Chapter 7

It was already 8 pm when the group came together again, a lot later than the earlier said short stop for changing clothes. Bit by bit the rest came, first Leon, then Giselle and last Nils. Nils was also the one who brought their dinner, which consisted of several pre-packed sandwiches. Additionally he had talked with the hotel owner and informed them what had happened here. As soon as the tsunami wave was away, the first monsters had spawn in the outskirts of the inhabited area. The police had tried to drive them out, but was defeated by the sheer mass of them and were now nowhere to be found. It was rumored that they had found better prey . With the lost law keepers, looters came and had plundered the markets. In silence they ate their dinner, sitting on the floor between the beds with Arn sitting against the opposite wall like the table head. When they finished, the silence still persisted, but changed from a busy silence to a more and more becoming embarrassing silence. To break the ice, Arn decided to start.

“Since we are here all together for the first time and you are foreign to us and we are foreign to you, we should start introducing each other. Afterwards I suggest we should speak about how to continue. Do you guys agree ?” asked Arn

4 nods were the reply.

“Ok, my name is Arn Tschiller, I am 22 years old and study mechanical engineering in Karlsruhe at the KIT, or Karlsruhe Institute for Technology. I am from around Karlsruhe and I know Leon, Nils and Sebastian since the 7th class. My hobbies are building and designing new things like for example my own motorcycle license plate holder and also driving all different sorts of vehicles, be it a bycicle or a motorboat. I am also a passionate chess player.

My aim is to survive this and be reunited with my family in Karlsruhe. My current level is now 6 after all and I think my strong point lies in midrange or ranged combat.” With that, Arn concluded his self-introduction and looked Leon, the next right to him.

With a shrug, Leon accepted and started.

“My name is Leon Proetzel, I am 21 years old and study civil engineering, also at the KIT. I am from the same village as Arn and the rest, how long we know each other was also said. I like swimming and trying out new sports, like free climbing and also like playing football. One of my interests is also wrestling.

My aim is the same as Arn’s. For me personally I think that close combat suits me quite well as you may have seen at the ship. Ah, and my level is 7 ” Was Leon’s short and fast introduction. 

Next was Nils.

“Yay, ok.  Nils Martini, if you like my name or not. 21 years old, studying electronic engineering also at the KIT. Same answer for how long we know us. My hobbies are gymnastics and tinkering with electrical things.”

“I am level 5 and my aims are the same as Arn’s and Leon’s. I would prefer range combat.”

With that he shifted his gaze from a point of the wall to Gisell across from him.

“Hi” was her shy beginning. “My name is Giselle d'Andlau-Hombourg. I was born at the d'Andlau-Hombourg mansion in the Elsass, France near Stotzenheim. I grew up in Strasbourg and then decided to attend also the KIT to study business engineering  there. I came to Karlsruhe mostly because of my boyfriend.

He was also with us on the ship. I say was, because he was one of the persons who was bitten beside me.” She said with a sad voice and expression, but got herself together again and continued with some sobbs in between.

“My hobbies and what I really can do are cooking, laundry, but also a little bit fencing. I had also training to ride a horse and am versatile in 5 languages, French, German, English, Russian and Spanish. Last but not least my father took me hunting so I could show you how to handle firearms”

“In the moment, my goal is to live. I know that my family won’t be at home, they are in the U.S. “

“ I am only level 2, but I got a skill when you guys fed me the elixir. A blue window popped up and told me that I was the 9th person rescued by otherworldly measures and as a gift I got a lesser healing skill. I can heal small cuts and bruises. That’s why I suggest to be supporter from behind.

This also gave me the ability to use mana.”

The guys looked at her stupified. Not because of her revelations of her family or capabilities, no, she had used gamer slang AS A GIRL and told her that.

Giselle, who had obviously registered the change in expressions in the guy’s faces, answered to that with:

“Come on guys, I know I am blond and female, but I also played some RPG’S .” and her expression changed from a sad one to a small smile out of embarrasment.

With a loud clearing of his throat, Sebastian got the attention to himself, and started his introduction.

“Sebastian Harderker, 23 years old ,mechanical  engineering student as Arn at the KIT. I like to help others and I am also involved at our local evangelical church as a youth leader.

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My own hobbies are bycicle driving and reading. Oh, and what all the guys here forgot, we are also RPG gamers. Mostly we play together online.And my level is 7”

“I think we should invite her now” sended Arn telepathically. “ In my opinion she doesn’t seem to be a burden and would increase our versatility.”

“Yes” came from Sebastian

“On my behalf, ok” was Leon’s response

“Do as you want” Nils

So Arn invited Giselle to the party and explained the party chat. Giselle in turn was happy to have found this group and be accepted.

“So as a matter of fact I think we already distributed our fighting roles. And I think it is also rather obvious that we all want to leave this island. Any suggestions how?”

brought Arn another point up.

“As far as I know there are two ways.” Said Nils

“There is a small airport in the east of the island. On the other side we could use a boat to cross over to the mainland.”

“Can anyone fly a plane?” asked Leon.

Nobody answered.

“See, problem solved. Ialso think that every usable machine had also taken off as soon as the monsters showed up.”said Leon in an arrogant tone, certain that he had proven his point.

“Ok, so water route is it. But where do we head overall? As Sebastian said that his goal is Hamburg, which is around 200 kilometers east, while Karlsruhe is at least 600 km straight south.” Said Nils.

In all faces beside Sebastian was readable that they were unsure about such a huge detour, not to speak about the additional dangers.

“And?” broke Arn the silence.

“It’s not like that it is not achievable. And also, Sebastian is our friend. If it would be your family, Nils, I think that Sebastian would do the same for you. And for you also , Leon. Are we good?” said Arn with a slightly angry tone.

Instead of beeing angry, both of them look relieved. Probably, because the decision was made by Arn, and now they could stick to it.

Then the group started to discuss what they would need for their journey, where and what they should loot from the shops here and where the best chance would be to get a boat. They made also a survey of all their weapons, and to the groups surprise, Nils took out a pistol with a good amount of bullets from his inventory.

He had kept it in all the chaos at the ship and silently taken with him. They had several spears, 2 sawtooth-blades and Arn’s umbrella. The umbrella however didn’t look anymore like one, the fabric was torn off and the tip was dipped in different shades of red. The description had also changed to a mystical “war-umbralla” with additional penetration.

Thankfully it was neither bent nor broken due to it being made of steel.

They talked about the distant possibility, that the army would bring the peace back to Germany and that they could find shelter in a possible refugee camp, once they made it to the mainland.

Another point was if the use of magic was possible, because they had all seen the mana capability in their status windows.

As their conversation was nearing its end they decided to get back to their rooms for resting. It was already near midnight, when a new blue panel appeared in front of all of them.

Greetings peasants. Congratulation for surviving the first 12 hours of the new era.

As our customers have voted, let’s see the 10 most glorious, most funny or most entertaining happenings of the past 12 hours.

Starting with place 10.