After taking a few deep breaths, Skyler walked up to the door before extending a hand through the door. As soon as she did she felt her entire body being pulled towards the door rapidly, being thrown into it.

When Skyler regained consciousness, she found herself on the ground. The sound of birds chirping entered her ears and she was overwhelmed by a smell she never smelt before. The smell of nature, the smell of a forest.

Not letting these new sensations overwhelm her, Skyler quickly got up, taking in her surroundings.

In front of her, all she could see were massive trees as far as the eye could reach, some of them over twenty meters tall. As for behind her, she saw a large lake sporting about a hundred meters in diameter, even if it wasn’t entirely circular.

“My god…”

Even though she told herself she wouldn’t get overwhelmed and take everything in as she could, the beauty of this place stunned her for a good few seconds. Before she went to the island, she’d only ever lived in the city, never stepping outside as there was no good reason to, now she realized what she might’ve missed out on.

‘Picture books really don’t give nature justice.’ The thought echoed within her mind before she forced it out, feeling the need to focus on the task at hand.

“Now, now, where to…”

Having no way to properly orient herself, she planned to simply begin walking into the forest, seeing if she could eventually stumble onto a road that might lead to a settlement.

She opened up her hip pouch and was about to put her small knife inside when she saw a few small metal balls inside of the pouch already. Surprised at the find, she took one out and looked it over.

The small metal ball was hardly one centimeter in diameter and glinted in the sunlight, just as she wondered what it was, a blue screen appeared in front of it.

| Item description: Source nodes: Small metal balls made by the system, when pushing it into an object it will merge with it, potentially giving it certain abilities and allowing them to be brought in and out of missions. Objects not given by the system or merged with source nodes will be left behind upon leaving a mission. |

Looking inside the hip pouch Skyler found three of these metal balls, and seeing the description, she immediately realized how vital they are.

‘So if I find anything I want to take with me for other missions, I have to use one of these, additionally, they might even become stronger, even if I don’t know in what way.’

After thinking for a few seconds, Skyler put the ‘source node’ she picked up back into the pouch, but as she was about to put her knife inside as well, she saw movement from the corner of her eye.

Quickly turning towards it with her knife still out, she pinned down the movement to a bush to the left of the lake, only a dozen meters away from her. Behind the bush, she could vaguely see a shape but due to the fact a tree overshadowed it, it was difficult to see what it was.

She was hesitating whether to investigate or run when she saw more movement to the left of where she had just been looking, then even more to the right of it.

Just as Skyler took a step back, one of the creatures revealed itself as it walked out of the shadows, growling.

Grey fur covered its body and it had a scar on its snout but even Skyler who hadn’t gone in forests before instantly recognized it.

‘Shit, this is bad.’

This was the first thought Skyler had when she saw the figure of a large grey wolf, a predator with sharp claws and teeth, one few people would have a chance of fighting without a good weapon, herself most likely not being one of them.

After one came out, three more soon did, each growling menacingly. And so, before the wolves came any closer, Skyler promptly turned around and ran as fast as she could, deeper into the forest.

Skyler quickly heard two types of howling, one coming from one of the wolves behind her and the other from the wind rushing past her face.

The wolves didn’t hesitate once they saw her run and she could hear them running behind her, hunting her down. She could hear their paws crushing the branches beneath them, sometimes unearthing bits of dirt as they ran past it.

They were fast, and they weren’t far behind her, that much was clear.

The fact she retreated so suddenly had gotten her a few seconds lead over the wolves, but she knew that wasn’t much at all, a single mistake could very well be the end of her.

That being said, even without a notable mistake, it wasn’t long until some of the faster wolves of the pack were about to catch up to her. She felt her heart rate accelerating and gritted her teeth, listening carefully to the sound behind her as she ran, knowing one of them was likely to pounce soon.

And then, the noise of the wolf closest to her running suddenly disappeared. Knowing exactly what this meant, Skyler instantly changed her direction by a bit, just after which she saw a wolf just next to her moving midair before crashing harshly into a tree.

The first wolf had missed its attack and was even punished with some pain but Skyler had no time to celebrate as she soon had to repeat the maneuver, this time the wolf simply landed onto the dirt, chasing after her again after just a moment.

Skyler cursed inwardly as she barely dodged two more lunges, only being able to predict them because of the sound the wolves made when running.

But, she couldn’t keep doing this, not only was she getting tired but the main pack of wolves was getting closer and closer as well, the sounds of them all running beginning to blend together, making dodging harder and harder.

Skyler bit her lip and a small stream of blood came out, not that she noticed. It got tougher and tougher to keep her speed up when she finally saw a tinge of hope.

In between the trees before her, she could see stone, a stone road to be more exact. She felt a surge of energy flow through her as she sped up some more, moving faster than the wolves for just a few brief seconds as adrenaline flowed through her veins.

As she made it onto the road she briefly glanced both ways before she quickly ran to the right, soon followed by the pack of wolves.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

When she glanced this way she could see something in the distance, and the closer she got, the more sure she was of what she saw.

There was a wagon, standing still just beside the road. She could see figures walking around next to it, and as they saw her, they quickly got more active.

‘I’m going to make it!’

It would be close, very close, Skyler knew this as she put all the energy she had into her legs, forcing her to keep up the extremely fast pace she had been keeping thus far.

As she got closer she could identify the people next to the wagon, and a shine entered her eyes as she felt like she had hit the jackpot. She could see six people with spears in hand, as they had spotted her, they all seemed ready to go into combat. There was also one man that was very clearly either a noble or rich trader as he had a red coat on with gold finishes and a sword on his side, staying behind the soldiers.

Lastly, there was a man in a black cloak next to the noble, he also had a spear but looked much more threatening in Skyler’s eyes.

“Stop right there! If you come any closer we will attack you!” one of the soldiers said as he took a step closer, lowering his spear to point at the quickly approaching Skyler.

Skyler didn’t speak a word as the wolves were right on her heels, she knew she had come within lunging distance of multiple of the large grey wolves.

“So be it!” the soldier said as he kept his spear pointed at her, the other soldiers moving to form a defensive line beside him as they nervously looked at the approaching wolf pack.

Three meters…

Two meters…

One meter…

Just as Skyler was about to impale herself onto the soldier’s spear, she fell forward, her scalp barely under the spear as she landed on the ground, the very same second blood splattered atop of her. The spear hitting one of the legs of the wolf that had just lunged at Skyler.

The soldier hadn’t expected something such as this at all and because of the force of the lunge, he lost his grip on the spear, still within the wolf’s thigh before it landed right atop the man’s chest, causing him to fall with the wolf atop of him, soon after getting his throat ripped out by the large beast.

Skyler didn’t move as she played dead, something that seemed to work as the wolves rushed right past her, attacking the soldiers who were holding their spears.

The following battle could only be called incredibly chaotic. The ten wolves rushing straight at the soldiers, not slowing their approach at all as they lunged.

Not all of them were as effective as the first wolf though as the soldiers were prepared for them. A few were thrown to the ground but were mostly unhurt as the wolves’ claws were unable to penetrate their sturdy leather breastplates.

Compared to their comrades on the ground, the soldiers who remained standing after the initial lunge, either dodging or blocking them, stood a much better chance.

They stabbed down their spears, trying to penetrate the thick pelt of the wolves, often effectively so. The screams of men and whimpering of wolves overlapped as they engaged in a vicious brawl.

Skyler very slowly moved her head to get a better view of the battlefield, just in time to see two of the wolves moving past the soldiers, rushing at the noble and his guard.

The guard took a step forward before making a wide swing with his spear, knocking aside the head of the wolf who lunged at the nobleman, who was now quivering with sword in hand, before stabbing the neck of the wolf who lunged at himself, killing it instantly.

This didn’t come without consequence though as the guard found the spear stuck within the wolf’s throat, unable to pull it back out in the few seconds he had before the first wolf turned his gaze back on him.

The wolf had a nasty cut on his snout caused by the previous attack but all that managed to do was enrage the beast before it rushed right at him.

The guard decisively let go of the spear before grabbing a large knife from behind his back, just before the wolf lunged at him.

Not seeing an opening, the man held up his arms as the wolf threw itself onto him, the force too much to handle forcing them both to the ground.

The man and beast had a fierce struggle on the ground, the wolf managing to bite into one of the man’s arms deeply before it got stabbed in the neck, dying a few seconds later after a second stab was delivered.

With a painful grin, the man opened the beast’s maw with his knife-wielding hand before pushing the beast off and getting up, walking closer to the terrified noble once more and taking up a position in front of him.

He didn’t get much respite as another wolf soon found his way to them, even though this one was unable to take the guard down with his lunge, he still got in a nasty scratch on the man’s leg before it was stabbed in the eye.

At this point, the primary battle was mostly over. Three wolves stood straight with varying degrees of injury as they stood atop of the bodies of the last soldiers they killed, now each casting their glance at the last two surviving humans, the hurt guard, and terrified nobleman.

For a few moments everything was quiet, the breathing of the wolves and remaining humans the only sounds there were, audible even from where Skyler was laying down, making her scared to even breathe, afraid it might alert the wolves.

But then, after these few excruciatingly long moments were over, the wolves rushed forwards at the exact same time.

Skyler could see the guard gnash his teeth before making a decision, this decision being the abandonment of his duties. Without any further hesitation, he turned around, pushing the noble towards the wolves while trying to get away. The severe wound on his leg the only thing keeping him from running out in a full sprint.

When the noble saw the wolves rushing towards him, he closed his eyes and wildly swung his sword around, hitting nothing but air before a wolf bit into his leg. Shocked by the pain, he dropped his sword to the ground as he screamed, leaving behind the only defensive weapon he had, before a second wolf arrived and ripped a piece of his face of, promptly causing the noble to faint, sure to bleed to death soon after.

The wolves ignored the bleeding nobleman after this as they ran towards the surviving guard. Despite his best efforts, he had been unable to get far whatsoever, his damaged leg holding him back immensely. When he saw the wolves would catch up to him, he turned around once more, wielding his knife. His face expressing a mixture of fear, anger, and disbelief.

Still, even when hurt, the man was a force to be reckoned with for the wolves. When the first wolf lunged at him, he lowered his head and jumped forward, using the force of his good leg, stabbing the blade deeply into the wolf’s unprotected stomach.

For a few seconds, the wolf remained alive, struggling as it swung its large claws at the man repeatedly, clawing off one of the man’s ears before it succumbed to its wound.

The man’s expression didn’t change any further, not having the time to check his wound before the other two wolves were upon him. One of them was limping as a spear was still lodged in its side while the second one was in a good condition, only having a few small cuts on its back from the previous fight.

They cautiously circled the man, not lunging immediately as their predecessor had done, and instead waited for a good time to strike.

It didn’t take long for this time to come as the man had difficulties keeping both of the wolves in his sight.

Then, they lunged, the mostly unharmed one lunged from the front while the more hurt beast lunged from behind, ignoring its injuries completely.

Knowing what was happening, the man had no choice but to try to take out the wolf before him, using the same move as earlier, he jumped forward, stabbing his knife into the wolf’s belly before it reached him.

This didn’t save him completely though, due to the extremely limited distance traveled, the lunge from behind still hit as large claw marks appeared on the man’s back, blood spilling out rapidly.

With a scream containing all of his emotions, the man ignored the wounds as he continued to push the blade deeper in, to the point the entire handle soon disappeared within the wolf’s body, the blade hitting its heart before it fell to the side.

Still, even then the wolf behind him didn’t hesitate as it struck once more, its sharp claws penetrating deep into the man’s remaining healthy leg, ripping through the muscle and forcing the guard to a kneel.

“ARGH!!!”

Despite bleeding from his lethal wounds, the man still managed to gather his strength, his body twisted to the side causing more blood to spill from his back wounds before the blade hit the side of the wolf’s head, penetrating its skull.

Just a few seconds after killing the final wolf, the man fell to his side completely, dead before his head even hit the ground.

It was only now, after all this happened, Skyler slowly got up from her position.