Zayn woke up a bit dizzy, each muscle sore like he’d pulled on them all. He grimaced, pushing himself up from the coarse sand. He took a handful of them in shock, watching as they slipped through his fingers, until the realization hit him.

  He was back in the Raddan mountains.

  A disappointed sigh escaped his lips. Was all of that just a hyper realistic dream? He could swear it all felt real. All too real.

  Rubbing his eyes, he looked around, wondering if he was suffering from a head injury. He’d fallen damn near a thousand feet, something that should have rightfully turned him into a blood mush. Instead, he could only feel a slight ache all over his body at this point. That didn’t add up.

  Only when he stared above did he pause. A crimson moon loomed in the sky—so massive that it dominated his vision. Sure, it didn’t look like it would come crashing down—but he’d not be surprised if it did. Stranger things had been happening around him.

  He was having a concussion. Either that, or he was still dreaming. Or perheps both.

  A thunderous roar sliced at his eardrums, jolting him awake. He scurried up to his feet and scanned his surroundings in a hurry.

  The world had changed yet again. This time more alien. The landscape resembled the Raddan mountains—sandy terrain with a few peaks. But this was no Raddan Mountains. The peaks he raced on had almost no trees. Certainly none with trunks twisted like the gnarled hands of an old witch—reaching up towards the heavens like it was trying to pierce through it.

  This was like a proper, premium ghost-themed dungeon. Before the apocalypse, a single night at a ghost house like this would cost his entire week's salary. But a free ticket to five nights at Freddy's Jungle was nothing worth clamoring about.

  The land quaked—as if a goddamn titan was jumping up and down. Watching the sand dancing on his toes and almost scalding his feet, he felt his throat dry up.

  He craned his neck and looked into the distance. What the hell was happening over there? But all he could see were endless sandy peaks, housing the blackened trees.

  The system chimed in, revealing a line of words.

  

  His mind buzzed. The sandy ground trembled once more. Sand was a terrible conductor for everything, including shockwaves. That told him how strong the shockwaves were.

  Even with his brain sending red signals, he sprinted forward. Towards one of peaks of the dunes. If someone asked him one thing he didn’t like about himself, it would be his insatiable curiosity—particularly for things that kill him.

  At the very least, this time, he had a valid reason.

  The trees were spread as apart as the hairs on a balding man. But it didn’t take too long to find a towering one. He stared at its gnarly, sticky bark. His skin creeping in disgust. But his curiosity won yet again, and he started climbing.

  With each tremble, his heart lurched to his throat. More than fear, he felt a bit of anticipation. What was out there? It had to be something enormous—even larger than the turtle before. Maybe the stone ape or dungeon boss he knew nothing of?

  He sped up, climbing as high as he could. The thorny stingers on the bark had vanished, and the occasional swirls became his foothold whenever he needed to rest.

  As for why the trees were cold despite all the hear, he had zero guesses. Was it absorbing heat? He had probably missed the explanation, like those physics classes in college.

  Soon his thoughts froze, eyes entrapped by the scene ahead.

  

  In the distance, a colossal ape figure drummed its chest, its titanic limbs streaked red with magma. The blood moon drenched its figure, soaking it in a red hue. From its silhouette, it looked exactly like King Kong—if King Kong had magma streaking through its entire body.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Its nostril flared, its eyes smoldering in rage as it shoved its hand down. He watched in stupor as it hauled out a molten pillar from who knows where, longer than its entire body—holding it like a staff. Then it leaped in the air, soaring towards the other figure.

  

  It sstood on its two feet, its bulbous back bulging like a grotesque hunch. The muscles squirmed beneath its skin—writhing like festered roots—and sprang out like chains. Stretching and swelling like wild weeds. In an instant, they lashed out a savage slash towards the flying ape.

  Zayn felt his jaw drop.

  Which sequel of Godzilla vs. King Kong was this again? At least, the figure of the stone ape struck a sense of familiarity. But this squirming mess was way too slithery. Enough to get on his nerves.

  With thunderous blows, they battered at each other, over and over, flattening sand dunes one after another. With each clash, brilliant lights bloomed in the night sky, lighting everything up. Air faltered, and sand flew in waves—in all directions.

  It grated past his skin, making him wince.

  That's the stope ape he was supposed to kill... THAT?!

  "Curse your grandma, SysAdmin007!" Even if he were to turn into a ghost, he swore to hunt him down, no matter whether they were a man, monster or machine. There was no way he'd be able to beat this thing. He'd be toasted before getting close.

  Before he could lament and whine, molten rock and festering roots arched like burning meteors, flying high up in the sky. Shooting right in his direction.

  He slid down the tree as fast as his body allowed, but he was still too late. With a sizzle, a smoldering boulder tore through the tree right in the middle. He was flung off in the air, falling head-first towards the ground.

  Air cracked with a smell of rotten eggs, but that was a less immediate concern. Twisting his torso, he barely avoided a smoldering rock hurling toward him.

  That was only the first of them.

  He forced his tense nerves to settle down. A technique he’d learned from his night escapados. He didn’t know how he did it; he just knew it worked.

  Even before, he wasn’t all that unfamiliar with being flung away in the air. Having precise control over his own body had saved him numerous times in the past.

  Though, with burning meteors chasing his tails, even that wouldn’t be enough. He stared as the two smouldering rocks flew right at him. Desperation bundled in his chest, turning into a primal desire to survive.

  A faint energy unconsciously rose from his stomach and spread to every fiber of his being. Swimming through the air, he could almost feel it whisper. Telling him the way.

  For a brief second, he was like a bird, looking down at everything—the two boulders hurling towards him, how air winced and twisted as they sliced through, and the small gap between them.

  His body shifted. Every muscle fiber within him churned, turning slender. He glided mid-air, slipping through the gaps between the boulders, watching their red cracks as they bolted past him.

  

  He rolled over on the sand to transfer the extra velocity. The creaking pain in his body couldn't suppress the excitement inside. Had he been trying it wrong all along? Telling the system, expecting it to do the work instead of himself. But he knew now.

  Smoulders still rained down from the sky. Instead of escaping like a normal man, he laughed and rushed forward. Stretching the feeling of epiphany.

  The energy moved again, radiating from his stomach and spreading to every corner of his body. Shooting forward, he slipped right through the stones, dodging them.

  

  

  

  

  

  Molten stone shards and roots rained down with shrill. And he shot to his feet, avoiding every single one as he ran.

  "Ow!" Zayn groaned when the barrage of notifications flashed in his eyes, getting hit by a splintering root. His skin burned, but there were no other signs, like a fester or sizzle—so he filled himself with hopes and delusion, ignoring the pain biting at his brain.

  At least he got his first Patreon! Just like that. And he wasn't about to complain about finally having something go his way. But what could Arax do?

  He slammed his curious thoughts shut and shouted. "Accept."

  

  Pursing his lips, he stared at the sky. Seven streaks arced in his direction. But air showed him another, screaming silently as a ghost as it fell.

  Adrenaline got to him, drumming in his chest. He wrapped the chain around his right fist. He still had a point left to try.

  No, he had to try before he lost the feeling.

  He ran and leaped in the air, his torso adjusting mid-flight. The final bits of energy in his stomach surged. His muscles shifted and shuffled, turning thicker, stronger, and heavier.

  

  With a booming noise, his fist charged into a thundering jab, bolstered by the newfound speed. It collided with a slam. The impact barely drove the stone behind, tumbling with a heavy thunk.

  He scoffed at the slow, dull pain in his fist. No wonder. Empty speed backed that punch, a velocity his body couldn’t bear.

  Still, a silly grin covered his face. His whole body trembled in euphoria.

  "Come at me, bitches!"

  He paused at the sound, watching as the fallen rocks and roots stood to their feet. The crimson moon above made it hard to gauge what happened on a micro level, but he still saw how they twisted and turned humanoid.

  

  

  The monsters paused for a second, staring at each other in confusion. But soon, both of them shifted towards him—their eyes glowing.

  Without a word, he turned around to run.