1 The taste of ash (1/2)

The molten husk of an unknown creature fell slowly to the side, sundering the earth with its weight and sending shock waves over a kilometer around it.

A group of humans sat by its side, breathing ragged breaths, ignoring the ash that filled their lungs. Surrounding them were a field of corpses, hundreds of comrades burnt to a flesh, or sliced in half.

Despite their victory, there was no cheering, no joy to be found. Even as the group felt themselves fill with the power of the slain creature, they remained emotionless.

One of the girls sitting on the outskirts fell to the side, her eyes lifeless. Her wounds had long stopped regenerating, and a hole in her chest revealed her motionless heart.

'Congratulations. For defeating the Emperor Ashen Goliath, you have been rewarded, 6,400,000,000 experience. Loot collection is available, a new level in the shop has been unlocked. Happy spending!'

Pained eyes looked at the message that popped up in front of the group, drawing feelings of anger and despair.

The small group of humans was all that was left, the rest of humanity destroyed. They had escaped into the portal, a last ditch effort to escape the destruction of earth, and had lived sustainably for a short while.

Their freedom was merely an illusion, as the inhabitants of the world had finished conquering earth, returning home to find the pest they thought exterminated was huddling in the deep recesses of their home land.

A battle ensued, inevitably leading to humanities loss. What good was strength when these beings surpassed all expectation? The enormous smoldering corpse in front of them was the last of their enemies, a failsafe meant to wipe out everything if its creators were dead.

The humans now owned the land, a stinking, hot, shithole. There was no water, only able to be purchased from the 'shop' for exorbitant amounts. Crops didn't grow, and the previous owners of the land did not live extravagantly. They had conquered a race that cared little for material things, living in large caves made from molten rock.

What little victory they had was shallow, nothing taken was worth a damn anymore.

Slowly, and with great pain, one of the men stood up from the ground, feeling the burning embers that littered his body. He tapped on the message displayed before him, peering through the loot list. If there was something, anything that might bring back humanity, they might have hope.

Under normal circumstances, the loot would have pushed them far ahead in terms of strength. Multiple forbidden items, the highest classification they could go, an endless sea of affixes that enhanced them beyond belief.

The man ignored all but one, noting the special glow that surrounded it.

It was a corrupted secret item, the first he had ever seen. Secret items were two tiers below forbidden items, but varied wildly in strength. Some were weaker than rares, and some on par with legendaries. When he chose it, a small necklace appeared in his hands. At the same time, the list of loot appeared before another member, going around in the priority list.

The man froze as he read the description, his hand shaking as they clasped the metal tightly. Those closest to him closed the loot screen angrily when it appeared, and noticed his shivering.

He held the necklace out towards a woman, beckoning her to take a look. She stood up and walked over slowly, stepping through the puddles of magma without a care.

When she inspected the necklace, she looked up at the man seriously and sent out a message for everyone to gather immediately.

Item: Necklace of Time

Rarity: Corrupted Secret

+5 Charisma

+10 Wisdom

+60 Intelligence

Passive: Able to recall the current time and date immediately.

Active: Send a targeted party member time 5/10/15 seconds back in time. Item destroyed on use. Duration requires 500/1000/1500 Intelligence.

Corruption: +5 to Item. Non-targeted party members die horrifically.

+1: Seconds changed to minutes.

+2: Minutes to hours.

+3: Hours to days.

+4: Days to weeks.

+5: Weeks to years.

The group gathered around, each inspecting the item and looking amongst themselves in shock.

”Fifteen years.” The man who had chosen the necklace whispered, looking at the crude metal. The Necklace of Time had been seen once before, a non-corrupted version. They used it to kill one of the enemies leaders, having a party member go back 10 seconds in time to warn of its self-destruction, saving the party of the strongest members.

The group looked around at each other and their screens, noting the insane intelligence cost required to go back. Those in the group who focused on intelligence, the magic and support users, eyed their own values.

”We can only go back 10 years.” They said, already knowing who among the living had the highest intelligence value.

The mage that had so was trembling, terrified more of the responsibility that might be shoved upon him then he had of fighting the monsters. The man bit his lip, noting the difference five years would make.

Fourteen years ago humanity was faced with the opening of the 'shop', a worldwide device that opened up like a holo-screen in front of the user. Just about anything was available in the shop, and a small amount of currency, Dos, was given to each person, to use as they wished.

It was just enough to cause havoc across the globes as people traded the Dos for currency, crashing the economy as the value of currency dropped.

Others bought food enough to survive for a couple of years, or a new car. The worst cases bought weapons, increasing violence across the globe dramatically as suddenly even a child could purchase a brand new assault rifle.

Shortly after the shop, came the 'dungeons'. The term was given to them by gamers, and it stuck. Areas of the world were suddenly inaccessible, randomly appearing.

One might enter a building, only to suddenly find themselves in the middle of a jungle. These areas were like earth, but were filled with monstrous creatures and mutated animals.

Dos was earned from slaying these creatures, selling their parts, or loot, to the shop. Clearing an entire dungeon earned an extra serving of Dos, and the area would disappear, returning to whatever it was before. Pioneers, as the system called them, could not leave the dungeon until the boss was killed, or the associated quest completed.

Areas containing dungeons were closed off by military, stopping civilians from wandering in and dying. Squads of soldiers would enter, some returning victorious, others ragged and missing party members.

Problems arose as people fought against the military, claiming they were hogging all the Dos. Some people entered illegally, claiming the dungeons for themselves. Other times the areas appeared in dangerous spots, such as subway stations, or in the White House.

Whilst firearms and stronger explosives served well inside the dungeons, they begun to fall off over time. Unless bought from the shop, or crafted using materials from the dungeons, they became ineffective.

Medieval era soldiers reappeared, using swords and bows collected from the dungeons, specialized in clearing them. Life continued, despite the countless deaths and riots.

That was, until the dungeons no longer remained in a single location. Dungeon boundaries began to expand, encompassing the terrain around them, and incorporating it into the dungeon.

A dungeon entrance might have once covered a small building, but now encompassed the entire suburb. As the dungeons grew larger, creatures started to emerge from within, set free from their confines. Humans needed to clear the dungeons quickly, before the monsters could escape and claim millions of lives.