Saniston City, Michigan
“Do you like when daddy does that?”
The voice coming out of the laptop was grainy as hell, like it’d been recorded on a potato.
Amethyst squinted at the screen, perched comfortably in the middle of their triangle on the crinkly cornfield floor. “Yo. Why does this look like it was filmed in a lava lamp?”
“Is that a waterbed in the middle of a… dentist office? What even is this movie?”Alex choked on his sip of beer, snorting.
“Cinema,” Amethyst replied, deadly serious. She took a long drag from the blunt and passed it to Haoyu.
Haoyu took it, exhaled, and muttered, “Damn. Everyone’s sweaty and shiny. Like they oiled up for a Slip ’N Slide.”
“I think they did,” Amethyst nodded, eyes still glued to the screen. “The 90s were built different.”
Then a completely flat voice spoke from behind them.
“Human mating rituals are... inefficient.”
“Nice one, Haoyu.” Alex didn’t even turn as he spoke.
Haoyu blinked, awfully perplexed. “Wasn’t me, dude.”
The trio turned in slow motion, stoned reflexes lagging several beats behind their instincts.
Behind them stood a lanky, greyish figure. Way too tall. Smooth like clay. No parts. None. Just vibes. Its long green hair blew slightly in a breeze that didn’t exist. Huge red eyes blinked at them. And then it smiled—a full set of teeth that looked like they could shred a CD was showcased.
No one said anything.
The laptop kept playing the adult film.
Some dude moaned, “Yeah, daddy.”
“Okay,” Alex said, holding up a hand. “Pause. Who the hell invited the alien stripper?”
Amethyst didn’t break eye contact with the creature, but her peripheral vision saw something . “Guys. Guys. That gate wasn't there before, right?”
They turned again. Off to the side, in the midst of the corn, was a massive-ass gate. Gothic. Rusty. The kind of gate that screamed bad decisions ahead. It had not been there five seconds ago. It was just there. Like a pop-up ad for a haunted house.
“Bro,” Alex whispered. “How high are we right now?”
“Too high,” Haoyu said. “But not high enough to see this shit.”
“Wait.” Amethyst squinted. “How did it get here? No stomping, no ‘whoosh,’ not even a ka-chunk. That thing just… appeared.”
The creature tilted its head. “I didn’t crash. I teleported. It’s more elegant.”
“Oh yeah, the makes sense……NOT!” Alex exclaimed.
Then the creature stepped forward and—without warning—booped each of them on the forehead.
“Wait, what—” Alex started.
Black.
#####
“We’re so fucked. Like actually so fucked,” Amethyst commented, before groaning in pain.
The three were disoriented, having woken up a mere minute ago. Their eyes were fixated on the intergalactic door that stood proudly in the middle of the destroyed field. They could only imagine how the owners of this field were going to react once they saw this mess.
Haoyu opened his mouth to respond to the brunette girl’s worry, but nothing came out. He was just as scared as she was, now that reality was starting to settle in. Alex wanted to go home, sleep, then wake up like nothing happened—but he knew that wasn’t possible.
This was officially the worst Christmas ever.
Droplets of snow began to fall on them as temperatures dropped. Amethyst wrapped her arms around herself, pulling the jean jacket she was wearing closer to her.
“I should have not worn a crop top and shorts,” she commented, dry chuckling.
The boys hummed in agreement, then everything went dead silent.
[System Installation Complete]
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” the trio screamed, horrified. They immediately stood up and began running in different directions, then in circles, their screams getting higher in pitch and louder.
They then ran toward each other as their screams halted. Amethyst brought her wrist up to her face and tapped the touchscreen watch that was wrapped around it.
“This was not on my wrist when I came out, guys,” she explained, prompting the two boys to check their wrists and see the same thing there as well. The black object lit up, and an amber hologram appeared with Amethyst's full name and other things.
[Hunter’s Information]
[System Owner: Amethyst Freeman]
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[Power Type: Fire]
[Hunter Grade: Lower Third]
[HP: 130/130]
[MP: 125/125]
[XP: 0/40000]
[LVL 1 Skill Added: Flame Strings] — Ties the opponent with various flamed strings to hold in place as it slowly burns away at their flesh. The attack duration is ten seconds, and the cooldown period is twenty seconds. Uses five MP per use.
[LVL 1 Skill Added: Phoenix Slash] — Infuses turquoise flames with the user’s axe, which increases the power in each strike. The attack duration is ten seconds, with a twenty-second cooldown period. Uses five MP per use.
[LVL 1 Skill Added: Bird Play] — Has no damage capabilities and is only a display magic spell. This skill enables the user to create a display of flame birds from the palm of their hands. The spell duration has no cooldown period or duration. It takes one MP with every use.
[These skills are only effective in disabling or killing a Lower Third dweller.]
[Tap Here To Go Back To Menu Page]
“This is a video game system. That alien bitch is playing with us,” she seethed, her eyes running across the screen over and over again. “And what the fuck am I going to do with the last skill? Entertain the creatures?”
Alex looked at his watch and tapped it, opening up a crimson hologram.
[Hunter’s Information]
[System Owner: Alex Garcia]
[Power Type: Blood Manipulation]
[Hunter Grade: Lower Third]
[HP: 130/130]
[MP: 125/125]
[XP: 0/40000]
[LVL 1 Skill Added: Crimson Healer] — Allows the user to use their blood to heal others and themselves through consumption. The attack duration is ten seconds and has no cooldown period. Uses five MP and ten HP per use. It’s also incredibly painful for the user.
[LVL 1 Skill Added: Blood Daggers] — Allows the user to create hardened daggers with their blood to engage in combat. The attack duration is ten seconds and the cooldown period is twenty seconds. Uses five MP per use.
[LVL 1 Skill Added: Blood Arrows] — Allows the user to use their blood to create a bow and arrow and engage in combat with it. The attack duration is ten seconds with a twenty-second cooldown period. Uses five MP per use.
[These skills are only effective in disabling or killing a Lower Third dweller.]
[Tap Here To Go Back To Menu Page]
Alex made a face of disgust having to deal with blood. Why him?
“They gave the most squeamish man we know a blood-type power. That’s fucking funny,” Haoyu cackled, who was joined by Amethyst.
“Haha,” the white-haired male replied sarcastically. He gazed back at his system before looking at the raven-haired male, gesturing for him to start telling them his newfound ability.
Haoyu was next to open his system, and a light blue hologram appeared before him.
[Hunter’s Information]
[System Owner: Haoyu Xiao]
[Power Type: Water/Ice]
[Hunter Grade: Lower Third]
[HP: 130/130]
[MP: 125/125]
[XP: 0/40000]
[LVL 1 Skill Added: Ice Shield] — Allows the user to create a five-metre-wide and eight-feet-tall wall of ice in front of them that protects from attacks. The attack duration is ten seconds and the cooldown period is twenty seconds. Uses five MP per use.
[LVL 1 Skill Added: Water Whip] — Allows the user to create a whip of boiling hot water to attack and burn the enemy’s skin. The attack duration is ten seconds and the cooldown period is twenty seconds. Uses five MP per use.
[LVL 1 Skill Added: Ice Sword] — Allows the user to create a sword with their ice to engage in combat. The attack duration is ten seconds and the cooldown period is twenty seconds. Uses five MP per use.
[Tap Here To Go Back To Menu Page]
“That’s so cool,” the three of them commented in unison, staring at the brown-eyed boy’s screen.
“How do they know our full names?” Alex then asked.
The trio looked down on the ground and saw their open wallets with the IDs scattered across.
“That’s how,” Haoyu replied.
After some deliberation and looking through their menu page—which consisted of an inventory, dweller detector, information page, and map, which was convenient. Amethyst’s curiosity got the better of her. She opened up the information page and asked the boys to pay attention.
She then began to read out what was written, and a sinking pit in their stomachs opened.
[Welcome to your new life, Hunters. I’m the Dweller Lord, Athian, who deemed you worthy to play this game I have organised, and I promise it will be fun.]
[First things first: you are all Hunters, and you will be hunting stuff.]
“Well duh,” the trio commented.
[The things you will be hunting are called Dwellers, named after yours truly. These creatures are categorized in seven grades: Lower Third, Lower Second, Lower First, Upper Third, Upper Second, Upper First, Grand One.]
[These creatures will affect the world around you. They are visible to everyone, and they will be hunting humans as well—so their chaotic reactions should be entertaining.]
“Now that’s just evil,” Amethyst said, cringing as an image of a hellish creature ripping apart a human painted itself in her mind.
She continued reading.
[Now why am I telling you this? Because I am a benevolent being who wishes to do kind things for the worlds I come across.]
[This benevolence is why I haven’t enslaved Homo sapiens and worked you to the bone—yet.]
[For now, Dwellers shall be confined within this city. Grow in both your skills and strength, then seek me out.]
[I’ll give you one chance to kill me, but if you fail, I’ll unleash ultimate hell upon this planet.]
[Oh… you also have one year to come get me. I’ll be easy to find once you kill the very last Dweller. Bye bye.]
All sense of hope slowly drained out of the trio. There was no way they were going to get out of this mess. Their lives were now nothing but a game to this intergalactic being who thought it was all just entertainment.
“Benevolent my ass,” Haoyu spat, growing angry.
Amethyst and Alex agreed. The trio then placed their wrists down and sat back on the ground, unsure where to go next. They had powers they didn’t know how to use. They weren’t well-versed in combat. And the thought of their family members being in danger because of them was soul-crushing.
The snow slowly covered the field in a thin blanket, and the trio stood up to make their way back to the truck, not before collecting their wallets and phones.
“It’s 5 a.m. I think Daisy’s Diner should be open,” Haoyu informed his friends.
The other two acknowledged the statement, and with that, the trio reached Alex’s truck, entered the vehicle, and drove off.
#####
Two hours later
Alex parked the blue truck at Daisy’s Diner car park and leaned back in his chair. He looked over to Amethyst, who sat in the middle, and Haoyu, who sat at the far left. The trio sat there in silence, replaying what had happened.
Daisy’s Diner was a cozy spot the trio often visited when they were out and about. It also served the best pancakes the city had to offer, in their personal opinion.
As they took their seats in a corner booth in the far back, a waitress wearing a white and red knee-length dress walked up to their table with a jug of hot coffee in her right hand. Her smile dropped upon noticing their injured, tired, and disheveled state.
Haoyu, upon noticing the waitress’s eyes on them, grew self-conscious, looking down at his black hoodie and shorts. He dusted himself off, but that did nothing in the grand scheme of things.
“What happened to you poor things?” the waitress asked, pouring the coffee into three white mugs.
“Long story,” they all replied.
The waitress nodded sympathetically, understanding they didn’t want her to pry any further.
“I’m guessing the usual pancakes?” she stated, and the trio hummed in agreement.
All they were thinking in that moment was—
God, they were so fucked.
