“Theo?” A voice came. He was deep in the menu, reading and rereading his skill selections, trying to find a method to the madness that was the Great Game. It seemed like there was some underlying logic, but it also felt like there were unseen forces manipulating the mechanics of the Game, like the Gamemaker or the mysterious DEITY UNKNOWN that granted him the Call of the Wild ability…

“Theo, we were talking…” Jessica said again, trying to get his attention.

He blinked the menu away and looked up at her. He’d found quickly that he could manipulate the menu using only his mind, and that touching specific runes, like he might do on a computer, wasn’t necessary. He could also view it in two displays: over-eye, which only he could see, or in hologram form. Hologram was better for long bouts of menu exploration, and felt more intuitive, but over-eye was best for combat and quick options.

“Sorry,” he said, “what did you say?” With his ADHD, it made it easy to get lost in the menu and hyper focus.

“We need water. And food. And maybe a fire. We were going to split up the camp duties and wanted to ask your opinion,” she said, “we know you do a lot of camping.”

Camping was as close to the Arena as Boy Scouts was to World War II, but he just nodded.

“Right. Uhm. Well, I know a lot about plants. So I could gather some stuff, or teach you and Leyah to gather. Water should be easy to gather, since the spring is right there… maybe we can send Ron, since he’s still not a hundred percent. Alice and Blake both have ranged attacks, so they can hunt.”

She smiled. “Great idea. I’ll get Leyah and we can get a move on with gathering some food. By the way… I have something for you,” she said.

She held something behind her back, which she slowly proffered. He was surprised to see his green cloak, repaired as though it had never been cut in two. He took it eagerly, running his hands across the place where the rip had once been.

“Jessica, this is amazing! How did you do it?” He asked.

“I leveled up my Charisma. And I was offered a few new skills or spells or something… there a spell, Greater Mending. It seemed to work well with my class, so I picked it.”

“Huh,” he said, “I was offered Minor Mending. I wonder if it has to do with your class,” he said, “being a cleric.”

“Maybe…” she said, “but I think it might actually be my actions. This spell was offered by someone — or something — named Bel, the God of Broken Things.”

He frowned. So she was offered a god’s favor too. Did that automatically mean she had a Patron? It seemed unlikely. Plus, her god actually had a name, instead of DEITY UNKNOWN.

“You think your actions earned you the spell?” He asked, “that doesn’t really make sense. It seems like its all point driven… numerical, you know?”

“It’s hard describe. But when I was healing Ron, I had this feeling… do you ever feel like you were being watched? It was like that.”

Hm. That was unsettling. He frowned. Looking around the cave.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Nothing, it’s just… a thought I’ve had before. If this is a game… why do people play games? Why put us here at all?”

She shrugged. “To have fun? This doesn’t seem very fun.”

Theo gave a sad smile, then nodded. “They’re watching us. Whoever they are. The Gamemaker, the Gods. They’re having fun with us. Using us for entertainment. If I had to guess, I’d say that the more entertaining characters — Jesus, people — are going to survive and thrive. While the boring ones…”

“You think they’d kill us?” Jessica said, worry creeping into her voice.

He shrugged. “Look at Ron. If you hadn’t been there, he’d certainly be dead. So I don’t know. But whatever happens, I don’t plan on being boring. And you shouldn’t either.”

He gave her a serious look, and she nodded, then looked around the room uneasily.

Then she looked at him and smiled. She put a hand on his and squeezed. “Then we’re in it together.”

Afterwards, Theo explained the plan they’d come up with. He changed it a bit so that Leyah would be gathering firewood and working on building a door out of earth for overnight defense. Ron was happy limping to the creek to get water in stone bowls that Leyah made, and Alice, Blake, Jessica and himself set off to find food.

Theo had never been hunting before. He loved the outdoors, and he ate meat, but he didn’t like the idea of killing innocent animals. The Armor Bear had attacked them, and so he didn’t have a choice, but he still didn’t like it. Now, they were being forced to hunt for food, something he’d never done before.

The area directly around their camp was crisscrossed with game trails leading through the pines. Down a nearby slope, they found denser oak forest and then another creek that ran slowly through a marshy, willow-rich plain. Theo explained that this would be were they’d find game, if there was any game to find. He knew all of this from his prior experience with the outdoors, but there was something else… he felt his knowledge backed up by Universal Power, felt the skills of Beastlore, Bushcraft, and Herblore triggering as he surveyed the landscape.

Tiberius trotted along side him, nose to the ground. Theo figured he’d be a good companion to have around, seeing as he was always chasing squirrels and rabbits. Now, with his upgraded attack abilities, he should be a solid addition to their hunting party. Luckily, the Armor Bear’s blood had washed off his maw, making him look more like the dog he knew. When they stopped to drink some water from the nearby stream, he knelt down next to Tiberius and petted his head.

“Thanks for the help back there, buddy,” he whispered, “sorry you had to come here, just cause I did.”

He wagged his tail happily, and his ears perked up as he heard Theo’s voice. Then, to his surprise, Tiberius said:

Come for you!

Theo blinked. The dog’s mouth hadn’t moved at all, but he knew it was Tiberius speaking. He could feel him, hear him in his mind.

“Wait, what?” He said aloud.

Come for you! he said again, Love you!

He accentuated it with three sharp barks and another wag of his tail.

“You can talk!”

Always talk! he said, barking again. A quizzical look passed his face.

“But you can… you can understand me… and I can understand you!” Theo said.

Yes! Love you!

He tried to nuzzle Theo’s face again, and he just let him. A talking dog was not something he was expecting, but he chalked it up to his Minor Beastspeak ability.

Then he had an idea.

“Tiberius, can you lead us to some food? Can you sniff out some small animals?” Theo said.

Tiberius looked wary. Chase? Chase no good.

Of course. Theo always scolded him when he bolted off after squirrels.

“Today, chase good. Okay? Find us some food,” Theo said. Even as he did, his stomach growled.

Chase! Tiberius said, and then took off down the path, following his nose.

“Great, now the weird one is talking to his dog,” Alice grumbled. The played with the tip of one of her arrows.

“Follow him,” Theo said, “he’s got something.”

“Let’s go,” Blake said, and he summoned a ball of blue flame to each hand, ready to strike. They ran after Tiberius, Theo watching his stamina slowly dip lower and lower. Tiberius ran and ducked under fallen trees, over small rivulets and around boulders, until they came to a small clearing. There, Tiberius waited, nose pointed dead strait at some bushes, his front paw lifted in a point.

Before him, in the clearing, a small rabbit sat nibbling on grass.

“Nice job, mutt!” Blake said.

Suddenly, a notification flashed in front of Theo’s eyes.

Companion Skill Identified! Animal Tracking (Basic)

Huh, Theo thought, so I’ll get notifications for Tiberius too. That could be useful.

“Alright, I’m looking at roast hare for dinner,” Blake said, and he raised his twin flame spell to incinerate the rabbit.

“Wait,” Theo said, raising a hand, “if you hit it with that, there won’t be anything left to eat. Alice, can you take it with an arrow?”

She scoffed. “Can I? It’s fifteen feet away. Watch and learn.”

She stepped forward, drew her black bow up and back, nocking a slim black arrow. Her shaggy hair — long on top, shaved on the sides — hung over one eye. She breathed deep, let her aim settle, and then fired.

The bow string let out a resounding twang in the clearing, and the arrow vanished in a cloud of dust as it struck the ground.

“Dammit!” Alice hissed, “where’d it go?”

Theo turned to see the rabbit standing not too far away, ears and nose twitching, seemingly unperturbed.

“It must have dodged,” Blake said, “rabbits are fast. Maybe even faster in the Game. Try again.”

Alice grunted, then strung another arrow. She drew her bow back, breathed out, and…

A roar erupted from the brush behind the rabbit, followed by a crashing sound. Suddenly, the brush ripped open, revealing a grey creature at least seven feet tall, covered in haggard fur.

“What the fuck is that?” Alice said, pulling her aim and firing the arrow into the brush next to the creature.

Theo looked at the creature. It was a rabbit.

Or at least, something like a rabbit. It had a rabbit’s head and ears, but with wicked looking front teeth. It’s body was more slender than a rabbit, and it stood on its two back legs, almost like a bird more than a rabbit. Its front paws were smaller, and tipped by razor sharp claws. It had a distinctly dinosaur-like appearance to it, and as Theo watched, it roared just like a T-Rex, spittle flying from its mouth. The small rabbit dashed behind it, cowering behind the larger creature’s leg.

Theo raised a hand and cast identify. Runes begin to float in front of him in a menu:

New creature encounter: Velocirabbit (Lesser) Level 3.4

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Theo grumbled.

“What? What is that thing?” Blake asked.

“Something called a…” he sighed, “Velocirabbit.”

“Oh great, so now the fucking game decides to have a sense of humor,” Alice said, “what level? My Identify skill isn’t working on it.”

Theo frowned. His was working fine. What skill did Identify depend on, anyway?

“Level 3,” Blake said, “it’s not giving me anything more than that.”

“I’m getting level 3.4” Theo said, “maybe because I have the Beastlore skill, I don’t know. But that’s nearly twice what the Armor Bear was, and that thing nearly killed Ron.”

“We should run,” Blake said, “that’s the smart thing to do.”

“Or we fight, and use it to level up, plus get food for tonight. Did we come here to hunt, or be hunted?” Alice said.

Blake looked at Alice, then at Theo. “Last vote is yours, buddy. But pick fast, because the window to run is closing.”

Theo thought of his conversation with Jessica earlier. No matter what, don’t be boring.

He swallowed, then, got into a crouch and pointed his staff. “We fight,” he said.

Blake narrowed his eyes, annoyed, but then nodded. “Okay. None of us are good up close, so we stay far away. Dance around this thing and pepper it with spells and arrows until it falls. Once it’s weakened, we can send Tiberius in to finish the job. Deal?”

Theo and Alice looked at each other, then nodded. “Split up. Don’t make it easy for it to come for us. Get in a tree or on a rock if you can. Whatever you do, don’t let it hit you. Go!”

With that, Blake summoned his twin flame spell. Two balls of blue flame appeared in his hands, then fired at the Velocirabbit like bullets. They connected with the creature’s chest, and it screamed as they singed the fur.

Alice took the opening to sprint left, quickly climbing a tree and crouching on a branch. She drew an arrow and fired it just as the Velocirabbit began to charge Blake. It struck the creature in the arm, and spray of red blood splashed across the nearby shrubbery.

“What are you doing!” Blake yelled at Theo, “run!”

The Velocirabbit turned, bit the arrow off at the stub, and munched down on the wood like it was a carrot. Soon the arrow had vanished, the creature’s attention was back on Blake and Theo.

Theo ran to the right just as the Velocirabbit vanished in a blur. It sped towards Blake, bounding on two legs, just as Blake was able to summon a shield spell. The rabbit collided with the shield, and sparks sprayed everywhere as the claws attempted to rend Blake’s flesh.

No! Theo thought, raising his hand. He summoned power to it, transmuted it into a spray of thorns. The thorns raced towards the creature and plunged into its left side, peppering it like quills from a porcupine. The Velocirabbit hissed and looked around for the attacker, just as Alice landed another arrow in its back.

Tiberius was at Theo’s side, waiting. Now? Bite now?

“Not yet, stay behind me,” Theo ordered.

Time to see what this Call of the Wild ability could really do.

He closed his eyes and reached out with a hand, summoning his magic there. It swelled as green light, dancing through his fingertips like an aurora borealis. Even with his eyes closed, he could see the outline of the life energy of everything around him: the trees in the woods, the grass beneath their feet, the insects in the air, and his teammates and Tiberius beside him. Everything swirled in currents of connected light, and he could see much father and deeper into the world than he could with his eyes. For example, there were thousands of insects around him that he wouldn’t have noticed normally, but which were crystal clear in his mind’s eye. Mosquitos, flies, bees, wasps… all of them buzzed happily through the surrounding forest.

He reached out to each of them, just as he did the firefly, and pointed them in one direction: right at the Velocirabbit’s head.

A great buzzing sound began to drone in the nearby trees, and black specs began to appear all around them. The Velocirabit had returned to Blake’s shield, and was quickly destroying it with its razor sharp claws. Bits of blue light were falling off the shield like chunks of brick, and Theo could see Blake’s pained expression, the sweat beading on his forehead. He was probably low on mana, pouring everything into that shield.

But soon the insects of the forest were swarming, creating swirling clouds of black bugs. They grew, and their droning hum grew louder, and then they plunged downward at the Velocirabbit’s head.

The insects began to bite and tear at the Velocirabbit at Theo’s command. Bees stung, mosquitos sucked, and soon the creature abandoned Blake’s shield and was swatting and biting at the cloud around it.

Theo held his hand out, concentrating on keeping the insects in line. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, and he felt the mana draining from him, leaving him weak. Alice quickly peppered the creature with two more arrows, and it roared, scratching at the air. Bee stings swelled on its face, leaving little trails of blood.

“Blake, now!” Theo yelled.

Blake, recovering from the expended mana of his shield, drew his sword slowly. He charged, sword held in wobbly hands, and let out a battlecry. That was his mistake.

The Velociraptor intercepted him, jumping clear over him. It floated in the air for a while, followed by Theo’s swarm of insects, and then landed behind Blake, bringing a claw down his back.

Blood spurted from between the straps of his armor, and Blake collapsed in the dirt.

Now! Chase now! Tiberius said in Theo’s head.

Tiberius, no! Theo said back, but it was too late. Tiberius flashed by in a streak of silver, racing straight for the rabbit as it raised a claw to finish Blake off. He launched himself into the air, paws forward, jaws snapping…

And the Velocirabbit lashed out, tearing out a chunk of Tiberius’ chest and sending him flying. Blood sprayed everywhere, a crimson wash over the forest floor.

“No!” Theo yelled. He watched as Tiberius’ body skidded across the dirt, slowing to a stop, landing in a puddle of his own blood. Tiberius lay crumpled, twitching, letting out a soft whine.

Theo’s eyes grew dark. Pure hatred boiled up inside him, pouring out of him a pool of surging green mana.

“Don’t touch… my fucking… dog!”

His screamed echoed in the clearing, and the dirt beneath his feet began to float upward, carried by the swirl of mana around him. Suddenly, a crack seemed to open in the clearing, beneath the feet of the Velocirabbit. Brown and black roots began to climb out of it like serpents, wrapping around the creature’s feet. It tried to lunge for him, but it quickly fell hard into the dirt. More vines wrapped around its torso, then its neck.

Theo stretched out his hand, sent all his mana into the roots, and then closed his fist.

The roots around the screaming Velocirabbit’s neck tightened, followed by a sickening crack, and then the creature was still. The vines tightened around its corpse like a boa constrictor, crushing bones and dragging it further down.

Anger and rage flooded Theo. He looked at the dead thing and felt nothing, no remorse, no pity, only justified rage. Then he released his hold on the roots, and they slithered back into the forest floor.

Velocirabbit (Level 3.4) defeated! Half of this creature’s XP has been absorbed by your party. Bonus XP for defeating an opponent with more universal power.