Otherlife Nightmares: The Selfless Hero Trilogy by William D. Arand Page B

nobles, it wasn’t as if he’d had a choice. There had been far too many actually involved. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and sat down heavily on the ground.
    “I need a nap. Four hours isn’t enough sleep. Not at all.”
    Looking over to Petros, he patted the young knight on the shoulder.
    “No worries, Two-shoes, you’re safe now. I’m Runner, by the way, friend of your sister.”
    “Two-shoes?” the knight asked.
    “Yep, Goody Goody Two-shoes. Enjoy your new name. One more thing—this is really just to make sure—when was the last time you went to the bathroom? Visited the turd tomb? Dropped some convicts off in the poop prison?”
     
    Quest Completed
    “The Knight’s End”
    Experience Reward: 10% of current level
    Reputation: 10
    Fame: 5
    Money: 15 Gold
     
    King Vasilios Moris proceeded to corner Runner in an interview room, demanding answers and to know how Runner had predicted everything that happened.
    He spared the king nothing, listing out the exacts of the truth to this world and his place in it. At first the king had the appearance of a man shattered and broken. After a minute of quiet reflection, he said a prayer to the goddess of the night, Brunhild.
    As her moniker implied, her domain was that of the night. It included the moon, shadows, were-beasts, the night, and the normal host of aspects one could expect.
    Once he’d determined a course of action, the king had Runner spend the day cloistered in an interview room with him.
    One by one, everyone who had been in the throne room sat before the king.
    Each person was put to an interview by the king himself. The king would then consult with Runner to determine any culpability as well as what quests they were a part of. Srit assisted on a few deeply layered nodes, though most of it he was able to ferret out on his own. The databases were becoming much easier to read and sort through with experience.
    Runner found himself privately impressed by the monarch halfway through the day. He’d taken the situation in stride, leveraged Runner as a soothsayer of sorts, and set to righting his kingdom.
    It took time, but Runner felt like this would be a relationship to foster, even at the cost of time. He would be the one to benefit the most out of this down the road.
    In the end, everyone on Runner’s list ended up in the dungeons. Even those who weren’t present were scheduled to be rounded up and carted to a cell.
    For his part, Runner felt a vague sense of guilt over it. There was no doubt that many of those in cells below, including the princess and the queen, would not survive tomorrow. He didn’t make their choices for them, yet he’d sealed their fate nonetheless.
    This dilemma brought him to where he now stood. An empty church to the pantheon of this world. Public hours were long since over at this deep hour of the night, and he’d been forced to Stealth in order to get close, let alone inside. He’d had to break open a locked window to get inside.
    He couldn’t explain the need to be here, other than that he feared what actually would happen to an NPC. Did they simply get deleted? Were they carried over to the afterlife they believed in? He had asked Srit for an answer, and her response had been much like his own. She didn’t know what happened.
    With this in mind, he couldn’t feel good about the fact that he would be responsible for the execution of newly born Awakened. Newly born Awakened that had no chance to change themselves.
    Around him in a semicircle stood pedestals devoted to major deities. Furthest to the left sat Erma, the Mother. Goddess of the infinite, the universe, she stood supreme over all others. From her sprang the world and all its inhabitants, from gods to bugs.
    Next came Jurian, Lord of the Earth and consort of Erma. Keeper of nature and the soul of the world. From Jurian and Erma came five children.
    First born of the couple was Brunhild. She who ruled the night and dwelt within the darkness. As a whole, the