It didn¡¯t say anymore, yet every single person that saw it, had a certainty in their gut, an absolute conviction that they need to prepare.
And prepare they did.
People started cooperating on a never before seen scale. The various governments started making plans and came up with strategies. The ¡°Apocalypse¡± could be so many things: an asteroid hitting, the dead rising, monsters spawning. So we prepared for it all. We got time to prepare so all did. Guns where bought, martial law got implemented in almost every country and people made plans with each other. Did all the preparations finish? No, not by a long shot, but in this fever rush of preparing a good deal got done.
At least as a start.
Tutorial
She had just got home when it started. Victoria Thompson, Vic to friends, lived in a small apartment with her son. She had got him when she was young and stupid. The father bailed but Victoria decided to keep the baby. For all her youthful stupidity, that was the smartest thing she would ever do. Her son at 12 seemed to know exactly what to do to prepare for the so-called apocalypse. She had just gotten home after getting the last of the governments prepare-packages, a thing, introduced on day 2. These packages contained just about anything, from water to guns.
¡°I¡äm back¡± She looked inside the kitchen where Simon was organizing. They had got a lot of stuff and they needed to see what went with what. She had been unsure about letting her little boy handling such a complicated thing but he proved himself wonderfully. Besides in the end, she only had so much time on hand and they needed a better picture of it all.
¡°did you get it¡± he asked over his shoulder. Victoria took of her coat and went up next to him and started helping. ¡°yep, last packet¡± She said ¡°you wanna check what it has?¡±
He nodded mutely and together they started opening it. However just as they got to the packet opened, a tremor went through them. Went through everyone actually and a message appeared
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APOCALYPSE SYSTEM IN PLACE
To find the changes made, visit the "help" section
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Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Both Simon and Victoria had frozen in their tracks when they saw it. ¡°M-mom¡± She snapped awake to the sound of Simons uncertain voice. ¡°Get the prepare kit ready hon¡± she said and vent after the guns hidden in the bedroom. However suddenly a heat started gathering in the living room. Before her eyes fire appeared.
However, this fire was not uncontrolled and slowly started to gather. ¡°Stay away, Simon¡± Victoria yelled with panic in her voice. ¡°What¡¯s happening mom?¡± Of course, by yelling, Simon did what every person would, and went to check out what the noise meant. ¡°Simon, back¡± she saw how the fire took on a vaguely human form and with despair saw it look at Simon that just appeared in the hallway. However, when it moved towards him, she saw red ¡°you get away from him!¡± she yelled, and body tackled it. Of course, body tackling fire wasn¡¯t her smartest moment and the fire made no time making itself known. She screamed as the fire licked her but would not let it go. ¡°MOTHER!!¡± She heard a scream, but she couldn¡¯t focus. The pain was too great.
She couldn¡¯t stop screaming and it blinked white in the corner of her eyes. It almost got too much, but then the water hit. Simon, for his part, had as soon as he saw his mother on fire went to get a pot of water filled and threw it at her. The fire however didn¡¯t disappear, but she saw something akin to flesh where the water had hit, which the fire slowly started to cover. So she did the natural thing: found a place with relatively little fire, close to what she presumed was the neck, and bit. It felt like she had just poured fire down her throat and she passed out, with her teeth still at its throat. It had gone after her baby boy and that could not stand, even passed out would punishment still be sought.
Gains
She woke with a groan. She felt both like she had been in a coma, every muscle ached. The light bore into her eyes and she couldn¡¯t help but feel like that was deeply unfair. Surely the sun could the very least not be right in her eyes the first thing in the morning. She heard the door opening and then a crash. ¡°Mom!!¡± Simon said, just before diving into her stomach, knocking her down in the bed again. ¡°careful Simon¡± Victoria got out with a strangled breath.
¡°Oh, shit I¡¯m sorry mom, how are you feeling?¡± he said chastised, while getting away from her. ¡°Language¡± she couldn¡¯t help to mutter, but her heart wasn¡¯t in it. ¡°I feel like crap and like I just an amazing make-over if that makes sense¡± She said, surprised. The memory of yesterday had caught up to her and she was pretty sure that she should be at least in a little pain. ¡°Maybe I should get you a mirror¡± Simon said while chuckling a bit ¡°you should also check your status, it`s filled with stuff now¡± he said before leaving to get a mirror. ¡°Status?¡± she called after him and heard his voice down the hall ¡°Just focus on yourself, while saying status¡±
¡°Huh¡± she muttered and did as he said. She felt her eyes going vide, as she focused on herself, Vic felt something foreign, something that most definitely had never been there before. ¡°Status¡± she said and the foreign came up, before her eyes.
Her eyes widened, as she took in the blue box. As she focused on the first another box sprang up, replacing the first:
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Titles
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| Reckless |
| Fireswallower |
| Giantkiller |
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
As Vic focused on each of the titles additional information sprang up:
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Reckless: Fighting a high-level enemy without regards for personal safety.
Make more damage if no weapons are equipped.
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Fireswallower: Where most people would put out a fire you went the next step and swallowed.
Gives fire resistance and its easier to learn fire related skills.
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Giantkiller: Killed an enemy with a much higher level
More damage to enemies¡¯ higher level than you.
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Well one thing was certain, Vic would keep the description of fireswallower to herself. It did seem like fire was the way to go and she had a suspicion that she already had some fire related skills. She didn¡¯t really focus on it before but her body was definitely hotter than before, almost like her body temperature had risen, without any of the discomfort that normally brings. One thing she didn¡¯t like was the reckless title though. No way that she would fight without weapons, just for an unspecified damage increase. Damage increase made no sense to her as well. Did it mean that she hit harder or was there something she had missed? A thing to ask Simon, she supposed.
It sounded exactly like some of the things he had tried to explain to her over the last couple of days.
Moving on, she focused on her skills:
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Quick thinking:
Thoughts move faster under pressure.
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Fire tempered body:
You have fire in your veins. Deal extra damage with fire.
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Licked by fire:
Activate to cover part of yourself with fire. Costs mana.
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Rush:
Activate to gain move speed. Will receive backlash when skill ends.
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Vic¡¯s eyes widened as she looked trough her skills. As she thought, there already was some fire-related skills, but this was a very good start to secure their survival. Licked by fire, in particular seemed useful, but like the others definitely needed experimentation. Quick thinking was also godsend. That meant she would have, at least some time, to make decisions in hard situations.
She was about to go on to upgrades, when Simon took her attention away, as he went into her room, a soft pulse seemed to roll of him in waves.