The Artificer Comes

by Tower of 0

Inner Monologue

I waken to find myself face down in a puddle of mud. Cold but refreshing. I let out a throaty groan while using my palms to find solid ground and push my body up off the ground. It takes more than a few blinks to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness that surrounds me, watching the unclear visions start to take form.

A forest.

One of two things happened. One, my project was a success and I'm now in a different universe again by accident. Two, I'm just somewhere else on Immoren and now I'm stranded in the middle of a forest. Well, I'm stranded either way but atleast I'm not getting mauled by honey badgers, not yet anyway. It's always honey badgers. Why is it always honey badgers?! You know what? No. I'm not going to think about that. What I need to focus on is finding a way out and possibly a way home.

I take another quick look at my surroundings to determine where I might have landed. Looking up towards the tree canopy. It's night time but the stars look all... off. I keep staring, trying to see more but the leaves are just that much too thick. A perfect cover to hide from anything that flies, maybe. My ear flicks when I hear something behind me and look to be greeted by a pair of glowing green eyes. Then the growling starts. I take a few cautious steps back way from the thing growling at me.

The beast reveals itself. Something that resembles a wolf, but made of timber, kind of like a Timberwolf but it's literal. To be quite honest, I think I prefer the honey badgers. My mind suddenly switches to autopilot and my feet turn on their heels to start running away from the creature. Unfortunately that's not how nature works as it begins its pursuit of me like some prey. I quickly pull Firestorm from its holster on my chest, a quick look back. The glorious sound louder than thunder rips through the quiet night and blows the amalgamation of wood into tiny bits and putting it out of commission.

I'm blindsided by another one of these strange wolves and taken down to the ground. I block a bite to my face with my arm only to have a chunk bitten out of it. I seethe in pain and level my gun against what I assume is its chest and blow it off me. I roll away once it goes flying and push myself off the ground for the second time. I dart, as fast as I can possibly go. That's a little difficult when everything is larger than you. Another one of those things burst from the trees and I hit it with a decently placed lightning bolt to the jaw. Seems my magic works here.

Excellent.

Another surprises me by sinking its teeth into my calf, I hit that one with a spell too and start limping my way in the only direction I've been going. I think I see a clearing! I make one last ditch effort and dive through the brush. Cool ground comes up to meet me as I roll to safety. The term itself being somewhat relative in my case. I'm loosing a lot of fluids between my arm and leg. I look down to check the wheels I have left; Three. Three wheels of ammo left and I whole pack of wooden wolves starting to stalk out of the brush after me.

I smile. Holster my pistol. Reveal my knife. I stare at them with as much fury as I can muster in my increasingly dizzy state. I'm standing my ground this time, maybe for the last time in this universe, but atleast it won't be without a fight. The first one begins to charge. Then it gets blasted by a golden beam of something from behind me. A voice is calling out to me, it sounds angelic in a way but I don't know what they're saying. I don't get to look as I just blackout while something soft wraps around me. The last feeling being warm, the comforting kind of warmth.