6 At Deaths Door

Uncle Magni was not a perfect man; in fact, he was far from it. At times he would get so drunk that Dad and I would have to carry him home from the tavern. He never bought something without trying to bargain the price down.

When Uncle Magni would teach me something new, he had no patience.

"Sympathy for weakness is weakness itself." He would say in a deep, commanding voice at any chance he had.

God, I miss him.

On that night five years ago, Uncle Magni had performed the impossible, carrying something that no one else could have. The town had measured his tracks, and he'd run over 80 miles at record speeds. Then he cut down a mysterious oak tree growing at the Base of the Cela Down Mountains.

From the look of the stump, Dad said it came down in 2 or 3 hits? That wood had no rot. The tree had been a hundred feet tall. They had measured its impact left in the snow, but the tree was gone? Had no one dragged any tree through the snow? Uncle Magni must have carried it because his tracks changed drastically. No longer was it enormous beast like strides, but profound impacts that had cracked the earth beneath him. It was ridiculous, but there was no other explanation.

His tracks led up the tallest Mountain in Cela Down. Then he'd brought back that strange book.

No one can budge it or even open its cover; not even the Anongrath mages stood a chance. That crazy thing remains where Uncle Magni drew his last breath.

My Uncle was a true "man's man."

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Hagar felt confused, was he remembering his Uncle, or seeing his life flash before his eyes? He had temporarily lost consciousness from the pain of having his hand ripped off. But as he came to, he was still confused.

Time inched forward. Hagar watched in slow-motion as the Leucrotta gnashed then spat his right hand into the snow.

Hagar realized it was not eating him to feed itself; this thing was simply an asshole. He felt rage build inside his chest.

Its teeth were visibly stained red as its jaws opened as big as possible before it clamped down again and started to tear more flesh from Hagar's arm. Bones cracked further. The pain could finally be felt, like searing hot needles and pins. It also snapped Hagar out of his foggy state.

He refused just to lay here and die. To just get shredded apart slowly and viciously. He realized if he did nothing, his cousin, Magni's only son, would die as well.

Hagar grabbed his skinning knife and jammed it in the Leucrotta's right eye with everything he had. He was not used to using his left hand, but the long curved blade hit its mark. The knife punctured its eyeball and sliced its eyelid as well. The blade reached the back of its eye socket and separated the halves of the eyeball.

The Leucrotta recoiled in great pain and allowed Hagar to escape from his pinned position.

He made full use of the chance and scrambled to his feet. He decided to jump upon the Leucrotta's back while wrapping his mangled and handless arm around its neck. He plunged the knife into its shoulders and chest with his left-hand several times. He continued to do so until the blade snapped off.

Hagar's jaws returned the beast's malice in full. His teeth sunk into its ear as he reefed backward as intensely as he could. At first, he ripped only a chunk, so he tried again. This time Hagar took another bite much closer to the monster's head and clenched his teeth as hard as he could. He pierced its thick skin, and Hagar tasted sour juices and blood but continued his attack regardless. He viciously peeled back a portion of Leucrotta hide several inches, exposing a small piece of its skull.

The Leucrotta was enraged, and it gurgled and snarled as it tried to shake Hagar off of its back.

Mars had cast Prestidigitation at the Leucrotta to set it on fire, but tier 0 spells didn't have enough power to work in an attacking capacity. At least not from a five-year-old Wizard.

Hagar had wrapped his other arm around its neck, but the Leucrotta went into a frenzy. His grip struggled to hold on but was gradually loosening. Its jaws repeatedly snapped shut, making distinct clacking sounds.

Heroically enough, Hagar had lasted almost 4 minutes now. He was not blessed by gods, or granted buff spells from someone. He was using his own strength. No one else in the entire town could have held on like Hagar was.

Not even Magni.

As the struggle reached the four-minute mark, his grip finally loosened and broke.

Hagar flew off to the side as the Leucrotta snarled and turned to try and follow his flailing body.

After Hagar landed, It immediately started to attempt stomping him. A left hoof slammed down on his right shoulder and broke it.

It continued with another stomp in the same area. The Leucrotta was foaming and growling as it attacked. It released some of its anger and did two quick bites in succession to Magni's left shoulder and his abdomen. Then it switched back to stomping and slammed on both of Hagar's knees.

Mars realized there was nothing he could do and was going to run away when the haggard monster looked to him and said, "Dtx qaddqx isx qiiez duzdg..." the same as it had before.

His cousin was going to die brutally in front of him. Then he would die as well. Would he return to that Cloning Bay!?

Dying was terrible, but the cloning bay was inhumane. Mars felt desperation, and his head began to spin.

The Leucrotta then turned back to Hagar, and just as it was going to smash his head in, a feminine voice yelled out.

"Faer missile!" five blue orbs sped towards the monster at a blistering pace. They each connected simultaneously upon its face and chest. The Leucrotta knocked backward several feet as the brilliant lights exploded. The skin violently ripped from the entire left side of its head, and deep impressions dug through bone, fat, and muscle. Five gruesome holes remained in its head and chest from the blue orbs. Bits of skin, flesh, and teeth littered the ground in a bloody mess.

The Leucrotta simply collapsed, and Mars absorbed some of its life-force. He felt pure euphoria. It was like a drug, the feeling of power increasing.

All of a sudden, a loud ding rang in Mars's head.

A transparent white screen with thick black letters suddenly appeared in front of him! This had never happened before.

Greed activated.

1400 experience received.

Lvl 2 Achieved

Lvl 3 Achieved.

You have 2 tier 0 skill points

You have 4 tier 1 skill points

You have 2 tier 2 skill points

You have 1 unique skill point

These were notifications. He saw other tabs labeled at the top of the screen.

Stats-Quests-Inventory-Map-Spells

Mars was stunned; he instinctively knew how to control this screen. He minimized it for the time being as he would not be making any rash decisions after such a life-threatening situation. Plus, his cousin was dying before his eyes.

The tall and slender woman in the distance casually walked a couple of steps towards them. Then she suddenly glowed a bright blue. She flicked her wrist, making a quick hand gesture, and said some word "iorwe". Immediately she traveled over 100 feet towards them. As she arrived, a quick flash of blue emerged, and there she was.

She was about 5'10" tall and had long silky white hair that blew in the wind. Her ears were oddly long yet captivating, and her skin was as white as snow. Her eyes were ultraviolet and seemed to be swirling with energy.

She wore costly looking items. Her dress was so long you could not see her feet, and it trailed behind her. It seemed to be alive. It was deep blue with golden trim. She had on Matching Blue Gloves with gold and had a short furry black cape over her shoulders.

She also had a golden glowing necklace, some sort of intricate thin metallic headband, and many rings.

She carried a twisted and wooden staff. It was thin at the bottom and grew thicker at the top; A large blue Icosahedron gem stuck out of it.

"Hi, Sal'm Orlilin Finaena. Va / var (pl) akh be Mars!!" She sounded extremely cheerful despite the situation. " Deshu sal win Tel' (emphasis) tournament Sal'll be vian / viaren (pl) aerister!!" Mars did not understand what she said; she was a race he'd never seen before.

She lifted her arm in the direction of Hagar's severed hand and directed her index finger at Hagar's location. His hand floated over to where Hagar was lying in the snow.

She reached into space itself, and half of her arm seemed to disappear as she leaned in. Then as she retracted her hand, she was holding a medium-sized scroll. It was rolled up and bound with a red seal. She tossed it into the air and yelled, "Orisa ath limbs!".

The scroll opened, then burst into a green flame and disintegrated. Hagar's hand returned to his body, and his lost/damaged tissue began to regrow. His bones realigned and healed as well.