It wasn’t more than thirty minutes later that we were on the move. Kian, Charlotte, Carmen and I still dressed in our hoodies and tracksuit bottoms in their muted colours. Kaelyn still in that triangular leather crop top that bared her midriff, and the low-slung leather pants, with the ornate knife at her hips.
Poor Tom and Mary though – they had wanted to wear some gaudy purple, nylon shell suits, right out of the eighties, that had gone out of fashion before we were even born. And good riddance too. Charlotte was having none of it. It wasn’t about a fashion choice. They stood out like that friend who was unnecessarily loud in a library. She made them wear something more appropriate – a long black dress and jacket for Mary, and trousers and shirt for Tom. Perhaps not appropriate for quick movement, but it definitely would draw less attention.
We’d pulled out of the quiet village, Carmen driving Kian’s black SUV with me in the passenger side, and Kaelyn in the back, with the others following in Charlotte’s parents grey SUV, with the luggage. The guns and ammo were in our car – minus the rifles and handguns Charlotte and Kian had with them. We’d taken six rifles with us, and twelve handguns. There were roughly the same number of magazines – eighty – for both types of weapons. I doubted we’d even need that many. We were meeting up with the military after all.
The radio was on as I pulled up my options screen and went to the abilities.
We’d all agreed on our class roles. Charlotte had already taken [Light Heal] | [Level 2], which was as high as she could go, being a Common, Rank E. She said it didn’t sound particularly powerful – it might make a cut hurt a little less is how she put it – but we were still beginners at this. There’d be plenty of time to improve. She’d also taken something called [Light’s Blessing] | [Level 1], which she’d said would provide a boost to durability. A marginal boost, for now.
Kian would be looking at the melee abilities in his car right now, and Carmen had to rank up before she could start getting hunter abilities. That class was the one with the beast-taming. It made me think of the cat I’d once had from when my mother was alive. A small white kitten she had gotten for me, before it disappeared a few months later. Before it did though, it did so many things that I just didn’t understand. Bite my toes while I was sleeping. Charge at my legs when I entered a room. Backflip and arch its back if I said no to it, like it was it ready to throw hands. Beast-taming would have come in handy with Mittens. I smiled as I wondered where he’d gone, hoping he’d had a good life.
As I scrolled through abilities, I was vaguely aware of the traffic on the other side of the motorway. Our side of the road was pretty much empty except for us, but as I looked past Carmen, I could see cars, vans, even a London bus well off its actual route, sitting bumper-to-bumper as they tried to escape the capital.
“Looks like we made a good decision to not be in London when it started,” I said. The other two glanced briefly to the right.
“…remain calm.” The news reporter said on the radio. “Emergency shelters are being set up and people are being advised to make their way calmly and carefully to those locations. Only take a small travel bag. Everything you need will be provided for you.
“The Prime Minister today, in his emergency address, has implored that people avoid the eastern coast of the British Isles. The military are in place and are dealing with the incursions and he is confident we will prevail. He has advised that people leave population centres, and head for the military outposts. He also had a message for River Clarke. Should you hear this, the Prime Minister has asked that you make yourself known to the closest military personnel, so that the UK Government can help make sure you are protected. You are not just our hope. You are the world’s hope.
“The Prime Minister ended his address with an amended speech from the great Winston Churchill.
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our friends beyond the seas would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the new world, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”
I could see the families in their cars. Young parents with newborns. Elderly couples maybe wanting to reunite with the children who had grown too old to live with them anymore. Singletons, maybe hoping they’d find their special someone before the end. It had been a long time since World War II. A century almost. I had serious doubts that this current generation, or the ones before it were ready for war. I knew I hadn’t been.
This was exactly the time that that good old British spirit was going to be needed, but we’d grown soft as a nation. Complacent. Weak. We were a generation raised on bite-sized dopamine hits through screens we carried with us all day.
“They’re sitting ducks,” Carmen said. “If anything like those wolves have spawned anywhere close, there’ll be carnage.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
It was true. They’d have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Sure, numbers would matter, but how many of those on the other side of the road would have what it takes to keep themselves and their families safe? How many were ready to kill to protect someone they loved? How many were prepared to watch their friends die? I’d seen what was required. I’d lived it. It wasn’t easy, but we were going to need to find that spirit again. The will to push through and do what needed to be done. No matter how much it hurt. No matter how much we didn’t like it.
“It’s not our problem,” I said, turning back to the abilities. I wasn’t in a position to care for everyone. And I’d experienced enough for it to not matter now anyway. People were going to die. This was war. My only thoughts were on making sure myself and my friends weren’t amongst the dead. And the best way to ensure that was to win. If I did that, I’d save the world anyhow. For now. But I’d accepted there’d be casualties along the way. Just nobody close to me. That I couldn’t accept.
I kept flicking through the abilities. I was looking for something specific, amongst all the mage abilities available. What gave me the most trouble with the wolves was their speed and leaps, and their ability to get behind us. I figured some sort of trapping or holding ability would be good to have at this stage. Of course, I had the time reversal – which I was sure could do more – but until I was stronger and more comfortable with it, the best thing would be to be able to stop attacks from occurring. Even temporarily, so that we could reposition effectively. I needed to stop relying on the reset, and I was running out of them anyway. I didn’t want to be in the position to have to use another one.
I’d already found [Grappling Vines], but that was a druid ability. There was an ability called [Siren] for hunters, which alerted them if something had approached within a certain range. They also had traps like [Explosive Trap] and [Stun Trap]. There was a [Light’s Barrier] for healers, and then I came across my first mage one.
[Class: Mage]
[Ability: Gravity Circle]
[Level: 1]
[Requirements: None]
[Places an invisible two-metre radius circle that will exert a force downwards on anything that steps into it, stopping the target from moving. Effectiveness is affected by the power of the target that is trapped. Circle lasts two minutes from time of placement.
Maximum of one circle can be placed at any one time.
Distance between mage and circle can be no more than ten metres.
Duration of effect on a target is ten seconds, within the radius of the circle.
Maximum of three targets affected.
If maximum limit of targets is reached, circle will vanish.]
[Price | 100 SE Coins]
[Purchase | Yes | No]
Then I found another one.
[Class: Mage]
[Ability: Fire Circle]
[Level: 1]
[Requirements: None]
[Places an invisible two-metre radius circle that will engulf in flame anything that steps into it. Effectiveness is affected by the power of the target that is trapped. Circle lasts two minutes from time of placement.
Maximum of one circle can be placed at any one time.
Distance between mage and circle can be no more than ten metres.
Duration of effect on a target is ten seconds and lasts beyond the radius of the circle.
Maximum of three targets affected.
If maximum limit of targets is reached, circle will vanish.]
[Price | 100 SE Coins]
[Purchase | Yes | No]
I found three more. A [Frost Circle], which applied a slowing effect instead of engulfing the targets in flame. An [Earth Circle], which was similar to the [Gravity Circle] and [Grappling Vines], but instead of a force or earthen roots, the target would be trapped by stone. The last was [Wind Circle], but that one was a little weird. It provided a strong gust of wind behind the targets, providing a boost to their directional movement speed for five seconds.
I decided to go for the [Gravity Circle], and the [Frost Circle]. One would hold something in position and the other would slow them. After the level 1 purchases, I still had 542 SE coins, and I wanted to keep 250. I decided to get the level 2 [Gravity Circle] for another 110 SE coins – it added 0.1m to the circle radius, and I could see the level 3 would add another 0.2m.
I had 432 SE coins left. That gave me around 200 SE coins to spend, and I’d still have the amount I’d started with, and I wondered briefly whether I should get another two spells, but in the end, I decided to get the [Frost Circle] | [Level 2]. I figured both of these spells, coupled with the artifact would be enough for now.
As I purchased the ability and was taken back to the main abilities screen, I could still see all the other abilities I had been scanning through. All the other class abilities. I frowned. I clicked into a non-mage ability on the screen.
[Class: Any Melee]
[Ability: Dash]
[Level: 1]
[Requirements: None]
[Provides the user with a running boost for two seconds]
[Price | 100 SE Coins]
[Purchase | Yes | No]
Charlotte had said she’d only had healing abilities to purchase. Was she able to see the rest of the abilities and just not purchase them? But this was allowing me to purchase. I recalled the [Dying Embers] ability I had seen earlier. I remembered it had said it was unavailable to purchase. That was due to not having the fireball ability, but the point was that purchases could be unavailable. Why wasn’t this one?
“Pull the car over.”
“What? Why?”
“I need to check something with Charlotte. Pull over.”
Carmen did as asked, though she didn’t seem pleased by it. She put the indicator on and slowed down to a stop on the hard shoulder on the left. As soon as the car was parked, I got out. Charlotte had pulled in behind us and was getting out of her car.
“What’s up?” she said. Kian and Carmen also got out, wondering what the emergency was. The four of us gathered between the two cars.
“Did you get some abilities?” I asked Kian first.
“I took some brawler abilities. Figure Charlotte and Kaelyn could train me in close combat. I have no interest in learning to use a sword or something like the warrior class seemed to need.”
“So, for both of you, when you look at your abilities now, can you see all the other abilities and just can’t purchase them, or you can’t see other class abilities at all?”
“Can’t see them at all,” Charlotte said.
Kian nodded. “Same. Why?”
“Because I can see them all.”
“You mean all the abilities?”
“Yes.”
“But that would mean…” Carmen began.
“…that I’m not limited to a specific class.”
