[Many Readers are laughing at your group's mistake]
That comment did not sit well with me, but this feeling of losing consciousness and regaining it was already normal to me, as my eyes were brought to a peculiar environment.
A deep blue sky with clouds spread across my horizon, actually, the clouds were moving rapidly.
My body felt limp as if I wasn't in control of it and my eardrums were deafened by a sound of rushing air. It's almost like a huge fan was blowing against me.
I tried turning my head, but even that was troublesome because of the high winds pushing. Eventually I was able to shift my whole body around and found myself in the middle of an open space with Clay and Kaleb by my sides, but their attentions were directed somewhere else.
Kaleb was flailing about like a child while Clay just looked down in disbelief.
I struggled to see what they were looking at but as I held my eyelids open, I realized that we were not in the middle of nowhere, in fact, we were in the sky, free falling towards an insanely large tree!
[Transceiver Activated]
[?Jon? to Everyone]
I heard the voice of Jon in my right ear completely intact. He was not exactly the person I wanted to hear from at the moment.
[?Jon?]: Guys, I just remembered the instructions, it mentioned to wait a few minutes for each person due to chances of not spawning in right!
[EVERYONE]: "YOU IDIOT!!"
[me]: Does anyone have any ideas to save us!
[Scott]: I go skydiving on the regular but they usually give parachutes.
[Kaleb]: NOT the time for jokes!
[?Jon?]: Here's a better one, maybe we can use that big tree below us to cushion our fall?
[Bridge]: That will kill us for sure
While we descended to our deaths, my sailboat was still trying to process a steady course without freaking out more than I already am. How did we get into the air, why would the people running this shit show allow this and what do we do to lessen our ways of suffering when we inevitably die.
The others were already arguing with each other when Peter's voice volume increased in his assertive tone.
[Peter]: Hypothetically, that could possibly work.
[?Jon?] What are you on about?
[Peter]: Your joke form before, if we were to land on the tree for cushioning
[?Jon?]: It will?
[Everyone]: It will?!
[Peter] If we can control the rate of deceleration to levels acceptable to the human body, aim ourselves to the outer edge of the crown, and with a little luck. That would mitigate our odds of breaking all our bones if we land on the fallen leaves below!
[Me]: And how exactly do we slow ourselves down??
Everyone fell silent as they delved into their menus for something that could give us a chance, though I already knew mine wasn't going to be helpful.
[Bridge]: I might have a power to help, but I don't think it can push this amount of people. At most I can help one person, so I know who I'm taking.
[?Jon?]: Welp, it's been a pleasure knowing you guys. I'm going with Bridgie!
[Everyone]: Shut up!
[Clay]: Wait? Do you think if this skill was upgraded, you can carry all of us?
[Bridge]: I don't know? Maybe? I'm not sure how upgraded skills work, besides its one of my Patron's skills.
[me]: Why did you ask that question Clay?
[Clay]: Because I have a personal skill that I think can save us.
A Personal and Private skill, I always saw them in the menu, but I wondered what they did, this will be interesting.
[Kaleb]: Sounds like the only choice we got! Alright, Scott, give us some pointers how to navigate these winds. Clay, you get ready for that skill because when we get in range of the tree, we only have one shot at this. Bridgette, you prepare your ability, and Pete, you help with the timing. Everyone, group up.
As much as I hate to admit it, Kaleb can lead somewhat decently. He spent too much time learning stuff about being some squad captain before he even joined the military.
Most of us reluctantly agreed as Scott gave us instructions how to navigate to with our arms, it was tricky, but we all learned how to kind of fly through the air. The only problem was Jon who was way ahead of us and still not understanding how to freefall.
[Scott]: Jon! open yourself up.
[?Jon?]: Well, I feel like I'm not appreciated enough and I'm not worth anything...
[Everyone]: He means your arms!
From here, we all saw him spread his limbs and slowing drastically to our position. He then over passed us. Idiot.
His attempts to literally swim through the air wasn't enough and Scott had to go retrieve him.
While he did that, the other game changers were preparing for the plan, through the help of Peter.
Clay had both his hands on Bridgette, getting ready to use his personal skill on her, she had one arm pointing her palm in the direction of the treetop while holding the forearm with her free arm to support it as if she was going to fire something off.
Not even the couple of hundred feet of falling made me feel nervous, maybe because Jon's crying and saying negative things like "We're going to die!" or "What if it doesn't work?" over the Walkie Talkie the entire way down distracted me. We eventually muted him, his screams were still heard though, I think he mentioned he hated heights before.
We were barely at least four stories high until the top of the tree, then about three, then it was two.
[Peter]: Now!
[Character 'Clay' used his Personal skill 'Helping Development']
[Warning, a private skill cannot be upgraded without the permission of the patron. Please check with the Copyright and Services...]
[Clay]: It's not working! What do we do?
[me]: Try talking with your damn sponsor! Reason with them.
[Bridge]: I can't! He's not responding.
[The Patron of character 'Bridgette' sits back and laughs at your predicament]
[?Jon?]: Everyone put your thinking caps on, maybe use some nerd video game knowledge or Petey shift that big brain of yours into gear.
I thought 'What good will that do?' but a notification came with just the mention of video game.
[Your Minor Attribute 'Gamer' is shining]
My brain began pouring out possible theories and video game logic to our situation. The realization came after I remembered that Jon was an error in the system. Not all games are programmed to be perfect, sometimes, with enough looking or pure accident. You can find exploits perfect for the situation.
[Me]: He might have a point!
[?Jon?]: I do? I mean. I know.
[Me]: Maybe we can cheese the system here, why not use Clay's skill the second after Kai uses hers.
[Peter]: That's stupid, but it might be the only way. Now hurry up and activate that skill!
The tree not being thirty feet from us, Bridgette decided to use her Patron's skill for real this time.
[Character 'Bridgette' used her Private skill 'Sand in the Eyes: Lvl. 1']
I watched as a red, tattered cape appeared over her back and these small particles of what seemed to be sand come from her hand.
[Character 'Clay' has used his personal skill: Helping Development]
[***]
[Private skill 'Sand in the Eyes' has evolved momentarily into 'Dust Devil']
This time, it seemed to work, as the particles of sand had increased in size and in a matter of moments, we were engulfed inside this huge dust storm with high winds blowing us right above the tree branches.
Our momentums were halted for a short bit, I could have sworn we were floating from the power of the winds, some of the sand got in my eyes though.
Then the skill came to a standstill, and I looked to see Bridgette almost in a weakened state but still awake.
We all landed onto the top of the tree, hitting the crown of leaves, it felt rather soft until we fell deeper into the tree limbs.
I felt the smacks from small branches, some new and bendable, others were old and stiffened which scratched me, I started being tossed around by some of the branches and lost whatever control I had.
My head hit one of the large branches pretty hard, making my brain shake and my vision blurred. The last thing I remember is the swelling pain on my forehead.
I woke up to see only darkness and a massive headache, I tried lifting my arms, but they were being weighed down by a large number of items. Feeling really sore, I tried with all my might and was able to move my arms through the crunchy small things that impaired my vision.
I crawled, digging through what I now learned were leaves and as my arm reached outside the pile, I found myself coming from a wall of them that spanned at least a story high. The rest of the group was in a clearing of sort, getting their bearings.
Marcus spotted me first and hustled over. Without saying a word, he just lifted me to my feet with ease, Clay had just finished wiping sweat from his forehead because he was done healing Bridgette.
He rushed to my side as Marcus was supporting my sore body to the group.
"Matt, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just a scratch"
Marcus let me down gently and a sharp pain shot from my foot, probably a sprain. I grabbed it in response to ease it, but Clay pushed my arms away and within that instance, activated his healing skill.
It felt warm and reassuring, like a soothing fire on a cold night. The pain began to disappear; however, my attention was brought to his round face. He looked strained, and his chubby arms shook slightly.
Since the beginning he has gotten that skill, he has used it so many times on us. We don't know the setbacks these powers might have, by the time I went back into focus, he had healed my entire body of scratches and the sprain, so I ushered him to stop.
He gave a relieved look then practically collapsed in my arms, I may have overreacted which got everyone's attention, including unwanted attention.
[Nine Readers find the comradery of character 'Clay' profound and are touched by his need to help]
Bastards, I bet they think this is like some movie. Speaking of bastards...
Once Clay started to snack on a cake from his pack and reassured me he was fine, I walked up to Bridgette as she was laying down on Peter's lap.
"What the hell type of sponsor did you choose?"
She looked at me in an uncaring way and shrugged her sore arms,
"The kind that seems to not care, I have been trying to respond to him but all he does is send these annoying messages"
[Bridgette's Patron wishes to announce himself]
A gust of wind hit my face and some sand got into my eyes again.
[The One-Legged Trickster has mischievously come to greet his candidates' friends]
[The One-Legged Trickster encourages your group to pull more stunts like that!]
Wow, this is just proving my point that whoever these things are, we are just amusing them, there is no use in arguing or making myself look like an asshole. I shook my head from side-to-side and walked off.
[The One-Legged Trickster says he understands your frustrations and agrees to help]
[The One-Legged Trickster spent 1000 Karma to alter something...]
After that message I tripped over something and I was going to catch myself just fine, but someone attempted to grab my shirt and fell with my momentum, they landed on top of my back, making me hit the crunchy leaves.
"Marcus made it look easy lifting you"
That was the voice of Jon as he got off and actually helped me for once.
"Maybe if you were some six-foot something guy with actual muscles" I got to my feet and patted the shrubbery off myself "You seem fine, where have you been?"
"Well, I was lucky enough to find something cool when-" I cut him short as I punched his shoulder, I only felt his boney frame.
[Some Readers think that was uncalled for!]
[A Reader has started a petition to title Character 'Mathew Greyley' as 'Unbearable Prick']
[The Reader 'Boon of Merchants' is the first to sign!]
These bastards have no idea what Jon does, besides, that's what he deserves for almost killing us. BUT, I suppose I could refrain from punching him anymore because he made a few pointers up in the sky that helped us. Which is extremely rare!
He grabbed his arm and made a big scene like someone chopped it off, probably wanting attention from the viewers. When he realized it was going nowhere, he looked at me with a grin and continued,
"As I was saying, I found a big hole that goes into that cool looking tree, there's a cleared path to it and it's not like we got any other choices.
We just survived a catastrophic event and now he wants us to go inside a tree? Actually, thinking more clearly, it might make a cool place to lay low for a bit and rest.
"Wow, I think you actually had a GOOD idea for once" I patted his hurt shoulder which he flinched in pain. I looked down and saw that my shoelaces were tied together, my gut says it was caused by Bridgette's sponsor.
[The One-Legged Trickster has fallen off his chair from laughter]
I mentioned Jon's idea to the group, and after collecting our opinions, we decided it was best to do so, just so that we can truly relax since we started doing all of this.
As we walked towards the gigantic tree, there were mountains of dead leaves beside us, somehow there was an almost clear path that led to the base of the gigantic tree. Was this manmade? It's to convenient...
When I gazed up to get my mind off that possibility, the tree's height spanned even bigger than the Statue of Liberty. Its leaves ranged from a spectrum of warm colors, but it looked to be this vibrant red in nature.
On the way, we found out our robot companion had a function where he can scan objects with their hologram and put it in a database of sorts, giving rough descriptions about our environment.
We finally found the hole Jon mentioned through a couple of tries trekking at the base of the tree, it was hard to miss as it was this massive shaft that looked almost like a cave, I just hope that it was natural.
Marcus, Aideen and Jon went in first, they surveyed around a bit as we just laid inside the cave's mouth, so we were covered from the elements.
Half of an hour passed and the sun of this world was already setting, a deepened, beautiful red filled the atmosphere and twinkling stars started to appear. The others were to focused on each other or at their menus, studying their information. Must be nice having more than two things.
The scout team eventually came back from their expedition saying things were good but warned that the tunnel seemed to lead upwards into the tree and that there were a lot of these strange rose type flowers, completely pale in color with petals the size of my palm, growing all around the tunnels. Jon made a snide comment how he hates those white roses due to his allergies or something like that.
They then slumped down on the side of the cave to catch a break. Kaleb arose from the ground, not even giving them time to rest, and said aloud in his commanding tone,
"Alright, I think we should just rest here for the night, then we sort things in the morning"
That was a horrible idea, but the only choice we had because there was not a single idea where to go from here. The others were uncomfortable making any other decision so we all agreed without really saying much.
"Shouldn't we do night watches; we don't know what's out there" Bridgette suggested.
"I agree, the possibility of finding other contestants or hostile wildlife imposes a chance we don't want to take. So splitting the watches into two or three parts would be ideal" Peter added in.
All of us talked about it and decided that it was going to be Aideen and Marcus first, because they rested a bit as they were first out of the trials, and after a couple of hours it will be me and Kaleb.
[[ERROR] skill activated: Party Tricks(Variety) Lvl. ??]
Jon had been gathering pieces of bark and other wood bits to start a small fire with one of the many skills he bought just on the lip of the entryway.
I guess he did buy some useful stuff after all, never mind, he just lit himself on fire. Some of us rushed to quickly put his blue jacket out, it left a small hole with singe marks.
Everyone spread out, the couple managed to buy a small tent to share from their portable shops, while Clay, Marcus and Scott only had sleeping bags that they were willing to share to me and Kaleb, Jon had gone off somewhere, supposedly he told Marcus that he was going to explore a little before he went missing.
As we settled in for the night, the sun set, and all the twinkling stars began to show themselves.
Being in a white room for so long has really dulled my senses, I need to rest to stay high alert for the night to come. So, I closed my eyes while laying inside the somewhat comfortable sleeping bag, it was surprisingly easy to fall asleep, I guess being up and down made me more tired than I thought.
Another dreamless slumber passed.
This small pain arose from my stomach, with my eyes still closed I only heard a sound of chirping coming from nearby bugs. I opened my eyes to see Marcus and Scott beside Kaleb looking at me from above, Kaleb's leg was in the middle of retracting from probably kicking me.
"Get up, it's our shift" he ordered in a tired voice.
I arose and handed Scott his sleeping bag. We made it to the fire where the duo set up two logs to sit on, taking a log each, we started to ever gaze upon the dark horizon, it being dark didn't change the fact that there were two moons, one yellow in color and one that was almost pinkish and twice the size of the other one, they were also really close to each other for some reason. The stars were showing their beauty and illuminated the night sky of an unorganized path.
While taking small glances at the surrounding area of what I could see, I occasionally either talked with Kaleb, who was fidgeting with his broken digital watch he always kept track with, about what the plan was here on out or stared at our small fire Jon had started.
It was trying its hardest to survive, consuming the charcoal and sticks just to live on a little longer, it swayed with the small winds that made it into the tunnel.
The last time I fed it some bark, its tiny embers sparked into the air as they sputtered out of existence, which is when I saw the fire's shadow on the wall, moving frantically with the newly fed flames. Does fire have a shadow?
[***]
Only an hour had passed, and still no sign of any threats, I checked the clock on the menu screen.
[2:38 a.m.]
I'm glad that this planet follows the same 24-hour system. I couldn't imagine having longer days on this-
*FfshhFfhh*
Our guards were alerted as a pile of leaves in front of us frantically rustled, I got out my baton and Kaleb wielded his short sword, I didn't know if I should warn the others or stay but Kaleb didn't move either, actually he began to shiver.
There was no turning back now, I was about to yell when a figure jumped out of the pile in a hurry.
Leaves fell onto the fire and fed the flames, so much so that it hit the roof of the cave and spread to the leaves on the outside.
The figure now stood behind the raging flames holding a long, blunt object in their hands.