Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris (books for 20 year olds txt) 📗

Have I been drinking?

No, I hadn’t tasted alcohol in years. I tried to open my eyes but had a hard time, as if something was keeping them closed. I reached up to touch them with my fingers and realized there was a large amount of crust along the lids, probably dried tears.

I rubbed it all away and attempted to stand, still half-asleep. I expected to see Louie watching something on the tablet or sleeping next to me, but all I could see were the naked walls of a room dimly lit by a lamp on the low ceiling. This wasn’t my living room. What the…

That’s right. We were attacked.

“Louie!” I tried shouting, but the dryness of my throat threw me into a coughing fit.

Once my cough subsided, I got up off the mattress that had been haphazardly thrown on the creaking wooden floor and looked around me. The room didn’t look habitable, which immediately made me think I had been taken hostage by the people who broke into my apartment. The only other things in the room were a wooden chair and a small table with a notepad on it. I hoped this might give me an idea of where I was, who had taken me, or—most importantly—a clue about where I’d find Louie. But of course the notepad was completely fucking empty. Of course! Why would I get a fucking break?

The room had no windows and the only door, on the opposite side of the room to the mattress, was a yellowish-white wooden thing that looked like it might have been more than fifty years old. Thinking about it, the walls also had a yellow hue, even though their original color was definitely white. It was the kind of yellow that walls adopt when the inhabitants are heavy smokers. Perhaps as heavy as Rory, who smoked like a chimney.

The pieces now started to fall in place. The dwarf had come to my rescue. He killed them. And Louie was there. They gave me a potion that took the pain away. Which means…

I sprinted to the door and opened it, finding myself facing the hallway of a run-down building. As soon as I turned my head left down the corridor, I saw Rory and next to him the most important being in all the worlds. Louie was holding a plastic bag in his mouth but dropped it as soon as he saw me.

“Buddy!” I said and fell to my knees as Louie ran toward me, yelping all the while.

“You’re up. You’re up!” he shouted between cries of joy while jumping into my lap and out again, running around in circles, and finally lying on the floor with his belly up and tail wagging. “We just went out to get you some food.”

“Aye, but hush now,” Rory said as he picked up the bag Louie had previously been carrying. “Dogs don’t talk and neighbors are nosy.”

“I’m so happy you’re okay,” I said, aggressively scratching his belly. “I told you so many times to run away.”

“Get in the room, damn ye.”

I wrapped my arms around Louie who was still shaking with excitement, picked him up, and headed back into the apartment. As I saw the room again, now knowing that Rory lived here, I just couldn’t imagine how he could. The place was smaller than a prison cell and, however impossible it seemed, more sparsely equipped than one. There wasn’t even a bathroom.

How does he even live here, much less craft thousands of arrows?

“Can someone tell me what happened?” I said when Rory placed the bags on the little table and started untying them.

“Ye were out, so we went for some burgers,” he said and shuffled the aluminum-foiled goodness. “Here’s the bacon, boy.”

He unfolded a brick of foil and placed it on the floor. It was filled with bacon, probably more than even I’d be able to handle. Louie rushed over to it, letting out an excited high-pitched bark.

“Bitch, shut the fuck up,” a muffled voice said from the other side of the wall, followed by a couple of thumps on it.

“Ye shut the fuck up, gods-damn piss-pot junkie!” Rory shouted and then smiled at Louie who was already munching on the first slice of crispy bacon.

“That’s not good for you, Louie,” I said and immediately Rory’s expression darkened.

“Ye better treat the dog to whatever he damn wants, half-Celt,” the dwarf commanded. “Ye were half-dead before he healed ye.”

He continued to stare at me. I stared at Louie. Louie, being the ever-hungry animal that he is, didn’t stare at anything other than the bacon strips in front of him, trying to determine which one he’d attack next. Seeing it couldn’t be helped, I sighed and took a seat on the edge of the mattress while Rory resumed shuffling through the bags.

“So… what happened?” I asked.

“Here’s yer food, lad,” he said and handed me a bag containing three burgers after having placed another five thick ones on the table, presumably for himself.

“Did you order them without pickles?” I asked jokingly.

“Yeh,” the dwarf replied, and seeing my surprised look, nodded toward Louie while taking a large bite out of his first burger. “Yer friend told me ye’re picky with yer junk food.”

“Oh, this is so good,” Louie interjected, apparently wanting to let us know how much he was loving eating bacon with no limits.

“Thanks,” I said, and only after I’d taken a bite did I realize how hungry I was. “I didn’t think so before, but I guess I’ll manage all three of them after all.”

“Yeh, the sleeping potion has that side-effect,” Rory said, and started patting his pockets. “It makes ye real hungr— Fuck. Damn it.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked and even Louie paused eating to see what was the matter. “I left my tobacco at the burger place. I’m gonna go get it.”

Before standing up, he put his thick right forearm on the table and swept the rest of his burgers into a bag he was