Chapter Six

Disturbing News

Fred was standing in a field, nestled at the bottom of a valley, screams and explosions all around him. With lightning strikes came booms of thunder, deafening and blinding. Spells, arrows, and even blades were flying in every direction wherever he looked. And wherever he looked, waterfalls of blood.

Fred shot up in his bed, drenched in sweat as he heard Jack’s voice yell from below.

“GET DOWN HERE, ALL!”

Fred felt a stinging in the back of his head that faded after a few moments. He felt it was better to ignore it for now, because Jack had explained what it was beforehand, his status sheet and points. Fred pushed the dream and the knowledge of his status sheet to the wayside for now.

Fred and his group walked down to the common room of the Inn and saw Jack looking like he hadn’t gotten much sleep, and paler than usual.

“Listen to me and listen well. Usually we go through a week of training like yesterday, but circumstances have changed. Normally it takes all we have, to repel the creatures that spawn nearby daily. Once every couple of months, an Elite spawns and only Karl can handle it, him being a level fifty and the Elite being level thirty. However, Elites usually take groups to tackle. We can handle level ten to fifteens, if push comes to shove. I don’t say this lightly, but you all need to leave, immediately for Karl has been infected. Remember to take care of infections within twenty-four hours or you will turn into a variant of the monster that infected you. Only cure is to die a few times after that transformation, and you don’t have control during it. There is no cure for those of us that are natives.”

Jacked sighed and took a heavy breath to continue, before any questions could erupt or panic could take hold.

“There are four layers to this world, think of them as level zones. One to twenty-five, twenty-six to fifty, and so on. On this first layer, there are twelve towns including this one. You’ll have to go through the mountain pass in the east to get to the next town, hurry and gather your supplies and distribute your stats. I apologize for the rushed explanation, but we have no time.”

Shocked silence fell over the room. We can be turned into monsters? And we have to die several times for it to be undone? It sounds as though it rarely happens, but we should obviously be very cautious about these infections. Fred thought in shocked astonishment.

His group looked at each other in concern as other groups started to bolt out of the inn in a panicked rush. Zach looked at him and nodded.

“We should get those supplies from the camping store down the road, and make sure we get a few maps.”

“No need.”

Stan pulled out several maps, a copy for everyone.

“Part of the rogue training was to pilfer what we could. If we could steal it, it was ours. I have maps for most of the first layer already.”

“I don’t like it, but we don’t have time for morals right now.”

Kate said and snatched the map out of Stan’s hand, looking carefully at the area where the mountain pass is. She looked concerned after a moment, pointing to where the town was on the map and then the mountain range.

“This town was never even named on the map, it even says ‘Unnamed Town’ here. And it says this map was made five hundred years ago. A lot could have changed as far as terrain in the mountain pass and its surrounding areas!”

Kate looked exasperated as she looked at Stan. He shrugged.

“Good thing I picked up most of the camping supplies we’ll need yesterday after I woke up, or we’d be in serious trouble trying to rush right now.”

John said, looking at Stan.

“Great minds think alike.”

Zach smacked stan in the back as Tanya slapped him in the back of his head. Kate just rolled her eyes at their antics.

“Well, let’s go Thief Extraordinaire.”

According to the map Stan had procured, they would need to walk roughly ten miles north in order to reach the entrance of the mountain path that wound east.

“What’s the name of the next town, Kate?”

“It says…Gal’Slai”

Kate put the map away as they started to leave the Inn, knowing Fred would want to talk about the status sheets so they all understood what everyone else could do.

Fred was looking at his status screen.

Fred – {Director} Invoker

Health

75

Mana

150

Strength

7

Intellect

15

Dexterity

10

Agility

10

Mana regen

15

Stamina regen

5

mana

15

Stamina (cannot be increased for your class)

10

Invocation Focus

10

Spirit Manipulation

20

“Huh, I can’t increase my stamina, but I have Invocation Focus?”

Fred asked aloud, obviously confused.

Zach’s brow furrowed.

“I don’t have a way to increase my mana, but I have Agility and Hardiness.”

John pulled up his status sheet as well.

“Hardiness here as well, but I can increase everything.”

Stan looked at his with a slight smirk.

“Speed and Subtlety, can’t increase my mana, though. It says under Speed: increase movement and agility by ten percent per five points in this stat.”

John looked closer at Hardiness.

Hardiness: reduce the physical damage taken by ten percent per twenty points in this stat.This will not fully negate physical damage, no matter the stat score. Damage calculation for Hardiness is after being mitigated by your armor.

Tanya looked at her status screen and raised an eyebrow.

“Reflex adaptation, speed, and subtlety. Looks like I can increase everything but HP.”

“Evocation focus and casting speed, can’t increase stamina or HP. Typical for a mage, in my opinion.”

Evocation Focus: This determines the power and stability of the spells you cast, in conjunction with the mana invested and tier of the spell you are attempting to cast.

Kate shrugged, not worried about the stats much currently.

There was a rumbling from the inn they had left and decided to pick up the pace. They made it to the beginning of the trail marked on the map just before nightfall. Kate was looking at it closely, noticing the marked caves on the side and that there was a shorter path through a large cave near the end.

“We can do this two different ways. This shortcut through this large cave, or the longer winding path that seems to lead down into a valley before rising back up again.”

Something in Fred told him to avoid that valley at all costs, that it would be one of the worst choices he would make in a very long time.

“The cave.”

Fred said hurriedly. John, Kate and Tanya looked surprised while Stan nodded, agreeing with Fred.

“I’ve got a pretty nasty feeling about that valley, let’s avoid it.”

Zach looked at them, eyebrow raised but not saying anything.

In the distance, unseen by anyone, stood a shadowed figure on a hill. He was grinning maliciously, a dark look in his eyes. He snapped his fingers and the maps for this area that Fred’s group carried blurred and changed. The titles now read ‘Lair of the Treacherous Demon’. Nothing would happen. For now. The man nearly cackled in delight at the thought of what would happen later on, however. If I kill them now, I only get to feast on them once. No, no, let them come back so I can do so many times. This group isn’t like the others. They won’t get trapped by the respawn stone like the others.

As Fred and his group passed through the cave mouth, they felt like a veil was placed in front of their vision. Everything was flat, no obstacles or any such thing in their way. The exit was directly across from them and oddly close. Fred felt that he should be wary but couldn’t bring himself to be.