"Hun?"

Enchained on his throne, Drogar awakened, feeling a change had occurred in the kingdom.

"Brook." he called in a rough and deep tone.

Dark matter progressively surged from the stony floor, bloating its way out of tiny fissures, until the thick and semi-solid texture took the form of a black-clothed skeleton. The wizard kneeled in respect to his sovereign.

"My liege."

"I've sensed a minute disruption in the timeline."

Brook almost stumbled on the news. Since the Betrayal, no one had turned back time. It could only mean one thing: a Fallen had descended.

"What would you have me do, my liege?"

Drogar crooked up an ugly grin under his dark hood.

"Find it. Kill it. Torment it. Torture it. And when the Fallen is broken."

He chuckled with a dark tone.

"Recruit it into our ranks."

"Yes, my liege."

His orders received, Brook left the same way he came. A gloomy silence returned in Meladin's once most prestigious room, leaving Drogar sitting alone on his golden throne. Flames, imbuing the chains keeping the necromancer prisoner, danced in the darkness, imperiled by the shadows slowly gnawing at them.

'So you have found a new puppet, Guardian.'

***

After he had bashed himself to death, the Fallen revived at the altar. And as per usual...

Blurgh!

"I can't get used to this feeling."

Disorientated, he sat down, unintentionally opening the status window.

__________

Name: ???

Titles: Fallen, Interrogator, Bone shatterer

Basic Stats:

- Strength Lv4 [Medium-L]

- Endurance Lv3 [Low-H]

- Mana Lv0 [Nonexistent] (your mana suck)

- Agility Lv2 [Low-M]

Skills:

- Alive but dead Lv14 [Divine]

- Reaper of souls Lv10 [Pinnacle-L]

- Will to survive Lv4 [Medium-L]

- Rage Lv4 [Medium-L]

Cause of previous death:

- Suicide

__________

"Ka?"

The Fallen narrowed 'his eyes' in disbelief, for a new skill had appeared: Rage. He was confused at where it came from. In his previous 'life', he had felt guilt, compassion, stupidity, despair, but not rage. He called upon every memory at his disposal, but nothing came to mind.

"Don't tell me..."

There was one event that may have given him this skill: Tolbar's death. The Fallen hadn't paid attention back then, but the barbarian's soul entered him.

"But it doesn't make sense, I've killed hundreds of skeletons but never got a skill from them. There must be an explanation."

He pondered on it for some time but only came to two conclusions: the victim must die willingly or be human. The skeletons he had killed were mindless puppets without a will of their own, apart from the wizard. But the black-clothed skeleton's soul did not manifest a skill.

He sighed, "Nevermind, I'll ruminate on it later."

The Fallen then examined the sp he had collected.

__________

Basic stats:

Strength Lv4 [Medium-L] (0/10000sp)

Endurance Lv3 [Low-high] (0/1000sp)

Mana Lv0 [Nonexistent] (0/50sp)

Agility Lv2 [Low-medium] (0/500sp)

Current sp: 2267

__________

The Fallen 'smirked.' 2267sp allowed him to do various things: buy information, items, or upgrade basic stats. Soul points might have other uses, but he didn't find them, yet. However, his sight was set upon one single goal.

"Goodbye, stupid comment!"

Click.

As soon as he upgraded his mana stat, formless energy started to circulate in his bosom like gusts of winds rotating around a singular point. The rotation hectically sped up, threatening the Fallen's rib cage to burst apart. In pain, he grabbed himself, trying to prevent the unknown force from exploding.

'Fuck, why does it have to be so painful.'

His bones fractured under the pressure. Unable to bear the pain, he screamed his heart out.

"AAAAH!"

And passed out.

***

The Fallen awoke, his head in shambles. Concerned, he proceeded to a body check.

"Leg bones? Ok. Arm bones? Intact. Skull? As handsomely white as before. Breast cage? In pristine condition. White ball? As shiny as ever... wait. Where did this thing come from?"

The result of his upgrade, a white shiny core, floated at the center of his chest, in between his ribs. The Fallen could feel some sort of power, probably mana, circulating in it. For the sake of experimentation, he tried to control it, but nothing happened. He felt disappointed since he has learned no spells until this point. He had hoped mana would at least boost his physical capabilities.

Sigh.

'At least now the commentary should have disappeared.'

Wush.

The stat window opened but...

__________

- Mana Lv1 Lowest (still suck)

__________

Crack.

The Fallen clenched his teeth, so hard some of them fissured. The previous painful experience forgotten, he frenetically smashed the level up ethereal button.

Click

Click

Click

A pain, incomparable to before invaded him. The foolish skeleton trembled and fell from shock, his back, arms, and legs rattling against the floor. The seizure strengthened, moving his body at jackhammer speed, crashing his bones with every friction.

'F,f,f,fuck!!!'

He died.

***

After he awoke again, the Fallen immediately checked his basic stats.

__________

Basic Stats:

Mana Lv4 [Medium-low] (0/10000sp) (still suck)

Current sp: 267

Cause of previous death:

- Mana burst (LOL)

__________

An immense wave of rage almost clouded his mind, but the Fallen thought back to his previous painful experiences and decided to calm down, realizing his idiocy won't help him.

He sat in a corner of the room, relaxed, and contemplated his past mistakes. Now that he calmly pondered about it, he had died three times because he hadn't thought things through before acting. The Fallen could have avoided his previous death if he had stuck to level up his mana step by step.

Sigh.

'Mental note for next time: no foolish acts.'

Done with ruminating, he noticed a change in his mana core. Instead of white, the ball was now slightly red. Unaware of the meaning, but also tired of thinking, he decided to move out.

'I should get going.'

With a goal in mind, he pulled the doors open, quickly disposed of the skeletons, and got ready to confront the colossi. However, the remaining piles of bones didn't move.

He clicked his tongue at the idea of missing on a 1000sp and continued his journey to save a soul he had already absorbed in the past timeline.

Out of the graveyard he took the road to the east. His last itinerary had brought him all kinds of troubles by passing through the center of the kingdom. Though he had reached Calm faster than predicted, he also lost time because of the incessant undead swarms. He had been forced to hide and run; an experience he deemed enough for one life.

He walked non-stop for two weeks in direction of mount Frockford located in the east at the edge of the map. This time, hiding and fleeing had been less frequent. In fact, every time he had encountered undead they were heading at the center of the map. He immediately recalled the army expanding as far as the horizon. The thought of confronting such a force sent a shiver down his spine.

Tired, he decided to find a safe location to spend the incoming night. The Fallen walked out of the earthen main path to take a sideroad in direction of Cairn, a small village nearby, hoping to find a secured abandoned habitat.

Prudently advancing on the path, he examined everything in his peripheral vision in search of any danger. Ashes on the ground. Normal. Black trees with sprouting leaves. Normal. Dark clouds covering the sky. Normal.

Everything seemed fine so far, thus he allowed himself to walk faster. Soon enough, a village progressively appeared on the horizon. A few minutes later, the Fallen reached his goal but immediately took cover and began planning.

In his field of observation, tightly bound pieces of chopped trees were pegged into the ground, forming crude protective walls. A man and a woman dressed in gambeson, black pants, and a sword strapped to their belt, guarded a double-door gate.

'I thought all the humans gathered in Cartela.'

The skeleton elaborated his plan, sheltered behind a wide black tree. Last time, humans reacted awfully to his appearance. Therefore, he took out the ring of fake humanity and wore it. Now 'human', he left his hiding place and walked towards the deforested area on which the village had been built, hoping for the best.

It didn't take long before the guards drew their swords at the sight of an unusual visitor. In those parts of Talmera, only undeads came from time to time. No humans apart from those living in Cairn passed by.

"Halt!" said the woman, "name and business!"

'Couldn't she speak in full sentences?' the Fallen thought, 'A name...'

His human face darkened because this was precisely one of the reasons he resolved himself to clear this dungeon. However, the idea never crossed the Fallen to give himself a name. But at that moment, nothing came to mind.

If he had to come up with a name, it should be one that is useful in the long term. He wanted it to remind him of his weaknesses so that when pronounced, the name would hint at his flaw. The goal behind it was to improve his control over anger, particularly against a certain structure. Therefore...

"My name is Mana Stillsuck."