SoF Ch. 11-20 (Patreon)

Ch.11 Rafting, Ill Show You Rafting

From the moment he exited the cave, Tilly's world became one of exhaustion and pain. He sprinted through the surrounding creatures taking advantage of their momentary confusion to push, hack, and dodge past any in his path. His recent increases in Dexterity allowed him to survive the manic sprint through his surrounding foes, but he certainly didn't get away unscathed.

He dodged, ducked, dipped, dived, and dodged, avoiding getting pinned down or tangled. But every movement brought with it a new wound or near-death miss.

You suffer 3% damage from a slashing attack.

You suffer 7% damage from a crushing blow.

You suffer 2% damage from a piercing attack…

By the time he had broken through the gauntlet of tooth and claw, he was gasping in a wobbling sprint barely propped up by his Endurance and Dexterity. His body was covered in bloody gashes and bruises.

Warning, you have been inflicted with the debuff Minor Bleeding. (-1.2% per minute.)

Warning, your debuff Minor Exhaustion has been upgraded to Moderate Exhaustion. (-20% Endurance, Dexterity, and Intelligence for 10 hours. )

Health: 65% (-.2% per minute)

The notifications came and went, and some part of Tilly dimly recognized that despite the discomfort with his new body, he would be able to keep moving as long as he didnt damage one of his legs too badly.

The combination of snarls, snaps, and growls mixed into an audiological soup of sounds that all combined to say the same thing.

“As soon as we catch you, we will rend flesh from bone.”

Tilly needed no further encouragement and he continued in his lopsided gate staying just ahead of the furious pursuit until he reached the stream that had guided him up the mountain. He jumped into the shallow path and started making his way down the slope squeezing every bit of juice out of his Endurance and Dexterity as possible.

Many of the smaller infected had less of a problem keeping up once he was moving over rougher terrain and he had to bat away or dislodge several infected squirrel and bird-like creatures. While they didn't do much to slow his momentum, they threw themselves at his legs and face to try and slow him down.

He half-heartedly fended them off as he focused almost all of his exhausted energy on moving as fast as possible without breaking something important. He half jumped half climbed down the first small waterfall, narrowly avoiding the grasping claws and teeth of his pursuers, who hesitated only a second before jumping down with little to no regard for their own bodies.

He didn't stop to keep watch, but he heard several jarring cracks and whimpers as he turned to keep running. Unfortunately, he could hear even more unimpeded splashing behind him as he kept up his best speed downhill. Even with his newly improved Constitution and Endurance the burning in his chest had almost become impossible to ignore.

His whole left side felt like a bruise at this point, and he was having trouble taking deep breaths. The wounds that covered his body continued to burn like lines of fire in the wind, slowly being covered in his salty sweat, introducing a new ecstasy of pain.

But a minute later he felt something click into place, as his breathing became ever so slightly less labored. He quickly threw up his most recent notification.

Congratulations! You are now level 5. 9000 experience until the next level.

You have earned 5 stat points to distribute plus 2 points in Endurance and 1 in Dexterity from the class Son of Flame.

Tilly didn't let the surprise distract him and he quickly spread his new stat points out, even as he turned to throw both his hatchets at his closest pursuers, missing with one, but nailing the other in the head.

He put 2 points in Constitution to mitigate the loss from bleeding, one in Endurance and two in Dexterity on top of the automatic point allocations that came with his class. In his desperation he found he was able to do so without pulling up the screen, willing the points to the right places and feeling his body respond with a rush of endorphins and adrenaline.

Even with the increase, he didn't notice the next drop-off, and stumbled off a boulder, falling and rolling down the mountain for 20-30 feet.

You suffer 10% damage from falling.

You suffer 7% damage from a crushing blow to the chest.

You suffer 3% damage from straining your ankle.

Health: 45%

He groaned as he stumbled to his feet, and grinned manically as he heard several more of his pursuers miss the same drop and land badly. The crunch of their bones resounded in a symphony of vindication.

He struggled forward for a few more stumbling steps before croaking out a yell and forcing his body back into an asymmetrical jog. His body strained at the continued pace, and knives of pain plunged deeper as he poured everything he had into continuing his all-or-nothing flight.

After several gasping minutes, he looked back and was surprised to see that he had put some distance between him and the much-diminished crowd of infected forest denizens. If they had not already been weakened by infection, they probably would have never let him escape, let alone continue to stay ahead, but he had begun to notice a pattern with the infected. Their ferocity increased, even as their bodies weakened and died.

While they were still very much deadly, their movements were all characterized by a sort of twitchy ferocity, reminding Tilly of some of the more intense zombie movies he had seen. This difference really showed in the shambling run they used to pursue him, instead of the more natural animalistic movements that they probably normally had.

That didn't mean he was out of the woods yet, he was barely moving faster than a shuffling jog himself, and he had no clue how long his pursuers would be able to go at this pace. This had become a war of attrition. If he stopped or passed out, they would catch him, and it would all be over.

His journey down the mountain became a never-ending slog of gasping breath, soaked leather, and wounds that didn't seem to be healing but whose pain had dulled to a deep ache. He continued to bleed, and gasp as his pursuers growled and snapped after him in their dogged chase.

His legs were lead, every breath sent a knife deeper into his chest, but Tilly didn't stop.

One step.

Then another.

Jump to this rock,

Then shuffle over to the other shore which had space to run for a few more yards.

Over and over again, he continued down the mountain in a feverish hike of grim determination. He wasn't going to be caught because he quit, as long as he could still move, he would.

At some point, he had dropped both his weapons, but some time later he felt their handles bumping along his thighs with his movements. Time faded, and even his reason for running was ground out of his mind, one exhausted step after another. He just knew in the core of his being that he would not stop.

The excruciating chase went on and the stream got deep enough that he could no longer cross it without wading up to his waist. The sound of his pursuit had fallen farther and farther back as the terrain became even more difficult, but things like strategy or hiding had slipped from Tilly's exhaustion-addled mind.

Warning, your debuff Moderate Exhaustion has been upgraded to Major Exhaustion. (-50% Endurance, Dexterity, and Intelligence for 10 hours.)

At this point, his legs had turned to stone, and every step was a monumental act of will. His mind had been reduced to simple, stubborn self-talk.

“Keep going.”

“Just another step.”

“Move! Goddammit, rest is just around the corner.”

He didn't notice as the horizon above the tree line began to lighten with dawn's glow and he also did not process when his stream met a river at the base of the mountain. He just kept moving until he was up to his chest in water and started treading water. Some deep seated instinct prioritized air above all other needs, and even as he struggled to stay conscious, he continued to tread water. His new reality became one of slowly waving arms and occasionally kicking feet, his light armor actually proving to be slightly buoyant.

The light brightened the surrounding forest, and if he had the presence of mind to take it in, he would have seen a healthier and more populated temperate valley. The birds could be heard greeting the morning again and some deer watched from the shore as he passed by, his stubbornness as much a part of his survival as any conviction.

The river current had carried him along a fair distance when his path was intersected by a large line of logs floating along the middle of the river. He numbly pulled himself up on two logs floating side by side and let the sweet soundless embrace of unconsciousness take him.

Jonathan Luke Tillman

Level: 5(9000 Experience to next level)

Display Name: Tilly

Race: Human

Class: Son of Flame

Titles: Harbinger

Health: 100% (+1.2% per minute)

Mana: 100% (+.8% per minute)

Status Effects:

-Major Exhaustion -50% Endurance, Dexterity, and Intelligence for 10 hours. (5 hours remaining)

-Minor Bleeding - 1% to Health per minute.

-Unconscious - You are not alert or oriented to your surroundings. Lasts until well rested or you receive medical intervention.

Stats:

Constitution: 12

Endurance: 20 (12)

Dexterity: 20 (12)

Strength: 10

Wisdom: 8

Intelligence: 8(4)

Items

Origin’s primitive stone hatchets: +10% to Dexterity. (Legendary, growth type)

+Imbued Ability Recall.

Origin’s primitive leather armor: +10% to Endurance. (Legendary, growth type)

Skills:

-Forestcraft level 10

-Identify level 16

-Cooking level 12

-Beginner Hatchett level 9

-Animal Processing level 9

-Stealth level 6

-Herb Lore Level 2

-Ax Throwing Level 7

Abilities:

-None.

Ch.12 What's up Doc?

“Kuro… what's that on the logs.”

“Well, Nyuk, how am I supposed to know? Looks like another washed-up dead animal.”

“I don't think so Kuro, I think it's just wearing furs, hold on, I'll hook that bunch and pull it in.”

“God’s above and below! It's a pit-cursed human!”

“AYAH! What do we do?! Should we just dump it in the river? It's obviously dead.”

The back-and-forth conversation slowly dug deeper into Tilly’s consciousness and he was able to rouse just enough to mumble.

“Please… don't.”

“Ugh did you hear that, it said something!”

“Nyuk, you need to calm down, pull him in and I'll go tell Lord Hiro about this.”

….

Tilly came to consciousness feeling warm and weak. He was lying on a bed of scratchy fabric that felt like a memory foam king after his past few nights in the forest. He looked around at his one-room abode and saw a small window and sliding shoji-style door opposite a river stone fireplace and a hewn plank floor. His patchwork leather jacket, pants, and moccasins were folded neatly next to the bed with his two hatchets laying on the floor next to them.

He attempted to sit up and found it very difficult. He reflexively pulled up his notification log to catch up with what had happened during his escape. He scrolled through the numerous damage notifications trying to find an explanation for his leveling during the escape.

A creature that you are in combat with has taken environmental damage.

A creature that you are in combat has been defeated due to environmental damage.

You have earned 75 Exp.

Tilly guessed that the system counted any damage they took trying to follow him as if it was dealt by him. It hadn’t led to a ton of experience, but at least he gained a level, which had probably been the difference between life and death for him.

He also learned that he had actually been able to identify some of the absolutely insane things he had seen the day before.

You have identified a Corrupted Ancient Cave Bear level 38.

You have failed to Identify the source of the corruption.

Congratulations! You have found a Place of Power. These are the source of all life and growth across Nephesh and can be used for great purposes.

Aside from that, he had leveled Forestcraft for his “Successful Night Hike” and had gained one more level in Ax Throwing. Probably from the few lucky shots he had managed to get off while on the run.

His health was at 100% and his debuffs were gone. All that was left was a status effect called Recovery.

You are in a state of Recovery. You have experienced extreme emotional and physical trauma over the last 24 hours and your need for healing goes deeper than just your body. -50% Strength and +50% wisdom while in Recovery.

He was wearing some bandages with old blood stains on them, and his ankle and the right side of his chest had some sort of poultice pressed against them. Pleasantly neither of them even showed a twinge of pain as he slowly attempted to move those parts of his body.

Feeling encouraged he unwrapped one of his bandages and found that they only covered areas of faint scarring. Despite everything he had just been through, Tilly found himself smiling. This world certainly sucked, but he could get used to this insane healing factor he already had with a Constitution of just 12.

Just as he was about to struggle into his clothing, the sliding door whispered open. Standing in the doorway was a full-on rabbit person holding a tray.

The figure was clearly feminine and had on a distinctly Japanese-style kimono. She took his level of consciousness in stride and firmed the lines of her mouth before removing her sandals and moving into the space. She put the tray down on the floor next to his clothing smoothly moving into a seated position on her knees.

Tilly didn't know what he was expecting when he had awoken in a fantasy house… but it wasn't this.

“Please eat,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper while avoiding eye contact.

“Uh… can you tell me… where I am?” Tilly stumbled over his words, not sure where to even begin when it came to resolving his ignorance of this new world.

Her face was covered in a light fur that only slightly changed her mostly human features and her long rabbit-like ears were laid flat, falling behind her head and laying over her neat braid. She just shook her head at his question and bowed again, before rising and backing out of the room.

“Lord Hiro will answer your questions. So sorry.” She then stepped back out and gracefully slid the door closed.

Tilly was left there with his mouth hanging open. He was expecting something weird… but Japanese rabbit people took the cake. I guess this won't just be bread and butter middle earth. If this is any representation of the population of this place, things were just going to get stranger.

A loud growl from his stomach interrupted his musings and he looked back down at the tray, now noticing a generous bowl of rice, some grilled fish, and a glazed mixture of carrots. The bowl was of course topped with chopsticks and accompanied by tea. Any of the shock he felt at his first civilized interaction faded before the all-powerful call of hunger.

Sometime later, a burp sounded out through the room, signaling man’s triumph over food once again. Tilly could feel strength returning to his limbs and happily noted that the Recovery effect cleared once he had eaten and gotten dressed. He was glad they had left him his hatchets, hopefully, this meant he wasn't seen as a threat to these people.

Not knowing what else to do, he hesitantly moved towards the door and just as he was reaching for it, it seemed to open of its own accord revealing two rabbit men armed with spears. The one on the left flinched in surprise, while the one on the right nodded at the sight of him standing and dressed.

It was difficult for Tilly to tell them apart.

“Lord Hiro said you would be up, Come with us please.” After the request they simply turned and walked away, leaving Tilly to follow.

Both rabbit men wore simple peasant clothes in the Japanese style and had their ears tied behind their heads with thongs of leather.

He tried to keep up with their odd almost hopping gait, and did his best to take in the village that surrounded the small house he had woken up in. It was every bit feudal Japan, except with rabbit people instead of Japanese. For some reason, the strangeness of it all was already wearing off on him. Maybe it was the monsters or his afterlife experience but his pragmatism kicked into overdrive as he quickly adjusted to the reality of the people in this new world.

Underneath the strangeness, Tilly couldn't help but notice other things. The few children he saw were somber, the people; worn down and dirty, even as they went about their tasks with an aloof dignity that spoke of deep cultural pride.

They quickly made their way through the village of simple but well-built wooden houses with sliding doors and opaque white grid siding. Before them reared a tightly built palisade of logs with an inner platform that seemed to circle the whole circumference of the town.

The front gate was a large counterbalanced affair rigged to collapse down if its tightly bound winch was disturbed, and it was manned by men in well-worn clothing either holding a spear or longbow in hand, their vigilance outward undisturbed by Tilly’s approach.

There were several ladders up the lookout walkway but no stairs, and as his escort reached the base of the one nearest the gate they turned and posted up on either side of it. The one on the right jerked his head up, towards the top.

With a small smile for the ease with which he could now climb things, Tilly scaled up the ladder and found himself facing the back of an actual samurai in full armor. Tilly could see from the ears pulled back and held by a thong that this was another rabbit-man, but that did nothing to ease the air of controlled death that emanated from the man. Something about his posture spoke of a profound readiness for violence.

“When I heard my people had found you, my first thought was of killing you, just to save my people the grief you will inevitably bring if left alive.” His voice rumbled in a deep base, every bit a match for his intimidating aura.

This sudden threat to his person instantly put Tilly into a surly mood,

“I'm sorry, I don't know anything except the name of this world, and that you have a serious problem brewing in the forest to your north. What do you mean, ‘save my people grief’?”

At that the Rabbit man who could only be Lord Hiro turned and revealed a profoundly care-worn face, weathered by time, but unbowed before its relentless passage. His eyes were hard and carried in them a deep sorrow.

“I should have known one of your kind would come, you always do in times of great change, and change is seldom kind to its victims.” He said, beholding the man in rough leathers standing before him. In him, he saw great danger for his people, but also a possible chance for a future. A future that had only grown darker these last months.

“Look, uhh… Sir. I don't know what you think you know about me, but I have barely survived my first few days here and while I appreciate your hospitality, you need to get over your prejudices about me and send people to stop what is happening two days hike from here in that mountain.” Tilly said with a forceful gesture towards the looming mountain at the head of the valley.

Nothing in Lord Hiro's countenance changed at his gesture, but Tilly couldn't help but notice the nearest guard tighten his grip on his spear shaft as he struggled to not look like he was listening.

It then hit Tilly that he knew nothing about these people and what they had endured living so close to the growing source of corruption. The angles of his scowl softened and in a lower voice he asked,

“I can see that things have not gone easily here, but something is growing at the heart of that mountain, and I think that whatever you have seen, it's only a small portion of the force that will be brought to bear if this goes unchecked.”

“This I know Human. We already gambled our future to see this threat eradicated, and we lost.” He replied, fury and deep sadness struggling for supremacy in his gaze.

“We sent our best, and the attacks have not ceased. Every night they come, and with me, we stand without losses. But without me, my people would be overrun before I reached the source to stop them. Our loggers are good men but they have to sleep in the middle of the river on rafts to stay safe from attack at night. We simply have no one left to spend on this mission. This is the reality we all know and have lived with for many days. Now tell me human, have you come to defeat this abomination, or are you simply a fresh harbinger of our doom?

Something about him using the same word as the Title he had below his name struck Tilly. He had been content with just warning the people after his narrow escape, but try as he might, he could not shake the feeling that there had to be something he could do. This couldn’t all just be an accident, his starting point in this world, his only title, even these people already locked in a struggle for their lives.

This line of thinking played out its conflict openly on Tilly’s face, and Hiro simply watched him, his own face inscrutable. Tilly was vastly underpowered when considering the challenges he faced. A sudden suspicion crossed his mind and he flicked open his notification log and saw what he was actually standing before.

Level 52 Samurai Lord

Yep, this guy could probably snap him in half with a look. He tried again to get through to the unmoved rabbit samurai before him,

“There must be something you can do, I know you said you can't leave, but… It's feeding off of people up there.” Tilly uttered, trying to keep his growing panic at bay. The gut-level horror at what he had seen up there caused his voice to crack, and he looked down to cover his naked fear.

But even looking down, he felt the air around him change, growing heavier, and he heard the creak of armor in front of him as if it was straining to hold back the taunt body beneath.

“Human… Answer me carefully. You saw someone alive?”

Ch.13 Voluntold

Tilly was suddenly deeply aware of how close he was standing to the samurai with a death grip on his sword. But the memory of the man-sized fleshy pods was burned into his psyche, and however intimidating Lord Hiro was, it was nothing to the room full of nightmare fuel at the top of the mountain. He pushed through his fear and the pressure of Hiro’s presence to carefully answer his question.

“Look, from what I saw the thing causing this corruption is some sort of demonic, subterranean tree and at its base, there are these pod-like things with many shapes inside them. I think it has been capturing things for a long time and sets them up as some sort of energy source to grow stronger. The few nearest to the entrance looked like the newest growths and had some figures in them that were definitely already husks, but one particular pod nearest to the Flame seemed to still have its body intact. It might have something to do with how time works in the chamber. Whatever it was in the pod, there is only a small chance it could still be alive, although it's suspended in liquid, so I have no idea how it could still be breathing…”

Tilly tore his mind away from the memory to find wild hope burning in the samurai’s eyes, the hope of a man on death row given a fresh appeal. Tilly was suddenly concerned that he was giving the wrong impression.

“Look, basically I'm saying I don't know… and even if that something is still alive, there is no way they are not infected with corruption.”

Lord Hiro’s eyes had already lost focus in thought, and Tilly could tell he had lost the man to whatever machinations his news had aroused.

“It will have to be enough. They have abandoned us here to die a slow death, well if death comes let it be by our own choosing.”

Then as if his decision came with a jolt of electricity, he jerked his head to the side and called down to Tilly’s escort.

“Take him to Shuji. Make sure he has whatever he needs that we can spare, and bring me Kuro and Nyuk. They will leave with him at dusk” He said, his authority ringing out across the wall and into the village. Its effect was impossible to miss, as people stopped what they were doing and looked up at their leader, hope dawning on their faces. One of the guards rushed off, while the other waited at the bottom of the ladder.

“Um, so am I leading you guys up there or something?” Tilly asked lamely, hoping against hope that he misunderstood what was happening.

“No, your words have spurred me to one final gamble. The walls are as good as they can be for now, I will send my logging team scouts with you and you will do whatever you have to free anyone alive in that place and end this threat.”

His words landed on Tilly like an avalanche, crushing him with their implications. The fear and panic that he had barely been holding in check slipped from his control,

“You have got to be kidding me, man… That tree is guarded by all kinds of monsters, and a level 38 ancient cave bear… I don't know if you noticed, but I’m only level 5! You are level 52, it's gotta be you!”

At his words, the Samurai Lord slowly turned his head away from the conversation and back towards the forest boundary, flat dismissal showing in his posture.

“You know nothing of the obligations I am under. I would like nothing more than to go off on this quest, but to leave my people is to condemn them to certain death. This I can not do as their lord. I will risk some of my few remaining men, and I will spend precious resources on you, Human. That is all.

There is a chance that some God looks down on you with favor, I see a divine mark on you. There is little possibility that you will succeed, but I have precious few options left to me. It will be you, and if you fail, we are doomed to continue our slow march to oblivion.”

Tilly stood floored, his mouth opening then closing as he failed to come up with a response. He didn't want to die if he could help it, and he was sure these people felt the same way… But the panic that his traumatic experiences had seared into him raged against the thought of doing anything but running away. As if sensing this, Lord Hiro added,

“If you do not go, I will kill you myself,” Hiro stated curtly before pulling an about-face putting the final nail in the coffin of Tilly’s dismissal.

Here he was again… Getting shit on by life, with no way out. His feelings roiled and churned within him and threatened to overwhelm him when the thought of the person who was trapped in that pod one more time.

Heat started to bloom behind his navel once again.

How many times had he run into burning buildings when others were running out? This was no different, he was still that same man. He got people out… it was what he did.

If he ran now, he would always be running. Either he manned up and figured out how to fight back against this fantasy-horror bullshit or he might as well let Hiro kill him.

He wasn't perfect, but he knew enough about himself to know that if he didn't tighten up now, the rest of his short life here would be on the back foot, always reacting, never taking any initiative.

Something in him settled, then firmed, and Tilly realized it was resolve. Resolve to draw the line here, and either fight back or die trying. His conflicted expression relaxed and a small self-deprecating smirk formed at the corner of his mouth.

“Well, nothing to it but to do it,'' he muttered before turning around himself and climbing down the ladder. The remaining guard looked at him, seemingly just as amazed by his leader's decision as Tilly was. Under his scrutiny, Tilly awkwardly put his hands on his weapons, attempting to not appear terrified.

The motion seemed to wake him from the stupor and he nodded to himself before turning around and heading off, not saying a word.

Tilly lurched in surprise before hurrying to follow.

“Um, do you have a name?” Tilly called to the guard's back.

No answer.

I guess it's time to go see Shuji.

…

Shuji, as it turned out, was part logistics officer, part general store manager, and part crazy professor. He resided in the only completely stone building in the village. As they approached the squat structure, the door banged open and by far the largest rabbit-man thing Tilly had seen thrust himself out of the entryway, followed belatedly by the other guard.

Tilly immediately pulled his class from the notification log.

Level 39 Librarian

“So this is the Human I have heard so much about! I of course have never seen one of your kind in person but I can't help but confess a burning curiosity.” The rotund rabbit man boomed as he approached with a strange sort of jiggly grace.

He was wearing a robe slightly more ornate than the others Tilly had seen and besides his girth, his features were set apart by an impressive Fu-man-chu and a pair of spectacles sitting on top of his flat rough nose.

Before Tilly could quite understand what was happening, Shuji had completely entered into his personal space and began manipulating his extremities and tutting to himself.

“Hmmm yes, similar to most nonbeast bipeds… ”

Tilly coughed and stepped back trying to find a way to gain back the space he had lost.

“Um, I just got here… the world I mean, not the village. Although that too… Uh, Lord Hiro sent me to you for supplies I think.” Tilly said, stumbling over his words as he was completely thrown off by the out-of-place gregarious mannerisms Shuji displayed.

“Oh yes, of course! You showing up now can only mean one thing.” Shuji said, nodding to himself, while once again reaching into Tilly’s space to feel the sleeve of his jacket.

Tilly gently pulled his arm away and tried to keep the conversation going.

“And what does that mean?”

“Things are about to change of course! If you are happy, and you live in a stable society, a human showing up usually means a calamity. But lucky for us, we seemed to be doomed, so change is most welcome!” He replied enthusiastically.

“Well that's good, I guess… Look man, I have been here for barely three days. I don't even know what you are, and I'm willing to try and help, but I am going to need some sort of baseline of information.”

“Why yes! Of course, where are my manners? Come in, come in.” He said, his wide cheerful face not at all dimmed by his grim context.

He moved adroitly through the doorway into a large well-lit room absolutely covered with trinkets, candles, and scrolls. At the back of the room was a large iron banded door, guarded by a counter that gave this place the barest appearance of a shop. A disorganized fantasy thrift shop.

“Please sit, sit!” Shuji said, gesturing at a bench adjoining the cluttered table. It was of course also covered in stuff and Tilly hesitantly stacked as many things as he could to one side until there was enough space to sit.

Meanwhile, Shuji had seemed to pick two cups from the mess at random and produced a steaming teapot from god knows where. He poured both of them a cup and handed one to Tilly.

“Tea?”

“Thanks. So first off, please tell me, what do I call your people? I mean, I know I am a human, but what are you?”

“Ah, yes. We are called Lapin.” He said with an indulgent smile before taking a loud slurping sip of his tea.

Tilly felt torn between the tension of being somewhat safe for the first time in a few days and the grim reality of having to go back up the mountain in a few hours. He had so many questions, but he had no clue where to begin. Any line of information could be superfluous or it could save his life…

Noting the conflict on the human’s face, Shuji interrupted his blank stare.

“I understand you are in an impossible situation, it seems that we share that fate. But seldom does one of your kind show up with no way forward. Many of you die of course, but the ones who live almost always end up as the monarchs and emperors of this world. In fact, I believe it was a human thousands of generations back that had a hand in beginning our race… although it is that belief that got me sent here in the first place.”

Something in that statement poked out at Tilly, not the puzzle of how to make a human/rabbit hybrid. Something else.

“Lord Hiro said something about being abandoned. Why is no one coming to help?”

“I am afraid that is perhaps a longer story than you have time for on the eve of your departure… Rather I think we should focus on what abilities and talents you have, and how I can supplement them with our meager supplies to give you the best chance at success.”

Tilly got back on track focusing on the immediate future. The problem was he literally didn't know anything and the questions that had come up over the last couple of days about stat distribution and class progression probably wouldn't make a single difference in his coming fight with a level 38 ancient cave bear. So he started by just sharing what he could bring to the table. Although he probably wanted to keep his only Title and by extension, his connection with some unknown deity a secret until he knew more about this world.

“Well, I'm only level 5 and I have zero abilities. The only thing I have going for me at this point is that when I throw these I can make them appear back in my hand.”

To emphasize his point, Tilly caused one of his hatchets to appear from his belt loop into his waiting palm. He decided to also keep the fact that they were legendary to himself until he knew more about what that meant too. All in all, he actually could do basically nothing with his class so far.

“Yes, yes. I see… very rare not to have a single ability at your level, but not unheard of. And a soul-bound set of equipment is nothing to sniff at either…

but it won't help you much at this stage.”

Tilly's poker face broke as he realized if he could identify his gear as Legendary, then of course someone in the village would have been able to! Shuji missed none of this and waved at Tilly as if no it wasn't a big deal.

“Do not worry Human, you are right to keep such things hidden from strangers, part of the nature of soul-bound equipment is it is very difficult to detect much about it unless you are the owner. We would not have known except that every time we confiscated your gear while you were unconscious, it kept appearing next to you neatly folded. We are not in the habit of letting armed strangers walk through our Village, especially not one of your kind.”

“Yeah well, obviously I have a lot on my mind, any ideas for me? Because I am pretty sure I could hit that bear a thousand times, and he would still keep coming.”

“Yes, that does pose a significant problem. The two Lord Hiro is sending with you are talented Loggers, but they will not be much help against such an enemy. There must be something. Some strange outworld knowledge or magic that can even the odds in your favor.”

Tilly raked his mind, reviewing all the information he had on the terrain he was returning to. Dead plant life everywhere, a cave with only one entrance, and an enemy that was far beyond his ability to fight…

“Shuji, how much do you know about these corrupted creatures? Are they still alive? And more importantly, do they still breathe?”

Ch. 14 Mission Impossible, Literally

“This is the best I can do. ” Shuji said with a grimace.

He had produced something that looked suspiciously like a Chinese firework covered in arcane symbols.

“It is meant for celebrations and we were saving it for when the village became fully self-sufficient… but this is the best I can do for you out of our current stock. It should work for your purposes. I am fascinated by your theory, and hope you live to tell me if it works.”

“Yeah, me too Shuji. Me too.” Tilly replied distractedly.

He was fingering the tight-fitting satchel that was designed to fit on the small of his back over his jacket. In it were two health potions, some bandages, flint, and tinder along with some simple rations and water.

“I wish we had more for you, but our stock is dangerously low, and we have no healer here. Just me with my poor medicine skill, and these last potions, which are the only thing that can save a dying man on the walls.”

Tilly smartly threw the satchel over his head and felt it settle on his lower back.

“Don't worry Shuji, this is more than enough. I doubt another potion is going to make a difference for me. Either my plan works or it doesn't.”

Just then, the door opened and one of the escort Lapins grunted in Shuji’s direction, and through the open door, Tilly heard a loud nasally voice complaining.

“Kuro, are you sure we can't just raft him to the bottom of the mountain and wait to see if he comes back?”

“Nyuk, you idiot, you heard Lord Hiro. If he doesn't stop whatever is up there, we all die anyway. Your wife and son included!”

“Aww... I was just joking, you don't have to be so harsh.” replied the petulant voice.

Well, looks like it was time to go. Tilly looked back at Shuji and gave him a small bow.

“Thanks for your help Shuji, I hope I see you again to ask other questions.”

“Good providence human, I too look forward to your triumphant return.” The lapin replied with just a hint of worry coloring his cheerful tone.

With that, Tilly brushed past the guard and stood before two particularly muscular Lapin males with felling axes strung behind their backs. The sun was beginning to set, and the rest of the village had taken on a hushed defeated tone. Women were shooing children toward homes and sharply shutting doors. The men not already on the wall were moving in that direction. The gurging calls of the infected began to ring out from the surrounding forest.

All the energy seemed to go out to the loggers as they looked on towards the gate. As Tilly emerged from the building they looked back at him with their faces set in grim lines. The two guard lapins simply nodded at the trio and then jogged off to the front gate.

“So Kuro, Nyuk. My name is Tilly. Nice to meet you, did you say something about rafting?” Tilly started, trying to make small talk with the two.

“Yes, human. We lash the logs together up the river and ride them downstream to the mill, but tonight we will pole back upstream, and hike up the mountain tomorrow, likely to our deaths.”

“Well… Uh, I hope not, but thanks for coming with me. I do have a plan, and if all goes well it won't include our deaths.”

“Things do not go well for our people. This is known.” The one Tilly was pretty sure was Kuro stated, turning and walking towards the small dock on the river bank.

Nyuk, and then Tilly quickly followed behind towards the edge of the village. The wall ended down in the river on both sides of the small structure leading out into the water, creating a decent if small harbor, and at the edge of the platform rested a crude, but sturdy-looking raft of 4 large logs.

….

The trip upriver was uneventful. There were a few of the corrupted monsters on the banks of the river, but they were mostly headed back toward the Village for what Tilly learned was a nightly battle.

They would spend twilight crowding the forest around the village and then throw themselves at the wall until their numbers were spent. For some reason, they only attacked at night, and did so in a steady stream, almost as if they didn't want to actually take the village, but rather exhaust its inhabitants night after night.

Tilly took throws at the passing creatures and only wounded a few, but scored no kills. The two loggers just ignored the creatures as they steadily polled up the river.

“How long have these attacks been happening?” Tilly asked one of the stoic men after missing another impossible throw at a passing creature in the dark.

The one called Kuro looked over at him, almost surprised that he wanted to start a conversation on such a grim mission. He looked over at Nyuk who pretended not to have heard and then with a wearied sigh answered.

“First our hunters started discovering creatures slain in the forest by unnatural means. They would be killed but not eaten, and the killing was uncommonly savage. Then attacks began to happen at the logging camp. We always posted a guard and were able to fight off the creatures but Lord Hiro grew concerned. He sent our hunters to follow the creature's trail during the day and find their source.” At this point, Kuro slowed in his story and watched another creature stumble by on the river bank, clearly ravaged by corruption.

“Only one hunter returned from the mission. He was wounded and severely poisoned by the corruption. Before he died, he spoke of an evil spreading at the top of the mountain and slowly reaching down towards the valley.”

At this, Nyuk lifted one of his hands from the poll and made a sign with his hand as if to ward off evil. Kuro looked over at the motion and sneered.

“At this point, Ichiro our Lord’s son, and our last true warriors formed a party and went to stop this threat before it grew too great for our village to overcome… Even they failed.”

“They have not been seen since that day, and the attacks on the village started a week later. With Lord Hiro on the wall, we have held.”

“Especially because we finished the palisade far ahead of schedule!” Nyuk chimed in.

Kuro just ignored him and continued, “But our supplies run low, our rice fields and gardens are so far untouched, but the game we used to subsist off from the forest is all but gone and we have fished this river almost to its end. If the attacks intensify, we will perish. If they merely continue as they are, we will flag and fail.”

“Can’t you run? Or at least send your women and children to safety?” Tilly asked quietly, the weight of the villager’s plight weighing down on him.

Kuro’s sneer returned with a vengeance,

“Our teleport circle is inactive, and our messages have gone unanswered. They told us we were being sent to ‘Subdue this area of the frontier for the glory of the Empire…’ what a load of pit-cursed shit.” Kuro finished before spitting vehemently over the side of the raft.

That answer only produced another round of questions in Tilly’s mind, but he saw the flat look of fury burning in the lapin’s eyes and decided to hold back for now. It wasn't too much longer before the lapins seemed to notice some landmark that was invisible to Tilly’s eyes in the dark. They moved the raft closer to the bank and lodged the poles deep in the silty river bed through two holes in the middle of the raft that seemed to be made for this purpose.

Tilly looked around and saw that the eddy they were in was produced by a small but familiar stream flowing down into the river from the nearby shore. The poles seemed to be able to anchor the raft well enough in the reduced current near the mouth of the stream, and Tilly noted that they were still far enough away from shore that any creatures would have a difficult time approaching the raft without making a lot of noise.

Without a word, both lapins settled down and reached into their packs to produce some of the rice ball and fish rations that each of them had been issued. Tilly followed suit and hunkered down on the unsteady raft, reaching into his satchel for his own rations. He felt sick to his stomach when he thought about what they would be attempting tomorrow, but he knew he had to eat, so eat he did, with mechanical efficiency.

“We will get what rest we can here until before dawn. Then Nyuk and I will go with you up the mountain to this ‘temple’ and we shall see if this plan of yours works.” Kuro said with finality. Nyuk just let out a quiet burp before curling up on his side of the raft, and almost instantly began snoring.

“Wow, he doesn't waste time does he?” Tilly wondered, unable to keep the awe from his voice.

“Nyuk is only really good at two things. That Lapin can fell and haul more trees than any other two put together. He can also sleep through anything.” Looking over at his companion with something other than the hard expressions he had worn for the whole of the day.

Tilly simply nodded, wondering if he would be able to sleep at all with the horrors he had planned to face tomorrow. Kuro laid down himself, but surprisingly continued in a voice just loud enough for Tilly to hear,

“Nyuk likes to say that he is only good at three things… Don't ask him what the third thing is.”

Tilly snorted and almost choked on the last of his rice ball, looking over at the more serious Lapin, but he was already snoring as well. Looked like both of them were no slouches when it came to getting rest when rest was available.

Tilly gingerly followed suit, laying back and looking up at the sky visible through the overhanging branches.

He hadn't really gotten a chance to do so during his last two harrowing nights, and what he saw hit him in the chest with the force of its beauty. It was like one of those special Hubble images that NASA used to raise money, except instead of shining from a computer screen, the incredible sight spanned the night sky. There were uncountable stars, intermingling with nebulae and something that looked like the northern lights dancing beyond the mountain tops.

It was truly incredible, and for the first time, Tilly started to think that maybe the dreams of men weren’t all nightmares. Sometime during his revere, he fell asleep to the sound of the quiet rush of the river.

Ch. 15 The Plan

Tilly awoke to a not-so-gentle kick in the leg.

“Ouch, man!”

“Come on human, dawn is in an hour and we have a long way to hike before getting to work,” Kuro replied dryly, not looking away at all from Tilly’s glare.

Nyuk stood to the side, chuckling as he used his pole to push the raft up on the bank of the river. Tilly took a few quick drinks from the river before splashing some on his face to help wake him up. By the time he was done, the lapins had already hopped onto shore and were looking back at him, with longsuffering frowns.

Tilly sheepishly wiped his hands on his leather armor and leaped to shore next to them, almost slipping as the soft sand gave way under his feet. Thank God for Dexterity.

Kuro just turned and started moving uphill, while Nyuk took the time to slowly shake his head at Tilly before turning and moving uphill as well. They did not set an easy pace…

“So, that's how it's gonna be is it?” Tilly growled, ready to show these two the power of his 20 Endurance.

…

Turns out these particular lapins ate 20 Endurance for breakfast and asked for seconds.

Tilly barely managed to keep up, each time they would pull too far ahead, they would turn and look back at him, faces oozing disappointment. At this point, Tilly couldn't tell if these two were sent to help, or torture him.

Whatever the case, it was clear they spent a lot of time moving through these mountains. They moved with an almost mechanical consistency, seeming to effortlessly avoid obstacles that continued to catch Tilly unaware. Like hidden roots, low-hanging branches, or the occasionally ankle-breaking rock. In exasperation, Tilly realized he had never even checked his log to see what level his merciless companions even were. He spent a few moments trying to jog and scroll through his log before he finally found them.

Level 23 lumberjack

Level 28 lumberjack

“Dangit! I totally forgot to check their actual levels when I met them.” He huffed,

He had just assumed that they would just be typical lower-level NPC type characters when they had been assigned to this mission… and here they were making him look like a bumbling idiot.

“System, can you float identifiers over any sentients I meet showing me whatever information Identify can produce?”

As if in response, he saw his notification Icon begin to flash.

Congratulations! You have found a new way to utilize your existing skill.

Identify level up!

Identify level 17.

He was so busy fiddling with his screens while trying not to fall that he almost missed it when they arrived at his temporary camp along the stream bed. He stumbled to a halt next to the two lapins as they examined the campfire, and the skin he had left to dry near the stones.

The clearly Jakalope hide just laid there splayed out in all of its incriminating glory. What did this creature think of killing something that was so…

“This your camp?” Nyuk asked with a blank face.

“Uh… yep” Tilly gasped out between breaths.

“You do that,” Kuro said, gesturing at the hide with a nod of his head.

“Yeah…” He answered, looking back and forth between their rabbit-like faces. They just kept staring at him with unreadable gazes.

“It was corrupted!... and it attacked me first!” He blurted out, feeling immensely uncomfortable, not for the first time wishing he had some guidebook to this crazy world.

They gave him a flat stare for another few seconds before Nyuk busted out laughing. Kuro allowed his lips to twitch upward.

“It's all good, next time we see a monkey, we will make sure to murder it,” Nyuk said in between breaths.

“Hope that doesn't bother you too much monkey man.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha…” Tilly scowled back.

“You should consider trying out for an amateur hour at the local club. You guys would kill.” He attacked back, giving them a taste of their own sarcastic medicine.

Both of their expressions instantly turned serious.

“What club?”

“Who would we have to kill?”

Tilly choked down his frustration and stomped past them, not quite yelling back,

“Welp. Why don't we try and kill a super demon bear!”

…

The desolate clearing surrounding the temple was just as he remembered it, vein-like roots stretching into the forest in all directions sucking the life out of anything they touched. The sun had fully cleared the tree line and hung high in the air. There wasn't an infected monster in sight.

Tilly slowed his breathing and really listened, making sure they weren’t missing anything… but absolutely no life could be heard anywhere nearby. The only sound was the steady breeze blowing against the side of the mountain. Whoever had built this entrance knew exactly where the prevailing winds were and had planned for them to ventilate the structure.

“Ok, so last time I was here, there was nothing guarding this place until the final chamber, which is a straight shot once inside. I'm going to scout and make sure there is nothing active and then we will start.”

“I still don't understand. How does starting a fire far away from the bear burn it?” Nyuk asked, dropping his pack, and detaching his ax from its cord over his shoulder.

“We are not trying to burn it. We are creating a fire hot enough to consume all of the oxygen in the chambers” Tilly tried to explain again.

“What is oxygen?”

“Yeah, never mind, just set up the logs to collapse over the entrance like we talked about, while I set up the fire.”

“Yes, Yes. We are clear on our part, get moving before something shows up to kill us.” Kuro grunted, moving towards the nearest fallen tree.

Tilly hurried towards the entrance and only hesitated at the stone arched for a moment before grimacing and ducking inside. Once again as he moved towards the first chamber, his eyes took a moment to adjust to the strange light faintly showing between the rocks.

He moved down the hallway with furtive steps, trying to keep his breathing under control. After a minute or two he made it to the first chamber where the floor of roots thinned and fanned out. Nothing was waiting for him there and he eyed the next doorway.

Here's to hoping you don't have a fire science degree, Mr. Bear…

He waited for one moment more, making sure he couldn't hear any response from deeper in the chamber, before legging it back to the entrance. As he emerged into the bright day, he saw that the lapins had already cut one log into two pieces just higher than the entrance and were hauling it to the door.

They didn't even spare him a glance as he signaled them to continue and that it was clear for now. He just sighed before moving away from the ancient statues and stonework to the beginning of the dead clearing and began gathering as many small husk-like bushes as he could carry.

He then crept back to the first room and placed them in the center, before exiting to find slightly larger fuel to surround his first pile with. He took these back-and-forth trips for over an hour until he was hauling anything he could find that would burn to the almost perfectly engineered bonfire. He had left himself a small pathway to the center with the smallest brush lightly packed together into a sort of nest, surrounded by the rest of the dead wood.

The whole time he worked his nerves were beyond frayed, and he would stop frequently at some imagined sound or distant movement. But by the time noon came around, the lapins were done and ready to seal the entrance, and Tilly was standing at the center of his creation.

He could no longer see the far doorway, but he looked in its direction nonetheless trying not to think about the horrors that lay deeper in the temple. He shook his head once to clear it and pulled out the final item Shuji had secured for him. It was a deep red paper construct with a simple fuse on the end. He gently nestled it at the center of the small dried-out twig nest he had lovingly created.

“God, if you are out there, I need this thing to burn hot and fast.” He whispered to himself, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead and he once again looked up in the direction of the doorway.

He then took out his flint and the accompanying striking stick and began striking them together, with quick friction causing movements. The impacts echoed through the room and Tilly winced each time the sharp noise rang out through the structure. His motions became more panicked as he silently willed the emerging sparks to catch.

Finally, a perfect, beautiful spark landed right in the nest under the fuse and began to smoke. Tilly immediately leaned forward and blew on it, giving it the gentle constant stream of oxygen it needed to live and grow.

Then, suddenly, a flame sprang up and soon after the sparkler-like burning of a fuse followed. Tilly didn't need to see anything else, he sprang up from his crouch and ran out of the room not bothering with stealth any longer. He ran down the hallway, passing the neat rows of thick branches, placed against the wall.

Just as he cleared the entrance, the blood-curling sound of a roar emerged from the depths of the temple. Looks like whatever intelligence the corruption possessed, had finally decided to stop waiting.

“Close it up?” Nyuk asked, desperation coloring his voice.

“Not yet, We need to see smoke billowing out first, or else the fire won't have grown past its incipient stage.”

“It doesn't sound like we have much time,” Kuro answered tensely, staring at the entryway.

Just then, the high-pitched whine of a firework went off and echoed through to the entrance.

“Look, I told you there is a time dilation, it will take longer than you think for the bear to emerge from the central room, plus who knows what it will do when it comes to the fire room."

The lapins hunched their shoulders against the noise and waited.

A minute passed, then two, and Tilly was beyond tense, every muscle in his body seemed to be trying to twist him in knots. Finally, what started as a light stream of smoke started to thicken and push out of the entrance faster, matched by the constant stream of air that rushed through the bottom of the entryway, feeding the growing conflagration.

There was another furious roar, this time sounding much closer, followed by sudden silence as something ended the high-pitched squeal of the firework.

“Now!” Tilly yelled.

Ch. 16 Plan B

Showing a strength far beyond what their frames should have been capable of, both lapins deftly hefted the logs into place, rolling them over the entrance, and shoving them together so closely that hardly any gaps remained.

Tilly examined the makeshift barricade and started shoving dirt and leaves in any opening larger than an inch. Soon they had the entrance completely barred, with lazy streams of smoke escaping through any opening it could find.

Another roar sounded from within the temple. This time, it was much more muffled. The two loggers had taken up their position on either side of the door, and both stiffened, adjusting their grips on the shafts of their axes.

“That one sounded a lot closer,” Nyuk muttered through gritted teeth.

“Roars are good. The more oxygen it uses, the better for us. We gave the fire all the oxygen it needed to grow into a real monster of a burn. Since we cut it off, its oxygen consumption rate will continue until there is none left. At least that's the plan...” Tilly said, rushing through an explanation. More for himself than for the science-averse lapins.

The reality was, just because he hadn’t seen any other openings, didn't mean there weren’t any, and then there was always the possibility of some magic bullshit exception throwing a wrench in the plan. He just had to hope that the conditions would deteriorate rapidly enough to take out the beast.

But for better or worse, this was the best they could do. Tilly’s notification log was flashing like crazy, so he took two more steps back from the door and pulled it up.

You have entered Combat with a Level 38 Corrupted Ancient Cave Bear.

You have poisoned your opponent with… Error…

Your opponent is suffocating.

Your opponent takes 0.5% radiant heat damage

Your opponent takes 0.5% radiant heat damage

Your opponent takes 0.5% radiant heat damage…

There were a lot of those, but not enough to take more than half the thing’s health.

Your opponent is suffocating. Without access to a fresh air supply, it will lose consciousness in 30 seconds.

“Holy Hell guys, I think it's working,” Tilly exclaimed, eyes wild with excitement at the sight of the notifications continuing to pour in real-time.

“Human…”

“No seriously, check your notification logs!”

“Human Tilly!” Kuro said, his voice strained.

Tilly looked up from his notification screen in confusion. His confusion deepened when he saw Kuro and Kyuk not looking at him, or the entrance, but out into the forest.

Tilly whipped his head around in dismay.

Infected emerged from the treeline all around the clearing, moving towards the temple with their twitchy uncoordinated gait. They still had about 150 yards before they reached the temple, but that didn't add up to much time.

“Shit. It must have called for reinforcements. How smart is this thing?” Tilly snarled looking down at the swollen dark roots he was standing on.

Just then, a huge thump sounded against the barrier. Tilly’s head whipped back around to his notification log. The timer till unconsciousness was still ticking down.

7 seconds until loss of consciousness.

Another thump, this time causing a few logs in the barrier to bounce off the wall, before miraculously falling back into place.

The knuckles on Tilly’s hands turned white from how hard he was gripping his weapons. It wasn't going to be enough…

He looked over at the two lapins and a sardonic smile cracked his anxious features.

Time for plan B

“Alright, you guys take the infected monster army, I’ll take the bear! Make sure to stay very clear of the entrance when it opens up.”

Kuro’s eyes widened and he nodded, moving past Tilly to stand between him and the oncoming wave. Nyuk quickly formed that same warding sign with his hand, before stepping up beside Kuro, and Tilly took one last steadying breath before hunkering down just outside the falling radius of the logs.

A final terrible impact sounded against the log barrier, flinging them in all directions. Air was immediately sucked into the void created by the escaping plume of thick smoke.

The corrupted bear loomed in the midst of the vortex, its already grotesque appearance had not improved under the deadly conditions inside the temple. Its matted, dirty fur had become a nightmare landscape of melted hair and burned flesh. Its front forepaws and head were charred so badly that Tilly could see bone, but none of that compared to the sound of its breathing. A deep crackling gurgle sounded from its throat, revealing what should have been life-ending burns in its lungs from attempting to breathe superheated gasses.

Yet still, it stumbled forward, its forepaws barely able to hold its weight, the furious hatred in its eyes undimmed by the damage it had endured. The air rushing back into the Temple had not been lost on Tilly. Plan A had failed. It was time to bet it all on Plan B. In this case, “B” stood for Backdraft. Tilly's mind had gone so far past panic at this point, that he had nothing left but stupid snarky lines and movie references. The words his captain had shared after his first fire filtered up through the chaos that was his internal environment,

"Rookie, I don't give two shits if you are nervous. Process that shit later. When you are on scene, it's go time. However you feel on the inside, all I want to see out here is a Salty Jake, unimpressed by the shitstorm unfolding before you."

This was just another fire. Another day at work... He just worked in fantasy land now and there was a giant bear trying to claw his face off.

“Wow, you don't go down easy do you?” Tilly shouted, his voice full of false bravado. He then stepped right into the bear's face,

“Did you hurt your little pawsies in the fire?” He continued, his voice rising several octaves as if addressing a toddler.

For just a moment, the bear's charred face froze in incomprehension, then its eyes glazed in fury again, and it stood up to its full height, ready to squash the pitiful little annoyance. Its immense size filled the entrance, as it squared up against its challenger, completely missing the wall of flame rushing up the hall, greedily following the flow path of fresh air right up to its source.

“Kurt Russel sends his regards.” Tilly snarled before diving to the side under the bear's confused swing.

It turned its head sluggishly to follow where the prey had landed and was engulfed in an explosion of flame. The heat was so intense that it burnt the skin on the back of Tilly's legs under his leather pants as he crouched in a protective huddle at the side of the entrance.

The fire almost immediately burned through the fuel Tilly had left near the entrance. As it died down, nothing remained of the corrupted bear beside a charred husk.

Tilly had no time to gloat as the sounds of a fresh conflict started to build behind him. Gurgling barks and snarls approached the entrance and Nyuk and Kuro stepped up to the tide and began to swing their simple but effective axes in wide sweeping arcs. This phased the creatures for all of two seconds before they began to try and flank the pair and Tilly leaped to his feet to join the fray.

He started throwing his hatchets one after another trying to take the pressure off the two lapins as they continued their fighting retreat. They carefully moved backward until they came up against the charred bear husk, lying half in the temple and half outside.

The infected seemed to hesitate at the heat. That or the sight of their huge immolated ally.

Whatever the reason, the lapins and Tilly took their chance and lept around the bear's corpse, using it as a macabre barricade, and took up new positions just inside the temple. The heat had reduced to bearable levels, as fresh air continued to vent the structure, leaving the entrance full of thin lingering smoke. They fought through coughing fits and reengaged the charging infected creatures.

This new position limited the creatures' approach to over the corpse or to either side. And, while creatures kept coming, the attack had gone from overwhelming, to barely manageable. Tilly felt something changing in his Leather Armor, as he continued to fight in the unbelievably hot conditions.

“You will go now and we will hold them off!” Kuro grunted through a cough while absolutely demolishing what once might have been a cute forest deer.

“I can't leave you guys to fight all these alone!” He replied between racking coughs, continuing to fling his weapons at anything that appeared over the top of the body.

“We did not come here to slay its minions…” Kuro said, pausing to plant a vicious kick on some poor jungle cat’s head.

“You will find a way to kill the abomination, or you will die trying. This is our duty.” He finished, shoving Tilly out of the way, and moving shoulder-to-shoulder with Nyuk.

Nyuk didn't add anything, but Tilly saw him nod fiercely along with Kuro’s statement.

Tilly took one long look at the struggling loggers bravely holding the line and felt a familiar burning heat, completely unrelated to his surroundings, begin to build in his torso.

He turned and laid a critical eye on the path forward. The thick roots covering the ground seemed burnt on the top, but by no means destroyed. Tilly had built his trap to draw the fire towards the entrance, so the deepest chamber would have gone untouched by flame. That didn't mean it wouldn't be hot. In fact, he doubted he would have the ability to survive at all with anything short of a crazy resilient body.

Just then, Tilly heard Nyuk grunt in pain, and he stopped thinking and sprang into action. He didn't bother looking at how many levels he had gotten from the battle with the bear. He had felt something change as he received the automatic Dexterity and Endurance that came with each level, but he didn't have time to check on exactly what he had gained.

He just mentally dumped all of his free stat points into Endurance. This time the effect was impossible to ignore. The pain in his lungs from his wracking cough numbed down to a mild dryness and the fiery pricking sensation covering his exposed skin felt like it had been covered by a cool blanket. Even the weariness that had been weighing down his body from the long day of strenuous physical activity had lightened.

He reached around for his satchel and pulled out his water container and bandaging. He took a quick drink to wet his throat and then used the water to completely soak the bandaging through. Then he wrapped the soaked gauzy cloth around his mouth and nose several times until it felt slightly difficult to breathe through.

Slinging his satchel back over his shoulder, he started moving down the hall in a low crouch, towards the superheated epicenter of the fire. The sounds of the two lapins fighting faded as Tilly moved quickly but carefully, controlling his breathing in anticipation of what he would find in the center room. The bear was only the beginning of his problems... A little prologue to the nightmare fuel that was the tree's domain.

Tilly fought through his instinct to stop moving forward, even as the heat on the front of his face built to unimaginable levels. He arrived at the entryway to the first room and found that while the flames had died down, it still felt like his skin was about to melt off. A path led through the burning wreckage left by the giant bear's rampaging charge. If he was ever going to stop this thing, he had to make it through the rest of this blaze.

Tilly didn't hesitate, it was too late to turn back now. He lowered himself face down on the ground and took a few short breaths of the best available oxygen in the room, fighting down an almost irresistible need to cough. As he filled up his lungs with hot dry air, he rose up like a sprinter on blocks.

He then locked down his desire to breathe, and before he could rethink his cobbled-together idiotic plan, he leaped forward into a sprint.

Ch.17 Getting to the Root of the Problem

Tilly’s world was fire.

Some part of him registered that he was running through actual flames, but something seemed wrong with the sensation. He could feel burning distantly but it was nothing like being exposed to fire back on earth. The heat was there, and so was the pain, but some part of him knew that he was resisting taking any actual damage from the contact.

His lungs had begun to spasm after the first few steps, and he continued to run forward blindly, despite the pain. He had squeezed his eyes shut in order to save his sight when he had begun his sprint and the desire to open them to make sure he wasn't off course was almost overwhelming. But he pushed onward, through the fire, trying to keep as straight a course as possible through the room.

Then as suddenly as it began, he was through. The unimaginable heat abated and he slid to a halt in the noticeably cooler hall. He took a slow breath in through his improvised mask and found the air to be hot and thin… but not deadly.

He tried cracking his eyes next and saw everything painted by the orange glow of the blaze behind him. The path deeper into the temple had a downward slope and this actually helped with pulling the smoke up and out in the other direction. Tilly wondered if his plan would have succeeded at all if the bear had not come charging out of the inner chamber.

He took the time to pull in another couple of shallow breaths, attempting to slow his racing heart. He could not believe that he had actually lived through that. He looked down at his body, to check for burns and was surprised to find his armor completely changed.

Earlier that day, it had appeared to be made up of different patches of the fur-covered hide. Now it looked like it was cut from some sort of yellowish leather and Tilly noted the presence of soft leather gloves and a deep hood now hanging over his head.

As he felt the material in wonder, it slowly changed back to its earlier form. Tilly shot a curious glance at the blinking icon in the corner of his vision but shook the thought from his mind.

“They don't have time for me to mess around with blue screens.” He said, sparing a glance back the way he came.

He swallowed down on his sandpaper-coated throat and turned back towards the path deeper into the temple. He put min-maxing and nerdy upgrades out of his mind and moved forward in a crouched jog. He would have time to mull over his gains later, now he had a tree to kill…

Or not, it was pretty likely that even with the guardian gone, he wouldn't stand a chance against such a creature. He found himself wondering about that brief time he had spent in the infinite. He was beginning to understand that no matter what the Administrator had said, he had died that day on earth.

It had all been over, he took the hand he was dealt and had honestly made a shitty play.

Now he had been given this new life, but deep down, he knew he was just a dead man living on borrowed time. He couldn't live here as he had back on earth, this wasn’t a place to play reserved or take anything for granted.

He had another chance, and he would be damned if he wasn't going to lay it all on the line and actually try to do something with it.

That thought rekindled the fire burning in his chest, its warmth giving strength to his limbs even as they grew heavy with doubt at the sight that had once again unfolded before him.

There again, was the altar of uncut stone with a flickering blue flame above it. Looming behind it was the bulbous, disfigured trunk of a tree, its roots and branches filling three-quarters of the chamber. Hanging everywhere were coffin-like pods that for the most part had hardened and become opaque, with the exception of one or two near the altar, holding the remains of some poor souls.

Tilly did a quick scan of the room and found none of the previously living creatures had made it through the temporary removal of oxygen, each one laying in its place against the roots, unmoving.

He really hadn't thought about what he would do when he got here, but he knew he couldn’t hesitate for long, every second spent closer to the time dilation equaled some exponential amount of time his two companions had to hold on.

His eyes were drawn back to the flickering flame, being pressed in by the three thickest roots in the room. Each one straining towards it, attempting to pierce it with a jagged sharpened tip. The tree clearly wanted that flame, and it was only inches away from achieving its goal.

Fuck that.

Tilly threw himself forward with a yell, determined to thwart the Corruption any way he could. The fire in his chest roared in agreement, and Tilly felt heat flowing down his arms into his weapons.

This sensation fell to the back of Tilly’s mind as he approached the center of the chamber at a dead sprint and felt the roots under him begin to writhe. Each step towards the altar pulled Tilly deeper into the time dilation, and as a result, what had appeared relatively frozen, began to move.

Some part of Tilly realized that the flame had not just been protecting itself, but locking down the core of the Corruption with its time dilation. As he entered deeper into the effect, he saw the three roots begin to creep toward the flame, and he felt the roots under him reach up to try to snare his legs.

Squeezing every drop of improved ability from his Dexterity he turned the snaring motion of the floor roots into a springboard and leapt the remaining yards toward the altar.

He swung each of his hatchets at one of the straining roots, and while his previously slow-moving targets had sped up in his perception, they weren’t quite fast enough to avoid the blades of his weapons cleaving into their fleshy bark.

The heat that had begun free-flowing from his chest exploded out from the head of each weapon, leaving a blazing trail of fire in their wake.

When the blades met the body of each root, they moved like a hot knife through butter, making a meaty sizzling sound. Each of these things seemed to be playing out in slow motion, and Tilly strangely found himself able to comprehend and think through it all as he moved through the air on a collision course with the top of the altar and the flame that rested there.

Every part of Tilly's body was committed to the momentum of his attack, and there was no way he was going to avoid crashing into the stone structure. Just as he was closing his eyes in anticipation of the impact, he saw the third root snaking around the flame and reached eagerly to pierce his side as he slammed into the altar. On the tip of its spear-like appendage was some sort of fleshy seed, and Tilly felt the entire thing stab into him just above his right hip.

The horror of this sensation was oddly not drowned out by the jarring impact of his body on the altar, which hurt, but was nothing compared to the roiling acidic sensation that was shooting out from the root lodged in his side.

The momentum of his tumbling crash was immediately halted as his body reached the flame. As soon as he came in contact with it, his vision flashed white and he found himself completely frozen in place mid-roll over the stone top of the altar with one of Corruption's roots lodged deeply in his torso.

His perception however was not at all frozen, and the acidic burning from the root tip continued to radiate agony. It no longer seemed to be spreading, but it hurt like hell, and he was having trouble with the mounting panic he had no ability to express.

The flame stopped flickering and grew brighter.

Sacrifice acknowledged and accepted.

One Major Boon granted to Jonathan Tillman.

Eligible candidate for Origin’s Champion detected…

Do you accept the Mantle of Champion?

Y/N

The words each hovered in the air before him, similar to the system blue screen, but at the same time, different, more primitive. Tilly was having trouble thinking through the feeling of panic at his body being violated by something so disturbing.

He couldn’t take a deep breath to steady himself, he was just frozen there and felt like he would until he made a decision. Time itself took on a sort of ephemeral dreamlike quality, and he couldn't really tell how long he had been locked in place by the temporal blast.

He wondered if he was allowed to choose his boon before answering the flame’s question about accepting the Mantle of Champion, whatever that meant.

Major Boon is available in two different forms at this point in the Temporal Spiral.

It was difficult to understand how he was receiving this information because the flame’s text wasn’t just appearing out of nowhere, it was just there. Like it had always been there and he was only now just noticing each new word. His mind began to bend as he tried to comprehend it, and he decided instead to just keep reading.

Option 1:

You have been infected with a mythic-level artifact, Seed of Corruption. You may choose to destroy the Seed, removing any of Corruption’s influence on your soul and suffering no ill effects.

Option 2:

This Temple and surrounding area is suffused with Corrupted Growth. You may choose to purify this growth and anything this growth has infected.

Tilly took that in for a moment before silently asking if he could get any more information on the Mantle of Champion.

Mantle confers all rights and responsibilities of a Champion of Origin, and cannot be removed or changed until the eligible Soul has ascended or descended from the Conflict Plane of Nephesh.

Seemed like legal jargon was all he was going to get there. At this point, the vice of pain in his side had become an almost familiar companion to his frozen existence, and he pondered his dilemma.

On one hand, the ability to just end the infection in this area would be extraordinary. He hoped his boys at the entrance were still alive, not to mention the village. To be able to choose this boon to instantly wipe out the infection was incredible. It should have been easy for him to choose area purification.

But it wasn’t, Tilly was frozen in the middle of a hellscape of gnarled life-stealing bark, and flesh-invading plant appendages. The thought of something like this growing inside him filled his mind and heart with such abject terror that he just blanked out when he actually came near to deciding.

The other option held more unanswered questions. He had no idea what the Mantle of Champion would do to him, and maybe if he was free of this seed, he could actually do a lot of good for this area and its people… Of course, that was gambling with an awful lot of lives.

Not to mention, he was sure if he chose this option, the lapins with him at the entrance would die.

Maybe he could fight free of this chamber and maybe he could make it back to the village to make a difference in the fight there…

But something about this thing struck him as quitting in some way.

He could not choose the death of lapins over himself, and he couldn't choose whatever life of horror keeping that seed inside himself might lead to. So he stayed there, literally frozen in indecision for an indefinable portion of time.

Then a question broke through his gridlocked thinking.

What would old Tilly have done?

He would have chosen to purify himself in order to try and “help” the others.

“There are no good options” He would tell himself, and then he would have reluctantly chosen to free himself and fight clear of this chamber. All the while griping about what shit life had thrown at him again.

A feeling of intense sorrow rose up in him, and for the first time in that frozen eternity time, he felt the heat building in his chest again.

He was terrified of what keeping this thing inside of him would do, but something deeper than his fear compelled him to risk it for the chance of saving everyone he possibly could. He was still a Firefighter at heart, and it wasn't in him to leave someone else in the burning building to save his own life.

He mentally flipped the bird at the tree of Corruption and chose the area purification boon before choosing “Yes” to the mantle. It wasn't like he had a choice in that one, he was going to need all the power he could get.

Ch. 18 Finally, Real Superpowers!

The beachball size flame that had been hovering on the altar exploded outward in all directions and Tilly lost all ability to hear or see. Fortunately, even though the flames were washing over him like the incoming tide, they didn't seem to be doing him any damage.

Well, that wasn't entirely true, his side and the point of entry for the seed were still agony and he felt the flame cauterizing all of the flesh surrounding the wound. Tilly thought for a brief dark moment about cutting through the cauterized flesh to get the thing out... but if the God power blue flame thing couldn't do it easily, he probably wouldn't be able to manage with a primitive weapon.

The roar of the explosion filled the rest of the chamber and Tilly was finally able to move, which he promptly did, falling over the back edge of the altar onto his head. The feeling of fire and acid seemed to be swirling in conflict in his wound and he found himself in a new ecstasy of pain. A scream tore itself from his mouth as he ripped the now shriveled root end from his side.

Even as his vision doubled from the pain, the brightness faded and Tilly was able to see again. Blue flames were eating through almost every inch of twisted vegetation in the chamber. The tree and its roots shuddered while being consumed by the blaze, and a mind-shattering screech emerged from the trunk. The idle question of what unseen part of this creature had been able to emit such a sound just added to Tilly’s already full stock of nightmare fuel.

The fire continued its work, hungrily consuming. It didn't release any smoke and seemed to exude much lower heat than a normal flame, or maybe he was just getting really used to being surrounded by fire.

As Tilly watched, the nearest pod split open in the flames and disgorged its occupant, covered in some disgusting fluid that the flame eagerly consumed like gasoline.

The pitiful corpse was totally covered in flames, but they soon dissipated, leaving behind an emaciated male lapin clutching a beautiful sword in both hands. His face showed an oddly peaceful expression in death. Tilly was going to crawl forward to see if there were any other identifiers on the body when the lapin’s eyes popped open, and he vomited bile and pod fluid all over the charred floor.

A signifier popped up above his head.

Level 42 (25) Samurai Hatamoto

“Holy Hell!” Tilly flinched back before reaching behind him to pull out his satchel.

It, unfortunately, hadn't endured his fiery dash as well as he had and was barely hanging together. The two potions inside had fared just as poorly, both blackened with only powder as their contents.

He looked up from his rummaging to find the lapin sitting up on his knees, serenity returning to his features. He was clearly barely strong enough to move, but he slowly put his sword to the side before looking Tilly in the eyes and prostrating himself.

As he came back up from his bow, his eyes glazed and he fell over from his kneeling position, completely unconscious. His breathing was rapid and shallow, and Tilly recognized signs of some sort of internal trauma at work. Tilly clutched at his cauterized side and let out a pained gasp as he began to move towards the lapin.

His side wouldn't stop cramping in torment, but even still, he crawled over to the supine lapin and began to search his body for any signs of injury. Typically, in the ambulance, he would just cut off his patient's clothing to make sure he didn't miss any major wounds or breaks. But with the regeneration available here to anyone with a decent constitution, he figured he was more looking for any obvious ongoing physical problem that might be leading to an internal debuff.

The lapin’s head didn't seem to be bruised or swollen, and his ribs and extremities were all unbroken. In fact, Tilly could find nothing wrong with his physical body, besides the fact that it seemed unnaturally thin.

Yet, while feeling around for breaks, Tilly did make a lucky discovery. Wrapped tightly on the inside of his left forearm was a small vial, filled with a bright liquid that showed with a faint red light.

“Yahtzee! Years of medical training down the drain, how about a health potion instead.” He muttered to himself dryly as he unstopped the vial and tipped it down the lapin’s throat.

Having done all he could for his surprise companion, he finally glanced up at his HUD and was pleasantly surprised to find his health and mana in good straits.

Health:72%

Mana: 56%

Seeing that he wasn't about to die from whatever was happening with the Seed, He looked around at the scattered remnants of the Corrupted tree, slowly being completely consumed by beautiful blue flames.

“How about them apples!” he triumphantly declared at the burning remains.

Then he lifted his jacket and took another look at the wound. It had closed up with a disturbingly bark-like scab, which was surrounded with what appeared to be burn scars. Tilly bent down as far as he could and saw that all around the scab were tiny spiky growths that were already attempting to burrow deeper into his burned flesh.

At least the pain was finally starting to ease up…

He let out a weary sigh and put down his jacket. Now that the mad dash of the last hour was over, Tilly decided to try and sort out any important information he could pick out from his notification log.

First, he found where he had leveled up after taking out the Corrupted bear.

Congratulations! You have defeated a level 38 Corrupted Ancient Cave Bear.

For defeating an opponent over 9x your level you have earned a 9x multiplier on awarded Experience.

You are now level 6. 15000 exp until the next level.

You have earned 5 stat points to distribute plus 2 points in Endurance and 1 in Dexterity from the class Son of Flame.

You are now level 7. 20000 exp until the next level.

You have earned 5 stat points to distribute plus 2 points in Endurance and 1 in Dexterity from the class Son of Flame…

You are now level 11. 55000 exp until the next level.

You have earned 5 stat points to distribute plus 2 points in Endurance and 1 in Dexterity from the class Son of Flame.

Woah… that was a lot of stat points he had just dumped into Endurance. Of course, he doubted he would have survived the fire, let alone the invasion of corruption into his body without truly monstrous endurance for his level.

Before he could pull up his character sheet, he saw the next line on the log after he had mentally assigned his points.

Congratulations! You have earned the Title:

Resolute.

Resolute: Your endurance stat is higher than all of your other stats combined. As long as this remains true, you may completely negate one fatal blow per day.

“Hell yes!” Tilly exclaimed out loud. This was exactly the type of game-breaking nonsense he had been dreaming of.

Then he took a closer look,

Shit, I have to keep Endurance ridiculously high if I want to keep this title active. Well, beggars can't be choosers.

He moved through the rest of the procedurally generated fluff until he got to something else really good. His yellow, mighty morphin power ranger suit!

Congratulations! You have been subjected to an extreme environment while wearing Origin’s primitive leather armor, activating a hidden growth prerequisite. In the presence of fire or extreme heat, your armor takes on the characteristic of Sun Salamander hide and alters to protect you from heat. -75% to any heat-based damage.

“I’ll never doubt you again” he whispered to his now favorite jacket.

Then the sound of some distant shouting reached his ears,

“...Man Tilly… You… Alive?”

“I'm in the inner chamber with another survivor!” Tilly yelled with a fierce grin, looks like at least one of those tough bastards made it!

Running out of time, Tilly quickly scrolled through the rest of his log to find the moment when his hatchets had erupted in badass flames-

“Oooh, here we are. My first ability!”

Flame Strike: Channel the fire within you to strike at your opponents. Each strike leaves a smoldering ember at the point of impact and does damage over time. Ember damage is stackable.

“Human Tilly!” one of the lapins called as they entered the chamber.

Tilly looked up from behind the altar and saw Nyuk limping in, supporting Kuro, who was absolutely covered in gore and seemed to be walking in an exhausted haze.

“Over here!” Tilly yelled, before looking over to find the unconscious lapin stirring.

“One of your guys made it!”

“Master Ichiro!” Kuro gasped as he came around the altar. His daze faded as he sank to his knees. Tears streamed through blood-matted fur as he beheld the still-living scion of his Lord’s house.

At his words, the lapin came all the way to consciousness and opened his eyes to behold the three battered warriors before him.

…

Ichiro - 20 min earlier.

Something had broken through Ichiro's Level 30 Meditation and instantly his sanity was once again hanging by a thread. He did not know how long he had been here in this waking nightmare, but everything in him howled in animalistic horror at what was being done to him.

The abomination had been draining his levels and stats for what seemed years and the feeling of it reached into his very soul and evoked such a deep terror that Ichiro had barely been able to enter a meditative trance and shield his mind from the consequences.

When he had failed to defeat the Corrupted Guardian of this place, it had simply knocked him unconscious and he had woken up in this torturous prison of liquid and needles. His body was unable to move, but his eyes were locked open, watching as the abomination’s appendages strained towards the defiant flame flickering on the shrine's surface.

It was this act of defiance that gave Ichiro the strength to beat down the madness bubbling up from his subconscious and activate his meditative trance in the beginning.

But something had changed. Some part of him emerged from his spiritual protections even as all of his senses screamed at him in utter denial of his circumstances. He channeled his will and focused on the pink-tinged world outside his prison.

There, amidst all of the abomination’s apogees was a human moving impossibly fast. He seemed to be charging right at the center of this desecrated shrine, yet his movements slowed as he approached the altar. Then he activated some sort of ability, unleashing flame from his weapons and cutting through two of the abomination’s appendages before crashing into the shrine’s core.

A flash of white and blue light.

A brief but terrible burning sensation sank deeply into his core.

You have been cleansed from all Corruption. Your mind and body have been shattered and reformed, you have earned a Title:

Reforged Enlightenment.

Ch. 19 Intermission

Stephen Brightborn - Level 152 Champion of Light

“You must be mistaken! If this affliction is from the Pits then at least some of our people must be able to cure it.” Stephen said, slowly rubbing his temples.

His strong features and brilliant armor all seemed diminished in that sunbathed office at the top of the Tower of Light. Many beings of great power had been cowed before his presence alone and he was a legend in this Epoch. Even on Nephesh, where myths were common, the name of Stephen Brightborn evoked deep respect in his allies or shuddering fear in his enemies. He was the Champion of Light and his was the voice of the Church. Despite all this power, some deep part of himself quavered at the incoming reports.

Here was one enemy he could not face. There was no army to fight, no great villain to slay.

“I'm sorry sir, We now have multiple reports across several Principalities. Even our spies in the more infernal aligned territories are sending in similar reports.”

“Light dammit!” Stephen cried, his fist slamming against his exquisite desk of divine marble. The spymaster did his best not to flinch as the impact was felt throughout the entire structure of the great Tower.

“How is it that not even our High priestesses can not cast this affliction out?!?” He continued, refusing to believe what he was hearing.

The spymaster grimaced and did his best to take a different tack.

“Your Radiance, they can cure it in its first form, one that sometimes seems like poison or plague. Its spread is very diverse and difficult to track in this regard. But at some point, those with high enough stats can partner with the invasive substance and form some sort of covenant. They receive an increase in various stats in exchange for giving over greater control to this invader. In this way, it becomes like an ability or title and is only removable by the system or the Gods.” He reviewed quickly hoping that in the continuous retelling, he was not earning the wrath of one of the most powerful beings on Nephesh who had not yet ascended.

Stephen's cloudy expression of anger faded,

“Yes, I have spoken with Lady Light. Disturbingly, not only does she not have any guidance for us in this regard, but she hinted that they are experiencing a similar incursion in the divine and infernal spheres.”

This news came as a shock to the plain-looking butler, the man who ran one of the most comprehensive spy networks on the plane.

“How can it be! Surely there is no being able to threaten the combined powers of the heavens!”

“That is just it, Reginald… I believe that as more and more followers come under the sway of this ‘Corruption’ the Gods themselves are beginning to be influenced by its presence.”

“God’s above…” Reginald whispered, cowed by a threat so grand that it beggared any thought of defense or reprisal.

“Yes…Gods help us all.”

Tim, Level ??? Time Lord, Epoch Traveler.

“Curious, very curious…” The Time Lord muttered to himself as he stood hovering above the mountain that had been radiating so much temporal dilation just minutes before.

The Weave running through the fabric of reality here was fascinating. At first glance, it was another incursion of this new extraplanar influence. Its rotting and breaking of the Weave, while unpleasant, was nothing new to Tim who had been observing it with mild disgust for decades.

Tim had always found the Weave to be astonishingly beautiful. The first time he had observed it, he had lost years to its mesmerizing pattern. Yet this new influence, whatever it was, clearly had one goal, to destroy. While this did not yet affect Tim, he found it prudent to keep an eye on all new influences on the plane. But something here was different.

It wasn't the temporal energies, which while rare, were not unheard of. No, this incursion seemed to have met its end, something not yet accomplished in any of the other instances. Something had opposed the corrupting force with such subtlety that Tim had trouble identifying any traces of its presence at all.

The Time Lord ran his optic nerve through several spectrums and took another deep breath through his considerable nose.

There it was again!

This force was something old, older even than Tim, which was quite a feat. If he wasn't mistaken, this was the scent of the First Epoch. Its earthy, primordial scent harkened back to a time of Predator and Prey when the only Powers on the plane embodied concepts like Fear, Rage, and Authority.

It had been a truly long time since he had detected any of the First Epoch’s influence in this Realm and he could see, whatever power it represented working in the underlayer of the Weave, something that only a handful of beings even knew existed, let alone had the power and deftness to influence.

Yet here it was, subtly pulling the underlayer in the places where it had been destroyed into a new and more solid structure. This new pattern astonishingly seemed even more captivating than the original Weave. One that seemed to be strengthening this area's Fate considerably. He then rotated through several optical-based skills before observing the interior of the mountain, where a Human knelt beside three primitive rabbit creatures… One of the newer breeds that had been very distastefully made in Tim’s opinion.

There, to Tim’s astonishment, was a foreign energy signature that had been completely hidden from him! A frown creased the Time Lord’s forehead as he flexed his will. The Weave of reality itself, marching forward inexorably towards some unknown conclusion, shuttered to a halt and then reversed under the influence of the Epoch Traveler. He then scanned the area again, this time replaying time slowly to watch the changes in the Weave, and the Underlayer.

The center of all that subtle change was this altar and its flame. That Temporal spike was more than just a cleansing and reworking of Corruption's influence. Something was altering the very destiny of the concepts these inconsequential creatures represented. Tim hesitated to approach a force so far beyond his comprehension. He had not survived the last three Epoch Upheavals by being rash.

He flexed the interchange between time and space and was suddenly gone. Off to re-examine some of the other incursions of Corruption to see if he could spot this other force at work there as well.

Change was coming.

And for the first time in a thousand years… Tim wasn't sure he knew what that meant.

Titus Janus Marcellus Level 38 Quaestor

Titus flicked his hand in disgust, trying to remove the glob of spit and blood that had lodged between his rings. When it would not immediately come free, he snapped his hand in irritation and one of his attendants leapt forward to offer a silk cloth in a trembling hand.

“Why must my family be plagued by weaklings!” He bemoaned, once again laying his spiteful gaze on the creature before him.

There, tied to a chair was a bloody and bruised lapin, it's head lolling from the force of the backhand that had just shattered its jaw.

“Evander!” The young Quaestor snapped.

“Yes, your eminence!” A sharply dressed man stated crisply, stepping up from the crowd of attendants who had been made to watch the “educational session” The young master had chosen to display.

“This weakling obviously had no clue why his partner failed to send in reports for the last two weeks, and the distasteful problem of these creatures falls on me once again. My father will not hear about this… am I clear.” He finished, his voice taking on such a sharp edge that the washerwoman in the back almost fainted.

“Perfectly, your eminence…” Evander answered smoothly. His frozen expression of disinterest not shaken in the least by the display of cruelty played out before him.

“The responsibility of teaching these pests their place has fallen to me, and everything was going perfectly until we lost what I was told was a very reliable asset...” He said, leveling his gaze at Evander with enough petty cruelty that it would have broken any lesser servant.

“Sir, even the best of these creatures is but a pale and sickly shadow of our people, they can never be relied upon for any length of time,” Evander answered cooly, looking down but not cowed before his master's displeasure.

“Yes well, as with anything of import, it seems I will have to go and handle it myself. Draft the papers for a teleport, and draw up some sort of grievance that will force that wrinkled old fool to return to the capitol and give account. If the last reports are at all to be believed, his absence will spell an end to this farce, and we can throw him in jail along with the other upstarts.”

“Right away sir,” Evander pronounced with perfect diction, before turning to and moving through the crowd.

Titus simply stared down at his captive, not seeming to notice the departure of his chief servant. Every other servant in the room stood frozen, hoping against hope that he would not notice them.

Suddenly, faster than a striking snake, his hand was around the unconscious lapin's neck, slowly constricting the airway until the chest began to spasm and the lidded eyes fluttered in a weak attempt to regain consciousness. Every servant in the room simply looked down trying their best to be as small as possible, but if they had looked, they would have seen a manic gleam in the young man's eyes.

Under the sleeve of the exquisitely trimmed jacket, something writhed, almost with glee as the helpless captive slowly went still.

Then as if coming to himself, Titus Janus Marcellus stood straight and pulled down his jacket cuffs as if fixing some unknown wrinkle.

“For Pit’s sake, someone take out this trash” He sighed wearily to himself and walked calmly out of the room, the crowd parting before him with unconscious cattle-like motions.

Hiro- Level 52 Samurai Lord. One day in the future.

He stood sentinel at the wall this evening just as he had for the past several weeks. His Endurance and Constitution made sleep all but unnecessary at this point. Not that he would have slept, even if he had been able.

Last night, the infected beasts had not come. He had ridden out himself after several hours of waiting and found many bodies in varying states of death, all of them displaying very peculiar burn marks as if fire had risen from inside their forms and vented through openings where it could.

Upon his return, he had learned that the twenty-three villagers that had been afflicted with erring states of infection had almost spontaneously recovered, after an intense period of fever.

Something had changed. His decision, made almost in anger at the plight of his people, had borne surprising fruit, but none of this gave him comfort. He had still lost his Son, his last living link to his dear wife. He had counseled caution when the reports had started coming in, but after losing the hunters, Ichiro was beside himself with anger.

“We have run too many times. Our backs are against the wall. We can hide no longer.” He had whispered in fury in the council chamber in a rare show of lost self-control. Then he had left with his two retainers, some of the last of his kind’s warriors…

He had thought it was just to patrol, but when they did not return the next day-

He was the last of his line now, and the fate of his people was withering in his hands. He had hoped his son would be the one to deliver them out of bondage. He had all of his mother’s wisdom and all of Hiro’s strength. But in the end, Hiro lost him too.

The people held a small but earnest celebration within the wall of the village, sensing their lord’s mood, but unable to contain the joy of surviving yet another calamity that should have ended them.

Hiro alone stood vigil. He had not been able to bring about the salvation of his people, in this he had failed. But he would at least do them the honor of watching until this final light of hope was snuffed out as well.

Then in the distance, his supernaturally sharp hearing picked up a familiar drawling accent.

“Hey Kuro, I think they are having a party without us! they really should have waited… seeing as we are heroes after all.”

Ch.20 Rabbit Reunions

Ichiro Level 42 (25) Samurai Hatamoto

Something was wrong with his eyes.

As Ichiro tried to focus in on the three before him they began to swim in such a swirling riot of color that it made him dizzy. He closed his eyes and the dizziness only lessened, the complex vortex of color still dancing in his vision even with his eyes closed. He tried opening them again, and now saw the shifting sea of interwoven energies flowing through the entirety of the cleansed shrine and beyond. The strands of energy were so tightly packed and varied that it was impossible to pick one out and follow it anywhere.

Braided cords of these strands formed ever-changing patterns that wove in and through every physical object in the room. In fact, these connections were not limited to the physical, he began to make out patterns and forms that gave him the impression of the higher concepts of the universe itself.

The deeper he considered what he was seeing the more the term ‘energy’ seemed inadequate. Rather what he was seeing seemed to be the very language with which this plane was written, past, present, and future.

Dreamily, he noted a specific knot forming around Kuro’s mind a second before he said, “Lord, are you well? Is it some debuff from your time held captive by that Thing?” He asked concerned, practically spitting out the last word in disgust.

Ichiro watched in fascination as the pattern accompanying those words moved through each of those who heard and produced different effects. He was speechless at the beauty he was beholding, every interaction was a work of art, a dance of sublime grace.

In his daze, he did not notice the others trade anxious glances before the human spoke up.

“Come on guys, let's help him up and get out of here. I know this place has been cleansed, but honestly, it still gives me the creeps. And if you don't mind, there is one stop I want to make on our way down the village.”

His words vibrated through the incomprehensibly complex sea of colorful threads in a much more significant manner than the previous speaker’s had and even Ichiro felt their tug on his soul. His soul was a dense network of cords and braids of varying diameters running to him, and reaching back out in all directions.

Kuro and Nyuk came over and gently lifted him to his feet, each of them taking position under his arms as they guarded their own still-healing injuries.

His mind was still reeling, overloaded by information, but he knew that he was no longer damaged… just overwhelmed. Some part of him finally came to himself and he began partially cycling his meditation technique.

He inhaled, centered his breath deep in his core, then expelled it, dragging distraction out along with his spent breath.

Some part of him recognized that they were now slowly walking out of the shrine, but almost all of his augmented meditative focus was bent towards regaining some measure of function despite the exponential increase in information he was taking in.

At some point on the journey, they stopped moving and Ichiro discovered that in a meditative state, he could cut off information from his optic meridians completely. The moment he did this, his mind was vastly more able to consider things like the present and his physical surroundings.

While he was unable to converse normally while holding meditation, he slowly shifted into his Battle Trance, allowing himself to time movements with his breathing. He took another serene breath in,

And then released it, along with calm monotone words.

“I need something to wrap around my eyes.”

Then he breathed in again calmly, careful to maintain the concentration needed to completely cut off input from his primary perception sense.

His three companions froze. Ichiro was still being supported by Kuro and Nyuk and at some point, the human had obtained a large armful of unfamiliar leaves. None of this information was seen, rather it was absorbed through a strange new passive meditative osmosis.

Inhale…

Exhale.

“Woah I think he is coming out of it!” the human exclaimed in excitement. The lapins however said nothing. One shifted to bear the majority of his weight, while the other made quick jerky movements accompanied by the sound of ripping cloth.

Inhale…

Exhale.

“It must be wrapped around my eyes thick enough to block out all light.” He continued in his deep droning monotone.

Kuro began wrapping his torn clothing around Ichiro’s eyes and continued until a thick awkward wad covered his head above his nose.

Ichiro began to relax the meditative restriction on his input and once again was rocked by the information he received even as his eyes were no longer taking in any light.

Cutting off any physical input did lessen the load on his mind, and he found that he was able to stand on his own, even if he swayed like a drunkard.

“My lord, Is there anything else we can do to help? How are you afflicted? Are you still somehow marked by the Abomination?” Kuro asked with concern.

His words floated to Ichiro on the vibration of many different strands of the… Weave. That is what it was called, the name settling down deep in his soul as if acknowledging what it was, slightly solidifying the fragile shifting state of his mind.

This realization took him hours, and his three companions had started leading him slowly down the mountain again. His answer came out of nowhere, breaking the concentration of the three leading him.

“The Abomination stole much from me. Many of my levels and stats have been taken, but it was unable to take my sanity. It is because of this human, that I was about to witness your honorable and pointless seeming attack against its base of power. While I do not understand what happened in the end, I do know that its branching taint in my mind and soul was cleansed, and in the cleansing, I myself was remade. Unfortunately, I believe I am greatly handicapped by my much-reduced wisdom and intelligence. I believe this results in my being unable to handle the majority of this gift. Even now, If I relax my focus for just an instant, I will be lost in the flow of my surroundings once again.”

He felt the three around him freeze as he began giving words to the thoughts he had been stringing together for hours, and they stood stunned as they processed the information. Well, the two lapins stood sunned, and the human simply muttered under his breath,

“Hell yes! A blind Samurai? Badass!”

He of course did not know that each of the lapins was more than capable of hearing such a volume even at a hundred paces.

“Yes human, in some ways I am blind for now, but I believe in other, far more important ways I have just begun to see.”

The human’s body tensed for just a moment at being overheard, before relaxing,

“That's some real Master Splinter stuff man…” He said, nodding to himself as if he almost expected the statement.

Ichiro took the humans' strange mannerisms in stride.

“What is your name human?” Ichiro asked, his tone growing formal.

“Jonathan Tillman…Uh, Lord.” He answered haltingly. Clearly not sure of his standing. At this Ichiro allowed himself a small smile.

“Jonathan Tillman, I name you Trusted Gaijin.” The other two lapins marked his statement with sharp intakes of breath. Ichiro simply continued in his meditative monotone,

“You have given our people hope again, and in so doing, you have tied your fate to ours. It is because of this, I give you the highest honor I am able. Each of our people will see part of this title displayed over your name and it will mark you as a friend.”

“Wow, uh… Thank you, Lord, or my Lord…uh can I ask you a question? What do I call you?” Jonathan Tillman responded, clearly distracted by the notification he had just received.

Ichiro’s small smile only deepened,

“I have marked you as a friend, so you may simply refer to me as Ichiro. With my father, however, it is probably best to continue to offer him the title of Lord for now. Although with what I have just done, it is no longer required.”

Both of the Lapins stood stiffly under his arms as he offered levels of privilege to an outsider not before seen in their generation. Ichiro then slowly turned his blindfolded face towards his two faithful companions, holding his focus tightly in order not to lose his place in the present,

“And to you, I command that you keep half of the Experience that you undoubtedly earned on this quest. The other half you may give to the Promise, but no more. In my foolishness, I lost two of the last of our remaining warriors. You have shown more than enough heart to be raised to that station should that joyful day come.”

The stiffness in their forms only increased and at once they carefully stepped out from under him and offered deep bows of respect. Ichiro could sense Jonathan Tillman as he followed the conversation with confusion, but chose not to speak. Ichiro marked his patience in this and inwardly nodded in approval.

None here knew just how many of the strands of his people's fate ran through the soul of this human, for better or worse, Nephesh had tied them together, and Ichiro would have him as a friend if at all possible.

“Now I will relax my hold on the present, this will allow me to move easier as you guide me, but I will lose my ability to converse until I have a better command of this power.”

“We will see you safely to the Village my lord” Kuro intoned.

“We are probably pretty safe here anyway. The whole forest seems to be dead after what the human… I mean Jonathan Tillman did.” Nyuk continued, again coming under one of Ichiro's arms as he felt the rigid fluidity of his lord’s concentration begin to lapse.

“Guys… I told you. Call me Tilly, please. It's gonna take forever to talk to you if you keep saying, Jonathan Tillman---”

Then Ichiro was gone, lost again to the moment, floating along on the sea of destiny that was the infinite strands of the Weave.

“Hey Kuro, I think they are having a party without us! they really should have waited… seeing as we are heroes after all.” Nyuk said teasingly, happy to finally be within the sight of the village.

The knot formed by Nyuk’s decision to speak had met a far more complex piece of the pattern in the distance which reacted with such violence and speed that Ichiro was jolted from his daze, and found himself entering into his Battle Trance.

With a boom of displaced air, his father had appeared before them. Ichiro felt an immense welling of emotion at the presence of his father. One that threatened to break his concentration as no other kind of pain or attack could.

He immediately tightened his focus to its maximum and disentangled himself from the two lapins before prostrating himself. What Ichiro did not realize is that he had begun moving even before Nyuk had finished speaking, and the three looked at him in confusion, completely taken by surprise at the boom of his father's approach.

From his bowed position, Ichiro declared formally.

“Father, in my arrogance, I have failed you and our people. I formally offer you my life for bringing such disgrace to our family.”

His father’s face was stone and each of his companions around him froze, not able to recognize the deep interplay of desires and fate being played out in this instant.

Instead of answering, his father drew his sword in a smooth and dangerous motion.