CHAPTER 4: FINALE!

CHARRED REMAINS

Lucas woke up with a start, scrambling to his feet. He turned in circles, eyes wide and breathing quickly. When nothing immediately tried to kill him, he slowly processed his surroundings. It didn't click until he noticed the smell of ash and smoke. The forest. It was morning. He let out a groan as he sunk his face into his palms. It wasn't just a bad dream, he was trapped here. The sun was shining down into his little clearing and the birds had started squawking at each other over the treetops. The fire was cold. Charred humanoid remains lay over it. The now cooked badger carcass also laid on the ground, knocked to the side during the fight. The smell of burned body hair was almost enough to kill his appetite, but he bit off a bit of badger meat while he looked at the body of the Primate. It had left its Nexus when it died. There had also been some notifications during and after the fight.

[https://i.imgur.com/TZD2nhE.jpg]

‘Nice,’

He was developing a good understanding of how Auras worked. Opening his inventory, he took a look at his new items.

‘Strong Nexus of Hatred,’ He knew what that would be. Remembering the Primates' Aura made him feel sick. He decided to pretend it wasn't there. The dagger was the real achievement. He took it out of his inventory. It was long, edged along one side with saw-like teeth along the other. It felt extraordinarily sharp when he thumbed the blade. The weight of it, held in his hand, swelled his confidence significantly. It made him feel… dangerous.

Any happy feelings were tempered by the lingering sensations of what he had gone through last night. He wasn't hurt anymore, but he would happily have lived his whole life without having experienced that reckless hate. Back home there was a kind of separation that prevented you from being truly exposed to what was going on in someone else's head. But last night he had seen it all, understood it all, and he was not better for it. He could never ‘un-know’ what it felt like to be utterly, and completely, consumed by murderous hatred.

Lucas stored the rest of the badger in his inventory and took out his water. He sat back down on the dewy grass and let his eyes follow the birds as he sipped. He was trapped in this world. There were rules to how everything worked. He was slowly piecing them together, thanks to a bizarre set of powers that seemed to be adapting to his needs. Right now they were mainly exploratory, but that was what he needed most. He needed a way out of this forest, he needed to find some people. People who could answer his questions. He needed real food, and a bed would be great too.

Another pang of feeling sorry for himself was sure to follow that train of thought, so he cut it short. For now, he just needed to make it to the road alive. He was out of healing potions, which drastically compounded the severity of any risk. On the upside, that meant he now had three empty bottles to store water in. That theoretically gave him a wide range, but he was too close to the road to go back to the river. Lucas stood up; no injuries, he was rested, not starving, clothed, and his body felt stronger than it ever had. He bounced on his toes, relishing in how light his body felt now that his Strength had increased to 4. With a quick glance at his Map he set out.

The forest grew steadily denser, branches clutching at his clothes as it closed in. Somehow it seemed even more hostile than yesterday. Hate and anger. The Nexus types in his inventory seemed to reflect what he could expect from this world. He had learned a lot about how to move stealthily along a forest floor. Always he kept his profile obscured from open lines of sight. He avoided areas where he couldn't keep from creating a lot of noise pushing through underbrush, instead creeping around until he found a safe way through. It was slow, but he was making steady progress towards the road. He desperately needed evidence that there was more to this place than wilderness and monsters. Yesterday was more than enough ‘solo survivor’ for his taste.

‘That better actually be a road.’

At the top of a small hill Lucas stayed low to look over the ridge. It was flat ground where the trees thinned out and tall grassy shrubs spread unevenly across the rocky ground, as if the hill had a stubbled bald spot. Looking it over carefully from behind cover, Lucas saw a few small possum-like creatures squabbling over a dead animal. They were bickering and squawking at each other as they dragged its viscera all over.

Two of them tumbled close to Lucas, biting and scratching each other, one of which looked up and saw him. Squealing, it scurried away immediately. That sounded a general retreat and they all bolted into the underbrush. When everything had gone quiet Lucas came over to investigate. It was a porcupine of sorts. Not killed by the possums, judging by the immense claw rents that had gutted it. Huge quills stuck out of its back. Lucas bent down to touch one and a popup appeared.

[https://i.imgur.com/P9duWo1.jpg]

‘Free stuff, sweet’

A few of the largest and thickest spines disappeared off the dead creature. He drew one out of his inventory. It was very strong and flexible, with a sharp pointed tip. It was too light to throw, but he could still stab things with it, or make a pit trap perhaps.

‘Awesome.’

Lucas froze. A grunting sound followed by a heavy shuffle was approaching. There was a deep resonance to it, a sound that could only come from something with massive lungs. Cursing himself for being careless, he realised it was very close. If he could hear it, it would hear him if he ran. Lucas smoothly and completely immersed himself in the nearest bush, only moments before heavy footfalls crested the rise. He couldn't see what it was, and did not move enough to look. The sounds grew closer and Lucas could smell the stink of its breath, heavy and wet with the scent of blood and rot. Desperately he willed himself to shrink into the bush. That ‘willing’ actually did shrink his Aura down, conforming it close to his skin. His breathing became shallow and slow, contrasting with his madly thumping heart. A popup appeared.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

[https://i.imgur.com/82bA4ON.jpg]

Lucas felt a pull at his Mana, and released it, marvelling as his body blended into the surroundings. He swayed gently, matching the pattern of bush shifting in the breeze. The colours of his clothes and skin bled into the nearby tree, while its colours bled onto him, effectively blurring his outline. His Aura disappeared, sinking underneath his skin entirely. When the creature started sniffing he was sure it was going to find him, but it only picked up the porcupine and dragged it off. Once the sound was long gone, Lucas dropped Stealth and peered around. When he was sure he was alone, he stood and almost yelled for joy, settling instead for a silent fist pump. Finally! A real edge he could use. A look at his character sheet confirmed it had cost 1 Mana to stay in stealth for about 5 minutes, leaving him with ⅔ Mana left.

Lucas activated Stealth again, watching closely as the mirage-like intermingling of colours and textures set in. He tried to move but the stealth broke instantly, unable to rapidly re-calibrate to a new position. Lucas was tempted to experiment with it, but that would use his last Mana point and he didn't want to leave himself dry. ‘That's ok, I'll keep practising when I've got spare Mana.’

Lucas was day-dreaming about stalking like a wraith, silent and deadly, when he reached an open clearing. A wide road ran north and south. Relief welled up, turned into a tight knot in his chest, then overflowed as a sobbing laugh. He felt tears on his face, and looked down to see them dripping red with the blood that coated his face. He was shocked at his own emotions, but supposed he shouldn't be after everything he had been through alone. Irrefutable proof lay before him now. There was more to this world than bloodthirsty monsters and freezing wilderness.

Marching off immediately was tempting, but he didn't know what might be in either direction and his water bottle was empty. He would need all three bottles before he set out in search of civilization. However, It was still early in the day and the river wasn't far away. There was plenty of time to make it back before he got thirsty so he sat and looked up and down the road, happy to be simply near it.

The road was made of smooth worn rocks. Odd shapes had been chosen and angled around each other like puzzle pieces to fit together neatly. Silt and earth had become so tightly packed into the cracks that Lucas’s hand ran smoothly over the surface. The smoothness of it created an impression of timelessness. The tops of the rocks had been worn flat and polished by countless ages of continuous use.

Slight grooves showed on either side from where something like wagon wheels had ground the stone down. Lucas had seen buried ruins all throughout the forest. The road might have been made by the same ancient people, but unlike the ruins, this was still in use. As he sat in the sun, staring at the road, Lucas’ impression of this world filled with thousands of years of human history. The rise and fall of unknown empires, stories of ancient heroes, science and engineering, also… apparently magic.

While daydreaming he took out his Porcupine Quills and Perfectly Balanced Knife. He used the knife to carve a cross hatch pattern into the centre of each quill, testing it until he was satisfied he could keep a solid grip on it while thrusting. He was daydreaming about the impact having increasable stats like Strength and Agility would mean for a large scale society, when he noticed a distant outline on the road. ‘Is that a wagon?’

With immense anticipation, Lucas tried to make out details as it slowly approached. Several people walked alongside a wagon pulled by what might have been horses. Lucas stood up and waved his arms with a big grin. They pointed and talked amongst themselves when they noticed him. Too excited to wait, Lucas made his way to them. As he got near, a tall man stepped out ahead of the others. He glanced back and held a hand out, causing the rider to reign in huge thick horses and stop the wagon.

The man approached with an open smile. He was lean and weathered with messy dark hair and sun worn skin. He wore closely fit travelling clothes and had a strange sword on his belt. The sword had a steel point where the grip should be, as if it was sticking out backwards or pointed on both ends. Leather straps crossed his chest and waist with what looked like rows of different sized nails, some tiny, some a foot long like tent pegs.

“Griss Reesender! komesc een hei am Ale Besc ze gesinn,” the man called out in a rough but kind voice.

Despite not knowing the words Lucas understood what he meant. He was feeling increasingly awkward about silently staring in response to the man's greeting, but he was dumbfounded by the realisation of how he could understand the words. The man's Aura let off subtle but complex patterns with each word. They described his intentions, what he was trying to communicate. The man could have been talking in absolute gibberish, but as long as he was genuinely trying to communicate Lucas would be able to understand him through his Aura. The level of detail he could make out in the man's Aura was incredible. Underlying assumptions in his use of language created subtle layers of context that described a deep but alien culture.

There was a lot to unpack, but Lucas didn't want to take the time to think too deeply about it. The man was waiting for a response. Instead, he focused on the words. Translating them was unnecessary to understand them, but in English it would have been something like: ‘Greetings Traveller! Strange to see someone wandering around in the Old Woods alone.’

Lucas laughed.

“It’s strange for me too, I can barely believe I finally found someone,” he replied.

The man was silent for a moment, as if similarly working out the meaning in Lucas’s words. Then he laughed as well, apparently this wasn't so out of the ordinary for him.

“Those were some strange sounds you just made, but you have a translation ability I see. A stroke of luck for you then. You can come with us if you like. The names Caleb, and yours?”

As he spoke Lucas tried to blend the information his Aura gave with his words to keep up a natural conversation. It worked surprisingly well, as if language and Aura reading used the same parts of his brain.

[https://i.imgur.com/mmmHFS3.jpg]

Lucas dismissed the popup without taking the time to read it, he was just so excited and relieved to be talking to someone.

“Lucas. It's a pleasure to meet you Caleb, it really is. Have you got any water by the way?”

Lucas fell into step with them as the wagon started to move again.