The transition was instantaneous—a dizzying blur of color and energy, the air thickening, the scent of dust and ozone replaced by something sweeter, something that tickled his nose with the memory of sun-baked earth and wildflowers.
Kael blinked, his eyes adjusting to the sudden shift from the basement’s dim gloom to the dazzling brightness of the new realm. He found himself standing on the edge of a vast, rolling plain. The ground beneath his feet was firm, covered in a thick carpet of tall grasses that swayed gently in the breeze, their golden tips shimmering like a sea of liquid sunlight. The vastness of the landscape, stretching endlessly before him, was breathtaking. He felt a wave of relief, a sense of… openness. This place felt different, somehow less menacing, less oppressive than the previous realms he'd visited.
“Whoa.” He breathed the word, his gaze sweeping across the horizon, his chest expanding as he inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the crisp, clean air. There was no fog here, no suffocating humidity. The sky, a vast expanse of azure blue, stretched overhead, dotted with fluffy white clouds that drifted lazily, casting fleeting shadows across the plains. It was beautiful. Peaceful. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to stand beneath an open sky.
“It’s so open,” he heard Yareeth whisper beside him, her voice a soft rasp, her tail swishing back and forth in a gentle, rhythmic motion. “No trees, no swamp… just sky.” She took a few tentative steps forward, her eyes wide with wonder.
He could see her taking it all in— the sheer scale of it, the expanse, the colours, her gaze flickering across the grasslands, her senses on high alert but… not overwhelmed. It was a reminder of their different perspectives. To him, this realm represented a challenge, a source of experience points, a test of his abilities. To her, it was a glimpse into a world she'd never imagined, a world without the familiar comfort of trees, of shadows. It made him wonder what she saw, what she felt, as she stepped onto this alien terrain.
He could feel a rare smile, a genuine one, curving his lips as he watched her, her awkward, almost clumsy movement. “Yeah, it's… different.” It felt good to be here. For a moment, as the sunlight warmed his face, he allowed himself to forget the pressure of their situation. The looming shadow of the realm boss, the System's ever-present demands. It felt good. Just to breathe.
“Maybe… maybe this time it won’t be so bad." Yareeth’s voice, soft, hesitant, her tail twitching, her hands clutching her newly acquired dagger. The System interface had highlighted its limitations, yet she clung to it, the rough hilt a grounding presence in her clawed hand. She was watching him, gauging his reaction, he realized. Her home was gone, replaced by a series of flickering screens and alien encounters, but she was learning to navigate this new reality.
And he, Kael understood, was her guide. Her only connection. He felt the familiar ache in his chest, the knowledge a weight on his soul.
But as she reached out to touch the grass, the sunlight catching the muted emerald of her scales, a flicker of warmth chased away the chill. It was beautiful, he thought. And she… she belonged here, despite the grief, despite the fear. They exchanged a brief smile.
"Come on,” he said, his voice light, the urgency of the previous realms replaced by a newfound sense of... purpose, perhaps. But a safer, less desperate one. “Let’s go explore.”
He moved forward then, leading her deeper into the grasslands. It wasn’t just about gathering resources, about completing the quest that was already pulsing faintly in the back of his mind. It was about something more, about sharing a moment of peace.
The realization struck him, unexpected, a blossom unfolding amidst the arid landscapes of his thoughts. Could it… Could he even…? But the feeling lingered, a welcome warmth amidst the shadows. He forced the vulnerability down.
Yareeth followed cautiously, her gaze flickering from one patch of tall grass to the next, her senses attuned to the subtle shifts in the air. She was learning to trust her instincts. Learning to trust him.
They walked in a companionable silence for a while. Their boots crunched rhythmically against the soft earth. The sun warmed his face, the scent of wildflowers, a sweet fragrance he had almost forgotten, filling his lungs, a soothing balm against the harsh smells of the city. It felt… normal. Almost.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
The ground beneath them was solid, undulating gently, as they made their way through the sea of grass. The shadows cast by the fluffy white clouds danced around them. In the distance, he could see a line of hills, their peaks shrouded in a faint, purple haze. The Realm boundary, perhaps.
They continued for a while, the only sound was the rustling of the grass and the chirping of insects. He knew they would encounter something eventually.
“This feels… too quiet,” Yareeth whispered, her voice barely audible above the gentle breeze, a tremor of apprehension. He felt a pang of sympathy, the memory of his own fears a ghostly echo. But she was learning, adapting to the System's ever-present tension, its relentless cycle of reward and challenge. He could almost see the numbers ticking over behind those bright eyes, her skills increasing, each breath a marker of progress.
And then they saw them— a cluster of small, rabbit-like creatures emerging from a thicket of bushes, their elongated ears twitching nervously.
4x Meadow Nibbler Level 1
"Looks like our first challenge,” Kael muttered, his hand instinctively going to his club-hammer. He wasn't sure why they were here, these harmless-looking things. Their threat level insignificant, but this, he understood, was the System’s way. The easy kills to build confidence, experience.
Yareeth’s gaze, however, held something more… analytical, maybe. Or even… a kind of grim satisfaction? "What are they?" she asked, her voice edged with a curiosity he hadn't heard before. She drew her dagger, her scales catching the light. She was observing, learning. And the sight, the shared determination, felt strangely exhilarating.
“They… well, they eat grass, I think. Probably.” His words were useless, even to him. He’d stopped bothering to try and make sense of the creatures’ roles in these realms, their intricate connections. It was just about the numbers. The levels.
He didn't wait for them to attack. With a grin, the thrill of the hunt already taking hold, a different feeling than when facing the trio, he raised his club-hammer.
“Let’s get this over with.”
“Easy kills?” Yareeth’s question was soft, a whisper, her tone tinged with a mix of anticipation. “Are these… what they call Experience?” She’d learned the term quickly, her understanding of the System’s mechanics already exceeding his.
“Yeah. They’re Experience and potentially resources. Maybe even… maybe some food, if we’re lucky.”
He saw her brow furrow as she took in this information, and then, with a nod, she stepped back, her gaze fixed on him as the Meadow Nibblers, their tiny eyes gleaming with a ferocious, desperate energy, charged forward. Kael braced himself, a grin spreading across his face as the creatures lunged at him. He felt a wave of confidence that he hadn’t felt before, a sense of control that went beyond his enhanced stats, his upgraded equipment.
He met their charge head-on, his movements swift and precise as he danced around their clumsy attacks, his club-hammer a blur of motion as he dispatched one. They were no match for him. The creatures scattered, vanishing into the tall grass as easily as they had appeared.
Meadow Nibbler killed
Kael barely broke a sweat. “See? Easy,” he chuckled, feeling a warmth spreading through him, a genuine sense of accomplishment he hadn’t anticipated, the memory of the Blightmaw’s fury, his failure to save the village fading a little more.
“You made that look simple,” Yareeth said, her gaze focused on him. She approached and picked up the Meadow Nibbler corpse, holding it by its long ears.
He wiped the splatters of blood off his club-hammer. “They’re just… well, Nibblers, I guess. Bottom of the food chain, good for gaining some initial experience and, if we're lucky, some useful drops. But the boss, that's where the real challenge is. That’s where we… well, cleanse.” He’d tried to explain the concept, but it felt weird now. This… destruction of entire worlds.
“Let’s keep moving,” he said, his voice carrying a newfound authority.
“Towards the boss?" she asked. “To… to cleanse?”
He looked at her, and for a moment, he saw the shadows of doubt. “Yes. But this time, it won’t be like the Blightmaw. This time, we’ll take it down together." The promise hung in the air.
Kael grinned, and for a fleeting moment, as the breeze carried the scent of wildflowers and the sun warmed his face, he allowed himself to believe it.