In another distant land, a black portal opened, throwing a man out of it. He dropped face—first into the mud.
It was very cold, sticky, and was very deep. So deep that only his top was visible. It was a swamp.
He gasped and flailed, pulling himself up. The air smelled rotten, much worse than a rotten corpse smell. A thousand mosquitoes buzzed in his ears. Somewhere nearby, something howled, deep, guttural, and nonhuman.
He froze in place, fearing he might attract that thing. His heart was beating pretty fast. Then he suddenly heard a voice in his head.
[Bearer No.3 recognized. Granting abilities…]
[Ability: Hardened Skin]
[Ability: Swamp Sense]
This was the first time the orb spoke in someone's head.
"What?" He muttered, confused. His skin shimmered. It felt tighter, denser, like a rock under the flesh. At the same time, he could feel it was a strange connection. He could sense the water's depth. The movement below. Something big was swimming not far from him.
He didn't panic or make any messy movements. He crouched low and moved slowly, using his arms to paddle through the water.
The gnarled trees looked like skeletons. He found one thick enough to climb, and pulled himself up above the waterline. When pulling himself up, his hand was pierced by a thron. His hand bled, but he was safe, for now.
He stayed there for hours. The Swamp Sense warned him whenever something large approached in his radius. Once, a six-legged lizard the size of a horse passed beneath him. Another time, a swarm of biting worms swam past, boiling the surface.
He collected rainwater dripping from the branches and drank slowly. Found moss, which tasted very awful to eat, but it gave him something to chew.
By sunset, he had a plan. He tore pieces of bark and vines, fashioning a crude rope. He used it to anchor himself high in the tree, resting in the form between two thick limbs.
The night passed in the blink of an eye. The sun never rose again. Just a red mist rolled in.
He woke to a sudden screeching sound. A shape moved in the fog. A humanoid, but twisted, hunched, wrong looking. Its eyes glowed yellow. It stopped suddenly, as if sensing a prey, and started to sniff around the area.
He didn't move or, to be precise, he didn't dare to move. Held his breath. His Swamp Sense detected a danger approaching from the east.
He tried moving to the side, but the motion triggered something. The creature suddenly looked up. Locked eyes with him and screeched.
He didn't hesitate to jump directly into the swamp water. A huge splash sound was made.
He felt movement everywhere, predators started to move towards him from all directions.
He swam faster and harder than ever before, ignoring all the pain and exhaustion. Reaching the other side, he pulled himself onto the muddy ground.
But the creature swiftly followed him. Crawling on the muddy ground, unnaturally faster than he had expected. Seeing that the distance between them was decreasing, by every second.
He had no choice but to turn to face it, he raised his fists, activated his skill Hardened Skin to maximum.
The first strike glanced off his arm, the second cut through his thigh, which made him lose his balance. But for a second he stabilized himself and landed a solid blow to the head of it.
It screeched at him, and slowly backed away into the swamp water. He didn't chase it. He limped towards a nearby tree, and found a hollow log. And crawled into it. He slept on it, and his injury slowly bled. He passed out by nightfall.
By the next morning, he woke up numb, with no feeling of his body. His leg was swollen, the wound was blackening.
He tried to move but collapsed. He could feel slowly his senses were getting dull. He could no longer feel movement in the water.
He thought to himself, "Three days in this place is not that bad…"
Slowly, his breathing became hard and after a few minutes it stopped.
[Bearer No.3 eliminated
Time survived: 2.9 days]
[Cause of death: infection and blood loss following predator encounter]
[Result: failure.]
[Started selecting a new bearer...]