“Well, shit…” Kaleb thought as they stared up at the base of the utterly massive tree at the center of the island.

They were standing in a clearing in front of the tree, which had already seemed massive when they were across the lake. But now that they were at its base, ‘massive’ didn’t seem to encapsulate just how big the tree was. Kaleb guessed it was at least a few buses across, but he couldn’t even gauge how big around it went. He might have been distracted by the three massive animals protecting the tree.

“Yeah, you’re fighting the bear Captain Death Flag.” Jar-lock muttered as they all stood stock still.

Kaleb just nodded in agreement as he stared at the largest of the three animals. The bear was easily twenty feet tall at the shoulder as it paced back and forth in front of the tree, staring at them. He tore his gaze away from the large brown menace to study the other two creatures.

“And the spider?” Kaleb asked.

He was kinda disappointed at the trope of a large black spider guarding the treasure in the dungeon. Sure, they were on an island and not deep in a moldy dungeon, but still it felt trite. The spider was crouched on the massive tree, staring down at them, ignoring the two other creatures entirely. Kaleb guessed that all three creatures were programmed to defend the tree. Although he wasn’t sure how that worked in the game. Maybe the tree ensorcelled and empowered nearby creatures.

Jar-lock interrupted his thoughts. “Oh, I got Charlotte. Which leaves you with the ferret.”

He conjured a fireball and stared daggers at the spider as Kaleb glanced at his target. The large tan-furred creature looked like a ferret, but Kaleb wasn’t sure that’s what it was. The coloration seemed wrong, but he was not an expert.

“I think it’s a mongoose, dear.” Claire said. “The ears are different and I’ll be helping with the bear. It seems like the bigger threat.”

Kaleb shook his head and smirked. “Sure. And that it helps your jinx-riddled husband is just a happy accident?”

Claire just stuck her tongue out at him before she cracked her knuckles and stared down at her target. The gigantic bear shifted its front feet, seeming antsy.

Two Gun checked both his pistols, more out of habit than needed. Kaleb’s upgrade meant the old gunman didn’t have to worry about ammo. After Two Gun looked over his equipment, he grinned up at the group.

“Y’all can blame me all you want, but you know you’re having fun.”

“Say that again after I’ve had my ass handed to me by the giant mongoose-ferret thing.” Kaleb said as he checked his own weapons. Both his weapons were ready and his taser-egg launcher was primed.

He glanced up at the mongoose as it flitted back and forth between several trees. He was hoping the damn thing wasn’t as fast as it seemed, but he had a feeling it was probably faster. The damn thing was over forty feet long and its teeth looked sharp as hell. But as he glanced at the bear and the spider, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat relieved. At least his target wasn’t quite as intimidating as the other two. Overused or not, that spider looked downright terrifying.

“What are they waiting for?” Jar-lock asked.

“Unless I missed my guess, they look like they are guarding the tree.” Kaleb said.

Claire shuffled on her feet, eagerly, as she asked. “So you think they won’t attack until we go for the fruit?”

Kaleb nodded as Jar-lock asked another question. “Does anyone see the fruit?”

Kaleb and the others quickly glanced up at the massive tree looking at its large highway-sized branches. Kaleb figured that with the size of the tree, the fruit would’ve been huge as well. But it didn’t look like any such fruit existed on the tree. As Kaleb searched the tree, he could half-see the others doing the same. After looking around for a few minutes, they all glanced at each other.

“Well, that’s not good,” Kaleb said.

“You don’t suppose we have to climb the damn thing, do you?” Two Gun asked as he spun his revolvers.

Jar-lock just shrugged. “Or we have to defeat the tree’s guards first.”

“Well, it is a game,” Claire said.

Kaleb sighed loudly. “Well, nothing to it, but to do it.”

“Ready when you are.”

“Oh, this is going to be fun.”

“Watch your health and call-out if you need help.”

“Sure, sure,” Kaleb said. “Let’s go!”

Kaleb raised both his pistols and sent blue and yellow energy blasts toward the mongoose. The creature zipped between the trees before rapidly climbing the nearest one. Kaleb dashed into the woods surrounding the clearing, firing the odd shot at the beast. The mongoose jumped between branches as it tried to close the distance. Kaleb saw a few of his shots collide with the mongoose’s flanks, leaving burnt fur and large angry red welts along its skin.

The creature let out a screeching scream as it tossed itself to the forest floor near Kaleb. He leapt away and rolled into a standing position, still firing away until his Cybar needed to vent again. Quickly venting his pistol, Kaleb aimed his Egg-launcher at the beast’s side and fired. The plastic egg spun through the air before slamming into the mongoose’s side and breaking. A tangle of wires sprung free of the egg and bounced off its singed fur.

“Damn it! It’s too big.” Kaleb thought.

Kaleb brought his pistols back up as the mongoose darted forward and head-butted him in the chest. He felt the air leave his lungs as he was sent flailing backward. Grateful that he wasn’t close enough to the nearby trees to bang against one, Kaleb sent more energy blast into the thing’s furred body. The stench of burning fur was filling Kaleb’s nostrils.

The mongoose gave another ear-piercing screech as it stood up on its hind legs. Kaleb had to cover his ears as the noise resounded through the forest. Trying to shake off the sonic attack, Kaleb missed the large paw lashing out and swatting him across his right side. Once again, Kaleb was sent flying a short distance away, landing roughly on his side and skidding across the dirt. Kaleb gave his HP a quick glance as he stood and tried to think.

HP: 101/147

“Ok, so the son of a bitch hits fast, but not hard. Got to slow it down.”

Kaleb sent a few more blasts at the mongoose before he ran deeper into the forest. Hoping the trees would slow the thing down. He could hear the thing running after him, kicking up dirt and rocks as it chased him. After a short distance, Kaleb dropped to a knee and continued firing as his pursuer continued to charge. Kaleb thought the thing was going to leap over him, but at the last second the Mongoose leapt up to a nearby tree, then bounced to another tree, then another, and another.

The creature was pinging between the trees so fast all Kaleb could see was a tan blur. Thinking quickly and knowing the creature was winding up for a big attack. Kaleb, still crouched, pulled a taser egg from his pocket and placed it on the ground near him. Tracking the creature with his pistol as best he could, Kaleb fired off a few more shots before the mongoose made its move.

The beast dashed down the side of the tree and appeared before Kaleb’s eyes before he could blink. He watched as the beast threw itself backward into a rapid back-flip. Kaleb could only stare, wide-eyed, as the thing’s tail lashed out, mid back-flip and slammed into his chest. This time he had enough forethought to exhale before he got sent tumbling end over end before he slammed into a nearby tree.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

HP: 43/147

Kaleb was, once again, reminding himself that he couldn’t throw up in a video game as his eyes spun and his chest and back ached. Nearby, he heard the mongoose give another ear-splitting screech as an electric snap sounded out, and the air was suddenly filled with the smell of ozone. He momentarily thought about inventing some earbuds as he gazed at his annoyingly spry adversary.

His Taser Egg had worked like a charm. Ensnaring the mongoose’s back legs and sending sharp jolts of electricity through its body. He quickly searched around for his weapons, as they had been dropped during his flight through the air. Kaleb found his Cybar first and began firing toward the beast as his eyes continued looking for his Sun Gun. The mongoose kept up its screeching as the blast of blue energy created more and more patches of burnt fur.

Kaleb spotted his Sun Gun a short way ahead of him and moved to pick it up. As he did, the mongoose finally kicked its back legs free of the entangling wires. Kaleb snapped up his pistol as the creature gave another screech before pausing. Kaleb curtailed his instinct to keep firing as the mongoose went eerily still and seemed to stare off into space.

After a few seconds, the mongoose seemed to come back to itself and Kaleb braced himself for another round of attacks. But the enormous beast just chittered at him before dashing off into the forest. Kaleb exhaled loudly before he walked back toward the clearing where they had initially met the gigantic creatures. As he walked, he reflected on the mongoose’s strange behavior.

If he had to guess, he had hit on some kind of ‘win state’ where he had successfully convinced the thing that he was too much trouble to deal with. Luckily, before his HP had dropped any lower. He hoped the Driadarin would show up somewhere. He didn’t look forward to hunting the giant mongoose if he was supposed to kill it. Although the others might help if they had finished their own targets.

As Kaleb got closer to the clearing, he heard the fighting still going strong. The loud sound of Two Gun’s energy revolvers was going off ahead of him and he could hear Claire shouting as he broke through the treeline into the clearing. Two Gun was giving it both guns as his wife was going toe-to-toe with the large brown bear. The bear, for its part, was doing its best to swat the slender green woman out of his way. But the pair seemed easily matched and with Two Gun providing ranged support, Kaleb figured they would be done soon.

Kaleb noticed Jar-lock standing by a nearby tree, seemingly waiting for the fight to finish. Waving until the Mage looked his way, Kaleb shot his friend a questioning look. Jar-lock nodded at him before he walked over to Kaleb. Kaleb could see that the muscled mage hadn’t gotten out of his fight with the spider unscathed. Jar-lock was limping and seemed to clutch an arm to his chest.

“Spider tag you?” Kaleb asked.

Jar-lock simply nodded as he looked Kaleb over. “Yeah. It was smarter than I expected. It got in close when it realized I could burn it pretty well from outside its range. Still crushed the fucker, though.”

Kaleb raised an eyebrow. “It didn’t take off after freezing for a bit?”

“No….” Jar-lock said, looking perplexed. “It seemed to freeze up for a few seconds. I was nursing the arm wound at the time, but once it snapped out of whatever it was, it went back to attacking me. Did the ferret-thing take off?”

Kaleb nodded as the loud roar of the bear sounded next to them. “Should we help? I’m low on HP, but I can still shoot.”

“Sure. Although I’m a little low on MP, but I can throw the occasional ice spear or fireball.”

“You gonna be okay until we get back to the hangar?” Kaleb asked, looking at Jar-lock’s hurt arm.

There was a large, open wound on the man’s arm. Kaleb guessed the spider had raked a leg through Jar-lock’s arm, doing a decent amount of damage. Jar-lock winced as they shifted to a better position. He kept the injured arm tucked into his body as he nodded.

“Yeah, Viv can see to this no problem. Well… if she’s at the base. We really need to find another healer or at least some health potions or something. Relying on in-game healing may be good for skill growth, but it’s going to get us killed in the long run.”

Kaleb sent a few pot shots of blue and yellow energy into the bear as he agreed. “Yeah. Another thing for the pile. Although I will bet there’s something in Under-town. Hell, there’s probably something above ground. We haven’t really explored downtown Austin much.”

“Ha!” Jar-lock laughed. “You really don’t look at the forums, do you?”

“Of course not! All forums are just full of nothing but spoilers and out of game knowledge that makes people want to game the system. I want to LIVE and experience this world as if I was native to it as much as possible. That’s the whole point of Full-Body Immersive games.” Kaleb explained vehemently.

“Purist.” Jar-lock chuckled.

“Damn right!” Kaleb laughed back.

With their combined effort, and a devastating right hook from Claire, the bear soon froze. Getting that far off look the Mongoose had got on its face before it ran away. Kaleb was surprised everyone seemed to freeze at the same time, but he chalked it up to most gamers being used to standing still and letting in-game cut-scenes happen. Although he wasn’t entirely sure that was what was happening.

After the bear seemed to shake itself free of whatever had hold of it, it glanced at them, gave another loud roar and lumbered off into the woods. Kaleb heard Jar-lock give an annoyed grunt as they all looked around.

“Oh sure, all of y’all have your giant monsters run away, But I have to torch a giant spider to damn near cinders.” The large mage grumbled.

Kaleb just chuckled as Claire and Two Gun gave each other a once over. While Claire had taken the brunt of the damage, Two Gun looked like he had taken the odd swipe as well. He could see that Claire’s new armor seemed to have taken the bear’s enormous claws pretty well. The armor didn’t even appear scuffed. After the pair had finished checking each other, they moved to Jar-lock and Kaleb.

“Have fun?” Kaleb asked, still grinning.

Two Gun wiped his brow and shook his head. “I hate to say it, but yeah. Yeah, I did. That bear was a tough sum-bitch, though.”

“I’ve told you, love,” Claire said. “You need to stand further back. You took a lot of damage you wouldn’t have needed to if you had just been out of range.”

“Wouldn’t have made a difference, sweetheart. That bear was trying to fight both of us. Damn thing would dart toward me whenever you got complacent. It even put you between me and it several times. The AI in this game is no joke.”

Jar-lock nodded. “Yeah. Gone are the days of just standing next to your target and beating on it until it died while a tank gathered aggro.”

“Should we be looking for the magical fruit thing?” Kaleb asked as he gazed at the tree.

He was hoping something would happen now that the three monstrous creatures were now defeated. He really didn’t want to chase down the mongoose and the bear. But as Kaleb glanced around the massive tree’s base, he noticed nothing different. The small island they were on was quiet as he and the others gazed at the tree.

Jar-lock gave a sigh, moving toward the tree. “I really hope we don’t have to climb this thing.”

Kaleb and the others followed, joining Jar-lock at the base of the tree. Kaleb thought the tree looked ridiculously healthy, which was odd, giving the limited nutrients it probably had to work with. But he figured it was just magic or some other in-game logic reason. Hell, for all he knew, the tree’s roots stretched deep into the ground and probably even into the city.

He put a hand on the trunk of the tree. The bark was rough under his hand, but the odder thing was the tree felt unnaturally warm to the touch. It also seemed to get hotter. Kaleb went to take his hand off the tree, but found that he couldn't. Some force was keeping his hand glued to the tree and no matter what he did, he couldn’t yank it free.

“Uh, guys…” Kaleb said, glancing back at his friends.

They were all giving him bemused expressions with Two Gun look downright giddy. Kaleb could only guess at the ribbing that was coming from the old cowboy.

“Gee, Professor. I would’ve thought you would know not to just go around touching things.” Two Gun said.

“Oh ha ha, old-timer. How were we going to climb it without touching it? Anyone have anything useful to say.”

Jar-lock had moved over and was trying to help remove Kaleb’s hand from the tree. The larger man had hold of Kaleb’s wrist and was pulling as hard as he could, to no avail. Kaleb still felt the tree under his palm grower warmer and warmer. It was growing unbearable as Claire walked up and grabbed Kaleb by the shoulder.

“Okay, let’s wait a sec... urk!” Kaleb grunted as Claire gave his shoulder a mighty tug.

He felt like his shoulder was being pulled from its socket. Claire, unperturbed, switched her grip to around Kaleb’s waist and lifted him bodily from the ground and pulled. But it was to no effect, other than to make Kaleb swear and curse until she put him back down.

“Sorry, dear, but it looks like you live here now.” Claire said with a soft chuckle.

“Or until this thing finishes doing whatever it’s doing.” Jar-lock.

“What the hell do you think it’s doing?” Kaleb asked.

Jar-lock shrugged. “No idea.”

Kaleb grumbled as he stood there, feeling the tree grow hotter and hotter until he was sure his hand was going to burst into flames. But as hot as his hand got, he never felt any pain. Which he found odd. Even with the pain suppression of the game, he would still feel something. But once it got to scorching levels, the heat seemed to be done.

“Okay, now nothing’s happening.” Kaleb said, glancing at the others.

Jar-lock and Claire were watching nearby, both curiously look at Kaleb’s hand. But Two Gun was looking at the tree with a contemplative look on his face. Kaleb was about to ask what the old man was thinking about when the cowboy reached out and placed his own hand on the tree.

“What the hell! Don’t…” Kaleb began before realizing the heat in his hand dissipating as Two Gun’s hand touched the tree.

“Whoa!”

“Oh, love, you idiot.”

Kaleb glanced at the other two as Two Gun just shrugged at his wife’s admonishment.

“I think he has the right of it. The tree is doing something, and it changed as soon as he touched it. I think we all have to touch the tree.” Kaleb explained.

“Uhhh, yeah. That’s what I figured.” Two Gun said unconvincingly.

The others just stared at the old cowboy before he coughed and looked away. Claire moved to place her own hand on the tree, but Jar-lock looked hesitant. Kaleb could understand that, but he also knew that if they just sat around waiting, nothing would happen. So he jerked his head at the tree and said.

“Come on, Lock. We don’t want to be here if the mongoose or bear comes back.”

Jar-lock shook his head while moving closer. “Sure, and if they do, we want to be magically glued to a tree.”

“Come on!” Two Gun said. Giving his free hand a waggle. “All the cool kids are doing it.”

Jar-lock gave a long sigh before he place his own hand on the tree next to Claire’s.

Kaleb started to worry when nothing happened for a moment, but then his palm stopped feeling hot and he saw a bright white light. Kaleb heard his friends cry out in surprise before suddenly cutting off. He felt himself being dragged forward as the white light fully engulfed his vision before things went completely black.