Mumble, mumble
Claud woke up on soft grass, creating an natural bed, with many eyes staring at him. He looked around, tens of little creatures formed a circle around him. Some looked like humans only smaller, they own the name dwarves in fairy tales and fantasy novels. Others, on the other hand, were the complete opposite of the little dwarves and had been giving the name giants in fairy tales.
While some creatures looked nothing human-like. There were Goblins with human like skin, big ears and an unusually large head. They wore a shabby, old sac and were skinny creatures with a size ghat reached maximum 1m. They had six fingers on each hand and walked around barefoot.
There were only a handful of them around Claud, whispering in an quiet tone about some things.
There was also a majestic griffin, many little fairies with butterfly wings, moving trees that seemed to live on their own and many more fantasy classics.
Claud scratched his head, looking around in confusion, wondering where he was now.
„Where an I? Is this another contract chamber? Was I chosen again after my death? What happened with me and what was the live-saving gift from Origin?"
He thought, the last part in an sarcastic matter. While still confused, a strong wind ransacked the peaceful field.
The air moving above Claud, creating an small, silber mist coming closer and closer, becoming smaller and smaller.
Claud felt threatened and tried crawling away, bug just as he copied his new moving movement, he noticed that his injured left leg, that should be paralyzed due do the spike piercing its main muscles, was moving unhindered from the injury.
He looked down, waiting for an disgusting scene filling his view but could only see an completely fine leg, working as it should.
His mind was in too much stress to register the miracle as he ran away, as far away from the storm center as he could, just to be stopped by a massive wall out of fantasy beings.
Claud noticed that the, from the storm unaffected, creatures did not fear the strong whips made out of wind.
They just stood before him, looking at him while blocking the exit with a silent mouth.
„You…! Arrgh fck!"
Claud wanted to curse the otherworldly beings but was stopped by some cute, little baby sheep, owning glowing, bright eyes and short legs, looking cuter than an human-world puppy.
He tried pushing the uglier creatures away but was blocked by giant stone hands, coming from massive golems.
While still in struggle, Claud noticed that the suction force, coming from the strong wind whips, stopped and silent returned.
The otherworldly beings didn't mutter or whisper, only looking at the center of the winds, where a transparent core replaced the winds.
It was hovering in midair and had a green glow as center.
After a few minutes of silence, a masculine voice called out.
„Hello, little fool. My name is Cen or, as the other gods call me, Secondus. I am your savior and I-"
„WH-who are you. What a-are yoj going to do to me?"
Cen was interrupted from the nervous stuttering of Claud, who panicked by the appearance of the unknown voice, coming from an unknown direction.
The core change colors, red was now its shell, just like his mood changed and Cen said with more power in his voice.
„Do not interrupt me, lowly human, even if you are the choice of my brother, do not interrupt the voice of a pillar of the universe!"
This made Claud shut up as he turned to the raging core.
„I was as graceful as to help your poor soul out, when I noticed the trouble you brought yourself. I am the second God and the closed relative of your contractor, Origi.
I saw that death reached close to you and had to act. I will send you back to your final resting place and give you a bonus. See it as a flavor for my brother and thank me, human!"
Claud listened closely and nodded his head as to thank Cen. He was excited to return and start all over again but his illusionary dreams shattered by Cen's next words.
„But naturally, we can't just send you back, avoiding death, and returning with a gift. I will let you drink the second strongest blood in the universe, the blood of myself, which will give you an survivable body for this cruel world. But in exchange will the pain, you received so far, harshly intense for an hour, which you will have to endure without losing your mind.
Easy, isn't it?"
Cen explanation send shivers to Claud. He couldn't even imagine an pain greater than that from the attack of the atrocious fish monster.
„Okay. I will do it!"
He screamed loudly, trying to encourage himself, while thinking ,What is a pain that only exists in my mind? Nothing, right?'
As Claud continued his encourage ritual, a expensive bottle, looking ancient and holy, came down the sky, stopping before Clauds face.
It was filled with an invisible liquid, reflecting the moonlight of the four moons.
Claud reached out to it with his right hand, trembling like aspen leafs.
It weighed nothing as it lay in his hands. Claud was fascinated by that. Before he could drink the elixir, Cen interrupted his action.
„I reduced the purity of my blood, which means that the pain will be less but the benefits will be reduced too."
Gulp
Claud sallowed his saliva, preparing for the, now red turned, substance and the said side-effects to enter his body.
The many creatures around him looked expecting. The red core slowly turned light blue, waiting for the final moment where Claud drank its blood.
Claud looked around, turning his eyes left and right, upon seeing the many gazes striking him, he returned his gaze to the ancient-looking bottle, crested with golden patterns.
Little sweat bubbles forming on his forehead. Claud moved the 10cm bottle softly right and left, extremely careful as to not accidentally break it.
With his left arm slowly moving to the top of the bottle, he signaled the opening of the red, diamond-like closure.
Without any struggle, the bottle opened and a seductive smell entered the atmosphere around it, captivating Claud and some Lower-Rank beings around him.
He put the, now lonely, lid softly into his left chest pocket, located in the middle of his chest on the white, riddled, old shirt he wore since his entry in the mysterious world.
Some smaller fairies and pixies already fainted from the strong, rose smell entering the surroundings with the help of Cens blood.
Clauds vision field decreased and blurred, warning him to speed up the process.
He closed his eyes and drunk it whole. The liquid flowed down his mouth, leaving an strawberry taste behind, and reached to his throat.
Arrhhhhggh
A barbarous scream echoed on the field, coming from a human, standing in an circle formed out of strange beings, with scarlet-red blood coming down his eyes, two ears, damaged nose and crawling out of his pale lips, throwing color at them.
Claud experienced living hell, starting when the red liquid solidified in his throat and turning into spikes, slowly sliding down his eating tube before arriving at his stomach, piercing important organs like heart, lung and liver, crushing the pillars of the human body, bones, under their weight.
Claud rolled on the grass, scaring the left conscious beings, making them grab their fainted friends and moving further away.
As more and more functions of his body were broken and destroyed, Our miserable protagonist slowly transformed from a human to a pile of shattered bones, peeking through the teared apart skin, destroyed flesh, surrounded by a reddish liquid and riddled with holes and some other human traits.
His eyeballs exploded, hair turned greyish white and his flesh moved on its own without being connected to his, now destroyed, nerve system.
Cen looked at the ugly pile of self-moving flesh with a smile, thinking thoughts only he and myself could know.
After some time, he threw in an cheering comment, probably out of boredom and not concern.
„Give it your all, puny human! Only 23hours 17minutes and 27seconds to go."
Claud, whos ears are deformed beyond recognition, naturally could not hear him, even if he could, he had no face to turn to him, no mouth to answer him and no eyes to see him. His nerv system was already useless and destroyed but that did not stop his pain.
A day went by with Claud experiencing more and more waves of pain and Cen throwing more and more comments at him.