I used to play this game called RuneScape a while back ago. I played in my free time, which I had a lot of when I was in middle school because my school had the absolute worst teaching program in the world, which meant no homework or school activities. I didn't really want to go into drugs or whatever the hell else my classmates were doing, so I thought it was a healthier alternative. I had shed myself of it years ago, but then one day I just got sucked back in.

Literally.

Some freaky magic or science or whatever the hell else pulled everyone in the entire world into the game. Like it was now real life, but with new add-ons like dragons and wizards.

Fun, right?

Well, you'll see.

We had warning, when it happened. About ten minutes before everyone in the entire world got sucked into a realm of magic and mayhem. All the screens in the world lit up at the same time and displayed this message:

"Please do not panic. This is a warning: in exactly 10 minutes time, you will all physically manifest in a game called RuneScape. The game will have no rules, and you may kill anyone you wish. If you played the game before, your stats will be weighed along with your current abilities and you will be placed a random body according to these skills. More will be explained when this occurs. Please prepare yourselves accordingly."

I was eating lunch when my phone lit up and told me this. I immediately thought it was one very good prank done by some hackers. In fact, I thought that the whole ten minutes. Then the world went dark and I woke up on a marble floor by a man dressed in a gray suit with a large door behind him.

This new place felt bigger. However, when I stood up, I realized that the world had not grown larger, but I had gotten smaller. My skin was now a deep tan color and when my hair appeared black and straight when I stood up and it whipped around. I was wearing a loose-fitting gray dress.

Random body, check. This is a nice dream.

I would have time to check it out later, but right now I turned my attention a giant hourglass floating in the air. I walked up and noticed a man standing behind it.

"Hi, could you tell me what's going on?" I asked in voice that was still sort of sounded like mine. I felt a cold awareness in my spine, I accepted all of this. I had to.

"You are currently supposed to be getting ready to face a world that is similar to the map of RuneScape," the man looked at me with a frown, "You may take anything beyond this door with you for the next," he glanced at the sand in the hourglass, which had now started to fall, "four and half minutes, at that time, you will be transported into the world with other people who are doing the same thing. You will not have access to anything in this room again, if you need me to repeat myself just say so, miss."

Well isn't he nice.

I opened the door immediately, four minutes was not enough time for this. The flashing screens hadn't been a joke apparently, which probably also meant that everyone I was going to meet would try killing me. I could figure all this out in my head after I was alone and away from people.

Not everyone is a psychopath, Sam... Of course it only takes one person to kill you.

With that in mind, I walked through the door.

The room was filled with everything. Anything you could have thought of to live on, it was there and all organized by food, weapons, survival supplies, et cetera. I ran over to a small black-leather pack on the wall and began cramming it with dried meat, a pocketknife, a flint stone (everything was medieval-style, so no lighter), a full water-skin, and something that was labelled "water-purifier." According the another hourglass on the wall, I had maybe three and a half minutes.

I sprinted over to the armory and found everything to be my size, a new size which was substantially tinier and slimmer. I probably didn't even weigh a hundred pounds now. I chose lightweight equipment made of some sort of dark brown leather that was tough on the outside but soft on the inside. There was also a huge selection of metal armor that would have protected me from just about anything, but it looked as heavy as I was.

I need to be fast and hard to see.

The leather armor was also layered in the chest and leg area, probably so it wouldn't wear so easily. I found some boots that went almost to my knees, some dark absorbent-looking socks, gloves, and a tight-fitting leotard that I could use as underwear. As I ran towards the weapons I grabbed a pair of goggles that make my eyes look black, but made everything look easier to see when I put them on, getting rid of light interference.

Weapons were harder. I remembered that the message had said if we had played before we would have a similar skill-set. I couldn't remember anything that I was good at, but I used to do archery and shoot guns before I moved in with my dad, so I grabbed a short bow that looked sturdy. There was no target for me to shoot at, but after I grabbed a quiver of twenty arrows that I could put around my back without it banging into my pack, I tried shooting an apple off a shelf on the other side of the room. I pulled back on the bow, something I had never been terribly good at, but when I released the feathered arrow it hit the apple dead center.

Weapon, check. A sword might also be good for when I run out of arrows.

I grabbed the smallest sword on the rack next to the bows and a belt so I was hands-free. I also sheathed a rather large hunting knife on the other side. I jumped a few times to test my weight.

It wasn't too bad, I could move with this on.

I looked at the hourglass again and saw that I about a fifth of sand was on the top.

One minute, what else… I need to be able to hunt, get water, and sleep.

I ran back to the survival equipment and got a lightweight rope and something that looked like a blanket that looked warm but thin. I avoided the heavy wool blankets that would have been great for a cold night, but terrible for carrying around.

Thirty seconds.

I gave the room one last glance, I wondered if I should have just gotten myself the heavy armor and just deflect anything in my way. Or maybe at least looked at the magical equipment, but I had no idea what to do with that.

Ten seconds.

I strung another arrow on my bow and waited.

Two…one…zero.

I felt a sudden weightlessness and my vision blurred. When my eyes focused again I was standing in a large field with the sun setting (or maybe rising) in the distance. There were people all around me.

We were all arranged in a loose circle. As I looked around, I saw that everyone had had different ideas on how they should prepare. One man a little older-looking than me had brought nothing but a huge backpack filled with what I guessed was all the food that he could carry. A girl, who was a tad younger than me but a bit smaller, was wearing only cloth pants, a shirt, and a small bag like mine. Her light blond hair stuck out with all the brown and black. There were others who had decided to take the heaviest gear possible and huge swords that they seemed to hold with ease. I also noticed a few people who had staves for magic.

They are either stupid or very smart. If they can use magic, we're all dead. There were also a few archers like me, and like me and everyone else, they didn't move a muscle.

The girl that I had been looking at broke the spell. She started running away towards a large forest behind me and an entire side of the circle. That was when everything fell apart.

The magicians did know what they were doing, two of them began throwing green fire at the people closest to them. Some of the metal-clad warriors ran towards them, only to find that the fire was so hot they had to drop to the ground and desperately try to get out of their heated metal tombs. I copied the girl and started running. I didn't know what would happen if I got hit.

The trees were only a short distance away, but about halfway to them I felt someone behind me. When I turned, I found a man coming toward me with his sword over his head. Without thinking, I shot him in the eye, the only place not covered by metal.

I continued towards the trees without looking back. I probably kept going for a good hour into the forest until I had a hard time seeing and decided I should camp for the night. The trees looked like the best place, no one would be able to see up there.

I haven't seen any animals to speak of, wasn't this game full of monsters? Can they climb?

I couldn't think of any better ideas though, so I scaled the nearest tree and found a branch big enough to lay down on. The trees here were massive, and they kind of reminded me of Sequoias. I wasn't tired at all, just a bit winded from the jog and the climb, which hadn't been too difficult. However, I decided that it would be better to get up early and just hope that nothing attacked me in the night.

Since it was warm out, I just laid down without my blanket. I flipped my backpack around so I could lay down and hung my bow and quiver by a branch that was sticking out above my head. I took a drink from my waterskin, which was now only about half full. I could't tie myself down to the tree since the branch was too big, so I my rope around my middle and the other end to a smaller branch nearby.

That'll hurt like hell if I fall, but I won't die.

With nothing else to do, I feel asleep slowly, an emotional wreck.

I killed someone.

I woke up just as the sun was rising. I was expecting to wake up and find myself dangling from a branch or killed by one of those mages. I grabbed my backpack off the tree and started eating some dried meat, going over my situation.

I had a bow and eighteen arrows, but what I was eating now was the only bit of food I had so I needed to go and get some more. I also needed water, but there were plenty of streams. My biggest fear was people. Those mages were probably looking around in the forests for stranglers. There had only been about a hundred people in the clearing though, so everyone else probably appeared in other places.

My dad is probably dead.

I had a bad feeling that all the groups had turned out like mine. My dad wasn't in the best shape, and he had probably freaked out. My brother might have made it though. He was the one to introduce me to the game, and he worked as a stuntman, so he was in good shape. He probably made it.

I'll never find him in a million years.

I climbed down the tree as I went over this. I decided that I should try my hand at hunting. As I wandered around, I found that I could shoot perfectly, but I startled everything I came close too. I eventually got lucky and hit a confused raccoon. I tied it to my bag as I went to look for water. I had never really tried gutting anything before, but I could figure it out, I wasn't squeamish. I continued trying to walk as quietly as possible, which wasn't terribly difficult since it was summer, so there were no leaves on the ground. The wind kept whipping my hair into my face, which limited my vision. I eventually heard the sound of running water and found a large river.

I stripped down to underclothes and waded into the cool water, leaving my equipment next to a rock. The sun was up more now and all the leather I was wearing was making me sweat. I dunked my head in, and my hair tangled up when I surfaced.

Goodbye hair.

My new hair was pretty, long, and smooth, but I was focused on survival. I went back to shore and grabbed the pocketknife from my bag. The knife was new and the steel was nice and sharp, so I started cutting my hair off in big chunks. I looked at my reflection in the knife as I cut my hair away. I didn't recognize myself, and I almost dropped the knife. I looked Native-American with my high cheekbones, tan skin, and black hair. My eyes however, were the same intense green that they had always been.

At least I don't have to worry about getting a sunburn.

My entire family was Irish, and I used to have pale skin and reddish-brown hair. I had also been almost six feet tall, I was now closer to five, maybe smaller. I also found that my new body was completely free of scars or even moles. I was also in perfect shape, not that I had been fat or anything before, but I was now lean and much stronger.

I finished cutting off my hair so that it couldn't get into my eyes. It looked terrible, but at least I could see now. I put my clothes back on while I was still wet to keep cool, and grabbed the raccoon, which was now slightly stiff.

You can do this Sam.

I somehow figured out how to skin it and cut the meat into useable chunks. I watched at the blood went down the stream, wondering if anyone would see it. I suddenly realized that I was completely out in the open, anyone could see me plainly if they were hidden in the trees.

I'd better hurry up.

I never saw anyone though as I made a fire and cooked the raccoon, I packed up again and kept moving into the deeper parts of the forest, which was dead north according to the sun. My plan was just to keep going, the forest would probably end eventually, this place had tons of different climates that I could remember. I was lucky I hadn't gotten dumped in the north or else I would have frozen to death.

This place was gorgeous, the trees had a richness about them that I had never seen before. Now that I was having to duck and climb through foliage, I saw tons of little animals. A miniature dragon, the size of a bee, flew around my head before disappearing into a log.

Those are new.

I kept an arrow on my bow at all times, I was expecting monsters, and the little dragon proved the this place had different kinds of wildlife.

A sudden shriek caused me to tense up and pull back on the bow. I waited and heard it again, accompanied by some garbled language. I slowly began to make my way to a clearing just ahead of me.

What was that?

I kept myself hidden in some tall ferns and moved myself so I could see what was going on. When I saw them, I almost screamed.

They were goblins, they had to be. The two of them were about my height and their skin was a light green, like fresh grass. They looked disturbing though, like they had been in a bad fight with a bear.

They might have actually been in a bad fight with a bear, or worse.

The clothes they wore were made of animal hide that hadn't been tanned so they looked rotten. I was glad that I was upwind. I looked at what they were pointing at and saw that they had caught a bird, a raven, which was making the shrieking noises. They hadn't actually caught it, the raven must have broken its wing because it stuck out at a painful angle. The little creature kept trying to hop away from them, but they kept scaring it around in circles. The raven hopped close to my bush, and I swear it stared right at me,

Help.

The little goblins were running over towards it, and one of them had pulled out a rusty sword. I didn't want to watch the little guy die at these crude creatures hands, and I didn't want them attacking me during the night. I stood up to get a clear shot, killing the one wielding the sword instantly. The other goblin, which had a piece of bark for a shield, ran towards me and knocked me over into the ferns before I could grab another arrow. I almost puked from the smell as he breathed in my face. Apparently goblins were allergic to toothpaste.

I kicked my legs up to knock him off me and scrambled to grab my sword, my bow had gone flying into the forest. My body reacted instantly, and when he fell next to me heavily, and I plunged my sword deep into his chest as he tried to get his breath back. I watched as his beady eyes closed, then pulled my sword out. I had just survived my first monster encounter.

I might as well check on the stupid bird, seeing as how I just saved its life.

I wiped my sword off as well as I could on the ferns I had fallen into and put it back. I found my bow laying in the dirt next to the dead goblin. I pushed my way through the ferns and out into the clearing. The raven was now standing off to the side of the clearing, looking unsure. I took off my goggles so it could see my face better.

"Hi there little guy," I had no idea why I spoke to it, but I guess I wanted to calm it down. Plus I hadn't said a single word since I spoke to the man in the gray suit, so I might have been worried about forgetting to speak english. I nearly jumped out of my tanned skin when it responded.

Hello.

It cawed aloud, but I knew what it was saying without a doubt.

I started laughing, "That goblin must have hit me harder than I thought, you can't talk or understand me, can you?"

The raven cawed again, softer this time.

Well, of course I can talk, but most people don't listen.

My mouth opened a little and my jaw succumbed to gravity.

"Ok… if you can understand me, hop up and down three times," I managed to say. This wasn't really all that weird compared to everything else that had happened today.

After a moments hesitation, the raven hopped three times.

"You can understand me…" I said to myself, "I'm sorry I made you do that, with your wing and all."

I understand, the raven said, besides you have just saved my life. For that I am grateful, warrior.

"I might be able to set you wing, if you want me to look at it," I offered. My mom and I used to nurse birds who flew into our sliding-glass door back to health when I was little.

It's not broken actually. A man threw this paste on it. I believe he was using magic.

"I should be able to get that off then"

Wonderful, he whistled. He cocked his head at me, Why are you helping me? I don't mean to sound rude.

"You needed help," I responded instantly, then added, "plus, I didn't really want those goblins lurking around while I slept."

You are still kind, and goblins aren't really what you should fear. The only reason that they even had me was because of that damn wizard.

I laughed, the bird made a gurgling sound when it swore. Plus I was embarrassed that a bird was complimenting me.

"Hey, do you have a name? I need to stop thinking of you as 'the bird.'"

My mother called me Mortimer. If I had friends they would call me Mort.

"Well I guess I'm your friend now, Mort. Let me look at that wing."

Ravens do not make friends. I am indebted to you though, I guess that is close enough.

Mortimer hopped over next to me. He was actually handsome up close, for a bird. His feathers contained blues and purples that made up a shiny black exterior. His left wing, however, seemed to be covered in a black substance that coated every feather.

"I think I might be able to get it off in some water, I can carry you to a stream if you don't mind," I said after prodding at his wing.

I can get there myself, lead the way.

I followed the sound of running water once we walked for a bit. It was slow-going, Mort was fairly large, the biggest raven I had ever seen actually, so he took big steps. But he had a hard time navigating over terrain.

I have never understood how some beings do not simply grow wings and fly. This is ridiculous, Mort said.

"Well then I wouldn't have these cool opposable thumbs to get that gunk off your wing," I defended.

Mort chuckled by snapping his beak open and shut quickly.

Once we got to the stream, I got to work on his wing and told him to keep his eyes open for threats. He claimed to have much better eyesight than a human, and so he would know if anything got within a hundred yards of us.

The gunk proved to be very hard to get out. It was slow work, but I got it all after about two hours. The sun had begun to set on my second day in this place.

I rubbed off the last of the gunk and Mort took off into the air, circling around a few times before coming back.

"You can take off if you want. You don't owe me anything."

What if I run into the wizard again? Besides, you will need my expertise.

"Well you can leave whenever, obviously, but I'm going to go and get myself ready to wait out the night and eat, you can join me."

That is a good idea, don't want the wolves to get us of course. Or the leopards.

"Are there really wolves out here? I haven't seen a single predator yet, besides the goblins."

Of course there are wolves and leopards and bears. Did you just stroll in here when you found me?

I nodded. That was exactly what I had done.

Where the hell were you before you decided to come here and decide to wing it?

"I'll tell you after we get settled in."

I found another big tree to rest for the night, and I ate some of the raccoon that I had cooked in the morning and gave Mort some. Then I began to tell him about the screens.

I took Mort's warnings of the forest to heart. I woke up when the sun rose and started to test my body to its limits. I would run to the edge of the forest, which then stretched out in a vast plain which turned into a dry desert (I had finally found with Mort's help), and then back to a tree that we were both starting to think of as home. Mort had found a huge nest that apparently used to have eagles living in it, but they had moved on. I repaired it and covered it in animal hides (I had finally figured out how to tan them through a lot of trial and error). It was so large I could stretch myself out in it twice over, and I had begun to build a roof over it. Creating the little home had become another way that I trained my body, everything I put in it had to be hauled up fifty feet above the ground and I would make several trips a day. I stopped fearing heights almost immediately when I found that I could balance on just about everything, plus I was so light even small branches barely swayed under me.

Of course I also began practicing more with my bow. Mort made an excellent look-out for prey and possible threats. We became a unit, he would fly around above me and pick out game and steer me away from monsters, all in the mad cawing of a raven. He also knew which plants could be eaten, and I kept a carful memory of each one. Weeks went by like this, until I found that I was a predator. I now could kill goblins with my bare hands, which I did when I found them near the nest. I wanted a challenge, and I got one sooner than expected.

The forest I was in must have been massive. I never saw a single human the entire time. Mort saw exactly two, but I took his advice and moved in the other direction both times. When Mort found the third human though, I changed tactics.

As I followed a tiny dragon that had caught my eye, which Mort called faerie, I heard a long caw from him.

One human, directly south of you. She's moving pretty slow.

I gave an owl hoot in reply, which meant that I wanted to hear more.

She looks about your age, but I'm not very good at judging that. She's also small. Light colored hair.

I gave a long raven caw, after a moment Mort dove down next to me.

"I'm going to go and check it out, warn me if she's going to pull a piece on me or something."

Humans are dangerous. Why do you have the sudden urge to talk with this girl?

"I think I might know her. Besides, I can handle myself. I just need to know what's been going on," I answered.

Mortimer flew off as I began to head south.

I'll just follow her for a while to see if she is a threat, I thought.

I hauled myself up in a boxelder tree when she was close. She was walking on a dry river bed, so she would be easy to track.

As she came in sight, I saw that she was indeed the same girl who had ran away into the forest on the first day. She didn't look like much, and her whole demeanor reminded me of a faun. She walked lightly and looked around every now and again, as if she was going to be attacked any second. She had dark circles under her eyes, like she was too nervous to even sleep.

I wonder how she's lived this long. All she seems to have was a knife on her side.

I was just about to jump down and introduce myself, crazy-haired forest girl, when Mort gave a cry of alarm.

Two men, coming from the North on the riverbed, they're almost on you. I didn't even see them, I think they were shielding themselves.

After a moment he added with disgust, I think the tall one is the magician who tried to kill me. In fact I'm sure of it. Stay low. I'm going to land out of his sight.

I froze. Magicians were bad news. I had no way of warning the girl that they were coming without exposing myself. She was going to have to do this on her own. Magicians would just deflect my arrows, Mort had warned me before.

The little girl had heard Mort's cry and was walking slower, heading for the bushes on the side of the road and pulling out her knife. I could already see the two men from my tree though, she wasn't going to be able to hide herself in time. I held my breath as they spotted her.

The tallest man waved his hand towards her, greeting her. He had a handsome face and deep black hair, his smile revealed overly white teeth and an expression that sent a warning down my spine. The other man was also tall, and he walked with an air of superiority as his brown curls bounced around. They both held small wooden canes that I knew were magical staves.

The girl froze, a faun pinned by wolves. Then, ever so slowly, she gave them a little wave back.

"Hello there! We haven't seen anyone in days! Are you out here all by yourself?" the one who had hurt Mortimer said when he was close enough to her.

Please lie, I thought. I began double checking my weapons.

After a tense moment she replied, "No, I'm with my brother, Ben." Her voice was shaky.

They continued walking up to her. The curly-haired man laughed, "Now we all know that that isn't true. Why don't you give us that knife? You might hurt yourself."

I could practically smell the girl's fear. There was absolutely nothing she could do. Just like Mort and the goblins, she was helpless and they were in control.

By this time they were within a few feet of each other. The taller man stuck his hand to accept her knife. She held it out in front of her defensively. He began to laugh, slowly raising his staff. Before I was even sure of what was going on, the knife flew out of her hands and he had thrown her into the middle of the road. I felt my face turn warm with rage.

Brown-curls pulled out some rope and tied her up as she struggled to try and move. Something invisible was holding her in place.

"Now, now. Don't worry, we'll take very good care of you. We haven't seen such a pretty girl in a while though," the black-haired one said as he kept his staff held out, holding her down with invisible strings. "Liam and I just want a little company. We didn't need to tie you up."

I felt my heart pounding in my ears. I was not going to have these two screwing this girl twenty feet away from me.

Mort was probably just exaggerating about the arrow-stopping thing. They won't even see me.

I aimed for the one holding out his staff, and let my arrow fly. It was a perfect shot, it would have gone right through the taller man's ribs and into his heart, but it stopped a few inches away from his jacket, like time stopped.

Shit.

The man turned instantly and I felt myself fly off my tree branch into the dirt of the riverbed, my bow dropped to the ground behind me. It felt as if a huge weight was on me, and it was impossible to lift myself.

"Is this your brother? He looks a little bit like a girl to me. She shoots pretty well though. I'd be dead with a hole in my heart if I didn't have my wards up."

He lifted me up from the ground, my body shakily doing what he wanted. I was facing them head-on now. My goggles came off and dropped the ground by themselves. Liam was turned half-way towards me while the handsome man held me in place with his staff. I heard Mort scream from behind me. I just had to hope he would stay back. There was nothing that he could do, this was my own fault.

"Damn, two for the price of one. Liam, I'll take this one. She looks like she can move. Just look at those legs under all that leather."

Why did this girl have to run into the two biggest creeps in the entire world?

"Fuck off her, she didn't do anything to you," I might as well try to save one of us.

"You're brave," Liam spoke, turning fully towards me, "Mind if we share, Jake? I don't think the little one is going to last anyway. I don't like them that young"

"I'll comply with you if you let her go," I pleaded.

"Sounds like a good deal with me, if Liam doesn't mind," Jake magically untied the little faun.

She's just going to get herself killed somewhere else, but I couldn't live with myself if I had let her suffer at their hands. I can take this. I'll slip away when they think that they've broken me.

"Run along little one, you certainly have very persuasive friends," Jake chuckled, then slackened his grip on me, "now, why don't you give me all your weapons and we can get to know each other."

I reached for the clasp on my belt to show that I was going to obey, but the ground suddenly swallowed the two men like they were standing on water. The girl and I were now the only two on the path. She was holding her hand out like she was grasping something.

"Sorry that took so long," she said steadily, her voice completely free of its previous tremble. "They'll run out of air in a few minutes."

I felt my jaw slacken as I began to realize. She was the wolf. She knew exactly what she was doing the whole time.

"You're a mage…" I started.

"One of the best from what I've seen. Thanks for the distraction though. I would have had to wait until they dropped their wards and their clothes."

"Well I was trying to kill them…" I looked uneasily at the ground and the girl, scared by the thought that she could send me six feet under in a blink of the eye, but I did want to talk to her. "I haven't really been around too many mages, or anyone for that matter."

"I think they're dead now," she made a pulling motion with her hand and the two men popped out of the ground, not a bit of dust on them. They both had panicked expressions on their faces.

"I wonder just how many poor people they've run into. They were powerful, I could sense their wards from a mile away, I figured they wouldn't kill me immediately," she walked over to them and began checking their pockets. She took care to avoid touching the staves. "Mind helping me? They don't need this stuff anymore. I wouldn't touch the staves though."

I walked over to the body that used to be Jake and began taking off his jacket and bag, obeying her. Inside, I found a ton of small stones that were glowing lightly instead of food and supplies.

"Hey, do you know what these are?" I turned to the mysterious girl and held out the bag. I felt a little light-headed as I stared at them.

"Rune stones," she said without looking, "idiots use them to try and perform magic. That's my little secret, I don't have to use them. My magic is all up here," she pointed to her head. "You can totally cripple a mage by just taking these away from them."

"So can I do that too?"

"Probably not, I worked as a magician for a living back in the real world, plus I loved to use magic in this game. It seems my skills transferred over, even if they were just illusions. Make sure to check his pants."

I moved on to his pants, dropping the rune stones on the ground. He had a bright glowing rock in his pocket. It looked different from the rune stones.

"Do you know what this is?" I held the stone out to her, it was lighter than I thought when I pulled it out of his pocket.

She walked over and picked it up out of my hand, looking at it closely, "It's a seed. Elven probably, they used to sing to trees and make them grow how they wanted." She blew on the seed and it suddenly transformed into a glowing bow.

"A crystal bow," I said without hesitation. "I remember having one when this was a game."

"It still is a game," she held the bow out to me, "you're the archer, use it. Just blow on it like I did and it should revert back to seed."

I played around with a few times, making sure it would transform when I wanted to. Then I pulled back on it, finding that a glowing arrow made of what appeared to be light formed where I would have placed an arrow. I shot it at a tree, and it left a mark before the arrow faded away, back into light.

"Cool," I turned back to the girl, who was now looking at me intensely. "You're not going to like… kill me or anything, right?" I said with a sigh.

She looked surprised, "Of course not. You tried saving me, you're obviously someone I can trust."

"Well, trust-buddy, can I know your name? I'm Sam," I held out my hand to her, not entirely sure what I should do.

"You can call me Faun. A new body needs a new name."

My eyes got a little wide, "Can you read minds by any chance?"

She laughed, "Of course not. The amount of interference from performing that kind of magic would make me go crazy. The animals here talk, you know."

"I kept calling you a faun in my head… and the animals here are also quite smart too," I knew Mort was listening.

"Interesting. I am trying to go for the helpless-little-blond-girl look. It makes people drop their guard," she frowned, "I'm pretty sure the animals won't help us though."

Mort decided to make a dramatic entrance and swoop down on my shoulder, something he never does, just as Faun said that. He cawed a greeting.

Faun stared at Mort, curious. "Did you train him to do that?"

She wishes. I am glad you are safe though.

Apparently Faun couldn't understand raven, so she looked towards me.

"He said no," Mort pecked my head as I said this.

Don't edit what I say.

"Ok fine, he said 'she wishes'"

"Amazing, I thought the animals would only think of food and survival. And he understands English."

We normally do think of survival. Ravens repay all debts though.

"Mortimer feels like it is his duty to protect me since I saved his life a while back. Animals normally do follow their instincts though, they usually just ignore me when I talk to them."

I bent down and took Jake's shoes off as Faun continued to stare at Mort. I pulled his socks off and shoved them in my bag along with the seed. Mort hopped down while I grabbed my bow off the ground.

"It's getting dark, we'd better get going I assume that you want to join us for a meal."

"I don't eat meat, do you have any berries?"

"That must be why you're so thin. I can find some, and actually I have a lot of dried fruit at home."

"Home?" she looked puzzled.

"Ya, I live out here permanently now. No people for the most part, plenty of food. And I have a treehouse."

"May I see?"

I nodded in response and to go through the forest, I took a different path each time to avoid forming trails. Faun picked up her knife from the ground and grabbed the sack containing the rune stones that I had dropped, we left Jake and Liam's bodies in the middle of the riverbed.

We finally arrived at the huge tree that held my home aloft after about an hour of jogging. I never had to wait for Faun, she moved fast and quiet. I started grabbing the little handholds that I used when I first climbed up. I looked back to see Faun right behind me, floating up the trunk.

"Damn I wish that I could do that," I laughed. "Would have saved me a lot of calluses."

"You could if you used rune stones," Faun looked up ahead of me, "Is that big nest it?"

"Ya, sweet crib, right? Beats sleeping on the ground with all the critters."

I crawled through the little hole that served as a front door, untying a little flap that blended into the outside. Faun came in behind me, peering around at the animal hides that covered the floor, the little nest that Mort used as a bed, and Mort's collection of shiny stones. Light came through large holes that I hadn't covered up with grass yet. The whole place smelled like bird and the musty scent of fur and it was so low you had to crawl around. I looked around at Mort as he flew in behind Faun, landing on his nest. I tied the flap back down so we couldn't be seen as well.

"You certainly hunt a lot," Faun said, "doesn't it bother you that all those animals could think and talk and stuff?"

I chose my words carefully, "All the animals here fight for their right to exist, including me. And actually I've been doing them a service by killing the goblins around here, they kill a lot more than I do. Not to mention that the rabbits and stuff would die off anyway from overpopulation," I paused and set my bow down before adding, "you just killed two men who could think and talk."

Faun nodded, "I guess that makes sense, I've always been vegan because I have a cholesterol problem," she looked down at herself, "well I guess I don't now," a line formed in the middle of her eyebrows, "did you not want me to kill them?"

I shook my head quickly, "No of course not, I was going to kill them myself, the creeps."

Faun stared down at a badger pelt on the floor, "power makes people do strange things."

"Like try and save some little girl in the forest?" I smiled.

Faun laughed, "I'm pretty sure I'm the powerful one in this situation."

I went over to the corner to grab the stores of dried fruit and meat I had wrapped up in my blanket. "Yup, honesty the only reason I'm trusting you is because you could kill me in a second if you wanted. It's not like I can anything about it," I sighed and brought the blanket over.

Faun didn't say anything until I unwrapped the food and set it in between us.

"Well I couldn't kill you that easily. I found a weak spot in their wards. I increased them so that dirt would be repelled away from them too, then I let go once they were about twenty feet under. Pulling them up was harder, so I'm tired now. I could barely lift myself up here."

"Help yourself, I got plenty," I started chewing on a small apple that I picked a few days ago from a tree that Mort found. "So, how would you kill me? Right now."

Faun looked to see if I was serious. I kept my face straight as she started talk, she sounded like she had already planned this out before I brought it up, "Well I would probably throw one of these nuts at you as a distraction. Then I would hold you down with my mind, light this place on fire and jump out."

I chewed slowly as I thought this over, "Mort would have attacked you the second I couldn't get up. I assume that you wouldn't be able to hold me down so well," I tapped the hunting knife on my hip, "this would have been in your skull before you could set the fire. Of course, if you held Mort down too, and you probably would, we would both be burning alive."

"I didn't really think about Mort. I probably would have bound him if I really was going to do it," Faun started eating an apple as well. Mort berated me noisily as I threw him a little dried minnow.

Stop sizing up your guest. You'll make her actually want to cut your throat.

"I'm guessing he doesn't like fish?" Faun misinterpreted.

"No, I catch these little things just for him because he likes them so well. He told me to be nice or else you'll kill me."

Faun stopped eating, "I can't believe all we can think about doing is killing each other. I thought everyone might have tried to work together when we got here, but I knew better. This whole thing has just shown how screwed up humans are. You don't see other animals killing each other for no reason. I bet half of the human race is dead because a few people are ridiculously powerful. People like me."

"I'm sorry, I know how you feel. I would have never dreamed of killing anyone, but I shot a man within the first five minutes of coming here," my voice dropped to a whisper as I said the last part.

"I've killed ten people," Faun said abruptly, dropping her gaze.

I felt a weird chill creep up my back. I wasn't sure if I feared Faun or felt sorry for her.

"We should get some sleep, I don't really feel like eating any more," I wanted to avoid the topic for the time being.

Faun looked up at me, "I'm not going to kill you in the middle of the night. The people I killed all attacked me."

I wrapped up the remaining food and threw it back in the corner, then I laid back and closed my eyes.

"If you change your mind, kill Mort first so he doesn't think he's failed me or something," I said icily.

"I already told you I killed those people in self defense!" Faun raised her voice a little.

I kept my eyes closed, "Keep quiet, something will hear you. Did you ever think of avoiding them?" I sat up, "Of course they attacked you, you look weak and easy to take advantage of. Hell, if I needed food or something bad enough I would have robbed you. Did you even know that they were trying to kill you?"

Faun looked a little stunned that I had spoken to her like that. I was surprised too, I must have forgotten how to talk to people. I was angry, but I probably gave those people too much credit. I don't think I would have ever tried to attack Faun, even if I was starving. I needed to be able to sleep at night. My dad always told me that humans were pack animals, we needed each other to survive. Of course, he was probably dead with a knife in his back right now, because he wanted to trust people.

"Look, sorry. I'm sure you had every reason to kill them. I wanted to kill them. It just really bothers me, taking someone's life. I see that man's face every night in my dreams. It's cliched, but I always wonder if maybe I should have just knocked him out or something," I put my head back down and closed my eyes. "I know you won't kill me."

I heard Faun lay down on the other side of the nest. I began to drift off to sleep, wondering if Mort would stay up and watch Faun the entire night, just in case. He ruffled his feathers a little and then became still. I listened to myself breathe in and out.

Just as I was about to drift off, Faun breathed deeply and said, "I see them too."

I woke to find Mortimer pecking at my ear. Faun was still fast asleep next to me, her face even more angelic-looking with her eyes closed. I hear a low growling coming from outside.

Wake up! There are wolves all around the tree.

I stretched slowly a few times, not wanting to pull a muscle later and regret it. I crawled over to my door and looked out, Mort peering over my shoulder.

He was right, a whole pack of wolves had decided to camp around our tree. They were big too, larger than the occasional mountain lion I saw. They all had thick, shiny pelts of every color.

"They're awfully big for wolves," I whispered.

They are the largest clan in the entire forest. They are the reason this place isn't over-run by goblins. I've heard legends that their alpha is over a hundred years old, and still in his prime.

"So can I just shoot a few and scare them off? Or will the forest get mad at me?"

No! They are here for you, if you kill them in such a dishonorable way the rest will hunt you mercilessly.

"What should we do then? And why do you think that they're here for me?" I felt a squirrel treed by a dog.

Talk to them.

"I can't just go down there and say, 'Hi there, would you mind not eating us?'" I must have said that last part too loudly though, because I heard a deep voice speak from below.

Human! We hear you! Come and speak with us!

Once again, my mind somehow knew what all the growling and barking noises meant. Mortimer bobbed his head towards the door.

"Why do you wish to talk to me?" I called down nervously.

We will tell you when you come down here, come unarmed. We will not harm you if you are not a threat.

The one who spoke was a large, silver wolf, bigger than the rest. The alpha.

Mortimer hopped up and down furiously, Do as they say, wolves will always keep their word.

"I can't do that when you have claws and teeth, I will only come if I bring my weapons." I knew how animals worked, you had to show that you had a spine or else they were likely to rip you apart. Mort rocked on his feet slowly.

I heard a series of short barks, like they were arguing. The silver wolf growled once, and they all immediately fell silent.

As you wish. Come now.

And so, with a dozen wolves growling below me, I descended the tree after grabbing my bow and quiver. Mortimer flew down after I finally climbed all the way down, landing on the ground next to me. I just had to hope that Faun wouldn't wake up and freak out. After taking a deep breath, I turned around.

The silver wolf was a few yards away, and he was more massive than I expected, more like a bear. His eyes were completely black and unmoving as they bore into mine. His fur appeared to shine like moonlight on his body. I probably wasn't supposed to stare directly at him, but didn't want to appear weak. After all, they came to me.

We have heard that you now roam these forests, and nothing can stop you.

I kept my voice even and loud as I spoke, "I live here now. I am only doing what I can to survive."

I didn't even see the other wolves, I couldn't break my gaze with the alpha, though I blinked freely.

You challenge our hunting domain. You kill our prey and have built a den to lay claim to our territory, you have enslaved one of our birds as a pet. And now you have brought another human.

Mort tensed up beside me.

"I apologize for making you feel that I threaten your domain. I did not know that the territory had been claimed. I wish to live here peacefully. As for Mortimer, he can leave whenever he wishes. He belongs to no one."

The wolf stared at me for a good minute, peeling his lips back to reveal yellowed teeth.

I would allow you to stay here, but my pack needs to know that we treat all threats with immediate action. You and the other human will be killed.

"You promised that you would not harm me," I was scared now, but I didn't let it show.

I said that we would not harm you if you were not a threat. But you threaten our hold on this forest.

"The hell I do," I raised my voice, "You feel threatened by a human who hunts enough to survive and you think that gives you an honorable reason to kill me. I take back my apology, you do not deserve my respect. You decided my fate before you even arrived."

I knew that I went too far. He would attack me and I might be able to kill him. But I would have to fight though eleven more of them.

From the corners of my eyes I saw the other wolves tense up. My hand twitched for my knife.

I swear the alpha smiled, I can smell you fear, little one. Your words are empty to me. You will die with the stench of fear in your veins.

"Of course I'm scared! I would be insane if I wasn't. A dozen wolves are threatening to kill me and my family. At least I'll die knowing that I killed a wolf four times my size."

The alpha sprang forward, still keeping his eyes locked on mine. I brought my hunting knife in front of my face, preparing to kill as many as possible. I knew Mort would die trying as well.

The wolf never reached me though, he was held back by something. Roots sprang from the ground and wrapped themselves in the wolf's legs. He was slammed to the ground as the roots pulled him down. Faun suddenly landed beside me, hitting the ground so hard that the I had to brace myself to not fall over.

Faun howled. I didn't think that a noise that big could come from such a tiny body. Her voice was unbelievably loud when she spoke, I heard birds flee from the trees.

"I have absolutely no problem killing your entire pack right now. I do not fear the anger of your clan when they hear of your deaths. We are the new rulers of this forest. You belong to us. The only reason I am not going to kill you is because I don't want the smell of dog around. Now leave and don't let us see you again."

The roots dove back into the dirt and without waiting for their leader, the wolves departed. The alpha slowly backed away from Faun and only turned to run when she took a step forward. We watched as he blended into the trees.

"I am so glad we're trust-buddies," I whispered when they were out of earshot. I have no idea how I could joke around. I was proud of myself for still standing.

"We should probably leave before they come back, I'm not sure we could actually kill them all, especially if they bring reinforcements," she sounded hoarse.

"Just give me a minute," I kneeled on the ground and started dry-heaving. My heart was pounding in my ears. The mages yesterday had been bad, but the absolute coldness of the wolves destroyed the layer of protection that I thought I had around my life.

You did well, I couldn't even speak.

Mort was leaning against my side, the only affection that he had ever shown me. He hopped away after a bit. I stood up, collecting myself.

"Ok I need to pack my stuff, then we'll run."

My pack felt a little heavier than it used to when we finally set out about ten minutes later. Along with what I had originally brought, I also had the jacket, socks, and rune stones that I had taken off Jake. I also had the little fishing net that I had woven, a super light but warm blanket, two of Mort's favorite stones and a panther skin I was never going to part with. I also had twice the arrows that I originally had, which I had made with much trial-and-error from black rock, yew, and some feathers that Mort molted. Faun brought her little bag and knife.

I lead the way to the edge as we ran though the trees, we were both in excellent shape so we made good time. The forest became less and less dense as we neared the very outskirts of the trees. We found ourselves running on the flat of a plain. Not a tree was in sight. Mort and I both began to miss their protection.

"It's weird how the trees just stop. The climate isn't normal," Faun said when we took a quick water break. We kept walking so our muscles wouldn't cramp.

"I'm not too concerned about the climate."

"You will once we start running out of water," Faun said as she took shallow sips from her water skin.

Mort, who had been circling above, landed on my shoulder and I poured some water into a little pan that Faun happened to have, he drank slowly. The sun had gotten hotter as the plain that we were on turned into a dry desert, it reminded me of a salt flat.

"Hey I was wondering, how did you know what the wolves were saying?"

Faun started braiding her hair back in place as she talked, "I only heard what you were saying, so I was able to guess what the conversation was about. Wasn't too hard."

"And the way that you landed and yelled at them, magic?"

She nodded, "Of course. The vines were the hardest part, but it's actually easier to do that than just bind someone. Plants don't resist as much"

We continued on, and Faun was right, we ran out of water before we could even see the other side of the desert, and the sun wasn't even setting yet. Faun was starting to go slower and slower too. I felt like it had been days. Mort was so tired he just sat on my pack and tried to ignore all the bumping and jostling.

"Well, we're dead now, there is no away we can go that far-" I started. I could feel the dryness on my face, like my life was slowly being sucked away. "Maybe we can get back before we die of thirst, and the wolves won't be very mad."

"Oh shut up, we have rune stones. I can convert them into water. Give me them," Faun interrupted. I quickly took the pouch of them out of my bag and handed them over. Faun took my water-skin and hers and shoved a few stones inside them and started humming. When she handed my water son back, it was full. "I suppose runestones do have some use."

"Well, I feel useless, we never seem to need anything to have a small hole in it that's really far away." I took a big drink. The water tasted incredibly pure and clean.

"Nonsense, your ability to communicate with animals in invaluable. Plus, I can't make fires or anything like that. I've been using magic to keep myself alive this entire time, which makes me weak," she paused, "last night was the best sleep, the only sleep, that I've gotten since I was here, because I had someone to watch for me."

"Geez, you haven't slept at all? But it's been weeks."

Faun nodded, "I know, but I can't keep my wards up when I sleep, so I would just rest. I used magic to keep my body from going into shock. I'm still really tired."

"We'll sleep when it gets darker," I looked over at Faun, noticing that her skin was starting to turn red, "I think you're getting sunburned by the way."

Faun looked down at her arms, "Shit, I'm used to having dark skin. I'll heal it in the morning once I'm all rested up."

I unwrapped my jacket from my waist and gave it to her. "It's not too heavy, but it'll protect you a bit."

"It's fine, I already have it. It's too hot to wear anything anyway."

It was incredibly hot. I'd stripped down to my underclothes and had crammed all my leather armor in my pack.

"Your skin will start to look like you were boiled, plus I don't want you getting sun poisoning," I put the jacket in her arms.

"Sun poisoning?" Faun asked.

"Ya, I've gotten it a few times when I wasn't all Cherokee. You'll get all dizzy and won't be able to eat."

"White people suck." Faun put the jacket on quickly, making sure not to touch her sunburn. "I miss being Jamaican."

I started cracking up. "You used to be Jamaican? I'd better give you a few tips on how to be a white girl."

We walked the rest of the day, Faun was too tired to do anything else, and I talked nonstop about my previous life since we had plenty of water. It felt nice, getting it all out. I told her about how I grew up in on a small farm in Nebraska with my mom and how I was bored stiff all the time since I went to a school with only twenty kids in it, and none of them were near my age. Then when she died in a car accident when I was fifteen I went and lived with my dad in Brooklyn, which was when I stopped playing. He threw me into a fancy private high school since he was a successful lawyer and I graduated top of my class somehow. At my old school, I just used the computer all the time and took online college courses since the material around me was so easy. The private school offered more and I loved it. I was just entering my first year on a full-scholarship to Boston when the game started.

"Do you miss your mom?" Faun asked after I finished. She seemed genuinely interested.

I waited for a bit before answering,"I haven't been thinking of her a lot recently, but I do miss her a lot. She wasn't the greatest person in the whole world, but she was the person who raised me after my parents split."

Faun nodded. "Both of my parents died when I was eight. I miss my mom too."

"That's sad, did you get thrown around in foster care?" I asked.

"No, my parents were gypsies. Well I am too, I was. A friend of theirs took me in and I worked as his assistant in a magic show. He was like my dad basically. Happiest man you could ever meet, he would do kid's show for free if the parents didn't have any money. He was old though, and when he passed away I kept the show going. I was planning on moving to Vegas, because I got pretty popular in Florida, but you know…"

"It sounds like he was a great man to learn from," I smiled, "So you were a Jamaican magician in Florida?" I smiled.

"Ya I guess it is kind of weird. Being so pale is new. You got lucky with that body."

Mort flew down and landed on Faun, whom he now liked since she had killed Jake and scared off a pack of wolves.

I have never seen so many humans in this land.

I quickly relayed the statement to Faun.

"We kind of just got dumped here," she said slowly.

I heard stories of sudden appearances of groups of humans. Mort paused, I also heard that there was bloodshed.

"We don't get along well," I said after Faun failed to respond. I tried changing the subject, "Isn't it interesting how you can understand Faun, but she cannot understand you?"

It does seem odd I suppose, but creatures of the forest have always understood humans. Even as a chick, I knew what the hunters who passed by talked about.

The desert never seemed to end, but we decided that we might as well walk through the night, and then try and sleep when the sun came up. We eventually stopped talking since the night ended up being so cold that we broke out our overclothes. As it got darker the cold began to get worse and worse. We were both shivering from cold and exhaustion, and I had to put Mort under my jacket because he'd never been so cold and he couldn't warm up his body as well. I put on the jacket I'd stolen from Jake and gave Faun he socks to wear on her hands along with my light blanket. I also put my black panther skin around the two of us. She obviously wasn't used to cold weather because she hadn't thought to bring a jacket or blanket. The panther skin was thick so it kept us both pretty warm, walking also helped.

Faun stroked the black fur. "I'm assuming you shot this."

"And ate it. Meat was tough though."

"Why'd you keep the skin then?"

I smiled, remembering how I'd killed the big cat. "Mort and I were coming home to build on the nest some more and I saw it's eyes coming out of the forest. It was pitch-black so I could see nothing else. None of us moved, and I was afraid if I tried to grab an arrow I wouldn't be fast enough. It lunged at us, but I somehow moved out of its way..."