She snuggled into my arms as the smell of her shampoo filled my nostrils.
Underneath the sheets, we were only clad in underwear, and I moved close to her, only stopping because she didn't let me come any closer. “I'm on my period, love.” She whispered, and I was content to simply hold her to myself. We had only been married for two weeks, and slipping the ring upon her finger was easily the best decision of my life, at least until I remembered the fact that we still hadn't made love in all that time, only restricting ourselves to quick lip kisses and night long cuddles. I suspected she was shy, and I was trying to be patient with her too. We had a lifetime to be with one another after all, and two weeks seemed fair for me to keep waiting. From the living room, the sound of breaking glass reached my ears and made me jump out of the bed in alarm, looking for a weapon against the intruder as my wife stared wide eyed at me. “I'll protect you, sweetheart. I swear to God.” I said when I leaned close to her, putting a hand on her cheek to assure her that all was under control. As I stood on my feet, my eyes fell upon an old, blunt sword that I hung on the wall as a part of my antique collection and I darted across our small bedroom to get it when our door was kicked open. Thankfully, the sword was in my hand, and I jumped back to attack, cutting through the air without a second thought and with all the force I could muster as the blunt edge went into flesh, and a yell greeted my ears. A man crashed to the ground before me, and I would have rested if there were not others dressed like him, all big, muscular men clad in suits and wearing sunglasses. Behind them all stood two easily recognisable faces. One was the face of my father-in-law and the biggest estate owner in our city, Jacob Alves, and the other was our city's most powerful Mafia leader, Al Mancini. The both were well-known faces, but seeing them together in the small, humble abode I called home for myself and his daughter and at this ungodly hour disillusioned me. What were they doing here? A tough blow to the side of my face did three things at once — sent myself and my weapon crashing to the floor, took me out and then brought me back to my senses. “Throw that piece of metal away,” Mancini spat as he lit a cigarette. “It won't do a thing against us.” “Deb-Debbie… Run,” I yelled, and I saw the whir of her form as she jumped off the bed and then ran past me. I was thankful that she was smart enough to escape, and I would do whatever I could to hold them back and make sure they didn't chase after her. Then she ran in the wrong direction… She was running towards the men, instead of away from them. I opened my mouth to tell Debbie to run elsewhere, but she was running into Mancini's arms excitedly, while my eyes watched in disbelief. If I was refusing to think that it was real up until then, it was their kiss that hit me harder than the punch that greeted me earlier. It was long and lasting, so much so that it could have lasted a minute, which was a minute of torment for me, realising that she hadn't ever even kissed me like that. When he let her go, my father-in-law was smiling at both of them. “Thank you for coming, Father.” Debbie squealed excitedly, going to hug her father. “Do you love Mancini so much… that you rushed to his arms before coming to me?” He asked. “I saw him first, Dad.” She continued. My eyes went about, from the five men — including the one whom I hit the sword and who was also holding the shoulder I hit, to Debbie and her father laughing as though they were at a reunion, and they finally rested upon Mancini, an evil grin upon his face as the gold necklace resting on his neck glittered in my poorly lit bedroom. He was staring straight at me, until he took his attention from me and started to look around. “Paint falling off, cracks in the walls, so small that it's cramped up with shelves on the walls… You must have thought that marrying Debbie Alves could give you the money to get you away from all of this.” He spoke, waving a derisive hand about the room while drawing in his cigarette. “You dream a fool's dreams.” That wasn't true, I thought. I married Debbie because she was Debbie, a girl I liked when we met in my final year of college. “I've even seen a rat in this room.” Debbie's voice rang out, and it hurt me that she of all people should say such. I knew of the rats, and took caution to lay traps before she moved in, but there was one persistent, surviving one, the biggest of them all. All of them laughed, including the five men, and I felt more humiliated than I'd been all my life. Mancini took two steps forward and then sent a kick into my side that made me reel from the pain it caused, and at this the five others started to punch and kick me. The raining blows felt like they were coming from everywhere, and I could not tell where the next one was coming from. There was only pain, pain, and more pain. After what felt like forever, they stopped before lifting me up roughly. My body shook terribly out of pain and I would have fallen backwards if one of them did not hold me up. My mouth filled with some warm liquid that had a metallic taste and something solid and hard, both of which turned out to be blood and a broken tooth when I spat them out. Before me, Mancini was holding a white piece of paper. “This was all an arrangement, you see. Debbie Alves only married you because we needed you for our own purpose, and you are now useless to us. Now sign the divorce papers.”“I will not sign them.” I stood my ground, even though the courage was newfound to me. It was coming from a place I did not think I owned.A hiss escaped Mancini's lips as he waved his hand.There began the second round of my assault, even more painful than the first. Blows to my head made me dizzy. Those to my side and stomach made me feel a crack in my rib that made me howl with pain, and one that struck my crotch made me want to pass out.“Get him up.” Mancini ordered.They were rough with doing this, and it was one mighty pulse of pain that hurt so much that I couldn't stand straight. Keeping my eyes open was becoming a Herculean task, as they were so swollen that it hurt to move my eyelids.“Why won't you sign them?” Debbie asked.It was unbelievable for me to hear her voice in this place. She was still here, watching them beat me up. It brought me a bit of shame.“I won't let them take you away from me.” I managed to say, despite the blood that filled my mouth and even went down
I did not know where I was. All I was aware of was my consciousness, as an existing energy. “You are here, again.” I heard a voice speak to me.“Who are you?” I asked back.“That is the question you should have asked yourself. If you knew who you truly are, you would never be poor, or weak, or allow ordinary men to shoot you like that.”It all came then. Debbie's betrayal, my father in-law, Mancini, and the man who shot at me and sent me into the darkness.“I am dead, right?”“You would also not be here if you were alive. I must welcome you to the abode of the dead. You have come to the Underworld, and I will have your soul.”“No,” I refused, realising that I was in the place where people came at the end of their lives. It couldn't end now. There were still a few scores for me to settle on earth. Debbie and her father had used me, which was why we never had sex even after marriage, and Mancini killed me. I wanted revenge.“Why?”“I want revenge. I want to have my vengeance upon the p
I had no body.All that was there was my essential organs neatly packed into some kind of clear, plastic casing moulded to be the perfect fit of a human's inside form. My heart sat in place within this casing, squeezing itself to pump blood, and I watched the movement of my lungs as they heaved up and down. Taking all of this in, I laid back and started to cry. “You don't have to be too hard on yourself. I have a solution for you.” The doctor said, standing so I could see him, and pointing his hand at the robotic-looking human frame with shiny metal.“Waterproof, strong, and connected to your brain and spinal cord, this frame will help you get a body. You will be able to use it to walk, eat, and carry out every basic human function that you would need to with your human body. It will also help you cover the burns on your face.”“And what am I to give in exchange for this?”“Yourself.” He replied, fixing his gaze on me.I'd been through one tricky interview already, and I wanted to b
I tried to think of how best to kill myself.The first way that came to mind was picking up a shard of the mirror and using it to cut my wrist, until the edge rubbed uselessly against the matte black metal without so much as a scratch. Looking for another way, I tried to pull the body apart, but it was as solid as a human body, if not even more. There was only the dull clunk of the metal as I hit it against the floor, before it cracked the place where I hit.All my efforts proved abortive and I could only sit down and cry, considering myself dead. Exhaustion made me lie down, until the door of the room was open, and Doctor King walked in.“I'm not sure if you like your new body, after all.” He said after watching me, and I looked at his face, checking to see if it had turned back to the one I met when I died, to Hades’ face. It was also the same one that I had seen when he waved his hand over his face before the operation, and I now wondered if I'd only been hallucinating.“No. I don
I spun about, looking for the voice that spoke. It sounded like a woman's.“I am Maia, your System Guide and a part of your System and set to guide you to the Seal. Before you will appear a screen, your System Dashboard, to set you on the path you should go. Now, I will show you the details.”A holographic screen showed in mid air, and when I tried to touch it, it responded. On it were some statistics I could barely understand, but which I reckoned were connected to me, as my name and a small image of myself wearing the half mask were at the very top of the screen.Name: [Alexander]Level: 1Bronze Coins: 0/500. 0 used.Experience Points (XP): 0/10,000 Health Points (HP): 0/10,000Magic Points (MP): 0/10,000Strength: 5/10Intelligence: 4/10Agility: 1/10*Skill Section*Active Skills: NONEPassive Skills: NONESkill Cooldowns: NONE*Quest and Mission Log*Current Quests: NONECompleted Quests: NONE*Statistics and Analytics*Kill Count: 0/10Distance Travelled: 0/50 kmResources Gat
It took me checking how far I'd gone before I realised how much of a distance fifty kilometres was. I walked for what felt like hours until my throat was dry and parched, and swallowing became a nasty chore.Tired, I sat in the sand to take a drink of the water, and I was well down a generous amount before calling onto Maia.“Yes,” she answered as the System Dashboard appeared, even bright in the sun.“How long is the distance I have covered?”“Approximately 4.8 kilometres.”Stunned, I swallowed. “And that means I have 46.2 kilometres to go?”“Yes. I would also advise you to be careful with your water ration as there is a long way to go, and to keep your katana close, as there are dangers to be encountered in the desert.”“What's the worst that could happen?” I growled, disgruntled by my condition. It would have been worth it if I could find somewhere and wait to die, but I was not afforded such luxury, only unless I could get through with these cursed levels.“Threats…”“I don't want
I pulled out my katana and gripped it hard with both my hands.They stood in the distance, as tall as seven feet to my measurement, with red blazes where I thought their eyes were supposed to be. They were large, looming figures, made of sand and with sand continuously pouring off their human-like forms. They also had what I thought were horns all over, and looked very much like walking desert lizards from where I stood.One of them stopped and yowled again, before rushing towards me. I ran towards it as well, cutting sideways with my weapon to attack. Alas, nothing met my surprise when I heard my katana ring upon the skin of the Sand Demon with an impact that was so hard it jarred through my entire metallic body and was felt by the rest of me.I pulled the katana away and rolled through the sand, while the demons followed after me. One held its hand open, and shot a gust of sand that missed me. I tried to get up as fast as I could, but another gust of sand hit me, knocking the katana
The water I poured the first time had destroyed one of the Sand Demons' arms so that when it stood, it had only one arm. I sat on my bottom the entire time, now sure that they would kill me, as I'd run out of the water to use in fighting them, but nothing matched the confusion I felt when I saw them bow before me even as I sat in the sand.The one with an arm raised its head and spoke in a language that was strange to me. I found it imperative to call Maia.“Congratulations,” her voice intoned. “You have made your first kill.”I turned the stone heart of the Sand Demon in my hand, finding it almost unbelievable that I had killed such terrifying things with water. Only water.“I need you to tell me what the Sand Demon said. He said it in a language I don't understand.”“He speaks an ancient language, indeed. He said:I have terrified travellers across this distance for millions of years, but none has taken the heart of a Sand Demon since Alexandros the Great fought us on these plains.