《The Apocalypse Begins with the Strange》 New York Before the Fall It was one of the thick summer nights in New York City. The kind that permeated the air with fever dreams and sweaty armpits. Columbia College, that bastion of ingenuity, that ghetto Ivy-League, stood steadfast in the light, light breeze. The dorms filled with the flickering of light and the occasional late-night partier stepping out into the heat. In a room with no lights on, except perhaps the light of the computer screen monitor flickering with the typing of keys onto the keyboard. Thick cigarette smoke drifted off from the window. A fan twirled and danced in the room all to the gentle melody of the man in front of the computer, feet tapping. Tapping rhythmically and stopping at the same rhythm. Papers clog every pore of the desk except for the monitor and keyboard. And sitting in the chair, is Lev Hernandez first of his name, slayer of probably nothing at all. And he writes and he writes and taps and taps for hours upon hours of the night. Words stream into his head and filter into his brain which filters onto the page and creates a story. For he has been writing for so long and he has just begun to get into his groove. The tapping increases in fervor, the clicking, the clacking of the keyboard comes back into a frightening crescendo. With E keys corresponding to the loud crash of the space bar again and again as words fall down onto the page. He tears open one of the papers strewn about. On it, an idea, ¡°A boy who has just moved to school falls in love with the beautiful but strangely unpopular senior¡± and Lev begins to write again. The sweat continues to pour from his armpits, the stains growing longer like a sad smile in the humidity. He tries to take a bite of something, something? He spits it out, he had bitten into his own hand. He still, however, ignores it and goes back to writing. Writing even harder. The night was still young and he was still writing for it. Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Someone was still out and about at this hour? Louder and louder they went, heavy boots on the floor. A sharp turn of the doorknob is all it would take. But they fade away, must¡¯ve been a partier back from town. Nothing important. Lev got up, he had written so much, the publisher would want to see it tomorrow but for today, he could rest. He could eat for today. The chair groaned after his weight left it. Lev grimaced, a character in one of his stories wouldn¡¯t have that happen. They were skinny, or at least he thought of them as skinny, but never muscular, that was always someone else. You could never be muscular. The characters in the story got up. Lived their lives. Danced their little songs among the tapestry of pages falling all the way down to the bottom. Just like drops of rain but it all seemed to go past Lev. The words didn¡¯t matter anymore just the way he said them. Just the emotion behind them. What lay beyond the page was the only thing in his mind. He took a drag of smoke. Something was watching Lev but he did not know. Something ancient in the back of his room clouded in smoke. But smoke made out of whisps and whispers of the people in the city. Words cloaked its body as it watched on. Lev¡¯s typing grew frenzied horrifying, terrifying frenzy took ahold of Lev. Grabbed his mind like thumps and attacks on the walls of a great city. His characters began to dance. Singing and dancing in the stories. Kissing and loving their children and becoming one with their friends. They were building something, a statue in honor of their creator, Lev. It was large, bronze covered it in a sheen like no other. The entity in the corner watched on. Tapping its long finger against its temple, it¡¯s skin blending in almost till was unseeable with the smoke. A scream came from outside, Lev didn¡¯t seem to notice, but It did. It seemed to grin, or something about it did. Something indescribable, and ancient. It¡¯s cuffs dotted with the lines and crescents of the Aztec gods but emblazoned onto it something else. Lev was still writing and time had gone by. Whistled away by the wind flowing through the window. Now it seems that the heat from before had left and only left Lev in his room. The itch in his brain, the itch of the writing, of the curse of words and letters could not leave. And finally, his story was built. The worship and glee of it all. He could see the way the characters danced and built and sung their songs. The grammar of the worlds of man seemed to come together. Lev sensed it, the strangest of things, something in the air or the air. Something beyond simple emotions or feelings or sensations, it was the embodiment of thought made true. It noticed it too, but only in the sense of the way a creature watched a movie go by. It knew this energy, somehow. And Lev shuddered, his eyes saw it for what it was. The energy, the purest of expressions of creativity and beauty and art. It all had come together. A brilliant shadow had formed inside his mind. He had found the Energy.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. His eyes became the color of the smoothest of full moons, a reflection, but what was it reflecting. The sweat flung from his body and crashed against the walls, creating such an awful wrack, an awful sound. It saw all of this. It knew all of this, for it could see all. It saw the way his neck turned in such a bent way. In the way that nobody had done before him in this world. A change had come over Lev, had taken him by the hand and wrought him for his juice. The Energy seemed to come into his brain, going inside the nerve clusters but not as electricity. In Lev¡¯s mind, something seemed to change. To wrap itself around itself and become anew. He saw the energy take ahold of his mind. And latch onto it. A sharp pain went into Lev¡¯s brain. Pain, pain, pain, all the way down inside his head turn him about. Destroying him, the energy was destructive utterly destructive and utterly unstoppable. A roar of jet engines shouted through his mind, everything was getting destroyed and recreated and destroyed again. He was being ruined and remade at the same time. And it all came to an end. The room fell into a deep silence, the entity in the room was gone. All was still except the fan and the breathing of Lev. For he was still alive but barely holding on. He had been touched by the hand of God and he could never recover from it. The energy made sure of it. He staggered out of his chair and to the central meeting area of the dorm. Pushing out of the way food take out containers, tumbling, stumbling, opening the door trying to get somewhere safe. Thirst had crept up on him, somehow made worse by the energy. He needed water and he needed it badly. Like the heat of the mountains of Columbia on which his father had once taken him. He gasped and gasped. His mind flitting through pieces of memory all clearer than the last. It seemed to be a breaking point of understanding. The Energy had unleashed the floodgates of memory and thought and of love and beauty. All of the thoughts he used to remember as pictures were now full entire videos. He remembered his father''s exact smile, the exact lighting shining against his teeth. The way that he turned back to look at Lev climbing up the rock. He grabbed a glass and poured himself water. Taking long giant sips from the glass periodically. Slivering, sliding down into his throat, intoxicating him on whatever treats it provided. The Energy in his mind was roaring, racing, fighting against his very body. The energy surged with each gulp of water, an ocean against his brain. It sat there and needed somewhere to go, it needed somewhere to be Lev scampered out of the meeting space and into his shabby room, the bed against the corner covered in food stains and the remnants of dandruff and hair. He didn¡¯t want to take off the clothes, he didn¡¯t deign to try. He just let the dirt and soot and cigarette smoke infuse the bed. Like a pig, he would sleep in his own filth. Trying to get this energy to calm, to not want to kill his skull. The Energy throbbed against his head, creating with it a terrible headache. His mind broke apart into tiny pieces and was forged together again by its terrible tendrils. For its body¡¯s tendrils latched onto his brain''s recesses and dug in. Deep breaths, remembered from his terrible highschool English teachers mindfulness lessons didn¡¯t help either. He focused on her for a second and the world of memory absorbed him into its folds. The soft smells of urban socialites or the thirty-year-old equivalent greeted him. In his sweat, the memories seeped into his head. For what else could he do except think and think and think. A painful painful thought. The Energy grew stronger, it was a strength, purest holiest strength made incarnate. He focused, the whirls and ticks of the architecture of his mind started to move. He thought a thought, about writing. And the ideas came to him like a tornado. Stories that would never have come plucked from the air around him but most importantly they resonated. A kiss on the cheek of some unsuspecting child, unaware of it¡¯s meaning. A small glance glinted back from the eyes of the girl that the boy always looked at. He understood it all. The beauty and grace of loves first kiss that it gave to him. He grabbed the energy with his own mind, he could control it, he could make it do whatever he wanted. He fumbled in the dark. His hands searching for the notebook he had put on his bedside table. There, underneath a coffee mug, there. And he began to write. First, at the pace of a snail, or perhaps a tortoise, but then faster, and faster, until his hands could not leave the pen and the paper could not leave the pen either. Faster and faster the words came. A final horrible, horrifying, terrible, crescendo. A loud crack at dawn. His pen was lightning shot down from the heavens down to strike the sins of the page. The energy took into his mind, it started to go stronger, heavier, better. Until it coalesced and formed into something. It had come to the end of this charade. His mind raced and raced, and finally, it came out. The page changed. Slightly at first, but then faster and faster and faster until it was unrecognizable. The characters were deeper than before, the people were more realistic but not even just real they were more beautiful. Their story was even greater. He had done it. The energy oozed from his brain and onto the words until it became the words, it was the words. Finally, he finished, his work was complete. His eyes grew weary, his mind tired, the energy seemed to recede and he fell asleep. But while he slept the world shifted. It changed and something had taken its place. All over the world, every single human received a little blue screen in front of them with a message. Men on the tops of skyscrapers working desk jobs received it, ancient tribes still stuck in the forests of their youth received it. Some scratched their heads, some sighed and resigned themselves to their fate, and some just simply didn¡¯t believe it. Slept in For the Apocalypse Lev¡¯s day began with shaking and screaming and an inordinate amount of sweat. Someone hand grabbed his shoulders and shook him over and over and over again. Lev tried to go to sleep but the person persisted and persisted. Lev opened his eyes. ¡°Why the hell are you shaking me, it¡¯s like two in the morning.¡± In front of him sat his bear of a roommate, Jameson. His arms wrapped in a semi-sort of hug with Lev. ¡°What the heck, what¡¯s going on. What are you doing? I¡¯m not into you like that¡± And Jameson laughed and laughed which if Lev remembered was rather unusual Jameson never laughed unless Lev or someone else told a really good joke. But now he cackling right in front of Lev, cackling like Lev had never seen him do before. ¡°Lev we are so fucked. This whole town is fucked, everywhere is fucked and we gotta go soon.¡± His eyes stared at Lev, Lev was almost scared if it was anyone else but Jameson wouldn¡¯t hurt anyone. Would he? ¡°Everything is just going to shit Lev, the cops are on the streets but, well, I don¡¯t know how long they¡¯ll last¡± Jameson seemed almost scared but Lev couldn¡¯t imagine Jameson being scared, he just wasn¡¯t, he was Jameson and Jameson wasn¡¯t scared. ¡°What¡¯s going on just tell me,¡± Lev said his voice growing louder and tinged with just a drop of fear. ¡°Just wait, Lev, it should be coming up right about now.¡±
Welcome! Version 2.045742 of ______(insert region name) has formed. Over 100 living creatures on the planet [Earth] have formed a Level 1 Skill ranking causing the system to deem this system [Worthy} . Soon the world will reach new heights. New monsters, new religions, new power for those who crave it. Sense the energies beyond the energies! Feel creation within your palms. And most importantly, don¡¯t die. To access the system find your closest system representative, they should be arriving soon.
Lev was shocked, surprised, in awe. Something really had changed in the world and well he had no idea what it was. ¡°What does this mean.¡± The words fell out of Lev¡¯s lips, he couldn¡¯t even focus on them. ¡°If I knew Lev, I wouldn¡¯t be waking you up, I¡¯d be out of here. This whole scenario is just fucked. We are so screwed, and by we I mean humans.¡± Jameson said but Lev wasn¡¯t completely sure if it was to him or to himself. Lev knew it was true, in the middle of the city was not the place for the apocalypse. And he could hear it. The clash of metal and boots and feet against hard pavement. And the tiniest screams he could hear. ¡°I think we might need to get out of the school,¡± Lev said. ¡°The school said to stay inside while the government gets everything sorted out but I don¡¯t think we should stay,¡± Jameson said. Lev could see the wads and wads of gum in his mouth like some sort of horrible monster. Jameson always chewed so much gum. Little gobs of split flew out from his mouth and onto Lev¡¯s shoulder but he was used to it. Lev jumped up, he had fallen asleep drooling on his paper and now the poor poor words were covered in saliva. Jameson started to search the house for anything they could use, while he carefully went through his gum stashes in the house, who knows when the gum manufacturers would stop working.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°What¡¯s actually going on down there?¡± Lev asked from across the room, he was trying to fill his backpack with bags of walnuts leftover from his English project. ¡°You have to see for yourself, it¡¯s kinda well magical.¡± The world had changed and Lev didn¡¯t know if it was for the better. As soon as he stepped out onto the streets of New York he noticed it, the sun shone a little brighter, the buildings were a little taller, and the crowds and crowds of people that usually inhabited this part of Columbia were gone. It was empty, practically a ghost town. ¡°Where is everyone? There¡¯s nothing here.¡± Lev said. ¡°They are, there. You¡¯ll have to see it. The whole town has gone to it, they say it¡¯s one of the most beautiful things they¡¯ve seen.¡± Jameson had worship in his eyes. Worship was dangerous. Very dangerous and especially to Lev. ¡°That sounds kinda dangerous especially if everyone''s over there,¡± Lev said. ¡°Oh it¡¯s dangerous, it¡¯s very dangerous Lev,¡± Jameson said. They both decided not to go to the object. Anything that could attract that many people was bound to be dangerous. Neither of them had a car and for some reason disturbing the silence that had fallen upon the seemed, unwise. The walls seemed to have ears on them. They decided to walk towards a grocery store near the campus. Lev had memories about him and his friends going there but he didn¡¯t have that many friends anymore, except Jameson, Jameson seemed to stay. They made their way into the grocery store. It was empty, all the shelves were strewn about like something had come into here and decided to play an intense game of American football. Scraps of food lay torn apart. Something large had come to the grocery store and nothing remained there. ¡°What in the name of God and the twelve girls I slept with before college,¡± Jameson muttered under his breath. ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t have sex before college.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t¡± As Jameson said that they turned the corner in the soap section, or what was left of it. Across the whole entire soap section, a singular ravine of rock had been carved out. Almost like the remnant of a magical earth-based skill in a video game. The earth had been torn apart by something, and that something had a strange love for soap. Whole entire cartons of soap had been stolen by whatever caused the ravine, mango soap, pumpkin soap, any kind of soap had been taken. Maybe it was better off not to be in the store. However, as they were leaving Lev heard something. He turned to where it came from, the meat section, something was there in a white gown. A white cap and a white beard but as soon as Lev saw it, it was gone. He decided not to tell Jameson what he saw unless he thought Lev was crazy. ¡°Why¡¯s everyone gone? That message didn¡¯t seem to say anything that would suggest a mass exodus. I mean I didn¡¯t get teleported to some different dimension while I was asleep, did I?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I woke up to the sounds of thousands of people leaving their dorm rooms, practically running down flights of stairs and when I went to ask them why they are leaving, all they said was that they were going to become powerful.¡± Lev focused on the word powerful. What did that mean? How could they? These humans become powerful? All Lev felt was weak, except in his head. His head felt strange. It felt different, ever since this morning, no last night he felt something, something waiting to be let go in his head. Jameson looked at Lev strangely. ¡°I think we need to leave the city. Something about it here seems, deadly.¡± And so they did. They walked and walked along the empty streets looking at the empty cars and at the emptiness beside them. They did not see a single person, not a soul. Not a hotdog stand or a Jewish deli. Soon Lev grew tired so they rested. Lev drank some water and felt the cool liquid go to his stomach. Finally, they got to George Washington bridge. Their feet hitting the pavement right above the water. It felt like walking on the edge of a tight rope even though Lev knew he couldn¡¯t fall. But something about the bridge felt like pure liquid danger. Like somehow it would bite him in the back. About halfway through the bridge behind a large truck that had been left unceremoniously in the middle of the bridge, almost blocking any cars from moving. And something moved behind it. ¡°Do you see that?¡± Lev said. ¡°I think I do see that,¡± Jameson replied with a whisper. They couldn¡¯t tell what it was so they kept on walking towards it. They started to go slower though, Jameson in front of Lev for obvious reasons, and Lev didn¡¯t really wanna get hurt. And as they approached they both heard a sound, a sound like the rumbling of feet on hard pavement. And the sound of boots. ¡°Hands in the goddamn air!¡± Outside of Reality Surrounding Lev and Jameson in an unlikely outfit of striped t-shirts and army camo sat about twelve men. Each one had their faces painted with a probably toxic array of paint some with pink some with red but none of it camo. They were not trying to hide their colors and the one with the most varied array of paints was the man in red. Entirely red, his face was red, his eyebrows were red, his hair was a giant red spike on his head. Each of the men was carrying shotguns or at least what Lev assumed were shotguns. ¡°What the hell are people doing from the city. How did you guys get out¡± The man in red barked. Jameson and Lev looked at each other somewhat unsure of their response. How could they respond to this ensemble. ¡°Hello my name¡¯s Jameson and I don¡¯t really know how we got out of the city.¡± Jameson said his voice curving around the words almost as if he was trying to lie. Lev thought it was odd. ¡°You don¡¯t know how you got out of the city? Well, you did get up and walk out of the city so how¡¯d you do it you numbskull dragnuts literal piece of doggy doo doo.¡± The filth continued for a while but Lev refused to pay attention to numbskulls who only knew how to curse. The man seemed so serious but this whole group seemed so silly. Both Jameson and Lev didn¡¯t know how to answer. They had just left the city, they didn¡¯t have any magic, or any huge guns. ¡°Sir? Or ma¡¯am or however you want to be called I don¡¯t care. We just left the city, it was that easy, what do you want from us?¡± Lev said. The man in red looked at Lev like he had just gone up to his favorite grandma and beat the living crap out of her. However he stopped, his mind churned, Lev saw his eyebrows go from elated to deflated, to elated once more. Before the man in red could speak however Jameson seemed to want to say something. ¡°So why¡¯d you guys ambush us. I¡¯d kinda like an explanation.¡± That made all the strange men start to smile. ¡°We are trapped is the reason. Trapped with this, this thing.¡± The man in red said. ¡°Thing?¡± Lev asked but the answer seemed to be the kind of thing nobody wanted to know about. After that however the men with the colors didn¡¯t say anything more. Only gestured to Lev and Jameson to follow them towards something. Behind the truck was a whole array of more trucks arranged side by side with only about a doorway in width and height between them. The men all went into the little hole created by the cars while Jameson and Lev watched. The hole was dark, darker than it should¡¯ve been, the cars shadows shouldn¡¯t have made it so dark. Lev got closer to it, the dark recesses and edges of it calling to him. Something was beyond this doorway, something Lev didn¡¯t fully trust. The energy in his mind seemed to whir, it was singing in his mind. He could hear the noise in his ears but he knew it didn¡¯t exist outside as Jameson didn¡¯t seem to hear anything. Whatever this doorway was it seemed to react with the pieces and fragments of energy in Lev¡¯s head. However his energies didn¡¯t tell him anything about the danger of it. The thought of the reasoning behind why a row of cars had appeared in such a manner didn¡¯t even cross his mind. Jameson didn¡¯t trust it, something in his mind, was telling him that this was dangerous, this could kill him and that something made his teeth chatter. ¡°Should we?¡± Jameson asked. The words dropping into the silent air like little first raindrops.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°I think we should.¡± Lev took the first step, then the second, then the third, until his body didn¡¯t seem to want to stop walking. He went through the door of cars. Jameson looked around, he didn¡¯t realize how covered this whole place was with cars. Each wall was made out of some sort of car. Stacked up Mercedes filled up one of the walls while a row of newly minted Tesla¡¯s filled out the other. But there were only two exits, the way he came and the doorway. And Jameson didn¡¯t leave friends. Lev walked through the darkness. Two cars parked together shouldn¡¯t have created this, it was too dark, to unstable, everything here seemed wrong, and even the sides of the cars seemed to fade and were replaced by darkness. He kept on walking, he heard Jameson behind him but he didn¡¯t want to go and check. In the darkness, something else lurked. Something that always lurked near Lev and it¡¯s eyes watched, hoping to see Lev move. The cars started to let up for that¡¯s what the hallway had become. Stacks and stacks of cars started to recede until all that was in front of Lev was two black Mercedes and a wall of light. He stopped in front of the wall of light, he had never seen anything like it before. Tendrils of light wisped and frothed on the surface. And it pulsed with a ready beat like the start of an engine. Lev put his hands to it and he disappeared into the abyss. Jameson arrived at the same portal of light that Lev disappeared but there was nothing there. Everything had disappeared and not a trace of Lev was left. But Jameson didn¡¯t know that he was gone. Jameson took a look at the great wall of light in front of him, took a single glance behind him and pressed his hand to the door and disappeared as well. Lev appeared under no sky at all. The place, everything inside of it and everything around it was utterly black. Only a couple of shiny stars appeared in the sky above. However unlike the sky on Earth the sky here was strange. It curved and bent like nothing should. It was like the shell of an enormous turtle, jutted and marked. Fractals shown in the abyss above. Lev could only look for a second when Jameson tumbled right over him. As the mass of flesh and bodies undid itself to be back to normal again they saw it. They were surrounded by cars on each and every side of their body. A giant arena of cars looked down on them and right in the center, an egg sat. The men with all the colors sat in front of the egg, their hands on the ground prostrating themselves to it¡¯s greatness. A man, not one that Lev or Jameson had seen before got up to welcome them. ¡°What is this place? It¡¯s so odd.¡± Lev asked The man laughed and laughed until snot was coming out of his nose and Lev and Jameson¡¯s ears only rang with the sound of laughter. ¡°Welcome to the Nursery.¡± The man said and he said nothing more. They always seemed to stop just when they were going to tell them more. Almost as if something was holding them by a chain and forcing to talk but not forcing them to speak. The man beckoned towards Lev and Jameson, Lev looked at Jameson. Jameson saw Lev¡¯s eyes. Lev shrugged, if these people wanted to hurt them they would¡¯ve done it on the bridge. Might as well follow. So they did and when they got to the egg the man gestured at an open space for both of them to sit, so they sat. Four minutes they waited, four minutes until the man in all red started to speak. ¡°The newcomers have come, have all the preparations been made?¡± Another one of the men in colors answered him, ¡°The paint the tablet said to use is on our faces. The leader has been marked and two others have been gotten just like the tablet said.¡± He almost seemed afraid every time he said tablet. The tablet seemed to be religious? The man in red gave a groan. A loud shriek mixed with a mumble. And the egg seemed to react. First it started to shake, the gold leaves that seemed attached to it started to rumble. After a couple of seconds of shaking the egg itself, the whole entire thing, started to move side to side. Lev and Jameson stared at the thing their bodies had long stopped being able to move. So all they could do was look and see. Finally the shaking reached a climax the egg was going from on it¡¯s side to the other side over and over and over again. The egg slamming into the ground created a great rumbling. Lev felt off balance, Jameson felt like he was going to die. Then it stopped just as it was standing upright and there. Right there. It started to open. Cars 2: Electric Boogaloo Chapter 4: Cars 2: Electric Boogaloo Bubbling and emerging from the egg-like lava from a volcano came it. First with a single golden wheel and then with the whole car. Shaped with fiery accents on its sides and two large eye-shaped lights staring back at Lev and Jameson. The car was solid gold the same color as the egg it came from. As the car came ou, the air got hotter and Lev started to sweat. The car seemed powerful and it was giving off the same kind of energy that Lev felt inside of his mind. Everyone was still as they looked at the car. After a second, nobody moved, the gears inside of Lev¡¯s head started to turn. What could this car be, what could its purpose be nobody knew. Lev could see his reflection wobble and turn in the car''s gold exterior, it¡¯s features turning and morphing like the tip of a candle after it¡¯s exposed to air. Finally after what felt like minutes of nothing happening. The car started to move, it¡¯s wheels started to rev, it was going to crash into Lev. It started to move faster and faster, dust flew everywhere from its wheels and right exactly before it could touch Lev it stopped. Lev looked into the reflection of the car, his eye twitched, and the car laughed. Or whatever a car laugh would sound like. Like the roar of a car''s engine mixed with the soft tinkle of it whishing by. Hearing it felt like it was almost your imagination, almost like this car wasn¡¯t alive. Then the car spoke. ¡°Humans respect me. Give me yourselves and I will grant you my boon.¡± The sound of its voice was like the sound of a car''s horn but somehow understandable. Lev could understand it, and seemingly everyone else could too. ¡°What-, what are you?¡± One of the men said. His face painted with a thick pink brush. He looked like a flamingo. ¡°I¡¯m well how do you say this in your tongue. Not a god, not really like a pixie either, more like a house-elf? No that¡¯s wrong, more like an embodiment, an Embodiment, capitalize that one¡± The Embodiment said. Everyone was confused. First a car had appeared out of nowhere from an egg, and second, now it talked and spoke like, well not a human, but like something else? They couldn¡¯t comprehend it, it just wasn¡¯t correct. The man in red looked like half his face had been taken off, a mixture of half shock and half disgust perused his features. ¡°You¡¯re a car? An Embodiment. A what?¡± Jameson said. ¡°Yes, yes, yes, I¡¯m a car. And I¡¯m an Embodiment. No, not all Embodiments are cars, that would be ineffective. I¡¯m here to introduce your humans to the glories of our magnificent overlords, I mean system, yes system.¡± A bead of motor oil fell down the cheek of the Embodiment. Lev stared still shocked at the car. However, the shock did not last for long. The ticks and whirls of his brain began anew. ¡°So if you¡¯re so good at this system. What is it? How do we use it?¡± Lev said. The car drove a little backward in disgust. The end of the Embodiment just touching the body of one of the random grunts, who recoiled in fear at the love tap. ¡°None of you have the System? Yes, that¡¯s with a capital. How come? Didn¡¯t your city have a little meeting, a good old System meeting with your current Overseer? We embodiments are supposed to come after the meeting. Anyways it should¡¯ve been on whatever media or internet or whatever bullcrap you humans invented.¡± Lev turned to look at Jameson, while the man in red turned to look at the man beside him. They had both made the same mistake. ¡°The internets working? TV is working? Everything is working?¡± Lev asked, his voice getting higher and higher pitched as he realized his mistake. As they all realized their mistakes. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re a slow class. Every species has one of these. God what was it, section 3.4592 of the Handbook, yes that¡¯s capitalized, that warned about these. Yeah, something about immediate eradication and destruction probably doesn¡¯t matter anyway.¡± The Embodiment said his voice trailing off into a handful of mutterings. Lev and Jameson started to back away from the Embodiment when it started to huff. Air whooshed and moved and tried to get inside the car and they all heard a large gust of wind go by their ears. Lev and Jameson felt themselves get pulled closer to the Embodiment. They dug their feet and hands into the ground but it did them no good, they were getting pulled faster and faster and faster until they were all touching the Embodiment in a bunch of weird angles. ¡°That should¡¯ve gotten all of you folks to come here and all I need to do is¡­ Where¡¯s that System-damned button, oh of course, right next to the total eradication button. I should¡¯ve known. Now, where were we? Ta-da is how you would say it but how I¡¯d say it would be Vroom-oom.¡± As the Embodiment said it¡¯s words, energy cackled away from the car and into all the people attached to it. And they all saw the most mystical thing, something that even for this giant car that can talk that came out of an egg, was strange.
Welcome! An Embodiment? has granted you access to a System interface. Good luck in your new world.
Again the blue box had returned from before. Lev stared at it for a while, his hand jerked in a weird position but he didn¡¯t care. He ignored that and stared at the beautiful almost golden blue. After a second of staring and looking, it changed and soon streams and streams of blue boxes appeared in front of Lev and the rest of them. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Name: Lev Hernandez(Hidden)
Stats: (A 1 is the average human with 4 being peak human).
Physical Skills:
Strength: 2
Agility: 3
Mental Skills:
Creativity: 4.5
Logic: 0.5
Interaction Skills:
Will: 1
Presence: 2
Skills: Writing: 1
Titles: First Born Skill
Energies: Mind: 1
XP Till Next Level: 0
Love For Embodiments: 100%
He saw it all. Every single part of him categorized into just a couple of categories. They knew everything those people at the System or well probably not people but weird interdimensional alien computer things. Strength and Agility were normal Lev had seen them before but skills like Creativity? Logic? His mind couldn¡¯t even wrap itself around them. And don¡¯t even mention Will and Presence. As everyone looked at what had been given to them, the Embodiment started to laugh. Lev still couldn¡¯t get over that weird semi-state of sound that it put out. The strangeness of it overwhelmed him. The Embodiment started to grow and grow, it¡¯s wheels enlarging and it¡¯s stature growing mightier. It looked like it could run over Lev a million times and still not be done with him. ¡°You have it. You actually have it. I got one. One of the originals. One of the original bastards. Oh I¡¯m going to have fun, well probably not, I¡¯m not allowed to have fun down here he said, well seems like I will.¡± Lev had never actually met a car that could sound sarcastic. Though thinking about it the old crappy Ford his parents left him did always seem to quip and quirl about him. Lev¡¯s thoughts, however, were not able to quip and quirl. The energy within his mind seemed like something had called out to it. It had been summoned by something. It kept on ramming against his mind, ramming, ramming wanting to be free, and a sharp pain went through all of Lev¡¯s body like the final exit of the knife wound. And there the energy broke free, it pierced through Lev¡¯s skull and out into reality. The energy was like a cloud of purple mist mixed with stars. It sparkled and glowed, and called to Lev. Its beauty shone like, something told about in a story or a book that Lev had written. Only the prettiest of maidens or highschool crushes could look like this energy. ¡°Ah, beautiful I know this kind my uncle Ben had it, nice enough guy little problems with the ladies, something about him being too into perfection not that it matters. You¡¯re the real prize, one of your kind is worth millions¡­ In potential benefits for me.¡± The energy leaving Lev¡¯s body felt wrong. The Embodiment stole something precious, something vital to Lev. Lev squirmed under the feeling, squirmed like a worm about to be crushed. ¡°Just give it back.¡± Lev croaked out, his voice sounding like a hollow organ in an empty church building. ¡°Later, later, time to give you. A random skill. Brought you by the lovely people at System Corp. Well, honestly I¡¯m going to grant all of you guys a random skill rolled from the great olde list of car skills. Every single one of them in probably all of existence except those assholes who don¡¯t share. Well, do you wanna spin the roulette?¡± Sweat dripped down Lev¡¯s back and spilling out onto his shirt. A large white stain appeared, and the cold air moving against it making him shiver. After a second, the Embodiment started to Rev, it¡¯s engine pumping out hot air into the winter breeze. And after the people around Lev hummed, hummed a song, a loud song into the air. And after Lev, himself started to hum, and vibrate. He didn¡¯t know the lyrics or even the song he sang but the singing filled the air. All starting with the hum. And a message appeared in Lev¡¯s vision
Skill Gained: Internal Motors: Level 1, Max Level 10. Evolution Cost: 100 GP Turn yourself into a car! Sponsored by Mikael¡¯s Automatic Emporium ¡°Bringing motorized love to the Skalgan Galaxy¡±
Inside his mind, something appeared. All of the knowledge related to this skill ¡°Internal Motors¡± appeared. The skill itself seemed to describe using some sort of energy to make the body function as a car. The effects seemed almost magical to Lev. ¡°What is this?¡± Lev asked everyone else wondered this as well. ¡°Well see the system collects all of the creations of man or not man and combines them all into a list. All of the skills, and artworks, and magics of the world are combined into this list and sold. It¡¯s the greatest money-making scheme in the world and the currency to get all these skills is energy.¡± A zap went down Lev¡¯s back. They were completely at the mercy of these people of these things. All of Earth couldn¡¯t compare to these gods. ¡°Well you guys, it has been a pleasure but I have to fuck with, I mean introduce more people to the system. So go along and remember. Don¡¯t die!¡± Lev¡¯s energy that had been floating in the air returned back to Lev¡¯s body, making him ¡°normal¡± again. The Embodiments engine revved and surrounding each of the men a portal started to envelop them. Lev closed his eyes as the portal went over him, but opened them as soon as he felt it. The cool air against his back and the green, green all around him. All around him as far as he could see trees and more trees went on in an infinite expanse. ¡°Jameson I don¡¯t think we are in New York anymore¡± Forests and Cyclops The smell of pine and spruce filled Lev¡¯s lungs. It reminded him of something he had smelled long ago. When his mom still lived in Mexico and when as a kid he had gone just a little too far over the rocks overlooking their home and saw the jungle And now the same jungle that he had seen as a kid stood right in front of him. From behind him, Lev heard a grasp, he turned around and looked. Jameson appeared in thin air looking queasy like he had just gone through a washer at a little too high of a setting. He stood for a second, then his stomach seemed to turn around and spilled right in front of him. Chunks of last night''s meal of protein bars and moldy bananas splattered right in front of Lev, a chunk of banana landing on his shoes. Lev looked down at it, he swatted away into some nearby bush. ¡°Where are we? I thought we were still in New York, this looks like, a jungle?¡± Jameson said. ¡°I know this place, Mexico, I¡¯ve been here before,¡± Lev said. ¡°To this exact spot? Or like general location, just wondering.¡± ¡°Not to this exact spot dumbass, like general location, or at least someplace with a jungle-like this. Jameson got up, his previous sickness had long left his eyes. Lev looked at the trees, they revealed nothing. Just darkness stared at him. A bush rustled, Lev stared at it, it stopped, they were in a clearing filled with wild grass, each of them on top of a rock. The clearing ended and the rest was the jungle. ¡°Should we go in?¡± ¡°I mean it seems like the only way to get back to like society, and I don¡¯t know about you but I kinda want a warm bath right now,¡± Jameson said. He was right, they both needed a bath those long hours traveling through New York City hadn¡¯t treated well. Lev brushed off some soot from his jacket. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡± Lev jumped down from his rock and Jameson went with him. And they started to walk towards the forest. Not two steps in a roar sounded from deep in the jungle. An inhuman roar from the depths of some forests beasts lungs or at least Lev hoped because at least he knew forest beasts. Lev and Jameson both stopped, Lev looked at Jameson, Jameson looked at Lev, it was going to be a long day. Lev stepped into the forest and everything went dark. The forest canopy overhead blocking out all light. On the ground, a set of tangled root systems knobbed and ebbed along. Lev started to walk, every couple of steps almost tripping on another root. James didn¡¯t last much better.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°What do you think that was Lev, I mean like that whole Embodiment thing, I mean I get the videogame screens I¡¯ve seen anime but like Embodiments? And car skills?¡± ¡°I wish I knew, they are probably some sort of monitoring force, I mean this system can¡¯t like look at everyone everywhere so they probably just hired some really strong guys and told them to watch.¡± ¡°What¡¯s even the point in this whole stupid system. Like if I was an ultra-powerful nigh-omnipotent computer program or alien civilization I wouldn¡¯t spend my resources on powering people up.¡± Jameson said. Lev wondered about the same thing. The system didn¡¯t even seem to want them to defend the world from like some horrible corruption, there wasn¡¯t even any monsters for them to kill so what was the point in it all. ¡°I¡¯m just fucking tired of all this walking, why couldn¡¯t we have a normal apocalypse where everyone dies and no technology works,¡± Jameson said. ¡°Hey, you don¡¯t know everyone could still be dead,¡± Lev said upbeat, but the words just echoed around in the forest trees. It felt like night in there and the gradual little pieces of light let in by the tree canopies were the stars. Lev¡¯s arms started to hurt so they dug into the food they brang. Lev only took some of the protein bars that he had for the days he spent writing all day and all night. The taste of chalky chocolate filled his mouth normally he¡¯d gag but right now it tasted like heaven. They stopped on the bark of an overturned tree. They were silent while they ate, nobody seemed to like talking. ¡°Maybe we should use the skills we got from the Embodiment, I mean like more strength seems like a good idea right now considering.¡± They both knew what was being considered. They started to walk again, jumping over roots, and clambering over the roots. It was hard work, the trees formed a night. Time just seemed to stop in the night sky. However, beyond the sea of roots, Lev saw a clearing. Shrouded in golden light, it called to him. In the center of the clearing surrounded by a sea of long grass it sat. The light hitting its eyes in such a particular way. Lev walked towards it. The grass brushing against his thighs as he got closer, leaving little marks on his knees. The statue itself was a woman. Its eyes looked at Lev pleading for something, a shiver ran down Lev¡¯s back. She looked young, her eyes were round and she had big round eyelashes. Whoever she was sculpted from was really a beauty, she was running from something, probably some sort of monster imagined by the sculptor. Lev looked for markings of movement to see how it was moved there. The grass revealed no secrets. ¡°What the hell,¡± Jameson said. ¡°Who the hell would place a statue in the middle of nowhere especially one as good as this.¡± Lev walked closer to the statue. Its stone skin shone in the sun. It glistened like actual skin, the sculptor even included pores and pumps. She was a person, a full entire, person in a statue. What kind of genius had created this statue? Lev would like to meet him. Lev put his hand out to touch the statue. When another hand grabbed his. A stone hand. Sculptors Paradise The stone hand gripped Lev¡¯s hand like a vice. He couldn¡¯t get it off of me ¡°What the-¡± Lev tried to say when another stone fist went right into his face.¡± The statue that Lev had just been about to touch was moving and attacking like a human being. Jameson ran towards Lev and the statue. ¡°Get the fuck off of him,¡± Jameson said as he sent a kick to the statue. His foot slammed into the stone however the statue didn¡¯t budge except to swivel its head and stare directly at Jameson. Lev¡¯s mind hurt like hell, this thing packed quite the punch. He felt the bat that he had gotten from before almost slipping from his hands. He caught it before it did and brought it around to slam right against the statue''s hand. The statue let out a crack, Lev brought the bat down on the arm of the statue again, and again, and again. And finally, it shattered split off. The statue''s mouth just stood there not doing its arm fell to the floor with the sound of shattering stone. Lev brought his bat to the head of the statue, it raised it¡¯s arms to block but it¡¯s stone arms weren¡¯t fast enough. The head of the statue caved in, it¡¯s skull looking like a deformed basketball. ¡°A motherfucking statue. Now that¡¯s why I hate the apocalypse, the monster¡¯s don¡¯t even make sense.¡±
100 XP Gained from the slaying of [Reanimated Statue] Gained 0.1 Strength. Gained 1 Level in Blunt Weapons
¡°And now I get closer to a level up¡± Lev said using air quotes. ¡°We need to get stronger or else shit like this will kill us. I don¡¯t want to die before getting at least another bath.¡± Lev grunted in agreement. ¡°What skill did you get from the stupid car? I got this like I mean, I get to become a car.¡± Lev said, Jameson laughed out loud, he always had a stupid barking laugh and it sounded stupider. ¡°You get to become a fucking car. Holy shit they do get skills from anywhere guess what I got. Don¡¯t laugh. I swear to God if you laugh Lev I am going to beat your ass.¡± Lev put on his serious face. He wouldn¡¯t make fun of whatever Jameson was given. ¡°I got a skill to make my ass into an exhaust pipe¡± Lev looked at Jameson. Jameson looked at Lev. ¡°Fine, you can laugh.¡± Lev let out the biggest belly laugh he had. The stress left his shoulders and he finally started to smile. ¡°Okay so while I train whatever this skill I got is you can train your¡­ Special skill.¡± At the mention of special skill, Lev let out a little chuckle. Lev frowned after, his special skill was so complicated, it involved summoning some sort of energy out of his bones to try and form an internal engine. This engine would somehow more efficiently power his body. To form the energy it said to do some weird movements and somehow it would form. Lev moved his arms forward, his legs back and from his lungs he gave a long groan, vibrating over and over again, like the engine of a car. In the depths and corners of his lungs came energy. A familiar energy but somehow different. It felt like the diesel out of one of the gas-guzzling cars the old men in his town would drive. And he felt good. Lev felt incredible. His body felt powerful strong, enough to destroy the trees with a single punch and then and then and then horribly it disappeared from his lungs. Enraptured by the beauty and greatness of the energy Lev had forgotten to use it to create the lung engine. It would be another hour before he could generate the energy again at least that¡¯s what the knowledge inside his head said. Lev looked at Jameson, not a single piece of clothing was on his body and he sat on the ground eating one of his bars. Lev looked away as fast as he looked there. Not a sound escaped the clearing, only a slight trickle and some groans from Jamesons unfortunate training technique. Lev frowned where was the trickle coming from. Lev looked around, not a stream in sight, except, Lev looked down. The statue sat on the ground, it¡¯s caved in head looking almost human in the evening light, and the strange red liquid coming from the tip of the head added even more to the look. Lev looked at the red liquid, and he knew what it was. ¡°Jameson, I think, fuck, I think we may have,¡± Lev muttered. That red liquid, that red liquid, Lev didn¡¯t like it, Lev did not like it. ¡°Kinda busy here Lev.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re shitting Jameson, it¡¯s pretty obvious¡± Jameson grunted and pulled his pants back up to his waist. ¡°Toilet paper, I knew I was forgetting something,¡± Jameson muttered. Jameson walked over to Lev. Lev pointed at it. Jameson saw. ¡°Well fuck. I guess we¡¯re killers now.¡± An odd feeling permeated the air. Like the sweet scent of first meeting someone and like the scent when you see them last. Lev stared at the corpse for a while, for it was a corpse he could see it now. The way that it¡¯s body curved, it¡¯s mouth in constant curdling pain. What awful system monster had done this to a person. She, they, it, had died long before Lev or Jameson killed it. Jameson looked away. ¡°We should probably go, I¡¯m getting the heebie-jeebies here, and it may or may not have to do with the literal corpse.¡± Lev didn¡¯t laugh at Jameson¡¯s joke. Neither did Jameson. They walked out of the clearing, neither of them looking back. After the hours walked away and Lev and Jameson were long gone from the forest. Something came through the trees. It¡¯s legs like the walls of a building, and it arms the size of twelve men, and its eye stared at you through the trees. It made its way through the forest, each step of it¡¯s not making a sound.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Each step it took got it closer to the clearing where the statue sat. And finally, it arrived. It¡¯s long arms poking through the rocks and grasses in the clearing. Until it saw the statue, its eyes focused, each muscle of it¡¯s tensed and in the air came the red dark energy of its body. It picked up the statue of the women and brought it to its lips. And gave the statue a gentle kiss that turned into slobber, huge drops of saliva covered the entirety of the statue. Finally, the creature decided to finish it¡¯s slobbering and let the poor statue down. And from its mouth came a blood curdling, man-killing, love destroying, scream. As Lev walked over a root, and Jameson sat on the ground, they heard the scream and froze. For it when they heard the scream, something in them felt a little different. Felt off and felt horrible. Lev turned to the direction of the scream. Uncountable things went through his mind, and the gears turned within his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think that was a jungle creature, or like a tiger, or like a lion, or like literally anything that could¡¯ve possibly been in this jungle originally,¡± Lev said. Jameson nodded in agreement. ¡°It¡¯s fine, all of this is God damn fine Lev, I mean like come on a horrible roar how could that even kill us,¡±Jameson said his hands massaging his temples. Lev chuckled as he climbed over a huge root system. Lev didn¡¯t care, honestly, he could die if he wanted to, this journey this world seemed fun. The boring streets of New York couldn¡¯t compare to killing an evil statue creature or the literal magical encounter with a car. ¡°I think I might like this world. Something about it is so I guess beautiful. Like look at this me and you are walking through a jungle forest well listening to the death curdling screams of something that probably, no definitely, wants to kill us.¡± Lev said getting more and more excited as he spoke. His voice getting louder and louder until he almost started to scream. Jameson looked at Lev like the way a scared gazelle looks at the lion about to pounce on it. ¡°Man you¡¯re crazy. It¡¯s been like what five days and you want to stay in this shitty reality. Now we have a dwindling food supply, we are in the middle of a jungle, and there¡¯s a god damn thing following us. Are you sane.¡± Lev stopped on the top of an overturned tree. ¡°I guess, but I mean it¡¯s like I don¡¯t know. I just didn¡¯t ever like Columbia or even like school, I just didn¡¯t like this whole world. Everything in it, everyone in it. And it¡¯s not just because I¡¯ve never had a girlfriend.¡± Lev said. The trees seemed to darker. Night was approaching and with the night came danger. They settled in, in a nook nestled between the leaves of a great tree. All they had between the two for some light was a tiny lamp that Jameson had brought. Lev started to activate the skill given by the car. The energy sparked from his lungs and traveled through the rest of his body. Lev scrunched up his eyebrows and calmed his minds, he focused. He willed, wished the energy to move and to his heart first. There he willed it to form a sort of engine. First, he formed the pistons then the chamber and finally the tubes connecting the two. His breath grew louder and started to vibrate. His body came alive like an engine. However, the engine in his heart needed just one more additional piece, one more additional spark. The book said that to start this metaphorical engine he would have to imagine it on his own. Lev focused, each muscle in his body tensed but his mind went further. His mind went into his body, looking at his lungs, blackened by years of smoking, it passed through his stomach which throbbed with the familiar feeling of hunger and finally to the heart. There he urged to go further, to go deeper into his heart. All he saw was a singular speck of blood, one individual piece of hemoglobin, and inside that piece, he saw the energy. This energy was the power of blood made real, he created this energy and it belonged to him. Lev imagined this blood as the fuel to his body, what made his body go. What made it tick. The blood changed, an inky black color invaded its outer regions like the gradual assimilation of some terrible biological virus. The blood became a drop of oil in the sea of his body, but to fully activate the oil what did Lev need to do. He needed a spark. First Lev thought maybe he needed to move it hard enough, but it was already difficult to move it so he needed something else. He tried willing it to light but that didn¡¯t work either. What could light oil? What made oil burst into great big piles of flame. Lev¡¯s mind turned and turned over the idea but he couldn¡¯t think. Everything distracted him, the trees, Jamesons breaths as he looked out the window, everything. Did Lev have any great memory of a fire? Of a burning so intense and beautiful that it could even When Lev was only a kid. In the town, he was born in. Lev as a kid had decided to buy a book from the local bookseller. It was a dusty old shop, built in the traditional style of the town with white adobe bricks. And he left the bookstore carrying a nice shiny copy of The Chronicles of Narnia. The book had the most beautiful pictures, of noble lions, and children just like Lev wielding swords. Lev studied them as he walked home in the golden gray evening sun and he studied them as he opened the door to the tiny apartment he and his mom shared. However, he stopped looking at them as he saw who lay on the floor. Six needles in her arm, and a wicked smile on her face. And he couldn¡¯t look at the book anymore after that. So at night after all the police left, and the doctors pronounced that she would make it, Lev took a box of matches and burnt the book. The fire jumped and reached for the clouds as it enveloped the book, and Lev stared, he looked at the beauty of the fire. The fire was great, the fire was good and the fire was everything he wanted. And while the memories inside Lev¡¯s head churned, and he remembered. The oil inside of his blood caught on fire, and his heart beat faster and faster, like the thrumb of an engine. And he came alive. His blood was the fuel that his soul needed. His heart grew bigger by an inch, his lungs shrugged off the debris that they accumulated over their long and tumultuous life. His body groaned with the sounds of these changes, he felt good, really god damn good. Across his face, the familiar glow of the blue screens appeared:
Skill gained: [Internal Motors] Level 1-2 Your body has started to gain car-like qualities. +1 Strength +1 Agility +Gain the ability to make more of the food you eat [Internal Motors] is a registered trademark of Mikael Corp.
Energy gained: [Blood] The energy of the blood. Makes use of genetics, evolution, the strength of body, and sometimes strength of mind. With the unlocking of [Blood], you gain a message from the original creator of the energy ¡°Hiya guy of another race. It¡¯s the year 1070 Galactic Standard Year and me, Naolue Meinko, crown prince of the Empire of the Sun have probably changed the galaxies with this discovery, anyway, not much more to say, blah blah blah, the world is shit and I¡¯m living in it with you, so just live.¡±
To Much To Drink Last Night ¡°Holy shit I feel good. I feel freaking excellent. I feel like the god damn stars.¡± Lev said almost screaming it, Jameson looked at Lev irritated. Jameson sat there in the nook of the tree trying to sleep but obviously struggling. The forest didn¡¯t let out a sound. The darkness sat along with the trees and Lev could see nothing. It was unnerving to see nothing come out from the forest. Not a peep, not a crickets sound, came to meet his ears. Lev sat staring at the willows. Lev couldn''t remember the last time he had seen nature. Maybe on some long walk with his mom that she thought would build character or when he visited his Abuelo''s house in the winter. Jameson''s breathing slowed, his sleep had come. In the shadows of the sleep deep tendrils of inky energy seeped into his brain. Jameson frowned and yet said nothing. Away perched on a tree above Lev was a man. He blended with the trees and yet also seemed distinctly separate as if on purpose. He was the most ordinary unordinary man. His hands tapped the tree, yet did not make a sound. And down below Lev also tapped the tree, thinking something as he watched the trees. Tap, tap, tap, his hands hit the tree and nailed into the bark. He took his hands away from the tree, Lev had strength, his body was stronger, and everything seemed more efficient. And his nails dug into the tree trunk once more. This world, these powers, everything in it was strange. Cars, and statues and giants and all of this. All of this spun within his head and played a little game. Lev summoned the screens that governed his life. That controlled everything now. So ordinary the language and yet he wondered. Didn''t the system seem different? It seemed to measure a different part of life. Creativity? Logic? All of these were not the skills that moderated someone''s life but moderated something else. But Lev didn''t know. Above Lev the creature, no, the man, disappeared in the night. In the forest, something moved, and from the shadows, a stone hand came out and grasped the tree in which they sat. Lev jumped back. ¡°What the hell is this,¡± Lev said trying to wake Jameson up. Jameson grumbled something about hamburgers and being to old for this. Another stone hand gripped the tree, they were high up so the statues couldn¡¯t get them, yet. The statues bashed the tree, shaking the very foundations of where they were. That final shake woke Jameson up. Lev decided to grab his flashlight and attempt to point it into the forest. All around them standing in rows upon rows of rows that statues walked. There each step sounded throughout the forest creating a cacophony of sounds. ¡°What the hell do we do, we¡¯re so fucking screwed,¡± Jameson shouted though he didn¡¯t need to. The statues below them started to shake the tree they were in even more. Leaves fell from the rafters and landing on the heads of the statues. One of the statues, a stocky man with huge bulging muscles grabbed onto the edge of the tree and tried to scramble up towards them. It¡¯s hands over it¡¯s legs, it almost got to the part of the tree in which Lev and Jameson were if it weren¡¯t for the bat to the face it received.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The face of the statue caved in and revealed the juicy insides. Lev had so much power, he could utterly decimate the head of one of these statues. Lev took a breath in and let out a great breath out, he sounded like the engine of a car.
100 XP Gained from the slaying of [Reanimated Statue] Level Up
A surge of energy went through Lev¡¯s body. Golden pale energy, the color of the sun as it comes up in the morning and when it goes down at night. He basked in its energy and his body got hotter and hotter. Both his mind and his body seemed to start to boil and his heart began to vibrate. From below another statue¡¯s hands grabbed the body of the tree. It scrambled up like a spider, Lev could barely react when it had already arrived at his little encampment. It stood in front of him for a second, Lev held his bat as he stared unsure of what to do, this statue barely looked human. Its hands were long and elongated and its toes had become talons the size of a man. Instead of the metal of the previous statues, this statue was made of dark ebony. The ebony shone and glinted in the moonlight, Lev stared at its gloss. Darkness, utter darkness, the statue itself seemed to shine with darkness. Unlike the other statues, it wore a cloak that moved with the wind. ¡°Ahhhhh yes you humans are a lovely snack, just a little nibbling, maybe even just a crumb for master. He¡¯ll love to eat you.¡± The statue said and after from its mouth came the strangest creaking noise. Lev looked at the statue, his arms frozen, his whole entire body frozen, he couldn¡¯t move at all. Two twin hands made out of darkness grasped his own hands pulling him down to the Earth. He struggled against them but they wouldn¡¯t budge, they couldn¡¯t budge. Lev looked at the statue again and it was coming down on Lev, it¡¯s arms coming down into a frightful horrible terrifying attack. Except as its hands rose into the air, a huge metal crowbar landed right on it¡¯s back. It fell to the floor, it¡¯s body deflated, it¡¯s energy gone, just a man it was, in a metal suit. Blood splattered on the crowbar. Jameson huffed, air exiting his lungs as he looked down at the bird creature he had killed. ¡°We gotta get out of here.¡± So they ran, and ran through the trees, Jameson was better than Lev, his body¡¯s muscles coming in handy on the jungle terrain. From below a sea of statues grasped at their feet. Thousands of them standing side by side on the jungle below. And Lev and Jameson''s feet could hardly keep them from running faster. Lev¡¯s legs seemed to function differently he noticed, all of the muscles were more efficient, and they all seemed to run on some sort of fuel that not even Lev knew he had. Four minutes passed and they got more and more tired at the passing. Jameson slipped on a branch, and down, down, down he fell until he hit another branch with a thunk. Lev winced as Jameson¡¯s body collided with it. Lev helped Jameson up but as he saw Jameson¡¯s body he sighed. His leg was twisted in a most unnatural way, the bone seemed to point directly at Lev accusing him of something. ¡°Can you run?¡± Lev asked. All that he received from Jameson was a grunt of affirmation. But his leg couldn¡¯t move. Definitely couldn¡¯t move. All around Lev came the statues. Different colors, different heights, all the same variety of death. They crawled along with the trees inching closer and closer to Lev¡¯s position. Lev took a deep breath, and from his core came a sound. From his real core came a sound, his lungs started to vibrate, his muscles started to vibrate. Much like the engine of a car. And Lev was just starting up