Joshua had been exploring the forest for several minutes without incident when he came across the first sign of non-plant life.

It was a white rabbit with rainbow streaks, nibbling on the petals of the same kind of flower he’d cut his hand on.

But it wasn’t just the animal’s ability to avoid being diced by razor-edged flowers that made it stand out to him, nor even its rainbow-streaked fur. No, that honor went to the singular horn jutting from the top of its skull, like a little lagomorph unicorn.

It was adorable.

“Hey there little guy.”

Sin—who for some reason was now hovering upside down in flagrant disregard to the principles of physics—squawked, staring at the rabbit.

The rabbit looked up at the two of them, abandoned the flower it was chewing, then hopped over and stood up on its hind legs, peering up at Joshua cutely.

Joshua knelt down and was surprised when it let him pet it. “Aren't you just ador—”

The rabbit suddenly lunged forward and impaled him with its horn.

[https://i.imgur.com/Ls4tykN.png]

Joshua stared down at the corpse of the rabbit.

He felt bad.

Not just because he’d killed it—with very little help from Sin—but also because, before he’d managed to bludgeon it to death with his Croc-shod feet, it had managed to get in multiple good stabs with its horn, and he was now leaking blood from a variety of wounds all up and down his lower legs.

Unlike his own blood, the rabbit’s was a vibrant blue, which somewhat ameliorated his guilt. It felt less like he’d murdered a cute little rabbit, and more like he’d triumphed over some alien monster.

A tiny, herbivorous, rabbit-like monster.

Ongoing Quest Update: [The Basics of Life]

Danger found. Two of three basics of life remaining.

“Danger is one of the basics of life here?” He considered. “I was almost just killed by an adorable rabbit.” He thought back to the butterflies. If even traditionally benign animals like rabbits and butterflies were so dangerous, that didn’t bode well for his prospects of survival. What would a bear be like? Or a monkey?

Or a snake, he thought, shuddering despite the warmth as he cast his gaze around in the trees for anything tubular and slithering.

One thing was for sure, he was going to need something more than his Crocs. For all he knew, he might be the weakest living thing in this place.

He looked at the rabbit’s corpse.

Or not quite the weakest.

He’d managed to kill the rabbit and the butterflies, but the butterflies were just luck, killed with a divine weapon he no longer possessed. And as for the rabbit… he winced as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, blood oozing out to fill his already filthy Crocs …well, it had gone out in a blaze of glory that had done quite the number on him.

He dismissed the quest update.

“What are the other two basics of life, food and water? Is that the rule of threes?”

His guide didn’t respond.

Joshua looked up at his pigeon familiar. “A lot of help you were.”

The pigeon, who had been perched in a nearby tree for the majority of the fight, squawked and swooped down, landing near the rabbit’s corpse and pointing—actually pointing—with one of its wings.

“Are you pointing at where you pecked it?”

Sin squawked.

“You attacked once! Then you flew into the tree while it poked me full of holes.”

Sin gave a flutter of its wings that looked very much like a shrug.

“We’re going to have to work on our teamwork.”

The bird flew up and alighted on Joshua’s shoulder.

Then it squawked in his ear.

“Ow.” He rubbed at his ear, which was now ringing. “Well, let’s go find water. I’m getting really thirsty.”

Sin squawked again.

“Gah, not so loud.”

Sin flew off his shoulder and landed next to the rabbit’s corpse once more, pointing at it again.

“What? It’s dead.”

Sin pointed with its wing yet again.

“Yeah, yeah. You attacked it once. Good job.”

Sin squawked in exasperation, tapped the body with its wing.

“You want me to touch it?”

Sin took to the air, fluttering around his face in annoyance.

“Ah!” Joshua spluttered, feathers tickling his nose. “What are you—” he sneezed, “doing! You’re like those butterflies.”

Sin stopped and gave an annoyed squawk, then landed near the corpse.

“Oh, you want me to loot it?” Joshua frowned. “Wait, did I just understand you?”

Sin only stared at him.

Joshua focused on the corpse and cast Loot.

Instead of a message asking him if he wanted to loot the body like he’d gotten with Randall, it simply looted it.

You have received ⦃Horn⦄

You have received ⦃Skin⦄

You have received ⦃Meat⦄

You have received ⦃Organs⦄

You have received ⦃Skeleton⦄

You have received ⦃Shard⦄

Unlike with Randall, the rabbit’s corpse was stripped down as the messages appeared, until all that was left were neat piles of body parts.

“Well that was both convenient and disgusting.”

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He noticed a ghostly apparition where the rabbit’s corpse had been. It was transparent and faint, but easy to spot. Looking at it was disorienting, as he could see not just its outside, but its insides as well: muscles, organs, skeleton. It lacked the horn and its fur seemed wholly white rather than rainbow-streaked, but otherwise was identical.

“Weird.”

He started to examine the items he’d looted, but was interrupted by the rabbit’s apparition suddenly flashing to solidity in an instant and jerking to life.

“Gah!” Joshua leapt back and watched as the rabbit got up and looked at him for a moment, then quickly darted off in the direction of some undergrowth.

“Zombie?” he wondered and simultaneously felt his Identify spell being cast on the animal just as it disappeared into the forest.

[Angoraian Rabbit]

(animal)

“I guess not. That was really weird.”

Sin, still on the ground next to the pile of loot, not having been at all startled by the rabbit coming back to life, squawked.

“Wait, was that what you were trying to tell me? Should I have killed it? Again, I mean.”

Sin squawked twice.

Joshua shook his head and sighed. “This is so freaking weird. Not only is this world apparently a lot more dangerous than I’m used to—I mean, a rabbit attacking a human? Not to mention carnivorous butterflies, razor flower petals, and who knows what else—but now the dead are coming back to life?”

Sin made no reply.

Joshua sighed again and shrugged. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. And I’m here now. Nothing I can do but go along until I can figure out how to get home.”

Sin cawed encouragingly, and Joshua examined his new items.

Whether because he was more aware of his spells or simply less disoriented—or due to the starmist venom, which he could still feel the mild stimulatory effect of—this time as he focused on the text of each item he could detect that what he actually was doing was casting Identify on each of them. He could feel the spell reaching out to the pile of items before him and locking on to each item in turn.

[Unihorn]

(weapon)

The durable horn of a [Unihorn Rabbit].

[Unihorn Rabbit Fur]

(crafting material)

The rainbow-tinged coat of a [Unihorn Rabbit].

[Unihorn Rabbit Meat]

(edible)

The spicy meat of a [Unihorn Rabbit].

[Unihorn Rabbit Organs]

(edible crafting material)

The damaged organ group of a [Unihorn Rabbit]. Edible, if you’re adventurous.

[Unihorn Rabbit Skeleton]

(crafting material)

The durable skeleton of a [Unihorn Rabbit].

[Unihorn Rabbit Daemon Shard]

(shard)

The echo of a [Unihorn Rabbit]. Use to summon a copy with the same properties and abilities.

He waited for a quest update, but none came. “How is food not a basic of life?” He grunted, looking over the screen. “Uncommon’s obvious, but what does special mean in this context?”

He got no answer.

He remembered seeing information on the items he’d gotten from Randall, God of Wrath, but he hadn’t been the most attentive at the time. He did remember seeing divine though. So, rarity and quality maybe? But what was special quality, and how good was that relative to others?

“Uh, qualities?” he said, hoping to trigger his guide.

He again received no answer.

“Are you seriously going to make me read through that entire ridiculously long table of contents just to find basic information?”

Would you like to view the table of contents to [Divine Guide User’s Guide]?

He dismissed the message and stared down at one item in particular. The daemon shard. He picked it up.

It was a little smaller than his palm, flat, not much thicker than a playing card save for a raised spot in the center where a metallic cylinder the size of a small pill was encased. The shard itself was shaped like a rhombus, etchings covering its crystalline surface. He could tell the etchings had meaning, but couldn’t quite read them. As soon as he began to wonder what they were, an image projected above the surface of the shard.

It was the unihorn rabbit that he’d killed.

As he focused on it, another window appeared, hovering next to the image of the rabbit. It only had the creature’s name at first, but then more text filled in.

Daemon: [Unihorn Rabbit]

Abilities: ★★

Attack: ★

Defense: ★

Speed: ★★

Durability: ★★

Agency: ★

Growth: ★★★

“Huh. So I can summon a copy of it to fight for me?”

He got answer from neither his guide nor Sin.

He shrugged. “I’ll test it later.” He stared down at the pile of meat and organs. “After I deal with this mess.” He slid the shard into his pocket and opened up his inventory.

The horn had automatically filled his sole inventory slot, so he pulled it out and wrapped the fur around it, then tried putting the bundle in, but his inventory wasn’t fooled.

It seemed if something was deemed to be one item by his Divine Guide then it required one slot.

The skeleton was a single piece, all the bones connected together, and he wondered what would happen if he broke part of it off. Would it still be considered one item? But it said it was a crafting material, and he didn’t want to risk damaging it.

Plus, he’d already sliced open his wrist on a flower. He might lose an entire hand to a skeleton. It did seem quite sturdy—undamaged even after he’d bludgeoned the creature to death—and was laced with rainbow metallic streaks which he wouldn’t be surprised to discover would explode if disturbed.

“What am I supposed to carry this stuff in?” As much as he didn’t want to eat ’special’ rabbit meat, he didn’t want to just leave it here.

He unwrapped the unihorn and studied it. It was gold with rainbow sparkles, about half the length of his forearm, and ended in a blunt point.

It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it had done a number on him. “Does this place have healing potions?” he asked Sin.

Sin squawked in what Joshua took to be a yes.

“I’m talking to a pigeon. Worse, I think I kind of understand you. You don’t happen to have an inventory, do you?”

Sin stared blankly back at him

“No, I didn’t think so.”

Joshua looked at the pile of items. While he didn’t want to leave them here, he also didn’t want to carry them around. He was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, so he didn’t have anything to fashion a pack from. He wasn’t even wearing socks.

Deciding the fur was too small to be useful and the organs too disgusting, he put the meat in his sole inventory slot, then picked up the skeleton.

He was about to move away from the organs to test out the daemon shard, when he heard a very deep, unsettling growl.

A cluster of bushes several feet ahead of him shook and before he had time to react a white blur came dashing out.

It was the rabbit. Before he knew it, it had reached him, stopping behind his legs.

Joshua looked down at it, too stunned to move. “Are you back to eat me? That was a mighty deep growl for such a small body.” At least it had no horn this time. It was still adorable though.

Before Joshua could decide what to do, Sin squawked, drawing his attention back to the bushes the rabbit had come from, and to the creature now waiting there.

“Ah, that’s where the growl came from. That makes more sense.”

In front of him, crouched low, teeth bared, stood a… wolf?

Some kind of scary monster. It looked like a small wolf with a really messed up face and limbs—of which it had six, plus two tails. Its body was almost liquid, wisps of something like thick mist floating around it.

“What are you?”

He felt his Identify spell cast on its own.

The wolf twitched and briefly stopped growling.

“Uh, could you feel that?”

The wolf started growling again.

Joshua read the message that had popped up.

[Attractive Wolf]

(horror)

He frowned. “Attractive? That doesn’t seem accurate.”

Red saliva dripped from the thing’s mouth as it kept its gaze locked onto him.

“Horror part does.”

He was starting to sweat. He hoped the wolf couldn’t smell it. He was trying to act brave because he’d heard animals could smell fear. He didn’t know if that was true, but it made him feel a little more confident either way.

“Poetic,” Joshua said, not taking his eyes from the monster. “I killed the rabbit, and now I get to protect it. Have I mentioned how much I dislike poetry?”

Slowly, very slowly, he put the horn under one arm and reached into his pocket for the daemon shard, not taking his eyes off the wolf. He wasn’t sure how strong the rabbit summon would be, but maybe he could create a distraction.

It was only as he was doing this that he realized he was standing in front of the pile of rabbit guts. If the shard didn’t work, maybe the wolf would go for them and he could run away. Climb a tree or something. If there was one thing he was good at, it was climbing.

Shard now in hand, he willed it to activate, hoping it would work.

A spark of mist that formed into a unihorn rabbit shot out from the shard and landed between him and the wolf.

The rabbit squeaked, the wolf roared, and Joshua suddenly found himself yanked by an invisible force through the air toward the wolf-monster.