Driving along a dirt road only half paying attention as my mind drifted in building annoyance and irritation, listening to the music playing over the radio for what was to come. A hand ran up and down my arm as the other turned down the music to a near imperceptible volume. “Hey, you okay?” I hear the woman's voice from beside me, soft and calming as she rubbed my arm.
Snapping back to reality I glance at her face, smiling while trying to hide her own worries. Turning back to the road quickly I resigned myself to what she was trying to do. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just trying to figure out what this dumbass is thinking or planning, which is almost pointless.” I say with a sigh nearly falling back into the trance of driving long back roads.
“I can see that,” she grumbled while looking out at the oncoming ditches and banks between the forest line and road. “Why didn’t he just visit us if he set all this up?”
“I have no idea, it’s just how he is. He’s not that smart and often thinks of things far too late. And this is probably one of his damn schemes.” I grumble. “Hard to believe that lazy asshole set this up”
“Turn here.” She says pointing at a white posterboard sign covered in what I'm hoping is red paint in a language I couldn’t understand yet in front of a gravel road.
My wife and I have been passing signs like this since we left. Since my wife finally moved to this country we had been planning to meet up with a friend from my work from long ago. He helped a lot with getting her here and, when she wanted to surprise me or do something for me, he was always the first person she would reach out to to have it done.
“I still think he-” I began but noticed her face now growing flush and turned away like she was trying to hide in the seat against the door as breath hitched and she made small noises. “Wait did you~?” I began to ask but turned back to focus on the gravel road. After a minute she finally spoke.
“I thought we would be spending the night at a rest area or motel. So I thought a night of fun would be~ relieving.” I felt a finger run down my arm. “Compared to how you are now. Besides, you said it might take two days of driving depending on traffic.” she said as she moved closer and began whispering let me hear all the little noises she made, teasing me.
I glanced up ahead and sadly noticed another posterboard sign. This with just an arrow and the thumbs up emoji painted on it. “Fuck, we’re here.” I exclaim. Glancing over I saw her sitting normally and trying to get herself under control as I pulled into the driveway. We were in the middle of nowhere but the driveway wasn’t that long. The house was new but the bricks were painted black and many of the decorations were made of bone like the wind chimes and pots.
“Oh my god, he was serious” I said aloud as I parked the truck and felt a hand grab my shirt sleeve. “Don’t wo~” I looked over to my wife and tried to speak but she just lightly grabbed my beard and pulled me closer to her face.
“Maybe we can find some time to escape later?” she said with a smirk and small laugh.
I leaned in and we kissed which slowly became deeper and more intense and likely would’ve turned into more except I saw a black gloved fist and blue jacket sleeve and just as I registered what it was, ‘KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK’. I yelled as there was a sharp tug on my beard.
I practically kicked and jumped out of the truck yelling. “YOU SON OF A- I’LL KICK YOUR ASS!” He opened the passenger door and then jumped back out of my reach as I crossed behind the truck, an evil grin on his face trying to suppress his laughter.
“Good to see you too.” he said, stopping his laughter then continuing “though didn’t you two already have a honeymoon stop acting like rabbits in breeding season?” he asked, still smirking.
“How’d you even sneak up on us?” I demanded helping my wife down out of the truck as she recovered from the mini heart attack he likely gave her.
He pulled something from his pocket and brought it to his mouth before exhaling smoke “I was already out here finishing yard work when you pulled in.” he said, thumbing towards a push mower and a pile of fallen branches in an ash pit just off to the side where the tree line covers the front yard as you pull in. then raised his voice to my level but without the anger “Besides, I have the week off and it’s a nice day out, why not catch up on some yard work.”
It was a nice day out to him, the temperature being in the mid 80's, a cloudy day that threatened some small showers, the sun nowhere to be seen and him out in black yard clothes except his blue jacket which was zipped up with the hood on. I grabbed my wife's fast food cup sitting in the door and just threw it at his head, though he dodges it easily enough. “Fuck you! And I thought you gave that shit up” I half yelled at him.
“Fuck you.” he cheerily said back, then got almost somber. “And I did but life.” He said dryly and distantly with a half hearted shrug then turned to my wife and gave an overexaggerated bow with one foot crossed behind the other and an arm raised behind him in the air. “A pleasure to finally meet in person.” he jovially said before straightening out and giving a little wave
I took my hat off and threw it at him as he bowed but he was far enough away that when he did his little wave it caught on his hand. It took both of us a second to realize what happened before we started cackling, me falling into the truck and him stumbling around but not falling.
“I, Ha, I thought- ha, we agreed, ha, to stop doing that.” he said, finally walking over, giving my hat back and reaching his hand out to shake my wife’s hand.
She shook it reluctantly, scowling at him still not over the scare. “You too.” It then turned to confusion as she saw what he was wearing. “How are you not burning up?” She asked. Receiving only a confused ‘hm?’.
“He’s always been weird like that, and it’s the dumbest reason” I said, sighing, calming down from the laughter,
“I was doing some work out here and I didn't wanna get burned by the cruel sun and ruin my skin with all that pain.” he said, interlocking his fingers and raising the backs of them to his beard and blinking a few times then immediately dropping them to his pockets.
I groaned at him, the irritation and vexation already returning, though I wasn't about to forget about his little cryptic moment. “Come on inside” he said as he turned and walked towards the door. I got up and we grabbed our bags and I tried to subtly pry into.
“Heard you got a new girlfriend, she out right now?” I asked.
“At work. She won’t be back for another half hour or so” he replied as he waited near the patio steps
“Family doing okay?” I ask,
“Quit trying to read into shit for one I’m not nearly drunk enough for that.”
So he’s having one of his smarter days. As we walked after a second of silence caused him to turn back to us confused then began looking around us then closing his eyes then the evil grin returned as he stared at my wife then looked back at me.
She turned as red as possible and then I realized. I was standing closer than he was yet he heard something I couldn’t. “You know I have a basement and it's pretty soundproof.” he said as he walked inside.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Where’s the bathroom?” she asked meekly looking at the ground.
“Down the hall first door on the right.” He said holding the door open as she ran inside. He turned towards me with that evil grin on his face again.
“Shut the fuck up, this is partially your fault.” I said as I pointed and walked past him.
“You lucky, lucky man.” He said after I walked past him.
I could only scoff at his remark as I walked in and looked around. Everything was mostly plain and empty, a couch, coffee table, some small leg rest cushions, and a tv over the fireplace. What decorations there were, were either some small bone skulls or bone craft or some framed dead bug.
He passed me and walked towards the kitchen and I followed sitting at the table. He pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and downed it quickly. “So you were burning up out there?” I said.
“Of course I was. Doing yard work in the getup, in this heat, who wouldn’t?” He said removing his hood pointing at all the sweat building on his face and head.
He then pulled a case of hard cider out and set it on the table before sitting across from me and opening a bottle. “Well now that the customary scare and insults are out of the way, glad you two arrived safely.”
“Yeah and thanks for not taking a joke too far.” I say as I grab and open one myself.
“What joke?” Ha asked then glanced behind me for a second. I sighed and my wife returned sitting next to me and burying her head in my arm.
I finished the bottle and asked. “What, no liquor? Are we getting drunk or what?” The evil grin returned to his face as he got up.
“One fireball cocktail coming right up” he said walking down the nearby basement stairs.
I quickly stood and yelled after him even as the taste of cinnamon that wasn’t even there hit my tongue from the memory. “ FUCK YOU ANYTHING BUT THAT”
“D-do you think he was serious?” My wife asked as I sat back down.
“God I hope not that shit is disgusting.” I said trying to change the subject but just got a quizzical look from her so I leaned over and whispered. “It’s likely that’s where the guest room is even if It isn’t knowing what he was into back then i don’t think we’d wanna use let alone go down there”
“Oh.” she replied.
“And now that you’ve met him face to face you see why he pisses me off so much.” I say leaning back in my seat. “He hasn’t shown much of it yet but nearly everything about him is a contradiction and it’s very irritating” i explained as i thought back to everything so far, that one brief laugh wasn’t enough to get rid of my building irritation and the vexation of everything he’s done so far.
“But despite that he’s-” a knocking at the door cut her off. We both turned to look then a yell came up from the stairs. “Can you see who that is?” I grabbed another bottle, opening it before getting up and walking to the door.
I noticed a small baseball bat by the door and considered grabbing it. We were in the middle of nowhere and I was half expecting some horror movie psycho to be there but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and opened it. It wasn’t some psycho but it was a crazy person. The shock alone nearly made me drop the bottle, but that was quickly leapfrogged by my anger, seeing her here was enough to invoke my full wrath upon him. So much so i nearly threw my half full bottle and slammed the door
Her whole body language exuded nervousness but her shock at seeing me instead of the person she likely came to see was as great as my own. “Who is it?” My friend yelled I think, I can't tell who it was right now.
I looked back to the kitchen and can only half see my wife, I forgot to even close the door as I marched back. I didn't know how long I stood there staring but it was long enough for him to come back. As I nearly ran the maybe ten steps it took to get to the kitchen, trying to think it over in my head as quickly as I could, but I couldn’t focus through the anger at all, the fact that she was here spells disaster. They had dated and hurt each other many times.
“WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING HERE?” I yelled at him. When I entered there was another bottle to his lips but he didn’t set it down nor did he let any enter his mouth yet. His face went from curious to confused at my words, then as she showed herself from behind me he was shocked then angered at her presence.
He sighed in heavy reluctance, clearly he didn’t expect her at all, he was quickly losing his energy as he set his drink down and leaned his head on his fist finally after a minute he spoke. “You know, today is kind of a special occasion. So-”
“Never mind that, what the fuck is she doing here? Or better yet, how is she here?” I pointed at the uninvited person and growled at him trying not to raise my voice again.
“I can only guess as to why she’s here. But how, I don’t know, maybe she found you and followed you. No one I know or regularly talk to would tell her where I live now.” he said with a sigh. He didn’t show much emotion beyond just generally looking depressed but I could tell for the most part it was a joke. Though I can't really blame him, he just gets his life together and starts a life with someone else just for his worst nightmare to show up and bring back bad memories.
He looked around the room at specific things then sighed, opened another bottle, slid it across the table to our uninvited guest and then looked at my wife and spoke in a deadpan tone like speaking is now a chore. “We congratulate and welcome you here for moving from one shitty country to another. I hope your stay here is a happy and fulfilling one haha now that you and your hubby are together, cheers.” he took a long pull off his drink and i did so well nearly finishing it.
I went to speak again then the floor suddenly glowed a very bright gold. I looked down, nearly blinded by the light, then back at him “well shit.” he said then finished his drink, setting it down. Then the world disappeared.
It felt like I was staring at the sun with my eyes closed. I heard a voice but couldn’t make out anything, like I was listening through water. Then falling and darkness, another voice tried speaking but i couldn’t make it out either. Then a screen appeared [Hero Status Sheet: 1 Use(s) Available]. Then the feeling of being pulled down through the water getting faster and faster. It was hurting not to breathe but finally I had to and it all stopped, I could breathe.
I opened my eyes to a blinding light. My head, heavy. I smelled the dryness of a desert and felt rhythmic rumbles in the dirt below. There, a small distance ahead of me was a dust cloud. I watched many isekai shows when I worked with my friend, so I know I need to keep calm and take stock of everything I can. But the rage and frustration of what had happened and what is now happening was too overwhelming, I took deep breaths but it didn't help the rage just welled up and became even harder to sort through even thinking of basic things was difficult, so much so I lost control of my body and charged toward the dust cloud. I tried harder and harder to push through the anger, mental exercises, breathing exercises, anything and everything I knew of or could think of to try and quell or set aside the welling rage and regain control over my body.
A loud roar that bordered on a howl escaped my throat, my own frustration at the situation pulled my focus away and I noticed I’m running on all fours straight towards a huge gathering of armed and armored men, ‘an army? Ok what the hell is going on here’ my thoughts were filled with rage but they were still my own, but my body, it charged forward, furry clawed arms shredding through many metal weapons, armor, and troops with even one strike. Hours passed in this battle, the field stank of iron, guts and dirt. A few of the soldiers started rising and started screeching. They kept their basic appearance but their bodies grew gaunt, their wounds healed, eyes now glassy, all hair fell off but a small bit of fur grew in, almost like some zombie werewolf. My exhaustion both, physical and mental, had become extremely evident. Having to go through reincarnation then this fight.
I just gave in to the rage. Another roar escaped my throat but now, there was a calm. I tried to take my frustration out on the creatures around me but they were faster and stronger. Though now that my mind was calmer I could experiment a little, the most immediate thing I need to figure out is this reverse effect on my emotions, though it’s easy enough because even though these hybrid monsters are fighting back they’re only dodging and redirecting, they aren’t attacking.
Finally I got full control over my body and remembered what I had heard before I woke up here. “Status?” I wondered aloud. And suddenly it’s in front of me, a video game-like display. The first thing I noticed were the titles- ‘The Most Brutal Savage’ ‘Strongest Barbarian’ and the one most worrying ‘Wrath General’. This couldn’t be true, I reincarnated in another world, what the fuck happened. I looked back at the whole screen and saw skills, spells and special skills but most importantly I saw the name, something most important and what I should’ve seen first.
My name, Ambrogio. A man appeared nearby covered in what looked like spiky demonic armor, nearly every joint had a spike, a blood red cape with a hood up and fluffy white fur that ran the edge entirely. He had moon pale skin and long silver hair that went to the middle of his chest and had what looked like a magic staff in his hand. He looked around then spoke “General Brog sir, a meeting of the seven generals has been called and is scheduled later in the evening which is in 12 hours sir.” He said then left with the newly monstrous soldiers. I scratched my head and wondered aloud, “I wonder if any of the others are here. If I'm someone as high ranking as general, maybe they are too, now to try and find at least my wife then I need info. He wasn’t an expert but he had the most mythology lore." I said as I began walking in the direction of the castle in the distance. After some thinking I scratch my head. “JUST FUCKING GREAT HAGGHH.” I screamed, letting another loud roar escape
