::You have died.

  No pain. No terror. The void was more welcoming than it had been before. I could picture my headless body, and felt the faint pangs of horror that it happened, but it felt far away. I guess it probably was.

  ::You have no ancestral points.

  “What are those?” I managed to ask before I realized I could talk this time.

  Despite what had just happened to me, I felt much more aware than I had been the last time I’d been in the void. Maybe it had something to do with actually having a body. Whatever the reason, I needed to at least try and get as much information as I could.

  For a moment there was nothing, then…

  ::Ancestral points are used to unlock racial abilities. They may be applied upon death or at designated areas. Points may be acquired by completing quests, challenges, or events.

  I filed that information away to go through later. If the void was giving out answers, then I had a lot more questions.

  “What’s going on? How did I get here?”

  ::You have died.

  “No, I mean, here. This world or whatever. I don’t remember who I was before, but I know all sorts of random stuff. I mean, why do I know what a bored teenager at a fast food place sounds like but not my name?”

  There was silence at that.

  “Hello? Are you going to answer me?”

  ::Limitations on the System prevent answering some questions. Time before respawn: 15 seconds.

  Fifteen seconds? That wasn't enough time for all my questions. I thought frantically. “What do you mean by respawn?”

  ::Respawn tokens allow you to return to life at your last set respawn location. Tokens may be obtained through quests, challenges, events, and other sources.

  “What happens if I run out of respawn tokens?”

  ::Final death of the character will occur. Time before respawn: 10 seconds.

  What were the most important questions to ask? There were so many.

  “Can you give me any help or tips for when I respawn?”

  There was nothing for what felt like an agonizing eternity before the void, or the System, answered.

  ::System quest enabled. I—krzkttt-the System recommends finding—krzzktt. Time before respawn: 5 seconds.

  “Wait, find who? Or what?”

  ::4…

  “Hold on!”

  ::3…

  “Am I in a video game?!”

  ::System is not authorized to answer that question…2…

  “What do gargoyles eat?”

  ::1…

  “Why did you say ‘I’?”

  ::Respawning. Good luck.

  I was careful to push myself to my knees before I took a deep breath. Inhaling dirt was an experience I only needed to have once, thank you very much. I heard the soft trickle of the stream close by and looked around to see I was back in the very same place I had awakened before.

  The soft sound of pages turning tickled my ear and I reached to my chest to pull out the tome. It opened directly to the quest section and I saw that there was indeed a new one from the System.

  System Quest

  Death is not final…yet.

  Find a safe place for a new respawn location.

  Reward: Starter kit

  Status: In Progress

  Hint: Go a different way

  Starter kit. Huh. That sounded like it really could have been helpful when, y’know, I first started. Not that I wasn’t grateful that I was at least getting something then, but did it really have to take me dying first?

  I shoved that annoyance away, it wasn’t going to do me any good, and wondered if anything else had changed in the tome. Upon turning the page I found that yes, something else had been changed. In the insight section and on the same page as my stats were two new additions.

  Ancestral Points: 0

  Respawn tokens: 2

  My heart sank. Only two tokens? There went any feeling of security. With how fast I lost that last token I didn’t have a lot of confidence about keeping the others.

  I didn’t bother to make either of those icons for my insight vision. They were important, sure, but not something I needed to actively track. And I definitely didn’t want too much clouding my vision.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  For a long moment I stayed on my knees looking from the tome to the forest around me and back. The hint had said to go a different way, but part of me did want to go back to that glade, to go back there and take some measure of revenge for being murdered for no reason. Those men had stolen one of my respawn tokens from me taking me one step closer to a final death.

  Then, well, I caught sight of my reflection in the water and the fire that had been building inside me was snuffed out. I had horns and sharp, dangerous features. I looked like the kind of monster a parent or guardian would want to strike down to protect their children. Could I really blame them?

  My shoulders slumped and with a sigh I returned the tome to my chest. I pushed myself to my feet and turned in the opposite direction I had gone before.

  I had been walking for a while when I stopped to slurp up some more of the stream water and think. I didn’t know what to do other than keep walking along the stream. I was loath to leave the proximity of it for fear of getting lost in the thick woods. Although, considering I had no idea where I was or where to go, I may as well have been lost anyway.

  The already dimly lit forest was gradually growing darker, but I could still see clearly as day. I wondered if it was a gargoyle thing, which would make sense given what I remembered about them. Did I have other gargoyle abilities? What would those even be?

  As soon as the questions crossed my mind I recalled one of my racial skills.

  Gargoyle’s Heritage (Passive)

  Effect: Enhanced strength and senses, perfect night vision, slash and bleed resistance, light sensitivity

  The answer was right there; perfect night vision. Light sensitivity also explained why I’d been blinded stepping out of the forest shortly before I was killed.

  I splashed some of the cool water over my face and sighed deeply. I wished I had any idea of what I was supposed to do or where to go. Having the quest was nice and all, but I didn’t know where to find a safe place for a respawn location. Did it have to be a specific place like a safe zone? How did I set a respawn location?

  A twig snapped somewhere behind me, and I twisted my body around to look. I couldn’t see anything there and now that I was paying attention, I noticed much more about my surroundings.

  It was quiet, no, not just quiet, silent.There had been plenty of birds singing and all other manners of wildlife racket during the day. Shouldn’t there have been something making noise out there like owls, or something of the equivalent? Maybe this place didn’t have owls, but c’mon forests like this always had active nightlife.

  Unless they were scared of something and if they were scared did I need to be too?

  Turns out the answer to that was yes.

  I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye and turned just in time to see a figure lunge at me. I was bowled over but managed to twist just enough to not be trapped on my side or stomach. I didn’t get a look at the thing, except for jagged, bloodstained teeth coming right for my face.

  The only thing I had time to do was get my arm up to block the attack. The teeth closed on my arm and powerful jaws cranked to close. The pressure was intense and for just a moment I thought it was about to bite my arm off.

  I felt more than heard a crack like something breaking, but I wasn’t the one in pain. It half howled, half screamed and let go of me. The creature backed away, which gave me the chance to get up and get somewhat of a look at it.

  The creature was about my size as far as length but was far bulkier. It had arms that could have been mistaken for dainty if not for the honestly ridiculously muscular back legs. The hands ended in three serrated claws for fingers that were holding its mouth, effectively hiding most of its face except for wild, yellow-green eyes.

  I scrambled back and tried to get to my feet at the same time and just ended up making a whole lot of noise and not getting far. The creature’s wild eyes snapped to me and it dropped its hands from its face, opened its mouth, and spit something onto the ground. It bared its teeth at me, and I knew immediately what it had been, part of its right canine. It broke a tooth trying to bite me.

  A growl rumbled from deep in its chest and it took a step towards me then used its powerful legs to launch at me.

  “Oh shit.”

  Instead of trying to get up, I rolled to the side and right into the stream. It wasn't deep enough for me to be submerged, but my roll did manage to leave me soaking wet. Not that I gave it much mind as I heard the creature hit the ground. I probably only had seconds before it lunged again. I got to my feet and turned in its direction.

  I guess that action took up those seconds, because the creature was already in motion. It wasn’t how I expected though. Instead of launching at me with teeth and claws first it came at me as some kind of armored ball.

  I tried to duck sideways, but I wasn’t fast enough, and it clipped me on the side with enough force to send me sprawling. II heard the thing crash into a tree with a whump followed by the sound of wood splintering and a few chips bounced off me.

  Once again, I rushed to get to my feet. As I did, I noticed that two icons were blinking at me: my skills. Something was telling me what I needed to do. It sounded good in theory, but how was I supposed to activate them?

  “Stoneshard armory!” I shouted, because it was the only thing I could think of doing even though I felt ridiculous doing it.

  Whether that was the intended trigger or not, it worked. Power surged in my chest and then shot down my arms to my fingers. It seeped out of me in a swirl of color that matched my skin and took a different form in each hand.

  In my left hand, well on my arm really, was a roundish shield that seemed to be made out of roughhewn crystal the same mix of purple, blue, and green as my skin, or scales. Whatever. It had the look of something that could be just as much offensive as defensive.

  My other hand had a spear that was even more jagged than the shield, at least the spearhead was. It looked very much like it was meant to hurt just as much coming out as it was going in. The haft was about as long as I was tall and there was a sharp spike on the butt end.

  Whatever magic allowed me to summon weapons out of thin air must have also slowed down time around me because the monster was only just getting up when it was all said and done.

  The only thing was…I had no idea how to use either of the objects. I mean, pointy end goes in the monster was easy to say, but there was probably more technique to it than just thrusting my spear. And the same thing went for using the shield.

  It didn’t matter. The creature uncurled from its cannonball-like shape and looked around for me. I brought the shield in front of myself and tightened my grip on the spear as its rage-filled eyes locked on me. It roared then launched at me yet again and I watched as it curled up mid-air so that it was coming at me with its armor-plated back first.

  I could only assume it thought that its armor would protect it.

  The creature slammed into me and took me off my feet, but it also impaled itself on the jagged spikes on the front of my shield. Its bulk smashed my shield arm against my chest and forced the breath right out of me. The monster used its momentum to keep going so that it rolled off the spikes.

  I gasped for breath as I listened to the monster moving around. I felt around for the spear I’d dropped at the impact, an idea forming in my head. This stupid thing seemed to only have one trick; roll into a ball and launch itself at me. If I could just get my hands on…

  My fingers closed around something and I rolled up and onto my knees. Sure enough the creature launched right at me. I dropped the butt of the spear against the ground and angled the rest of it in the direction of the monster. I realized the flaw in my plan just a second too late.

  The impact was as much with me as it was with the spear and I was knocked to the ground again and for the second time the monster landed on top of me. This time there was no bite, no struggle. The monster was still, which was a problem since its weight was pinning me to the ground.

  Fortunately, it wasn’t so heavy that I couldn’t catch my breath. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn’t escape how absolutely foul it smelled, like decaying meat and sour milk with a dash of rotten eggs. I gagged, gasped for breath, and gagged again.

  “Get. Off. Me.”

  I punctuated each word with a shove, getting stronger and more emphatic with each one until it finally shifted off of me just enough for me to scramble the rest of the way free. I rolled a couple of time just to get some distance and then just flopped on my back.

  “What kind of crazy place is this?”