69 The Chair

Blood was dripping from the top of his head and started to go trickle down to his eyebrow. He lifted his hand to wipe the blood while holding a dagger made of mud in his other hand.

"What did I say, you got us killed Vorden!"

"Will you shut up, unless you want to fight the damned thing instead?"

On the floor in front of Vorden was a single defeated Rattaclaw, and next to it was another one unharmed and injured. When Vorden had arrived, he had encountered a Rattaclaw out in the wild.

Knowing that there were likely more basic beasts in the area and not wanting to attract their attention. Vorden had run into the closest building.

It was mainly a large empty warehouse with several broken crates and scrap metal piles all over the place. With only one entrance, he had no choice but to fight.

His skills faired him well. Even though he only had the Level a one earth ability, Vorden was skilled. He placed his hand on the ground early on as soon as he had step foot on the planet and had transformed a piece of earth into a dagger. It was the weapon he was most comfortable with.

He managed to dodge the Rats attacks at the right time and slice at the beast. The only problem was the Rat's skin was tough and Vorden's powers were weak.

He didn't have monstrous strength and could only rely on the ability and skill given to him.

But eventually, Vorden managed to cause enough damage to hurt the Rat significantly and just as he was delivering the final blow, another Ratttaclaw had come up behind him. At the last second, he managed to react but its claws had still sliced the top of his head, causing three small marks to appear.

"Fine, then, let me take control of the seat and I'll fight this damned Rat."

Vorden then left the seat in his mind and allowed Raten to take his place. It was a pitch-black room with a single chair, and above the chair was a shining white light. The light above the chair was the only source of light in the whole room.

When Raten sat down, he took control of the body.

Meanwhile, Vorden walked off into the darkness and inside was another figure that looked just like Vorden, only they were sitting on the floor swaying backwards and forwards. Their fingers would constantly roll around each other and part of his shirt was in his mouth.

"How are you holding up, are you feeling better?" Vorden asked.

"Yeah, is Quinn going to be okay?" He said as he continued to sway backwards and forwards.

"I'm sure he's fine, you know he's special. We all did from the moment we first met him."

The other Vorden look alike then smiled.

"Special, just like Caser was, and Marlin, and Fuffu but they all died as well."

Vorden gulped as he could see the swaying getting faster.

"This time is different, me and Raten are here to protect you, you can stay here as long as you want and when you're ready you can come out once again. Leave all the talk to me, all the fighting to Ratan and we can do this together."

The swaying started to slow down and at the same time so did Vorden's nerves.

As Vorden went to walk back to the seat he could see that Raten had already dealt with the beast rather quickly. The Rat was covered in several earth spikes that were piercing through its body from the ground. It's back tail had been cut off and black blood was falling from its mouth.

"Did you really have to go that far?" Vorden asked.

"That cheeky little crap ruined our body, I can't let it get away with that."

Raten then stood up from the chair and allowed Vorden once again to sit in the glowing light and the chair.

Vorden then proceeded to carve out the beast crystals form the two Rat's and placed them in his trouser leg pocket. It would have been a waste after defeating them just to throw them away.

But just as Vorden finished extracting the beast crystal, the sound of clanging was heard from behind. Vorden quickly turned around to see what it was, and to his surprise, it was a fully grown adult man, he had emerged from just behind one of the crates.

"I come in peace," the man said with his arms lifted up. Although the man quickly put his hands down and started to place his hand around his ribs.

Just from looking at him, Vorden could tell straight away the man was a Traveller and a skilful one at that. The equipment he was wearing was at least at the advanced tier beast level, and he had armour all over his body including two short swords on his back.

The man then sat down on the ground, to have a rest and lent his body up against one of the crates.

Vorden walked over to traveller cautiously, it was rare to even meet a traveller in this type of place and who knew what the man's true intentions where. Someone had to be at least at a decent skill level to be asked to enter a Red portal planet.

"Don't worry I won't bite," the man said, "What's a kid like you doing in a place like this? I didn't know the military was that desperate that they were now sending a single student to a hell hole like this."

"I got stuck here, it was an accident and I need to find a way out."

Now that Vorden was closer to the man he had a clear few of him. He had short purple spikey hair and it had several marks on his face. By the way he was holding his side, it looked like he had some broken ribs too.

"Looks like we both have the same goal at least." The traveller said. "The names Ian, I came through another portal and was hunting out a beast in the wild, I was badly hurt and too far away from the original portal, so in a last-ditch effort, I decided to come to this abandoned shelter. I was hoping to either find some medical equipment that could heal me or maybe even a portal that led back to earth."

Ian then looked at the two dead Rattaclaw's on the ground.

"You're quite skilful to have defeated two of them on your own, especially for someone as young as yourself. You have my thanks, I was too badly hurt form the beast before, that Rattaclaw had chased me into the warehouse and I was waiting for it to go away. I never expected someone else to be here in this shelter."

"You're welcome" Vorden replied, "Well since we both have the same goal anyway, do you have any idea where the portal could be?"

"Sure, there were a few buildings I spotted on my way over here, it's best if we check them out first."

Vorden then held out his hand for a handshake.

"The name's Vorden."

Ian took out his hand and shook Vorden's hand.

"I look forward to us working together."

As the two of their hands connected, an energy started to surge into Vorden's body, and a smile appeared.

*****

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4600 Stones = 2 extra Chapters

4800 Stones = 4 extra Chapters