Zoe slowly got to her feet. She stared in awe at her leg. The pain was gone along with the wound itself. She didn’t quite understand what Benji did but she felt fine, great actually. She spent a few moments bending and stretching to check for other injuries while brushing the debris off of her clothes. She bent down to grab her backpack, placed it over her shoulders, and bent down in front of Benji to make sure he was okay.

“Benji, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” he said as he lifted his head to look at her.

He didn’t look fine to Zoe, he looked exhausted.

“What happened? How were you able to heal me? Does it have to do with that strange voice?”

“Yeah. I’m able to use Divine Magic.”

Greetings, Zoe! I’m your personal AI assistant. You were unable to notice my earlier attempts at communication due to your injury. What Benji is experiencing is the cost of casting spells. Each spell costs a set amount of mana that is produced from and drawn from his body. The circumstances around his particular use also caused him pain. As a result he is just a bit exhausted. Please take this time to view your own abilities while he rests.

Zoe was startled by the disembodied voice that spoke to her. She pulled up her status screen, unsure of how she knew how to do such a thing.

Name Zoe Weaver

Level 1

Class Social Butterfly

Experience 0/100

Traits

Social Butterfly

While using your voice to influence people, you gain experience based on the action taken.

Angelic Voice

While speaking you can enhance your voice to give your allies a buff relieves physical and mental stress.

Voice of Reason

When speaking to others they are more likely to accept what you say.

Harsh Mistress

While speaking to someone you consider your enemy, they receive increase damage from all sources and their abilities have a 5% chance to fail.

Zoe jumped in surprise as a floating window appeared in front of her. It looked like something from a computer game. The screen showed very detailed information about her. She was confused when she looked at her class. People had often called Zoe a social butterfly and apparently Bob agreed with them. Why were all her abilities focused only on her voice?

Allow me to answer these questions. Classes are assigned based on what a person can do better than the average person. In your case your ability to easily speak to others led to your assigned class.

“Am I the only one that can see and hear you right now?” she asked.

Great question! Although each person has an AI assistant, my voice can only be heard by you. Additionally, although others can see the screen in front of you, they cannot read the text that appears. All they see is a transparent window.

The AI’s response made her feel a bit more comfortable. As she read over her status screen one more time, she decided that she should test her new powers. Now if she only knew how.

To use your powers you simply focus on the target, decide which trait to use and then speak. For example, Harsh Mistress requires that you speak to your target in a hostile manner. Simply saying ‘I hate you.’ isn’t enough. You must truly mean what you say and your mana will create the effect. Be aware that mana is limited and will have side effects depending on how much you use at once. For example, Benji is suffering from Mana Exhaustion because he used more than was needed to heal you. The closer your mana gets to being depleted, the worse you feel.

The exhaustion and heavy breathing that overcame Benji once he healed her now made sense. If she could make him feel better just by speaking then it was the least she could do to repay him. Zoe took a deep breath, focused on Angelic Voice, and turned to focus on Benji.

“Pain, pain, go away.”

As she spoke she felt a slight pull at her chest that moved up her throat. A gentle glow surrounded Benji as he sat rubbing his head. The phrase was something her mother used to tell her when she was a little girl when she got hurt. It seemed like a silly thing to say but it worked. Benji lifted his head and stared at her.

Your soothing voice helped calm someone in need. You gain 10 experience. (10/100)

“This buff is amazing! What that one of your abilities?” he asked.

“Um, all of my abilities focus on what I say. That one regenerates health and mana and relieves stress. Did it help?”

“It’s incredible! Of course your class would be based around talking.” he chuckled.

She smiled while Benji got to his feet. He looked better than he did moments ago but she didn’t feel any different. It would be helpful to know it was working or not. If it worked all the time does that mean she uses her mana constantly?

Correct. Angelic Voice uses mana constantly to function but you naturally regenerate more mana than is required.

“What happens when you run out of mana?” She waited for voice of her AI to respond but nothing happened. Maybe that was something to worry about later. She needed to check on the other injured people like the AI pointed out.

Benji breathed a sigh of relief. He bent down to grab the strip of steel that he pulled from Zoe’s leg. After gripping it tightly he slashed his left forearm causing fresh blood to drip from the wound.

“Benji, what are you doing!?” Zoe screamed.

“Just experimenting with something. Heal.” Benji said with a grimace while holding his left arm.

Benji placed his right hand over the wound and the same golden light appeared, soaking into his skin. A few seconds later the gash was healed.

“Well, was trying to see if I gained experience for healing any injury but it didn’t work.” he said with a sigh.

Zoe looked in front of her briefly and replied “I’m at 10/100. What happens when it reaches 100?”

“In a game we would level up and get stronger but I’m not sure what will happen in real life.” Benji mused.

“We should leave but before we go, we need to help these people. If we work together I think we should be able to save them. I don’t know how long my mana will hold out but I should be able to use Heal on a few more people.”

“I’m right behind you.” Zoe replied, surprised by Benji’s willingness to help total strangers.

Satisfied with her answer, Benji began walking down the street. She hurried to catch up to him. Most people had ran away within the first few minutes of the World Spike impacting the planet, leaving most of the business district empty. Of those that remained, most were either panicking, injured, or dead. Even those few that remained to help the injured were leaving. Zoe couldn’t fault them for wanting to escape this place. Real life during a major catastrophe was much different than what movies made it seem.

After walking a short way down the block, they arrived at a man in a business suit who was sitting up against the front of an office building. His left leg was twisted at an odd angle, causing the man to grunt in pain occasionally as he tried to use his cellphone. Benji cautiously approached the man.

“Excuse me, sir? Can we help you?” Benji asked, while making sure to keep his distance from the man.

“I don’t know. I think my leg is broken. One minute I was walking to work and the next I was being trampled by a rush of people. Can I borrow your phone? Mine isn't working.” The man turned his phone around, showing the smashed screen.

“I don’t have a phone but we might be able to help your leg, if you let us.”

“Yes! Do you know first aid? Whatever you can do just please help me.”

Benji approached the man and knelt down, gesturing to Zoe to move forward.

“Sir, this is Zoe. She’s going to help you keep calm so just listen to her.”

Zoe cleared her throat and spoke. “Pain, pain, go away.”

Your soothing voice helped calm someone in need. You gain 10 experience. (20/100)

As a soft light wrapped around the man, she watched Benji carefully cut away at the man’s pants using a small piece of scrap metal. As Benji lifted away the ruined pant leg, she saw the man’s leg for the first time. The tibia was broken just below the knee causing the man’s lower leg and foot to sit at a 90 degree angle. She didn’t know if his magic would properly straighten the man’s leg by itself. Judging by what little experience he had so far, it would restore the damaged area without his help. Not wanting to risk further injury by moving the man’s leg, Benji placed both hands just above the injury and focused his mana.

“Heal.”

Golden light soaked into the man’s leg. Her question of whether they had to set the break was quickly answered with a sickening crunch as the man’s leg twisted itself back into place causing the man to cry out in pain. It took a bit longer to work but soon the man’s leg was completely healed, the bruised and torn tissue replaced by smooth, white skin.

“What just happened! How did you do that?” The man asked while checking his left leg.

“If you hear a voice speaking to you or see words floating in front of you, pay attention to them. You aren’t crazy and the voice just might get you through this.” Benji explained.

The man turned his head to the left and Benji guessed the man was listening to the AI assistant. Benji turned to Zoe and said, “Let’s go.”

Over the next twenty minutes they made their way around the two block area and were able to help several more people. Benji used his Divine Magic to heal three more people. Zoe used her Angelic Voice to soothe the injured people and a few more that were panicking. But they weren’t able to heal everyone. They counted more than two dozen people across the two block area who died. Although Benji had access to amazing spells, Zoe could only offer a silent prayer for the dead as they discovered each one.