My hope soared for just a moment when Ina called out into the darkness.

“Dirk, is that you?” Her voice echoed in the tunnels for a moment before a shrill laugh came back, followed by a trio of bodies, all of whom were carrying torches and large weapons. Their gear looked new, expensive, and definitely menacing.

“No, little love, it’s not. But that’s okay, because it won’t matter soon.” One of the trio, a large Risi carrying a heavy axe over one shoulder, pale skinned with scars crisscrossing his face, quickly advanced and slammed Ina in the gut with the haft of his axe. She crumpled to the ground, almost without a fight.

“What is!?” I reached for my crossbow just in time to be hit in the chest by a bolt of flame, it burned my skin through my clothes like I was carrying a bag of hot coals under my shirt. I fell to the ground, the pain slowly receding as I noticed my health had dropped by half. I had a flashing red icon in my vision, it popped up unwarranted, but I dismissed it as soon as I skimmed it.

>>>

Debuff added

Burned: You are suffering from skin burns. Your fire resistance has been reduced by 5%. Duration: 2 minutes.

>>>

“This is, as you so stupidly asked, an ambush.” The Risi looked down at me, where I was clutching my chest on the ground. Ina was starting to stir, but he kicked her in the side, eliciting a muffled urgh as she rolled a little ways.

“Why you do?” Gods dammit, even breathing hurt. How had I taken so much damage from a single blow? They must have been much higher level than we were, which was bad. “Is...is not okay.” I was angry, but I knew when I was beaten.

“Why do we do it?” There was a Wode in the back, he held a staff and had flames lacing his body in a sphere. That must have been the mage who hit me with the fire bolt. “Because we can. And if it wasn’t intended to be okay, it wouldn’t have been built into the game, moron.” His face was smug, like he deserved to harm others, as though it was his divine fate.

“To be fair, we were just bored, but we figured it couldn’t hurt to pick on a few lowbies!” A dark skinned individual, likely a Murk Elf, stood in the back, a pair of long swords at his hip. He threw his head back and laughed. That was when Ina stood, literally jumping up from the ground, and rushed the Wode mage. She struck his flaming shield with her sword, the tip forward in a piercing strike. The mage backpedaled as quickly as he could, but it was too late. The sphere of fire collapsed around him, and the blade bit into his chest.

“How…?” The last words that left his lips before he collapsed to the ground begged a question Ina would never need to answer. She spun quickly to strike at the Dark Elf, but was caught by a heavy blow from the Risi, who’s skin had developed a red tinge. The axe hit Ina in an upward sweep, picking her up off the ground and slamming her into the roof of the sewer. Ina screamed out as she hit the ceiling, the stone above her cracking from the force of the blow. She stayed there for half a second before falling unceremoniously to the ground, her body broken from the landing. The sound of cracking bone and snapping cartilage reached my ears as she landed, unmoving. Blood dribbled from her open mouth, I had to really focus to see if she was still breathing; her chest rose and fell slowly, almost immeasurably.

“You...you...YOU!” I was furious, I rose from the ground, and chugged a Health Regen potion I had snatched from my belt. The pair of Travelers who still stood just laughed as I pulled my crossbow in one hand, and the dagger Ina had given me in the other. I knew I wouldn’t use the dagger to its full effectiveness, but it was more of a distraction. I shouted as I rushed the large Risi. He shifted his stance, and spun his axe in his hand so that the blunt side was facing me. I tried something I had seen before in fighting movies, but had never attempted: I tried a feint. I took a wide step with my left foot as though I were going to move there, and the Risi drew his axe back like a baseball bat. I then dropped to my knees, and he swung his axe. It soared right over my head, but just barely. I fired my crossbow at his chest, but I must have struck a loose stone in the floor, because my hand shifted up, and the bolt smacked into the side of his head. It didn’t down him immediately, but it was obviously painful because he spun with his axe and collapsed to the ground, yowling like an annoyed cat.

The Murk Elf drew his paired swords and took a step forward, his blades both up in the air. I collapsed onto my back and the paired weapons swung through the air. Wow, the same basic tactic had worked twice in a row! Either I was insanely lucky, or - Hhhckkkk was the sound my throat made as I caught a foot directly on my chest, forcing the air out of my lungs. The edges of my vision went black. Maybe being flat on the ground wasn’t a great decision.

“Thought you would shoot me in the fucking face, did you, you little shit?” The Risi stood over me, his crushing weight pushing my stamina points lower and lower as he put more weight onto me. “I don’t take kindly to insults.” He pushed down with considerably greater force, and I felt my ribs snap. I tried to shout, but there was no air in my lungs.

“Hey, hey, hold on. How is he going to remember not to mess with us if we just kill him here? What if he’s an NPC, and he doesn’t respawn?” The Murk Elf was speaking, but I couldn’t focus on his face. Everything was starting to blur and the words they were speaking were heavily distorted.

“You didn’t have much of a problem with me zero’ing that one chick, though.” The Risi was tilting his head, his axe hefted on a shoulder. His face was turned to where Ina was lying, his attention was waning from me, and I was able to almost breathe again.

“She killed our mage, man. And she’s not dead yet, but whatever happens.” The Murk Elf wrung his hands in the air, like he was washing them, then shrugged hard. The red bar that showed my life force was flashing insistently, pulsing brighter with every passing second. I expected to die right there, but the pressure on my chest disappeared entirely.

“Ah, yeah, good point. We won’t get the EXP for killing them, but at least they’ll have learned a lesson not to fight back.” The Risi laughed raucously as he put his axe into a sheath on his back. He dropped his torch next to my body as he turned to walk away. I struggled to breathe, my body refusing to allow me the simple necessity of oxygen. I turned my head and saw Ina, her eyes open but glazed over.

“I...na…” I croaked out her name, scrabbling with everything I had to try to get my body in motion, I had to get to her, I had to save her, I would not lose her. I had saved her once before, I could do it again. Our eyes met and there was a sudden moment of lucidity in her gaze. Her lips moved, soundlessly, but I knew what she was saying. “I love you.” I watched her eyes roll back into her head and her shallow breathing stopped. An intense and powerful rage welled up inside me as I looked at her body, broken and shattered, her arms and legs in odd, unnatural directions.

“What about Gavin?” I was hearing the idiot travelers talking, my strength was starting to return, things were making sense again.

“Eh, we’ll pick him up back at the keep. His own fault for being so squishy.” I moved without thinking, my body nearly rising of its own accord. I felt my hand grasp steel, heavy, unexpected. I felt my legs move, but I wasn’t entirely sure I was in control anymore. My body stumbled and fought for purchase as it ran at the back of the Murk Elf. The sword was raised in both of my hands and I drove it deep into his neck.

“What!?” The Risi turned in time to see his friend’s body collapse, the sword Ina had carried sticking out of his neck.

That was it, that was all my body could do, but I didn’t fall. Instead, the Risi grabbed me around the throat with one giant hand and pulled me to his face. His eyes were bloodshot, his breath was terrible, why was I focusing on these stupid details? I was about to die! Focus Vlad, focus!

“Just couldn’t leave well enough alone, eh? Had to go and stab Jacobin in the neck. You’ve got one chance to explain yourself before you make an enemy of the entire Viridian Empire.”

His grip was insanely strong, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore. I had a brief moment of clarity as I hung there, my body literally hanging on by a thread, my health points sat at 1.

I spat in his face, then, through a choked gasp, I managed to mutter Poshyal ‘na hui.

“What the hell did you say, dipshit?”

“Fuck you,” I croaked. I saw his face contort with rage as my spine gave under the crushing force of his grip. He threw my body to the ground, and the world faded to black.

Time of Death: 13:30

Timeline: Day of Cataclysm, 21:30

I awoke, screaming with lungs I didn’t think I would have. My body burned everywhere, and I hurt in so many places, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Somehow, I was back at the inn, but Ina was not. I looked around the room, it was dark, empty. There was noise downstairs, but I wasn’t capable of caring at that time. I had a red icon sitting in the corner of my vision, as well as a message. The message indicator was red, but it wasn’t flashing, so it wasn’t an emergency indicator. That was fine, I needed a minute to get my bearings. I pulled up the debuff. It was much worse than I had imagined.

>>>

Current Debuffs

Death’s Curse: You have died! You have lost 843 EXP! Skills improve 20% slower; duration, 8 hours. All EXP earned reduced by 15%; duration, 8 hours. Attack Damage and Spell Strength reduced by 20%; duration, 8 hours. Health, Stamina and Spirit Regeneration reduced by 25%; duration, 8 hours. Carry Capacity -23 kilos; duration, 8 hours.

Death’s Sting: Suffer extreme physical discomfort and waves of weakness; duration, 4 hours.

>>>

That was miserable, there was no way I was going to be able to do anything with that lingering. But I needed to get back to Ina, I needed to get to the tunnels and finish this quest - no, what the hell was I thinking? I needed to find her body and bury her properly. I had to. I had no choice in the matter.

Ten minutes later, I managed to sit up in the bed, my vision swam and the room spun, but I held on. My emotions, however, did not. I first thought I was going to vomit with the force of the sob, but I didn’t. I just cried. I held my face in my hands as my tears flowed over my fingers, pouring down onto the floor below me. I couldn’t believe she was gone, again. I had lost everything once already, and now I had lost everything again. First, it was to an unimaginable evil, the darkness of cancer, and then to an unavoidable fate in Astraea, and now to the Viridian Empire. Was I destined to lose everything I loved? I refused to admit it at first, but now I understood. I was never meant to be happy, I was meant to suffer. The dark gods of oblivion apparently had a mark on me, and I was to suffer forever. I sat in the inn room for just a minute before deciding what needed to be done. I would head back into the tunnels, I would find Ina’s body, and I would bury her the way she deserved. She wouldn’t rot or be picked apart by the rats, not if I had anything to say about it.

I clenched my fists as I rose from the bed and was flooded with nausea. I braced myself against the wall, but the feeling passed. I pushed out the door, and headed downstairs. I was greeted by the Dwarf, who shook his head at me and gave me a soft smile.

“Eh, run about by them Imperial bigots, were ye?” He seemed to know what had happened, and he handed me a small pack of supplies. “Here, these are fer ya, sorry about yer lady friend.”

“Thanks, is painful, but will pass. Maybe.” I nodded my assent and headed to the door, but before I could leave, he shouted after me.

“Watch them Imperial Travelers, they’re going through every city, running amok and roughing up people who aren’t aligned with the Empire. Lots of people are leaving town, lots of others don’t come back. Most of us city folk, we do okay, but the Travelers, well…” His words lingered in my head as I exited the inn and took off down the alleyway.