Sammy’s walk through the woods seemed a tad bit less nerve wracking in that he had a better idea as to what was going on now. He was in a game, plain as day. While he wasn’t entirely sure if it was the company Samsang that had put him under, he was sure however that whoever had done so must be onto something truely next level. The feel of the leaf clothes on his skin, the subtle sounds of the forest and the refreshing smells in the air all leaned into the greater picture that was just any other normal reality. Hell, if he hadn’t talked to a floating spirit person and hadn’t been shown how to summon his own status screen, he would have said that this was just any old part of his normal world.
As the ever consistent surroundings of trees and bushes didn’t diminish in the slightest as what he could only imagine multiple hours having passed, Sammy began to realise something surprising. He was getting hungry. Thirsty too. He had assumed that such things like hunger, thirst and pain might be dulled down to a certain degree since whoever had designed this thing would likely not want to damage whoever played it all too much thought the reality of the situation didn’t give him much hope for his situation.
Sammy began to search his surroundings as he walked, whilst not eating or drinking in the game surely wouldn’t hurt his normal body, the ever growing feeling of emptiness in his stomach and the dryness in his throat was beginning to gnaw at him as the day grew on. Unfortunately for him, there were none of the typical friendly berry bushes one might find in a game, there were no pleasantly glistening streams that crossed his path. Besides himself, he seemed to be the only living thing within the large woodlands he found himself in so any hopes of trying to catch something and cook it up dwindled fast.
Time continued to pass as his situation grew worse, he could go some time without food, he knew that. Water though? All his life he had had an extremely easy access to water whenever he might want some. If he was thirsty he could simply just pull a bottle out of the fridge or just straight up drink it from the tap if he was lazy. Here though. Here he had started considering if tree sap was drinkable. If he juiced some of the grass could that satisfy his need for hydration to a well enough degree? It had only been about half of a day by this point though just knowing that he couldn’t have a proper drink of water whenever he needed to was doing a number on him. Deciding to continue in his trust of the spirit’s directions, he kept heading the way it had pointed, hoping that the game devs or whoever designed the world weren’t cruel enough to make the spirit guide him some place out of the way and in the wrong direction.
It wasn’t until he spotted bright light in the distance that he knew he was close to his freedom. He ran with a mix of desperation and joy as he came to the tree line and looked out onto the sunny expanse that lay ahead of him and away from the bloody, barren forest. The first thing he saw, like sparkling cords of sweet evanescent beauty, was a river. It wound this way and that between gradual green hills ahead of him and the sight almost brought Sammy to tears. At last he thought as he hurried towards it, uncaring for the world around him but for the stream of natures flowing ecstasy that was destined to grace his tongue.
Not having the patience for propriety, Sammy simply fell to his knees and thrust his face against the trickling stream, sucking long and deep from the chill water as moisture reentered his body. He gasped for air briefly, water coating his face and neck as it trickled down his body. He knelt there breathing, face upturned to the sky with a small smile on his face as he felt the water make its way down into his stomach. Sweet relief always came at the expense of prolonged longing and he had longed long enough. He felt relief unlike any he had felt in some time and he looked side to side, enjoying the feel of drinking from a river like an elk or any other creature of the lands. He felt one with nature and he sighed out in happy relief just as he made eye contact with a very large looking pig.
Youngling Boar Lvl 3
Upon the eye contact a red name tag briefly appeared over the boar’s head though upon Sammy breaking it, he noticed it disappear from his periphery.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Heeey little piggy buddy” Sammy said holding out his hands towards the pig in an attempt to relax it. “We’re just waterhole buddies right? Just lapping up some delicious H2O aren’t we. Wouldn’t want to break that water hole treaty from that jungle book movie now would we?” Slowly, Sammy rose to his feet.
The young boar huffed out a breath.
“Good little piggy, your probably out hunting for truffles aren’t ya”
Sammy, gently, began to back away.
The boar stomped it’s hoof and slowly began to walk after him.
“Hey hey hey hey, no need for that right. We’re just buddies right? I like truffles too. Though, honestly most people overuse it.”
The boar charged him and Sammy gave out a cry as he turned and ran. Behind him the boar squealed as it gave chase though Sammy was more concerned on outrunning the tubby thing. He ran adjacent to the river as he followed the bank downstream, huffing and puffing away as he struggled to keep ahead of the squealing beast behind him. The pig seemed encouraged by Sammy’s fleeing and squealed boisterously as it slowly began to gain on him, little trotters kicking up bits of dirt and grass as it closed the distance.
“We were supposed to be friends!” Sammy shouted back as he turned whilst running to see the boar now a couple of metres behind him. He squealed and made a diagonal turn towards the water, running full pelt down the gradual hill and hedging on a chance, he threw himself across and into the water, paddling further out to gain more distance from the beast.
Sammy planted his feet into the muddy river bed once he was some distance out and turned towards the shore. “Thought as much” he said through huffing breaths. “Pigs can’t fucking swim now can ya you squealy lump of unprocessed bacon!”
The boar had stopped just shy of the river and squealed in disapproval at the sudden obstruction. Sammy grinned and laughed, splashing at the water to irritate the young boar which seemed only to grow more irritated at his splashy show. Sammy was enjoying his victory wholeheartedly as he mucked around in the water, that is until the boar took its first step into the river.
“Whoa hang on there buddy, wouldn’t want to drown now would ya?”
The boar took another step, water coming up halfway to it’s front legs.
“You can’t swim, it’s not worth it. Just head back, come on.” Sammy urged with a bit more desperation in his voice.
The boar, seeming to have resolved itself, threw itself further into the river with a high pitched squeel and began to swim with shocking speed towards the open mouthed Sammy.
“You don’t swim! This isn’t right” Sammy squealed as he backed away, tripping on something underfoot and being dragged down below the water’s depth with a water gagging scream. In the few second’s it took to resurface, the boar was almost upon him.
There was no way he could get away, that he was definitely sure of. The water wasn’t at all suited for him let alone the boar despite its ridiculous swim speed so he had an edge there or at least he thought he did. If this was a computer game, he should be able to take it, hopefully. Whilst he had cooked plenty of meat throughout his career, he had never actually had to kill an animal with his own hands and the thought made him feel sick to his stomach.
Sammy swallowed his nerves and brought his hands up, readying himself for what he was about to do. He didn’t know what dying in the game meant for him and if he felt the pains accompanied with thirst and hunger, he wasn’t hopeful for what would happen if he let the boar have it’s way.
The boar, seemingly far smaller than it had seemed on solid ground squealed viciously as it came within arms reach, it’s small tusked snout poking up above the water as it came upon him. With reluctance mixed with desperation, Sammy grabbed both its small tusks with each hand and brought the beasts head under water. The thrashing boar underneath moved this way and that as it struggled to breath though Sammy held true and strong as he kept the thing submerged. Bubbles rose up to the surface of the water as it continued it’s struggle. Slowly but surely the stream of bubbles trickled down into smaller spurts, which died down to nothing as the boar lost it’s fight and soon, stopped moving altogether.
“I told you” Sammy said through a shaky voice, “we could have been friends.”
The act of drowning an animal caused a wrenching feeling in his gut and he felt his eyes glisten with the early signs of tears as he felt a pulsing sort of sensation in his periphery that felt reminiscent of the system which he ignored for now. He stared down at the boar for some time as it lay still in his grip underneath the surface of the river, moving lightly with the current of the water moving past them. With a long breath out, he sniffled, then began to make his way back out of the river from the way that he had come, dragging the young lifeless boar behind him.