While August was still freaking out after finally getting his status to work, I slowly made my way to the kitchen window.
Usually, we keep the curtains drawn on most of the windows in our flat, we live on a busy street and it's kind of weird having people constantly walking past the window while you try to cook a five-star meal of... freezer pizza.
Slowly, I drew aside one corner of the curtains, letting a meagre amount of light stream into the kitchen.
"Why is it so dark?" I mumbled. There should be hundreds of lights from street lamps and passing cars illuminating the city. And yet, when I looked outside all I could see was a murky gloom.
Squinting out into the eerily quiet city, I strained my eyes, trying to pierce the dark veil that has descended on the city.
Everything was completely still. Outside the window, not one living thing moved. Even the drunk stragglers making it home from a night out and the ever-present homeless people you might expect to see were missing.
Instead, starting in the middle of the street beside our house, I saw a crack. It ran down the centre of the street like a fresh scar on the asphalt. Countless smaller cracks branched off from the massive one in the middle of the street, like branches from the trunk of a tree.
Looking closely, I noticed something horrifying. A massive crack had snaked across the ground and underneath our apartment building, the building we were currently in.
I lurched back from the window and ran back to my room.
Before leaving the kitchen, I left a few words of warning to Kashyap and August. "I think there's been an earthquake and our building is on a fault line. It could collapse at any second!" I yelled as I passed them.
My feet pounded down the narrow hallway and I don't even pause for a second when they reach my closed door. With a heavy kick, my door flew open and I stumble into my room.
I quickly grabbed my backpack and stuffed it full of loose clothes and my phone. Since my laptop was already broken, there was no point in bringing it.
In the corridor behind me, I could hear August and Kashyap frantically rummaging about in their rooms.
Slinging the bulging bag over my back, I darted out into the corridor and levelled a kick at Kyle's door. It didn't budge from my first kick, so I took a few steps back, found my centre and charged at the locked door shoulder first.
The door flew off its hinges, crashing to the ground, taking me with it. Once I picked myself up off the floor, I rushed to Kyle's bed, only to find that he was still asleep. His mouth hung open, drool slowly dripping onto his pillow.
"Why didn't he get flung to the ground by the earthquake?" I complained, right before having my revenge by slapping Kyle on his stupid sleeping face.
Even after getting slapped, he stayed motionless, off in the land of nod. Having to take drastic measures, I slung him across my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and hauled him out into the hallway.
While carrying the still sleeping Kyle over one shoulder, I bumped into August as he ran out of his room. In the collision, August came out the worse for wear, falling back onto the ground and sending whatever he was carrying sprawling all over the floor.
"Watch where you are going! Do you have any idea how rare these are?" August yelled at me. Looking closer, I realised what he was talking about.
August was currently scrambling on the ground of a building about to collapse, trying to pick up small figurines. They looked delicate, hand-painted and... useless.
"What the Hell are you doing bringing those!" I yelled at the idiot. I was almost tempted to start stepping on the figurines.
The short man took a break from crawling about on the ground to look up at me and snorted derisively. "Of course, you wouldn't understand just how rare these are at first glance. that's why...."
"Shut up! I don't care." Ignoring August, I ran back out into the kitchen. I had already heard him rant once already today and that was enough.
Dropping Kyle like a sack of bricks on the less than clean kitchen floor, I moved back to the window. I needed to get a better look at the situation out there.
Pulling aside the curtain a fraction, I peeked out through the gap. The city outside was gloomy and quiet. Towering skyscrapers stretch up into the dark sky, blocking out the faint light of the morning sun.
Far off in the distance, I could hear the faint sounds of screaming and car alarms blaring. And perhaps this was the trigger for all hell to break loose.
Because right after these first noises broke the ceasefire of sound, the entire city erupted into a cacophony of blaring chaos.
In the distance, the clear sound of an explosion split the air, and I could faintly feel the earth trembling beneath my feet.
This slight tremor was all it took to bring down an already unstable skyscraper that was right in the centre of a particularly large faultline. I could only watch on in horror as the enormous building collapsed under its own weight, falling into a pile of twisted steel and shattered concrete.
When the dust from the collapse had settled a gaping hole was left in the city skyline. Through which, the rising sun sent harsh light, illuminating the gloomy street in front of our apartment.
Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed movement. Right at the edge of the beam of sunlight, I could see something furry and black and huge scuttling within the shadows of an alleyway.
The second I saw the thing move, it saw me. It dashed across the ruined pavement in a black blur of fur and claws, making a beeline towards the window I was currently looking out of.
Right before it reached me, I flung the curtain closed and stumbled back, away from the window.
Behind me, I could still hear August moving around in the corridor and I don't even have time to tell him to hide before the window burst inwards, sending a rain of glass pouring into the kitchen.
A black silhouette rushed through the window and darted towards me. The first thing I could make out properly was its glowing red eyes. They seem to be dipped in blood and gleamed with a rabid madness.
The creature was about half my size and flew towards me in a bundle of teeth, claws and wiry fur. I could just make it a long pink tail at its back that looks like it would give a python a run for its money.
Most young people would freeze in this sort of situation. With a deadly monster bearing down on their throat, they might cry out in fear or run in terror.
I didn't do either of those things. Dropping down into a squat and lowing my centre of gravity I got into the first stance. My hands were stretched out in front of me, poised like vipers, ready to strike at any moment. My muscles tensed to the extreme, ready to spring into action and deliver a killing blow.
The monster was midair, only a few feet from sinking its horrid yellow teeth into my throat, poised to kill. I could smell the rotten stench of its breath on my face, sewage and blood.
I waited until the last possible moment. For the moment when it thinks it has won, when it thinks it has me. And then, I moved.
In one simple step, I moved to the side, avoiding the outstretched fangs. My hands moved in unison. One of them darted viciously towards where I thought the creature's throat was, the other fired into the monster stomach like a bullet.
The monster fell to the ground limply, doubled over in pain while squealing wretchedly. Now, I could finally get a good look at what it actually was.
Before me lay an enormous rat, the likes of which has never, and should never have existed on earth. It coughed and squealed as it tried to force air through the windpipe I just crushed.
Without a moments pause, I stood over the thing and stamped on the back of its neck until I feel it stop moving. For a moment, my vision went red as blood splatters the kitchen.
Two distinct noises appeared in unison, snapping me out of my intense concentration.
The first was an electronic ding that only I can hear.
[LVL 5 Mad Rat killed - 600 Experience Gained]
[Level 1 > 3 - (12 stats increased)]
The second noise I heard, was the sound of August dropping hundreds of little plastic figurines onto the ground... again.
My head snapped up towards August, who was gaping at the corpse of the creature I had just stomped to death.
"Calm dow..." I tried to say before getting cut off by August's screeching.
"Holy fucking Shit! This is insane! I knew aliens were real. If it weren't for all that fake news..." He said, and I immediately lost interest in explaining myself to him.
'Since he's dealing with this better than I thought, I'll leave him be.' I thought before doing exactly that.
Blocking out August's deranged mutterings I quickly turned my attention back to the first noise I heard. The game notification.
This time, when I pulled up my status, I noticed a few changes.
[Name: Robert Melior
Race: Human
Level: 3
Experience: 0/400
Strength: 15
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 11
Mana: 4
Skills: (Martial arts LVL 40) (Basic Survival LVL 15) (Gaming LVL 1)
Distance from the Edge of the world: 29998 miles
Messages: (1)]
The first thing I did after taking note of my increased stats is check my messages.
[12 Stat points gained - Distributed evenly according to preset settings.]