Annika was one of 4 children that belonged to a tribe of Zulus in what was formerly south Africa, tall, dark with long limbs and quite the body figure, she had cut an impressive figure as a student of cultural history at the university of Pretoria. Born to a family of former tribal warriors her father had ensured none of his kids had lost touch with their roots, twice a week they traveled back to their hometown to meet with the native Zulus who still stuck to their old live style, living in huts and hunting gazelles and other wild animals with spear practice and shields made of strong barks of the mahogany trees found around the area as well as the skin of their prey, in their spare time the tribesmen took free tech classes in the city and were civil servants as well as shop owners also, well to do at that.

Perhaps fate in its cruel manner had made sure her family were together when the archailect came to earth, the messenger had appeared in the air supposedly over the capital city of cape town. Televised live on tv she saw the reboot of the world, felt the earth crack up beneath her feet and watched her parents and siblings get sucked away in different flashes of light. Finding herself in an unknown area with nothing but the clothe she had on and her spear, Annika had fought to stay alive as the very landscape around her had grown into mutated killing beings, trees used roots to gore humans to death, animals grew to five times their size and the already lethal ones became more lethal, she had once seen an alligator grow to crazy size and gobble a few men she was with together.

The radio became static, no reception of connection, no electricity, it was like they were back in the stone age, all except the game like status screen that appeared in her vision the first time she killed a jacked-up rabbit with her spear that was slowly losing its edge and a taser she had on her to ward off the men that had almost gone feral on her. Gaining 5 common aether crystals and a class known as battlemage, Annika had felt her body constrict as heat flared up in her stomach, currents running through her body like she was being electrocuted, and while it lasted for a short while, Annika was pretty sure she didn’t want to experience such pain in her life again.

Recovering from her ordeal, she saw the same welcoming message that explained the archailect to her as everyone who had killed a sentient being immediately after the world had reset. Sitting through the tutorial she had came to terms with no small amount of tears that this was her new reality, choosing to move forwards despite the fact that she had no idea where she was with a crazy computer like system was ruling the world, she had decided to play along and get stronger, it was the only thing that kept her alive up to this point.

Choosing to put her mere 40 points into both intelligence and constitution seeing as the intelligence helped improve her mana core, something that if she understood acted as a reservoir for her aether and the constitution to ensure she survived whatever ordeal she found herself and not die in one hit, taking a look at her stat table,

Name: Annika

Class: Battlemage

Path: -

Body: N/A

Level: 2(fledgling)

Title:

Skills:

Lightning spear -1

attributes:

STR: 20 END: 20 W.P: 10 CNS: 30 DEX: 10 INT: 70

Apparently, the average attributes were level 10, she had crushed the aether crystals and watched most of the dust siphon into her body and the mana core in her stomach fill up, then came the first spear skill she got, lightning spear. Testing it on the next creature she saw, a level 5 boar, she had jumped from a tree, driving the spear through the head of the unsuspecting boar as she instinctively activated the attack, mana flowed from her core, nearly draining it dry and tore into the boars’ head, skull exploding and dousing her with gore. The kill was enough to take her up to level 5, her skill had gone up to level 3 and she got 5 more common crystals she had broken into dust and absorbed into her core. Gaining 60 points she had added a whooping 40 to her intelligence and 10 each in strength and endurance, seeing as she had to drag the kills back to their camp and quickly at that.

That night she explained to the band of over a hundred people who came together about the system, explaining what they had to do to get stronger as most of them were adults and weren’t used to the game like reality they had been tossed into. Her two friends, or close accomplices as friends were too strong a word to use for people you had just met due to desperation had also gone out that dusk to hunt a few critters with her help. Idris and Ayo, the former a 20year old pro boxer with toned body from Egypt who came to south Africa on holiday, and the latter, coincidentally a student of the university of Pretoria also who was good with a bow and arrow.

Idris had gotten the class brawler while Ayo had gotten the class archer, both up their fields. Idris had gotten a common skill power punch while Ayo had gotten the common skill deadly shot, both of them using the skills and leveling up to 5 along with their skills at level 5. Conferring with Annika, they had both decided to follow her advice and build their attribute table according to their builds, Idris going for more of strength, endurance and constitution, while Ayo went more along the lines of dexterity, endurance and constitution. Annika had watched as the both of them wondered why they didn’t get cores, she chalked it up to them getting classes that required no cores. They had laughed and joked on the way back to their camp, eyes alight with a bit of joy as they somehow felt safer with their level ups, meeting few of the men that had been wise to also go out to get classes such as warrior, hunter, etc.

That was when disaster struck, getting back to camp to see the aliens, tying up people in groups. Some of the men who had wives had run ahead to challenge the aliens with whatever crude weapons they had with them,

They had been struck down in a flash, the creatures laughing at executing those who fought back with precise movements and with the laser like gun they had at their waist. A woman had seen her husband killed and attacked the aliens too, they had lobbed off her head in a flash. Choosing to surrender Annika and her friends had been matched into the ovoid ship with their hands cuffed and linked with chains that pulsed with electric currents, she had curiously grabbed it and felt the current tear through her body in a flash in both pleasure and pain, her eyes lighting up as she fell, the aliens laughing at her predicament, a notification came up in her Hud,

Congratulations! you have gotten the skill energy siphon(c)1!

Hiding her grin as she was dragged to her feet, Idris and Ayo asking her if she was alright, she nodded and kept quiet, unwilling to draw the attention of the aliens, especially the one in black, who seemed to be their boss, eyes glancing at them all. According to the messenger they had 30 days of grace which still had a few days to go, so why were they being hunted?. Annika had put that thought to the back of her mind as the people around her had begun to sob, hand clasping the energy that flowed through the chains she had begun to siphon the energy, reducing the pressure on others linked to it, especially the children. Her eyes had narrowed in anger as she watched how they treated kids, she made sure not to forget the faces of those aliens that did so, as well as she could seeing as they all looked the same to her, picking out little differences with their hairstyles and the like.

It was Idris that brought up the alarming reality,

“we’re leaving the green zone” he said, his deep voice not suited for whispering,

Annika had quickly checked the map on her Hud to confirm, a cold feeling permeating her body, confirming what Idris said. They had all seen the info that informed them of the zones, they had been in zone 5 in a green zone, far away from the border of the yellow zone, content to wait till they received help from some kind as the majority of the people failed to believe that the government no longer existed. Now they watched as their marker on the map passed through the border of the green zone and into the yellow zone, a warning appearing on their Hud informing them to go back to the green zone lest they get caught in the swarm of level 50-75 monsters that would infest this zone. Ayo had glanced at them both, her cheerful personality gone as her pragmatic self was back,

“we’re being used either as workers or fodder for something, either way these sons of bitches don’t care if we live or die, its why they took us in droves” she said,

Idris had nodded along, Annika biting her lip, there was nothing they could do in their current situation, their fear spiking as they saw the craft approaching the red zone but sighing in some sort of relief as they landed close to the border of the red zone, the aliens herding them out like cattle to sit on the ground while they unloaded all their gears from the ship that seemed to contain more space than she thought possible. Watching the stoic leader who had said nothing throughout the journey walk into the distance, perhaps to scout around for any local mutated lifeforms. The aliens had carried a box with cautiousness, placing it down beside the ship and began tossing the rest of their weird looking equipment, Annika had guessed that whatever was in that box with weird writings on them belonged to the boss or was some explosive gear.

That was when she saw it..the figure that seemed to phase in and out of reality, at first she thought her eyes could be deceiving her but when she saw the dark skinned man who she was definitely sure was human at this point open the very air with his hand and throw the box into some black hole, she had gawked in surprise. Was that a human?, had he grown that strong?, where had he come from?

“Did you guys see that?” she whispered as both Idris and ay turned to her, puzzled,

“See what?” Ayo asked,

“a man, he kept disappearing and appearing, he stole the aliens’ box” she replied,

Idris had stared at her like an adult explaining something to a child,

“No human can survive out here, at least if we go by the system, it could had been one of the aliens” he replied

“Besides, its not like any of us or the others can disappear and appear at will” Ayo replied tiredly,

Annika let it drop, they hadn’t seen what she has seen, man or something else she was sure they were not alone. As she scanned the horizon, she saw the black figure phasing away in the distance till it stopped at a tree, glancing at the boss who had returned back to the camp and had begun shouting at its subordinates who shook in fear, Annika could feel the bloodlust coming off the alien and she shivered, glancing at where the figure in the tree stood, silently praying it came back.

By night the whole camp was quiet, the humans Huddled together in fright, save for a few of them who still looked on with determination, as if waiting for the right moment to plan an escape under the watchful gaze of their abductors. It was under this cover of darkness, Moyo who had donned the robe his master had given him snuck into the camp, dominion in his hand he dimension stepped behind a Xerran and with used his katana to lob off the head of the unsuspecting alien, watching as the body crystallized and broke apart. The initiate Xerran was dead before it touched the ground, his eyes sharp in the night he glanced around at the surroundings, watching the Xerrans Huddle together in their floating encampment that looked cozy while they left the humans to the cold. Opening a spatial rift and storing his blade, he dimension stepped towards the human clustered together, appearing amongst them like a ghost, quietly,

“you” he heard a feminine voice whisper,

Turning to see Annika staring at him with wide eyes as the muscular man close to her and another girl also stared in shock, Moyo raised an eyebrow and placed a finger to his lips in silence. The three strangers nodded mutely, too shocked to even talk,

“Are you human?” Annika asked,

“Last I checked” Moyo replied with a chuckle,

“how did you-“

“Not now, I don’t have much time, I need to be in and out of this camp before their advocate shows up, preferably with everyone here” he whispered as he cut of the muscular man whose name he saw from staring at him was Idris,

“Do you know where the acolytes are?” he asked,

Annika nodded, Idris glancing to the far left where a floating platform stood out from the rest, Moyo nodded, figured the acolytes would separate themselves from the initiates,

“you would take on three acolytes by yourself?, how strong are you?, where’s your team?, are you alone?” the girl who introduced herself as Ayo said,

“not the time and place, when the fight starts, take everyone towards that tree line and wait for me, don’t go too far, you’ll end up as food for the creatures here” Moyo said, already preparing to move,

“what can’t I see your identity?, I’m supposed to just trust a stranger?” Annika asked, eyes narrowed at him,

Moyo smirked as a spatial rip opened behind him, their eyes widening in shock,

“I don’t, I also don’t want you all dead, move it” he commanded and fell through the hole as it closed up behind him.

Annika and the rest stared as the spatial rip had gotten the attention of few of the rest of the humans whose eyes widened, Annika snapped to attention, nudging Idris and Ayo who turned to her,

“Well let’s move!” she whispered furiously,

“we don’t know if he’s human!, we can’t trust him!, plus you saw the gap difference from us to initiates, you think one man can take on an acolyte, much less three?” Ayo whispered,

Idris was about to chip in when the whole camp saw space tear open above the platform of the acolytes and the man fell through, swinging his blade and causing them all to shiver as the very air rang, the platform sliced in two, one of the alien acolytes screaming in pain as he lost an arm that crystallized as it felt down towards the camp, Annika turned to them,

“let’s move!” Idris said, whispering to the rest of the humans who laid on the floor and began crawling, hands still chained together,

‘Wait a minute” Annika said as she gripped the chain hard, much to the alarm of Ayo and Idris and began siphoning the current into her body, the chains clanked to the ground as people began to whisper and move quickly, the initiate aliens and fledgling raising the alarm,

Annika grabbed the fledgling before it could bring its weapon to bear and released the current instinctively into the alien who screamed and popped like a balloon, blue blood splashing everywhere, the other fledglings staring in shock,

“Run!” Idris bellowed as he punched a fledgling and watched the head cave in,

Pandemonium broke out, the initiates appearing along with the rest of the fledgling and surrounded them, barking in their gruttal language, Annika looked around, desperately searching for a weapon to use when she felt something pass them all and the aliens too. With a resounding thud all the aliens fell to the ground as if gravity had been increased unable to lift a finger, blood pouring from their eyes, a loud voice shouted,

“Kill them!”

Annika grinned, it had been the man that came to save them,

“How strong is he?” Idris asked as he began caving in the heads of the fledglings, he had the right idea,

“Everyone! kill the fledglings first! Level up” she shouted,

With a roar all the humans moved with fury, stomping and ripping into the aliens, Annika ignored the leveling up messages, turning and running into the ship and spotted where their weapons were kept, with a grin she carried them out, more humans running after her to distribute the rest, from spears to knives to hammers, crude weapons in all. The slaughter began as the clash of the acolytes above thundered around them but not reaching them. Annika channeled lightning from her core into the spear and began taking out the initiates, gaining experience in the numbers till finally none was left. In their battle fury they had annihilated all the Xerrans in rage.

The clasp of thunder shook them from their stupor, Idris grabbing her as they began running for the tree lines as the man had instructed, everyone else began running too, as Annika ran along, it started as a chuckle, then giggles that Idris imitated and then laughter. Their minds running through what had just happened…

As Moyo appeared over the platform he gathered intent blades over his katana and swiped down, prepared to keep hacking at the platform that looked sturdy, much to his surprise it got sliced in two in one attack, chuckling to himself he landed in between the acolytes who stared in shock. With fluid movements he used blade of the titan on the one on his left, not bothering to read the acolytes info, the acolyte managed to dodge the attack but lost an arm in the process, screaming in anguish the two remaining acolytes moved into action, whipping out their weapons. Moyo immediately created a realm around them and froze them in their steps, their eyes opening wide,

“advocate” one whispered in shock and fear,

Moyo grinned back

“nah” he simply said, slicing off the head of the amputated acolyte, its body crystallizing, a level up notice appearing in his side eye, finally,

The one acolyte he had noticed earlier growled, his body glowing and red flames poured out of its body, blasting towards Moyo who jumped back, feeling the sting on his already heading body, the acolytes’ eyes widening in barely restrained astonishment. Calling off his realm he glanced down to see the humans surrounded,

Shit, he thought,

Extending his realm all over the entire camp, at that distance he couldn’t freeze time, but he sure could increase gravity to his preference. With a thought he increased the weights of all the initiates and fledglings, barely feeling the strain, in a loud voice he screamed

“Kill them all!”

No better time than to help the humans level up, an investment if you asked him,

The acolytes took out a rod and attached it to their throats, speaking in their language as the device seemed to be a translator,

“Who are you?!, what faction are you from?!, are you that stupid to draw attention to us from the dragon brigade?!” Volnu the first acolyte he saw said,

Moyo noticed that the other acolyte had somehow placed another platform under them, still in the air, Moyo seriously needed to be aware of his surroundings. It appeared the aliens thought he was from another faction breaking the law of the archailect and trying to create a base before the end of the grace period, flicking blood off his katana he smiled,

“None of your business” he replied and dimension stepped over to the other Xerran, slicing him in half with one fluid movement,

Volnu stared in terror, aware now that Moyo was definitely not an acolyte, at least that was what the expression on his face told Moyo, and he decided to play along,

“I am yamadaba, advocate of the dragon brigade, I sentence you to death!’ he said having no idea what a dragon brigade was and with one swipe sent Volnu to the hereafter,

Jumping off the platform that slowly floated to the ground, Moyo landed in pure carnage, the humans had released their entire wrath on the Xerrans, they had been stabbed, cut, torn apart. Walking towards the ovoid ship he glanced inside, seeing the rest of their glowing boxes and he began throwing them into his spatial rip, keeping them for later. He was about done when footsteps alerted him to people coming, stepping out of the craft to see Annika leading the rest of the people who began shouting and thanking him, Idris raised an arm up as they became quiet, it seemed a form of hierarchy was beginning to be established, good,

“Thank you for saving us good sir” Idris said, everyone else echoing it,

Annika stepped forwards,

“May we know your name good sir?” she asked,

Moyo idly noticed she was level 15 now, looking around to see everyone had indeed grown stronger, the lowest among them being level 9-10, this would be easier to an extent,

“I’m Moyo titanblade, nice to meet you” he muttered as whispers broke out…