Now that he was alone, the reality of what he had woken up to was finally starting to settle in. His old life was gone, whisked away from him in the blink of an eye, and he couldn’t even remember how it had happened. It was as if every person he had ever met, every dime he had ever saved, and all the choices he had made in the past eighteen years of his life were all meaningless.

Worst yet, he had left Melody all alone. What would she do now that he wasn’t there to provide for her? After their dad had died and their mom had up and left, they had always depended on each other to stay positive and keep moving forward. When she found out he was missing, would she think he’d abandoned her just like their mom had? Tears started to trail unabated down Leo’s face, and he let them fall.

He took a few delirious steps toward the edge of the island and stared out at the tendrils of white clouds and the green valley thousands of feet below. The tips of his boots hung over the edge of the cliff, and Leo wondered if he would end up back on Earth if he let himself fall. It would be so easy to just step off and not deal with whatever hardships he would have to face in this new world, almost like a middle finger to whoever had brought him here.

He hovered a boot over the edge and wobbled a bit as he held his balance. It would only take a strong breeze to send him toppling over. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, a memory floating its way to the surface of his thoughts. It was of his ever-energetic little sister, her eyes shining as he carefully glued the arm back on a broken action figure shortly after their dad had passed.

It was her favorite toy and she had stepped on it in the middle of her epic make-believe battle against the hero’s arch-nemesis, Surge. It was the same figure he had played with as a kid, a birthday gift from their late father that he had passed down to her.

She had come to him bawling her eyes out from having ruined the gift, but he hadn’t been mad—nobody could ever get mad at Melody. Once he had fixed her figure, she had declared him her new favorite hero and rushed jubilantly back to her room. What would she do now that her hero was gone? For some reason, he had up and left his kid-sister all alone and the thought tore bitterly at his heart.

What kind of monster would choose to discard the only person who still loved him? The idea that he had chosen to come here was unfathomable, yet the proof was all around him.

Leo took a deep breath, letting the cold air fill his lungs before breathing it back out one last time. Then he planted his foot back on the ledge. His instincts warned him this wasn’t the way to return home. If he had any hope of seeing his sister again, he had to move forward and figure out how he had arrived here in the first place.

With a firm goal in mind, Leo gathered up all the self-doubt and fear that threatened to make him take the final step forward, and he squashed it down. Then he took stock of his situation. He had been left all alone in a completely foreign world, with no food and no money, or whatever might have passed as money here. Oh, and he was stuck atop a giant floating piece of rock! Yup...absolutely screwed.

Glancing over his attire, he looked like a homeless man who had stumbled across too much green and brown dye. His shirt and pants were made of wool and too rough in the wrong areas, his socks were itchy and uncomfortable, but at least his ankle-high boots seemed to be made of rather durable leather. Well, I won’t freeze at night, he thought, wistfully wishing for his favorite pair of jeans and a hoodie.

Leo let out an uncontrolled sigh at his current predicament, realizing he might as well start exploring this massive rock. If he could find the bare necessities of food and water, he might just stay alive for more than a few days.

Taking a look at his surroundings, he found himself to be in a lush, grassy field filled with perfectly smooth boulders jutting out of the ground. A large forest hugged the outskirts of the field and a small mountain range crested the treetops. The large clearing seemed to be void of everything except rocks, so he started heading towards the forest in the hope of finding the resources he needed.

Leo was about halfway across the field when he heard a faint scuttling sound coming from the other side of one of the boulders. The noise caused him to freeze. He slowly set his foot back down as he barely dared to breathe, hoping he wouldn’t become dinner for whatever alien monster was lying in wait. There was a sharp crack followed by a flash of movement in front of his face, and Leo let out a small girlish scream before realizing it was just another notification, albeit different from what he had received before.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill Listening! Rarity: Common, Skill level: Novice level 1. Your girlfriend is going to love this skill. Distinctly pick up any sound you focus on up to 5 feet away.

Leo cursed under his breath as he ruined whatever semblance of stealth he had, thanks to his outburst. Steeling his nerves, he jumped around the corner, hoping to catch the creature unawares. As he rounded the rock, he saw…nothing, there wasn’t even a trace of whatever had created the noise.

Crick

Leo jumped again, the sound coming from the rock right behind him. He turned toward the glossy smooth boulder, curiosity rivaling panic. It was by far the most perfectly oval rock he had ever seen. That stray thought made him pause with realization; the sound hadn't come from around the boulder but inside it. Leo took a moment to focus before casting his skill, Observation.

“Ohhh shit...” Leo muttered slowly, backing away from the monster egg. He looked around at all the “boulders” in the field, a sense of dread welling up inside him. He had spawned in the world's largest bird's nest!

CRICK!

Leo spun his attention back to the egg and saw the outlines of a beak poking through the hard outer casing of the shell. He subconsciously stepped back as another vicious peck from the hatchling within caused webbed cracks to race down the shell’s exterior. The smell of fresh air seemed to push the creature forward and it grew more aggressive in its attempts to break free of its imprisonment. With a small cry and a final peck, the shell shattered, raining down small pieces of the outer membrane around the newly born lifeform.

“Grossss,” Leo muttered as the avian slowly used its beak to remove pieces of the shell’s slimy leftovers that clung to its body. The newborn Thunder Roc was just under five feet, with three long talons protruding from each foot, wings laced with sparkling yellow almost metallic-looking feathers, and a body that resembled the shape of a baby chicken.

Whenever it moved, small sparks intermixed with its reflective feathers. Even from several feet away, Leo could feel the hairs on his arm stand on end in response to the circulating electricity.

The newly hatched Thunder Roc tilted its neck and gave him a quizzical stare as if unsure of itself. It took a small, wobbly step forward and let out a small chirp that sounded like a high-pitched chime.

“Easy there, big guy or girl or whatever the you are. I’m not going to hurt you.” Leo raised his hands and slowly approached the giant bird in what he hoped was a calming manner. As he got closer, it suddenly let out a more aggressive chirp and spread its wings to their full eight-foot span.

Motes of yellow electricity fizzled together before coalescing into bolts of crackling lightning that arced away from its wings to scorch the earth around him. His vicinity quickly became riddled with charred, smoking holes mere inches from his feet and several nearby patches of grass burst into flames.

The hair on his outstretched arm started to singe, but Leo kept up his slow approach under the torrent of electricity. He sensed if he showed weakness and ran away now, one of those deadly bolts would microwave his back.

He didn’t dare to blink as he continued to stare the creature right in the eyes as he slowly kept up his advance. Six feet apart...then three. The air hung heavy with a tension formed from the crackle of electricity and fear for his life. His hand hovered inches away from the terrifying alien creature, and he inwardly tensed as he took the final step.

His hand drifted down to land on the incredibly sharp beak, more than aware that the bird could probably snap it clean off. It was cool and strangely metallic, despite the crackling energy swirling over its body. He watched in wonder as arcs of electricity jumped across his hand without so much as a jolt.

The creature’s nervous gaze faded, replaced with a newer, more intelligent and friendlier light. It let out another soft chirp. “See, I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you.” He spoke to the beast in a soft, smooth voice.

Congratulations! Through some miracle, your utter lack of self-preservation allowed you to learn the skill Beast Taming! Rarity: Rare, Skill level: Novice level 1. You’re like a pig-farmer, just more exotic. 2% increased chance to improve your relationship with a monster of at least a neutral disposition.

Leo grinned. The notification might have been a bit sassy, but it was the first achievement he felt he had actually earned. “So, we’re friends now, yeah?” he said to the Thunder Roc. “I’m going to call you...Sparky.” He chuckled at his own lack of creativity.

The bird let out a chirp in what he assumed to be acknowledgment before a bolt of energy rippled across its body and shot into his outstretched hand. The high voltage railed into the rest of his body, throwing him on his back several feet away in a cloud of dust.

He lay on the ground unable to form a coherent thought as his whole body writhed in pain and shook from the lingering electricity still circulating inside it. Some notifications had appeared in the corner of his blurry vision, but he couldn’t focus enough to read them. After what felt like an eternity, the pain slowly dissipated, leaving his dangerously low health bar flashing red.

Leo slowly regained control of his muscles and managed a sitting position. His body was a smoking mess and the new clothes blackened and scorched. He let out a pathetic cough and stared in horror at the literal puff of black smoke that rolled out of his mouth. “What the hell was that for!” he shouted at his attacker.

Sparky just looked at him and cocked its head before releasing a soft chirp. Leo went to lift himself to his feet, but suddenly cried out and dropped back down as pain flared anew in his arm. He looked at the limb that had been touching Sparky; all of its hair had been burned away and most of the flesh had transformed to one degree of burn or another.

“Shit, I should’ve called you Surge,” he spat, looking at the charred limb with a grimace. “I thought we were cool, man.” He winced, casting observation again.

That was playing! It seemed the higher he rose in Sparky’s disposition, the more of her status he unlocked, but at the rate things were going, he would end up dead as a charred lightning rod before he reached the next rank. Dismissing the screen, he finally read his notifications.

True Mimic activated.

Congratulations! Through close Observation you have learned the skill Arc Bolt! Rarity: Rare, Skill Level: Novice Level 1. Who needs a quick recharge? Fires an electric bolt. 10MP, 7-9 Lightning damage with a chance to stun your opponent.

Well, at least some good news came out of this—he might actually have a way to defend himself now. He looked down at his fried arm and could clearly see the effects of his health regeneration. Already most of the burns had become a slightly lighter shade of red. He gritted his teeth; the pain was still intense enough to make him want to sob and find a corner to hide in.

An ear-piercing screech split through the air, followed by a clap of thunder in the distant darker clouds off the shore of the island. Sparky immediately raised her head and let out her own high-pitched chirp in response. It seemed mom had returned home, and Leo had no desire to stay and meet the parents. He turned tail and ran toward the forest. Looking back, he saw Sparky take a hesitant step to follow him before another terrifying call caught her attention. Then he was in the woods, the dense trees quickly obscuring the field from view.