Horse 2.0

  A few months ago…

  [Quest: What is an ownerless animal but a beast?

  Quest condition: Find an owner within 14 days.

  Failure Penalty: If you do not find an owner in 14 days, you will lose all autonomy and become a mindless beast.

  Time remaining: 2 days, 15 hours]

  I gave up looking for a new master. I don’t deserve to live. A jinx, that’s what the System titled me. A walking disaster. Everything I touch gets ruined, everyone I get close to dies.

  Though it means more or less dying for real, I feel it’s better for everyone if I just fade away, like I never existed.

  I’ve been wandering ownerless for almost two weeks now, munching grass and the occasional flower, living such a boring life I wonder if I’ll even notice it when my consciousness slips away and trades for the mind of a beast.

  Now it is a cold, drizzly afternoon, and my aimless wanderings through the countryside have brought me to the edge of a nondescript dirt road. A little surprised, I look up to find a young man standing in front of me, chest heaving, giving the impression he’s been running a long ways. With a short sword on his waist, he’s rugged and weather worn. His travel clothes are mud spattered and soaked through; his dark hair is plastered against his scalp.

  He reaches out a fingerless gloved hand to stroke my neck, and I just stare at him with hollow eyes. He looks left and right. Seeing no owner, perhaps he imagines I will be a good partner for him.

  Not so, my friend. Leave now, before you lose your life.

  I start to move away, lifting my hoof only to bring it down again. Too late, I feel the young man’s foot beneath my own, and it’s impossible to stop myself from bringing my full weight down on it. I’ll crush him!

  But no. At the last possible moment, he manages to pull out, and avoid being stepped on. He gets a relieved look and laughs, patting my neck as though to say, ‘That was close!’ And I get the strangest sense of hope.

  I didn’t cripple him. Could it be—this guy’s actually really lucky? Maybe even lucky enough to cancel out my -2 luck?

  With thrumming heart, I stand very still as the athletic young man mounts me without the aid of a stirrup. He urges me forward with his calves, and I break naturally into a trot. He squeezes me again and I speed into a canter, then to a full gallop.

  The young man whoops excitedly, and inwardly I’m whooping as well. It feels good to run! To carry someone. It’s not something I could have understood in my previous life—this is simply the joy of being a horse.

  He doesn’t let me run for long. After testing my capabilities, he pulls me back and I slow once more to a trot, then to a walk. He says something then, and I get a system notification.

  [New Owner acquired. Your name has been changed to: Robin.]

  I could cry. I didn’t realize it until this moment—but I really didn’t want to die! Now I have a new chance at life, a new owner and a new name. Robin is a great name. Shall I call my master B*tman?

  I feel B-Man lay against me, and I sense his weariness. This poor guy, he really needed a mount. I’m glad fate brought us together so I could help him.

  I wonder where he’s going. Where we’re going.

  Well, for now, I’ll just follow the road…

  I learn B-Man is a courier. Before he got me for his mount, he ran from town to town, carrying messages. Now I do the running for him.

  I don’t mind the work. In fact, I love it. Wherever we go, it’s just me and B-Man, us against the world, partners, best friends for life.

  B-Man is a kind owner. He remembers the days where he had to walk everywhere, so he never fails to appreciate his mount. When we stay in towns he always gets me the best accommodations, and dutifully brushes the dust and mud out of my coat. He feeds me well and always brings plenty of treats on our long journeys.

  As for my bad luck, that hasn’t gone away. Occasionally, we’ll run into mishaps, and B-Man has sustained more than one injury on my account, though nothing serious. Always he manages to get out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed or maimed. He’s lucky. Lucky enough to cancel out most of my bad luck. And so, we make the perfect team.

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  Weeks go by. I’m leveling up like crazy. Once, I’d have focused on putting my points into Intelligence so I could comprehend human speech, but I understand instinctively B-Man’s desire for me to be hardy and fast, so I forgo Intelligence for now, and focus my growth in Constitution and Agility.

  [Character name: Robin

  Level: 8

  Race: Horse

  Class: Horse

  Subclass: Express Pony

  HP: 430

  Constitution: 19

  Strength: 18

  Agility: 12

  Intelligence: 1

  Luck: -2

  Skills: Beast of Burden (2), Death by Plowing, Dressage (2), Jinx, Jump (3), Skilled Mount (6), Terror of the Innocent]

  Today is another drizzly, misty day. My partner and I are on the road, as always, carrying a message from the river town to a village in the mountains.

  The thick mist cloaking the countryside makes it difficult to see, and so I do not become aware of three leather armored figures in the road ahead of us until we’re nearly upon them.

  My horse senses are tingling. These guys are up to no good. Bandits?

  I want to run, but B-Man urges me to calm down and approach them in a non-threatening manner. This I try to do, but the men come to block our way. Words are exchanged, and I can feel B-Man’s fear communicated through his legs that grip my torso.

  They are bandits! One of them tries to take my reins, and I rear up on my back legs, punching him in the chest, sending him flying back. He does not stir.

  Another bandit comes at my right side with a sword, but B-Man takes up his short sword and thrusts him through the neck.

  There’s still one more. With this big body, it’s difficult to maneuver, and so I cannot stop the third bandit from pulling B-Man from the saddle.

  No! Partner!

  If that bandit thinks this horse will stand around stupidly without a rider to guide him, he’s got another thing coming!

  While he’s rolling in the dirt with B-Man, I come up behind him. The bandit is on top, about to finish B-Man with a wicked looking knife when I chomp his ear.

  He screams like a girl as I start to haul him up, then he wrenches around, leaving part of his ear in my mouth but gaining his freedom. Furious, this time he slashes at me, cutting me across my chest.

  [-24 HP]

  Damn, that hurts! But I’m not backing down.

  Furious, I spit out the bandit’s ear and paw the ground menacingly. I’m about to end this man’s whole career.

  But I don’t have to. B-man’s right behind him with his short sword, and he makes quick work of the bandit with a merciless thrust to the kidney, and another to the heart.

  Before the bandit can even fall, B-Man’s running over to me, anxious about my cut. I do my best to communicate to him that I’m alright, though in truth it hurts like crazy! Still, it wouldn’t be manly to whine about it. And I am most certainly a manly horse.

  Ah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a bro hug. B-Man is embracing me and crying into my shoulder, thanking me, I think, for saving his life.

  It’s alright, man. You’re the best partner a horse could ever ask for. Let’s just keep doing what we’re doing, and enjoy a long career together.

  B-Man is a noble courier, and rather than leave the bodies in the road to be picked at by scavengers, he piles them in a heap off to the side, and covers them with stones, an endeavor of several hours. I know what it means to him to lose this time in our delivery, but I support him, though without hands, I can’t do anything to help.

  By the time we set out again, it’s already evening.

  Night falls quickly in the mountains, and these are unfamiliar roads. Dark. I don’t like it. My horse senses are tingling again. We’re being tracked, I sense. Hunted.

  I’m jumpy. B-Man tries to calm me down, to no avail. Just then, barely visible in the faint moonlight, a goblin jumps out from the bushes. I rear, spooked, and take off running.

  B-Man is yelling at me, trying to get me to calm down, but I just can’t. Though I can’t put my hoof on it, somehow I just know there’s something wrong about tonight. Something bad is about to happen!

  Just then, we burst into a clearing teaming with goblins. There must be hundreds of them, all dressed in armor. A war party! Seeing us, they roar in unison and begin to charge.

  Run!

  I zoom through the trees, zigzagging through obstacles, running as fast as I dare in the dark. But what’s this? Ahead through the trees, I see twinkling lights. The mountain village!

  We have to warn them about the goblins!

  Using up the last of my strength, I put in a final burst of speed to arrive at the village, whinnying loudly to sound the alarm. Only when I get there, I make a horrible discovery.

  B-Man isn’t on my back. Somewhere in the frenzied race he was unhorsed, and now he’s lying back there, probably injured, about to be massacred by hundreds of hostile mobs!

  By now the entire village is up. Torches are blazing, everyone can hear the approaching army, following my trail through the woods. That’s when, as the war party bursts upon the village, it occurs to me.

  This is my fault. I led them here.

  What follows can only be described as a massacre. Though I fight valiantly, slaying many goblins and even gaining another level, my efforts are in vain. By dawn, the mountain village is a burned out ruin, strewn with bodies of humans and goblins alike. I am the only one that is left.

  [Achievement earned: Last Man Standing

  Awarded for being the only survivor of a large scale conflict.

  Reward skill: Victor]

  [Victor, you are the only one left to tell the tale.

  +5 to all stats]

  Sore, wounded and blood spattered, I trudge alone into the sunrise, following the trail of destruction the goblins left in their wake. After searching for an hour, I finally come across B-Man. With a surge of hope, I realize he’s still clinging to life. But only barely.

  I go to my knees beside him, nudging his shoulder with my muzzle. B-Man groans and looks up at me through glazed eyes. I can see at a glance it’s already too late for him.

  “Robin.”

  It’s with the strangest sensation that I realize I can understand him. Just as he’s saying his last word, I can finally understand my partner. Calling my name softly, and with great tenderness.

  “Robin…”

  B-Man lifts his fingers to faintly scratch my muzzle. Then his weak hand falls, and he heaves one final, shallow breath and goes still.

  [Your owner is dead and you are now Ownerless.]

  [Your name has reverted to: Horse.]