Now I'm prepared to admit to myself that I am not a perfect man. I make mistakes, and this whole 'making deals with a demon thing' is simply one of them. I'll just have to live with it, or die in this case. I do only have fifteen lives remaining after all. Only fifteen of what was once such a promising number.
I could choose to blame faulty information. I'd originally thought I'd be sent to a settlement at the start of this as all the other paths had, but that was simply me and my team's false assumption.
If only that assumption was true though. This environment isn't where I thrive, and I know it. If I could ju--
*crack*
The sound of a twig cracking broke me from my thoughts and eighty-five deaths worth of hard-earned experience took over.
I stopped moving, immediately lowering myself to the forest floor as quickly and quietly as I could before scanning my surroundings, my hands tightly gripping my pistol.
Even after all this time it was my best asset. Which wasn't too surprising considering I got reset to my 'best state' upon my death. Which pretty much meant I had as much ammo as I would ever need with how often I died.
Normally a 'best state' would've been subjective as all hell, but not so much when two hundred pages of a contract were strictly dedicated to making sure it worked in a very specific way.
But that wasn't important right now, what is important is the creature that looked to be a mix between a panther and a scorpion currently stalking something that wasn't me.
I would've let out a sigh of relief if doing so hadn't gotten me killed in my thirty-eighth life.
I needed to see how this played out if only so I knew which way to run, so I slowly peeked my head out from behind my tree to see what it was hunting.
It was carefully approaching a small clearing in the woods, moving painfully slow and clearly trying to not make any more noise. While out in the clearing, as calm as could be stood a deer. It grazed passively as it ate the grass without a care in the world.
I raised an eyebrow. I'd encountered many, and I mean many different kinds of creatures in this world, but not once since coming to this godforsaken place had I seen a herbivore, and I'd been here long enough that if they were actuality out there I would've come across one.
Which meant that the cat probably wasn't the hunter in this situation and was about to have a very bad time.
As if on cue the beast lunged out from the bush it had hidden itself in, aimed perfectly to tackle the deer to the ground.
It didn't make it halfway across the field before the deer's body began to shift. Its bones seemed to crack and warp in unnatural angles as it stood on two legs. Its mouth opened significantly wider than a normal deer's could've, revealing razor sharp teeth. Its hooves split into fingers tipped with jagged looking claws as it intercepted the cat midair, piercing its hand through the creature's stomach before throwing it into a tree that broke upon impact, falling to the forest floor.
Blood coated the monster's arm, which it proceeded to lick off with a long snakelike tongue.
I slowly started to back away, careful to avoid making any sounds, but it seems it wasn't to be.
"I know you're there, human. Hidden amongst the trees, trembling like the rest of your kind."
It chuckled, "I have no need for you, be gone."
…
Wait a goddamn minute. I actually recognized what that thing is.
A slight smile graced my lips. It was a Wendigo, a race of creatures that wear the skin of their victims and use it to lure in prey. They can also instinctually tell if someone is lying.
Which is all well and good, but the only thing I really care about is that they're sapient.
It was the first creature I'd met in three months I could actually have a conversation with. It almost made me feel giddy. Perhaps I wasn't going to die in these woods after all.
I stood up from my hiding place, brushed off the dirt from my clothes and slicked back my hair. First impressions matter after all.
I walked out from behind my tree with arms outstretched in greetings.
"What a great occasion! I've been looking for someone like you."
The Wendigo gave me the side eye as it continued to shovel chunks of cat-scorpion meat into its mouth.
I didn't mind the obvious lack of respect towards me. All I needed to do at the moment was be confident as I approached the beast. It can get you surprisingly far in life. There's even a saying that with enough confidence a sinner could walk unopposed through the gates of heaven.
I believed that quote to be true.
Once I was within eight feet of the Wendigo I stopped and bowed slightly.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Marcus, and I'm the immortal who will slay the gods of this world."
The Wendigo stopped shoveling meat into its mouth and turned his attention towards me with an obviously confused look on its face.
It tossed aside the cat and approached me, but I didn't flinch even when the seven-foot murder machine began to examine me.
"Well, at the very least you think you're telling the truth. Which means you're probably just insane. How long have you been out in these woods' little fella?"
I scoffed slightly.
"I'm not insane. Well, not completely anyways. All I did was give you an honest introduction. Now would you care to give me your own?"
"Oh, are you trying to give me an order, self-proclaimed god slayer?"
"No, I actually intended to give you an offer."
"Oh, and what would that be?"
"First let me ask a question. Your species is a solitary one, correct?"
"Do you intend to try my patience?"
"I'll take that as a yes. Which means you haven't truly had the opportunity to compare yourself to others of your species."
The Wendigo's voice was dripping with irritation, "What are you implying?"
"Oh, I imply nothing. You are lowly compared to them. You wear the skin of a deer while others wear the skin of dragons. Are you truly content with that, with being lesser?"
The Wendigo grit its teeth, staring down at me with hate in its eyes.
And I stared back.
It growled towards me, "I should kill you for simply speaking that."
I smiled brighter, "And then you'd continue to be nothing."
Bloodlust radiated off the Wendigo. It was a palpable thing, something I could taste in the air.
I leaned in toward the Wendigo, "I've made deals with demons, killed people akin to kings and I will come to rule my world."
The Wendigo's eyes widened slightly as every word I said came back as truth.
"What is this offer of yours?"
"Work for me, and I can guarantee you power, strength, wealth, hell even this world if you want it. God knows I don't want it."
Every word I said was true, which made this particular dealing proceed rather well. Being able to tell when someone's lying was definitely a strength, but it could easily work both ways.
…
"I'll accept your offer under one condition."
"And what would that be?"
"I want the god's skin."
I raised an eyebrow. "Which one, there's five of them aren't there?"
"It doesn't matter."
I shrugged, it wasn't like I had a use for it.
"Then you can have them all."
I reached out and grabbed his clawed hand, giving it a firm shake.
"I still don't have your name."
"I don't have one."
"Oh, then I'll just call you, uh, David? Yeah sure, why not. It's a pleasure to be working with you David."
I released my grip on his hand. "Now then, your first order of business is to lead me to human civilization. I've already wasted way too much time out in these woods, and my therapist is gonna have a hell of a lot to unpack when I get back to my world."