Rough, gravel-filled dirt crunches beneath my feet as I step out onto the floating island. The island’s surface is mostly flat, but large, spire-like stones jut out of the ground at odd angles, looming above the small scraggly bushes that dot the open spaces. Wait, how could such vegetation survive without the sun? How is there even any light in here at all? I haven't seen any torches or light sources…

Waving it away as dungeon logic, I walk forward, farther into the forest of stone. The wind, which lessened only slightly as I moved onto the island, whips through the rocky spires, creating an airy, melodic whistle that resonates through the space. The ceiling reaches quite far above me, the tallest spires only barely reaching it.

Arriving at the centre of the island, I step out into a small clearing, free of bushes and spires. My staff at the ready, I move to the middle of the clearing. So… Now wha-?

A slash of pain across my right cheek cuts off my thought as a silver blur and rush of air streaks past my head. Now fully alert, I duck to the side as my combat instincts kick in, quickly dodging the silver form as it aims for my head again. Spinning around, I get a quick glance of the creature before it darts behind a spire.

Its long, silver, serpentine form is about the length of my arm, and seems to shimmer like mercury as it speeds through the air. White, feathered wings beat powerfully as it sails through the air, and a small fan of feathers adorns its tail. Above its head a name plate floats.

Silver Amphiptere - Lvl 1

Only level one? This shouldn't be too bad.

As I watch, two more serpents dash from out of the stone forest towards me. I spoke too soon, didn't I?

Throwing myself to the ground, I hit the dirt with a thud as the silver scaled streaks sail above me. Jumping back to my feet just in time for a nudge from my instincts, I whirl around and smack an approaching snake out of the air with my staff. Wasn't this thing a spear earlier?

Bringing the staff down on the quickly recovering serpent, the creature’s writhing form is nearly bisected by its newly formed blade. I don't know how this spear / staff thing works, but it sure is convenient.

The immediate danger taken care of, I glance around me for the next foe. No matter what direction I look, flits of silver gleam out at me as the serpents dart from spire to spire. How many of these things are there?

A twitch of instinct tells me to duck low as three more Amphipteres sail over my head. The wind that carries them along nearly sweeps me off my feet as they disappear once more into the stone forest.

This was starting to frustrate me. Just dodging was getting me nowhere, and without knowing how many there are, I can't risk running out of stamina before I’ve taken them all down. Glancing at my bars, I’ve already lost 15 stamina and 10 health points.

Focusing back on my surroundings, I stand, spear / staff at the ready as I wait for the next wave. Feeling the wind pick up, I glance around as they approach. Good, there’s only two this time.

Letting my instincts guide me, I quickly swipe the blade of my spear at the first creature, sending it spiralling with a trail of black, ichor-like blood. In one fluid motion I spin around and knock the next snake down with the blunt end, twirling the weapon around to finish it with the blade.

Righting myself, I look up just in time to see another serpent diving toward me.

Instead of a small, silver snake though, I turn to face a large golden serpent. Its body is nearly three times the size of the others, and its wings are almost disproportionately large. With each powerful swipe of its feathered appendages huge gusts of wind spread out across the clearing, nearly knocking me off my feet. Long, dagger-like fangs gleam white as it charges at an impossible speed towards me.

Golden Amphiptere - Lvl 3

Unable to react in time, I barely move before its jaws clamp down around my shoulder. Crying out as a bloom of pain spreads from the wound, I swing my blade at the creature as it drags me off my feet.

My muscles cry out as I try to separate its jaws, my stamina bar flashing as I reach the last few points. Too weak to escape, I helplessly fall limp as it pulls me into the air.

The ground falls away beneath me as I am carried farther, leaving all but the tallest of spires beneath me. Please don't say it's gonna drop me from this height…

It does. My gut churns as the creature releases me above a jagged, spike-like spire. Twisting in the air, I manage to avoid being impaled, but the sharp rock still slices my side, leaving spatters of blue blood in its wake.

I hit the ground hard. My staff clatters to the side as my body bounces with a thud against the rocky dirt. Sitting up against the spire, I glance to my bars. My stamina is nearly gone and I have barely a tenth of my health left. If I don't end this now I'm not going to survive.

Gritting my teeth, I reach for my staff. Pulling it to my side I look up with grim resignation at the rapidly approaching foe. I instinctively start counting down.

Three.

Two.

One.

Now!

*shhnk*

With my last burst of strength I raise the bladed end of the spear straight into the open mouth of the charging serpent. Black ichor-like blood drips from the blade as it exits the back of the creature's head. Straight through the brain.

The heavy snake collapses on my legs as its body goes limp and I fall back against the pillar. Utterly exhausted, I lean back and try to collect my strength.

That was… an experience. The rush of combat and thrill of battle was both terrifying and exhilarating. I'm closer than I have ever been to my first death in this game, but the wave of triumph and accomplishment that overcame me as I actually won, made it well worth it.

Feeling my strength start to return, I glance up at the new windows that hover in the corners of my vision.

Congratulations! You have leveled up!

You are now level 2! See your status for more details.

Would you like to loot the Golden Amphiptere? (Yes/No)

Tapping the yes button, I watch as, like the lizard did, the snake creature’s body begins to quickly disintegrate into motes of lights, leaving behind an angry looking Sprite (which quickly disappears with the light), and small pile of loot.

I quickly pocket the ten Amphiptere feathers and a couple of scattered pieces of gold, and with a grin, open up my status. Now onto the good stuff!

Status:

Name: Briar

Race: Thorn Fiend

Level: 2

Health: 18 / 110

Stamina: 13 / 41 (max: 45)

Str: 13

Agi: 16

Con: 11

Vit: 9

Per: 15 → 16

Luk: 6

Aff: 0

+2 Unallocated point(s)

About: Leveling up

As you gain more experience and battle more enemies in The Di Game, you slowly begin to get stronger and ‘level up’. Each level, one stat will be automatically raised based on what the system deems that you used the most, and you will be given two unallocated points which you may put into whatever stat you want. Spend these points wisely as you cannot change where you put them later!

- The friendly administrators of The Di Game

Reading through the new window, I tap the edge of my chin. Where should I put these…

Affinity is useless to me, and my perception was already raised, so those are ruled out. Luck is tempting, but I'm not sure how helpful it would be to me right now. Looking over the remaining stats, I hesitantly add one to vitality, and one to agility.

With more stamina I’ll hopefully be able to fight for longer, and avoid another situation like this last battle. With more agility I’ll be able to dodge more effectively, and thus take less damage. Plus, with a staff-like weapon I really need to emphasize speed over strength.

Speaking of my weapon, I look down at the thing. Its blade had already formed back into a blunt end and the blood that once covered it has dropped off onto the ground around it like water off a hydrophobic material. Picking it up, I inspect it in my hands. Twice now it has transformed just when I needed it. I wonder if I could make it change out of combat?

Focusing on the staff, I try to send a mental command towards it. I've been able to control everything else in this game with my thoughts, why not this?

Sure enough, as I stare at its blunt end, it slowly starts to shift and stretch, pulling out into a long jagged spear tip. Excited, I quickly send a command to retract it, and then form it again. Toggling it several times, I practice until I’m sure I can do it in a moments notice. This is beyond useful, and it completely eliminates my previous worries about fighting with a staff.

If I can control it freely, I wonder why it always turns back into staff form after combat? Bringing out its blade once more, I watch it for a minute before, sure enough - the jagged edge begins to slowly retract once more. I guess the staff is just its default form? Chuckling, I give it a quick swing. Maybe it was to keep me from hurting myself.

Setting it to the side, I glance up at my bars. They’ve recovered a bit, but at this rate it’ll take forever to fill back up. Annoyed, I click my tongue. Isn’t there any way to make this faster?

About: Recovering Health and Stamina

After a long battle, your health and stamina is likely to be very low. Recovering these stats takes time, but the length you have to wait severely diminishes if you take a rest. Build a fire, eat some food, maybe even take a nap! You’ll be back to fighting shape in no time!

- The friendly administrators of The Di Game

Helpful! These ‘about’ windows really are convenient. Although I kinda figured some of this out already, it was nice to have it confirmed. Opening up my inventory, I frown at the sight of only half a loaf of bread left. Have I eaten that much already?

Scarfing down the bread with a gulp of water, I glance through my other items. I do have three haunches of lizard meat, but I definitely don’t want to eat those raw. I guess I could try to build a fire.

My body aches as I stand up using the stone spire. Grabbing my staff, I hobble towards the clearing I was in earlier. It seems like the silver serpents are avoiding me now that I took out the golden one. A good thing too, I wouldn't be able to handle another fight.

Stepping into the clearing, I glance around at the battlefield. A few spatters of blood, both black and blue, dot the disturbed ground around the area where I fought most of the combat. Oh, that’s right! I still have some creatures to loot!

Looting the three corpses, I gather seven more feathers and a couple more gold, but sadly no food. A fire it is then!

Using my newly found blade, I quickly cut down a couple of the scraggly bushes, gathering a small pile of fire materials. Luckily, everything up here is really dry, so they should light pretty well.

Staring at my pile, I scratch the back of my head. How exactly am I supposed to start a fire? I mean, I’ve seen plenty of pre-catastrophe survival shows and videos, but I’ve never actually researched how to build a fire. Understandably, I never thought I’d need to know how. Evidently, I was wrong.

I try and cast my mind back to the long tv binge sessions. I have fuel, so I guess that’s a start. Now what else? A fire starter I suppose. From what I've seen, when matches or a lighter isn't available, there are really only two options. Find rocks that spark or start an ember with friction and wood.

Of these two options, I remember noticing that the first one is easier by far, the real problem is having the right materials. All the videos I saw used a special striking stone and the back of a steel knife, of which I have neither. What I do have though is a strange staff of foreign material and an island full of rocky dirt.

Looking around me, I gather a couple of interesting looking rocks and put them next to my pile. Now I just need dead leaves or something for the sparks to catch on.

Walking up to a cluster of the small bushes, I scour the ground for any easily flammable materials. Finding not a single one, I frown at the plants. There weren't many leaves on the branches, so I can assume most had fallen off. But they must have been carried off by the strong winds. In that case, they should be around here somewhere.

Following the direction of the winds, I pass through the central clearing and find myself in front of what appears to be the tallest spire on the island. There, the wind picks up and spirals toward the ceiling, all of the gusts from throughout the room seemingly collecting at this one point. Thrown about in these strong winds, thousands of leaves dance in a flurry of oranges yellows and browns. Exactly what I'm looking for.

Fighting through the winds, I stick my hand out into the tornado of dead vegetation and try my best to grab what I can. Most of the leaves just flit around my arm or are torn out of my hand before I can pull them out, but eventually I gather a good handful of suitably dried material.

Heading back to my other piles, I toss everything I collected into my inventory and search for the least windy area I can to try and start my fire. Settling on a nook between three wide spires, I drop my materials and set out to chipping stones.

Eighteen stones later and I finally find one that creates small, nearly invisible sparks. It's a small jagged thing that has small veins of white running through it. Striking one of those with the blade of my staff, I manage to catch a small fire in the leaves, and with care, I soon have a respectable roar of flame. Strangely, throughout the whole process my staff hasn't chipped or broken once, even though almost every rock I tried was left cracked or chipped. Whatever it’s made of, I certainly don't have to worry about it breaking.

Pulling out a haunch of meat, I skewer it with my staff and set it over the fire. Then with a relaxed sigh, I lean back against the spire and stare into the fire, waiting for my meal to cook and my health to recover.