All it took was a single creak from behind to send Salim’s heart into a frenzy as he whipped around. His eyes narrowed as he tried to pick out what had made the noise, but the color of the trees looked strangely blurry in the darkness. The light from the moon seemed to bounce off them in strange ways, a scattering of shapes that were roughly contrasted by the white grass.
What made that noise? He kept looking for whatever creature had caused the trees to creak under its weight. Crouching low, he moved next to a tree, making sure to protect his back while his eyes roamed, looking for the threat.
The longer he stared between the trees, the more they seemed to warp in front of his eyes, as if obscuring whatever creature was hunting him. Pressing his hand against the tree without looking to steady himself, his hand sunk further than he expected, causing him to almost topple over. Jerking his head, Salim was almost too late in pulling his hand away from the trunk before it was swallowed.
A cavity was positioned right where he almost put his hand, something that he definitely could have missed but felt a little too coincidental. Salim stared at the bark of the tree, the weird blurry texture seeming to make his gaze unfocused as he tried to make a plan. Maybe the trees were alive, maybe there was a monster, and he was overthinking, the main issue was that he wouldn’t be able to sleep.
Unless he took the time to scrape the ground for pine needles and made a makeshift cover with them, he wasn’t likely to find anything nearby he could use for protection. Even the branch, he found earlier, wasn’t likely to do much since the wood was softer and pliable. His options consisted of variations of stay or run, and he wasn’t a big fan of either.
Might as well get a move on, it’s not like I’m waiting for anyone to come and rescue me. He thought as another wooden creaking noise sounded somewhere to his left out in the forest, pausing for a few seconds, he resumed walking after nothing followed the noise.
It’s further away than last time, maybe I’m in the clear? That thought only lasted another couple minutes of travel, as a loud noise sounding only a few feet away from behind a tree, causing him to freeze in place. One of the new skills, [Meditation] actually helped calm him down at that moment, his concentration on quieting his breath seemed to trigger the skill as his heart rate slowly lowered.
Something wrapped around his foot while he was trying to regain control of his breath, causing him to try to jerk his foot away. But nothing budged, looking down he saw the root of a tree had managed to wrap itself around his foot and was slowly moving further around. Eyes widening, he grabbed the root with his hands, ripping at the bark that was attempting to cling to his flesh.
The tree wasn’t trying to disguise itself anymore as more roots began to tunnel towards him, attempting to capitalize on his distraction. Pulling the root off him was a struggle, the tree was able to somehow harden itself, his fingers only able to pry a centimeter small gap. As he yanked his leg, the bark scrapped into his foot, like small little knifes they cut into his flesh, leaving thin gash marks.
Wincing from the pain, he continued to struggle, inch by inch as he felt the ground slightly tremble beneath him, the sound of split ground rumbling in his ears. Struggling as he grasped the bark, sweat now covering his palm, sand making him lose his grip, wasting him precious time.
Am I really going to die so soon? He asked himself, not willing to give up as another root finally broke ground, attempting to grab him. Pulling as far as his leg would allow, he swatted away the approaching root, the dull pang of pain ringing from his hand as his reward.
Attempting to come up with a plan, Salim began to spin his body as much as he could, in an attempted to twist the root off of his leg. Awkwardly shifting his weight as he tried to rotate his leg as far as possible, he felt like he might break his ankle. The pressure was building, his foot twisting ninety-degrees angle from his ankle, what would last, his leg? Or the root?
More roots began to tunnel their way towards him, the grove of trees seeming to turn against him in the cruel glow of the moonlight. He was stuck, close to the base of his captor, surrounded on all sides by a pit of wooden constrictors. Just a few more seconds of pulling and then maybe he could…
Crack.
Relief flooded him as the root seemed to pop, not splinter normally but pop in a small explosion of splinters and familiar violet liquid. It seemed to spew from the base of the root, large chunks that had clotted up now flowed freely onto the grass. The other roots seemed to pause for a moment, pausing at the visceral gore he had caused.
Taking advantage of the roots lack of movement, Salim sprinted forward, kicking off the ground with as much force as he could manage. Soaring by the nearest root as it turned to watch him fly by, he stumbled as he hit the ground but managed to keep himself upright. Not pausing for a second, even after breaking the encirclement, Salim took off, sprinting away from the roots.
He knew that sprinting forever was impossible, so as soon as the last root vanished from his sight, he slowed down to a brisk walk. His breath was heavy, a reminder that he was back to being a normal human, as he made sure not to tire himself out. The stomach that annoyed him after every reset was back, and even though his stat growth at the beginning of his current life helped, he wasn’t back to perfect shape.
Thankfully, coming back from the dead seemed to top off his sleep, as exhaustion was barely an issue as he continued walking through the night. While he still heard a few noises from the trees, none seemed confident enough to attack him as long as he kept moving. Now he knew why no animals made noise in the forest, he wasn’t even sure if there were any.
Pausing for a brief moment, Salim swept his hand across boxes and distributed the stat points to his [Resilience] to keep up his momentum. The most important thing was to get out of the forest, if he collapsed or fell asleep before then, well he probably would be waking back up in the void. There always seemed to be some sort of catch whenever he came back.
Or maybe surviving in the wild is just difficult.
You have escaped certain death with wits and strength
Major Event has been Logged.
You have gained a Level!
You have gained a Level!
Lvl. 3
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Stats
Confirm
Might: 15 (17)
-/+
Finesse: 15 (18)
-/+
Resilience: 15 (20)
-/+
Acuity: 13
-/+
Resolve: 14
-/+
Depth: 0
-/+
The only thing that came out of his mouth was a grunt as his skin reshaped itself for what felt like the hundredth time. There was an oddly comforting pain to it, a certain surety that he was stronger than before. Was he compensating for how naked and powerless he had been feeling for the last couple of hours?
Maybe, but who could say? He shrugged to himself.
Either way, he knew that he wanted to try maxing out his skills this time, insane circumstances notwithstanding. He needed all the points he could get, and without having the point sink that was [Depth] he was a bit more freed up in what he could do. The lack of magic sucked, but it did seem to have some benefits if the moonlight wasn’t doubling him over in pain.
Crack. The noise brought him back to his senses, and he quickly got a move on, using the moon as a reference to keep moving in the same direction he had during the day. The lack of noise in the forest was still eerie, it reminded him of that first night meeting Fallon or at least the moon, what felt like a strange mix of months and years ago.
He couldn’t help but imagine a large white figure peaking at him from behind a tree, its voice the echos of wind blowing through the trees. Shivering at the thought, Salim pulled up his skills to finally read their descriptions and see if any had managed to level up in the brief time he had used them.
Skills
Meditation (Class)
Lvl. 2
Calm against the disruptive chaos.
Open Mind (Class)
Lvl. 5
Think true, see the world as it is.
Discussion (Class)
Lvl. 1
Convince others of your view.
Making sure to take a wide berth around any nearby trees, he was surprised to see the amount of levels [Open Mind] had. Why was it leveling that quickly? Maybe it was taking into account his previous life?
It’s proved that it can read my mind, it’s not that strange for it to take into account everything I’ve already experienced. He reasoned, after everything that’s happened, I guess I have an open mind, whatever that means.
But how am I going to level [Discussion]? Do I need to talk to another person, or can I quantify one of these trees as an “other” even if they can’t communicate with me? He pondered as he walked, considering the possibility of teaching the trees how to speak as the moon slowly moved across the sky.
Salim stared upwards, craning his neck to spot the round object through the branches and thin leaves of the trees. It seemed to loom over the forest, it’s harsh glow slightly sinister after all that he had been through, yet more familiar than ever. The celestial object seemed to agree, it’s light turning softer as it began to lower itself below the horizon and out of view.
It almost marked the first day in the forest, and he wasn’t liking his odds, the forest still seemed endless and his body was finally starting to feel the effects of exhaustion. Still, it was do or die in the most anticlimactic sense, and the trees certainly had more patience than he did. He could deal with a small amount of exhaustion until he found his way out.
----------------------------------------
“Maybe I messed up.” Salim’s horse voice echoed through the forest, seemingly the only noise besides the occasional crackle from a tree. Two days later and he was feeling the effects of exhaustion in full force, his body wanting to simply lean over and face dive into the comfortable white grass.
He had taken to talking with himself in an attempt to gain a level in [Discussion] but so far it hadn’t happened. The only reason that he was able to keep going in his current state was both his experience with awful situations and his avid use of his [Meditation] skill. It allowed him to get just enough rest to stay on his feet, without him completely passing out.
“You guys wouldn’t mind if I just took a quick nap here, right? I’ll be gone in just a few hours, I promise.” He begged the trees, knowing that they would in fact mind very much.
All he needed to do was move the slightest amount, and they wouldn’t do a thing to him, however if he stopped for too long then roots would begin to creep towards him. They would even attack during the day, meaning that he hadn’t stopped hobbling forward for almost three days. Each level up he would get from his show of endurance was simply put towards his [Resilience].
“I’m starting to feel like whatever keeps bringing me back has a sick sense of humor.” He mumbled under his breath.
“Cause at first it was the wolves, or was it a bug? Whatever, then that landslide, Fallon, and who knows what else. What did I do? Seriously, it’s like I’m being punished for existing.”
He rambled on, his diatribe allowing him to keep pushing forward through the forest, barely able to keep himself straight as he walked towards the setting sun. One foot in front of the other.
“Oh, I completely forgot about that time with the wolves, not the first time, but the second. Can you believe that? Running into a pack of wolves multiple times in a row? I must be the most unlucky bastard ever.”
One foot, then another.
“The spider. How could I forgot about the spider, that thing was huuuge. Nearly killed me too, but I survived by dangling off a cliff. I am so cool.”
Had he passed a tree in a while?
“And Fallon, how could sh- it do that to me? What did I do to deserve that? What is wrong with you?” He drunkenly waved his hand in the air in a poor attempted at shaking his fist.
Was that light?
“I’m just going to die, again and again, until I can barely be called a person. I can’t live like that. I don’t deserve to live like that! I deserv-” Thunk.
He looked down at his leg, the pain dulled by his exhaustion. Under the moonlight, it seemed like he had run into some sort of long rock.
But that means! He whipped his head around to realize that he was no longer surrounded by trees, and instead inside a small clearing divided by… By a stone wall?
Before him was a small dividing wall of stones stacked on top of each other, creating a flat divide into what looked like a pasture. A mix of emotions filled Salim as he stared at the clear sign of sapient life. The emotions were too much; relief, joy, and hope filled him as his body plummeted to the ground in exhaustion.
So he lay, passed out on the ground, feeling better than ever.