The Fool's Freedom

The wolf came into sight slowly, looking straight at the group. It was different than the one they had easily triumphed over. It was healthy and fully black. Alan could fully appreciate its enormity now. No regular wolf could get this big.

Its feet ended in overgrown claws that made its gait look strange and even a bit awkward as it circled them weaving between the trees. Red eyes and a wider mouth filled with sharp teeth made it clear that this wolf was different than the first one.

Another rustling of leaves announced the arrival of a second black wolf. There was a difference as its claws didn’t scrape the ground and instead looked… maintained? As if someone had worked on them. Is there a wolf nail saloon somewhere in the forest?

There were pieces of dark brown leather around its neck and back. It hung loose and torn. The implication made Alan’s head spin. Were those someone’s pets? Was the master coming?

“We need to win, fast… and then run,” he said under his breath as they slowly retreated, backs turned to the ruins.

“What happened to your fighting spirit?” Walter grunted from behind him.

“The bigger wolf has a broken harness on its back.”

“So, what…? Oh. Oh, fuck.”

“Whoever had tried to tame those things as pets… I do NOT want to meet them.” Yet. Smart opponents were a whole different thing.

“Incoming!” Ashlyn yelled.

The smaller wolf started running towards Alan and Walter, then paused, and did it again in slow bursts of acceleration as if it was testing them. Alan grinned in anticipation and focused on his new [Mind Jab] skill. Surprising it just as it had started moving would make it an easy target for Walter.

Take that!

Nothing happened.

What?!

An ember flew in a wide arc, almost in slow motion, and missed the wolf completely. Alan heard Walter curse and throw another one.

Ashlyn and Emerson were on his other side, keeping an eye on the bigger wolf. Emerson was screaming, hitting his big stick on the ground like some sort of caveman, trying to appear big. The wolf must’ve felt that the sight was intimidating as it kept its distance, creeping closer ever so slowly.

Davis watched both sides, ready to jump in wherever he was most needed. There was more space between the members of the group now, and the wolves seemed unsure who to go for.

The smaller wolf kept dodging the embers with no effort, closing the distance ever so slowly. It was mostly Walter’s aim that did the work, though. The man had the best skill combination so far, but he had hardly spent time throwing burning pebbles at moving targets in his past life.

“If you got a new trick, now is the time!” Walter grumbled at Alan in frustration.

“It isn’t working! Why the FUCK isn’t it working.” Alan screamed back.

He felt a response from the skill, there was energy gathering in his mind and then fizzling out harmlessly. Alan tried to trace the path of the energy. A rock flew and hit the wolf on their side straight into the eye. It yelped in surprise and stopped, glaring at the new offender. Great job, Ash, wish you had something better to throw though. For all her competence and smarts, the skill she had picked seemed weak as shit at the moment.

Ashlyn was still doing better than Alan. His skill kept fizzling out. It was pissing him off. This was supposed to be his ace in the hole, the hidden knife that would turn the fight around. Maybe? “Walter! How many points do you have in your magic attribute?”

“Zero! Are you going to do something?!”

He is casting magic but has no points in the magic attribute. So that’s not it. What the fuck System?! WHAT THE FUCK! This was frustrating to no end. He obviously had some sort of resource that the skill drained when he tried to activate it.

The wolf bared its teeth and finally came upon them for real. Walter backstepped twice in a row and his back hit part of the collapsed structure. The man fell over, gasping.

“FUCK YOU!” Alan screamed as the wolf was almost on him. He saw the gaping jaw filled with saliva and felt the breath. In desperation, he reached for the skill and put all of his anger and frustration into it. He felt it this time. It connected to something. It was like an out-of-body experience and for a moment the feeling made Alan stumble. [Mind Jab] had succeeded.

The wolf yelped and landed weirdly to the side, barely missing Alan. It got up almost immediately and shook its head in confusion, red eyes turning to Alan. He hit it again, making it yelp and bare its teeth.

It looked around, but finding no one else it returned its attention to Alan. He cast again. And again. And again. The wolf yelped, howled and searched for his invisible opponent. Alan forgot himself as he channeled the shit out of his new skill. There was something wet on his upper lip, but he kept going. His vision swam, his knees got wobbly and he fell to the ground on all fours. He kept casting.

The beast was reduced to a whimpering mess as blood started pouring out of its eyes and Alan saw some near his ears as well. Davis chose that to moment come to the rescue and rain a flurry of fists upon its head. The wolf tried to bite back or dodge, but its movements were sluggish and slow. It struggled some more until Davis’s solid fists finally did enough damage.

You have slain: Dark Wolf (9)

Level up!

You have reached level 7!

+3 Attribute Points

Alan ignored the messages as he puked his guts out and fell on his side to the ground, gasping. He hadn’t felt this bad in a while. There was something missing, something crucial. The empty void inside of him threatened to eat at his mind. He needed to fill it. How?!

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Davis rush towards the second wolf as Ashlyn finally threw her pocket knife, hitting the wolf on the side of its head. The blade left only a gash, as the wolf twisted its head at the last moment to barely save its eye. It was enough of a distraction for Emerson who hit it with the full force of more than 60 strength, sending it flying. Unfortunately, he hadn’t thought things through as it landed near where Alan was lying, battling to stay conscious. He heard cursing as everyone rushed towards him. He wouldn’t be able to protect himself if the wolf got to him first. He didn’t think about that though. The emptiness was eating at him and there was one thing on his mind. Levels, I need levels.

Davis was the closest, with Ashlyn close behind. Walter was out of the fight. The dazed animal stood up way too fast and with a snarl of rage threw itself towards the prone Alan.

With the last strength he could muster he sent a [Mind Jab] towards it. It yelped and paused for a second. At the same time, Alan felt pain split his head in half as if someone had taken an axe and bashed him in the skull with it.

The last thing he heard was Ashlyn screaming his name.

-

Alan woke up sometime later, his head hurt and he could barely think. He refused to open his eyes for the moment as it required too much effort. There were system messages waiting for his attention at the back of his mind and he opted to look through them first.

You have slain: Dark Wolf (10)

Level up!

You have reached level 8!

+3 Attribute Points

He had hit the second wolf once, hadn’t he? It was good it had led to something more worthwhile apart from the splitting headache and weakness. And his life. He didn’t think a single hit would be enough to give him a whole level, but there was no experience bar and he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

The last few messages were also great.

You have gained 1 AP in Will

You have gained 1 AP in Mind

He didn’t question the gains, jotting it down to the System being a bro for once. About time.

You have awakened a new attribute: Magic

Alan instantly put 5 of his free points in the magic attribute. It was either the joy of finally having something there or the attribute actually worked. Almost immediately he felt relief and he could perceive something ever so slowly flow into him. Was it mana?

It took him a few minutes until he felt good enough to open his eyes. He saw moving trees and the nausea returned, thankfully at a level he could handle. He found himself on Emerson’s back, holding the big man by the neck. There were some blood stains where his head had rested.

“Emerson,” Alan said. His voice barely left his cracked lips.

“He’s awake! Ash, he’s awake!” the giant man yelled. There was a smile of relief on his face as he gently squatted and let Alan lower himself from the wide back.

He stumbled as his muscles felt worse than ever. Two sets of hands caught him and he found himself between the sullen Walter and the ever-smiling Davis.

“Good morning, man. Had a good nap?” the latter said. Alan simply gave him a tired smile.

Ashlyn hugged him gently. “Here, have some water.” She offered him what looked to be Davis’s jar, now clean from the bugs and most of the grime and filled with water. “It’s clean.”

He nearly drank the whole jar before stopping. It was cold and delicious. Ashlyn used the rest to wash his face with a piece of torn fabric, probably from her own clothes. People need to stop ruining their clothes to fix me up. Fuck. By the time she was done, the cloth was mostly blood.

“Thanks, Ash. Thanks for carrying me, Em. Thank you all.” Ever the damsel in distress, good going Alan.

“How are you feeling?” Ashlyn asked.

“Like I just got run over by my own skill and a pack of wild horses. I’ll live. I got some good gains from all of that.”

“Well, it’s good that you are okay,” she didn’t look convinced and was looking at him as if he would topple over. “You bled from… everywhere on the face, really.”

“I am fine. Need some meat.”

He almost fell as Davis slapped him on the back. “My man here is tough.”

“Thanks, Davis…”

“You need any more help, Alan? I can carry you some more, it’s no problem,” Emerson offered.

“No need Em, I don’t think my pride will handle it if I'm awake. Just give me a few minutes and one of those sticks for support and I will manage.”

Walter wordlessly handed him his and Alan thanked him, wondering about the last time he had said ‘thank you’ so many times and meant it at the same time. The man just nodded and walked away. There were some bags under his eyes but he seemed to be doing better than Alan.

They took a breather and then continued down the path. Ashlyn was hovering over him and throwing glances as if she expected him to topple over and die at any moment. At one point she even forgot to direct the group down the proper route and they had to walk back until she found the traces of their earlier passage.

Alan considered his last two points as he walked. He decided to keep boosting his physical attributes and put one in Dexterity and one in Strength.

Due to your trait [Severe Weakness], you cannot raise your Dexterity further.

It was a rollercoaster with the System. Alan sighed, too tired to even get angry. So, the cap was 15. He tried putting the point in Strength and got the same message. This was going to be an issue, and he had no idea how to go about solving it. He left his last free point alone for now.

The group was slower because of him and Walter, but he assumed the other three could move much faster considering their attributes at this point. Having superhuman capabilities was within reach.

It took them ten minutes to reach the camp. There were a few wooden shacks forming and Salla was cooking the rest of the boar on a few rocks near the fire. There was a huge heap of smoking pieces, ready for eating next to her.

There was also a pile of dead lizards near the lake’s shore. A few bigger specimens were dragged further inland and one of them had a lot of missing parts. He looked towards the fire again and noticed that some of the meat that was currently cooking looked much whiter.

That would be an interesting experience. Everyone noticed their arrival and gathered together. There were a few moments of anticipatory silence before Tim’s shoulders slumped and he sighed.

“There are more people out there, then,” he said.

Most were mutually disappointed but quickly got engrossed in Emerson’s retelling of the story and the new skills they had. Alan was too tired for that so he simply sat next to the fire and watched the flames. He couldn’t resist staring down the juicy slabs of meat. Salla, the amazing woman she was, noticed and handed him a big piece of boar.

“You always know what I need, Salla. Thanks.”

“Boys need to eat to be healthy. Look at you, still so thin. It will do you no good in this place. You need to eat. Here.” She handed him another piece which was still steaming. The meat was whiter, almost translucent. He noticed how she left the pieces on the hot stone only for a minute or so, before flipping them.

“Is this safe to eat?” he asked.

“Safe. Who knows. We ate it for lunch. Tastes like fish. Close to ‘gator. You’ve had ‘gator?”

“Alligator? I don’t believe I have.”

“It’s like chicken and fish, chewy. It is good. This is better.”

Alan took a bite. It was good indeed. Not chewy at all, a bit fishy. Tasted mostly like strange chicken though. He still preferred the pork and hoped there would be more of it soon. He also needed some vegetables. He didn’t know what the attributes did to one’s digestion, but he hadn’t pooped in a while.

Some others joined them, throwing him glances. No one came too close, probably letting him have his chat with the cook. Nadia was one of those people. She took a sit far away and glared at him until he returned the glare.

“Nadia is grieving. Don’t take her words personally.” Salla said without breaking eye contact with the meat.

“What did she say?”

“You laughed while her friend was dying. She says you have no respect. She says it should’ve been you.”

Alan gaped. He felt the urge to laugh again. This was ridiculous. He had almost died and the laughing had obviously been due to shock rather than enjoying the situation. But I did enjoy it.

“Well, fuck her. How are you doing Salla?” Alan asked. No point in dwelling. If the woman wanted to hate him, she had the right. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of caring.

“Good. Better than some,” she paused. “I worry about Florence. She’s a pretty girl, frail. She doesn’t speak. She started eating, which is good. But still doesn’t speak.”

Looking around Alan caught sight of Florence’s sundress close to the lake. She was alone, staring at the now-setting sun. He was not good at helping people who chose to close themselves off from the world. Especially due to trauma.

“I don’t know how to help, Salla. Sorry. What is happening is in- … is weird. It’s hard on everyone.”

The older lady simply nodded. She hadn’t spoken about herself, or her feelings and had instead opted to focus on another person. Alan didn’t know if she had done it to deflect, or because of kindness.

Tim, as usual, decided to approach them and took a seat next to Alan.

“They caught you up on everything?” Alan asked.

“Yeah. Those ruins are… interesting. No scenario in my mind makes sense.” Tim replied, taking a piece of lizard meat for himself.

Alan shrugged. “Nothing ever makes sense.”