“Why… why!” He barked at the wall, full of hatred towards this cursed nightmare.
He cursed it all.
This nightmare.
His life.
The spell.
He cursed it all.
Wiping the tears and blood from his face, he focused on the runes and looked for something.
And then he found it.
Staring at the shimmering golden runes with hatred and contempt in his sharp blue eyes, he read… Memory: [Explosive Grasp].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Tier: I.
Memory Type: Weapon.
He grit his teeth and continued reading.
Memory Description: [This gauntlet is forged from the severed hand of the Awakened human, Riley, who lost his life in the ravenous maw of the boy he loved, these gloves have a chance to trigger an Explosion following an attack.] “Shit…” Koda bit his lip and continued reading.
Not knowing how it worked, Koda simply focused on the idea of the gauntlets appearing on his hands.
And so… they did.
Around Koda’s thin hands, white sparks appeared and formed dark brown fingerless gloves with sharp silver plating on the knuckles.
“I… got a memory from my first ever kill.
From a human too.
How sick.” He said, voice still very broken and with no enthusiasm.
His mind was broken, he was tired, but he knew this was it.
This was the end.
If he made his way out of the cellar and destroyed the remaining section of the village while Old Bram got devoured by the nightmare creature he had held so close… The nightmare should end.
Koda grit his teeth and walked forward.
His body felt new, it felt strong.
Gone was the weak, frail boy.
Now, all he could feel was immense power rushing through his veins.
Pulling his fist back, he grit his teeth and swung his fist forward with everything he had.
“Die!” He yelled as his fist collided with the large debris.
Nothing happened.
Koda didn’t stop, his other fist flew forward and met the rubble.
Nothing happened.
He continued.
And then… KA—BOOM!
The rubble exploded outward, sending shards of rock and debris flying everywhere.
Koda wanted this nightmare to end, so he moved with everything he had left.
He rushed up those stairs faster than he had ever moved before with his eyes bloodshot, drenched in blood and sweat.
“I want… to go home!
I don’t even care… I don’t care about my damn rewards, I just want… to live!” He yelled, voice breaking as he stumbled.
Pushing himself up and through the cellar door, he lay on the cold floor of the cursed butchery where he had spent the past week or so carving human flesh.
He felt sick, but once again, his body refused and pushed the bile back down into his stomach.
Gritting his teeth, he punched the wall.
And… BOOM!
It blew apart.
But… it wasn’t enough.
Koda had kinda figured this would happen, the enchantment only mentioned a ‘Minor Explosion.’ After all, his plan of destroying the entire village was not gonna happen.
“Then… I’ll wait for the Old Butcher to die and surely then I’ll be able to leave, right?
It’s not like that creature would come after me.” Koda said, pushing open the exit of the butchery and walking out into the very alleyway he had entered the nightmare in.
He looked around at all of the decimated buildings and corpses.
Riley was a monster, if only there was a healer by his side or just any kind of medical treatment available to him… he would’ve certainly been someone notable.
But fate had other plans.
It didn’t seem like there was anything Koda could’ve done differently to stop the boy from dying in this damn starving village.
Maybe if he was stronger?
Maybe if he didn’t hesitate to eat?
Maybe… No.
He couldn’t afford to think about maybes, he needed to get the hell out of this nightmare right now.
There had to be something he could do.
Maybe there were still some villagers alive?
That would make sense, if there were more villagers then the zombie infection still had the possibility of spreading.
Koda had to keep thinking, if he didn’t, then his mind would break.
He had been through hell, butchering the meat of his fellow humans and then even eating his only friend in this nightmare.
And then, he heard the voice of his goal.
And at that moment, he knew what he had to do.
A gruff, old, terrifying voice came from behind him.
“Oi… brat.” Koda turned around slowly, eyes narrowed and body stiff.
Across the street was a tall, muscular but fat man.
His stomach was bloated and he was bleeding all over, multiple worm-like parasites protruded from his body and he had many fleshy tentacles dragging across the floor behind him.
Old Bram had somehow managed to kill the creature.
He was still holding his bloody cleaver and was breathing heavily, drenched head to toe in dark red blood and staring at Koda with pure unbridled hatred.
Koda clenched his fists and stared back, equally as hateful.
“You… actually managed to kill that thing?” He asked, voice hoarse.
Old Bram let out a shaky breath.
“Of course I did.
You must really underestimate me if you think I’d die so willingly.” He said, his angry expression turning manic as a vulgar grin spread across his face.
Koda grit his teeth, body trembling.
“It’s all your fault.
You could’ve killed that thing ages ago.
You could’ve just let it die, but you decided to feed it all those villagers.
You went as far as to kill children like that kid, Nathan.” He barked.
“And you’re the one who chopped that kid into pieces.” Old Bram shrugged.
“Where’s that friend of yours?
Are the injuries too bad?” He asked with a mocking grin.
Koda bared his teeth as multiple veins popped out from his forehead.
“Don’t you dare even mention him.” He said, clenching his fists so hard that he felt like he could break the [Explosive Grasp].