AUTHOR NOTE: please comments, give a review or give any indication of your experience reading my work, This will be of immense help.
Walking outside, led by Ethan, the world is still rumbling. People scattered, running aimlessly, looking for a safe haven among the still-collapsing apartment buildings. The horizon kept getting farther and farther away.
Not daring to run, his caution was at its peak. Even passing by humans felt like a possible threat. Mutual unease it was as he and Leah looked like a doomsday patrol with their improvised spears. Others also weren't a fan of the idea to approach them.
“Oh, Leah, this is your first time outside. Mind sharing your thoughts?” Ethan inquired of the distressed woman. It was easy to discern that she hadn’t really imagined things could get this bad.
She could only mutter, “How did you even dare to leave my place knowing this world looks like that?” Her eyes darted from one collapsed building to another, her thoughts as clear as an open book.
Ethan chose to address her true concerns, again answering as if the young man were a mind reader. “Don’t worry, the ground rumbles are more moderate around here. The tall buildings fell because the shaking of such a tall structure can’t hold the stress. As far as I know, the three-story shopping center should be at least partly intact if my assessment is correct.”
“How do you even…” She looked at him, her face still a mix of emotions.
“Logic. Your family is in a building somewhere in a world of collapsing concrete. It’s also very noticeable that the collapsing buildings are what draw your sight the most, with everything happening…” he shrugged.
“I hope we can stick together afterward. It seems like you have a lot of things one can learn from,” she stated honestly.
“Nah, my services are too expensive,” he said, making a ‘shoo’-ing gesture with his hands sarcastically.
It was clearly a joke, but Leah was serious and wondered about the lack of knowledge about the situation she was in. “I can understand why your family trusted you blindly to let you go out” she concluded as their silent, fast-paced journey toward their destination continued.
Walking past an alley between two ground apartments , a woman’s scream was heard. Quickly hiding, they peeked inside and saw a scene that turned their blood cold.
Two men were grabbing a young girl, shoving a piece of cloth into her mouth to muffle her screams. Their intentions were horrifyingly clear.
“Leah, hear me out. I’m gonna do something that requires you to have full trust in me. We are gonna help the girl. Take my spear and play along. This won’t be easy, but believe in me. Are you willing?” Ethan asked, his eyes full of anger. “I… don’t know,” she answered truthfully leaving a moment of awkward silence, Ethan’s eyes the depiction of gears at full force.
“Hear me out. This is but the first hour of the world going crazy, I am not a knight of justice to run and help every dying person, but not everything can be ignored. we can leave, but this girl’s fate will be affected due to our cowardice and incompetence” Ethan stated, leaving no room for argument about his extreme and oddly specific sense of justice.
“Okay,” Leah answered weakly, obviously scared of the ominous explanation Ethan gave her.
“Thank you,” he said. “Stay hidden and do only what I tell you to, hold my spear”
Without any heads-up, he walked into the alley, his knife hidden in the back of his shirt.
“Hi there,” his voice was full of joy and excitement, catching the hidden Leah by surprise and the two assailants even more so.
“Don’t come any closer!” one of the men pulled a gun out.
“Before you shoot, I wish to speak with you. May I come closer? It’s important,” Ethan raised his arms up.
The two looked at each other, confused. “Come over. Stay at a distance,” the armed man ordered.
Coming closer to the two men and the laid-down woman, he started, “I actually have a female companion. I told her I’d help her save her family, but looking at you, I’m thinking of cooperation. I’ll call her over, and we could have a bigger party,” Ethan grinned devilishly.
The two men looked at him and started laughing like crazy. At this point, even Ethan wasn’t sure of the outcome but played along.
“Sure, call her over,” the armed man said, “but know this—I call the shots.”
“With a weapon like that, you’re a safer bet for survival right now than anyone else. I’ll take it” Ethan admitted defeat.
“Leah, come here quickly. They are willing to help us,” he called at the entrance of the alley.
After a few long moments, Ethan was afraid he was about to get shot, but Leah eventually made herself known, holding two spears and an improvised shield.
The armed man took a shooting stance toward her.
Ethan jumped in his way. “Wait! These are weapons I created before leaving home. I shall give them to you.”
The gagged girl started squirming, as if to warn Leah, earning a slap from the unarmed man.
“Leah, it’s okay. Lay down your weapons and give them the spears. They said they’ll help us get to the shopping center and gather rations. This girl tried attacking them to get the gun. We misunderstood it all,” he lied as if he were a professional actor. ‘Is it the stats effect? I was never such a great liar’ he wondered.
Hesitantly, Leah remembered his words and his first impression as she handed the unarmed man the two spears and shield.
The gun then turned to her, pointed by the armed man. “You are the most evil man I’ve ever encountered,” he stated.
“I will show you my kindness by letting you two start. I’ll take guard. We three will be a nice trio. I can feel it—new blood. You can have the woman you brought,” he smugly ordered.
Hearing these words, Leah startled and wanted to run away, but being pointed at by a gun was an efficient deterrent to cease such thought.
Her knees buckled. She was about to start crying, tears forming in her eyes. But then, at the corner of her vision, she saw a wink from Ethan.
“Come on, play along. We could all go together afterward to help your family. They are where a supermarket is located, after all,” Ethan hinted, hoping she would catch on.
Lowering her gaze, she spoke, her voice cold and not hiding the newfound hatred she felt towards him, “Do what you must. Just help them afterward.”
‘Acting or not, her sincerity was admirable,’ Ethan noted to himself.
As his dialogue with Leah got heated the acting duo waited for the armed man to lower his guard, Ethan came closer, touching in an hesitant manner, acting as if his bravado and facade of cruel man breaking under the pressure.
Suddenly stepping back Ethan spoke, “I don't think i can do it, i joined you to increase my survivability, I can create weapons, and serve you but this, I won’t do it, and won’t judge you for deciding to act like that” Ethan looked defeated.
The armed man face mixture of confusion, he was on a different league than Leah, his emotions and thoughts hidden under a strict veil, but there is a limit to everyone.
Coming close enough, it was time, “I have an offer instead, look at her,” he draw his attention of the two to Leah, taking a few more steps closer “we can take her along, we shall both serve you as lackeys, we can also do everything you want. she also has a daughter”
“Ethan!” she screams hatefully, the armed man sensory full of information to deal with.
A knife drawn, a decisive slash, the agility stat showing its investment - a moment of silence, and a metallic thump of the gun falling to the ground.
“Ahhh!! You motherf….” the no longer armed man looked at Ethan as he picked up the gun.
“And scene…” bowing gracefully he steps back from the bleeding man, a nasty cut on his forearm, his own gun pointed at him.
With enough distance, a bloody knife at the right hand and gun at the left. He sits the two wrathful and confused aggressors on a concrete stair.
Gun pointed at the now two gagged men, Ethan let the two girls arm themselves with the spears.
“Please, Leah, don’t hate me for what you just went through, see this as a lesson, I don't know what is the status of your husband and daughter. In the best case scenario in which they are fine, know that you are a guardian of your family, and those are but a few among many others who will harm anyone they want for their benefit, next time this girl might be your daughter” Ethan cruelly lays the truth to the two ladies.
“What’s your name?” Ethan asked the girl he just saved.
“Dana” she states, wrath towards her aggressors is etched on her face.
“I saw you were showing some fiery attitude trying to save Leah back there, also the anger you feel right now…there is a story here, i can feel it in your eyes” Ethan tries his luck.
“This is...was, my mother’s boyfriend, when everything started collapsing he left her behind, he and his friend dragged me away.
His friend is an off duty cop, therefore the gun. as soon as chaos assumed and they were sure things won't be back to what it was once, they turned into monsters, speaking of ruling this city” she revealed a heartbreaking story.
“Ok, so, I’ll start” with a deep breath, he moved forward to the ex-cop, his hand which holding a knife inching closer, “I’ll take the gag of now, give me a reason to not walk a darker path, your words will be the truth of the new world we live in, you a man that symboled order and law, turned to a beast in a hour time. Was our society’s order so feeble?”
Taking the cloth from the gagged man's mouth, he began rampaging, “You damn lunatic, what are you talking about? Everything is destroyed, everything is lost! Let go of me or I’ll kill you!”
“Ok,” distancing himself, the girls, and the other tied and gagged man, he throws one of the spear to the ex-cop, and release the man’s restricting cloth, “ killing a tied up man is not something I would like to have on my record”
Ethan holstered his new gun. In his right hand, Leah’s improvised spear, at the left one, the knife.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
He improvised a fighting stance and waited for the crazed ex-cop to start his attack. Being a citizen in a country that has mandatory army service, basic fighting is an obvious skill to have. “Come and fight like a man!” Ethan taunts ‘what about this, inspect.’ Ethan tried the new system functions limits
Unsurprisingly, the system treated humans as part of its dominion.
[Ding!
race: Human
Level: 2
Description: A Human being, newly awaken]
‘Level 2, he already killed, something, or someone’ Ethan pondered
“Let’s play a guessing game, was it a human or a monster that you killed?” Ethan ask smugly.
The ex-cop eyes squinted, a soft spot spotted.
“So you saw monsters and your mind went all wiggly, that’s why you act like a crazy person?” Ethan tries to dig out some information from the man.
Ethan could only see confusion in the man's eyes, not ‘How did you know’ kind of a look, but more ‘What are you talking about’.
“So a human, aren’t you just the employee of the month” Ethan laughs at the ex-cop.
The two girls, witnessing it all didn’t know how to even register all the information, ‘How can a cop do it?’,‘Who he killed?’,‘When did he even had time?’, ‘How can Ethand laugh at it?’, ‘Is Ethan really planning to fight him to death?’ So many questions came to mind.
Looking at Ethan showing more and more complex sides of himself, Leah couldn’t help but feel like she wanted him to lead her forever - every word he said was calculated, every action thought through, she wanted to be under his umbrella and suck in on whatever lesson and knowledge he has to spare for her family.
The last straw of the ex-cop gave up to the pressure, soft spots were intensely poked, the ex-cop charged like a beast, forsaking all reason, just one thing on his mind “I’ll kill you!” he shouts and charges forward.
Their spear clashes, Ethan in his defensive stance put the two spears’ tip out of reach using his elbow as anchoring point for the move, not forgetting his long knife he goes lower with his body, to give his attack a little twist and unpredictability.
The ex-cop is still wounded from being disarmed, spear is out of the way and in too close of a reach, he is but a sitting duck to a surprising slash that cleanly slash the tendons and muscle above one of his kneecaps.
He falls to the other leg, and now his only functioning one.
Shouts of pain and a glare of unwillingness and disbelief etches on his face.
Using the wounded man ruthlessly as a training dummy, Ethan tries what he could only call ‘theoretical knowledge from fictional content’, and paints it with a layer of realism he can use at the new world in a form of various attacks that the scared and crazed ex-cop defends from.
He was using a kneeling wounded man as a training dummy.
Stealing a look of what the two girls and the restricted man could feel in their eyes a storm of emotions, as he dispatched the man with a clean cut to the throat.
[Ding! lvl 2, classless human was defeated]
Green orb suddenly forms on the man's collapsed back, rolling and falling to the ground.
Picking up the orb, it turned into an old looking page.
‘Inspect’ he mentally calls
[Ding!
Type: Passive skill
Name: Spirit of a warrior
Grade: uncommon
description : This is a passive skill that increases the efficiency of any being wielding a weapon
Buff: Efficiency is increased when wielding , training , or studying a weapon]
“What is that?” Dana asks Leah, her mind on the cusp of a breakdown.
“He told me that defeating monsters drops items, I thought it’s a bad joke, but I never expected it to be true, and from a human body nonetheless” Leah states a fact that could rattle every unknowing person.
The boyfriend of Dana’s mom meanwhile, horribly tries crawling away, a stain in his pants is very much visible.
The world still shakes considerably, the sound of concrete falling still echoes from all around.
Everyone looks at Ethan waiting for his order, as if this was an agreement that was not spoken of as he just silently looks at the old paper, his face changing wildly as if an intense monologue takes place.
‘Come on! ‘Study’, ‘Learn’, ‘Skill!’’ the page just stays at his hand, nothing happening, ‘ I'm using the words to convey my will to the system, that’s how i open my status, and inspecting items but why is it not working..is it something more complicated?’
“Leah, keep an eye on me for a moment” he asks all of a sudden.
He sits down and tries to get into what he can only assume to call focused state, holding the paper and closing his eyes he feels like he is holding a small heating bag, but the heat, weirdly enough, doesn't come from the paper itself.
He then feels as if a tug from the same mysterious plane in his chest, the one he felt like ramming into, like an intangible wisp of energy tries to bridge the warmth of the page.
He gave the process full reign and let his ‘inner whatever it is’ to tug the warmth of the page inside.
In a process that took 2 minutes, a sting of pain came to his brain, and knowledge of a wide arsenal of weapons came to his mind.
Opening his eyes, the paper is not a pile of ashes - ‘status’ he calls out.
[Ding!
Name: Ethan Tesher
Class: None
Level: 2
Race: Human
Stats:
Strength: 5 (+2)
Constitution: 5 (+2)
Agility:8 (+2)
Mind: 8 (+2)
Charisma: 7 (+2)
Free point: 0
Skills:
- spirit of a warrior (uncommon)
This is a passive skill that increases the efficiency of any living being wielding a weapon
Buff: Efficiency is increased when wielding , training , or studying a weapon
Bloodlines & talents:
- a spark of unknown origin (rare)
A bloodline originating from ???, with the potential to ???, capable of ??? beyond limits.
Talent 1: guided by ???
Allows the user to use the ??? of the ??? to guide the user to a preferred and optimal outcome, based on duration and amount of guidance it receives, there shall be a weakening period after use.
Talent 2: ???
???
Talent 3: ???
???
Achievement:
- Bloody start - rare:
Killing an enemy at the first minute of the world awakening.
Buff: +2 to all stats.]
As he was about to stand up, the tug on what he could only assume to regard as “his soul” made him move forward to the ex-cop body, being less stressed on time, he came closer and felt as if the same warmth he felt from the skill paper could come from the body, but in a smaller amount, significantly smaller, ‘lets go all in’ he said and let the warm energy to enter his soul.
[Ding! Strength increased by 1!]
Raising his brows, ‘I don't believe this is supposed to be a normal system thing…’ he ponders as the warmth of increasing stats hits, ‘status’
[Ding!
Name: Ethan Tesher
Class: None
Level: 2
Race: Human
Stats:
Strength: 6 (+2)
Constitution: 5 (+2)
Agility:8 (+2)
Mind: 8 (+2)
Charisma: 7 (+2)
Free point: 0
Skills:
- spirit of a warrior (uncommon)
This is a passive skill that increases the efficiency of any living being wielding a weapon
Buff: Efficiency is increased when wielding , training , or studying a weapon
Bloodlines & talents:
- a spark of unknown origin (rare)
A bloodline originating from ???, with the potential to ???, capable of ??? beyond limits.
Talent 1: guided by ???
Allows the user to use the ??? of the ??? to guide the user to a preferred and optimal outcome, based on duration and amount of guidance it receives, there shall be a weakening period after use.
Talent 2: Devour
Consume external energies, tames them and makes them one with ???.
Talent 3: ???
???
Achievement:
- Bloody start - rare:
Killing an enemy at the first minute of the world awakening.
Buff: +2 to all stats.]
Author Note: comments, reviews, any indications of how am I doing will be of immense help to me designing the story while it's in the beginning - pretty please.
At the second read, he noticed the updated bloodline addition.
In a dark alley, in a world that won't let the sun set.
A young man stands in front of his first kill witnessed by two random girls, and a tied man that pissed himself.
A long moment of awkward silence broke by a maddened laughter of a man realizing he received an edge on everyone else in a world of survival, leaving the crowd of three afraid and confused.
