Nothing. Complete and utter dark fills your vision. You see nothing and feel nothing, as if you never even existed.
Yet you do. In only a matter of seconds you feel a weird sensation, you feel coldness and adrenaline. A foreign sensation you've never felt before.
You open your eyes to see a small cave, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. In your hands you could feel a heavy weight forcing them down, a massive-body sized sword that glowed a dim green. It looks as if it was made out of an otherworldly crystal.
The sword felt natural, as if you had actually been familiar with it for years.
Examining the cave, it could be seen infested with some sort of vine and glowing liquid covering the ground. Making your way through the vines and cutting them down with your sword, you eventually spot an exit.
Wondering out the cave and walking onto a nearby dirt road, you spot a hunched figure going up the road towards you. He spots you and waves towards you.
Moving towards the man you can see an old, bearded man with a blue robe covering his whole body. However weirdly enough, a small pair of antlers were sprouted from his head, with holes in the robe to seemingly accommodate them.
"A traveler! What a rare treat it is to find a living soul in these parts… Are you alright? You look awfully pale." He ushered excitedly, dying out towards the end.
Still taking in the presence of beings being able to talk, coming to you naturally you respond.
"You look even worse." You utter grimly.
"Oh well. Wait, is that a sword?" He said, pointing at your glowing sword on your back. "I feel much safer in the company of a swordsman. My home isn't far, would you mind if I joined you for a while?"
A new thought crossed your mind, gold. The currency that seemed to drive your soul and being to do whatever. And so you respond, "…It'll cost you."
With that said, you follow the old man along the dirt road back to his house.
After around 20 minutes of walking, you sense a hostile presence stalking you and the old man. Looking around, you could see a large boar-like creature charging you. Reacting quickly, you push the old man out of the way as you grip your sword, slashing it down as charges right into your blade... A clean slice in half. It's blood spurts on you as it's sides both fall in around you into and unrecognizable mess.
The old man clearly shook up, stumbles to his feet as he stares at your blood-stained armor. He mutters grimly, "What an awful beast! Razorbacks don't usually attack humans on sight. Something's off somewhere, that's for sure! Ah, I've almost forgot to properly thank you for your expert swordsmanship. I might even hire you again, some day."
"Thanks." You simply say, you have no thought of such an incident.
Leaving the old man to his device, you begin to slowly wonder down the dirt road again, cleaning off the bloody mess staining your armor which was unusually clean and sharp. Down the road you spot three white-skinned soldiers with shovels. Next to them is a large chest, it seems as if they're trying to bury it.
You approach the soldiers, sword in hand. They look at you.
"..!" They both look up at you intently, not uttering a word. You could visibly see sweat dripping down their faces.
Looking at each other, they decided to poke their pikes at you. A useless attack. Moving out the way, you slice one of them cleanly in half. This clearly distraughts the other soldier as he falls to the floor, muttering something, "Wait-". It didn't matter. You stab straight through him, ripping your blade out. You feel nothing of their deaths.
Ignoring the bloody mess you made, you look at the treasure they left behind. Opening it up you see a plethora of gold coins of all shapes and sizes. 10, 50, 100 were marked on them. You add them to the pouch you already received from the old man. It felt.. invigorating. A new feeling.
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With what seemed like hours of walking, and seemingly no exhaustion, you see smoke coming out from the forest. Perhaps civilization?
Approaching closer, you could hear people talking and moving around. But most importantly, you could hear some noise right behind you. A man with a skull mask had his club raised above you, fixing to swing it down.
Reacting swiftly, you bring your sword up, slicing his arms clean off.
"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" He screams, falling to his knees and he looks at the stumps that was his arms.
Not wasting time, you end his miserable life and his head falls clean off from where it used to be. Only seconds later, another person with a blue mask this time comes out with his hands up. "W-wait!" He stutters loudly.
"Don't attack! I've seen you fight that cursed outcast, I'm not one of them!"
"..." You stay silent.
"Just.. Remind me not to get on your bad side. You must be new to these lands." It was pretty clear he was trying to get on friendly terms but you honestly didn't care. It was not like it mattered anyway.
"You look like one of them." You say intimidatingly.
"Yeah.. Don't get me started. Outcasts wear their soulmasks marked with tribal colors. Murderous traitors refuse to give'em up." He muttered, spitting on the now corpse of a presumed Wilderling.
"Traitors?"
"Radicals, who can't forgive us for making peace with the Imperium. We cast them out, and they've been terrorizing the land ever since... Oh whatever. You don't look very well, is there anything I can do for you?"
Only one thought really crossed your mind, "I want a better sword."
He stares at you for a while, muttering something under his breath. "Come again? Aha - that thing? You should visit Miko, our blacksmith. She lives in the stone house by the river."
"Alright."
Following the blue-masked Wilderling, you approach a small hut with a furnace spewing smoke out of it. Likely what caused you to investigate this area. With you at the house, he cautiously looks at you while he returns to his people to do whatever Wilderlings do in their free time. There was some pumpkin farms you saw on your way to the house. Maybe that's what they work on.
As he leaves, you turn your head to the door of Miko's house being opened. She looks at you, "Hi there... holy screamer! What are you?" She says surprised, taking a good look at you. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I'm just not used to meeting... foreigners too often. Look who's talking though. Imperial migrants working metal in a land where farmers don't even use tools!" She ushers nervously.
"I need a sword." You state grimly.
"Hmm. That's an unusual request... I can make you a new one, or I can import historic swords from the Imperium. Either way, it's going to be expensive. Visit me in my shop and I'll see what I can offer."
Following her, you reach a more professional hut fully decked out with blacksmithing tools. She introduces herself, albeit you weren't even really listening. Looking at what she had, you notice a more slim, curved red sword with similar height to your own. It looked more sturdy and sharp, you could practically feel the strength emanating from it.
"I want that." You said, pointing at it.
"That? Alright, it's gonna be around 4,000 gold though."
Without even bothering to count, you toss your gold pouch on the counter, prompting her to check it's contents... After some searching she says something, "This could barely afford it. You wouldn't really have change. Do you-"
Interrupting her, you just shove the gold bag to her and grab the sword, leaving. She can keep the change. You decide to keep your green sword just in case it might be handy later. Albeit you wonder where you should actually put it.