《Shattering Genesis》 Prologue Ienjoyed the days like these. It was a spontaneous meetup but I was just glad I had my best friends with me. Especially with what was coming. Although, one of them was currently ignoring me because he knew he was doing something that I didn''t like. Even that couldn''t really bring my mood down, though itwasdown, it was like my friends kept me from sinking. With them here, I''d get through it. "I''m warning you, Zych. Eat my stuff again and I''ll sickhimon you." I pointed viciously at Horace. Ace, as we''d come to know him. Zych''s hazel eyes bulged, pausing in the act of munching on a leftover burrito. "Anythingbut that. Here, you can eatit. You know what? I''ll even buy a whole new burrito! And you know how much money means to me!" The man looked ready to throw the burrito at Ace as if he was some kind of feral dog. "Uh huh." I responded dully, pulling my favorite green lime specialty soda from the fridge. "Plead your case, " I paused for dramatic rhyming flair. "To Ace." I gestured to my taller friend. "Come one, Zych. You know how far we live from that mexican place. Jake especially." Ace said crossing his arms, his points were usually valid. "Point." Zych sighed, putting the burrito back in the fridge after wrapping it back in its tinfoil. "Could''ve said it a little later, eh? Might''ve got another two bites." "Or sooner. Might''ve got two less." I rolled my eyes. "Seeing as myverypointed eye contact did nothing but slide off your guilty shoulders." Zych shrugged, grinning. I would strangle any other man. Almost as one, in a manner that was almost ritualistic, we fell heavily into worn beanbags. The resulting thin clouds of dust that erupted from each was akin to a gong which signaled a discussion much more serious. Usually, this would be what to do for the night, or even what tonotdo. Today, however, I doubted we would lapse into those age-old questions. It was only a manner of who would broach the topic. My basement was our usual den. The ceiling of which was ground level outside, allowing us a window to see the feet of the passerby. Truly a shame it did nothing but face my alley. Pipes ran across the ceiling and since it necessitated our continued occupation, these were kept perfectly sturdy and in repair. As a result, broken pipes whether by leaks or rust were pushed up against one corner of the room. A few metal cabinets kept them company which housed any number of tools. A dartboard, a pool table, and television. Game consoles lined the wall. Wires where there were no pipes. Perhaps any younger man''s dream, was the isolation, the fact there was only one entrance and one exit. Oh and my computer setup, along with the security system I could monitor from here. "You think it''s true?" Ace spoke up, he stared out the small window. Normally a taller man might be uncomfortable in the relatively small beanbag chair but, while worn, these were top of the line - the highest quality. Not to mention the Ace sized indent in its center. Zych guffawed, waving his hand. "You''re really buying into that?" He looked at us both before nodding. "Alright cool, you can''t call me the crazy one then." One of the monitors lit up as it always did when a car came up the street. My eyes slid to the clock beside it. Come one hour it would be midnight. The next day. And the start of a new year. January 1st.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "I believe it." I finally responded, letting out a sigh. "Didn''t want you guys to think I was crazy but yeah, I believe it." I stood up and walked over to one of the metal cabinets, pulling it open. Zych shot up in his chair. "Jake, shit." He looked at me. "You''ve actually gone insane." He commended me, patting my shoulder even as his eyes took in the contents. Ace leaned against the pool table and whistled. "All this and no guns?" "Couldn''t get my hands on them no. Besides, buying guns in bulk would probably put me on some watch list. Then they''d just see me buying all this crap too." I waved at the cabinet. Zych pulled a compound bow and its ammunition from the weapon locker. "Holy shit. You really do think it''s gonna happen huh? Hey, I''m keeping this even if it does happen." He waved the bow around, nocked arrow and all. I ducked. "Keep that out of my face, Zych. Fuck!" I yelled. "Treat the damn thing like a weapon, it''s loaded, don''t point at anything you don''t want dead." "I wasn''t gonna pull it or anything." Ace was in looking through the cabinet now. "Sword, shield, bat, crowbar. Kevlar vests?" He looked back at me and shook his head. "How''d you even manage to amass this? I mean I did some preparing myself, I couldn''t just cross out the possibility, but hell Jake." "No kidding? Well, it''s not much help if you left it at home." I didn''t see anything on him. "See?" He pulled out an honest-to-god mini pepper spray gun from his pocket. "Pepper spray g-" Zych and I just about died laughing. What the heck was that supposed to do for you? It just looked so small in his hand. I laughed, tearing up but catching myself on the pool table. When I finally had the capacity to look at him he was only frowning, as if a disappointed parent. That was Ace for you. "It might be useful." He said defensively. "I''ll give you that." I conceded, snickering only barely. I cooled off after a moment, seriously thinking. "Keep it on you, in any case." "I was already gonna do that, Jake." He said pointedly. "Right." "You think your dartboard could handle an arrow from this thing?" Zych asked, almost background noise to my shuffling through the locker. I answered immediately without even turning, most of my voice caught in the locker. "No, Zych. Do not shoot the dartboard." I fished out the vests. "Put these on." Both of my friends caught them and began strapping them on. Grabbing a sword and shield, I gave those to Ace who accepted them with, points to him, only a moderate amount of doubt on his face. I took two long daggers, nearly short swords, and strapped them to my legs. I put on my vest as well. "What if I want the bat?" He asked me. "Then grab it." I said back, he did so. I turned to Zych. "You sure you can use that thing?" He was looking down its sights. "It can''t be that different from regular archery right? Besides, I can pull it. That should be enough." He seemed confident, though that was a shot in the dark when judging Zych. He might very well suck ass. "Fair enough." "You sure you can usethose." He pointed his bow to my legs. "Sure as I love mexican food." I responded. "Very sure then." Zych said back. He did not seem remorseful. Time passed as we loitered. The restrapping of velcro was a common sound, given the amount of stuff we were wearing that needed to be adjusted. Ace was sitting in the beanbag again shield and bat in his lap. Zych was pretending to shoot me and Ace. I was simply watching the clock. My mind must''ve drifted because Ace was the first one to speak. "It''s midnight." Zych, who had been somehow entertaining himself, looked up. I followed his gaze. Ace was right. Nothing happened.
Genesis Begins In thirty seconds, your world will shatter. Earth as you know it will quadruple in size. Cities, continents, countries, towns, states, powers, will all splinter. Your Earth has reached critical mass. New forces will be introduced and your lives will forever be changed. Landmasses will shift, oceans may rise or fall, natural disasters will befall you. But after the chaos, the suffering, humanity will be born anew. Stronger. Better. You will need this Genesis. If not, you will fail against the creatures that assail you, the horrors that seek your planet. This is your introductory period, Humans. You are a Genesis Welcomed Race now. See its power, know it, harness it. You will need it. We begin the Culling.
We all blinked. And then everything went to hell. Chapter 1 - To Shatter the World "To rise from the ashes, there must first be ash. To emerge the phoenix must first burn." - Notes on the Shattering, Unknown The earth shattered. I had never experienced an earthquake but if I had had the time to think about, this was not what I imagined. "Get under the beanbags!" Ace yelled at us, flailing his arms. The world screamed. Distant crashes were somehow the loudest thing we heard. I heard the earth itself crack. It sounded like a landslide. Like the earth had just decided to erect a mountain only to destroy it. I dived for the beanbag, noticing pieces of the ceiling cracking, shaking. I held it over my head. "You guys okay?!" I called out over the crashing. My feet wobbled but I held the beanbag firmly above me. I felt pieces of the ceiling fall upon me. Even with our gathered wits, we were still shaky on our feet. Even as we took stock, there was nothing to do but wait. "It''s fucking happening!" Zych yelled, his eyes bulged in real fear. Ace was focused, grimacing as a chunk of ceiling fell on him. My expression was caught between the two of theirs. I screamed at them over the shattering. "Did you see it?! The screen!?" They yelled something back right as something massive crashed nearby. Their voices were lost to me, but the nods gave away their answer. They had. Ace was making his way to the window. His feet wobbled under him and he, like us, were thrown against the walls. His hands grabbed the frame and he looked out. His eyes went wide and I saw him whisper something, my vision as shaky as our relative position to each other. I was never good at reading lips. But, somehow, I was fluent in that moment. He had said this, "God help us." Zych grabbed my shoulder, nearly yelling into my ear. "Cameras! Look at the fucking cameras!" I whirled around, half the monitors were showing me static. Then my eyes locked onto the outer cameras. I whispered this time, my eyes stayed locked unbelieving, even while my body was thrown about. "What the fuck happened to my neighborhood?" The was a fissure where once there was a street. Or maybe it was a cliff. I saw trees. That didn''t make sense. I lived in a desert suburbia. I would''ve recognized those trees, they''d have been planted years prior. Half of my neighborhood had just disappeared. "What do we do!?" Zych yelled at us. He was usually the most fearful, but if I knew Zych, he got things done despite his quirks. He looked at both of us, but only I appeared to hear him.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. A quake threw me hard against the wall. My head, being partially pressed into the beanbag, was protected against a particularly vicious impact. I clamored my way to my feet and found Zych''s hazel eyes. Across the room Ace was staring at me, keeping his balance by holding onto the wall. "I say we stay!" I yelled at them, pointing down, then pointing outside and slashing the air in an expression of disapproval. "Better indoors you think!?" Zych was only a few feet away but I could barely hear him. He pointed to the screen. I caught Ace staring outside, nodding to me. He apparently had figured out we weren''t gonna be hearing each other anytime soon. Not at the expansive distance that was across the pool table. I stared at the monitor of my backyard. I didn''t remember my backyard being jungle. I didn''t remember floating island in the background, exploding into multiple pieces as I watched. My eyes followed the image, perfect clarity, and switched to the fissure. The camera wasn''t angled to view beyond the fissure, so I could only hope it wasn''t so encompassing. The entire thing was filled with the dust of debris, I spotted rocks falling off of it, pieces of the street succumbing to the fall. It had split open right at the other side of the street''s sidewalk. My camera only pointed to my driveway. Another quake and Zych fell forward. A piece of the ceiling fell breaking into two pieces against a pipe. The pipe burst and, luckily, clean water doused us. I helped Zych up. My frantic gesturing at least got the point across. Ace tossed us some duct tape from across the room, he was closest to the cabinets. I managed to seal the pipe. The rest of the room it seemed, was solid rock. Cracks, sure, but fissures? No. The basement was one built in an area known for earthquakes, expecting a large one even. Any other earthquake would''ve not even made a dent. But this was different. The earth was shattering. "We still have water." I pointed up, miming the motion. Zych nodded. He pointed too and I got the message. The pool table was covered in small rubble now, but it was still more or less the center of the room. Seeing us crawl under it, Ace followed suit. He ducked his head. "You don''t have an alley anymore!" He yelled, still hard to hear. "You need to see!" Another quake shook us but we were already prone. I noticed Zych tensing and realized he must be expecting something like the outside to happen to us. I shivered but filled in the possibility of such a thing happening in my mind. I frowned at Ace''s words and emerged from the pool table, checking outside the window. My hand found the window frame and I pulled one of the beanbags from under the table to cover my head. My neighbor''s house had just... disappeared. I saw no wreckage or hint to their whereabouts. What I did see was much more startling. A giant chunk of floating rock hovered in the air miles away. I saw smaller ones caught in its orbit. Pieces of it fell, becoming small meteors. Against all logic, they came in our direction as if gravity was horizontal. None were coming for the house directly, not yet, but suddenly I became more aware of Ace''s focus on the window. Impact craters, all around us. Focusing, I might''ve figured out where my neighbors went. I could see houses on that rock. Some that looked like they might fit right into my neighborhood. I found Ace staring up at me. His face was a grimace. It was no wonder he wanted to stay inside. At least here we had cover. We waited in nailbiting anxiousness. Zych blanched at the sight, becoming paler even as I caught him staring at our immediate surroundings, connecting the dots. Hours passed. The quakes became less frequent, but then other noises assaulted our ears. Other hints at cataclysmic change. Rumbling quakes were normal, but the roar of something inhuman and inanimal? Peals of thunder, flashes of lightning? In broad daylight? For a moment, it sounded like even a volcano had erupted, and then, we saw the smoke. Hours and hours passed. The changes, the shattering, had become less and less. Less frequent, less noise. We waited the entire time, the basement was the most logical spot to hole up if there ever was one. Then the noises stopped. Chapter 2 - First Encounter "Real friends fail you in one thing and one thing only; when you demand that they leave you alone. Now, I dearly wish I had a single one who refused my venomous words." - Notes on the Shattering, Unknown It took a few moments before I realized the strangeness in my eyes was due to the fact that everything was actuallystill. At least, everything I could see from under the pool table. Not to mention the fact that, after all the noise outside, the silence was deafening. "It stopped." I said suddenly. Zych clamored out from under the table. "Wake Ace up." He said to me. "I''ll look outside." "How did he even fall asleep?" I shook my head but already knew better when it came to Ace. My hand found his shoulder and instead of a small nudge, I jerkedhis shoulder back and forth. "You know the man can sleep through anything." Zych whispered. "But this? Holy shit." Zych was a slimmer, flexible guy, he was probably the most comfortable under the table, but that didn''t stop him from getting out from under it as fast as he could. That meant he was first to the window. "Plants?" "What?" Ace said blearily. "What!" He said, getting pissy. His eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "Wake up!" I hissed, shaking him. "It stopped. Everything''s stopped." I let goonce I saw his eyes focus and the anger leaving them. "Fuck." He said. And immediately, he knocked his head against the bottom of the pool table. "Ow." The rubble on top shifted loudly. There must have been a huge portion of the ceiling now on our pool table, at least judging from the rest of the debris scattered around the floor. Chips of concrete, more powder than anything, but occasionally, large chunks of the stuff. There was a slab of it on the pool table when it had fallen earlier we nearly all had a heart attack, luckily the table held strong. "Idiot." I shot him, climbing up to my feet. "Guys. Quiet." Zych''s voice traveled the air with a sense of urgency. "What is-" I began. But then I caught him frozen at the window. He turned back to me and put his finger to his lips. The sign of absolute silence. His look alone froze me, I hadn''t ever seen Zych like that since... I crouched down. "Ace, quiet." I said. The taller man only nodded, rubbing his head and getting on his feet. I came up to the basement window. It was near to the ceiling which was at ground level. But that also meant it was the perfect peephole. I stared outside worming my way beside Zych, what used to be an alleyway was now fresh, earthy dirt. Grass even, too healthy and vibrant to have any business in a desert suburb. What in the hell- Then I heard something. Scuffling. Sniffling. Some throaty sounds. Itching. Then a green foot descended right in front the window. The shock of it only inches from my face jerked both Zych and I. I sucked in a breath, and held it. Zych copied me, sparing me a glance. We held ourbreath. Whatever the hell it was, it didn''t look like any animal I''d know. Long toenails, three toes. It almost blended in with the grass if it wasn''t so discolored. And thesmell was something else. I could almost imagine seeingscales.A reptile? Another foot joined the first. The toes scrunched up the grass, the creature shifted its weight and turned, its feet pointing away from the window. I pulled one of my short swords from my leg holster. Zych, seeing me, kept his eye on the window, but crouched down to grab his bow and quiver. Ace was staring at the monitors. Now so was I. We only had a view of the wall of my house, in what should''ve been my alley. Instead, it looked like grass and shrubbery, vines crawled up and down my wall. Normally, I''d be able to make out my basement window. After one particular interval of time that sounded like a hurricane, we thought some greenery had just happened to fall in front of our window. It turned out we were actually concealed by vines, vines that were most definitely not there before. There were four of them. Green, short, and ugly. My cameras were top of the line and presented a perfectly clear picture. Their hands were just like their feet, some held sharp sticks. They garbled at each other, more spit and gurgle than any language I''d ever heard. Some stood high, others walked on four limbs, some on three. Ace caught my eye."What the fuck?" He mouthed. His words mimicked my thoughts. What in the hell was happening? I looked passed him. A shadow across one of the monitors. The one facing jungle, the backyard. We were all frozen. Then somethinglarge impacted our wall of vines with the sound of gore. Zych and I felt the vibration against the wall. Then there were screams. I was watching a massacre through the monitors, not two feet away from the real thing. The sharp scent of iron filtered into my nose. A dark brown figure, on all fours. Its maw was already as bloody as its limbs. One of the green creatures was getting mauled to death. The rest were already sliced in twos and threes. Blood and gore. The screams came in gurgling high pitched whines. But then against all odds the last of the green creatures standing stabbed the larger four-legged beast. It didn''t last long after that. We pressed ourselves against the cold concrete wall. Zych was breathing hard, I could tell that much from the rise and fall of his chest. Nostrils flared, he couldn''t have looked any different than I did. Save for the fact I was trying for the life of me to compress myself into the wall. Zych, it seemed, was already successful. Wide-eyed, nostrils flaring. I beckoned Ace over.If that thing so much as glanced up from its meal it might see him through the vines.Ace paled realizing it no later than I did, not much could ever do that to the man, but now? He was as white as a sheet. Ghostly.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Then he kicked a bucket. One of the ones I''d leave around to catch leaks until I could fix them. It must have fallen from its usual place on top of the metal cabinet. We could''ve all died right then. Ace quickly darted the remaining distance and I could see the sweat on his brow. The tall man was praying. Ace was not religious. I saw the creature jerk, staring at the opening that housed three juicy snacks. Then without a word, it just up and left. It bounded away, too fast, too quick and too quietly. By this point, all our eyes were on the monitors. There was no movement on any of my cameras. The creature simply darted, carrying one of the limp bodies. I dry-heaved, keeping myself quiet. Was it afraid? The scent of blood and massacre wafted through the window like a cruel foreshadowing. Nothing, no sounds from any of us or anything for minutes on end. Minutes that felt longer than even the shattering of the world only moments earlier. None of us trusted that silence. It had heard us. We all knew it. Why would it run? Zych was the first to speak. "Maybe-" A maelstrom of teeth and scrabbling clawserupted through the window in a shower of glass. Snarls, beastly and guttural. Bloodthirsty. Spittle flew and we all scrambled backward, nearly falling on our asses. Ace shouted obscenities. "Fuck!" I tripped backward. "What the hell!?" Someone screamed. "Stab it! Jake stab the damn thing! Fuck!" I was on my ass. I hauled myself up, grabbing my sword. And froze. "Shoot it, Zych!" Ace yelled, his deeper voice unmistakable. "It''s stuck!" I twitched. The thing managed to turn its head, to the window''s great protest, and stare right at me. Concrete cracked, crumbling against its massive force. An arrow clanged against the concrete wall pathetically. Someone cursed. It had gotten its hands through, paws. Claws. It was prying the window open, ripping through fuckingconcrete.I gulped. I gripped my sword, pale-knuckled. Could I stab it? Could I even get close? It would kill me. It stared at me. Its eyes were both pupil and iris. Both black and white. There was a sheen of light glinting off of them, bloodthirsty, dangerous intelligence. It knew I was prey. I was prey. It was the predator. Ace pepper-sprayed the fucker''s eyes. What followed was the ghastliest keening noise I''ve ever heard. At points deep bass, at others high whines. It was altogether alien, unearthly. It spasmed uncontrollably, choking itself in the windows narrow passage in its effort to wrench itself away. Its entire body spasmed free, ripping concrete chunks out of thewall and injuring itself in its desperate efforts to alleviate its pain. It circled itself howling, clawing at its own eyes. Ripping into its own face. The entire window was open now, and more of the wall surrounding that. We were exposed. The creature roared and I felt it in my chest. Suddenly, my body was back, my mind working again. The thing was sprawling out, limbs shooting out in a poor expression of its intense pain. It howled again, the pain in its eyes seemed to debilitate it. "We need to kill it." Ace gasped. "Are you fucking insane?" Zych snapped back. "We need to go upstairs! Leave! Exit out the back!" I grit my teeth. My basement was wide open. This thing had hunted those four green things. Massacred them. And it waited for us earlier, patiently. The only safe place we knew for this entire thing was pried open like a walnut now. I groaned. "He''s fucking right. We have to kill it or It''ll come back for us. Look what it fucking did to them!" I pointed to the carnage it was flailing around in. Its wails were reaching a new high, reverberating "Where are we gonna go? My backyard is a fucking jungle! And, news flash Zych, there are fucking floating islands on the horizon!" "Are we gonna talk about how fucking insane this is? Anyone?" Zych screamed at us. His hair was a mess, he looked terrible. "It actually happened. What the fuck is happening here!?" He said at the end. "No one?" "How about we try living first, Zych?" Ace yelled, he was moving through the metal cabinet again. "It''s life or death right now! You need to get your head on straight. We all do." He wasn''t the captain of our old high school basketball team for nothing. "None of you get close, it''ll rip us apart. Zych, you need to shoot it in the head." I began to rummage around. There should be an old fireman''s axe around here. My hands were shaking. I tripped through all the broken concrete, literally covering the floor now. I frowned, by body unsteady. Fear? Adrenaline. I couldn''t keep still. "W-what I can''t just, shoot it." He snapped back, hesitating. His eyes had already slid to the flailing creature. It was massive, larger than a van. It screamed deadliness, with both claw and teeth. And currently, it was still ripping into its own face. Snarling and sending spittle everywhere. "It''s moving too much." He said. It was his way of agreeing. Its guttural howls were all angry pain. I found the axe behind an armload of pipes. "Fine, I''ll do it." We already knew. "Do it." I told him, eyeing the creature cautiously. My arms were shaking. "Try to hit anything vital. The head if you can." I was rambling. "I know. I know." He said breathing. But in moments, his breath had already calmed and he was sighting down the scope. "I know." He repeated. How was he so calm? "Jake, you don''t have anything else?" He said, looking over his shoulder. The creature was still flailing violently, rubbing everything it could over its face. "Nothing like that bow?" "Here you go." I placed the axe firmly in his hand. "Huh? What am I supposed to do with this?" His eyes lit up in recognition. It was the same rusty axe we''d throw around in the backyard. Ace was usually the best throw. Strongest too, he''d always chip the log deep. "Really?" "Really." I told him. "I''m ready." Zych called to us. "I just need it to hold still. Are you guys good? It might try to fucking kill us once I hit it. You two need to watch it." "Fuck. Shoot it. All or nothing." I told him. "We''re ready."Ace nodded. Time slowed down at that moment. I saw Ace holding the axe overhead. Zych''s index finger left the bowstring, his middle finger lingering. It was as if he moving through honey. The bowstring snapped back, pounds of force propelling the arrow forward. Zych''s eyes were laser-focused like I had never seen them before. Ace. Where before he only held the axe overhead, now he was in motion. Muscles worked for the motion, the sweat of fear and exertion. He lunged forward, as if moving through water, and the axe left his fingers. Then time slapped me. Everything resumed. An arrow hit the thing''s shoulder. It howled, keening, screaming and scrabbling for purchase. Its head jerked one way, facing the direction of the arrow. I realized it was blind. Then the axe thunked right between its eyes. With the sound of wet gore and broken bone, its entire body went limp. The sound suddenly stopped. It didn''t even get a chance to realize what had killed it. It just died. There was no resolution to its pain-filled screams and agony. No final crescendo marking its death note. The symphony just ended, ceased. I heard birds chirping outside. My sword clattered and I realized I had dropped it. I was sitting on the floor. Zych was trying to control his breath, leaning against the wall. Ace was frozen staring at the body.
Congratulations on Surviving your First Encounter of Genesis! For prevailing over your first encounter of your planet''s Genesis you have earned rewards fitting the task! By slaying a Forest Stalker, a foe many times more dangerous than you, your rewards will be appropriately adjusted.As the reward of your very first encounter in this new world, you have been given a fortuitous opportunity!Slaying anUnusualcreature brings the quality of your reward up to theUnusualrarity! In addition, your reward becomesmalleable allowing you to shape its form without bound! Please conceptualize your reward.
Then suddenly, we were all staring at something we had forgotten in the chaos. Chapter 3 - Rewarded Skill TomesI''d come to learn were powerful artifacts, capable of bestowing upon people great boons in terms of surviving The Culling. The fact of the matter was that they were a quick, potent, and effective means to gain power. But sometimes, even that was not enough. Although it is pertinent to note that humanity would rather claw their way out of the belly''s beast before being digested. Often times, people didn''t care aboutSkills they just fuckingsurvived. - Notes on the Shattering, Unknown
Congratulations on Surviving your First Encounter of Genesis! For prevailing over your first encounter of your planet''s Genesis you have earned rewards fitting the task! By slaying a Forest Stalker, a foe many times more dangerous than you, your rewards will be appropriately adjusted. As the reward of your very first encounter in this new world, you have been given a fortuitous opportunity! Slaying an Unusual creature brings the quality of your reward up to the Unusual rarity! In addition, your reward becomes malleable allowing you to shape its form without bound! Please conceptualize your reward.
"Uh." I uttered. "You guys seeing this?" Ace uncharacteristically fumbled his words, settling for a short and sweet "What the hell?" He was swiping at the air. "Huh." I did the same, my hand doing nothing but passing through the message and causing a slight rippling effect. Zych, like me, was riding an adrenaline high. He may have finished reading before I did. "A reward? Are you two seeing this screen floating in front of me or am I finally off my rocker?" He said, eyes darting between us. I noticed his deathgrip on the compound bow. "I see it." Ace responded, perplexed. Like fireworks on a starry night, my mind lit up. Stars became constellations and my mind tracked them, finding new conclusions. The earthquakes and thunderstorms and landslides and meteors. The fissure, the jungle, the... massacre. Nothing of it made sense, unless the world was really breaking. "We should think of a reward." I said slowly, sounding crazy even to myself. "You remember what the very first one said? Right before everything went to shit? Earth has shattered, it''s being reborn. Maybe this is how survivors are rewarded." "Survivors?" Zych almost squeaked. "The Culling." Ace began, catching Zych''s stare. "At least, I think that''s what this is. The first message, like Jake said, mentioned it.'' I looked outside. The basement was torn open and slope of rubble led outside to gore and blood. Past that, the metting of cliff rock and verdant jungle. To the back of my house, the jungle expanse, to the front, a deep fissure. My actual eyes hadn''t landed on either yet, but staring forward was enough to believe. Giant floating landmasses hovered in the distance. Massive pieces of orbiting rocks colliding with each other until reaching equilibrium. It looked straight out of a movie, fiction. And yet, it was much too real to be anything but. Zych and Ace seemed to follow my gaze, realizing together how absurd it all was. The fact it was all reality seemed to compound the fact. "We need to move." I said suddenly. "We can''t stay here." "What? Why?" Zych said quickly staring outside, more specifically, the blood and bodies. His eyes glazed over a little bit. "Because of exactly that." Ace explained. He was calm, probably as calm as I looked. The only difference was the fact the might''ve actually been as he seemed. I was anything but. "The blood. Its everywhere. Imagine another of those things. Even if we were in a regular jungle something dangerous would smell that. Did any of us recognize any of those creatures?" I looked around, diving into what needed to be done. I checked the pipes, swiping my hand on the duct taped leak. Wet. "No." Zych said. Now his eyes scanned the jungle. "There could be something worse." Ace said blandly. It might''ve been viable to stay here, if the basement were in tact. Now that it was basically cracked open like a nut and the fact it might attract something much worse we couldn''t. We needed to move. "Backpacks. Upstairs." I moved. They followed. "We''ll need supplies." When I opened the door to my first floor I let out a sigh of relief. It could''ve been much worse. A whole section of my house had been ripped apart. Half of the kitchen, most of the living room. There was food in the fridge, the entire pantry was nowhere to be found though. "I still have those hiking backpacks from the trip up to the mountains." I told Zych. "Bedroom closet?" He asked quickly, his eyes only momentarily alighting on the wreckage. "With all the other junk, yeah." I responded. He moved into the only other door besides the bathroom wordlessly. "Anything in the fridge up here?" Ace asked me, though he was already heading for it. "Frozen food. I don''t think I have anything that might keep." I scratched my head. "If I had my pantry." I trailed off, staring blankly at the gap in my house. Jungle greeted me, too thick to make out anything. "Stay out of view." Ace said, noticing me staring. "Something might be staring back." I ducked away quickly, realizing he was right. "Christ. Sorry." I went through my cupboards. I had a few waterflasks that kept the temperature as good as the best. Other than that, there was nothing worth taking. I doubted plates or bowls would be useful. "Got the backpacks." Zych announced, coming through the door. They were all the same and within moments we all donned them. I handed them each a waterflask. They were bulky things but they afforded us portable water so they were invaluable. I hadn''t noticed it downstairs, but it had become uncomfortably warm. Humid even. Even better we had water with us. "Try the sink. Water''s still running." I gestured. The sink was still wet from my washing dished earlier. Ace squeaked the knob once, twice. Water gushed out in a smooth stream. "Thank god." He said, unscrewing his flask and filling it up with gurgling water. We all followed suit. Quickly heading downstairs we retrieved our weapons. Zych had never let go of his bow but I had left a sword and Ace had left both bat and shield. The only thing I took from the basement was some food from the fridge, including a half eaten burrito, the duct tape, and some extra knives.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Conversation was light, each of us mulling what the fuck had just happened to us. I thought I had covered what we''d need, but then Zych had started taking my blankets. He noticed our looks at him. "It''ll get cold, trust me." Ace and I shared a look, but if anyone would know, it''d be Zych. "And grab extra clothes. As much as you can afford lugging around." He seemed somber, reminscient. I gave him a look and he threw me a thumbs up. We stuffed our bags with blankets too. Clothes as he directed. "We''re gonna need more food somehow." Ace finally brought up. "This won''t last us the day." He frowned. "I could probably shoot down a bunny or something." Zych said. "I doubt a bunny is gonna survive out there after that shitshow." I grimaced. "Ideas, guys." Ace scolded. "What do we got?" I frowned, creasing my forehead and trying to get my bearings. It was lucky that my house could serve as a reference for my mental map, but I had no idea how that would help us. "We could try any other houses. Look for survivors, loot the place if not." I suggested carefully. "You want to steal?" Ace responded cooly. "We might not have a choice." Zych tried explaining the idea immediately. "Good." We blinked. Zych and I. Ace, the very same captain of the basketball team, model student, and student councilman? I mean, we hadn''t been seeing each other on a daily basis as we used to since college began, but there was no way he had changed so much? He would never let us get away with something like that normally. He sighed catching our stares. "Okay, I''m not this goody-two-shoes you guys make me out to be, alright?" He became a little more serious but allowed a small smile. "Besides it''s the end of the fucking world." "Never thought I''d see the day." Zych said in awe. Ace didn''t often cuss so freely, nor did he advocate crime. "Neither did I." I concurred. My head swung to the jungle behind my house, looking through the gap in my wall. "Most of my neighborhood is just gone. No wreckage, no trace. We can try seeing the other side of the house though. We haven''t gotten a good look at everything." "We need to peek outside." Ace agreed. "Hold on, hold on." Zych put up a hand. "Our rewards remember? When did that screen even leave?" He said confused and perplexed. I tilted my head. When did it leave? We had been so caught up in our reality we had forgotten about it. Ace similarly was frowning in thought. Where did it go? What did it say again-
Congratulations on Surviving your First Encounter of Genesis! For prevailing over your first encounter of your planet''s Genesis you have earned rewards fitting the task! By slaying a Forest Stalker, a foe many times more dangerous than you, your rewards will be appropriately adjusted. As the reward of your very first encounter in this new world, you have been given a fortuitous opportunity! Slaying an Unusual creature brings the quality of your reward up to the Unusual rarity! In addition, your reward becomes malleable allowing you to shape its form without bound! Please conceptualize your reward.
Nearly in tandem, we all stepped back surprised. I, and they presumably, stood reading. Rereading, in my case. Was it true? Now that we actually had a moment to ponder it, we were all actually considering its words, despite the absurdity of the strange screen. A short flight of fancy skipped through my mind, of magic and power. Of awe and miracle. My imagination faded for a split second, making way for memory. The memory of a man I''d wish anything for. "If I could save everyone, Jake. If I could''ve saved one more person. I''d have done it all over again." The man was older with a kind smile hiding pain only I thought I could see. I didn''t even think he knew it himself. "No one can save everyone." I muttered, tears in my eyes. "I want you back." He looked at me humorously. "I''m right here." "All of you, Dad." I stared at his legs, or rather where they would''ve been. The memory faded away, oddly vivid. That was during the last few weeks of my father''s life. I didn''t often think of the man, I tried not to. But when I inevitably did, it was always with warmth, no matter how he was. He was always the man behind my sense of wonder and awe. He was a good man. Something despite it all, I couldn''t really stop myself from aspiring to be. For a moment, just a moment, I wished for something fantastical. Something absurd and wonderful and awe-inspiring. It was a fanciful daydream, only seconds or minutes. One where I could face fantastical dragons, or create beautiful things. Plumes of fire, works of earth, hurricanes and typhoons, tidal waves and whirlpools. Giving life to the inanimate, life to the injured or dying. To be two places at once, or find anything within reach. Or, or- Something pulled on my ideas, telling me they were impossible but also not. It was as if my imagination was told it could be real. But more, it told it what it could not be, and the latter was much. And so my mind picked only one, but then even that was impossible. Then it seemed everything was impossible. My mind was as if a cage, only one with glass windows able to see everything that could''ve been. A tragedy, I was heartbroken, hopeful, amazed and disappointed all in a single second. I focused instead on the potential for greatness. Could I at least have that, if I didn''t already? Of course, I didn''t. But was it possible to obtain the means? Acceptance broke me out of my reverie. I stumbled on my feet, looking around baffled. "What just happened?" "Woah." "Holy fuck." I stared at my two friends. We stared at each other. Ace had stepped back into a lean against a wall. Zych had fell into a sitting position on the couch armrest. I had nearly fallen over. Then Zych reached into the air and pulled a book out of the air. His eyes bulged and he stared at what was in his hands. I thought for a moment I spied symbols on its cover, but theyshifted before I could really get a focus on them. He looked at us. "Holy... guys reach through the screen and grab your reward." He gushed. Ace was next and he pulled out a sword. It glimmered with runes bright and blue, but then as if my eyes were playing tricks on me they faded the next moment. A pristine sword. He left the bat on the floor. Then, I realized I was so caught up in the glowing runes I had disregarded the fact he had pulled a fucking sword out of the air. I reached through, not even sure I ever chose a reward. My hand came away from the rippling pond-like surface with a book. It was heavy and could''ve more likely been described as a tome. It weighed on myarms and then when I focused on the item itself rather than its weight, I realized it too, was shifting with symbols.Arcane. The words tapped my mind like a foreign thought, or perhaps one ancestral and primordial. It was truth, some very primitive part of my soul knew it. Some part of my soul I never knew until now. I heldmagic.
Skill Tome: [Magical Instinct] (Unusual) A book that imbues the user with the knowledge of the contained skill.[Magical Instinct]allows the user instinctual knowledge on the factors conducive to great magical applications. Whether wizard, sorcerer, warlock, magician, or any other magical practitioner; magic is everchanging. Instinct and intuition are as much a part of great works of fantasm as logic, practice, and theory.
"What, did you guys ask for reading material?" Ace looked at us, but I doubted he missed the oddity of said reading material. "A screen popped up." I told him. "It''s magic. It says it''s aSkill Tome." I marveled at the book, tracing the symbols that outlined its spine. They were rough and rigid, and somehow fluid. "Same here." Zych piped up. "What''s yours for, Jake?" "[Magical Instinct]. It says it''ll give me magical intuition and instinct." I answered. "Yours?" "[Shadow Magic].But its a technique of it, not necessarily the entire thing. More like a-" Zych began. "A spell?" Ace cut in. He seemed floored. "Magic is real? Are guys even fully grasping what you''re talking about? We just pulled thingsfrom the air.From aninvisible screen only we can see!" We blinked at him. I stared outside. I was just as amazed, but I had hours under a pool table to come to terms. "Is it the craziest thing to happen today, you think?" "No more than thirty minutes ago we almost died." Zych added. He looked at us. "I think it''s best if we open up our minds right now. Whatever the hell is gonna happen, we have to be ready to come to terms with it immediately." "You did just pepper spray a Forest Stalker in the face." I said to him. He looked between us, still slightly baffled. "Whatever the hell that is. Oh, and I owe you for making fun of you for that little gun of yours. Probably saved all of our asses." Ace breathed out. His face became more controlled as he found us smirking at him. "The sword I got." He segued. "It''s like training wheels.It''s gonnateachme." "What''s it called? You got a screen too right?" Zych said curiously. "[Sword of the Survivor]." He answered us, regarding the weapon in his hand. It glinted faintly when a beam of sunlight from outside touched its blade. Zych whistled. "That''s pretty epic." "Survivor implies people around him die." I pointed out dully. "There likely already have been." Ace said to both of us, reminding us exactly of our predicament. "You two need to read those and we need to go. The blood outside remember?" I stared at the book in my hand. "This entire thing? There''s no way-" Zych''s book crumbled in his hands. His eyes glowed faintly, or did they darken? Theyglowed with shadows, if such a thing were ever possible. And the man took a deep breath and looked right at me, eyes his normal hazel again. He stared at me. "Open yours, Jake." And then I did. Chapter 4 - Grocery Shopping After some debate, we decided we''d be safer exposed on the cliff than near to the jungle. The jungle was too unsettling for us to go anywhere near. We had to move swiftly and quietly, simultaneously keeping our eyes open for any threat. Needless to say, it was nerve-wracking. As it turned out, somehow a smattering of buildings that should be nowhere near my house, was in fact, near my house. A grocery store of all things. A few fast food places and a gas station. We glided across the empty lot in silence, with nothing but questioning glances towards each other. Even Ace, who was notoriously bad with directions stared at us in confusion. This shouldn''t have been here. But then again, it shouldn''t have been so close to a cliff either. I quelled my curiosity. Peering over the edge was foolish. We took cover in a crater. It was no doubt a result of the meteorites from earlier. Or, at least, what I''d thought of as meteorites. My gaze slid upwards, towards the giant floating landmasses along the horizon. Even now I could see pieces separating, affected haphazardly by whatever force was keeping it afloat. They must''ve been five times as large as my house. Zych caught my eye, tapping my shoulder and nodding forward. "Sorry." I whispered. Ace nudged me. He was still easily the tallest of us, always had been. As such, he was the one who peered from behind our cover. The grocery store was almost deathly silent. I managed a peek. Broken windows and shattered glass. It looked like there were even groceries and random goods scattered about the floor. Somehow there were even destroyed shopping carts, though the damage looked as if something dismantled them rather than broke them. The huge sign that usually hung proudly above the entrance was missing letters. I couldn''t see them anywhere nearby. "I can go first." Ace told us without hesitation. "Hold on." Zych quickly cut in. His shadow trembled. The sun was still high and so his shadow should''ve been sharp and defined. There was effort drawn plainly across his face. His shadow curled and contorted slowly until I realized I was somehow looking at something three-dimensional. It was the least passable form of what was unmistakably a human. My eyes bulged at the same time a feeling bloomed from within. He was using mana, channeling through his shadow. Causing it to form into something and take shape, become physical. The quickness and sureness that I came up with that conclusion startled me but it nonethless felt correct. Zych was using magic. It must''ve been my [Magical Instinct]. And conversely, he must''ve been using his [Shadow Magic]. Ace stared at Zych and took a breath after he caught me just as surprised. He got straight to business. "Can we send that ahead first?" He questioned still regarding the shadow. It was hard to pinpoint exactly, my mind refused to see truly focus on it. "I can walk it a little bit ahead of me." Zych seemed to be placing conscious effort into the task. He didn''t seem too put out though. "It''s called a shadow clone. Needs more practice though." "Send it ahead then." I responded. "How far can you keep it?" Zych closed his eyes, his face the picture of focus. "Up to here." The clone walked fifteen paces ahead of us. It nearly lost its cohesion in the bright sun. Logic dictated it should''ve dissipated but I knew otherwise. Zych was keeping its form. The fact my friend was doingactual magic had to simply wait for another time. We needed food. The automatic doors didn''t slide open for us. Ace stepped up and pushed them aside. The sound of broken glass like a million little chimes upon the floor. The inside of the grocery store was no different than the outside. Ruined, ransacked, it looked like a pack of animals had run through the place. They very well might have. "Quiet isn''t it?" I said aloud. My eyes swept the place. The shelves were fully stocked even if most of the items were strewn about the floor. The quick sound of a zipper made me turn. Ace had shifted his bag onto his front side. "Let''s stock up." He still held his sword at his side but his shield was strapped around his shoulders to free his other hand. "Non-perishables. Beef jerky. Dried pasta. Canned foods. Granola bards. Trail mix." Zych followed his clone, moving towards the canned food section. There was a sharp whispering in a language I didn''t recognize. Then silence. Garbled whispers, I thought I saw something move through the open shelves. We all paused. Zych''s clone rounded the aisle and a flurry of green, clawed limbs burst through the shadow clone dissipating immediately. The body crashed into the cash register opposite the aisle. In a scramble, it got up and bared its teeth. It was one of the green things from earlier. It hissed at us, red irises and beady pupils. It had two rows of teeth and limped towards us viciously seeming uncaring at its own injuries. Ace''s sword was up faster than I or Zych could react. "Careful." Ace cautioned us. "Uh, there are two more." Zych hesitated, his bow darting between the first and its friends.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I took a breath and stepped in front of him. My smaller swords had come up from their sheathes. I tried my best to copy Ace''s grip. The taller man''s grip was firm and confident, though his expression and darting eyes betrayed him. "How do we know they''re violent?" I asked nervously. Neither party made a move. "That thing earlier, the forest stalker, killed them before they did anything." "Hell Jake, do those things look friendly?" Zych nearly hissed at me too. His face was a controlled whisper. He hadn''t pulled his bowstring. "It jumped for your shadow didn''t it, Zych?" Ace grimaced. "Don''t you-" The first one caught Ace''s gaze drift towards Zych. It lunged forward screaming garble-tongue and hissing violence. I saw a flash of steel. A line of red-hot pain shot down my leg. "Fuck!" Before I could even tear my eyes off of Ace my leg had automatically retaliated sending the second sprawling across the floor. My eyes tracked it warily before I realized I was missing one. "Watch out Jake!" An arrow plunged into the side of the monster on my flank, its scream of pain drawing my attention. My left-hand weapon slashed across its chest and my other opened its neck. It hadn''t even felt like I moved them. My eyes were wide from adrenaline. "Holy shit man." I heard my friend whisper behind me, but his voice was miles away. I tried to block the image from my mind. The one I had sent sprawling with my kick reared upward in anger yelling and screaming. Suddenly, the tile was blooming red and the store was loud with angry battle. When? Everything was calm only moments ago. "Jake!" Ace called. Ipoked it in the chest as it sprinted at me. The blade sunk deeper than I ever imagined it could go. It was like a hot knife through butter, only easier. I felt a deep queasiness from the depths of my stomach. Its body slipped off my sword like a ragdoll, only this one kept loathful eye contact as it did. This onelived. "Thank god." I heard someone say. I threw up. My stomach emptying its contents on painfully white tiles. I came up gagging and lightheaded. I looked around and found the bodies. I almost ducked back down to throw out the entire stomach. I forced myself to stare. I needed to. It was the second time today something like this happened. I avoided it last time, but now? Now I had to face it. It was wearing rags. Nothing but a loincloth. They all were. Their faces were all a mess, covered in the remnants of eaten food. Chip dust, sauce, crumbs, even blood. I managed to pry my focus away and stare into the aisle they had been residing in. Everything was ripped open, feasted on. Three bodies, no smaller than a child either. I tried not to think about that last part. Ace was leaning against the cash register. He was always the calmer one. Collected. Now though, even if he hadn''t thrown up, it looked like he''d spent a month being seasick. His face was pale and his breathing was hard. His eyes were locked onto the carnage. "No, no, no..." He was whispering to himself. Zych stared too. He noticed me and grimaced. Shivering. He looked sick too. Afraid. It was Zych who eventually got us moving. "Come on. Like I told you guys. Non-perishables." He stepped over the bodies and into the aisle. "We have to come to terms with this." That was all he said. It was a painfully long moment before I was ready to move. Zych didn''t leave either of us in that time. Not for the first time, I wondered why Zych was always so dependable when things went to shit. There was a story there that neither Ace or I knew. I found Ace staring at me. "Let''s go." I managed. "Food remember? I''m starving." I tried. Ace gave as much a smile as he could. "Right. Your burrito''s all over the floor now." Zych scoffed, relaxing at seeing us normalize. "Told you I should''ve had the rest. Would''ve kept it in my stomach." "You would have shit your pants instead." I shot back. We kept up our banter as we moved away from the carnage. Zych wordlessly formed his clone again and I inwardly marveled at what he was doing. Ace followed close behind it both sword and shield in hand. We kept our talk going the entire time, each of us craving some sense of normalcy. It hit me the second I realized we weren''t paying for any of the food we were shoving into our packs. Ace actually chuckled before he said something to me that I didn''t catch. My manner changed and both Zych and Ace seemed to notice, our moods dampened but the question was one I had to ask. "What the hell was that?" The subject in question was no secret. The question wasn''t simply me asking, it was all of us. It was almost as if we all flinched at the question. The question that forced us to stare at reality. To throw away the notion we were simply grocery shopping. That the tile floor was stained blood-red in places we knew but couldn''t see. That we had all just killed some creature. The pressing silence was broken by the sound of Ace stuffing a can of soup into his bag. He zipped up the pocket. "Well, what do we know?" He asked us back. That was Ace for you. Credit to him though, it got my mind working. I responded first, the screens had stuck in my mind. "It''s The Culling. The world is being reborn." The words? What were they again? "New forces will be introduced and your lives will be changed forever." I repeated them. "If not, you will fail against the creatures that assail you, the horrors that seek your planet." Zych said steadily.
Genesis Begins In thirty seconds, your world will shatter. Earth as you know it will quadruple in size. Cities, continents, countries, towns, states, powers, will all splinter. Your Earth has reached critical mass. New forces will be introduced and your lives will forever be changed. Landmasses will shift, oceans may rise or fall, natural disasters will befall you. But after the chaos, the suffering, humanity will be born anew. Stronger. Better. You will need this Genesis. If not, you will fail against the creatures that assail you, the horrors that seek your planet. This is your introductory period, Humans. You are a Genesis Welcomed Race now. See its power, know it, harness it. You will need it. We begin The Culling.
"Genesis." I said. "I think it''s what''s showing us these screens." Ace stared into the air too. "These new forces it talks about. You think those green monsters are part of it?" His breathing remained steady. "And that forest stalker we killed." Zych reminded us. "I think there''s gonna be a lot more than just those trying to kill us." I frowned. "And theseSkills? And that[Sword of the Survior] you have?" I asked. "What are they? ThoseSkill Tomes gave Zych and I knowledge and power, just like that." "Whatever they are," Ace began. "we need to be on the lookout for anything like it. It doesn''t look like we can get away with just surviving. We might have to fight too." "Did you sword work?" Zych asked curiously. "Faster than I could''ve even thought." He said somberly. "I killed that thing before I could even think about what the motion meant I''d be doing." I shoved the last thing I could. A packet of beef jerky. "Where should we go now?" "We need to get away from here. Find someplace for the night. Food. Water. Shelter. Isn''t that what people are usually taught for survival?" Ace suggested. "We can''t stay here either. Blood." He reminded us. "I say we move along the cliff. See if any other buildings show themselves or not. If not we might have to try our chances here in the grocery store." Zych frowned. "It''s worth it. If everything is scrambled there''s no telling what we''d find if we just kept walking. We might even run into another group of survivors." I hesitated before adding the next part, "We need to be careful though, we''re loaded with supplies and people might have an eye for something like that." Zych and Ace nodded. We passed the carnage, the three dead bodies, wordlessly. With Zych''s clone in the lead we managed to find out way out of the parking lot without any problems. Switching from the suburban surroundings to jagged cliffside was disorienting, but the terrain was such that we had a lot of cover if not that much visibility. It turned out we''d have a lot of defensible places to rest even if we couldn''t find a building.