*Drip*

Lucian wiped his forehead groggily and turned to the side, smacking his lips as he attempted to go back to sleep.

*Drip*

"Agghhh!" He sat up quickly, smacking his head against the low-leaning branches of his shelter. "Shit!"

Lucian rubbed the small bruise that was already forming on his brow. He pulled his hand away and noticed a tiny bit of blood staining his fingers.

"Damn it all!" Lucian complained. He scanned the area, looking for the origin of the menacing droplets that had caused him such pain so early in the morning.

When Lucian found his answer, his stomach churned, and he had to force himself not to vomit. The two-day-old carcasses he'd used had sponged up the rain, and tainted water was dripping lazily into his tiny abode.

Looking around, he noticed that the ground beneath him was damp. He grabbed the bone knife and scrambled out of his makeshift shelter.

There was no breeze, and the hot, humid air had begun to set in. The corpses were warm, and the smell was beyond nauseating!

"Fuck."

Lucian attempted to walk away from the remains, but the smell lingered about his person. The liquid he'd been sleeping in tarnished his skin and left him in a state of filth.

Grimacing, he looked down at the dagger he was holding.

"Couldn't you have been a bucket of water?" He asked rhetorically.

Lucian stared at the knife for some time.

He didn't really have to deal with any of this...

Did he?

He shook his head. Taking the easy way out wasn't an option.

"Pull yourself together, Lucian," He smiled glumly. "You'll see them again one day."

He stared at the ghastly shelter he'd haphazardly arranged before the storm. It looked like he'd pulled it straight out of a horror film.

"This won't do at all," Lucian looked at the fallen branches and leaves around the woodland. "We can do much better than this."

His mind shifted from sorrowful thoughts about his life to the work that needed to be done. He wasn't some troglodyte, and he damn sure wouldn't live like one!

"What did the [Map] say about this place?" Lucian tried to recall. "Ah, that's right! The planet was known for its malleable plant life."

He remembered how rubbery the leaves were.

"What about the trees?" He wondered. The branches were absurdly sturdy.

Any normal tree limb would have snapped when the rat's weight had descended. However, the branch he'd been using pierced straight through its throat without so much as bending.

"There's definitely more to these trees that I'm not seeing," Lucian mumbled.

He walked over to the closest tree and examined it. The grey bark resembled that of pine, though it was almost perfectly square.

After some experimentation, he found that he was able to peel it off with ease.

The exterior of the bark was rigid, like the branches that had fallen to the ground. However, as Lucian peeled the bark away from the tree, a gooey, tacky paste peeled off with it, threatening to yank it back to the tree.

The tension increased the further he pulled, and he had to slice the material with his knife. As soon as he cut the bark loose, the stress was relieved, and the rubbery material snapped back into place.

He turned the bark over in his hands, seeing that some of the sticky, elastic goo clung tightly to the back.

Lucian smiled.

"This can work," He walked over to the tree and began carving off as many of the large pieces of bark as he could.

Each piece was around fifteen centimeters in height and width. Though some were slightly smaller or larger, they were strangely uniform.

Lucian found it odd that the tree would naturally grow that way, but it fit his needs well, and he didn't complain.

After pulling off the slabs that he could reach, he moved to the next tree and repeated his actions. The trees were thick, and he managed to pull over four hundred panels between the two.

"Phew," Lucian breathed out, sweat pouring down his temple and grime threatening to run into his eyes. His mouth was starting to dry, and his stomach was beginning to ache.

"I'll need to find sustenance soon," Lucian grumbled.

He was already impressed. The [Initiate] Microlink was still something he didn't understand, but it had already been three days!

Lucian knew he should have been knocking on Death's door between the time that passed and all that he'd been through. Yet, even after all of that, he was only now feeling the strain of not having food or water.

His mind wandered, and he suddenly pulled up the Microlink Chart.

"If the [Initiate] Microlink is just the beginning, what about these six around it?" Lucian stared at the chart briefly before pulling up the [Educatus].

"What is [Strength 1]?" He asked.

[Error]

Lucian frowned. The [Educatus] was helpful, but it was stingy.

"What is Nowhere?" Lucian asked, not really expecting an answer.

He was pleasantly surprised that the standard error message didn't pop up, but outrage crept into his heart as he read the prompt.

[Nowhere: A Trial world crafted by the Ancients in what Earthlings currently know as the 'Milky Way' Galaxy. Nowhere is comprised of Tiles containing a piece of each planet in the Galaxy. The purpose of this world is to host the Tournament of Nowhere]

"What the hell?!" Lucian blurted out. "You mean someone actually brought me here for some stupid game?! What the hell is this damn Tournament?"

[Tournament of Nowhere: A Tournament between all sectors in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Tournament is hosted to settle disputes and determine hierarchies between the Thousand Sectors.

Millions of years ago, the Ancients established the Tournament to prevent the Thousand Sectors from coming to blows and destroying the inhabited planets of the Galaxy. If you've found yourself in Nowhere, then your Sector's fate rests on your performance]

Lucian collapsed to the ground.

He sat beside the large pile of abnormal bark that he'd acquired and re-read the message. After the third read, he realized he didn't miss anything.

Earth was part of whatever this Sector was.

This Tournament was to keep the Sectors from destroying each other.

Did this mean that Earth would be conquered or destroyed if he lost?!

He pictured the planet blowing up. His friends and family, his wife and children...

They would all die.

He couldn't let that happen. Lucian looked at the pile of bark beside him with resolve.

If the goal was survival, he would do more.

He would thrive!