A Deadly Moonlit Stroll

The dark haired boy had his gaze locked on Zero's with not a hint of hesitation to be found. Zero saw the small window of escape, but didn't want to risk giving away his plan by looking in that direction too much.

It's a life or death game obviously, Zero thought. I knew I wouldn't be able to avoid another play forever.

"Protect my dreams!" The boy confidently stated. Then suddenly a spark of light appeared in his outstretched hand, and it formed into a katana made completely out of blue energy. Crackles of energy danced up his wielding arm from the blade he just created.

Zero eye's widened. Whoa, he can create weapons out of energy?! Guess that answers my question about starter systems...

The boy lowered his energy blade between the two of them. "It's not usually my thing to pick on new players."

"No need to be so noble. I saw your friends earlier." Zero scoffed. 

The other boy raised his eyebrow. "Friends?"

"It doesn't matter." Zero responded. "You must be pretty confident to wake me up before attacking. You missed your one chance." He bluffed.

The other boy simply sighed. "And there's no need for you to try to scare me. I know you have a cooking based system; and since you're obviously new, I highly doubt you have another."

Zero couldn't help but look a bit surprised.

"Wait, how did-"

"I've been tailing you and gathering information." The boy stated flatly. 

"And you chose to let me live this long?" Zero asked. This player was clearly trouble.

"It's not my style to kill a sleeping player. Now, I think we've both done enough talking." The boy suddenly bolted off of his front foot towards Zero, quickly closing the distance between them.

"Shit, he's fast!" Zero said to himself as he tried to dash backwards in retreat. He felt himself slam full force into something immovable behind him however and realized that it was a tree after briefly looking over his shoulder.

While he had picked a good hiding spot, it was a close quarters death trap in a fight.

"Forgive me." He quickly turned back to his front to see that his opponent was now right on top of him with his sword raised in preparation for a slashing motion.

Here's my chance! Zero thought.

As the other boy brought his blade down upon Zero for the finishing blow, Zero dodged in the opposite direction that the slash was coming in. Doing so allowed him to slip under the blade and out of the tight spot he was in!

The sound of splitting wood can be heard as the blade cut right through part of the tree.

"Tch!" The player quickly turned around, just in time to see Zero bolt through a small opening in the tree line and disappear from view. He looked back at the damaged tree and then to the direction Zero escaped in.

"He's much more nimble than he looks. But, it won't be enough!" He took off and gave chase to the fleeing Zero.

***************

Zero had no idea how much time had passed since he escaped from almost certain death. It was still night out, but he had no clue what the day/night cycle was like in this world. Slices of light from the moon cut through the trees around him.

He sat behind a large tree in an attempt to catch his breath. He chanced a peek around its large trunk to see if he could see any type of glow in the distance. Like the one from a deadly energy blade.

Still nothing, he thought. Maybe he gave up? I mean, there's not a lot of point to chasing down a player like me and risking the attention of stronger ones.

As if to dash his hopes, he heard the sound of what might be multiple branches snapping in quick succession. A dim glow illuminated against one side of the tree and Zero took one last look. A crescent wave of energy shot across the area, chopping off anything it came in contact with before colliding with a tree not far away and bursting into bits of energy.

What the hell was that?! Thankfully, it had been sent in a direction close to him but not at him. 

"It's clear you don't know where you're going." A voice rang out among the trees.

"No shit." Zero said in a hushed tone to himself. He quickly picked himself up and dashed off in a different direction. The trees had begun to become more spaced out which meant that it was easier to traverse - but also easier for him to be spotted.

Another wave of energy ripped through the area and was actually not too far off from him AGAIN as it de-limbed a few more trees.

He must have some idea where I am, Zero thought fearfully. But...it must not be exact or else he would've caught me by now!

That's when he heard it. 

It was distant, but not too distant that he couldn't pick up faint noises. Sounds of screams and clashes. It wasn't like at the start where it was the pleading of victims - no, Zero could tell that there was some kind of battle happening somewhere in the direction he was heading.

"You hear that?" The boy's voice rang out again. "You keep running off that way and you'll find yourself in the midlands."

The Midlands? Zero thought as he came to a stop.

"Trust me, that's one place you don't want to find yourself."

That's when Zero realized a horrible truth. He was stuck. He had no clue what the Midlands were, but he had a feeling that his enemy was telling the truth. The same enemy that was on his way right now to slaughter him.

He hunkered under a small overhang that was slightly downhill from where he was now. He waved his hand in order to bring up his HUD and went straight to his ability tree.

"Guess there's no more running." He stated.

The other player continued his trek through the forest while keeping all of his senses open. However, his once dark eyes had a red glowing ring around his pupils. 

"I knew this support skill would be essential. Especially in fights like this." He said. As he looked in front of him there was a thin red veil that almost resembled smoke trailing through the woods. Only he could see this. 

Then suddenly there were several new smoke trails that split off into several other directions.

"Damn." He said to himself. "This Energy Vision is useful, but more than players give off an energy source in this world." For some reason, one of the trails became much clearer than the others. "Looks like the strongest source is that way." He took a left and entered an opening where he halted his steps.

There in front of him was Zero - he stood facing him with a look of determination on his face. 

He stopped running? The other player thought. He has to be up to something. Or a much more foolish player than I first thought.

"Not wanting to chance the Midlands?" The player asked as he held out his energy sword toward him.

Zero held up his palms in what came off as a very awkward fighting stance. 

"Let's get this over with." He stated.