Anne had awakened before the others, her sleep disturbed by confused dreams where monsters and familiar faces intertwined. Since she had landed in this world with Roy, David, and Julie, every minute weighed heavily, and the past night had not been enough to soothe her frayed nerves. She pushed aside the branches serving as their "door" and stepped into the strangely warm air of the artificial dawn.
It had only been a day since they had met Aaron, yet she already struggled to recall the time, though recent, when they were alone. The one-armed man had quickly imposed an ambiguous presence: a mix of cold assurance and almost inhuman mistrust. Anne had initially thought they could rally him to their cause, build solid cooperation. But observing him the day before, she had understood: Aaron did not let himself be approached.
This morning, however, something seemed different. She saw Aaron returning from the edge of the forest, walking openly, the spear supported by his right arm. Usually, he moved through the branches, invisible and silent; this time, he trod the ground without apparent caution. Anne felt a slight shiver run down her spine as she noticed his gait: more fluid, more assured... and almost indifferent to danger.
Barely had she time to stand up before he was already near them. His face remained impassive, but there was a new intensity in his gaze, as if... he was looking down on them?
— "You were out?" Anne attempted, keeping her voice low so as not to wake David and Julie still asleep in the hut.
Aaron barely inclined his head. The rare times he deigned to respond, his sentences were always too short.
— "I returned from the clearing. I had matters to attend to."
Anne thought she perceived a faint glimmer in his eyes, a mix of excitement and satisfaction, as if a fire smoldered behind his placid mask. She had no idea what he had done there, but she knew about the altar, that cursed stone block that allowed one to "buy" strength against points gleaned from killing monsters.
— "You... spent points?" she dared, realizing she was venturing onto terrain where Aaron disliked being questioned.
He merely lowered his eyes to his stump, then shrugged. The answer was obvious. He must have crossed an even greater threshold: a brief memory struck her, that of him casually breaking a thick branch in two the day before. If he was already capable of such feats yesterday, in what state of power was he now?
"What kind of man are we following..." Anne wondered, a pang in her heart.
Behind them, she heard rustling: Roy and David were also emerging, their features drawn, while Julie remained asleep inside. Roy greeted Aaron with a cautious nod; David furrowed his brows.
— "Everything okay? We didn't hear you come back," Roy ventured to break the silence.
Aaron placed the tip of his spear against the ground, seeming to gauge each of them. Anne felt the group's unease: they had only known Aaron for a day, yet they depended on him to avoid being massacred by monsters. And Aaron, in all this, had done nothing to make himself more accessible.
— "I will... have to hunt again," he declared in a neutral voice. "That gives you time to... do what you want to do."
David, who had already shown some inklings of courage, stepped forward, gripping a piece of wood fashioned into a rudimentary spear.
— "We could come. We need to earn points too. To defend ourselves."
Aaron glanced at the object, raising an eyebrow.
— "That weapon will be useless if you come face to face with one of those monsters."
— "We know," David replied, his jaw clenched, "but we want to try. Could you... show us how to do it?"
Silence settled. Anne, close to David, sensed his dismay. Without points, they would never have access to metal spears or superhuman enhancements. But to earn those coveted points, they had to kill monsters. A vicious cycle they wouldn't break alone.
Anne noticed the change in Aaron's expression: a quick calculation in his mind, an imperceptible movement of his hand on the shaft of his spear. Did he really need them? Nothing was less certain. Yet, he finally nodded slightly, an expression of interest on his face.
— "If you want to try your luck... then go ahead, I promised you safety for 3 days as long as you listened to me. If you don't want to listen, I won't be responsible for your life."
Beside her, David remained silent, his face closed. To her right, Roy cleared his throat, as if trying to ease the tension.
— "We're not asking for guarantees," he ventured, his tired features drawn with nervousness. "We're just looking for a way to manage on our own, to earn our own points, so we're no longer mere burdens."
Aaron held Roy's gaze, his eyes scrutinizing, before raising an eyebrow.
— "Then, I suggest you start with the least risky method... the one I've already explained to you."
A brief silence followed before Aaron continued speaking:
— "But if you really want to earn your own points, then know that it's not impossible. I managed to kill my first monster without any enhancements."
Anne felt her heart tighten: despite the sudden possibility Aaron's words offered, everyone still perceived the difficulty of this endeavor. David placed a hand on his makeshift weapon, a carved piece of wood, as if to motivate himself.
— "Without any enhancements?" Roy repeated, incredulous. "But... how did you do it? You say yourself that these monsters are faster, stronger..."
Aaron merely shrugged slightly. In his eyes, one could see that detached and lucid glimmer, as if he were reliving the precise moment when his survival hung by a thread.
— "I was mostly lucky," he admitted in a neutral tone. "But luck only comes to those who provoke it. Moreover, I was alone. You are four. Fight intelligently, and you should manage without too many losses."
A slight silence fell in the shelter of branches. Anne fixed Aaron, trying to decipher the shadow of confidence that pierced his voice. Behind her, David cast an evasive glance at his wooden spear, as if he already dreaded the inevitability of combat. Roy, hands clasped, nodded slowly, weighing each word.
— "At four," Anne repeated, as if to convince herself. "We could... coordinate. Attack it from multiple fronts."
Aaron remained silent, assessing the group with a calm eye. He wasn't trying to encourage them, only to answer their questions. Anne felt he wouldn't offer more details: he had given them a lead; it was up to them to follow it.
— "Very well," she finally sighed, clenching her jaw, resolved. She turned to Roy and David. "We need to find a place where we can catch the monster off guard."
David nodded, his hand clenched on the improvised weapon's handle. Roy sighed, as if already measuring the magnitude of what awaited them. Despite his fatigue, a spark of determination shone in his eyes.
Aaron, for his part, slightly folded his only arm against him, holding his spear with expert ease.
— "Remember," he said, his gaze fixed on Anne. "It's your plan, your lives. I won't intervene if it goes wrong. But know that what will really make the difference at the crucial moment will be your desperate will to live."
The tone was harsh, but not cruel; it was the warning of someone who had already seen these monsters in action. Anne felt her stomach tighten. Still, she forced a faint smile.
— "Thanks for the advice… We'll do our best to put it into practice."
Without another word, Aaron turned away, disappearing once more into the dense vegetation.
Anne felt her stomach knot as they moved slowly through the thick undergrowth. Every rustle of a leaf, every crack underfoot echoed painfully in the tense silence. David led the group with fierce determination, gripping his makeshift spear tightly.
They had come up with a plan along the way.
They would first find a place suitable for an ambush, then lure one of the monsters into it and strike from all sides at once.
A simple plan—but effective, if executed well.
They walked in a diamond formation: David at the front, Anne and Julie on either side, and Roy bringing up the rear.
Anne glanced to her side—Julie walked with uncertain steps, her eyes flicking anxiously around them.
Behind them, Roy was breathing deeply, trying to calm his visibly frayed nerves.
Suddenly, without warning, a blurry shadow appeared to their side, heading straight for them.
Before anyone could react, the creature was already standing before them.
A sort of monster with gray skin, digitigrade limbs, no eyes or nose—only a massive, gaping mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth.
Its arm was raised above its head, and dangling from it… was a human body that looked disturbingly like Julie.
But that couldn't be possible—Julie was right beside her.
Anne scanned her surroundings.
There was no trace of Julie.
Silence fell over the forest.
The creature tilted its head, as if confused by their lack of reaction.
Then suddenly, chaos erupted.
— "Now!" David screamed, his voice full of fear and grief.
He roared with rage and charged headlong at the monster. Roy followed close behind, their crude weapons trembling in their hands. The beast roared back, thrashing its massive limbs to fend off their clumsy but courageous attacks.
The battle was chaotic and brutal. Everything happened too fast for Anne's overwhelmed mind to fully grasp.
She saw David drive his spear deep into the beast's side, drawing an ear-splitting roar of pain. But in return, the monster struck back violently. Its claws tore through David's soft belly with ease.
In a final act of defiance, David clung to the creature, holding it still for three long seconds.
Roy let out a cry of despair laced with fury. Fueled by adrenaline and grief, the old man launched into a final assault. Anne stood frozen as Roy struck the weakened monster with surprising strength. Finally, after one last blow to its chest with all his remaining energy, the beast collapsed with a heavy thud—defeated.
The silence that followed was crushing, almost supernatural.
Roy stood panting over David's dying body—and the corpse of Julie.
Anne finally snapped back to reality.
She looked around, trying to understand how things had spiraled out of control so quickly.
All the while, one phrase kept echoing in her mind.
"I managed to kill my first monster without any enhancements."
Roy said something to her, but she couldn't hear him.
All she could hear were those words, repeating over and over in her head.
She felt the world begin to spin—until Roy grabbed her arm, grounding her back to reality.
— "...I think we'd better return to camp."
Anne nodded, dazed.
She didn't understand how, but she and Roy had made it back to the base without dying.
Aaron was waiting for them there, his face as impassive and cold as ever.
He listened to Roy's account without a flicker of emotion, his cold, analytical eyes fixed on them.
Then, without a word of comfort or compassion, he led them to the clearing—to the mysterious altar.
— "Check your points," he ordered simply.
Anne approached the altar, her heart heavy with dread, her hands trembling.
The result was clear: no points earned.
Roy had gained nothing either.
Aaron remained silent for a moment, then declared flatly:
— "It seems that to earn points, you must face the monsters alone. One-on-one."
Those words were the final blow.
Anne felt her legs give out beneath her, the shock and despair overwhelming her. She fell to her knees, tears running freely down her pale cheeks.
— "All that… for nothing…" she whispered through a muffled sob, crushed beneath the unforgiving weight of that revelation.