by Atlas Kane
Nilgathi Fervor: Taking on the resilience and power of a drakeling, this trait will make your foes tremble. Your skin becomes resistant to piercing, slashing, and fire damage. If this trait is chosen, your Strength will increase by a total of one Attribute Point.
Marin Tenacity: By channeling the fierce Marin, your hands can become weapons as well as tools. If this trait is chosen, your climbing ability will increase as will your Dexterity by a total of one Attribute Point.
Holy shit in an Easter basket. I can’t believe this is real, Cade crowed in his mind. He was ecstatic for the upgrade. He spent very little time making up his mind to gain the power of the drakeling. He chose Nilgathi Fervor, and relished in the feeling it unleashed throughout his body. His skin felt tough, more resilient somehow even though nothing changed visibly. The added bump to his Strength Attribute was nice as well, and once again, Cade’s muscles swelled.
The effect was more subtle than before, and he realized that the Strength attribute was adding muscle density as well as size. That was a good thing. He planned on increasing his strength further and had no desire to become a hulking bro.
Happy with his choice as he was, it was disturbing not to know what he might have gained with Marin Tenacity. But who could complain at a time like this?
Finally, Cade prompted the Active Trait Skills menu, and eyed what options the drakeling provided.
Sapping Slap: Lashing out with a tail forged in mana, your attack causes 50% normal attack damage but reduces the mana pool and stamina of your foe by 10%. 60-second Cooldown.
Wyrm’s Wrath: Unleashing the rage of the dragon within, this skill increases all attack damage by 15% and movement speed by 20%. Damage received during is increased by 25%. 1-minute Duration. 5-minute Cooldown.
A part of the man knew what Pablo would say, could guess at his caution. Choosing the second skill was dangerous. He couldn’t afford to be hit by extra damage when so low a level. But caution, undue caution at least, was for pussies.
He selected Wyrm’s Wrath with a grin.
Cade wanted nothing more than to move on to his last choices of upgrading Mr. McGregor, but dark was falling swiftly, and he needed to move. He could handle that when in a less precarious situation.
Taking a brief look at his Character Sheet, Cade felt like serious progress had been made.
Name: Cade
Level: 2
Strength: 14
Constitution: 13
Dexterity: 13
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 9
Charisma: 13
Traits: Lycan Metabolism, Nilgathi Fervor
Skills: Culling the Pack, Wyrm’s Wrath
Without further delay, Cade cleared his vision of information, and headed off in the falling dusk toward Tanrial.
6
Joining the Scouts is Way Overrated
It occurred to Cade, as he tripped over exposed roots, and the skin of his arms tore open as he ran into unseen branches, that he’d waited far too long to get out of dodge.
Checking his map, he saw he was exactly halfway back to the clearing. Darkness had wrapped itself around him as surely and completely as a wool blanket though, and he, as of yet, did not have any cool night-vision perks. He’d thought that his increased Attributes would be enough to see him through in a mad dash of athleticism. But the process of choosing everything had simply taken too long.
Now he clambered through the brush, no trail in sight. It was a shit show for sure.
Cade saw something darker ahead, and he thought for a moment it was a clearing through the vegetation, perhaps even the forest opening up at last. Too soon according to the map, but desperate people have desperate hopes. It was in fact the flat expanse of a Worrikoo Tree’s trunk, and by the time he noticed, Cade was crashing into it, his head smacking flat against the dense wood.
Clarke walked in a line of men, his back clenched in pain. He was carrying a dainty M-4 assault rifle. The thing felt like a toy in his hands. He was used to humping the 240B machine gun he was assigned. It was the platoon’s main support gun, one of two really, but since he was the best gunner in 3rd platoon, and because he was bigger than most everyone else, Clarke got the honors.
Usually, patrols didn’t need one of the gun teams along. Yet occasionally, perhaps in pity or to keep him sharp, his squad leader would throw someone else up on the gun and let him patrol.
The part of the city they were searching was dense, so ramshackle thick their Strykers had to wait a mile out. Clarke wouldn’t complain. It was nice getting to run around with the line units. Usually, he was head, shoulders, and gut out of the top hatch as they raced around the city, day dreaming about IEDs and snipers. Not today. Today he was a simple rifleman.
They were making their way up a long hill, a three-foot ravine cut down the center of the dirt path, making their progress slow and arduous. Still, it reminded Clarke of hopping rocks in a creek. He would always try to get further up, around one more bend, hoping for a pool with a fat trout in it.
But it was hot, Iraq hot, and it didn’t at all smell like the mountains. The zoning out was useful though. It kept him from imploding with boredom.
As the patrol neared the top of the hill, the squad leader paused. The crackle and buzz of his radio filled the tense air. The town was so far out of Mosul they weren’t used to raids like this. Townsfolk were nervous, holed up, and everyone felt the difference. Clarke kept thinking of insurgents popping out of one of the many metal gates that faced them, AK blaring. Wouldn’t do the bastards much good. Their platoon was a mix of misfits and assholes, but they could kill things well enough when they had to.
“This is it. Let’s go in here. Now pay the fuck attention okay. Rimdan, you take point,” the squad leader said. Roarke, a new team leader, moved to the front and leaned back, aiming a kick at the shabby door. Before his foot landed, a huge dog erupted from under a dump truck. Its hackles lifted two inches off its back as it rushed to bite the man.
Clarke swiveled, the world going quiet and still. He stared, both eyes open, over the top of his borrowed rifle. Thumb flipped safety. Two rounds discharged. Dog squealed in pain. Door slammed open as the boot lands.
Then the team leader turned back, “What was that?”
The damn dog was still snapping its teeth at him, so Clarke landed a boot in its face, sending the poor beast flopping away. Clarke shoved the team leader forward. “Just fucking go! Go, god damn it! You’re standing in the doorway!”
The team leader finally got what was happening, then pressed forward, the rest of the squad at his back. Clarke remained behind, watching the alley. He couldn’t help but glance at the dog still clinging to life, so much braver than the rest of them. As he watched, pink foam filled its mouth, its body finally growing still. Then the beast shifted, morphing into the butchered form of a Nilgathi Drakeling, skin missing and its teeth torn out.
Cade sat up, covered in sweat. All around him, the jungle was wreathed in an eerie silver glow, brighter than he would have imagined. What the hell is this? he wondered, and stood, finding his axe glinting nearby. He walked about, aimless for a few moments, until he caught sight of the moon. It was massive, pocked with great craters, some of its edges cut away like a chipped blade.
“Beautiful,” he said, and flinched at the sound of his own voice. In the pregnant silence of the night, where even the insects had gone still, his voice shattered the heavy quiet.
Nothing moved about him, not even the scramble of a mouse through the leaves. The silence, more than the silver glow, or even waking up in the middle of the night in a jungle, unnerved him.
You’re not lost. Use your map, dummy, Cade coached himself, bringing up the display in his mind. Sure enough, there was his little blip on the map, about halfway between the edge of the forest and the Waterfall District where he’d fought the drakeling.
Reorienting himself, Cade began walking through the jungle as quietly as he could manage, not an easy task at all, for he had as
of yet no stealth skill or trait. He moved at a snail’s pace, wanting to minimize his clumsiness if possible. Despite his efforts, he continued to crack branches, smack into large fronds, and crunch dried leaves. He was as loud as a grocery cart pile-up in this quiet place.
Another sound, one he was growing sick of hearing, rumbled in the night air. His belly needed fuel again, and he didn’t have any to give it. In the time Cade had been in this world, he’d only consumed maybe one or two thousand calories. That sum seemed sufficient, but it was all water and sugar. Fruit wasn’t enough. His body craved protein in a bad way.
A troubling thought crossed his mind. He did have drakeling meat.
But there was of course no fire to cook it with, no salt or lemon juice to cure it in, no smoke to… well, smoke it with. He couldn’t just eat a raw chunk of meat. He couldn’t. Still, curious to see what the meat would just look like, Cade focused on his Inventory, saw the meat in its slot, then focused on pulling just one out.
A massive gob of wet meat thunked to the ground before him. It was roughly cube-shaped and weighed at least ten pounds. The meat smacked against his feet and caused him to jump backward, revulsion sweeping through him. No freaking way. Not happening, Cade thought, stooping down to place his hand on the cube. Planning to zip it straight into his Inventory again, Cade caught a faint whiff of the meat. It smelled exactly as one might think. Like raw meat. What Cade didn’t expect was how much it appealed to his senses.
He stared at the bloody sheen of its surface, just a foot away from his mouth. The silver moonlight made it appear blueish in hue, not red, and that somehow helped. Then his resistance broke.
Cade slammed his face into the hunk of drakeling meat. The teeth he had in his old life, the ones that were yellowing and riddled with cavities, might have refused such a task. They might even have loosened or pulled free from the uncommon exercise. But not with his currently amped Constitution and Strength. Cade’s mouth was a mincing machine, which he thought dully, is exactly what they should be.
The meat wasn’t disgusting, it wasn’t slimy or in any way off-putting. It tasted like protein, like fuel, like another go in this world. He tore off bite after bite, working the meat down like a hyena. Blood trickled down his chin and chest, but he couldn’t care less.
Energy poured into his body. And for the first time since leaving the city, Cade felt capable of anything. So this is Lycan Metabolism. Hell yeah. When he felt his stomach finally give the “I give up now” signal, Cade belched, assessing his work. The meat was almost halved, and he was sticky with blood. And he felt like a proper murder machine.
The thought of lying down right there and falling asleep again was tempting. The forest floor was cold and wet, but his body thrummed with energy. He could just wake up and go crazy on another chunk of meat when he woke again. But as the thought crossed his mind, he heard an odd sound, the first in far too long, almost like a kitten purring. It was more high-pitched, however, and only a few feet away.
Cade glanced over to see a pair of bulbous, green-tinged eyes, blinking at him. Again, the thing purred, higher this time, almost like a bird. It hopped. Cade could tell ‘cause the eyes bobbed forward, and the sound of a branch jostling followed.
I’ve got company. Hopefully, this one acts as cute as it looks, he thought, catching a glimpse of its body for the first time. It was a minuscule lump of fur, the size of a football perhaps, with long hind legs. A frog monkey. Fantastic!
Then the return call of a dozen more of the frog monkeys purred out from the surrounding trees above. Oh boy. That can’t be good.
Five more thunks followed, some falling directly to the forest floor, others onto low branches. Their eyes blinked at Cade, then down at the meat before him. He kicked it away, tumbling toward the bastards. They could have it. He was good and full anyhow. The eyes of the nearest creatures, which he still could not identify as he couldn’t fully see the things, turned from soft green to orange.
Then they pounced, tearing into the offered meat with savage delight. It was a noisy affair, and Cade had to focus on not vomiting up his meal, the sound of tearing flesh and tiny mouths chewing more than a little disturbing.
In a few moments, they stilled. The meat was gone. Wow, impressive. A little too impressive if you ask me, Cade thought, anxiety threading around him like a coiled snake. They looked up at Cade. A dozen more of the creatures fell down onto closer branches, a few coming up within a foot or two of Cade’s leg. Fuck me sideways on a Sunday! They are still hungry.
Cade wanted to scream and run away, but he tried to use his brain instead.
As more purring emitted from the trees above, signaling the arrival of who knows how many of the creatures arriving at the prospect of free food, he accessed his Inventory and dropped another lump of meat out. This time he caught it and threw it into the bushes.
The drakeling meat landed in a moonlit patch of grass, wet and shining. Then at least twenty of the little monsters fell on the thing, ravaging it with terrifying efficiency.
Cade stood up, the beasts still feasting, then summoned another cube of meat. This was precious to him. No other food had filled him up since arriving to Antinium, and yet, he did not want to think of how hard it would be to fight dozens of half-invisible nightmares. They would eat him in minutes.
Throwing the meat, Cade snatched up his axe, and started to run. He checked the map again briefly to make sure he wasn’t going the wrong way, then picked up speed, hoping he could simply outrun them.
A minute later, he slowed, his body covered in lacerations and bruises. Twice, he’d fallen on his face, scraping himself on unseen roots and branches. All was silent, and he felt certain the frog monkeys were gone. The innocent and almost tender purr a few feet away let him know how delusional his hopes were.
Suddenly a dozen pairs of eyes were blinking at him again, then two dozen, then three. Cade turned to run but saw another bushel of freaky-ass eyeballs blinking at him, blocking the way. Brandishing his axe, Cade slashed out at one of the creatures nearest to him. It hopped gracefully over his attack, then pounced on his shoulder.
A burst of pain erupted from the tiny terror’s bite. “Gah!” Cade shouted, unable to hold his cry back. The thing had torn into the tendons at the top of his shoulder, and in a single bite, Cade felt a few of the vital pieces of tissue snap. His arm hung limp, and he nearly lost grip on his axe.
Fighting was not going to cut it. Cade turned and ran.
More of the frog monkeys leapt at him, falling on his back and head. Others snapped out at his legs as he passed. The aim these little shits possessed with their teeth was outstanding. Though he could respect their tenacity, he did not need to stand around and take their abuse.
Cade booked it.
Tearing through the jungle at full speed in the half dark, everything tinged with silver, and all sense of proportion lost isn’t a good way of preserving your body or your dignity. Cade didn’t care though. As he ran, he felt the frog monkeys tearing into his legs, arms, and back. One landed on his neck and actually bit his fucking ear!
He dropped more of the drakeling meat. The swarm of beasts didn’t seem to care as much as before. Having had a taste of man flesh, they were intent on their new target.
Without his Nilgathi-toughened skin, Cade would already have been dead, but knowing this, however, gave him little to no comfort.
He reached up with his free hand to swat the thing away, but it yanked free of his grasp, taking a bit of his flesh with it. Cade howled in pain, his vision seeming to flicker a moment. It was too much. Cade stopped, falling to the ground in pain. They were eating him alive, and all he could do was punch and thrash, hoping they would have their fill and leave most of him intact.
Then they were gone, scampering away in a flash. Cade could only blink in surprise. A single frog monkey remained, biting the top of his shoulder. He snatched it by the head as he stood back up. Cade squeezed until its skull popped. It went limp in his hand, and he pulled it
s fangs free.
“That’s right, you jerks,” he growled. “Oh, thank god. Thank fucking…” Cade cut off as he heard a strange sound, the hiss of air pulling into enormous lungs. Something was sniffing him. Something huge.
Cade turned and looked up into a pair of glowing red eyes. The creature was over a dozen feet tall and just as wide, its head sprouting twisted horns that shone in the moonlight. So cliché, Cade thought. The little things that seem like danger and then the real danger beast is right behind you. Why does this keep happening?
So Cade did the only thing that was left for him to do. He flung the frog monkey at the beast’s face and ran.
A roar that made his butthole tremble shook the foliage around him. More terrifying yet was the rhythmic tremors of its pursuit. Cade checked his map, so close. He was right at the edge of the forest.
Covered in wounds, Cade limped along as best he could. The back of one of his legs was shredded, each step agony. And his body shimmered in his own blood. He didn’t stop or slow, however, he kept running, the pounding behind him coming closer by the second.
He saw a tall tree ahead, and he sprinted for it; he was foolish enough to take a single glance behind him, and he saw the beast’s shape as it ran after him. Two massive arms pounded ahead, a smaller rear end below a thick torso. It was an ape creature but big enough to eat him whole. And though Cade was running at incredible speed, it was gaining on him.
Cade swept past the tree and continued his retreat, but as he stole a look behind him, he saw the monster crash through the barrier, cracking the tree’s trunk with little resistance.
It bellowed at him, angry at his clever attempt. Great, I’ve made the gorilla demon more angry. Cade’s chest heaved, his lungs burning with exertion, and then, of course, he fell. The evil root that caught him by the foot felt like a cord of iron, inexorable in its grasp.