《Extinction》 Prologue - Candlelight in the Dark A world of darkness. Starless. Pitch Black. Empty. Nothingness. ¡°Sob¡­¡± A lone girl of glowing pale blue sat hunched up in the darkness. Huddled up with her face buried in her knees. Arms hugging her legs, pulling them ever closer. Her dark blue hair cascaded down over her body. ¡°I¡¯m sorry daddy...I¡¯m so sorry¡­¡± As if uncorporeal, her body suddenly flickered, disappearing and appearing again. Parts of her body would occasionally vanish and come back, as if unstable.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Like a candle in the wind. A low hum hung in the air, a soft buzzing. ¡°I couldn¡¯t¡­ I couldn¡¯t¡­ protect¡­ I failed¡­¡± The frequency of flickering increased. The hum rose in intensity, growing louder and louder. A soft flash of blue in a world of darkness. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ so sorry.¡± The girl raised her head, revealing a pair of glimmering bright blue eyes. Pain. Sorrow. Hopelessness. Fear. ¡°Forgive me.¡± Click. The hum stopped. She flickered one last time. It was a world of darkness. Starless. Pitch Black. Empty. Nothingness. Chapter 1 - Its an Egg Year 2023 **** town , United States. 1:26PM. Monday afternoon. Normal people would find the bugs really annoying. Normally I would too. I don¡¯t hate bugs nor am I frightened of them, I just simply don¡¯t appreciate how they somehow manage to find its way into my food without me noticing, or how they buzz around my ear, or when they crawl onto my skin. But the most annoying aspect of these little buggers, is the moment they burst out into their loud and screechy chorus. It drives me insane. It''s like listening to a dying turtle, and I don¡¯t even know what a turtle sounds like. No, I don¡¯t hate bugs. I simply really, really dislike them. I understand and appreciate that they are a part of the Earth¡¯s ecosystem and that they are necessary for the planet¡¯s survival, but that doesn¡¯t mean I have to like them. They¡¯re so small, irritating, and so difficult to get rid of them. But today. Right now. At this current moment in time, I found myself wishing to God that those bugs would come back, or rather revert back to the way they were. Because buzzing right in front of my face was a ridiculously large hornet the size of¡­ well¡­ me. Actually, probably bigger than me. It was definitely a hornet alright. The system told me so. And even without the system, I could easily tell by its trademark black and yellow pattern on its bodies and translucent wings that fluttered like mad, it''s razor sharp mandible clicking in the air,coupled by the unmistakable and now enlarged stinger at the butt end of its body. A normal sized hornets¡¯ sting hurts. A lot. I can attest to that. However, a single hornet sting isn¡¯t fatal. But this thing? It¡¯s stinger is the size of my f*cking fist! It was unmistakably a hornet no doubt about that. But what in the goddamn world did this thing eat to get so big? Don¡¯t get me wrong, it¡¯s shorter than me that¡¯s for sure. But that¡¯s when it¡¯s on all fours...sorry all sixes. If it could go on its hind legs...that''s a different story. The system? Oh that¡¯s right. The system. I forgot to explain, considering that I am currently face to face with a human sized hornet with a stinger the size of my fist, and didn''t look like it was here to make friends.Definitely not. So yeah¡­ cut me some slack, I¡¯m not really in my best state of mind. In order to explain, I must travel back in time. Luckily it¡¯s not too far back, so it won¡¯t take too long. Did you know that in the state of an emergency, the human brain can actually process millions or even billions of thoughts in the span of a split second? Ok maybe that¡¯s exaggerated, but bare with me. Anyways let''s go back to a only a couple moments ago. To be more specific 1 hour, 26 minutes, and 23 seconds back. ... Here we are. Ok see one of those large buildings at the center of campus? Oh I¡¯m 19 years old by the way, so first year in college. But yeah, the large building in the center facing south, the ¡°Omega Dorms.¡± The other dorms are called the ¡°Alpha¡±, ¡°Beta¡±, ¡°Gamma¡± and face the north, west, and east respectively. All the way up to the top, to the highest floor, which happens to be the 20th floor. There''s quite a lot of rooms aren''t there? Don''t worry, head toward the 2040area. Right next to the 2049 door, there''s a bathroom. Yup, goon in. See that guy with the messy brown hair just coming out of the shower with only a towel to cover himself? I must say I look pretty well built, lean yet muscular. Must be from training all the time. Nevermind me, the show is about to begin. Ok I gotta go back now, to go deal with that giant, menacing, scary, frightening, and uhhh¡­ abnormally large hornet? Yep. Meet my 1 hour, 21 minute, and 23 second past self. Oh right, one last thing. My name is Soren. Soren Hall. 12:00am, Monday morning. It¡¯s not every day when everything that you knew and trust is taken by the head and thrown upside down on itself, turned inside out, and then burned in a fire. In fact, it never really should. Well unfortunately, today it did. I stared long and hard at the unbelievable sight in front of me. ¡°What in the world¡­ ?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but voice my thoughts allowed. Part of me still thought I was dreaming, another part of me thought I was hallucinating from staying in the shower too long and the heat got to my head, while another part of me thought my mind had finally snapped because I had to finals coming up in the next week. It had been a regular day, I finished my morning classes and got back from training to enjoy a nice and refreshing hot shower. I was supposed to meet up with my friend Rachel to go for lunch so I thought it would be nice to look the part. I literally just walked out of the shower on my dorm floor bathroom, when I suddenly heard a light sound. It sounded like somebody had flipped a light switch. ¡°Click!¡± ¡°Ah!¡± The second I heard the ¡°Click!¡±, I jumped with fright. I wasn¡¯t surprised by the sound, but because a light blue screen suddenly appeared in front of my face and nearly causing me to drop my towel, almost exposing my precious family jewels in the process.
Status Window
Name: Soren Hall Race: Human
Age: 19 Gender Male
Titles:
Strength 1 Vitality 1
Agility 1 Dexterity 1
Intelligence 1 Wisdom 1Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Active ¡û Ablities/Skills¡ú Passive
N/A N/A
What the f*ck? Status? Skills? What is this, an RPG? Isn¡¯t this something you would see in a game? And aren¡¯t those numbers kind of low? Like¡­ really low? I ferociously rubbed my eyes with one hand, praying in my heart that it would go away. I opened them. Nope, it was still there. A bright transparent blue screen smack in front of my face filled with information that seemed exactly like those RPG games that I used to play in my middle school and early high school years. Can I touch it? With my left hand holding onto my towel, I tentatively reached out with my right hand. To my surprise, my hand went right through it, as if nothing was there. I pulled it back, and tried it again, and again, and again. If anyone else saw me, they probably would have thought I was an idiot, pawing my hand into thin air inside a bathroom, staring intently at nothing. Fortunately no one was around to see it. However the screen was clearly there, there was absolutely no doubt about it. I even looked at the mirror, and on it was a clear yet backwards display of the content of the screen on front of me. Maybe I actually did go insane. Might as well play along right? I mean I¡¯m alone in the bathroom, with nothing on except for my towel and sandals, with no one in sight. Why not. It wasn¡¯t like somebody could potentially walk into the bathroom at any moment in time. Close. I thought in my head. Since this looked like a game, it would probably act like one. I read too many novels where the protagonist would say it out loud like a dumbass. There is no way that I would shout ¡®Status¡± out loud and embarrass myself. ¡°...¡± Nothing happened. I tried it again. Nothing happened. Ok. Fine. Maybe I actually have to say it. ¡°Close!¡± I said, probably louder than I needed to.But maybe it was because the acoustics in the washroom are better than the ones in the auditorium. Yeah let''s just go with that. This time, the status table in front of me flickered and vanished, giving me a full view of myself in the mirror. My brain froze. I didn¡¯t actually expect it to work. ¡°Status.¡± This time I made sure I didn''t sound like an idiot. And on queue, the pale blue Status Table appeared in front of me. Sighing, I said ¡°Status¡± one more time to make it go away, and I immediately turned on the faucet and splashed my face with water. Lifting my dripping wet face I stared at myself in the shower fogged mirror. That water was really cold. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have done that. What the hell is happening to me. I always thought that I was a pretty average and level headed guy. I¡¯m actually also a bit of a weeb, I watched some anime and I really liked reading light novels online. Other than that, I was just an average guy who loved his good food and enjoyed spending time with his friends. I stood at a 5¡¯5 height, unfortunately shorter than the average guy. However, I was pretty well built, slender yet really defined muscles. I may not look like it but I¡¯m actually an amateur fighter looking to go professional. I don¡¯t lift weights, so I¡¯m not that big. But my muscles are hard as iron from consistent training and conditioning of my body. Not to mention I also studying Japanese swordplay. I even have a blade in my dorm hidden under my bed. I recently got a haircut where I shaved off the sides of my dark brown hair and left the top long, but not long enough for a ponytail. I have pretty long sideburns too and a scrappy little beard which I haven¡¯t shaved for a while because I¡¯ve been too busy studying for finals. But I never expected to go insane during college, not to mention my first year in college. I mean I heard college could be brutal, but really now.
Recalibrating¡­ ¡­ ...
Um¡­ what? Recalibrating? ¡°Ding..ding...ding!¡± Three other blue screens popped up in his vision, and all I could do was gawk like an idiot.
Recalibration! Strength +1 Agility +2 Dexterity +2 Wisdom +2 Physical Resistance +2
Title Discovered! Novice Martial Artist Evidence of long periods of time training in Novice Martial Arts Effects All stats +2
Status Window
Name: Soren Hall Race: Human
Age: 19 Gender Male
Titles: Novice Martial Artist
Strength 2 (2) Vitality 1 (2)
Agility 3 (2) Dexterity 3 (2)
Intelligence 2 (2) Wisdom 3 (2)
Abilities ¡û Abilities/Skills¡ú Passive
N/A N/A
Status Effects: N/A
My ¡°stats¡± increased? And what is with this title ¡°Novice Martial Arts?¡± What the f*ck? Excuse my language but I don¡¯t think anyone would really mind if I cuss a little bit in this kind of situation. I stared at the screen, dazed. It was at this moment, when suddenly the lights suddenly flickered, and everything began to tremble. What the hell! First this strange game like thing, now an earthquake? I steadied myself, and hid under the bathroom sink.Strange, we''ve never had an earthquake here before. ¡°...¡± Everything was still shaking, even after a minute or so. Something wasn¡¯t right. Struggling not to faceplant in the slippery bathroom and lose potentially lose and ruin my only article of clothing(if you count a towel as clothing) that I currrenly possess. I slowly walked over to the bathroom exit. I walked around and made my way towards my room at 1643. No sooner had I entered my room,I noticed it.There was something wrong with the sky. Like...seriously wrong. Hypnotized by the sky, I walked over to my room¡¯s little balcony overlooking the campus, struggling not to trip over anything, and just stared. I didn¡¯t even bother to change. I just gripped my towel even tighter and hoped it wouldn¡¯t fly away. There was an incredibly powerful wind surging in all sorts of direction, causing my wet hair to fly around and becoming even messier. The trembling of the ground didn¡¯t stop either, and I used one hand firmly grab onto the railing to steady myself. The other hand, you know where it is. No way in hell was I going to allow the world see my sacred jewels. The best way for me to describe it, would be that the sky was breaking. Imagine the gradual cracking of a glass window as if someone was applying a lot of pressure, where the cracks spread like spider webs. That¡¯s exactly what it looked like. Every second there would be more and larger cracks, and it felt that at any moment it would shatter into pieces. Some of the smaller pieces even began to fall off completely. ¡°The sky is falling!¡± A high pitched voice screamed out. No shit. Tearing my eyes away from the sky, I noticed that pretty much everyone else like me, staring out of their balcony and into the sky. Everyone below walking around on campus stopped whatever they were doing, footballs left untouched, papers fell to the floor, hell, even her Starbucks coffee was spilled by some girl and she didn¡¯t even notice. I think it was a frappuchino. There was a faint crackling sound. The trembling grew stronger and stronger, and a low deep hum grew louder and louder, increasing in intensity. ¡°Crack¡­.creak¡­.BANG.¡± And finally it happened. I jumped with fright and stared wide eyed at the scene, as a large portion of the sky shattered into millions of pieces of blindingly bright shards that looked like colored glass. In this hole, there was a sinister swirling black light laced with red and purple streaks. ¡°EEK!¡± Beside me I could hear some loud screams. Like the formation of a hurricane, the black light swirled, and the darkness seemed to grow ever darker. ¡°Oh man, maybe it really isn¡¯t just me.¡± I mumbled, eyes glued to the sky as pieces of the sky fell and vanished into thin air. I couldn¡¯t help but shiver. It felt like the sky had merely been a shell of an egg, and we were living inside this egg shell. And something just broke a hole in it. Chapter 2 - Bad Habits A hole in the f*cking sky. Are you kidding me. That¡¯s not something you see everyday. As I stared blankly at the hole trying to come to terms with reality, the red and purple lights began to violently swirl and gather at the center of the hole at an ever increasing pace like a massive whirlpool in the sky. The wind picked up, forcing me to tighten my grip on my towel and the railing in order to maintain my decency and avoid being blown away. My knuckles were white from the strain. The lights swirled faster and faster, until the lights were just a blur. Then all of the sudden, the world became still. The wind stopped. The earth no longer shook. Everything was frozen, frozen in time. At the epicenter of the maelstrom, a very deep crimson sphere laced with purple streaks hovered in the air. It slowly floated down, and all eyes were glued to it until it gently landed at the center of the quad. It just sat there. I let out a breath that I wasn¡¯t even aware I was holding in. ¡°BOOM!¡± Suddenly the ball exploded, and a shockwave of dusty black particles shot out in all directions. Before I could even react, I saw a rush of dark light I felt an irresistible force lift me off my feet, throwing me past my desk and into the back of my room, slamming me against the wall. It felt like I got hit by a freight train. My body slumped down to the floor. I felt something knock me on the top of my head. I had one thought in my mind. Shit, I lost my towel. Everything faded into darkness. ... It was dark. Like really dark. Imagine black, but just empty. Nothingness would be the best word to describe it. I was standing along in the middle of this ''nothingness.'' Strangely, in this ''nothingness'' I could still see myself. The darkness did nothing to obscure my view of myself. What is this place? How did I get here? All of the sudden, a small blue light flashed into existence. It was really small, as if far away. Curious, I squinted my eyes and began walking towards the faint blue glow. What is it? I drew near the mysterious light, and reached my hand to touch it. It flickered and disappeared, only to reappear some distance aways. I frowned, did it want me to follow? This process repeated itself a two to three more times, until at one point the blue light transformed into a blue girl. She was wearing a long blue dress, and sat on the floor with her hands wrapped around her legs and her face was buried within her knees. Her shoulders were shaking, it looked like she was crying. It was probably one the strangest things I had ever seen. I began walking up to her, when suddenly her head shot up, and her piercing gaze met mine. I froze. Actually, it was more like something froze me. They were the most clear and breathtaking pair of eyes that I had ever seen, and would likely ever see. The curtain of hair hid the rest of her face, but could do nothing to hide those eyes. Traces of confusion and sorrow dotted her starry eyes. I tried moving, but my body refused to listen to me. It felt like an invisible pressure was on my body and it wouldn¡¯t let me move a muscle. She sat. I stood. I tried to say something, but even my vocal cords were frozen up, much less my mouth. Only my eyes were still capable of moving, and even they were captivated by her deep blue pupils. She looked at me in confusion, as if asking: "What are you doing here?" Out of nowhere, a loud banshee-like scream brokethe still atmosphere. Terror flashed across her eyes, and she broke eye contact with me, burying her head back into her knees, her shoulders quaking in fear. The second her eyes broke away from me, I felt an invisible pressure lift off my chest, and realized I could move, and finally speak. This time, another screampierced the air, only to have several more follow. They were getting louder, and closer. I ran up to the blue girl. Or at least I tried to. There was an invisible wall that separated us, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn¡¯t go past it. "Hey! Who are you? What is this place?" I yelled at her.She didn''t respond. I couldn''t tell whether or not she heard me or not. The screams were getting louder and louder, and out of the darkness I saw a dark filth oozing out of the ''nothingness'' all around us. To make matters worse, the keening never stopped. They weren''t regular ones either, but they were shrieks of fear. Of horror. And of terror. And it chilled me to the bone. In the filthy darkness, I could see faces. Faces twisted beyond anything I had ever seen, and they were screaming. Howling in pain, begging for relief. They rose and fell, disappearing one after the other into the darkness, none were the same, as if billions and billions of souls were twisted and tortured unceasedly. They got closer and closer. I could feel myself stiffening. My legs didn¡¯t work anymore, they were bound by the darkness. I uttered one last scream before the darkness swept over me. "I''m so sorry..." A soft voice entered my mind seconds before the darkness engulfed my mind and everything ceased to be. ... I gasped aloud, and my eyes shot open in terror. My eyes flew around the room, my breathing was heavy, and I was sweating buckets. It was just a nightmare. I kept telling myself, it was just a nightmare. My head was pounding, my ears ringing, and my left shoulder was hurting like a bitch. I felt like I just woke up after a long night of drinking. And damn was it cold. What kind of fucking nightmare was that? I shivered again, and this time it wasn¡¯t because of the cold. The images of the wailing souls swallowed in darkness kept on popping up in my head. And what was with that smell? It¡¯s so strong and minty. I looked down beside me. Oh, deodorant. I usually put it on when I don¡¯t have time to take a shower and I need to go out on a date or something. Which means I pretty much don¡¯t use it at all. Normally it just collects dust on my shelf, so was it doing being empty and on the ground? Oh, that must be why everything smells minty, and a slight hint of iron. It must have spilled on me after I hit the wall. Iron? My deodorant doesn¡¯t have iron in it. At least not that I know of. Then why do I smell iron? I had so many questions, yet I didn¡¯t even realize I had so little time. The ringing in my ears finally stopped, and that¡¯s when I began hearing these strange squelching and slurping noises outside my room door. It sounded like someone was enjoying a nice juicy steak. Eating steak outside my room? Without inviting me? How dare you. At least you should have the decent courtesy to keep your eating noise at a minimum. You must be one of those guys who can¡¯t eat with their mouth shut. I can hear it through my damn door. I unsteadily got up to my feet and grimaced in pain. My left shoulder was bruised up pretty badly, and I could make out the faint purple signs on my skin. That¡¯s gonna hurt for a while. I swung my door open, about to shout at the bastard who was eating obnoxiously loud, but my words got stuck in my mouth. I was completely unprepared for the scene in front of me.
Giant Hornet
Oh. That¡¯s my man eating some juicy steak. Except, it wasn¡¯t a man, nor a woman. It¡¯s definitely not a human. I was so surprised that my brain didn¡¯t even registered the pop-up screen that showed up above the creature. It wasn¡¯t like I needed it anyways. It may have had some strange and weird white blemishes on its shiny black carapace, but it was stupidly big. It¡¯s body was probably longer than I was tall. It¡¯s bright yellow stripes on the black body coupled with it¡¯s rather big and menacing stinger at the butt end of the body was enough information for me to figure it out. It¡¯s body was bent over what looked like a human body. Except, the body was clearly missing a leg. A right leg to be precise. From mid thigh down, it was gone. And blood was spurted out unceasingly off the stump of the thigh. There was a thick pool of crimson blood around the body and around the floor. I couldn¡¯t really see the rest of the body, it was blocked from view by the monster. Thank goodness it was facing the other way. I didn¡¯t have a good angle to get a proper view of what it was doing, but I wasn¡¯t stupid. I reflexively slammed the door shut and pressed my back against the cold hard wood.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. What the f*ck. Why is there such a large hornet. And why is there a dead body outside? A shiver ran through my body. Wait a second, why is the door so cold? I looked down at myself. Oh wait, I¡¯m naked. Then I noticed that my balcony window was still wide open. Well shit. Well at least no one was close enough to make out who I was right? Well, there could have been one. But he or she was dead. Outside. In the hallway. With a giant hornet feeding on his or her dead corpse. Lucky me? ¡°Bang!¡± Interrupting my thoughts, a large stinger burst through the wood of the door, right beneath my precious, making my blood run cold. I nearly lost my manhood, permanently. ¡°AHHHH!¡± I screamed in terror, staring at the stinger between my legs. My babies! ¡°Buzz!¡± An intense low buzzing sound reverberated through the door. My sword! Fuck where is it! My brain went on autopilot and pounced towards the first thing that came to mind. I grabbed the handle of the sword and threw the sheath aside. A blue screen appeared above my sword.
Tachi A well crafted single edged curved two-handed longsword. Blunt and poorly maintained. Effects: None
What? I gave that bastard a good chunk of money to help me maintain my sword! I want my money back! Serves me right for being a lazy son of a bitch. Well, it¡¯s too late for regrets. By the time I grabbed my sword and turned around, the giant hornet was almost finished tearing up my door. There goes my door, how am I supposed to pay for that. I heard that a regular sized hornet could cut in half and kill a praying mantis. Not to mention that it could kill up to 40 bees in a single minute. That¡¯s terrifying. And you know what¡¯s worse? A human sized one hornet. Whiz! Suddenly the giant hornet put on an impossible change of speed, and sped straight at me, it¡¯s blurred mandibles brandished wildly in the air. F*ck! It was big but so damn fast! I didn¡¯t react quick enough to sidestep it, and could only take it on full force, taking the brunt of the blow, and sliding me back all the way until I had my back touched a wall. I desperately tried to fend it off with my blade, pushing it against the still bloody mandibles sprayed blood all over me. It wriggled around ferociously, trying to bypass my blade and chop my head off. Fat chance you ugly bug bastard. Why is it bending its body like that? Oh shit! The stinger! I was so preoccupied with it¡¯s scary mouth I forgot that it had another weapon. I reflexively kicked out with my leg, striking it¡¯s midsection and launching it flying. Oh, it was pretty light. Lighter than I thought. Probably because it needed to be relatively light so that it could fly. I glared at the giant hornet. You my ugly sir, are going down. The hornet circled and buzzed angrily as if searching for an opening. It was hovering now, I could see it¡¯s wings flapping at an unimaginable speed. Zoom! Like a lightning bolt it charged at me. You got me last time motherfucker, but not this time. Sidestepping it, I allowed its body to fly by my and slam into the wall behind me. It¡¯s mandibles got stuck in the wall. Bam! Seeing that, I immediately brought my sword down on its head. Die! Dink! What? It¡¯s armour was so thick! My slash only left a white scar on its carapace, similar to the ones it already had. I panicked, and tried slashing down a couple more times, but to no avail. The giant hornet pulled it¡¯s head out of the wall and I was forced to distance myself. I regretted not maintaining my sword properly. Unrelentlessly, the hornet charged at me again. At this moment in time, I wish I had a habit of cleaning my room. The moment it charged at me, I sidestepped. Or at least I tried to. Tripping over a bag I fell right on my butt and the hornet pounced on me with increased ferocity, going in for the kill. As I struggled desperately, one of mandibles cut deeply into my shoulder and drew a gasp of pain from my lips. The giant hornet was on top of me, blessing me with wonderful first class seats of its bloody mandibles dripping saliva or whatever it was down on my face. Click, clack. It¡¯s large eyes glared at me, sending shivers down my spine. Clack clack yourself motherf*cker! I¡¯m not dying here! Bringing my knees up to my chest, I bundled up into a ball and planted my feet into the midsection of the hornet, and kicked upwards with all my might, knocking it into the air. With as much strength as I could muster, I grasped my sword with both hands and thrust it straight up, and into its midsection. Thank God it worked. The force generated from its downward motion and my thrust was enough to penetrate its thin midsection with my sword. ¡°Grah!¡± I looked down at my chest, a large gash spilled blood out of my chest. I shoved it¡¯s body off of me. In its death throes the body violently spasmed and one of its mandibles slashed across my chest. It fell to the ground, buzzed weakly, and finally went limp. I collapsed on my back spread flat on the floor, panting from exhaustion. The time it took for that to take place was less than a minute, but it felt like an hour. At the time, there was only one thing on my mind. I need to take another shower. It was at this moment, the adrenaline rushing through my blood finally wore off, and everything hit me. And it hit like a truck. Losing strength in my arms and legs, I collapsed like jello to the ground. My hands were shaking, my brown hair was matted down in sweat, and my breath came shallow and quick. I almost died. I was literally a hair''s breath of losing my life. Not only that, it was to a supernaturally gigantic bloodthirsty hornet. Nature doesn¡¯t just go up and do that, it doesn¡¯t create some massive killer hornet that goes around and eats people. That¡¯s not how it¡¯s supposed to work. Yet the reality of it was that it did. How long had I been unconscious? Why was there a deadly Giant Hornet on the loose? What had been that strange sphere and explosion? And what happened to the hole in the sky? ARe there more of those Giant Hornets running around? Where is everyone? Is everyone dead? Am I going to die? I drew in a long and deep breath. Whew¡­ I almost lost it there. The worst thing to happen in dangerous times would be to lose myself in panic. Rather than stress about what could, worry about the present, the now. Less than 3 minutes later, I had my adidas sweatpants on, a long sleeve shirt and an athletic sweater on. I looked at my shoulder and chest in the mirror. There¡¯s absolutely no way in hell that was going to wear jeans. I like to give my babies downstairs some room to breath and move. I glanced at myself in the mirror. Good, the bleeding stopped, or it would show through my sweater. I used the emergency first aid kit underneath my desk to patch myself up. At our dorm we were required to have an emergency disaster kit in our rooms in case of such events. It had a week¡¯s worth of food and about a gallon of water. That should be enough to last me a while. Plus it had a couple of flashlights, matches, and even flint. I stuffed them all into my backpack. Any more would be unreasonably difficult to carry, and I needed to be able to move around unencumbered. I don¡¯t think my roommate would be too angry if I took it with me right now. Speaking of which, I do hope he¡¯s still alive out there. At this point, I already came to terms with the fact that my world, as I knew it, was gone. Mysterious ¡®Status¡¯ table? Check, I could call it up at any time. Giant Hornet? Check. The disgusting creature lying prone in the middle of my room and the dull ache of my shoulder and chest can attest to that. Dead corpse outside my room? Check. I could clearly see what the body was, or what it was before. The rancid smell of death permeated through the air. Massive hole in the sky? Check. Actually scratch that, the hole disappeared. What replaced it though however, was a sky full of extremely dark purple rolling clouds. With the occasional flash of red light. It wasn¡¯t a sign of the end of the world. No not at all. The possibility of encountering more Giant Hornets or other monstrous oversized monsters out there with even more dead corpses? Very high. The chances of me surviving? Pretty damn low. But hey, 54 minutes into the apocalypse, and I¡¯m still alive. I¡¯m think I¡¯m doing a damn fine job. At least better than the person there lying in a pool of blood. Everything that I had experienced was far too real to be a dream or an illusion. This was real. That giant hornet is real. That dead body outside is real. The world had changed. And I was scared. I was unconscious for about an hour. I don¡¯t even know how I¡¯m still alive. It might have been due to the deodorant that spilled all over me and masked my smell, causing the creatures not to be able to sense or smell me. That may have been why no other monsters were in the area. I would be long dead by now. Thank you Axe Spray, your sacrifice will not be in vain. Or it could have been simply this hornet was a lone straggler, and I was ridiculously lucky not to meet a swarm of them. Who knows. After changing and patching myself up, I went over the still corpse of the creature that nearly took my head off. I grabbed my sword handle, and pushed my leg against it and pulled my sword out of it¡¯s body. What the hell is that supposed to be? A strange glowing translucent symbol was floating above the hornet. Ding!
Agility Rune Effects: Agility +.1
Um¡­ what. Permanent increase in agility? Before I could react, the symbol suddenly turned into a flash of light and shot into my chest. I felt a warm sensation sweep through my whole body. I looked at my chest, the previously glowing symbol was now imprinted on the right side of my chest like a tattoo, except that this tattoo was still warm, and black in color on my skin. I reached my hand up and touched it. It was warm, the good and soothing kind of war. Rubbing it I wondered; Is it permanent? I went ahead and rubbed it. Nope, no effect. That¡¯s not weird at all. Next, I turned my status window.
Status
Name: Soren Hall Race: Human
Age: 19 Gender Male
Titles: Novice Martial Artist
Strength 2 (2) Vitality 1 (2)
Agility 3.1 (2) Dexterity 3 (2)
Intelligence 1 (2) Wisdom 3 (2)
Abilities ¡û Abilities/Skills¡ú Passive
N/A N/A
The increase was almost negligible, and I couldn¡¯t even tell the difference. Tying my sword to the left side of my waist where I had easy access to, I looked like a badass. I wanted to put it behind my back, but it was too inconvenient and unrealistic. Dressed up and ready to go with a filled backpack with a sword at my side, I think I¡¯m ready as I¡¯ll ever be. Surprisingly, my door handle and the edges of the door was still intact. The hornet only ripped a hole through it, tearing out the and the majority of the door, leaving sharp jagged ends in the middle. Yeah I¡¯m not gonna crawl through that. I took deep breath, and pushed the door open. Chapter 3 - Sick Joke Or at least, I tried to. The door was stuck. I tried again, pushing harder. Nope. Nothing. ''="¡­" I looked at the door knob. Oh. It was locked. Flustered I turned the lock and swung the door open. ¡°HUUUURGGEHH!¡± A white frothy mess mixed with noodles and other bits and pieces of food splashed down onto the blood red carpet. Oh man. Nothing could have prepared me the scene in front of me. I couldn¡¯t help but toss my up my lunch and splatter it all over the floor, letting it mix and blend with the blood on the floor. The hallway was literally a pool of crimson liquid, and the walls were splattered with bright red as if someone got a bucket red paint and splashed it all over the walls. Except I knew it wasn¡¯t paint. Across the hall there were a number of corpses that lying prone. Or at least pieces of them. My room was near the end of the hallway, and it looked like they put up a valiant sort of last stand against the hornets, backed up against the wall. A number of corpses littered the hallway. I could tell one of them was a girl, and the other two looked like guys. There were four or maybe five indistinct bodies down the hallway lying prone on the floor, I couldn¡¯t really figure out whether they where male or female. Why? Um, because they didn¡¯t really have a head anymore. Just a headless corpse. Some of them were missing limbs, others had their stomachs ripped open by something incredibly sharp and I could see the intestines loosely dangling out. A number of hornet corpses also lay beside their bodies, evidence of a violent and brutal struggle. I glanced back into my room and at the dead hornet. It was only now did I realize why there were white blemishes on its carapace. They were battle scars. My roommate Ivan was among the deceased bodies. His trademark long and blonde hair was stained with blotches of red, his terror filled eyes were wide open, his blood soaked body slumped up against the wall. At his side was a fire axe with its handle shattered, a last-ditch yet futile attempt for survival. I froze. My bewildered mind frantically put the final pieces of the puzzle together, finally putting together a gruesome reality. It couldn¡¯t be. The screaming and yelling in my dreams. They weren¡¯t conjured up from out of nowhere. It was them. The last desperate struggles for survival. My face paled, and I started to shiver uncontrollably. Hesitantly, I touched one of the corpses, staining my hands with blood. I stumbled back with horror. The body was still warm. The blood was almost¡­ burning hot. How long has it been since they were killed? Minutes? Seconds? And I slept through it all. They were all ruthlessly killed. And I was sleeping. What a sick fucking joke. With a deep breath, I steadied myself. I stooped down and I grabbed the fire axe head. Who knows, maybe it would be of use to me later on and it wasn¡¯t like they were going to be needing it anymore. All of the sudden, a hand shot up and grabbed my arm. My heart literally jumped out of my chest and into my throat. ¡°L-Lu...cy? I-is¡­you?¡± A faint whisper entered my ears. It was Ivan. Unexpectedly he was still alive, only just barely, but I didn¡¯t know how much long he had left. ¡°... came¡­ back. I knew¡­wouldn¡¯t leave¡­ me.¡± He was struggling to speak. I knelt down and wrapped his shivering hand with mine, and gripped it tightly. I didn¡¯t say anything. I couldn¡¯t. ¡°It¡¯s¡­.it¡¯s so cold...dark, I¡­ can¡¯t see.¡± His eyes were wide open, but they weren¡¯t looking at me. They couldn''t. ¡°I¡¯m scared¡­ I-I¡¯m scared. I don¡¯t¡­ wanna¡­ I¡­¡± The shivering stopped, and his hand went limp, falling to the wet floor with a sick thud. And just like that, he was gone. I reached up and gently closed his eyes. It was the least I could do. However the moment I did so, a glowing symbol surfaced and appeared on his head. Ding!
Strength Rune Effects: Strength +.1
My face darkened. Are you fucking kidding me. My foul mood took another turn for the worse. It wasn¡¯t enough that they were brutally mutilated. No, the fucking system even gave us an incentive to fucking kill each other. Does that mean the others have runes too? A little while later¡­ I managed to scrounge out 2 strength runes and 5 agility runes, and even one intelligence rune. Each gave me 0.1 increase in stats respectively, bringing up my stats by a large amount. As each successive absorption of the rune, my body felt noticeably lighter and I felt¡­ liberated.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. It was as if my whole life I had been unknowingly shackled down by invisible weights and chains, and now someone has cut me loose and set me free. All the agility runes were from the hornets, by which I don¡¯t think is a coincident. The strength and intelligence runes came from Ivan, Lucy, and another body. I¡¯m not sure how the runes were created and how they are allotted, but then again I don¡¯t really know what¡¯s actually going on. I lifted my sword up. It did indeed felt noticeably lighter than before. I still couldn¡¯t really swing it around like a one-handed blade, but it became much easier to wield it. I couldn¡¯t tell so much with strength and intelligence, but common sense dictates strength would equal¡­ obviously strength. Agility would be speed, while intelligence would dictate how smart I am? I¡¯m not entirely sure how it works yet, but I had a feeling it wasn¡¯t going to be too long before I find out. But I felt horrible, sick to the stomach. I was a vulture, a scavenger who swooped in and fed on the dead, desecrating their corpses. It was distasteful work, but I wasn¡¯t left with much of a choice. I did what was necessary, regardless of what it made me feel. The headless corpses didn¡¯t have any runes on them, and I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to not realize why. The surviving hornet probably ate them and absorbed the runes into itself. It was noticeably larger than the rest of the dead hornet¡¯s lying around. I bowed my head and paid my respects to them, and took my leave. I did my best not to stare at their mutilated bodies. There was nothing I could do for them, not anymore. I¡¯m sorry, I couldn¡¯t even give you guys a proper burial. I hope you¡¯ll forgive me. As I neared the end of the hallway, I began to hear some more loud chewing noises. I peered around the corner, and sure enough, there was another hornet with its head buried inside the body of another human, making some indistinct squelching noise. I shuddered, even though I had seen it before, it was going to a long time before I ever get used to it, if ever. I took another glance the creature. It was slightly smaller than the one I fought previously, but it was just as menacing and terrifying, even if it had its back facing me. My eyes turned cold. A whisper of Ivan¡¯s desperate last words echoed in my mind. Not to mention it was alone. A single word flashed through my mind. Kill. Steeling myself, I gently set my backpack down on the ground, and took my shoes off. They were too cumbersome and loud for me to properly sneak. I ever so gently unsheathed my blade, making only the slightest of sounds. It reminded me of back when I was in middle school, when I used to steal gum from from this kid¡¯s backpack. He always brought gum to school and loved to show it off, but never really shared with anyone. Because I was short in stature and pretty inconspicuous, I would steal the gum, and pass them out to my friends. I was smart about it though. I didn¡¯t just steal the whole thing, rather I only took one or two each time and put the pack of gum back into his bag. Surprisingly, I was never actually caught. But this wasn¡¯t some ignorant middle school kid and his pack of gum. This was a monster who could easily kill me. Carefully stepping as lightly as I could, I inched my way towards the oblivious creature. Every step I took, I got more and more restless. Eventually, after an intense 10 seconds, I successfully sneaked up to about 10 yards away from the creature. Unexpectedly, it suddenly raised it¡¯s head up and waved its antennae around, as if searching for something. I froze. My breath was caught up in my throat, my blood ran cold and I felt a chill run down my spine. I could feel the hair''s on the back of my neck rise up in fear. I was so close, yet it seemed so far. After what felt like an eternity, the hornet finally put it¡¯s head back down. Phew¡­ I let out a breath of relief without thinking. My free hand immediately shot to my mouth, but it was too late. The hornet picked it¡¯s head up, and I knew I fucked up. Without wasting a second, I put my newly increased stats and rushed at the hornet, sword in hand. I pushed off one foot, and soared through the air and landed straight onto it¡¯s back, going so fast I actually knocked the wind out of me. The hornet struggled intensely, but I pinched my legs down hard into its sides and glued the wings down its body, not giving it single chance to take off into flight. If that happened, I would probably be screwed. My free hand immediately shot out and tightly grabbed one of its feelers for balance, and the other hand brought the sword down with brutal force and stabbed the blade into its back. Dink! This time, there was a visible dent on its armour. I brought my sword up again, pouring every ounce of my anger and frustration into the next blow as I mentally roared in fury. I felt a slight resistance as the blade pierced the carapace, and watched it disappear as the blade slid all the way into the body and through its soft underside until the handle and hilt were the only things still visible to me. I could actually feel the tip of the blade scraping the ground. This sent the hornet into a brief but berserk state, and the only thing I could do was hold on to my sword handle for dear life. Like a bucking bull and a bull rider, the hornet did it¡¯s best to throw me off. But it¡¯s frantic struggle only served to quicken its demise, because the constant bucking caused the sword to churn around and screw up it¡¯s insides. When it¡¯s struggles finally ceased, I shakily stepped off the body and drew my sword out with. I cut the head off, ensuring it was actually dead. Only then did the tension seep out of my body.
Agility Rune Effects: Agility +.1
Damn it felt good to let loose. I glanced at my blade. Damn, the blade had actually been chipped. To be honest though, it wasn¡¯t too much of a surprise when it had been used to pierce through the hard armour of the hornet and scrapped all over the floor after that little scuttle. But it did leave me worried. What would happen if it broke? The only reason I¡¯m still here now is because I had the sword. If not, I would have ended up like Ivan and the others. But what did it matter. No use worrying about it right now. I went back around the corner and got my gear and shoes, and continued on my way to the elevator, assuming it still even worked. Even if it wasn¡¯t working anymore, the stairs were right beside it. The sooner I get out of this hell of a shithole, the better. .......
Status
Name: Soren Hall Race: Human
Age: 19 Gender Male
Titles: Novice Martial Artist
Strength 2.2 (2) Vitality 1 (2)
Agility 3.6 (2) Dexterity 3 (2)
Intelligence 1.1 (2) Wisdom 3 (2)
Abilities ¡û Abilities/Skills¡ú Passive
N/A N/A
1 Month Hiatus Hi all, I know I''m probably going to lose a number of readers because of this because I literally just started to write this story a couple weeks ago. But, I''ve come to a decision that I neededtake a little time off, as in a hiatus for a month. The reasons are as follows: 1. Finals. And life. 2. Iwas so excited to start writing a story, TOOexcited in fact, that I never really thought or planned out what direction the story was going to go. I have sort of a faint outline of the key events, but I''n not sure yet how to get there. Some time off to just sit and brainstorm would be really help.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. 3. Considering this is the first novel I''m writing, Ireally want it to be able to do it to the best of my ability, not only in terms of story but also in grammar and the like. In summary, I will be taking a hiatus off for (about)one month in order to get my thoughts and story (and life lol) into order, also busting out some chapters for a backlog. Thanks for reading guys, I will be back late April or early May with new and probably revised chapters!