Hate to Apathy

The Night

I suddenly woke up. It was still the middle of the night though. I thought I might as well go to the school now then. I'll break in without damaging anything and see what this world is all about. So, I got out of bed without making a sound, and snuck out of the church.

I walked down the road to the school, which was right next to the castle on the eastern side. I walked up to it. Surprisingly enough, the lights were on. I walked up to the door and knocked. Almost the instant my fist hit the door, it swung open, and an academic, severe looking woman stood there. She had long blonde hair and glasses, and looked to be in her early thirties.

"Yes?" She asked, looking down at me via her glasses.

"Y-y-yes. I-I w-w-was w-won-wondering I-if I c-c-could use your l-library?" I asked, smiling slightly to incite sympathy.

"Alright then. You may. But don't run amok. We are always watching..." She then threw some dust on me before leaving me to do whatever I pleased.

"E-excuse me?" I asked.

"Yes?" She looked at me, bored.

"Where's th-the library?" She pointed to somewhere in the distance, and at the end was a bookshelf full to the brim with books. I thanked her and started towards the library. It took me about a minute before I reached my destination. I then went around the place picking up exactly one book for geography, history, and politics.

In geography, I found that there were three large land masses, all surrounded by water, and with a few islands dotted around the place. There were three big oceans separating each continent, with 5e islands dotted in between. One land mass was for the humans, another for the demons, and another for he undead. In the human region were many subcategories. There were zipangu, forests, magical forests, mountains, lakes, deserts, and most other areas you could think of. In the demon's land mass, there were also a few subcategories. The lava lakes, the fire mountains or volcanoes, planes of death, and other equally demonic places. The undead region was separated into various places as well. The graveyards, which seemed to be the main cities, marshes, dead forests, forgotten mines, and other places you would expect large death tolls.

In history, I found that the demons wanted to corrupt the humans, the humans wanted to purge the demons, and the undead wanted some peace and quiet for once. One interesting fact however was the Demon Lords. They were the rulers of the Demon Realm, as it was called, and all monsters around the planet resembled the Demon Lords frame of mind. Also, monsters seemed to be a thing now, along with heroes, adventurers, and guilds. Monsters were natural occurrences, appearing to be like wild animals, but more dangerous. Adventurers were the counter force to monsters and came together to form guilds. Heroes were rare. They were individuals specifically chosen by a god to become their ambassador of sorts.

In politics, I found that the demons and undead had formed an alliance, due to the humans being self righteous arseholes. I thought that was quite reasonable. That was it. That was all there was to it. That was this world summed up into a minute of two of inner monologue. How lovely.

I closed all the books and tidied the up neatly where I found them. I was about to leave when I saw the magic department. I had to take a look. I may be a heartless monster consumed by hatred, but I still get giddy from the idea of flying through the clouds on a magical stick. I flicked through the books and took out a few that took my fancy. A grimoire on necromancy, dark magic, stealth. They sounded really fun.

I placed them all on a table and read them all... or a few pages. On each one, after I had read a few pages, I suddenly gained new understanding of each one. I knew everything there was to know about summoning the dead, casting curses and hexes, using spells involving darkness, summoning demons to form contracts, invisibility, silent step, and so many more! I instantly tried out silent step, and true to its name, when I walked, i made no discernable sound. It was amazing!

I tidied each of those books up again. I was about to reach for another book when I heard screaming outside. I saw monsters of every kind. Slimes, golems, lizard men, giant spiders, and even a dragon was flying about setting fire to buildings. I ran back into the building. I looked around for a safe spot to hide, until I heard a low growl behind me. There was a wild skeleton (which was distinctly different to those of the undead kingdom). It ran at me, brandishing a sword. As it swung down, I felt the metal rod carving out my flesh, and stabbing straight into my heart. It wasn't a slash, it was a jab, so it was a deep wound on a small area. It stabbed straight through my torse. It pulled out the sword and ran away.

I lay there, bleeding out, and I felt cold. Oh so cold... then... I died...

Okay, I know writing these little messages at the bottom of the chapter ruins the immersion, but I just wanted to tell you to have a look at the painting above. It is my favourite painting called "The Triumph of Death". It is a gruesome piece, but it is bloody amazing. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this, and I'll see you in the next chapter. Bye!