"The day the shadows swirled from the tower, monsters flowed through the town. Its small size is temporarily safe and secure. Creatures too big would pay no mind, but one day, a roar ripped through the air on a fateful night. Many were still hiding in their homes or going to the stores. The town was peaceful and safe, as all transactions were cash. That was until the monster arrived. Its body towering over a house, ripped through a single building with ease before spewing fire at the fleeing residents. People awoke to the world burning, their homes catching flames one after another. Everyone scattered, but three remained. When things had changed, they had set forth a plan. Secure the abandoned church. They were forced to watch as the hopes, dreams, and families of those who were once surviving perished, and all seemed to be swallowed in flames. That was the first night the dragon arrived." (Kyle)
Kyle stopped vocalizing the story dramatically.
"Huh?" (Kyle)
"What is it?" (Anna)
"I got a skill from me telling the story." (Kyle)
[Dramatic Flair level 1]
[Dramatic Flair allows you to tell a false or real story in a way that will captivate the listener, no matter how strange the story is.]
[Dramatic Flair Level 5 upgrade]
[At level five, your stories will create miniature illusions of the story told.]
"You seriously got a skill because you dramatically told a story?" (Mark)
"Seems like it." (Kyle)
"Okay, although the dramatic flair is interesting, why were you three together at that point?" (Anna)
"Well, if you want fast and simple, when all technology quit working, each of us was playing an MMORPG online together, so for me, at least, I figured we would go to our usual spot to meet up. We tend not to go to each other's places because most of us had roommates or romantic partners who didn't like the friend group." (Kyle)
"What happened to those people?" (Anna)
"I got dumped because I was not reliable enough to be able to keep her alive during the apocalypse. Well, that was what she claimed when monsters started appearing." (Justin)
"I hated my roommates, but we were roommates in the college dorm, so that we couldn't hang out there. Seriously, one had a hero complex but was too scared to do anything to be a hero. He started screaming and ran into some monsters, getting himself killed." (Mark)
"I had one roommate, and I don't know what happened to her, but she left to be with her family a week or so before all this happened." (Kyle)
"Seriously, you're saying that we could have gone to your place, but you never told us, even before all this happened." (Mark)
"I didn't know when she would be back. Besides, she was supposed to be back three days after leaving, but she never returned. I wasn't going to bother her from what I understand, her father died, so she was helping with the funeral and all that legal jargon." (Justin)
"I was at a computer cafe in the same city you were, Anna, but I couldn't easily rejoin the group, as you already know." (Greyson)
"So what made you guys start going into the town to save people?" (Anna)
"We didn't know what else to do. Besides, we figured we should stay in the area if Greyson survived. So we decided to save people by escorting them back to the Church peak. It seems to have worked out well. The only thing unexpected was you." (Justin)
"How long has the dragon been in the town, then?" (Anna)
"Three days." (Kyle)
"You're saying in three days that thing destroyed the entire town?" (Anna)
"Yes, it did. Honestly, I feel like the town would have survived if there had been a military presence in this area." (Kyle)
"They wouldn't, most were stationed around the towers, and others on the borders. If I remember correctly, only a few wars restarted overseas last year. Honestly, I wish that wars had permanently stopped after the deaths of two billion people." (Anna)
"Why do you know so much about that?" (Mark)
"Simple, my family died, and things were chaotic. Part of me needed to know what happened elsewhere in the world, and then I learned about the towers being the reason for the gas line explosions. Then I wanted to know why the military wasn't doing anything. Turns out one country tried, and now the entire area around Tower Ten, or what they're calling it anyway, is a radiation zone like Chernobyl. Although the tower was still standing, even after they made that area a death zone. Pretty much can't blow it up, so do nothing for the suffering and sit still looking pretty while staring at a tower." (Anna)
"You're one of the anti-government people, aren't you?" (Justin)
"More like I tolerated the government because they were paying for most of my medical bills and my living expenses from disability checks. I don't know about the people in charge; I only paid attention to ensuring I would still receive the money I needed from the government." (Anna)
"Oh, that explains a lot." (Kyle)
"What does?" (Anna)
"It explains why you're not claiming the government will take action to save us." (Kyle)
"I thought you were anti-government because I heard you mention how unreliable they were off handedly, that is." (Justin)
"They tried to cancel my disability paychecks because someone tried to pass a law stating that living survivors of the incident shouldn't be paid by the government unless physically or mentally disabled. Something about many of them not having any real mental or physical problems: they tried to put me under the umbrella of being alive and not disabled. Had to send in mountains of my medical documents to get myself back to living off of disability paychecks. So yes, they are unreliable. Because it took them half a year to reapprove me for being paid disability checks." (Anna)
"Oh, and I'm guessing you weren't able to get any form of job." (Jusin)
"I am not going into detail on that, but let's just say that I was living off charity foundations for food, and I had to use what was left of my inheritance to keep my one-bedroom apartment." (Anna)