(Book 1 Complete!) Side Quest [Isekai / LitRPG]

Boop.

A flash of electric blue light blinked against Logan's closed eyelids. He reached for a pillow to pull it over his head, but his knuckles scraped something rough, like concrete. With lips drawn back, he sucked air in at the pain.

To his surprise, he opened his eyes not to his crappy apartment, but to stone. Stone everywhere.

The worn, stained carpet his landlord still claimed was Logan's fault had vanished, replaced with dark gray rock. Instead of the draped blanket he used as a blackout curtain, stalactites veiled half of an open cave mouth. They did nothing to shut out the brilliant sunlight.

How long he had slept? The sun didn't even rise above the neighboring apartment complex until 10 am. That was a weird thought, considering he just woke in a cave, yet hadn't gone to bed there.

With how his knuckles still smarted, he doubted this was a dream.

He lifted his hand with his fingers curled to check the damage. Some light abrasion and a hint of blood in the creases. Not enough to make a drop.

Boop.

A blue pulse drew his attention to the cave's center. There, a fading blue light dwindled inside a small geometric crystal. He lifted himself to his feet, double-checked there was no bed for his own sanity, and then peered at the crystal.

It sat quietly for another seven seconds.

Boop.

This time, the crystal pulsed brighter. He shielded his eyes as the glow swelled, filling the cave with blinding brilliance.

"It's too early for this," he muttered, more to hear his own voice than anything else. He was a light sleeper, which was the reason for the blackout curtains.

A fan-shaped beam of light shot up from the crystal, sweeping from the far corner of the cave to the ceiling, then cascading down over him. He crouched instinctively, but there was nowhere to hide. The light enveloped him.

It didn't hurt or tingle. It was neither warm nor cold. The real discomfort came from how exposed he felt, as if someone with X-ray vision was studying him without permission. He was still in his pajamas: a loose blue t-shirt with a faded Blockbuster logo and red-and-black plaid flannel pants. Reflexively, he tried to suck in the slight pudge he had been accumulating these past few years.

The beam retreated, leaving a dark afterimage behind his eyelids.

When he dared another glance, a semi-opaque blue box hovered above the crystal, outlined in a brighter, electric blue. Within the box, white text appeared in a strange script that gave Logan a headache. After a moment of disorientation, his vision settled, and the text buzzed before resolving into English.

New summon detected: Logan Vitali.
Origin point: "Earth".
Likelihood of success: Acceptable.

Calibrating System messages…
Calibration complete.

Welcome to the Fold!
You will begin your initial trial in 5 minutes.
Successful completion will reward you with the following benefits:

Up to 3 levels (depending on Average, Good, and Excellent rating).

Customized race options.

Trait, Heritage Boon, and/or Titles depending upon actions taken.

WARNING: Since you are a summon, a below-average or unsuccessful completion is unacceptable and will result in immediate termination.

Good luck!

Logan squinted at the screen until his eyes dried out. He closed and rubbed them, then shook his head, but still the text hovered midair. It vanished from sight when he shut his eyes, but while they were open, it persisted directly in front of him, no matter which way he turned his head. It reminded him of dialog boxes appearing in the old-school Zelda games he used to play, but modernized.

Despite how near it looked, when he poked his finger to touch the screen, it didn't seem to exist physically.

He smiled with giddiness at how cool this was until he re-read the warning about immediate termination.

Then the blue outlines drew to a flat horizon and flickered out of sight, like a vintage tube TV shutting off.

"Uh, hello?" Nobody answered him. "Do I just wait here until this, um, trial starts?"

He stared at the crystal for another boop, but it never came. "Can I at least get a tutorial?" His voice cracked.

Digging his fingers into his short, bedhead, black hair, he scratched, as if that would somehow make sense of anything.

The cave was silent except for the faint whistle of wind. Stony stalactites dripped from the ceiling in thick clusters. To his right, the cave turned a corner into a rather unsettling darkness. To his left was the open air of the cave mouth. At least the temperature was pleasant. It was milder than it should be for early Spring in northern California, and definitely damper.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Unsure what to do, he walked toward the outside air. At 5'9", he had to crouch and weave through the low-hanging thicket of stalactites.

When he covered the next flat stretch and reached the cave's lip to peer out, vertigo slammed into him. A sheer drop, at least a thousand feet deep, ended in a bed of jagged spikes. He stumbled back, hands shaking, but forced himself to regain his composure for another peek.

The cliff walls were smooth with no grips. There was no chance of scaling down.

He lifted his back foot to retreat deeper into the cave, just as a shadow blotted out the sun overhead and a wailing howl rose behind him. In a panic, he twisted around, which set him off balance. He slipped and fell. Groping, he reached for the cave's ledge, but his hands found no purchase.

The world tilted as he plummeted, and the ground raced up. A spike drove through his gut with cold, final certainty.

Darkness swallowed him.

His eyes snapped open.

He was back at the cave mouth. A moment of lingering pain made him retch, and he stumbled backwards, hands patting his stomach. There was no hole, and the pain was only a lingering memory.

What the heck?

A blue exclamation mark in a circle blinked in the corner of his vision, just as something shrieked above. He glanced up just in time to see a massive bird swoop down in a flash of brown-and-green feathers.

It barreled into him, knocking him head over heels.

The world spun in another dizzying blur as ground, cliff wall, sky, and stalagmites wheeled past like carousel horses gone mad. He careened once more toward his death.

Again, everything went black after the spikes pierced his chest, and then he was on the lip oreallf the cave, this time really staggering in pain. A bird as tall as him batted its wings as it hung suspended just a few feet away, shrieking and staring at the space Logan had fallen. Sunlight glinted dangerously off the dagger-length nails of its talons.

Logan's body reacted before his brain did, lunging sideways to press himself flat against the cave wall. That motion caught the bird's eyes and its shrill cry threatened to burst Logan's eardrums as it darted toward him, claws extended.

No way he was letting that thing get him again.

Logan pushed himself off the wall and sprinted deeper into the cave, stumbling briefly as the bird's talon snagged at his shirt. Sharp as they were, the nails sheared through the fabric, rather than pinning him in its grip. The bird flapped twice to reposition itself, cawing in anger as its wing jammed against a stalagmite.

This, he suspected, was how a field mouse felt when pursued by a falcon. He ran around the wide stretch of stalactites toward the dark rear of the cave, but cursed when he came to a dead end. The loud flap of wings told him the bird was right behind him. He pressed himself flat against the side wall and, as the bird dashed around the corner, it smacked into the dead end.

But it was already coming back to its senses. He needed to find a way to protect himself from it.

As fast as he could, Logan raced for the low cluster of stalactites. The tips of the spear-like stones poked more holes into Logan's shirt, but he pried it free and positioned him in the center of the rock formations.

The bird returned from the dead end, stalking on foot. With ruffled feathers, it locked eyes with Logan and released another ear-splitting cry. It bobbed and darted toward him, attempting to peck at him and swipe him with its deadly talons. The vertical stone defenses were sturdy, though, and kept it from reaching him.

Finally, it gave up and soared away.

Logan pressed a hand to his heart and leaned his forehead against the cool stone. When his heart rate slowed, he noticed the strange exclamation mark icon still occupied the corner of his vision, now with a small plus sign next to it. It was the same blue as that cryptic box had been, weirdly electric and digital.

The two falls off the cliff surged back to the front of his mind, but when he patted his body, there were no gaping holes in his flesh. Relieved, he exited his stony cage and tried to make sense of it all.

The icon pulsed insistently, tugging at his attention.

Logan cleared his throat and looked up at the rock ceiling. "I hope that didn't count," he said, unsure if anyone was even listening.

The wail rose once more and Logan prepared to dart back into his shelter, but he tilted his head and listened closer. It came from the darkened dead end.

Some dust swirled lazily on the ground in a small vortex.

Was that howl just... the wind?

The howl diminished just as the mini tornado dissipated.

In a fit of nervous laughter, Logan raked his hand through his hair. He had definitely fallen, but it was like he was in a video game and had respawned.

Mindful of demon hell-birds, he returned to the ledge and checked if he had missed an obvious way down. If there were ridges to jump along, he could afford the risk, especially if he would just revive.

Nausea took him at the thought of scaling, though. That pesky notification still nagged at him, too.

"Open," he said to the blue icon.

Nothing happened.

A flicker of frustration passed through him.

The stubborn icon didn't relent, no matter how Logan tried to order it or press it. It wasn't until he mentally willed it to open that it obliged. A menu unfolded in his vision, appearing to list a series of events in chronological order.

New summon gift received!
Dragon's Blessing (Legendary).
You have been marked by one of the oldest living forces within the Fold. Recognition from such a being is rare, and rarely safe. This item will automatically be consumed upon trial completion to improve award rarities. Usable by new summons from outside the System only.

Preparing trial (5 minute notice).

You have died!
> Error: Trial not started (0 min, 32 sec). Returning.

You have died!
> Error: Trial not started (0 min, 4 sec). Returning.

Your trial has begun!

Stunned, he dismissed the box as easily as he opened it and retreated from the ledge. He still hadn't ruled out hallucination, but he didn't feel like standing here doing nothing, either. He'd had a pretty crappy week with family and relationship stuff, and if this was some kind of second chance, he didn't want to waste it.

Scaling the mountain wasn't an option. Based on those errors paired with a timestamp, he had likely just escaped death. Twice. If that last fall had been 5 seconds later…

He swallowed and wiped his palms on his pants before taking a steadying breath.

He was alone.

There were only his footprints in a light layer of dust, the dimmed crystal, and him.

He picked the crystal up; the geometric shape was tile-like, and cool and solid in his hand. Etched into it were two interlocked triangles, one inverted. It didn't shine as bright as it had, but it still emitted a dull, persistent glow.

He pocketed it.

The wind howled again, louder this time. That wasn't just air whistling off stone. It was leaking from something.

He squinted toward the cave's rear. Dust twisted once again in a slow spiral, this time pulled inward, vanishing into the dark like it was being slurped through a straw.

He gave a dry laugh, squared his shoulders, and stepped into the dark.