Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – Realm of Beasts

The fireball had followed me through the wormhole as I fell onto the branch covered ground. I felt the heat above me growing more intense meaning the fireball had been able to follow me through the wormhole. I just barely rolled out of the way as the fire struck the ground beside me singeing my wet, brown hair.

 

“Fuck me!” I whined while panting from exhaustion.

 

Turns out swimming and then immediately going into a sprint trying to preserve one’s own life can be quite exhausting.

 

Well now was the time for discovery, do I die in less than a minute if this is the Realm of Death or do I get to live in leisure falling into the Realm of Life. Of course, it could be one of the other Realms, but I could already narrow it down.

 

I was likely in the Realm of Beasts, Realm of Evolution, or one of the two remaining unnamed Realms. The reason they remained unnamed was because of nobody ever returning from the wormholes linking our Realms.

 

The reason I could narrow it down was because of the trees that surrounded me as well as my body weight feeling lighter in this Realm than on Atlas. This Realm had to be one that had a lighter gravity, resulting in taller trees and an individual, such as myself, feeling lighter.

 

After finally catching my breath, I began to take in my surroundings and sat upright.

 

I could hear the chirping of birds in the distance as wind blew through the forest’s massive canopy above me. It was quite beautiful, a sea of red leaves in varying shades. 

 

I decided at this point the best I could do is to check the region around me by scaling a tree and scoping out my surroundings. As I climbed and neared the top of the nearest tree, I was able to spot a giant bird the size of a plane soaring through the clouds causing rippling waves of cloud to spread across the sky.

 

I now most definitely knew where I was…

 

“The Realm of Beasts.” I said, awestruck by the beauty and magnificence of this foreign Realm. 

 

The landscape was strikingly beautiful as off in the distance I could see waves of fog rolling through extremely enormous mountains that had such a size they could seemingly breach the barrier that separated the higher plane from our own.

 

The glowing orange sun appeared to be setting somewhere in the west as the skies began to darken.

 

That was when it attacked. I suddenly felt a shiver go down my spine as I heard a crack from one of the branches lying on the ground below.

 

As I looked down, I saw an Assassin Snake, a snake with giant size but was seemingly able to glide across the ground typically making little to no noise. The one below me was obviously still in its youth as its size was only a third of that of a full-grown Assassin Snake thus explaining its inadequacy in the undetectable nature of its species.

 

The Assassin Snake, now giving up all attempts at stealth, charged at me with a large amount of speed as it wrapped its way around the trunk of the tree.

 

I began to run, hopping from tree branch to tree branch across the canopy of the forest as the snake continued its pursuit. Its black scales seemingly reflected the darkening light as I realized without a light, I would most definitely be trapped in its jaw sooner than later.

 

‘Flight or Fight’

 

‘...Yeah, flight’

 

I increased my speed trusting that I would be able to still maneuver on top of the branches despite increasing my pace. However, as I looked back, the snake had seemingly vanished except for a small burst of wind.

 

As I looked towards the burst of wind I found an Armored Eagle, an enormous eagle with feathers harder than raw steel. The feathers were used in a multitude of weapons including those who sharpened them and made them into kunai like knives. As the Beast was flying away, I was able to see the Assassin Snake struggling against the firm grasp the Eagle had on its body.

 

“Holy shit!” I said with awe once again filling my voice.

 

As it struggled, I was able to see one of the feathers from the leg of the Eagle fall off of its body, descending within a few feet in front of me.

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The feather shined with its gray body, seemingly calling out to me.

 

I leapt forward to the next tree and snatched the feather out of the air before it could fall below the canopy. The feather’s red shine made me realize something as I looked upward.

 

As I looked up, I caught sight of the moon of the Realm of Beasts, a bloody shade of red which had been a result from the sun of this Realm. This had likely been what caused all the kinds of trees to have red leaves instead of Atlas’s typical shades of green.

 

The light radiating from the moon shined down upon me as I took in my surroundings, now seeming much more ominous than they had while the sun was still up.

 

I knew that the time I would be stuck in this Realm would likely be long as I had no real way to predict where a wormhole would appear and whether or not it would lead to my home Realm, the Realm of Mortals.

 

 “Sh*t” I groaned as I realized that I would be stuck in this land, without any preparations, for the foreseeable future.

 

I determined that the best odds of my survival for the first night in this Realm is to hide. I would already be one of the weakest in this Realm, only amounting to a Beast of the Tenth Tier, meaning I would be the target of all Beasts searching for a quick meal.

 

I began leaping from tree to tree trying to find one that was hollowed out from decay or a Termite Beast. As I stepped on the edge of one of the trees, I could hear a slight echo reverberate from its interior and as I turned my gaze up and down the tree I could see a circular opening, slightly larger than the width of my body.

 

‘Fuck!’

 

I had kept the words I wanted to mutter inside my head so as to not draw more attention than the noise it was taking to work my way into the hollow tree. As I finally made my way into the tree I was astounded by the size of the interior.

 

The base of the tree had been about 6m by 6m whereas the point where I was about 3m by 3m as I had descended to just below the canopy line in order to avoid both flying and land Beasts.

 

As I looked around the space, I resided in I found myself scared shitless as I saw two beady eyes staring directly at me. As the Beast drew closer to me, I could see the blood staining the fur of its side, however, it did not take its eyes off me as it drew closer to the entrance, and I could begin distinguishing its features.

 

The Beast looked like some kind of mix between a porcupine and squirrel as its spike laced the entirety of its body as well as being especially dense at the end of its tail, seemingly able to use it as a mace of sorts.

 

As I backed myself away from the Beast, I now was able to see a look of confusion cross the Beast's face, not seeming to recognize me as an enemy but rather another weak Beast that could be an ally with it during its current weak state.

 

The Beast, no longer interested in being hostile, backed away into the far-right corner of the room as I retreated to the near left corner and slumped against the bark of the tree,

 

The space I had currently I would consider a luxury when in comparison to laying in cardboard boxes with my totally giant size of 5’1.

 

Author’s Note: Yep, he’s short.

 

I found myself removing the rugged jacket of my uniform and twisting it as an attempt to wring out the contents of water into my mouth from the contents still remaining within. After finishing with the drying process, I began prying large pieces of bark from the interior of the tree around me to use as cover for the entry point of the new shelter I shared with my rodent roommate.

 

I ripped apart the sleeves of the jacket and tied the bark together and had it lay against the entrance to the tree room. The remainder of the jacket was put to use as a pillow as I curled myself into a ball and began thinking about what was to come. After a few more minutes of thoughts flowing through my head, I found myself reaching microsleeps as I watched the Beast across from me remain in its weak state, lying motionlessly on the floor.

 

—

Author’s Note: Should Joshua try and befriend this rodent, or should he try and eat it?

 

 

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