"Ahhhhhh! [Agonizing cries of pain]"
...the claws of biosynthetic beasts pierced through the hearts and joints of the populace as they fled into hiding.
[Greenway, East of Washington descends into panic] ...people vanishing without a trace, leaving behind only fragments of torn clothing and pools of blood.
Earth's terrain has become a wasteland after a planetesimals fall which ruined the entire nation, leaving only a remnant untouched, no other than Lysbia. Lysbia is now a world split into two groups following the planetory disruption which introduced the emergence of people who awakened with special powers, distinguishing them from the populace.
Within Lysbia, a capitol hill was built to inhabit the factions composed of those who passed the awakening process. Meanwhile, outside the confines of the capitol hill which dwelt the populace, Ethan Hills dragged his feet wearily, each step heavy with reluctance, as he approached the two story building where he had only a one room apartment on second floor.
"...where did I get it wrong? I did everything right, followed every single rule and damnit, I was the nice guy... I even ran errands for her..." He contemplated sad-faced and soon lifted his eyes up when suddenly a nursing mother emerged from the building just next door to his, and was irritatingly loud without waiting for him to come upstairs...
"He left already, Ethan. I wonder how he managed to get his ticket and he's definitely not coming back, you dummy!" That was Sissy, his next door neighbor whom he thinks has got no job other than to stick her nose in his life affairs and ensure he is the laughing stock in the neighborhood.
"He what? Christ!!" Ethan exclaimed regretfully, turning his back on her, he bowed his head to the earth with both hands on his waist thoughtfully before revealing a penitent expression. "I should not have transferred that money to Arnold. F*ck me! Parker was even a part of this and now they are in D.C. United. What was I thinking, shit!" Ethan's voice rattled down his thorax as he soliloquized aloud, and ignoring the rest of the neighbors who kept peeping through their windows chattering and scoffing altogether, he made his way up to his apartment after pondering the mess he's done.
"Are you just going to go in without saying a word to me? And you knew Arnold had the money to get himself a ticket but you kept it from me. Who's going to pay me my money!..." Sissy yelled the minute he shut the door to his apartment without giving her any answer to the question she had asked him simply because he was used to her nagging all the time.
"Leave me alone, Sissy. I'm having a bad day already." Ethan mumbled and she could tell his spirit was dampened but she ensured she passed an information she believes was going to be important to him before she leaves, knowing he was listening.
"I'm also having a bad day because I also need to get to D.C. United, if not for anything, for my child. I need to know if she'd pass the test. I heard they have a way of testing children below age five. Well, the landlady has asked that I inform you, she wouldn't want to see you in her house by Monday if you don't pay up your rent." Sissy rumbled with finality, pity evident on her face, she walked away a couple of minutes later.
His room echoed in whispers of whistling silence as he sat on his tattered bed with the palm of his hands clenched in expression of emotional pain: His heart aching from cold rushing streams of resentment and despair which he kept trying to suppress in order to come to terms with a number of misfortunes. First he had only $5 left in his account and thinking he was going to be paid his monthly salary but was fired by the boss he felt should trust him, being accused falsely to have misappropriated funds. Secondly, he has been betrayed by the only two friends he had left to trust, and they left with the money they all had agreed to save together for same benefits — buy a house together in D.C. United after purchasing tickets for entry. And lastly, he's about to be homeless and his hands are tied because Arnold and Parker had taken everything, his landlady is also not going to give him another day of grace to pay up than what she has done.
Everybody craves to be in D.C. United to undergo a second trial to see if they could awake to special power via a machine designed by the factions through artificial intelligence to give hope to the populace who weren't able to pass the natural awakening process spawned by atmospheric contamination as at the periods when the planetesimals fell. If Ethan and the rest of the populace aren't able to save enough to buy the ticket for entry, they're all going to be vulnerable to dying out here as many others who had been killed by the monthly release of a biosynthetic killer beasts that are constantly bioactivated and released from the capitol hill with an aim of controlling the population of Lysbia to balance the rate of food consumption. So far, those who went in for the trial never returned, nevertheless, most of the populace believed that they must have joined the factions or are safe, having escaped the monthly fight for survival against brutal beasts simply because they earned a ticket for entry.
Whilst Ethan was having this overwhelming worrisome thought for straight four hours on what to do, he felt a band of dizzy waves hitting hard in his brain and being lightheaded, bang! ...he passed out... When he woke up the following morning, flashes of troubling memories seems to flicker in his blinking eyes as he rubbed his forehead with his little finger.
"What happened to me?" Ethan mumbled, and rising up on his feet, he felt a shock effect so severe like an electric current running through his vein. Not only that, he also heard a voice so audible he could tell was real but seems external with no one in the room with him.
"System activated, host capacity optimal, user friendly. Installation process initializing."
"Wait! What? Who is there?" Ethan asked nervously as he looked around and quickly moved towards his window to see if there was anything going on outside he was unaware of.
System: "Installation successful. Multiple virtues obtained. Leveling up is required, host dependent."
This time, Ethan could tell it was not an external voice but something internal, he was quickly moved to examine himself to know if he was alright as he closed the curtain and stepped backwards. His arms seems to glow in blue and all of a sudden strength surged into him before the glowing matter like a pixie dust faded from his skin.
"What? What the heck is happening to me? Who is talking in my head? What's going on?" Ethan questioned as he started to panic. The feminine computer-like voice replied with so much clarity in his consciousness and made itself known...
System: "You should be glad I was able to host my fullness successfully into you. You got lucky and at the same time, there must be something special about you and I can't wait for you to prove I'm right. That's if you are able to level up by completing the following task. I am Terranova..."
"Wait, are you a demon or something? Why do you have to inhabit me without my permission? And what task are you talking about?" Ethan interrogated with an aggressive look in his eyes full of wondering thoughts.
Terranova: "No I am not a demon. Have no fear, I am a resurgent system and the very last of my kind from the dimension of virtue. I do not need your permission to dwell in you like the others, but I will need your permission when assigning you to a specific task. Failure to complete a task within the timeframe of 24hrs, will be a death sentence as your entire body is going to explode."
Ethan became frantic, his mind drifted to think he was becoming insane and with surmises of one who is dreaming and needs to wake up, his inquisitiveness drove him mad the more, "What task exactly are you talking about and I think you should leave me alone right now, I'm already having a bad week, you adding a death sentence to it is making it worse! Gosh! I need to wake up, I feel this isn't real." Ethan stormed not minding the fact that his voice was going to disturb the neighborhood. He grabbed his head and stepped backwards to sit on his bed frustratingly.KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! "Ethan, open up. Is everything okay? Are you alright?" Sissy asked audibly as she knocked on his door and waited for a response from him. Ethan sighed his frustrations out, "I'm fine Sissy, what time is it?" He asked still seated on his bed. "It's 8:27 a.m. Ethan. Come on, open up. Don't tell me you are fine because we all heard your voice out loud and you also repeated having a bad time like you did last
It all appeared in a blue transparent screen before his eyes, outwardly. He could see it all and at the same time, view his external environment as at when it all popped up. Nothing that was shown to Ethan was of interest to him except his financial status, which prompted him to ask, "Is there anything about me you do not know, Terra? For crying out loud, that's my bank account balance right there. F*ck this system is real. Tell me, Terra, what do I do to have more cash? Bring up the task already!" Ethan exclaimed with an inaudible rattling voice and a shrugging gesture feeling impatient already. Ding!!! ...Task list opens...)- Steal a diamond necklace from the auction holding in San Diago hub at 9:30 a.m. today without being caught. - Kill Mr. Stankovic with just one bullet and leave with a brown briefcase in his golden locker, room 32 pyramid castle, and leave without a fight. ...Dong! Task list closes..) "No way! I don't steal and there's no way I am killing anybody." Ethan w
"Wow wow wow! Is that real? Is this a joke?" Ethan exclaimed partly excited, partly jittered, losing his composure the moment he saw the funds which was actually what he checked before the UI of Interactive blue transparent displayed screen vanished. Terranova: "you earned it, Ethan. And please comport yourself, you're beginning to draw attention." Ethan looked around and observed a good number of people chattering and staring right at him, he quickly waved at an incoming taxi and at the same time, took out his cellphone and checked his bank account balance to be sure. "Yes! O my gosh!" Ethan exclaimed enthusiastically clenching the fist of his left hand to express how happy he was as he entered the taxi. "Where to? Dickhead." The taxi driver asked after waiting and wondering why he wouldn't tell him his destination a couple of minutes after he had entered his taxi. "Deer Creek Diner, please." Ethan said not minding the name the guy just called him. At this point, nothing could c
Ethan's eyes dilated and his heart throbbed as he thought of his two friends whilst she was talking."...there is no need for you to go in and you should be thinking of joining us in gathering the crop produce from all six districts, Ethan. At least you are going to stand a chance of feeding more better than the others here because you are working for the government. Besides my mom is part of the governing body of Lysbia, we therefore have immunity, though not because she is a parrhesia-dauntless but that we are playing a major role in the food business." She gasped after she was done talking, believing she has convinced him enough with such detailed explanation. "What about the little children they promised to take into the capitol hill should they be able to pass the awakening process? Or are you trying to tell me that the test they promised they were going to run in D.C. united was all a lie?" He asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Look, Ethan, believe it or not, but then, wh
"Ethan! Nooooo!!!" From afar, Sissy's voice pierced the air with agony, even as the surrounding darkness deepened with each passing minute. Everyone's eyes remained fixed on Ethan, undeterred by the fading light because they could not believe he could even do what he did prior to when he fell. Whilst the beast was still shaking itself, the system rebooted within seconds,[Initializing repair mood][Troubleshooting...] Ethan's flesh closed up immediately and the injury faded in a way that it was as though he never had even a scratch, though bloodstains from previous injury remained. [Destructive sequence activated] [Becoming malevolent] Ethan got up immediately with a ferocious speed coupled with furiousness, and went and grabbed the tail of the biosynthetic killer beast even as it kept struggling to be free from Ethan's grip to no avail. With lightning-fast agility and an intense determination, Ethan sprang to his feet, being ferocious and furious, he swiftly seized the tail of t
"W-What!!! No... There's no way I'm going to talk her into coming with me and you brought this stankovich guy thing up before and I said No! Why are you bringing it up again, I told you I'm not killing anybody." Ethan protested quite vociferously. Terranova: "I'm sorry, Ethan, but you must do it. You must trust the system." "Trust you? Trust the system when it's trying to murder someone and have me be a party to it? No way!" Ethan stuttered and got up from his bed expressing how fed up he was with the task list that was displayed before his very eyes. "Terranova: "Ethan, you have to get on with one of them and your time to select what task to go with is counting down. Remember, any task you skip will keep resurfacing. Choose wisely." Frustrated, Ethan rubbed his forehead and whispered, "Then there's no point in asking me to choose! This feels like cheating. You said I would have the freedom to decide my own actions..." His words trailed off inaudibly, expressing his discontent.T
Terranova: "I can't remember telling you I know everything and within the short time of our working together, you ought to have erased that assumption off your mind. Hold on a minute..." The system refrained from speaking for a minute and a half... "Ethan, there is only one way in, aside this front gate, but you are not going to like it." "Tell me about it already." Ethan spoke like one who had nothing to lose. He was already uncomfortable with standing out there and doing nothing in a busy street because everyone seems to be looking for something or going somewhere based on the fact that the purge of the previous night left many emotionally distraughted and confused with terror. Terranova: " ...there is a sewage outlet at the left flank and you will have to crawl on your way in..." Gasp* "No... no... no way!" Ethan grumbled. Terranova continuous "...but the good thing is that his office window is just right there, merely looking up once you are in.""Blah blah blah. It's not e
"Gosh, you are so annoying. Must I ask? I thought we are team here?" He muttered with a musing heart. Terranova: "...we are team and that's the more reason why you should ask. Anyways, he is in that room you refused entering through the window outside which would have been more easier." "What do you mean by more easier? Bullshit. There was absolutely no way I could have gone in through that window. Can anyone climb a wall that smooth and high?" Ethan questioned whispering to himself, scoffing doubtfully and keeping his head down as he sat somewhere in the midst of the crowded sitting room. Terranova: "you humans do find things impossible to do and I wonder why..." "That's because we think and we are smart." Ethan replied instantly, almost feeling a rising anger but the system ignored his emotions. "...if you look to the opposite direction from whence you came, precisely your left, you'll notice another stairs which leads straight to his bedroom, same room 32 you should have enter