That is, well, at this point, I wouldn't say I wasn't expecting it…  He glanced at the lizard, which… shrugged, turning back, headed to the Fields.

"You are… what? Some sort of physical manifestation of my 'I don't give a shit,' side?"

Once again, the lizard, still on her hind legs, stopped, turned around, and shrugged.

Gabriel sighed but continued forth.

Behind them, the city called "The Cradle" was enclosed into a tree, a tree so big to cover the sky for miles, its trunk was green, or maybe it was just the moss, but so were its innumerable roots and crown.

The Verdant Fields, were instead, verdant… from the terrain, huge spots were the roots of the immense tree without a name, sprouted forth, creating architectural barriers, and successfully dividing the vast lands which comprised the Fields, into sectors.

Gabriel started noticing them as he and his lizard ventured forth; signboards helped in leading the road.

That is unexpected; signboards, more civilized than I would have thought.

The lizard, on its side, stopped to take in the signboard, it was written in English, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic, along with a few more alphabet he had never seen and a runic system, which he remembered had already seen on-

Greta's magical barrier! So those are runes, of sorts. I think I might need to dig into that.

The red wooden signboard stuck out like a sore thumb, maybe for a good reason. It read: <- for level 1 to 3 zone.

Alright, video game logic, why not? Though, now that I think about it… the guard said I was level 1. How did he know, and is there any way in which I might look at that screen I saw when I touched the Stele?

"What do you say, lizard?" Maybe I should find a name for it… "Do I need to touch that rock again to gauge at my Anchor page or whatever?"

In response, the little lizard raised his tiny arms in the air and shook its head, its tail following the movements.

Gabriel's mouth gaped.

Alright… alright, this is normal; it's a magical world trope, after all. I've just met dwarves and creepy insects-men. I can deal with a lizard as smart as a person… It's gonna be difficult finding a name for it though, should I ask him, or should I say her?

The lizard and his human continued forth, the little reptile leading him through the grassy fields.

Once they reached the supposed area, they could notice the divider, a branch had sprouted from the ground, and even though it didn't seem to encompass the whole area, it majestic and massive form was enough to establish domain over it; some sort of Aura clearly emanated from it, a neutral kind of Aura, or at least that was what Gabriel felt.

This new sense that had developed in him wasn't manifesting itself for the first time; it had already happened, even during the previous day, when the beautiful Russian and her party had found him.

He thought it was linked to the lizard or his new bond with the 'Spirit thing' novelty; anyway, he had no control over it.

"I wonder what it is that we should do to actually level up. I mean," he said, weirdly looking for confirmations from the lizard, "we surely don't need to kill monsters, right?"

The lizard shrugged once again; it seemed to be becoming a habit.

"You are not helpful, you know? Kinda useless actually, you haven't done a single thing of use up until now!"

The lizard pointed his finger at him, menacingly, as if to say, Watch it!

"Ah, yeah? Tell me one good thing you've done up' till now, one!"

The lizard raised its arm, opening its little mouth, then closing it again, only to open it anew, then it finally dropped both its tiny arms and gave him its back, offended.

"Oh, come on now! I didn't mean it like that… Don't be a little bitch; if we're together in this, we've got to communicate, dude, share opinions, or something!"

The lizard turned around, still visibly angry, it pointed at its mouth, then at Gabriel, then again at its own head, and finally at Gabriel's head once more.

Gabriel was stunned for a second, then he recovered.

"I haven't the faintest idea what you meant by that."

At which the lizard rolled its eyes back.

"But we're getting there, dude! I mean, that was definitely communication! Or at least an attempt at it!" Gabriel said, intending to cheer it up.

The lizard simply threw his hands at him, as if renouncing, and then waved at him to continue forth.

 

They had scarcely taken a hundred steps into the area when the lizard stiffened, and Gabriel saw the creature.

It was a fly, a big-ass fucking fly. Yellow and dark green, compound eyes as big as Gabriel's fist, and it dripped mucus from its mouth.

From his rear, a suction tail armed of a knife-long spike, extended and retracted from it, a lubricant of sort dripping each at each repetition.

It was disgusting and kind of venereal, just in the ugly way.

The fly stopped in its tracks, slowly taking in details of them, or at least that was what Gabriel thought.

"... Ridley Scott's Alien looked cuter… Anyway," Gabriel continued, "shouldn't you be their nemesis? Lizards eat flies. So eat that!"

The lizard widened its eyes and looked back and forth between Gabriel and the fly, in a 'Are you crazy?' sort of look.

"Oh, right, it's like four, five times your size. I think it falls on me th- Oh shit, I just realized I haven't got any weapon…"

The tiny lizard pinched its tiny nose, but they soon had no more time to joke around; the fly had decided to attack them, and it was rather fast.

As it got closer, Gabriel realized that it was almost as big as his torso.

What the hell!

The fly, however, had its only means of attack in the tail's spike. And just that was already too much for the amateur couple.

Gabriel didn't even know how, but he managed to evade the first direct attack.

The fly twitched and backed away; it started zipping around them, seemingly studying them.

Ok, I might have fucked this up. "We might have to scram, little guy!" But the fly did not relent, it instead attacked once again, and something was different this time.

The tail and its base twitched, an almost invisible blur giving it a moment of vibrancy pervaded it.

Then, it went forth; its tail twice as fast as before; Gabriel barely able to evade it this time; he had to launch himself to the side, rolling on the floor, ungraciously.

That was close… But the lizard's face said something else.

It was looking at Gabriel, its expression, he had no idea how he could decipher it, but was one of worry, its gaze was directed at the young man's left arm.

Gabriel spared a look at it; he could not afford to lose sight of the fly but had to check.

His arm was dripping blood, a cut, not deep, but not that shallow, run from his bicep to his tricep.

I can't feel it… I can't feel the pain! 

At that moment, he realized that as much as that world looked like a game, it was definitely not one.

His bicep was paralyzed, and he couldn't bend his arm; it looked as if it was getting worse by the second.

As he moved around to evade it, he could feel the effect of the paralysis slowly spread to his shoulder and his hand.

Shit, shit, shit! His heart started racing like a horse. Oh, no! If I'm excited, it’ll spread further! What do I do!?

In panic mode, Gabriel looked at the lizard, a desperate man, while an equally desperate expression could be seen in the little lizard's pupils.

Then he felt it; the spike penetrated him again.

The fly turned all the way around him, stabbing him in the back.

Panic unfolded into Gabriel's mind. He had never been stabbed; he had fights, many of them during his youth, especially in his teenage years, after the incident; but never had he gotten so far as to engage in a fight with an armed opponent.

The pain was intense, much more than that of a knife cut on the fingers; this was something in another realm. But the pain wasn't a problem, the venom quickly dulling the part, and with it, Gabriel lost the use of his hips.

He had no idea how long it would take for the paralysis to spread to his legs, but his organs would surely be soon affected.

"Am I going to die? Like, again?" Again? He asked himself.

After a few seconds of moving around, he fell to his knees; the paralysis had taken hold of his legs' muscles.

No!

Though the hell-fly was unrelenting; it did not stop to take in its victory; it rushed at him spike first, intending to end it.

"FUCK!" He shouted, closing his eyes.

But the stab did not arrive. A low "thud" did.

As he opened his eyes, he could see the lizard, his lizard, glowing with a vibrancy, almost like the fly had, just slightly different.

At the same time, he felt something seeped out of him; he felt a bit "vacant"; then it came again when the lizard once again did his thing.

A little shaken, the fly was studying the minuscule lizard standing on its hind legs; it trembled but stood its ground, getting ready to attack again. And as the fly shot forward, so did the lizard; it launched its body, maneuvering itself so that in its rush, it wouldn't end up impaling itself on the venomous spike.

The lizard impacted against the monster fly, sending it tumbling back in the air. It had been much more powerful than Gabriel expected. Still, it was of little effect; the fly did not seem damaged in the slightest. But the ordeal woke something in the young man; How could I forget!

I hope this works.

"Lizard! Send it my way!"

He ordered; the lizard nodded, not allowing itself to remove its eyes from the mad fly.

It took just a little maneuvering for the lizard to place itself so that his next attack would send the fly in Gabriel's direction; the lizard was small, it was difficult to hit, even more so with a pointy end weapon.

And then, as every tassel locked into place, the lizard attacked; and the fly shed blood.

Lizard's blood, the spike hit its target, yet at the same time, the fly was sent tumbling in the air, toward Gabriel's general direction.

The man was waiting, on his knees, arm raised, charging an attack he had forgotten he could unleash.

Burst Attack!

His body emitted a wave of some kind of power; it came from within itself, empowering his next move.

I've got only one chance.

The flat of his hand descended on the fly, its speed magnifying for an instant. The power discharging from his arm felt unreal; Gabriel noticed the moment he released it; he did not think he could have that kind of strength in him.

It wasn't the speed being the only thing that changed. Somehow the weight behind the attack, the power of it, was out of his expectations.

He hit it square on, squashing the fly against the grass but not killing it.

Gabriel's eyes widened. He felt urgency; he couldn't let the fly escape, so he did it again.

This time it was a punch. The fly's exoskeleton cracked, and yet, it still very much lived.

Just die, won't you!

Again, and once again, he struck.

His body growing duller and duller; he could feel himself getting a little drowsy; he did not even need to remember his Anchor page; the next one would be the last empowered attack he could deliver.

If that's the case, then I see no other choice!

He did not aim to hit; he aimed to crash.

Placing his working hand on the body of the still buzzing fly, he started pushing the weight of his body into it; then, his whole body vibrated, and finally, with a" splat," the fly became a smear on the ground.

The Anchor's message appeared in his vision, burning letters in the sky, the background of a see-through page, not impeding his sight in the slightest.

 

 

You have killed (1) Level 3 - Fly of the Lower Tree.

 

You have gained: Level + 14.4% Class Level + 9.6% Spirit Level + 7.2% Burst attack Tier 1 + 6%

 

Gabriel felt spent; he had to fight with all his strength not to fall asleep.

He took in the numbers from the apparition without giving it much weight; something else other than his tiredness was on his mind.

The fly's spike had pierced Gabriel's hand.

He could not even hope to remove it now that both his hands and soon arms were paralyzed.

"See…" he snickered,"... that's how you swat a fly."

He wrung his eyes for the, thankfully, quickly fading pain from his perforated hand.

"Eh, little buddy?" But the lizard was nowhere to be seen.

"Buddy?" He tried again, the venom in his blood starting to act on his lungs as each breath grew shorter.

"Buddy…" a small patch of blood on the grass, got his attention. A little arm, some skin, and the little fellow's tail we're resting on the ground, no sign of the rest of its body.

No… Come on, that's all that's left of you?

He looked at the fly's spike and its dimensions.

It must have annihilated you… I'm so sorry; we just got to know each other…

"I should pick those up, maybe hold a little funeral for you..." He said, crawling closer with his barely walking legs and shoulders.

In reality, Gabriel was so confused and tense that joking was the only thing keeping his mind on the hair-thin thread that separated him from a descent into crazy land.

His eyes were wide as his mouth joked about the little smart lizard's death.

"I mean, I could dig a little grave, have an emotionally intense speech about you and your out of the ordinary intelligence, and, and then I'd have to find someone to hold my funeral… since I can feel my heart slowing-" cough, "down as I talk. Hahaha-" cough.

A single teardrop ran down his cheek as he talked to himself, then he heard some almost inaudible yap.

In front of him, a bloody lizard without a front arm and a shed tail was standing on its hind legs, nervous, but… smiling.

"Buddy… you're alive… I'm so happy" cough, "for you, we should go celebrate… But, even though I have a hole in my stomach, I don't feel really hungry."

On Gabriel's cheek, with his muzzle, the lizard pushed, but from where he was lying, the young man on the verge of death could see another fly buzzing about in the distance, and it soon stopped to take in their distant forms… He closed his eyes in defeat as the lizard turned around to face it.

"Well, you know what? If we survive this, I should call you Smaug... It'd be a copyright infringement, though... so maybe I'll just call you Lizzy. I hope you're a female because there are no taking backs..."

 

***

 

"That's your Herald? One mighty Herald you've got," said the form surrounded by white light; it had wings, wings of a dragonfly on its back.

"I never said he was a Herald. I said he entered like one. Like Tom… even that surname is the same. But I’ve checked over and over again, Tom’s whole family line was extinguished."

The figure who had been explaining itself was clad in dark bubbling darkness. He was massive, shoulder the size of a wardrobe, tall at least twelve feet.

"Coincidences, eh? Anyway," he continued, recouping his stance, "I guess I should go save him, maybe give him some money and send him on his road; he did save my daughter after all."

"My wife says she would have made it anyway," continued the winged fellow. "Though he," the winged fellow pointed at Gabriel, "definitely wouldn't have if Nastia's party didn't come to get him."

"The Seer of Carnage can say whatever she wants. She would be right whichever the outcome," he sneered. "But thanks for sending Nastia. I really didn't want knowledge to spread around my people. The Elder is growing… weirder as he gets older."

"Hahaha, you're right about that! Anyway, about that dinner, I told you last time…"

"I should hurry and save the poor soul," said the darkness coated one.

"Oh, come on, Lorad! You can't always do that! She'll get mad, you know it. I do understand it, I know, believe me, but- Lorad!" Shouted the half-dragonfly man bathed in white light.

But Lorad was already gone.

"Come on!"