“I didn’t know it was you until now. Thank you for confirming that for me.”
Arthur’s face took on a confused and mildly affronted look. He didn’t remember ever meeting this person before, but she somehow knew his name. Very little was making sense, and he was getting tired of being confused all day.
“So… you brought me here?” Arthur asked, lacking his normal decorum.
“Interesting… you really don’t remember me, do you?” She tilted her head, one of her crossed arms lifting to cup her chin in contemplation. Arthur looked at her blankly, then shrugged his shoulders at her. Mira’s eyes left his for the first time as she closed them for a moment and sighed a hum to herself.
“Sorry. I guess after everything that’s happened today, more cloak and dagger is the last thing you need. Yes, I brought you here. And Mrs. Bennett told me about you, I work-… used to work here. It was just my third day, so I hadn’t seen you yet. Mrs. Bennett said you’d come here all the time.” Arthur snapped to attention at the mention of Mrs. Bennett.
“Carol? Do you know where she is? Is she okay?” Arthur eased his defensiveness, but his anxiety grew in return. He had seen none of the staff since this apocalypse began, and longed to see them safe. They were like a second family to him, with Carol especially treating him like her third son. Mira shook her head.
“I haven’t seen her since I got separated from the group. A wall collapsed on us and a bunch of those monsters came out. Most of the people ran but… you know how people are when they’re scared. Almost none of them went the same way.” Mira’s body shifted, showing discomfort at the memory. “I tried to wrangle them, but it’s a bit hard to do that while fighting for your life.” Arthur’s stomach roiled. This was the first clue he’d gotten for the others, and it was bleak. For all either of them knew, they were all dead. Arthur broke the silence. “What happened after I passed out?”
Mira’s eyes met his again, the stone cold confidence in them causing him to flinch again slightly. “I was going to ask you the same thing, actually. What was that light that came out of you, and how are you still alive?” She lifted herself off of the wall she was leaning against. “I saw you get stabbed through the heart. You should’ve been dead instantly. How did you survive?”
“I don’t know… I thought it might’ve been my class that I’d gotten last minute…? But I haven’t been able to check yet.” Arthur looked down at the scar over his silent heart. “I thought I was done for sure. I suppose it was stupid to think things would be that easy.” Arthur chuckled self deprecatingly to himself. Mira’s gaze softened only the slightest bit. Arthur brought his identity screen back to his center vision.
Identity Screen
Name: Arthur Lindow
Title: [Heart of Devotion]
Class: [Audacity Knight]
Level: 2
Stats
STR: 11 {Trade off available}
VIT: 30 {Trade off available}
DEF: 28 {Trade off available}
DEX: 3
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
INT: 3 {Trade off available}
Accord: N/A
Link Mates: N/A
Feats: 2
“A lot of things have changed on my identity screen after what happened. I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Arthur said.
“Well… no matter what happened earlier, we will have to fight our way out of this place.”, Mira said. “With that in mind, you should probably start with your new class and skills.”
“Do we even have time for that? For all we know, this place is crumbling on top of us as we speak.”
Mira cocked her head slightly, eyes still locked on Arthur like he was a prey animal. “Do you not know what this place is? Bring up your area map.” Arthur didn’t even know there was a map, and looked at Mira blankly. She sighed. “There’s a map icon to the top left of your identity screen.” Arthur looked to the top left, and sure enough, there was a little drawn map icon there. When he focused on it, it brought up a map of the safe room they were in… and a name of the area.
Region: Undersea Redoubt Dungeon
Secure Sector #2
Arthur’s face scrunched in disbelief. Mira wasn’t able to see Arthur’s screen, but seeing his face was enough. “Yes… you see it, don’t you? Whatever happened to this place after the… ‘System’ came, it turned the aquarium into a dungeon.” Mira turned and closed the door that she’d left open to the other room. “It’s not going to collapse. At least, not unless there’s some crucial information I’m missing.” She let out a frustrated breath. “Again.” Arthur wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but the revelation of the place being turned into a dungeon was elucidating, while unveiling more questions at the same time. The most important thing, however, was that it gave him more time. Time to find his friends. Arthur steeled himself, and met Mira’s icy gaze.
“Listen… I know that we just met and I have no right to ask this of you, but…” He sighed. “Can… you help me find the others? I’m not good enough to be of any help as we already saw, but I can’t leave them behind knowing they could be in trouble. I know that’s not your problem, but I can’t help them alone. Please.”
Mira looked Arthur up and down with an inquisitive expression again, as if she were trying to decipher him like a riddle. Her eyes locked with Arthur’s again, unwavering and steely. “I was actually going to ask you the same thing, so thanks for saving me the trouble.” Arthur nearly slumped in relief at her words, as if his strings were suddenly cut. “Thank you so much. I’ll find a way to repay you, I promise.” He gave her a warm smile. “I also understand that you brought me here to safety while I was unconscious. I know you didn’t have to do that, and I wanted to thank you for that, too. I’m not sure if I would’ve done that in your situation. Thank you for trusting me, and I promise to do my best not to let you down.”
Mira’s arctic demeanor remained unwavering, yet somehow felt accommodating and kind, like a gentle snowfall outside a window.
“I saw what you did, Lindow. For that man and his child. If you’re going to lie to me… at least try to make it believable.”
The world was ending. Gideon Omari knew that even before he saw the screen appear in front of him after the tremors. He assumed everyone else also had it, but he was too busy running toward the cafeteria in a wild panic to ask. Thankfully, he’d been outside on campus when the tremors happened, as half the school was now nothing but rubble.
Things had begun falling apart almost immediately. The tremors began suddenly and with no prior warnings, so thousands of people were driving when it struck. Chaos rang in the streets and buildings as they both collapsed. Highways crumbled with the people on them, adding to the cacophony with their cries. Buildings sloughed off entire sections from the top, if they didn’t crumble entirely. After the tremors ended, the entire city looked like a kaiju had torn it apart. The ground was littered with fissures that left gaping holes across the landscape. There was nothing inside them but a maw of darkness.
The screens appeared after, but many people ignored them, as they were in a dire situation. This isn’t to say they hadn’t reacted, of course. People made calls to emergency hotlines or calls for help from outside the city, but not a single phone worked. Their own lives and the lives of their loved ones had mattered more in the moment, as debris and shattered land threatened just that. Some people were trapped under fallen buildings, while others had fallen into the fissures and clung to the walls of narrow cliffs inside. Thousands had died in that city alone, though at the time no one could know that these tremors weren’t just city wide, but universal.
Gideon Omari had been on campus, but not in or near the buildings. He’d been lucky, as none of the fissures that now drizzled the city had opened up near him. As soon as the tremors ended and found out his phone didn’t work, however, he started a dash towards what should be left of the cafeteria. He’d watched a lot of documentaries, and knew that earthquake rescue would normally take at least 24 hours to even begin. Therefore, food would be a necessity to survive the upcoming days. He didn’t have an explanation for the screen in front of him, but once he had a decent stockpile of food and a shelter, he’d go out to find people to help and bring them there.
Gideon began to hear screaming. There had already been a lot of that, but these were more desperate and startled, so he looked towards it. What he saw beggared belief, and at first he doubted his own eyes.
“Is that… a fucking cyclops??”