*AAAHHHHHH*
Apparently, our little outburst did not go unnoticed.
Louhan, who up until that moment, was sleeping peacefully against a large oak tree, was suddenly jostled awake by the unexpectedly loud noise of the system ringing out. He immediately scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as his naked legs could take him, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs.
The unforeseen event threw my surroundings into an immediate blur of trees and flailing arms. I understand now and am extremely grateful for the fact I can't get dizzy here. However, the sound of sausage smacking with every stride made me nauseous, even if it wasn't real.
After a couple or so minutes of this, I noticed his stamina bar was quickly reaching depletion. Visibly slowing down, Louhan headed toward a cave he spotted in the distance. Hastily, he made his way inside. He braced both hands leaning against the wall, gasping for air. Huffs were now replacing the horrified screams from earlier.
'What should I do? Should I try talking to him?' I telepathically asked Mumsy, who was slowly recovering from the aftermath of my avatar's reveal.
She turned to look at me, agonizingly wiping a pixel from the corner of her mouth. This lady is always so dramatic. I mean, yeah, his ugly mug took me by surprise too. Now that I have watched him panic for a good part of five minutes though, I have come to realize, he is in fact hideous, but kind of charming. He is like one of those wheezing pugs back where I'm from, although they have the face of a trauma patient, people still love them.
'I think I will go ahead and try to speak with him,' I remarked.
"I don't think he understands language, especially not reading your commands. If you wish it, your system panel will show up in his vision. Maybe this will help you convey that he isn't alone."
'Mmhmm, yeah, I think that's a good idea. I will give it a go.' I replied while clicking the show-panel toggle, and, of course, I was greeted with the reality of terrible advice.
When the screen became visible to Louhan, his fight-or-flight changed from running to him trying to attack the screen. However, he was standing in front of a wall, so when he went to punch the luminous panel, he immediately punched the solid rock.
Clutching his hand in pain, his status screen updated from 'scared' to 'scared and angry'.
I hurried and turned the toggle back off, watching him huddle in a ball deeper in the cave.
"Well,that didn't go as planned," Mumsy commented. All I could do was look at her hoping my thoughts wouldn't telepathically broadcast how useless I felt she was.
'Yeah, I don't think there was much of a plan,' I said.
As I sat there contemplating what to do next, a rumbling sound filled my ears. I turned around, trying to identify the sound when I noticed a groggy bear emerging from within the depths of the cave, clearly disturbed and mad it was just awoken.
"Ah, shit. Run!"
The message made Louhan jump, causing the bear to notice him. They locked eyes and instinct took over. Louhan sprinted as fast as he could with a mass of raging fur right on his heels.
His stamina bar had recovered somewhat, but with how fast he is going it had to be almost empty. When I went to check I saw that the stamina bar was in fact empty and now heading into the negative with the label 'adrenaline' over it. 'Huh, that's useful to know,' I mused.
Louhan was getting cuts and bruises from the brush of the forest. He looked back to see if the scary animal was still chasing him only to not notice that his path led him to a cliff's edge.
"Watch out!"
It was too late. He plummeted down three stories hitting roots and sticks on the way down. "OH, DAMN! NNNOOO LLOOUUHHHAANN!!"
My perspective changed to first person, where I looked up to see a bear looking down at me. The screen started to dim as his health bar hit zero percent.
*Ding*
The screen went black; then words showed up on the screen: "Expired," followed by "Next user being located...".
I just sat there, mouth agape. "What the hell just happened?!"