34 Beneath Your Skin (1/2)

I froze in place, my heart stopping. His voice compelled me to stand, but my mind roared at me to stay still. I stayed seated, resisting the temptation of his voice. As time passed, the iron grip of my steeled mind loosened up. Sweat poured down my temples and forehead. Every part of my body screamed out, commanding me to stand and listen to him. It was like someone had put a gun to my forehead and told me to obey.

Gritting my teeth, I stayed firm. He hadn't seen me. He hadn't locked eyes with me. For all I knew, ELijah was bullshitting. I bit my lip until blood poured into my mouth. The iron taste kept me together. It reminded me of all the blood outside and just what Yawm may do to me if Elijah found me. Even then, my mind’s dominance crumbled, one piece at a time.

Elijah said into the sky, “If I must come drag you out, you will be punished instead of rewarded. Now come.”

He sounded like my mother, stern yet gentle. It was like I was staring at a cliff, and he was telling me not to jump. He promised so much with so few words. The tendrils of his voice dug into my eyes and ears. They invaded my mind, tearing me apart as I struggled with all my might to stay sane.

One of my feet pressed into the ground, pushing me up with a slow crawl. With my mouth clamped shut, I screamed in my mind for my leg to stop. It wouldn’t listen. My armor would, however.

I retracted the armor from covering the rebellious leg before taking a deep breath. I pressed my armored fingertips into my bare thigh before sharpening them. They dug into the meat of the thigh, severing tendons and flesh. The pain wasn’t what was hard about it. Watching my thigh gush blood was what made me sick. The muscles in my thigh seized up. With my fingers inches deep, the leg finally stopped pushing me upwards.

A minute later, Elijah grumbled, ”And here I believed that the perpetrator was still here. A pity. Yawm would've loved one with a bit more meat on his bone. It makes for more to mold...”

A wing of skin ripped from under his cloak. As it swung down, he flew out into the air before flying out into the distance. As he left, I fell down and heaved for breath. I leaned my head back against the wall, my hands and lips trembling. I pulled my hand out of my thigh. That had been the power of charisma at its highest strength. Before he came again, I’d have to leave.

With that in mind, I turned back towards the blockade behind me. My thigh healed after a minute of waiting, so I walked towards the back of the house. From the window, I saw soldiers who were rife with activity. Elijah must have terrified them. I know he terrified me.

No doubt their boss chewed them out when I busted through the blockade last time. Unfortunately for them, it was time for me to do it again. I wasn’t about to wait for someone even worse than Elijah to show up. I’d rather just run through the bullets a second time.

I’d learned from last time though. I skulked up as close as I could from within a house lining the barricade. With a running sprint, I leapt through the back window before dashing straight towards a sparse looking portion of the barricade.

The guards reacted far faster than before, but I didn't have near the same distance to run. I had run over a football field before reaching them before. Now I'd barely run fifty feet(17 meters ~) before reaching the road.

As I passed by, they unloaded their rifles right into my back. By the time I'd run into the surrounding forest, they didn't even burn through a tenth of my health bar. That's the difference fifty plus levels and a plan makes.

Still, I sprinted through the forest like my feet were on fire. I couldn't afford to have them tail me like last time. As I crashed through a blackberry bramble, I checked if I'd gotten any new messages. Torix had sent me one.

Torix Worm, of Darkhill(2:08am 3/5/00) - I've told the others. Kessiah and I moved the marble plates elsewhere. I've marked the location on your map. I will be sending Yawm a message so he does not continue searching this world for Althea. Regardless of that, Schema will likely interfere with his supposed infection. You don't have to worry for your homeworld, I guarantee you that.

It's hard to worry about the world when your stuck worrying about yourself and your friends. I ignored that and tried to get a grip on what had happened since I left.

The first thing I noticed was the fact a whole day had passed. I'd been fighting all night. I suppose with how the enemies regenerated off each other, that made sense. The second thing I noticed was how close the map location was to town. I imagined Torix would want to get he fuck away from here. That was when I surfed through my notifications. I had over fifty of them. It reminded my of clearing out an inbox for an email address, a bit tedious but it felt productive.

There was one unique message out of the bunch.

Call to Action(Quest of Survival) - Yawm of Flesh has started an infestation on your world. It's up to you and your species to protect yourselves. Doubled experience within the quarantined zone. Based on experience points earned, you will gain a bonus reward after the quest ends. The value of your reward will be determined with a numerical representation of points. No one is allowed to leave during the duration of this quest.

You may turn in these earned points early for a lesser reward to assist with destroying the enemies. There will be six sentinels placed near Springfield to assist with containment, and an overseer as well. The point system is as follows:

1 point for Spawns

5 points for Grikes

25 points for any Unnamed of Yawm

50 points for any Named of Yawm

100,000 points for follower kills. Sentinel rights are given to anyone who slays a follower of Yawm.

100,000,000 points for killing Yawm. Overseer rights are given to the killer of Yawm.

Experience multipliers count towards point gains. Good luck.

Current point total: 24

I couldn't help but feel sorry for any low level fucks who came here expecting easy exp. The easiest enemy was level 200, which I doubt any human on earth had reached. The enemies here were too low level for it. The doubled exp made my 55 level jump more reasonable as well. The points and doubled experience would make for excellent incentives. I could leap frog up several hundred levels over a few weeks with the bonuses.

I didn't want to though. I didn't like whatever the fuck this armor and this system was doing to me anymore. At first it felt like I was getting stronger and faster and smarter. That wasn't the case though. I had woken up eating corpses. It was completely fucked up. I'm not someone who takes things to heart. Hell, if anything I'm a bit numb to things now. That doesn't mean I can't see what the fucks going on here.

It was like Schema was trying to make me into some monster eater. I didn't take that shit seriously, but fuck man. I'd already started eating people. The fuck was wrong with me? I didn't know anymore. I guess circumstances had kinda forced me into it, but it was still fucked up regardless.

Those thoughts tumbled in my head as I paced through the forests nearby. I'd never been where Torix set up camp, but it was nearby some rolling hills with a few trees here or there. It looked like an abandoned pasture, the grass long and wild. As I neared a hillside, I reached a doorway into the side of a hill. It was as inconspicuous as a rotting stump in a field. You could hardly tell it was there.

I opened the door, bits of dirt falling down before I walked inside. There a set of earthen steps, supported by long, winding roots that helped them keep their shape. Once I stepped down into the cave, there was a glowing pool of water at the center of a large room. The same cyan glow ebbed off the pool like BloodHollow, giving an underwater hue to the marble plates all along the edges of the room.

Torix was casting with black mana ebbing from his right hand. It passed through the tome in hisleft hand, turning the mana green. Roots restructured from the plants above, forming walls and rooms of the cavern. Althea was hunched over a work desk lining a wall of the room, messing with some ammo. It looked like a bola that tribesmen threw at people's feet in the movies.

Kessiah floated in the pool, casting a shadow onto the room's roof. The mana bended away from her, keeping her floating an inch or so above it. On the edges of the room, several yellow crystals cast light onto the corners and edges of the entire expanse. Along the back wall was a hallway leading towards four rooms.

As I walked up, I said,

”Jesus. You really went all out fixing this place up, didn't you guys?”

They all glanced at me, keeping their gazes fixed for a few seconds before Althea frowned and said,

”You're a higher level than me now. What happened?”

I sighed before saying, ”There was a bunch of bullshit that went down. I was basically surrounded by a bunch of zombies. I killed a couple before getting back here.”

Torix nodded and said, ”Now that you're here, there's been a change of plans.”

I raised an eyebrow but stayed quiet. Torix coughed into a hand before saying, ”I had believed that I couldn't finish the summoning ritual because of your mana signatures. I obviously shouldn't have doubted myself. I believe it was due to Schema's requirements for this 'quest of survival.' That and-”

Kessiah leaned up by pushing up with her hands. The pool of glowing water bended under her as she said, ”I call bullshit. You couldn't get it to work.”

”Idiotic outbursts aside, the plan has changed. Getting offworld when Schema refuses to let us leave is impossible.”