After a brief moment of distracted mirth, Jean felt the situation sink in. Alone he walked through a muggy forest to find and save a handful of strangers that are probably in just as much trouble as he is. It was quiet and eerie. His footsteps squished in the soggy grass and he was beyond grateful for his cleats. It gave him some level of control to be able to juke someone out and slip through opponents.

I guess my opponents might try to eat me, he thought humorlessly.

There was a shuffle behind him. He turned. Gazing into the mid-morning forest he thought that he would be able to see just about anything nearby. But there was nothing. Another skittering behind him revealed a bushy tail that dashed behind a tree only to climb it in true squirrel fashion. It looked odd to Jean. It might have been the oddly bright color or its speed. But what set it apart from a normal squirrel was the moment that it flared up with fire and the ashes moved along to another tree where the squirrel materialized. Jean looked at it in wonder as it went out of view.

“I’m really in another world,” Jean said while taking in the forest of large pine trees and tall grass.

“Hello!?” He shouted. Hoping a real person might hear him. “Hello! If you can hear me, I’m not a zombie!” Nothing responded to him.

Jean walked another 30 minutes aimlessly without seeing anything besides a couple more ash squirrels, he affectionately named them. Interestingly, it was getting darker. Jean assumed that it was mid-morning because of when he was ripped from California.

Maybe I was knocked out for most of the day? Maybe I’m on the other side of the planet? I think there are pine trees in China. “Idiot.” I’m on another planet. There is no China. There’s no California either.

There was a clash in the far distance. It was a muffled hum of sounds coming from the west. If the sun sets to the west here. Jean shifted his direction to face the sound and continued onward. The sounds slowly became more pronounced with the sounds of clashing metal, explosions, and the occasional scream. His eyesight started to catch up with his ears as the trees became thin enough to see there was a plain with flashing lights accompanying booming sounds.

Carefully Jean got closer and closer, expecting to see a battlefield full of war and armies. His expectations shattered as he got closer and only saw the dead; moving, fighting, biting dead; thousands of them. The flashing and the sounds were coming from the center of the hoard. Jean could not even see the force fighting against the shambling undead. Even weirder, the undead looked different from each other. Most of them were pale. But some were giants at 8-9 feet tall and had scales. A few of them were even charcoal-skinned.

I’m in over my head. I should go.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Almost as if the thought was a cue, a branch snapped behind him. Twirling around, ready to spear another undead, Jean saw a woman in her early twenties wearing white robes, crouching. She put a finger to her lips,

“Shhh, they are sensitive to sound.” She crept a bit closer, “I’m a priestess from the church of purity. Are you another outworlder?”

“Yes!” Jean whispered emphatically, “Did you find the others?”

Seeming happy, she replied, “We found one person. How many of you are there?”

“Five I think, though I… saw…one person is gone for sure,” Jean said with care and shame. Not knowing if he was culpable for killing the thing that used to be a person.

“That’s ok, as long as we can save some of you. Come with me.” She said while turning away from the continuing battle.

“Shouldn’t we do something about that?” Pointing at the hoard.

“No” she replied easily, “there is a large team of silver rankers in there. It will take a while, but most of these unholy things can’t even touch them. Now follow.” The request came off as a command. And he followed.

They walked in a crouch for a couple of minutes and then moved into a jog. The light was still fading, but there were still rays of light pouring through the trees sidelong.

A blur of death charged and tackled the priestess from the side faster than Jean could perceive. Light shone from the woman and the bright force threw the charcoal-skinned undead from her. The undead flew into a tree trunk a dozen feet off the ground.

Jean instinctually shot a bone spear into the undead as it dropped onto the ground near him. The undead did not die. It was pinned to the ground, stuck flailing. Jean in a moment of bravery and anger took several steps toward the undead. Extending his bone claw from his hand he swiped at the undead in the back of the neck with his single hand. It still didn’t die. In a frenzy, he kept slashing the undead until it severed something at the base of the neck. The undead stopped moving. Panting Jean looked backward to see a face of horror and rage on the priestess's face, as her wounds closed with glowing light.

“I got it,” Jean said while panting.

He thought about withdrawing his claw, but there was too much dark substance on them. He didn’t want to be infected or something.

Quest. Escape the wrath of the church of Purity.

Jean took the quest notification as a sign that this priest wasn’t going to help him.

The priestess screamed, “You are already impure?! I guess I know what kind of world you’ve come from then.” She lifted a hand in Jean’s direction, lances of light appearing around her. “Be purged.”

Jean turned to run when the first lance pierced his left shoulder creating a hole before vanishing in a blink.

Jean fell backward onto his tailbone, laying on his back while the pain consumed his thoughts.

This is it. Killed by a priest. God, doesn’t that seem wrong?

The young woman walked up next to him, lances still floating around her. She had no pity in her eyes.

“Purity himself wants me to leave you. And, take this.” She dropped a silver orb next to him. “I’m not sure why, but it looks like you have got a second chance. Now run. I don’t want to lay my eyes on you again you dirty piece of trash.”

As the priestess walked away, the world started to fade away with Jean’s consciousness. The last thing he heard was the voice that was starting to feel comfortable and identifiable.

Quest complete. You have escaped the wrath of the church of purity. Reward: gloves of pure life.