Avery dropped to her knees, putting pressure on the gaping wound to stem the blood flow. Elijah gave her a glance, but walked over to the ape to ensure it was dead before doing anything else.
He put a hand against its chest, but the creature’s heartbeat had faded. Elijah steadied himself as a wave of weakness washed over him. He braced himself against the fallen ape.
Blood was pooling on the ground around Avery. It had soaked into her leather armor and stained the leaves around her.
“I don’t think I’m going to live through this,” Avery wheezed
“I’m not doing great either, but I don’t think I even got hit,” Elijah muttered, kneeling to get a better look at Avery’s wound.
It was grisly. Elijah grimaced and shook his head. “Not good news.”
“I didn’t expect any,” Avery muttered. Another wave of weakness washed over Elijah. Cold sweat started to run down his spine as shivers wracked his body.
“I’m getting the feeling you might not be going alone,” Elijah said.
As the pool darkened around them, Elijah’s vision started to grow blurry. A thin, blood red line started into form between his chest and Avery’s. Elijah blinked, then cursed.
“I think you’re dragging me with you, you vindictive hag,” he rasped. “Don’t I have some bandages or something?”
He started digging through the pouches on his belt for anything that would be of use. His hands wrapped around a thin glass vial. Elijah pulled it out, squinting at the red liquid inside it. It glowed and sparkled in the sparse rays of sunlight.
“Cranberry juice?” Elijah wondered. “Why do I have this?”
“Poison, maybe,” Avery said with a weak laugh.
“Let’s find out,” Elijah said. “Can’t hurt.”
He popped the cap off and poured half of it into Avery’s mouth before she could close it. She doubled over, hacking in between curses. She paused mid swear, her hand moving to her side.
“Are you dying faster?” Elijah asked. “Did it at least taste good? I’m thirsty.”
Avery blinked, “No. Actually, I’m feeling much better. I think the bleeding has stopped. What did you give me?”
“Cranberry juice, I think,” Elijah said, eying the vial. His vision started to return to normal as the weakness faded. “My mom always said it was good for you.”
Avery snatched it out of his hand. She carefully sniffed it, then tipped the vial back into her mouth. The last of the weakness left his body.
With a grunt, Avery rose to her feet. She lifted her armor and peered down at where the wound had been.
“It’s gone,” she observed.
“Best cranberry juice I’ve ever seen. You better have some for me,” Elijah said.
“It’s not - oh, forget it.” Avery reached into her belt and shuffled through it. Most of the pouches appeared to be empty, but she pulled a single red vial that matched Elijah’s perfectly. She carefully put it back into her belt. “However, I think we might have a problem.”
“I think you might be right.” Elijah sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Maybe try to avoid dying in the near future. I’m getting the feeling that would go badly for the both of us.”
Avery pursed her lips. “That’s going to make killing each other hard.”
“We kind of already did that, though. Do we even still have to bother with it?” Elijah asked. “This job has spanned fifty five years and a whole planet. We aren’t on Earth anymore. We can work for ourselves.”
Avery didn’t respond immediately. She trailed off, a pensive look on her face. Elijah rubbed his chin as he stood up. He walked in a circle around the fallen ape, marveling at how easily his limbs reacted to his desires.
As he walked, the ape shimmered with faint blue energy. Elijah dropped into a fighting stance, raising his blade defensively. However, the monster flickered and faded away, transforming into a small orange stone and two streams of blue energy that launched through the air - one towards Elijah, and one to Avery.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
The energy flowed into Elijah’s body before he could move. A surge of what felt like adrenaline pumped through his veins and golden letters flashed across his vision.
Level up!
Class Assignment Available.
Initiating…
Proposed class: Thief
Error: User exceeds baseline class requirements.
New class suggested: Assassin
Error: Operator Override
New class suggested: Spellblade [MODIFIED]
New class assigned.
Before Elijah could even blink away the barrage of text, it faded as a new line of golden letters appeared before him:
Open Status screen? (Y/N)
“Classes? Status screen? What’s th-” Elijah started, but his words died in his mouth as a large golden screen appeared before him.
Elijah (Dove) Fleet
Human [Level 2]
Class: Spellblade [MODIFIED]
Strength: 11 +1
Agility: 13
Endurance: 11
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 15 +1
Charisma: 17
Luck:3
ABILITIES
Shadow Step [MODIFIED]
Elijah’s eyebrows crept up his forehead as he read through the screen before him. It knew his calling card from his days of work as an assassin on Earth. Whoever or whatever had made this page had clearly done their research.
“Are these numbers some sort of quantification of my abilities?” He wondered. “They don’t seem particularly high. I feel like I should be insulted.”
“Be quiet,” Avery said. “I’m trying to read.”
Elijah grunted dismissively. He reached out, brushing the screen with the tips of his fingers. They passed through it harmlessly. He dragged his hand down through the words. As his fingers touched the abilities section, Shadow Step lit up with dull orange light.
Shadow Step [MODIFIED]
The user can step into a shadow, teleporting to a nearby shadow within a range determined by the user’s Mananite levels.
* This ability was modified by [REDACTED] based on the user’s experiences. It was originally Flash Step.
“Huh,” Elijah said. He waved at the screen in front of him and it vanished. “Did you get a flashy gold screen in front of your face as well?”
“I did,” Avery said. “Can you see it?”
“Nope, but I got one myself. What’s yours say?”
Avery shrugged. “Not entirely sure, it’s probably not much different than yours. It would be helpful if we could just share them.”
A gold screen blinked into existence in front of Avery. Elijah scanned over it.
Avery (Spider) Kim
Human [Level 2]
Class: Witch [MODIFIED]
Strength: 8
Agility: 16
Endurance: 10
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 11
Luck: 1
ABILITIES
Hex
“Oh, I can see it now! What did you do?” Elijah asked.
“Nothing. I just tried to show it to you. It looks like these screens do what we want them to,” Avery said. “Are you going to let me see yours?”
“In a moment”, Elijah said. “If you try to touch your abilities, it’ll give you some info on them.”
Elijah swiped at her page. Nothing happened. His eyes narrowed and he poked it again to no avail.
Avery raised an eyebrow and emulated the gesture. When her finger touched the word ‘Hex’, a new window popped up in front of the main one.
Hex
The user can cast a hex on a single target, lowering their Agility by an amount determined by the amount of Mananite used.
“Huh,” Elijah said. “My ability was modified, and it said something was redacted.”
“Show me,” Avery urged.
Elijah frowned. “I accidentally got rid of it. Let me try to bring it back.”
No sooner than he had said the words, the screen appeared before him. Avery walked over to his side as Elijah willed it to be visible for her. He tapped the Shadow Step ability, bringing up its screen.
“I’m not sure what the redacted part is, but I suppose all we can do is just keep an eye out,” Avery observed. “And at least they got a few things correct. I’m smarter than you are”
“And I’m better in just about everything else,” Elijah replied, smirking. “Now, we better get moving before another one of those horny monkeys comes after us.”