In a surprisingly deep voice, the companion stated, “My name is Metallesapure. I am here to serve, Master.”
His mother screamed, while his father grabbed his wife and dragged her behind the couch. Once they reached the opposite side of the room, he froze with his arms encircling her and yelled, “What the hell is that?!”
Blake’s new companion ignored his frightened parents and stared at him, waiting for its first order.
Blake smirked at the situation. “Didn’t you hear him? It’s Metallesa… Metelasap… uh, Metal.” He had tried to be snarky, but his failure to pronounce the wraith’s name left him as the one embarrassed.
When the wraith continued to hover in stillness and made no threatening moves, his parents began to relax. They were still wary and stayed on the opposite side of the small room, but they no longer acted as if they were about to die.
He turned to his new companion and said, “Metal, can you tell them who and what you are?”
“Yes, master,” it responded, clearly annoyed at his inability to pronounce its name.
When it continued to stare at him blankly, Blake sighed and muttered, “It’s acting like a freakin’ two-year-old.” Louder, he announced, “I’m going to call you Metal from now on. Metal, tell my parents, the two other humans within the room, who and what you are.”
Blake was far more careful with his phrasing this time. He was not sure if the companion was extremely literal or was trying to be difficult, but he knew that contracted companions could not disobey a direct order.
The floating being rotated around until it faced Peter and Donna. “My name is Metallesapure of the wraith species. My world failed the Architect’s tests, and my entire species has subsequently been enslaved. Rather than submit myself to a lifetime of servitude, I instead volunteered for a companion contract where I serve my owner until their death, and then I am freed.”
Blake frowned. He had never heard the exact conditions of the arrangement, and something bothered him greatly. “If you become free once I die, isn’t that a conflict of interest? Are you hoping I get killed quickly?”
The companion turned around and faced Blake. Besides the silver eyes, he could not make out any facial features, but he imagined it gritted its teeth in frustration.
“...yes.”
Note to self, be VERY careful how you phrase questions.
“Okay, fair enough, Metal. Let’s see how useful you are to me. Turn invisible.” The transparent creature began to fade entirely from his vision, until he saw no sign of its presence. “Stay there.”
When Blake approached the center of the living room where the portal had spilled out his new companion, his mother warned, “Blake! Be careful!”
He nodded absently and reached out a hand blindly to feel for his companion. A moment later, his hand rubbed against spongy flesh, and he shuddered at the sensation.
So weird.
“Metal, phase through my hand now without moving or harming me.”
Suddenly, his hand fell through the soft rubbery flesh, and he waved his arms around the center of the room. With a laugh, he backed away and said, “Okay, make yourself visible again.”
He sunk into the reclining chair once again and searched his status sheet. Once he found the ability, Summon Companion within a new category called General Skills, he carefully read through the description and then focused on the ability to dismiss his companion. The moment he accomplished the mental command, a portal appeared around the wraith, and it was sucked inside. The spatial distortion faded away and his Summon Companion ability changed to unavailable. The text of the skill was grayed out, and a timer counted down beside it, which let him know he needed to wait another hour before he could resummon the wraith.
“It’s gone now.” Blake said to his parents. “You can have a seat and ask as many questions as you want now.”
They hesitantly followed his advice. His mother avoided the section of the living room where the portal occupied as she returned to the couch. After they warily sank into the cushions of the love seat, his father posed a question. “Son…” his voice trailed off, and then he seemed to change his question. “You are our son, right?”
His mother gripped her husband’s hand tightly with wide eyes as she awaited his response.
“Of course I’m your son!” Blake said, exasperated, as he threw his hands into the air. He realized that would not be enough proof, so he gave an example of something only he would know, “Fine. When I was five, I broke a lamp. I didn't want to get in trouble and hid behind the couch. Mom couldn’t find me because I would run from room to room as she looked. She called the police, and they finally found me under Oliver’s bed.”
Donna nodded and teared up at the reminder.
Peter frowned. “Just making sure, you said something about being from the future, and to be honest, I stopped really paying attention when I thought you were making everything up.”
Blake groaned as his head sank into his hands.
Well, at least they took my word that I’m still their son.
He rubbed his temples with his fingers in a circular pattern, took a deep breath, and then slowly repeated his earlier story.
When he had finished, his mother asked, “What happened earlier today at school?”
Blake stared at her in disbelief.
“I tell you I’m from the future and the world is going to end, and you care about school?”
She became flustered and then stated defensively, “It’s important, Blake. I’m not worried about the Vice Principal. The police showed up to the restaurant. They said you’re wanted for questioning. What did you do to that poor kid that’s in the hospital?”
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That actually might become an issue.
“Sorry, you’re right. But, he isn’t some poor kid, he’s a bully. I never told you about him before because, well, I was a teenager. I didn’t want you to know I was being picked on all through school. Ten years ago, I just put up with it, but after years of fighting, I stopped taking crap from anyone. After he pushed me down and insulted me, I fought back. I’ll admit, I was acting on instinct at the time, but when I left, he seemed fine, just in a lot of pain.”
His father seemed to overlook his use of the past tense when he referred to his previous high school experience. “If the end of the world is going to happen, why would you get into a situation like this?” Peter asked. “Why not just ignore him and walk away?”
“When I first woke up,” Blake paused and then clarified. “In the past, I wasn’t thinking clearly. My brain was fuzzy and I just sort of acted on instinct,” he explained. “He came at me before I had regained my bearings.”
“Well,” Donna said. “If the boy pushed you first, then it was self-defense. Just go talk to the police and explain what happened. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Blake absently shook his head as he remembered the altercation. “I don’t have time to deal with that. Besides, lots of people recorded me attacking him, but I’m sure no one got him pushing me down on camera. The footage will look like I attacked him out of nowhere.”
“But,” she protested. “You won’t be able to finish school until you fix this. When you go to class, they’ll just call the police back in. They’ll handcuff you and bring you back to the station. If you go there of your own volition, it’ll look better.”
“I don’t have time to go back to school, mom. For the next six months, I’m going to spend all day completing combat scenarios until I can afford to start a faction and choose a combat class.”
“Why six months?” his mother asked.
“That’s when Invasion day is, mom.” Blake sighed as she wrung her hands, nervously.
“I assume you won’t be able to show up to work then, either?” After Blake shook his head, his father asked, “Just to be sure, this Architect is an AI?”
Blake nodded in affirmation.
His dad leaned forward. “Okay, then what are these ‘combat scenarios’ you mentioned, they sound dangerous.”
Blake chuckled. “Of course they’re dangerous, that’s the point. The Architect rewards you when you take a risk. Matter of fact, my new companion was a reward for being the first person to complete a scenario.”
“Is that where you were all day?” his father asked.
Blake nodded. “Yeah, after I went back in time, I thought I might be crazy and had a mental break or something. I hadn’t rejoined the Collective yet, and had no proof that my memories were real. So, to prove to myself that I wasn’t crazy, I found the closest portal I remembered and entered it. Once inside, I couldn’t leave until I completed it.”
“What do you mean, you couldn’t leave?” his mother asked.
“It portals you to another planet and the portal doesn’t reopen until you complete the scenario objective,” he explained.
“What all is involved in this ‘combat scenario’,” Peter asked carefully.
“Each one is different,” he explained. “The portal I entered always teleports you to the goblin’s planet, but this scenario had me kill twenty-six goblins.”
“Goblins!” His mother’s eyes opened wide, and she blurted, “It forced you to kill to leave?”
Blake nodded gravely. “Killing is our future, mom. In six months, when it blocks all electricity on the planet and everyone joins the Collective, most people are going to die. When they run out of canned goods and begin to starve, they’re going to become desperate. Desperate people do awful things.” He shook his head sadly. “Just as many people are going to die from each other as they are from starvation.”
After the morose statement, the room fell silent. They reflected on what he said and what it would mean for them. Finally, after a long pause, his father asked in a quiet voice, “You said you hadn’t seen us in ten years, is that what happened to us?”
Blake nodded. “A week after Invasion day, Oliver died of an overdose.” His mother’s breath caught at the statement, but he forced himself to continue. “After that, things got worse. We holed up in the restaurant for a few months, until a small gang of people showed up wanting our stores of food. You refused and they started firing. When it was obvious that they were going to kill us all, you told me to run.” Bitterly, he added, “Like a coward, I did.”
By the end of his retelling, there were tears in his eyes.
He had openly shared his greatest regret. He had been weak and unable to protect those he loved. After the admission, he expected to see disappointment in their eyes. Instead, his mother rushed forward to embrace him once again.
“Thank you for listening to us, honey,” his mother said as she wrapped him tight.
Peter nodded. “It was the smart thing to do. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be alive now, would you.” he stated reasonably. After Blake shook his head, his father asked, “How did you survive on your own after that?”
Once his mother returned to her seat beside his father, he said, “I hid in empty houses and survived on any food I could find. I was forced to kill monsters around me to survive. Each time I did, I received nano. Eventually, I went on a rampage. I collected enough to start enhancing my body, and then gained a combat class. Once I did, a brand-new faction allowed me to join them. As time passed, they built energy-shielded walls around their compound, which prevented the portals from appearing within it. After that, things slowly progressed. Eventually, I joined a greater faction, which is where I was at the end.”
Blake could see that his revelation of their futures concerned them.
“Are… are we going to have to kill these monsters?” His mother asked.
Blake shook his head. “No, I’m going to create my own faction. You’ll be safe within its walls long before monsters begin to appear. You won’t have to worry about people, either,” he added.
“How are you going to do this? How can we help with this... faction?” Peter asked as he stumbled over the word, and his mother nodded her agreement.
“Don’t worry about helping. Eventually, I’ll share my nano with you so you can join the Collective, but there’s no point right now.”
His mother’s face soured at the thought of joining the Collective.
Peter protested. “I want to help you complete these ‘scenarios’ you mentioned. It’ll be safer with the two of us.”
Blake shook his head. “It actually won’t be. Not only will I not get as much nano if you join me, but I’ll have to spend the entire time trying to keep you safe.”
His father frowned. “Don’t you worry about me. I’ll buy a gun and plenty of ammo. I’ll get you one as well.”
“Which will reduce our nano to almost zero. Guns are one of the reasons we almost all died. The Architect isn’t stupid. With guns, you can slaughter low level creatures in droves with almost no risk. Because you aren’t risking anything, you don’t get much of a reward. It’s going to keep everyone low level for far too long. Eventually, bullets will stop working against the monsters, and we’ll be screwed.”
“But… I want to help you, son.”
“You will,” he promised. “So will mom. I’ve been doing this for a long time now, and I’m very good at it. Trust me.” Blake paused and could sense their frustration. “There are plenty of non-combat classes that we will desperately need. Since I’m going to start building our faction city before society collapses, I’ll also need your help buying property and keeping the cops off our backs.”
“How much property are you talking about?” Donna asked. “If you remember, money’s tight right now and a bank won’t give us another loan until we can show two quarters of positive cash flow from the restaurant.”
“Ideally, as much acreage as I can buy with as many trees as possible.” Then he added, “Don’t worry about the money, though. In between fights, I had plenty of time to think, and I’m pretty sure I found a solution.”
“Oh?” his dad asked, curious.
“See this necklace?” Blake pinched the thin chain between his fingers. “It’s my reward from the scenario, and it's pure gold.”
“That’s nice honey, but it can’t be more than an ounce or so.” His mother informed him. “You might get two thousand dollars for it, but we’ll need a hundred times that amount to buy acres of land.”
He grinned. “Oh, the cash isn’t for the land, it's for gambling.”
“Gambling?” Peter asked, confused.
“The Mega-bowl is coming up in just a week or so, right?”
His father nodded absently.
“Well, I just happen to remember the exact final score.”