Adam wandered barefoot beneath the ghostlit canopy of the forest. There were no stars—just a soft, inexplicable glow that clung to the sky. It never quite turned black here, as if the night itself was reluctant to descend fully.
"Wait a minute..." he muttered, halting mid-step. His face fell into a blank, pouting expression.
His backpack—gone.
All his supplies, his food—gone.
Had he forgotten them? No... he wasn't that forgetful. Was he?
His thoughts stumbled over one another in silence. No... I packed it. I'm sure I did. Yet nothing clung to his back but air.
He called up the system panel. A flashlight appeared in the list—cost: 3 Creation Points. He hesitated. No need. The forest was dim, yes, but not dark. He could still see the horizon, the thick tree trunks stretching skyward like spears of green fire.
And besides... his shoes were missing too.
What if the system's items vanish just like that? he wondered. There has to be a better way. Some kind of anchor, or attachment...
He sighed.
The forest opened into a patch of grass dotted with pale white tulips. Worms—clear as glass—wriggled beneath the soil like veins in transparent skin. Further in, the trees sharpened into towering pines, their spines rigid and unnervingly straight.
Then—he saw it.
A turkey. No—a fried turkey, lying cooked and golden on the forest floor. Its abdomen had embedded marbles for eyes, plastic and unblinking.
Adam deadpanned. "...This is weird."
The turkey moved its eyes but still on the ground.
He nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Hey!" it snapped, voice gruff and oily. "Never seen turkey meat talk before?"
Adam froze.
Silence hung between them like a bad smell.
At least... it didn't seem dangerous.
But, it looked delicious.
He hadn't tasted real, unprocessed food in ages.
Still... he had some dignity left. He wasn't about to eat a talking corpse off the forest floor.
The turkey tilted its head. "Kid, I know what you're thinking."
Adam blinked. Kid?
He wasn't a kid. Not anymore. His birthday must've passed sometime back in that mechanical world. Time was a blur.
"I don't know either," the turkey muttered. "The Cholem just dropped me here. No warning, no instructions. But hey... I know in my gut I've got a purpose. Fate, kid. That's what this is."
Adam shuffled back a step. Then another.
"Yeah, yeah," the turkey huffed. "But listen up. Greater beings than I walk these woods. If you ever think you're in danger—you are. Just do what I do."
Adam frowned. "Which is...?"
The turkey looked directly at him. How it had a voice, he didn't know. It had no throat. No vocal cords. Just... words.
"Don't move," it said. "Don't even breathe."
Because, kid... it's just a monster.
Adam continued on, the forest deepening with each step. Mangroves, oaks, and other trees stitched the sky with tangled limbs. Their bark bore faces—twisted, agonized. A mangrove root strained outward with the impression of a mouthless scream.
He brushed past a shrub. His heartbeat quickened.
A deer, eyeless, grazed blindly on twigs. It heard him—and bolted.
Above, paper-thin birds fluttered like origami ghosts. Crimson vines dripped between the branches like veins too raw to touch.
Then—he saw it.
A face.
Just... a face. Pale. Featureless. Staring directly at him. No hair. No body. Just the floating mask of an uncanny face.
A cold tremor stabbed his spine.
Don't look. Just Run. Horror game rules.
But the face elongated. Stretched upward and downward. Its eyes turned stark—black and white.
"Nope."
He bolted.
"Nope, nope, nope—DUCK—REHAN DON'T FAIL ME NOW!"
[-_- Activating emergency mode...]
He ran. Faster than any athlete ever dreamed. The thing behind him wasn't just a face now—it had legs. Arms. A beast's body with a human mask. Thick, black fur cloaked it in darkness, and its mouth stretched into a gaping maw filled with rows of teeth.
He ducked under a branch—barely.
A root tried to trip him—he jumped.
Break a toe, fine, he thought, just don't let it catch me!
"Buy!" he screamed at the system. "Two attack drones, now!"
Ten Creation Points expended.
The drones zipped into the air, buzzing like wasps. Laserfire rained down.
It didn't stop.
The thing lunged, moving at least 50 km/h. It crashed through the trees, unstoppable. Adam stumbled into a clearing full of ancient ruins, scrambled over a platform, raised himself as high as he could, shielded—
CRASH!
The beast slammed into the stone, tearing through.
He fell. Rolled. Hit the dirt, coughing.
And finally... it stopped.
The drones whirred, still firing, as the creature collapsed under its own weight. Its fur burned. Its eyes dimmed gray.
Adam rose to his knees, panting hard. He looked up.
Purple mirrors shimmered across the trees.
In them—
Hundreds of faces.
Watching him.
The only thing he could say...
"I'm screwed."