Chapter 2: Semi-Risen

A Corpse-candle spirit has entered you. It is attempting to take control of and reanimate you

Pain exploded in my mind as green flashes filled it. I distantly felt my body twitching as the thunderous roar of my beating heart blocked out all other sound.

An eerie humming became noticeable between the roaring heartbeats. The humming captivated me. As I focused on it the pain receded. Fear, anger and surprise all went away. Listening in on it I heard more and more as the thunderous pauses in it became fewer and fewer with longer inbetween.

A seductive melody became apparent. Becoming clearer and clearer as it grew less overpowered by heartbeats. Instead they now just intermitently added some interference to the sound. My mind blanking out I surrendered to the sweet melody and cold calm that gently spread through me.

I felt the flame of my conciousness be about to be snuffed out and replaced by the flame of the invader.

A sudden bash to the side of my head caused a surge of adrenalin to coarse through me. My heartbeat soaring and growing strong, blotting out the song. The flame of my conciousness burst into a roaring flame in the shock and consumed the invader.

The spirit has been consumed right before it managed to subsume you.

The work it has done and the energy consumed from it has permanently changed you.

You Path has been changed to [Semi-Risen].

Skill: [Conjure corpse-flame] added at level 1.

Attribute: [Willpower added].

+10 Willpower.

Attribute: [Humanity] added

Ammount of mana given by int increased by 50%

Corpse-candle spirit defeated.

Experience and 1 Honor of Valhalla gained

[Semi-Risen]

A Semi-Risen is someone who is straddling the border between life and death. Alive but yet not entirely. You have been infused with the powers of undeath. As you use the powers of undeath your body and mind will slide towards the state of undeath. Subsuming your mind, leaving only the instinctual hatred and hunger of the undead. As you leave behind your humanity, your powers grow

As my mind returned to me I started to take in everything that had just transpired. Something had just tried to take over my body! And I was apparently undead now or something? My thoughts were interrupted as my saviour twice over, the woman whose body had shielded me and then apparently saved me from the spirit by elbowing me getting up, put a knee right into my groin as she struggled to stand.

Tensing up, the air left my lungs in a wheeze as I wallowed in the pain. I started to re-evaluate my gratitude for the woman as I heard the man with the staff shout out.

”Okay you shamblers, follow me. It's time to head home”

He then turned around and started walking. Soon the former corpses finished getting up and filed into the tunnel after him. Their retreating steps echoing through the cave where I laid.

Seeing my chance after beeing overlooked I waited untill the former people all had gone into the tunnel. Throwing one last glance around I hurried to get up and out another tunnel as quietly as I could.

Confusion, fear and relief warred in my mind and I tried to decide what to do. First order of business, however, was something I'd wanted to do since I woke up. Putting my hands to my face I vigourously started rubbing the blood out of my left eye.

I wasn't sure how long I had been wandering the tunnel in a daze. I was taken out of my torpor by a sudden growling sound. Fearfully I scanned the area, before my cheeks reddened as I realised the growling came from my starving stomach.

Looking around for anything to eat I saw the luminescent lichen. Staring at it doubtfully for some time I was finally persuaded by a very eloquent grumbling. Well... What is the worst that could happen? Tearing loose a piece I inspected it more closely.

It didn't look any more apetizing up close either. Carefully I placed some in my mouth. Then struggling to ignore the horrible taste I swallowed it. I immediatly regreted my decision. What meager content was in my stomach was immediately and forcefully ejected on the cavern floor. Breaking the gray monotony with a splash of rancid yellow.

Panting and hunched over I felt mighty sorry for myself. Wanting something to distract me, I experimented with whether there was any way to bring my status screen up. I vaguely remembered that someone in the group had said something about focusing on 'status'.

Doing so I was soon rewarded with the textbox appearing in front of my minds eye again.

Name Roger Peabody Level 2 Paths Semi-Risen Allegiance Health 93% Mana 180/180 Health regen 0.01%/sec Mana regen 0.6/sec Humanity 100% Humanity restoration 0.01%/sec STR 9 AGI 9 END 8 DEX 10 VIT 7 INT 12 Will 10 Honor of Valhalla 1 Skills Completely unremarkable Conjure corpse-flame 1 Honors of Valhalla

Noticing several changes I focused on the new skill that I had gained.

[Conjure corpse-flame] level 1

By utilizing the undead energies inside you it's possible to conjure a corpse-flame

from your finger, draining your mana and humanity but allowing you to utilize it for various purposes, such as reanimating corpses.

It did sound useful, though I did not like the part where it drained my humanity. I was also unsure of where I would get any corpses. Even if the thought of killing someone would have sat well with me I was not very confident in my ability to do so.

Being curious of the Honors of Valhalla skill I focused on it. In my mind another list much like the one I used to spend my Karma points expanded. Unsurprisingly there was not much that I could afford with my meager 1 point. Immediately a smile appeared though as I saw one object near the top. Soon the tunnel filled with the mouthwatering smell of a freshly baked loaf of bread. Tearing into it I couldn't remember ever tasting anything so delicious. Though thinking of it, I couldn't remember ever tasting anything before.

Having filled my belly to the point of it hurting. My mind could at last stop focusing on the hunger. What it noticed instead was the beginning of thirst. Though not yet too great. I started thinking back on whether I had seen any water in these caves so far. All I could think of and indeed see when I looked around was small rivulets of water on the walls. Not yet desperate enough to try to lick it off the walls I decided to wander on.

I realised something, walking through tunnel after tunnel. It's REALLY hard to keep track of time while underground. with little visual difference in vistas nothing broke the monotony. The only thing indicating that any time had passed at all were my increasingly aching feet, my thirst and exhaustion

. I had passed by several depressions into the walls that might fit me. As well as some dark smaller tunnels and cracks that looked like they had been dug out by something. Not yet willing to risk encountering whatever had dug them, nor trusting the scant concealment of a 2-3 meter deep recess for a resting spot, I journeyed on.

I started playing games with myself in my mind. Counting prime numbers, playing I spy (though there was only so many times I could ask myself 'is it rock?') and rearranging letters in my status screen to make up fun sentences.

Yet thirst and exhaustion kept creeping into the forefront of my mind. Maybe It wouldn't be so bad to rest for a while. I could creep into a cozy hole and lick the walls a bit...

However, something broke my monotony. Faintly, from one of the tunnels I heard a sound. Water falling into yet more of the water I craved. Forcing myself to be careful and not just rush to the water, I silently crept into the tunnel. As the sound grew louder I saw that ahead even the dim light of the lichen disappeared.

Hesitating, I considered going back. However, the sound of the water was too tempting.

Silently I creep closer to inspect where the light ended. The lichen was gone, dirtstreaks marking where it should have continued. Some pieces of lichen hung loosely by strands, seemingly as if poorly scraped off.

This doesn't seem very inviting at all. Scratching my arm absentmindedly I once again considered the merits of licking moisture off the walls. On the downside, licking the walls would be disgusting, not give me very much moisture at all and most likely give me some terrifying parasite that made me explode from the inside. Okay, that last bit probably wouldn't happen. The parasite part was still valid though. Things that spoke for licking the walls however, were not going down into the dark scary place.

In the end, necessity prevailed over prudence and I moved down the gently sloping tunnel. Down into the darkness.

I considered using my newly acquired skill [Corpse-flame] to try to light the path. Though the thought of losing my humanity, as well as the though of being so visible stopped me. Hell, how would I know that the flame wouldn't hurt me either?

Sliding my left hand along the damp wall as I moved into the darkness. I strained my ears to try to make out any sounds. Hearing nothing but the sound of water, I moved on.

Barely able to make out my hand on the wall. I considered whether this really was a good idea. Jumping as I suddenly heard a new sound, I clung to the wall. Heart beating and peering wildly I tried to pick anything out.

Tentatively taking another careful step I heard to sound again. Relief spread through me as I realised what the sound was. My shoes made the sound again as I took another careful step onto the watercovered floor.

Crouching down I felt with my fingers. The liquid was cool and maybe half a centimeter deep so far. Bringing a finger to my lips I tasted. Water, sweet delicious water.

Encouraged by my discovery, I took two rapid steps before my foot struck something and I tripped. Extending my arms to catch myself they painfully struck the slippery bottom. My arms shot forwards on the slippery surface and soon my chin joined the 'bodyparts that are in pain' club.

The echoing splash was soon joined by my sputtering, as I removed my face from the fingerdeep water. Collecting myself I sat upright.

I began feeling around myself to find what I had tripped over. Soon my hands found the unpleasant sensation of wet cloth. Pressing down on it it appeared to be on some semi-firm object.

With a sinking heart I released the cloth. Needing to know for sure I summoned my will, focusing on my extended hand and the corpse-flame skill.

A small, sickly green flame appeared over my index finger. In the unnatural light I first noticed that what I had tripped over was indeed the body of a human. As my mind began to take that in I noticed something else. A violent hissing right to my side. Quickly turning, my flame ended up merely a few centimeters from a a teacup-sized eye. The owner of the eye quickly sqeezed it shut and averted its gaze with an angry hiss.

In front of me was a small, repulsive, fishlike creature. Giant eye squeezed shut it hunched over. Towards me it held what seemed like a sharpened piece of bone. My astonished mind was soon awoken by a pained hand as the creature blindly jabbed the small bonespear into it.