A beast like no other. I had never seen it before. As it claws gripped the edge of the giant leaf we are on, it peers directly connecting to my line of sight. It slowly makes its way back on solid ground. As it does so, I move back. Once it moves, so do I.
I panic. My heart starts racing.
What should I do?
In the moment, nothing but terror filled me. It’s like I was being manipulated by the glare it was eyeing me with. So much so, that my legs almost give out.
I stumble back a bit, but I am able to gain my bearings. I look behind me for any possible escape. That was a mistake.
In a split second, wind blew and pain shot up from my leg as the beast appeared while I wasn’t looking and chomped into my leg. I cry out in agonizing pain before scrambling around to grab something.
My hand latches onto a branch and I swing my arm to stab its eye with the stick.
The piece of wood lodges itself inside the eye socket of the beast. As it happens, the thing releases my leg. A hole the size of a softball is present within my thigh.
The adrenaline kicks in as my life flashes. I have to escape!
I limp hurriedly away from the monster. I end up forcing myself to use my leg. Eventually my leg went from being in a ton of pain to normal. Confused but not in any situation to think, it continued on faster than I could.
I quickly think of a way out of this then remember my spear. My spear! I patted my back to grab my spear but instead of finding a full weapon, all I had was the head and a half a foot of a pole to work with. It’s better than nothing.
Through thick brushes and tree roots, me and this monster play cat and mouse through the jungle. I race around and under the roots of these massive trees while it crawls and bites at me. I’ve never felt so scared but also, never felt so alive. A quick smirk covers my face. This is fun!
It’s like someone skydiving or caving. The heart pumps in an epic chase that could result in death. However, no matter the amount of inexperience I had, it felt like I knew what to do. I knew which paths to take and the options I could make. Something seemed to drive me other than my logic. Something more, primal!
After almost an hour of being chased, my limbs start trembling. My lungs are giving out however things are weird. None of the soreness and fatigue stay with me. Any pains in my lungs fade almost instantly. This allowed me to continue moving through everything.
I sprint forward as if I was in first place fifteen yards away from the finish line. My legs buckle as I push past a few bushes and dive into a meadow. I rolled over on my back to face the oncoming threat, but there was nothing.
The beast came through the tree lines. It landed into the meadow and upon the landing, the flowers underneath it puffed out pollen. The beast whimpered and retreated away from the meadow. It seemed to be terrified of the pollen, but that means it will stop chasing me.
I felt calm here. The flower and the pollen floating around soothes my nerves as I rest. My eyes clutter close as the adrenaline ends and my fatigue catches up with me.
. . .
It’s cold.
. . .
It’s dark.
. . .
Dark?
My eyes jolt open. I can’t really see anything. I move around but my body is binded by something. I feel myself encapsulated in a weird sticky substance.
My spear is still clutched in my left hand. I try to move as much as I can to saw my hand free. It takes a bit, but I manage to release my hand from this capsule. Even with my hand free, however, I couldn’t move my arm in order to use the spearhead to cut myself out.
I lay there thinking of what I can do in order to get out of this situation, but my mind draws blanks. I rattle the capsule I’m in. I’m frustrated at my helplessness. The capsule rocks back and forth.
In my head, I simply imagine what could be useful to me. I remember back to my list of spells from the game. In RTM, every single creature in the game has magic, so every single creature has a magic list they can cast spells from.
There’s only one issue. I barely ever used typical spells.
My class was heavily focused on a melee range, magic fighter. Most spells I have were buffs to myself and stats. There was nothing in my spell list that could help me in this instance.
My mind wanders again. Stress builds and my head aches.
If only I could wield a lighter from back home. Then maybe I’d
. . .
It happened. A fire!
From my fingertip, a flicker appeared in a slim stream of flame. It was almost insane how vivid the shape is equal to what I was imagining. Imagining? Is that the key?
The realization hits me. This is impossible for the game. Then I began to wonder if this is even the game anymore. I felt pain the first few minutes after my resurrection. Magic doesn’t work the same nor can I even get to the options.
If imagination is all that is required to cast a spell, then maybe I could-
The thought of the spell
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“AAHHHHH!!!” I scream out in agony as my arm pulses, feeling like someones tearing it apart. After a minute of writhing pain, it seemed to stop. This pain lasted longer than a hole in my thigh from earlier. Confusion then arose as to why I was feeling this pain.
Before I could collect myself, a voice from my left rang out.
“Would you quiet down there! You’ll bring them back up here. I was sleeping fine without your screaming.” The voice sounded like an old cranky grandpa that yells at kids to get off his lawn.
“Who’s there?” I breathe heavily after the shock I went through.
“No one you need to know right now. Well . . . Maybe your partner in death perhaps.” A slight cackle emanated from his mouth as he laughed.
“Partner in death? Where are we? What’s going on with us?”
“Well, firstly let’s make it to where you can see.” A gust of wind erupted towards my direction. Whatever covered my face was sliced and blown away from me. Light poured into my eyes as I squinted. “There, all better yeah?”
I look towards his direction. Tears stream down my face. The man that was next to me, although not sounding anything like him, took on the form of my grandfather. Well, I say grandfather, but we weren’t related. He was a short and stout man who was balding except for the hair that wrapped around the back of his head. His face was wrinkled with age and his eyes were hard to see due to the bagging forehead.
My grandfather was one of the main reasons I kept pushing for greatness in my past life. His death caused a lot of grief with me and helped spiral myself down into depression before getting into gaming.
“Grandpa? You don’t sound like yourself.” I look at him, or try to while my eyes water.
“Oh? So I took the form of one of your elders I see.” He lifts up his right arm that bursts out the cocoon he was in. “Child, I am not the one you remember.” He scribbled something in the air and his form changed, like he inscribed some code that applied to his body. “It’s a spell that allows the caster to change forms. How mine works is that it shows the onlooker a person or being they connect most to within their memories.”
From the old man to a more sophisticated being with more sharp features. He almost looks like a mirror but fractured and distorted.
“What are you? Also, where are we and what's going on?” I ask again but more sternly this time around.
“Well, there’s a lot going on. For one, we are in the cave of Araneaephidias. They are also known as spipents! They usually nest in Garatortuga trees, which root themselves within meadows and have puff flowers grow around them. It’s a fascinating environment of give and take, a community of mutual agreement.” Without even taking a single breath, he continues rambling.
“The Garatortuga allows homes for the Spipents, the spipents' food can be absorbed by the Garatortuga and the puff flowers, and the puff flowers add a wall almost no creature can fight against other than the spipents and a few others which causes the wildlife to fall asleep and be captured by the spipents.” He seems very interested in the ecosystem within this meadow.
“And? Who are you?” I try to get him back to the most curious thing about this situation.
“Me? Well, you don’t need to know that now. You will eventually however.” In an instant, he casts a spell of wind that releases him from the cocoon he was trapped in and starts to walk out from this burrow.
“Hey! You going to help me out too maybe?” I wiggle around confused as to why he’d leave me behind.
He simply looked back at me with a smile and said, “You don’t need it.” With that he was gone.
“HEY! WAIT A SECOND! YOU BASTARD! FUCK!” Rage then overcomes me as I yell out to the man who abandoned me. I thrash around trying to get myself out of this cage I was in.
My ears perked up as I heard an eerie noise. Footsteps but they sounded like they were cracking. Whatever it is, I didn’t want to stick around to find out.
Trying to think of anything else I could do, I noticed a mirror on the ground where the mysterious bastard was laying down. It was a small broken piece of mirror and upon looking at it, I could see myself and a few words on it. It seemed like it showed my level and stats. Although it was hard to see due to the small size of the mirror and the fact it was a few meters away. I could see however my level was at one.
Then it clicked in my head. I was level one!
Level one characters can only use level one spells. The pain that was caused earlier might’ve been because of my level being too low to cast the spell. I can’t believe I didn’t remember that fact, but it was a very hectic day for me.
The moment I realized this reality, I quickly pictured the spell
The webbing that bound me fell loosely onto the ground. Just then however, I spotted eyes peering at me from a tunnel to my right, in a split second, a snake head protruded from the tunnel and lunged at me. It was like a bullet with how fast it shot out.
I planted myself into a plank position as the snake body struck above me and slammed into the burrow wall. I grabbed the ground and pulled myself towards the exit where the light shined in. Grabbing the earth below me as if to pull myself free, I grab root and thrust my body out from the cave.
I land in the meadow of puff flowers and begin to hold my breath and cover my mouth and nose. It probably is pollen that invades your lungs to bring about a drowsy feeling.
From the burrow I hear hissing and screeching. Multiples trampling steps sound from the burrow. I run away from it to distance myself from whatever is approaching.
In a pillar of dust, multiple large creatures erupt from underground. A total of six spider-like creatures land into the meadow and surround me. The weird thing is, they have a body somewhat of a spider but curled up in a spiral form on where their head should be, is a coiled snake with its head burrowed into its body.
I'm guessing this is what the man called, spipents. Spider sperents. A creature I don't remember from my time in the game.
One of the spipents shoots its snake body out like a gun. Its head was flying five meters away from my position. Even with the sheer speed at which the snake was charging towards me, I was able to lean to the right about a meter to dodge its attack.
It seems my stats are far higher than any level one I can think of. The reincarnation process usually allows one to keep a small portion of their stats, and I seem to have started out with stats that allowed me to move quicker way earlier.
Just because I dodged the first strike, doesn’t mean I’m in the clear. The other four ready their attacks. Each one shot themselves out one at a time to avoid hitting each other. My body barely managed to dodge each one of their strikes, but I felt like I was running on something other than my own ability and perception, just like before.
After the first barrage, they started to up their pace and I couldn’t continue to keep up. Even if I was able to continue with my stamina continuing to regenerate itself, I can’t stand here and dodge these forever. I have to look for a way to settle this.
As one of the spipents lunges at me, I duck underneath its scaly belly, twist myself from under it, stab its body with the spear head I kept on me and land on its back. I drag the blade up its body, slicing it all open. The other creatures aim for my sides as I pass by them. The first strike missed my back by an inch but the second strike connected with me. The fang slices my lower back as it passes by it. My back stings and becomes hot.
I see the third attack coming and pull up the snake's body that I’ve been slicing in half to use as a guard against the strike. The snake refused to bite at its fellow being and closed its mouth before slamming into the body. The fourth attempt at me caught my right leg. The fangs pierced through my lower thigh and it clutched my leg tightly. More irritating pain spreads through this wound as well.
With a single motion, I drop the snake body and puncture my spearhead through the one that grabbed onto my leg. From the eye straight to its brain, the spipent died immediately.
I had to break the fang off in order to release myself from its dying grasp. Now only three of them are left. With my right leg out of commission and my lower back aching in pain, I had to finish this.
Instead of fighting them however, I ran.
Every bone in my body told me I was at a disadvantage in this fight. Not only does it seem they have a way to weaken my regeneration, but the longer this fight goes on, the weaker I get and only having managed to cut down two was more than I could get to normally.
As I run, the pollen from the puff flowers spreads wildly. My body starts to slow down as fatigue washes over me. Being here for this long and not passing out was amazing in itself, but I can't go unconscious now.
Without hesitation, I stab my left thigh with the spearhead. The pain caused my drowsiness to subside for a brief moment. This allowed adrenaline to rush to me in a quick burst, I ignored all my damage and pain. I rush through the hundred yards of meadow.
My vision gets a bit blurry as I race to get out. The spipents snap at me along the way, nearly grazing my skin with their poisonous fangs.
In a split second, I felt a protrusion in my sides. Fangs dug deep into my body as it pierced through my organs. Blood gushed out and my body felt numb and cold at first. Refusing to let this be the end of me, I scream out towards these beasts, "Get the fuck off of me you damn assholes!"
Heat was felt through my still injured left arm. It was a spell. The blood in my veins bubbled and evaporated within my body. Blood spray out and fire followed it as I shot out my left arm.
"
Laying down with my arm clutched, the spipents slowly make their way to me.
I crawl away from them as they shuffle to me. The snake bodies shoot out and grab me. As their two sets of fangs drag me and poison starts to take effect, I can’t do anything but wait for my end.
. . .
Thud!
Then another, Thud!
A noise of chopping wood emanates from the jungle. Then a series of branches and leaves rustling. Then . . . A war cry followed by a crocodile bellow.
Much of what happens is a blur as I blacked out due to the poison.
Darkness again. I always seem to find myself back to it. This time however, it was abruptly interrupted.
A splash of water rattles me up. My eyes open to notice a fire and a familiar face. It was Rak!
“Jeez kid, couldn’t even last a day huh?”
Relieved and chuckling, “Yeah, it’s kind of hard when everything is trying to kill you.”
We both share a laugh.
He sets his cup down. “Them spipents are quite the territorial ones, most people know not to approach em,” He turns to me with a stern look, “so it’s odd finding someone who doesn’t in these parts. Tell me, where did you actually come from? The temple you pointed out, I went back to it. It’s a temple of Sujun, the Goddess of Life. Only wanderers come from places like that.”
It seems he is a bit of an interrogator, Get it?
Well, it’s kind of hard to really tell him, but since he knows I could let him in on it. “Yeah, you got me. That’s what I am.”
He cackled a bit before responding, “Well, looks like we got something in common. . .”
Hope spread across my face at his words.
“We’re both hated by the world!”
. . .
“Huh?”