Chapter 3

Aragoth stood frozen in place as his mind processed everything he had just saw. A few things made more sense now, but it did nothing to quell his dark thoughts about what had transpired. He didn't even know who he truly was anymore. Was he Aragoth, or was he the Harbinger? The answer did seem to be the first, but his range of abilities, knowledge of magic, and his appearance in this world said otherwise.

The fact that those two were willing to basically take over another person just so the Harbinger could escape this world, even for a moment, bothered him greatly for a couple of reasons. For one, it was fucked up from a moral perspective, but given it was a God and whatever the Harbinger was, it would make sense that their standards on morality would differ from his own. He was honestly lucky that the child they chose had a strong enough mind to overpower the Harbinger's own, but that still didn't fully explain his current situation. It was pointless to keep trying to figure that one out at this current point though.

Another thing on his mind was, how bad was this world that he wanted to leave it? The Gods of this world seemed like dicks, yeah, but that seemed par for the course given how dieties from Earth had been described.

"Even if the Harbinger is stronger, having a bunch of relatively strong beings gang up on you would be a little much." Aragoth reasoned, but that still did not answer his main question.

Who was the Harbinger's brother, and why did he disappear? He mentioned his brother many times, and how he had been reborn or whatever, but the journal didn't go into further detail other than that. His brother seemed to be important enough to him that he felt like leaving this world behind without him.

"And after all of this... still nothing about how to get back to Earth." Aragoth said, his shoulders sagging.

The Harbinger had gotten to Earth through a very complicated and complex method, one that Aragoth still had problems wrapping his mind around, and he was aided by Knowledge.

"And you got me fucked up if you think I'm gonna trust that asshole." He muttered to himself, which only left him with one sad truth.

He may never get back to his own world. The depression sunk in at that point, and tears fell from his eyes as that fact made a home in his mind. Was Emma lost to him forever? His parents? Why did this have to be him?

Aragoth stood there for several minutes, letting his dark thoughts take over for longer than he cared to admit. Eventually, though, he stood a little straighter, and determination gleamed in his tear filled eyes.

"Still, I won't give up. I'll try to get back, but even if I cant..." Aragoth had to stop and let that possibility sink in before he continued, "Even if I can't, I still won't give up. What would Emmie think of me if I just rolled over like that? Besides, given enough time...maybe she can move on and find happiness again."

Saying that part stung almost as bad as getting shot to hell by those goons, but he truly meant it. He didn't want her to be sad, and to cry over his loss forever. If anyone on Earth deserved to be happy, it was Emma.

Aragoth steeled his resolve, and then looked towards the far end of the room where the door was. He could just stay here for a while longer, but to be honest, he really didn't want to. If he really was in a new world, perhaps exploring, and seeing what it had to offer would be what he needed right now. Sitting alone with your own thoughts for too long was not healthy, after all.

He looked one last time towards the desk, and noticed a single drawer underneath it. He opened it and found a single item inside. It was a ring, and once he picked it up, he immediately knew what it was, and once again, he just shook his head at the nonsense that was magic.

"Spacial storage ring, huh?" He chuckled, and put it on.

He knew that in order to access it, he just had to pour a trickle of mana into it. He did so, and he was hit by the knowledge of everything that lay within. The only thing currently in it was coins. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum coins to be precise. He knew they were the currency of this world, but he had no idea about the prices of things on this world. He had millions of each coin, though, which he figured would help him a great deal.

"Jesus. I'm rich." He muttered, then he threw the Harbinger's journal in as well, and then decided it was about time he left this place.

He made his way towards the door which had to be the exit, and once he reached it, he turned the handle and opened it. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but walking out into a dark rock tunnel was not it. Regardless, it was only one way, so he started down the path.

As he walked, he took notice of how easy it truly was to move in these clothes. They didn't hinder his movements at all, and despite looking heavy, they felt surprisingly light and breathable. Their aesthetics were just a welcome bonus in his eyes.

Lost in thought for about 10 or so minutes walking down this narrow tunnel, he finally felt something that told him that he was drawing near to the exit.

"A breeze. And it feels quite nice. A little chilly, but not too bad." He thought to himself, and upon saying that, now he could see light. He picked up the pace.

It was only another couple of minutes until he could see light shining from what he hoped to be the end of this long ass tunnel. He braced himself for what he would see as he made it to the end, and stepped outside.

"SHIT!" He yelled, almost walking right off the edge of a cliff.

He had caught himself just in time, as his foot was quite literally hanging off of the edge. He was not the biggest fan of heights, yet currently, he wasn't really afraid. Once he got his footing, all he could do was gaze out upon the land mass that was in front of him, his mouth slightly agape.

Below him was a vast landscape of various colors. Green, red, and purple trees and shrubs lined the ground below him, and despite being hundreds of feet above it, he could see everything clearly as if he was right in front of them. To his left was a lake bigger than anything he'd ever seen back on Earth, and the water was crystal clear, free of pollution and the taint of human civilization.

He heard squawking above him, only to look up and see flocks of birds flying high in the sky. Only, these weren't just any normal birds. For one, each one looked to be the size of a horse, and spiked protrusions tipped their wings at each end of their feathers. Aragoth shook his head at the ridiculousness, but the scene didn't change.

That's when he looked up and behind him, and realized that he was close to the top of a large mountain. Despite this, the weather felt nice. Not too cold and not too hot. He looked to the right, only to notice more trees spanning into a huge forest, and more strange colored flora lined the ground below him.

He focused, and found that he could narrow his sight, and peer ahead for miles.

"What the fuck? This is... incredible." He said, his breath catching in his throat.

He didn't start off with the best impression of this world, but seeing it with his own two eyes was a different story entirely. As he peered further off into the distance, he noticed something that surprised him, but also gave him hope.

"Are those... huts? And house?" He asked, peering off into the far distance.

Sure, it was miles away, but the telltale signs of some kind of civilization lie off in the distance. At least there was something to give him a sense of purpose. It resembled a small village, and where there were houses, there were bound to be people. Perhaps the people there could tell him more about this world, or perhaps they would take one look at him and chase him out with pitchforks. Either way, it was worth a shot, and it was the best option he had at this point in time.

"No time like the present, I guess." Aragoth said, and scanned around for a path leading down. The right side of the mountain seemed to have a walkway carved into it, although it wasn't quite like stairs, but it was solid enough to walk down without falling or slipping, so he started down the mountain, intent on making it to the village.

Just because it was a fairly straight shot down didn't mean that it was completely safe. He unleashed many expletives on the way down after slipping on some loose gravel here, or tripping over a branch or fallen log there.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been walking down by now, but he would have to guess it had been at least an hour, give or take. He was getting closer to the bottom, and he was thankful since the things underfoot were getting more numerous. He wasn't actually sure if he could survive a fall from this high, but he wasn't going to chance it.

It was about another 20 minutes, before finally at last, he had reached the bottom, and what a sight it was to behold. He thought the view from higher up the mountain was beautiful, but being so close to it was on a different level. The buzzing of various insects filled his ears, as well as the chirping of birds much smaller than the ones he had seen futher up the mountain.

The environment was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, with plants of all shapes, sizes, and colors filled the surrounding forest. The trees covered the forest like a canopy, letting just enough sunlight through to be able to shine beautifully down on the surroundings, but not harsh enough to blind him to it.

On his left were what looked like roses, but they were colored purple, and in the center of the flower sat a jade green bud. To his right, vines hung off of the trees, but they ranged in color from green, to yellow, and even some blues were mixed in.

"This is unreal..." Aragoth said, the surroundings leaving him out of breath.

He began his trek forward, heading in the general direction of the small village he had seen. He could sight see on the way there, but getting information about the world he now found himself in seemed more important to him than admiring the scenery, beautiful as it may be.

As he walked, he summoned his scythe to cut down much of the flora strewn around the forest that was impeding his path. A twig had poked him in the eye, and while it surprisingly didn't hurt at all, it was still rather annoying. Best just to clear out the path, as going around everything would have taken more effort than to just simply remove it.

Many animals were scattered throughout the forest, and some of them were cute, some were pretty terrifying, and many were just plain weird. He saw animals that looked like squirrels, but they were about the size of a housecat, and had a huge horn in the middle of their forehead.

He saw many large black and white wolves, and by large, he meant wolves that were the size of an adult grizzly bear. Thankfully, and strangely, all of the wild life either ignored him, and when they didn't, they seemed to turn tail and leave as fast as they could.

Even the wolves bowed their heads and whimpered as he strolled past, and Aragoth could only raise his eyebrows.

"Strange..." He muttered, although, if he was being honest, if the huge scary wolves wanted to leave him be, he was more than okay with that.

Aragoth knew he must have been getting closer, as paths cut through the forest now, he noticed walking trails made by other people, or whoever were the natives around here. He wondered what kind of people lived in this world, but the only way to find out was to meet them.

His musings were cut off by the sounds of far away voices. He was getting closer than he thought. The voices were decidedly male and for some reason, even though he couldn't make out what they were saying, he didn't like their tone. Still, people meant information

"Not too long now before-" He said, and then his words died in his throat as he heard yelling, and then screaming.

Now, the screaming was female. What the hell was going on? Was some being hurt? Then, as if to answer his question, he heard one of the men curse, and then a loud snapping noise filled his ears, followed by a louder scream of clear pain. Emma's face and voice before he died went through his mind, then he snarled, and dashed forward.

Jacob winced as Dagan broke one of the blonde elf's legs. He could understand why. They were supposed to be heading back to their make shift camp with the captives they took as hostages. The elves gave up fighting them back the moment they showed them they captured some of their own.

They had 3 elves they were taking back with them ahead of the others, if only to further drive their point across that they needed to stand down, or these ones would die. A relatively young girl was among them, and he knew people got sentimental over children. It worked, as the elves gave up almost immediately, and it allowed him and everyone else to slap the mana eating shackles on their wrists, cutting off the flow of mana.

They also had that... creature with them, just in case, but currently, he was only needed to beat one of the older elves in charge into submission.

Jacob glanced back over at where the elf was still yelling, and smirked. She had kicked Dagan in the face, so he broke that leg. He could understand her plight though, as Dagan was a filthy brute of a man, and he was currently about to rape her. Jacob really didn't think they should be stopping for this, but Dagan apparently just couldn't contain himself. Besides, he may or may not induldge himself once he's done.

He looked at the two captives next to him. They had bound their legs together just in case they decided to be idiots, and they just looked on in terror and horror, unable to do anything about it. The younger girl was crying, as was the older, very attractive red haired elf, but she also had a firey look in her eyes that burned like her hair. She absolutely hated them both.

"Stop squirming. It'll be much easier if you do." Dagan said, grinning as he ripped the girls shirt open, revealing a sizable pair of breasts, although he was a little disappointed as they were covered by breast bindings. Just more fabric to tear aside.

"STOP!" The woman cried, tears in her eyes, and obviously in pain from her broken leg.

"I don't want to." Dagan grinned.

The bindings could wait though, as he was losing his patience. He stood, and began unbuckling his belt. He was about halfway done, when he noticed something off. The sounds of the animals, as well as the insects, were surprisingly and suddenly quiet. That was odd. The elves seemed to notice it as well, as they clearly felt something with their senses that they could not. Their eyes peered into the forest, and Jacobs eyes followed theirs, once he saw what they did, his eyes widened. There was a blur of motion, and it was heading straight towards them.

"Dagan! You need-" Jacob said, but by then, it was already too late.

Dagan turned his head once Jacob began speaking, and then, there was an impact to his head, and he suddenly, everything Dagan was, was simply gone.

Aragoth burst forth from the trees, his path heading straight for the sick fucker taking off his pants. He knew what this was, and his blood boiled when he saw the state of the girl below the man. Crying, bound, and with a broken leg, she was helpless, and he knew a big reason was their mana, which he could clearly see being drained by the shackles around their hands.

Aragoth was upon the man now, and he threw back his fist, his teeth bared, and he punched the man in the side of the head with the force of a falling star. The man's head exploded like an overripe watermelon, with blood, bone, and brain matter splattering on him, the ground, and the woman in front of him.

Aragoth stared at his hand, as he was not expecting his punch to do that. The woman seemed baffled too, as her eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Aragoth looked at her, and that's when he finally seen that she had pointed ears. Besides that, she was drop dead gorgeous. Aragoth couldn't relax though, as there was still another asshole to his left that needed to be taken care of.

Surprisingly, he felt nothing towards the man he had just killed, like the guy meant nothing. He didn't, and the world was a better place with him dead, but he still expected to feel something after killing another person, yet no. Nothing.

Aragoth turned towards the last man, whose mouth hung agape. Fear etched his features, and from the strong smell, piss soiled his pants. He screamed like a small child before turning and bolting in the other direction. Aragoth was not going to let that happen.

He concentrated on what he wanted to do, and the ease of what he did was frighteningly quick despite never doing it before, at least not by himself. A tendril, black as the void, erupted from bis back, and snaked towards the man at an impressive speed. It wrapped around the man's ankles and pulled, tripping him and making him fall flat on his face with a loud yelp.

Aragoth pulled, dragging the man back to him. For his part, the man dug his fingers into the soil and screamed for help, but he could not escape his fate. Not now.

Aragoth lifted the man off of the ground by the ankles. He rose him higher into the air, and eventually, Aragoth was staring eye to eye with a man who was upside down, begging for his life.

"No.. please.. don't kill-" He said, but Aragoth gripped the man's throat, cutting off his words.

"Shut up. I've seen enough. You don't get to beg." Aragoth said, his voice much colder than usual.

Aragoth wasn't quite sure what it was, but he felt confident in his ability to deal with pretty much anything this guy could do. He actually felt strong for the first time in his life. He had always dreamed those silly dreams of being someone who could use ridiculous powers to set things righg in the world, but that always seemed like a fantasy to him. That is, until now.

In this world, he was strong, and this piece of shit in front of him, was weak. That's why they did these kinds of things to helpless people. They were nothing but cowards, and he didn't even feel an ounce of sympathy for them. In this moment, he just wanted this man dead by his hands, and the thought of that didn't bother him at all.

Another tendril shot out of Aragoth's back, but unlike the one wrapped around the man's ankles, this one had a sharpened spear like tip. The man's eyes opened wide before they went blank as the tendril piercing right through his forehead like it was a rotten fruit. He unceremoniously dropped the body to the ground like trash.

Aragoth turned to the stunned woman who was looking at him like she was seeing a ghost, which given how he had thrown his hood up before this, that was probably accurate. He knealt down on the ground next to her. Her lips trembled.

Aragoth raised his hands and removed his hood, and the girl's eyes widened with even more shock, and her cheeks turned slightly red. He gave her a gentle smile and asked,

"Are you okay?"