Opened my eyes, looking around. That freaking kick to the head, damn cat! I am so going to kill the shit out of that thing. I saw the animal a couple of meters away, and it was already up, making a big smile. Wait a minute!...
"Ginger?"
"Chorrect! Mejni ish tha name."
I still want to kill the shit out of the animal even though it made the adorable, messed-up look.
"What happened to your body? Eh...You are like a...Cat?"
The smile disappeared the moment I called it a cat; it obviously wasn't one.
"I Meerkat!"
Wow, it managed to say something without lisping. Well, two words are not a big deal.
"I forgot to ask Veronica, why are you here with me at all? I do not need a pet to walk in the beautiful weather we have ahead of us.
"Me, Transfer Fjerk Princess, Me get Feedom!"
Ah, damn it! I don't even have a translator for Meerkat; it makes the assignment even more shit, especially communication.
"Did you mean that you have to accompany me until we reach the Princess, and then you are free?"
Mejni nodded, and, personally, I felt it must be some joke. What can a small Meerkat do besides being a good pet?
"Me, hassassin, protect Hooman to goal!"
"Uh....Riiiiiiight! I got it." I tried to be polite, since he only got one word correct this time, or maybe two.
"Bhook, were?"
Yeah, the freaking book, it disappeared when we were falling.
"Yeah, about that. It disappeared right before we arrived here."
"Bhook?"
"Yeah, Book has disappeared!" I said, and a book came out of my body, floating in the air.
"You called for me, Master!" The book spoke up from nowhere.
"Ah, Bhook!"
What in the flying duck, huh...it called me Master.
"Eh! Hello...book! So...How does this work?"
"Please, Master, do not give me the privilege to be called book; call me Gantrael, the historian who turned into The Book Of Knowledge."
"Eh, okay! So...you have history inside you?" I asked, having no clue what to do with it, since it was floating in the air... doing nothing.
"Yes!" It responded, and several portals opened behind it, each with a different environment; one, though, looked like Hell, and another showed an ongoing battle, as if a war was underway inside the portal.
"The portals, Gandrael! Is it what is going on right now, or is it history?" I asked because you never know, maybe I can jump between different areas.
"It is history, Master! If you decide to enter one of the portals, you need to accept a request before entering, and you can not come back until you have fulfilled the request."
Hm...I wonder if it can open a portal to the Maid. I want to ask her about the strong powers.
I lost my focus for a moment when I noticed Mejni smiling with his tongue out. I know that I need to get rid of that shit further down the road, as I do not need a freaking pet.
"Okay! Can you open portals depending on who I am looking for?"
"No, Master! I have only history stored inside me and cannot allocate objects or citizens of Valiant in real time, but I can take you back through history. You need to prepare yourself so you do not get stuck in the past."
No shit, shitlock.
"So, what is it that we are going to do now? Do you have any suggestions, Gandrael?"
"I need to scan you to get a proper understanding of you and the journey we are going on. Will you allow me to scan you?"
"Is that really necessary? You know what, never mind. Continue!"
The book came down and split open in the middle, shining yellow. What in the shit is this, low-budget scanning?
"I sense agony, Master! I can feel ten Demons lurking inside you, oh my...It is the 100th Demon Army. Even Gandor is here, I am impressed you have managed to catch the souls of the whole 100th Demon Army. You are not a serious person, you make jokes, you smile sometimes, you are very fond of your adult collection..."
"That is enough low-budget scanning!" I told it as it backed away and closed itself, with Mejni switching from a smile to a smirk, like he thought he had the upper hand over me.
"Do you wish to add a member to your party, Master?"
Member...Why is it even asking that?
"For what purpose are you asking this?"
"If a party is accepted, they will automatically get transferred inside the portal with you if they are within 10 meters. I can also give a complete profile of the one who goes through with the scanning, but they need to agree to join the party."
I looked at Mejni and gave him a big smile, and he stopped smiling, his eyes turning red. So that is an angry pet suddenly, going from more or less pitch-black eyes to red.
"Well, time to join the party, Mejni?
"No schanning, I just follo!"
"Eh, Hell No! Either you let yourself get scanned, or I will sit down and do nothing right here on the beautiful grass...all alone...enjoying the sun and the beauty of the lands here, wherever it is."
He stomped his feet around like it was going to do anything to the grass, and he kept touching his face, looking frustrated. Weird cats this world has.
"hfsdhgfud Fhine, I do!"
Gandrael opened itself and flew towards Mejni, who started to run away, and it slammed shut, shining so brightly I couldn't see him.
"IT IS ALRIGHT IF IT DIES GANDRAEL, I WONT TELL ANYONE!"
After a while, Gandrael floated up into the air again, shut itself, and came back to me.
"Scanning complete! Creature is a Meerkat, from the village of Herkattona, and is a descendant of a famous assassin from the Kosamusa family. He is next in line to take over, but it was interrupted when the village came under attack. Mejni killed 30 citizens in Valiant for revenge, was arrested, and lost the only love. Has a bounty of 200 million Randid, and the recommendation is to kill on sight. He bears the cursed mark of Valiant; only the Queen can pardon him. Mejni has accepted the offer to accompany you until the meeting with the Princess. After that, the mark, bounty, and all wanted posters will disappear, and he will be a free Meerkat."
No wonder, so he is also a pawn in all of this. Still, a murderer is a murderer, and he killed 30. Someone must have gone to a really dark place inside the mind to conclude killing so many.
"Keep out of my way, Mejni! You do not deserve to live, understood?"
He glared at me angrily.
"Yho do nut deserv live, yho killed king!"
"Master...So...Something...Pow...Powerful is making me...weak!" Gandrael said and vanished from the air.
"Great! The book broke itself."
I took a couple of steps before a black box appeared in the air, pointed a red laser beam at us, and moved up and down. Is this Box scanning us?
"Welcome to the live game. Thank you for joining us as the last players in the game, player 199 and player 200. We thank you for letting us scan through your powers to decide on which level you will start the game. Both entered the game together as a party. I will not calculate which level the Van Polan Party will start in." It said and moved in front of Mejni without doing anything.
God damn it! Mejni has killed so many; we probably start on Medium or Hard level.
"Mejni Herkattona! Assassin, ranking Medium.
I looked at Mejni and shook my head because he is the cause we have to start the freaking game probably on Medium level. I would rather have started the shit on easy mode. The Box moved over to me and stood still for a moment, and said:
"Berk Van Polan, Kingslayer, Power Demon, Ranking...Impossible!"
Both looked at each other, but Mejni had his mouth open, looking like he was in shock or something.
"Party Van Polan is the only Party that will start the game in...Impossible Mode!" The Box said, and the ground started to shake around us as the field completely collapsed. I couldn't even see the ground in the dark hole; it wasn't even a hole. The whole area had collapsed, there was no way to move forward, and we couldn't even pass it.
"What is going on here? I thought this was a game?"
Suddenly, objects flew up from the black area, shining yellow, and stretched out to the left and right as the light came down, and stars fell from the sky, filling the whole black area, which made me remember the kids' game where you have to jump between objects.
"Whe tead!" Mejni uttered as I could see on his worried expression.
"Yeah, the question is if we will die here or somewhere else!" as both of us looked at each other and both of us knew, we need a lot of luck, I mean a shit bunch of luck to survive this shit.