This Sanguinary System

Clove sat there, apple in hand, as he stared at the wolf through the screen before his eyes.

'Wait, so I actually have to kill this thing? It hasn't even noticed me yet. Maybe I can slip away unnoticed...'

[Quest failure imminent! Defeat the Timber Wolf!]

The next screen startled Clove which made him drop his apple. This caused the wolf to snarl and snap it's head towards him. He slowly got up from the ground holding out his hands, palms facing out by his sides, trying to seem as submissive as he could. He slowly moved to find a path for escape. To his left was the apple tree he was just resting next to, behind him was the breathtaking landscape. Then he noticed that just to his right was a small cliff carved into the hill. Clove slowly stepped to the side, maintaining his composure, and checked to see how far of a drop there was. He saw that he was right above a cobblestone path that almost blended with the environment.

'Looks to be about ten feet down, maybe I can slide down to the path and make a run for it...'

He was lost in thought when he heard the wolf snarl alongside the tearing of grass. When Clove looked towards the wolf, it was already close enough to leap onto him. He instinctively raised his arm, allowing the wolf to sink in it's teeth until it scraped bone. He fell to the ground, rolling down the cliff as he wrestled the beast. Once they landed, the wolf let go of Clove's arm leaving it to bleed beneath the torn flannel. He briefly inspected the arm through heavy breaths.

[HP 9/10]

[Wolf Bite - You are bleeding. Health Points will decrease over time until healed.]

'Yeah, no kidding.'

Clove thought as he applied pressure to his arm, looking at the wolf. A translucent red bar in the bottom left of his vision caught his eye.

'Well, I guess this will come in handy.'

Clove was interrupted when the wolf lunged at him again, this time going for his leg. He moved his leg just in time, but the wolf was quick and turned it's head once more, chomping down onto Clove's boot. He tried kicking the wolf away and was knocked off balance, falling to the ground. Now, missing a boot, he stood up and quickly composed himself watching the animal violently shake his boot in it's mouth. He saw an opportunity and took it. The wolf's head was in the perfect spot as Clove set up for a kick. With a running start, he swung out his leg as hard as he could, connecting with it's head. The boot went flying in the air as the wolf lowered it's head, pawing at it's snout.

[Critical hit!]

[The wolf is dazed!]

Clove jumped onto the wolf wrapping his arms around it's thick neck, squeezing as hard as he could. He felt tears run down his cheeks.

The wolf bucked against him for several moments, and Clove's grip slipped a few times until he readjusted, holding the wolf tighter against him. His head was now alongside the wolf's and Clove could hear it's labored breathing. He found the strength to grip tighter as tears continued to fall down his face, until the wolf finally gave in to the struggle.

[Quest complete! Reward will now be delivered!]

[Achievment Unlocked: First Blood]

[Your Bloodlust is Satisfied]

[Level Up!]

[You are now level 2!]

[Three skill points have been awarded!]

Clove continued to embrace the wolf, rocking back and forth sobbing, and ignoring the messages.

"I'm so sorry"

Clove said as he buried his face into the animal's fur. He had never killed anything with his bare hands before, besides annoying insects of course. Finally releasing the animal, and after taking a moment to compose himself, he looked around for a tool. Next to the path, he saw a thick tree branch and threw it atop the hill where he and the wolf had met. Clove then crouched infront of the wolf and looked upon it.

[You may cultivate items: Wolf Pelt, Canine Teeth]

Clove stared at the screen and dismissed it, grabbing at the wolf and heaving it over his shoulder. The wolf was slightly lighter than he was expecting, reminding him even more of the husky that he had as a child.

It was his first dog that he took care of by himself throughout his childhood. It even prevented him from entering some foster homes, as it was hard to convince people to take on a young boy and his dog. But soon enough as the dog got older, so did Clove. He was able to eventually get a job, and an apartment, where the dog eventually passed away from cancer. The dog was his only constant in life. This is why he has, or had, a cat. Which made Clove worried about Silver at this moment. He wondered if someone has gone into the apartment and fed him, or even found him a new home?

'Has the same amount of time passed here as it has at home? Where the hell am I anyway? If this was Heaven, I figured I would have been greeted by some pearly gates or something. Maybe i'll get some answers at one of those cities.'

He carried the wolf on his shoulder walking up the path, keeping an eye out for a way up, eventually finding his way back to the apple tree while wobbling beneath the weight on his shoulder. He gently layed the wolf down onto the grass and walked over to pick up the branch he had tossed before. Heading back towards the wolf he found a side of the tree that looked towards the valley and thrusted the branch into the ground to begin the grave.

Moments passed which gave Clove a moment to finally check his stats. He decided to allocate his three points into strength. As he did this, another message appeared:

[Confirm skill points placement?]

[Yes] [No]

As Clove confirmed the selection he instantly felt a surge across his body. He continued plowing into the earth and noticed a definite difference in his strength. As the sun was resting a few inches above the mountain, he had a sizeable hole dug that was about three feet wide, by four feet long, and five feet deep. He looked at his hands as they throbbed against new blisters. The branch he used had broken a few times during his task, until finally breaking just before a knot in the wood, which had been wittled down and smoothed from the chore.

He set the branch to the side and picked himself up out of the grave and moved over to the wolf. He picked up the lifeless body and gently placed him into the grave, even brushing back it's fur as he remembered his companion from back then.

"Thank you for helping me get stronger." Clove said to both the wolf, and his childhood dog. He then knelt down to begin sweeping dirt over the animal.

Once he was finished, he wiped his hands and picked up the thick branch once more and thrusted it into the head of the grave.

[Hidden quest completed - Honor the Timber Wolf]

[You showed great respect for your first kill and have been awarded a permanent boost. Perception +5]

He then felt eyes upon him once again. He turned to the person walking towards him and took note of the fact that he noticed them long before he normally would have.

"I don't think I've seen anyone do that."

Clove kept his eyes towards the voice and could see a young man around his age walking towards the tree. He had a clean shaven face that was framed by long brown hair fashioned into a mullet. He wore a thick leather outfit that was complimented by a sword on his back. The man then continued...

"I can see you're a little shooken up. I'll take a guess and say you've met the local wolf population already..." The man said as he motioned towards Clove's outfit.

Clove wiped at his eyes and looked down to see that his clothes were ruined and looked more akin to rags. He also remembered the bite wound he recieved from the wolf.

[HP 7/10]

The bleeding seems to have stopped a while ago, but his HP wasn't going back up. He looked back over to the stranger.

[Inspect Activated]

[Inspect Failed]

"Yeah... sorry, friend! We can't use the Inspect skill on eachother. Usually that's what makes fights pretty interesting, but still a tad annoying to still have to go into duels blind."

He finished with a chuckle.

Clove chose to ignore the man as his mouth unearthed a flurry of questions:

"Where are we? Why was I sent here? The last thing I remembered is riding my motorcycle to an appointment and then time was frozen, and suddenly I...I saw myself floating there mid air, and then there was this bright light an-" The man ushered Clove to settle down

"Woah, woah, woah there buddy! It's all right, just go ahead and take a deep breath..."

Clove took in a deep breath as he realized that he was word vomiting pretty bad. Then realized he had an accent that he couldn't quite place.

The Man continued

"First off, people call me Bernie..."

Bernie trailed off looking at Clove gesturing for a response. Clove shook his head and introduced himself.

"Huh. Clove? Really? Like Clover? Alright then...Clove. Clovey. Clovus.... CLOVATIUS!"

Clove stared at Bernie, confused, letting out an awkward chuckle.

"Sorry, I may have died but I still have ADHD. They don't really have an overabundance of caffeine available here to calm my nerves. But it definitely helps in combat!"

Bernie finished with a thumbs up.

Clove began to interject before Bernie started speaking again right away.

"Anyway, this place is called Lord's Land... no, not the big guy in the sky. This shared valley rests between two kingdoms. The entire area is mostly covered with low level beasts, it's pretty nice to have a sizeable military presence as well. Helps to keep away the big baddies from new arrivals such as yourself."

Clove finally placed the accent as Australian, but it seemed to be fairly subtle. He then waited to make sure that Bernie was giving him room to speak, just when Bernie started talking again...

'Damn it' Clove thought

"I know it's a lot to take in. Why don't I take you to the nearby town, Laywater? There we can get you better oriented, some food in your belly, and possibly a job. Depending on your system type, of course... by the way... your system wouldn't have a name would it?"

Clove took this question a bit odd as the hairs stood on the back of his neck, almost warning him to keep his mouth shut. He instead chose his next words carefully.

"You know I have a system?"

********