“You know, I really don’t know how else I thought this would turn out.”

I hadn’t even had the chance to charge and make a move on Peak. Well, I had the chance, I’d just flubbed it so amazingly terribly that it was almost like I hadn’t.

Who would have thought that charging headfirst at a man taller than me, in my already taller than average new body, and more naturally built than Mount St. Helens, would’ve only ended up with a solid Thud sound reminiscent of those you’d get when bumping into practically anything in a game? Logically, almost anyone else.

Much to my chagrin, I wasn’t the most logical person brought into this world.

So, as a consequence of my actions, the metaphoric blood that was rushing to my head was swiftly replaced with a more literal rush as my ankles were grabbed, and my body was dangled over the cliff face.

“Welp, now that we’re through with that, I have some safety instructions for you!” Peak’s casual dismissal of the event that just transpired only dug its futility deeper into my soul. It’d been one swift action that’d undone all the hyping up I’d worked for in less time than a coin flip.

The whole “live life and take chances” mantra I’d so delicately created wasn’t working out how I’d expected it to thus far.

“Avoid spinning out of control—you might snap something. Avoid landing flat on your back and/or stomach—you’d probably end up breaking just about every bone in your body if you did. Avoid entering the water like a wedge or a ball—it’s not the deepest, so you’d probably fold up like a Slinkertoad and cease to exist.” Peak explained the safety encyclopedia to me in rapid succession, like he was reading a ToS but didn’t really care enough to slow down and comprehend it. Luckily for him, he wasn’t the one who had to comprehend it.

“Hey, Peak… HOW DO I SURVIVE THEN?!?!” I was slow to connect the dots, sure, but somehow my mind was gradually adjusting to Peak’s quick paced nature. He was altering my brain, and I didn’t know how to feel about it.

Compared to when we first met and I suffered a mental overload, I was finally starting to handle myself better. I’d never really opened myself up to anybody enough to allow them to change me, so I was left bemused.

“How do you survive…? That’s the question isn’t it?” If it was anybody other than Peak, I’d think he was mocking me, but since it was Peak, I felt there was a legitimate chance he hadn’t thought out the plan that far ahead. Well… it’s not like I would’ve either. “Meh, they don’t call it conquering adversity for nothing. C’mon, let’s get this rolling! Here we go April!”

“Don’t you think this goes a bit further than conquering adversity?!” I tried my best to talk Peak out of it. Realistically, though, I thought I’d be fine—I’d seen way crazier cliff jumping scattered around social media.

“Meh, maybe.” I heard Peak respond, just as I felt the air pick up beneath my wings. I’d been dropped.

I guess, it was just the natural progression of life. I’d fallen onto a cliff from a tree. I’d fallen from a tree into a stream. It only made sense that falling off a cliff into a stream would be the next step.

“Damn, you gravity! Damn you!” In the moment of falling, I’d forgotten everything Peak had told me. Therefore, I flailed, I spun, I went every which way before making contact with the water and…

Splat!

Landing in the water flat on my back, sinking under with almost comedic timing. As I went under, I realized a new sensation—I had a feeling in my useless, instinctually moving wings… Immense searing pain.

Still, the impact hadn’t magically given me the ability to effectively swim with those wings spread, so I was stuck there at the bottom of the water, meaning I’d have to find another way out.

Opening my eyes, I’d determined to crawl out of the stream, as it was relatively calm where I was at, and I’d be able to move without picking up enough of a current to whisk me away against my will.

Kicking off with my forearms and my legs, I struggled against the ground bit after bit, maneuvering up the riverbank before finally surfacing my head above the water.

After resting my head against the grass on the bank, body still half emerged, my trance was broken by the sound of Peak’s approach.

“April, please tell me you’re alright! I’m sorry! I swear, I’m just trying to help!” Peak called out and rushed up to me, visibly worried about my physical state. However, he stopped right before reaching me, giving me my space.

“Don’t worry, I’m never the better~!” Despite my recent hellish encounter, I was actually really proud of myself. What I’d experienced was kind of fun. No wonder people liked cliff jumping. It was a rush!

After I’d given Peak a stupid smile meant to mimic his usual, he scratched his beard and with a sigh resumed to speak as if nothing had happened.

“Ahaha, I can tell! You’ve even made a new friend.” Peak reciprocated my sentiments and then pointed at me.

“A new friend…? Where?” I couldn’t tell if Peak was trying to make a dumb joke, but nevertheless I ended up frantically looking around.

Through this process, I deciphered the truth: I had actually made a new friend, after all. Peak wasn’t pointing at me, but above me. And I wasn’t heavy-headed just from a lack of oxygen, there was something on it making it heavy.

Epiphany realized, I shook my head to get whatever it was off, and a fuzzy brown ball rolled to the ground.

It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. Stumpy little legs, fluffy brown body, and a… weird stemmy thing that attached to some sort of lilypad on it. Yeah, not everything had to be perfect.

“Huh, looks like I missed one this morning.” Without hesitation, Peak pressed the little creature against the ground and readied his axe.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!” Also without hesitation, I jumped out of the water and then latched onto his axe holding arm.

“Calm down, I’m not gonna hurt the thing. Just let me…” Ignoring my grasp on him, Peak proceeded to lift me along with his axe and then bear it down on the little fluffball.

Whatever he was doing, I couldn’t see it as anything other than hurting it. My eyes inadvertently averted themselves, trying to hide from a potentially gruesome sight. I trusted Peak, but I trusted my eyes more, and what my eyes had been telling me was that he was definitely going to hurt the puffball.

“...And done. Hopefully, that’s all of them.” Curiosity eventually won over my will and my eyes made their way over to the site of the puffball.

When they arrived, they saw something unbelievable.

“You made it cuter!” The puffball was now joyously jumping around, and it was missing its one detracting feature, the plant-like stem that grew from its back.

“That wasn’t necessarily the goal, but I guess I did!”

“Hm? If that wasn’t the goal, what was?” In a world full of foreign things and foreign creatures, I still knew next to nothing. That being said, I also thought Peak should’ve gotten the memo that I’d need more info than your average Joe.

“This little guy is one of those lilydogs I was talking to you about.” Peak, realizing after witnessing a number of my carefully enacted eye gestures meant to indicate I’d need him to proceed with more explanation, obliged my request and provided some.

“Those are the things that those Rapiters or whatever eat, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but they aren’t preyed on without their stems. You see the stems have this really sweet nectar that attracts Rapiters, and without them these little guys get to live on! Oh, and I don’t have to worry about a giant snake showing up at my front door.” Peak continued his explanation as he scratched the lilydog’s belly. For a wild animal, it seemed rather tame. Stupidly cute. That’d be the best way to describe the things.

“I see, so these are the types of duties your ‘job’ entails, are they?” If all Peak had to do to keep dangerous creatures at a minimum was pseudo-gardening, then his societal role suddenly seemed less cool.

“Sure are! I can even keep the nectar for myself that way. You’ve had some of it, remember?” Peak had ceased petting the dog and moved onto wrapping the stem up in one of his many white, but not quite pristine white, cloths.

“Please don’t remind me of that dinner. I’d rather not think about what I ate…” I could tell that as I was speaking, a distant look grew apparent in my eyes, as I gazed off into the sky.

“Ahaha, I’ll try to make the next meal more accommodating to your tastes, or better yet, you could even give me a list of things you like with descriptions, and I’ll go foraging for the closest things to ‘em.” Peak then concluded our conversation by pushing the dog into the woods’ underbrush and then turning my way. “But first things first, we gotta get you some sleep. Gotta make sure the whole cliff jumping thing worked.”

“Oh yeah… I almost forgot about that.”

So, as always, Peak lead the way as we headed back to his place. And, after compiling a list of Earthen entrées, and finding various means of expending energy around Peak’s place, I was finally able to crash on his bed for a quick nap.

I woke up later that evening with an eager Peak waiting by my—no, his—bedside.

“So, any luck, lass?” The words burst out of his mouth, he obviously had been anticipating the results for awhile.

“Quick question, how would I know if I have this “blank dream” if it’s not meant to have much in it? Doesn’t that seem kind of contradictory?” I hadn’t recalled having a dream that past sleep, but seeing as it wasn’t meant to have stuff in it, I couldn’t really tell the results. However, it seemed Peak could instantaneously derive the answer from my question alone.

“Mmm… guess you didn’t have one then. That a bummer. I thought for sure that cliff jumping thing would work. Maybe the adversity wasn’t strong enough?” Peak’s attitude inverted quicker than a humming bird’s wing could flap, as he bemoaned his disappointment. Leaving me confused… As always.

“How can you be so sure I haven’t had that blank dream thingy? Wouldn’t only I know?”

“—Well, did you have one?” Peak, more perturbed than me at the idea of our efforts being all for naught, crudely reiterated his original question.

“How am I supposed to know?” I felt I had no other choice but to become defensive as I responded? The conversation had the air of an interrogation.

“You see, that’s the problem.” Peak shifted in his place as he spoke, scratching the back of his head. “If you had one, you’d just know. There’s no other way to explain it.”

“Ah, I think I get it…” I totally didn’t get it, but I sure as hell could play along like I did. “So, we’ll just have to try something else then, right?” I snapped my fingers at the start of my sentence to try and brighten the mood.

To be honest, I’d figured from the start it wouldn’t work. He had no way of knowing this, but back on Earth we had carnival rides like drop towers to simulate falling to our doom, and water slides to simulate a similar experience but into a pool of water. The cliff jumping probably didn’t leave as big of an impression as it could’ve because of this.

“I suppose so…” Peak cracked his knuckles and then continued with a familiar demonic grin on his face. “I have the perfect idea for our second attempt, so you’d better eat up all that food I got specially for you, April, because your life will be utter agony soon enough.”

I knew I should’ve been put off by Peak’s threatening not-threat, but I couldn’t help but ignore the bigger picture. “—You already got my food! Heck yeah! I’ve been wanting a good meal for awhile!”

“I got the closest things I could, but… Didn’t you hear what I just said—”

“I heard you, but I’m hungry and could care less. ...To me, all this adversity stuff is like getting a shot. It’s best not to dread it, because soon enough it’ll pass and you’ll be better off afterwards. Besides, it’s all about living life and taking chances. And boy, have I felt alive recently or what?!”

“Oh, alright then, let’s get down to business, shall we?”

And so, the next three days were torture. Yes, three days.

After a solid five attempts at getting a blank dream to trigger, our failed exploits were slowly but surely wearing on us, as no results were found.

Firstly, following my meal that day, Peak had walked me into a net trap he used for hunting and left me there for a day with no food, water, protection from the elements, or anything. According to him, it was meant to simulate an adversity of endurance and survival.

In the end, all it did was make me really tired and thirsty.

Later that day, after the first new attempt concluded, Peak and I sparred. Although, it was more like Peak was viciously hunting me down as I hid throughout the woods. Yet, even then, as that day concluded there was still no dream.

I’d had to go a day without eating and drinking once before for medical reasons, and I trusted Peak enough that i could wholeheartedly believe that he wouldn’t really hurt me. Therefore, no adversity.

The third day, Peak upped the ante, and decided to go a bit more intense on his adversity simulations, but not intense enough, evidently.

We started the day with a long trip through the forest to a section called the Wailing Wood, once we’d arrived Peak abandoned me and left me there for an hour. The catch: that woods was home to a species of giant cicadas which chirped so loudly that it was equivalent to some levels of internet earrape. They were docile, so it wasn’t scary, just utterly disgusting as they attempted to land on me.

It was madness inducing. It was terrible. It was the longest hour I’d ever had. But, it wasn’t adverse. At least, not according to this world’s messed up rules.

Then, as attempt five, I was never actually picked up, so I had to find my way back to Peak’s home before sunset. Fortunately, the woods were rather docile, likely due to Peak’s intervention, and it only took five mundane hours for me to arrive back at his place.

And yet… one sleep later, lo and behold, still no blank dream.

“What the heck?! Why is none of this working...?” Just like the previous two times, Peak had been eagerly waiting for me to wake up and equally let down when I didn’t have a blank dream.

“I dunno. You’ve put me through unfun situation after situation, couldn’t tell you bud. Maybe, they’re just not adverse enough.” These trials were becoming guilty pleasures of mine, as I lived a semi-adventurous lifestyle now, but I, too, was starting to get sick of this.

We were doing this so I could use special powers and stuff. I wanted to use special powers! The premise alone sounded dream fulfilling. So, why couldn’t I have had this blank dream, already!

“Peak, what caused your blank dream?” I finally snapped, and asked him the question that’d been on my mind. I’d assumed that he’d probably already tried what worked on him, but I also knew what people said about assumptions, so I went ahead and asked.

“Hmm, that’s a good question. Give me a second to remember…” Apparently, Peak’s blank dream hadn’t even been something eventful enough to instantly remember. That irked me, as I had no doubt that whenever I encountered a blank dream, I’d remember without a problem. I was going through hell and back to have one of these things, so I was gonna treasure it.

“I think it must’ve been when I’d met my wife.” Peak talked still distant in thought. However, I couldn’t stay quiet.

“You have a WIFE?!” I jerked myself up and held Peak by the collar of his shirt. I’d been the victim of his underarm grabs multiple times, but not once had I felt a ring on his finger, nor had I thought Peak mature enough to marry.

“Sure did. I remember when we first met, she’d attacked me out of nowhere, just because she thought it’d be funny—”

“I can already tell you two were made for each other.” I narrowed my eyes at Peak. I’d decided to focus on the content of what he was saying, instead of his usage of the past tense. I was sensitive enough to not allow my curiosity to dig up any bad memories.

“What do you mean?!”

“Nothing, nothing, just continue.”

“We had a short and intense tussel in the middle of Shelter. She was new in town, an adventurer who’d came to take on the dungeon, so I’d no idea what to do. At the time, I was just your normal town carpenter. But our little scuffle in the street changed all of that. For some reason, that, above all other hardships I’d faced throughout my life, was the one that’d caused me a blank dream.” Peak had stopped looking distant when he recalled the memory, and instead smiled as he talked. It was clear that however he felt about his wife, it was nothing but good things.

“Hmm… then doesn’t that seem a bit different from what we’re doing?” I took a while to stretch and interpret the content of Peak’s story. “You’re certain that it does happen after facing some sort of adversity, right?”

“Sure does, that’s the one common link that all people who’ve had their blank dreams share. They all happened in a time of adversity.” Peak confirmed my thoughts.

“Then maybe there’s a second factor, like impact or natural happenstance? I’m not the best thinker around, but that seems like it’d be possible to me.” I thought I’d figured it out.

Even with how slow I was, I could tell the glaring differences between Peak’s story and our little experiments to induce a blank dream within me. Peak’s adversity he’d overcame had a major impact on his life—meeting his wife—and happened naturally, without the safeguards that Peak was constantly giving me.

Either one of those factors could’ve been the reason why our attempts had been failing, but I didn’t want to elaborate it any further with Peak.

If I was right, then I’d have to progress without him.

“Anyways, you got some grub prepared for dinner or what?” I hastily steered the conversations direction away from blank dreams, and towards something simpler.

“Ahaha! I totally forgot, but you must be hungry, lass! My bad, we can pick up on our attempts tomorrow. For now, let’s chow.” Peak taking the cue, accepted the redirect.

“...Yeah, tomorrow…” I’d never not suck at bluffing, and much to my favor, Peak would never not be oblivious to lies, so my shoddy affirmation served to hide my true intentions.

Through all these trials, these 4 days I’d been stuck in this new world, there was only one thing I could think of to awaken me to a blank dream. One adversary that time and time again I’d wanted to face, after hearing so much about. And I knew exactly how to find it.

The Rapiter—the giant snake that lurks in the mist—I’d sneak out in the middle of the night, and make it my first claim on my path towards being an adventurer. After all, I couldn’t be one without this blank dream thing, so it was seeming like a rather important requirement.

The blue moon hung high in the sky as I prepared for my exit. I’d no idea about the dangers I was about to face, but I was certain that, worst comes to worst, I’d find some way to squeak my way out of it. Half-assing life was an April specialty, and to live life and take chances was my new motto.

Peak was a heavy sleeper, and a loud snorer, so he was fast asleep out in his main room, and completely oblivious to me collecting my materials as I prepared.

Over the past three days, Peak had hooked me up with a few additional pieces of adventuring equipment: a pair of gloves to prevent my hands from getting blistered while using my daggers, a small satchel which hung at my waist, and a sheath for my daggers, also hanging at my waist. I grabbed all of these things, then opened Peak’s pantry for one last crucial item.

“Apparently, Rapiters are attracted to lilydogs because of this, right?” I quietly muttered to myself while holding a small, wooden container full of the nectar that Peak harvested during his morning duties.

“Should be no problem to attract one myself then.” I stuffed the container into my satchel and then headed down from Peak’s treehouse.

My resolve was solid, I’d finally face a sufficient adversity to acquire a blank dream. I’d force myself to face a Rapiter. No safeguards. No forgettable trials. Just me and a giant man-eating snake.

Now that sounded like an adventure.