Denny - Great Eurasian Steppe
The creature looked around warily. The squat, three-and-a-half foot tall, bipedal, hairy, hominid was fully grown but stunted slightly due to bouts of malnutrition. Life was tough for an ape whether that ape was evolved or not. The hominid was a Denisovan, what future apes would call an “archaic human” to be precise. The Denisovan was returning from a particularly successful gathering trip and its sling made of animal furs was full of fruit.
The poor creature had suffered relentlessly at the hands of his former clan-mates. That’s why he left. The Denisovans had a small population numbering just a few thousand and they all lived in a few large groups around a three day’s journey from where he was. A few other bullied hominids had gone along with him as well as his parents and his younger cousin. Being away from his ruthless brethren did bring him respite. But there was a certain safety in numbers which the ape missed.
The ape frowned. His anxiety had caused him to start sweating and the creature felt embarrassment that he felt such fear from a simply foraging trip. Yet, he was still proud of his bounty, as he had picked an unusual area to forage and it had paid off. He acquired a few days’ worth of fruit.
As he was walking, he looked out over the wide grassy clearing, trees dotting the landscape. The hominid adjusted his and made sure to keep an eye out. Danger could always come on the open plains.
Then the hominid stopped in its tracks. A strange bright blue light was shining in front of him. Well it was more accurate to say the light was shining from above as it surrounded him. He looked up and his mouth dropped open.
The blue light wasn’t shining down out of thin air.
Thump!
The ape’s sling along with his fruit hit the ground and his eyes grew wide as he gazed at open hole in the sky directly above him. The inside of the hole was a dark mauve and the bright blue light shined around its edges.
The Denisovan’s anxiety was at an all time high as he had an intense sense of danger. He immediately turned and began sprinting away leaving his sling and the fruit he had spent hours gathering behind. However, after running for a few seconds it felt like he was wading through mud. His steps away from the sky-hole were becoming slower and slower as it became almost impossible for him to move away. He turned and realized that he was being pulled back to where the sky-hole was!
After a few difficult steps, the ape couldn’t take anymore and stopped. If he couldn’t get away then he would dig in his heels so that he wouldn’t be pulled into that nefarious hole. Eventually, the force grew so strong it knocked him to the ground and he was being dragged closer and closer towards the blue light. The ape dug his hands and nails into the grass so that he wouldn’t be pulled away. Despite his best efforts, the force from the sky-hole was too much to bear and he was pulled closer and closer until he was lifted up and into the air.
The blue light wrapped around him and he heard a faint humming as he got closer. Terrified, the Denisovan looked down at the fruit and sling as his vision turned white. With a flash of blue light, the sky-hole and the Denisovan vanished.
***
The Densivoan opened his eyes to find that he had been transported to an enormous room. He felt his arms and his legs so he was immediately filled with relief that he had been transported intact.
He glanced around and saw that directly in front of him was a long corridor that stretched on and on. He couldn’t see the end. Enormous shelves were placed at periodic points down the long hallway. The shelves contained rows and rows of all kinds of objects most of which the ape did not recognize. The walls glinted with hues of purple, silver, and blue.
The room was dark, with dim artificial light shining from high points along the corridors. He looked around and finally spotted an object he recognized: a crude spear made from a piece of obsidian tied to a long piece of wood. In his former clan there was a skilled blacksmith who made those spears for battle.
He stepped forward, intending to venture further into the corridor and find a way out. Suddenly a white screen appeared in front of him.
“Prime Contestant detected. Activate Standard Loot Protocol?” a pleasant electronic voice asked.
A green “Yes” bubble and red “No” bubble populated at opposite ends of the screen.
The Denisovan scratched his face. The voice was speaking in a language he didn’t understand and the text on the screen was also completely unintelligible. He had communicated with others using pictures drawn in the dirt or carved into rock, but these markings didn’t look like any coherent pictures to him.
Nevertheless, the hominid reached his hand forward to touch the blinking screen.
Tap.
“Yes, selected. Activating SLP in 3…2…1.” The voice counted down. The Denisovan blinked and the room disappeared. For a moment, everything went white. The light became blinding and the hominid closed his eyes.
The light faded and the Denisovan opened his eyes again, blinking as he took in the scene. He was back in the grassy clearing, the exact spot that he had been taken from just a moment ago. His vision adjusted back to the light of midday. The sun was still shining and it didn’t seem like any time had passed.
Suddenly, he felt the world spin. Immediately, the Denisovan was struck with a terrible migraine and he grabbed his head with his hands as the pain grew. It was like his brain was changing, moving, growing. And it felt terrible.
“Ahhhhh, arghhh” the Denisovan grunted. He collapsed to the ground where he writhed in agony. After a few moments, he slowly rose.
“What . . . what the hell was that?" Denny felt different.
It was like a new part of his brain had revealed itself to him and the first thing that part of his brain revealed was that his name was Denny.
“I guess Denny works,” he mused out loud. He immediately covered his mouth after speaking.
Did I learn a new language? he wondered.
Then, he remembered his food. Denny looked around and saw his sling and the pieces of fruit that had fallen to the ground. The fruit looked like it had only just been dropped and still appeared to be in relatively good condition. He carefully picked up his sling and the pieces of fruit that appeared salvageable, brushing off any dirt or debris.
He began loading the fruit in his sling like he had done dozens of times. But when his hand entered the sling to deposit the first fruit, it disappeared upon entering the sling. Confused, he looked inside and saw it was empty.
Denny paused as he suddenly had a flash of intuition. He knew where the fruit was.
It’s in my . . . backpack, Denny thought. He guessed he had learned a new language as he had never heard that term before but understood exactly what it meant. And he knew that for some reason his fruit was in there.
How do I access it? Denny pondered.
Hmmm, open backpack? he thought.
After a few moments a white screen popped up with the words “Backpack” at the top.
“Whoa,” Denny mumbled.
Backpack
Animal Fur Sling
Slots Occupied: 1/4
Consumable Food - Common Fruit - Green - 1 unit
Rank Common - “Animal Fur Sling” “Effects: Slots available plus 3.
Unoccupied 3x
He looked closer and saw that there were two columns underneath the title text. On the right was a series of rows. At the top, a line of text read “Slots Occupied: 1/4.” On the left was an image of his animal fur sling. A description underneath the image told him that his sling was of the common rank and increased his slots available by 3.
Denny’s eyes drifted back over to the slots and saw that while most of the rows were blank, the first row had text. “Consumable Food - Common Fruit - Green - 1 unit.” He cocked his head and focused on the piece of fruit in his backpack. The fruit instantly materialized back in his hand. Denny was relieved that the fruit wasn’t gone forever but instead just stored in this strange contraption.
Well, might as well put the rest of the fruit in here, he thought.
Denny picked up some more fruit and placed them in his sling. He watched as the unit count increased by 1 as each piece of fruit disappeared. Denny repeated the process until all of the fruit was gone and the unit count read “10.”
He saw that next to the “Consumable Food” were three options: “Eat”, “Drop”, and “Properties.”
He wasn’t hungry right then and wanted to wait to eat until he needed to. Years of living at the mercy of the wild had taught him the importance of conserving resources. Deny also had no intention of dropping the fruit he had just gathered.
Properties, Denny mulled it over. Unsure about what it meant, Denny selected the option as his curiosity got the better of him.
A small new screen popped up right where the “Consumable Food” text line was located.
Item Card
Consumable Food - Common Fruit
Unit Count
10
Type
Green (Tart)
Effect #1
Restores 5 health instantly and 25 health over a 10 second period
The smaller screen titled “Item Card” contained a description of the food. It noted the fruits’ type was “Green (Tart)” and that, when used, each fruit restored 5 health instantly and 35 health over a 10 second period. For some Denny did not understand concepts such as Type or Health but guessed they were important.
At that point there was nothing more for him to do and he closed out the item card and backpack screens.
Then, Denny heard a roar somewhere behind him. Without turning, he started to run and began sprinting back to his small camp. As he was running, Denny touched the scar that ran up the left side of his body. His heart was pounding and he could hear it in his ears. Whether the threat behind him was real or imagined Denny didn’t care, he simply wanted to get back to safety as fast as possible.
Marge - Nusa Tenggara Islands
A homo floresiensis was lying on the ground. The small 3-foot hominid was curled into the fetal position grabbing her head in pain. A strange blue light had just flashed across the sky and now the hominid was in utter agony. After a while, she slowly rolled into an upright sitting position with her legs crossed.
“I…am…someone!” The hominid yelled to no one in particular. She had just experienced the mother of all headaches and was happy it was over.
And I am naked?, she wondered, looking down at herself. She felt it was odd that she had never thought about that before, but decided to leave that existential crisis for another day.
I…I need a name! But what to call myself? the hominid mulled it over.
As she was mulling it over she saw a small insect grub inching its way through the dirt on the ground. She picked up the grub and looked at it for a second. It squirmed as she held it pinched between her fingers. Then, she popped it into her mouth and chewed. She spent some time eating the grub and then had a sudden realization.
Margaret! My name is Margert, Marge for short, she thought.
Marge looked into the forest in front of her cave. She currently lived on a small island which was situated in a large chain of islands. She had lived in the cave on this island alone for a few months since the exile.
Suddenly, she saw a flash of brown fur. Marge watched in amazement as the largest squirrel she had ever seen climbed down out of a tree and sat in front of her. The squirrel was a meter tall sitting down and strangely muscular. At first, Marge thought this squirrel would be an easy and long-lasting meal, but then the squirrel bared its teeth.
“Contestant engaging in combat. Pre-Contest. Initializing Heads Up Display (HUD),” an electronic voice sounded.
“Who is saying tha-whoa!” Marge had been looking around for the voice when the Squirrel launched itself at her claws outstretched. She had been forced to duck and roll away as the rodent collided with the rocky wall of the cave.
The squirrel quickly recovered and faced her. She knew that the squirrel couldn’t have been the source of the voice. Squirrels didn’t talk, as far as Marge knew. Although sometimes in dreams squirrels talked.
It had been a long time since she had anyone to talk t-”Hissss” Marge's thoughts were interrupted as the squirrel stood up on its hind legs and hissed at her.
Marge squinted as, right above the squirrel, she now saw a red bar with the letters “HP” on the left of the bar and the numbers 7/7 within the bar. Above the HP bar was a line of text which read “Common Squirrel.”
I don’t really know what’s common about this thing, Marge thought. She readied herself as the squirrel crouched down clearly about to jump.
The squirrel leapt forward and Marge stepped to the side as it flew past her. She felt some pain in her left shoulder and saw that it managed to get a claw in and leave a nasty scratch.
“Ouch! Damn you, common squirrel.” Marge barked.
She glared at the furry beast. While taking a second look at the squirrel, she saw that in the lower right corner of her vision was another red HP bar. It read 14/15. After viewing it she understood that it was a measure of her own health and that she would die if the bar fell to zero.
The squirrel had crouched down and was about to jump again and Marge steadied herself.
I’ve hunted for food my entire life, she thought. There’s no reason I should have trouble with this weird, overgrown squirrel!
The squirrel launched forward. This time, Marge was ready. As the squirrel sailed through the air, Marge ducked and waited until she was directly underneath the flying rodent. Then, with a quick movement, she slammed her fist into the soft underbelly of the creature. It sailed through the air and landed in a heap by a tree.
Marge saw that the squirrel’s HP bar now read 1/7. She walked over to the squirrel and put it out of its misery with a single stomp of her foot.
Sorry, squirrel, but I need to live . . . and eat, Marge thought solemnly.
While she thought about the significant amount of food the squirrel would provide, the squirrel suddenly disappeared. Then a small line of text popped up in front of her vision briefly. It said “100 weaponry proficiency XP gained,” but she didn’t know what that meant.
Marge looked back down at where the squirrel used to be. In the squirrel’s place were two objects: a cube of meat and a small spear. After looking intently at the objects a screen popped up in front of her which read: “Consumable Food - Basic Meat - Mammal - 3 units; 100S Dull Stabby Spear. Add to Backpack?”
Curious, Marge added the items to her backpack somehow knowing she would be able to access these items later. She walked back into her cave and got out the makeshift raft she had been putting together. The rickety construction was covered in dust, as she had given up trying to travel back to her family’s island weeks earlier.
Now, Marge was determined to get back. The squirrel was a sign she decided. A sign that this world was about to become much more dangerous. As she placed the raft down, she saw that the glass jar she had strapped to the right corner of the raft was still there. She smiled. It contained a collection of sorts, things she liked and wanted to keep.
Marge began working on fixing the plant fibers which bound the raft together. The raft shook as she worked and the glass jar was shaken loose from the construction. It rolled slowly, coming to a stop near her thigh. Marge looked down to see a dried-out eyeball staring up at her from within the jar.
Regina - Mesopotamian Marshes
Regina had her name from birth. As the daughter of Ur’s matriarch, she felt that a name meaning “Queen” was fitting. She was a fairly tall homo sapien at five-feet-eleven inches and she had just killed a couple of large birds. Regina greatly enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. While her clan praised her as if she was doing some humanitarian service for the community, she didn’t do it for their praise. She fondly remembered the feeling of wringing the birds’ necks. Although this time was different.
The flash came and went leaving her with some mild head pain. However, the animals had undergone a great change. The birds were much larger than usual and upon death they disappeared, leaving behind objects instead of the usual corpse.
Open backpack, she thought, and a screen popped up in front of her eyes.
She was currently crouched in the open trunk of a large tree, having just climbed in due to her recent battles with the unusually large birds. She stared at the glowing “Consumable Food - Common Meat - Avian - 5 units” in her backpack and saw the “Eat” button at the end of the text.
Regina looked down at herself. She had scratches and claw marks on her arms and legs. She appeared to be losing a considerable amount of blood and her HP bar currently read 3/15. She understood from viewing the “Properties” of the food that if she selected “Eat” she would gain her health back.
I want to take another look at this thing before I eat it, she thought. Regina instead selected the “Drop” button and immediately a cube of meat fell in front of her. She put her bow on the holster on her back and picked up the cube to examine it. It was a square made of pink meat and had some feathers sticking out. There also appeared to be the remains of a small beak in the right-hand corner of the cube and a stray talon sticking out.
Ewww, Regina thought. But if I eat this thing it will heal me, she concluded. She was losing a little too much blood to be picky at this moment.
Feeling hungry, lightheaded, and not knowing what else to do, Regina put the cube back in her backpack and selected “Eat.” Regina suddenly experienced a strange taste in her mouth. It reminded her of a piece of meat that had been left out a bit too long. Despite the bad taste, Regina felt she made the correct decision. Her stomach felt full and she noticed her wounds instantly began healing.
Immediately, an electronic voice sounded. “Food accepted, Pre-Contest, ‘Regina - AA001’ initialized, Participation Type: Non-Mob Contestant, Galactic Alignment: Hominid-Royal, Contestant Alignment: Homo Sapien.”
Regina had no idea what any of these announcements meant. Although she did like that she was considered a royal by the anonymous voice. The voice continued.
“Proficiency Selection . . . Loading World Proficiencies . . . Food Proficiency Loaded . . . Generating Initial Contestant Tasks . . . Contestant Interface . . . created.”
A screen the size of a large rectangle appeared in front of Regina.
Regina
Non-Mob Contestant, Hominid-Royal, Homo Sapien
Contestant Image
Backpack Image
Equipped Food - None
Equipped Weapon - Common Bow
Ammunition: 20 Woven Arrows
Equipped Armor - None
Fine Woven Cylindrical Basket
Slots Occupied: 2/8
Backpack Rank: Uncommon
Rank Bonuses:
1. Extra Storage
Backpack Effects:
1. Slots available: plus 7.
Consumable Food - Common Meat - Avian - 5 units
Woven Quiver
Unoccupied 7x
She stared at the screen titled “Contestant” taking the trove of information in. Just above the title were three tabs: one to the left titled “Proficiencies”, one to the right titled “Tasks” and one in the middle which read “More.”
Regina moved her eyes back down to the content of the “Contestant” screen. On the right was her backpack, now arranged in a neat column with the image and description on top and her available item contained in rows below. On the left was a hologram of herself, along with three additional rows at the bottom. The rows listed her equipped Food, Weapon, and Armor. Although she did not have any equipped Food or Armor, the screen did list her bow which it called “Common Bow.” Her arrows were listed as “ammunition.”
Next to Bow text read another “Properties” option which she selected.
Item Card
Common Bow
Manufacturer
None: Pre-Contest. Does not interact with Proficiencies.
Damage
Sharp: 1-3
Type
Ranged - Bow
A new smaller screen popped up which described her weapon. She thought it was odd that it listed the manufacturer of the Bow as “None” since the weapon was crafted by the finest weaponsmith in her city, Tubal. She did not understand what the rest of the text meant but made a guess that the weapon had not dropped from a bird. One of the birds she had killed hadn’t just dropped a meat cube but also dropped a small dagger. Regina had left the dagger as the purpose of this expedition was to get food and food alone.
Curious about the Proficiencies, Regina selected the tab in the top left corner and the screen changed.
World Proficiencies - Earth - Hominid Planet
Food - Universal
Locked Proficiency 2
Locked Proficiency 3
Locked Proficiency 4
Locked Proficiency 5
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Locked Proficiency 6
Food Types
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Food Bonuses
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Food Totem
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Food Challenges
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
The screen was titled “World Proficiencies” along with some descriptors of the planet. Beneath the title were six glowing icons in a row. Well, the first of the six icons glowed. It was clearly the icon for the Food Proficiency as it was a slab of meat on a dish. The rest had their light covered with a sort of gray sheen such that they were obscured. As Regina looked at the meat icon, a miniature text box popped up that read “Food - Universal Proficiency.”
Below the food icon were four rows of text: “Food Types, Food Bonuses, Food Totem, and Food Challenges.” Regina looked at the “Food Types” row and a small bubble of text appeared: “Allocate 5 Food Proficiency XP? Options: Avian.” She guessed that her only option was Avian because she had eaten the bird cube. However, she wanted to hold off allocating for now and hopefully glean more information from the rest of the interface.
Regina exited the text bubble and navigated to the tab labeled “Tasks.”
A new screen appeared predictably titled “Tasks.” Below was a section titled “World Tasks” on the left. In a corresponding box to the right were several lines of text. The first line read “Unlock the First World Proficiency,” the next line read “Unlock the Second World Proficiency,” continuing on like that until the final task titled “Unlock the Sixth World Proficiency.”
The text “Discover the First World Proficiency” glowed green while the others glowed yellow. She selected the green task and a description appeared. “Discover and unlock the First World Proficiency. If discovery occurs Pre-Contest, gain a special reward!” Next to the green text was a button that said “Complete.” She selected the button and a voice sounded.
“Congratulations! You have completed the Task - ‘Discover the First World Proficiency.’ Rewards: 100 Food Proficiency XP, ‘Equipable Food - Scrambled Eggs - Avian - Common.’”
Immediately, Regina had questions. Like, “What is XP?” “What is equipable food?” “What is a scrambled egg?” and “What is the contest I keep hearing about?” Unfortunately, she sensed that, like everything else, the electronic voice would only deliver more questions than answers. She also determined that the rest of the tasks were highlighted yellow because they had not been completed.
Figuring that this was the extent of what she could eke out of this tab, Regina headed back to the Proficiencies tab. She was back at the familiar screen and once again focused on “Food Types” and the same bubble of text appeared: “Allocate 105 Food Proficiency XP? Options: Avian.” She noticed that this time the 100 experience points had been added to the five she had started with. However she was still stuck with “Avian” as the only option. Reluctantly Regina decided to allocate her experience to “Avian” and was immediately greeted with a chime.
“Level up: Food Proficiency - Avian - Level 1!”
Regina did not know what this announcement meant and turned to the remaining rows for guidance. She selected the food bonuses option and a new screen appeared. It showed an image of an inverted tree filled with branching circles most of which were obscured. The only circle with readable text was at the very bottom of the branching tree.
The lone bubble read: “Avian Enthusiast: 10% Bonus when consuming Avian Food.” Out of the bubble’s top were three branching lines which connected to other circles further up in the tree. On the right was a text box that read “Bonus Tree Points = 0 available.”
Disturbed by how she was being encouraged to eat more of the meat chunks with pieces of beak inside, she exited the Food Bonuses screen and selected “Food Challenges”. Another screen displayed dozens of Task-like goals promising rewards if she ate certain kinds of Avian cuisine, certain amounts of Avian meat, or used the abilities of Avian equipped food.
I guess I’m going to be eating a lot more of those feathery cubes, she thought, rolling her eyes.
She tried to access “Food Totem'' but was denied. A small screen appeared stating “Requires Higher Proficiency Level to Access.”
I guess that’s all I can see for now, she thought.
Wait, where are my scrambled eggs? Regina’s eyes scanned the food tab but couldn’t find anything.
Maybe it’s in my backpack? she thought.
Regina selected the “Contestant” tab and was taken back to the main screen in her interface. There, at the top row of her backpack was the “Scrambled Eggs.” The picture didn’t look like eggs at all to Regina and instead looked like yellow chunks of an unknown substance on a plate.
This looks worse than the cube, she thought, dismayed.
She selected the eggs and was greeted with two options: “Properties” and “Equip.” Regina selected Properties and a new screen appeared.
Item Card
Equipable Food - Scrambled Eggs
Manufacturer: Azul
Type: Avian
Durability: 30/30
Passive Ability: Increases Base HP by 50.
Active Ability: Eggmergency. In exchange for 5 durability, user can eat a piece of the scrambled egg to gain 50 HP in 3 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute.
These will be useful if I’m in a pinch, she thought.
Regina closed the Properties screen and selected “Equip” as she guessed it was what she was supposed to do. The scrambled eggs left her backpack and filled the equipable food spot under her contestant image. Her hologram updated as the plate of scrambled eggs floated, rotating slowly, in front of her body.
She chuckled to herself, staring at the strange image.
Regina closed out of her screen and looked out over the forest. At the bottom of her HUD she saw an image of the scrambled eggs. It was a very small square and Regina innately understood that this depicted her “Eggmergency” ability.
She looked around and noticed that it had started to get dark. Slowly, Regina left the trunk of the massive tree and began her trek home. She remembered the conversation she had with her elder sister right before she left. Her sister, Mara, had always lorded over Regina the fact that she was first in line to inherit the throne. She used that power to order Regina to do things and those things typically happened right in the middle of important royal meetings or events. Regina could feel Mara pushing her out in her effort to consolidate power and knew it would only get worse if and when she became queen. A dark look spread across Regina’s face.
We’ll see about that, she thought.
Zeus & Opal - Congolese Jungle
Zeus was exceedingly tall for a Neanderthal. At 6-foot-1 inch, he had always towered over his family and the collection of Neanderthal families near him. Zeus was heavily built, barrel chested, and very hairy. Even though he didn’t understand why he received a name, he knew that it fit well and was just glad that the pain from that terrible headache was over.
He looked down at his newly equipped weapon, the “116S Terrible Swift Broadsword.” Once he had equipped the sword, he had been “Initialized”, unlocked the Weaponry proficiency, and spent his unallocated experience on the Melee weapon type.
The weapon had appeared from the disappearing corpse of a leopard cub he had just defeated. He didn’t know why weapons were appearing out of dead animals now but nothing was really making sense since that blue flash. Zeus viewed the properties of his weapon.
Item Card
116S Terrible Swift Broadsword
Manufacturer: Passage
Type: Melee - Sword
Durability: 10/10
Damage
Sharp: 10
Effect #1: Terrible
General decreased effectiveness in all stats and modifiers
Effect #2: Swift
Active Ability: Swift Slash. Deal 15 damage to a target and then leap backwards.
Zeus was curious about the sword’s ability, and it sounded like it could be useful if he needed to escape quickly after attacking. His character interface informed him that his galactic alignment was a “Hominid-Commoner” which wasn’t the best feeling. He didn’t know what “galactic” or “hominid” was, but he did grasp the word “commoner.”
Zeus’s family lived inside a large rainforest. He was currently standing in a large clearing shaded by the green canopy up above. He gazed into the distance and could see the long stretch of the jungle he called home. The “Common Leopard Cub” he had fought had been particularly large despite the fact that it was only a baby. This sudden increase in size made Zeus worry that something had changed with the animals since he saw the blue flash.
As if in response to his thoughts, Zeus heard some rumbling and took cover under some nearby bushes. A few dozen yards away into the canopy, Zeus watched as a herd of Okapi galloped by. The Okapi, a species of horse-like animals containing zebra-like stripes on their hind legs, normally stood about 4-feet tall at their largest. Despite this fact, Zeus watched as a herd of enormous Okapi as tall as seven or eight feet galloped past him. The animals were so large that the ground shook as they ran.
Something is seriously wrong, Zeus thought.
It suddenly dawned on Zeus that his family was alone with all kinds of huge monsters now roaming the rainforests. He turned and began running home as fast as he could.
As he ran, he gazed at the jungle green canopy that surrounded him. The forests were alive with the sounds of all kinds of animals and bird calls continuously sounded out near him. A brightly colored African Kingfisher flew past in the canopy and he saw some large bugs moving on the jungle floor.
After a few minutes, Zeus came into another clearing besides a large hill. He saw the hut that his family had built and spotted his sister. When he saw her, he noticed her health bar appeared along with a bar of text above it which read “Opal.”
“You’re Zeus now?!” Opal yelled.
Opal was a round, 5-foot-2 inch Neanderthal with curly dark hair currently holding an empty basket.
“All the food I’m gathering disappears when I put it in my basket! Do you have this inventory thing?” Opal said.
“So you unlocked the HUD too?” Zeus asked. He realized in that moment that he was not alone in this crazy experience and it brought him tremendous relief.
“Where’s Aunt and Uncle?” Zeus asked. He followed his sister, now Opal apparently, into their family’s hut.
“Aunt is now Sheila and I have not seen Uncle in a few hours,” Opal said as she put her basket down. When she put her basket down, it disappeared in a flash and reappeared back on her right arm.
“Dammit, Zeus this keeps happening. I can’t put my basket down!” Opal exclaimed in a frustrated tone.
Zeus started chuckling at the absurdity of the situation. Unlike his sister, Zeus wasn’t carrying anything except for his sword and this problem felt ridiculous.
“Do you have a backpack?” Opal asked.
“What’s a backpack?” Zeus responded.
Opal’s mouth dropped open. “How have you been carrying your items?” She exclaimed.
Zeus looked down at his sword. He moved his wrist so he could see the different angles of the blade. “This is the only thing I’ve been carrying,” he said.
“Wait, what does your contestant interface look like?” Opal asked.
“Well there’s the image of me of course, and then on the right it just says “Slots Occupied: 1 out of 1,” so we can only carry one item at a time, right?” Zeus said.
“No! Zeus, I think if you have a backpack you can carry more items. I can carry 10 different items at a time!” Opal said. “That’s what my basket does,” she added, motioning to the woven basket on her arm.
Zeus felt like there was a lot more to this new world than just animals getting larger. Then, a question popped into his head. “Hey Opal, when you had that initialization stuff, were you also referred to as a common--” Zeus was interrupted by a loud sound from outside.
The bushes at the edge of the clearing rustled. Zeus drew his sword and Opal pulled a short dagger out of her basket. Then, a female Neanderthal burst from the bushes, running straight towards the pair. Zeus took a closer look at the hominid and realized it was his aunt. She was shorter and older than both himself and Opal. He spotted the name “Sherry” above her health points.
“Sherry!? What’s going on?” Zeus asked.
“We need . . . to go . . . now . . . your uncle he’s . . .” Sherry stopped in front of them trying to catch her breath.
“It’s okay Auntie catch your breath,” Opal put her hand on Sherry’s back.
“We were headed towards the lake to collect some water and then the flash happened. Richard . . . I mean Uncle fell to the ground while I was frozen in place grippin my head. The pain passed but the jungle, it’s different.” Sherry explained with each breath more shaky than the last.
“I know the animals! They’re enormous,” Zeus interjected.
“No . . . it’s the plants,” Sherry shook her head at Zeus.
“We were just walking along the old path but the vines, the trees, they moved.” Zeus and Opal’s eyes went wide.
“The path turned and we ended up in this small clearing called with a large plant on the other side. We went up to the flower and then the vines . . . they came from nowhere. Richard yelled for me to run and they caught him. I . . . I barely made it out.” Sherry was clearly shaken from the entire encounter.
“Where is he now? We’ll go immediately,” Opal patted Sherry’s back. She turned and looked at Zeus who nodded.
“Alright,” Sherry steadied herself. “Follow me,” she started back down the path at a brisk pace with Zeus and Opal in tow.
Zeus followed his sister and his aunt as he brought up the rear. He thought back to when his Aunt and Uncle, now Sherry and Richard, brought him and his twin sister in. Zeus and Opal’s parents had died one night while out on a hunt for food. They were just 10 years old each when it happened. The jungle was a harsh place.
Sherry and Richard immediately took the pair in, they had no children of their own. Throughout the years they had treated Zeus and Opal like they were their own and to the sibling pair Sherry and Richard were the parents they never had. The thought of something horrible happening to Richard made Zeus choke back tears.
We’re coming Uncle, don’t worry, Zeus thought as he ran along the jungle path.
Zeb - OAS Satellite - Low Earth Orbit
Zeb sipped the drink. It was a hot dark-purple liquid which always gave him the boost of energy Zeb needed. They were a tall humanoid being. Their uniform was essentially a jumpsuit that covered their three arms and two legs. Zeb was currently sitting down in front of a set of screens which showed them different parts of Earth.
“I see our Prime Contestant is a . . . Denis . . . Denison?” Zeb asked.
“Denisovan” Alfred corrected.
The robotic voice came from the annoying helpful mechanical drone floating above Zeb’s shoulder. The spherical drone had a glowing eye-like structure which was also looking at the screen.
“They are a type of hominid similar to the petitioners except shorter,” Alfred explained.
“Let’s send him the information packet once we pick the scenario,” Zeb ordered.
“Alfred, can you show me the World Proficiencies on this one?” Zeb turned in the chair to face a different wall.
“Sure thing, loading the information. Also it seems the challengers have landed and are in position."
“Let me take a look at the proficiencies first,” Zeb was gazing at the screen that Alfred had just loaded.
“Alright, so we have Weapons and Food per usual . . . along with two common proficiencies: Armor and Transport. That’s a start,” Zeb sighed.
“We already have those proficiencies in our ranks sir.”
Zeb scowled. The whole point of annexing these worlds within their galactic association was to acquire proficiencies they did not have access to. Common proficiencies were rarely helpful as nearly all species had access to them. And they wouldn’t provide OAS a serious advantage over other galactic associations.
And then I’ll be fired, Zeb thought glumly.
“Oh wait Alfred there it is . . . Simian Mastery. I don’t think we have that one yet.” The proficiency was classified as “unique” to Earth. Zeb turned their head to face another screen and did a search for proficiencies within the galactic association.
“Mastery, Mastery, we have Arthropod Mastery, we have Pinniped Mastery, no Simian Mastery yet,” Zeb observed and swiveled back to the screen containing Earth’s World Proficiencies.
“Is that it? Oh! There’s one more . . .” Zeb’s eyes grew wide.
The words “General” and “Laboring” appeared on the screen.
“Hold on! We’ve got something good here, Alfred!” Zeb practically shouted to their mechanical companion.
In the world of galactic associations, manufacturing was everything. The two proficiencies, present on every world that petitioned to join Galactic Associations, were Weaponry and Food. These items were distributed via the Standard Loot Protocol (SLP) enacted during every Contest. The SLP was a special technology given to all galactic associations upon successfully obtaining galactic recognition, but the origins of the technology were unknown. Each associations’ SLP was unique to that association save for the standard manufacturers provided to everyone. The loot that each association could obtain was limited by the particular manufacturers that association had access to.
In order to organically add to their SLP’s pool of items, OAS needed species capable of general labor to create new weapons, food, etc. However, general laboring was a rare proficiency and most societies weren’t capable of complex tool making. In fact, many species found ways to petition for membership in galactic associations without so much as building a spaceship and leaving their planet.
Finding a world where every species had the potential to create a manufacturer would greatly expand the OAS’s pool of items and, in turn, their strength as an association. With an expanded loot pool in their SLP they could vie for supremacy in their galaxy and pose a threat to other associations.
“I do observe that this world contains the rare General Labor proficiency. How fortunate.” Alfred calmly stated.
“Alfred, this could be it. We’re finally moving up in the world.” Zeb grinned.
Zeb & Alfred had administered five contests now and only managed to add two new proficiencies and zero new manufacturers to OAS’s pool. As associations went, OAS was currently a lower-ranked band of stragglers who routinely lost battles with other associations over star systems. It wasn’t only that Zeb was getting tired of the constant disappointment. On the rare occasion the pair got to administer a contest, it was a letdown. Zeb had seen the same fights play out again and again and seen the same items drop over and over. They were excited that this time was finally going to be different.
“Alfred, please show our current Manufacturers’ list.” Zeb swiveled again, this time facing a different wall.
“Certainly,” the robotic voice replied.
A new screen appeared on the empty wall. It contained the “Manufacturers’’ List: the entities that created items for the SLP. Zeb examined the list. It had been quite some time since Zeb had last seen the catalog and it was exactly the same as Zeb had remembered.
Manufacturer’s List - OAS
Manufacturer Name
Stellar Origin
Ownership
Proficiencies
Forerunners
Void - Tyrin’s Void
Universal
Weapons, Armor, Transport
Stellarch
Star - Ophion’s Star
Universal
Weapons, Armor, Transport
Azul
Pulsar - Vox’s Pulsar
Universal
Food, Armor
Passage
Planet - Myron
OAS
Weapons
Zeb wondered how the list had not changed during the thousand years that OAS had been in existence. The sole addition during all this time was the purchase of the “Passage” manufacturer from the Merchant Federation, a galactic storefront which sold various SLP upgrades to associations across the Milky Way. The purchase had cost the association a significant sum and Zeb wasn’t sure it was paying off.
Although OAS was now comprised nearly a dozen species, it had managed to add no native manufacturers despite all the contests.
Now we had the potential to add some!
“Sir, we have a Contest to administer,” Alfred said, interrupting Zeb’s thoughts.
“I know Alfred, I know.”
The rules of the Contest were strict and Zeb knew any minor deviation from them would result in a failed Contest. A failed contest meant the loss of that Stellar Object. Typically some catastrophe that would raze the object and start over. The only worse outcome would be a serious deviation causing OAS to lose galactic recognition. This worst-case scenario would effectively be the end for OAS as well as all of its species in the association.
As well as me and my spherical companion.
Of course Zeb wanted all four species to succeed and win. Such a feat was possible. Zeb had just never seen it. The Contest typically encouraged most species to eliminate each other in order to get a better position to survive whatever scenario was thrown their way. Typically only one eligible species was left standing. Most did not know that any eligible species who survived the Contest would win and gain membership.
That’s all the Contest was, Zeb thought. A game of survival.
Sadly Zeb could do very little to change the outcome and it was the duty of the administrator to make sure things were “fair.”
Of course exceptions were made for the Prime Contestant, the petitioners, and the challengers, Zeb couldn’t hold his cynical thoughts back.
“Alfred, load the geological scenarios,” Zeb requested.
“Scenario 1 loaded, Scenario 2 loaded, Scenario 3 loaded.” The screens in front of Zeb changed as the three different choices were presented.
Each scenario was set in a different geological time frame, with different flora and fauna, and different disasters. As in every Contest, there was an impending apocalypse for each scenario.
“The scenarios are as follows:
Scenario 1: Pre-Hominid - The Cretaceous Age
Scenario 2: Birth of the Hominids - The Pleistocene Ice Age
Scenario 3: Post-Hominids - The Holocene.”
Zeb perused the three scenarios. Upon locking in a choice, the world would revert to that state and play out the relevant apocalypse as it occurred. Such were the mysteries of the Contest.
The first scenario stuck out to the administrator.
Wow, Zeb thought. These giant lizard creatures are pretty cool.
Zeb hadn’t known about the megafauna of Earth’s past. These creatures were some of the largest they had seen on a planet like Earth. But when Zeb saw the apocalypse, the scenario became the administrator’s last choice.
Would any of these species actually survive a meteor? Zeb wondered. It seemed like too difficult of a scenario for these precious contestants.
The third scenario seemed equally difficult. It appeared that the humans, who had been the ones to petition for recognition in the first place, ended up being the cause of the apocalypse. The apocalypse resulted in a mass extinction and made Earth near-uninhabitable for hundreds of years. In fact, it appeared that the only way the humans had survived was by living in space for a period of time.
That one seems pretty tough too. Zeb thought.
Zeb examined the second scenario. This time period occurred when the hominids first evolved. The apocalypse in this scenario was less clear.
Was it just a lowering of temperatures throughout the planet? But the humans ended up surviving the event anyway, Zeb thought.
The second was clearly the least difficult of all three scenarios. To Zeb, this was the obvious choice to have the highest chance of every eligible species survive.
“Alfred, let’s go with Scenario 2. Make the designation accordingly,” Zeb ordered. They swiveled back to the center console and pressed a few buttons.
The screens changed and an image appeared depicting the same planet with the continents rearranged. Extended sheets of ice had greatly changed the geography of the planet. Moreover, the hominids, which were scattered previously, were now all on the same continent or on a scattering of islands close to it.
“Alfred, what was that update you had on the challengers?” Zeb asked.
They swiveled again now facing the wall that their back was to previously. A screen lit up which read “Challengers.” Below that text were the two species who had elected to compete in the contest alongside the hominids. These species had already petitioned and been accepted by the OAS but competed again for the chance to add new proficiencies to their repertoire.
Wow, I’m surprised the Magumum threw their names in the ring. Zeb thought. And one of our mob species did too? If only all six survive, then we’d really have something.
Zeb honestly didn’t know if mobs could become manufacturers. At least Zeb had never heard of a mob manufacturer before. They were excited but nervous that both of the challengers would be on the same continent as the hominids. Zeb turned to their floating mechanical companion.
“Alfred, it looks like we are all set. Contest is a go.” Zeb pressed a few more buttons on the console.
“Sounds good, sir. Contest will begin in 24 hours. Contestants repositioning in progress. SLP interface ready to launch upon start of Contest. Sending the Prime Contestant the information packet now. Current Apocalypse Level 0. One-year timer has begun.” Alfred stated the usual lines when starting a contest.
Zeb put their three arms behind their head and leaned back in the swivel chair. The continents were just slightly beginning to move and Zeb was filled with anticipation for what was to come.
Blub - North Pole
Blub gazed out over the ice covered tundra. To the immediate left of the walrus-like Magumum was a large lake littered with chunks of ice floating in a soft current. He had materialized in this world with close to one hundred of his compatriots.
Blub turned, “Glib, Pilk, go scout the lake and find us some shelter.” Blub motioned with his flipper towards the body of water. The pair waddled off towards the lake and dove in.
Blub turned back to address his people.
“You know the drill, go to the item caches and equip everything. We don’t know what proficiencies this world holds but everyone should try to get at least the Food and Weaponry pre-contest rewards if they can.”
Four large equipment caches were located just fifty feet from the group, sticking out of the ice. The caches were longer than they were tall and contained a variety of weapons and food.
As the group waddled over to the caches. Blub raised his head.
“We will survive the apocalypse, defeat our enemies, and claim the proficiencies. For Magum!” He threw his head back and let out a throaty guttural roar. He was joined by the others and a loud chorus of deep barks sounded far across the tundra.
Eletaurs - Sudanian Savanna
The Eletaurs galloped across the wide plain. Their heavy footsteps shook the ground as they ran through scrub bushes and other low-to-the-ground plant-life. The Eletaur in the front of the pack was leading them towards a rocky outcropping with a few trees. It was a shelter and from the moment that they materialized they had been searching for a place to rest. After several minutes, they reached an outcropping and came to a stop. The lead Eletauremitted a loud sound from its trunk and the rest of the group dispersed and began setting up camp.
They had dragged their equipment caches from the starting point which was a significant distance away. This was only the group’s second Contest, including their own, and they wanted to make sure they reached a safe location before they opened them.
As the group was opening the caches a pride of lions that had previously been hidden behind the rocks emerged. The cats were larger than normal as each one reached seven feet tall with large muscles bulging from under their fur.
An Eletaur with a long scar that reached across his eye uttered a small sound from his trunk and the group immediately ran to collect their weapons from the caches. The largest lion pounced landing straight in the middle of the group.
The Eletaur with the scar galloped over to a nearby cache and drew out a pitch black spear with a razor sharp point. He equipped the weapon and began running straight for the lion. The beast had already flattened one Eletaur and its mouth was covered in blood as it tore apart the creature’s neck. Hearing the hoofbeats, the lion looked up to watch as the scarred Eletaur impale the cat’s body with all his might. The force was so great that it lifted up the huge beast and sent it careening some distance away. As the Eletaur galloped towards the rest of the pride it dragged the large lion along the ground.
The other cats, shaken by the loss of their leader, watched as the Eletaur t headed straight for them. The body of the dead cat, mangled after being dragged on the ground at a high speed, frightened the rest of the pride. They quickly turned around and fled.
The Eletaur made it back to camp and dropped the lion in the center. It disappeared in a poof and a pile of items appeared out of thin air. When the scarred Eletaur had taken their choice, the rest of the Eletaurs scrambled to pick up what was remaining.
An older Eletaur left the group and started to set up a tent on a small plateau that was a couple yards up in the air. As the Eletaur set up the tent, a screen popped up.
“Challenger detected. Activate SLP interface? Yes/No” the Eletaur used its trunk to select yes.