Jeb glanced at the rock-solid wall before him. He had enjoyed coming to see it every now and then. It was a sort of relaxing sight for him.

The wall towered so high it seemed to reach the sky. In the distance, he could see a large cluster of orange balls that made everything bright enough to see.

All around him were plants of various natures. Some had orbs while others created edible fruit. He wasn’t exactly sure how they worked or how they got there, just that they did. It didn’t matter much to him anyway. As long as he was able to eat, he was satisfied.

Jeb yawned and stood up from the position he had been sitting in. It would take him a while to get back and he wanted to make sure that he ate with his family. If he was late then they would probably just do so without him.

He trudged along a dirt road that had been cleared by a group of other humans. Jeb wasn’t sure what group had done it but he had been sure to avoid them. Other humans were typically scary and not exactly friendly.

While he walked, he decided to bring up his system. Nobody was really sure what the system was, just that it gave people tremendous power.

Jeb

Tier: Basic Human

Level: 1

Astral Energy: 0/1

Stats:

* STR: 1

* END: 1

* AGI: 1

* INT: 1

* CHA: 1

Jeb didn’t have any of that of course. Doing so required people to kill various creatures that roamed around. Apparently, it only took one for your very first level up but even that was too much for Jeb. The creatures would range from small furry things to large four-legged creatures but even that was too much for Jeb.

He was much too weak to even think about fighting something like that. Besides, he had his father to protect him. Apparently, his father had made it to level five which gave him a special ability. Considering there were not many people that high, Jeb was proud to be the son of his father.

Jeb trudged on back to his small home. He couldn’t wait to tell his sister about the wall again. She would always ask because his parents never let her go herself, Apparently, she was too young.

Eventually, Jeb saw his home in the distance. It was a little cottage, made out of various trees that were in the surrounding area. Jeb’s parents made sure to replant the trees in hopes of one day having a bigger home.

As he got closer, he noticed that the door to his home was open. This was odd considering that his parents always made a ruckus about closing it when he left. A tad of worry overcame him as he thought about this.

He walked a little quicker as he neared the door. It was quiet.

He walked inside and into the main living room. Everything was torn apart. Their makeshift couch was torn to shreds. Their family games were thrown around everywhere.

Jeb’s heart was caught in his throat as he slowly investigated what had happened. He stepped around the di that were thrown everywhere and slowly made his way to the door to his kitchen. It was slightly creaked open.

He pushed it all the way and nearly choked when he saw the image of his mother on the floor.

“Mom!” He cried as he ran over to her.

She was lying face down in a pool of blood. He quickly pushed her over and gasped in horror.

Not only was she stone cold, there was a massive hole in her chest. She was dead.

“No!” he shouted as tears started streaming down his face.

He started to sob as he fell to his knees and held his mother. He imagined her blonde hair flowing wildly in the wind as she scolded him and his sister for playing too roughly. He imagined her serving his father dinner as he returned from a hunt.

The thought of his father and sister immediately crossed his mind. He quickly got up and cried out, “Dad! Anna!”

He ran out of the kitchen and into the hall of bedrooms in his house. There were three rooms in the hall, one for his room with Anna, a bathroom, and his parents' room.

He slowly checked his room. There was nobody in there.

Next, he went to the bathroom and checked there. Again, there was nobody.

Finally, he slowly crept up into his parent’s bedroom and opened the door.

There lay his sister and father… except his father’s head was nowhere to be found. He stumbled backward as he vomited all over the ground. He couldn’t take this. Why had this happened?

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His father was strong. He was supposed to be able to protect them. Why was he dead? Why was his entire family dead? What had happened? He hadn’t been gone that long.

He slowly built up his courage and went back into his parent’s bedroom. He nearly vomited again but gulped it back down.

The entire room was covered in blood and he knew it wasn’t just his fathers. He walked over to his younger sister and scrunched his face in grief.

Her body was completely mangled and disfigured. There were marks all over her body. Jeb couldn’t help but wonder if she had been tortured before she had been mercilessly killed.

He fell to the floor as his body started to fall on him. Why? Why did he deserve this? Why hadn’t he been killed with them? He didn’t want to live in a world like this.

He started screaming and rolling around on the floor. He flung his fists into the walls and wood floors until they were raw and bleeding. He convulsed, he moaned, he cried, he screamed. However, he knew that nothing was bringing them back.

He crawled out of his house and gasped at the fresh air outside. He paused for a moment before screaming out once again. “I’m going to kill you! Whoever did this, I’m going to fucking kill you! You’re not safe anywhere you hear me! You’re dead!”

He took a few deep breaths and tried to scream again but his voice went out. He slowly pulled himself off the ground with a dangerous look in his eyes.

He started walking in a random direction. He wasn’t sure if the killer would be there but he didn’t care.

He could still recall his sister’s lovely voice just earlier when she asked him where he was going…

“Jeb! I thought we were gonna play that di game you said you would show me!” she exclaimed.

“We are Anna, don’t worry. I’m just going to go for a walk first, I really wanna visit my spot.” He ruffled her hair.

Anna pouted as she said, “Aw, you’re going to the wall again, aren’t you? I wanna come!”

Jeb laughed, “Soon, Anna. Mom said you can come once you turn eighteen.”

Anna pouted but ultimately accepted his response. “Well, I’ll be waiting then…”

Jeb felt tears run down his eyes as he realized that he never got to show her that game… and he never will.

Jeb continued to walk for hours. He continued to walk even as he became hungry and thirsty. He didn’t care.

After hours of walking, Jeb was becoming delirious. He was parched and nearly unable to continue on. Yet, he still didn’t care. He was determined to avenge his family in his own warped way of thinking.

Suddenly, a snarl sounded out from behind him and he flung himself around to face whatever it was.

In front of him was a four-legged creature that Jeb’s family had deemed a wolf. They weren’t sure why they came up with that name but it seemed to stick.

The wolf growled at Jeb as he raised his fists. How dare that creature threaten him after everything he had just been through!

Jeb sprinted toward the creature and threw a punch at it. It simply jumped back as if toying with him and howled.

After a plethora of more scurrying noises, four more wolves appeared around Jeb. Jeb growled himself as he prepared for a fight he wasn’t going to win.

“Come out me you cowards!” he screamed.

The wolves seemed to snicker at him as they moved to surround him. Suddenly, one of them pounced on him. Jeb threw himself to the ground and grappled the wolf.

He started slamming his fists into it, one after another. The world was yelping in pain but Jeb didn’t care. He continued to pound his fists into the wolf.

Another wolf jumped on his leg and started chewing on it. The pain was immense, more than he had ever felt before. Yet, he didn’t care. He continued to pound the wolf.

Another wolf jumped on him and bit his left arm. It tried to pull him off the wolf he was beating but it wasn’t strong enough.

With one arm, Jeb continued to beat down the wolf mercilessly. The killed hadn’t been merciful to his parents so why should he be to this wolf?

Yet, another wolf jumped on his other leg and finally, they pulled him off their wolf companion. Unfortunately for them, it had been too late.

1 Astral Energy Gained!

Level Up!

1 Stat Point Gained!

Jeb smiled as he read the messages from the system. He had finally done it. He had leveled up.

One of the wolves growled as it walked up to him and prepared to rip his throat out. However, it took his time as it knew that Jeb was finished.

It looked like Jeb would be joining his family soon. He had tried his best to fend off the wolves but in the end, he knew he would fail. He couldn’t possibly have held all of them off anyway.

Unfortunately, Jeb wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to find his family’s killer and he wanted to make them pay. He was angry that they would be able to get off after ruining his perfect life. Yet, his body refused to move and the wolf wasn’t about to wait any longer.

Right before it pounced, the wolf froze and quickly turned in another direction. Suddenly, a bright flash took place, blinding Jeb. An immense number of cries filled the air as Jeb felt multiple impacts hit the ground around him.

The entire area heated up rapidly as Jed wondered if he was about to burn to death. Thunderous noises accompanied the explosions and he could barely make out the image of the dying wolves. They were scurrying around with yelps of fear and pain. After a moment, everything stopped.

“What the hell?” he muttered as he felt his consciousness slipping.

As the blinding light slowly cleared, he spent the last of his energy trying to find out what the hell that was. A pale man with blonde hair was walking toward him with a seemingly annoyed look on his face.

“What an asshole…” Jed muttered right before going out.