Aodh groaned and struggled, but the log stayed on the ground. He pulled harder, gritting his teeth with more intensity as if that would empower him to lift this stubborn piece of wood. Slowly he felt the log starting to lift off the floor. He just needed to put in one more push. He could feel his foot starting to slip, his tattered shoes providing little grip in the wet mud. It happened before he could react. His right foot came out from under him and he went face first into the log he was trying to lift. There was a flash of bright white and he was on his back staring up at the sky. He took a slow, deep breath in. “AAARRGH!”
There was an explosion of noise as the birds resting in trees took flight, disturbed by the inhuman noise he made. He slapped the ground next to him as hard as he could, which wasn't that hard. A baby could have done better. This whole thing was a stupid, stupid idea. He was stupid for suggesting it, and his parents stupid for allowing it. He should be in a hospital bed, calmly and comfortably living out the last days of his life. Instead here he was, in some no-name forest in Croatia miserably living his last few days.
In hindsight, it was a bad decision. He wanted somewhere peaceful to live the small remainder of his life, away from his family and the rest of the world. He wanted to die in peace. However, one small problem. That plan was all based on one thing, one fact. That was that Aodh wanted to die. Originally he did, however, the longer he stayed alone in the forest the more he came to be grateful for what he had and he didn't want to leave it. He loved the peace he felt alone and when in nature. He would prefer the peace of solitude over the never ending peace of death.
He still couldn't believe his parents had approved this. Wealthy American business people, they could afford top of the line treatment for him, but it never worked. He had pleaded with them to leave the hospital and to die in peace somewhere instead of suffocating to death in the private ward his parents owned. Eventually, his parents relented and found this expansive forest in the eastern part of Croatia. They had gotten in contact with the man who owned it and paid him millions for Aodh to live in a shabby hut for a few weeks, until he died.
Aodh estimated he had a few days left. He had no phone or manner of communication and couldn't keep track of the days. He felt himself worsening over the past few days and estimated he would meet his end in the next four days at the longest. This stupid disease no one knew the name of. “Severe muscle, tendon and ligament deterioration,” was what the first doctor had proclaimed. Thankfully his nerves stayed intact so he could feel it all happening. Aodh laughed bitterly. Maybe he would be better off dying, a release from the constant pain he felt, and the ever progressing feeling of his body deserting him, leaving only his mind intact. Although, perhaps his mind may be going as well…
Aodh shook his head and, with great effort, pushed himself to his feet. He would not live his last days believing he was going mad, his body failing him was good enough. He looked at the log he was supposed to use for a fire and let his head drop. There would be no fire for him tonight. Hopefully, his sleeping bag was rated for freezing temperatures. He began the slow trek back to the cabin as he scraped the quickly drying mud off the back of his shirt and head.
As his long, loping stride carried him quickly back towards the cabin, he started thinking. His condition was progressing faster than he expected. His doctor's estimate of a few weeks seemed like it would be disproven. At this rate, he wouldn’t even be able to get the canned food off the top shelf, consigning him to a few days of torture before he eventually died of dehydration or starvation, whatever came first. Annoyingly, he could not accept the fact that he would die. He had always held some foolish hope that a cure would be discovered or someday he would miraculously start getting better. He would rather be at peace with his impending death but ultimately, it didn't matter. He would die anyway.
After what felt like hours of walking, squelching in his mud filled shoes, he reached the cabin. It was not pretty. Old, dilapidated and neglected, it probably shouldn't have been classed as a cabin. It was really just one room with a wood burning stove and a sleeping bag along with some cooking utensils and shelves lining one wall. As was his habit, Aodh went around to the side of the cabin where there was a barrel filled with water. He quickly stripped off his clothes, shivering as the icy air reached his bare skin. He took a deep breath and stepped in, his long legs easily clearing the sides.
Almost instantly his lower leg went numb from the cold. This was the only treatment prescribed by his doctor, telling him that it could slow down, ever so slightly, the degeneration of his body. Aodh hadn't noticed any difference in the few months he had been doing it but continued out of habit. Slowly, he squatted in the barrel until the water was around his neck. He took slow breaths in through his nose and out through his mouth. Surprisingly, Aodh found this quite relaxing. It almost felt like a form of meditation.
After a few minutes had passed and he felt himself getting colder and colder, Aodh heaved himself out of the barrel, displacing some of the water in the process. He wasn't worried about it. The rain that would fall during the night would fill it right back up. He carefully stepped back along the ground around to the door of the cabin, not wanting to get any mud back on his feet. He didn't really care to bring his dirty clothes inside, they would be given a good wash by the rain later.
Once he got inside the cabin he put on the only other pair of clothes he had, a simple shirt and tracksuit. He looked over at the wood stove and sighed. He had no more wood to fuel it after being unable to lift up the log he had chopped a few days ago. He decided not to eat and just go straight to sleep, unable to force himself to eat anymore of that disgusting canned food. He crawled into his sleeping bag, specially modified to account for his height, and soon fell asleep.
However, it felt like he was almost instantly woken up. He sat up and listened. All he could hear was the torrential rain bashing down on the roof, but that shouldn't have awoken him, he had long gotten used to it.
Then, he heard it. A howl, most likely from a wolf. Aodh stilled. There shouldn't have been any wolves here. It was the one thing he had made sure to confirm with the owner of the land. He had been repeatedly assured that the nearest wolf was thousands of kilometres away in a zoo enclosure. Then, everything got stranger.
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[Greetings, sentient beings of the planet designated at Earth-107. Your planet has reached the necessary threshold for System Intervention. No longer will you all be fated to a life of mediocrity, obscurity and unfulfillment. The System will grant you the abilities to break free the constricting shackles that is ordinary life. Phase 1 will begin shortly. Your patience will be appreciated.]
“What.” Aodh reached out to see if he could touch the words floating in front of his face but his fingers just phased through them. The howling outside got louder.. It sounded like there was more than one wolf. Aodh moved his head and the words followed. “Strange, the doctor never mentioned hallucinations. Maybe I really am going crazy.” He was distracted when he heard a loud bang against the door. He could feel the entire cabin shake. Aodh quickly scrambled out of the sleeping bag and over to the corner of the room. “What the fuck is this? I'm actually going mad.” There was another bang and Aodh could see the door shake and splinter slightly along the edges.
[Thank you kindly for your patience, sentient beings of Earth-107. Phase 1 has been completed. The land area of this plant has been increased by 1,000 percent. Mana has been introduced to the atmosphere. Non sentient creatures have undergone appropriate evolutions. Phase 2 will now commence. Your patience will be appreciated.]
Just as Aodh had finished reading the new words that appeared in front of him, the earth started to shake. It started off slowly, but became more intense. Aodh quickly lay down on the floor to avoid falling over. He was just too weak to brace himself against anything. He could see the roof of the cabin beginning to crack and feared he would be crushed. Just before it seemed the roof would come down on top of him, the shaking eased. He let out a sigh of relief, the mysterious banging on the front door temporarily forgotten.
[Thank you for your continued patience, sentient beings of Earth-107. Dungeons have been successfully integrated into the planet. The tutorial areas have been set up. You will be given a grace period of five minutes before you are automatically transported to a tutorial area. The area you are transported to is chosen at random. Each tutorial will hold 1,000,000 people. There will be 8,000 tutorials. More detail will be provided in the tutorial. Your patience has been appreciated.]
Aodh hadn't even finished reading the announcement before there was a colossal bang, and the front door fell off, landing inside the cabin. Aodh stared in shock. He couldn't believe his own eyes. “Just figure it all out later,” he told himself, and slowly got to his feet. “Some weird mushrooms? Out of date food?” he asked himself as he walked over to the door, wary of whatever could break open a door with such force. He could see that night had fallen, and the light from inside the cabin provided little visibility.
He stepped outside, almost instantly getting soaked through with the rain. He stopped. Something felt…off. Something felt wrong. He slowly rotated, eyes rapidly darting around, taking in all the information he could. Nothing. Just a circle of impenetrable darkness around him. Nothing that would indicate why he felt this way. On a hunch, he slowly started walking backwards towards the opening of the cabin's doorway. He had only taken a few steps when he saw movement.
Obeying some weird instincts he never knew he had, he threw himself to the ground, mud splattering everywhere as a grey blur flew over his head. Aodh rolled over and pushed himself up, arms already beginning to shake with the exertion. What he saw made him freeze. A wolf, about the same size as him, was standing opposite. That was strange enough, Aodh had never met anyone his size, but what really sealed the deal was the heads. Heads, plural. The wolf had three heads, all about two times the size they should be. The mushrooms must be very strong.
The wolf slowly started prowling towards Aodh, growing softly. The hallucination seemed very real. Probably best to act as if this was really happening, Aodh decided. The wolf was between him and the door, and Aodh didn't fancy his chances if he ran directly at it. He took a quick look around for anything he could use. Most of the branches littering the ground he wouldn't be able to pick up. Could he get it to run into a tree somehow? What was the deal with the heads? How many did it need to survive?
Aodh's brainstorming was interrupted when the wolf lunged again. He flattened himself against the ground as quickly as he could. It wasn't fast enough. One of the wolf's claws raked along his back, opening a wound on his back, bleeding profusely. For the moment, the pain was numbed and he wasn't thinking about potential infections. He scrambled back to his feet and tried to put as much distance between himself and the wolf as he could. Fortunately, his back was now facing the door of the cabin. He stepped backwards as quickly as he could, careful not to slip on the muddy ground. The wolf kept following him.
Suddenly the wolf stopped and started shaking its heads around. Aodh didn't immediately turn and run, suspicious. Perhaps it was the wrong decision, but his strange instincts flared again. He saw the head on the left point up towards the sky and open its mouth wide. He could see something blue gathering in its mouth. Was that fire? With as much force as he could, Aodh threw himself to the side, just as a torrent of blue fire raged past him. This was crazy
Aodh took a quick look behind him and despaired. The cabin was gone, burnt to ashes, and with it, his chance of surviving had dropped considerably. He was dead. He made a beeline for the closest tree, hoping it would provide some protection. When he got to the tree, he slipped, banging his knees painfully against the ground. He winced and clambered back to his feet, before peering looking around the tree for the wolf. He could feel himself weakening, the wound on his back beginning to affect him.
It was just standing there, looking at him. Aodh took a quick glance at the ground, noticing a branch broken off a tree, small enough for him to wield. It probably wouldn't make any difference, but it was better than nothing. He slowly reached down, keeping his attention on the wolf as his hand searched the ground for the branch. As soon as he had a grip on the piece of wood, the wolf charged at him. He crouched behind the tree, hoping it would take the brunt of the impact.
There was a loud crack as the wolf's heads made contact with the trunk and Aodh could see the tree starting to topple. He moved out from under the falling tree as fast as he could and saw the wolf looking dazed. In that moment he made a split second decision. He decided to not run away, to die fighting. It would be better than slowly wasting away until his disease caught up with him. Granted, of course, this was real and not some intense hallucination.
He rushed towards the wolf, and with as much power as he could muster, swung the branch down at the middle head. The branch snapped in half, but the middle head went limp. Aodh felt a wave of determination flood through him. He could do this. In a moment of foolish desperation, he jumped on the head at the right, pummeling it with his fists. Surprisingly, it seemed to have an effect. The wolf started weaving around, its feet unsteady. Aodh could feel energy fill his body. It was working. He could win!
With renewed strength, Aodh continued his assault against the wolf. Until he wasn't. There was a loud crunch, and Aodh figured out fairly quickly it was his back. The tree he was lying against also had a lesser contribution. Then all Aodh knew was pain. All over his back, up his neck and into his head, and shooting down his legs. His vision went blurry. He moved his arm to push himself up and collapsed to the ground in a heap, the pain too much. He could barely make out some red spots appearing on the ground. It took him too long to realise it was his own blood.
He felt the ground shake, and through his impaired vision, saw the wolf looming over him. The rain continued to pour down as Aodh bled out on the muddy forest floor. Aodh could make out the left head opening its mouth again, the strange blue fire gathering, ready to turn him to ash. As the fire roared down at him, encompassing his vision, Aodh noticed that the head in the middle, the one that was previously limp, was staring straight at him, any evidence of the damage Aodh had done, vanished.