As I slowly drift into wakefulness, all I hear is the pleasant singing of birds, the haunting sounds from last night long gone.

They stopped near sunrise. Lotus says quietly.

I nod. ‘Makes sense, probably nocturnal monsters of some kind… But that does mean we’ll have to find shelter before sundown every night.’ My head starts to hurt as I think about what a pain that will be.

Are we staying in the woods? She asks, surprised.

I shrug. ‘Well that’s what I thought, we could go through the plains in the south but I’m not sure if that’ll be any better. And there’s definitely less places to hide in an open grassland.’

Hmmm… That makes sense.

I cross my arms in front of me, thinking of our next plan of action.

We could head deeper into the woods, and probably run into stronger monsters. While really dangerous, I bet we’d get stronger abilities from them. If we don’t die first.

Another option is skirting around the deep woods, sticking to the edges. We could pick off weaker monsters, and build up a base of strength before heading somewhere tougher. But that makes me a bit nervous, since I have no idea if people are searching for us.

And the last option is the plains to the south. Open and flat, filled with grass taller than a grown man. The visibility will honestly probably be worse than the woods, the thick grasses blocking our sight.

I think we should stay in the outer woods, for a few more fights. Lotus advises.

‘…Did I think all that outloud?’ I ask Lotus, a bit embarrassed.

Yeah, weren’t you trying to? She asks innocently.

I cover my face with my hands, my face turning red. ‘Sure, let's go with that.’

Our course of action set, I start to clamber out of the cramped log. As soon as I begin to move, the familiar full body aches rear their vicious voices. I grit my teeth, and stumble out into the forest.

Totally disparate to the horrific place it had been the night before, the forest around me is… beautiful. Sunlight filters through the forest canopy, giving everything an ethereal vibe. Brightly colored birds jump around in the branches of trees, singing to one another joyfully. Ancient trees lord over their neighbors, almost the size of houses around.

I take a moment to stare at the sight, totally different from last night, and the day I woke up.

Wow… Lotus sighs, sounding like an alien instrument. It's gorgeous.

I find myself nodding in agreement, despite my typical disinterest in such things.

We stand there for a peaceful moment, and enjoy something we found together.

────────────

After we start walking through the outer woods, it doesn’t take long to find our first opponent.

The creature looks… off. It has no body, instead being just a giant maw, its skin covered in red scales. Under its lower jaw sit an absurd number of insectile legs, all skittering around nervously. When we stumble upon the creature, it doesn’t notice us, and just stands in place, besides its twitching legs, unmoving.

Looking at the awful thing, the memory of a conversation I overheard comes to mind. A man with a large sword had been grumbling at a bar. “Damn I hate the New Blood beasties. Old Blood, they make some level of sense, they have to, to make it long enough to breed… But New Blood? They’re so unpredictable, covered in extra limbs, or eyes that shoot acid, or some other nonsense. Fucking hate it!” After that, the adventurers with him had muttered darkly in agreement.

Although I’m not sure of the difference between the two groups, I can tell this thing is New Blood. And that I should be prepared for anything.

‘Lotus… I want you to try and cover that in as much slime as possible.’ I instruct my teammate.

I feel the girl mentally nod, followed by tugging on my skin.

A few seconds later, purple slime shoots out of the ground around the beast, and starts coating it. Strangely, the creature doesn’t move, letting itself be completely submerged in the goo. After covering it, Lotus and I wait for the monster to burn away.

But that never happens. Instead, the monster stands in the purple suspension, totally unphased by the hissing acid.

Well that’s bad.

After what feels like seconds, but is more likely several minutes, the slime starts evaporating off the monster, leaving it standing in the woods. Like nothing even happened.

Now what? Lotus asks, totally lost.

Before I can respond, the monster’s legs all shudder at once, making a horrid scuttling sound. A heartbeat later, the giant, toothy mouth that makes up its body slowly opens, and turns towards us.

Inside the mouth, surrounded by the monster’s crooked teeth, is a massive eye. It locks onto me, meeting my gaze. It wipes its eye with a large tongue. I shudder in disgust.

The monster smiles.

Like they were shocked, all the spindly legs beneath it start working as one, the anxious dancing they had been doing a distant memory. With all of its legs working in concert, the beast rapidly closes in on us.

I panic, not sure what to do. I look around for something, anything, and find only bushes and trees. Without a better plan, I run to the nearest trunk, and start desperately climbing up it.

My burned feet scream in pain as they’re dug into by the rough bark, the partially healed wounds ripping open again. I ignore the agony the best I can, and keep moving upwards.

As I pull my legs up onto the lowest branch that will hold me, the monster’s jaws snap shut under me.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I look down at the creature, and flinch. The thing’s bright blue eye is trained on me, filled with obvious anger. It paces back and forth below the tree, its eye never leaving me for a second.

‘Got any ideas?’

Uh… Maybe the acid will burn its insides. Lotus offers weakly.

I sigh, trying to keep my fear under control. But the angry stare of the creature isn’t helping with that.

Wait… the eye!

My eyes dart around the bough I’m on until I find what I need. A long, sturdy looking branch, old enough to not bend as I pull on it. With a tug, I snap it off, creating a sharp point on one end.

Spear acquired.

I look back down at the monster, and see curiosity in its eye. It’s stopped looking at me, instead staring at my makeshift spear.

Don’t worry, I’ll give you a better look in just a second.

I breathe deeply, calming my rapidly beating heart as best I can before steeling myself.

And then I jump, branch held out in front of me. Aimed right for the monster’s eye.

In the fraction of a second it takes me to fall, the creature’s eye lights up in understanding, and its mouth snaps shut. Dread runs through me as my weapon slams into the monster’s red scales, and shatters into splinters.

With a kick, I jump off the top of the monster, trying to give me as much distance as I can get.

The living mouth opens, its eye darting around, searching for me. Then it locks onto me, the light blue of its iris sending shivers down my spine. Its eye glints maliciously, the corner of its mouth upturned.

This thing is intelligent. It has to be.

It charges, its many legs churning the dirt of the forest floor as it goes. I have no time to try and run, it closes the distance between us faster than I can react. It stops a step in front of me, its legs stabbing themselves into the ground to kill its momentum.

Now that it’s right in front of me, I realize its size. While not massive, it's as large as the Baker’s oven in town.

With its huge jaws wide, teeth glinting in the uneven lighting of the woods, it leans forward… awkwardly. Its whole body is put into the lean, its front legs having to fold, while its back legs dangle in the air fruitlessly.

…It’s… Really slow.

I easily throw myself to the side, the monster’s maw snapping shut on empty air. It soon opens again, finding me after a second of searching. Like before, it moves almost faster than I can see, reaching me almost instantly.

And like before, it leans into a clumsy, slow bite that takes almost an entire second.

Dancing out the way again, I try to capitalize on the time I have before it opens itself up and finds me again to run.

Unfortunately, I soon hear the scuttling of legs and a large presence behind me.

Without even looking, I jump forward, and look back to see the monster’s mouth closing on nothing.

This… is a mess. Is this what that old adventurer was talking about? If this thing had any attack besides putting its entire body into a bite, I’d have died long ago, unable to keep up with its speed.

Instead we’re taking turns like it's a game of chess, it never checkmating me, but me unable to escape.

This is annoying.

I agree, this thing should just give up and die already! Lotus chimes in.

My face goes red as I realize I accidentally thought aloud again.

With a quick sidestep, I dodge the monster’s latest attack effortlessly. I don’t bother trying to get distance, since it’ll just waste my energy. Instead I stay where I am, and wait for the next pathetically glacial attack.

When the monster opens its eye again, it's filled with fury. I can practically see steam coming off it.

Another sidestep, next a jump back, followed by a step backwards. I dodge attack after attack, none even coming close to actually hitting me.

I frown. The way this is going, it's going to be a test of endurance, and I don’t really like my odds against a magical creature. I have to think of something.

We could try the acid again, see if it actually works. Lotus says thoughtfully. Not like it would be too hard, you’d have plenty of time for me to fire some off and still get out of the way.

She’s right, the thing’s attack is so slow I could probably finish a book before it hit me.

‘Alright, let's try your idea.’

I dodge a few more attacks, counting the time between the monster leaning to it actually snapping shut.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, SNAP!

After repeating my test a few more times, I’m confident I can pull this off. So I wait for the beast to rush forward, and open its mouth wide.

1.

I lift my hand up, aiming it straight into the thing’s eye.

2.

I feel my skin being tugged, and see a wad of purple fill my outward facing palm.

3.

The acid fires, shooting forward before splatting into the creature’s eye.

4.

My legs tense, muscles beginning my jump backwards. The monster’s jaw casts a shadow over me as it starts to close it.

5.

I jump back, having to duck to get under the rapidly descending upper jaw. And then, with a snap, the mouth shuts.

Watching the monster, I can’t help but grin. Its legs are all trying to move in different directions, pulling it in every direction for a second before pulling it another way. After a few moments, its jaw opens once more, revealing its eye.

The orb is totally coated by a film of purple, and is very visibly burnt. The acid isn’t the only thing burning, as the monster’s fury is quite apparent as it finally spots me. It repeats its previous move, rushing forward again.

Except, this time it doesn’t stop.

The red menace catches me off guard, and its lower jaw slams into my gut, throwing me onto my back. As soon as I hit the ground, the monster moves again, spearing my legs with its frontmost limbs.

I open my mouth in a silent scream.

Then the monster starts its familiar move, and starts leaning forward. Its front legs fold, like it's praying, putting all its weight on my new puncture wounds. I clench my teeth as even more pain shoots up my spine.

In the little time I have, I look around desperately, but all I see are some rocks and the splinters of my makeshift spear. As my eyes flit past the mouth moving over me, I see a new emotion in the monster’s eye.

Satisfaction.

With nothing left to lose, I grab the nearest splinter of what used to be a branch, barely longer than the knife I used to kill the slime, and plunge it into the monster’s eye.

The creature reels in pain, throwing itself backwards. Its reflexive movement puts me out of range of the monster’s teeth as its mouth snaps shut once again.

Well… Most of me.

A crunching sound reverberates through my bones as the monster’s jaws close.

My eyes stare forward in shock. Where my hand should be, is instead the thing’s sealed maw.

The monster stumbles away from me on its back legs, teetering like a drunkard.

And takes my hand with it.

Pain that makes all the pain I’ve felt up to now a joke burns at the end of my arm. I clutch the bloody stump that is my wrist, my body fruitlessly trying to make me scream.

All that comes out of me is heavy, pained, breathing.

I can’t think, can’t focus, the pain too much. I just stare in horror at where my hand used to be, agony addling my thoughts. My vision dims around the edges, the darkness slowly closing in on the bright red image of my torn limb. Just before the blackness consumes everything, I see a splash of purple appear amongst the red.

Then I lose consciousness.