by Aaron Oster
They’d briefly visited the guildhall here to check up on the portal and had been assured by the new Guildmaster, Gnomey Shortstack, that it would be up and running within a few hours. The dining room was entirely empty, aside from the four of them, and now that they were full, Sam pulled the items he’d received for completing the quest from his overstuffed bag and placed them on the table.
They hadn’t yet had a chance to examine their rewards closely and had decided to look them over together once they’d finished eating. The innkeeper had long since left, grumbling about a lack of customers, so he felt safe putting items this rare on display.
“You ready?” he asked, looking to Emma.
“Hell yeah!” she replied, pulling her items out as well and setting them next to his.
Sam took a deep breath, then opened the wooden box. Emma had a similar one, though hers was quite a bit larger. His box creaked open to reveal a ring. It was a beautiful shiny blue, intricately carved with swirling runes in a language he didn’t recognize. Not wanting to wait even a second more, Sam used Inspect.
ITEMS FOUND!
Name: Mithril Soul Ring
Durability: N/A
Rarity: Soul-Forged
Quality: Unbreakable
Effect: Can store any and all items, reducing their weight to zero. Item will bond with the wearer’s soul and cannot be stolen.
Estimated Value: Unknown
Name: Master Spell Scroll
Durability: 25/25
Rarity: Legendary
Quality: Reinforced
Contents: Lightning Mist Spell
Effect: Electrifies area of effect
Requirements: Level 10 Mage
Estimated Value: Unknown
Name: Orichalcum bar (1 Lb.)
Durability: 3,000/3,000
Rarity: Legendary
Quality: Reinforced
Uses: Can be used as currency or as crafting material
Estimated Value: 160 Electrum
Name: Electrum Coins (X20)
Sam didn’t even have the words to adequately express how he felt about receiving such amazing items. Reverently, he lifted the shining mithril ring and slid it over the index finger of his right hand. As soon as he let go, the ring shrank, hugging his finger tightly enough to that it couldn’t be removed, but not so tight that it was uncomfortable.
Next, he moved his hand over to the bar of orichalcum. As soon as the hand with the mithril ring touched it, the bar vanished, sucked into the empty void that the ring provided. Sam didn’t feel any additional weight, as the ring’s description had said. He wondered how he would be able to get the bar out, but as soon as he thought of the item, it appeared in his hand.
“This is so cool!” Sam said, making the bar disappear and reappear until he was bored with it.
He pulled the Spatial Wallet from his belt, adding the electrum coins to it before absorbing that into the ring as well. Normally, one would not dare to stick one Spatial item into another. However, the ring had specified that it could hold any and all items, and when Sam tried to retrieve the wallet, it appeared in his hand, whole and undamaged.
Sam then emptied the horrible bag of all his items. Herbs, pieces of armor, dried stew rations, and half a dozen odds and ends came out. He found that if he concentrated, a list, just like the inventory in a videogame, appeared in his mind’s eye and with just a thought, he could remove it from his storage.
As soon as he was done storing all his items, he opened the Spell Scroll and learned what it had to teach. The scroll crumbled to dust, and a new notification appeared.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have gained a new ability!
Lightning Mist: Send a misty spray out in a cloud, then electrify the area
Level: Master 41 (0%)
Damage: 250 - 380 (+60 - 80 Shock Damage, +50 - 70 Burn Damage)
Cost: 650 MP
Range: 35 Ft Cloud (AOE)
Cast Time: 7 Seconds
Cooldown: 3 Hours
Though Sam was somewhat disappointed to see that there seemed to be no Master level Perk for abilities, he couldn’t say that the skill wasn’t totally awesome. He’d been missing a major damage spell ever since he’d come here, needing to rely on small guns for all his attacks. Well, not anymore! Now he had a big gun and was not going to be afraid to use it.
“So?” Emma asked, holing up a shining blue dagger. “What do you think?”
Sam’s eyes went wide as he looked at the dagger’s properties.
“This thing increases Agility by a full 30 points and does 70 - 95 damage per hit?!”
“Yup,” Emma replied with a grin. “And the best part about this is that I got a Master-level Dagger Stabber skill, with a Perk that increases movement speed by 30% when attacking with daggers.”
“Dagger Stabber?” Sam asked wryly.
Emma just laughed at that.
“Wouldn’t be Somerset without a terribly-named skill, would it?”
“Guess you’re right there,” Sam admitted. “So, where to now?”
“I think that portal should just be about ready by now,” Emma said, rising and arching her back. “And I’ve got a pretty good idea of what we can do once we get back to Shtut,” she said with a suggestive wink.
“Yeah, still not gonna happen,” Sam replied, rising from his seat as well.
“Well, maybe not, but tomorrow night, you’re taking me out on a date,” Emma said cheekily.
“And why would I do that?” Sam asked.
“Because you still owe me from our bet a few weeks ago. I did kill more guildies than you, so you need to do one thing for me, no questions asked.”
“I thought we agreed on no sexual things,” Sam replied.
“Who said anything about that?” Emma asked, an all too innocent look on her face. “You’re just going to take me out to dinner, that’s all.”
“Ri-i-ight,” Sam replied, not at all buying it, but having little choice but to agree.
A promise was a promise, and Samuel Edward Silvers the Third never backed out on a promise.
Epilogue
Sirus Gold, former crime boss of the city of Shtut in the West Kingdom, watched as his hated nemesis, Sam, headed into the guildhall. He was accompanied by that girl who’d been with him when his sister had been murdered, as well as their respective pets. As they disappeared from view, he felt the familiar all-consuming hatred that had filled him since that day. The level of hatred he had for them increased then, as it had been slowly doing since.
Weeks of meticulous planning and maneuvering, and still, they lived!
He whirled, marching down the still-abandoned streets of the city, heading to an alleyway some ten feet away. Once he was safely within the shadow of the two buildings, safe from any prying eyes, he pulled the communication scroll from his pack and threw it into the air. It dissolved with a hiss, crumbling away to ash in an instant. A moment later, a transparent figure dressed in elaborate swirling robes appeared before him.
“It didn’t work,” Sirus immediately said. “They’re still alive.”
“I warned you this would happen,” the figure said. “The banshee was a poor choice.”
The voice was clearly feminine, the upper part of her face invisible due to some sort of interference. What little of her face Sirius could see told him that she wasn’t human. Her chin was sharp and pointed, her lips were a pale blue, and her skin tone was light orange. Two small tusks poked from her bottom lip, lightly creasing the upper one, though the tusks couldn’t have been more than half an inch or so. Her voice also had a light, tinkling note that betrayed she was of a different species altogether.
“Then why send her in the first place?” Sirus snapped. “I told you that I wanted that man dead for what he did to me. I held up my part of the bargain, now you hold up yours!”
The woman didn’t answer for a few moments, her form going oddly still. Sirus didn’t say anything, though he was still inwardly seething. He knew she was talkin
g to someone else and wouldn’t hear a thing he said until she was back. She didn’t remain that way for long, though, unfreezing after just a minute.
“My lord is not concerned with your petty revenge, demi-human. The banshee was placed there as an experiment for his greater plans, not to rid you of your problems.”
“We had a deal!” Sirus snapped. “I help you with your plans, and you get rid of them for me!”
“And we will, should you continue to be of service. We warned you that the banshee would be ill-suited to rid you of those you so despise, yet you did not listen and purposely lured them here. You have been useful thus far, so my lord has decided that you will be punished instead of killed. Should you refuse to accept punishment, we will cut all ties with you and leave you to fend for yourself.”
Sirus felt his face grow icy cold with a combination of fear and anger. He knew what being cut out meant. After all of the crimes he’d committed, no longer having the protection of this powerful and mysterious entity would mean certain death.
“Are you going to torture me?” he asked in a low voice.
“Why ever would we do that? It would accomplish absolutely nothing and only hinder our plans. No, your punishment will be far more damaging to your pride than anything else. You will be leaving the Four Kingdoms and going on a scouting mission into the Grempire. We’ve heard rumors of dissent, and would like you to confirm the truthfulness or lack thereof of this information.”
Sirus’s fists clenched when he heard that. He now understood his punishment good and well. They were sending him away, ensuring his revenge would be further hindered. Every moment Sam continued to breathe was a stain on his sister’s memory. Furthermore, going so far away would ensure he lost track of them, which meant that the only way he’d be able to find them again was through the woman and her lord.
Alternatively, he could refuse and die. The woman was indeed right. His pride was well and truly trashed.
“Fine,” he growled out. “I’ll go.”
“Good. We have a messenger waiting near the border. He has your orders as well as your next means of communication. You have succeeded thus far. Do not disobey orders again.”
The communication cut off then, the image of the woman vanishing into thin air. Sirus stared at the empty spot for a few long moments, silently cursing the woman and her mysterious master. He’d dealt with some unsavory types before, but the people he was dealing with now were on a whole other level.
They didn’t just run crime rings or own cities, they ran entire kingdoms and empires! Their influence was spread far and wide, slowly taking over from the shadows and holding sway over multiple nations. The Four Kingdoms were only just beginning to gain their interest, though it seemed the Grempire must be next on their list. If what he knew of the place was true, then they were always fighting amongst themselves.
Sirus knew better than anyone that a divided front would put up little resistance against a superior force. He hated having to work for these people, but it was better to be on the winning side and receiving rich rewards, than ending up as a slave to some monster’s whim. And besides, they had sworn to help him get revenge, so even if they didn’t do it now, as he so desperately wanted, they would help him get it eventually.
For now, at least, it would have to be good enough.
***
“Holy shit! Did you see the size of that thing?” asked a tall, muscular man dressed in gear resembling a martial artist’s Gi.
“Yes! I freaking saw it!” his companion, an oversized pink and white female skunk, snapped back. “It tried to take a bite out of me while you ran like a scared little female dog!”
The man staggered half a step, nearly tripping over his own feet at the skunk’s reply. He’d been stuck in this world for well over a month now, yet he still couldn’t get used to the odd animal’s insults. They were just too weird, and not really all that insulting.
The two of them shot from the cave entrance, finally slowing down and coming to a stop to recover their breaths. His Endurance was fairly high, so he wasn’t really all that winded, but the skunk was a bit chunky around the middle and her legs were too short in proportion to her body. She collapsed onto her belly, sides heaving as she wheezed for air.
“You wouldn’t have this problem if you just ate a bit healthier and exercised more,” the man chastised.
The skunk glared up at him, her small yellow eyes narrowing just a bit and her muzzle pulling back in a snarl.
“Are you calling me…fat?”
The man was immediately aware of her tail, long and fluffy, switching slowly upward. Though she’d never actually sprayed him, he had smelled it enough times to know that he didn’t want any part of that. A regular skunk’s musk was bad enough, but when a magic, talking, six-foot-long skunk sprayed you, it was an entirely different experience.
In fact, her spray came in a variety of types, from imparting a horrible stench which lowered Charisma, to one that could melt solid stone to slag in minutes.
“No, I’m not calling you that,” the man said, raising his hands before him in a calming gesture. “Just saying that you could eat a bit healthier.”
She seemed to be extremely sensitive about her weight, which the man found odd. Why would a skunk care if she was fat or not? It wasn’t like there were other six-foot magic pink skunks anywhere around.
His companion huffed, slowly getting back to her feet and sticking her nose in the air.
“I can’t help what I eat. It’s only natural, and I need to keep my fur looking beautiful, sleek, and fluffy.”
“And how does eating twenty pounds of honeycomb a day help?”
“Honey is good for my fur,” she replied, having produced a piece of the dripping honeycomb as soon as she rose and munching on it.
The man just sighed, turning away from his weird companion and looking out over the landscape. It was a beautiful night, the strange bioluminescent grass glowing a soft yellow, and the trees in the distance swaying in the wind, their long, blade-shaped leaves glowing a bright orange-red.
This truly is a strange place, the man thought, reaching up to feel at the electrum guild chain around his neck. If not for them, would I even have survived this long?
His thoughts turned to his best friend then, the last person he’d seen before waking up in this strange new world.
Is Sam even here? And if he is, is he still among the living?
“You just gonna stand there all night, Greg, or are we going to head back to the guild and make our report?”
Greg turned, forcing down his worry, and gave the skunk a small half-smile.
“Yeah, let’s get going, Daisy. It’s a long walk back to Zewstown, and I’d really like to get at least a little sleep tonight.”
“You got it, pal, but we’re not doing any more of that running poop. Running’s for animals who have serious mental problems, like dogs.”
“Yeah?” Greg asked. “And what do skunks do?”
“We walk,” the skunk replied haughtily.
Greg forced himself to hold back a laugh as the skunk stuck her nose into the air and began prancing forward, landing as lightly as she could manage before taking the next step. This land most definitely was a strange place, and he really hoped that he’d find some sign of his kind soon. This place was crawling with strange creatures, and not a single one of them was human.
He couldn’t help but look back over his shoulder, as though hoping to see a familiar face. He saw nothing, of course, just as he hadn’t the last hundred times he’d looked.
“If you’re out there, Sam, I really hope you’re doing alright,” Greg said in an undertone, before turning to follow his companion.
***
Sam sat on the bed in a room of a small inn in Shtut. They’d decided to stay here instead of The Classy and save their money for the trip they were going to take in just a couple of days. Right now, though, he had to get ready for his date, and seeing as how he really didn’t want to go, Sam
was procrastinating by looking over his full status.
CHARACTER STATUS
Name: Sam
Race: Human
Level: 25
XP: 152,655/200,000
AP: 0
Class: Over-Mage
HP: 410/410 (Regen 4.1 Per Second)
MP: 1,190/1,190 (Regen 10.4 Per Second)
STA: 130/130 (Regen 1.3 Per Second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength: 10
Constitution: 29 (41)
Agility: 8
Endurance: 9 (13)
Intelligence: 104 (119)
Wisdom: 75 (104)
Charisma: 56
Luck: 16
ABILITIES
Mana Shot: Advanced LV - 32 (12%)
Mana Burn: Intermediate LV - 30 (44%)
Mana Flare: Intermediate LV - 24 (19%)
Mana Cloak: Beginner LV - 18 (99%)
Mage Bolt: Beginner LV - 19 (27%)
Speed Boost: Novice LV - 7 (8%)
Mage Shield: Novice LV - 10 (53%)
Over-Burn: Beginner LV - 17 (72%)
Recovery: Novice LV - 10 (62%)
Lightning Cloud: Master LV - 41 (0%)
SKILLS
Sprint: Intermediate LV - 22 (4%)
Stalker: Beginner LV - 19 (67%)
Inspect: Advanced LV - 33 (7%)
Mind Over All: Master LV - 48 (1%)
Mental Manipulation: Beginner LV - 20 (77%)
Browbeat: Beginner LV - 13 (81%)
Critical Strike: Beginner LV - 20 (91%)
Sucker Punch: Beginner LV - 16 (38%)
Night Owl: Beginner LV - 13 (10%)
Deadeye: Intermediate LV - 24 (68%)
Mana Control: Novice LV - 1 (0%)
