So I had a spear through the center of my chest. That alone should make me run screaming.

  The thing was, I felt no pain.

  There was a shriek behind me, an otherworldly, horror-movie noise. I grabbed the spear, which seemed rather like a plain Red-grade starter spear, and turned to find the shadow-creature gripping its gut, doubled over in pain.

  Wait. That thing hit me in the gut... the other thing hit me in the shoulder....

  And immediately after, both were downed.

  It's my new skill. What was it? You're Bigger Than I Thought You Were? It reflects half the damage of anyone's first attack against me.

  It had already saved my life twice.

  "Don't just stand there! Chop some more arms off!" Dave cried.

  I gritted my teeth and pulled on the spear, but it wouldn't budge. Instead, I gestured to loot it, and it vanished into my inventory. Easy enough.

  That shadow guy worried me most, especially sinc I could see he had long, black, finger-like antlers rising off his head. They didn't seem fully substantial, but the creep factor was up to 11 on thos bad boys.

  I pulled my new spear, the Green-grade one, out of my inventory. This should do some serious damage. The antler creature was at about two-thirds health already, and one hit from this thing—

  I swung, and both me and the spear went straight down.

  I gave a shout as the sheer weight of the thing toppled us both, and we slammed to the ground. This time, my crushed fingers cost me some hit points, although thankfully, they didn't break. They should have, but this wasn't the real world. I managed to pry my hands off.

  "For Sandor!" Ol' Slimy shouted.

  My whole body got yanked to the right.

  I cried out as my shoulder slammed into something that buzzed with feedback, and then my body tipped to one side, as if pulled against the buzzing thing. I was so disoriented that I couldn't figure out what was going on.

  "Dave!"

  "It's a vortex! He has a vortex gun!"

  The air rippled around me, distorting the whole street. I could see the indistinct shapes of NPCs, stopping to stare, as they usually did whenever a player brought any sort of fight into town.

  A larger shape was coming closer to me. Ol' Slimy. He looked sharper than before.

  "He's got knives, and lots of them!" Dave cried.

  I fought to turn my head, and now I could see the vortex that I was glued to. The guy hadn't been aiming at the water tower, then--he'd been aiming to one side, where he could create a vortex to throw me off my feet and lay me at his mercy.

  I couldn't move. How long was the effect? Five seconds? A minute? It could be anywhere in between, and Ol' Slimy would know it. He'd have me dead long before I got away from this thing.

  Yet I could do almost nothing. I could speak, and that was it.

  "FATE," I said.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Yes, Remnant?

  I had never wanted to hear a pleasant robotic voice as much as I did right then. "How can you turn off a vortex gun if you're in it?" I asked her.

  There was a pause. I felt an impact. One of Slimy's knives going in. I was also still losing health from the Bleed effect. I was down to 25% now, and counting.

  Vortexes can be overloaded with objects, causing it to reverse direction and then collapse. The smaller the vortex, the fewer objects needed to overload it.

  I gave a tiny nod and grunted, "Thanks, FATE."

  Then I emptied half of my inventory.

  It was tricky to do without gestures, but Dave had taught me before. I just had to keep my head stationary—easy enough in this state—and move my eyes around the HUD screen, then blink at the icons I wanted.

  I blinked at my inventory icon, a backpack symbol above my HP orb. This pulled up my inventory. I started blinking on items, barely moving my eyes to choose between them.

  Drop. Drop. Drop.

  I grunted at the feel of another impact, and this time, I was distantly aware of the pain it caused. My immunity to pain was long gone, only there for the first attack, but still the pain felt hazy, insubstantial. That probably meant I was dying.

  First all the torches. Then all the dragon scales. Then the useles laser gun. Then—

  But the gun proved to be enough, and the world yanked me in the opposite direction this time as the vortex reversed its direction, shooting torches and dragon scales in all directions. I hit the dirt, feeling like a deflated basketball, but I fought back to my hands and knees.

  "Behind you!" Dave shouted.

  I heaved left.

  A knife landed where I'd been, and Slimy yelled, "You're not getting away that easy!" as he raised another blade. This one was Glass grade, like the first. It would break after hitting me, but it would still kill me.

  "What the fuck did I ever do to you?" I said, watching the knife for all I was worth.

  "You killed my king!" Slimy roared.

  "Who?"

  "Arrrggghghgh!"

  He lunged for me, incensed, and I kicked him in his muscular base, making him wheeze and drop the blade. It wouldn't have worked on a human, but his weird body shape and odd weak spots worked in my favor. I grabbed up the blade and slashed at him.

  He screamed as I left a gash on his one remaining arm, but when I made to slice at him again, my weapon disintegrated.

  I looked down at it, feeling hazily disappointed. My Bleed effect had taken me down to 5% health. It kept ticking away, one health point at a time.

  I turned my head. The only other object in reach was my empty laser gun. I picked it up, then looked back at the pile of glass dust that had been my knife.

  "FATE?"

  Yes, Remnant?

  "Does this version of the game let you Dismantle things?"

  I am not privy to information outside the game.

  "Oh...."

  But... if items can be destroyed like those Glass knives, then most likely, the game also has a Dismantle function. Historically, those two capacities occur together.

  "Oh. Good. Thanks, FATE."

  You're... welcome?

  I took the gun into my lap and quietly set about dismantling it. I had forgotten the gesture, and I had seen no buttons or options directing me this way, so I just started to pick the gun apart with my hands. My Strength stat was apparently enough, and the plastic shell around the gun casing broke apart easily.

  My conversation had cost me time, though, and now not only was Ol' Slimy getting ready to throw knives at me again, but the shadow creature had also appeared. It looked like a shadow itself, without dimension. It was just a walking, enormously tall, half-human half-deer shape.

  And it was holding my Green grade pike.

  I sensed it smiling at me, even though I saw nothing change on its flat black visage. I just felt that smile at my core, as if goosebumps were rising along the inside of my gut.

  "It was kind of you, to leave me a weapon of such high grade upon your passing," the creature said. "Truly, it shall kill you in one swing. Such glory to behold, I am sure."

  "Hey!" Slimy shouted. "He's mine!"

  "Oh, you are still here?" the shadow said, its head pivoting. I kept busy with my hands, letting them give me time.

  Slimy turned, aiming his remaining knives at the shadow creature. "Back off!"

  "Truce, until he is dead?" the creature hissed at Slimy.

  "Uh... only if I get to do the honors."

  "I will not forfeit such points to you."

  Slimy hesitated, seeming to see the creature for the first time. "He killed my king. My people have been joining this Hunt for six runs to avenge King Sandor."

  "And I have joined this Hunt because I killed twenty people," the shadow-creature said.

  Ol' Slimy audibly swallowed.

  "Heckin' hells," I muttered. "Are you two still talking?"

  It was a favorite swear of my brother's, and apparently new slang in the Cities. I liked the way they looked at me, enraged, as I said it.

  I spread my hands. In one, I held a torch I'd found on the ground, one of many.

  In the other, I held the laser gun's plasma core.

  Slimy recoiled. Shadow cocked his head.

  Then I put the two objects together, hoping this would work.

  It did.

  I made a very big bang.