The city was silent. The suburbs and streets seemed devoid of life, the usual sounds of traffic and angry drivers completely absent.
A cat walked across the road, having spotted something interesting on the opposite sidewalk. Hmm, she thought to herself, A delightfully new sensation she was quickly growing to love. The loud metal pests are strangely silent today. As expected, they're too preoccupied with my feline grace to make any noise whatsoever. She didn't stop to consider that nothing of the sort had ever occurred before today. After all, she was still just a cat. She approached the strange two-legged creature that had been graced with her attention. The creature was lying in a pool of spreading red liquid, which the cat decided smelled quite delicious. Not as good, perhaps, as the food its other pet two-legs offered as tribute, but good enough to satisfy her refined palate, she decided. Yes, this will do quite nicely…
It was a strange day when you woke up to a cat enthusiastically licking your face, especially when you didn't own one. It was a terrible day when you woke up in the middle of the street, in a pool of your own blood, and remembered that you'd been hit by a truck. Arthur groggily opened his blood-encrusted eyes and wiped the cat slobber off his face. He groaned. His body felt like it had taken a pummeling from his Muay Thai instructor, and his left hand definitely wasn't meant to look like that.
Wait… was it… backwards!?
He quickly tried to get to his feet, or at least he tried to, but a dizzying wave of pain forced him to sit back down. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Arthur tried to make sense of his situation. He remembered going to university for his medical exam, talking to Liz, the beginnings of his guilty confession, and finally being hit by a truck. No, something's definitely wrong in that sequence of events. You didn't survive getting hit by a truck, and it didn't take his years of studying human biology to know that. That was just plain, common knowledge.
A sense of vertigo gripped him as he looked up to see a dented vehicle in front of him with an Arthur-shaped imprint on its hood. Arthur took another deep breath. He'd been hit by a truck. Liz had disappeared. And he was still somehow alive! What the hell is going on?
Arthur thought back to see if he'd taken any drugs earlier that day, but that couldn't be right. He'd seen the devastating effects they could have on someone firsthand; he would never take them. With those thoughts came the rush of guilt that usually accompanied them, his less-than-stellar past involved in petty crime but he hastily thrust those emotions aside. Now isn't the time for a mental breakdown.
He was dead, for God's sake, or at least supposed to be. Arthur looked around the destroyed street and realised it wasn't just Elizabeth that had disappeared. Everyone was gone. All the crashed cars were empty as if the whole city had just decided to take a trip somewhere and leave his dead body on the sidewalk.
Well, maybe not everyone. Arthur smirked as he looked back down at the cat that was still enthusiastically licking his blood off the concrete floor, though it probably came out more as a grimace of pain.
Bobcat level 2- Happy, hungry
He blinked, surprised at the blue identification tag that appeared above the cat. He closed his eyes, counted to ten, and looked back at it.
Bobcat level 3- Happy, tired
Maybe I did take drugs after all. No other explanation could make sense of what I'm seeing. Wait, it changed, didn't it? The cat had somehow gained a level.
Once again, Arthur thought back to the truck that had brought him to this strange situation to see if he had missed something that explained all this craziness. It took him a few moments to find it. Just before Arthur had died- or passed out, as it currently seemed- he had seen a strange message in that same odd blue text. System initialising or something like that. Either he'd been delirious and hallucinating at the time, a very likely possibility, or he'd actually seen the weird hologram. This sounds suspiciously like those strange fantasy books Matthew is always glued to, or maybe it's a simulation, and I've been captured by aliens for experimentation. This is straight out of science fiction, except this was what his new reality now seemed to be.
Arthur was tired, dead tired, and his left arm was still the wrong way around, which oddly didn’t hurt for some reason, so he couldn't go to sleep just yet. Am I in shock? Shouldn't I be screaming in pain? I still have no idea what's going on. He concentrated and tried to recall the strange message he had seen, feeling extremely foolish as he did so, and suddenly Arthur felt that same cold breeze he’d first felt when talking to Liz before all this crazy had taken a dump in his life as if he'd just been dipped in an ice bath. The sensation was more subdued this time around but still unsettling.
Something had definitely worked, though, as he saw blue messages rapidly filling his vision. Or maybe he was still hallucinating. The process was so sudden and unexpected that Arthur couldn't help but swear in fright. This is dangerous, stupid even. Someone could die if these messages appeared at random. What would've happened if I'd been driving? He sighed wearily as he set his grievances with the strange messages aside. Now isn't the time for that. Taking a deep breath, Arthur looked at the first bit of floating text.
Re-establishing link with host… Error… Insufficient… Error… Recalibrating… Insufficient energy… Link established… 27%... Integrity compromised… Recalling host's previous logs...
Arthur stopped reading at that. So I'm not crazy after all. Or maybe I am; I wouldn't know either way. Either I've lost my marbles or there's now a system governing reality. Or at least mine. One capable of miracles, it seems, if my beating heart is any indication. By all rights, I should be dead, and yet somehow I'm alive.
And if I'm not dead, then…
Arthur quickly squashed that line of thinking, as well as the budding hope in his chest. There'll be time for that later. Right now, I need to know what's going on, what exactly this strange system is, and most importantly, if and how I can exploit it. I mean, that's how all of Matthew's stories go, don't they? Average Joe gets a system and the next thing you know he's ruling the world.
Arthur braced himself and began to read the system messages from the beginning.
System initialising… Teleporting host to tutorial zone… Error… Host deceased...
So I did die after all.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Introducing host to system… Error, host deceased… Assigning host skill IDENTIFY... Error, host deceased...
These errors were quickly becoming very annoying.
Determining the cause of host's death… Host's teleportation was delayed due to anomalous circumstances by nine seconds… Possibility of error: 0.00038% Error… Error… Resulted in host's termination… Rectifying system error… Error… Insufficient energy…
Possibility of revival due to anomalous circumstances: 17%... Nine thousand three hundred and twelve times more likely than control... Passes threshold for revival attempt... Reassigning system energy from normal initiation protocols…
Host revived...
Arthur once again had to stop reading the system text. Taking deep breaths, he tried to calm his racing heart. The system was capable of reviving the dead. Simple. Just a single line of text, and yet it meant so much more. Something that goes against the fundamental laws of the universe is now apparently possible. I died and was revived by the system.
Fair enough, I'd only been dead for nine seconds, but still. My body had been a mess. This was completely different from using an AED to get someone's heart beating again.
This is bloody magic.
The first thought to cross his mind in this absurd situation was, of course, his sister and her recently deceased status. He didn't know how it could be done or if it was even possible at all, but as he sat there dazed on the sidewalk, he considered the possibility of bringing her back.
A closer read of the system's message immediately squashed those hopes. Whatever the anomalous circumstance had been that allowed his revival, he doubted it'd be replicable. Not when the chances of it were so low. And Rize's been dead for six months. I was dead for seconds. He would have despaired, but he hadn't let his hopes go up in the first place. Now wasn't the time to worry about these things anyway. reality itself had been fundamentally changed and he needed to figure out where he fit into it.
He looked back at the system messages.
Assigning host skill Identify… Skill assigned… Irregular situation detected… Energy below acceptable levels… Integrity compromised… 30%... 29%... 28%... System preparing for failure… System maintenance protocols activated… Error… Formulating a message to ensure host's continued survival… … … Assigning host quest… Ether is required to fix the system… Collect ether to establish a proper system link… 27% integrity… Obtain ether from the extermination of monsters or via any other appropriate method… System activating perseverance protocols…
Collect ether 118/42,000
The messages seemed to stop there, or at least they had until he'd reconnected with the system, faulty as his connection apparently was when he'd regained consciousness. Arthur took a deep breath as he tried to make sense of all the information he'd just learned, mentally deducing all he could from the fragmented messages. It seemed as if every sapient being on Earth had been initiated into this so-called system and then transported somewhere for a ‘tutorial.’ Whether humanity was still on the planet, Arthur could only guess, but he’d bet they were no longer here. The tutorial sounded like an entirely different place, separate from Earth based on the system messages. So let's get this straight. Everyone has gone to a tutorial for an unknown amount of time. I should've gone too, except my teleportation was delayed, and I died of all things before I could be transported. Reviving me cost the system the energy it was supposed to use to establish a link with me and so I need to fix it to gain proper access.
His thoughts just raised more questions rather than answers.
It seems as if the system runs on a weird energy source called ether. Why was my teleportation delayed? Was it sabotage? What even is ether? And what does it mean to collect it from monsters? What the hell classifies as a monster?
These questions rapidly flitted through his head and Arthur could feel a migraine coming on. He didn't want to even start thinking of what happened to people who died of natural causes as the system was initiated. Were they transported to the tutorial dead, left behind, or revived like him? He doubted the latter option considering just how incredibly unlikely his own revival had been. Still, if it happened once, it can happen again. What about a soldier who just got shot right when the system arrived... Arthur's headache only continued to intensify.
His quickly devolving mental acuity, however, was suddenly interrupted by a sharp stabbing pain near his ankle. The cat had bitten him! He tried to prise its teeth off his leg, but it had his flesh gripped firmly in its sabre-like teeth.
Wait, sabre teeth! This is supposed to be a god-damned house cat. Why does it have sabre teeth?’Arthur tried identifying the creature again and got answers to many of his questions.
Razerfure Bobcat level 5 (Frenzied/chaotic flux)- An indigenous species of Earth, this house cat obtained access to Ether-rich blood and failed to evolve properly. This is the result. Has an extremely resistant hide.
Chaotic Flux- This creature will possess a strength far beyond its relative level but perish shortly
Ether content: 92
Grasping the raging cat by its jaws, Arthur struggled to pull it off his leg with his one working arm. At least now he knew where he had to get his ether from. Animals that had been altered by ether. The Bobcat was nothing like its former self though, and his ineffectual struggles to remove it from his foot did little but enrage the tiny beast. He slammed his fist into its skull but nothing seemed to happen, the force from his knuckles being magically distributed across the entirety of the feline's body.
Looking around for a weapon, he gripped a large glass shard from the ground, wincing as it cut into his palm. It wasn't the best weapon, but beggars couldn't be choosers and it looked like he was about to lose his leg. Arthur really liked his leg. Hopefully, a sharp enough object would pierce through its tough skin.
Steeling himself, he thrust the makeshift dagger into the cat's head, expecting it to swiftly end the small feline's life. Nothing of the sort happened. The glass shard did no damage whatsoever; only inciting the Bobcat to try and tear into his leg further. The cat's god-damn fur was stab-proof, or at least it was to his glass dagger.
Beginning to panic, Arthur realised that this cat could actually pose a threat to his life. It would be the biggest cosmic joke if Arthur got killed by a cat right after coming back from the dead. Like, come on. He’d just got his second chance. Couldn't fate cut him some slack?
Fear now fueled his strikes, as he repeatedly bashed his glass weapon into the little monster's head. Nothing seemed to be working, however, until he suddenly heard a squeaky yelp from the cat glued to his leg. Looking down at its blood-covered face- his blood sadly- Arthur saw that a shard of glass had managed to cut into its eyelid. Realising that the little bastard had a weakness, Arthur redoubled his pathetic efforts. An agonising eternity later, he looked down to see its dead body, its small head a bloody mess of brains, blood and splintered glass. His own state was only a little better, but not by much; it had mangled his ankle into a disgusting mash of flesh and his palm was cut deeply from clenching the jagged piece of glass too hard.
The pain threatened to make him pass out, but he knew if he went to sleep now, he probably wouldn't wake up again, system shenanigans be damned. He’d have died from blood loss. Looking around desperately, Arthur tried to locate something, anything, to staunch the bleeding, but couldn't see an item that would be of any use. An adult human only had around ten pints of blood in them and judging by the rate Arthur was bleeding out, he was quickly approaching the parameters of what would be considered safe.
Wait! Wasn’t my blood the cause of the cat's frenzied state? With desperate hope, Arthur identified the pool of blood he’d woken up with around him. He was clutching at straws here, but there was little else he could do in his current predicament.
Ether-Infused Blood (Rare)- Blood infused with large amounts of Ether of healing and life affinity by the system to revive its host. Contains regenerative properties when ingested. A useful catalyst for many elixirs and alchemical solutions.
He didn't stop to consider why the stuff didn't seem to be working on him when it literally flowed through his veins. Now wasn't the time for that. Sighing with relief, Arthur tried lapping up his blood from the ground, which had now achieved a gel-like consistency from its time lying in the sun for who knows how long. It was a degrading way to eat, but Arthur would do just about anything to survive right now. Ironic really, considering how much letting go had appealed to him only twenty-four hours ago. Perhaps there was some truth to the old proverb, after all.
Throw a depressed man into the sea and see just how hard he clings to life.
Nothing seemed to happen even after he’d drank a single mouthful and so Arthur went for another and- SCREAMED!
Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. It felt like he had liquid fire in his stomach. Magma was flowing through his veins.
Arthur tried to retch up the blood he had just ingested but his body just didn't seem to want to comply with him. With tears in his eyes, Arthur managed to look down at his mangled arm.
Hey wait, it looks like it's going back in the right direction. Those were his last thoughts before he passed out.