Someone violently shaking my shoulders wakes me up. Before I can even react I feel myself standing. There is no force in my legs. There is no floor below my feet. It takes my tired mind too long to realize I am not dreaming. Someone grabbed my upper arm and lifted me up. My legs pointlessly flailing in the air, unable to reach the ground, is what finally returns me to reality. The figure in silver and gold armor holding me in the air takes off her helmet. Her scary blue eyes pierce right through me.

“WHO ARE YOU. WHAT ARE YOU. WHERE ARE YOU FROM. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE.”

She immediately starts asking questions. All very troublesome questions.

I must have taken too long to answer because she throws me against the wall and lifts me up again when I bounce. The pain expanding on my back clouds my mind. Her hands grabbing on my cloak make it hard to breath. All I can do is put my arms in front of my face. I must look like a child scared to be hit.

“WHO ARE YOU. WHAT ARE YOU. WHERE ARE YOU FROM. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE.” She repeats her questions again, louder this time.

“I-I am... My name is Lily! I am not a suspicious person!” I cannot tell her I am a dude from another world. She would never believe me. She may think I am drunk or insane. I don’t know if I committed a crime. I cannot risk it. I don’t want to end like that catgirl. I cannot tell her the truth. I need to tell her I am not a criminal.

Her only response is to shove me into the wall again. It seems she can see right through my lies. Grabbing my shoulder so hard I fear she may crush it, she starts dragging me outside the alley.

“You are coming with me” is all she has to say.

I try to fight her pull but she is too strong. Screaming and struggling is pointless. This small body doesn’t have the strength to fight someone like her. There is nothing I can do. Memories of those men that attacked me start to fill my mind.

“NO!” In a panic I reach for my dagger and swing it in front of me. The guard is forced to let go of my shoulder to create some distance between us. Only after I see her dodge do I realize what I just did. It is too late to apologize now.

The furious guard grabs the huge sword resting menacingly on her back. Luckily for me, this narrow alley is not big enough for her to use it properly. Falling on my butt and crawling backwards is all it takes to dodge the downward swing she sent my way. Seeing the floor crack below the sword should be all the motivation I need to run away but I am too scared to move my legs.

“STEAL!!” I scream to give myself some courage and extend my free hand. My /steal/ skill has saved me before. Losing their skills distracted those men long enough to let me escape. Losing its ability to bite crippled that wolf. If I can steal one of her combat skills I may be able to survive this.

Sadly, it seems against this opponent things won’t be as easy. My clearly telegraphed attack failed. All the guard did was crouch behind the sword. Its size makes it both a dangerous weapon and a convenient shield. I open my status screen to confirm it but no new skills are listed there. I shouldn’t have done that. Averting my gaze from her was a huge mistake.

The pain reaches me first. I was too slow to react. The dull pain in my upper body and the weightless sensation of floating in the air seem to slow time around me. While I was distracted the guard must have grabbed one of the empty barrels laying around and hurled it at me with enough force to send me flying. Slamming against the ground returns time to its normal flow.

I struggle to get up. My arms and legs won’t stop shaking. Everything looks blurry. Moving makes me feel nauseous. My chest hurts every time I breathe.

I try to clean my face to clear my vision.

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The first thing I see is my hand covered in blood. Touching my face I can feel the blood dripping on it.

The second thing I notice is the broken wood all around me. The barrel completely shattered on impact.

The third thing I notice is that I am in the middle of the street. Onlookers seem to be gathering around to see what is happening. It doesn’t look like they plan on helping me.

Lastly, I turn around. What I see is the guard holding the huge sword effortlessly on one hand while drawing strange symbols in the air with the other.

Without even thinking I shoot /steal/ at her. In my panic I shot it twice. The guard seems visibly surprised by this but still manages to dodge the first one while blocking the second with her sword. Not even catching her off guard is enough to land a hit. To make things worse, she uses the momentum of her dodge to spin around and send a kick in my direction. I, of course, am unable to dodge or block. The kick knocks all the air out my body and sends me flying once again.

I desperately try to breath but a dry cough is all I can manage. I cannot fight her like this. This body is too small and light. A single blow from her is all it takes to send me flying several meters. I cannot get close to use my dagger. I cannot get close to use /bite/. All I can do is create some distance between us.

I notice the guard ready her sword in the corner of my vision. Without even being able to catch my breath I shoot /steal/ once again. This is enough to stop her from coming closer. She stops on her tracks to block and I start to run.

I run as hard as I can. My whole body hurts. My breathing is erratic and my legs feel heavy. I am clearly in no shape for a long chase. Luckily for me the guard’s heavy sword and armor seem to be slowing her down. All I need to do is shoot /steal/ behind me when she starts to catch up. She even jumps to protect the villagers when my attacks miss her.

I continue to run into the forest. Unlike yesterday’s guards, she doesn’t give up immediately. With no villagers to worry about and no walls to hold her back, she swings her sword wildly. The dense forest and my small size are barely enough to keep me alive. The sound of trees falling over behind me squeezes tightly on my chest.

We eventually reach a wide river. The body of water in front of me looks different from the one I first found when I came here. The current seems stronger and the murky waters don’t let me see the bottom. Maybe it is a different section of the same river. Not that it matters, I have no time to worry about it. Without giving myself a chance to hesitate I start jumping on the rocks to cross to the other side. I assume the guard should not be able to cross the river on that armor. I don’t get to confirm it. Worrying over the danger behind me I fail to notice the more direct hazard below me. Before I can even make it half way through, I slip on a wet rock and fall into the water.

The strong current quickly drags me away. Even while inside the water is still impossible for me to tell how deep it is. The water is so muddy I cannot see whats in front of me. The force of the water jerks me around wildly. The only thing slowing me down is the occasional log or rock that gets in my way. With a current this strong even grabbing onto the stuff floating around me seems impossible.

I desperately reach for air but all I manage to do is fill my mouth with water. Flailing my hands around in a panic is not enough to fight the current. The water smashing against me and the rocks hitting my body make me lose all sense of direction.

As my mind starts becoming hazy I crash violently into a giant rock. The sudden pain wakes me up and forces me to cough up the water inside me. That’s when I notice my butt sitting on the gravel at the bottom of the river. The water is shallow here. I look around but I don’t see the scary guard anywhere. Looking down at my trembling hand I notice I am still firmly holding onto the dagger. No matter what I do the hand doesn’t open. My whole body is shaking. I try to calm down but my heavy breathing only makes things worse. Because of my wet body I fail to notice I am crying. It honestly would not surprise me if some of the water dripping from my clothes were pee.

I try my best to stand up once the beating of my heart has slowed down a bit. Everything hurts. I can barely move. Sheathing the dagger was an ordeal. My shaking hands were too numb to put the dagger in its place, it almost felt like threading a needle. Traversing the small distance between the rock and the edge of the river was torture. Just walking straight was impossible. I kept slipping on the wet floor and getting dragged by the water. For every step forward I made the current pushed me back a few centimeters. By the time I made it to dry land my whole body was covered in bruises.

As if to mock all of my efforts, looking at my surroundings I realize I need to drag my tired body further away from the water. The colour of the rocks around me tells me I am not safe. I need to move before the water rises.

I pathetically try to stand up but all I manage to do is fall face first into the mud. I try to crawl but my legs won’t move. My arms are not strong enough to carry my own weight.

Desperately dragging my body on the rocky mud robs me of what little stamina I had.

My weak body finally gives up on me.

And I pass out in the riverbank.