NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 8: Annie
Rohan and his wolf lay on the ground next to a glittering pond staring at the dark red sky with a full stomach. Thanks to his survival instinct, he was able to catch the boar and make a fire. What did the man he met earlier say about being in the open at night? Rohan didn't seem to care, he loved this universe, it was so perfect for him.
"Quad? What do you say we test out this new power of mine?" Rohan asked his wolf as he got to his feet. The wolf barked. "Okay, how do we do this?" He asked himself. "Activate powers!" Rohan yelled. Nothing happened. "What?" He stretched his hands, "Activate powers" He yelled even louder. "Does this thing work at all?"
Quad began to bark at a bushy area. Rohan turned to see what he was barking at. "What's wrong boy?"
"Is something there?" Rohan asked. The wolf continued barking.
Rohan assumed a defensive pose, "I have two weapons don't I?" He asked the interface. The interface popped up on the screen. It displayed two weapons, one looked like a mallet, the other, a glove.
Rohan directed the mallet to be printed. " Successfully printed, Sonora Mallet, Level one." The interface declared.
Right away, the huge mallet materialized in his hands.
"Okay, come out whatever you are" He waited with the mallet in his hand.
Quad kept on barking. Suddenly large creatures jumped out at him. "What the hell?" Rohan hollered as the creatures grabbed him. They looked like hounds standing on their hind limbs, with wild smiles displaying dangerous sets of canines.
Quad tried attacking the creatures but was easily knocked down. Rohan reached for his mallet and swung it right to the face of one. Though his weapon was at level one, it still caused some damage. The other creature scratched Rohan on the face with long claws. It pinned him on the floor, he couldn't move. Its long tongue dripped saliva on Rohan's face.
"You all have a reputation for picking on newbies?" A voice broke in from a distance. Rohan watched as a female figure appeared from the dark. She was wearing tight grey clothes like she was a spy or something. As soon as the creatures saw her, they scrambled off Rohan and stared at the young lady in disbelief.
The other creature tried attacking her from behind, but she displayed a wonderful back flip, as she was still in the air, she gave a snap of her fingers and with the blink of an eye, the creature exploded into many pieces. The other seeing what unfolded, fled.
"Hey, are you OK?" She asked Rohan. Rohan couldn't believe what she had done, she did it so professionally. She offered Rohan a hand and helped him get up.
"Thank you for saving my life, those things could've killed me," Rohan said as he went to check on his beaten wolf.
"No problem, it's what I do anyway." She paused, "You are a noob aren't you?"
"Yeah. I spawned today" Rohan said, petting his wolf as it started to respond. "Crazy right?"
"Go find a shelter, it's not safe in this universe at night. Unless that is, you have a good system and you are well aware of your powers and techniques." She said as she started to leave
"Wait! Can't I come with you? I have nowhere to go now!" Rohan asked at the top of his voice as she was leaving
"Can't, I'm busy on patrol. There's a camp nearby, go find it"
Rohan didn't want her to leave, the way she handled his attack got his interest. "Can I know your name at least?"
She hesitated "Name's Annie"
"Annie!"
"You know it's been three years already?" Damie asked
"For crying out loud Damie, I know the goddamn rules of this place!" Lirk roared as he hit his fist on the table next to him. He stood up with his hands crossed behind his back. He stared blankly out of the window.
No one understood what it meant to be him. He thought. He had to make sacrifices. It's always for the greater good. He came to this nothing of land, now he had established an Academy, there are buildings, there are chairs to sit on, beds to lay on. It's a fantastic feat. Lirk chuckled. Now, he looked more domineering and frightening. All he had to do was to keep up the consistency, building an organized strict society was everything he ever dreamt of and he wouldn't let a wildling mob ruin his accomplishments so far.
"Give a last stern search for promising systems, it's not by choice. Gather all. We'll drop the veil with a few workers in when the mob is about to begin." Lirk ordered looking at his rings, they were of his system.
"Okay... anything else?" Damie asked. When he didn't reply, she made to leave.
"Damie... any news from the Nile kid?"
Damie shook her head, surprised at the change of course, "Nope, not that I've heard of. He must be looking different now, so he'll be difficult to spot"
Lirk chuckled again. "That's the point. It's not about us finding him Damie, I'm afraid he's the one going to find us."
"Seriously, I didn't recognize you," Rohan said as Annie laughed out loud. They were walking down a forest slope, and Rohan noticed a lot of creatures lurking around. He guessed they were all scared of Annie's presence.
"The last time I remember, I was about one foot taller than you, now, we're roughly the same height." Rohan taunted as Annie continued her laughter.
"I guess it's the universe, I didn't recognize you too but now I can see the details if I look closely, you're you," Annie said with a smile. Rohan noticed her beauty and the smile warmed his heart. She looked happy and bold, unlike before in the E O S I S facility. Is this what this universe could make someone be? The best version of yourself?
Rohan asked her about her spawn. As it turns out she was one of the first in the universe. "I don't have any tools, but my technique is very deadly even at level three. So my system must be very promising." She said after he asked her about her system. Level three? She must be very good, Rohan thought.
"You said you were busy on patrol?" Rohan asked.
"Yeah. I'm in the academy. My job is to save noobs like you," she laughed "Exorcise those things that attacked you, they're called wildlings, and train myself in the process."
"What's this Academy thing all about actually?"
Annie took in a deep breath, "Look, I'll explain everything from the start." She started. "This is an alternate universe from our reality. It is surrounded by lots of wildlings of different sizes and powers. Everybody pulled in gets a system. The universe expects us to make good use of our system to defeat the wildlings, if not we'll all be stuck in this universe and it becomes our reality."