It was a dreamless, dark slumber. He saw, felt nothing. When he finally opened his eyes, they immediately closed, to be protected from the bombardment of intense sunlight. He mumbled, not refreshed at all by the freedom from the nothingness he was trapped in for countless seconds. He checked his clock.

7/17/2 of New Era

His face blank, he blinked. How could it be possible for him to sleep for 4 months? 1/0/2 had been halfway through his training, so why did such a long time feel like just a day? He checked his status, just to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

Character CardName:Relictus17p 21g 4s 99cLevel:3022Experience:2501422 (18%)Race:Post-humanClass:Dark EmperorFame:5028Title:Heir to the Black ThroneHealth:195000/195000Energy:225050/225050Stamina:151150AttributesATT:2050+1020INT:760DEF:850+900WIS:920DEX:8250+3100ODRV:

2100SPD:6220+800???:---

Yup. He was hallucinating, no doubt about it. He rolled over on the soft dirt, and closed his eyes.

He woke up, now the sky was not intolerably bright, but had mellowed out and was dyed a spectrum of colors ranging from a bright golden hue to deep magenta, and the sun was nowhere to be seen behind the thick trees that had grown back in the time that he had hibernated. Rubbing his sore back and cracking his neck in a single swift motion, he got up, and started walking.

After losing their own leader, there was no way he could face the village again, so he made a point to avoid it. He had to find somewhere else to go. Slowly, slightly hunched over in his fatigue, he walked through the quiet, dark forest, below its thick canopy that blocked the colored sunset that flowed through the sky above him.

He walked, and he walked. Occasionally, he came across monsters in the dark, but he ignored them. He had to process the fact that he had lost a large amount of what little life he should have had left, and it was spent… sleeping? That’s it? He kicked the ground, clenching his fist and gritting his teeth. Relictus had lost what little he had had left, and now he was yet again alone.

He had such a short life to live, so why was it that he was like a curse to those around him? People just die, disappear from his life forever if they get too close to him.

“If there’s a god, I’ll kill him. Screw bringing peace to the world, I owe nothing to those around me.” He spat the words out of his mouth, his eyes welling up with tears. “God will take my payback for this.”

Standing in the dark forest, walking away from that village, Relictus made a promise to himself.

He no longer walked with a destination in mind. He wanted to leave that wretched forest, see an end to the gloom, the darkness, the memories. Somewhere along his journey, he had found himself on a road of dirt pounded into the ground by the soles of countless feet.

~–•–~

Markus laughed maniacally as the whip cracked with the intensity of thunder. With every swing of his arm, ten troops fell in a flash of light. Its color varied in every strike, from blue to white to yellow. In front of him, men were crying out in agony as they were brutally brought down by his whip, the blood staining his white blond hair.

“Is nobody a match for the Lightning Emperor?” Markus shouted out at nobody in particular. Indeed, he was one of the players chosen as New Emperors, and had contracted with Nir’richh, Old Emperor of Thunder. Trial after trial he had survived, and it paid off when he gained power millions of times that of any normal player. He believed himself above all man, and had the power to substantiate that claim.

‘It’s so boring to fight these weaklings. When will anyone show up to equal me?

Meh. In the meantime, I’ll have my fun!’ Markus grinned a murderous, insane grin, one of lust for blood and death, contempt for mortal man as he blazed a trail of warm blood.

~–•–~

At some point, Relictus had reached walls that towered over the surrounding landscape in their unvaried grey bricks. Around him was a massive crowd before the gates that stretched over five meters into the air. As people rushed in and out of the crowds, an incessant din of speech could be heard.

‘The ramblings of ants,’ Relictus thought to himself, entirely out of spite towards the others around him. He clicked his tongue before snapping back to reality.

“…to me?” An unreasonably burly man was leaning down facing Relictus, apparently addressing him. “Oi, are you listening to me, brat? Oh, is that a ‘tsk’ I heard? Ah?” His contorted face and its uneven stubble looked absolutely ridiculous to Relictus. The smallest ant of them all.

“Yes. What of it?” Relictus responded, a far-off look in his eyes, as if this didn’t bother him in the least (because it didn’t).

“Do you know who I am?” He responded. Relictus sighed, exasperated – this was far too predictable.

“No, and I don’t care in the least. Now, I’m trying to walk, here, so would you mind buzzing off, fly?”

“HAH? FLY?”

At this point, people were backing off, whisperings of a fight in the works. Relictus caught one of the passed mumbles. “That poor guy, messing with Dirge. Well, it’ll be fun to watch him get beaten into the ground.”

Relictus shrugged, realizing this guy was of some renown. Of course, Relictus didn’t care. He just wanted to get through.

That is, until this ‘Dirge’ character forcefully pulled back his hood. People stepped much farther back after seeing his hair and face.

“White Reaper, huh? I’ve been looking for you for an entire year. Never did I think you would look like such a wimp. I thought you were a ruthless killer who wouldn’t hesitate to massacre dozens for just looking at your Guild Card?”

At this point, he was pulling an axe from his back. It was a poleaxe, long enough for even someone as fa- bulky as him to wield with two hands. The blade was a very standard polished silvery metal – likely steel. ‘People are just this far along so far?’ Relictus thought. ‘Pathetic. I thought they’d accomplish more in a year.’

Relictus didn’t have time to keep thinking as he noticed a blade swinging towards his neck. “Pay attention, fuckhead!” The guy called. Relictus laughed as he dodged the blade and picked the man up by his neck.

“You aren’t worth my attention,” Relictus spat, his face holding a look of complete contempt, if not hatred. “I’m trying to get into the city, so fuck away from where I’m walking.”

And so the man tumbled. In fact, Relictus practically went bowling for people as he threw the man off to the side. He didn’t care about those who neglected their own fortunate lives, and he most certainly did not care for those who went against him. Dirge bounced and rolled, his face dragging along the dirt and digging shallow ruts as he uprooted the grass his ragdoll body rolled along.

Relictus took two steps, and looked upon his work with deep, prejudiced condescension. “Stay out of my way, or you’ll dig your own grave again.” He pulled his hood over his head and mumbled, “literally.” He chuckled at his joke, and walked towards the gates. The guards, not knowing how to handle this, just stepped out of his way. Either way, Relictus thought it best to pull out his guild card and demonstrate his legality. He heard several awed gasps, or so he interpreted them as, and walked on.

“Maybe I care a bit too much?” Relictus pondered to himself.

Author's Note

Spoiler : Had tons of power outages, lost the 5k word chapter this was supposed to be, and I missed my deadline thanks to it. I'm pissed off so I can't write well beyond this, this is all I could really recover. Sorry. Anyway, thanks for reading. If you have any criticism, ideas, or mistakes I made, make sure to tell me so I can blow you off and go to sleep. Bye!