Jamaal woke up, cold sweat falling from his brow as he looked around in a mix of confusion, surprise and relief. After his vision focused, the familiar sight of his room came into view, causing the teen to calm down a bit.
"So it was a dream... Huh," He muttered, rubbing his eyes as he pondered whether it was something good or not. There was a slight disappointment that filled him with the knowledge of it just being a dream. He had enjoyed it, a light buried in the darkness, something that had stopped him from being killed by that cloaked figure.
"Maybe... Maybe I'll come back to that place instead of the cemetery." Jamaal thought about the cemetery and shivered, that place always instilled fear into him, a trauma he would never be able to get rid-of. It was then when Jamaal glanced at the time.
"10 am. Maybe I can sleep some more or something, that'll be nice." He thought, letting himself fall into sleep's sweet embrace once more.
[The Nightmare World]
The boy's eyes opened, seeing a forest appear around him.
"I've returned... Thank god, and I'm away from there..." He was referring to the cemetery, the place of absolute fear for him, memories of being a weak, defenceless punching bag wandering in his mind.
"I won't be like that again, ever." Jamaal thought, getting up. He glanced at the right side of his body and let out a breath of relief.
"So my body isn't burnt like what happened in the fight." He was content with that. He then remembered the system and spoke inside his mind.
"Hey, dumba** system, you there?"
[The system is always there with you.] It replied, emotionless as usual.
[You levelled up, would you like to see your stats now?]
Jamaal nodded,
"Yes."
[Complying...] There was a stream of pixelated data which began to form the outline of the box, then gradually Jamaal's name, before eventually writing up the stats of this level one Host.
[Name: Jamaal
Level: 1
Class: None
Title: None
Experience: 0/100
Health: 100/100
Mana: 5/5
Stats:
Strength: 5
Agility: 5
Endurance: 5
Intelligence: 5
Stat points: 5 ]
Jamaal looked his character sheet in thought.
"Mana huh, so I can use spells." He considered possibilities of what to do if or when he could use spells, though quickly getting rid of these thoughts.
"I just need to learn how to use this mana," He once again delved into thought.
"Hey, system, can you tell me what creatures are in this forest? And give me a recommended stat area to fight these beasts?"
[Host will be denied the data for both things that he asked.]
He chuckled, shaking his head.
"Why am I not surprised," He looked at the sheet once again in thought and put 3 for strength, one for agility and one for endurance. After glancing at his sheet once again, Jamaal had the system close his character sheet so he could get up and do some exploring.
He began walking through the forest, looking past the trees to see more trees and more trees. He continued looking around, sometimes smiling at the little animals scurrying around, squirrels, chipmunks, all were amusing to him yet quite dear to his heart.
Jamaal kept walking on, seeing the same thing over and over again, trees. It was then when he heard the distant sound of water. Glancing at the system map, the teen found what seemed to be a small stream about 100 or so metres to east. Heading towards it, he thought about the forest and its history. There had to be some history or legend to this place after all.
Soon enough, he reached the small stream. It went down an incline from an unknown source down to what seemed a lake. Glancing in the opposite direction of where the stream was flowing, he looked up to see hills covered with trees.
"Somewhere over there huh," He muttered, unsure on where he was going to go.
Jamaal crouched for a moment, washing his face and hands before taking a sip of the water, it was clean, evident by the transparency of the stream, causing him to see the pebbles and rocks below.
After finishing daddling around the stream, he got up, contemplating whether to head downwards to trek upwards and get a better view of his surroundings.
After a couple of seconds in thought, Jamaal decided to head upwards, after all, a view of your surroundings is always imperative, and he couldn't just depend on his map now, could he.
As he trekked upwards, Jamaal yawned, quite tired from the climb.
"I'll sleep once I reach the top," He decided, quickening his pace. Although the boy had climbed the hill at a relatively fast pace, due to the steepness, he had been very cautious. Any slip up could end up in him tripping or falling or even both. Or worse.
Soon enough though, as in an hour later, Jamaal reached the top, his body aching.
"Remind me to never, ever do that. EVER." He chuckled, breathing quite heavily as he let his body fall onto the dirt. He looked through the trees though at his prone position and looked around below.
There was mostly trees around. Though, directly below them, in the direction the stream had been flowing, there was a large lake. The gradually setting Sun causing the lake's water to glitter in a vast array of different colours, a beautiful sight. There were a couple of birds, flying over the lake and setting a picturesque scene.
Jamaal smiled, this world leaving him at peace.
"Even if there are bad people and bad places in this world, it's not that bad." He thought, scanning the horizon as he looked at the stunning sunset.
It was then when he noticed something, frowning as he forced himself up.
In the distance, near the horizon, smoke could be seen, wafting into the atmosphere.
Taking one step forward, Jamaal had already decided his next destination. Where-ever that smoke was coming from, he had to be there.