Heading out, Owen finally opened his Inventory back up to read those letters he skipped. “Alright, let’s start with the not-weird one.” He said as he thought about the letter addressed to “That Human.”

  Owen froze in his tracks. “Wait, what! Daughter…Years in secret. What the hell is going on.” Setting off again, Owen began going over the information. “Alright, so, daughter. That has to mean Kebechet, which means this letter is from Anubis. What does he mean by years, though? It felt like only moments from when I was with her till I woke up. Maybe some weird time magic stuff; wouldn’t that mean she spent years making the ARMS System for me? Why would she do that?” Owen was trying to wrap his head around that thought. Spending years of your time, most likely her free time, to try to create the Gift for him. Anubis said it was magic she was working on in secret. He felt his heart drop as he cast his eyes to the ground. “I hope she didn’t waste all that time. She shouldn’t waste anything on me. I’m not worth years of your time, Kebechet.” Owen sighed, “I hope she didn’t get in trouble or anything. Fuck. Well, there goes the mood, alright, time for the weird one.

  “Yeah, okay, definitely weird. Whatever, he sounds polite enough. Let’s not worry about the whole Destruction thing and peeking at my Soul. I wonder what his blessing will be. I’ve been walking for a bit; how much longer?” Bringing his Map back up, Owen realized he should be seeing the village any time now. “I wonder if there is any way to keep this up?” Owen tried to imagine it in the top corner of his vision like his own mini-map. With the thought, the screen became semi-transparent and attached itself to the upper corner of his vision. He could quickly will the screen back and forth while noting that when in mini form, it would lose some of the detail, but his arrow would still show. “Alright, if that worked, then this should.” Willing his Status open, he attached his Health, Stamina, and mana to the left of his vision. “Still showing just the numbers. Right, I just have to make it work.” Imagining it as a full bar instead caused the numbers to morph and stretch, turning into gray bars. Willing them colored has his Health turn red, Stamina green, and mana a bright blue. “Yes!” Owen exclaimed while pumping his fist. “HUD all set up.”

  Excited and pumped up with his success, Owen held his sheath and started a light jog. Keeping an eye on his Stamina, he noticed his current pace was keeping up with whatever his Regen was. “Makes sense. I’m not even feeling tired with this pace, guessing that the numbers kinda help me gauge what my body can do.” Pushing himself, he kept upping the pace till he noticed his Stamina Regen stopped being able to keep up. “Alright, so *huff* so full run *huff* but not sprint.” Owen kept the pace until he crested a small hill, and the village came into view. Owen slowed to take it all in. It seemed like your typical fantasy village. Hell, it even had a trench, or was it a moat? Owen couldn’t remember the exact difference, but it had that and a… wooden fence. As he slowly got closer in his jog, he noticed it wasn’t a fence but sharpened logs all facing outward. As he neared the opening he could see, Owen’s eyes darted all over. Noting the strange angles of the fence near the entrance, the lack of noise, no guards or people in sight. Then, with the shift in the wind, Owen knew why.

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  The smell of blood and bile assaulted his nose. “Shit,” Owen cursed aloud. “Shit.Shit.Shit,” Owen spat as he took off to the opening. Coming into the village proper, he was greeted with a harsh reality. Blood was still slick and pooling under some of the villagers. Owen went to the body closest to him, kneeling; he placed his hand on their neck. “They’re still warm.” With that in mind, Owen drew his sword. Whoever did this could still be nearby, he thought as he opened his Map. Scanning it, he noted that he could see the whole village and then some.

  “I can see the other side of the village, so my Maps got about 100 yards. I don’t see any-” Owen cut himself off as near the other side of the village, there was something—a green dot pulsing slowly. Setting off carefully, Owen made his way through what he assumed was the central street. Observing everything as he went, he tried to piece together what happened here. Most of the bodies were facing away from the main road or were inside homes that had their doors broken. They tried to run and hide, so whatever it was caught the whole town by surprise. All the wounds look jagged; that’s why there’s so much blood. Was it a blitz attack, then withdrawal? That means they just left everyone to bleed out. Nearing the dot, Owen slowed and quickly glanced around the corner of the building toward the dot’s location. There, slumped against a wall, was a child no older than 10. Without thinking, Owen moved towards them, “Hey, hey, are you okay.” As he neared them, Owen sucked in his breath. They had been slashed from their shoulder across to their midsection.

  “Brother.” they let out weakly, “Brother, it hurts.”

  “Shhh, shhh,” Owen whispered, trying to take it all in.

  “I hurt so…so much.” The small figure whimpered, slumping its head forward into Owen’s shoulder.

  “You did such a good job. Don’t worry, everything’s okay now,” Owen lied to the youth while stroking their head. Looking over to the side, Owen eyed a knife that appeared to have snapped.

  “Skill Gained: Basic Inspection Lvl 1” (Box)

  “Crude Iron house knife: A commoner’s house knife that appears to have snapped due to force.” (Box)

  “Brother, it’s so cold.” They whispered against his shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, I got you,” Owen replied as he held them close. Owen kept stroking their head until he felt them shudder and press into him. Looking at them, Owen inspected them.

  “You did such a good job, Lily,” Owen spoke softly as he laid her body gently on the ground. “Fucking Fuck.” Owen muttered. “Keep it together, keep it in. Assess the situation, get to safety, then have a breakdown, Owen.” Owen said as he wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall. Before he could think any further, he noticed three red dots approaching the gate he was nearest. “Coming back to loot everything now that everyone’s bleed out, huh assholes. Oh, have I got a surprise for you.” Owen muttered darkly under his breath.