Zoe rushed toward the desert like a stone thrown by god. She would strike the pale dune and splat into a puddle of blood and bones. Nothing would remain of her except a pink stain upon a tall pale dune like a wave of frozen bone. Even this remnant would fade, as the grains continued their endless march and buried her in time.

She had seconds before she struck, and so she seized her Skein.

[Skein 4/117]

And a perfect time for indecision. She could boost an attribute, and four Skein was the equivalent of a normal human’s total in any of the categories. But which category should she boost?

Vitality would heal her after the impact. Might would strengthen her body. Dexterity would let her land safer.

Seconds away from the ground, she boosted her Might.

[Skein 0/117]

[Might 36 (40)]

Dexterity was useless if she wasn’t awake. Vitality was useless if she didn’t survive. Might could strengthen her enough to survive the impact.

She hoped.

Her skin flashed like dull steel, and her consciousness slipped into that dark place between waking hours, before the pale ground embraced her…

###

Going unconscious probably saved her life. The limpness of her muscles stopped her from becoming so stiff she snapped on impact.

Quite the first thought to have after waking.

The second thought was: pain.

Everywhere. Bruises across her entire body. Breathing ached from fractured ribs, and the minute clicking as Vitality set them back into place. But her legs felt like molten lead. She tried to move…

And screamed. Dry sand filled her mouth. She was face down in the sand. Her legs shattered from the hip down. Bone shifted slowly inside her, scraping against the flesh. The agony made her wish for unconsciousness again.

[Skein 21/117]

Her Vitality was 20, so she’d been unconscious for a little over an hour. She tried to move, but couldn’t stand the pain. After everything that had happened, it was too much.

She gripped her Skein and pumped it into Vitality.

[Skein 0/117]

[Vitality 20 (41)]

Blessed darkness swooped down as her Vitality surged. She barely had the mind to turn her mouth out of the sand before she passed out.

###

Vibrations under the sand woke her. Footsteps. A strange, hopping gait across the sand. Distant, but approaching.

She stirred, and cool air brushed her skin. Twinges of pain, but lesser than before. Her bruises had faded, and her ribs settled into place, but her legs still ached like a fiery mess. Each heartbeat sent a slow dull pulse from her toes to her hips. She dreaded movement.

But the footsteps drew closer, and she needed to see what was coming. Her hands gripped the sand, and she pushed. With her enhanced strength, it was trivial to move her body, but it still hurt. She gritted her teeth against screaming as she flipped over. Her legs dangling, useless, as she rolled onto her back.

Sharp hiss of breath as her feet sank into the sand. Even if she kept pumping her Vitality up to inhuman standards, it would take days to fully heal. And they might heal wrong. She had to splint them, but first, she let herself lay there. Slow her breathing. Let her body rest. Listening…

For the footsteps.

On her back, barely turning her head, she scanned the surroundings. The sloping dune must have been a dozen stories tall. Lavender clouds floated across the grey, sunless sky. Darker now than before. Cooler. Some kind of night neared. Where were the footsteps coming from?

There. An impression in the sand. Another. Divots that trailed back up to the top of the dune. More were forming. Was something moving beneath the dune? She tried to shift, but the pain made her groan. Maybe if she focused her Vitality, she could suppress the pain enough to move. Or did that require Willpower? Her attributes floated like tools beside her mind, ready to use. The divots hurried closer.

Blue smoke burst out of nowhere. Before she could react, a baboon lunged out of the azure cloud. Teeth bared. Wings flapping. She lifted an arm. Too slow. Yellow fangs sank into her face. Gouged her eye.

She smacked the baboon and sent it flying. It flapped its wings. Large, crow-like expanse where its arms should have been, and shrieked. Three more bursts of blue from the dune around her as blood gushed from her eye.

Damn.

The winged baboons ran along the dune toward her.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

[Skein 39/117]

[Skein 30/117]

[Vitality 20(29)]

Heat pulsed in the hole of her missing eye as Vitality flared. The bleeding slowed, but the baboons sprinted. Their nostrils flared, as though they could smell an opportunity slipping through their hands.

With one hand to prop her up, Zoe readied a fist. She would have to be quick, but she knew she could knock them away. If she was lucky, she could even crack a skull with a good blow.

But could she get all of them?

Three charged toward her. Fingered feet flicked up sand as they flapped their wings for speed like demonic chickens. Jaws wide and long teeth bared as they shrieked.

A threat that worked. She couldn’t stop shivering as she stared at them. Her fist trembled.

[Skein 15/117]

[Might 36(41)]

A metallic sheen coated her fist, and it stilled like any other piece of machinery, but these efforts cost her Willpower. She could feel her attention growing sloppy. Wavering between the incoming targets. What was she missing?

The flying baboon swooped down and grabbed her face with its dexterous toes. Claws dug into her flesh. Pulled open her wounds. It flapped, lifting, ripping her flesh free. Her scream garbled as she tasted the foul creature's foot.

The others crashed into her.

She swung a fist out. Her knuckles crunched into a baboon’s skull, but her attack gave the creatures an opening. Teeth closed around her arm and pulled it aside. She couldn’t see anything in the fray. One of them bit her chest. Digging for her heart with clawed toes.

She choked on another scream.

This couldn’t be happening.

No…

Ghostly chains unfurled from her body. They whipped out and struck the baboons. A heavy clanging reverberated through her as the chains sent the creatures flying away with a will not entirely her own.

She’d almost forgotton the chains were still attached. Their weight lost amongst the pain of impact. But they moved now, alive in their own strange way. Had they acted on her subconscious desire to live? Or did they act on their own? She breathed, waiting for a second attack, while the chains hovered over her like guardian snakes.

Wingbeats.

One baboon limped away through the sky, flying at an awkward angle before it vanished with a burst of blue. Only the sound of feathers swishing air remained, until that too faded.

Another lay crumpled with a fist-sized dent in its skull. The cross-eyed expression of confused dismay almost made her laugh, or that could be the adrenalin racing through her system. She spotted the third further up the dune, its neck twisted at an unnatural angle.

The fourth…

She spied it further down the dune, stumbling on two legs and dragging broken wings. Blue dust sputtered and leaked and floated in the air behind it like some genie’s tail. Fur and feathers flickered in and out of view, but the creature failed to turn completely invisible.

The sight was pitiful, but Zoe was fresh out of pity.

Her chains sensed her motive, and they moved. Thrusting into the sand, pulling her downhill. The chains didn't let her walk, but they walked for her. Four tentacles charging like a spider down the slope as her body hung suspended at the core. She snarled with pain as her legs dragged along the sand, but she gained on the running baboon.

Nothing mattered except the hunt.

The baboons shrieks grew louder as it scampered away. Wings flapping. Blue smoke trailing. The dusty vapors irritated her remaining eye, but she ignored the itch. She was ignoring enough already.

The distance closed, and with one last leap, the chains launched her toward the fleeing scavenger. Her metallic hands closed around its neck and snapped it instantly. As the creature whimpered, bloodied teeth bared in one last act of defiance, Zoe bit down on its face. Taste of fur, of gore, of death.

And her mind raced back to her youth, after her mother’s death, when she lived in a forest. Alone but for the lost dogs. A life of harsh pursuit. Civilsation forgotten. Survival was all.

The pain in her legs yanked her back to the present. She swallowed the bloody scrap of face meat and screamed at the watching grey heavens.

“You won’t get me that easy! Not now! Not ever! I’ll kill you all!”

###

True power arises when prey becomes predator. Zoe lay near the bottom of the dune, the dead baboon by her feet, and winced at the pain in her body. The chase had reopened injuries, and she knew she must stay as still as possible.

With the flesh beside her, she could eat. Had she eaten since the dungeon fruit in the safe room? She couldn’t remember… but it didn’t matter now. She had flesh, and though it tasted like ass, it would fill her belly. A giggle escaped her lips. Speaking of… it was a wonder she hadn’t gotten sick from eating fruit and random animals and… whatever that puppeteer had been. Maybe enhanced Vitality improved her digestion?

She didn’t care.

Exhaustion rolled through her as the world darkened. No stars, no moon, just as there was no sun. Only the lavender clouds shifting across an iron sky. The dune persisted to glow with a pale light like phosphorescent bone.

Hopefully, there would be fewer scavengers at night, and she could sleep, but she didn’t believe that. If she wanted to survive, she needed to find some kind of shelter. And finding anything meant getting to the top of the dune. From there she could get the lay of the land, and maybe even find the tavern Trinch mentioned.

Who was that figure in the shaft? How did they know her name? Questions that could wait until after she walked again. But right now, the only question she wanted to answer, was whether killing those baboons counted towards her levels. They felt like and tasted like regular flesh and blood. No matter if they went invisible. They were material beings.

But this was not the world of the system she knew, and there had been no frigid rush of death energy. Though, perhaps…

She focused on her Willpower. Reached for her Skein to bolster her theory.

[Skein 10/117]

[Willpower 35 (34)]

Not the boost she expected, but her willpower was taking a beating just from maintaining her status. Still, if she focused. The world moved around her like wind upon water. Or was she the wind, and the world the water?

The question vanished as her body plunged into the icy depths of death energy.

It wasn’t a complete level-up, but she felt more than halfway toward level 9. The cold energy settled into her body, and as she thawed, she sobbed with relief. The avenue of power remained. She could get stronger.

Her journey was not over.

And as long as there were enemies in her future — which she knew there were — she would level up. She would get stronger. She would complete the damned quest given to her by that damned alien god and she would claw her way out of this damned dimension.

She smiled as new tissue trembled in her ruined eye socket.

Once she was free, she would tear that dungeon boss in half, and then…

It was a long road ahead, but Rue better get ready.