Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) by James Callum (reading tree .txt) 📕

apart. It was as wide as any modern bridge back home, enough for two lanes of traffic in each direction. Only difference was, the stone paving was caved in more often than not and the whole thing was poised over a misty gorge whose bottom was impossible to discern.

In more than one of those darkened pits that fell to the inner sections of the bridge, Jacob could make out faint movement and glowing blood-red eyes watching him.

Licking his lips nervously, Jacob stepped onto the bridge.

The Steps of Penance

The sudden words that appeared telling him the name of the area – which he already knew – nearly gave him a heart attack. He was so focused on everything around him, expecting an attack at any moment that the simple prompt had startled him more than it should have.

Already he could see that less than a hundred feet across, he would be forced into the upper floors of the bridge. There wasn’t much activity on the bridge in front of him, a few Vacant were milling about aimlessly.

From time to time they’d bump into each other or a pillar but mostly they stood still. If he moved quietly enough – usually impossible in a suit of armor – he could slip behind them and dispatch them one by one.

Taking another tentative step forward and berating himself for taking so long, Jacob discovered something that the trailblazing Alec never knew. There was a lumbering boulder-throwing giant up on the mountain behind him. And if you stood still long enough, it would notice you.

And Jacob had spent far too much time mulling over Alec’s warning and picking out his path carefully.

The giant’s echoing grunt that rolled down the mountainside was Jacob’s only warning.

He dove to the side, tucked his shoulder, and rolled trying to get as much distance as he could from the sailing missile he knew would smear him into a fine paste across the bridge.

With a mighty teeth-rattling crash, the boulder struck the bridge and skipped a few times before taking out two Vacant too dim-witted to get out of the way in time. Even as the white wisps flew toward him, granting him another 300 Souls, the bridge gave a deep, disturbing groan.

Before Jacob could register the omen for what it was, the surface of the bridge began to buckle and crack. The massive boulder fell into the bridge and then made another sharp report as it fell down another level deeper.

He barely managed two strides before his feet met nothing but dark air and then he was falling.

8

Without any proper armor or even a basic helmet, it was a miracle Jacob survived the collapse of the bridge’s top layer. Except, now he was precisely where Alec had expressly told him not to venture.

The ride down had been sudden and jarring, luckily the sharp-edged bricks and hard stone broke his fall. He ached in a dozen different places.

Groaning and covered in stone dust and debris, Jacob sluggishly rose to his feet, bracing himself against a rotten beam of wood to his left. The dark was somehow worse than the lightless tunnel coming out of the Razor Pass.

It pressed in on all sides as if it were a living thing. With everything Jacob had seen those last ten years, he wouldn’t be surprised if it was.

A quick look at his Health bar showed him that he only lost a tenth of his Health in the fall. Turning his gaze to the ragged dusty hole in the ceiling some twenty feet above him, Jacob knew he wasn’t going to be climbing out anytime soon.

Judging by the damage done, he was surprised this level of the bridge hadn’t collapsed too. Without any idea where the Pyre was from his present location, Jacob decided to save his remaining 4 [Cinder Ampoules] for when he was really hurt.

The only problem was, with so little Health and defense it would not be hard to imagine a single powerful strike ending his life if he was not at full Health.

Sitting here isn’t going to do me any good.

Jacob took hold of his [Mace] a little tighter and double-checked the straps on his [Plank Shield] to see if they still held, before taking his first furtive steps into the dark room.

Crates and barrels – many broken or covered in the recent debris – lined the far walls. Fear and trepidation washed over him as he tried to peer into the dark passageway ahead. There was nothing but a simple stone archway leading out of the room, from which Jacob could hear nothing.

Heart jackhammering in his chest, Jacob forced himself to take steady strides forward. Each footfall was practically a stomp and it no doubt looked ridiculous. But it was the only way to keep going when that primal fear of the dark unknown welled up inside him.

[Plank Shield] lifted up and at the ready to intercept any coming attack, Jacob stepped out of his room. If it brought the attention of any nearby creatures, they didn’t show themselves.

The hallway ran to his left and right, barely wide enough for two men abreast. Several holes in the ceiling let in shafts of dusty light. Instead of illuminating, the pillars of light ruined what night vision he was able to acquire whenever he glanced their way.

It only made the dark that much more foreboding.

Inch by inch, Jacob made his way through the halls that created a maze within the upper level of the bridge. Loose stones and rotted planks showed him that there were at least two more levels below this one inside the bridge. The rasping, wheezing noises he heard from below made him test his footing often.

And so, concerned more with his footing than his surroundings, Jacob didn’t see the tall lanky figure step out of a shadowed alcove. It tore three lines of nauseating agony down his exposed back.

The [Graceful Penitent] slashes you for 78 points of damage.

Trying to break through the haze of pain, Jacob