Rachel woke to a rumbling stomach and a damp environment. The trees offered a rudimentary shelter but were woefully inadequate at keeping the steady rainfall off. A quick glance revealed an empty shelter and she felt a sinking sensation that the bird was gone. Then a familiar squawk sounded nearby and sent her scrambling outside.
There was so much weirdness going on that she wasn’t sure what to look at first. The rainwater fell like normal but the clouds were almost pitch black. Cupping her hand under a stream cascading off the leaves revealed it was both cold and charcoal-colored. “Nothing ominous about that,” she muttered to herself.
Sheer white flowers had unfurled from every fern and seemed to be absorbing the rain as none dripped from the petals. All the tree trunks had tiny vines growing up the bark crevasses which were blossoming in every shade of purple imaginable. It wasn’t just the plant life bursting forth; things were gliding and jumping high up in the trees, making an incredible din of strange noises.
Of more immediate interest to Rachel, though, were the actions of her companions. The bird would scrape a furrow in the mud and hop back. A swarm of somethings wiggled out and leapt into the air with a flap of rubbery wings. The bird snatched a couple out of the air and gulped them down before they were out of its reach, but Ket whirled their spear around and stabbed four more which were added to a growing pile. To her amusement, a paw patted Ket’s leg accompanied by what sounded like an approving burble.
“Is there peace among companions?” She was careful to keep any laughter out of her tone.
“That is debatable. Something ate the rest of our rat meat during the night.” Ket glared at the bird as it made a bee-line for Rachel. “But I wanted practice using the spear and this has been highly effective.”
“Oh, no!” She crouched down to look the bird in the eyes, “Skippy, you are part of our team now and you can’t eat all the food whenever you want.”
It reached up and placed both paws on either side of her face. All four eyes focused on her and it gave a chirrup before dashing off into the trees.
“Skippy?” Ket had begun to disembowel the winged worms. Rachel felt a twinge of guilt at leaving the butchering to them, but rationalized that it would be different if she also had built-in knives.
“It’s a nickname used for those who are eager and inexperienced. Also a reminder that they are more likely to make mistakes.” She looked around the sodden woods and rain that showed no sign of letting up. “Are we going to find dry wood in this?”
“Doubtful, but I have another Adventurer skill to try. We can use the bowl of a water gourd to boil water.”
“Boiling liquids without fire? Very nice. What other useful talents do you have?”
“I can build a bridge out of rope or vines, along with other similar uses. I also seem to have a passive hunting ability which didn’t manifest when we were attacked, but gives me a strong advantage when I am the hunter.” They turned their arm to show a slightly thicker yellow band. “More skills should develop as I gain experience.”
“Nice. How do you know what skills you have or will get?”
“Normally, our skills would be well documented by everyone else who had chosen that class. In my case, I am learning as I come across each one. When I was using the vines to make a harness, the knowledge of what else I could make with them filled my mind as if I had studied it before and just remembered.”
“I wish I had something more helpful right now. It’s almost like the System set us up as a team of misfits. What would be a normal path for a healer?”
“That depends on the options available, but Herbologist or Apothecarist would be obvious choices. You do have a solid start on healing without a complimentary second class. Did you see Skippy’s paw?”
“No, is it better? I should do another healing on it today.”
“You may not need to. You seem to have unlocked a continued healing skill because it kept going even after you were out of mana and unconscious.”
“That’s great! I need to examine it. Where did Skippy run off to?”
On cue, Skippy came tearing out of the trees, trying to squawk with a full beak and wings half-spread for balance. Ket was the first to spot something chasing the bird and shouted a warning.
Rachel dove for her stick lying in the mud while Skippy ran straight at and under Ket, only slowing after reaching the far side. She swore at herself for not asking Ket to sharpen one end of her stick as the monster burst into view. Long and low-slung with three pairs of legs, it looked like a reptile with sparse hair. And teeth, lots of teeth.
In the first moments of battle, Ket almost lost their spear to those teeth. After which it became a dance of staying away from the mouth and trying to find a weak spot. When Rachel began to despair their chances, a shrill squawk pulled her attention to where Skippy had a dead, mini-version of the monster on the ground and used both paws to roll it upside down.
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“Flip it over! Onto its back!” she cried to Ket. They had to maneuver so both were on one side and coordinating their efforts, but finally managed the feat. Once again, Ket killed the attacker and they dropped to stare at the abundance of meat. “Damn, what a time not to have a fire.”
Hunger spurred them on to cutting the necks off two gourds. One was filled with the already butchered worms and rainwater and Ket set to boiling the contents. Apparently, this was an easier process than lighting a fire and steam was soon rising, along with an unpleasant odor.
“Help,” whispered Rachel as she forced herself to take a bite. Both she and Ket quickly spat it back out as she clutched a stomach that was not going to accept that as a food source; the slimy and rubbery texture combined with the vile flavor to make it altogether disgusting. “I can’t. Not even if I starve.”
“Agreed. Perhaps…” Ket trailed off as they watched Skippy emptying the gourd bowl, even picking up their discarded worms. They both stared as it refilled the bowl from the butchered pile, held it under a stream of rain and placed it in front of Ket.
“Um, Ket? The natives don’t look like Skippy, by any chance?”
“No! Do you think I would have risked spearing it yesterday if it was potentially sentient?” They focused on the bowl and set it boiling rapidly. “I find myself quite confused, there shouldn’t be any even potentially sentient creatures on a host planet other than the natives. And I’ve never heard of the System boosting a non-sentient creature during a trial.”
“So, it’s not my imagination that Skippy is displaying signs of some level of intelligence? Well, no matter, it’s officially my companion now for as long as it wants to travel with me. Can we try cooking that monster meat now? I’m hopeful of keeping it down if it’s even close to as edible as the rat.”
Deciding to try to save the hide this time, Rachel helped by pulling it as Ket sliced. Even with the extra hands, it was a messy job and she chose to brave the cold water streaming off the leaves to rinse some of the stickiness off. By the time they sat down again, Skippy had another bowl of worms ready to boil. “Trying to keep up with that appetite could be a struggle. I would have guessed omnivore from the beak shape, but I’ve only seen it eat protein so far.”
Ket offered her a chunk of boiled monster meat and carefully tasted their own piece. “There is a berry sauce at home that would accompany this perfectly.”
“Mmm, add in a crusty loaf of bread still warm from the oven and I’m there. You know, this thing looked like a crocodile with a Cheshire cat grin, but it tastes better than the rat-thing. I wonder how much we can carry?”
“If you can handle the water gourds, I can make some kind of pack out of the hide. Shall we keep going today?”
Rachel flushed with guilt that she hadn’t even thought to check Ket’s wounds after the battle. After confirming the punctures weren’t any worse, she agreed. “We can’t get any wetter and I’d rather not stick around a butchering site to discover what gets drawn in from the scent of blood.”
By the time their hunger was sated, Skippy had finally stopped refilling the bowl with worms. There weren’t many left in the pile so Rachel fit the leftovers in the bowl. It took some adjusting to make the vine harness work on her smaller torso, but finally it was as comfortable as possible. There was only one thing left. She pointed to a limp shape in the mud. “Skippy, do you want to bring your mini-monster?”
Looking around in confusion, it spotted the kill it had carried back to camp in its beak and discarded. “Chirrup!” It hopped over, picked up the limp body, and tucked it away beneath its feathers.
“Well, I’ll be. Ket, do you know if any of the animals here are marsupials?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know. The historical records kept tend to focus on participants and their activities. And the group I was monitoring didn’t show any interest in local wildlife except as a source of experience or food.”
“Is someone watching us right now?” The thought made a spot between her shoulder blades itch.
“Almost certainly. Ktikikt would not have assigned us to anyone else. I am concerned that they may be unsatisfied with my actions; it would be a great comfort to ask their advice.”
“Amen to that.”
“That word does not translate.”
“Oh, well it refers to worship of a deity.” Rachel found hiking in the rain and deepening mud required most of her attention, so didn’t elaborate until another thought popped up. “Aren’t there religions on the other planets?”
“Not after the arrival of the System. That tends to rearrange every aspect of society.”
“Oh, that sounds like a recipe for disaster on Earth. So many are willing to fight for their personal beliefs.”
“What could they fight against? Even the most violently opposed species could only take their own lives in the end.”
“That’s sad, but turning on each other sounds like a very human response. What if they had access to that forcefield that kept the System out of my room before?”
“That wasn’t actually a forcefield; it was more of a suggestion that the System remain separate until circumstances were better. It could have gone through at any time.”
Rachel fell silent. Just when she felt as if it was making sense on some level, she learned something new that threw her off balance again. “So, some people have rebelled but they never succeed? Or would the System censor that information?”
“Rachel, the System has no involvement in our records. It’s something we do to improve our training and, hopefully, improve the trials so more survive.”
“Sorry, I tend to expect the worst from those in control. Too many years seeing what the politicians get up too.” She stopped as Ket halted and held up a hand.
“Do you hear something different?”
“Huh, I thought the rain was easing up but it sounds louder now.”
“I expected to reach a stream in another hour, but perhaps we’ve made better time on our journey.” Ket strode forward in the direction the noise was coming from until they stood on the bank of a river, roiling and churning with the addition of rainwater racing downstream.
“I think we have different definitions of the word ‘stream’.” The swift gesture Ket made in response was one Rachel had mentally labeled ‘annoying human’. “Do we need to cross it?”
“Not at this time. Following it down should bring us to the native village. We should move back from the edge for safety.” They had already had to pull Skippy away twice when it began to fall in.
Retreating back into the trees, they resumed the hike. Rachel watched with interest as the forest reacted to the rain slowing. First the fern flowers curled up and sank below the leaves, then the purple blossoms began to release from the vines and helicopter down to the mud. Last to give up were the creatures up in the canopy, but even those stopped sounding out as the black clouds finally broke apart and blew away.
Gradually, after enough travel time for Rachel to need to heal her hip joint twice, the trees were spaced further apart until it no longer looked like a forest. Ferns became less common and various bushes competed for the exposed spaces. And then, she saw the first buildings ahead.