The inside was dark, stuffy and icky warm; there was also this strong scent like a mixture of breath mints and stagnant pond water.

There was a set of stairs going straight up on the left of the entrance hallway and we could see the outline of something horrible coming down them.

As Xno’s spotlights crept over the nightmare creature, he let out a low synth growl in warning.

Pale hands calmly probed around the handrail and wall, looking for places to grip, and it was crawling on all fours down the stairs, like a slow-moving insect; the arms and legs were unnaturally long.

Nope. Nope. This has to be some kind of sick joke.

The creature recoiled slightly at the light, but it had no eyes or ears.

It was a featureless humanoid in a dirty shredded striped suit that was probably several metres tall, if standing.

A fucking Slenderman!?

A myth created online, originally for the sake of spooking people out.

Even if it wasn't, why the fuck is it wearing a suit!?

It was different to the pristine version people had edited into black and white photos, with the suit being dirty and ripped in places; but that was the least of my concerns right now.

The faceless thing moved its head towards my direction, indicating it could see or sense me; not exactly sure how, though.

It… smiled.

A thin line peeled open into a wide gaping grin, and I could see at least a dozen rows of human canine teeth, all slightly slanted inwards.

It didn't have a tongue, just rows of small pearly canines disappearing into the throat.

I started to step back as I really was NOT interested in a confrontation with this nightmare.

It made a purring clicking sound and continued its descent, increasing its pace.

My mind and instincts were once again asking me to flee as fast as possible, but I reminded myself that anything we left behind, would just come back to haunt us.

Before I could contemplate any further, the Slenderman lunged forward with one arm outstretched aiming for my face, probably taking my step back as a sign of weakness.

The past few months of practise and experience fighting for my life had hardened me, and instead of panicking.

I turned to my side and planted my back foot as I shoulder-charged with my shield side forward directly into the outstretched large hand.

The hand crumpled and I stopped in place as the creature squealed like a demonic guinea-pig, cradling the crumpled hand.

Instead of waiting, I brought both shields into the mantis position and made two large strides as I shoulder-charged forward again.

The creature was very fast and reacted to my approach with inhuman speed, launching itself up onto the ceiling where it used its remaining functional long arms and legs to wedge itself like a spider, causing me to skid into the bottom of the stairs with the momentum I’d built up.

But my body reacted as if it knew this was going to happen, the ‘ATIP’ feature paying off, and I rapidly stepped up two steps of the staircase and then leant back to avoid falling over. I could see the energy being dispersed from my feet and was dispersed as a mist of heated, faint-blue Majik, smouldering the carpet slightly as it dissipated.

Barely a second had passed before I jumped down from the step but the monsters arm blurred with motion as it swiped down at my face, managing to claw deep gashes in my cheek and tearing a large part of my ear lobe off and greedily stuffed my flesh into its mouth, chomping it down.

Growling at the ice-hot pain, I crouched; my shields shifted to point upwards and I jumped up and kicked off a radiator to gain more momentum as I launched my self up towards its torso; my shields aimed pointy end first for the stomach area, tilted up towards the heart and lungs.

The creature tried to shift to the side in an attempt to evade. But my shields immediately compensated and darted in like a snake striking, slicing into the fabric and its flesh. I dropped back down neatly on my feet as my shields returned to their default position and shuddered, cleaning themselves of the dark icon that was also pouring out of the monster's wounds.

As I shifted back a few steps, panting heavily from the adrenaline, it let out a wet gargle as it choked on its own blood-filled lungs but it rapidly lost its strength and flopped down onto the floor.

Putting a foot on its lower leg, one of my shields shifted down and severed it at the knee like a guillotine.

That’s for the ear, you fucker.

The act wasn’t just revenge violence; it was also a utility move to trigger my drain effect. From where my shield sliced through the leg, an azure blue and black chain reaction took place, rapidly eating into the severed limb and breaking it down into shimmer which flowed to my wounds, regenerating them extremely fast. I could feel my missing flesh filling back in with new tissue and the sensation felt like pouring sugar onto bare skin.

Triya came in and didn’t take her eyes off the Slenderman as she approached. The thing tried to lift an arm up to defend itself, which she kicked aside and mercilessly staked her weapon into the side of its temple, putting an end to its existence.

It was somewhat of a short fight, but I was practically built for these kinds of fights, and as morbid as it sounded, I was becoming more and more effective with each kill.

The fear is always there, however; I mused as I stared at my shaking hands, breathing heavily.

“Thanks-” *breath* “-hooooo, that-” *breath* “-was creepy!”

The fact that it was fucking wearing clothes...

That was the first time we’d seen something like that and it was really bugging me.

I didn’t like surprises, especially pinstripe-suited ones.

We’ll need to let Steve and the others know about it.

The corpse rusted over and we collected our shimmer before swiftly grabbing all the food we could carry. The kitchen was extremely well stocked and untouched, so we would mark this one for the others to come and clear out.

The safe zone was about a 30 minute walk back, one of the furthest trips we had done, so we started heading back, retracing our initial path.

It was now not too surprising to see other people or groups darting about, checking houses. But it was still quite rare, and either they would wave you down and ask if you had a safe place to stay, or they would keep their head down and avoid you like the plague.

We hadn’t really seen gangs or aggressive people trying to take advantage of lawlessness.

Maybe because people learned quickly that you could try and bully a weedy looking guy, but chances are he can now summon stone shards to skewer you from your arse to your mouth.

But I liked to think that the real reason was because people realised that we, humanity, were at risk of extinction and we needed to start looking out for each other.

We made it back to the gates without much incident apart from seeing a Grinners face staring at us from a 2nd floor window as we walked past it. There had been a serious temptation to burn the house to the ground or just in there and smash its fucking ugly grinning face in, but, getting the food back was more important. Always.

When we got back, we dropped our bags off at the ‘Tavern’. Which was essentially a row of houses that had been gutted out and converted into an eatery and food storage, with a few chefs opting to handle the cooking for everyone.

We’d all agreed it was in everyone's best interest to all contribute food so that nobody would go hungry. Everyone chipped in wherever they could, either with scavenging, helping with the food garden project, guarding, construction or repairs, childcare, and some even offered to do cleaning or laundry.

Marri had been helping with the food garden project, as she knew a few tricks in growing things like lettuce and salads. It was perfect for her as she could keep Lone in the baby carrier or pop him in the bassinet buggy whilst she tended to the growing.

Sylvie had become somewhat of the council leader, working with several others that had knowledge of logistics. They worked together to keep tabs on everyone and what everyone was doing and plans on how we were going to either get in contact with whatever remained of our government, or if there was any government remaining out in the world.

There had been no sign of the authorities or government, nor had there been any planes or helicopters to suggest civilisation wasn’t completely written off.

Hell, even the new people that had come to join us had even less of a clue than we did; some didn’t even know about the EXP or Majik!

How they survived for this long was truly mind blowing to me.

That night we ended up going for dinner at 8pm. The community had a window of 5pm - 9pm to grab dinner, with leftovers being stored in the underground fridge for the morning. One of the residents had the skill to create large icicles, initially to use as projectiles that freeze targets, so the builders constructed the underground store for the Tavern and then filled that up with chest freezers and the ice man goes down to freeze them every few days.

After a delicious dinner of spaghetti, tomato sauce with tinned vegetables.

I kissed Marri good night, leaving her laughing and chatting with her girlfriends, which included Sylvie, Erza, Lyra, and amusingly, Steve, which gave me a good chuckle as I pottered off to bed early.

We were still staying at Sylvie's house and I hadn’t managed to leave my favourite spot on the landing with a mattress yet. There was just something very comforting about that spot, and that I could continue to keep guard whilst giving the girls on the top floor their privacy.

If I was being truthful, I was very excited about sleeping because if my estimates were correct, there should be a level up awaiting me, which would mean I would have enough points to upgrade a specific skill I’d be waiting for.

Saving skill points had been somewhat of a huge risk, but we were here now and I was hoping my determination would now pay off.

….

…

..

.

*Bing-Bang-Bong-Bung*

We’re now opening a new checkout for you; please unload your EXP into the nearest maelstrom.

Hah-hah very funny you.

She was lying on a very large bed that was essentially just a monolithic slab floating a few inches off the ground horizontally, with a mattress and duvet made of void, with galaxies and shimmer swirling around endlessly inside it. It didn’t make sense, but it looks pretty.

Her head was tilted off the edge to look at me as she gave a smile that reached her eyes and blew a large pink bubble-gum bubble, which popped as she threw away her mirror-looking tablet and rolled backwards off the bed before blinking out and reappearing mid air in front of me, hurtling towards me.

I caught her in midair and embraced her with an affectionate hug, twirling her around.

She was always genuinely happy to see me and not once had she missed a chance to greet me in such an affectionate way.

We had spent as much time as possible just chatting and discussing ideas or theories and I can honestly say that it was becoming dangerously addictive to spend time here with her.

But we both had a deep endless love for Marri and Lone.

An unconditional directive to make sure they both stayed safe and prospered, so all our conversations were, in one shape or another; how can we better ourselves to keep them safe?

She rubbed her soft cheek against mine giggling, lulling me into a false sense of security before making a growling noise and attacking me with a fake vampire bite on my neck.

“Arghh! H-Hey!”

Blinking out of existence, she laughed victoriously and reappeared above the bed and flopped down onto it, putting her head onto her hands, seemingly pleased with her antics.

You let your guard down again! What if I was just some kind of mind control attack and you were hallucinating this whole thing, hmm?

You.

Would.

Be.

Deeeead.

Rubbing my neck, I frowned.

Huh. I never thought about that..

“Hmm, next time you come flying at me, I’ll have to just drop kick you instead.”

BAHAHA! Yes! AHAHA! That is brilliant!

She was rolling on the duvet laughing, her socks off wiping glitter tears from her eyes, clearly finding my joke way funnier than others would.

Ohh ‘I’ll dRoP kICk yOU iNsTeAd’ ahahah!

Oh. She was mocking me, putting on a gruff voice.

Laying down onto her back, she sighed happily and lifted a hand up to summon her mirror tablet. It was a small thing she used to watch memories or interact with other things in the garden.

Alright mister. We both know what you are eager to do so go on.

She flapped her hand towards the maelstrom.

Go get your rewards!

Smiling sarcastically, I strode over to the maelstrom and looked thoughtfully at my stats.

STRY.KYR - MAGN.15.219

HP [==163/163HP==]

MP [==172/172MP==]

EP [==1%EP==]++

DS [==1%XX==]++

Sword 18

Shield 17

Feather 21

Glyph 23

[1] Attribute points available.

Still don’t know what MAGN means, she didn’t know what it meant either, but we had confirmed now that the number after it is my experience level and the numbers after that are how far off I was from the next level shown in a value that went from 0 to 999.

So right now I was at EXP level 15, and my progress was 219 out of 999.

I quickly tapped my Feather stat to bring it up to 22, I really appreciated being quick on my feet these days and I wasn’t too worried about my attack or defence prowess thanks to my skills.

Now, to finally use my hard-earned skill points.

[5] Skill points available.

[EV] [OMDC] Overbreak Mass Drain Combat - I -> II [2+2+1]

II - ATIP efficacy upgraded. Successful drain attacks have a chance to siphon a random attribute point.

Note: The target must be a stronger entity.

Unlock [Pecho Tech I] Skill.

Shoulder Rush II -> III [3]

III - KE is infused with MJK to guarantee stun. A successful hit will return 90% of energy and MJK cost.

SMDS [Smart Enabled] II -> III [3]

III - Greatly increases speed and defence. Shield reconfiguration options are unlocked.

Pecho Tech, whatever you are, here we come! I slapped the tablet showing an animated pair of fists punching a surface, using all 5 of my points.

[EV] [OMDC] Overbreak Mass Drain Combat - I -> II…Processing..

Wincing in anticipation, I took a few steps back, but I spun around as I heard her screaming in pain.

She was writhing on the bed, clutching her head, prompting me to dash over.

“WHAT’S WRO-UERRK.” The words were choked off and I barely made it a few steps before searing pain stormed through my head, mainly around my eye sockets and ears drums.

My heartbeat became deafening and my vision was filled with the entire spectrum of colours strobing and crawling around on a void background.

After counting the seconds to stop myself from going insane, I got to 8 before finally my vision cleared and gasping; the pain drained from my head and pulsed through my body in a prickly wave several times before fading out completely.

Laying on the floor, I could hear her moaning, and, looking up, I saw her still on the swirling galaxy-filled bed covers, curled up into a ball, rubbing her temples.

Uff..THAT was awful!

“Ugh. Tell me about it..you alright? What happened to you? Was it because I got a new ability?”

Not sure. I do not think so-

She paused, and sat up; her beautiful, sparkling, golden eyes as wide as saucers, gawking at her mirror tablet.

OH-W-wow! Godu go take a look!

Sluggishly, I raised my eyes and read the text.

“Oh wow.”

New Skill evolved:

Pecho Tech I

Using entangled Ions, perform mass spectrometry to retrieve data and assess target state.

Information will be displayed through a Neural Visual Display (NVD) [INSTALLED].

Current Target Data that can be obtained: LABEL, HP, MAGN, KAR.

[EV] [OMDC] Overbreak Mass Drain Combat - II

I - Mass Drain effect enabled. The effect depends on how much mass is disconnected from the target.

Combat skill set increased.

NS long latency reduced by 50%

Autonomous Target Intent Prediction (ATIP)

High Value Area feedback & bonus damage on next HVA hit.

II - ATIP efficacy improved and visual cues enabled, incoming high risk attacks or projectiles will now be highlighted.

Successful drain attacks have a chance to siphon a random attribute point. 10% chance, requires stronger targets.

This had been, a very good decision.

All those times I’d been so tempted to use the points; all those times I was concerned that I was playing with death by not using any possible advantage or boon, were now worth the torment and anxiety.

I was slightly bummed out that the chance to siphon an attribute point was only 10%, but still, an attribute point is practically a whole level?! That is bonkers!

Also, very exciting about being able to gain information about targets.

It was going to be really interesting to see how that works and how a Neural Visual Display looks like.

This is perfect! I can feel the display, which means you should be able to check on your own state and data at any time!

She was hopping from foot to foot with excitement and it was infectious.

Now I am really excited to see how this is going to look!

Not only that! But we should be able to highlight vulnerable or high value target areas, plus!-

She threw her mirror towards me and as it travelled through the air straight towards me, I could see it had a red glow, highlighting it. As I stepped to the side, the glow faded until I was no longer in its path.

-incoming threat cues! We’ll also be able to assess and highlight hazards, no matter how obscure or abstract they may be.

She lowered her head in a predatory way, fixating on me with a sly evil grin.

Frowning, I was about to ask her what she was doing, when I got the terrifying feeling something was behind me and my vision slightly darkened round the edges. I spun round, but there was nothing there.

Excellent! She clapped.

That was just a test, don't fret, my brave warrior.

It’s no sixth sense, but all your survival instincts are augmented through exploiting Majik! For example, you’ll be able to sense displacement in the air and any ambient Majik floating around, giving you an idea of the size, speed and rough direction of objects around you.

Cool. I chuckled, thinking about how this type of thing would have blown my mind a few months ago, but now it’s just another day on the job.

The rest of the night ended the same way it always did now, spending time practising a few moves; discussing the most effective tactics and strategies; talking about some fond memories, and then finally drifting off into actual sleep.

***