Tales of Astaria: Chapter 2: Rebirth!

Am I dead?

"...."

The last thing I remember, I was getting crushed to death. Am I dreaming, or is this heaven?

Opening my eyes, I soon realized this was not heaven. Somehow I was alive. Sitting up quickly, I took in my new surroundings.

The memories of what had transpired flashed in my mind helping me place where I was. "The tomb... Did I fall here? This place looks more like a cave." I said to myself out loud.

"I should be dead... I don't understand what is going on."

Lifting my hands off the floor, I started to examine my body for the wounds that should have been there.

"Nothing... I'm fine? Not a scratch on me..." I said astounded.

"But my arm?" I said, looking it over.

"I could have sworn it was broken..."

"And my legs..." I said, remembering the flesh melting off of the bone.

Somehow the larger than normal muscles that made up my arms, legs and body had escaped my attention until now.

"What in the hell are these muscles!" I shouted as I jumped to my feet.

Trying to examine my body, I looked for something to help me see better. I found a small pool of water on the cave floor, running over I crouched down to take a good look at my reflection.

"What in the!" I screamed in shock.

My hair was now white and a little longer than before, slightly slicked back with two bangs hanging on either side of my face. My muscles were now larger and more toned than before, considering I had pretty much no muscle mass before I woke up, the now larger ones were pretty easy to notice. My eyes had also changed from blue to a blood-red colour, almost looking demonic.

"Having fun are we?" A deep voice echoed in my mind.

The surprise caused me to jump back in shock.

"W-Who's there!" I shouted.

"Now now little hero. Don't you remember me?" The voice said with a chuckle.

My eyes opened wide in horror as I realized who the voice belonged to.

"You!" I shouted as I searched the cave for the monster that had killed my friends and tried to steal my body.

"Calm yourself, little hero. You won't find me in this cave."

"What do you mean!" I asked, not letting my guard down.

"It would seem that the stealing of your soul and body backfired." The demon said in an angry and confused tone.

I looked at my hand for a second and made a fist trying to think.

"That doesn't explain anything you stupid monster!" I shouted.

"How dare a lowly human talk to me like that!" The monster shouted back.

"You killed them... You killed my friends! Then you tried to trick me and steal my body! Just what in the hell has happened to me?"

"...."

It was silent for a moment before the monster spoke again.

"A demon lord by nature, I thought I told you that when I offered you your revenge."

This time I fell silent as I remembered the whole ordeal.

"Why am I not dead?" I asked, turning to look at my reflection in the water once more, taking in my new appearance.

"And what has happened to my body?"

"Even in my thousands of years of existence, I have never seen anything like this before... From what I understand, the merging of our souls was interrupted by my untimely end, hence transferring only part of my being into you. The sudden halt of the merging process could have."

"Explain it so I can understand!" I shouted, cutting him off, still angry and confused.

"Hmm... In laymen's terms. My soul is now trapped inside of you, granting you my powers and abilities."

I fell back onto the ground, sitting down as I tried to take in all of the information.

"Your body is absorbing my power as we speak. Very slowly, my power is becoming yours. It would explain the physical changes to your body. A non-magical being suddenly infused with the power of a demon lord. Usually, your body would have exploded from the intense concentration of magic. But, for some reason unknown to me, you are still alive. Fascinating really."

The words didn't sink in. Instead, they just bounced around my head, confusing me more and more.

"This can't be real... That's right, its all just a bad dream." I said as the mental anguish was becoming too much to bear.

Sitting on my knees, I held my head in my hands. The image of Alex and the others playing over and over again in my mind.

"No! Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" I screamed, tears falling from my eyes. My mind was starting to crack. All of the emotion I felt was flooding out with nothing holding it back.

"That's right little hero. Cry like the weak human you are. You don't have what it takes to make it in this world, nor to avenge your friends." The demon spat in disgust.

"Hurry up and die so I can be reborn!" The demon roared.

The words hit deep. They echoed inside the black abyss of my consciousness, the memories of Alex's final moments playing once more.

"Run Lucian, you have to survive... Save yourself!"

"...."

A brief moment past as I slowly regained my sanity.

"He saved me... He sacrificed his life for mine..."

"So if I die... You come back anyway?" I asked, slowly standing up.

"That's right little hero. So hurry up and do us both a favour."

"If not dying means that you suffer... Then I refuse to die. I refuse to let their death go unpunished! I refuse to let you or that so-called god get away with this!"

Reaching into the darkest parts of my being, a place I never knew existed. I found a new purpose. I would live, doing everything in my power to survive until my friend's deaths had been avenged.

"If I can't kill you, I will make you suffer inside this body for as long as I can. I will take your power and use it to kill that god."

"HAHAHAHAHA! Big words for such a small boy." The demon said as it ceased its laughing.

"Very well, I find you amusing! Who knows, this could be fun."

I remained quiet for some time as I tried to decide what to do next. As much as I hated to admit it, The demon was right. Big words were all I was good for right now. With no idea where to even to start, how was I supposed to kill a God? Shit, I couldn't even get out of this dungeon.

Something in the corner of my vision caught my attention. At first, I hadn't noticed it, but now I had seen it, it was hard to unsee.

"What the hell is that?" I said as I tried to wave it out of my sight.

Suddenly a large screen like display popped up, opening in front of me.

"What is this?" I said as I studied it carefully.

"My name is displayed. Abilities? Just what in the world is going on here?"

After looking at the display, I quickly realized it was a status menu just like the one in the new game I had been playing. It was complete with my character information, and ability display as well as my HP and Mana bar.

"This can't be real?" I said, taking a closer look.

The HP bar was red and unlike the game, mine had no numbers. My Mana bar was the same, no numbers, just a blue bar. I poked the abilities section and my suspicions were confirmed that it had a touch screen function.

"Regeneration? Can I really do that? That would explain why I have no injuries from before. Fireproof? Power of wrath? Are these the powers of that demon?"

"Have I really been summoned to a fantasy world..." I said as I closed the status menu with a swipe of my hand.

I closed my eyes for a moment as I tried to clear my mind.

"Hey, demon," I said in my head.

A short moment passed before he replied.

"Yes, little hero?" It replied in its demonic tone.

I confirmed that I could talk to the monster in my head and out loud, now it was time to get some information.

"Where am I? What is this place? I want to know. I need to know everything." I demanded.

"Very well. I'm not so opposed to giving you at least that much." The demon said without resistance.

-Sometime later-

The demon had given me information all about this world; it was almost too much to take in. My suspicions had been confirmed; this world was pretty much the same as the new game I had been playing. Tales of Astaria. Or in this case. Just Astaria.

A true fantasy world complete with magic, Elves, monsters and dragons. It turns out the god who summoned my friends and I here, was the god of all humans in this world. From what I could understand him and the other gods lived above the world in the heavens.

Satan, the demon who was now sealed inside of my body, also told me that there were seven demon lords, including himself. They had all been sealed away by the last heroes summoned by the gods 1000 years ago.

"That fool Khazotz tried to summon you all alone. Even if he is a God, he is still not powerful enough to summon a group of heroes alone." The demon lord finished.

My rage was starting to build again as the memories of my dead friends flashed in my mind. I had to try and control my emotions. I couldn't break down again.

Khazotz... That was his name. He was the only other person responsible for my friend's deaths.

"How do I find him?" I asked.

Satan started to laugh hard.

"Not even I, lord Satan destroyer of worlds with all my power can enter the heavens. No... Only the power of a God can unlock the gates of heaven."

"But there is another way..." The demon lord said, sounding sceptical.

Suddenly an arrow struck me in the back, knocking the wind out of me and taking me off my feet.

I screamed as the pain caused my brain to burn as I quickly turned to try to see who or what had hit me.

A large group of skeleton monsters were charging towards me not twenty meters away.

"Shit!" I shouted as I stood up and started to run away. I noticed that my HP bar had gone down, but there were no numbers displayed.

"Perhaps you will die sooner than I expected." The demon lord said mockingly.

"Shut up!" I shouted, cutting him off.

"What do I do?" I said to myself as I pressed my back against a rock, taking cover from more arrows trying to skewer me.

"I have never been in a fight in my life!" I said, trying to think about what I should do. I knew I couldn't run forever.

"You really are pathetic aren't you little human..." The demon said.

"How can you ever hope to kill one of the Gods, if you can't even defeat a horde of lowly skeletons!"

He was right. I had to try and do something.

"Shut up!" I shouted, reaching around and pulling the arrow out of my shoulder, biting through the pain. It hurt a lot but no way near as much as everything else I had already been through.

To my wonder, the pain started to fade and I could feel the wound healing by its self.

"That's right, the regeneration ability!" I said as I watched my HP bar go back up to full at a steady rate.

I peeked over the rock I had taken cover behind, trying to get a better look at what I was dealing with. I could see four skeleton archers, the rest warriors—some with swords and shields, others wielding two-handed weapons. I was able to count fifteen of them before being forced to take cover from another volley of arrows.

"No way I can take on that many of them!" I said, making the most logical decision I could come to at the moment. Retreat!

I had no weapons and had never even thrown a punch in my life. My clothes were in rags, and even with my regeneration abilities, I didn't like my chances.

I was, nevertheless, surprised by how fast I was running. The fact I wasn't even out of breath yet was also bewildering. I turned to get around a sharp bend in the cave when suddenly a sword came crashing down, aiming at my head. Raising my arm at the last moment, I stopped the blade from cracking my skull open.

The blade digging deep into my muscular forearm and defiantly chipping the bone.

"Get away from me!" I shouted as I used my free hand to push the skeleton soldier away. My open palm struck the skeleton on its worn breastplate, and to my dismay, it sent the monster flying back through the air crashing into the cave wall shattering its bones on impact.

I stood frozen in surprise from what I had just done. The wound on my arm was already starting to heal its self, my HP bar going back to full once more.

"How did I..." I said before having the sudden urge to duck.

Ducking at the last moment, I avoided a massive two-handed sword that swung right over my head, missing me by a hairs length.

"Strike." A voice said in my mind.

Not taking any time to think, I did as the voice said. Folding my fingers into the centre of my palm and squeezing tightly, clenching my fist harder than I had ever done before.

"Strike!" The voice said, this time shouting.

I propelled my arm forwards as hard as I could, twisting my shoulders, allowing my arm to augment as far as it could, striking the monster in the centre of its boney body. The force of my punch took the monster off its feet, sending it crashing into the other skeleton warriors knocking them over with impressive power.

"Fight." The voice echoed.

One of the skeletons swords slid along the floor, stopping next to my feet.

"Fight!" The demonic voice shouted.

I picked the sword up with my right hand and charged forwards giving a huge battle cry.

"ARRGHHH!"

Without even thinking, I entered the fray of battle, swinging the sword blindly cutting down the skeletons one by one. Their bones broke and splintered under the weight of my blows and one by one they fell.

-Demon watching from inside my body-

"Amazing... His body is absorbing my powers without any repercussion what so ever. Boosting all of his physical attributes along with his senses. Fascinating indeed."

-Sound of swords clashing-

I had cut down ten of them with pure luck. Now only five remained. Two had swords and a shield, only one archer remained, another held its great sword clutching the handle tightly with its boney fingers, the last one wielding a heavy, rusty warhammer.

I was breathing hard now taking a quick rest as the skeletons kept their distance. I watched my HP bar slowly go back up, feeling the cuts and wounds around my body healing.

I could feel the adrenaline pulsing through my veins like never before. My heart racing, beating so hard it felt as if it would burst out of my chest. It was hard to stay still, and I felt sick to my stomach. I had never experienced anything like this before and I didn't know what to make of it.

The skeleton archer drew an arrow from the quiver on its back and nocked the arrow, lifting its bow and taking aim.

My rest was over as the other skeleton warriors all charged head-on at me. I set forward, screaming like a madman as I raised my sword ready to strike.

The archer fired its arrow too fast for me to attempt to block or evade and the arrow struck me in the thigh, causing me to stumble over.

"Shit!" I shouted in pain, clutching at my leg.

My attention to my surroundings had faltered, thanks to the arrow impaled in my leg. Because of that, I failed to evade the blow from the heavy warhammer which struck me on the right side of my body. The force took me off the ground knocking the wind from me, and I was pretty sure it broke more than a few of my ribs.

"ARhh!" I groaned in agony as I slid along the floor. Coughing and gasping for air.

I didn't need to look at my flashing HP bar to know I was in serious trouble.

Rolling over fighting to draw breath, my broken ribs making it extremely difficult to breathe. I hardly had time at all to react as the skeleton with the two-handed sword swung its weapon at my head.

Swinging my own sword in a desperate attempt to defend myself, I deflected the blow. The large blade struck the ground next to me, cracking it under the weight of the sword. I kicked the skeleton's legs from under it knocking it over to the ground next to me.

One of the skeletons with a sword and shield attempted to pierce my body from above. Quickly I pulled the skeleton I had knocked over on top of my body, using its chainmail armour to stop the sword from piercing me.

The skeleton wriggled around and even tried to bite my face with its boney teeth. I kicked it off of me hard-knocking both of them to the ground with a thump.

As quick as my body would allow I stood back up. Another arrow struck me in my chest, the force of it dropping me back onto my knee.

Luckily for me, my wounds had already started healing and my HP bar was already above halfway. My ribs had stopped hurting, and it was getting easier to breathe by the second.

Looking at the skeleton archer, watching as it started to load another arrow, I ripped the arrow from my chest, causing blood to run down my torso. The bleeding only lasting for a few seconds before the wound started to heal.

"You bastard!" I shouted as I threw the sword in my hand as hard as I could. The blade spun through the air hurling towards the monster, slicing through the skeleton archers spine, dropping it to the floor in a heap of bones.

The skeleton with the sword and shield lunged forwards slashing at my body. I dodged the first slash with a quick shuffle backwards. The monster took a second slash coming up from my hip to my shoulder.

This time I moved forward, catching the skeleton's wrist in my hand stopping the strike dead. With my free hand, I punched it in the skull hard shattering its face sending it crashing back to the grave.

Now all my wounds had fully healed, and I could feel power surging throughout my entire body. I picked up the sword and shield on the ground next to me, turning to face the two remaining skeletons.

The skeleton with the warhammer swung its weapon high, bringing it down with serious force. The old me would have been crushed with no resistance. However, the new me was able to stop the blow in its tracks with the shield. Quickly countering with my sword and cutting the monsters head off, I subdued yet another skeleton.

The skeleton with the two-handed sword tried to attack me from my blind spot, but with my new found reflexes, it was too slow. Blocking the large blade with my own, I used my shield to bash the monster back, knocking it to the ground.

Standing over it, I pierced my sword deep into its skull, eliminating it and ending the battle once and for all. My first fight was over and thanks to my regeneration, I had escaped unscathed. Standing there silently after the chaos, my palm still grasping the handle of my sword tightly.

"How did I do that?" I said.

"It's like I am stronger and faster in every way..." I thought to myself.

"That's because you are." The demon lord said, hearing my thoughts.

"I thought I told you, little hero, your body is absorbing my power, enhancing all of your abilities."

"My name. Is Lucian," I said as I started walking, trying to find an exit.

The demon didn't respond and allowed me some time to think.

"That would explain everything..." I said, thinking about what the demon had said. Not only was my strength and speed amplified, my sight, hearing, reflexes. It was like I had become superhuman.

I decided to open my status menu to see if I could find anything to help comprehend what was going on. Again there were no numbers, no level up notification or increase in experience points. Just my health bar, Mana bar and abilities.

"How strange... If this world is like the game, shouldn't I level up? Or at least have gained some experience points from that battle."

"What are you talking about?" The demon lord asked.

I had almost forgotten he could hear my thoughts, and it took me by surprise.

"Shut up. I wasn't talking to you!"

The demon chuckled slightly. "I don't know what world you have been summoned from, but this isn't a game. In this world, you are strong, or you are weak. You either live or die."

I listened to what the demon lord said but didn't respond. Walking further through the carven, I tried to think what all of this could mean. From what I could gather, I still felt pain. I still bleed and I could even die... there were no levels, no experience gains for killing monsters. It was just like real life. You were as strong as your body would allow, no stats or numbers to determine your skills. Did that mean you would become stronger by training? I had so many questions.

My train of thought was interrupted by the sight of stone steps in the distance.

"They must lead to the surface," I said, quickly running over to them, hope fresh in my mind.

"If I can just get out of this tomb or dungeon, or whatever the hell this place is then maybe I can."

My words were cut off as I reached the top of the stairs coming face to face with eight glowing red eyes and two large fangs dripping with venom.

It was a giant spider and boy did it look nasty. The beast wasted no time leaping through the air, no doubt trying to turn me into lunch.

"AHHHRRR!" I screamed like a little girl. I hated spiders with a passion, never mind a giant one trying to eat me.

Raising my shield in the nick of time, the wood cracking from the force of the spider's bite. I began to swing my sword in all directions, almost crying at the thought of the giant creepy crawly.

The spider let out an agonizing screech as my flailing around resulted in the cutting of two of its legs.

The spider quick limped off using the rest of its repulsive hairy legs disappearing down a hole in the sidewall of the cave.

I took a sigh of relief and shivered at the thought of the monster.

"I hope I don't run into any more of those again," I said, not letting my guard down.

I could tell that the lighting was poor at this level of the tomb. My eyes, however, had adjusted exceptionally well to the dark. I guessed it was another perk of having this demon sealed inside of me; after all, improved night vision would undoubtedly come in handy.

I walked, keeping my shield high to protect my body in case of any more surprises. In most movies I had seen, the heroes never used a shield and I couldn't help but wonder why. I mean, it offered so much protection and had already saved my life more than once. I guessed it looked cooler just to use a sword though.

My ears pricked as a small sound coming from behind me caught my attention. The same sound suddenly became noticeable above me, turning slowly to look.

Giant bat-like creatures were hanging above me, their red eyes sending chills down my spine. One of the bats had got behind me attacking using its large fangs, its massive wings arched, spanning more than the length of my body.

Blocking the bite using my blade, I wrestled the bat monster as it tried to pull the sword from my hand. Quickly in a desperate move, I used my shield to uppercut the beast breaking its jaw, releasing its grasp on my blade.

Not wasting any more time, I turned on my heels and broke into a sprint as fast as I could. I don't think I had ever run so fast in my life, but now was not the time to waste thinking about it.

I had a monstrous army of giant bats chasing me, closing in on me fast. Even with my incredible speed, I was no match for a flying beast. Unlike with the skeletons, there were too many to fight.

The cavern was getting smaller and smaller, but the giant bats weren't letting up. Crushing and fighting to get past one another like true mindless beasts chasing their prey. I had one on either side of me now each of them trying to snap at my head. I was running as fast as I could, my mind screaming at my legs to go faster.

Thanks to my enhanced vision, I was able to spot a small hole coming up on my right-hand side. It looked too small for the bats to get through and I didn't have much choice as they were hot on my tail so quickly I jumped, diving headfirst, only just fitting through the gap. Rolling in a clump, my body breaking the fall as I bounced back up not even feeling the pain. My hands were shaking as I tried to get my sword and shield ready in case the bats followed me through.

To my astonishment, the bats didn't even try to follow me; instead, they retreated into the darkness. I was more relieved than anything to wonder why. Until I turned around that was.

Standing on the other side of the new tomb I now found myself in, was non-other than a gigantic clay golem. It must have been over fifteen feet tall, a hulking giant sculpted to look like a giant lizard, or so I thought.

The creature had detected my presence; its eyes coming to life burning intensely as it banged its huge clay fists together readying its self for battle.

Stood frozen in place with nothing but a half-broken shield and a cracked short sword, I did what anyone in my predicament would do.

I panicked.

"Oh, shit..."