Thump.

“Ow, bastard!” Zac sat up, cradling his bruised head.

He’d fallen from the portal and landed on his back. Clunking his head on hard, cold stone. He sat up and tried to get a look around himself.

It was dark here, and musty. Smelled like the old abandoned buildings he’d stayed in sometimes, like damp stone and plants and old forgotten dust. Zac blinked repeatedly, trying to clear the pain from his head and the tears from his eyes.

As he got a look around himself Zac saw that he was in a small stone room. Dirty stone floor, a low ceiling held up with thick wooden pillars. Debris scattered around the place, broken wooden boxes and torn paper. Pale blue light fell down from a stairway in front and to the left of him, giving the low stone room a ghostly, unreal quality. The dust swirling in the air from his collision almost made it look as if he was under water.

“Finally.”

Zac shot to his feet and spun towards the voice but then had to hold his arms out for balance and try not to throw up at the sudden dizziness.

“Easy there lad, no need for theatrics.”

A man stepped forward from where he had been leaning against the wall to Zac's right, almost invisible in the dull reflected moonlight. He held his hands out palm first, “Not here to hurt you. Just got a message is all. A little gift. Nothing to fear here, honest.”

Zac was immediately suspicious. He was tall this man, and slender. He wore a long coat, maybe brown though it was hard to tell down here, and had a wide hood up over his head. He pulled this down and put on an easy smile. Too easy. He had a scruffy short beard and messy sandy hair that fell down over his eyes.

“I’m here for Verris alright. Gonna give you a bit of a ‘tutorial’ I guess.” The man made finger quotes in the air when he said ‘tutorial’. He lent back against the wall and crossed his arms.

“Don’t know nobody named Verris.” Zac said, gruff and petulant. Though his voice came out sounding young and whiney.

“Sure you do, you're his ‘hero’ aren’t you?” More air quotes. The man sounded teasing now, like he was holding in laughter. “So listen , time’s money and all that so let's do this quick like.”

The scruffy man rubbed his hands together and looked down between them, “ Right, so… Um…” He trailed off, “Got it!” He snapped his fingers, “First off, you’re in Arkland. That’s a country by the way.” The man pointed at Zac and started to walk back and forth as he spoke. “Nice enough place, all the races live here. Dwarfs, Humans, Elves what have you. Decent booze too, they've got this ale down in Ferry, strong stuff, man you won’t believe…” He turned towards Zac, smiling in remembrance then shook his head and kept pacing, “.... Not important. Anyway. More specifically, you’re in the Myre woods. Mostly lumber villages, a few decent sized towns dotted about the place. Not a few beasties too. Nothing too scary but should be an alright place to get your feet wet,” He broke off and looked at Zac, “You get why you’re here right?”

Zac just looked at him.

“Look I get it kid,” The scruffy rogue shook his head, “I mean a hero of Verris, what even is that . The other gods I get. Julonis. Quillanaris. Even Aracnis makes sense, sort of, but what's our god need with a Hero? Saving people, seriously? That's for suckers.”

Zac couldn’t help but nod. He remembered his last day, sticking his stupid neck out for some girl he didn’t even know. She probably died anyway, or something worse.

“Exactly!” the rogue nodded firmly, “But hey. You were dead right? A second go arounds not bad, not bad at all. And it’s not like you’ve got a quota or something. Just do whatever, no skin off my nose and it’s not like Verris is the smiting type.” He nodded again, more contemplative this time.

Zac couldn’t quite believe they were having a conversation about gods. He’d never been religious. He’d learned to avoid those types living on the streets, they could be the worst kind of twists. And he could never stomach the talk of life’s blessings and being ‘grateful’. If there was some kind of grand plan then it was a damn cruel kind.

He figured this Verris was the lazy hustler voice he’d heard at the end of his time in the darkness, the one who’d ‘picked’ him.

As he stood and thought, watching the dust swirling in the ghostly light the particles seemed to swirl together and take shape. Quickly he realised he wasn’t just imagining it, The light was pulling together into an image. As he watched in amazement the blue grey light coalesced into a rectangle, a word wrote itself out in sparks and an image was formed above it the same way. As it settled into shape it seemed to firm and become more real, solid. Zac reached out with his left hand tentatively, stretching his index finger forward until it brushed against something.

The card burst apart into light and rushed into Zac’s hand, which he clutched to his chest.

“Come on then, don’t keep me in suspense, whatcha get?” The rougish man was peering at Zac quizzically.

Zac looked down at his hand and unclenched his fist. He could feel a fizzling in his palm like pins and needles. As he held his hand out in front of him he saw a tattoo of a card, printed on his palm in pale grey ink. The Rat was printed along the lower edge in stylized cursive. Above this was a sketch of the rodent in question climbing up a branch, claws dug into the wood and beady black eyes staring out with fangs bared, long tail twisted out behind it. The edges of the card were tatty and looked burned in places.

“Huh, not much to look at is she,” Zac startled and stepped away from the man who’d snuck up and peered over his shoulder.

“Well, looks can be deceiving I guess.” The man shrugged, “So. That’s your face card. Doesn’t do nothing on its own but it’ll shape the rest of your deck, any cards you get will be based off of that one. Which reminds me!” He raised a finger and peered into the air for a moment and then plucked something from it. “Pick one.”

He turned back to Zac and held his hand up, clutching some cards fanned open in his fingers. He watched him expectantly. Zac stepped forward and reached for the cards. The man took a quick step back and whisked the hand behind his back.

“Uh uh. Look with your eyes mate,” He pulled his hand back out and held the cards up where Zac could see. He could only see the whole of one with the cards stacked like that, only the edges of the other two visible. There was a large print D written across the back of the card in bold black ink, then again in small print on the corner with a symbol next to it that Zac couldn’t quite make out.

“The sword, the axe, the dagger. All D rank,” Zac could see that now, there was a little image of a sword next to the D in the top left corner.

Zac eyed the man quizzically.

Scowling, apparently taking this for criticism the rogue said, “Look, I’m not made of money alright. I was told to come here, give you a rundown and a starter card and be on my way. If you don’t want it….” The man started to put the cards in his pocket, even though he’d pulled them from thin air.

“No, no!” Zac said quickly, “I do. I'll take the… umm..… dagger?” Zac’s voice trailed off at the end, unsure, rising in pitch inquisitively.

The rogue raised an eyebrow.

“The dagger,” Zac said more firmly. His voice still sounded off, too high and fresh. The dagger made sense to him though, he’d never even held an axe or a sword but he’d had knives. A good knife was a useful thing. He’d never done much more than just wave one about threateningly but he knew how to hold a knife, even how to fight with one if he had to.

“Righto, here you are then.” The rogue flicked his fingers and a card span over and thumped into him. He slapped his hand to his chest to catch it, his left hand.

There was another burst of light and the card disappeared. Zac goggled at it.

“Careful with that, you touch a card to that hand and you’ll pull it into your deck.”

Zac looked at the man then down at his hand. “Mines in a different place,” He chuckled, “Don’t worry though, you can pull a card back out of your deck whenever you want. Except your face card of course. Still, not all that polite to go scooping up cards that ain’t yours, people frown on that kind of thing. Take a look at your new card when you get a sec, see what you got. Though finding more’s a good thing to add to your to do list, fella needs three or four to be really dangerous. And hey, good luck out there kid. I can’t say I totally get what you’re doing here but,” He shrugged, “I’m rooting for you.” The rogue brushed his hands down his coat and pulled his hood back up, “Well, anyway, see yu.” The rogue raised a hand in farewell and stepped into the shadow behind a pillar.

“Wait!” Zac said and stepped forward but it was too late. The scruffy man stepped into the shadow and like the sun ducking behind the clouds the shadow enveloped him and he disappeared.

Zac looked around the shadowy basement nonplussed. Then he looked down at his hand. As he did the image of The Rat cleared and new information appeared, like a character sheet from d&d.

Zachary Lenoux - Age, 18 - Lvl 1 - 0-100 exp to next level

Face card - The Rat - A scavenger. Small, quick and quiet. The rat is not known for its power but rather its ability to survive.

Slot 1 - Dagger, grade D → Rat Claws - summon claws to cut or climb.

Slot 2 - Empty

Slot 3 - Empty

Slot 4 - Empty

Slot 5 - Empty

Slot 6 - Empty

Zac scowled at his last name. Apparently even in this new world he couldn't escape that stupid joke.

But 18? That wasn't right. He hadn't been paying that much attention but he was fairly certain he was 22 or 23. Unlike some of the other street kids he'd managed to keep hold of his date of birth. Though it wasn't listed on his sheet so maybe he’d finally lost it.

And the description of The Rat was decidedly underwhelming. Still Zac had always liked rats, been jealous of them even. Their ability to survive anywhere was something he’d always tried to emulate. To sniff out food and disappear whenever there was trouble, he wished he could do that.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

And rat claws didn't sound too bad, a weapon and a tool all in one power. Though he figured his debating about being able to use a knife was pretty pointless. That mysterious rogue guy really could've done a better job with his ‘tutorial’.

Zac started walking towards the light, to the stairs and a way out of this place. His breathing felt more even. No sign of a cold which was weird, he was always at least a little bit sick. He was hungry too, he realised, but different. It wasn't that horrible turning in on itself feeling that he usually had in his gut, just hunger. Normal, like he'd forgotten to grab something for breakfast. Easy to ignore.

He noticed his clothes for the first time. His parka, jeans and boots were gone. He wore a simple long sleeve brown shirt and trousers. Loose and thin, like linen but rougher. No shoes, though that didn't bother him. It was hardly his first time going barefoot.

Zac reached the foot of the stairs and looked up. The stairs were steep and curving, he couldn't see what lay at the top. Taking a deep breath Zac lifted his foot and placed it on the first step. Then he began to climb, up and out. Into a new world.

--------------------------------------------------------

Contrary to what he had been expecting, Zac didn’t emerge into some old tumble down building. Instead he stepped out of the stairwell into a forest. There were cobbles beneath his feet but old and almost completely buried under dirt and overgrown by grass and weeds.

It was night, the moon shone above him, full and bigger then he could ever remember seeing it and the stars were so bright, the sky swirled with color.

The trees around him were evergreens he guessed. Zac didn’t know anything about trees, he’d done his fair share of wild camping but he was a city boy at heart. Still, these trees mostly had needles instead of leaves. They were tall and spaced apart, he could see a long way through the woods under the bright glow of the moon. No sign of life though, no yellow/red glow of fire. No sounds but the chittering of insects and the wind gusting past the trees. It was cold out here too. Zac shivered, scrunching his toes into the bitterly frigid, needle strewn ground. Fire first, and shelter. He knew how to make a drill to start a fire, though it would be long and tedious without some sort of string to make a bow. Zac began searching between the trees for a decent bit of wood for the cradle, kicking through leaf litter and general forest debris that was on the ground out here, searching for something suitable.

“Grrrrrrrrrhhhh”.

Zac froze, crouched down with one hand reaching for a slab of bark on the forest floor, some innate animal instinct holding him in place, like a deer in headlights. He started to turn his head, ever so slowly, searching for what had spooked him. He wasn’t even sure what he’d heard, maybe it was nothing, maybe…..

A pair of glowing yellow eyes, floating as if by themselves. Then they shifted, sinking lower to the ground and closing to slits as the beast prowled forward.

A wolf.

The first thing he saw was the beast's massive paw as it stepped forward, wedged and shaggy, huge claws digging into the loamy soil. Then its muzzle as it slunk forward from the shadows and into the pale moonlight. Its teeth were bared and glistening with drool.

“Grrrrrhhh”. The wolf let out another low, grumbling growl, its yellow eyes fixed on Zac.

Zac turned, still in a crouch and on instinct he reached into himself, where he could feel the power of the card, had been feeling it all along without really thinking about it. He summoned his claws.

“What the fuck!” Tiny pinpricks of pale light grew from his fingers, translucent and milky white, thin and sharp like needles. Maybe a centimeter long.

Zac looked back up at the huge grey brown wolf, down at its claws where they clutched the ground. Thick and wicked, maybe three or four inches long. Its huge fangs as it opened its mouth in a snarl. He looked down at his own tiny Rat Claws, barely bigger or sharper than a set of manicured nails.

Then he did the only thing he could think of. He turned and ran away.

Zac sprinted for all he was worth. He could feel that another set of claws had grown from the tips of his toes and were digging into the soil. He ran fast, quicker than he had in years. He could hear the wolf running behind, paws thumping on the ground but much too quietly for an animal that size. Then he felt more than heard the beast lunge.

Zac threw himself to the side and into a roll, feeling the wolf as it whooshed past him and gave a yowl as it missed and tumbled away. Zac shot to his feet and kept running, hearing the beast continue the chase, growling and barking.

Zac looked around him furiously as he sprinted full pelt, looking for some kind of shelter. Something he could hide behind or a branch he could use as a weapon. Anything to help him survive amongst these goddamn trees… The trees! You idiot, Zac. He slowed as he had this idea and began checking trees for a handhold. He realized too late what a dumb thing that was to do.

The wolf slammed into him, its claws dug into Zac's back and he screamed. He slammed to the ground and got a mouth full of dirt but the wolf tumbled off him, its claws ripping out of his lower back and feeling like they’d torn him to shreds.

Zac pulled himself to his feet, gasping and spitting dirt. His back was on fire and he could feel blood coursing down him in rivers.

He turned to the wolf as it found its feet and met those pitiless glowing eyes. But this time instead of feeling fear he felt something else. Anger. Fury. It burned in him like fire, hotter than the rips in his back, deeper and more powerful than anything he’d felt in years. He snarled and as the wolf charged him he bared his teeth and leapt to meet it.

They collided in mid air. The wolf snarled and snapped at him, trying to bury its fangs in Zac's throat and tear into him but Zac got his forearm up and jammed it under the beast's chin. Still the wolf's weight bore him to the ground and Zac slammed down on his back. The pain there intensified but this just stoked his fury hotter.

He bucked and pushed, snarling, tumbling in the dirt with the wolf. Its foreclaws were digging into his shoulders, its hind claws gashing at his thighs, trying to get to his stomach and eviscerate him.

Zac rolled on top of the wolf and started tearing at it with his free hand, digging his fingers into its fur and ripping at its flesh. It yowled and snapped at him as he drew blood but his arm was still jammed up under its chin. It clawed at him viciously as Zac beat and ripped at it, burying his hand further in the creature as blood gouted from the wounds he was making.

Its growls became yips and whines as Zac tore into it like a frenzied animal, he even buried his teeth in the wolf's throat, gnawing and gnashing. Completely beyond any thought but one simple thing. Survive.

After a while Zac realized the wolf had fallen still. He unclenched his jaw and pulled his teeth from the beast's throat, spitting blood and chunks of fur, trying not to gag. His hand was buried up to the wrist in the wolf's chest and he strained to pull it out with a squelch. As it tore free he fell off the animal and landed beside it, on his back on the forest floor, again.

As the battle fury left him the pain returned in full force. He curled up with a whimper. He was covered in blood, soaked with it. His chest and back and thighs were torn to shreds and screaming at him. His eyesight began to dim and he knew, despite it all, that this was it. Five minutes in this new world and it was already over. He was dying. Again.

Just before his vision failed completely he saw sparks in the air and four simple words were written out before his eyes.

You have levelled up!

------------------------------------------------------------------

Zac woke to warmth. Gentle and comforting. Heat washed across his face, over his bare hands and feet. But then the wind shifted and blew across him and he shivered in his wet clothing.

“Gah,” Zac sat up with a start, looking around himself wildly. It was day time now, the sun's light shining through the forest canopy in rays of gold.

He caught sight of the dead wolf beside him and tumbled away from it. He crouched on one knee and panted, breath wheezing in his throat and heart pounding in his chest, searching around himself for the danger his body knew was there.

Just breathe. Zac tried to calm himself. Still searching all around for any threats, he pulled himself to his feet with a groan. Sleeping on the cold ground all night had done his body no good and his muscles were sore and cramped. He stretched and felt the muscles in his back and neck pop deliciously.

Calming down a little, finally getting control of his breathing, Zac tried to take stock of his situation. His eyes were drawn inexorably to the torn and mutilated body of the dead wolf, lying cold and still on the forest floor. He shook his head to clear it of any pity. You did what you had to. Zac had never killed anything before and it left him feeling small and wrung out. You didn’t have a choice, it would have killed you in a second, tried it’s hardest to…

Zac stopped midthought and his hands shot to his chest, searching frantically for the wounds he knew he’d find. He was soaked in blood, his clothes and skin sticky with it. He stunk of death and musk like old animal pelts but his chest didn’t hurt. Neither did his back or his thighs. As he searched his skin with his fingers he could feel thin ridges along his chest and shoulders, like old faded scars.

What on Earth? He looked around himself and down at his body. His clothes were torn and filthy, the cloth and his skin died rusty brown from all the blood, but he felt fine. Great actually. Despite the uncomfortable resting place he felt awake and revitalized. Completely alive.

What…. how….. What the hell happened? He remembered the feeling of dying. It had happened twice now so he knew what it felt like. All the strength leaving his body and his vision dimming and…..

Wait, the words. Zac looked down at his left palm and scrubbed at the blood there viciously, trying to get a look at his card. He finally got it clean enough to look and stared down avidly, waiting for the answers to what was happening.

There was The Rat, he looked at the small rodent clinging to its branch and as he focused the image disappeared and a new screen appeared, the words he vaguely remembered from last night.

You have levelled up!

Congratulations! You have been awarded 5 free attribute points. Please choose which attributes you would like to enhance.

As soon as he read this it disappeared and yet another screen appeared, not the one with his cards, instead this showed his attributes.

Zachary Lenoux - Age, 18 - Level 2 - 76-250 exp to next level

Strength - 5

Agility - 11

Dexterity - 9

Endurance - 4

Intelligence - 7

Wisdom - 3

Luck - 0

You have 5 free attribute points

I levelled up. Zac thought of games he'd played. He was a big fan of RPGs, games that let you be someone else, anyone other than who he actually was so he'd played a lot of them. In some when you levelled up your character was healed completely. It was part of the strategy, let you save on consumables.

Well, that’s….. useful. Zac stared at his attributes. It made sense to him that agility was his highest attribute, he’d always been fast, and the others seemed mostly ok, workable at least. But that luck…. Zero? I mean, really?

Usually in a game he’d save his attribute points and in this situation that was probably the best thing to do. He should probably think strategically, figure out what he really needed, where he was lacking and fortify. Or just specialise and become the best at one thing, like that shield girl anime.

But he couldn’t help thinking about the fight with the wolf, how close he’d come to dying again and so soon after getting a second chance. If he had been faster he could’ve gotten away. Stronger and he could’ve torn into it easily, killed it quickly. Smarter and he could’ve found a way to stay out of its reach, thought of a plan to kill it without getting hurt. And he was really, really sick of being so unlucky.

Making a quick decision so as not to second guess himself too much, he looked back down at his hand and allocated his free points with a thought. 4 points in agility to get it up to 15 and 1 in luck, just because. A new line of text appeared on his hand, asking him if he was sure. He gave his mental assent and the attribute screen came back up showing his new numbers.

With that done Zac started thinking about what to do now, back to his list of things he’d need to survive. He began looking around the small clearing, lost as to where to start.

Grrrrrrrrrhhhhh.

Oh shit.