《Chronicles of Magnus Stone》 Prologue My name is Magnus Stone. I¡¯m going to tell you about the end of the world. It wasn¡¯t a nuclear apocalypse, a zombie outbreak, or even global warming that ended the world. It was something only the geeks and nerds of the world ever dreamed of. The world became a game. In the beginning no one was really sure how, or even why it was happening. There were no messages from ¡°God¡±, or any other entity, telling us what was happening. At the same time all across the world every person saw the same thing.
Attention inhabitants of earth. In 20:00 minutes the world as you know it will end.
That was it, no explanation of what, why or how. Just when. As one would imagine, the governments of the world scrambled to calm the public, while simultaneously rushing to prepare the safe bunkers and spaces for their leaders. Needless to say, the general public was not calm. The masses leapt straight towards a state of panic. Rioting and looting ran rampant throughout the world. All in all, humanity did not react well to the beginning of the end of the world. Looking back though, I don¡¯t think anything the governments of the world could have done would have helped. Twenty minutes is not a very long time to prepare, and not much can be done with little to no warning. And in the grand scheme of things, that is exactly what we had. Little to no warning. As the twenty minutes came closer to ending, the world collectively held it¡¯s breath. Many hoped it was all somehow a giant practical joke. It wasn¡¯t. When the clock struck zero, we knew. The world as we knew it was over. Electricity failed everywhere. All vehicles; land, sea and air, that used technology more advanced than what existed in the medieval age failed. Guns stopped working across the planet. In seconds, all the steps humanity had taken since the 1600¡¯s were wiped away. And then the monsters appeared. It was different in every corner of the world. Some places were overcome with beings from fantasy tales: orcs, goblins, giants, trolls and the like wreaked havoc. Other areas were plagued by beings from mythology: demons, angels, and all manner of creature from myth, from every religion and pantheon that ever existed. No matter where you were though, you saw them. Almost immediately they attacked. Tearing through the population centers of the world, killing more people in those first minutes than any war or disease had throughout history, combined. It¡¯s estimated now that more than half of the world¡¯s population died in the opening minutes. Another quarter died in the following week. With ninety percent gone within a month. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Despite this tragedy, humanity struggled. We fought and adapted, as we have always done. Most importantly however we learned. We learned that while we had almost everything taken from us, we were also given something in return. We now call it the system. And it is what gave us hope in those early days. Hope that we could survive, hope that we could fight, and hope that, eventually, we could reclaim our planet and rid ourselves of the monsters who currently hunted us. It was a simple thing, the system. The gamers were the first to figure it out. As it was much like the systems that governed the very games for which we called them. We learned much about ¡°The System¡± in the early days. Those who didn¡¯t, died. Those who lived¡­ well they became more. ¡°The System¡± was a collection of screens which appeared similar to the one that announced the end of the world. Each person could only access their own screens, at first. Each person had 5 screens available to them. The first was the Personal Screen, it detailed their own information. It listed their name, level, race, class, profession and later titles. The second, and for some the most important, was the Attribute Screen. It detailed a list of attributes eerily similar to many games created by humanity in recent years. The were shown as follows: Strength, Vitality, Endurance, Agility, Dexterity, and Spirit. The third screen was the Skills Screen. It listed the abilities each person had, things like carpentry, painting and gardening. Some were unique, some were commonly held by each and every person. The fourth screen was called the Abilities Screen. It was awe-inspiring. It gave each person the chance to ensure their own survival through their own creativity and imagination. It allowed a person to create ways to fight the monsters who now plagued our world. Abilities like [Sword Slash] and [Powershot] were commonly developed by every person. Others, like [Soul Reaping] were rare, created by those with extreme imaginations. We quickly discovered the abilities a person could create were limited only by what you could imagine. The fifth, and most mysterious, was the Spell Screen. It, as one would assume by it¡¯s name, showed what magic was available to a person. It was governed and limited similarly to the Abilities Screen, but far more exclusive. Humanity quickly learned, that only a small portion of people had the ability to wield magic. Much like anything that is exclusive, it was just as powerful as it was rare. These five screens quickly became the beacon of hope to humanity. The sole ray of sunlight in our newly darkened world. After humanity crawled its way from the brink, these screens became the foundation of our new world. This is my story. My recollections of the ending of the old world, and beginning of the new. My tale of battle against the creatures that brought humanity to the brink. My chronicles. The Chronicles of Magnus Stone. Chapter I: End of the World Chapter I: End of the World
Attention inhabitants of earth. In 20:00 minutes the world as you know it, will end.
¡°What the actual fuck.¡± was my first thought upon seeing the box in front of me. Floating at eye-level, about 2 feet in front of my face, it was impossible to miss. It looked familiar to me, much like the screens in almost every RPG I had ever played. Immediately upon realizing this, my mind went into overdrive, trying to find an explanation for what was happening. ¡°It can¡¯t be¡­ Is this¡­ a video game apocalypse?¡± was my first, and only, explanation that came to mind. I was an avid gamer, and had read my own fair share of apocalypse stories. From zombie to nuclear, I had read them all. They fascinated me like nothing else in the world, and this box which had now retreated to my peripheral, immediately reminded me of the beginning to almost every video game apocalypse story. I laughed. It seemed the thing that I had dreamed of happening, was actually here. ¡°I need a weapon if this is really what I think it is.¡± I knew my manager Fred had a baseball bat in his office as protection against drunks. I quickly left my spot on the line as fry cook, and moved towards the door to Frank¡¯s office. I worked at a truck stop diner called ¡°Frank¡¯s Diner¡±, on the edge of town. It wasn¡¯t a great job, but it kept food on the table and kept the lights on at night. As I made my way to the back and towards the office. I heard the beginnings of panic in the front of the diner. People were yelling and crying, everyone trying to figure out what was going on. I heard Frank yelling at someone, trying to get them to calm down. I finally made it to the door of Frank¡¯s office, and thankfully the door was unlocked. I slowly opened the door, and looked to the corner of the office where I knew the baseball bat was kept. Seeing that it was exactly where it was supposed to be, I grabbed it. Hefting it in my right hand, I swung it a few times, trying to get a feel for its weight. I knew that I was going to need it if I hoped to survive the first few minutes. If this whole situation turned out like I thought it would. I focused on the screen that prompted all of this. The time in the message had dropped to fifteen minutes, and was continuing to tick down. Not wanting to be in an open area, I headed to the back of the diner, where the walk-in fridge and freezer was located. Opening the door I moved inside, hoping that this small space would allow me to face whatever was coming one on one. As I settled in, ready to wait out the remaining time, I began to think about everything I remembered from the stories I had read. Firstly I figured that, at some point, I would gain access to some form of character screen, with the normal attribute and skill lists. I hoped that our apocalypse was the kind where the system was relatively simple, and not one of the ones that ended up incredibly complex, and took forever to learn. ¡°8 minutes left. I need to come up with some sort of plan for what I¡¯m going to do when shit hits the fan.¡± Thinking about this, I realized that everything I knew about these kind of situations was worthless, until I saw exactly what I was dealing with. So I waited¡­ As the remaining time slipped away, I pondered if I was doing the right thing here. Hiding by myself had been my first reaction. I had always been somewhat of a loner, never really being comfortable with other people. Hell, I lived alone, miles from town, just so I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with other people. Doubt began creeping up on me. ¡°Maybe I should warn the rest of the diner about what I think is coming.¡± Even as I had that thought, I knew no one here would believe me. This was a truckstop diner, on the edge of a small backwoods town. No one here would understand what I was talking about. Coming to that realization, I firmed my resolve to wait out the remaining time here in the walk-in. ¡°Shits about to start anyway, too late to change my mind now.¡± Watching the time left reach 30 seconds, I readied myself putting my back to the wall of the freezer and facing towards the open door. When the clock struck zero, I blinked hoping that the world wouldn¡¯t just blow up. When I opened my eyes, there was a short creature in front of me. Facing the doorway, I couldn¡¯t see much of its features, other than general shape. I realized in that moment, that the power had gone out as well. With no light my ability to see what this creature was, and knowing that it wasn¡¯t there before, I raised the baseball bat over my head. Taking two quick steps forward, I brought the bat straight down towards its head. *Thunk* With a sickening crunch the bat hit the creature¡¯s head. It immediately crumpled to the floor, with hits head cave in. +1 to Strength Attribute The words floated in the corner of my vision after killing the creature. ¡°Well is seems that killing it gave me some kind of reward.¡± I had no idea what my strength attribute was, or even what it started at, but I wasn¡¯t going to complain about increasing it. After checking to make sure the creature was really dead, I moved towards the door of the walk-in. When I got to the doorway, the sounds of panic and fighting could be heard from the front of the diner. Screams of people dying and growls from some kind of creature floated down the hallway. I quietly snuck down the hallway, approaching the doorway to the kitchen. I crouched low, hoping if the other creatures were the same as the one I killed, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see me through the window on the door. You have gained the skill [Stealth]. ¡°Well hot damn. Not sure how I did it, but that helps.¡± Sneaking forwards I tried to come up with a plan to kill the creatures in the diner. I had no idea how many there were, but I knew going in guns blazing was only going to get me killed. ¡°Time to put my new skill to work.¡± I had no idea what the skill did, but I assumed it would at least let me sneak up on the creatures, to kill them quietly. Getting to the door of the kitchen, I heard that the screams had turned to the moans of dying people, and the growls had changed to a guttural barking. I assumed the barking was some form of communication between the creatures. I peeked a look through the plastic window on the door. ¡° Fuck, four of these goddamn things in there¡­ Are those¡­ Goblins?¡± Now that I could see them more clearly, the looked extremely similar to the monsters in many of the games I had played. Standing at around three and a half feet tall, mottled green skin, and possessing large bat-like ears, they looked like the age-old beginner monsters of almost every fantasy RPG ever created. The four goblins in the kitchen seemed to be gathered around something on the floor barking to each other and seemingly searching through something on the floor. Trying to see what had grabbed their attention, I noticed the hat on the floor. ¡°That¡¯s Gabe¡¯s hat.¡± It was at that point I noticed the blood. It was everywhere, with the majority of it pooling on the floor between the goblins. ¡°They killed Gabe¡­ Are they...eating him?¡± Gabe had been the other cook on shift with me today. He was a good guy, quiet, like me. I never really knew much about him, except that he lived with his mother and played some of the same games that I did. So it was surprising to feel the rage I now felt at his death. ¡°These fuckers killed Gabe, I¡¯m going to fucking end them.¡± Slowly opening the door to the kitchen, I moved forward. Hoping that the goblins would be so distracted by their feasting on Gabe¡¯s body, that they wouldn¡¯t hear me entering the room. You have gained experience in the skill [Stealth] It seemed that my sneaking into the room was successful, if I could trust the floating words that is. I patiently worked my way into the room, till I was about five feet from the goblins hiding on the side of one the cooktops. I crouched down, and peered around the side of it, to get a closer look at my enemies. Being this close, I could now see that they were crouching around Gabe¡¯s body and hungrily tearing into him, ripping of pieces of his flesh and eating it raw. One had broken of a piece of bone and was holding it over his mouth attempting to get at the marrow. ¡°That one dies first¡±. I hefted the bat in both my hands and prepared myself for the fight I was about to start. ¡°If I can keep some distance, the range of the bat might allow me to keep them from being able to hit me.¡± Planning how this would work out, I stood up fully, and step around the grill into their view. The goblin with the bone was the first to see me, and he barked to the others. As the other three Goblins turned to look at me, I saw that all four of these monster now sported cruel smiles. Eyeing me with a look of hunger, they all drew short knives and began walking forwards towards me. The space between the wall and the grill left only enough room for two of them to come at me at once. Readying my bat, I waited for them to come into the range of my swing. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The two leading the group looked at each other and barked. Getting within range of my bat, they stopped and began arguing with each other in their weird language. After seemingly coming to a decision about who got to kill me, the one on the right lunged forward with his knife attempting to stab me. I was ready for it, and swung my bat like I was attempting to hit a fastball. My swing connected with his face, crunching is jaw and oversized nose, crumpling them. He fell at my feet, screaming in pain. Recovering from the swing I brought the bat over my head, and brought it down on his disfigured face, ending his screaming. +1 to Agility Attribute ¡°Guess I got rewarded for reacting so quickly to his attack.¡± Seeing his friend die, enraged the goblin that had been arguing over killing me. It quickly moved forward to stab me in the leg. I brought my bat down on his arm, breaking it and forcing him to drop his knife. Swinging my bat under his jaw, my hit threw him back into the two who had been waiting behind him, knocking all three to the ground. I ran forward, jumping over the body of the one I had killed, and swung my bat at the head of the first goblin to regain his feet. It connected and twisted his head around, breaking his neck. ¡°2 down, 2 to go¡± The final two goblins got to their feet and growled at me. In a flash they both lunged with their knives. I swung my bat in an arc in front of me hoping to divert both of their swings. My swing was to slow to hit both of them, and while it connected with the first, rewarding me with the crunch of ribs. The other sank his knife into my leg. The sharp pain, brought a scream from my lips. Blood was flowing out of my wound, as the goblin who stabbed me pulled his knife out to stab me again. I jabbed the bat at his throat like a sword, causing him to cough and grab at his throat in panic. ¡°Maybe I crushed his windpipe¡± Pain erupted in my side as I watched the goblin struggle to breathe. The goblin who I had hit in the ribs, had snuck behind me while I dealt with his friend. Stabbing me in the back, reminded me that I hadn¡¯t killed him. Spinning wildly with my bat out, I attempted a crazed swing at him. Missing and over balanced, I fell over. The goblin, seeing me go down, jumped on top of me. Knife raised over his head, he brought it down towards my heart. Throwing my hands up, I grabbed his hands and stopped his swing. Struggling with him, knife poised over my chest, I realized the goblins were far stronger than they looked. I had never been considered a strong individual, and it was showing. The knife was inching its way closer to my heart. I was panicking, trying to find a way out of this position. ¡°Fuck¡­ I can¡¯t push him off. He¡¯s fucking strong. Goddamn it! I¡¯m not going to die to some fucking goblin!¡±. ¡°I WILL NOT DIE!¡± I screamed into his face, shoving his arms upward with all my remaining strength. The goblin¡¯s eyes widened in surprise as I suddenly overpowered him and threw him off my body. He landed a couple feet away from me and scrambled to stand back up. I was doing the same, while frantically looking for my bat. I found it off to my right, halfway under the cooktop. Grabbing the handle, I swung it around at the goblin running at me catching him on the side of the head. The force of my swing smashed him into the wall, cracking the tile. I took a step towards him at brought my bat down on his body, breaking the arm he had raised to defend himself. Raising the bat again, I swung at him another time. Hitting his shoulder with a sick crunch. The fact that he was still breathing infuriated me, and I started raining blows upon him. Again and again and again. Not stopping till it felt like I couldn¡¯t raise the bat over my head anymore. As my vision cleared, I saw what remained of his body. Blood and viscera were splattered on the wall and floor around me. The goblin¡¯s body had been reduced to a grotesque lump of bones and bloody gore. I looked around searching for the goblin who I had hit in the throat, finding him slumped against the front of the cooktop. Clutching at his throat, I saw he had died at some point, no longer able to breathe. Turning in a circle, trying to survey the damage our fight had caused I noticed some floating messages in the corner of my vision. + 1 to Strength Attribute +2 to Vitality Attribute +2 to Endurance Attribute +1 to Spirit Attribute You have gained the skill [Blunt Weapons] You have gained the skill [Two-Handed Weapons] You have gained the ability [Rage] You have gained the title [He Who Defies Death] ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± I was unbelieving of the amount of messages floating there. As I read them the slowly faded out of sight. The burning pain of my wounds reminded me that even though I had killed the goblins, I was still in danger of dying. Looking first at the wound on my thigh, I knew that it wasn¡¯t serious. If it had hit an artery, there would be much more blood¡­ and pain. I grabbed a towel from a shelf on the wall and wrapped it tightly around my thigh, hoping it would help stop the bleeding. Reaching around to my back I felt for the wound I knew was there. Finding it, it didn''t seem very large. From the little I remembered of the human body from school, I don''t think it is in an area near an organ. Over-all my wounds, while not life threatening, could be serious if left untreated. Finally moving from the where I had been standing for the last few minutes. I made my way back towards Frank¡¯s office to find the first-aid kit. I didn¡¯t hear anything from the front of the diner as I made my way towards the office, resolving to check it out after I had patched myself up. Walking into the office I found the First-Aid kit in a metal box attached to the wall next to the door. Closing the door, I turned to the box and opened it. The First-Aid kit had the standard array of gauze, band-aids, tape and a bottle of iodine. After cleaning the gash on my back, and unwrapping the towel from my leg, I pulled the gauze and tape out. Setting them to the side I took out the bottle of iodine. I opened it and attempted to pour some on my back wound, not really being able to see it I hoped it was enough. I then took the gauze and wrapped it around my body a few times over the wound on my back, then taped it so it wouldn¡¯t come undone. You have gained the skill [First-Aid] The message I saw after finishing helped me to feel that I had done it right. After that I wrapped up my leg and sat down in Frank¡¯s office chair. Going over everything that had happened since the first message. I realized that while I had gained all manner of Attributes, Skill, an Ability and a Title, I had no idea what they meant. Hoping that the world now worked like a game I said ¡°Open character screen¡±. After waiting a few seconds and seeing nothing happening, I tried again. ¡°Show player screen¡± Nothing. ¡°View Character¡± Nothing. ¡°Open player information¡± Nothing. ¡°Fuck! What do I have to say to see my fucking personal screen! Goddamn it¡± I yelled into the air. As if in response a screen appeared, floating in front of me, eerily similar to the one that had announced the end of the world.
Personal Screen
Name: Magnus Stone Race: Human
Level: 0 (100/100) Class: None
Profession: None
Level Up Available!
Titles: He Who Defies Death
Attribute Screen
Skill Screen
Ability Screen
Spell Screen
Seeing the screen appear relieved the tension that had been building in my chest when I couldn¡¯t find the words that would show it to me. I realized the words ¡®Personal Screen¡¯ are what brought it forward. Thinking about it, they made a lot more sense than ¡®Character Screen¡¯, as I was me, not a character. ¡°Hehehe, kinda makes me feel like an idiot¡±. Seeing that there were other screens to open, I opened them one after the other.
Attribute Screen
Health: 10/30 (Wounded) Mana: 10/10
Strength: 3 Spirit: 1
Vitality: 3 Endurance: 3
Agility: 2 Dexterity: 1
Skill Screen
Blunt Weapons (Level 1): Due to your use of blunt weapons in combat, you are beginning to understand how to use them effectively.
First-Aid (Level 1): Due to bandaging your own wounds, you are beginning to understand how to effectively treat wounds sustained in combat, while in the field.
Stealth (Level 2): You have begun to understand the value of moving unseen, and unheard. You are able to move with reduced sound, and avoid the sight of others.
Two-Handed Weapons (Level 1): Due to your use of two-handed weapons in combat, you are beginning to understand how to use them effectively.
Ability Screen
Rage: You can enter a rage, focusing your mind on battle. While in this rage, you are able to perform feats of strength which would normally be beyond you. Rage also allows your mind to ignore all but the most extreme pain to your body, allowing you to fight unimpeded. Rage may also impair your judgement, leading you to make decisions you would normally avoid.
Spell Screen
You currently know no spells.
After looking through my screens, I felt that I had learned at least the basics of what they were showing me. Most importantly, my health was clearly going to limit me from continuing on my goblin killing spree. ¡°I need to get out of here, and get home¡±. There was a back door down the hallway from me, leading to where employee¡¯s parked their cars. Hopefully, there wouldn¡¯t be anything waiting for me. I really couldn¡¯t afford to get in another fight.