CHAPTER 2: PART 2 OF 3

DEATH

Desperation began to sink in as he realised how dangerous his situation truly was. He was lost in a place he didn't remotely recognise. He had; no food, no water, no clothes, was painfully thirsty and hungry, had nothing to defend himself with, and no idea what was going on. Panic edged into his thoughts as the list grew. He stopped to focus on deep breaths. The only thing that seemed to be working in his favour was the strange blue boxes, giving him some hints to what was happening. Lucas was familiar with role playing games, and those blue screens had a distinctly RPG feel to them. With a thought he summoned the popups he had seen so far, barely stopping to consider the fact that they followed his mental commands so instinctively.

‘Right, so if there are game rules then that implies a few things. If that badger had a character sheet then I probably do also.’

He tried willing a character sheet to appear. When nothing appeared he looked at himself and

tried triggering his Analyse ability.

[https://i.imgur.com/JZu5uTA.jpg]

It seemed pretty basic as far as character sheets go, only three stats and nothing like hit points. He had ⅓ Mana according to this. He had used Analyse on the badger, and one on himself. The description for Analyse had told him it would cost one Mana to generate a character sheet, so it made sense. Analysing objects should be free. Hopefully his Mana would regenerate over time but there wasn't much he could do about it either way. Analyse was listed there on his sheet, but the other two he didn't recognise.

‘Map,’

A square appeared over his vision showing a stylised rendition of the forest around him, as seen from above. Beyond his immediate surroundings it was a blank grey. It was only showing him places he had explored so far, which wasn't much. A little blue arrow in the centre of the perspective changed direction as he turned his head.

‘Nice,’

When he willed the Map away he noticed a pool of blood was turning the forest floor near his leg into a muddy puddle. That was definitely bad, but he felt somehow disconnected from exactly how serious that was. If he bled out on the spot there wasn't much he could do about it anyway so he simply moved onto the next item in his Character Sheet.

‘Inventory.’ A large grid of spaces with a few icons appeared.

A red vial with a x3 counter caught his attention immediately.

‘Please let that be what I think it is!’

When he ‘reached’ for it mentally, a vial of red liquid appeared in his hand.

‘Well, that definitely violates some law of physics.’

Lucas used his Analyse Skill on it, then confirmed that it didn't use his last Mana point.

[https://i.imgur.com/x5gheyw.jpg]

“YES!”

He drank one and looked down at his legs, nodding in appreciation as the bone healed first, followed by the connective tissue and lastly skin.

‘So the structural damage is prioritised,’

The glass bottle remained empty in his hand. Realising that he had expected it to disappear, Lucas shrugged and opened his inventory again. He willed the glass bottle into his inventory the same way he had taken it out. The space around the bottle seemed to fold in on itself. The other side of the fold revealed a reality where there was no longer a bottle in his hand. An empty bottle icon appeared in his inventory. Lucas stared at his empty hands, then shook his head, his rational mind still trying to reject what he had just seen. He looked over to the dead badger. It had no skin.

‘I guess when I looted its leather the thing actually got skinned… Can I eat a badger? That's pretty gross… but.’

He picked up the badger. It was slick and the smell of blood was very strong. Deciding there was no harm in keeping it, he stored it also, before looking at the other icons in the inventory. The badger’s leather was there, alongside whatever a Nexus of Anger was.

Closing his inventory Lucas looked back to his leg. Fresh pink scar tissue remained where the wounds had been, hairless and sensitive to touch. The scars were a surprise, but he was happy nonetheless. A serious injury would definitely kill him if he couldn't heal it, and he had only two more health potions. Considering the chill in the air, he might die anyway if he didn't find clothes and shelter and a source of water. The badger… could be eaten if he had no other choice. He wasn't sure what death would mean in a place where video-game like things kept happening. It was possible he would respawn or be resurrected somehow, but without knowing for sure it was better to assume death was... Death.

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Another Angry Badger might stumble upon him at any moment, so he got to his feet. Having nothing better to defend himself with, he stored the bloodstained rock in his inventory. Recollection of the badger's teeth crunching through his shin bone came unbidden, bringing a wave of phantom pain and fresh adrenaline. Testing his leg gingerly, which seemed completely healed, he looked around. The air was dank and chilly, thick with the scent of rotting leaves. Occasional rays of dappled sunlight broke through the canopy, thin and timid, highlighting patches of the mossy forest floor. It was disarmingly peaceful. Lucas looked for the sun past the canopy.

‘Might be mid morning?’

With nerves wound like coiled springs he began navigating his way through the underbrush.

Lucas moved slowly, keeping a low profile and carefully scouting any open areas before exposing himself. Twigs and sharp rocks dug into his feet, forcing him to constantly suppress winces and curses, determined to spot anything hostile before it found him. He was thirsty, but there was nothing he could do about it, so he tried to ignore the feeling. Evidence of more ancient ruins could occasionally be spotted as he moved deeper. Strange shapes beneath the layers of moss and silt hinted that a grand sprawling compound of buildings once covered the entire area.

From behind a fallen tree, covered in suspicious looking mushrooms, Lucas surveyed a bushy ravine that seemed likely to have a stream at the bottom. A rare gap in the canopy let in the sun, highlighting the whole area in bright relief. Running water would attract wildlife, but a chance for fresh water couldn’t be ignored. Determined not to get caught unaware, he sat very still and watched. Movement near the bottom of the ravine revealed a gnarled, stumpy bunch of wood with a humanoid shape. Lucas hadn't noticed it until it started shambling about. It was a little over half his height but much thicker. Lucas checked his Mana. He still had his last point remaining, so he used Analyse on it from hiding.

[https://i.imgur.com/OR9eHsa.jpg]

The Spriggan seemed to notice something was happening when Lucas used Analyse, but after looking around for a moment it went back to rummaging through the nearby bushes. Lucas frowned. Not liking the idea of being swarmed by insects as he went blind, he spent some time watching it more closely. The creature was pawing through a bush at the bottom of the ravine, picking and eating what might have been berries. A small cloud of insects was buzzing around it.

‘Those better not be wasps.’

A shimmering in the air began to manifest around the Spriggan as Lucas watched. It looked at first like heat distortion, but slowly came into focus; a field of energy surrounding the creature with bands and loops that shifted as it moved. It reminded him of experiments from school using iron filings to reveal the patterns of a magnetic field.

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

‘All living things?’

Lucas looked around his body and sure enough, he had an Aura of his own. Even the plants nearby had Auras though they were very weak. Now that he was looking, fields of energy intersected and overlapped all around, the forest was teeming with all kinds of life.

Focusing on all the Auras made the world seem very different, like looking at the world from a perspective of energy instead of matter. The description mentioned Mana.

‘Mana powers their bodies? Like.. instead of food? Does that mean I don't need to eat? Then why the fuck am I so hungry? Maybe eating replenishes Mana.’

The Spriggan was making its way to another shrub. It looked like it was made of wood but it couldn't be all solid wood or it wouldn't be able to move. At least its joints must be soft. Its Aura gave off a sense of calm curiosity and some other qualities that were quite inhuman and hard to interpret. The water was essential but he could wait till it passed, or sneak further upstream. Another screen popped up as he deliberated what to do.

[https://i.imgur.com/25eETuR.jpg]

Lucas sighed. It was pretty suspicious that the quest had popped up as if in response to his thoughts, making him wonder again if he was just going insane and all this was some delusion. He pushed the thought aside, it was useless to question himself at this point. He had no answers, and needed to focus on staying alive. That knife was an offer too good to pass up. Having a knife would be incredibly useful and not just to defend himself. He might be able to carve other tools from wood or strip bark to make rope.

Lucas considered his options from behind the tree. He could throw rocks at it, but he doubted he could do significant damage. He also couldn't run from it without the risk of disturbing other monsters. Surprise was probably his best weapon, like the badger had done to him. If the Character Sheet could be believed he had an advantage in both Strength and Agility, and he might be able to overwhelm it before it was able to do anything nasty to him.

He moved around the top of the ravine till he found a path that led down while staying out of sight. Lucas wasn't sure if the Spriggan had ears, but he moved as quietly as possible. Sure enough, there was a small stream down here, running along a bed of smooth rocks. He crept by the stream in the direction of the Spriggan, trying to judge the distance from memory. The uneven terrain made that hard so he brought up his Map to get a sense of where he was. A small red dot began to pulse, just beyond a group of shrubs.

‘Well that’s helpful.’

With his map showing the Spriggan, Lucas crept up behind the shrubs, moving them gently aside to get a clear look. Five or six metres ahead the Spriggan was still picking through bushes, oblivious.

Lucas looked around until he found a heavy rock, about the size of a loaf of bread. He picked it up, closed his eyes, and mentally prepared himself to put his life on the line. Then, trying his best to be both fast and quiet, he moved out with the rock above his head. He crossed the distance, his eyes going wide, teeth clenched, and his heart pumping with a thundering sound that rang in his ears. He had made it halfway when the creature turned a head that looked like a gnarled bundle of roots studded with a pair of glowing green gems. Lucas broke into a full sprint and hurled the stone, launching himself after it as he shouted an instinctive battle cry.