Miguel's entire arm shot through the chest of the beast-man. It was unexpected, the feeling was no better than sinking one's arm in warm water. Unfortunately, it was nothing like water.
When Miguel pulled his arm out, he noted how strong he was. Straight after though, he noted how grotesque his arm became. That arm of his felt like it was covered in slime. In fact, it was, the bloody kind.
"How am I going to clean this shit off?"
He asked himself. With his unique night vision, not only did he check his arm out but proceeded to check the rest of his attire.
As expected, the leather adventurers gear he had worn was battered and torn. It was no longer useful. Miguel decided to pull it off and use it to wipe the blood off his arm as much as possible. He thought about going back to the pool of water but chose against it, 'No way I'm going back to the piss water.'
Not much further away, the elven swamp girl was following from behind. Thanks to the glowing light emanating from the cloud entity floating beside her. She was able to see her other pursuer's life come to an end. Again she was frightened. Unlike before, she was able to hold her bladder this time or maybe her bladder was now empty.
"WOAH!!!"
The eyes of the swamp chief's daughter opened wider in surprise. The shadow of the man that saved her life disappeared right before her eyes. It wasn't that he vanished into nothingness, she was able pickup a flicker of his movement.
"No way!"
The swamp elf raised her head. It appeared that the man, Miguel, flew up into the air. She tried her best to see where he went but lost him in the darkness.
"I should also leave this place? Cloud, lets go up." She pointed upwards.
The cloud being named Cloud expanded itself, it became elongated like that of a serpent. The fluffy body turned flat and wide, the elf girl jumped on it afterwards.
For some reason the cloud that was residing in the air started lowering itself to the floor. It was due to the added weight on it's body. Soon both the girl and cloud headed upwards to the surface in steady pace.
BANG!!!
Somewhere high up in the dark ravine, Miguel crashed against the wall of the abyss. He had no choice in the matter. With the use of his superior strength Miguel launched himself into the air. It was okay for the first few leaps, he was able to find a flat surface to land on and launch himself again.
This time however, there was no landing spot. Miguel had to crash himself against the ravine wall. Both his hands were buried into the wall, if he didn't do that then he would be falling back down.
He proceeded to launch himself again. Taking the stance of an Olympic sprinter, Miguel shot up again determined to leave the abyss.
BANG CRACK BAM!!!
These sounds could be heard occasionally as Miguel made his way out of the Ravine.
*****
Time couldn't be judged accurately. The entity in the form of a misty snake just climbed over the cliff and to solid ground, carrying an elf on it's back. It took a longer time to get out of the cursed ravine than going in but still, they made good speed.
"Phew... finally out. We made it Cloud."
Said the elf girl, using all her strength to wrap both arms and legs onto the cloud. She would've fallen had she not.
"WHAT FUCK HAS HAPPENED TO ME? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?"
The elven girl flinched. Does she have to dive back into the abyss again to hide?
Turning to the direction of the yelling, she found the monster of a man that she was familiar with. He was there, sitting on a boulder. His back was facing her, however, it seemed that the man was in contemplation.
He wasn't alone though, next to him, stood an apparition. Flailing around like a madman, in fact, the ghost appeared to be dressed weirdly as well.
It was something like a suit but not one that she had ever seen before. When she saw the face of the ghost, she was again overwhelmed with apprehension. The face of the ghost that was in front of her. It was a skull, a skull covered with a bowl like hat.
'Why, why are so many things happening to me one after another?' She thought bitterly
First, it had been an ambush from bandits. This caused her to be separated from kinsman. She had been chased and barely escaped her kidnappers, then a monstrous person appeared out of nowhere. Now this!
It was too much to take in..
"GYAAAAAAAH!!!"
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?"
The one to yell was none other than the ghostly being. He was enraged. Miguel who was sitting on the boulder didn't seem to be in the least bit concerned. Instead he smirked to himself as he fiddled with the bracelet on his hand. It was stuck. He had the strength to brake it but didn't want to risk losing something of value.
When he made his way out of the cursed ravine, Miguel thought he was finally free. The feeling of happiness started swelling inside him, suddenly that feeling took a nosedive. Actually, what had happened, was that the bracelet on his wrist started to glow an eerie purple color. Then a transparent being in purple light manifested before him.
Miguel thought he had landed in hot water again. He was nervous at first, the ancient looking bracelet didn't look so ancient anymore, worst of all, it couldn't be removed. An idea came to mind after while, it started unconsciously at first but managed to grasp hold of his advantage.
He was able to sense energy coming from it. While the ghost began taunting and ridiculing him, Miguel began using his ability to absorb energy. Just like that, he smirked. Miguel was able to cause pain to the ghostly entity. This made things much more easier to handle for Miguel.
"Okay okay, I have a new idea. You can call this boss Jacob, how 'bout we make a deal?" Said the apparition, feeling sour that his situation didn't turn out the way he had planned.
Jacob thought, 'He was able to unknot the link between me and my phylactery without having to destroy it. What a scary person!
"Oh! Sure we can have a deal, if I'm agreeable with it, that is. You only told us your name, you should tell us more about yourself." Miguel said confidently, he used the word 'us' because he was aware of the other two entities at his back.
Miguel had nothing to fear at this moment, standing up, he put an act of intimidation. The ability to drain energy was enough to let this ghost pass on, although it might lack pleasantries.
Jacob was not a novice either. He understood that he was being threatened but what could he do. 'He has my phylactery in his possession.' He thought. Without any options, all he could do was comply.
"Like I said before, my name is Jacob. I used to be a farmer once upon a time ago. Now, as you can see, I'm a lich."
"A lich... what's that?" Miguel asked, he wasn't to sure. He hadn't heard of it in any of his lifetimes that he remembered. He had to admit that he wasn't all that experienced in this world.
"A lich is a... immortal mage... yep, that's what I am."
"I see, what's this thing?" Pointing at his wrist, Miguel asked about the bracelet. He attempted to use his life absorbing power.
"GYAAAAAH!!!!" Jacob screamed painfully, "Stop that, I'll tell you. I'll tell you."
"Oh!"
"That's... That bracelet is my phylactery. Any damage you cause to it will hurt me. So please don't do anything to it."
Miguel thought for a second. The bracelet was stuck to his wrist, which in turn means that the ghost lich named Jacob was stuck to him. He didn't really appreciate that, he thought, 'I'd rather destroy this thing... but...'
"Can this thing do anything else?"
"What else is it suppose to do beside keeping me from entering the cycle of birth and death?"
"Then it's of no value to me." Miguel replied, leisurely. Again he activated his 'Life drainer' power.
"GYAAAH! WAIT WAIT... it can do something, it can do... something!
"Oh! It can all of a sudden." Miguel mocked the apparition named Jacob. He eased up on the draining touch, wanting to know what's so special about the bracelet.
Jacob looked back at him and reluctantly spoke, "That bracelet is no ordinary ornament. It is known as the Ring of the dead. If circumstances are accurate it can turn a mortal into a lich... There I said it."
"Hmm... That doesn't help me."
"Bullshit!" Jacob yelled, "Look at you. Your hair has turned white, I'm sure it wasn't white before. What about your eyes? Pitch black with purple pupils, that's not natural and look at your skin. It's pale like you've been dead for years. You're definitely alive because that Ring of the dead brought you back."
"I see." Miguel pondered over all the details he just heard. It sort of made sense to him. His body has changed much, it wasn't like anything he experienced. 'What did he mean dead for years?' He thought.
"See I told you. But why did it turn out like this? I was supposed to have come out with a new body." Feeling distraught, Jabob lowered his head, ashamed of his failure.