I was halfway up the hill my camp was resting on top of when I realized something was up with the camp. “Why is the tent..?” I started to ask myself, looking up at the tent in confusion. It was strangely misshapen, and I swear it looked smaller. “Shoot…” I said, cursing my luck as I started jogging up to the campsite.

  I reached the campsite a moment later and I groaned with exasperation and a little horror at the state it was in. The tent had a few holes and tears on its sides and the poles looked snapped in places. My backpack was open and looking not so great with my gear all thrown over the campsite. “Animal.” I grunted and closed my eyes in annoyance.

  I hated when something messed with my stuff and I wasn't there to do anything about it. That was always the biggest thing that made me travel light so I could bring everything along with me whenever I left wherever I had set up camp. I suppose that me being teleported away really defeats that.

  Before I started getting my camp back together and taking an inventory, I started to look around. I had the bad habit of forgetting to check for whatever did the thing in the first place when I was starting out in the wilderness, but I learned my lesson from the squirrel that did it coming and stealing more right out from under me. Tracks…

  “Those are hooves.” I note, concerned as I spotted some definite hoof prints. ‘Unicorn. It has to be.’ I thought to myself, looking around the area with a slight shiver at the thought of the unicorn by the lake nearly gutting me after it mind controlled me. Things of terror. And according to the tracks… There was a unicorn coming and going from this camp for the last few days. A single one, if the various ages of the different tracks was any clue.

  “No way this is a coincidence.” I groaned out, looking around watchfully. I had only ever seen the one unicorn anyways, so why would more suddenly be coming daily out of nowhere? No. “Great. A unicorn with a grudge is coming after me.” I commented, clenching my fist around my spear as I looked over the hills and the lake around me.

  Then I sighed and looked down at the mess of a camp. I needed a camp before I could do anything, like setting up defences. Not that I had much time or resources for any real defenses.

  Then with a ping, a system screen appeared in front of me.

  I opened my status page an instant after that, my brows furrowing.

  Well, these are interesting. I needed to kill the unicorn anyways, if what I was imagining the situation to be was true, but the forest was interesting. “Gateway to the rest of the island… If I remember the hologram thing I was shown correctly, then that's true enough. But does this mean… this is a starter zone?” I wondered, looking down at the lake. I had seen some crazy things in the area, so maybe not? Hopefully. Well, getting to the forest would be for later.

  ‘Unicorn hunting… I can plan while I work on cleaning this mess up…’ I thought to myself, turning away from the system and letting it close as I got to work quickly cleaning up the camp, watching the sun going down as I did.

  I took a quick inventory as I worked and thought. I had a collection of things that I could put into my inventory, so I made sure to put them inside as well. The bag of wood working tools I had just got and I had six whole logs I had from the camp quest alongside firewood and the two stools that went into my inventory, alongside the sealed bag of meat that I retrieved from the cold water I had placed it in before the quest.

  Then all that was left was the stuff I could stuff into my backpack. A few feet of rope, my sleeping bag that miraculously survived the attack in my tent without any damage, said tent, a small compass, a small first aid bag with bandages, some band-aids, box of wet wipes, soap and 3 empty med bottles, flint and steel, a razer, my multitool, a compact mirror, my good old small pot, my old hatchet, full water bottle and 2 days worth of MRE’s.

  It may seem like a long list, but realistically this is the bare, bare minimum or below. I could make what I needed, and put them in the inventory as I go though, so my carryon supplies shouldn't increase at least. It was bulky enough as it is, and I would be carrying my spear and hunting knife with the hope I wouldn't have to use it.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  I only spent a few minutes cleaning up. I haven't lost anything, if I remembered what all I had correctly anyways, and so I just packed everything up but my tent. My tent… wasn’t beyond repair, but at this point I didn't have the resources or wanted to spend the effort on it. It may be waterproof, but at this point I was starting to see it as just a piece of cloth. Something that blocked my view and didn't protect me at all. So I just packed it up and put it away before starting to walk.

  I was heading to the one direction that I knew would protect me from the elements without giving away my location and a fair distance away from where I knew that unicorn would come looking for me. But I kept my spear at the ready while hiking to that location. It definitely wasn't safe. But I had an idea to make it more safe at least for the moment.

  I was talking about the horned rabbit’s burrow that I had tracked the first rabbit to. And nearly died without getting close, but I killed one and it was getting late. Late enough for them to be asleep? Maybe not, but I had a certain furry edge of my own now if it came to a fight and a bit more practical experience with my makeshift spear. I could take on a giant horned rabbit or two, surely.

  Though maybe the Pendant wouldn't give the same kind of boost if I was just fighting for food or survival of myself. I guess it depends on the situation and my emotions… That might be problematic sometimes. Though I was always good at controlling my emotions, could I make myself fuel them to the level I need to be as powerful as I needed to be in any given situation? I would definitely find out anyway.

  I felt like a hiker as I walked over and around hills, following the path I had taken previously in the direction of the rabbit burrow with my spear in my hand as I leaned my weight on it like a walking stick. I was pretty tired after yesterday, though the muscle pain I would have expected wasn't present. The werewolf’s healing factor I was guessing did more than cuts and bruises. Though the hunger that came after transforming and fighting and healing… Let's just say it balanced it out. I was kind of out of it for a good while, but it quickly became obvious.

  The walk seemed to take ages, with me trying to constantly watch everywhere all at once, but I made it quickly and without any actual problems. I saw a few birds and insects, and I swear I saw a squirrel in one of the sparse trees, but those were regular looking and didn't even get close. Well… the squirrel was glowing a bit and had a cool looking staff while it stood on its branch… but it didn't do more than that. Maybe I could take a closer look if it didn't mind sometime later? I mean, squirrels aren't that bad. Then again… this is another planet. I can forget that sometimes.

  Anyways, I arrived. The area seemed devoid of life, and the gaping hole that I could only see the edges of from where I was standing seemed particularly ominous with the sun setting and everything getting darker. So I took my time looking around the area before I started towards the hole.

  Grass, a few large trees here and there on the hills, the dark green forest in the distance and the ever present mountain or volcano at the heart of the mountain in the far distance. I couldn't see the ocean or the lake at the bottom of the hills. No animals, besides some birds in the sky. Definitely no monsters. Unless they were invisible. Or underground. Damn, that is probably going to haunt my thoughts.

  I shrug off the tension and start walking, watching my feet and making sure to move as silently as possible. Not that it was all that hard with this thick grass muffling every step I made.

  I walked for several seconds before I was by the edge of the entrance to the rabbits burrow. Then I turned around the corner. A mass of white fur was coming right towards me, horns pointed down as it charged to the open air. I reacted instantly, hurling myself back around the corner and out of the way. ‘WHAT THE HELL- I just got here!’ I cursed in my mind, and made my way backwards. How did it know I was here? Is its sense of smell that good?!

  But after a few seconds of waiting… nothing came out. Then out of nowhere I heard a thump and a dull screech, that sounded oddly pained and the ground shook a little. “Wha-” I started to say, confused, but I shut myself up quickly as I saw something. There was a glow on the dirt and grass by the entrance, a dull blue one that made me think of a jellyfish I saw that glowed. But way bigger and brighter. I heard a chittering, the sound of a lot of things rustling and hitting the ground repeatedly as whatever it was moved closer as it grew slightly louder. Then a hiss sounded out, and the light pulsed as the sound of a squelch could be heard duly from my position beside the entrance.

  I start to feel myself starting to transform with the fear and adrenaline that came with just what I could hear. Then I found myself making the transformation stop. I didn't want to waste energy with an early transformation. The emotions were repressed a bit as I focused on thinking things through, though I could feel the pound of my heart beating like a wardrum.

  Something just killed one of the horned rabbits in its own home, and even before that it made this one run away. Think, timeline. Rabbit spots this thing, and tries to fight. It gets wounded or it's poisoned and then tries to run. It collapses and the thing catches up, finishing it off. There would most likely be more than one because of the number of rabbits. More would have escaped. Plus the glowing. Which is weird… because anything that glows doesnt live near the surface normally. Oceans or deep underground were the main places where things glow. Except for a few small exemptions. Thank you biology.

  So… either it will stay underground… or I need to kill it anyway.

  Almost as if the system was responding to my thoughts, I heard the sound of getting a system notification and I looked to my right where I saw the black screen floating.

  ‘Contain the breach?’ I thought in confusion as I stared at the name before snapping back to reality and opening the Active Quest page with a thought quickly, carefully listening and looking back to the burrow entrance before I started reading.

  “Oh my god. God’s.” I breathed the second I reached the end, forgetting about the possible monster in the burrow and standing up straight. “That- That's insane. Seriously?! What the hell Nemunue!” I worked myself into a half whisper shout, looking around as I sent the system screen away.

  “The Underworld. WHY IS THIS A THING?! WHY IS IT TRYING TO CORRUPT THE SURFACE!?!? I officially hate rabbits. This is it. THE RABBITS BURROWED INTO THE UNDERWORLD NOW. This is personal. THIS IS TOO MUCH! FIRST THE DAMNED HYPNO UNICORN HUNTING ME, NOW THIS!?” I screamed out, rage filling my voice and I could feel myself starting to transform into the werewolf again without a care about alerting the monster around the corner I was coming. I didn't stop it this time.

  I grew and sprouted fur, time slowed, my claws sharpened alongside my senses as a tint of red covered my vision. I roared into the sky and started running, spear in hand, towards the entrance to the burrow. “LIKE HELL I AM GOING TO LET SOME STUPID RABBITS ACCIDENTALLY ‘CORRUPT’ THE ISLAND! THIS IS MY GODDAMN ISLAND! HELL TO THE FUCK NO!” I growled out as I ran, fury fueling my body.

  I rounded the corner, just in time to see a giant glowing centipede rear its bloody head up from the corpse of one of the giant horned rabbits, its fangs dripping with its blood. I threw my spear and pierced its head, letting it get stuck a foot into the ceiling with a crack as the monster's body fell to the ground in a mass of legs and blood with the body of the rabbit it had just killed. Half the spear fell to the ground. I growled and ignored the sight as I ran on all fours into the burrow, ignoring the spear. I don't think it would be very useful. I got claws, don't I?