I didn’t know how it ended.

But it began anew on the cold, stone floor under the blue sky.

The dreadful, chilly sensation quickly forced me to get on my feet, even before my groggy mind allowed me to even consider what was going on, where I was and, more importantly, why.

I was on the paved clearing - a large, stone slab covered with carved runes forming nondescript, yet intricate patterns, surrounded by the dilapidated stone ruins almost entirely consumed by the forest around.

My home was gone. Everything was gone, and I had no idea what happened.

But I did not have the chance to think about how ridiculous the whole situation was.

Even before I could guess whether this is a bad dream or not, it immediately became even crazier.

Choose Your First Element

Almost as an insult to the whole insanity of this situation, a black and white window appeared in front of my eyes.

I waved it away. It wasn’t like I knew I could wave it away I just helplessly flailed against it in shock and it disappeared.

Disoriented and confused, alone in the unfamiliar environment, I looked around again, only to be interrupted by the scream, a female voice, then two warriors that looked right they come out of an Asian period drama, dressed in appropriate lamellar armour, and with their short swords drawn - and covered by blood - they advanced towards me.

Unwilling to test whether this is real or some nightmare, I banished the thoughts of the absurdity of the situation, turned on my heel, and ran, ignoring the fact I had no boots and movement on the cracking, carved rock hurt my feet.

I didn’t get far, anyway.

Whatever this strange stone structure was, it stood at the edge of the cliff, and I barely managed to stop in time, with mere centimetres standing between me and the plummeting down into the cloudy depths. I stopped. My heart rate spiked up and my head started spinning. I was terrified of heights.

Choose Your First Element

The status screen was back, almost as if it was taunting me.

I think the two not-quite-Chinese warriors taunted me as well, or at least I felt they did as they shouted something, but I didn’t understand their language. They seemed entertained by the fact I almost fell to my death and took their time to approach me, with almost sadistic grins on their faces. Perhaps they expected me to jump down the cliff rather than face them.

Choose Your First Element

The screen was back, insisting I make a choice I didn’t quite understand. Without a chance to think that through, I shouted “Fire!” in desperation.

Shockingly enough, it did something, even not what I imagined it might.

Skill “Scorched Earth lvl.1” gained.

From the outburst of the bloody mist, a fur-covered humanoid figure formed, fiery sparkles dancing around the rusty mane and bushy tail. Swordsmen suddenly paused. Creature giggled, and with a gesture of its clawed hands released a flaming bolt towards the closest warrior.

One was a soldier hit straight into the face and screamed in pain, dropping his weapon and clawing his burned face, just to be drowned in the burst of continuous flame the monster directed at him. He wailed as he burned. The second warrior threw away his sword and ran, but the furry creature lobbed the few fireballs after him, and he too ended up burning, and dead.

Paralyzed in shock, all my senses were assaulted by the gruesome display, along with the disgusting stench of the burning flesh.

Skill “Scorched Earth lvl.2” gained.

Another, albeit smaller, but similarly shaped creature materialized out of another puff of red smoke.

It was answered by the rain of arrows from the treeline. The smaller creature jumped in front of me, shielding me from the barrage, then fell down, coughing out blood from the projectile piercing its throat and a few other arrows sticking out of the body. No more shots came through, as a larger furry monster swept the possible hiding spots with its fire attacks, setting the bushes ablaze.

Still dumbfounded, or rather terrified, I stared at the dying one. It looked almost like an anthropomorphic wolf or a fox, yet a humanoid with yellow, white, and black fur patterns. It looked at me, and it looked almost as if it was smiling despite many sustained injuries.

The moment it finally passed away and dissolved into the red cloud that gave it life, a new one formed to replace it.

Another lone arrow whizzed above my head, narrowly missing.

I couldn’t bring myself to do anything despite the obvious danger, and despite the whole situation unfolding, and froze.

The newly spawned creature didn’t have this problem. It followed the projectile with its eyes, then probably figured out where it came from.

As a retaliation, a bolt of fire detonated among the greenery that might have hidden the attackers, and there was more movement from the scorching inferno that enveloped the forest’s border as archers behind that shot probably tried to break free.

The little monster glanced back at me, and then, with one large leap, it was off, probably to chase the unseen enemies.

“For Master!”

The fact it was able to speak, or rather yell, in a quite girlish sounding voice, startled me even more.

A larger one seemed satisfied with setting the forest line of fire, looked back at me, then caught the movement among the conflagration of bushes it helped to create, and decided to charge after the possible enemies that escaped the flames.

There were still around, I thought. I heard the voices, even if I didn’t comprehend the language. They were soon interrupted with more fiery explosions and more pained screams.

Skill “Scorched Earth lvl.3” gained.

A new announcement, a new creature appearing, following the lead of the first two.

I was still unable to do anything, disoriented and confused.

Monsters, however, had a great time. The giggling, high-pitched voices giggling among the fiery blasts must be theirs.

I stumbled forward. Away from the cliffside, a mere glimpse of heights gave me shivers, even if danger probably came from another direction.

More screaming, more fire followed, and I still had zero ideas what was going on. Then there was silence.

Skill “Scorched Earth lvl.4” gained.

The haze spitted out yet another creature, the fourth one so far, once again the same as the previous one.

I fell to my knees in the middle of the stone clearing where I first woke up. Shellshocked, shaking, I just stared forward. It wasn’t like I was able to do anything, as it seems some unseen power was simply throwing more beasts into the fray without any further input from my side.

The latest of the spawned, same canine or vulpine-like humanoid, like the others, stared at me with curiosity.

“Master?” It asked, tilting its head. She asked, I supposed, as the voice had a clearly feminine tone to it. Even though her words were more the echo vibrating through my skull rather than sound.

I didn’t say anything.

Another creature popped out of the ruby cloud, this time without the notification.

Then, another sword-wielding human charged out of the blazing bushes, unbothered by a crackling fire, weapon raised.

The she-monsters didn’t wait and released the torrent of fire before they charged the human. This time, their opponent was harder than others, and swings of his long curved blade cut and deflected the blazing wave, in blatant defiance of physics. Monsters fought with their claws, but the terrifying, supernaturally strong warrior dispatched them with brutal efficiency, decapitating them.

Blood splashed all around, and sheer brutality left me in shock, but the two of the remaining spawns appeared from the woods and didn’t hesitate to press their attack. A small one died quickly after fearlessly leaping against the human, distracting him from raising his deadly blade against me.

This horrifying dream was not going to end no matter how much I wanted to scream at it.

The largest version of the furry creatures used her barrage of fireballs to close the distance forcing him to use his undoubtedly unnatural moves to parry all of those, cutting what shouldn’t be possible to cut. Eventually, despite being put on the defensive, he managed to drive his blade through the humanoid monster’s abdomen. It wasn’t the end of it.

His victory turned hollow as the pyrokinetic canine pulled herself forward impaling herself further on the blade, grabbing the now surprised, and struggling warrior. She chuckled as the energies lit on her claws, and with her last breath, she released the blast of her magical fire in one blazing detonation. I was swept by the blast of fiery heat and was forced to look away.

When my eyes wandered back, I was immediately sickened by the torn body of the nameless warrior. Only his lower body remained, torn and scorched, the rest blown apart and scattered to pieces, or disintegrated in the blast. Everything smelled of death, blood, and scorched wood and flesh alike.

The bodies of the monsters were already dissolving into that ruby mist that spawned them.

Gory scenery made me sick, turning my stomach upside down.

Uncaring about my shaken mental state, the damned window appeared once again with an announcement I couldn’t care about in my current, miserable situation.

Skill “Scorched Earth lvl.5” gained.

Skill “Scorched Earth lvl.6” gained.

Major Enemy killed. Level 2 achieved. Unit cap doubles.

It didn’t take long until the cursed fog birthed another set of furry monsters, even in greater numbers, now more than ten of them. They surrounded me, looking around the destruction and death around, and laughed in their silly, girlish voices, revibrating through my mind like a thousand little needles. I could feel their satisfaction and joy at a job well done.

The biggest of them, the exact copy of the first one spawned when I was thrown into this madness, lowered herself to me. In her playful, feminine voice that didn’t quite fit the animalistic face, she asked:

“Enemies are dead. What now, Master?”