The meat tasted so good! The thought of having meat again was always a striving goal for the three creatures, but Breaker Bee wasn't eating like the two goblins at the camp. Both Scout and Crash were enjoying a freshly killed dark rabbit. Even if they had to fight the creature for their survival, it was normal, out here it was eat or be eaten. The goblins knew this, the monsters knew this and so did Breaker Bee.

Vegetarian ogres were not common. They were rarer than seeing a divine blessing or curse from the hells. This is why the ogre didn't mind watching the sleeping human to see if any new creatures wanted to surprise it like the rabbit almost did. Although the ogre didn't eat meat, he was more than happy to hunt and provide food for his companions back with the main camp or with the patrol goblins he was assigned to.

Each night, the ogre and the two goblins were sheltering close but far enough away from the human to watch him fight monsters during the day, cook them, and sleep as if he weren't worried about getting attacked at night. His worldview was that he was invincible.

He thought wrong.

As the ogre was watching the human sleep, feeling jealous at the protection he had been getting from the trio, a gentle and slow movement caught his attention. Silently, a larger creature than any monster that previously visited the human was stalking out of the bush line. The fire near the human was slowly fading but still burning. Little embers were still dancing and causing crackling and splintering noises of fire breaking apart the wood and slowly turning it to charcoal.

But the light from the embers was only causing the eyes of the nearly black creature, on all fours, to reflect the tiniest bit of the hunger and intelligence behind the hunter's eyes as it approached its prey. Breaker Bee sat silently, no longer munching on his mushroom but slowly and calmly tugging on a string that allowed him to bring desired attention that something dangerous was here.

Both Scout and Crash were reaching to grab another morsel of cooked meat.

"Oooh, there one left!" Crash stated as both his and his sister's hands stopped inches away from the slab of meat left near the fire.

"I'll wager this meat that we see another stupid and small prey think this dumb human is eaten..able." Crash stated to his sister, pulling his hand back.

She looked at him in thought, "Then I wager there would be no creature dumb tonight!" Scout exclaimed as if it was a proven fact.

Crash saw the rock with the string attached to it slide slowly away from the fire and toward the direction of their ogre companion. Smiling with saliva dripping from his mouth, he snatched up the meat and took a big bit as Scout's eyes went wide with disbelief seeing her brother take the tasty meat slab without even verifying anything.

Not getting the chance to say anything after she stood and drew her daggers, the rock with the string knocked over the bag of mushrooms, roots, and berries that was left with them, lest it attract the monsters away from their lucky human monster bait.

Scout's and Crash's heads both snapped to the rock as it bounced on the ground getting pulled again, more violently.

Groaning with the meat in his mouth Crash stood and looked at his sister then tossed the meat slab back down on the stump it was before he stole his meal.

"Sees! I get this meat!" Crash was proud of the fact that his sister was not getting tonight's meat, but curious what creature would wander towards the human this late at night.

"Let us see what this prey is tonight, brother," Scout said walking towards the ogre.

While the two approached their ogre companion, they heard noises, and voices from the distance the human was at, confused they looked at each other and bolted the last bit towards the spot of Breaker Bee only to catch a glimpse of a Nightmare Beast talking to the human.

As soon as they stopped at the ogre's side, they saw the beast turn its attention quickly in their direction before returning to the conversation with the human.

"Oh, you in trouble!" the ogre whispered as the pair of goblins gulped hard, knowing they just made an enemy of a creature they could never want to eat, or could.

Without getting another chance to think about what to do the nightmare beast ran off back into the brush line it stalked out of, and the human fell against a tree.

Bearly able to hear it as it rubbed its neck, the human stated to himself, "I could have died!"

He giggled to himself then stood up slapping and patting the dirt off his lower body. Moving across the stream back to his camp, he spoke to himself again, proving true the bad habit that the trio has been witness to for many nights. "HA, this game world is so immersive!"

Breaker Bee twisted his body around and looked at the goblin pair. "What is a Ge.aim.ma world?"

The goblins looked at each other confused.

---

Looking up from the terminal, a humanoid figure turns its attention toward the other figure in the dimly lit room. The smell of water and moss was weak but present as the two shared looks before the second figure spoke, giving a distant and muffled sound as it spoke.

"Then you have chosen?"

The first figure quickly looks at the terminal and taps the upper right of the display, causing it to go blank as all the words blinked out of existence. "I have."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Do you have a timeline for the world to be finished?" asked the smaller other figure, more feminine aspects revealing within their voice.

The one at the terminal stood straighter as it dropped the hood that was resting upon its head. Looking at the woman in the room with him, the man spoke calmly and with finality.

"This world is going to be a source of chaos for the gods that they cannot leave it be." Grabbing a steadily glowing red gem-like shard from a level flat space next to the terminal. Reaching up and as if putting it on a shelf, the shard disappears from the man's hands as the woman recognizes the dimensional storage ability he used.

"Do you think it will be enough for the administrators to react?"

"Of course." The man said, a smile playing on his face. "They have to, for it was their own kin that began this process."

The woman dropped her hood now, exposing long pointed ears, longer than any human in history. Her dark purple hair comes to a point at the back of her head as a ponytail becomes visible to the man at the terminal. The scent of death and decay wafted into the room when she lowered her hood.

"Our debt has been paid, and with this coming to action, do not expose me to any more of your games," she said.

"I wouldn't dream of it." He paused looking deep into her eyes then continued speaking. "I consider your debt paid in full Kalrea, daughter of Kalma."

Moving his left hand in an intricate and elaborate pattern. "By this accord, you are free of your debts and are free to do as you wish."

She glared at the man turning and heading for the only opening out of the room. As she reaches the exit, she turns her head just enough for a single eye to look at the man. A glow of purple in her eye as she smiles. "Thank you, Galan. Now I can play."

She steps out of the room and fades into the shadows as a black and purple mist envelops her body, dispersing leaving only a space where she once stood.

"Was that wise?" A younger, boyish voice asked from behind the man as a small human-like boy in a white shirt and blue shorts steps out from the shadow of Galan and pulls a sucker from his mouth.

Galan looks down at the small human-like boy. This was not the time for questions or small talk and Galan knew only being honest and straight with this being was the right way to walk out of the room alive.

The boy looked at the man and asked again. "Well? Was that wise? Invoking the ritual to cleanse her of her debt?" he let the sucker move inches and gestured at the opening out of the room where Kalrea just left. "You know she plans on taking her mother's place?"

Galan looked at the empty opening out of the room. "I do."

"And do you plan on letting her?" Half questioning, the boy puts the sucker, red and smelling like cherries, back into his mouth, making a small but noticeable crunching noise. The sound brought with it even more deadly intent than Galan had when he spoke to Kalrea.

"What she does with her mother will be entertaining, but it won't stop my goal." Galan looked at the boy and then continued, asking the question he hoped to not hear the answer to. "Do you plan on letting me continue?"

Giggles escape the mouth of the boy as he doubles over, it evolves into laughter.

Galan watched, unmoving as the boy suddenly stopped laughing and stood straight, looking into Galan's eyes. Those eyes seeing the eternity of the cosmos, the beginning and end of everything. The dread of souls and worlds alike. Those eyes were unmoving, yet causing a shiver up Galan's spine.

Smiling, the boy pulled a pristine and unopened sucker out of his pocket and held it out to Galan. "Yeap!" he said excitedly.

Galan reached out and grabbed the sucker, watching the smile grow even more as the boy watched him pull the sucker from his hand.

"Now, have a good day Galan! And don't you spoil my fun ok? I like this game." The last four words brought concern and interest to Galan as the boy gestures to the sucker in Galan's hands.

Taking the clear plastic wrapping off the flat green sucker, Galan put it in his mouth as the smell of apples reached his nose.

"Ah, sour apple!" Galan said looking towards the boy, only to find himself alone in the terminal room.

Only after noticing the room being empty did Galan recognize the dimness that was left behind when the boy disappeared. As if there was a glow that brought a dim light to the room that he didn't notice until after the boy was gone.

Shaking his head, Galan walked out of the terminal room, muttering to himself, half amused. "Gods be damned, the lot of you."

---

Having experienced a nightmare beast for the first time, and still thinking the place he found himself to be was a game world, Eric finished packing up his camp and decided to move on. He had been lucky lately getting a few full nights' sleep but even in game worlds, there is going to be a sense of RNG that will bring bad luck, eventually. Not wanting to piss off or encourage the RNG gods, Eric finished packing up and kicked dirt into the slowly burning embers, causing them to finally fade.

Standing up and tossing the pack on his back, Eric took another look around as he made sure he wasn't forgetting anything.

"Looks like I am ready to go!"

Eric looked at the brush line where the beast had left and thought better than to keep going along this side of the stream, lest he tempt fate again and cause an ambush flag to be born.

Eric crossed the stream and started heading deeper in the woods, along a worn path that looked used but small enough that he shouldn't expect trouble unless there were more nightmare beasts, but smaller out there.

Taking it steady, Eric kept watching his footing and his surroundings. Minutes then hours passed as Eric continued following the animal trail worn into the ground of the woods around him. Taking time to keep an eye out for any edible berries, Eric let himself get caught up in the moment. Not seeing the branch as he stepped, Eric stumbled forward catching himself on a tree as he cursed to himself internally for getting complacent.

Even if this was a game world, Eric had no idea about the mechanics for survival, food, or crafting, nor if there was a way to respawn. The interface had provided no information when he queried it for anything regarding crafting and food. Only able to identify items as he touched them and quickly concentrated on the object. Taking a fraction of a second was helpful, but nothing he was seeing was providing more than basic information.

No hints that a plant or item would be helpful in crafting, but he did get at least a hint on edible items, but only on items he already knew were edible, others would simply have a tag with a question mark.

(Edible?)

During his walk into the woods, Eric had to pull from his pack the few berries and mushrooms he had to eat as he continued moving forward. A few times he thought there might be a creature nearby but only getting a scent here or there, or noise here, or a speck of movement there. It was like there was a creature following him or was near him at times.

Even while walking, Eric was doing his best to perceive what was there, but the goblin scout was better at hiding and masking her actions. Her movements were deliberate and only enough to do what was needed. Movement was steady as Eric continued his way deeper into the woods, as he was stalked by the trio that had been watching him for days.