I was startled by the sudden appearance of blue holographic boxes. The radiant squares hovered resolutely in the air before me, casting an ethereal glow that felt alien against the natural forest backdrop. Peering down at my arm, the jagged, searing pain had abruptly subsided, replaced by a dull ache. What I saw was raw, inflamed skin beneath the blood - almost as if it had undergone weeks of healing in a single instant. The forest air was thick with the metallic tang of blood and the musty scent of disturbed earth.

  The level up notification felt hollow as I stared at the broken creature in my hands. In the game, monsters had disappeared in flashes of light, neat and clean. This was messy, real - fur matted with blood, body still warm. My own hands shook, cuts stinging, muscles aching. The copper coins that materialised felt absurd next to the reality of what I'd just done. I'd taken a life - not just clicked through combat animations, but actually ended something's existence.

  The sound of that battle might have attracted other creatures. For now, I needed to keep moving and consider where I should slot my stat point. I hastily jogged deeper into the undergrowth, the damp leaves squelching beneath my feet. My body protested every movement, still numb and frayed, drawn thin by the damage and healing. I kept my stat sheet up, ready to assign a point at a moment's notice.

  The flitting shadows formed by leaves bending and swaying in the breeze sometimes gave me pause, but the forest was quiet, peaceful. I observed smaller rabbits, tiny horns just peaking through, squatting in the underbrush chewing on luscious grass. The whistling of birds swooping and diving across the foliage only enhanced the serene feeling of the forest as the sun advanced across the sky.

  I paused—something seemed off.

  "Hyaaaahhh!"

  Through the forest shadows, I glimpsed a figure lunging toward me with a wild battle cry. In that split second, I remembered my unused status point and instinctively allocated it to strength. Flowing energy tempered my muscles, fire destroyed the tendons in agonising pain, only for them to re-emerge manifold denser.

  The attacker's leap faltered mid-air. In their hands was a wooden club that dwarfed their slender frame. I caught the falling club in one hand, bringing it to a dead stop as power surged through me. Then I squeezed. It was intoxicating to feel the wooden club flex under my grip.

  Breaking out of my reverie, I caught the image of a flailing young white-haired woman.

  Her eyes were wide, unsure. Not expecting me to catch her weapon, or react at all, but her momentum hadn't stopped, and she slammed into me with all the force of a startled kitten.

  'Ugh!'

  I was left gasping as the wind was driven from my lungs. She bounced off me and fell flat back down into the mottled grass and tree-root earth below with an undignified grunt.

  A pregnant moment passed as we stared at one another, one standing tall and confused, holding a wooden club. The other lay wide-eyed and trembling. Cat ears twitched and her tail flicked nervously against the ground, snow white.

  She was clearly not a threat, and I doubt I was whatever she was expecting. I spread my hands conciliatorily and stepped back, suddenly very aware of my dried blood, muck and scrapes.

  "I'm not going to hurt you," I said, punctuating it by shuffling back.

  "What are you doing out here?" she said.

  "...I'm lost, to be honest. I was summoned to a great city, then sent out again by the same portal, and now I'm here."

  She seemed to consider me, her gaze taking in my ragged and bloodied state. Her ears twitched on top of her head, rising and falling with her mixed emotions. Her body was poised to fight or flee at any moment, her eyes darted around, trying to take in both the undulating shadows of the forest and me at the same time.

  "I mean you no harm. Look, I just was stuck in a VRMMO, have you heard of it? I was a player in the VRMMO, on Earth."

  This didn't seem to help. She blinked at me in confusion. Cautiously getting up, she held the heavy stick protectively in front of her. I couldn't help but notice the slight tremor in her hand. The club wobbled, yet she didn't seem to take any notice.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Her face scrunched in puzzlement. "Earth? What?"

  "Players, in a video game, where you can't leave?"

  She looked at me as if I was crazy, her ears now flat against her head in distrust. "Player?" She seemed to taste the word, mulling it over as if it was a concept alien to her.

  "I've not the faintest of what you're talking about. But this isn't where we can talk, this is goahblean territory... but I think they've lost my scent." Her small hand bobbed about the air emphatically as she spoke, a nervous energy radiating from her slight frame.

  "Goahblean? Let's move then, but call me Zach."

  "Nilah," she said softly.

  "Well I'm lost too, but that's alright." I tried to sound more confident than I felt.

  "You're lost too?"

  Nilah's ears flattened against her head as she took a few steps back. "You need to leave. Now." Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "They're hunting me, and they'll find you too if you stay."

  I glanced around at the shifting shadows between the trees. The peaceful forest suddenly felt a lot more threatening. "Who's hunting you?"

  "The goahblean. They track anything that moves through their territory." She clutched her wooden club tighter, knuckles white. "I've been running from them since dawn. I thought I'd lost them, but..." Her ears twitched, rotating to catch some sound I couldn't hear. "They're getting closer."

  "Then we should stick together," I said, taking a step toward her. "Two people have a better chance than—"

  "No!" She held up her hand to stop me. "You don't understand. I led them here. The longer you stay with me, the more danger you're in." Her tail lashed anxiously behind her. "Just go. Head west, away from the setting sun, and keep going"

  I looked at her trembling form, trying to appear brave despite her fear. I couldn't just abandon someone else to face danger alone.

  "What? No. I can't do that. I need your help, and I can't just leave you out here."

  "You need to go! You'll die if you stay."

  "If you really want me to go, I'll go. But you'll just... We're better off together."

  She harrumphed. "Well, OK. If we're lost, at least we have each other. We need to find a place to hide."

  A ditch with a fallen log made our hiding spot. We talked in hushed whispers.

  The hollow beneath the fallen log was barely big enough for both of us. Nilah's ears twitched at every sound, her body tense as a drawn bowstring. Despite her obvious fear, she kept stealing glances at me, curiosity warring with caution in her eyes.

  "You should've gone. This is bad."

  I shifted, trying to get comfortable in our cramped hiding spot, bark scraping against my back. "I'm not going to let you go alone, besides I don't even know where we are, or anything really."

  "You were in the city?"

  "Yeah, are we talking about the same city? The one with big brick everything? Purple growths on people? Stinks and is filled with the homeless?"

  She nodded slowly, a shadow passing over her face. "We're not far from there, deep in the forest outside the city walls by a couple days."

  "Yeah, don't know if I'll be going back."

  "Are you in trouble there?"

  "Yeah, I... I stopped a kidnapping? And then reported it? Then was banished through a portal." The absurdity of it all hit me again as I said it out loud.

  "What! That's terrible."

  "Yeah, the Queen herself was there at least. Royal send-off and all."

  Her eyes widened. "You faced Queen Hella herself?"

  "Yes, and the high society I think. High on their own supply society. Bunch of sycophants and freaks."

  "Haha. High on their own supply." A smile crept across her face as she repeated, "High on their own supply. That's perfect." She chuckled, shaking her head. "You are right, they dress up in silver to hide the stains of their deprivation."

  "It was a lot of 'How dare you point out the smears of purple on everyone's faces, how dare you save a woman from being kidnapped! How dare you! The purple marks are beautiful! Begone! Begone! Begone!'" I was more Dalek than Hella, but Nilah still laughed softly at this. A genuine mirth relaxing her nervousness. I couldn't help but smile.

  "You'd think they'd be more open about what's going on—I mean, it's literally written all over some of their faces. But hey, it's whatever. So you're from the city too?"

  "Yeah, I was 'begoned.'"

  "What for?"

  She turned away, and I realised just how close we were in that dark hole.

  "Dissent," she said quietly. "The usual."

  "Ah, yeah, I can imagine it doesn't take much to be considered dissenting. I helped someone get unkidnapped, and my reward?" I gestured around at the forest.

  "It's disgusting. Really it is disgusting." Her voice trembled with suppressed emotion.

  "Ah, it's... OK."

  "It's not right," she said, eyes shining with passion in the dim light. "The city wasn't always like this..."

  She trailed off into contemplation, leaving me alone with the strange forest sounds. A twig snapped in the distance, and my newly enhanced muscles tensed instinctively.

  "Crack!"

  We stopped. Something moved out there.

  Her hand found my arm, she squeezed, hard. I looked over through the bushes, my heart pounding as shadows shifted in the undergrowth.

  The afterimage of gangly pointed ears, bulbous drooping noses, cruel glinting teeth, beady eyes, dirt mottled green skin, they were unmistakable. Goahbleen, goblins.

  The goblins were around us, they sniffed and stalked through the underbrush. Their movements had a predatory grace that no game animation had ever captured.

  "I'm sorry, I brought them here. You wouldn't've been found if it wasn't for me." There were tears in her eyes now, glistening in the filtered sunlight.

  "No, it's alright."

  "I'm so sorry." She buried her head in her hands. "I have to go, I have to fix this."

  "Wait—"

  She was off, running—she was fast through the forest, shouting defiance. The goblins perked up and rushed towards her. They leapt over the log and didn't look back. There were so many.

  I stared, rooted in shock as Nilah ran with pure grace even in her desperate flight. Her long legs carried her over log and root like water flowing over stone. Her tail streamed behind her, a white banner balancing her movements as she darted effortlessly through the forest. For a moment, she became otherworldly - a phantasm, a beautiful fae creature that had never truly existed except in this moment of desperate flight.

  Then she was gone, swallowed by the shadows of the forest. A moment later, a cry rang out.

  "Ahhh!"