Unchosen Champion

When Coop was fully immersed in his various spectral manifestations, the proximity his class had with the Undead was never more obvious. An ominous, supernatural fog that seemed to have a mind of its own, filling a specific cavern of an already dark and menacing cave system set a heavy atmosphere. It seemed threatening, penetrating even his normal obliviousness, and that was before any intruders were impacted by the disorienting effects inherent in the Mind-based skill.

Then, Coop, decked out in ethereal gladiator armor like the specter of some warrior forgotten by the sands of time after being unceremoniously killed in an ancient arena, simply appeared, with no proffered warning, from a swirl of ghostly mists within the fog, completely silent. The wispy domain went undisturbed, as if to accommodate his tenebrific presence in the gloom, but his armor caught the dim illumination as he shifted his weight, his movement demonstrating his readiness to the trained eye. Even the way he carried himself hinted at the deadliness of becoming his enemy. A hundred million instances of combat left a subtle mark on every action he took, from the way he stood to the way his eyes moved.

If anyone was unprepared for meeting the Revenant of Ghost Reef, it had to have been like being confronted by an evil wraith, hungry for revenge. For once, Coop leaned into the menacing ambiance, highlighting the danger of being in his presence by keeping his expression dispassionate rather than familiar. Normally, this was the moment that he provided a friendly greeting, waving with as disarming a smile as he could manage in order to try and make his potential new friends comfortable.

The curious strangers all flinched as he caught them by surprise, but the pair that were carrying mana-torches held onto the light sources with some amount of discipline that seemed commendable. Coop eyed each of them from just beyond the edge of his Fog of War, letting the silence linger just a moment longer before speaking.

“Can I help you?” Coop ventured after concluding they wouldn’t jump straight to combat, merely asking a simple question instead of greetings to maintain some of the weight of his presence behind him. He slowly stepped completely into the light and propped both hammers up, one elongated stem on each of his bare shoulders, as he investigated the party that had interloped on his hunting ground.

A quick inspection of their auras revealed that they were all members of the Lighthouse with levels around 150. He raised an eyebrow as it had occurred to him that they could have been under the impression he was weak given the current nearly one hundred level disparity between himself and each member of their group. That would be a deadly mistake to make, for them, but he let his fog drift across his armor, just in case, adjusting his grip to draw their attention to his weapons and remind himself of the real measure of his power in his Mind stat.

“Oh, it’s you.” One acknowledged with a relieved laugh, finally breaking the tension Coop had built while the others grumbled about the fright he had given them. “Hey, that’s the Champion, you guys. Show some respect.” He added, knocking one of them on the back of the arm as they complained, trying to get the rest of his party into shape.

“We’ve all heard so many stories, it’s pretty exciting to meet you in the flesh.” He directed at Coop, unperturbed as if the menacing aura was a part of the lore surrounding their Champion. ”Sorry about them.” He gestured toward his mates. “They’re just antsy about our quest.”

“What’s the matter?” Coop asked, still unsure about their purpose.

He had only been in the caverns for a total of 10 or 15 minutes, so he doubted anyone had missed him that much. They couldn’t have been looking for him specifically, and if any of his companions needed him, they would have sent an actual messenger wraith. He was still well within the confines of Ghost Reef’s territory. If they had a quest, it shouldn’t have anything to do with him.

Initially, he had been wary of bandits as the scenario reminded him of the early days when every encounter was a potential combat situation. A lone individual off in the dark would have been a good target for a mugging, especially in the chaos of the initial assimilation, but that didn’t seem to be the case this time around. They hadn’t followed him into the caves while he was distracted by the skybox in the central chamber, but instead had stumbled into him as they went on their own way.

Coop frowned as he wondered if he had been outside of the sanctuary of Ghost Reef for a bit too long. It had been a long time since he had to be so pessimistic about meeting strange humans, and that was especially true within the territory of his settlement. The phantoms were all capped out at nearly level 5,000, so the level of security was unparalleled, even compared to before the assimilation. He relaxed a bit as he concluded he had let his imagination get the better of him through no fault of his current company.