Deep in a forest a perfectly circular glade accommodated a beautifully conceived garden. At it's center, a contorted watchtower loomed. The garden held resemblance to a museum, it had been carefully curated, tediously supervised and strictly structured through many iterations.

*bang crackle crackle* exploded through the air and birds fled the scene filling the sky with fluttering wings and caws. A long rupture appeared on the front of the tower, nearly splitting it in half. At the bottom of the tower stood Petramus petrified. In the entrance was his golem, with Ted's soul, slipping through the doorway under a broken arch. He was the cause of this chaos.

"No! No! No! My tower! It's going to collapse!" screamed Petramus in panic, convinced, this was the end of his lifelong project.

The tower miraculously remained standing and Ted was outside. The arch had snapped down its middle and one side was greatly slanted. Through dumb luck, it was fully supported and the structure had stabilized.

Petramus, took out the crystallic stone in his sceptre and replaced it with a ruby-red one from his belt. Petramus rushed past Ted while swiping his empty hand wildly. The very top of the sceptre's head began emitting a burning hot glow.

Cold-blooded thoughts filled Ted's mind, as Petramus stood in the entrance, directly under the compromised arch. With his solid stone fist, he might have been able to bring the whole thing down with a single punch, but uncertainty held Ted back. He had never been one to take chances.

The sceptre melted the stone on touch and slowly welded the arch back together, reinforced, but still crooked.

"That will do." declared Petramus with a slight pride in his voice. The words that came next, directed at Ted, was by contrast loathing: "You... follow me- and don't you dare stray from the path. If any of my crops get trampled, I will split your soul."

Despite all his threats, Petramus had been surprisingly lenient. While it was puzzling, the path was sufficiently broad for Ted and he wasn't prepared to deliberately test Petramus' patience any further.

As they neared the edge of the glade, Ted noticed the first few rows of trees were without leaves, they were snags, in an unnaturally uniform curve around the bend. It was as if the garden was consuming the forest.

"Go to that rotten tree there, this is where you will work" Petramus pointed at the first snag. "You will be pulling these weeds. As you can see, I have already weakened their roots, so they should tip over easily. Just make sure to pull all the roots from the ground, otherwise, they will ruin the soil."

At the cost of the natural habitat, Petramus' garden had steadily expanded. The golem's purpose was to help speed up the process, by taking on the increasing workload from the expanding circumference. While Ted was massive in his golem form, these trees outscaled him significantly. He hugged the first dead tree, his fingers barely made it more than halfway around the trunk, and gave it a pull.

Not a single branch rustled in response. Ted felt a deadly glare from Petramus approaching.

"Rock it side to side and circle around the trunk as you do so. Then push it over after half a rotation." instructed Petramus with an uncanny calm demeaner.

Following the instructions, Ted rocked the tree, and as he began circling around, continuously swinging from side to side, he felt it give way. Eventually popping up slightly, as if twisted like a screw, the tree lifted. With little effort he tipped the log over, with roots in tow.

"Now follow along the edge and do the rest. Only do the once with desolate branches." Petramus turned back towards the tower, hung his head for a moment, then proceeded to stroll back. He waved his sceptre in the air, as to warn "Be efficient or you won't see the sunrise!"

Continued as instructed, Ted pulled more snags up. Rock, Spin'nTwist, Push *creak~* *thud* It felt oddly satisfying to pop the trees and Ted was somewhat happy doing it, while losing track of time.

*creak~* *thud*

*creak~* *thud* *creak~* *thud*

*creak~* *thud* *creak~* *thud*

*creak~* *thud* *clank* *tap* *tap* *clack*

Wh-what was that? *clack* *clack* Ted put his job on hold *clank* and scouted the vicinity for the strange *tap* *tap* sounds. He looked out into the deep forest, nothing of note. He looked back at the derooted *clack* trail of logs he was leaving behind, nothing unusual. Then Ted noticed the sounds were emitting from him. Worried he was experiencing some sort of mechanical failure, Ted sat down to check his status.

Level 1 Respecialist

HP: ▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨

MP: ▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨

Status Effects: [Peacebringer's Tranquil Mind], [Petramus' Puppetry]

Title: Peacebringer

(2 new notifications)

[Traits] [Skills] [Passive Cloud] [Inventory] [Quests]

I haven't taken any damage and I still got more than 20% Mana left. At a glance, nothing *clack* *clack* *clack* explains the sounds.

He stared into the garden, down the path, at the tower. Petramus would probably just disassemble me, if I approached him with this, Ted concluded, I must do what I can to investigate this myself.

Ted checked his notifications.

Notifications

You have gained the trait: [Body Dissociation]

You have gained the trait: [Rat Residue]

These naming conventions reminded Ted of the scarring events that unfolded back in the dark damp cave. Seeing this would have send chills down his spine, if he had one.

He checked both traits.

[Body Dissociation]

You have experienced having your soul separated from your flesh and bones and learned your body was a replaceable vessel. Your mind and body autonomous. You have discovered that true death lies in your Soul Essence dissipating.

Relations between Mental and Physical trauma have been disconnected, you no longer associate the loss of vital body functionality with imminent death.

Metaphysical Proficiency has increased.

Soul Essence Density has significantly increased.

A reward for going through the [Reincarnation], a new understanding of life and death and a strengthened soul. Ted was used to receiving simpler bonuses, such as damage buffs or drop rate increases, he was uncertain it's advantages, but was delighted nonetheless.

*clank* The assault of tappy sounds started up again. *clank* *clank* It was relentless.

[Rat Residue]

Your soul has been partly consumed by Plague Rats, cursing you until your fragmented soul is freed.

[Curse of the Scorned] acquired.

The second trait concerned Ted, it was bad news. Some plague rats had effectively consume fragments of his soul, throughout his death, before he escaped with [Reincarnation]. He would have to either hope a group of adventurers stumbles on the cave and put and end to it, or he would have to -somehow- do it himself.

After reading about [Rat Residue] another notification popped up.

Notifications

You have revealed a hidden status effect: [Curse of the Scorned]

The curse had been active since he died in the cave, but was concealed from the list of status effects until Ted read the trait.

*tap*~ *tap*~~ *clack* the clangs ceased their relentless barrage.

Ted hung his head. This was nothing like the games he had played. As he sulked, he imagined being in his old apartment. His sanctuary. He had daily mopped around. From sitting infront of the screen to laying on his bed. He would mindlessly stare into the screen or at the ceiling. Discontent. A part of him had always wanted to dedicated his time to one thing, but there was always something preventing him. Ted had always made out that his circumstances, be it health, finances, location, friends or instruments, made pursuing his sincere goals impossible.

*tap*~~ *tap*~ *clack* *clank* *clack* the noise roared up again, it loudly came and went like small clusters of rainfall. It woke Ted up from his trance. His gazed at the ground, a bunch of pinecones grabbed his attention. Once he looked around, it came to him. There were no pinecones under all the dead trees, yet there were some scattered around the ones he had uprooted. When he sat down, the pinecones began pilling up and encircling him, they must be the source of the sounds.

Pinecones had been bouncing off Ted's numb body throughout the day, peculiar as it was. The only trees with pinecones were further into the dense forest, as the branches of the stags were completely barren. This strange phenomenon boggled Ted's mind.

Could it be magic pinecones that remain invisible until they hit the ground? No, that couldn't be, the pinecones further in are clearly hanging from the branches. Ted's foolish train of thoughts was based on the revelation he had of curses being concealed from the status effects. I better check out [Curse of the Scorned] before looking into the strange pinecones any further.

[Curse of the Scorned]

You are despised, not for your actions, but for who you are. People in your presence eye you with immense contempt.

Charisma significantly decreased.

Fragmented Soul Essence: 3%

(Plague Rat) 1%

(Plague Rat) 1%

(Plague Rat) 1%

The three plague rats would have to die to lift the curse. Ted was unsure of its connotations and brushed it off as inconsequential, for now.

This doesn't explain the pinecones- maybe they are alive, animated pinecones, and following me? Ted figured it wouldn't be unusual given his circumstances.

The panels closed one by one, Ted rose up, with a push he got himself off the ground. He walked closer to the flourishing trees. With a look up at the branches of the green trees, he noticed a swift silhouette gliding through the sky. More briskly followed in tow, as the silhouettes leapt, they unfolded thin wings, like flying squirrels and soared through the air. Their long and unusually fluffy monkey tails stabilized their flight. They were the size of young children, but clad with thick fur. Ted lost sight of them soon after, as they disappeared into the thicks of the forest.

Somebody was keeping keen watch over Ted.

Am I destroying their homes? Ted thought, mostly with concern for himself They must have been throwing the pinecones at me as I worked.

The creatures had been moving too tactically for typical mobs. when fighting mobs in games, they would always keep attacking, whoever had their aggro, but these retreated as soon as they sensed any danger. Concerned for his well-being, Ted found them too eerie to ignore.

Ted sat down once again. He wanted to check his Skills, he still needed to check if [Reincarnation] was still with him.

He was met with another notification.

Notifications

You have discovered a Quest, [Deeprooted Conflict] has been added to your Quest log.