The first thing he felt was a terrible, searing pain that encompassed his entire body.
It travelled down his spine, stopping at each and every vertebrae deliberately, trying its hardest to make Hill scream. But he couldn't. His eyes snapped open, and instead of seeing the trial arena and its ghastly surroundings, he saw a blur of distant lights shooting past him in the blink of an eye.
He tried to gasp for air, but found that he couldn't even open his mouth. Looking down at himself, his eyes widened further as he realized his body was tumbling through outer space at a speed that made no sense whatsoever.
And even worse, his body wasn't... full. His arms and legs were merely stumps, growing outward in painful pulses that threatened to knock him unconscious.
Wha— What is th—
Thoughts couldn't be finished. Each painful throb seemed to grow worser than the last.
He began screaming internally as he shot through space.
Why the hell am I conscious!? Why? WHY!?
The lights streaking past him began to multiply, but he couldn't even focus on them because of the pain.
His fingers were forming now, and he could feel each one individually, which was somehow worse than feeling nothing at all.
Tendon after tendon pulled taut, knuckles seated themselves, nails pressed outward through newly formed skin.
He would've thrown up several times, but his mouth wasn't fully formed.
Just pass out, he begged himself. Come on. Pass out. You've done it before. Just—
Pain demolished his thoughts before he could finish them.
He was moving faster now. The streaking lights had blurred into solid bands of light. The cold biting at his sides became a pressure pressing into his body from all sides.
He looked ahead.
There was another light, different one from the blurring ones. It wasn't distant and scattered like the rest, but a concentrated mass of radiance. It was round, enormous, and growing fast. The surrounding bands of light converged toward it like the spokes of a wheel.
Oh no.
He couldn't brace. His body wasn't finished forming. But every surviving instinct he had fired at once, and his half-formed arms flew up in front of his face anyway. He squeezed his eyes shut, and—
Nothing.
There wasn't an impact or a sound.
It was just white... and then...
Darkness, followed by the smell of damp earth.
It was the first thing that Hill felt after entering that enormous light. It was rich, damp, and somewhat warm against his cheek. His fingers twitched and found grass beneath them. A strange feeling due to the fact that he lived in a concrete jungle his entire life.
Unlike the turf that he was used to, these blades were thin, slightly waxy, and cool to the touch.
Hill didn't move for a long moment. He simply lay there with his eyes closed, conducting a quiet, exhausted survey of his own body.
Spine: present. Legs: both there, though in a whole lot of pain. Arms: definitely there. Fingers: a throbbing set of ten.
Thank goodness.
He opened his eyes, and what he saw confused him beyond anything he'd ever seen.
Because he lived in a city his entire life, he didn't recognize the gigantic leaves overhead until he saw the tree branches that connected to them. They were lengthy, heavy-looking, and a healthy green.
Hill sat up slowly, his eyes beginning to adjust to the darkness. Around him, he noticed the faint outlines of trees in every direction. His eyes narrowed.
Is this a... forest?
It had to be. There were so many trees, after all.
But, there was off about it.
Unlike all the tree species that he'd seen — which weren't many in number — these trees were a dark purple. Even stranger, there were patches of bioluminescent moss that coated the trees, giving off dim green light that barely illuminated the surroundings.
Diluted beams of what seemed like sunlight pierced through small openings in the canopy, but as Hill stood and walked underneath one particular beam, he noticed it didn't feel warm.
The ground was incredibly treacherous. Due to the scarcity of light, Hill was unable to see the various rocks and wooden spikes that littered the ground. His heel grazed one spike, nearly severing his skin in the process.
"Agh!" He grabbed at his heel gingerly, and then let out a loud gasp.
I—I'm naked!
Feeling embarrassed, he covered himself using a fallen leaf. There wasn't anyone watching, but he felt that he needed to anyway—
The heavy whuff of an animal's exhale came from the shadows behind him.
I'm being fucking watched!
He whipped around, his eyes narrowing on the shape of what appeared to be a hog of some kind. It had two beady eyes, a striped canvas of dark fur, and a rugged snout.
However, it had a horn. A very lengthy horn at that. If Hill had to describe it, it was like the horn of a unicorn.
The animal stomped its hooves and let out an ominous rumbling sound.
Hill didn't move.
His experience in dealing with hostiles had taught him one thing: Don't panic. And while it seemed hypocritical considering how he moved in the soul trial, Hill wasn't going to let something like that happen again.
He held the leaf in front of himself, which, in retrospect, was not a useful thing to be holding.
But it had its uses.
The hog's nostrils flared. It took one step forward, causing the ground to shudder from its weight.
Okay, he thought, eyes scanning the ground without moving his head. Okay. Weapon. Find a weapon.
A few feet to his left, a rock sat half-buried in the moss. It was flat on one side, jagged on the other, and about the size of his two fists pressed together.
Perfect.
The hog stamped again and lowered its head. The horn angled toward him like a compass needle finding north.
Hill waited, watching the animal's haunches bunch as it prepared to launch itself forward.
The second it moved, Hill moved too.
He dove left as quickly as he could while tossing the large leaf right at the hog, causing the horn to impale the leaf which flopped over its face and obscured its vision, causing its charge to extend further than expected.
Hill didn't wait for it to recover. As the animal thrashed around in order to displace the leaf, Hill dropped to a knee and snatched the rock from the ground.
Then, with a swift exhale, he charged at the hog. By the time the hog managed to get rid of the leaf, it was way too late. Stone dug into its skull with a hollow crack. It squealed, drawing away in order to create distance. But Hill didn't allow it, he raised the rock and brought it down hard behind the animal's ear.
It lurched. He brought it down again and again.
On the sixth strike, the screaming stopped. The hog went limp beneath him, its legs cycling once before going still.
Hill stayed still for a moment in order to catch his breath, the blood-soaked rock still in his fist. Then, he grabbed the horn and began hammering away at it with the rock. It was surprisingly durable, so much so that the rock sustained major damage just by hitting it. Once the horn gave away, he wasted no time in attempting to skin the animal with it.
He'd never done it before, but he wasn't worried about carving up an animal. Plenty of dead bodies had extinguished that fire of innocence.
Raising the horn with a heavy breath, he stabbed into the hog's flank...
...and saw a series of runes flash before his eyes.
[You have slain a Burrowhorn]
He yanked back so fast the horn nearly flew out of his grip.
"What the hell?"
The runic letters hung there for a second or two and then vanished. Hill stared at the empty spot, breathing heavily. Then, with a manic expression crossing his face, he stabbed the carcass again.
"Come on, do it again!"
But nothing happened. He withdrew the bloody horn and let out a sigh, his mind racing.
How strange is that? It was like a pop-up advertisement… except in real life somehow! He froze. Is this even real life though? What the hell is going on!?
He hadn't had much opportunity to play any video games or use the internet when he was younger, but the pop-up concept reminded him of those two things.
Even if he wanted to, he couldn't question it. After all, those runes had shown up in the soul trial in the form of the timer. It wasn't like he was seeing them for the first time.
That means that this place is connected to the arena, right? He asked himself. That would mean that this place... isn't Earth... right?
Despite all his questions, there was only so much material he could go off of.
He worked in silence after that, forcing his hands to keep moving even while his brain spun in circles. The horn was sharper than it looked, and it certainly behaved that way once he got the angle right. He sliced along the belly first, and then worked the hide free in slow but steady pulls.
He'd skinned stray dogs and worse just to eat; this wasn't any different. Just another dead thing giving him what he needed to keep going. He peeled off the biggest section he could manage and laid it flat on a patch of moss. The wrap went around his waist twice for good measure. He knotted it tight, testing the hold by shifting his weight before knotting it again when it started to slip.
It chafed against his skin and stank like hell, but it was better than walking around naked in some unknown place.
He was adjusting the knot one last time, cursing under his breath about how ridiculous this all was, when he heard the sound of something intaking air.
Spinning around on his heel, he raised his bloody horn and prepared himself for another fight.
However, what he saw was completely unexpected.
There was no burrowhorn or anything of that nature. Instead, standing paces away
She had eyes that sparkled with the color of amethyst and baby blue hair that was cut unevenly, barely resting against her shoulders. Her pale skin, coated in a thin layer of sweat, stretched delicately around her bones, giving her a soft touch despite her gaunt, skeletal appearance. Her attire consisted of a plain gray shirt and trousers that looked as crude as the animal skin he was wearing.
Two black daggers that looked like they'd been fashioned from onyx rested in her hands, which were positioned as if she was ready to fight.
But... Hill wasn't focused on that. His crimson locked onto her amethyst as his adrenaline-fried mind desperately tried to categorize this new threat. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again.
"A-are you... a goddess?"
The girl tilted her head to the side, her brows furrowing in confusion.
"...huh?"