《Press Start to Play》 Chapter One- Start Chapter One- Start Eric woke up, face down against a smooth stone ground. Looking around, it seemed to be made up of bricks. As Eric started to look up, he realised that there were a number of stone arches over and around him, leading up to a circler roof. The brick work hadn¡¯t aged well and beyond the pedestal Eric was on top of, a large open field stretched out, rolling into hills. He stepped out of it, stone felt hard and cold under his bare feet, holding on to one of the arched columns to support himself. He felt light-headed and his legs wobbled like jelly. The sky was a definitive, dark blue, not quite night or day perhaps morning. As Eric stepped out into the grassy fields, he become very aware of the chilling breeze that constantly bombarded him. The wind wasn¡¯t strong enough to influence Eric¡¯s plain white shirt or the cotton sweat pants below. His arms clung to his torso in an attempt to keep warm, and he put one foot in front of him, then another. The grass felt soft but the ground under it was cold, hard and uneven. A single, well trodden path led Eric away from the stone structure. Ahead of him was a iron railed fence that surrounded the stone structure on all sides, the path would lead him to the only entrance, a gate with two figures standing on either side of it. They where a fair distance away, enough that Eric could barely make them out and wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they didn¡¯t see him either, ¡°that would put them at maybe 3 miles away,¡± Eric thought to himself, another breeze hit him, ¡°Je-Jesus it¡¯s cold.¡± He muttered as he kept on walking. The path itself was dry and hard, so he avoided walking on it directly, instead walking over the grass besides it. His hear formed tight curls that wouldn¡¯t sway in the breeze, meaning that while his face was deathly cold, the top of his head was well insulated. The, largely unseen, hair on his arms stood on end and he rubbed then with equally cold hands. Somehow he was used to being much warmer then this, yet he couldn¡¯t remember way or how. He wasn¡¯t quite sure why he was here in the first place, and for the moment, Eric really didn¡¯t care. Eric¡¯s attention was taken away from the cold and drawn towards simply staying up right, he felt a light-headed for a second then it passed. He looked around confused, then he looked up at the red sky. The moon, that had seemed so unremarkable before, was now oddly black. Eric¡¯s eyes were then drawn away from the moon and towards the source of a noise, looking to his left, he saw an overgrown frog pick itself up and stare at Eric. It was bright green with bulbous red eyes and lines for pupils. Each finger stretched out as it seemed to roll its shoulders. It bent down on its front arms, raising its arse into the air before kicking off against the ground. The frog soared through the air. The dog sized frog tackled Eric hard enough to push him to the ground. It hurt, a lot, in that moment Eric became oddly aware of something. He didn¡¯t know how he knew, but the number 11 flashed in his mind. Eric had lost so much and was left with only 4. Eric coughed up blood, spewing up into the air only for it to fall back onto Eric¡¯s face. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The question was, 4 of what. It pained him horribly, like he was going to die. It panicked him, terrified him as if his life was in danger. At the same time, the frog sat on top of him, letting its weight pin him to the ground. It didn¡¯t try to do much else, yet it was breathing heavily, like it was tired. Eric pushed up against it and threw it off of him desperately. With that Eric began stumbling away from the creature that was lazily waddling towards him. Eric didn¡¯t fully understand what the numbers were, but he did know that he wasn¡¯t going to let it reach 0. His entire torso felt exposed and pained. He couldn¡¯t let the frog attack him again, so he kept his distance ¨Cno-he ran away. After several metres the sky just faded back into blue. Eric turned his head back only to find that the frog had disappeared. Having ran, even for the brief moment, Eric became aware of another set of numbers: this time he lost 3 and was left with 19. ¡°4 and 19,¡± Eric thought to himself, he couldn¡¯t imagine what the importance of these numbers were. That¡¯s when the breeze hit again and Eric considered returning to the path. Eric sighed and moved onwards. After a couple minutes, 4 became 9 while the 19 didn¡¯t improve. But before Eric reached the gate, he was approached by another frog and again, sky turned red the moment they appeared. On both occasions, Eric ran until the sky turned blue again. In the end of it all Eric reached the gate without suffering any more damage. When he did reach the gate he was greeted by an armoured soldier. ¡°You look like shit.¡± He observed and tossed something towards Eric. He barely caught it with both hands. ¡°What is this?¡± Eric asked, studying the vial of red liquid with a cork sealing it closed. Eric clenched at the vial and the cork, turning it around in an attempt to unscrew it. ¡°Do you want help with that?¡± The guard asked as he ushered Eric to the other side of the gate. ¡°No,¡± Eric grunted until it finally popped open, ¡°I got it.¡± Eric experimentally sipped the red liquid. It was surprisingly flavourless, like water, yet the moment Eric took a sip, 9 became 10 and he started to feel better. Eric downed the drink and the sore regions of Eric¡¯s¡¯ body were soothed into tranquil peace. The guard was considerably older than Eric, that much was plain to see, that being said Eric was the taller of the two and it seemed strange that he would be so confident. The other guard however, seemed content with simply standing there, ignoring Eric and staying decidedly at his post. ¡°You can call me Tim.¡± The first guard said, ¡°Now lets get you out of here.¡± Chapter Two- Zone One- The Forest Chapter Two- Zone One- The Forest Tim and Eric followed a path into the forest, while still in earshot of the other guard, Tim began by explaining away a lot of Eric¡¯s initial questions.¡°First off,¡± Tim said, ¡°By now you¡¯ve probably been in the red zone right?¡± The trees of the forest were bare and the twisted branches swayed in a breeze that tormented Eric but didn¡¯t seem to bother Tim. Eric considered this while giving a wickedly formed tree a wide berth, god this is freaky, ¡°Red zone, you mean-¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Tim interrupted, ¡°the place where all the random encounters happen. Monsters called echoes exist in the red zone, invisible to you or I right upuntil they drag you into their world.¡± ¡°But why?¡± Eric asked, speeding up to be closer to his armed guard. His feet didn¡¯t appreciate this, sending a spike of pain up at Eric as he passed somekind of stone. ¡°Echoes,¡± Tim answered oblivious to Eric¡¯s discomfort, ¡°like the name would suggest, are spirit like creatures that kill animals in order to take theirform.¡± Tim explained, looking around at his surroundings, ¡°The stronger and more intelligent the form, the more powerful the echo becomes, in the end,that¡¯s all they seem to care about.¡± He stomped onwards in his armoured bronze boots, ¡°If an echo becomes strong enough,¡± Tim continued, ¡°it becomes aman-eater, beings that exists both in the red and blue zone preying on those that cross its path.¡± With that Tim stopped in his tracks. ¡°The blue zone is this place right?¡± Eric asked, stopping besides Tim and looking at the face under Tim¡¯s helmet. At this point they had been walking forat least ten or fifteen minutes, and at a relatively fast pace, which would put them well beyond earshot of the first guard. Tim seemed to considersomething, then grimly move on along the path, ¡°Come on,¡± He said as he led the way. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Eric asked. ¡°Nothing.¡± Tim said, then he put on a smile and asked, ¡°So what was your name again?¡± Eric got embossed after realising that he still hadn¡¯t said even that much, ¡°Uh- Eric. My name¡¯s Eric. So, where are we going?¡± Tim simply said ¡°There¡¯s a town, an eternal blue zone where the echoes can¡¯t get to you,¡± ¡°And why are we out here then,¡± Eric asked ¡°We were protecting the spawning centre, that¡¯s where you came from. New people won¡¯t come unless we give it enough room, that¡¯s why the gates are there,¡±Tim said starkly. For a while, the two continued to walk, all the while the sun was rising and the sky was growing brighter. ¡°Well Eric,¡± Tim finally broke the silence. Tim stopped altogether, his back faced away from Eric. It was faint, but Eric could see something shimmeringoff of him. Tim was giving off some kind of red mist, ¡°DIE,¡± Tim unsheathed the spear strapped to his back and turned, ¡°WIDE SWIPE!¡± Time called out andsure enough, he swung his arm, pulling the long pole of the spear behind it. It all happened so fast, it almost seemed as if the spear was bending with howquickly it was being swung. The bladed tip of the spear was a blur of iron fury cutting through the air in a deadly arc. Fortunately, Eric had realised Tim¡¯s plan a while back and had already backed away. Eric wasn¡¯t sure why, but Tim had wanted to kill Eric from the momentthey met and at the same time, Tim wanted to do so outside of the view of his armed companion. The red mist, spilled from Tim¡¯s body, giving everything around Tim a reddish tint. This confirmed Eric¡¯s suspicions. The person once called Tim, had beenkilled by an echo and replaced without anyone noticing. Still, much like the giant frog before him, Tim paused after his first attack. Eric assumed it hadsomething to do with the numbers. The same numbers that determined whether or not Eric would live, also determined how often Tim could use that techniqueof his. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Despite that, Tim jogged towards Eric and experimentally jabbed at Eric, there was no commitment behind the attacks and Eric was able to avoid them withoutany real difficulty, side stepping around one attack after another. At the same time, the red mist had grown to a point where it had enveloped the surroundings of both Tim and Eric. However it had stopped being a mist, fromtheir perspective, the entire world was given a thin layer of red paint, from the sky to the ground. Eric watched the spear closely, all the while thinking of a way out of this. From what he remembered, his own number, the second set especially, wouldn¡¯timprove while he moved. Meaning that Tim probably won¡¯t be able to use that move again, that or he can use if and this Tim was only playing with Eric. Ifthat was the case then Eric¡¯s as good as dead the moment he enters Tim¡¯s¡¯ range of attack and even if its not, unlike Eric, Tim had armour which wasnaturally covering the especially vulnerable spots like the stomach and crotch. He could try running away, but that would mean turning his back to thisdeathly spear. Shit, shit, shit, Eric thought to himself. He just couldn¡¯t see this ending well. He was going to die to this thing and they both knew it. 19 became 17, then 15. Crap, Eric thought, his stamina was depleting, he couldn¡¯t keep this up. He looked at Tim¡¯s face, one which had been perfectlyordinary not so long ago, and saw the twisted face or a murderer. One filled with glee. Eric was convinced that Tim here was up to something and wasn¡¯tgoing to let himself die easily. So Eric threw a hand back to feel for a tree. After meeting the bark of a bare tree, Eric kicked off against the tree and reeled behind the tree, puttingit between himself and the murderous being between them. Eric didn¡¯t stop there though, feeling relatively safe Eric turned and tried to run. Horror sentEric into a sprint and he glanced back to find Tim falling behind. Eric could have guessed that the armour that Tim was wearing would naturally slow him down. For a moment this actually comforted Tim. [Stamina has fallen to 14] Somewhere behind Eric, Tim screeched, releasing a twisted monstrous sound, a mix somewhere between a piercing squawk and a powerful roar. Eric didn¡¯t darelook back, he ran through the forest until the sky fell back into blue. By the time Eric finally stopped running- [Stamina has fallen to 7] -Jesus, that was exhausting, Eric thought to himself. He was all but heaving. He leaned against a tree and stared out, ¡°Di-¡± Eric huffed, ¡°Did I loose-him.¡± That being said, Eric wasn¡¯t about to forget about to forget this. He looked around for some kind of record, ultimately he found a branch that had fallento the ground. Eric striped it down and then struck a tree, it held together, ¡°Good enough¡­I guess.¡± Eric commented. [Equipped: makeshift wooden short-sword] Wow, Eric thought to himself, this interface was getting awfully sophisticated. Eric took this and hid under a thicket of greenery. It was ratheruncomfortable, but beggars can¡¯t be choosers and Eric rested for a while. Chapter Three- Zone One- The Forest Chapter Three- Zone One- The Forest He sat there in the cold, his back stabbed by the thorns of a bush he hoped wasn¡¯t poisonous, what if he-it finds me, Eric thought, what do I do when- how could I- Jesus Christ I¡¯m going to die here, I¡¯m going to die bare foot in the middle of fucking nowhere. Eric¡¯s¡¯ thoughts ran rampant with him. He started to breath heavily, started to feel light-headed. Eric propped himself up with an arm. The world was closing in around him and there was nothing he could do about it. Minutes passed and Eric¡¯s¡¯ breathing started to slow back down, he took one last big- shaky- breath. [Stamina has fallen to 6] ¡°How?¡± Eric asked, almost laughing at the fact. Shit, now I¡¯m going to hysteria, Eric supposed, giggling to himself regardless. Finally, he let out a sigh. It had already been a while and there was no sign of the monster, ¡°maybe I did loose him? Yeah I lost him. He¡¯s gone and I lost him,¡± Eric kept repeating that, each time growing jollier each time. Eric almost couldn¡¯t believe his luck. He drew a deep, cold, breath, through his nostrils. And he forced himself to calm down and think. On a whim he spoke to himself, ¡°Menu.¡± And with a ping sound, a bright window appeared in Eric¡¯s¡¯ face. The majority of the window was blank, though there were several tiles, buttons, to open. There weren¡¯t any labels, just images and not a single one of them made any sense to Eric. He tried reaching out for a tile, sure enough, the display changed. At the top:
NameEric
RaceHuman
ClassN/A
Level1
StatueMildly Hungry
And then there''s:
Health2525
Mana2424
Stamina2222
Attack2636 (+10)
Defence2533 (+8)
Magic Attack1919
Magic Defence1818
Speed1717 (-0)
Luck2020
Growth7171
Eric seemed somewhat disappointed by his lack of a class, while his race, namely a human, actually managed to reassure him. Then there was his status, ¡®mildly hungry¡¯, until he saw that he had barely noticed how hungry he had become. It was dreadful, an emptiness in his stomach that demanded satisfaction, and yet this was only mild. The inner beast that is Eric¡¯s¡¯ stomach to the chance to groin, I wonder how bad its going to be when I¡¯m actually ¡®Hungry¡¯, Eric thought as he rubbed his belly in an attempt to quell the beast. As for his stats, while he assumed they weren¡¯t the best, without something to compare it to there was really no point in it. Still, the growth stat filled will him with a semblance of hope, but he kept reminding himself that, for all he new, this was relatively ordinary or completely spectacular. Eric touches the display, hoping to get something more out of the page and the window ripples around his finger tips. The window slide at his touch, revealing even more information:
AffinityBaseTotal
Red16%6% (-10%)
Blue18%28% (+10%)
Green18%28% (+10%)
Yellow9%9%
White10%10%
Black9%9%
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Eric wasn¡¯t quiet sure what to make of that either. So he put it away, closing the menu altogether. After a while longer, boredom caused Eric to all but forget about his fear, so he cautiously stepped out from his cover. Almost as soon as he stepped out, the sky went red and a large black crow, a monster perched on a branch, presented itself to Eric. This time he would not run away. Eric readied his stick, holding it firmly with both hands. The crow made the first attack, disappearing behind the twisted branches of the trees then diving in at Eric, talons extended and primed to dig in. Eric avoided the first attack with a side step. With that he got a feel for how fast this bird could go, and honestly it wasn¡¯t that fast. As long as Eric could keep track of its whereabouts there wasn¡¯t much to fear from this particular creature. On its second dive, Eric avoided it at first, only to spin on his heel, swinging as he did so. The result: his wooden stick flowed into a wide arc, crashing into the huge bird for a perfect hit. Dispite that, hitting the bird was like hitting something remarkably heavy, this was a real living thing that Eric was attacking. A wave of guilt rushed over him as the crow recovered and flew straight at him. Distracted, Eric failed to avoid the attack, and its talons where allowed to grab and shred chunks of his hair. [Health has fallen to 18] Desperately, Eric batted it away, he was bleeding now, and all his guilt had been watched away with the gribble of blood. He pursued the monster crow, bludgeoning it again and again before it could recover, Eric that beat it to the ground before the notice: [Stamina has fallen to 8] He stopped, and started breathing heavily over the corpse. The red sky became blue again and the crow dissipated into a shining light that seemed to get sucked into Eric without him having to do anything. "I...did...the...right...thing." Eric told himself as he recalled the bloodied form of the animal. Eric slumped back to the ground. ¡°That could have gone better.¡± He mumbled, as he looked at his aching feet, they were browned by the mud and dirt, at least more so than usual. With his free hand he felt the top of his head, studying the once full head of tight curly hair. It was still tender from where the bird had clawed at him, with one scratch going as far down as his forehead. He wiped away the blood which brought his attention to his hands, Jesus they¡¯re purple, Eric exclaimed. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise it was this cold,¡± He said to himself, realising this took a few deep breathes, which then became moist puffs of warm air targeting his hands. He stayed in that spot for a moment to catch his breath and regain some stamina, there was no point moving around with at least some points. His stomach growled profusely throughout the affair. Finally, with 14 stamina points to his name, Eric got up and started in the direction he was sure would lead back to the path. Chapter Four- Zone One- The Forest Chapter Four- Zone One- The Forest Eric made for a brisk walk through the trees, it was midday and wasn¡¯t anywhere near as cold as it had been. Light slipped through the branches of thetrees illuminating Eric¡¯s¡¯ surrounding. The trees and ground seemed to blend together into dull browns, a grim view indeed. After a few minutes, Eric found a the path with two deep inclines on either side of it. In that time he noticed a number of animals: squirrels, and a fox,both of which avoided him entirely. In the distance, he could hear the squawking of a flock of crows. When he finally reached the path, Eric took a moment to consider which way to go. With any luck the path would lead to the safe zone Tim had mentioned.Shit, Eric thought, if I stick to the path that fucker might find me. Almost on queue, the sky flashed red. Eric looked around desperately and found the echo causing it. With a sigh of relief, he pointed his sword at themonster. The fox monster craned its head, as if it was considering the best way to rip into its new toy. Its fur was slick and thinnest around its black legs whilethick over the bulk of its body. Its legs, where the fur was thinnest, boasted a number of robust and defined muscles. At the end of those legs wheredisastrous yellow claws. Its eyes where a carnal yellow and its teeth looked more like nails. There was no running from this thing. Eric could see that much also, his stamina was low and there was no way he last very long. This had to end quickly.At least he wouldn¡¯t feel bad, killing something so despicable looking. The beast dashed at him, before he even realised, the beast was on top of him. Eric threw himself back, but it quickly closed the space between them byleaping towards Eric. In that moment, Eric reeled the sword back to his side and tightened his grip. As the space between him and the monster closed, Eric pulled with his leftarm, and twisting at his hips as the stick wiped around and hit the beast in its side. A loud smack was made audible and the monster fell back to theground, rolling down the incline to the left of the path, before finally hitting a tree that solidly caught the beast. Eric watched as it picked itself up. It glared up at Eric, growling. Climbing up the hill and leaping at Eric it gave a sharp bark before closing its fangs Eric¡¯s¡¯ leg. Seeing this, he triedto pull his leg back, smacking downwards at the beast as he did so. Despite his efforts, the fox managed to catch his leg in its jaw. [health has fallen to 9] Shit, Eric¡¯s¡¯ blow hit its neck and it let go of his leg, retreating before quickly recovering. Eric could barely keep track of it as it literally rancircles around it before lashing out at Eric¡¯s¡¯ side again. [health has fallen to 2] Fuck, Eric, now holding the stick in one hand, started desperately pounding against the fox. Striking at it once, knocking its head down towards theground, it tried to retreat but Eric didn¡¯t let up, striking it again, this time bouncing it against hard floor. [stamina has fallen to 4] With this Eric was huffing and puffing, feeling awfully light-headed. His leg was bleeding, and while it hurt like hell, he could still put weight on it,so probably wasn¡¯t broken. The fox wasn¡¯t looking too good either. Its head was hanging low and kept bobbing, as if it was having a hard time staying conscious, that and it wasbleeding from the top of its head. It never stopped staring at Eric, though it was clear that it was backing away. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°DON¡¯T YOU DARE RUN AWAY!¡± Eric screamed, running at the beast- or rather limping at it. The fox started to turn around, but Eric caught with his bloodystick first, whacking the beast into the ground but he didn¡¯t stop there, as Eric continued to bludgeon the fox into the ground, causing blood to spray andsplatter as the beast slowly went limp. Finally it died, breaking Eric¡¯s¡¯ stick in the process. [unequipped: makeshift wooden short-sword] The corpse dissolved into light and the sky faded back into the blue of the day. [your level has increased to 2] [your level has increased to 3] [Max Health has increased from 25 to 38] [Max Mana has increased from 24 to 35] [Max Stamina has increased from 22 to 27] [Base Attack has increased from 26 to 38] [Base Defence has increased from 25 to 47] [Base Magic Attack has increased from 19 to 32] [Base Magic Defence has increased from 18 to 31] [Base Speed has increased from 17 to 30] [Base Luck has increased from 20 to 35] [Health, Stamina and Status has been reset] Eric saw this and gave a sigh of relief. The bleeding had stopped and the scars had already closed up, leaving his leg feeling almost as good as new. He looked down at his broken bloody stick and found himself tearing up, remembering the way it tried to run away from him, and how easily he had condemnedit to death. He cleared the tears from his face and started down a random side of the path. Still, at least he learned something from all this, as long as he keeps fighting and levelling up, Eric wouldn¡¯t need to eat or sleep. Eric followed the path, watching his surroundings intently. It wasn¡¯t long before he caught the attention of yet another echo, this time a crow much like the one he faced earlier. It soared over the red sky before swooping down as a black blur. It was certainly faster, faster then Eric, realising that there was no way he could keeptrack of it, much less attack the far more mobile opponent. Eric simply waited. During this time he caught himself thinking about how different thismonster was, from the previous echo crow he had killed. It swooped down and mauled at his face, in very much the same way the last crow had. It flapped its wings and stayed in place as its sharp talons startedripping into Eric¡¯s¡¯ head. And while it definitely hurt, it only managed to make shallow cuts. [health had fallen to 37] Eric took this chance to reach up at the monsters wings and grabbing clumps of its feathers. It squawked rapidly and Eric struggled to hold it in place. Ina matter of seconds, it had managed to rip itself free from the feathers that Eric had in his hands. It retreated altogether and the sky faded back to blue. Eric frowned at that and started feeling his wounded forehead again, why do they keep going for my forehead, Eric asked for himself. He started back on the path, it would only be a matter of time before he found someone or something that could explain what the hell it going on. Chapter Five- Zone One- The Forest Chapter Five- Zone One- The Forest On the path, Eric found himself facing a mysterious figure. Exercising caution Eric tried ducking down behind some bushes. This didn¡¯t result in muchhowever; the figure was sat on an odd steed. It was a great big golden retriever. Its floppy ears sagged on either side of its head, swinging outrageously as it stopped and turned to face Eric¡¯sdirection. With its large black eyes, the dog gave a confused look. Its rider, a cloaked individual merely looked at Eric for a while. ¡°You know I saw you dive for the bushes right?¡± a feminine voice called out. The dog gave a bark, as if confirming its masters remark. Eric got up and considered running, but remembered how quickly the dog closed the space between them earlier. There would be no point in running, Ericconcluded. So he considered fighting, and, as if it could read his mind, the horse-sized dog gave a wide yawn, demonstrating: one, that Eric¡¯s¡¯ head fitperfectly inside its mouth and, two, its teeth could, without question, snap him in half. So no, no to fighting, Eric concluded. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Eric asked. ¡°Hello I¡¯m Annie and Eric; you really should start with your name when you meet someone new.¡± Annie scolded him. ¡°Wait,¡± Eric scanted his eyes in disgust, ¡°what the fuc-¡° Annie pointed at him, ¡°Language.¡± Giving him an angry glare. ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®language¡¯ ME,¡± Eric started getting annoyed, ¡°Who do you think you are?¡± ¡°I just told you,¡± She said blankly, as if it was the simplest thing in the world, ¡°I¡¯m Annie.¡± ¡°And how the fuc-¡± Eric tried to maintain his angry tone, Jesus this woman is hopeless. ¡°Language!¡± Annie said, as if hurt by Eric¡¯s¡¯ fowl tongue. ¡°Ok,¡± Eric conceded, ¡°How did you know who I am?¡± ¡°Oh,¡± She said as if it was normal to know a strangers name, ¡°Why I scanned you, silly. Which reminds me, would you like a ride, a level three like youshouldn¡¯t be out here after dark.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Eric digested that, assuming it was some kind of spell, ¡°How do I know I can trust you? What are you doing out here?¡± Annie was silenced by this; she took off her hood, revealing long brown locks of smooth well kept hair, high round cheeks on either side of a beaming redsmile. ¡°You can trust me, you have my word.¡± She said, as if it was that simple, ¡°As for what I¡¯m doing here, well I¡¯m on a fetch quest, you¡¯re probablymet Tim right,¡± she didn¡¯t wait for a response, ¡°Well he¡¯s¡¯ my brother and I was hoping for some help.¡± At Tim¡¯s name, Eric started to feel guilty. Should he break it the news to her, despite being obnoxious she seemed like a nice person. Fuck, he was goingto tell her, this better not ruin my ride outta here, Eric thought to himself. ¡°Right, about that,¡± Eric said, walking out of the bushes and back onto thepath, ¡°You should probably kn-¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.Annie gasped, much to Eric¡¯s¡¯ confusion, ¡°You don¡¯t have shoes!¡± she pointed out. ¡°Yeah, I noticed,¡± Eric tried to push past this development, but Annie started sliding off of the dog, ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Get on the dog.¡± Annie said, gesturing to the saddle, encase Eric got lost or something. ¡°Listen to what I-¡± Before Eric could finish he was getting pushed towards the retriever, which lowered itself down for him, ¡°look this is important,¡± Ericcalled out, already on top of the dog. God it felt nice to be off of the ground, Eric hadn¡¯t released how much he put his feet through. ¡°You know,¡± Annie began, ¡°I know a spell that¡¯ll fix those right up, but I suppose that should wait until we¡¯re out of the forest. Well lets get going.¡±She started leading the dog down the path. ¡°Wai-¡± Eric tried to speak up. ¡°Look,¡± She said in a motherly tone, ¡°you¡¯re practically my guest at this point, what would you have me do, leave you to walk with feet like that? Just letme take care of you.¡± She might as well of said, ¡°shut up¡±. Eric sighed in defeat; he was going to have to face that monster again. At the same time it could have been worse. At least he wouldn''t be alone, betweenthis huge as dog, and Annie (who Eric assumed was powerful in some way), it might just turn out okay. Then he imagined what it would be like to find out his brother was a monster like that, did he have a brother, fuck- surely that would be something anyonecould answer. Which brought to mind another thought. How did this Annie know Tim was her brother, while they were both white but they didn''t exactly looksimilar. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" Eric asked after a moment of silence passed. "Shoot cowboy." She looked back at him. "Is Tim your real bother?" Eric asked. Annie didn''t answer at first, letting the question hang in a way that made Eric feel guilty, "No, we spawned into this world at the same time, so we spenta lot of those early days together. In my book, that counts for something right." She smiled back at Eric and he nodded in agreement. "Then there''s something I need to tell you." Eric said. Annie sighed, "Why are you so serious?" "Tim," Eric tried to find the right words, "He''s been possessed by an echo." Annie didn''t skip a beat, walking as if she hadn''t heard a thing. "Tim''s a man-eater." Eric said bluntly. Annie kept leading her dog, "Oh, that reminds me," Annie said, "I named my dog Sir Jimmy, you know, because it¡¯s similar to Tim." She didn''t look back at Eric, and based on her voice alone, she didn''t seem phased in the slightest. Eric gave a concerned look to the back of her head,"Do you want to stop for a moment?" Annie just kept walking and Eric really didn''t know what to say anymore, so they continued in silence.