Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 1 (Version 4) (Patreon)

Fourth rewrite of the first chapter!

My parents died when I was off at college. I guess that’s better than having them die when you’re a child, but it still sucked. Not only was I in a strange place missing home, but I also knew I had no home to come back to.

I struggled to make new friends. I think my dour mood at the time turned most people off. Everybody except for this one girl, that is. Odd as she was, she soon became my best friend. I don’t think I would have finished college if it wasn’t for her. But man, she was a strange one.

“You! I have seen your face in the Pool of Prophecy and know your destiny leads to greatness!” shouted a crazy girl down the hall with red hair and a wide grin split her face from ear to hear.

“Huh?” I pointed at myself, looking around to ensure she was talking to me.

“Yes, you! Introduce yourself, wizard, so that we may engage in epic battle the likes of which this realm has never seen!” The redhead said. “If you fall, I will scatter your ashes across the four seas with honor. If I fall, I am yours to do with as you will.”

“I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”

“No, I saw your face in my orb of prophecy! Speak your words of destruction, wizard, and turn this world to ashes and dust!” Then she charged me, smile still as wide as it was when she first saw me. Looking back, her form was perfect. Tucked chin, lowered shoulder, and impressive speed, considering she’d been standing still a moment ago. I wasn’t really thinking about any of that, though. Instead, I wondered why the dorm ceiling looked much like a hospital bed.

“Where am I?” I groaned, trying to sit up. My neck felt stiff. There was something wrapped around it, keeping it straight. I had a cast on my arm too, and bandages were all over me. My entire body throbbed with every heartbeat, and as soon as the painkillers wore off, I knew I’d probably be in agony.

“Ah, you’re awake. We really thought you’d be in that coma for the whole week! And your latest x-ray came out wonderful. If I hadn’t seen you hauled in on that ambulance, I’d have thought you’d been here a month instead of just a day,” a nurse said.

“A coma? Ambulance? What’s going on?” My mind flashed back to the strange red-headed girl who’d charged me in the hallway. My mind couldn’t decide whether that was real or a dream. Just when I was settling on dream though, the girl herself ran into the room.

“Oh, thank the System, he’s alive." It was the redhead from earlier, gasping with relief.

The nurse’s eyes twinkled when she saw her. “Far be it from me to get between young lovers. I’ll make myself scarce.”

The nurse vanished before I could even say I didn’t even know this girl. I wanted to shout, but she placed a bottle of something red and viscous into my mouth before I could.

“Drink this. It’ll heal your wounds. I’m really, really sorry about earlier. I just assumed you were high level because the Pool of Prophecy showed you leveling mountains with these scary spells and... well... I forgot that everyone on this world is basically level zero,” she said apologetically.

The drink she fed me tasted of iron and some bitter wild berry. By all accounts, I should have hated it. But there was something else to the stuff, a flavor I couldn’t name, that my body clung to like a man in the desert clings to water.

“I could only sneak a little of this health potion into you before everyone started running,” the girl explained. “First, there was the peer mentor, then the RA, and half the dorm was on top of us. They called the ambulance. I wanted to drag you to my room to patch you up. One of these should have you out of those casts by the end of the day. If not, then I, Myrina, daughter of Aella, will not rest until this debt is repaid!”

I finished off the health potion with a splutter and cough. My throbbing body had eased to a constant burn. I looked at the girl tending to me. By all rights, I should have been furious with her. I wouldn’t be in this hospital if she hadn’t tried to tackle me. But the look on her face was so apologetic and earnest I couldn’t bring myself to hate her.

In fact, now that I wasn’t being attacked or in complete agony, I realized she was cute. Really cute. Gentle red curls cascaded over her shoulders. Her face had two matching pairs of freckles perfectly placed on either of her cheeks, each a mirror image of the other. Her lips were plump and red, and her teeth pearly white and flawless behind them.

She was without a doubt the prettiest girl I’d talked to in... well... ever. If I could turn my head, I would have looked at the rest of her too. Maybe a trip to the hospital for the chance to talk to her wasn’t such a bad trade.

“So, Myrina, daughter of Aella, what’s this about me being some sort of wizard?”

“Uh... actually... my aunt told me I’m not allowed to talk about that on this world...” Myrina blushed.

***

I started feeling better remarkably quickly. As in, I felt like I was ready to take all the casts and medical equipment off later that very day. I tried to get Myrina to tell me what it was she’d fed me. Looking at the glass, it was an ancient-looking flask about the size of my fist. If someone could commercialize that stuff, they’d make a fortune.

The only problem after that came from the medical bills. With my parents recently passing, I’d been left with a decent sum of life insurance money. Not enough to be rich, but enough to pay for the rest of college and set me up with a small condo afterward if I managed it right. That had been my plan until now. But an accident like this would probably gouge an uncomfortably large chunk out of it. Maybe I could get the school to pay for some of it since it happened on school grounds. Or Myrina’s insurance, if she had any. I realized I’d have to ask.

“Oh, money. Right, I always forget about that stuff. But don’t worry, my aunt will take care of it,” Myrina said when I brought the topic up. She was intent on staying glued to my bedside until the doctors let me leave. I appreciated the company, especially since I had made no other friends at school.

“You forget about money?” I raised my eyebrows.

But sure enough, when I asked the nurse about the bill, she said it had already been taken care of in cash by Myrina’s aunt. The nurse was impressed. “Make sure you hang on to that one, dear.” She winked at me, still under the impression that Myrina was my girlfriend.

Not only had my medical bills been completely paid for, but Myrina’s mysterious aunt had discreetly deposited an extra lump sum into my bank account to smooth over any lingering pain. I’d never been bribed before, and I had to admit the feeling was pretty good.

“Tell your aunt again that I’m thankful for the gift,” I said.

“Oh, that.” Myrina nodded. “She just asks that you not spread some of that stuff I said. So do that, and we’re even.”

“The wizard thing?”

Myrina blushed. “That was my first day here. I... I got a little excited when I sensed you since I recognized you from my Pool of Reflection. Er... that is to say, I recognized you from my television! Right. Television. I saw a prophecy on my television that showed me your face. Not a pool. Television.”

“You know what, for a hundred thousand, I won’t even ask.” I chuckled and let the subject matter drop.

Thanks to my miraculous recovery and probably a few bribes on the part of Myrina’s aunt, I was out of the hospital and back in school by the end of the week. I had to wear the casts around for the rest of the month just for show, but my mood was better than before the accident.

The reason for that was the young woman on my left side. Myrina, the daughter of Aella, took her promises seriously. She meant it when she said she’d stick by me until I was back to full health.

She carried my backpack around campus, helped me eat at the dining hall, took over my laundry, and generally made my life pretty damn wonderful. She even had me move into her off-campus apartment so she could keep an eye on me, which was downright luxurious compared the bargain-bin triple I was staying in. Every time I left her room, I got strange looks from the others guys, mostly a combination of envy and admiration.

“I’d like to say you’re a lucky man, Carter, but she did put you in the hospital last month, so I guess you really earned it!” the hall’s RA said.

“Holy shit, man, that crazy redhead is the girl that gives us gingers a bad name! She takes crazy to a new level,” another guy said when I was picking up the last of my things from the dorms.

“I never believed in the whole crazy-hot line graph thing until I saw that girl of yours, Carter,” my classmate shook his head. “She is insanely hot but also insanely crazy. You’ll have to spend the next year watching your back if you guys break up.”

Myrina, for her part, didn’t seem to mind the rumors that we were dating, though she didn’t like that everyone thought she was crazy. An attractive young woman like her probably would have gotten more attention in school, but the rumors of her putting me in the hospital scared most other guys away.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what we were. We’d hang out after and between classes, see the same movies and go to the same campus events. We weren’t really dating like everyone thought, and I had a separate bedroom in her apartment. But that didn't mean we weren't close. At school, Myrina was my closest friend.

Curiosity occasionally got the better of me, despite getting paid not to make a big deal of things. Myrina was clearly from a very wealthy and successful family. Still, sometimes she seemed not to know the most basic of things, like how to use a credit card. I ended up spending as much time as her minder as she spent mine while I recovered.

“We’re going to miss the wizard!” Myrina said. “Hop on my back. I’ll carry you while we run.”

I sighed. “It’s a magician’s show, not a wizard’s. And you don’t have to carry me. I already got a ride for us on my phone.”

Myrina looked at my smartphone skeptically. I knew she had one herself, but she barely knew how to use the thing. I’d never seen a college girl as clueless about cell phones as her. It was kind of cute how little she knew about that sort of thing.

Eventually, our ride arrived, and she shot me a look with amazement painted plain on her face. She was absolutely adorable as she clapped and gasped at every one of the magician’s tricks.

“Did you see that, Carter? How’d he do that? That’s amazing!” Myrina shook my shoulder as the magician returned to the stage.

“I’m going to have to learn some magic tricks if they impress you this much,” I chuckled when Myrina seemed awed when the stage magician plucked a coin out of her ear.

“You’d do that?” Her eyes were full of so much expectation that I ordered a book and a set of props that very night. From then on, I impressed Myrina with an occasional magic trick. I’d make coins vanish and reappear, carefully palmed in my hand, hidden just out of view. I’d present her with a deck full of cards and make her pick one, only to show it to her afterward, thanks to a tiny undetectable bend I’d made in one corner.

Myrina gasped in surprise and hugged me fiercely every time. Once, she’d embraced me so tightly afterward that I had to go back to the hospital to treat a broken rib.

Eventually, my injuries healed, and she improved at not causing new ones. She started introducing me to some of her hobbies, and I was impressed with her active lifestyle. No wonder she was so strong.

She was really into historical martial arts, especially with simple hand weapons. Her home gym back in town had an entire sparring ring in the middle of it, and she brought me there to show me the ropes.

I was worried it would be inappropriate for me to return to her place, especially when I learned her aunt was rarely home. But when I brought the subject up, Myrina just laughed it off.

“Carter, you’re the one who should be nervous about that kind of thing, not me. Your world is so weird,” Myrina teased.

At first, I was confused, but I soon realized what she meant. Myrina was really, really good at defending herself. So good that when she challenged me to a wrestling match in her home gym, I found my head locked between her thighs before I knew what had happened.

And that wasn’t the only sport she was talented at. She had a thing for medieval weapons and was determined to teach me everything she knew.

“No, no! What do they even teach kids on this world? You hold a sword like this!” Myrina wrapped herself around me with her chest pressed to my back and her arm wrapped around my hand. “Here, fingers tight and back straight. Swing like this, and then thrust off your back leg...”

In the end, our first couple of sessions were about standing, thrusting, and holding a medieval weapon. After that, I was completely out of my depth. Myrina’s knowledge seemed deep enough that she could probably give a medieval knight a beating in a practice ring.

Sadly, I was no medieval knight and ended up on my ass every time we sparred. Worse, I could tell Myrina was taking it easy on me. I was bathed in sweat at the end of each practice session, and she never even had a drop on her forehead.

A prouder man than me would have been humiliated to be so completely bested by a girl, especially one as pretty as Myrina. But I didn’t mind so much, mostly because of how patient she was with me and the fact that she seemed to be having fun despite my ineptitude.

“Alright, to make it fair this time, I’ll fight with my left hand, blindfolded, and hopping on one leg,” Myrina suggested.

“Okay, but no moving outside of that circle. You’re too fast for me, even when hopping,” I joked, but Myrina agreed to even that restriction. The handicaps I layered on her were ridiculous, but she told me she’d been doing this since she was a little kid. Considering how much better than me she was, it took all that just to make it a fair fight.

With all my losses, I probably still would have thrown in the towel. But having Myrina pounce on me after our sparring sessions was a victory. More than once, our sword duels turned into wrestling matches after she disarmed me, and getting to feel her toned ass pressed against my chest when she pinned me was a victory unto itself.

“Ha! Got you again, Carter!” Myrina said, as she pounced on top of me.

I struggled a little, but her grip was firm, and there was no way I was getting free. I still didn’t get how Myrina was so strong. She was athletic, but she was still a girl, and I outweighed her by quite a bit. With her inhuman strength, she’d dominate any school sport, and I’d suggested she sign up more than once. But it seemed like she was content just hanging out in her home gym with me.

“I guess you did. I’m really going to have to learn some sort of ranged attack to deal with you.”

“You should learn to shoot fireballs. A couple of spells from a distance would have made it a lot harder. And you’ve been learning all that magic lately,” Myrina suggested.

I chuckled again. “I think that’s a little tough to do when your only skill is sleight of hand.”

“I bet you could do it!” Myrina said. “Learn to shoot spells at me, Carter! Then maybe you’ll finally be able to win.”

I promised I’d try my best when I saw the earnest look in Myrina’s eyes, though I wasn’t aware of any kits that let a stage magician fake throwing a fireball.

Playing at knighthood and a little at-home wrestling weren’t the only things we did when I was with Myrina. We spent spring break camping in the woods together, living off nothing but scraps and starting fires with a set of sticks. We built a tiny shelter for the two of us and even shared a single sleeping bag when she forgot hers.

The more time we spent together, the more I felt like there had to be a catch. Myrina was just too good to be true. She was funny, exciting, beautiful, and brought something out of me that I thought had died when my parents passed away. She was my best friend, and maybe even more.

Spending time with her soon became more important than my classes. She became more important than my plans for the future. Hell, she was more important than anything else in my life, and I couldn’t imagine ever being without her.

But all good things must end. One day, after a long practice session, I got her to spill the bad news.

“Alright,” I panted on my knees, trying to catch my breath. “What’s with the pensive look on your face?”

Myrina looked startled that I’d noticed, but she wasn’t particularly good at hiding what she was thinking, and I’d learn to read her like a book.

“I... uh... I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she said, a voice full of panic.

I rolled my eyes at the obvious lie. “Don’t pull that on me, Myrina. I know something’s wrong.”

Myrina sighed. “I... won’t be around much longer. My family is calling me home. My aunt couldn’t find anyone worth giving our token to, and my family can’t afford to let us stay here any longer.”

“Myrina, what are you talking about?”

She sighed and went silent for a moment before coming to a decision. She turned on me and grabbed my wrist as a serious expression overtook her face. “I want you to meet my aunt.”

“Okay.”

Since I first met Myrina, her aunt had been a mysterious and elusive figure. She was someone Myrina always talked about, sometimes kind, sometimes overbearing, but always with her best interests at heart. She seemed to be more of a maternal figure than Myrina’s own mother in her life.

I had a different impression of the woman. She’d quietly paid my medical bills when Myrina put me in the hospital, along with that bribe and the request that I not ask questions. I saw her as someone distant and reclusive, probably a member of organized crime or in politics. Basically, the kind of person with a lot of power and influence and who you didn’t want to piss off.

I was surprised when Myrina led me down the hall to meet her. She pressed her hand against a blank stretch of wall that I’d walked past a thousand times, and she tugged me along afterward.

“Myrina, what are you...” Suddenly there was a door before us, and the handle was in Myrina’s hand. How had that appeared there? I’d walked this hallway plenty of times before, and there had never been a door there. Instead, it had appeared as though by magic.

“This way.” Myrina ushered me along a hallway before I even realized what was happening.

That was when I finally met Myrina’s aunt, and she was nothing like I’d expected. In my mind, I’d pictured lean crafty women surrounded by servants and a web of schemes completely incomprehensible to me.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

The room was made of alabaster columns, and it had a distinctive ancient Greek look to everything, right down the busts of men and women lining the corners. All the bright white stones should have given the room an austere look, but the colorful cushions, blankets, and the crackling fire in a pit in the center of the room meant it had a cozy air instead.

In the center of it all, Myrina’s aunt lay curled up, snuggling up against a full-body pillow with the image of an extraordinarily handsome man printed on its face.

“Aunty! Aunty! Do you still have that token?”

Myrina’s aunt yawned. “Huh?”

She threw the blankets off herself, and I realized she was completely naked beneath them. I held my hands up over my face and apologized. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to barge in. I’ll go wait outside...”

I made to move, but Myrina’s hand was still wrapped tightly around my wrist, keeping me right where he was.

“What’s his problem?” Myrina’s aunt snorted as she stood naked by the fire, still holding her full-body pillow as her blanket tumbled to the ground.

“Women of this world aren’t supposed to be seen naked except by their lovers,” Myrina explained.

“Ah shoot. That was in one of the briefings, wasn’t it? I was napping,” Myrina’s aunt laughed, making no move to clothe herself.

I took their conversation to mean she was fine with me being here, so I lowered my hand slowly. Myrina was a bit odd, so I supposed it was only natural that her aunt was a bit strange as well.

After lowering my hand, I finally looked at the woman. She was built to gigantic proportions. She had to be close to seven feet tall and with clear signs of muscle tone over her entire body. It was like Myrina’s lean and athletic physique, but with twice the muscle and extended to gigantic proportions. I’d never been so intimidated by a naked woman clutching a body pillow before. She looked positively Amazonian.

“Auntie, this is Carter! The one I told you about!” Myrina explained.

“Oh right, that guy you tackled and sent to the hospital,” Myrina’s aunt nodded as she looked me over. I shuffled my feet, staring at the ground as the naked woman inspected me like I was the one to be scrutinized. “He’s pretty cute for his level. But you know the rules, Myrina. We can’t take him with us. Besides, the gravity on Themyscira would probably crush his bones to powder since he’s a level zero. He’s just too weak.”

Myrina shot me an apologetic look and gripped my hand a little tighter.

“I know we can’t take him with us,” Myrina replied to her aunt, “but I was thinking... since we’re about to leave and you have found no one to give the token to, we should give it to him?”

Myrina’s aunt gave Myrina a sharp look. She rubbed her chin in thought. “Hmm... well, I guess it’ll work. But part of the reason why the clan is ordering us to withdraw is all the trouble at home. We just don’t have the time or resources to sponsor someone now that our clan is at war. Not to mention giving this token to a man would be highly unusual for us.”

“The clan doesn’t have the time or resources, but I do!” Myrina insisted. “Please, I’ll take care of the entire thing myself! As for him being a man... well... it isn’t completely without precedent.”

“Not for our family. And those precedents were only for some exceptionally powerful men.”

“Well then, Carter can be the first for us! When I asked the Pool of Prophecy to show me my future, I told you I saw him in it, and he was strong.”

Myrina’s aunt seemed doubtful. “You know those things are unreliable. They only show you a possible future. Not the future.”

“Please!”

Myrina’s aunt sighed. “Fine. It’s all yours. Hand it over and say your goodbyes. After giving this thing away, we’ve lost our last excuse for sticking around.”

Myrina’s aunt tapped her collarbone, and suddenly, a token appeared in her hand. It was like she’d pulled the thing from thin air. If she’d been wearing a shirt, I would have thought she pulled it from around her neck, but she pretty clearly hadn’t been wearing anything like it before.

Between that and the magically appearing door, I had a lot of questions to ask. But the look on Myrina’s face told me what she was about to say was more important.

“Carter, listen. I can only say this once, since the System will probably kick us off your planet once I spill too much.” Myrina placed her hands on my shoulders, sparkling eyes staring straight into mine. Never had those eyes seemed so filled with concern. Even when I’d been in the hospital, she hadn’t looked at me like this.

“The world you know is going to end. It could be next week, it could be next year, but just know the end is coming for you. The world as you know it will be destroyed as your planet is introduced to the System, a powerful existence that grants levels and titles to those that prove themselves worthy. My family is a clan in the Amazonian Empire, and if you use this token, I can help you when the time comes. Just make sure you’re ready before--“ Myrina kept talking, but her mouth stopped producing words. Her body flickered for a moment, and Myrina glanced at her hands with fear on her face.

Myrina’s aunt snorted. “Looks like the System finally cut her off. Well, we’re headed home! See ya later, kid. If Myrina could talk right now, she’d be telling you to try not to die. If you do, she’ll be pissed at you.”

“What’s going on?” I asked. I had a thousand questions, and I wasn’t even sure where to start.

But Myrina shot me one last smile as her form flickered. I felt her hands on my shoulders for a moment longer, then she vanished like she was never there.

I glanced at Myrina’s aunt, and she dove for the body pillow she’d been holding a moment before as her form flickered. She grabbed it an instant before she vanished completely, gone, just like Myrina.

Before I knew it, I was alone. In my hand was a shiny gold token.

<Note>

Alright, chapter 1, attempt number 4! I like this version a bit more, but I fear I may still be overdoing Myrina's presence a bit, considering how early we are in the story. I don't want to overload the first chapter with character building for somebody who doesn't get another scene until the 20'th chapter.

I'm going to mull this over a bit more. I may cut it down so that Myrina puts Carter in the hospital and then they part ways, only meeting again toward the end when she gives him a token on a whim (a bit more aloof like the first version -- basically this chapter with the entire middle scooped out.)

I will see how I feel about this one in a bit.