Liz awoke on the cold floor of the cabin.

“Ugh.” She rolled over, bumping into a hard lump. Had she fallen out of the bed again?

“Saraaah!”

No response. “Rich! Gimme a hand?”

Not a peep.

Where were they? She frowned, trying to remember what had happened the previous day.

Rich had gone off to that athletics convention, hadn’t he? And then Sarah had called her…

She sat up, clutching her shoulder. Sure enough, a faint green light emerged from her skin, and in her sixth sense, she felt the healing energy dispersed throughout her. And if that part was real…

She willed her toes to wiggle.

“Yes!”

She shot to her feet, stumbling a bit as her legs readjusted to the strain. She didn’t let that get to her, though. She could walk!

In the corner of her vision, she could see na array of notifications flashing.

Welcome! You have been released from the Void as part of the Second Wave. Due to the Void’s influence, your limits have been removed. Destroy your enemies, protect your allies, and live! System-assisted abilities fully functional. Area: Hyde Forest - Minimum Rank: G, Maximum Rank: F+

“Hmm…”

She looked out the window, smiling at the warm spring morning. The trees were just starting to regain their leaves, and she could hear the faint chirping of wildlife around the cabin.

That was a good sign, at least. She had thought that her ‘stasis’ would have been longer, but this couldn’t have been more than a month out from when the Void had invaded.

“Status.”

Status - Elizabeth Sayler Titles: Marked Threat Level: F+ (F) Marks: The Mark of the Healer* Credits: 0 Strength: 7 / 29% Dexterity: 7(17) / 92% Spiritual Strength: 14 / 85% Endurance: 11 / 33% Perception: 10 / 55% Spiritual Capacity: 13 / 73% Constitution: 8 / 30% Cognition: 16 / 83% Spiritual Regeneration: N/A

It looked like her brief time in the black room had been enough to count as a full recovery. She chuckled, absently circulating the healing energy through body. Three years ago, she would have killed for recovery this fast. Plus, she hadn’t noticed before, but her dexterity had remained the same.

She looked down and recognized that the hard thing that she had bumped into was her newly acquired backpack.

Item - Brown Hiking Bag The contents of this bag will have their weight reduced by 25%

Her eyes widened. Were all of the things bought from the shop like this? A weight-reducing enchantment felt like it was straight out of a video-game, though now that she thought about it she supposed that the glowing mark on her arm was no better.

She gave a satisfied sigh. She was really back, and in a world full of possibilities. Her journey to civilization would start today, but before that…

She needed to take inventory.

Liz sighed, wiping the grime off of another empty cabinet.

The cabin had been thoroughly raided, with everything from food to tools to furniture having gone missing at the hands of those who had arrived earlier than her.

They had even attempted to take her bed, though that plan seemed to have gone awry as soon as they realized that it wouldn’t fit through the window.

At least she had some personally valuable items.

In her suitcase, she had found that her favorite red windbreaker was still intact and had immediately shoved it into her backpack. It would warm her better than most of the unlooted clothing left, but more than that, it provided a sense of comfort she couldn’t ignore.

Also stuffed into the bag were an assortment of medals she had won during highschool. They represented the blood, sweat, and tears she had poured into her running career, so she was sure that the Shop would consider them quite highly.

While she searched, she thought about her friends. Sarah would likely be worried for her, but in the end both her and Rich knew that when presented with the opportunity to heal herself, Liz would surely take it. That meant that they knew she would be fine, and now she knew that they knew.

Considering that, they would probably be worrying about their own things until they could assure their own survival. She knew that they could both take care of themselves, but an uneasy feeling still took her when she thought about the worst.

Knowing where they were was a blessing, though. She opened up the map she had bought from the Shop, tracing a line over to where they would be.

The cabin was on the northern side of New York, and just south of it was the relatively large city of Ashley. South of that would be Williamsburg, where Rich’s athletics convention was being held. Sarah was in their hometown of Elise, which was just to the west of Williamsburg.

Whatever way she looked at it, it would be most beneficial to stop by Ashley before heading off to the other two towns. Her friends could move anywhere in the time that she took to get to civilization, and even if she ended up finding them where she expected, traveling would be safer with someone to watch her back.

That settled it.

Item: Light-Strung Crossbow

Screens flashed in front of her as she hefted the crossbow, straining to string the thing properly in her untrained state. Three years ago she would have been able to do that no problem, but as it was her pitiful seven in Strength simply wasn’t cutting it.

Luckily, her healing energy had been slowly regenerating all this time. However, that posed some questions for her journey into civilization.

Without anything to break down, her body wouldn’t be able to generate any new energy.

Still, that was a problem for future her. For now, she willed the blue aura to reappear. Strength flooded her system, and she effortlessly pulled back the crossbow.

It was rather inconvenient, having to use up healing energy every time she wanted to load a bolt, but she was already thinking of some ways to solve that problem. All of them depended on surviving first, though, so she put them away for later thought.

Before she left, though, she wanted to do one more thing.

Crossbow in one hand and knife in the other, she slowly peeked outside of the cabin. There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary, so she took another few steps out.

“Perfect.”

She could see the pond just a few dozen meters away, unobstructed by foliage thanks to a small dirt trail. She quickly turned back inside and grabbed her wheelchair.

She rolled it out next to the pond, and promptly thrust it in.

The hunk of metal crashed into the surface, splashing her with drops of water. Then, it slowly sunk to the bottom, disrupting a couple of fish who just so happened to be underneath it.

“I’m actually healed!” She jumped in excitement — half to celebrate, and half just to prove to the world that she could.

No more stupid PT sessions just to make sure the problem didn’t get worse. No more needing to get help for every single task that required her to stand. No more phantom pains or random muscle spasms.

Yes, that wheelchair had provided a crucial part of her identity for the last three years, but now she didn’t need it anymore. Now, she could finally move forwards.

Then, something rustled in the bushes beside her.

Fox - Threat Level: G+(?)

A sickly green creature erupted from the foliage, teeth bared and eyes locked onto the intruder in its territory.

“Oh shit. Oh shit!”

She stumbled to the side, just barely dodging its first attack and lashing out with her knife. The fox just jumped back, and something glowed on its fur.

Then, the screen above it changed.

Marked Fox - Threat Level: F

A wave of noxious gas poured from its mouth, and she beat a hasty retreat, desperately lifting her crossbow.

“Get the fuck away!”

The bolt shot through its hind leg, but the fox had already closed the distance. Its Mark glowed again, and she desperately stabbed down with her knife.

It attempted to dodge, but in an ironic twist, that involved the use of its legs. It collapsed onto the ground, and she stabbed out again, piercing its eye.

A spurt of green fluid splashed onto her shirt, but it started dissipating along with the rest of the creature’s body.

Credits Earned: 12

"I earned some credits..."

She let out a shuddering breath, staring at the dissolving blood on her hands. It was all real, wasn't it? The apocalypse, the Void, the monsters. If she had been just a second slower, she would have probably died.

She gripped her Mark, staring back towards the cabin. Her friends were gone. She was all alone, in the middle of the woods, with nothing but a crossbow she barely knew how to use and a Mark that she barely understood.

She steadied herself. Her Mark really hadn't been free. She might have been healed, but she had chosen something that would barely help her defend herself against the voidspawn. She needed to learn how to fight, and she needed to get back to civilization. Only then would she be able to even start thinking about anyone else.

But... she had killed the fox. For just a brief moment there, she had felt the same rush that she had known when running her biggest races. She knew that she could learn, and she knew that she could grow.

The same calm that always appeared before a meet settled back on her, and she readied her crossbow again. It was time to take the next step forward.