I didn’t get far before I noticed the change to the streets. It hadn’t been obvious when I’d still been near the apartment, but now I couldn’t avoid it.
Someone or something was blocking the roads.
I’d noticed a bit of this when first following the goblin, but the problem had gotten even worse since yesterday. Or maybe the streets between the apartment and the hotel had always been like this and I simply hadn’t noticed during my madcap run with Prometheus.
Whatever the answer, all the roads between the two buildings had been completely sealed up with wreckage: half crushed cars, dumpsters, hunks of concrete, and a dozen other materials I couldn’t easily identify.
It wasn’t exactly a problem, since I had planned to make for the hotel anyway, but now I found myself on guard. The rubble was too well-placed to be accidental. The only question was, who had blocked off the streets? Monsters? Humans?
There was no way to tell from my vantage, and due to my lack of thumbs, no way to scale it. I either went through the hotel or returned to the apartment to find another route.
Which bothered me.
I had never really come to terms with the potential influence the system was wielding on me. While I’d put the matter aside to help Prometheus, it came back in full force now. Were the blocked streets another method of control? Was I being funneled toward some nefarious purpose, a purpose I wouldn’t even realize because I was under their control?
Possible. But also, if the system really was influencing my mind, why go to the trouble of blockading the streets? It felt needlessly redundant. So ultimately, I had to conclude that doing so was for some other purpose, one for which I might not even be involved.
Besides, there was also the matter of the mermanta I’d seen inside. I had promised myself yesterday I’d return and deal with it when I had time, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Three reasons to go inside: water, monsters, and possibly to find a path through the city. After that, I could worry about slipping the net of the system’s influence over me.
I padded my way through the front entrance, which now hung slightly off its hinges. It hadn’t been like that yesterday. Was this the mermanta’s work as it chased after us? No way to know for certain, and I wasn’t sure the answer really mattered either way.
The lobby inside was quiet. No sign of any mermanta, not even any wet spots to show it’d been by recently. Maybe it was still outside somewhere, looking for me.
I highly doubted that, but there was always a chance.
From the wainscotting to the paintings decorating the walls, I could tell this had once been an impressive place. It must have been even more impressive when it was full of guests, moving about on business, chatting as they lounged on the overstuffed couches or sipped drinks at the nearby bar. A few suitcases and other bags still littered the entryway, indicating that whatever had happened here had happened in a hurry.
Not for the first time I wondered about that. No people. Monsters everywhere. What had changed the world so?
It must have had something to do with the system, with the metamorphoses that had occurred to creatures such as myself and Prometheus, but that didn’t explain the quiet streets, or the lack of bodies. Everywhere I’d been had looked abandoned, unoccupied. Had the city of Oakland simply picked up en masse and left?
Somehow, I doubted that was the case.
As much as I hated to admit it, my own curiosity and the quest I’d been assigned were aligned with each other. Assuming my interest wasn’t a creation of the system itself, which I didn’t think it was. It felt natural. I wanted to know where humanity had gone, and my quest implied at least they were out there somewhere.
Well, wherever humanity had gone, I didn’t think I’d find evidence of them here. Clearly they had abandoned this hotel. But the more important question at the moment was—had the monsters as well?
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
I’d figure that out in a moment. But first, water. My tongue hung out the side of my mouth now, dry and rough and feeling like it might crack apart at any moment. I needed a drink.
The door to the pool was closed, but after a bit of finagling with my teeth I managed to pull it open. Another moment where I felt a sharp Pang of Prometheus’s absence. Perhaps I should have chased after him yesterday when he scarpered off. There was something to be said for time and space to process trauma, but also something to be said for having emotional support while you did so.
Though I might be slightly biased now, thanks to the small matter of the rat rot.
I slipped inside as the door slammed behind me, the sound of it echoing through the space oddly. Must have had something to do with the pool, or perhaps the design of the roof. The whole atmosphere in here felt different from what I was used to.
And it wasn’t just the change in sound. There was an odd smell to the pool room, too. Chlorine, yes—my system enhanced brain happily supplied the word, but also something else.
Something... fouler.
Rough cement made scratchy noises under my paws as I surveyed my surroundings. The pool room walls were painted a uniform white, while above my head I could see pipes running in all directions, the bowels of the hotel infrastructure laid bare.
The pool itself wasn’t overlarge, perhaps thirty feet by fifteen or so. It still had water in it, but I could see from here it was only about half full anymore. There was no way I’d be able to drink from the edge.
Luckily, I wouldn’t have to. Just a few feet from me was a set of stone stairs descending into the pool, the water just barely lapping against the bottom step.
I padded over to take a closer look.
From here, I could see the water was... strange. Murky, and coated in patches of gray scum that hid whatever lay below. The foul smell I’d detected when I entered was stronger here.
My hackles rising, I cautiously lowered myself onto the top step. Leaned forward and brought my nose to just above the surface... and sniffed.
*Gag*
Yeah, okay. I wasn’t drinking that. Clearly leaving a pool of stagnant water for some undetermined number of weeks inside a closed space hadn’t done this place any favors.
Something shifted just beneath the surface of the water, a white dot appearing above it. I froze in the process of recoiling, my eyes tracking the movement.
The dot drew closer. A single bubble drifted up to the surface. I watched, curious, as a tiny head emerged just below my nose. It looked like a cross between a frog and a fish, with little fin flaps on the side of its face and scales coating most of its body. My tail started to wag. It was actually kind of cute.
The frog-fish opened its mouth, revealing several rows of fangs, none larger than a grain of rice but all of them looking exceedingly sharp. I stopped wagging my tail.
About that time, the system helpfully offered up its two cents.
Mermanta Pup (Basic)
Level 2
Don’t let their cute and cuddly appearance fool you. If you’ve run into one, better assume there are at least fifty more hiding beneath the murk somewhere—not to mention their mama standing watch nearby.
While individually rather weak, a mermanta pup’s true danger lies in their numbers, their speed in water, and their ability to remain undetected until they move. Drag them onto land to engage whenever possible—or better yet, lob a few bolts of lightning into their swamp and call it a day.
Unlike many monster varieties, these can instantly evolve to their adult form after ingesting a sufficient quantity of blood, so you might also want to try to keep that particular liquid inside of you. They don’t care much for urine though, so feel free to piss yourself in terror if you get cornered.
The surface of the water roiled as more pups appeared. The first one made a few snapping noises and hopped onto the bottom step, crawling his way toward me. I backed up further. Part of my more rational brain was recalling the description of the mermanta from yesterday. Hadn’t it said not to drink any water they had been swimming in?
Seeing the foul-smelling murk that filled the pool, now I knew why.
The pup reached the top step, several of its brethren close behind. I debated a moment whether to use my stun on it or not, then simply leapt forward and activated my Claw Slash. The mermanta pup gurgled as its head was emancipated from its body.
You have defeated: Mermanta Pup (Basic) — Level 2
0 XP and 1 Common Core awarded.
...Alright, so I wasn’t going to get much experience from this fight. At least I could count on adding to my core collection. If the rest of the pups were as obliging as the first, I could simply pick them off one by one as they exited the pool. I readied myself for the next as it flopped up the steps.
There was a soft hiss to my right, and I felt something sting my neck. I turned, catching a brief glimpse of something—a dart?—stuck there, only for my attention to then be drawn to the much larger, much more adult mermanta towering over me. A line of saliva dripped from its jaws.
I activated my bracelet. At least, I tried to. My thoughts had suddenly grown sluggish, and even as I tried to direct my equipment to do what I want, I found the floor rushing up towards me. My head struck the rough cement, and I fled into spiraling darkness.