I woke up and I wasn’t in my room. It was the same forest I dreamt of last night and also in the same spot or a very similar tree with shrubbery nearby. I couldn’t help but check my body again and let out a sigh at the fact there was no wound nor were my t-shirt and jeans ruined by the deer.

I got up and saw the clearing was empty. Did my dream just reset everything? Before I could think of more questions, a blue screen took up the majority of my view forcing me to read its contents.

New Quest!

Survive an Encounter [I]

Reward: Nothing.

My subconscious is making fun of me. I grabbed my bat and backpack laying on the ground in front of me, then walked back to the area where the wolf’s corpse formerly was. There was nothing there. I bent down and grabbed some grass. It looked completely normal, and there was no indication there was a dead body or pool of blood here at all.

I turned to my left and stared at the general area where that murderous deer would’ve ended up. I was slightly uncomfortable that I murdered something, even if this was some sort of fucked up dream.

While I’ve been in a fight or two with people and have seen blood before, I’m not the type of person to brutally beat something to death…

I shuddered. I felt repulsed. It’s just a dream. Nothing matters.

When I wake up from this dream, I’m taking a break from my fantasy novels. Maybe I’ll read a romance one instead, and hopefully, I’ll have a nice lucid dream like that.

I stood around for a few moments before I sighed. I’m not exactly sure when I’d wake up, but my best bet would be to complete the quest. That’s how I woke up last time anyway.

I willed my status screen in front of me.

Status

Name – Connor Bishop

Class – Fighter

Skills – Strong Strike.

The same as last time. I even tried to check out my only ability through a variety of commands but none of them gave me a more detailed explanation of what Strong Strike does.

My only other option was to check the quest log, but that also gave me no new information on how to wake up or complete my quest.

I reached into my backpack and took a few sips of water while I weighed my options.

I could go forward, left or right, or just head back to where I originally woke up. Why am I over complicating this…let’s just head forward.

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I maneuvered into the tree line and was met with lots of nature. A bunch of unknown flora and bushes with small berries that I ignored. I could hear insects but no telltale animal noises like a wolf howling or whatever other creatures live in a forest.

Bleh. I dropped my bat so I could scrape my tongue of whatever weird insect germs infected it. What the hell I didn’t even get a chance to see it before it went in my mouth. This is torture.

I grabbed a granola bar to erase the taste and felt slightly better before I grabbed my weapon and resumed my walk.

Eventually, I did make it to another clearing, however this one was empty. Nothing in sight but normal grass.

Does this not count as an encounter? Technically I encountered nothing, so I hoped that’d apply but apparently, my dream doesn’t operate on technicalities.

I sighed again before getting ready to continue my walk in the forest.

Not even five minutes went by before I noticed the trees up ahead started disappearing and were replaced with a large river. I stepped out and checked my peripheral to make sure nothing too crazy was nearby. I already had enough problems dealing with unnatural deer, who knew what else called this forest home. The water wasn’t even that deep, probably only went up to my ankle, and was clear enough that I could see the rocks at the bottom. I was a little concerned I’d have to find another way across due to some man-eating piranhas, but it turns out luck was starting to work in my favor.

Before I even got a chance to try and cross a primal roar shook the entire forest causing me to slip face-first into the river. I stayed in that position for a few minutes dazed while a flock of birds flew out of the trees in the opposite direction. My fight or flight took control and I found myself running in the same direction as those birds.

I don’t know what kind of bullshit my imagination trying to put me through, but I didn’t sign up for this. Why couldn’t I just have a normal dream? All sorts of thoughts and curses popped in my head while I ducked and weaved through the forest.

I ran until I was out of breath and even then my body urged me to continue moving. It didn’t matter how far each step took me, as long as I continued to move away from that ghastly roar.

Finally, my body gave up on me and I managed to catch myself against a tree before I fell. My lungs burned, my legs burned, and no matter how much air I tried to swallow my body wouldn’t cool down.

I threw my backpack open and practically guzzled an entire bottle of water before I felt even slightly parched.

I’m going to regret chugging that water. Shit, my stomach is already starting to feel sluggish. What kind of dream feels this real? The exhaustion, the terror, the noises, everything was so surreal…

I haven’t run this hard since I did track sophomore year…Speaking of running where was I now? All I saw was a sea of large trees that looked like it’d never end. This scenery already annoyed me because I could barely stand dealing with nature. The insects, the plants, all of it just bothered me and made my skin crawl. I wanted to leave.

I sat against a tree so I could catch my breath and tried counting to ten while closing my eyes. When I opened them I was greeted with the same scenery. I tried again and got the same result. I don’t know what was going on with me to cause these weird dreams, but maybe I should see the school guidance counselor or something…

My stomach let loose a roar of its own, which made me realize just how hungry I was. I grabbed a pack of chips from my backpack and grudgingly ate them while I just contemplated my current situation.

Hehehe….

Was that my imagination? I turned my head in the general direction but all I saw was more forest. I swear I heard something let out a deformed chuckle. I cautiously stood up while having my bat at the ready.

Hehehe…

Hehehe…

At this point, I was sweating bullets. Whatever was going on, I wish my brain would just wake me up already. What kind of dream goes from fantasy to horror at the snap of a finger?

Before I got a chance to think anymore, I felt a sudden sharp pain in my neck. I reached my hand over and was surprised to find a small dart lodged into my neck. What the hell?

I suddenly fell onto the ground and felt my body growing sluggish. The world started spinning, but not before I saw a group of small creatures start approaching me. I didn’t get a chance to observe them in detail because my urge to vomit grew with every second I kept my eyes open.

I couldn’t even understand what these things were saying, it all sounded like gibberish to me. I tried to speak, ask what they were doing, but my mouth was extremely dry and I couldn’t even control it. My only comfort was the fact this was all a dream. At least that’s what I kept telling myself as the creatures audibly got closer.

“Maan man kuur or dhaan daan shac huukakec shuush mel dhuur dran!”

“W-what’s goi-” I didn’t get a chance to finish before I was whacked in the head and lost consciousness.