Euphridia
The fate of humanity did not rest on Tom, but it sure felt like it. Then again, despite their numbers all the chosen felt the same way.
The trial, the tutorial, or whatever you wanted to name it, was over. After forty long solitary years spent mastering the system, Tom, with his abilities reset was going to have to do it all again to save humanity.
The cost of failure would have an unimaginable impact on his friends and family. His sacrifices had propelled him into the top million, giving him the opportunity to make a difference. And he had a risky plan to do so.
Fate points is a third person single POV litrpg with a unique system and mechanics and strong, complicated side-characters.
“Too many human and hybrid scents here,” Tetora conceded with a grunt, after leading us into the forest the next morning. “I don’t think we can put it off any longer. We’re too close to the border here to know which side they are on.”
“Agreed,” Aleph nodded resolutely. “It is easier to explain them as a ruse than to accessorize in an emergency.”
Tetora and Aleph reached into their rucksacks and pulled out the two heavy packages of burlap they had purchased earlier. Inside each was a giant wrought iron collar, hinged in two places and held together by chain links. A threaded lock was built onto the side of each one.
Nora’s eyes widened. “Slave collars?!” I had erroneously thought they would be handcuffs for future encountered outlaws, but the truth was even more disturbing.
“These are for us. Do not worry.” Aleph put the collar around his neck, bending the lock shut. He then pulled on it a few times. Satisfied it did not release, he turned to Tetora. “Your turn.”
“...Help me with the lock,” Tetora ordered. Aleph simply grasped the iron and again fused the lock shut on Tetora’s collar with a twist of his fingers.
“If we encounter anyone, you two are in charge.” Tetora advised.
“Just command us to talk to them on your behalf if you don’t know what to say,” Aleph added.
“Don’t use our names. Just Tiger for me and Ox for him. We’ll forgive you for your rudeness.” Tetora tried to smile, though I could see his eyes burned with anger.
“I…” I wasn’t prepared for this. How could they talk so nonchalantly about this?! This was wrong!
“They are just iron rings,” Aleph stated calmly. “You cannot activate them without their tethered focus, so they are not harmful.”
Nora frowned. “Tethered focus?”
“A magical key with which to suppress our strength. The collar is merely deceptive jewelry. Nothing more,” Aleph shrugged. “So do not let it upset you now.”
“Easier said than done!”
“Our well being depends on it,” Tetora warned.
I swallowed hard and glanced at Nora again.
Nora stamped her feet indignantly. “Before you ask, no, none of this was in the story!”
“It is a newer practice in Turri. It will not last.” Aleph turned to Tetora and intentionally changed the subject. “Show us where you found the knife.”
We walked through the forest in silence for a few minutes. “The knife was at ankle height here, on this stump,” Tetora advised. “She usually scratches three diagonal lines with a cross-out to mark her trail. Report anything unusual, though.”
We had a number of false starts as we searched for trail markings, but nothing of any real substance. “We should probably take shelter soon,” I announced after about an hour of inspecting the forest. “She’s not going to be out in the storm, anyway.”
“Storm?” Nora looked up. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s gonna hit us any minute. Can't you feel it?” I shivered as the air became icy around us. Two small wisps of inky black fog poured in sideways from the east, coalescing slowly into spinning spheres of starry midnight. Splashes of color then erupted from the core-like center of their respective dark spirits, forming appendages and filling in their now humanoid appearance.
“Ohhh….” the first one breathed heavily with his newly formed mouth. “A Tiger…! How fortunate for us!”
The other had a velvety, dangerous voice. “The Ox is also well-built! I told you it would be worth it to come all the way out here!”
With their physical form complete, they now bore dark red military fatigues with gold epaulets pinning a half-cape to their backs. Antlers had sprouted from their skulls. It was their eyes, or rather the lack of realistic eyes, that were the most disturbing. The first demon conjured yellow ones with slitted, goat-like pupils, while his female-appearing counterpart simply sculpted hollow eye sockets before filling them with eyes containing ever-burning orange flames.
I heard Nora inhale sharply from behind me even as Tetora and Aleph scrambled to get in front of us, weapons drawn.
The first demon shook its head. “We’re not here to kill you, Tiger and Ox. We’re here to liberate you!”
“Oh?” Aleph questioned. “Liberate us?”
“Don’t you want to escape your human oppressors?” The demoness asked with a sultry shrug.
“Swear allegiance to the Great General and we will remove your collars!” the other demon proclaimed with a haughty salute to the air in front of him. Was he referring to General Ragnerus? I thought he only ever accepted fellow demons into his ranks.
“And if we decline?” Aleph asked, his jaw tensing.
“Oh, even I think you know the answer to that one, Ox,” the demon answered with a giant, fanged grin as he held out his hand, summoning a floating spear of inky darkness. “After all, we are only obliged to ask once.”
“Nora,” Tetora warned. “Do not engage these demons. Stick back with Rachel.” It was the first time he ever called me that.
“Ah! You’re going to attempt to fight us? How wonderful!” The demoness buzzed loudly, and her form phased in and out of existence quickly as she charged towards Tetora, slashing fans of razor-sharp blades held in each of her hands. Tetora skittered backwards, leaping this way and that as he watched for an opening to strike.
The male demon teleported within close distance of Aleph and drove alternating stabs at his sides. Aleph calmly caught the spear’s tip in the claw of his war hammer and yanked it off course, causing gold and black sparks to fly about. The demon momentarily convulsed, with cloudy vapor dispersing, before he pulled himself back into a solid mass with a flickering shudder.
“Their weapons are blessed!” the male demon shouted in alarm.
The demoness cackled her response as she swiped at Tetora. “So much the better! An actual challenge for once!”
The two demons, probably deciding Nora and I were mere fodder, initially ignored us. No other Raes seemed to want to take center stage, either. After the demon engaged with Aleph took a few solid, sparking blows from his war hammer, however, he changed tactics.
“Show me your despair, human girl! I hunger for your screams!” He shot towards me quickly, spear extended. Time to think happy thoughts like Raelina said! Uh, catchy Japanese pop songs with a driving beat! Finding a long forgotten pint of premium ice cream in the freezer late at night! I felt a surge of strength as I knocked his spear aside with my bo staff, summoning more sparks and temporarily stunning him.
The demon swore loudly as his spear fizzled away. “Even the oafish human girl has one!” Oafish..? Ah, don’t let him get to you, Rachel! File that questionable feedback for review later. You’re the one who controls whether to accept or act on it.
He held out his right hand and shot a blast of solid force at me which wasn’t exactly prepared for. I lost my grip on the staff as I collided back into a tree trunk, sliding down to the ground with a stifled grunt.
“I said scream!” He translocated himself in front of me and hauled me up off my feet by the front of my hooded cape, slamming me into the tree trunk again. Reeling with the scattered thought that I should really invest in a helmet, I did the only thing I could think of. I dropped my head and bit his hand as savagely as I possibly could. Surprisingly enough, it seemed to have an effect on him, and he ended up being the one to scream as he tossed me away. I stood and spit, frantically wiping at my now burning tongue. Raeonna had said use my teeth if necessary, but I can’t exactly recommend it as a best practice.
“H-how …you… hurt… me?!” he gasped as he pulled back to look at his hand which dripped watery-looking black blood. A dark miasma wafted off him upwards into nothing and he shuddered back and forth between a solid and spirit form. “What… What did you do to me?”
I didn’t bother trying to come up with an answer. He was still between me and my blessed staff however, and rectifying that was priority one. I tried to dart around him, but even with his disorientation, he managed to cut me off.
He inhaled, swelling in size as his mottled, ever-phasing form took on a beast-like shape. His muzzle sprouted a mouthful of needle-like teeth jutting out every which way. I was pretty sure I had seen worse in my dreams though, so his efforts to frighten me into submission fell flat. With a sneer exposing way too many canines, he growled. “I’ll teach an ugly, pathetic human like you to fight b–”
“Private Beigaldi!” The demoness shouted from over her shoulder in disdain as she slipped around Tetora. “Pull yourself together! I can see right through you!” He was looking rather flimsy, all things considered.
“Y-yes, Sergeant Bodil!” Would you believe he actually turned away slightly in deference to his superior? He even took a moment to throw a salute her way, exposing his right flank. And he thought I was the oaf?!
“Don’t you dare lay a hand on me again, you glitchy ghoul!” I shouted, even as I struck him in the side with an aggressive, glowing vertical punch. My light aura and his black shadowy essence exploded upon contact with each other, with the resounding impact knocking me back even as it did him. I was able to get up quickly, but he seemed to have taken additional damage. His form began to melt away in earnest, exposing his spiritual core that sparkled for all the world like a tiny, starry nebula.
“You’re not supposed to be able to do that!” he shrieked as he tried to reform himself. “You can’t–”
Aleph, rising up behind him like a roiling sea of angry determination, took advantage of the demon’s disruption and slammed his gigantic war hammer into his core sideways. I watched in awe as the screaming demon erupted in golden flames before he dissipated completely.
Tetora had been leaping back and forth, engaged in a battle of speedy strikes with the demoness. When her compatriot’s final wail ended, however, she also disappeared completely from view.
“You’re thinking one down and one to go…” her voice called softly from the treetops.
“But I’m not low level like him…!” Her voice came from behind us.
“I am everywhere and yet nowhere!” she laughed from the ground.
“But you haven’t taken a turn yet, dear!” she suddenly reappeared in front of Nora, her wicked face stretched beyond normal composition. “Is it because you’re frightened? Or maybe you’re just useless?”
Nora clenched her fists around her staff to hold herself back just as I rushed to strike, but the demoness disappeared again, leaving an after-image of shadowy haze.
Suddenly, she pressed herself against Nora’s opposite shoulder. “You have quite a few secrets, don’t you?”
Nora jumped back, but the demoness continued, leaning on nothing. “I can sense your anger, fear, and oh! So much guilt! But… why aren’t you exuding any animus?” Aleph swung, but missed as well. It was clear she was toying with us, dissipating with only dark miasma to mark where she had been.
“Hmm… maybe I’ll sell you to the Dark Mistress instead! She just loves dissecting secrets!” The demoness was upside-down above her now, with her bladed fans almost pressing on Nora’s temples. Tetora leapt over Nora just as she ducked, but the demoness evaded his strike.
She was no longer visible, but we could still hear her. “But I wonder, are my words even understandable to a shameful little ankle biter like you?” Oh no... shameful little ankle biter! That's what those nasty girls in high school used to call her... how in the world...
Nora's eyes flashed and she began to emit a dark aura herself. Oh no!
"Well what do you know? You can understand me, at that!" The demoness snickered.
"Nora! What are you doing???" I gasped as the shadowy haze around her thickened. It really wasn't a good look for her.
Nora ignored me, flaring her nostrils upon standing straight once again. After we heard the telltale buzz of the demoness’s translocation, Nora swung her staff the exact second the demoness reappeared. “Ignis!” she screamed in a ferocious tone I never heard from her before. Upon contact, both her staff and the demoness burst into angry conflagration.
“Ha… ahahahahahahaha!” The demoness crowed as she began to absorb the magical fire. “I was getting tired from all the back and forth! You have my sincere appreciation, my diminutive, dim-witted dark mage! But it’s time we end this!”
“N..no!” Nora stumbled backwards with a sudden shake to clear her head, realizing her fateful mistake. The demoness leapt at her with bladed fans poised to strike. It was Tetora who intercepted the demoness with a deep roar and bore the brunt of her slashing attack.
“Begone!” he bellowed, shoving his claws into her from behind as he grappled her to the ground. Black blood spurted from her body as he pulled them back forcefully. Her flesh began to melt way around the wounds, and I saw her exposed core start to sparkle gold.
“All in all, this has been quite entertaining! Let’s agree to suffer together, Tiger! Together!” She laughed hysterically even as golden flames engulfed her from inside out, burning her essence away.
“Tetora..?” Nora stepped forward, reaching out her hand fearfully.
“I told you… not to… engage.” Iron Tiger Tetora stood slowly and turned, his blood dripping from the ugly purple lacerations strewn across his chest and abdomen. “You owe me… a new shirt.” He managed just one step forward before his shoulders rolled. The earth shook as his heavy, limp body crashed to the ground.
Euphridia
The fate of humanity did not rest on Tom, but it sure felt like it. Then again, despite their numbers all the chosen felt the same way.
The trial, the tutorial, or whatever you wanted to name it, was over. After forty long solitary years spent mastering the system, Tom, with his abilities reset was going to have to do it all again to save humanity.
The cost of failure would have an unimaginable impact on his friends and family. His sacrifices had propelled him into the top million, giving him the opportunity to make a difference. And he had a risky plan to do so.
Fate points is a third person single POV litrpg with a unique system and mechanics and strong, complicated side-characters.
“Too many human and hybrid scents here,” Tetora conceded with a grunt, after leading us into the forest the next morning. “I don’t think we can put it off any longer. We’re too close to the border here to know which side they are on.”
“Agreed,” Aleph nodded resolutely. “It is easier to explain them as a ruse than to accessorize in an emergency.”
Tetora and Aleph reached into their rucksacks and pulled out the two heavy packages of burlap they had purchased earlier. Inside each was a giant wrought iron collar, hinged in two places and held together by chain links. A threaded lock was built onto the side of each one.
Nora’s eyes widened. “Slave collars?!” I had erroneously thought they would be handcuffs for future encountered outlaws, but the truth was even more disturbing.
“These are for us. Do not worry.” Aleph put the collar around his neck, bending the lock shut. He then pulled on it a few times. Satisfied it did not release, he turned to Tetora. “Your turn.”
“...Help me with the lock,” Tetora ordered. Aleph simply grasped the iron and again fused the lock shut on Tetora’s collar with a twist of his fingers.
“If we encounter anyone, you two are in charge.” Tetora advised.
“Just command us to talk to them on your behalf if you don’t know what to say,” Aleph added.
“Don’t use our names. Just Tiger for me and Ox for him. We’ll forgive you for your rudeness.” Tetora tried to smile, though I could see his eyes burned with anger.
“I…” I wasn’t prepared for this. How could they talk so nonchalantly about this?! This was wrong!
“They are just iron rings,” Aleph stated calmly. “You cannot activate them without their tethered focus, so they are not harmful.”
Nora frowned. “Tethered focus?”
“A magical key with which to suppress our strength. The collar is merely deceptive jewelry. Nothing more,” Aleph shrugged. “So do not let it upset you now.”
“Easier said than done!”
“Our well being depends on it,” Tetora warned.
I swallowed hard and glanced at Nora again.
Nora stamped her feet indignantly. “Before you ask, no, none of this was in the story!”
“It is a newer practice in Turri. It will not last.” Aleph turned to Tetora and intentionally changed the subject. “Show us where you found the knife.”
We walked through the forest in silence for a few minutes. “The knife was at ankle height here, on this stump,” Tetora advised. “She usually scratches three diagonal lines with a cross-out to mark her trail. Report anything unusual, though.”
We had a number of false starts as we searched for trail markings, but nothing of any real substance. “We should probably take shelter soon,” I announced after about an hour of inspecting the forest. “She’s not going to be out in the storm, anyway.”
“Storm?” Nora looked up. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s gonna hit us any minute. Can't you feel it?” I shivered as the air became icy around us. Two small wisps of inky black fog poured in sideways from the east, coalescing slowly into spinning spheres of starry midnight. Splashes of color then erupted from the core-like center of their respective dark spirits, forming appendages and filling in their now humanoid appearance.
“Ohhh….” the first one breathed heavily with his newly formed mouth. “A Tiger…! How fortunate for us!”
The other had a velvety, dangerous voice. “The Ox is also well-built! I told you it would be worth it to come all the way out here!”
With their physical form complete, they now bore dark red military fatigues with gold epaulets pinning a half-cape to their backs. Antlers had sprouted from their skulls. It was their eyes, or rather the lack of realistic eyes, that were the most disturbing. The first demon conjured yellow ones with slitted, goat-like pupils, while his female-appearing counterpart simply sculpted hollow eye sockets before filling them with eyes containing ever-burning orange flames.
I heard Nora inhale sharply from behind me even as Tetora and Aleph scrambled to get in front of us, weapons drawn.
The first demon shook its head. “We’re not here to kill you, Tiger and Ox. We’re here to liberate you!”
“Oh?” Aleph questioned. “Liberate us?”
“Don’t you want to escape your human oppressors?” The demoness asked with a sultry shrug.
“Swear allegiance to the Great General and we will remove your collars!” the other demon proclaimed with a haughty salute to the air in front of him. Was he referring to General Ragnerus? I thought he only ever accepted fellow demons into his ranks.
“And if we decline?” Aleph asked, his jaw tensing.
“Oh, even I think you know the answer to that one, Ox,” the demon answered with a giant, fanged grin as he held out his hand, summoning a floating spear of inky darkness. “After all, we are only obliged to ask once.”
“Nora,” Tetora warned. “Do not engage these demons. Stick back with Rachel.” It was the first time he ever called me that.
“Ah! You’re going to attempt to fight us? How wonderful!” The demoness buzzed loudly, and her form phased in and out of existence quickly as she charged towards Tetora, slashing fans of razor-sharp blades held in each of her hands. Tetora skittered backwards, leaping this way and that as he watched for an opening to strike.
The male demon teleported within close distance of Aleph and drove alternating stabs at his sides. Aleph calmly caught the spear’s tip in the claw of his war hammer and yanked it off course, causing gold and black sparks to fly about. The demon momentarily convulsed, with cloudy vapor dispersing, before he pulled himself back into a solid mass with a flickering shudder.
“Their weapons are blessed!” the male demon shouted in alarm.
The demoness cackled her response as she swiped at Tetora. “So much the better! An actual challenge for once!”
The two demons, probably deciding Nora and I were mere fodder, initially ignored us. No other Raes seemed to want to take center stage, either. After the demon engaged with Aleph took a few solid, sparking blows from his war hammer, however, he changed tactics.
“Show me your despair, human girl! I hunger for your screams!” He shot towards me quickly, spear extended. Time to think happy thoughts like Raelina said! Uh, catchy Japanese pop songs with a driving beat! Finding a long forgotten pint of premium ice cream in the freezer late at night! I felt a surge of strength as I knocked his spear aside with my bo staff, summoning more sparks and temporarily stunning him.
The demon swore loudly as his spear fizzled away. “Even the oafish human girl has one!” Oafish..? Ah, don’t let him get to you, Rachel! File that questionable feedback for review later. You’re the one who controls whether to accept or act on it.
He held out his right hand and shot a blast of solid force at me which wasn’t exactly prepared for. I lost my grip on the staff as I collided back into a tree trunk, sliding down to the ground with a stifled grunt.
“I said scream!” He translocated himself in front of me and hauled me up off my feet by the front of my hooded cape, slamming me into the tree trunk again. Reeling with the scattered thought that I should really invest in a helmet, I did the only thing I could think of. I dropped my head and bit his hand as savagely as I possibly could. Surprisingly enough, it seemed to have an effect on him, and he ended up being the one to scream as he tossed me away. I stood and spit, frantically wiping at my now burning tongue. Raeonna had said use my teeth if necessary, but I can’t exactly recommend it as a best practice.
“H-how …you… hurt… me?!” he gasped as he pulled back to look at his hand which dripped watery-looking black blood. A dark miasma wafted off him upwards into nothing and he shuddered back and forth between a solid and spirit form. “What… What did you do to me?”
I didn’t bother trying to come up with an answer. He was still between me and my blessed staff however, and rectifying that was priority one. I tried to dart around him, but even with his disorientation, he managed to cut me off.
He inhaled, swelling in size as his mottled, ever-phasing form took on a beast-like shape. His muzzle sprouted a mouthful of needle-like teeth jutting out every which way. I was pretty sure I had seen worse in my dreams though, so his efforts to frighten me into submission fell flat. With a sneer exposing way too many canines, he growled. “I’ll teach an ugly, pathetic human like you to fight b–”
“Private Beigaldi!” The demoness shouted from over her shoulder in disdain as she slipped around Tetora. “Pull yourself together! I can see right through you!” He was looking rather flimsy, all things considered.
“Y-yes, Sergeant Bodil!” Would you believe he actually turned away slightly in deference to his superior? He even took a moment to throw a salute her way, exposing his right flank. And he thought I was the oaf?!
“Don’t you dare lay a hand on me again, you glitchy ghoul!” I shouted, even as I struck him in the side with an aggressive, glowing vertical punch. My light aura and his black shadowy essence exploded upon contact with each other, with the resounding impact knocking me back even as it did him. I was able to get up quickly, but he seemed to have taken additional damage. His form began to melt away in earnest, exposing his spiritual core that sparkled for all the world like a tiny, starry nebula.
“You’re not supposed to be able to do that!” he shrieked as he tried to reform himself. “You can’t–”
Aleph, rising up behind him like a roiling sea of angry determination, took advantage of the demon’s disruption and slammed his gigantic war hammer into his core sideways. I watched in awe as the screaming demon erupted in golden flames before he dissipated completely.
Tetora had been leaping back and forth, engaged in a battle of speedy strikes with the demoness. When her compatriot’s final wail ended, however, she also disappeared completely from view.
“You’re thinking one down and one to go…” her voice called softly from the treetops.
“But I’m not low level like him…!” Her voice came from behind us.
“I am everywhere and yet nowhere!” she laughed from the ground.
“But you haven’t taken a turn yet, dear!” she suddenly reappeared in front of Nora, her wicked face stretched beyond normal composition. “Is it because you’re frightened? Or maybe you’re just useless?”
Nora clenched her fists around her staff to hold herself back just as I rushed to strike, but the demoness disappeared again, leaving an after-image of shadowy haze.
Suddenly, she pressed herself against Nora’s opposite shoulder. “You have quite a few secrets, don’t you?”
Nora jumped back, but the demoness continued, leaning on nothing. “I can sense your anger, fear, and oh! So much guilt! But… why aren’t you exuding any animus?” Aleph swung, but missed as well. It was clear she was toying with us, dissipating with only dark miasma to mark where she had been.
“Hmm… maybe I’ll sell you to the Dark Mistress instead! She just loves dissecting secrets!” The demoness was upside-down above her now, with her bladed fans almost pressing on Nora’s temples. Tetora leapt over Nora just as she ducked, but the demoness evaded his strike.
She was no longer visible, but we could still hear her. “But I wonder, are my words even understandable to a shameful little ankle biter like you?” Oh no... shameful little ankle biter! That's what those nasty girls in high school used to call her... how in the world...
Nora's eyes flashed and she began to emit a dark aura herself. Oh no!
"Well what do you know? You can understand me, at that!" The demoness snickered.
"Nora! What are you doing???" I gasped as the shadowy haze around her thickened. It really wasn't a good look for her.
Nora ignored me, flaring her nostrils upon standing straight once again. After we heard the telltale buzz of the demoness’s translocation, Nora swung her staff the exact second the demoness reappeared. “Ignis!” she screamed in a ferocious tone I never heard from her before. Upon contact, both her staff and the demoness burst into angry conflagration.
“Ha… ahahahahahahaha!” The demoness crowed as she began to absorb the magical fire. “I was getting tired from all the back and forth! You have my sincere appreciation, my diminutive, dim-witted dark mage! But it’s time we end this!”
“N..no!” Nora stumbled backwards with a sudden shake to clear her head, realizing her fateful mistake. The demoness leapt at her with bladed fans poised to strike. It was Tetora who intercepted the demoness with a deep roar and bore the brunt of her slashing attack.
“Begone!” he bellowed, shoving his claws into her from behind as he grappled her to the ground. Black blood spurted from her body as he pulled them back forcefully. Her flesh began to melt way around the wounds, and I saw her exposed core start to sparkle gold.
“All in all, this has been quite entertaining! Let’s agree to suffer together, Tiger! Together!” She laughed hysterically even as golden flames engulfed her from inside out, burning her essence away.
“Tetora..?” Nora stepped forward, reaching out her hand fearfully.
“I told you… not to… engage.” Iron Tiger Tetora stood slowly and turned, his blood dripping from the ugly purple lacerations strewn across his chest and abdomen. “You owe me… a new shirt.” He managed just one step forward before his shoulders rolled. The earth shook as his heavy, limp body crashed to the ground.
