Astrid sprinted across the fields faster than ever before stumbling and staggering through the uneven terrain. The tears streaming down her cheeks clouded her vision, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was to get away from the horrible wolves that had taken her family. They would not take her too.

A rock caught her food, and her body slammed into the ground. She got up again without missing a beat, ignoring the sting of her scraped knees and palms. She didn’t dare to stop or look back. Not even for a moment. For all she knew, the wolf monsters could be hot on her heels. Even if they weren’t, many other dangerous monsters roamed the area, just waiting to ambush her.

Soon the hard line that marked the forest edge sprang up before her, forcing her to zigzag between the trees as she left the fields of home behind. Branches whipped against her face as dodging them all proved to be unfeasible. Astrid had no idea where she was heading or for how long she ran, but it didn’t matter as long as she escaped.

Eventually, her depleted stamina forced her to stop. In this state, it would be impossible to run another step even if her life depended on it, so she collapsed against a tree trunk while nervously scanning her surroundings for threats.

Sweat dripped down her body, and her throat burned. Her breath came in short gasps as she waited impatiently for her stamina to go back up. The wait passed agonizingly slowly, and her nervousness did not help. This was not a safe place to recover, but her options were limited. As long as she was out in the open, monsters could appear at any moment. If that happened, her stamina would need to have recovered enough to endure another sprint.

She needed a plan, but no matter how much she racked her brain, nothing came to mind. Where could she go? In an instant, everything was gone. She had no home, no family, and no equipment. All her skills were either irrelevant or at too low a level to be of any use. The only village she knew lay many miles away in the opposite direction. The path to get there was blocked by the vicious wolf monsters, so going there was out of the question. It might not even exist anymore. It, too, could have been overrun by monsters.

It was impossible for her to deny that her situation was dire. If the monsters didn’t get to her within the next few hours, dehydration or exhaustion would. Even if she somehow survived the night, she would slowly starve.

She tucked her knees to her chest, hugging them tight. Maybe it would be better to just stay here and hope the monsters would finish her off quickly. Then the pain in her chest would disappear too.

Astrid shook her head, trying to rid herself of those thoughts before her despair consumed her completely. Giving up now was not an option. She had been told to keep going until she was safe, and she owed it to her mother to at least try her best. Her mother had, after all, sacrificed her life so Astrid could get a chance to live, so that was what she had to do. Get to a safe place and build a new life for herself.

With renewed resolve, she managed to push away her depressing thoughts and read through her health stats to figure out where her dark notions were coming from.

Health: 10/10

Stamina: 3/10

Mana: 10/10

Focus: 7/10

Spirit: 1/10

The issue was easy to spot. Her spirit was almost depleted. Getting stats too low came with a wide range of terrible side effects. Her low stamina had caused muscle aches, and clearly, her low spirit was causing negative thoughts. Astrid had always stopped using any of her stats when it began to get uncomfortable, which usually happened when she had drained around half of the points. This was the first time any stat had gotten close to zero. The spirit stat was responsible for motivation, and with it almost used up, it would be difficult to find the will to do anything. That made it her biggest concern at the moment, so she had to do something to raise it quickly, or she would end up in a catatonic state.

No more despair, she told herself. Think positive thoughts. You’re alive, the sun is shining, and the birds are singing. Everything will be fine. She got up and began walking, even though she still didn’t know where to go or what to do next.

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Don’t think about that now. You can deal with that later. For now, just focus on surviving.

Keeping the pace slow allowed her to continuously recover stamina even as she walked. Like this, everything almost seemed normal. She was out playing in the forest, just like so many times before throughout her childhood. The good memories helped her spirit recover a bit, and soon it was at a stable level.

A branch snapped behind her, and she noticed the birds were no longer singing. Shivers ran down her back as she turned around. Her heart almost stopped as the wolf monster slowly sneaked closer. Thick, blood-stained saliva dripped from its maw, and it lowered its body, getting ready to pounce.

Astrid turned and ran, even though she knew it was futile. There was no way to outrun the wolf for long, no matter how hard she tried. It was much faster and had gotten too close. However, with no weapons or fighting skills, it was her only option. Her stamina had not had time to recover much, and now it was rapidly depleting again.

She spun to the right, hoping the sudden change of direction would buy her a few extra seconds. It did, but no more than that. Soon, the wolf caught up again. It was so close, she could feel it behind her. Its breath smelled like blood and rotten meat. She forced herself to run faster, but it was hopeless. She changed direction again as something sprang out from behind some bushes and joined the pursuit. It had to be a monster, but Astrid never got a good look at it.

Every part of her body protested. Her muscles ached, and her head pounded as much as her heart. Her mind screamed at her to stop running before she hurt herself, and she didn’t know how much longer she could ignore its command.

Just as she thought she couldn’t take another step, there was a thud behind her. Behind her, the monsters had stopped. Astrid was so exhausted that she collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. For some reason, the monsters didn’t come any closer. They snarled and barred their fangs while pacing from side to side as if an invisible barrier kept them at bay.

Astrid was too exhausted to move, so all she could do was lie on the ground. It was hard to believe that she was actually safe, and she feared that the barrier would disappear at any moment. Then the monsters would swarm her and rip her throat out.

However, the invisible barrier stayed in place, preventing the monster from coming closer. That left her with a question she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer to. Why had a barrier been set up here in the first place? This was in the middle of nowhere.

She noticed she had received a few messages and opened them.

Quest from mom is complete

Monsters are attacking your home

Objective: Run away to escape monsters

Reward: 3 large copper

Seeing the first and last quest her mother would ever give her made her eyes burn. The reward must have been every coin her mother had on her when the monsters broke through the door into the cottage. The reality of her situation struck her again. Everything she had ever known was gone. Her mother, her father, her sister, and her home were all lost forever. Tears ran down her cheeks again, but she wiped them away and shook her head to clear her mind.

I’m still in danger, so I’ll have to deal with my grief later. Before she could despair again, she opened the next message.

New level

Running skill has reached level 2 of 10

You can now run faster and spend less stamina while running

You have received a bonus for your stamina. Its maximum value has doubled form

That message came as a surprise. This was the first time she had leveled up a skill, and on any other day she would have been ecstatic, but now it was hard to care. The flight from the farm had left her physically and mentally exhausted, and her entire body hurt like nothing she had ever experienced before. If that’s what it took to level up, it wasn’t worth it. The horrible images of her sister's brutal demise would haunt her memories forever.

Don’t think about it, she scolded herself.

After suppressing her feelings, she stood up and brushed the dirt off her dress as best she could. Looking around gave her no clue why this place warranted a magical barrier like the one keeping the monsters out. It looked like any other part of the forest, with its trees, bushes, and dirt.

However, as she studied the ground closer, she noticed the smallest hint of a road. Under a thin cover of earth and moss, stones lay in a line so straight that it couldn't have occurred naturally. Someone had to have built it a long time ago. Following the path let her further away from the barrier edge, where the monster still stood snarling at her.

Out of nowhere, a large building appeared. If it hadn’t been for the ivy growing all over the walls, it looked like it could have been built yesterday. Dark stone columns held up the overhanging roof, and stairs led up to a heavy wooden door. The colored window glass made it impossible to see what lay inside the building.

The daunting realization hit her that she was standing in front of a temple. Someone had built all this and dedicated it to one of the gods. That would explain why there was a barrier keeping monsters out, but it also filled her with dread. These days, all gods had temples in towns and cities, but a long time ago, it had only been the ones people worshipped openly. She had no idea which god this temple belonged to, but the fact that it was located in the forest and not in a city didn’t bode well for Astrid.