Chapter 12 First Blood

‘There he is!’

The avatar had thrown a spear, missing me by half an inch. Only my increased dexterity prevented me from getting skewered like a Hawaiian hog roast. I’d been determined to keep watch overnight, my plan to move once the coast was clear, but weariness had overcome me. I’d fallen asleep. Anger flared within me, bright and hot, uncontrollable. At myself, at Iris, at being hunted like a gazelle. I tore the spear out, dislodging it from the tree bark, and lowered myself to the ground.

It would have been smarter to create distance, to re-assess, work out their numbers and where they were coming from.

But fuck it. I was done running.

There was a lone avatar against me. He’d spoken out. That meant others were close by. A spear in his hand. A hunter like me. I met his eyes, and remembered the last spear fight I’d had. The vandal, cold and analytical. I’d charged him, relying on my increased stats, my dexterity, and I’d been totally outclassed.

I took a breath and stayed in the moment. This wouldn’t be a battle of strength, but one of patience and technique. He lunged at me, spearing forwards, and I knocked the spear head aside, before he swivelled his around in a wide arc, using it more like a bo staff than spear. I swiped it away, and pressed forwards, attacking in tight thrusts.

He wasn’t anywhere near as skilled as the vandal. Then again, neither was I, and soon we were trading spear thrust for spear thrust. We traded attacks near equally, with myself perhaps getting in two more strikes than him. Now it came down to stats, and it was clear I out levelled him. My strikes did more damage, and I clearly had a larger hit point pool than him.

He was breathing hard, blood staining his primitive armour. He was moving slower, his moves more sluggish, and I took my chance, disarming him, his spear flying through the air, several feet away. His eyes widened.

‘Please!’ he said, his hands out, ‘don’t kill me! Adrian made me do it! Please! I swear I won’t say a word if you just let me go!’

There was genuine fear in his eyes. It disgusted me, that I was the cause of that. It didn’t matter that he had attacked first, that he had tried to kill me. This was a real person, from the real world. I heard voices coming from behind him, more of Adrian’s band. Spear in my hand. One thrust and it was over.

I shadowstepped, and fled.

I was in pretty bad shape. I had lost all my weapons and even my primitive armour. I was also hungry, and hadn’t rested much in that tree. I needed to regroup.

I crafted a campfire. The warmth felt good, and gave me some semblance of sanctuary. I didn’t have enough materials to craft a tent, though I had unlocked it in my tech tree. I ate the grilled meats, feeling better straight away, and applied the poultices. I saw that although my maximum health was 450 and my stamina 250, neither was reaching their maximum, both were capped at 250 and 150, respectively. Frowning, I clicked on my character sheet, and looked through a list of my properties. I saw all the perks I had unlocked, and noticed I was debuffed.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[Tired – You are exhausted. Your maximum health, stamina, and mana will all be capped until you long rest.]

I would need to rest. That would have to be a priority. There was movement in the undergrowth ahead of me, and I immediately perked, getting to my feet, spear in hand.

‘Woah, woah, woah,’ said the approaching avatar, and as he did, I realised I recognised him. The same one I had just fought. So he had followed me. Idiot, I thought, chastising myself. Of course he’d followed, a ten-year-old could’ve tracked me. I’d run in a straight line and I’d set up my campfire here in the open. ‘I’m not here to fight,’ he said. ‘My name’s Ben, by the way.’

‘I let you live,’ I said, trying to keep the exhaustion from my voice, even though it was seeping into my bones, threatening to collapse my body from beneath me, ‘come back for more?’

‘I told you, I’m not here to fight,’ said Ben. He was approaching slowly, apparently unarmed, but that didn’t mean anything. Every avatar had an inventory. He could’ve had an assault rifle stashed away for all I knew. ‘I wanted to thank you, for letting me go. I know you could’ve killed me. Didn’t expect mercy from you.’

‘Because you showed none to Raymond? All those others that followed him?’

Ben shook his head sadly and sat down by the campfire, as though I had invited him. ‘That was…unfortunate. I wanted no part of it, but Adrian told us it was the only way we were getting out of here, getting home.’