"What is going on?" Nathaniel thought to himself, "Where am I? What are these people? If they are people....."
Confusion and panic were beginning to set in his body, causing him to start trembling and shivering. He wasn't so sure what was happening, he only knew that he was shackled to the wall at the moment.
The last thing he remembered was the fight in the desert town, but he doesn't know exactly what happened after that. The only thing he assumed was that he was caught by the enemy but now he wasn't so sure about that. There was a massive Orc in front of him, picking up some of the tools on the table.
The Orc was giving him a strange look, his green eyes piercing Nathaniel, "Hm...." he said, "There is something off about this human."
"What about him?" Hub asked, "He's just a half-dead human, man. Don't beat yourself up about it. How many fuckers have we cut up and pulled out organs from?"
"Hundreds." Borug said, "Almost a thousand."
Hub had a knife in his hand, "Exactly." He said with a smirk, "This is no different."
"W-Where.....am I...?" Nathaniel managed to say
"Oh?" Hub said as he had a piece of bread in his hand, walking up to him, "Where are you? Huh, this one speaks, Borug. Can ya believe that?"
"Well, he is a human." Borug said, "I would expect him to be able to talk."
"But come on, didn't you think he would be feral like the others from the pile?" Hub asked as he raised the piece of bread to Nathaniel's mouth, "I mean, all of them were from the mountain cannibal clans. They're feral fuckers."
"That's true." Borug said, "But most of the pile were humans captured by them."
"Yea, you're right." Hub said, "Hey, eat this."
Nathaniel opened his mouth and the dry piece of bread was placed in his mouth. He slowly took a bite out of it and felt the hard bread on his tongue. Without wasting time, he chewed it slowly, swallowing it without trouble.
"Good." Hub said, "Give it a couple of hours and we'll have him ready to cut open."
"Where...am....i?" Nathaniel repeated the question
"You fucking...." Hub scowled, "Don't ask questions. Eat bread, drink water, and shut the fuck up."
"If you really want to know...." Borug said, "You're in the dungeons of our Fort. But it's strange, I am sure any human in the vicinity would be aware of the Mountain Ravagers and the Fort. We are set up high in the mountains, too."
Hub looked at him, "You like to open your mouth, huh?"
Borug shrugged, "What?"
"Mountians.....? Fort....." Nathaniel thought to himself, "So I am in a Fort dungeon....somewhere in the mountains...perhaps a couple hundred miles from the desert I was in...."
He was still sure that he was captured by the enemy he was facing, but was somewhere far away from his previous location. Little does he know that it is the furthest thing from the truth.
Nathaniel Reyes was no longer in his own world, and he was having trouble accepting that for now. The Screen had told him that his current objective was to escape. And now, he was beginning to realize that the message was crucial.
"I have to find a way to get out of here....." Nathaniel thought to himself again, "These shackles....they're pure iron...seems that I am only dangling down from it...they seem to be around half a foot from the way I'm hanging from them.....If I can somehow slip out of one, I can probably release myself completely...."
Borug walked over to him, "Hm..." He grabbed him by the chin, "Interesting. His skull seems to be in good condition. Perhaps we can use it as payment to the Witch in the Woods. What do you think?"
"Keep quiet, you fucking idiot." Hub said with an angry scowl, "You know that if we're found out about dealings with her, we'll be killed. The Boss doesn't like any of us to go near her!"
"But still...." Borug said, "Her potions are useful."
"Yes." Hub said, "But we speak on this later, when we're not here. A raiding party has set upon Livingstead; they're going to bring back more supplies and possibly women. Keep your mouth shut, and when they return and have their spoils of war, we'll set out to the woods and talk....."
The Orc nodded, "Where's the water?" He asked, "To give him."
"Ah, shit." Hub said, "I forgot the bucket."
"Go and get it." Borug said
"Yea yea." Hub turned around, "Oh, don't forget the saw, you have it right?"
"I lent it to Trey." Borug walked over to the door, "I am going to go get it."
As they both left the cell door, closing it behind them, the Screen appeared once again.
[War Necromancy]
- Sub-Class of Necromancy
- Allows caster to summon dead soldiers as summons, wielding weapons of their choice.
- Due to the nature of the Sorcery, the user is able to use regular Necromancy to an effect. Being able to draw corpses and bones to them and use them for whatever it is they require.
- War Necromancy is a powerful form of Necromancy, which can become very versatile.
"I am so.....confused...." Nathaniel said, "Am I hallucinating?"
The Screen changed to another page:
[Current Spells Available]
- Necrotic Pull (Cost: 20mp)
- Summon Skeleton (Cost: 55mp)
- MP will be displayed as a small blue bar occasionally shown in the user's field of vision. To obtain more Mana, you must perform certain activities to gain points.
- Necrotic Pull is a strong ability. After using it, the user can draw any corpse pieces to their body, wielding them with their mind.
- One can customize the Skeleton Summoned with certain Aspects.
- To obtain Aspects or Aspect Shards, activities throughout the World must be completed.
Nathaniel blinked, "I'm going crazy, aren't I?" He managed coarsely, "System...hm.....is this.....wait....like those video game systems....?"
Realization hit him almost immediately, along with panic and anxiety.
"Don't tell me..." He said as he began to sweat profusely, "I am dead....? Fuck....!!"
The Screen disappeared, leaving him there to fully accept the situation he was in. He wasn't exactly sure if it was the truth or not, but he was beginning to think that he did die in the ambush that he remembered. If he did die, then he possibly got reincarnated into another world, similar to the stories he had read when he was younger.
That is what he was thinking.
And that is exactly what had happened.
"Shit...." He said as he began to move his wrists, feeling a bit numb, "Okay.....let's...alright, let's try to think....."
"I have to get out of this...." He thought to himself, "Somehow...."
He looked up to see that his shackles had a keyhole on them, large enough for something to in it to try and pick it. They looked like the medieval ones, which meant that the key was quite large.
"Alright...." He managed, "What to do....?"
He then remembered what the System had told him about one of the spells; Necrotic Pull. If what the System told him was true, it would pull a corpse or pieces of a corpse to him. While he didn't seem comfortable with decaying flesh or bone being close to him in this position, he had to compromise with things he didn't like.
"How do I....?" He managed, "I...I don't know much about magic.....do I focus.....?"
He began to think of the name of the spell.....
"Necrotic Pull"
He felt a shift in his body, as if energy was flowing through him. Suddenly, something from the dark corner of the cell flew right at him, hitting him in the chest and sticking to him.
"What?" He said as he looked to see that it was the mangled corpse of a large rat, "Oh fuck.....that smells terrible...."
The corpse was nearly decayed fully, leaving only the bones. Nathaniel scrunched his nose as he looked at the bones.
"Shit...." He said, "Now....with my mind...uhm....."
"Release...the shackles...." He thought to himself, "No.....hm.....a single bone with a hook....?"
He watched as the corpse of the rat slowly levitated in front of him, a large bone emerging from it, as a dark blue aura surrounded it. The bone then curved slightly at the end, forming some sort of lockpick.
"F-Focus...." Nathaniel felt some sort of strain on his brain, due to the command he was giving the bones, "Slowly.....steady.....pick the lock....."
The bone slowly levitated to the shackles on his right hand, entering the keyhole and beginning to pick the lock.
"Pick the lock.....carefully....." He thought
There was a bit of resistance in the shackles, which Nathaniel was able to feel somehow. Despite this, he persisted, commanding the bone with his mind to keep picking. He really didn't think any of this was real and truly believed this was some fever dream.
But if it were real, which it was, Nathaniel was really impressed with his ability to control a bone-lockpick with his mind.
Suddenly, there was a loud click, and the shackles immediately opened, having been successfully unlocked by the bone. His arm immediately slumped down, and his entire body shifted to his right due to the weight dropping.
"Fuck....!" He said as he nearly lost focus, "P-Pick the other one....quickly!!"
He looked up to see the bone levitating to the other shackles, picking the lock on it. Within a few seconds, the second shackle was released, and Nathaniel fell to the cold stone floor.
"Ughh...." He groaned as the bone dropped to the ground next to him, "Shit....."
He got to his knee and grabbed the bone, feeling that it was quite hard and sturdy. He then raised it up, seeing that despite being curved, there was a bit of an edge on it, sharp enough to cut something should he really try.
He looked up to see the shackles on the wall above him where he was hanging, "Damn...." He managed, his voice was still coarse, "Was this...was this magic?"
"I'll be damned."