Arrival

by William Dickey

  I first thought about going south but decided following the river was a better bet. If there were other people in this world, they would likely be near a river and as gravity drives rivers, it would lead to lower elevations and away from the cold.

  I could have just walked down along the riverbank, but my 1 cubic meter inventory was insufficient to hold all of the pelts I’d painstakingly acquired. I was understandably against this. If I did find a town, I’d need something to barter with and I doubted 37§ would get me far. So, I decided to build a raft.

  Cutting down even one of the smaller trees with a stone hand axe took nearly two hours and a massive amount of energy but after bringing the first one down I received the logging skill, which made the rest of the trees a bit easier.

  After a few days of work, I was ready to go. I filled my inventory with all the tools and furs that would fit and placed the remainder in one corner of the raft. The stuff was heavy, but the raft held.

  I’m not sure if it was because of the roar of the river or because of my preoccupation with the task at hand, but it wasn’t until I was halfway on board, ready to cast off, that I heard it. A strange, steady pattern of thuds emanated from the woods. The trees shook and the ground rumbled as countless small animals darted past at full speed. The thuds grew steadily until out of the woods marched a large humanoid bunny.

  The creature had the head of a rabbit, but the rest of its body was human except it stood over 9 feet tall and was covered in patches of disheveled grey fur. Long ears stuck out either side of its head in horizontal zigzag patterns and in one of its hands was a menacing looking gnarled club that looked like a yanked out tree, root and all. The giant lifted its head as high as it could, closed its eyes, and weaved its head back and forth sniffing the air.

  I ducked behind a tree along the riverbank, hoping that it would move on. Snap! A twig crumpled underfoot. The brute’s head swiveled in my direction. Its glowing red eyes met mine and I knew I was made. The bunny brute turned its gaze a few feet to my left towards the raft and its entire chest shuddered as it gave a grumbling exhale and returned its gaze to me. ‘Shit it saw the rabbit pelts.’

  “Fooo! Fooo!” the bunny brute bellowed as it charged.

  In a matter of seconds, the bunny brute was on me. It heaved the club with both hands over its head. I quickly sidestepped, barely dodging the telegraphed blow. The club smashed into the ground flinging rocks and other debris all over. Fortunately, the brute’s fierce blow left the club deeply embedded in the ground and before the brute could free his weapon, I thrust my spear into one of the monsters hands forcing it to let go. The brute snarled in pain as it lifted the club with its uninjured hand and took a belabored swing at my head. I ducked under the swing and slipped my spear’s shaft between the brute’s legs. The brute teetered over and fell onto its back.

  “Piercing Strike. Piercing Strike. Piercing Strike.” I called, repeatedly activating my spear technique, stabbing the bunny in the abdomen over and over.

  After the fifth stab, the bunny reached out to grab me. I jumped back. The brute regained its feet and took another swipe this time low so it could not be so easily evaded. I tried to block with my spear, but the blow was too powerful. The gnarled club snapped the spear like a twig and slammed into my side. Even partially blocked the blow sent me flying 15 feet.

  ‘This is bad,’ I thought, eying my health gauge. Although the damage had been somewhat mitigated, that single attack had taken over half of my health. Another solid hit would finish me. I knew I needed to end this quickly.

  The bunny brute came at me again, shaking the ground with each of its heavy footsteps. I threw the pointless half of my broken spear at my enemy’s face hoping it might buy me a precious fraction of a second as I retreated into the river.

  ‘This might’ve been a mistake,’ I noted as I realized how much the water slowed my progress. It was up to my thighs and already slowed me to a third of my top speed, but it was too late to turn back. The brute bounded into the water, generating a tidal wave in its wake.

  The brute made a sideswipe just over the surface of the river. I dived into the water and watched the club go overhead before poking back up just in time to see its next move, another sideswipe, this time through the water. Diving again wouldn’t work but the water’s viscosity slowed the club’s passage, allowing me to back up beyond the club’s reach.

  Unable to land a horizontal strike, the bunny tried a large vertical swing like its opening strike. I sidestepped. With the water slowing me down, I was only able to dodge the club by a hair’s breadth, but that was all I needed. The club smashed through the water, all the way into the soft muddy river bottom. The giant bunny pulled trying to lift back up his club, but couldn’t. The club was stuck.

  Before the bunny brute could recover, I made my move. It was foolhardy and ninety-nine times out of a hundred it should have failed, but I was desperate. I ran up the brute’s club and forearm, somehow the rough textures of wood and the brute’s disheveled fur overcame the smooth soles of my soaked sneakers, and I didn’t slip. When I reached the brute’s shoulder, I reached out and lunged, jamming my remaining pointed broken half spear in one of its eyes. I put my full weight behind the blow, driving the point deep into brain matter. Hot wet blood sprayed everywhere, drenching me head to toe as the bunny’s ears flattened and its body crumpled to the ground.

  Critical Hit!

  You gained 1570 EXP

  You gained a level

  You gained a level

  ‘Ha, two levels that monster was amazing.’ My heart was still pounding from such a fierce fight. Somehow, I’d survived. Although this proved how far I’d come, it also showed that I had a long way to go. That bunny could have killed me with another solid hit.

  I looked over the fallen bunny brute, its hulking body half underwater, its blood staining half the river red and drew out the stone knife I used for skinning. The creature’s pelt was patchy but it was large and possibly rare so I felt it might still be worth something.

  The knife pierced the brute’s tough hide, but before I could complete as little as a single slice, the entire body began to disintegrate. It was as if time sped up. In seconds, the flesh completely rotted away leaving behind nothing but bones and after a minute even those bones turned to dust. I turned to flee in fear that whatever affected the brute’s corpse would spread to me but my eyes were suddenly drawn back by a strange green light.

  The brute’s bone dust had started to glow and after another minute, the countless discrete particles coalesced into a perfect sphere.

  I cautiously picked up the awe-inspiring orb. It hummed with power, subtly vibrating in my hand as though it were alive, as if it had its own heartbeat. I gazed down at the sphere and received a new message.

  †Rabbit Crest†

  A symbol of dominance over all rabbit-kind. One of the 8 crests needed to become a Bane of Creation.

  Brring!

  You have acquired a new quest: †Becoming a Bane of Creation†

  If you kill a sufficient number of a species in a limited time frame, you can summon that species’ guardian. Defeating the guardian grants a crest. Collect all the crests.

  Difficulty: ***

  Reward: †Bane of Creation† Special Class

  Progress: Rat Fish Rabbit Boar Deer Fox Wolf Bear

  ‘A special class, I like the sound of that.’ My crusade against rabbit kind had an unexpected benefit. I killed so many of them their leader came after me, which left me with this. As important as it was, I reluctantly pushed the quest to the back of my mind. When all this began, I’d been in the middle of something. I jumped on the raft and pushed off, letting the current carry me to whatever fate had in store.

  Chapter 3: Mill Valley

  After only two days on the river, I found what I was searching for. The river emptied into a large lake a dozen miles across. Set alongside the lake’s shore was a moderate sized town housing just over a thousand people. The buildings were wood
en with hay-thatched roofs and the streets were paved with cobblestones. Of the couple dozen residents in view, most wore plain cloth: the men in pants and tunics and the women in long dresses that almost touched the ground. A few of the men wore light armor and carried simple weapons: dark iron swords, axes, or spears making it all look like a scene from a renaissance fair. The town wasn’t much but still my heart raced with anticipation. On Earth, I’d been something of a loner, preferring to spend as many hours as I could in a book or on a computer, but after nearly two months of solitude, even I was desperate to have someone to speak to.

  Not everyone was pleased by my arrival. A nervous clatter spread through the town as people noticed my small craft paddling in, causing a small crowd to form as I landed the raft next to a few local fishing vessels. Even before I could start unloading my furry cargo, I was interrupted.

  “You there. Hold it.”

  A large man wearing chainmail uniform with blue epaulets brandished his sword towards me as a dozen similarly outfitted men rushed to join him.

  “Back away from the raft and state your business,” ordered the guard as he looked up and down my tattered white polo shirt and jeans.

  My unusual garments clearly marked me as an outsider and put the men on edge. I raised my hands to show they were empty. The last thing I needed was for some jumpy law enforcement official to stab first and ask questions later. As ordered, I took a few steps away from the raft. The other guards fanned out, surrounding me on all sides. All had their swords drawn and pointed so I’d be carved up if I moved more than an inch or two in any direction.

  “Hello… sir. My name is Isaac and I am here to umm,” I paused. On the way here, I’d run through various scenarios, how to deal with anything from language barriers to non-human forms. I knew my garb may have been strange but I didn’t expect such hostility from other humans. In a perfect world, I would have wanted to blend in as much as possible, maybe pretend I was a traveler who had been unfortunate enough to run across a gang of bandits, but that seemed impossible. Clearly, something was going on.

  “No answer?” said the leader.

  “What, no I…” I tried to say.

  “You’re a beastman spy aren’t you?” the leader accused.

  “No, I’m not a spy and I… I don’t even know what a beastman is. I…”

  “Don’t know what a beastman is,” the leader scoffed.

  I knew I could try the truth but who would believe that I’m an accidental traveler from another world. If I were lucky, it’d insure a one-way trip to the looney bin. If I were unlucky, they’d assume I was the worst spy in the world and go straight to an execution.

  My mind whirled in a vain attempt at finding a solution.

  “Arrest him,” the leader commanded. “He may be a bit short for a beastman, but no self-respecting Xebryan would wear clothing like that.”

  One of the guards pulled out a pair of shackles so thick he had to sheath his sword to free both hands and lift them.

  Panic filled me. Was this as far as I’d go? Had I come so far, survived so much, just for this?

  “Hold it. Hold it. Hang on guys,” called a red haired man from the crowd. The man was in his mid-thirties. He wore a brown leather chest plate over a plain white shirt and black pants. A few small hatchets hung on his hips and a massive double-headed axe was strapped across his back. The man shuffled his way through the crowd to the guards.

  “Captain, he’s not a spy. He’s from my world,” the man told the guards who continued to eye me with suspicion. “I can tell by the clothing. He must have paddled in from the mountains rather than arriving like everyone else. That’s why he still has his possessions. Go on… Isaac was it? Tell the truth.”

  “I-I’m Isaac Stein from Truckee, California… United States… Earth. Not that those names will mean anything to you. 46… no, 47 days ago I inexplicably found myself in those mountains.” I pointed across the lake, back where I came from.

  “And what brought you here?” my mysterious defender asked.

  “I don’t know. I just appeared in those mountains. I don’t know what brought me here,” I tried to explain.

  “No, I don’t mean, how you got to this world. I mean, how you found this town?” he clarified.

  “I found a river, followed it, and… here I am,” I ended my brief story somewhat awkwardly. Six weeks of solitude hadn’t helped my people skills.

  “See told you guys. He’s no invader. He’s just an accident like me. So take it easy,” my defender reassured the guards. He waited for them to lower their weapons before turning back to me. “Klein. Reno, Nevada.” My defender offered me his hand, which I graciously shook. The guards slowly left to resume their posts apparently satisfied.

  “It’s nice to know I’m not alone here,” I said.

  “There are a few of us here. There used to be more, but most have already moved on.” Klein shook his head. “Anyway there are more important things to deal with. Like food. You look like you could use a decent meal.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “My cooking is far from decent.”

  “I know just the place. Lunch is on me. Then I’ll catch you up on what we’ve learned so far,” said Klein.

  Klein led me down the street a few blocks. People stared as we passed but, considering the circumstances, their reaction was surprisingly mild. Most people kept to occasional concealed glances, quickly looking away whenever I turned in their direction. Only children, too young to know any better, outright stared.

  We ended up at a large two-story cottage. Above the front door was a sign: Epochal Inn. Most of the ground floor was a large dining area filled with hungry patrons greedily eating a mid-day meal. The rest of the floor served as storage and quarters for the innkeeper’s family. A narrow staircase led to bedrooms of various sizes for overnight guests. As we walked in, the overweight and balding innkeeper behind the bar greeted us with a warm smile.

  “Hello, Mr. Klein what can I do for you today?” he said.

  “Two lunches, Rowley. One for me and one for the new arrival here,” Klein replied as he handed the innkeeper a few of the same strange coins the inventory had provided me after converting my $20 bill.

  “Hey, Abbey,” said Klein as he took a seat next to a small Asian girl around my age who was quietly reading a thick book. She wore decorative white robes, which matched the long runic staff leaning against the table beside her. “This is Isaac. He’s from Earth but has been living out in the woods this whole time.”

  “Hi pervert. Hi Isaac. I’m Abbey,” the girl responded in a barely audible voice as she glanced above her book at me for a second before dipping back into it.

  Klein leaned towards me and in a failed whisper said, “Boy I like the shy ones. They’re the wildest don’t you think.”

  “She’s young enough to be your daughter,” I said.

  “A man can dream can’t he,” said Klein.

  I took a seat across from Klein and the innkeeper’s wife brought out two bowls of stew and some bread. Without modern cooking implements to speed things up, the kitchen only had one option at any given meal, making service even faster than fast food.

  I would have started questioning Klein about what he knew of our situation but my mouth was too preoccupied with the food to do anything. It was a bit weird eating with a wooden spoon. The grain of the wood was rough against my tongue and made me worry about splinters, but the food was tasty and it was still a vast improvement over using my hands.

  After we ate, Klein began. “So I imagine you already know we are in some sort of video game world.”

  “Took about a day,” I said. “I didn’t realize it until I received an experience message for killing a rat. Then I asked for the menu and sort of figured things out from there.”

  Klein gave a slight nod. “Well we all figured out that much. I guess the first thing you probably don’t know is that we seem to be immortal in this new world. When we die we are resurrected in the center of the nearest town.” />
  My jaw dropped at that statement. I had spent 6 weeks struggling in the harsh wilderness but if I had just died, I would have found a nice cozy bed in town. “Is there any downside to dying, max lives or something?” I asked, hoping I gained something for all my struggles.

  “No max lives as far as we can tell. The only downsides seem to be that it takes a week to resurrect and when we do we lose a level,” Klein explained.

  “So is that how everyone got here? They died and came back,” I asked.

  “Yes,” Klein admitted with the faintest twinge of bitterness.

  “How’d you die?” I asked. Klein’s wince got deeper and Abbey snorted.

  “It always comes to that,” said Klein, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “Well, might as well get it over with. I was killed my first day. Don’t even know what killed me.”

  “Now be honest,” Abbey grinned.

  “I tried to kill a deer. It killed me,” Klein corrected.

  “Come on,” Abbey murmured.

  “Ok, ok, it was a youthful deer.”

  “He was killed by Bambi,” Abbey giggled.

  “Some of us didn’t land in the middle of nowhere,” Klein responded.

  “Don’t whine because I lasted longer than you.” Abbey turned to me. “Day 3, in the desert, of dehydration.”

  “Anyway,” Klein continued eager to move past this subject. “After dying I woke up in the middle of town square, completely fine minus my possessions. When you die, you drop everything you had on you. And I mean everything. I caused quite a big commotion as you can imagine.”