Soulstone: Awakening (World of Ruul Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  I sucked in a breath as a feeling like being doused in warm bathwater washed over me and wavy glowing white lines appeared around my head. An icon appeared in the corner of my HUD as the lines vanished. It had a symbol of a cheetah, and a timer counting down from thirty minutes. Awesome.

  “Thanks so much!” I said, and my words came out all smashed together like I was on fast forward.

  “Never been hasted, eh?” Marth said with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Haste is by far the most common buff.” They laughed at me some more as I nodded at the speed of light and made my way past them into the field.

  Outside, I saw miles upon miles of rolling green hillsides absolutely covered with bunnies. A quick glance at my HUD identified them as monsters, but gave me no indication as to their strength or health. That was fine since I was fairly certain they were low level, but they were grouped together in such a way that if I attacked one, it’d probably draw its friends into the fight. Then again, this was a starting area so maybe the bunnies wouldn’t help each other out in a fight?

  “Go on you big bad adventurer. Slaughter those cute little bunny rabbits!” Gereng called from behind the gate as he eyed me like I’d stolen his prize horse and ridden it into a ravine. “Show ‘em what you’re made of, hero.”

  “I will!” I snorted, moving toward the first rabbit I saw. Part of me was concerned that I was going to slaughter a helpless bunny, but at the same time, it was just a computer generated creature. While it might look cute and cuddly, it was no different from any other monster in any other game.

  As I snuck up behind the closest rabbit, a brown haired lop, I swung my scythe at it with reckless abandon. Only instead of reducing the rabbit to a gooey hunk of meat, the rodent did some crazy gymnast flip, dodging my attack and kicking me square in the jaw with both feet.

  “Injury!” My HUD flashed. “Health reduced by one. Forty-nine health remaining.”

  It was a little weird because a message like that hadn’t appeared when I’d fought the scarecrow champion. Was it new? I mean, I’d been struck by the champion. Maybe it hadn’t been hard enough to actually damage me? Either way, I’d have to find out why it worked now and not then. For now though, it was going to get annoying if it alarmed every time I got hit because I was fairly sure I was going to get hit a lot. No, it’d be much better to be alerted to really dangerous situations. Normal blows, it could ignore.

  “Damn bunny,” I muttered, taking a step backward and mentally telling my HUD to only alert me if my health fell to twenty percent, or I received a critical hit. Since I had a bit over fifty health total, it would take a while for just one rabbit to drop my health by enough to kill me. Surely, I’d be able to defeat it before that happened.

  “So you think you’re lucky because you have a lot of health, punk?” the rabbit said, eyeing me as it stood on its hind legs and gave me the finger. Then it stuck its paw in its mouth and elicited a shrill whistle. Like fucking magic the three closest bunnies turned their beady eyes on me and rushed forward.

  “No, I think I’m lucky because I’ve got a scythe,” I said, swallowing hard as the three bunnies joined the brown lop, and I began reassessing how easy I thought this would be. It seemed ten kinds of unfair that the starter mobs helped each other, but griping about it wouldn’t help.

  Instead I sounded my barbaric yawp, tightened my grip on my scythe, and decided to just go for it even if there were four of them and one of me. I held my free hand out in front of me and gestured for the bunny to come get some.

  “Bring it!” I cried, sprinting toward the rabbit, scythe held high.

  “Oh, it’ll get brought!” the vile bunny cried, launching itself at me with furry abandon. I reared back and swung my scythe with all the finesse I could manage.

  The blade missed the creature completely, but the bone hilt attached to the metal blade impacted the rabbit with a sound like steak hitting a butcher’s counter. The lop went flying into the dirt as his friends leapt at me, jaws bared wide.

  My HUD flashed to show me the direction of all the attacks, which was annoying because I was well aware I was getting beat down on all sides by four rabbits the size of my shoe, but at least it was no longer screaming about how much health I lost. I ignored it the best I could as I spun and slashed at them with my haste-powered scythe. Even still, the bunnies were crazy good at dodging, and just when it seemed like I’d slash one, another would attack my ankles from behind before I could capitalize on the attack.

  As a black and white bunny tackled my legs, I stumbled forward and crashed to the ground on top of the bunny I’d been attacking. Its feeble body splattered into iridescent shards as my bulk did what my scythe could not. My experience bar shuddered upward three percent as the remaining three rabbits launched themselves at my prone body.

  “Fluffy will be avenged!” the original rabbit cried, its teeth bared as it leapt toward my throat. I rolled away, clutching my scythe tightly and tried to visualize popping to my feet like Bruce Lee always did in the movies. Strangely enough, it seemed to work as I threw myself to my feet. As my body rolled upward onto my feet with more grace than I could ever have had in real life, I spun and swung my scythe at the leaping rodent.

  This time the tip sank home, skewering the lead rabbit through the throat and reducing him to iridescent shards. Again, my experience bar lurched upward, but I was in a bit of a bind. Two bunnies remained, and my health was down to the forty percent mark. Jesus, I should have just stayed with the scarecrows.

  Still, now wasn’t the time to have second thoughts, and I damned sure wasn’t going to run back to Gereng chased by bunnies. No. It was time to show them my fighting spirit!

  I hit my chest with my fist and brandished my scythe at the two bunnies. “Come on. Is that all you’ve got?”

  “He’s taunting us, George,” the left rabbit said, glancing at its bloodied companion. “We can’t let that stand.”

  “I’m surprised he hasn’t remarked on the fact we’re talking rabbits,” George replied before running at my ankles.

  “Yeah, well, the next time I get my brain ripped from my skull so I can get shoved into a video game, I’ll remember to question why the bunnies talk, jackass!” I swept the scythe like a golf club, smashing the blunt back end of the weapon into the oncoming rabbit. Its body flew backward, hit the ground, and bounced a couple times before laying there.

  I wanted to finish George the bunny off before it got up, but before I could go all stabby stabby on his furry ass, the remaining rabbit leapt at my throat, bunny teeth barred.

  As I tried to dodge, its chompers sank into my shoulder just past the edge of my leather coat. Pain shot through me, and a scream tore from my lips as my health plummeted by five percent.

  “Damage warning! You have been critically hit! You are now bleeding. Your wounds will cause you to lose one health from bleeding every round for the next five rounds.”

  Annoyed with both the HUD and the stupid ridiculous bunnies, I grabbed the rabbit by the ears with my free hand and jerked it free with all the power my twenty strength could muster. It tore out of my flesh in a spray of blood that left a huge gash in my shoulder and I screamed again.

  Ivan was a fucking liar. He’d told me the pain was muted, but this felt like I’d had my goddamned arm torn off. The wound throbbed, wracking me with fresh stabs of agony as hot, sticky blood gushed down my injured arm.

  “Why does it hurt so goddamned much?” I cried as rage filled me, the pain vanished instantly. Was that because the muting had taken effect or because I only felt the initial effect? I wasn’t sure, but either way, I was glad it had. This may not have been real, but it sure as fuck felt real.

  “Because you’re a giant pussy?” the bunny in my hand snapped, glaring at me like I was the devil incarnate.

  “I’m a giant pussy? Fuck you!” I snarled, flinging the bunny down to the ground in a rage before stomping a mud hole in its stunned ass. “That’s for fucking biting me!”

/>   I’ll be honest, the level of violence I displayed should not be repeated in softer company, but when it was over, the bunny was fucking dead, and I was closer to level three than before. Unfortunately, I was bleeding and now I was almost to the thirty percent health mark. That wasn’t good at all. I had to end this quickly. If I suffered more wounds, I’d be in trouble.

  “Fred!” George the bunny called as I turned toward it and raised my scythe. It hurt like hell and my grip on the weapon was slick with blood.

  “Come on!” I snarled, glaring at the rabbit as it came hopping over. Only he didn’t attack, instead he looked up at me and shook his head.

  “Fred was one of the good ones,” it said, eyeing me warily.

  “One of the good ones?” I asked, suddenly perturbed by this bunny rabbit. “Isn’t he just an NPC monster?”

  “Just because we’re NPCs doesn’t mean we’re not real.” George wiped his bloody nose with one snow white paw, leaving a crimson streak across his fur. “If you hit us, do we not bleed?”

  “Not in the traditional sense since you aren’t real and don’t have a body.” I shrugged at the bunny. “So we gonna do this?” I gestured at him with my scythe.

  “Nah, I’m good.” George the bunny shook his head. “But I can do you one better. See, there’s a hidden cache of treasure just a bit beyond the edge of the forest. I can show it to you if you’d like. Then maybe you could stop killing my friends.” Its voice dropped an octave as it mumbled, “jerk.”

  “All right,” I said, shaking my head. This was definitely the weirdest game I’d ever played, but then again, when in Rome, right? “Let’s go find this cache.”

  “I find it amazing that you trust me just like that.” The bunny snorted at me before hopping off. Admittedly, he had a point. He could totally lead me into a trap. Still, my wound had stopped bleeding, and my health was slowly regenerating. In another few minutes, I’d be at full health, anyway.

  “Yeah, well, if you’re lying I’ll just kill you.” I wasn’t sure if he heard me because he was already at the edge of the brush waiting for me.

  “Resorting to violence. Just like an adventurer. Sometimes you just need to take a minute and look around.” The bunny shook his cotton tail at me for a second before hopping into the darkened forest. “Why I bet you’re the type of guy who just kills the boss, grabs the loot, and doesn’t even bother to look around before teleporting out, huh?”

  I said nothing because he was right. I was exactly that kind of slash and burn player, but in my defense, so was almost everyone. That didn’t make it right though, and definitely wouldn’t help me with a scavenger hunt, so I took a deep breath, inhaling the piney scents of the trees surrounding me and focused on the landscape.

  Bushes scratched at me in a way that made me want to hack them down with my scythe to clear a path like a jungle explorer, but I decided against it because I didn’t want to attract attention and my health was still below seventy percent.

  As we made our way closer, I made sure to keep my eyes on the bunny leading me toward certain doom while trying to remember how to get back to town. The absolute last thing I needed was to get lost in the wilderness. I mean, I was sure I’d find my way back eventually, but I really didn’t want to forage for roots and berries. What if I wound up eating toxic nightshade or something?

  After what felt like forever, but was only a few minutes, we came to a grove of large oak trees surrounding a small clearing. George shot me a look and gestured for me to move forward quietly. As I approached, I was able to make out the remains of a small campfire in the middle. Next to it sat a wooden strongbox with three goblins guarding it.

  I say guarding it, but what I really meant was sitting next to it playing some kind of game that involved what look like chicken drumstick bones and cards of various colors.

  “Um… you didn’t say anything about goblins,” I said, glancing at the erstwhile George. “I struggled with four rabbits, how the hell do you expect me to get the treasure?”

  Looking at the green skinned creatures clad in leather armor made me glad the journey had been long enough for me to recover all my health. I wasn’t sure how strong the goblins were, but I definitely wasn’t going to attempt anything with less than full HP. Those steel bucklers and short swords looked menacing.

  “Look, firstly, you didn’t ask about the goblins. Secondly, I don’t care. Our deal was simple. I show you where the cache is, you stop killing bunnies.” George narrowed his eyes at me. “Now honor your deal or you’ll see just how loud I can be.”

  I glared at the maniacal rabbit and had a certain sense of pride in the creature. He had totally outsmarted me. Sigh. Today was definitely not my day.

  8

  “So what are you, a man or a mouse?” George the bunny asked, eyeing me carefully as I watched the goblins. I was hoping to find some kind of weakness, but alas, it was not to be. The three goblins all just sat there playing their game with the mind-numbing tenacity of computer programs. “You’re certainly not a rabbit because if you were, those goblins would be fucking dead, and you’d be dancing atop their corpses covered in epics.”

  “I want to not be dead,” I replied, glancing at the rabbit and sticking my tongue out at him because I was a mature, balanced adult. George watched me curiously, almost like he wondered what I was going to do next. It was a bit weird, and I wondered how much of his AI was directly connected to the overall AI controlling Ruul. Was it just a program created by the maelstrom, or was the maelstrom watching me directly like a cuddly eye of Sauron?

  “Just sneak up behind them and slit their throats,” George said, dragging one fuzzy paw across his throat and making a “skkikt” noise.

  “How do you expect me to do that with a giant scythe?” I asked, brandishing the six-foot-long weapon at the bunny. To be fair, his plan wasn’t a bad plan per se. If I’d had a dagger, I might have tried it. Man, how I wished I still had my dragon-bone daggers from Titan Gate. If I did, I would totally hop into stealth, sneak up behind the bastards, and sap the shit out of them. Then I’d just steal the treasure and be off on my merry way before they could say fried ice cream.

  That’s when something dawned on me. Titan Gate was modeled after Ruul. While some skills in that game were gained through quests or leveling up, most skills were learned by trying to perform them. I’d learned stealth just by being stealthy on a quest when I’d first started. Then after I’d used it a few times, my proficiency increased until I was practically invincible. Granted, I’d learned how to discover a lot of techniques from searching online forums, but new moves were always being discovered. The problem became leveling up a skill once you were already high level. It made it so the ones you acquired early on were almost always better.

  Still, it made me wonder if that mechanic was based on one they’d found inside Ruul. If there was, maybe I could use the command box like in Titan Gate. See, while a skill could be learned by performing it and hoping it popped up, sometimes if you knew exactly what skill you were looking for, you could find it via the command box. Then it’d display a set of requirements that made it easy enough to learn. Only, I didn’t see a dialog command box here. Then again, I didn’t see any menus unless I called them up.

  “Command box,” I whispered because I wasn’t quite was proficient as I’d like with the mental commands yet.

  Crazily enough, a small dialog box appeared in the periphery of my vision, and as the cursor blinked in front of me, a smile spread across my face. I wasn’t sure how to type on it, but since saying commands worked, I figured I might as well try that first.

  “Initiate skill discovery. Stealth.” As the words left my lips, they filled the dialog box, and a menu appeared in front of me.

  “Would you like to initiate skill discovery? Yes or No? Note: if you do not have the prerequisites unlocked to discover a skill, not only will it not be learned, but it will be lost forever.”

  I took a deep breath as I stared at the menu. This definitely hadn�
��t happened in Titan Gate. A sigh escaped me as I tried to remember the requirements for my rogue’s stealth ability. It was hard because in the game, I’d practically started with stealth which made me think I probably had the requisite skill to unlock it. Still, was it worth the risk? If I had stealth now, that’d sure help me a lot, but at the same time, I could leave and go hit dummies for the next week until I was level five and be more assured of learning it?

  “What would you do, George?” I asked, glancing at the bunny, and totally forgetting he couldn’t see the dialog boxes hovering in front of me.

  “About the goblins?” George replied, confusion filling his bunny features. He twitched his nose at me. “I’d go for it, but I’m sort of a balls out kind of rabbit. You know, rock out with your cock out.”

  I sighed, ignoring the rabbit as I swung my gaze back toward the menu. Stealth was a really important skill, and while it’d help me a lot now, I couldn’t risk losing it forever. I’d have to ask Ivan if I had the prerequisites complete next time I saw him. At worst, he wouldn’t know and I’d be in the same place I was now.

  Instead, I took a deep breath and started to creep around the goblins in an effort to get more information. I was going to head back to town and level up some more just to be safe. After all, some bunnies had kicked my ass, and while it might take a while because the scarecrows respawned slowly, it would be way safer. Besides, the boss I’d killed wouldn’t respawn for a while, and if he did, I was pretty sure I could stop him again because I had a scythe.

  As I took a step backward, a twig snapped and a loud crunch echoed through the air. I froze in place like the bunny beside me, and time seemed to slow down as the three goblins stopped their game and looked over at us. Then the lead one made eye contact with me.

  “Fuck,” I muttered as the goblins leapt to their feet, grabbing their short swords and shields and sprinting across the clearing toward us with way more speed than I was comfortable with.