Imperious, Chapter 002 - Survival Advisory (Patreon)

The text floated in front of Anna, her chest rising and falling with each panicked breath. She just stared at it as the minutes ticked down from forty five minutes to forty four. She tried to rationalize what she was looking at. It was fully legible and free-floating. If she turned her head the words followed her vision, remaining centered but somehow not fully obscuring what was behind it. Transparent. It reminded her vaguely of old rpg notification windows, blue boxes with a faint white outline. A… game notification? What on earth?

What does it mean by integration? What the hell is going on? Where is everyone?

She racked her brain, gripping the sides of her head as another headache sprang up as if trying to stop her from remembering. She pushed through the pain even as she felt it spike behind her eyes. There was more, what did it say? She grit her teeth. To make matters worse, there was still that relentless buzzing in the back of her head. It didn’t hurt, but it was beyond distracting now. She felt like she had a cellphone in the back of her skull on vibrate and push notifications were flooding in.

Wait, push notifications?

She glanced at the timer box that was still floating in the air and took a shaky breath. Okay… notifications, maybe? Something’s trying to get my attention. But-

Welcome to the Multiverse, Human - Terran of Planet Earth!

The integration of your universe has begun. For the next planetary year your world will undergo changes while you and your people remain within the tutorial. During this time you will have the opportunity to learn more about the wider multiverse and the opportunities presented to you as being part of the first generation of mortals from your universe to walk the path of ascension.

Fight, struggle, survive, and stand at the pinnacle!

The box containing the timer simply vanished and was replaced with this new message. She even felt the buzzing lessen a little bit from the back of her head. There were still more she was guessing. More importantly. What in the actual fuck am I reading? She had to restrain a scream as the words made the panic rising in her chest worse rather than better. I’m still here! What the fuck? Why am I not in the tutorial with everyone else? What happened? What does it mean by changes? 

The notification vanished and was immediately replaced with another.

Initializing Character Creation - - -

ERROR

User not in Tutorial Waiting Room, cannot initialize Character Creation

Character Creation incomplete, dispatching Supervisor. You are advised to survive until the arrival of the dispatched Supervisor. Please wait…

Supervisor ETA: 22 Hours, 31 Minutes, 45 Seconds

Anna stared in bewilderment at the message. She had nearly latched onto the idea of creating a ‘character’, implying that this was some kind of game, but then everything just got worse and worse the more she read. It wasn’t her fault that she hadn’t ended up in a tutorial, this whole what- system? Whatever it was, it had completely botched whatever it was supposed to do in regards to her. At least it was sending out some kind of supervisor thing, not that she had any idea what that was. Her expression went deadpan, I am advised to survive? No shit sherlock. She grumbled as her eyes fell upon the ETA.

Nearly an entire day? Oh come on! She groaned. She wasn’t going to get any kind of answers for an entire day. She had no idea what was going on besides what she had been able to generally infer from the messages she’d gotten. She was alone and basically defenseless at this point. She let out a sigh as the buzzing at the back of her head subsided to the point that she instinctively knew there were only a few notifications left, maybe even one. She concentrated on it but nothing happened. She frowned. 

Why won’t it let me? She mused. Her thoughts were cut off when she heard something. It sounded like sticks clattering together. Hollow sticks. She frowned and turned around, searching for whatever it was. The neighborhood looked empty to her. She tilted her head and tried to listen a bit harder, there it was again. That eerie clattering. Sticks? No, not sticks, what the hell is that? She pursed her lips and scanned the area again as a bad feeling sunk down into her gut. Maybe… I shouldn’t be out here in the open.

She took a few tentative steps back, glancing over her shoulder at the door to her house. It was only a few meters away. She quickly shuffled over to it, glancing again around the neighborhood as she tried to see what- There! She saw movement. On instinct she crouched down and peered around the hedges framing the porch. The mystery things came into view and she felt her entire body go on edge, a cold pit forming in the base of her stomach as a pair of literal goddamn skeletons walked out from behind one of her neighbor’s houses.

They were both about the size of an adult man and wore pretty much nothing except a pair of loincloths that Anna absently thought were pointless. Their eyes, even from this distance, were dark holes that blazed with tiny pinpricks of greenish light. The glow made her shiver even more than she was before. Every fiber of her being told her to bolt right back into the house, right the fuck now. What finally got her moving, though, was seeing what they were carrying in their hands. Each of them held a wide-headed axe in their hands, that did not look like something used to cut down trees.

Nope, nope! Nope nope nope! She panicked, darting back into the house and quickly shutting the door behind her. She locked it for good measure. Yeah, that’s going to stop them. She chastised herself as she whipped her head around before racing to the small closet next to the front door where they hung coats. She threw it open and dug around before finally wrapping her hands around what she was looking for. She tugged, It’s stuck! She glanced at the door and heard the rattling coming closer. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Come on! She growled and pulled with all her might, finally dislodging it; a metal baseball bat.

Thank god for little leagues and paranoia! She cheered inwardly as the rattling drew even closer. The buzzing in the back of her head intensified a tiny bit but she ignored it. She couldn’t check the notifications even if she wanted to. She turned her attention to the door and squared up before lowering her new weapon a little. They have Axes, Anna, are you stupid? She pursed her lips and darted for the hall, racing up the stairs. Maybe mom still has it, that’s gotta do more than a bat will.

She took the stairs two and sometimes even three at a time and nearly ran right past her mother’s room as she hit the second floor running. She threw the door open as a banging sound came from downstairs. Shit, shit shit! Where is it? She looked around before forcing herself to calm down and focusing on her mother’s nightstand. She ran over to it and yanked it open. Sorry mom, I knew you had it, I’m borrowing this. She thought as she pulled the pistol out along with the small case full of ammunition and accompanying magazine. 

She checked the magazine and saw it was empty. She let out a groan. Of course she never actually loaded the damn thing! She whined as the banging downstairs grew louder. She opened the ammunition case and pulled out a few rounds, shakily shoving them into the magazine one at a time. Never thought going to the shooting range that one time would pay off. She thought, a bit of amusement springing to her face despite the way her body shook and the chill in her blood. The banging continued just as she finished filling the magazine, checking once to make sure she’d done it right. Okay, uh… She tilted the weapon over and eyed where the magazine went inside before slipping it in, it clicked into place without issue. Yes!

As the buzzing at the back of her head increased once again she clicked her tongue and looked around. Then the sound of a noisy crash downstairs told her she was running out of time. She needed to hide. She turned to her mother’s closet and darted for it, throwing the door open and cramming herself between a few neatly stacked boxes and a set of golf clubs. She considered grabbing one but the rail-thin aluminum poles didn’t seem like they’d be much use against the skeleton’s axes. She took several steadying breaths, calm down, calm down, calm down! She urged herself, closing her eyes for a moment. 

Maybe they’ll just leave if they don’t find me. She thought as another crash rang out downstairs. Nah, they’re looking for me. She thought and looked down at the gun in her hand before fiddling with it. Safety, uh… there it is. The faint click sounded unbelievably noisy even with the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. To make matters worse, it got quiet downstairs. She strained her ears to listen for any sounds of movement and it didn’t take long to hear the sound of heavy feet coming up the stairs. She closed her eyes again and restrained a sigh, Damn it. She pulled herself further back into the closet, the footsteps coming closer and closer.

I just wanna disappear, be invisible, just like at school. It’s not hard to do it there. Just let them look right through me, just like the other students do. She took a deep breath, Calm down, breathe, maybe they won’t check the closet. Who knows? She thought, knowing she was full of shit. She bit her lip as she forced her heart rate down, doing everything she could to pull everything that she was back and down. Every ounce of focus was on that feeling she had when she was at school, that feeling of being present but invisible. That sensation she felt when the other student’s eyes just washed over her without actually seeing her.

BANG!

The door to her mother’s bedroom exploded just a few meters away. She looked up through the slats in the closet door and spotted the splinters scattering across the floor. A few more chops from the skeleton’s axe cleared enough space for it to clamber through and into the room. Just one of them stepped inside, the other one was still probably downstairs. Making sure I can’t just slip out, huh? She thought, keeping her breathing steady as it walked from the door to her mother’s bed. It stood over her bed for a moment and looked down at the pile of bullets scattered across the fabric of her comforter. It turned away and swept its eyes over the room.

She bit her lip and readied the gun, her other hand letting go of the handle of her bat. She rest the handle in her palm and aimed, waiting. It turned its attention towards the closet and approached before stopping and standing completely still. She frowned as she got a close look at the thing. It really didn’t have eyes, just little flames inside its head. How does it see? She thought. She rest her finger on the trigger as it tilted its head, looking almost perplexed. It reached forward with a free hand and pulled the door to the closet open and she met its eyes.

Her finger tensed and then froze, What? She gasped as she felt a wave of something wash through her muscles. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from its face, couldn’t break free of its gaze, it was like every muscle in her body just froze. This isn’t normal! What the fuck, I can’t move! She screamed inside her head as it stared down at her. She saw its bony fingers adjust on the grip of its heavy weapon, its skeletal sneer bearing down on her before, just as abruptly as it had opened the door, it turned away.

She felt motion flood back into her limbs as it started stalking towards the door it had broken down. Huh? What just happened?

She slowly got to her feet, creeping forward as it stopped at the door and seemed to consider how it was going to clamber over the debris from this side. She stared at the back of its skull. Could it not see me? I knew I didn’t have a lot of presence at school but that's a little weird. She resisted the urge to sigh in relief. Not that she was complaining. She frowned and drew the weapon up again, slowly moving towards the skeleton from behind. Every step made her heartbeat increase just a little bit more, every second she felt the tension building in her arms, she moved slowly, though, as the Skeleton seemed to consider its next course of action.

Is this some kind of fucked up mind-gamey trap?

Before she knew it, though, the barrel of the gun was only a few centimeters away from the back of its skull. It didn’t react except to take a tentative step forward as it tried to navigate the shattered wooden debris without toppling over. She frowned and squared her shoulders as her finger pulled back against the trigger.

BANG!

One second there was a skull on its shoulders, the next, the entire thing had shattered like porcelain, shards of bone exploding outward as the head basically vanished. She felt a tingling wash over her body as the skeleton crumpled to the ground. She stared down at it for a moment and tilted her head. It really didn’t react, or do anything. What just happened? She mulled the oddness over for a moment before she heard the other skeleton start to hustle up the stairs. It sounded like it was moving pretty quickly. She glanced at the closet door and hurried over to it, snatching up her bat before racing back over to the doorframe. She crouched down and waited, taking another deep breath and concentrated like she’d done back in the closet.

It had to have been something I did, I focused on how it felt to be invisible at school, right? Can I repeat the process? She mused and waited. She heard the skeleton stop at the door, hesitating for a moment before stepping through the busted door and into the room. Just as it did, she shoved out the bat between its legs, trying to catch its foot on the metal weapon. The other skeleton seemed hesitant about obstacles, I bet they don’t have good balance. She reasoned and was immediately proven right. The second skeleton toppling over and landing on top of the remains of the other.

Better not waste ammo, she thought quickly and, as the second skeleton scrambled to dislodge itself she got to her feet, setting the gun on the floor and grabbing the bat with both hands. She raised it over her head. 

“This is my house!” She snarled and brought the weapon down on its skull.