CHAPTER THREE

Save the Girl, Save the World, Part 1

Despite the half-transparent window floating in front of him and the horror nearly on top of them, Sam’s brain was too focused on processing the possibility that he might have carelessly agreed to a blood pact.

A loud ping interrupted his thoughts, forcing Sam’s gaze back onto the floating window.

Shall we play a game? YES/NO

The no option was grayed out so there wasn’t really an option at all.

Curiosity drove Sam to tap on [YES], and as soon as he did, all noise and color were suddenly drained from the world. Time had stopped.

A message box appeared.

ALERT! Khronos, the Lord of Time, has temporarily provided you this blessing.

This brief reprieve came just in the nick of time. For only a few feet away, the horror was stretching freakishly long fingers toward Sam’s head.

“Holy Zeus,” Sam breathed. “What in blazes is going on?”

Don’t mention his most hated son’s name when you’re under the influence of Khronos’ blessing, fool! Don’t you know anything?],

This new message box was a different shade of blue from the first.

“You can talk to me?” Sam asked in surprise.

No reply came.

Sam’s eyes flitted between the frozen horror to Thunder’s worried face and then to the new notification that popped up to replace that weird message box.

ATTENTION! The Argonaut Ability Advancement System (Triple-A) was designed to assist a hero’s growth. Following the system’s training regimen will ensure the further development of the hero’s powers and provide opportunities to earn system-exclusive rewards. Failure to comply with Triple-A’s instructions will force the hero into a penalty game.

The message was replaced by a new window that had [STATUS] scrawled at the very top.

The first lines detailed Sam’s personal information.

NAME: Samuel Shepard HERO NAME: None LEVEL: 1 RANK: Zeta (ζ) ROLE: Support TITLE: Loser who has yet to prove his true worth

“This thing’s damn rude…”

The next listed information showed a quantified version of his health and stamina.

HEALTH POINTS (HP): 120 STAMINA POINTS (SP): 60 FATIGUE: 0%

Underneath HP and SP were the quantified values for Sam’s attributes.

STRENGTH: 10 DEXTERITY: 10 CONSTITUTION: 12 INTELLIGENCE: 10 WISDOM: 10 WILLPOWER: 8 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE: 20 (Beginner Bonus)

Finally, the last section of the [STATUS] menu listed Sam’s powers.

ACTIVE: Healing Hand (ζ) PASSIVE: None

“It’s like a role-playing game,” he realized. “Is this for real?”

Although there was a [?] beside each line item that might have an explanation for their significance to Sam’s growth as a hero, he had no time to read through them as a new notification—a green one this time—appeared over [STATUS].

URGENT MISSION: SAVE THE GIRL, SAVE THE WORLD CONDITION 1: Heal the hero [Thunder] so she can return to fighting form. CONDITION 2: Help hero [Thunder] defeat target [Horror: Alpha-level Terror]. Bonuses will be provided depending on your contribution. WARNING: Failure to complete the mission will result in the hero’s death and the city’s destruction.

“Wow...way to add on the pressure,” Sam sighed.

One final notification appeared in front of Sam. This one was blue again.

ALERT! Time will restart in fifteen seconds so that the mission may begin. Good luck, hero!

The timer began to countdown from 15 to 14...

“Whoa, wait, I haven’t even distributed my points!” Sam protested.

12... 11...

“Okay, Healing Hand requires my life force as an energy source, so that would be health points...which means I need to increase my HP,” he guessed.

9... 8...

“Which attribute?” Sam took a glance at his status. “Styx, I should have known my days playing Dungeons and Dragons would eventually become relevant.”

7... 6...

“Constitution was always connected to health in DnD.” Sam’s hand hovered on the [+] button next to [CONSTITUTION]. “Athena, please let me be right!”

The timer went down to 5…

Sam button mashed [+] and gave all twenty beginner points to [CONSTITUTION] as he reasoned he would need his HP to go as high as it could to heal Thunder. He was in such a rush that he didn’t even have time to regret not balancing out his stats.

Just as the timer dropped to 1, a portion of Sam’s status updated itself to [CONSTITUTION: 32]. This resulted in a higher HP value of [320]. Interestingly enough, his SP had also risen to [160], which was half of his total HP.

Another notification appeared over [STATUS], but Sam didn’t have time to read it. The color suddenly returned to the world and all the noise that had been stilled by the stopping of time flooded into Sam’s ears. It was quite disorienting.

“Sam!” Thunder’s fingers bit into the skin of his arms. “Heal me...or we both die!”

Her warning snapped Sam’s mind back into gear. He quickly placed his hands over the hole in her stomach.

“Healing Hand!” he yelled.

As Sam coaxed his life force into the tips of his fingers, he saw something familiar in his mind’s eye: a green HP bar similar to the one in old-school RPG games. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination at work or if Triple-A was helping him visualize his life force, but Sam noticed this HP bar diminished with each second he attempted to heal Thunder.

If that wasn’t worrying enough, Sam was also distinctly aware of how cold it had gotten. A sheet of ice was already accumulating on the asphalt beneath him.

“It’s right on top of us...” Thunder warned.

He didn’t need her to tell him that because Sam could sense the terror standing over him now. It was like an ice cube was dripping down his back.

“Just a little more,” Sam urged.

He could see that it was working. The hole in the side of Thunder’s stomach was already beginning to stitch itself back together. Even more fascinating, Sam wasn’t feeling the drain as much as he thought he would. Perhaps putting all his points in Constitution had been the right choice.

The memory of his past failure flitted across the surface of his mind, but it had no room to linger. Sam’s focus remained on the HP bar that was dwindling with each second he continued to heal Thunder.

There was a piercing screech that made his ears rattle.

“C-come on,” Sam whispered.

He could see Thunder’s eyes glued to the spot behind his shoulders. He watched as those two sky-blue irises widened in alarm.

“Dodge, Sam!” she yelled.

But leaving would cancel all the effort he’d made to heal her and he was so close to stitching up her wound.

“Apollo, give me the strength to endure,” Sam prayed.

He felt several sharp things rake across his back. The pain that followed was so intense that it forced a mighty scream out of him.

“Sam!” Thunder screamed.

The fresh wounds on Sam’s back grew cold—the kind of paradoxical cold that made his back feel like it was on fire. However, despite this intense pain, his laser-like focus remained on the healing process.

It was more than simple heroism that goaded Sam onward. It was the feeling in his fingers, how his life force flowed out of him so effortlessly without causing him more pain than he was already in. To Sam, this was proof that he was no longer useless, and he reveled in it.

Thunder placed her hands on his shoulders to prop him up. Her eyes locked onto his, and once again he felt like he could be super, too.

Then Sam felt something pierce him in the sides, forcing him to gasp in pain. He couldn’t bear to look, but he imagined the terror had just wrapped its long-fingered hand around him.

“Just…a little…more,” he gasped through gritted teeth.

Sam felt himself being lifted upward, and it was only Thunder’s hands grasping tightly onto his shoulders that held him in place. She was quietly looking up at him with a face that showed only determination. It was as if she was promising Sam that the terror was going to pay for hurting him.

He felt woozy. His ears were buzzing. Blood dripped from him onto Thunder’s chest.

Then, finally, just as the terror lifted him off into the air, Sam caught sight of the pink patch of scar tissue around Thunder’s stomach.

Blood trickled to the corner of his mouth as he grinned.

He knew death had grasped him by the throat. There was no escape. But, strangely enough, Sam wasn’t afraid. He was no longer his old self, the one who had run away from failure. This euphoria existed because he’d done what he couldn’t do before. Sam had become a hero in his last moments. He’d saved the girl, and maybe she would save the world.

Weariness forced his eyes shut, but just as he expected the terror to bite his head off or something equally horrific, Sam instead heard Thunder’s booming voice.

“Thunderstrike!” she yelled.

Sam felt all the hair in his body rise just before his ears popped. He forced his weary eyes open to watch the blinding flash of light strike the raised fist of the hero he’d healed just enough to rise back to her feet.

The force of the energies that converged on Thunder unleashed a shockwave that was so strong it freed Sam from the terror’s grip and sent him flying.