Say goodnight, or stand and fight

Senkar had been straining to stay on the surface for more than an hour.

The rapid current carried him seemingly forever. He had thought the ravine he found was just that, a curious feature of the area. The conditions were right, so it happened. But this was not the case at all, as he quickly discovered. It was an interconnected system of natural trenches, sometimes hundreds of metres deep. The existence of such geographical features made no natural sense to him, and the amount of water flowing through them so rapidly could not come from just a single torrential downpour. He had to remind himself this was a fantasy world, unbeholden to any natural laws. It was what it wanted to be, or what its maker wanted it to be, and that was it. Not that he had the time to ponder geology while fighting for his life, nor to appreciate the irony of calling himself a Diver who now struggled to stay afloat.

The ravines twisted and turned, and the current was strong, tumultuous, and unpredictable, forming treacherous maelstroms that risked pulling him under the surface. At times it merged with other currents feeding into the upswell, and at all times the water carried objects he had to avoid or push away, like branches or whole trees. There were unfortunate animals too, and one or two beasts of unknown but certainly fantastical taxonomy.

His initial panic turned into tenacity when he spent some time fighting the current and was still alive. If this is all that can happen to me down here, then it’s not enough to kill me, he thought. But I can’t leave it either. Both sides of the valley were extremely steep walls, and wet at that. All he could do was to accept his fate and wait for an opportunity to grab onto something stable or to be thrown into shallow water somewhere. He prayed for the stream to not go underground at some point.

The latter came sooner. He reached a really vast part of the ravine system, easily two hundred metres wide. It seemed that just like the ground collapsed under him, the same happened in his current area. A large bank of the overhead cliff had fallen into the flooding trench, giving him some ground to stand on, and potentially even an exit ramp to climb out by. But first he needed a rest, so he climbed out of the water onto some mossy rocks. The rain seemed to be relenting, and rays of sun slowly started to peek through into the valley.

He was so exhausted he did not care for comfortable positions, his body sprawled face down on whatever solid objects happened to be under him. His backpack was still on his back. I don’t want to think about the condition of things inside it. Nothing is that waterproof. The shortbow was still there but the arrows were gone, so the bow might as well have been useless too. Fewer things to carry then, he dared to find something positive in this situation.

He was not sure how much time had passed when he decided to lift himself up, but the stormy clouds were gone, unwillingly giving way to blue skies and noon sunlight. The water flowing over sand, stones, and all kinds of foliage was all he could hear. The rapid flooding did not seem to be going down any time soon. A few dozen metres from him a Krongol, a herbivorous animal, likewise picked itself up and searched for a way out. I should hunt it for food while it’s easy prey, but I only have a knife with me now. I can’t be bothered to chase it at the moment.

It’s only been less than two days since I dropped out of the Rift, and I already hate it. Sigh… can’t be helped. I better get up there already.

He turned to look at the collapsed wall of the valley, and something odd caught his attention immediately. The landslide was not just dirt and rocks, but pieces of what looked too regular to be natural. It looked like chunks of something larger. It looked dark, but glistened in the sun as if it had some polish to it. This was his chosen way out of the valley, so he waded through knee-high water towards it, then trudged up the treacherous terrain. When one of the dark objects happened to be on his way, he reached down to pick it up, and was relieved it was not warm nor naturally glowing. In real life, hot pieces of masonry were extremely bad news. But it did look like masonry. There were definitely patterns chiseled on it, but the piece was so small he had no way to tell what the pattern was as a whole.

He dropped the piece and continued climbing uphill, and even before cresting the top of the ridge he noticed he stood at the foot of something remarkable, and somewhat ominous. It was a pyramid of huge proportions, the smooth-wall type rather than the stepped one, with a large portal on one side that was blocked by a metallic slab. The whole thing looked ancient due to the wear and fade on the chiseled details, the dust and soil covering it here and there, small plants, and all kinds of stains and traces left by fauna and flora.

But the most obvious detail was that the structure was damaged. Fractured. And the culprit was the river passing too close to it, eroding the soil underneath it and slowly crumbling its foundations. For how long this was happening Senkar was unable to tell, but the cracks were just now touching the portal, and the damage seemed to hurt the pyramid. The cracks bled red miasma that he would rather not touch, but curiously noted the miasma was not affected by air movements. It did not disperse, it did not get carried away. It just hung in the air, swaying, billowing. Senkar decided he wanted nothing to do with it and gave it a wide berth, but kept it in view just in case.

Another odd anomaly was that the structure stood on a completely barren ground. Not a thing grew within a bow shot of it. Beyond that range, life seemed to be doing as usual - grasses, bushes, trees, giant mushrooms. Yeah, I’ve been seeing them for a while now.

Anyway, I need to sort out my belongings, see what’s ruined and what’s still useful. This structure is easily two hundred metres high, stands on a plain - although in a bit of a dip, now that I look closely - but I could not see it from that hill this morning. I’m not sure how I missed it. Maybe I mistook it for a hill? In the distance, black can look like a dark green…

I don’t like this place. It’s too open, I don’t trust the ground under my feet, and that Pyramid looks like trouble. Senkar no longer bothered to dry things. He picked a random place on the less dead part of the area, just unpacked everything, examined it, and kept what was useful. Most of the food was now a soggy mess, the parchments all stuck to each other but when dried, they would probably still be useful. The writing tool was gone though. The worst of all, is that his most important possession was damaged despite the formerly-waterproof tube. Gone was the etheric tingling he felt from it before. The Scroll of Town Portal was now magically inert. Just a scrap of paper with runes written on it.

That means the only way home is by death, and that means mission failure.

—

I’m not going to fail or die here.

Let’s sum up.

In a way, the watery accident did me a favor. It carried me roughly northwest, so more or less in the direction I wanted to go, and much faster than my legs would carry me. I must have travelled two or three dozen kilometers.

I’m uninjured - if that is even possible for me - and still stronger than a regular man.

I have almost no food, but drinkable water is more important, and that’s easy to find. A regular human can survive up to three days without water and up to thirty days without food. Granted, after a fraction of that the body will start shutting down, but survival is possible.

I found something really remarkable - this pyramid thing - which was part of my objective. Whatever it is, it’s probably important. I’ve only observed it only for a few moments, and-

-what the frakk is it doing?

His situation assessment was interrupted by a change in the behavior of the red miasma leaking from the Pyramid’s cracked portal. As he was watching, it shifted and shuddered, and fell to the ground. It took shape and coalesced into a living being, not very tall but quite long from head to tail. A shape with claws and a jaw full of teeth. Its body was sleek, its skin was leathery-smooth and crimson-hued, its four-legged hunched posture was that of a carnivore, and most bizarrely of all, it lacked any receptor organs on its prow-shaped “head”. No eyes, no ears, no nose. And yet it turned its empty face directly at Senkar with pinpoint accuracy, watching from a few dozen feet away.

A Warp Predator.

Senkar turned to run as fast as he could. He did not check if the beast pursued.

That’s a Warp Predator! And that thing behind it spawns monsters! Run! Just run! Into the thickest growth possible!

Now that he paid attention, he noticed the dirt beaten and trampled unevenly here and there as if somethings had passed over it, but he had not heard any sounds of life nearby. No birds or anything. Animals knew to stay away from this area, but something passes this way regularly.

He knew about Warp Predators from the days when NAVIS was still online, not offline. It was a rare enemy that could manifest anywhere in the game’s outdoor areas, and what Senkar knew about its capabilities and behavior was enough to fill him with adrenaline. There were two things players could do about Warp Predators: say goodnight, or stand and fight. The enemy was not a challenge for max-level characters.

Senkar had not been even half-way to max-level, and his equipment was adequate only to his level, and more importantly, he was unarmed. A fight was not an option, so he ran. He ran, trying to pass as close to obstacles such as trees, rocks, fallen logs, crevices. This decision already saved his life once, when a splashing sound behind him told Senkar the Warp Predator used its signature move. It teleports behind its prey, often following with a lunging attack right after this “flash” or “blink”, but it is momentarily disoriented after the blink. Senkar had taken a hard turn around a smooth, black obelisk (what is that doing here?!) causing the beast to crash at it instead. He kept running, repeating the pattern, and jumping whenever he heard the sound - the Predator usually aimed for legs.

Senkar was under no illusion that he could escape. This monster always knew where its prey was, once it set its eyeless sights on it. Can’t escape. Can’t fight. Can’t keep running forever. I will get tired before it does because it’s a damn teleporting cheater. I need solutions. What the frakk do I do!?

He thought about the Warp Predator’s second ability. It was a defensive one so Senkar was safe from it, as long as he did not threaten that aberration. He had an idea. An improvisation more than a plan. He bent to pick up a thick, broken branch, and kept running. I need a drop. A ridge, a sinkhole, a cliff, anything.

He found a cliff before long, and ironically enough, beneath it was the same crag he had climbed out of not long ago. He ran to it, then ran along it for a moment, long enough for the Warp Predator to skitter right along the same edge. Senkar slowed, hoping this would make the monster not teleport. The monster closed. He looked overhead, judging the distance. Now was the time.

He did as fast a stop and turnaround as was possible, and aimed the most powerful kick he could muster into the Warp Predator’s head. This isn’t the kind of damage a level 100 could do with a proper weapon, but the force behind a human kick at full strength is still serious. So what are you going to do now, asshole? Take it or dodge it?

A fraction of a second before the boot’s top connected with the Warp Predator’s head, the beast vanished. Senkar did not lose concentration even for a moment. He immediately ran forward, backtracking a dozen of his own steps. He had like three seconds to get in position, because this was the amount of time Warp Predators could go back in time to dodge incoming damage. Senkar had to estimate the right spot by guesswork and instinct. He waited a heartbeat or two.

With a pop, the Warp Predator manifested back in reality exactly where it was about three seconds before, only to receive the real kick in its flank, a kick that Senkar had put all of his frustration and rage into. He even could feel something breaking inside it. The monster yelped, and tumbled down the edge into rapid water currents.

‘HAH! Take this, you son of a slug!’ Senkar yelled, and spat for good measure, then turned away from the edge lest it collapsed under him again. ‘Ah, what a pity, now I have an idea how to kill it. The loot and experience would be nice and-’

A large shadow fell over him. His ears picked up the sound of beating feathered wings, but his brain did not get to process it. He was grabbed by a pair of powerful claws from behind, and lifted off the ground. The forest was becoming more and more distant underneath him.

‘Don’t struggle,’ said a male voice above him. ‘Or you will be dropped.’