(3rd Person POV)
After getting all the insanity out of his system, he examined his immediate surroundings.
Wind rustled through the grass and trees. Birds flew and chirped overhead in the canopies as his senses strained to adapt the sudden influx of sensations.
It took a good moment for his senses to adapt but I guess that's what God knows how long being in the void does to you.
He stood up shakily, eyes narrowing, mapping down his immediate surroundings. A fresh breeze brushed across his face accompanied by the faint smell of morning dew and damp grass.
For a while, he just stood there. Breathing, feeling. The world around him was vivid and loud, too alive compared to the endless silence and lack of sensation he'd gotten used to in his time in the void.
"Alright, let's see what that fucker dropped me off with" He muttered to himself as he took stock of his current situation.
His hands brushed over his clothes. Simple, rough fabric with a rugged leather vest on top, serving more as travel gear more than any meaningful form of protection. A few simple pouches hung at his side, inside, he found a stack of coins of unknown currency, a half-empty waterskin, a few strips of dried meat, and a semi-dull hunting knife.
'Great, dropped into a world a new world with a picnic basket and a butter knife', He thought sarcastically while shaking his head.
'At least give me a map'
Still, he tightened his satchel and scanned the tree line again. The forest stretched far into every direction; sunlight slipped through the canopy in scattered rays. The air was fresh, almost unnaturally so.
'If I'm actually stuck here, might as well look for any signs of civilization', He thought as he started walking through the forest, scanning for any human activity, or for anything of use.
Normally, he wouldn't be so quick to accept such a absurd situation but he'd happily take anything over being tortured in that bottomless void for all of eternity. Just thinking about it made him shudder with discomfort.
In his past world, Axel was actually a MMA Champion, a big title no doubt but undeniably useless in his current situation. He had no survival skills whatsoever aside from a few Bear Grills documentaries he watched which is questionable in authenticity and some "primitive technology" Tiktoks that were clearly faked.
So naturally, he wanted to get the hell out of the wilderness as soon as possible, lest he gets eaten by a hungry pack of wolves, get killed by the nearly endless types of poisonous flora, or bitten by a rattlesnake, to name a few.
He wandered aimlessly for what felt like hours, the crunch of dried leaves and twigs under his boots being the only sound that accompanied him. His mind drifted as he walked, deep in thought about what just happened, about where he was, and about what the hell he was supposed to do next.
The forest seemed endless. Trees stretched high and thick around him, their branches twisting together to form a canopy that casted a shadow on the ground. Every now and then, a bird would dart out of the foliage or a squirrel would scurry across his path, but other than that, it was just him and his own thoughts.
Who or what was that cosmic being anyways?
Was he God? a god? The Devil? Some random omnipotent SCP that escaped containment?
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he kept walking. 'At least it's peaceful', he thought. 'Could be worse… could be-'
A rustle to his right cut off his thoughts. He froze, head snapping in the direction of the sound.
Nothing.
Then another rustle, this time from behind, followed by a faint, guttural chuckle.
Axel's muscles tensed instantly. He turned slowly, eyes scanning the undergrowth. His honed instincts as a MMA champion screamed danger.
The laughs intensified as shapes started to move between the trees. Small, hunched figures with greenish skin and jagged grins. Their eyes glowed faintly yellow under the shade.
They wore crude, worn, leather loincloths and in their hands, they held multiple types of weapons, swords, small hammers, and even some bows, all made of bone, stone, and rusted metal.
"…You've got to be kidding me," he muttered under his breath, taking a step back, "I knew I should've kept my cocksure mouth shut".
The creatures emerged one by one, surrounding him in a loose half-circle. Their teeth were sharp, their bodies wiry, and their clothes nothing more than tattered rags.
'Goblins' he thought in shock, his expression somewhere between disbelief and annoyance. 'Of course there are goblins. Why wouldn't there be goblins?'.
One of them hissed, tapping its blade against a tree trunk while the others crept closer, cackling and communicating in their native tongue.
He reached for his dull knife, he tightened his grip on the handle, finding a small measure of confidence with it. He lowered his stance slightly, eyes tracking their every move.
The goblins made the first move, but not in a sudden charge or anything like that, no, they employed something much scarier, strategy.
They slowly began to surround him, not making any sudden movement, trying to cut off all escape routes.
Usually, this would've worked on any brainless monster or animal that they're used to fighting but he was a human, he was even smarter than any species of goblin by a large margin so he spotted this trick easily enough.
'On no you don't!', He roared in his mind as he broke out of the encirclement by executing a textbook front kick on one of the weaker looking goblins, sending it flying several feet into a nearby trunk, stunning it in the process.
He wasn't surrounded anymore but the goblins were far from done, they lunged at him all at once, their weapons leaving him almost no room to dodge, arrows whistled from the back, striking all the spots he used to be just a second too late.
He didn't even have time to counterattack as he desperately dodged every swing and thrust thrown om his direction. His anger and frustration was starting to build every single second, his heart rapidly beated against his ribcage as he avoided the onslaught of the goblins until finally,
shhhk!
A goblin nicked him in the cheek with a rusted knife, the goblin cackled in delight, like he just heard the funniest joke ever, unaware that he awakened something in Axel.
[Berserker System Activated]
[Skill: Tempered Rage Lv.1] (Active) (In use)
The user enters a state of focus where he harnesses the fury within without losing control of one's mental faculties. Physical attributes increase by 30% for a short duration, overuse will lead to varying side effects ranging from muscle-soreness all the way to internal bleeding.
Axel smiled for the first time since the start of the fight, "It's time for round two bitches!"
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Authors Note: Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger like that but I feel like that's one of the only ways to increase reader engagement ;). Other than that, really proud of how this chapter turned out. If you like what you're seeing so far, please leave a comment, a review, or even some power stones would be greatly appreciated, it can help spread this story to wayyy more readers yk, algorithm shit. Anyways that's enough yapping for me, have a good day!