"Ahhh!" With a start, I sat up into a sitting position from where I was lying down. With frantic eyes, I gazed around at my surroundings, my heart hammering inside my chest. 'Where in all the nine hells am I?' I had somehow found myself inside a building of unknown origin, sitting against a wall. The building was partially covered in shadows, with only a small fire sitting a few feet from me giving off some light. It crackled and hummed, giving my anxious, filled being a slight warmth. The smoke from the fire curled into the air above before leaving through a fist-sized hole in the low ceiling. A storm-covered night, with heavy thunder and rain, was revealed through the hole. The surroundings resembled a tavern, with a long oak bar on my left and many old broken chairs and tables.
'How did I get here? What happened to me? I was running, going towards the church, but then I fell, and then... Shit! The ghouls!?' My mindfelt hazy, but my last memory before falling into unconsciousness snapped into the forefront of my thoughts. An image came unbidden there, revealing myself looking on placidly as multiple creatures of horror took bites of my oh so supple flesh. Gazing down at my body in a panic, I saw that most of my body was covered in semi-dried blood, with several scabbed-over semicircle marks across large parts of my arms and legs. This was easy to see as I was now down to my boxer shorts, with even them having tears in them. Also, my leather cuirass had also disappeared, leaving my little pot belly open to the cold night air.
I also had a feeling of wetness running down my back. Twisting my body to see what was causing the wetness, I couldn't hold back the pained scream after barely moving. Several spots on my back and shoulders screamed in protest of my actions. "Holy hells, that hurts." Exhaling a turbid breath, I looked over my hands and happily saw that although I was filled with wounds that were thankfully already scabbing, I had not lost any appendages. Sighing in relief, and doing my best to keep my movements to a minimum, I took my gaze away from my battered body and began to take in the new surroundings I had found myself in.
"Your vitality is quite strong indeed. I thought you would require at least a few days to wake, let alone start healing. How wonderful." A soft, elderly voice rang out at that moment, freezing me in place. Not knowing how I had missed it but sitting cross-legged only a few feet from me was a person draped in a long coat with a deep cowl obscuring most of the man's face. The cowl only revealed the bottom part, sporting an aged chin with a small, oiled goatee of almost blinding white in color. The person's thin lips curved into a slight smile as I gazed silently into his shadowed hood. Retrieving slender fingered hands from within his wide sleeves, the stranger pulled back his hood, revealing a face only a mother could love.
Stifling the cry of surprise that almost escaped my mouth, I stared with a slightly gaping mouth as the man who revealed himself stared back at me with his red glowing eyes. His eyes weren't even close to being the most attention-grabbing thing on the man's face. The man looked to be in his late sixties, with shoulder-length white, wispy hair. It looked like rot or acid had dissolved the entire left side of the man's face, and not just once. There were even several large pieces of the man's cheek missing entirely, revealing the inside of the man's mouth. After gazing at the horrendous wound on the face for several seconds, my view was abruptly shut off as the man pulled his hood on again.
Seeing that I hadn't responded and was instead staring in stricken silence, the man spoke with a slightly self-deprecating voice, "I cover my face not to appear mysterious or keep secret my identity but to not expose my face to the elements. The cold wind seeping through the holes in my cheek are extremely painful and also exacerbates the necrosy running through my poisoned veins."
"Necrosy." Speaking the name out loud, I vaguely remembered my path task saying something about Necrosy. Before I was given the chance to check my system menu, the man spoke in his rich but tired voice.
"Yes, necrosy. The vile miasma that fills this place, the very essence that gives birth to the undead scourge of multiple system worlds. Unfortunately, during my prolonged stay in the haunted city of ghosts and demons, I had slowly been accumulating necrosy, not including that after several tough battles, the injuries I received over time had just compounded my infection." The old man's voice became rougher and rougher as he talked, sounding as if the small conversation so far had already exhausted him. He then paused in his short explanation, as he fell into a coughing fit. With a bony hand, decorated with many unique-looking heavy rings, he retrieved an iron flask from his inner robe and drank hungrily from it.
After wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, I spotted a thin colour of red emerging, which made me give the man a heavy frown. 'So it turns out this mysterious stranger is a boozehound. Ridiculous. Storing wine in a flask — is the man mad?' As the man drank, I watched as his posture began to straighten and the slight trembling of the older man's hands began to disappear. As if the man was given a strong boost to his spirit after taking several deep pulls from his flask. After storing the flask, the cloaked man held out a bond hand in my direction and said, "First things first. When one entertains a guest, one must always be courteous and introduce themselves to the unknown to become known. I'll go first."
"My name is Gabriel Shadowford. I'm a spellcaster, holding the Class of Mana Manipulator. And who might you be, stranger? I'll admit I have not seen anyone else, at least alive, for a lengthy time. So I am somewhat starved for conversation. Be wary though; I feel the ramblings of an old man coming. Ha." The old man, Gabriel, now with his voice even richer and smoother than before, performed a small bow towards my direction before waiting in calm silence for me to speak. Even though I was utterly baffled, excited, tired and slightly fearful of the sudden appearance of the man before me and my current position in his plans, I did my best to rise into a sitting position facing Gabriel, keeping my groans to a minimum and replicating his bow with a small smile, "Nice to meet you Mr. Shadowford. My name is Grubbitish Reinbach."
"Young Grubbitish. It is my utmost pleasure to meet you." Gabriel said while he put his pale hands back into his robes and continued to speak with a breathy tone, "I will admit my young acquaintance, I have been watching over you for the last couple of hours after saving you from being devoured by those abominations. And for a little while there, I thought you might perish. I had run out of all of my healing potions years ago, and I was unable to do anything but watch you twist and bleed in pain. I dare not touch your wounds directly either, for fear of inflicting necrosy on you. Luckily, you somehow pulled through, healing all on your own, much to my surprise. With even several large chunks of yourself repairing. Absolutely wondrous."
Listening to Gabriel's words, I was first shocked and then filled with immense gratitude to hear he had directly saved me. But I was also shocked and pissed off to hear that some of those ghouls had actually ingested large chunks of my flesh. Looking down at my blood-smeared flesh, covered in stinging scars, the imagery caused me to shudder. I also marveled at my health regeneration and thanked whatever god or system was watching for the truly life-saving boon it has constantly been. Realizing I had zoned out again, I quickly blurted out, "Mr. Gabriel. I don't know what to say but thank you so much for your help. I really thought I had become ghoul chow, and I'm quite ashamed to admit, but I had given in at that point."
The old man's smiling face turned into a full grin after my words, showing off a set of white, angular teeth. "I am sorry if this is presumptuous, my young friend, but I must ask you a question that has been burning within me since I found you." I felt my shoulders tense automatically hearing Gabriel's voice that was filled with an excited hunger. However, with this man claiming to be my saviour, I believe it's in my best interest to answer any of his questions as best as I could, thinking along those lines, I said, "Ask away Mr. Gabriel, I promise to tell the truth."
"Very well then, and thank you for allowing me to quench my curiosity. So, first, you're not from around here, are you? Not just this city, I mean either; I believe you're not a native to this world at all. Am I correct in this assumption?" The man's words rang in my head like a hammer. For several seconds, I just stared at the man, agape, my mind whirling. Eventually, all I could say after thinking over numerous possibilities and possible implications was, "How?"
Gabriel, hearing my softly spoken word, first chuckled lightly for several seconds, before some unknown dam broke inside the old man, as he soon began to laugh somewhat maniacally. Not knowing exactly what was so funny, I decided that in my current vulnerable state the best thing to do was to talk less and listen more. Once the sinister-sounding laughter petered out, with Gabriel even wiping a fake tear from his eye, the man put up one of his bony hands in a placating gesture. "I'm sorry, my young friend. I do not laugh at you. I am laughing at the situation. You have to understand, throughout all my years living on this alien planet, and the countless beings I have come across, you are the first non-native I have met. Oh, how I had wished to meet another person who could share my woes and understand me. Alas, to meet one known, with so little time left." Gabriel's hooded head shook from side to side slowly, as his last words came out in a barely audible whisper.
The words hit me hard. It felt as if an explosion had gone off in my still-pounding skull, as my mind raced. In a rush, I asked, "This isn't your home world?" Gabriel stood up from his seat upon an overturned crate, his stature appearing tall but lithe, and shuffled over towards me. His back was slightly hunched, and his breathing was in a pained wheeze, as if the very action of walking exhausted him deeply. With a groan, after Gabriel arrived next to the fire, he then lowered himself to the dusty wooden floor across the fire from me. His shadowed hood appeared unaffected by the light of the fire, still revealing only his mouth and chin.
"You'll have to excuse me, at my state everything takes time. You would be aghast to find out how long it takes me to go to the lavatory." After a quiet chuckle that I replicated at his little self-deprecating joke, he began to tell me his story. "Like you, I am not a man born of this world. Or from what I gathered, this universe. Although I do have to say that I am quite lucky, in the sense that the world here follows similar worldly rules to my own. There is mana, and wielders of it, and the vast majority pursue the path of power in one way or another. Except in my world, only certain people with special bloodlines can have the chance to step on that path. Here, though." Gabriel gestured to the world around us and continued, "I was truly shocked to find out that any being, whether one of intelligence or not, can ascend the life boundary and travel the long road of the path. It was a true surprise for me, I don't mind telling you. But I digress."
"Back in my world, I was what you could call a treasure seeker. I am lucky enough to come from a noble bloodline, and the majority of my wants and needs have been taken care of since birth. Therefore, I spent many of my leisure hours on the ancient history of my world and searching for ruins. While searching a buried temple from one of the earliest civilizations ever recorded in my world, I had fallen through a degraded part of the temple and found myself in a truly bizarre room. It was odd in the sense that it looked absolutely ancient but utterly alien. The walls were covered in a fine metal that I had never seen before, absurdly sturdy and impervious to all damage I inflicted upon it, while the only object that occupied the room was a metal box. In my ignorance and no small amount of stupidity, I placed my hand on the strange metal box and, after a bright flash of light, I had found myself in an utterly foreign world. With strange text flowing before my eyes." Gabriel explained everything in his croaky voice, taking intermittent swigs from his flask.
After he had explained his accidental transportation to the system-bound world, Gabriel told a story similar to the one I had just lived. Where he found himself in what amounted to a besieged castle, having to defend against the attacks of enemies from both inside and out. Unlike me, he appeared not to have finished the tutorial early and stayed there for the entire time before being sent to the current world of Aeos. Also, unlike my own situation, he was the sole traveler, and he never received a message about being able to return to his own world. At least he hadn't said so as of yet.
When Gabriel explained the odd metal box he had found, it took all my effort to control my facial expression. His description mirrored the gigantic machine I had seen many a time at work. Except Gabriel's appeared to be much, much smaller. I don't know whether it was because I was extremely happy to find someone who was suffering from a similar predicament as my own or because his naturally eloquent and calm way of speaking soothed me, but I found my guard unconsciously lowering itself, the more we talked.
"I can't say I have achieved much over the years I have inhabited this world. Lady Luck's favor was not upon me when I first arrived. I spent a lot of time fumbling around in a desolate wilderness before finally coming across a village after what must have been a few years. After arriving at civilization, I first decided to keep my presence low, so as not to attract unwanted attention. Ultimately, that was to my folly. It was only in my later years, and after transcending my second life boundary, and getting in touch with the higher strata that I found out I wasn't the first to be transported to this world. Ahhh, what a shame I wasted my best years struggling in silence." Gabriel sighed heavily at the end before falling into a raspy coughing fit for several seconds.
"Are you alright, sir?" I asked after a moment and heard what sounded like a man coughing up his organs. Waving his pale hand at me, Gabriel replied after catching his breath, "I'm fine. It's just my old injury acting up. The clash with those ghouls took more out of me than I am currently used to. Hearing that the man's current haggard state was due to saving me, I felt an extreme amount of guilt, as I expressed my heartfelt thanks for his kind actions once again, vowing to repay the favor as soon as I could. Gabriel simply waved off my words with a gentle chuckle as he said, "Do not worry, young Master Grubbitsh. Just being able to hold a conversation with another like myself has already greatly pleased me."
"Ummm. Sir, I don't know if it's presumptuous to ask, but I was wondering how it was that you came to be trapped in this city?" With my curiosity getting the best of me, I asked in a stilted stutter, afraid Gabriel might be upset at my question. I found myself feeling very uncomfortable at the mere thought of the cloaked Gabriel being upset with me. Pondering the odd feeling, I felt the pounding in my head become even stronger for a moment before Gabriel's throaty voice pulled my attention back to him.
"Do not fret. It is no great secret. After finding out about the greater world of the system, I knew that if I wanted an answer to anyone of my questions, I would need to progress further on my path of power. And to do that, I required resources. Expensive resources and a lot of them. For the path I had stepped on before arriving here made advancement a lot more difficult than for the natives. I soon accepted a task from a very wealthy merchant house to retrieve a certain object found only in this necrotic cesspool of a city. I assembled what I originally thought was a powerful and experienced party, and after traversing the many challenges involved, we found ourselves in this fallen city of knights. At the start, with our preparations and skills, we made quick work of all the undead fiends in the outer city. It was when we arrived in the inner city, only a few blocks from where we now sit, that we came across the truly deadly inhabitants of this place."
Taking a deep swig of his flask, Gabriel rubbed a spot on his side while adjusting his sitting position before he continued, "Over the days that followed, our already small party became smaller and smaller until all that was left was myself. Luckily, I had arrived at my intended destination, but unfortunately, I was almost immediately ambushed upon retrieval by a Tier 3 abomination and inflicted with far too much necrotic damage to heal. After sacrificing a precious piece of gear, I managed to flee. Upon finding a place to hide, with all my haste, I suppressed the spread of the foul taint ravaging my body. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. In the end, I have spent the last few years left skulking around this desolate place like a rat. I had become a true disgrace to my bloodline. I hope, friend, that you do not look down upon the cowardly me."
Almost on reflex, I shouted, "Not at all, Sir. I would never call someone brave enough to attack a pack of ghouls to save a complete stranger cowardly." With a smile that showed off his perfectly straight white teeth, Gabríel replied, "A small thing, young Grubbitish. If I were in my prime and uninjured, forget about a pack of ghouls. I could take down a horde with a simple lift of my finger." Right after Gabriel finished a long howl, sounding as if it came from a wolf, but more guttural rang from outside. The howl made my heart begin to beat instinctively, while the small hairs on my neck rose. My instincts were clearly warning me of the danger of the owner of the howling.
The sound of a wolf's howl also appeared to cause displeasure to Gabriel, who was now facing the doorway. His smiling teeth had also dropped down into a frown as he muttered under his breath, "Dastardly mutt. One of these days, I swear I'll make a coat of her disgusting fur." Turning his shadowed hood back towards me, Gabriel said, "It's a pity. But it looks like that, at least for now, I'll have to leave you. This mutt is not something you nor I can contend with for the moment. She's caught my scent and will now be on her way." Hearing Gabriel's words, my heart suddenly felt pained as if I was losing a loved one.
Rising to his feet with a groan, Gabriel dusted the back of his long black cloak and then reached out his right hand into the air. Seeing the somewhat familiar gesture, my eyes widened slightly as Gabriel's hand from the wrist looked as if it had disappeared. Within a second, his frozen hand began to retreat, the once-empty palm now holding a familiar dagger in its sheath. The sight of which made me smile, especially when Gabriel casually tossed it over to me. Just as I was about to thank the man, he placed his hand into open air again and retrieved what looked like a cloth bundle.
Looking over the object in his hand, Gabriel nodded at it before also tossing it over to me while chuckling, "I suggest you cover up, lad. Not only is your healthy flesh an absolute desert to the surrounding inhabitants, but it gets awfully cold here, even during the day." Unwrapping the bundle, I was ecstatic to see that it was a pair of drawstring cotton pants and a shirt. Even though my body was still wracked with pain and felt as if it were as fragile as glass, I stood up and clothed myself as quickly as possible. Not forgetting to thank Gabriel profusely.
Once again, Gabriel waved off my thanks and said, "They might be a bit long for you, but they're made of good quality Hornbar wool. Now, before I leave you, is there anything I can do for you? I would preferably see you safe and sound, so we may converse again. I would usually recommend leaving this place as soon as you can, but with your current strength, I believe it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for you to cross the city and the forest beyond." The words didn't offend me, even though the man was ultimately saying I was an absolute weakling. Instead, I felt even closer to the cloaked man.
Thinking back to my system task and the potential of returning home after completion, I first explained to Gabriel my current circumstances and what led me to my chance meeting with himself. After hearing my rushed story, Gabriel stood in silence for several seconds before clicking his tongue and saying, "I would have never guessed you have a pathway quest given by the system; they are quite rare. That also explains why you disturbed that nest of ghouls." Rubbing the back of my sore head, I mumbled with a lowered gaze, "Yeah, I'm not dumb enough to think I can take down those ghouls by myself. If it weren't for those bastard crows, I would have definitely scouted out the house as best I could before blindly entering. Now, I'm in need of another place to attempt to claim."
"Interesting. Clearly, the system is up to its old tricks again and trying to use you to clear some of the necrotic rot that saps at the very lifeblood of this world. Hmmm... the guardhouse? No, filled with animated armour, far too dangerous. The Cascades Inn is a good choice, but I don't know if those evil vixens are still roaming that area. Best not. A young strapping man like yourself would be utterly irresistible to them." Gabriel sat still as he muttered several unknown places to himself before ultimately discarding them for one reason or another. As for myself, I didn't question the experienced man and waited in silence. Another howl rang out, this one sounding a lot closer than the last, making Gabriel pause in his muttering for a moment.
"Blast it. We're running out of time. I hate thinking under pressure. God help me, I can't think of anything. Wait! God! That's it!" The hood's shadowed opening swung back to me. At that moment, I could swear that a pair of blood-red eyes blazed like a fire as they stared into my own. While his thin-lipped mouth rose into the largest grin I had seen so far. "The church of Bhomet."
"The church of Bhomet? Do you mean the steeple building with the colored glass? The one you found me in front of?" Hearing Gabriel's words, the church, of which I almost became a feast onto of its steps, sprang to mind.
"Correct, young Grubbitish. The church is one of the buildings in the best condition in the entire city. Being built of uncommon and above materials. Although not the largest church in the city, it actually suits your current needs better. Having ample area for you, as several of the church members had quarters past the prayer and blessings hall. The only problem with the Church of Bhomet, though, is that it is currently the residence of a necrotically tainted Moon Elf. The man has fallen under the necrotic rot for a long time now and perceives anything entering the area as an enemy. Usually, I wouldn't recommend fighting this man, as he is far above you not just in level and life force tier but strength as well; however, right now, he is severely injured. Only requiring the final push to be toppled over. It was actually where I was heading this night, as Necrotic-tainted individuals drop some of the best system loot, and the reason I ultimately ran into you." Gabriel finished with a laugh.
The words moon elf originally caused me some pause, as the thought of killing a sentient human being caused me a fair bit of hesitation, but hearing he had become just another tainted monster made those worries fly out of my head. "Really? Are you sure I am his match?" I asked in an excited rush. It also said a lot about my deep trust in Gabriel that I didn't even doubt his words regarding the condition of the moon elf. "Absolutely. I wouldn't send my one and only friend in this world to a cheap death. Trust me, it will only take a couple well-placed strikes from that knife of yours to finish him off. I recommend doing your best to attack from an unseen position as best as you can manage. Even though wounded, Moon Elves are notorious for their swift skills in hand-to-hand combat. I also believe this Moon Elf is from one of the ancient branches of his people and possess a unique bloodline talent, so regardless of anything be wary at all times. Even a Branngycat uses its full power to hunt a Gremlin." Another howl rang out, this one shaking the very walls of the building we were in, making Gabriel click his tongue in clear frustration.
Seeing Gabriel frustrated by the howling creature, I couldn't help but feel my anger rise at the unknown beast as well. 'Son of a bitch, interrupting my conversation. Watch as I skin you for your insolence.' Right before my anger that was rising made my head become hot and the pounding of my temples return, Gabriel's soft voice entered my ears, cooling me instantly. "Don't worry about that she mutt, she will get hers. However, I'd best get going. Once I rid myself of this vermin, I will try to find you at the church. If, for some reason, you are unsuccessful, feel free to use this old tavern as a place to stay until I return. For now, young Grubbitish, I wish you a successful first step on your path to power." Gabriel performed a gentlemanly bow that, even with a long thick coat, he still pulled off with the smoothness of a veteran.
Gabriel, with his shuffling steps and stooped figure, crossed to the other side of the room and exited through a door that looked like it exited to an alleyway. The sight of Gabriel's lame figure leaving made me hesitate, as I wondered if I should have been offering to accompany him or help in some way. However, considering that Gabriel sounded quite confident of shaking off whatever was doing that awful howling, and had at no point asked for my assistance, I decided to keep my mouth shut, while pondering over the revealed information.
Still feeling sore all over, and seeing that only half of the bite marks had healed enough to just leave a small white scar, I decided to rest for an hour before heading out. After eating some crackers and drinking some water, I stood up and checked over my healed body. Seeing I was no longer leaking like a stuck water balloon, I walked over to the back door and opened it with a swing. Stepping into the alley and heading left, opposite to where Gabriel had gone, I followed his directions back to the church. With only a short ten-minute walk, I came back to the street I had become a chew toy on and looked at the softly lit from within steepled building.
With a wry smile, I said to the open air, "I guess it's time to go to church."