Sam adjusted the leather pack on his back. Its crude straps bit into his shoulder, the weight of the provisions settling on his back. The smell of dried lix meat was barely suppressed. There were strips of clothes and a leather bag of water. He adjusted the strap again and winced. The claw marks on his arms and back were not deep, but they stung when he moved briskly. He heard Veena gasp and tried to give her a reassuring smile. Hendal stood between Sam and the others, her arms clasped in front. Sam grinned, hoping to ease the Elder’s guilt.

  “You know where you are going to go?” Hendal asked. Veena sobbed softly behind her. Sam nodded. He’d been thinking about what he’d do first when he walked out into this new world. He’d decided that perhaps it was good to face the first fear he encountered when he got here. The thought made him feel like an idiot, but he knew he wouldn’t move on from it if he didn’t confront it. Hendal nodded, her smile thin and uneasy.

  “You want to avoid the Western hills,” the Elder said. The low light of pre-dawn couldn’t hide the glow of her eyes. It was vibrant and intense. “D’Araks do not go far from their part of the island. They roam their hills, their woods. Until the Night of the Turning. So, you should be safe for three more weeks if you don’t go near them.”

  “This is not our problem anymore, Hendal,” Naruth barked from behind her. Sam frowned, wishing he could smack the hell out of him, but he knew the sentiment came from fear, not hatred. They all wanted the same thing. Sam turned to leave, but Hendal placed a hand on his arm. She seemed about to say something, but then she shook her head and dropped her hand. “Be careful. The island is filled with its own mystery. As old as many of us are, we don’t know much of it. You are new here, if what you said was true. You might unwittingly walk to your death. It will do you good to take care.”

  Her voice broke slightly. She sighed sadly and turned away. Veena pushed past her and flung herself at Sam. The contact shocked him. She smelled of cave musk and herbs. The growing light illuminated her wet face. She was sobbing hard now, her body shaking. He held her, unsure of what to say. He could promise that he would be back, but there was little truth to that. He didn’t know how far this world would take him and what the system of ascension had planned for him. His life was his, but he was barely controlling it. The thought broke his heart, but he took comfort in Veena, knowing that he had friends here was a change from his old life where he’d mostly isolated himself.

  “Stay safe, Samuel Ayer,” she said, managing that through her sobs. Sam nodded, giving her the best hopeful grin he could manage. He knew he would miss being with them, but now, as he turned to leave, he felt like he was leaving a huge part of himself with them. They had been his family. For a very brief period, but it was more than he’d had in his old life.

  “I hope the universe guides you, Samuel Ayer,” Vali said from within the cave. Her voice was old, calm, and wise. Samuel waved back without looking at them. He didn’t want to cry. He whispered to himself not to. The more he said it, the harder it was to hold back. He felt the warm tears slide down his face and wiped it off quickly. His journey was in front of him, an adventure in a new world. He had to embrace it—danger and all.

  He walked east, moving through low-grass groves and up hills. His legs ached and he’d gone through most of the water in his leather bag. He felt like a wanderer, a lost soldier fleeing from the only life he knew. He lost his nerves twice, hiding every time he heard something scamper in the grass or the whistle of weird birds. He bounced between super alert and frantic. Sometimes he ran from things he couldn’t see and once he saw the remains of a dead large snake.

  He reached the familiar forest at the peak of noon. He would have missed it if he hadn’t seen the bodies. One after the other he found them. Naked, bodies blown or ripped. He knelt beside one of them. A man with his face shot. He picked the bullet, keeping it just in case he could use it again. His Glock probably had three or four bullets left. That meant he was close to getting to the point where he would have to rely completely on himself for protection. He didn’t like that. Even with his judo classes, he had very limited knowledge of any form of combat. And from the claw marks on his body, he wasn’t invulnerable.

  He stared at the man’s face, what was left of it. He looked very normal, except he was dead. The pale skin and torn limbs aside, this was like any human he’d ever known. But that night, they had been something else. Bestial. And they had tried to kill him. Sam tried to remind himself that he hadn’t killed them coldly. He’d been trying to protect himself. He knew all that, yet he felt a heavy guilt settle in his chest. He hadn’t known they could speak. And when Veena told him they were humans, he’d felt something sharp and hot push against his ribs, scraping nerves. Now, looking at the remains of the D’Araks he’d killed, the hollowness spread.

  Sam moved from that man to the next, picking the bullets as he went. He frowned when he realized none of the bodies were rotting. They were not as fresh as the night he killed them, but they didn’t stink either. He crouched beside another corpse, staring intently at it. Something had feasted on it, but aside from that everything seemed only blackened, as if someone had tried to burn the inside. Sam sniffed it, leaning down slightly. He got nothing. He stood up, tracing the trees, finding the familiar path that still lingered in his memory.

  He had a palmful of crushed bullets when he was done. He sat against a tree, exhaustion making him shake slightly. He slid his bag off him and took some water. He didn’t want to eat the dried meat, but he had no other choice. It tasted exactly how he expected it to taste—bland. But he gnawed at it, using water to push it down his throat. His tongue felt raw when he was done, his jaw hurting. He stared at the bullet, wondering how dumb he was to think that he could still use them, but he couldn’t let them go. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes briefly. His feet hurt, but he didn’t want to take off his shoes. Not here, not yet. He wasn’t sure what would attack him and he wanted to be ready when it came.

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  Sleep came fast, pulling him into a world of nightmares of fangs, wolves with red eyes and smiling skull faces. Somewhere in his dream, he heard Veena calling him, asking him why he abandoned them. Sam woke up with a jolt. His eyes were heavy and his head hurt. There was a chill in the air, he stood up, cursing himself for sleeping so late.

  He scratched his chin as he walked back the way he’d come, trying to move away from this memory, the experience. He pulled at the new patch of beard growing on his face as he thought about where to go next. Veena and Hendal had given him a basic idea of where to find people and civilization. But he wasn’t sure that was what he wanted to do.

  He froze when he heard a howl behind him. For a moment he wondered if that was his subconscious punishing him. Perhaps Hendal had been wrong? He waited, listening for the howl again. And when he did, he bolted. He ran hard, pushing at his limit. His body ached, but he didn’t stop. He ran northeast, going where Maxim had suggested he’d be safer away from the D’Araks. He ran until his breath became a sharp prick in his chest, and he couldn’t breathe anymore. He didn’t stop until the hills were far behind him and that familiar chill wasn’t in his bones anymore.

  Then he staggered, tired and aching, to a stop. He heard the water flowing and followed the sound. His water bag was empty and his throat was a burning desert. Sam shrugged off his bag when he saw the stream. He pulled off his shirt and kicked off his shoes. He was thirsty, but he wanted to sink into the water more. He walked into it as if possessed. He felt the cool sheet rise up to his ankle, then his calf, and finally his knees as he waded in. He lowered himself into it, feeling relief wash over him deeply. It felt perfect to float in it, the coldness enveloping him, soothing his fatigue. Sam closed his eyes, letting the sensation suffuse him.

  He stayed there for about an hour and then decided it was probably time to leave. He sat on a low grass, relishing the slow wind on his skin. For the first time, he didn’t miss the Scavenger’s cave. He loved the sound of birds in the distance. But he had to see how the system worked. He summoned his stat window.

  [System of Ascension…analyzing]

  [Legacy function detected!]

   Name: Samuel Ayer [analyzing legacy data]

      Age — 27

      Species — Human

          [Racial deviation detected!]

      Level — 7

  [EoM: %30]

  If what Veena said was correct, then when he increased his EoM to a hundred percent, he’d advance to level eight. The problem was finding out what increased the EoM. From his gaming understanding, EoM seemed a lot like experience points. That meant he’d have to go fighting monsters. But there was something else he’d been wondering about. What was the system itself? Was it smart enough to communicate like in Virigan Online? Or was it just some kind of display system that quantified growth?

  “How do I grow my EoM?” Sam asked, his voice barely a whisper. Nothing happened. He’d expected that. He closed his eyes and asked the question, but this time as a thought. Still, nothing. Or did it take special triggers? Like when he’d triggered the activation of EoM by walking into a place with a high concentration of essence? The questions came reeling about in his mind until he got frustrated and simply moved to check his new attribute points since he killed the wild lix.

  Sam grunted. He’d thought he had so many upgrades, but now he could see why the lix’s claw had scratched his skin. But his high vitality must have helped him. That was why he wasn’t dead yet. That and the scavenger robe. He would have to get up soon and go hunt. Perhaps killing small animals would help him level up. He couldn’t imagine the system being that easy to cheat though, but he had to try. Anything was better than waiting for stronger monsters or humans to find him. And if he wanted to stop running, he had to be strong. Strong enough to protect himself from stronger predators.

  First, he needed a weapon. Something that would help substitute for the gun so he’d use the Glock only when he needed to. He took stock of what he could do and came up with the realization that there wasn’t much he could accomplish with what he had. He pushed down another flush of frustration. He knew it’d be difficult when he walked away from the Scavengers. He had to face it like he’d always done.

  He’d wanted the freedom to face the difficult things in his path, and now he had it. He chuckled, recalling something he’d thought about once, while he withered away at his old job. It was like lifting his head from below water to find that the safety he was searching for was filled with the absurd and danger. The only thing to do was to revolt against this, redefine himself, and become the person he needed to be to survive.

  In accepting his situation he would find a semblance of happiness. The thought was both silly and wishful, but Sam held on to it. He would push through and perhaps he’d find that stability he wanted, or maybe he’d perish in the chaos. It didn’t matter. He would find excitement in it.

  He took a bite of the lix meat, finding a new appreciation for it. He settled into planning his next move. He would have preferred to move farther north, but this place felt safe. He could find a way to figure out the system here, and if he didn’t he could spend more time trying to get some experience. First, he had to decide the weapon to make. That was the easy part. He stood up, getting ready to begin.