Chapter 1: Sacrifice

  Fay swirled around in his thoughts, he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, if at all. He had a few winks of drowsiness that may have turned into a narcoleptic light sleep but it lacked any power to remove that constant heaviness he felt in his mind, his eyes were delayed by a second and his movements were sluggish. Today was initiation day, selected as one of the sacrifices to the gods.

  He hadn’t forgotten the day the prophet shouted his name out, a week ago, a week of no sleep. His name was among twenty other peoples that likely weren’t sleeping either. He wasn’t one for fighting, in fact his dad, before being selected too, was a simple fletcher, making neat designs on arrows and leather pouches. It hadn’t done him much good money wise, which is why he was chosen to be sacrificed a few years before. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, of course, so he was next.

  “Urghhhhh.” Fay groaned as he got up from his bed, if you could call it that, it was an arrangement of sheets and fabric tucked neatly into an abandoned horse stable. He needed to get up quickly so as to not be late for the sacrifice, he looked at himself in the mirror for a moment, brushed his dirty egg shell coloured hair to be away from his eyes, settled into some leather armor that was fit for an archer and walked out the door holding a blunt dagger that couldn't cut his own skin.

  A couple of guards were outside of his stable, they were quick to grab his arms and guide him up the hill, the walk would be rather quick since the place he was staying at was the higher slums, the island was split into three distinct sections and they made sure the richer folk could live by the shore and enjoy the fish and daytime activities.

  The path they were taking was full of old wooden huts that were a kick away from caving inwards and muddy stone walkways. People were beginning to peek out of their windows to look at Fay, they knew he was going to be one of the ones sent down as a sacrifice, so they didn’t bother treating him like an alive person anymore.

  “Stop being so rough…” Fay spoke softly, needing to put up at least some of a fight. Both the guards who were holding each of his arms held him tighter, bruising him around the armpits. They didn’t respond. “You feel good about killing kids?”

  They didn’t respond. “Because that’s what this is, you know, killing kids.”

  They didn’t respond. The uphill was becoming taxing on Fay, his legs dragged behind, he wasn't one for exercise. “I’m outta breath, come on.”

  They didn’t respond. “Assholes.” Fay could see the top of the hill where the celebrations were taking place. The houses became a bit more governed, with colourful flags plastered across the more brick and stone buildings. People were banging drums and yelling out, obviously the first few sacrifices had already arrived.

  He got closer to the noise as the hill flattened out, there he could see a big stone circular platform, where 12 people, much similar to him in appearance, were shaking and waiting. Alongside the platform were hundreds if not thousands of people waving from windows and cheering with whistles. It was overwhelming to the point where Fay wanted to stuff his fingers into his ears and scream the noise away, counterproductively.

  The crowd made a split so Fay could be walked up the platform, both the guards let go of Fay and watched him as he slowly, with his head down, stumbled up the steps with the 12 other sacrifices.

  From the platform, which was about two meters high, he could see the crowd and the stage ahead, where the prophet was sitting with what must've been ten guards to protect him. Fay didn’t care much for it, keeping his head down.

  He settled near a kid with a shaved head, little prickles where hair should have been, he must've thought it would help in combat. “Hey…” Fay smiled and waved at him, he didn’t respond.

  A few minutes passed and the remaining 7 people arrived, one being a noble, who was unlucky enough to be in the draw and to be chosen. He was fully stocked up with weapons, armour and most likely skills.

  The prophet ahead, on a wooden stage that poked up above the crowd so he could see eye to eye with the sacrifices, stood up, and everyone became dead quiet. “Hellllloooo!” He said, in his usual flamboyant voice, he wasn’t too old like the last prophet, he was young, thirty maybe. He had dazzling dark purple hair and wore a white robe that was glowing in the blue skylight. “Hello?” He stomped his foot. “Hello!” He screamed.

  “Hello…” Everyone on the platform spoke at the same time, harmonizing between high and low voices.

  “Thank you.” He coughed a few times and held his hand up, “as you know, once a year a few lucky denizens get the right to be chosen as the god’s sacrifices once they turn eighteen, as you know, as im sure, you all have been chosen.” He put his hand down and bowed, “you will be sent down and give it your all to combat the evil that has wrought our world. Yes?”

  “Yes…” everyone said.

  “You will not go out burdened!” He waved his hands up and everyone cheered, “as with the last, and the last before, you will all be given a small present before your departure, hold out your hand!”

  Fay almost forgot to, being the last to whisk his hand out since he was bored and dazed from the situation already, he held his hand out and a small ball appeared. This was usual, they were standard issue and cheap to make. Would only bring common to uncommon skills and could only be used on a person once. If this was a god's gift, then it was a very shitty one.

  The ball soaked into his hand, phasing into the skin and muscle and bone and a shot of heat spread across his body, passing from his spine to the tips of his fingers and leaving everything with thumping pins and needles.

  [You have received a status.]

  Fay could barely be bothered to open it, he wasn’t excited like a few other sacrifices, he knew how this went. They would be slaughtered as soon as they got sent out. The shaven boy next to him gave out a big grin.

  “Uncommon!” He pumped his fist, looking around for someone in the crowd, a familiar that wasn’t there.

  “What was it?” Fay asked, any moment now they would be sent out, the platform would glow blue and they'd disappear forever.

  “Butcher, I can find weak points.” He said in an overtly prideful tone, that was one of the best uncommons you could probably get from those stones. “What did you get?”

  “Uh…”

  [Status]

  [Fay]

  HP: (48/60)

  MP: (80/80)

  [Race: Human (lvl 1)]

  [Profession: (NONE)]

  [Class: (NONE)]

  Stats:

  Vitality: 6

  Endurance: 3

  Strength: 3

  Defense: 1

  Agility: 5

  Wisdom: 10

  Intelligence: 8

  Perception: 10

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Input points: 0

  Skills:

  [NEWLY OBTAINED]

  Stop Momentum (COMMON: LVL 1): Be able to stop momentum on any object by touching it.

  I’m dead, Fay thought. “I have the worst one,” Fay shrugged, trying to downplay just how distraught he may or may not be becoming. He was too tired to be terrified so his emotions settled into a deep and pathetic dread. This skill was practically useless with his mana reserves, as the time you could freeze something would be barely for half a second and the size of the object would also play into the mana cost. He could freeze his own momentum fairly easily, as activating a skill on oneself reduces cost, but still, it was useless.

  The boy next to him nodded, “‘kay.” He quickly shifted away and began to plot with some of the other people on the platform. The small ridges below them began to glow blue and the crowd riled up again.

  Fay looked around and saw a few others with the same look as his, even the noble was slightly stricken with annoyance, though no matter what skill he had, that armor and sword that he had in his sheath would make at least the lower tier monsters tremble. No doubt enchanted and enhanced by the greatest smiths on the island.

  The platform began to pulsate, beginning an organic timer. He felt it in his bones that it would happen soon. He wanted to join up with some group, there were a few formations of four, people who desperately wanted to survive. He even recognised another person, that being Jason from the same slums as him. But it was all for nothing. His feet left the ground and he felt himself shot like a cannon into a deep dark abyss.

  He woke up standing upright, his feet in damp grass, he realised he hadn’t brought shoes, he realised he hadn’t brought much of anything, except for basic armor for his chest and a dagger, his arms were out in the open and his pants only covered down to his shins. He could see that he was in a forest, average as the average could be, the trees were large but not too large, he could wrap his arms around most of them. He wasn’t sure what to expect, he had heard stories that the sacrifices get sent to hell, or to a battle zone where gods fought mortals. This was rather normal.

  He did a few jumps to get the blood flowing and tried to listen for anything, there was a rustle in bushes, but who was to say that it wasn’t just the wind. He turned to a certain bush that had shuffled a bit, a little squeak coming from it.

  “Ohhh…?” Fay stepped toward it, holding his dagger firmly in his hand. He had formed a slight strategy before being sent here; if it was going to be hell on earth, he would need to get rid of the weaklings so he could at least make some progress. “Is that a rabbit?” He guessed, taking a further step forward, the bush ruffled again and white fur poked out.

  It was either now or never, he told himself, so he gripped the dagger with both hands and tried to pierce the small creature. Apparently the little rabbit had the same idea, as it plunged outward towards the dagger, it hopped off the blunt edge of the knife and took a mouth-sized chunk out of Fay’s thumb. Its teeth were razor sharp and began to chew its meal as Fay dropped the dagger with a yelp. It landed on the grass with the blade poking into the dirt.

  [Activated Stop Momentum]

  In the haze of battle he accidentally activated his skill on himself, stopping the downward plunge and resetting as if he was resting in that position. That allowed him to step backwards as the rabbit leapt forward again towards his body.

  The rabbit missed by a few centimeters, but without any weapon Fay couldn’t exactly do any counter attack, so he resorted to kicking the rabbit as it landed, stepping on its tiny head with enough force to concuss it. Despite that, the rabbit managed to take a chunk out of Fay’s big toe before hopping back, staggering slightly near the bush.

  Fay’s hand began to drip with blood, trickling down to his wrist and elbow. His mind finally startled awake, the sleepiness on the platform was overwhelmed by complete and total adrenaline.

  Fay took a step back and prepared some sort of fighting stance, what he had seen swordsmen take, but without any sword. “Come… come at me!” He said, cringing slightly at himself.

  The rabbit was then hacked in half by a lumber axe. A boy, Jason, had stalked up to it and hit the final blow. “Christ you’re loud.” He noted, picking up the dagger and chucking it to Fay. “This wasn’t what I expected.” He brushed his ginger hair, he was a short boy, known for woodworking, making chairs and sometimes even cute little birds. Fay had met him a few times as their dads had a good relationship, they were kind of childhood friends, though not really as of late.

  [Slain Blood Rabbit (LVL 1)]

  +2 XP

  “You okay Fay?”

  “Might be bleeding out but…” Fay held the dagger in his uninjured hand, the other was still dripping blood, “what's your skill?” He was hoping that it was something related to healing, please let it be related to healing.

  “Taste buds, common…” he sighed, “guessing yours isn't too good either.” He started to collect leaves from a bush and kindly walked over, wrapping Fay's injured hand the best he could, same with his foot.

  So we are both losers, Fay thought to himself, taste buds, from what he could remember, just made food slightly better tasting and made it so everything gave him better nutrition, so even a good old leaf would give some protein. “Thanks.”

  They stood around awkwardly for a moment. Fay flexed his wrapped hand, wincing at the sting. The leaves were already soaking through with red. "So," he started, glancing around the forest, "you landed near me?"

  "About fifty meters that way." Jason pointed with the axe. "Heard you screaming at a bush and figured I'd investigate before something bigger did.”

  "I wasn't screaming.”

  “Uhuh?” He rested the axe on his shoulder, “we need to find more people, strength in numbers and all that.” He was obviously pondering the situation, this wasn’t a warzone, it felt more like a preparation for a warzone. “Why do you look like that?” He looked back at him.

  Fay touched his face, “huh? Like what?”

  “Depressed… no that's not the word… bored?”

  The truth was, Fay really didn’t feel anything towards this. He had come to terms that he was going to be sent to death, and the thought of trying to dance away from it like a decapitated chicken seemed almost pathetic. He was never the type to struggle, if he was going to lose then he would never try to win.

  A scream pierced their ears, coming from behind them. It was far enough that they didn’t feel in danger, but it almost certainly kept them on their toes. Jason instantly sprang into action to run towards it. And even though Fay thought that was a stupid idea, to run towards danger, he decided to follow. Wincing each and every time he had to take a step on his injured foot, he couldn’t believe that he was about to be beaten by a rabbit in a fight.

  They swerved through trees, the ground was ridden with sticks and stones that were uncomfortable to say the least as they stepped over them. Fay thought it was very selfish for Jason to go running off like this, but couldn't really blame him, he needed companions that could actually fight.

  The screams filled the air again, right in front of them he could see a split in between trees where it opened up into a grassy field, there were two people and one corpse being eaten by a bear. Well, corpse wasn’t the right word as the person being eaten was almost certainly alive for now, he was groaning as the bear kept sniffing its face and trying to fit it in its mouth. It kept leaning its full weight on the person's stomach and you could hear him yelping and cracking ribs, he was almost a corpse.

  “Nope.” Fay stopped at the edge of the opening, along with Jason who had the same idea of to get the hell out of there, no way they would be able to beat a bear in a fight. The creature was almost six feet tall and had the weight of a boulder on its side. It seemed fairly content with eating one of the people while the others just watched while paralyzed in fear.

  Jason held both his arms up and swung them in a hefty wave, catching the attention of the buzz cut kid from before, who was holding a very basic sword. He kept trying to prime himself to attack the bear but at the last moment pulled back, so of course the moment he saw other people, he came running.

  The other survivor, a girl fitted in a cloak, ran too, but with a little less urgency, joining them in the forest. “Back inside.” Jason commanded them, retreating instantly. Fay didn’t need to be convinced, he followed while the sounds of the bear mauling its prey got quieter and quieter.

  “I could’a, I could’a” The buzz cut kid kept repeating, his words were painted red with guilt, he had the strongest skill after all, he should have taken action. He held his sword downwards and nervously chewed on the wooden handle, ingraining little bite marks. “I should’a, I should’a.”

  The cloaked girl looked completely calm in a fake way, her face was a stone statue, she looked at Fay and gave him a polite nod. Her curly long black hair hid most of her face, some of the strands sticking to her forehead where sweat had appeared. Once they were out of danger, hopefully, they began to talk.

  Jason took the commanding position, “Okay, okay, names and skills.” He said, like it was some motto he came up with, or a catchphrase. He was trying to stand as tall as he could, but even the cloaked girl in her boots was looking down at him. “Hey.” He snapped his fingers in front of the nervous boy, stopping him from chewing, “name and skill.”

  “Oh… uh… m’names Bark… and… m’skill is Butcher.” He whispered quietly, “I’m sorry…” he began to cry into his hands, dropping the sword by his feet so he could wipe his face.

  The cloak girl bowed, “Millie, I am actually a healer, practiced for two years, so I have an official class.” Her voice was one fit for a healer, soothing to the soul, buttery, milky, whatever other words defined smoothness. Not a stutter in sight, like she had planned her words years ahead of time.

  “Skill?” Jason had visibly relaxed, having a healer was incredibly important. But that went without saying.

  Fay also relaxed because that meant the injuries on his hands would stop being so annoying, he wanted to drop to his knees and beg for a spell but he kept his cool. He didn’t do well with pain, pain was too painful for him.

  Millie shook her head and removed the cloaked hood, revealing her face more clearly. She was definitely not a poor girl, but not rich either, you could tell by how many lines one had in their face, “not important. You two?”

  Fay had also checked her hands as she had them both placed in front of her in a respective gesture, they were calloused, definitely used to hard labour. Healer my ass, Fay thought.

  “I got the taste bud skill, and uh, Jason, nice to meet you. Fay here, my childhood friend, has the stop momentum skill, so we kinda need help, ya know? Pity us?” Jason brought Fay into a side hug, smiling desperately.

  Millie stared right into Fay’s eyes, “I pity you.” She turned, “shall we go find shelter? A cave would be nice, a river would be better. Anything that allows a peripheral.” She took charge and led the way, “I will heal you Fay, when we get somewhere safer.” She promised, noticing the wounds he had already collected, a tiny smile on her face.