even though it was covered with mud you could still see its two long and thin antennas and its empty eye sockets. It was grabbing my leg with its two mandibles while opening its gigantic mouth full of small, sharp teeth.

It is plenty disturbing staring down such a creature and the stink of rotting meat made it worse but I knew better than to let this opportunity slide.

Taking two mini-bombs from my pouch, I didn’t hesitate to throw them right in the creature’s open mouth. Its mouth contracted as soon as the mini bombs touched the side of it. Soon enough, it starts convulsing violently before exploding in a pile of gore. The mandibles loosen their grip on my foot and I fall into the mud.

I breathe rapidly as I brush the mud off my left eye. The corpse of the worm had its whole upper-section blown off with its guts in full display. The horrible stench that it emitted suddenly got stronger. It’s over…

The worm’s body starts to move in a very weird way.

There’s no way it hasn’t died! I plant my feet as solidly as I can to the ground and slice the worm’s corpse with no hesitation. The worm stops moving. I relax my stance, convinced that now it’s over for real.

Ha, as if.

Out of the cut I made pour hundreds of giant maggots, coated in a gelatinous membrane. Some of them start twitching. This is bad, I think to myself as I watch a hundred other maggots pour out of the worm.

I start running towards the ground. It’s right there, why won’t you just let me reach it? There, I’ll at least stand a chance!

4 giant worms emerge from the mud, these ones at least 2 times taller than their deceased brother. They grab my limbs and start pulling in unison...

My sword falls from my hand, straight into the mud that submerges it within seconds. I try to yank my hand off the worms’ mandibles… and I do so rather easily. My left hand now free (somehow) I grab one of my daggers and plunge it straight into the eye socket of the worm that was holding my right hand. It wrinkles in pain as it lets go of my hand. I raise my body to look at the two worms holding my legs but suddenly fall into the mud.

I immediately bounce back to my feet and pull out my sword from the mud.

I saw the worms that had caught of me writhe in pain as countless maggots entered their mouths, leaving a green trail behind them. Not even a second passed before the worms’ mouths were chock-full of overgrown white, parasitic abominations.

I had no time to get bewildered at this grotesque spectacle however, not when dry land was barely 10 steps away from me.

As soon as my feet touch solid ground, I have a sudden urge to get on my knees and kiss it.

Somehow I manage to contain myself, probably out of the fear that another worm thing would jump out of the mud and bite me in the ass.

I run a fair distance away from the mud lake, hoping to distance myself as far as possible from those abominations.

It’s a miracle I didn’t die in that place. When that worm slammed me into the mud, I thought it was over. Ironically, if it wasn’t for the mud softening the impact, I would be abstract floor art by now. It makes me wonder how Paprika got through that place, or if she got through at all.

I’m sure she’s just fine. Plus, I’ve got my plate full already. My stamina and hunger bars are super low and the sun is setting. I should find some spot to waste the night away.

Fortunately, as soon as I was out of the mud lake, trees had gotten much more common. Some of them even had leaves! Caves were also spruced up here and there, usually where the terrain started to rise.

I hadn’t noticed it but I’d gotten pretty close to the mountains I saw before so the terrain was uneven at best. Ah well, at least the ground’s semi-solid. There were still a couple of puddles here and there and my foot still sinks a bit into the ground.

I need to find some shelter asap. Night’s gonna come any second now. I look around me in a bit of a hurry, and decide to go to the cave nearest to me.

I get near the cave and cautiously look into it. There was nothing there. I decide to go a bit deeper.

After walking a couple of meters inside the cave, I decide to sit down and catch a breather. My sword clinks as I sit, and I take it out to the side. It’s not even been long since I got this and it’s already saved my ass.

“Taking a moment of respite, human?” The refined voice scares the shit out of me and I jolt to my feel. Cultists? Some monster?

A ball of light suddenly appears a meter away from my face, lighting up the cave. I’m quick to assume a stance and even quicker to drop the sword once I see the source of voice.

But what I see isn’t a group of insane cultists, but just one sad-looking elf sitting with his back against the wall, a backpack next to him, the small yellow orb above his head emitting light. He suddenly looks in my direction.

“Holy shit what happened to your arm?” I take my hood off and go to examine his arm. It was completely destroyed, chunks taken off of it. Actually his whole left side was like something really large bit him. This guy… it’s a miracle he hasn’t died already. I let his arm gently drop to the floor.

His eyes get tinted with sadness.

“So I’m guessing you’re not death?”

“Death, no I’m not…”

“Haha, of course you’re not. The blood loss must be finally getting to me.”

“What did this to you?” His face turn serious.

“You should get as far away from me as possible. I’m already as good as dead.”

“What? Why say that?” He coughs up a worrying amount of blood.

Still coughing he manages to squeeze a few words out through his bloodied mouth.

“Cough, cough... A dragon never lets his prey get away.”

“D…did you just say ‘dragon?” I pick up my sword instinctively.

“Yes, a very powerful dragon. Run, run as far as you can. I’m already dead, but you seem alright. You don’t have to die.” I look at the entrance. Suddenly the ground starts shaking.

“It seems it’s too late. I am so sorry for dragging you into this.” The elf closes his eyes solemnly.

Suddenly the little bit of weak sunlight leaking in gets blocked. I look at the entrance and see a giant, blackish head with two moustache-like tendrils hanging from what should be its neck. You could see 2 swirly horns sprouting from his head. The left side of its face was completely destroyed and you could see the black muscle tissue and even a part of the bones. Its right eye moved, looking through the cave. I hide behind a rock but it doesn’t matter, because as soon as the dragon sees the elf, it goes completely ballistic, letting out a deafening roar. The cave’s countless stalactites shake and fall on us. The elf gets impaled cleanly through the head and dies immediately, the light orb extinguished along with his life. I put the broad side of my sword over my head, which offers some protection and look at the dead elf with sadness. Sorry buddy.

Although the elf is dead, the dragon doesn’t stop trying to collapse the cave, ramming the entrance with its head, as if wanting to widen the hole. I though dragons were supposed to be smart! This guy’s just going berserk! I quickly take the backpack the elf had by his side and equip it. The dragon keeps ramming the entrance with its head and the cave collapses 1 cm away from me. Rocks also start falling, first pebbles which got quickly replaced by big rocks that would crush every bone of my body if they hit.

Slowly but surely, I’m forced to go towards the berserker dragon, who didn’t stop ramming the cave for even a second.

I dodge falling boulders to the best of my abilities while trying to stay as far away from the dragon as possible. Having been backed against a wall, I furiously try to think of a solution to the point where fumes are probably coming out of my head.

I protect myself with my sword from a falling rock, deflecting it to the side when out of nowhere, the shaking stops. I look at the dragon, who has focused its red eye on me and has stopped moving. As if trying to stare a hole through me, it just keeps looking at me through the cave entrance, its moth partly open. I smell something weird coming from the dragon. The smell fills the whole cave pretty quickly… It smells like… Oh, shit! The dragon opens his mouth wider and leans back, inhaling forcefully.

With no hesitation I dash for the entrance. The dragon leans in as if trying to block the hole. I jump out of the cave, just in time to see a spark ignite in the dragon’s mouth. A hot, ruthless gust of wind blows me back as the cave explodes with fire. The fire engulfs the cave in record speed and even spreads out of it, as if opening its mouth agape, trying to swallow everything. The dragon turns his now smoking head towards me and watches as if wanting me to admire its formidable beauty. The dragon was almost bigger than the hill it stood next to and was covered with deep, dark blue scales that might as well be black. It had two rows of spiky extensions protruding out its back, linked to each other by some kind of purple membrane that continued till the end of its tail, where two thin spade-like fins stood. It had 4 legs that held 3 fingers, each of them prepared with two sets of talons that stood on top of each other. But the most beautiful part of this dragon, and the most intimidating, were its two long, leathery, pitch black wings. They covered its whole upper back, and had multiple bone-like segments running through them. It suddenly roars in rage, which snaps me back to reality.

I’m quick to turn my back to it and sprint in the opposite direction. Little known fact however, when dealing with beasts the size of mountains running with your puny human legs generally isn’t going to do much. The dragon proves this when, with one leap that looked like it didn’t even put any effort behind of, suddenly lands right in front of me. It suddenly launches into a lightning-quick motion and tries to sink his teeth right through me, which I barely deflect with my sword. This dazes the dragon for a split-second and I take advantage of this to bring my sword down directly on its head. Its brains leaked out of its skull, which had now been cut in two… that’s what I’d like to have happened. The dragon suddenly rotated his head in what would have been an impossible angle for any human and catches my sword with its mouth. The sword that has killed endless beasts with one slash, tearing through their flesh and bones effortlessly was stopped as if it was a toy. All of that momentum and what I though was a monstrous strength stat amounted to nothing.

My legs suddenly part from the ground as the dragon launches me towards the sky, like a toddler playing with a toy.

Ah, I’m dead... Gravity starts pulling me back and leads the helpless me straight into the dragon’s open mouth.

With a terrifyingly powerful chomp, my flesh gets minced and my bones get crushed by its 2 rows of rotten, broken teeth.

______________________________________

You have died!

You cannot log back in 24 hours!

_________________________________________

***

I sit down on my chair to think of what just happened. That was traumatizing... The bastard wasn’t even trying; he played me like a damn fiddle! How strong does that thing have to be to stop my sword strike with its teeth! … No, it might be that, against real opponents, I’m not that strong. Sure, I can cut up Lv. 200 mobs like butter and can dodge their strikes pretty easily as well but that dragon should be sitting well above Lv. 600, and he bounced me around like a ragdoll. The worms must also be somewhere in the 300’s and even they almost wrecked my shit. There’s nothing I can do against opponents that are overwhelming or, even worse, opponents I can’t see or hit. I don’t have the skill to dodge their attacks and I don’t have the raw numerical power either. After all, I’m just a Lv.145 noob who just a while back was a min-maxed for Hp build who couldn’t dodge for shit. I pack a wallop, sure, but what does it matter when I can’t even hit? And if I get hit, I’m fucked! Actually, would I have even been able to kill that dragon if I landed a clean strike? Hmm, I doubt it. That thing was just… on another dimension. Are all the enemies I’ll end up fighting like this? I pray to god they’re not, but going from what I’ve seen, they probably will be… Plus, no matter how strong I get, I will still die in one hit...

Hehe, and here I was, thinking I’d gotten a bit strong. How naïve of me, I’m just a piece of shit I shouldn’t get too cocky.

But how come I’ve never heard of a dragon living in the swamp of all places? You’d think that word would get around! Yeah, I should check the forums.

I search the forums with a fine-tooth comb, looking for information on the berserker dragon but found nothing. This quest becomes weirder the deeper I delve into the rabbit hole… Dragons don’t usually pop out from nowhere and neither do half-dead elves.

I’d usually delve deeper and try to get some form of information but I didn’t even bother. I head down the stairs… maybe the TV will have something good.

“Oh hello there, Ed. Good morning,” My dad, who was brewing coffee, greeted me as soon as I entered the room.

“Eh, it’s morning?” I look out the window and see the sun’s just starting to rise, blocked by some dull grey clouds. My dad lets out a sigh.

“You’ve been playing Mortal Coil all night haven’t you? How many times do I have to tell you to get some proper sleep?”

“It is proper sleep dad. That’s basically what I’m doing when I play Mortal Coil, sleeping.” I open up the fridge and take out some orange juice.

“How can you call that sleep? It barely even lets you get to REM sleep! You’re just hibernating in a capsule!”

“That’s why they instruct you to get proper sleep and exercise regularly on the back of the capsule. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with sleeping in a capsule! How do you think interplanetary travel works?”

“You’re not traveling to a different planet Ed. Although you look like you did.”

I look at him and chuckle while filling a glass with lemon juice and grabbing an apple.

“Yeah, I must look exhausted.”

“You look mentally exhausted, not physically.”

“Heh, am I that transparent?”

“I’ve watched you get born and have raised you for 16 years. If I couldn’t tell when you were depressed I’d be a failure as a parent and a psychologist.” He picks up a newspaper and pretends to read it. “Care to tell me what happened?”

“Yeah, sure dad.” He pats the sofa next to him and I sit down and tell him all that happened.

“Hm, I see. That’s indeed a tricky situation.”

“Yeah, I know. I really messed it up.”

After he thought for a bit he finally spoke.

“You see Edward, you are a very stubborn person and I think you know that…”

I simply nod.

“But the thing about stubbornness is that it’s a very grey personality flaw. Your stubbornness usually manifests itself in the form of determination but it’s very flexible. Stubbornness exists in all of us; you just have it in excessive amounts. This is because, deep down you are a very emotional and optimistic person, but also immature and conservative. Stubbornness is usually interpreted in a way that makes people think that it’s a defensive measure against change, but this isn’t the case with you. You are rarely obscene and very determined, but this flexible personality of yours makes it so that when things go wrong, your stubbornness manifests in largely different ways, from pride to anger to sloth to and even going so far as depression. In short, deep down you’re very sensitive and immature, and need to grow up on a fundamental level.”

He had hit the bull’s eye with perfect accuracy. A perfect 9-darter play where the dartboard was, well, me. And he had done so with uncharacteristic bluntness.

“Wow, that’s… impressively harsh. You’ve never been this blunt before.”

My father was usually a very warm individual that through clever wordplay and subtle meanings, smoothly suggested what changes needed to be done to the patient.

“How can I be indirect when I see my son is trying so hard to change? Stubbornness is something that a person gets rid of through personal experiences. Wins and losses, plateaus and pitfalls. It is the totality of what you have experienced that makes a person change… Slowly, yes. But surely! Also, try to be a little more pessimistic. If you always prepare for the worst, you’ll be much calmer if the worst situation actually happens.” He pauses a bit. “As for when you’re feeling depressed or you’re filled with anger, take some time and ask yourself why you feel that way. This should help you calm down. But in the end, it all boils down to experiences. Maturity comes with time.”

Why was I depressed when Paprika left, huh? It doesn’t make sense that I feel depressed just because it’s just like what happened back then. No, I was angry at myself because I was so mean to a friend that I liked hanging around with. And not only that, but I was very depressed because I hadn’t changed at all from that time. I see…

“You never fail to amaze me dad…”

“That’s what dads are for. But tell me Ed…” He puts down the newspaper. ‘What will you do if this friend of yours doesn’t accept your apology?”

The question came out of nowhere, which left me a little surprised but I quickly recovered.

“About that…” I think about it for a moment. What would I do in this situation…

“I think that if that does happen, I will accept it and move on with my life. I’ll be really sad, yeah, but it’s her decision and I totally understand it. My choices are ultimately my own responsibility after all.”

My dad looks at me straight in the eye through his slightly tilted glasses with a gaze so direct I almost averted my eyes on instinct.

“What, did I say something wrong? Why are you staring so intently?!”

“No, no it’s nothing. Just needed to make sure…” My dad’s watch suddenly starts ringing. “Oh my lord! I’m late for work! Oh no, my appointment should arrive any moment!” He drains the remainder of the coffee in a quarter of a second and fixes his tie and shoes while picking up his briefcase and bolts out the door shouting a quick goodbye.

That guy… he’s still such a goofball. That talk made me feel better though. Strange, how words can be so powerful. It always perplexed me that you could suddenly feel better when you just talked to somebody. Is it magic? Ha, no that’s stupid. I take a bite of the apple and lean on my sofa. Perhaps… it’s just the nature of man.

I chug my orange juice and bite my apple vigorously. Huh, I have a huge appetite all of a sudden.

***

After 24 hours passed I get into the capsule swiftly. I still hadn’t found any information on the dragon or any useful information for the swamp in that matter.

I open my eyes and find myself right near the elf’s cave, a cool wind caressing my face. The melted stone had solidified and formed long segments which blocked the entrance. I shudder in fear when I remember the dragon and the poor elf. Huuh, what will I do if I encounter that thing again?

The first thing I do is check my stats to see what I lost. Thankfully I only lost 3 levels and some skill proficiency.

A cold current of wind suddenly cut through the swamp as I was checking my stats, blowing my hair in my face. It is so strong in fact that I have to plant my feet solidly on the ground to not get pushed back.

I look around for the cause of the wind, taking my first real look at the terrain. The part where I came from was just a massive mudland, now fairy out of reach. There were a lot of hills near me and although the mountains looked close they were actually very far away from me. I could see glimpses of clumps of trees straight ahead of me, probably a forest.

There was also something like a lake full of vegetation somewhere west of me. Hm, this is a pretty diverse ecological system. But how the hell did it end up like this? I look up at the sky, which was filled with clouds. Hm? What’s that thing blocking the sun?

A huge shadow is suddenly cast upon the ground, enveloping me and the nearby field. Small pebbles float into the air, lifted by the insane amount of wind. My feet dig into the ground as I try to resist it, my hands protecting my eyes.

Floating right above me was the huge figure blocked the sun, its leathery wings creating massive wind currents.

An angry roar makes the ground quake. In the corner of my eye I can see a massive amount of snow falling from the top of the mountain gradually forming a massive avalanche.

The dragon growls before letting another roar, this time so strong I collapse while holding my bleeding ears, screaming in pain. Cracks run through the ground and I can hear something like a thunder before everything goes silent.

___________________________________________________________________________________

‘Otherworldly Terror’ status effect inflicted!

All resistances dropped to -50%.

You are so afraid you can barely move. Agility and Dexterity temporarily decreased by 40%. Attack and Defense is lowered by 50%.

Your ear drums have ruptured! You have lost the ability to hear until this injury is healed.

You have taken 81 damage!

_____________________________________________

While rolling restlessly on the ground with my mouth open, letting out what I think are shrieks of agony, I see the dragon standing menacingly above me, its eye flashing red. It opens its mouth which starts glowing a deep purple. Thankfully, the thought of being burned alive makes me forget about the pain in my ears immediately.

I manage to get up on my feet even though I’m totally disoriented. I try to take a few steps but fall on the side, unable to keep my balance.

The dragon shoots out a purple flame towards me just as I fall, barely grazing my right hand. The flame then deviates from me as if the dragon was having trouble controlling it. It hits the ground instead releasing insanely… cold air. Why is it so cold?

I look at my hand, the one which was grazed by the flame. The black glove that covered my hand was unharmed. However it was now enveloped in purple flame. Ha… UWAAAA!

I watch in disbelief as the flame spreads through my hand, gradually growing bluer and colder as it reaches what I assume is my jaw, where it stops and goes downwards instead, quickly covering my whole chest and abdomen before covering my whole right foot and quickly spreading to the left. I can feel the flame also spreading through my back, quickly enveloping it. Before I have time to process it, I’m almost fully enveloped in flame, from the base of my jaw to the tips of my toes. A shuddering cold suddenly pierces through me.

*Ting*

_____________________________________________

You have been enveloped by Shadowflame!

‘Cursed Inferno’ debuff applied, preventing any form of regeneration and halving your vitality.

The flame of the Abyss now envelops you, slowly changing your soul. Demonic Nature stat permanently increased by 20. For every hour you spend enveloped in flames, your Demonic Nature stat increases by 1.

This flame will not be extinguished, even by death.

­________________________________________________________________________________

My worst nightmares have come to life. I was burning alive in an endless inferno, not even capable of hearing my screams. I roll on the ground in panic but the flame wouldn’t go out! To top it off, the dragon, who had now stopped the constant stream of fire, slowly stepped towards me and looks me in the eye.

What do you want more from me? Haven’t you tortured me enough? - I think that that’s what I scream at it, while rolling on the ground.

The dragon’s eye suddenly closes. Its left eye opens. It looked like a star, a black-blue star. As soon as he looks at me with that eye, my body stops responding to me. On top of being on fire and deaf, I am now also paralyzed.

I start to levitate off the ground. The dragon rises in its hind legs and envelops itself with its wings, leaving only the eyes and horns peeking out. The eyes merge into a big star shaped one as it bends its neck and stares at me. I involuntary rotate in midair and meet its gaze. The eye glows a bright red as the dragon opens its wings again. My whole body feels as if it will get crushed but my neck in particular starts burning like hell. The dragon’s eye starts bleeding and I fall to the ground.

_______________________________________________________________

You have been permanently marked with the Brand of Calamity!

Whoever wears this insanely rare and powerful Brand is a dead man walking. Because of this curse you take 2 times more damage by everything. However, having no regard for one’s life can push a man to inhumane levels of combat prowess. Damage dealt increased by 1.5 times. Weapon-related skills increase 20% faster when fighting.

Pain modifier for this character is now locked at ‘Realistic’!

Monsters in a 500m radius are now attracted to you!

You now have the option to create a brand new character that starts at half your current level. Be warned however that the level is the only thing carried over. Any skills, quests, equipment etc. will be deleted with this character.

_____________________________________________________________________________

It… hurts. It hurts so much… I convulse violently, the pain so intense I can’t even feel anything but numbness. I’m so numb and so cold. I shiver uncontrollably while lying on the ground, but the numbness makes that stop too. I manage to roll on my back and open my eyes.

The dragon was standing right on top of me and I could see the teeth that once crushed my every bone through its open mouth.

What are you waiting for? Eat me motherfucker! End the pain, please!

I shout these things but the dragon doesn’t do anything. A small speck of blood from its eye drips on my face, melting it.

_____________________________________________

You have taken 17 damage!

WARNING: Health Critical!

____________________________________________________

Fucking kill me! Kill me! I reach out my hand but it falls limp on the side. The dragon keeps staring at me with its eye, which had now tuned... blue? Its eye is blue? I reach my hand out again, but the dragon suddenly starts looking around. It lets out what I assume is a roar, and turns its back to me, its eye now again separated into two.

I can feel the ground shaking but it doesn’t come from the dragon. I look around. The vibrations were coming from the mud lake.

No, no. To be more precise, the ground was shaking because a worm that looked just like the ones I killed was inching towards me by slamming its body in the ground and lifting up. This time however, it was supersized.

It was much, much bigger than the worms I fought, and this abomination was only a couple hundred meters away from me.

The dragon’s legs bend. What is it doing?

I could basically see the powerful muscles of its leg powering up like compressed steel springs. It snarls at the worm and launches off, leaving a huge crater in the ground. It lands right on top of the worm and grabs it with its talons, launches it up in the air and bites it with an animalistic ferocity I’d never seen before.

The worm fights back by piercing the dragon with its mandibles, inserting them right through its front left leg.

The giants continue fighting with impeccable tenacity, neither of them backing down.

Sitting there watching them fight however makes my pain worse. It’s so cold. So cold! I roll in the ground, my body no longer dull. I was feeling the full brunt of the flame.

Ah, it hurts it hurts it hurts! Fuck, it hurts so much!

I was completely hopeless. The only thing I could do was roll on the ground, completely oblivious to what monstrosities my mark attracted.

I manage to open my eyes. The sky was the first thing I saw… the second was a swarm of mosquitoes, bolting for me.

Ah, sweet death. Finally… I close my eyes and smile.

The smile gets wiped out of my face however and my eyes open up again

No, no, no, no! What am I thinking?

I manage to move my legs. I roll around and manage to get up but trip on my own feet and fall again.

I claw at the ground and slowly rise up, my legs shaking. I wince at the pain, but I didn’t care anymore.

Dying… is not an option.

My legs move mechanically. The swarm of mosquitoes moves much faster than me, almost catching up in a matter of seconds.

I try to run but almost fall over again. I try to unsheathe my sword but I was below 10% of my Hp, so the thing wouldn’t even budge.

I throw some knives at the mosquitoes but they miss. Fuck, what do I have left?

Ah, I guess I have that.

I turn around. The mosquitos are only about 2 meters away from me. I extend my left hand. A glassy surface pops up from underneath the skin.

Please be a destruction spell, please be a destruction spell, please be a destruction spell!

I shout out ‘Fire!’ in my mind. My hand glows white.

_________________________________________________

Spell cannot be cast due to insufficient mana!

_________________________________________________________

Wha… Oh, man are you fucking kidding me?!? The leading mosquito attacks with its spear-like mouth.

It gets fried by a bolt of lightning. And so do 10 other mosquitos.

A strong wind that comes from nowhere blows them away from me.

I look at the direction the wind came from. A girl with red hair stood right next to me, as if having appeared out of thin air. She looked at me and sighed.

She says something but I can’t hear what it is. She looks at me and I can make out a bit of surprise in her face.

I wipe the surprised expression off my face and tighten it to a more serious expression.

This is your chance. Say it. C’mon, say it!

I opened my mouth but the words didn’t come out. I was frozen looking at Paprika, who had turned her back to me.

Oh, you motherfucker don’t you dare freeze up! Say it! SAY IT!

Bam! I punch myself in the jaw to send my brain a wakeup call. I spit up a little blood and look at Paprika.

While smashing my forehead to the ground in a full prostration, I utter the magical words. I take my sweet time to make sure I spell them as clearly as possible.

“I am sorry! I am so sorry!” I raise my head slightly.

Paprika was looking at me with a questioning expression and her lips moved. She was speaking to me, but what was she saying I had no idea. I try to read her lips but fail miserably.

I tilt my head and point at the blood coming from my ears and dripping down my jaw, uttering something like “I can’t hear”.

She shakes her head in confusion, not understanding me at all.

Aah, fuck it! I bring up the menu swiftly and tap on the party icon before tapping on Paprika’s name and select the ‘message’ icon.

-My eardrums are busted. I can’t hear anything.

I wait for a reply. Paprika looked at the message icon that popped up, and sighed, contemplating on whether to open it.

-Please open it.

Another message pops up and she finally gives in and opens them.

-My deepest consolations asshole. I assume that’s why you were speaking like a retard. Although that might just be your recessive genes popping up. Now, what do you want?

God damn, she was pissed!

-Look, Paprika. I was a douche.

-Yeah, a massive one at that. But that’s not exactly new, now is it?

-I just wanted to say… I am sorry. I am very very very fucking sorry. I was a complete dick and you have every right to kick me in the face as hard as you can and just ignore me. However, even though I don’t deserve it, can you please forgive me?

-…

-No answer huh?

-…

-Heh, guess that’s what I get. I’m sorry for wasting your time.

I get up from the ground but as soon as I do I get nailed in the face by a rock hard kick, made even worse by the fact she was wearing boots!

____________________________________________________

You have taken 10 damage! Damage taken decreased to 1 due to getting hit by someone in your party.

You have broken your nose! You have difficulty breathing.

Endurance stat decreased by 100 points. Stamina drains 25% faster.

____________________________________________________________

I stagger back and clench my teeth because of the pain, which was nothing compared to the fire. I wipe the blood off my lips. Guess I deserved that eh?

I am about to turn my back to Paprika but a message icon stops me.

-I don’t forgive you. You’re a complete nitwit, but somehow, interesting things happen when I’m with you. And for that reason, and that reason only I’m gonna continue to hang around you. Understand?

-Yes, loud and clear commander.

I smile at her but she just sneers.

-You know, we should probably get as far away from here as possible.

-Follow me, Jack-ass. I know a place where we’ll be safe.

I sigh and follow Paprika, who mercilessly walks in front, seemingly paying no mind to leaving me behind.