I shrunk fast in size, transforming into one of the tiny Littlefuts. The spell swooshed by from such a close distance that just the disturbance in the air tossed me a good distance away. The spell hit a tree, which split along the center and burst into flames.

Before I fell on the ground, I activated the Manture spell. The skin of my arms stretched and, flapping my new wings, I swooped for the health vials lying on the ground, and grabbed two of them with my claws.

The wizard hurled another spell at me. My aerial acrobatics to dodge it made me drop one of the vials. It cracked, spilling out the contents, and was wasted.

However, I was able to scoop up another vial. I flew to Bui and I threw her one of the life savers.

As Bui and Bono recovered, I glided to Fono, who had been hit right at the neck and was having trouble breathing.

I changed back to my human form, after taking a quick look at the wizard. He had been too occupied with tracking me and a Skhite had crept up from behind and cracked his skull with a fat stone.

The wizard’s brains were all over the ground now. I took off the cork of the health vial and fed it to Fono.

Just as I finished unloading the health fluid into Fono’s mouth, “Surprise!” a voice boomed in my ear.

Immediately the fist of a barbarian hit me square on the jaw.

The force flung me away.

I tasted blood in my mouth. Feeling lightheaded, I struggled to think rationally.

The second blow came. This time he hammered the other side of my face. I vomited blood. But caught in a frenzy, the barbarian made a mistake. He forgot that I had only just fed the health vial to my stone giant friend.

As the hulking man prepared to strike me again, Fono caught him from behind.

For a split second I thought that I was saved, but the next moment an invisible rope lassoed my neck, and I was dragged away from my savior, Fono.

A second wizard. He was making intricate motions with his hand, so that the invisible rope around my neck tightened and I fought for every breath.

I saw stars in my vision, falling on my knees. I was about to pass out, but at that very moment, a manture came flying and began clawing the wizard on the face.

Distracted, the wizard lost his grip on the spell. He cursed the manture and it dropped down dead.

But the sacrifice of the manture saved my life. I inhaled enough oxygen to kickstart my brain again. My size ballooned exponentially as I transformed into a stone giant, much to the awe and fright of the wizard. I swatted him.

Next, I shrunk into one of the small monsters. Enough action for now. I wished to be away from the eyes of the vile players.

Partaking in fights cost me too much mana and effort. It was too risky. Multiple times the players had surprised me. If my monsters hadn’t intervened, I would be dead by now.

Instead, I decided that it was best that I search for the door. I connected to the other small monsters whom I had assigned the task of finding the small door.

However they reported that they had made little to no progress. But just then a Manture’s message showed up.

You see, my mind was really like a small house and every time the monsters wanted to send a message inside it they had to knock on the ‘door’ of this ‘house’. The manture was excitedly rapping, almost like he wanted to break in.

I allowed the message in.

“Vicky, I have found the tree!” he said in a screechy voice. “There are not many players or monsters nearby. I can see the small entrance too!”

I thought quickly.

“Come and take me to the tree,” I ordered him.

The manture reached me in a few minutes. I was still in my small form and I mounted his back.

“Are you sure it is the tree?” I asked.

“It is! It is! I swear!” the manture promised.

The manture beat its wings and we soared. I had never ridden a flying animal, and it was a first of a kind experience.

It was like being on the back of an aircraft. I caught tight to the shaggy hair of the manture. The fight raging below seemed like a clash of rival ant colonies from up above.

And then, one of the 'ants' spotted the airborne monster and raised its tiny arm.

“Incoming spell!” I warned.

“Hold tight!” the manture said.

He made a sudden flip in the air, such that for a moment the ground was above my head and not the sky. I watched in slow motion as a burst of bright energy missed us only by inches.

The rest of the flight to the tree was thankfully uneventful. The small door at the base verified it was the tree. The manture placed me on a branch.

“Put some bushes over the door,” I instructed. The door, despite being little, was quite exposed. The manture dutifully carried out the task.

I then asked the manture to leave the spot. I didn’t want the place to be crowded by the monsters. Otherwise the players might get suspicious.

I waited, and observed, swinging my legs to and fro to pass the time. Would twenty four hours go by with no player coming to this tree? Well, let’s see.

Some minutes elapsed. A warrior player with a prominent chinstrap beard stumbled into the location. He had lost his weapons and was being chased by a bunch of Hornies and Skhites–right towards the tree.

“Stop chasing him, y'all!” I messaged all of the Hornies and the Skhites, “The tree is here. Go away!”

The Hornies and the Skhites immediately changed directions and fled. Perhaps, too abruptly, for the warrior frowned at them with confusion, perhaps wondering why they had lost interest in him all of a sudden.

The warrior was bleeding. He rested at the base of a tree in the neighborhood of the one with the door.

Fishing out a health vial with a shivering hand, he sucked in the fluid. All the wounds on his body magically disappeared.

He glanced furtively in the distance, his lips moving as he debated if he should rejoin the battle, or if he would rather take a break.

He pulled at his stylish beard and reclined against the trunk relaxed, choosing the second option.

His eyes wandered aimlessly about the scene. My heart froze when they became transfixed in the direction of my tree. The door was hidden; there was nothing that should be attracting his attention. Why was he looking so intently?

I realized it was the bush that the manture had placed over the small door. It was quite obvious that the bush had been uprooted from elsewhere and placed near the tree.