A Warlock's Ascent

The creature took some time to register that he was wounded, and then it went berserk. Blood started pouring out of its wounds as though a water pipe had burst in its neck, it started swinging its neck here to there in hope that the sword would dislodge itself, but that didn't happen.

Dave had somehow managed to lodge the sword in such a way, that it refused to come out. When the creature first started swinging its neck, he was thrown backward, the blow was powerful enough to shake every inch of his body, luckily no bone was broken in the process.

The creature was experiencing an excruciating amount of pain, and as it moved its neck, the amount of blood pouring out of its vessels also increased, it was slowly killing itself by bleeding out. But it was not that intelligent and it didn't know what was better for it…

Dave felt his whole body rammed by a pickup truck, he was feeling dizzy and felt like he has taking the worst beating of his life. But still, with the numbness, his brain was working perfectly. And he knew that he was still not out of the danger zone, this creature could still him with one hit, and if does that quill attack once again then he would definitely lose his life.

He immediately got up when he saw that the creature was banging his head on a nearby tree doing only god knows what, but this was his chance. And it was then he glanced at the man that he came to rescue.

The barrier protecting the man was gone, the man was now in all his fours and was crawling his way out slowly. As he was able to crawl, he knew that the man was not injured.

'Why the hell is this mother fucker crawling? This stupid son of a bitch should be running instead.' he thought.

It was then something whizzed past his cheeks with an astonishing speed, making a rather long cut in the process, and soon blood started flowing down from his left cheek. He touched his cut as he didn't understand what had happened, but then he looked back and saw a quill being stuck on the rock behind him.

As he saw the quill, he started having a bad feeling. And sure enough, soon more quills were fired by the berserk creature in random directions. But luckily none of them hit the crawling man or him. But the quill that brushed off his cheek was a wake-up call for him. Thus Dave then quickly got up and started running toward the crawling man.

He grabbed him by his shirt and quickly lifted him, over his shoulder. The man was skinny thus he was very light. After quickly grabbing him, he started running away from there.

It was while running, that he felt a strong sting on his free hand, a quill had pierced his hand, but he didn't stop to look at it. He just kept running straight, trying to make as much distance as he could between himself and the creature.

***

Dave ran until he felt like his legs were gonna break. He only stopped, when he was sure that the screeching berserk porcupine was far behind them. He put down the stranger under a tree, and sure enough, that man had fainted. He then slumped down beside him and tried to calm down. With heavy breaths he could still feel the adrenaline flowing through his body, he couldn't believe that he was able to pull something off like this.

It was then he glanced at his hand to check the quill that had pierced his hand. The quill had made a small pencil size hole in his right hand and most probably passed through it. Blood was still pouring out of his hands. He instantly took out his shirt and tied it around his wound.

Now barechested, he turned around towards the man. He didn't know whether there was something wrong with the man, or he had just fainted. So he shook his head, once or twice, the man finally opened his eyes…

AAAHH!!

The man woke up screaming. When he saw Dave sitting beside him, he finally remembered what had happened. Tears suddenly started pouring out of his eyes and he started sobbing loudly…

"Dhanyawad Bhaiya! Meri jaan bachane ke liye." The man said in a foreign language that Dave did not understand. He could feel the emotion of the man and believed that he was trying to thank him. But he wasn't sure.

"Are you alright?" Dave asked in English.

"I… am… well," the man said while sobbing.

Hearing his word, he sighed in relief. "Oh great… I thought you didn't speak English."

"I speak…. Little little"

"Well little is fine by me. Do you know where we are?"

"Where… Forest… We in a forest."

"I know we are in the forest. I want to know where is this forest. Do you know?"

"No." Hearing his answer he could only sigh. He felt a little bit down because even though he had found a fellow human being but he can't communicate properly with him. But it was then he remembered the common tongue skill that he got. He instantly started wrecking his brain and started the knowledge about the common tongue started pouring into his mind…

"Can you understand me now?" Dave said while speaking the common tongue of Midgard. The man was astonished to hear his words.

"I understand you." The man spoke in English.

"Try to speak this language. If I am not wrong you would be able to speak this language as well." The man looked confused, but when he started wrecking his brain he was surprised, the knowledge of a foreign language was in his mind.

"How do I know this language?" the man spoke the common tongue with a puzzled look.

"I don't know. It seems like something out of the fantasy book to me as well."

"What is your name, kind sir?"

"Me? My name is Dave Gonsalves."

"I am Sanjay Singh."

"Indian?"

"Yes… And you are from?"

"America,"

"Oh… Donald Trump. I know him."

"Good for you…" Dave said awkwardly as he didn't know what to make of his reply.

"I owe my life, Dev. Thank you for saving me."

"Don't mention it. And it's D-A-V-E, not D-E-V"

"That is what I said. Dev."

"Never mind. So what do you reckon is happening to us?"

"Don't know. Maybe God is punishing us because of our sins."

"You were a sinner back in India?"

"I was a butcher. Maybe me killing all those innocent animals has got me into this situation."

"I was a cook. And I may have sold some weed when I was young but other than that, there isn't any sin that I committed."

Sanjay was astonished by his reply. "You were a drug dealer? Were you part of a gang?"

"I was a drug dealer when I was 17 something. But after my 18th birthday, I stopped." Dave said.

"Oh."

Both of them sat side by side to each other, there was still awkwardness between them so they didn't speak further. But it was then, that Dave suddenly had a message ting in his ears. He looked around and then saw that there was a message icon floating in front of him.

"Can you see that?" Dave asked while pointing at the icon.

"See what?"

"Didn't you hear the message ring tone?"

"No… Did you hear it?"

"Seems like it," Dave said and then he mentally tried to open the icon and soon enough a string of blue messages came pouring in front of him…

.......

You have slain the Earth Porcupine.

.......

You have been awarded 120 Exp for your feat.

.......

Congratulation! You have levelled up.

.......

5 Stats points have been awarded to you.

.......

You have attracted the gaze of The Destroyer of Worlds

.......

You have attracted the gaze of The All-Knowing Father.

.......

You have attracted the gaze of The Monster Huntress.

.......

You have attracted the gaze of Fat Fighting King.

.......

You have attracted the gaze of Mistress of an Owl

.......

You have attracted the gaze of The Wine Maker

.......

Looking at the messages, Dave was confused. 'What do they mean that attracted the gaze? And who the fuck are these people? Destroyer of Worlds? What the hell? What kind of names are these?'

"What message did you get?" Sanjay asked.

"It seems like the monster that I lodged my sword into had died. And I have leveled up"

"What does leveled up mean?"

"I have no fucking idea."

"Then what should we do now Dev?"

"I think we should go back o the creature that we killed," Dave said while getting up.

"Why?"

"Well, for starters I need my sword back. Secondly, we don't have any food or water with us. That creature could provide us with enough meat that could last for a few days."

"But I am a vegetarian."

"You are a butcher. How the hell is a butcher a vegetarian?" Dave said while looking weirdly.

"What can I say, I am a religious man."

"Whatever, look around you man. We are stranded in the middle of the forest with no way out. It is either dying of hunger or eating that meat. After all, it is not like there is a pure veg restaurant waiting for you just around the corner." Dave said and then he started walking back. While Sanjay stayed seated there for a second contemplating the dire situation they were in…

"Wait for me!" Sanjay said. For now, he had decided to follow him. He doesn't want to eat the meat. But he couldn't deny it, that it is the only option that he got for now…