Derek slowly limped towards the border as he begin to piece the puzzles of this world into his mind. Apparently, the world was caught up in unrest across three kingdoms: Geros, Panthos, and Nihial. Those words pretty much meant nothing to him, but what he knew was that each kingdom had a predominant race and customs that ran with it. Geros was predominately elven and was indifferent towards all races. Panthos, on the other hand, was predominately human and only accepted humans into their kingdom.
That explained his past. His human stepmother took him into the Panthos Kingdom not knowing that one day the half-blood inside him would reveal himself, and that he would have to be on the run.
That leaves the Nihial Kingdom. The Nihial Kingdom was home to a bunch of dwarves who were fine with all races except the orcs. They had a grudgingly long rivalry with the orcs. It was also the kingdom he was running away from.
Derek... well, Vars, tried to steal from the dwarven stronghold, and it was an unspoken law that you never stole coin from a dwarf's coffers. Funnily enough, the first thing that popped into Derek's head when a background summary on the Nihial Kingdom appeared.
[RULE 1: NEVER TOUCH A DWARF'S COFFERS.]
Derek sighed in disappointment. His reincarnation was also extremely stubborn. Who knows how infamous this demonic angel has gotten throughout the land of Aeras...
That was all the information Derek knew about this new land, but he knew that he needed to find more information. But first, he needed to reach the border. Z.E.D. wouldn't stop beeping in his mind.
[Imminent danger. Imminent danger.]
And so for a couple of miles, Derek painfully treaded forward, hearing the occasionally war cry and foot soldier.
*Mission Updated. *
It must've been a half hour since the thundering cry when the system booted up again.
[Sire, you are 13% away from completion, but you are rapidly losing blood. Health is reaching sub-5%.]
"Shit..." Derek muttered under his breath, clenching at his hip with a bloodied hand. Charred blood dripped along the beaten path towards the border. His wound was gaping, and blood was oozing out in pulses. He was losing too much blood, and knew he wouldn't last much longer without medical attention. Thirsty, hungry, and weak. Derek needed to reach the border, fast.
"Soldiers, over here!" …Despite never hearing the voice, that sound sounded very familiar. "That voice... Have I encountered these soldiers before?"
A hologram appeared seemingly out of nowhere in front of Derek.
[Name: Commander Sterik, Rank: Tier 4 Bishop, Class: Runeknight, Race: Dwarf. Classified Information. To unlock information, please upgrade your Z.E.D. or discover data in Aeras.]
It was one of the Nihialist military commanders and he was drawing near.
"How are they still on my tail? I should've covered my bloody tracks. Damn..." Derek looks towards the direction of the border.
[Sire, your current rank as a Tier 1 Ensign prevents you from performing any deception skills such as covering tracks. Insufficient materials. Insufficient requirements.]
Tier 1 Ensign? Derek had no idea what Z.E.D. was saying; the pain was simply too great. He felt like he was hallucinating and his vision was gradually failing.
"Less than a hundred meters left..." Derek saw the glow get closer and closer. A while ago, the line was just a streak across the horizon, but now he could actually see the border itself, instilling hope in him.
"Almost... there..."
Derek gained a boost of momentum at the sight of the line, but it was in that moment, a high-pitched shrill zoomed behind him. A crack could be heard echoing into the night sky. Pain shot through his hand and lower torso, and Derek looked down at his hip. Where his hand was cupping his wounded hip, instead was an arrow, dripping in poison, piercing the palm of his hand and lodged itself into his body. What was just now shooting pain became a slowness as his body began to falter.
[Slowness Debuff Applied. Poison Debuff Applied. No antidotes are available.]
[Health: 5%. 4%. 3%. 2%. 1--]
Derek's vision sways, and his body squeezes out the last muscle of strength before his legs give way, collapsing onto the ground. Before closing his eyes, Vars looks up to barely pick out two white-winged creatures fly above him.
"..." "...."
[Quest complete.]
"..."
* System debugging has been completed. In the future, please do not attempt to go below 5% Health. Thank you for using our latest Z Model E.D. System... * The robotic voice flickered off as Derek was greeted by his Z.E.D., this time with a smile.
Quest: Escape from the Dwarven Soldiers! Completed.
Reward - 50 Aers, Path Towards Tier 2 Ensign.
Storyline Updated.
Status Updated.
* Health: 60%. *
* Energy: 100%. *
* Rank: Tier 1 Ensign. *
* Balance: 50 Aers.*
* Threat Level: None. *
A silvery glow glistened around Derek's rank and faded away.
[Congratulations Sire, you have completed your first quest in this new world. I applaud you. I would like to explain things further with you, but it seems like somebody is trying to wake you up.]
With that, his Z.E.D. disappears and the voice is replaced by someone less robotic and more feminine.
"Wake up."
"..."
Derek's eyelids slowly creak open as he regains consciousness. The burning sun was blinding.
"It's bright..." His eyebrows furl together as he lifts his hand to block the dazing light, refocusing his gaze once more.
* You've discovered Faras Forest Border! Storyline updated. New quest discovered. *
Quest: The Twin Tigers has been added.
The atmosphere around him is brimming with life. Lush greenery surrounds him; birds chirping in excitement, insects buzzing around the flora. Fauna could be seen in the far distance glancing towards the two people behind a column of mossy stone. A slight breeze carrying the smell of poppy flowers and chrysanthemum grazes Vars' nose.
*sniff sniff*
"Hmm..." Derek's nose perks towards the smell as he sits himself up and looks around once more. "I don't smell like shit anymore..."
Clearly puzzled, he gazes upon his bloodied and dirtied hands, only to see that they've been washed clean. He turns his arms around, and to his surprise, his gashes are wrapped up and a light fluid is spread across his scars. Without a second thought, Derek's hand shoot towards his right hip, the wound that nearly cost him his life. He winced, as the meat was still tender, and slowly glanced at the injury.
Trails of bumpy and discolored maroon-white lines formed alongside his hip. The arrow that was once lodged in his hip was gone, and a coagulant mixed with some gauze was placed at the puncture to prevent further bleeding. With the rows of tight string stitched across his waistline, Derek could only conclude that someone came to his rescue.
* Health restored back to non-threatening conditions. Regenerating... *
[Sire, it would seem that your Health was restored while you went into an unconscious state.]
"What happened? Did I cross the border? That means I finished the quest right?" Derek could see that the quest progress that appeared was marked green and slowly fading away.
"Hello? Are you listening to me?"
"..."
Hmmmm? What was that sound? It sounded so soft and angelic, like the fleeting voice of a damsel in distress. An angel perhaps? A figure stood in front of him, offering him a hand. Tears began welling up in Derek's eyes as he looks up. "Ahhhh. So this... is how it ends. To be cleansed and reborn." Derek knew it. This had to be a dream. Of course! His mind was playing tricks with him. Derek died in the car crash, and that was that. Everybody probably gets their own talking system! This is life after death; anything can happen!
"Are you insane? Listen to me!"
Huh? The voice that sounded like an angel suddenly sounding less like an angel and more like his mother that complained too much. Was this how people in heaven treated their new arrivals?
"Excuse me, what's with the angry tone? Are you all like this? My god... this isn't what I imagined..."
As Derek continued to question his whereabouts, a thundering roar vibrated through his body and the back of his head is suddenly struck by what felt like a large metal door. Derek propels forward, his legs and arms flailing helplessly in the air, and his face drives straight into the ground while . Only muffled screams could be heard; birds can be seen flying away while insects scuttle back into hiding.
"WHAT'S! WRONG! WITH! YOU!"
* Warning: Threat Level High. Threat Level High. *
With that, Derek blacks out and the demonic angel Vars Hellbright slumps lifelessly on the ground once more.
When he regains consciousness, the smell of the earthy ground and the dirt in his mouth greets him. Above the surface, he could hear the murmured yells of a person, quite possibly at him, as they grab his arm and tug him back up.
Derek could barely comprehend what was going on. One moment, he felt like he was going to heaven; and the next? "Hey Z.E.D., what's the situation? Am I not in heaven?
The system tiredly spoke.
[I would rather not repeat myself, Sire, but the subject of interest is not an angel; rather, she is a wanderer of the forest who happened upon you. I have already disclosed that she is the one who saved you; it would be in your best interest to listen rather than ignore her.]
Derek didn't want to be hit into oblivion again, so he put two and two together as the stranger dragged his head out of the earth.
"HAVE YOU GONE COMPLETELY INSANE?"
A dazed look stretches across Vars' dirty and bruised face as he readjusts his gaze once again, this time into the stranger's mysterious eyes.
"Hey, you. I'm talking to you. Wake up."