by Eden Redd
“The Great Convergence has begun. Be our Champion or be crushed by those who would…eat your soul,” the shadow whispered, its black head nodding slightly.
Will smirked at the shadow, “You got the wrong guy.”
The shadow floated closer. Will lifted his fists back up, pulling an arm back. The shadow didn’t back down so he threw a punch. The dreamscape shattered as he stumbled into darkness. A banging touched his ears and he felt himself float back into his body.
Eyes blinking open, a shuddering bang assaulted his senses. Will rolled out of bed, still fully dressed in his leather tunic, leggings and boots, hand falling to his wooden sword handle. The banging and shuddering of wood blasted away sleepy mental cobwebs. Will looked down from the loft to the front door. The wood door shuddered again while shadows moved along windows.
Will stayed very still as he watched. Shadows moved past every window as the dim glow from the base of the oven gave the entire home a gloomy light. The player noticed his eyes had adjusted to the near darkness, glancing to each window and seeing that his home was surrounded. Confusion colored his mind as he wasn’t sure how long he was asleep. It could have been minutes or hours, he wasn’t sure.
Drawing his wooden sword, his gaze snapped back to the front door as it slightly bowed inwards. One or two things outside were pushing hard at the door and he had no idea if they were strong enough to break in. The player called up his stats.
William Asher
Hearts: 10
Armor: 4
Primary Weapon: Wooden Sword
Secondary Weapon:
Strength: 5 (Novice)
Intelligence: 5 (Novice)
Agility: 5 (Novice)
Will: 5 (Novice)
Mana: 5 (Novice)
Will opened his inventory and placed his iron axe in the second weapon slot. The axe appeared sheathed on his other hip. The durability bar was yellow on the axe, but his sword was still green.
The front door cracked and splintered into dozens of shards. A pale figure lurched in, followed by another. Will stayed on the loft floor, body hidden by shadows. He watched like a bird of prey, seeing the pale nude figures stepping in. Even in the dim light, he could see their emaciated bodies and white eyes. Skin was pulled tight along their faces and bodies. They moaned, heads turning and eyeing the darkness. Two slits for a nose wrinkled as they sniffed at the air.
Will’s brow formed a sharp V as he gripped his sword. A primal instinct washed over him, seeing uninvited invaders in his territory. The inner beast roared and Will’s mind held a hand over the lock. One of the creatures turned its bald, gray head to the upper loft and hissed.
A shadow leapt over the side, sword up. Will came down as clawed hands reached up for him. Wooden sword flashed and came down directly on the creature’s head. Slicing down to the neck, blood spurted as Will grinned, drops hitting his face. The other creature turned, hissed and charged. The one Will had struck down fell to the floor as Will drew back his blade and aimed for the neck. A shock of black blood and a head went spinning into the air. Will took a step back as the body slumped to the floor and the head struck a window and bounced off.
Will took another step back as the shadows around his home turned and darted around. Hisses filled the night as gray men and women launched through the now open entryway. The front of the home flooded with bodies as Will backed up again. Eyes wide, he watched as several of them fell on the two corpses, rending and pulling chunks of flesh and consuming them with eager desire. The ghoulish display was soon lost as a majority of the creatures turned their attention to the man standing with a sword.
“Fucking ghouls,” Will said as he braced himself.
The ghouls hissed again before a wave of them charged. Will growled his contempt as he rushed into the oncoming wave, sword slicing hard across. A limb flew off before clawed hands sliced and mouths filled with sharp teeth flexed in wanting gluttony. Will bashed with his left fist while he cut with his sword. The brawl grew tangled as he sliced and stabbed. A second later, claws caught his arm and slashed across exposed skin.
You have taken 2 Damage!
Will unleashed his inner demon, fighting through the small pain as he stabbed and sliced. Ghouls roared and hissed, trying to get closer but the player moved like a typhoon. Three ghouls fell, but four more launched at him. Will kept his cool fighting with determination as he cut down one and another. Some ghouls fell on their fallen brethren, but others pushed their way in. Windows shattered as more ghouls climbed in, ready to tear warm flesh to pieces.
Will stayed to task, slicing and cutting until his sword’s durability went from green to yellow. The number of ghouls pushed forward, but they were disorganized, some slashing at their own to get closer. Will couldn’t find a place to secure himself as he fought. With wide arcs, heads and limbs flew, but the horde didn’t slow down.
The ghouls pushed on him, the numbers swelling as did their hisses. Will stood his ground, glancing to the stairs and wondering if he had enough time to climb and destroy them. Boots moved sideways a foot at a time as he sliced up, down, and across. He reached the edge of the stairs and jumped onto them. Ghouls rushed him and were rewarded with a stab to the eye. Bodies fell as the player quickly pulled his axe into his left hand. Axe up, he brought it down on the bottom stair and it shattered to pieces. Taking a step back up, he swung his axe again and shattered the next step. A ghoul jumped and the axe sunk into its neck, sending the head against a wall before bouncing down to the floor. Will brought up his axe again and sliced down, shattering the last steps before he stood at the edge of his loft.
Breathing heavy, he took several steps back. Gaze on the main floor, his modest home was filled with ghouls, eating their dead and many others trying to grasp the loft edge. There was a foot of space between grasping gray hands and the edge of the loft.
Will sat on the edge of the bed and stared down, wooden sword in one hand and axe in the other. The hissing continued, mixed with the sounds of chewing flesh.
“This is going to be a problem,” Will whispered as he watched the monsters reaching up for him in manic hunger.
***
The sun peeked over the horizon, thin shafts of light growing larger by the moment. The tops of the trees glowed golden and birdsong filled the morning sky.
Ghouls turned their attention to the broken windows, the darkness beginning to ebb away. Will watched, spending the last few hours sitting on his bed. The ghouls seemed to lose their appetite as they lumbered for the doorway. The gray morning grew brighter and minutes later, the ghouls left Will’s home in shambles. The player stayed on his loft, looking down to make sure no stragglers stayed behind. When it seemed all clear, he took wood blocks from his inventory and placed them down one at a time by the loft edge until he reached the floor. Axe and sword in hand, he readied to race back up if the monsters were waiting outside.
Silent as a grave, he made his way over the blood stains and bones along his floor. When he reached the doorway, he witnessed what few gray bodies remained, disappearing into the gloom of the surrounding forest. A sigh of relief floated down from his lips as he turned to the carnage in his home. Windows were shattered and floor covered in bones and gore.
Looking to his arm, Will noticed the wound he took earlier was already healed and his Hearts were back to ten. It still didn’t make him feel any better and his muscles cried out in soreness.
“This is a game…why do I still feel sore,” Will whispered to no one.
Memories washed on the stony shores of his mind, logic dictating that he was in a game environment, but he wasn’t sure why he was here. It gnawed at his reasoning. The entire world felt off and he couldn’t understand why it was.
Staring down at the gore and bones, he firmed up his resolve to begin cleaning when the blood melted away. Bones sank into the floor and seconds later, the home looked normal except for shattered windows.
“I should have picked up the bones. I’m sure I could have used them
for something,” Will shrugged.
The player turned around and seeing the mess the ghouls left behind, there was a host of work he needed to do.
“I’m not going to let that happen again,” Will whispered as he planned what he had to do.
The morning song of birds filled the trees as Will took out his axe and began chopping down trees. Blocks of wood slipped into his inventory as he cleared the forest edge around his home. The last bit of sand he had acquired was melting into glass panes while he worked for two hours, chopping down trees. The work would have been calming except for the constant stopping and scanning the forest. Any sound dialed his senses to eleven and he stopped often so he wasn’t ambushed by anything else. The world was more dangerous than he had formerly thought and it put him on edge.
On one last swing, the iron axe shattered as it reached a low red of durability. Will pulled out a wooden axe, but knew it would not last long as his iron one. He needed metal and that meant he needed to mine for it.
Will checked his inventory, seeing five slots filled with ninety-nine wood blocks each, he needed to work on the second part of his plan and create a mine. At the outside crafting bench, he made a host of wooden shovels, pickaxes, and a new sword. The clearing was much wider as Will moved to a patch of grass about forty feet from his home. Shovel in hand, he marked the ground by dragging the edge of the shovel and making a large square. Taking a deep breath, he stuck the end of the shovel into the ground and began digging.
The player dug with purpose, dirt adding to his inventory until he reached stone. Switching to his pickaxe, he shattered stone with a few swings. The work was hard, muscles bulging as he made his way diagonally into the hole. Will made rudimentary stairs as he picked away at the hard stone. The tunnel grew deeper and he struck with purpose, the idea of ghouls coming for him haunting his waking moments.
The morning sun slid to early afternoon before Will emerged from his mine. Checking his inventory as sunlight warmed his skin, he saw that he had filled five slots with ninety-nine stone each and managed to mine twenty pieces of coal. Making his way to the outside Crafting Bench, he called up a 2-D menu and cycled through the simple tools and items list.
A torch recipe and a lantern recipe appeared, one above the other. Seeing that it only required wood and coal for torches or wood, coal and metal for lanterns, Will went with torches for now. He didn’t find any metals as he mined and would have to save making lanterns for another time. Placing the coal and wood blocks into bench slots, torches appeared on the table. Will added them to his inventory before making a new door.
Will turned from the bench, door and torches firmly in his inventory before he eyed the perimeter. He knew he needed to keep the damn creatures out and planned accordingly. Moving to the perimeter edge, he opened his hand and a block of stone appeared. Placing it on the ground, it grew to a 3 foot by 3 foot cube. Smirking to himself, he started placing them one after the other.
The sun continued its arc across the blue sky, as Will moved quickly until he created a 3-foot-high stone perimeter. When he reached where he started, he added another row and finally a third row above that. The wall was about nine feet tall. Will hoped it would be high enough to keep any ghouls out. Stomach growling, he had completely forgotten to eat. Checking his inventory, he saw he had raw mutton and apples. Not wanting to waste any time, he munched on apples as he continued to work.
The sun hung low in the sky as Will stepped back and admired his work. The 9-foot wall created a long rectangle around his home and mine. Seeing how bare it was, he easily planted the few apple tree saplings from his inventory. Moving to the craft bench, he created two more doors. The player stepped to a wall, took out his pickaxe and shattered some stones to create a wide entrance. Switching to the doors, they each snapped into place, creating a double door entry way to his home. Two doors side by side seemed to be a bit stronger because there wasn’t a simple lock but a thick wooden bar he could slide across. The player hoped it was strong enough to keep the ghouls out so he could sleep a little better.
Sun touching the horizon, Will moved about in the inner sections of his new walls and attached torches every twenty feet. The player thought he would have to carve out notches for the torches, but they snapped on with little effort and lit up on their own. The fire flickered and waved, but they didn’t seem like they would ever stop glowing.
Will moved to his home and placed a torch above his doorway before putting a new door up. Stepping inside, he pulled glass panes from the oven and snapped them into place along his modest home before he let out a relaxing sigh. He had worked himself to the bone, but the thought of monsters coming for him again was something he had to make sure didn’t happen.
The sun sank lower, the evening stars blinking along the darkening sky. Will relaxed his shoulders before moving to the empty wall at the other end of the home. Ideas formed and he began stacking stone, making a fireplace. Climbing up the stony surface, he shattered a small section of wood above it and created a stone chimney. When he climbed back down, he placed a few wood blocks inside the fireplace, struck flint against stone and a fire blazed to life.
Warmth and light bloomed and the player found himself sighing in relief. Soreness touched every muscle, but it was worth it to secure his home from the monsters in the night. The modest dwelling began to feel comfy as Will made his way around, inspecting windows as the last rays of sunlight disappeared behind the horizon.
Stepping to the door, he walked out and eyed the stone wall around his home. Torch light glowed, shadows shifting along the gray stone and dirt ground. Beyond the light, primal darkness seethed and writhed with the gentle breeze. Stars twinkled high above and a peaceful calm filled the forest.
Will stared, curious ideas touching his mind. Faint thoughts echoed something, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Turning, he stepped back into his home and closed the door behind him. He thought he would be ready to sleep, but curious thoughts bubbled. Moving to the Work Bench, he wondered if he should spend his time crafting some items to make his home a little more comfortable.
A thought flashed and Will’s mind worked. Remembering he could create a Soul Casket, he wondered what would come from making such an item. Calling up a 2-D menu, he saw that he didn’t need the Workbench to make one. He only needed 6 blocks of stone. Glancing around, his eyes fell to the darkness under his loft. He hadn’t determined what he would use the space for and slowly walked over.
Light dimmed as he walked under the loft level, but he didn’t want to put a torch anywhere near there in case it would burn his home down. He made a mental note to mine again so he could make lanterns for inside his home. Taking stone blocks from his inventory, he placed them on the floor, three against three. The stone melted together before it formed into a stone sarcophagus.
Will stepped closer, eyeing the smooth stone surface before touching the side. The top lifted an inch on its own. Will curled his fingers underneath and lifted the lid, peering inside. The inside was empty save for four slots, arranged in a diamond formation. Will stared, taking in it when he called up his inventory screen and looked it over. He saw that he had a soul stone. Curious to see the effect, he pulled the soul stone from his inventory and placed it in the bottom slot of the diamond formation.
Nothing happened.
Will’s brow wrinkled, wondering if he needed to add something else. Eyeing his inventory, his gaze fell to a lone piece of quartz he mined by the lake. Mentally tapping on it, the quartz appeared in his hand. Reaching down, he placed the gem in the slot above the soul stone. A light flashed and Will pulled his upper body back. Energy swirled before the soul stone and gemstone connected with light. The lid closed down on the Soul Casket.
Will was about to open it again when an alert appeared in his vision.
Soul weaving has begun! Soul and body shall awaken in twelve hours.
Will saw that the alert turned into a timer with the caption ‘Soul Casket’ by it. Unsure if he would disturb
the process, his hands pulled away from the casket lid as a thin ethereal blue light ran along the lid groove of the coffin-like item. Stepping back, Will wondered what the casket was going to create in twelve hours.
Weariness slid over the player’s body. The excitement of the previous night, all the building and creating a Soul Casket sank into spirit like lead weights. Stepping out from under the loft, he moved to his crafting bench. Eyes grew heavy as placed stones into slots, the materials blending together to form a stone sword. Picking it up, it felt stronger than his wooden one and he hoped, did more damage.
Placing the stone sword in its sheath, Will looked down at it again. When he used the wooden sword on the ghouls, stabbing didn’t do much to slow them down. Cutting off limbs seemed to work, but as he remembered, the erratic movements of the ghouls made it hard to aim for their limbs and neck. He pondered on it as he climbed his stairs and walked to his bed.
Hoping the wall outside would keep the ghouls out, Will began to shed his armor and clothes. Placing them on the floor by his bed, he made sure he could easily grab them if there was a break in. When he was fully undressed, he slid into bed, pulling the blanket over him. The dim light throughout the home soothed his frayed nerves and mere moments later he fell into a deep sleep.
Dreams floated in, writhing like tentacles in the mists. Will lay, staring at fleeting images. Thoughts winked in and out like fireflies. Lost to the rhythmic dance, he drifted along the currents, unwilling to fight their pull. Body touching a sandy beach, he sat up and looked to the stars high above.
Shadows with glowing eyes appeared, floating over the sand and moving toward him. Will turned his head and scowled as they approached. He was annoyed, but wasn’t fearful as the shadows drew closer. Black hands raised, items in each of them as is if they were displaying them to the young man.
Will ignored them, his dream-self figuring that they would leave if he didn’t show any interest. He couldn’t be bothered with such strange things. He had no idea if they were real or part of his past he couldn’t remember. All in all, he didn’t care to know and was content to stare at the stars above.
