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84 CpS

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Tier I Cursor – 2.018 Million Cookies Carpal Tunnel Prevention Cream – 200 Cursors

The emptiness of the ship, besides Neylan and Terayla, twisted Moko’s stomach, a disturbing sight of no one around. A ghost ship.

Three drifted into the abyss where no land would show itself. Lanterns mounted on gimbals illuminated the vessel, but had no strength to surmount the vast sea. The night conquered the waters, forcing them to trust the blind sail. Moko sat and leaned against the railing as Terayla lay beside him, resting her head on his lap as the journey to the east brought silence.

The ship rocked up and down. Terayla rolled around to find a comfortable position to sleep. Moko wished to do the same, yet his body refused to rest. So he counted the numbers on his System screen to ease the beating heart. He clenched his Cookie and kept his baggy eyes open.

Amidst his struggles, a boxed screen written with a script appeared. It seeped into his vision and never deterred from sight.

The hollow sea that draws you closer to danger keeps you awake. You want to turn back around. |

He recalled the time when the tabby cat brought him to Terayla. The second cat was orange. The fourth one was the blue cat currently sleeping in Moko’s hand, keeping him secured from the pain that wrought day and night. Then, there was a third cat he never noticed. Sitting just in front of him, it wagged its tail. The cat was cryptically golden…

He carefully read the words that emerged for the very first time. It almost terrified him. When the golden cat shifted its head around, the box of words smoldered in thin air. There was something about that cat, but Moko couldn’t quite grasp it.

As the tabby cat comforted Neylan in her corner, he peered down at Terayla, whose eyes were half-open. She wasn’t asleep either. He asked, “Is this your doing?”

She looked up at him drowsily.

“The words I’m seeing. Is it you? I can’t control it in any way.”

After a little yawn, she replied, “I don’t know.”

“You still don’t know anything,” he said, exhausted from being awake for two days without sleep. Ever since the heavy decision to pledge his allegiance, his overstimulated body couldn’t relax. “When will you tell me? It’s been days, but even after all time, you’re almost a stranger to me.”

Avoiding eye contact, she sat up and gazed at the floor. She murmured, “How can you know me when I don’t know myself? It’s not like I’m hiding. I want to say something. But… I can’t do it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Do you have a feeling where you want to do something, but you just can’t? It’s like the laws where a person wants to hit a person, but they can’t because they’ll get punished. I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe… maybe in the future, I’ll explain. By then, I might know. But not right now.”

The wear voice of her strained wake pushes you to believe her uncertainty. |

There were those words again. Inscriptions aligned with his feelings, conveying a distinct meaning. After a brief glance, the box disappeared. The golden cat sat calmly.

“Do the words look weird?” Terayla asked.

Moko refocused on her, waiting for an answer. He shook his head. “It’s not. Maybe a little terrifying, but not weird.”

She chuckled and lay back down on his lap with her eyes closed. “At least that’s okay.”

He replied, smiling, “I could get used to it. It’s like a game dialogue, isn’t it?”

The end note before she returned to half-sleeping was soft, yet he immediately reverted to a tensive state. His eyes gazed back to the growing numbers, to the way his System magically produced 84 cookies per second. It was supposed to be 104, but under the plan, he lent some of his Assets to the team. And based on the operation, he’d have to be with Terayla and Neylan.

The tabby cat treaded to his feet, bringing Neylan to Moko. She looked down with a straight look. Exchanging eyes, she said, “Get your System ready. I’ve prepared mine. Roven made a tough decision when doing this.”

“I know,” Moko replied, keeping his voice solid. “I know how to do this. I’ve done it before.”

“I’ll keep your word, but don’t forget that you only have one arm. That’s why I’m here with you.

Moko understood her position as a support, but he was confused about why they hadn’t come with more people. Roven just brought one, which was his own wife.

Roven constructed a detailed plan for every person yesterday, prompting all to disperse in directions that would unite in the end. For now, he still had the current task ahead that would erode much of his confidence. His pledge took two days’ worth of sleep from him, a massive toll on his body he never wanted to endure.

You wonder if you would be okay—if you will live, for the rising sun will not set until you save the children or are dead. |

Roven’s words left him with explicit instructions. His words lingered in his head for the rest of his journey through the Horro Sea until they lodged in Dain Port.

~ This will be a daunting task for you, Terayla, and Neylan. While others are tasked with a different job, you three will have to face the captors alone. ~

On the other end.

The arid cries of the children rose from within a building. They sobbed with hands and legs tied, grouped like bundles ready to get carried off. Boxes and mattresses scattered in the dim-lit field with barely a thread of the morning sun seeping through. The morning crawled above the mountains as sandstorms hauling in the peaks cast hazy shadows beneath. It was a place no man would want to cross.

Stolen novel; please report.

Children lay on their beds, tears drying as they were being fed food and water by the scouters. Two captors with keen eyes watched by the door, observing unresistant parents carrying bowls of food. They fed each and every child, emptying the bowls and then refilling them at the cost of their Entities.

All the eyes pleaded for the parents to do something. Each spoonful they fed tugged on their hearts to resist their submission. The adults believed one more cry from these innocent kids would break their days of obedience and pounce on the men. But one bowl after the other, they refused. They clenched their teeth, taking control of the day that would soon arrive. The day that Roven kept his promise.

When they went to the next child, it was their own son. He cried out to them, whispering with feeble words, “Help me.”

The parents held back their tears and gave him a warm smile, trying to keep him from making any loud wailing. Their fingers trembled, carrying tons of sorrow and anger. They reached out to caress their boy and said, “It’ll be okay. Promise me. We’ll go home together–”

“What’s taking you so long?” one of the impatient captors asked in a sharp tone. The children and the parents flinched. They faced him in fear. He tapped his fingers. “Well? Keep going. You better make them full.”

“U–understood…” They responded, releasing their hold on their child and continuing to feed the rest of them. They held about two dozen children captive in one room. Limited space kept their legs from moving around or having the thrill of being a little kid.

After having filled all of their stomachs, the scouters glanced around the room of children before leaving. The men opened a path for them. Opening the door, the adults left the room.

“You won’t send us away,” Elea said, bringing all the heads to face her. Her group of friends sitting beside her gave the same resolute faces, all but one. “Impy will save us. I know he will.”

The parents and the men stopped their departure and faced the girl. “Impy? Oh, that runaway kid. He won’t be there for much longer. He can’t keep running forever.”

“He will!” Elea’s voice heightened.

“I don’t know about that,” he said, eyeing the lone kid who hid his face in guilt. “After all, one of your friends sold your trust for freedom. He told us everything about your whereabouts, and one of our comrades will slay him. What an idiot. As if we’d let him go. He’s the one who killed your friend.”

Elea and the friends faced the boy who spoke no word. The stinging words and the face that hid its conviction brought their resisting words to rest. Tears filled Elea’s eyes, lowering her head with hair covering her emotions. Ropes bound them all, leaving only the sound of sobs to be heard.

The men grinned mischievously, closed the door, and left the children in desolation. Her voice muffled through the wooden walls, reaching to the parents who agonized over the children they had to turn their backs against. This wasn’t just once, but continuously for the past three weeks.

They looked at their System screens, realizing their absence from their Domain was slowly draining their capabilities to recover. Just five days after withdrawing, their Systems stopped production, causing their Entity count to stagnate. As the Crunch neared, they feared the worst. But nothing was worth more than to help sacrifice their Entities to feed the children. They had to endure.

A handful of captors guarded the field, gazing into the wind and on the field of sand and grass. Some sat with a less scrutiny in protecting their base. Others eyed the parents beneath their cloaked facade.

Shoving the two couples forward, the captors brought them to the adjacent building. It stood larger than the children’s refuge. Their eyes stung by the passing dust of the mountains. With the men covering their faces with a thick towel, they pushed the parents inside the tower.

A rushing scent of blood quickly invaded their noses. Their hands masked their mouths as the glimmering lamps welcomed them. Pillars encircled the inner walls of the confinement where shadows of men lurked. When they entered deeper into the building, they observed the circling men facing the center. Their eyes narrowed, mouths pressed tightly. Those straightened backs and silent demeanors tried to cover their horror, but couldn’t. The two couples faced the red scene. Their faces turned pale.

The woman panted erratically at the mutilated body. Its blood soaked the wooden floor mixed with other parts of the flesh she could barely describe. They struggled to breathe for two heartbeats. The man’s eyes hopelessly studied the corpse cleaved by ten saber swords. Their tips dug through the limbs and the floor, standing on themselves like jutting sticks. Metal blades shining by the wrenching warmth of the light glistened by the blood of not just one body, but two. When the parents realized it, two bodies were atop each other. The remnants of the other family with a different fate.

“Unfortunate,” the General said, standing before the corpses without an inch of remorse or disgust. He stood, unfazed, playing with life’s fragility.

His black uniform with clattering chains followed his movement, turning to face the incoming parents. His bloodred eyes strained with black veins pinned them in place. Their bodies felt the tension and… the power from that glare. It was otherworldly.

“Again, welcome,” the General calmly said, lifting his arms and inviting them in. “Rest well, for this is your temporary abode. I honor those who honor me. And you two are splendid in your work, and mouths disciplined, unlike your peers. Because of such splendid and disciplined selves, I shall keep my word and send you away once we depart.”

The hideous sight of those crimson eyes and the corpses lying beneath the onslaught of swords almost made them puke. In utter fear, they refused to move. There was one person who could’ve done this. They faced the General, and the man asked in tremor, “How? How did you…”

Lowering his arms, the General replied, “Are you asking how I’ve killed them? Their patience and self-control thinned out. Perhaps the constant cries of the children caused their sanity to decline. As you two were diligent in your work, they remained here and rebelled against my orders, so much so that their offensive hands called the divine laws to strip their Systems.

“Poor souls. If they had rewarded my System with some points, their deaths would not be in vain. Ever since my absence from my mother realm, I have grown little. But if I serve that man behind Scholomark, I have no complaints. Have you heard of him, the one who calls himself Marker?”

They nodded stiffly.

He clapped his hands together. “Yes, of course, you’d know, for he has been here since the Watchful Eye’s era. Lacking much presence, but still alive and well. You dwellers all have lived in his devious yet intriguing Domain, a space that heeds to your desires, yet also to him. A magnificent work of art. That man has done remarkable things, making Lei dwellers become soft and fragile in the face of violence.”

The General was continuing with the small talk, attempting to comfort the parents. His powerful eyes yielded self-control, yet wrought with fear that felt like standing on the edge of a cliff. Their hearts raced with eyes darting away from the horrid scenery. They ignored his saying. Sureness crawled up to them, knowing their hope still lingered.

On the day the captors spotted them and brought them in to become servants, it was also the day when Roven began his operation. He gave them a clear day of when they would strike. They stared at each other, knowing today was the Big Day. The day when Lei’s people would take back what they lost had arrived. If the determined look on Roven’s face said enough, they knew it would happen–

“Roven… that’s an interesting name,” the General said darkly, his eyes peering at the parents. The bloodred stain enveloping his gaze shined like fire. He pierced down to their frigid eyes. “So there were people who would come after us all along, just as I thought. I am greatly indebted to your insight. So… today is the attack.”

Their hair stood straight up. Eyes opened. Legs tensed. They couldn’t believe it. As the men surrounded the central hold, tension built up as the words of the Big Day had been somehow leaked. The two knew they hadn’t spoken a word. But when those crimson eyes took hold of them, they realized how much they underestimated the General’s power. Anything they thought about wouldn’t go unnoticed by his dark gaze.

“N–no,” the woman cried, trying to speak otherwise, “I don’t know what you’re talking about! Something must be wrong–”

“Ah, ah,” the General interrupted. A couple of men walked up to the couple and wrapped their mouths in binds. They kicked their hind knees and brought them to the floor. Their clothes and shoewear got tainted by the blood of their friends. They tied their wrists and ankles firmly to keep them from moving.

He continued. “I would advise you to remain still. Calm yourselves before I ask you to clean up this mess. I understand it might disgust you, but the fault is on them. Clean this mess so our guests would be welcomed to this abode.

“And speaking of such, let us respond appropriately, shall we? If the Legal System of the Fross Realm judged this scenario, he would pledge not guilty for us defending our property. Thus, let us begin.”

As the General faced the men around him, he ordered, “Find the rebellious people and this man that goes by Roven. And keep searching for our comrade who has yet to return after slaying that child.”

The men bowed their heads and immersed themselves in sinister smoke. Their figures fazed behind the pillars and advanced to the entrance door. In their fleeting hauls, they flew into the air in collections of black clouds—carried by the winds, sending them in all directions in pairs. They scattered north to Awt, east to their miniature port, and west to the main ports.

When all the captors departed, the General grasped the lapel of his cloak and pulled it to reveal the lining. He slipped his fingers inside a concealed pocket and pulled out a locket. The parents, bound by ropes, watched as he opened the small piece and kissed what was inside it. His eyes were half-lidded, betrayed with a mournful gaze that they never thought would see in him.

Clasping it in his hand, he fiddled with the air as if interacting with his System. When the parents watched his movements, they discovered the locket was his System.

The General spawned a chair, a sturdy one that held his enormous figure. He sat with eyes looking into the open door that brought light inside the blood-stench atmosphere. His face revealed reminiscence, gazing at the distant light as if it were within reach.

Despite the still air and distant children’s cries, he waited for the intruding guests.

On that same morning, when Moko, Terayla, and Neylan landed at Dain Port with fiery glares, the Big Day began.