《Re:Eclipse》 Prologue A group of Glowing ones charged with a screech, racing on all fours towards them, leaving a trail of lava dropping from their long and thin limbs. Ashley¡¯s shot from her sniper rifle hit one of them in his featureless face, but he moved forward as if nothing happened. The next one ripped off his left arm from the body, but another one grew in seconds. They were tougher than expected. Felix crouched behind the railgun cannon as the system placed a red icon over the five enemies. The coils around the barrel glowed of hot red light, and when the bar reached one hundred percent on the screen, he pulled the lever backward. He ducked as the whole weapon moved backward from the recoil, and a cloud of white smoke billowed around him. When he raised his gaze again, only flaming orange mush remained. ¡°Good job¡±, said Ashley, rising from the ground with her anti-materiel rifle; ¡°I just pulled a trigger¡±; ¡°That¡¯s the difference between life and death¡±. They turned towards the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge, where Elliot, Cole, and Milton were huddled around the large metal box of the charge. ¡°We¡¯re clear¡±, said Felix on the radio channel of his full helmet. ¡°There¡¯s a problem with the circuits. We need still three minutes¡±, said Elliot, ¡°Wait¡±; ¡°Roger¡±, he said, but in reality, he wanted to get the hell away from this place as soon as possible. The skyscrapers of the city were now piles of rubble hidden in the darkness, inhabited only by the monsters he fought before. He activated the armor¡¯s air-recycling system, as the tall visible flames and columns of smoke coming from Central Park made the air unbreathable. ¡°Have you thought about the plan?¡±, he said; ¡°What do you mean?¡±, she said, ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to be evacuated?¡±; ¡°The other plan¡±. She groaned, ¡°Not again¡±, she said; ¡°I don¡¯t really care much anymore, but you still have someone-¡±; ¡°You should mind your business, Felix¡±, he couldn¡¯t see the expression behind the helmet, but she must have been angry, ¡°You¡¯re talking about very dangerous things¡±. He just wanted at least to do a good action, the one he didn¡¯t do with his family before it was too late. ¡°Sorry. Just having a bad moment¡±; ¡°Just don¡¯t dig it anymore¡±. Felix turned towards the other three, as more than three minutes had passed. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±, he said on the radio channel of his full helmet; ¡°We¡¯re nearly done¡±, answered Elliot, ¡°Everything is fine¡±. Elliot waved his arm towards him but stopped and raised his head towards the white bright light descending on the bridge. The earth started to shake, and cracks started to form on the already broken tarmac. The rumbling noise was so loud it was going beyond the protective layer of the helmet, making his eyelids twitch. ¡°What¡¯s happening!?¡±, Ashley said; ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡±. The steel cables of the bridge snapped and dangled loose, while the roadway started to swing from one side to the other. This couldn¡¯t be the charge. Felix grabbed the railgun and turned it towards whatever was coming. A perfectly sphered spaceship was levitating over the rough waters of the river, slowly moving towards the bridge. His eyes widened, ¡°This can¡¯t be¡±;Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Why would they be here?¡±. Felix opened the radio channel, ¡°Elliot!¡±. The air around the three men started wavering, and he already knew what was going to happen. He pushed Ashley on the ground, as the explosion made a shower of debris ring against the metal of their armors. White smoke billowed around them, and steam started to form on the visor. Attention! Said a message on top of his vision, Body temperature rising beyond safe levels. ¡°We must go and save them!¡±, said Ashley, running in the smoke. ¡°Wait!¡±, there was no way they had survived the explosion, but she was already gone. The railgun lost all the power in the explosion, and Felix didn¡¯t have the time to try to find a reason. He pulled the submachine gun from the holster and followed her inside the cloud of smoke. He didn¡¯t care if he died, but she still had someone waiting for her, and he couldn¡¯t allow it. Cole¡¯s body was lying sprawled on the ground, with a metal splinter sticking between his eyes, ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡±, said Felix, as he moved towards the gunfire. He ducked as a shower of rocks fell from the nearest tower bridge, and a cable swung in front of him. The road¡¯s inclination was becoming steeper towards the sea, as half of the bridge was already gone underwater, but he couldn¡¯t see the spaceship anymore. Elliot was lying behind the charge box, and Felix had to follow the trail of blood with his gaze to see where the left leg was gone. Enemy¡¯s spears of fire were making sizzling sounds around him, but the excessive heat had already disabled most of the sensors, and red error icons wouldn¡¯t stop from flashing on his vision. Ashley pulled the trigger from her rifle and turned towards him, ¡°I¡¯ll cover you!¡±; ¡°Where¡¯s Milton?¡±, Felix said; ¡°Gone!¡±, said Elliot. Heavy breathing was coming out of the helmet, ¡°What are you doing here? Leave me here and save yourselves, you fools!¡±. Felix pulled him up and carried on his back. ¡°We¡¯ll never leave a comrade behind¡±, said Ashley, and threw a smoke grenade in front of her, giving more time to Felix to move away. He was far stronger than a normal person but carrying nearly half a ton of man and armor was tough. ¡°Glowing one!¡±, said Elliot, and Felix raised the submachine gun. The burst wasn¡¯t enough to kill him, but it slowed him enough that Ashley was able to cut his head off with the cryogenic sword. The bridge started to rumble again as part of the roadway behind them crumbled in the sea, and they were now walking uphill. Felix gritted his teeth as he moved as fast as he could because if they fell in the water it¡¯d be the end. ¡°Elliot¡±, said Felix, ¡°How is it?¡±. His head slumped on his shoulder, ¡°Elliot!¡±. He moved slightly his head, ¡°I¡¯m fine¡±, but his voice was already too weak. Three Glowing Ones charged towards them. There was no way Ashley could put them down alone. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡±, said Felix, as he dropped Elliot on the ground and unsheathed the cryogenic sword. One of them jumped towards him, but he sliced the arm lurching towards him in mid-air, cutting it off in a cloud of steam and sparkles. He dropped the now useless sword on the ground, and, as he was unsheathing the other one, a screech filled his ears and a wave of heat hit him, pushing him to the ground. The Glowing One grabbed his neck. Steam and bubbles were forming on the armor, while cracks were appearing on his vision. Felix tried to kick him with no avail and trying to grab it back was impossible as it was like try lava. He couldn¡¯t breathe anymore as he was being cooked inside the armor. The cryogenic sword cut off his enemy¡¯s head, making him collapse on the ground. ¡°Thank you¡±, he said, as Ashley gave him a hand to pull himself up. She ran towards Elliot and shook his body, but the red light had already lighted on his chest. ¡°We must go¡±, he said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do anymore¡±. Ashley caressed Elliot¡¯s cheek with a sigh, ¡°I¡¯m coming¡±. They left the bridge and retreated in the darkness, running among the rubble, but at last, they had to stop to let the armors cool down. Ashley turned towards him, ¡°How are you?¡±, she said; ¡°Mostly fine¡±. Nothing could be a surprise anymore, and the death of most of his team left him cold, even If he knew all those people from the Academy days. ¡°But the bridge is gone now¡±, he said, ¡°It will hard to leave this place¡±. They were most likely doomed. ¡°We¡¯ll find a way¡±, she said, ¡°We can remove our armors and swim¡±; ¡°I don¡¯t think it can be feasible¡±; ¡°I¡¯m sure that everything will be fine¡±, she said, ¡°We¡¯ve have survived much worse things. Remember in Alas-¡± The fire spear made a cracking sound as it perforated the side of the helmet. Ashley collapsed on her knees as another one pierced her breastplate from end to end, pushing her backward. Felix caught her falling body, but there was nothing he could do anymore. He opened the visor of her helmet, showing her closed eyes and blood-soaked hair. As it happened with everybody else, he couldn¡¯t save her. He raised his gaze to the bright light of the spaceship in front of him. A young woman wearing a white dress was walking towards him without casting a shadow. Her long dark hair was moving even if the air was still, and her feet weren¡¯t touching the ground. ¡°Come, Felix¡±, she said, giving her hand. How could he say no? It was his wife after all. His metal gauntlet touched the long and slender pale fingers. Darkness enveloped him, and when his eyes opened again, he was on the ground, coughing blood as he raised his chin towards the fire spear sticking from his neck. Chapter 1 Felix¡¯s eyes opened to a frosted glass panel. His heart was starting to push blood in his arteries, and his chest moved up and down to each breath. A tingling sensation from his nerves made him move his fingers and toes. It was like awakening from a long dreamless sleep. A plastic tube was jutting out from his mouth and the glass panel, going past his throat and leaving a burning sensation against his windpipe. After grabbing it and removing the tape holding it to his mouth, he pulled it slowly, trying to cough it out. He threw the saliva dripping tube on his side and removed the electrodes from his pale skin, now hairless. His hands were much smaller than before, and he had all of his fingers at their right places now, which was a welcome surprise. An unwelcome one was that his arms looked like toothpicks, and the skin was stretched from each rib to the other. He pushed the glass panel, but it wouldn¡¯t budge. An alarm rang; ¡°Human activity detected¡±, said a robotic voice, ¡°Please, stand by. The system will now inject the required elements to survive¡±. A dark grey liquid moved in the plastic tube toward the IV in his arm, making him close his eyes and grit his teeth. His tolerance to pain seemed much lower; before he could endure being shot without giving much thought about it; now he couldn''t even withstand a needle. ¡°The process is now complete¡±, said the voice, ¡°You are now ready to survive outside. The Capsule will now open¡±. Felix ripped off the IV from his arm and jumped out, but, as his feet met the ground, his knees buckled and he tumbled on the ground, shaking. A harsh light hanging from the ceiling illuminated the small room, together with the blinking lights of the two buzzing cabinets connected at the capsule. A young face raised his head, moving his long blonde hair from his face, and a pair of two blue eyes stared back at him. ¡°Who are you?¡±, he said, moving his arm toward him. The boy''s lips moved as he talked, and when his fingers touched the glass of the mirror, his eyes widened. He knew that something in his body was different, but this shouldn¡¯t even be possible. He waved his hand at the boy and he waved back. ¡°Oh, God¡±, he said, shuddering. Who was this guy? But he already knew the answer: it was him, but fifteen years younger. His head slumped on the ground, his long hair covering his face, and his nails clawing on his skull. What he had built in all these years had been deleted with a snap of fingers; one of his nightmares becoming reality. He wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to take a long breath to calm his racing heart. Why was even crying anyway? He was an elite soldier, or maybe it was better to say he had been one in the past, but he won''t gain anything by crying.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. What happened before arriving here? He knew that he was on a bridge, and he saw a tall man carrying one of his comrades, until a weird creature which he couldn¡¯t remember the name attacked him. Then a woman in armor got shot, and the man grabbed her as she was falling, but an orange glowing spike pierced his throat, killing him. He died, what next? There should be something to look here somewhere. His joints made cracking sounds as he stood up. His muscles were stiff, and he could see that this body, like a car, had been kept in the garage for too long. He accessed the screen of the cabinet in front of him. He moved past all the medical jargon he couldn¡¯t understand until he arrived at the Logs:
12.03.2344: The Embryo has been successfully planted in the womb; 06.25.2345: Clone deceased due to brain malformation at birth; 08.01.2345: The Embryo has been successfully planted in a second womb. 07.05.2346: The birth has been successful. No anomalies to report. 07.05.2356: Ten years of age reached. No anomalies to report. 04.14.2363: Original subject decease reported. Stopping growth to allow transfer. 04.14.2863: Transfer complete. The subject awakened before estimated date.
He read many times the four numbers of the year, and he even traced it with his finger on the screen to see if it was real, or he was d, but after he woke up fifteen years younger, there was nothing he could find impossible anymore. There were other voices in the menu, but they were password-protected. There was nothing to do here anymore. He had to move and go to see the outside world, to understand why he was alive again, and if humanity still existed. The capsule, which was inside an alcove in the wall, had an openable slot next to it. Felix found a blue suit and a pair of boots put over a harness that should have been able to dress him when he was unconscious, something which left him dumbfounded. He caught the falling sheet of paper before it touched the ground. ¡°In case of awakening¡±, he read out loud, ¡°Enter again in the capsule and close the lid. The system will provide to the expulsion¡±. Now that Felix looked around noticed that the room was completely sealed. After dressing himself, he entered again. The lid closed itself shut again. Metal plates slid over the glass, shutting all the light off. After a loud whirring sound, the capsule started to shake and race upwards. Felix curled himself into a ball, shuddering at the thought of the capsule stopping and him being locked there for the eternity. He screamed every time it slowed down, or when it clanged against a large rock, slamming him against the walls. After an eternity of time, it stopped. Apart from his death, this was one of the worst experiences in his life. ¡°Please¡±, he said, ¡°Make it be the end¡±. The lid of the capsule opened, and sand started to fall on top of him. He jumped out and faltered until he fell. One of the worst sensations was being aware of the rotating movement of Earth. He raised his gaze to the sun setting over the dunes, dividing them into a brighter orange side and a dark one. On the opposite side, there were the pale blue silhouettes of the mountains, with a line of bright orange, yellow, and blue lights flashing at their feet. ¡°It could have been worse¡± Chapter 2 As he stood on the top of a dune, a light breeze was pushing the brown sand in small currents, rising over the crests and the grooves of the ground. It wasn''t the first time he was lost in a desert, as it happened, by error, during his fifth-year simulation at the Academy, but this time there wouldn''t be any reset button. He opened the bag he retrieved from the capsule before it got swallowed by the sand. The first thing he found was a standard green plastic canteen. As it was too light, He removed the cap and turned it upside down, shaking it, but his hand below remained dry. Was this supposed to be a joke? He pulled everything from the bag: a roll of tape, some lengths of rope, a large sheet, and a tin pot. Something stung his thumb, ¡°Damn!¡±, he said and sucked the blood from the small cut. He found a saw-toothed knife at the bottom, but not even a drop of water. A white bar loaded over his vision, followed by a red flashing triangle. On the right side of his vision, there were three numbers, rising and falling: 85/54 and 108. This was the old HUD system, but it was the only one is new-but-old body could withstand. Attention! Said a female voice, Fluid level unbalance detected; Electrolyte level unbalance detected- Fluid economy mode activated. The dryness of his throat, the clamminess of the palms of his hands and forehead, combined with chilling shivers running along his spine made him really think he was in danger of dying of thirst. His heart skipped a beat, sounding with a beep over his HUD. He was really in danger. His armor had a function that could gather water and electrolytes from the environment and purify them without him needing to think about it. But many things changed: for starters, he didn¡¯t have his armor, and he wasn''t seven-foot tall anymore. Going towards the only sign of civilization was the best idea, and even seeing something that can resemble one made him much more hopeful. Even the fact that earth still existed altogether and that he could breathe without catching fire reassured him. Maybe now the Enemy was ruling on everything, and another fire spear was waiting for him if he went that way, but he knew that in this desert there was nothing naught than death. But first, he needed to find water if he wanted to reach that point. He got down the dune he was at the top in under a minute but climbing the next one took more than an hour. When he arrived at the top again, his breath was cooling into a small cloud. The suit was making a good job at keeping his body warm, indicated by a green 98.5 in the right part of his vision. The wind stopped, and he could hear the blood entering his heart, the valves closing, and opening again. The night vision layer of his eyes was reflecting itself on the ground in two small yellow dots. At least, he still had some of the commodities of a twenty-fourth-century soldier. Looking at the night sky made him think he how forgot its beauty in his past life: it was easy to do when you lived in fear of a missile dropping on your head. It was cramped with stars of all dimensions and variety of colors, with the Milky way tracing a wide line in the middle and the polar star gleaming over the mountains. It was like the one during the mid-terms of his first year at the Academy, when they had to spend a night alone in the woods. He was sleeping in his tent when, after hearing a howling sound, he bolted out and screamed ¡°Wolf!¡±, only to discover that the upperclassmen had buried a sound device beneath the fallen leaves. In a sort of way, those days felt more real now than before, as if they happened yesterday and not fifteen years ago, or more like five hundred fifteen. A narrow strip of flat terrain lied between two stony faces at the feet of the dune he was on top. Most probably, he won¡¯t find anything if not weeds, and he kicked one of the many cobbles lying around, then sat against the rock wall. It was hard to keep his lids open, a sensation he didn¡¯t experience since the academy days because the HUD 2.0 cleaned his brain from toxins without any need of sleep.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. His hand caught a pebble, touching the moisten sand under. Moisten sand. His eyes pried open. Earth got under his nails as he started digging until he found he could use a rock, or a stick sharpened with the knife. ¡°Come on¡±, he said, pushing away the drier sand of the surface. When the pit was at his arm¡¯s depth, murky water started flowing from the walls. ¡°Yes!¡±, he said, but his excitement died when it stopped just soon after. It wasn¡¯t enough, but if he wanted to look at the positive side, just its presence was a sign that the planet was still habitable by something. He collected it inside his canteen. He wasn¡¯t going to reach the mountains in one day. As he was still too tired, finding a shelter to spend the day would be the better choice. Walking on the right side of the gully, he found a recess inside the rock in which he could fit inside. He buried the pot in the ground, together with some brown leaves of a plant he found nearby and closed the hole with a piece he cut from the plastic sheet. At last, he crouched inside his shelter. Activating radio¡­ Transmitting signal¡­ ¡°My name is Felix¡±, he said, ¡°If someone is listening, I¡¯m stranded in the desert. I require help. Please answer me¡±. He repeated the message many times until he sighed and got bored of it. Maybe he was really the last human on earth, or maybe he was sending a message to the Enemy telling them: I¡¯m here! Kill me again, please. He had the time to recollect his thoughts, waiting for an answer to his message that never arrived. He sighed as he looked at his stats:
RANK D
Strength 80
Endurance 100
Agility 130
Perception 100
Constitution 90
Before all his stats ranged in the thousands. He could push a fully loaded semi alone just without sweating much, or jump from the top floor of a skyscraper without a parachute and land without a scratch. Normal bullets couldn¡¯t penetrate his skin, and the Enemy had to invent a many thousand-degree hot flying spear to put him and his comrades down.Now, he yawned, he was just a normal human, if not weaker than average. His lids were starting to droop until they closed, and he started to dream. It was a normal day at the Academy: he had been shooting at the range in the morning, missing most of the shots, while that pretentious jerk of Elliot blasted off a dummy head into goo and got all the praise; at lunch, he lost a bet to Lucas, but he couldn¡¯t remember what was it about, as he never won one against him; in the afternoon, Lt. Neptune made the same boring talk about how they lost another battle, in which a city with a weird name had been turned to glass and their citizen ended up being kidnapped or vaporized, and this wasn¡¯t even news anymore. But something else happened in the night when he was in his lower bunk bed. He was trying to shrug off the talk of the afternoon because deep inside he knew his parents and his siblings could end up as guinea pigs. Reminding himself that those atrocities were only happening in another continent, with an entire ocean separating him from them, wasn¡¯t enough to shrug away his fears. He would roll on the other side of the bed, asking himself what prevented them from crossing it, then he¡¯d try to find the colder part of his pillow. The red lights of the alarm illuminated the room, followed by a loud screech rising in tone, toning down, and rising again. His eyes widened as he woke up, shaking. He dreamt again of the day the Enemy attacked America for the first time, killing most of the cadets and changing his life forever. The sun¡¯s rays were entering from the fissure made by the sheet and the rock, sharply separating a bright yellow side from a dark one. There wasn¡¯t much to do if not wait for darkness to arrive. Moving now would be a suicide. The sheet was keeping his shelter cool, but if he put his finger on the bright side of the rock, he had to retract it as if he was touching a hot pan. Radio signal picked up. A female voice talked over white noise. I know I shouldn¡¯t be doing this, but I can¡¯t stand by while you struggle in this desert. You may be on the point of giving up, but don¡¯t: I assure you there¡¯s an end to it. To whoever is listening: be careful, because this is their night; their hunger hasn¡¯t been quenched yet. A breath; Do not sleep, do not hide in a corner, just move, and do it quickly! They are coming. Chapter 3 The voice shook him up from his drowsiness. It was a human voice, there was no mistake, but it didn¡¯t prove anything: it could have been registered even centuries before. He poked his head out in the still hot air of the sunset. There was nothing outside, as it should be in a desert. He wasn¡¯t moving for the moment, but it was better to not sleep anymore. He tried to contact her again at the radio, but with no avail. At dusk, a red message flashed on his vision. Alert! Hostiles detected. Felix bolted out of the shelter, picking up the sheet. The HUD was detecting their vibration as blue waves on vision, low and rhythmical, but as they progressed, they rose in height and decreased in length. They were closing on him from the flanks. A normal person wouldn¡¯t have realized it until a howl rose in the air, much deeper and more sinister than the fake one he heard in the woods. Felix ran on the river-bed. Glowing eyes and dark shapes appeared from the peaks of the dunes at both his sides. They were wolf-like creatures, but he couldn¡¯t still pinpoint their features. Howling again, they all descended towards him, raising a cloud of sand. He ran steadily, but he had to balance from going too fast and deplete his energies too soon or running too slowly and being attacked. If he gave in to panic, he would start to race as fast as he could, but the best way was to go steady, breathing with his nose. The pack was following him, keeping their distance, but it was more like a stream of glowing eyes, tongues hanging from their mouths, and large clawed paws raising dust. Many others were just watching from the peaks of the dunes, howling and growling at him. An orange shape jumped from the rocky shelf and crossed his way to jump again on the other side. He wasn¡¯t going to outrun them: there were too many, and his body was too weak. How long he was going to last until he got a cramp and they¡¯d pile on him, ripping his throat? He gasped, shifting his weight on his right leg, and avoiding the wolf lurching toward his left calf, but his left ankle bent on the inside, nearly cracking. He faltered, nearly falling, but quickly regained balance. The wolf made a U-turn in front of him and came back to the pack. The river bed ended on a squat stone cliff. It was his only way to save himself. The wolves started to run instead of trotting. Felix sprinted, but their gaping mouths were becoming much bigger. He jumped on the steep wall, climbing his way up. A wolf jumped and clawed at his calf, making him scream, but the talon didn¡¯t rip through his suit. He lost the grip from one hand, but his foot stomped the wolf¡¯s left eye and ear, making him whine as he fell. They piled against the cliff, jumping and clawing at the rock, but he was already out of their reach. He arrived at the top, panting, and with a sharp pain coming from his spleen and burning sensation from his chest. He coughed, trying to avoid puking. Before, he could run five hundred miles in two days as he did during the retreat in Canada. He was truly pathetic. He shouted and threw a rock at the creatures, but the wolves dodged it by making a space in their ranks. ¡°Get lost!¡±, he said. They surrounded the cliff, leaving him no escape. None of them had any hopes to reach the summit, maybe only if they grew a pair of wings, but they could jump at least more than three times their height, which was impressive. They walked around the cliff, howling between themselves when one of them jumped higher than all the others. Their jaws were long and massive, showing sharp and scrambled teeth, with only the upper canines being recognizable, protruding from their mouths so much it pierced their skin. They had patches of short orange fur, but some areas were covered by a thick and wrinkled grey skin. If theseReading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. A lone one joined the others, and all the pack turned towards him, lowering their heads. It was bigger than all of them, with a full red coat. It had hoofs instead of paws, and coiled horns protruding behind his ears. He jumped over the first rock, banging against it a tail so long it knotted on itself. His muscles bulged much more than the others, and his teeth were much longer, but the worst part was that it was able to climb over to him. A string of values spiked: blood pressure, heart rate, ventilation. Red triangles and sharp sounds rang and flashed on his vision. A giant creature was going rock to rock towards him, and he had no way out. His teen self was scared, and he could feel it by the shivers running through his spine, but he needed to be calm, as this was just a wolf and not a Glowing one. The Monster took his time, pushing his hind legs over the steep part of the rock, growling. He didn¡¯t have much time, but this was his only hope. He crouched on the ground and picked up a rock with a sharp side, taped some rope around of it, and tied it around his wrist. On the other hand, he had his knife. While he made all of this, his clammy hands were shaking, and he was always giving a look on the side of the hill from which the wolf-creature was going to come. He was still when the Monster jumped on, charging towards him. Danger detected! Inducing automatic overdrive. The Monster rose dust and sand from his hooved feet, leaping with both legs in the air, thrusting his spine forward and bobbing the head side to side. His small almond glowing eyes were bulging out of the socket and the nostrils flaring with swirls of smoke. Felix jumped on the side, and the Monster got past him. It slowed down, managing to avoid falling, but instead of charging again it remained still, growling at him, and hiding the long tail between his hind legs. While he was circling him, he roared and pushed forward, only to stop and retreat, and do it again. Felix did the same, shouting at him, and swinging the rock at him, but the only thing he archived was looking like an idiot. It went on more than he expected. If he didn¡¯t find something, he won¡¯t live much longer, and it could be over without him even knowing what happened. He wasn¡¯t going to die that way, at least not without hitting him. Felix took a large breath and charged with a scream, swinging the rock down to the Monster, but he stepped on his tail, making him lose his balance. That was it. The Monster lowered his head and charged, with his horns aiming at his abdomen. As Felix fell from the cliff, he swung the rope again, and it looped around one of his arms. The monster roared, thrashing his head, but the rope remained taut, keeping him at his place. A wave of heat hit Felix¡¯s face, and, when he opened his eyes, he found the Monster¡¯s snoot pressing on his forehead. He could feel the meat-encrusted and blood-damp tissue of his teeth, while the bile and saliva falling on his face was making his eyes teary and retch in disgust. He was hanging from the cliff, and the only thing that kept him from falling was the monster itself. He screamed and lowered his head down just in time to avoid his jaws closing on him. He gritted his teeth and pulled the rope down, while the monster was trashing his head up and prancing. His wrist was making cracking noises, and the rope was leaving a purple mark, stained with blood. It will break before the rope would show a tear, and afterward, the monster will pull him up and eat his face. The knife was near him, half on one side of the cliff, and a half on another, shaking at each movement of the monster. If his free hand left the rope, he would lose the tug-of-war battle. He had to find something if he wanted to live. Felix¡¯s teeth sunk into the Monster¡¯s nose until he tasted the blood pouring out and fragments of sour skin. With another bite, he tore his whiskers. The Monster whimpered and thrashed his head. He caught the knife handle but shrieked when his paw slashed his arm, tearing through the suit. He caught the knife again by the blade, leaving a blood trail until he found the handle again. He pushed himself upwards and buried the blade inside his neck, twisting it. The monster groaned while a shower of blood fell on Felix¡¯s face, making his eyes burn and his throat gauge in disgust. He got up from the cliff and cleaned his face, sighing. The skin of his hand turned blue, then it started to prickle. He still got it, even if it took more time than necessary. The rest of the pack started to growl at him. ¡°Come at me!¡±, he shouted. He lifted the monster¡¯s carcass in his arms and hauled it off the cliff, yelling so much that his neck muscles went sore. His voice wasn¡¯t as deep as before, but it still echoed in the night. The pack ran away. ¡°Run!¡±, he said, ¡°Run!¡± Overdrive mode deactivating¡­ Felix¡¯s knees wobbled. This had been tiring. He sat, taking a long breath while keeping a hand on his chest. Then, he fainted. Chapter 4 Felix woke to a scorching sun upon his face. His hearing was filled with a buzzing sound. Milton jumped from the upper bunk bed, and the voice of Sergeant K. came from the door: Get all your lazy asses up! Felix threw the sheets and¡­ He was back again in the desert. He groaned. His calves, triceps, biceps, shoulders, and even the buttocks muscles were sending stabbing fits pain. The giant red sun in front of him was roasting him on one side, and the rocks on the other, but he was too tired to get up. He rose and drank from his flask. He walked as if his clothes had been filled with rocks. Some birds were picking around the carcass of the Monster at the base of the cliff. Felix threw a rock at them, and they flew away, ¡°Shoo! Shoo!¡±, he said, waving his hands. ¡°This is mine¡±. Climbing down took an eternity. One time his foot slipped, and he was going to smash his skull if he didn¡¯t have a strong grip with his hands. The carcass of the monster was waiting for him, making his mouth watery. It was disgusting, and the rancid smell would have made him puke if it was a normal situation. He found shelter in the shaded part, which at the time was very narrow, but he couldn¡¯t pull the body, so he had to settle in the sun if he wanted to cook it. Yesterday, he was able to wrestle with him and now he couldn¡¯t even make it budge. He made a circle with small rocks and dug in the sand a bit with his hands. He walked around until he pulled some yellowish weeds and pieces of dead bark to put into the pit. Now he needed to pull the glass lens out of his right eye and put it against the sun. A small white dot appeared against the weeds, and, as the sun was at the highest, it didn¡¯t take long for small wisps of smoke to come out, and, by blowing on it, a small fire caught up. Cutting the meat with the knife proved to be difficult, but he managed to get some pieces of meat over the fire. The meat was hard to chew, making his cheeks muscles sore, and his jaw to creak, but if he had some spices it could have had a decent taste. He was in a desert, without water, but full of creatures ready to jump at his throat. He made it this time, but what will happen the next? Without that cliff, he would have become someone else¡¯s meal, and he still didn¡¯t know how he won that fight up there, if not by luck. He couldn¡¯t even remain here as there was no source of water, and neither a good place to build a shelter. It was hard to admit that this time he had to hope in something that wasn¡¯t under his control. But if it was for the sake of his survival, he had to do it. He needed to discover what happened to the world at all costs. Activating radio signal¡­ Transmitting¡­ ¡°To the girl who talked before¡±, he said, his voice was coarse, ¡°I owe you something. For a moment, I believed I wasn¡¯t going to make it, but somehow, I did. But you have to help me again, or I won¡¯t last much. He repeated his message three times, and nobody answered, but endured, as he knew it wasn¡¯t something recorded before, or she wouldn¡¯t have said It was their night. But after an hour, he took a small break to give another look at his stats:
Rank D
Strength 81
Endurance 101
Agility 130
Perception 102
Constitution 90
He¡¯ll need other fifteen years to return as he was before. There wasn¡¯t much he wanted to change about that part of his past, as it was the only one he was satisfied with: he was simply perfect, even if it wasn¡¯t enough to save his country from complete destruction.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Message received! Sender: Unknown¡­ Felix gasped an opened it. Go east. ¡°Why?¡±, the lights were south. You have to move. Now. A sandstorm is coming. At east you will find shelter. If you know what Stonehenge is, you¡¯ll find it. If you don¡¯t, well, you¡¯re not smart enough to live. Don¡¯t get swallowed. Don¡¯t try to find another shelter if not the one I tell you. ¡°Who are you?¡±; He received the same message again. The sky was clear all around, and he zoomed his vision to see farther in the distance. There were some clouds, and there was a light breeze, but there was always some kind of wind at this hour. He didn¡¯t have any other choice than trust her. Gamma radiation level rising! Alert: gamma radiation can be highly dangerous and potentially fatal. Please avoid being in contact with sources of gamma radiation. Then it was better to hurry. He put the remaining meat in the bag, be it raw or cooked and kicked sand into the fire, then he poured some water of the little water he found over a piece of the sheet he had cut, and he wrapped it against his head. His only hope was that the shelter wasn¡¯t too far, as there was no sign of it, only an E marker in front of his face. The sand transitioned to a flat rocky terrain, with a dust layer on top and fissures tracing dull mosaic. As he progressed, more columns of rocks rose from the ground like fingers, raising in number and in height, but nothing resembling Stonehenge. A distant thunder made him halt and turn on the spot to the far clouds; the wind was moving in his direction. A grey, tall front of clouds appeared out of nowhere, rising upwards in a shape of an anvil. The wind was propelling forward the gravel, carrying an acrid smell of chemicals. Its speed was rising, so the pressure of the atmosphere. Insects were travelling with him in his direction. Scorpions were going out from their rocks; red ants were going out of the ground, all of them travelling in a row and transporting white bits on their backs. Distant from him, a pack of the creatures he fought the day before was fleeing in a cloud of dust without ever thinking of attacking him. The scarf around him kept him cool. His parameters, bars and numbers rising or dropping in his field of vision, were getting worse. He had never risked his life so much, he wasn¡¯t ready, he still needed two years to graduate. The sun disappeared. The wind from warm became icy, and he started to shake when he had been sweating for the whole time. The ground was vibrating, making small pebbles jump from the ground. A light flashed behind him and the thunder followed, this time so loud to make him gasp. He turned to find a dark wave pursuing him, tall to cover the sun. The darkness was so thick it was impossible to see what was inside. Black dust particles were falling on the ground and on top of him. They left a burning sensation on the top of his hand, leaving a small dot. The HUD flashed in red, and a triangle appeared in the center of his vision: Alert! Alert! Radiological hazard detected: leave the area immediately! He was running as fast as he can, with the strong wind pushing him forward, but the space between him and the edge of the shadow side was getting thinner. A circle of stone pillars appeared in the already foggy air. They rose in couples, with a horizontal one on top, making an arch; in the center there was one slimmer but three times taller than the rest. He wasn¡¯t a genius, but this must be the place he had been looking for. A sharp pain came from his left side, making him bend in pain. Going under one of the stone arches, he was rather hopping than running, holding his left side. He collided against a stone lying flat on the ground; stumbled but regained balance. The sound of the cloud was vibrating through his bones, making his eyelids twitch, and his lips tremble. Error¡­Error¡­ The writings on the screen were shaking, and patches of red, green and blue squares appeared on the screen. SHUTTING DOWN in¡­ Scrambled letters were moving left to right, and with the patches it was very difficult to see. A hatch opened in front of him. The inside was dark, and the only visible thing was the hand grabbing and pulling his ankle down. Chapter 5 Felix found himself lying in a corridor lit by a line of white flickering bulbs on the roof. The walls were made of dark and cold bricks, while a buzzing sound was coming from down under. A girl was at his feet, wearing a school uniform made of a red skirt and a white shirt, with the sleeves rolled at the elbow. ¡°Are you all right?¡±, she said, grasping his shaking hand to pull him up. It wasn¡¯t what he expected to see as the first person he met, and he even felt that it wasn¡¯t a completely new face, but he couldn¡¯t remember the person to which it belonged. ¡°Water¡±, he muttered, ¡°I need water¡±. The girl ran in the opposite direction and returned with a canteen with the lid already open. Felix ripped it off from her hands and he started to chug, making water splash on his face. It was sure one of the best feelings he experienced. ¡°You must be still in shock¡±, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, come with me. We¡¯re all downstairs¡±. Felix nodded, as he was still dizzy. She led him down the corridor. When they went down the ramp of stairs, she banged her forehead against the metal roof, making it ring. ¡°Ouch!¡±, she said, caressing her forehead, ¡°That¡¯s the third time today¡±. That was one of the few upsides of being short again. After passing through a door, they arrived in a small room, with four bunk beds with no mattresses, a plastic table with four chairs, a stove, and a digital clock stuck at midnight. ¡°So, here he is¡±, said a guy. His head was shaved, and he was wearing on his shoulders the fur of one of the wolves he had the luck to meet. Even when seated his head was nearly touching the low ceiling, ¡°That¡¯s some girly hair you got¡±; He didn¡¯t have the will to banter with a teenager, so he moved towards the bed where the girl was watching over a sleeping person. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him¡±, said the girl, ¡°He¡¯s stupid and very rude¡±; ¡°I¡¯m just saying what I think¡±, She picked the wet cloth from the sleeping person''s forehead and squeezed it in a bucket, ¡°I like his hairstyle¡±, she said, ¡°It¡¯s cute¡±. The tall guy propped his feet on the table, ¡°If it were for me¡±, he said, ¡°I¡¯d have left you to die outside. It was too dangerous to open the hatch again¡±; ¡°Nobody cares about what you think¡±, said Felix. His thick eyebrows sunk, making his skin wrinkle, and the veins of his temples bulge even more, ¡°I was trying to say that you should thank her¡±; ¡°It was my duty¡±, she said, putting again the wet cloth on the ill person. She came towards him, offering her hand, ¡°My name¡¯s Alice¡±; ¡°Felix¡±. He gazed past Alice to the person on the bed, whose body started to shake in convulsions, ¡°Who is he?¡±; ¡°He¡¯s Colin¡±, she said, and turned towards him, ¡°We¡¯ve been friends since childhood. He went looking for water, and when he came back he collapsed in my hands. He has never felt better since¡±. In his sleep, a green liquid poured from his mouth into the bucket at the side of the bed. The giant guy turned towards him, ¡°That thing is nasty¡±, he said, ¡°If you drink it, it¡¯ll poison you¡±; ¡°I already know that¡±; ¡°Poor guy¡±, the Giant continued, ¡°He doesn¡¯t have much more to live if that thing is inside his bowels. He¡¯s suffering too much, Alice, and you know it¡±. There wasn¡¯t even much to talk about: that person was infected, and he was right. ¡°Never¡±, she said, and crossed her arms, ¡°You¡¯ll have to kill me first¡±; ¡°It¡¯s your friend, not mine, if you¡¯re happy with him suffering, then go with it¡±; ¡°Do you think it¡¯s easy?¡±, she kneeled to Colin¡¯s bed again, ¡°I can¡¯t give up. There must be a cure. If it was lethal, he¡¯d be already dead¡±. She cleaned Colin¡¯s mouth with a napkin and then turned towards Felix. This wasn¡¯t the best moment to talk her about it. ¡°Have a seat¡±, she said, ¡°I¡¯ll prepare you something¡±; ¡°Yeah¡±, said the Giant, ¡°It¡¯s like someone glued you there¡±. What a brat. He sat on furthest chair from him. On the right side, there was an induction stove, with an opened tin can on it and a tea pot. ¡°Where does water and electricity come from?¡±, said Felix; ¡°There must be a tank beyond the wall¡±, said Alice, ¡°And there are some solar panels outside; you must have not seen them¡±; ¡°There was someone here before us¡±, said the Giant, ¡°The cables here are kind of new¡±.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Alice poured the red soup into a bowl and put a spoon inside. Those people weren¡¯t much different than the ones of five hundred years of the past, and they even spoke the same language, and neither seemed dangerous. He took a spoonful of the soup. After all the small talk, it was time to talk about important matters: trying to understand what happened to the world in five hundred years. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±, he said. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡±, said Alice, ¡°Me and Colin woke up here, and we can¡¯t remember anything¡±, said Alice. ¡°Me too¡±, said the Giant, ¡°What about you?¡±. This wasn¡¯t the answer he hoped to receive. ¡°I was in a cap-¡±. He coughed; ¡°In a caps¡­¡±, he coughed again until tears formed in his eyes. What was happening? ¡°Are you all right?¡±, said Alice. No, he wasn¡¯t. ¡°We are five hun¡­¡±. His throat started to burn. This was absurd. He opened his mouth to scream that he died, that his consciousness had been implanted into a new body, and that they were five hundred years in the future, but the only thing he accomplished to do was looking like a nutcase. Alice and the Giant exchanged a puzzled look, as they watched him twist his tongue trying to talk. ¡°I¡¯m a cadet of an Academy¡±, he said, at last, ¡°Just a cadet¡±, and he sighed. Well, he was, once. ¡°Man, you¡¯re really weird¡±, he said, ¡°I knew all army guys were nuts. Good riddance I didn¡¯t listen to those recruiters at the mall¡±; ¡°Have you ever died?¡±; ¡°What the hell? No!¡±. Felix¡¯s head turned toward Alice, waiting for an answer. ¡°I would have remembered¡±, she said. Felix took a breath, ¡°What year are we-¡±. His vocal cords blocked themselves again, and he realized that it wasn¡¯t something that happened by chance: it was like a jolt that paralyzed his larynx muscles every time that he tried to talk about the past or his reincarnation. ¡°Has the Enemy attacked America yet?¡±; ¡°Why are you asking us?¡±, said the Giant, ¡°You¡¯re in the army, you should know these things much better than us¡±; ¡°I really need to know if you know it¡±; ¡°No¡±, said Alice, ¡°They make their arrivals pretty clear¡±. And they made a very good job at that in the day they wiped out his Academy. Now he understood everything: they must have been reincarnated like him, but their memories have been erased, so now they acted like teenagers. In fact, there was no way that guy and the girl could have not been conscripted at some time. But why he retained his memories? The only thing that he was sure was that he won¡¯t find much about this world from them. ¡°How did you survive out there? It¡¯s a pretty harsh environment¡±; ¡°What do you mean, girly hair? That we¡¯re not capable of surviving just because we aren¡¯t part of your stupid Academy? We managed better than you¡±, his eyebrows connected in a single unibrow; ¡°He doesn¡¯t mean that¡±, said Alice, ¡°We should collaborate instead of insulting each other¡±; ¡°Whatever¡± said the Giant; ¡°I¡¯ll tell you how we arrived here, from beginning to end¡±, she said, ¡°At first it was me and Colin. We woke up at some distance, but we found each other quickly. We stopped under a cliff: I was preparing the shelter for the night and arranging rocks to help us having some condensation, while him¡±, she turned towards Colin, sighing, ¡°I should have never let him go alone, but he wanted so much to be useful. He came back at dusk, when I was doubting he was going to be back at all. I didn¡¯t sleep at all that night, and I asked if he ate or drank something, but he only muttered something about bugs. Maybe the flies were tormenting him, in fact they were all around him. I had never saw something like this: they were landing on the white of his eyes, trying to crawl inside his nostrils, and his ears¡±, she shook her head, ¡°It was just horrible¡±. ¡°When did the two of you meet?¡±; ¡°It¡¯s my time to talk, isn¡¯t it?¡±, said the Giant, ¡°Well, when I woke up I was circled by a pack of those bastard wolves. Listen, the secret is to grab their jaws and pull them apart, that¡¯s their weak spot, but it took some time to get it¡±, he showed a bite mark on his forearm, on a stitched strip between the long hairs, ¡°And there¡¯s another I can¡¯t show you. But you kill two or three of them and they understand you¡¯re someone that shouldn¡¯t be messed with¡±, he turned towards Alice, ¡°I found those two during the night, when I heard some howls near a cliff. When I arrived there, I killed some others¡±. ¡°Colin had matches with him¡±, said Alice, ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have survived as long for him to arrive without them. We travelled together in the wrong direction, until in the afternoon a message told us to look for this place. Luckily we had been on the right track for the whole time.¡±, she turned towards the Giant, ¡°I had to carry Colin, but it wasn¡¯t much of a hassle¡±; ¡°Why didn¡¯t you carry him?¡±, said Felix; ¡°I didn¡¯t believe he was going to survive the journey¡±, he shrugged, ¡°When we were walking, I keep telling myself every five minutes that that was the moment, but it has been two days and he¡¯s still there. I have to admit he¡¯s a tough bastard¡±. Colin¡¯s shriek froze Felix in his place. His eyes were wide open, glaring at him; they had a pale green color instead of white. He continued to scream in his direction, thrashing his body, the muscles and the veins were bulging, and blood poured from his lips. ¡°Colin! Stop!¡±, Alice ran towards the bed, but when she grabbed one arm, he pushed her back with the other. ¡°We have to keep him steady!¡±, said Felix, ¡°Or he''ll hurt himself¡±. The Giant pinned his body on the bed, gritting his teeth, and sweat was running from his temples, ¡°He¡¯s giving a damn fight here, move up!¡±; Felix grabbed his right arm, but it was impossible to hold on it. Colin¡¯s bony hand was clawing at the metal of the bedpost, then Felix did the same with his ankle, while Alice did the same on the other side. He continued to thrash his body, moving the bed, and Alice had to push his head to the side to avoid him from choking in his liquid. He gasped, and his eyes rolled backwards, showing only the white part, and he fell into unconsciousness again. The Giant cleaned his sweat from the forehead, ¡°When you lose control of your muscles you¡¯re much stronger¡±, he said, and sighed, ¡°That was harder than I thought¡±. Even if he went through worse times, it was never a pleasant experience. Alice raised Colin shirt. Something was crawling under his skin. ¡°That¡¯s not normal¡±, said the Giant. There was no way he could be saved. He had to kill him, or they will be all doomed. Chapter 6 Alice showed him the periscope near the hatch. The storm was still so strong that only black and white dotted stripes running left to right were the only things one could see. Afterwards, Felix spent most of his time cleaning his wounds and bandaging them. He could feel a burning and a throbbing sensation around the damaged skin, and every time one of the black radioactive speckles touched his injured skin he gasped, biting his hand to avoid screaming. The Giant had been already sleeping for hours, curled into a massive ball because, compared to his size, every bed seemed like a cradle. Maybe he should sleep too, but he couldn¡¯t really trust them enough, that was the truth. Alice helped him to clean the blood from his suit, but, as it had already dried, not even the whole soap in the world would be enough to scrub it off. ¡°Hey, Felix¡±, she said, ¡°Do you think the enemy will attack us one day?¡±; ¡°I¡¯m sure they will. They want us to share the same fate of the dinosaurs, and I tried to stop them¡±, but he failed; ¡°Why tried? Have they already attacked, and we didn¡¯t know it?¡±. When he tried to say yes, another jolt blocked his throat. ¡°My bad. I was trying to say that I¡¯m trying to stop them¡±; ¡°That¡¯s why you enrolled in that Academy? Does it have a name or it¡¯s just the Academy?¡± ¡°It has one, but nobody really uses it, and I forgot it. My memory isn¡¯t the best. It¡¯s embarrassing to say, but I wanted to try the new military HUDs they were giving¡±, and he wanted to stay away from his family, ¡°Those things arrived on earth in my second year. Maybe if I knew what was going to happen I¡¯d have never chosen the Army and I¡¯d have stayed with my family¡±. But after the day of the attack that wasn¡¯t a possibility anymore. ¡°It changed many things, even for us¡±, Alice said, ¡°We couldn¡¯t go out at night anymore, we couldn¡¯t even look out of the windows, we had to queue for bread; all of it when They were thousands of miles away, what would have happened if they were nearer?¡±; ¡°All of the people who saw them never came back to tell about it¡±; ¡°And those who are sent to the front?¡±; ¡°That¡¯s why I wanted to drop out when They arrived¡±. She had been sitting on a chair at Colin¡¯s bedside, sometimes biting her nails, or fiddling with a spoon. After an hour, her lids drooped, and she¡¯d jump whenever she found she was drifting asleep. ¡°You can sleep¡±, he said, but she shook her head. It made him remember when they got his enemy Francis.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°I won¡¯t¡±, she said, ¡°He needs me¡±; ¡°He must mean a lot for you then¡±. And it made it harder to tell her that there wasn¡¯t no hope for him. ¡°I¡¯d have done the same even if it was a stranger¡±, she said, ¡°I¡¯m not like someone else here. That doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯d suffer the same: I¡¯m an only child, and he¡¯s the closest person I can call brother¡±; ¡°A man and woman can¡¯t be friends¡±; ¡°That¡¯s a very close-minded thing to say¡±; ¡°Do you love him?¡±. She lowered her gaze, and coughed to hide her surprise, but Felix already knew the answer. ¡°W-well, we¡¯ve never dated. He had a girlfriend, I had a boyfriend for some time. He was moving in a different city after high school, as he had a tuition in one of the best colleges in the country, while I had to settle for a lower one. Maybe we¡¯d have lost touch¡±; ¡°Which major did you choose? Nursing?¡±. Damn, why he couldn¡¯t tell her straight that he had to kill him. It was like his courage died with his adult body. Her eyes narrowed on him, ¡°Just because I like helping others doesn¡¯t mean I have to be a nurse¡±. ¡°That¡¯s nothing wrong in being one¡±; ¡°I know, but my grandma, my big sister, my aunts, everyone apart from my Mom, who is a doctor, is a nurse. I wanted to be different, so I chose Bioengineering¡±. He couldn¡¯t care less about a college which didn¡¯t exist anymore; he had to tell her straight what was happening. ¡°How would react if he died?¡±; She rubbed one of her already gleaming eyes, ¡°He won¡¯t. I won¡¯t allow it, not this time¡±; ¡°He¡¯s not going to make it. I¡¯ve already seen something like this. We can all be in danger¡±. Colin¡¯s face was already devoid of color, just like his wife¡¯s in the last time he saw her. She tightened her hands into fist, ¡°I don¡¯t care, I won¡¯t stop hoping until his heart stops beating¡±; ¡°Yes, but-¡±. She stood from her chair, ¡°You can¡¯t know it! Maybe it¡¯s different, maybe miracle will happen¡±, and she burst into the tears. He couldn¡¯t continue anymore, so he sighed, ¡°We¡¯ll wait and see¡±. He behaved way worse when his wife was at that boy¡¯s place, and Elliot had to do it in front of him, and it was better for her to not experience what he did that time. He learned that miracles didn¡¯t exist, and, by the look of his skin, there won¡¯t be one even this time. It was like a rag stretched between his ribs, and the dark green lumps on his armpits, on the side of the neck, under the jaw, chin, and in front and behind his ears, had become even more swollen. He shuddered. That was how a Glowing one was born, and there was no way he could beat one in his current state, and neither that Giant. Alice kept an eye on Colin. Her lids started to close, and her head was swaying toward the shoulder, sometimes she raised it in a gasp to remain awake, but at last, she fell asleep. If he made it look like an accident, then she¡¯d suffer less. It was still despicable, but he had to do for the sake of their survival. He grabbed a pillow from the upper bed and pushed it on Colin¡¯s face, keeping a look on the others. He didn¡¯t wake up and this was a good sign. But as time passed, he stopped and checked the pulse on his neck. It was feeble, but present. Then he pushed harder, but he wouldn¡¯t die even after minutes. He threw the pillow on the upper bed again, grabbed his neck and pushed his thumbs on his throat. Alice raised her head, mumbling, and Felix retracted his hands. It was only a feint. So, he cleaned the sweat from his forehead and resumed. ¡°He won¡¯t die¡±. His arms started to shake as more the minutes passed. Maybe he was too weak, but a person should die of asphyxia after fifteen minutes. What was going wrong? He tried even to crush his throat, but it was different than the others time. He couldn¡¯t explain it, but it was much harder than his. At last, he took his knife. He would do the job and wait at the hatch for the right moment to slip away, but it was a plan that was anything but foolproof. Radio signal picked up¡­ Chapter 7 The sandstorm has ended. You have time now, continue south, your destination isn¡¯t far. Don¡¯t think you can remain where you are forever. Alice¡¯s eyes opened, and Felix let himself fall on his chair. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wake me up?¡±. Because he had something to do; ¡°You seemed tired¡±; ¡°I¡¯m fine¡±. She returned to Colin, still alive, and caressed the skin of his neck, making Felix¡¯s heart jump. ¡°It¡¯s very sweaty¡±, she said, ¡°That¡¯s the first time it happens¡±; ¡°You¡¯ve covered it too much¡±, he said, ¡°It¡¯s too hot in here¡±; ¡°You may be right¡±, she said. He saved himself this time. The Giant rose from his bed, yawning. ¡°Just when I was in my right time¡±. He walked towards Alice, ¡°Is he still with us?¡±; ¡°Shut up¡±, she said, ¡°We need to pick up our things. We¡¯re going¡±; ¡°Already?¡±, said Felix. ¡°Have you heard the message¡±, said the Giant, ¡°We¡¯ve got to move¡±; ¡°It¡¯s strange that a person like you trusts her so much¡±; ¡°She saved my ass two times. That¡¯s the people I like to trust¡±. They packed water, some of the food, but left some for the ones who will come afterwards. Both Felix and Alice were carrying Colin in a kind of stretcher, made with a bed sheet and two legs of the table. There was a red beacon rising with the lights this time, and there were even distant sounds. He had to keep an eye on him. Maybe the transformation was already at an advanced step and that was why he wasn¡¯t able to kill him easily. ¡°Why your eyes are glowing?¡±, said the Giant, welding a torch, ¡°Are you an owl?¡±; ¡°I was wondering about it too¡±, said Alice, ¡°That¡¯s a bit creepy¡± ¡°It¡¯s a surgery to have night vision. They required it after They arrived, without it you wouldn¡¯t even last a minute in combat¡±. You would last five minutes with it. They both looked at him in awe, ¡°Why only you people in the army can have it?¡±, said the Giant; ¡°Well, if something goes wrong, it can make you blind for starters¡±. Colin¡¯s eyes opened, ¡°W-where am I?¡±, his voice was weak. Alice stopping in her tracks made Felix nearly drop the stretcher. ¡°How are you feeling, Colin?¡±, her arms were shaking as she raised his back up. That was unexpected, and Felix lowered his gaze to hide the shock. He never imagined that once things could differently, or at least not in a better way than it was supposed to. ¡°My bones, they hurt, but I can think clearly now¡±. His eyes went for Felix, making him swallow a lot of guilt. ¡°Who is he? And why his eyes are glowing?¡±;Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°He¡¯s Felix, he¡¯s a friend, don¡¯t worry¡±; ¡°Is he?¡±. Colin was still glaring at him, ¡°There¡¯s something I should know about him¡±, his head fell on the stretcher again, ¡°But I can¡¯t remember¡±; ¡°Don¡¯t strain yourself. You¡¯ve been suffering for a long time¡±; ¡°I think so¡±. The Giant turned towards them, ¡°We should get going¡±. It could have been one of the worst mistakes he ever made. ¡°I can move¡±, Colin said, ¡°I don¡¯t need this, it¡¯s only slowing us down¡±; ¡°Are you sure?¡±; ¡°Yes, I can limp¡±. Alice turned towards Felix, ¡°What are we going to do?¡±; ¡°I said to let me walk¡±. The Giant grunted, ¡°Let him walk, then! Just stop wasting our time¡±. They both put the stretcher down, and Alice raised Colin from the ground, and put his arm on her shoulders. Felix went for help, but Colin put his hand forward, ¡°We can do it ourselves¡±, he said. Alice gave him a look, but didn¡¯t say anything, neither did Felix, and he went on. The Giant was in front of the group, he in the middle, and the other two limping at some distance behind. Felix stopped sometimes to let them catch up, but the Giant never changed his pace, and after some time, he disappeared to be never seen again. Alice stopped in the dark, ¡°Felix!¡±, she called, ¡°We can¡¯t see a thing!¡±. He didn¡¯t remember that other people couldn¡¯t see in the dark like him, and the one who had the torch had vanished. ¡°I¡¯m here!¡±, said Felix. She lit a match and walked towards him. ¡°Where did he go?¡±, said Alice, ¡°Can you see him?¡±; Felix shook his head, ¡°He¡¯s gone past one of the rocks¡±; ¡°But why?¡±; ¡°I don¡¯t know¡±, maybe he was fed up by how slowly they were going, and he didn¡¯t have a suit which kept his body warm. ¡°He didn¡¯t even take his part of the food¡±; ¡°Who cares?¡±. She blinked, ¡°I will pretend I didn¡¯t hear that¡±. She made a new torch by ripping and wrapping a part of her sleeve around a stick, and she lighted it with a match. The journey had been even slower than before, but Felix couldn¡¯t leave them because his guilt prevented him from doing so. The sky cleared, and when the sun appeared behind the snowy peaks of the mountains, they arrived at a wide strip of land. Small wooden pickets marked the edges, and a post was in front of him. To civilization, said the arrow pointing at the mountains; To the Shrine of the One and Only said the one in the opposite direction. He had no idea what that shrine was, but he sure wanted to be the farthest from it. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±, said Alice, illuminating the post with the torch and squinting her eyes, ¡°Shrine of the One and Only¡­¡±; ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense to build a shrine in the desert¡±, said Felix; ¡°It really doesn¡¯t¡±, she said; ¡°Well, we don¡¯t have to go there. It¡¯s better to move on¡±. When he was at some distance from them, he could hear them whispering to each other, but when he let them catch up, they fell silent. He didn''t know if it was better to leave them after what he had done, but he knew that without help they weren''t going to survive: an attack from the wolves was enough to kill them both. Maybe they knew this themselves, as he made pretty clear to her what were his intentions. But if they died, or not, the most important thing was to discover the truth of this world, and they weren''t of much use to him for reaching it. The climate from cold became chilly, then warm, but it lasted only an hour during dawn. Now that the sun was perpendicular to the ground, with no sort of wind, it so hot it was like he was breathing fire. His hands were dry, and the skin was cracking because the sweat evaporated faster than it was being produced. The air was dense, and the ground appeared distorted like the one around the engines of an airplane on land. ¡°We can¡¯t go on like this¡±, he said, stopping when his hamstrings muscles stiffened in a cramp. Colin couldn¡¯t walk anymore, and Alice was princess-carrying him, as she was bigger than him. He noticed later the wooden bed at the side of the road, covered by a white sheet, and the silhouette of a person beneath it. ¡°Hey, I found something!¡±, he said, waving his hands to the two behind. A head was poking out of the sheet. A white dust with a strong smell of chemicals had been poured on the skin and around his combed and parted to the right blonde hair. It was covering blotches of coagulated blood, while his lips were devoid of color, and two round gold pieces were covering the eyes. ¡°Why?¡±, he shuddered, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw another bed beyond this one, and another one on the other side of the road. ¡°What happened?¡±, said Alice; ¡°These people¡±, he pointed at the rocks, ¡°They¡¯re dead¡±. Chapter 8 ¡°What do you mean?¡±, said Colin, ¡°It¡¯s absurd¡±; ¡°Remain here¡±, said Alice, dropping him on the ground, with the back against the stone bed. When her gaze shiften to the dead boy, her eyes widened, ¡°Why?¡±; ¡°That¡¯s what I thought¡±, he said, ¡°Maybe I should give it a closer look¡±; ¡°It¡¯s already dead, Felix, what do you hope to find?¡±. A clue about the cause of death would be a starter. He raised the sheet only to find it unmovable, ¡°He¡¯s been tied on it¡±. He pulled it, but it didn¡¯t move of an inch. ¡°Maybe I should use the knife¡±. Her hand smacked on his cheek, leaving a burning sensation, ¡°What are you doing!?¡±; ¡°Do you think you have a right to disrespect the dead? If he was your brother, would you want strangers sticking their nose around his body? Do you?¡±; He won¡¯t take orders from a high school girl. ¡°This is none of your business¡±, he said, and raised his knife, ¡°Stay back¡±. She made a step forward, ¡°You don¡¯t scare me¡±, she said, staring in his eyes and with closed fists. She was tougher than he expected; ¡°I don¡¯t care¡±, he said, ¡°Let me do my job and nobody will get hurt¡±. Has she realized that he was the one holding the knife? ¡°I won¡¯t let you¡±, she said, ¡°What are you going to do? Stab me?¡±. Colin groaned, but both of them ignored him. ¡°If you don''t stop behaving like a fool, yes, I might¡±. He was just trying to scare her. The whole situation was starting to get dumber and dumber. ¡°Please¡±, said a grating voice, ¡°I¡¯m sure that you two can find a compromise¡±, and he ended the sentence with a laugh. Felix turned to a small bald man, with an even smaller head, wearing rags and holding a stick. His yellow eyes, hidden by many wrinkles and sagging skin, were darting from Felix to Alice. ¡°Who are you?¡±, said Felix; ¡°Just a humble servant. Call me the Keeper¡±, he showed a wide grin with small and pointy teeth, ¡°As you can see, it¡¯s not very common to see living people around these parts¡±; ¡°Did you make all of this?¡±; ¡°It¡¯s my job after all¡±, he said, ¡°But it¡¯s no good talking outside at this hour, especially when one of your friends is ill¡±. Colin wasn¡¯t his friend, ¡°Follow me, and I¡¯ll answer all of your questions. My abode isn¡¯t far off¡±. He might be the first native person he found; maybe he could tell something him about this worldIf you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Fine. Show me the way¡±. ¡°With pleasure¡±. It was strange that people still talked his language after five hundred years, but it was something he¡¯ll have to think about later. As he walked, he found that the dead people weren¡¯t going to stop; instead, their number rose, and sometimes there was a bed occupied by two or three of them. The old man''s house was in a small oasis, with three palms growing around a small stretch of water, on which the sun was gleaming. A canal poured its waters to the near garden behind the tent, made of strips of small plants. When he talked about his ¡®abode¡¯, he didn¡¯t image it was a tent made with sheets stitched together and sticks reinforcing the walls at the corners. He had to crouch to get inside, and Alice dropped Colin on a stool. On a corner, there was a rack full of rolled scrolls; one of which had been opened over a stool, with a quiver and a small bottle of black ink. The Keeper lit the colored candles around the clay statue in the middle of the tent, which one half had long hair and large breasts, and the other one a beard. He kneeled in front of it and closed his eyes. ¡°That statue looks weird¡±, said Felix; ¡°Hush, don¡¯t you see he¡¯s praying¡±, said Alice, nudging him with her elbow. ¡°What¡¯s that statue about?¡±, he said ¡°You shouldn¡¯t¡­¡±, Alice nudged him again. The Keeper turned towards them, ¡°It¡¯s not a problem, I¡¯m open to everyone who wants to know about the faith¡±, he said, ¡°But I¡¯m not a priest, so I can¡¯t tell you much about the One and Only¡±; ¡°What are you praying for?¡±, said Felix, and Alice furrowed her eyebrows towards him. ¡°I pray for better times, for the ones who left us and for your ill friend¡±; ¡°That will sure make me feel better¡±, said Colin, and coughed, ¡°That¡¯s stupid¡±, he whispered, avoiding from being heard by the Keeper, but Alice sighed, ¡°Don¡¯t say that, please¡±. ¡°Is there something like a civilization beyond this desert?¡±, said Felix; ¡°Plenty¡±, he said, ¡°But are you worthy of it?¡±; ¡°I don¡¯t understand¡±; ¡°You¡¯ll need to go beyond the wall to find other people, but I don¡¯t know much about them anymore¡±, he sighed, ¡°I have banished sixty years ago¡±; ¡°You must feel alone¡±, said Alice; ¡°It¡¯s better this way. Some people don¡¯t deserve to live with the others, but sometimes an adventurer might want to buy something from me¡±. Colin groaned in pain, gripping his stomach, ¡°I¡¯m freezing¡±, he said; ¡°I may have something that can be useful¡±, said the Keeper, but Colin turned his back to him, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter¡±, he said, ¡°I¡¯m OK¡±; ¡°You aren¡¯t¡±, said Alice, ¡°What can he do wrong?¡±; ¡°Is he a doctor?¡±, he said, covering himself, ¡°He¡¯s no use to me. I¡¯m fine, really¡±. Alice bit his lip, and lowered her gaze, ¡°Ok, then¡±. It wasn¡¯t Felix¡¯s business. ¡°Are you really sure, young boy?¡±; ¡°I am, leave me be¡±. The Keeper sighed, ¡°Well, I can¡¯t do anything if you¡¯re not willing¡±. Alice was shaking her head, ¡°Do you have an idea what might his illness be?¡±; ¡°Have you been bitten by a worm, boy?¡±; ¡°Maybe¡±. The Keeper lowered his gaze, ¡°If that¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking of, and he survived the first hours, then he will make it¡±; ¡°For real?¡±, said Alice, taking Colin¡¯s hand between hers, ¡°He said you¡¯re going to make it¡±. Colin answered with a grunt, while she was wiping some tears from her eyes, giving her back to the old man. The Keeper shook his head, ¡°Poor boy¡±, he said, and his gaze fixed on Felix. His long nail drew around his neck, ¡°Kill him¡±, his lips said. Chapter 9 ¡°I can still bring you food. You must be tired after this long walk¡±. He brought a pot from the right corner and opened the lid. Inside, there were weird purple looped fruits, like donuts. Felix took one of them, ¡°I¡¯ve never saw such a thing¡±; ¡°The ones who came before you eat an entire pot of them. They aren¡¯t that rare, and I¡¯m happy to help all of you¡±. Felix took a bite, ¡°It¡¯s a bit sour¡±, but juicy. He didn¡¯t like it much, but he took another bite, then another and at last he fitted the rest inside his mouth. ¡°Do you want some?¡±, said the Keeper to Alice; ¡°I¡¯m not hungry¡±, she said without looking at the old man. It was time to discuss what to do. Felix raised himself from the stool and grabbed the old man¡¯s shoulder. His lips got near his ear, ¡°We need to talk¡±. He nodded, and turned toward the two, ¡°I¡¯m going to show him the lab, excuse me¡±. They moved out the tent and found shelter under the shade of one of the palm trees. ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to him?¡±. The old man grinned, ¡°A wonderful thing¡±, he said, ¡°He¡¯s going to be a Demon¡±; ¡°Demons don¡¯t exist, you fool¡±; ¡°They do now. Many would believe that it¡¯s just a desert fever, but not me¡±, he cackled, ¡°They can¡¯t fool me. No, my eyes had saw many of them¡±; ¡°You¡¯ve gone nuts¡±, he didn¡¯t understand anything of what he said, maybe he was just saying a load of bullshit. ¡°You would too if you spent your whole life alone, but you¡¯ve got to trust me, young boy¡±; ¡°Don¡¯t call me that. I¡¯m a thir-¡±. The jolt stopped him from saying this, and he moved to the next question, ¡°How could have this happened?¡±; ¡°It¡¯s the Wooden Worm, a parasite. Nasty creatures, if he can control it, one day he¡¯ll wipe an entire army¡±. Felix¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°You must be joking¡±;You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Your only chance is to stab him in the heart, or set him on fire, but you must be quick, or it¡¯ll be too late¡±; ¡°How can I be sure that you¡¯re not fooling me into killing him?¡±; ¡°Why would I? It¡¯d be only be more work for me. Now, excuse me, but I¡¯ve some work to do¡±. The Keeper moved toward around a pile of dark wood planks. He beat the ground with his stick, and kicked the sand with his sandals, uncovering a hatch. Felix had to follow because the old man¡¯s answers didn¡¯t satisfy him enough. ¡°My lab is here¡±; ¡°Lab?¡±; ¡°The place in which I find shelter from the storms and lay the fallen to be prepared. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll like it¡±. He didn¡¯t trust him enough to go there, and the thought of going in a place full of dead bodies was enough to fuel his nightmares. ¡°I think I¡¯ll pass¡±. But as he opened it, he found another thing to ask him. ¡°Why do you this job?¡±. ¡°Because they told me so¡±; ¡°But have you ever asked why it happens? Why people come out of nowhere, and why all of them are young?¡±. This didn¡¯t make much sense. ¡°Young boy, I don¡¯t ask myself such questions, it¡¯s impossible to understand the scheme of God; if it¡¯s his will, then it means there¡¯s a reason we aren¡¯t meant to grasp¡±. There were too many things Felix didn¡¯t understand, and the time to ask wasn¡¯t much. ¡°I¡¯ll be back soon¡±, said the Keeper, and he disappeared inside the manhole. Felix moved again under the shade, and pulled his knife, testing its sharpness against the tree¡¯s bark. He took a breath as he tried to keep his nerves under control. He wasn¡¯t accustomed to killing people: his enemies were only aliens or monsters that might have been once humans. The only thing he was worried about when he fought them was how to kill them more quickly. He already tried to kill him without thinking much about the consequences, and it was his soldier side that took hold of him. Thinking clearly, he regretted doing that. This time he¡¯ll think more as the normal person he was before his Academy was destroyed. And the right thing to do was to talk about it with Alice, even if it meant making her angry, or not believe him. He¡¯ll tell her because it was what he would have wanted when it happened to his wife, and not being given explanations after the fact. He raised himself from the sand and walked towards the tent. He was going to tell everything from the start with a friendly but respectful tone. It was a difficult decision, but he shouldn''t be the only one taking that. Maybe he¡¯ll fetch the Keeper and he¡¯ll explain what the problem was. Then they¡¯ll make out a plan on how to kill him without making him suffer. He stopped as he neared the flap. What if she refused? Could he allow a demon to go free? Or maybe he was making a great mistake. ¡°Alice¡±, he said, as he entered. They were under the sheets, hidden by the statue. They must be both sleeping. ¡°Alice¡±, he said, ¡°I need to talk with you¡±. As he moved past the statue, he pulled up the sheet and uncovered a bundle of rags made to resemble a human being. A shiver ran through his spine. He wasted too much time. Chapter 10 Felix bolted out of the tent and ran on the road in the direction of the lights. They couldn''t have gone that far. He continued to run but if he didn¡¯t find any trace of them. Maybe It was better to climb one of the dunes at the sides of the road to have a better view of the surroundings. Sadly, climbing dunes was something easier said than done, and these were even much taller than the ones he climbed in the first day. He pulled out his shoes because they were dragging him down to move faster, but he still felt that he lost too much time. At the top, he craned his neck to see if he could find human shapes on the road. He used the Zoom option of the HUD system, but there wasn¡¯t anything apart from the sand and a far endless grey strip in front of him. That must be the wall, but it wasn¡¯t what he was looking for now. If they went into hiding it¡¯d be a problem. The HUD 2.0 could detect people up to ten miles, but this one could only detect source of noises directing towards him. If they hid in silence between one of the dunes, then there was nothing he could do. His only hope was that they took the road and left plenty of footprints for him to follow, but they weren¡¯t that stupid. He kicked the sand, ¡°Damn!¡±. He had been outsmarted by two teenagers. Now there was a possible Demon on the loose, and if what the Keeper told him was true then it won¡¯t be only his problem. His knees wobbled, and his heart¡¯s rhythm wasn¡¯t going to slow down. There was no way he could find them now without any traces or without them making absurd level of noise. He descended from the dune from the shaded side and walked back toward the Keeper¡¯s tent. He yawned. Maybe he¡¯ll sleep a bit and he¡¯ll move in the night. The lights weren¡¯t much far, and it made him happy knowing that this desert had an end. A howl rose in the air. Not again, for god¡¯s sake, but maybe the wolves would make a better job of finding them rather than him. He ran toward the sounds on the other side of the road. They were distant, but he followed the vibration waves of his HUD. The howls were followed by growls and thundering steps, becoming more louder and louder as he got nearer. He was acting like a fool, and there was no way he could save them from a pack of wolves. He was moving under the dunes, still with his shoes laced around his shoulders to not waste time. The sound waves were rising, and the howling sounds now were starting to make him shudder. After some whimpering sounds, the vibration lines became flat, and an eerie silence followed. This was strange, but maybe the wolves had completed their job and ran away; there was no other explanation. He fastened his pace.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. The last sound had come beyond a small sand ridge, and Felix climbed on it. The corpses of many wolves were strewn on the blood-soaked sand. ¡°This can¡¯t be¡±. Too late, again. He swallowed and put his shoes again to give a better look. It was like a giant whip with spikes hit all of them, leaving deep and irregular gashes in their skin. His boot made a squishy sound as it stepped on an eyeball. ¡°Goddamn¡±, he said, trying to scrape it off with the sleeve of his suit. It wasn¡¯t even the first time it happened. All of this was messed up. He picked up a detached jaw from the ground, full of sharp teeth, and then he threw it in the sand again. In war scenes like these were pretty normal. What it wasn¡¯t was what killed all these wolves in such a little time. And he was sure it was the Demon who did all of this. There was a pair of footsteps moving away from the scene, leaving a trail of blood. All of this must have happened at last ten minutes ago, so they weren¡¯t far. But it was too late: there was no way he could kill him now. The old man was right: one day that thing will be able to kill an entire army. He won¡¯t pursue them anymore. It was too dangerous, and he didn¡¯t know what to tell them. As long as he didn¡¯t meet them, he was safe. He turned back and moved towards the road. He felt bad for Alice: she was just a young girl, or at least she was mentally, and she didn¡¯t deserve all of this. But life was hardly fair. Neither he deserved to see everybody he cared about die, but after grieving, his life moved on, and so must hers. The Keeper was waiting for him on the road, grinning. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to smile about¡±, Felix said, ¡°You wretched man¡±; ¡°Have you seen him?¡±, he said; ¡°A pack of wolves did, and that was the last thing they saw¡±; ¡°Wonderful¡±. He wanted to punch him in the face. ¡°What can I do now?¡±; ¡°Forget about him and reach the wall¡±, he said, ¡°Not even an experienced adventurer has a chance, maybe if¡­¡±; ¡°If?¡±; ¡°You can find its weakness¡±, he giggled; ¡°I¡¯ll keep it in mind¡±, he said, ¡°But I won¡¯t fight him¡±. Not now. ¡°Good choice¡±, he said, ¡°I¡¯m preparing dinner. Care to join?¡±. After eating, Felix followed the Keeper in the desert as he went looking for unlucky people, wandering around the dunes. The old man was carrying a wooden sled, leaving a trail in the sand. All that happened shouldn¡¯t distract him from what was the main objective: reach civilization. The fact that mankind still existed surprised him. What happened to the enemy? Did humanity win? And How? The Keeper stopped, ¡°Looks like we found something¡±. Felix hurried past him to see what it was. A boy with dark hair was lying on the ground with an arrow sticking from his throat. He was wearing the same suit of his Academy, but he didn¡¯t know who he was, as too much time had passed, and they were of different units. He ducked and picked his dog tag, ¡°Carlson, Martin H.¡±, he read. ¡°A perfect shot¡±, said the old man. It was one indeed, as there was very little blood around the wound. He sighed. His troubles weren¡¯t coming to an end. Chapter 11 They moved the corpse on the sled back to the tent. The Keeper went inside the lab, while Felix closed Martin¡¯s eyes with the palm of his hand. He didn¡¯t know him, but what happened was wrong. Having a second at life and being killed shortly after must be horrible. He sighed, ¡°Even if I don¡¯t know who you were¡±, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll find your murderer¡±; ¡°Talking alone?¡±, the head of the Keeper appeared beyond the hatch, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I do it too¡±; ¡°It doesn¡¯t surprise me¡±, said Felix, ¡°Do murders happen often here?¡±; ¡°Not quite¡±, the Keeper moved towards the body and pulled him toward the hatch, ¡°Most people die of hunger, or their brains melt under the sun¡±, he grinned, ¡°This is a welcome change¡±; ¡°Has someone ever told you that you¡¯re a disgusting person¡±; ¡°Many did, or I wouldn¡¯t be here¡±. As the first starts were twinkling in the sky, Felix decided that he was fed up with this desert and of that creepy man. ¡°I must go now¡±, he said, making him stop pulling the body, ¡°You¡¯re an odd person, but you know how to take care of people¡±. The old man bowed, ¡°I thank you for your company. May I bring you a gift?¡±; ¡°What is it?¡±; ¡°Just a moment¡±. He went in his lab, and when he resurfaced, he kept his hands behind his back. ¡°Here¡±. It was a golden ring, still attached to its finger. ¡°I¡¯ll pass, but thanks the same¡±. He went back to the murder scene. He ducked on the sand in the place where they found the body. If he looked closely, he could see small black freckles. His head turned towards a girl who only needed to release the string of a bow to hit him in the forehead. The wind was moving her spiky dark hair, and her narrow eyes were focused on him. The sleeves of her Academy suit were rolled at the shoulder as she always did. There was no way he could mistake her for someone else, even if he didn¡¯t saw her in years, and it was for a good reason: she had died two years before him. ¡°Samantha?¡±. The last memory he got of her was her torn face disappearing as Elliot pulled up the zip of the body bag. ¡°Is that really you, Felix?¡±. She put down the weapon, ¡°How many I¡¯ve told you to call me Sam?¡±. She glared at him, narrowing her eyes again, ¡°You look different. Where¡¯s your mole?¡±. Felix rubbed his chin, and it was the first time he realized it wasn¡¯t there anymore. That was good news, as it was hideous. ¡°Whatever¡±, he said, ¡°Can you tell me what the hell happened here?¡±. ¡°What do you mean?¡±; ¡°I found a dead body here before, killed by an arrow¡±; ¡°It was just combat. He¡¯ll respawn later¡±. Felix¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°You don¡¯t really believe that, do you?¡±. This Carlson guy died for nothing. It was absurd. And yet another person who lost their memories, something which he couldn¡¯t explain. ¡°Felix¡±, she said, ¡°You know where we are, don¡¯t you? How could have you forgotten that we¡¯re in a simulation exam?¡±. ¡°Maybe, but how did it happen?¡±; ¡°Well¡­ He attacked me first¡±, said Sam, ¡°Tried to surprise me, but I was quicker. I turned as he was approaching to me and he charged, then he fell on the knife as I hit him¡±. It could be plausible, but he had no way of knowing if she was telling the truth or not. ¡°How did you manage to nock an arrow as he was charging towards you?¡±; ¡°I didn¡¯t use the bow¡±. That was something Sam could do. He shuddered. ¡°Listen, Sam¡±, he said, ¡°It¡¯s hard to tell you, but we¡¯re not in a sim-¡±. The jolt of electricity made him cough and poke his tongue out of the mouth. ¡°You¡¯re choking!¡±. Sam sprinted to his back and wrapped her arms around him and joining her hands at the end of Felix¡¯s sternum. ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡±, he said, but when she pulled his body upwards, he elbowed her in the abdomen, making her gulp and release him. ¡°You idiot!¡±, said Sam, panting, her face was red, ¡°I was trying to help you!¡±; ¡°I wasn¡¯t choking!¡±. Felix cleaned spit from his mouth, ¡°We should get going¡±.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. There had been hardly any talking at all in their walk towards the Wall. The land now was only a barren strip of flat sand, but sometimes there were some footprints, or two straight lines and hoofprints made by a carriage. A crown of light separated the dark and silent desert from what was beyond the wall, hiding the multitude of stars he saw in his first day. The HUD automatically reduced his sensitivity to light and noise. It was like staring at the sun, and the noises of drums and cheering people were so loud to give him goosebumps. Her head turned on the spot, ¡°Someone¡¯s here¡±. She left him and ran. It was true. The HUD heat vision detected the shape of a human hiding behind a rock at the side of the road. Sam arrived before him and grabbed the guy out of his hiding before he could start running. She pulled him up, and he started flailing and kicking the air. One of his elegant black shoes fell on the ground. ¡°Please!¡±, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t kill me!¡±. Sam pointed her knife at his throat, ¡°You¡¯re not wearing a suit¡±, she said, ¡°You know that disguising is against the Geneva convention?¡±; ¡°What!?¡±, tears were streaming down his cheeks; ¡°Geneva convention! Do you know it?¡±, Sam pulled his red tie with the other hand; ¡°What?¡±; ¡°Say what again! I dare you!¡±; ¡°He isn¡¯t a cadet¡±, Felix sighed. Sam turned towards him, ¡°Have you gone mad? He can¡¯t be an NPC¡±; ¡°Just leave him alone. He¡¯s harmless¡±. Her knife traced a red line on his cheekbone. He couldn¡¯t allow this. Felix bumped into her with his shoulder, making her loose her footing and drop the guy to the ground. ¡°What are you doing, you idiot!¡±. He pointed his knife at her, ¡°You can¡¯t do that!¡±; ¡°He¡¯s an enemy!¡±. There was no way he could persuade her that he wasn¡¯t. The fact that he might be one didn¡¯t allow her to torture him, especially when they were all on the same side: mankind. He neared his knife at her throat. ¡°We¡¯ll do as I say¡±. Sam grinned, ¡°Fine¡±, and she rose, ¡°Seems like you¡¯ve finally grown a pair¡±; ¡°Shut up¡±. To be sure, he checked if the guy had any weapon with him. He found a golden watch in the back pockets, a ballpoint pen, and a crumbled sheet of paper. It had been scribbled with five straight lines and plenty of musical notes, something which Felix didn¡¯t have much knowledge of. ¡°He¡¯s clear¡±, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s move¡±; ¡°No¡±, she said; ¡°Why?¡±; ¡°Because I said so. Wait me here, and look in the other direction¡±, she pointed her knife at them, ¡°If I see one of you looking at me¡­¡±; ¡°We won¡¯t¡±, said Felix, and the guy shook his head. She disappeared in the night, and they both gave their backs to her. The prisoner¡¯s face was pale, making a contrast with his red ears and dark shaking lips. ¡°T-thank you¡±, he said, rubbing his gleaming eyes, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be alive if you didn¡¯t intervene¡±; ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±. ¡°Arthur¡±, he sniffled; ¡°I¡¯m Felix¡±; ¡°Where are we? I-I can¡¯t remember anything¡±; ¡°I don¡¯t know, sorry¡±. It had been harsh even for him who had been trained. He couldn¡¯t imagine how it could be for someone who had no experience. ¡°What were you doing behind that rock?¡±, said Felix; ¡°I don¡¯t know. I-I woke up alone near here, and I don¡¯t know why. Then I saw both of you, and I got scared. what else could I have done?¡±; ¡°I can understand¡±; ¡°This is terrible¡±, he said, wiping his tears, ¡°I want to go home. My parents are going to kill me, and I have a concert next week¡±; ¡°Were you going to attend one?¡±. He shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s part of my tour¡±; ¡°Tour?¡±; ¡°In Europe. Oh, my, I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m doing here. Please¡±, he was kneeling at his feet, ¡°I beg you. Tell me how to go back, there must a way-¡±. He started sobbing again. His voice was getting annoying. ¡°There¡¯s none¡±, he said, ¡°And you better stop crying and accept it¡±. Sam was back, ¡°I¡¯m done¡±, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s go¡±. The road ended under the lowest spikes, forming a tall roof. Drops of water dripped from above, forming large puddles in which their feet made splashing sounds and a light mist hung around. Glowing eyes observed their movement, hidden inside the recesses of the rock, making hooting noises. Sometimes a bat would descend, screeching. The doors of a gate opened, and they walked into a cave with a low ceiling. The walls had been sculpted in relief with various scenes: the first one was of a person with blank features holding a flame in his hand, gifting it to people wearing only rags; the last was identical to the statue he saw at the house of the Keeper. The heat inside the gallery was rising, and bright lights were flashing on the walls. The noise echoing around made him dizzy until the HUD patched it. Felix¡¯s eyes widened at the sight at the end of the tunnel. The balcony they were on was at the stands of an arena brimming with people seating on steep wooden standings. ¡°Ale!¡±, shouted a man carrying a tray full of tankards, spilling some of it on the ground, ¡°The best ale!¡±. Another vendor was giving a meat skewer to another in exchange of coins, while two men next to him bumped into each other on the stairs. He couldn¡¯t hear what they were shouting, but one pushed the other, and the other one raised if punch, but another man in full armor grasped his arm and twisted it. The people seating in the towers at the corners of the arena surprised him even more: the women wore bright dresses, full of frills, and their gown was so long to hide the feet; the men wore breeches, with stockings and heeled shoes. They were sitting at large tables, smoking long cigarettes, while a servant poured wine in their golden goblets, and another was dusting the table. ¡°Where the hell are we?¡±, said Sam; ¡°I told you this wasn¡¯t a normal-¡±. The public fell into silence when a strong voice talked, but Felix couldn¡¯t pinpoint its location. ¡°Welcome to all of you, people of all generations!¡±, he said, ¡°The road towards perfection is paved with the failure of our enemies, and all the new people in this world must learn this lesson. Only one of those two fighters will conquer the right to live tonight. Let¡¯s see who they are!¡±. The sandy floor of the arena was sloping towards a dark pit in the middle. Four doors of different colors were positioned at each side of the fighting ground. The red and blue pair opened at the same time. The public gasped, ¡°He¡¯s enormous¡±, said a man in the stands right below Felix. ¡°Oh, god, that¡¯s not human¡±; ¡°I pity the one who¡¯s going to fight him¡±. The extreme light prevented him to see who was entering through the blue door. He was sure the people weren¡¯t referring to the one from the red one because it was only a normal guy wearing a hoodie and wielding a curved sword. A short, and fat man had been surrounded by a crowd around the stairs, ¡°I don¡¯t accept any bet!¡±, his voice was shrill, and he pushed away all the people who were giving him a blue or red card, ¡°It¡¯s useless! I won¡¯t pay any bets¡±. The Giant made his way into the arena. Chapter 12 ¡°It¡¯s time to present the fighters!¡±, said the announcer, ¡°On the red side, we have Andrew, only nineteen-years old. He was a member of a gang in the past, so he says. He¡¯s been jailed fifteen times, been in countless fistfight, and knocked men much bigger than him! This match is yet to decide, don''t understimate him!¡±. Andrew waved his sword, making the public cheer. ¡°I¡¯m going to bet twenty on him¡±, said a bald man in the stands right under them to the one at his left; ¡°Have you gone mad?¡±; ¡°I¡¯m going to win big this time, witness¡±, and he moved towards the small fat man who was sitting on the stairs, collecting red and blue cards on his knees, mostly blue it¡¯d seem. ¡°On the blue side¡±, said the announcer, ¡°We present the tallest man who has ever fought in this arena! We don¡¯t know his name, neither his age, and neither what he did before arriving here, but one sure thing is that he wants to win at all costs!¡±. The Giant spat on the ground, making the public boo at him. Some of them stood up and threw pebbles at him from a small bag, but none of them arrived near him. ¡°I hope he loses¡±, said another man from the stands; ¡°My God, he looks hideous¡±, said a female voice. ¡°Let the fight start!¡±, said the announcer. Sam climbed over the parapet and sat on the ledge. The drop to the stands would have killed anybody, and even some of the ones below. ¡°What you¡¯re doing?¡±, said Felix; ¡°Trying to escape. Who cares about that stupid fight?¡±, she said, ¡°Follow me¡±, she pointed at the nearest wooden beam over which the lights had been installed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t let you do that¡±. They turned their hands towards the heavy steps of a young man with dark hair, followed on each side by three men wearing silver plate armor, with an open helmet which had a black and yellow hackle on top. Their spears pointed at them, while two of them had a quiver loaded in their crossbows. The young man¡¯s long dark boots, which went past his knees, clicked on the ground as he moved towards them, dragging his black coat on the ground. He kept one hand on the engraved golden hilt of his rapier, caressing the sapphire at the pommel. ¡°If I were you¡±, he said, ¡°I¡¯d put on the ground every weapon you have if you want to live¡±. Felix complied, as there was no other thing to do. One of the soldiers holding a crossbow walked towards it, always keeping a finger over the trigger, until he kicked it away. Sam¡¯s head rotated from the soldiers to the beam, and again. She sighed and returned to the balcony. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll do it¡±, she said, crouching to lay the knife down, until one her knees touched to the ground. With a shriek, she charged at the young man. He shifted his footing on the right and grabbed her wrist before the blade hit his shoulder, but it still left a small cut in the fabric. He gritted his teeth, ¡°You brat, now my coat is ruined¡±. He twisted her arm until it made a cracking sound, but Sam¡¯s wide gaze was still set on the young man¡¯s eyes. Her nostrils dilated, showing her teeth, while her cheeks were becoming red. The blade was shaking, hovering over the young¡¯s man coat.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She gasped when a soldier knocked her in the back with the shaft of the spear. Another one pried her hand open, making the knife fall on the ground and another one pushed his armored boot on her calf. ¡°Can¡¯t win without your friends, huh?¡±, she said, as two soldiers pulled each of her arms, ¡°Can¡¯t you? I¡¯ll kill all of you one on one, I swear it!¡±. One soldier pushed her to the ground, keeping her down by pushing his gauntlet on the side of her face, while the other one was preparing the rope to tie her. ¡°I was merely playing¡± he said, and his gaze shifted to Arthur. ¡°Poor guy¡±, he said, passing his leather glove thumb on the cut Sam did to him, ¡°Did the bad girl hurt you?¡±. Arthur nodded. The Dark young man turned towards the soldiers, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll be fine from now on¡±. The public roared, and all the people stood up from the stands, booing and waving their arms at the fighters. The young man and the soldiers moved towards the railing. ¡°We¡¯re not pleased with the way it ended¡±, said the announcer, ¡°but that¡¯s the nature of fighting. Everything is allowed¡±. The body of Andrew laid on the ground with a knife sticking from his back. The Giant spat over his hands and cleaned them over his mechanic suit. ¡°As the Giant won, he gains the title of Free man and the right to live!¡±, said the announcer, ¡°The Golden door will now open for you!¡±. ¡°Interesting¡±, said the Young man; ¡°But the giant guy won, sir¡±, said a soldier with a crossbow; ¡°Thanks for telling me¡±, he grunted and moved away from the railing. ¡°Follow me¡±, he said, as he passed next to Felix, without looking at him. They took an elevator which brought to a large room divided in three aisles by two rows of pillars. Rays of light were filtering through the narrow but long windows. There was a group of people sitting around the center, and when they saw the young man, they rose from the ground, standing in line. ¡°Welcome again¡±, he said, ¡°As you can see, I brought you some new friends to play with¡±. Felix, and Arthur joined the line, while the soldiers dropped Sam away from them. Arthur kept his gaze fixed on the only shoe he was still wearing. The young man raised his chin, staring with his black eyes into Arthur¡¯s. ¡°Maybe you can be the lucky one, can you?". Arthur was shivering. The Young man turned towards the soldiers, ¡°He comes with me¡±, he said, and pointed his finger to a girl with a ponytail, ¡°You¡¯re the leader now, explain everything to the new ones¡±. Arthur gave him one last look before going out of a double door on the opposite side of the elevator. The sounds of many bolts closing meant that there was no escape from this room. ¡°Bastard¡±, said the girl with a ponytail, and all the three strangers nodded. She turned towards Felix, ¡°Come. I¡¯ll explain you everything¡±. They seated in a circle in the middle, like they did when Felix entered. ¡°I¡¯m Marie¡±, said the girl with the pony-tail, keeping her voice low. ¡°Caroline¡± said the girl with curly hair next to her. ¡°John¡± said a guy with a tattoo on his left arm. ¡°Felix¡±. John gazed at the lynx insignia on Felix¡¯s suit, ¡°Wow, you¡¯re a cadet¡±. The two girls looked at him in awe. ¡°Huh¡±; ¡°My older brother¡¯s one too. Do you know someone called Nate there? He¡¯d help us here¡±. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t know him¡±, he knew all the survivors of the day the Academy was destroyed, and it was not because he had a good memory, and somebody called Nate wasn''t any of them. ¡°You must help us, Felix¡±, said the girl with the pony tail; ¡°Must?¡±; ¡°We¡¯re going to escape¡±, they all nodded. ¡°We won¡¯t survive a duel out there, but that guy has a plan¡±, she pointed at a pillar, and Felix had to move his neck to find a guy with his head covered by a hood seated with his back against the marble. ¡°Does he?¡±; ¡°We have no choice¡±, said John; ¡°And what I need to do?¡±, said Felix; ¡°He¡¯ll explain to you when he wakes up¡±; ¡°Can we wake him up now?¡±. Felix rose, but John grabbed his ankle, ¡°Don¡¯t do it, man¡±. ¡°Please, don¡¯t¡±, said Marie, ¡°If you wake him up, he¡¯ll be angry¡±. ¡°Get off¡±, said Felix, moving his foot away from John¡¯s grip, ¡°What are we going to do then?¡±; ¡°We wait¡±, said Marie. Chapter 13 Felix sat against one of the pillars, trying to catch some sleep. He wasn¡¯t in a good shape to fight a duel: looking at his face in the HUD mirror program, his skin was pale, dark circles hung around his eyes, and his cheeks became hollower since the last time he saw himself in a mirror. He decided he was going to escape, even if it might not be the decision in the long term. He hated being imprisoned, and there wasn¡¯t even no guarantee that he¡¯d be freed if he won. He had been dead for five hundred years, and it wasn''t as bad as they said. He wasn''t going to spend his new life in a cell, or blindly obeying other people like he did in his past life. Tired from days of walking in the desert, his lids closed. ¡°Wake up¡±, said Marie, shaking his shoulder, ¡°We¡¯re moving¡±; ¡°Where?¡±, Felix rubbed his eyes; ¡°There¡¯s a new duel, and they¡¯re making us see it¡±. Two soldiers were waiting for them at the elevator, ¡°Move on¡±, said the one with a greatsword. They all followed them inside, except for Sam, who was still squirming in her ties. She screamed in her gag, staring wide-eyed at Felix as the soldier closed the grate, until she disappeared as the elevator rose. He was sorry he had to leave her here, but he was sure she''ll find a way around all of this. They were back in the balcony, but the two soldiers who brought them there guarded the entry to the tunnel. After the same announcement of before, the blue door opened, and somebody inside pushed a small guy forward, making him fall on his knees. The door slammed itself shut on his face when he tried to go back, making the public laugh and jeer as he banged his fists against it. ¡°What are you waiting for?¡±, said the Announcer, ¡°Fight!¡±. The public booed as the red one remained still, and the other one was still banging his hands against the door, screaming as loud as he could. It didn¡¯t take long to the public to start throwing pebbles, making both the opponents shield themselves. Pushed by the public, the red one chased the other, trying to whack him with his metal bat. Laughter erupted when the blue guy sharply turned right, and the red one fell in the sand as he dived to catch him. They booed again when they understood that the red guy wasn¡¯t going to catch the blue one anytime soon. ¡°Dragon! Dragon! Dragon!¡±, they chanted, clapping their hands and beating them against the seating or the railing. ¡°As you requested¡±, said the announcer, ¡°The Dragon has come!¡±. The black door opened. The roar was so loud it made the public silent. Loud trodding steps were nearing towards the entrance, and, after another roar, a spray of fire came out from the door. The two opponents ran in the opposite direction, until their backs were against the golden door. They pulled the handles and pushed against it with their shoulders, without success. A creature looking like a small dinosaur came out. On its back, it had two moving stumps which beat at the same time, pulling him up in the air, but they weren¡¯t enough to maintain altitude, and when he met the ground again, he thrashed his head and roared. When he tried again, he went higher, but the large chain tied around his neck collar stretched itself taut, making him spit fire high into the air. Even if it was a small dragon, Felix could feel the wave of heat hitting his face and moving his hair. ¡°Bastards¡±, said the Asian guy with clenched teeth, the knuckles of his fist becoming white. His eyes darted towards Felix, ¡°Are you the army guy?¡±, he said and got near him enough that their elbows were touching.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Have they explained it to you as I told them?¡±. Felix nodded. ¡°The plan isn¡¯t easy¡±, the guy whispered, hardly moving his lips and keeping his eyes to the fight, ¡°There¡¯s a reason nobody ever escaped from the arena, but the new guy isn¡¯t as paranoid as his predecessor. They still closed the gate to the desert, so they¡¯re not that stupid, but we¡¯ll make it¡±. A laugh came from behind them. One of the soldiers left the spear against the wall and was talking in front of the other one, covering his vision. ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you cheapen on your guards¡±, said the Asian guy. ¡°Yes, but what will happen afterwards? All the soldiers will be on us¡±; ¡°As long as I am here, you don¡¯t have anything to worry about¡±. The public cheered and rose from their seats. Two charred bodies were lying on the ground, looking like statues made of coal. With mechanical sound, the chain was dragging the dragon towards the entrance. The Asian guy slipped something in his pocket, ¡°When I¡¯ll be in the stands, light the fuze with the match and jump on the beam. Walk left and you¡¯ll find a rope, roll it and lower yourself in the stands, then find me and I¡¯ll protect your escape¡±. He slipped a roll of bandages in his hand, ¡°Give them to the others or they¡¯ll burn their hands on the rope¡±. He already knew that from the Academy days. ¡°This is all¡±, said the Asian guy. That was one of the most absurd plan he had ever saw. The Asian guy shook his head. ¡°One day they will pay from what they¡¯ve done¡±, the skin of his knuckles gripping the railing became white, ¡°When everything will be done, I¡¯ll tell you all the truth¡±; ¡°You aren''t new to this place, are you?¡±, said Felix; ¡°Don¡¯t talk. Someone¡¯s coming¡±. The young man entered, followed by his soldiers, and they had to stand in line again. ¡°Does any of you want to fight now?¡±, he said, and grinned, ¡°If I were you, I¡¯d want to end this as soon as possible, don¡¯t you agree?¡±. The Asian guy made a step forward, and the young man walked in front of him. ¡°You¡±, he said, narrowing his eyes on him, ¡°You look familiar, where else I¡¯ve seen you? What¡¯s your name?¡±. The Asian guy talked in a language that Felix couldn¡¯t understand. The young man squared him, gripping the hilt of the rapier. He put an hand on his shoulder, ¡°Whatever. Well, come anyway¡±. As they were going inside the cave again, the young man turned towards one of the soldiers guarding the entrance, ¡°Let them wait here. We must start soon, or the public will get even more angrier¡±. Felix sighed and turned back to the fight. ¡°We must wait until he moves to the stands¡±, he said to Marie; ¡°Then what?¡±; ¡°He gave me something to distract the guards and these. Roll them against the palm of your hands¡±. He gave them the bandages. ¡°Then¡±, he continued, ¡°We¡¯ll jump on the beam and lower ourselves down with a rope¡±. Caroline¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°That¡¯s ma-¡±, but Marie covered her mouth before she could complete the word, ¡°Be quiet¡±, she said. John hid a laugh behind his hand; ¡°There¡¯s nothing to laugh¡±, said Caroline; ¡°Does he really believe that plan is going to work?¡±, he said. ¡°We¡¯ve got no choice¡±, said Marie, ¡°Or do you want to end up like those two?¡±. Four men wearing rags were dragging the charred bodies towards the pit. Caroline cleaned tears from her eyes, ¡°What I¡¯ve done to deserve this?¡±. People were leaving their places empty and descending the stairs. ¡°Disappointing¡±, said a girl, walking down with her friend, ¡°The longest fight lasted only five minutes!¡±. On the opposite side, two seated men were counting banknotes on their knees, ¡°And that¡¯s five hundred¡±, said the one with white hair, ¡°I¡¯ve told you that betting on the dragon was the better choice¡±; ¡°We should find someone to party with¡±, said the other one, rubbing his hands. In another row of seats, a lone man was shaking his head, and buried his face between his hands. ¡°Please!¡±, said the announcer, ¡°The night has yet to end! A new duel is out to begin! We¡¯ll pay even losing bets and everyone will receive a free tankard of ale! Return to your seats!¡±. The public from the stairs cheered much louder than all the times before. ¡°From the blue side¡±, said the announcer, ¡°We don¡¯t know his age, and he doesn¡¯t even speak a word of our tongue. Give a welcome to Timur¡±. The blue door opened, and the Asian guy entered, holding a spear two times his height in his left hand. Felix was shivering because he didn¡¯t know if he will survive the night, but if he made it could be one of the most impressive feat he had ever done. Chapter 14 ¡°Let the fight start!¡±. Timur turned ran towards the door he entered, which was already closed. The public laughed, as they believed he was going to act like the one who entered before, but they stopped when he planted his spear into the wall. They moved towards the railing to see better what was happening. He jumped and caught the shaft, rose and balanced with his feet, bending it a bit. He jumped again against the wall and caught the railing. A soldier on the stairs whistled, and another with a spear charged towards him. Timur dodged the spear and jumped on the soldier¡¯s back. Pulling the hackle of the helmet, he exposed his neck, and a hidden blade inside his sleeve slashed him from ear to ear. Everybody around him shrieked and started running in all directions. Some jumped over the seating, even if there was someone still at their place. He was so absorbed by the fact that he didn¡¯t realize that his act was indeed the signal. The soldiers guarding the gate exchanged puzzled looks, and one of them picked his spear from the wall. Felix turned and pulled a small grenade and a match from his pocket. ¡°Hey!¡±, one of the guards was moving towards them, while Marie and John put themselves behind Felix to cover him. After scraping the match against the wooden railing, a small blue flame burned and made a sizzling noise against the fuse. At the sound of a bell ringing, the soldiers gasped and ran towards them. ¡°Do it!¡±, said Marie. Felix threw the grenade at their feet. Black smoke billowed and swallowed the two soldiers. Their shapes inside coughed and dropped on the ground. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±, he said, and he jumped over the railing to avoid being taken by the black cloud himself. He took a breath and made the mistake to look down. The wooden railing down in the standings bent itself too much by the river of people who were escaping, until it snapped in splinters with a crack, and a group of people went down with it, screaming. Felix took a breath and jumped. His hands grabbed the edge of the beam and, pushing with his legs, he climbed over. Marie was next, then John and Caroline. They all had to walk putting one foot in front of the other. Felix¡¯s legs were shaking. He couldn¡¯t walk too fast, as he would have fallen, and neither too slowly because someone will soon see them.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. A quiver pierced through John¡¯s temple, splattering blood on Caroline¡¯s face. His head hit the beam and the rest of the body fell. Caroline shrieked, ¡°Oh, God!¡±, cleaning her eyes. ¡°We have to move!¡±, said Felix; The rope had already been tied at the beam. The area around the stands was already empty, so he lowered it and descended. The bandages he had put around his hands helped him against the friction burns, but not enough. Nearing the ground, he jumped on the stairs. Marie followed, but Caroline wasn¡¯t even near midway. She fell, shrieking. The side of her head hit a seat, making a thumping sound. Marie stared wide-eyed at her twisted body until Felix grabbed her wrist, ¡°We must go!¡±. They descended the stairs and ran among the other people. The exit was at the entrance of one of the towers at the corners of the arena. Near them, Timur charged at a soldier, ducked under the thrust of his spear, and grabbed his elbow, twisting it. The soldier fell on his knees, and Timur placed a hand on his face, making him scream in pain as blisters erupted on his skin, smoke came from his eyes and his bear and hair caught fire. He turned and shielded himself with the soldier¡¯s body against the second spear coming towards his back. The hit against the steel armor smashed the shaft of the weapon, making the second soldier fall from the recoil. Timur grabbed the spear of the first soldier and stabbed him in the eyes. It was his fourth victim, lying next to the others. Pulling with his foot, Timur extracted the spear and its point started to glow of an orange light. Orange drops of melted steel dropped on the ground. His throw hit a crossbowman in the chest some rows of seats above, piercing his armor from end to end. As the man fell, the quiver unloaded, and a woman in from of him groaned as she fell on the ground with the point of the quiver sticking from her shoulder. He jumped over her body and ran. Timur reached them, gesturing to follow him, ¡°I found an alternative exit¡±; ¡°They must have already surrounded all the arena!¡±, said Felix; ¡°I have some men outside. It won¡¯t happen¡±. Timur lighted a ball looking like a grenade with his finger and aimed it towards the tower. ¡°What are you doing?¡±, said Felix, ¡°There¡¯s still people in there¡±; ¡°I know¡±; ¡°But you can¡¯t do that!¡±. Timur threw the ball towards the tower, but a bright line slashed the fuse in mid-air. The grenade bounced on the ground, harmless. ¡°I should have known it was you¡±. They all turned. The young man threw his coat on the ground and unsheathed his golden rapier, pointing it at Timur. ¡°What a fine disguise¡±, he said, ¡°Why don''t you show your true face?¡±. Timur grinned. His hair grew longer and assumed a bright red color. A mist settled upon his face, so that Felix couldn¡¯t pinpoint his features anymore. ¡°Why don¡¯t you duel me this time?¡±, the young man said, ¡°Let¡¯s settle it down once and for all. I¡¯ve consumed many vials of ink writing to you for a challenge, but you never accepted¡±; ¡°I¡¯ve better things to do¡±, Timur smirked; ¡°Like killing innocents¡±, his gaze towards Marie, ¡°Or manipulating other people into murdering them for you¡±; ¡°You¡¯re no better than me¡±; ¡°You terrorists are only a bunch of cowards¡±, he said, ¡°Come and fight me!¡±. Timur sighed, ¡°Let me choose my weapon at least¡±, he said, searching in his pockets. Felix covered himself as he saw Timur¡¯s hand dropping something on the ground. A bright light blinded him, and he had to cover his eyes by instinct. The young man lowered his gloved hands from his face, ¡°Damn¡±. His eyes fixed on Felix, ¡°Looks like they forgot you, did they?¡±. Chapter 15 Felix made another mark with the now small chalk piece on the wall of his cell. Two weeks had passed since he partook in that foolish plan. If he had kept his mouth shut about the grenade, maybe he would have escaped with them, but he wasn¡¯t sure he would have liked the company of a guy who was trying to blow up a tower full of people. Now he won¡¯t escape, and he won¡¯t fight anybody, as most probably they¡¯ll execute him one of these days. His cell was made of four thick stone walls, with a low ceiling, which kept heat inside in the day, but cold seeped through the cracks at night. There was only a stool, a rag to cover himself, and a hole big the size of his arm of which he couldn¡¯t see the end. He spent the remaining fourteen days staring at the rays of the sun filtering through the small window, if he could call it one, as it was just a small hole drilled on top of the wall. The other cells were empty, or at least, he never heard a human sound, but there plenty of animal ones, like flies buzzing around him, impossible to see and to catch, rats squeaking, and the crickets chirping outside, which tormented him every night. Every day, the jailer, an old hunching man who never talked, filled a bucket and left it at the entrance of the cell of some weird soup with brown cubic bits which looked like something much less desirable. In his days of loneliness, he had the time to think about himself. And it was in one of those sleepless night, lying on the stool, that a thought had crossed his mind: if Sam and other people who died had been resurrected, could his wife and his sibling be alive now too? And if they were alive, they couldn¡¯t be too far from here. That small hope who was born three night before pushed him into trying to find an escape. He had pulled the handle of the bucket and had dug in a place where the floor was cracked for a week, only taking some breaks to eat. As the jailer always arrived at evening, he had the time to put it back before he arrived again. Maybe it will be all useless, but he wasn¡¯t going down without trying everything. He gasped, as steps were moving towards his cell, followed by the ringing sounds of keys. This was strange, as it was only noon. He covered the crack with the stool and ran to put the handle back into the bucket. As the jailer¡¯s lantern was reflecting itself on the wall, Felix ran back to the stool. The grate slid in its place, and a pair of dark long boots moved towards him. Felix gasped, and moved backwards at the sight of the Young man, illuminated by the harsh light of the lantern. ¡°I bring good news¡±, he said, ¡°It seems you aren¡¯t going to be burned alive. You¡¯ve been lucky that a powerful healer saved all the injured civilians and none of them died, or things would have gone much worse for you¡±. Felix sighed in relief. He didn¡¯t fear death but getting burned alive was another story. ¡°But¡±, he continued, ¡°Helping a terrorist and injuring directly two of my men is a pretty big crime, don¡¯t you think? But, as I¡¯m one of the most magnanimous and forgiving people of this country, I will give you an opportunity to be pardoned of all your wrongdoings¡± ¡°What I need to do?¡±, said Felix with a raspy voice. He grinned, ¡°Fight in the arena and win¡±; ¡°Do I have any other choice?¡±; ¡°You can still remain here forever¡±, he looked around, ¡°You won¡¯t be the first one, and that¡¯s not a bad place to live in. A bit rough I¡¯d say¡±; ¡°But why you¡¯re making us do all of this? What did the others do to deserve all this?¡±; ¡°You¡¯ll be given explanations after you¡¯ll win. Until then, you¡¯re only cattle. Now, follow me, as time¡¯s running out and you¡¯re not the only nuisance I have to deal with today¡±. Felix pushed himself up, following the Dark guy inside an elevator. ¡°We are gentlemen¡±, he said, ¡°So I won¡¯t get you tied up¡±. The jailer closed the grate, and pulled a lever downwards, making the elevator move. The HUD adjusted the sensitivity of his eyes to avoid being blinded by the outside as the elevator was rising along the arena walls.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°First time looking on the other side of the Great Wall?¡±, said the Young man, ¡°Remember it because it could be the last¡±. Felix grunted at his words. Part of the arena was underground, and he could only see the opposite side of the wall. Guards were positioned on a walkway, interrupted by tall towers with beacons on the top. The elevator stopped and a soldier opened the grate, greeting them inside an office. The first thing Felix saw was a massive painting of the Young man riding a prancing black horse He sat behind his long ebony desk and turned the chair to grasp a black cat with a white spot on his nose, looking like a moustache. He made him sit on his lap and it started purring to Felix. ¡°I¡¯ll ask you some questions¡±, he said, ¡°And you¡¯ll answer them as clear as possible¡±. Felix nodded as other two soldiers entered the room and stopped at his sides. ¡°Good. Name, age, and something about you¡±. ¡°Felix. Seventeen. Cadet of a military Academy¡±. The Dark Guy wrote everything on a thick book, making long flowery strokes of black ink. He left a dirty mark on the ¡®D¡¯ of ¡®Academy¡¯ and put the quill down, sighing and closing his eyes as his nostrils flared. ¡°What Academy?¡±, he said, ¡°Does it have a name?¡±; ¡°It¡¯s the Academy¡±; ¡°Yes, but what¡¯s its name?¡±; ¡°I don¡¯t remember it¡±; ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem a good one then¡±, he said, and dust burst out of the book as he slammed it shut, ¡°We¡¯re done¡±. A wide grin appeared on his face, ¡°Good luck, as you¡¯ll need plenty. You look like a corpse¡±; ¡°You made this to me¡±; ¡°This wouldn¡¯t have happened if you didn¡¯t help a terrorist¡±, he laughed, ¡°And you¡¯ve learnt how quick they dispose of people who question their actions¡±. The Young man tracked him with his gaze as the soldiers escorted him out of the room. The next room was made of shelves full of daggers, rapiers, straight long swords, curved ones, and two-handed broadswords. He wasn¡¯t going to pick a heavy weapon, as he was too small to wield it. If he knew what his opponent was going to choose, it¡¯d make his job much easier. He pulled a long straight sword from the shelf, reflecting his face on the steel. He already knew how to use something similar to this. ¡°Hurry¡±, said the guard at the door, ¡°You don¡¯t have much time¡±; ¡°For real?¡±. He turned back to the weapons. In another room there were axes, maces, hammers, and spears. Spears, why didn¡¯t he think about them sooner? He picked one from the shelf. The shaft was made of wood and ended in a diamond-shaped blade. After what happened two weeks ago, they must have removed all the long ones, so he settled with one a bit taller than him. ¡°Your time has ended¡±, said the soldier, ¡°Go to the elevator¡±. As Felix moved towards the grate, one of the soldiers blocked his way. ¡°What are you-¡±. The punch in his abdomen kicked the air out from his lungs and made his spear fall to the ground, ¡°This is for what you did to Dan¡±, he said. Felix didn¡¯t even have the time to collapse that the other soldier grabbed his long hair and twisted them, bending his spine and neck towards the right. A burning pain came from the top of his head, as the soldier¡¯s pull was so strong that he felt he was going to rip the skin from his skull. ¡°We have to teach you a lesson¡±, said the soldier behind him, ¡°We can¡¯t kill you, but we can sure make your life hell¡±. He closed his eyes as the second punch landed on his belly. ¡°And this is for Rick!¡±; His head flopped on the chest, and spit drooled from his mouth. He was seeing three soldiers in front of him, until the HUD kicked in and corrected it. The soldier opened the grate, and the one who was holding him pushed him inside. ¡°Your opponent will finish the job down there¡±, said one of them. The grate closed behind him, and, after one of them pulled down the lever, the elevator went down rattling, leaving him in the dark. ¡°Bastards¡±, Felix muttered. He coughed, gripping his belly to ease the pain. The elevator stopped in front of a dark circular room. The only source of light was coming from a rectangular gap at the top of the blue door. He wouldn¡¯t have expected to find spectators after all that happened two weeks ago, but the stands were still full of people drinking tankards of ale and meat skewers as if nothing happened. Even the same servant was pouring wine in the rich attendants¡¯ goblets. ¡°She¡¯s fair as an edelweiss¡±, said the announcer ¡°More innocent than a new-born lamb, doves come from the sky to bring her gifts, and her voice can turn even the most wretched creature into one made of faith. The golden maiden¡¯s show will start soon!¡±, the public cheered, ¡°But first, we¡¯ve got a duel!¡±. Their cheering turned into a groan. ¡°This¡¯ll be the one you¡¯ve all been expecting to! I swear it!¡±, said the announcer, ¡°On the blue side we have Felix, the one who helped a terrorist kill many of our brave soldiers! Show your contempt towards him!¡±. The blue door opened, and the public booed at him. After a pebble hit him in eyebrow, he had to shield himself from the barrage falling upon him. ¡°Red side. He''s nine-teen years old. I don¡¯t know why he has been chosen, as he¡¯s looks more dead than alive, but, if they did, there must be a reason!¡±. The red door opened. Colin was limping out of the door, hunching and holding his hands on his thighs. His knees buckled, and he fell on his elbows. He coughed and spat a dark green mercury dense liquid which slithered on the sand. Felix¡¯s hand left the spear and he had to catch it again. This couldn¡¯t be happening to him. His gaze went towards the balcony he had been on the day of the escape, and, zooming, he found Alice looking at him. She shook her head and retreated from the railing. Colin¡¯s irises and pupils disappeared, replaced by a translucent dark green coat. A small green appendix ripped his shirt from his back. If he didn¡¯t act quickly, there was no way he was going to survive. Felix charged. Chapter 16 Felix¡¯s spear pierced through Colin¡¯s chest. His breath turned into a wheeze, and blood mixed to the green liquid poured out of the wound. He groaned and grabbed the shaft, trying to pull it out. How could this be not enough? He was sure he had pierced his heart. He yanked the spear by pushing his foot against Colin¡¯s body. The blade slashed his throat, and a jet of dark green liquid sprinkled from the deep horizontal gash, staining Felix¡¯s suit. Small vines sprouted from both sides of the wound, seaming it until they stopped the hemorrhage. He had never seen something like this. Felix made a step back, holding his breath. There must another weak point, and he had to find it if he wanted to live. Other vines erupted from Colin¡¯s back, interviewing together in wriggling tentacles. Felix speared some of them, crushing them into wooden splinters, but it was useless as another one took quickly his place, and the faster he destroyed them, the faster they grew up again, tiring him at the same time. The public roared when Colin stood up with a crown of tentacles growing past his height. His Felix dodged a tentacle slash aimed at his head, but the thorns scraped against his shoulder, tearing through the suit and leaving five parallel gashes on his skin. A barrage of thrusting tentacles made him retreat, shielding himself with his spear. Their sharp tips poked his forearms, making small but painful wounds. Overdrive mode unavailable¡­ How could it happen!? He didn¡¯t have even the time to think about why the HUD wasn¡¯t working that an uppercut-hitting tentacle was racing towards him. He harpooned it and ducked to another one, which scraped his left ear. ¡°What the hell is this!?¡±, he said, parrying another one aiming at his legs. He wasn¡¯t going to last this way: Colin wasn¡¯t going to stop, and he was already growing tired. A tentacle wrapped around his leg and lifted him, shoving him into the pit. Felix planted the spear tip on the ground, using it as anchor to slow down his fall. The blade wedged itself between the rocks that formed the edge of the pit, and his legs flapped into the void. Another barrage of tentacles hit him in the legs, on his back, and neck, making him scream in pain. Tears flowed from his eyes and made his vision blurry. He dangled his legs to reach the edge of the pit, but he was too far away. Colin¡¯s attacks were hissing around him, but Felix managed to remain attached at the shaft. His hands were getting sweatier, and his muscles were sore and the veins and ligaments were bulging on his burning skin, full of cuts. If he got a cramp, it would be the end. The shaft of the spear was now looking like a bow and when splinters started to stick up, he understood that he had to do something, or the duel will be over soon. He swung himself to build momentum, and he lurched himself forward as the shaft snapped. His arms slid on the sand until he grabbed the edge of the pit. As he pulled himself up, a tentacle slammed his left hand and he retracted it in pain, making him dangle in the void with only five fingers.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The public gasped when a tentacle whipped his back, making his right thumb slip. Another tentacle came at him from the left side, but Felix parried it with the free hand. One of the thorns pierced through the skin, ligaments and muscles until it came out from the other side. Instead of trying to pull it out, he grabbed the tentacle with the other hand, avoiding the thorns. Colin¡¯s thrust pushed him out of the pit, and Felix rolled on the sand, until he smacked himself against the wall. Dazed, he grasped for air, feeling his racing heart by keeping a hand on his chest. The terror screaming of the public made him raise his gaze to the stands. The spectators in the lower seats shielded themselves as the largest tentacle, the size of a full tree, swiped away the new metallic railing, missing their faces from inches. The tentacle rose in the air, and its shadow now loomed and was getting bigger as the spectator ran up the stairs or jumped over the seats. A blonde woman wearing a white gown ran in the opposite direction of the public and raised her staff just when the tentacle was going to land. It bounced in a shower of sparkles and recoiled as if it had hit an invisible wall. Two rows of soldiers with spears descended from the stairs next to her, and a team of crossbowmen shot their quivers, but the ones which hit the target did no damage. Felix put a hand against the wall to pull himself up, but his legs were shaking too much, and he fell on the ground again, groaning. The sand around him was red by all the blood he was losing. Colin¡¯s shriek made Felix¡¯s ears ring. He swiped the main tentacle against the guards, knocking one of them from his feet. One of them slashed the tentacle with his sword, and a spray of green liquid and splinters rained on him. The woman remained on the rear line, keeping her staff high, and when a tentacle tried to go past her it bounced, protecting the civilians that were moving towards the towers again. The duel was still going on, even if Colin wasn¡¯t thinking about him. It was nearly impossible to win because he didn¡¯t even have his weapon anymore, and neither his over drive mode. What was he going to do against that Monster? Maybe he had to resist until the guards killed him, but he doubted he would get his freedom if things went that way. A guard wielding a torch hit a tentacle, making it explode. The fire traveled for a short distance, until another tentacle put it down by hitting the burning one upstream. Now he knew what he needed to do. Felix poked one of his lenses from his eyes and ran towards Colin, crouching and skirting against the wall. A tentacle grazed his hair and got stuck deep in to the wall. Gasping, he stopped but then moved faster. Four large tentacles and many smaller ones anchored Colin¡¯s body to the ground. Felix crouched against one of the roots and started to direct the lens against the sun. A tentacle slashed his face, making him drop the lens. His jaw made cracking sounds when he tried to close it again, but there wasn¡¯t no time to think about it. He pulled the other one from right his eye and started again, but this time he couldn¡¯t fail anymore. Another hit on his side made him drop it, but Felix caught it again as it was falling. Aiming the lens at the sun, it lens was leaving a bright circular mark on the tentacle, and whiffs of smoke were starting to rise from its edges. Colin''s bloodshot eyes met his. Vines were crawling out of Colin¡¯s nostrils, between his teeth, and they were even replacing his hair. He was thrashing his tongue, but only growling sounds came out. A tentacle wrapped around his neck, lifting him from the ground. Felix struggled, but the grip was too strong. He kicked the air, and another tentacle grabbed his ankle and twisted it until it made a cracking sound and his foot hung limp. The shock made him open his mouth to scream but as he was lacking breath no sound came. Blood was pouring out of his nose and mouth, and when he looked down, he found five tentacles impaling him and slithering inside him, crushing his organs. There must be a meaning to all of this, about the world, about the enemy, and about death. There was no way he wasn''t going to find it, even if he had to die one hundred times. The lens fell on the ground. Alert! Multi-organ failure! SHUTTING DOWN¡­ Chapter 17 ¡°Please stand by¡±, said a robotic voice Felix already heard once. The frosted glass panel slid, and, after removing the plastic tube from his throat and the electrodes from his torso, he set a foot outside of the vertical capsule, fitted inside the wall. Watching himself at the mirror, he found that he was a bit taller than before, and his arms and legs were larger. Even the room was different since the last time. A bubbling sound was coming from the middle, where steam rose from a small pool. Its fluorescent glow and the blinking lights of the buzzing cabinets along the walls were the only sources of light. ¡°Felix¡±, said a familiar voice, making him gasp. His lips had been closed for the whole time, but he was sure that it was his voice who spoke. ¡°Here!¡±. A dark shape of his height was reflected on a large glass slab protruding from the wall. ¡°Who the hell are you?¡±; ¡°Take a guess¡±; ¡°There¡¯s no way you can be me¡±; ¡°Why not? You¡¯ve already died many times, but you¡¯re still here. Why can¡¯t there be two copies of us at the same time?¡±. Felix rubbed his eyes, but the shape didn''t answer to his movement as a mirror would do. Things were getting even more absurd, but it could only be a program which imitated his voice. ¡°If you¡¯re speaking the truth¡±, said Felix, ¡°Then you should know something about me only I do, don¡¯t you think?¡±; ¡°Let¡¯s see¡±, he said, ¡°What about the time you stole your father¡¯s debit card to buy one-hundred dollars of gold in that VRMMO?¡±; He shuddered, not knowing if he will ever forgive his twelve-year old self. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter¡±, he said, ¡°You could have extracted my memories during my sleep¡±; ¡°I could, but I didn¡¯t need to. We are the clones of the same person, Felix, completely identical and different at the same time¡±; ¡°What do you mean?¡±. He was Felix, and nothing else. ¡°It¡¯s easy, think about it. Has the original Felix ever seen a dragon? But you did, and has the person who died three days ago seen me?¡±; ¡°But who are you then?¡±. His fingers touched the cold metallic slab, but a jolt of electricity made him retract them. ¡°A different kind of you¡±, the same said, ¡°You can call me Felix-AI. I do not have a real body, and I have been built only to help you to get stronger¡±;If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Built by who?¡±; ¡°I cannot tell you because I do not know it¡±. Felix narrowed his eyes on the shape. He was getting tired of things being kept away from him, ¡°There¡¯s something that must have happened during my past life that I don¡¯t remember anymore¡±; ¡°I would like to know that myself¡±. Felix sighed. He wanted to believe that he was himself and nobody else, but things were different now, and he was still far from the truth. ¡°I have installed the new HUD 3.0 inside you when I prepared your body¡±, said Felix-AI, ¡°And I have even pumped it a bit to raise your stats¡±. ¡°That¡¯s some good news you¡¯re giving me¡±. Felix grinned and opened the main menu, as he already knew how to use it.
STATS SKILLS EQUIP. SETTINGS STORAGE
He opened the STATS menu:
Total Physical Stats Rank D+
Strength 110
Endurance 130
Agility 150
Perception 150
Constitution 100
This new body suited him better, but it wasn''t anything special, as he was only a bit stronger than an average male of twenty-five years old. But there were other stats he had never seen before:
Total Magical Stats Rank N/A
Intelligence N/A
Willpower N/A
Faith N/A
Overall Rank D
HP 115 Regeneration Lv.0: 1%/10 min; only in Recovery Mode.
MP N/A
He moved to the SETTINGS to see if anything had changed:
Overdrive mode Lv.1: +10 to all stats; +20% HP;
Standard mode /
Recovery mode Lv.1: -20 to all stats; -99% HP
It was pretty standard, so he moved to the SKILLS section:
Class Champion Lv.1
Active Skills Boost Lv.1: +50 STH for 20 sec, Cooldown: 1 min; (Active) Untouchable Lv.1: You gain +2 DMG to your weapon for each hit you land on your opponent without being hit. (Passive);
Perks Lv.1: +10 AGI/PER; + 5 END;
¡°What¡¯s this magic thing?¡±; ¡°Sorry, but I have no contact with the outside world and no access to the source code of the system. Someone else will have to explain it to you¡±. He didn¡¯t expect that nobody ever managed to reverse-engineer the system in five hundred years, but even in his past life it was one of the greatest secrets. The system chose a new class for him this time, and that meant something, as it never acted on chance.He had been too weak and too scared before, pushed by forces he believed were much greater than him, and this was why Colin killed him. But now he understood that things could be different, and that he could be the force who pushed changes. ¡°I got everything wrong¡±, he said, ¡°My only enemy is the bastard who locked me in cell for two weeks¡±. How could he have been so blind? He fought for the system he was meant to destroy. ¡°What will do you now?¡±; ¡°Doing what a real champion would do, destroying a tyranny and saving its people¡±. He''ll do what Timur tried to, but failed because he was coward: he''ll burn the arena down and the Young man with it.