Axle held on to the steering wheel like her life depended on it. It probably did, Eris realized, as the whole ship began a rapid unplanned descent, groaning at the strain being applied to its core structure. He had a pretty clear idea of what had happened when he’d heard that mechanical bellow again, the one he’d really hoped they’d left behind them when they’d escaped off the citadel. 

“Wally,” Axle said between gritted teeth, just loud enough to be heard over the wind roaring past and the sound of tearing metal, “why is that thing here?!” Wally clung to the doorframe, clearly terrified. 

“I don’t fucking know!” he shouted. “It’s never supposed to leave the damn wreckage!” The ship shook and all three of them were thrown into the leftmost wall as the ship was yanked violently sideways, knocking the wind out of them. The view through the front window started to spin as they descended quickly. 

“Hang. Onnnn,” Axle yelled as the centrifugal force kept them pressed against the outer wall. The ground appeared and disappeared as the spinning increased. They hit the ground with a deafening crash that blew out the front window in a shower of glass and sent them all flying. Axle and Wally collided in mid-air with a loud oof, but Eris enjoyed the dubious honour of being flung out the front of the ship. He sailed through the air as behind him the Vulture tore a gash through the earth, throwing dirt up high into the earth. Eris didn’t see much of it because he was preparing himself for a faceful of dirt and grass. 

The ship had ‘landed’ in a wet grassland and Eris couldn’t help but think that this was what saved his life. Despite practically bouncing off the surface of the knee-deep water at first impact, he was remarkably intact when his senses finally stopped spinning. That didn’t mean that everything didn’t hurt, but it was definitely better than being dead. Breathing wasn’t easy, though, especially after having had the wind knocked out of him and being submerged in at least a foot of water. He groaned as he surfaced, his clothes weighed down by lukewarm water. His joints protested almost as much as his head did. His brain had resumed its enthusiastic banging on the walls of his skull, pounding away as he wiped the mud and grime off his face to take stock of the situation.

The Vulture had come to a halt a couple hundred feet away, and while he wasn’t sure, Eris thought he saw Wally and Axle climb out the front of the ship, which was probably their only way out. The rest of the ship was a mess. It was torn and mangled, top to bottom. The crash had crumpled it up like a can, but the long gashes made it very clear what had caused the initial crash. Beating wings finally confirmed his suspicions. The Dragon hadn’t spotted him yet, instead circling the wreckage. Eris tried to take a step forward and nearly fell over. His leg hurt like hell, but at least he could stand. For a brief moment he wondered if he could swap out his body for a new one. This one had been created by the game, after all, so why wouldn’t he? Besides, it would probably feel more like his own if he made it himself. He shook his head, which proved a mistake; his brain was already screaming at him. There would be time to ponder the sudden and unpleasant awareness of his own body later. For now, Dragon. And the two people who had saved his life. 

He sloshed through the wetland, his clothes soaking wet. At least he wasn’t too cold. The sun was still high, and did a lot to balance out the chilling effect of having been dunked in mud and water. In the distance, he heard the tell-tale distant thunder of Wally opening fire on the Dragon, and he quickened his pace. He saw the giant clockwork creature dive towards them, then bounce off an invisible shield. 

He reached slightly more stable -- and less soggy -- ground, and he was about to make a run for it, to help Wally and Axle by doing… well, he’d figure that out as he went. He was interrupted, however, by a gurgling noise to his right. And then his left, and then behind and in front of him. Before he even knew what happened, he was surrounded by something. It was hard to make out. There were shapes in the grass, moving between the reeds, the same colour as the water. He bent low, and again his damn knee protested. Maybe it was the wet clothes, but he felt unpleasantly heavy, like his entire body was covered by a suit of unwieldy armour. Not to mention the fact that he was pretty much unarmed. 

Something to his left moved, and as he looked at it, something… blobby and slimy congealed along the grass, until it pulled itself upright. It looked a little like a person, made of jelly. It was also holding an old rusty sword, and what appeared to be something like a pistol, made of wood. If that thing could still fire, Eris was going to be impressed. Not that he was willing to risk it, of course. Several more shapes coalesced around him. Taking the, well, taking the uncertain for the uncertain, he cast his Web of Chaos on the nearest one, hoping for something useful. 

The slime creature was reduced in size by at least two thirds as it took a step closer toward him, and then stopped, looking around in confusion before looking up at him. Eris noted with slight amusement that only the creature’s height had been affected, not its width, making it a remarkably cute little blobby slime person. The sword was also comically oversized by comparison now. He rushed over, before any of the other slimes could attack him, and he yanked the weapon out of the small slime’s hand. It let go with a slightly defeated gurgle. Eris spun around, bringing the sword to bear just in time to intercept an attack that would have caused some grievous bodily harm if it had connected. The nearest slime had swung slowly, but with enough force to make Eris stagger backwards. He gritted his teeth as the creature pulled its arm back for another swing, and he stabbed it.

The sword went right through. He should have guessed as much. As he pulled the sword out to deflect another incoming blow, he noticed a little ball, hovering halfway up the creature’s center of mass. The impact of the creature’s weapon striking his made his teeth hurt, and rather than trying to hit a small marble-sized object with an old rusty sword in what was essentially a walking jello person, he instead quickly reached in and grabbed the little marble. The creature bubbled angrily as he yanked it out of the gelatinous mass, but as soon as the ball broke the surface, whatever the creature’s body was composed of fell to the ground in a splash, and the sword hit the mud with a dull thud. He heard a slight crack and noticed that the little ball had shattered in his hand. 

Just as he tossed it aside, he felt something very strange, like he was reinvigorated. The pain in his joints and head went away, and the strength in his arms returned. His body still felt unwieldy, but at least it didn’t hurt as much anymore. A little glowing up-arrow hovered around the edge of his vision, but he’d have to investigate that later. The next few slime-creatures approached him, and he wanted to take a step back, but his foot was stuck. Looking down, Eris saw the short slime-creature uselessly trying to bite his shin with a toothless mouth. He shook his leg loose and ducked underneath a sword that would have taken off the top of his head like an egg, and deflected another. He swung wildly at the one to his right, missed the marble. It had been like trying to cut a bowl of soup in half with a spoon. It raised its arm again, and he grabbed for this one’s marble as well, but it seemed to have wised up to that tactic, and the little ball floated away when his hand got close. 

Very well, then. Deciding to do something stupid, he jumped at the creature, who clearly hadn’t expected a ridiculous attack like that, and he closed his eyes and mouth as he impacted with it. A loud splash and he was on the other side of the creature. And the marble was in his hand. The creature turned to look at him, then collapsed with a sad noise like someone blowing bubbles in a milkshake. 

There were only two more of the creatures left, and they approached him more cautiously. He pointed at one of them when he heard the little ding of his Web of Chaos. He activated his Aspect Vision in time for him to see the creature’s menu. Especially the part that was highlighted.

Target: UserID_Eris

Except that the actual target, which Eris deduced was obviously him, was rapidly flickering between his own name, and a number he couldn’t quite make out. It was pretty long. It landed on the number after a second, and instantly, the creature turned to the other advancing slime and seemed to pull back, winding up an attack. The other slime didn’t seem to notice, and they collated with a wet sound. The two glass marbles that had kept their shape intact collided, and both slime-creatures fell to the ground. Eris took a breath when he heard the Dragon roar again. Right. That. It bounced off the shield again, but the shimmering barrier was flickering. Whatever -- or whoever -- had made it was failing. Eris broke into a sprint, damning his wet clothes, demanding his body be faster, be better. 

He was closing the distance quickly, but he still had a moment. He opened the menu prompted by the little flashing arrow, and it opened up on his ‘abilities’ tab. Three of the previously greyed-out abilities were now flashing gently blue. Above it, in shiny gold letters, he read: ‘Ability Points Remaining: 1’. His options were as vague as the originals had been. 

A Wide Web was the first, directly below the Web of Chaos, and he could make some assumptions there. 

Restricted Access, directly beside it, had a description so vague it would’ve made a children’s dictionary groan in frustration. ‘Restricts target object’s access to the aspect chosen by chaos.’ 

Finally, A Surge of Luck -- ‘target object surges with luck’ -- was adjacent to Web of Chaos, with its own tree of abilities underneath it. As he rapidly approached the bubble that protected Wally and Axle, he figured they could use some luck right about now, and he selected the ability, slotted it quickly, and took the recommended gesture to activate it. He didn’t have the time to make any kind of customizations. He slowed down a bit as he arrived at the edge of the barrier. It would be more than a little embarrassing if he tried to run through it only to bounce off it like a bird against a window. He carefully stuck his hand out, and it went right through safely enough. He finally arrived at Axle and Wally’s location. Axle was working aggressively on what looked like a little clockwork generator, which Eris assumed was responsible for the shield.

“Oh, thank fuck you’re alive,” Wally said, looking relieved. “Right on time to get eaten by a giant Dragon.” Axle glared at Wally but didn’t say anything. “You get held up or something?”

“Uh…” Eris said, “slime things.”

“Well, they didn’t kill you,” Axle said, “so that’s something.”

“I also got a new ability,” Eris added. “Maybe it’ll help?”

Wally lowered his guns in surprise. He’d been tracking the Dragon. “Wait, you leveled up? What’d you get?”

“Something called ‘A Surge of Luck’. Could be useful, ri--” Eris was cut off by the sound of the Dragon hitting the barrier, which was now flickering wildly.  

Axle shrugged, stood up and kicked the little generator. The barrier lit up one more time, and then disappeared. “This thing is toast, and I can only use it once every ten minutes. Whatever it is you can do,  you better do it fast.”

Wally was about to open his mouth, undoubtedly to say something clever, when they were all almost thrown to their feet by the Dragon landing closely next to them. With a look at the clockwork creature, Eris took a deep breath, and then cast his Surge of Luck on Wally.

Elamimax

Fighting slime-monsters is kind of an induction rite at this point. 

If you want access to several chapters that have already been released, you can check those out over on my Patreon, which would already go a long way in supporting me, which helps me write even more! In the meantime, why not check out my other stories? I've also been releasing We're Not So Different, You and I, as well as a new story, Among Brighter Stars. Feel free to check those out, too!.