The Alpha
The regal beast slashed its gleaming claws towards Michael as he stumbled away, falling to the ground. Blood splattering to the side as a small wound opens across his neck.
Cries of rage and surprise rippled through the campsite as the others rushed to help.
Their booming voices yelling loudly 'HEY, OVER HERE YOU MAGGED MUTT" as they attempt to distract the beast, earning only a twitch of the head before attacking towards Michaels defenseless body.
Michael releases his grip on his neck, allowing blood to spew freely. He throws himself to the side, desperately clutching the beast's flank, but his arms are too short to wrap around it completely. The Alpha growls, its eyes twinkling with cruel amusement—it's savoring the hunt.
With a jerk to the side the beast flings Michael across the campsite, his body slumping to the side.
His body hit the ground. Hard. He barely registered the pain before the beast was already on him. No time. No strength. Just... fear.
No... no... there's nothing I can do. His chest heaved, the taste of blood thick on his tongue. I've lost. I hope the others— His vision blurred. Just stay alive.
"MICHAEL!" Joseph's voice shattered the night, dragging Michael back to reality. The knife sailed through the air, striking the beast's flank—only to clatter harmlessly to the ground." I guess he already got lucky once… guess his or my luck has finally run out."
His mind slowly wanders off, ignoring and distracting him as the gentleness of winds caressing his last moments…"Dad".
No! I won't let this happen! Not again! His ragged breaths turned into a growl, fury replacing his fear as he spat into the beast's eyes, making it recoil in disgust as he reached around the side, fishing for the knife and with a desperate lunge, Michael drove the blade into the Alpha's mouth. The beast thrashed, nearly shaking him loose, but he pressed harder, feeling the blade sink deep. A final shudder, and it collapsed
"Huh i wonder why it acted so special, it wasn't even that strong…" Michael thinks as his body of the beast slams down on Michael making him pass out.
The shouts around the campsite grew distant. The crushing weight eased off his chest, but the darkness came swiftly. Michael barely felt himself hit the ground before everything faded to black.
***
"Ugh my head" groans Michael as he raises his hand to clutch his head. His body moaned in discomfort as his sides ached and the stiffness of the battle washed over him.
"Wait, the battle!" Michael says, sitting up and surveying the area, before being pushed down with soft velvet hands as his ears came into focus and heard the gentle soft voice of Sophie guiding him down to rest.
When Michael's eyes fluttered open, the faint crackle of a campfire greeted him. His gaze settled on Sophie, carefully wrapping makeshift bandages around his ear.
"Michael, don't even think about moving," Sophie warned, her voice firm but gentle. "I just finished cleaning your wounds." She turned away, wiping blood from her hands. Before beginning again, "If i see you moving around mister, you will be in big trouble" as she wags her index finger jokingly towards him.
Despite the situation Michael finds himself chuckling slightly, before launching into a full blown cough, coughing blood into his hands, as Sophie concerned hands tightly hold him calming him down.
"Are you ok now Michael?" says Sophie with eyes filled with sorrow as people start to wake up around them, their distant voices of concern checking on him.
As he calms down Michael notices the looks from his friends as they stare worried around, even Alex didn't look at him with annoyance for a second but with a slight respect.
Calming down from his coughing fit, Michael hides a small smile between his hands, before turning towards the group and noticing Christophers shameful looks towards his wounds.
"Chris, it's okay. You saved me once today. As far as I'm concerned, we're even." Michael states in a raspy soft voice as Christopher flinches and looks away clearly needing some time to himself to process that.
Gazing towards Joseph, Michael asks " What happened after I was out?" as he looked around confused.
Michael's gaze landed on four faces—weathered and tense. Two of them were children, clutching each other tightly, their wide-eyed stares filled with fear. They were vaguely familiar, but what happened to them?
"Josh and Julie were the only casualties… Julie was the girl holding the child, she managed to protect the kid, but his injuries are severe" Christopher winces, holding the back of his head for support.
He liked Josh, he was the type of good natured person that tried to take care of others, he was one of the few that managed to keep calm and help others with Sophie. Julie was a caring old woman that kept the kids calm, while she put on a strong face for them.
Everyone one looked down, each person barely holding on.
"Something strange happened," Alex said, snapping the group from their daze. He looked different now—more composed after the fight.
"After the fight I noticed a small blinking light in the bottom right corner of my vision, and I thought it was kind of like the video games I used to play… it's better if you try it yourself though… it hard to describe, just say Status" Alex says, flustering slightly from the attention.
The group's eyes become unfocused, trusting the more dependable kid, as they search for the blinking light, "Status".
People falling to the ground are coupled with shocked gasps as they wave their hand through the air, grasping and trying to interact with something unknown to Michael.
What the hell are they talking about? Status?
Status
Name: Michael Ashford
Race: Human (G)
Rank: (G) Level 5
Class: N/A
Profession: N/A
Tutorial Points (TP): 14
Stats
Vitality: 8
Recovery: 9
Perception: 7
Soul: 1
Free Attribute Points: 5
Titles
[First Lords] - Given to those that became the first nobility within the newly integrated worlds. (Gives access to Lords interface and abilities to give authorization and control others within their settlement)
You have slain [Wolf Level 5] - bonus experience earned for fighting above your level. 5 Tutorial Points (TP) awarded.
Class: N/A has reached level 2. Awarded 1 Attribute Point to physical Stats. +1 Free Point
You have slain [Wolf Level 4] - bonus experience earned for fighting above your level. 4 Tutorial Points (TP) awarded.
Class: N/A has reached level 3. Awarded 1 Attribute Point to each physical Stats. +1 Free Point
You have slain [Royal Shadow Wolf Level 8] - bonus experience earned for fighting above your level. 5 Tutorial Points (TP) awarded.
Class: N/A has reached level 5. Awarded 1 Attribute Point to each physical Stats. +1 Free Point
Level 5 Reached - Choose Skills from Class: N/A, General Skills only until class chosen at level 30. Note: Skills are chosen through the person's experiences and Legends
Michael rubs his eyes, desperate for a break as the glowing blue holographic screen floats in the center of his eyes, as his mind struggles to process the influx of information. Groaning as he brushes against his ear, causing a worried Sophie to brush away the screen she no doubt was curious about and look at Michael in concern.
"I'm fine don't worry" Michael replies to Sophie's unspoken question "Guys before we do ANYTHING we got to figure this out."
Michie, what's your Status say? This looks straight out of a video game," Alex asked, his earlier hostility mostly gone.
"Hey Chris, do you mind helping me out here? You look like you're better at this than me anyway" Michael asks, handing the role of leader to Christopher. "I would like to conserve my strength for the next Wave" pointing out the impending timer with only sixteen hours remaining.
Causing people's expression to seek and become more serious. "Just sit there on the side and rest and if needed please give your input Michael… we might need it" says Christopher sighs, gathering everyone to discuss the mystical information provided by the Status.
It seemed not everyone there was no sharing their experiences from people that did not take part in the fight leaving the elderly lady, the children that Julie and Michael saved as well as two late teenagers, a boy and a girl around Alex's age. These people began on Level 0 with around 3 physical attributes in each, making the group think that this may be the world average if this screen is telling the truth.
Joseph and Sophie were each on Level 1 with some attributes exceeding 3 due to level ups, while Alex was apparently at Level 2 due to killing the wolf that escaped Christopher. While Christopher told the group he had reached Level 3 due to killing one wolf and getting experience for helping others, making him the highest level in the group other than Michael.
Through practice the group realized that a mental command of saying the word Status worked the same as saying it aloud but took a bit longer due to their lack of focus and it was possible to give TP to others by shaking their hands. Also for everyone their Soul attribute seemed to be weirdly low despite the levels with the highest in the group having a 3, and when Alex impulsively tried to add one of his free attributes to it, nothing happened but he was able to increase his vitality the same way.
"What about that Lord thing, you got before the start of the Wave, Micky?" asks Alex, as the others turn towards Michael, curious.
"I don't know yet I haven't checked. It's not on my status?" Michael replies, cocking his head to the side. " Maybe it is a special command like i have to say Lord Status"
Lord Status
Store: 10 TP
Guide: 50 TP
Upgrade: 100 TP
Residents: 10
Authorization Controls: Michael Ashford [Lord]
Possible Controls: Pylon Mayor, assistant, vassal - each have varied control given by the Lord.
Focusing back to the group, the impatient curious eyes of everyone around Michael bore into him as he hastily explains the difference of menus and the settings he found on the Lord Status.
"Chris, I'm going to give you the highest command of this place as i can, ok?" as Michael fiddles through his Lord Status, giving Christopher the position of Pylon Mayor before he could complain. Watching as Christopher's eyes unfocused as he receives the notification and grins back to me.
"Now guys, what do you think I should do with my free Attributes? And what are you guys going to do?" Michael questions the group.
"Hmmm you should put it all in recovery for now" Sophie chides, sending glares across the campsite as the frightened little lambs of the group rapidly nod in agreement.
"I don't think we should do that too" Joseph replies, shrinking his head back as Sophie's glare bares a hole through him. "No no I mean Michael should definitely do that but for the rest of us these Attributes can save our lives so I believe we should put them in something different right now like vitality" as Joseph desperately explains, attempting to escape Sophie's gaze.
"I agree"
"Agreed" replies both Alex and Christopher at the same time.
"While recovery may help us later, what we really need is strength to survive this… place" as Christopher gestures to the campsite where they are stuck. "And Michael don't forget to ask for help, we all owe you for what you did for us."
Michael looks down flustered, his ears bright red hidden in the dark night as he notices the respect of every person around him.
"Sophie and Joseph, do you mind watching and helping the children before bed and making sure they can sleep? Sorry to ask this, I know you're tired but i don't think they will be ok without you two" Christopher asks before turning to the two teenagers that didn't fight. "Can you two watch us tonight? I'll take the first shift but you must take the second, ok?"
The two boys nodded, their faces pale, it didn't look like they would get much sleep.
One boy turned to Michael confused "Why would we do that sir? Didn't they say the next attack is 16 hours away?" His voice is careful and respectful.
"Yes they did, but can we truly trust them? I know this is a lot but all you have to do is yell if you see anything and big brother Michael will protect you, ok?" Christopher says as he tilts his head in my direction causing the boys to lighten up, for a bit.
"Now everyone goes to bed and gets some sleep, those who have attributes to add try to remember what the feeling is so we can better prepare for what's next." says Christopher commandingly as everyone searches for a snug place before the fire as they attempt to drift to bed.
Damn Chris putting all this attention on me, as Michael smirks to himself in bed. Still, it's nice that he's doing this, thanks Chris.
"Status"
Status
Name: Michael Ashford
Race: Human (G)
Rank: (G) Level 5
Class: N/A
Profession: N/A
Tutorial Points (TP): 14
Stats
Vitality: 8
Recovery: 13
Perception: 8
Soul: 1
Free Attribute Points: 0
Titles
[First Lords] - Given to those that became the first nobility within the newly integrated worlds. (Gives access to Lords interface and abilities to give authorization and control others within their settlement)
Level 5 Reached - Choose Skills from Class: N/A, General Skills only until class chosen at level 10. Note: Skills are chosen through the person's experiences and Legends
5 Skills to choose
[Small blade Mastery (Trash)]
A assassins most deadly attack and easily hidden within there foes hearts. Grants small increase in damage when sneak attacking and added effect of easily hiding one's weapons
[Engineer (Common)]
The ability to connect power and create machines, through cables and mechanics. Grants user the ability to perceive electrical contents and boosts their production rate
[Unarmed combat (Trash)]
A martial artist's body is their weapon, they can fight with anything and survive anyway they can. Grants the user slightly stronger limps and increased coordination.
[Royal Stealth (Rare)]
Stealth isnt the ability to never be found, stealth is the ability to make the loudest noise then disappear under another nose. True stealth disappears from the mind. Grants the user the ability to change their Aura from loud and attractive to not even letting a whisper into their prey's mind.
[Identify (Trash)]
Basic identification, known to even the weakest and smallest of races within the system. Grants the user an attempt to learn information from an object or creature it is used on.
Well it was obvious the correct choice was royal stealth, as it allowed me to disappear easily and make my presence known. But i'm not too sure how i got it, it said my skills came from my experiences and Legends? Wait. I forgot about the Alpha even though it was so terrifying at the start. Everyone did. Could this have been why? Well it doesn't matter, all the other skills don't help me, like i'm out in the woods what would i use Engineer for? But identify could help, but what if the Royal Stealth doesn't show up again? Yep, I'm picking Royal Stealth.
Michael's body trembles, as his body pulls side to side, stifling the painful scream he had, as he feels his body already trying to repair itself. Before heaving heavily as his body relaxes, as his healing slows down. Before scrunching his nose as he realises adding that one point to perception may help him in the upcoming fight, it also increased his sensitivity to his pain receptors.
Damn it… this hurt Michael quietly thinks as he tries to sleep, despite his thoughts or actions nothing could stop the exuberant smile spreading across his face.
Michael felt anticipation.