Asgard

Story So Far

Kent was pulled from Ironhold Gym by a white-gold column of light that swallowed the ring, spun symbols around him, and dropped him alone into a wide clearing of thick damp grass under a violet dusk sky with two moons. He landed with only twenty dollars and worn sneakers, the light and warmth vanishing instantly, and a large shape held still in the nearby trees. A pale green light had preceded the event in the gym, pulsing from the ring's center as the concrete turned translucent and something moved beneath it like a hand under glass; a deep pulling force widened the column, dragged the man with the red bandana and two other fighters into it, and dissolved the canvas before reaching Kent's position on a bench with a loose boxing wrap on his left hand.

In the clearing under two moons, a four-eyed bark-colored Forest Stalker stepped from the shadows and a panel identified it as Level 3 Moderate threat and Kent as Level 1 Unclassed with HP 100/100 and EXP 0. Kent went completely still, the Stalker assessed him, then lowered its head, turned back to the tree line, and withdrew. The underbrush shook again and one Stalker returned with two more behind it, all three fanning into an arc that cut off the tree line left, right, and ahead, the lead emitting a sub-sound pressure that flattened the grass. Kent reached for fire and found nothing; the lead Stalker lunged, its shoulder clipping him, spinning him to one knee and tearing the wrap from his left hand, dropping his HP to 82/100 with Status: Engaged.

Heat then opened behind Kent's sternum and his fingers glowed amber; he blasted the lead Stalker in the chest with a fireball and hit the charging left Stalker at the base of its neck with a second, leaving one with black-scorched ribs and one smoking by the pine roots, both still. The third Stalker crouched under Threat Reassessment, did not run, cut left, and hit Kent from shoulder to hip, pinning his chest with one heavy paw while his mana ran low. Heat surged again and Kent slammed both palms into the creature's leg in a point-blank amber-white fireburst that threw it to the clearing's edge with fur smoking and four eyes dark, leaving him flat on his back with HP 71/100, palms cold, and all three Stalkers down.

Kent's panel pulsed, restored mana, and advanced him to Level 2, unlocking Flame Lance, which he shaped into a focused amber point in his right hand as something deliberate moved toward the clearing from deep in the trees. His panel pulsed again and he reached Level 3, unlocking Ember Shield, raising his left hand to hold a faint gold layer of compressed heat above his skin while steam curled from the wet grass beneath the glow. He followed a fresh fern-and-mud trail identified as Eve's into the cold pine woods with gold palms and the humming Ember Shield, the trail bending around a fallen log and boulders until he stopped ten feet from a tall upright figure in a pine-dusted dark cloak standing in broken moonlight, the panel above the figure reading Status: Unknown.