Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - An Abrupt End
(A/N: The ' are used to indicate that someone is talking in their head.)
"I'm telling ya Clay, ya shouldn't be walking out there in this type of weather. It's gonna get ya killed!" Earl spoke in a hefty southern twang, "Just let me give ya a ride home today, ya don't have to worry about gas money, think of it as a favor." He looked at the sickly thin man that was putting on a coat that was more patches than the original fabric.
Sighing, Clay looked back at the portly man with a thin smile. "Come on Earl, you should know that I have gone out in worse weather." Closing his locker Clay started walking towards the front of the small store they worked in, but he had stopped before he left the employee area. "Besides, you have Bell and little Hudson at home waiting for you. Don't keep them waiting just because you want to help me out, think about your family first." Clay continued walking, he could hear Earl trying to say something, but Clay was already at the entrance of the store.
As he passed through the front doors a skin-numbing wind had hit. While standing still for just a moment to gather his wits after it was blown away by the wind, he heard Earl huffing behind him. "Hot damn! Feels like hell has frozen over!" Clay turned around to see Earl wrapping a scarf around his neck and putting on thick wool gloves. Looking at Clay, Earl spoke again through chattering teeth. "Is there nothing I can do for ya Clay?" Clay shook his head and started his trek home.
It was a long walk home for Clay, it usually only took about an hour or two to walk back home from work. However, today it had taken three. With all the ice and slush on the roads, Clay had to walk slower than usual to prevent himself from slipping. While he was walking a snowstorm started to pick up making the walk even more difficult. Eventually, he made it to the trail that led to his small home. 'Just a little more, come on me, I can do this.' Clay thought to himself as he started walking up the icy slope.
It was a steep trail too, making it risky to walk up and down in the winter. This was due to a cliffside that the trail had, one wrong step, and you could land yourself in an early, and icy, grave. As Clay was almost to the top the wind had changed directions blowing towards him. Clay lifted his hand, trying to shield his face from the blistering wind and freezing snow. Clay tried to walk forward but the snow blurred his vision. Clay found himself slipping on a large ice patch. Trying to grab something as he fell off the cliffside, he could only grab the snow as he reached out. Falling down the cliff, he felt his head hit something hard and sharp, knocking him out.
The freezing wind had stirred Clay from his momentary slumber. Confused about where he was, he tried to stand up, but his efforts were in vain. Instead, a searing hot pain erupted across his body. The pain was enough to help him remember where he was. '... Oh, yeah … I had fallen, I guess Earl was right.' Clay wanted to laugh but only let out a raspy breath that pained him greatly as he thought back to early that day, when he was talking to his co-worker.
As Clay was lying down in the snow, he tried many things to survive his current situation. But all of them were met with some type of pain. In one of his attempts to move something strange happened, he felt a soothing wave and warmth wash over him. It reminded him of a summer breeze, and of better times. And soon tiredness started to lull him to sleep, before he closed his eyes, he had a single thought. It was that of his family, one that he had lost some time ago, and as he drifted into the void, he could only shed a single tear.
Clay was in the dark for some time, he wasn't able to tell how long it was, but it felt like days. While he was adrift, he could see a faint light in the distance. Clay tried moving towards it, and as he did the light started growing brighter. Eventually, the light was so bright that his vision turned completely white. Trying to think of what this could mean he heard a strange voice, it was like a man, woman, and child were all talking out of the same mouth.
"Perhaps fortune will favor you on your next Journey … and a gift to help with your troubles…"
Clay tried to say something, but he was back in the dark void again before he could speak. Clay tried to look around for the light again, but he couldn't no matter how much he wanted to move. Taking a moment he tried thinking of what could be happening. 'Is this some type of last-second hallucination that my brain had conjured while I'm dying? No, it can't be, I would have bled out long beforehand.' While Clay was racking his brain, a sudden bright light flashed in front of him. Reeling from the sudden introduction of a light source, Clay focused on the light before him, and was dumbfounded by what he was looking at.
—
[Choose a <Class>:
<Artificer>
<Barbarian>
<Bard>
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<Warlock>
<Wizard>
Choose a <Class> within: 7 months, 8 days, 15 hours, 49 minutes]
—
Weekly Power Status
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