You can call my sister explosion-addictive. Ever since she was born she always managed to blow up things the one or other way. Heck, I even went on a scavenging hunt so that she couldn’t carry any more explosive stuff in, our house was already a minefield.

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t know how to handle the explosives. I think she took some chemistry and physics lessons from uncle Stan, either way she actually utilizes her skills and probably blew up more zombies than I ever saw.

I don’t really like her that much. But she might be able to help us orientate in this new world.

So, I pulled out a “phone” she gave me. It just looked like a metal ball, unlike the phones installed in our houses. On the other hand it’s the only one working despite the radioactivity.

[Beep]

“Oh, big bro is that you?” I heard my sister’s voice, but I couldn’t even see her!

“Where are you!?” I shouted concerned.

“Home. When are you coming? I need more materials.” she said, in that horribly adorable voice.

“I’m not coming back.” I said.

“What? Why not? I need you …r materials. Mostly… yeah, I really need more materials, I can’t open that dragonhide!” I imagined her excitedly jumping up and down..

“I said, I’M NOT COMING BACK TO THAT MOTHER FUCKING HELL HOLE!!!” I shouted into the metal ball, catching the attention of Max.

“uuu~” I heard my sister cry and the sound of more beeping...

“Wait! I’m sorry, I’ll come home later. Just don’t attack me with those robots, ok? It’s just, there’s such a nice forest here.” I distracted her.

“Forest?” She blinked. “Are there trees?! Tell me where you are, NOW!”

“Elise, calm down. I’m in a place called Valhalla.”

“Valhalla? That place where those different monsters come from? Great, come here and help me dissect this dragon!” She said.

“Wait, you killed a dragon?”

“Yeah! My robots went BOOM and KAPOW and the dragon went ROOOAR!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!” Elise shouted into my ears.

“Right, big bro, what level are you? And do you know anything more about it?”

“Level?”

“You know, the biggest number on your status panel, a little bit hard to miss if you have no eyes.”

I shook my head.

“What are you talking about?”

“Just say status.”

“Status? I’m not going to make a fool out of myself… huh!?”

A blue screen appeared in front of me, in the same style as the blue screen that appeared after I killed the dragon.

Name: Ashton Gravestone.

Title(s): Dragonbane, Player, Slayer of Innocents

Level: [52]

-----------------------------

Previous messages:

Level up! You are now level [51]

Level up! You are now level [52]

You have slain: Level [10] Innocent monster.

You have gained a title: Slayer of innocents.

When did I slay an innocent monster? And slayer of innocents? What the hell!

“So, what level are you?” Sis asked over the phone.

“It says 52.” I replied.

“Oh,” she said, “you’re a higher level than me. So, what kind of-”

I interrupted her.

“Wait wait, before you continue, what is this all even about? I don’t remember seeing blue screens before?”

“What titles do you have, I have Explosives expert, Mad scientist, Dragonbane and Robot creator” She said, completely ignoring me.

“Hey! Answer me!” I got slightly angry.

“Duh, all I know is that there’s always that blue screen floating in front of you, just that it gets transparent. You can also improve your own body with this screen. Actually, when I think about it, isn’t this like… super creepy? A screen deciding how you look and what you can do? Doesn’t matter, but I really got smarter when I put everything into intelligence. Not like you care...” she mumbled incomprehensible stuff under her breath.

“Wait, what do you mean by “improve your own body”? And please calm down and repeat the important stuff!” I said. “I’m not gonna run away.”

“You did.”

“5 years ago. Not now.” I closed my eyes.

“Anyways, you see…” she paused. There was distinct yelling and shouting in the background, along with an explosion.

“Where are you?”

For a while only the sound of wind could be heard. Then she answered somewhat out of breath: “Sorry, that other dragon’s been stalking me ever since I killed her husband. And I used up my explosives. That’s why you need to come over so that I can experiment with sulfuric acid again!”

I sighed. She really just couldn’t stand still, now she even attracted dragon trouble.

“Okay, i’ll bring you here. Just don’t experiment on me!”

“No promises, but can you get there quickly?” She said, and I sighed again.

“Where should I pick you up?”

“How about… the eastern gate, think you can manage that?”

I frowned. We left from the northern gate. This might be a longer trip than anticipated. On the other hand the whole road seems to be engulfed within the forest of Valhalla.

Sounds like something I should talk to Jason about.

“Hey, Jason! I’m going back to manhattan!.” I shouted.

“What!?” Jason walked out of his cave.

I ran away.

…

…

…

“STOP FOLLOWING ME!!!” I shouted to Jason.

“I’m not letting you die!” Jason shouted back, as he caught up to me in seconds.

“But you might die if you follow me!”

“At least you won’t die alone.”

“Okay, let’s get my sister!” I shouted.

Jason shot a confused glance at me. Running behind Jason was Glenn waving his stick furiously.

“You kids, where are you going to? I need to go back to Manhattan anyways, so accompany this old man here!” Glenn shouted.

“So you are old after all!” I shouted back.

Manhattan was just a few days away, well, whatever remained of it.

-----------

[So, they just ditched Max and Thomas?] -1

_ Ehh, they’ll suffer in Valhalla, it’s alright._ 0

[I was expecting you to say: Ehh, they’ll live… not that, that’s just fucking cold man!] -1 [I like that.] -1 (again)

_ So, what do you think of his sister? Don’t think we actually got her that well >_>_ 0

[She sounds a bit like me… IRL, that’s a bit scary…] -1