Chapter 3 - Cat got your Tongue

Nate noted there was no kaleidoscopic galaxy or bubble this time. One moment he was in Arikanvil’s portal chamber and the next he was sailing through the air before bouncing on soft grass strewn with leaves. From his prone position he got a first-row seat to watch the spherical portal shrink before it vanished, leaving him truly stranded on this new world. Taking in a deep breath, he found that he could breathe without issue. That meant the atmosphere here was pretty similar to Earth’s. It wasn’t something he’d bothered to consider till he was lying on the ground, but it should’ve been a bigger concern for him. What if it had been poisonous to him and he’d been dropped down here only to suffocate moments later? Well, no point stressing about it now, but he really had to learn to be more careful and think these things through.

Nate knew he was being hard on himself. He’d just been tossed into the unknown. Maybe someone trained for it might’ve been able to remain calm and think through all the possible consequences and outcomes. Ask the right questions. But he was just an eighteen-year-old kid. He knew his life experience and training was basically non-existent. Sitting up he was about to take in his surroundings when text began to flash in front of his eyes.

System Interface Initializing…..

Arikanvil had been right. That had been very easy to see. The words themselves were translucent enough that he could see behind them unless he focused on them. It seemed like it was loading, much like a computer from back on Earth. He wasn’t sure how long it was going to take, and Nate had definitely noticed his skin was prickling again, though it was far less noticeable than it had been in the portal between Earth and this universe. Nate didn’t even bother comparing the sensation to the near-death experience of being exposed to mana on The Wanderer’s research facility. He liked that title. The Wanderer. Nate supposed he’d learn how he earned it if he survived this place.

As he waited for The System to finish initialising, he started to take in his surroundings. Snorting to himself at what he saw, he finished it off with a deep sigh. Nate just could not catch a break. As far as he could see he was in some sort of forest. So, not a city, or even a town, or anything like civilization. The forest itself was clearly not of Earth. Though some of the trees and bushes looked similar, some were clearly alien with drooping flowers the size of his head or covered in vines that were a mix of yellow, blue, and green that he was convinced he could see moving out of the corner of his eye.

It was both beautiful and frightening and Nate had a sudden thought that he was completely out of his depth. He resolved himself to not touching or eating anything that he hadn’t first tested. How he was going to test it was still up in the air, but he’d have to figure out something, so he didn’t die out here in this strange wilderness.

Looking around more, he realised that some of these trees were truly gargantuan. Nate had heard of the Californian redwoods. Trees that could reach a height of a hundred metres. Trying to gauge the height of some of the trees around him he was confident they could rival those redwoods. Maybe more than rival in a few cases. It made him feel small in a way that finding out about the multiverse had not.

That thought brought him back to Earth and a possible path home. The Wanderer had said it was still highly improbable that Nate could find a way home but despite that, he’d given him a path to finding his way back to Earth if that is what he wanted. The problem was that with that all that had happened in the last hour or two, Nate wasn’t sure if he wanted to return home.

On one side there was the possibility of a life of magic and adventure, but he wasn’t so naïve to not recognise that such a path came with implicit danger. He’d never really experienced danger much in his life beyond a couple of schoolyard fights. Australia hadn’t been a particularly dangerous country and assholes were easy enough to avoid. Playing his own devil’s advocate, he thought about what there was to go back to. A selfish Aunt who didn’t care for him at all and a couple of good school friends. So one con and two pros.

Before he could continue that line of thinking the message in front of his eyes changed as he felt a slight pressure for a moment in his lower chest.

Initialization complete. Welcome to The System Interface.
New User Detected.
Initial Scan Completed.
For results think, ‘Status’.

You have set foot in two different universes.
Your achievement has been recorded.

Walk your Path. Reach your Goal. Become One with Mana.

Nate moved from where the portal had initially dumped him over to one of the large trees. He felt like an ant next to it but sat down with his back against the trunk before he thought, ‘Status’. A character sheet like out of a game appeared before his eyes.

Roving his eyes over the character sheet he took note of a few things. The stats… which Nate guessed were like attributes, were clearly divided into Physical, Mental, and Magical. The latter made Nate sigh in disappointment. He clearly sucked at Magic. Not surprising, he supposed, since he was from a Dead Realm as they called them. No exposure to mana until a few hours ago was probably a pretty hard handicap on any sort of magical development. The System seemed to think he was pretty intelligent and creative, and Nate didn’t think it was prone to flattery. He’d have to lean into his strengths to survive in this new world. Which meant using his head and being creative apparently.

His physical stats seemed a bit below average to him. That seemed fitting to Nate. His lack of a decent diet or playing any sports had clearly had a negative impact on his development, the fact that he was young and resilient making up for some of the shortcomings of his upbringing. His Aunt hadn’t starved him, but she was definitely not cooking for him or even teaching him much about food and nutrition. Nate silently blamed her for his lower strength, endurance, and constitution scores. Higher dexterity made sense with his artwork which required precision and a still hand. While being less agile seemed reasonable, the lower perception stat surprised him. Nate had always thought he was pretty observant. Made him wonder how much he had missed during his life just because he didn’t notice it.

No Classes, Skills, or Spells yet. But then he had only been exposed to the System for less than ten minutes at this point. Besides, he should probably try and learn more about these Classes before he made any decisions that he couldn’t take back. In games he had played, Classes usually gave a set of abilities, in The System that was probably the Skills and Spells slot. But Nate was making assumptions and really had no idea if that was the way it functioned. Just because it looked like a game didn’t make it one.

This was his life and, if he was going to do this right, he needed to find someone to ask about the details, lest he ruin his chances of ever becoming a mage. Nate stood up from his seat against the tree and checked his storage ring was still on his finger before brushing himself off and doing a slow turn as he tried to figure out which direction was the best.

Nate would’ve tried to use the sun of this world but though he could see light streaming down through the canopy he couldn’t make out the direction. Shading his eyes, he tried to see if he could tell the slant of the light. Doing so saved his life. Looking up let him spot the gigantic cat-like monster that was stalking him, resting on a tree branch as thick as a steel beam. As the cat monster bunched its legs to launch itself at him, Nate bolted around the nearest tree putting the trunk between him and the creature.

The moment he was out of sight of the monster he started sprinting. The creature had been huge. Nate had never seen a moose in his previous life, but he had seen videos online with moose standing near people. That cat, or whatever the hell it was, was bigger than a moose and Nate wanted none of that.

He was barely ten steps into his mad sprint when he felt the ground shake. The cat-thing had clearly realised its prey was getting away and decided to descend to chase it down. Nate tried not to panic and kept running as he heard the roar elicited by the cat, the sound reverberating in his chest. Moments later, he heard it begin to give chase, its paws impacting in a steady rhythm behind him. His inbuilt desire to survive had his mind searching for ways out of his predicament. He considered climbing a tree, only to realise he was panicking, and he’d just seen the cat ten metres up stalking him from a tree. Think, Nate urged himself. Think.

Swerving to the left, bushes and ferns blurring by him, Nate threw himself at some vines, scrambling through the holes before he continued to flee the cat-monster. Glancing back, he saw the creature crash into those very same vines. He finally got a good look at it. Cat was an apt initial assessment, but it looked like it was crossed with some lizard. Scales covered the creature instead of fur and it sported four eyes, just like The Wanderer. Two in front and two on the sides. Finally, it had two tails, with the tips of the tails shining in the limited light like metal, or claws. It was its tails and claws it put to use as Nate watched it over his shoulder, still running. The cat, as Nate had decided to call it, thrashed in the vines and immediately started obliterating them. Wood chips and pieces of vine began flying everywhere in a cacophony of violence which only pushed Nate to draw on reserves he didn’t know he possessed and run even faster.

He was going to die here if he didn’t change the balance of power. This forest was the cat's home. It could climb trees, shred vines. It was probably an apex predator. Nate’s only hope was to find water or perhaps another apex predator and then pray they decided to fight each other. Glancing back again, he saw the cat was almost free and he’d barely put another fifty metres between them. Stopping for a second, he tried to listen for water. A noise caught his ear and though it might’ve just been the wind in the trees, it was the only hope he believed he had. Turning slightly to the right he began sprinting again, already feeling the burn in his lungs as his body demanded more oxygen to fuel his mad dash.

Nate couldn’t keep this up for much longer. If he’d been fitter he maybe could’ve tried to turn this into a battle of endurance, but he knew he was tiring and that once he did, he was dead. Damn his low endurance score he thought. If he survived this he’d figure out a way to raise that stat, he promised himself. The sound of padded feet slapping earth came to his ears and he knew the cat had resumed the chase. However, another sound caught his ear, and he knew he had made the right decision. There was water this way. If he could just make it, maybe he would have a chance. Maybe the cat couldn’t swim. Or at least couldn’t bring its significant strength and speed to bare in the water. Nate wasn’t an Olympic swimmer, but he was from Australia. He’d learned to swim shortly after learning to walk. He was going to drown that fucking cat!

Charging through the underbrush he spotted the source of the noise. A river coursing through the forest lay maybe seventy metres ahead. A river through a forest. Had The Wanderer known or was it merely coincidence? Time to go be detritus again, thought Nate. Running as fast as he could with his legs burning and his lungs screaming for air he began to panic. It was still a long way off, and he could hear the cat closing in on him. Hear the huffing of its breath. It was going to be close! Nate was only twenty metres from the edge of the river when he glanced back in time to see the cat launch itself in a jump at him.

Throwing himself to the side he rolled across the grass, avoiding getting slammed to the ground by the cat. He watched as it landed, skidding over the green grass to put itself between him and the river. He was fucked. This close he could smell the musty scent of the creature as it watched him with yellow eyes, drool flecked with froth leaking from the corners of its mouth. So far Nate had been worried about the claws and tails of the creature but being this close gave him front-row seats to the incredibly sharp teeth of the beast. All the better to shred him with, he thought, in a moment of terror.

He was so close to the river though. If he could just get past the cat then he might have a fighting chance in the water. Nate stared into the cats’ yellow eyes, trying to figure out the best way to get around the monster. His best idea was to try and make it chase him around one of the trees, hoping his turning circle was faster than the creature’s. Swallowing what little saliva remained in his mouth, Nate tensed his legs before rushing to his right towards the nearest tree. The cat gave chase at the same time, its massive legs tearing up the dirt as it tried to beat Nate to the tree. As he rounded the tree the roar of the cat sounded in his ear moments before a stinging pain lanced up his arm, followed by the cracking sound of the creature’s paw striking the tree itself.

Nate looked down to see blood streaming out of three slashes down across his upper arm. A glimpse over his shoulder revealed the cat preparing to pounce and he looked around wildly, trying to find something to put between himself and the creature. Another of the gigantic trees only ten metres away revealed a cavity in the trunk. Nate dashed for the gap, hoping to squeeze inside and get away from the cat before he bled out.

The creature must have realised what he intended and bounded toward him a moment later, but Nate was close enough to cram himself in through the hole before it could reach him. As he squirmed deeper into the slit in the trunk, he turned in time to see the cat's paw slam into the tree, bark flying off in an explosion that sent Nate careening backwards. Nate tried to catch his balance but kept stumbling until he finally fell, his head impacting something hard. Slipping into unconsciousness, his last sight was a baleful yellow eye watching him through the small gap in the tree trunk.