Dave

Fallen Jungle

57th of Cycle 2, 1015

Jason’s head laid severed on a table, and there was blood splattered all over the floor near his headless corpse. Matilda shook me violently by the collar of my shirt, yelling, “It’s all your fault! Why didn’t you stop them? Why! Answer me!” Her eyes welled up with tears of anger as she reeled her hand back and shot it at my face. The impact jolted me awake. I was breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

Just a dream…

I slapped myself lightly a few times to make sure I was really awake, then got up to my feet. I had made my way back from the dark elf village to the stream that Jason led me to, and that’s where I slept. I was genuinely surprised that a hungry animal didn’t wake me up in the middle of the night, and I made a mental note to create a proper shelter by the end of the day. I drank a few scoops of water from the stream, washed my face, and looked up at the shining sun.

It’s a beautiful day today. Birds are singing, and flowers are blooming. It’s the perfect time to hunt some dangerous monsters.

I set off along the stream, looking for tracks of anything to hunt, but instead ran up on a small grey gremlin drinking some water. Its back was hunched over, and its spine was showing from underneath its skin. Its large head creepily twisted as it looked over at me. We locked eyes for a good few seconds before it let out a shrill “KiiiI!” and scattered off on all fours.

For the sake of my sanity, I erased the events of the last few seconds from my memory and continued my search for tracks.

I found a set of hoofprints leading away from the stream and followed them into a mossy area. The depressions in the moss made it easy to track whatever animal left the prints, and it wasn’t long before I found my target bathing in a ray of sunlight. I got closer with my sneak skill, hid behind a tree, and peeked my head out to get a better look at it.

It was a black horse. No matter how I looked at it, it was a horse, but if that was true, then why was there a pitch-black fog emanating from its body, and why did its hooves have large spikes on them? I backed away slowly and turned to run away, but I heard a familiar shrill “Kiii!” from nearby. The gremlin had a large grin on its face, and it scattered away when some demonic horse noises resounded from behind me. I swore that I would skewer that shitty little gremlin when this was all over.

I turned to face the horse, which had its glossy black eyes dead-set on me. It dashed faster than the average car and opened its mouth, revealing sharp black teeth. I dodged to the side, and it skidded along the mossy ground before turning toward me again. I fired an arrow at it, but it bounced off, and the horse neighed as it charged once again. It was easy enough to dodge, so I stalled for time while I came up with a plan.

It’s got tough defense, and it’s incredibly fast in one direction, but its attacks are basic. How can I exploit that?

I thought of something Jason had done to the lion a while ago and backed up into a tree as the horse charged again. At the last second, I dodged to the right, and it slammed into the tree, but it wasn’t strong enough to break through, so it was stunned for a few seconds. I used the opportunity to calmly aim my bow and loose an arrow at its side, piercing into a soft-looking part of its hip. It let out a pained cry and started sprinting around me in circles.

The black fog coming out of the horse created a ring of smoke that obscured it from my vision. The clanking of its hooves onto the ground stop abruptly, and I turned toward the direction that the sounds last came from. Three horses darted at me from within the smokescreen, and I activated my vision skill to give myself enough time to react. They were positioned in a way that if I tried to dodge, one of them would surely get me, so I racked my brain for a different solution.

What if only one of them is real?

I looked between the three of them to spot any differences, and a smile crept onto my face when I noticed only the one on the right had an arrow sticking out. I drew my dagger, ran at the one in the middle, and moved through it like it wasn’t even there. The slowed time gave me the leeway to lunge at the real one and stab it in the spot where the arrow had already pierced through. I dragged the dagger along its side, widening the wound to the point of fatality.

In a last-ditch effort, the horse turned on a dime and lunged at me. If I had let go of my dagger, I would’ve been able to dodge, but I yanked it out before I moved to the side, and that knocked me off balance. I slipped on the moss, falling onto my back as the horse opened its mouth. I blocked the horse’s attempt to bite my face off by putting my bow in its wide-open mouth, and I held onto it for dear life. The horse shook its head around violently, like a dog trying to win in a tug of war game. Then, it kicked me with its front leg, and the spike on its hoof dug deep into my thigh. I cried out in pain as I jerked my bow to the side and kicked at its knee with my remaining strength. The combination knocked the horse off balance, and it fell to the floor with a loud thump. I dove onto its torso and drove my dagger into its neck, flailing it around wildly as I sliced its throat open.

It waved its legs around helplessly as its cries of pain degenerated into a gurgly mess. Then, I felt a switch flip in my head, and I moved the dagger forcefully up its neck until I heard a loud crack. Its dark black eyes rolled into the back of its head, revealing the creepy white backside you only see in horror movies, and I let out a relieved sigh as I turned onto my back. The wound on my thigh was bleeding badly, so I sat up to find something to use as a tourniquet, but stopped when I saw the gremlin from earlier stalking toward me. I snatched the bow from the horse’s mouth, knocked an arrow, and aimed at it.

The gremlin put its hands up in a motion of surrender, so I lowered my bow a little. It moved toward me and reached into a small sack it had slung over its neck, pulling out a familiar green leaf. It pointed at it, then at my wound. “Kii, Kii,” it said and made a few hand motions that I interpreted as an offer to trade the leaf for the horse carcass. I lowered my bow fully, grabbed my dagger, and signaled for it to approach. When it got close enough, I put the dagger to its throat and snatched the leaf from its hand. After opening it and carefully inspecting the green substance inside, I spread it over my thigh. The bleeding stopped abruptly, and the wound slowly sealed shut, so I removed the dagger from the gremlin’s throat and got up to my feet, motioning for him to take his part of the trade. I had enough dignity left to not shirk my end of the deal.

The gremlin pointed at the horse, made a motion that looked like he was putting an invisible horse on his back, and pointed at me. Did he want me to carry the horse? I shook my head. “That wasn’t part of the deal, you gremlin bastard. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you tried to kill me.”

The gremlin got down on its knees, put its hands together, and made “Kii” noises that sounded like begging. Up until now, I’d assumed that it was some kind of evil scheming creature, but the genuine nature of its pleading motion stirred something in my heart, and I let out a sigh. I bent over to pick up the horse, but it was way too heavy. I felt the gremlin tug at my pants, and I turned around to see it holding up a small grey glove. I shrugged and put it on without too much thought.

When I tried to lift the horse again, it felt significantly lighter, but I struggled to get the balance right on my back, so it took a few attempts before I got it in place. The gremlin made a disapproving “Kii” at my clumsiness.

“Don’t make me change my mind, you little shit.” I didn’t think it could understand me, but it shut its mouth and motioned for me to follow it. I walked after it slowly and checked my skills.

Name: Dave

Race: Human?

Class: Scout(rare)

Class Skills: Sneak(Int) Lv7, Fleet-footed(Int) Lv10, Archery(basic) Lv9, Hyper-Accelerated vision(Int) Lv 8

Class Skill Slots 1

Skills: Hypnosis resistance Lv1, Survivalist(unique), Poison Resistance Lv3, Dangersense(basic) Lv9, Knife-Combat(basic) Lv 8, Pain Resistance Lv 1

New Skill(s): Kicking(basic) Lv 1, Finisher(basic) Lv 1

Active quests: The Silver Panther

Kicking? I guess I did kick the horse while it was about to kill me, so survivalist probably 'kicked' in and gave me a skill. I guess it wasn’t completely worthless after all.

Kicking(basic)

Increase the accuracy and power of attacks using your legs by 25%.

Upgrades to 50% at intermediate rank.

Finisher(basic)

When an enemy is on its last legs, you know exactly where to strike to finish them off quickly.

Increased damage for attacks marked as finishing moves by 50%.

Upgrades to 100% at intermediate rank.

Is that why I knew where to move my knife to kill the horse? I shuddered when I remembered the cracking noise its neck made.

The gremlin was making distressed “Kii” noises at me since I had stopped walking while reading my skills

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” I said as I walked after him. I wondered why he sounded like he was in such a hurry.

Only one way to find out.