Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

ACT I ­­– Zach

Scouting

They spent the entire next day huddled in the cabin. Zach had insisted that they take the time to rest and heal from their injuries. His leg already looked a lot better; the wounds weren’t gone, but they had visibly healed, and faster than they would’ve before. Ryun’s and Melody’s wounds were healing a bit slower, but not by much. They’ve shared information and tried to figure out how their abilities worked. The girls’ and Zach’s Classes gave them an ability each, as well as a lot of stat points. Both girls had reached level three from the Essence they’d received from the fight. Ryun, on the other hand, was the only one who had taken a Cultivation path. He had a lot less points, and he couldn’t assign them—all of his stats were raised equally. The fact that he needed a lot more Essence to progress made Zach feel like his path wasn’t nearly as good, but he didn’t say anything. Ryun had been doing some kind of meditation, or cycling as he’d put it. Apparently he could just draw in Essence from the air, and put it toward his Cultivation advancement. Zach agreed that that made it a bit better, as at least he didn’t need to go and fight monsters, but it was slow and he couldn’t use Essence so gathered for the shop, only his Cultivation.

The day after that, they had decided to finally leave the cabin and try to search for a road in hopes of finding a way to the city. They moved slowly and silently, far slower than Zach wanted, but he didn’t intend to risk death by running into a monster.

They were headed west, in the direction of the city from their position, or at least based on their positions before the Framework. After about three hours of walking they decided to make a short break to rest. They settled in and Ryun and Zach pulled out water bottles from their packs, offering them to the girls first.

Then Ryun spoke up.

“I don’t think there are any roads.”

Zach met his eyes. “You can’t know that.”

“We should’ve found a road by now. We weren’t that deep into the forest,” Ryun insisted.

Zach didn’t know what to say in response to that. He knew that Ryun was right, it was just that he didn’t want to abandon hope. “We just need to keep searching.”

“Zach is right,” Linda said. She had gotten a lot better since their reunion, and she had at least accepted what was happening. “The road must be close.”

Melody shook her head. “I think that Ryun is right,” she said.

Ryun raised an eyebrow at that surprised, Zach did the same. “Why?”

“Look around,” Melody said, gesturing at the forest. “Does this look like the same forest we were in before? I don’t think we are anywhere near home.”

Zach looked around, but he had no idea. To him, one forest was the same as any. He couldn’t tell the difference. “It’s not?”

“I’m not sure, but I don’t think so. I’m not an expert, but the trees look different to me. But that is not why I think that Ryun is right.”

Linda raised her head. “Why, then?”

“Look at the sun. I’ve been watching it all day yesterday and today. I don’t think that its arc across the sky is the same as it was before all this. I don’t think that we are anywhere near home—more like another part of the planet.”

Zach blinked. Turning his head up, he looked at the sun that could just barely be seen through the branches. He hadn’t noticed a difference, but then again he hadn’t been looking.

“So what do you want us to do?” Zach asked, defeated. He had no idea what they should do. He had been holding out hope that they would find a road and reach civilization, then find someone in charge who could tell him what to do.

“We should continue as we are,” Ryun interjected.

“What? You just said that looking is waste of time!” Zach said.

“No, I said that I don’t think there are any roads around. We should still scout out our surroundings, see what is around us. If we are deep in the wilderness, then we need information. I also think that we should make sure that we have enough time to return to the cabin before nightfall. I don’t think we want to be outside in the dark.”

Linda closed her eyes and covered her face, Melody put a hand on her back and whispered something too low for Zach to hear. He took a deep breath. What Ryun said made sense, but he still felt like they should press on, try to find help. In the end, his friend’s more sensible approach won.

“All right, we’ll do it your way. We still have a lot of daylight left. Let’s continue for a bit longer before we head back.”

Zach led them through the forest. Surprisingly, they hadn’t encountered any more of those monsters, but they were all keeping their eyes open for them. They walked for another hour before Zach thought about heading back—but then he saw an opening in the trees and light coming in through. They headed there and a few minutes later they stepped into direct sunlight. Zach looked with his eyes open wide at the sight stretching before them.

“I guess we are not home anymore,” Ryun said.

Zach silently agreed. They stood on the edge of a tall cliff, with a valley stretching before them, the entirety of it covered in green tree tops. To the left where the cliff curved they could see a massive waterfall, which told him that they weren’t anywhere near their home, as there had been no waterfalls nearby that he knew about. The forest spread as far and wide as the eyes could see, and in the distance he saw mountains that he didn’t recognize.

“Is that smoke?” Linda asked.

He turned to see her pointing somewhere north, where far in the distance it looked like there was a plume of smoke rising. “It looks like it.”

“We should head that way, there might be people there!” Linda said excitedly.

“No, we shouldn’t,” Ryun said before Zach could agree.

“What?” Linda asked. “Why the hell not?”

Ryun met her eyes calmly. “Do you see how far away that smoke is? All the way to the horizon, and we are high up compared to the valley. That means that that smoke we see is a long way away, and down in the valley. We have no idea what is between us and that smoke, and we don’t even know if there are people there or if it is just a fire. Even if we wanted to go now, we are not prepared for the trip. We do not even have any supplies, not to mention the fact that we know no way down into the valley. At the rate we have been moving through the forest, it would take us at least a day to get there, perhaps more. Do you really want to spend the night out here in the forest?”

Linda clenched her fists, staring daggers at Ryun.

He raised his arms in surrender. “Look, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t go at all. Just not now. We need to prepare for a trip like that. We don’t have a car to move around, and we are clearly not home anymore. We need to think about these things far more if we want to survive.”

Zach’s first instinct when Ryun spoke had been the same as Linda’s, but the more Ryun spoke, the more Zach saw that what he was saying was the smart thing to do.

“I agree with him,” Melody said, eliciting a glare from Linda in response. “We can’t risk it, not until we prepare for it.”

Linda turned to look at Zach, her eyes pleading.

“Let’s head back to the cabin,” Zach said softly. “We can discuss it there.”

Linda glanced back at the smoke longingly, but then turned around and nodded.

They started heading back to their cabin, walking in silence. They managed to reach the cabin before nightfall, but found that they had visitors.

A group of strange, monkey-like creatures were standing on the porch. Their bodies were striped with brown and black, making them look like some kind of monkey zebras. Zach saw the names above their heads.

Tiger Macaque (LVL 4)

“What should we do?” Zach whispered.

“Drive them off, of course,” Ryun said as he unsheathed his sword. Before Zach could speak up, Ryun looked at Melody and gestured for her to follow.

The two of them moved toward the seven monkeys, leaving Zach and Linda behind. He wanted to speak out and stop them, but he didn’t want to alert the monsters. He looked at Linda, who had gotten pale, and cursed. He pulled out his own sword and put a hand on her shoulder, leaning in to whisper.

“Can you use your fire spell?”

She nodded slowly. “[Fire Flare], yes.”

“Good, wait for one to be alone and isolated, away from the cabin. We don’t want you to set fire to it,” he said, trying to make a joke, but Linda just looked horrified.

Not knowing what to say, he took a step after the others, Linda following closely behind. He watched the monkeys play with some firewood in front of the cabin’s porch. Then Ryun and Melody charged them, Melody holding her staff raised up tall as Ryun swung his sword. The monkeys noticed them before they could close the distance, however, and they screeched. The one Ryun had attacked moved out of the way of his swing, but then Zach saw Ryun’s legs glow with a faint silver color and he pushed off the ground, following after the monkey. Moving faster than before, he surprised it and cut, pushing his sword deep into its stomach. The other monkeys all went nuts. Melody used her smash ability and hit one that had charged her straight out of the air, sending it smashing against the ground. Zach ran toward them, cursing Ryun for his recklessness. He caught one of the monkeys with his sword as it attempted to jump on Ryun’s back, using |Slash|. He cut it nearly in half.

Ryun turned and looked at the monkey with a surprised look on his face, then he grinned at Zach.

He wanted to smack that expression off his face, but he had no time to as even more monkeys attacked. He pulled his sword up as a monkey jumped toward his face. It grabbed his arm and started biting, and he screamed before trying in vain to dislodge it. Then Ryun cut at its back, making it let Zach go just in time for him to move out of the way of another monkey jumping at him. A small Fire Flare struck the monkey midair, and Zach saw Linda standing on shaky legs with her hand stretched forward. Ryun slashed from above, decapitating another monkey, and Melody whirled her staff and smashed the last one, breaking its skull. Zach was breathing heavily, looking at the blood on the ground surrounding the dead monkeys.

“So, anybody up for monkey meat?” Ryun asked with a grin.

Zach heard Linda throw up behind him.

Later that evening, once the girls went to sleep, Zach found Ryun in the kitchen sitting on the floor in a meditative pose. The girls had retired to the bedroom where they slept, while Zach and Ryun slept in the living room. He looked at his friend for a long moment before clearing his throat and getting his attention.

Ryun opened his eyes and looked at him.

“Hey, you need something?”

“I think we need to talk,” Zach said. He wasn’t sure how to even start this conversation.

“Sure, about what?” Ryun stood up and pulled out a chair sitting at the kitchen table.

Zach took a deep breath and did the same, taking a seat across from him. “We need to talk about the way you’ve been acting.”

Ryun’s eyes narrowed. “And how have I been acting?”

“Recklessly,” Zach said.

Ryun tilted his head. “How so?”

“What you did today!” Zach hissed. “Attacking those monkeys without a plan! The way you attacked that monster when we arrived here! Everything since then!”

Ryun didn’t answer for a long time. Instead, he just looked at him. “Is that really it?” Ryun said, and Zach recognized the tone of voice. It was what he used when he knew that he was right, and that Zach was wrong.

But this time Zach wouldn’t let him turn this on him. “We need to be more careful, to avoid monsters and get help! Find someone in charge! Not do this thing that you have been doing—and I’ve noticed the way you’ve been acting! This isn’t a game, Ryun!”

Ryun sighed. “No, it is not. It is reality, and you are still refusing to accept it. You and Linda both. It's what is going to get you killed.”

Zach blinked, his friend’s words feeling like slaps, and Ryun spoke again before he could answer.

“You are acting as if this is still the old world, where there are laws, right and wrong, where you could find a cop to get help. This is no longer that world. We are in the wilderness, with monsters surrounding us, and your focus on finding a way back to civilization is what is hindering us. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t look for others, but we are on our own here, and unless we get stronger, we will not survive. What happened today is a prime example. Did you think that we could somehow avoid fighting? That we should avoid it? Why? We need Essence to grow stronger, and this is the only way to get it. If you mean for us to travel across that valley, we will need to be ready, and strong enough to survive the journey. You should take a good look at what you want. Do you want to die here before we find safety, or do you want to do everything in your power to survive?”

With that, Ryun stood up and walked away, leaving Zach alone in the kitchen with his thoughts.