Hot. So hot. Jado felt like his body was burning from how hot he felt. Was he in hell? Because it sure felt like it. He struggled to open his eyes, a sticky liquid closing them shut. He wiped it off with difficulty, his hands shaking and weak. Finally able to open them, he felt the light of the sun attack his sight, blinding him for a few seconds. He couldn't help but have tears flowing down his face because of something that had gotten into his eyes.
Sand? But there's no sand near Araashir, besides the vast nameless desert they could see far in the horizon back when they were in the romantic spot over the village under the oak tree with Nari... Nari?
His memories began to reassemble themselves after this thought, slowly filling the puzzle of his mind. Yes, he received Nari's declaration of love, before he was even able to declare his own. Then...
"Argh!!" Jado's head rang painfully, making him close his eyes shut, both hands blocking his ears. The heat, the sand, the pain... Yes, that's all because of him...
"Kale!" The young man spat, his voice dripping with hate and resentment. He pushed himself from the ground he was on, his hands burying in the sand he was on. He finally became conscious of his surroundings, struggling thanks to his blurry vision. He blinked a few times before finally getting his sight back. What he discovered made his face go completely blank.
In his open eyes was a wide, endless desert of red sand, stretching over the whole horizon. He fell on his knees, his legs burning from the hot sand, but he didn't care about that right now. Memories were still flowing in his mind. What happened to Araashir? What about his family and Nari? Worry began to fill him as he forced himself on two shaking legs, standing over a dune in the desert. He turned around, his eyes increasingly getting filled with tears as he understood that he was completely stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Lost in the place from where no one came back, a place where only people went to find death.
The nameless desert. And he was in the middle of it. He took his face in his hands, letting out a crazed chuckle as his face contorted in disbelief.
"No, no, I...I'm just dreaming, haha, yes, that's...that's all fake, right?!?" He pinched himself, a wide smile on his face, contrasting with his despaired gaze. He pinched harder, still not waking up, before slapping himself hard enough to become a little dizzy. He fell on his back, landing in the almost comforting sand, his smile disappearing for a despaired expression.
"Why? Why, why, WHY?!?" Jado screamed, turning on his belly and hitting the ground as hard as he could, tears streaming down his face. Why would this happen now? Why, what did he do to deserve that? What about his family, his life, everything? Why?
His fists began to bleed, but he didn't stop hitting the ground, the red sand getting into his wounds and skin, making the pain even more unbearable. After lashing out for a few minutes, Jado kneeled, his head falling on his chest as if someone had cut the strings holding the head of a puppet. It looked almost as if he had lost his soul, or that his body was simply empty of anything.
His face was blank of emotions, and still wet from the tears he just cried. His eyes were void of thoughts, reflecting the red sand on the ground. In the silence of the desert, the young man mourned the life he just lost, as well as his family, lover, and home. In the blink of an eye, everything he knew disappeared, replaced by pain and endless stretches of red sand.
He stood up slowly, trying to pull himself together. But even as he was doing that, he couldn't help but think about the pointlessness of it. What would he do? Scream for help? In this desert, finding help was probably as likely as finding a diamond in the mud. Should he try to leave? But for where? Jado was lost, completely. His fate was already sealed, and only death would await him.
The question wasn't whether he was going to die, but more of a "how" and "when". Would hunger kill him or thirst? The second was more probable if he didn't get slaughtered by the monsters of the desert. And that was if he didn't die from getting cooked alive in the sun shining bright in the sky or the cold of the night.
Jado took a small pocket knife out of his pockets. It was a small knife, with an equally small wooden sheath, that his mother had given him for his fourteen years.
"This knife will protect you, bringing you luck and a weapon against anything that might want to do something to you," She had said, under the disapproving gaze of his father. He had always gone around with it, his own unique "lucky charm". Jado never used it, of course. His life never had been threatened in Araashir, and the most dangerous thing he met was probably his mother's wraith when he did something to upset her. He smiled while looking at it, only to lose this small happiness when he realized that it might be the only thing that could spare him an agonizing death.
He took it out of his sheath slowly, his hands shaking uncontrollably. He held the blade against his arm, but no matter how hard he tried to push himself, he simply couldn't bring himself to do it. He dropped the knife with a pant, tears welling back up in his eyes.
"Coward..." He muttered, his eyes stuck on the knife. Suddenly, he saw something in the reflection of the blade, something that wasn't sand... He turned his head slowly, discovering a relatively small circular altar, made out of weather stones that had crackled after the passage of wind and time. It looked old, so old it could crumble at any time.
"That's the altar that appeared from nowhere with the sandstorm..." The young man pondered aloud, his eyes trying to decrypt the inscriptions written on the old altar. Without warning, a high-pitched sound rang in his head, repeating a phrase he already heard before.
You've been chosen as the Servant of the Sand.
Jado turned around rapidly, trying to see where the voice came from, before rubbing his eyes to try and get rid of his hallucination. He knew the lack of water alongside the heat could provoke a mirage in people, but he didn't expect it to be so soon. And why was this such a weird mirage too? A blue window with text written on it. Damn it, why wouldn't it disappear. Tired of trying to rub his eyes to get rid of the blue window, Jado simply passed his hand through it as if chasing a moth away, making the window disappear. A pleased smile appeared on his face.
"Ha, I only need to check it with my hand, and it'll disappear! Excellent! Those mirages are nothing!" He exclaimed, a crazed expression on his face. If people would see him now, they would probably think he was a madman or something. But why would he care, he was alone in the desert with no one but him to scream until his lungs exploded! Thinking about that, didn't he get his stomach pierced by Kale's tentacle?
Jado looked down at his tunic, seeing a hole in it covered in a black sticky substance that had retained a lot of red sand on it, acting as some kind of glue. He pulled his shirt up, revealing a tanned skin with a white scar of hole, already healed.
"How...That's impossible..." He questioned, confused. He got pierced, the scar was the proof, but there was no way he could be alive right now. He should have bled out to death or something, right? And he did bleed a lot, from how much his tunic was drenched in the crimson liquid. The right side of his pants was also colored red. This was no small hemorrhage. How did death not claim him? And how, or rather, what healed him?
So many questions, and so few answers... Jado walked to the altar and crouched in front of it. He passed his hand on it, the stone warm and smooth under the touch. It felt as ancient as it looked but was still very solid. He pushed one of the cracked parts to try and move it a little, but it didn't budge an inch.
Nameless Altar of the Forgotten Desert Level: Abandoned Ruin Structural Integrity: 234/1000 Owner: Jado Mirak, Servant of the Sand
"ARGHHH!!!" Jado screamed in fright when the cursed blue window appeared once again in his eyes after he touched the altar. He jumped back, raising his fists in preparedness, expecting this new... thing to do something to him, but it just hung in the air like some kind of mystic magic. He waited for a minute to see if the window was going to disappear, extremely careful now that he understood that it wasn't a mirage or something like that. He could see it, and it was very real. He strained his eyes to read it, making the window widen to let him see its contents.
He fell on his bottom soundlessly, the window following him closely. Jado took a deep breath, frightened to the bones. What was this thing that followed him everywhere? He tried to remain calm and read the window. The "Forgotten Altar of the Nameless City"? Is that the name of the stone altar? But he didn't see any city anywhere, though. What did it mean? And it had a...level? How confusing.
Understanding that the window didn't mean him any harm, his racing heart finally calmed down, and he continued his lecture.
"An Abandoned Ruin...Hmm, I don't even feel like it's worth being called a ruin, though...It's just a single lost altar..." He pondered aloud, his eyes following the lines of text. The structural integrity of 234 on 1000... That should be the state of the altar, logically. It did look pretty run down. What would it look like at a thousand points, though? His eyes froze on the last line.
"Owner...? Me? How does it know my name?" He questioned, his eyes trembling in confusion, "And why is it calling me a Servant of the Sand? I'm no one's servant!" He yelled that last part, still trying to understand what was going on. As if acknowledging him reading the content of the window, said blue screen disappeared from Jado's eyes like a true mirage. He remained seated on the ground for a few seconds, before standing back up and touching the altar once again. Under his bewildered eyes, the window appeared once again, filling up his vision.
He had expected it this time, but it still felt so strange to him... He passed his hand through the blue window with a sweeping motion, making it disappear. He smiled like a child who just found a new toy, repeating the process a few dozen times. It felt like he was doing magic...or that he was going crazy. But he'd rather see a blue mysterious window than have to stare into the emptiness of the endless sand desert. Finally tired of playing, he sat on the altar, wondering what to do with all this mess. This curious magical thing was another reason making him want to stay in this place. This was probably better than just losing himself in the wide stretches of sand.
A Grain of Sand in the Gear of Time (1/?) Slay your enemy: "???" killed: 0/1 Reward: Status Window, ??? Failure to do so will result in DEATH
The blue screen appeared suddenly in Jado's eyes without him wishing for it. What a mysterious title...A grain of sand in the gear of time? Was it meant for him?
"Enemy killed...?" What did that mean? He never killed anything before, how could he...? His gaze froze upon the next lines, more precisely on the word DEATH. For mysterious reasons, it was written differently from the other texts on the window, leaving him in dread and certainty that he would indeed die if he failed this...task. But what did this blue window need him to kill?
His question quickly got answered when far from him, a dune or two away, a figure appeared in the distance. It seemed to be a man, his body strangely distorted in weird proportions. He walked very slowly, each step seemingly painful for the man, his ragged clothes barely hiding his body under it. Jado's eyes strained as he remarked something he had already seen before on the body of the man.
Black veins that ran all around his skin. The young man's eyes became bloodshot, and without even thinking for a second, he ran at the man with rage and hate.
"YOU!!!" He screamed, crazing for blood. Kale! Only Kale had black veins like that, and he was the cause of him losing EVERYTHING!!!
"I WILL MAKE YOU PAY!!" Jado tackled the man without letting him say a word, pushing his enemy in the sand, and burying his head in it. Kale tried to defend himself, but his attempts were far too weak to push Jado back. The young man punched the ribs of his opponent until he heard them crack, not even feeling a shred of guilt for hurting a fellow human. No, this wasn't even a human anymore! Kale was a MONSTER! He had to KILL him!
Jado's hands began to get covered in blood as the man bled from the violent hit of the young man. The latter took a breath, before seizing the strangely thin neck with both hands, his eyes filled with tears and hate.
"WHY DID YOU DO THIS, KALE?!? WHY???" He felt the neck break under his grip, and let go with a gasp. His vision unclouded, as he slowly realized what he had just done. He was kneeling above Kale's corpse, looking at his bloodied hands in horror.
"I...No, I...I had to..." His hands began to tremble, shaking his head in disbelief. He looked at the corpse under him, his eyes widening as he saw the extent of the damage he just caused. Horrified, he slowly pulled the head of his previous best friend, only jumping back in fright and confusion upon seeing his face. This...This wasn't Kale. He didn't know who that guy was, but it certainly wasn't Kale.
A Grain of Sand in the Gear of Time (1/?) Nameless Corrupted: 1/1
Granting in progress...
The blue window reappeared, but he paid it no mind and quickly made it disappear with a swipe of his hand, splattering drops of blood in the sand at the same time. He couldn't believe it. He just...killed someone. He...he was a monster now! What would his parents think of him? What...what would Nari think? Pain suddenly seized him, stopping him in his reflection. He rolled away from the corpse, writhing on the ground, feeling as if his body was burning from the inside.
"ARGHHH!!!" He screamed to the silent sky, rolling in the sand, his limbs twisting in unnatural and painful ways. He tried to push himself onto his knees but fell after another wave of pain. He gave up standing up, only trying to stay conscious. He bit his lips to the blood, his eyes rolling in their sockets madly. This went on for an unknown time. He wasn't sure exactly, maybe it was a second, or hours, he couldn't say. He gasped, finally freed from the suffering. Did he die? No, he could breathe, so he was still alive.
The sand beneath him was covered in a black liquid and his clothes were soaked with it. He felt better, but horrible at the same time. He sat on his knees, letting his heart race while calming his troubled breathing. Jado wiped his face with his sleeve and gagged as he smelled the black liquid. It was so horrible he didn't even try to describe it. Horrible enough to make him want to get rid of his nose, cut it off, and drop it in a pit before burning it.
Well, he wasn't going to do that, but he certainly wasn't going to keep the smelly clothes. He quickly got rid of them, unconcerned about his current nakedness.
"Who would see me, ANYWAY?!?" He yelled the last part in despair and sarcasm, letting his feelings out. His eyes stopped on the stone altar, and in anger because of the pain it caused him, shot into it with his right foot. In a logical sequence of events, he spent a few seconds cursing at his stupidity and the stone altar, holding his foot with two hands.
After finally calming himself, he recalled what the blue window said earlier.
"What did it say as rewards, already?" He tried to remember, doing his best to ignore the corpse a few meters away. He turned his back to it to not, well, see. "There were question marks and the... 'status window'?" As soon as he said those words, a new blue window appeared, slightly different from the ones before.
Name (Jado Mirak) Rank Insignificant Class (Servant of the Sand) Title None Agility Insignificant Constitution Insignificant Intelligence Insignificant Strength Insignificant Skill(s) None, (???) Task(s) A Grain of Sand in the Gear of Time (2/?)
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"Is that...me? Why is it written insignificant everywhere?" Jado wondered, trying to analyze this "status window". There was his name, of course, and the only things that stood out were the [Class] category, the [Skill] one, and the [Task] category. What did Servant of the Sand meant? Pushed by a curious feeling, he touched the blue window on the [Class] category. The screen suddenly changed, explaining what this [Class] was.
(Servant of the Sand)
(A long time ago, the Forgotten Desert had a name and a ruler. It was no desert and wasn't forgotten either. Until the sand came and devoured everything, covering everything, ruling everything. )
(???)
Jado's eyes strained as he read the contents of the window. What did that mean? This was no explanation, he just got a vague explanation of something that happened in the past. Or might have. He didn't know if he could trust this color-changing window. Its color made him think of the sand he was stepping on, but besides that, he didn't get why it changed this way. Well, that didn't help him much. He went back to the original status window simply by thinking about it, making him question how exactly was this thing connected to him. It seemed like it kind of obeyed his will, appearing and disappearing whether he wished it to or not.
In the [Skill] column, there was this [???] thing, so he tried to press on it to get a description of it as he did with the Servant of the Sand [Class], but it didn't do anything. He quickly gave up after a few tries. Maybe question marks meant that it wasn't available to him now? That was probably the case. The other interesting thing was the [Task] category. The task in question, [A Grain of Sand in the Gear of Time] had its number changed, going from 1/? to 2/?. That meant there was a certain progress to this task, which would also signify that as long as he completed those tasks, he would obtain rewards. He touched the task with the tip of his finger, opening a new window as expected.
A Grain of Sand in the Gear of Time (2/?) Offer a sacrifice to the Altar: 0/1 Reward: Basic Clothes Box Hint: Place the sacrifice on the Altar
There was no condition of failure this time for the task, which meant he was free to do it or not. The [Basic Clothes Box] reward caught his eyes. After all, he was now completely naked, his skin burning under the powerful rays of the sun. He wouldn't last long without something to protect himself from the harshness of the desert's light. There didn't seem to be any negative impact to doing it as well, which meant he had nothing to lose by obeying the task. The only issue was that he knew what the "sacrifice" was. Jado unwillingly turned his head toward the corpse, still waiting in the sand to be disposed of.
The young man gritted his teeth, and grabbed the rigid and slimy hands of the man/monster he killed, pulling it toward the Altar. He struggled for a few minutes, the [Nameless Corrupted] as the window called it, being much heavier than he looked. Jado placed the corpse on top of the altar, gasping for air before wiping the sweat off his forehead. A bit of dry blood was mixed with it, a souvenir of the fight with Monster Kale.
He waited for a few seconds, but not seeing anything, he decided to touch the Altar to see if something would have changed. And indeed, something did.
Nameless Altar of the Forgotten Desert Level: Abandoned Ruin Structural Integrity: 234/1000 Owner: Jado Mirak, Servant of the Sand Sacrifice available: [Nameless Corrupted]
He touched the sacrifice with his finger, making another window popup, its color changing once more for a more disturbing one, a deep, crimson red very reminiscent of blood.
Do you want to sacrifice [Nameless Corrupted]? Y/N
Jado hesitated for a second, before accepting. The red sand surrounding the Altar suddenly twirled in the air in a small cloud of dust, before covering completely the corpse. Jado protected his eyes with his hand, his sight hidden by a deep veil of sand, which quickly fell back down. Only, when the sand was back on the ground, the corpse on the Altar was completely gone. A congratulatory tinging in his head informed him that he had completed the task, and without him even checking the task, a small box made of wood appeared from thin air into his hands, probably the size of his palm.
Stopping his brain from struggling to comprehend, he simply went with the flow and tried to open the box. He only managed to open it when a window popped up asking him if he wanted to use the [Basic Clothes Box]. Of course, he wanted to use it! Why did it need to be so hard to open a damned box? Couldn't it be like a chest or something? The box disappeared in a flash of white, replaced by a pile of...well, clothes. There was a faded, loose-fitting tunic made of coarse fabric, as well as patched desert pants that appeared well-worn. Alongside that was a pair of sandals, and a grey shemagh to cover his face. To hold the whole thing together was a makeshift belt which was just a long string.
He smiled while seeing the clothes, before quickly covering himself with them. He felt much more comfortable now that he had something on, even if some parts of his skin were itching due to having already received a few sunburns. He checked the Altar window, discovering that the [Structural Integrity] had been increased by 50, increasing at 284/1000. It seemed like sacrificing things to the Altar helped fix it, even if he didn't notice any actual changes to the visual appearance of the stone contraption.
"Alright, things are getting better!" As soon as he said those words, Jado regretted them and thought back to everything he lost. He shook his head violently as if to get rid of those thoughts.
"No, I don't have time for weak thoughts like that," He exclaimed aloud, as if to motivate himself for what remained to be done, "I still have to find a way to survive."
He summoned the [Status Window] with a thought, opening the updated task.
A Grain of Sand in the Gear of Time (3/?) Find a prey in the Forgotten Desert, and offer it as a sacrifice: 0/??? Initial Equipment: Map Reward: Inventory Hint: The stronger the prey, the better the reward.
"Find a prey?" Jado looked around, trying to see if he could find anything that was roaming around that he could hunt, but the only thing he could discover was sand, more sand, and also, sand. He shook his head, putting it for later. The interesting part was the third line, "Initial Equipment: Map". What did that mean? No map appeared out of thin air, maybe it was similar to the status window?
"Map?" He said unconvincingly, making a new blue screen appear in front of his eyes. There was nothing on the said "map", besides a green point with his name under it in the center, with a few red points with question marks under them spread around unevenly. He witnessed as the red points moved slightly from time to time, making him wonder what exactly they were. At some point, two red points got close to each other, and after a few minutes, one of the two red points disappeared.
"Hmm, should I try and move over there to check it out?" He pondered aloud, his chin resting on his hand. Jado didn't hesitate and decided to go check it out. The remaining red point didn't move after the second one disappeared, so it was pretty easy to find it out. He also got a little scared of losing the Altar, but a small circular spot that was previously hidden under his green point had appeared right where the altar was. This was maybe the biggest cheat in this desert since he could find his way back at any time without ever worrying about making mistakes.
He quickly got near the red point, his green one pretty close to it. He had climbed dunes and slipped on the sand slopes, but he finally made it to his goal. Hiding behind a small mound, he threw an eye to the supposed position of the red point. He froze in horror and quickly blocked his mouth to stop himself from screaming in terror. His breathing accelerated, alongside his heart, and he quickly checked on the map to see if it had seen him, but the red point remained still. Slowly and in an even more careful manner, he threw another glance at one he just discovered.
The red point was a gigantic creature, big like a house, covered in black chitin and red blood, something that he never thought he would see in his life. It had eight legs, each with several segments and small, pointed structures, armed with powerful claws that looked as if they could dig into a mountain. Even so, some of those legs were snapped or ripped off, letting blood drizzle down the black chitin. The creature was awe-inspiring, producing a strange low rumbling as its two powerful arms clacked in the air, ripping and cutting what was probably another previously powerful monster. One of the eyes of the creature was bleeding profusely, while the other was busy watching the prey it was eating. Jado felt like this creature was probably strong enough to destroy Araashir all on its own.
He gave up trying to hunt something himself, or at least not one of the red points because if each of those were one of those monsters, he would simply stand no chance to win against them and kill them. In addition, he didn't have any weapon, and the blue window didn't look as if it was going to give him one any time soon. His thoughts were interrupted when the gigantic black crab burrowed into the ground, leaving its prey half-eaten. Jado checked the map, seeing that the red point was moving away quickly, its speed astonishing. In addition, the question marks under its name had been replaced by a name, Big Black Crab. That was pretty much what he decided to name the monster, but it felt weird to see it appear on the blue window. It felt even more as if it was reading his mind, or connected to it at least.
The young man got out of his hiding place, eyeing the half-eaten creature. There was no way he was going to bring all of that back, but he could certainly take a piece of it, right? Maybe that would work as a sacrifice. Jado jumped down the mound, quickly running up to the big pile of mangled bones and flesh. He simply couldn't describe whatever that was, but it certainly looked ugly. Were those...teeth? Eww. He tried not to mind the grotesque appearance of the corpse and tried to find a way to take a piece of it. He circled the corpse, seeing that one of the missing legs of the crab was planted in it. Jado smiled before climbing on the dead creature, placing himself in a strategic position to pull out the crab's leg. He expected it to be extremely hard, but surprisingly, it slid off like a knife in a butter. It was so easy the young man fell back on the ground, raising a small cloud of sand.
He stood back up, shaking off the sand on his clothes, before checking out the legs. It was serrated like a saw at the end, letting him think that it could be used exactly like that tool, or more, like a weapon. It was difficult to wield, but it remained better than just his fists. Jado looked at the corpse, then at the saw-leg, then back at the corpse, trying to figure out what he should cut. He then finally decided to not bother too much and simply cut off a big enough chunk to carry by himself. He used the leg-saw to, well, saw off around thirty pounds of flesh, and skewering the whole on the leg. He then placed his makeshift skewer on his shoulder and carried it back to the Altar. The return was much harder, due to him slipping multiple times and the flesh dripping blood on his clothes and hands, making it even harder to wield the saw-leg.
He finally arrived back at the Altar, panting and sweating like a dog. He let the pounds of flesh and the saw-leg fall on the stone altar, covering it in blood, hesitating for a second, before pulling the long saw-leg out, so he could keep using it as a weapon. He willed the Altar window to appear once again, hoping to get done with this task. Once again, a blood-colored window appeared, covering his vision ominously.
Do you want to sacrifice [Flesh of ???]? Y/N
"Yes." As soon as he said those words, a cloud of sand was summoned once again as the Altar devoured the sacrifice. A ringing sound confirmed that the task was accomplished, and a quick look informed him that the structural integrity of the Altar had jumped from 284 to 384. A whopping 100 points! And he only sacrificed thirty pounds of it! Based on what he saw, there probably was a thousand times that number! If he managed to get more of the flesh back to the Altar, he'd probably be able to get it up to a thousand.
So excited at this prospect, he ran back to the corpse, following his steps in the sand. He didn't forget to check the map for any red points, but happily, for him, there were none. He arrived back at the huge corpse, only to discover in surprise and confusion that a herd of hyenas were eating it, probably five or six of them. He looked at the map quickly, but he didn't see any red points.
"But, there are beasts over there..." He said under his breath, trying to understand the situation. Maybe the red points didn't indicate all the enemies, but only those he couldn't handle? Some kind of safety to protect him from what he couldn't fight back against? Following this logic, it meant that the blue window considered him to be strong enough to take on a pack of hyenas. Jado looked at the saw-leg that he could barely hold with two hands, and then at the pack of hyenas. He sighed, giving up on bringing back another thirty pounds of flesh. He was curious to see what would happen once he would get to a 1000/1000 structural point, but not enough to risk his life with greed.
He gave the corpse one last look and decided to stay around to see if the hyenas would leave once they were done with their meal. Perhaps he'll get the time to pick his part then. He sighed dejectedly, understanding that he was now worth as much as a scavenger of the desert, a hyena. How low did he fall? His throat hurt with dryness, and he reached for his waist where his leather flask would have been at this time of the day. Sadly, there was nothing there, causing him to curse his past self for not bringing any water to his date with Nari. He shook his head and decided to summon the [Task] window to see if it had been updated.
A Grain of Sand in the Gear of Time (3/?) You've sacrificed the [Flesh of ???] This exceeds the requirements by 421%! Reward: Inventory, 20 days-rations. Hint: A sacrifice will never get unrewarded.
The [Task] window was slightly different, looking more like a [Reward] one. Jado's eyes were stuck on three words, unable to see the rest.
20 days-rations? Where? How could he get them? Was this the inventory thing? Encouraged by his previous success with the status window and then the map, he repeated the same process, only changing the word.
"Inventory!" He muttered, worried about alerting the hyenas. A new blue window appeared, filled with empty tiles, besides a single one that contained a small drawing of a leather flask and a wrapped package. The number 20 was at the bottom left of the illustration, probably indicating the number of the items. He pushed the icon, curious, and suddenly, a small bundle alongside a leather flask appeared out of nowhere, falling into his hands. His brain struggled to comprehend this magic until it made a weird connection.
"Uhm...Use?" Nothing happened, and Jado shook his head in shame before drinking from the leather flask. It was filled with cold water that refreshed him from the inside. He drank half the flask before opening the small bundle. It was some kind of meatloaf, enough to eat his fill for a well-grown man. He quickly tore off a piece of it, filling his mouth with it. The meat used was mashed meat, and the bread was particularly crumby on the outside, and tender on the inside. It was probably the best meatloaf he had ever eaten, not even comparing to the ones his mom used to make... No, after reflection, he preferred his mom's ones. He took his time eating, ignoring the hyenas making a mess of the carcass fifty meters away, enjoying his meal.
It was almost peaceful, the meal having a fulfilling feeling to it, making him slightly drowsy. He'd had to find someplace to sleep tonight, but he had no idea of where he could find such a thing. He was in a desert, after all. Besides monsters, scavengers, and sand, there wasn't much to it. Jado decided to put this matter for when the night came and instead chose to experiment with the [Inventory]. He opened it and took another bundle of meatloaf and water out of it. He then pushed it back into the window, his eyes widening in amazement as he saw the items getting converted into small icons. This inventory was a storage space and a very practical one at that. A strange thought seized him, and he tried to store himself in it, but it simply didn't work. Maybe it was because he was the owner of the Inventory, or because he was a living being. He'll have to test it out later with something alive. Jado then pushed the saw-leg into the inventory, seeing the long object getting transformed to only take the place of one tile. It transformed into a cute drawing, similar to the bundle ones.
"Unbelievable..." Jado whispered, still filled in amazement at all those magical things. He took the weapon out, enjoying the process. He suddenly felt something weird, something...disturbing, strangely out of place. He turned his head left slowly, discovering two yellow eyes looking at him straight, surrounded by brown-black fur, and that was positioned above a foaming, hungry-looking mouth.
Oh dear.