Matthew’s POV
Four sets of paws padded through the stone cave. There was no other noise save for the dripping of the water behind them and the ragged breathing of the deer.
The deer braced while Matthew was trying to relax, leaving them in an odd state where some muscles were tensed and some muscles weren’t. Matthew let his frustration seep into their shared mind, but there was no response.
The creatures entered, almost shadows, into the cavern. Two wolves led at the front, both grey-furred and yellow-eyed. One was bleeding from a bite on its ear. A third entered from behind them, looking back to watch the fourth that came in quickly behind. All four of their muzzles were stained with dark red blood. The liquid was matted in their fur as well.
Matthew was able to recognize all of them from the deer’s memory. Echoes of the chaos and the slaughter played through his mind. The deer took a step back subconsciously.
The fourth wolf was massive, towering over the three around it. Its fur was a deep black. A large scar ran across its face. The wolves off to its side cowered in its presence, and Matthew could tell instantly that it was the leader of this pack. Its ears perked up when it saw the deer, and it growled an order to the wolves in front of it.
The wolves moved forward and Matthew felt a stab of panic hit his heart. The body he shared with the deer began to work frantically, heart speeding up, lungs heaving for air. The deer took a step back and made contact with the water. He could feel the deer’s muscles tensing, ready to rear and bolt, but the wolves had the entrance successfully blocked and he knew that the cavern quickly hit a dead end. That is, if they could make it through the water without being pulled under by the wolves.
No, it was too dangerous to run. They would have to fight.
The deer let out a shrill cry, which echoed across the stone. Matthew tried to focus on its body, tried to force it to calm down. The deer’s chant of run, run, run quietly faded into the background, and Matthew found himself in control. The deer didn’t seem happy about it, but there was a strange layer of trust between the two of them. He took a step forward. Consciously, he made the deer’s body take slow, deep breaths. The body abided by his orders, and the deer’s heartbeat stopped ringing in his head as loud as it had before.
Good, he told the deer. It’ll be okay. I’ll get us out of this.
Doubt. Fear.
If their situation wasn’t as dire, Matthew might have celebrated the new control. There was relief that came from being able to move and breath and be. But now, he had one chance to keep this body safe before the deer intervened. If the deer was harmed, the core was harmed, it would not be good for either of them. Matthew had no idea what would happen to him if the shard was damaged. For all he knew, it would mean the end of him permanently.
That might not be a bad thing, his mind ventured dangerously, for just a moment. You’d be joining Alice, and Jack and Alyssa. They’re all waiting for you.
The deer’s panic quickly overwrote that thought.
The core in the deer’s chest crackled, and Matthew felt the body he was inhabiting shift. His skin bulged, sickly blackish red liquid coursing through his veins. Underneath the thin coat of fur, dark tendrils spread out across the deer’s entire body as the liquid made the arteries visible. One of the wounds on his side, which hadn’t closed up, began to leak the nauseating fluid, and it began to drip onto the stone floor. Matthew wrinkled his nose at the acrid smell.
Um, that can’t be normal, can it? Matthew asked.
Wrong, the deer responded.
The wolves paused, trying to study the strange deer, and then began to approach once more. Matthew braced himself, but then quickly lost focus as his vision filled with light.
Off to the side of his vision, blue text began to appear. He squinted, trying to see if he could see past it, but it remained in focus and in place. Hesitant to take his eyes off the wolves, Matthew quickly glanced over to the text.
Dungeon Core LVL 1
—————————
Error, Error, Error.
The blue light blinked at Matthew as he tried to understand the table of letters and numbers. What was a dungeon core? He could feel himself pulled out of the deer’s body as he focused on his own self. The creature either wasn’t seeing what he was, or didn’t seem surprised by its appearance.
He had played his fair share of video games, Jack loved them, and the words he was seeing were shockingly similar. But that wouldn’t make sense. Whatever was happening had to be real, even if he was currently a crystal shard trapped in a deer’s body. What he was feeling was real, what he was seeing was real. He wasn’t looking through a screen. There was no controller in his hands.
Could this just be a dream? Some strange simulation he was transported to after his death? People could go into comas after car crashes that would last years and years, and some reported dreaming the whole time. Was it possible that he could wake up, find himself in a hospital with his children by his side as Alyssa nervously paced? His mind raced as he tried to tell where reality truly stood.
He faintly remembered reading stories where people were trapped or sent to a video-game world, but it was all just fiction. What kind of video game was this anyway?
His thoughts were interrupted by a scream from the deer. The animal reared up and Matthew quickly tried to take control once more. As he did, the text shifted and changed:
White-Tailed Deer LVL 19
———————————
STR: 18
DEX: 29
INT: 209
INTU: 55
INS: 129
VIT: 102/86
WILL: 18
He understood the first three: strength, dexterity, and intelligence. Those were easy enough to recognize, but he wasn’t sure what the numbers next to them meant. Was 209 a big number? And what about the others? Matthew tried to focus on them and the names came to his mind: Intuition, Instinct, Vitality, Willpower.
He didn’t have time to ruminate on their meanings, or how they worked. The wolves began to descend, noticing him and the deer being distracted, and the deer tensed.
Once again, Matthew’s vision filled with blue. Each of the wolves’ forms were highlighted in glowing colour. Text popped up above the heads of the first three: Common Wolf: LVL 10. The black wolf in the back stared at him, and Matthew saw a different name: Wolf Pack Leader: LVL 22.
Matthew’s heart dropped. He had no idea how this world worked—he had decided this had to be a different world, even if it really was just a coma dream—. Even combined, their level could not equate to two of the wolves they had to face, not to mention the wolf leader’s level was insanely high. Did he and the deer even stand a chance?
He remembered the slaughter, how the deer had just barely been able to escape.
The two wolves at the front jumped forward, snarling. One flanked them from the side, and the other jumped forward, trying to bite the deer’s shoulder. The deer reared forward, missing the bite but the wolf quickly slid to the side and recovered.
The third wolf, eyes so light they were almost white, barked and faced the deer from the front, pushing forward slowly but surely. Matthew almost shivered at the look in its eyes. Blood dripped from its muzzle and onto the floor. The coal-furred one followed behind. It studied the way the deer’s form bulged, eyes scanning for magic. It remained cautious, but was encouraged by the deer’s bleeding flank. Its eyes flickered green, and two thorny vines burst from the ground, floating in the air.
Matthew tried to step away from the wolf that had attacked them, whilst the deer tried to kick. The result was a stumbling movement that caused the deer to almost fall forward and the kick to not make contact. It did cause the wolf to take a couple of steps back, giving them some more space between them and the wolves.
Matthew felt energy coursing through their veins, and he reached out to try and figure out how to use it, how to harness it. There was a crackling above them as green light began to hum off of their antlers.
What is that? He asked.
Spell. Rock Shot.
The deer tried to kick again as the wolf approached, and Matthew let it. The kick actually made contact this time, throwing the wolf back against the stone wall. Matthew had expected some kind of energy burst to come from the motion, but nothing happened and the magic remained built up above their head.
The second wolf continued to approach from the other side, growling. The light-eyed wolf must have sensed the leader’s hesitance, as it slowed until the darker wolf was at its side. They conversed through looks, and a low growl from the leader. Then, the wolf branched away, following the flanking path of the second wolf.
The deer’s antlers were consumed by black, the ivory only showing through a couple of cracks. Green lines ran across the antlers, glowing and sparking. There was a humming noise, both coming from the deer’s antlers and its blood. A blue ball of energy began to form above its head, and Matthew could feel the heat coming off of it. Then, the magic released and the light-eyed wolf was knocked to the ground by a beam of Green light. Smoke rose from the wolf’s fur as it struggled to stand.
What was that? Matthew asked, trying to figure out how the deer had managed to harness the energy he could now identify in their veins.
The deer didn’t give him a coherent answer, but Matthew could feel its surprise at the strength of the spell.
The wolf leader’s head snapped to watch the light-eyed wolf struggle to stand. Its vines wrapped around a stalagmite, ripping the rock from the ground. It let out a low growl and jumped forward, racing towards Matthew and the deer. It slammed the rock into the deer’s shoulder, and Matthew grimaced as the stone just barely missed the core. The pain was bruising, almost knocking the breath out of the deer’s lungs. The animal stumbled back, almost falling over on its side from the force of the hit. Above the shoulder, the skin had torn and the blackish liquid that ran through their veins began to seep from the wound.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
White-Tailed Deer LVL 14
———————————
VIT: 80
Matthew winced as he saw the number drop, and the deer squealed in pain.
The wolf that had been flanking them took the opportunity to jump forward, latching its jaws on the deer’s back. Matthew felt its claws scramble and tear at the deer’s skin. A low growl built up in the wolf’s throat. A second wolf approached, keeping low to the ground.
The deer bucked, trying to shake the wolf, but it remained latched onto its back. It splashed deeper into the water, and Matthew tried to urge it to stop. They needed to get away from the water, hopefully somewhere higher up where the wolves couldn’t flank them. He scrambled to harness the magic that blackened the deer’s veins. The deer refused, and Matthew could feel the distrust echoing around their head..
The deer’s antlers hummed again, and Mathew could feel the magic gathered in their hooves. He reared up again, still unable to shake the wolf, and slammed his front hooves into the ground. Green magic spread out like a shockwave, breaking the stone around them and pushing the lead wolf back.
The black-furred wolf growled and tried to charge forward again to take advantage of the deer’s vulnerability, but the rocky ground was harder to traverse. It snarled as it navigated the crater the impact had made. Its eyes turned green again, and some of the pebbles around its feet floated into the air. They shot towards the deer, a couple making impact across the deer’s chest, legs and shoulders. They stung, but the pebbles were too small to do any lasting damages, despite the sheer amount of them.
They just made the deer panic more.
The wolf on top of the deer made a grab for its neck, trying to bite its spine. As it released the deer’s flesh from its jaws, it scrambled to stay on but fell off the deer’s back with a well-timed buck. It slid to the floor, and Matthew felt warm blood drip from the new wound on their back.
The light-eyed wolf joined the leader's side, bouncing across the cracks in the terrain. It grew closer, barking in an attempt to spook the deer, but Matthew kept his hands tight on the reins and quelled the deer’s instinct to bolt. They tugged back and forth, but Matthew wouldn’t budge.
Do the magic thing again. We have to fight if we want to get out of this.
The deer harnessed its magic once again, picking up a medium-sized rock that had broken free from the previous spell. It floated in the air, surrounded by green magic, before rocketing towards the second wolf that had been knocked into the wall previously. It hit the wolf in the head hard, and Matthew could hear the shattering of bone. The wolf made no noise as it fell to the ground, and did not move to get up. When Matthew looked at it, no blue light water highlighted its form.
[12500 xp Gained - Level up 19 - 25]
He took control of the deer and tried to move away from the pool of water. He moved off to the side, following the wall the now dead wolf had been at.
The lead wolf mirrored the deer’s movements, but in the reverse. They circled one another, walking along the side of where the spell that hit the floor had made its impact. A deep snarl built up in the lead wolf’s throat. The vines which had previously dissipated once more broke through the earth, ready to hurl more stones.
The second wolf sprung from the ground and attacked the deer from behind. Once again it managed to get on top of the deer, but the deer bucked and it hit the ground once more. It growled and snapped at the deer’s legs, teeth finding purchase around one of the deer’s back legs.
Matthew watched as the deer’s vitality dropped once more. The animal panted, and they both ached from the multiple injuries.
We can’t keep this up forever.
The light-eyed wolf crossed over the cracked stone, joining the other grey wolf to tear at the deer’s side. A previous injury opened up, and the deer flooded Matthew’s mind with a scream of pain.
The deer reared up and bolted, trying to get across the cavern. The wolf with its jaws wrapped around its back leg held on, slowing the deer down, but with a couple of kicks it was finally thrown off.
Matthew tried to stop it in its tracks and turn the deer around to face the wolves. The deer made a strange noise of resistance, but Matthew was able to hold it there, despite the deer actively pushing against him.
He had no idea how to do what the deer had with its magic. There weren’t any buttons in his hands that he could press, and it wasn’t like the deer was coherent enough to explain all of this to him. He picked a target hesitantly, closed his eyes—which the deer quickly reopened—and thought about releasing the magic that had balled up between their antlers.
To his surprise, a beam of Green energy fired. It hit the grey wolf in the chest, throwing it back against a stalagmite. The cavern shook, and a stone spike fell from the cave’s ceiling. The wolf, too dazed by the impact, had no time to avoid the rock and it impaled its chest, pinning it against the floor. It let out a howl of pain before going still.
Had Matthew been in his original body, he would have let out the loudest whoop. He couldn’t believe he had actually done that!
He caught sight of the small stone ledge off to their side. If he could just get the deer up there, then they couldn’t be flanked by the leader and the final grey wolf. He did his best to relay the message to the deer, hoping it wouldn’t interfere. He had already exhausted himself trying to fight with the animal over control.
The leader growled out an order to its final pack member, clearly enraged by the death of its pack mates. Saliva foamed at its mouth, and it continued to try and flank the deer, not keen on giving up. Two medium-sized stones were catapulted toward the deer. One made contact with its side, causing paint to burst through the deer’s flank. The other missed and collided with the wall behind them, crumbling into pieces.
The light-eyed wolf hesitated for a moment, before chasing after the deer once more. It tore at the deer’s other flank, ripping open the fur to reach the flesh underneath. The deer screeched and kicked.
They managed to break free, but its vitality was painfully low. Matthew led it to the ledge. It struggled to make its way onto the stone, both hind legs screaming in pain. Once on the stone ledge, the deer fired a bolt of Green energy directed straight at the leader’s chest. It made an impact, but despite the smell of burning fur filling the cavern, the leader continued making its way towards the deer, unfazed.
Its vitality must be pretty high, like its level, Matthew thought.
Sure, they had managed to kill two of the wolves, but the leader was still left, and it was a higher level than both of the two dead wolves combined. He tried to prepare another spell, but no magic came at first.
Sensing his panic, the deer explained: Low Energy.
Matthew’s heart dropped. Not only did they have two more wolves to fend off, but they didn’t have the magic to do so, and the leader didn’t seem to be tired. Or really injured. The deer stepped back further on the ledge.
The leader’s eyes flashed a bright green and a boulder threw itself at Matthew and the deer. They just managed to duck away, but the impact rattled their bones. The light-eyed wolf began climbing the ledge, snarling and snapping. Red foam dripped from its jaws, falling onto the stone below. The deer knocked the wolf away with its antlers.
Matthew studied the ceiling above, painfully aware that he probably only had one more spell before he wouldn’t be able to cast any more. The antlers crackled with the core’s magic, Green veins pulsing, and the ball of light was once again formed above their head. Matthew threw all his energy into it, until the magic was searing hot and he could hold onto it no longer. Then, he aimed it and released the beam of magic.
Alarm flooded their shared headspace when the deer realised the target.
The leader flinched, prepared for the magic to hit its body. Instead, the magic collided with the cavern’s ceiling above. Stone cracked and crumbled, and rocks began to fall from the cavern’s ceiling. The leader yelped as it tried to dodge an oncoming boulder, but another one just fell beside it. Vines unfurled, attempting to catch the rocks, but the leader’s magic couldn’t work fast enough, and there were too many rocks falling. Soon, the entire ceiling began to collapse.
A stalactite fell from above, almost hitting the deer. It crumbled beside them, cracking the stone underneath. The deer bolted, Matthew focusing on trying to tell it where the rocks were falling from overhead as he let the deer make a run for it. At points, they both tried to turn in different directions, but panic overrode frustration. They narrowly avoided the projectiles, just making it to the outside of the cavern. Behind them, the entire cavern ceiling collapsed, burying the two wolves underneath the rubble.
The deer continued to run, twisting and turning through the cave system.
Eventually, Matthew was able to convince it to settle down and take a breath, concerned about their injuries. That battle had been a close one, and Matthew wasn’t eager to throw themselves into more danger before they were able to recuperate. In front of them, blue text reappeared.
LEVEL UP
Dungeon Core LVL 1 —————————> Dungeon Core LVL 3
————————— —————————
INT: 1200 —————————> INT: 1273
MANA: 300 —————————> MANA: 319
PER: 75 —————————> PER: 79.6
CNTRL: ??? —————————> CNTRL: ???
VIT: 25 —————————> VIT: 26.5
RES: 300 —————————> RES: 319
INTU: 350 —————————> INTU: 371
Well, that had to be good, right? Matthew let the adrenaline wash over him from the fight, and both him and the deer seemed to relax. After a moment, the text faded and new text reappeared.
LEVEL UP
White-Tailed Deer LVL 14 —————————> White Tailed Deer LVL 18
————————— —————————
STR: 12 —————————> STR: 14
DEX: 27 —————————> DEX: 30
INT: 209 —————————> INT: 235
INTU: 55 —————————> INTU: 62
INS: 129 —————————> INS: 145
VIT: 86 —————————> VIT: 98
WILL: 18 —————————> WILL: 20
Matthew looked around the new part of the cave they were in. The deer had been running blindly, more focused on trying to get out of the cavern and avoid being crushed than where they were going. He studied the cave walls, and wasn’t able to recognize them. Had they managed to get to a place that he hadn’t seen before? The deer turned in circles, trying to figure out which way was the way out.
Matthew racked his brain, searching for a mental map from the cave, but his mind was still racing from the battle. If he couldn’t find a way out, they would be stuck here, and the deer was too weak from all the running and fighting to wander around this cave forever.
They probably needed water, and something to eat. In most video games, you heal by eating, right?
Above them, something rustled, and Matthew and the deer looked up. On the cave ceiling, a group of bats shifted, awakened by the glowing blue light of the core in the deer’s chest. One broke away from the ceiling, swooping down to circle above their head.
Matthew had a moment to be jealous of the animal’s navigation skills before he felt a sudden blip in energy. The core in the deer’s chest pulsed, and a tendril of Green magic made contact with the bat above him. Suddenly, he could feel the creature in his mind. It squeaked above him, continuing its circling despite the black energy that had started to run through its veins.
Do you know the way out? Matthew asked it. The bat circled for a couple more moments, before giving Matthew the affirmative. A blue text box appeared before Matthew.
Accept Contract with Cave Bat (Lvl 2)?
YES NO
Matthew was unsure how to give the affirmative, and the word contract made him nervous. He beckoned the deer to move forward to touch it, but it remained at the front of his vision, flat and 2-Dimensional. He wasn’t able to speak out loud, so it couldn’t be a vocal thing. On a whim, he just thought the word ‘yes’ and the blue text box disappeared.
The bat began to make its way down the cave’s tunnel, dipping up and down to slow its flight speed enough for Matthew and the deer to follow. Occasionally, it would get too far ahead, and it would circle back around before flying back and forth impatiently, waiting for the deer to catch up.
It was hard to keep walking at a steady pace, with the damage from the past fight making movement difficult, but the cave could be unstable after the cavern’s collapse, and Matthew was ready to leave this place in search of answers.
Stone passed alongside them, melding in with Matthew’s memory, and slowly, more and more light began to enter the cave. Finally, their feet touched earth.
They were high up off the ground, the cave set in the middle of a mountain. Large jagged rocks broke through the earth around them, and the way down was steep, but they were surrounded by a massive forest. Matthew studied the verdant leaves and towering trees. The air was cool, and the sounds of crickets still echoed throughout the forest. It was just becoming dawn, with the sky slowly lightening as the sun made its way to the horizon.
The deer was still cautious as they stood out in the open air. Matthew could make out blood spatters that he assumed were from when the deer had first entered. The wolves must have used it to track them, following the blood and their scent into the cave. The deer’s head remained raised, ears twitching in an effort to hear any howls or barks signalling the patrolling of other wolves. Neither one of them heard anything.
Remaining hesitant, Matthew and the deer stepped into the twilight-lit forest.