Chapter 8: Myths and Legends Come Alive

The cyclops turned and stared wide-eyed at the Banshee, and asked, "But I thought cyclopes were the creators of Zeus's thunderbolt or something. Weren't they supposed to be craftsmen? I've always been good at tinkering. I used to fix the buses back at the station in my spare time. I thought maybe that's why I was so good at that because I secretly had that in me, but you're telling me I can now glimpse information from the future? That's going to give me a headache." 

Seth looks at him and thinks, if he can see through time, I need to keep him around. His information will be very useful in surviving whatever the hell is going on. 

"Don't worry too much, friend. We'll figure it out together. Let's stick together from now on. You too, my Banshee friend. This world is going to be hard enough. Let's see what everyone can do and get the hell out of here and to that tower. Ummm… what should I call you two? I mean, I can keep calling you cyclops and Banshee." 

"Let's worry about everyone getting to know each other later," a new, sultry and elegant voice stated, drawing our attention. A tall, willowy woman with sharp angles to her face and ears that pointed gracefully walked toward the group, beside her a short, stout man with strange musculature and a long thing beard ambled along. 

"Aye, I agree with this wee lass. We hardly have the time to doddle. Lezz get a movin'. There tower be quite far from us. I says we get rollin' before matta's get outta hand." 

The rolling gait of his words we're lost on some, but Seth muddled through them. As for the new arrival, she seemed to understand the situation perfectly. 

"As he said, we need to move. How long before your creations whither. Some have already fallen, either from accumulated damage or whatever you did to bring them to life has run out of juice as they have just stumbled and fallen. I do not know whether you can bring more to life, but I don't want to find out you cannot and be slaughtered under the endless tide of insects and beasts. I seem to be able to see and hear things more acutely than before, but other than that, I have no idea what I am capable of. Does anyone else have any idea of what they can do? From the flares and rumbles, there seems to be a change more than physical to some of us. A lot of us just receive almost what seems a download of information when this Merlin System came into existence. That's why a lot of us didn't immediately freak out at the monstrous forms we and those around us seemed to have taken. Something… unlocked… and flooded our heads with information exclusive to us, but other than a brief synopsis of what happened, I can probably speak for most of us that we have no idea what we can do or what is going on. I'm betting each of us can do something. Regardless, I think we all need to try to fight, and get to the tower together so that we have time to master these changes. Will you lead us?" 

Seth looked around at the crowd of people now gathered around him and nodded his head. As the cheers rang out, he raised his voice. "But on one condition, everyone must try to figure out what they can or cannot do as we move forward. Fight, survive, and get to the tower safely. I will try my best to get as many people to the tower as possible. Once we reach the tower, I will take any volunteers back with me to search for more survivors and gather them back to the tower. This is the only way we can survive this. This has happened for a reason, and if we do not strive to survive and fight, then this was all for naught and we'll be slaughtered when things get worse. Or at least that is how I feel. So, fight. Learn to master your abilities and new bodies. We must strive for that future we once knew again, but with a different society built around the new human races." 

"Nyah, I agree," shouted, of all things, a fenrir. So those exist now too. Does everything mankind imagined exist now? Could orcs, goblins, and all the nastier creatures of fantasies exist? Would they be just like the bus driver, humans who changed or could they spring up from nature somehow? And if fantasy creatures exist, what about the terrifying science fiction creatures that could rend a human to pieces and crave carnage? 

"Scree!" came ringing from all directions, and creatures of fantasy nightmares crawled forth. Giant spiders and their half-woman half-spider cousins called Arachne's but mixed in them are some odd ones. 

"Yōkai! Jorōgumo! Kamigami ga watashitachi o mamotte kureru!" a kitsune Japanese-American shrieked. 

An African man in colorful clothing stepped forward as if by instinct and split into hundreds of thousands of deadly giant spiders that swarmed toward the oncoming mass. 

"I got this," came his melodic voice from the mass of spiders. "Just get moving." 

A few more people moved forward, each changing forms as if by instinct. One became gigantic crows and ravens that swooped down and clawed at the giant spiders. Another became scorpions. Another frogs. Another foxes. Nothing save their size was extraordinary. Then a woman stepped forward and became ethereal as a blast of wind erupted from where she had been. Elementals started to appear admit the survivors who blasted their abilities into the masses, but the horde was endless and overwhelming. 

The kitsune stepped forward and started blasting different balls of varying elements depending on which of the nine tails she exhibited was one top. Fire, water, earth, ice, lightning, magma, darkness, and light shattered the forces rushing towards us.