Chapter 8: The Beginning (Final)
Tristan slowly opened his eyes, then suddenly jolted upright.
"I'm still alive? Ah, I remember now; last night, I fought desperately against the orcs. I never expected to actually defeat all four of those monsters. Now I have to clean my traps of these monster corpses, but first..." His stomach interrupted with a loud 'grooowl," I need to drink and eat something."
Tristan hurried to the river to wash himself, drink, and eat the meat he had wrapped up the night before.
"Ahh, that was satisfying. Now that I've replenished my energy, I need to clean up the mess around my cave. Wait, I feel like I'm forgetting something... What was it?
Tristan thought for a moment.
"Oh right, I need to bury the bodies of these parents. I almost forgot!" Tristan hurried off to retrieve the bodies and carry them to the cave.
Tristan searched both bodies for anything useful. "I'm sorry for doing this, but I need to make use of everything to survive here."
Tristan found several items.
"I found this on their bodies." He displayed his discoveries.
"The first and most useful item is this sword. It's still too big for me now, but if I get used to it, I might be able to wield it, even if not at its full potential." He drew the sword from its sheath. "The sword is beautiful and shiny, even after having cut down many monsters, yet there's not a drop of blood on it. This sword has a C engraved at the base, perhaps symbolizing our family name, Ciyane."
"The next item is this waist pouch. It will be useful for storing food without having to dangle it from my waist. Inside, there are three vials of liquid: red, blue, and yellow. I don't know why, but I instinctively know what each potion is. The red one is a healing potion, the blue one is to restores mana, and the yellow one is to boosts stamina, just like in most other worlds. There's also a pouch containing silver coins, each bearing the image of one large star flanked by three smaller stars of the same size. On the other side is the letter "T". It doesn't look like the "T" I know, but I understand; perhaps it's due to this body."
"The third item is a spellbook belonging to the mother of this body. It contains a vast array of spells, from earth magic to lightning magic. How can I read it, you ask? Hhmm, I don't know either. Perhaps, as I mentioned earlier, this body had the ability to read before it died, so I can too. But who knows?"
"The last item is a ring engraved with the letter C. It might be a family ring, and I'll keep it because it could be useful later." Let me try wearing it." He puts on the ring. "Wow, the ring adjusts its size on its own. How fantasy-like! I don't know what it is, but it feels like the ring is drawing something from my body."
Suddenly, Tristan is transported to a pitch-black place. "Whoa, what's going on? What just happened?" A creature resembling a human suddenly materializes in front of Tristan.
The creature speaks to Tristan in a very friendly voice that calms him. *Hello, my child. How are you? If you have this ring, it means you survived, and your father is very relieved. Well, even though you got this ring from our bones, haha.* Tristan shows hostility to the creature. "What is this creature? It's acting so familiar with me. My father is dead; there's no way he could be here. Who are you?" Tristan adopts a fighting stance.
The black-man continue it's words. *If you found this ring, it means several years have passed, and you've returned to this forest to find me and your mother.* Tristan talked to himself. "Is this just a memory created by the father of this body? Let's just listen." The black-man keeps talking. *And you must be surprised to see only our bones left.* Tristan answering to the black-man words. "No, I'll be burying you soon."
*But don't be sad; we will continue to watch over you from the other realm. You must be confused about everything, why we were hunted, why not a single knight from our family helped us. I will explain everything here. Oh, by the way, this is just a memory that I implanted into this ring using my magic, so don't bother asking too many questions, haha.*
*All of this began when...*
Tristan listened intently to everything the man says.
*I've told you everything you need to know; your path in life is in your own hand now. But I suggest you enjoy your life; seeking revenge will only bring you suffering. But, the decision is yours, whatever it may be. Your father and mother will always support you. Oh, before I'm gone, this family ring is not just an ordinary ring; it has a subspace capable of storing anything within it. Its size is quite small, hmm, perhaps only as wide as our castle, but it will be very useful. Okay, until next time, my child. I hope you achieve everything you desire in your life. And, don't follow us too quickly, okay? hahaha. Oh yes, and stay healthy, Tristan Ciyane; your father and mother love you very much.* The dark figure vanished like smoke, and the black room faded away.
Tristan couldn't help but smile widely on his face, his heart filled with joy as he laughed.
"hahaha, hahahahaha, finally, finally, finally I have obtained the most useful thing, one of the fantasy items I wanted, the inventory! Finally, I can take and create as many items as I want! I don't know how small the castle that uses the word 'only' is, but I'm already satisfied, hahaha. But wait, how do I use the space in this ring?"
"Subspace, open!"
"Subspace, reveal your domain!"
"Subspace, answer my call!"
"Subspace, I am your master commanding you, open up!"
With a sinister face, Tristan cursed, "F*ck it! I couldn't even enjoy my excitement for a few minutes before it vanished. What kind of subspace is this, F*cccckkkkk." Tristan was about to throw the ring to the ground.
"Wait.." Stopping him self for throwing the ring. "calm down, take a deep breath, relax, I have to make my mind clear. As I suspected, I need mana to use this subspace ring. Haah... this cursed body."
"Let's forget it for now, I don't know when, but I'm sure I'll be able to use mana and this subspace ring eventually, right now I have to bury this body parents bodies, then cleaning all the mess around this cave, and I need more and bigger trap around this cave, my feeling says that soon, I don't know when, I have to face orcs again, this time they will deploy more orcs, or even the entire horde to attack here, so, I need to strengthen the defenses here by digging as many holes as possible to set traps."
With a serious expression, Tristan said, "Let's start this hard labor for the sake of survival."
***