Emily stared at the name on her Character Screen. Emily Strai’Ze “Dream Crusher”. The guilt of what she had to do to their pet cat, Link, hurt even worse now. Did she really have to get a title for that? She didn’t know why the new title showed up in the ‘Name’ section. Maybe it had something to do with the title being ‘active’? Strai’Ze had said that they would make the title active when it first appeared.
Emily looked at her stats and decided the three available points needed to be placed in dexterity and processing. Sense would be helpful, but she needed whatever attributes would help her for the next hour or two. She really doubted leveling up again would take more than an hour or two. She felt bile coming up and she realized what that meant. More fighting, more killing. Murdering Link was only the beginning…
More gun shots and shouts were heard from outside. She hurriedly put one point into Processing and two into Dexterity then closed the large screen. Then she finally got the first look at herself in the bathroom mirror.
Her face was glowing…It wasn’t glowing brightly, but there were a bunch of spots on her cheeks that seemed to have a very faint bluish white light coming from them. Did her freckles become spots of light? She turned off the bathroom light and, sure enough, there was a soft light shining from her freckles that lit up her face just a bit. Then she noticed there was a faint light shining from behind her.
“Seriously?” She said, “A tail?!”
She knew from listening to Kazi and Jeff that there could be changes made when two spirit bodies fused. Emily had fused with the Umea spore and she had no idea what that would mean. Now she was very surprised by the changes that were made to her body.
The tail that was peeking out behind her was…not fully tangible. It was a ghostly outline of a tail that shone with the same light as her freckles. With a thought she swished the tail back and forth just like she would move a limb. She did a full circle trying to get a better look at the tail, but, naturally, it followed her circular movement.
I have a tail for FIVE SECONDS and I’m already chasing it in a circle? She thought to herself, a bit of hysteria making it even into her thoughts.
“You’ve actually had it for about twelve minutes,” Strai’Ze responded to her thoughts. “If my understanding of your system for time is correct.”
“Twelve minutes?”
“Yes, most beings stay unconscious for the first moments while changes are being made to your spirit and body. You were out for 8 minutes and 39 seconds.”
“Huh,” Emily said. “Does the amount of time someone is unconscious change for each person?”
“I don’t actually remember,” Strai’Ze admitted. “I have a lot of knowledge from my last times being fused, but no memories to support that knowledge. Maybe if we connected more fully with the System here I’ll be able to learn more from their database?”
Emily let the conversation end there as she continued to check out the changes to her body. She noticed the freckles on her shoulders and legs also glowed. She pulled the shoulder of the pajama top off and saw what looked like a sporadic tattoo of light spots coming off her shoulder. It looked… actually kind of beautiful? The same was true with her legs.
She had always been self conscious of her freckled skin, but now it was her most defining feature and she was … rocking it. Most of her freckles were on her cheeks and on her shoulders. Then there was a spattering of illuminated specks of light dusted over the rest of her skin. She could see Jeff really liking it. She would have to find a way to see him again to find out.
A shrill scream came from somewhere outside. It was the kind of scream that forced her to action. Someone was clearly facing something horrifying. She gripped her makeshift club tighter and ran out to the window. She looked down and across the little walkway between the two apartment buildings. She could see light spilling from several windows across the way. Where did the scream come from?
A silhouette slammed into the white blinds of a window a floor below her and to her left. She could hear the sound of glass cracking from the blow. Then the silhouette seemed to be pulled away from the window with a shout. This was the nightmare scenario everyone hoped wouldn’t happen to them. Someone's spouse had turned into a monster and they were fighting each other to the death.
She knew that most people were forced to sleep each night locked up with their spouses. They had been recommended to sleep in different rooms, but there was no way of enforcing that. It also may not have mattered. No one knew how smart people would still be after getting fused with wild spores. It might change them in fundamental ways…like getting a tail…but did it change their ability to think? She had no idea.
She felt like she needed to do something…but what could she do? Run to her door, which was in the opposite direction. Then find their door and hope it was unlocked? She was willing to, if it would help them. But running outside seemed like a death sentence to her right now. She had no clue what might be out there.
They might have both turned into monsters, she reasoned. Then it wouldn’t make any sense to go help them. She felt relief for having talked herself out of helping, but then she felt guilt when she knew she wouldn’t go. She knew it didn’t make sense to go, but she still felt like a coward.
She couldn’t pull herself away from the window as the noises of the fight finished. Bile rose in her throat again. She had just enough control to force it down.
Emily began to turn away from the window when her eye caught on to something moving fast toward her window. The world seemed to slow as she spotted the monster flying straight at her. Like the moments before a bug splattered into the windshield of a car. Then, crack.
Emily flinched back with a shriek as the bug crashed straight through the first pane of glass on her two paned window. The bug had blasted a hole right through the now cracked glass and then fell down between the two parts of the window.
You have defeated:
Rumble Bumble - Level 1
Abilities:
Kamikaze Dive
Accept Myst Rewards (Yes/No)
“Oh my God,” Emily said hyperventilating. “That was terrifying.”
“Do you want me to accep-”
Crack!
Another large bee slammed into the window shattering the first pane of glass and then slammed into the second. It left a large crack in the glass before falling dead. Just before the kill confirmation screen popped up Emily saw a bunch more small shapes flying right toward her.
You have defeated:
Rumble Bumble - Level 1
Abilities:
Kamikaze Dive
Accept Myst Rewards (Yes/No)
The screen popped in front of her face as she turned and ran away from the window.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Crack. Crack. Crash!
“Get this thing out of my face!” Emily yelled. She ran to her bathroom and slammed the door shut as several more bugs kamikazed right into it. She flipped the lightswitch on and saw the damage done to the door. The kill screen blinked away in time for her to assess the damage. There was one spot that was indented and another where a hole was made in the door with a really fat bumble bee hanging out of it.
Two more kill confirmation screens popped into her vision.
“Agh!” She shouted and swung her hanger rod at a bee trying to squeeze past its dead friend. Luckily the notifications were transparent enough for her to ensure her blow struck.
“Sorry, I'm still new to this system. I will accept them for you as fast as possible.” Strai’Ze said to Emily.
She barely registered what the spore had said. Instead she focused her attention on the Rumble Bumbles trying to squeeze underneath the door. Luckily, they were big enough that it took them some time to squeeze themselves underneath.
What on earth is lucky about being attacked by bees big enough to have THAT problem?!
Emily stomped at the bees and swung her club. She thought she was keeping them at bay until she felt a sharp sting on her right shoulder. She whirled away from the stinging bee. Looking up she noticed she had completely forgotten about the small gap at the top of the door. There was no way she could keep up with the whole swarm of bees at once.
Am I going to die to a bunch of bees in my bathroom? She wondered. Is this really how I die?
You have leveled up to Level 2!
The level up screen gave her a glimmer of hope. Each kill helped her grow stronger. As long as she could survive through the initial salvo of attacks she could probably survive through it all. How could she get through this without getting too damaged though? Emily remembered hearing that submerging herself in water could protect her from a swarm of bees. Was that an old wives tale or a real thing? Either way, she had access to water, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to use it.
Emily gave up her defense at the door and jumped into her shower. She turned on the water and pulled the diverter to make sure the water fell from the shower head. The cold water made her breath catch. Then she felt a strong blow blast into her ribs on her left side. The blow rocked her balance as she was bent over dealing with the water. Emily felt like someone had shot her with a paintball gun at point blank. A rumble bumble must have used its ability to punch right into her side. It had more solidity to it than a paintball though. If a whole swarm of bees did the same thing she would end up getting battered to death.
More bees were getting into the bathroom and the water itself wouldn’t stop their wrath. Emily’s newly improved imagination seemed to come to the rescue with an idea for survival. She really hoped it worked.
Emily grabbed the shower curtain and ripped it off the shower rod. Then she began wrapping herself up like a burrito in the shower curtain. The material was a thick plastic and having several layers of protection should soften the blows. Several more bees struck her as she was winding herself up. The first couple hurt very badly, but the last few were bearable. It seemed like her plan had worked. The plastic acted like the two panes of glass on her window letting the layers take most of the damage before it got through to her soft flesh. Still, each kamikaze dive from the rumble bumbles would leave a large bruise.
Emily felt a sting on her ear. It was time for the second part of her plan. This was the part she was most worried about. She moved herself underneath the shower head and let the cone of water act as a lid of sorts to her armor. She looked up into the water and saw a bee fall in with the flowing water and wriggle itself around, unable to fully control itself. One hand was purposefully left up around her face for this reason.
Emily grabbed the bee and squished it in her hand. It managed to sting her hand and she let the squashed buggo. The bee's sting was no stronger than normal bee stings, but they still hurt enough to cry. Bees kept striking her with their bodies. She wondered if this was what being stoned to death felt like.
More kill confirmation screens popped in and out of her vision. The bees that struck her wrapped up body would fall into the water below and she would stomp on as many as she could before they were swept away in the current of water.
You have leveled up to Level 3!
Emily grabbed at another bee that stung the spot right below her eye. It hurt so bad she wanted to cry. She probably already was, but she couldn’t tell between the adrenaline and all the water cascading around her.
More bees flung themselves at her body. She felt bruised and broken, but she kept herself standing up. She slammed herself against the walls wherever she felt bees crawling on the shower curtain around her. She kept grabbing at bees that fell in around her hair and face. Her hand, arm, and face had been stung all over.
You have leveled up to Level 4!
“Would you like me to place attributes for you?” Strai’Ze asked. Her tone was far too polite for the moment in Emily’s opinion.
“Ye-pwa pwa,” water entered into Emily’s mouth as she tried to respond. She forgot she could just use her thoughts to communicate with her new companion.
Yes! She thought at the spore. It’s your body too, do whatever you think is best.
She felt a strange emotion coming from the spore as she thought those words. Emily had watched Jeff deliberate over placing attribute points before. She really couldn’t care less about it. Honestly, having a spore take over that burden sounded lovely to her. She would want to have a say in the general direction of her stats, but she would rather just let Strai’Ze deal with the placement of each level's stat points.
Her body suddenly felt a major change as three levels worth of points were dumped into it. She could tell a bunch of the points were put into vitality. She felt like, for the first time, pain was receding instead of getting worse. Even as more monster bees struck her body she felt herself recovering from the bruises and welts that were left behind. The last blow also seemed to do less damage altogether. Was that also due to Vitality or was that Strength? Emily didn’t know, and this wasn’t the time to care.
Several more kill conformation screens popped up. They were coming more slowly now. The blows by the monsters were also coming slower. She was just glad that none of the bees seemed intelligent enough to use their ability to dive down at her from above. Blows to the head would have been much more effective than the constant body blows.
You have earned a new Title!
Punching Bag - Common
You have received 100 blows from different monsters all within a short period of time.
Effects when active:
+3 Vitality
“I am activating that one instead for now.” Strai’Ze said.
Emily could only guess what that meant. Could she only have one title active at any time? She felt her body start healing itself even faster. At the same time she felt a massive headache come on. That seemed like answer enough. She must have had the Dream Crusher title deactivated once the Punching Bag title was deactivated. She had so many questions about that, but this wasn’t the time.
The blows stopped coming almost like popcorn popping. First there were a few hits a second. Then, before long, it was one hit every few seconds. Then, after one last pop against the thick plastic, the blows stopped coming. Emily waited for a moment not believing it was over. She wanted to just fall over from exhaustion, but she didn’t trust she was truly safe. Maybe they stopped to start attacking another monster that was nearby. She needed to get out of her protective wrap and see what was around her.
It took her longer to get out of the shower curtain than it took to get in it. Each movement seemed to tell her of another broken or bruised rib. Each breath brought another sob of pain to her lips. She had a weird mix of adrenaline, exhaustion, determination, and desperation warring in her at the moment. She extricated herself from the shower curtain and found a bunch of bee bodies strewn all around her.
If they aren’t dissolved then they aren’t dead, right? She thought to herself and to Strai’Ze.
She didn’t wait for a response before she began stomping on all the bees scattered across the floor and shower. She got a few more kill confirmations pop up, but the majority of bee parts were left behind as Myst rewards.
“I forgot about that,” she said. “Maybe I should go grab a bag for all of these?”
A bee twitched on the ground. It was a little larger than the other bees. Emily stomped on it hard.
You have defeated:
Queen Rumble Bumble - Level 1
Abilities:
Hive Mind
Accept Myst Rewards? (Yes/No)
You have received a new Title!
Royal Slayer - Rare
You have killed a monster with high renown and a title of royalty. This title can be used as a prefix or a normal title. When used as a prefix this title will just say “Royal” or “Slayer”.
Effects when active:
+1 to Spirit Attributes
+1 Title slot
Emily was too exhausted to really care what the new title did. Strai’Ze would take care of it. The glittering Myst rose from the dissolving bee and the majority moved toward her chest.
You have leveled up to Level 5!