His name was Kirk. He’d been surviving in this world for about two months already. Just like Nina, he’d woken up in a cave without any memories at all, having no idea where he was or how he ended up in this place. Since then, he’d been surviving in this strange world, slowly exploring it and killing monsters, gradually getting stronger and stronger.

After killing the bloodsucker and severing the branches that attacked her, Kirk helped her up. It took her some time to calm down. He handed her a strong health potion, and when she drank it, all her wounds miraculously healed almost immediately.

However, he then shocked her by telling her that they needed to return to the cave where she’d awoken. She had no desire to get back to the cave where she’d been attacked by some kind of monster, though. Kirk explained to her that she needed to complete the bounty that had been given to her not long after she awakened. He added that she didn’t really have to do it, but if she fulfilled her very first bounty, she would be given some useful things and skills.

It took a bit of convincing, but Nina finally agreed to return to the cave. Kirk promised her that he would help her. He said that the creature she’d encountered in the cave most likely was a cave rat, a low-level monster. He added that he would deal as much damage to it as possible, and then she would only need to deliver one last blow to the monster to kill it.

“Can’t you just just kill that monster for me?” she asked. Even though he told her that the monster in the cave was weak, the thought of encountering it again terrified her.

“No,” Kirk replied, shaking his head. “If I kill it, your bounty wouldn’t be fulfilled, and we would have to wait twenty-four hours for the monster to revive. It has to be you who has to deliver the mortal blow to the monster. If you do that, your bounty will be fulfilled, and a secret compartment with your reward will be opened. That’s how it works for the new people who were just teleported to this world.”

Kirk then said that it would be a good idea if they formed a group.

“This way, we’ll always be able to see each other on the map,” he explained. “It’ll help us out a lot in case one of us gets lost.”

Nina agreed. He looked at her intently, and a second later, a prompt appeared in her vision asking her if she wanted to join Kirk’s group. She agreed with a thought, and then another text message told her that she was now on his team.

“Will I always be in your group?” She asked.

“What? You want to leave me already?” He joked.

Nina smiled and shook her head. “No. I’m just curious.”

“You can leave the group you are in any time you want,” he said. “You just need to think about it.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“Yes, it is.”

He then taught her how to open the map. She saw that most of the map was hidden by gray mist, but the path she’d taken while running through the alien forest had been cleared of the mist. She’d fled mostly in a straight line, so it was very easy to find the way back to the cave. A second later, she noticed that the location of her bounty was marked on the map, making the task of finding the cave as easy as apple pie.

At some point, while they walked, she realized that she was almost naked. She was only dressed in her nightgown, which had turned into torn rags during her frantic fleeing through the alien forest. Her nightie revealed more than it concealed now. One of her breasts was partly visible through a large ragged hole. A lot of skin was showing through the numerous tears in her torn nightgown. However, Kirk didn’t stare. He looked her only in the eyes when he talked to her.

While they traveled back to the cave, she pelted him with questions about him and this world. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a lot of answers for her. He’d awoken in this game-like world a couple of months before. Just like her, he didn’t have any memories about himself except for his name. He didn’t have the slightest idea who or what had teleported him to this strange world. He didn’t know whether there was a way to return to their old lives either. The only thing he knew for sure was that whatever this world was it wasn’t Earth.

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“Have you met other people here?” She asked him after that. “Besides me I mean.”

He replied affirmatively. He told her that new people were constantly teleported to this world. He’d surely met some of them. Before meeting her, he’d been in a group consisting of a few other people. They’d explored this world and fought monsters together. Then something bad happened. They all had been killed, and he was the only survivor. It happened about a month ago. Since then, he’d been alone.

Nina could see the pain in his eyes when he told her this story. She wondered what killed the members of his old team, but seeing how painful it was for him to remember it, she didn’t ask any further questions about it. He then looked at her with a serious expression in his eyes and told her she was very lucky that it’d been him who’d found her.

“What do you mean?” Nina asked.

He told her that there were no rules, no laws, and no authorities of any kind in this place. You could commit any hideous crimes, and you would never be punished for that. She understood what he meant and nodded grimly.

Finally, they reached the cave she’d awoken in. They stood before the dark entrance to the cave that had terrified her so much. The mere sight of it scared her, and she stepped behind Kirk. He noticed that.

“Don’t worry,” he said to her in a soft voice. “Everything will be fine. I promise.”

And then he stepped into the dark tunnel. She clasped both her hands on his upper arm as she walked behind him. She could hardly see anything in the darkness, but he must’ve been seeing much better in the darkness than her because he walked with the confidence she didn’t feel.

Then he came to an abrupt stop, and she bumped into him from behind.

“What is it?” She whispered in a nervous voice, staying close to him, her full breasts pressed tightly against his back.

“The creature’s a little farther down the tunnel,” he replied.

“Is it?” She muttered, peeking over his shoulder, struggling to see anything in the darkness that enveloped them. “I don’t see it.”

“Wait here,” he said. “I’ll deal with it.”

“Ok,” she said, but instead of releasing him, her hands only tightened around his upper arm harder.

“Let me go please,” he said.

When she finally released him, he immediately stepped away from her, almost disappearing in the darkness. She could hardly see him now. She got so scared she stepped after him but tripped over something and almost fell.

She then heard the snorting sounds the monster made and the swish of a sword swinging through the air. The fight was over in just a few seconds. He returned to her and put the hilt of his sword into her hand.

“You need to finish the job,” he said. “Don’t worry. The cave rat’s dying and no longer dangerous.”

He led her to the body of the creature lying motionlessly on the floor. It was so dark she could hardly see the monster, its body just a dark form.

“Do it before it dies on its own.”

She thrust the sword downward and felt the blade sink into the creature’s body. She suddenly felt nauseous and took a step back. She swayed and almost fell. Kirk put one arm around her shoulders to support her.

“You did good.”

She then saw some kind of energy flow from the creature’s body toward her.

“What is this?” She asked.

“It’s XP. You get it for killing monsters. But since I dealt most of the damage to the cave rat, the XP was shared between us, with me getting the most of it.”

Then a text message flashed before her eyes, telling her that she’d fulfilled the bounty and could now retrieve her reward. In the cavern where she’d awoken, they found a chest that had been hidden in a concealed compartment behind a cave wall. In the chest, they found a few books that taught her a couple of magic skills and two spells, Healing and Fireball. There were also some clothes in the chest.

Kirk faced away from her to provide her with privacy while she changed into the new clothes. She quickly slipped out of her torn nightgown, undressing to her panties. She first put on the high boots that she’d found in the chest. Then she donned something like a short tunic or maybe a fantasy-like dress. When she changed, she let Kirk turn around to her. Her long blond hair fell over her shoulders and across the gray-colored tunic that clung to the soft swell of her breasts. The tunic was simple, but it looked good on her.

Kirk then had her practice with the spells she’d just learned. As it turned out, it was surprisingly easy to use magic, and she got the hang of it in no time flat. She used the healing spell on herself and cast a couple of fireballs out of her hands at the cave wall. After that, they left the cave.

“What do we do now?” She asked.

“You must be tired after all this,” he said.

Nina nodded. She cast just a few spells, but it tired her a great deal for some reason.

“Let’s go home then.”