The Last Experience Point

A loud cross between a neigh and a roar filled the air as the heat from a nearby explosion added to the rapidly warming summer morning. Following this ear-splitting boom, the sight of dozens of people fleeing for their lives became apparent as their various forms emerged from within a large cloud of smoke and ash. The entire front side of a quaint diner had crumpled into nothing, simply collapsing onto itself. And amid all of this, on the opposite side of the street, a sterile buzzing came from a downed electrical wire, which shot sparks that caused a fire to erupt and consume three small decorative trees in front of a laundromat.

Damn, Jimmy thought. That sucks.

He wasn't referring to the destruction, although that sucked too, obviously. No, his thoughts regarded the fair bit of wine he lost as he stumbled while trying to stand up straight, causing several ounces of it to splash onto the street as well as onto the front of his already liquor-stained shirt. As Jimmy tried to regain his balance, another, even angrier neigh-roar blared out, and now, the overall sense of panic among the level-1 civilians increased tenfold.

Just when it was starting to feel like home…

There was so much about this strange world that Jimmy didn't know. There was so much he was trying to learn in a hurry. He did know a few things, though. He knew that most of the world was only level 1, and he knew that they lived lives that weren't all that different from people back home. For most of those on Galterra—as in, everyone on the planet but him—the existence of mobs and bosses was not a surprise. But actually seeing one out and about in the open? That, it seemed, was shocking to them. It was also probably why their reaction to the sudden emergence of a gigantic, three-story-tall horse was exactly what Jimmy would expect it to be if the thing had spawned out of nowhere in the middle of Midtown Manhattan.

"Oh my Gods!" a woman screamed as a giant hoof just smashed right down on top of her. She managed to run ahead of it but only barely; the hoof instead cracked several inches into the street and left a print of itself behind in its wake, one that took the form of a depression in the ground. "Gods, save us!"

Opposite this, a spacious, dark brown DEHV came to a halt beneath the creature, putting its terrified occupants—which in this case appeared to be a family of four—at serious, immediate risk. At first, Jimmy wasn't sure why anyone would stop right beneath a giant monster, but then he realized the vehicle's front-right side had actually gotten stuck in an existing crater, one too deep for it to hover itself out of.

"Take the kids!" a man screamed as he fumbled his way out of the vehicle—but not before passing two pint-sized children to a young mother. Then he and the woman, who Jimmy assumed to be his wife, scrambled down the road and also narrowly avoided being crushed as the giant horse-monster stomped down on the DEHV, causing all its windows to blow out as it became compacted like scrap.

"No!" a little girl cried to her father from the sidewalk. "Daddy!"

It seemed that, for such an unlucky event, the people of Faded Island were experiencing some pretty lucky outcomes. Ninety-nine out of one-hundred times, that little girl's pops should've been dead. But not this time. Incredibly, as the tremendous, equine-like monster released twin red lasers from its eyes, both of which were aimed at the man, the terrified-looking father managed to survive the ordeal solely because, while screaming in terror, he stumbled backwards away and accidentally fell into an opened sewer grate. The lasers missed him by half an inch and instead exploded an appliance store that happened to be closed for the day, and as for the man, Jimmy heard a faint plop as he landed into the sewage below. It was probably a very unpleasant experience, but Jimmy had to imagine it was preferable to death.

I don't think it got anybody yet, Jimmy realized as he looked around. I don't see any dead bodies.

Call it a miracle or call it random chance: either way, it was incredible and fortunate that seemingly zero people had died so far despite the absurd amounts of damage. Even the diner having had its entire entrance blown apart did not result in any obvious casualties or injuries. Inside, a bunch of trembling men and women—a mixture of diners and staff—were clinging to one another by the back wall near the bakery beside an entrance to the kitchen. Numerous tables had been overturned or knocked onto their side, though that looked due more to people fleeing in a state of panic than because of anything this horse-thing had done.

Actually, what the hell is this thing? Jimmy wondered.

Though the creature assumed a shape that was extremely similar to that of a horse, it was very dark in appearance, its skin being black with an ominous, purplish hue. It was also wide of frame, sinewy, and had very angry eyes, from which Jimmy could see more red laser beams firing out across the street. Occasionally, it would make loud sniffing noises from its large nostrils, and whenever it happened to open its mouth, Jimmy could spot an eerie, reddish light shining out from within its throat.