Master of the Hoard - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

“Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone's hand is the beginning of a journey.

At other times, it is allowing another to take yours.” – Vera Nazarian

‘I died once, you know?’ That probably isn't as uncommon a sentence as one would think. I've heard it said twice, myself. My aunt followed the revelation with a long story about how she'd changed her lifestyle, gotten better friends, real hobbies, stuff like that. Years later, it was my old high school friend who explained to me the earth-shattering experience he had from being electrocuted. Then, he tried to get me to jump on board with some MLM scheme. So yeah. Dying? It's overrated, imo. Especially the way I went.

As these things are supposed to go, my death was kind of boring. Mainstream - even a bit cliche. I'd just gotten myself a third slice of pizza and was ambling toward the living room to catch the tail end of the game, when it felt like somebody punched me in the chest and proceeded to squeeze the life out of me. I looked around in confusion, only for the pain to spread toward my neck. I cried out, I believe, confused about what was happening, even as I grew weaker. I fell to my knees, panting as I suddenly felt out of  breath and dizzy and - that was it, really. Fade to black as my face hit the floor. Or at least I think it hit the floor.

I'd been warned. My doctor had been busting my ass for decades to clean up my act, eat healthy, start exercising, all that jazz. Sometimes, I even contemplated listening to him. Cait - my beloved ex-wife - had been more direct about it, always trying to get in the last word. "You're growing fat, Carl. Not chubby either, fat. You need to do something about it." Cait was better at getting through to me - she didn't pull her punches. But then Skyrim came out, and... well, my new membership to the gym was kind of forgotten. Besides, she wasn’t around all the time anymore, and it was easy to ignore her dire warnings. I mean really, what could happen?

The afterlife is supposed to be something special. I mean, regardless who you listen to, stuff is supposed to happen. Fluffy clouds filled with angels or fiery brimstone. Or... any sort of other phenomenon, depending on which piece of scripture you decided to read up on. It was not supposed to be just darkness. But that was what I was presented with. No lights, no movement, nothing at all. Just an endless moment of nothingness. I couldn't even feel anything. Crappy afterlife. 1 out of 5. Would not die again.

The black sea of nothingness did give me time. Way too much of it. Time for thinking back on my life. I pondered my accomplishments. I had helped build, plan and oversee countless buildings, from a hand-built outhouse in the boondocks to helping with skyscrapers. Lovingly, over the course of four decades, I restored my own house from a moldy ruin to a home with authenticity and plenty of soul. I completed the original UFO: Enemy Unknown on the hardest difficulty. Heh. That one still made me proud. Unfortunately, I also had time to consider my failures. I married a lovely woman and proceeded to grow apart from her over the course of the next decades. I had a baby girl, loved her, raised her and proceeded to spend way too much time away from her until we were no longer close. In the end though, what did I really have to show for my life? I mean yeah, besides my own house, what had I actually accomplished? I helped build things for other people. For other people to enjoy, to take pride in and call their own. What had I actually accomplished that I could look back at and say, ‘Yes, I did that.’ Not much really.

When something did happen, I was almost happy. I had started concluding that maybe this was hell - being forced to spend eternity alone with just your thoughts for company. Going over things that you couldn’t even fix. regretting not doing more or somehow better. Instead, gradually something shifted. My sense of touch returned, little by little. That didn't help much, though. My sense of direction kept insisting that I was being tossed around, up and down switching places constantly. The rest of my senses weren't being much help. I couldn't see anything. Literally. We were talking complete blindness here, like my eyes were glued shut. On top of that my hearing was muffled and my limbs wrapped up in something that restricted my movement. As if that weren't enough, my body felt weird. Like... really weird. Added up, this had the total effect of me being unable to form a single coherent chain of thoughts while I was tossed around.

The movement continued for what felt like an eternity. My challenged brain managed to conclude a couple of things. First, I was being rolled in... a barrel or something. Much like the hobbits escaping Mirkwood, only some material had me well and properly stuck. Second, maybe I wasn’t dead after all? This could be a kidnapping or something. Sure, my last coherent memory was still that sudden flash of pain.

Nausea washed away my inquiring thoughts and it was all I could do to keep my dinner down as the ride went on. Finally, I decided enough was enough and started rocking back and forth, trying to escape my prison.

That produced immediate results. The motion stopped and I concentrated on staying completely silent as my faculties slowly returned. I was left lying inside the smooth, rounded container and for the first time I was able to discern words - my entire being focused as I tried to catch what they were talking about. No help there, however. Whatever sounds made it through were high-pitched and indecipherable. "Must be foreigners," I thought, resigning myself to regaining my focus, leaving me ready for whatever came next. Of course this also lent credence to my idea of having been kidnapped. Though I couldn’t think why in the world they would choose me.

I was not at all ready for what came next. The first hint of light appeared along with a stinging sensation as something scratched along one leg. Before I had the chance to complain, another ray of light arrived, followed by a burst of pain in my chest. I roared in pain even as I realized I was being attacked. Any thoughts making themselves known along the lines of "Why would my kidnappers hurt me?", "No, seriously what is wrong with my body?" or the like were forgotten as I began to fight for my life.

In my youth, I was a bit of a scrapper. Not enough to result in a criminal record, but I didn't take shit from anybody. Right now, that served me well, as I ignored all the questions and threw my all at the material holding me back. It was working too. I could feel how my arms and legs slowly started acting like I told them to. Not entirely though - even with my mind sluggish, I could tell that my limbs weren't working as intended. The voices from the outside grew increasingly loud and I hissed in pain at another stab to the abdomen. Fighting to retain focus, I braced my back against the container and strained.

A moment later, I fell to the ground in a deluge of some slimy substance, granting me the chance to shake my eyes free of the mess and catch the first glimpse of my attackers. The moment I saw them, my mind ground to a stuttering, confused halt. They were animals. Honest to God animals, looking like a cross between a mole and wolves, only standing upright and... wielding spears? They surrounded me in the middle of a wide dirt-packed tunnel. As if my mind didn't have enough trouble processing that part, I landed with one arm stretched out before me, and I was stuck staring at it. It was grotesquely muscled, malformed and covered with scales. I stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, just staring, until the mole people decided to 'help' me out of my stupor. With a series of shrill cries and squeals, they charged in at me.

The first cut almost took a finger - or was it a claw - clear off. More blows followed. I tried to stand up and fight back. Even if I was horribly outnumbered, the animals looked like a scrawny bunch and I figured I could take them on. Slight problem though: my balance was acting up and I instantly fell forward. With effort and a gasp of pain I turned the fall into a leap and managed to hit one of the monsters with my lower body. An audible 'crunch' confirmed that he was out of the fight. The remaining moles used my prone position to rush in again to devastating effect. One of them managed to score a strike on my brow and soon blood was dripping into my eye, partially ruining my sight. This was almost too much for me to handle, let alone comprehend.

People have said a number of unpleasant things about me over the years, some of them true. I've never been called a quitter, though. At this point I just snapped. I gave up all pretense at control and just went amok. Flailing, kicking, punching... hell, I might've even bit one of them at some point. What surprised me the most was that it actually worked. The animals were even weaker than they looked. A single glancing blow was enough to put one of them down for good. Still, I kind of lost it there for a while in what felt almost animalistic instincts. I'm pretty sure I was struggling, flailing and snarling for a while after the last one had stopped attacking. When I finally lay still, panting, and my mind rejoined me, it was brought to a stuttering halt again by yet another impossibility. Right there, in the middle of my vision, was a floating box filled with writing.

I shook my head, trying to clear my vision, but the damn thing refused to stop existing. The words both made sense and very much did not.

[You have slain 10 x Talpus and 1 Talpus leader. 1500 experience points gained. Level 2 gained. Experience till next level 500/2000]

Okay. Deep breaths. First things first - this was not a dream! Everything was hurting way too much for that to be true. So, either I was looking at some sort of coma-induced hallucination, Thomas Covenant-style or... or what? I actually kicked the bucket and this was reincarnation or something? Cait was going to be furious - she'd told me so many times that I needed to watch my cholesterol intake. Heh, also work less, exercise more, call my mom more often, stop wearing suspenders- I noticed that my mind was avoiding the issues here and shook my head. This was not the time to panic. Okay, so I was in a strange place, surrounded by dead monsters that had no right to exist in the first place. I would have to deal with that. I'd worry about survival first and consider any consequences later.

Then there was the question of my body. I tried to sit up, failed and managed to find some half-kneeling posture that worked instead. Next to me, lay a fragment of egg shell. I started to piece things together, and this betrayed exactly which kind of container I’d been trapped in. With a sinking feeling, I held up my arm before me, taking in the vision properly for the first time. That... was not my old arm. My arm, though muscular, was nowhere as ripped as this. Nor was it covered in scales, tipped with razor-sharp claws at the end or liberally drenched in blood and gore. A lot of it was my own, though the bleeding was dissipating some. Were those entrails? I shook my head, fighting down the growing panic. Survival first. So yeah, kidnapping? Forget about that. This wasn’t me. This was my mind trapped in some monstrous body. Deep breaths. I could work with that. Seems the idea of reincarnation was starting to gain traction. I mean who would hallucinate that they were stuck in a monstrous body?

Piece by piece, I investigated my new body, taking in the pros and cons, keeping it cool and analytical. Which, let me tell you, was hard. Hand first. Not a proper hand though. It did have five digits, but one of them was backwards-facing - better for grabbing prey than handling fine motor skills. These weren’t hands. Definitely claws. Arms and legs would be a challenge at first. This body, whatever it was, was not built for, whatchamacallit, bipedalling. Standing up. This body was made for walking on all fours. Alright, moving on. One long, prehensile tail, probably as long again as the rest of my body, studded with some sort of bony protrusions along the ridge. A few test swings told me I would probably be able to learn to manipulate the tail pretty well. My neck was definitely longer and more agile than I was used to. It was bendy enough that I was able to inspect almost every part of my body, simply by swerving the neck around. Huh. Stomach was a definite weak point. No scales and softer skin than the rest. Two still-bleeding wounds attested to the fact that I'd have to protect my stomach. I had wings, too. At first, I had attributed the weight along my back to left-over goo from inside the egg, but now that I was free, I could see the wide, almost translucent wings that folded automatically into place along the studded spinal ridge.

Now, for the kicker. I used my claw-hand. Hand-claw? Whatever. I slowly let it move over my face, investigating my features and letting it all sink in. Hoooly fuck. Okay... definitely not humanoid. I guess a duh was needed here, but this just helped confirm it. I was endowed with a large snout and a massive set of sharp teeth, perfect for ripping or tearing. Again, scales covered everything except a crown of backwards-facing spikes surrounding the head.

Conclusion? Everything about this body pretty much screamed apex predator to me. I had no real way of measuring size right now - the tunnel I was in seemed natural and who knew how large those mole guys were? Still, it definitely felt like this body would be at the top of the food chain. That boded well for my eventual survival. Ignoring the thousands of questions that were screaming inside my mind, I moved on to the next issue. Box. Floating right ahead of me like it was the most natural thing in the world. The hell? I tried a couple of things to see what worked. Waving at the damn thing clearly didn't. Speaking out loud... served to teach me that I was now a humongous lizard and as such did not own vocal chords. Bugger. To my relief, however, mental commands did the trick and I spent a bit playing around with the box - resizing, moving it around, minimizing it, changing the color scheme and other tiny details, before coming to the inevitable conclusion: "This is a game?"

Intrigued with the thought, I mentally 'clicked' in the middle of the notification, removing it. "If that's the case, then this should work," I figured, voicing different options inside my mind: "Character sheet. No. Stats. Nope. Information. Not it either. Personal info...wow." My momentary satisfaction at hitting the right button, so to speak, was blown away by what I saw before me. I had not been turned into a large lizard. No, I was a goddamn dragon!

Personal Info:

Name: ........

Race: Newly hatched Dragon. Level 2 – experience towards next level: 500/2000

Size: Large

Stats and Attributes:

Health: 68/200

Mana: 200/200

Strength: 20

Toughness: 20

Agility: 20

Mental Power: 20

Mental Control: 20

Health regeneration rate: 20/Hour

Mana regeneration rate: 20/Day

Abilities:

Deafening Roar: You release a huge roar, affecting everyone within hearing range. The effect depends on distance, the target's level and Wisdom. Possible effects include weakness, hearing loss, stun, and paralysis. Cooldown: three minutes

Flight: You are capable of flight. How long you can remain airborne depends on your Toughness.

Minor Telepathy: You are able to communicate your thoughts mentally to the recipient. The possible range for the telepathic bond depends on your Mental Power and that of the recipient. The clarity of the messages and ability to protect thoughts from outsiders depends on your Mental Control.

I focused on each of the stats in turn and whatever system was in place came up with a helpful description. The dragon part brought no further explanation, but most of the rest did.

[Size: Increasing the size category also increases your Health, Strength and Toughness. Your size increases automatically as you age and at certain attribute and class milestones.]

[Strength: Affects your physical damage and capabilities as well as flight speed.]

[Toughness: Affects your health, regeneration, damage resistance and general physical toughness. Increases resistance to physical spells. Increased flight duration.]

[Agility: Determines the chance to dodge and speed. Increases speed of turning when flying.]

[Mental Power: Affects the power of your magic capabilities. Affects mana pool. Increased effect of traps and spell-like abilities. Increased production range.]

[Mental Control: Affects the ability to control your magic capabilities. Increased resistance to mental spells. Increased mana regeneration.]

My mind was reeling at all this entailed. Was I in a game, or had I been reincarnated in a game type world? There was magic here? What the hell? That meant I wasn’t on Earth anymore. I mean, my attackers already proved that but - Where was I then? Grasping at straws, I tried to think of the good things. I could fly! And magic! Also, seeing Telepathy on the list was a major relief - whatever happened, I was not destined to walk around like an unspeaking beast.