As he opened his eyes, a single message floated in the air in front of Kaizul.
Quest Initiated
Survival of the Fittest
Difficulty Minimum
Body Reduced to 10
Mind Reduced to 10
Spirit Reduced to 0
Attempt 1
Stay strong Master.
The notification disappeared as he leaned up, and his surroundings shocked him. He was on top of a massive tree branch. And all around him, trees towered into the sky. They went up like pillars so far that they went beyond his own line of sight. What immediately drew his attention further was what he saw when he looked down.
His stomach lurched as he witnessed the trunks of the trees go down. It went down so far that he couldn't see the floor either. Nothing but a black abyss. There were enough trunks and leaves that he could move from one tree to another. But all it would take is one misstep, if he fell. Kaizul shook his head and moved back onto the tree. As he leaned back against the trunk, his breathing quickened.
That was a long way down. Five minutes later, after processing the situation he was in, Kaizul searched through the trees for a place to hide. If the quest was to survive for 24 hours, that meant there was something hunting him. After all, even if he got hungry, he wouldn't need to eat or drink in just 24 hours.
So, he spotted a large group of leaves toward the end of one trunk. Though it took a bit, he quickly made his way up and into the leaves. While there, he waited. And he didn't need to wait long.
There, crawling up the edge of the trunk of the trees, he saw it. A strange, wormlike creature with a hardened green shell. It had a yellow underbelly and, using small suction cups, it clung to the tree as it climbed right up and onto the trunk Kaizul rested on prior.
As soon as he saw it, he activated his power and felt something give.
Dreamscape Caterpie
Potential: Perfect
Moves:
[String Shot] [Tackle] [Bug Bite] [Snore] [Electroweb]
As he read through the information that was presented, a light trilling screech a little to his left interrupted him. He let out a yell as he turned his head. There, blending in with the leaves so well it could have been invisible, was another Caterpie, this one already charging him. The little red antenna on its body had gone white, and before he could even react further, it slammed into his leg.
His leg snapped. After he fell to the ground, Kaizul glanced down at his leg, which had so suddenly failed him. It was bent at a ninety-degree angle up toward the sky. The sound of the bone snapping was so loud he could still hear it even now, and then the pain came. The boy screamed and desperately tried to push his leg back into place.
Before long, yet another tackle from the small Caterpie interrupted his cries. The Caterpie flung his body like a rag doll into the trunk of the tree. After he hit, the air burst forth from his lungs. He tried to cry, tried to call for help, but he couldn't breathe. Couldn't get the words to leave his body.
The Caterpie tackled again. This time, it struck his stomach and crushed it against the tree. He tried to beg it to stop, tried to move, to do anything to resist the repeated tackles, but there was no one to hear them.
Kaizul's vision darkened, the pain aching through his body even in his last moments like hot currents of magma pulsing through his veins, and then his pain ceased, and his body went limp.
Bursting up from a resting position on a tree trunk, Kaizul let out a scream that echoed across the great trunks that surrounded him. Desperately, he stared down at his legs and chest. He was whole, not a single wound to be seen.
Again, a screen appeared in front of him.
Quest Failed
Time survived: 12 minutes.
Participation Award
+1 Nightmare Point
Quest Initiated
Survival of the Fittest
Difficulty Minimum
Body Reduced to 10
Mind Reduced to 10
Spirit Reduced to 0
Attempt 2
Stay strong Master.
Staring at the screen, Kaizul didn't even have enough time to panic. It took seconds before his eyes were darting around, and what he saw left a pit in his stomach so deep it felt like he would never fill it. Now that he knew what he was looking for as he scanned the trees, the Caterpie were EVERYWHERE. He counted 13, and those were just the ones he could see around him. And what's worse? He could feel it. They were watching him.
A bit too quickly, he glanced over the side of the tree again. He had missed it before, so taken by the great distance, but there, doing its best to stay hidden, a Caterpie was slowly climbing up toward him.
Seeing its eyes locked on him, he breathed out of control. As his breathing became more rapid, he let out a bloodcurdling scream. Jumping to his feet, he ran across the trees. In moments he had gone from one tree to the next.
Caterpie around him noticed him as he ran from branch to branch, leaping and screaming. Large and small, strands of strange webbing flew all around him. He desperately continued, and perhaps normally, he would have fallen from the branches. For whatever reason, whether through luck or perhaps because his fear of the Caterpie far outweighed his fear of heights in that moment. He did not.
Quickly, his energy stores plummeted. Exhausted, he ran, now less of a sprint and more of a desperate crawl. Once more, he leaped to reach another tree. But while he was airborne, he saw the same string-like substance lash right in front of his path. He slammed into it with his neck, and the force from the jump was enough to dislodge one end of the web.
As both Kaizul and the web fell, he screamed with further horror. Moments later, he hung from the web. Wrapped around his neck, legs flailing, he looked up. It was at least 30 feet to the Caterpie whose web he hung from. Desperate, he tried to pull himself up, to climb toward the demonic worm that still hung him.
'I can't breathe,' he thought. And no matter how much he tried, his protest gradually weakened. And finally, his body went still.
Once more he awoke, only this time, instead of screaming, as soon as he came to consciousness, he gasped for air before rolling over in a coughing fit. Fortunately for him, the branch was large enough that he did not roll off.
A notification appeared before him.
Quest Failed
Time survived: 23 minutes.
Participation Award
+1 Nightmare Point
Quest Initiated
Survival of the Fittest
Difficulty Minimum
Body Reduced to 10
Mind Reduced to 10
Spirit Reduced to 0
Attempt 3
Stay strong Master.
Staring at the notice from his own power, Kaizul didn't know what to do. He pulled his legs in and curled into a ball. He began crying.
"Mom, Dad," he said.
"Someone, anyone, help me…"
He wasn't sure how long he cried, but a shrill cry from the creature near him was enough to pull him from his tears.
As he turned his head, there flying from a Caterpie was an entire web of string. Charged with electricity, it landed atop Kaizul. He couldn't even scream, his body contorted in pain, and he began to spasm.
Moments later, he lay across the wooden branch. He couldn't move his body. Moments passed before he learned he could move his eyes. As he flicked his eyes to the Caterpie, he discovered it approaching his position. And in its eyes, he saw something. It viewed him as prey. The creature slowly inched closer, and Kaizul could only watch in dawning horror.
'No, no, you stay away from me, you monster!' he thought.
But it paid no heed to his thoughts. After inching right up next to him, the Caterpie dashed forward, and tore out his throat. As his blood seeped out onto the branch beneath his neck, a single tear slid down Kaizul's paralyzed cheek.
Quest Failed
Time survived: 6 minutes.
Participation Award
+1 Nightmare Point
Quest Initiated
Survival of the Fittest
Difficulty Minimum
Body Reduced to 10
Mind Reduced to 10
Spirit Reduced to 0
Attempt 4
Stay strong Master.
And so, the cycle continued. Gradually, Kaizul's will to resist weakened. He tried to fight the bugs, but they broke his bones, and he felt the unpleasant sensation of bug bites ripping large chunks of his flesh off. He tried to run but always got caught in strands of silk.
Until something changed.
Kaizul sat on the branch. His eyes had gone dull. There was no spark of intelligence or reason there, just a boy, staring at the tree in front of him. Waiting for the subsequent brutal death. He had given up ten deaths ago. But now, something else was wrong. Something felt close to breaking.
Quest Failed
Time survived: 5 minutes.
Participation Award
+1 Nightmare Point
Quest Initiated
Survival of the Fittest
Difficulty Minimum
Body Reduced to 10
Mind Reduced to 10
Spirit Reduced to 0
Attempt 28
WARNING
Master Kaizul's soul has deteriorated to a dangerous level.
Psychological damage has exceeded acceptable levels.
Initiating healing protocols.
0%
22%
48%
76%
100%
Damage Healed
Initiating help protocol.
Notice!
Master Kaizul, please move. You must grow strong.
From his sitting position on the branch, the light slowly returned to Kaizul's eyes. As they did, he felt himself pulled back from the brink of something. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew it was something terrible.
Slowly, he read the notice in front of him. He snapped.
"What do you mean, please move and grow strong!" he yelled. "Do you know what it is like to die repeatedly? And how am I supposed to fight those monsters!"
Yelling would only attract the attention of the Caterpie around him, he knew. But he didn't care. In the worst-case scenario, he died again. Now he just needed someone or something to vent to, and if this sadistic system wanted to volunteer. So be it.
"I can't do this! They're too fast, too strong. What am I supposed to do against a creature that can tear my throat out, spit lightning webs, or break my bones like toothpicks just by touching them!" Again, tears ran down his face. It hurt so badly. Even now, the phantom pain alone was enough to cause his entire body to ache.
"I'm not strong enough." He said, his voice now barely a whisper.
Notice!
You are strong enough, Master Kaizul.
Reading the new notification, Kaizul scoffed. What did this torturous screen know! It didn't have to choke to death, get its body ripped apart, or get crushed by a demonic super-worm!
Slowly, anger overtook his self-pity, and when the Caterpie came over the branch this time, he looked at it with rage. As the Caterpie leaned back and prepared itself, Kaizul's eyes sharpened. He knew what was coming; it had killed him three times already. He leaped forward into a roll as a web crackling with electricity careened over his head. After coming to his feet, he witnessed the Caterpie, now rushing toward him.
He wasn't prepared, and when the Caterpie reached him, its mouth glowed as this time, it tore out a portion of his chest, taking a piece of his heart with it. As it shrilled in victory, Kaizul thought to himself, 'See? I'm not strong enou—' but his thoughts were interrupted.
'Wait a minute, was that bug bite?'
It was an infinitesimal moment, but as his consciousness faded, a spark lit up in his eyes. His vision went dark and once more death took him.
Quest Failed
Time survived: 4 minutes.
Participation Award
+1 Nightmare Point
Quest Initiated
Survival of the Fittest
Difficulty Minimum
Body Reduced to 10
Mind Reduced to 10
Spirit Reduced to 0
Attempt 29
Stay strong Master.
Notice!
You are strong, Master.
With time, you will win.
Kaizul sat up for the first time since he got here. The first thing on his mind wasn't his past death; it was the realization he had come to. In hindsight, it was blatantly obvious, but he had been so focused on the pain and fear he felt that he hadn't recognized it.
'The move pool.' He thought.
Quickly leaning over the branch, now so at ease with the height it would shock any normal person, he spotted the incoming Caterpie. He pulled at his power and once more felt that give.
Dreamscape Caterpie
Potential: Perfect
Moves:
[String Shot] [Tackle] [Bug Bite] [Snore] [Electroweb]
'So, the attacks it has been using to kill me — those are what its moves are. The straight line of string has got to be string shot.' He thought. His mind then went to his last death. The Electroweb attack. The one he had dodged. Sure, he died immediately after, but that didn't change the fact that he had dodged at least once.
And if he could dodge once, then he could do it again. As if to answer his new resolve, the Caterpie crawled up over the edge of the trunk. It reeled up and, with a shrill, released a [String Shot] at him. Recognizing the stance, he stepped back and weaved to the side. The shot moved harmlessly past him before latching onto the tree behind him.
The Caterpie's antenna then glowed as it charged him.
'Tackle,' he thought.
He waited for the Caterpie to get close and, just as it did, he stepped to the side. He lost his balance in the attempt, and, in horror, he recognized he was about to fall. In the adrenaline-filled moment, the boy turned his head and saw the Caterpie, which mocked him with its eyes.
He reached and grabbed the creature. Its momentum carried it careening over the edge of the branch. As they tumbled through the fall, Kaizul managed to get the Caterpie beneath him.
'If I'm going to die again, I'm at least taking you with me, you stupid worm!' he thought.
The bloodlust that seeped through his eyes now had no place on a five-year-old child. But as they both slammed into another trunk far lower than the one from which they fell, the Caterpie, though only by fractions of a second, died first.
Quest Failed
Time survived: 5 minutes.
Participation Award
+1 Nightmare Point
Quest Initiated
Survival of the Fittest
Difficulty Minimum
Body Reduced to 10
Mind Reduced to 10
Spirit Reduced to 0
Attempt 30
Stay strong Master.
Notice!
You have slain a Dream Caterpie and obtained some loot!
• Caterpie Antenna [Common]
• Fresh Caterpie Meat [Common]
Kaizul's eyes sharpened on the following notification. Immediately, he opened his inventory.
Inventory
• Robe [White] [Equipped]
• Caterpie Antenna [Common] (x1)
• Fresh Caterpie Meat [Common] (x1)
He immediately tried to see what options he could craft with the antenna, but another system notice greeted him.
Error!
Cannot access dream inventory or dream crafting while participating in a dream quest.
Had he known any, he would have cursed then, but he quickly cast aside his disappointment.
'I can win.' He thought.
As the Caterpie came over the branch this time, what it saw was not a child cowering in fear; instead, it saw a young warrior.
The worm-like creature did not fear the boy, for it knew no fear. Its only purpose was to slay the child. But unlike all the past bugs before it, this one did not view its foe as prey.