As soon as I neared the top of the next hill, my guess was confirmed. There was nothing left of that bunny but a bit of scattered fur and blood that seemed to float in the air, slowly drifting down to the hill below. Not that there was much of a hill left either.

Standing at the edge of the crater my little fireball had created, it was no wonder the bunny had disappeared. The thing was deeper than I was tall and at least a dozen or two feet wide. It would have been wider, but the curve of the hill was such that it couldn’t get any larger.

Seeing as there was no reason to go down, I turned. Following the edge of the crater while being careful not to get too close. Who knew just how stable the dirt was after such a blast? The next hill was fairly close. In fact, it seemed like there were three other hills that were clustered close.

Though, I guess close is a bit relative. In this case, I just meant that there were some hills that seemed to ride up on others, almost as if they had been a part of a much larger whole before rain and wind had managed to start dividing them.

As I stepped toward the hill, a red and white missile blasted out of the bushes, flying directly at me. Not having any time to react, I took the hit full in the chest. As I fell backward, the object flipped and disappeared into the grass to the side, but not before I caught sight of a single long ear and a red stump.

It seemed like there were more than one of these things on each hill. If that was truly the case, then I didn’t even want to know just how many of the things I had blown apart in that single blast. Hell, I probably sent a number of them flying.

Grass rustling nearby broke me out of my stupor. Scrambling, I pulled out my sword as I got to my feet. Not caring that my legs and skirt were wet from whatever liquid coated the foliage around me. Something blurs in my direction. Not having time to slice the object, I tilt my sword enough to put the pommel of it between me and my attacker.

Lucky for me, my attacker hits the pommel squarely with its head. The force of the hit was enough to force me to sidestep to keep my balance. Turning my head to get a clear look at what had just hit me, I find a bunny one the ground, stunned and near death.

Blood oozed out of its one intact ear and dribbled out of the corner of its eyes while a red froth coats its mouth. Even the few feet between us was not enough space to deaden the sound of rattling as it struggles to take a breath. The sight and sound sickens me. No creature should be forced to go through such pain. Given that I was the one to cause it, I had to end it. Either by healing it or putting it out of its misery. Not that I was going to heal the thing. Chances were that it would attack me the moment I did, not that I could anyway. Probably should learn a healing spell or get some potions.

With the briefest of hesitations, I stab the tip of my knife into its throat. The bunny doesn’t move as I do so. Almost as if it had accepted this outcome and was waiting for it. Kneeling there, I watch as the life fades from its eyes as the last of its blood pours out onto the ground. Most of it soaking into the dirt below. All except for a small amount of spray that dyes the ferns surrounding me.

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

Closing my eyes, I try to come to grips with what I just had to do. The pain that I had caused this creature. Pain that I could have possibly prevented if I knew how to use and control my power. But I had let my excitement over being able to throw a fireball, coupled with the anger over Mindi’s attack, overpower my need to always be in control. Something that hadn’t happened in many, many years.

Taking deep breaths, I did what I had always been taught. What I have been forced to do at times to keep myself from doing something out of anger that I would regret. Forcing my emotions into a box to contain and hide them from the world. Keeping them where they could not control me. Could not influence my decisions. Not that they would stay there. The therapist had been clear about the fact that I could not leave them there. That they could not be left to grow, to fester, and eventually explode. I needed to find a safe outlet and slowly release the emotions there.

It was one reason I had gotten into video games in the first place. No one cared if you killed a million bugs or declared war on another player online. Hell, it was highly likely that I wasn’t the only one that did it. But this game felt different. The pain the creatures displayed looked real. Almost as if the creatures themselves were alive somehow.

Not that that was possible. After all, everything here was just a bunch of code. Code that told it the creatures where to go, what to eat, who to attack, and even which bunny it would fuck. Or maybe the fact that the game was meant to be realistic meant that the developers even made sure that everything felt alive in its own right. Maybe this was how high the bar was set for new games. Maybe they had to be this realistic to have any chance in this market. Maybe it paid to make it feel like one could find any of the games creatures wandering down the street somewhere in the real world.

The sound of plants rustling in multiple directions caught my attention, dragging me out of my self-reflection and back to my current situation. Before I could place the directions or numbers, some instinct deep inside of me took hold. The body of the bunny vanished into my inventory as my chest crashed into the ground where it had been. A moment later, several somethings whistled just over my body.

Snapping my eyes open as I shoved my body up in one powerful pushup. The maneuver was something I could never have pulled off even when I was trying to bulk up in high school to impress a few of the girls. The incongruity between reality and the game snapping me out of the sudo funk I had found myself in. The gamer part of my mind took over. Analyzing everything and calculating odds.

Chisa Katana popping into one hand, I swing it up at an angle just as something blurs by. Judging by the red spay, I managed to hit whatever it was. But even if I had managed to hit one, another smashes into the back of my knee in such a way that the knee folds, collapsing under me. If not for the fact that I had been moving, I would have likely gone sprawling.

Not letting the opportunity pass me by, I twist around and slash the creature before it can get away. My attack hits its chest, causing all of its organs to drop to the ground but not outright killing the creature. It collapses to the ground. Crying out with all its might as it does so.

The cry echoed strangely. It is almost as if the hills around me have decided to repeat it. Hearing it sends shivers down my spine and I can tell I probably just fucked up by letting such a cry get out. Plants in every direction, on not just this hill, but every hill in this grouping of hills, vibrates. I watch as a few of the vibrating plants start to move as if a large breeze is blowing across them and have only one thing to say, “Oh fuck.”