The Crimson Mistake

[Entry 1: "Life is Pain, Literally."]
By: ??? (because even her name bleeds)

There is a moment—somewhere between getting gnawed on by a sand scarab and accidentally immolating a peasant child with a misplaced Blood Surge—where a girl begins to wonder:

“Was blood really meant to be this flammable?”

I didn’t ask for this. I wanted to be a warlock. Or a necromancer. Something with dignity. But no, the Skill Tree had other plans. It dangled “Sanguimancy” in front of me like a cursed candy apple.

“Siphon your own life to cast powerful spells!”
Yes. Great. Sounds metal. Except you left out the part where my basic firebolt costs 18% of my soul and three regrets per cast.

Let me paint you a picture.

I awaken in a mud-stained grave pit wearing rags and a smile stitched out of trauma. My starting wand is basically a stick with low self-esteem. I see a monster. I cast Blood Lance. I miss. The monster shrugs. I cast again. Now I'm at 12 HP. The monster coughs. I die.

Cue respawn. Repeat.

Somewhere, a developer probably giggles.
“You see, the Blood Mage needs to invest two passive points to start using life and mana.”
Sir. With all due respect.
WHY.

I tried to reach that node in the tree. I did. But the tree is longer than my last relationship and covered in trap passives like “+4% Spell Suppression While Crying.”

I can't even run. I tried to equip a movement skill gem. Dash? Can’t afford the life cost. Flame Blink? Fried myself like breakfast bacon. I am the only adventurer who dies trying to flee.

You know what the worst part is?

There was this Ranger girl the other day. She sneezed and a boss died. Didn’t even break a sweat. She looked at me with pity. PITY.

“I think your build’s... creative,” she said.

I tried to curse her tongue off. Passed out mid-hex.

So here I am, lying face-down in the mud again, half a pint of blood left in my system and a flaming skull circling overhead like it's debating whether I'm even worth haunting.

Still. I endure. I persist. Because somewhere, hidden deep in the Skill Tree’s trauma web, lies a node called “Crimson Power”. I don’t know what it does. I don’t care. I just want to reach it so I can stop dying to raccoons.

Maybe one day I’ll find someone who knows what it’s like to live one cooldown away from a coma.

Until then, I remain,

The Crimson Mistake
(Level 11, 46% shame resist, 0% fire resist)