《Stray Sheep》 0.1 - Prologue The sun entered through the blinds illuminating the small grains of dust that floated in the air. Ethan slowly woke up, groggily from another night of solo practice. "What a weird dream... I think I have been playing too much recently, I should probably take the team leader''s advice and take it easy..." The defeat of team Silverforge in the E-Sports championship struck him badly. The rest of the team didn''t talk about it, but he knew that it was his fault they lost. A slightly mistake of his part made them lose in the semifinals. they had never come this close to winning the championship before, they probably won''t ever come this close again. they were, each member of the team, going on with their lives, soon they will probably be wasting away in some "decent" job, as his father like to call it, never having the chance to chase their dreams again. he walked to the cupboard and fumbled for his glasses. His eyesight wasn''t that bad, but his eyes tire fast while reading. He checked his clock and saw that was still 7:00, there was still an hour for the class to start. He started his morning ritual: piss, teeth, bath, dress. He did it that way, in that order, every day. That''s how he liked to do things, slowly but efficient... Slowly was important. He checked his image in the mirror. He still looked bad, even after bathing. There were purple bags under his eyes, and his hair had seen better days; it was long and unkempt, already reaching his neck. He should have cut it before the E-Sports, but he kept it long to "Look cool" It didn''t work. It seems nerd gatherings aren''t the best kind of place to get a girl. "I need to cut this shit." he grimaced, grabbing his locks. He took his backpack and started filling it with useless books. He should probably get a locker soon. It was getting tiresome going to school with a 10 kilos backpack. he should probably start buying e-books instead of walking around with it. his 2th year''s books are as big as hell, it wasn''t that bad last year. "Weird dream that one..." it was really bizarre, in his dream he was "Shakushan", a character of Champions League. He was walking though the enemy camp in the "Midgard" map. Halfway in his walk he received a giant "Pillar of Judgment" in the face and was respawned back in the base. There''s a saying he had heard before "If you are playing so much that you start to dream you are a character from a game...just stop". He should really take the leader''s advice... He descended the stairs ready to some moral destruction and confidence sabotage. He had already mastered his "Self Esteem Reflection Wall", if life was a game, it would be an SS skill. "You wasted your night playing again, didn''t you." his sister asked as she saw him coming, she smirked "I could hear the sound of you typing in the keyboard all night, you have been playing to much recently. You might become dumber if you keep at it..." She said. He smiled, while scratching his stubs "yeah, yeah..." He ignored her snarky comment. "You shouldn''t worry, It''s just a little playing, I am keeping my grades ain''t I?" They walked together until they reached the dinner room. breakfast have been served by the maids and the thick smell of coffee floated in the air, he inhaled it strongly and already felt a little more awake. Gods... how he loved coffee. His brother was already seated in the table together with his father, not a welcoming morning scene. It was a rare occasion for his father to be at the house. He was the owner of a medium sized food chain. Always traveling, going to meetings abroad or planning his businesses. Always busing himself with his work. For a man like his father, Ethan''s behavior and interests were unacceptable and would condemn him to defeat in life. "Good morning." he said. trying and failing to fake a smile. His mother was helping the maids in the kitchen. She briefly waved to him with a smile "Good morning honey!" and went back to her work. His father looked at him and nodded, his brother said between mouthfuls "Did you even sleep?" "Well enough" he half lied. His brother was trying to expose his late night playing to his father, the little bastard... He wouldn''t play along. His brother arched his eyebrows, but dismissed it. "So, Carl." His father called his brother "how has it been in the school with the soccer team? I heard that your School are going to compete with Sierra White team soon, is it true?The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. His brother smiled and proudly declared. "Yeah, I probably be running the quarterback position again. It seems the manager really liked my performance last year. But the Horvai School was trash though...Sierra White will be far tougher, we are upping the practice to face them." His father smiled... He knew that smile, it wasn''t a smile for him. It was a smile that said "That is my son!" It was never meant to him. He had a pretty unstructured family life. His father didn''t say it out loud, but he knew he didn''t see much valor in Ethan. His younger brother, Carl, on the other side, was like a mirror image of his father on his younger years. He was two years younger than Ethan, but was already taller and burlier than him. He was successful in sports, studies and, probably the most important thing for a the family of a businessman, he had more social skills, something Ethan lacked completely. Ethan had a far smoother relationship with his mother. But mothers is always like that. They have a heart for each member of the family. He also used to have a good relationship with his sister, but she has been growing distant recently, it''s probably adolescence coming. ''What about you, Ethan." his father smiled. It was a smile as false as his own "How has it been going in the school." At least he tried to interact with his son. "Same old." he said. there was nothing more to say. His days in the school wasn''t as excitable as his brother''s. He went to the school....met his friends, talked nerd things with them, and went back home. Goldenfalls high wasn''t a school meant for him. It was one of the most expansive schools in the USA. About half of the kids were rich, 5% of the kids were really, really rich, 40% percent of the school wasn''t rich, but still could pay the cost, and about 10% of the kids weren''t rich at all, but were way too intelligent to be left to anyone else. The school was a real brain drain, they had a 100% scholarship police for young promising students. It was a smart move, after all, most times it is the student that makes the school, not the opposite. "You should try doing a sport, Ethan." his father said, "you don''t try enought, your brother is in his second year on high Scholl and is already working his way up in the football team." he sighed, he stared at him, expressionless "if you don''t like sports, then you should try something else, there are other activities worth doing." Ethan breathed deeply not to explode in rage... He had tried before. There was an elective class on music. He had always wanted to play the cello. His father vehemently prohibited him, saying that music was a wimp''s hobby and that he wouldn''t have his son become a musician. Really, he didn''t understand his father most of the times. "There''s nothing that really catches my eye." he said. At that moment his brother interjected "I''m sure you would love if there was a elective in playing CL." he said snickering. His father narrowed his eyes "I you have been spending too much time in this game, Ethan." Shit...what did his brother tell his father? or was it his sister? He was already feeling a headache coming. "Only the usual." "Spending the entire night on a game is usual to you?" his brother said. "The night?" his father asked "You spent you entire night playing a game? What about Scholl? This can''t be good for your health." "He has been doing it since he came back from the championship." his brother said. "He comes back from school, waste half an hour studying and go play. He plays until 2:00 am." His father looked at him and sighed. "I should have know..." he said. His face hardened up "Until the end of the week I want to hear that you entered one of the school teams, even if as a gopher. If I don''t get that notice, you are going to say goodbye to your internet." Ethan eyes widened. "What?!" he stood up "Why?!" "Don''t whine." his father said "you, quite obviously, need some workout. Maybe a sport will also fix your inability to deal with other people." "You can''t do that!" he screamed "No, I can." his father said. "I am your father." You are only my father when it matters to you? His mother choose that moment to enter through the door that led to the kitchen "what''s going on?" she said, crossing her arms. Ethan sat back grumpily. His brother answered for him "Father wants Ethan to enter one of the school teams. He didn''t like it and is throwing a fit." he said, did he find irt funny? "I am not throwing a fit, damn it!" Ethan said, banging his hands on the table. His mother reproached him "language young man!". Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him. His sister was just behind her mother with an unreadable face. His brother was snickering. "Stop being a child." his father said. "No one will take you seriously if you behave like that. This conversation is over." his father said, while wiping his mouth with a napkin. His brother laughed. Ethan shot a furious glance at him and rose up from the table abruptly. He went to his bedroom and gathered his things. When he was almost leaving his house, his mother appeared at his side, smiling. "You are probably thinking that your family is being mean and that your father is being irrational, aren''t you." she said, with a knowing smile. Ethan simply ignored her and adjusted his backpack with more strength than needed. "Your father is doing what he thinks is the best for you." she said. "it might not be the same thing you think is the best, but he is still thinking about you well being. Your brother also has his own way in trying to support you." What a good lie. His brother would laugh if he was burning in a stake, and all his father really wanted was to mold Ethan into a clone of himself. He completely ignored Ethan''s individuality, or his ambitions. "I won''t waste my time discussing this with you, mom..." he said. Without looking back at her. "You people decided to make an enemy out of me." He knew he was just sounding ridiculous now, but he was already babbling it out. He was probably sounding like a demented chuunibyou "I will do as you people want. You want me to do sports? You want me to stop playing? Very well..." He would make them regret, someday. 0.2 - Prologue "Hey man." Andrew called him. Fred was following just behind him. They bumped fists. "Hi guys." Ethan Said. "How''s it going?" "Cool...You don''t look too happy." Andrew said, arching his brows. "Something in your mind?" he said, merrily. Ethan growled. "leave it." He said. They always met in front of the gates for the school. There was a very big plaza with a fountain in its entrance, where the students spent their time while waiting for the classes to start. Not many people liked to stay in the classroom before absolutely needed. "There is history class today, isn''t it?" asked Ethan. Trying to remember if he brought his history book. "Yep." Andrew answered, before belching loudly "The old mummy will tell us another tale of her times..." He said. "Damn it, I wanted to stay at home watching anime...Now I will have to live through the most boring class ever...I guess I will just leave earlier then." He stretched and yawned. Andrew was probably the only person in the class who was shorter than him. It kind of boosted what remained of his self confidence. He also wasn''t as good at school as Ethan, but he got better parents in the life roulette. He could be lazy as much as he liked, his parents didn''t seem to bother him about it. "Andrew, man." said Fred. He was the tallest of them, but skinny like a stick "Have you watched one-punk? It''s damn amazing." "It''s great, right?" Andrew said. "I''ve watched it last week." Fred sighed "It''s a shame no one in the physics department knows the wonders of the Japanese culture." he said. Fred was different from Andrew and Ethan. While the both of them were regular students of rich families, Fred was a genius who entered the college through a full scholarship. He was from New Orleans, his family run a small family restaurant there. Ethan had even visited it in one vacation some time ago. His house was pretty cool, it had a small Steinberg piano in a corner where his father would play jazz during the night to entertain the guests. When Fred wasn''t in the campus he would join his family in taking care of the restaurant. He himself was quite skilled in the sax. When he was twelve, his teachers started to take notice of him. At fifteen he was two times champion in the nationals of physics. His head worked weirdly with numbers... Not only with numbers...he was just really weird. "Are you still pissed with you loss in the E-Sports, Ethan?" Andrew asked. Ethan sighed. "Honestly, I think you should let it go." he said. "shit happens, you know. It wasn''t the first time you fucked up anyway, you are quite skilled at it." Ethan looked at him angrily "What?" he said "don''t you remember that time when..." "Okay, I get it, just stop" said Ethan. "I just can''t stop blaming myself, you know...We practiced for months before the competition. Kori, the team leader, practically funded the whole thing, even though he isn''t in the richest of us...so, yeah, I feel like shit." "Are you still playing until dawn?" This time it was Fred who asked. Ethan had to look up to see him. "You know, you could always stop playing MOBAs and start playing Single Player RPGs. MOBAs and MMOs are highly addictive. The competitional element works in a way where the strongest is always the one with no life. You are basically trading you time for strength in the game." Ethan groaned again. "What about you and your animes? Don''t talk to me about wasting my life away, you weeab..." Fred smirked. "Animes are different" he said. "they are the greatest expression of the Japanese culture. They are like books, they teach. An anime has philosophical, technical and cultural aspects that..." Ethan tuned him out. Fred and Andrew were anime freaks...Well, at least Fred was, Andrew always kept some distance from everything, one couldn''t say he was obsessed or even interested in anything. It was kind of weird in its own way. Ethan had his own experience with anime, but it didn''t really appeal to him as his games did. At that moment, the talks in the plaza stopped as a black limousine stopped right in front of the school. "Jesus great" said Andrew, uninterested. "Coming to the school in a limousine...who in this day and age uses limousine? This is so clich¨¦ I can''t even laugh. Feels like a bad nineties movie." "It''s the Suga siblings." Ethan answered. He, then arched his browns and asked Fred, with a sly smile "Do you still hate Yashiro, Fred?" Fred was almost burning a hole through Yashiro, who was leaving the car in a well groomed suit, followed by his sister. "He dated Aiki-chan" said Fred, jealously burning in his eyes. "I will never forgive him." Yashiro was a Japanese, son of the owner of the Suga conglomerate. The guy was rich. Like, really really rich. Ethan hated to admit it, but he was also very good looking, with that sharp Japanese features. That basically made him a very big catch for the women. Even for the rich, famous and really powerful women, Like Fred''s Aiki-chan. She is a very big idol in Japan...or at least was, her fame has gone down a lot when it was found out that she was having a affair.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. With Suga Yashiro... That was enough to anger her male and female fans alike...She was still a very big hit out there, but nothing compared to before. Her most fanatic fans persisted though, like Fred. Yashiro was soon surrounded by some girls and he smoothly interacted with them, the guy wasn''t really good in school, but he was a social genius. He was probably taught since he was young the skills he would need to lead his father''s conglomerate. Ethan''s father tried something similar with him, but it didn''t work out. Ethan always blamed his father''s approach for this failure though. Yashiro''s sister passed though the commotion almost unnoticed and Yashiro hastily waved goodbyes to the girls and followed her. The gates were open and it was almost time for the classes to start. Ethan, Fred and Andrew left for what would be their last class in this world. ... Ethan arrived at the class. It was already filling. Ryan and his group were at the center of the room discussing something about some soccer game. He made wide gestures to illustrate. The guy behaved a lot like his brother Carl, always bathing in the spotlight. At least he was less irritating. Jose was just by his side, laughing over his antics. Ryan was the class representative. He was quite a cool guy. He was always followed by Jose, a bulky Latino guy. Jose was the vice-representative. Some guys made fun of them saying they were a gay couple, but the two of them had girlfriends. Another hit in Ethan''s self esteem. Ethan sat with Fred and Andrew by the windows. According to Fred, the seats by the window were sacred and "event starters". Ethan never quite understood his friend''s otaku logic, but he complied anyway. He liked to stay away from the center of attention, the windows worked well enough for him. He trying to follow a discussion between Fred and Andrew about some anime, when someone closed his eyes with their hands from behind him. He jumped, startled. "Guess who?". A merry voice greeted him. He breathed out in relief. "Kathy, do you want to scare me to death?" he asked, while turning back and looking at his classmate, an idiot smile adorning his face. Yes, he always felt like an idiot when talking to her. She was beautiful and her smile brightened his day. It didn''t help that she had similar interests. Kathy had her own YouTube channel where she posted her playthroughs, normally of single player console games. She had some millions of followers. 90% of them were males. As someone once said, there''s nothing quite as sexy as a girl playing video game. "You say that, but I know you like when I do it." she said, crossing her arms and arching her eyebrows, her eyes shined with mischief. "At least don''t do it while I am in deep concentration trying to decode Fred''s language." he said, smiling at his friend. "What is the meaning of ''waifu?'' anyway? I had never heard that word before." Fred closed his eyes and shook his head condescendingly. "Young Padawan...you are too early to understand the deepness in that word...this knowledge will destroy your mind..." "It''s way too weeabooish for your pure young mind" said Andrew, laughing loud. Kathy looked at him in surprise "You really don''t know what it means?" What the hell? "Even you? Kathy!" Ethan said, mocking outrage. "You are becoming one of them?! It is a weeaboo apocalypse..." They laughed together. Kathy''s laughter sounded like the sound of a celesta in his ears. Gods, he was an idiot. Probably the worst case of lovestruck teenager in the world. He should die in a pit. "Heh. I needed that." said Ethan. The discussion with his family earlier today was weighting in his mind. The memory of his mother''s sad face still appeared in his mind. He should probably apologize when he arrived back home. He didn''t really care about how his father felt, but it bothered him that he had made his mother sad. "You look better already..." Andrew said. "You look less like an emo" He smiled knowingly. "And more like an idiot...but that is your standard expression anyway..." Ethan sighed, while stealing a glance at Kathy. Andrew liked to poke him about his crush, good thing he could be discreet if he wanted. Only If he wanted though, which was quite rare. "Hey nerd, what are you playing today." he heard behind him. "Give it back!" another voce answered. A short boy, a little in the plump side was vainly trying to snatch a Nintendo switch that had been taken by a bigger one. Two other students were laughing while watching the scene. "You know." said Andrew, lazily supporting his head with his arms. "We were very lucky to be in the same class as Brantley, otherwise we would be Jack''s most probable victim." "It bothers me." Fred said "I still think we should try approaching him. I heard he did a cool cosplay last year." "It would be a social suicide." said Kathy. "Jack wouldn''t stop bullying you for the rest of your school life and, honestly, Brantley is kind of disgusting..." "Why?" said Ethan, bothered by her reaction. He didn''t see anything wrong with Brantley, He might even make a good friend, but he completely agreed with Andrew. He wasn''t too excited with the idea of having Jack after him, his social life wasn''t that bad and his father was already breathing down his neck... Someone like Jack could completely wreak it. "He has a the air of a loser." she said. It bothered him. Did she think the same of him? "How so?" This time was Andrew who asked. He seemed weirdly interested. "Well...like a person who hides himself from reality in his own fantasy." she said, crossing her arms. "The coward kind." At that moment the teacher entered. The first period of the day would be filled by a long and boring two hour math class. Teacher "Robocop.", as the students called him, entered the class with his impassive, hard-as-stone face and blurted out his catchphrase, with unchanging tunes. "Sit down. The class will start." There''s really no need to explain how he got his nickname. Teens are a creative bunch. "Well, I''ll be off, guys." said Kathy while waving and leaving for her seat. She liked to sit at the center of the room, next to Ryan. It was no surprise she was a youtuber, she had absolutely no fear of being the center of attention. It kind of humbled Ethan. "Eek" Ethan heard a shriek, followed by the sound of books falling. "Ehhh...Sorry." said Kathy as she hurried away. Ethan looked down at the girl, who probably stumbled upon Kathy while going for her seat. If he wasn''t wrong, her name was Chloe, she was also a scholarship student like Fred. He didn''t took much notice of her since she mostly kept to herself, reading in her desk. He squatted and helped her gather her things. "T-Thank you." she said, hastily scurrying away. Ethan stood there puzzled but just shrugged off and sat in his chair. 0.3 - Prologue At noon, Ethan, Fred and Andrew decided to have lunch in the cheapest restaurant in the campus. Money was never a problem for Andrew or Ethan, but they knew Andrew couldn''t eat every time in the Golden Hall, only once in a while. The cheapest one was called "Plane World". No one really knew where that name came from. It stood almost in the edge of the campus, far away from the high school building. They had to walk through a lot of other facilities and half a dozen sport fields. At the moment, Andrew and Fred were discussing some weird concept of theoretical cosmology, when a brown colored projectile found a target in Fred''s head. It made a muffed sound that somehow reminded Ethan of bad headphones. Fred flew an entire meter and crashed splendidly on the ground. Ethan and Andrew hurried to help him. A oval red mark was sprouting in his forehead. "Hey man, are you alive." Ethan said, while trying to get a response from him. He seemed to be out cold. "What the hell?" said Andrew, looking for the culprit. Just at their side, a group of first year students seemed to be have been playing baseball at one of the fields. They were approaching quickly and they seemed concerned. "It''s the female baseball team." said Andrew. Ethan adjusted his glasses, yeah, they were all girls. "There''s a female baseball team?" he asked. "Yeah." Andrew shrugged. "Our school isn''t really good with baseball, but our team went to the semifinals of the regional''s last year." he said "A small victory, I guess..." "My head..." said Fred, coming back to consciousness "What happened?" That moment, a groups five girls arrived. In front of them stood a boy...no, a blond girl. She seemed angry. "What the hell were you doing just outside the baseball field?" she asked, apparently unconcerned with Fred now that he was awake. "Don''t you know that stray balls can be dangerous?" "Now look here..." started Ethan. She didn''t let him continue. "This is your fault." she said, pointing at Fred "What were you doing anyway? Were you here to watch the girls? Boys your age shouldn''t behave like that..." What was this breastless little girl saying? Andrew made a expression of mock surprise and pointed at her "You are a girl!" Fred looked at her, then he looked at Andrew, then he looked at her and said. "There is no plot..." Whatever that may mean. She seemed to style herself in boys fashion...or maybe she just cut her hair because she thought it would bother her when playing. The fact that she was young and her breasts didn''t develop properly didn''t help her looks. She looked like a feminine boy. "Of course I am!" she said, while throwing the ball that they had just gotten back at Andrews face, he dodged it with a small movement of his head. Fred would probably have commented on how cool it looked if he wasn''t... Fred was still. His eyes were wide open and he looked pale, as if he had seen a ghost. Andrew also noticed this "Hey" said Andrew, trying to get his attention. Passing his hands over Fred''s eyes. "Man, what''s wrong" "Flag..." Fred said, in an almost inaudible voice. "What happened to him?" the tomboyish girl asked Ethan. He shrugged off. Andrew was more attuned to Fred''s quirks than him. "He is a little weird, don''t let it bother you." Ethan said "anyway, aren''t you a little too arrogant after almost knocking the life out from a fellow student." Ethan said. This time she looked abashed. She sighed. "Okay, I was a little rude." she said while passing her hand though her hair. If she was a boy, that action would have looked cool... "the school is very fast at blaming the teams for this kind of incident, I was worried we would be punished over this...It had happened before."The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She smiled relieved. Ethan almost blushed, then he remembered she was a just first year, and he already had Kathy. Give and take some years and this girl would become very beautiful. "I am Nicole Allison." she said. Ethan recognized that name from somewhere "Allison? As in..." "Daughter of Calmon Allison, yes that''s me..." she said, while rolling her eyes. Her tone made it clear that she had heard that thousands of times. He father was a world class baseball player. That explained her interest in the sport. Ethan had heard her name sometimes in his father''s conversations with his brother. It seemed she was his brother''s classmate and he had a small crush in her. Should he mess with her just to fuck with his brother''s chances? He still had to pay him back for outing his late night playing to his father. "By the way, you are classmates with Carl Lavine, aren''t you?" "Yeah, I know who you are talking about. The ace of the football team, isn''t it?" "Yeah" he said. "That guy is my brother. A word of advice, don''t get too close to him..." She narrowed her eyes "Why?" she said. Ethan sighed and shook his head dramatically "That guy is problematic..." He said. "Like...I can''t really tell you, it would dirt my family''s honor..." "C''mon, say it!" She was curious now. Hook line and sink... "He is kind of a pervert..." Ethan said, struggling not to laugh and trying to feign distress. "At home he likes to use female clothing when no one is looking." he made a dramatic pause, shook his head and sighed " My sister lost half a dozen skirts to him." he clicked his tongue. "We still don''t know how to help him..." "You''re lying" she laughed. Was he that easy to see through? "You''re a bad liar, aren''t you? There are better ways to soil you brother''s reputation than spreading such obvious lie." She smiled mischievously "I can help you, if you want... Your brother is insufferable" She shook her head, sighing "The guy can''t accept a no..." Ethan looked at her surprised. Oh...well... she already didn''t like his brother... it worked for him just as well. ... Ethan left Fred in the infirmary and went back to the class. Andrew decided to stay with Fred for a while until it was sure that he had nothing grave. The hit left a big purple bump in his head and he seemed unsteady in his feet. He kept talking things like "Flags such as these can''t happen in the real world" and how it was a "Bad premonition", just the usual Fred... Ethan arrived in the class and went for his seat when the teacher stopped him. Mr. Spencer was the geography teacher. He had been quite famous some years ago when he starred on a survival show in a nature channel. He had a major in natural science, the school didn''t waste time and contracted him as soon as his show ended, It added a lot to its publicity. He wasn''t that great of a teacher though... and he was a little on the rude side. "Where were you? The class is..." He didn''t have time to finish it. ... FRED "Everything is ok, young man." the nurse said. "There was no fracture or anything like it, but you should still stay still for the rest of the day." After Andrew left for the classroom, Fred stayed there mulling over his encounter with Nicole. For some reason he felt a strong unrest ever since it happened. That scene...so clich¨¦...so surreal. "The probability of me being in that place in the exact moment the ball hit me is..." he said, calculating in his head. "It is something around 0,01%, but if I add more variables, like in Drake''s Equation...it will tend to infinity..." He said. The nurse looked weirdly at him, but shrugged off. "The probability of it being a young blond tomboyish girl with tsundere tendencies makes the entire scenario infinitely improbable..." He continued "Is this an omen?" The nurse looked at him again and asked. "Are you okay young man?" she asked, her expression showed apprehension and a little bit of fear. "What are you mulling about?" she said. "An infinitely improbable event just occurred to me, miss..." he said, sighing. "The quantum mechanics preach that any event can happen if its probability is higher than zero...at least in a quantum scale... An infinitely impossible probability tends to zero, but can we say that it is zero?" he asked himself, as if slowly having a revelation. The nurse was starting to sweat. "That is very interesting." she nodded, with a weird smile. "Wait here a little as I call the medic ok?" "Oh." said Fred. "Alright!" He smiled. "By the way, can you give me a pen and a piece of paper, please?" The nurse left the room in a hurry while Fred was furiously writing equations down. Suddenly, a huge boom sounded through the room. Almost every glass object in the room broke in pieces. Fred covered his head with the pillow as the shower of glass fell. A strong white light illuminated the room. It was coming from outside. Fred slowly got up from the bed. He was trembling in a mixture of fear and anticipation. Is it another event? Another infinitely impossible event? Was he really living in an fiction-like setting as he was beginning to believe? He left the nursery and looked at the horizon, dazed. Where once stood the high school building a giant white ball of...of something surrounded it. It trembled and shocked as if was made of water. "I was right..." Fred said. Chapter 1.0 Ethan was slowly coming back to consciousness. What happened? Did he sleep in the class? No, Teacher Spencer wouldn''t let him anyway. The guy took it personally when someone dozed off in his class. He looked around him and noticed that he was in a dark room. Grumbles and grunts could be heard around him. He noticed some of his classmates sprawled in the ground. He stood up and tried to make sense of where he was. "...a prank" he said, with a bored face, vaguely remembering those funny pranks that he watched in YouTube. It was funny until now, at least. Now he just found them tasteless... He seemed to be on a cave or something similar. The ground was unwoven and seemed to be made from some kind of white ceramic. It felt cold and wet to the touch. Blue fluorescent things...mushrooms... shined at the corners where organic material would normally accumulate. The scenario was very well made. Gods...Fred would go crazy over this. Some people made tons of money suing the groups that create these pranks. He could probably fake a psychological trauma and get some money from this. "I might be able to buy wireless internet USB and tell my father to go fuck himself..." "What happened?" he heard Jack saying. He rose up and helped his friends to stand. Brantley was waking up just beside him. Jack pushed him away with his feet went to the teacher, who was just helping a girl to stand. Not all students were here, only about twenty from his class of fifty. The rest were nowhere to be seen. "What is this?" The teacher said, his voice sounded uncertain. The classmates started gathering in groups around the teacher while speaking in low voices. "Ethan!" he heard. Kathy was there with them too. She had woken on a pool of water and her clothes were wet. Ethan blushed and went over to her. "This is weird isn''t it" she said, with a nervous voice "It''s just a prank." he said, dismissively. "A poor idea of prank though, I just don''t know how did they get the "ok" from the school to do this... There will be tons of pissed off parents when this ends." Whoever architected this won''t have enough money to pay in restitutions. "Are...you certain?" she asked. It was hard to see in the dark, but she seemed quite pale. "Yeah, though it was very well executed, what else would it be?" He laughed and decided to mess with her. It helped to hide his embarrassment "Heh, don''t tell me you are getting Fred''s disease? This isn''t a death game or anything like that." He smiled. So impressionable... "Yeah, you''re right." She said as she held his hand. Ethan was convinced that there was no weird meanings in her gesture. It was dark, and it was quite dangerous to walk in that unwoven ground unassisted. "All right!" said the teacher. He was holding his smartphone to help illuminate the room. Some students followed his idea and held their own smartphones. Soon everyone were holding their own smartphones. "Does anyone know what happened." the teacher asked "We seem to be in a karstic cavern..." he said. What''s a karstic cavern anyway? "It is weird, because this kind of formation doesn''t happen in the proximity of Goldenfalls". "Is this some kind of joke?" said Jack. Ethan rolled his eyes. "This is so cool!" one of the students said. He was in one of the corners holding a mushroom in his hand. The teacher widened his eyes and shouted. "Don''t touch it! We don''t know if this is poisonous!" he said. The light from the smartphones reflected in the teachers skin. He was sweating. The student threw the mushroom away as if it was a spider and started to clean his hands in his pants. A light blue color started shining from it. His hands were also shining. "Shit" he said and went to clean his hands in the same pool were Kathy was lying before. "What the hell is he doing?" Jack said, while motioning to Brantley. The teacher was away scolding the student who touched the mushroom and trying to organize them. Brantley was sitting in a corner, some feets away from a petite girl who was just there, hugging a book and trembling. He had a very dumb smile plastered in his face and was pointing to the air, making weird movements with his hand as if he was having some kind of delusion. "hehehe" His low laughter sounded eerie. "Did he finally went crazy?" one of Jack''s friends said. The other one laughed. "Maybe it was the mushroom?" "Let''s stay away from him." Ethan blurted out to Kathy. Brantley didn''t seem right in the mind right now, there was something weird going on with him. Kathy nodded, making a scowl "I told you he was disgusting..." The teacher organized the students in a semicircle with the help of one of vice representative, Jose..This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. "Does anyone here know what is happening?" said Jose. The male student from the mushroom incident answered. "I have tried activating the GPS function in my smartphone." he said "It isn''t answering. In fact, I can''t even make calls right now, there''s no signal." Another student said. "Of course, Caleb" he rolled his eyes "We are underground, idiot." Underground? They really went far with the prank. "Isn''t this just some kind of prank?" said Ethan, drawing some gazes to him. He gathered his courage and went ahead. "L-Like that ones from that Sunday night program? I have seen a lot of them in the Youtube." Jose stopped to think about it, but the teacher quickly dismissed it. "I don''t know what happened" he said. "But look at that thing" he pointed to the mushrooms in the ground. "I didn''t touch it directly, but I can''t tell that they are the real thing." he said. This time he drawn a long breath and said something outrageous. "The thing is... I have visited caverns before, many of them, during my days on the entertainment industry. I have seen fluorescent fungus before... But this...never once I heard of a blue mushroom shining this strong. I don''t think there is a mushroom like this in our world''s biological data. Ethan''s eyes widened. Kathy''s grip in his hand tightened. At that moment a loud booming noise resounded in the cave. It sounded like the screeching of a beast and it was coming from every direction. It wasn''t possible to pinpoint it. The girls started screaming and some students fell in the ground. The moment Ethan heard that sound, he felt unnatural fear gripping his heart. His pupils constricted, he started to sweat and he felt that his bladder was about to empty its contents, he was lucky he had gone to the bathroom when he had brought Fred to the infirmary. His Knees gave out and he slowly lowered himself to the ground. He hugged his legs in a very pathetic manner and started trembling. He took some seconds to recompose himself and stood up again to look as his classmates around him. A slightly smell of piss drifted in the air. Katharine was hiding her face between her knees. Balancing back and forth. He quickly went to help her. "Hey everything is okay...There''s nothing here" he said, soothingly. "No!" She screamed, drawing the attention of everyone. She stood up and grabbed Ethan by the collar "Not okay! Not okay at all! You told me this was just a prank!" she pushed him away and started looking around in terror. "How can a scream be so terrifying? What the fuck is happening here!" she said. "Calm down Kathy!" Ethan said, quickly grabbing her by the elbows. He didn''t knew what to say to her, so he kept telling her to calm down. At one point her breathing slowed and she seemed to settle down. She sat in the ground and ignored him. He kept trying to reassure her , but she was just keeping to herself. He looked around him and noticed that his other classmates weren''t better than them. Ethan was terrified. He didn''t want to believe, but he knew this was no prank anymore. "Shit, shit, shit..." He was starting to gnaw his nails, an embarrassing nervous tick he had. He had to control himself. He drew a deep breath to calm down. There was no use throwing a fit right now. This wasn''t a match were he could curse and scold his team members to get them to work. Nothing would magically happen if he started screaming in rage. "Fuck, Fuck..." he started mumbling to himself while pacing nervously. He looked around him again. Jack was trying to calm down a girl who was crying, clearly terrified. "Hey, calm down, this will soon be over" Jack said. He seemed calm, but Ethan could see that he was trembling slightly, he didn''t expect such a show of goodwill from the guy... He soothingly rubbed her shoulders "C''mon, we need to move". The girl slowly nodded her head, but she didn''t seem calmer at all. Her movements were mechanical and her eyes still showed terror All around him, students that had gotten over the terror were helping the ones that hadn''t. The president, Jose, was going around the group with four other students just behind him trying to get a feel of the situation. "Fells like a movie scene where the leader counts the causalities" Ethan though grimly. He looked at the corner where Brantley had hid himself and was surprised when he saw him gleaming manically. And waving his hands through the air while mumbling words that he couldn''t make out. "What the hell is going on with that imbecile?" The way Brantley was acting angered Ethan. He seemed so calm... While everyone was literally pissing their pants in fear, he was sitting there smirking to himself. Couldn''t he see what was happening? Couldn''t he see that how everyone was fucking terrified? That moment Ethan wanted to get right in front of that bastard and fucking punch him in the face. He would be happy to feel that idiot''s nose breaking in his fist. "Fuck that idiot. This isn''t the time to get bothered by him, I need to calm down." Beside Brantley, the girl had retreated even more in her shell. She was hiding among some rocks in a corner hugging her knees. Her book was lying in the ground. Only her eyes could be seen from behind her knees. "What was that..." The teacher finally said something. He had been silent since the screech was heard. Jack looked at him with a very pissed of face. "Aren''t you the oh-so-great Mr-fucking-Spencer?" Jack said, furiously. "You tell me, what the hell was that!?" he said, seething, gesturing around them. The teacher looked at Jack dazed "That scream..." He said "Tigers are said to have a growl that can have a paralyzing effect by inducing fear on its victim...But this was too abnormal..." Abnormal...it was truth...now that he was calmer, Ethan could tell that the kind of reaction that he and his classmate had to that scream had no explanations. Sound was, after all, just waves of air vibration, would such a scream have the same effect if it was coming from loudspeakers? Somehow he had a hunch that it wouldn''t. It was almost...almost as if the scream had magical effects... "Damn, now I am sounding just like Fred..." He should stop being stupid. Ethan tried to talk with Kathy again and, this time, she smiled apologetically and hugged him. He returned the hug without bothering with the smell of piss that came from her, she needed him right now, he couldn''t ask for more. That moment, Jose, backed by four other students, said loudly. "Guys. I know everyone here is apprehensive, I myself shuddered in fear a while ago" he said. "The thing is, we can''t stay here, we need to move." Chapter 2 "Yahhhhhh!!!" Someone screamed, It was a long and agonized scream. Ethan perked up at this. Kathy tensed, with eyes wide. Soon the group was up and in movement. "What was this!? does anyone know who..." "That was Reene!" a girl screamed to the teacher. "That was Reene!! O my god, it was her..." she said in distress. "Calm down, Taylor" Jose approached her and put his hand in her shoulders. "Explain it slowly, ok?" The girl took a gulp of air and continued "She said... she needed to use... the bathroom...The bathroom...But there was no bathroom here" the girl was hyperventilating and making long pauses in her talk. "We offered to accompany her..." She said, motioning to a friend by her side "but she declined it... and went off on her own" She said. The teacher signed for someone to bring a bottle of water to Taylor. She took long gulps of it. "Christ..." the teacher whispered, while holding a small crucifix in his hand. "Okay, we need to form a search party." he said. "Jose, Jack and..." he looked around and his eyes rested on Ethan... What? "Ethan. Please, go look around for Reene. I would go if I could, but I need to stay here and take care of the other students, It is my responsibility... Shit, why him? Ethan bit his lower lips trying to find a way out of this, but he could see none. He doubted anyone would accept to take his place. He could try to question the authority of the teacher, but at this point, everyone already accepted him as a leader. If he simply refused helping look for Reene, he didn''t know what would happen. They wouldn''t outright expulse him, but he was certain that he would be excluded from the group and labeled as a coward for the rest of his life. And Kathy was watching him too. He couldn''t show such lame side to her. He gritted his teeth and glared at the teacher angrily behind his back. Son of a bitch...what the fuck! He also didn''t understand why the teacher had chosen Jose and Jack to investigate Reene''s disappearance when they seemed to be his pawns. Whatever happened to Reene might happen to them too. It felt like he was throwing them to the wolves. "Hey, Ethan" Jose said, waving to him. Jack just looked at him uninterested. Jose smiled wryly. "We need to hurry up, each second is precious." "Okay" he said. He looked around him for anything he could bring, but nothing seemed useful. "It would be good if we had weapons" he blurted out. Jack''s eye shined. "Hmm, that''s actually a good idea" he reached for his pocket and brought up a switchblade. He opened and closed it skillfully while smiling. "Normally I would scold you for bringing weapons to school..." Jose said. Jack scowled. "But in this situation all I can really say is ''good job!''" He smiled, making a thumbs up, Jack grinned. Jose looked at the other students and waved his arm, "Does anyone here have a knife or anything we can use as weapons?" he said. While walking through the crowd. "I promise" he laughed "that no one will have face suspension over this. I will even commend you for your forethought" Some students smiled at his antics, but in the end, only Jack had brought a switchblade. "I have an Idea" said Ethan. "What about a pen? Or an automatic pencil, the metal-made ones. They might not be as good as a switchblade but..." "I prefer to go weaponless then" said Jose. "You will probably end up just hurting yourself if you use a pen as weapon" Easy for him to say. Jose had the body of a gym rat, just like the teacher. Punching his face would be the right way for Ethan to hurt himself. He decided to look around for anyone who had a metal pen with them. Luckily, it seemed one of the girls was holding her automatic pencil when they appeared here. He breathed out in relief.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Kathy smiled and waved at him. She didn''t seem worried at all...maybe he shouldn''t be too. Jack, Jose and Ethan left the section the students were resting and went for the way Taylor said Reene had went. They were walking slow, with muffled sounds. Jose was leading them. He had wisely chosen to walk the path with less pebbles and more sand. The path they were taking had the form of a tunnel and had many curves. "It is dark here" said Ethan. The place had less mushrooms, almost none in fact. "there are no mushrooms here. I think we should go back and bring in more light" Jack scowled. "fuck this, let''s end this shit. I don''t want to hear your cowardice." he said, feigning indifference. Jose just shrugged. "there''s light enough here, I don''t think there will be anything really dangerous up ahead." he said. "I fear that we might get lost, though. Where is Reene anyway? We should already had found her, her scream didn''t sound that distant." "She probably just slipped in her own piss, heh" Jack said. A small trembling in the shadows projected at the walls made Ethan turn his head sharply. "What?" said Jack, restlessly. "Stop being so jumpy, what are you? A girl?" he said. "It''s just..." He couldn''t say that he thought he saw something...If there was nothing it would have sounded just pathetic. If there was something, no one would commend him for seeing it anyway. He decided to keep quiet. "Stop..." Jose said, lowly but sharply. Ethan was hearing it...It was very low, but it was there. "Don''t make a sound..." Jose whispered. The sounds stopped. "W-What was that?" Jack whispered, to no one specifically. Suddenly, sounds of running surged in the room. Shadows shuffled frantically in the walls. Small figures appeared, jumping over the boulders while holding what appeared to be spears, rushing at Ethan and the group. "The Hell?"" screamed Jack while kicking one of them. They were fast, Ethan eyes were wide and his heart was beating like a war drum, he gripped the pencil, while preparing a kick to the small thing that was rushing at him. The thing appeared in front of him, moving fast and steadily like a cat. It''s eyes shined like one too, They were round like a fish and shined with a sickly yellow light. The spear was flying at his chest. He would die...Gods, he was gonna die! "Aaahhh" he screamed in terror, while retreating from the spear point rushing at him. A small rock behind him made him stumble, what probably saved his life, as he shifted his body away from the spear who passed just above his left shoulder. Having lost the element of surprise, the small creature fell back a readied his spear wearily. It was eying every movement of Ethan. Ethan couldn''t see the features of the thing very well, it was very dark, but his focused eyes showed that whatever this thing was... It was a warrior. The thing went forward again, made some aggressive movements and some mock pierces, and fell back again. Ethan was failing miserably at keeping a cool head. His rational mind was almost completely taken over by his horror. Luckily, among that storm inside him, he had a small thought. "It is trying to test me, to understand his enemy." The thing went forward again, made another set of mock attacks with his spear, and fell back again. If that thing understood how pathetic he really was, it was just stop this play this game and go for the kill. He had to think something fast. "A weakness. I need a weakness, an easily exploitable one."
New title acquired. "One with a brain"
One with a brain + 1 wisdom when equipped.
He was having delusions again...and in the middle of a battle...He kept his mind in the battle and just ignored it. A weakness... He slowly bent down. The creature noted that he was changing strategies and straightened itself. It seemed ready to run away. Ethan kept his right hand in front of him, stretched in a defensive position, In his hand there was a small automatic pencil. Useless, just like Jose said. With his left hand, he grabbed a fistful of sand. When he stood up again, the thing went forward, tired of waiting. He threw the sand in front of him without even looking at the creature. It hissed. The thing screamed in agony and dropped the spear to put his hands in his eyes and hide them. Ethan darted forward, took the spear from the ground, and in a display of brutality, plunged it deeply in the creature''s belly. He was also screaming. "Yahhhh!" Blood spurted from the wound while the thing squirmed from the pain in his eyes. It didn''t even seem to notice that it was being transposed by its own fucking spear. "Die! You piece of shit, Die...Die, die, die, die!" Ethan felt a hand in his shoulders and turned his head fast, expecting another enemy. He tried pulling the spear off the creature but it was sticking to it! Damn! "Hey man, easy..." he heard. It was...It was just Jack. He breathed in relief and collapsed on the floor. Chapter 3
+ 25 xp
Another screen appeared. He just closed his eyes and shook his head tiredly. He breathed in and out, slowly, trying to get a grip of himself. His mind was in disarray. The tension was slowly disappearing and leaving him hollow. Jack offered his hand to Ethan, he accepted the help and stood up. The smell of blood was the first thing he noticed. It was strange though, it didn''t have that irony touch that normal human blood had, it was just sickly. He noticed that the blood had splashed in his uniform. " That was pretty intense" Jack said. Jose was just standing up. He was with his back turned to them and he seemed to be holding one of the spears. Two of the things were dead by his feet. He turned to them and... He fell. He fell and there was a spear buried in his chest. Jack hurried to him. Ethan just stood there with his mind blanked. This wasn''t a joke, a prank or anything like that. Their lives were really in danger... He approached Jose worried with what he would see while Jack seemed to be checking the wound. His eyebrows were furrowed in worry. Jose was coughing blood and blood was gurgling from the wound in his chest. "Tsk, his lung was punctured" Jack said, wiping the sweat in his eyebrows. Jose was sweating profusely, he asked, white with terror. "Am I going to die?" His voice was low and unweaven, almost a whisper. Jack didn''t'' answer, but his expression was answer enough. "I am going to die, won''t I?" Jose said. There was no bravery in his admittance, only unconcealed fear. "Please, stay here..." he said, while holding Jack''s pulse. He looked at Ethan who was approaching wide eyed. "Mom...I want to see my mom..." Jose said. Jack calmed him down and stood up with pain evident in his eyes. He reached for his pockets and brought up a box of cigarettes and a lighter. "Want a smoke?" he said, while lighting the cigar. That made Jose smile. Jack smiled back while raising his eyebrows. "If you are gonna die anyway, die a cool death." he said, while bending down to put the cigar in Jose''s mouth. "You won''t be needing these lungs anymore anyway..." Jose cracked another smile and managed to take a painful pull from the cigar. He spat the cigar and smiled again. "This is marijuana, you bastard." Jack grinned "You will get suspended for it..." Jose said, while closing his eyes. His breathing was stopping. Ethan just stood there, numb, during the entire spectacle. Someone had died, right in front of him. This wasn''t a prank, was it? He shook his head in denial. What the hell? What in the fucking hell?This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Jack sighed. "shit..." he said "Fuck this shit! FUCK!" he screamed, while pulling his hair back He didn''t pay attention to Ethan and just turned to the body of one of the creatures. It was lying face down. He kicked it with anger and it turned around. He brought his cell phone''s flashlight next to its face and blurted out. "What the fuck is this shit?" Jack''s question brought Ethan back from his stupor. He approached Jack quickly and crouched beside him to examine the thing. He needed to occupy his mind at that moment, he didn''t want to stay beside Jose''s cooling body. He brought his cell phone to the things face and his eyes widened. "I''t cant'' be..." he said. Jack looked at him. "You know what this shit is?" he spat at the thing "It looks like an overgrown fetus." The creature was a very small humanoid. It had large yellow catlike eyes. It''s body was hairless, aside from some small tufts that grew its neck, and it''s skin was white. It''s head was proportionally bigger than a human''s and Its belly projected outwards like someone with schistosomiasis. It''s overall appearance was greatly disturbing. "I have never seen this thing..." Ethan said. "But it...It..." He was afraid to sound nerdy in front of a know bully like Jack "Somehow it looks like a globin." he said. Jack looked at him strangely and asked. "Like the ones from ''The lord of the rings?''" he asked. The goblins on TLOTR weren''t really the standard of fantasy. Standard fantasy goblins are far shorter and greener, but there was no need to correct Jack. Jack took another cigar and lighted it. He breathed three or four times before he said. "did you see the screens?" The screens? What is he talking about? "Screens?" Ethan asked. "Yeah" Jack, said. He looked distant. "Small blue screens. Every time I killed one of that fucks, I saw a weird screen with a "25 xp" message...almost like a..." "A rpg..." Ethan said, with his eyes widening. "Yeh..." Jack said. "Almost like a game...so you saw it too uh? I thought I was going insane a while back." He laughed dryly. What the hell! What the hell did this means? He was now sure he wasn''t going insane. Or, if he was, at least he was not the only one. He looked at his hands and noticed they were trembling. The complete wrongness of the situation was starting to get very clear on his head. He looked at his side to look at Jack and noticed he was as relaxed as ever. Damn, why was Jack like this? Ethan felt like a spineless coward. Where was he? Was he in a game? Was he abducted to be part on some kind of VR gaming experiment? He was getting dizzy. He found an rock outcrop beside him and sat down while massaging his temples. "Holy shit..." He mumbled. Jack was still calmly smoking his marijuana, seemingly without a care in the world. A VR gaming experiment... They probably were a batch of test subjects in some kind of VR gaming experiment. That was the best guess he had, and to be honest, he was already stretching. Whoever did this abduction would have to be insane to choose exactly the students of Goldenfall. This guy could have gotten some unknown orphans in some third rate country who no one would ever miss, but to choose them... Abducting the Goldenfall''s students was kind of insane, it was his best guess though. "A Game..." he said, wondering. Was it really a game? If this was a game, there would be more game-like elements. Like races, dungeons, status.
Name Ethan Strenght 3
Race Error - Undefined (no modifiers) Dexterity 3
Level 0 Speed/Evasion 2
Gender Male Resistence 3
Equiped Title One with a brain Wisdom 3
Luck 3
What? Chapter 4 He just stood there, blinking, trying to restart his brain that was crashed by metaphoric blue screen. There, in front of him, stood a floating golden window. It was simple and elegant in design. Quite charming, even. He closed his eyes and took a looooong breath. He knew he would need it in the next moments, he felt the beginnings of a headache. Supposing he wasn''t getting insane, his idea that this was a game was right on the money. Were there other windows? "Inventory! Character! Skills!" he said, out loud. Jack looked at him, while raising an eyebrown. At the least word, a new window appeared to him
1. error
2. error
3. error
4. error
5. error
6. error
7. error
What the fuck? Was that thing bugged? No wonder they needed test subjects. "Jack" he said. "Say ''Status''" "what?" he asked? "why do I need to say it?" "Something appears" Ethan Said. "Just try it." Jack furrowed his eyebrows, but complied anyway, to Ethan''s surprise. "Status." he said. It seemed that Ethan''s little bloody show had gained him Jack''s respect, a reluctant respect at least. Jack spit out his cigar. "Oh, what the fuck!" He said "You got to be fucking kidding me!" he said, while looking at Ethan. "You!" He said "How did you fucking knew it?" he said, while walking towards Ethan and grabbing him by the collar. "Do you have anything to do with this? You little bastard!" He screamed, his breath smelling heavily of smoke. What the fuck? Ethan was trying to help him! He felt anger rising inside himself and gave Jack a strong push in the chest, almost making him fall. "What the hell? Where did you get this idea?" he said, seething. Jack scowled. "You knew about this ''status'' shit, didn''t you?".He said "You are with them..." Ethan sighed. "This is a standard in fantasy themed games! Stop this idioticy!" Ethan screamed. "Every fucking RPG has a status window or something similar." he said, calmer."As long as you associate this situation with the word ''RPG'' you will eventually end up thinking ''status'' at some point" he sat down again. Jack kept himself from hitting Ethan and sat down on a boulder. "So, is this something like a game?" he said. Ethan looked at the empty air and sighed again. Since this situation started, he couldn''t stop sighing at all. He felt like this was what he have been doing his whole life. He passed his hand through his scalp and answered "I have a hypothesis, but it is so very absurd I think you will laugh."Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Jack smiled. "Make me laugh them. We kinda need a good laugh" he said, while looking at Jose''s body, it made for a very macabre company. "We need to head back." Ethan said, while getting up and stamping his jeans. Gods...he needed a good bath and a change of clothes. He was dirty with mud, blood and sweat and there was a uncomfortable chaffing between his legs. His sedentarism was finally caughting up, as he felt the muscles in his legs starting to clench. He longed for his pc and a good can of coffee "Well, tell me what you think when we head back." he said, while looking at Jose''s body. they needed to leave him here, he was to big to carry and they couldn''t waste time burying him. It left a sour taste in the mouth. Maybe they could come back with more people afterward to have a proper burial. "I just hope the little fucks don''t make an habit of eating human meat" Jack said. An uncomfortable prospect. He moved and went to inspect one of the creatures bodies. He hauled it up and... "What are you bringing it for?" Ethan asked. The thing was honestly disgusting, and it was still bleeding. "I will show them" he said, grimly. "This will help the little idiots face reality. That we are fucked. Specially that fucking cunt of a Teacher. He thinks he is the fucking Indiana Jones." They went the way back without talking to each other. Ethan had used paper balls he made with his notebook to mark the way, like in John and Mary''s tale. He felt like an idiot, but it was better than the alternative. The white paper was easily visible in the blue light of the mushrooms, almost fluorescent. At least, after some minutes of walk, they started to hear the gabble of the students...they seemed...happy? Ethan clenched his fist in anger. How could they sound happy? How dare they? Now he really wanted to poke someone''s eye out. For gods sake! They arrived at the room they were earlier. Ethan stood there wide eyes. There was a group of four people playing cards on a corner, The teacher was sitting in another corner, seemingly giving advices to a female student, a group of girls was talking an giggling in another corner. The entire room seem more illuminated than before. The teacher must have ordered students to take mushrooms from nearby places. The entire place shined in fluorescent blue and felt almost like a rave party. Someone put a cell phone on a plastic cup to make a improvised speaker. "What the fuck?!!" Jack beat him to it. His eyes looked lost. "What the fucking fuck is this?!" The entire room became quiet. Ethan couldn''t take anymore, The body, the fight and the partying... He went to the side and threw up. Jack looked at him and he thought he saw a sliver of sympathy there. "What the hell man?" Lawson, one of jack''s friends came. Rudy was following just behind him. "Calm down eh..." he said. "We were just waiting for you, we had nothing to do, it''s not like we enjoy here..." "Ah, Jack!" the teacher said, unconcerned. "And Ethan!" he scratched his ear "I know you guys are pissed because I...wait, where''s Jose?" Jack''s face was impassive, as if carved from stone. He didn''t answer. He simple threw the volume he was shouldering and left to sit on a corner, away from everyone. Almost as if saying ''Deal with it, Ethan'' . "What is this?" the teacher said, while approaching the light of his cell phone to the thing. Ethan was still in his knees, trying to recompose himself. "Oh my god!!" the teacher exclaimed. "You found one of the Pygmies!" he said. Ethan heard Jack''s cackling. "This is the find of the century!" "Hey Ethan" a girl said to him, she looked quite pissed. "Where is Jose." "This is fantastic guys!" The teacher said. "It''s a groundbreaking discovery." "Ethan, Where. Is. My. Boyfriend!?" Another girl appeared. "He isn''t your boyfriend yet, you''ve been just going out for two months!" "C''mon, Ethan, Jack" The teacher was grinning. "where did you find this?" "Hey! Get Up!" "SHUT UP!" Ethan screamed. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He had enough "DEAD! JOSE IS FUCKING DEAD, TRANSPASSED BY A FUCKING SPEAR IN THE LUNG!" he screamed at the girl''s face. The temperature in the room descended to negative Celsius. Yelps and gasps were heard. Eyes were widened. joy gave place to terror. "He was trespassed by a fucking spear when we were battling a mob of these things." Ethan said, pointing to the creature''s body on his feat. Some eyes wandered to the blood and dirt in his shirt. He saw Katharine gasp with her hand on her mouth. He also saw Reene''s friend falling in her knees and starting bawling. "Lies" said the supposed girlfriend. "How can Jose die and you be alive?" she said, panic and denial in her voice "you and Jack are both trash! how can you be alive?! And my Jose die?" she spat on Ethan''s face. "get real! Where is he? What did you do to him?!" "Follow the paper ball path" This time was jack who answered. "His body is there, we just hope teacher''s ''Pilgrims''" he laughed at the term. "doesn''t come back and make a stew with his body, ya''know..." "How can you be alive, and he, dead?" This time it was the teacher who asked. What a bastard...he had basically stated that he wanted them dead instead of Jose Jack shrugged. "Maybe he had less points in luck?". Ethan laughed. The teacher looked at him for some seconds before saying. "I think you are hiding something" he said. "He might still be alive." Ethan said, suddenly serious. The girlfriend looked at him hopefully, the teacher had suspicion in his eyes. "Maybe this is a game..." he said."And he still is alive in the real world. It is a big ''maybe'' though..." Kathy looked at him like he was an idiot. The teacher just shook his head. "You are crazy, boy." Jack laughed again. "Say ''Status''" Ethan said. "Just say it, ''Status'', It will answer your questions". The teacher complied, even when he had no trust in Ethan. He saw no harm in simply uttering a word. "Wha...W...What is this..." the teacher said, clearly mesmerized by the glowing gold screen in front of him. "That, my lovely fucking teacher" scowled Ethan. "Is a status screen" Chapter 5: "What?" He just stood there, trying to restart his brain and make sense of what he was seeing. There, in front of him, stood a floating golden screen. It was simple and elegant in design. Quite charming, even. He closed his eyes and took a looooong breath. He knew he would need it in the next moments, he felt the beginnings of a panic attack. Supposing he wasn''t getting insane, his idea that this was a game was right on the money. Were there any other windows? "Inventory! Character! Skills!" he said out loud. Jack looked at him, while raising an eyebrow. At the least word, a new window appeared to him
1. error
2. error
3. error
4. error
5. error
6. error
7. error
What the fuck? Was that thing bugged? No wonder they needed test subjects. "Jack." he said. "Say ''Status''" "what?" he asked? "why do I need to say it?" "Something appears." Ethan Said. "Just try it." Jack furrowed his eyebrows, but complied anyway, to Ethan''s surprise. It seemed that Ethan''s little bloody show had gained him Jack''s respect. Jack spit out his cigar. "Oh, what the fuck!" He said "You got to be fucking kidding me!" he said, while looking at Ethan''s. "You!" He said "How did you fucking knew it?" he said, while walking towards Ethan and grabbing him by the collar. "Do you have anything to do with this? You little bastard!" He screamed, his breath smelling heavily of smoke. What the fuck? Ethan was trying to help him! He felt anger rising inside himself and gave Jack a strong push in the chest, almost making him fall. "What the hell? Where did you get this idea?" he said, seething. Jack scowled. "You knew about this ''status'' shit, didn''t you?".He said "You are with them..." Ethan sighed. "This is a standard in fantasy themed games. Stop this idiocy." Ethan said. "Every fucking RPG has a status window or something similar. As long as you associate this situation with the word ''RPG'' you will eventually end up thinking ''status'' at some point" he sat down again. Jack kept himself from hitting Ethan and also sat down on a boulder. "So, is this something like a game?" he said. Ethan looked at the empty air and sighed again. Since this situation started, he couldn''t stop sighing at all. He felt like this was what he have been doing his whole life. "I have a hypothesis, but it is so very absurd I think you will laugh."Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Jack smiled. "Make me laugh them. We kinda need a good laugh" he said, while looking at Jos¨¦''s body. It made for a very macabre company. "We need to head back." Ethan said, while getting up and stamping his jeans. Gods...he needed a good bath and a change of clothes. He was dirty with mud, blood and sweat and there was a uncomfortable chaffing between his legs. Everything would be perfect if his pc was also here...but nothing can ever be perfect. "Well, tell me what you think when we head back." he said, while looking at Jos¨¦''s body. They needed to leave him there. He was too big to carry and they couldn''t waste time burying him. It left a sour taste in the mouth. Maybe they could come back with more people afterward to give Jos¨¦ a proper burial. "I just hope the little fucks don''t make an habit of eating human meat." Jack grinned. An uncomfortable prospect. He moved and went to inspect one of the creatures bodies. He hauled it up and... "What are you bringing it for?" Ethan asked. The thing was honestly disgusting, and it was still bleeding. "I will show them." he said, grimly. "This will help the little idiots face reality. That we are fucked. Specially that fucking cunt of a Teacher." They went all the way back without talking to each other. Ethan had used paper balls he made with his notebook to mark the way, like in John and Mary''s tale. He felt like an idiot, but it was better than stupidly getting lost in the cave. The white paper was easily visible in the fluorescent blue light of the mushrooms. At least, after some minutes of walk, they started to hear the gabble of the students...they seemed...happy? Ethan clenched his fist in anger. How could they sound happy? How dare they? Now he really wanted to poke someone''s eye out. For gods sake! They arrived at the room they were earlier. Ethan stood there wide eyes. There was a group of four people playing cards on a corner, The teacher was sitting in another corner, seemingly giving advices to a female student, a group of girls was talking and giggling in another corner. The entire room seem more illuminated than before. The teacher must have ordered students to take mushrooms from nearby places. The entire place shined in fluorescent blue and felt almost like a rave party. "What the fuck?!!" Jack beat him to it. He eyes looked lost. "What the fucking fuck is this?!" The entire room became quiet. Ethan couldn''t take anymore, The body, the fight and the partying... He went to the side and threw up. Jack looked at him and he thought he saw a sliver of sympathy there. "What the hell man?" Lawson, one of jack''s friends came. Rudy was following just behind him. "Calm down eh..." he said. "We were just waiting for you, we had nothing to do, it''s not like we enjoy it here..." "Ah, Jack!" the teacher said, unconcerned. "And Ethan!" he scratched his ear "I know you guys are pissed because I...wait, where''s Jos¨¦?" Jack''s face was impassive, as if carved from stone. He didn''t answer. He simple threw the volume he was shouldering and left to sit on a corner, away from everyone. Almost as if saying ''Deal with it, Ethan''. "What is this?" the teacher said, while approaching his cell phone light to the thing. Ethan was still in his knees, trying to recompose himself. "Oh my god!!" the teacher exclaimed. "You found one of that creatures!" he said. Ethan heard Jack''s cackling madly. "Hey Ethan." a girl said to him, she looked quite pissed. "Where is Jos¨¦?" "This is fantastic guys!" the teacher said "It''s a groundbreaking discovery." "Ethan, Where. Is. My. Boyfriend!?" Another girl appeared. "He isn''t your boyfriend yet, you''ve been just going out for two months!" "C''mon... Ethan, Jack." The teacher was grinning. "Where did you find this?" "Hey! Get Up!" "SHUT UP!" Ethan screamed. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He had enough "DEAD! JOS¨¦ IS FUCKING DEAD, TRANSPASSED BY A FUCKING SPEAR IN THE LUNG!" he screamed at the girl''s face. The temperature in the room descended to negative Celsius. Yelps and gasps were heard. Eyes were widened. Joy gave place to terror. "He was trespassed by a fucking spear when we were battling a mob of these things." Ethan said, pointing to the creature''s body on his feet. Some eyes wandered to the blood and dirt in his shirt. He saw Katharine gasp with her hand on her mouth. He also saw Reene''s friend falling in her knees and starting bawling. "Lies" said the supposed girlfriend. "How can Jos¨¦ die and you be alive?" she said, panic and denial in her voice "You and Jack are both trash! how can you be alive while my Jos¨¦ is dead?" she spat on Ethan''s face. "Get real! Where is he? What did you do to him?!" "Follow the paper ball path" This time was Jack who answered. "His body is there, we just hope the little bastards don''t come back and make a stew with it..." "How can you be alive, and him dead?" this time it was the teacher who asked. What a bastard...he had basically stated that he wanted them dead instead of Jos¨¦. Jack shrugged. "Maybe he had less points in luck?" The teacher looked at him for some seconds before saying. "I think you are hiding something." he said. "He might still be alive." Ethan said, suddenly. The girlfriend looked at him hopefully, the teacher had suspicion in his eyes. "Maybe this is a game..." Ethan said, grimly. "And he still is alive in the real world. It is a big ''maybe'' though..." Kathy looked at him like he was an idiot. The teacher just shook his head. "You are crazy, boy." Jack laughed again. "Say ''Status'' " Ethan said. "Just say it, ''Status'', It will answer your questions." The teacher complied, even when he had no trust in Ethan. He probably saw no harm in simply uttering a word. "Wha...W...What is this..." the teacher said, clearly mesmerized by the glowing gold screen in front of him. "That, you fucking bastard." scowled Jack . "Is a character screen." Chapter 6: The Screen "Status!" said Kathy. Her eyes widened almost immediately. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed. Most students followed her example and a chaotic chorus of ''status'' sounded through the whole room. Everyone repeated the word, with the exception of Brantley. Ethan was pretty sure he had already understood the nature of their predicament a long time ago, if his strange behavior was anything to go by. "This..." the teacher said. "Explain this Ethan!" he said. Any vestige of levity left his voice. Finally he was starting to understand the wrongness of the situation. Ethan grinned, take that you bastard! "What is there to explain?" he said. "It''s like a game. You kill monsters, you gain experience." he shrugged. The teacher was reeling. "A game..." "How can it be a game?" Reene''s friend, Taylor, asked. "Is Reene okay then?" she asked hopefully. "We don''t know." Ethan said. "Right now, we know no more than you" "What about your theory?" said Jack''s voice. He had risen up from his corner and was approaching while playing with his knife. "You said you had one..." Ethan sighed. Most students were gathering around him now. He was never good talking in public. It was strange how he could talk well in small groups, but if there were more than seven people, he normally becomes a stuttering mess. He took a breath and closed his eyes to ignore the other''s eyes upon him. "I...I thought about it, and the only explanation I have for this is already quite bizarre..." he said. "I think we are test subjects in a VR environment." "That''s...pretty farfetched, isn''t it?" the teacher said, doubtful, raising his eyebrows. "Yes, it is." Ethan said, suddenly angry. "Got a better idea?" he growled "If you don''t, then shut the fuck up..." "This isn''t how you should talk to your teacher..." he reprimanded, pointing his finger at Ethan''s face. "No, he''s right, fuck you." said Jack. "You did nothing since you arrived here, it was your idea for us to look for that Reene girl, Jos¨¦ is dead because of you" he said. "arrogant bastard". "Stop!" a girl said. It was one Reene''s friends, Isabelle. Taylor was hiding behind her. "I''ve seen this in a series before..." she said breathing tensely. "That''s the way it goes in most zombie apocalypses. The group falls apart and everyone dies because of internal fights...We need to keep calm..." she said, with her palms standing, trying to appease Jack and the teacher. Jack backed down and went back to his corner. His friends seemed to be avoiding him ever since he came back. Ethan decided that this was a good time to cool down as well. He was edgy since he arrived. "You seem really worn" said Kathy. With a small smile. "It was..." he said with a smile of his own "Tense..." She hugged him and he let his head fall in her shoulder. It was soft, but he was too tired to care. "will you tell me?" she said. "Let me get some rest first." he said. "My legs are killing me." "That''s your own fault." she giggled. "You should have done sports back on..." Ethan eyes widened. "What?" said Kathy, suddenly tense. "Its...It''s nothing..." he said, giving a tense smile "Let''s sit somewhere." They sat side by side, resting against a wall. Ethan let his head rest in Kathy''s shoulder while was trying to understand the small dent in his theory. Why was his body, in this supposed virtual world, so similar to the one on the real world? It was disconcerting that the developers would have such profound knowledge about his physical condition. He started reconsidering the possibility that he was really going crazy. It would do no good to him to worry over it for now. For now he would only enjoy Kathy''s presence. ... "We need to define what we are going to do now." the teacher said. The group had gathered in a half circle around him as he explained the situation. "If we really are in some kind of virtual environment as Ethan here thinks, than, what happens if one of us die? Dying may be the simplest way of leaving this place." "Are we really in a virtual environment?" Caleb said while scratching his nose. "I honestly doubt it." he said. "Why?" Taylor said, furrowing her eyebrows. She was hopeful that she would still find Reene alive. "It''s kinda embarrassing." Caleb said, visibly blushing "Well, how do I say this...Before coming to this world I had a chaffing between my tights..."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The girl grimaced in disgust. Caleb laughed dismissively. "The thing is..." he said "It is a recent thing. No one but me knew about it. But today, when we arrived here, I was still feeling it..." "Eek." the girl scowled. "Something similar happened to me" another classmate said. "I have tendinitis in both my thumbs. Never told anyone, still have it. I am pretty sure this is my real body, not some kind of virtual avatar." "What about the screens?" Kathy said. "What can possibly explain them?" "I think we should proceed with the assumption that death means death." Ethan said. "Wasn''t it you who said this is a game?!" Isabelle said. "I didn''t claim anything" he answered her. She was putting words in his mouth, he hated that. "I had a theory, Jack asked me to explain it, that''s all." "Calm down." The teacher said. "Anyway, we can''t stay here indefinitely, we will have to move sometime." he said. "Yeah, who''s up for some leveling?" one of the male classmates said. He seemed excited with their predicament, and he wasn''t the only one. "Do you think this is a game? This situation?" Some girl said, visibly shaken. "Game or not, there''s nothing we can do but accept our situation and move on." he said. "I concur" another classmate said. It was one of Jack''s friends. "I won''t stay in this fuckhole anymore." he scowled. "Me and my friends are leaving; whoever wants to come with us, get in line." "Wait! We need to stay together" the teacher said. The legitimacy of his leadership was falling apart and he was getting desperate. Ethan smiled. "He''s right" Jack said. "The teacher, I mean" Jack scowled. He was by the sidelines until now. He looked at his friend''s face and said. "We need to stay together" He said, spitting his cigar. "Lukas, you are taking our situation too lightly. There are fucking monsters out there, man..." "What happened to you, Jack?" Lukas said "You weren''t like this, are you becoming a coward?" Jack looked at him in the eyes and said. "You will die like this, you know..." "Hmpf..." ... After some more discussion, it was decided that the best course of action was to explore this cave they were stranded at. Seven students were armed with the rudimentary spears Ethan had taken from the White Fetus monster, as they named it. Six of them were males and the other was Kathy. Brantley was one of the students that were left out. He didn''t seem happy about it. "What do you think you can do?" Jack said, while looking down at him. They made a formation where Ethan, Jack and Leroy, a burly yet calm student, stood at the spearhead. The teacher seemed adamant that since he was the adult in the group, he had to stay in the middle in order to best manage the students. Ethan liked this formation quite a bit. The teacher didn''t understand the value of xp points. It was a chance to get more xp and to show off to Kathy. She would be staying right behind him. They left the small room they were standing going through one of the tunnels, towards the direction they left Jose''s body. Jack, Ethan and Leroy kept their spears pointing forward. From above, their formation would look like a trident. Jack stood at the middle, but he was slightly ahead of Ethan and Leroy. "Fucking place" Lukas said. "My jeans are already brown from all this dust" "Shhh" Jack silenced him. Lukas clicked his tongue "What?". "This isn''t the time to petty fights, Lukas" the teacher said. "We must keep silent if we are to find those creatures before they find us..." "It can''t be that bad, can it?" Kathy said. Ethan didn''t agree with her this time. "Shhh" He shushed her "It is" Ethan said. "We can''t see them in this darkness, but they can see us. They probably can also hear better than us. Their strategy last time was to hid in the stones and jump us..." Kathy smiled "This time there are more than twenty of us, if they come we..." "Shut up!" Jack said. Kathy jumped in fright "Godamnit..." he said, in a hushed tone. "She has a point though?" a female classmate said. "Will they come for us with so many people together? From what you told us they seem to be a pretty coward creature..." "We shouldn''t take chances..." the teacher said. Jack clicked his tongue and kept going forward. They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a place that smelled like a noxious mixture of vomit and blood. "It was here..." Jack said. While looking at a cigar in the ground. "They took the body?" Ethan asked, even though it was already obvious they did. Jack didn''t dignify him with an answer. He just looked around to see if anything caught his attention. Meanwhile Ethan opened his character window.
Name Ethan Strength 3
Race Error - Undefined (no modifiers) Dexterity 3
Level 0 Speed/Evasion 2
Gender Male Resistance 3
Equipped Title Perceiver of Obvious Wisdom 3
Luck 3
He had been testing for new windows since they found out about the game-like characteristics of their predicament. He found another one that went by the name "Talents". Unexpectedly, there was something in it.
Talents
Lvl 2 Tactics
Lvl 5 Mathematics
Lvl 8 English Language
New questions raised along with that...By what basis did this weird system decided that tactics was a skill and knowledge about history or chemistry was not? What are parameters to decide the levels? Would a level 10 Mathematician would be a Nobel prize winner? Or a simple academy teacher? For now he decided to keep the knowledge about this window to himself. There was another one he had found. It was the race window.
Strength 1x
Dexterity 1x
Speed/Evasion 1x
Resistance 1x
Wisdom 1x
Luck 1x
It made no sense at all.