I decided I needed a bit of shuteye after talking to Yumi. As much as I enjoyed messaging her and knowing she was around, I was still exhausted. After falling into a deep sleep, I had disturbing dreams, only one of which I remembered. It had Emily Cohen showing up at the front door of my old town house. Her raven black hair was sleek and framed her imperious face as she held a check with my severance payment in front of me. She smirked and teased me with the check, suggesting that if I kneeled before her and begged forgiveness, she would give me my severance. I met her violet eyes thinking of everything I could do with the Monday, maybe it would be worth it. I needed that money. The moment I contemplated submitting to her, she smiled. Her violet eyes now had a red tinged glow around them. The check suddenly transformed into an old papyrus scribe that held the details of my severance with a place at the bottom of the page that required me to sign my name in my own blood.
I woke with a start, gasping for breath. What in the hells? The gentle breeze chilled my clammy skin, damp from the anxiety of the dream. I looked around. My heart was beating so fast it hurt. The sun had risen high enough that I could see the red gold rays filter to the pine needled trees above me. After a minute, I regained my composure, taking a deep breath, inhaling through my nostrils and letting the breath leave in a steady pattern from my mouth
As a CSU student, Go Rams!, I had the pleasure of taking one of the greatest courses of all time: Stress Management. I mean seriously, what better life skill can you develop than learning how to deal with all the ‘hee bee gee bees’ that life gives you? Not only that, but as a class that focused on meditation, yoga, progressive relaxation and breathing exercises, it was chock full of beautiful women.
I put my hand to my chest in a moment of silence to remember Caselyn Jennings, the tall and beautiful volleyball player. We had hung out regularly that year and had some wonderful nights. Alas, despite her beauty and our mutual interest, our time together was short-lived. After that semester, we spent a little time together, and it wasn’t really serious, anyway. Despite her focus on her sport, guys lined up to be with her. My laid-back approach to dating and having a good time meant I tried not to get to attached to anyone, as much for my protection as anyone else’s. And while I was not as popular as the blonde bombshell, Caselyn Jennings, I didn’t do too bad myself.
“Ah, Caselyn. Why can’t you visit me in my dreams?” I muttered.
We had good times, Caselyn and I. She was the prettiest girl I ever dated and she was fun to be around. It was also nice that her goal in life wasn’t to humiliate me and subjugate me to further her empire of darkness. I shuddered. Emily Cohan, you haunt my dreams with your devilish beauty.
“Whose Caselyn?”
I turned to see Haley watching me. She was 14 years old with a cute smile and a younger version of her mother’s warm, pretty features. She hadn’t spoken to me much the first few days of the trip, but she warmed up to me more every day.
“Caselyn?”
“Yeah, Caselyn, and why do you want her to be in your dreams?” She waggled her eyebrows. She had mastered the eyebrow waggle. So gifted for a teenager, it had taken me a year or two to master the single eye-brow raise, a move that I learned from my mother. I still remembered the days when Abby would make fun of me because I couldn’t raise one eyebrow. It came so easily to her and she would give me the look often.
I flicked her nose, grinning at her. “I’m sorry, but that information is top-secret. Besides, you are too young to know such details.” Danielle must have heard the interaction because she called out to her.
“Haley, stop pestering Cass and come help me scrub these carrots, so we have something to eat.”
Haley gave me a look and smirked. “I bet you had a crush on her and wish she was your girlfriend.” Then she stuck her tongue out at me and scampered off. I sighed, watching her help her mother peel carrots.
She was so close to the truth. Life had been carefree. I studied hard and played hard. The loans I had covered my expenses, and I didn’t worry much about work. That meant I had plenty of time to hang out with friends. Many of them were working in corporate jobs, married, and some even had kids. We had all gone our separate ways.
I realized now the appeal of having a companion, and maybe even a family. Coming to this world made me feel very alone. Naturally, those thoughts weren’t helpful, so I buried them, then steeled myself, forcing myself to be cheerful.
As I walked over to the front of the shelter the Johnsons had constructed, Taylor turned to me, greeting me by handing me a packet of food wrapped in a leaf. Unfolding the leaf, I popped some pine nuts in my mouth before re-wrapping the food and stuffing it in my pocket.
“What are your plans for today, Cass?” Taylor asked.
Munching on a carrot, he sat on a log we had found and hauled back as a makeshift seat..
“Well, I have some good news.” I said, dragging another log to sit down in front of him. “A friend of mine contacted me. She is a member of a more advanced party deeper in the forest. They got classes and grew their experience.”
“Classes are necessary for our survival. Our challenge is finding an effective way to gain experience. Unfortunately, there is no tutorial or guide available.”
“You haven’t seen the tutorial?” Taylor asked.
“What tutorial? There isn’t a tutorial.”
Taylor gave me a look. “We all have access to a tutorial. I thought you knew. It should have been one of the first messages you received. Check your notifications. You should see it.”
I asked Lana to bring back my notifications from when I arrived. Sure enough, I didn’t have any information about a tutorial.
Taylor allowed me to review my notifications. I checked them a few times and even went through the system interface manually instead of using Lana's custom interface. Still Nothing. Strange, I pondered for a moment. Perhaps this is why I woke up later than everyone else.
“Taylor, I just checked twice and I don’t have any sort of access to the tutorial. Would you be willing to explain it to me? How did it work? What did it teach you?”
Taylor frowned for a bit, gazing at his food.
“Well, it isn’t anything too baffling. Just a short video of sorts that plays in your mind somewhere in between a daydream and a dream. You're still awake, but you can see the video playing in your mind. It contained information about how the system empowered people to grow strong. Also, it spouted old religious sounding information. Something about the creator of the system. Apparently, the system empowered sapient species to help them stand up to the creatures of the abyss. The most important information it gives you is around affinities, skills and classes.”
“What did it teach you about that? Well, just that each race has an affinity as humans, we have mixed affinities. We are the jack-of-all-trades species able to adapt and learn. We can learn most skills, though we aren’t extremely talented at anything based on how I summarized the tutorial. Humans typically have affinities with elements like water, fire, earth, and air. But circumstances can lead to affinities with more specialized concepts. As people grow, they may gain additional affinities, like the mixture of fire and air that produces lightning. There are many affinities.”
“Anyhow, our affinities and skills will shape the classes we can get. Your affinities will determine the skills you possess. If you were to have a fire affinity, you may gain abilities such as fireball, flaming sword, etc. The system allows you to codify your lessons so that it is easier to perform your abilities or something like that.”
“You receive a class offer at level three. The class you choose will shape your abilities and place in this world. So if you become a warrior and want to grow strong, you must fight and even kill, whereas a farmer could increase in power through growing grains."
I scratched at the stubble on my chin. I wasn’t really interested in becoming a warrior, but a farmer wouldn’t keep us alive, either. We needed classes would make us safer.
“Thanks for the explanation, Taylor. I’ll keep that in mind as I level up.” I was still level one, but that had been due to us avoiding conflict, and I hadn’t really done much other than setup camp and gather supplies. To progress, we would need to be more systematic in our approach.
We then moved on to our plan for meeting up with Yumi. Danielle and Haley sat down by us. Jimbo was still sleeping.
“How did you say you met Yumi?” Haley asked Cass.
“Oh, well, she is my best sister’s friend. We've been friends for years. I guess you could say when we worked together, we were partners in crime.”
Haley chose that moment to interject. “What do you mean you were partners in crime? Did you do inappropriate stuff together?” She gave me a mischievous look as she waggled her eyebrows. I burst out laughing.
Danielle abruptly turned to her daughter. “Haley! Behave yourself!”
“I’m sorry, Cass. I don’t know where she got it from. It didn’t come from me or Taylor.”
Taylor chipped in, “Most definitely, it came from Tori. I'm proud of her accomplishments, but she's a big tease.”
Haley folded her arms and gave a pouty face. I laughed. She was cute and fun. Out of the family, she had been talking to me more than anyone and I was thinking of her as a little sister. I already felt protective of her, and she brightened my day with her sense of humour. She would make some guy very lucky when she grew up.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
That thought sobered me. She belonged in a school, making friends and flirting with boys. Her budding personality was a joy to behold. It reminded me of Abby when she was in middle school. She didn’t belong here. She had no future in this world of two suns. The sobering thought passed. Then I forced myself to put on a smile. Nothing was for sure, and we could shape our destiny. It just made it that much more important that we meet up and create a new life for everyone. One where the young could flourish. Throwing a smile at Taylor, I laughed. “It is no big deal. She reminds me of my younger sister. I find her charming, in that awkward middle school growing up sort of way.”
Taylor laughed. Danielle shook her head ruefully and Haley shot another pouty face to me, to which I gave her my most winning smile.
“Cass, I hate to interrupt your interpersonal bonding rituals, but I have detected a threat.”
I tensed up and looked around. To see what she was talking about. The Johnsons noticed my change in behavior.
Danielle watched me closely, following my anxious eyes as I roamed my surroundings.
“Cass, what is it?”
“Lana detected a threat. Everyone, be quiet.”
Danielle grabbed Jimbo, who had just wandered out of bed, then backed up against a large tree, standing in front of him protectively. Haley huddled next to her mother. Haley's pouty look turned into fear.. Taylor held his bow with tightly, causing the blood to drain from his knuckles.
I tore my gaze from the kids. No child should have to deal with this crap. I thought to myself.
“Lana, report. What are we dealing with here?”
Rather then respond, Lana showed me. A red arrow appeared in my glasses pointing to the right. As I looked over, a red box highlighted what seemed to be a stone about 30 yards away, buried in some sort of patch of bushes. Using my ocular vision, I zoomed in to see what it was. It wasn’t a stone as it was moving, and as I looked closer; I felt my stomach drop. “Shit!”
Taylor hissed. “What is it? What do you see?”
By this time he had his bow out arrow drawn back, ready to let loose on any animal that came out. Though I wasn’t sure if arrows would help us in this situation.
I racked my brains trying to come up with a plan.
“Cass!” Taylor prodded me this time, along with the hiss. “What is going on?
“Bear. Big one, give me a second, do nothing if you see it. Try to remain calm.”
“Lana, what do you have for me? What do we have on bears?”
The beast emerged from the bushes. It was huge, bigger than any grizzly I had ever seen. It had to be six feet to its shoulders while it was walking. As it came out of the bushes. I got a better look at it. It was a fearsome owl bear. Instead of a hump, this creature had a feathered mane that stood like daggers.. Large golden eyes were on me as it approached. It definitely knew where we were and was heading directly for us. It had horn-like tufts at either side of its eyes, giving it a fearsome appearance..
“Lana?” I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.
“Yes, Cass I have predicted outcome based on correlating this owl bears behavior, with predatory grizzly bears from earth.”
“Get to the point.”
I cast detect while I was waiting for her to share what she had found.
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> Owl Bear (Alpha)
>
> Level 15
>
> Known to keep to themselves, they are fierce predators when provoked, or perceive a threat to their territory. Owl bears are generally indifferent to other sapient species. While they are not pack animals, they live within a hierarchy. The alpha is an Apex predator, resting at the pinnacle of the owl bear hierarchy. Owl bears are considered an intelligent beast. Using their talon like paws as weapons, they can gather and hunt food. Owl bears have dangerous dagger like feathers that make up their mane, hump, and mantle that will stand on end when ready for confrontation. These feathers act as a sort of armor protecting their vitals from other owl bears taloned paws. Approach with caution.
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Not good. Not good. Its feathers were on end. That meant that it was ready for a confrontation.
At that moment, Lana shared her recommended action with me.
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> Strategy 1: Draw bear from party, damage vulnerable areas, then escape to shelter.
>
> Expectation of survival, Cass: 10%
>
> Expectation of survival, party: 85%
>
>
>
> Strategy 2: Party targets bear, damage vulnerable areas, then escape to shelter.
>
> Expectation of survival, Cass 45%
>
> Expectation of survival, party: 20%
>
>
>
> Strategy 3: Cass and Taylor Target bear, fire arrows at eyes, damage vulnerable areas, then escape to shelter.
>
> Expectation of survival, Cass: 20%
>
> Expectation of survival, Taylor: 15%
>
> Expectation of survival, party: 60%
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“Lana! This is the best you got? You have nothing with greater chances of survival? What about playing dead?”
That would be a 3% chance of survival for you and the party.
Today was just not my day. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to make a call. What a disaster! As if I know what to do any better than they do. Yet, they still seemed to trust me despite us being together for a short time. I eyed the second strategy. It gave me the best odds of survival at the cost of the Johnsons. Though there was an argument to be made, that because of the knowledge Lana held, I was likely more important to the survival of humans.
My gaze inevitably drew to Haley and Jimbo, who were gazing at me with a mixture of fear and hope. I felt disgust rise in my gut for even considering such a despicable path. Fuck that! Those with strength should protect the innocent. That’s humanity at its best. It wasn’t just about living. It was about living in such a way that you could hold your head high, knowing that you made the world a better place. That was how my parents taught me to think, and I wasn’t about to change my ideals for a better chance of survival. Then, just like that, I knew what to do. My indecision gone, my resolve strengthened. I might not limp away from this mess, but the Johnsons would if I had anything to say about it. My gaze turned to the owl bear.
“You’re going to regret this, you bastard!” I said in a loud voice while looking at the bear, trying to make myself look as big as I could.
I barked out orders, gripping my makeshift spear so hard my hand was white from lack of blood.
“Taylor!”
His gaze snapped from the bear to me.
“I need you to cover Danielle and the kids. If you have to shoot, go for his eyes. Those arrows won’t damage anything else on his body. Don’t shoot unless you are confident you are going to hit him, and only if he comes after you rather than me. Take Danielle and the kids to the meadow. Find Yumi and her party, use Danielle’s map to come find me if I don’t meet up with you by the end of the day and I’m still alive.”
The kids snivelled over by their mother, attempting to suppress their emotions. Danielle tried to comfort them and keep them quiet.
“What are you going to do? Are you sure we shouldn’t just play dead?” Taylor asked.
“No, I already asked. Lana says we have a 3% chance of survival if we play dead.”
The blood drained from Taylor’s face, showing a look of fear I had never seen before on his face.
“Pull yourself together, Taylor. I have a plan that results in an 80% chance you and your family survive. You can’t make a mistake on this. Listen to me.”
He seemed to take courage at the words, standing up straighter and turning his bow, training his arrow toward the bear. “What do I need to do?”
I quickly relayed the plan to them. How they would need to sneak away but not appear afraid or run until they were far enough away that the bear was unlikely to follow. The last thing they wanted to do was trigger the bear’s predatory instincts.
I would keep the bear’s attention by acting big and menacing. Then I would lead it back toward camp. There were some crevices on the cliff that would be too small for a bear of that size to enter. I also had a trick or two up my sleeve that would hopefully make me seem like too much of a hassle for the bear to worry about. After I quickly finished up sharing the plan with them, Taylor and Danielle nodded. Danielle pulled the small bag of precious pepper from her spacial storage that they had received at the beginning as part of their rations from the system. I caught it as she tossed it to me and stuffed it in my pocket.
Taylor backed up as the kids started moving off. As they moved off, Danielle turned back to me, a look of gratitude in her eyes. Her look was so deep and full of emotions I had a hard time meeting her gaze, afraid that the walls of my courage would come down.
“What are your chances of survival?”
They were about 10%. It was likely that I would survive, but I would not tell her that. It would do nothing to help the situation, and I didn’t want to risk any of them staying behind. So I quickly thought what was the highest I could go with her believing me?
“65% chance of survival.” She paused then nodded, looking like she suspected I might not be telling the truth.”
Then she pointed at me and said. “Elysian Link!”
A prompt popped up.
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> Elysian Link: 1 time use ability
>
> Danielle wishes to link to you with Elysian link. While this link is active, you will appear on her map no matter where you are as long as you remain on this planet. Do you accept link request
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A host of thoughts ran through my mind. Active 2: This ability should be used on her husband or one of her children, but I also saw the deep gratitude in her eyes and her fear for me. This woman was full of love. In the short time I had spent with the Johnson’s they had become the closest thing to family I had in this world. The emotions that rose in my throat were a sign I had made the right decision. I only nodded, accepting before turning back to the bear.
I could hear Danielle as she walked away, promising that they would come find me after as soon as they had more help. I felt a spark of hope in my gut, but I quickly quenched it. Now wasn’t the time for hope. I might be killed, but I had made this choice and it felt right.. I steeled my nerves and continued distracting the bear. I moved it in the opposite direction while maintaining eye contact with the fearsome creature. If I could just go back to the Cliffside, I might hide in one crevice in the mountain. Squeezing in where the bear wouldn’t be able to reach me.
No, I’d make my way to the cliffs and crevice. It wasn’t as far away, and I had limited time. I yelled a the bear.
“Hey! You overgrown, feathered freak. I’m over here.” It looked the direction that the Johnsons had travelled, as if it was debating if it should follow. Its golden eyes turned back onto me, causing the hairs on the back of my head to raise. It was only ten meters away now. I backed against a tree, hiding behind my pathetic excuse for a spear, pushing the butt up against the tree. If it rushed me, maybe I could impale it on the spear, using the tree to reinforce it enough to pierce the thick hide of the beast. I reached my other hand toward my pocket and crouched now, giving the bear a smaller target. It was close enough now that I could smell the beast. It smelled like a wet dog, the smell surprisingly strong.
Apparently crouching had been the wrong decision because it triggered the bear’s predatory instinct. The bear charged. I clenched, bracing myself for what came next just before the bear reached the spear. It rose on its two hind legs.
“Damn!” So much for the spear impaling the beast. Well, time for Plan B. The bear on its hind legs must have been the height of a normal sized basket ball hoop. The creature was massive. Fortunately for me, I had hops. I dropped the spear and jumped as high as I could throw a handful of pepper right into those two large golden eyes. Direct hit. I hit the ground when an ear-splitting screech pierced the air.
Apparently, owl bears didn’t roar when they were upset. No, what they did was much more frightening. A piercing screech rang out from its beak, so loud I had to cover my ears. It reminded me of those creatures from the old classic film, Lord of the Rings. What were they called, or right, like the piercing screech of a Nazgul except at supersonic levels? The bear went from standing to rubbing its eyes on the ground to get the pepper out.
Wow, well, that actually worked. That was my cue to ‘get out of dodge’. I grabbed my spear and ran toward back towards camp as fast as my legs could take me. The bear was rubbing its eyes against the ground and trying to get rid of the pepper with its paws..
I pumped my legs as hard as I could, as if my life depended on it, because, well, my life depended on it.