The white subsided to reveal a different but equally awful landscape of this Candyland world. Liam spotted the all too familiar candy cane forest in the distance. But, now, he was outside of it in new terrain—the ground littered with little dollops of green tufts of what passingly looked like grass. As he crouched down to inspect it, the smell of sour green apple told him that this was another part of the same obnoxious sucrose hell.

Liam sighed; the faint wind stirring felt like a relief after escaping the demon. He settled for a moment, feeling the pliable, sticky green candy beneath him.

What was he going to do? It seemed like he’d need levels. And this “H.E.L.L.” system might be corrupting his mind. I need a way to record my thoughts. He required a journal or tool for documenting his current state in case his mind began to erode. He could maybe use his clothes to create makeshift paper, though it wouldn't be enough.

There had to be water here, right? Did life even function the same? Were there the same fundamental logical rules for how it all applied and interacted together?

Magic. Candy. Christ, were the laws of physics even still in play?

Too much. Too much for now. Liam got back to his feet. It'd doom him to death if he lingered too long, considering this sugary hell. There was no guarantee Liam would be back if he died again. For the moment, he posed a hypothesis. If there was life—even if it appeared to rely heavily on sucrose and different sugar-based compounds—then there had to be some supporting elements to this ecosystem.

There had to be water somewhere.

That’s where I start. Find water. Once I have food and water, I can find shelter. Simple. Well, he needed a weapon. Liam took a good look around at the field of candy grass. There! A peppermint candy stalk jutted out of the ground. Liam walked over and tried to tug it free, but it was lodged firmly in the ground. Damn.

He wouldn’t go empty-handed. This place was far too dangerous.

Liam slammed his boot into the stalk—it was painful, but he heard cracking. He kept going until the thing splintered off, breaking and leaving him with a fairly decent-sized candy cane stick. Enough for now. Need water. Liam hauled it on his shoulder, taking a deep breath. Don’t stop, or this place will eat you alive.

He glanced at the sun—Thank Christ, the sun wasn't made of candy; he noted its position in the sky. Until proven otherwise, he’d assume this place functioned like Earth. It’d rise in the east and set in the west. Well, close enough functionally to not matter. With that in mind—he determined which way was north.

He began walking.

The green-apple grass fields were vast, monolithic swathes of obnoxious green, only occasionally broken up by large and semi-transparent shards of rock candy that jutted up from the ground. Other sugar plants dotted the terrain, ranging from vibrant taffy flowers to miniature clover-like gummies.

It got boring quickly. The wildlife seemed unsure of how to deal with him—fleeing chocolate bunnies and vibrant red marshmallow birds darting away. Everything was bright and garishly colorful. How its ecosystem even functioned blew Liam’s mind. But, at least he could be thankful that he didn’t come across any of the gummy bears. Nor another gumdrop troll. The last thing he needed was to get wounded since he still lacked a way of cleaning it.

An infection could be just as deadly as a massive candy cane pillar bashing into him. Even if a gumdrop troll hadn’t murdered him, Liam knew that the spreading infection in his arm would have killed him anyway.

And then, well, there was the Hephaestus Exceptional Learning Link. It spewed out stats like he was in a video game. With that logic, if he killed more of the gummy bears, he’d gain more experience, then level up? But what exactly did that earn him? Stats?

There wasn’t a tutorial, which seemed rather ‘unfair’ for this game, but it’s not like he could leave a bad review. He was stuck with whatever he had. He held reservations about progress now after seeing the descriptions for some of the classes.

Survival first; you can worry about that later. At some point, he stripped off his tattered lab coat and wrapped it around his head. No water and the sun's glare caused sweat to coat his skin; the start of a sunburn made him realize he needed to cover himself. I already made a mistake. I should have done that before I started walking. Damn.

Liam took a deep breath, trying to stuff down the feeling of panic.

He scanned the landscape—long gone from the candy cane forest, and headed towards what looked to be the face of a cliff. And…

Was that smoke?

Liam cupped his hand over his eyes, wondering if it was a mirage. No. That was smoke. Something was undergoing combustion. A large pillar of thick, sooty black rose in a somewhat uniform pattern, reaching high into the light blue sky. It can’t be a wildfire. Where would it get the energy needed to fuel a massive burning of a complex hydrocarbon? Sucrose wasn’t very easily self-sustainable in combustion unless it was in a powdered form. Something was going on that he didn’t understand.

If it wasn’t a wildfire, then it was something else.

If there was fire, could it mean there was someone there?

Liam made his way towards the burning, a sense of curiosity and desperation overriding the inherent natural fear of heading towards fire. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him—until he got a better view. It wasn’t a fire. No. It was a house made of dark wood. Wood?!—but it was burning and in front of the burning building seemed to be a struggle, between… gingerbread men?

He paused, eyes wide.

He paused, eyes wide. They appeared to be circling one another—one of them wielding a blade of purple-like glass. Melted sugar? It wore some sort of pristine and organic armor. Leather? It certainly looked leather-like.

What the hell? Liam rushed in, right as the one with the vibrant purple blade darted forward at the second gingerbread man. This one reminded him of a homeless man with a large frosted beard and a wild look in its eyes. The bearded gingerbread man dodged out of the way of a sword swipe, shoving the more armored gingerbread man to the ground. It yanked out a small hatchet made of sharpened candy cane from its belt, then pounced on the downed gingerbread man—slamming the axe into the armored one again and again.

As Liam watched twenty feet away, the gingerbread man hacked off its enemy's head. It yanked the decapitated skull free—red corn syrup-like juice leaking from the neck. With a cry of victory, it shoved part of the head into its mouth, biting with a snap as it consumed its kin.

Holy fuck! Did it just commit cannibalism!?

Liam froze in place, shock overriding any sense of self-preservation. The hobo gingerbread man finished the head—then stopped, sniffing the air. Slowly its manic eyes landed on him. Oh. No. Oh no. Liam stumbled back, raising the piece of candy cane between him and the gingerbread man.

The wild gingerbread man tilted his head, letting out a barking laugh. “What the hell are you? Do you taste good?” his eyes lit up.

“I’m—how about you stay there. I need to take a look at that wood."

The gingerbread man glanced behind at the burning house. “You want my house? Ha! Too late! What are you, and what’s that white crust you got? Are you chocolate? I’ve heard about white chocolate, far north, right? You a foreigner?”

“You just ate that—that other gingerbread man!” Liam stammered out, trying to inch closer as the house burned behind the deranged gingerbread man. Was it made of wood? Or something else?

The gingerbread man snorted. “Why does that matter?”

“What do you mean why? It was a gingerbread man too!”

“He was weak but tasty enough. Besides, he ruined my house. Figured the bastard owed me a meal at the least.”

Different values. Go figure hell-beings don’t care about eating one another. Adjust your expectations, Liam.

“Listen, I’m having a rough day here. Can you… let me take a look at that wood, and I’ll be on my way?” Liam tried once more. Hopefully, the thing was distracted enough with its meal to let him do whatever.

The gingerbread man scrunched up its face. “You know. You’re acting real strange.” He snapped his cookie fingers. “Wait—wait, you’re not chocolate at all, are you?”

“Uh. No… No, I’m not.”

“Wait, wait, wait—are you a human!?” the gingerbread man looked taken aback.

Did he just recognize my race? The gingerbread man lost interest in the food, going rigid, then reached for his axe as an evil glint appeared in his eyes. Oh. Not good. Everything here is out to kill me. Liam started to take a couple of steps back. “On second thought, I will leave you to your business; I’m sorry for disturbing you. Have fun eating your… friend… there…” Get away, get away…

The gingerbread got to his feet before barreling toward Liam with a malicious grin spread over his face. He lifted the heft of the axe high above his head and took a short leap forward. No doubt intending to cleave into Liam’s skull.

Liam thought quickly. His attacker was moving fast, having launched itself into a sprint—too fast to redirect himself. Liam flipped the peppermint stick in his hands; the jagged point wasn’t sharpened enough to easily pierce with a thrust of his own strength.

But, he didn’t have to rely on his strength. Liam jabbed the flat side of the candy cane into the ground, angling it to catch against the chocolate turf before the gingerbread man reached him.

The gingerbread man slammed forward—skewering himself on the pointed end of the candy cane. The force of its body weight, momentum, and gravity was enough to bury it through the cannibal. The cannibal’s apparent blood lust made him ignore the simple fact that barreling into a pointed object at high speeds was an incredibly poor idea. Or maybe he didn’t understand simple physics.

The gingerbread man gagged, its candy cane axe clattered to the ground as more viscous red corn syrup leaked from its mouth. “Filthy… human… your kind doesn’t belong… here…” the gingerbread man gasped, its hands trying to grab at the candy cane stick jabbed through it. They failed to find purchase, slicking the surface with more of its corn syrup blood. “Candyland… is ours…we will… eat you… tear your flesh… feast on your… blood… you… and all humans…”

The gingerbread man stopped squirming on the candy cane, chest heaving as it must have ruptured its lungs. Did gingerbread men have lungs? As morbid as it was, Liam came to the horrible realization that once this thing died, he’d have to tear it apart to understand how it worked.

God, this place is already turning me into as much of a monster as them.

The gingerbread man let out a death rattle before stilling. A moment later, absurd comic sans text appeared in the corner of Liam's vision.

Gingerbread Warrior slain! 150 experience gained!

Congratulations Liam! You have reached level 2!

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