Veyne finds himself in a vast shadowy plain. Black fog fills the air around him. Calling out is useless here, as no sound exits his mouth.
Walking for an eternity, feeling like he's being watched. Veyne is convinced that the fog is moving around him. Nothing to analyse, no plan, no back up. Veyne drops to his knees and thinks, what is this?
An metallic echoing voice shouts out.
"Look at you! Powerless! Hardly the man you used to be."
Thousands of shadowy silhouettes become visible through the fog. The ghoul-like face of his previous body walks into view. Behind him, the body's of Balgorth and Necrothix, as well as the arms of undead he had all slowly marched towards him.
"I'm still in there somewhere. You just need to let me out!"
His old self grabs Veyne by the throat and lifts him off the ground.
"So pathetic!"
With its other hand. He rears it back and stabs straight through Veyne's stomach. And whispers.
"I'M STILL HERE!"
"Ahhhh!"
Veyne bolts up from his bed. Confused and dazed he forgets where he is.
"Mister Veyne, are you alright?"
"Who are you?! How did you get into my castle?!"
It goes silent and just before talking, Nifily takes a step forward. Veyne reacts and clicks his fingers, intending to kill her.
"Ha I'd hardly call this a castle. Say you're acting a bit weird, are you okay?"
Veyne comes back to his senses a bit and sits back down. Holding his head.
"Y-yeah kid. I'm alright. Just a bad dream is all."
"Well whatever it was, you should take it easy today cuz you were out cold. What happened to us?"
"Mana depletion. You only have a set amount of mana within you and once you exert more than you have, you pass out. With training and experience, you can increase how much magic you can use."
"Well that sucks! But on the plus side, that means you were able to use your magic, right?"
Veyne looks down at his arm. He slowly unwraps the bandages and takes out the wand.
"Yeah kid. Here take this. We'll start training again in a few hours."
"So soon? Shouldn't we rest more?"
"Normally we would, but there's something in the woods that could easily kill us right now. I need you in top form if we're going to take them down."
"Take them down? How are we going to do that?"
"We'll just do what Realmforgers do and prepare for a raid!"
…
Two days pass by of basic training. Nifily practicing her mud whip spell and Veyne starts building up a tolerance for using his arm. Progress is steady. Veyne is able to use his arm for an hour a day and Nifily's spell is successful once in every three tries.
"Alright Nifily, I think it's about time we step our game up."
"Sure, a new spell? More runes?"
"Something even better… A laboratory."
…
"A laboratory? What's that?"
"I think it will be better if I just show you."
They walk only a few meters behind the camp to the hole leading towards the entrance of the lab.
"Ah yeah I remember you digging out this hole. Wait, are you telling me there's really one of those lab thingys down there?"
"Indeed there is. It is my lab, from many many years ago. The only issue is getting to it. Hard rocks are blocking the entrance and I need you to blast them apart so we can get to work."
"Just leave it to me, mister Veyne!"
Without waiting for any instruction. She casts her mud whip from a pool of muck next to the hole and starts whipping at the rock.
"Hahaha wait up Nif. We're not going to get through with fire power like that. You'll need to use a projectile. Something like a mud bullet."
The light in Nifily's eyes lights up with excitement.
"Hell yeah. Just tell me how and I'll do it!"
"That's what I like about you Nif. Alright here's how it goes."
Veyne then spends the next two hours explaining the method behind long range magic. Everything from using the right amount of material, to condensing and aiming it.
Many attempts later, they both lay on the ground, both on the verge of complete mana depletion. Out of breath Veyne asks.
"Say Nif, just while I I think of it. Is there any form of protection for Mudbree? Like who defends the village?"
"Well I guess officially, the guards from the town that owns Mudbree protect it. But they rarely ever come down. Really it's Monk Kiastu who's the biggest help."
"I see, I'll keep that in mind for later."
They both rest under the stars and fall asleep. Veyne dreams once again. The shadowy veil surrounding him, as before. Face to face with his old self.
"Reclaim me! With my help you will be back on top and those fucks that killed me will be dead!"
"I know. But I see potential in Nif and-"
"Nif?! Already given her a nickname have you?! Pathetic, there's a reason we cut ourselves off and it's because people betray us and use us."
"I know but she's different!"
Silence fills the void. The old Veyne showed a disgusted look on his face.
"No one is different in this world. They all become corpses in the end."
As he says that, a swarm of zombies crash down on Veyne like a giant wave and he wakes up. Wide eyed and cautious, Veyne hears the sound of crashing rock reverberating through the forest.
He gets up and walks over to the hole only to see a muddy and puffed Nifily standing proud.
"I-I d-did it mister Veyne! L-look!"
Still shaken from his dream, Veyne looks around her and finally sees the entrance to the laboratory open. He snaps out of it and with a surprised smile, turns to Nifily.
"You did it! The labs open!"
They slide down the tunnel and into the lab. Nifily looks around and examined the lab. It's a room only about ten meters wide and long. A stone bench/ bed on the left and a bookshelf beyond it. On the right a small cupboard sits next to many pockets in the wall, each housing different kinds of glass bottles filled with dark liquids. Just before the fireplace where the broken cauldron and rubble lay, sits an anvil and grindstone, both in bad condition.
"Wow Veyne, did you make all this?"
"Yeah a long time ago."
"Well that explains the state of it."
"Haha well I was young when I made it. But never mind all that. We have work to do."
They spend that day clearing out all the dust and rubble from the lab and take stock of the remaining equipment.
"We have twenty four flasks, most filled with dried blood, a broken cauldron, various monster parts and a grindstone."
"So what's first?"
"Starting a fire, a really hot fire. Which means we'll need wood, and to get wood we'll need an axe."
Rummaging through the monster parts, Veyne pulls out the shoulder blade of a boar. He takes it and grinds an edge on it and fashions it onto a wooden handle made from a branch outside.
"Axe acquired, now go chop some trees down and bring back all the wood you can. I'll get the fire started."
"Yes sir! Veyne sir!"
Nifily happily takes the axe and heads out. Not even a minute passes and Veyne hears her scream out.
"VEYNE!! HELP!!"
Running out as fast as he can, Veyne grabs the spear by the door and bolts towards Nifily.
Reaching the small clearing in the woods where he heard her scream, Veyne drops the spear as he sees Nifily on her knees. Blood drips down from her arm as an arrow sticks out from it. The axe on the ground beside her, she looks over at Veyne and while holding back tears she says.
"It's the goblins."
Emerging from the bushes, three goblins chuckle. One with a spear, one with a knife and one with a short bow. A goblin scouting party has found them.