《Shadow Pact 2100》 A totally not traumatic origin story The Year is 2100 The world has become technologically advanced beyond your wildest dreams, Robo arms, death lasers, teleportation, flying cars, you name it and it''s probably been made by now. Most countries have adopted these technologies, with some places still being many years behind due to a number of factors. Our "hero''s" story starts in London, which looks way different than it did 80 years ago, it isn''t recognisable, towering skyscrapers, weapon stores, body mod shops, all those sick ass future buildings you''ve seen in movies. The current queen is Queen Elizabeth the 4th and the NHS has completely collapsed due to funding troubles and got bailed out by an American company called ARZMED, which then went on to privatize the whole thing. We follow the story of Cassie Kelly, a 16 year old girl who lives in a dilapidated slum at the edge of the city. Monday the 1st of January 2100, new years day. ---------------- I blink my eyes open, my head pounding, I stare at the filthy white ceiling for 5 minutes trying to find the will to get up and use the bathroom. "Fuckin el, 3 ciders and I got blank out drunk." I say outloud to a grand audience of zero. I reach over and try and pick up my glasses, knocking them off the table in the process. "It''s gonna be one of those days." I say, rolling out of bed, landing on the floor hard. "Damn it." I glance around trying to find my glasses only to find out I landed on them, thankfully I only bent it''s left arm, which I bend back to roughly how it should be with my amazing dexterity and place them on my head. I pull myself up off the ground using the bedside table to stabilise myself while standing up and then wander over to the bathroom. I sit down upon my throne and try to pull out my phone from my pocket. ...... Of course I forgot my phone. I glance at the sink and find a bottle of soap and grab it, flipping it over to read about the interesting facts and ingredients inscribed on the plastic. "May contain gunpowder and peanuts.... Why would any of those things be in very Berry spectacular scented soap?" I say to myself. I quickly finish up in the bathroom and wash my hands, looking at myself in the mirror. Long brown hair cascades messily down my average white face all the way down to my shoulders, my brown eyes look out from the glasses I wear which are barely held together with duct tape. I dry my hands and leave the bathroom, grabbing my phone from my bed as I journey towards our kitchen, intent on finding myself some off brand cereal and nearly expired milk. As I enter the kitchen I see my mum drinking a cup of tea while watching tac tik without headphones, cause I totally wanna listen to some shitty cyberpop music over some random kid doing some stupid dance. My mother is a well fed woman, white skin, brown hair and brown eyes like me, she''s currently dressed in some cargo shorts, a yellow t-shirt and slippers. "Morning mum." I say. Morning Cass." She replies. I open the fridge and find what I''m looking for, half a pint of techco branded milk which I put to the side while I search the cupboard for some sugared flakes. Upon acquiring both ingredients I obtain a bowl and combine them together, cereal then milk cause I''m not a fricken psycho. I grab a spoon and eat the entire bowl in 30 seconds flat and toss the bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. I check the time on my phone and see it''s 8:37 Am. "Shit shit shit, I''m gonna be late for work." I panic to myself, grabbing my shoes and rushing to the door, before backing up and rushing to my room to actually get changed into my work clothes. I pose in front of the mirror briefly, my work clothes consisted of some black jeans, a grey hoodie and some sneakers, I worked in delivery so I could really put any old thing on as long as it was work appropriate but I usually just used these due to the jeans helping mitigate some of the soreness of riding a bike all day. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. I rush out of my room, through the kitchen and out the door shouting "bye mooom!!" along the way. I hop on my bike, disengage the mag lock and race off to the post office. The streets are the same as always, people driving to work, gangs hanging out, kids looking at their holo phones and not looking where they''re going. I''d say the streets have seen better days but that would be a lie, this "town" was put together as a home for the poor initiative, they only built this to get rid of the poor so they don''t stink up London''s streets. Most of the houses are riddled with patch work repairs by now as the houses weren''t built very well. And just like always, it''s fuckin raining. I come to a stop outside the post office, which is the only semi well made building here, the logo ARONZONE in neon lights flickers. I park my bike at the bike rack and activate its mag lock and enter the building. I walk up to the counter where my boss is sitting. She''s dressed all in black, black hair, black clothes, black makeup, black eyes, the only things not black are her vampire white skin, her piercings and her name tag "Emma". "Morning Em." I greet her. "Sup Cass." She replies not looking up from her holo phone, she points over to a bag. "This morning''s deliveries are in there." "Light bag today." I reply looking at the delivery information. "I''ll get it done don''t worry, be back in an hour or two." "Don''t get stabbed out there." She replies. "I''ll try not to." I chuckle. I hop back on my bike and disengage the mag lock and zoom off. --------- 1 hour later I only have 1 more parcel left, to be delivered to Margaret Street. I come to a stop at the edge of the street and mag lock my bike in the bike rack and grab the delivery bag. I feel on edge, Margaret Street is where the biggest gang hangs out, they call themselves "The Death Squad" lame as shit I know but try telling them that and you''ll be breathing out your neck. I wander down a short cut down an alleyway, I glance down at the delivery info, I need to find 17 Margaret street. Someone steps out of the shadows. "You''re the new mule then?" The man says. His face is obscured by shadow but I can tell he''s a well built man, stubble on his chin and wearing scraggly clothes. "Uuuh, i''m just a delivery driver for Aronzone." I reply, tensing up. The figure starts coming closer. "Likely story." He replies. "Hand over the goods." I glance behind me, another man stands behind me holding a bat, the man in front of me pulls out his knife. I glance to the ground, rubbish litters the ground, scraps of moldy food, cigarettes and beer bottles. I quickly grab one of the beer bottles and throw it at the man in front of me, which shatters on impact filling his face with glass and I rush him down knocking him off balance and rushing out of the alley, only to be met by a pipe to the stomach. I collapse to my knees and get met with a boot to the face sending my sprawling across the ground. I cough up some blood while I try not to scream. "Slippery bitch didn''t stop to think there was more than just the 2 of us, what bell end wouldn''t have a few of his lads around the corner." The voice says. I look upwards at the woman who hit me with the pipe. She''s tall and well built, dressed in ripped jeans and a hoodie with ripped sleeves, she has long red hair, red eyes and piercings in her eye brows, nose ears and lip. The men from the alley rush around the corner. The man I threw the bottle at runs at me, rage in his eyes. "Fucking skank." He yells, kicking me in the face, knocking out a handful of teeth and sending me skidding along the ground to the tall woman. I grunt loudly as tears and blood drip down my face. The tall woman picks up my package and opens it. She whistles. "Bitch was carrying a Z Box 720, nice nice nice." She says. "Guess I was wrong about her being a mule, but no matter, good enough for us, should get us some cash down the 2nd hand shop." The man says. The tall woman grabs me by the hair and yanks me to my feet. "What we doing about this one?" She asks. "I say we get some payback for what she did to my face." The man says. "Let''s take her back into the alley and teach her a lesson." The woman drags me by the hair and tosses me to the ground in the alley. I struggle to push myself up before I get another boot to the face, breaking my nose. The tall woman picks me up by my hair again. "Where to start, where to start." The man ponders to himself playing with his flip knife. He then glances at my ear and chuckles. With a quick slash I lose half my hearing as my ear falls to the ground. I scream. I scream harder than I''ve ever screamed before only to be rewarded with a fist to the face. "Keep that mouth shut bitch." The man says. "Or I''ll cut that tongue." Tears stream down my face as blood drips down from where my ear used to be. He looks me over thinking what to do next. "Oh I know." He says. "Susie, toss that bitch on her stomach and hold her down." She complies and throws me to the ground, standing on my back. The man then walks over to my head and stamps and stamps and stamps and stamps and stamps and stamps. My head impacts concrete over and over and over and over, I only get time to grunt as blood fills my mouth preventing me from screaming. "Mitch, break her legs so she can''t walk and let''s leave her here to bleed." He says. Mitch raises his bat and slams it against the back of my knees and again and again and again and again until I feel the knee bones shatter. Susie takes her foot off my back and the 3 of them walk off. I lay there for what feels like hours, my vision darkening and my body feeling lighter and lighter. I managed to push myself on my back and look up into the sky, the rain had stopped at some point and the sun is shining brightly. "Fucking typical, the day I get jumped and beaten and left to die is the day we get some nicer weather." I chuckle to myself in my head. I look to my right and see a cat sitting on the wall staring at me, it''s body seems to be made out of writhing shadows, I''m def losing my mind from blood loss. "Humanity never changes, you not can''t get along, violence, theft and murder is the one thing your kind excels at." The cat says licking its paws. "You can talk?" I gargle out. "Oh yes, I''m not just a simple cat you know, I''ve been watching your kind for millennia, your kind are very entertaining." It replies. "I really am losing my mind." I chuckle. The cat ignores that response, staring down at me with its bright yellow eyes. "I''ve come to offer you a deal, I''ve grown bored watching your kind and their struggles over the last couple years, it''s become the same old story recently, I was cleaning my paws the other night and thought why not spice it up a bit, the other old ones have interacted with humans on occasion so why don''t I give it a go?" It says. "Uuuuuuuh a deal?" I respond. "Yes yes a deal, I grant you an ounce of my power my magic, I''ll even conjure you up a display like those RPG games you play and I''ll save your life." It says. "How about it? Magic that''s rarely met human hands, your life saved all in exchange for entertaining me and your soul or do you want to bleed out and die?" "My soul, you some sort of demon?" I respond. "Oh heavens no, I''m not pitiful like those demons, I''m way beyond those, I''m what you''d call a god." It says jumping down to me. "Fuck, def losing my mind." I say, coughing up my blood, my ear starts ringing. "Now shake my paw, you''ve got roughly 20 seconds till that brain damage kills you." It says to me offering its paw. I look at its paw. "Fuck it." I say grabbing it. My vision darkens, I feel burning deep inside of me as if my soul was being attacked and I feel myself being tugged backwards as the world becomes a blur and I pass out. ----------- My eyes flicker open, as I feel last night''s hangover. I look up to see the dirty white ceiling of my room. Wait a second, I should be bleeding out on the ground. I hear a chuckle and look down at the bottom of my bed. I see a cat made of writhing shadows staring at me. "Welcome back to the land of the living Cass." It chuckles. Waking up from a cat nap Chapter 2 A second chance I blink at the cat and rub my eyes. ¡°How did I get back here?¡± I ask, trying to not freak out about the talking shadow cat. ¡°Just a dash of transportation magic.¡± It replies. ¡°You know normally people freak out when one of us talks to them, how odd.¡± ¡°My headache is too bad to freak out.¡± I reply. ¡°I can fix that.¡± Replies the cat, stamping a paw down. My body suddenly feels lighter for a moment as energy ripples through my body, my headache vanishing in moments. ¡°Honestly the moment for freaking out has gone now, so uh what exactly are you?¡± I ask. ¡°My name is {¡ã¡é}\^¡Á^¡ã(_!(#-¡±) which can''t be understood by your human mind so you may call me Shade, I am what''s also known to few as The Shadow Cat, I am an ancient being that looks upon the world watching humanity for entertainment and I got bored so here we are.¡± It replies. ¡°You may also refer to me as a female, though I do not have gender, the female gender is the one I like the most.¡± ¡°So you''re a God?¡± I ask. ¡°Essentially.¡± Shade replies. ¡°So you only did this because you were bored?¡± I enquire. ¡°Pretty much.¡± She replies. ¡°Any other questions?¡± ¡°You said something about magic right, magic is real?¡± I question. ¡°Well you wouldn''t be breathing if magic didn''t exist and do you see a normal feline carrying you home all on their own?¡± she asks, gesturing to herself with a paw. ¡°Also your device has been vibrating a lot during your sleep, I believe that seems important.¡± ¡°Wait shit I didn''t return back to work, shit shit shit.¡± I say grabbing my phone. I turn it on and check my messages. Messages 9 Missed calls 7 Emma Hey, are you finished yet? 11:00 am Hey bitch where are you at? 11:30 am You ok? 12:00 pm Where the fuck are you? 12:30 pm Bitch seriously are you ok? 13:00 pm I''ve called you like 8 times I''m calling your mom. 13:30 pm If I find you alive I will kill you. 13:40 pm Your mom says you''re asleep in your room, bitch you''re still on the clock!!!! 13:45 pm When you wake up we need to chat. 14:00 pm ¡°Shit I might lose my job.¡± I say. ¡°A pity, there are better jobs you can get you know, especially with those gifts I gave you, speaking of.¡± Shade says stamping her paw. A floating text box appears in front of me. ¡ª-------- Name: Cassie Kelly Class: Shadow Cat Pact Warlock Level 1 Stats: 12/12 HP 22/22 MP Str 5 Dex 13 End 6 Per 11 Mag 11 If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Char 3 Int 8 WILL 7 Luck 21 Active Abilities Black Cats Luck: Slightly reduces damage taken in relation to Luck stat. Storage LVL 1: allows you to store items in a small dimension only accessible to you and your patron, quantity limit is increased with level. Skills Hunter''s Instinct LVL 1: enhances sight, smell and hearing temporarily. MP cost 5 Duration 10 secs Stealth LVL 1: Temporarily enhances your ability to Sneak, slightly reducing the noise you make and making you slightly harder to spot. MP cost 5 Duration 20 secs Access storage: Retrieve or store an item quickly. MP cost 5 Duration N/A ¡ª------- I read all the text over several times. ¡°Shit this is like an RPG.¡± I say. ¡°And my luck stat is insane.¡± ¡°That was what I had in mind and you''re one of my warlocks, of course you''d have a high luck stat.¡± She says. ¡°I''ll also throw in a quest board to give you some motivation to entertain me.¡± The box vanishes and is replaced by another. ¡ª---- Quests Urgent quest: Return to ARONZONE and speak to your boss. Rewards: 30 XP, a can of Dr Pepperoni. ¡ª----- ¡°Oh that''s uh, that''s pretty neat thank you.¡± I say. ¡°Your welcome warlock, now one last thing now before I leave you.¡± She says. A black vortex appears in front of me and a deep black knife floats down out of it. ¡ª--------- EQUIPMENT OBTAINED Kittens Claw LVL 1 (Rare) Weapon class: Knife DEX A small deep black knife that shares a deep connection with the warlock''s soul. Effects: +1 luck when equipped. Cannot be picked up by anyone other than the patron or warlock. If dropped returns to the warlocks inventory after 1 minute has passed. Grows with the warlock. ¡ª------- I grab the weapon and look it over. It''s a deep black knife that seems to distort the light that hits it as if it was a black hole shaped into a blade, its handle was a normal black. ¡°Try activating your storage skill.¡± She suggests. I hold the knife in front of me and focus on it. ¡°Access storage!¡± I shout, but nothing happens. The cat snorts and shakes its head. ¡°That was quite humorous, but no that''s not how you activate skills, well most of them anyway.¡± she says. ¡°Focus on your body, think of the mana in your body as blood, pumping back and forth in your veins, then focus on your hand, I imagine your mana being pumped into that area and bloating up, then imagine the knife being consumed by that vortex.¡± I focus my mind and my body, my mana is blood, my mana is blood. I focus hard and I see it in my mind, a blue vapor that moves throughout my body and I picture it flowing to my hand and pooling up in there. I feel something draining it slowly before a black vortex opens and I stick my knife in it causing the vortex and knife to vanish, I feel like I''ve lost some of my mana. A box fills my vision MP 17/22 It quickly vanishes. ¡°And that''s the basic principle of how magic works, for each skill there''s a different way you have to use to cast it but I am sure you will figure that out.¡± she says. ¡°Well I''ve shown you the basics and I''ve given you what I promised, now GO FORTH my warlock and entertain me.¡± She smirks before her form fades in front of me. ¡°Fucking Mondays.¡± I say to myself checking my phone. ¡°I get mugged, sell my soul to a god and get RPG powers, just one of those days ahaha.¡± The time is 16:00. My quest box appears in the corner of vision reminding me that I need to see my boss as soon as possible. I throw my legs out of bed and stand up. I leave my room and see my mom in the living room watching the telly, she turns to look at me. ¡°Are you ok Cass? I didn''t hear you come in, you wouldn''t wake up when I shook you and your boss was freaking out.¡± Mom says. ¡°Yeah I''m fine mom just felt ill after delivering everything, I had to cycle all across town and I think the burger I got on the way there had something wrong with it, I''m fine now tho mom seriously, don''t worry¡± I say. ¡°Are you sure honey? You promise?¡± she asks. ¡°I''m sure, I promise mom don''t worry.¡± She gets up and walks over to me and pulls me into a hug. ¡°I love you daughter.¡± She says. ¡°I love you too mom.¡± I reply ¡°Now get to work and apologize to your boss and explain what happened ok?¡± She asks. ¡°Ok mom I will, see you later.¡± I say before zooming off outside. My bike is right there mag locked to our bike rack. ¡°She even brought my bike home, that Eldritch horror cat is pretty nice.¡± I say to myself, hoping on my bike and disengaging the mag lock. I ride my bike towards work, feeling like the bike is taking me less effort to pedal than it usually is, must be my stats. I ride for 5 minutes before seeing my workplace coming up in the distance, I speed up and drift my bike into the bike rack and engage the mag lock, I''d never been able to do that before, every time I''ve tried I ended up falling off and scraping my knee, these warlock powers are sick AF. I approach the doors dreading how pissed off my boss is gonna be.