《Apocalypse Wishes》 .5 ''What is it that you wish for?''A voice slides into my ear as I meditate on my bed, my daily ritual before sleep and shool. My eyes flicker open slowly, gaining my bearings. My bed still under me, looking around the room calmly to find where the voice came from, it comes again. ''Your world is ending boy, you have three wishes before it does. This is the apocalypse, the end times. All of humanity''s wildest dreams and nightmares may or may not be coming to fruition. All modern technology will no longer work, this is the world of the sword and spear, the bow and javelin, magic and strength. You must fight to survive or die, weakly. You have 15 seconds. Make your wish.''My mind races as I snap out of my trance. I answer without thinking, of what I would like at the end of our world, in a world ofdeath and mayhem. ''Your will be done, boy. You are quite decisive. Good luck.''Information feeds into my mind. "Your wishes have been granted! You wished for a game system to feed you power through your actions! The system already exists, so you are granted the ability to pick your starting stats as well as 2 races from all worlds to choose from!" "Your second wish was for the ability to pick any race you wished! You were already given this right through your first wish! So you are given the chance to pick from 1 legendary race, 2 rare races, 1 rare race and 2 common races, or4 common races!" "Your third wish was for the ability to live perfectly fine with no sleep! This wish has been granted! When your stamina is completely run out, you may simply meditate to regenerate, instead of sleeping!" I look around me, and the world seems to be almost paused, everything from my neck down has no feeling and can not be moved. My body feels numb. A screen pops up in front of me. "Please pick your race(s)" "...." I look through the gigantic list and decide to look at the list of Legendary races first, and get stuff like Vampire Lord, Werewolf Chieftain, Dragon, Crimson Elf, Demi-God. ''Combining races willlikely make something much more death defying than even a Demi-god if I do it right,'' I think to myself. I skip to rare and it just seems to be the same as the Legendary races just down a level, all except one that says Lutgre. I have absolutley no Idea what It is, unlike all the other races on here and press it. "A magical race of the world of Lutregouna, the Lutgre are unable to use magic but instead are entirely dependant on magic to survive, needing only to be in a magic rich area. As a race, they aren''t exceptionally strong, but over time, depending on the magic that surround them, have magic come out in their attacks, movements, and even excretions. +1 to Str, +1 to Agi -1 to Int/Wis per Lvl." ''Interesting, magic isn''t something I feel comfortable with, I''d rather rely on my own body, than on something foreign to myself.'' My mind begins to work as I decide to pick it immediately and work on to common races. More of the same is in the common races, so I choose Orc, which gives me +2 to Str, +2 to Vit, -2 to Dex per level. My body first turning tan and close to 160 cm in height, shortening me by quite a bit. To then tan with green tint and 190 cm. my ears elongating like an elf''s. My last pick is harder, but I decide I need to replace the Dex from the Orc and the highest Dex race in the common section is the only race with no negative, Demon, which gives +3 to Dex, and +.5 to Agi and Str per level. Two new horns grow from my head, skin breaking as I feel the horns tear through and go slightly up and along my head until it hits my hair, and a tail comes from my lower back swinging a few times to let me feel the muscles and get used to it then pausing as well. the tail along with the horns covered in scales, crimson black in color, my skin, which is still tanwith a green tint, but slightly more pale. "New race created, Lutgre Demon Orc, Would you like to change the name of your Unique Race?" I decide to name my race simply, "Dorgre". An out of body experience happens where I look at myself. my facial features still the same besides the horn and eyes which are dark red where the whites of my eyes used to be, a black cross where my pupils once were, my irises turning a deep, soul piercing grey. "Race confirmed, Dorgre! Please allocate stats!" -Name: Jeffrey Zeale-Class: (Select Class)-Race: Dorgre -Str: 0-Agi: 0-Vit: 0-Dex: 0-Int: (Cannot allocate)-Wis: (Cannot allocate)-Charisma: 10-Luck: 10 Unallocated points: 60 Hmm.. I guess 17 to Dex and Vit, 16 to Agi, 10 to Str. -Name: Jeffrey Zeale-Class: (Select Class)-Race: Dorgre -Str:10-Agi:16-Vit:17-Dex:17 -Charisma: 10-Luck: 10This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Unallocated points: 0 I press with my mind on select class and another screen pops up in front of me. "Select a class" "Race only compatable with three classes, Warrior, Stealth Warrior, and Dorgre Warrior! You may only pick one class forever, your class will level up after the first 5 levels, then each 10 levels after that! With Each level up you may select one bonus to your level up attributes based on the class you picked and you actions." "Selected Unique Race only class, Dorgre Warrior! Bonuses to Mana Body''s release of mana in all attacks that come from weapons! +1 to Agi Per level, + 1 to Str per level, and +1 to Vit per level! You may also select only one weapon proficiency with this class!" The same voice from the beginning comes into my ears and resounds throughout my body and even shakes my soul, my consciousness barely holding on. ''Welcome to your end, boy.'' The world renews slowly coming out of it''s pause as I stumble off of my bed trying to get to my feet, due to my newfound weight and body''s stats. I stand slowly from the floor, getting used to my new body, my muscles somewhat faigued from the stats melding with my body for the first few seconds. I stretch and get myself aware of my surroundings. My ears started ringing as a new voice came to my head. "J, it''s E, come to the Court. The Leader would like to talk to all of us. This may be the end, but it could be our beginning." E, or Evan Screlk, is a classmate of mine from a school that''s just a front for a secret organization of people with supernatural abilities, that before the apocalypse were basically useless, but now may have some semblance of use. E has the ability to project his mind into other''s to see what they see, feel what they feel, and communicate with them mentally. A semi-useful ability, as others can tell easily when he uses it on them. A-la the intense ringing before he connects to you. I respond with a nod, closing my eyes in morse code, telling him where I was and how long it''d be until I get there. He responds in the affirmative, and I move out, calmly walking into the school''s single apartment''s kitchen to grab the box of energy bars and several waters from the pantry, throw them into my backpack along with 3 of my medium sized kitchen knives. Checking outside from the window in my bedroom, seeing nothing but fog, the outside is noiseless, except for the sparse scream and growl from something that sounds quite large. My sight changes as my ability, thermal vision, activates and I see moving shapes that look like humans but about 1.5 times larger, weapons in club form, 3 of them walking towards the apartment building, more shapes in the distance that I can''t see because of the fog''s heat blurring anything beyond 15 meters. I gently open my second story window and drop down, grabbing the sides of the building, my new body nearly losing grip on the ledges from clumsiness. Touching the ground without noise, bushes along the walls of the building hiding me from view, along with the fog. I sneak slowly behind the humanoid shapes, not really caring whether they were humans once, deciding to simply kill everything I don''t recognize, and ignore anything that isn''t directly in my way. I come up behind the straggler, making as little noise as I can, my body becoming more familiar to me. I use the kitchen knife to stab through his spinal cord, while grabbing his mouth. He stops completely without making a noise, I bring him slowly to the ground, and move on to the next two. They''re walking directly next to eachother, each checking their surroundings, I grab the one on the left when the one to the right looks right, pushing my knife into his back, slightly harder this time, because of the blade dulling from the blood and hitting bone from before. The other one notices me too late as I stab my knife frontwards directly into his throat, killing him instantly. While I''m lowering him quietly, about to grab what I can from their bodies information flows into my mind once more. "You''ve gained one level, please find a safe place and meditate to level up!" "Congratulations! You''ve killed 3 High Humans! Gained 100% exp towards level 1!" "For killing those who were once your kin, but are now nothing more than obstacles in your eyes you''ve gained the title, ''Decisive Killer''. It gives a bonus to accuracy when using daggers and small bladed weapons!" "Sensing the use of weapons, would you like the weapon proficiency, ''Small Bladed Weapons''?" "Warning, chosing this proficiency is unchangable and you may not pick another do to your class, are you sure?" "Congratulations! You''ve gained the weapons proficiency, ''Small Bladed Weapons''!" Active Skill(s): Small Bladed Weapons (Beginner Level 1, 0%) Innate Skill(s): Thermal Imaging (Max Level) Passive Skill(s): Mana Body (Beginner Level 1, 13%) I nod my head slightly as I check the bodies, finding nothing of any use except for a KABAR knife in a sheathe on one of their belt''s, taking off the belt and putting it on myself, I move forward slowly to the next apartment building across the street, my thermal vision still on my head slightly ringing from over use, putting it out of my mind and ignoring it I see several people hiding in their homes, in all shapes and sizes. Moving through the buildings slowly, and gingerly, I see several people who aren''t in my direct way, ignoring them. My stamina from being slightly stressed seemingly unaffected, with warmness constantly ebbing and flowing from me, which I assume is the Mana body passive. I come to the entrance and see a group of around 6 people fighting off a giant humanoid shaped being, and losing hard. With no weapons in hand and fighting with simple magics I assume you receive upon gaining such a class. The giant utterly destroying them as 3 men and 1 woman already dead, all that''s left is what appears to be a woman, I assume a mother seeing the child in her arms. The giant moving towards them, chewing on the bones of an arm of one of the men he slowly comes upon them. The woman screaming for help as I stand by and do nothing, emotions not appearing on my face. The giant crushes the woman and child as it picks them up with it''s gigantic hands, the child''s cries falling on deaf ears as it quiets, the woman''s sobbing slowly receding from the surrounding. As it goes in to the euphoria of the kill and leans down to start eating I rush out as quickly as I can, taking out 2 kitchen knives, I step go up a 2.5 meter fence behind it and jump off landing on it''s back my arms around it''s neck, my knives digging in deeply to the sides I hang on for dear life as it thrashes trying to get me off of it. The skin on my hands coming off of the hard plastic as I hold on for dear life, the more thrashing it does the deeper my knives go into it''s skin and the more blood it loses. It slows down steadily, crumbling to the ground. I jump from it''s neck in a back-flip, in it''s death throes trying to catch me with it''s arms flailing one final time before falling to the ground. I wrap my hands in one of the dead people''s shirts after tearing it in two, not realizing the speed at which they''re healing. ''I need to move quickly, I''ve made too much noise,'' I think to myself as I start running towards my school''s walls, hopping the 3.5 meter walls quickly... 1. I land on the other side, breathing heavily. I take a moment to become aware of my surroundings, then I sit behind several trees and bushes that outline the training area of my school and meditate for a few moments. Information hits my mind like a flood. "Congratulations on reaching level 4! Your attribute points have been allocated! You have received one new title! You have gained one new skill! You may chose a ''Way of Walking''! Warning, ''Ways of Walking'' may only be chosen once and are unidentifiable by even the system!" "You will wake up in from your meditation in 24 minutes and 29 seconds in order for your body to acclimate to it''s increases in stats! Should there be any movement or hostility within 25 meters you will immediately be awoken! Be aware, if you are awoken, you will feel all the pain of your upgrade!" "You may look over your stats and skills while you wait!" -Name: Jeffrey Zeale -Level: 4 -Class: Dorgre Warrior -Race: Dorgre -Title(s): ''The Silence'' -Str: 24 -Agi: 26 -Vit: 29 -Dex: 21 -Charisma: 10 -Luck: 10 Unallocated points: 0 Active Skill(s): Small Bladed Weapons (Beginner Level 32, 67%), Sneak (Beginner Level 53, 98%) Innate Skill(s): Thermal Imaging (Max Level) Passive Skill(s): Mana Body (Beginner Level 11, 19%) [(Mana''s Received) Shadow (23%), Death (35%), Blood (27%), Mist (11%), Fear (3 %), Null (.09 %), Personally created through actions (.01%)] ((Mana is not just an element, a particle or something that belongs solely to you or anything, mana is everything, and eveything is mana)) -------- Besides the darkness that surrounds my subconcious and the words seared into my brain that seem to be coming from the backs of my eyelids, should I even be awake any longer is a small dark red hole in the middle of my vision. ''Will you follow me, boy? Will you follow my Way? The One and only Way?'' A voice much more piercing and violent and loud than that of the beginning of the apocalypse, but eerily similar, comes into my mind without warning once I focused on the hole. I shout coldly to myself, and to the voice and to everything, "There is only my Way, foolish being who thinks himself god! You will never control my fate! I''ll die the way I want to, and I''ll live the way I want to! There''s nothing you or anyone can put in my way to stop me!" Pain sears me as even my inner vision goes blank. A cackling laughter fills my mind and possibly my soul. Forcing me to be unable to think. The voice comes back, seemingly much more calmed even from the beginning of it all, a tinge of whimsy and laughter coats the voice. ''Good! Great! Wonderful! You are deserving of my power far more than others, fledgling. I will not give it to you however. Not until you''ve cast off the shackles that hold you to your planet, that hold you to your mortality. On that day I''ll be back for you, good luck on your... Way....'' Blistering laughter fills me all at once, then slowly fades into the background of my mind and then suddenly and immediately dissipates. -------- I wake up with the familiar sounds of the informational genie giving me a congratulatory sentence for finding my way, which is ironically called ''My Way''. "Congratulations! You''ve found your Way and are free to awaken! Your Way, ''My Way'', gives a boost to charisma and luck in a one-off dump of 13 points! 10 to charisma, 3 to luck!" My breathing completely normal as I wake, feeling newfound strength and muscle fatigue all over my body as I stand slowly, working out the kinks and familiarizing myself with my new stats, I move forward towards the school, slowly. Turning my ability back on I see several human shapes in the distance, on the far side of the training ground, near the back entrance to the school. Several bodies lay around them, dead for not long by the amount of heat coming off of them. I skitter slowly forward, my feet making little to no noise as I come upon them, hiding behind a nearby stack of training equipment normally inside at this time of night. Listening closely I come upon a discussion between 4 men and 6 women. "Where is that idiot?" A woman with a thick accent blurts out among the silence, a few groans heard from the others. "He said he''d be here soon when I last envisioned him. I don''t want to do it again should he be fighting something, which I suppose he would, though it would be quick with him around. The freak." He snicked to himself, the girl''s glare piercing into his skull, like he was a second away from death, should he say another word. I walk out from the shadows, making no noise with my feet and coldly bark out,"Freak, hmm? Since when have you given me such a cute pet-name, E?" My smile wide and merciless as can be. The girl from earlier makes a happy shreiking sound and rushes to hug me. I put my hand on her head when she reaches me and smile, "So, I''m an idiot? You guys talk a ridiculous amount of trash behind my back. If I''d cared, you would be dead."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. E''s face with no fear, looking at me all smiles, "Welcome to the party. You good?" He asks, true worry leaking from his poker face''s eyes. I nod, my smile receding, the girl still in my arms, making comforted sounds as I pat her head, "I''m fine, looks like we''ll finally have a use for our powers besides little tricks and besides fighting otherwise useless abilities." The other three men and 5 women went back to patrolling the area once I''d arrived, no words needed. Unless we were moving I''d rest, as the group''s scout and second-in-command, I needed quite a bit of rest usually, if not for the wish I''d asked for. -------- The school I go, or went to was as I''ve said a school for people with unusual or special abilities, whether they be mind, physique, or spiritual. Children from all over the country were gathered by the government to see if there were possibilities in training some of their abilities into a kind of super soldier. School may be the wrong word, as we were trained like soldiers from the age of five. Each of us was put into a team of 11, 6 women, and 5 men, for reasons I can''t quite understand. We are each trained in every facit of the military until the age of eight where we are divided into our perceived specialties and given roles within our group and classes to move us toward where they wanted our abilities to end up. The perfect squad, or the ideal squad was what our military wanted, something along the lines of the world''s top special forces, but literally unseen, because of our specialties and abilities. They hammered all of this into us for 10 years. At the age of fifteen, we were sent on our first mission, a snatch and grab of a high level russian terrorist, living in siberia. Because of our unit''s cohesion and training, the mission went off without a hitch, and the government green-lit our program and we were officially integrated into the military under a codename. We were designated Unit 1, or ''Silence''. After that we went on dozens of missions over the last 2 years, basically no rest. Constant assassinations and kidnappings in foreign countries, even sometimes our own. Completely indiscernable from accients or plain disappearances in every way. There were 6 other units, with their own designation, and number, also along for the ride, completing the same type of missions we were. Everything was going fine until one of our units was completely decimated just two weeks ago. Then another 3 days later, and another 6 days after that, and one more on the same day. Until finally our units were put on immediate and indefinite leave until the government could find out who was hunting our squadrons. The End happened before anything could be figured out, and now, maybe never will. -------- My squad consists of 4 long range weapons experts, due to the need for the absense of sound and presence, they each used the bow and arrow. 3 close ranged weapons experts, a swordmaster, spearmaster, and dagger afficionado. 2 mid ranged weapons experts, with throwing knives, and one meteor hammer, and 2 unarmed combatants, each using their bodyparts as their weapons. One in Muay Thai, the other in BajiQuan. Most of the children were orphans without even names, children who were thrown into the streets at a young age because of their unique abilities.The country gave them short and consice names if they had any at all. The archer''s names, all female, were Alice (Red head, Scout, 168 cm, power is long distance sight), Beatrice (Blonde, close range protection, 173 cm, power is kinesis in her bones, making them elastic or hard, longer or shorter, in an instant), Cynthia (Jet Black Hair, Scout, 165 cm, power is amplified hearing in the radius of 100 meters), and Diane (Brunette, Sniper, 177 cm, power is undefined, can move things with her mind in subtle ways, only helpful in archery, unlimited range, but weight is an extreme factor). The close ranged weapon experts were me (Assassinations/Scout/Frontline), daggers, E (Archer defense, 178 cm), sword, and Francesca (Dirty Blonde, Frontline, 182 cm, power is the ability to see .5 seconds into the future from a first person point of view, only usable several times a day, massive drain on stamina). Throwing Knives was Gertrude (Matte Black Hair, Scout/close range protection/Assassinations, 162 cm, power is perfect muscle reaction, to the point where her accuracy from 5 to 35 meters is within .1 mm of where she meant to aim), and Meteor hammer is Heath (Bald, Frontline, 159 cm, power of sound, the ability to cancel the sounds within 5 meters of himself). Ian is a master of Bajiquan (Bald, Frontline, 164 cm, power is supernatural strength, not quantifiable, erratic, comes into control only through his martial arts, dangerous), and Kent is the Muay Thai Expert (Black Hair, Archer protection/Frontline, 170 cm, power is the ability to turn his skin into iron, can still be wounded by edged weapons and high power blunt weapons if uncareful). -------- As I look down once more at Gertrude nuzzling into my chest I have a realization, none of them have changed races, all staying human. "What were your wishes?" I say to E as he walks over to the table nearby to grab his small sack, a water being removed. He turns towards me, "Wishes?" The confusion evident on his face. "Nevermind, did you get the system?" I ask, glossing over the fact I was the only one I know of who got wishes so far, either that or he didn''t and the others hid the fact from him. A normal thing, because while we are as close as family, our upbringing jading us to eachother just enough to keep distance from our non-romantic relationships between eachother. He looks puzzled for a moment, then nods, "Yeah, we got it. We all picked our usual classes. We get 2 points per level to put into attributes and a race change available at level 5. Our classes limit our race availability, but we figured to stick with what we know, our bodies, and not with some otherworldly entity." I smile at our similar thinking as he runs off to join Heath, Ian, Kent, Fran, Diane, and Bea. Alice and Cynthia already in the trees around the school walls, Gertrude and I to join shortly. I look down to Gertrude, who as usual is about to pass out in my arms, almost becoming deadweight. I lightly breathe out with a, "Love, are you okay?" She nods at my answer, still drowsy, a very sleepy person, as I used to be. Her powers quite draining, as they''re constant and unstoppable. She sleepily lets out a, "I''m fine~,.. My stats are 10 all the way,.. except for 13 in agility and Unlimited in Dexterity... I''m already level 3,.. haven''t put my points in yet,.. too sleepy to think about it... What do you think?.." She looks up at me, eyes closed and smiles. "2 str, 1 vit, 3 agi, cutie." I smile back and give her a quick kiss, as I pick her up into a princess carry in an extremely practiced way and jump up into the tree next to us, quicker than she expected, as her gasp released from shock. She looks up to me, her eyes wide, "Who are you? What have you..." She looked into my eyes and saw scary eyes. The gentle look of which calmed her heavily beating heart. Realization coming to her eyes. The sleepiness once again overcoming her speach patterns. "No wait... it''s you... Your race changed already?.. What did you change to?.." I explained to her quickly about every single thing that happened to me. She and the Unit the only family I''ve ever known. She nods after hearing it, slightly shocked, but more or less overcoming her shock to look delighted for me. A smug smile on her face. "Hah!.. That idiot leader of ours thought he was the best because he had the most total stats of all of us but you double each one of our stats and then some... My man''s the best~..." She leans in to give me a kiss as I''m moving from tree to tree, her kiss almost making me slip off a tree branch. A ringing noise comes to my head, "Scout the area around the school to the south for 5 minutes, after 5 minutes I''ll contact you once more for the direction were moving in, I''m trusting you and her with our backs. I know I can believe in you. Good luck if you need us, do the usual. Affirmative?" I answer in morse code with my eyelids "Affirmative." The ringing goes away along with his presence and I say to Gertrude, "To the south, love, we''re watching the back this time." She answers with an, "Okay~..." as she gets down from my arms gingerly and moves south in stride with me in practiced motions moving from branch to branch. 2. Spreading out along the southern side of our formation, taking out several monsters that may or may not have been people at one point. Though I''m starting to doubt that, as it doesn''t seem that others had gotten wishes. Either that or they were too slow thinking of them and it erased their minds. Sounds crazy, but the world seems crazy enough right now. One of my race''s brethren nearby in a group of 6, most asleep in their shabbily made camp. The fire of which a beacon to predators and prey alike. Sneaking up while dropping down from a tree I spot my beloved''s shadow in the distance, turning on my thermal vision, spotting her slipping something out from her belt. A throwing dagger I assume. She seems to have not spotted me moving in from the side of the camp. My footfalls on the slightly moist ground due to the dense fog that surrounds us constantly. I move in to one of the sleeping orcs, a hulking behemoth of pure muscle, tusks I seem to have skipped in my racial changes portruding from his terrible smelling orifice I would hate to call a mouth. I gently slide my dagger through the middle of his throat, taking his vocal cords out of commision as it sinks deeper, he wakes, his strength leaving him quickly and falling silently. I move on to the next few, Gertrude moving in and taking down the night watch with three well timed daggers hitting into his throat and heart. Falling back on the ground, making just enough noise to awake the other 4. I rush to the nearest one and slash through his throat three times not having the time to do it gracefully. Switching quickly to the next who seems to be panicking I throw one of my daggers and it hits his head with the hilt, my throwing skills needing serious improvement. My throw giving enough time for me to rush him before he can regain a semblance of understanding my KABAR knife going through his chest an into his heart as I jump on top of him, pushing him to the ground. He quickly expires as I grab my dagger from the ground and remove the KABAR knife, hearing the death throes of the other 2 orcs behind me. I stand slowly after checking the camp for useful things, of which I find none, just some basic weaponry from a primitive civilization. I turn towards Gertrude as she drops down from the trees to collect her knives. She smiles towards me, "Nice work!.. They were harder to take down than I thought... Even after me putting in overkill,.. they still had enough energy to look for me even as they died..." Her eyes lazily drooping as she goes back to her collecting. I affirm with an, "Un." A ringing comes in as I walk towards her to help her get some of the more stuck knives. A chuckle comes to my mind as E blurts out, "It seems you''ve found something to keep you entertained, anything in the south direction to look out for?" I send him a morse code message telling him there''s Orcs, a few wild animals that seem to have gotten slightly larger in the forest behind the school, and a few large monsters I didn''t feel confident taking out without the entire group. All in all I felt the forest was the direction to head in, giving cover and being a park in the middle of town it''s also the direction to the base of military operations in the county. He agreed, and quickly told us to split up, Gertrude heading north towards the school to take up the new rear as I scouted ahead. As I let Gertrude know the direction we''d be heading in and her new orders she gave me a quick kiss, her eyes looking lively for a few seconds, a wink, then her eyes becoming heavy she turns and disappears into the darkness of the forest as new information enters my mind from the battle before. "Congratulations on reaching level 6! Please Meditate to allocate attributes!" I smirk a calm myself closing my eyes quickly to regain composure and breath from the earlier fight. Look to the north, climb a tree and start forwards. -------- 2 Hours Later -------- We''ve still not exited the forest which is impossible, the forest only being maybe 2 miles in width and length, the world seemingly changed much more than I thought. The trees around me starting to change, looking a dark blue, almost indigo, gnarled, and much larger. The surrounding air seeming to vibrate around my steps as I walk, warning something I''m in the vacinity, I quickly turn and run back to the others, a check-in not even 3 minutes ago. They should only be about 100 meters behind me I quickly see their silhouette. I shout out to hem, "E, there''s something in this forest that knows where we are, warn the others to come in closer!" His expression becoming stern instantly, his eyes closing, the others getting into positions around him as I stop and look around my thermal vision entering the surroundings quickly, my tail wrapping around the tree limb below me. A loud horn sounds in the surroundings as Cynthia, Alice, and Gertrude appear from the east, west, and north. Suddenly in all directions figures started to appear, all in similar humanoid shapes quite a few degrees below a normal human''s average temperature. I turn off my thermal imaging and yell out, "Group up! We''re surrounded!"Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Everyone acting instantly as we all circle up, ranged in the middle, mid ranged in the back and close ranged on the outside. One of the figures moves closer than the rest and begins to speak, "Why do you intrude on our sacred forest, beings of unknown origin.." His face landing upon my horns and tail and my odd colors his expression softening, "A Demon? It is good to see a friendly race here, who are these others you bring?.. What are they?" His eyes narrowing and losing it''s softness as he faces them. I smile the best I can, "Humans, my lord. This planet is not ours, it is theirs. I know not how your sacred forest came to be here, but these humans have explained to me that it was never here before." A smile comes to what I assume is a man''s face as he says, "I see, so the end times have really come. We are lucky our mother has come with us, otherwise we would be lost." "Come with us, Demon child, you and these, ''Humans'', are welcome to rest with us for the night, should you be willing to fight in case more strange wildlife and creatures come. The Elvellen are known to be hospitable, especially to our only friends." He smiles as the Elvellen in the surroundings fade into the shadows as I signal the others behind me to go with it. -------- We walk for about an hour through the Indigo forest, as the Elvellen seem to call it, until we come upon a clearing, a 10 meter statue of what looks like an Elvellen at the center of a settlement with blackish-red stone walls and buildings. The Elvellen in front of us who is named El''fo''re''la, or La, turned toward us with a small smile and said, "Welcome to the City of Indigo Forest." We were brought before the 5 meter walls of the city after several minutes of walking and stopped, while La continued walking, a blue hue came over the wall and it cracked all the way up the wall right where La was walking and spread to open the entire wall around 20 meters. After being thoroughly amazed we came into the city to find only 50 people, in a city that looked to hold over 3,000. La reading the suprise on our faces, laughed lightly and spoke, "Our city is rarely occupied as our forest is our home. This city is simple for guests, the wounded, and captives. Our people are over 1000 strong, spread out throughout our wonderful forest. As I''m sure the Demon child knows, we Elvellen do not consume any organic or inorganic matter, we as a people consume only mana. The best mana for us being the mana of nature." He continued leading us as the 50 or so from his hunting party that surrounded us scattered out of the city and into the forests, ending their day. We arrived at a rather large single story stone structure, inside was a large room which seemed to be a lobby, leading into a long hallway with doors along each side. He smiled and waved at the doors, exactly 8 opened, noticing that 6 of us were in relationships, Gertrude and I, Alice and Cynthia, and E and Diane. I look at the man slightly suprised, since the entire time we were in formation, even when inside the building, never once even looking at eachother. He notices my suprise, "Have you never met an Elvellen? We are able to see only in mana waves, when one joins with another over a long period of time, they share mana, you 6 were the only ones with pure mana of only your partner and yourself. It is not too hard to figure out. Though I am suprised a Demon only has one wife, but eccentrics are eccentrics." I nod, "Thank you for your hospitality, Lord La. Please wake us if you need any help protecting your beautiful forest." I bow slightly to him with a smile. He nods and walks off. E keeps us back and tells us to settle into our rooms, then come to his and Diane''s for a quick talk about what we should each do with our points and which races we should select. We decide as a group that each individual should decide for themselves what''s best for their own specialties. I stay in the room while Diane and Gertrude go next door to our room to talk for a bit. "Do you trust this El''fo''re''la?" He looks at me, a stern look on his usual distracted smile filled face. I answer solemnly, "I don''t know, pretending to have always been a Demon seems to be working. Let''s go with the flow and be prepared for anything. Gertrude and I will take first watch in the lobby, you and Diane can take second, then we''ll see what it''s like in the morning." He nods, his complacent smile returning to his face, "Okay, have a good night." He closes his eyes and calls Diane as I leave the room, pass her with a nod and walk to a corner of the large lobby like room, take off my pack and take out a blanket, set it down when Gertrude comes out, dressed in nothing but her underwear and a blanket and sits next to me, leaning her head on my shoulder. "Short night?.." She sighs, her eyes closed a lazy smile on her face. I check my internal clock, which is usually quite accurate but now really isn''t, "No idea, my love. I can''t tell. A lot''s happened tonight." My tail wrapping around her waist, she giggles. "I like the new tail,.. it''s soft even though it''s scaly..." She reaches up to my horns with her seemingly heavy eyelids barely open, "These are cute too,.. didn''t really have time to look before..." Her head drooping back down to lay on my lap in a strewn out way. I cover her up with a blanket and smile, her snores reaching my ears. I slowly close my eyes as well, to meditate. -------- "Congratulations! For reaching level 5 you receive a bonus to your class! Select one of the following!" "Congratulations for already having a race at level 5 you may select two of the following class bonuses!" Select two of the following: +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Vit, +.5 Str and Agi, Bonus to Mana Body. I decide to select +1 to Dex to fix my stat placement a bit and the bonus to my Mana Body which seems vague. "You may now look over your stats while you wait! Your stats will take 10 minutes to fuse with your body!" -Name: Jeffrey Zeale -Level: 6 -Class: Dorgre Warrior -Race: Dorgre -Title(s): ''The Silence'' -Str: 31 -Agi: 28.5 -Vit: 32 -Dex: 25 -Charisma: 20 -Luck: 13 Unallocated points: 0 Active Skill(s): Small Bladed Weapons (Beginner Level 49, 13%), Sneak (Novice Level 4, 10%) Innate Skill(s): Thermal Imaging (Max Level) Passive Skill(s): Mana Body (Novice Level 1, 8%) [(Mana''s Received) Shadow, Death, Darkness, Blood, Mist, Fear, Hatred, Null, Nature, Love, Personally created through actions] ((Percentages no longer shown, melding all received manas into personal mana. Will Henceforth be known as "Dorgre Dark Mana Body" due to actions of host and class bonus)) Passive Skill(s): Dorgre Dark Mana Body (Beginner Level 1, 0%) [Mana now only absorbed from Darkness, Shadow, Death, Blood, Fear, Hatred, and Null sources, and the act of killing] 3. There''s something interesting about meditation overnight. At first, there is a lot you think about, like chores you haven''t finished around your house, or perhaps a happening of the day you find interesting, but after a while, all the random thoughts just melt away and everything around you disappears into the far reaches of your semi-asleep mind. That was how it used to be, but now when I meditate my mind stays active, I can perceive the world around me, not in the way my eyes or my thermal vision see it, but in a new, different way. I can not explain it in words, if you were to see with your hands, and were able to touch things with your eyes. Instead of dead space and blackness surrounding me, it''s now everything, and all things around me appearing yet not appearing to me. First, it was mind-boggling, and a tad headache inducing but after a while my new ''vision'' I suppose you could call it, settled down. ''Innate Skill, Thermal Imaging, has been upgraded through mixture with your Dark Dorgre Mana Body!'' ''Congratulations!'' I look at the new update with apathetic eyes wondering why all of this seems too easy. ''What is the world trying to do by allowing us to advance so quickly? Is it that I''m talented? Is it that my races combining allows for such things?'' I stop to think for several moments, dread coming over me slightly, for the first time after the first few years of my training. ''What is out there that could warrant such growth?'' -------- I notice Gertrude rousing from sleep slowly from my meditative state. Opening my eyes to greet her as we usually do after sleeping together, with a simple smile, she grunts, and curls up into me as I pull her up into a princess carry and take her to the other room, knocking on E''s door as I pass by it. Hearing a loud grunt I move on slowly. No windows being in this hotel like building, my internal clock tells me it''s around 3 am, so I put Gertrude on the bed, cover her in the blankets and move to the middle of the 10 meter by 10-meter room. Crouching down I begin my morning exercises, sliding the KABAR knife out of its sheath and getting into a slashing stance, holding the knife out in front of me, I slash. Holding the end of the slash for 30 seconds, positioned awkwardly to give me the control I need to react to any scenario after a slash. Stopping halfway through the next slash aiming for the neck and holding that position. I continue with the practice at every possible point in each of my combined 36 slashes, 2 for each vital I aim for.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. At the end I put away my knife and continue with simple exercises for hours, until at 7 am I get a hint of a ringing noise, but not nearly as much as it once was, E seems to have started evolving his power. "We''re all awake, are you ready?" I nod strongly, and he laughs, the minute perception I could feel in my mind disappearing. I walk over to Gertrude, sweat seeming to no longer come out of me, my body too strong to let my strenuous training from before help at all. I pick her up gently and put her on her feet, her face moving to mine and giving me a kiss on the lips as she slightly nods, her eyes droopily looking up at me. "Let''s go little one." I smile, and walk out, she grabs my tail and wraps it around her midsection so I pull her laziness along, strapping my pack to my back after returning the blanket. I walk out to find everyone already in the lobby, La, already waiting for us. Apparently comical for everyone is my companion, tail strapped to her, her body swaying like a broken puppet as she''s half asleep. La smiles, "I see your friend has no problem with your tail. It''s hard for me to believe you allow such things, your race being as prideful as you are about your ''additions''." I nod, an emotionless smile fills my face, no longer feeling the need to fake emotions. La laughs out while nodding heartily, "That''s more demonlike!" "Are you ready to hunt, Demon child?" I nod politely as we move forward with him out of the Inn. -------- We group up on the outside of town, our group taking our normal positions, the Elvellen from yesterday, appearing in much larger force than before starting to amass all around the village, forming teams of 6-8, then moving out into the forest one after another. La then speaks from the lead of his group of Elite Elvellan hunters, most of the other Elvellen hunting groups having already come and gone, moving quickly and efficiently. "My group is the main hunting force, we start from the end of our sacred forest into any direction, then circle for 12 hours. I would like you, our guests, to go north leaving our sacred forest, and scout for 6 hours. Move at a speed you are comfortable with, then return." I contemplate for a moment, look towards E, he nods. Looking back towards La, I smile and say, "Is there anything you need from the surroundings?" He smiles, and states, "I need to know the layout. If you could draw a map of camps of monsters, enemies, or possible allies in the surroundings. Besides that, I''d also like to note that while we are strong as a unit, we are mostly quite weak as individuals. We Elvellan, though, as you know, can convene with animals. If you could find strong beasts that have not turned yet, we would reward you handsomely." I nod gently, ruminating. Trying to think of what a strong beast may qualify as, and how to draw a map with only 6 hours of scouting. Shaking off the thoughts that distracted me I focus once more to see La and his hunting party heading to the southeast. La, waving behind him, shouts, "Best of luck to you, Demon." I turn towards the others, E comes to my side, another fake smile etched on his face, "Well, what are we waiting for? Is everyone prepared?" Everyone nods solemnly, Gertrude still half out of it, my tail seems to be the only thing holding her up shakes her head up and down. I smile and release her slowly, she finds her footing and moves to the east, Alice and Cynthia moving south and west respectively as I look to the north. The dread from earlier weeding its way back into my brain, Gertrude no longer within my reach. A frown comes to my face, my hand falls to my KABAR knife, the dread fading slightly as I spot Gertrude''s shadow in the distance. ''I don''t have time to dwell on this idiocy. I will be stronger, I will protect her... Or die trying.'' My eyes grow determined, my face, hard and emotionless as I start forward. "Move out!" I spat, sprinting into the forest along with the others. ''Nothing will be my obstacle. I will Silence them all if I have to.'' Murderous intent filling my eyes as I hit the forest''s edge, disappearing into its shadows.