Freya Adler opened her eyes slowly. Her emerald irises struggled to adjust to the light, and fine sand clung to the corners of her eyes.
She blinked until the grit stung less, then wiped her face, pushing her long blonde hair out of the way.
She sat up and tried to make sense of the world. Questions rose in her mind, but the answers would not come.
Where was she?
Why did the land look dead?
Had she not been on the bus to her high school graduation?
The thoughts crowded, then stalled, as if something beyond her mind made the scene before her impossible to accept.
Ahead of her lay the ruin of a city. Buildings leaned and crumbled, cars had become planters, and the road was all but impassable.
Plants grew out of cracked asphalt in thick, ugly tangles. Worse, creatures moved among the wreckage, monsters that looked like mixes of animals and plants.
In the middle of the avenue one enormous flytrap-like plant had already trapped something the size of a horse and was eating it. The sight made her skin prickle.
"Am I dreaming?" she asked aloud, though the answer felt useless.
A blue screen blinked into being in front of her like a game HUD.
[Emergency quest detected!]
[Objective:]
• Save yourself from the mutated plants and animals.
• Find a safe settlement.
Freya rubbed her eyes again and let out a short, incredulous laugh. "Oh lord, I must be losing it. Is this because of the SAT?"
She shook her head. "No. I swear I did well."
Freya's eyes darted to her left when a heavy thudding sound echoed from somewhere nearby. The ground trembled with each step, as if something huge was moving.
From between two crumbling buildings, it emerged. Its form like a boar, but its skin was no skin at all. Thick bark covered its body like armor, with glowing moss sprouting from cracks.
Twisted vines hung from its tusks, dripping with some sort of green liquid that hissed when it touched the ground.
Freya froze. Her mouth went dry, and her body refused to move.
'This isn't real. This can't be real.'
Her mind screamed at her to run, but her feet felt like they were bolted to the ground.
"It's just a dream," she whispered, shaking her head.
"It's just a dream. It's just a dream. I'll wake up and I'll be at home. Momo will yell at me for sleeping in. I'll—"
The creature let out a sound that made her bones rattle, a noise halfway between a roar and the groan of splitting wood. It lowered its head, vines snapping against the ground, and charged straight for her.
Freya could only stand there, clutching her skirt with trembling hands, repeating the same words like a prayer.
It's not real. It's not real. It's not—
The next thing she knew, the world tilted. Strong arms scooped her up, and she found herself slung over a broad shoulder as if she weighed nothing at all.
A sword flashed before her eyes, the movement so swift she almost missed it. The sound of steel cutting through wood and flesh rang in her ears, followed by the thud of the boar's head hitting the ground. Vines twitched briefly before falling still.
"What is wrong with you?!"
The voice was deep and carried the kind of irritation that could cut as sharply as the sword.
She twisted to look at him. He was tan-skinned with a sharp jawline, black hair plastered slightly to his forehead, and eyes that held an unyielding focus.
"This is a dream, right?" she managed to say, though it came out more like a plea than a question.
His expression darkened, but before he could reply, the city erupted with roars and screeches from all directions. Dark shapes shifted in the shadows.
"You just had to freeze in the middle of the street," he muttered, and then he was running.
Freya's stomach jolted with each step, and she clung to his shirt without thinking. "Wait, what is happening—"
"Be quiet and hold on."
More creatures appeared from alleys: a wolf with thorned legs, a bird with leaf-like feathers, all charging at them. His sword moved in clean, efficient arcs, cutting them down before they came within reach.
"This is insane!" she shouted. "What the heck all of that?! Where am I?!"
"If you speak again, I will feed you to them," he said flatly.
She shut her mouth and barely allowed herself to breathe. Her heart was hammering as another monster lunged from above, a vine-covered lizard clinging to a wall.
He shifted her weight in his arms, cut it down mid-air, and kept running without missing a step.
She did not know who he was or why he had saved her, but she understood one thing very clearly. If he let go, she would not survive a second.
Eventually, they reached a part of the city where collapsed buildings blocked the main road. He glanced around quickly before slipping into a narrow alley where the light faded.
Only when they were deep in shadow did he finally stop. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, yet his grip on her remained firm.
Freya swallowed hard and managed to whisper, "What was that?"
He looked at her briefly before turning his eyes back toward the street. "That," he said, tightening his hold on his sword, "was you almost dying."