“How do I activate the Furious Feline?” I asked Tootsie.

She hovered closer to my face and put both hands together like she was praying. “Close your eyes and place your hands like this.”

I did.

“Now breathe slowly and concentrate. You should feel your mana pool.”

It was like swirls of cool water running up my body. I felt at peace. A calmness I hadn’t felt in ages. I felt like I could write poetry, or sing a song. Then Tootsie slapped me right in the face. My eyes snapped open. The tufts of hair all over my body stood on end. Claws pierced out from the tips of my fingers and toes.

Dexterity +3

In a flash Tootsie darted off. I launched after her. I bounded on all fours. Sprays of water splashed up out of the tall grass and soaked the sides of my ribs. Tootsie was just ahead of me. She looked back and zipped between two trees. I leaped and bounded off the trunk of a tree. I glided between the two tree arms and legs outstretched, spun in the air, and landed again on all fours in a run. The forest began to thin. A clearing appeared ahead. I ducked into the tall dry grass.

Tootsie glanced back again. She stopped fleeing. “Pig Face?” She called. I hunched down lower glaring between the tall blades of grass. “I was just kidding.” She said, wringing her hands. She began to glide back over toward me, her little wings fluttering rapidly. She was looking all around at the trees near the edge of the clearing. My muscles tightened and my claws dug into the earth. I waited. Just a little closer. Then I pounced. She let out a squeal and for once truly sounded like a girl. Both paws caught her and pinned her down in the grass. I grinned down at her.

“Pig Face huh?” I growled.

“I I I think you have a really nice face.” She stammered. “The tusks really accentuate your flat nose and yellow eyes.”

It was insulting and an unexpected attempt at a compliment. I laughed. Then I let her up. She fluttered up from the ground. “I think I like you Tootsie.”

Voices carried over from the trees. Tootsie dropped down in the grass with me. We watched as an orc and a lizard man walked out of the tree line opposite where we were. The lizard man was carrying a crossbow and a short sword. His back was hunched over and he wore a brown kilt with a dagger near his ankle. The orc was two feet taller than the lizard. She carried a handgun in one hand and was pointing in our direction. Her tusks were more petite than mine and her waist was thinner but her shoulders were every bit as broad. Like she had been chopping wood all her life. Her tufts of hair were braided on both sides of her head dropping over her back. She appeared tough and athletic. I don’t know if it is programmed into the game but I found her rather attractive.

I stood tentatively with my hands up. Both turned and leveled their weapons at me and I cringed.

“What are you doing?” Tootsie asked. “You don’t know them.”

The orc and the lizard made their way through the tall grass and spread out to either side of me and Tootsie.

“Got us a first timer here Aiden.” The orc said.

“Should we shoot him and take his gold?” Aiden hissed. His forked tongue flicked out and touched his nostrils. He held the crossbow up at me. What was I doing? Just turning myself over for an easy kill?

“I like the claws.” She pointed her gun up at my fingers in a gesture. “I dare you to use them.” She winked at me. I stood still and watched as her friend walked around my other side. “How much coin you got left?”

“I spent it all on this loincloth,” I answered.

The lizard lurched in at me. I saw him from the side of my eye. I reached out and wrapped my claw around his throat, lifting him off the ground without taking my eyes off the orc. The sudden stop flung his weapons from his hands and he grabbed my wrist as he dangled kicking his feet. “I’ll kill him.”

She spat on the ground and kept her gun pointed at me. “Kill em. Be more coin for me.”

I felt my claws digging into his throat. Warm blood drooled out. I could see his health bar floating above his head. 133 HP. “Tarra?” He pleaded. I turned just enough to place him between her gun and me.

“I don’t want to kill him or you.” I said. “I just want to get out of the swamp. Find some place to rest.”

“We can give you rest.” She answered. “Just put him down and I will sing you a lullaby and lay you down.”

“Don’t trust her.” Tootsie whispered.

“I know what she means, Tootsie. I’m not stupid.”

Tarra stepped to the side but I moved him so that he remained between us. His tail whipped around.

Furious Feline effects diminishing in 30,29,28…

“What is this Tootsie?”

Tootsie buzzed over near my head at the same time the Tarra stepped around and fired. I froze. I had turned my head to look over at Tootsie just as she was blasted through. Blood sprayed out of the hummingbird and she gasped. Another shot whipped by my head. I saw Tootsie fall into the grass. She was dead. Tarra was charging in now. I tightened my grip on Aiden and his eyes bulged. A breath timer began to tick above his head. I lifted him higher, squeezing with all the strength in my forearm. She raised her pistol to point it at my head and quick as a cat can stick to a ceiling I brought the lizard down on her head. I pummeled her down to the ground over and over. She dropped the gun. I kept pile driving a limp lizard into her with one hand and clawing at her with the other.

Furious Feline effects diminishing in 3,2,1

I lost my grip on Aiden and he flopped away dead in the grass. I kept hitting Tarra with both fists until her hit bar read zero then collapsed at her side. I looked at my hands. They were covered in blood. Oh no. I killed someone. Two people. I felt sick. I imagined them down in the pit. I could feel the fire in my memory. I puked in the tall grass.

Kill Level 3 Lataa: 1500 exp

Kill Level 3 orc: 1500 exp

Level up

Exp: 4475

New Soul Points!: 6

There was too much too fast. I couldn’t make head or tails of it all. I needed to get away somewhere. I needed to process this all. Survival had become the name of the game. I would survive at all costs. That was too close. I was exhausted, hungry and honestly terrified. Who pays for an experience like this? I looked at the bodies laying in the grass. My stomach lurched.

I felt as if something were lurking nearby. Something in the trees was watching me. I ducked down lower in the grass and looked around me. I could hear the air whistling in my nose and tried to slow my breath but my heart rate made it impossible.

Level 4 Orc.

Strength: 16

Dexterity: 10

Charisma: 6

Intelligence: 17

Manna: 5

Constitution: 14

Perception: 14

Exp: 600

Skills: Furious Feline: cost 2 mana,

Dex: +3, Claws, time: 1 hour

Carapace Skin: +4 Constitution,

Cost: 2 Mana, time: 1 hour

Coin:

$350

Gear:

loincloth