Chapter Three - The war Unceasing
She could smell it. She could hear it. Drawing closer with each passing breath...
She was weightless, she was fast, the world passed her by in an endless blur of green interspersed with splashes of colour, blue and red and white, every one of her senses on fire. It was close now. Her pursuit slowed, what little sound she had made in her hurry vanishing as she crept forwards, the light from the canopy above falling down upon her, mottled fur and great golden eyes as she watched the figure near the water's edge. She had been too slow. Now was the time for patience, for quiet; if he survived he was hers.
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Torr sighed pushing forwards, one hand grasping at the tangle of vines which blocked his path the other swinging his hand-axe clearing the way ahead as he forged he way through the dense undergrowth. He continued his march, what little shade the canopy gave him the humidity took, his skin damp with sweat, a dull fire burning in his lungs, he'd been marching through the jungle for hours now he'd entered the game at what he'd assumed had been early morning, now the sun was sinking down towards the east edge of the world, and the prospect of pushing his way through dense jungle in the dead of night was hardly appealing.
After thinking things through as best he could he’d decided on a plan. There was no way he'd be able to start a farm on his current little plot of land and that left him only one option; find a new one. He'd pick a place high up in the mountains safe from monsters where he could view the basin in its entirety, with a little stream running nearby from which he could draw water, and hopefully near some cave or natural indent in the rock where he could build his home. He could picture it now, patches of vegetables growing in the hills, enclosed by small stone fences, wide paddocks stretching beyond in which all manner of creatures the jungle could offer grazed and once he'd built his farm, he'd go on grand adventures all across the world, but always returning to the place he'd built; his home. Of course before his pipe dream could become reality he needed to gather enough supplies. The trip to the other side of the mountains would take at a guess two days if he travelled straight through the jungle. Of course seeing as he wasn’t in possession of any suicidal tendencies that was not his plan instead he'd be walking around the edge of the jungle which would probably take him over twice the amount of time but with a much lower risk of dying. Of course that plan to work he'd need four days worth of water to take with him, as it stood Torr had one water skin which would be enough for one day’s supply at most. Thinking back on it now, tap water really had been a luxury.
Well he could find a way to store more water later, for now he just needed a drink.
Torr let out a heavy sigh chopping away at a couple of branches barring his way, taking several hacks to remove them completely from his path stamping down what he couldn’t removed with his boots. His new sword could cut through the branches with ease however there two little problems, once again the sword was too long to swing properly while he was entirely surrounded by trees and vines, and two the blade released a wave of electricity whenever it touched something other than Torr having the unfortunate side effect of setting the trees on fire. A large burnt patch of woodland was still smouldering some distance behind him testament to that particular discovery the weapon currently strapped to his back with a length of rope. Not that his sword was useless the thing was almost as long as a spear so if push came to shove he could stab something instead. Frankly everything in this game seemed oversized, the trees towered at least a few hundred feet high the flowers sprouting between their roots each one at least as large as his fist some reaching the width of his head, it was kind of exhilarating.
Torr stepped forwards blinking a wave of golden light striking him where he stood, the dull murmur of water sounding in his ears, as he blinked the jungle having vanished before him replaced by an open lake. The water stretched at least a mile from shore to shore, fed by a single river which in turn was born from the meeting and partings of several dozen streams which reached high into the mountains. Torr took in a deep breath stepping forwards. He'd been lucky so far, he hadn't run into a single monster, although he doubted it would be too difficult to take one down, his weapon was overpowered and he was in a beginner area. Torr swayed forwards throwing down his axe so it sat upright in the dirt, dropping down his bag pulling it open and removing a water skin before rushing to the edge of lake. A moment later the little leather sack was submerged a stream of bubbles gurgling up as the bag filled. A moment later he was upending the skin into his mouth a sudden wave of relief braking over him. Torr laughed flopping down onto the grass staring up at the sky, azure blue shifting to a soft golden glow as the sun began to fade. He’d probably need to get back soon, but not now, now he was going to relax. A faint rustling sounded in the woods not far away.
Damn it couldn’t he have one moment of honest peace!
Torr dragged himself up, his heart quavering deep within his chest, as he launched himself forwards reaching for his sword, his gaze tracking the noise to its source, a sudden wave of confusion striking him still splayed across the grass hand wrapped around the handle of his axe. A small herd of four or five weird looking pigs with white marks on their flanks and long noses were pushing forwards towards the waters’ edge spreading out across the river bank as they went, bending their heads towards the surface. Tapirs, they were Tapirs although like everything else in the jungle they too were huge, the beasts were almost as large as cars, bodies powerful and sturdy, as they bowed their heads to take a drink before retreating several steps and stepping forwards again this time drinking from a different position. The arrival of the Tapir's was quickly followed by another flurry of movement behind them, the trees parting to reveal several slender figures leaping forwards forwards through the branches, their skin shades of pale green, bright red and near luminescent blue flecked with black spots and white streaks along their bodies. Otherwise they seemed human or very nearly, they were too slender and too tall, soft eyes matching the colours of their body practically, soft dark hair falling behind them towards their waists in narrow braids. They were all women that much was obvious even if their figures were rather slight and slender, flaring in wide hips around which were wrapped what passed for ragged loin cloths, their torso’s remaining bare but devoid of that most mammalian ‘feature’.
So those were monster girls huh? They didn't seem too bad, certainly not as aggressive as he'd assumed they be, they appeared to be some kind of frog girl, probably not his favourite type of monster girl, personally he’d always been rather more interested in . The group muttered to each other briefly, too far away for to pick out any of their words, before retreating back into the safety of the jungle just as quickly as they had arrived. Torr shrugged shambling up towards the water once more he’d fill his water skin and then be back on his way. He reached forwards plunging his skin arm deep into the lake as he savoured the cool touch of water against his skin. A couple of seconds later the water grew still and clear like a mirror and for the first time Torr caught a glimpse of his own reflection.
A high pitched cry shook the forest Torr reeling backwards, his water skin flying from his hands and arcing through the air leaving a twisting trail of water in its wake. This wasn’t right Torr crept forwards, peering out over the water a childish face greeting him. What the hell had Tsubaki done to him? He... He was a girl!
His hair was white as snow, falling down to just above his shoulders in a flurry of jagged edges, in what looked like an extreme case of bed head, brushed behind him in swirling flourish. His face was neat and round, with a small button nose and slender pert lips pulled back in horror revealing jagged teeth, as he stared down into the water his own eyes staring back sending a shiver down his spine. His irises were a burnt orange that practically seemed to glow, streaks of gold glittering in his sight the black pupil waiting at its centre giving his eyes an unnerving almost hypnotic effect, his eyes themselves turned down and inward, giving them an ominous glaring presence, his white eyebrows almost invisible against milky skin. No, no; this wasn't right. Torr swallowed hard pulling up his tunic and reaching for his trousers opening them up to the light hoping against. Torr let out a long ragged sigh collapsing to his knees.
It was still there.
He was grateful more than he could describe, he hadn’t lost his little friend... Torr frowned pulling his pants up again to get a second look. Little was certainly right. Well now he understood why no one had chosen these options. Torr hiked his pants back up around his waist and leaned forwards over the lake, face mere inches from the water, it didn't seem too bad maybe if he, Torr pulled his lips into a grimace furrowing his eyebrows, yeah that didn't seem so bad. Still his eyes seemed unnatural and his face oddly blank, almost like a dolls... This wasn't fair, he wasn't exactly bad looking, but he would have preferred to be more masculine especially down there. Well he'd rolled the dice and this was what he'd ended up with, he should never have trusted Tsubaki. A small bubble rose to the surface of the lake and popped a dark shadow following it a moment later.
Before he knew it everything went black.
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The shadows seemed to swell before him, an endless oblivion that went on and on and on, without light or sound or sensation in any form. If he had to give it a word it would have been death.
An occasional flickering white light marked the passing of time, piercing through the darkness, before vanishing snuffed out like a candle flame. These flickers quickly grew in number and duration. Soon the entirety of the void was bursting with their light now not only white but an entire myriad of shades that swirled and danced about him, coming together joining and forming a room he had been in once before.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Torr stood in silence in the centre of the room he’d used during his character creation prior to his entry into Horns and Tails with one notable exception, the egg shaped pod had been removed and in its place was a large low resting bed, Tsubaki sprawled out upon it arms folded behind her head. "Well that didn't take as long as I thought it would; congratulations, you've gained a new achievement" the young girl yawned rolling over, a volume of manga suddenly appearing in her hand as she pointed her foot towards the shelves. Torr turned finding a new book case had taken up one corner of the room what looked like a trophy was resting on the highest shelf. The trophy depicted a generic figure head cocked to one side in question as a bear reared up behind him worked into spun glass, a small pale blue plaque beneath reading;
NEVER SAW IT COMING Awarded for meeting an instant death without even realising you were in danger.
"So I-" huh that was strange his voice sounded, different; it was probably another one of the changes Tsubaki had made, it was light and childish he’d have called it sweet if he hadn’t been the one who’d been speaking.
"You died yes" Tsubaki answered his unfinished question refusing to even glance in his direction, "I decided to pull you out of there before you were ripped limb from limb, I would tell you the gory details but it is against the rules. So what do you think of the game so far?" Torr dropped down sitting one of the floor cushions shaking his head.
"It... It's amazing." He let out a shallow laugh a wide grin splitting his face, "I can run again, I can move like I used to, no more aches and pains. Everything's so realistic. I'd never th0ught something like this was even possible!" Tsubaki smirked lowering her books and swinging her feet over the edge of the bed and rising to execute a neat little bow.
"You are very welcome. You should really be more careful you know, I dropped you off in the least populated area of the game I could find, no other player has ever set foot there before, there are a couple of villages and cities a out there if you can find them but they're a good way away, anything you need you'll have to make yourself. It's kind of like you're playing in hard mode."
Torr frowned something felt off... The young man rose slowly back up onto his feet looking up towards the AI girl.
"Why are you so tall?" His question lingered in the air, Tsubaki standing a good head taller than him. Tsubaki gave him a questioning glance, before a curling smile split her face, Torr felt his stomach drop as the girl let out a light laugh.
"Oh I'm not tall. You're short. If I remember correctly I put your height somewhere around four-foot-five, maybe a little lower, I can't remember..." She shrugged.
Torr sucked in a deep breath through his teeth, a low laugh rising up from below him, quickly breaking into a manic cackle the young man sending his foot forwards, into the AI girl’s shin Tsubaki letting out a cry and stumbling back falling over against the bed. Torr letting out a high pitched roar “What the hell did you do that for! Why do I look and sound like a prepubescent girl, what made you think this was in anyway a good idea?" Torr shrieked marching back and forth about the room circling the central table hands flailing above his head. Tsubaki blinked dumbfounded before rising up arms folded over her chest.
"What? you told me to 'randomise' everything besides, now you look cute you should be thankful, I can guarantee that there is not one other character in the entire game that looks like you."
"Because no one would want to! You've turned me into a little girl!"
"Oh come on, your gender is still male just like you asked, and I set your age to twenty-one, so you're hardly little."
"So what you mean is I just look like a little girl, a little girl who’ll never grow up?"
"Yes..." Tsubaki fell silent scrambling for something to say.
"Change me back, I'd rather be an old man."
"No can do I'm afraid, the most I can do is change the colouring of your eyes, hair, skin superficial stuff like that. Your mind is linked to that body now, wiring up all the senses and adjusting for a change in body size takes a lot of time and effort as well as money."
Torr let out a strangled cry. "Great so now I'm a grown arse man who looks and sounds like a little girl, but not just that I managed to be eaten by some random monster and now I have no items, life is just peachy!" The young man groaned throwing himself forwards crashing face down onto his bed, Tsubaki loosening her stance and glancing down at him with what he assumed was meant to be sympathy although it could have just as easily been constipation.
"Sorry, I... I didn't mean to make you look like a girl." Tsubaki mumbled dropping down next to him. "I can't really tell men and women apart that well... My access to the outside world is limited, before now I couldn't even access the in game world properly. All I could do was talk with the other AI's and they're all women and even then only once or twice a month when a meeting was set up. What I'm saying is it's not my fault and... I guess I'm sorry." Torr glanced in her direction the girl taking in a deep breath and letting out a savage cry.
"Agh! I've had enough of this. I'm sorry and you're unhappy end of discussion. Now let's talk about the game. Like I said you're basically playing the game in hard mode, but you also have some overpowered equipment. Any item ranked epic or higher can only be won inside of dungeons or given as gifts from powerful figures for completing quests and are considered soul-bound, they'll respawn with you when you do. As for surviving in the game, the first thing you'll need to do is get a girl. Monsters can be stronger than humans, smarter than humans and faster than humans sometimes all at the same time, so creating a party of monster girls is the quickest way to get strong faster although the higher a girls level the harder they are to seduce. Your first priority should be to retrieve your' gear, get in and get out, It should be night time when you return to game so be careful you never know what could be following you. Get your items, try to get a girl and then you can start levelling and training, reach level ten at least before you start trying to build your farm, then you'll be able to get your second skill tree and start picking combat skills. You got that?" Torr stared up at the woman, as she pointed towards him, one hand upon her hip, a look of infinite pride radiating across her face, she really was a child inside wasn’t she? Torr sighed, chuckling to himself and giving her a gentle nod.
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There was a time limit before he could return to the game from his room half an hour in total although his argument with Tsubaki had taken up a fair portion of that time. Of course the rest of his time hadn’t been wasted he'd sent a text to Elliot, firstly thanking him for the chance to play the game followed by several ludicrous threats for making him play the game to begin with. His room was his one lifeline to the real world, his one way of contacting Elliot or the rest of his family for those who were still willing to accept his calls. The rest of his time spent running down the clock had been used talking with Tsubaki; apparently while he was in game she'd been keeping an eye on him all while busying herself with reading through his collection of manga and watching his anime. They had more or less decided on a plan of how he was going to survive in his new world although Torr still refused to enter into a relationship with an artificial intelligence convinced of the fact that they were a monster.
The first step would be to reclaim his gear.
After respawning Torr found himself dressed in what was essentially a loincloth and a thick leather belt onto which his sword had been strapped end trailing against the floor, alongside a large pouch containing his bestiary. Two new items had also appeared on his person, firstly a pair of black metal gauntlets the knuckles covered in spikes and coupled with a matching helmet which was nearly three inches thick, pale strands of ghostly white hair jutting out from under the dark steel, a pair of horns lifting from the front of the helmet like a samurai's crest, it definitely seemed like there was supposed to be some kind of theme to his gear. Of course that left one more item hung gently about his neck Brya's heart, a long thin silver chain ending in a small red crystal statuette which burnt in the darkness with an unnatural light, pushing a gentle warmth into his chest. The young man took a deep breath rolling his shoulders as he stepped forwards, dropping the scabbard of his sword to the ground blade resting on his shoulder and rushing forwards leaving the cave behind walking forwards into the moonlight.
Torr could still make out the trail he had cut through the undergrowth from his mountain vantage, a narrow pathway snaking through the jungle, one particularly wide swath of land continuing to smoke from where he’d accidentally set it alight. He stole a deep breath before pressing forwards, scrambling his way down the mountain slopes with a level of grace and elegance he had no doubt would alert every creature in possession of a sense of hearing for a quarter mile, the final drop and his concurrent scream hardly helping the matter. Climbing mountains in the dark was unsurprisingly enough not easy. Upon reaching the edge of the jungle he glanced back towards his cave, barely visible through the gloom, the high flag he had erected that morning catching in the moonlight, the mast currently leaning away from the cave entrance very near to collapsing. He supposed he'd need to find a better way of securing it than just sticking it in the ground. Well that was just one more thing to add to his to-do list. Torr shook his head and marched forwards into the night, a deathly chill settling up on him, far removed from the hellish heat of the earlier day.
In the dark life seemed to flourish, the jungle glowed like the heavens now that night had set in; leaves and flowers and bulbs, all glowed with a bioluminescent magic, thrumming in shades of electric blue and forest green, occasional arcs of lightning flying away from Torr's sword as it caught against the leaves and branches in a sudden burst of vermillion light before they faded into ash. Sweeping above the patchy light came the songs of birds and frogs and beasts unknown, it was almost like the nature documentaries he'd watched when he was a child; every single breath he took seemed positively charged with adventure. But every footfall, each step he took forwards into the dark sent a jolt through his bones, in the dark the jungle was a far more daunting place. Every falling leaf, every braking branch, each breath of wind pressed against him as he pushed his way through the undergrowth and the swathes of glowing green seemed to grow and pulse with a life of its own.
Over an hour passed before he reached his goal, the lake waiting before him, still and serene as it had been a few short hours ago, no trance of his fatal encounter left, but a faded streak of red upon the grass and some overturned dirt where he had leaned over the waters’ edge. Torr swallowed peering into the shadow s small mound resolving itself from the surroundings, his bag waited for him where he had left it. His pack had remained untouched although in the shadows it seemed like the forest had grown closer to the shore his bag resting but a few paces from the jungle. He let out a low sigh rushing forwards and taking his rucksack in hand and hoisting it up onto his shoulder and turning hard upon his heels eager to return to his cave, a dull thrumming shaking the air behind him. He turned slowly a pair of bright orange eyes meeting his own.