Leo checked his gear for the third time since leaving the compound. The old geezer had told him in no uncertain terms that if he returned before leveling up, he would be pitted against an entire colony of imps inhabiting the northern reaches of the Garden. Then the old man had practically shoved him outside in the middle of the night, instructing him to follow the stream feeding the pond for the best hunting grounds.

He didn’t know if Zeld would really go through with such drastic training methods if he returned unsuccessful, but his newfound fear of spontaneously exploding was enough of a motivator to ensure he would try his best. At least the old man had geared him up for this expedition.

Zeld had given him the gear, saying Leo would be doing him a favor in breaking down his trash, but compared to Leo’s own equipment, or lack thereof, it was a treasure trove. Aveth had also been returned to him so that he could gain some real combat experience with the sword. Apparently, most creatures on the island wouldn’t be able to withstand a single swing of the blade’s deadly edge, but it would still leave him with the challenge of actually hitting them. He had also been given an enchanted steel dagger and one of Zeld’s failed healing solutions for emergency.

Regardless of the supposed quality of the gear, it was touching to have the old recluse outfit him for his best chance of survival. It was almost enough to reassure him about going back into mortal danger.

It was nearing dusk as Leo made his way back to the pool, hoping to find some preferably fluffy, cute and harmless creatures to murder for experience. He reached the pond as the last rays of the evening light dipped behind the trees, leaving the reflection of a shattered white moon dancing on the soft ripples of the water.

Surprised, he looked up at the eternal crescent, trying to imagine what could’ve ripped such a massive chunk away from it. As he searched the night sky for the cause, he spotted a second moon! Either due to its sheer size or a closer proximity to Asylum, this one was at least four times the size of the first. It was completely intact and reflected a slightly reddish light.

Melody would freak. Leo couldn’t help the thought slipping through his defenses. Their dad had always been an astronomy nut, and his little sister had inherited the craze. She had force-fed him knowledge of almost all of Earth’s constellations during her frequently demanded stargazing trips. None of those familiar stars were visible now.

Why would I have chosen to come here? he thought, clambering up the tree he had cut down yesterday. He made his way to the center of the starry pond, fruitlessly trying to access the blank slate where the memories of his last few months should be.

It was like someone had gone in with surgical precision and removed that length of time, leaving behind only its residue. He knew that time had passed and the information should be there; it just wasn’t, like forgetting a question you were going to ask a moment before.

If he could discover what had happened, why he had chosen to come here and how he had arrived, then maybe he could find out how to get back. Somewhere in this world existed a way for him to return to Earth, he was living proof. He wouldn’t abandon her, not like their mom had. He would tear apart this entire planet if that was what it took to stand by her again.

Leo gripped a protruding branch to steady himself, giving himself a few minutes to break down before slowly picking back up the pieces of his resolve. If he ever hoped to achieve his goal, he had to press forward. He needed to garner enough strength to find what he needed while protecting himself and those he cared about in the process.

Right now, the list of who he wanted to keep safe was small: Zeld and Melody. Not only had the old man restored Leo’s life without expecting anything in return, but he was also teaching him how to survive. In a world that was supposedly heartless, he would try to protect every piece of kindness he came across.

Determined and not seeing any prey around the watering hole, Leo decided to take Zeld’s advice and follow the stream upriver. He moved away from his fallen tree and found a steep but climbable dirt incline that brought him right next to the start of the small waterfall. Then he started to follow the current to its origin.

After walking for a few minutes, he came across a bend in the stream where the water ran into a granite slab protruding from the mountainside and changed directions, leading back to where he thought lay the small mountain range the island contained.

He shrugged. It would make sense if both the pond and the waterfall inside the garden originated from the same source. As large as this island was, it was still an island. Leo paused mid-stride, a thought crossing his mind. How could a floating piece of land possibly produce enough water to sustain a waterfall that large? There hadn’t been any rainfall since he had arrived.

A sharp pain raked across the back of his unprotected calf, causing him to stumble to the ground with a shout. He reflexively clutched his injured leg before the training Zeld had beaten into him took over. Drawing Aveth, he sprang back to his feet in a defensive crouch, teeth clenching at the burning pain in his leg.

Scanning his surroundings, he readied himself to react to the slightest hint of movement as he searched for his ambusher. The sound of claws on leather made him start as his left sleeve exploded to ribbons. He made a blind swing but there was no indication of what had attacked him. Three deep gouges now ran the length of his greaves—their shape and size made him think he was under assault from a fifty-pound housecat!

More cuts materialized on the side of his knee, followed quickly by a failed slash to his greaves. A glance at his health let him know the attacks that had hit had already brought his health down by a third. If it weren’t for the armor absorbing most of the damage, he’d be near death already.

There was a dark flash of movement across the granite next to him, and he spun just in time to see the shadow of a feline as it landed a vicious swipe across the chest of his shadow. His chest piece took the blow easily, and he lashed out with a fist where he estimated the feline should be. The fist struck fur as he finally made contact with his invisible foe, slamming the creature off of him.

The shadow of the beast flew into the ground roughly, but oddly enough didn’t kick up any dirt or dust, leaving him guessing at its exact position as it melded back into the surrounding darkness.

Another slash across his back had him spinning with a curse. Once more, all that was visible was the shadow of the large cat, its fur standing on end as it gave off a silent menacing growl. Wait! Why would something invisible leave a shadow? On a hunch, Leo cast Observation in the direction of his foe.

“Well, an interaction occurs both ways!” Leo cried, cleaving an arc through empty air with his sword. His shadow from the splintered moon mirrored his action, bringing Aveth’s black edge down on the cat.

The creature nimbly dodged out of his reach, leaping away without a sound just as his strike cleaved through a few of its whiskers. The cat’s figure moved fluidly across the stone, unconstrained by the positioning of the moonlight as it darted toward his feet. Right before it struck, Leo jumped, his shadow moving with him and easily clearing the space where the cat attempted to strike.

As he landed, he felt the beast’s claws crash into his thighs, leaving long gouges in his leather leggings and forcing him to take a step back. Leo glanced behind him and noticed he possessed a second larger shadow that the cat had managed to strike, one that came from the second moon.

He swung his sword wildly in an attempt to create some breathing room between him and the ferocious kitty. “You know…when I thought fluffy and cute…I was hoping for like…a rabbit with horns,” Leo rasped as the beast evaded his wild strikes before starting to silently circle him. Thankfully not getting a response from his comment, Leo positioned himself so the light from the two moons cast both his shadows directly in front of him, creating a malformed V.

The shadow cat leapt at him again, claws outstretched. He ducked, letting the cat pass over the first shadow, before standing back up to take a hard swipe on his chest piece as it rebounded off the second one. He sidestepped, positioning the cat so it was directly in the center of his V-formation.

“Checkmate.” Leo let out a vengeful smile before reversing his grip on Aveth and bringing the sword in a brutal downward thrust. Both his shadows mimicked him and the cat was left with nowhere to flee. He felt a tinge of pity for the creature as two swords skewered the center of its abdomen. Droplets of shadow blood flew everywhere as the cat spasmed in its death throes. Leo watched in eerie silence as the cat convulsed and cried out without making a sound, then after a few more seconds, the beast went still.

You have killed a Shadow Cat (Level 2). You gain 237 Exp.

He stared in mild surprise at the notification; the cat had given him more experience than all of the wolves combined. With a thought, he conjured up the General section of his character sheet, checking on his progress to the next level.

He was already halfway to reaching level three! Excited, Leo put the sheet away. It seemed killing a higher class of monsters would net him more experience, as a sort of high-risk high-reward system. An idea started to form in his head of how he could make that work to his advantage.

His armor had prevented him from taking any serious injuries in that fight, allowing exposure in only the smallest of places. It had sustained mild damage, the chest piece taking the brunt of the injuries with a loss of six points in durability, but it should last him throughout the night, even with what he had planned.

Now that it was dead, the shadow cat’s body had fully materialized in this plane, and he crouched close to it. “Sorry, furball,” he muttered as he grabbed his sword and raked its edge against the dead feline. The blade easily slit open the creature’s corpse, causing black entrails and blood to pool out of the opening.

The rancid smell emanating off the mutilated body was almost enough to make Leo go find a place to hurl, but he ground his teeth and dipped his hands in the cool, black blood of the beast. He tried to imagine it more as black coffee than monster blood. Lightly coating his fingertips in the viscid liquid, he began to smear it all over the outside of his armor. If Zeld didn’t truly think of this armor as “trash,” then he was in for a long explanation when he got back.

There were three probable outcomes he could think of that came with covering himself with the scent of a dead hindrance monster. The scent would attract all monsters in the vicinity, only attract monsters of a similar and higher classification while scaring away the common variety or do absolutely nothing at all. For all the effort he was going through, he really hoped it wasn’t the last outcome.

Done with the grisly work, he washed his hands the best he could using the running stream, trying to rid himself of the sticky substance. Then semi-confident in his plan, he pressed onwards upriver, slightly worried that he was gravely underestimating the creatures on this island.