John was exceptionally tired today. Not physically mind you, but the mess he was left with after his co-workers punched out early was starting to be too much. "We have family waiting for us and it's Friday, surely you can stay late and finish up, you don't have anyone waiting for you anyway. We will cover for you next time." He grumbled on his way to the supermarket. "That's what you said the last time and time before that… you fuckers."
Making a quick run around the aisles and grabbing all he needed, he was ready to go under five minutes. Picking the cashier with the least amount of people, he unloaded his stuff and waited.
"No, those pretzels were supposed to be seventy-five percent off. Why did you mark them for full price?" Said the older woman in front of him. "We are sorry ma'am, but if it says full price, they are not currently under a discount." The cashier, a young girl with tired eyes, tried to placate her. "What? Do you take me for a fool? I may be getting old, but that doesn't mean I can't read! I clearly remember the big red text saying eighty percent discount and I demand that I get it!"
"Gods, can this day get any worse?" John put his things back into the basket and turned to leave for another cashier. "Sorry… excuse me…" he pushed through the people behind him and went to the one on his left. It took a couple more minutes to get it done, but as he was leaving, he saw the poor girl and an older gentleman—probably a manager—still arguing with the lady.
Between taking public transportation or taking a twenty-minute walk home, he picked the latter and turned left, following the path through a small park and towards the bridge. It was late autumn and all the trees were filled with leaves of all colors between healthy green and dried-up light brown and John loved it. Autumn was his favorite part of the year, not too cold, but not the sweat-inducing heat of the early spring. The best temperature for an early morning run.
"Huh, they sure work fast." Stopping by the construction site in the middle of the park, he stared at the foundation of the new restaurant. Last week, there was only a hole in the ground and now it was three-quarters filled with concrete and dozens of steel rods were jutting out like a pincushion.
A rumbling of a distant thunder made him frown. "There shouldn't be any storms today, did the forecast mess up again?" He said as he looked above for any black clouds. "Where did it…" Another boom made him fall silent mid-sentence as all the street lamps lining the park winked out and the only source of light was the full moon, but there was something else there in the sky somewhere to the south. What at first glance seemed only like a green smudge, was now widening into a massive crack.
"Duuuude do you see that?" Someone from the group of stoners he often saw drinking beer and loitering in the park yelled out, pointing up. "Oh man, this is nothing. Last week I got so high I've been…"
The crack split like a wound with torn stitches and from the hole, a sickly green glow illuminated the night which was soon followed by yet another massive rumble. Something colossal was now falling from there and John only stared dumbly up, trying to understand how big the object must be. It took a minute until the tube-like object's top finally emerged and just as suddenly as the tear opened, it closed, leaving behind a spire so massive its upper part was visible even from here.
The top of the spire formed a ball of the same sickly green and a second later it popped, sending a pulse outward spreading like a bomb. It passed through him so fast that he had barely any time to think and continued further north. His heart was beating faster than during a ten-mile race, but as he was about to run back home, a two-meter-high rift formed to the right of him. Turning to see what was happening a pair of hands forced it open like a jammed elevator and from there stepped out… a zombie?
It was humanoid in proportions but had dried-up skin, missing chunks of meat and muscles all over the body, and milky white eyes which somehow focused right on him. "Ohh fuck!" He had seen enough zombie apocalypse movies to know where this was going. He shoved it back with all his might, preparing to leg it, but it must have weighed less than he expected because it went over the meter-high railing and with a wet squelch fell right into the foundation.
John stared at the zombie, which fell perfectly on its back and got impaled on the metal rods with one hitting the back of its head and coming out from the right eye socket. It twitched once and then stayed still and with it, the whole world lost color and stopped. He couldn't move a muscle and only watch as a screen filled with text slowly formed in front of his vision.
[Congratulations! You have delivered a killing blow to your first foe and are awarded the Apocalypse deck and one starting card.
Each common enemy killed has a small chance to award new cards which can be slotted in or traded with other deck holders, so go out there and fight unless you want to fall behind.
Note: Saying Apocalypse deck will bring it out.]
What is…
[Congratulations! You are the first human in this world to overcome their first foe.
Rewards: All choices of your first card have one tier higher rarity, and your Fate is increased by 3.
Note: Some would say it is only a matter of skill, but when millions do the same action, it is fate that decides the winner.]
[Make a choice!
Pick one from five random rare cards or gain one random epic card.
Note: This card can not be traded to anyone else and is locked inside your ability slot until you decide to destroy it.]
John was stuck there, still unable to move, and thinking about his choice. Is the best of five still worse than a random epic, that was the question, and what ended up tipping the balance for the epic was a simple argument. If everyone gets a choice between five worse than a rare or one rare, his choice from five rares would waste his special opportunity.
Unable to speak, he stared at the second choice and thought, I want the epic card, and soon a new block of text came up.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
[Great choice! Generating a random epic card.
You are now the proud holder of {Animate blessed stiletto (E)}
Good luck with your adventure.
Note: Don't forget to open the Apocalypse deck for more information.]
With a lurch the world regained color and everything unfroze. "Did those bastards seriously say apocalypse and adventure in one message, bunch of twisted fucks." Still hardly able to believe what was happening, he nonetheless said the words and in front of him appeared three black cards. On the right, the Animated blessed stiletto written in the green border with a picture of a strangely-shaped golden dagger and a simple description, in the middle, a card only filled with black color—probably a blank—and on the left one with a white border, named John Miles with a silhouette of a nondescript man in a suit and a red tie.
More exploration was interrupted by a desperate cry soon followed by an agonizing yell. John turned towards the group of stoners and saw three desperately beating another zombie with wooden sticks while it was tearing into their friend with its teeth.
Run or help out, that was the question and if not for the blessed thingy, he would have run. "Ok deck, how the fuck does this all work?" He grumbled under his breath and feeling very silly shouted, "Summon the blessed… ehh whatever you call it! Shit, shit." the poor sod was getting shredded and he couldn't even remember the name of the stupid card. "Apocalypse deck!" It came out in front of him and he yelled out, "Animate blessed stiletto!"
A small tear, similar to the one he saw earlier but golden in color, appeared in front of him, and from there emerged a sharp golden dagger with no crossguard and shining blue handle. It fell for a moment and then flew up above his head staying still with its tip pointing forward. "Well let's see what you're worth." He said and ran to help.
He wasn't far, roughly thirty meters, but before he got there, the heaviest one finally grew enough courage to tackle the zombie down and another guy repeatedly smashed its head to bits with a heavy rock. "Yooo, I just got something called Apocalypse deck and a blue card called firebolt. I am now a wizard, guys." Said the one with the rock.
"What are you talking about, look at Jimmy," said the third, pointing at the one lying on the ground, "he's dead."
"Look, Firebolt!" A small burst of flame shot out from his hand and into the sky. "See? Told you I am a wizard. Yooo, do you think I'll now get invited to a wizard school and all that?"
John slowed down his jog and turned away. Those guys were drunk, high, and now with fire literally in their hands. If that wasn't a recipe for a disaster, he'd eat his shoe. He saw another zombie further ahead and decided to test his ability instead. So far it followed him above his head, but otherwise did nothing else, and now was the time to change that.
He pointed to the zombie which was mindlessly shuffling fifty meters away saying attack and nothing happened. "Not a good start, maybe I need to get closer." He kept saying all the possible orders to engage as he kept walking closer and finally somewhere around twenty-five to thirty meters away it suddenly oriented towards it and flew forward like an arrow.
John stopped walking and watched as it stabbed itself all the way up to the hilt into the middle of the zombie's chest and very soon after, a shining golden light started spreading from the impact, forming cracks as if you were hitting a hardened glass with a hammer. The zombie was not idle and the moment it was attacked, it somehow focused on John and started to run toward him. It wasn't exactly fast and John was confident he could outrun it easily, but he could imagine a lesser fit person getting winded and then torn up like that poor sod behind him.
This particular one was forced to stop after making it ten meters because its torso shattered along the golden lines and the whole zombie fell apart soon after. White dust formed a small ball above the corpse and shot toward John like a bullet. He tried to dodge but barely moved a few inches before it impacted his chest and vanished. "Huh?" He quickly patted the spot, looking for any wounds, but found nothing off.
This gave him an idea and he said Apocalypse deck to look for any changes there. "Yep." Nodding to himself, he looked under the row of cards and there was a new pile of white dust with a number one floating above it.
Another thing that caught his interest was the description of the card with his name.
[John Miles
Strength: F, Perception: F, Vitality: F
Fate: 4
Dexterity: F, Focus: F, Willpower: F]
"Well that's fucking sad, isn't it?" He always prided himself on his body, which toned itself after years of consistent running and rock climbing, and now, it implied he was just a failure on all fronts.
"My parents!" He suddenly realized and quickly reached for his phone. They were living with his sister in a different city, but by the size of the massive spire, he had no illusions of them being far enough to be safe. "C'mon, work!" His shaky hand was desperately clicking the power button, but it wasn't working. Having to accept, there was nothing he could do, he made a quick prayer for their safety instead. John was an atheist like his father, but his dad always used to say: "Son, I might not believe in god, but when my brother got into a bad car accident and had to fight for his life, I prayed for him every day, because if there was even the slightest chance of it helping, I'd be a damned fool not to try."
Deciding the best thing to do right now was get back home, he picked a path leading to the bridge and got to work. The zombies were hardly a challenge and each kill produced the same oddball of white dust. Continuing onward and killing every zombie around, the park was slowly becoming a quieter and more peaceful place. Taking seven seconds for each kill, even meeting a group of four clustered around a barely recognizable dead body was a simple exercise of running in circles, letting his summon do its job until they all fell apart.
"Poor bastard." Shaking his head, he looked at the mutilated corpse with most of its neck torn out. He wasn't entirely unaffected by the carnage around him, but the few lights combined with the blackness of the night sky were able to hide most of the worst stuff away.
A couple of dozen more kills later, one zombie left a slightly larger ball, shining in a silvery-white light and leaving a trail like a comet as it flew into his chest. "Could it be? Apocalypse deck!" He said, full of curiosity for what he just obtained. First, he noticed the number one hundred twenty-four above the pile of white dust and under it a new card. It was on a white border named Faster projectile speed with a picture of an arrow mid-flight leaving an afterimage behind itself.
[Faster projectile speed
Can be linked with any ability bearing a projectile tag to increase its projectile speed by 15%]
That sounds pretty great… wait… hm." He was reading the description out loud and if anyone could have heard him, they would probably laugh at how fast he went from excited to disappointed. Well, that's what happens when you discover you just earned a lucky find and five seconds later figure out it's absolutely useless. "Oh well, maybe I'll trade it for something good later." Nodding to himself, he continued forward.
It was the last turn left and then straight out of the park and onto the bridge which operated as a shortcut over the river for pedestrians. The main bridge was over two kilometers to the north and a massive choke point, connecting the east side of the city to its center. Just thinking about it made him shudder because that would have been the place he'd be stuck if he used public transportation instead of the walk, and it surely is a massive mess right now with all the people and transit going through.
A couple more dead zombies later, he stood ten meters from the bridge and finally noticed a big problem.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me."