Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The morning winks of light came down in sunbeams, piercing the canopy above. The sound of birds and life filled the forest, somewhere something splashed in murky waters. Insects buzzed, trees swayed in the breeze.

And I stared at the floor, where the brick of the plaza was cut cleanly, spliced with a muddy shore. None of it was a nightmare. It was all real. That certainty pinged in my head with mounting dread.

My mind flashed back to that horrible scene, eliciting tremors in my hands. His face, lifeless, unaware of being eaten, nibbled on. I couldve saved him. If Id been there earlier and hadnt spent so much time afraid. If Id gotten there quicker.

If Id killed the thing faster, I whispered, eyes aimless. If I stood lookout. If I stayed and helped dragged him out.

Id been a coward. If Id paused to help Horace through the webs, he could yet live. Instead, I left it to my clone. To half of my strength. Wracking sobs gripped me, my stomach twisting in pain, gouging sorrow and emptiness like a knife to my chest. Like two fangs to my chest.

I doubled over, grabbing my sides. Why, why, why, I repeated softly through tears, face scrunched up in indescribable pain.

I wanted to feel it. I needed to know, for it to mean something other than pointless death. My tears ran dry, the pain faded, and I felt wrong for it. Wrong that something like this could just fade. That I had no more tears.

Hunger eventually called me back to the present. Third was already there, handing me a bag of berries. And Second?

HeIwas there again, standing over the body. Forcing myself to remember, crying. I stayed there so long, seeped in blood and gore, that the memory itself burned into my irises. I would never forget the scene, I couldnt anymore.

The smell, the sight. Dark blood ran across the floor. My eyes stared at Horace and I found myself whispering apologies, my gaze as dead as his.

[Notice]: You have leveled up multiple times: Level 8.

[Notice]: You have gained the Class Skill: [Low Profile]

Skill: [Low Profile]

You are immune to unwarranted magical and technological scrying. Abilities, spells, or equipment that reveal your location or details are negated. Your presence can only be detected by the physical senses.

It was a punch to the gut. I didnt want it, I wanted none of this to be real. This was nothing compared to what I had gone through, no compensation could ever match the horror. And looking at it, a part of me shattered again, wondering at whether the new Skill was tailored to what I had done.

Hide, run, and cower. Left a stranger for dead. All to escape unnoticed.

To keep a low profile.

The guilt hollowed me. Even more when my stomach rumbled, that I had the audacity to feel anything but guilt. That I had the right to feel hunger.

Class: [Solo]

STR: 6

CON: 7

DEX: 5

AGI: 6

PER: 9

INT: 10

WIS: 13

WIL: 19

CHA: 4

LUK: 4

Stat Points: 7

Skills: [Never Alone], [Low Profile]

Willpower was my highest value. Would a lesser person have shattered completely, never to put the pieces back together? The meaning of the value came to me almost instinctively, like Id know it all along.

It was a measure of control, determination, and resolve. It was also so much more than just that. I couldnt put its entirety into words any more fitting than those, only know it as an aspect of myself. That part of me that stubbornly refused to kneel before hardship, the part of me that balked at surrendering.

The rest of the attributes were likewise encompassing.

I knew too little. Should I increase by Constitution? Boost my survivability? My Strength? Or my ability to run away, my Agility? None of those helped me, not really. I realized as a [Solo], I had to use [Never Alone] as a force multiplier. To scale what I already had. An extra clone gave me half again of what I had in physical stats, another set of eyes, and another perspective.

The line of thinking rang true.

I did the math, brought Wisdom to 17, and said hello to Fourth.