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

“How long have I been out?” Jacob asked. “Why did you get rid of your mustache?”

Ian started, cast a worried look to the side, and began examining Jacob. He flashed lights in his eyes, tested reflexes, and asked him basic cognitive tests such as what year it was, what his name was, and the names of those in the room.

Satisfied that Jacob seemed well, Ian backed off and was immediately replaced by Alice. Her hair was tied up in a bun and she had on a pair of black-rimmed glasses. “Tell us everything,” she said with a manic grin.

24

Jacob told them all he could about what he’d done, the people he met, nearly everything. Nothing was left out to his knowledge. Nothing at all, except the dreams with Kim.

Those were personal.

Throughout it all, Jacob tried to push aside the ache in his soul from being back in a Post-Collapse world. Everything was so much colder than he remembered. Even the Drowned Halls were welcoming compared to the perpetual chill in the air that laughed at the laws of thermodynamics.

No matter how hot they turned the heaters, it would still feel achingly cold. He could lie down in a burning fire and it would do nothing to melt the frost that crept into his bones.

Alec blew a long, low whistle. “Man you’ve got some brass ones on you,” he said, shaking his head. “That would definitely cut off some time. I took my time getting to the depths of the Desecrated Catacombs. That place was a nightmare.”

“He already has this ring he needs, yes?” Alice asked, consulting a tablet in her lap. “That means he needs only the ember.”

“Right,” Alec said. “Except, he’s nowhere near where he should be. I guess he’s far enough ahead that it doesn’t matter though. Dude, are you sure this Fire Oppa is legitimate? Something about him seems a little sketchy but if you trust him I won’t say another word.”

“I trust him,” Jacob said without hesitation. He didn’t think the Fire Oppa had ever lied to him. He was cagey sometimes, and didn’t seem capable of giving him full answers most of the time but that didn’t seem intentional. “It’s almost like he’s just another player trying to work within the rules of Lormar.”

“Still, it’s strange.”

“Did you ever see him?” Jacob asked. From all of their talks by the campfire, he couldn’t remember Alec ever talking about the diminutive creature.

“Never.”

That was odd. Jacob surely remembered the Fire Oppa from the first time. How did anybody else interact with the Pyre?

“Let us see,” Alice interjected, scrolling through her tablet with a flick of her finger. “Drowned Halls, yes. Many fleshy, flabby creatures. Water affinity, no surprise. But you said you already lit the Pyre there, so you are about to leave, no?”

“Soon as you send me back,” Jacob agreed. “The place and its eldritch leanings remind me too much of the Vile Kingdom.” Alice shivered at the name and Alec’s jaw clenched. “I can’t get out of there fast enough.”

“Doesn’t it seem a little strange that this Fire Oppa is asking you to light Pyres nowhere near where the Burgon Beast will show up?” Alec asked.

“Not really. He explained it well enough. The darkest areas need the most light. By lighting a Pyre in the Drowned Halls it does more good than if I were to light three Pyres in Hollow Dreams, for example.”

Jacob was intent on lighting the 6 Pyres, even if it was only as a favor to the Fire Oppa. He remembered the sad, dejected look of the fiery ferret. It broke his heart. And as Alec said he was quite ahead of the curve already.

He could spare a few days to do something for the Fire Oppa. Something he hoped might bring the Pyres back to Earth in the meantime. How many lives might he save if he completed the Fire Oppa’s ‘quest’ and the Pyres came to Earth?

“If you retrace your steps out of the Drowned Halls, you’ll be able to take a pretty straight path directly to Hollow Dreams,” Alec said, pacing back and forth. It was a common habit of his when he was trying to remember.

“Yes,” Alice said, swiping across her tablet a few times. “But…”

“But what?” Jacob asked. The look on Alice’s face didn’t sit well with him.

“He needs to be stronger, yes?” she asked Alec, who nodded and continued his pacing.

“Then there is a path to power you could use,” Alice said, looking into Jacob’s eyes with uncharacteristic concern. “But it would be your choice and yours alone.”

“What is it?” Jacob asked, sitting upright and sliding his legs over the side of the opened FIVR pod.

“The Vile Covenant is located within the Drowned Halls,” she said quietly.

Alec immediately stopped his pacing. “No. That’s… Alice, that’s wrong on so many levels. That’s unacceptable.”

“Even if it means saving billions of lives?” she asked, her jaw set. When she turned to Jacob, her features softened in sympathy. “I know you lost people close to you because of the Vile Kingdom’s actions. But if you join them, they could provide-”

Jacob couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Join the Vile Kingdom? “No.”

“There is more at stake here-”

“No.”

“Be reasonable-”

Alec placed a hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Alice. Let it go.” He shot Jacob a sympathetic glance over her head.

Of all the people, Alec understood Jacob’s hatred for the Vile Kingdom. He was there when they attacked, when Kim died saving him.

Some avenues of power were off-limits.

“Where are they located?” Jacob asked.

“The Covenant?” Alice asked, an edge of hope creeping into her voice. But she quickly caught on to the dark look in Jacob’s green eyes. “What do you intend on doing?”

“I am going to destroy them,” he said simply, already in the process of lying back down. “Tell me where they are and any notable areas nearby and then send me back in.”

The very air in the bunker hurt his skin. The bone-deep weariness that he