Back and forth, back and forth, the feeling of a light breeze blowing on his skin, the trees waving in the wind. Hunter had always enjoyed hammocks; they were therapeutic to him.
Cracking his eyes open, he sat up quickly. "Where... am... I?" he sputtered, coughing up some water. Hunter found himself in shallow water. Sitting up left him up to his chest in it. The water was an underground river from side to side, about 12 feet across.
The fresh, earthy scent of the cave and river momentarily enraptured Hunter.
The flow where he found himself was slow and was rocking back and forth. The river he was in seemed to be in a cave valley combo; the walls were vertical for what must have been 30 feet, the walls curving to entomb the cave, and small holes from the surface poked through the rock, letting in beams of light, making the water sparkle.
Hunter tried to blink away the weird site. "Why am I here? How did I get here? Why does my head feel like someone hit me with a baseball bat?" He raised a shaky hand to his head, trying to feel around for a bump or bruise; not finding it, he attempted to scour his memories further for why he was down here.
The small amount of adrenaline his body was able to muster quickly ran out, and with that, the pain in his head changed from a dull headache to an ever-increasing tightness; somehow, his body was worse; it felt like someone had put him in a bag and hit him against anything near then pulled him out and compressed him in a vice.
With a start, the memories all rushed back at once. Hunter immediately spun his head as if on a spindle, looking for the goat. Not finding it, he finally noticed a blinking light at the top of his vision. There, his health bar was blinking at what must have been less than a tenth of its original size.
Hunter watched it closely and sighed. "At least my health has stopped going down." He felt behind him to where the goat had cut him, and the start of a scab was there protecting it.
The headache worsened like someone was driving a spike through his eye; the pain was unbearable. He focused on it. And it all immediately subsided, and as soon as he did, it was replaced by a glowing screen in his vision.
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You have killed Slightly annoyed goat. 27xp earned
Level up, now level 2
Level up, now level 3
You have gained an achievement; let me speed run death. Within 20 minutes of arriving here have your health go below 10%. Durability +2
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After mentally clicking through the screens, Hunter felt a rush of pain and power, almost like the heat of a long workout on his bones; his mind felt tired and clearer simultaneously.
Hunter mentally thought stats, and they appeared.
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Stats:
Strength:
5+1=(+1 Hard-worker)
Durability:
6+1+2=(+1 Hard-worker +2 Achievements)
Agility:
6+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker)
Intelligence:
8+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer)
Wisdom:
7+2=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer)
Level 3
XP 27
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Hunter looked down at his body. It didn't look different, and he felt just as sore, but it felt different. He felt his skin, which seemed to feel tighter; it wasn't bad. It just felt weird.
"Can I really be changed by just a value on a screen?" Hunter asked. He didn't like the idea of his strengths being a quantifiable value that could change at the whim of whatever controls this system.
Shaking his head, he decided to change his focus to only the immediate concerns: "I'm alone in a cave with a river in it; there must be a way out somewhere, maybe a game trail that leads down here." Although he felt motivated to get up, his body felt stiff all over. He let out a loud "Uuuuuugghhh" as he stretched.
Looking at each way the water moved, Hunter decided to follow where the water came from, hoping to find some path out. This proved difficult as the cave slowly narrowed the closer he got, and as it did so, so did the height and power the water had behind it.
Hunter could spot the waterfall now. It came from an amazing height. The peak must have been 300 feet up; where he had fallen was easily over 150. "How did I survive that?" he wondered out loud.
He continued toward it. The cave was getting even smaller now. The pressure was immense, so Hunter reached out, touching either side of the walls and using them as a brace. The water was past his shoulders but not quite at his neck. To progress forward, he had to brace his arms and push off like a runner from a starting line, making startling little progress. Even so, he was slowly inching his way closer as he continued repeating the process.
Hunter got close enough to see where the water fell and hit the cave. He looked down through the churning water. The waterfall must have been here a long time since the plunge pool was massive; he couldn't even see the bottom.
With hope still somewhere in him, he looked around for any way to get out, but his heart only sank as he spotted nothing but slick, mossy rock.
Then, one thing caught his eye: About halfway up, a rock was jutting out. The platform-like rock had what looked like brown moss draped over it. "That's not moss; that's the goat."
"I'm lucky I missed that on my way down." Immediately after determining the figure was the goat, a screen appeared in his vision, scaring him.
Hunter instinctively brought his arms in front of him to block the screen. This was a mistake, however, since without the brace of the sides, the water picked him up like a naughty toddler and quickly pushed him back down the tunnel.
With the power of the water against him, it only took 30 seconds for him to lose the progress he had made over the last half hour.
Not wanting to hurt himself any further, he stood up once he felt he was moving slowly enough to place his feet down without scraping them. This time, the water reached halfway up his chest. Sighing, he glanced at the screen, which had caused him to lose all his progress.
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Dead body of slightly annoying goat spotted. Would you like to loot?
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Two small icons floated below the screen, one with the word YES and the other with NO.
Hunter felt his inner gamer come out as he started getting excited. "I can loot enemies? That's awesome."
Then, he felt slightly saddened. "A goat can't have much, though," he said, a slight disappointment in his tone, stopping himself from hesitating anymore. He selected YES, and a list with one item appeared.
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Looted items:
Goat skin shorts
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Hunter mentally clicked off the screen and waited for the shorts to appear. And waited. And waited. Eventually, a thought came to mind, and a smile played across his face.
"I have an inventory?" Hunter then felt a small memory scratch at the back of his mind. It was a memory of how to use the inventory. What confused him was that he had never used it. The memory almost felt more like watching a video on how to do something without physically doing it.
With some hesitation, he flexed the muscle he knew he had, and a new screen appeared. The layout was grid-like, with different menus and tabs on the left. Again, Hunter knew where to go and clicked armor.
The goat skin shorts were categorized as armor; when he selected armor, they were the only option. The color matched that of the goat: brown and slightly dirty-looking. He mentally selected them, and they appeared in front of him.
And dropped.
The water started pulling his shorts away as if wanting to steal the one thing he owned. "Apparently, knowing how to use something doesn't help me know how not to be stupid," he said, pushing through the water.
He seemed to be losing progress on the shorts, but over time, as the water started going down, it felt like he was making progress. Eventually, with determination in his eyes and the shorts within reach, he grasped for them.
Upon grabbing them, he wondered if he should have let them go. The shorts were waterlogged, heavy, and scratchy. He raised them to his eye level and examined them. They were, unsurprisingly, mostly made of Goat fur. What was odd was the thread and elastic waistband in them.
"How did a goat give me this? Do goats sew?"
He slipped them on, thinking it was better than walking around with nothing on. The inside of the shorts felt slightly itchy, but what he really hated were the tufts of four-inch fur hanging off. As he moved, it felt like something crawled on him.
He frowned at the shorts. "At least they're my size."
With only one direction left, Hunter looked to the direction the water was flowing; the cave was steadily going downwards; he followed it, thankful for the holes in the ceiling giving him some light; as he walked, he was given the first time being alone with his thoughts.
"I really am in another world, aren't I?" he said. To Hunter, parts of This world felt foreign but also eerily similar, but how did he get here?
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Hunter tried to retrace his steps. "I remember waking up in my original world. I had been waiting for the door at the mess hall when I remember feeling like I was catching on fire." He looked down at his white arms, which were free of damage or burns.
"Is this the effect of going crazy? Maybe my mind has finally broken; it would serve me right." His mood soured at that; it always soured when he thought of why he was sent there.
"I still had three years; if I haven't gone crazy, how is it fair that I don't have to pay for what I've done." Feeling a sharp pain, he looked down at his arm; he had unconsciously been clawing into his arm where the scar had been, making a few dribbles of blood fall from it and into the water.
For what must have been the millionth time, he wished he had done something, said something, but what could he do now?
He could continue. Hunter distracted himself by focusing on placing each foot in front of the other. The walls finally seemed to stop getting larger, leaving his feet covered with water only a few inches above his ankle. He was able to walk almost unimpeded now and was making good time.
The cave ceiling had started lowering now. The light from the periodic holes had also lessened.
Now, looking ahead, it seemed that he had just passed the last hole, and the way ahead was bathed in darkness.
There were a few things that Hunter didn't like, such as tight spaces and the dark, and this cave slowly became both of them, but with no other way out, he pushed on.
The change was immediate. The rock he was walking on, carved somewhat smooth from the water, gave way to smooth, almost slippery stone. Hunter froze when he took the first step; it was like stepping into a swimming pool.
He looked down but couldn't see anything, as the light was no more than a memory at this point. He reached down and touched it. Yeah, this was definitely manufactured. Hunter walked over to the side of the cave, which was made of much the same material.
With an arm outstretched to the wall, he continued walking this way for what felt like forever. "This has to lead somewhere," he kept telling himself.
He was starting to see dots appear in his vision from the pitch black and was thankful for something to put his arm against. Then he thought he saw something.
Stopping, he stared hard at where the tunnel led; maybe it was his imagination.
He continued walking for a moment when it happened again: a small yellow light flickered on, then strobing a few times as it dimmed to nothingness.
Hunter froze. "What could be down here? Could it be something like the goat with glowing eyes?"
Hunter's mind and body wanted to run. "Run to where?" he kept asking himself. This did not elevate the growing pit in his stomach but did allow his shaky legs to move forward bit by bit.
Another minute, another light.
It was getting brighter as he approached, but he still couldn't determine what it was. The light was bright enough to hurt his eyes each time it appeared. The yellow light hadn't moved from the middle of the tunnel.
Hunter felt a mix of excitement, curiosity, and worry building in his stomach as he continued watching it.
Another minute passed as he got closer. The light appeared. This close, he could hear a light thrumming from it every time it pulsed. To him, it looked like it was hanging from the ceiling, suspended by something.
Hunter was sure he could get under it by the next time the light appeared, so he continued walking. After another minute, the light appeared.
He had overshot it by a few feet but was happy he wasn't blinded as bad as the light glowed behind him.
Turning around just as the first pulse disappeared, he watched as the yellow light created a small wave of light that moved out from it. About 7 feet from the thing, he was given almost no time to react as the warm light flowed over him.
He looked over himself as another pulse appeared. Nothing seemed different. Hunter walked right under the device and reached for it.
It was a few feet out of reach. Hunter jumped once, trying to reach it, and felt every bone in his body express its disinterest in doing that again. With his mind preoccupied with pain now, he continued walking, wondering if this was a good thing. "If this contraption is here, people might be here, too."
A white light was slowly becoming visible at the cave's far end. "The sun!" He exclaimed.
His eyes slowly adjusted, showing him that it wasn't the sun. The light came from what looked like a large glass dome at the top of a massive domed room, hundreds of feet in each direction.
The dome had offshoots of light that traveled in lines from it in four directions, which led to smaller domes emitting white light.
The room had a river flowing down the middle and two main sides. One was a forest-like side mainly made of trees and grass, and the other was lined with stone houses.
Hunter wasn't sure what he found weird about the houses until he got closer when it came to him.
"The stone isn't cut or stacked; it's all one piece." The whole town was carved out of the stone all around them.
As he got closer, he saw stone doors on hinges, stone windows, and spots for decorations carved right in.
Then, with a start, he realized something was missing from this town—the sound. Aside from the burbling stream, it was silent. There was no scuffling of people, no cries or laughter, just silence.
This suffocating silence worried Hunter more than the darkness. "Why would people just leave somewhere like this? Maybe this place is a last-chance bunker?"
But as he walked to the closest house, he realized that wasn't it. The door was left open, and peeking inside, he saw a perfectly set-up house. Without walking in, he pushed the door inwards, knocking on it.
"Hello, anyone here?" he asked, feeling warmth radiated from the inside of the house. The enticing smell of fresh food seemed to entice him. "Is that bread?" Hunter spotted a table set for one. The table was huge—it had to be 8 feet long—and it was filled with fresh chicken, bread, and steamed potatoes.
It smelled heavenly. Everything seemed set in the house like the person had left after cooking. Something felt off, and Hunter stepped back from the door. "Why would a town this silent and with no one around have fresh, still steaming food on the table? Also, who cooks that much for themselves?"
Worried, he walked back to the river and continued walking inside it. The sound from the water soothed him somewhat.
He came to another house, this one larger. It was a two-story house carved with flowing lines. The front door was left open a crack, but Hunter walked up to one of the windows carved out of the stone.
Inside, the scene was very similar. The large home had a bed, kitchen, and table with food on it. This room was that much more odd to Hunter, however. "Who builds a house like this? Why is everything just one large room? Also, who eats alone in this type of house? Also, again, where are the people?"
Looking back to his stream, he wondered if he should walk in, grab some food, and leave, but a chill ran down his spine when he turned his head back to the window.
Hunter blinked once, twice. "No, it's still there." The room had changed. He could still see everything, but everything had moved.
The table was in its own room, now one with three chairs around it.
The kitchen had an island that separated it from the rest of the house, and the bed was visible through an open door just past the kitchen.
He stood there gawking for a few moments until he heard whispers coming from deep inside, the cacophony of voices all speaking as one. "Join us," they said, then said, "Aren't you hungry? We are."
Backing up, he held his breath, not daring to look away. He stepped ever slowly, ever silently away from the house. "What was that? Whatever that was, it can't be good." Getting back to the river, he looked at the whole town.
The whole thing felt weird to him, even without thinking about the house changing. He could see light through the windows of each home and inviting smells through cracked doors.
Hunter decided to trust his instincts and leave. As he was nearing the edge of the town, he noticed a stick near the river's edge. He picked it up and examined it. It was an honest-to-goodness stick, no trickery.
Then, a thought came to him: a way to test whether the houses were safe. At the next house, he walked about 6 feet away from the window and threw it inside.
Immediately as the stick passed through the window, the whole rock building shuddered. Waves of stone pulsed as the building closed in on itself like a fly trap, making a grinding, slurping noise.
Hunter watched in awe and horror as the building caved in and lowered into the ground, becoming the same texture as the ground around it. "Nope," he said as he backed away and continued down the stream.
Nearing the edge of the town, Hunter followed the river into the other cave. On his way there, he spotted another stick and added it to his arsenal of monster-finding gear.
Wanting to get as far from this town as possible, he continued walking. It only took him a few minutes, but he eventually saw the yellow pulse of another glowing contraption.
Hunter looked at it and passed by it without issue.
Immediately after passing by it, he got a terrible pain in his head; it felt like someone was digging at the back of his skull with a jackhammer; he immediately let out a yelp of pain.
"What is going on?" he wondered out loud. That was confirmation enough, and a screen popped up.
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Achievement unlocked; they were so hungry. You found a mimic and escaped from it; you may have known it was a mimic; you may not have, but what matters is that it will be going hungry tonight. +1 luck
Achievement unlocked. Prey. You were being hunted by more than twenty creatures at once, and you survived? Lovely, +1 intelligence +1 wisdom
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"A mimic," he stammered; Hunter had found them in chests before in games but felt another wave of relief that he had felt something was off, or he would have, well, he would have been dead.
"I don't think I want to be here anymore," he thought, and then a realization hit him: "Why did he just earn that achievement? Was it because of the yellow glowing things? Was it because he got far enough away?"
Knowing he wouldn't get an answer, he trudged on more carefully than before.
The bricks below him eventually turned back into regular cave stones, and he sighed, feeling somewhat safe again.
The light was gone again, but he could live with it if he had his trusty stick. He had his right hand on the wall guiding him, and his left arm outstretched the stick in its grip.
Eventually, the cave split. The only way he knew this was that the wall he had his hand on stopped abruptly. He followed it, and stairs lead back toward the direction of the town.
Hunter could hear the water continuing downwards, but with the option of freedom, this was no choice at all.
Hunter found himself quickly exhausted going up the stairs, but it felt familiar, and he craved that feeling right now. Eventually, that feeling was gone, as a small line in the walls started glowing.
He looked behind him. The glowing line continued all the way to where the stairs met water. The stairs before him continued until they opened into a large room.
He took a rest before cresting the top of the stairs and looking around. The space was empty. It was a large rectangle, approximately 100 feet by 30 feet. The ground was a lush carpet, which felt like heaven on his feet.
The room's carpet let off a dim glow, softly illuminating it and the wood that the walls and ceiling were made of.
Each wall was decorated with moldings in an elaborate modern style, and pillars broke up the room. It looked out of place so far under the Earth. Hunter spotted another set of stairs on the other side.
Upon reaching the stairs, Hunter sighed. "I guess it wasn't meant to be." The stairs announced the end of the carpet. "Goodbye, beautiful room," he said longingly before walking upwards.
The stairs curved back in on themselves and led to another room. This one was a lot different. The whole space was made of logs. It was as if someone had taken the sides of log cabins and smashed them together into some amalgamation of a room.
As he passed the threshold, the pungent smell of pine invaded his nostrils. Hunter had always loved pines, but the strong, sudden smell worried him.
Breaking up the rest of the room, four wooden pillars in each corner let out a soft light. "This room is odd. I wonder what is going on?"
At the other end, another set of stairs led to yet another another room, seemingly odd in its unique way. This continued for three more rooms until he came to one which looked slightly different.
Hunter audibly gasped upon seeing it. This room felt ripped out of a Roman church, similar in size to all the others before it. A path led down the middle. To each side were archways, with the light coming from the bulbs of beautiful blue roses blowing in a nonexistent wind.
White arches led the way to the center, where a glowing cyan liquid lay suspended in midair. Bubbles floated around the liquid as it spun clockwise slowly; large flowing characters ran around the liquid cylinder in a circle.
The language didn't look like any language he had seen on Earth. The characters were made up of glowing lines and flowing dark carved points, making it look like light poured into the carved portions like liquid.
Before he could stop himself, Hunter found himself reaching out to the liquid. A new feeling enraptured him. Hunter thought the feeling of the shorts was bad, but this was worse. His whole body, especially his back, itched immensely.
Hunter groaned in surprise. The liquid reached for his arm, and the itchiness extended inside him. His lungs, stomach, and mind felt itchy.
"Why is my mind itchy?" he exclaimed, trying to close his eyes to help with the sensation. He finally tried to pull his arm back but was pulled closer instead. The water engulfed him, entirely increasing the itchy meter.
Even with his eyes closed, a light was now visible. A white amber light was increasing in intensity as his world became nothing but itchy.