Chapter 11 - Negaizer

Name: Trey Bon

Level 5

Class: None

He’d taken the book back out of shadowform, but yet again… things weren’t going his way.

“What a load of horse shit!” Trey spat. He banged his head against the grimoire several times in frustration, he had been trying yet again to pull against the padlocks on the book but this time had used his claws. Unfortunately it wasn’t working.

The previous night, Trey and Sithis had slept in the bottom of the canyon after traversing the bottom for many hours. The next morning though, they came across a jagged outcropping of rock that allowed Trey to reach a path going upwards onto a flat level of an upper valley. Upon reaching the top, they saw that this upper valley was still surrounded by cliffs. He continued across the barren rocky wasteland, heading towards another larger canyon far out in the distance that seemed to lead out of the valley through the cliffs surrounding it.

With Trey’s newfound speed he was able to make good time. He had to stop a couple of instances after running out of SP to let his stamina recharge, but aside from that he was going at an insane rate.

He turned the grimoire back into shadowform and proceeded with his journey. He was beginning to grow hungry, and that was only amplified by Sithis. Ever since Sithis had merged with him, Trey had felt a constant, gnawing, hunger-like sensation. He had to find food soon.

“Quick question for ya,” thought Trey as he ran, kicking up dust in his wake. “That ‘consume’ ability you have going on, so… I can only consume the things I have personally killed, right?”

‘You may obviously consume other things as well, but they will not grant you the bonuses of regeneration - nor the potential bonus of strength stat points,’ replied Sithis casually. Trey nodded.

“I’ve been feeling extra hungry ever since I met you though. If I eat normally, will that go away?” thought Trey.

‘No. The compulsions we have will grow ever stronger if we do not personally kill and consume that kill. But I think this is something that we can learn to resist with practice.’

Trey pondered for a moment. “Hmmm. Ok. Just checking.”

Boulders, hills, occasional patches of small shrubbery and scorched earth flew past as Trey bolted forward. The wind picked up and rushed past, blowing Trey’s hair and cloak about even more furiously. Rounding the hill on his left, Trey came to a sudden stop and his mouth gaped open at the sight before him.

Sprawling out for many miles was a vast battlefield - or at least what had once been a battlefield. Siege weapons lay broken and rotting to Trey’s right side. Hundreds of thousands of skeletons lay about in the wreckage. Many of them still wore their broken armor and weapons from the battle ages past, but most of it was rusted far beyond what Trey had seen in the chapel tomb. Many of them also carried the same insignia upon their armor that he had seen upon some of the undead in the chapel. Picking one of the swords up by the hilt, he swung it down into the ground and it broke upon impact - splintering into pieces.

“These must be absolutely ancient…” mumbled Trey while he continued into the long-dormant battlefield. Walking past the dead, he saw that some of them had horns protruding from their skulls, similar to the lanterns in the cavern he’d encountered. For the most part, these skeletons bore a different symbol. Their skeletal frames were also slightly larger in stature too, and Trey guessed that if they had been alive they would probably stand to be 7 or 8 feet tall on average.

Next, Trey stopped next to a larger monster's skeleton. It was some sort of beast that was out of place amidst the otherwise humanoid remains. He’d noticed them from afar, scattered about at random amidst the field of death, but they were few in number. This was the first chance to examine one up close.

It had massive teeth and its head looked like an alligator. The body was probably ten times the size he was. The jaws were left open and to the side, lying where it had died long ago with a hole pierced into the left side of its head. Trey stepped into its mouth and looked about in amazement. After looking about for a decent amount of time, Sithis alerted Trey to an item of interest.

‘Underneath the tail,’ stated Sithis. ‘Seems to be in good condition.’

Trey turned and looked. What sithis was referring to was a slim longsword. It had a long, dark-orange handle and an untarnished steel blade. Crude, linear runes were etched into the base of the blade and the tip of the blade was dipped in a black metal that trickled ornamentally down to the middle of the sword. It was even pretty in a way, and as Trey picked his way forward he grew excited. His claws were definitely nice for very close combat, but one of the problems he had encountered in his last fight was that they were ONLY close combat weapons. He had very little reach in comparison to the weapons that the angels and undead had used against him. It would be a nice addition if this sword was wieldable, unlike the last one he had found in the wardrobe of the chapel. Coming to a stop, he reached down and dragged the sword out from underneath the skeleton’s tail to identify it.

Oth’nune Longsword

Item Tier: (7) Rare

Damage: ???

On Hit Effect: ???

Bonuses: ???

Requirements: 9 Strength, 5 Dexterity

Durability: 101/120

Special: none

“You have increased your Identification skill to level 2."

Trey had 10 strength and 10 dexterity, which meant he was supposedly able to wield it. Trey remembered when he had tried wielding the ruby crusader’s sword back in the chapel… the burning painful sensation had been pretty bad. His stats had been way too far below what had been needed to use it, and he had barely been able to pick the damn thing up. If this really was some sort of fucked up death game, then he was sure there were strict guidelines about requirements.

He stopped and pondered whether or not his friends had notified the authorities of his absence yet. Would his father truly care if he was gone? Or would Ford be happy to be rid of his under-performing son?

The thought that his dad might have a weight lifted off his shoulders with Trey’s absence made him feel sick. He doubted that was the case, but he’d been a constant source of disappointment and Trey knew it.

What about Amanda-

He abruptly stopped that train of thought. No. He wouldn’t go down that road again. Not now. That could be saved for another time. He needed to focus on survival.

But… How in the bloody hell had he gotten here? Was all that stuff about millions of other Earthborn real? Was this the reason for all those disappearances on the news? Trey could only shake his head in dismay and push his thoughts aside. Again… He didn’t have time for that now, he needed to get to a safe area. Somewhere other than here.

Smiling slightly after glancing down at the pretty blade again, he pointed the sword out away from his body and began whirling it around to get a feel for the weapon. He easily maneuvered it about, and trying to get a better idea of what it could do, he slammed it into the monster’s tail with a downward arc. The bones were cut through cleanly and a few pieces fell to the ground. He held the blade up, wiped the dirt off of it and stared at it for a while. In the dull reflection of the blade he was able to see a set of glowing red eyes on a backdrop of deep black sclera staring back at him. The first time he had seen those eyes he had been startled, only to realize that he was looking at his own reflection. This was a much clearer image than the reflection he had seen in the dark flowing river water. And now his thoughts were confirmed - he looked like a badass!

“Nice find Sithis,” Trey stated as he turned the sword into shadowform. Humming to himself he skipped over the next couple of bodies and made his way into the rest of the battlefield - hoping to find some other loot that he could plunder.

Trey spent several hours looking around, but for the mostpart the armor wasn’t intact and the weapons were broken. He did find a beautiful white-gold ring upon a dead man’s boney hand though, and he slipped it onto his finger to identify it.

White Ring of Tolerance

Item Tier: (6) Uncommon

Bonuses: Recharge rate of stamina points increased by +1 per second

Requirements: none

Durability: 15/16

Special: none

This would come in handy.

A loud screech echoed through the air and Trey looked up to see a large winged beast descending towards him. He was obviously startled as it landed a few feet away to blatantly stare, and the creature screeched again as it did. Trey immediately backed up, summoned his newfound sword from shadowform, and stared back at the animal in anticipation of an attack. His heartbeat raced, and he could feel himself beginning to sweat in the short amount of time that’d transpired between initially seeing the animal and now.

Trey was certain it was a griffon, and the standoff felt rather intense. The animal had a large beak at the end of the eagle-like head, large black talons on giant bird feet in the front, and wings growing out from a lion’s body. The back feet and tail were those of a lion as well. Its feathers and fur were bright white, and looked simultaneously magnificent yet dangerous. It was larger than a horse, easily dwarfing him, and any attempt at trying to identify the creature resulted in not even being able to get a name… he could only assume that it meant this thing was far beyond his ability to handle. After staring each other down, the creature let out a low hiss and turned again. It powerfully pumped its wings, jumped and began to gracefully soar back into the air. Eventually it disappeared, clearing the distant cliffs in the direction Trey was heading.

“Pretty cool if you ask me,” stated Trey with a grin and he began to laugh.

‘Indeed,’ replied Sithis. ‘I’m surprised it didn’t attack, though I feel like we would have been fine even if it had.’

“Yeah, I doubt that. We’d be minced meat.” stated Trey while smirking as they picked up the pace. “Overconfidence is a flimsy shield, my friend. Let’s get out of here.”

The day passed faster than expected, and although it didn’t grow completely dark and turn to night, the shifting red moons overhead told Trey that he had been traveling a long while.

They had finally reached the end of the valley and were peering into the canyon they’d been gunning for. Another long, thin, black river snaked its way down through the canyon and into the valley behind him. At the end of the small canyon, a couple of miles away, was a blocky stone building built into the cliff’s face; and it looked as if this was where the river began.

Behind the building, Trey thought he could make out a pathway leading upwards but he wasn’t absolutely sure. Regardless, he didn’t want to stay here. So on they went.

Before they had reached their destination, Trey stopped to drink some of the water flowing by. It tasted disgusting, and Trey was confident it was tainted with some sort of mineral. What else would turn the water dark like that? But hell, he wasn’t sure about anything in this god-forsaken place. The water was still dark grey in color when he scooped it up with his hands to take a sip, the taste causing his lips to turn up and scrunch as he tried not to spit it out. He was successful in forcing it down, but the effort was uncomfortable at best.

Eventually, they reached the blocky building near the end of the canyon and stopped to read an engraving above the large entrance almost 20 feet above his head. Three pillars stood to support the roof on either side and it looked very much like what Trey would envision ancient Greece to have at their temples to Zeus or Hera. The engraving above was spelled out in Ancient Demon, and it read the word: “Negaizer.”

“Negaizer…” said Trey aloud thoughtfully. He looked to his left, following the trail he had seen earlier with his eyes. It wound up and behind the building to reach the top of the cliff face in front of him. “That must be the name of this place. Wanna do some exploring?”

‘We need to kill, so yes. My hunger is growing,’ replied Sithis hastily. ‘It is likely that even if this area is abandoned, creatures of some variety have probably nested here. It is a logical conclusion based on the surrounding barren land that this would be a prime choice.’

Trey gave a thumbs up to himself, with a stupid expression on his face, and moved forward into the shadows of the entrance. He knew that the hunger was growing all right, he felt it himself, and was just as eager to find something to satiate it.

As he walked through the giant open doorway of the ancient stone structure, he felt the moisture in the air touch his face and the smell of what he thought was moss reach his nostrils. Along the walls, more droplets of moisture had collected to form dew. Large stone stairs descended down into blackness, and Trey turned on his recently acquired night vision. He pushed one hand through his wavy brown hair, breathed in deeply, and then exhaled slowly.

Upon activation of night vision, and while descending, he saw that there was indeed moss growing in thick clumps along the walls and steps. Having descended the flight of stairs, Trey came to a wall that split to the left and right, but on the wall was a carved detailed mural of what seemed to be a play-by-play story of a dragon and its adventures. The mural on the wall stretched out for hundreds of feet in either direction, with vibrant colors painted into each scene. In the center of the mural, sticking directly out of the wall, was a large obelisk of a runestone with chiseled carvings on all four sides that looked celtic in nature. Trey took a good long look at it before putting a hand up to gently touch the carvings.

A screen appeared. It looked very much like Trey’s Status Screen, but instead it had a prompt on it.

“Would you like to bind to this site?”

Trey looked down and removed his hand and as he did so, the message went away. Trey immediately put his hand back out to touch the mural and the message reappeared. He did this three more times before saying “Yes” out loud.

A bell sounded from within him. “Earthborn, you have been bound to this site, the Negaizer All Spirit Runestone. Upon death, you will respawn here 24 hours later” a mechanical voice said.

‘Interesting,’ Sithis hissed. ‘I must say, having the immortality perk is quite… unique. I’m not sure, but I would guess that I lucked out by having a host with such an ability.’

“You lucked out because of my stunning good looks and amazingly witty personality!” laughed Trey. He liked to poke fun at himself ever since the machete attack, Trey truly didn’t think he was handsome by any means ever since that unfortunate and disfiguring event. However, it did him good to have some comic relief at his own expense every once in a while to make light of the situation. “I wonder what makes a spot such as this one available for respawning…”

Trey looked to his right and then his left to the passageways on either side.

They started down the hallway to his left. As he turned the corner he slowed down and could hear the familiar sound of water flowing with a soft rhythmic thrum against stone banks. He continued down the dark dank hallway, wrinkling his nose and coughing just a little at a sudden rancid smell that offended his nostrils in a way he hadn’t yet thought possible. Looking around he didn’t see anything rotting so he shook his head, covered his nostrils, and continued. Along the way he felt something give underneath his right foot just slightly when planting it. He had stepped onto a stone that buckled beneath his weight. Trey looked down questioningly but only for a moment before he heard an ominous grating sound.

It all happened faster than thought with a flicker of movement overhead. He felt something pierce his body and slam into the ground below. Before he knew it... he had been brutally impaled with multiple spears wrenching through his bones, muscles and guts from trap doors in the ceiling. Spears had shot down all along the hallway across the ceiling both behind and in front of him. They retracted and his body was lifted off the ground, only to drop lifeless and unceremoniously with a sickening splat once the ceiling’s retrograde pushing worked against the spear’s pull on his corpse.