«Rin»  

 

Warmth. Screams. Crying. 

I am sorry Ali, I am sorry I couldn't be there for you. 

Agony. Creaking. Noise. 

Sometimes I wonder whether I did the right thing or not… 

Battle cries. Anger. Desperation. 

I wish I could have seen your smile one last time… I am sorry… Alice.

Wood splattering. Creaking. Rubble.

If only I had known… 

 

* * * 

 

I felt hot. Sweaty. Unsettled. Shivering… A light and careful sensation ran through my forehead. Repeating itself, once more, another time… It was soothing and warm. 

 

"Save yourself, Rie." Eh? "My dear daughter, run…" The voice was soft... and addressed at. Me? 

 

It all happened as soon as I opened my eyes. A woman with golden hair and scars on her face looked at me with nothing but love and affection in their eyes. 

 

What was happening?! 

 

It all happened so fast… She distanced herself from me; walking up the hill and into the frail. The air set itself ablaze into a pillar of flames, burning brightly⁠—the scorching air, burning everything around it⁠—nothing to hear but screams of sorrow and agony under the embrace of the silent night. 

* * * 

 

Wind blowing. Warmth. Peace. 

 

After a struggle, I finally woke up. I felt stiff and yet comfortable on the fresh bed. It was sunny, the grass was soft and bright green. I could hear the water clearly flowing near me. Finally moving up from my greeny bed I saw a river. 

 

Pristine water; light filtering to the bottom, the smooth rocks shone like precious eggs. Well, it was a weird comparison, but it was pretty. I was charmed by the water; getting closer to the water. I saw the sun’s reflection. 

 

A cute girl was there, it didn’t take a discerning eye to appreciate it but… It was me? 

 

I didn’t have time to appreciate things, as I saw a rising smoke trail into the sky behind me. 

 

“Well, since it’s a dream, might as well check it out.” I made my way up the hill with some struggle, my legs were kind of short and stubby; well they were stubby. 

 

I could see the ashen grass, and the burnt tips of it already. What met me was a barren landscape, nothing but black smudges and ashes blown by the wind. The place reeked of coal and… death. 

The unsettling atmosphere drove me away, there was a completely happy and vibrant place around me. It was time to explore my dream world. It was something new after all. 

 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

 

“I am hungry…” I kind of thought following the single road would lead to somewhere, I mean it had to lead somewhere. But alas, I had gotten nowhere after a few hours. Still, why did I have a knife? 

 

I fiddled with it for a few moments, it wasn’t a stainless-steel-flexible blade knife, but it could get the job done. As I sheathed it back on my thigh I looked ahead of me for the one-hundredth time. 

 

“Seriously how long is it going to take?” Sigh. “How long until I see any⁠— 

 

I took an abrupt pause, seeing the single silhouette off on the distance. A person! ⁠— the one you could talk to! I hadn’t seen anyone for the entire day! Well, kind of. I sprinted towards him⁠—perhaps they had food, and besides. It was a dream, people in dreams were nice. 

 

As I got closer to them I saw his… ears(?) twitch atop their head. 

 

“Where is your pack?”

“Pack?” What was he on about? “Excuse me, do you have any food?” 

“Huh?” His mouth curled. “You are not in my pack and you want food?!” 

“I…” What do I even say? “I-I am hungry and have no place to go…” He wasn’t as nice as I thought. 

 

Was he going to scream, even though I didn’t have a pack? I closed my eyes in fear and yet… 

 

“Is that so? I suppose you can come.” He had a smile, and his eyes were bright! What type of mood swing was this!? Only to be seen in dreams! 

 

I was taken to a small tent-village next to a plateu. The carbon layers on the rocks were visible under the bright sunlight.  The village laid there; basking under the warmth of the great star. More wolfkins awaited, the same bouncy ears and bushy tail. The only difference being our fur color. 

 

I felt welcome. 

 

I received food and a place to sleep. 

 

We sat around a campfire. Everyone was chomping on their pieces of meat, it was juicy, bouncy, soft, it tore apart like cotton with single strands. It was perfect! Flavors erupted in my mouth whenever I munched. People cheering and talking amongst themselves, all with tails and ears. I also seemed to have them, but it was fun! 

 

“Hey Rin, what pack are you from?” 

“Eh?” I had no idea. “I…” Seriously, what kind of reply to go with? Truth… would be it I suppose… 

 

“I woke up on the ashen grass… walking up a hill nothing but wasteland laid there…” That came quite poetic, and smooth. And yet… Silence reigned the place. 

 

“Must be hard… to lose your pack like that…” 

“I heard the damned humans are hunting us down!” 

“Tch, we have plenty of bonafide high-stat warriors!” 

 

Huh… Why were they suddenly cheering? 

 

I felt a pat on my back. 

 

“I know it isn’t easy Rin, but we must stick together as a pack.” Mern said with tears in his eyes. The person that initially brought me here ⁠— a black-haired man with scars on his face that made him look tough, such a tough person was crying… 

 

“I…”

“Shh… it’s fine Rin… We all are here.” 

 

The night carried on. Laughing, drinking, eating ⁠— chanting, chattering, singing. Things were nice and peaceful. 

 

“This is where you will be sleeping.”

“Oh, thanks… Why are there two beds here though?” Well, they were wool sleeping bags.

“Ah, you see Rin. We don’t have much space at the moment, so you will have to sleep with me. I can sleep outside if you want me to…” Eh, that would be… cruel. 

 

“It’s fine. I am fine with it.” While I knew blindly trusting people was bad, Mern was fine. It was a dream, well it felt like a stupid justification. However, I was well aware about dreams feeling real. 

 

I was tired, it was late. The moon was glistening with all its might⁠—encasing the entire village with its silver light, a silver lining on every tent, beautiful and resplendent. 

 

He laid on his own bag, and I did so. I looked at his eyes that picked up the moonlight filtering through the holes on the tent. 

 

“Thank you for doing this for me. “

“Us beastkins have to stick together, regardless of species.” Things felt pretty real. It was pretty unbelievable that things were like this. I mean, the last thing I remember. Was screeching, light, pain, screaming… running… rain… 

 

“Wait this isn⁠— 

 

BOOOM! 

 

The earth trembled, the tent collapsed over us. The earthy smell permeating my nostrils, entangled in the cloth we shuffled around until we could see. 

 

A pillar of flames just like the one of before, air blazing and disintegrating everything around it. Screams of agony filled the air, everything under the night once again. 

 

“This isn’t a dream…” I finally realized. “Mern?!” He was panting, looking at the ground with shaky eyes, agape mouth staring helplessly. With a dry motion he looked at me retaining the same expression, how could I answer? What could I say!? 

 

His eyes finally dilated. 

 

“Hey Rin…” 

“Wha⁠— 

“I am sorry...” 

 

I hit the dull ground under the tent, he quickly encased me with the cloth along with himself. What was happening? He was panting and looking at me, the only visible thing were his shiny predatory eyes. 

 

“Ha, I am sorry RIn… I… Ha, Must… Ha, Breed…” 

 

Eh?!

 

“No…” I felt his legs getting closer. “No…” A piece of cloth brushed my legs. “No…” 

 

Something hard pressed against my groin. This was wrong… 

 

Almost unconsciously my hand made its way to my thigh, grabbing the rough leather handle. As he pressed his body against mine, I blindly took a swing in desperation. I felt some resistance but it went cleanly through. 

 

Warmth spread all over my face and body, a moist feeling permeated my skin under the heat of the flames. Then I heard it, the dreaded sound. 

 

Ding!

 

[Killed a fellow companion ⁠— bad relations with fellow companions.]

[Title acquired: Taboo Seeker ⁠— A natural born killer, life is meant to be exitinguished. +50% to all stats. Especial effect: Enables progression. Side-effect unsuccessfully evaded. ⁠— Top 0.1%]

What is happening?! 

 

Had I known, what fate awaited me...

 

Ding! 

 

[Side-effect: You are now degraded ⁠— Nations’ rules do not apply to you nor to people interacting with you. Fellow companion side-effect removed ⁠— All relations neutral.]

 

[Title acquired: Colossus ⁠— Stats mean nothing to you, you will bring everything down regardless of the stat difference! +N% to all stats when being the underdog! ⁠— First. Special Unique.] 

[N calculation ⁠— Overall stat difference between foe and you. 360%! ⁠— +360% to all stats when being the underdog!]

I should’ve thanked it right there and there, being glad I got something like that. Instead, I was mesmerized by all the numbers thinking it was some kind of fun game ⁠— even though it wasn’t a dream. It still felt unreal...

 

Ding!

 

[Title acquired: Champion ⁠—  Eh? No available title for first and special-unique!?t. ⁠⁠+30% Charisma — Top 1%.]

 

So many titles and effects… Why? I almost got… I. Killed someone?! I… 1%? But I still...

 

I kept muttering words as I removed the limp body from my legs, still tangled on the cloth I finally got out. The fire was spreading, the sun was burning right in front of me, sweat was trailing down my skin. 

 

“Are there any survivors?!” Someone screamed from far away. 

“Not here!” There was a group of people searching. 

“We have to kill all of them!” It was bad… this wasn’t a dream. 

 

I ran away ⁠— survival of the fittest… and the ones that were good enough.

 

* * *

Ali just… where are you? I miss you...