Day number four did not go as planned- at all.
It was barely day break. The lazy sun was still stirring on the eastern horizon, and the silver crescent moon was fighting a continually loosing battle to remain in the same space as the fiery orange ball. Vito himself was still lost in lala land. His face, taut in a half smile. he let himself go in his dreams of hot chocolate, marshmellows and a large screen before him with a gaming console by his side.
Unfortuanately, with a cruelness, his dream was violently cut short by the thundering sound of something crashing.
Barely awake, eyes red, and brain half asleep, Vito struggled with great effort to cordinate his senses. Something really unfriendly had woken him up. His sight revealed there was not any imminent threat within. However, his ears told a different story entirely;
In the distance, just east of his location, not too far out, he could make out the sound of battle. Straining to hear, he made out multiple voices (he could not tell how many), yelling back and forth at each other. Then- it came again;
The heavy sound of something thrashing violently in a water came again. Like a mini explosion, it sounded angry, desperate, and energetic. But, Vito also got the weird sense that it was alive.
Raw andrenaline rushing through his being like jet fuel, Vito jumped on his feet. Creeping on all fours, he stealthily made his way to a much higher elevation. The issue of thorns, thickets and bushes in the way were negated by his combat outfit.
Keeping a low profile, Vito ascended to the top of the hill where he crouched on all fours, took out his binoculars, and surveyed the sight before him.
The conflicting sounds he had heard before sudenly sense now.
Some three hundred meters to his east was a stream that forked into two bends. It was flanked on all sides by green lush vegetation. At the confluence, where the two rivers diverged, were about a dozen canoes with about four times as many people- armed.
But something was not right about the scene. They were poised for battle, and yet they were not fighting themselves. When Vito finally laid eyes on the source of the boisterous commotion, his gut tightened as he swallowed.
"No fucking way. Is that a---?"
His own internal monologue trailed off as the massive tail of an unnaturally large fish jumped out of the water and swept three full able-bodied men in one sweep! Vito very nearly dropped his binoculars in shock.
"Good lord! That is one pudgy fish! The fuck is that?!"
Despite the fact that Vito was a decent distance from the main action, he still struggled to remain calm. It was a real battle to see all of that and still remain sane. Eyes flared open in disbelief, he watched the brave men try to pin the monster down in vain. The bulk of its body was still submerged in the stream. But from the brief but powerful display Vito had just seen, he placed its rough length at around thirty feet. This freak of nature was impressive.
Thrashing about wildy with the combined force of ten wild oxes, it made good use of its sheer intimidating size, and raged in the water with reckless abandon. Huge waves of water, the size of three humans, rose up and crashed into the humans attacking it. Those who escaped the towering waves, did not escape the monster's backlash.
Its silver scaled body glistened under the combined effect of the rising sun's rays, and the water itself.
The many men that had been knocked down into the water, served as a testament to this fish's brute strength. One by one, they all dropped like apples off a barrel. Vito did not understand how, but he sensed the beast was somehow controlling the water. He watched with hope in his eyes, as one of the chaps was got lucky enough to sneak up on its rear, and hurled a spear at it.
The fish's head turned towards the unlucky fellow. Vito could have sworn that it shot him a look that seemed to say;
'REALLY?'
In an instant, the man's body was sent flying through the air with a flick of its powerful caudal fin.
The last person standing- a young girl, shrieked in alarm when she saw what happened. Peeping the whole action through his binoculars, Vito realized a horrifying detail- the chap that had been sent flying like a log of wood was actually an old man!
"Damn pops," Vito shook his head when he saw the man still stubbornly stroking through the water; body;
"I hope the girl gets out of ther befo---"
Vito saw it a little too late.
In the brief moment he had diverted his gaze to the old man, the girl had somehow ended up being the scapegoat for all the others' failed attempt;
A giant ball of water in the shape of a humongous crystal ball, slammed right into the distracted girl, immediately imprisoning her at will. Trapped in by an invisible force, and with zero air, and zero prospects of help coming, it was clear that this girl was going to die. She fought frantically, trying to get out of that watery orb that was going to be her tomb.
Vito understood now. This was no coincidence at all. All this while, the fish had been manipulating the water at will, making it impossible for its assailants to approach with a coordinated attack.
At the corner of his eye, a blinking notification emerged. Annoyed, he tapped it impatiently;
[MISSION 001: KILL THE AQUATIC MONSTER.]
[SUGGESTED METHOD: DEATH BY SNIPER.]
[EXPECTED OUTCOME: GAIN THE EMPATHY OF THE WATER CLAN.]
[TIMER: T MINUS 37 SECONDS...]
[ACCEPT: Y/N?]
Vito swore loudly; "Of course I accept! SNIPER! NOW!!"
In less than zero point five seconds, the system printed out an already assembled millitary grade , automatic sniper. Complete with a scope, and key grip.
In the blink of an eye, Vito snatched the weapon and dropped to the ground on all fours, ready to land his first kill here.
Vito felt a surge of savagery flood his entire being as blood rushed to his head. The cold hard steel of the gun reminded him that this was no fucking game- this was real life! His gut clenched when he realized that the girl's life was literally in his hands. ,
[T MINUS 31 SECONDS...]
"Oh come on!!!"
Vito swore loudly as he shut his left eye, and married the other one to the scope. Hands shaking, and heart pounding, he steered the end of the barrel towards the direction of the action. With his palm, sweating profusely through his black gloves, Vito adjusted lens with an almost suicidal-like hurriedness, and leaned forward.
With the primal instinct of a hunter, Vito leaned in eagerly and honed in on its silvery, wet upper region. Its dorsal fin throbbed, presumably from the excitement of watching the girl drown.
"Damn," He thought to himself; "That is one sick fish."
Vito's muscles tensed as he redirected his scope back to his prey.
His lips pursed slightly, and within the space of two seconds, Vito drew in a lungful of air, turned off the sniper's safety, and squeezed the trigger. His broad shoulders trembled from the recoil from the gun.
Vito pressed his eye ball even harder against the scope, hoping to watch his first kill in real time. Unfortunately, that did not happen. His own failure slammed in the face. And with a horrifying realization, Vito realized HE HAD MISSED!!
The A.I system, completely oblivious of Vito's damning state of mind, decided it was a perfect time to remind him;
[T MINUS 21 SECONDS...!!]
He cried;"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!"
His mind racing, Vito's flashed dangerously as he realized with a start;
"SHIT! OF COURSE!! I've been looking at it ALL WRONG!"
As he charged down hill, Vito reprimanded himself for making the rookie mistake of forgetting that real life snipers took into account; the wind, distance, and bullet acceleration! In all his years of gaming, his avatar had never had to deal with all this! It was a gross oversight of epic propotions!
Shaking off his own disappointing lack of foresight, he forged ahead till his mark came closer.
[T MINUS 7 SECONDS...!!]
"COME ONNN!!!"