I decided to do a wide circle through the suburban neighbourhoods, pointing anyone I saw inwards, towards the school. Despite my fears that the high school might be a dungeon, I figured there would be enough people to secure and clear it. If it was even a dungeon at all. Maybe I was just being paranoid. I didn’t even have evidence that they were a thing.
The next street over, I found a pair of high schoolers I vaguely recognised from the year below me. Both were scrawny looking geeks with brown hair and glasses, although one of them looked like he'd made an attempt to regularly work out. I wish I'd had the dedication and willpower to push myself even as much as that.
“Hey dudes,” I said, trotting over to them. “Are you okay? I'm sending people inwards to Edgewood High. Hopefully once we’re there and safe, we can figure out what’s going on.”
“Who put you in charge?” the buff one asked, frowning.
That pulled me up short, and I stammered, “Uh… nobody, I’m just trying to help. You don’t, like, have to do what I’m saying.”
“Steve,” the scrawnier guy said, shoving his friend lightly. “Chill. She’s just trying to help.”
I was! I was trying to help! A fucking crazy-ass apocalypse was happening and this guy whated to start an argument?
“She has bunny ears,” ‘Steve’ said, pointing to the sides of my head. “What if she’s a trickster monster?”
Covering my ears with my hands self consciously, I took a step back. “Look, the class I got is… weird, okay?”
Steve crossed his arms, suspicious, but also as soon as I said the word class, his eyes widened.
The other guy shuffled awkwardly forward and offered a hand. “You got one too — a class? Oh uh, my name is Ben. We were at my place gaming when that big earthquake happened and the weird choice thing got in our heads. This is fucking crazy, right? This is crazy.”
“I mean, yeah, it is crazy…” I agreed, hesitantly shaking his hand. Gosh, it was weird to shake the hand of someone who was my age. Only like, proper adults did that.
Ben turned and gave his friend a look. “Like, it’s actually insane, right? Classes, attributes. Maybe this is uh… what’s it called, like a mass hallucination?”
I looked pointedly down at the buckled and broken asphalt of the street.
“He’s been freaking out like this since it happened,” Steve said with a nonchalant shrug. “Keeps going over it, again and again. It’s happening, dude.”
“Sure, okay, it’s happening, but why aren’t you freaking out more? Classes! Earthquake!” Ben exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, breathing heavily.
Steve and I were both silent. I couldn’t really fault him for his little freakout, but I’d already sorta processed things. At least, I was accepting them — process was a strong word.
“Okay, okay. Practical shit. My class, oh I'm a Spellthrower, whatever that is,” Ben said, breathing deeply.
Steve grunted, and reluctantly he said, “Not sure it’s a good idea to just tell people our classes, but whatever. I guess if Ben is gonna be an idiot and trust you… I picked Bowman for my class. I think it’s because I was into archery, but my gear is at my house.” He paused, sizing me up again. Up, being the most important word in that sentence, because I was taller than him. “My house is in the opposite direction of the school.”
Oh, that was why he didn’t want to go to the school. Totally fair. Made sense.
“Well, if you have a legit bow and some arrows, you should definitely go grab them,” I said, because, well, it was true. Okay, and maybe also because agreeing with him might get him to be less confrontational.
That, apparently, was the right thing to say. Steve waved a hand in my direction excitedly. “See! She agrees with me.”
Ben folded his arms and pouted. It was… kinda cute. “You didn’t even like her five seconds ago, man.”
“Yeah, and you wanted to find someone who would kill a monster that we haven’t even seen yet,” Steve replied, gesturing to me with more emphasis.
I perked up. “What monster?”
“Any monster,” Ben sighed. “They exist apparently. My system says I need a ‘prominent piece’ of them fixed to a staff so that I can actually use my spells.”
“Would the tooth of a mutated rust-flavoured squirrel count as a ‘prominent piece’?” I asked, dropping one of the straps of the pack off my shoulder so I could swing it around and grab the item in question.
“The fuck is a rust-flavoured squirrel?” asked Steve.
“A squirrel the size of a husky with rusted iron armour and teeth. It tried to eat me,” I explained with a shrug, feeling my cheeks flush with a teeny tiny bit of embarrassment. I hated the idea of people thinking I was weird, and my name for the squirrel probably counted as that.
“Let me touch it,” Ben said eagerly, holding a hand out towards the bag.
It was only one of the small teeth I gave him, but when he took it he grinned. “This is the money! Now I just need a stick!”
“Well… there's plenty of houses. Any old broom handle would work,” I said, feeling that familiar spark of happiness that I got whenever I helped someone.
“My mom has one! BRB,” he said, and bolted for one of the nearby houses.
Steve and I stood there awkwardly for half a minute, before he asked, “So… what abilities does your bunny class have?”
I grimaced. “Oh, um, it’s not a bunny class. It’s called Fallen Angel. I don’t know how it’s related to bunnies.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Damn, that's got big main character energy.”
Ah! My stupid face! It was flushing without my permission! “Oh, ha, nah… I bet there's some way cooler classes. Imagine someone with a class like Seraph or whatever. I mean, Ben has Spellthrower. That sounds way cooler.”
On Steve's face, one singular eyebrow rose to touch his floppy fringe. “Uh huh…”
“As for abilities, well… I have some sort of empowered strike, a lay-on-hands thing, and a weakening aura that hits enemies,” I said, rapidly flustering. God, I hated attention, especially attention that made any sort of big deal about good qualities people mistakenly thought I had.
“Try activate the aura,” he said, and the terrible eyebrow of judgement fell, replaced by eager interest.
“Oh, um, okay…”
How does one even activate an ability?
I cleared my throat. “Weakening… aura…?”
Oh god, the way I said that sounded so pathetic, even with my new voice.
Steve snorted out a laugh, but shut up when I pouted and glared at him.
Okay so saying it definitely didn't help. Maybe I should, like, ask the ability?
In an effort to do just that, I mentally poked the slot in my abilities menu blob thingy. It jiggled, and a few spots of colour fell out of it, but nothing happened. Oi! Don't ignore me!
I poked it again, harder and with much more conviction this time. Nothing happened again, but I felt a… thread spin off from it. It was weird, it just flapped in the mental wild, doing nothing useful—
A strange pressure fell over me, like a series of thin bedsheets, one after another, until hundreds were layered over me. It was crushing, and swayed on my feet.
I looked up. Was Steve feeling this? Was he… no, he was just giving me a faintly weirded out look.
Around me, the weight constricted, but oddly, it didn't try to crush me. It was immense and terrible, but not maliciously so. Then, it shifted, stirring with intention — with thought.
An unclaimed angel. How intriguing! Oh, and aren't you just an adorable bundle of hormones and confusion? Just my style, if I'm honest. Okay, little cutie, I'll provide a conduit for you. Invoke my name… oh, what was my name again? I had… yes, so many names. Something else we may soon have in common, eh? Stardust, but I do so love secrets too, and you're already keeping some juicy ones! That was an exclamation — my name isn't stardust. Ah… but names, which of my names shall we choose? For you, I think Chelu will be appropriate. I did so enjoy the two forms I used for that society. A young sensual naked woman, or a towering goddess of wrath and destruction. Such a lovely dichotomy!
What the fuck was happening? What was this? Why was there a massive voice in my head? How was I supposed to… was this real? Was my brain misfiring?
Hello? Did I stun you, little mortal? I forgot how overwhelming my presence can be, I apologise. I will need an answer, though. I'm offering help.
“Thanks…” I thought, desperately struggling with the sheer enormity of the, what, goddess in my head?
You're welcome. I'm going back to sleep now.
The pressure of her presence lifted abruptly, and I swayed on my feet. My head pounded and vision swam. With a groan, I tried to collect myself again. I felt light as a feather, but also like a sandwich someone had sat on.
What just happened? What did she mean, going back to sleep? Who the hell was Chelu? The name didn't ring a bell, but it definitely seemed like she was supposed to be a goddess? That was so weird! She went from super wordy to napping in a heartbeat. Didn't the other angel say I would have to choose my god? I didn't even get any other choices!
She mentioned a conduit, though — provided by her. I really hoped this wouldn’t bite me on the ass. I didn’t even know what kind of goddess she was. What if she was a goddess of evil? Wait, no, she mentioned having two forms — a sensual woman form, and an angry destruction form? I had so many terrifying questions.
Steve cleared his throat. Ah, crap. He was looking at me like I was being mega ‘cringe’.
Concentrate, Kai. It was time to see if the Chelu was telling the truth — with her help, could I use my abilities? With an effort of will, I pushed at the blobs of sensation that swam in my thoughts, and I felt an incredible power rush through my body. My eyes closed somewhere along the way, but now they burst open and I gasped. Oh, that felt good!
“Whoa,” Steve blurted, staring at me with wide eyes. “Okay, it’s all fucking real, it’s not just in our heads… look at you!”
Looking down, I stared at my hands in wonder. Beautiful silver threads of light were wisping off my body, playfully arcing like tiny solar flares before they dove back into my body. “I’m… I’m glowing!”
I could use magic. I had abilities. Steve was right, this system stuff was actually freakin’ real!
“Hey guys, I found something better than a broom handle!” Ben said, rushing out the door. “Look, driftwood! It’ll… be… wow…!”
Grinning at him, I turned this way and that, admiring my glowing amazonian body. In the corner of my vision one of the perfectly manicured hedges at the edge of his family’s property began to shake. Instantly, I flashed back to my fight with the squirrel.
Dropping my pack, I reached in, grabbed the duct tape and threw it at him. “Tape the tooth to your stick, quick!”
He barely had time to try and catch them before another rust squirrel lunged out of the bushes with a screeching how of rage. Taking my squirrel-tooth hatchet, I rushed the monsters as fast as possible. I think my aura must’ve enraged them, because they weren’t even looking at Ben. Their hate-filled eyes were fixed squarely on me.
Flipping the hatchet in my grasp so that the pointed side was ready to strike, I reached with excitement and desperation into my newfound power and pushed my empowerment spell into the spike. My underhanded swing caught the leading squirrel under the jaw. Silver light exploded out from the point of impact like a small flower. Among the petals of that flower was a tiny pinprick of black that injected itself into the newly created wound. The monster shuddered once, then fell limp.
Dumbfounded, I stared at the partially exploded skull of the monster squirrel. Holy fuck, I one shot it!
It wasn’t the only one, though. Awful rusty teeth raked down my arm shredding skin and muscle. I gasped, and pain blinded me. I wasn’t sure if it was luck or what, but I kept hold of my axe as I tried to stumble away from the source of the pain. Dimly, I was aware of the boys screaming behind me, but their words didn’t make any sense to me.
Just as I was regaining my footing, a spike of ice flew past and hammered the feral squirrel right in the face. It squeaked with pain and recoiled, shaking its head side to side. It was stunned. So was I, but I was shaking it off. I was tougher and faster than I’d ever been before. I was Silver, and Silver could take a hit and keep swinging.
My axe took it in the side, but even though I pushed the mental button for empowered strike it only hit with normal, mundane force. I could still feel my ability sitting there in my mind, but it was spent — still refilling with mana. Ah, crap. Cooldowns. This was basically a cooldown.
To my surprise, Steve appeared at my side with my wood-cutting axe and swung it with two hands. Sparks flew in all directions when the blade bounced off rusted armour. Still, his attack stunned the creature again, and I was able to hammer my axe into its unprotected neck.
Blood sprayed everywhere, and I danced out of the way with a disgusted squeal. “Ew!”
“Fuck me, that was intense!” Steve exclaimed with a manic laugh. “You’re so fast, that was awesome! And dude, Ben, you cast fucking magic!”
“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” Ben stammered, staring at me. “Are you okay? Your arm. Holy fuck.”
The pain rushed in, riding my nerves in a painful wave. There was blood, and… and worse. My stomach squirmed violently, and I had to concentrate not to throw up. I could see exposed flesh moving where the skin was torn. Fuck, fuck, fuck! My arm, it was ruined, it was—
Wait, I had a healing ability. I could fix it, I could fix it.
Taking my uninjured hand, I wrapped it around my arm and willed the last of my abilities to work. More silver energy radiated out of my hand, and sweet, merciful relief washed up my arm. When I took my hand away, my lovely soft skin was unbroken, and even the blood was gone.
“Well, it’s safe to say that all three of my abilities work now,” I said with a shaky, still slightly nauseous laugh.
“Damn straight!” Steve grinned, while Ben approached with eyes that couldn’t quite figure out where to look—My healed arm, my still glowing body, or the fading ice next to the dead squirrels.
My attention fell on the ‘staff’ he’d created. Oh god… the way he taped the tooth to that stick! That was awful! “Dude, you’re not going to be a crafter, that’s for sure. Let me fix that staff before it explodes or something.”