Author's Note:
A quick timeline overview:
M-Day (Monster Day) - April 30, 2020
First Quest - 7 days after MD, May 7, 2020
Meeting Reia - 8 days after MD, May 8, 2020
Mordiggian giving powers to Phoenix - 10 days after MD, May 10, 2020
Cape Town being Invaded - 11 days after MD, May 11, 2020
Rika Darma's slaughter - 13 days after MD, May 13, 2020
Phoenix's terrorist attack in Sydney - 15 days after MD, May 15, 2020
-------------------
Chapter 10: Home
Tom and Reia appeared outside of his house.
Like the last time they went out on a mission, they went inside his home to get a bottle of vitamin water each and sit down on the stools in the kitchen. Tom was feeling a little worse than the last mission, but he attributed it to nearly dying. Reia was doing better, but still was going to require her bottle of water.
Tom helped Reia to a stool and went to grab her a Vit-Refresh drink. He sat down next to her and handed her favourite flavour.
"Strawberry-Kiwi," Tom said as he passed over her drink. "Your favourite."
Reia took a breath and replied, "Thank you."
They both chugged their drink and slammed the bottles on the counter at the same time.
"We did it," Tom said.
"You saved my life back there," Reia said meekly. "If I took all those blows through the walls, I could have died."
"It's no problem. It's my responsibility to make sure you get out of there alive."
Reia placed a hand on his shoulder. "Regardless, I still appreciate it."
"Sure thing," he said with a smile. "So you're level nineteen now."
"I am? Status." The blue window appeared in front of her. "I am!"
"You are pretty much caught up. One more level and you'll be able to pick your class upgrade. Speaking of which."
"There seems to be five choices," Tom said. "Since you're on the warrior path, it would be a good idea to see what each class does. Barbarian Information."
"All of these classes sound amazing," Reia said after Tom finished reading the last class window.
"They are," Tom said impressed. "However, I had my heart set on one for quite a while now. Magic Blade."
'I am going to need a spreadsheet or something to keep track of all these skills,' Tom thought.
"Super amazing skill!" Tom said out loud. His suddenly loud voice startled Reia, nearly causing her to fall off her stool. "Sorry."
"It's okay, you just caught me off guard with that outburst. What's the skill?"
"It's called SM Transfer. Apparently it allows me to transfer Stamina and Mana back and forth. Essentially I now have over two thousand Mana or Stamina, depending on the situation. A perfect skill for someone like me."
[tr]
Tom was taken aback by the window. He wasn't expecting a quest related to his quest.
"I-I just got a quest," he muttered in shock.
"What?"
"It's a class quest. Apparently my class isn't at its full potential. To fully unlock it I have to complete this quest which takes place in the spirit realm. You ever hear about this?"
"I have," she replied. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I am, however, surprised that your teacher is in the spirit realm. I have never heard about anything like that. Usually you seek out a teacher at an adventurer's guild or at an academy."
"Maybe it's because we can't use my Fast Travel ability to reach Xoth," Tom mentioned.
Earlier in the week, Tom and Reia attempted to use the Fast Travel ability to try to go to Xoth. They discovered that his ability was limited to the world he was on.
"But how do I reach the spirit realm? I highly doubt I can Fast Travel there."
Reia took a pause before answering. "I would suggest asking Kara. If anyone can get you there, it's her."
"Good point. I was planning to talk to her later tonight, anyway. I guess it's another question to answer. You get anything from the mission?"
"I managed to earn two titles from the mission," Reia bragged.
"Really?"
"Giant Slayer and Determined."
"Nice! That means your base Strength has been boosted by ten points, and another ten points to all stats, yeah?"
"Yup. And since my Strength has surpassed a hundred, I now have the Power Strike skill."
"We need to find some ways to get you more titles," Tom suggested. "I just don't even know where to begin."
"Tala had a reference book for known titles," Reia mentioned. "Titles are not meant to be easy to earn, so most people don't even try. Earning two in one go is beyond amazing."
Reia finished her drink and got up to get another from the mini-fridge.
"What did we get from the quest?" she asked.
"You mean the armour and weapon reward?"
"Yeah." She popped the bottle top and took a swig.
"Inventory."
"What the?" Tom blurted out.
"What?"
Tom reached into his Inventory and pulled out the body armour. The armour wasn't medieval like the previous rewards. It was the opposite. The armour looked similar to armour worn by soldiers in a science-fiction movie. It was black and plates covered the torso, arms and legs. Small flexible plates ran down the front that resembled the pec and abdominal muscles. Sections of plates covered the outside of the arms and legs. The groin was protected along with the waist. Finally, the back of the armour had plates that ran over and around the spine.
The area outside of the plates was an unusual material that resembled reptilian skin. Tom ran his fingers across the material and found it was very smooth. He pulled it in two directions and saw it stretched as well as rubber.
"I have never seen armour like that," Reia said.
"Neither have I," Tom muttered. "Identify."
Tom loudly gasped upon seeing the armour's stats. Deep down, he was never expecting to find anything but fantasy armour as a reward for his quests. This armour blew all of his expectations out of the water.
"Uh, Reia, can I..."
"It's yours," she laughed. "I can see how excited you are over the armour. Plus you do, what was the phrase... Tank the damage?"
"That's the phrase. You can have my current torso armour. Your clothing reform ability should be high enough to change it to fit you."
"Are you saying I'm fat?"
"What?" Tom yelped. "No, no, no! I meant-"
"I'm joking, Tom," Reia teased. "You really need to be less serious sometimes. You are just too easy sometimes. What else did we get?"
"A staff," Tom answered as he pulled out the weapon.
The staff was made from hard wood and about five feet tall. The staff was adorned with a spiky red crystal.
"It's great, but not really useful for either of us," Tom mentioned as Reia and he read the stats.
"It would be perfect for Tala, though," she said solemnly.
Tom noticed Reia's mood quickly change after she mentioned her sister's name.
"I guess we'll give it to her when we get back together, right?"
Reia quickly cheered up, smiled and said, "Right!"
"So now all that's left is the unallocated points we have gained from levelling up. I realize I need to be faster and to have a bit better Perception. So I allocate eight points towards Agility and two towards Perception."
Tom's unallocated points went to zero and his Agility reached seventy-eight and Perception at fifty-six.
"What about you, Reia?"
"Status."
"If I add four more points towards Endurance I can get Enhanced Resistance," she said.
"Good idea," Tom said.
"Allocate four points towards Endurance."
"I got the skill," Reia said.
"That is going to pay off. Now what about your twenty-six other points?"
"I'm thinking of putting it towards Vitality and some speed. I like using the spear. Agility would be good to keep moving around my enemies while I attack."
"Good, good. You really planned out how you want to fight."
"You did teach me a lot about skills and combat styles. I was able to figure out what my weaknesses were during our sparring matches. I need to be faster so I can dodge attacks and counter-attack against my enemies. Allocate fourteen points towards Vitality and twelve points towards Agility."
VVVVV
"Mister President," Baker greeted as he entered the Oval Office.
"How many died in the Sydney attack?" the President demanded.
Baker placed the report on the President's desk. "Estimates have the toll somewhere between two and three hundred."
Forest grabbed his chin in his palm. "That's more than Madrid."
"Not as much as M-Day, but yes. It was more than Madrid. The attack occurred inside of a major hospital. Most of the victims were patients at the hospital."
Forest opened the scroll and with a sigh asked, "Let me guess. Thunder and Aurora showed up and saved the day."
"To briefly summarize. Yes."
"We cannot keep relying on those two to protect the lives of our people. They are losing faith in the government, the police and the military."
"I fear it gets worse."
"How can it get worse?"
Baker pressed a screen button on the scroll sheet. A series of images appeared in front of the President. Forest slid the images into a grid pattern to view them all. One of the images was of a glass bottle.
"We found close to a dozen of these bottles inside the hospital, along with a few syringe guns. Each one contained traces of the Slime monster's remains from Madrid. Considering the testimonies from the survivors, we theorize that the Slime remains were injected into patients at the hospital, turning them into monsters."
"Who would do such a thing?" Forest asked in disgust.
Baker brought up another image on the screen. "Each bottle has been engraved with the symbol of the-"
"Phoenix."
"Yes."
"How did they get their hands on Slime remains?"
"We're looking into it, sir."
"How would they even know that injecting Slime remains into humans would create monsters? I swear every time we get more information about what's going on, we are given more questions."
"We have conjectures... Nothing concrete."
"Such as?"
"That Phoenix may be responsible for the attacks and Thunder is a member of the organization."
"And the reasoning?"
"As I said, it is conjecture based on some information we've gathered. However, the fact that Thunder is able to get to every monster attack on time is suspicious."
"Didn't we already confirm he can teleport?"
"Yes, but how does he know almost immediately? Even with social media, it should be several hours or more, unless he monitors it twenty-four-seven. In this monster attack, we have evidence that Phoenix created this event. Who's to say that they didn't create all previous events? The events make people lose faith in their governments and thus allows Phoenix to gain support."
"Just one problem with your theory."
"Which is?"
"If Phoenix has the ability to teleport, why would they resist the urge to just kill every leader in the world? They would be able to accomplish one of their main goals instantly."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"As I said before, Mister President. This is only conjecture."
"Until we have more concrete information, we will continue with our current course of action. Thunder and Aurora are persons of interest. They are to be taken alive for questioning. If we try to treat him as an enemy, especially after all they have done for the world, it would cause a backlash we may not be able to recover from. We need the people's support more than ever."
"How are the other countries reacting to the proposal? The Unity Accord."
"Still silent. I do believe they'll see the virtue of it if these monster attacks continue. I know there are several countries already leaning towards supporting the Unity Accord. However, those countries are the ones that have been attacked. We still have a month before the Accord is officially presented at the UN." Forest tugged on the scroll page to return it to its cylinder. "Is there anything else, Baker?"
"One thing, sir. There has been a theft at a DARPA facility. The item in question was a prototype combat suit. The suit was called the BC500 Wyvern Armour. Now the interesting thing is while the suit is gone, there is no evidence of a break-in. We have reviewed security footage of the suit storage room and it simply vanished."
"Vanished?" Forest repeated.
"Vanished. And in it's place, a note was left behind."
"And what did it say?"
"It said, 'I'm sorry to take this without asking, but there is a special someone who really needs it.'"
"Why do I get the feeling I know who has the suit?" Forest sighed.
VVVVV
Rika pressed another round into her AKM magazine. The table she was sitting at was covered with filled magazines. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she felt a chill in the air.
"Mordiggian," she greeted in a monotone voice. Rika didn't give the creature enough respect to turn around to face it. She returned to loading her magazines.
"Your mission was a success," the creature stated as it emerged from the shadows.
"It was, but Thunder and his dragon put an end to the monster rampage as soon as it began. Not enough damage was done. And not enough lives were lost."
"Do not discount your efforts," it warned. "The success of your mission is not based on the damage caused. It was about spreading fear. And gathering this."
Mordiggian pulled out a small jewel from the void of its chest. Rika turned around and saw the unusual gem.
"I may be a woman but I don't really care much for jewellery."
"Use your Identify skill," Mordiggian growled.
"Identify."
"I went through great trouble just to fill this one up with as many souls as I could without being noticed."
"It will make me that much more powerful?"
"Yes. This is the same type of gem I used before to give you and your Commanders access to the SYSTEM. Now that you have access, these jewels can now be used to boost your stats."
Rika held out her hand and Mordiggian placed the Soul Axis into her hand. She held the Axis between her thumb and finger and stared at it.
"Just say 'Absorb Soul Axis' and that power will be yours."
Rika grinned in a sickly manner. "Absorb Soul Axis."
The Axis flashed with a bright light before the energy released. The souls screamed in agony as they flew out of the gem and entered Rika. As each soul entered her, she felt the power within her increase. Her smile stretched more and more as she became intoxicated off of the power. As the final soul entered her, Rika fell to her knees from being overwhelmed.
"Status," Rika commanded as she got to her feet.
"Before you go about spending your unallocated points, I have something for you to do," Mordiggian said. "As my master merges universes, more of Xoth's inhabitants are coming through. In a couple days, we will be getting another wave. I will give you the location of the attack. I want you to send one of your Commanders. Preferably the one with the best Perception."
"And what is he supposed to do?"
"I want him to Identify Thunder and his companion."
VVVVV
It was getting late at night when Tom had the time to sit down.
"Kara."
"We need to talk."
"So you have been keeping an eye on things."
"I do."
"What is this entity?"
"Do Reia and I have any chance against this entity?"
"If this entity is as strong as you say, why doesn't it just cause havoc itself instead of doing it through proxies, like Phoenix?"
"It would unite our people instead of breaking them apart."
"I see. Makes sense. It means Reia and I will have to eliminate Phoenix." Tom blurted out a laugh. "Fantastic. These assholes have had the scorn of the world for years and yet they still avoid being wiped out. Do you have any idea where they might be?"
"What do you mean you don't have the power to?"
"Shit..."
"I just wished things were easier."
"Thanks for the pep talk," Tom chuckled. "Now I recently reached level twenty and unlocked the Magic Blade class."
"Yeah. Now I got a quest upon selecting the class. It's to unlock the class' full potential. According to the quest description, my teacher is in the spirit realm. How do I reach him?"
"Understood. It shouldn't be too long. I'll just have to practice extra hard. Thank goodness Reia is around to help me out. Speaking of which, I wonder where she is."
"Oh, thanks."
"O-Oh okay."
Tom felt like Kara was acting very suspicious. Regardless, he took her advice and got up from the counter, opening the sliding door in the room to go outside. The night was warm. A slight breeze made the air smell fresh. Tom walked out and turned in place to look up.
Tom saw Reia on the roof staring up at the stars. He jumped up onto the roof and asked, "Star gazing?"
"Yeah," Reia replied.
"Mind if I join you?"
Reia patted the area right next to her. Tom walked over and sat down next to her. He looked up with her. The night was perfect to look at the stars. There were no clouds to hinder the view. The two had a view of a black sky filled with stars.
"It's been a little over a week since I've come here," she stated. "Considering all that has happened, it feels like it has been a lifetime. In all that time, I haven't looked up at your world's night sky."
"What do you think?"
"I have never seen so many stars in my life," she said in amazement.
"Really?"
Reia nodded. "Back on Xoth, we didn't have very many stars. You could count them all on just two hands."
"So few?"
"Tala told me that history books stated there were more long ago, but they slowly disappeared over time. Most who look up at the sky usually do so to see our two moons."
'How old is their universe to have so few stars?' he thought.
"On your world, it's different. Your sky is just filled with stars. It's beautiful."
"We have given names to constellations of stars," Tom said.
"Can you show me?" she asked.
Tom pointed towards the sky. "You see that really bright one there?"
"I think so... Yes!"
"That's Polaris. The north star. From there it connects to Ursa Minor. The little bear constellation. It looks like an upside-down scooper."
"I see it," she giggled.
"Just below it, to the left, is Ursa Major. The big bear. It has a very similar shape, only a little bit bigger. This scooper is right-side up. You see it?"
"I do. Does your world have many constellations like this?"
"Oh yeah," he replied. "Dozens."
"What do your people call that section there?" Reia leaned towards Tom and pointed. "It is so thick with stars. It's almost glowing as bright as a moon."
"We call that the Milky Way."
"Milky Way?"
"It's a galaxy. The one that contains this world. It is filled with billions upon billions of stars."
"B-Billions?!" she gasped as she looked to him in surprise.
"Billions," Tom confirmed within a chuckle.
Reia looked back up at the sky. "Tala and Syl would have loved to see this."
Tom saw Reia's mood quickly change. She started to sob as her tears ran down her cheeks. Tom didn't hesitate to wrap his arm around her shoulders. Reia turned to cry into his shoulder as he hugged her.
"I miss them so much," she said in between sobs.
Tom patted her back as she cried. He could feel her warm tears through his t-shirt.
"You've never been this far away from them this long?" he asked in a whisper.
"No," she said. "We've always been together growing up. We've never been separated from each other for more than a day. We were the only family we had growing up. We swore that we would remain family for the rest of our lives."
"And you will," Tom assured her.
Reia pulled away from him slightly. Just enough to see his face. Tom brought his hands to her cheeks and wiped away her tears with his thumbs.
"I promised you, before, that when your sisters teleport to this world, I will do everything I can to help you find them. I intend to keep that promise, Reia."
"Tom..." she muttered in a whisper.
Tom placed his hands on hers and said, "And you should know. No matter what happens in the future... You can always consider this place your home. I don't want you to ever feel alone."
Reia smiled at his words and felt her tears return. Not tears of sorrow, but of joy. Unable to hold back, Reia leaned forward and kissed him. She wrapped her arms loosely around the back of his neck.
Tom was surprised by Reia's sudden action but wasn't against it. He wrapped his arms around her waist to bring her closer. Her lips felt cool to his own but were very soft.
For Reia, Tom's lips were fiery hot. It made the feeling more intense and the kiss that much more addictive. Her arms tightened around his neck as the kiss intensified. Tom pulled her closer and Reia could feel that the heat wasn't just limited to his lips. His whole body was much warmer than her own.
Soon Tom and Reia pulled away and rested their foreheads against each other while breathing heavily.
"My first kiss under a sea of stars," she cooed. "Like a dream."
Tom smiled and quickly sneaked in a quick kiss.
"It's about time you noticed how I felt about you," she laughed.
"What can I say?" he jested. "I may have a high Intelligence stat, but I'm dense."
"That may be so, but I still like you," she said.
"I'm glad I met you," he said.
"And I you, Tom. Thank you for everything."
They kissed one last time before Tom went on to show Reia more constellations in the sky.
Spoiler :
Status
NameThomas "Tom" Everett
Level21Experience11030/11080
ClassMagic Blade
RaceHumanAlignmentGood
Currency
Canadian$10,689,039.52
Xoth0 platinum 3 gold 46 silver 30 copper
Title
Clever One, Determined, Giant Slayer, Vaccinated, One Of The First, Sole Survivor, Generous Healer, Interpreter
Buffs
Agent of Kara2x experience
Bestiary of Xoth+10% damage towards the creatures of Xoth
Brief History of Xoth+10% persuasion chance and friendliness towards the inhabitants of Xoth
Debuffs
--
Health1130Health Regeneration/min25.5
Mana1080Mana Regeneration/min27.3
Stamina1080Stamina Regeneration/min7.0
Fame2400Infamy0
Strength113Intelligence108
Wisdom119Perception56
Endurance108Vitality102
Agility78Luck88
Unallocated Points0
Resistances
Physical31%Disease75%
Fire31%Plant31%
Ice31%Earth31%
Lightning31%Water31%
Wind31%Spirit31%
Light31%Darkness31%
Skills
IdentifyIntermediate Level 6PersuasionBeginner Level 5
Language ComprehensionMaster Level 10Book LearningMaster Level 10
TeacherBeginner Level 4NonchalantMaster Level 10
Lightning StrikeIntermediate Level 1Lightning EnchantIntermediate Level 2
Lightning ShieldBeginner Level 8HealIntermediate Level 1
PurifyIntermediate Level 3Sword SkillBeginner Level 10
DisguiseBeginner Level 10PrayerMaster Level 10
Hero's CallMaster Level 10Fast TravelMaster Level 10
Loot CollectorBeginner Level 8Magical RepairIntermediate Level 7
TacticianBeginner Level 10CookBeginner Level 9
Mixed Martial ArtistBeginner Level 3Club SkillBeginner Level 2
Trap MasterBeginner Level 4UnbreakableBeginner Level 2
FireballBeginner Level 6Fire EnchantBeginner Level 5
Bow SkillBeginner Level 5Power StrikeBeginner Level 5
Enhanced BodyBeginner Level 5Enhanced MindBeginner Level 3
Chain LightningBeginner Level 2Group HealBeginner Level 1
Enhanced SpellsBeginner Level 1Enhanced ResistanceBeginner Level 1
SM TransferMaster Level 10
Status
NameReia Zyer
Level19Experience6745/7075
ClassWarrior
RaceNagaAlignmentGood
Currency
Canadian$0.00
Xoth0 platinum 3 gold 25 silver 14 copper
Title
Unknown, Giant Slayer, Determined
Buffs
--
Debuffs
--
Health1170Health Regeneration/min7.4
Mana440Mana Regeneration/min4.4
Stamina1000Stamina Regeneration/min6.4
Fame1700Infamy0
Strength117Intelligence44
Wisdom44Perception52
Endurance100Vitality74
Agility64Luck88
Unallocated Points0
Resistances
Physical16%Disease100%
Fire16%Plant16%
Ice16%Earth16%
Lightning16%Water16%
Wind16%Spirit16%
Light16%Darkness51%
Skills
IdentifyBeginner Level 10Weapon RepairIntermediate Level 6
Armour RepairIntermediate Level 3Weapon CraftingBeginner Level 9
Armour CraftingBeginner Level 10Accessory CraftingIntermediate Level 1
Spear SkillBeginner Level 9Clothing ReformMaster Level 1
Ice SpikeBeginner Level 3Wind ShieldBeginner Level 7
Wind BladeBeginner Level 10HealBeginner Level 6
Club SkillBeginner Level 1Sword SkillBeginner Level 6
PersuasionBeginner Level 2Power StrikeBeginner Level 1
Enhanced ResistanceBeginner Level 1
