The day the world came to an end, I sat at the back of the classroom, gazing out the window as I wondered if my life would forever be so boring. The teacher was going on about formulas and whatnot, but the more she spoke, the deeper I sank into depression. Then I saw it...
The reckoning...
The sky split open and was enveloped in a mass of purple energy and blue energy colliding onto one another. It was accompanied by a foul odor. An odor that almost caused me to gag. The sight was straight out of a sci-fi movie. It was as if another universe was descending unto earth.
Monstrous creatures rained from the sky, far off in the distance. At the same time, another boy, named Damien, stood up with a shocked look on his face.
"Oh my god, what is this!" he shouted frantically.
"What is it?" the teacher asked.
"Don’t you see it? There is a screen right in front of me!"
At the same time, another kid noticed what was happening outside and alerted everyone. The class erupted in an uproar when they finally saw the sky splitting. They all rushed towards the window to take a look at what was happening outside. Amid the chaos, the kid who mentioned the screen continued staring straight ahead without even glancing outside. It intrigued me.
Like the others, I didn’t see any screen, but his behavior was too strange to ignore. I also saw him muttering to himself and moving his fingers as if he was typing on a j-pad.
What is he doing?
[DING!]
[MANA AWAKENING. INITIALIZING SYSTEM... 99%]
Just then a sound akin to when you receive a notification on your phone rang inside my head. For a second my eyes glowed a deep shade of orange and my claws threatened to tear through my fingertips, but I managed to keep myself composed.
[INITIALIZATION COMPLETE. SHOWING STATUS]
Immediately a screen popped up in my peripheral vision.
What is this?
Status
+-----+
Name: Liam Lycann
Age: 17
Core level: Lv. 1
Race: Werewolf
Classification: Supernatural Beast
Bloodline: Primordial
+Pack:
—Pack members: 7
—Pack name: The Lycann Family
—Rank: Beta
—Role: Jack of all Trade
—Next Full moon: 3 days
Message: Congratulations! Your world has been blessed with mana. All supernatural creatures such as yourself have been given the aid of a system to begin leveling up, while only a select few humans have been granted the system.
+-----+
I skimmed through the glowing text feeling as if a teacher had handed me a long page of homework. What is this? Somehow this thing knew everything about me. It even knew that I am a werewolf. How?
My questions were cut short as a massive earthquake suddenly erupted. The entire building shook. Desks and chairs clattered together as students crawled on the ground to avoid the destruction. Those who tried to run quickly lost their balance and fell.
The windows exploded, shooting small glass shrapnel into the classroom. The horrified screams of my classmates filled the air. It was as if hell had descended upon us. It lasted only a few minutes, but by the time it was over, the classroom was a mess. Bodies laid everywhere. Some of them unmoving.
"Is everyone okay?!" Ms. Blake, my homeroom teacher, asked as she tried her best to gather everyone together.
Some students were unconscious, while others had twisted limbs and bones sticking out of their flesh. Some were impaled, and others were buried under mountains of desks and chairs. The girl who sat beside me had a horrified look on her bloodied face. Blood trailed from her eyes and dripped from her chin causing her to scream in pain.
"My eyes! I can’t see!" She screamed. Pieces of glass had punctured her eyes, blinding her.
Her best friend, realizing what had happened, rushed over to comfort her, but just before she reached her, something swooped in through the broken window. A giant beast that looked like a moth pounced on her.
Its eyes, like giant red orbs, scanned the room before it sank its fangs into her neck. Just before it bit her, I saw two giant fangs in its mouth, almost like a vampire’s only bigger. The students immediately erupted in panic as they watched the girl’s throat get ripped out. It made a wet sticky sound as the beast feasted and what remained of her.
The blood spraying on the floor and the pieces of flesh being tossed around was strong enough to invoke some primal need in me but I managed to keep myself in check.
pic*
It turned into a stampede to escape the classroom, but just before they did, the giant moth drained the girl of blood and flew after them but just as it was about to reach them, a blazing ball of fire tore through the moth’s chest, creating a large cavity.
The creature let out a loud screech before falling to the ground. Instinctively, everyone’s eyes turned to the person who had slain the beast. It was the boy from before, Damien, the one who had been rambling about a screen. If I had to guess, he had awakened a system too.
pic*
I saw it in real time. The way everyone looked at him. It was as if he were a hero. People always flock to those who show strength during times of desperation. We are all just sheep in the end.
A question immediately popped up in my mind. A question about whether Damien was a supernatural beast like myself o just a human that was given this power. He smelled human at least.
Though in truth, a system couldn’t have been given to a better person. Damien was a leader. The kind of person who always puts others before himself. A real man of the people you might say. Even the teachers looked to him for support. He was a popular guy with a handsome face that could make anybody swoon. Even in this crisis some of the girls were looking at him with a weird twinkle in their eyes.
"Everyone calm down. I can’t explain to you what is happening because I don’t know myself. But what I can tell you is that our first priority should be getting somewhere safe." Damien shouted to the panicked students. Hearing his voice, they all seemed to calm down a bit.
’Sheep I tell.’
"The auditorium." Ms Blake interrupted. "It’s the safest place for us right now. And that’s where the school said we should go whenever there is an emergency like the earthquake that just happened a few moments ago."
Damien looked at her and nodded in agreement. There was a look of determination burning in his eyes.
"Let’s carry the injured and get out of here," Damien said, and no one refuted him.
I also had a choice to make. I could either jump out of the building right now and take off on my own. It was roughly a 30-foot drop if I jumped from here, but that wouldn’t be much of a problem for me. By doing this, I might be better able to protect myself. Right now we were kind of like cattle herded together.
The other choice was to stay with my classmates. This way, I could observe things a little better rather than going out into the world with limited knowledge. I could blend in with the sheep and learn more about this change that was happening. Maybe by watching Damien, I could even understand more about what this system thing is.
I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing to hone in on my senses. Every sound and every smell became perfectly clear to me. Far off in the distance I could hear loud fluttering of wings accompanied with screams and the sound of gunshot. There were also sirens going off.
Amongst it all, I heard a maniacal laughter that sounded like a woman. There were also a few creatures far off in the distance. I could tell they weren’t human or animal by the foul smell that accompanied them.
There was also a strong scent of blood and decay that wafted throughout the school building. A lot of students were either dead or injured. But there were quite a few heartbeats so I knew some were still alive.
I could also smell that there were more of the giant moths circling outside the school. There were even a few that managed to make it inside the building, likely from the windows.
"Let’s get out of here before more blood moths show up," Damien said.
Blood Moths? How does he know their name? Did his system tell him?
I thought for a second and then decided.
"Option two it is then" I mumbled to myself.
It provided me the perfect environment to observe and learn so I was positive I made the right choice.
Maybe my life won’t be so boring after all. Or maybe this is just shaping up to be an even bigger drag.