Skeleton storage unit…

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Vajra POV…

Making my way down crypt, walking fast, skeletons past and I'm burial bound.

Seriously, there's a lot of skeletons here just… silently staring forward with judgmental eye sockets. They're all armed, of various heights and shapes with different armors and weapons. 

There's images of skulls carved in the walls, stacked upon each other and staring towards the center of the hall.

Not a single one of the skeletons has done more than stood there and stared at me, which isn't exactly a problem.

The crowd density of the skeletons is slowly increasing as I keep walking forward, becoming more and more packed. At this point, they're all just staring forward.

I push my way through until I hear a voice, unusually normal.

"Hey, don't cut in line," I turn and spot the source of the voice… a skeleton.

"Wait, you guys can talk?" I'm feeling a little frustrated since they've just been staring at me instead of speaking. "What's the line for?"

"What do you mean what's the line for? It's for who gets summoned next!" The skeleton responds, shifting slightly in his space. "How do you not know that? You were captured too, weren't you?"

"Oh, uh… yeah," I respond, nodding as I lie. Not still sure of the situation, I decide to get in line as I wait. "So… what's your name?"

"Jerry."

"Ah…" Not at all what I was expecting, I look away again and pretend to fit in. "I'm… James."

"It's nice to meet you, James," Jerry extends his hand to me for a bony handshake, what I can only presume would be a smile if he still had face muscles on his skull.

"You too."

I extend my hand towards his as well, giving it a nice shake. Even though he's an undead skeleton, Jerry is a nice guy. Be more like Jerry.

"You must be a high ranking one since you don't look like just bones, right?" He asks, retracting his hand as we stand.

"I wouldn't say I'm powerful, but I'm alright," I say, putting a hand in my pocket with a shrug.

After that, I simply wait for a good while. Every so often, the line moves forward a step or two. It's not very fast or consistent on the rate of summoning, but it's… going.

Eventually, I'm finally able to see where we're going and it's not particularly interesting.

A wide open space, ornamental walls covered in grime and dust. A large statue of a man, resembling the one in the stained glass window from before.

There's a table with a few summons that don't resemble skeletons, occasionally directing the skeleton leading the line towards a space. An orcen figure, a lizardman-like figure and a few that look like human silhouettes of shadows.

They look like what we were described as, a swirling mass of blackened mana in the shape of a person. Perhaps this is what a soul looks like in its purest form whilst still retaining a id, ego and superego…

I can't know for sure, not enough info. Neither is it my place to say.

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Gram POV…

Now I'm not exactly sure if he's trying yet, but he's winning either way. Whilst his sword is still in the ground, I slash my blade towards his face and channel some of my mana into my sword.

He leans his face back just barely, causing my attack to painfully whiff before he steps forward and headbutts me. I go rolling backwards, hitting the wall of the castles keep. God, I wish I took the time to learn some magic. This doesn't feel winnable at all.

I stand and scan for some type of exit, looking towards the keep door. I can't retreat outwards, so I run inwards through the door in the hopes of a way to escape like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs.

I won't say I'm scared, even though I am, because acknowledging the fear is scarier than fighting back.

I don't take much time to survey the rooms, simply sprinting through to the next one as fast as I can. Eventually, I reach a dead end in front of a massive white statue. It's a man with a sword planted in the ground, a wreath on his head.

I can hear footsteps a room or two behind me, heavy and slow. As if knowing he was behind me wasn't enough, that I needed a constant reminder of my stalker.

I dart around the statue and crouch, hoping he believes me to have taken a different turn. A good ol' hiding spot.

More steps follow, then stop. I hear him set his sword into the ground, likely looking through the room.

"Hmm… perhaps he took a different door."

Let's go!!! He's stupid!!! This is great! I hear footsteps again, although they don't seem to be getting quieter. In fact, they seem to be-

"Just kidding," He says, peering at me from my left. He has his blade resting on his shoulder, that single eye peering at me beneath his helmet. "You done yet?"

"Nah."

Before he can swing down at me again, I roll backwards and sprint for the door. You fool! I've funneled you into a building with tight corridors from which I can lead you like you're a COD zombie!

In a single step, he's already behind me and has grabbed my shoulder and stopped my retreat. That's bad.

I'm yanked onto the ground before he steps on my chest, applying apt amounts of pressure. I think more of my bones are broken.

Before he can stab me with his sword, I raise my arm and stab my blade through his stomach. For once, it hits and ends up going through his abdomen. Blood spills out and onto my face, but I twist the blade and attempt to pull my blade straight outwards.

The blade leaves through his side, below his ribs, his intestines just barely spilling out. He falls over and onto his side, a pained groan escaping his lips.

I stand and slowly limp away. I stop at the door, sheathing my sword.

I stabbed a guard, skewered even.

A man just doing his job, who didn't even look much older then me… and I'm just leaving him here?

I stop and turn towards him, slowly walking back. Grabbing beneath his armpits, I slowly begin to drag him out with me and through the building. He leaves a trail of blood on the ground, the damage likely already done.

This is my first time actually hurting something with my sword, causing harm to another human. It was different in practice, but to see a man's guts spill because of my blade is… I can't even describe it.

To be the hero of this world, I have to be willing to hurt things like this constantly… can I handle that?

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