Chapter 00: The "First"

How did I start?

How did it happen again?

Ahhh.

I was a street urchin. Fighting rats for food, stealing clothes from laundry women, and stealing farmer's crops, and even begging from fellow beggars. It was the hardest of times.

My very first battle was with a giant rat.

I had my sights set on a bread basket that was left in the garbage area behind a small restaurant. You could see that the bread was moldy and old, but for me, these were quality food.

While I was making my way towards the basket, I heard a loud noise coming from a maintenance hole nearby.

A giant rat came out.

I felt- What was it? Fear.

The First: "Hahh. Hahhh."

I was panting while it was coming to me slowly, Fangs bared, You could see poison dripping down from its teeth.

Rat: "Grrr."

It was preparing to attack. What do I do!?

I frantically looked at the area around me. Weapon... There!

There was a rusty knife inside a trash can nearby. I took it and pointed it towards the rat.

The First: "S-stay back!"

The giant rat was certainly wary now, but it was not backing off.

Giant Rat: "Snickerr... Grrr..."

I made stabs in the air to scare it but to no avail.

Giant Rat: "Rarr!!!"

After a few more stabs, it got angry and lunged towards me.

The First: "Gah!"

I just instinctively put the knife in front of me as the giant rat rushed me with its mouth open.

Giant Rat; "Squeeekkk! Ragghhhhh."

Just before its fangs buried themselves in my sides, the knife pierced the giant rat from its mouth going all the way to its body,

The First: "Hah.... hah...."

Suddenly, I felt a surge of strength coming from inside of me. My old wounds were recovering. My hunger was going away.

The First: "What is this sensation..."

Someone came out of the shadows to answer my question.

Stranger: "That is called a Level-Up."

The First: "W-what? Level-up?"

Stranger: "Come with me... you will do much better with me than fighting life all by yourself."

The First: "O-okay! Thanks. but who are you..."

Mot: "They call me Mot. My full name is Mot Neerg."

The First: "Okay, Mr. Neerg. Just tell me what to do."

Mot: "Good."

From that moment, I became one of Mot's men, or should I say, lackeys.

He trained me on how to be a thief. He taught me how to murder people.

Mot: "Go!"

The First: "Hah!"

Guards: "What!? Kids! Aguuhhhh!!

I threw knives at the caravan guards. Then my fellow child thieves would rush in and stab the wounded guards.

The First: "Rahhhh!!!"

Guard 1: "Guhh!!!"

Guard 2: "Fight bac-! Ughhh..."

We raid caravans to steal their food and money. If they had merchandise, Mr. Neerg would sell it.

I call him Mr. Neerg despite him saying that I could just call him Mot.

This raiding yields a lot of food and money for us, but we only do it occasionally.

Mr. Neerg says that it's too dangerous to attract attention towards us.

When we're not raiding, we would beg.

We beg money at the markets, and we would steal some coin pouches from unsuspecting victims.

It was all well and good until that day...

.

.

.

We were lounging around the hideout Mr. Neerg bought for us or more like "stole" from the previous tenants.

There won't be needing their home anyways. They already met their maker.

There were like 24 of us in our little group. Most of the time, all of us would go out at once. But sometimes we split up.

This day was one of the times the group was split.

Only 5 of us were present at the hideout.

The First: "Hey, hey... I think they've been out for a long time already."

I was playing with my knife that I just bought from the money we got from raiding last week.

Thief: "Hmm... They'll come back. I know i-"

Suddenly there was a loud soud of the door being opened forcefully.

The First: "Wha-!?"

Thief: "Guhh!!!"

There was an unknown person that came in. He beheaded the kid near the door.

Thief: "Intruder!"

Two of the other kids came at him from both sides. The intruder used a sword. At least one side would be able to stab him.

But...

Intruder: "Yah!"

He split his sword in two. It turned into a dual-dagger weapon.

(Cut). Splurrrrshhhh (Blood spurting out).

He beheaded both of the kids from either side.

Thief 2: "Let's run!"

He was trying to drag me. I froze from the fear. It was like that time with the Giant Rat.

Thief 2: "I'll run now! Take care of you-! Uhhh!!!"

Two daggers were buried in his chest as he tried to jump outside of the window.

The intruder was now walking towards me. Slowly.

Intruder: "You... need to die."

The First: "Wh-wha!?"

His arms were slowly closing in on my neck. He was going to choke me.

"St-stop... Guhhhh!!!"

His grip was firm. I felt I only had a few seconds before fainting and dying.

The First: "M-M-Mot.."

Mot: "Hiyahhhh!!!"

Mot came from the window and kicked the intruder in the face.

Mot: "Get him, boys!"

The other kids from our group came. They were throwing knives from a distance.

Mot: "Don't get close; he's dangerous!"

Mot kept him busy while the others threw knives at him. There were like 20 knives stuck in his body now.

Intruder: "You don't know what you are doing human! That boy will introduce a new era of Chaos and Destruction!"

Mot: "I don't know who you are, but nobody gets away from killing my children."

!

I was not sure what happened, but Mot made a slash faster than an eye could see.

The next thing you could see is his blade planted into the neck of the intruder.

Intruder: "Guhh... You have sealed this world's... fate..."

Mot: "Hah! You are crazy. Stay dead."

Mot stabbed him with another blade.

The First: "Thank you... Mot."

Mot: "Don't worry, ****. I'll protect all of you as long as I am here."

He looked at the dead kids.

Mot: "Let us bury your brothers."

What happened back there? Who was that intruder? Why can't I hear my name correctly? I can't remember.

I can't believe he took out the other thieves in the hideout with ease.

Those kids that were with me are the strongest part of the group. Along with me, they were all around level 20.

Even castle knights are only level 40s. They still were not able to behead us with ease. The intruder was a monster.

Good thing Mot was a level 35. He was able to defeat him while the other 19 kids were throwing poisoned daggers at the intruder.

But what was he saying about starting a new era? of Chaos and Destruction?

I thought back then that I'd never know. I think even now... I still do not understand what it means.

.

.

.

Years after the incident...

Mot was not going to live forever.

We were grown up, and we had our child lackeys.

The hideout turned into a thriving thieves guild.

The First: "Mot..."

Mot: "I'm dying..."

All of the original groups were in his room.

The First: "But Mot... who would lead us?"

Even when he was sick, Mot was able to direct our operations using letters and the spell.

Mot: "... **** would be the new guild leader."

Idmon: "Hmmm... I'm not sure if-"

Veteran Thief: "That's fine with us."

What!?

Veteran Thief 2: "We will abide by your decision."

By this time, Mot has reached level 80. I was the only one close to him being level 65.

Mot: "Anyone... (Cough) who... does not agree... can fight me right now. I can still stick one into your guts."

The First: "Everyone agrees on Mot... But still... Is there no other way?"

Mot: "There is none... Go. Take care. (Cough)...! (Cough)!

Ahhhh...uhhh..."

The First: "He... He's gone."

After offering a short prayer, I gave my first command as the new Guild Leader.

The First: "Let us go. The Palace Knights will not die on their own."

Right now, we are in a hot conflict with the Knights. Since we have expanded our operations, it was affecting the kingdom's economy, and because of that, they started a witch hunt for us.

Veteran Thief: "Leader. A knight squad is nearing one of our outposts. It's Knight Leader Opus."

The First: "Him again."

The Knight Leader who beat Mot in single combat before, That was the reason Mot became disabled, and his health declined rapidly.

The First: "Quickly, our men can't hold them back on our own."

I led my group. They were mixed with men and kids. We might look like petty thieves, but we are all around level 40s—almost the same as the Palace Knights.

When we arrived, our men in the outpost were already being slaughtered.

Thief: "Help has come! Push them back."

!

I released one of the spells I mastered from Mot. Daggers made from the shadow element. They would pierce even the thickest armor of the Knights.

Dying Knight 1: "Ahhh!"

Dying Knight 2: "Guhhh!!"

However, someone who is noticeably stronger did not go down.

Opus: "Hmm... It's you."

The First: "Knight-Captain Opus. You won't get away this time. Hold him!"

!

Five of my men cast a spell on him. Multiple shadows now restrained him; even he would have trouble in escaping that.

The First: "Take this!!!"

I rushed towards him. !

This skill is Mot's very own. He invented this skill, and he mastered it. I was the only one who learned it from him.

Opus: "The same skill... That won't beat me."

The First: "What!?"

He broke from 5-fold of without any difficulty.

The First: "Impossible..."

My blade was on its way to his neck, but.

Clink!

It broke... My rare dagger. He didn't block it. I aimed it on his neck, where the armor is the thinnest.

Still, it did not pierce the armor.

The First: "How..."

Opus: "Your petty skills will not defeat my skill ."

It could even dispel our disabling spells.

The First: "We cannot win... Go back!"

Veteran Thief: "Run!"

We threw smoke grenades to cover our escape.

We tried to save as much wounded as possible. I carried two kids and one adult on the way back.

Still, this was a crushing defeat for us. How can we beat that monster?

.

.

.

A few weeks pass by. Our situation is getting worse.

Veteran Thief: "Guild Leader, we have lost eight out of 10 of our outposts. They are nearing our base. We have also lost 75% of our fighting force."

The first: "Damn..."

Veteran Thief: "I believe it's better if we run far away. Maybe start a new guild in another kingdom. We won't survive this onslaught."

And let Mot's death be in vain? We cannot do that- I cannot do that.

The First: "No! That's not what would Mot want. How can we just leave our land? This place is where we were born and fought to survive. Nobody raised us; we helped ourselves."

I gripped my dagger tightly.

The First: "Mot Neerg taught us how to survive on our own and how to traverse this kingdom with ease."

Veteran Thief: "But..."

The First: "We will not leave. We will stay, and we will beat the knights back to where they came from."

Veteran Thief: "Understood."

Veteran Thief 2: "We will stay with you until the end."

Some of them did not say anything. I'm worried. The people always say that there's no honor between thieves.

However, these are my brothers whom I fought with together. For years we have developed a bond that can't be broken by greed or desire for personal gain.

.

.

.

We made a plan for a last desperate attempt to regain our footing in the kingdom.

This operation is our last chance.

The First: "We will distract them by throwing . Prepare your daggers. You will be ambushing them from behind."

We split into two groups. One group will lead them into circles while the other group will take them out one by one from behind.

The First: "Just stay away from Knight Captain Opus. There are other Knight Captains with them that you can take out but not Opus."

Veteran Thieves: "Got it."

The First: "Let's go!"

We went out and met the invading Knight Squads with . This plan happened around a residential district near our main base. We were on top of the buildings and houses.

Knight-Captain: "There they are! Raise your Enchanted Shields! Their shadowy daggers won't pierce through them."

The First: "Damn!"

What the hell are those? When did they have something like that?

The First: "Retreat for now."

Knights: "They're running!"

Knight-Captain: "Chase them."

Our group was caught off guard by those shields. I expected to take down at least one squad of Palace Knights with our . Now not even one went down.

The First: "God damnit... Let's lead them to the first ambush point."

Veteran Thief: "Okay."

Once we came to the first point, we held our position on top of one of the houses.

The First: "Once they step into the ambush point, release all our traps and spells to hold them down. The others will finish the job."

The plan is the other group will hide in the houses and will come out and attack once the enemies are immobilized.

The First: "...Now!"

A squad of knights reached the ambushed point. We released our traps. Spikes and arrows flew towards them.

It was able to take down unprepared knights.

Knight-Captain: "Raise your shields!"

Now they're looking at the rooftops. This would be the best time to attack!

I used the spell .

The First: "Go now! attack!"

...

The First: "Attack!"

...

The First: "Guys? Anyone?"

Veteran Thief: "Leader! They spotted us!"

One from my group alerted me. The enemies are casting spells towards our direction.

The First: "Damn it. Retreat."

Why isn't the other group responding?

The First: "Maybe... they went back to the other ambush points."

Veteran Thief: "Leader?"

The First: "Let's go. We still have other ambush points."

We repeated the run and ambush plan, but none of the ambush points had backups. It was possible to take down one squad at each ambush point, but no one was here.

The First: "What in the world is this! Where are they!? We could have won this if they were here!"

Veteran Thief: "Guild Leader, we lost all our traps and ambush points; what do we do?"

The First: "Back to the base!"

Damn it... Damn it.

Even we took out like four squads from the traps themselves; it is not enough.

.

.

.

There were only 30 of us when we arrived back at the base.

Veteran: "Leader. We cannot win. Let us run."

The First: "No... This can't be."

Veteran: "Mot would want you to survive. This base isn't worth wasting our lives for."

There was only a handful of thieves here now. The rest of the guild was missing.

The First: "Go."

Veteran Thief: "What?"

The First: "All of you go. Now."

Veteran Thief: "But, Leader!"

The First: "I will hold them back."

Veteran Thief: "No... We will stay with you until the end."

The First: "You guys..."

Crash!

The gates of our base were forced open.

The Knight Squads broke the gates with their battering rams and Fire spells.

Knight-Captain Opus was in front.

Opus: "This is the end."

The First: "What... is that?"

There were shadows behind them. I knew who they belonged to.

The First: "You bastards... You betrayed us. I trusted you!"

The other group went to the other side. That's why the ambush points didn't work out.

Opus: "Surrender now, and we might spare some of you."

The First: "You... think it's that easy? Come and get me! I dare you!"

I drew the sword that was sheathed behind me.

It's Mot's legendary sword. The sword that he asked me to find in an ancient dungeon. He was supposed to use this in his rematch with Opus, but he died before that happened.

It was a very dark dungeon filled with Shadow monsters. Every time you turn around, there will be a Shadow monster who will try to gobble you up.

I barely got out of the dungeon with the sword. The final guardians killed the few thieves I brought with me to assist with the retrieval of the legendary sword.

The final guardians were golems that cannot be hurt by our attacks. They also killed the Shadow monsters around.

I did know why it did, but they looked like they were protecting something else entirely.

It was pure luck that saved me, I was able to find the gems that keep them going behind their head, and I was able to break them.

At that time, the message "He will bring chaos and destruction to this world" rang clearly inside my head.

Mot told me to keep the sword when he saw it. He told me not to let anyone use it. Even myself. But now... Mot's dead.

The First: "I will avenge him."

This is the sword they can cut through any armor.

Opus: "I see. Interesting. Here I go then. All of you stay out of this."

He came at me running at his usual speed. I did not let him get the first hit in.

!

I quickly moved behind him as if I was teleporting.

Take this! I silently swing the sword at his back.

!

How did he know? Still, it would hit him!

Clank! (Cut).

The First: "Gahh!"

The blow was weakened, but I was able to wound him from behind.

Opus: "Hah... That was a good move. I think it's time to get serious."

!

Steam was coming out of him.

Opus: "Try to take on this one."

The First: "W-what!"

He suddenly appeared in front of me, as I did to him earlier, but He did not use .

Opus: "Grrrr... Yah!"

I tried to dodge, but it's not going to be enough. I tried parrying it away but-

Clink!

The First: "Gahhh!!!"

Once his sword hit my sword, I was thrown away with enormous force.

The First: "Gah... hah...."

Fuck... My hp is almost gone now.

Opus: "That's only one of my attacks. Can you withstand a barrage of them?"

The First: "Hahaha!"

Opus: "What? Did you go crazy?"

The First: "Crazy? You are the crazy one here, fool. If you think you can scare me with your strength, think again! Thieves don't fight with strength."

Opus: "Hmmph, then take this!"

He did it again; he blinked in front of me without using skills.

The First: "Doing the same thing again?"

It worked before but didn't think it will work again!

The First: "Hoooh!"

He tried to slash me at the side this time. I vaulted above the slash with grace and cut him in the chest. I was aiming at his neck, but he was already backing off.

Opus: "Aghhh!!! You impudent fool!"

He rushed at me again, I was still going to land and recover my stance, but he was already making another attack.

Opus: "Now, die!"

He trusted his sword straight into my heart.

The First: "Aghh!!! Just kidding."

Opus: "What?"

!

I disappeared and appeared behind him. It was like he never thrust that sword in me.

The First: "This is it! I will avenge him!"

He will not be able to block it this time! Finally, I will avenge you, Mot!

!

Opus: "No!!! Get him!"

Right before I made the strike to his neck, I was barraged by a hundred knives in my back, Poisoned ones.

The First: "W-what..... Noo...."

It was the other group.

Veteran Thief: "You!!! How could you do that!? You cheating -!"

The others in my group were next. As I stood there frozen by poison and pain, I saw the slaughter of remaining men that were loyal to me.

How... Why...

Opus: "I told you. This is the end."

The First: "Do it."

He now made a downward slash to my shoulder. He was cutting off my left arm.

The First: "..."

I did not have the strength to scream. My death was nearing...

The First: "M-M-Mot... I'm sorry."

Voice: "It is not over."

What? I heard a voice inside my head.

Who are you?

Voice: "I am the entity inside your sword."

What???

Voice: "Let me borrow your body, and your vengeance shall be done."

As long as you can do it, take control of it, as long as you want!

Voice: "Good."

I was kneeling, when suddenly my entire body was covered with shadow.

Opus: "What is this?"

Opus was baffled. It was the first time he saw someone consumed entirely by shadow.

Voice: "You... Time to die..."

Opus: "Huh!?"

Opus swung his sword again, but this time, he aimed at the neck to behead me.

Voice: "Useless."

Opus: "Wha..."

His sword was stuck in my neck. The shadows were grasping it and preventing it from being taken back.

Opus: "Give me my sword!"

Voice: "Here you go..."

My body stabbed him with a sword made from the shadow.

Opus: "Guh!"

While all this was happening, I was just watching. It was the shadow that moved my body.

Opus: "Damn you... you freaking monster!"

Voice: "We're the... same..."

Even while the Shadow Sword stabbed him, he kept punching me.

Voice: "It's just that I am way stronger than you."

Opus: "What? GUHHHH!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!"

The Shadow Sword inside of him exploded. Spikes of shadow elements came out from inside of its body. Dark fluids were coming out from the holes in his body—mouth, ears, eyes, and nose.

Opus: "Ahhh.... Graahhh.....huhk!"

After a cough of blood, he died.

Did we win?

Voice: "Yes..."

Thank you... I have finally avenged Mot.

Voice: "Yes... but... your body is mine now."

What?

Voice: "The deal is the deal... I will have it for as long as I want."

Ah... So that's it... So be it.

Voice: "Hehehe... HAHAHA! I AM FREE!"

!

Different shapes of shadows came out of my body, striking everybody inside our base.

Knight: "Guhahhh!!!"

Knight-Captain: "Shields, your shie-! Ahhhh!!!"

Voice: "Those petty shields of yours are useless!"

Knight-Captain: "H-how... These are enchanted shields."

Voice: "You are weak, mortals!"

Knight: "M-mortals?"

Opaiuq: "AHAHAHAH! You ignorant fools! You are fighting the Shadow God, Opaiuq!"

Knight: "G-god!?"

Opaiuq: "HAHAHAHA!!!"

The Palace Knights and the remaining thieves were annihilated.

Thief 1: "Run! Ru- Guhh!!"

Thief 2: "AHHHHH!!!!"

Thief 3: "Stop, S-Stopp!!!! Auuuggghhh!!!"

After taking everyone out, he got out of the base and went on the highest point of the kingdom.

Opauiq: "Now... to end this era..."

Era...?

!!!

Slowly, the sky was covered in shadow. With the sun covered, the kingdom's cold season became even colder than before.

Everyone and everything was slowly being frozen.

Opauiq: "HAHAHA!"

! ! ! !

All the wizards of the Palace did their strongest fire spells to attack the Shadow God, but none of them even scratched him.

Opauiq: "You fools, only a god can slay a god!"

Slowly, the shadows made from their Fire spells attacked the wizards and killed them all.

The king was the last to go out.

King: "I believe this is our last chance. I beg you, God of Light! Help us!"

Opauiq: "HAHAHAHA! A prayer? It will not save you."

King: "No... we have been forsaken."

Opauiq: "Die!"

!

King: "Guhh... I cannot die... How can we..."

The king finally died.

Opauiq: "Hahaha! HAHAHAHA!"

I cannot let it end like this.

Opauiq: "Wha-!"

GRAHHHH!!!

Opauiq: "What the heck are you doin-! Stop tha-! Guhhh!!!"

I tried to take control of my arms. I forcefully tried to remove the shadow that was stuck on my body.

Opauiq: "Noo!!! IF YOU DO THIS THE SPELL WILL FAIL!!!! IT IS NOT READY!"

Damn youu... I still love this kingdom, this world. I will not let you kill all the people there that knew nothing about this!

Opauiq: "You hypocrite! YOU ARE A THIEF! WHY ARE YOU PLAYING HERO NOW!?"

Hehehe. I never stole them. I even left gold to "pay" for the victims sometimes.

Opaiuq: "What!?"

I just like to borrow things for a long time.

Opauiq: "You foo-!"

With a strong heave, I mustered all my strength and pulled off all the shadow from my upper body.

Opauiq: "AHHHH!!!!!"

Something weird happened. The skin and flesh of my body were gone. Only the bones were left.

Opauiq: "Ahh... HAHH!!!"

I did not stop, though. I removed all of the shadows from my body, leaving me with nothing but bones.

After I successfully removed it, the voice stopped speaking. I was free again, even though I am nothing but a skeleton.

The First: "What is this? What happened to me? How can I still be alive?"

After that... I lived for hundreds of years. At first, I tried to communicate with the remaining humans, but they were scared of me and ran away at the sight of me.

Some would come to me for another life, though—sick people. I would surround them with the new energy inside me, and they would become like me, a skeleton. Dead but not dead. I called us the Undead.

The Shadow that surrounded me clung to me and even to my life force, which turned it to negative black energy.

I don't know why but the people that I turned into Undead, started calling me leader, lord and not too long after that, they called me...

King...

Later, A hero that came from the kingdom defeated me.

That story would be for another day, but this story is how I became the First Skeleton King.

The darkness and the shadow surrounding the world suddenly vanished. As if it was sucked into a magical hole.

This darkness was later found out to be the origin of The Void. Where the undead's spirits would linger after they have been vanquished.

Remembering this story is hard for me, but If you still want to know the rest, I can tell you.