VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 85: Just a game

Sug Madik crawled out of the nearest resurrection pool, which happened to be situated within the cemetery of the same city that Belladonna had met Saige and Lilith in. His eyes were bloodshot and wide in horror, his pupils shrunken down to the size of a pinhead as he could still see the crimson horror in front of him.

The image of her devouring that marble stuck with him, churning his stomach with a sense of revulsion that he had never felt before. But it wasn’t just that.

As he crawled across the ground like a pathetic, sickly dog, with trembling limb, Madik clutched at his chest as it heaved with panic.

He felt so... empty and cold. As if his blood had been turned to ice, stripped of the warmth of life and leaving him as nothing but an empty husk that kept going because it didn’t know what to do otherwise.

He had only had the power of the source for a day, yet having it felt so natural and completing that he didn’t question it. So why... Why, if it was so new, did it feel like a part of him that had been with him for his entire life was now missing?

It was... awful. He clutched at his chest tighter, his eyes welling up with tears as his chest quickened as he approached a panic attack. However before the feeling could take hold, it was soothed by an unseen force.

Once he was calm, a familiar voice whispered into his mind. It felt like it was a moist tentacle, slithering into his ear to deliver a message. A feeling that he hated, yet he did not resist for he knew who it belonged to and what it meant for him.

Although he did not speak the language that the voice spoke, Sug could still understand the meaning of the strange words that were uttered.

’You have lost a part of my power... You were given it as a taste... A sliver of power to understand what was awaiting you in your future. Yet even that... you lose. Perhaps I chose wrong...’

The panic flooded Sug’s body once again, as he shouted both in his head and out loud. It caused a few strange looks from other respawning players, but he didn’t care.

"No! No... please, It was... It was just a stupid mistake. I promise that I will do better next time. Please... Please don’t take the power from me... I need it. I need to be better than them. Please..."

His voice was thick and dripping with pathetic desperation, his eyes welling up with tears as he spoke to the formless voice, pleading for the power that had slipped through his fingers. When the voice didn’t respond for a few seconds, Sug was ready to break down into tears.

However finally, it spoke into his mind once again.

’Very well... You will be given what you have lost...’, The voice whispered. But before Sug had a chance to celebrate, it continued,

’But you have had your taste. To reclaim what you lost comes at a price. A true pact must be forged.’

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[You have been offered a Pact with He who Dwells in the Dark in exchange for your soul. Accepting this pact will change your class permanently to High Warlock. This change is irreversible. If the pact is broken, consequences will follow.

Do you wish to accept the pact and offer your soul to He who Dwells in the Dark? Y/N]

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The notification appeared before Sug as the voice in his mind whispered similar details to him, helping him understand the conditions of the pact and the price he would have to pay. But Sug didn’t listen, instead his eyes simply twinkled at the notification as joy flooded his body.

He truly had found the best class in the entire game. He didn’t hesitate to click yes, and soon enough the emptiness within his body was filled once more as his source was rebuilt and restored by the Dark One.

At the same time, a brand appeared on the back of his hand, marking him as the property of He who Dwells in the Dark. It was the symbol of an eye with three different pupils. As he glanced at the marking, Sug couldn’t help but laugh softly to himself. A tattoo? That was all?

What a laughably simple price to pay for the easiest path to ultimate power. What was the harm in it anyways? It was just a game.

***

Belladonna gagged and hacked in disgust, gathering the strange substance into her mouth before spitting the globule of thick, black gunk onto the ground. It immediately began to hiss, melting into the stone, before dispersing entirely and leaving a repugnent stench in the air.

She shook her head and stuck out her tongue in disgust, gagging a few times at the repuslive taste.

’Ugh... What the hell was wrong with his source? That tasted like shit... Even an old pot of cold synth-blend coffee isn’t that bad.

Spitting a few more times, in an attempt to rid herself of the taste, Belladonna slowly got to her feet and ignored the players body for the moment. She could loot it after they were done here. Plus, that taste had really ruined her mood.

Her constitution had kicked in, and she got some flood of power from the source. But it didn’t feel complete. Perhaps because she had pulled it out before he had died, which she surprised herself in achieving, but also perhaps because it was tainted with that disgusting energy.

"So, what now?" Belladonna asked as she turned to the duo, completely ignoring the scared and trembling cult members that filled the small, cave room.

"We just kill these guys and the quest is finished, right?" Lilith asked with a smile, forming an axe from her aura, which made the cult members whimper in horror. Some of them dropping to their knees, while others collapsed to the floor in a steadily growing puddle of urine, which really did not help the smell of the place.

Saige glanced at the Divine Decree again then nodded softly. He strolled over to one of the closest cult members, raised his staff high and brought it down onto the mans head without blinking, as the others started their own slaughter.

None of them were concerned with the bloodshed or carnage, only focusing on not letting any of them go and ensuring they were all dead. They didn’t want to miss out on any loot, after all. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Besides, why would they feel bad? It was just a game.