Chapter Four
*SLAP*
Max stood there stunned at Esmeralda Alexander, his first kiss, love, and someone he shed a tear for the last ten years, had just slapped him across the face.
“That was for not calling me you bastard!” she spat angrily with tears streaming down her eyes.
Still stunned from this Max just stood there confused. He was a 200 pound walking wall of muscles and military training, yet in front of this little five foot six girl he was powerless. Rubbing his cheek still not sure how to proceed she then embraced him with a tight hug around his neck and entire body. Max wrapped his arms around her and looked at Brian with a confused look upon his face and mouthed to him ‘What do I do?’
Brian just looked at his hopeless friend and shrugged, even throughout high school he had to push Max into Esmeralda’s path.
“Max what is going on out there?” Brian asked as he sat down exhausted.
Looking up from Esmeralda to look at Brian, Max just shook his head and said, “I have no idea, my contacts from around the world are all reporting strange things. In some cities its little green ugly men, while others its dog-men, little creatures that throw fire, giant wolves, and even what some people are calling ghosts. What the case your family is safe along with your wife Brian. Don’t worry Vilhei is guarding them personally.”
Sighing in relief Brian’s face just seemed much more relaxed. Max just walked over to him and said, “Don’t worry, were going to be fine, that’s the good news.”
Looking up and into Max’s eyes he asked, “What’s the bad news?”
“Bad news is that we have to stay in this area to help provide a shelter. The last year has changed a few things. The goals have changed and we are now trying to save this planet, not leave it. Only thing is that with these gods now changing literally everything we have to re-plan everything. So until Ashara plans something else we will have to hunker down and save as many people as we can.” Max said to him.
“Wait why were you trying to leave the planet? Sounds a little crazy to me but the way you said it makes you seem like you’re an alien or something haha”, Esme asked from across the room chuckling nervously.
Max and Brian just looked to each other and just realized they had forgotten she was there. Looking at them cooked eyes she just had a look like she was waiting for a real answer. Off the top of his head. Max said, “I wanted a way off the planet because my parents were killed by aliens.”
Brian snapped his head around with a look of disbelief. Not at Max but at the sheer audacity of his bullshit. In Esme’s eyes though, she looked as if Max was crazy but with everything that had happened in the world today she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“What do you mean ‘Aliens killed your parents’?” She asked.
Going with his little lie he made a whole story about how his parents were scientists studying for NASA and how their research got them killed by the aliens. It was a faulty story with so many holes in it but for some unknown godforsaken reason, she believed it. At least she said she did to them.
“WOW, so that's why you disappeared? To find a way to get revenge all this time?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about all keeping this a secret from you but if i had told you about this then you’d probably call me crazy.” Max said while doing his best puppy dog guilty face.
“Yeah I would have called you crazy.” Esme said as she felt sorry for Max now.
Letting out a breath of relief Max visibly relaxed a bit.
“Okay, so now I need you guys to do me a favor.” Max said.
“What do you need?” Brian asked.
“Clean.” Max said.
`
The next few hours the three of them cleaned the farmhouse to prep it for what was to come. They dusted, mopped, and ran rats out the kitchen. Max and Brian also went around installing extra barbwire to make the area a little more secure and by ten o’clock everything was secure. When they got back Esme was cooking some of the food she found in the supplies Max had with him. Coming home to some warm cooked food was a wondrous feeling that Max hadn’t had in a long time.
Inside the house looked much better than before. The dust was no were to be seen while the air was warm with the fireplace now burning. The food was a simple chicken noodle soup but it touched the part of you that always made you feel like home. Together they ate and caught Esme up on their situation, how Brian hadn’t known until they had graduated about Max’s survival, how max had been surviving these last ten years, and finally what they were going to do now.
“Well the first thing is this, we need to establish a safe place for our future guests, my brothers might move here since we have the most space here and it is an easy place for expansion. So starting tomorrow, Brian and I will start gathering supplies.” Max said.
“What about me?” Esme asked, slightly concerned with being left home alone.
“Don’t worry, there’s a town not three miles from here. If we take the pickup truck in the barn house then there’ll be more we can salvage and people to save. Also there’s this.” Max said as he walked to the sofa and pulled out a black suitcase.
Inside the suitcase was an assortment of firearms and holsters, on the left were three Glock 17’s with two magazines each with a holster next to them, in the center was a dismantled shotgun with a box of shells to the right of it, after that was another little black box. Taking the Glock 17 out along with the two of the Mags, Max put them on the table as he put the suitcase back on the floor.
“These are normal everyday Glock 17’s, but the magazines are the magical thing here. These are explosive tipped bullets with a secondary round inside. One of these babies can put a hole through a brick and still kill a man. I guess you know how to load and shoot a gun?” Max said.
Esme just nodded her head she took them into her hands. While shooting guns wasn’t a thing she would have done a few years ago, Brian over the years had managed to convince her to learn and enjoy shooting. Thought she didn’t know it, it was Max’s idea for Brian to learn and in turn teach Esme. Her turning into a gun nut though was a bit far out of the original plan.
Knowing that she’d be safe tomorrow Max told them it was time for bed. They would all be sleeping upstairs and Max would rig the doors for an alarm to ring if anything happened at their front door. Heading upstairs there were four rooms available, one master and three normal sized rooms. They all had picked rooms earlier when they were cleaning but only Brian and Max had clothes to change into.
Max took out some of his clothes and handed them to Esme so that she could sleep in something more comfortable. Smiling at the clothes she just took them and went to bed.
“She missed you a lot you know.” Brian said behind him.
“Shut up, I know man. It wasn’t easy for me you know.” Max grumbled.
“Yeah I know but that was the past. You have a chance now with all this craziness.” Brian said as he entered his room.
“Think about it.” He whispered comically as he shut his door.
Chuckling as he decided to go and call it a night as well as he went into his room to change and fall asleep.
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Falling asleep is normally just that, sleep.
Sometimes you get the occasional dream and forget it, or it would be a reoccurring nightmare, or some traumatic memory replaying over and over again. Tonight as none of that, tonight Max found himself sleeping but having the most vivid dream ever. Here he was in a with a man, if you could call him that.
This man was similar to any human you would find on earth but there was one major difference, his eyes. This man’s eye were different and alien, where the whites in his eyes were all black. His irises were a dazzling white, shining in them was a feeling of power, unimaginable power.
The room itself too was impressive, shaped and molded to be something from the past yet the future as well. The walls looked to be hardwood, the shelves of high quality wood, and chairs of expensive leathers. On the desk was clean of any dust or paper. In front of the man were a series of holo-screens and 3D scenes.
“Welcome to my office.” Said the man in his black suit and tie.
“What are you?”
“Hmmm… an intelligent one, you’re not like the rest of the others in this game.” The Man said as he observed Max.
“I am one of the assisters. We are here to help you in doing your best on survive the games as well as giving you contracts to fulfill if you choose to take them on. We are your connection to the game and your only chance at surviving it. Trust me on this.” The man said with a snap of his fingers.
In front of him the desk became blank, all the displays and images vanished.
“Okay, but aren’t we in just a dream?” Max asked.
“Yes we are in the depths of your subconscious but we are also not there. You wouldn’t understand but rest assured you are perfectly fine on earth as you are here.”
Nodding his head in confirmation that there was some sort of psychic field pulling his consciousness from his sleeping body.
“You said you were here to help me. How?”
“Simply by providing you with information, supplies, improvements, contracts, and even help you survive the game.” He said. With a wave of his hand multiple holo-screens appeared in front of Max.
“What is all this?”
“The directory or ‘The List’ as we call it. This is the compendium of every improvement, supply, technology, ability and everything in between, available for purchase.” The man said as he walked around from behind the table.
Max looked at the list and saw things that made his jaw drop. The List had little things like bullets and guns to huge things like tanks and missile launchers. There were even things that were a dream come true for him like the location of his people, his brothers, and leaders of different nations and even places of safety. What was truly surprising was the advanced technology where personal shields, hover craft, and even lightsabers were available as well. The only confusing thing was that each and everything had a cost in points.
“So what are these points? And how do I get them?” Max asked hurriedly.
“Ohhh? I take it you’ve seen something you like?” He smiled as he brought his hand to his chin.
“Maybe, I’ll tell you if you tell me how these points are gained.” Max said.
Laughing the man just smiled, “Don’t worry, it’s my job to tell you. To gain points you just have to play the game, kill the creatures that have been brought to your world, take contracts to push your limits. They have been taken from this planet’s fantasy and horrors. I recommend that you take these three improvements first.” As he waved his hands.
In front of Max the screens all went away and what remained were three little tabs.
(Level One Knowledge) - 100p
+ 3 to Intelligence, Grants the owner the knowledge of the functions and rules of the game.
(Telekinesis 1/10) – 500p
Ability to move objects with your mind. How much you can move is determined by how much psychic force you have.
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(Identifier – 1/10) – 1000p
Allows you Information on the creature you are focused on. Range of 30 feet
(UI Ver. 1) – 250p
Displays Information on the Game.
“OK how do I purchase them? Do I even have enough points?” Max asked,
“Well you see, normally we calculate the wealth of an individual and divide that by a number based on their physical ranking and other things. You are a special case seeing how you have much more than normal but not a crazy amount. Now enough with the chit chat, your total amount of points is 5,083.”
“Alright then, I’ll take them now.” Max said.
“Very Good, also I must warn you. This will hurt.” He said as a light flashed around Max and he felt his mind melt. The pain wasn’t as bad as the feeling of information being forced into his brain.
“Well that's enough for tonight. See ya.” The man said as we snapped his fingers and Max woke up to see the light of dawn appear.
-Esmeralda¬-
Falling asleep was easy as her tears of exhaustion carried her off to the world of dreams. Only these dreams weren’t dreams, she found herself in the woods and in front of her stood the largest tree she’d ever laid eyes on. In front of her was a woman with beautiful cream skin and in front of a large pond with her hands twirling in the water.
The woman was wearing only but a green silk-like dress with open arms peering over the pond. Looking up and into the woman’s eyes were a pair of lush emerald eyes peering back at her.
“Hello there young one.” The woman said to her.
“Hi. Who are you?” Esme smiled.
“I am an assister, one of many. Welcome to the system.” The woman said as she raised her hand from the pool.
“Assister? Assister of what?”
“Why ‘The Game’ of course.” The woman smiled.
At the very mention of the game Esme remembered the events of today and felt sadness at the lives lost today.
“Relax little one, I know you are upset but that will pass. I am here to provide you with information, supplies, improvements, and contracts to help you survive the game. Without us you wouldn't make it a week in the game. So take a breath as I explain what is going to happen.”
Taking a deep breath, Esme cleared her mind before asking. “Where am I?”
Answering with a smile, “You are in the System, a place where when you sleep, if you wish will come to. Here you may use points to enhance yourself, get supplies and information, and with these things survive and maybe win the game.”
“Why are you assisting me?” she asked with a curiosity.
The woman just laughed and said, “Simply put, it is our purpose.”
With a wave of her hand small lights began floating from the pond. Little wisps of light began to float around Esme. The lights danced around her forming words and numbers, more and more things came into being. In front of her were a list of things that said they were available to purchase.
“You are very lucky, any kills you made today were counted as worth ten times as many points for the first day and you made some nice kills. Currently you have 1200 points and I recommend you get these things first.” As she waved her hands.
(Nimble 1/1 – 320)
Grants a bonus to physical attributes of agility, reflex, quickness and vitality.
(Level One Knowledge) - 100p
+ 3 to Intelligence, Grants the owner the knowledge of the functions and rules of the game.
(UI Ver. 1) – 250p
Displays Information on the Game.
(Phasic Shield Mk.1) – 400
A personal shield that when worn can protects the wearer. Sustained duration 1 hour, recharge duration of four hour.
Esme was unsure as to the nature of points and whatnot but she felt that she could trust this woman. She felt and undeniable urge to just say yes but had so many questions to what to do.
“Why are—“
Before Esme could say another word the woman put her hand up, “I will answer any of your questions but only after you at least get the ‘Level One knowledge’ enhancement. That is key for your own survival and how to use it to your advantage. Please understand Esme, my job is to assist you, help you, and guide you.”
Walking around from the pool she took Esme’s hand to plead with her. “What must I do to make you believe me?”
Esme looking the same as ever just asked, “Can I use points on fresh food? I saw a part in the cornet that said that ‘one day worth of food for 5 points’ and my group need lots of food.”
Half stunned and puzzled at the same time the woman just giggled and said, “Of course you can but still please wait until after you attain Level one Knowledge.”
“Fine then, I’ll take those first recommendations.”
With a half-smile and frown she then said, “I forgot to mention it might hurt the first time around.” As the little lights wrapped themselves around her as massive amounts of pain swarmed through her.
After several seconds of screaming in pain she collapsed to the ground panting with exhaustion.
“Sorry about that dear, we’ll talk more tomorrow as you digest the info.”
As the lights swarmed around her they wrapped her up and created a warm blanket as she awoke from the dream.
-Brian-
Falling asleep for Brian had always been easy, after practice he’d always be so tired he could lay down anywhere and sleep. Normally he was a light dreamer as well but tonight wasn’t going so well. Feeling himself fall though a somewhat mystical curtain of sorts as he opened his eyes to what appeared to be a colosseum. He appeared at what appeared to be the entrance of it and was looking at gatekeeper.
“Hmph, so you are my charge hmm? Well you can’t be as bad as the last one, you actually seem like you can actually handle yourself in a fight. Follow me and welcome to ‘The System’.” The man said.
Brian looked at the man but call it a man didn’t seem right, by appearance he seemed like an orc but his body was not large enough. As the orc walked down the tunnel to the inner parts of the colosseum Brian following it from behind asked, “Hey where am I? I don’t remember falling asleep near a colosseum.”
The Creature just sighed and said, “Everyone always asks the same thing, ‘Where am I? How’d I get here? Why am I here? Where did you come from?’, so which do you prefer short version or long, boring, and detailed version?”
“Short version.”
Grunting in approval the creature explained, “I’m an ‘Assister’, you’re a ‘Player’. I help you survive and give you tips on how to better improve yourself from ‘the directory’ which is a list of all the possible improvements, abilities, and equipment you can get from us through using points.”
Brian looked at him and just said, “That’s not the first time you’ve explained this is it?”
“Nope, and normally I tell everyone the same on what to get but you ‘re an interesting one. Made it the whole first day without killing a thing which really sucks for you but you are in luck kid.” The orc said, leading Brian into the center of the arena.
‘Kid?’
In the arena were podiums of various sizes and shapes surrounded by sand similar to ancient Rome. Walking to the center the orc just turned around and had his eyes burn with a green flame. The sand around the arena began to form and create letters in midair for him to see.
“You Brian Russel, have zero points, which is a bit unfortunate for you seeing how you have absolutely no choice for improvements though. However you aren’t the only one seeing how many people there are on your planet. So you can choose between one of two options, first is you take out one of the contracts in front of you. Second is to take a loan out but failure to repay the loan is a very unpleasant thing.”
Brian knew immediately that he should take a contract after all his mother had always told him to avoid any sort of debt. Scanning the various contracts he saw two that peeked his interest.
Kill 10 Goblins, Reward – 300 points
Kill Andre Portsmith, 2000 points + players current points, Vikatho’s Blessing
Brian had recognized the name, looking up to the assister and pointing at the kill contract Brian asked, “Why does this guy have a contract on him?”
With a devious smile the orc waved his hand and a magical sphere appeared over them showing a grisly scene.
“This player had already pissed off a god you see. The Goddess of Vikatho is the patron of war and love, she witnessed this player killing a young couple that her blessings. Unfortunately they came across Andre who stole their supplies and did horrible things to them. Here’s where the war aspect comes in, she was looking forward to them fighting for their love and making her proud but he pissed her off he killed them. So yeah kill the bastard for her and you got massive points and into her good book.” He explained.
“How long do you have to complete contacts?”
“This one is as long as it takes.”
“I’ll take this one then.” Brian said.
“Oh? That’s a first. I was sure you’d go for the goblin contract. Well whatever, take the contract in your hand and poke yourself in the finger with this.” As he held out a small pin.
Brian grabbed the contract of sand and poked his finger until some blood trickled out over the contact. Coming into contact with the blood the sand contract turned into black ink and traveled into his arm from where he poked his finger. Writhing in pain as the ink traveled up his arm made him fall to the ground as he held his hand trying to comfort it.
As the pain died away Brian looked up to see on his arm a black tattoo of tribal design.
“That is the mark of a contract, when you complete your contract it will fade away. If turns red it means you have failed your contract but it’s easier when you only have creatures to kill than a single target. If you press the mark it will let you know which direction to find them but won’t give you an exact location until you rank up.”
“Can I take on another contact?” Brian asked.
“Yes but not until you get your first improvements. Those are the rules.”
Sighing at the lack of things he could do Brian decided to ask, “Now what?”
“Now you wake up.” The orc said as Brian saw the sand begin to wrap around him as he fell back into his subconscious.
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WOW that was a long chapter almost 4000 words.
sad to say though starting next week my chapters will be a shorter.
Happy? Sad? want me to stop writing? want me to keep writing?
Comment and let me know. Thanks again and have a wonderful day!