ONE: WELCOME TO INVICTUS
(ALEX KROSS)
I blinked at the man now stretching out his hand and looking at me. I couldn't see his face due to the glare of the sun. I was sitting in the blast radius and had no idea what the heck was going on. I remember blowing up and the System telling me that I was eliminated. I no longer had any screens in front of me. It seemed like The Fallen Spirit had protected me from getting kicked off the planet.
I hesitantly took the man's hand and he pulled me up. Now I could see his face clearly. He was wearing a black shirt, untucked, and denim jeans. He had messy brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a lean figure and a chaotic look in his eyes. He seemed to be a few years older than me, and had soot covered face at the moment.
"Kid, what're you doing here? Wasn't there a school around this block? And where the hell did the entire street go?"
He asked so many questions at once that my already overloaded brain started fizzing out. I stuttered stupidly before finally starting to answer.
"I am a student of the school which blew up... I have no idea how or what happened. There were some screens telling me about a Selection Quest which I failed..."
He looked puzzled, and took a whole minute before he spoke again, "You failed? Then how are you still here? I thought they killed off anyone who failed?"
I was about to tell him about the Blood Of The Weak and the Spirit but I felt like I shouldn't tell him so much. I didn't even know what was going on or who he was.
As if he could read my mind, he quickly spoke up, "Oh shit, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Tyrone Lee, I used to work at A&T Tech Support, but the building blew up a while ago in a freak accident so I'm jobless now I guess."
He said all this rather hurriedly and looked at me with expecting eyes. I realised he was waiting for me to give a proper explanation of the situation I was in. I opened my mouth, and closed it again. I felt like being honest with him right now wasn't gonna do me any favors.
"I- I don't really know what happened, I was getting beaten up and next thing I know I heard an explosion and now I'm here."
"Hmmmm."
He didn't seem satisfied with my answer, but I was not going to give him more information. I dusted myself off, and asked him, "So what now Mr Lee? The screens just disappeared and now I have no idea what to do anymore..."
"Wait wait what? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE SCREENS DISAPPEARED? They still show up fine to me! What are you on about kid?"
I realised I had blabbed too much so I just shrugged. He seemed to believe it, or at least for the time being. We were both new to this system and had no idea how any of this worked. He let out a long sigh and then said, "Listen up kid, it's dangerous out here like this. From what I can gather, the entire world has been affected by this System. I suppose it wouldn't harm you to stick with me, would it?"
I didn't have a problem and I said so. He seemed delighted to have me as his companion. However something was bugging me.
"Mr Lee? Have you completed the Selection Quest?"
"Why yes, I have!"
"What did you have to do in your quest?"
He hesitated for a second before speaking again, "Oh nothing much, I just had to wreck my office badly."
I knew that he was hiding something, but then again so was I.
***
It was evening now. We had left the ruins and had made our way to an abandoned mall. A lot of other people were also there who took refuge. Me and Mr Lee, decided to stay at a Gulpin' Smoothie café. There were two other groups as well, but we all ignored each other.
Around eight when I was finally starting to get relaxed, DING!
A notification appeared. But it was different from the previous ones. It was black in colour instead of the usual blue and had golden frames as usual. It read:
QUEST #1
Goblin Hunt
Difficulty: E
Possible Rewards:
Goblin Hearts
F-Tier Weapons
XP
Briefing: The Goblins will start spawning in 30 minutes and will spawn for the next 2 hours. Destroy as many as you can to win fabulous rewards.
Good Luck!
[YOU CANNOT PARTICIPATE UNLESS CHOSEN BY A QUALIFIED EMISSARY]
I looked away from the screen to Mr Lee. He seemed to have finished reading and was in deep thought. Realizing I was looking at him, he put on a smile and asked, "Did you also get the Goblin Hunt Quest?"
I replied positively, but then I asked him, "Can you do me a favor Mr Lee? You see the System is saying I cannot participate unless I'm with a Qualified Emissary, and I was hoping you could choose me."
He looked puzzled. He then slowly said, "What do you mean choose you? How can I possi- Oh!"
I don't know what happened but in a moment a new message popped up which explained things:
[GUARDIAN REQUEST]
Player Tyrone Lee has chosen to be your Guardian. As a Guardian he can send you Shards and items from his Inventory without extra charge. In return you have to support him in his actions and promise utmost loyalty to him.
Breaking any of the above conditions violates the Solar Law Code- 28C and Divine Curse will be initiated against you.
Do You Accept His Request?
[Yes] [No]
I didn't understand a lot of it but I suppose I could stay loyal to him, he seemed like a decent guy. I thought about it for a couple more minutes, while he waited with nervous eyes, and then finally selected Yes.
DING!
DING!
DING!
Multiple messages popped up in front my eyes simultaneously. I was surprised a bit, but by now I was getting used to them. I started reading. The first one said:
[EMISSARY PAGE]
NAME: Alex Kross
AGE: 16
SKILL: -NONE-
LEVEL: 1
GUARDIAN: Tyrone Lee
CLASS: [UNLOCKS AT LEVEL 10]
ABILITIES: {Sprint Lv. 1}
STR: 10 (+)
AGI: 10 (+)
VIT: 10 (+)
PSY: 10 (+)
SEN: 10 (+)
AP: 0
So this was an Emissary Page! It was just like a Stats window in a game. I continued reading. The second message read:
[TROPHY UNLOCKED]
Name: First Guidance
Class: B
Description: This Trophy Is Awarded To The First Person To Have A Guardian In A Region.
Oh wow! Another trophy. I don't think anyone else had two trophies so early in the Challenge. I continued reading onto the third message:
[YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN 200 SHARDS FOR 2 TROPHIES]
What the hell was this Shards now? But I didn't have time to worry about that as everyone around us were gearing up for the first quest. One of the other groups had barricaded all entries and exits, while the other group sat in a corner nervously. I looked up at Mr. Lee, who seemed nervous as well. He looked down at me and gave a small chuckle, " As your Guardian, it is now my duty to protect you I think."
"T-Thanks Mr. Lee, I really don't know what to say, you have do-"
He cut me off mid sentence and said firmly, "Call me Tyrone. Now shut up and wait for these damned goblins to spawn. We will show 'em they picked the wrong race to mess with."
His words gave me a bit of encouragement and I smiled at him. But my joy was short lived.
DING!
SURVIVAL TIME LEFT:
1:59:59
There was a loud bang as one of the barricades toppled over. All of us in the room stood up and got ready to fight whatever came through. We could hear a mischievous laughter coming from the other side of the door.
And then- BOOM!
Two other barricades broke down. From the one at the left ran in one of the weirdest creatures I have ever seen. They weren't the goblins you saw in comics and cartoons. This one was red in colour with bright yellow eyes. It had a tiny body. It's limbs had large amounts of hair on them, but the rest of its body was smooth. Except it's head where it had tufts of dirty golden hair. It had three fingers in each hand and steel claws. It looked at us as we looked back at it. And then it gave out a screech.
"KHHIIIIIIIIIII"
Dozens of goblins rushed in from the broken entries. Some carried spears with blood red stones. And scariest part was, they were all running towards us with murder in their eyes.
The Hunt had now officially begun!