It hadn't been more than three hours since Cain had finished his food and fallen asleep before a loud rumbling awakened him. It started off as an irritation at first, invading his dreams subtly, before becoming more and more pronounced. Swearing internally, he opened his eyes and looked around, expecting to see the rest of the group dancing, or anything to that effect.

Instead they were all asleep, dead to the world as multiple bottles of liquor lay scattered on the ground. The rumbling slowly came to halt, causing Cain to shrug and lay back down, determined to get some form of decent sleep.

System Alert

Danger Sense Activated

Advised course of action: Please dodge.

The ping from the System made Cain’s eyes shoot open, adrenaline now beginning to rush through his body. The System had never activated at night before, let alone immediately starting up with Danger Sense. And ‘Please Dodge’ spelled trouble as well. Picking himself up off the ground with as much haste as possible, he began to move away from the spot he had been laying down at.

‘Wait, wasn’t Maya still there?’

Turning around, Cain swore and halted his advance, moving back towards the sleeping girl. A loud crack, like thunder striking directly overhead, tore through the silence in the air, and Cain watched in slowly animated horror as the tree closest to Maya shattered at its trunk and began falling downwards.

‘Shit, I’m not going to make it in time. Gotta move... faster,’ he thought, subconsciously gathering energy to the bottom of his feet. The resulting force for the energy pushed him past Maya, and he grabbed her by the waist and held her as his speed slowed down, moving the two of them out of the way of the falling tree.

New Skill Created

Skill Name: Sprint

Description: Increases movement speed for a short period of time.

Energy Consumption: 2 Energy per second

“Clear status,” Cain said, exhausted and out of breath. He wasn’t expecting something like that to kick in when it did, and he definitely wasn’t ready for the energy it took out of him, even for a second. Turning around slowly, his mind quickly cleared back up as he felt Maya squirming underneath his arm.

“Sorry, sorry. There really wasn’t a choice,” he said, holding up his hands and standing back in defense. Quiet as ever, Maya merely shook her head.

“Thank you...”

Nodding in response, Cain turned his attention to the tree that had fallen, trying to figure out why something with such size had fallen over without any warning. The group had surveyed this small clearing earlier, making sure that there were no traps or any faulty branches that could have injured them.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“Shit, the group,” Cain muttered, jumping on branches and eventually reaching the top of the tree and looking past it. He let out a small sigh of relief when he saw them split up around the trunk, trying to move it. It looked like they hadn’t realized Cain or Maya were alive, but even if the group was trying to save them, no real headway was being made on moving the damned thing.

“Boulder! We’re fine. Let me grab Maya and we will be right over!”

“Oh, thank the gods,” Boulder exclaimed, resting his head on the bark before standing up and walking backwards so he could see Cain. “Hurry up and get over here.”

Jumping back down to where Maya was standing, he turned to the tree, back to her, and then back to the tree again. “Um, I’m going to have to ask you to forgive me,” Cain said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. Maya opened her mouth to reply, but immediately shut it with a squeak as Cain picked her up bridal style and began jumping from branch to branch again. He made sure to take it slower than the previous trip, but something about the forest was giving him the creeps.

When he managed to reach the top of the trunk however, he felt slightly more relieved at what he saw. From the ground up, Boulder had constructed an earthen slide. Cain set Maya down and looked behind him tentatively.

“I keep expecting to see a ghost or something,” he muttered to himself as Maya descended first. Watching her descend to the ground did ease his anxiety, but only a tiny bit. As he stepped towards the slide, he gave the surrounding area one last look.

“Observe.”

Observe Active

Name: Blood Bat

Rating: One Star

Description: Normally found in packs, the blood bat is normally a timid creature. However, this trait is over written when under undue stress and hunger.

Status: Terrified

“Blood bat? Terrified? Oh shit....” Cain said, jumping on the slide and heading downwards.

‘Faster, faster, faster!’ Cain thought, the soft sounds of wings flapping through the night appearing as he descended closer and closer to the group.

“Boulder! Blood bats, coming this way!” he shouted, standing up at the last stretch down the slide and running off. The momentum increased his speed greatly, and took him into the circle formed by the exploration group. Turning around and standing in front of Maya in case any of the bats had caught up with him, Cain stared up at the sky, which had turned into a writhing mass of black velvet. Red eyes blinked in and out in rapid succession, looking like a multitude of stars appearing and disappearing.

“Oh, well this is not good,” Cain muttered, preparing himself to fight. The tension of waiting built over the group, each person pulling out weapons, others mentally preparing themselves with whatever skills they had learned. He could feel Maya behind him, her aura seeping out and bolstering his defense a little bit. It probably had a higher effect on the rest of the party, but with the passive skill he had obtained from Geb, it really did not do much for him.

And then the bats past overhead of the group, chittering in mad succession. A gust of wind overcame then, and the sky cleared and the stars reappeared. A deafening silence settled over the land, and the tension was broken.

“That isn’t normal, is it,” one of the recruits asked, making it more of a statement after seeing the bewildered face of Boulder.

“Not at all. Frightened blood bats are one of the deadliest things to new recruits and low ratings. Normally they would swarm, and we would have been left with extremely heavy injuries. I have a different question though. Cain, how did you know they were blood bats,” Boulder asked, turning to the young man with a piercing gaze.

“I never mentioned this did I... I have a skill called ‘Observe.’ When we were coming down from the tree, I felt something watching me from behind so I used it,” Cain replied, shrugging his shoulders. “And now here we are.”

Boulder nodded. “Next time, let the group leader know that up front. It isn’t a rare skill, but having someone from behind that can use it makes it easier on the front liners so they don’t need to divide their attention. I know it’s most likely a low level, but go ahead and use it again. It wouldn’t hurt to level it up while we are out here.”

Cain nodded and turned his attention to where the bats came from, focusing his energy. Like Boulder had mentioned, the skill wasn’t a high level, but something was better than nothing at this point in time.

“Observe.”

Observe Activated

Name: Plaguesoul

Rating: ???

Description: ???

Advice: Run.

“Uh, Boulder? We have an issue,” Cain said, his adrenaline pumping into full overdrive.

“Why, what is it?”

“Doesn’t matter. Just run.”