Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Aldrich didn't care about the commotion in the carriage which was carrying all of his groceries and things.

He hopped out of the carriage and ran to the alley right behind it. There he found a slumped figure, he got closer and even with the dim light he saw the face clearly.

It was an old beggar woman, he found her once begging outside of his apartment building. The woman's hair was entirely white and her skin was crumbled and dry and filled with cracks, on

her face and exposed arms he noted brown sunspots.

Her eyes didn't seem to have much clarity, they were clouded and even looked muddled. The

old woman had a hemp bag opened before her and some passerby's dropped a copper or two in the bag.

Aldrich was one of the people who gave her a few coppers. Right now she was beaten and was bleeding from her nose and lips, her rags were worn and torn even more than before.

"Y-you let me go, I have nothing else to give you.." she whispered between coughs. Aldrich helped her sit up against a wall to rest her back.

"Are you okay? Who did this to you? Let me call the watchmen to help you." Aldrich was about to call for the patrolling watchmen when she sized his arm.

"No, no watchmen. L-leave me, I am not hurt." She stammered as she shook her head, "the watchmen are more trouble to me. Please."

Aldrich didn't understand, but he decided to stop foe now, "who did this to you? What do they want from a tramp like you?"

Aldrich struggled to think of a reason for someone to beat up a helpless old woman. Those who did this work were not humans anymore, just animals in human skin.

"Hey! Hey!"

A shout came his way from the inner alleyways, "get away from my mother! God damn you! I said get the hell away from her! I have a pole with me."

Aldrich looked at the intruder, he was a sickly looking man, he couldn't put an age on him, he didn't know if he was old or just looked like it.

He was in a sleeveless whit shirt and had a skinny figure with sunken eyes and dark circles.

"This is your son?" Aldrich pointed at him and asked the old woman. He wasn't going to trust just anything this guy said and take it at face value.

"Yes, my son. Marcus, come here boy, take me." The old woman confirmed the man's words and stretched her hands towards him.

Aldrich allowed the man, to hold her up and prop her. He doubted he could carry her but that was good enough.

"Why'd they do this ma'? How could they?" The man stared walking and she followed along but suddenly stopped.

"Oh, you," she said as she turned her head around to look at him, "you're that boy, I remember. You gave me five coppers, didn't you? Thank you so much, I told you I would remember."

Aldrich was a little taken back, she did remember correctly. He opened his coin pouch, took out a silver and handed it to the old hunchbacked woman.

"Heee! A silver!" The son exclaimed!

"We don't deserve this…" the old woman tried to say but Aldrich already walked away.

Back home, Aldrich reviewed a monster codex and then followed that by meditating a bit. Although it didn't have much of an effect on him now it was good to clear and organize thought.

****

In the nightmare realm, Aldrich stretched and took out his sword, tonight was going to be mainly for hunting.

On this night Aldrich collected seven green orbs and cleared out the streets. But that was not all, he also put his new magic dagger to the test.

The dagger may have the look of a decaying lump of metal but it was far from it, it was aolid and extremely sharp. Three shallow wounds were enough to kill a level three Malformed husk.

No matter how shallow it was, just a scratch was enough for the effect of the dagger to work after consuming his stamina, the magical virus would invade the body of the unwary husk.

After three such wounds the blood clotted and exploded at once, killing the husk. The sight of the blood growing into a fleshly ball and the circulation coming to a stop being followed by a moment of silence and then BOOM!

Even a child could do this.

However Aldrich had to pay in his stamina, if it ran out then it didn't mean that he would just be unable to use the dagger. It also meant that he would die in the fight.

More importantly, after that he went back to the base and focused his mind on the [Deadman's Remnant]. He pressed on it and closed his eyes.

The next thing he knew he was assaulted by a nasty headache and he struggled to breath for a moment. Finally the pain grew even more and he lost consciousness.

He saw endless darkness and he stayed there for a long time, or perhaps a short moment, he didn't know and didn't care.

Next he found himself in a sinking ship, shouting orders and barking commands, but it was not to be. Huge blue and pink tendrils wrapped around the hull of the ship and pulled it down.

He closed his eyes expecting to drown in seawater, knowing that it was his end. But even that was not true. A huge bubble covered the ship preventing any water from spilling in.

And then he saw the source of this terror, it was a giant octopus with an inverted head, the head was split open and countless fangs protruded out.

Beneath the twisted maw a massive vertical eye watched them in disdain. With a strange push the ship sank along with the monster as if it followed his commands.

For a long time they only sank downwards and passed by many strange things, and massive sea creatures. Finally they were brought to a city.

An underwater city.