The room was dark and the ringing bells felt like physical blows across his body. Where was he? The faint echoes of army training kicked in and he fumbled around in the dark for his hiking boots, the ones he had transmigrated with, even as he was flooded with pain and fear and confusion through his bond with Sienna.

  Blessedly, the bells stopped, and there was a flash of light out the window that rapidly dwindled to a faint glow in the distance; not the red glow of the nearby red light district, but soft white.

  Zack grabbed his dagger and stood, finally realizing where he was.

  This wasn’t boot camp.

  This wasn’t even Earth.

  He was in another world, in his friend Vlad’s apartment, with his bonded [Familiar] Sienna, who was currently curled up as far as possible in her little cave and…

  Wet?

  He activated his [Night Eye] and in the pale glow through the window, saw that Sienna had upset her water dish and gotten water everywhere.

  “Sienna, you alright?”

  Saa! Noisy pain scary wet bad noise!

  Even more emotions flooded into him.

  “It’s okay, you’re safe.” He paused and looked out the window. Torches were moving around on the street.

  Sienna poked her head out the cave.

  Hunting time?

  “No, it’s the middle of the night. I don’t have a mouse for you. I’ll get you some fresh water and then I’ll get you a mouse in the morning.”

  He paused a moment in case she wanted him to wait, then opened the lid. Sienna slowly poked her head out of her little cave, and her tongue flickered.

  Hunting time.

  Zack sighed, ears still ringing. “No, it’s—”

  Sienna slithered up and over the edge of her terrarium and quickly made her way to the floor.

  He thought he had heard some scratching, or maybe he had been dreaming.

  Or maybe Sienna was scared from the noise and wanted to double check the environment?

  That was something pets did, right?

  “Okay, you can explore, but you must stay in this room, okay?”

  Stay room. Okay.

  Zack opened the door, mostly naked save for his hiking boots, and now he could hear it more clearly.

  Scritch scritch scritch.

  It was no longer a tentative, hesitant scratching. It was small claws raked over and over through wood.

  Sienna came to the edge of the door way and coiled up, but she didn’t cross the threshold.

  “Vlad, you here?” Zack called, but there was no answer.

  He put down the water dish and drew his dagger, moving it to the underhanded grip Sandra had shown him several days ago. The skill, low level that it was, guided his fingers into the correct grip.

  The scratching at the door was ceaseless.

  “Hey, who’s out there?”

  No answer.

  If this kept up, whoever was out there was going to scratch clear through the door. Vlad probably wouldn’t like that.

  Zack took a deep breath and prepared himself.

  And he opened the door.

  A large cat thing sprang inside with a small shriek.

  Zack swore instinctively, taking a step back, and the black shape turned and lunged at him. Instinctively, he kicked at it, knocking it back into the wall with a thud. It shrieked again and scrabbled for purchase on the wall and floor before lunging at him again.

  This time, he stomped. The creature writhed under his boot and twisted its head to bite at his foot with long incisors.

  Still swearing, mouth on autopilot, Zack bent down and thrust the knife, then pulled and dragged it like Sandra had directed him, more out of habit than anything.

  Then he stabbed at it fifteen more times.

  Stab stab stab stab as fast as he could. He stopped when he felt the tip of the knife lodge in the wood floor and realized the thing had long since stopped moving.

  Blood was spreading under his feet and the smell was rotten and foul and his hands were shaking surely from the adrenaline and his bond with Sienna was flooded with excitement and pride and happiness and vague thoughts of Saa hunting Saa hunting Saa hunting.

  [Calm Down].

  Stolen story; please report.

  First, Sienna, the B rank snake who now had a direct path to the outside.

  He stood and closed the door to the apartment. He could feel her presence through the bond, enough to know precisely where she was anywhere within at least the bounds of the apartment.

  “Sienna, could you calm down please?”

  The volume of her emotions coming through the bond reduced.

  Saa strong!

  He looked over, and saw her slithering over herself repeatedly, but she hadn’t left the room.

  Next, light.

  [Night Eye] was helpful but he wanted to see what the hell had attacked him.

  And he needed to check for wounds.

  Just because it didn’t hurt didn’t mean he hadn’t taken a hit.

  Adrenaline could do that. More boot camp wisdom.

  He found the candles and got them lit and in the candlelight he saw it.

  A greasy looking ball of black fur with a long pinkish-grey tail and massive incisors and beady, cloudy eyes and larger than normal claws the size of a very large housecat.

  But it was certainly no housecat, Zack thought with relief. If he’d killed a neighbor’s pet that would have been awful.

  No, this looked a lot like how thurgenrats had been described.

  The body was mangled from his slash and repeated stabbing, and all kinds of nasty ichor and blood were leaking onto the floor.

  “Oh,” he swore again. This was going to be a nasty mess.

  He had the idle thought that he should invent plastic trash bags and make a fortune, then got to work cleaning up.

  Carcass onto a large dustpan which he set outside the apartment door after checking the coast was clear.

  As best he could he mopped up the blood with a rag, probably ruined now, and scrubbed the floor with soap. Luckily, the wood had repelled the monster blood, and it all came up easily.

  Next, the smell. He went over and opened the window in his bedroom, first.

  “Sienna, stay inside the apartment, okay?”

  He trusted her a little bit more now, after she had stayed in the room even when he was fighting.

  Okay. Inside hunting!

  Just a little bit more.

  He went back to the main room and opened that window, letting a cross breeze blow out the foul stench, and he finally heard it.

  “All Adventurers report to the Guildhall! City-wide emergency! The walls have been breached! All Adventurers report to the Guildhall! City-wide emergency! The walls…”

  Here and there he could hear screams, mainly from women, though a few deeper voices could certainly be heard echoing in the night.

  Zack was an adventurer.

  Bite bite bite bite!

  His heart skipped a beat.

  Sienna!

  He ran, pounding through to his doorway where he saw a thurgenrat draped over the windowsill, already dead, and Sienna pulling back from her latest bite.

  *ding!* Level has increased.

  His [Familiar] noticed his arrival and turned and looked at him.

  Saa! Good hunting!

  And as he watched, she nudged the dead rat with her head and pushed it out the window to fall to the alley below.

  Bad food, too big.

  Her eyes were practically glittering, and he could tell she was waiting for praise.

  “Good job Sienna. Look out, I’m going to shut the window.”

  A few minutes later, the windows were shut, Zack was dressed, and Sienna had bravely inspected the apartment, even Vlad’s room, for more thurgenrats and given her assurance the apartment was free of prey. His boots, though the leather was gouged, weren’t pierced and he hadn’t even a scratch on him after his struggle with the first thurgenrat.

  Zack Adder’s mind was made up.

  “Sienna, we’re going outside. It’s going to be noisy, and there’s going to be a lot of people. I want you to promise me you won’t bite any people, only thurgenrats, okay?”

  Her tongue flickered in and out and she looked him in the eye.

  Bite lots of rats?

  “Yes, but no people.”

  No bite people.

  Good.

  Hunting time! Hunting with Saa!

  Now roughly three and a half feet long, weighing about two pounds, he draped her over his shoulders. Her body shifted, holding on actively, and her head perked up to look around, tongue flickering in and out. He stepped outside and the thurgenrat carcass was still there on the dustpan, so he picked it up and carried it down to the alley and, after checking for thurgenrats, threw the carcass in the wastebin.

  On the street, lamps were lit providing at least some light, and his [Night Eye] helped fill in the gaps, penetrating the shadows. The rotten smell outside was much stronger now than it had been several hours earlier.

  The streets were mostly empty, save for a guard holding a torch aloft who ran up to Zack upon sighting him.

  “You there, are you an Adv-Goddess above!”

  He jerked back and his free hand moved to the hilt of his sword on his belt.

  His eyes were focused on the spot next to his head—Sienna.

  Zack held up his hands, palm out, his dagger sheathed on his own belt.

  “Whoa, hold on, she’s a [Familiar]! I’m registered with the Guild.”

  The guard breathed heavily a moment, but seeing the man and snake not moving even though the snake was looking right at him and sticking its tongue out menacingly and—

  After a few more breaths, he calmed down and remembered his training.

  “Name and rank?”

  “Jack Werdruf, unranked. This is Sienna… B rank?”

  “Goddess above, I thought someone was playing a joke on us.”

  The tension in his shoulders relaxed, and his hand moved away from the hilt of his sword, though he kept his distance. He pointed in the direction of the Guildhall.

  “All Adventurers need to report to the Guild, immediately.”

  Zack nodded. “I’m on my way now.”

  “Good. Spread the word if you see any other Adventurers.”

  And then the guard was off, running and yelling again.

  Sienna hissed softly.

  Noisy man.

  “Even so…” Zack started, but Sienna interrupted.

  Only bite rats. Hunting time!

  “Yeah. Hunting time.”

  With a faint lingering sense of regret, Zack Adder and Sienna on his shoulders ran to the Guildhall in the night, the pounding of his feet adding a drum beat to the echoing shouts and screams of the night.

  Patreon!