I just barely managed to jump backwards out of the reach of the snapping jaws of the beast. They caught on the air in front of me, and the saliva from its oversized maw splatted onto my shirt. Immediately, I snapped out of my hesitation and, while the beast was still recovering from that attack, I bolted forward, running past it, rather than wasting time turning around.

While the beast busied itself with turning to give chase, I used the short lead I had to get as much distance as possible. No rational thoughts came to my mind, I was consumed by the primal fear of a prey trying to escape their ultimate end. I knew that if I stood and fought, I would be dead. No matter what weapon I could manifest from the surroundings, the sheer power of that creature was too great for me to counter, so my only hope was in my feet.

Fortunately, I was able to dance over the undergrowth and sprawling roots, thanking my 10 in Coordination for that, at least there was one area of my physique where I wasn’t totally lacking. Of course, this also meant that the obstacles weren’t not particularly imposing, and the beast was able to maintain its chase with ease.

Again, it lunged forward and I threw myself behind a tree trunk, causing the beast to once again miss, but I set myself off-balance. I flailed for a moment, trying to keep from falling, before reaching up and grabbing a branch to steady myself. For a brief moment, I considered trying to climb, to get away from the beast by seeking the heights, but I realized that I couldn’t climb in time, not with my pitiful upper body strength.

Instead, I used the momentum of grabbing the branch to swing forward, once again just barely avoiding the snap of jaws. On a conscious level, I didn’t think about where I was running, but yet there was something in the belly of me urging me along a specific path. Soon, I darted through the trees and then slipped as the ground fell out beneath me.

I found myself in a massive crater, and though I couldn’t quite make out the exact size, it seemed elliptical in shape, like a teardrop carved out of the earth. Only a few hundred feet away, though, I saw a structure. If anything, it resembled some kind of futuristic office building. It stood three stories tall, with a broad, rounded form, with a slight tapering towards the upper floors, made of chrome and glass that reflected those last few rays of sunlight.

Refuge.

I spotted a door and ran for it with the last remaining bits of strength that my limbs possessed. The heat of the beast’s breath battered at my back. I pulled on the handle and the door opened, before I swung around the handle, throwing myself inside and pulling hard on the interior handle. The beast scurried forward with a fresh burst of speed, eager for my flesh, and I felt time compressing, the rate of closing the door dilating to seeming minutes as the beast grew inexorably closer.

Finally, I snapped back to real time as I brought the door shut with a faint crunch, as I trapped one of the beast’s paws between the door and the frame. Still holding onto the door handle with all of my strength, I repeatedly kicked down onto that paw, leaning back so that I could put more weight behind the blows. Finally, with a faint whimper, the beast relented and pulled back its paw. With a swift motion, I slammed the bolt of the door shut and then collapsed down onto my back.

Sweat beaded from every inch of my body as waves of exhaustion finally caught up with my ragged form. I breathed and felt like my lungs were furnaces, hot and heavy and bellowing in their hungry need for oxygen. My eyes shut slowly and I felt consciousness slip away from me with that new relief.

Being knocked unconscious was not the same as falling asleep, it did not offer anywhere near the same sort of recuperation. Sleep, though, sleep was a boon, a panacea in a time of need, and as I slept, the exhaustion I had built up since the first system message began to wash away. How long had it been, though? It seemed almost like years had passed while I was unconscious, but that was not likely. Judging from the fall of the sun, it had to have been closer to an hour or two, and the chase couldn’t have lasted more than fifteen minutes.

Less than three hours for the world to end.

Consciousness returned slowly, creeping back in from the corners of the world, my thoughts still caught in the murkiness of what had come to pass on a global level. For a moment before I opened my eyes, I entertained the notion that this was all some kind of delusion, a mental break brought on by the stress of leaving college. Then my eyes opened and I discovered that I was laying on my back in some kind of lobby, the morning light streaming in from the floor to ceiling windows that dominated the wall in front of me. Either it was all real, or I was in too deep to get out.

In either of those cases, the most reasonable solution was to act as if everything was real. If this was a delusion after all, then I’d need some help to get out of it, and there wasn’t any sign of anyone offering help around here. Which of course raised the question of what exactly here was. The word echoed in my head, “refuge.” Someone or something had offered assistance, but had also blocked access to the proper routes of power.

I pushed myself to my feet, feeling a bit unsteady as I did, before taking in the rest of the lobby space. It was completely unfurnished, but the tile floors shined like they were brand new. This place had to have come with the system integration, perhaps even from space judging from the crater surrounding it. Had the system just dropped this place from orbit? Moving on from the floor, the only other things of note were a hallway in the back leading further in, and a staircase leading to the next two floors up.

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Deciding to skip the stairs considering the ache still in my thighs, I opted to explore the hallway. The only lights in the building streamed in from the outside, so it was fortunate that the hallway ran along the perimeter of the building, but this did leave the rooms that branched off of it further in the darkness. As I explored, I found mostly empty rooms, and my thoughts began to drift.

If the system had sent one monster like that after every human on Earth, then the death toll would have to be staggering. Unless the Paths offered incredible super powers, the very old and the very young would be exceedingly vulnerable, and each monster that didn’t die added another to those roaming the world. Add to that the people who were caught unawares or who gained abilities that weren’t as useful in a fight, and the situation was incredibly grim. Perhaps being out here in the wilds was a blessing, not a curse.

Eventually, I passed the halfway point of the hallway and my thoughts were shattered by another error message.

ERROR: Chosen

You have found this place of safety. Now your duties may begin, but first a boon.

Path Acquired: Factory Manager

Path Perk Acquired: Manufacturing I

Path Perk Acquired: Gathering I

Path Perk Acquired: Basic Combat Tools

Associated skills gained

My head blared in a sudden headache, not as bad as the initial burst from the system integration, but enough that I stumbled backwards, catching myself on one of the windows. In that moment, I felt my awareness blossom, new concepts flowing together, forming ideas that I lacked the words for, new abilities cascading together into new combinations. For just a brief second, I felt like I could do anything with this new insight, before it faded to a simple migraine.

I called up my status to see the impact of this change.

Name: Placid Wainwright Level: 1 Paths Skills Health: 100% Factory Manager

Refinement

1

Erg: 10/10 Path Points: -20 Joiners 1 Foundational Facilities 1 Attributes Path Perks Mining 1 Might 7 Manufacturing 1 Sustenance Farming 1 Coordination 10 Gathering 1 Logging 1 Endurance 6 Basic Combat Tools 1 War Drill 1 Intuition 14 Battle Harness Proficiency 1 Structure 18 Battle Harness Customization 1 Flow 12

While the previous data upload had occured on an unconscious level, this new information was hitting me firm in the face. It was a lot to take in. Nine skills, three perks, one path, a cost of thirty path points, the message had said something about associated skills, so maybe each perk gave three skills? Figuring out the prices was a bit more uncertain, I had no idea what a path cost versus a perk, but considering that I was in the negatives, it wasn’t something I’d have to worry about for a bit.

I tried to pull up a more detailed description of the paths, perks, and skills, but each only gave the same message, telling me to look for more information in the help section. I began to activate the help menu when another error message blared into my view.

ERROR: Chosen

You have received the following Factory quest:

Powering Up (1/?): Build an ergon condenser and attach it to the factory’s power supply.

Reward: Access to one factory facility of choice.

(You may check quest status with command QUEST.)

Well, at least that quest would help to provide some hints as to what to do next, and having access to anything to help would be greatly appreciated at this point. Something, anything, to bring clarity to the current situation, to try to refine the chaos into sense. With that in mind, I opened up the help menu.

Welcome to the Help system! To find more information about your desired topic, simply use command HELP #TOPIC.

help database is stored in node h47

new database entries can be added (indefinitely? -haven’t found a limit yet)

existing database entries can only be edited by creator or user with tier-seven access (so like one person great that’s real helpful -listen it’s something -yeah, if you can get that access -figure it out)

I blinked as I read the menu. At least the notes at the bottom were less of a downer this time.