CHAPTER 6

"The System"

[You have completed all the requirements necessary to use the system.]

And another window appeared shortly after.

[System loading...]

 

Kalysto was surprised to see those unfamiliar words in front of her and for a moment thought Alice’s madness had rubbed off on her until she recognized a word her friend had been mentioning.

System.

A smile spread across her face, still stained with the blood of her enemies, but she didn’t even care about that. Now, all that mattered was that, in the midst of all this madness, she finally had a way to survive.

And she stood there for a few minutes, watching, waiting, full of anticipation for them to announce what her new power would be.

Please let me have magic.

Please let me have magic.

She begged no one in particular.

Please...

“That I can become an archimage, please,” she wished quietly. But nothing happened.

This is how children must feel as they wait to open their Christmas presents. Though that was something she had no memory of, at least not since her father had left them to go God knows where. And before that, either, thanks to the accident her parents had told her she’d had when she was six, though she had no memory before that age either. Her parents had had to teach her everything from scratch, much to the annoyance of her mother, who eventually grew tired of her and only pretended to pay attention to her when her father was watching.

Several minutes passed, but nothing changed. And the illusion and excitement she felt at the appearance of the blue sign gradually dissipated after the first window disappeared and the second one stood there in front of her, obstructing her view despite being slightly transparent.

[System loading...]

“Yes, I know you’re loading, but what the heck is next? That’s what I’m interested in!” Despite her annoyance, the window did not change.

A groan of anguish escaped her lips as she realized that this would take much longer than she had thought. She let out a long sigh and her shoulders slumped in defeat at that peculiarity.

“Well, I still have other things to do,” she encouraged herself. And she reached out her hand, trying to close that window as if it were a program on her laptop. But her hand went through the screen, which unsettled her and made her recoil for a moment, and then, when she slid her hand from right to left, the screen disappeared.

Like a cell phone then. She acknowledged, and put it aside.

She picked up the knife she stole again, and tried to pick up the two goblin clubs, but the larger of them, the one filled with small spikes, was too heavy for her, so she gave up on that one and picked up the other. Then she walked over to where her backpack was, and wrapped the knife in a small towel she used to dry her sweat when she trained and tucked it inside, sure that it might come in handy later. When she did so, she noticed her shopping bag and felt bad to see the two packages of flattened loaves of bread inside.

I hope the crackers weren't crushed. But she didn’t even dare to look to check.

It was at that instant that she noticed the knives she had already bought and a doubt flooded her mind.

She approached one of the bodies again and bent down beside it. She pulled out one of the knives she had purchased, took it out of its sheath, and made a cut on the goblin’s leg.

Nothing happened.

It was as if his skin was so thick that the sharp new knife couldn’t hurt him.

She frowned.

That didn’t make sense. How could his skin be so tough? She took a strand of her light brown hair and cut it easily with the knife. So the knife isn’t the problem. She assured herself.

Then she took out the knife she stole again and traced another cut over the monster’s leg. Watching as the knife sliced through its flesh with extreme ease.

Kalysto frowned again.

What is this thing made of? She watched it silently, aside from the crude way they made the handle, the metal was slightly darker than the knife she had bought, but other than that she couldn’t tell much difference. And they were both equally sharp.

What made it so different?

She turned her head to the side, watching curiously as the new knife bounced again when she tried to stab the goblin’s leg as if it were a stone, yet when she buried the knife in the eye, it went through without a problem. Whatever protected the thick skin of those creatures, it did not protect their eyes as long as they were open.

So the eyes were a weak point. At least it had that in common with every other creature. Strange as it was, she kept the knowledge to herself, certain that it might come in handy in the future. But that didn’t quench her curiosity about the peculiar phenomenon.

Again, the blue window reappeared in front of her.

[System loading...]

“You know, I’m beginning to suspect that you’re not to be trusted at all.”

She closed the window again and let out a long exhalation.

It is strange to be near a dead body again, even if it is not human. She thought. It was an experience she had not had again, nor wished to have, since she had to stop studying medicine.

Then, she pulled a bottle of water out of her purse and uncapped it, rinsed the knives, then put the new one back in its packaging. And she took off her sweatshirt jacket, grimacing at the sight of the pile of blood on it.

At least my shirt is mostly intact. She sighed. She folded her jacket and put it away, with the stolen knife, now clean, tucked between its folds. She pulled out a small sweat towel and, with the rest of the water from the bottle, after taking a couple of gulps, washed her face and arms. She wet the towel and ran it over her face again to make sure she looked presentable. After putting her things away, she closed her backpack, checking to make sure everything was inside, and pulled out her cell phone. Noticing the nine missed calls from Alice.

She called her friend back, only to hear the prerecorded voice of the operator.

“The number you are dialing is either off or in a dead zone. Please try again later,” she frowned. What the hell?

She lifted her face and stared with some trepidation at the reddish portal. Alice had really risked going into that giant thing? But how? She stared at it silently as she repeated the call three more times, just to be sure she was calling the right number.

She began to worry. Where is she? Wherever she is, either her cell phone is damaged or she has no reception. She never turns off that thing. Kalysto didn’t believe in any religion, but she prayed it was the last option.

At least then there was a chance that her friend was still alive.

She bit her lip, not quite sure what to do next. All she wanted was to go home and get to safety. So, following that impulse, she grabbed her backpack and put it on while she opened the app to send a message to her elusive friend. As soon as the app finished loading and connected to the internet, she found several messages from Alice.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had this idea.

She raised an eyebrow as she opened them to read them.

‘Where the hell are you?’

‘Thomas is already here, and on the news they announced that several portals have opened around the world!’

Shit! She worried.

The most annoying thing of all was that those messages had been sent almost fifteen minutes ago.

‘Kalysto... it’s like the author said so many years ago...’

‘It’s no longer safe to stay here, Kalysto. We have to go now! Where the hell are you?’

The last one was sent five minutes after the others. She closed the app after writing her a quick reply and noticing that new messages weren’t reaching Alice either.

What is she doing with Thomas? Didn’t that idiot reject her three months ago?

It was then that she remembered the book and wanted to smack her forehead for forgetting it so quickly.

The blue screen opened in front of her again, and Kalysto looked up.

[System loading...]

Kalysto hoped that her friend’s system wasn’t as flawed as hers. She sighed and put her cell phone away.

A strange feeling washed over her. But she avoided delving into it. She had to get the hell out of there as soon as possible.

She bent down and took the club in her left hand. She just hoped her system would start working soon, so she would have a better chance of defending herself.

“I hope wherever you are, you have the best luck in the world and are safe, Alice,” she wished.

A pretty firefly flashed in front of her face as she turned, and the blue window blinked several times until it disappeared.

Kalysto took a step back, looking at the missing screen with disappointment.

What a useless thing you are.

She wasn’t sure she could pin her hopes on that one anymore. I better start looking for a Plan B.

The little firefly began to glow and approach her face again, making her take another step back.

Is today my unlucky day or what?

“You know, it’s not very safe to be here right now. You should leave,” she said to the insistent firefly in a friendly tone, but the tiny animal seemed to want to perch on her nose. Kalysto ignored her and took another step back.

She turned her head toward the interdimensional portal and looked at it for one last time, beginning to fear that a huge creature was coming out of it, and immediately put on her backpack and started walking, not wanting to be around when that thing got to where she was.

She turned around only to observe the girl and mother hugging each other, trembling with fear. She was about to tell them that they should run away from there and hand them the club so they would at least have something to defend themselves with, but she realized that they were looking at her as if she was a far worse monster than the creatures that had just tried to murder them.

Really? She became annoyed. Worst of all, they weren’t even able to give her a simple ‘thank you’. Kalysto watched the girl. Not a single word left her lips and oddly enough, she felt betrayed by her lack of reaction. That annoyed her even more.

That’s what I get for expecting something from someone else! Whatever, I’m out of here!

Worst of all, she had to walk past them to get out of there, either that or step on one of the goblin bodies blocking the other side of the path.

As soon as she took a couple of steps to walk away and leave them there, the blue-colored box came up again.

[System loading...]

“Yes, yes, I know! Stop bothering me!” She immediately dispelled it, but a soft voice coming from her right forced her to stop.

Kalysto turned her head slowly. But all that lay to her right was a beautiful flower garden.

“Run!” The problem was that the delicate little voice came from the firefly. Whose little light began to change colors.

What the heck, now I’m really going crazy!

Her body froze, the firefly came back to her face and again its light dissipated the blue screen, making it flicker and then disappear.

“Now!” she urged her.

“What?” Kalysto replied with confusion. Just before she felt a powerful blow to her left. A loud crack told her that her left arm was broken, but she didn’t even have time to process that thought as the world moved quickly and she crashed to the hard ground. Her head fell mere inches from the thick rocks that bordered the flowers.

Kalysto thought she saw a pair of stars behind her closed eyelids for a moment. A strong dizziness seized her as she tried to open them and a wave of pain swept the left side of her body. If breathing was annoying before, now it was simply hell.

“What... what the hell...?” It was difficult to articulate any thought beyond the embracing pain that seized her. She coughed again several times. And she tried in vain to get her bearings.

But she knew she had to move. Even if she didn't have the strength to do it.

Whatever had run her over might come back if she continued to lie on the concrete like a cloth doll, but try as she might, her own body would not respond.

She blinked in confusion as she tried to force her body to move. She took a couple of shallow breaths as she tried to lift her head and move the fingertips of her right hand, despite the severe dizziness. Another wave of pain coursed through her body, but she forced herself to concentrate on staying alive.

She had to figure out what the hell had hit her and run. Not necessarily in that order.

But when, after much effort, she braced herself against her right forearm and turned her face; she wished she hadn’t done it.

A huge, powerful orc, looking like a war commander with the thick armor decorating his body and with two red lines painted from his eyebrows to below his cheekbones on both sides of his face, was walking toward her. The strong orc roared and a whole army of thirty goblins, ten hobgoblins and three huge orcs backing him responded to his battle cry.

And Kalysto knew in that instant that there was no way in hell she was going to stand against them and survive.

She was truly screwed.

“This is definitely not my day,” she thought, not realizing that the words had also left her lips.

Fear engulfed her as that green giant took another step towards her, lifted his leg and his huge foot crushed one of hers.

Pain shot through her.

The bloodcurdling crack she heard next told her that this time, more than one bone had been broken.

And Kalysto screamed as she had never screamed before in her life.

 

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Ok... We finally have the system but... we have some problems. 

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See you tomorrow with another chapter!