Man out of time

"Anon why do the monsters always try to hurt us?"

"Because they're beings of pure evil that require the red blood of men in order to live." You explain to the small girl laying in her bed, the cloth blanket pulled up to her chin.

"Well, where did the paladins come from?"

"The paladins were formed when we decided we were tired of giving up our lives just so they would leave us alone. We decided to stand up for ourselves and show that monster lord that we were strong enough to stand up to him."

"Well what abou-"

"it's about time you got to bed already, a girl your age shouldn't be asking this many questions. You have a lot of growing to do before you have to worry about this stuff, sally." You say with a smile, rubbing the small girl's head, ruffling her blonde hair with a soft smile.

"Okay, anon. I love you." Your sister says before she finally closes her eyes, you heard her soft snores start soon after. You planted a soft kiss on her head before you close the door to her room and walk to yours, you sit on the bed and look at the painting you keep hanging up on the wall in front of your bed, it was of your family, your mother, and father as well as yourself when you were much smaller and in your hands was an infant sally.

You remember your mother, a blend of strict but sweet. Your father, a tall and stoic man. Not really one to show his emotions much, but you loved them dearly regardless.

You were eight years old when this painting was made, it has been ten long, painful years since they were killed by the monster lord's right-hand man, Herotos, a lich with powers that arguably dwarfed the monster lord he served. You only remember your father waking you and telling you to grab sally and run as far as you could. But you could still hear the screams to this day and that accursed chanting Herotos's followers did while your family was slaughtered, praising the daemon god of death while they burned the manor you were raised into the ground. You could still feel burning that unholy fire caused you. In fact, you could feel it on your left arm, consuming it even... it almost felt like...

"DAMNIT WAKE UP ANON!" You hear a loud voice calling out, cold water splashing onto your face and body, your eyes slowly flutter open your vision blurry and hazed, your sense of smell and hearing slowly coming back to you, the only thing you were able to smell was that of your smoking, searing flesh. You felt two hands hooking under your arms, dragging you out of the burning hut, the sounds of yelling, screaming civilians and magic being cast. "COME ON THIS IS NO TIME TO BE SNOOZING OFF! WE GOT TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" You hear the shouting of a soldier in your ear as he drags you away, with your blurry, hazed vision you look down, your left arm burnt quite bad, the imprint of the beam that fell on you was visible. You were slowly putting everything back together in your head. You were sitting at the round table discussing plans with your fellow paladins before a sudden explosion enveloped the house, knocking you out and presumably killing a few others.

"I-i'm fine! Let me up!" You say, the soldier stops dragging you as you finally stand back up, grabbing the sword that was at your hip, throwing the sheathe off as you looked at the soldier that dragged you away from the burning building. "What the hell is going on?"

"Herotos is leading an attack on us! We're overwhelmed! We need to retreat and regroup at the backup location!" He yells.

"Get as many villagers as you can out of here! I'll set the signal fire and let the other order members know to fortify!"

"Sir you're in no condition to be fighting you nee-"

"Did I fucking stutter private? Now go!" You say.

"Y-yes sir!" He says as he grabs the shield off of his back, handing it to you before he runs off. You tightly grip it in your off hand before you run, towards where the flames and screams were at their worst. You look around, seeing various low-ranking monsters attacking soldiers and villagers alike. You waste no time as you drive your blade through a zombie's head before it could land a lethal bite on a woman who was trying to protect her child.

"Run!" You shout.

"Thank you!" She says as she wasted no time in running off, before you do the same, stabbing and slashing various monsters. You turn your head as you hear a deep, demonic barking. You see a hellhound charging at you, you raise your shield as you felt the heavy beast tackle you to the ground, its claws raking and scratching against your shield, the flames shooting from its mouth as it vocalized, its teeth barely missing your face you quickly grab its throat with your good hand, squeezing its windpipe with all of your strength. You quickly turn your head to where your blade was knocked from your hand, you try to reach for it with your other hand, but instead, you feel the hound break from your grip before it bites down into your upper arm, the heat from its mouth melting right through the armor and into your skin, the smell of the sickening mixture of burning flesh and metal floods your nose before you feel your instincts kick in, almost automatically reaching up and grabbing a glass bottle that was laying nearby, smashing it on the ground before using the sharp, jagged edges to drive the bottle into the neck of the beast, feeling the boiling blood of the hound spray out and onto you, you ignore the urge to scream as you keep stabbing the beast over and over again, more blood spurting out of it until the life drains from its eyes, the beast finally going limp. But you had no time to think as you stood up and grabbed your blade, you tried to run, but an unnatural force held you in place.

"Anon, what a surprise running into you here! You know, I know the perfect place for you!" You hear a dry, echoing voice say from behind you before you're thrown with a magical force, sending you flying, thrown into and through the door of a large storage warehouse. You grunt with pain as you get up, hearing the same voice from behind you again. "Anon, I'm surprised you lived through that blast. I was sure those skeletons had set up the spell right. Oh well, that's why you cant rely on the help to do things. If you want something done right, do it yourself!"

"You damned unholy abomination! I'll make sure you fucking suffer! For the pain you caused my family! I'll make sure you feel the pain of every single innocent person you've murdered you son of a bitch!"

"Oh, you're gonna make me suffer, eh? Just like how you swore to protect that dear little sister of yours? I recall me draining her soul from her body while she cried and begged for you to save her." Herotos says with a dry laugh, the jagged crystal on his staff starting to glow. A bright white portal opens up, you feel your heartbeat start to race as a tall, looming beast steps through it you hear a deep, thunderous growl as you see the form of the monster he summoned. A massive lion, at least 12 foot tall, with two massive wings folded at its back, two massive horns jutting from the top of its skull, and a massive scorpions pincer that was easily double the length of your body, both the tip of the pincer, as well as the manticores mouth, was dripping a bright green venom, a drop hitting the ground, causing it to sizzle upon contact.

"You're a coward, Herotos! A snivering coward that can only prey on those who can't fight back!" you shout as you dodge out of the way as the manticore swings its razor-sharp claws at you, the weight of the paw of the beast was heavy enough to knock a support beam loose, tiny pieces of wood shooting in random directions, the weight of what was stored upstairs causing the floor to break and fall down onto you.

"Yeno kus vortya kus, almna sayo kaya muus." Herotos begins to chant. He was preparing something major, you had to deal with the manticore quickly before he could finish what he was starting. You toss a piece of wood at the manticore, thankfully hitting it in the eye. It lets out a thunderous roar almost deafening you as it charges again, you stand in front of another support beam, the beast sending its massive stinger at you, the massive, bulbous tail head piercing through the wood easily like a hot knife through cold butter, causing it to shatter, as well as the contents of the floor above to crash down, the heavy wooden crates and barrels crash onto the head of the beast, stunning it. You act quickly, using the blade in your hand to stab clean into the stinger of the beast, the manticore roared loudly as it felt the pain of the blade piercing it. You then swing at the spot you stabbed, lobbing off the piece of tail, you wasted no time in chopping the bulbous head off from the base of the tail, quickly picking it up and stabbing the side of the manticore again and again, the venom causing the flesh of the beast to bubble and sizzle. You quickly buried the stinger into the side of the beast and charged at Herotos. "Uioto hus, tamna kus , krayaa seto hayu-" You cut off the skeletal lich as you stab and swipe at him with your blade again and again. He would duck, dip and dodge out of the way, seemingly unable to attack you due to the spell he was trying to cast. You aim for his head with your final stab, but he would block, causing the sound of a cracking crystal to be heard.

Despite the utter chaos outside, neither of you dared move less the situation somehow turn more volatile, both of you only being able to stare at the crystal, the silence between you two was deafening. "Now Anon, I want you to very slowly pull your sword out of my soul crystal and it mig-" You look back at him, taking that as an instruction to stab it in more, but this did actually worsen the problem.

Both of you were silent as you saw the cracks in the crystal continue to grow and multiply. Your eyes widening as you see the crystal begin to quickly swell and explode. Sending you flying back with the force of a thousand suns, you felt yourself crash through the wall of the building but you never landed you just felt yourself keep flying and flying as the hot, dry air of the burning village get replaced with cold, damp air. When you finally landed you felt cold stone onto your back, the screams of the village replaced with the cold, lonely chirping of crickets. You felt your eyes close, your body too tired to keep them open anymore. You heard the sound of something loud approach assuming it was gonna hit you, but would hear a loud screeching instead followed by the sound of something heavy opening.

"Oh my god! Stacey! There's a dude laying in the middle of the road! Call 911! Like right now!"

What were they talking about? They seemed to speak in some odd language, you would continue to lay there for what felt like an hour before you heard a loud high pitched screaming before that same loud screeching was heard. "What the hell happened to this guy? He appears to be breathing but we need to get him to the ER right now, he's not gonna make it if he stays likes his!" Another voice says, you felt what feels like a pair of soft paws moving you onto a soft, squishy bed. Paws? There is no way that could be right... You didn't have time to think, as you would pass out soon after, your body no longer able to keep itself awake.

You felt yourself awaken, your body extremely sore, feeling your head throb, the pain of your burnt arm was terrible and there was a loud, high-pitched noise. Like someone was repeatedly striking the highest note on a piano over and over again. You also heard soft talking next to you. But you were far too weak to even open your eyes and investigate who was speaking. But you listened to the voices speak the best you could.

"Doctor, what the hell happened to this guy?" You hear the female voice ask.

"I wish I could tell you. I've seen train crash victims with less damage to their bodies. I've never seen anyone with third-degree burns come from something canine in origin before. He is a complete mystery."

"Well what do we do?"

"For now just make sure he says pain-free until we can ask him questions when he wakes up. Put a bit more morphine in him, he's due for another dose."  The male voice says.

"Yes sir." The female voice says as you hear her shuffling around.

You felt the pain in your burns slowly fade as it was replaced with one of euphoria, your entire body seeming to ascend to a new feeling of joy you never felt before. You felt yourself pass out soon after that. After what felt like the longest sleep in your life you would open your eyes, seeing a pure white room, you were laying in a bed with two metal bars at the sides of it, you gathered enough strength to look to your sides, on your left was a white curtain of some sort, and on your right was a window, and you could see a black stone road with what looked like yellow stones lined up in the middle, and were those metal war carriages? But why they are so small? And why were there what looked like hundreds of them? And why were the colors so... vibrant? Did someone really take the time to paint each of these metal war carriages some bright, obnoxious color? You look down and see what looked like a metal needle wrapped up to some glass tubing in your arm, you quickly pull it out in a panic, it looked like it was filled with some sort of water that was being put into your blood, and you reach up to feel your face feeling a rather long beard as well as feeling more of that oddly smooth glass tubing in your nose. You yank it out. You look around some more, you notice another piece of tubing was inserted between your legs, and when you lifted the odd skirt you were dressed in you notice it was inserted into your... What kind of sick perverted stuff was done to you while you were passed out?! That tube had to be removed more... delicately. You examined your chest, seeing what looked like small disks attached to various points on your chest, you would as well yank those off, but then that repeated piano key would get louder and start holding the note. You cover your ears, you must have accidentally tripped a magical alarm of some sort. You would hear a small flurry of footsteps, the guards were notified, that's for sure, you had to find something to arm yourself with and quick.
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"So yeah, that's kinda why I broke it off with him, like seriously what kind of guy does that? Like demanding to be in the bathroom with me while I use it in case I like what, have a guy fucking fly in on a glider so I can cheat on him in the one minute it takes me to use the bathroom? Like what the fuck, dude!" You exclaim to your friend.

"Girl I told you that boy was no good, but not like I know what I'm talking about when I say I can spot a bad guy from a mile away."

"You say that but I know your dumb ass stayed with that convict for like 2 yea-" you were gonna finish your sentence, but you saw a flatline appear on your screen. Without hesitation you begin running to the room, grabbing the resuscitation kit from underneath your counter, charging into the room, expecting to see another old person dead from heart failure, instead, you see that weird scarred up guy that was found out near blain county trying to rip the arm off of his hospital bed. "Wow wow wow, hey there big guy, calm down now!" You say, trying to get his attention, instead, he would quickly look at you, tugging on the bed arm harder and ripping it off, looking at you for a second before swinging it at you while yelling something in whatever language he spoke.
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"Your tricks wont work on me, demon!" You shout at the monster, seeing through its absolutely amateur magical disguise. Wasn't the first time you've had to deal with a monster of higher intelligence using illusionary magic to try and pass off as human. You swing the metal bar of the bed at the elf, it managed to duck and move out the way, causing you to swing into the door frame, cracking it harshly. Your muscles were sore and you were barely awake, your long rest and lack of use taking its toll on your body. But you were eyeball deep in enemy territory and it was life or death for you and you had to ignore the pain you were putting yourself into.

"AGH! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU! FUCKING CALL SECURITY!" The elf would yell, unfortunately, the beast was much faster than you and managed to run down a well-lit hallway, it was being lit by pure white torches that were being concealed by a blurry white glass. What was this place exactly? You could only speculate for now, but when you got back home you would have to pull a spy back and see what they knew. For now, you focused on the objective at hand, tightening your grip on your makeshift weapon, you saw what seemed to be a small group of 4 monsters dressed in some sort what blue cloth armor with a metal piece on the breast of their armor. This was a strange compound, but you needed to focus, you took an overhead swing, connecting with one of the soldiers on their shoulder, and quickly jabbing another into their cheek, and going to grab one to throw them on the ground, but one manages to get a tackle on you, sending you to the ground, you quickly give them your hardest punch directly into their nose, hearing a hard crack and a gush of blood as you broke free of them and quickly crawled out, they managed to grab your makeshift weapon and throw it behind them. You felt no other choice but to run the other way, quickly getting up and dashing as fast as your sore body would let you, but you felt yourself hit a wall, a dark green skinned wall that quickly grabbed you and slammed you into the wall, forcing your hands behind your back.

"Got you now you damned psycho!" It says, but you still didn't understand this language, you could only struggle in the orc's grip, but your body was far too weak to break from its grip, you could only feel yourself get some shackles wrapped around your wrists, forcing your arms behind your back.