Sophia, Cameron, and Ethan were an unlikely matchup. In some ways they couldn’t be more different. Their approaches to life were so diverse.
Sophia was as carefree as they come. Her life goals had been, what some would consider, frivolous and maybe a little selfish. She was obviously very capable and very accomplished but she lead a life of adventure and thrill seeking.
Someone like Cameron couldn’t understand it. His whole life had been about helping others out. He gained satisfaction from helping others. It brought him joy.
They were diametrically opposed.
Ethan apparently didn’t have any strong opinions either way. They wouldn’t know as he hardly ever said anything.
They had run into each other on the surface. Cameron had seen a large pack of those panthers running after someone. He hadn’t seen so many at one time. Occasionally you would see two or three but he had at least double that from what he could tell. Cameron was worried that he would get killed so he chased after them.
They were quite a ways off and Cameron had a lot of ground to cover. He ran as fast as he could. He was already fast before awakening but after, it was insane. He made up the ground quickly but apparently not quickly enough. He heard a loud crash.
I didn’t make it. I was too slow.
He cautiously moved forward. He wanted be sure before he abandoned the distressed person. He still heard the sounds of fighting so he hoped that meant that they were still alive. He quickened his pace. He saw one of the panthers leaving. It was obviously hurt. It turned down another road so Cameron continued his wary pace. Then he saw another leaving and then another.
He was close. The sounds of the fight grew closer but the sounds were getting quiet. He quickened his pace yet again, this time to a near sprint. Cameron finally arrived at the scene. He expected a bloody massacre. He assumed the man had fallen and then the panthers fought for the meal. Why else would the panthers leave?
What he saw though puzzled him. Two more panthers ran away, right past Cameron without even sparing a glance his way. As Cameron rounded the final corner he was even more perplexed.
He was fine. He was hurt obviously but he was alive.
*How did he do that? He beat all of them? By himself?*
Cameron remembered back to the class choices. None of the other classes should be as suited as his in fighting these things. Cameron himself had fought off three at the same time but he could imagine an Elemental doing the same. He honestly wasn’t sure if another Might could do it. Cameron was already really strong before awakening and that had to be taken into account when giving the initial stats. But this man had fought off five panthers. He was so intrigued by the entire thing that he forgot his manners for a second.
“What class did you pick?” Cameron asked the man.
He should have asked him if he was hurt, or if he needed a hand, or even what his name was. The only thing that he could think though, was how had he done it.
“Mirage,” the man replied.
Now Cameron was even more confused. How had a mirage done this? Did he just scare the felines away? Confuse them so that they attacked each other? He guessed it could happen.
“What’s your name?”
“Ethan.”
This dude did not like to talk. Was he annoyed with Cameron? He didn’t think so. Why would he be? Cameron had come to help. Sure he had been late to the party but it was the thought that counts right?
“I’m Cameron. Nice to meet you. Do you mind if we stay together? I haven’t seen anybody else and I can only imagine there are even more dangerous things lurking about.”
“Sure.”
And that is how the duo began. Many great conversations to be had. The beginning of a brotherly bond.
Ethan probably said a total of fifteen words by the time they had found Sophia nearly a full twelve hours later. At first, Cameron was ecstatic. Sophia was gorgeous and she talked. What more could a guy want?
Sophia had been doing her favorite activity. She would fly as high as she could as quickly as she could and then dive down and peck at the stupid panthers. They were fast but they were nothing compared to her bird form. She never did that much damage. It was mostly to annoy them. When she wasn’t pecking at their heads, she would fly around trying to find any of the items she was supposed to find.
While it was fun, she was starting to realize something. She hadn’t found a single item and already, a whole day had passed. She flew to the top of the building she currently was in and perched herself at the top. She surveyed the city when she saw something she hadn’t seen yet, more people.
She quickly dove down to meet them. When they saw the purple hawk diving down, they assumed it was an attack. They both prepared to swat the bird down. When Sophia realized that they didn’t know she was an awakened like them, she slowed her descent. As she approached the ground, she began to change back into her natural form. Both men looked perplexed before they had a sudden realization.
“Morph,” they said in unison.
Sophia’s smile was confirmation enough.
“I’m Cameron. This is Ethan. Nice to see another friendly face.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“I’m Sophia. Nice to meet you.”
The day was getting dark and night was approaching.
“We should find a place to make camp for the night, that is if you would like to join us,” Cameron said.
“Well I didn’t dive all the way down here to say hi to couple of strange men and then just leave.”
They started to search around for a good spot when they decided to stay in the large building close to them. They entered a room and cleared some space for them to sleep. After barricading the door, all three of them felt more at ease. Cameron and Sophia shared a little bit about themselves with Ethan just grunting every once in a while to share his input.
The night went off without incident, and when they awoke in the morning they decided it would be wise to search the building they were in for some of the items. That was when they had found the entrance.
They climbed down the ladder and when they reached the bottom the entire area lit up. There was a path that led either direction. They picked a direction and started walking. A few minutes later they had reached their first door. They prodded at the key slot and a water golem popped out.
They all fought the golem individually at the same time. That’s to say their teamwork was nonexistent. They got in each other’s ways more often than actually doing any damage to the golem. Eventually, they were able to beat it. When they did, a key was dropped and they were given access to the locked room. That was when they found their first quest items.
They progressed through the different rooms. Each of them understanding the others a little more each time they fought. The more they fought together, the more cohesive they were together. By the end of lab, they were a well oiled machine. After weeks of fighting they had made it to the final room. The final golem had been a supercharged lightning golem. Sophia by then, had learned how to shift forms and spent the majority of this battle as a wolf. Sometimes a bird just didn’t get the job done. Ethan had gained a better understanding of his abilities. Cameron had gotten stronger. They were ready, and the golem didn’t stand a chance. It had been their hardest battle yet but they came out victorious.
They entered the room for the spoils. This was the largest room yet and all of them hoped to finish their quest with the things they found in this room. Each of them had found a few items that were useful for them.
Sophia had found armor that could change shapes with her. It was made up of small hexagons that shifted around as she moved. If you looked too closely, it could be very disorienting. Ethan had found a servo suit which seemed to just make him have a little more power in his movements. It came at the cost of exhausting him a little bit quicker but he didn’t mind as it was the perfect solution to overcome some of the shortcomings he had. Cameron found what looked like a futuristic blacksmith’s hammer with thin lines of red all over the hammer. The hammer didn’t seem like much but Cameron had over 50 strength and it hadn’t even shown a scratch on its surface. It had to be extremely durable.
The room was massive. It was nearly as big as two football fields put together, though it was round. It made it feel like a coliseum. The ceiling of the room was at least fifty feet up. The walls were made up of sleek, metallic panels. The joints in between the panels lit up. Various workstations were strewn about the room in varying degrees of disarray. It looked like the room had been in the process of being packed away before everyone just started throwing stuff around in a frenzy.
They had been searching around for about five minutes when a large door popped into existence on the other side of the room. All of them were immediately on guard and prepared for a fight. As quickly as it had appeared, it opened and two people walked through the door.
----------------------------------------
Alex and Lila looked across the room and stared at the trio of humans with bewilderment.
This is new. Did all the rooms have this feature but we just never ran into another person? Or was this because it was the boss room?
Alex stepped forward to attempt to break the ice. Instantly the three people across from them tensed up. Alex hesitated a second before saying, “Cool. More people. Do you guys wanna be on a team?”
“We were here first so this is our stuff,” the girl of their group stated matter of factly. “You seem like good people and I think all of us would be fine with teaming up but this is our room. We earned it first and it belongs to us.”
Fat chance of that happening. We were just about to finish our quest or at least be really close. Alex thought.
“Fat chance of that happening,” Lila said.
Alex looked over at her. It was what he was thinking but didn’t expect her to be so blunt about it.
I guess she can be pretty blunt sometimes.
The trio across the room began to reposition themselves and Alex got a bad feeling about what was going to happen next. They were obviously gearing up for a fight.
Both sides were still ragged from their earlier battles with their respective golems but Alex and Lila seemed to be a little bit better off. They were still outnumbered though. Alex didn’t like the odds of them coming out on top in a brawl. He wanted to somehow smooth it all over but still get some quest items.
The group of three had moved into better defensive positions. They were poised to strike. Alex was still thinking of a solution to his predicament.
The entire room stopped. It felt like when Alex would do wheelies on his wheelchair. There was a point when he was perfectly balanced but right now it felt like when he slightly over extended and he began tipping back.
“Why don’t we have a duel? One on one. Until knockout or submission. Whoever wins, their group gets to keep the quest items in this room. If we want to go separate ways after this, that’s fine,” the hammer wielding boy suggested.
Alex and Lila both looked at each other. They hadn’t expected that. That seemed like it benefited them more than other three. And it looked like the girl in their group thought the same thing as she looked at the boy who spoke with an exasperated look. She looked like she was going to swing at him but restrained herself. Barely.
The younger boy ignored her look at looked at the older man who only gave a curt nod. That was all the boy needed and he stepped forward.
“I’ll fight for us, we got a majority vote for this so if it’s ok with you, we will honor this arrangement. My name’s Cameron by the way.”
The girl’s face got red. She did not look happy about the proposition but she seemed to resign herself to it.
“What do you think?” Alex asked Lila quietly.
“I think it’s our best chance of actually getting anything. I think we would lose in an all out brawl but this evens the playing field a little.”
“That’s what I’m thinking. I’ll fight ok? I know that you exhausted yourself quite a bit in that last fight. I’m tired but mostly ok. My health is a little low but I don’t think it will be too much of a problem.”
“Ok. It’s probably for the best. I feel like I’m not much good by myself. I don’t know what his class is but just be careful.”
Alex nodded and gave his goofy grin. He stepped forward and said in his manliest voice, “I will fight for us.”
Lila just shook her head.
“They already heard you speak. They know that isn’t your real voice,” Lila said full of embarrassment for him.
He turned red but quickly had his armor cover his face to hide it.
They probably didn’t even notice.
They cleared a space in the large room, everyone standing far away. The man across from Alex cracked his neck. Alex decided that looked really cool and he thought he should do that as well. He did so and then immediately regretted it as he realized that he had just copied him. He should have done his own thing. Cool people didn’t see something cool and then try to imitate. They were cool so they just did stuff and other people copied them. Plus, it didn’t even feel good.
Why did people crack their necks? It just hurt.
Both of them squared off.
Time to get that booty. Alex thought and immediately regretted.