A gentle breeze caresses me out of my slumber, blurring from a vision of dreamland's darkness into a vast dark green sky and dawning light. It was the sky of Calliope, holding the constellation of the small dipper larger than the big one itself.
"Urgh, I feel like crap…" The small cut under the bandages wrapping my head is screaming from yesterday's crash added by lack of proper sleep from trying to guard the truck against any threat arising from the portal and the fields until Carl, the barbecue vendor took over the watch.
Resting inside the large cavern chamber was an adequate choice if the portal wasn't there. Threats from our world could still slip into this world while we're asleep and we can't let it happen. And the holes didn't give us any assurance either.
In the end, we decided to sleep in the truck and take turns on the watch.
Yesterday was a nightmare we almost couldn't escape. Probably a whole day had already passed back in our world but the battle would be far from over. If I could recall it correctly, the massacre lasted for two days, with the players coming to the rescue when all is too late.
But last night was even crazier.
***
"Argh! W-what is this? Am I dead? Am I dying? Why is my name written on a floating tombstone!?" Roy spouted as he stumbled backward, before getting smacked by Josie. Thanks to it, he avoided almost running into the bonfire behind him. "What was that for!?"
"Read the text, birdbrain!" Josie scowled before grinning slyly. "Oh, I forgot. Can you even read other than your name?"
"Why you!?" Roy couldn't take her teasing anymore and started attacking her, pinching her face until Josie countered with the same attack.
But like Roy, everyone was also awry and surprised, one couldn't help to murmur and question the thing they were seeing which engulfed this peaceful night into a noisy one.
"Cut it out, you two! You already woke Sammy up!" Ruri complained, leaving us silent and apologetic. "Oh, sorry… I didn't mean… Sammy just hasn't slept yet since the night before the incident"
"W-we're sorry as well…" I claimed. "And regards to what you are experiencing, I think I know why. And there's something I must tell everyone"
On the very spot, I explained everything. The horrid life before this regression, the devastating future that could happen, and everything I know about the system itself. I told every detail, even if it was as crazy as it sounded.
"So, that's why you knew about the incoming rift…" Simon pondered. "But boy, why didn't you just mention it before?"
"I could've told Gabby and Nate everything if I wasn't abducted into the rift," I claimed. "And come on, will you even believe a child spouting the end of the world or even a predicted catastrophe?"
Of course, none would. None even corrected me or reasoned and just sat silent.
"So this… system… You said it looks the same as the players? Then,ju are we going to get stronger when we defeat an enemy!? Like the players!?" Roy questioned with dazzling curiosity, but I shrugged with uncertainty.
"I doubted that." Ellie raised. "Because, unlike the system of the players, this one is a bit different. This thing seemed to not give the person the ability to gain experience points every battle. There's not even a Lvl text."
Ellie kept switching gazes from two points in space, assuming she obtained the abyssal screen while keeping the other. There was a slight grin forming on her face, to which she peeked a glare at me.
"But there's also one thing this system of yours has an advantage over the player's system" Ellie added before pulling out the book from thin air. "We don't have things like this. This storage thingy so it's still useful"
Everyone gasped in surprise and soon took turns retrieving something as well. The first item they retrieved had something in common. It was something they already owned. The pouch of gold coins for Josie, Simon's hammer, Nate's stick sword, Gabby's crafting gloves, fishing gear for Roy, a flute for Carl, and a picture for Ruri.
But the second item was something indifferent, it was my first time seeing it.
A small round badge of black with a capital 'A' in it glowing in white, and I was the only one who didn't receive it.
"But why do I only have four slots when you said you have six?" Ellie asked.
"Well, technically it's twelve now. I just ranked up somehow" I replied grinning as everyone dropped their jaws.
"WHAT? No fair! I want twelve as well!" Ellie pouted, crossing her arms while the other gleefully laughed.
"Just be glad you have one and part of the party" I claimed, then a ping sounded followed by another floating screen.
** Party List **
1. Cipher [no surname] (39:0)
2. Gabriela Celestine (10:0)
3. Nathan Celestine (7:0)
4. Simon Walters (40:0)
5. Elizabeth Hunters (70:5)
6. Tatiana [no surname] (5:0)
7. Carl Kim (22:0)
8. Josie Campbell (11:0)
9. Roy Baker (12:0)
10. Ruri Cruz (9:0)
11. Sam Cruz (3:0)
12. Katelyn Gray (22:30)
13. Archie Abay (19:0)
*************
"Hold on, are we missing some people?" I questioned and again, I was met with silence but with grim and no one could see me eye to eye. "What? Did something happen?"
"The two called Archie and Katelyn left into the woods as they heard it from Ellie. And since then, we didn't hear anything from them anymore and found no clue of where they are… except for this..." Gabby handed over a wooden necklace, covered in blood. "We heard a scream and we found this on the fields, in the mouth of a winged wolf…"
"And don't blame me, I did warn them. The guy said her girlfriend doesn't eat meat and I already told them there are no edible greens there but the girl insisted." Ellie stated.
All I give was a sigh in such tragedy but there's no longer we could do about it. Everyone was filled with melancholy at the sudden topic of the missing ones, I forgot one was still uncalled. "What about this Tatiana-"
My finger touched the name on the screen by accident and the text suddenly turned green and vibrated. And everyone's gaze turned to where ringing resonated.
It was faint but in the silence of the night, the soft tone of it could be heard coming from outside and the sound led us to the back of the truck.
[~ attempting connection ~]
"Y-you guys hearing that?" they nodded and the ringing suddenly stopped.
[ - Call connected - ]
** Tatiana [no surname] **
~ On Going Call ~
[Loudspeaker][Record]
[End call] [?????]
**********************
"Ah… Tatiana?"
["Y-yes… it's me…" a soft voice replied. ]
"Tell me… are you perhaps inside the truck?" I asked as I knocked on the metal walls of the vehicle.
["Y-yeah… sleeping… feel safer here…" she replied then gave a long yawn. "C-can I continue sleeping now?"]
"Oh, okay! Sorry for bothering you. Good night" I claimed, ending the call while the others stared at me with widened eyes, as surprised as I was. The system was getting weirder and weirder, and now it had the function of a normal phone call. "You also heard her… right?"
The people who followed me outside only nodded in response, still unsure of what to reply, and with a sudden weird idea, I asked "Is… is it possible to call the dead?"
***
Good thing calling the dead was impossible and apparently, the two other survivors hadn't perished yet. They had made it out alive somehow from the battle against the pack of winged wolves and currently hiding in the forest. But couldn't return as the ground was swarmed with goblins and all they could do was stay hidden above the trees as we did.
And it was up to us to rescue them. But it was too risky at night that we agreed to wait till this hour to start moving.
"Looks like they're still fine" The world orb of Calliope shows several goblins in the vicinity, but the two of them were unharmed and still hidden above the trees.
"Good morning, Cipher!" Gabby waves from below the truck.
"Morning! Where are the others?" Gabby pointed out into the fields, and there, Simon and Ellie clashed against a pack of winged wolves, having two prey lying static on the ground while others perished too harshly. Ellie deals with so much power, that she annihilates an entire pack of wolves into ashes.
Beside the bonfire, Carl yawns as he tends to the glowing fire while roasting wolf meat.
"The others are still asleep," Gabby replied. "Are we heading out now?"
"No, not yet," I replied. She was already carrying a hatchet strapped to her waist but I forgot to tell her she wasn't coming with me. "And only me and Ellie will be heading out. All of you are staying."
"What!? You're not planning on-"
"And hey, you two! Cut it out! You'll make them extinct!" The pack dispersed upon my call and the two returned, dragging the carcasses of their prey. "Ellie, can't you give it a rest for now? You already exhausted yourself yesterday."
"Look who's talking? Didn't you just take over Roy's guarding duty last night?" Ellie crossed her arms as she pouted.
"It's just watching, not even a physical activity. And I already had my fair share of sleep before I took over."
"Then I'm just trying to level up and clear threats." Ellie pouted while on the side, I could notice Gabby was still glaring as I feigned ignorance.
"Yeah? And what if we ran out of food to hunt with every creature you killed beyond edible?"
"That's… It's not like we'll stay here forever, anyway."
"We aren't but leaving right now would be a disastrous choice. The world outside is still a battleground and we'd have to wait at least a day or two for it to pass. And in that duration, we'll need sustenance"
"Fine, I'll hold back and not burn them to a crisp," she argued, leaving again into the fields all grumpy.
She did hold back from burning. Now instead of lightning and fire, she used ice to contain the wolves but ended up shattering them into pieces.
"Cut her some slack, kid. She's probably blowing some steam off because of yesterday's incident." Simon remarked.
"I know." I know because I too feel what she feels. I almost couldn't save the other by being too weak and unwise to predict the city's action toward the slum people. "But she already exhausted herself too much yesterday, and now she's draining her mana. We still have to go and find the others… "
"That's why I'm going with you instead of her," Gabby claimed.
"Gabby, I already said-"
"Don't you dare tell me what to do! I'm going and that's final. I ain't letting you off my sight again." she claimed before she left while Simon just stood there, shrugging with a sly smile.