Vengeance Without Duty

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, I see a haggard reflection with dark circles under his eyes. Opening the faucet, I cupped my hands underneath, and slowly lowered my head, splashing my face.

"Marie, you there?"

Hearing no reply, I figured she went over to Claire's'. Closing the faucet, I dried my face and hands, and slowly shuffled to the kitchen. Opening the pantry I searched for something to eat.

'Looks like I need to head into town again'

Opening the cabin's front door, I was momentarily blinded. Having regained my vision, I stepped over to Claire's cabin, and as I lift my hand to knock, I remembered that today was a group meeting. Over the last month, our little group of three had expanded to fifty or so people, and we expect it to grow still.

Making my way to the mess hall, I couldn't help but start to wonder about the rumors swirling around the camp. People hearing strange sounds early in the morning or seeing shadows flash past or figures lurking in the corner of their vision. Trying to think up reasons, I barely noticed my surroundings.

*bump*

"Hey, watch were ye goin."

Picking myself up of the ground, I stare at the man in front of me, standing at 1.90 m tall with a body full of muscle, my eyes barely making it up to his chin.

"Sorry Joshua."

"Say, why did ye space out?"

"I was thinking about all those rumors spreading around, thinking maybe we should get a group to investigate. And why are you not at the meeting."

Staring at me with eyes full of wonder, Joshua slowly started to smile, giving me a look as if to say 'oh your'e dead'.

"The meeting ended like five minutes ago, dude."

Reality slowly dawning on me, I felt my hands start to sweat as a cold shiver went down my spine as I started sprinting towards the mess hall. I saw Marie standing next to a makeshift podium, impatience clear on her face. Slowly walking towards her, I tried to think of any conceivable excuse that she might believe.

PERSPECTIVE CHANGE

A group of people started crowding a few meters away from the mess hall's entrance, all of them either shaking their heads or letting out soft chuckles, staring on as Marie scolded Kaiden.

PERSPECTIVE CHANGE

After having listened to Marie's scolding, I put on the most serious face I could.

"Marie, the food in the cabin's finished, I was thinking that me, you, Joshua and Claire could drive in to town to resupply."

"Okay, I'll go call Claire, you go find Joshua, and Kaiden, please try and remember these things, it's important."

Nodding to her, I turned around and walked out of the mess hall, searching for Joshua.

Driving into town, I was still amazed at the level of Destruction. The majority of the houses were now no more than piles of scrap wood, and the remainder were barely holding together.

Slowly driving through the streets, me, Marie, Joshua and Claire kept our eyes open for any houses safe enough to loot. Having no luck at the edge of town, I slowly drive towards the center. Having driven closer to the town center, I could see a dark tower like shadow standing straight.

"Hey guys, do you see a tower in front."

Drawing their attention, my passengers looked out the windshield.

Standing in front of what appeared to be a monolith of some sort, made of material none of us could recognize. Slowly reaching my hand forward, i lay my hand on the surface.

Suddenly the world around me turned pure white, everything seemingly having disappeared with only the monolith in front of me.

"MARIE! JOSHUA! CLAIRE!"

Hearing no reply, my heart sank, a sense of unease slowly washing over me.

"Welcome inhabitant. We are The Cleansed. Sometime back, our race came to your planet, desperately in search of resources. Having found the resources we lack, we have been harvesting them for the, past what you call 'decade'. At the time we did not know of your races penchant for violence and greed. As we harvested the last of what we needed, most of your planets resources were depleted, this led to war. Realizing that your race would soon bring itself to extinction, we placed these monoliths all across your world in hopes of giving you an explanation. And as an apology, within these monoliths, you will be given an armband, outfitted with it's own personalized artificial intelligence. The A.I will explain the armbands functions. Within these monoliths, we have stored a near infinite amount of energy. This will slowly change your world, bringing foryh a new abundance of resources, as well as allowing your race to use abilities, previously thought impossible. We do this in hope to appease your anger and resentment. As a last farewell, we hope you use this new found energy to one day join us in the stars."

As the speech ended, i felt my left arm becoming slightly heavier and a stinging pain behind my earlobe. As I try to figure out what it could be, I felt a small protrusion. Shifting that to the back of my mind I Looked at the armband and felt somewhat lost.

'How do I use this'

*Acknowledging user, please state your name.*

...

"Kaiden."

*User registered. Do you wish to initiate the tutorial sequence*

Staring at the armband, I felt myself becoming increasingly more confused.

"Sure."

After agreeing a digital screen appeared before my eyes.

Armband Functions

- Provides information to user

- Communicator (Allows host to communicate with teammates, over long distances.)

- Comprehensive analyses oh host's abilities and progress

- Scanner (Can scan for life signs around user and can scan materials, plants and animals to show components that can be harvested.)

- Materializer (Can materialize anything from the shop, provided host has necessary resources,)

Features

- Skill library (Unlocks more options as strength increases.)

- Shop (Can purchase blueprints to materialize.)

- Quest organization (User can accept requests from other humans, this feature allows host to track progression.)

- Guide book

- Class system (Allows user to comprehend abilities for the selected class faster, other classes's abilities can still be learned, though only the b.a.r.e basics, just at a slower pace. User can also select a subclass.)

*End of tutorial. For more detailed information, please refer to the guide book.*

*Please select class*

- Summoner

- Elementalist

- Necromancer

- Spiritualist

- Weapon master

... (A/N: As the story goes on more classes will be named)

"Give me a brief explanation of the summoner class, the necromancer class and the spiritualist class."

*Summoner - Able to summon the spirits of animals to fight alongside user, or fuse with the spirit of an animal to gain some of their traits.*

*Necromancer - Able to reanimate the bodies of fallen foes. Can also cast curses.*

*Spiritualist - Able to heal most wounds, and can lift curses.*

Mulling over these three classes for a while, I finally decided on necromancer.

*Class changed to Necromancer. Passive ability learned - Mana regeneration (lv.1) . Active ability learned - Reanimation (lv.1)*

*Please choose subclass*

- Apothecary

- Alchemist

- Blacksmith

...(Again, more will be named as the story progresses)

"Blacksmith."

*Subclass changed to blacksmith. New skills learned - Forging (lv.1), Grinding (lv.1), Casting (lv.1)*

Staring at all the information on the screen, I felt excitement and a little anxiety.

*User will now exit the monolith*

Buildings started to appear around me, and I could finally see Marie, Joshua and Claire again.