Griffin froze the moment he saw it. The creature burst out of the tall pale grass only twenty feet away, almost as tall as a ten-year-old child, moving with a jerky, unnatural speed that made his stomach drop. It wasn't cute.
It was wiry and lean, covered in patchy gray fur that looked rough and matted, with two sharp curved horns jutting forward from its head like small scythes. Its eyes glowed a deep, angry red, locked straight onto him.
Before he can react a blue screen popped up in front of him without any warning or whatsoever.
[ System Notification ]
[ Origin Realm Beast Detected ]
[ Gehenna Horned Hamster — Grade 1 Fodder ]
Griffin stiffned in place when he saw the system screen before he can react. The sceen dissolved into countless blue particles like stars in the night sky and disappeared.
The Gehenna Horned Hamster, Grade 1 Fodder, stopped for half a second, nose twitching, then lowered its head and charged.
Griffin's heart slammed against his ribs so hard he could feel it in his throat. This was nothing like the training videos he had watched back home on his phone, those clean, safe clips where Walkers made everything look easy.
This felt real and dangerous in a way that made his legs want to lock up. He had no weapon, no plan, and no idea if dying here would actually kill him back in his room.
The only thing he knew was that he was completely alone in this endless plain, and the thing coming at him had horns that looked sharp enough to gut him.
He stumbled backward, hands coming up uselessly in front of him.
"Wait,...hey, back off!" he shouted, his voice cracking. The rabbit didn't slow down.
Its legs pumped fast, kicking up small clouds of pale grass as it closed the distance in a blur. Griffin tried to turn and run, but his foot caught on a hidden root or hole in the ground and he tripped hard, crashing onto his side. Pain flared up his hip where he landed. Before he could push himself up the creature was on him.
It leaped, horns slashing down. One of them caught his left arm, tearing a burning line across his skin. The pain was immediate and shocking,hot and deep, like someone had dragged a hot knife across his flesh.
He yelled and swung wildly with his right fist, catching the rabbit on the side of its head. The impact jarred his knuckles, but the beast barely flinched. It twisted around, fast and vicious, and raked its claws across his chest, shredding through his shirt and leaving four stinging gashes.
Blood welled up instantly. Griffin panicked, kicking out with both legs, trying to shove it away.
"Get off me!" he shouted, voice raw. "Get the hell off!"
The fight turned into a desperate, clumsy mess. He rolled, trying to get on top, but the rabbit was too quick, slipping under his arms and slashing again. Every cut burned like fire, the pain so real it made his eyes water. He had never felt anything like this, not in any school fight, not in any scrape at the scrap yard.
This was the kind of pain that made you want to curl up and quit. But quitting wasn't an option. The rabbit kept coming, red eyes locked on him, horns lowered for another charge. Griffin grabbed a fistful of grass and dirt and threw it at the creature's face, hoping to blind it for a second. It worked just enough.
The rabbit shook its head, sneezing, and in that tiny opening Griffin lunged forward and tackled it to the ground. They rolled together, grass whipping around them. He got his hands around its neck, squeezing as hard as he could, but the wiry body twisted and kicked, claws raking his sides again. Blood soaked his shirt now.
His arms burned. His breath came in short, desperate gasps.
"Die already!" he growled through gritted teeth, putting every bit of fear and anger into his grip.
The rabbit thrashed harder, but he refused to let go. Finally, with a last surge of panic strength, he slammed its head against a small rock half-buried in the ground. Once. Twice.
On the third hit something cracked. The creature went limp beneath him.
Griffin rolled off it, chest heaving, arms shaking. He lay on his back for a long moment, staring up at the empty black sky, trying to catch his breath.
Blood trickled down his sides and arm, warm and sticky. The pain was still there, sharp and throbbing, but he was alive. He had actually killed it. Slowly he pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked at the corpse.
The Gehenna Horned Hamster lay still in the grass, its red eyes now dull. Then, right in front of him, the body started to dissolve. It didn't rot or decay slowly, it simply broke apart into glowing particles, fading away like smoke until nothing was left but two small, perfectly round white orbs resting on the grass where the rabbit had been.
They glowed softly, giving off a gentle, warm light that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Just then another clear system notification rang inside his head.
[You have killed a Grade 1 Fodder beast.]
[Two Tier 1 Pristine White Orbs have dropped.]
Griffin stared at the orbs, breathing hard. He reached out with a trembling hand and picked one up. It was smooth and warm against his palm, heavier than it looked, like a small crystal ball filled with liquid light.
The warmth spread up his arm, comforting and strange at the same time. "What… what are you?" he whispered, turning the orb slowly between his fingers. "Some kind of reward? Energy? I don't understand any of this."
He picked up the second orb too, holding both in his hands, feeling their gentle heat. They looked valuable, almost beautiful, but he had no idea what to do with them.
He tried speaking to the system out loud. "Hello? System? Can you explain what these are?"
No answer came. He tried thinking the question instead. Still nothing. The silence around him felt heavier now, the endless grasslands stretching out in every direction, the starless sky pressing down.
He sat there for a long moment, confused and exhausted, blood still dripping slowly from the cuts on his arm and chest. The pain was real. The orbs were real. Everything here felt too real.
Just as he was turning the two glowing orbs over in his hands, trying to decide whether to keep them or throw them away, the grass in front of him rustled again. Louder this time. Griffin froze, his stomach dropping.
Two more horned hamsters burst out of the tall blades, exactly like the one he had just killed, eyes glowing the same angry red. They saw him and charged without hesitation, moving fast and low to the ground.
Griffin's expression changed instantly. "Oh no...."
He scrambled to his feet, the orbs still clutched in one hand, and turned to run. His legs felt heavy from the fight, but fear gave him speed.
He looked back over his shoulder and his heart nearly stopped. More than a dozen additional hamsters were pouring out of the grass all around him, rushing forward in a small wave, red eyes fixed on him with clear hostility. The whole group was coming straight at him.
He ran harder, breath coming in short gasps, the tall grass whipping against his legs and slowing him down.
"This is insane!" he shouted as he ran, voice raw. "I just killed one and now the whole family shows up?"
The creatures were fast, closing the distance quickly. He could hear their rapid footsteps and the angry chittering sounds they made. His cuts burned with every stride, blood making his shirt stick to his skin. In just a few minutes his lungs were burning and his legs felt like lead, but he kept pushing, refusing to stop.
The grasslands offered no cover, no place to hide. It was just endless pale grass and the sound of dozens of small killers chasing him.
Then, without warning, the hamsters stopped.
Griffin risked a glance back and saw them skid to a halt, red eyes widening with sudden fear. Their aggressive chittering turned into panicked squeaks. Before he could understand what was happening, the entire group scattered in different directions, shooting back into the tall grass and disappearing in seconds.
The plain went quiet again except for his own ragged breathing. Griffin slowed to a stop, hands on his knees, gasping for air.
A small, shaky laugh escaped him. "That's right… run away. I'm not easy prey."
He straightened up, still holding the two orbs, feeling a brief surge of smug relief. "Yeah, you better run. I just took one of you down. Come back and I'll..."
Before he can finish, a streak of black blur flashed in front of his eyes.
His vision went dark.