fics I read

This Is It

Sunday was a new day of experiments for Joshua and also one that felt pretty productive too, if someone were to ask him. Through it, he found that the Storage Seal could, indeed, hold containers. Both the water bottle and a box of things were easily put inside the pocket dimension. The young man found it interesting that they still occupied only one square though.

That meant that he could probably put a bunch of things inside a box or bag and have them occupy only one square instead of putting them separated and have them take up several spaces. It would certainly open up some possibilities for the future. To do what? Joshua didn't know at the moment, but having more options couldn't be a bad thing. Especially when he had so few regarding the magical side of the world he now lived in.

Back to the productive part of the day, not that the experiments weren't productive themselves. He gained a few levels too, which left him feeling much more satisfied than the testing had. With an extra level in Magic and Meditation, he had felt bold enough to try a third time during the night. He had felt like shit afterwards, but he hadn't passed out, which he counted as a win.

During that attempt, Joshua found that no, the Storage Spell couldn't hold liquids without a container. A bummer, really, but he took it in stride. It had felt like a longshot from the beginning, anyway. On top of the discovery, he had also gained a level in the spell, which added yet another square to his circles.

On a different note, Cheshire still unnerved him a little. He tried to tell himself that if the cat wanted to do something to him, it would have already done so. It wasn't as much of a reassurance as he wanted it to be though. Who knew what someone could do to him with magic?

His Bond skill ended up being not only an excuse for the cat's intelligence, but also a comforting sight. Why? Because it told him that there was, for lack of a better word, a bond between himself and Cheshire. And that, in his mind, meant that she was on his side, to an extent. Following that thought, the level he gained during that week felt like a bigger reassurance than anything else.

Through the days too, he gained two more levels in Drawing, as he worked through his Storage Notebook and his Storage Cards. It was a lot of circles to be drawn, so he wasn't really surprised.

He really would have liked to use at least one spell during the weekdays, but between work and his physical exercises, he was tired enough as it was. Putting more strain on himself could end up with very bad results, so he decided not to push himself. At least, until he got better Vitality and Magic stats. He was getting there though, it was a matter of time.

[}-o-{]

"I mean, really, what am I supposed to do if the guy doesn't even know the name of the drink he wants?" Joshua complained as he huffed and sat down once he arrived at his apartment. Cheshire, the listener in this one sided conversation, simply pushed her head against his arm, that was resting on the table.

It had been almost a week since his worries about his… cat? had appeared, and he was now… okay-ish with it. He wasn't over it per se, but he hadn't had the heart to just kick the feline out in his paranoia and he was done being uncomfortable in what was his home at the moment. As such, he had just… decided to go with it. He was getting good at that, Joshua realized.

Once his resolution settled, he started talking with the cat. Cheshire didn't seem to be overly intelligent, since most of the time she would look more confused than anything else. But sometimes it would be clear that she wasn't a normal cat at all. More than once, Joshua found himself calling for the feline's Status screen to see if there was anything new that could explain that. Since there was nothing, he continued chucking that to Bond's effect.

Joshua's easy acceptance of the situation might have had something to do with how lonely he would have been if not for Cheshire's company, but he would never admit that.

"Anyway," He sighed, one of his hands absentmindedly starting to pet the between her ears earning a content purr. "How was your day, girl?"

He received a pitiful whine at that, as the cat cast a forlorn look at the window.

"Wanna go outside, huh?" Joshua guessed, getting another whine in return. "Well, I'm going to go out for a run. You ok with that?"

The cat answered with a meow and a rub of her head against his palm.

"Give me a minute to change and we'll be on our way," He nodded, stretching his arms up and gathering his energies for his daily exercises.

[}-o-{]

The dull sound of something hitting wood reached Joshua's ears during his break from magic training that Saturday.

[Throwing Weapon Mastery has gone up a level.]

"A pity that I can't store them," He thought out loud as he looked wistfully at the kitchen knife in his hand. The man had taken to speaking out loud instead of just thinking, more to see if his animal companion had anything to, for lack of a better word, 'say' in the matter.

[Throwing Weapon Mastery – Lvl 2/100

Determines the user's ability to fight with throwing weapons.

Increases accuracy when throwing a throwing weapon by 2%.

Increases Dexterity when fighting with a throwing weapon by 0.5%.

Increases damage output when fighting with a throwing weapon by 0.5%.]

The skill had a similar format to Unarmed Combat Mastery, Joshua had realized instantly when he gained the skill. It had led him to believe that all combat masteries would be like that. It wasn't really useful information, but it was an interesting tidbit about the system that he had.

The skill in itself had been the product of one of his experiments. He had wanted to see if items retained movement when they were stored in the spell. The result of that test had been… Negative, sadly. 'No pointing a card at someone and having a knife come out just yet,' He thought dejectedly. He'd kind of been looking forward to having his own Gate of Babylon... 'It's what it is.'

The idea though, still had merit, and he shelved it for later. Maybe he'd be able to modify the circle in the future or something of the sort. It would take a while, but it could be done. Unfortunately, it was unlikely that at that point a knife would be a viable weapon. He didn't know if he would find any other spells though, thus the reason he wrote the idea down.

"Ok so," He sighed, pulling the knives that were stuck on a wooden plank he had set as a target. "Back to the spell," Joshua said, cracking his neck and absently petting Cheshire as he sat at the table. He pulled up his storage notebook and started activating the circle again, storing inside a can of food in one of the pages.

With most of his experiments done, he set his training to also prepare for 'just in case' scenarios. Like, for example, storing food and water inside the notebook, in case he needed to run away for whatever reason. He would also buy a tent and a sleeping back, the former of which he was expecting to occupy more than one square. The storage spaces weren't much of a problem though. Five squares per circle meant a hell of a lot of space, he soon realized.

The downsides of the Storage Spell compared to the Inventory that a normal Gamer would have came in the shape of detection, really. Since he used an… in-universe means to store his things, people that knew magic could probably notice if he used it in front of them, Joshua theorized. There was also the fact that the spell didn't stop time inside its pocket dimension, which meant that anything that could spoil in the short term was a bad idea.

A meow distracted the man from his musings as he distractedly traced the outside of the circle with his thumb.

"Yeah, I know," He gave a small smile to Cheshire, who had been staring right at him. "Next one is for your food, girl, I know," Joshua reassured with a growing smirk. "I think I'm spoiling you, honestly."

The feline's response was an affectionate nip at his hand before she rubbed her head against it until he started petting her.

"I'm definitely spoiling you."

[Bond: Cheshire has gone up a level.]

[}-o-{]

[Joshua Davis

Title: None

Race: Human

Strength: 7

Speed: 8

Dexterity: 6

Vitality: 8

Perception: 4

Magic: 5]

'It's… huh… going, I guess,' Joshua thought wryly as he looked at his Status screen. His progress was a lot less impressive when one considered that it had been a whole month since he had arrived into the world he was now in. 'I need to get myself some weights or something. Magic is going as fast as it can right now, but my physical stats could go faster… I need to get more serious with the Throwing training for Perception too...'

Joshua was worried, he would admit as much easily.

After all, he still had no idea in which world he was now in and what stats would be reasonably high enough for survival. He knew one thing though, if his physical stats were important, he was screwed. He knew they weren't all that. If the world he was in leaned more in favor of magic, he might stand a chance… once he got his hands on something more battle related at least, otherwise he was screwed.

Granted, he had entertained the optimistic thought that he might be in a world where he wouldn't need to fight for his life. However, he wouldn't let him stop being paranoid. Until he saw visible proof that the world wasn't a death trap, he would consider it just that.

Shaking his head, he lazily turned his head towards the side.

[Cheshire

Title: None

Race: Cat

Gender: Female

Strength: F

Speed: F+

Dexterity: F+

Vitality: F

Perception: F+

Magic: -

Perks: 2

Skills: 3

Altered Status: 1]

"Did something change for you, girl?" Joshua wondered out loud with a frown. He was pretty sure there was a stat difference somewhere. He ignored the confused tilt of Cheshire's head and narrowed his eyes at the letters. "Did a stat get a plus somewhere? I should note this down so that I can track it better. I don't get notifications for you."

Out of curiosity, he called for the cat's skills screen.

[Scratch – Lvl 2

Defines the damage the user can do with their claws.]

'Progress is progress, I guess,' He mused as he scratched her behind her ear. 'Now,' I thought, suppressing a groan. 'Let's get started with the knives, shall-'

[}-o-{]

A splash of water to the face was what woke Joshua up.

"You awake now?" A voice asked, amused. Confusedly, he looked around for it, his mind trying its best to adjust to the situation it was now in. Soon enough, his eyes found a pair of wide, brown ones. "You there, sleeping beauty?"

"What?... What's going on?" Joshua asked, blinking repeatedly as he processed the sight before him.

"Well, you, my little friend, are enjoying my great hospitality, for one," The man standing in front of him said, stepping back and spreading his arms to signal their surroundings. Said surroundings being what seemed to be a basement, if the stairs in a corner and the small window that seemed to be at ground level were any indication.

'What…?' He wondered as he tried to move only to find very clear resistance. Looking down he felt the blood in his veins turn cold as ice.

He was sitting on a metal chair, his arms seemingly cuffed behind the seat's back. Another pull told him that they weren't normal cuffs either. They were firmly holding both his arms to each of the stiles. A desperate movement revealed that his legs were cuffed to the legs of the chair too.

"What's going on?" Joshua repeated, this time with clear fear in his voice. Looking back up to the person in front of him, he saw the man that had spoken before, standing there and looking at him like he was the most entertaining thing he had ever seen. Grinning widely and with his wide brown eyes staring as if he didn't want to miss anything, short brown hair on his head. The man was also wearing simple jeans, a plain white t-shirt and brown boots… Joshua couldn't have told him apart from a crowd if his life had depended on it…

Or that would be the case, if not for that wide smile that spelled nothing good for him.

"Well, you see, I'm a hunter and I am, you know, hunting. Or was, at least," The man explained casually, walking around Joshua until he stood behind him. The young man almost jumped, or would have tried to, when his captor put his hands on his shoulders. "My prey was a bit boring this time though," The man added with a disappointed voice. "So, I guess I'll have to get my fun another way."

"Why are you doing this?" Joshua breathed out. He sounded pitiful, even to his own ears. But he was afraid, so very afraid, that he didn't care for that.

"Because I'm a hunter, and hunting is what we do," The man replied easily, as if that answer should have been obvious. The matter-of-fact way he used to speak didn't help the growing dread in the tied man. "Now, what to do with you?"

"Let me go, please," Joshua pleaded, his face feeling increasingly paler and his expression contorting in desperation. 'I… this can't be happening,' He thought. 'This… out of nowhere… why?' His distraught mind asked.

"No, I don't think I will," The man shot back with an uncaring shrug of his shoulders as he walked away towards…

Joshua almost whimpered as he saw the working table put against one of the walls. On top of it several tools that looked completely normal… if not for the circumstances. A hammer, a saw, pincers, a drill… And their purpose became even more obvious when they sat right next to a series of different knives.

"Please… please don't," Joshua tried again, his voice shaking.

"This is the best part, you know," The man said, ignoring his pleas.

"HEEELP!" He screamed. He knew that it was a futile attempt. But he had to try. "PLEASE! HELP ME! HE'S GOING TO KILL ME!"

"Magicians always think that they are above dying," The man kept on, as if he couldn't hear Joshua's wailing. "Especially by mundane means… So… seeing them bleeding to death from simple cuts… or drowning in a bucket of water… or burning with normal fire… It's just the best. By the way," He added in the end, turning an amused expression towards the captive. "There's a spell keeping all sound from leaving."

"Please..." Joshua whispered, although he wasn't speaking with the man anymore. He wasn't really sure who he was speaking with. But what he did know was that he didn't want to die. He had almost died once. He had lost all that he knew in the process. 'And this is what I get? This is my second chance?' A part of his mind wondered, utterly demoralized.

"Now, back to the question," The man continued talking. "What to do with you?" He wondered out loud, looking through the tools on the table. "You were kind of boring as prey. No defenses, no struggle, no nothing. As boring as a normal human, really. Such a shame. I got excited for nothing."

'What could I even have done to avoid this?' Joshua wondered, only half-listening to his captors mad ramble. The young man's shoulder sagging dejectedly. 'All that training. All that work on skills… But did I even have something that would have stopped him… Did I even stand a chance to begin with...'

'Magician...' His mind finally picked up. 'He found me through the magic? He picked up on the Storage Spells I used?... Was I screwed from the moment I decided to use the spell the first time?'

"But I think I know what to do," The man seemed to conclude after a long series of mutterings that Joshua didn't catch. "If the hunt wasn't fun. Then I'll have to make the kill be fun," He decided, apparently. As if that was the only logical solution to his 'problem'.

Joshua stared at the man, his face falling into a hollow mask. Flashes of metal and blood assaulted his mind. Crashing sounds and broken glasses.

"I love you."

"I love you, son."

"I'm proud of you."

His hand twitched and his eyes regained a bit of life. If he was going to die, he would die trying, at the very least.

"You were trying so hard. It won't end like this!"

"You'll be alright, you'll be alright."

His mind pulled up game screens in front of him. Reading through every skill and stat he had. His limbs moved slowly, searching for a way to break free from their bounds. His Strength was certainly not enough to actually break the things. He couldn't squeeze his hands through the metal rings, much less his feet.

Despair filled his mind as he realized that there was no way out. As much as he looked, as much as he schemed. He just didn't have the tools to escape. His only idea was the Storage Spell. To try and just… make the chair as a whole disappear. But he didn't have a circle on him. The madman had evidently taken the card he always kept in his pocket. He had taken all his cards, if the deck sitting innocently in a corner of the workstation was anything to go by. And without a circle, he was sure to die from the magic consumption.

'Still an idea… better than dying by whatever he's thought up,' Joshua decided, filled with grim determination. The source of all his problems had apparently chosen to use something that he didn't have readily available in the basement. The captor seemed to chuckle at his own idea while climbing basement stairs.

Left alone for the moment, Joshua looked around in a last attempt to find another option. Some path that had eluded him before. No such thing appeared for him though. The chair he was bound to wouldn't move the slightest bit no matter how much he struggled. And nothing was even remotely close to it, even if his limbs hadn't been useless at the moment. Besides the work station, there were a few shelves with random stuff and a sink. The latter of which he had a vague and disturbing idea what its owner could have used it for.

Pulling his eyes away from it, and his mind from its own assumptions, he looked out the small window at the top of one wall. It was right in front of him too. 'He probably wants me to see the outside,' Joshua realized bitterly. And see the outside he did. The stars greeted him from just outside the glass, making him wonder how much time had passed. The last thing he remembered was it being the day. The moon peeked the smallest bit from a corner, almost hidden, much to his dismay. It would have been nice, to at least get a good look at it before...

His appreciation of the night sky was interrupted as the basement door opened. The Hunter, as he called himself, came in holding a small cardboard box in his hands. Joshua's blue eyes couldn't help but lock on the innocent looking object, dread growing back up inside him. The relative calm he had had when by himself disappearing as if it had never been there to begin with.

"Are you curious?" The man asked, and Joshua dragged his eyes back to him. "Are you curious about how you'll die?" The Hunter prodded again. Joshua, for his part, remained silent. "Acting brave, are we? I've already seen how much of a whimp you are, brat. Why don't you cry for me? Maybe if you do I'll end it quickly."

'He won't,' Joshua thought to himself, dissuading the part of him that wanted to do exactly as the man said and beg for his life. He was sure he wouldn't. He had gloated about how he had killed others, which meant that he wouldn't be sparing the young man's life no matter what. And a quick death… was still death. 'Metal. Blood. Broken Glasses. Pale Faces.'

"Just do it already, you crazy bastard," Joshua said instead, drawing an amused expression from his captor and soon to be executioner.

"Right then," The man cheerfully exclaimed as he brought the box up. "Straight to the important stuff, I see. Well, here's the thing. I found this by chance, you see, didn't even need to buy it or anything, a good while ago. I was saving it for a particularly boring prey, which turned out to be you. I thought it would be fitting. I got it without effort and I would use it on someone that turned out to be just as easy."

Joshua would have snarled, but he was more… resigned, than he was angry or afraid. Mentally, he readied himself to use the Storage Spell. If he was lucky, he might stay conscious after it… or die from using too much magic… both were better than the alternative. He just hoped that if neither of those happened, then he wouldn't have to suffer too much.

Just as he was about to use his magic though, both men turned to the door of the basement when they heard the sound of glass breaking from above. 'A window?' Joshua wondered, a flicker of hope coming back to life inside him. 'Did he lie about the silencing spell?'

"HELP!" Apparently, the man didn't think it was much of an issue, since he ignored Joshua and instead moved to the side with a grumble. A dragging sound was followed and soon there was a table set right in front of the captive. So close to him that the wood pressed against his abdomen, just below the chest. Afterwards, two ropes were quickly tied around him. One on Joshua's neck and the other on his abdomen, both keeping him firmly against the chair. The first one even choked him if he did the smallest of movements.

Another glass broke above them.

"I would have loved to see the whole thing. But, apparently, something came up," The Hunter grumbled, clearly displeased that his 'fun' had been interrupted. "But I might get a good look at the later part of the show, if I deal with this quickly. Have fun, buddy," He told Joshua, finishing with a pat on the young man's cheek as he set the box on its side, the open part facing right at the captive.

With that done, the Hunter moved outside the basement once more, the door left slightly open and letting a thin ray of light cut through the shadows on the stairs.

Joshua, left alone once more, tried to peek at the box on the table, barely able to move his head without the rope strangling him. He could see part of the box, yes, but, unfortunately for him, he couldn't see the most important part.

The open part.

He wondered, for a long moment, if he should use the spell now. It was the best chance he would get. But he hesitated, because he knew that it wouldn't work. He would either die or he would fall unconscious. After all, he barely could use the spell with circles. And now…

Now, whatever had caused that glass to break had given him hope he didn't want to give up on.

In the end, the decision was taken from him as he felt something. Something small, very much so, touching the skin of his chest, just above where the table pressed against him. Then something else followed, just like the previous one. And he realized that there was something walking on him.

'But what-' His thoughts froze as he processed his situation. It was obviously going to be something that could kill him. 'Spider or scorpion,' He guessed instantly. The deduction didn't help his panic at all.

"Don't bite me. Don't sting me," Joshua breathed a plea, carefully not taking deep breaths, so that his chest wouldn't move much and make the thing bite or sting him. After that, he went silent again. He couldn't even use the spell now, he realized, because if he did, that thing would still be on him.

And then…

The door was pushed open again.

This Ain't the End of Me

Joshua didn't even know what he was about to say when he saw the Hunter appeared to be back, but his open mouth clicked shut when he noticed that it wasn't the man that had walked through the door. In his place, a cat jumped in, falling a few steps down the stairs of the basement. A white cat with black splashes of color over its fur. A very familiar cat, actually.

"Cheshire?" Joshua asked in a whisper, barely believing his eyes as the amber eyes locked on his. "Cheshire..." He muttered again, as his brain rebooted and processed the information. However, a second later, the situation he was in surpassed the shock and he started talking again. "Get this bug off me, Cheshire," He implored, hoping against hope that the feline would have one of its strokes of genius and know what he was telling her to do.

The cat blinked at him and, just as dread started coming back to his mind, it jumped a few times. With one, Cheshire stood on the basement floor, with the other, she found her way on top of the table. A third one put her right in front of him and with a swat of her paw, whatever it was that crawled on his chest was sent flying to the side.

The man let out a long breath of relief as he slumped down on the chair, his muscles finally relaxing for the first time in that night. But the rope all but choking him reminded him that he was far from safe there. In an instant, his eyes narrowed.

"Girl, I need you to get me one of my cards from over there," He said, praying to whatever deity was listening that she would understand him one last time. 'Come on, I just need this and I can work something out.' "Cheshire, I'm going to spoil you rotten when we get out of here," Joshua muttered as he saw the cat go for the cards, like it was the most natural thing she could do.

He was further shocked when the cat picked only one up with her mouth and then, instead of going for the table as he expected her to, the feline walked over to his hand, held at the back of the chair. The young man took a mental note to do something very nice for his cat and to never doubt her again. His hand trembled as his fingers found the card that was offered to him, his brain reminding him that no, it wasn't a good idea to hold onto it too tightly.

Tracing the surface with his finger, he found the side with the circle drawn on it and smiled. Quickly, he cast the only spell he knew. He saw the flash of light draw lines with the silhouette of himself and the chair he was strapped to. Twisting his wrist, he pressed the card against the metal seat and he started falling backwards as the thing was absorbed inside the circle.

Joshua wasn't quite sure how the whole thing went inside leaving his arms and legs free. He had half-expected it to go wrong. However, it was his only way out and, at that moment, he wasn't going to question it. 'Magic is magical,' He thought flippantly as he pulled the ropes over his head, the space left by the chair being enough to get them off easily. He had better things to consider than the logic of magic of all things, at least for the moment.

His eyes searched for the thing that would have otherwise ended his life out of their own volition. He gulped as he saw the spider on the floor, a pitch black arachnid barely the size of his thumb. The thing was innocently lying on the floor, walking around as if lost, which it probably was, what with the Hunter bringing it here from wherever it had been before and then being swatted aside by a cat.

Joshua couldn't have cared less though. His mind worked a mile a minute to solve the situation he was now in. His gaze moved towards the stairs, the only way out since the window was too small for him to use. Problem was, that way was also his captor and would-be killer. The young man was almost sure that there was no chance he would win against the other man. After all, it was implied that he had hunted other magicians, and that meant that someone had to have fought back at some point. The Hunter had to know how to fight hand to hand and that was his only way he-

'Wait,' He paused as a thought crossed his mind. Standing up, he immediately moved towards the workstation. His mind pushed all revulsion at the sight of the 'tools' on it and focused on his plan. His fingers wrapped themselves around the handles of two relatively normal looking knives.

"Cheshire," Joshua said, this time being mindful of the volume of his voice. He didn't know how the silencing spell or whatever it was the Hunter had over the basement worked. "I need you to hide yourself and attack the man that'll come down here," He explained hurriedly. Maybe he was being overly optimistic, going for a three for three with his requests for the cat, but he had to try. He needed as much help as he could get to get out of this one alive.

This time though, he could at least afford Cheshire not understanding, which made it that much more easy for him to just… hope for the best. He grinned from ear to ear as the cat settled herself at the bottom of the stairs, hidden by the last step. 'I fucking love that cat,' Joshua decided.

With a gulp he prepared himself for what was to come, making a quick dash to close the door just enough to leave it as it had been before. It was a good thing that the thing wasn't facing right at where the chair had been, or the whole thing would have been much more complicated. 'Now… I just need to wait,' He thought as he settled at what he considered to be a blindspot for someone going down the stairs.

He would either succeed and free himself or he would fail and die. No matter how much Joshua had prepared himself mentally, telling himself that the world he was in might be dangerous and fight oriented, it obviously hadn't prepared him for what he was currently living. Suspecting and knowing were two very different things, it seemed. Just like saying and doing. He took a deep breath in, his hold on the knives tightening to stop his hands from trembling. His eyes locked on the basement door.

Blue eyes moved back to the workstation for a moment, trying to memorize where the other knives were. Another deep breath in, sweat started pooling over his brow, drops threatening to fall over his eyes but not quite doing so. Distractedly, he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

No sound came down from the house, no clue as to what the man that had tried to kill him was doing. Joshua could make a good guess though, judging by his savior. There was no hint of when the Hunter would come back, leaving him to speculate and worry. His mind torturing Joshua with all the ways things could go wrong now. His eyes moved back to the spider, still crawling on the floor, small, innocent and away from him, but still big, threatening and so very close in his mind. He thought he might have a mild case of arachnophobia after that day.

If he survived.

"Let's continue with our little show, shall we?" Joshua heard as the Hunter took the first step down the stairs. Instantly, he threw a knife at the man. His Throwing Weapons skill wasn't very high, that was true. But he had practiced and he also had time to aim. Thus, the knife hit its target, burying itself right into the madman's thigh. "What the f-?!"

The older man never got to finish that question, as a mass of black and white threw itself at his face. Cheshire screeched as she clawed at the Hunter's face. And Joshua, in the meantime, had already picked another knife to replace the one he had thrown.

He couldn't very well throw another, as much as he wanted to, with his only ally being on top of his target. With that in mind, he charged, running up the stairs and reaching the man just as he got a hold of the cat and threw her away. Anticipating some type of magic from the Hunter, Joshua quickly slashed with the biggest knife, which was on his right hand. He acted without hesitation, lashing out desperately.

A second later, he pierced the madman's abdomen with the knife in his left hand.

And then he did so again, with the one in his right hand.

Joshua pulled back his left hand only to thrust forward again.

And then with his right hand.

And then left hand.

And again.

Again.

...

Eventually, he stopped, letting out a wail that was more pained and fearful than victorious and brave. His trembling hands dropped the weapons as he stared at his handiwork. There laid the Hunter, on the stairs to his own basement, with who knew how many holes on his torso, sending little falls of blood down the steps. A deep slash cut across the man's neck and one of his hands dropped next to it, as he had tried to hold the wound.

Another scream left Joshua's mouth as he pounced on the body, punching the dead man's face repeatedly as he continued shouting curses at the man that had threatened his life. Incoherent words and questions thrown at someone that would never answer. He would later wonder just what he could have possibly said, but his mind had no recollection of it.

In the end, what snapped him out of it was a soft sound, one he had come to hear a lot and would sometimes bring a smile to his face. This time, the only reaction it got was a turned head, but that was enough. As Joshua's blue eyes settled on the black and white cat, he blinked. His tense shoulders relaxed and he stepped away from the corpse with trembling limbs.

He almost threw himself down the stairs as his gaze traveled back to the Hunter, suddenly repulsed by the sight and what it meant.

He had killed him.

He had killed him.

He had killed him.

'He would have killed you,' A voice whispered in his head. And Joshua knew it to be true. The Hunter had fully expected the spider to kill him even without him being there. The man had left him to die consciously and gladly.

And still..

'Why do I feel so bad then?' He asked the voice, which remained silent, unable to come up with an answer for the question. Standing up, he stumbled his way to the sink he had seen before and threw up. His knuckles turned white as he held onto it, his fingers all but burying themselves into the hard material.

Another mew reached his ears, this time followed by a soft touch on his leg. He didn't need to look to know that Cheshire was rubbing herself against him. Probably trying to comfort him, in her own way. And miraculously…

It worked.

Still shaking from head to toe, he slowly used the sink to wash the blood on his hands. He had expected it to be… well, not so easy. He had expected to see the blood there even after cleaning it. But, no, his hands looked just fine. But the pitch in his stomach remained, and his limbs refused to stay still. He splashed water on his face a few times, as if waiting to wake himself up from the nightmare he was living.

No such luck.

He dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, turning to rest his back against the wall and giving a small, shaky and empty smile as Cheshire walked between his legs and put her paws on his shoulders. A moment later, the cat draped herself on top of him and his hand regained a semblance of stability as it started petting the feline.

"We are fine," He said, his voice sounding distant to his ears. "We are fine," He repeated. "You saved me," His blue eyes focused on Cheshire, his only companion since he woke up in that bathroom. The one that had come to save him. "Thank you," He muttered, picking the cat up and rubbing his face against hers. "Thank you, Cheshire."

The only response he got was a mew, but at that moment, it felt like the greatest 'you are welcome' and the most comforting 'everything is fine' he had ever heard. He was still deeply disturbed, absolutely terrified and utterly in shock, but he wasn't alone. And that last part was the most important for him right at that moment.

[Quest Complete: Survive the Hunter

Rewards:

+5 levels to all Stats.

+5 levels to Bond: Cheshire.]

[Quest Complete: First Kill (Dagger)

Rewards:

+5 level to all Stats.

+5 levels to Dagger Mastery.

+New Skill: Bloodlust.]

[Skill Maxed: Bond: Cheshire]

Joshua stared at the screens in front of him for a long moment, his arms still embracing Cheshire like his life depended on it. He stared, but he didn't quite read them. The way they just floated there felt insulting, in a way. They were just there, casually, like this hadn't been a near death experience for him. Like this was just another day in his life.

But as his anger bleed out, he realized that might very well be the case. 'Is that the kind of world I now live in?' Joshua wondered, both terrified and incredulous. He didn't have much time to process this though, as his whole body started to hurt. His muscles started to ache, just like that burning sensation one has when they've been exercising too long. His head started to ache, similar to those times he would read on his phone or study for too long.

The only thing that didn't hurt was the energy in him. The magic that he had been able to sense ever since he cast his first spell. It had been spent when he stored the chair, but it was now coming back, as if something was filling up his reserves once again. But those same reserves also felt much larger than before.

Soon enough though, all those receded and he was able to gather enough focus to actually read the screens…

And they made him sick.

Especially the second one. To be rewarded for such a thing. Yes, the Hunter was a madman, a sick, twisted person that would have killed him without a second thought. But the Quest didn't mention the man. It just said 'First Kill'. 'Would it have been the same if I had killed any random man or woman on the streets?' He asked in his mind, and he hated that he would probably never know the answer to that question.

A mew snapped him out of his thoughts, and he locked eyes with Cheshire for a second. Then, the cat gave his chin a lick and he almost smiled. Absently, he started petting the feline affectionately.

"He would have killed me and I killed him," He told himself before sighing. "Just him, no one else. It's fine, everything's fine. I am fine. You are fine."

Cheshire mewed again and this time his lips twitched up for a split second.

Then he grimaced as his eyes flitted to the side, finding the body on the stairs. Swallowing his apprehension, he set Cheshire on the floor next to him and stood up. His limbs felt strange to him, he realized as he took his first step. Everything felt stiff to him, but strangely light too. He guessed it made sense though. After all, he was more than twice as good at… well, everything. He hadn't had any stat over 10, after all, and adding that amount to all his stats was bound to have a very noticeable effect on him.

It was fortunate that the change wasn't so extreme that he wouldn't be able to do stuff without careful movements. Slowly getting used to the improvements, Joshua made his way to the workstation, keeping his eyes firmly locked on his deck. The last thing he wanted to do was to see the instruments of torture that laid on the table.

When his fingers found the cards, he stood there, not quite sure why he had even gone straight to them. Yet another call from Cheshire brought him back to reality as he looked down at her amber eyes. Gulping down, he took a deep breath in to gather his thoughts and gave a resolute nod.

Squaring his shoulders and letting the air out of his longs slowly, he turned and walked towards the Hunter that was still lying on the stairs, bleeding all over the steps. Gulping down again, this time to push his nausea back down, he continued moving forward.

As he brought out one of the cards, he paused.

"Magicians always think that they are above dying."

The statement repeated themselves in the young man's mind.

"You should have known those words applied to you too," Joshua said, not sure if he was mocking the dead man or if he was doing it as a sort of twisted apology. Closing his eyes for a moment, he nodded to himself and activated the Storage Spell on the card. A moment later, the Hunter's body was nowhere to be seen, only a pool of dark red blood remaining as evidence of its existence.

But at least the visage of the dead man wasn't there anymore.

The dead man he had killed-

A tug on his pants brought his attention back to his cat. Cheshire wasn't looking at him though, even as her paw rested on his leg. Instead, her amber eyes were locked off to the side on-

The spider.

Joshua stared at the diminutive arachnid on the ground. The Hunter had wanted him to die by its bite. It would have been the tool of his demise. He stepped towards, intent on just smashing it with the nearest thing. 'I'm a grown man, damnit,' He thought, anger filling his mind. 'I shouldn't be this scared of a fucking insect.'

But he was.

Moments ago, that little black thing could have ended his life, just like that. The smallest of changes on what happened would have led to his death and he was very much aware of that fact. And with just one step. Just the smallest of actions from him and the thing would just stop existing. Just like the Hunter.

"I found this by chance, you see, didn't even need to buy it or anything, a good while ago."

Out of nowhere, the Hunter's words echoed in his mind and Joshua paused.

His eyes still locked on the diminutive creature.

Just one step and-

"I got it without effort-"

"It's not the same," Joshua muttered through clenched teeth. "It's not the fucking same. So… why am I pitying a spider of all things, damnit."

Cheshire's mew got his attention again, and he locked his blue eyes with her amber ones. He stared for a long second, as if waiting for the cat to tell him something. Eventually, he slowly turned to the small spider, still crawling aimlessly on the floor.

"I'm goddamn insane already, I know it," Joshua grumbled as he made his way towards the table and picked up the box where the spider had been previously. With it in hand, he once more approached the arachnid and gently made it walk back inside the box. The last thing he needed was to have it accidentally bit him while he was in the basement.

Although a part of him wanted to just… go back home, he couldn't do that.

He needed to clean the place a bit. Erase as much evidence of his presence there. 'And loot the place, that's for sure,' He thought, feeling particularly vindictive.

This was the house of a true magician, after all. The Hunter was bound to have something he could use. Be it a tome, or a scroll, or some item, something magical was bound to be around for him to pick up. And he would. After what the man had put him through, Joshua felt he more than deserved to get something out of it.

A pit formed in his stomach as his eyes strayed towards the drying blood on the stairs. A part of him not feeling like he deserved anything for what he had done. But the pragmatic side won for the moment.

As he set the box on the table, closed this time. He left the basement, partly to check on the house and look for a bookshelf or something. But mostly… because he wanted to take his mind away from the god forsaken place.

Carefully avoiding the blood, he made his way up towards the house and…

Joshua found himself baffled. Not because it was a particularly strange place or anything. Actually, it was the opposite. The place looked so… normal, that it clashed morbidly with the image of the Hunter in his mind or even with what he had seen in the basement. He wasn't sure what he had expected the house of the madman to be like, but what he found was certainly not it.

A mew from Cheshire brought him back to reality, and he found himself grateful for the cat's presence.

"God knows how lost I would have been on my own here, Cheshire," Joshua said as he walked through the house and looked around. "If I even survived at all," The feline let out a sound that was halfway through a normal call of hers and a screech. It sounded like she was scolding him in his mind, so he took it that way. He was past feeling awkward conversing with the cat. "Yeah, yeah… It's just so raw in my mind though."

He could still feel the cuffs on his limbs and the ropes against his skin.

The Hunter's voice whispering disturbing, unintelligible words in his ears.

Eventually, he focused on what he actually wanted to do. Looking around the first floor of the madman's house. Entrance, kitchen, dining room, living room.

The last one had one of its windows broken, which Joshua guessed was where Cheshire had come in. He crouched down to pet his little companion at the sight, to show how grateful he was. He had plans to show her even more later when he wasn't so out of it.

However, there was another thing that caught his eye in the room.

"This is what I was looking for," He muttered, looking at the bookshelf in front of him. It was in a corner of the room, a bit wider than a door and just as tall as one. Slowly, he dragged his fingers over the tomes' spines. To his dismay though, most of them looked like normal books. History books, encyclopedias and the like. "They can't all be normal though," He mused out loud.

With a sigh, he gave up and pulled another card from his deck.

"This would have felt like a bad idea just yesterday," Joshua said with a wry smile. After all, using the Storage Spell more than once was out of his range by then. Now though, with his magic three times what it had been previously. He guessed he could use the spell three times without problem, which is what he did.

As the bookshelf disappeared in a flash of grey light. He looked at the screen in the card. It occupied four squares, which he guessed was about right.

"Still good to go for a few more spells," He realized, somewhat surprised. 'Does the Magic stat affect more than just my magic reserves?' He wondered as he walked through the house.

Unfortunately, even after using copious amounts of Appraisal on everything that could have been even remotely magical, he found nothing. Everything was as normal as it could get. He had even searched for some concealed Storage circle or something. 'Here's hoping that the bookshelf had some magic tomes concealed as normal books because I'll be angry if I had to go through this and got nothing out of it.'

'Well, not exactly nothing,' A part of his mind whispered, reminding him of the stats and skill levels he got for surviving and killing the Hunter.

Still, he searched. In the end though, he found nothing.

[Appraisal has gone up a level.]

"Look at the bright side and all that, right?" He muttered at the screen. With a sigh, he turned to the stairs to the second floor. "Let's get this over with, yeah?" He asked idly to his cat, receiving only a rub of her head against his leg as a response

Joshua would admit, he wasn't really looking forward to seeing the man's bedroom. Even if it was as normal as everything else had been, it still bothered him. Not to mention that he had noticed something that made him more than a little uncomfortable.

He only had a pair of jeans on him.

This meant only one thing. He would need to take some of the Hunter's clothes to use, which made him almost want to throw up. But alas, he couldn't very well try to go back to his apartment shirtless and without shoes.

"That's the other thing though," He grumbled as he went up the stairs. "I should move, I guess," He realized with a grimace. "Don't want to find out if someone else noticed my use of magic, to be honest."

If the Hunter had found him, there was no telling of someone, or something, else had too. His mind was already running through his options. Moving somewhere else wasn't an easy thing to do though, even if he had added very little in his current apartment, what with how short his stay there had been.

'Something to think about.'

The first door Joshua opened after going up the stairs, led him right where he dreaded. The bedroom. He looked through the place as fast as he possibly could without feeling guilty for the possibility of missing something. Which meant that he didn't go nearly as fast as he would have wanted to, but the night's events had been a wake up call for him.

He needed every little help he could gather.

Unfortunately for him, he found nothing. And so, he left with a red t-shirt, a pair of black boots and the feeling of being cheated.

The next door opened to a bathroom that had nothing he couldn't have bought himself.

The last door was partially open already and inside-

A hiss that definitely didn't come from Cheshire greeted him.

Joshua almost jumped out of his own skin at the sound. The room itself wasn't particularly frightening though. It was a study of sorts, he guessed. There was a desk in the corner that had a few books spread out over it that he definitely wanted to check. On another corner sat a table with two terrariums, one much bigger than the other. The bigger one was broken though, probably by Cheshire, if he had to bet.

He could guess what had been in the small empty glass cage by the webs that were strung inside. The bigger one didn't need much deduction work, really. Not with the hiss that he had heard when he opened the door.

Not with the snake that was in the middle of the room, trapped underneath a laundry basket and a few more books used as deadweight on top of it. He couldn't see it very well behind the blue plastic 'bars' but he could very much tell just what it was. He gulped at the thought that, maybe in another alternative world he would have been faced with that instead of a spider.

Shaking his head, he moved towards the desk to check the books that were on it and also the drawers it had on the side. There didn't seem to be much more of notice around besides-

Joshua froze once more as he came face to face with a board set on one of the walls. The wall next to the desk, a part of his mind realized.

It reminded him of those detective movies and the like, where the character set up a whole display with a map, newspaper clippings, photographs and colored strings connecting stuff all over the place. Slowly, Joshua made his way until he stood in front of the thing and he grew disgusted at what he saw. Each picture was connected to two things: A place in the map of the city and an article of a body found somewhere. That last one was also connected with a string that pointed where the body had been found.

"The Hunter's victims," Joshua whispered slowly as blood left his face and his shaking hand extended towards the disturbing board. His eyes took in every single one of the pictures, older, younger, male, female, with all kinds of skin, eye and hair colors. Nobody was safe from the madman, it seemed.

Something else got his attention though. Over the map were small black crosses drawn here and there, with a black pin each and a black string connecting all of them. The string then shot out and connected with a simple sticky note. An equally simple word written in the small yellow square, although it seemed to be in a foreign language. Either that, or it was written wrong.

But that wasn't the part that concerned Joshua. No, it was the fact that he was sure he had seen the word, written exactly like that, somewhere before that worried him. However, he couldn't, for the life of him, remember just where had read it.

'Khaos'

Broken Glass

The discovery of the map stuck to Joshua's mind as the young man stared at it for a long while, his eyes darting between the black marked places. He wasn't sure if his hunch that it was something he remembered was right, but it was worth keeping in mind. 'I need to keep this… Wish I had my phone with me,' He thought with a grimace, absently placing his hands over his pockets, as if expecting his phone to be there.

Gulping, his grimace became even worse as he realized what he had to do if he wanted to take the map. But he couldn't leave something that could actually be useful here, no matter how much he didn't want to touch the thing. 'I wouldn't want something like this to remain here… and the killer has been already dealt with anyway,' Joshua told himself. 'And... ,' He continued, trying to convince himself. 'It's not like I can come back for it later. I really don't want to-' His train of thought paused when his eyes went to the window on the side and looked outside.

There wasn't a city there. Instead, what greeted him on the other side of the glass was a forest. 'How didn't I see that?' Blinking, he turned to the map once more, searching for just where the house could be located. Unfortunately for him, there was no mark. 'Of course there isn't,' He thought, annoyed. 'I don't have to mark where I live on a map do I?'

"Still… this is good," He spoke out loud in a whisper. "I can… I can come back with this… as much as I don't want to. Nobody should notice he is missing nor me coming and going if he lives- lived out here… unless he didn't live by himself, which doesn't seem to be the case. I should have a day or two at least..."

His eyes then moved back to the map, and the victim's pictures.

"I'll take this down," Joshua muttered, not sure who he was even talking to. "I promise… I just want to take a picture first, just in case." For what he wanted that picture, he wasn't quite sure. But it was better to have the information and not need it than to need it and not have it. He would need to have it safely hidden though. If he was caught with that in his phone… yeah, it wouldn't be good.

Turning around, wanting to put the map out of his mind for the moment, he blinked at Cheshire.

The cat was sitting facing the basket that trapped the snake in the room. She also seemed to be engrossed in a staring contest of some kind, although he couldn't get a good enough look at the reptile to confirm this. In any case, the feline's amber eyes seemed determined to stare a hole on the through the plastic and probably the animal inside too.

"Everything ok, girl?" Joshua asked curiously, momentarily pushing away all thoughts of looting the room. "Cheshire?" He tried again, but the cat continued glaring right at the snake. The young man noted though, that the reptile wasn't hissing anymore. Both animals seemed to be in a staring contest of some kind.

As he started to get worried though, he got a response in the shape of a drawn out meow. His heart almost stopped as the cat put her paw on the basket and started trying to… push it? Joshua took a step forward, intent on telling his companion to leave the animal alone before she got bitten.

Instead, he paused, blinking as he saw Cheshire put her other paw on the thing and tried harder. The snake inside, meanwhile, seemed to be trying to push the thing off too. Joshua couldn't help but stop moving and simply stare as the pair worked together futilely to try and take the basket off. Or, at least, that's what it looked like to him.

"Cheshire, what… are you doing?" He asked, a frown on his face as he tried to make sense of the scene in front of him. Why would his cat try to… free the snake?

The feline's response was to snarl at the basket before she gave up and moved towards the man. With one of her paws, Cheshire clawed at his jeans, as if trying to pull him- 'Towards the snake?' He thought, growing increasingly more confused.

"You want me to… free the snake?" Joshua asked, not believing that he was saying that in the first place. He almost whimpered when he heard the cat let out a short meow that could only be an affirmation. "Cheshire… why?" He voiced, even if he knew there was no possible way for the cat to explain herself.

As an answer, the feline let out a long, low meow that sounded more like a plea.

'No… I'm not doing this,' Joshua told himself, even as he felt his resolution crumble before it could even build. 'Why am I even considering this?' He asked himself, horrified. But he knew the answer.

He owed Cheshire.

She was just a cat, yes. But she was a cat that had somehow found him in a house who knew where and saved him from certain, slow and painful death by spider bite at the hands of a madman. A cat that had been his only friend and company since he arrived in this alternative world. A cat that he shared a bond with if the game was to be believed.

His wide eyes returned to normal and his expression calmed as he remembered something. His eyes turned towards Cheshire. 'Appraisal.'

[Cheshire

Title: Familiar of Joshua Davis

Race: Familiar Cat

Gender: Female

Strength: E

Speed: E+

Dexterity: E+

Vitality: E

Perception: E+

Magic: F

Perks: 3

Skills: 4]

There were lots of things to note on the screen, Joshua knew. But he pushed most of those aside and focused on the Title and Race change. 'Familiar of Joshua Davis and Familiar Cat, huh?' He thought as he deflated and turned his blue eyes towards Cheshire's amber ones.

"If I do this, I don't owe you anything, are we clear?" He asked, because damn it, if he was going to risk his life with this stunt, then he wasn't going to still owe her for saving him. The stupid cat looked entirely too proud of herself at that moment, if anybody asked the man.

"And you," He said to the snake, ignoring the fact that there was no way for the animal to understand him. It didn't even have the benefit of Bond, which would have somewhat explained Cheshire at least. Joshua was pretty sure he was losing it, if at least a bit. "you better not bite me. I'm helping you out here."

The way the snake coiled around itself, as if rearing to attack, didn't reassure him at all.

Slowly, he pulled the books from the basket and paused.

"Couldn't you… you know, push it off now?" Joshua asked, hoping for a way to avoid being close enough to the reptile to be injected with venom. 'I thought I didn't have to worry about stupid venom anymore today,' I whimpered in his mind.

Sure enough, the thing pushed the thing up a bit with its head. He wasn't even surprised that the animal did as he said anymore. Although, maybe it wasn't that it had understood and it had just tried again. Unfortunately, the snake couldn't quite get it off from over it. Instead, it ended up just pushing it to a side on the floor. With a sigh, Joshua moved again, gulping down his fear as he saw the reptile wrap into a bundle again. With his eyes darting back to his cat for a second, he sighed and pushed the thing off in one go before all but jumping back.

Joshua almost called for Cheshire when the cat approached the snake, but ultimately remained silent. Then… they did nothing. The reptile remained coiled on the ground, beady black eyes staring right at the man. The feline, sitting right next to the serpent and he could have sworn she was puffing out her chest.

"Happy now?" Joshua asked, not taking his eyes away from the snake. "Because, if it bites me, so help me I'll-"

[Bond Unlocked: Snake]

'Are you for real?!' He asked in his mind, his eyes growing wide as he processed the screen in front of him. 'I'm… I'm not dealing with this right now,' Joshua decided, finally taking his eyes off the snake as he walked to the desk and took a seat on the chair. He needed a moment to gather his thoughts a bit. The night was proving to be… eventful, that was for sure.

When he lost the battle to keep his eyes away from the animals, he met the amber eyes of his… familiar. The cat then proceeded to turn to look at the snake and then at the man again. Joshua paused for a second before he came to a conclusion.

A very crazy conclusion.

"I'm… I'm not taking it with me, no way. Nope," He muttered to himself, unable to look away from Cheshire and his new bond. Both animals stared right back at him, as his mind tried to regain a semblance of order. The hiss that Cheshire sent his way as a response certainly didn't help. "I'm not," he denied, putting his foot down for once. "We are not taking a possibly very venomous snake with us. Next you'll tell me to take the spider that was about to kill me with us."

He grew concerned when he didn't receive a response besides a steady glare.

"No, Cheshire. No," He shook his head vehemently. "Not just no, but hell no. I love you, girl, I really do. But I'm not going to bring home not one but two very dangerous pets. I don't want to die, you know."

The cat had the gall to whine.

"What's gotten into you?" Joshua asked, resting his elbow on his leg and his forehead on his palm. His fingers grasped at his hair as he let out a shuddering breath.

'Familiar of Joshua Davis,' The words seemed to almost materialize in front of him, even if there was no screen. 'Familiar Cat.'

'Why am I thinking about this at all?' He asked himself, almost whining. 'I… Just…' His eyes moved to the snake, who- which was just there, lying on the floor and looking at him. 'Bond,' His mind pointed out to him. He had trusted Cheshire when the strange things started happening because of Bond.

But a snake? A spider? The spider? 'At least the spider didn't bond with me. That would just be… I don't even know,' Joshua thought to himself with a grimace.

'Might as well check everything, right?' Joshua thought, searching desperately for a reason to deny the cat's request. 'Appraisal. Skills.'

And there it was. The answer to his doubts until that point, plain for him to see. 'I should have checked this as soon as I saw the changes,' Joshua told himself, taking a deep breath in.

[Extrasensory - Lvl 1

Defines the user's ability to sense things outside their Perception.

Consumption - F]

'It's horribly vague though,' He complained with a grimace. It did, however, give an answer to Cheshire's strange behavior. He paused for a second as he turned his eyes to the serpent, still coiled on itself and just… lying there on the floor.

"I went insane," Joshua mumbled. "This whole night's driven me insane," He almost snapped as Cheshire sent a questioning meow his way. "Yes!" He exclaimed. "We are taking the snake with us, so-" He was interrupted with another mew. "And the spider… happy now?"

He didn't have the first idea about how he would do that, but that was something for future Joshua to deal with. At the moment, his head was starting to ache and he wanted to be done with the whole night already. While he busied himself thinking about everything and nothing, Cheshire seemed to have made her way over to him and started rubbing herself against one of his legs.

"I hope someday you'll be able to actually explain to me what the hell you saw or felt to… decided to bring these two with us," He told the cat wearily. "Because I would really like an answer, girl," He added before sighing and leaning down to pet his familiar. "And also," Joshua mused, his eyes going to the broken terrarium where the snake probably had lived until that night. "you shouldn't have broken that if you wanted to bring it with us."

He almost laughed when Cheshire turned her head away from him, his mind taking it as the cat being embarrassed. He couldn't quite manage that though, with his mind as scattered as it felt. The night's events had taken its toll once again as his eyes unfocused.

Joshua remembered then, peaceful times. His mind flashing to before… his death, to memories of himself just reading or playing something. After that, it was moments such as his days at the cafe or just sitting in his apartment with Cheshire. 'How did everything become such a mess in just one night?' He asked himself.

He almost jumped when his familiar decided to press her head against his shin. Looking down at her, he sighed and leaned forward to start petting her. 'I really need to stop losing myself like that.'

Standing, Joshua focused his mind on anything but the deal he had just done with his… cat while also avoiding thinking about his near-death experience. Instead, he looked at the books on top of the desk. They were, to his annoyance, normal books. Or, at least, they seemed to be, since after opening them, he found that they were anything but normal. 'Wonder if all the books on the shelves also had fake covers,' He thought with his eyes almost sparkling at the idea.

His good mood soon vanished though, when he remembered what was to come.

"I guess I just need to check on the basement now," Joshua said out loud, hoping it would compel him to ignore the uneasiness that brought him. He didn't want to be there. Didn't want to see the pool of blood that was surely drying on the steps. Didn't want to stand in the room where he had almost died.

A meow snapped him out of it once again and he sighed.

"Let's get this over with," He mumbled under his breath.

Not long afterwards, he stood on the stairs, just above the pool of now drying blood left by the Hunter. Avoiding it wasn't easy. The red liquid seemed to have covered some more space since he had last seen it, leaving barely enough space for him to walk down without touching it. Maybe he was being stupid, contorting his body just to not step on the puddle. But he really didn't want to touch it.

Joshua grimaced through his inspection of the… tools the Hunter kept down there, pushing aside images of just what the madman could have used them for besides their mundane, intended application.

'Now, this… this is what I was looking for,' Joshua thought with a grin that threatened to split his face.

[Magic Revolver

Rank - E]

[Appraisal has gone up a level.]

'Wonder if I can see Rank E due to Appraisal being level 10 or if it's something else...' The young man thought as he dismissed the level up screen and focused on Appraisal's result. 'Some more information would be nice too...'

Setting it on the table, a good distance away from the spider's box, Joshua turned to continue searching, his mind barely able to stay away from his new weapon. 'An actual magical item,' He thought somewhat giddily. It was, at the very least, a nice distraction from what he had found so far in the house. It was also, however, not the last surprise for him.

[Wardstone

Rank - ?]

'Something to look into,' Joshua decided, blinking at the gem-like stones that he had found in a drawer. They varied in colors and sizes, but they were all roughly about the size of an apple. His mind was plagued with thoughts about what they could be used for and, probably more prominently, the new magical things that he would be able to do with them if he could actually find something in the Hunter's books. Those bright thoughts regarding fantasy-like spellcasting came crashing down quickly though. After all…

'I am in this situation because I jumped into casting magic,' A voice chided him in his head and he cringed and grimaced. The phantom feeling of rope and metal binding his flesh flashing through his brain. 'I'll be more careful this time...' He thought to himself.

Once he checked everything though, he stood there, in the middle of the basement. His hands resting on the edge of the table as his eyes stared at the revolver and the wardstones. He wasn't really looking at them though. Instead, he was in his head, his conscious being pulled from all directions.

The Hunter.

The Spider.

Cheshire.

The Kill.

The Snake.

The Magic.

The Items.

Everytime his mind seemed to be about to focus on something, one of the other thoughts pulled it away. Even his familiar couldn't snap him out of it this time, instead choosing to curl up on the table next to his hand. Absently, his finger started softly tracing her fur as his brain warred with everything that had happened in the last few hours.

"What… what am I supposed to do now?" He asked out loud, unsure. He had almost died and now… should he just go back to his normal routine? Go to work at the cafe like nothing had happened? That sounded all kinds of wrong in his head. Especially since he had killed someone. "I can't possibly just… go back… can I?"

Cheshire let out a drawn out meow and Joshua sighed. Not for the first time, he wished he could understand his pe- familiar. Still, he got the faintest idea that she was trying to just… be supportive. A corner of his mind wondered if that was the familiar bond or his half-insane mind making up stuff.

As his eyes drifted off her, the feline stubbornly pressed her head against his forearm, bringing his attention back to her. Another meow was added once she noticed that he was actually listening and he let out a small, weak smile. 'At least I'm not alone,' He thought and, for a split second, he remembered the days after he had woken up in that bathroom, with his family dead, no friends and no connection with the rest of his relatives. Alone.

Shaking his head, Joshua brought himself back to the present.

"One step at a time… sounds about right, doesn't it?" He mumbled, expecting some kind of reassurance from his companion. It was promptly given in the shape of yet another rubbing of the cat's head against his skin. His smile widened the smallest bit. "Ok… Guess I have to find out if time passed since I was… captured," He mused, forcing the last word out. "I can't just… vanish. I don't… want to, either, if I'm honest. Going back to work seems like something I should do even if… it feels weird… wrong."

Joshua thought back to the stories he had often read in his old life. Tales about normal people thrown into crazy situations. About heroes that, despite how unprepared they were to face the odds against them, rose to the occasion. Warriors that, one way or another, would always find in themselves the strength to keep going. Characters that would just go on with their lives no matter what.

He didn't feel like that.

Joshua was deathly afraid of the same happening again. He felt awfully unprepared to go out into the world now that he knew what could lay there waiting for him. He had no strength to speak of, even if he had a Gamer System, even if he had a weapon now. He had no doubt that an actual fighter that wasn't underestimating him or caught off guard would kill him with no problem whatsoever. And most importantly, he couldn't just shrug off what happened. He probably wouldn't in the future either.

'Yeah, no protagonist here,' He thought to himself wryly.

"Let's just… go upstairs, yeah? I don't want to be here right now… We can check on the… snake… too. Maybe eat something," The last thing he wanted was to eat though, he didn't know if he would be able to keep it down. "Maybe just tea," He decided. "And then we can-"

He was interrupted with a meow that drew his eyes back to Cheshire. The cat then tapped something with her paw. Joshua sighed, his attention brought to the small box on the table. The box that contained a very small but very dangerous spider. His blue eyes met with Cheshire's amber ones and he promptly sighed again.

"Fine," He agreed reluctantly. "Happy now?" He asked as his hand held onto the box. Without replying, his familiar jumped down from the table and walked in front of him towards the table. "Why do I put up with you?" He muttered under his breath, but he couldn't keep his lips from quirking up.

[}-o-{]

"This is the kind of situation that one never thinks they'll be in, that one doesn't even consider, you know?" And it was a testament to how true it was that the question was aimed at a cat of all things. Joshua sat at a table in the house of a man that had tried to literally kill him with a spider. In front of him was a small glass cube with said spider inside, the webs were a mess, probably by the Hunter when he had taken the arachnid out. On his lap sat Cheshire, the cat herself, and on a corner of the room was the snake that he had seemingly created a bond with.

"I can't stop wondering," Joshua continued speaking to himself and to his familiar. 'And to my new pets too, I suppose,' He thought wryly. "When did my life come to this? I really can't stop asking myself that."

"And now I have to get back to the city. Peter is cool but I don't think he'll be too happy if I just… don't go to work," He thought his voice touched with disbelief, mostly at the fact that he could still be even slightly concerned at such a mundane thing. But the point stood, even with what had happened, and even with the knowledge that there was indeed crazy stuff that could happen in the world he now lived in, even with all that… he still needed money to live.

"What I wouldn't give for one of the Hunter's books to have a spell or something to get free food or something of the sort," Joshua mused out loud and Cheshire let out a meow that he took as a sort of 'yeah, that'd be nice'. He was past the point of being worried for his own sanity.

Then a thought struck him.

"How am I gonna get back to the city?"

Almost without thinking, he stood up from the chair and went to look outside. Maybe there would be a bike at least? The Hunter couldn't have just… walked around, could he? Or maybe he had moved through magic? That would suck since Joshua himself didn't know that magic yet and it probably would need circles to even be used without needing lots of energy.

Reaching the window, he saw only one thing outside. An old looking, tan colored car was the only thing outside, stationed in front of a shed-like building that looked like it had seen better days. That's not what his mind focused on though. No, his thoughts were, once again, sent into disarray as they strayed away from what he had been focused on.

Crash. Metal. Blood. Pale Faces.

Joshua knew how to drive a car. It had taken a painfully long time, but he did learn eventually. But… that was before he had been in the accident that changed his life, completely and irrevocably. The sight of the automovil was enough to make him feel faint and his blood ran cold.

He heard Cheshire meow, calling for his attention, but it sounded distant. Instead, he heard his mother and father speaking their last words to him once again. He felt something being pressed against him. His body was moved. He could almost feel the silence that followed.

Something pressing against his leg snapped him out of it and he looked down at his familiar once again. He didn't say anything, but he crouched and then rested his back against the wall, sitting on the ground and letting Cheshire curl up on his lap. He took a deep breath in and started petting her. He pushed away the thoughts that told him he needed to get to the city, urged by the light that was starting to show. The sunrise signaling that the night was over already.

Instead, he focused on calming down before thinking about any of that.

His eyes darted around, looking at everything and nothing in an effort to take his mind away from memories that were better left behind. And find something he did, although…

"I forgot you were there," Joshua said softly, his blue eyes locking with the snake's. The reptile just… lying there next to him, close enough that he could have reached with his arm and touched it, if barely. Definitely close enough that it could have extended its long neck and bitten him. "Guess you were right, eh, girl?" He told Cheshire, feeling like he should have been afraid or confused. But he had so much of both of those emotions that they were starting to become… muted.

He received only the normal meow in response.

"Anyway… Anyway, I should probably eat something… right?" Joshua asked, feeling more than a bit out of it. "Yeah. I… I didn't sleep much last night, if I skip breakfast… I'll faint on the work or something. Yeah..."

And with that, he set Cheshire on his side and stood up, his eyes unconsciously locking on the serpent next to him, which didn't even twitch at his movement. Shaking that out of his mind he went into the Hunter's kitchen and looked around. 'I don't really feel like eating though,' He thought with a grimace, getting flashed of the Hunter's bloody remains everytime he even considered anything to eat.

"Just some tea..." Joshua whispered, praying internally that the beverage would have the usual effect and help him calm down.

In the end, even as he drank the overly sweet drink just as he liked it… It didn't help much. Although, if he was being honest, he was just happy that he hadn't immediately thrown up after the first few sips. He didn't even feel like he would at all, which was a very big win in his book. His eyes then moved to the side.

"I don't know why I'm not more disgusted by this," Joshua mused out loud, looking at that plastic container filled with dead crickets. It hadn't taken long for him to guess for what they were. Next to it sat another one, that held a solitary, very dead rat. With a grimace, he took another sip from his half-empty cup. "The things I do for you, Cheshire."

His familiar let out a soft purring sound as she rubbed herself against his leg.

Joshua let out a long sigh before he took his tea and quickly drank what was left of it. Then, visibly gathering his courage, he opened both plastic containers, picking up the rat by its tail, he steadied his breathing as he walked towards the other side of the room and placed the dead rodent on the floor, close to the snake.

"Enjoy," He muttered, his voice shaky, just like his hands. Walking back to the table, he took one of the crickets and quickly threw it inside the glass cage of the spider before closing it again. Sighing again, he sat back down and looked, half curious and half disturbed as the arachnid slowly approached its… food. "Enjoy you too, I guess," He whispered, more to himself than to the deadly creature.

His eyes moved again, and caught the sight of the snake that was half-way through… gulping the rat that he had given it. Joshua then remembered seeing snakes feeding on documentals and such. It was quite a bit different to watch it with his own two eyes instead of on the TV.

[Bond Unlocked: Spider]

'Of fucking course,' Joshua thought as he looked at the new screen. 'Because why the fucking hell wouldn't this happen, right?'

That wasn't, however, the biggest surprise in store for him at that moment. No, that dubious honor went to the bright light that appeared right in the middle of the table, then and there. It slowly, very slowly dimmed until there was only one thing left. A small, crystal-like lotus right where the light had appeared. When Joshua leaned closer to take a look with a disturbed expression, he noticed that it had a small chain attached to it.

"What the actual fuck?" He asked out loud, and Cheshire, this time, responded with an equally confused meow. Even the snake, still in its corner, had drawn up threateningly and hissed. It looked at the… thing, instead of at him, Joshua noticed with some interest.

It took the young man a second to remember that he had a skill just for a moment like this.

[Charm of ####

Rank - ?]