Tactus lunges with right arm extended holding the largest knife from the kitchen. The oversized slicing implement enters the bugs left eye with a sickening crackle like the world's grossest rice krispy treat.
“Ha! Get knifed!”
I note Tactus’ very apt insult as me and my mother recover from our momentary hiccup and attack in unison. Learning from experience and with a little bit of luck we stay out of each other's way. The creature is buck and thrashing in Calder’s grip as Anat goes to the left around the side of the mantis and swings her table leg into the back of what would be a neck on a human, i'm sure there is some fancy bug term for it but observe didn’t fill me in on it this time. Her blow cracks chitin and causes what I can only assume is a twitch of pain to jerk the bladed arms even deeper into Calder’s back.
“Aghhhhhh! Mother fucker that hurts Anat.”
I step to the right and swing in a more controlled ark than last time. My “staff” strikes the joint of its front most left leg and caves it in. It buckles slightly and its body jerks once again, Tactus makes the most of this opportunity by using what looks like every muscle fiber in his body to hang on to the knife for dear life. The knife burrows ever deeper as the monster jerks from side to side like a particularly motivated salmon heading upstream. The rest of the family is approaching, attempting to weave an attack between the ones already fighting without getting in the way themselves, but they are a step too late. Between the beatdown me and my mother were putting on the bug and my brother's knife making a gray matter puree inside the bug's head the fight was over.
There is tense heavy breathing all around. The mantis is in a pile of gangly limbs and chitin on the floor wrapping Calder in the worlds least comfortable cocoon.
“Get this bloody thing off of me, and you better be fucking gentle about it cause I am two more puncture wounds away from looking like an empty caprisun.”
Calders complaint breaks the tense atmosphere and the family begins to relax.
“You will be alright, you big baby. Carter, Amelia come help me untangle this oaf.”
My mother looks like she is trying to center herself with some slow breaths as she commands the rest of the family to begin cleaning up. I am sitting back on my heels trying to wrap my head around the fight and the skill that came with it when another unexpected spectacle takes place. Motes of green, orange, and gray begin bleeding from the corpse on top of calder. They look like motes of dust floating upon the air in erratic currents. As I stare I realize that while green, orange, and gray are by far the most prevalent colors, every hue imaginable is present in the dancing motes of slightly glowing dust. The cloud disperses at a walking pace. What appears to be half of the cloud is funneled into where Calders heart should be. About half of what calder received is funneled into Tactus’ hands, and the final half is split between my mothers eyes and my forehead. Each of us manifest a swirling funnel of the motes that seem to sing through our skin in those places. As soon as the cloud of motes exited the corpse I knew they were a good thing. I know logically that I should be fearful of this foreign phenomenon but there is a soul deep knowledge that this thing is good for me. My very being thirst for it. I can feel it travel through a membrane and suddenly I can feel it inside me. It does not reside in my body but rather a space that exists in the same place as my body but other, a place I had not realized till now existed, the same place I believe I was sent at the end of the tutorial to awaken my concept. The feeling is magical, and blissful, and totally comfortable. It feels like I have a second spiritual stomach that has never been fed before but wasn’t really starving, just unused. Now I feel the smallest bit of satiation, I am not full but I am no longer completely empty.
“Yeah that looked fucking cool. Where is my pixie dust?”
[You Have Absorbed Essentia through Conquest]
The notification lit up the bottom of my vision before fading away
“What the hell is Essentia and what does this thing mean by I have ‘Embodied My Concept’. Why is this day going so horribly?”
Calder continues to whine from under the bug. My mother, Carter, and Amelia begin gingerly separating the giant man and the bladed insect from one another, leaving pools of crimson on the floor as Calder has deep lacerations from the tops of his shoulders to the small of his back. My family is making concerned chatter at Calder about his injuries and inquiries about the notification, though as I watch I notice that the wounds are already bleeding less, a good sign even though the wounds should require some serious medical intervention to stop bleeding. The rivulets coming form the deep V’s dug though the meat of Claders back and sides are already running dry.
“Your new look is very barbarian meets corporate drone. I think it might catch on if this kind of thing is occurring around the planet, as I suspect it is.”
My dry remark masks the deep concern I am harboring for not only my step-father, but my entire family and the human race as a whole. My breathe is coming in a steady cadence now and I feel myself slipping into an analytical mindset, the meat computer between my ears whirring into gear. What are the next steps needed for the survival of me and mine. I take in the scene of my entire immediate family crowded around a prostrate Calder, some clutching makeshift weapons and others attempting rudimentary first aid, accomplishing little. I’ve never been the most assertive man, but that was simply a consequence of a life with little responsibility and even fewer consequences. I see now a need for direction and feel the weight of a thousand unknown dangers pressing around the family as we flounder here.
“Mother, Carter, help Calder to a chair and find the first aid kit for his wounds. Clayton, Tactus, take your stab happy asses around the house and make sure nothing else is going to back door us. Amelia, Victoria, scour the house, anything that looks like it could be used to effectively stab, slash, bludgeon, or poke another one of these uninvited guests gather and bring to the living room. I’ll study this beast and see what I can learn using a skill I acquired before the fight began. Let's get our act together people before this new world decides to try and kill us again.”
I rattle off a list of the most obvious tasks I can think of and end it with a sharp clap, hoping to spur the family into action. The looks I receive from the family are two parts bemused confusion, I assume at the unexpected note of authority I managed to pull off, and eight parts slightly terrified acceptance. With the life and death struggle over and the adrenaline starting to fade I can see the shadow of fear in the eyes of my family. I see the subtle shake in Victoria’s hands as the world she knew her entire life crumbles under her feet.
“Aye aye captain.”
The cheeky salute from Tactus is unnecessary, and the push to get my family moving. As they disperse to their tasks I sigh. I wasn’t sure they would listen to me, Calder is more of a natural leader most of the time, and the firecracker that is Anat Warrick rarely takes orders on her tamest of days. I gird my loins and prepare to examine the bug corpse. I hope to learn god knows what, but any information will be helpful at this point i'm sure. I step along the wood patterned tile of the entryway to lean over the corpse when I am interrupted.
[Requirements For Skill Acquisition Met]
[Skill Acquired: Leadership]
[Leadership: People are more likely to listen to orders given by you. Effectiveness of skill based on relationship to target and current circumstances. 1% increase to likelihood of target following a given order and .5% increase to target's understanding of order given per level.]
[Initial Skill level of Leadership: 1]
