“Mom, where’s my backpack?” a voice shouted from down the hall. Miguel sat on the couch, a candy cane poked out from his mouth as he kicked his legs back and forth in time to the song.
On the screen, Frosty led a group of children through snow as a small bunny rabbit hopped along from behind. Miguel liked to pretend he was marching with the other kids, too. He kicked his little legs, up and down, up and down.
“Mom!” Antonio’s voice yelled again, “I think I left my DS in it and I can’t find it!”
This was the fifth time today Miguel had watched the old made-for-TV Christmas special, and he reckoned he could get another five in, easy, before their family had to leave that evening.
“Moooooooom!”
They were heading to the hospital to visit Uncle Arjun. He was sick, and had been for some time. Miguel loved playing with Uncle Arjun, but he couldn’t play anymore. He just stayed in the hospital bed all day. It made Miguel feel sad. Sometimes Uncle Arjun would show him pictures from a game he liked to play. It had swords and monsters and heroes, but he mostly just talked a little and then they all watched shows on the TV in his hospital room. He decided to bring him his last candy cane. Candy canes always cheered Miguel up. Maybe mommy can make him curry like she does when I feel sick.
Miguel’s mother walked into the living room from the kitchen, “why do you have your video game in your backpack in the first place, Ant?” she said with slight reprimand, “were you taking it with you to school?”
“Uhhhh….” Antonio hesitated to reply. She looked toward Miguel sitting on the couch, a slight smile playing on her lips, as she mouthed “Ooooo” at Miguel. Miguel giggled and mouthed it back.
Antonio entered the living room from the hallway.
“Guilty.” his mother said, lazily pointing a wooden cooking spoon at him. Miguel giggled again at Antonio’s embarrassed expression, plucked his candy cane from his mouth and pointed it at Antonio, “guilty.” he repeated.
“It was just on the last day of school, and it was only because Carlos said he’d trade his shiny Blastoise for my Zekrom!” he pleaded, but his mother had a skeptical look on her face.
“You told me you wanted Zekrom the most. You had your father buy you that shirt and everything.” she said with a feigned scoff.
“I know, but a SHINY Blastoise, mom! I can probably get Samantha to trade her Kyurem for my Umbreon if I give her my Imposter Ditto too, then Henry will trade his Victini AND Zekrom for Kyurem and I’ll have a shiny Blastoise, Zekrom, and two Victini’s! It’s a win-win for everyone!”
Antonio threw his hands up, as if to emphasize his point. She arched an eyebrow.
“Are you watching reruns of Wall Street Warriors with your father again?”
“You’ve gotta spend money to make money, mom, and there’s no reward without risk.” he said sagely with crossed arms and a nod of his head.
She rubbed her eyes with her other hand, “that man, I swear to Christ. Who gets their 10 year old into random stock market nonsense, for goodness sake.” she whispered to herself.
“Okay! No more taking your nintendo to school, and no more trading with your classmates, Gordon Gekko,” she said with a wave of her spoon before continuing, “last I saw your backpack, it was inside the closet in the study.”
“Fiiiine, but I’m going to invite Sam and Henry over to trade after school when break is over, at least. Trust me mom, they want this deal as much as I do!” Antonio said as he walked down the hall.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “His father’s son, really.” She turned back to Miguel, “and YOU need to wait until after dinner before any more candy canes, little elf!”
“I’m not an elf!” Miguel puffed, “I’m a snowman!” he shouted in objection while pointing at the TV.
“Oh, is that right?” she replied through a smile, “then I suppose you won’t mind if I give your button nose a little… squeeze!” she said as her fingers gave his nose a playful pinch. She started tickling Miguel, and he howled in delight, his toes curling as the candy cane went sailing across the couch.
Miguel pretended to go limp and started sliding down the couch.
“Now what's this? Did I tickle the snow right out of your belly?” his mother asked with a chuckle.
“I'm melting…” Miguel replied, doing an excellent job of keeping his expression completely blank.
She put on a sorrowful expression, “oh no! What have I done? I've melted Frosty!”
Miguel slowly shook his head up and down in confirmation like a flopping fish.
“Well, I suppose there's only one remedy for a melted snowman: ice cream after dinner.” she said with a nod, as if the answer was obvious.
He perked up slightly, “ice cream??”
“Yep,” she said, “we’ll have to make ice cream from the melted snowman!”
She started tickling with more fervor, Miguel laughed and laughed as he rolled around on the couch, ending up face down in the cushions. He panted, his cheeks flush from delight.
“Now give me a hug before I finish up dinner, little snowman.”
Miguel giggled and rolled over, arms reaching out and ready to squeeze his mother tight.
He wrapped his little hands around her, but she felt odd; where her comfy turtleneck should have been, there was a feeling… of dryness. Wrinkly dryness. Her skin cracked beneath his tiny fingers. Miguel, horrified, pulled back from the close embrace and looked at his mother. He screamed a blood curdling whimper as he saw what he held: a small husk, no bigger than him, with cracked, pinkish skin, shriveled face, no nose, white hair, and eyes that shimmered in fuschia - staring directly back at him.
“My little snowman.”
Miguel sprung up from the floor in a cold sweat. He immediately regretted that action as the pain in his shoulder, thigh, and head made their protest apparent.
The lights were out, and the cold winter’s chill had long since crept into his dorm room during the night. He heaved heavy breaths, white vapor illuminated by the glowing, pink dialogue box still awaiting his notice. It softly lit his immediate surroundings in the room. A car horn, at least a block away, endlessly raised its alarm.
Despite being thoroughly covered in the mysterious black ribbons, Miguel felt chilled to the bone. His teeth rattled as he willed his eyes to focus. Parts of his body were still wet with seeping blood, primarily around his shoulder and leg, but there was an additional source around his underwear that Miguel hoped wasn't urine.
He jumped as he heard a rapid BANG, BANG sound coming from somewhere outside, then nothing. He turned to face the window, the direction of the sound, and the box followed. Now partly obscuring his vision, he refocused on the floating rectangle. He reread the messages, but his fuzzy head couldn't discern any significant meaning. He was cold. He wanted to be warm.
He fumbled to his feet, surprised that the metal grieves and armor around his arms didn't seem to weigh all that much. He looked at the bed and where the creature lay. Using the top sheet, he carefully wrapped it up and pushed it to the far side of the bed, up against the wall. His throbbing arm was refusing to lift higher than his chest, and his grip strength in said arm was currently non-existent, so he used his right arm to do most of the work. Coupled with the pink screen being his only source of light and partially obstructing his vision… the wrapping job wasn't the cleanest it could have been. Her arm stuck out, and her hair was everywhere.
It was something, he supposed. Something for whatever she was. Maybe he would get a chance to properly bury her, but his mind wandered elsewhere. He was struggling to focus.
He grabbed the comforter and bundled himself up with it. He didn't look down as he slowly made his way across the room. He couldn't. He wouldn't. He didn't want to. His socks stuck to the sticky floor as he passed.
Reaching the entrance, Miguel tried flipping the lights on and off a few times, but gave up.
My phone, he thought, and turned around to search the area near his bed. He found the phone, somehow having made its way underneath his bed. As he knelt down, he found that the box would hover a few inches above a surface if his direct line of sight was obscured by it. He assumed it would clip through, or perhaps disappear altogether. He shook his head to clear the transient thought.
He went to reach for his phone with his right arm, but saw something glint to his left, just slightly beneath his bed.
It was a ring - on a whole human finger. He nearly threw up again, but managed to catch himself and look away just in time. He remembered seeing the man in front, the one he had- he stopped that line of thought… He remembered seeing the man touching this with his arm. It would flash blue, and then the man would fire some kind of black shard, or something.
He snatched his phone and sat on the edge of the bed. Of course it's dead.
He laid it beside him. The car horn finally stopped.
Miguel slowly made his way to the window and peered through the blinds, having to peak around the pink box that lingered near the window. It was quiet, but by moonlight he saw at least two wrecked vehicles from his position on the second floor of the building. One was overturned while the other crashed straight through the dorm building opposite his own. The passenger door was open, and-
He looked away in a hurry and turned his back to the window. Carefully, Miguel slowly peaked out again, just to be sure, he had to be sure… and he was right in his assessment: a body lay from the open passenger side of the vehicle, very clearly missing its head.
He shut his eyes and just listened for a while. He thought he could maybe hear distant sirens, but couldn’t be sure.
He was hoping this was an isolated incident. That maybe it was just his room, or better yet, maybe he'd gone completely insane and none of this was real.
As surreal as the events so far had been, though, this felt real. It felt as real as when he was 5 and his entire life changed. He hadn't fully processed everything just yet, but it was real.
He slid down the wall and sat on the floor, the dizziness making the simple action more difficult.
Two ribbons of black moved like eels from each shoulder. Miguel looked at the one on his right, and it seemingly looked back, then returned to its silent scan of the surroundings.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Reiner’s Wrapping Ribbons, Miguel thought, they don't look anything like I imagined.
He recalled the description, and although he only had a vague recollection of the item’s abilities, he remembered that it could use Catch Projectile and Bind Wounds as a counter action. The former only reduced physical damage by 1d8, and the latter only reduced ongoing Bleed damage by ½. That all checked out, considering what the item did earlier that night. He wasn't sure what 1d8 meant in real-world terms, but the ribbons probably saved his life so he wasn't going to question it. As for the bleed reduction, well he hadn't bled out yet, so that spoke for itself he supposed.
Speaking of, though, Miguel needed to stop the bleeding completely. He felt… out of it. Whether that was from the head trauma, blood loss, or a combination of both, he still needed to get the bleeding under control. I'm not really sure how to get the ribbons off, though, and if they're the only things keeping the bleeding from getting even worse then that may not be a great idea. Focusing on this one task seemed to calm him and get his thoughts somewhat organized.
THUMP... THUMP…. THUMP…..
The building shook with each enormous quake.
Miguel went still.
When the… whatever it was - didn't return, he gathered himself and thought of his current bleeding issue. He looked up at the meaty pile he created with a single word. He covered his mouth with his right hand. He breathed in, breathed out, through his nose. Focus.
The man had a necklace, and that necklace seemed to work a lot like the ring he used to attack Miguel. The memory was fuzzy, and horrific, but the medallion seemed to close the man’s wounds.
He breathed in, breathed out. He stood up. In, out. He walked over to the fleshy pulp. In, out, in, out, in, out. He reached down, letting the pink glow guide him. In, out, in, out. He stuck his hands in the mush and started sifting through. IN, OUT, IN, OUT, IN, OUT. The pink light reflected a metal shine. Without hesitation, Miguel snatched the circular object from the heap and darted back to the window, gagging all the while.
He held in his hands a round medallion, stained with blood. Silver in color and with five blue-ish gems speckled across its ornamental face, Miguel looked over the finely repeating etchings across its surface. They reminded him of the markings on the orbs the men used. He wiped the blood on his hands and the medallion on the comforter surrounding him.
The strap of the necklace was gone, definitely cut, but the medallion seemed undamaged otherwise. He touched the face of the medallion, not really expecting anything to happen. And nothing did.
Miguel felt a bit more faint. I need to figure this out, now.
He pressed his hand to the face once more, and like with the creature that used his mom’s voice, Miguel thought, work, just work. Please, as hard as he was able.
Another screen, smaller in size, popped up next to the first in Miguel's vision.
Magical item discovered!
Searching…
Item not found.
Analyzing……..
Analyzing………..
Analyzing…………..
Complete.
Fractal Medallion [Geometric Patterns Z,Z,Z,T,X,V,B,N,S,D,V,S,G,G,G REPEATING + D,F,D,GG,H,GG,U,O,N,N,N,L,P,O,I,H,G,H,Y,F,T,V,CC,A,S,E,T,Y,G,H,K,K,L,O,H,G,T,R,VVVV,B,B,H,N,M,K,IIHV REAPEATING + DF,C,V,B,N,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,U,Y,T,Y,HH,K,LL,OPJH,G,FA,Q,Q,TT,Y,I,C,V,N,M,K,A,K,REE,UI,POBBCX REPEATING + ERT,GET,BB,V,C,I,O,P,J,H,G,FFFFF,H,M,M,G,R,E,T,Y,H REPEATING + TY,UI,F,D,B,V,CCCCC,X,F,DGFY,J,Z,Z,SS,O,UIAS,H,J,B,N,M,H,F,I,LLLLP,J,K,H REPEATING + TR,C,J,H,G,V,JJJ,GF,P,ASDF,H,B,C,I,T,LKF REPEATING + {PATTERN UNREADABLE} + {PATTERN UNREADABLE} + {PATTERN UNREADABLE} + {PATTERN UNREADABLE} + {PATTERN UNREADABLE}]
Description:
A medallion containing fractals that can be activated with Mana to {EFFECT INCOMPLETE}.
Effect:
Spend {UNKNOWN MANA EXPENDITURE/ESTI 1.5555552333 REPEATING} to activate [Geometric Patterns Z,Z,Z,T,X,V,B,N,S,D,V,S,G,G,G REPEATING + D,F,D,GG,H,GG,U,O,N,N,N,L,P,O,I,H,G,H,Y,F,T,V,CC,A,S,E,T,Y,G,H,K,K,L,O,H,G,T,R,VVVV,B,B,H,N,M,K,IIHV REAPEATING + DF,C,V,B,N,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,U,Y,T,Y,HH,K,LL,OPJH,G,FA,Q,Q,TT,Y,I,C,V,N,M,K,A,K,REE,UI,POBBCX REPEATING + ERT,GET,BB,V,C,I,O,P,J,H,G,FFFFF,H,M,M,G,R,E,T,Y,H REPEATING + TY,UI,F,D,B,V,CCCCC,X,F,DGFY,J,Z,Z,SS,O,UIAS,H,J,B,N,M,H,F,I,LLLLP,J,K,H REPEATING + TR,C,J,H,G,V,JJJ,GF,P,ASDF,H,B,C,I,T,LKF REPEATING + {PATTERN UNREADABLE} + {PATTERN UNREADABLE} + {PATTERN UNREADABLE} + {PATTERN UNREADABLE} + {PATTERN UNREADABLE}].
Okay, what the hell does THAT mean?
The moment Miguel finished the thought, the screen flashed again.
Simplify Item Analysis?
Uh, yes?
Would you like to set Item Analysis default settings to Simplified?
Sure?
Default settings updated.
Simplifying….
Complete.
Fractal Medallion of Unknown Power
Description:
A medallion containing fractals that can be activated with Mana to unknown effect.
Effect:
Spend an unknown amount of Mana to activate the fractals on the medallion. Estimated Mana expenditure is at least 2 Mana points.
Activate the item to reveal its full potential.
At least it's easier to read now. Miguel knew what the medallion did already, or at least he had a fairly certain idea of what it did. He didn't have the mental capacity to think about the weird string of letters about the geometric patterns or whatever all that was. It didn't escape his notice, though, that the alphabetic patterns resembled his shorthand for items and locations on his “minimap” notes. It allowed him to look at a map, check the shorthand, and match that to an item, event, or monster key on an Excel sheet. He didn't have time to ponder beyond that.
Miguel pressed his hand to the medallion once more, and seeing as how thinking really hard was two for two thus far, he thought activate.
He felt something he had an incredibly hard time describing happen to his body. Like giving blood at a bank? No, not quite. Mental taxation? Closer, but it also was far off the mark. Something left Miguel's body and entered the object. It glowed, soft pink this time, and he felt a tingling sensation on his shoulder and thigh. His head cleared up right away, the ache at the back of his skull disappearing.
Item updated!
Fractal Medallion of Minor Healing
Description:
A medallion containing fractals that can be activated with Mana to heal minor wounds, or slightly aid in the mending of more serious wounds.
Effect:
Spend 2 Mana points to activate the fractals on this medallion, completely healing small scrapes, cuts, bruises, or other similar wounds. If a wound is more grievous, the magic will generate additional blood and scab over the affected area. Repeated uses will have little to no effect on the same wounds.
Miguel was stupefied. While he could tell the wounds weren't entirely and truly closed, they felt a lot better. The bruising and damage around the pierced area was most likely gone, and he was pretty sure they no longer bled.
It probably doesn't help internal bleeding, based on the description, but if I was bleeding that badly I'd probably be dead by now.
More importantly, his head felt fine. He could think clearly.
With clarity came panic. Before he had time to enter a fully panicked state, the earth-rumbling sound returned.
THUMP….. THUMP….. THUMP……
Nope, not the time to panic, not right now, the footfalls - he assumed they were footfalls because they reminded him of the T-Rex from Jurassic park, almost exactly - sounded even closer than before. Regardless of an overactive imagination playing tricks on his mind or reality, he sprang to his feet.
I need these boxes out of the way.
He focused on the smaller box first. Go away. It vanished. Simple as that, huh?
He looked at the other box, ready to dismiss it as well, but paused. He considered looking into the notifications further, maybe there was something that could hel-
THUMP…. THUMP….. THUMP.
Miguel was frozen. The black ribbons whipped around and froze as well. He rotated towards his window, eyes refusing to blink and wide in terror. A giant eye with pale, blue irises and veiny blue, bloodshot sclera stared back through his window. The eye blinked vertically, almost reptilian-like, and Miguel saw the pupil adjust, then focus right on him.
“GRUUUUUUUAAAAARRR!!!!!”
A bellowing, monstrous roar shook the building and glass. The window shattered, Miguel slapped his hands over his ears as the eye pulled back. Then, the entire wall was ripped away, revealing the thing on the other side.
Miguel’s eyes bulged so hard they were practically popping out their sockets.
“GO AWAY!!” he shouted, and the pinkish dialogue box instantly vanished. He turned, blanket falling from around him and sprinted towards his room’s door as a giant, eight fingered hand reached into the room. Miguel slid the last few steps, and the pale, white hand closed right above him, destroying the door and entrance wall with a crunch.
Miguel tumbled and rolled out of the slide, metal banging against wooden floor, then righted himself into a low crouch. Wide eyes darted to the creature.
“SLICE!!” Miguel screamed in desperation. Slicing Silver flew from his back, resembling a flailing leaf falling from a tree. It smacked the creature’s outstretched arm, around where a human’s forearm would be, left a tiny gash, and rebounded off. The sword fell and clattered to the ground, then twirled back into the air and returned to it's scabbard. Miguel flinched as it did so, the blade looking like it was going to collide and mince him like the man from before, but harmlessly avoided him right before reaching Miguel.
Glowing blue ichor poured from the fresh cut on the monstrosity. The gash began knitting itself back together as the creature's arm retracted from the room.
Panting, Miguel was unsure of what to do. Shit, I dropped the medallion, he realized, but couldn't see where it landed on the floor.
It's face came into view of the collapsed wall, and hot breath poured from the maw that opened wide, mixing with the biting winter air.
Another deep howl left the toothy mouth and Miguel struggled to keep himself upright. The two ribbons lost their autonomy and flailed like kites in a storm behind him.
“SLICE, SLICE, SLICE, SLICE, SLICE!!!”
Miguel screamed, Silver tumbling out in reply. Through squinted eyes, Miguel focused on various spots on the creature's face: it's strange, human-looking eyes, it's serrated tongue, it's exposed flesh. Each time, the whirlwind blade would lash out at the point he held his vision. Each time it would cut a small gash, but penetrate no deeper. And each time the wound would ooze blue before healing.
The roar abruptly stopped, and more of the building’s wall collapsed as three giant hands forced their way inside the crumbling room.
Miguel ran.
“FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK.”
He managed to climb, roll, and sprint his way to the staircase leading down to the first floor.
The building shook again. He heard screaming, but not from the monster this time. It sounded like a woman’s scream.
…. and it cut off only seconds later. No time to panic, no time to panic, no time to panic. Miguel thought in a panic.
He managed to get outside just as the ceiling of the stairwell’s exit collapsed from above. He kept sprinting, sparing only a few brief glances behind.
In those flashes, he saw the creature in full view. It smashed and stomped through the dorm, being almost as tall as the building was high. It was vaguely human-shaped, but had four lengthy arms. Metal spikes protruded from it’s back, with large, broken chain links attached to them.
As he was rounding the corner of the next building, finally getting out of the creature's view, Miguel saw three figures at the very top of his collapsing dorm building standing near the edge. The monster was close to them, now, and the building was crumbling from beneath. He saw them lock hands, and jump..... The building was five stories tall.
He kept running, tears welling up in his eyes.
THUMP… THUMP…. THUMP….. -Miguel heard from behind, the sound and vibrations getting slowly farther away as he ran through campus.