Bob’s eyes shot open. He pushed himself into a sitting position. His head snapped from left to right.
Where there once was the alley walls was now replaced with trees. A few feet beyond the treeline was obscured by shadows, outlines blending into the background of the forest.
Light leaked through, revealing spots of underbrush and movement.
Bob looked down into his hands. Nothing. Nothing was in them, except the dried vomit that was crusted on them and his chest. It flaked off as he rapidly turned them.
-
Where is it?
What was that?
Where is that car?
-
He opened and closed his hands before looking up. His right eye twitched, then a light-grey screen appeared in front of him – it was easy on the eyes and black text popped out, making it readable.
[Quest system booting…]
A voice spoke in his head. The voice was the same one from before. Before he was in the white room. Before that other voice talked to him. He clenched his hands.
The voice was still nigh yelling, causing Bob to wince. But it was quieter, more tame, less grating.
[Since you all are awake, and survived your awakening.]
The voice dropped to a whisper,
[A pity.]
The voice returned to normal. A hint of disappointment in its tone.
[We can start. Y’all got like a month. If you survive and clear whatever this dice roll decides, then you get to live and leave here. Otherwise. You get to live, BUT, you're stuck here. And unless you know how to balance and keep a healthy ecosystem working. Then…]
It drew out the then.
[Your fucked! System out.]
It screamed.
“Ow.” Bob threw a hand up, and rubbed at his head.
The screen infront of Bob bleeped out, and another one flickered into existence. Two more followed after, each pushing the one above it up. Three screens sat in the middle of Bob's vision, each read as is.
[Main Quest: Survive and clear pending…
Reward: Getting to live and leave here.]
[Sub quest: Figure how to open up your status. It’s really hard, trust me.
Reward: Access to the best thing ever. I know everything about your body and your skill! Sorta.]
[Location quest: Delete your browser history.
Reward: Free stitch.]
Bob mouthed ‘Dafaq’.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
The pending on the first quest blinked and was replaced with,
[ clear ___. Good luck figuring that out.]
The last part of it flickered away just as fast it appeared, still leaving it as confusing as before. Nothing else happened and the screens just sat there, blocking Bob's vision.
He swiped at it. The screens moved with his hands, but as they reached the edge of his vision they slid under his hand and snapped back into place. Bob frowned
-
Move. I can’t see.
-
The screens did not move. Bob swiped at it again. The screens repeated what happened the first time. They moved with his hand, but once they hit the edge of his vision they slid under his hand and snapped back into place.
“Get out of my face!” Bob shooed the screens.
It didn’t work.
“Leave. Disappear. Vanish. Fade. Clear.” Bob began to spout random words vaguely similar to ‘get out of my face’. His hands matching his words in motion.
None of it worked. Bob dropped his hands back into his lap. He began to rub his right palm.
He squinted at the screens. His eyes trailing the words as he read. He stopped on the status quest.
“Status?”
The three screens compacted and a bigger one covered them.
[Name: Bob
Species: Homosapien
Skill: Bright red. Dark black. A few nicks.
Spirit: Humanity
Stitches: ]
Bob went stiff as he read the skills name. He stopped rubbing his palm. His hands twitched, and he began to squeeze his right hand. He gulped, and relaxed his grip. Bob pulled his right hand away and began to reach out to touch the name.
The system voice spoke in his mind. His hand snapped away, nestling on his thigh. His left hand curled over it, constricting it.
[Good job, you figured this out. This is an automated message, since most of you won’t know, wait, all of you shouldn’t… Well, this is the start of the tutorial. Now read with me.]
[Name. Is your name. Don’t worry, I just used your legal documents. You can change it.]
[Species. You're human. Well… I'll let a few of you figure it out.]
[Skills. Here is the real kicker. Think of this as magic, supernatural abilities, however you want. You’ve awakened. Your latent potential laid bare, and shaped by you. Downside I popped ya’, and forced you to do this. Focus on it and you’ll get a description of what I feel from it.]
[Spirit, ugh, I sorta hate saying this. You guys loved your species so much that it became a spirit. Your old ancestors are there, or maybe, dunno. They are your protectors and guides. And since I kinda destroyed the ‘protection system’ they have blessed you.]
[Stitches. You don’t have any, I’ll tell you when you do. Try finishing that location quest.]
Bob was mindlessly nodding as he listened. He followed along with the system, looking at each zone on his status when the system started talking about it – his eyes glazed over the name of the skill.
[Now we are done reading. I’ll tell you how to close screens. Focus on the edge of the screen, you should see a small ‘X’. Now imagine pressing it. To do anything else, you just have to think on what you want to do. This is a very flexible system.]
Bob did as the system said. The three quest screens popped back up, expanding. The status quest was grayed out with a fat CLEARED over it. Bob moved to close the quest screen, staring at the X, then the system spoke again.
[And hand commands work, I just turned them off to piss you all off. They work now.]
It whispered with a muse in its weird inhuman voice.
Bob backhanded the screens. As his hand hit them, they bent and warped around his hand before springing back to shape and flew to the edge of his vision. They disintegrated into little pixelated particles. A rainbow CRITICAL fashed over them before it also disintegrated into pixels.
Bob grumbled and stood up. He looked around and took in his surroundings. He seemed to be in a clearing, an opening in the forest where the sun bared down. He looked up, right at the light.
He took in a deep breath.
-
Yup. That's the sun.
-
He rapidly blinked as he looked away. He walked to the edge of the clearing. He stopped and squinted. He could see into the forest, or atleast see the outlines of it. He touched the closest tree and looked up.
-
No wonder why. The canopy is thicker than a smoker's cloud. Light barely filters through.
That's a similarity between the alleys and the trees.
-
Bob trailed the edge of the clearing, scanning the forest. His hands were jittering, fiddling, clenching and unclenching. He repeated for about five times, then switched directions.
Bob bit his lip and stopped midway through his twentieth cycle around the clearing. His head began swiveling, his right foot tapping.
“Dammit. I’m pacing. Rip it off, just like a bandaid.” He paced in place for another minute, “Fuck. Okay. Status.”
He skimmed the text, and stopped at the skill section.
[Skill: Bright red. Dark black. A few nicks]
He took a deep breath, shook his limbs out. He exhaled and reached out, his hand had a slight shake to it. Bob pressed the skill. The words popped out and turned into another screen that overlaid the status screen.
[Bright red. Dark black. A few nicks
-
Pretty weird this is your skill. Humanity, yall, got some weird ones. Its pretty cool. A soap box car with bright red paint with black wheels, which are highlighted by the silver nails. I wonder why there are scratches on the top?
I get this overwhelming feel of, “Why?” Whatever that means… That's all I know.
Goo- Badluck!]
Bob sighed. He slowly took deep breaths. He closed his eyes, rubbing his right palm.
-
Calm down
It is just like that.
Trying to get a rise out of me.
-
Bob's hands dropped and relaxed. He opened his eyes.
[Congratulations! You opened the skill. Let’s talk about how to use your skill.]