Silas
MY FACE WAS GROWING NUMB—I didn’t feel that last punch.
At some point I thought to myself if I stopped fighting them back, they’d give up eventually and walk away. But they were giving quite a show out in the courtyard, where everyone stopped to look at the school nerd getting his ass beat by a bunch of bullies. I was too old for this, in my senior year of high school, inches away from graduating and leaving this piss-poor excuse of a lifestyle in the past. I guess Leon and his crew were mourning the fact that they were losing their personal punching bag in a few weeks, and were bent on making everyday count.
I could feel the blood trickling off the side of my face like a busted dam. My ears were buzzing, my nose broken, and my fucking confidence shot. I didn’t care much for reputation, but this routine was mentally debilitating, trying to find some place to hide from them day in and day out, only to get caught and become a source of entertainment for these dickbags.
What’s worse, my girlfriend was standing there on the sidelines watching the whole thing with a disgusted look on her face…
“Haha! That color red looks good on you, nerd!” Leon cackled, with my bloody uniform collar still balled up in his fist. His pimple-faced buck-toothed friend, the new kid to his collection of misfits, gave me a rib shot kick that made me wince and curl up, the sting of another blow in the same spot crippling me. “Man, you really are a loser! Poor, weak, and pathetic! But if there’s one thing you do have goin’ for ya, it’s your punchable face!”
He was lucky he’d caught me off guard with that hook punch earlier…
Usually it was just Leon, Johnny, and Melvin stalking me. Shawn was a new addition, just some snot-nosed kid who wanted to fit in so badly. It was painfully obvious, but the bullies didn’t deny him.
Could be because the push over was loaded with money and he was desperate for some tuffy-wuffy friends.
“What? You can’t get up?” Johnny mocked, knowing well that his little brother Melvin was behind me with a ball of my black hair in his grip, keeping me on the grass. He only had one purpose in this fight, and that was to make sure my face was available. Every time I went in to block my head with my arms, he’d tug me back so Leon could bash my face in.
“He must like the abuse!” Melvin laughed. “What a freak!”
“You cowards,” I seethed. “Are you that afraid of me that you can’t fight me one on one?!”
Leon’s face churned. “What did you say, punk?”
“You heard me loud and clear, prick! The only way you’d get one off of me is by snapping your goons on me first. You never were a fair fighter, and I could see why. You punch like a Toyota Prius.”
He chuckled. “See, I was going easy on you. I’m more of a Dodge Truck,” he said, cocking his arm back for a fierce punch. “You got some lip on you, Bruer. This will teach you to keep your fuckin’ mouth shut!”
“Enough,” Rick said, the jock on campus throwing pity on me. He strolled into the scene with his Varsity Jacket, his slick back blond hair, and his arm around my girl. “Cool it down, would ya? He’s had enough.”
Leon bit a glare at him. “Who the hell do you think you are tellin me to—”
“Hey, pug face. Do you want the entire school on your ass? Because a whistle is all it takes. Now, if you know what’s good for you, obey, like a good little mutt. Got that?”
Leon looked over his shoulder, the gawking crowd getting denser. About seven guys suddenly appeared out of nowhere, with the physique of linebackers.
He huffed, and then let me go. Leon and his goons walked off, and so did the rubberneckers. The party was over. I got up off my ass and looked over to Melody, my red-head with freckles and shimmering green eyes.
She huddled her textbooks in her arms and darted her eyes away from me sheepishly.
“Melody,” I whispered, desperate for an answer. She was rocking with the school jock, after five months of being in a relationship together.
“Sorry, Silas. This isn’t working out.”
++++
My day was hell. After I defrosted all of the frozen peas from the freezer on my bruised and swollen face, I sat in my crappy shoebox of a bedroom for a few hours and seriously contemplated dropping out. Melody was the only thing that kept me going. Without her, it felt like I was drowning. Sure, I felt like she’d tossed me a bone when she agreed on dating. After all, I had no redeemable qualities. A broke nerd living in the projects who was constantly beaten up on at school. But… I had two things going for me—I looked relatively attractive, well, according to her, and she liked the fact that I stood up for the little guys. Even though I knew this probably wouldn’t last for long with her high maintenance lifestyle, I was still bummed about her leaving me. And going after the pretty-boy quarterback… I sighed exasperatedly at the thought, feeling even smaller having my ex’s new boyfriend pull me out of the fire.
To be honest though, I wouldn’t have pulled myself out. I would have fought till the very end, just like I was taught to do, and dealt with it on my own. Because only a pussy bitch would ask someone else to fight his own battles… Said the words of my personal Drill Sergeant…
I was officially at my breaking point, though to be honest, school was actually where I went to bury myself with distractions.
Home life wasn’t the best. In fact, it was worse than school. I’d rather take a beating than hang around my drunk and verbally abusive dad all day. The guy hadn’t worked a single day in his life after mom died a few years ago. She had been the breadwinner in the family working as a lawyer. After she got ill, things were never the same. I took a year off from school, and I tried supporting her by getting a part time job, but it always went to shit. Everywhere I went, I seemed to stir up trouble with someone. My quietness rubbed some dickheads the wrong way, and they’d find any and every reason to shove me under the bus. I guess they expected me to stand there and take it, but I wasn’t opposed to throwing hands to defend myself.
I’d admit, I was a fighter, miles far from a pacifist. And, I had a mouth on me. It got me in trouble a couple times in grammar school, and I never grew out of that. What could I say? Something about bullies picking on nerds like me boiled my blood. It triggered me to fight, no matter the circumstances. Fighting for the fight-less was in my veins, and no matter how many times people tried to shake the habit out of me, it’d come back like a roaring flame.
“Quit being emo, kid,” Dad said in a gritty and sloshed voice, startling me. I nearly fell back off my computer desk chair, turning around to see him standing behind my ajar door with a cigarette like a city bum. His wardrobe of choice—food stained heart-print boxers and a greasy off white tank top that was too small for him. “Get off your ass and go get me some Newports and a six pack,” he grumbled as he scratched his exposed hairy stomach.
“Yeah. I can swing by the store,” I said, getting on my feet and tossing my jacket over my shoulders. “I was meaning to pay mom a visit tonight anyway.”
He scoffed. “Always with the cemetery. You know she can’t hear you, right?”
I furrowed my eyebrows at him. “What do you care?”
“It ain’t normal. You cut through her grave site, what every day now? Sometimes twice a day.”
“More than what I could say about you,” I fought back. “Someone ought to visit her.”
His face turned bitter. “What, are you sayin’ that I didn’t care for her? You trying to impress her in the afterlife or something? She’s dead. End of story. You’re not getting any special points for chatting her corpse up a storm.”
“Look, I’ll get you the pack of smokes and your beer. We don’t have to have another pointless discussion about mom.” I grabbed my keys and my wallet from my desk decorated with mom’s nerdy nostalgic antidotes and stepped out, my Dad intercepting me.
He looked down at me like I was still fourteen. I got my height from my dad, standing at a six feet frame. He was at least 6’5, with messy black hair and jade green eyes like me. It was like looking into a funhouse mirror that let you peek into the future. The way my life was going, I was afraid I’d turn out just like him—unsuccessful, unmotivated, and doomed to die alone.
“What happened to your face?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Bullies at school.”
“Again? Did you lose your big boy pants in the playground?”
“There were four of them.”
“And how the hell does that make a difference? You should have mopped the floor with their bloody noses. I always taught you to fight smart, not stupid. It’s not a numbers game when you know what you’re doing. You should have pulled them apart, attack them individually. ”
“Easy for you to say when you’re not the one being beaten on.” I inched forward but my Dad brought his leg out to block me from heading out my door. With one hand on my shoulder, he caught my attention, narrowing his eyes on me threateningly.
“I’m not gonna have me a punk ass weak son. You’re too old to be some tally on a man’s scoreboard. If I see you walk into this apartment again lookin’ like that, I’ll show you how a real man fights.”
I held my tongue. If there was one person I wouldn’t dare get in the ring with was my Dad. Military vet, ex MMA fighter, black belt—yeah, I didn’t have a death wish. “Yes sir,” I said, hoping he’d let me go. He took one hard look at me and then removed his leg, letting me pass.
++++
My nerves ran high throughout the entire bus ride to the convenience store. My leg couldn’t keep still, dad putting me on edge. I had to shake it off, and not let it bother me. When the bus dropped me off the corner of Witman’s Street, I passed the cemetery, and kept walking…
I didn’t know why my dad got to me the way he did. All of that talk about visiting mom usually rolled off of me. I guess I was still tense from the fight, and then coming home only for him to confront me. Or maybe I was feeling hopeless for losing Melody. I tossed my hoodie over my face to hide the scars, walking inside the store for my father’s poison of choice. I was nineteen but I had a fake ID, courtesy of dad.
Once I was done paying at the counter, I turned for the exit. I hadn’t been paying attention, keeping my head down and to myself as someone bumped me hard against my shoulder.
I nearly lost my step and tumbled backwards, the jackass not saying a word as he passed by.
“Hey, watch where you’re going, you—” I cut myself short, pivoting my head around to see a gorgeous girl with short platinum white hair walking away from me. She turned her head over her shoulder and glanced my direction, her face mellow-toned but mysterious.
image [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1100165192115032076/1111414865081413632/lucyna.png?width=1102&height=1102]
I stood there and gawked at her speechless.
“Wow, she’s cute,” I whispered to myself as she went to the counter and paid for a water bottle and a basket full of sweets.
Well, she was way out of my league. She looked like a god damn model with that body. Her biker gear added to her appeal, the skin-tight leather making me gawk even longer. I had to turn around before I started looking like a creep, making my way out with my stuff in a small plastic bag.
After seeing her, I suddenly felt a little better about my shitty life, even if I was still broke. After buying the cigarettes and the beer, I didn’t have enough for a bus ride. So I might as well use the forty minute walk to unwind, the empty streets at 11pm relaxing me. Crickets, the sound of a breeze flirting with the trees, the moonlight. It was Friday night, and usually I’d be home enjoying my PC MMO, among other things…
Buzz…
Buzz…
Buzz…
My pocket vibrated, a notification on the home screen showing me a three digit number leaving me a text message. I opened it up and read:
‘Hey.’
‘Stranger…’
‘Are you Silas Bruer?’
A mysterious number asking me for my name? Yeah, pass. I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and it went off again.
‘Wow, that’s not very nice…’
‘I just asked you a question…’
‘You ought to answer it.’
‘Who the hell is this?’
‘A curious kitty…’
‘Right. Lose my number.’ I texted back, and in the process of blocking 010, I get another text—
‘Don’t block me… You’d want to talk to me, Silas. I’m the girl you met at the store…’
‘What? How did you get my number?’
‘I saw the way you were looking at me back there. You want me, don’t you?’
At that moment, I had to stop and look around. Was she following me?
‘What if I told you that I could make the pain go all away?’
‘Okay, somehow you got my number. Is this some kind of game?’
‘No, not a game. I’m deadly serious…’
‘What’s your name? You seem to know mine.’
‘Lucyna.’
‘Are you with those douchebags from Riverton High?’
‘Always on edge. I could see why. You haven’t been able to catch a break, have you?’
‘Well, are you? That’d explain why you know me.’
She didn’t text back for thirty seconds. She’s been pretty quick so far, and I was about to chuck this up to some gag, until she texted me back:
‘I could make it go away, Silas. All of it.’
Suddenly I heard clacking at a distance, the echo coming from behind me.
‘You have that energy to you, that drive, that spark. But I can’t let her summon you. Not now, not ever.’
‘What the hell are you talking about? Is that you out there? Are you stalking me?’
‘You weren’t an easy find. But the wait, so worth it.’
Okay, I was beginning to freak out. I started to hear faint growling. The sound of metal clacking again made my feet move. I was being hunted, rushing down the sidewalk until I heard that I was getting closer to the noise. My feet made a sharp U-turn back and I ducked into an alleyway. My other option was the park across the street, but I’d be stupid to consider a clustered area with plenty of cover for my stalker.
I had no clue why she was following me! By the sound of the text, she wanted me dead.
I knew this area like the back of my hand. Down the alleyway there was a fire escape to my left, a line of dumpsters to the right, and a fence to my front. If anything, I could jump the metal fence and take an alternative route. So far, the coast was clear. With my chest chaffing, I took a moment to collect myself. I hadn’t even realized that I dropped my bag a quarter of a mile back. Catching my breath, I dropped my hands over my knees, noticing something black hanging out of my hoodie pocket.
When I pulled the chain it was hanging on out, I brought it to my eye level, quickly realizing what it was.
I wanted to gag…
It was a rotting rabbit’s foot.
How the hell did I not smell this earlier? More importantly, how the hell did it get in my pocket?!
“Ugh! I think I’m going to be sick!” I whimpered in a shaky voice, tossing the foot across from me. Just like that, it disintegrated, right before a whizzing wind whipped behind me.
All the hairs along my neck stood on their ends…
I saw a giant shadow looming over me on the pavement before I felt something penetrate me. Below my midriff, it tore through, deep inside my stomach. My body jerked forward from the impact, but the blade that shanked me hooked onto me tight, stopping me from falling forward. I gasped, holding onto my breath as I trailed my eyes downward, staring at a bloody spear. My brain was in a million places at once, my adrenaline so high that I hadn’t processed the pain for all of three seconds…
“Human scum!” he growled, yanking the blade out and finally letting my limp body crash on the cement. At first glance I might have said that he was just someone in a heavily armored Skeletor outfit, but he was capping at eight feet, maybe more. Something told me that his traumatizing skull mask wasn’t fake, and neither was his Darth Vader voice.
It was easy to poke fun at this shit, because I was lying here on the ground shaking, with my guts hanging out, and death hovering over me—I couldn’t have been awake. I was still back in my apartment, probably passed out on my desk, waiting for the tenth update on Eldergon this week to finish downloading on my PC.
No, none of this was real. In fact, I was due to wake up right… now!
“Now?” I whimpered.
“Petrified with fear, unable to utter a word,” the killer growled, leaning over my body and reaching his black gloved hand toward my face. “In the face of death, you are awfully quiet, hero.”
His piercing beady red eyes in a void of pitch black was the last thing I saw before his hand swallowed my face. I screamed, my blood curdling cry muffled in his palm. The pressure from his fingertips made me squirm and buck, fighting to get him off of me. But he was strong, abnormally strong. I couldn’t budge him even a little bit, the agonizing sound of him crushing my skull in his fist, hot blood pouring out off me!
I snatched his wrist even tighter while blood from my eyes streamed down my face. My bottom jaw snapped upward, crushing into the top row of my teeth. I was being mutilated, and there was no one around to help me!
The streets were quiet after 11pm, and this monster was about to get away with murder.
“May the nation of Senterra forever crumble.”
The sound of my juices squelching… there was no forgetting that in the afterlife. All I ever wanted was a better life for myself. With friends, people I could trust, someone I could love, family I could rely on. I was dying alone, on a night I’d decided to not pay my mother a visit.
What a disappointment I was…
No, I deserved better! I deserved to survive!
Where the hell was my second chance?! Where the hell was my rags to riches story?! My spotlight, my muse, my comeback?! A shitty life in a crappy apartment with my alcoholic deadbeat dad, and it ends like this? Being murdered in an alleyway by some fucking monster?!
Whoever this bastard was will pay! He’ll get his! Hell, I’ll haunt him if I have to! That cold-hearted bitch, too! I’ll show them, I’ll show them what I’m made of!
My rage, it made all of this heart-stopping pain worse. I didn’t care. Everything faded to black, a cold feeling riding up my spine. Until I noticed a blue dotty light at the distance, calling to me in a narrative voice:
Awaken, hero…
There is much work to be done…
Name: Silas Bruer
Race: Human
Rank: Hero + 10% (Hero’s Blessing)
Occupation: x
Alignment: x
Age: 19
Strength: 26
Level: 1
Agility: 10
World Exp: 0/1000
Charisma: 12
HP: processing…
Willpower: 47
Armor class: x (DR: x)
Stamina: 21
Currency: $1.01 USD
Special skills:
Lingual Expert
Items: x
Cyber Sense Gear: x
Cyber Magic: 0/100
Points to Allocate: x
You’ve been chosen by the great dungeon core Alzera-Kar!
Welcome to Thalian!