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  At least I'm a good fighter..., sometimes I think this body truly is a curse, but I’ll be honest, there was no way I would have survived without it.

  1

  Without missing a beat, I lunged at the first spirit, it was shaped like a man covered head to toe in armor, axes in both hands. But you couldn’t exactly get a good look at it, his whole form looked vague, not all there. It wasn't hard to imagine how this person had made it to consciousness, a warrior with a brutal style would no doubt take magic after the killing of another, that fact made me hesitant, were the people buried here all killers?

  And, was I weak because I never killed? I have been conscious for as long as I can remember, but I can’t remember everything, do people know who they were before they become conscious?

  I couldn’t let myself become distracted, I got the feeling that these spirits weren’t exactly durable, but I couldn’t be sure if that was because my body was strong, or that my magic was weak, but it was my power that did this, that mean I had one piece of magic, wether I killed someone for it, I don’t know…

  A quick punch, pull back but not too much, maximum force at the start and let your shoulder carry you the rest of the way, it was a motion I repeated more times than I could count, when you didn’t have a weapon to use, using your fist was the next best option. I never took a liking to any weapon, using my hands felt more natural than any of them, and I was strong enough to make them work.

  One, two, three punches, first to the chest and the next to either side of the head, no matter what you are the head is the weakest point, it was a safe bet that this spirit had the same rules, I grabbed hold of his arms before he could swing either axe. My taller and heavier frame gave me the advantage, I leaned forward and dropped my head like a rock, intending to land a crushing blow, he moved his own head out of the way but I still caught his shoulder with the full force of my face.

  Before he could get back up he seemed to dissipate into a mist…

  I defeated his spirit, but this mist wouldn’t clear up, it just kept clouding my vision until I could only see white…

  2

  "A memory?" My surroundings had changed, I could see that armored barbarian I was just fighting, in front of me, I was in a house surrounded by women looking at him as well. "...what's going on?" I lowered my fist and approached him, now I could see his face, like his armor had melted off. It was a strangely kind look in his eyes, but his body still looked scarred and bunt from countless battles, in fact most of his hair was singed off.

  "Yo, ferryman" the man spoke, as he made a quick waving gesture, staring at me "Take care of my soul... I can't let my death be in vein so pardon my imposing, but..." His tone was gentle, and reassuring.

  For some reason he could see me, even in what I was sure was a memory, is this where you go when you die?. His face tensed up "There's someone out there who is a threat to us all, I died before I could even reach Him, so while it shames me to ask someone so much younger than me…" there was a complex emotion written on his face, something I had never seen before, I could hardly understand it “He’s known as the Dreg King, and the most terrifying thing I have ever laid my eyes on, if you meet him I beg of you, run for your life, if you can avoid being killed by him, then I won’t have died in vein…"

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  With that he began to fade "Later, ferryman, I hope whatever magic I leave behind helps you survive… I was a stubborn bastard in life, so I’m curious what it’ll be haha!”

  And like that, he was gone…

  I caught myself from falling into the dirt, the whole experience was disorientating…

  3

  Opening my eyes I found myself back in the graveyard, my entire body felt heavy and I could only smell and taste blood, I was new to this feeling. Magic sucks out your stamina for it's power, using it when you had nothing left is hell on your body, apparently I had passed out right after... or maybe before that headbutt, maybe using my head as a weapon wasn’t the smartest option.

  Nevertheless, the attack had work, but that was nothing to say against the dozens of spirits around me, I would need to think of something more effective to use against them, rather than my skull. That said, I couldn't help but be curious what exactly I would get from this mystery of a warrior, I could see his magic rising from a grave, it gave off a gentle glow but its core was a violent fire, I could tell it was him, it had the same color.

  I let the blood that pooled in my mouth fall out, now just left with the taste of metal and a stained tongue, moving my body hurt but I couldn't help but wonder what magic he might possibly give me. Why?, why did I need to know so bad, sure it would probably help but that wasn't it, there was something else. I looked around and sure enough Jupiter and Europa were still watching me, although it looked like he had needed to hold Europa back from helping me, that was fine, I needed to do this myself anyways, but...

  My mind was running in circles, and my head was spinning, I wasn’t used to magic, I expended all of my stamina right before jumping into battle, I was probably going a little nuts from the exhaustion…

  But…

  I was sure of it, it had something to do with that magic, I didn't know exactly why or how but I was sure, I absolutely had to grab it, I had to learn what it was.

  4

  Jupiter looked on, unreadable helmet aside, he had a relaxed posture, showing that he would not provide assistance, I didn’t know how far that extended, would they just let me die? - best not to test it. Slab of a sword held in the ground and arms crossed, he had stopped holding Europa back at some point but she was now standing aside, same as him, it felt like they had faith in me- I didn’t want to let them down.

  I had to fend off a handful of spirits on my way there, without magic the best I could do was beat them off me, before I could reach there I was almost forced to a crawl, one spirit clinging to my leg to slow me down. Even my skin felt numb, I was probably pushing my body past a breaking point, magic had to take something, if it didn’t take stamina it had to take something else…. It was hard to believe I had anything left in my body, truthfully I had not tried this hard to do anything in my life… even my muscles started to give out.

  Maybe it was just that, a curiosity too strong, I had to wonder where I got that from, as my mind wandered I found myself in front of his grave. It was marked "Herse" it was really just a rock with a name on it, surrounded by a set of armor and two axes, and one more thing… a light, magic rose from the grave, wisps of the flame and mist it produced clung to me, as if already bonding to my body.

  Magic, it was the only name we had for it, and it could do anything. Everyone knew that magic could grant them any wish, but the price was far to great for anyone, that was, their own death.

  But that's not entirely right. There are some who have wishes that far surpass their own life and even those of others, this magic would manifest the strongest, to die with no regrets and hope for the future, it was a difficult thing indeed...

  Digging my fist into the ground I had every intention to drag this magic out of its resting place, what held me together was my curiosity, and what I needed to do was fight, what came afterwards would have to be fate.

  My whole body tensed up, then suddenly it felt like everyone else was moving so slowly…