Missing Persons

Skyler Parker stood on the edge of a building. Seventy floors up, Skyler gazed absent-mindedly at the crowds of people scurry beneath her. Like ants, small and insignificant, Skyler watched them cross the busy streets of New York.

Even from the top of the building, Skyler could hear the pitter-patter of the waking world, the obnoxious honks, the rude comments, the disgusting stench that littered the streets all thanks to the sewers, the rats, the homeless, the . . . .

A sudden breeze crashed into Skyler's back and her provocative demeanor momentarily crumbled. For a mere moment, fear struck Skyler's heart.

But she just as quickly shook it off when she remembered why she stood on the edge of the building to begin with; her husband, a beautiful, kind, funny, charming, warm man vanished out of her very arms.

She remembers it clearly. How could she not? It was their anniversary.

Two-thirty in the morning, their neighbor's dog finally shut its trap and silence embraced their ears for the first time in hours. Laying in bed together, Skyler shimmied across their mattress and pushed her hips against her husband.

Her husband reciprocated and pulled her deeper into him. Skyler felt his warm breath against her ear. He wrapped his wide forearms around her chest and squeezed her firmly. Skyler did the same, holding the very arms that held her.

Resting her head against her husband's bicep, Skyler felt safe and loved. She nuzzled into his arm like a puppy in love, nothing could ruin this moment, the world held its breath for them, everything was perfect.

Then his tight embrace disappeared.

Skyler's head awkwardly collapsed onto her mattress. The powerful arms that once held her head had vanished. Scared and confused, Skyler bolted out of bed and flipped the lights on, but when she looked back, her husband was nowhere to be found.

She searched their room. Then their apartment. She threw on one of his t-shirts and a pair of panties and dashed out of their apartment. Storming down the stairs, she ran outside in the dead of night and looked around the streets of New York, but no matter what she did she couldn't find her husband.

Panic started to enshroud her. She ran back to her apartment. Her heart ached. She panted out of breath and her legs screamed in exhaustion.

Left with nothing to lose, Skyler picked up her phone and called the police.

"Hello?! My-my-m-m-my husband is gone! I don't know where he went! He was just with me and then –"

"Ma'am I'm gonna need you to calm down."

Skyler did her best to explain what happened to the cops. They agreed to send out an officer and told Skyler to wait patiently. During that time, Skyler called her parents and her best friend.

She poured her heart out and, at first, everyone was warm and empathetic; but when the police completed their investigation, when Skyler was 'recommended' to take a psychological evaluation, when the police gave up and she didn't, the people around her quickly started to change.

"Maybe she's on drugs?"

"Her husband probably just left in the night!"

"Skyler? I heard she was crazy!"

It didn't take long for Skyler to realize the changes around her.

Her friends stopped talking to her. People started distancing themselves from her. Even her parents stopped returning her calls. For a while, Skyler looked for her husband herself.

She put up posts and posters of him around the city. She regularly visited her husband's favorite restaurants and bars. She even stopped by his work every once in a while, but they seemed to be just as clueless as she was.

Eventually, while searching the internet, Skyler came across an international census detailing the many countries missing persons cases. According to the report, there had been a two percent increase in missing persons reports across the globe. In the corner of the page, following an asterisk, Skyler read in small print that the vast majority of missing persons are never found.

At that moment, it was as if something inside of her broke. Closing her laptop, Skyler left her apartment and caught the attention of a nearby taxi. Stepping inside, she directed the taxi driver to the nearest skyscraper.

Tipping everything in her purse, Skyler robotically walked towards the building's elevator and rode it to the final floor. After walking around for a bit, Skyler finally found the roof exit and picked it open with a slew of hairclips she kept stashed in her purse.

Skyler walked towards the stone railing that walled her off from the city skyline, but she very quickly maneuvered up the stone ledge and stood atop its surface. Now overlooking New York, Skyler watched the insignificant bugs crawl beneath her.

Skyler closed her eyes.

First her husband vanished. . . and now so will she.

Skyler's body tipped forward and before she knew it she felt the powerful force of the wind pushing against her skin. And then miraculously, that piece of her that had broken before, suddenly sprawled to life and roared in protest!

Skyler flailed her arms and legs as a scream escaped from her lips. Forcing her eyes open, Skyler's stomach sank when she saw how close she was to the ground! Still screaming, Skyler immediately began praying to God, Allah, fucking Zues, anyone she could think of!

Seconds before she went splat, Skyler closed her eyes and reluctantly braced for impact.

Her entire body tensed in anticipation. Her muscles ached and spasmed. She clenched her teeth until she could taste blood.

"Please remain calm!" A man's voice suddenly entered Skyler's ears, "I know you're disoriented and confused, but I promise you are safe! You have all just been teleported –"

Skyler, fighting through unparalleled fear, pushed her eyes open, but what she saw before her left her utterly baffled and confused.

"My name is Church and on behalf of your predecessors, I welcome you all to the Land of Trees!"

***

Group eleven came and went; just another group of men who adapted to the superpowered hunting lifestyle concerningly fast. As the new group of men settled into camp, and with the Admiral still gone on his little adventure, this group of men was mainly directed towards the construction of the camp.

As a result, over the past two months, the lives of the summoned once again improved drastically. No longer are tipi's scattered across the wide open space gathered around the black pyramid. Instead, cabins filled the empty space!

Due to the violent rainstorm that caused havoc in the jungle prior, many obscenely large branches broke free from the tree trunks and toppled down to earth. Using these branches that still oversized any tree found back home, the constructionists were able to expertly cut and peel the fallen branches into log-like poles.

Since then, the cabins rapidly absorbed the tipi's living space in addition to a rapid rise in the demand for furniture! This being a result of people not only having more space to call home, but also a more secure area to actually collect various valuables.

While the newly summoned men built cabin after cabin, Olive made sure not to slack on her newly blossoming relationship. Olive and Summer had date night once a week, hung out four times a week, and ate breakfast together every morning.

With that schedule, that gave Olive two days a week mostly on her own (after breakfast) and during that time Olive roamed the jungle floor in search of Lost Souls for Cain. In addition to exploring on her own, she also participates in three more raids into the jungle with her cohort, but those expeditions typically carried another objective such as collecting herbs, slaying Goblins, or drawing maps.

Olive really had the ideal adventurer lifestyle and with cabins replacing tipis, roads forming due to carefully placed rocks, and various other personal constructions such as shops and restaurants; their once little camp was rapidly transforming into that of a true settlement.

Of course, as time persisted more people advanced to Neophyte and as they completed this accomplishment, more insight could be collected about the process itself.

First, not a single person has advanced past Neophyte. This could be due to a sheer numbers issue, perhaps after absorbing a hundred Magic Crystals it jumps to a thousand or it can be a quality issue: what if the Magic Crystals provided by Goblins are not powerful enough to strengthen Neophytes?

Second, across the board, no matter the type of Class or Ability one possessed, all Neophytes earned a Trait upon advancement. On the one hand, it was incredibly helpful to be able to predict the actions of the Status; but on the other hand, many of the Awakened couldn't help but feel disappointed in the Status's consistent pattern.

After all, does anyone explicitly want something that's typically passive and unnoticeable? Most people want active, flashy abilities that draw crowds of attention. People typically envision themselves as the hero — at least a lot of them.

With the Trait revelation spread across camp, more adventurers flocked to the jungle in tandem to receive their awaited Trait – each of them praying for something extraordinary.

In fact, long overdue herself, Olive finally managed to bridge the gap that had formed between herself and her cohort's members. Now a proud Neophyte, Olive received the |Fearless| Trait and, as can be deduced, it granted Olive almost complete fear immunity – 'almost' because in the Trait's description it mentions being limited to beings of one rank greater, whatever that means.

Still satisfied with the Trait though, as Olive found the passive far more useful than some of the other buff's the Awakened have received. Take Isaac's |Knights Valor| or as it's colloquially known, Isaac's pretty boy Trait i.e. useless in combat.

In addition to becoming a Neophyte herself, Olive also diligently continued her search for Lost Souls and over the past couple of months she's managed to transfer seven Lost Souls to Cain. Interestingly enough, in all seven instances Cain replied in his regular voice and with long strings of sentences rather than single words.

A discrepancy she's eager to ask about the next time she's actually able to summon the demon fellow.

And now, at present, the twelfth summoning was finally taking place. As a result, swaths of women appeared in tandem.

Wide-eyed and breathless, the newly summoned women looked around in clear panic, but soon, Church's eloquent voice pervaded throughout the ancient dojo.

Church explained their circumstances. He offered the women compassion and hope. He became a beacon of light in their darkest moment, but of course, not everyone summoned wanted to be here.

Unaware of their newly acquired Abilities and the means to activate them, a mistake was bound to happen eventually. An accident of some sort and unfortunately, today seemed awfully ripe for the picking.

Skyler, distraught, scared, mentally and physically exhausted, immediately dropped to her knees after being summoned. Shaking and dripping with sweat, she followed the sound of Church's voice, but soon began to zone him out.

Barely holding onto her last wits, Skyler sprawled across the dried blood that contaminated the dojo's floors and felt her heart tear apart piece by piece.