The smell was the first sense that hit me. Not the sound of screaming around me or even the feeling of standing on my own two feet but the smell. The smell of blood mixed with the smell of burnt flesh.
I had never smelled burning flesh but I could tell it was when I opened my eyes to find myself standing in the middle of a scene of destruction.
I must have been in some sort of city because there was still intact sections of walls still standing. Debris was everywhere but I was sure that there was pieces of complete houses to be found within the mess.
I was snapped out of my thoughts as I was tackled to the ground.
Before I could yell at whoever tackled me I saw a ball of fire smash into the place where I was just standing.
A teenager was standing over me with a scowl.
"If you're going to be useless at least have the sensibility to run away from the danger. Tsk. Making more work for others."
"Alec. Leave him. We need to focus on evacuating the rest of the survivors."
Another teenage boy came from between two destroyed buildings and joined the first teenager.
He glanced at me with an indifferent expression before the two turned and ran off towards a section of rubble where someone was trapped. The first boy grabbed an entire wall and lifted it off the person.
My jaw dropped at the feat. The wall must have been extremely heavy so it was incredible that a boy who looked around the age of 16 was able to lift something so heavy.
'Maybe it isn't as heavy as it looks?'
I stood up and walked over to one of the destroyed buildings. I bent over and picked up a brick.
!!!
'It is heavy! And this is just a brick. He picked up a whole wall!'
Feeling like my perception of reality was about to crumble I dropped the brick and headed in the opposite direction the two teenagers ran. Whichever way they were going was towards the chaos so I figured I would head the other way.
Sure enough after making my way through a couple blocks I saw a large blockade formed by people in full suits of medieval armor.
Seeing me one of the armored people stepped forward.
"Hurry up and get to the barracks. Its safe there."
Before I could answer something popped up in front of me.
[Mission: Survive the ambush and make it to the South Gate.]
[Reward: Pick 1 of 3 Legendary Talent Cards.]
Confused by the prompt I already forgot the armored man's instruction. His voice interrupted my thoughts. This time a little more stern.
"You should hurry up and move along. Before you get hurt."
I swiped the screen away and asked the guard out of curiosity.
"The barracks are that way?"
I said pointing past the blockade of men.
The man nodded.
"Which direction is the South Gate?"
The man had a weird look. Although he had a full helm I could somehow tell he had his eyebrows raised. He raised his hand and pointed the opposite direction of the barracks.
"That way, but I don't recommend going that way. That is where the creatures breached the city walls so it is the same as running into the embrace of death."
I knew he was probably telling the truth and I should probably listen to him, but something about the screen made me want to run to the south gate. Regardless of the man's advice.
'Maybe this is a dream... Although it feels real, but it wouldn't hurt to just go along with the flow of this dream.'
Having made up my mind I turned 180 degrees and started jogging down the road towards the South Gate.
"Hey! You're running to your death!"
I waved my hand without turning around.
"Are the kids these days so eager to die?"
"Ignore it Captain. You can only do so much."
I heard their conversation but shook it off. Whatever happened I was more interested in what these 'Legendary Talent Cards' were.
Not even out of sight of the blockade I suddenly heard an explosion behind me.
The force of the explosion knocked me flying forward and face first into the cobblestone road.
My hands barely managing to cushion the impact of my fall. I quickly turned over and looked in horror at the once imposing wall of men.
There were limbs scattered around while small imp like creatures swarmed the guards who were still alive, barely though, and finished them off.
I quickly scrambled to my feet, turned, and ran away as fast as I could. Adrenaline flooded my heart and kicked it into overdrive.
'This isn't a fucking dream!'
I thought it might have been a dream because of how ridiculous it all was but after the explosion knocked me to the floor I couldn't deny it anymore.
This was real.
The pain. The heat from the explosion.
I was confused but I wasn't going to stick around and ask one of those creatures what was going on.
The panel from earlier warned me about the ambush. It told me to head to the South gate. I didn't care about the rewards it promised. I just wanted to live.
I ran as hard as I could until I finally saw a giant stone wall with a huge part of it broken through. It looked like a wrecking ball had been used to take down the enormous wall.
I walked towards the gate but it was closed shut. I looked around for a moment confused on where I needed to go for the mission to complete when, as if in response of my thoughts, a ding sounded in my ears and a panel appeared in front of me.
[Mission Complete.]
[Pick One:
-Archmage's Destiny : Potential to become a legendary 10th Circle Mage in life.
-Sword Saint : Talent for the sword so great you stand at the peak of all swords.
-Heavenly Demon : Your gift for martial arts is so profound the God's are even jealous. The owner of this talent cannot received the grace of gods.]
I stood quietly for a moment.
All the choices seemed really good. Worthy of the Legendary rarity that the system seemed them as. After a good while of debating the pros and cons of each choice I decided I was going to choose the Archmage.
As I was about to press the choice the scenery in front of me seemed to suddenly blur. Then I felt my skin being dragged by the wind as my body flew to the side.
Before I could realize what had happened I slammed into a wooden support beam and felt some wooden beams fall on my body.
I gasped for air as my vision was filled with black specks here and there.
I looked up with difficulty and saw a large green pig like creature holding a large wooden club. It must have been what was responsible for the attack.
I slowly raised my body, each movement made my bones creak, but when I finally got on my feet I felt my vision swirl. I held my head with my hand and when I pulled it away I saw blood covering my entire palm.
'Shit... I'm bleeding a lot. I... I'm going to die at this rate. There is no way I can beat that fucking thing.'
At that moment I began to feel panic set in. I started breathing heavier and slowly tried to back away.
But my attempts to sneak away made the creature start walking towards me.
Then the growingly more annoying panel appeared before my eyes again. I was about to swipe at it to get it out of my way when I stopped myself.
'A legendary talent. I don't know if it will have any immediafe effect but it's better than nothing!'
My finger hovered over to the Archmage choice when I stopped myself midair. I wanted to choose it, but something at the back of my mind made me second guess my choice.
'I-I don't know any spells... What if I choose it and it does nothing for me? Fuck! I can't take that risk!'
My mind began to backpedal on all the arguments I made for it being the best choice.
I started looking back at the other two choices but another issue came up when I was about to choose the Sword Saint Talent.
'I don't have a sword! Wouldn't this Talent be useless if I don't have a sword in my hand?!'
The creature was closing in on me. Which I could see from through the screen in front of me.
My heart seized up as I started to have a panic attack as I was now close enough to smell the rancid stench the creature carried.
Realizing I didn't have the luxury of choice anymore I swallowed any regret I might have and selected the final choice of the panel.
[You have acquired the Heavenly Demon Talent!]
[The Gods turn their back to you.]
Time seemed to slow down as the creature brought it's club down towards my head. A jolt of electricity erupted from my brain and traveled throughout my entire body in less than a millisecond. Then my senses expanded and I felt myself being filled with a strange feeling.
Then time resumed at normal speed but I wasn't the same as I was just a moment ago.
I stepped back lightly, just a half step, but it was enough for the club to miss my head by an inch. A cloud of smoke burst out from where the club hit the ground in front of me.
Instinct overwhelmed me as I immediately shifted my weight and pushed myself forward after dodging the club.
I threw a straight kick through the smoke and into the abdomen of the pig creature.
I felt a sickening sinking feeling as my foot dug into the creature's stomach and quickly pulled my foot out as it hunched over in pain.
Taking a full step back I still moved with difficulty from the beams hitting my body earlier but I knew I needed to create distance right now.
I staggered to take another step back as the creature grunted loudly and swung the club at me fiercely while clutching it's stomach. I managed to step just out of range of the flurry of swings.
No matter what the creature did I was able to dodge and I felt the mounting fury of the creature as it's attack became even more reckless.
The path of the swings were fast, too fast for me to react to, but for some reason it was easy to predict.
'No... Not some reason. It was that Talent.'
I didn't know exactly what it meant by becoming the Heavenly Demon but I knew it was the reason behind this sudden change.
Then the moment came.
The creature swung at me wildly and the club got stuck between the floorboards of a house I was weaving through.
The creature reached down with both arms to try and pry it out. When I saw it's neck completely unguarded I just felt my body move on it's own.
A light step forward. Swinging my hips, raising my other legs knee, and bringing it down like an anchor.
Pivot.
Throw my hips and swing my first leg with the movement.
Like a whip my leg struck the creature's neck with a force I didn't know I could ever produce and a sickening crack happened after my leg shattered the resistance I initially met from the creature's neck.
The creature collapsed like a puppet without it's strings cut.
[You have slain an Orc.]
A voice behind me interrupted my thoughts.
"What the...?"
Before I could turn around I collapsed. My vision turning black as the adrenaline proved to not be enough to keep me moving.