A phenomenon that was still under investigation had happened. Across the country, all means of communication had gone down. Only now were specialized technicians managing to restore communication, bit by bit.
The country had entered a state of emergency, and it wasn't the only one. The same phenomenon had occurred worldwide. On the night four days ago, a hundred planes had crashed, nearly all that were in the sky, around midnight in our time zone. Countless traffic accidents had also occurred around that same period. Many people had died or were reported missing, and the number only seemed to increase.
Two days later, I found out my boss was one of those people. He was on one of the planes that crashed, along with his wife.
The internet network resumed operation on the seventh day after all communications had gone down. Landlines too. Cell phones started working again on the tenth day. Schools, on the eleventh.
We were all still under a curfew, and if we didn't work at night, we had to be home by ten p.m. For me, work was practically back to normal, though we were all tense. Our boss had passed away, and his body still hadn't been recovered by his children. And the firm would probably close if none of the heirs took it over.
On the twelveth day, one of the heirs said they would keep the office open until we concluded all cases but that they couldn't manage the business and therefore we shouldn't take on new cases. It was also on that day that the army began recruiting players.
"Player" was a term that started circulating as soon as the internet came back. Many people began claiming they were players, and some of them even said they had special powers called skills.
The recruitment wasn't happening only in Brazil. In fact, the East Asian countries were the first to organize and start recruiting players; after that, all the countries that had signed the same mutual emergency cooperation agreement began following their example.
My ex-husband showed up at my house to say goodbye to our children, saying he was a player and therefore was obliged to serve the country. As noble as that was, he left a few measly coins to help with the children's expenses.
In Brazil, player enlistment was mandatory for men and voluntary for women. However, all citizens who had the Player System installed were supposed to report to the army and inform them of their condition. Yet, there was no way for anyone to know if someone was a player or not unless the person told them, which made it very easy to dodge this obligation.
That was my case. As soon as the term began to circulate, I remembered the message window that appeared in my mind when I entered the restaurant on the second day after the confusion began. According to reports, it was very easy to discover if you were a player or not; you just had to say, out loud or even in thought, "Access my profile."
If you weren't a player, nothing would happen. But if you did have the System, a window with your player profile would appear in your mind.
[Profile
Name: Liliana Costa
Condition: Player
Age: 33 years
Species: Human
Level: 1
Experience: 0/10
Attributes:
Strength: 5
Agility: 5
Defense: 3
Endurance: 4
Intelligence: 11
Class: (Unavailable)
Skills: (Individual does not possess skills).
Achievements: (Individual does not possess achievements)]
However, I kept my player condition a secret and simply ignored the Player System.
Attacks by animals that looked more like monsters were occurring at the country's borders, and players were being trained to fight them. With the number of attacks increasing, it was only a matter of time before enlistment became mandatory for all players. But I couldn't leave my children alone.
On the fourteenth day, the government's official explanation for the phenomenon was that Earth had, in some way, fused with another world. The planet's mass had more than doubled, and the moon had followed its example proportionally. Until stabilization occurred, there were many irregularities in the tides, and many coastal cities suffered damage, some even being completely submerged by the water.
The communication network failure had resulted from the orbital displacement of satellites, but the problem was quickly resolved naturally within a matter of days. And all of this was a consequence of a supposed fusion of worlds, including the disappeared people and places, like my family.
It was the fifteenth day when it happened. I had gone to pick up my children after class and was holding Vincent's hand while Octavio was putting the day's papers in his backpack. We were on our way to the car in the school parking lot when an animal that looked like a crocodile with red eyes came running toward us.
I picked up Vincent and held Octavio's hand before starting to run to our car. Because of my high heels, I couldn't run fast enough, and before I could reach it, the "crocodile" had caught up with us and sunk its teeth into my ankle. I let out a scream of pain and pushed Octavio toward the car, which was a few meters away.
"Get in the car!" I yelled at him. Luckily, I had left the doors unlocked, and he managed to get in.
In the meantime, however, more animals that looked like crocodiles but were the size of a small dog appeared in my field of vision. All of them were attacking people. And more of them were coming my way. Dozens of those animals spread across the area.
Vincent in my arms began to cry.
"Mommy, you're hurt! The animal is hurting you!" he said through tears. I held him tight in my arms while trying to free myself from the creature attached to my foot. I needed to find a way to get Vincent into the car. Even if I couldn't save myself, I had to at least get my children to safety.
"Mom!" Octavio shouted from inside the car, with the window open. "Behind you!"
I turned in time to see another crocodile running toward me. I needed to find a way to keep them away until I could get Vincent into the car too.
'Think, think...' I was panicking, trying to find a way to save us while I couldn't walk. 'What would Lilia do?' I asked myself.
My sister could easily adapt to situations and act accordingly. If she were in my place, she would surely find a solution.
That's when I noticed a rusty crowbar lying on the ground, near the curb of a flower bed beside me. I quickly put Vincent on my shoulders and asked him to hold on tight. Then I crouched down and stretched my right arm to reach the object.
When the small crocodile that was approaching leaped at me, I swung the crowbar and hit it with all the strength I could muster, which sent it flying a few meters to the left.
I needed to get to the car, and for that, I had to free myself from the crocodile attached to my foot. I could feel its teeth sinking deeper into me; the pain was unbearable.
I struck the animal's head with the crowbar. The impact made it bite down harder, and the pain nearly made me lose consciousness.
'No, I need to protect Vincent; I need to get my children to a safe place.' And then, with that thought, I delivered five more quick, strong blows to the animal's head until its bite weakened and it went limp.
[Congratulations! You defeated an opponent!
Calculating experience points…]
[Congratulations! You defeated your first opponent!
You received 10 experience points!]
[You defeated a level 1 opponent!
You received 10 experience points]
[Congratulations! You leveled up!]
[You received +1 to the strength attribute]
[You received +1 to the agility attribute]
[You received +1 to the defense attribute]
[You received +1 to the endurance attribute]
[You received +1 to the intelligence attribute]
Many notifications from the Player System flooded my mind at the same time, but I ignored them all to concentrate on the animals attacking us. With my foot free from the animal, I managed to approach the car. On the way, I hit the small crocodile that had tried to leap at me earlier one more time when it tried the same thing again.
Octavio opened the door as soon as I reached the side of the car. However, Vincent wouldn't let go of me. At that moment, I felt a bite on my left calf. A third crocodile had appeared. I did everything to hold back a scream.
"Let go of Mommy, Vincent," I said in the softest tone the fear and pain allowed. My son was on my shoulders, curled up in fear, holding onto me with all his might. "Please, son, let go of Mommy."
The other crocodile that I had hit twice with the crowbar was already making its way toward us quickly, preparing to leap once more. Vincent loosened his grip on me, and I managed to push him into the car. When the crocodile jumped, I blocked its path with my body and slammed the car door shut.
"Close the window!" I yelled to Octavio.
The crocodile tried to sink its teeth into my torso, but I managed to block its advance by firmly holding the crowbar horizontally in front of my face, with one hand on each end of the object. The animal chomped down on the crowbar and got stuck on it. I then let go of one end and began shaking the crowbar, trying to throw the crocodile away, but it was firmly attached.
The other crocodile kept its bite firm on my calf. I needed to quickly find a way to free myself to get into the car. I could even throw the crowbar far away to get rid of the animal attached to it, but then if I couldn't free myself from the one with its fangs sunk into my calf, I had no way to get away from where I was. And even if I could, getting into the car without freeing myself from the animal was out of the question, as it could put my children in danger. However, the longer I stayed out there unprotected, the greater the chances of others starting to attack me.
'Lilia would know what to do in this situation, wouldn't she?' I thought of my sister again. But I wasn't like her, and I would probably die there if another one of those animals appeared. At least my children were safe inside the car.
But would my children really be safe? Would someone get them out of there after the red-eyed crocodiles devoured my body? Would someone rescue them?
I was having this thought when I saw another one of those animals, which was a few dozen meters away, raise its head and focus its gaze on me. Survival instinct spoke louder at that moment. I began desperately banging the crowbar on the ground, trying to free myself from the crocodile stuck on it, since shaking it hadn't worked.
Each time I slammed the crowbar on the ground, I tried to make the crocodile's body receive the most impact. After a dozen or more attempts, the creature finally released the object. It quickly moved away a short distance before running and leaping at me again. This time, I managed to hit it on the side of its body, which sent it flying to my right without a chance to clamp its teeth onto the crowbar.
Then, I tried to free myself from the one attached to my leg by hitting it with the crowbar. It took over ten blows this time to make it let go of my leg. Each time I hit the animal's head with the crowbar, I could feel my flesh tearing a little more. I was almost losing consciousness when I managed to free myself from it and throw it a certain distance away with the help of the piece of iron in my hands.
To free myself from the crocodile attached to my calf, I had to lower my head and lean my body, making my field of vision extremely limited. Because of that, I didn't see when the other crocodile attacked me; I only felt its bite and its claws latching onto the side of my abdomen, between my hip and my ribs, a part I had just left completely exposed.
I staggered and fell against the car behind me. I also let out a scream of pain and surprise. My vision blurred, and the pain made it hard to think clearly. The crocodile I had thrown far away, which had been attached to my calf before, and the other one that had noticed us from across the parking lot were now approaching rapidly, preparing to attack me.
I was ready to accept my fate already when I heard the car door opening on the other side. Octavio had gotten out.
"No!" I yelled at him. "Get back inside! Get back inside!"
"No!" he shouted back with the determination only a seven-year-old could have. "If I don't do something, you're going to die, Mom!"
He soon appeared at my side. In his little hands, he firmly held a small wooden guitar he used in music class activities.
Before the crocodiles attacked, I put my body in front of him and swung the crowbar from side to side, preventing the crocodiles from clamping their teeth onto us.
"Do what I'm telling you! Get back in the car!" I yelled at him.
"No!" he shouted back, his voice hoarse from the urge to cry. From inside the car, Vincent was screaming for us, calling us and crying.
I hit each crocodile more than half a dozen times, throwing them far away before they could reach us. Every movement was extremely painful, and I felt the side of my abdomen tearing; blood was running down my legs. I could feel my strength leaving me. I was about to lose consciousness and staggered trying to stay on my feet. It was only a matter of time before I fainted, and then my son behind me would be completely unprotected.
I begged the heavens for someone to appear and save us. That at least my children would be saved. My movements became very slow, and I couldn't prevent one of the crocodiles from sinking its teeth into my right forearm. The pain was excruciating, and my vision began to turn black. I fought to stay conscious with the sole purpose of protecting my children.
That was what occupied my mind as my consciousness faded and the world began to turn to darkness. And in the midst of that darkness, a message appeared in my mind.
[The Goddess Creta wishes to grant you her blessing.
Do you accept the agreement?]
Goddess? Agreement?
"Does this mean I can survive?" Somehow, I forced the words out of my mouth. But instead of an answer, the same message appeared again.
[The Goddess Creta wishes to grant you her blessing.
Do you accept the agreement?]
"Mommy!" I heard Vincent's scream from inside the car and what sounded like the door right behind me opening. My children weren't safe yet. They still needed me to protect them. I couldn't die there.
"Yes" I replied to the system in my head.
[You have received the blessing of the Goddess Creta!]
[You have received the title "Blessed by the Goddess Creta"!]
[You have received the skill "Rapid Recovery"!]
[You have received the skill "Physical Enhancement"!]
[The player's life is at risk.
Activating the skill "Rapid Recovery"!]
[The player's life is at risk.
Activating the skill "Physical Enhancement"!]
I felt my consciousness return, my vision clear, and the pain diminish. I threw my body forcefully against the door my son was trying to open. With renewed strength, I hit the animal that was still trying to attack me with the crowbar, and it was thrown even farther than any of my previous attempts.
Then, I began hitting the head of the one that was biting the side of my stomach with the crowbar. It took seven blows to the same spot until I felt its bite weaken and it became dazed. I grabbed it with my hand and ripped it off me. Part of my clothes and even some of my skin came off with its bite. I threw it to the ground and struck its head repeatedly until it was motionless.
[Congratulations! You defeated an opponent!
Calculating experience points…]
[You defeated a level 1 opponent!
You received 10 experience points]
[Congratulations! You leveled up!]
[You received +1 to the strength attribute]
[You received +1 to the agility attribute]
[You received +1 to the defense attribute]
[You received +1 to the endurance attribute]
[You received +1 to the intelligence attribute]
Then, I repeated the same process with the other one that was attached to my forearm. I ended up hitting myself a couple of times, which left marks on my arms, but the pain was much more bearable for some reason. Eventually, the last crocodile also stopped moving.
[Congratulations! You defeated an opponent!
Calculating experience points…]
[You defeated a level 1 opponent!
You received 10 experience points]
The crocodile I had thrown very far earlier was approaching again. When it leaped to attack me, I hit it once more with the crowbar with all the strength I had, which made it fly even farther this time.
Quickly, I opened the car door, picked up Octavio in my arms, and placed him inside the vehicle. I got in too and slammed the door. From the back seat, I climbed over to the driver's seat. I grabbed the steering wheel, trying to steady myself.
My bloodied hands were shaking. My entire body was trembling.
"Mom?" Octavio called me with a tearful voice. Vincent was crying loudly.
I couldn't answer him immediately; I couldn't find my voice. After a few seconds, however, I found it.
"It's okay, Mommy is here. Mommy will protect you, no matter what happens."