Time passes quickly as I move towards the mountain. Yet even as I traverse what must be miles and miles of forest, it doesn’t look to be growing closer. Even when the kinds of trees inhabiting the forest change. I don’t think I’m reaching the mountain today… but I also don’t want to be ambushed again when I go to sleep. Although, I suppose that it won’t happen every night.

Some faint tingling at the edge of my senses causes me to stop. What’s that? Something seems off… but I can’t tell what. I focus intensely. The grass is swaying in the wind, the strange needles on the trees barely moving due to their stiffness. The smell of plants is just as strong as when I first left that hole in the ground, with a side note of something syrupy. The distant chirping of birds that has been omnipresent throughout my journey through the forest is even still there.

Wait… No it isn’t. I focus even harder, and am met with almost complete silence. There are no birds chirping… So why did I think there were? Something’s wrong here, but… that feeling is telling me that I need to go to the mountain and I don’t know if there are any other paths.

I stand still and come to a decision. I think I should go through this stretch of forest. There’s no guarantee that this area is dangerous and a detour would certainly take longer and give other creatures more chances to ambush me. The more time I spend sleeping in the trees, the higher the chance something that can actually kill me will attack.

I carefully begin to creep forward. My eyes scan the area around me as I strain to hear anything that could signify something dangerous. I periodically pay attention to what I smell, searching for a sign that way. The hours pass by as I move uneventfully through the forest.

. . .

The faintest sound becomes audible. I instantly stop moving. What’s that? …Birds chirping? The high-pitched tweets seem to echo in the forest around me, giving the whole place an even more eerie feel. Where is it even coming from? I slowly turn and pinpoint the origin of the sound. It’s coming from my right. But… What should I do now? This whole situation feels incredibly ominous… I start slowly creeping backwards. The moment my back foot lands on the ground, the echoes stop. I freeze in place at the abrupt silence.

Something deep within me tells me to leap to the side. My body moves on its own and shoots into a nearby bush. A blast of air hits the ground behind me. I feel something tear a gash in my tail. A split second later, I’m inside the bush. What just happened? My eyes are drawn towards my tail. A black, viscous liquid leaks out of the gash but it quickly congeals. The bleeding ends within a dozen seconds. What..? What is that thing leaking out of my tail?! What attacked me?! Just what is going on?! I-I don’t have time right now to think. I need to know what attacked me.

My eyes shoot towards the creature that attacked me. They widen at what I see. A massive bird has its claws dug into the ground and is standing exactly where I was a moment ago. It has raven black feathers covering everything but its head and neck, where it’s colored an ugly pink. The bird’s claws are huge—at least the size of my horns. The creature is so large that it looks like it could swallow me whole. A small breeze blows my way, allowing me to catch a whiff of the bird. It reeks of death and decay.

This must be the thing that attacked me. But how do I escape from it? The creature suddenly looks up, its eyes narrowing as it scans its surroundings. I shiver. If that thing catches me, I’m dead for sure. It tore through my scales as if they weren’t there at all! The creature keeps examining the bushes and trees around it, oblivious to my introspections. I turn and, quietly, begin to crawl away from the bush.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

There’s a stick right there… I have to avoid it. My feet continue to pad softly on the ground as I circle around the stick. However, in dodging the first stick, I don’t notice the second one! *Snap*! The creature’s head turns at an impossible speed. Oh shit! I throw caution to the wind and begin to sprint away. A blast of wind hits me from behind and pushes me forward. The sudden burst in speed almost makes me crash into a tree.

That was really close! And where did the creature go…? That strange sense from earlier signals that I need to dodge. Now. My muscles tense before I leap forward. The sound of something massive hitting the ground resounds through the air. I stumble on something, but quickly pick myself up and keep running. I’m already starting to feel tired…

I look around me while dodging the bushes and trees that get in my way. The instinct inside me makes itself known once more. I jump to the right this time, changing my movements to be less predictable. The massive bird slams down right to the left of me.

That was close… again. If I had waited even a split second more, I don’t know if I would have gotten out of there in time…The creature directs its baleful gaze in my direction, following my every movement. It pulls its talons out of the ground, and leaps back into the air soon after. I force my body to move faster, faster than I even thought I could go.

However, nothing comes. No more tells of danger, no more attacks from the bird. It just… stops. I begin to slow down before finally coming to a halt. Why did it leave? Some notifications appear at the edge of my mind and I allow them in.

Learned General skill [Passive - Danger Sense]. Experience is awarded for the learning of a General skill.

1 level gained. Level advanced from 3 → 4.

A flow of power rushes through me as the level up registers. Wait… why did I level up? I didn’t kill anything… and what even is Danger Sense? It says that it is a General Skill, but I still don’t know what that means… Maybe it just helps me sense danger? The instinct deep within me that has been guiding me so far responds with an affirmative, before seemingly disappearing once more.

So I’m right… but how does it help me sense danger? No response comes. So I’ll have to figure that bit out for myself then… Well, that’s not anything new. I do wonder how the changes have been reflected in my Status, though. It might even be able to provide some insight on this new skill! [Status].

Razag

Level: 4

Species: Crimson Dragon Hatchling

General Skills:

[Passive - Dragon Scales] lvl 1

[Passive - Danger Sense] lvl 1

Skills:

[Spark] lvl 1

[Slash] lvl 2

Unused Skill Slots x 3

Stats:

STR: 18

END: 22

VIT: 18

WIS: 25

INT: 23

Wait… why is Danger Sense assigned? I didn’t do it myself, like what I did with Spark and Slash, so something must have done it for me… It’s also under a new category—the same as Dragon Scales. And it’s not taking up a skill slot… which must be a good thing. That’s more space for… something. And having more space couldn’t possibly be a bad thing.

Well, I should probably get moving again. I really don’t want to stay in these woods for any longer… That whole thing with the bird, and the silence… It's just incredibly creepy. I look up towards the sky and face the mountain once more. I start running, trying to get out of here as quickly as I can.