Seth woke with a start, covered in ice cold sweat.
“God dammit, I hate it every time,” he panted.
Despite what had just transpired, Seth felt better than ever. He rolled of the bed and headed to the bathroom. As he looked at himself, Seth tried to find anything new on his body. Although he couldn’t find anything, he still felt like he was buzzing with power. It was like he was on the cusp of something, like he was almost… complete.
The status menu appeared at Seth’s mental command.
Aligned Abilities:
-Presence of Doom (Tier Two)
-Eye of Opposition (Tier Two)
-Insanity Eternal (Tier One)
-Undecided
A new window popped up in front of the status window.
New ability: Fear Itself
Fear Itself:
-An ability unlocked by Insanity Eternal; The only thing to fear… (Varying Ongoing DE Cost )
A rush of energy filled his head as the instinctual knowledge of the ability was burned into Seth’s brain. He clutched his head and groaned as the energy streamlined to the rest of his body. Red light crackled across his skin and blood mist began to collect in vague blobs around him. Then, as soon as it occurred, it disappeared.
“Holy shit,” he gasped.
Although the description contained no information at all, the knowledge he was given was plenty. With a flare of crimson fog, a phantom appeared next to Seth. It had soulless eyes of white surrounded by a figure of darkness. It looked exactly like Seth, but made of shadows and smoke. He watched as the thing stood there, staring blankly back at him.
Tentatively, he reached out his hand and past it straight through the shadow’s chest. Red mist roiled around his hand as it hovered inside the figure. At a mental command, the shadow burst into a thick scarlet whirlwind. Various small items formed in the air. A bottle, a plain dagger, and a collection of various rocks. Finally, they dissolved into ruby smoke and retracted back into Seth’s outstretched hand. An unconscious grin cracked across his face.
“Oh hell yeah…”
--------
“Morning,” a cheerful voice rang from the kitchen.
Sydney had just stumbled out of her insanely comfortable bed and slowly made her way to the kitchen to get some water. She looked up groggily to find Seth’s half naked figure hanging from the ceiling. He was covered in sweat and it took a moment for her to realize that he was doing upside down sit ups.
“Whaa?” She groaned, still out of it.
A shuffle behind her signaled Will’s arrival.
“Dude what are you doing?” he sniggered.
Soon enough, Sydney joined in with his laughter.
“Alright Oliver Queen, you can get down now,” she mocked, still laughing.
She wiped a tear from her eye as Will tried to regain his breath.
“What’s so funny?”
A sinister voice whispered from behind the pair. Sydney gasped and stumbled back while Will released a shrill girlish scream. They both gaped at the grinning man standing over them.
“SETH? WHAT THE HELL?!” Will yelled in realization.
Sydney’s head snapped over to where Seth was just hanging from, only to find an empty space.
“What the fu…” she muttered.
In their stupor, Seth led them to the couch while he had a laugh himself. There was an array of food he had ordered for breakfast laid out on the main table. Seth began to dig in while the other two were still sitting in confusion.
“Was that a-?”
“New ability? Yep. What about you guys? Didn’t you get new ones too?” Seth finished.
Finally, they seemed to recollect themselves and Will’s eyes grew wide.
“No way dude! That was sick! Although, my new ability is pretty cool too.”
Suddenly, a bronze pike formed right in Will’s hand. It was a beautiful creation covered in wavy patterns that spanned the length of the long body. After a moment, electricity began to crackle throughout the weapon and the patterns glowed blue, causing small bolts of lightning to flicker across the surface.
“Thought it was about time I got myself an offensive ability.” He said with a gleeful smile.
“What about you Sydney?”
After approvingly grunting at Will’s new weapon, Sydney nonchalantly leaned back on the couch.
“Can’t show you guys here, it’s really only good in a fight.”
Seth rolled his eyes with a smirk while Will seemed crestfallen.
“Let’s just say you will know it when you see it,” she finished.
That seemed to upset Will even more, but after a moment, his hunger must have taken over because he was now fully focused on the food in front of him. In between mouthfuls of food, Will attempted to ask them their plans for the day. What came out was basically just a slew of unintelligible murmurs. Seth and Sydney looked at him inquisitively.
After a moment, he finished his bite and cleared his throat.
“I was trying to ask what you guys are doing today.”
Seth leaned back, satisfied.
“I’m going to check out some nearby shops and stuff to see what our new situation is. I searched up some things last night and found that this place has no central interests or economy. There is legitimately something here for absolutely everything you could imagine. The only thing that stands out is the fact that power is valued heavily. Fighting tournaments are one of the most popular forms of entertainment and prestige. Also, we seem to be in a minor city called Ethin. Even though it’s nowhere near the size of a major city, there are over twenty million people living here.”
Will huffed after the explanation.
“How the hell am I supposed to do anything here then? Not everyone has combat oriented abilities, right? Plus, how do I stand out with twenty million other losers to worry about?”
Sydney responded to his question before Seth could.
“Don’t be a dumbass. Like he said, there is something here for everyone. Although there is apparently some government here, according to the console, there are leaders from each area of ability. Unsurprisingly, certain Umbra’s have a monopoly on the power for each area. Other than the Umbra hierarchy, from what I can tell, this place is like a utopia.” She finished with a mild sense of awe.
Will seemed to get visibly excited.
“Man now I can’t wait to check this place out!”
Seth sat in silent doubt.
No matter how good this place sounds, I don’t buy it.
“I wouldn’t get too comfortable, there is no way a place with this many people living in it has no problems.”
Will turned over to him with a look of annoyance.
“Come on man, this place has probably been around for millions of years, it’s impossible that they haven’t fixed some lame ass society problems like we had back home. Look at the plus side of all of this.”
A mischievous grin crossed his face.
“How much you wanna bet they have cat girls somewhere around here.”
Sydney slapped the back of his head while Seth tried incredibly hard to hide his interest. He was obviously failing as Will looked at him and laughed. Seth quickly got up and headed for the door to escape Sydney’s wrath.
As he grabbed the small drawstring bag he was given at the local facility, he threw back a “see ya” and left through the door.
--------
Seth strode through the lobby and out the large door of the entrance. Yet again, he was struck with a helpless awe at the scene in front of him. There was a singular road where vehicles of all shapes and sizes zoomed to and fro.
They followed a kind of superspeed dance as they all effortlessly sped past with no trouble, always inches away from each other. After a moment, Seth pried his eyes from the road to the sidewalk he was standing on. Streams of beings from all kinds of species were weaving around him. He watched as a humanoid tentacle man walked by him, dressed up in a fancy looking suit of all colors. Then, a group of red skinned large women almost trampled him in their conversation, all strikingly beautiful.
Soon after, a furry, birdlike creature strolled by him, sniffing in his direction.
There are so many goddam species here… and for some reason they are all… attractive?
It was true.
Everyone that passed Seth had some sort of beauty to them, even a man with eyes all over his head. Strangely enough, they were all humanoid in shape yet different looking in every other way. Some had wings, others were small, a couple looked to be made of light or earth or fire. It was incredible to see the vast uniqueness of the crowd.
As if in a trance, he entered the stream of them all and made his way down the vast street. Colorful skyscrapers of all kinds surrounded him with symbols of an unknown language. He had absolutely no idea where he should go first until he remembered his bag. Quickly, he pulled out the small tablet he was given as well as the metal band. He was told after he popped out of the crack that brought them there that the tablet would bring him to the nearest general store where he could buy everything he needed with the band. Upon activation of the tablet, it disappeared, and an arrow appeared in his line of vision.
A little on the nose huh? Seth thought aimlessly as he followed where the arrow was leading him.
On his way, Seth accidently bumped a pink scaled bald woman that hissed at him. Out of nowhere, a felt an incredible pressure slam into his mind and he froze in place. It was gone as soon as it had arrived, leaving Seth breathing heavily on place. The woman hissed something he couldn’t understand and left with a sympathetic look on her face.
“What the hell was that?!” he muttered to himself angrily.
Soon enough, he arrived at his destination: a huge emerald green sphere building. He walked in and noted how beautiful the architecture was. Seth couldn't help but compare the place to what he thought the Emerald City looked like in The Wizard of Oz. For a couple minutes, he strolled around, wondering where exactly he was supposed to go now. Stuff was everywhere. The place resembled a mall on steroids. Items were strewn all around the place and he had no idea where or what he would need to start.
A tap on Seth’s shoulder made him whirl around, almost summoning Anar.
“Calm down there friend.” A soft, polite voice sounded.
It belonged to a beautiful bombshell of a woman dressed in an emerald green suit. She had blond hair and bright green eyes that matched her dress. It took a moment before Seth realized she was talking to him.
“Uhh…sorry,” was all he managed to squeak out.
A sparkle of humor flashed in the lady’s eyes and the corner of her mouth pricked up.
“Are you new to Ethin sweetie?” She questioned him.
Seth’s mouth hesitated for a moment before opening back up.
“More like new to everything.”
She quirked her eyebrow in confusion.
“Everyth- Sweetie I’m not sure what you mean.”
Her posture turned to motherly concern as she assessed Seth.
“My name is Lyrica. Would you like some help?”
Seth stared at her helplessly, he had no idea what to ask for.
“Uh, well I don’t really know what I am looking for.”
Lyrica looked at him knowingly.
“Ah I get it. You must be an outskirt bumpkin. Well welcome sweetie, to Ethin, the city of equality! Anyway, just show me your acquired abilities and I can help you.”
Seth was surprised.
What does she need that for? Also, the city of equality? Sounds familiar.
Although he had never shown anyone his abilities, Seth assumed it was pretty self-explanatory. After a moment, the ability window popped into existence in front of Lyrica’s face. She began studying it, unfazed.
“Oh, sweetie you are missing all the basics. You have the menu variant of nurture so you should have… index right? You mind if I take a look?”
He quickly pulled it up alongside the other menu.
“Dimension 4297? Never seen any from there.” She mumbled.
Finally, she focused back on Seth.
“Alright, I got the gist now sweetie. Follow me please.”
Lyrica began walking down one of the isles, and Seth eagerly followed. He trailed her in silence as she picked item after item up, tossing them into the air where they hovered after her. Most were small metal orbs with inscriptions carved into them. After a couple minutes of weaving through aisles, they finally arrived back at the front of the store where Lyrica set all the items on a counter.
“Alrighty. I have gotten you an array of records for your index, including general history, monster profiles, clan lists, and a collection of maps for our city and some popular training grounds. I have also gotten you a couple basic add on abilities to your menu, as well as a couple useful ones for everyday use. Lastly, I made you a list of future items that you might want to look into, because I am unsure of your financial standing.”
She looked quite satisfied with herself and Seth was impressed.
“Um, actually I’m not sure how much I have to be honest, is there anyway you can check real quick for me?”
Lyrica’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment.
“Well, you should be able to check yourself. Just channel a small amount of energy into the band, same as anything else.” Seth chuckled nervously.
“Oh, yeah how could I forget.” He quickly did what she said and a window appeared above the band.
Common Currency Remaining: 1,000,000
“Well look at you sweetie!”
Lyrica’s eyes took on a sheen of greed before disappearing right after.
“You were holding out on me huh? Well, if this is what you are working with, I would recommend getting the items on the list now.”
Her hand formed a series of complicated patterns before few random objects materialized in her hand.
“Well, here you are then sweetie. If you would just hand me your band, I will charge that up for you. And would you like to leave a tip?” She finished professionally.
Why didn’t she just do that earlier to get the stuff?
Seth began to send the pile of stuff into his cache.
“Yeah, just put twenty percent on it.”
Lyrica’s tongue clicked in gleeful satisfaction.
“Sweetie, I don’t know where you are from, but you have excellent taste. Most outskirters I have serviced have no grasp on city manners and business. As a treat for being such a wonderful customer, I will throw in one of our most popular ability items: Perceive.”
A grateful smile crossed Seth’s face.
Damn this lady is good at her job.
“I really appreciate all the help. One last question though. Where can I go in here to get clothes and equipment?”
Lyrica handed him back the band.
“I am not sure what career area you are working towards, but there are plenty of different stores around here for what you are looking for. One of the items I picked out for you is a language record for most of the tongues spoken here. After using it, you should have no problem reading the signs to find what you are looking for. It is cheaper than a language shard, but it takes a little while for you to consolidate all the information. I picked the record because almost everyone here already speaks most languages, so you don’t really need to know it all right now.”
Seth plucked the language record out of his cache. It was one of the carved orbs he saw Lyrica pick up earlier. He briefly imbued his energy into the orb until it crumbled into nothingness. A rush of knowledge hit Seth like a truck. As he groaned from the headache, Lyrica stifled a giggle.
“I forgot to mention, you probably don’t want to absorb all those here. It takes a large toll on your body and will leave you vulnerable. Anyway sweetie, you have a good day and please come again.”
Seth nodded a “thank you” and stumbled away. Lyrica watched with humor as Seth drunkenly walked away.
I forgot to ask the little guy’s name. She thought with a slight pout.
