Chapter 2

Oliver awoke to see a giant, vulgar, indescribably disgusting… chicken? The size of the bird was that of a car. The creature was pecking at a vine growing in the middle of the street where Oliver had awoken.

“God, How does that even happen?”

Oliver Stood up and cautiously made his way to a nearby store. The windows were shattered and the merchandise looked like it had been through a battlefield. Oliver was somewhat frightened. He didn't think this would actually happen. Some part of him thought he would wake up to his school's bell. The voice didn't tell him he'd be taken to some unknown place. From what he saw while retreating from the street, the area looked like a modern city. A very modern city. The signs were in English so he assumed he wasn't too far from his home state of Virginia.

He was right, he wasn't that far from Virginia. He was still in the US, but what part of the US?

“That's not important right now, my location doesn't matter if I'm dead. I need to get to safety. But how? Should I stay here?” There wasn't any food in the Clothes store that he walked into. "What should I do?” He thought. “Oh, of course, I'll open my Status—”

The blue screen appeared suddenly, and nearly frightened Oliver to the point he may have died to a monster of some sorts. Thankfully, he didn't scream, though the screen was a bit close to his face. Which is probably what scared him.

Status:

Race: Human

Sex: Male

Strength: 6 (Avg 10)

Agility: 4 (Avg 10)

Luck: 13

Mana: 2000

Affinities: Earth, Water/Ice, Wind, and Fire

“Okay, it seems I got 2000 mana.” He said in a surprised tone. Thinking the Voice had lied to him.

After reading his status, Oliver found confidence in his absurdly high Mana capacity.

(A/N: Mana Capacity is the total amount of mana his body can store and then use to create spells, it replenishes as long as there is Mana in the surrounding air. Mana is everywhere and in all living things)

“Then I need to confirm this magic.” Olvier raised his hand and pictured a Fireball. The chaotic nature of it, the heat, and the destructive power pictured in his mind, brought forth a warmth in his heart. And opening his eyes, there was an orb of red hot light. It wasn't hot though, perhaps his magic couldn't hurt him. Either way, he only wanted to test the power he now held.

Swooosh, bang. The Fire ball flew from his hand towards a manikin and it burst into flames. A dark smile grew on his face as he watched the manikin burn to a crisp.

“How wonderful!” He said, grinning with an expression of happiness. A dark happiness.

With that, he confirmed magic was now real and made his way outside the store. He walked into the street towards the giant chicken now pecking at a scooter. He imagined a spear of ice. No, he imagined 10 spears of ice all circling around him. And so it was. For the price of 40 mana, he had 10 ice spears, each measuring 6 ft in length. They had a sharp point that looked as if it could penetrate a steel door with ease. He waved his hands and pointed to the chicken, a smile of victory crept across his face.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Fwoom, shhk. All 10 ice spears flew at incredible speed towards the chicken, and then the beast was dead.

“Truly excellent.” he said, giving a nod of approval towards his hands.

“Next is food”

He approached the dead chicken and considered roasting it. But his dinner plans were kept short by a mysterious roar from behind. What he saw scared him. Dozens of wolves the size of large motorcycles approached him. Growling and foaming up the mouth. Oliver knew what he must do. He readied himself and looked at the slowly approaching wolves, with a face of fear. He wouldn't back down, he'd spent his whole life as a coward. No more, today would be different. Instead of running away like a coward. He would…

…make a tactical retreat!

He ran in the opposite direction of the wolves and laughed at his soon to be pursuers. He ran for about 200 feet before spotting a bicycle on the street. “My lucky day,” he thought. He changed direction to the bike and before the wolves even saw him stop, he was peddling away much faster than the wolves had thought he could. The bike was definitely meant for a pro, the petals had barely any resistance on them. Caught off guard, the wolves quickly lost sight of the human. But they still had his scent. And they would remember the scent of the first to escape their claws.

***

After a few moments of biking. Oliver got off his bike and fell to the ground, he breathed as if he was choking for the last hour. But he finally knew where in the United States he was. He stared at a white pillar that soared into the sky. The pillar, though some would think unrecognizable due to a tree that was growing through the top and giant vines spreading across the bottom, reaching into a long rectangular lake.

Oliver knew exactly where he was and he didn't like it one bit. He was in the capital of the so-called “free world,” Washington DC. “Crap, I hope there's not any selfish burecracts around. Haha, probably not.”

“Though I do know where I want to go now. The Pentagon should have plenty of resources just sitting there.”

But he had to be fast. Because while cycling to the five sided building, he saw people. A few people. There were young people, old people, middle aged people, and even injured people being carried on makeshift carts. About 30 people in total. He didn't know how they were grouped up in such large numbers yet, but they must have appeared close to each other.

“I can't let them beat me to the Pentagon or to supplies. Who knows how strong they'll be, they might become a threat.”

He cycled to the building as fast as he could, which was not very fast at all, dodging a few small monsters here and there. It seemed like the monsters were less powerful the farther he went from his starting point. But that was just his observation.

After barely arriving at the entrance to the Pentagon, he saw plants taking over the parking lots and the guard posts. Oliver's tired and hurting feet seemed to be healed instantly, he scurried into the building like a child to a candy store, ready to pluck all the treats he could from this place.

Venturing through the halls of the Pentagon, Oliver had a fireball lit in his hands to light his way. The building was dark, some of it was pitch black, while other halls were bright due to broken windows.

“Finally, after an hour of searching, I've finally found it.”

The it Oliver is talking about was a map. It wasn't special and seemed to be for tourists. But it was a map and he saw exactly where he wanted to go.

The largest armory in Washington, a place full of guns, emergency gear, and maybe even a mode of transportation.

While he was cycling around the city, he hadn't spotted a single car or a single motorcycle. Just some bicycles and a unicycle that was being chewed up by some bobcat looking creature. It seemed all modes of transportation that used electricity or gas powered engines were “removed” during the 15 minutes humans were absent from the world.

Perhaps this was to make it more difficult. Perhaps it was just a spit in the face. Who knows.

Alex wandered his way to a staircase labeled “Restricted” on the map. He'd hoped it would be a staircase to a garage, or maybe even the armory he was hoping to find.

But as he grew closer to it, all he passed were shops. The Pentagon's halls full of flags and photos of battle had turned into a mini-mall. Souvenir shops covered the halls. Bakeries and photo galleries were everywhere.

“I'm quite glad my dad used to work here… I wonder how he's doing… I wonder how everyone's doing?” He frowned, he had no idea what their fates were. Maybe they were alive. Perhaps they have already died. But that didn't matter, his goal right now was to survive and thrive. He couldn't be bothered by things he couldn't even hope to remedy. Instead he kept going. Closer and closer to the staircase. Eventually he approached a large door at the end of a hall. It usually would have opened via a sensor, but without power, there was no chance.

Instead, Oliver made a flame in his hand. A bright flame and he condensed it into a bright blue cone. It was hot, very hot. It would have probably melted Oliver's hand off, but thanks to it being his spell, it wouldn't hurt him.

He aimed the blue jet at the door. It was made of wood, but it was strong. It took a few moments for the door to catch a flame. Oliver stood back as the door turned to ash.

Walking over the now burned door, he could now see a long hall. The Walls and the floor was unpainted concrete, unlike the rest of the building, which was painted in a white creme. He jumped down into what looked like a road that was wide enough for a truck to fit through. Thankfully he no longer needed his tourist map because there was a large board on the wall that read out places you could reach by walking on this concrete road. It was dark inside the road, just like the rest of the building. He approached the directory board.

“AH, in bright red, just what I've been looking for. The armory.”

According to the board. He had to follow a red line on the floor and it would lead him to the armory. Pretty simple. Too simple, he thought.