For a few hours, Jack wandered through the alien forest, which didn’t cease to amaze him. He was a grown-up person of average height and build, but in this forest, he felt like a little scared child. To say that the trees that surrounded him were enormous was to say nothing. They were gigantic. They were so huge they dwarfed even the famous redwoods. Their intertwined branches formed such a thick canopy high above that it was almost impossible to see the sky through it. It was pretty dark in the forest because the streaks of sunlight were barely able to penetrate the foliage up above. Not all of the plants were as large, though. Among the giant trees sheltered way smaller types of vegetation. Here and there were oak and pine-like trees as well as plenty of strange-looking shrubs and bushes of various sizes and shapes. Every now and then, Jack scared off insect-like birds when he walked past some of the smaller plants. Screeching and buzzing, they flew every which way but didn’t attack him. The strange forest was full of unfamiliar sounds. At first, every alien sound Jack heard made him flinch in fear and nervously pull the sword from the scabbard. But after a couple of more hours of wandering around, Jack more or less learned which of the creatures he encountered were actually aggressive and dangerous and which ones were not.
At the very beginning, he was attacked by a creature that looked like an overgrown fly, which was the size of a soccer ball. Even its general shape resembled a ball. The creature was large and slow. Since it couldn’t fly fast, Jack had no trouble dealing with it at all. He pierced the creature with his sword once, and the monster immediately died. He received ten Essence points for the creature. After killing the monster, he continued to wander around the alien forest. Every now and then, he was attacked by overgrown flies, which he came to call fatflies, and he killed every single one of them without any problems.
When he heard another loud angry buzz, which had already become very familiar to him by now, he wheeled around expecting to see another fatfly nearby. Sure enough, he saw the overgrown fly buzzing through the air toward him. While those creatures tried to attack him as soon as they saw him, so far they hadn’t been able to harm him in any way, and he’d grown unafraid of them. They were so slow he had no trouble dodging their attacks.
Jack lurched at the fatfly, raising his sword. When he almost got within striking distance, the fatfly did something surprising. It opened its mouth and ejected a yellowish lump of spit. Jack didn’t expect that. It was the very first time when Jack saw a fatfly do something like that. He wasn’t ready for that, which was why he failed to duck his head in time to avoid the disgusting projectile. It splashed across his face, its stench almost making him retch. What was worse than that was that the fatfly spittle got in his eyes.
You have received a negative status effect: Weak Fly Spit Poisoning. Your sight will deteriorate for a little while.
“Oh fuck,” he cursed as he felt the stinging pain in his eyes as if they were pricked with millions of microscopic needles.
He tried to pry open his eyes, but couldn’t. The pain was too much. He was aware that the fatfly was moving toward him, the buzzing of its wings growing louder and louder. Jack set about swinging its sword in front of him blindly. He felt the blade slice across the fatfly’s body, and then he heard the dull thud as the now-dead creature fell to the ground. A second later, he saw a notification even though his eyes were closed.
You have received 10 Essence points.
Luckily, there were no more enemies nearby. His eyes still closed, Jack slid the sword into the scabbard and sat down on the ground. Putting the sheathed sword next to him, he wiped the stinky spittle off his face with the sleeve of his jacket. He still couldn’t open his eyes, though. He tried to bring up the main menu, and he was actually able to do so. The familiar lines of text appeared before him even though his eyes were still closed. He switched to the Store and bought a small water bottle for one hundred gold. A second later, he heard the dull thud of the bottle falling to the ground in front of him. He felt for it blindly with both hands. Uncapping the bottle, he poured the water over his face, prying his eyes open a crack so the water could get inside and clear them. Yet, it didn’t help much, and he still felt the painful pricking sensation in his eyes. He then switched to his character menu and saw that it had a new line of text now called Status Effects. When he opened it, he saw the Weak Fly Spit Poisoning negative effect that he’d received just now. He focused his attention on it, but its description didn’t provide him with any additional information. It didn’t even tell him for how much longer it would be active. All he could do was wait and hope that the negative status effect would wear off sooner than later.
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Luckily, no other creature attacked him while he was still half-blind. After a few minutes, the stinging sensation in his eyes finally wore off, and he managed to fully open them. His eyes were tearing up, but it was fine. Blinking away the tears, he took his sword from the ground and stood up, looking around. While the forest was still full of strange sounds, there were no enemies nearby. Just to make sure he was no longer poisoned with fly spit, he checked the status effect tab once again and saw that the negative effect was indeed gone now.
“Should be more careful,” he muttered, shaking his head, the memories of his fight with the last fatfly still fresh in his head. Those flying creatures turned out to be more dangerous than they had appeared in the beginning. If there had been more fatflies or some other monsters nearby while he couldn’t see, they would’ve had no trouble finishing him off at all. He should never let his guard down in this alien forest, that’s for damn sure.
Picking a random direction, Jack continued to explore the forest. At some point, he heard some kind of whirring sound. He looked up and up above saw a huge creature flying some distance under the canopy, weaving its way between the giant tree trunks. The creature looked like a dragonfly, but it was the size of a horse. Upon seeing such a monstrosity, Jack tensed. However, he quickly realized that the creature paid him no mind. It continued to fly in the same direction, without paying attention to what was on the ground far below it.
Jack continued to watch the creature as it flew over him. He was about to go about his business again when he realized that there was a person who sat in a saddle atop the enormous dragonfly-thing as if it was a riding horse. The stranger was dressed in a dark robe with its hood pulled over their head. In one hand they held the reins, in the other a long staff.
Even though he’d just met another person in this hostile alien forest, Jack wasn’t sure if he should attract the attention of the stranger. Their black robe flowing behind them and the scary-looking creature they were riding made the stranger look quite threatening.
Before Jack could decide what he should do, the person noticed him. The dragonfly-thing hovered in one spot like a giant hummingbird. The rider pointed their staff downward, and its tip flashed red. What looked like arrowheads glowing red flew from the staff and struck the ground not far from Jack. The resultant explosions made him flinch.
That person is firing at me!
Jack burst into a run as the dragonfly rider adjusted their aim and fired their magical staff at him again. The earth trembled under his feet as the magical projectiles exploded somewhere behind him. Heart hammering in chest and knees pumping, Jack ran as fast as his legs could carry him. At some point, he realized that he actually managed to give the rider the slip. Apparently, it wasn’t easy for the dragonfly rider to chase someone while maneuvering between the numerous giant tree trunks. Jack hid in the dense foliage of some bushes and forced himself to stay as still as a statue. He heard the whirring of the giant wings somewhere high above him. He couldn’t see the dragonfly-thing from his spot, but he was pretty much sure that the stranger hovered right above the bushes he was hiding in.
A minute passed, but nothing happened. The dragonfly rider must have been examining the ground far below them, trying to figure out where Jack had gone. Then there was a terrifying screech of some creature followed by someone yelping in surprise and fear. An enormous shadow covered Jack. At first, he thought that he had been discovered, but then he realized that he was wrong. Another creature roared, making the ground shake. There was a tremendous rush of air as something huge flew over his head. Jack carefully parted some of the branches above him and peered between them skywards. He saw that the hunter had become prey: the dragonfly rider was now being chased by some huge winged creature. However, the enormous monster disappeared in the distance before Jack could get a good look at it.
“What the hell was that,” he mumbled to himself.