《Systemverse: the deep》


 Semi helpfull help screen( lots of explaining sorry)

    ¡°What the actual fuck...¡± I said aloud as a blue screen popped into my focus. I had been sitting in my room watching dumb videos on the internet when it seemed to pop out of no where.


    ¡° Do to a mana overflow you universe will now be entered into the systemverse. This will result in drastic and mostly deadly changes to your current dimension. Please prepare yourselves as best you can. More information will be given at a later time via your status screen¡±


    I felt my breath grow fast and legs grow numb with confusion and panic as I tried to wrap my mind around what was in front of me.


    The screen was semitransparent and a deep almost purple blue, the font neat and crisp not unlike a text book or any other piece of official looking writing.


    Just when he was about to jump out of bed he felt a startling pain in his eyes. It felt as if someone had poured lemons into them and he cried out in pain. I stumbled into the hallway with my eyes closed tight on hand guiding himself to the bathroom, all thoughts of the screen consumed by my pain. I had no real plan what to do but the pain demanded action not thought.


    I stumbled into the bathroom with tears rolling down his face. With one hand on the countertop and the other on my eyes I tried to open my left to see what was wrong with them.


    However just like it had appeared the pain vanished in an instant leaving me teary eyes and confused looking at myself in the mirror. I stood in a stupor after such blinding pain and sudden relief he looked at myself in the mirror because that seemed to be the only thing his mind could handle at the moment.


    Something seemed off with my reflection but I couldn¡¯t quite figure it out. I looked at myself in his old gray sweatshirt and black shorts my hair the same medium length pushed the right it had been since high school freshman year summer when I decided to grow it out a bit from his unattractive buzz cut.


    I didn¡¯t know why he was thinking these thoughts of 3 years ago in this stressful situation, maybe that was just my mind trying to calm him down with what I did understand. When I stopped thinking of the past and also stopped thinking of why I was thinking of the past I realized two things, that I wasn¡¯t wearing my glasses when the pain had started and shouldn¡¯t even be able to read the words on his sweatshirt without his glasses with a ridiculously strong prescription.


    While this was worrisome the small countdown that had shown up in the top left of the bathroom was much more frightening.


    ¡°Jesus!¡± I said whipping around to look at it but it moved with my vision almost like the spots you get from looking at the sun


    ¡°9:47¡±


    I felt the panic begin to reasert itself in his mind, but I it down this time.


    ¡°Think Russel what the hell is happening¡± I said aloud again trying to muster some semblance of calm. That was when another screen popped into his vision the same dark blue this time reading ¡°the omegerverse system will allow allow some information to be given to all beings in this universe for the next 9:26 seconds¡±


    ¡°what the hell are you?!¡± I almost screamed losing myself to confusion again.


    The text changed again, saying ¡°I am the help section of the systemverse system meant to give beings a chance to understand and be ready for the changes about to come to this universe¡±


    ¡°What changes?¡±


    ¡°The influx of mana will allow all special of animals and plants to evolve at an accelerated rate. This will cause the death of many humans who will evolve at a much slower rate¡±


    ¡°We I be evolving too?¡± I asked omg what the hell how the hell is this even possible.


    ¡°Humans have the mental fortitude to resist such changes to their form and very few will be evolving as the beasts and plants do¡±


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°How do we resist?¡±


    ¡° It is in your human nature you have already begun resisting. Humans have access to a different aspect of using mana the level portion of the system through this and been able to perceive the system and not just be changed however your DNA seems fit. You will be able to change your evolution through the level system which will give you access to skills attribute points¡±


    ¡°Won¡¯t we be at a major disadvantage because we evolve slower?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡± the text read which made me furious.


    ¡°What can we do then are we just fucked?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Please be more specific in your questions¡±


    ¡°How can we evolve?¡± I asked my teeth grinding in frustration.


    ¡°Humans and other intelligent life forms may level by killing other mana creatures and consuming their mana for themselves¡±


    ¡°So we need to eat to level up? Wait I asked evolve not level up¡± I said to the blue screen feeling more confused and less scared.


    ¡° while eating will provide you with levels to some extent especially from highly evolved creatures you will gain mana from killing creatures as the mana has been processed by the being and now needs a new host. This will allow you to distribute the stolen mana and evolve how you see fit. This is how you will be able to evolve/level.¡± The screen read clarifying the distinction between the level and evolution.


    ¡°So the only way to get stronger is to kill this evolved stuff?¡± I asked trying to wrap my head around the idea


    ¡° You can evolve by taking training now that the mana has entered your universe. It will not be as fast but it is a viable option.¡±


    ¡°What training is best?¡± I asked if I can get strong enough then killing these evolved beings shouldn¡¯t be to bad. Wait why am I just ready to kill things I should be thinking of how to get help not fight.


    ¡° From what the system can see your human fitness training should suffice but should be much more intense due to the mana being allowed into processed into your body¡¯s speeding up the process of recovery. This is the reason you can see without your glasses and all non infection born illnesses have gone away. However there is no proper way to train your affinity in ambient mana usage the closest the system can identify is meditation but there are some small but important distinctions.¡±


    ¡°Wait I thought mana was in plants and animals how can we manipulate it?¡±


    ¡° It is nearly impossible to manipulate the mana inside of another being but the ambient mana in everything from rocks to fire life and death are possible to manipulate. All being also have a certain type or types of mana they are able to manipulate easier because of their affinity to it¡±


    ¡°Affinity?¡± This is sounding more and more like a goddamn video game


    ¡°Mana affinity is able to be seen from your status screen. Not even the system knows why some creatures are given affinities over other but is largely assumed it had to do with many factors from bloodline to personality and physical traits. It will be much more difficult to manipulate mana outside of one''s affinity¡±


    ¡°Wait how do you not know aren¡¯t you part of the mana?¡±


    ¡°I am the system placed on the mana eons ago I do not know my purpose other then to give access to ones status and skill screens.¡±


    I then hear a high pitched howl coming from outside the window.


    ¡°Time expired¡±

 Chapter 2

    My heart dropped as soon as I read the text damn It is already starting he always heard the coyotes that lived in the woods across from the cranberry bog that made up the backyard of his house.


    I don''t think they are coming right now I thought they only came at night it barely 2 in the afternoon I decided to leave the bathroom where I had stayed to get information from the system.


    Weapons I definitely need weapons, what the hell would be good against a coyote? I definitely need to keep my distance from them a gun would be best but I don¡¯t have a gun at my parents house.


    Oh god where are my parents I stopped halfway down the stairs as that crushing reality hit me square in the face. My dad is boston with all those people it is definitely a mad house with everyone losing their mind over the system but that was an hour drive away and he had problems right now. My mom was working downtown she should be easier to get to once he dealt with his own issues.


    I bolted down the rest of the stair into the garage and looked for anything useful as a weapon. Old rarely used bikes, sports gear and beach chairs littered the space. He went into one pile of old lacrosse sticks until he found the one he thought would work best.


    ¡°This should keep them off me¡± I said to no one while gazing at the hollow black lacrosse shaft. It was 5 1?2 feet of aluminum metal was used for defence, keeping the offence at bay with its long reach to poke and prod at the opponent. It should work for keeping mutated beasts at bay.


    I heard a horrified scream and went to a garage window to see my next door neighbors family in their car, and a coyote that seemed to be feverishly clawing at the widow from its perch on the hood of the car. I Was glad the the coyote seemed to be unable to get access to the family of 4 when it appeared to feel mygaze on it and turn its head to me.


    I jumped back from the window in a panick and ran back into the main part of house with my weapon in hand. I felt much safer with actual wall around me than a flimsy garage door. At this point I had mostly calmed down when I heard a gunshot bang from outside.


    I slowly crept over to the window and saw the neighbors rushing out of their car and back into the house with a dead coyote in the driveway blood pooling in what I assume it a gunshot wound on its chest.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°Nice¡± I said to myself smiling happy the family made it to safety. I watched more coyotes appear creeping up the hill. They crowded around their dead brother sniffing and I began to feel a little pity for them when they all started ripping into the body tearing it piece to piece all 13 of them struggling to get a share.


    I looked at the metal shaft in my hand and realized that if I faced even two of them with it I would end up dead and ripped to pieces.


    How much have they even evolved I began to think they don¡¯t look any bigger as far as he could tell maybe it doesn¡¯t happen as fast as he had imagined. Would it be better to try to kill them now before they evolved further?


    No how could I kill them even now this is insane. I need to get into the basement and hunker down, but that was the moment when all of the coyotes stopped eating and began to shake and squirm like dogs rubbing an itch. The first to recover stood up and trotted over to the neighbor''s porch and sniffed the door. Then pawed at it like a dog trying to get the attention of its master. This would have been fine if with my now fixed eyesight I could see a long deep scratch on the door, deeper than any claw had the right to be.


    More of them were recovering from whatever overtook them and went to join their brother at the door clawing it in a frenzy. I felt a wave of dread as the coyotes began to chip away at the sturdy wood door piece by piece until the first was able to crawl into a small whole created by his claws.


    I crept low in the window not wanting to be seen, but needing to know how the family would fair. All of the coyotes were now up and piling into the house directly across from mine. I heard the first gunshot not 4 seconds after the first coyote entered the house. 4 more followed and then silence.


    I let out a breath that I hadn¡¯t realized I was holding and sat below the window pulling my knees into my chest. I didn''t need to guess the fate of the family 4 shots for 13 coyotes. I held the shaft close to my chest and tried to fight back the tears that were beginning to fall from my face. I can¡¯t help them now and couldn¡¯t before either, those sick fucking beasts were ripping them to shreads and fighting over the spoils of a happy family.


    ¡°I need to get help I can''t do this¡± I said to myself. An escape plan forming in my mind, they were distracted by the family I could get into the family car and go find help, but where would people go in a time like this? The best place I can think of is the school where those who lived on the beach went for shelter during the hurricanes that sometimes wrecked the massachusetts shores.


    I bolted away from the window and into the kitchen shaft in hand and grabbed the keys out of the dish where we kept them. Even with them distracted I felt the back door would be better than the loud electric garage door.


    I sprinted out of the hours rounding left to the side of the house and stopping at the corner. Peaking over I could see that all but one of the coyotes had entered the house to get their meal. The last seemed to be still writhing and struggling on the ground. I steeled my terror and got ready to book it to the car only feet away.


    ¡°3...2...1¡± I whispered to myself dashing over to the red honda pilot keys in hand. I fumbled with the car door lock not wanting to use the key fob because of the noise unlocking it makes. With shaking hands I managed to unlock the door and hopped into the car placing the shaft in between the seats. I put the key in the ignition and tried to start it up.


    ¡°Oh god no,¡± I said aloud when the lights turned on but not the engine. I tried again but while I heard some noises from under the hood the car didn¡¯t budge and refused to start. I kept trying in a panicked frenzy with the key in the ignition trying with all my might to start the damn thing, as if be shear will the car would start.


    That''s when I heard a growl next to me and looked out the driver side window to see a coyote looked me dead in the eyes.

 Chapter 3 up the cANAL

    Involuntarily froze in my seat as my entire body stopped dead in my tracks, my breathing thoughts everything was caught in the eyes of the beast. I really should have seen this coming, because while the most common survival reactions are either fight or flight I knew from pranks and jump scares mine has always been stopped dead in my tracks.


    The coyote held my gaze for a second longer before it growled again and jumped on the hood of the car, this I assumed was the same coyote that was still struggling with whatever evolution gripped the rest before entering the neighbors. Whatever reason for this ones slower process had spelled my demise.


    Now that I was closer to it I could see that this one had a brown thick fur and was about the size of a labrador, in almost looked cute. That was until it jumped on top of the hood and pounced the glass faster than I could react, still stuck in my daze.


    I jumped back as the beast''s claws pierced the glass with ease embedding the two paws in the glass. ¡°Fuck¡± I shouted as glass showered onto me. The entire windshield spiderwebbed and caved in but still held together with the coyotes front paws through it.


    I scrambled over the console and into the back seat just barely avoiding the claws digging into the dashboard of the car. The coyote still with its paws inside if the glass didn¡¯t seem to get a purchase on enough of the dash to retract his front paws from the glass.


    I jumped out of the backseat passenger door not bothering to close it and fumbled with the lacrosse shaft to get it out from the car. It took much longer than I would have liked while its reach was the reason I grabbed it in such a tight space it was a detriment.


    I walked around to the front of the car to the snarling beast. It looked at me with absolute hatred, all my thoughts of it similarities to man''s best friend vanished in an instant. It was a slobbering almost rabbid monstrosity that seemed dead set on freeing itself and tearing me lim from lim. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°You are one angry bastard¡± I told it as it struggled to bring its head over to bite me.


    While looking at it all I could think of was its brothers and sisters ripping that poor family to shreds as we speak and I felt anger boil in my stomach, so hot I could hardly breath.


    I brought up my shaft high above my head and swung down with all my anger and hatred from the past couple of minutes on the back of its neck. Over and over again until I was panting and almost crying in frustration.


    It seemed to have barely felt the what must have been at least seven or 8 hits right on its head. The beast only got more angry redoubling it desperate attempts to free himself from the glass. ¡°What the hell are you made of?¡± I asked it this time with a half hearted attempt to hit it in the face.


    The beast lashed out at the shaft and that when I noticed at least one new addition from the evolution. It opened it jaws wide and bit down to the shaft compressing it hollow inside and tearing the last half a foot clean off¡­ With shiny metallic teeth.


    I jumped back in surprise and looked at the coyote in a new light, specifically its shiny new teeth and claws. That must have been how they were able to break the glass now and claw through the door.


    ¡°How does that even make any sense this should be possible evolution doesn¡¯t work even close to that way?¡± I said letting out my disbelief to the air.


    I looked down at the chewed off end of the shaft, now with a slight point and got an idea.


    ¡°You done goofed¡± I told the coyote in almost glee as a reared back to stab it in the chest, but it barely penetrated. It was like hitting a rock into a tree, the coyote still whined and growled when I cut into it a few inches but I couldn''t seem to get any further without more strength I didn''t have. I didn¡¯t know if this would be the case before the evolution or not but I knew I wasn¡¯t killing it this way.


    ¡°You have got to be kidding me your litterally a fucking monster¡± I said to the now even more mad coyote. Then I started thinking of weak spots on an animal but the only thing that came to mind were its mouth and eyes, but the mouth was a dead end and the shaft was to big to reach through the eyes and into the brain on an animal of this size.


    Then it hit me and I walked to the back of the beast away from its furious glare and terrifying teeth, ¡°well if the mouth isn¡¯t gonna work might as well¡±


    I lined up my stab not wanted to be struck by the metal hind legs or waving tail or the creature. And jammed the shaft as far and deep as I could right up the bastards ass.

 Chapter 4

    I rammed the shaft as hard as I could into the beast causing it to howl in pain. I paused momentarily almost shocked at how loud it was before continuing my efforts to mush the bastards insides to paste, twisting and swirling the staff to do as much internal damage as possible.


    I''m not sure for how long this went on but at some point the beast lay limp and I fell back on my ass completely exhausted.


    Propping myself up on my hands I looked at the foul mix of bile shit and blood that covered my chest and shorts completely. Standing up to quickly remove it and fling it on the ground. Looking up from my abandoned sweatshirt I thought about just how long I had been out here and glanced over to the neighbors. It seemed that coyotes were still enjoying their meal across the street.


    I was lucky that not showed up because just killing at a single trapped coyote had taken its toll on me and I would not have stood a chance against a free beast.


    I went to pull my rod from the rectem of my victim and gagged barely holding in my stomach contents, the stench that had evaded my mind, most likely due to the adrenaline rush of the fight rushed into my notrols with a vengeance. I had to look away and cover my nose not to vomit on the spot as a retrieved my weapon.


    With the shaft in hand I ran to the backside of the house and was back in the relative safety of my house. I crept back over to the window and watched the neighbors house for any signs of movement, not sure what I would or could do if I saw anything, but the need to know ate at me.


    Maybe ten minutes later the coyotes came out of the same hole they had created in the door and after sniffing around a bit ran back across the bog into there woods.


    Seeing the pack of coyotes run back into the woods took a weight off my shoulders, I knew I wasn¡¯t safe and would very likely never be truly safe again, but it was still a relief to see them leave. At least for now¡­


    They would be back once they were hungry again. They would find me or one of the other hiding in their homes and tear into them or me. The thought of those metal teeth sinking into my flesh sent shivers running down my spine. Should I end it all avoid such a painful and unsightly death in favor of a simple easy way to go¡­ the same one I had almost taken many times before any of this madness even began. I shoved those dark thoughts of my almost inevitable death down deep inside of me not allowing myself to wallow in self pity again.


    Maybe it was sheer stubbornness to not let this hell win or maybe it was just cowardness itself of the unknown that didn¡¯t let me take that way out right now, I honestly can¡¯t say.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I decided to try to prepare come up with some semblance of a plan for when the beasts returned hungry again. I needed something with more weight and piercing power than the light metal shaft. The damage it did to the beasts tough hide was less than negligible , it was almost insignificant without a big nasty glaring weakness in the armor the beast presented me.


    The basement, while there were no long tools I could use to keep them at a distance, there were likely some tools down there to do some serious damage. I left my spot by the window and went to the kitchen to the entrance to the basement. There was not much down here beside boxes of holiday decorations and old furniture that would do me good. In the back was where the real treasures lay.


    My father was a fairly competent handyman, resorting to fixing anything other than electrical issues by himself rather than paying someone else for the work. I moved through the small path through the junk to get to the workbench and metal cabinets.


    I searched every nook and cranny taking out any useful or even potentially useful items I could find. I came up with duct tape, a medium sized hammer, a chainsaw with and extra chain, and a red gas canister, and an electric screwdriver. I spread them all out on the workbench and tried to think how I could use these. The chainsaw much like the car before did not even come close to starting when I revved it but the electric screwdriver seemed to work fine. Was that the reason the house still had electricity, because it didn¡¯t come from an engine but a nuclear power plant. If that was the case why did my phone have any service? Did the satellites run on gas? I didn¡¯t know but these questions ran through my mind.


    I briefly wondered if it was out of gas and removed the cap to fill the damn thing. ¡°AAAAAH¡± I shouted in pain as I felt a pulsing awful burning pain in my calf and fell to my knees dropping the gas. I grabbed my pained calf and felt something hairy and small and shoved it off.


    Still reeling from the pain and not thinking I just absently grabbed at my injury and allowed the small creature to bite my hand. This time I only pulled back for a second before limping away from the small terror. It seemed to still be recovering from my shove and rolled to its feet and I saw the little mouse no bigger than the palm of my hand run for me and stomped the little bastard with my good foot.


    It gave a satisfying crunch when my foot came down on its small body. That was a small distraction from the pain ate at the small bite on my hand and deep tears at my calf. I limped over to the workbench not sure what to do with the tools but still wanted to take what I could carry out of the basement. I shoved the duct tape, extra chainsaw chain, hammer and screwdriver into a bag I had acquired before entering the basement and lamented that I couldn¡¯t take the actual chainsaw of gas because I could not fit them in the bag and now only had one useful hand.


    Pausing to look at the cumbersome items a moment to make sure I was making the correct decision I noticed something odd about the spilled gas pooling from when I dropped it. Has normally had a clear color but this looked red and lacked the pleasant but very pungent odor of gasoline. I dropped the bag and looked around to see if any more vermin approached and inspected the strange red liquid. Not knowing what else to do, I put a finger into it and pulled it out to get a smell. It smelt actually pretty good almost like beer, and not the cheap stuff me and my friends would drink but the real dark stuff the hipsters and old men enjoy.


    ¡°Fuck it¡± I said to myself and put the finger into my mouth. It tastes sweet in contrasted to it beer-like smell and I felt an odd tingle in my wounds and the pain lessened. I looked down at my hand and saw the skin close a fraction of a fraction of an inch. ¡°No way this stuff is a healing potion¡± I said to myself in the dark cold basement almost giddy at my relief from the pain the held more for the past couple of minutes. I immediately picked up the gas in my good hand and with a seconds pause from the mental shock of drinking out of a gas can, began downing the stuff.