Quest: Survival 1

  Survive your encounter with a Tier two Aberration: 0 / 1

  Elias stared blankly at the notification in front of him. “Survive your encounter with a… Tier two Aberration? What the fuck is this?”

  He’d been given a quest so simple—yet undeniably this was impossible. His hands were mangled messes and his foot was certainly broken. Once time resumed for him, he knew it would be over; no one in the village could contend with a Tier Two. Even adventurers would have a hard time in these parts. “Maybe Vance could? Me. No.”

  He shook himself as his instinctual drive for survival kicked in; “No! I won’t give up yet,” he read over the quests description: “…Survive,” He had to, he didn’t know how, but he had to survive; for her. He couldn’t let her death be for nothing.

  His mind scrambled through the past few moments as he tried to gauge how much time he had until he ‘temporally realigned’, as he did a small notification appeared in the periphery of his vision:

  “03:21 – Until Temporal Realignment”

  He looked down at his barely functioning body—how much did he have left to give?

  Another notification appeared—this time centrally—as if reading his mind.

  Name: Elias Grey

  Race: Human, Male

  Age: 17

  Disabled Functionality: N/A

  Disabled Functionality: N/A

  Life Points: 2 / 19

  Mana Points: 0 / 14

  Strength: 4

  Endurance: 3

  Vitality: 3

  Willpower: 3

  Intelligence: 3

  Perception: 4

  Agility: 2

  Luck: 24

  Available Attributes for distribution: 0

  A sense of wonder engulfed Elias, his entire childhood had revolved around fantasies of the System and the Awakening—the first step towards adventure, and power. As quickly as the wonder came, it went, replaced with the situation at hand.

  Tears were still falling from Elias’s face as the timer drew closer to zero, looking at his friend’s corpse and the monster ahead. He needed to think.

  He looked over the statistic screen that had appeared and took in his life points. “Two out of Nineteen… that figures” he said as he breathed out deeply. The timer scrolling down as he sat in resignation.

  Elias shook himself once more, “No, move. Maybe I can find Jacob?” he said as he tried to push himself off the dirt path—just as soon as he moved another prompt appeared:

  “Movement restricted due to temporal misalignment”

  “Shit!” Elias spat, adrenaline filling him as he wracked him brain for ideas; “What can I do?!”

  Several houses surrounded their position, his home only a small distance ahead. The blacksmiths behind him and a few other domiciliary buildings formed a cul-de-sac, with only the Path he had come down and one to the left of the Aberration as escape routes.

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  “00:21”

  Elias braced himself, “Maybe it is my time?” he thought to himself. He had no experience dealing with this, Jacob had never prepared him for this?

  “How would he have known that a Tier Two Aberration would invade?”

  The only hope for Haven’s Point was the Adventurers—who would take hours to come.

  “00:10”

  In these last moments, Elias’s mind could only recall the memories of the previous attack, looking at his mother standing stoically against all odds. Knowing that her life would end. Hoping only to delay or distract the Aberrations from her son.

  He recalled the Aberration ending her life—a rage within him began to boil.

  He remembered the emptiness he felt, it was like the one he felt now; he’d just lost someone as dear to him five years later than the tragedy that had scarred what seemed to be his entire life.

  The only other woman he had left in his life, who cared for him, loved him, had just been killed in front of him. Elias’s body twitched as his blood boiled.

  “00:05… 00:04…”

  “Fuck it, If I’ve got to die, you’re going to bleed for it!”

  “Temporal realignment commencing now.”

  Everything returned to Elias in an instant; the wind, the screams, the pain, everything. Elias saw the Aberrations crimson eyes staring into his, its lips twitched into a twisted smile as puple-mottled skin bloated its face.#

  He pushed up, ignoring the pain flaring through his arms; he kicked off the ground with his still semi-operational foot as he trudged desperately towards the beast, his vision blurred.

  The smile on the Aberration remained, even twisting further as a disturbing primal noise came from it. Was it laughing at him? “Damn you!” Elias shouted as he kept moving.

  The Aberration, which had remained still, reached with its free hand and began to pull Tessa's corpse from its blood and gut-covered arm, keeping a firm grasp on her still heart.

  Her corpse slid off with a gooey slurp and lifelessly collapsed onto the floor. The monster returned its stance to one solely focussing on Elias as the hand holding the heart began to tilt towards its head, his body relaxed, leaning on one leg more than the other.

  Adrenaline pulsed as Elias realised what the Aberration was about to do. The Aberrations hand edged closer to its now opening mouth. "NO!" Elias roared, still edging closer, but his body failed him; he wouldn't reach it in time.

  The creature's eyes never left Elias's as its mouth clenched around the gory muscular organ, spiked teeth digging into the red flesh, a glint sparkling in its eyes, the crooked smile never leaving.

  Elias stretched out his arm as far as he could, his body trembling with exhaustion. His face was streaked with dirt, blood, and tears, and his clothes hung in tatters. With a final surge of strength, he lunged forward—everything he had channelled into the attack—just as his fist was about to connect, he gasped, “Agh!” A powerful force struck him, sending him flying through the air.

  He hit the ground hard, the impact jarring every bone in his body, he looked up, dazed, to see—“Jacob?”

  Jacob stood where Elias had stood previously, his stance firm and battle-ready. The Aberration’s arm collided with Jacob’s, sending out a shockwave that tore into the nearby buildings.

  “He must have pulled me to safety…?”

  Elias struggled to move, his body screaming in protest. A system window flickered in his vision:

  “Life Points: 1 / 19”

  The message vanished as quickly as it came into view; he knew he was dancing at the edge of consciousness—but for some reason, a strange sense of calm washed over him.

  Elias knew that Jacob was a skilled fight, but even he would have no chance against this monsters, “Surely…”

  “Rest easy now, boy. You’re OK,” Jacob said, his voice steady and his gaze locked intently on the Aberration.

  Elias looked on at Jacob; his weathered boots planted firmly on blood-soaked ground. His engraved sword that used to hang on the wall in their home firmly in his grip. He couldn’t understand how his mentor could be so brazen as to stand against this monster. The engravings on Jacob’s sword were glowing orange, visible at the blade’s edge as it rested inches from the Aberration’s misshapen throat—“When had he done that?” Elias thought.

  Jacob was wearing a mix of leather and chainmail, each piece was a relic from his past—relics that had sat on shelves in their home until now. Despite the wear, Jacob burgeoned with authority. It was as if he had stood facing down foes like this for an entire age.

  The Aberrations smile fell into a grimace that matched Jacob’s own, it’s frown deepening as it recognised the threat before it. The crimson light in its eyes pulsing and its sickly aura gusting across the landscape.

  Then they moved—Elias’s breath caught in his throat as shockwaves burst from a blur of movement from both combatants, dirt flew in all directions and they seemed to pop in and out of Elias’s vision, each time they appeared another block or parry was seen—followed quickly by a crack in the air.

  Elias saw Jacob’s glowing sword slice through the air in an arc as it descended—the aberration met the attack with a sickening, meaty thud. Exchange after exchange happened and a black oozing substance began to fall from the wounds in the Aberration.

  The monster lunged, its claws slashing out desperately at the air as Jacob swiftly dodged, parried and then swept his blade across the torso of the beast. Elias winced and shielded his face as fragments of earth scattered in the air.

  The world narrowed to just the two of them, Jacob and the Aberration, their dance of death captivating Elias. He felt so small and insignificant in the face of such power.

  His thoughts moved swiftly to his own helplessly, his aching body, his single life point. He had always believe in training and determination as the Path to strength, but he was wrong—the path to power was the System. Without a Tier, a Level, or even an ability—he was nothing.

  Jacob was a different person than the one who had cared and trained him, the fight in front of him like a lethal dance.

  The world around him began to blur, the edges of his vision darkening as the conflict continued. His breath was shallow and a coppery tang filled his mouth. Despite the screams in the distance and the roar of the battle—everything grew quiet. The distant noise muffling into an indistinct buzz.

  His head began to throb, his thoughts foggy and disjointed. The numbing cold of dirt beneath him seeping into his skin and he could feel the warmth of blood pooling beneath him.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came as the world around him narrowed.

  “Jacob… Tess…” he thought

  Then, the darkness finally took hold as Elias’s vision faded entirely.