Unlike the searing headache I got with {Rewind}, the download for {Code} was manageable. The {Fate} was straightforward. It allowed you to quantify and assess the things you saw in numbers and stats, like a game.
I checked my attributes in their quantified form for the first time.
___
{Rewind} 4:56
{Save} 0:00
{Auto} 23:45:01
Souls Available: 562
{Fate} Level 1
Souls needed for evolution: 1,000
{Fates} Active
{Code} 23:55
{Kindred}
N/A
___
Hmm… This was interesting. So, {Rewind}, {Save}, and {Auto} had different cooldowns. But what were Souls? I hoped the term was not literal, but it seemed like they treated them as a currency for {Fates}.
{Code}, unlike {Rewind}, was a passive ability. You paid the initial cost, and it continued until the duration expired.
Souls seemed to be the cost that I kept hearing in the {Rewind's} explanation. But how much would that be exactly? Where could I find that out? Was there a manual I could read somewhere?
The more questions I had, the more valuable Isabella became. I intended to give her a smooch each day just to have {Code}.
Suddenly, I heard Isabella screaming and clutching her head in pain.
"AHH!!!!!!!!!" she screamed in pain. Her body twitched and twisted as if poisoned.
Unsure of what to do, I let go of my gun and grabbed her by the shoulders. I shook her.
"Isabella, what is wrong? Are you alright?" Why was she screaming like that? Was it because of {Rewind}?
Before I could hear her reply, she got a dangerous look in her eyes, and her entire demeanor turned as sharp as a knife.
Without the gun on her stomach, Isabella grabbed my neck and slammed her head into my nose. The headbutt took me by surprise. I felt my nose break as blood spurted out.
Befitting her small size, Isabella was nimble like a snake. While I tried to stand up, she picked up my gun and sent a full-powered stomp into my gut.
Despite being much larger, I could not resist. Isabella overpowered and mounted me, pressing a 1911 to my temple.
"WHO ARE YOU? TELL ME WHO YOU REALLY ARE BEFORE I KILL YOU!" she shouted. Rabid like a beast, I could not find the woman with whom I had shared a steamy kiss.
You really couldn't underestimate the ones who survived in this place. Note to self, close combat was a massive weakness. 'I need to find a remedy if I survive today,' I thought.
I calmly held my hands up and answered.
"I already told you. My name is John Smith; I died and suddenly wound up here. Aside from my own fate and Lilly's introduction, I don't know anything else."
Isabella gritted her teeth in anger and nudged me with my gun. "Then tell me how you know Roland Winchester! When was the last time you saw him?! Are you a sleeper agent for IRIS or something?!"
'This bitch… Why is it so hard to believe my real name is John Smith? People always thought I was lying, joking, or using an alias when I introduced myself.'
I didn't have an ID on me; unfortunately, that usually shut people up. Fed up with her shit, I grabbed the muzzle of the gun and spoke in the coldest voice I could muster.
"I am giving you ten seconds, Isabella. Decide in those ten seconds. I trusted you despite knowing nothing. I could have left you to die, yet here we are. "
The woman, despite having the upper hand, gulped. She probably sensed my bloodlust. I couldn't care less what she thought. I came here because she was useful, nothing more, nothing less. With that in mind, I continued.
"I have not lied to you, not once. If you believe I am your ally, lower the gun and get off me. Otherwise, shoot me, because after ten seconds I will {Rewind} and I will kill you. You likely understand how my {Fate} works, as I understand yours." I made sure to make my last words as menacing as possible.
This was, of course, a bluff. I still had two minutes before I could use {Rewind} again. So, the longer this standoff got, the better it was for me.
As she didn't kill me outright, I had to have something of value to her. Of course, if she just shot me dead right now, well… that would have been it.
"Decide now, or I will kill you," I reiterated.
Not even blinking, I stared into Isabella's clear blue eyes as she trembled. Whatever she intended to choose, any goodwill I might have had for her had disappeared.
Suddenly, the woman decocked the hammer of the 1911, engaged the safety, and quickly got off me.
Perhaps as a peace offering, she held out the gun to me as she looked down apologetic. "Sorry, please forgive me."
I didn't bother answering as I retrieved the weapon. I then turned around to walk away. I got beaten up a lot before I left home, so a broken nose was nothing to me.
On a separate note, this woman was a fucking lunatic. She might have a rack, but crazy for pussy had never been a good deal.
Surprised that I left her without so much as a word, Isabella ran after me as she yelled.
"Hey! Don't leave me! Aren't we allies? Come on! I said I'm sorry!"
With our deal out of my mind, I began jogging toward the platform. Why didn't any undead come for us while we talked?
Looking toward the battle on the platform, both sides increased in number. The injury to the ape seemed to force the Reapers to retreat.
Trying my best to think of a battle plan, I picked up the pace.
I heard a female voice as I dashed towards my destination. "Hey! Stop running so fast! I have short legs and I am injured! I'm sorry, okay? Please wait!"
I felt a bit better when I saw her struggling to keep up. I stopped abruptly, leaving her no room to kill her momentum. Isabella ended up bumping into my body and falling toward the ground.
She fell on her behind and gingerly checked her nose, which she had slammed against my back.
"Ouch! Now you're just being an ass! Forgive me already!"
Not giving a rat's ass what she thought, I looked her in the eye and asked emotionlessly, "What do you want?"
"Look, I work in law enforcement. I deal with a ton of shady crap on a daily basis. To put it bluntly, your {Fate} is extremely suspicious. Your connection to Roland Winchester makes you a target. It's dangerous to meet anyone while being clueless," she said, her voice urgent.
My indifference caused her to make a wry smile as she stood up on her own. Isabella brushed the dust off her pants and continued.
"Okay. The thing you need to know first is that Roland Winchester is a living legend among the reapers. In short, people say the old man has lived since the Roman Empire, even before Jesus!"
"What?" I blurted out.
That sounded like bullshit. How was the old man still alive, then? And why did it concern me? Yet, my curiosity still got the better of me as I waited for more.
"Anyway, we can discuss him another time; the important thing is that many are hunting him. If it gets out that you know him and that he is your handler, you will be the one those people will come for. Understand?
"Aside from me, never tell anyone else that you were turned into a wraith by him. Naturally, I won't either."
'Hmm. Who knew the old bastard was that ancient? Alright, that was definitely good info. What else did she have?'
"The other thing is the fact that you use a gun. In Hellsgate, a gun is trash. Many will look down on you for using one," Isabella warned.
So, they called this place Hellsgate. How apt. But using a gun was stupid? Said who? Perhaps she understood the meaning of my gaze. The woman nodded and continued.
"You should already know the basics of a {Fate} from {Rewind}. {Fates} as a rule are manifestations of desire; thus, they are tangible. Meaning, if I desire to be fast, for example, I don't suddenly just run faster. Instead, my will physically manifests as a pair of shoes, and it does what I wish for."
If awakening a fate granted you a weapon, then it made sense why I saw a lot of abandoned weapons along the way here. The basic ones were just simple steel. So, the glowing weapons were manifestations, then?
"The shoes would be the desire given form. So, as long as the pair of shoes exists, the {Fate} will never disappear. When you wear it, you run faster. Some {Fates} manifest as avatars such as the ape and wolves over there. Those are the norm. Such weapons are the mark of a Reaper. So, not having either a soulweapon or soulform makes you extremely suspicious."
Okay, so when you awakened, you got either a weapon or a transformation. As I only used a gun, it indeed looked suspicious. But, Isabella then answered the main point.
"Guns, in particular, only work on the common undead. Without a manifested {Fate}, it is impossible to survive in Hellsgate," she said.