You were right Winky. I could be better, I could be stronger.
Alex was standing motionlessly in the middle of the vast pool of crimson liquid. He had done it. He had killed the damn bird.
"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR RIPPING A LIMB OR TWO, YOU DISGUSTING CREATURE!!", roared Alex.
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SLAIN A SOLITARY EAGLE! YOU HAVE LEVELED DOWN TO -5!
THE EVOLUTION OF"DEVIL'S RIGHT ARM" HAS MADE YOU ELIGIBLE FOR THE CURSE "GOD'S LEFT ARM"
YOU HAVE BEEN REWARDED WITH THE CURSE, "GOD'S LEFT ARM"!]
Alex looked down at his left hand. On the wrist was engraved another Mandelbrot set, but rotated a 180 degrees. "Khurd Fla'en" was nowhere visible on his left arm. Extending his arm, he tried tightening it.
An orange light erupted from the symbol and enveloped his left arm, exactly as the green light, which was still covering his right.
[THE TRIBUTE, 'COLIN PERKINS' HAS BEEN ELIMINATED!]
The message which appeared on the screen diffused his raging emotions.
Deactivating both the curses, he looked down at the notification and whispered, with a deep sense of sadness, "I'm sorry."
He left the pool of blood and sitting beside it, bowed low, the lowest he could, as if offering an apology to the deceased.
It had become his custom, after killing so many people. He could not handle the guilt. It was impossible for a mere mortal like him to bear such a pain. For self-satisfaction, he offered the deepest apologies to the ones he slayed.
"W-w-who are y-you ?", asked a terrified voice behind him.
Raising his head slowly, he turned around to face the young lady.
After what seemed like ages, he realized he was talking to someone. He was talking to a human being.
A smile spread on his face as he replied in a cheerful tone, "Please don't be afraid of me. I'm just a fellow human being who has been driven to commit such horrible atrocities. If I have scared you, I humbly apologize".
In the past few days, Alex had learnt something. He had learnt to apologize. For whatever reason, if he had hurt the latter in any way, he would say "sorry", with a straight face, with all of his heart. It was the greatest lesson which he had learnt in his life.
Though his actions had hardened his expressions, they had softened his heart.
I could be better.
Somehow, the tension between the woman and him seemed to loosen.
Alex stood up, dusting away the dirt on his ragged trousers, though it did little to improve his miserable appearance.
"And... for the question you asked, I am.... Khurd ... Fla'en", said Alex in the same convincing tone. He decided he had better not reveal his real name.
He asked the young woman, "May I know your name? Cuz I haven't talked to anybody for nearly 2 weeks. You see, I have been stranded in that goddamned forest for 10 days, alone".
The woman was still silent, staring at him.
"Ah, I think I might not have left a good impression of myself on you. I should rather leave. You see, a certain piece of shit needs to be put out of his misery and I believe he is hiding inside that damn tower."
With a last smile, he turned around to leave. His belongings were still resting beside the foot of the tree from where he had been watching the fight.
He had no time. the longer he lived in this world, the more people he had to kill.
He was just starting to leave when she spoke out. "I-I'm sorry, I misjudged you. Your appearance would scare the daylights out of any living creature.
Thank you for saving me. "
Alex, with an intriguing face, turned around.
"Would you mind if I asked you something ?"
"No", replied the woman.
"Do you, by any chance, have a symbol engraved on your right hand with a name written inside it ?", he asked with a distinctive frown.
"No I don't, though I do have a name written on my right wrist. It says,'Yor Ka'an'. I believe the name you told me just now was "your given name". You are refraining from telling your real name."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Well you see, this is for personal security. I can't possibly be running into people and telling them my real name. Blokes have my name on the registration list of the game. I could be screwed if all turned against me."
"Anyways, are you, by any means, leveling down?", he asked in a grave tone.
"Though I am leveling, i'm leveling up, not down."
"What?!, you aren't leveling down?", asked Alex, completely shocked.
"No, I'm leveling up. Though I'm still on level 2 and haven't acquired any useful skills. Just this crap which increases my agility. It's still not very effective at killing resilient opponents.", replied the woman, who was puzzled by his uncanny questions.
"Have you killed any beast since you entered this world ?"
"No, I haven't. I have only leveled due to my surviving skills. I have been living off these rotten plants for days. My brother already died in the forest. His heart was weak. Wasn't able to last more than a couple o' days.
I hate this @#$% game! I'm gonna kill the goddamn developers! They're gonna pay for what they did to my brother."
"Well you see,.. we got a problem here.."
...
Yor was shaken to the core.
Alex had just recited to her all of the events that had happened which led to this screwed conclusion.
They were sitting below the tree where Alex had dumped all of his stuff.
"We're not getting out of this world any time soon. Those bastards will really rot in hell for what they did. I am gonna personally make them beg for mercy before I kill them."
"I'm really sorry about your friends. It must've hurt.", Yor said, in a very regretful tone. Somehow, she seemed to be a sensitive woman.
Diverting the topic, Alex asked her, "Where did you learn to fight ? You were pretty amazing against that eagle.
I myself was blown away by its first shock wave. Hurt like hell."
"My dad trained me. Wanted me to be national champion in karate. Now I don't know where the hell in this world he would've spawned and who he might be.", she said, wiping a tear off her seamless face.
Alex immediately regretted what he asked.
"Can I ask you for a favor? Do you have any decent clothes? I have been wearing this rag for sixteen days. If more people are to meet me, I had better have a good impression next time.", he said, adding a small laugh in the end to lighten up the melancholic mood.
"Yeah I do. Belongs to my brother. I think they'll fit you fine.", she said as she started ruffling her backpack to extract a pair of trousers and an iconic hoodie with a red collar and black body.
"Your brother did have quite a taste in the matters of fashion".
"Well, thanks for these anyway", said Alex pointing to his newfound clothes.
...
"I think I should leave now. I have stayed at this place here too much. Time to say goodbye, I think."
"What ?, wait a minute, you leaving alone ?"
"Yes, I thought our business was over here.", said Alex, quite matter of factly.
"Can't I accompany you?", she added shyly.
Alex goggled her for a full 15 second period before bursting into a fit of laughter.
"You sure you wanna accompany ME ? Folks usually don't look twice at my face. Its the first time I have been asked for, since Mr. Stiller.
"Are you denying ?", she added, trying to sound fierce.
"Why, no. You may come with me. But you see, I am the most monotonous guy ever in the world. I wouldn't be able to entertain you much."
"That doesn't matter.", she said, dryly. "I want to kill that bastard as well".
"Well then... suit yourself."