"Attention!" Lucas screamed, getting us all to look toward him. "It's time to head out now. For now, don't wander too far and just map out the surrounding area. Use the task's time remaining to track how long you have been exploring and return before four hours pass. That goes for all groups, including those hunting and gathering. Right now, the time remaining is approximately 719 hours. So you should explore for about two hours, then return so you will arrive at around 715 hours remaining to report and consolidate our findings. Good luck, and may we return healthy and bearing good news!"
I had to hand it to him—for every screw he had loose, he made up for it with his ability to command us. Whether he was truly competent remained a question that couldn't be answered yet. We were moving very fast after all.
We were directed to travel east. We divined the direction using the sun's position. However, we had yet to determine where we were, and we weren't even sure if this was Earth or what the actual time of day was, so the accuracy of our educated guess wasn't all that reliable. Though that wasn't important—what was important was that we all identified each direction the same way so that, when we came together, understanding where something was would be easier.
"Let's go!" I tried to sound happy while addressing my group, who'd all gone back to their own little worlds. We hadn't said much to each other since our introductions, but I didn't know if it was just me being delusional—these people seemed to have eased up around me. They all got really interested after I told them about the status screen.
"As we walk, I suggest looking for a stick to defend yourself. Even though Lucas said to run, the possibility of being forcibly drawn into a fight remains, and being armed will help with that. With that in mind, L-let's begin our mission!" I tried to sound cheery, but my nerves got to me, causing me to stutter a bit. But with that, we started our awkward trek eastbound.
We stepped out of the clearing and into the forest, and immediately, a sense of wonder filled me, overcoming my fear.
"I-it's beautiful," Claire stopped, not even a full step into the forest, and began scanning left to right.
I agreed with Claire, but the word beautiful didn't do the sight justice. The trees were filled with green, lush leaves, and a series of knolls filled with flowers of all colors were visible, lightened by the sun, which periodically pierced the canopy of the trees. A herd of deer rushed by in the distance, and birds chirped overhead.
"Y-yeah," Ryon said as he bent down and plucked a dandelion, softly blowing onto it and letting the bits fly off into the wind.
After our brief pause to take in the scenery, we started walking again, but not even two more paces in, I heard a thud sound from behind me.
"Ouch!"
I looked back to see Claire face down in the dirt, having tripped on a fallen tree branch.
Ryon hurriedly dropped to his knees and helped her up.
"Thanks," she said before dusting herself off, taking one step, and nearly falling again.
After that small holdup, we restarted our march into the alluring forest. For a time, we went silent as we continued our walk through the breathtaking landscape, occasionally making markers so we could find our way back. And even though I was at the vanguard of our group, I did my best to observe those behind me in an attempt to learn more about them.
Zayn was still staring at his tattoo as if he didn't even know how it got there. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't even know he'd been kidnapped and randomly screamed when he realized.
Ryon kept running his hands through his short brown hair every time the wind moved it an inch, all while staring at Claire the entire time. Survival seemed secondary to girls for him.
Claire was nearly tripping over every exposed tree root or uneven clump of dirt.
And Connor… he was a weird one. He observed everything with utmost care, but seemed to get easily distracted by anything moving. All it took was a single butterfly, and it seemed like every thought in his head would disappear.
Well... they all had their quirks, but as long as they were being cooperative, I guess I couldn't complain.
Silence finally broke when Connor tapped me on the shoulder from behind before he sped up so we were walking side by side.
"Hey, Axel," he said.
I cocked my head to the side but didn't halt our advancement.
"Yeah? What's up?" I asked.
"I've been curious since earlier… but that necklace you're wearing, what does it mean?" he asked.
"Oh?" I felt at my neck and found what he was talking about—I had been too busy with my arm injury to even realize I was wearing it. "This?" I tugged at it and looked down. "Well, it's… what is it?"
"You're wearing it," Connor shrugged before rubbing his mustache. "You really don't know why you're wearing a 't' with a malnourished man strapped to it around your neck?"
"No…" I inspected it some more. For some reason, I could recall putting it on, but not what it meant. "Maybe I thought it was cool?" But I had hyperthymesia, so how? Was this linked to my past life somehow? Why could I not remember its meaning?
"Sorry, but doesn't look all that cool. A little creepy if you ask me," Ryon said as he walked up next to me and leaned in to look at it. Claire appeared next to him, peeking around at the necklace as well.
"Stop," Zayn spoke quietly but with authority, spooking me.
Looking at the faces of the others, I wasn't the only one surprised. I hadn't expected him to talk, let alone order us. Curiously, we stopped looking at my necklace and looked back at him, and he held a finger to his lips and pointed off to our right. Far off in the distance was an unnatural array of logs that formed a wall of sorts.
Was that the castle? No way, that looked too small. Goblin village? Maybe?
"Task," I muttered under my breath, but loud enough for the others to hear and gather my intention.
(Time remaining: 718:34:24 hours)
There were about three and a half hours left, so we had enough time to find out what it was. Even if we spent three hours here, we'd be able to make it back before 715 hours remained. The question was, did we really want to find out what it was?
Well, in all honesty, no. I'd rather have gone back home and drunk coffee while reading a book. However, in this situation, wants were nothing compared to needs, and right now, we needed to know what was behind that weird wall.
The others' faces all got stern as if they were used to extremely tense situations. In a moment like this, I thought they'd all be useless, but they seemed surprisingly reliable, especially Zayn. Even Claire and Ryon seemed focused. Maybe I was lucky, not unlucky, with the random assignment.
We shared gazes and silently agreed to explore what was hidden behind the wall. Slowly, we crept toward the large wooden wall. As we got closer, the shape of the wall became clear. It had a bend, so I guess it encircled something.
As quietly as I could, I ordered, "We still have three hours left, we can afford to spend time here. Let's circle this wall to see if there is some sort of entrance, but don't get any closer because we don't know what may lurk inside. Also, this may prove dangerous, so don't forget something to defend yourself."
With how far away we were, it could have taken up to half an hour to circle, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Thankfully, the others seemed to agree. I began the long arc around with my group members following close behind. I kept my eyes trained on the enclosure for the most part, not letting my gaze slip unless there was a sudden rustling of leaves.
It wasn't that big and surely couldn't have housed many occupants—if there were any. Well, I was almost certain there were, and that they were most likely goblins. Plus, it was better to operate as if we knew we were in enemy territory.
After a good bit of walking, we managed to circle almost completely to the other side and spotted what seemed like the front entrance to the enclosure. I had gotten a pretty good gauge of its size, which was approximately three-quarters the size of a basketball court, if not a little bigger.
"Task," I muttered under my breath.
(Time remaining: 718:18:34 hours)
I thought for a few seconds before giving out orders.
"Find a hiding spot and observe the gate from here. Zayn and Ryon, you two watch directly behind us. Claire and Connor, you two keep an eye on our surroundings and approach us from our left or right. I'll focus entirely on observing the gate and anything approaching it. If you see something, pick up some dead leaves off the ground and crumple them. I plan to figure out what this is, then return to the rendezvous point."
Instantly, they followed my directions without complaint. They each settled down near a thick tree or in a ditch, and we formed a sort of circle with all of us watching different areas. We also all found suitable sticks to use as potential weapons.
With about two entire hours to watch this place, hopefully, we could figure out what was up with this thing and return on time.
"Task"
(Time remaining: 717:41:54 hours)
Nearly forty minutes passed, and nothing had happened yet.
At first, I thought this would be exhilarating—behind enemy lines with insane suspense—but it was getting kind of boring. The boredom was causing the pain in my arm to worsen.
However, any thought of boredom was instantly washed away and replaced with unease by the crunching of leaves coming from behind me. I spun around to see Ryon shaking a little while bits of a dead leaf fell from his grasp. I followed his gaze and spotted two goblins who stared back directly at us.
"How in the hell did they hear me from that far away?" Ryon muttered as the remnants of the leaf sank to the ground.
I would have chided him for talking, but I saw no point in that now. While it was eerily quiet in this forest, how did they hear that? Did they have good hearing, or was it just a coincidence? They did have pretty large ears, I guess.
The goblins began running toward us, brandishing a sword and axe that were comically large compared to their frames.
"Kreeee," the two goblins began to scream.
I couldn't help but think—even with the advantage of a weapon, if one encountered a creature double one's size, let alone when it was two versus five, you'd expect hesitation—but no, they would run at you with a blood-curdling screech.
I got flashbacks to Lucas's one-sided violation of the goblin and gained some confidence.
"Let's split them up," I ordered.
"But, Lucas told us to run…" Connor refuted.
"Hmm…" I racked my brain. "Yeah, but are you confident all of us can outrun those things?" I stared at Claire, who tripped numerous times while just walking. "While I'd have agreed to running if they hadn't already spotted us, they have spotted us and are running full tilt straight at us. But, I won't force you at all."
"Why not?" Zayn responded instead of Connor while inspecting the sturdy stick he had been carrying. Then, he slowly began walking toward the encroaching goblins. I followed close behind him. Soon, the other three joined us.
When finally in range, Zayn struck first. He lunged forward and jabbed, sending the goblin with the axe tumbling back. The one with the sword swung at him, but he parried it and bashed it on the head.
Was this guy a pro at killing goblins? Just what in the hell did he do before this? Fencing? Kendo?
Not wanting to be useless, I stopped admiring Zayn's skill and joined the fray. The others followed suit as well.
I ignored the sword goblin and went straight for the one with the axe. It had gathered its bearings and now stood up, but it wasn't able to stand for long because Connor chucked a rock, nailing the goblin's forehead.
It seemed Connor and Claire would help me with the axe goblin, while Ryon went to help Zayn, although I didn't think Zayn needed help. Oddly enough, though, I didn't feel I needed help either, nor was I hesitant. My body acted purely on instinct. Was I being guided by the me of my forgotten time?
I swiftly used a thick stick, shoved it under the head of the axe, and pulled the disoriented goblin toward me. I grabbed the top of the axe with one hand while palming its face with my other hand. I lifted the surprisingly light goblin and slammed its head on the ground, causing its grip on the axe to loosen, allowing me to take control of the weapon. I then spun the axe around to position it correctly and brought it down on the green guy's head, causing green blood to splatter all over my gray sweatpants. I gagged inside, but in the end managed to hold back any feeling of disgust or guilt.
I felt a little bad, but at least I hadn't brutalized it, unlike Lucas. Now that I thought about it, watching Lucas beat down the goblin so horrendously earlier had eased the initial fear of the fight. Was that what he'd been aiming for as well? I might have to give him more credit. It was still disgusting, though.
As for the other goblin, it seemed they finished taking care of it.
"What the hell, I thought you were a computer nerd—and Zayn, were you some kind of martial arts warrior?" Ryon spoke as if he was joking, but he sounded somewhat serious.
"Yeah, just wha..." Just when Connor spoke to agree with Ryon, Zayn interrupted.
"Shhh," Zayn pointed at the wooden enclosure, and sure enough, the gate was slowly opening. We all decided to hide behind different trees and observe. Because in this situation, following Lucas's orders to run might have been best, but again, it seemed impossible to follow even if we wanted to.
I peered out from behind the tree I was hiding behind and tried to assess the situation. I counted nine goblins who came out from the gate, rushing in our direction. Each was armed with a different weapon—it seemed they heard the commotion and decided to come investigate. They searched wildly, showing that they didn't know exactly where we were, but they were getting closer and closer. I had to hide again when one's leer almost caught me.
I looked at Zayn, and he looked determined to fight. He pointed his sword at me and then at the goblins. I didn't know how he was so fearless, but oddly, I was also not afraid. I wondered if it was due to the instinct from my past life that guided me, but I was even confident enough to say I could win even without any support. Hopefully, I wasn't laboring under a delusion that would get me killed.
The same couldn't be said for the other three. Their calm attitudes could only be held in that situation for so long before they all began to violently shake in terror.
"Ambush them when they get close," I spoke as silently as I could, but still tried to make it so the others could hear me from where they were posted.
We all desperately hid, waiting for the sound of crunching leaves to get closer.
Thunk
A goblin appeared next to Ryon, who, with shaky arms, smacked it with a stick. Zayn swiftly followed up, using the sword he had gained to slice the dazed goblin's neck, killing it. Zayn ripped the weapon it held from its dead hands, also a sword, and planted it by Ryon's feet.
The beady eyes of the other eight goblins locked onto us. It was time for a battle.