“Hello” is all I can get out before I am bombarded with questions from every angle.
“What the hell was that?” The dwarf asks me.
“Is it a skill?” The death mage asks.
“Have you been able to do that this whole time?” The healer ponders.
The Paladin just looks at me like it was nothing.
“Yes, it is a skill and yes, I have been able to do that this whole time.” I reply.
The Dwarf then makes his way towards me. I start to notice him more since the chaos has officially calmed down for now. Looking to be around five feet tall and at least past thirty, he is dressed in the same [Starter Clothes] as me except they are made to his size. His copper, double bladed war-axe, is currently fixed upon his back by an interesting design of leather straps that help him keep it from swaying too much but is also easy to undo, allowing him to draw it faster. The axe is still covered by the viscous blood of the now deceased Guardian. He has the hint of a chiseled face if one were to remove the beard. His black eyes seem to pierce through you, as if he is looking directly into your soul. He is holding a small smile over the victory but his body language still seems to be exuding an aura of urgency.
“Thank you Clyde, I know for a fact that it’s not wise to reveal all of your trump cards at the beginning so I understand why you refrained from telling us about that skill. My name is Patrick. Rest assured though that we will not force you to reveal it to us. I have to ask though, are you really just a Mage? Or do you have a different class?” He’s a very cunning man despite looking so much like a berserker. By saying “we” instead of “I” he is making everyone subconsciously think that he should be in control. He seems good natured though so I don’t see a reason to hide anything.
“Yes actually my class is not a mage but a magus which is not that different besides giving me access to a skill called [Eye of the Magus] which seems pretty useless. I tried it but it only seems to tint the world blue.” I casually tell him, making sure not to say unlocking so I don’t give him too much information.
“Blue you say? Do you mind reading me the description of the skill?” Patrick questioned. Seeing no problem with the request I relayed him the description and his eyes lit up. “Let me ask you something, when you play video games is the mana bar not blue? Maybe this is a way for you to see mana. I have this skill called [Meditation] to help recover when I use my mana for a buff I bought. The description of [Meditation] says that I forcefully inject more ambient mana from the air into me, causing my regeneration to raise as an effect. When I used it I could feel mana entering my body from all of my pores. What I am thinking is that your skill allows you to see mana. This would also explain why you perceive it as blue!” Patrick then sits down and closes his eyes. Thinking he is using the meditation skill I then activate [Eye of the Magus] and gasp. What I see is the blue around Patrick is slowly gravitating toward him and the tint seems to lessen, as if he is absorbing it. Looking closer I notice blue like veins in Patrick's body that seem to pulse as if alive.
Patrick then stops and looks at me with a smug expression since he knows he is right. I then remember that there were other people besides me and Patrick and glance along the room.
The Paladin is in the [Starter Clothes] and is carrying a broadsword. He is black, with a semi-athletic build and a rounded face. He has a crew cut hairstyle and the cross around his neck seems to almost be glowing.
The death mage is not wearing the [Starter Clothes] but a dark cotton cloak and all black clothing. He looked very lanky and his skin was very pale. The orb in the staff he is carrying emits a dark aura.
The healer looks just like his twin brother except he is wearing the [Starter Clothes] and the white stone tipped wand seems to illuminate the area around him.
“Well, while this mood is quant, there are still a shit ton of zombies downstairs and I don’t think we can kill them all. What the hell are we going to do?” The paladin declares.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Actually I might have a plan about that.” I say. With everyone now focused on me I start to explain my plan. “So it is a little crazy but I think our best bet is for me to lure the zombies to the rooftop while you guys climb down the fire escape.” The healer interrupts me.
“Won’t you just die? Isn’t the whole reason why we didn’t want for Daniel to carry out his plan is because we don’t want you to die?” The healer looked at me flabbergasted.
“Well, his plan wasn’t bad, I was just scared because he grabbed me and I didn’t even consider my skills. I guess I should tell you guys now. My skill I used is called [Ethereal Shift]. Basically I shift into a different plane of existence and won’t take any damage. The description says no damage at all so I was thinking that my fall damage will be negated.” Everyone seems to understand what I am talking about and they all decide that the plan could work. “Good, now that everyone understands, let’s do it.”
****************************************************************************************************************************************
I am now in the staircase, one set of stairs before I reach the main floor. You know, where all of the undead flesh eating addicts are. Everyone should be at the fire escape by now. Closing my eyes I steel myself before running down the stairs, opening the door, and fire a fireball straight into the crowd of zombies, making sure they see me before turning around and sprinting upstairs.
While running past the fourth floor I yell “GERONIMO” with a crowd of zombies hurriedly chasing after me. That was the key-word Patrick suggested I use when I have garnered the attention of the zombies. By now they should be rapidly descending the fire escape. Breaking past the second to last floor of my apartment building I can finally see the door that leads to the rooftop. I then start to feel heavier than normal and start to notice how hard I am breathing. I haven’t done this much exercise in years. I then glance at my Stamina bar and the numbers are slowly ticking down. Currently I only have fifteen Stamina points left. Figuring I should have just enough I finally make it to the rooftop door. Taking a moment to glance down I blanche at the sight. Hundreds of zombies are rapidly descending the stairs. Their dead gazes showing nothing but hunger, the Zombies going as far to run over one another to try and get to me. Gulping I pull on the door. The door opens and I am now sprinting towards the edge where the fire escape is also located at.
Making my way towards the edge of it I see the group on the street below me, a full six story drop between me and freedom now looms over me. While wondering if this is actually going to work I turn around and see the zombies are less than thirty feet away from me and are closing in fast. It's now or never I think to myself as I jump off of the building and a little out so I don’t hit the railing. Gravity is now starting to pull me faster down while I am screaming off the top of my lungs. I immediately use [Ethereal Shift] when I am just about to hit the floor and close my eyes instinctively.
Instead of being squashed onto the pavement like I thought was going to happen, I am instead laying on the ground still in [Ethereal Shift] with not even a blemish on me. Canceling [Ethereal Shift] I get up and look at Patrick and his group.
“I can’t believe that worked” I hear the twins mumble in unison.
Patrick starts bellowing “Haha, you almost got me there. For a second I thought you were actually going to die.” He then stops and looks around the alley that we are located in. I then start to take in my surroundings. We are currently between my apartment building and an office building. To the right is a main road that if followed for a couple blocks, we would be able to get to Claire’s Bakery. Turning towards the group I then ask them a question.
“So..what now?”
“I think you we should locate a safe place so we can get some rest. It’s been a long day for all of us.” Patrick says.
“Then why don’t we go to my sisters Bakery shop? It’s only a couple of blocks away and is very small. There is also a good chance we could find survivors that way.” I suggest, hoping they will join me in finding my sister.
“I don’t see why not, we don’t have any other place to go. Lead the way please sir.” Patrick says, knowing full well why I want to go and see if my sister is okay. With that, we head out towards my sisters bakery where hopefully she still is.
While walking through the once ever so thriving city I onced loved, I notice that there is now nothing but sounds of car alarms blaring, and there seems that there is always someone screaming from somewhere, constantly making my group keep vigilance. We decided to stick to the alleyways and back roads towards my sister's store since the main road looked like it was occupied with multiple Zombies and an even bigger looking zombie that easily towered over the others by being a striking ten feet tall.
While on our way through the multiple alleyways of New York city, we sometimes stumbled upon a lone zombie or maybe a small group. We always dispatched them quickly seeing as they would only attract more zombies if they ever managed to let off a wail or two. By doing this we were all able to level up twice. We all earned one attribute point each level and I quickly put them into constitution seeing as I almost ran out of Stamina.
We finally reached my sisters bakery after three hours of carefully sneaking, luckily I gained a skill. It was common but I didn’t mind since it seemed to be a very useful one.
[Skill Acquired! Sneak]
[Sneak lvl 3 58%]
[Description- Able to move while not making a sound, harder to detect. Higher levels also grant the ability to mask your scent, mana signature, and even your physical form. Current Bonus- +3% to being undetectable.]
This skill will most likely save my life someday. Making our way towards the back entrance of the one story bakery, Patrick reaches for the handle and tries to open the door but it appears to be locked. Knowing my sister I hand signal him to move over while I insert the spare key I keep being a family member. The door opens without a sound and once we all manage to make it inside I silently close the door and re-lock it.
Looking around at the familiar employees lounge, with the two vending machines that are currently empty, a plastic table with some fold up chairs in one corner, and a large cupboard with a sink is located along one of the other walls. Not even caring to check for my sister I just collapse onto the floor while passing out The pressure that’s been welling up inside me ever since the beginning of this now washing over me like a tidal wave, forcing my body to rest even if my mind doesn’t. Before I black out though I notice three blurry figures running into the room from the doorway that leads to the bakery.