Chapter 3 — System Change

“Ooomph!”

Derek landed hard and started tumbling end over end down a vast hill until he finally came to an abrupt stop by smashing into a boulder.

Looking around, Derek noticed that the grass was pale, the wind was stale, and the overall quality of the land at which he arrived was just in very poor condition. “It’s beautiful.” He said with a glint in his eye, a tear threatening to descend onto his cheek. “It’s all I could have ever hoped for.” Derek choked out, his voice becoming gravely. He wiped at his eyes to remove any tears that had somehow made it out.

Standing up, brushing himself off in the process, Derek checked the System again since he was finally out of the void.

“Ah!” Derek wailed in pain, almost as if something within his brain had broken. A massive headache threatened to overtake his consciousness.

Derek looked up at the sky. He could just see the outline of where the monster had shattered space to go into the void. The remnants slowly closing at a rate visible to the human eye.

Unexpectedly, a wave of gratitude washed over him. Gratitude to the monster who had freed him of his endless torment. More tears pooled in the corners of his eyes. This time, not caring about his appearance, Derek let the tears flow as he smiled wistfully at the cracks that had finally sealed, leaving no sign that there was ever anything there to begin with.

As he was thinking, he looked around again, noticing that while there were trees and there were signs that there could have been a luscious forest once upon a time, it was hard to actually call it a forest.

Suddenly, a rustle was heard from some nearby shrubbery. Derek did not bother turning around to see what it was, everything indicated that all of his stats and skills were still working. If anything could approach him fast enough for him to not be able to take action, he was already as good as dead.

Finally, the rustling in the bush quieted. Light footsteps made their way closer and closer to Derek. He turned his head, slowly as to not scare whatever was approaching. Seeing what was behind him, he grinned.

It was a little boy, no older than ten, with dirt around his face and tears staining his cheeks. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair was brown.

The chuckle must have scared the hell out of the boy because his eyes widened and he turned to escape.

“Boy! Stop, I’ll help you. I need to find out where I am.” Derek yelled at the boy. The boy slowed for just a second, long enough to turn his head around and see the demonic looking figure again. He let out a yelp and started running faster than before.

Tripping over a tree branch, the boy fell, making his already tattered clothing even dirtier. He reached for his knee and grabbed it with both hands. Derek could hear sobs coming from the boy.

Soon, the boy realized his mistake. If he was not moving, then that meant that he wasn’t getting any further away from the demon. He turned again, only to find the evil creature towering over his body. He shrieked, rolled to his back and started to feverishly crawl backwards on his hands and feet.

Derek almost could not hold in his laugh.

“Uhh…” Feeling ashamed, Derek did not quite know what to do.

Not wanting to get bodily fluids on his armor, Derek picked the boy up by the neck of his shirt with one hand as he strolled back to the boulder he smashed into. The two cut a striking image as they moved through the dilapidated forest. The image was not a good one. It could be described as a crazed demon bringing his prey back to camp to be eaten.

After settling the boy in, Derek went back out to gather some wood for a fire.

Derek was not subtle. Instead of gathering the dead branches and twigs that were already on the ground, he went to a decently sized tree and summoned his glaive out of his bracelet. He launched a

While watching the tree fall Derek’s head abruptly felt like someone had gone in with a pair of scissors and started chopping on his brain. It was worse than the previous headache by far. Derek could not help but wonder about the cause of these new, sudden headaches.

Derek leaned against the newly made tree stump and closed his eyes. He did not enter

Derek got back to camp with the tree and dropped it on the ground. Summoning a dagger out of his bracelet, he went to work shaving down the tree so he could have some good kindling to start a fire. After getting enough shavings, he put the dagger back into his bracelet and summoned his glaive again. This time, instead of using

After chopping the tree into eight pieces, then halving them all again, he started to really examine the wood.

Bashing and banging sounds could be heard from deep within the forest. Drawing in close, it was Derek with a hammer busting up some rocks he had found.

He walked back and grabbed some firewood and sat it beside the fire pit. After summoning what looked like a small stone out of his bracelet, he dropped it onto the kindling. The stone started heating and finally began to glow red. Smoke started rising, then the kindling ignited. Derek hurriedly placed a piece of the wood onto the small fire. After a few seconds, it was set ablaze, and he placed a couple more pieces down. The red rock stopped glowing, then turned to ash.

Not long after, Derek could hear whimpering coming from across the fire. Opening his eyes and glancing in the boy’s direction, was the boy with his tear-stained face and runny nose. Derek tried to be as gentle as he could as he spoke. “It’s alright boy, I’m not gonna hurt you, sorry for scaring ya earlier.”

The crying stopped and the boy observed Derek. The boy was still frowning, but this time it was not a frown full of sadness, it was one of confusion. He furrowed his brow and started to speak to Derek.

The language was foreign, and Derek had no clue what the boy said.

“WHAT!” Derek screamed and everything went black.