A memory flashes within my mind.
It was late afternoon and I was on my way home, looking out of my window I saw the empty streets that just a week prior were so congested it had taken me hours to drive a couple dozen kilometers, the more I looked out the more I felt fear grip my heart, a constant thing ever since the government announced state of emergency around a week ago.
Though no clouds were present in the sky the sound of thunder seemed to roar from above. It was one of the many strange phenomena that started to worsen it all, with each day that passed the thunder got louder and its presence more recurrent.
At some point in the way things get fuzzy and the world starts to spin in my vision, my sense of balance goes haywire forcing me to hug the turning wheel like my life depends on it, moments later I feel the car starting to spin as a bright light fills the world, when a sudden impact hits by body.
I open my eyes to fully white room, no matter where I looked I couldn't see a single door or window, stragely yet in this empty room there was not a single font of light, but the whole thing was still visible.
Slowly my thoughts took shape.
‘Did I get in an accident?’
‘Was that a dream?’
'Is this a dream?'
'Am I dead?'
Looking around I notice the only thing in the whole room, a dark screen that floated right in front of me.
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Galaxy 34670 Integrated succesfuly!
Welcome to the Connected Stars.
> Tap to continue.
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'Well, at least this is kinda familiar' I thought, remembering the many light novels and games I had played and read throughout my life.
I tapped the screen, which to my surprise dispersed in a smoke black as night dotted with hundreds of tiny silvery lights.
Slowly the lights started to swirl as the black cloud approached me, so mesmerizing was its beauty I didn't even react when the cloud seeped into my skin.
Not a momment later I could feel the pulsing waves of energy flowing beneath my skin bringing both vitality and change to my body it in a strangely comfortable way, in some emotional level it felt right, like I was becoming what I was always meant to be.
Minutes passed in bliss till eventually the waves slowed down and their strengh weakaned, but even weakaened I could still feel the energy's presense, silently coursing through my veins as if ready to act with a single thought.
Like in a weird dream I knew exactly what I should do next, so raising my hand in the air I comanded the energy to come out once more.
Almost instantly another floating screen formed in front of me.
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Please enter the name you wish to be called till the end of your days : >______
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'Huh, what an ominous way to tell the username is permanent.’ I thought, reaching for the interface.
Without hesitation I put my name in.
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Welcome to CSSI Jake!!
(Connected Stars System Interface)
Approximate time till return to G.34670: 00:01:36
User : Jake (0.G.34670)
>Stats.
>Skills.
>Contacts.
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A single look was all I needed for my eyes to lock on the Skills tab, if this was more than a random dream, the chance to gain superpowers would change everything, maybe with them we would be able to deal with the strange phenomena that pplagued the world lately.
Tapping it I entered the skill tab.
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Skills:
-DARK SACRIFICE (rank 0).
>Merge Skills
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
>Main menu.
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‘Well, that's an alarming name.’ I thought tapping it for more details.
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DARK SACRIFICE (r.0) > Sometimes the only way to grow is to cut a piece of yourself.
-Hiden from light you may sacrifice full stat ranks to gain new skills or aprimorate old ones.
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'A skill that gives skills? sounds broken, I wonder how many stat ranks I have.'
Intent on seeing it I moved to the stats tab.
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Stats:
Body rank 0 - 0/3
-Strength: rank 0 - 8/100
-Health: rank 0 - 9/100
-Resistance: rank 0 - 7/100
Mind rank 0 - 0/3
-Power: rank 0 - 5/100
-Mana: rank 0 - 1/100
-Clarity: rank 0 - 3/100
>Main menu.
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'Well... thats not good' I shook my head, having rank 0 on all stats meant my only skill was literaly unusable.
‘There must be a way to upgrade this.’ I prayed mentaly, when suddenly the Interface background turned blood red and a question in golden letters showed up.
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Return to G.34670 commencing.
Choose the way you wish to walk forward throughout the Connected Stars.
>A Civilian, an essencial piece in every corner of the universe.
>A Wanderer, a homeless traveler, unloved, unbound and unprotected.
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'Huh, such clear and unbiased options' I joked to myself, the favoritism was so clear it looks like a trap.
So I read once more carefully trying to imagine what the fuck this all meant, on the seccond read something caught my attention, 'unbound' was the only good word in the Wanderer option, which made me question.
'Does that mean Civilians are bound by something? Would that also mean they are protected by something?'
With thoughts floating in my head I started to walk circles, wondering at every turn which one of these was the better choice.
After minutes passed I gave up, I knew to litle to be sure and wasted too much thoughts alredy.
'Fuck it, I'll pick the one with the better name.'
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You’ve been registered as a Wanderer.
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***
The cold sunlight hit my face waking me up from my unconscious state, looking down I saw the white ground as I slowly got my bearings.
‘Shit! where is my car?’ I still had so many fucking payments to do.
Slwoly I got up from the snow and looked around.
'Where Am I?'
Trees and bushes filled every direction I looked, their trunks where white as the snow that covered the ground and their leaves a blue soo dark it resembled a deep ocean.
Panicking a bit I reached my hand to my pockets in search of my phone, only to not find any pockets where they should be.
'These aren't my clothes.' I concluded instantly as I looked at the coarse outfit I was wearing.
Simple black pants with no pockets, a simple white tshirt, black leather boots and a black cloack, they telf harsh on the skin, but at least they looked quite durable.
A cold breeze passed by, making me shiver a bit, suddenly I hear a branch snap somewhere behind me.
I turn around as fast as I can, my eyes searching for whaterever it is that caused the sound.
A minute pass while I search yet nothing seems to be there.
'Did I imagine it?' I thought to myself after another minute passed by.
Taking deep breaths I slowly calm my pounding hard, waking up lost and alone had made me way more anxious than I'd like.
'Priorities first, what do I need right now?' I questioned myself.
Up in the sky dark clouds covered the world, it wouldn't be surprising if a blizzard fell soon, with that my first goal was to find shelter, lest I find myselt frozen dead come morning.
***
Her cold paws clawed the snowy ground as she trailed the black creature around the forest.
It had been less than a moon since she woke up in this snowy terrain, here she had seen many beasts doing unimaginable things, even she herself had changed at some point gaining a intimate control over snow and ice, but that thing...
That thing had showed up out of nowhere without sound or movement a strange event by all metrics, more importantly, although it was bigger than her, she felt she could kill it.
Maybe it was because diferent from others from the same species the black thing walked alone or maybe it was the way it fumbled around the forest, clearly lost and afraid.
So mantaining her head low and her four legs moving slowly she stalked the creature for a couple hours, wainting for a chance.
The creature though kept alert, turning at every sound, staring at every shadow, it had almost spotted her at times, but here in the snowy grounds her white fur was too good of a cover.
Finaly the creature came to stop and sat to rest, deciding not to linger any longer she shot foward towards the creature as fast as she could.
The creature stood up and instantly turned towards her the momment she moved, as if it already expecting her aproach.
Unbothered by this reaction she jumped towards its neck, fangs ready to end its life.
With panicked movements the creature blocked the atack with its arm, falling on to the ground in the process.
Pushing her advantage she jumped on top of it and locked her jaw on its arm pumping as much mana as she could into it.
"AAAAAAAA" The creature screeched, kickin and punching with all its might.
The thing was stronger than she had thought, if not for the durprise atack things would have been bad.
Hurt but determined Frost bit harder, flooding its arm with mana faster and faster.
Seconds go by as the scuffles goes on, till a kick hits her side and pulls her out from the top, not losing this chance the creature mounts on top of her, grabing her neck with its free arm.
At the same time mist and ice dominated the creature's forearm freezing it solid in moments, the creature screeched once more but held strong on her neck, blocking any atempt of breathing.
Panicking she overdrew on mana, consuming her own stamina to weaken the ice, before shatering it into hundreds of ice shards.
Just as desperately as her, the creature doubled its efforts, putting all its weight into suffocating Frost.
Clawing and wriggling Frost struggled to free herself, but the creature didn't stop no matter how many cuts she made.
Second by second her paws slowed down, her wrigling weakened.
As her vision colapsed a decision was made, if she would go down it would not be alone, closing her eyes she activated her skill before passing out in the snow.
***
“Ugh, This fucking bastard” Jake muttered with one end of his tshirt in his mouth and the other on his only hand left, doing his best to tie it as tightly as he could above the stump where his left elbow used to be.
It was a simple solution that would probably not work, but having no idea on how to make a tourniquet nor the means to light fire, that was all he could do in preparation for when the stump unfroze completely.
One thing he was sure though, the system had made him significantly stronger, since there was no way he could kill a fucking wolf barehanded before this all went down.
Well… almost kill it, since right as he was about to end its life a system message popped up and a warning flooded his mind.
Making it clear to Jake that from that moment on his and the wolf's life were connected and if one of them died the other would instantly follow.
A feeling only reinforced by that cursed system message.
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You've been affected by Frost Hunter's skill *SOULMATES MARK*.
May not even death be able to divide you from each other.
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The cold wind blew in the area bringing shivers to his spine, with only his cloak full of claw holes covering his chest the cold he felt was almost unbearable.
But he did not have the time to even think about stopping, night was coming in a couple hours and soon enough his wound would unfreeze, and he doubted he would be able to keep himself awake when that happens.
“I swear on my mama I'll cuss your ears off when you wake up… If we’re still alive by then.” He mumbled somberly, picking up his senseless attacker and hanging it on his right shoulder before tracing back his earlier steps.
He had found a place where a few densely leafed trees had grown together, forming a natural roof that protected even the ground from most of the snow.
If not for the constant feeling of being constantly watched earlier on, he would probably already have settled there.
So stumbling his way he slowly and carefully made his way back, praying at every moment nothing would find them, since such a thing would be a death sentence.