Cara's quick thinking helped her regain her composure as she checked the only unlocked menu on the screen - the quest menu. The first quest seemed simple enough, with the task of "Exit School Grounds" and the reward of something called an Aspect. However, the second quest was more complicated, requiring her to "Kill 5 Imps. 0/5 Killed" with the reward ominously described as "Your life ;)"

As she tried to make sense of it all, a door creaked open, and a small, red, demonic creature emerged. The creature was barely taller than a toddler, with spindly arms and a sword in one hand. As it lunged towards Katie, Cara acted on instinct, grabbing a chair and using it to defend her friend.

The imp dissolved into dust, leaving only the sword behind. Cara was stunned, but she knew there was no time to waste. She had to complete the quest, even if she had no idea what an Imp was just a moment ago.

And then, something unexpected happened. Cara turned to face the rest of the students, and spoke with a newfound authority, "Don't. Touch. Her." It was the first time anyone had heard Cara say more than two words at once, and the intensity of her tone left no room for argument.

Cara assisted Katie in meeting the minimum requirements for the second quest using as few words as possible. Once they had completed the objectives, Cara led Katie outside of the school grounds, effectively finishing both quests. Little did Cara know, she was the first person in the world to have completed both quests unscathed, but she was too focused on the notifications appearing on her screen to care.

Those were just the system notifications, she also received a set of notifications labeled as “Chat” notifications

The constant notifications were starting to grate on Cara's nerves, so she decided to close that section of the screen and turned her attention to exploring her aspects and skills, leaving the stats for later. She clicked on the aspects tab first, and looking at the description of her new Aspect she was quite confused.

“You have shown that you excel when it comes to protecting your friends, and would even lay down your life for them. This Aspect represents that achievement. As long as you listen to the compelling of the aspect you will not lose it.”

What was even stranger was a smaller description underneath the title part of the aspect that said: “1/3 Skills Unlocked”

She moved to the skills tab looking for answers, she found one skill listed.

Origin: The Friend

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Based on your familiarity with someone (minimum 10%), you can temporarily copy their Aspect. The stronger the bond, the more powerful the copy.>

Cara's mind buzzed with excitement and curiosity at the possibilities of her newfound power. She pondered whom she could develop a strong bond with and unlock the full potential of the "Power of Friendship" skill. She eagerly moved on to the Relationships tab, which unsurprisingly only showed one person.

"Katie Genro, Aspects: The Mystic, Familiarity:15%," read the tab.

Cara turned to Katie and asked, "You good?" still not used to speaking so much.

Katie smiled, "Yeah. Thanks to you! It was pretty crazy back there."

Cara nodded, assuming that was the end of the conversation. However, Katie surprised her by suggesting they go back and save some more people. "We should be a lot stronger now," she said.

As Cara was about to dismiss the idea, a system notification popped up: "". Cara was taken aback by the notification, she could tell from the description that the aspect would occasionally tell her what to do. What she did not expect was for it to happen so soon. She sighed, “Okay,”

As they walked through the halls they saw that some teachers and students had met an unfortunate demise. Katie almost threw up multiple times as they walked through the halls, but Cara was different. Cara was walking through the halls with no reaction to her fallen students, almost as though she had seen it before.

As they continued through the halls, they eventually stumbled upon a group of about twenty students, led by Jordan Steele. Despite the chaos around them, Jordan appeared surprisingly composed, his appearance unchanged except for the ash and blood on his hands and face. His golden eyes met Cara's and he gave her a small nod of recognition.

The other students in the group were clearly shaken, their fear palpable as they were surrounded by a swarm of imps. Cara could feel her Aspect, The Friend, urging her to do something to help. She knew she had to act fast.

She charged forward, wielding a chair like a weapon and swinging wildly, obliterating every imp in her path. She turned to face Jordan and the group of students around him.

“How many have completed the quest?” she demanded.

Jordan chuckled. “Wow, Cara. I didn’t know you could even speak,” he said, then quickly added, “Sorry, sorry! A little over half, including me. Most are too scared to even move, let alone try to kill one of these things.”

Cara nodded and then yelled out with authority, “Kill or die! It is your choice! Doing nothing will only speed up your death!”

The fearful students looked at her, and some found a sudden burst of courage, working together to take down the imps. Cara sighed. She couldn't even remember the last time she had spoken this much. Worse, her vocal cords were starting to hurt from being overused. But soon, every student had completed their quests, or at least the ones who were still alive. As they exited the school, they heard the voice of Fear Herself once more.

“Congratulations on becoming my chosen warriors!” she giggled. “Don’t give up yet, because the challenges are just beginning! I’m sure some of you have started to receive messages from users,” Fear Herself's words felt like they were directed at Cara. “These are sponsors of this event, and they are looking for someone to represent them. They should be sending you messages soon. Remember, you can only represent one user at a time!”

Suddenly, Cara's screen started shaking from the constant notifications.

More notifications kept coming in, but Cara said no to each one. She was not one to be tied down so easily, especially if she didn't even know what she would gain. Then, she received four more notifications.

This was the first step towards Cara’s new life, a better life. But this is not the only person going through a change here. There are many more warriors of Dimension 1332 to be met. Starting with Jared.