Chapter 2 - Green Pastures

A flame lit up in my chest. It pulsated, engulfing my consciousness. I could feel it push against the its fetters and expand, far and beyond over the plane of my imagination. Before condensing to single point. Like a candle had been lit, I stopped drifting in the darkness.

I remember fighting. I remember the recoil from the miniature explosions my rifle produced and the shock from it, the sensation was still fresh in my arms. The enemy forced me back into the garage, I took a stairwell up to prevent being swarmed by their numbers.

Something must have happened after that but I can't remember what. A sore void existed after the moment I reached the roof, I wracked my memories to no avail.

Slowly, my consciousness came awake, drop by drop the light trickled, and I opened my eyelids to a clear blue sky.

The change in surroundings prompted me back to alert. Rolling green pastures reached countless hills in the horizon. Hundreds meter tall trees sparsely littered the area and birds flew high in the sky. That was shocking, I haven't seen a bird since half way into the war. Where city blocks used to be, everything around me was virgin earth.

I stood up while checking my body. No cuts, no pain, my flesh was fine and my body felt refreshed. Proof of the previous battle still existed on my clothes and equipment. From the looks of it, my left exoskeleton arm was useless, my mags were empty and my power-rifle was crusted in dry blood.

I made my way aimlessly traversing the foreign land, I had a sudden understanding.

I might be in the world of Grand Quest Terra? Surely that wasn't a stretch to come to, what with the demon invasion of earth, the games and novels.

I followed the mental path of the city until I reached the spot where the trenches should have been, a humongous tree stood in its place. I sat on a large root, waiting as my warbox fabricated more ammunition. Since its still working, that meant this world had mana in its atmosphere.

"Status board. Skill tree. Menu, status. Character... properties." I muttered all kinds of key phrases. To my disappointment, no screen showed up. What other-world was this supposed to be, I thought while watching the drifting clouds. A blinding yellow sun hung in the sky.

From the games, I knew Terra had one sun and a proto-moon that was always visible regardless of time of day. The proto-moon was a product of the Rift, left to hang in orbit after the Rift first arrived to the world. The proto moon acted as a cable link to their dimension, containing portals connecting the dimensions, it quickly became called the demon moon or demon eye spending on who the player talked to. The clear sky above possessed no structure.

My rifle gleamed in the sun, this gun had taken hundreds of lives, I wondered if it would take mine now.

I snorted, I didn't have the balls to kill myself, it was hard to even imagine. Presently, I was alive, the blood and heat in my heart was real. To live was to move forward, I see no reason to stop now but where do I go from here?

The bright horizon suddenly seemed endless. The demons, my remaining family, civilisation, the city, our mission - everything was gone.

Back when I was seven I remember going to the zoo. Mom and dad brought me around, they let my excitement drag them across here and there, to pens we've been to and others we missed along the way. Looking back, I felt sorry for bothering them so much but they didn't mind. I was too young to understand the joys of a parent.

My favourite attraction was the bear, the fat creature sat on its hind legs, vaguely similar in proportion and attitude to a deadbeat uncle. Curiously, it would wave at the crowd when we did. Although there was a sign that read 'No feeding the animals', a few teens still snuck in a slice of bread here and there, to everyone else's ire. A zookeeper would find out and chase them off.

The absolute awe I felt as a little kid in the presence of such a large creature was one of the moments that stuck with me after childhood. The size and breadth, the instinctual understanding that even a wave of its meaty paws could kill me.

In the distance, huge creatures crawled the plains. They resembled sauropods, standing on six hammer like feet, each step produced tremors. Reaching one of the many massive trees littering the plains, its roughly twenty meter long neck extended into the low canopy of the redwood, a reptilian head chomped down its leaves and big orange fruit.

I've sheltered not so far away from where one long-neck enjoyed their meal, in a hillside cave by a wide running lake. Though there was no food to be gained in my surroundings, at least I had water. I peered at the animal through the my rifle scope. There was no way I could kill that thing, it might take a full magazine to break its tank like scales. The perks of a magical beast, there was no point in poking the hornet's nest.

Another thing to note they were herbivorous. These sauropods possessed the basic characteristics of a herbivore too. From what I observed, they didn't possess fangs and their beady eyes lay in a hump on the side of their head.

I retreated back into my cave and began exploring the interior, I needed to measure my defences. Every herbivore had a carnivore, that was a rule of nature. I can't imagine what kind of beast was able to take that down. Seeing as I was alive currently, I thanked god. The cave interior was small and cramped, it had three entry holes including the one I came through. This area seemed to be the result of erosion, no creature has made this place its home yet.

At mid afternoon the long-neck dinosaurs left. While the potential dangers were away, I hauled the fallen tree canopies to the cave. Using a machete , I stripped layers of bark. With the little daylight left, I spent it creating leaf and bark walls, piling it to block one entry and created removable covers for the other two.

Sitting on the rim of my makeshift hobbit hole, I watched the orange sun fall beneath the horizon as a familiar full moon replaced it, it matched the earth times of my wrist watch. The night sky was illuminated by the scattered lights of many familiar stars, the North Star hung visibly unchanged as humanity's oldest compass.

It dawned on me that I was still on Earth.

The chill of the night settled in, more intense than any normal night I remembered. Chills ran down my spine as a sense of danger kicked in. I turned off my torch, submerging the cave in darkness huddled in a tight corner hugging my power-rifle.

I could hear the howling of many wolves from outside, their cries deep and more malicious than the wolves I remembered. The gut wrenching reaction was unmistakable, they were magical beasts. I steadied my breathing. While they might not be the long-necks natural predators, it didn't make the nearing growling I heard any less intimidating.

Dust and dirt fell down the cave ceiling as a heavy weight shook the hill.

Wooooo-

I put a spare hand over my mouth while placing my rifle on my knee, pointing it at the main entrance of the cave, my index finger played across the ridges of the rifle's trigger. My eyes adjusted to the low-light inside the cave.

I just hoped this world's version of a wolf was big, big enough to not fit in this cave. The thought of regular sized magic wolves was tough to swallow. If they were large, I was safe as long as I stayed in this little hole one could barely half stand in every night from now on.

Time ticked slowly, I checked my wristwatch groaning, an hour had passed. The beast still hasn't left the area yet. It circled around prowling, sometimes I heard it sniffing.

Carelessly, I let my eyelids wander close. It was unavoidable, my mind became weary from the constant pressure. I saw preview of the dreams to come, glimpses of home, fragment of familiar faces. Eventually I gave up, and let my consciousness drift into sleep.