Gestation by John Gold (love books to read .txt) 📗

bad. I’ll use the overload mechanics for now, and take care of that later. I need a map. These are the circles of Hell, so you must be able to run along the Fields of Ash in either direction and end up back where you started. Like Galboa said before getting started with a big job, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It’s going to be a little step for the new me, but a big step for the old me.

An hour later, I’m just about able to run. A day later, I’m running without a problem. The map shows that I’ve only covered a small part of the circle, and keeping straight ahead is starting to get boring. I turn to walk along the shroud and notice all the different forms it takes. Sometimes, shapes flit across, and one time I get the feeling someone’s looking at me. I decide to see what’s on the other side.

∞ ∞ ∞

Damage taken: 800 (ignored: 125)

45/720

Resistance to mental damage: +0.02%

Mental damage ignored up to 131/second

Nothing but mental damage! That was…awful. I saw the suffering souls, heard their cries, felt their pain and anguish, looked into their empty eye sockets. I was bathed in terror, although, it was less a feeling, and more, a creature living in the haze. In that second, I didn’t see it, though I understood perfectly well that it was there as a creation of that crazy world. I only survive because I trip and fall, only too happy to do so.

Wait a second. If I’m in the Fields of Ash, where everything is destroyed, what did I trip over? It turns out to be a bone, the thigh bone of an adult human, whittled down on one end to a point. I’m afraid to pick it up, but father teaches me what I can do with it. I need weight, too.

Throwing bone

???

Damage: ???

???

???

∞ ∞ ∞

I look, but there’s nothing besides the bone, so I stop to think. The fields of ash are bereft of life, with nobody here but me, and I really need protection from mental damage. It’s the border, the perfect spot to work on my resistance.

I don’t make the same mistake twice, however. Instead, I dig up the ash right next to the shroud, leaving just my right hand for me to lean on. I stick my left hand against my body to heal myself. With that done, I get to work.

It’s brutal, but I quickly get used to it. With the huge amounts of damage I’m taking, my resistance grows by leaps and bounds: one second of damage, five seconds of healing. Rinse and repeat.

As my resistance grows, the landscape changes. New things start to appear. I see crying children, hanged men, talking heads. I watch as people die in their beds. I see them burned alive. The picture becomes worse and worse, and it starts to get into my head.

Just about forgot to pull my hand back.

∞ ∞ ∞

Damage taken: 800 (ignored: 256)

20/780

Death…

I see it in the shroud: a black robe blown in the breeze, a scythe on its right shoulder. There’s no face, just two green flames where the eyes should be. A couple of seconds later, there comes a howl like a thousand voices talking in a whisper to fill the air. Death radiates waves of monstrous power. When they break over me, they sweep away the ash, leaving me simply sitting in my meditation pose.

All I feel is the power coming from death.

Its eye’s flare, the blade of the scythe blood-red and glowing. Death sits down right across from me and holds out a hand to where I’ve been touching the shroud.

I stare into the empty eye sockets and think to myself. There it is, my chance at a normal life. I could die here and go back to my parents. Although, I wouldn’t be their child… No.

“Not yet” is all I can say.

Death straightens up and walks off along the shroud. Two creatures made completely of darkness follow it, and I’m surprised to see that one is the terror I’ve been feeling. I can tell from the sensation in my soul. The second is despair, though I only find that out when I check out my active effects.

Debuff: Aura of Lord Terror

Effect: You feel the terror of inevitable death.

Duration: 10 minutes, 59 seconds… 58… 57…

Debuff: Aura of Lord Despair

Effect: You feel the despair of inevitable death.

Duration: 10 minutes, 59 seconds… 58… 57…

∞ ∞ ∞

Death takes five steps, stops, looks back at me, and continues walking. I glance up at the dark, quivering haze above me. There are two ashen sparks staring at me - it’s alive.

You got a debuff: Aura of Lord Fear

Effect: You feel the fear of inevitable death.

Duration: 10 minute, 59 seconds… 58… 57…

∞ ∞ ∞

The haze rolls up, taking the form of a clump of darkness with ashen eyes, and follows its master. This is terrifying! Death, with its gloomy companions, moves in the shroud as an ethereal creature ruling the earth.

∞ ∞ ∞

Resistance to mental damage: +1.02%

Mental damage ignored up to 455/seconds

Gift received: Meeting deferred

You personally saw Death and its three companions, Terror, Fear, and Despair, and stayed this side of the grave. When you die permanently, Death will take your soul to the Land of the Dead.

∞ ∞ ∞

What? Crazy! I jump up and run away from the shroud, needing no second warning. I’m never going back there! At least, not right now. It’s a good thing I ran off without thinking, too, since ten minutes later I see that. I dig myself a hiding place as fast as I can.

Camouflage: +200

An entire armada of demons is flying, running, and crawling toward the spot where I met Death. Three minutes later, they’re all there. Damn it, I left tracks!

I jump up and keep running. What’s the point of hiding? They would just follow my tracks and find me. Two minutes later, they’ve almost caught up. Monsters like that love people, and, as I hear their