Or at least, I tried to. The door was stuck.

I tried again, pushing harder. Nope. Nothing.

'="…"

I looked at the door knob. Oh. It was locked. Flustered I turned the lock and swung the door open.

“HUUUURGGEHH!” A white frothy mess mixed with noodles and other bits and pieces of food splashed down onto the blood red carpet.

Oh man. Nothing could have prepared me the scene in front of me. I couldn’t help but toss my up my lunch and splatter it all over the floor, letting it mix and blend with the blood on the floor.

The hallway was literally a pool of crimson liquid, and the walls were splattered with bright red as if someone got a bucket red paint and splashed it all over the walls. Except I knew it wasn’t paint.

Across the hall there were a number of corpses that lying prone. Or at least pieces of them. My room was near the end of the hallway, and it looked like they put up a valiant sort of last stand against the hornets, backed up against the wall.

A number of corpses littered the hallway. I could tell one of them was a girl, and the other two looked like guys. There were four or maybe five indistinct bodies down the hallway lying prone on the floor, I couldn’t really figure out whether they where male or female.

Why? Um, because they didn’t really have a head anymore. Just a headless corpse. Some of them were missing limbs, others had their stomachs ripped open by something incredibly sharp and I could see the intestines loosely dangling out.

A number of hornet corpses also lay beside their bodies, evidence of a violent and brutal struggle.  I glanced back into my room and at the dead hornet. It was only now did I realize why there were white blemishes on its carapace.

They were battle scars.

My roommate Ivan was among the deceased bodies. His trademark long and blonde hair was stained with blotches of red, his terror filled eyes were wide open, his blood soaked body slumped up against the wall. At his side was a fire axe with its handle shattered, a last-ditch yet futile attempt for survival.

I froze. My bewildered mind frantically put the final pieces of the puzzle together, finally putting together a gruesome reality.

It couldn’t be. The screaming and yelling in my dreams. They weren’t conjured up from out of nowhere. It was them. The last desperate struggles for survival.

My face paled, and I started to shiver uncontrollably.

Hesitantly, I touched one of the corpses, staining my hands with blood.

I stumbled back with horror.

The body was still warm. The blood was almost… burning hot.

How long has it been since they were killed? Minutes? Seconds? And I slept through it all.

They were all ruthlessly killed. And I was sleeping.

What a sick fucking joke.

With a deep breath, I steadied myself.

I stooped down and I grabbed the fire axe head. Who knows, maybe it would be of use to me later on and it wasn’t like they were going to be needing it anymore.

All of the sudden, a hand shot up and grabbed my arm. My heart literally jumped out of my chest and into my throat.

“L-Lu...cy? I-is…you?” A faint whisper entered my ears.

It was Ivan. Unexpectedly he was still alive, only just barely, but I didn’t know how much long he had left.

“... came… back. I knew…wouldn’t leave… me.” He was struggling to speak.

I knelt down and wrapped his shivering hand with mine, and gripped it tightly. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.

“It’s….it’s so cold...dark, I… can’t see.”

His eyes were wide open, but they weren’t looking at me. They couldn't.

“I’m scared… I-I’m scared. I don’t… wanna… I…”

The shivering stopped, and his hand went limp, falling to the wet floor with a sick thud.

And just like that, he was gone.

I reached up and gently closed his eyes. It was the least I could do. However the moment I did so, a glowing symbol surfaced and appeared on his head.

Ding!

Strength Rune

Effects:

Strength +.1

My face darkened. Are you fucking kidding me. My foul mood took another turn for the worse.

It wasn’t enough that they were brutally mutilated. No, the fucking system even gave us an incentive to fucking kill each other.

Does that mean the others have runes too?

A little while later…

I managed to scrounge out 2 strength runes and 5 agility runes, and even one intelligence rune. Each gave me 0.1 increase in stats respectively, bringing up my stats by a large amount. As each successive absorption of the rune, my body felt noticeably lighter and I felt… liberated.

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It was as if my whole life I had been unknowingly shackled down by invisible weights and chains, and now someone has cut me loose and set me free.

All the agility runes were from the hornets, by which I don’t think is a coincident. The strength and intelligence runes came from Ivan, Lucy, and another body. I’m not sure how the runes were created and how they are allotted, but then again I don’t really know what’s actually going on.

I lifted my sword up. It did indeed felt noticeably lighter than before. I still couldn’t really swing it around like a one-handed blade, but it became much easier to wield it.

I couldn’t tell so much with strength and intelligence, but common sense dictates strength would equal… obviously strength. Agility would be speed, while intelligence would dictate how smart I am?

I’m not entirely sure how it works yet, but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be too long before I find out.

But I felt horrible, sick to the stomach.  I was a vulture, a scavenger who swooped in and fed on the dead, desecrating their corpses.

It was distasteful work, but I wasn’t left with much of a choice. I did what was necessary, regardless of what it made me feel.

The headless corpses didn’t have any runes on them, and I wasn’t stupid enough to not realize why. The surviving hornet probably ate them and absorbed the runes into itself. It was noticeably larger than the rest of the dead hornet’s lying around.

I bowed my head and paid my respects to them, and took my leave. I did my best not to stare at their mutilated bodies. There was nothing I could do for them, not anymore.

I’m sorry, I couldn’t even give you guys a proper burial. I hope you’ll forgive me.

As I neared the end of the hallway, I began to hear some more loud chewing noises. I peered around the corner, and sure enough, there was another hornet with its head buried inside the body of another human, making some indistinct squelching noise.

I shuddered, even though I had seen it before, it was going to a long time before I ever get used to it, if ever. I took another glance the creature. It was slightly smaller than the one I fought previously, but it was just as menacing and terrifying, even if it had its back facing me.

My eyes turned cold. A whisper of Ivan’s desperate last words echoed in my mind. Not to mention it was alone.  A single word flashed through my mind.

Kill.

Steeling myself, I gently set my backpack down on the ground, and took my shoes off. They were too cumbersome and loud for me to properly sneak. I ever so gently unsheathed my blade, making only the slightest of sounds.

It reminded me of back when I was in middle school, when I used to steal gum from from this kid’s backpack. He always brought gum to school and loved to show it off, but never really shared with anyone. Because I was short in stature and pretty inconspicuous, I would steal the gum, and pass them out to my friends.

I was smart about it though. I didn’t just steal the whole thing, rather I only took one or two each time and put the pack of gum back into his bag. Surprisingly, I was never actually caught. But this wasn’t some ignorant middle school kid and his pack of gum. This was a monster who could easily kill me.

Carefully stepping as lightly as I could, I inched my way towards the oblivious creature. Every step I took, I got more and more restless.

Eventually, after an intense 10 seconds, I successfully sneaked up to about 10 yards away from the creature. Unexpectedly, it suddenly raised it’s head up and waved its antennae around, as if searching for something.

I froze. My breath was caught up in my throat, my blood ran cold and I felt a chill run down my spine. I could feel the hair's on the back of my neck rise up in fear. I was so close, yet it seemed so far.

After what felt like an eternity, the hornet finally put it’s head back down.

Phew… I let out a breath of relief without thinking. My free hand immediately shot to my mouth, but it was too late.

The hornet picked it’s head up, and I knew I fucked up. Without wasting a second, I put my newly increased stats and rushed at the hornet, sword in hand.

I pushed off one foot, and soared through the air and landed straight onto it’s back, going so fast I actually knocked the wind out of me.

The hornet struggled intensely, but I pinched my legs down hard into its sides and glued the wings down its body, not giving it single chance to take off into flight. If that happened, I would probably be screwed.

My free hand immediately shot out and tightly grabbed one of its feelers for balance, and the other hand brought the sword down with brutal force and stabbed the blade into its back.

Dink!

This time, there was a visible dent on its armour.

I brought my sword up again, pouring every ounce of my anger and frustration into the next blow as I mentally roared in fury.

I felt a slight resistance as the blade pierced the carapace, and watched it disappear as the blade slid all the way into the body and through its soft underside until the handle and hilt were the only things still visible to me.

I could actually feel the tip of the blade scraping the ground.

This sent the hornet into a brief but berserk state, and the only thing I could do was hold on to my sword handle for dear life.

Like a bucking bull and a bull rider, the hornet did it’s best to throw me off. But it’s frantic struggle only served to quicken its demise, because the constant bucking caused the sword to churn around and screw up it’s insides.

When it’s struggles finally ceased, I shakily stepped off the body and drew my sword out with. I cut the head off, ensuring it was actually dead.

Only then did the tension seep out of my body.

Agility Rune

Effects:

Agility +.1

Damn it felt good to let loose.

I glanced at my blade. Damn, the blade had actually been chipped. To be honest though, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when it had been used to pierce through the hard armour of the hornet and scrapped all over the floor after that little scuttle.

But it did leave me worried. What would happen if it broke? The only reason I’m still here now is because I had the sword. If not, I would have ended up like Ivan and the others.

But what did it matter. No use worrying about it right now.

I went back around the corner and got my gear and shoes, and continued on my way to the elevator, assuming it still even worked. 

Even if it wasn’t working anymore, the stairs were right beside it.

The sooner I get out of this hell of a shithole, the better.

....... 

Status

Name:

Soren Hall

Race:

Human

Age:

19

Gender

Male

Titles: Novice Martial Artist

Strength

2.2 (2)

Vitality

1 (2)

Agility

3.6 (2)

Dexterity

3 (2)

Intelligence

1.1 (2)

Wisdom

3 (2)

Abilities

← Abilities/Skills→

Passive

N/A

N/A