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

Jacob turned his attention to the massive bridge ahead of him, hoping that the Pyre also reset the damage to the structure.

What little hopes he had were dashed as he saw the state of the bridge.

It was still damaged, though the two roaming Vacant that were crushed were now milling around at the edge of the ragged hole leading deeper into the bridge.

Coming out from the mountain, Jacob hurried to the lip of the hole and jumped down on top of the tallest rubble pile. He nearly lost his balance once or twice as the stone and brick beneath him settled under his weight.

Soon enough, Jacob was picking his way carefully down the pile and into the archway beyond. He sidestepped the archway and paused a moment, wondering if the two Vacant that were above had seen him and would follow.

Several heartbeats later, and without any sign of the Vacant, Jacob continued on.

Only this time, he knew where to look to spot the darkened alcoves. They were easy to miss, shallow dark archways set into the walls that were just a few shades darker than the stonework around them.

Normally considered an annoyance, the Pyre reset the monsters back to their original location before your interference, whenever you rested at it or died and woke up there. In this instance, however, it was a blessing. The Graceful Penitents were sleeping in their alcoves instead of wandering about.

Jacob once more took his [Mace] in a two-handed grip and quietly as he could, sidled up in front of one of the alcoves. As close as he was, he could see the hideous slender creature with limbs that were far too long and dry cracked desiccated skin that was wrapped in bloody bandages in all its gruesome glory.

Hardly daring to breathe, Jacob cocked back the [Mace] and then threw everything he had into the strike right at its head, hoping to cave it in before the thing ever woke up.

Exploited Weakness!

You strike the [Graceful Penitent] for 332 points of damage.

You consume 40 Stamina.

You defeat the [Graceful Penitent].

Awarded 350 Souls.

It was a short-lived celebration because the sound of the attack woke the others and soon the hallway was once again littered with the grotesque, half-dead creations.

Curious, Jacob knelt down quickly and picked up a piece of rubble and tossed it clear across the hallway. Disturbingly, several heads swiveled in unison to look in the direction of the sound.

Jacob was all but forgotten.

He grinned, realizing that they weren’t like other Vacant. Now that he thought about it, they probably weren’t Vacant at all.

Their seven-foot-tall frames should have been a dead giveaway. They were not human, but they were blind. The bandages weren’t just a red herring but an actual clue as to their weakness.

Gathering up a few pebbles and placing them in a pouch on his hip for easy access, Jacob stalked as quietly as he could to the nearest Graceful Penitent. Gripping his [Mace] in both hands, he snuck up so close to the emaciated creature that he could have spit on it.

Arching his back away from the creature, Jacob gathered all of his strength into that single overhead chop with his [Mace]. The flanged mace head completely obliterated the thing’s skull like a hammer to an overripe pumpkin.

Backstab!

You strike the [Graceful Penitent] for 456 points of damage.

You consume 40 Stamina.

You defeat the [Graceful Penitent].

Awarded 350 Souls.

Mace Skill increases to Level 6…7…8…9.

Quickly as he could – and while keeping his feet perfectly still, which was not easy with so many of the ghastly creatures turning his way – Jacob took out a pebble and tossed it across the hall.

Predictably, the stupid creatures were lured by the same sound once again.

One by one, Jacob snuck up on the remaining Graceful Penitents and ended their wretched existence. Such easy tricks would not work for long, and Jacob took full advantage of the simple diversionary tactic.

With the way cleared, Jacob approached the glowing emerald wisp floating a few inches above the ground near where he had died.

While Pyresouls Online was often unfair, brutal, and even downright sadistic, it wasn’t impossible.

Despite the fact that Jacob fell a full level down and then through that to the distant chasm below, his wisp wasn’t hundreds of feet down in the rocky gorge where he died.

The player’s wisp would often be found at the site of where their death originated. Jumping off a cliff – a common way of dying, whether intentional or not – would spawn the emerald wisp at the edge of where they leaped off.

Anything else would be nearly impossible to recover, and in some cases, their wisp would be located somewhere more accessible based on the series of events that got them killed in the first place.

After Jacob left Pyresouls before the Collapse, the boards were beginning to call it the Death Origination Point or DPO.

If a string of events predicated a player’s death, then their wisp would spawn just before that series began. Allowing the player to learn from their past mistake and improve themselves.

Jacob leaned forward and touched his emerald wisp.

Souls Retrieved.

There was nothing he could do about his curse level aside from getting lucky and finding some Anima, using that to lower his curse level back to zero.

Just to be sure he double-checked his Souls to make sure they were there. It had been a long time since Jacob played Pyresouls Online. Dying in the real world Post-Collapse was not something that you could come back from.

Including the recently acquired Souls, he was sitting at 3,677 Souls. With so many Souls, he could get a jump on leveling. Despite what Alec had said, the interior of the bridge seemed positively lucrative.

All it cost was a small bit of his sanity and a truly horrifying death that only reinforced his fear of heights.

Satisfied that everything was in order, he looked around the darkened space. Alec never told him anything about the interior of the Steps of Penance. Only that up on the bridge near one of