A dull crack split the morning stillness, barely registering through the fog of sleep. I stirred, eyes still closed, heart thumping with the vague sense that something was wrong.
Then came a second one. Closer but much louder than before
Snap!
The sound vibrated through the ground like a warning from the earth itself. I jolted upright, breath catching as my mind scrambled to catch up. Was that a tree breaking?
Across from me, Henry rubbed his eyes, trying to clear away the remaining sleep. "What is that?"
Before I could come up with a response, another crack tore through the forest, but this time, it was just beyond the clearing.
We both scrambled to our feet, retreating back a few steps as the underbrush trembled. The treeline ahead swayed unnaturally—Then burst open.
From the foliage burst a hulking creature, its massive frame low to the ground yet disturbingly fast. At first glance, it resembled a heavily armored beast, like that of an ankylosaurus, yet somehow slim with a single horn jutting from its snout, curving down before hooking up again.
GrimeStone.
The name surfaced in my mind before I realized I'd used the skill. Level 43.
Preparing to fight, I instinctively reached out to summon my gear, but stopped mid-motion when I noticed something in its body language. The creature kept splitting its attention between us and something behind it.
Just as this thought came to me, a terrible screech rang throughout the forest before the trees behind it exploded into motion as five more creatures shot out in pursuit.
They moved like predators, but not any kind I'd seen. Insectoid, sort of. Like someone had taken a scorpion and stripped it down to its worst features, with six arched legs, a curled stinger, and a single, gleaming eye. With no pincers, just one big mouth full of teeth
Monopedal StingSights. Levels mid-thirties. The info filtered through instinctively, my ability feeding me names I wasn't even asking for.
The GrimeStone let out a guttural bellow as one of the creatures latched onto its flank, jaws sinking deep. Another darted in, striking with its tail as it scrambled up the creature's back.
The GrimeStone thrashed violently, its heavy tail whipping around in wide arcs. One of the attackers went flying into a tree with a sickening crack, but the rest pressed in, cautious but relentless. One latched onto a leg and bit down. Hard.
The clearing shook again as something massive hurtled through the trees—a boulder, ripped from the earth and flung like a projectile. It smashed into a StingSight just as it reared up on the GrimeStone's back, sending it cartwheeling into the brush.
Emily's voice cut across the chaos. "Stop gawking! Help it!" before anyone could protest. She was already moving, sprinting toward the fight.
I blinked at the fact that out of everyone here, she was the first to strike. Then, from the side of the clearing, the StingSight that had been launched into the trees burst from the forest and twisted to face us, only now noticing our presence.
Its body shifted, legs skittering across the dirt with erratic twitchy motions as if it was still recovering from being slammed into the tree.
"Here it comes!" I shouted, planting my feet.
Its teeth clattered together with an unnerving chittering sound–like bones in a grinder–growing louder with each stride. My pulse spiked. Energy surged through me as my skills flared to life, gauntlets materializing over my arms with a shimmer of black.
"Watch out!" Ella's voice rang out just as chains of pale light snapped into the clearing, angling for the creature's legs.
The StingSight didn't flinch. It moved, dodging both me and Ella's snare with a serpentine glide, limbs bending at disturbing angles. It slid across the dirt, halted for half a second, and stared at us, like it was thinking.
"It's smarter than it looks," I muttered, adjusting my stance.
I threw a glance back to find the GrimeStone still thrashing around at its enemies.
"Amelia! You, Henry, and Emily help the GrimeStone! We'll handle this one!" I barked. "Grace, stay back!"
"Already watching," Grace's voice floated from above, her board hovering high above the trees, eyes scanning from her perch like a bird.
With the others redirected, Ella and I shifted our attention back to see that the StingSight had begun to circle us, trying to get to our blind spots. Before shooting forward in a blur of motion, straight for Ella.
"Camouflage!" I shouted.
She vanished.
The creature faltered, mid-lunge, landing in empty space, momentarily confused. But just that second of confusion was all she needed. The Moon Chains whipped forward from the treeline, invisible until they weren't, snapping tight around the StingSight's legs and torso.
"Got it!" Ella's voice cut through the clearing.
I didn't hesitate. I lunged, fist raised, lightning trailing in faint arcs as I drove my fist into the creature's torso. The hit landed with a wet crunch, resounding through the clearing with finality.
The StingSight shrieked.
I followed up without pause, slamming my second strike into its chest with a roar.
Boom.
The thing burst.
Flesh, ichor, and something that smelled like liquefied death sprayed across the clearing. The explosion of gore painted my chest, arms, face–everything. I staggered back, blinking through the mess.
A second passed.
Then the smell hit.
My gut twisted violently. It was like meat left to rot in a sewer filled with sulfur.
"Ugh—!" I gagged, wiping at my face with a trembling hand. "Disgusting…"
The muck clung to my skin like thick oil, warm and slick as it crawled down my collar and along my back. I shivered, stomach twisting, as I nearly retched. But I managed to swallow it down, forcing myself to keep going.
Just then, A shrill scream rang out. Spinning, I was expecting someone to be hurt, but to my relief, it was coming from one of the creatures pinned to a tree like a grotesque insect specimen. Jagged spikes of molten stone jutted from its torso, still sizzling. I followed the trajectory back to Amelia, who stood amid the chaos like a storm given shape.
Then my eyes shifted to Emily as she ducked under a lounging creature and used her powers to slow the StingSight just long enough for the GrimeStone to rear back and crush it under its tail with a thunderous slam. The shockwave rippled through the air, followed by a splatter that left little to the imagination.
Two Left.
They hesitated, barely a second, just a twitch of legs and a half-step backward.
But that hesitation sealed their fate.
Seizing the moment, I darted forward, lightning crackling along my arm as I unleashed a chain of energy that paralyzed them, causing them to twitch erratically. Taking the moment of opportunity, Ella unleashed he Moon Blades upon the creatures, bisecting them in an instant and ending the fight right there and then.
Skidding to a stop, Ella huffed, catching her breath. "Well, that was abrupt."
"No kidding," Grace added, landing beside us. "That's one hell of a wake-up call."
Amelia stepped forward, scanning the group with a hint of relief. "I'm glad everyone's ok," she sighed as the GrimeStone, satisfied, or perhaps just disinterested, lumbered off into the forest without so much as a glance back.
"Wow, we save you, and this is the thanks we get," Henry called after it, his voice echoing theatrically through the forest.
He huffed, crossing his arms before turning to study me. "Hey," he muttered, rubbing his chin with mock seriousness. "Did you get a new haircut or something? You look… different. Can't quite put my finger on it."
I glanced down at myself—still dripping with bug guts and sludge—and let out a dry laugh. "Yeah, figured it was time for a change. Glad you noticed."
Emily approached hesitantly, holding a handful of broad leaves. "Here, uh… maybe these will help," she said, her nose wrinkling at the smell.
"Thanks," I replied, taking them gratefully. But after a few swipes, it became clear the mess wasn't going anywhere. With a resigned sigh, I pulled off my shirt, grimacing as the warm muck slid down my back like syrup.
Emily froze mid-step, face turning a shade of pink that almost matched the blood spatter on my sleeve. "O-oh—uh, right, that's… yeah, you do that," she stammered, suddenly very interested in a nearby tree.
Grace let out a low whistle, folding her arms with a grin. "Well, aren't you a sight to behold?" she teased, giving me an exaggerated once-over. "Didn't expect eye candy after a monster fight, but hey, I'll take the bonus."
Henry burst out laughing. "Careful, Grace. He's already taken!"
I rolled my eyes and tried to wipe away the rest of the muck with as much dignity as I could manage. "Hilarious," I muttered, swiping the last of the grime off my shoulders before tugging the fabric back on.
Amelia pinched her nose, half-smiling. "You're still a walking disaster. Let's find a river before someone passes out."
"I couldn't agree more," I said, slinging my pack over my shoulder. The stench still clung to me like a bad memory, but at least the worst of it was gone.
With that, we packed up and moved on, eager to put the blood-soaked clearing—and my accidental fan club—behind us.
Some time later, Ella broke the silence. "Hey, I leveled up back there."
"Nice," I said, mentally opening my interface. "Level 24 now… One more and I get to pick a class."
"That's a big milestone," Amelia said, falling in beside me. "You thought about what you'll get?"
"Honestly?" I tilted my head, considering. "No clue yet."
Henry snorted. "Figures."
Amelia just shook her head with a faint smile, and that was the end of it. The conversation faded as our focus shifted back to the trail ahead.
The path wound through dense undergrowth and low-hanging branches, the forest alive with vivid greens and shifting shadows. Despite the strain of the last couple of days, there was a raw beauty to it. The air was cleaner here, crisp, and untouched. A subtle chill had begun to creep in as well, the kind that slipped in unnoticed at first, like the forest itself was exhaling around us.
By midday, the terrain leveled, opening into a flat stretch of stone cradled beneath a ring of gnarled roots that sprawled across it like ancient veins. The cool shade overhead made it a perfect place to stop.
We dropped our packs with tired groans, grateful for the break, and settled in for a meal. I crouched and dug through my bag, only to feel the bottom far too quickly. My chest sank. A few ragged strips of jerky, that was all.
"Great," I muttered, flipping the pouch inside out as if that would change anything. Crumbs and dust stared back at me. With a sigh, I tore into one of the leathery strips anyway, chewing until my jaw ached.
Then Grace, who had been quiet for some time, perked up. "So… what's StormWatch like?"
That sparked something.
Emily perked up immediately. "Oh, you'll love it! The streets are buzzing with life, and the food... don't even get me started! There's this little café on the corner of Center Street that serves the best pastries. I swear, one bite, and you'll think you've died and gone to dessert heaven!"
Ella leaned forward slightly, her voice steady and thoughtful. "Oh, you've got to see the flying tournaments, it was like entering a whole different world. The whole town just stopped with everyone watching the sky, cheering like it was the only thing that mattered…"
Her voice began to fade, not in volume, but in presence. I let it wash over me like background static, my mind slipping somewhere quieter. My body shifted, my thoughts tangled, and for the first time in what felt like hours, I let myself lean back, elbows sinking into the soft patch of moss behind me.
I stared up at the canopy above, where sunlight broke through in shifting columns of gold. The wind moved through the branches in slow, curling currents, brushing across my skin in cool, even pulses. Leaves rustled like whispers. The kind of peace that should've felt perfect.
But it didn't.
There was something off about it. The silence between gusts stretched too long. The wind itself carried a tone I couldn't place, almost like a song I half-remembered from a dream, familiar in rhythm but dissonant in feeling. It scraped at something in the back of my mind, but I couldn't explain why.
Then I heard it.
Ribbit.
I blinked, turning my head. It was subtle, but distinct. A frog?
That wasn't the strange part. What was weird was the sound itself. It wasn't foreign. In fact, it sounded exactly like the frogs I used to hear back on Earth during rain-soaked nights… deep, slow, and oddly melodic. But that's what made it wrong.
This wasn't Earth.
Sitting up, I scanned the edge of the clearing. But there was no movement. Just trees, ferns, and dappled light. I frowned, rolling to my side and rising quietly to my feet.
Ribbit.
There it was again. A second one. With that same odd clarity.
I stepped toward the sound, brushing a low-hanging branch aside.
Behind me, Henry called out softly, "You see something?"
I held up a hand, signaling for quiet. Something about this didn't sit right, pulse I didn't want to scare it off…whatever it was.
The others fell still.
Ribbit.
This time, it was loud enough for everyone to hear as Confusion flickered across their faces.
No one spoke. We all stood, then moved together quietly, weaving through the thick underbrush with a practiced caution.
We pushed through a curtain of hanging vines and stepped into a small clearing within the forest.
And there, in the center of a shallow pond, perched on a moss-covered stone, sat the source of the sound.
A frog.
Or… something close.
Its emerald skin shimmered slightly in the light, damp and vivid. It was large, easily a foot and a half tall, its bulbous yellow eyes blinking lazily, like it had no concern in the world. It didn't move even when we got closer. It just sat there, watching us.
Ella's eyes widened. "No way! There are frogs on this planet!" she blurted, her voice ringing out with unchecked excitement.
The words hung in the air like a snapped branch in a still forest. Ella froze mid-step, mouth still half-open as realization hit her like a bag of bricks.
Grace, who had been standing beside her, turned slowly. "What do you mean, on this planet?" she asked, her tone sharp and rising with each word. Her eyes narrowed, confusion quickly warping into suspicion. "Wait… what are you saying? Are you guys not even from here?"
She took a half-step back. "You're not even human, are you?"
The clearing tensed like a coiled spring. Grace's gaze darted between us, her breath quickening, body tightening like she was one word away from bolting.
Amelia stepped forward, voice calm but brisk. "Grace, relax," she said, raising her hands in a calming gesture. "She didn't mean it like that."
Grace turned toward her, still tense. "Didn't mean what, exactly?"
"She just meant…" Amelia's voice faltered slightly. "We weren't expecting to see familiar life here, that's all. A frog is… You know, it's strange in a place like this."
Grace didn't blink.
Her eyes stayed locked on Amelia, cold and unrelenting. She wasn't buying it.
"Uh-huh," she said slowly. "You're Full of shit."
Amelia's shoulders dropped with a quiet sigh.
"…Fine."
She met Grace's gaze directly, no more excuses in her voice.
"You're right. We're not from this planet. We're probably not even from this universe."
Grace's expression shifted from suspicion to shock at Amelia's honesty. "You're serious."
"I wish I weren't," Amelia muttered, rubbing the back of her neck. "We didn't come here on purpose. It wasn't some mission or plan. There was this… structure. A monolith. One moment we were near it, and the next, we were here."
Grace hesitated, then slowly sat down on a nearby rock, still staring at us with suspicion but listening intently. "Okay," she said warily. "Start from the beginning."
Amelia nodded and gestured for us to gather around. "Henry," she said sharply as he opened his mouth, "don't." He snapped it shut, shrugging with a sheepish grin.
Amelia turned back to Grace. "To get this question out of the way: no, we don't have a spaceship. Trust me, if we did, we'd have already tried using it to figure out how to get home. And secondly, yes, we are human."
Grace raised an eyebrow. "So, all that talk about your powers coming from cores… Was that a lie, too?"
"No," Amelia replied firmly. "We never lied about that. The cores are real, and they power our abilities here. But where we come from, there's no such thing. Back home, everything relied on science and technology. The cores are as strange to us as they are to you."
Grace let out a shaky breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly. "So how did you even get here?"
Amelia launched into a brief recounting of our journey: the strange disappearance of a colony, the towering monolith we found, and the sudden, inexplicable pull that brought us to this world. She kept her tone steady and her explanations clear, though there was no denying how surreal it all sounded.
Grace sat in silence for a moment, her eyes scanning the ground as if piecing everything together. Finally, she looked up, a flicker of understanding crossing her face. "Well… I guess we're not all that different," she said softly. "This world is nothing like the one I grew up in, either."
Ella, trying to lighten the mood, gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I'm still getting used to it, too. But hey, at least we've got frogs, right?"
Grace snorted, the tension finally easing from her posture. "Sure, Ella. Frogs. The highlight of this entire world."
Henry grinned, unable to resist. "Hey, they're pretty impressive frogs, though. You've got to admit."
The group chuckled, the laughter breaking the lingering tension as we lingered by the pond. Grace seemed more relaxed now, but her eyes still carried a hint of curiosity as she glanced at each of us.
Amelia, noticing her thoughtful expression, took the opportunity to ease her further into conversation. "Grace," she began gently, "what was the planet like back then? Before everything changed?"
Grace's eyes lit up at the thought, her expression softening with a touch of nostalgia. "For one, this planet was called Verdantia," she said, her voice taking on a wistful edge. "It was… beautiful, at least when I was younger. From the way you've described Earth, it sounds a lot like it—clear skies, a balance between technology and nature, people living simpler lives."
She trailed off, gaze drifting toward the pond as a faint ripple caught the light. "Magic, though…" She gave a short, skeptical laugh and rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, that definitely wasn't a thing. If it ever existed, I must've missed the memo." Her brow furrowed slightly as she glanced back at me. "Honestly, I don't really buy into the whole 'magic' idea. Feels more like… advanced tech that no one understands yet."
She sighed softly, her expression tinged with melancholy. "It's strange, though. Coming back to a world that feels familiar but isn't quite the same. It's like walking through a dream of a place you used to know."
Amelia nodded, listening intently. "We've only been here a little over a month, so we're still trying to piece everything together. Hearing about Verdantia's past gives us some perspective."
Grace's initial wariness was replaced by genuine curiosity as she gestured toward the pond. "So, about that frog," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Is that what they're like on Earth?"
Ella couldn't resist jumping in. "Not exactly," she said, laughing softly. "Back on Earth, frogs are way smaller. Most can fit in the palm of your hand. They're not usually the size of a toddler." She gestured toward the water where the creature had last been seen. "That one's definitely unique."
Grace smirked. "Well, it seems like Verdantia's wildlife has leveled up since I was last here. Speaking of Earth, though, did you guys have hoverboards? You seemed awfully interested in mine earlier."
Ella chuckled warmly. "I wish. Hoverboards were more of a dream, a hypothetical technology we always hoped someone would figure out. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to study yours someday. It's incredible."
Grace's eyes lit up, her enthusiasm matching Ella's. "I'd love to teach you how to make one," she said, grinning. "It'd be nice to share some of Verdantia's old tech with someone who appreciates it."
Their conversation was interrupted as Amelia's tone turned practical. "Alright, enough chit-chat," she said firmly, drawing everyone's attention. "We've still got a long way to StormWatch, and daylight isn't on our side."
As we began gathering our things, Benjamin stepped closer to Grace, his expression serious. "Grace," he said quietly, "can we ask something of you?"
She raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Can you keep this a secret from the people of this world?" Benjamin asked. "We don't know how they'd react to knowing we're from another universe. We don't want to be treated like we're crazy, or worse. So, when we meet others, please don't mention where we're really from."
Grace tilted her head thoughtfully before nodding. "Fair enough. But I have one condition," she said firmly. "You keep it a secret that I'm one of the so-called 'ancients.' Who knows how people here might react to that?"
Benjamin only nodded before extending his hand. "Deal."
Grace clasped his hand with a firm shake, sealing the pact. "Deal," she echoed, a small smile playing at her lips.
Before we left, Henry approached me with an inscrutable grin. His playful tone hinted at a prank in the making.
"Did you forget something?" he inquired, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
I furrowed my brow, quickly scanning my belongings to ensure I hadn't overlooked anything. "No, I didn't forget anything," I replied. All my gear and supplies were here.
Henry continued to wear that sly smile, not relenting. "Are you sure?" he teased.
My patience waning, I reiterated, "I'm positive; I didn't forget anything."
"Okay, if you say so," he acquiesced, his smirk growing wider.
I couldn't help but be puzzled by his persistence. What was he getting at? I glanced down at myself, checking for any signs of absentmindedness, and that's when it struck me…my appearance. The bug guts from the earlier skirmish still clung to me, their greenish hue unmistakable.
Without a second thought, I bolted towards the nearby pond, practically launching myself into the water. Ella and Henry burst into laughter, their amusement echoing through the tranquil surroundings as I frantically scrubbed away the green residue.
I scrubbed my skin vigorously, determined to erase any trace of the gruesome encounter. The water, while cool and refreshing, carried an invigorating sensation that helped me shake off the lingering dread. After a thorough cleansing, I emerged from the pond, my skin slightly flushed from the cold water, but at least I was free from the remnants of the Stingsight's gore.
Henry stood by the pond, still wearing his self-satisfied grin. "Yeah, yeah, I get it," I muttered, my face redder from embarrassment than the chill of the water.