*BEEEEEEEP*
*BEEEEEEEP*
*BEEEEEEEP*
Aeric opens his eyes and reaches to turn off his alarm clock, and sees it says 9:30 AM. "Dammit, I'm late!" Aeric says as he jolts out of bed tangling himself in his blankets, ruffling his jet black hair into a fluffy mess. He gets up and dashes to his closet and quickly changes his gray T-shirt for a new one. Aeric then grabs a pair of black jeans off his closet door and puts them on. After throwing his old shirt in the hamper he runs out of his room, grabbing a pair of black boots off his dresser, down a flight oak stairs. He jumps the balistair and hurriedly sits in a black leather chair to put on his boots in the living room.
"Fuck, the foreman is gonna have my head today," he grumbles as he looks around the room. "Where did I put that stupid phone? What if he tried to call?" Aeric thinks to himself as he starts looking under furniture and opening drawers. "Screw it I guess," he thought as he walked towards his front door and grabs a red hoodie off the back of it. He throws on the jacket to find his phone in one of its pockets. "At least something's going my way so far," he thought. He pulls out his phone to check the time as he grabs his keys off a hook beside the door, and glances down at the phone as he walks out.
[Friday, 9:45AM...]
[25 Missed Calls...]
[12 Missed Calls From Foreman...]
[9 Missed Calls From Theresa...]
[3 Missed Calls From Marcello....]
[1 Missed Call From Hendrix...]
"Theresa is going to kill me for not answering her calls," Aeric thought as he locked up his door. He goes to walk away when he hears the sound of squeaking brakes and the hiss of an engine coming to a stop. He looks up from his phone to see a beat down rusted bus parked in front of his neighbor's house. The driver starts beating on the horn and screams, "What the hell ya waiten fer? The got damned grass to grow?! Stop yer piddle dicken and get the F*#$& on the bus! Yer lucky I stuck around waiten fer ya this long Hoss!" "Shit Theresa can wait," Aeric mumbles, then yells in response, "Hold up I'm coming!" He runs up to the door of the bus before the scruffy old man driving could close it.
As he boarded the bus the old man pulls a little black satchel with a leather strap from under his seat, and extends his arm towards Aeric. "KEEP leaving yer stuff and maybe I ain't gonna be so nice next time Hoss!," the bus driver tells Aeric as he drops the bag on the floor. "Thanks Gary, I'll try not to make a habit out of it," Aeric replies meekly as he awkwardly runs his head and grabs his bag off the floor. Aeric turns from the driver and makes his way to the back of the bus. As he passed through he can see what looks like cloth mannequins scattered among the seats. Aeric takes his seat in the far back and opens his phone. "I should text everyone to check in with them," Aeric thought to himself. "I'm feeling lazy though so I'm gonna send a mass text..."
To: Marcello, Hendrix, Theresa
Message: "Hey sorry I missed your call, I over slept. What's up?"
[Message Sent...]
Aeric puts his phone in his jacket pocket and reaches into his bag to make sure everything was all where it should be. "Rope, check. Headlamp, check. To do list, check. Crap! I have to get a few elixirs and make sure to rent or buy some equipment. Hopefully there's still a few good items left in the bazaar by the time I get there," Aeric thinks as he closes his eyes and begins meditating for the remaining bus ride. Gary the bus driver starts at Aeric from the front disdainfully. Gary pulls the bus off onto the highway, grumbling under his breath almost inaudibly " .... Boy... Sleeping... My bus... What for?..... Sleep.... That's what!...."
[*VvvvvvV*]
[*VvvvvvV*]
Aeric reaches into his pocket before opening his eyes, as he pulls out his phone he glances down at it.
[*10:15 AM*]
[2 New Messages From Theresa]
[Message: "where are you?? The Foreman is going to kill you!!"]
[Message:👊😡🫸🤛🤬🫵]
"Should I be more afraid of her or the Foreman," Aeric jokes to himself, " at least I have Marcello there to protect me."
[*VvvvvvV*]
[*VvvvvvV*]
[1 New Message From Marcello...]
[Message: "Where are you dude? We can't wait forever. The foreman might dock your pay again if you don't get here soon!"]
[Reply?]
[To: Marcello]
[Message: "Still on the bus bro. Should be off shortly. He won't dare I'm the only pack mule willing to work for the dirt pay he's offering out. Wait till I awaken man, he won't know what hit him!"]
[Message Sent...]
It has been 4 years. The world used to be so chaotic but at least there was a sense of order to things. Till the calamity happened. Giant rifts began appearing all over the world, we called them Dungeons, at first it was incredible almost like a fairy tale. Each rift was like a door to another universe. After the first few days of everyone's blissful ignorance people began to disappear in the dungeons. Claims of people being attacked by monsters, and finding the missing people dismembered and lifeless. Then out of nowhere monsters began pouring out of the dungeons all over the world, we called this day Day Break. People were slaughtered, cities destroyed. The pandemonium had most beside themselves with fear. Around this time people had started to fight back after awakening phenomenal abilities. These people were known as the first Hunters.
The Hunters fought to protects the people and purge the rifts to prevent the onslaught of dungeon breaks. They couldn't contain the mayhem purely on their own. The tower of Magi was created to find a way to help the Association to harness the power behind the dungeons pocket dimensions, while the hunters of the association fought to eradicate all the monsters and contain them to the dungeons. After society was rebuilt as best as it could be everyone did what they could to recreate order. Sadly there hasn't been an end in sight to the rifts and until the source of them is discovered we have no clue what we are dealing with with. To maintain structure all the factions were officially established.
Only those from the Hunters Association, The Tower of Magi, The Murim, The Wildlings, and The Merchants Guild can participate in dungeon subjugations. They are the pillars of what we now call society. Without them we may not have made it as far as we have, if at all. Especially since not everyone could become awakened. Some people just didn't have the capability to awaken, while others had to meet very specific conditions to achieve an awakening. Only problem, there is no way of telling what those conditions are until they were met. It just kind of happened. I wasn't one of the lucky ones. It's been a rough 4 years, but I've managed. Since I'm not awakened I couldn't join a faction I work for the Merchants Guild under a second party contractor. Meaning I'm cheap work, no strings attached, and expendable in their eyes. If it weren't for my friends I don't think I'd have made it this far.
[*Gary over Intercom*]
"Attention passengers! Listen up and listen good! Gary only gon say this one damn time! We are approaching our final destination, Devils Gulch! We ARE NOT responsible for lost or stolen belongings! Soooo PLEASE be sure to grab your S#$@ and get the F@#$ off my bus! Don't y'all forget to come on back now ya hear! Iffin ya can live to see another day!
Aeric grabs his things and starts walking up to the front of the bus. As the bus comes to a halt at a dilapidated office building, he turns to Gary and asks, "Doesn't that bit get old Gary? Why do say that every day when I'm the only person from town to ride your bus?" Gary looks at him with a sullen yet grim look and opens his mouth to say something, as Aeric begins to hear a loud ear splitting ringing sound. Aeric grabs his head and the rail beside Gary's seat as he felt his head seat with pain. While wiping tears from his eyes, Gary looks at him as if he had twelve heads and says, " Iffin yer sick get yet ass off my bus! Ain't trynna catch whatever sick yews got Hoss!" As the ringing and pain subsided, Aeric slowly got off the bus and saw a pair of people gathered next to the building. There was a young woman and a young man waiting at the slapdash terminal.
The man looked to be in his mid twenties. He has brown shaggy hair almost to his shoulders, and has an extremely fit physique. As a typical barbarian should. He has a wooden spear imbued with a glowing red metal. The man was garbed in what looked like a fur pelt cloak attached to a martial artists gi that had metal pauldrons and shoulder guards built in. That is Marcello, next to him is Theresa. She looked to be in her late twenties, has long purple hair and deep lush green eyes. She wore a white v-neck button up shirt, a black lacey gun holster that wraps around her torso. It fit snuggly around her waist, belly, and breasts. Just below her cleavage tucked against her rib cage on either side was a revolver equipped with a long range scope. She wore what looks like knee length black pants and a saw off shotgun against her thigh. She even wore a stylish utility strap that held spare ammo for her weapons and a pair of black and spiked combat boots.
As the bus drove away Aeric walks up to Marcello and Theresa. "Sorry I was late again guys. I stayed up late doing my daily workout hoping I might get a physical awakening!" Theresa smacks Aeric and says, " That's all you have as an excuse after leaving a girl on read, not answering her calls, and making her worry? The audacity. I'm soooo not saving you if monsters try to eat you on this raid." "I can handle whatever gets thrown my way," Aeric retorts weakly, as Marcello stands by and watches, laughing heartily. "Go easy on him Theresa, we can't have our transporter get seriously maimed or injured before we even start the raid," Marcello teases. "I already said I could handle myself!," Aeric says frustratedly as his vision began to spin. Aeric start to tip forward as Marcello grabs his shoulder to keep him steady. "You okay man? You don't look too great. Why must you always push yourself so hard? I swear your going to kill yourself before you get the chance to awaken," Marcello says to Aeric with worry on his face. "I'll probably die from malnourishment before I die of overexertion. Unless I awaken this won't change. Till that day comes, I just have to do what I have to just to get by. Now that I'm here let's get this over with already. I just need to grab a few things before we head into the dungeon," Aeric replies.
The group walks around the side of the building to see what looks like miniature market. Each vendor has makeshift stalls made with plywood and blankets. Some vendors have weapons, others had gear, most had forms of food or components to make elixirs. As he passed a delightful smelling BBQ stall, Aeric saw something shine from his peripheral vision. "Hey, I'll meet up with you guys in a few minutes. I'm gonna check out a stall over there for some stuff," Aeric tells Theresa and Marcello. The shining object had lead his attention to a dwarf in a green cloak. The dwarf is sitting with his back against a crate with a deep purple blanket laid out in front of him with wares for sale. Atop the blanket were elixirs, weapons, and some rusty looking trinkets. As Aeric got closer to the stall his head began to throb again. The dwarf took notice, stood up, and walks over to him with an elixir in his gloved hand. "You all right friend? Looks like you need a pick me up. Here! Maybe this will help. It's on the house! It's a recovery elixir that should heal what ever ails ya," the dwarf says as he extends the elixir out to Aeric. "Under normal circumstances I wouldn't accept strange gifts from people I don't even know, but who am I to look a gift dwarf in the mouth. Thanks friend," Aeric responds weakly.
He grabs the elixir and pops the cork. Aeric notices it has a mellow fruity aroma, and puts the bottle to his lips. As the fluid touches his tongue he could taste roasted nuts and cinnamon. As it got to his stomach he could feel a warm tingly sensation spread throughout his body as his headache began to go away. "That was wonderful! I've never had an elixir that didn't taste like total troll dung. Do you have more of these on hand? If so I'll take six," Aeric exclaims. As he came back to his senses Aeric got a closer look at some of the gear laying about. There was a small metal shield next to a sign that said 5 gold, a few knives marked at 10 gold, a smiths hammer for 50 gold, a bow for 45, and a couple swords marked at 85. What really caught his attention was a sword laying on the crate the dwarf had been sitting against. It had a deep crimson red hilt with chrome accents that made it look like it had shimmering roots wrapped around it. The blade was only three or four inches wide at the hilt and gradually got thinner towards the point. Aeric couldn't see the blade itself because it was stored in a royal blue sheath. "How much for that-, I don't believe I caught your name, what was it friend," Aeric asks the dwarf. "The names Dorrin, and in regards to those elixirs sadly I only have 3 more left in stock. Since they are in high demand I could let you have the lot of em for 200 gold," The dwarf says excitedly.
" Thats not too bad a price given how well they went down. Not to mention how well they work! I'll take them. How about that sword on the crate over there Dorrin? Is it for sale too?" Aeric says to Dorrin. "Oh, that old thing? Bah! I ain't got a use for it any more. My hunting days are behind me anywhose, you can have it if you want," Dorrin replies. "Really?! You would just give it to me? What's the catch?," Aeric asks cautiously. "No catch. I'm just old and feeble now. Id rather someone young with a long life left to live make better use of it. Better than letting it collect dust like this old bag of bones before you!" Dorrin says with a gleeful laugh. "Here's two hundred for the elixirs, five for the shield, and should probably take my leave now. It was nice meeting you Dorrin, but I have a subjugation to get to," Aeric tells Dorrin as he collects his purchase.
After putting the elixirs in his bag and the shield on his back, Dorrin hands Aeric the sword and he equips it to his waist. "Be careful in there kid, that dungeon has been off lately. People have been saying they've seen strange shadows moving around near the dungeons entrance! Big hulking monstrosities they were, at least that's just what those that claim to have seen it say," Dorrin warns Aeric. "Thanks for the heads up friend. I'll be sure to stay on my guard! See you around!" Aeric says as he walks away down the alley.
Aeric walks up to Marcello and Theresa back at the entrance to the bazaar. "You guys just about ready toeet up with the advanced party?" Aeric asks them. "About that, they already went in ahead of us. The Foreman got impatient and said it wasn't his fault if you missed out on anything good," Marcello replies. "Shit we got to go then!" Aer exclaims as busts through a spinning glass door on the side of a dilapidated office building nearby. Inside was a massive yellow glowing portal. It throbbed and hummed as if it were alive. As Aeric approached it, he pulls out a ticket from inside his bag and inserted it into what looked like an old fashioned time card punch machine. After punching his ticket Aeric walks through a turn style proceeding towards the portal to wait for the others. "This is always my least favorite part," Aeric says detestfully. "Not our fault your weak unawakened stomach churns every time we go into Dungeons," Theresa teases as she pushes Aeric through the portal then says, "After you!"
Upon entering the Dungeon Aeric looks around the cold dark room as he resists the strong urge to lose yesterdays lunch. He pulls out his headlamp, puts it on, and grabs his shield from off his back. The rift makes a loud whoosh sound as Marcello and Theresa emerge from it. Aeric turns on the lamp to see they had been brought to a cave lair. "Be on your toes guys, anything could happen in close quarters like this," Marcello says as he moves to the front of the group. They slowly proceed through a hole in one wall and began smelling the scent of blood and decay as they got deeper.
After a minute or so they enter a big cavernous chamber with two different paths. Monster bodies and parts were strewn around, some stuck to walls but most were on the ground. "Looks like it was just some goblins. Shouldn't have much to worry about. They aren't very bright," Marcello says as he pushes a goblin corpse out of his footpath with his boot. "Only problem is choosing which path to take from here." Aeric shines his lamp down both paths, one veered off to the right while the other looked to be caved in. At the base of the rubble from the cave in Aeric could see an abnormal looking goblin covered in a thick metallic black dust. "Looks like we can go right guys," Aeric says as he and Marcello lead the group down the tunnel. As they came around the bend they saw trails of blood, organs, and human weapons making a path leading deeper in. "That's never a good sign," Marcello says grimely. The group slowly advances forward as the passage becomes more narrow. As they squeeze through they come across a human and goblin's bodies almost intertwined from a fight to the death. Marcello borrows Aerics shield and uses it to move the bodies from out of the way to see the tunnel opening back up in front of them.
As the three of them come to the end of that tunnel, they enter into a giant cavern filled with holes, more tunnels, and a massive boulder in the center of the room. The group suddenly felt the ground begin to shake as they heard rumbling around the room. "Let's move cautiously guys, the Dungeon boss could be near by," Aeric warns the group. "No surprise the weakest link warns us to be careful," Theresa teases as a shadow darts towards them from one of the many tunnels. Marcello was the first to react by chucking his spear into the direction of the movement.
*SCREEEEEE*
"Yes! Bulls eye," Marcello exclaims. They moved to where the sound had come from to find yet another strange goblin. It's eyes were bright orange and it's skin darker than coal. Strangest of all, it looks like had already been dead for weeks. "What the hell? Why does it look like that," Theresa asks as the goblin disintegrated into a fine black powder before their eyes. "Let's just keep moving. We still need to find the advance team and figure out what's going on," Marcello says. "I don't think we have that option any more guys," Aeric says grimely, "You both need to see see this." On the other side of the boulder from where they came into the room, was the advance team. It looked like a massacre, some were basically puddles of meat and blood, most were crushed or torn limp from limb. The only one close to being in one piece was a stern looking man with his back against the boulder. He had short gray hair, a green tattered tunic covered in blood, and was freshly missing an arm.
As they approached the man, the group could see he was still breathing. "It's the Foreman guys! What happened boss? If this was just an F rank Dungeon, how was everyone slaughtered like this?" Marcello and the group ask. The Foreman starts coughing and spitting up blood as he attempted to get up. "Stop trying to move sir, your only going to make your injuries worse. What on earth even happened," Theresa says to the man. "Happened quicker than we had expected it to. We had gotten swarmed by some strange undead looking goblins. It felt like they wouldn't stop coming, but I noticed as they died that they would turn into a strange black powder. As the battle intensified the powder started getting knocked into the air making a thick smoke screen. Once we thought the battle had been won we all felt an emense pressure that had brought us to our knees! I tried to regain my footing while resisting the overwhelming pressure, I was able to see the black powder gather into the center of this room. It began gaining mass and started to form a monstrosity! It became a big hulking mass of a creature with fiery Orange eyes, and had hide thicker than most wyverns," the Foreman said as he burst into tears. "All I did was blink! That's all it took! The men were screaming. Blood was everywhere! I did my best to stop it, but was petrified with fear. All I could manage was to trap the beast with this boulder behind me. I don't have much time left though, so once I'm gone this boulder will be too ... If I were you I'd hurry up and get ou-," the Foreman says as he starts profusely coughing up blood. "Here, drink this! Hopefully it helps to some degree," Aeric says irraticly as he pulls out an elixir to give to the Foreman.
*SCREEEEEEEE* *SCREEEEEEEE*
*SCREEEEEEEE* *SCREEEEEEEE*
*SCREEEEEEEE* *SCREEEEEEEE*
"SHIT! Here comes more of them! Aeric get behind us and try to protect yourself as best you can," Marcello says as he shoved Aeric behind him. The group gets into a defensive position as everything gets eerily quite. *TWANG, WOOSH * An arrow flies out from the darkness breaking the elixir in Aerics hand. The strange undead goblins start to stampede towards the group from what sounded like every direction. Marcello stabs one with his spear as it dropped in from a hole in the ceiling. He turns to see some coming closer from his left, unhooks a whip from his belt. Marcello snaps his whip grabbing one of the goblins, yanks his arm back hard, and spears it like a kabob as he made it fly towards him. Theresa began using her revolvers and spatial magic to shoot enemies from afar and behind the groups blindspots. She pulled out her shotgun any time goblins got passed Marcello or of Aeric seemed overwhelmed. After what felt like hours the battle came to a halt as the last goblin was slain.
The group let out a sigh of relief as Aeric hands the last two elixirs to Marcello and Theresa as he says, "Here, drink up guys. These should heal any injuries you've sustained." As they knock back the elixirs the rumbling starts up again. The goblins they had slain had started turning into the strange black powder as it began to swirl around the cavern. The group turns to walk back over to the Foreman as they see the life drain from his body. The boulder behind him disappears, his body slowly leans back, and falls into the massive pit that was left in the boulders place. The group walks over and peers over the pits edge to see how deep it went as a thick black cloud of the strange powder surges from out of it. The powder began to intermingle with what was already in the cavern and started forming a massive orb over the pit.
The orb began to throb and shift as thick hulking arms and legs grew from out of it. The arms grew massive clawed hands and the legs sprouted human-like feet with sharp pointed toes. As the group stood stupified gazing in horror, the creature had grown a gigantic pair of leather wings and a ridge of bone-like spikes down its back. The creature started flicking a tail with tiny little thorns that sprouted at the base of its back. In the place the head should be a massive rams skull began to form in its place as Marcello began to scream," Ruuuuu-."
Before he could finish his sentence, the creature had already advanced on him batting Marcello across the room with its tree trunk of an arm. Marcello's body slams into a wall and slumps to the floor lifeless. Theresa had already started running towards the nearest tunnel, Aeric following directly behind her. Aeric heard a rush of wind as he glances to see the massive creature pass him by. It grabs Theresa by her leg, slamming her to the ground, and threw her into the air. "NOOOOO," Aeric screams as he saw her slam into the ceiling and the creature threw it's head back, letting out a blood curdling roar. Her body begins to fall to the floor as the creature leapt into the air catching her in its maw. The creature chomps down and shakes its head like a wet dog, ripping her body in half.
"I'll kill you," Aeric screams in distress brandishing his shield. Remembering his sword he pulls it from its sheath to see the blade was filled with a dark smokey substance that gave off a faint golden glow. He charged the monster as it stood unfazed by his mere presence. As he approached the creature to attack it,but smacks Aeric with its big beefy hand as he barely manages to block it with his shield. It completely shatter Aerics arm, crushed the left side of his chest, and his lungs slowly begin to fill with blood. "Not like this. It can't end like this," Aeric thought. "If only I was awakened, maybe things would have ended differently. Maybe my friends wouldn't have had to die in vain...." Aeric began to hear the loud ringing again as his vision starts to fade to black.
The monster grabbed him as he lay there unable to move and slowly brought him into the air above its head. It opens it's mouth as if to drop him in it like a snack, and the ringing started getting so loud for Aeric it almost sounded like electric currents. As the creature let him go everything began to feel like time had slowed down. A strange transparent screen appears in front of his face that reads [Would You Like To Try Again? Y/N.]
"What the hell," Aeric thought as he slowly fell towards the creatures gaping jaws. "What's that even supposed to mean," he shouts at the screen as the message began to blink. Another screen appeared in front of him again saying the same as the last, [Would You Like To Try Again? Y/N.] "Fuck yeah I'd like to try again! Not like any of that matters when I'm about to die," he shouts. The strange screen highlights yes as the option for No disappears.
[Death isn't always the End.]
[Sometimes it's a new Beginning.]
[For now, Take Your Life.]
[Or you could be eaten.]
[Your Choice! Good luck!]
"What the actual F#$&," Aeric exclaims. " I guess I'm boned either way. May as well take myself out," he thought to himself. He took out his sword and pierced himself in his stomach with what little strength he had left. The strange glowing smoke from the blade seeped out filling Aerics body making him glow a deep yet warm shade of orange as the monsters jaws snapped shut around him.
Aeric wakes up in a panic clutching at his chest gasping for air. He began to look around as his eyes adjust to the darkness. He was back in his room, laying in bed. He looks over at his clock to see it says 4:20 AM. He slowly gets up out of bed and walks over to a doorway beside his bed. He turns on a light and walks over to a massive bathroom mirror and starts splashing water on his face from the cold faucet. As he dries his face with a towel hanging beside the door, he looks into the mirror in shock to see his jet black hair now had white streaks through out it. Strangest of all the eyes staring back at him were not his usual eyes that had been a vibrant hazel. Now one was a crimson red and the other was a bright teal blue. He stood in shock at his new appearance as words appear above his head in his reflection.
[Aeric Pentafrax LV35]
"What the hell is this shit," he thought as his phone started to ring downstairs. He ran downstairs, grabs his phone from his jacket pocket on the front door, and answers it. As he did so, Aeric started asking Theresa frantic questions. "What happened in the Dungeon yesterday? I thought we all died! How did we manage to make it out alive?" "What kind of shit have you been smoking," she asks Aeric with a look of concern. "I was just calling to make sure you were going to be on time for the subjugation today at Devil's Gulch. Sounds like you should stay home with whatever fever dream you were in the middle of," Theresa jokes. "Whatever I'm about to be heading out now, knowing Gary he should be making his rounds here soon. I'm going to go get ready and I'll be out the door to meet at the dungeon," Aeric replies disregarding her taunting as they end the call. He looks at his phone again to see it says Friday, 4:32 AM. Aeric goes back upstairs and hurriedly gets dressed in his gray shirt and black jeans. After putting on his boots he went downstairs to grab his jacket and keys from by his front door.
As he locks up, Aeric could hear Gary's bus approaching. He walks up to the spot Gary usually stopped, he waited, and checks his phone again, 5:00AM. As the bus pulls up in front of Aeric, Gary opens the doors and says, "Looky who's up bright n early this mornin. I see you even changed up yer doo Hoss." Aeric steps up onto the bus and extend his hand to Gary and says, "Morning to you to Gary, can I just have my bag please. I'm not really in the mood for our usual banter today." "Grouchy today ain't we now Hoss," Gary responds as he hands Aeric his satchel. He takes it from Gary as another screen appears in front of Aerics face.
[Put items in inventory? Y/N?]
" Sure," he thought as his bag fades into what looked like whispy beams of digital light and disappears. Astonished he turns and moves passed all the cloth mannequins to take his seat in the back of the bus. "This is so weird. If it weren't for this screen thing I'd have surely thought it was all just a dream. But something definitely happened in the Devils Gulch. What happened to me. What's with those strange messages. Come to think of it those things are kind of like the screens from those old videos games I used to play," he thought to himself. "Open inventory," he said aloud as a screen with a bunch of little boxes popped up. He saw the satchel in one of the slots, reaches his arm out, and taps it's box. The satchel suddenly materializes in Aerics hand. He opens his satchel to check it's contents, and as he touched each item he was asked if he would like to put it in his inventory. "That's sure to come in handy later. Status screen," he mumbles as yet another screen appears before him.
[~Aeric Pentafrax~]
[Class: ?*?*?*?*?*?*? S#$@& Mage]
[Specialization:?*?*?*?*?*]
[HP: 3200 EP:3400 Strength:25]
[Intelligence: 19 Endurance:23 ] [Agility: 22 Vitality: 22 Dexterity: 24]
[Charisma: 13 Vigor: 14]
"Not as bad as I thought my stats would be when I awakened, an awakening is still an awakening after all, I won't be the one to look this gift horse in the mouth," Aeric says to himself. "Why do these parts look censored though? How am I supposed to understand my ability if I don't even have all my status info? This just get more confusing by the minute, must I meet requirements or gain levels? This system is infuriating." As Aeric finished his thought his head began hurting, as Gary screams, "What the He-," as the bus gets hit by something. The bus flips a few times and scrapes to a halt as it slams through a wall while on its side. Dazed, Aeric looks around the bus choking and coughing to see dust and broken glass everywhere. He tries to get up when he realizes the mannequins had amassed themselves around him like a plushy shield. He goes to push them off as they all disappear into thin air. Aeric stands up and crawls over the seats towards the front of the bus, seeing the broken windshield covered in what looked like blood spatter. "Shit, Gary," he says as he nears the front finding rebar puncturing a bunch of things, and to his horror, Gary with rebar in his chest and neck.
"F#$@ Gary. You don't look too good," Aeric says trying to keep his composure. Gary sat there gasping and choking for air, his lungs filling with blood, clearly in pain. "Hoss.... I-I'm s-s-sorry.... Did..... What I c-could.... This world cruel.... Especially to yer ilk.... D-d-dont l-let.... What others..... Say... Or do t-t-to you...affect who.... You are.... Who you.... Choose... To become....Hoss," he chokes out to Aeric. "Don't talk Gary, save your breath, we got to get out of here," he says in response, realizing Gary was already gone, tears started to form in his eyes. Aeric reaches over and closes Gary's eyes as his phone began to ring, a pop up appeared in front of him, and a strange energy that felt like molten hot liquid started rushing into him from Gary's corpse.
[Absorbing Essence]
[Essence Absorption Complete]
"What the actual F&@#," Aeric screams as he falls over out the front window onto the ground reeling in pain. "What was that about?! Was that a part of my awakening? This is why that system should make more sense," he says to himself as he suddenly hears the sound of something hiss and clacking approach the back of the bus. He quickly scrambles to his feet as something big rips open the back of the bus like a tuna can. He slides around the bus taking cover as the creature enters the bus letting out a loud click gutteral growl. He creeps around the broken wall staying crouched hoping the creature wouldn't find him. "What do I do? Do I have any attack skills or anything? One way to find out, open skills," Aeric whispers to himself.
[Skills]
[Absorb Essence: the user will absorb Essence passively upon interaction with corpses.]
[Transmute: allows the user to change nearby objects into different things using stored Essence]
"Really! Not a single attack skills," he mutters as dust and brick pieces fall onto his shoulder. aeric looks up, as he hears a mechanical whir, to see a metallic half-skeleton half-spider monster made from black dust lurking above him ready to pounce. In a panic Aeric grabs a fallen brick, slams it into the things head, clambers back out by the bus and dashesbaway from the creature towards a boulder by the road. The Creature let out a bellowing clicky growl again as it shook in anger and pursues Aeric. He approaches the boulder as his foot snags on a vine sticking out of the ground, making him trip and fall to the ground. He gets up as the creature rapidly gains ground backing Aeric into the boulder. He places a hand against the stone and the other up as if to shield himself. The creature drops a heart that had been in its mouth on Aerics lap, as another pop up message appears.
[Transmute?]
[Y/N?]
"Yes! Transmute! Do something. I don't want to die like this! Not when I've finally awakened, dammit," he screamed as a confirmation message appeared.
[Transmuting...]
As the pop up disappeared, the strange energy he absorbed before started flowing out of his hand and around the boulder like a warm orange blanket. It began to deep into the stone, a long with the human heart, making the boulder bulge and distort like a strange fleshy blob. The blob splattered to the ground and began letting off a strange green steam that created a thick fog around it. As the fog dissipated Aeric could slowly see a figure take shape in the blobs place. It had become a little blood red golem with thick stocky arms and legs, had twoicro horns atop its head, and was about a foot shorter than Aeric. The golem stood tall, beat it's hand on its chest and charged at the monster. As the golem races towards the creature, Aeric stood up and dusted himself off staring at the scene in awe. The golem closed the gap between it and the monster grabbing one of its legs and threw it across the road into the bus. The golem jumped into the air, landing on the creatures spider body, and grabs its human skull with both hands. The golem shoved one hands fingers into the creatures eyes and the others into its mouth. With a mighty heave the golem tears its head in two ripping it's torso down the middle. Aeric stood stupified as he took a second to process the chain of events that had transpired. The golem released the creatures remains as it turned towards Aeric, it walked to him and stopped a few paces from him, and bowed like a student would their master. Still in shock Aeric walked over to the now dead creature and thought, "That was a too close for comfort. I'm just glad that all worked out in the end." He stared at the corpse and went to touch it but hesitates. As he placed his hand on its spindley spider leg he could feel the warmth rapidly fading from its body as another message appeared.
[Absorbing Essence...]
Aeric felt the searing pain shoot through him again as he had before. "Damn, I don't know if I will get used to this anytime soon," he thought to himself as he felt the energy pulsing in his veins. "It feels like my veins are about to burst from the pressure," he said agonizingly as his vision began fading out. "Shiiiit.... I didn't answer Theresa's last call. She's gonna kill me," he mumbles as the energy subsides and he passes out. The golem picks him up and carries him as it walks towards the highway on ramp down the road. "..... Hoss...... Safe.... Next... Devils... Gulch...." The golem says in a low gravely voice as the sun began to rise over the horizon.