The Early Bird Gets the Worm
Day 1 Part 1
I woke up to a noise downstairs.
Usually, I wouldn’t have cared, after all, I lived with a family of six. Including me and my parents, I had two brothers and one sister, with me being the oldest. With so many people around me most of the time, a noise downstairs wouldn’t have surprised me.
But this time, it was a bit special.
Right now I was alone. With my parents conveniently gone for their honeymoon, and two of my brothers away on some overnight school field trip, I was left alone to take care of the house. Normally, I would have been together with my little sister, a 9 year old busy body who clinged onto my other brother like a parasite, but with my parents’ approval, she’s staying over at a friend’s house for a sleepover.
Really, all my siblings lived quite exciting, no, rather...normal lives.
It was quite a glaring contrast to the oldest sibling, who for the majority of his adolescence, wasted his springtime of youth alone, in a room that seriously reeked of sweat and other bodily fluids. Really, the oldest sibling was quite a waste of space.
But hey, at least I was trusted enough to watch the house by myself, so that’s nice.
Speaking of the house, the noise from downstairs was quite foreboding in a sense.
At first it had started merely with the rattling of plates and cups (probably the same once I’ve avoided cleaning), but it slowly escalated. Now I could here a menacing growling as I cringed at the sound of breaking furniture and shattering windows.
I was tempted to just hole myself in my room, where it was safe (for the moment) and blare some really loud and annoying pop music through my headphones in a slim attempt to block out the sounds coming from downstairs.
But whether because I’m a stupid idiot, or because I’m a giant stupid idiot, I went to take a look at all the ruckus.
I crept along the carpeted floor, carefully preventing the old floor boards from creaking. I hunched over next to the stairway. From my point of view, I could see the living room and a portion of the kitchen.
From behind the granite countertop, I could see a flickering tail. It was green and scaly, like what you’d find on a house
gecko, but there was one small problem; This tail was way, way too big to be such a small lizard. The tail was thicker than my thighs, and it was as long as how tall I was (a modest 5’7”). It waved through and fro before receding back into the portion of the kitchen that I couldn’t see.
A moment later, the creature came back into view. This time, I saw what could only be described as a monster, in all its glory.
“What the….” Dumbfounded, I couldn’t find the words to explain what I was seeing.
To put it simply, the thing had the head of a bird. Going by the comb on top of the bird’s skull, I would say it resembled a
rooster of sorts.
The thing was easily over 9 feet in height. It had a green scaly tail, which extended out of a giant rooster’s body. It’s wings (and yes, it had wings) were leathery, like something a bat would have.
I had a feeling that unlike regular chickens, this hunk of crazy could probably fly as gracefully as a swallow tailed kite.
The weirdest part of the scenery before me was not the chicken. It was what was on top of the giant avian.
What could only be described as a message box floats above the creature’s head.
Cocktrice
Lv. 15
“Cocktrice? ...Is that what that creature is?” I quietly whispered to myself.
Unfortunately, my whispering wasn’t as quiet as I thought.
The monster, suddenly turned towards my direction. It’s beady yellow eyes stared directly at where I hid.
Cold sweat dripped down my back, as we stared at each other. For a moment, nobody moved. It felt like my heart had
stopped beating, and the world had gone silent. I don’t know how much time passed, when suddenly, the bird bolted in my direction.
It scrambled up to the stairs, as if it were in a desperate struggle with gravity to reach me.
“Fuck!” I grimaced before I got up and ran. Instinct took over as I sprinted down the carpeted hallway and immediately ran back into my bedroom.
I slammed the door shut, and I sank down in a fit of shaky breaths.
“Shit, shit, SHIT! What the heck was that?!” I outwardly cursed.
My mind raced and my heart pounded. It felt like my body had gone into overdrive. Something like fight or flight was easily activated just from the mere sight of the creature. It just didn’t make sense.
The rest of my week had started out rather ordinarily. I went to school, did my homework, ordinary stuff. So why, oh why, was there a monster in my house? This was suburban America, giant monster lizard-chickens don’t just wander into people’s homes like a racoon wanders into a trash can.
While still succumbed to my fit of nerves I steadily got up. I had to do something. Its not like I’d just keel over and wait for the Cocktrice to barge into my room and eat me (probably). I quite enjoyed life, no matter how shittly I lived it. I wasn’t planning on dying any time soon.
I locked my bedroom door and shoved a nearby cabinet in its place. It was a rather feeble attempt at protection, but it was the best I could do, considering the situation.
And it was a good thing I did that, because a moment later, after feeling the thunderous steps of heavy feet, an enormous force slammed into the door frame. The door hinges rocked for a second before they stayed in place.
I sighed in relief. For a moment, I had slipped into a moment of peace, although that was quickly broken when a giant beak popped out from the door. Its eye filled the newly open hole. The whole thing looked like a bad reenactment of The Shining. I swear, it even had that shit eating grin.
I shuddered as the bird’s yellow eye scanned my room and met with my own. At the sight of me, it went into a feverish frenzy.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“CUCKOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”
I panicked. I was virtually trapped, but I needed a way out. All hopes of fighting the giant bird off were non existent. I mean, this isn’t an rpg, I don’t know how to slay monsters. My mind filled with thoughts of escape, as I scanned the room for anything useful.
In my messy and unkempt dwelling, I had two pillows, a blanket, a beaten and old school backpack, a half eaten pack of peanuts, empty juice cans, and a rope (Yes, I admit I bought it after hearing about erm.. b-bondage online... )
I stared at the rope, with scrutinizing eyes.
AH! I could do that…
I had an inkling of a somewhat decent idea.
I grabbed the rope and examined it. The rope was at most 4 meters in length. It was also surprisingly thick. I deduced that it was strong enough to support a teenage male’s body weight.
I hastily tied one end of the rope on to the leg of my bed while the Cocktrice screeched behind the door. Right now, I was planning on making a brief exit from my room.
I was on the 2nd floor, and like almost all rooms on the 2nd floor, I had a window. This window overlooked my front yard and provided a straight drop down to some rather thorny and spiky bushes. I was planning to climb out the window while using the rope to support my body weight.
As I pulled on the rope to make sure it was secured well enough, I could hear the cabinet scraping onto the floor and the door hinges creaking.
Frantically I grabbed the rope and stood in front of the window. I opened the window, and was about to perform my very own version of a leap of faith.
Unfortunately, my shaking hands stopped me. My arms were limp, probably, no, certainly from fear. If I jumped out now, I would most likely hit the ground. There was no way I could hold myself up while my hands acted like spaghetti.
Reluctantly, I took the crucial extra time to tie the rope around my body. Out of habit, I tied the rope into an angler’s loop. I extended the loop in front of me, and prepared to loop the piece of string around my abdomen, when a thunderous crash shook my room.
“Cuckoooooo!!!!!!”
I turned towards the source, only to be met with the sight of a 9 foot rooster entering my sanctum sanctorum. Once it successfully entered my abode, it made a mad dash towards me.
I tossed the loop upwards and made a desperate jump to the side.
Maybe it was the world repaying me for all my good karma, but through a stroke of amazingly amazing luck, the loop that I threw in mid air entwined itself onto the creature’s neck.
The Cocktrice’s initial velocity was so great, that it couldn’t get a proper grip on to the carpeted floor and ran into and smashed the window clear open. He tumbled down, his weight moving the tied bed and pinning it against the window frame. The bed’s weight kept the creature in air.
The makeshift noose tightened and tightened around its neck as he thrashed and squawked helplessly in mid air.
I shakingly got up, and checked out the situation.
The window, my window, was completely smashed. He took out a part of the wall as well during his initial crash. I sighed as a stupid thought came over me.
How the heck was I suppose to explain this to my parents?
Tentatively, I gazed out the open space. I involuntarily held my neck as I saw the creature hanging helplessly by the rope.
I watched it struggle as its breathe slowly but surely escaped from him. The process was unexpectedly long. I silently stood there for 20 minutes while the creature continued to struggle. It wasn’t that I wanted to keep staring at the Cocktrice as it was dying, but some sort of force compelled me to watch the beast’s last moments.
As the creature’s struggles turned more into helpless spasms, I noticed that the rope was quickly weakening. Near the middle, twine had already broken off, and it was now only a matter of time before it would completely snap. Fearing that the monster would survive long enough until the rope completely snapped, I walked back towards my cabinet.
I dragged it across the room onto the spot directly in front of the window. After a brief moment’s hesitation, I heaved the heavy Cabinet out the opening, and shortly after, I heard a sickening crunch and the sound of objects hitting the grass floor beneath. I furtively looked out the window. I saw a broken dresser, and a cocktrice with it’s neck snapped and unmoving. The floating panel from earlier had disappeared.
I stared at it for a minute, when all of a sudden, a message box popped up in front of me.
*Ding*Congratulations. You have defeated a Cocktrice!*Ding*
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
*Ding*
Achievement: You have defeated a monster 10 or more levels above you.
Rewards:
+4 intelligence
+3 dexterity
*Ding*
Achievement: You are the first person to slay a monster.
Rewards:
????
*Ding*
New title gained: Early Bird
Effects:
+5 dexterity
At the sight of all the message panels popping up, I could only sigh as I laid back on to the floor and examined this new mystery.