Page 99 of Mud

No time to waste crying now, so I wiped my tears, got to my feet, and I made my way down the branches again, searching my surroundings for people, players—or even wolves like the silver one I’d seen earlier.

At first, all I saw were leaves and ropes and those gorgeous green lights, but the lower down the branches I went, the more I began to make out footsteps. Movement, and…

Screams.

“By the goddess,” I whispered, holding onto a thinner branch close by.

The screams of a man were coming from about two levels below me. When I squatted down for a better view, I wished I hadn’t because a massive dog-like creature was literally biting the neck of the guy mercilessly—and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

I moved without thinking.

My guns were in my hands as I ran and jumped from one branch to the other, as the screams of that man, long faded from the real world, continued to echo in my head.

I landed on the same branch as the beast and I immediately recognized what it was—a lunin, a magical canine animal that was a cross between a dog and a bear, with very dark, long fur, big bear eyes and a short tail that waswagglingnow that the man wasn’t moving.

The man wasdead, his blood dripping down the tree as the lunin sniffed his face as if to make sure he wasn’t breathing anymore. As if there was any doubt left considering his head was barely attached to his neck.

Which blew my mind because the lunin were very kindanimals. They loved honey and naps. They were harmless in nature—more harmless than dogs. A lunin attack had never been recorded that I’d ever heard of. They werenotaggressive animals.

So, what the hell was this one doing, killing a player like that?

Sweat dripped from my brows. I realized that I was now alone with a wolf-sized lunin, who was licking the blood off his jaws as he slowly moved away from the dead body. My guns were pointed, fingers on the triggers. I was ready to empty both these magazines in his face, and I thought I should. I thought I was supposed to—now,before he turned to me and atemy neck, too.

And the lunin did look at me—passively, barely even acknowledging my existence or my guns. Then he turned around and started moving to the other side of the branch, walking upside-down just like the wolf had done, tail waggling, pink tongue hanging out as he went.

I had no fucking idea what the hell had just happened, but my guns were still raised and my skin was slick with sweat and my heart was hammering in my chest.

Then I heard another scream.

Cursing under my breath, I turned around, guns pointed, ready to shoot anything that was within my line of vision becausefuck this shit.I was not prepared for a game like this, damn it. I had never even considered being in a place that could drive you insane with the absurdity of it, and now I was supposed to just accept it and keep going?

Yes, apparently. That wasexactlyit.

Because when I forced myself to hold my breath and focus on my ears to figure out where the scream was coming from, I realized that it wasn’t a scream at all. It was laughter.

I moved without putting my guns away, farther and farther to my left, down another level of branches, until I saw the woman who was laughing her heart out. She was standing upside downbelowthe branch I was standing on—or maybeIwas the one standing belowthem? The darkness looked the same both up and down, so I couldn’t be too sure. But what I was sure about was the fact that she had an orange cat in front of her, and she waslaughingat how the cat jumped up and down to try to catch the leaf in her hands.

I blinked and blinked, sure I was missing something.

No blood. No screams. The woman looked genuinely happy as she pretended to run away, and the cat, lightning fast, ran all around the tree and popped in front of her other side, meowing as it stood on its hind legs, paws reaching for that leaf.

The sound of the woman’s laughter was hypnotizing. I would have thought it was just another trick of the game, but she looked very real—long, dark hair that seemed wet, dark blue leathers on her body, which meant she was Bluefire. She’d already completed the Bluefire challenge and had ended up on this tree with me.

“Excuse me!” I called, and slowly made my way closer to the woman and the orange cat.

They both stopped and turned to me, and never for a second did I consider walkingaroundthe branch to be, erm…on the same side of the world as them. Which was too weird to even think about, so I didn’t.

“Excuse me, hi—did you bond with that cat just now?” I asked, and the woman raised a dark brow. “Did you…is the cat your familiar?” Wasthatwhat the hologram guy had meant with his short, incredibly vague clue?

“Yes,” the woman said, her voice soft but high, and thecat meowed at the same time, as if it, too, wanted to confirm the answer.

Then, the cat turned around and started walking away, tail perked up.

“How did you do it? There-there was a lunin over there, and it…” By the time I pointed to where I came from and faced the woman again, she’d turned her back on me and was following her cat.

“Hey, wait!” I called and tried to move faster, but it was useless. The cat led the way and the woman followed, and they were gettingveryfar away from me in a very short amount of time somehow, so I couldn’t catch them even if I’d been walking on asphalt.

“Just hold on a second!” I called again anyway because I had to know how she’d done it.

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