“Yes, ravine stones. That is the entrance to this prison the local gods placed me in,” replied Sun Wu picking at something in his teeth.

“I don’t understand. Why would the local gods imprison you?”

“Well it’s a short story. Do you have time for it or would you prefer to watch the interdimensional devourer sleep? I’m still curious about how you did that. I’ve tried all the magic I know, and it just kept eating.”

“It’s an artifact provided by my god. Hasn’t failed me yet… as long as I have it on me.”

“I’m a god, why couldn’t I put him—Oh! I understand now. I’m not a god from here. That explains why it spit out that fire you left in your wake. It must be powered by your pantheon. But wait didn’t you say you were from Earth?”

“I did.”

“So why would your powers work but not mine?”

“Look, I know what a Wode prison is, I’ve escaped one before. If you’re in here, you must have done something wrong.”

“I, Sun Wu, did nothing wrong. I was just exploring the cosmos for a few hundred years and ended up here. That’s it. Not my fault this thing followed me between dimensions.”

“I think I see what happened. You brought old hungry over there to this world, and they dropped you in here with him. Doesn’t explain why you’re still in here though or why your powers don’t work on it.”

“I’m sure it has something to do with outworlder resonance. I need to go back to Earth to regain my potency. Then I could easily defeat that thing.”

“You are trapped in a prison. You can’t just go back to earth.”

“Correction, we are trapped in a prison.”

That last sentence from Sun Wu gave Deacon pause. What did the Wode message state as he was entering? He needed to check his slate to figure out how to get out of this mess.

Wode rules have changed: Outsider Nemesis Battle- Escape the Wode before your nemesis. Challenge increased along with rewards.

“Well it looks like the key to leaving here is already half done. I doubt Caphida is escaping this place anytime soon,” said Deacon looking up from his slate messages to see Sun Wu disappearing over the horizon.

Deacon ran his hand along the stalks of wheat as he moved through the vast fields. Sun Wu had flown off on his staff after hearing something, leaving Deacon alone in a new biome. Without the ever present chomping sound at his heels, he could finally take his time and observe his surroundings. These fields were growing wild. There was no evidence of anyone tending to these crops. That realization of course, was followed by stalks of wheat uprooting themselves and disappearing into Deacon’s bag. Never one to leave resources lying around, he emptied what looked like a mile long stretch before he came to another change in landscape that was so abrupt, he almost fell into a swamp. One second stalks of wheat were surrounding him and the next his foot sloshed into muddy water. He pulled his right foot out followed by a sucking sound from the mud. When he looked up, he could see moss covered vines hanging from several groves of weeping willow trees dotting the landscape. The air was humid and damp here. About five yards from his position he could see the water line that ran through this terrain. Gigantic lily pads could be seen floating atop the water. Deacon couldn’t understand why they were so big until he heard a deep foreboding ribbit! He looked to his left to see a huge purple frog covered in warts swivel it’s eyes toward Deacon. It had to be the size of a Volkswagen beetle, but it was just floating on a giant lily pad. Something that size would surely sink. That was when the warts on it’s back began to undulate. The time for watching had past as Deacon began schlorping his way to the nearest lily pad with every step.

The warts on the frogs back burst open to reveal spindly legs that ended with flat extensions. The frog began skimming across the surface of the water like a swamp bug. Deacon wasn’t going nearly fast enough to outpace it. Fighting seemed to be his only option. Focusing his mind he fired a directed Nether Beam at the frog, but he was still channeling Infernal energy, so a gout of flame erupted from his right hand toward the frog. Deacon was shocked to see the frog’s tongue lash out to a nearby tree and yank it out of the path of the flames. That cost him five percent of his soul energy with nothing to show for it. Deacon didn’t have time to marvel as the Frog swung around the tree to land on the lily pad Deacon was headed towards.

“You need to jump,” came the voice of Sun Wu from somewhere in the swamp.

“I can barely move in this swamp. What do you mean jump?” Deacon asked as he dodged a sticky tongue swipe.

“Don’t you know anything? What kind of monk can’t jump?” asked Sun Wu.

“Can we talk about this later? I’m kind of busy,” said Deacon lining up a Dragon Claw Barrage. He was still hurt from his initial encounter with Caphida and couldn’t be distracted by Sun Wu. Deacon finally targeted his ability when one of the legs from the wart holes smacked him in the head. Green blood ran down his forehead. This was mystical creature. That meant it’s attacks counted as enchanted weapons. Deacon could use his Dragon Scale Armor ability to reduce the damage from this creature but at a one hundred and fifty soul energy it wasn’t cost effective. This was one large frog after all. If there were more of them in this swamp, he’d need his soul energy for Spectral Dodges since the armor ability only lasts one fight. He could summon a Gilgerith, but it would only get stuck in the mud and be no help. The same with the goblin souls he had from the valley. All except one. Deacon spent ten percent of his soul energy dropping him down to two hundred and seventy percent. A goblin with dragonfly wings flitted into the air. Deacon then gave the command to attack. The frog whipped it’s tongue, wrapped it around the goblin, and ate it.

“Fuck me,” Deacon said under his breath. Immediately after he did it, he realized how dumb it was.

“Just jump. You’ll go faster,” said Sun Wu again.

He was starting to work Deacon’s last nerve with this jump nonsense. Deacon gave up on abilities and plodded toward the toad. The eyes on top of its head swiveled to look at Deacon. The tongue shot out at him, and Deacon grabbed it out of the air and pulled the frog toward him. The beast wasn’t expecting Deacon to be stronger than it. It tried to stop its forward momentum toward Deacon by pushing against the water with its wart legs, but they were meant for gliding not gripping. Deacon had the tongue in his left hand flared his claws in his right. Once the frog was less than two feet away from him due to the force of the yank, he slashed down at the tongue slicing through it like fresh hot mozzarella separating off of a slice of pizza. The frog croaked and wailed as the tongue was viciously torn to shreds. Unfortunately for the frog it’s momentum dragged it closer to Deacon who proceeded to rip it apart like a gerbil carving through shredded wheat. Deacon made sure to claim it’s soul getting a twenty percent increase to his soul bar. He noted that these things were considered rare if they give out that much soul energy.

The swamp water was filled with chunks of frog and blood. Deacon finally made it to the lily pad; sure it would hold his weight considering the frog that just sat on it. He crawled up onto the pad noting that his legs were covered in mud from the knees down. He expected the lily pad to feel fleshy like a plant, but it felt more like concrete. That was strange. If the swamp got any deeper, he was going to have a hell of time getting through this area. That’s when he realized that he would definitely have been eaten by The Unsatiated if he didn’t put it to sleep. That shot a spike of fear up his spine. How long would it stay asleep? Sunrise hit the trees around Deacon, shocking him out of his reverie. He needed to keep moving.

“Now what will you do?” asked Sun Wu.

“If you are so concerned, you could fly your ass down here and help,” answered an angry Deacon.

“But then you wouldn’t learn anything,” responded Wu with a cackle in his voice.

“You could have helped out with that fight, you know,” Deacon answered back.

“Calling that a fight is like calling a drunkard agile. For a Nether monk, your Kung Fu is lousy,” scoffed Sun Wu.