Chapter 2

Rayner and Axel had distanced themselves from the Inimi and the coalition forces. They had traveled for most of the day and nightfall was coming. Axel had not spoken since they left, not even telling him why they left or where they were going.

Rayner worried for his friend. Axel talked tough, but Rayner knew there was a deep well of kindness in him, no matter how much Axel teased him on his social justice values.

“We need to talk about what happened,” Rayner said.

“What we need is to find a place stay for the night. Do you know how to start a fire?” Axel said.

“I didn’t know I was capable of such violence; I know we had to do it but—”

“I’m guessing this world does not have electricity. The forest will be pitch black. We will be as good as blind.”

“We are still covered in blood.”

“Shut up, keep it to yourself!”

“We are in a new world, our friend is not who we thought he was, and we fought a battle. It’s OK to feel upset.”

“I am way past upset, I’m—”

Axel had been facing away from him; he turned to see Rayner shaking and in tears. “I’m sorry, it was my idea to rush in there, and I didn’t know who those people were or what the fight was about.”

“Shit, stop crying man, I am not angry at you,” Axel said, but Rayner knew that was a lie.

“It felt like I was really getting something done. Like a hero from a fairy tale.”

“Will you stop crying if I talk?”

He stopped his tears and listened.

“What, were those crocodile tears? Whatever. I kind of blame you, but I knew what I was in for. I was going to look for something to fight anyway, cause that’s what you do in RPGs.”

Rayner and Axel sat with their backs against a large tree, taking time to decompress.

“That ended better than the last time we fought,” Rayner said.

“What was it about? Did I cut down a tree?”

“No, you were explaining why I was a blue pill beta boy.”

“Oh well, I take it back. After seeing you going beast mode on those Inimi, nobody will think you’re a wimp.”

They both laughed. It was time he got around to the important question. “ ... Are we lost?”

“We would have to know where we are to be lost,” Axel said.

Lost, and with night coming. He had hoped the glowing trees would light the way, but the glow had dimmed as the sun set.

Axel didn’t have all the answers. He had acted like a general during the battle. Commanding fighters and ordering battle tactics. Where did he learn that?

That reminded him. “Hey, let’s check our stats, see if anything changed.”

“Ah crap, how could we forget? I wanted to avoid standing around analyzing our stats. There was not much to see the first time.”

They looked at their palms. Rayner felt his focus being sucked in by the tattoos until he could read his stats.

Name: Rayner, Race: White, Title: Faithless, Level: 1, Class: Barbarian, Mana: 10, Skills: N/A, EXP: 30.

“A barbarian!” Rayner said. That is not how he saw himself at all. Then he remembered what he was doing during that battle. It was an unwanted Class, but accurate.

“Better than what I got,” Axel said. “Look at my palm.”

Name: Axel, Race: Black, Title: Godless, Level: 2, Class: Thug, Mana: 10, Skills: N/A, EXP: 0.

“Why are you complaining you gained a level!”

“My class is Thug. That’s not a Class it’s a racial insult. I thought you would object to this.”

“That’s because you don’t know the history of the word. The word thug originated from a cult of ritual serial killers in India.”

His friend’s jaw hung open. The explanation provided no comfort for Axel. “How do you even know that? Wait, I remember, it was part of your corporate training.”

Nodding an affirmation, he went back to focusing on his stats, trying to figure out what they mean. Back at school with Yazid, they would try to come up with their own conclusions first before discussing it with others to avoid group-think leading to a wrong conclusion.

Rayner focused on Class for a minute until new text morphed into view. Barbarian: You are uncivilized and violent and from a foreign land. Again, accurate. However, it did not tell him what he could do with it. Unless the only purpose was to inform, like a dictionary. He focused on EXP, the only other stat that changed, by 20 points. EXP: your experiences. He tried focusing on other stats, but the more he focused the more his eyes stung. He got nothing from this. Hopefully, Axel had better luck.

“I will start. Focusing on a stat can give more detail, but sometimes it hurts. Other than that, I figured out nothing. I can’t think how this helps us at all,” he said.

“Same for me, I don’t feel any different being at level 2. I can guess that my leadership during the battle played a role. It also says I’m a thug because I conducted my murders professionally.”

“Wow.”

“Yep.”

They had discovered nothing that could help them in a future fight.

“I can understand why you gained a level, but why did my EXP only go up by 20?”

“I actually have an answer for that. EXP must be based on the quality of the experience. My leadership led to the defeat of an army so I got enough to gain a level. You only killed a lot of Inimi.” Axel’s chest puffed up at his achievement, his previous trauma overruled by his ego.

“Still ... only 20,” Rayner said, pouting.

“We will find out more when we fight again.”

With the analysis finished they went back to looking for civilization.

Instead of randomly walking through the forest they decided to listen for the sound of water, for where there was water there would be life. They had found a stream, but it was too late. Night had come and they could not see anything. They stopped their travels to make camp.

Or that is what they would have done if they knew how to set up a camp. They had brought many tools with them from their world but had no idea how to use them, and of course, none of the electronics worked.

Rayner saw Axel take out a coffin-like sleeping bag. “What kind of sleeping bag is that?”

“A better one than yours,” Axel said, chuckling.

“OK funny guy, so do you want to take first watch?”

“Watch for what? I can hardly see you.”

“Then listen.”

Axel hissed his teeth. “Sure, but we have not had a single random encounter. This world must not work like that, no weak monsters popping up for us to kill.”

He found that strange. They should have at least run into people from the mountain city battle. It was not the only thing he found strange about this forest. Rayner had noticed not a single animal was seen. Birds, deer, squirrels, nothing. The bird he saw outside Yazid’s cabin prison must have been at the edge of this seemingly dead forest.

Rayner snuggled up in his sleeping bag. “Wake me in four hours and don’t fall off asleep.”

“Alright.”

He fell asleep. Rayner knew because they woke to a group of people dragging them through the forest.

The sleeping bags were comfortable but not suited for reacting to an ambush. They soon stopped struggling. Their kidnappers roughed them when they tried to escape, but avoided dealing them serious injury.

Rayner thought about asking them to stop carrying them, as they would not try to escape, but he was feeling lazy. Let them carry them around and Axel has already gone back to sleep. That guy was something else.

After some time, they arrived at their destination. They were in a large clearing, a village, surrounded by large trees. Light was emitted from round glass bottles connected to the branches, and the tops of the trees bent to form a roof. A village inside a tree-house.

In the light, they could see who had taken them. Pale skinned men and women, with pointed ears. Elves. They came from their homes and behind trees to stare at them. Some looked shocked, even fearful, but most of them were stoic.

Axel woke up. “Wow, are these elves?”

A man, or woman, it was hard to tell, came and stood before them. “Yes, we are.” She or he gave them time to get out of their sleeping bags before she continued. “Why are you here?”

“Some of you, I don’t know who, you all kind of look alike, dragged us here,” Axel said.

Why did Axel have to be so offensive?

The Elf did not take offense. “I will clarify. How did you get past the forest’s protections?”

Rayner was about to answer but Axel stopped him. “How did the Inimi get past it?”

The Elf hesitated before answering. “We let them pass.”

“Why would you do something like that? Goblins were with them!” Rayner said. This world may be different from what he imagined, but there is no way Elves and goblins are on friendly terms.

When the Elf leader did not answer, Axel spoke. “They did it because that was what their god wanted. It’s why the Dwarfs had to use tunnels to get Coalition forces to help them, they couldn’t get through the forest.”

“Axel, if you knew this why didn’t you tell me, and how did you know?” he asked.

“I knew there was something wrong with this forest because I marked the trees with my knife. We were going in circles. I didn’t say anything because they were watching us.”

That bastard, that means he does know how to set up a camp and navigate a forest. His parents were farmers. Failed farmers, but still farmers.

“Yes, we followed you when it became clear our God did not allow you past the forest,” the elf said. “Our God is allied with the Inimi gods, we had no choice but to assist.”

“OK, but why?” Rayner said.

“We used to believe we understood our god, knew its desires and hatreds. We were wrong.”

“Of course you were,” Axel said. “Gods are, like, forever years old. What you thought was a deep hatred might just be an old grudge.”

“That is correct, our God is of Chaos, not of Order like we once believed. It’s happy as long we appease it.”

This was something Rayner could understand. “By Order, you mean helping your people thrive, and by Chaos you mean it helps itself.” The elf nodded. “You all were just a useful tool for it to preserve itself. This god, it’s the forest itself. Am I right?”

“Yes, it is. It has been of great advantage to us to have a god manifested in such a way. We never wanted for food, enemies could not find us, we were prosperous. Yet our god was not content, it did not care for our happiness. The Dwarves use wood from our forest for their mining, as part of a treaty made long ago. It did not like that, and when it found a chance to stop this, it took it.”

Rayner saw why Yazid believed it was important not to ally with any god. What guarantee does this God have that the Inimi won’t turn on it? Their God broke a treaty with the Dwarves. They would be wise not to trust the Forest God.

Axel had played this well. The Elf leader had forgotten the original question of how they were getting through the forest. Something that Rayner did not know himself.

“What happens if we kill your god?” Axel asked.

Shocked murmurs ran through the crowd. None were the sounds of disagreement.

“It is not possible, and what would we do without the forest?” the Elf said.

“Is the god literally the trees and grass and flowers, or is it a part of what is already there?”

“It’s infused in the forest, it turned what was once small woodland into a sprawling forest.”

“OK, but there is no point in living in a forest that aids your enemies and attacks your allies. Killing a god will go a long way in placating the anger of the Coalition for helping the Inimi.”

“Or leave us at their mercy!” an Elf from the crowd said.

Axel continued speaking, ignoring the outburst. “Will they mess with people they think can kill a god?”

“You truly believe you can do this?” the lead elf asked.

“Yes, it’s what we do. When the gods are unjust, we bring justice.” It sounded to Rayner like the right thing to say.

Another murmur went through the crowd. He could not tell if they believed him.

“What do you want for this service?”

He had not thought of that. He looked to Axel, who was also thinking of what to ask for. They did not know what they wanted. Asking for information about stats would reveal too much, they had no use for money yet and the Elves would give them directions to search for the god. Funny, when people get asked what they want, they came up blank.

“We need nothing. Like I said, this is for justice,” Rayner said. He saw Axel roll his eyes. There was another reason for this, and he would explain it to Axel later.

“Hey, something’s been bothering me, are you a boy or a girl and what’s your name?” Axel said, rudely. Though Rayner also wanted to know.

“Alvina, I am a woman. Does this matter?”

“Maybe later it will.”

Axel’s answer confused Alvina.

“So how will we find this god?” Rayner asked.

“It will find you,” Alvina said.

Well, that was ominous.

The Elves had rushed them out of their forest enclave quickly after having their conversation. Axel understood why. Conspiring to kill a god was risky, the longer they stayed, the more time the god had to find out what the Elves were up to.

Now that he knew a god inhabited the forest everything made a lot more sense. Not only was Yazid trapped in that cabin, but even if he escaped, he would not have been able to get past the forest god. It also explained why the forest was so colorful. The life of a god was infused into it.

They did not get an answer to why the only life they had seen were the Elves.

“Rayner, why didn’t you ask for a reward? Not even you are that selfless.”

“For the same reason we left the mountain city. The reward is the fight itself, something might happen if we kill a jerk god.”

“Makes sense.”

“What makes little sense is how the hell do you think we can kill a god! Just because we come from another world does not mean we walk on water; we are not special.”

“We are a little special. Besides, we don’t have a choice. As long as the Forest God lives, we will wander this forest forever.”

“That doesn’t mean we can ... unless.”

“Yep, that’s how.”

“Our Titles, Faithless and Godless, it means the gods can’t mess with us.”

“That’s what I think. At least not directly; the so-called Elves aren’t going to attack us on its behalf. All the God can do is confuse us, but the Elves gave us something for that,” Axel said, pulling out the compass.

It would not lead them to the God but it would lead them out the forest. It would always show the path out, was what Alvina said. That was far better than anything he could have thought of at the time.

“So, do you have god-killing weapons on you? And what do you mean so-called Elves?”

“I don’t think they dragged us to their home for the purpose of killing their god. They just wanted to find out more about us, probably on behalf of their god. I think we are the weapons. I looked at my stats again and could see the description for Godless says gods can’t bless or curse me.”

Rayner looked at his palm, “Faithless means I can’t worship any god.” After some thought Rayner figured it out. “Together we have protection against the gods!”

“Bingo!”

“And Elves, what about them?”

“I did not fall asleep when I was on watch. I was only pretending, and I saw several bright lights heading towards us. The same light near the tree branches, that was one clue. Then there was that village, with too few homes for the number of Elves we saw—”

“That could be because they did not bring us to their main location.”

“Maybe, or it was a front to hide their nature rather than their home.”

Rayner took a guess. “The lights from the branches ... was their real form, fairies.”

“The last clue was that they had no weapons, and this forest is lifeless, even though this forest is more than capable of supporting it.”

Rayner was in full agreement with him. He did not know their motives for hiding themselves but he was sure it was a good reason. They did not hurt or threaten them and gave them a very useful item. He was helping them for his own reasons. That reason being killing a god sounded cool.

The compass had another use: if it always pointed to an exit that meant if he went the other direction it would lead him to the center of the forest. The final boss is always at the center.

The Faithless and Godless Titles gave them protection, but he wasn’t as confident as he let Rayner believe. Their goals, origin, and status would come into conflict with the gods, eventually.

Axel heard rustling behind him; Rayner heard it too. Then it hit him, a lifeless forest, fearful fairies, the alliance the Forest God had with the Inimi; Yazid.

Zombies!

The zombies came in human form, but many were animals and monsters. Rotting goblins, decaying Kobolds, armless humans, toothless wolves came at them from all sides.

Yazid must have raised those zombies for the Forest God, by force or some other agreement; he did not know. It was these zombies that protected the forest and the fairies. No army would be so stupid to pass through a forest full of creatures that were hard to kill and who could replenish their own ranks.

Rayner pushed through a group of three zombie goblins, creating a path for him. “Axel, I got one on the head with my hammer, it did not kill it!”

“I always thought the ‘headshot kills zombies’ idea didn’t make sense. If zombies don’t need a beating heart, breath, or stomach then they do not need a brain either.” Axel knew it was a bad time for commentary. A bad habit he had when he was terrified out of his mind.

“Yazid did this right? So maybe something he said has a clue how to get out of this.”

“When you think of it, tell me. For now, let’s run,” he said as he slashed at a zombie’s face, with little effect.

The duo was still going in the right direction, but zombies were coming out everywhere. From the ground, inside trees, under rocks; one fell on Rayner and Axel had to kick it off him.

He should have listened to Yazid more, turns out he was trying to teach them how to survive all that time. If smashing their brains doesn’t kill them, then what could he do? He had no fire, or holy water if that would even work. Running was the only option.

Soon they stopped trying to finish the zombies off and pushed them away from them instead. This was worse than the battle with the Inimi. No backup, no formations could help them against these foes.

“Why are they coming out now!” Rayner yelled while pushing away two zombie creatures.

“The god we are trying to kill got news of its imminent murder and took offense.”