The notification flashed, then faded. A few more notifications flashed as well, but he couldn’t focus on them. Theo’s lungs seemed to condense, making it impossible to breathe. Kill… Blake?

How could that be his Quest? Blake had been his best friend since middle school. There was no way…

The shared menu that lay flat between his party vanished. He could see the glow of notifications fading from his teammate’s eyes.

Then, to his surprise, Jessica was running towards him. She wrapped him in a hug before he knew what was happening. “Theo! You’re alive, thank god!”

Blake was over in the next moment, clapping a hand on his back. “What the hell happened? Where are we?”

Theo blinked. “The Arena. Didn’t your Dev tell you?”

Blake frowned. “I didn’t exactly ask a lot of questions. I was so freaked out, suspended in space… I just sped through and picked whatever was recommended.”

Huh. Theo had asked as many questions as he possibly could. He looked at Blake, and thought again of the notification he’d just received. There is no way in hell I’m killing my best friend. What kind of fucked up game is this?

He wanted to ask what Quests they’d received, but they were quickly interrupted by a biting voice. “Cute. I take it you all know each other then?” It was the Rogue — Alice, he remembered. She stood with one hand on her hip, another holding her black bow.

Jessica, unperturbed by Alice’s sharp tone, stepped forward and offered a hand. “Hi, I’m Jessica, I’m—“

“Alice. Look, can we get a move on? We’re pretty exposed up here,” Alice said. She began to scan the tree line below.

“She’s right,” Leyah, the Monk, said, “there are other parties out there. They could be hunting us right now.”

“Hunting us?” Jessica said, “why would they…”

“They get some of our experience points, or Universal Power, or whatever, if they kill us. It’s just math,” Blake said seriously. But he was looking off to the side, where Ron, the Tank, was walking away. “What’s he doing?” Blake said.

Theo moved to follow Ron, shaking off the panic that followed after receiving his Quest. He broke into a run, intercepting Ron halfway across the field. It felt good to run. He’d never been in great shape back home, but running felt easier now. He’d had an ankle injury from high school cross country, but the ankle wasn’t clicking or hurting as he ran. It was almost like he’d been completely healed, returned to his peak. He caught up with Ron in a matter of moments and tried to cut him off.

“Hey, are you alright?” Theo asked, but Ron didn’t seem to see him. He stepped around Theo and continued for the forest, mumbling to himself.

“My daughter… my daughter… Annabelle…” he whispered, continuing on. His eyes were wide with panic.

“Your daughter?” Theo asked, confused, “she’s not here, Ron, it’s only us…”

“She… she has to be… she was sitting right next to me, when we were summoned… she’s here…” he said, continuing to trudge onward. He moved slowly, weighed down by his heavy armor.

“Ron… you can’t go out there alone,” Theo started, “your daughter—“

Suddenly, Ron turned and snapped at Theo. “And what if she’s out there alone! What if she’s out there with god knows who! What then?”

His red face grew even redder, and spittle flew from his lip. Theo just stared. But then shame came over Ron’s features, and his breathing, once ragged and hurried, began to slow. Tears welled in his bright blue eyes. “My daughter… is all I have. I am supposed to protect her. I need to go and find her. I have to.”

Theo took a gamble and reached out, placing a hand on Ron’s shoulder. “You will. We all will. Together,” he said. He looked back at the group. Blake, Jessica, and Leyah nodded. Alice looked to the side. “We have a better chance of finding her when we’re all together. So just stay with us. And I promise we’ll look for her once we figure this out. Okay?”

To his surprise, Ron nodded.

“Well, we’re officially out of time,” Alice’s snide voice said, “we’ve got company.”

Theo’s head whipped to the right, to where Alice was looking. Something huge and brown was coming up over the hill, lumbering through the tall grass.

“What the hell is that?” Blake said, stepping backwards.

The thing came into sight, standing on its hind legs. That’s when Theo recognized it.

“That’s a North American Grizzly Bear,” he said, “Ursus Arctos Horribilis.”

What was a grizzly bear doing there, in the Hex? The Dev had said that some animals were summoned from their reality as well. Could this be one of them? But there was something strange about the bear. Strapped to its body was a set of crude iron armor.

“Not for long it isn’t,” Alice said. Then she took an arrow from her quiver, strung it in her bow, and drew it backwards.

“Wait, no!” Theo said. But it was too late. Alice released the arrow, sending it flying at the bear’s chest. It collided with the creature, embedding in the flesh of its arm. Of course, an arrow wasn’t enough to hurt a grizzly bear in the real world. Alice would have known that if she had listened to him. Instead, the bear just roared, lowered to four legs, and then charged. Its spiky back was visible above the tall grass, running full speed at them.

Jessica screamed. “What do we do?” she said, stepping behind Blake.

“Everyone gather up. Draw your weapons if you have them,” Blake said, a commanding tone in his voice. “Let’s go people!”

Theo gripped his quarterstaff harder. He doubted that a glorified stick would be much help against a grizzly bear. He knew enough about them to know that they should be very afraid. From the look of this bear, it weighed nearly a ton, and that was before the weird iron armor. Besides that, grizzlies could run faster than horses and had claws that could rip a full grown man in two. Not to mention the fact that multiple bullet wounds often failed to even slow them down…

Skill Identified! You possess the Beastlore skill!

The notification flashed in his vision, but not enough to obscure the charging bear. Beastlore seemed like a good skill to have, and he did know a lot about animals. He wasn’t quite sure that knowing how a grizzly could kill him would help the bear, well… not kill him, but it couldn’t hurt, right?

But wait — when he’d first appeared, there had been a few notifications about skills. Didn’t he gain a cantrip? That was like a spell, right? And he was pretty sure it said he could pick two new spells. Those would certainly help, right?

He turned to Ron. “Ron, you’re the Tank. That means you can take a lot of damage, right? Think you can slow him down for a minute?”

Ron blinked, staring at the bear. He grit his teeth and nodded.

“Good. Cover me,” Theo said. With that, Ron drew his great sword and stepped forward, towards the charging bear. Theo watched him set his feet in the grass, standing strong, ready to intercept the air.

“Alice!” Theo yelled, “supressing fire!”

Alice looked at him, confused. “What does that mean? I’m not a nerd!”

Theo groaned. “Just hit him with arrows, okay?”

Alice nodded, then drew another arrow and nocked it. She released, sending another arrow into the charging grizzly. This one glanced off of the creature’s iron helmet, but Alice quickly drew another arrow.

“Blake and Jessica, spell selection!” Theo yelled. “Look for combat spells!”

Both nodded, then scrambled to summon their menus. Their glowing runes appeared in front of them as they scrambled for new spells.

“Leyah—“ I started.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it,” she said. He saw her leap into the air, then land hard on the ground. She lifted her foot in a martial arts-style kick. The stone beneath her feet broke away, then lifted in the air as if by magic. She kicked it, and it flew towards the bear. A volleyball size chunk of stone crashed against the bear’s head. Shards of stone flew, and the bear roared in pain.

Elemental monk, he thought, very Avatar.

Ron charged the distracted bear and brought his broadsword down on the creature’s head. It crashed against the beast’s helmet, sending a resounding ring through the clearing. But the bear quickly swiped with a paw, nearly taking off Ron’s head.

Alice, Leyah, and Ron continued to attack the bear. Alice with arrows, Leyah with flying stones, and Ron with his sword.

Theo summoned his menu, appearing as a circle of glowing runes before him. He selected the rune meaning ‘Spells.’

Spells known:

Minor Magic (Cantrip): Cantrip known by all caster classes. Allows minor feats of magic that do not impact combat. For example, the minor magic cantrip can do any of the following: light or put out a small flame; create illusions less than one cubic foot; minor telekinesis of objects less than ten pounds; change the temperature of a single square cube of nonliving (non-invested) matter; create small sensory effects, such as sounds, colors, odors, sensations, etc. The limitations of this spell relate to the investiture, skill level, and knowledge of the caster.

Okay, cool, but not great for a charging bear. He scrolled past it.

Two spell selections remaining. Choose spell now?

He selected the option just as the bear roared. Blake had a hand raised, glowing with red energy. A burned patch of hair appeared on the bear’s chest, still singing from the energy burst. Good, Theo thought. Blake had picked his quickly. Then, something dark spoke inside him: learn what spells he uses. You might need to counter them later.

He shook the thought away. I’m not killing my best friend.

Theo closed his eyes and returned to the menu.

Available Cantrips:

Acid Mist: Summon a diffuse spray of acid to coat your enemies. Deals poison damage, which slowly erodes health points.

Minor Beastspeak: Allows a caster to intimidate or persuade a beast or creature less than half the level of the caster.

Nature’s Healing: Return health points up to the number of health points held by the caster.

Vine Tangle: Summon vines to slow or ensnare your enemies. Effective dependent on Strength of the opponent against the Wisdom of the caster. Deals no damage.

Thorn Spray: Summon a volley of thorns to damage your opponent, up to a range of thirty feet. Effective dependent on the Durability of the opponent. Deals Puncture damage. Deals Poison damage, which slowly erodes health points.

He looked at the options before him. He was lost. What was the difference between Acid Mist and Thorn Spray, besides the type of damage they dealt? The Cantrip descriptions didn’t give much to go off of. Would that change as he leveled up?

All in all, he’d pick Thorn Spray over Acid Mist, simply because Thorn Spray dealt both puncture and poison damage. The others seemed like support or non-combat spells. Beastpeak sounded better than Nature’s Healing at the moment, if only because the charging bear…

A crash. He turned to see Ron thrown aside by the bear, the grizzly’s claws thrashing Ron’s side. Blood sprayed, and Ron rolled to a stop in the grass, laying still in a bloody tangle.

Maybe Nature’s Healing isn’t such a bad idea, Theo thought. Any way you cut it, he needed spells, and now.

He pressed a pressed a palm against the rune that meant “Thorn Spray.” Instantly, power flooded his body. It tingled like a drug as it crept up his arms. The warmth felt amazing, and suddenly his brain was filled with images of runes, and the sudden knowledge needed to summon the thorns. It was hard to describe… the spell became like a reflex. He knew would to do it as easily as he knew how to clench his fist or close his eyes, but if he tried to describe it, he didn’t have the words.

He shook off the feeling just as Leyah sent a spray of pebbles at the bear. They pierced his skin like bullets, but it didn’t seem to slow it down. He charged her, snarling, blood dripping from its fur.

Blake intercepted him, screaming in rage as he brought his shortsword down. It glanced off the beasts’ pauldron, but he followed the blow with a ball of blood-red fire from his hand. The spell connected with the bear’s chest, sending it teetering backward, rolling over itself.

Blake panted, exhausted from the charge and the spell, but he sported a satisfied grin.

Still, the bear rose, angrier than ever. It roared, then charged straight for Blake.

No! He thought. Theo slammed his hand down on the menu, selecting “Minor Beastspeak.” Again, he felt the rush of Universal Power into his body, the warm glow of leveling up.

He returned to the spell menu instead of the spell selection menu, then looked at the three options in front of him: Minor Magic, Thorn Spray, and Minor Beastspeak.

He slammed his hand into the rune for Thorn Spray, and the menu before him erupted. From the center of the rune circle, thorns sprouted, then shot across the clearing like a swarm of bees. The thorns connected with the bear, slamming into the side of its face.

The bear hissed and roared, its left eye pierced by thorns. Green poison dripped down the side of its eyes, mingled with blood.

The bear slowed to a stop, then whipped its head towards Theo, growling.

He dismissed the menu. He realized he didn’t need to actually cast spells from the summoned menu. He could feel them inside himself, knew what he needed to do to cast them. There was a force, an energy… what the Dev called Universal Power, maybe… that flowed through him. He could feel it, harness it, channel it.

He channeled some of the Power into his voice, then spoke. When he did, he could see the power leaving him in waves of green-tinted sound.

“Please. We mean no harm. Leave us be,” he said.

The waves of green sound connected with the bear who ceased growling for a moment… then stood, and roared.

Okay, so I guess it’s not less than half my level. I probably could have figured that one.

Still, if he survived this, Beastspeak seemed like a good skill to have. He wished he’d just picked Acid Mist, though.

The bear lowered onto four legs and then charged him. Three throwing knives hit the creature from the side, courtesy of Alice. Blood sprayed across the grass, but it didn’t slow the bear down. Blake chased after it, swiping behind it with his sword, but he couldn’t match the creature’s speed. Leyah lifted boulders in front of the bear, trying to slow it down, but it just ran through them, shouldering them to either side. In the corner of his vision, he could see Jessica learning over Ron, trying to wake him up.

He was fucked.

The bear lifted off the ground, sharp talons rearing back to take off Theo’s head. He raised a hand, summoning Power there, and sent a spray of thorns at the creature’s chest. They peppered it like porcupine quills, covering its chest. But still, it didn’t slow down. It simply roared, bared its teeth, and prepared to kill him.

He closed his eyes, readying to feel the rending of claws.

Until a howl pierced the air.

Something incredibly fast ripped past him, colliding with the bear. The bear fell to the side as the silver blur latched onto the creature’s throat.

Theo fell backwards as the blood sprayed. The bear lay on the ground, and a wolf-like thing stood on its corpse.

A notification flashed in his eyes.

Armor Bear (Level 1.9) defeated! Half of this creature’s XP has been absorbed by your party.

Achievement Unlocked! First Blood

Party Achievement Unlocked! Those who slay together…

The notifications faded, and Theo was left starting at the thing in front of him. The thing that had just ripped out a bear’s throat.

Jessica lifted a finger shakily. “What… what is that?” She said.

Theo swallowed. “That’s… my dog.”