“Get up already, you lazy ass!” A foot prodded Gianna Obryan’s sleeping form, none too gently.

She rubbed the gunk from one eye and cracked it open to see one of her fellow castaways glowering over her. It was a taciturn, middle-aged woman with gray hair and a solid build. Gianna hadn’t bothered to remember her name.

Gianna covered her mouth and yawned. “What time is it?”

It was a question of habit. Where she laid, bundled up in her thick quilted blanket on the sandy beach, Gianna could see the sun had almost reached solar noon. This was about the only notion of time the group had now as all their phones and other electronics had died.

“Time for you to get up,” the other woman snapped. “I can’t believe they just let you sleep all day.”

‘They’ were the other castaways. Two weeks ago, Gianna had been living her mundane and unremarkable life, and then in a single heartbeat, she’d found herself standing on a white beach, surrounded by others who were just as confused and unprepared as herself.

There were twenty-four in all—twelve men and twelve women. Words had poured into their head, telling them they were part of an experiment and welcoming them to the Gateway. Then screens had appeared in their mind’s eye with a collection of stats and skills specific to the individual.

“But I’m tired…” Gianna protested in a sleepy murmur.

“You’re lazy and a sponge,” the other woman spat back.

Gianna didn’t let it bother her but simply rolled to the side, freeing herself from her thick blanket, and stood. Like several of the others, the woman was frustrated and scared and acting out. For some reason, she’d decided Gianna was a drain on the group and took out her bad mood on her.

Rather than react, she stretched. Sleeping on the beach always left her muscles sore. She twisted to the right until a pop came from her lower back.

“What can I do for you, Barb?” she asked. That’s right, Barbara. The name floated up from the loose amalgamation of Gianna’s memories.

“If you did anything, that would be great.”

“Sleeping is part of ‘anything.’”

“Oh, you’re so clever.” Barb’s tone was a nasty mix of contempt and anger. Gianna wondered if she were like this all the time or if the situation was too much for her. “Go gather food with the others.”

Gianna nodded, scooped up her blanket, and turned away. Her long naps kept her remarkably even-tempered and calm, which was probably one of the reasons some people were fine with them while others were aggravated.

Closer to the treeline, Daniel was working on a shelter—lashing together leaves on a skeleton of branches. He was a handy fellow with a bad haircut, dad body, and farmer’s tan. He’d managed to procure himself an axe as well as a set of tools through the magical questing system Gateway had, and spent most of his time building or fortifying lean-tos. Storms rolled off the ocean erratically, drenching the area before skipping merrily away after less than an hour. Nothing he’d built yet could stand up to mother nature—the end of a squall found the group clutching at the remnants of whatever structure they’d tried to shelter under.

He’d get there though. Gianna had no doubt.

She unrolled her blanket across the rickety frame he worked on and put stones on the ends to hold it down, throwing a shadow across his sweaty body.

“Thanks,” he grunted.

Gianna twisted to the left, popping something in the small of her back. “No problem. Who is gathering food?”

“Saul, Christine, May, Jackie. Don’t know where.”

“I’ll bring you something tasty.”

He grunted, not looking up from his work. “Be careful.”

“Yep, yep…” Gianna said to herself as she started along the sandy trail into the forest. It was hot and humid, and far less pleasant than the beach. She’d ditched her heavy sneakers the first day and went barefoot in her cargo shorts.

Others traveled in groups or felt the need to carry weapons in the form of heavy branches or sharpened sticks. She did neither. Nor did she memorize where she walked or plot a course. Her legs took her where they will and her footsteps were light enough that it was easy to hear the world around her.

She pulled at leaves and grasses as she went, nibbling everything. The moss on the trees? She scraped some off and ate it. Cup-headed mushrooms poking out from a mess of damp fallen leaves? Grabbed a few and ate them. A bug crawling along a rock? She popped the body into her mouth, neatly biting off the head and spitting it onto the ground while Gianna crunched on the still-wriggling legs.

Gianna found a bush covered with small, dark purple berries, squatted beside it, and lazily popped them into her mouth. Tart. You’d need a ton of sugar to make proper jam from these. In between eating the berries, Gianna would tear off a few leaves and chew them.

She’d suggested this to a few others and they’d dismissed the notion. The message the group had been given on arrival mentioned unlocking limitless potential, so Gianna had done whatever she felt like without consideration towards what a person normally should be able to do.

After all, if something had managed to yeet them to a tropical island, speak directly to their minds, assign them quests, and give them rewards for following it, then it probably had a generous interpretation of ‘limitless potential.’ When Gianna got thirsty, she drank seawater. When Gianna got hungry, she’d munched on whatever was at hand, and the forest was full of leaves.

The trick was to chew them until they were nothing more than a sour paste in her mouth.

Her dietary habits had gotten her poisoned a few times, but Gianna had come to realize that sleep was magical here. Or, even more magical, because she was fond of it already. Whenever a poison notification popped up in her sight, she’d nap.

Something warm and wet brushed against her arm. Gianna glanced to the side to find one of the many island deer licking her. Likely because of the salt in her sweat. The deer was tiny—about the height of a dog with a nimble body and two long tusks that looked ridiculous on it. She held out her hand and let it lick the sticky berry juices from her hand.

This pleased the little beast and it pushed by her and chewed on the bush.

“Rude,” Gianna murmured, and then she yawned. Always so tired lately. Pulling up her screen, Gianna noticed a new message.

Animal Handling level 12

That was nice. For whatever reason, Gianna only had the ‘Survive’ and ‘Exit Gateway’ quests. If she lived a month on the island, two or three more weeks, she’d get some sort of a reward. Quests gave rewards, often material or equipment, so other people were walking around with various bits of survival gear. One lucky fellow, Hawthorne, even had his own large tent.

Lacking quests, Gianna had to make do with the various skills Gateway gave her. That suited her fine. Whatever magic suffused the land allowed rapid progress. Or, at least, the appearance of such.

Numbers went up, but Gianna felt much the same. The deer weren’t timid around her, but she suspected that was simply because they’d gotten used to her scent and noticed that she didn’t do anything threatening.

Familiar grunting reached her ears and Gianna left the small deer to its lunch. She followed the sound for a minute until she came upon a group of boars, each the size of a mule. They constantly grunted and squealed as they foraged, tearing at the damp ground with their hooved feet.

“Hello again,” Gianna said, approaching the closest one.

It raised its massive head and snorted, its snout wet and covered with dirt.

“Remember me?” She laid a hand on its hot, shaggy side. The boars all had a pungent, musky scent. Strong enough that Gianna had to breathe through her mouth until she adjusted to it.

As she ran her fingers through its rough hair, nails scratching at the thick skin underneath, it made higher pitched squeals of greetings. A few of the others joined in but most ignored her.

She snapped off a strong enough stick with a pointed end and used it to scratch the boar’s side, and back, and then once it was relaxed, moved to its head. It had some hanger-ons, small bugs that clung to it, probably drinking its blood. Using the stick, she’d flick them away or dig them out.

There was a particularly fat tick buried in the soft flesh of the boar’s cheek, right below its eye. It had consumed enough blood that its swollen form obscured its host's sight.

“Oh that’s a nasty one,” Gianna said as she knelt down.

While she thought of it as a tick, its body resembled that of a small blue crab. She slipped the tip of the stick under its belly and gently pried. The boar grumbled, hitting her with a blast of its eye-watering breath.

“I know… I know…” she cooed, brushing the soft mass of its ear. “Relax.”

Between its size and massive tusk, Gianna knew it could gore her with ease. Yet, even though they were wild beasts, the boars weren’t dumb brutes. It made sounds of discomfort as she wriggled the stick in place and pulled hard, it certainly hurt, but kept still.

One moment, Gianna was pulling with steady force, and the next, she was on her butt as the tick was ripped out. Its ‘head’ was covered in blood, strings of muscle hanging from its mandibles. Gianna quickly dropped it, stabbed the stick into its swollen, blood-filled abdomen, and flung it away.

A few of the others had encountered the blue ticks and their bite was deep and could get infected. The ones on the boars looked mean enough to snap off her pinky finger.

“Better?” she asked the boar. Gianna took one of the many wads of grass the beasts had dug up and dabbed torn flesh under his eye until the small amount of blood eased.

Melee level 8

Medicine level 2

The boar whined in complaint but quickly settled down again. Gianna trusted that its instinct told it that a bit of flesh was a small price to pay for the removal of something near its eye.

After finishing, Gianna moved on to the others. They moved slowly as a group, tearing up the ground and eating various roots and nuts within. Their jaws and teeth were strong enough to crush shells but they missed the smaller nuts. These Gianna tossed in her inventory.

Wherever they’d gone today, the group had picked up a bunch of the blue ticks. This was an irritant to the larger ones, but the boarlets were a problem. Even more, their distressed squeals while Gianna pulled them free worried their mothers. They fake charged at her, tossing their broad heads in show, and then circling around their kids.

It took another hour for Gianna to delouse them all. Near the end, the largest female laid on her side, presenting her heavy teats to Gianna. Interestingly enough, the boars only had four nipples total. Gianna couldn’t tell how many children each mother had because they all mixed together, but it looked like two or three each.

Gianna had a rough wooden bowl she’d managed to hack into existence. She pulled it from her inventory and went to work kneading and squeezing at the boar until it was full of milk.

She sucked it down with a grimace. It tasted a bit like the herd smelled, was oddly thick, and clung to the inside of her mouth. Yet drinking it was satisfying in a way eating leaves, berries, and bugs wasn’t. After the third bowl, she was full and it sloshed around happily in her belly. Gianna had to keep the boarlets away as she drank. A swarm of ten were trying to shove their way to the nipples, even though all of them were large enough they’d already started to munch on regular foods.

Finished, she freed herself from the hot press of shaggy boars, slipped her bowl in her inventory, and headed off.

Gianna had promised Dan something to eat and the nuts wouldn’t be sufficient. Her gut told her to head ‘that-a-way,’ and soon she came to one of the many streams that crisscrossed the land. Gianna wasn’t sure how large the island was but there were three predominant mountains with snow dusted along their top, and she assumed most of the waterways she encountered was rain run-off from them.

The brook was lazy, shallow, and had rough stones along the bottom, suggesting it was young. Along the banks were rows of fronds, the greenest fronds of which were tender enough for the others. Gianna snapped them off at the base. Though she was full, she popped a few into her mouth. They tasted like snap peas. If only she could steam them with salt and butter.

As she worked the rows, Gianna kept an eye on the thickest part of the bank. Larger rivers or flooded areas had crocodiles, so she avoided them. There were a few flat-headed brown snakes that liked to lurk along the banks though.

They might have been harmless, but she took care. She slowly brushed plants out of the way and studied patches of ground as she worked.

Her focus was a fluid thing, however. No matter how absorbed she might become, part of her mind seemed to be elsewhere.

This wasn’t entirely conscious. With a start, Gianna realized that the birds around her had hushed. That the forest had fallen silent save for the continuous rush of water.

Gianna didn’t bother to look around or listen. Instead, she stepped from the bank and grabbed a low-hanging branch of a cypress, pulling herself upwards. She clamored upwards a few more branches and then paused, looking around, at perhaps the height of three men.

Lying along the branch on her belly, she ignored the soft needles that brushed against her arms and face.

Then she waited.

It was another ten minutes before a sleek, scaled form wound its way to the water. Gianna didn’t know what it was. It reminded her of a komodo lizard, powerfully built and low to the ground, its long tongue flicking as it moved, but it was longer and more lithesome. Its scales were black with yellow stripes and its steps were feline in their grace.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Gianna watched with fascination as the big lizard approached the brook and began to drink. The tree’s scent tickled her nose and she sneezed, causing it to pause and glance upwards.

“Don’t mind me,” she said.

It twisted its head—earless but with holes where ears might be—and flicked its tongue at her. Gianna hadn’t seen the lizard in action, not yet. She’s watched boars back away when they’d spotted one and seen a few sleeping in the sun after a kill. One’s belly had been so horribly distended that an adult human could be curled up inside.

What she hadn’t seen was one climb a tree. For that, Gianna gave thanks to all her primate ancestors.

After some time, it returned to its drinking. She wondered what was brewing in its primitive brain. Her hope was that it had food preferences or didn’t chase down its prey. If she had to jog all the way back to the beach, Gianna thought she could manage it.

Once it was finished, it gave a deep, breathy hiss and walked away, indifferent to her existence. That was it for this spot today. Gianna slipped silently to the ground and headed back to the beach.

There, in a cove filled with small pools, she dug for coastal urchins. The animals were prickly round balls that grew to the size of coconuts and came in purple and dark red colors. Gianna discarded several until she found two particularly large and hefty ones.

She was searching for a third when she felt a sharp sting on her hand. Hissing, she yanked it out of the water and looked for the culprit. It was a jellyfish no larger than her foot, its pale blue body and pink stingers blending in with the colorful rocks.

Swearing under her breath, Gianna stabbed it with a stick, scooped it up, and beat the jellyfish against a large boulder. Once she was sure it was dead, she ripped off the tendrils and stuffed the gooey mass in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

Picking up the two urchins, too large for her inventory, she walked back to camp. Her hand started to cramp, her skin turning ashy even as she broke out in a fever. There was a tiny pink spot where the jellyfish stung her but her entire hand felt as though it was aflame.

“Nice haul,” Dan said appreciatively as she deposited the coastal urchins, fronds, and nuts before him.

She muttered something in return and then found a cool space to lie down. Gianna was out in second but her dreams were harsh and angry things where many-teethed monsters chased her down. A few times she woke up hot and thirsty, so she tossed herself into the waves and guzzled down seawater.

“Don’t drink that, you idiot!” someone shouted. She ignored them and plopped back down on the ground, a pool of water soon forming under her.

It was night when she next gained consciousness. And she felt fine save for a pressing urge to relieve herself.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Saul said, once she was ready to join the group. Several people sat around a fire made of driftwood.

“How are things?” she asked as she brushed the sand and dirt off her clothing.

“Hell of a day,” he replied. “Nothing left for dinner. Don’t complain—if you want to eat, you have to help out.”

She sat down with a shrug. Gianna had never asked for food.

“Why was your day hell?” she asked.

“Those huge boars. We were gathering food when they came out and attacked us. We had to run away.”

“They haven’t bothered me.”

“The wildlife is getting nastier. More aggressive,” May spoke up. “I think we are the first humans they’ve seen.”

“I’m trying to level up my melee,” Saul said. “Dan’s crafting is getting better and better, but our spears still aren’t strong enough to take down anything that big.”

Gianna listened while peeling skin off the back of her hand. Where she’d been stung was crisp, dead skin. She wasn’t interested in hunting anything.

“If you can’t make weapons, maybe we can find some?” she offered. It made sense to her.

“Where?” asked Saul.

“In dungeons or ruins or something. Like in a game.”

This earned her mostly dubious looks.

“This isn’t a game,” Saul said, darkly.

“Then why are there stat screens and quests?”

“I don’t know, but this is serious. We could die. Do you not get that? Those boars could have killed us. We have to start taking this situation seriously. We’re not going to find weapons just lying around.”

Gianna nodded. “That makes sense.”

Not that she agreed, but she’d never been good at arguing her point and understood why others might not see things her way.

She fell silent again, listening to the others talk about their quests, skill increases, and trying to puzzle out their attributes mixed in with mundane chatter about their previous life or how they hated the bugs here, or how they’d love a good hamburger and shake.

Quiet as she was, Gianna liked people well enough. If better weapons would make them feel safer then she should try to get them better weapons.

And, if this was like a game, weapons were waiting to be collected somewhere. Maybe. Possibly. Only one way to find out.

That night, when most of the others had fallen asleep, she grabbed up her blanket, draped it over her shoulders, and walked back into the forest.

The group hadn’t found any signs of habitation or development, but everyone stayed within easy distance to the coast. At least, everyone who was still in the group. Five people had left or disappeared.

If there was something to be found, it was further afield.

Her night vision had improved greatly since the first day, and Gianna often took walks after the sunset. It felt calmer then and it was easier to breathe. Under the light of the moon, Gianna could spot the mountains and headed for the leftmost one.

Not for any reason in particular. It simply felt right.

Her feet carried her forward across thickets, streams, and clearings, up and down the land’s smooth hills. All around her the night sang, much like the day. It was simply a softer tune.

When sunset appeared, Gianna found a tree to climb in and began to eat its leaves. It wasn’t filling but there was

an abundance of it. It struck her as sad that none of the others had even tried her diet. She dozed for several hours and then continued on.

She was somewhere she hadn’t ventured before but felt only curiosity. Where was the sense of danger Gianna expected a person to feel when all alone in the wilderness? She didn’t know where she was or how to get back or where she was going. This should have made her feel lost but it didn’t. Lost was the sensation she’d get when walking by her neighbor's houses—windows shut and curtains pulled tight.

Gianna scratched idly at her hand. The peeling skin along the top had spread and it was deeply satisfying to scrape off flakes with her nails.

At last, she came to a lake and rested again, letting her sore feet soak in the cool water. Around her, the world buzzed with the endless drone of ten-thousand insects enjoying an early summer day.

She grabbed a pale white shell and began to bathe herself. First using it to remove the dirt that clung to her skin and then scraping off the top layer. There was an itchy spot in the middle of her back. No doubt something had bitten her while she slept or walked.

Gianna grit her teeth and dug hard into the skin, the sensation slightly painful but also deeply satisfying. She rinsed herself off afterward, washed her clothes and slipped them back on, then sprawled across a warm rock to dry off.

A few hours later, she set off refreshed and in good spirits. She decided to follow the edge of the lake heading for the interior. The current might be stronger but there would be a greater chance of her coming across a settlement.

Soon, she found out just how right she was. There was a pathway in the water. Not a natural one, but a black stone walkway heading to the bottom of the lake with perfectly still walls of water flanking it. It ended at the large double gates of a building made of a pearlescent blue material. All of it was underwater save for the single slice of air above the pathway.

Quest(s) Received:

– Enter and explore the aquatic palace

– Fight and overcome at least one silver or gold-ranked monsters

– Find the Luminous Water Managem

Gianna eased herself forward, down the slope of the lake floor. A few fishes swam by, startled at her appearance. She poked her finger into the wall of water and then thrust her hand within. Whatever force held it was invisible and insubstantial, but it held fast as she pulled her hand back out.

The black stone under her feet was dry to the touch and clean of dirt or pond weeds. Still, Gianna felt the air cool as she descended and the double doors loomed before her. They were made of the same stone possessed no latch or handle. Gianna pushed one and it didn’t give but a prompt appeared in her mind.

Level 1 classless human detected. Entrance allowed.

Would you like to enter the aquatic palace?

“Yes, I would,” she replied.

Rather than swing open, the black doors transformed into a swirling portal of blue and Gianna stepped through. She found herself in a large, domed courtyard, the floor covered in clean blue sand. It smelled of fresh rainwater and the tangy ozone of a lightning storm.

A massive throne of pink coral dominated her vision and upon it sat a giant formed from water itself. Its beard was a mass of thick seaweed and in its hand, it held a trident made of ivory. He rested a chin on his fist as he listened to a diminutive figure standing before him.

Catching sight of her, the giant waved its hand silently forward and the other person turned. As she approached, Gianna realized that the small person was a muscular, green-skinned orc, far taller than her. He wore armor of plain hide and stood with a heavy, hooked sword of brass on his shoulder.

He looked her over thoughtfully. Neither the giant nor the orc seemed hostile, more curious than anything, but Gianna found it hard to come too close.

“Should I just wait here?” she asked, not wanting to intrude.

“Step closer,” the giant said in a booming voice so loud it hurt her ears. Gianna winced, which he picked up on, and he lowered his tone. “Gianna Obryan, stand beside Kal of the Owlbear Clan.”

She shuffled closer, eyes down, and then glanced upward at the wall of muscle.

“Please to meet you, Kal.”

The eyes that met hers were sharp and golden. He regarded her t-shirt, shorts, blanket, and bare feet with trepidation.

“Honored Greetings, stranger,” he rumbled with a polite bow of his head. “Have you also come to try your skill and strength within the dungeon?”

“Um…” Her gaze darted between Kal and the massive man of water staring down at them. “My group only appeared on the island two weeks ago. We don’t have any tools or supplies, so I hoped I could find some in here.”

Thankfully, Kal didn’t seem disappointed. “Surgeborn. The Surge carried my grandparents here decades ago, and we wondered what the latest storm had brought.”

Gianna tucked away that term. It was nicer than ‘castaways.’ She’d ask what the Surge was later.

The giant’s gaze became unfocused for a second as though he looked through her to something beyond.

“The first of this Surge to enter my palace or any other dungeon. Clothed with little and armed with less. No class, no profession, few skills, and a body unused to the rigors of Gateway. A mouse but a brave one.”

He sounded pleased, but Gianna didn’t want to come off as reckless.

“My plan was to peek, search for anything useful, and book it at the first sign of trouble.”

“Ah, yes.” The giant stretched out his hand until it hovered above her. “Scavenger.”

Profession granted: Scavenger

+1 to Perception

+1 to Vitality

Pick a Tier I Talent

Danger Sense

Treasure Sense

Pack Rat

“Thanks! That’s kind of you,” she said. Of the three, Danger Sense looked to be the most useful, but rather than grabbing it, she minimized the display. “Are there any rules I should know about? As this is your palace, I don’t want to do anything I shouldn’t.”

“You are here for supplies. Kal is here to slay monsters. Within this dungeon lies many dangers but you will be rewarded deeper into it you push. There are no rules.”

Kal extended his hand to her. “I did not expect to meet another here and yet you have arrived as Lord Ortolus heard my request to enter. Our meeting must be the will of heaven. Let us journey within together.”

She reached for his hand and then hesitated. “Are you sure? I’ve literally never fought. The biggest thing I’ve killed is a coastal urchin. I don’t know how much help I’d be.”

He looked surprised at this. Perhaps the idea of an adult who’d never fought at all was foreign to him. A questioning look was tossed Lord Ortolus’ way, and the giant merely smirked under his great beard of hanging green as he leaned back.

“Ask her how she found this place. Ask her what her quests are…” he said in amusement.

Kal’s black eyebrows rose with interest.

“I stumbled upon it. I just set off from the coast and found my way here. I have three quests: Enter and explore the aquatic palace. Fight and overcome at least one silver or gold-ranked monster. Find the Luminous Wa--”

Kal grabbed the hand that still hung in the air and a request to join his party popped into view. His grip was so strong it made here hand ache.

“Yes,” he said with sudden eagerness. “You are exactly what I need.”