Matthew opened his eyes, lying still. It was dark out; gazing upwards, he could see the tops of the pine trees swaying back and forth in the slight breeze. He sighed, saying aloud, "Back here again."

Deciding to sit up, he took in the area surrounding his bed, "Well, the forest is still here, the bubble is here, and." Taking a moment to sigh again. "So is the Guhder"

The Guhder was sitting almost close enough to touch the bubble, with its large bloodied stick beside it and its single eye laser-focused on Matthew's every move.

Matthew looked at the bubble, feeling relieved, and then down at his hands. Even though the bubble was protecting him, his hands were trembling. Looking at the bubble again, he started to feel like the edges were pressing in.

The bubble, which for now protected him, also felt like a cage holding him there. He dreaded this caged feeling, which he knew all too well. Thinking back to his childhood, he remembered the feeling of no one being there during his darkest days.

Moving every few years puts a strain on relationships. At first, he felt excited and ready to meet new people, but that feeling slowly devolved into fear of losing people. The fear made him scared to reach out to anyone he felt he might lose. This made him feel like his whole world was a cage that moved with him, entrapping him without anyone to help.

Matthew felt like the bubble was shrinking, and so, like the younger him, he grabbed his legs and held them close to his chest. Although Matthew never had long-term friends, he did have family, and as he held his legs, he remembered the good memories of cooking with his mom, gaming with his brother, or fishing with his dad.

After a long while, his mind slowly walked through his situation, speaking out loud to express his thoughts and distract himself.

"Is this really a dream? Why am I here? Did I do something to deserve this?"

Matthew looked up at the Guhder, asking questions directly to the creature.

"What did I ever do to you? Why do you want to hurt me anyway?"

The Guhder didn't respond but watched him intently as he spoke. Matthew could see a small spit dribble start rolling down the large monster's chin.

Matthew watched in horror as the monster licked its lips. He shivered, remembering his dog making the same face when it wanted an offered treat. Eyes widening, he tried to reason with the Guhder.

"You don't have to eat me; we could find something else for you to eat." The Guhder either didn't hear him, ignored him, or didn't care that its meal was talking.

Matthew felt a tiny glint of determination build up as he looked at the monster.

"You know what? I will not be your dinner; I will starve myself before I let you kill me." The Guhder didn't respond.

Time seemed to roll by extremely slowly as he waited. Eventually, the Guhder slowly got to its feet. Matthew watched it like it had watched him. He noticed that when the beast stood up, it left a patch of red, muddied dirt where it had sat.

Following the trail of red with his eyes, he saw that the Guhder had semi-closed wounds on its legs. The wounds followed a half-oval shape with small gaps between each piece of pierced skin.

It looked like a bite mark, but it wasn't just one. He could see at least one more mark higher up near the monster's thigh, a small piece of flesh torn from the wound.

Matthew watched the monster struggle to move around, but seemingly determined, it started patrolling the edge of its campsite, looking back at him every few steps.

Seeing he had more room to work with, he reexamined his situation.

"It looks like it's giving me some breathing room. I wonder if I could outrun it with its damaged legs? Probably not. It is so much larger than me. What can I do then?"

Looking around Guhder's campsite, Matthew saw a pile. This pile seemed to be of bones, parts of animals still covered in fur, and what looked like torn cloth. Matthew looked at the pile intently for anything that would be of help.

That is when he noticed it. A glint of moonlight reflecting off something shiny. He stared at it, trying to get his eyes to focus, and thought he saw what looked like a handle sticking into the pile.

The more he looked at the handle, the more he convinced himself that what he was looking at was the hilt of a weapon. Matthew looked at the distance between him and the weapon.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"The pile seems to be about twenty feet away. I could cover that distance in about a second." Then he looked towards the Guhder, currently walking past the large pile on its circle of the campsite.

"Would I make it there before he made it to me?"

He shook his head at the question, feeling some hope for the first time in what felt like forever.

"If I wait till he is on the far side of the campsite, I should make it there before he can get to me."

He knew the monster was watching him closely, so Matthew tried acting as normal as possible, knowing this may be his only chance. Instead of watching the pile, he watched the trees sway as he counted the monster's large footfalls.

Mathew touched the edge of his bubble while the monster wasn't looking, and as the timer got lower, he counted down with it.

'6…5…4…3…2”

He waited until the last second and almost flew out of bed. He had already made it halfway before hearing the Guhder react, the sound of running coming from behind him.

The large footfalls kept getting louder as he reached the pile. He looked around for the piece of metal and saw the hilt.

He heard a guttural roar behind him and reached for the weapon.

He pulled.

It was light.

The scream was getting closer.

He spun to face the monster holding it in front of him.

"What?! NO!"

The weapon was damaged and missing half of its length.

The monster was almost upon him. He held out the weapon, staring down the beast as it barred down on him.

The Guhder swung its large club above its head with one hand.

Matthew dodged to his right, feeling a rush of air whiz by his side as the weapon hit the ground, kicking up some dirt.

He ran past the monster, slashing its midsection as he passed. It felt like cutting hard plastic. He looked back at what was barely a scratch that he had left.

The monster roared again, and anger seemed to burn in its eyes.

He took an involuntary step back, reconsidering running, but the monster didn't let up and swung its weapon at an angle, hitting the ground right next to his foot; he felt a shower of dirt hit his leg.

Matthew ran past again, thankful at the seemingly reduced speed of the Guhder. This time, he stabbed more than slashed and felt another piece of the blade break off inside the monster's side.

It screamed.

Now, the blade was no larger than a dagger.

The monster swung its weapon horizontally, this time at the height of his legs.

Matthew felt the world spin just as a crunch came from where his legs once were. Spinning, he felt a sting from his torso but tried to focus his mind.

The spinning was abruptly stopped by the side of his torso, slamming into a large tree and hitting the air out of him.

He reopened his eyes to his head still spinning and what sounded like a deep cough. The Guhder was walking toward him, repeatedly making the same deep coughing sound.

Matthew looked down, seeing the twisted state of his legs and blood flowing down his chest from where a branch was sticking through; he felt sick but couldn't stop watching as the Guhder took slow steps toward him.

Matthew tried to open his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a squeak at first. He tried again, a raspy word escaping his mouth with each breath.

"Are…you….laughing?"

As it continued, Matthew let his head droop forward. He could feel throbbing in his head and started to feel immensely tired. A sensation in his hand kept him awake, though.

The feeling was cold and seemed to fit his hand.

"I….still…..have it?" He thought. Well, his eyes tried to close.

Thump, Thump, the monster was getting closer.

Silence, no more laughter, no more stomping, nothing but the beautiful whistle of the wind. He tilted his head up.

The monster was leaning down in front of him, its teeth bared and a large grin spreading its face. Matthew looked at its teeth—yellow, bloodied teeth were all he could see, and a putrid smell emanated from its mouth.

It started laughing again face to face with its next meal.

Matthew felt disgusted, his fear and anger at this monster who would make him its lunch amounting to something like courage. He swung his arm around, thankful it hadn't been broken and stabbed what was left of the blade into the monster's only good eye.

A howl of pain echoed through the night. The monster started flailing, catching Matthew with one of its arms and sending him flying. He landed on his side, watching the roaring Guhder as it attacked everything around it.

As the world started growing darker and darker, he reveled in the screams of pain he could hear faintly.

He awoke in a dark room. Matthew looked down at his legs. They were there as expected, and he felt oddly calm.

Something about this place seemed to make everything that had just happened feel distant and like it didn't matter. Before he could read more into it, words appeared.

:Murdered by a Guhder:

Time alive 2 hours

Level at death 0

Experience lost 0

Fun fact: Well, that went about as well as expected. Did you know you are supposed to kill the enemy to level up?

Matthew breathed in deeply and waited a few moments before exhaling.

"That's it, your new name is Karen."

Matthew thought the translator didn't hear him, so he said it again.

"Hey, translator, your new name is Karen."

Karen seemed to wait longer than usual before finally responding.

You may call me whatever you like.

A little sad that he couldn't get Karen more riled up, he sighed and said, "You know, if you told me more about this world, I might have a better time surviving."

I can provide some information to you. You can not die in this world, as I have already mentioned, but I will warn you there are fates worse than a permanent death, and you must grow stronger if you wish to avoid it.

Matthew read the overly vague message, which did not put him at ease, and asked,

"How do I escape this situation of just dying and dying?"

Well, don't die.

Matthew hoped that it could see his immense eye roll as he mockingly said,

"Thanks, Karen."

Seemingly knowing the conversation was breaking down, more of Karen's words appeared, saying.

This time, you will return at night. So far, your record is staying alive for two whole hours. Good luck, but please try harder next time, and don't forget to enjoy yourself.

Then Matthew blinked, and the next thing he knew, he was in a familiar bed. Opening his eyes, he saw an odd message waiting for him.

Yippee! You have leveled up!