Chapter Three – 003

Chapter Three – 003

Felix's head rocked back, his smile faltering. A Memory from that tentacle horror? He shuddered. And he also didn't have a choice? Taking a deep breath, he looked around the beach and didn't see anything nearby for at least a mile on the open sands. Before he could think too much about it, he mentally selected "Yes."

Everything went dark.

Slowly, the world lightened until Felix was surrounded by a green murkiness that reminded him uncomfortably of the Bitter Sea. Nearby a dim light played among the waters, shining from between blocky shadows. His body spun closer, moving in a way that Felix only offhandedly thought as strange; the rest of his attention was on the strange crimson light emanating from between several columns of hexagonal basalt. They rose up from the murky sea floor, rising up and around the bloody light like a cupped hand or a copse of creepy trees. Or a cage.

Felix tried to move closer, but quickly realized he wasn't in control of his body. It felt bloated and ungainly, too big and too...squishy, somehow. He blinked. And blinked. And kept on blinking, set after set of eyes that seemed to warp around his massive skull, eyes that were just now taking in the mottled color of fleshy tentacles coiling in the acidic water. A dark presence swam in the currents beneath him, just out of sight. Then with a sickening lurch, the presence oriented on him. Tentacles coiled and Felix felt the eyes of the creature focus inward as pressure gathered on his mind. With mounting horror, Felix realized he was embodied within the Dread itself.

And somehow, it had noticed him.

"GAH!"

Soaked with sweat and face first on the grey sand, Felix felt his heart thrum in his chest. His adrenaline was racing in his veins even as he leaped to his feet and took quick glances in all directions. He was still alone, the expanse of grey beach and dull green water quiet and still. Soft lapping of the foaming edge of the Bitter Sea washed a dozen feet away, and Felix shuddered.

He climbed back into his cocoon of rocks.

That wasawful. Felix shook his head as he sat down heavily. His adrenaline rush was wearing off and he felt shaky, his limbs all elbows and knees. If that was what happened every time he reviewed a Memory then he'd take a hard pass in the future.

As long as I can, he amended.

Lessons of the Past is level 2!

With a final steadying breath, Felix braced for more notifications but no more appeared.

"Took long enough," he muttered. "Now what?"

The beach was silent, the soft whoosh of water and bitter tang of vinegar permeating the air. He had been thrust into this strange place, dropped into deathly danger, and accosted with changes to everything about himself. Felix shook his head, trying to get a grip. The world was like a game, so did that mean he was a player? Were there others?

"First things first," he muttered. He needed more information.

"Menu," he tried. Nothing. "Status."

Nothing. Just a grey beach and green water.

Undeterred, Felix tried to visualize what he wanted. Quickly, a blue screen appeared before his eyes.

Name:

Felix NevarreThe original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

Level:

2

Title(s):

Gourmand (+1 INT, WIL)

Survivor I (+1 END, VIT)

Race:

Nym (+1 to WIL, INT, DEX, END, +5 Bonus Stats per Level, -5% XP Gain)

Omen:

The Magician (+2 to WIL, +1 to INT, +1 to PER per Level)

Born Trait:

Keen Mind (+2 INT, 30 day perfect recall)

Health:

28/35

Stamina:

36/36

Mana:

51/51

STR:

2

PER:

5

VIT:

7

END:

7

INT:

13

WIL:

9

AGL:

3

DEX:

5

Skills:

Acid Resistance (C), Level 4

Analyze (C), Level 1

Lessons of the Past (R), Level 2

Unused Stat Points:

5

"Whoa, cool." Felix felt excitement stirring in his chest again. He had stats, and skills, and MANA. This was wild beyond belief.

Now if it weren't for all the life threatening danger. His leg and arm still twinged painfully in reminder, and Felix noticed that his Health was sitting at 28/35. It didn't seem to be getting worse, which was good, but he needed to find a way to heal up.

One thing at a time.

Felix was chuckling to himself when a sudden humming sound approached him. Looking up he saw the strangest thing yet: a teal and yellow lizard hovered ten feet away from him, the blur of four dragonfly-like wings holding it aloft and producing the oddly pitched humming noise. Almost without thinking, Felix activated Analyze.

Name: Sharpwing Skink

Type: Reptile

Level: 23

HP: ???/???

MP: ???/???

Lore: Highly territorial reptiles with four razor sharp wings.

A grotesque gurgle snapped his attention away from the notification window, just as a wad of greenish goo splattered against his chest and knocked Felix on his ass. The goo immediately began to sizzle, eating through his tattered shirt and straight into his skin.

Acid Resistance is Level 5!

Acid Resistance is Level 6!

Ow ow ow shit ow! Felix immediately made to roll into the loamy soil, hoping to scrape the acid from his chest. Doing so, he just barely managed to dodge the Sharpwing Skink as it (quite literally) buzzed him. The burn of the acid fell away once he'd scraped off enough of it, and Felix got to his feet in a crouch. He readied his walking stick like a baseball bat, not really sure what he could do to a monster that was over twenty levels higher than him. But he had no where to run, not really, and he was sick and tired of things attacking him and getting away with it.

The Skink buzzed at him again, it's mouth wide open and filled with dozens of tiny triangular teeth. It was so fast that Felix only had a bare instant to line up his shot, and he swung as hard as he could. The overgrown lizard bobbed nimbly out of the path of his clumsy stick, zipping up and around a nearby Velbore tree. Before Felix could even register that he'd missed, the Skink slammed into his back and put him back onto the ground.

You've taken a Critical Hit!

Your Health has dropped below 10%!

Back and shirt shredded, Felix shook his head, dismissing more blinking notifications. The pain was overwhelming him, first his chest and now his back was a sea of fire, scorching every nerve ending and fogging his mind. Barely able to think he quickly dumped all five Bonus Stat Points into WIL, doing nothing for the pain but immediately clearing his head. He pushed down the agony and got shakily to his feet.

Breathing carefully, Felix tried to listen for the dumb lizard. He could hear a distant humming from the trees to the northeast, and without wasting time on thinking, he dove forward in a roll. A sharp rising buzz zipped passed him, just barely missing his head.

Cursing, Felix did something he should have done in the first place.

He ran.

He scrambled behind a nearby tree just in time to hear the gurgle-hiss-splorch of another Acid Spit landing. Felix smelled acrid smoke but didn't look back. The humming grew in pitch and volume, and he put everything he had into running as fast as he could, zig-zagging through the trees to hopefully avoid any more acid.

He wasn't sure how long he ran. All he knew was that his lungs burned with each breath and his legs shrieked in pain as he pushed himself through the forest. By the end, his vision dimmed and black around the edges, he simply collapsed into a patch of weeds and wildflowers, folding his arms feebly over his head. After a few minutes of just breathing and no attack, he strained his senses. It was quiet. He let out a shaky breath. He'd lost it.

A small yellow icon flashed in his vision, and Felix remembered all the notifications he had ignored during his fight. He toggled them on.

WARNING! Your Stamina Has Been Depleted!

Current Stamina: 2/36

Wow. No wonder he had collapsed. It must have hit zero during his escape. He was lucky the Sharpwing Skink had given up, or else he'd be a bloody smear against some tree. What did the Lore say again? They were highly territorial, so once he had left it's claimed area it dropped the chase. Felix sat up, propping himself against a nearby stump, careful of his wounded back. He watched his Stamina tick down to 1/36 at this simple action, and a wave of weakness pass through his arms and legs.

He had to fix that. Somehow.

You Have Gained A Title!

Survivor II (Uncommon)!

Drop to less than 5% Health twice within 24 hours. +1 END, +2 VIT

Felix's eyes went wide and he quickly accessed his Health.

Warning! Your Health is Below 10%!

You Are Bleeding!

Health: 2/45

Felix could feel the blood pooling behind him, oozing out of his torn up back. That lizard had diced him up. He was amazed he hadn't fainted from the pain, and equally amazed that his desperate decision to dump all his free points into Willpower had paid off. He could feel the pain but it seemed more distant, now.

Straining his remaining Stamina, Felix fumbled into his pockets and grabbed the Yarrow flowers he'd stored there. They were crumpled and torn, but hopefully still good. He shoved flower after flower into his mouth. They tasted bitter, sharp and almost hot on his tongue. He chewed mechanically and swallowed, moving as fast as his 1 Stamina allowed. Then he got the blessed notification:

Bleeding Has Stopped!

You've ingested Yarrow (x6)!

+6 Health per second for 5 seconds!

You Have Learned a New Skill!

Herbalism (Common), Level 1

Increases knowledge accumulation and retention regarding roots, herbs, and natural remedies. Efficacy of gathered herbs, roots, and other natural growths increases with Skill Level.

A strange squirming sensation crawled along Felix's back, as if his skin was...rippling. It itched like hell, too. Felix toggled his Health to see the result.

Health: 31/45

Felix let his head drop into the dirt and took several big shuddering breaths.

He had almost died. Again.

He had more notifications, and wasn't doing anything except slowly recovering. He toggled them back on.

You have Learned New Skills!

Staff Mastery (Common), Level 1!

You've begun your path toward mastery of the staff! Proficiency increases with Skill level.

Dodge (Common), Level 1!

The best way to not get hurt is to not get hit. Efficacy from Agility increased slightly per Skill level.

Acrobatics (Uncommon), Level 1!

You've proven yourself capable of tumbling into and out of danger. Sense of balance increases slightly with Skill Level, flexibility increases moderately with Skill level.

Analyze is Level 10!

You Have Gained A Title!

Natural Scholar I (Uncommon)!

You have Analyzed over 500 different species! Move ever onward, scholar! +1 INT, +1 PER

Due to your efforts you have gained:

+1 STR

+1 AGL

+2 END

+1 PER

Felix blinked, surprised at the flood of screens. All this from a thirty second fight? That he lost?

What would have happened if he had won?