"We're finally out of the forest," Arthur says, emerging from the woods, squinting his eyes as he looks at the horizon. "It's nice to see something other than trees for a change."
After such a long and tedious journey through the forest, facing monsters and sleeping on the bare ground, they finally make it out. They all rejoice as they have completed half of the journey, however, the moment is cut short after they lay eyes on the city before them.
"But it's all a mess out here," He adds, looking at the demolished building rubble and totaled cars in front of them. "It's completely deserted, there's not even a monster in sight."
They stand in silence, gazing upon what used to be the peaceful and lively, Calgary. They continue their advance towards the city, passing through the streets filled with nothing but stomach churning scenes. Their faces grimace as they pass by mutilated bodies, each step exuding shock and unease as the gruesome scenes intensify. They try to avert their eyes but there was no place to look as they were scattered everywhere.
Jane tightens her grip on Sophia's hand, pulling her closer, before speaking. "Stick close, we don't know if there's something lurking around."
"How much longer until we reach the mall, Arthur?" She asks, but he doesn't respond. She moves even close to him, placing a hand on his shoulder before calling him again. "Arthur!"
He turns quickly, with a startling response, looking her in the eyes. "Huh? Did you say something?" He asks, his face pale as if he's seen a ghost.
"Are you okay?" She asks, her face showing deep concern.
"Yeah I'm fine, I was just thinking about something, haha" He answers, trying to dispel her concerns. "What was it you were saying?"
She stares at him for a moment, not convinced by what he just said as she can tell when he lies. However, she decides to let it go because she already knows the scene before them is what's bothering him and he's trying to shrug it off. "I said, how much longer until we reach the mall where we'll meet James?" She says, finally breaking her silence.
"Oh, around thirty minutes, we're almost there," He says, turning and continuing to walk. They kept walking and eventually they reach Westbrook mall. Arthur looks around, hoping he'd see James but he doesn't.
"Where is he," He asks, still looking. "Has he not arrived yet?"
"You sure took your sweet time coming here," Says a familiar voice from behind them. "I arrived three days ago."
Arthur turns, filled with excitement before yelling. "James!". She funs towards him, arms wide open and hugging him tightly.
"It's good to see you again, Arthur," James claims, his voice calm as usual as he looks behind Arthur and directly at Jane. "It's good to see you too, Auntie."
"How have you been, James?" She asks, moving in for a hug too.
They all have a short reunion before James tilts over, looking at Sophia. "Who's that?" He asks, motioning his head towards her.
"That's Sophia," Arthur responds, looking at her and then turning back to James "We met on our way here."
James stares for a brief moment, before continuing. "Ah I see, but anyways, you all must be tired so why don't we go in? We'll spend the night here and leave at dawn."
He takes the lead and guides them to where they'll stay for the night. "I pick this spot because it's close to the supermarket." He says, looking at them. "But first of all you need a change of clothes."
They go to the nearest clothing store and all pick something to change into, after which they go to the supermarket to get something to eat. They finish and head back to their sleeping spot, where Sophia immediately falls asleep. Jane sits next to her as Arthur and James step outside to talk.
"On the phone, when you said your mark was different, what did you mean by that?" James asks, staring at Arthur as he awaits a response.
"Well, for one it's visibly different from yours," He replies, showing him his mark and they compare. He goes on to tell him about the first encounter he had with Romanv, then his first regression and about Rex. "That's pretty much the gist of it."
"Wow, you've really gone through a lot haven't you. So you're some kind of chosen one now?" He asks teasingly, further asking him more questions. "What happened to you in those woods, you were all covered in blood, but you seem fine."
Arthur walks him through what happened in the forest, fight after fight, from the little goblins all the way to the ogre. "And that's how I met Sophia."
James stands quietly for a moment, processing all the information, before speaking. "What else do you know about these marks? Weird things have been happening to me ever since I got it."
"Not much to be honest, but what do you mean strange things happened to you?" Arthur asks, throwing the questions at James this time.
"It all started when I had my first encounter with a monster, it had the features of a woman but also parts of a bird. A harpy I believe, it was very annoying to deal with because it could fly." He says, as he lifts up his shirt, revealing claw marks on his lower back. "It gave me this, but I somehow managed to kill it and it dropped this glowing crystal. But the weird thing was, when I took the crystal my mark glowed and I absorbed it. From then on it was like information was randomly flowing into my head."
He continues to describe the situation and the things he did after absorbing that first crystal, like going around saving people and looking for Arthur. "I absorbed so many of them and I got stronger as I did."
Arthur stays quiet as he listens, processing everything he's hearing, but then he gets curious and checks James's stats. He stares at him and the window appears.
Race: Human Level: 27 (100) Strength: 57 / Agility: 48 Stamina: 63 / Health: 85 Magic: 104 / Perception: 45 ???> "Woah, his stats are crazy," Arthur thinks to himself, inspecting his other stats. "Just how much did he fight?" [That's most impressive, he has quite the potential.] "Potential?" He asks, speaking out loud. "Did you say something?" James asks. "Oh no, nothing, haha." "You must be tired, we should continue tomorrow." Arthur agrees and they walk back in, calling it a night. [END] To be continued…