Which is Worse: Failure or Little Girls?

The woods were a completely different place, now that Shiv had leveled up. The trees no longer hid terrifying dangers, but prey. The shadows no longer grew and turned into monsters that would send Shiv scurrying. The giant wasps… still sent Shiv diving into the nearest bush.

Uriel had told him that he'd only gained a single level, but he had a hard time believing that. The power coursing through him filled him with a confidence that he'd only experienced when his girlfriend had complimented him that one time.

He traveled through the woods, ignoring the many creatures that almost looked to be held still by confusion, instead of fear, as he hunted for his target

Then, through pure, blind luck, he found it: the one-eyed boar. The top of its ears reached as high as his shoulder, with four tusks as long as his arm curling down and up out of its mouth. The monster's single brown eye was small and glowing in its reddish-brown fur that clashed with the blackish-blue mane that started at the base of the neck and ended at the apex of the skull.

"Alright, Ugly. It's about time for round two." Shiv stepped forward with an evil glint in his eye and tripped on a plant root.

The boar took advantage of the fact by charging forward and barely missing Shiv, who erected a wall of earth at an angle in front of him that knocked the boar off its course. He used the time bought to lurch to his feet and prepare for round three. 'I didn't grab a weapon last time until it was too late. This time, I thought ahead.' He summoned from his inventory the makeshift earth spear he'd made and braced it on the ground behind and to his side, with the point in front of him as the boar whipped around and charged again. The closer the boar got, the more his eyes narrowed and the farther he leaned forward, until his eyes were barely open slits and his bodyweight was shifted entirely forward.

The boar shifted directions at the last second, and the spear sliced through its remaining eye and was snapped in two out of Shiv's hands by the tusk and the momentum of the eight hundred pound boar.

Shiv was spun around in time to watch the blinded boar disappear into the woods. "Are you kidding me?"

"I would be kidding you if I knew you could take a joke." Uriel yawned.

Shiv grabbed half his spear and chucked it at the wolf before returning to his farm. Though he traveled with much more stealth during the return trip, and hid several times from the animals he had passed with impunity earlier. Uriel found this to be hilarious.

Back at the farm, he found his house to be on fire, and somehow wasn't surprised. "Blaze. What. The h- uh, what in the world. Is that?" He caught himself and corrected his language in front of the adorable girl with an innocent expression.

"It's a bug trap!" She sounded and looked proud of herself.

"I see." He sighed and moved to the house and placed his hands on a part that wasn't burning, and started shifting the ground so that it suffocated the fire. 'I didn't have anything terribly important in there, anyway. The only thing I had in there were blankets and pillows, but those are easily replaced. I keep all my money in my inventory, and it consists of metal coins, anyway. No way that'd burn.' With the fire out, a giant wasp burst out through the window and flew away as fast as its massive wings could take it.

Shiv fell out of the tree in shock at seeing a stinger as long as he was tall fly a mere two feet from his face. 'I am going to demolish this place.' He reaffirmed in an attempt to make himself feel better.

"Aw man, you let it escape!" Blaze ran over and helped him stand back up. "I saw it sneak in there, so I set the place on fire." She proudly informed him, then, "Now I can't finish cooking it for dinner." She pouted.

"I… think everything is going to be OK." He patted her head and said as much to her as to himself. He wanted to sit in the darkness of his newly roofed house and collect his wits, but the place had been on fire moments ago, and he didn't feel like getting third-degree burns, so he trudged over to the stream and sat in it.

Blaze followed him to the edge of the stream, where she crouched and giggled at him. "Daddy, you just got your clothes all wet."

"I'm not your dad, and I know. I've had a rough day. Cut me some slack, wouldja?" He laid back so he was completely submerged in the uncomfortably hot water.

While Shiv was busy drowning himself, Blaze wandered over to Uriel. "Little brother, what is slack?"

"You know how dad will let you burn anything aside from plants? That is him being slack. Most parents wouldn't allow you to burn anything. He gives you room to do whatever you want, pretty much. Also, when dad is playing instead of working, that is him slacking off. He likes to do that." He responded.

"Ohhh. So slack is a good thing." She nodded with pursed lips. "Then why does he want me to cut it?"

"I know it is silly, but in this case when he says 'cut' he actually means to give him more. It isn't exactly like this, but think about how dad could cut you a piece of bread. That would mean that he is actually giving you more bread."

"Huh." Her response left both of them uncertain as to whether she understood or not. But she seemed satisfied, so they went their separate ways.

Shiv exploded out of the water sputtering, choking and coughing. He'd sneezed underwater, and in the consequential intake of breath, er, water- he'd choked.

Having fully recovered from the day's events, he attacked his new task with a vigor that most people wouldn't have at this time of day. With the special seeds he'd purchased that morning in hand, he manipulated the newest section of the farm he'd cleared out into neat, soft rows of soil. Then he carefully planted each seed with a space of exact proportions in between each one. Blaze was curious, and so she followed him and watched his every movement closely.

An hour passed in this fashion, till he finished and wiped his brow. He gave her a weird look when he saw she was still in his farm, but moved on to his next task without saying anything. Now that his crops had been harvested, he needed to get rid of the remnants of the crops in his fields and get them ready for the next crops in the rotation.

Upon finishing, he knelt and placed his hand on the ground and grew a chair in a shaded area. He sat down and wiped his brow with a great big sigh.

"Aha! You're slacking!" Blaze said from beside the arm of his chair, causing him to open his eyes with a jolt. "Don't worry, slacking is a good thing." She informed him somberly.

"Blaze? What are you still doing here? Your parents have got to be worried sick." Shiv got up and looked around as if he expected them to jump out from behind one of the nearby trees.

"I told you, silly. You're my only parent!" She giggled.

He looked around one last time hopelessly, then shrugged helplessly and fell back into his chair. He looked over at her and sighed, then leaned forward to touch the ground and make another chair, this one much smaller, next to his own. She promptly sat in it and looked gratefully at him with a wide smile. "Thank you."

Uriel walked over and sat down lazily next to Blaze.

They stayed like that till the sun set, at which point it registered in Shiv's mind that Blaze was going to be staying the night with them, and that she didn't have a bed or a room to stay in.

He took a minute to figure out which tree he'd sleep in tonight. "Ah, well. Too bad you burned the place. Hey, Blaze, how would you like to stay up in my room tonight? I know there aren't any blankets or anything, but that's your own fault, kid." Shiv got up and stretched, feeling incredibly relaxed. 'Maybe this world isn't so bad…'

"That's fine. Can I cuddle up with Uriel?" She asked optimistically as she copied his movements.

"Aw he- uh, definitely not. No dogs allowed in the house." He shot a dark look at Uriel, who was sound asleep. 'Yeah, this place sucks.'

He led Blaze up to his makeshift house, made her as comfortable as possible, and after checking his closet and finding his clothes to be burned, he climbed a bit higher in the tree till he found a suitable branch and sprawled across it. He stared at the sky and was reminded of his first day on Glasmoore. 'That was a rough day. I hated the world and only wanted to leave, but now I'm starting to become a bit comfortable.' He awkwardly rolled over on the narrow branch, and found himself staring straight into the eight eyes of a spider the size of his skull. 'Yeah, nothing's changed since that day.' He barely kept the scream from bubbling out, not wanting to wake up Blaze, and punched the spider with every bit of strength he could muster. It went flying, and he squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for sleep to overtake him soon.

***

The next morning, he was up bright and early with several sore spots from the uncomfortably small branch he'd slept on, toiling away in the fields. He was determined to finish the planting process before the sun set, and begin working on the next part of his plan.

"Hey, daddy, I was wondering… what are blankets? You were grumbling about not having them last night." Blaze climbed down from the treehouse and rubbed her eyes.

"Huh? It's a piece of cloth used to keep you safe from monsters and the cold. It makes you feel like you're in the safest place in the whole wide world."

"The cold? Like the stuff the ice people make that makes you shake and feel all weird?"

"Ice people? And I think you mean shiver."

"I want a blanket." She spoke adamantly.

"Tell me about the ice people, first." Shiv pleaded.

"No, I want to feel safe with a blanket!"

"Geez. Fine, kid. I'll get you a blanket just as soon as I finish this field." There went his plan of finishing his work today.

He went on to finish the field, and as promised, took her to the general store in search of a new set of blankets. The first time had been a chore, because the store owner also had zero idea of what a blanket was. He'd ended up buying a roll of cloth and cutting it to be the right dimensions, and though it was a bit scratchy, he was happy with it.

"Sure, sure. So you're looking for another of those 'blanket' things. That's fine, but who's the little girl?" The fat man behind the counter of the general store asked in a whisper as he watched Blaze wander around his store poking things.

"Hey, Blaze, come introduce yourself to this fat guy." Shiv called over to her, then tensed up when he saw a strange look in her eyes. "Don't you dare…" He lunged at her.

"Oh, I forgot! Destroy! Destroy! Destr- oof." Her hands caught fire and she reached for the nearest tower of items, but was cut off before her rampage could even begin when Shiv scooped her up in his arms and pinned her arms to her sides.

"It's not time to destroy this stuff, yet." He whispered fiercely. "Don't destroy anything until I explicitly give you permission to do so. Savvy?"

She nodded with wide eyes, and gently set her down and turned her back to the store owner. "Sorry about that. Kids these days, y'know?" He laughed nervously, then cleared his throat and leaned on the counter. "But anyway, you got any more cloth? And not that scratchy stuff you gave me last time. I want really soft stuff."

"Hey, Fat Man. Are all of these things plants?" Blaze walked over to the counter and got up on her toes to look up at the big man.

"Plants? Why of course not, young lady." He said kindly.

"Destruction!" She yelled gleefully with hands ignited.