Chapter 1 – Awakening.

What is this place?

Why are there so many corpses around me?

How did I get here?

Why can’t I remember anything?

I went to move, but jumped slightly when something brushed against my leg, making me look down in alarm only to pause when I noticed that what had brushed against my leg was a large pair of pitch black feathery wings that had now wrapped themselves around my waists and belly. Were these… my wings?

I slowly traced them with my fingers, brushing off some of the dust that was covering them while feeling up the hard feathers. They were hard, incredibly so, almost as hard as stone if I had to guess. They were attached to my lower back, applying a gentle pressure there that I just now noticed. I quickly realized that I can easily move them around like normal limbs, albeit just barely. My body feels far too weak right now to do even the simplest of movements.

I slowly spread them wide to my sides in order to measure them, then quickly estimated them to be almost three meters long while being as big as my torso.

I gently laid them down so to not blow up a large cloud of dust, my lungs and throat still burning and aching from when I woke up, then resumed my inspection of the large throne room I was in.

The ceiling had been cleanly cut off by something, showing the cloudy sky up above. The walls were almost completely destroyed, some having crumbled down due to time erosion while others were clearly blasted apart from some sort of artillery that left craters of varying size into the ground of the throne room. The only wall that was mostly intact was the one behind the throne, where the skewered headless skeleton sat.

A sudden feeling of disgust and hate started welling up inside of me once my eyes landed onto the headless skeleton. My hands clenched into tight fists and my eyes narrowing into a vicious glare.

I reeled back with a gasp, then blinked and shook my head. What the hell was that? My emotion ran out of control the moment I gazed at that skeleton for some reason. Is it tied to my past perhaps?

Speaking of my past; I can’t remember anything. I try and force myself to bring up a memory, a name or something, anything, but nothing comes up. Only a slight headache that makes me grimace.

I glance down so to inspect myself and see if I have anything on me that could help identify myself, but my tattered and dusty clothes have no pockets, and the only thing on the ground around me, beside the corpses and bones, is a rifle.

It’s quite long, probably around half the length of my wings, and it’s covered in a lot of dust. The barrel of the rifle is slightly rusted, but other than that it looked to still be in usable conditions. Albeit I did notice that it didn’t have a magazine to hold in ammunition for some reason.

Oh well, all the other weapons are completely covered in rust and would surely break instantly, so it’s not like I have much of a choice.

I reach over and carefully drag the rifle over before patting away some of the dust. It really doesn’t have a slot from where it could hold ammunition, so perhaps it’s some kind of musket? Weird how I know how weapons work, yet I can’t remember anything.

I sigh and shake my head before grabbing the rifle and lifted it into my arms, then I groaned as I went to stand with my still very stiff and sore body-

[Requirements to obtain a Class have been met!]

What?

[Requirements for the Soldier Class have been met!]

What’s with this voice in my head?

[Access to the System has been granted!]

System? What System-

Kaera

Race – Artificial Fallen Angel

Class – Soldier Lvl. 1

Stats;

(Body) – 6

(Vitality) – 4

(Agility) – 6

(Mind) – 5

(Spirit) – 5

[Available Status Points: 0]

Personal Skill/s;

[Analyze] Lvl. 1

Class Skill/s;

[Blaze Bullet] [+]

[Frost Bullet] [+]

[Stun Bullet] [+]

What the hell is this? All these words and numbers in my head… I could ‘see’ them, floating there, almost as if they were right in front of my eyes, yet they weren’t. This is so confusing.

It says that I have met the requirements to access the System and this ‘Soldier’ Class, but all I did was grab the rifle. Could grabbing a weapon or tool be the way one awakens their System and gains a Class? Or was that just a coincidence?

Either way, my Skills seem to be a bit off. I have a simple rifle, why would I gain magic bullets? Unless…

I look down at the rifle in my arms, then slowly lifted it up and aimed it towards the mostly destroyed wall to my left. I braced myself, then swiftly pulled the heavy trigger.

Bang!

I winced slightly at the strength of the recoil, but watched with wide eyes as a white orb shot out of the barrel and flew straight towards the wall I aimed at with incredible speed. The impact was quite strong too from what I could see, strong enough to leave a fist sized dent in the stone wall. This thing truly packs a punch…

I remember feeling a slight drain when I pulled the trigger, so I guess that this rifle is some sort of magical gun. It absorbs the Mana of the wielder and then shoots it out in the form of a bullet.

I hummed softly, then sat down the magical rifle onto my lap as I turned my attention back towards my ‘Status’. My skills were grayed out for some reason, but I think that I must pick one among them before I can use them. Or at least that’s what my gut instinct is telling me.

I pick one, and the other two disappear, possibly forever. How vexing. Can I even get some information on what they do somehow?

[Blaze Bullet]

Burns the stuck area.

That’s… very direct, short and simple. So I just think about the skill and it tells me what it does, got it.

[Frost Bullet]

Covers the struck area in frost.

Again, it’s very short and simple. Very useful and efficient if I do say so myself.

[Stun Bullet]

Hits with concussive force.

Useful, but I highly doubt my aim is very good right now. Blaze Bullet does sound good too, but I’d rather go for a debilitating skill than a damaging one, so Frost Bullet it is.

Kaera

Race – Artificial Fallen Angel

Class – Soldier Lvl. 1

Stats;

(Body) – 6

(Vitality) – 4

(Agility) – 6

(Mind) – 5

(Spirit) – 5

[Available Status Points: 0]

Personal Skill/s;

[Analyze] – Lvl. 1

Class Skill/s;

[Frost Bullet] – (1/10)

They did disappear. How annoying. Hopefully I can still gain them as I level up since every Skill has it’s own use. It also looks like that I can level them up too, but I do not know how just yet.

My mind drifted to the Analyze skill and my Status. I think I can guess what each stat does, but I’d rather be sure. As for the Analyze Skill, I’ll just use it on the rifle and find out.

[Medium Grade Weapon: Karkinoss Magic Rifle Mark 3]

Once an incredibly powerful magic rifle, but the erosion of time has lowered it’s grade and power. Still in usable conditions.

Karkinoss… Why does that name sound so familiar? Did I know them? Well, it’s a lead to my past, so I’ll make sure to remember this name. Albeit I doubt I’ll find much since it looks like centuries if not thousands of years have gone by.

I shook my head and decided not to give up hope, then focused back on my stats.

(Body)

Determines strength, defense and endurance of the body.

(Vitality)

Determines max health and regeneration speed.

(Agility)

Determines swiftness in all aspects, including stamina.

(Mind)

Determines the amount of Mana stored, and the regeneration of said Mana.

(Spirit)

Determines strength and raw speed of magic casted.

It looks like I’ll have to focus on Spirit and Mind and Agility then. My Class may look strong, but I’ll definitely lose in close quarter combat.

I shake my head and finally stand up, dusting myself off some more before wrapping my large wings around my legs, loose enough that I can still move and run. I don’t know if I can fly with them, but I can most definitely glide and slow my falls. Perhaps once my Body stat is higher I’ll be able to flap them with enough force to fly.

And then my attention falls on my name. Kaera.

That name and my race… they bring back some memories. They are faint, and I can just barely make out who and what I was before, but not my entire life.

I am but a tool. An artificial weapon created for war alongside many others. One that obediently follows the order of her contractors, not matter what they might be.

I strangely found myself accepting such things with ease. That is who I am, so why should I go against it? My creator might still be out there, and even if they aren’t, I can make use of my abilities and sell my services as a mercenary.

That is my only choice as I currently have nowhere to go and no further leads besides the name Karkinoss.

But first, I must get out of this place.

I tighten my hold on my rifle and send one last glare towards the headless skeleton on the throne before turning around and walking my way through the countless skeletons, still decaying corpses and debris.

There was barely anything left of the castle other than throne room and some walls outside of it, the rest had all crumbled away, even the long staircase leading down towards the city, which wasn’t in a much better shape.

There were no intact buildings, and some sections of the city were completely razed to the ground, while others were nothing more than massive craters.

I looked towards the distant and half destroyed walls of the city, then traced them all the way to the end, which was surprisingly very close. Half of the city was just gone. Nothing but a grassy valley behind it.

How is that even possible? Where is the rest of the city?

There wasn’t much I could see since I had too much rubble around me, and I couldn’t go around some if it as it ended in a large fall. As much as I wanted to see if the other side of the city was well and truly fully gone, I’d rather get out of here first. Maybe I can follow the walls once I get out to go and check it out.

I shake my head and focus on the mostly destroyed staircase in front of me, then spread my wings to the side as I start walking my way down slowly. It didn’t fully crumble down, so I can carefully walk down as long as it doesn’t suddenly give away.

I reach a five or six meter drop after walking down for barely a minute, then jump down without fear and smile when my wings actually help me glide down safely to the pile of rubble down below.

I give them a few strong flaps, then instantly regret it when I kick up a tower of dust, making me cough profusely as I rush out of it while waving my arm. I should have known better.

I shake my head and keep going down the stairs, sometimes having to jump from rubble to rubble to reach the next intact portion. Rinse and repeat three more times and I’m finally at the bottom of the staircase and at the beginning of a long street filled with corpses and rubble.

I freeze when I hear a strange noise coming from up ahead. It was a strange clicking sound, but I couldn’t really place it so I kept my rifle at the ready as I took slow and careful steps forward.

My eyes trailed along some of the still decaying corpses, half wondering how they aren’t skeletons just yet, and half wondering why they look like something has been chewing on them.

I get my answer soon when a loud screech made me jump, and a large creature resembling a rat and with dark brown fur came into view as it jumped on a large piece of rubble not far from me.

[Corpse Eater] – Lvl. 3

Those words were floating above the creature, making my eyes narrow at the difference in level. This thing might be dangerous.

[Corpse Eater] – Lvl. 3

A subspecies of rats that eats decaying corpses. Their fangs are drenched in a dangerous poison that decays the struck area.

Yep, very dangerous indeed. One bite from this thing and I’m done. The Analyze Skill is truly very useful.

I crouch down, glad that it still didn’t notice me as it seemed to be sniffing around. I quickly noticed that it didn’t have eyes, but it had a long spiky tail and was big enough that it could reach my knees even without standing on it’s hind legs.

To not speak about those large mandibles it has. Those things can easily rip apart flesh and bones.

I narrow my eyes, then glance around and smile as I quickly spot a small rock beside me. It might be a gamble, but I could lure it towards a corpse with this rock, then kill it before it can notice me by shooting it in the head. I doubt I’ll miss from such close proximity.

I slowly breathe in, then toss the rock to my right as I slowly step back, the clattering sound of the rock instantly being caught by the Corpse Eater. The monster proceeded to release a screech and jump down from the rubble it was on, then rushed straight where I threw a rock, completely ignoring me.

Good thing I didn’t try to shoot it while it was on the rubble in front of me. This thing is crazy fast and would have instantly caught up to me if I didn’t land a solid and debilitating hit.

The Corpse Eater instantly found the corpse near where I tossed the rock, and didn’t waste any time on chomping down onto the decaying flesh with it’s large mandibles.

I cursed softly under my breath when I noticed that I didn’t have a clear shot for it’s head, but I had one for it’s limbs, so I quickly took aim and took a slow breath.

Bang!

The Corpse Eater screeched as a Frost Bullet pierced into the flesh of it’s left hind leg, covering it’s dark fur in chilly frost as it trashed around, but I didn’t waste any time and rushed up to it, placed a foot on it’s side, and then shot a bullet straight into it’s head.

[Corpse Eater] – Lvl. 3 Has been killed!

Greater experience has been rewarded for killing a monster three times your level.

[Soldier] Class has Leveled Up! 5 Status Points have been rewarded!

Kaera

Race – Artificial Fallen Angel

Class – Soldier Lvl. 2

Stats;

(Body) – 6

(Vitality) – 4

(Agility) – 6

(Mind) – 5

(Spirit) – 5

[Available Status Points: 5]

Personal Skill/s;

[Analyze] – Lvl. 1

Class Skill/s;

[Frost Bullet] – (1/10)

Huh… Well, that’s cool.

I pull my attention away from the block of words inside my head and warily glance around and wait to hear if anymore of these creatures are coming over, but I quickly sigh in relief when I hear nothing after an entire quiet minute.

I shake my head and step away from the dead monster, then grimaced when I noticed the very sharp and long claws the Corpse Eater has. Yeah, shouldn’t have put a foot on it. I need to look out for these things in the future. It looks like Analyze doesn’t tell me everything about them, probably because of the low level.

I take a deep breath and turn back towards the street, then resume my walk towards the large gates that I saw from the remnants of the royal palace. They are straight ahead of me and all I have to do is to just walk forward, but the street is covered in rubble from the destroyed buildings, so it’ll take a while to reach them.

My thoughts drift towards the Frost Bullet I shot. From the drain that I felt and from what I can calculate, I can estimate that I can use it a total of ten times before I run out of Mana, thus also leaving me unable to use my rifle. But I can fix that with the newly gained Status Points, so I quickly put two on Mind and Spirit, then one in Vitality.

Kaera

Race – Artificial Fallen Angel

Class – Soldier Lvl. 2

Stats;

(Body) – 6

(Vitality) – 5

(Agility) – 6

(Mind) – 7

(Spirit) – 7

[Available Status Points: 0]

Personal Skill/s;

[Analyze] – Lvl. 1

Class Skill/s;

[Frost Bullet] – (1/10)

Much better. My Vitality is still my lowest stat, but I can easily fix that with a few more Levels. I’d rather make my Status completely even than focus only on the stats I need for my Class, but that’ll probably set me back. I need Mind and Spirit to be high so that my bullets can pack more of a punch.

Speaking of…

Bang!

I stare at the hole in the ground created from the bullet I just shot, then mentally compared it to the one I made within the throne room. Quite a bit bigger, but I quickly decide to not rely on it since the materials used for the road might not be the same as the throne room. Besides the ground was already very damaged.

I shake my head and swiftly crawl my way up the large pile of debris and rotten wood that blocked the road. It’s not too big, so I quickly reached the top, only to groan when I noticed two Corpse Eater up ahead.

Surprisingly they didn’t seem to be alerted by my gunshots from before, but are instead sizing each other up, a half eaten corpse in-between them.

[Corpse Eater] – Lvl. 2

[Corpse Eater] – Lvl. 3

This might be troublesome. I kill one and the other instantly comes for me. Luckily enough one of them looked injured already, probably because of the corpse between them, which is another Corpse Eater.

So they don’t get along with each other, and the Lvl. 3 Corpse Eater got into a scuffle with the dead one, won, very likely Leveled Up from it, and then was attacked by the Lvl. 2 Corpse Eater while it was enjoying it’s spoils.

I made my way down once they started tearing into each other, and I can’t help but wonder if they are immune to their own poison.

I slowly approach them, unafraid of being heard since they are screeching quite loudly, then raise my rifle when I’m close enough.

Bang!

The Lvl. 3 Corpse Eater screeched as a Frost Bullet pierced into it’s back, the sound of the gunshot making the other one flip towards me.

Bang!

[Corpse Eater] – Lvl. 2 has been killed!

Experience has been rewarded for killing an enemy.

Only for it to die to an icy blue Frost Bullet piercing into it’s brain, splattering blood everywhere while the rest of it’s head was covered in frost.

I quickly aimed to the other Corpse Eater that was trashing on the ground, then finished it off after two more shots, the first having missed since it kept trashing around because of the wound on it’s back.

[Corpse Eater] – Lvl. 3 has been killed!

Experience has been rewarded for killing an enemy.

I didn’t level up from that? Weird. Or maybe I’m on the very edge of Leveling Up again.

Either way, I need to hurry out of here. These creatures are far too dangerous for me, a single bite will be my doom. I’d rather raise my Level by killing monsters that aren’t poisonous, especially in the early stages.

I clicked my tongue when I heard several more screeches ringing around me, making me grip my rifle tightly as I started rushing towards the next blockade of rubble and debirs, this one being small enough that I could just jump to scale it.

I turned my head to glance behind me for just a second just in time to see three more Corpse Eater rush into the street, two of them instantly starting to feast on the carcasses of the Corpse Eaters that I killed while the strongest of them, a Lvl. 5, started sniffing the air, then turned it’s head straight towards me.

I cursed softly when it screeched, then quickly started catching up with me even as I moved my stiff legs as fast as I could.

I reached the rubble and flipped around while aiming my rifle towards the incoming monster. I quickly noticed that it was much larger than the others, and that it’s fur was black instead of brown. Some kind of Alpha perhaps.

I crossed my large wings in front of me as I narrowed my eyes, then pulled the trigger, cursing softly when the first bullet missed. I really hope I gain a Skill that makes me aim better in the future.

Bang!

A Frost Bullet flew through the air, but only grazed the side of the charging monster, who proceeded to jump straight towards my face while opening it’s fang mouth wide open.

So of course I placed the muzzle of my rifle straight into the open mouth and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

I winced when blood splattered on my face, but I ignored that and the notification that rang inside my head so to turn around and quickly scale the mound of rubble and reach the other size, now even closer to the gates.

I don’t want to waste time so I just kept running as fast as I could, keeping my guard up while I quickly wiped my cheeks clean with the dusty sleeve of my tattered shirt.

I don’t hear any Corpse Eaters following me or around me, but I still keep running. I’m lucky that the streets are hard to traverse and some are even blocked, else I’m sure the place would be swarming with them.

I relax slightly when I notice that the gates are actually very close, so I throw a glance around and slow down into a jog so to catch my breath. I’ll definitely raise my Agility and Body next, the faster I can run the better.

I’m forced to take a quick detour around the crumbled remains of what looked like to be a siege weapon buried beneath the debris of the buildings around it.

Luckily it takes me just a few minutes to quickly find a spot that I could climb over by removing some stuff out of the way, so I finally allow myself to sigh in relief as I start walking towards the open gates.

A strange sense of freedom makes me smile as I walk beneath the intact arc of the gates and step onto the green grass outside.

A gust of wind makes me wince slightly as my hair are blown along with the wind, but I quickly relax and gaze out at the seemingly endless green valley in front of me. Hopefully there is some kind of civilization close by as I’d rather not spend the night in the middle of nowhere.

I freeze as I suddenly feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up as a horrifying feeling wells up in my chest.

Someone is looking at me.

I narrow my eyes and flip around while lifting my rifle and aiming towards nothing.

What…?

Where did the city just go…?

I slowly lower my rifle as I take a few steps back, gulping loudly as I looked left and right, but still saw nothing but endless grassy plains.

The city is gone. It just vanished! How?!

This doesn’t make any sense!

“What the hell is going on…” I groan as I run a hand through my long hair, but then just shake my head and turn back around. Would anyone even believe me if I told them that I woke up inside of a city that ended up disappearing once I left it?

I sighed softly before I started walking towards a nearby hill. I couldn’t help but also notice how painfully thirsty and hungry I am. This really isn’t good…

Kaera

Race – Artificial Fallen Angel

Class – Soldier Lvl. 3

Stats;

(Body) – 6

(Vitality) – 5

(Agility) – 6

(Mind) – 7

(Spirit) – 7

[Available Status Points: 5]

Personal Skill/s;

[Analyze] – Lvl. 1

Class Skill/s;

[Frost Bullet] – (1/10)

Oh good, I Leveled Up again after killing that Lvl. 5. That shot was incredibly lucky as I have a feeling that it wouldn’t have killed the Corpse Eater even after hitting it in the head, so shooting it through the mouth was the much better option, which the monster helpfully gave me.

As for my stats, I guess I’ll put one in Vitality, two in Agility, and two in Spirit. More speed and firepower sound extremely good right now.

Kaera

Race – Artificial Fallen Angel

Class – Soldier Lvl. 3

Stats;

(Body) – 6

(Vitality) – 6

(Agility) – 8

(Mind) – 7

(Spirit) – 9

[Available Status Points: 0]

Personal Skill/s;

[Analyze] – Lvl. 1

Class Skill/s;

[Frost Bullet] – (1/10)

My Frost Bullet is still at Level 1 even though I have used it quite a few times. Perhaps I need to kill enemies with it instead of just debilitating or hitting them? A theory to try out in the future, but for now let’s focus on finding food and civilization.

I pause once I reach the top of the hill, then grimace softly when I still couldn’t see any sort of civilization.

Well, I could see a river, and a forest beyond that, so those might be a good source of food and maybe clean water. I do want to wash away all of this dust too, so the river is a godsend.

I slowly look around to make sure I am not missing anything, but I quickly confirm that there truly is nothing else besides the river and the forest in the distance other than just grass and more hills.

So I lift my rifle up, sigh softly, and then start walking towards my new destination.

This day is going to be a long one...