Days remaining: 600

  I looked down the hill and into the verdant forest beyond. Riu was scouting further ahead, his tiny frame pressed against one of the black trees on the edge of the Red Hills. We weren’t very far from where we found Clara, but we stopped once we saw the green in the distance.

  This had to be the place that guy from Africa came from. We’d first noticed a few green trees peeking over the hills, but then more appeared as the ground began to lower. Here, there were red dunes to our right and an endless lush forest on our left.

  The two areas looked like they’d been crudely stitched together. Red sand met bright green grass, the trees beyond massive and full of life. Even from where I watched, I could see apples in some of the trees, bushes below them bursting with berries.

  My stomach grumbled, and I involuntarily licked my cracked and dry lips. This was a risk, but if there was a boss waiting at the kiosk, we needed to be refreshed before we faced it.

  Riu had volunteered to check the area out and I hadn’t argued with him. If we got into a situation where we needed to run, I was screwed.

  “Same problems as always,” I said, patting my ruined leg.

  I’d walked more in the last two days than I had in the last six months. And while I could handle the pain, my legs were weak. I was weak. Even with my seemingly endless mana reserves, my mobility was still a massive problem. Maybe there’d be a spell down the line to help me, but for now I had to play it safe. Watch, wait, and always plan for a way out.

  After several minutes, Riu came running back up the hill. Besides a slight darkening under his eyes, he didn’t appear to be tired in the slightest. He said he hadn’t slept all night, but I wondered if maybe he was lying. That or whatever class he picked had given him the ability to stay awake longer. Out here, I couldn’t be sure of anything.

  “It is safe,” Riu said, wiping some sweat from his forehead. “I think.”

  It was the best answer we could get without him going into the forest itself. But he had good eyes and ears. If he said it was safe, I believed him.

  The way down was rough going. I had to move at a snail’s pace, my staff the only thing keeping me from tumbling. Riu walked out in front, scanning for threats. If this was back on Earth, the whole thing would have pissed me off. I hated the way people looked at me, the way they’d show their fake sympathies, slowing down just to appease me. But Riu seemed more pragmatic. He needed my magic, and I needed someone with functioning legs.

  We reached the lush trees and the name at the top right of my map switched to “Outer Verdia”, then the air grew cooler. The sudden change in temperature made my skin crawl. But maybe it wasn’t just that. The whole place looked off, wrong. The trees were a kind I’d never seen, some looked like pine trees, others oak. But they didn’t look right. Some had random patches of smooth bark, and their leaves didn’t quite match. It was like someone tried creating trees from Earth but didn’t quite get the formula right.

  “Let’s do this quickly,” I whispered, then we crept forward.

  Some of the apple trees were normal size, but others were gigantic, their bounty hanging high above our heads. We moved through the edge of the forest silently plucking them. It didn’t take too long before most of my inventory was full. The thing was rather small, and I figured there had to be a way to upgrade it. Probably something you could do in one of those towns.

  Riu had more space in his inventory and he was moving quickly. Kid was a machine. He finished his patch in a flash and moved on to the berries.

  “I don’t know if we should take those,” I said, gesturing at the berry bush with my staff. They looked like blackberries, but much like the trees, they just kind of looked…off. The apples we at least had proof wouldn’t kill us.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  Riu still grabbed a few. After that, we inched our way deeper in. That’s when we heard the faint sound of rushing water.

  “A creek?” Riu whispered.

  I shrugged. “Sounds like it could be.”

  We got a little closer, the sound unmistakable at this point. Problem was, it was definitely a good distance away. We’d already heard about how dangerous this place was. Could we really risk going further in?

  But, much like with the apples, we had little choice. Dying of thirst was very possible. If we had a chance to gather some water, we had to go for it.

  Riu grabbed my arm. “I go.”

  Part of me wanted to argue with him, my guts twisting from that familiar twist of shame. But it was better this way and we both knew it.

  I gave him my empty water bottles and told him to be careful. For all we knew, the water could be poisonous.

  He nodded, then set off, his steps silent. I moved behind one of the bigger trees and did my best to watch for signs of movement in the branches. The women mentioned the people here had encountered “squirrels.” It’d seemed a little funny then. Not so much now. My mind kept filling with images of carnivorous squirrels tearing me and Riu to pieces. That or us getting trampled by giant versions of the rodents.

  Soon the only thing on my mind was the sound of water. It hadn’t bothered me at first, but it was scratching at my nerves. I could almost feel the cold grip of it on my skin, its fangs draining my strength away, Mom slipping from my arms. The water then had been much louder. It roared as it dragged us away. But nothing had been more piercing than her final scream, that brief moment before the waves swallowed her whole.

  My heart started thumping, and I shoved the memories away. Not here, I told myself. Not now. I leaned my back against the tree, the rough bark digging at me through my robe. But the sensation grounded me as I counted down from five. Then I took a deep breath and did my best to relax.

  A single leaf fell from above, one of the branches gently swaying.

  I aimed my staff upwards and summoned a fireball.

  “Wait!” a tiny, squeaking voice said. “Wait!”

  My level three fireball was even bigger than the level two version. Heat blasted me as it slowly rotated in place, my eyes squinting through the haze.

  Above me perched what appeared to be a regular sized, brown furred squirrel. The only thing different about it was the little blue wizard’s hat on its head.

  That and it could talk.

  “Please!” the squirrel flattened itself on the branch. “Don’t kill me!”

  Is this some kind of trick? I looked around but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. But they could be hiding, waiting to pounce as soon as I let my guard down.

  I channeled mana through my staff, my fireball spinning faster as I prepared to fire.

  “Don’t!” The little creature moved suddenly, then tripped. It fell and hit the grass at my feet, white belly facing the air.

  I thought about shooting it, but I still didn’t know how big the explosion from my fireball would be. So I let the mana drain from my spell, then pointed the staff at the squirrel. If it tried anything, I would just crush it instead.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  It sat up and rubbed its head. “I saw you and your friend. You are not from here.”

  No shit. “And what do you want from us?”

  The creature readjusted its tiny, pointed hat, then sat up, black eyes focusing. “I overheard the elders. The Omni Games have begun, just as the legends foretold.”

  Legends? “Okay,” I said, doing one more check to make sure this wasn’t just a poorly executed ambush. “So, why were you watching us?”

  “Because the elders wish for us to kill your kind, but they are simply afraid. The great serpent stalks the forest, and he demands bloodshed. I cannot stop the coming slaughter without help. But maybe if the elders knew they didn’t stand alone, if one of your people could convince them we could fight together, we could be free.” It crawled forward, hands held together in a pleading gesture. “So please, brave mage, will you help me save my people?”

  A notification screen appeared.

  Warning: This is a quest. Accepting it will lock you into the quest zone(s) until its completion.

  Zone(s): Outer Verdia. Inner Verdia. The Desolation.

  Recommended Lv: 60

  “Yeah, no thanks.” I dismissed the quest screen and the squirrel recoiled like I’d just slapped it in the face.

  “But you have to!” It sucked in a deep breath, then started hyperventilating. “The voice, the voice said you would accept!” It lunged at me, far faster than I was anticipating. It crawled up my leg, then my chest in a flash. Then it was right in my face. “You have to accept!”

  My hand flew up to smack the little freak off me, but right before my fingers touched it a massive spark flashed from my hand. It was bright and intense, like shocking yourself on a piece of metal but much more painful. The squirrel flew a few feet away and I stood there shaking my hand, a small scorched spot on one of my fingers.

  The squirrel looked like maybe it was dead, but then it sat up. “What?” it moaned, clearly in some kind of daze. “Where am I?”

  I aimed my staff at it, ready to fry the furry bastard. Then I heard shouting ahead, and Riu came sprinting between the trees.

  He screamed to run, then a squirrel with a sword came diving at me from the canopy.