My eyes snapped open, and I sighed in relief as I realized they were whole and not aflame. I was laying in the darkness, and my body was whole again, though for some odd reason I couldn’t feel anything. I wasn’t cold, or hot, and I had no clue what was up or down. All I could tell was that I was slowly sinking deeper into the sea of comforting darkness.

  I tried to flex my hands, but nothing even budged. I tried to cock my head to the side, but again, nothing happened. Each attempt at moving my limbs was just met with failure, and I frowned as I began struggling as hard as I could, straining to make my way upwards or just to flex a damned pinky! And yet… My body wouldn't move, no matter how hard I tried. The once comforting darkness coiled tighter and tighter around me, laughing at me, cushioning me, and promising me sweet nothings.

  I had seen its lies by now though, and I spat at it and strained again, causing it to retreat for a brief moment. However, the darkness wasn’t so easily dissuaded and just squeezed me even harder, crushing my body and squeezing every little bit of air and life out of me. It squeezed and squeezed until I felt like I was about to pop, and then it suddenly exploded away from me, screaming in pain and shock.

  I groaned, and shook my head, confusion running through me as I realized that I could finally move my body. I slowly sat up, and looked around, realizing that I now found myself sitting on a white sand island. I looked around at the quickly retreating darkness, and cocked an eyebrow. How… odd.

  I staggered to my feet and looked down, freezing as I saw my chest. The green tree on my chest was shining brightly, chasing away the darkness nearby and giving me a strong light to see by, but I knew that wasn’t what had truly scared away the darkness. My back burned icy cold, and I could tell that a silver white glow was suffusing the entire island, snaking into the roiling darkness and demanding its respect.

  The dark green and white vines that were wrapped around my body were slowly starting to rise, ethereally drifting all around me. They reached around me, looping around me once, then twice, before they all suddenly dove down, feeding into the sand at my feet. The sand and the very island twisted and roiled, crashing around me and shifting into various different shapes. I backed up and looked around myself at the shifting sand, watched as it slowly but surely began shaping itself into a great skull.

  A familiar voice, gentle as a breeze through trees and peaceful as water running over a rivers edge, sang through the air, making me feel calm, but also revitalized and lively again, “Didn’t I just say not to get yourself killed not that long ago?”

  I glanced away from the skull that was rapidly forming, but just as I did, another familiar voice rang through the air, rich and deep, promising me peace and tranquility, “Ah little one, I had left you with my gift as a reward, but I was not expecting to see the results so quickly. How are you always finding yourself so close to death?”

  I turned around and saw a sprout of green rupture out of the edge of the white land nearby. It spiraled and grew, growing branches and leaves, and then thickening at the base. Branches and sprouts exploded from it, thickening and widening out until it cast a shadow over the whole island. It continued growing and spreading until it was no longer the little sapling from before, but a grand, ancient oak. Its trunk split at the base and opened up, revealing a throne made of vines. Upon the throne, there was a large brown bear lounging upon it, its lower half covered in scales and ending in a large, thick fishtail.

  Just as the bear turned and gave me a wink, I felt a deep rumble from behind me. I snapped around, pausing as I saw the massive white skull crack behind me. It rumbled and then split open, revealing a great white skeletal hand that erupted out of its skull, its long, white finger bones curled into a fist. Those clenched fingers opened up, revealing a lavish black and white throne. A long loud horn blew across the darkness of the void, causing the darkness that had retreated earlier to shiver and roil. It suddenly shot forward, curling and amassing itself in the skeletons' palm, spinning in a chaotic circle, before it suddenly retreated once more. Where it had just been amassing and circling around, it had left behind a familiar robed figure.

  I couldn’t help but smile as I eyed them both, before I took a deep breath and bowed in each of their directions. Verdant tittered in pleasure at the display, shifting forms several times before resting on a great burning bird. Grim gave a small nod in return, extending their arm out in a semicircle towards me, and tapping their scythe against the ground.Silence reigned for a moment as Verdant eyed Grim, and Grim stared at Verdant, as if they had just realized the other was there.

  Verdant rose out of their chair, shifting again into a great tiger, a pair of peacock colored wings spreading out of its back and several cobra heads sprouting along its back and tail, “So when did you decide to get out of that little black fog of yours? Every time I see you is only in the dead of winter! Ice and snow all over the place… HA! Honestly, what a boring time of year…”

  Grim slammed their scythe down, and stood up from their throne, spluttering, “B-BORING TIME OF THE YEAR!? Every gods damned time I see you I have to explain this! Winter is a gorgeous and glorious time of year! Cold winds, silence, peace, frozen rivers, it's all quite so perfect! Unlike the noisiness and burning heat of Summer… Bah!”

  Verdant rolled their eyes and cleaned their paws, tsking, “No, no, no… Can you not hear yourself, you old bag of bones? It really is such a boring season! Half the wildlife is hibernating, and the other half is barely even living! Now, Summer and spring, those are exciting seasons! Blooming life, rampant growth, and welcoming warmth!”

  Grim sighed and grumbled to themself, turning to me and shaking their head, “I apologize little one. Myself and this one… have had a bit of a running… Disagreement… In this manner. But that is not the reason we are here. How did you already die? It is not such an easy task to accomplish with the gifts you have received.”

  Verdant stopped cleaning their paw for a moment and assessed me, “Yes… The first time your soul truly died, this one's followers snagged you before I could do anything. Quite annoying really. This time though… I can tell… That was no ordinary death.”

  I ground my teeth together as I began to remember little bits and pieces of why I was here. The sound of Halfi and Baerns laughing as they walked away… and that fuck… Cylkia… She didn’t even have the audacity to kill me herself! I flexed my fingers and trembled. Those bastards…

  I looked up at them both, and took a long, deep breath, cracking my knuckles, “I met the ones who had betrayed me before, and they left me with a little… gift.”

  Grim tapped their scythe and chuckled, “You made some strong enemies, little one. That was not a normal fire spell, rather one that only a strong wizard would know. Thankfully, when I crafted your new body, I used some nearby Drake bones. The base of your body should be entirely resistant to fire. It should be easy enough to regrow easily, once the fire has died down.”

  Verdant stretched out, having shifted into the shape of a wolf-like animal, with a reptilian head and a whip tail covered in spines. “Oh you little sneak, you know you’re not supposed to just be letting people come back with new bodies…”

  Death turned to them and stabbed their scythe in their direction, “Is that so? Because you see… That was my decision to make, as the god of death. Though it bears mentioning, that you are one to talk! You know that you’re not supposed to be allowing people that particular gift ever since the last time, and you didn't even have half a mind to warn me!”

  Verdant morphed into a small bird, covered entirely in spikes instead of feathers. “I did not gift him that ability, he managed to earn it with his own strength of will! Rather impressive feat if I’m being honest, they are only the third person I have ever seen that was able to acquire it. Though, I see the marker you left on him! He intrigues you as well, doesn't he?”

  Grim didn't respond to that, which caused Verdant to titter with amusement. I had been following their back and forth a bit, but something about my status had intrigued me.

  I cleared my throat and blushed as they both instantly turned towards me, “Sorry to interrupt, but I did have a minor question… Grim.”

  Grim turned to me, and motioned for me to continue, lounging back on their makeshift throne. Verdant for their part was casually nuzzling the ground, breathing out and causing various different plants to sprout.

  I cleared my throat again and spoke up, “The last time I had checked my status since coming back from your realm, a few things had changed. Most notably, I had a new ability, Death's Favoured, and my race had changed to Chimera, what does that mean?”

  Verdant froze where they were, before slowly turning to me, their eyes locking with mine, “What… did you just say…?”

  I met their gaze steadily, before sighing and responding, “My status changed after I was reborn. I awoke, killed the Dire Bear, and I leveled up and saw my status. Upon it there were several new items, such as an ability and a new race. I don’t really mind that I changed of course. I just figured that since Grim is right here, and all I might as well ask, ya know?”

  Verdant shook themself viciously before turning to Grim, “GRIM, I can't believe you, what did you do to this one!?”

  Grim turned their hood away and sighed, “Well, didn't I say? When I remade his body before sending him to the land of the living, I gave him the bones of a drake. That would make anything a chimera, you know that.”

  Verdant morphed into a massive serpent, coiling around the great tree, “Maybe so, but that wouldn’t be enough to make them a chimera! You did something else to this little one, didn’t you? And to make him one of your favoured… Grim, what are you up to?”

  Grim chuckled and knocked their staff down again, causing the surrounding darkness to tremble and roil, “That is for me to know, and is no business of yours, Verdant! This little one caught my eye, and evidently he caught yours as well, otherwise he would not possess such a powerful ability! Even if he had passed whatever test of yours you had devised, you could have gifted him any other variety of abilities! So I do not want to hear your musings on what I decided to gift to this little one! This was merely my choice of gift for him completing my task.”

  Verdant hissed at them and twined harder around the tree, but let out a long sigh and chuckled nonetheless, “Very well you bony old codger, but you are not incorrect. He has caught my attention, you do not get to drag his soul to your cold realm yet, I am invested in his future from here on out.”

  Grim rubbed their neck and let out a long sigh, “You impatient cretin, you misunderstand much. I am the only reason he is currently present in the land of the living. Of the two of us, I have gifted him with much more.” They turned to me and bowed, “In fact, I am sure he is quite confused with what is going on. To answer your questions, when I recreated your body before sending you to the land of the living, I utilized the surrounding materials of my realm. You are no longer a mere human, but a creature of Grim, a true chimera. You are now fundamentally different from the other races and species that exist in the land of the living. However, the fact that you also have the mark of Verdant makes you an interesting specimen.”

  Verdant sighed and lashed their tail, speaking up with a purr, “As such, you are a combination of the two, life, the wild and change, and death, peace, and nothingness. The darkness will not take you, and life will not release you from its grasp. You are an eternal existence now, until you wish to no longer be. Hence, why you are now one of Grim’s favoured.”

  My eyes widened more and more as Grim continued. “So… what I'm hearing is… I'm not dead?”

  Verdant screeched in delight, having shifted into a massive four legged beast, covered in gleaming red and blue scales and a club tail. “Ha! No you are not dead, little one. In fact, your body has already healed. We are merely holding you here now. I was curious about how you were faring, and I imagine Grim was shocked at how quickly you had almost died. It goes without saying, but we are so very old. This world bores us at times, and that troublesome goddess Malxonus has been fiddling much more than she should. Your story however, I'm curious to see.”

  Grim nodded their hood, “As irritating as Verdant is, I do agree. You have caught my attention, little one. Your soul may have originally come from another world, but now you are a part of this one. Make your own way, but know that we are your benefactors. We do not intend to coddle you, but we also do not intend to abandon you.”

  Grim and Verdant walked closer, circling around me, and Grim spoke up, “Know this little one. You may be eternal, but that does not mean you are invincible. Pain, torture, heart ache, and loss still affect you. You may not die, but that also means that you must live. Pain, agony, and true hurt, these are your permanent companions now.”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Verdant morphed into a tall, muscular wolf-like beast, a thick layer of fur covering their entire body. They bared a mouth full of fangs, and lashed out with their free hand, clawing my chest. Blood flowed down my chest, and I grunted in surprise. Then, I felt a slash open up on my back, peeling my skin from my flesh. I roared in pain and whipped around, confusion running rampant within me.

  I growled at them both, but paused when I saw Verdant draw their claws over their arm, opening up a large wound. A bright green blood flowed down their arm, sizzling as it landed on the ground. I frowned and looked up as Grim walked in front of me, and rolled back the arm of their robe, exposing a pale bony arm. Their scythe arced down, slashing a deep wound into themself. A glimmering black blood slowly began flowing down, dyeing the nearby ground.

  I eyed them both, but stayed still, ignoring the pain in my chest and back. As they continued to circle around me, they began chanting in what sounded like another language, each word shaking the very world around them.

  Blood continued dripping from mine and their wounds, beginning to slowly move and flow into various shapes. It began to spiral around me as more and more fell to the ground. The blood shimmered and swirled together, spiking up from the ground and into the air, twining together in a beautiful shape of red, green, and shimmering black.

  Then, just as I felt like all the blood I had left was gone, everything stopped. Grim and Verdant turned to me, bowed, and stepped back. Then the void that had been so patiently spiraling around the island crashed down towards me, stabbing into my chest and black, roaring through my empty veins and simultaneously setting my body on fire and freezing it. I roared in pain and my eyes squeezed shut. Darkness smashed into me like a tidal wave, and I blacked out.

  My eyes snapped open and I gasped, sitting up so fast my vision filled with static. My hands crushed through a brittle fine substance, and I shivered as I realized my body was bare again. I laughed to myself and shook my head, waiting for my vision to slowly return. As it did, I slowly scanned my surroundings, taking them in little by little.

  It was night now, and honestly I wasn’t exactly sure how much time had passed. I was in the same copse of trees as before, though now I could see that several of them and the immediate grass around me was singed and burned from what looked like an insane fire.

  I glanced at the tree to my left and sighed as I saw the remains of my skeleton, now laying in a pile at its base without the arrows to hold them up. I groaned and stood up, cracking my neck. I hummed to myself and walked over to the tree and sat on my heels, looking down on my bones.

  This was the first real time I'd been truly forced to fully regenerate since I had come back from seeing Grim that first time, so it was also the first time I'd really had to see my bones. My eyes narrowed as I lifted up one that was set on the pile. It looked like any normal bone, but I could see that it had a slight red tinge to it. I slammed it down hard on my knee, but besides a quick bruise I could feel forming, it didn't even crack. I lifted it up and looked around on the ground. The rest of me had been reduced to ashes, but the bones were still cool to the touch. I guess Grim hadn’t been entirely wrong about them being from a drake’s corpse… though that did make me wonder what else had changed. I shrugged and tossed it back into the pile with the rest, standing up.

  Alright, first things first, I needed to check on my things. I turned and sprinted off into the woods, dodging trees and leaping over rocks as I felt my feet impact the cold ground. I powered forward, running harder and harder as I felt my heart slamming in my chest. I grinned and whooped, skipping up into the air and smacking my hand into the tree. Ha! Still not dead, but those shit for brain bastards were going to be dead the next time I saw them. I roared into the night as I sprinted forth, my muscles screaming and singing as I pushed them to their limits.

  That was, until I flew off the edge of a ridge and crashed into the river. My lungs were begging me for air, but I just sank, letting the little fishes and larger eels and bladed turtles dart around and away from me. The water cooled off my skin, and allowed my mind and heart to calm down finally. I eyed the crawdads flicking away from me in the water, calmly noticing the fact that they seemed to be split down the middle into two with two heads and four claws.

  I grinned and slowly sat up, slowly letting my hand glide through the water. I could feel the current pulling me along, wanting me to go down stream, but I resisted it, for now. I think that I had originally intended to go the opposite way, probably in order to head back to the bear's den, but I wasn't sure anymore. I might have beaten the dire bear, but there was no promise I could do the same with the next enemy I encountered. Obviously that hadn’t worked with Cylkia and her entourage… I was much too weak. Much… much too weak.

  I ground my teeth together, and for the first time since I killed the dire bear, I pulled on that dark place inside, calling for my status screen from the void.

  Name: ???

  Race: Chimera

  Level: Fifteen

  Title: Dire Slayer

  Abilities:

  Undying Will

  Unending Vitality (Incomplete)

  Death's Favoured (Incomplete)

  Skills:

  Sprint (Veteran)

  Sword Slash (Initiate)

  Pierce (Initiate)

  Acid Resistance (Initiate)

  Claw (Novice)

  I let out some air, watching the little bubbles floating upwards. I was a chimera now, but that wasn’t really going to do me any good, unless I was being burnt alive. I didn't really have many skills either, so I would have to focus on the few I had, and try to increase their proficiency. Same with my level too… I needed to increase that. Make my base self stronger as well.

  I brought my hand up, and flexed my fingers. The tips of them were still sharpened into claws, cutting and slashing through the water smoothly. I slashed wildly, activating my skill at the same time, and felt the power behind each movement. It was stronger than a normal swing, but nothing that was going to get through any of the nearby wildlifes hides, much like it had before I’d been murdered by Cylkia and the others.

  I narrowed my eyes, and squatted low, pushing off of the riverbed with all of my might and catapulting myself upwards, blasting out of the water and landing on the nearby river bank. I shook myself off like a wet dog and eyed the trees. I'd left my axe in one of those… I had no clue which one, but as long as I just jogged along the river downstream I'd eventually have to pass it. I didn’ think I would ever have said this, but I missed the bear jerky.

  I didn't want to accidentally miss it, so this time, I didn't activate sprint. Instead I just strolled down the side of the river, and took a moment to gather my frayed thoughts.

  I was alive still, which was good. I still intended to find whoever had crafted that axe, but in order to do that I needed to find civilization. At the same time, I also needed to get stronger if I ever wanted to make Cylkia and those bastards pay.

  I was eternal, whatever that meant, but I obviously wasn’t invincible. Halfi had made that abundantly clear when he'd pinned me to that tree and Baern had lit me on fire. Frankly, I was pretty helpless. I hadn’t leveled up since I'd killed that bear, and besides claw, I also didn't really have any skills I could use for fighting. I could try to get one through using the axe, but a part of me always felt… wrong, whenever I tried to use it. Like it didn't belong to me. Besides, I didn't want to get too used to having the axe, especially if I was going to return it soon.

  I slowed down as I started seeing more familiar surroundings, and I started checking the tree's bases. I had left a mark carved into the one where I'd left my stuff, and unless the talk with Verdant and Grim had taken a decade, I doubted it would have just healed over.

  As my eyes scanned the nearby trees, a certain trunk suddenly stood out to me, and I grinned again. I started to take a step closer, when there was suddenly a loud hiss from the nearby trees. My eyes darted to the side just as I saw a massive snake shoot forward, snapping its jaws at me.

  I grunted and jumped back, but the snake was lightning fast, and its jaws snapped down, stabbing into my leg. I flinched back, but its muscles tensed, dragging me back and slamming me into the ground, knocking the air out of my lungs. I gasped as I felt it suddenly start pumping venom. It burned like a raging fire and I could feel my muscles and bones scream from the combined pressure and burning venom arcing through me.

  I struggled to take in a new breath, but the snake's body suddenly wrapped tighter around me, crushing and restricting me. My bones creaked as the snake crushed me, its fangs still stabbed into my side. My vision darkened, and my whole body began to burn, as I felt liquid fire begin to flow through my veins.

  This damn snake… it was venomous too? Fuck me… if it hadn’t been for my acid resistance, I’d probably be dead by now… I cursed to myself and fought against the creeping darkness, struggling to do anything to stay awake. I ground my teeth together, biting down on the top of my tongue, and cutting straight through. More pain flooded through me, knocking back the darkness for a brief moment, and I grinned, laughter shaking me. Blood flooded through my mouth, and down my neck, wetting where the snake was constricting around me.

  The coils slipped, not much, just a little. Just enough that I was able to snap my head forward and bite down on the body of the snake. I smashed my teeth together, trying to damage or hurt the snake in any way, but they just clinked down on the rock hard scales. I narrowed my eyes as the snake's coils tightened even more, crushing the last of the air out of my lungs. I ground my teeth down even harder, desperately trying to crack, annoy, or do anything at all. My teeth cracked at the pure force, my neck strained and popped, but nothing.

  Every muscle in my body desperately squeezed and pushed, trying to fight back against the snake, but the lack of air caught up to them quickly, and they went limp one by one. Nothing worked until… my nails suddenly flashed with power, and cracked the scales of the snake. There was a loud hiss as my fingers stabbed into the snake's flesh, piercing into the snake's side. Instead of the snake unraveling, it squeezed even harder, the pace going from a slow compress to a panicked crush.

  I gripped harder, tearing out two large chunks from the side of the snake, but it wasn’t good enough. I needed something… more. I pushed my arms out to the side, straining at the snakes constricting coils. It didn’t free me, but it was enough to get one last breath. I ground my teeth down again, but this time I didn’t pause when they cracked, I pressed them harder instead. I pushed and pushed until my teeth shattered and a bloody grin came over my face.

  As they began to heal and grow back, I willed them to change. I forced them to shatter and adapt, making them into what I wanted. I demanded that they become like the claws on my fingers, pointing them, sharpening them, and then hardening them until finally, I had fangs.

  New Skill Learned!

  Bite (Novice)(New!)

  I ground down on the snake’s scales, half expecting them to slide off, but instead they slashed across. I felt the scales shiver, and then after a moment they dented. I growled and reached into the void, begging for its help, and when I bit down again, even harder than before, I felt a surge of power. My jaws clenched with newfound strength, and then those unbelievably hard scales cracked. The snake froze in its crushing, and then hissed, snapping down and biting me again. I groaned as another wave of venom roiled through my body, melting my already crushed bones, but I didn’t release my fangs. Instead, I reached into the void again and again, crushing down harder each time.

  I could feel myself going limp as my organs failed and my lungs popped. My vision went black, and my fingers and teeth were the only things left, still biting down into the snake's body. The snake hissed and injected more and more venom, sensing victory. It even loosened its coils for a moment. A moment which was all I had been waiting for. I redirected the rejuvenation flow into my arms, and with every last bit of my healed muscles, I strained.

  The snake wasn't expecting it, otherwise it probably could have even done something. Instead though, a loud tearing noise echoed through the air as its already tired muscles stretched and then ripped, splitting where my fingers had dug into it as I activated pierce as well. Blood poured from its wound in my mouth, and from the tears from where my claws were piercing it.

  The once tight coils that were pressuring me, went limp as the snake let out one last screech. Unfortunately, the coils had also been the only thing keeping me intact. I felt my body flop to the side, and the darkness that was covering my vision finally drew back as I gasped.

  LEVEL UP!!!

  Name: ???

  Race: Chimera

  Level: Sixteen(NEW!)

  Title: Dire Slayer

  Abilities:

  Undying Will

  Unending Vitality

  Death's Favoured (Incomplete)

  Skills:

  Sprint (Veteran)

  Sword Slash (Initiate)

  Pierce (Initiate)

  Acid Resistance (Initiate)

  Claw (Initiate)(NEW!)

  Bite (Novice)(NEW!)

  I groaned as my body was racked with spasms as the level up struggled to heal some of the damage that was running rampant in my body, breaking me. I groaned in pain, but thankfully it was fast working and was able to heal my punctured lungs and organs. However, my shattered and liquified bones were the bigger issue.

  I let out a long sigh and relaxed, letting my ability do its thing. With all the venom that was still racing through my veins, it was probably going to be another few hours until I was able to even move, let alone climb the tree to retrieve the axe and my stuff.

  I frowned over at the snake's corpse, and narrowed my eyes. I'd probably jinxed myself earlier, but still, this was good. This was exactly what I needed to happen. I ran my half healed tongue over my new teeth, surprised at how dull they already were. The scales on that snake… I sighed again and closed my eyes, wincing at the pain of my bones cracking and solidifying again. I might have the bones of a drake, but they obviously weren't resistant to certain kinds of venom. I didn’t even want to imagine the state I would be in if it weren’t for my acid resistance.

  I hummed to myself as I laid there, tapping on the ground with my healed arm, and thinking. This was good, but I needed to fight more if I wanted to get stronger. The creatures in this forest were incredibly strong, and I could probably level up a lot from them, but I just wasn't in their league…