Ch 32. Bad Omen

Fritz sat up quickly in his bed when he heard those words. He did not know where they came from, but he knew that name. "Did you say Xora?"

"That is correct. I will be your tutorial system while you get adjusted to this new world," Xora responded in her usual robotic voice.

"of all the gods to hear my pleas, it had to be you," Fritz spoke slowly as he began to sweat a little.

"You know of me?" Xora questioned with a little bit of curiosity this time.

"Of course, all monsters know who you are!" Fritz cowered in his sheets now. "What does the goddess of chaos and trickery want with someone like me?"

Xora began to laugh a little. Not in a robotic voice anymore but in a rich female voice now. It made the hair on Fritz's neck stand on end. She stopped after moments and responded.

"I forgot your kind knows who I am. That will make this easier for me." Xora said bluntly. "Your world is in danger."

Fritz calmed down after some time and absorbed what she just said. "My world has always been in danger. Wars are going on all the time between humans and monsters."

Xora's voice sounded intense now. "There is a force on your planet that seeks to destroy everything. If you care at all for your world, then I can help you prepare for it."

Fritz looked confused. "Everyone I ever knew and loved in that world is dead. Why should I care?"

Xora laughs again. "Has becoming human changed you so much already? That means all of those monsters that are being abused daily would face annihilation."

He thought about it even more and hated that he had not thought of that. Maybe being human did change him. "What is going to cause this?"

"A single monster."

Fritz sighed, "A monster is finally going to get his payback for all the abuse we had to face?"

"His payback as you call it will cause your world to go extinct."

"So, you want me to kill one of my own?"

"The life of one for the lives of many."

Kaz was silently thinking about the problem. He did not want to have to fight another monster. They had been through enough, and not only that, but to do it in the body of a human would only continue the vicious cycle that he so desperately wished never existed in the first place.

Fritz did not respond for a long time. He had a lot on his mind now. What was originally a fantastic day turned into one that is forcing him to choose his happy life now or returning to war once again. "Can I think about it, Xora?"

"You can think as long as you like. But know that the longer you wait, the more will die."

The thought weighed heavily on his mind all night. Unable to get any sleep, Fritz stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. The next morning an alarm startled him out of his daze. He looked to see a clock flashing at him. Not knowing how to turn it off, he hit it a couple of times, and it stopped making noises—getting out of bed sluggishly, Fritz stumbled downstairs to find his parents waking up on the couch. They mumbled something incoherent and fell back asleep.

Walking outside, Fritz had no idea where to go this early in the morning, so he decided to walk around randomly. Watching as the cars drove by, he tried walking into the street and was stopped by someone just as a moving truck flew past him.

"What are you thinking, do you want to die?" A young girl about Fritz's age stared back at him. Her piercing blue eyes seemed to bore straight through him. She wore a similar outfit to him, but she wore a skirt instead of pants.

"I'm sorry I didn't see it coming. Thank you."

"Were you in some kind of daze? You don't look, alright." The girl went from a serious expression to one of slight worry. Her blond ponytail bobbed to the side as she tilted her head. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"I don't know, maybe," Fritz said, staring at her. He felt warm, looking at her, and smiled. She realized she was still holding his hand and quickly let go before blushing a little.

"Oh, you go to the same school as me, duh." Blurting out as she rubbed the back of her neck, trying to hide her embarrassment. "My name Melody, what's yours?"

"Oh, uh, it's Fritz." He said as he continued to stare and smile at her, unaware of how awkward he was being.

The light on the crosswalk turns white, and Melody starts walking. "Come on. Fritz, we're going to be late."

"Right!" Fritz followed close behind her watching the people walking and stopping at the stoplights, which he learned to do after about the third one. It finally dawned on him that he had no clue what school was, so he asked, and she looked at him funny. "Were you homeschooled?"

"I learned everything I know from home if that's what you mean."

"it's a lot like that, but with a lot of people in a large prison."

Fritz looked terrified. "We're going to prison!"

Laughing, Melody patted him on the back. "Eight hours a day until we graduate."

"So humans are slaves until they graduate. What a sad thing to find out."

Melody laughs some more, and they continue to school. Once there, she heads to her classroom, and Fritz follows her. Confused by this, she asks. "Are we in the same class?"

"I don't know," he says with a blank stare, not knowing what a class is.

"You're weird. You know that?" She giggles and sits in her seat. He sits down in the chair next to her, and she tilts her head. "Wait, you even sit next to me, now I feel terrible for not knowing who you were."

Fritz laughs nervously, "Yea, that happens. I don't even know who I am."

She pulls out her notebook and begins flipping to a blank sheet. Noticing just now that he did not bring anything for school, she frowns. "Did you forget your bag at home?"

Looking to his side, he realized he had nothing but what he wore yesterday. He looks at her and smiles. "I guess so."

The rest of the students file in, and Fritz watches as a larger boy walks up to the desk Fritz is sitting in and slams his fist on it. "First, you pick a fight, and now you try and take my seat. You must have some big balls to do this after yesterday."

Fritz looks confused and a little nervous. "I'm sorry, is this your seat?"

Right after saying that, the larger kid grabs him by the shirt and lifts him in the air. "Don't mess with me, dipshit."

Fritz is grabbing his neck, trying to get free and failing miserably. Struggling to breathe, the larger kid throws him against some empty desks, and kids scatter from the immediate area. Rubbing his head and a message pops up in front of Fritz.

MISSION ACQUIRED- Fight Derik

Reward- +3 Character points

Failure - -1 Ego Title- Coward

"What's this?"

Xora responds, "Missions allow you to gain character points which can be used for a multitude of things."

"What?"

Before she can explain, Derik walks up with a chair and throws it at Fritz, who scurries out of the way. Standing up, he raises his fists and gets in a fighting stance, which makes Derik laugh. "Oh, you want to try this again, I won't let you get that cheap shot on me again."

Derik raises his fists and closes in on Fritz. Swinging at him, Fritz dodges forward and ducks getting behind Derik. Looking around for anything he can use, he finds some scissors and throws them at Derik. They go whizzing in the air and stick in the wall right by Deriks face. Pausing for a moment, he looks at the scissors and back at Fritz. Derik goes to charge Fritz, and Fritz grabs a pencil and holds it like a shank.

Derik stops before getting to Fritz, and Fritz decides it's his opportunity to strike.

"Kaz Stromberg, what do you think you're doing." The sudden voice causes Fritz to stop what he was doing and look at the adult who just entered the room.

"I was defending myself," Fritz said bluntly.

"You were heading to the principal's office is what you were doing."

Confused, Fritz looked at Melody, who was worried about what just happened. Looking back at the teacher, Fritz asks. "Where's that again?"

Melody raises her hand and blurts out. "I'll take him there, teacher!"

The teacher nods, and she grabs Fritz by the arm and quickly leaves the room.

A screen pops up in front of Fritz.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED- Fight Derik

REWARD- +3 Character points.