Dissociation was the word that Barry would describe the moment he walked through the mystical, swirling portal. He felt like his mind and body were separate from each other as his body was being sucked down a purple wormhole filled with different colored blinking lights.

  ‘I might be feeling sick after this trip…’ He thought, hoping that there was some place for him to vomit in seclusion if needed.

  His journey would continue for about two minutes until he had reached the final part of his ride upon sighting a white swirling portal within view. ‘Please let that be the exit…’ When he reached the opposite end of the portal, his vision would become blinded.

  Soon after, Barry would emerge being shot out of the air, his body soaring across the rest of the people that had gone through. What he saw, as he was high up, was a beautiful landscape of yellow and green leaved trees that were around the edges of a crystal clear lake that stretched far out. There were mountains in the distance that added to this sort of beauty, the sun was even out that graced its light across everywhere. He could see everyone else that was on a large section of flat land covered in grass and shrubs.

  “Barry!” He heard his name called out from below, looking down he saw that it was Ron that was swimming to shore with the others. “The lake! Brace yourself!” He warned.

  He didn’t realize it until he was warned that he was about to come crashing down into the waters below. ‘Oh…’ And down he went, bracing himself for impact. Crashes of waves spanned outwards once he hit the lake’s surface.

  Barry would resurface and look towards the direction where everyone else was at, they all waved at him to swim on over. His nauseousness settled down after his sudden splash, and swam over to them.

  Puck was the first to greet him as he got out of the lake, he was relieved to see Barry make it out of the chaos back at the ruined city. “Puck was worried that you didn’t make it, what happened?” He asked Barry.

  Barry stepped out of the lake and walked on over to the nearest tree to sit and lean on. He figured that now was a good time for him to take a breather after everything that was going on. “I saw Oswald again, he appeared and helped get everyone out.” He replied. “So, let’s hope that he’s alright on his own.”

  Ron, Kat, Luna, Anna, and Sherry all met up with him, Anna was the first to speak from among them. “It’s really true then, Oswald happened to show up just after a couple of us went in. He took Sherry’s place so she could leave with us…”

  The mood would turn gloomy at first for a bit, but Sherry would soon lighten the mood. Despite how upset she was that she had to leave her grandfather behind because of his wishes, she knew that crying over his tragic sacrifice was something he wouldn’t have wanted for her. “What in the cranberries are you all so worried about?” She said, trying to act tough. “Remember how great I told you my grandfather is? You can’t imagine the type of nasty situations he’s gone through based on the stories he’s told me of his adventuring days. If anything, he’s probably enjoying the thrill of being in an intense scenario.” She smiled, wiping her sniffling nose.

  Barry remembered how Ned fought with him back then at the village against the Eviscerators and agreed with her. “She’s right, you all may not have met Ned like I have. But when we fought together, despite his old age, he was still pretty impressive. So theoretically, Oswald should be pretty capable of managing on his own.”

  Everyone else took the two’s words into consideration, putting their mind somewhat at ease. And as they were pondering as to what to do next, Calista approached them with Sylvia by her side. “I see that your entire group made it out.” The witch said with a pleased smile.

  “Yup.” Barry replied. “This is the entire gang that came to you all.”

  Sylvia wanted to lighten the mood after Oswald’s heroic act of staying behind. So she decided to express her excitement at the chance of starting anew at this specific place. “Ooooh yeah! You’re all going to love it here, I guarantee it! You’ve all gone swimming in this magnificent lake before, I was thinking of making a docking port for fishing, and you know what, maybe a bar stand with some tables and…” She would go on yapping about her wonderful ideas, which brought some amusement to the group.

  Calista would cut in before she talked everyone’s head off. “Dear, your ideas sound wonderful, I’m sure. But perhaps we should focus on building ourselves some shelter before we get to the exciting stuff.”

  Sylvia would pout while everyone agreed, finding it funny as well to shut her down for now.

  Everyone would then get to work on setting up a temporary home for them to sleep in, splitting up to accomplish different tasks.

  Barry was with Buford and some of the other werewolves, their job was to gather logs for building material. Sherry wasn’t quite as proficient as her grandfather was at constructing perfectly made building’s, especially at larger scales, but she told them that she would try her best to make one big enough for everyone once given the materials.

  Sherry told them that by bringing her crafting materials, it would cost her less mana to convert anything else into the proper materials needed. So while others gathered her materials, she would take a rest in the meantime to recover her mana.

  As the lumbering crew was chopping down wood with some axes that were brought from their supplies, Buford would start a conversation with Barry. He wanted to pick his brain with some questions of his world to pass the time. “Say, Barry. Are there any sort of monsters back in your world? Anything as dangerous, I don’t know, a dragon?”

  The thought of his question was amusing to him, Barry shook his head. “No, nothing as crazy as that. Everything here is all so new to us, magic doesn’t even exist where I’m from. I’d say the most dangerous thing I can think of, creature wise, are lions or crocodiles. I really can’t think of anything else at the top of my head…actually…” He paused for a moment, thinking of something else.

  Buford raised an eyebrow, he was curious as to what he was about to say. “Actually what? What else do you think is more dangerous?”

  “Well, in my world, we make movies which are basically roleplaying shows and what not. They’re usually fictional, anyways, you might find this funny, but we’ve made movies about your group of Nightwalkers. Movies about werewolves, witches, vampires, and much more. We even celebrate a holiday dedicated to you guys, it’s called Halloween.” Although Barry was able to remember Halloween, he was not able to remember anything about himself celebrating Halloween in his past life.

  This piece of information made Buford feel great about himself, he wanted to know more about this holiday dedicated to people like him and the rest. The rest of the werewolves would pick up what Barry was saying and gathered around to hear more. “Really!? That’s wild! What does everyone do on this, Halloween.” Buford urgently asked.

  Barry noticed the crowd that was gathering, he didn’t really think the topic would draw in everyone else. “Uh, well, people on Halloween would usually…” Barry would then explain everything that he could remember that was generic information. And the more he told them, the more they were invested, completely forgetting about the task that they were doing.

  After telling them everything he knew within the past 30 minutes and being bombarded with questions. Barry would get irritated and figured it was time he reminded them about the job they were tasked with. “Guys! I’ve been fucking chopping down trees all by myself! Can you all quit asking me about Halloween and get back to work already!”

  Buford and the rest of the werewolves didn’t realize that they were making Barry do all the lumbering and were embarrassed. They apologized and went back to it, Buford and the rest would hope to badger him with more questions when he was free.

  ‘Damn, I didn’t think they would be so interested in knowing more about Halloween. Would they have had the same reaction about Christmas? Or is that also a thing in this world? Gah, whatever…’ Barry would continue doing his job.

  About an hour would pass until the lumbering team would return with stacks upon stacks of wood. Sherry was surprised to be brought so much wood, that she commented about it being more than enough for what she had planned for constructing a home for them all.

  Everyone else would return with supplies foraged from the nature around them, bringing captured game, edible plants, dry wood for fire, etc.

  A campfire for cooking would be made, along with a table for prepping their meals. Anna, Luna, and Kat would get started on making something to eat for everyone with the rest of the witches. They were all hungry after the events that had unfolded on them all.

  The witches were skinning the animals that were brought back to them for Anna to prepare the meat into something delicious. Although she knew how to cook, she did not however know how to skin an animal and was uncomfortable in doing so. Rabbits, pheasants, and by good fortune, a wild boar was caught.

  “Anna.” Luna said, as she was working on washing the herbs and vegetables that they had gathered with Kat. “You better not put any mushrooms in whatever you plan on cooking. You know how much I hate them.”

  “You will eat whatever I cook, that’s how this goes. You should know this, Mouse.” Anna replied in a teasing tone, while she chopped away at the meat, adding different seasoning and spices to it.

  Kat would hear Luna mumble to herself about how she hopes Anna doesn’t sneak in any mushrooms into her food. Kat would let out a quiet laugh before talking to her. “Your sister’s a great cook, I’m sure whatever she makes will taste good with or without mushrooms.”

  “Oh, I know her food is good…most of the time that is. She’s worked as a chef at some restaurant before all this happened as one of her jobs. I just hate how she manages to smuggle in some things I don’t like into anything she makes.” Luna reminisced on the times she was tricked by her sister into eating something she didn’t know what was in it.

  “Sounds like she’s just trying to make sure you’re eating right. It is important that you get your daily nutritional values every day.” Kat tried reasoning with her.

  Luna sighed, “Yeah, yeah, I know she’s just trying to look after me and all. Despite her bothersome motherly attitude, I still appreciate her for what she’s doing for me…do you have any siblings?” Luna asked, genuinely curious.

  “O-Oh, uh, yeah.” Kat was not expecting to be asked about her family. She would then share with her about what her two brothers were like and have a conversation as they continued working.

  Ron would be Sherry, helping her plan out the type of housing she was going to make by manifesting different types of housing layouts with his illusion magic.

  “How about this one? There should be enough rooms for everyone to share.” Ron asked for Sherry’s opinion.

  She twirled her hair and bit her thumb, shaking her head. “Nope, seems too basic. There has to be some sort of uniqueness to this shelter.”

  “But isn’t this supposed to be a temporary house for everyone, before officially making a permanent one? I don’t think there needs to be much effort put into the one we’re picking out right now?” Ron was confused now.

  Sherry snapped her fingers and looked at him with serious eyes. “Well yeah, it is going to be temporary, but that doesn’t mean that we should settle for something boring. Especially since this is going to be the first home the Nightwalkers will have here.”

  “U-Uh, w-well, when you put it that way-” Ron was hushed up by a light playful tap on his nose from Sherry’s finger.

  “Good, so work that magnificent brain of yours and whip up the grandest home you could possibly think of! I’m counting on you, Ron.” Sherry encouraged, adding in a wink.

  Her request made his heart race even faster than ever before, his cheeks were flushed red, Ron felt very motivated at that moment to impress her. “Y-You got it! One glorious home for all of us, coming right up!” He would then start manifesting the most creative ideas his mind could think of till Sherry picked the best looking one.

  Calista, Sylvia and Edward were getting the lay of the land down on a map as they scoped about. The area they lived in had a couple of mountains in the distance, with one short mountain being nearby. The forest wasn't dense and had some clear patches of grass.

  Puck was also with them at the time, wanting to explore the area after foraging for food. His sense of exploration would cause him to make a marvelous discovery that would be greatly appreciated by many of the people.

  “Brother, you can’t help but admit that we've picked a far better place to live than that horrid and depressing under town.” Sylvia said, giving a dramatic look of dread.

  “That's too soon to say, dear sister.” Edward responded, still unsure of the place. “I only hope that we don't encounter any unreasonable neighbors like the one's from the city.”

  Calista was sure there were no other local towns or people in general that lived close by to where they were settling down. “Me and Sylvia have checked the area around here before when we were testing the portal. That was about a month ago, but I’m confident that there are no others around here.”

  Something unexpected happened just then that caused them all to turn their heads. “Wooooooah! Puck flying!” The sound of Puck’s voice shouted in the air, grabbing their attention.

  They witnessed the little Kobold being held by a high-pressure geyser of some sort, watching Puck struggle to balance himself till he was brought down slowly by the jet of water. This strange occurrence demanded inspection and so the three hurried to find out exactly what it was.

  When they reached their place of curiosity, amazement struck them all. “Look what Puck found!” The Kobold said, as he was now swimming in what was a large steamy hot spring with an alcove. Puck seemed to be having a swell time just letting his body float in the middle of the pool.

  Neither of the three could believe to have found something as marvelous as this. “A hot spring!! Oh yeah!” Sylvia’s energy was at an all time high, she was so excited that she couldn’t help but jump right in.

  Upon catapulting in, she splashed a wave of hot water on Edward, who shielded himself with his telekinesis just in time from being wet. At first, her body was used to the steamy temperature of the water, but would soon acclimate to it. “Yeeessss.” She sighed, being at peace.

  Edward eyed the hot spring like it was a blessing from the gods, Calista could see the look of interest in his eyes and nudged him with a smile. “So Edward, does this convince you that we made the right choice of coming here?” The witch teased.

  Her question made him look away as he started walking back towards their base. “M-Maybe, it’s like I said. It’s too soon to say for now, I’m heading back now to check on everyone else.” Edward replied, trying to hide his interest in the hot spring.

  Sylvia and Calista could see right through his facade and vowed to make fun of him if he was ever caught bathing in the hot spring. Puck continued to relax in the hot spring until Sylvia decided to pick a water fight with him and the battle was on.

  Barry was taking a moment to himself to message Ned of everything that had happened so far. How he met Oswald and was told to retrieve some ingredients from the Nightwalkers that were supposedly dead, but was kept a secret by Oswald that they were in fact alive. And how none of the people of Haglethorn believed that the game they were in was anything but entertainment for the gods. Most importantly, he told him about how Oswald helped them all escape the city, including the Nightwalkers and were now with them for the time being at a nice place.

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  After submitting his message to Ned, he looked at the setting sun on the horizon. ‘I hope everything is alright on Ned’s part. Maybe the other people of the village have been included in the game by now. I can at least see that progression that the Kobolds have been going through, so I at least know they’re still alive.’

  He was still able to see the list of Puck’s Kin from his system menu. All of them had at least reached level 10, which proved that they were being trained by Ned like he promised. The list still made Barry curious as to why he was created a list by the system. This was very strange for him and he wished he knew more about the reason, but let it go for now.

  His attention would shift to Sherry who was now in the process of officially constructing their home of living after countless manifestations of example homes from Ron’s illusion magic.

  “Alright!” Sherry hyped herself up, rubbing her hands together, channeling her transmutation magic into her palms. “Everyone! Bear witness, as Sherry manifests the most amazing house that will blow your socks off!”

  Sherry then slammed both palms of her magically glowing hands on the ground, picturing the exact replica of the house that Ron and her decided on. A cyan aura emitted all around her body as she concentrated.

  The material that was gathered for her was then shifted towards the center of the area that she was planning on making the house. Her magic warped the materials into exactly what she needed, showcasing her transmutation magic.

  First came the foundation of the building, then came the exterior walls with windows and a porch that had a view of the lake. After that was the roof with a flat platform above that she wanted, in case anyone other than her wanted a better view of the landscape to relax at.

  Once all the exterior stuff was crafted, she would then focus on the interior which became easier for her to make. However, since she wanted to make it look so perfect and unique, she would exhaust herself of her mana quickly. Sherry was only able to make some of the furniture inside, but was able to make the important bits of the house. In general, what she made was a beautiful looking pavilion house that was 2-stories high. For the entrance of the pavilion, she had made an upside-down V overhead with a metal statue of a raven opening its wings wide.

  Too tired to stand back up, Sherry fell on her back and closed her eyes. Ron knelt down to make sure she was doing okay after pushing herself. “How's…that, Ron? Did I do a good job?” She asked him in an exhausted voice.

  The people around them that were watching praised her creation and gave a round of applause. “Apparently everyone else thinks it looks great.” Ron waved his arms around with a smile. “The house looks amazing, you’ve really outdone yourself.”

  Sherry looked at the people’s faces as they approached their new home. She was pleased to see that the people were showing interest in her creation. “I still need to add more furniture and decorations, buuuut…” She lied back down. “I’m gonna take a breather.”

  Sometime later, Anna would announce to everyone that dinner was ready. With the help of the witches, Luna, and Kat, she had prepared a grand feast for them all. Anna would have liked to marinate the wild boar meat overnight for better taste, but not only lacked some ingredients but also wasn’t sure how keeping it inside her inventory would work out. Regardless, it was an enjoyable meal for everyone and would nominate her as the group’s head chef.

  After dinner, Calista discussed with Barry and his group about their plans for completing the main quest that was given to them all about the supposed calamity of Scion. Edward, Sylvia and Buford also became a part of the discussion. Calista knew that Barry’s group not only came to them to retrieve their friends, but also to obtain something of them for a potion recipe that would allow them to glimpse into the future for clues about the main quest.

  “We will give you all exactly what you need for the potion recipe.” Calista informed the group of adventurers. “You have all helped us escape out of Haglethorn without turning us in, and seeing as you four…” She referred to Barry, Anna, Luna, and Kat. “Aren’t from this world and are different from the rest of the humans. You all wish to go back to your world in the end.”

  Sylvia took her turn to speak, she had a simple box next to her as she sat. “Not only that, but regardless of what we think, we’re also involved with completing the main quest as well. And the penalty for failing to complete the quest is death, which is something neither of us wants. So with that being said…” She then handed Sherry the box. “Here’s everything you need. There are, however, a couple of things that need to be said about the potion you all should know…”

  Edward picked up what she was about to tell them. “Sherry, I’m sure Oswald has told you about how to make the potion, but here’s something that he likely doesn’t know about the conditions of it.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “First, the potion can only be created a total of two times because once a Nightwalker offers what is required of them, they can no longer provide what is needed again for another 10 years. And since me and my sister are the only vampires of our group, you are therefore only allowed to make two potions.”

  “Alright, so we only have two chances of using the potion. Got it.” Sherry nodded.

  “Yes, but not only that. Another thing is that only one person can consume one potion once in their lifetime. So when you brew the potion, you all can decide who to give the first one to, and decide what to do for the second. And that’s excluding Nightwalkers like us, the effects of the potion will not work on us for some unknown reason.” Edward finished speaking.

  “Has there been anyone else that tried asking for help creating this potion? Seeing into the future sounds really powerful, even if a person is only able to use it once in their lifetime.” Barry asked, thinking that they couldn’t have been the only ones.

  Calista nodded. “There have been human settlements that have tried threatening us for the ingredients needed in the past before we settled down in Haglethorn. But they did not know that we needed to be willing to give them what they required in order for their potions of future sight to work. That said, we ruffled them up a bit before moving on. We don’t tolerate rudeness or threats.” The witch crackled her hands with dark purple magic.

  Barry’s group felt glad that the Nightwalkers considered them friends, they didn’t wish to be on their bad side. Even after witnessing them battle it out against the city enforcer’s and Chakarie, despite being outnumbered. Their show of might and supernatural powers was something to behold.

  Looking down at the box that was in her hands, Sherry opened it and saw everything that was needed for making the two potions. A couple strands of witches hair, some werewolf nails, and two small vials of vampire blood. She was excited to get started on brewing the potion right away. “Yup, this looks like everything…”

  She then looked up at the Nightwalkers in front of her. “But there is one other thing that I need based on the recipe given by my grandfather.”

  Edward was confused, tilting his head and wondering what they could have forgotten. “And what would that-”

  He was then embraced with a tender hug from Sherry, he was speechless in that sudden moment. Edward was not expecting Sherry to express this sort of kindness to him, he felt a sense of happiness inside.

  Sherry would then go on to hug Calista, Sylvia, and Buford. All of which returned the favor with a hug of their own. “I never got to thank you for visiting my mother before her time came. I don’t remember much of you all when I was a little girl, but my grandfather told me how much my mother appreciated you all for being friends with her. I’ve been wanting to meet you all ever since I heard the stories, so maybe later I was hoping you could all share with me your experiences of what my mother was like.” She said, trying hard not to be so emotional.

  “O-Of course!” Edward was the first to respond to her. He had been wanting to talk to Sherry about her mother since the moment they met. “I-We would be more than happy to tell you everything we know about what your mother was like. Perhaps tomorrow we can tell you, when we’re all rested. I think that would be better.”

  Sherry was so cheerful to hear him say that. “Yes! That sounds good to me, I can’t wait to hear what sort of stories you all have about my mother. I’m hoping for something embarrassing about her.” She laughed.

  And for a moment, Edward believed that he had seen a faint image of Sherry’s mother, Ivoria, behind her. ‘Ivoria…I miss you so much. I promise I’ll keep your daughter safe from harm. I will not fail her…like I have failed you.’ He told himself.

  Calista then remembered something important that she had received from the system after escaping the city. “I almost forgot to mention this to you all, but during our escape, we all received a quest that had a goal about making it out of the city. And the reward for doing so, happened to be something that will prove to be incredibly useful for all of us if we are to complete the main-quest.”

  This news was intriguing to them all. Barry’s group had received a quest that was about putting a stop to the Nightwalkers plan of escaping. But since they helped them succeed, the quest was therefore considered a failure. The same would be true for the twelve hour event-quest about defending Haglethorn from the attack of mother nature, seeing as how they left the area, therefore removing the event-quest from their list of objectives.

  “Come, follow me and I will show you all. I just need more space in order to…place it down. It’s strange…” Calista had a curious, yet anxious, look on her face. She brought them to a clearer plot of land.

  Looking through her inventory, she spotted the reward that was given to her by the system and brought it out. And just like magic, a gateway with similar features as the one they had used to get to their new home was brought out. Only this time, the gateway had a purely intact amethyst gem that continuously radiated a purple light within. A gateway also had an active swirling portal.

  Everyone was amazed to see another gateway portal, they wondered where the portal was connected to on the other end. “I’m sure this is familiar to everyone. The system rewarded us with another pre-built gateway that runs continuously without anyone applying magic to it. But apparently, based on what the system tells me, it can only be used to travel back here.” Calista informed them all.

  The reward did in fact sound like it would be a great deal of help to them if they were to return back to where they were. They figured that the Nightwalkers camp was going to become something like their HQ for their mission of completing the main-quest. “How does it work then? If I’m a thousand miles away, how do I use the teleporter to get back?” Anna asked.

  “Real simple, here, give me your hand.” Calista replied, gesturing to her to come close.

  Anna went up to the witch, who then grasped the back of her hand and started chanting some sort of incantation. Anna and everyone else would then watch as the back of Anna’s hand began to glow a dark purple light, a sigil was being drawn within her skin. The process didn’t hurt Anna, but she couldn’t describe the feeling any other way aside from it being awkward.

  “There.” Calista was finished marking her. The sigil disappeared underneath her skin as if it wasn’t there. “Now, try thinking about the gateway and our surroundings. Think about wanting to return back here.”

  Anna did as she instructed and closed her eyes, picturing the gateway and their beautiful base. The same sigil would then manifest from the back of her hand. She remained still for about three minutes before everyone watched as her body was warped away in a flash of dark purple light.

  And in a couple of seconds, Anna appeared stepping down from out of the portal. She appeared to have trouble getting used to the nauseous feeling of teleporting, but gave a thumbs up. “So that’s how it works…I just have to get used to the feeling is all…” She settled down by the gateway to recover.

  After the demonstration, Calista began marking everyone in the camp so they all could use it. Calista told them all that she was able to pick up and move the teleporter to a better place whenever, which she would prefer because leaving it outside in the open didn’t seem like a good idea. Sherry agreed and planned on making an underground bunker for the portal to be placed in, along with other sorts of rooms. There was a lot that the Nightwalkers had planned for their new home.

  Everyone would then split off to go do their own thing, Barry wanted to get some shut eye and decided to go inside the large home that Sherry created. Sherry informed him about some rooms being without a bed or furniture for the time being until she was able to make more when she was well-rested.

  Upon entering the building, Barry saw what she was talking about. There was a lot of empty space in the house that clearly showed that it was unfinished. He wandered around the building looking for a room with a bed until he found one upstairs with a window looking out at the lake.

  He took off his armor and plopped down on the bed in his comfort clothes, slamming his head face first into his pillow, getting himself settled within the blankets. ‘This is the first time I’ve ever slept in a comfy bed, damn was this needed so badly…’

  The thought of his chance of killing Judas, the doctor, appeared in his mind. He was angry that he wasn’t able to enact the revenge that he wanted at the time. Barry was so close to killing him if it hadn’t been for the two strangers that interrupted his moment of satisfaction. He hoped another opportunity would present itself to him another time.

  ‘Judas seems to have some kind of mind controlling powers that could be based on his Class. I’m relieved to have been able to break free from his attempt to take possession of me. Never will he pull that shit to me again.’ Barry was determined to finish the job he wasn’t able to before.

  Ned still hadn’t responded to him, he hoped nothing bad happened to him or Puck’s treehouse. He had to hope that it was nothing and that maybe Ned might reply back to him the next day.

  He also thought about Oswald’s situation and remembered that the event quest at the time was supposed to last for 12 hours. Tomorrow he would message Oswald if he was alive or not, but Barry was confident that the two old geezers were alright.

  Slowly, his consciousness slipped away, falling into a deep sleep that he believed he deserved from all the chaos that happened today.

  During his sleep, Barry’s eyes opened back up. This time, however, he would find himself in the same white room that he kept returning to everytime he went to sleep. “Is this how dreams usually are? Or is it because there is nothing else for me to dream about because I don’t know who I am?” He asked himself, he wondered if that was really the case.

  Suddenly, for some strange reason, he felt as if someone was watching him. He turned his head all around the white room, scanning for anything within his surroundings but found nothing. “That’s odd…why do I feel this way…”

  The feeling would not go away, it was as if his gut was warning him about something that he couldn’t see. Barry kept looking around but nothing out of the ordinary was around. ‘I don’t understand…there’s nothing here?’

  He dropped his guard, deciding to ignore these odd feelings and letting it go. What could there be to harm him in this empty white room?

  “It’s just my mind playing tricks on me. I’ll just lay down here and-” It was then that Barry would regret his decision, as he felt something slash through his right side. He gritted his teeth, placing a hand on his hip. “W-What the-” Blood began to leak from his injury.

  In front of him appeared someone truly shocking, he couldn’t believe a random person was able to enter his mind. “W-Who are you!?” He demanded to know.

  It was a female knight that he assumed based on the figure of the person and the breast-plate they were wearing. The knight was taller than him, being at least 6 ft tall, her armor had elegant engravings, being a mix color of silver and deep-red. She also wore a bellowing deep-red shoulder cape with a symbol of her kingdom on it. Her face could not be seen, as she wore a concealed draconic helmet with horns sticking out of the back.

  In her right hand was a longsword, a real masterpiece of a weapon. It was a single edged blade that looked as if it was made from the body of a silver scaled dragon, runic symbols could be seen etched within the blade itself. The same was true for the sheath that she carried by her hip. Her left arm was equipped with a buckler shield that was strapped tight, made up of a dark metal with a mix of gold engravings that shaped up to be one big runic symbol.

  The knight did not respond to his immediate question. Instead, he saw her turn to face him again with her blade being brandished outwards before getting into a ready stance, prepared to bolt towards him.

  Barry got the sense that she wasn’t willing to talk things out with him and drew his greatsword from his inventory. Thankfully, he was still able to have access to his system features like in the real world. “Alright, fine, let's talk with our swords.” He let go of his injury, ignoring the pain so that he could focus on his opponent.

  The two waited patiently for the other to make the first move, Barry figured that this knight had to be someone truly powerful based on the equipment he was seeing. Based on what he was seeing with his special eyes, this person had a complete set of high-grade equipment, from her armor to her weapons. Their text was a golden color that read “???”, so it had to be a higher tier of rarity than Heroic.

  Yeah, she’s pretty stacked with way better gear than what I have…” He clenched his teeth, gripping his greatsword tight. ‘But that doesn’t mean I should back down from this fight. Who does this person think she is to invade my dream.’

  He then shouted at her, urging the knight to get on with the fight. “Come on now! Do something, I’m getting bored just standing here-”

  In a blink of an eye, the knight vanished from her position in an instant. ‘W-Where did she go!?’ Barry swiveled his head around till he saw her now standing behind him, just a couple of feet away. “How did-”

  He collapsed to the ground, catching himself in time from landing face first. The tendons on his legs were severed with surgical precision, he was no longer able to stand back up. Despite the immense pain he was feeling, he did not cry out, but rather, he was enraged. “Who the hell are you!?” He asked again, turning his body around towards the knight, using his arms to move.

  The knight turned to face him again, looking down on Barry’s pitiful condition. Barry tried using his greatsword as a crutch and launched himself at her, in an attempt to grapple the knight but missed with an effortless sidestep. He would fall back down, only to get back up and try again. “I asked you a question! Who-”

  Barry felt the woman step on his back, pressing him down into the ground. “I admire your tenacity, Barry.” The knight spoke in a soft tone. “You don’t seem to know the meaning of defeat, even with those crippled legs of yours, you still choose to crawl and fight back. I’ll admit, that type of will is something I like about you…however…”

  ‘Wait, her voice sounds familiar! Could she be…the spirit woman!?’ He wondered. Barry struggled to get back up but felt something stab through his neck, he started choking.

  “You lack discipline, that raw sense of rage inside you will do more harm to others than it will for you.” She continued. “That sort of madness will only get you so far.” The woman then removed her blade from his throat, causing him to gargle on his blood.

  She flicked his blood clean off her sword and sheathed it, continuing to look down on him. “Now hurry up and die. I can not bear to watch you act like such a barbarian while you carry my king’s will within you. It’s embarrassing.”

  Barry’s vision began to fade in, as he slowly felt himself dying on the blank ground in his own pool of blood. ‘King’s…will? Is she…one of the knights I defeated from the tutorial?’ And with his last final thought of realization, Barry’s life would then come to an end in his dream.