What did it just say?
That voice—
It scraped something in my brain like a rusty blade against glass.
Familiar.
Way too familiar.
My mind didn't even ask for permission. It just… rewound.
Hard.
Like someone grabbed reality, pressed rewind, and cranked the speed to max.
Everything snapped backward.
Flames sucked back into broken huts.
Ash lifted from the air and glued itself back to charred wood.
Goblins moved in reverse—running backward, falling upward, wounds stitching shut in jagged, unnatural motion.
Even me.
I stepped backward without control.
My blade uncut flesh.
My dash un-dashed.
My breath reversed into my lungs.
"You know how rewind works, right?" Yeah. That. Exactly that.
I watched myself undo everything.
The zombie I split in half? Reattached.
The skeleton I shattered? Rebuilt bone by bone.
The young goblin I saved? Back in my arms—dingdong and all—don't remind me.
Then—
Darkness.
Silence.
And I was back there.
That place.
That weird, dreamlike void where the ground felt like water and the sky looked like an IMAX version of the universe.
That voice again—
"Ahhh… ain't you a sight for sore eyes…"
Then—
"I can see you…"
And—
"Better be ready, bambino."
A cold realization crawled up my spine like it owned the place.
"NakedFlesh…"
The name echoed in my head like a bad decision.
Then—
Snap.
Back to reality.
Back to fire.
Back to chaos.
Back to the goblin village being turned into a burning nightmare.
---
My vision flickered.
General Awareness: Name: ??? → NakedFlesh
Class: Lich
…
How did he—
Nope.
No time.
Because apparently while I was having my little existential rewind episode—
FOUR UNDEAD WERE ALREADY ON TOP OF ME.
Red lines everywhere.
Attack arcs screaming you're about to die, congratulations.
"Quack!" I blurted.
Yeah. Not my proudest line.
I force dashed backward—
Slash—one skeleton.
Kick—another.
Duck—arrow zipped past my ear.
Thrust—pierced a zombie straight through the torso.
Clean.
Efficient.
Heroic—
—and then my sword got stuck.
"…oh come on."
I pulled.
Nothing.
Pulled harder.
Still nothing.
The zombie just… followed me.
Like we were dancing.
A really awkward, deadly tango.
Then—
My vision snapped to the left.
A skeleton.
Greatsword raised.
Coming in hot.
Fast.
Too fast.
My brain split into panic options:
Force dash again?
Leave the sword?
Tank the hit?
Yeah no. Tanking was not on the menu.
Before I could decide—
ZAP.
A beam of light cut through the air.
The skeleton exploded like a firecracker.
Bone fragments—everywhere.
Peppered my face.
My armor.
My dignity.
"…I hate this confetti system."
I kicked the zombie hard, finally ripping my sword free—
Then followed through—
Clean cut.
Torso split.
Down.
Dead.
Again.
"Need any help, K?" a voice echoed in my head.
I froze.
Then smirked.
"Kala!"
"About time you showed up!"
He hovered beside me like he owned the battlefield.
Tentacles swaying.
Eye glowing.
Smug.
Very smug.
"Were you just in a pickle?" he teased.
"…don't start."
"What's the magic word?" he pushed.
I parried a skeleton, sidestepped, then cut it clean across the neck and waist.
"…thanks for the assist."
"Don't mention it," he said proudly.
Oh he loved that.
"Commands?" he added, floating beside me like a tiny, dangerous balloon.
I scanned the battlefield.
Burning huts.
Screaming goblins.
Undead flooding in like a bad patch update.
"How are the goblins?"
Kala puffed up.
"Oh you know me—I saved a ton of them."
I paused.
…we literally just met.
But okay.
"I'll take it," I muttered.
And honestly?
Relief hit me.
That weird, nostalgic feeling.
Like running raids back in the day with someone who actually knew what they were doing.
No explaining.
No babysitting.
Just—sync.
"We need to take out that—"
"Lich?" Kala cut in.
I blinked.
"…yeah."
He tilted slightly.
"Know anything about them?" I asked.
"Bones and magic!" he said confidently.
…
"Wow. Incredible. Groundbreaking."
He ignored that.
Then switched tone—like flipping to encyclopedia mode.
"Liches are powerful spellcasters who achieve immortality through dark rituals or pacts with death entities. Masters of necromancy. They command the dead and use destructive magic against their enemies—like, for example—"
"Goblins," I cut in.
"Yep."
"Us."
"Also yes."
"Cool. Love that for us."
"Want me to continue?" he asked.
"Nope. That's enough nightmare fuel."
I looked ahead.
NakedFlesh.
Floating on that undead horse like he was posing for a boss intro cutscene.
Scepter glowing.
Village burning behind him.
Yeah.
Definitely the main event.
"Fire-based caster," I muttered. "Fireball earlier. Magic missiles too."
Then—
He raised his scepter.
Purple light bloomed.
The air shifted.
Cold.
Wrong.
Layered voices whispered through the village.
Not loud.
But everywhere.
My skin crawled.
"You ready?" I asked Kala.
"Lead the way, boss."
---
Ping.
Heightened Awareness: Attack: Bone Tentacles
Area: Highlighted
Red dots.
Everywhere.
Spreading.
Growing.
One—
Right under us.
Then—
Ping.
Attack: Arrow Barrage
"Arrows incoming!" I shouted.
I pointed.
"There! Shack! Move!"
We sprinted.
Arrows rained down—thud thud thud—into wood, dirt, and burning debris.
"Stay close!" I barked. "Bone tentacles incoming!"
"Gotcha!"
Then—
BOOM.
The ground erupted.
A massive tentacle of bone and flesh burst upward in front of us.
Dust exploded outward.
Rocks scattered.
It towered over us—two stories high—twisting, twitching, alive.
Spines.
Actual spines.
Stacked and fused into something that should not exist.
"…nope."
Ping.
Attack: Bone Whip
It lashed toward us.
Fast.
Too fast.
I grabbed Kala—
Force dash.
We vanished from that spot just as the tentacle smashed down—
The shack behind us? Gone.
Reduced to splinters.
We landed hard.
Rolled.
Recovered.
"Move!" I shouted.
We sprinted.
The tentacle retracted—
Then snapped again.
Missed.
Barely.
And that's when I saw it.
Its flaw.
Range.
"Hah!" I laughed, breathless. "Too slow!"
Another arrow zipped past my ear.
"…okay still dangerous."
"Let's go!"
I turned—
Ready to push forward—
Then my vision zoomed out.
Wider.
Farther.
Clearer.
And what I saw—
Made my stomach drop.
Undead.
Everywhere.
Skeletons.
Zombies.
Even goblin corpses—reanimated.
They were forming a wide arc.
Closing in.
Behind us—
More.
To the sides—
More.
And beneath my feet—
A red circle.
Growing.
Bone tentacle marker.
I slowly looked around.
Fire.
Death.
Enemies on all sides.
No clear path.
No safe zone.
No escape.
"…we're trapped," I muttered.
And this time—
No sarcasm.
No jokes.
Just—
Cold.
Hard.
Reality.