Chương 2: Chosen?
"Lesser Evil Cain! Save me from these fucking monsters!"
I didn't know what to do. In fact, I have absolutely no clue what's happening in the first place!
But before I knew it, a deep and heavy premonition occupied my senses. I don't know what it is or how to best explain it, but you know that feeling of being watched? Some sixth sense humans possess, your 'gut feeling?' Whatever it was, something was pressing down onto my shoulders.
Something was screaming into my soul, rattling my very being, condemning me to act and rush across the room and kill the disgusting creature.
Was it really just her words?
But before I could ponder for any longer, my resistance to the overwhelming pressure broke and, almost like they were moving on their own, my legs disappeared from beneath me.
And I appeared across the room in a matter of moments, my fingers wrapped tightly around the green creature's throat. Without remorse, I tightened my grasp more and more until eventually, I felt a snap between my fingers and the violently spasming little fucker finally went limp.
And with its death, the condemning pressure vanished and I regained complete control of my body again.
I dropped the green creature's corpse and looked at the girl with red hair. I didn't pay the green monster's death a second glance, I had murdered before, it was nothing to cloud my judgment and in my current predicament, the first thing I needed to do was get some answers!
"Who are you?" I demanded, pointing my finger at the girl who said my name earlier.
"Actually, scratch that –" I paused, realizing there was a more important question to be had, "tell me where I am."
Instead of answering me, however, the girl immediately collapsed to her knees along with the rest of her friends. With them, she huddled together and they all began to harmoniously weep and cry throughout the dark, open space we found ourselves in.
I opened my mouth to shout once more, but before I could a sudden notification interrupted my plans.
[Goblin Slain]
[1 Lesser Soul Harvested]
It wasn't something I could see, nor was it something I could hear, rather it felt like someone or something was speaking inside my own head.
And her voice was soft and delicate, barely louder than a whisper, gentle – like she was fearful of disturbing me.
Without even realizing it, the sweet voice of the girl calmed my screaming nerves and soothed my rapidly beating heart.
Since she speaks in my head, perhaps my thoughts can communicate with her?
Hello? Miss?
And, thankfully for me, she replied. Although not in a fashion I was expecting. Instead of speaking into my head like she did before, a transparent screen suddenly appeared within my vision instead.
The screen was black with white writing. It hovered in the air before me and even when I turned my head, it remained at the forefront of my vision, turning alongside me. Even though it obstructed my view, I could still see through it, as it was transparent enough to peer through.
And through it, I noticed something I failed to realize before; my entire forearm was pitch black and released through it was the same, eerie feeling Serum C gave me before I died.
"Close" I commanded, not really knowing if it would work, but immediately the screen obstructing my vision vanished.
With it gone, I brought both of my arms to my eyes and inspected them fully. I pinched and pulled, poked and prodded, testing in every which way I could come up with to see what had happened to my arms.
And to my surprise, they remained the exact same – but were black. And I'm not talking dark brown, okay? I'm talking starless night, vantablack, black – capisce?
Without any other major difference, I returned my attention to the mysterious screen as I summoned it back into existence.
————————|•|————————
Host: Cain
Species: Corrupted Human
Class: Lesser Evil
Rank: Fledgling
Souls Harvested: 1/100
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: E
Dexterity: F+
Intelligence: D
Spirit: E+
Vigor: D
—————————————————
I read through my stats diligently, but I still couldn't believe what I was seeing.
It's just like a video game…
Am I in a video game?
I cast my gaze back at the group of girls. Luckily, during the time I took to inspect my arms and study the Status screen the girls were able to calm themselves down. Standing before me once more, the red-headed woman's fierce gaze returned as she confidently met my eye contact.
"I think it's time you answer my question." I emphasized.
"I don't know either!" She shook her head and yelled.
"I don't know who you are! I don't know who these girls are behind me! I don't know where the fuck we are! Okay?! I don't know!" She exploded in a rage of passion.
Or perhaps desperation?
"What do you mean you don't know?" I scoffed, "You don't know those girls? Why are you all dressed in the same uniform? Look around you, this place clearly resembles an old school, only all the desks have been removed."
The girls looked around, some of them showing expressions of realization while others simply rolled their eyes, clearly aware of the situation already. Around them, the poorly taken care of wood floors creaked underneath and the black board at the front of the room shuttered amidst the fighting causing clouds of chalk to flutter through the air.
We were in an old, abandoned school and from the looks of it, it was one with an Asian history.
Knowing that though proved to be useless as basically the same question hung in the air – why?
"I don't know where this god damn uniform came from!" The red-head screamed.
"It's true!"
"I wasn't wearing this before either!"
Suddenly more voices erupted in support of the red haired girl, all of them expressing vast amounts of concern and uncertainty.
"You mean to tell me you just up and showed up here? Out of nowhere? Poof! And then you're here?" I mocked them, fed up at the insanity of what was present before me.
"Well I fuckin' guess so!" The red-head screamed in response.
"Yeah!" And the voices of the other girls followed suit.
I subconsciously bit my lip. Anger slowly swelling within me. I wanted to retort. I wanted to shout in response.
Why is this girl still screaming?
There's nothing around us!
But before I could snap my tongue, I realized the exact thing I mocked them for literally just happened to me!
And what the hell am I? A hypocrite? I mean, sometimes yeah, I guess, but I didn't want to be one now! I died! Quite a gruesome one at that! And yet here my dumbass is!
"So let me get this straight –" I brought my fingers to my temple and started massaging my brain, "Seemingly out of nowhere, the lot of you were miraculously transported here, unknowingly forced to change into Japanese school girl outfits, and then essentially thrown into combat against these little green things?" I asked, pointing at the still corpse on the ground beside me.
The red haired girl suddenly quit her howling and, after a moment of contemplation, agreed, "I suppose that sums it up, yeah."
"Oh! I know! I know!" A girl's high pitched voice burst from the back of the group of girls and, after peering through the sea of adolescence, I spotted a pale arm raised high behind the crowd.
"Let her through!" The red-head yelled, naturally adopting a leadership role between the girls.
And with her words, the group of girls dispersed and a small, black haired girl appeared before everyone. Like the rest, she too wore the white shirt with red skirt combo that the rest of them currently adorned. She, however, must have been a foot shorter than every other girl here.
Once she successfully made her way to the front of the crowd, the black haired youth began her intense speech.
"My friends! Don't you see!"
What the hell?
Why is she being so dramatic?
"We are the ones chosen to ascend! Chosen to break through the limits of our mortality and achieve something far greater than any man or woman could accomplish alone! We have been chosen by God to awaken and face the darkness that threatens our world!"
The girl continued her speech for far longer than I ever thought possible. Something about reaching godhood and vanquishing all evil? I don't really know though, kinda zoned out.
Thankfully, I wasn't the only one to dismiss the small girl's ramblings as nothing more than lunacy. Of course, we all knew she could be right. After all, we don't have a better answer at the moment and we don't actually have any evidence to refute the girls' claims, but nevertheless; the majority of us turned our heads and looked the other way.
Following the end of her speech, myself and the girls talked for a few more hours, gathering as much information as we could.
First of all, the girls had a Status screen too and some of them revealed they also heard the gentle woman's voice in their head when they slayed the Goblins. Furthermore, many of them had innate Abilities or traits that made them stand out from the rest.
For example, the red-head turned out to be someone of actual importance, not just a heathen conniving to take the leadership position for the mere hell of it.
The red-head, a woman in her early twenties and gorgeous to the onlookers eye, is named Olive – a funny contrast to the blazing inferno that is her luscious locks of hair. Olive was the first to reveal a hidden Ability, or an innate skill, trait, whatever; she revealed |Summon • Hellspawn| her unique Ability.
As it turns out, some of the girls, like myself, already have a Class assigned to them and all of the girls with a Class have some special advantage. Other than Olive, who has the [Satanic Practitioner] Class there is another girl who has a [Royal Born] Class.
According to her, the [Royal Born] Class provides a Trait called |Royal Etiquette| in which its effect provides its host with a calm mind, steel heart, and unshattering tutelage. I asked her what she meant by "calm mind, steel heart, and unshattering tutelage" but she said that was all its description said.
She did add, however, that throughout this entire debacle she remained composed and level-headed – a far cry from how she normally behaves; even going as far as to self admit she used to be incredibly shy and nervous.
Meanwhile, Olive referred to |Summon • Hellspawn| as an Ability and its description detailed information on how to set up and practice a satanic ritual for summoning demons. One was called a Trait and appeared active at all times, the other referred to as an Ability and required the host's action to activate.
The difference was self-evident.
In addition to the information detailing their systems, the girls and I also discussed our backgrounds. Not wanting to admit my death sentence and the circumstances that led up to it, I briefly mentioned a peaceful time from my childhood.
"I was raised in the suburbs of Kansas," I said, "my mom worked over time for my two sisters and I. We didn't have a lot, but I knew my mom gave us everything she could."
Following my short, yet effective introduction, the other girls jumped on the bandwagon.
"I'm from London!"
"Turkey."
"Brazil!"
"China!"
Soon the girls just started to shout their country of origin, and as they did so, the looks on all of our faces widened in understanding. We were all from vastly different places, places that speak completely different languages, and yet, we communicated.
There was no language barrier to speak of. In fact, after coming to realize this oddity, I began to carefully observe the lips of everyone speaking, but to no avail. Everyone's lips were perfectly synced.
It was more than simply audio translation, the girls were somehow speaking Chinese, but I heard and saw English from their lips. It was something unbelievable, but yet again, here I am and there they are.
As we continued to discuss, another thing became blatantly obvious to me. As ridiculous as it sounds, the home world the girls were talking about sounded nothing like the place I came from. Well it did, but a vastly different version – or perhaps past version.
I recognized the names of many of the places they were discussing, but in my world many of those places no longer exist, destroyed by the nuclear fallout of the Old World. At first, I considered mentioning this point.
Perhaps we were all from different timelines? But the more I listened, the more clear it became that these girls were from the same place. Even in this fucked up situation, some of them are managing to successfully bond over who their favorite artists are and the most recent movies that took the world by storm.
And who am I to blame them? The girls here are youths. Sure, most of them are in their early twenties, but if you've been there yourself, you'd know you're still a rotten kid at that age. For all of these girls it was the first time they could talk to someone from across the world, face to face, with no obstruction.
It was a mini novelty that existed within the treacherous and broody classroom that encased us. And who knows? Maybe a little time spent bonding would do worlds to their ability to effectively communicate and cooperate for what's to come.
So instead of interrupting, I merely listened and waited for the girls to finish their talk.
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