Chapter Eight

Interlude One

Carl

Carl was confused to an extent which he had never been confused before. How had this happened? he asked himself for the thousandth time. He ducked slightly and slid under the arm that swung towards his head with devastating force, and kept running.

It was ridiculous. How was he supposed to know that he shouldn’t take a borrowed twenty-side die from a one shot D&D group? How was he supposed to know not to trust a piece of paper that no one else there could see? And how was he supposed to know not to ever say the words on it? For crying out loud, he thought it was some kind of prank that he figured he may as well go along with.

Carl was a five foot seven inch man in his early twenties, with a full beard that made him look like a dwarf from modern day media. He was stocky, in reasonably good shape and his skin was the slight brown that came from being outside much more often than not. Carl had very recently gotten into D&D, and had been attending a one shot session at someone’s house. They had had a very curious, and in Carl’s humble opinion, badass looking twenty-sided die. He kept coming up twenties pretty often during the one shot and they told him he could keep it. However, there was a small piece of paper it had been on top of that no one else had noticed, and thought carl was being weird when he was talking about a piece of paper that no one but him could see.

Carl just shrugged it off, like just about everything else in life. He very much preferred minimal stress in his life. When Carl got home, he took out the paper and read it aloud. It did a, what Carl thought, fancy little light show then the paper seemed to enlarge and a much longer message was present:

‘Do not speak these words out loud unless you are sure you wish to leave your current life behind, forever. This is your only warning. If you wish to, speak these words and everything around you within 10 feet will disappear along with you. This world is like nothing you believe could have existed before. There are many dangers and horrors awaiting, but also vast riches, and vast power, should you prove yourself WORTHY.’

‘I wish to leave my mundane life behind for adventure, honor and glory. I knowingly risk my life, sanity, mind and very soul in exchange for this. I willingly enter this new world of Magick and Steel, Miracles and Horrors, and acknowledge I will be given a guide to this new world and it’s rules and laws, and that I shall enter the world in a safe town until I can comprehend what this new world is about. Safety is a luxury, not guaranteed.’

‘This must be said willingly and cannot be forced’

Carl read it over slowly, then looked around his small apartment and his belongings. Being the minimalist he was, Carl had very little and was happy that way, and he had little attachment to his job or anything really. He already knew what someone would say, because people always said it when something happened around him or he did something.

“Damn it, Carl.”

Carl spoke the words, and then he was gone. No traces of what happened to him remained behind.

The Khazam was slightly puzzled. Normally, groups would come through his portals after a few days of being manipulated and thinking through the decision. Yet, there stood a short stocky man with a full beard in the antechamber of the core of his world. By himself. This happened every harvesting cycle, or “century” as these people called it. There were always four of them, and their characteristics were always unknown before they arrived. He had to watch these, they always had a knack for inexplicably changing things in unusual ways; intentional or not, these four unknown earthborn.

Carl got a notification in his vision, showing him the classes he could pick:

Cleric: Use holy power to heal your allies and smite your enemies. Staff and Robes primary equipment. Intellect, Mana, and Mana Regeneration are main stats. The Cleric is a healing class that can mete out heavy punishment when not healing.

Rogue: Use stealth and cunning to gain an advantage in combat and outside of combat. Daggers and Leather Armor are primary equipment. Agility, Dexterity, Stamina Regeneration and Intellect are primary stats. The rogue is a cunning class that can often uncover secrets that others may ignore, and deal in information when not busy killing enemies.

Archer: fight from afar with bow and arrow. Bow and arrow, Leather Armor are primary equipment. Agility, Dexterity and Stamina Regeneration are primary stats. The archer is one of very few non-magical ranged classes, but can use magic to strongly augment their abilities.

Mage: use long range spells to decimate your enemies before they know what hit them. Staff and robes are primary equipment, Intellect, Mana, and Mana Regeneration are main stats

Warrior: Use melee weapons to deal grievous damage and wounds. Swords and Plate or Leather armor or primary equipment. Strength, Agility, and Dexterity are primary stats. The Warrior is a classic damage dealing class that can take moderate damage.

Red Mage: A ‘Jack-of-all-trades’ class that can use every weapon, armor type, skill, ability, and spell. Red Mages suffer a penalty and receive no bonuses to any combat skill, ability, spell, or weapon. They can, however, customize in very unique ways and gain bonuses towards crafting and have access to all attributes, unlike most other classes.

The Khazam covered his eyes. Red Mages were a pain due to their flexibility and were very rare. He knew this stranger was going to pick that class, and because he cannot send individuals to the beginning town, he may as well send him running up to the surface.

Of course, Carl took the Red Mage class. It was perfect for a laidback guy like him that didn’t like pressure, and it allowed him to do basically whatever he wanted.

“Now, you must choose an Element, Carl.”

The voice sounded horribly wrong, to Carl. As though hundreds, or thousands of voices had been forcibly mixed and mashed into one.

Carl jumped and looked over at the entity that had spoken.

“Oh shit, didn’t see you there. What’s this about an element?”

“Normally, you cannot use spells, skills or abilities directly tied to an element opposite of the one you choose. But Red mages can ignore that fundamental rule entirely, at a penalty. The basic elements are: Life, Death, Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light and Dark. Red Mages may start with two of these, unlike other classes.”

Carl took his time. A long time, in fact, to choose his elements. The Khazam narrowed his eyes and looked over to a pile of bag of holdings. He took one labeled “Red Mage” and threw it at Carl’s chest just as he finally made his decision; Air and Fire.

{Alert} You have achieved the base requirements for advanced element: Lightning. You do not have the appropriate level: 5.

{Alert} You have obtained {Bag of Holding}.

“Now, how about a little exercise? Get out of my antechamber, and back to the surface, Carl.”

The Khazam grinned slightly and snapped his fingers. A {Gigantous Flame Minotaur} appeared in the room, and prepared to charge at Carl. The room instantly filled with one of the most foul odors possible. Carl had, quite literally, shat himself. It didn’t help in the slightest that he had doused, literally, his Taco Hell burritos in as much hot sauce as he could get his hands on. And that was just Lunch, not to mention Dinner.

“DAMNIT, CARL!”

The Khazam roared, very much not pleased in the slightest.

Carl took off at as much of a sprint as he possibly could, given the circumstances. As he was running up a corridor that had opened in the side of the antechamber, Carl tried to dig into the {Bag of Holding} he had been thrown:

{Minor Bastard Sword} {Minor Bow of Air} {Minor Arrows of Fire} {Minor Plate Shield} {Minor Magi Staff} {Minor Dagger of Severing} {Minor Dagger of Grievous Wounds} {Minor Quarterstaff} {Minor Studded Gauntlets} {Scroll of Minor Fireball} {Scroll of Minor Heal Wounds}, The list went on and on.

As Carl’s jaw dropped from the sheer number of items in his {Bag of Holding}, he felt completely overwhelmed. Talk about pressure. He ducked slightly and slid under the arm that swung at him with devastating force.

Carl kept running for what felt like days. This was, in fact, because it was days that passed as he ran. Whenever his Stamina was about to bottom out, or he was about to pass out from fatigue, Carl felt an odd wave of relief pass over him and he felt as though he had slept the entire night, along with his Stamina refilling. However, he couldn’t remember anything in between these time periods, nor could he explain why he was gaining small increments of experience as he ran.

Five days passed before Carl passed through an archway at the top of yet another ramp. This time, however, he ended up outside of a large mountain that was east of Gal’Slai. The archway immediately pulsed and ceased to exist, leaving no way back for Carl. He sighed deeply and frowned as the largest building in this town in front of him seemed to be glowing a rich golden hue to his vision.

{ALERT} You have reached level 5. Intermediate element: Lightning unlocked. You have earned: {Scroll of Lightning Bolt} {Scroll of Lightning Nova} {Scroll of Electrical Current: Weapon} {Scroll of Electrical Current: Body}

Carl knew he would have to look at his inventory and figure out what he wanted to do at some point. He was tired to the point that he was amazed his body was still functioning. Carl’s feet seemed to carry him further than they should with each step. The sun was just rising as he stopped in front of the inn in the middle of Gal’Slai. He thought he saw his face on a poster that was off to the side. He faced the door, and as it opened he recognized a few people from his local high school.

“Oh G__”

{ALERT} attempted use of a forbidden word has been detected; punishment applied. Deities, besides The Khazam, do not exist here nor is mention of them tolerated.

Carl felt a horrible pain in his stomach as his health, stamina, and mana bars all plummeted to ten percent. He doubled over, puking up a massive amount of blood, bile, and the remains of his lunch that he had ingested before he was transported to Al’Qarim. He thought he heard something just before he passed out, falling in the pool of bodily fluids.