Strange Beginnings

*Beeeep*....

*Beeeep*....

*Beeeep*.....

Aeric opens his eyes and reaches to turn off his alarm clock, and sees it says it's 9:30 AM. "Dammit, I'm late!" Aeric says as he jolts out of bed tangling himself in his blankets, ruffling his jet black hair into a fluffy mess. He gets up and dashes to his closet and quickly changes his gray T shirt for a new one and puts on a pair of black jeans. After throwing his old shirt in the hamper he runs out of the room, grabbing a pair of black boots off his dresser, and down a flight of oak stairs. He jumps the balistair and hurriedly sits in a leather chair in his living room. "Fuck the foreman is gonna have my head today" he grumbles as he looks around the room. "Where did I put that stupid phone? What if he tried to call?" Aeric asks himself as he starts looking under furniture and opening drawers. "Screw it i guess" he says as he walks towards his front door and grabs a red hoodie off the back of it. He throws on the jacket and finds his phone in the pocket. "At least one thing is going my way so far!" He thought. He pulls it out to check the time as he grabs his house key off a hook beside the door, and glances at his phone as he walks out.

Friday, 9:45 AM

25 missed calls....

12 missed calls From Foreman....

9 missed calls From Theresa....

3missed calls From Marcello....

1 Missed call From Hendrickson....

"Theresa is going to kill me for not answering her calls" Aeric thought as he locked up his door. He goes to walk away when he suddenly hears the sound of squeaking brakes and the hiss of an engine coming to a stop. He looks up from his phone to see a bus parked in front of his neighbors house. "Shit Theresa can wait, hold up I'm coming!" Aeric yells to the driver. He runs up to the door just before the scruffy old man driving could close it. The old man pulls a little black satchel with a leather strap from under his seat, "KEEP leaving your stuff and maybe I ain't gonna be so nice next time Hoss!" The bus driver tells Aeric as he hands him the bag. "Thanks Gary I'll try not to make a habit out of it" Aeric replies meekly as he rubs his head and grabs the satchel. Aeric turns from the driver and makes his way to the back of the bus. As he passes through he can see what looks like cloth mannequins scattered throughout the seats. Aeric finds his spot in the back and opens his phone. "I should text everyone to see what they want," Aeric thought to himself. "I'm feeling lazy so I'm just gonna send a mass text..."

To: Marcello, Hendrickson, Theresa Hey sorry I missed your call I overslept. What's up?

Message Sent...

Aeric puts his phone into his jacket pocket, reaches into his bag and makes sure his stuff was all where it should be. "Rope, Check. Headlamp, check. To do list, check. Crap! I have to get a few elixirs and make sure to rent some equipment. Hopefully there's still a few good rentals left by the time I get there." Aeric thinks as he closes his eyes, lays his head back, and begins meditating for the remaining bus ride. Gary the bus driver stares at Aeric from the front of the bus inquisitively. Gary pulls the bus off onto the highway, grumbling under his breath almost inaudibly "..... boy...sleeping....my bus.... what for?....sleep... that's what...."

*vvvvvv*

*vvvvvv*

Aeric reaches into his pocket before opening his eyes, as he pulls out his phone and glances down he opens them.

10:15 AM

2 New Messages From Theresa....

"Where are you???The Foreman is going to kill you!!!!"

👊😡😤🫸🤛😡😤🫵

"Should I be more afraid of her or the foreman," Aeric jokes to himself, "at least I have Marcello there to protect me."

*vvvv* *vvvv*

1 New Message From Marcello

"Where you at bro? We can't wait forever. The foreman might dock your pay again if you don't get here soon!"

Send a Reply?

To: Marcello

"Still on the bus bro. Should be off shortly. He won't dare I'm the only pack mule willing to work for the dirt pay he's offering out. Wait till I awaken man. He won't know what hit him!"

Message Sent

It's been 4 years. The world used to be so chaotic but at least there was a sense of order to things. Then the calamity happened. Giant Rifts began appearing all over the world, we called them Dungeons, and at first it was incredible. Each dungeon was like a door to another uinverse. Untill people started getting attacked by monsters without warning. After a short time had passed monsters started pouring out of the individual rifts, we called these dungeon breaks .People were slaughtered, cities destroyed. The pandemonium had most beside themselves with fear. Around this time so.e bmhad started to fight back after awakening phenomenal abilities. They were known as the first Hunters. They fought to protect the people and purge all the Gates to prevent Dungeon Breaks. They werent able to contain the outbreaks purely by themselves. The Tower of Magi was created to find a way and help the Association to harness the power behind the dungeons pocket dimensions, while the Hunters fought to eradicate all the monsters and contain them in the dungeons. After society was rebuilt as best as it could be everyone did what they could to recreate order. But there's no end in sight to the rifts and untill the source of them is discovered we have no clue what we are dealing with. To maintain structure the factions were created.

Only those from the Hunters Association, The Tower of Magi, The Murim, The Wildlings, The Unlawful Faction, and The Merchants Guild can participate in a Dungeon subjugation. They are the pillars of what we call society. Without them we may not have made it as far as we have if at all. Not everyone was able to awaken either. Some people can't, while others have to meet certain requirements to awaken. Only thing is nobody knows how to figure those out. It just kinda happens. I wasn't so lucky. It's been a rough 4 years.... But I've managed. Since I'm not awakened I can't join any of the factions. I work for the merchants guild under a 2nd party, meaning I'm cheap work, no strings attached, and expendable in their eyes. If it weren't for my friends I don't think I'd have made it this far. Had i not managed to work this out I would have been stuck working at the smithy for grandpas son Jorgan.

*Gary over Intercom*

*Attention Passengers! Listen up and listen good! Gary only gon say this one Damn time! We are approaching our Final destination, Devils Gulch! We are not responsible for anyone's lost or stolen belongings! Soooo Please be sure to grab your shit and get the F#$% off my bus! Don't yall forget to come on back now ya here!*

Aeric grabs his things and starts walking up to the front of the bus. As the bus comes to a halt at a dilapidated office building, he turns to Gary and asks, "Doesn't that bit get old Gary? Why do you say that every day when I'm the only person from my district to get on your bus?" Gary looks at him with a sullen yet grim look and opens his mouth to say something, as Aeric begins to hear a loud ear splitting ring. Aeric grabs his head and the rail beside Gary's seat as he feels his head sear with pain to the point his eyes start watering. Gary looked at Aeric like he had twelve heads and said, " iffin yer sick get your ass off my bus! Ain't trynna catch whatever sickness you got Hoss!". As the ringing and pain subsided, Aeric slowly got off the bus and saw a small group of people gathered by the building. There was a young woman and man waiting at the slapdash terminal. The man looked to be in his mid 20s. He has brown shaggy hair almost to his shoulders, he looks fairly built. As a typical barbarian should. He has a wooden spear imbued with a glowing crimson red metal. Garbed in what looked like a fur cloak attached to a martial artists gi that has metal pauldrons and shoulder guards built in. That is Marcello.

Next to him was Theresa. She looked to be in her late 20s, has long purple hair and lush purple eyes. She is wearing a white button up shirt, with a black lacey gun holster that wraps up and around her waist, belly, and breasts. Just below her cleavage tucked against her rib cage on either side was a revolver pistol that had a long range scope attachment. She was wearing what looked like knee length black pants and a sawn off shotgun against her thigh. She even wore a stylish utility belt that had spare ammo for her weapons and a black pair of combat boots.

As the bus drove away Aeric walks up to Marcello and Theresa. "Sorry I was late again guys. I stayed up late doing my daily workout hoping I might get a physical awakening!" Theresa starts smacking Aeric and says,"That's all you have to say after leaving my messages on read and making a girl worry?" I'm so not gonna save you if monsters try to eat you on this raid!" Marcello stands and watches as he laughs heartily. "Go easy on him Theresa, we can't have our transporter seriously maimed or injured before we even start the raid." "I can handle whatever gets thrown my way!" Aeric says weakly as his vision starts spinning. He starts to tip forward as Marcello grabs his shoulder, "you okay man? You don't look so good. Why must you always push yourself so hard? Your going to kill yourself before you ever become awakened!" He asks Aeric. "I'll probably die of malnourished before I die of overexertion. Unless I awaken this won't change. Till then I have to do what I have to do,now that I'm here let's get this over with already,I just need to grab a few things before we head into the dungeon" Aeric replies.

The group walks around the side of the building to see what looked like a miniature market. Each store was a makeshift stall with plywood and blankets. Some had weapons others had gear, mist had forms of food and ingredients for elixirs. As he passes a delightful smelling BBQ stall, Aeric sees something shine from out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, I'll meet up with you guys in a second. Imma go check out a stall really fast," Aeric tells Theresa and marcello. The shining object led his gaze to a dwarf in a cloak sitting with his back against a crate, sitting in front of a deep purple blanket. Atop the blanket were elixirs, weapons, and some rusty looking trinkets. As Aeric got closer to the stall his head began to throb again. The dwarf takes notice and walks over with an elixir in his gloved hand, "You okay friend you're not looking so hot? Here maybe this will help. It's on the house!It's a recovery elixir that should help with whatever ails ya!" said the dwarf as he extended the elixir out to him. "Under normal circumstances I wouldn't accept strange gifts from strange people, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. Thanks friend." Aeric replies weakly.

He grabs the elixir and pops the cork, it has a mellow fruity aroma, and puts the bottle to his lips. As the fluid touches his tongue he could taste roasted nuts and cinnamon. As it got to his stomach he could feel a warm sensation spread throughout his body and the headache slowly faded away. "That was wonderful! I've never had an elixer that didn't taste like straight dog water. Do you have any more of these? I'll take 6!" Aeric says reinvigorated. As he stood back up he got a closer look at some of the gear that was laying about. There was a small metal shield with a sign that said 5 gold, a few knives, a smith's hammer, a bow, and a couple of swords. What really caught Aerics attention was a sword laying on the crate the dwarf was sitting before. It had a deep crimson red hilt with chrome accents that looked like it had glowing red roots wrapped around it. The blade was only about three to four inches wide at the hilt and gradually got thinner towards the point. Aeric couldn't see the blade because it was in a royal blue sheath. "How much for that-, I don't think I caught your name what was it friend?" Aeric asked the dwarf. "The names Dorrin, and in regard to those elixirs sadly I only have 2 left in stock. I can sell em to you for a 200 silver.!"

"That's not too bad given how well they went down! Not to mention how well it worked! I'll take them. How about that sword on the crate over there Dorrin? Is it for sale too?"

"That old thing? Bah! I ain't got no use for it no more. My hunting days are numbered you can have it if you want." "Really?! You would just give it to me? What's the catch?" Aeric asks Dorrin. "No catch. I'm just old and feeble now. I'd rather someone young with a long life make better use of it. Better than let it collect dust like this old bag of bones here! Darrin says with a gleeful laugh. "Here's 200 for the elixirs and 5 gold for this shield here and I'll be on my way then Dorrin. I'll be sure to stop by after the subjugation!" Aeric tells Dorrin as he collects his purchase. After putting the elixers in his bag and the shield on his back, Dorrin hands Aeric the sword and he equips it to his waist. "Be careful in there kid that dungeon hasn't been feeling right the last few days! People keep saying they've been seeing strange shadows moving around near the entrance! Big hulking monstrosities they were people say!" Dorrin warns Aeric. "Thanks for the heads up man. I'll be sure to stay on my guard! See you around!" Aeric says as he walks away down the alley.

Aeric walks up to Marcello and Theresa back at the entrance to the market."You guys just about ready to meet up with the advance party?" He asks them. "About that they already went in ahead of us. The foreman got impatient and said it wasn't his fault if you missed out on anything good." Marcello told him. "Shit we gotta go then!" Aeric exclaims as he bursts into a spinning glass door on the side of the office building. Inside there was a massive yellow glowing portal. It throbbed and hummed as I'd it was a living entity. As aeric approached it he pulled out a ticket from his bag and inserted it into what looked like an old fashioned time card punch. After punching his ticket he proceeded to the portal and waited for the others. "This is always my least favorite part," Aeric says detestfully. "Not our fault your weak unawakened stomach churns everytime we go into dungeons!" Theresa teases as she pushes Aeric through saying, "after you!"

Upon entering the Dungeon Aeric looked around the cold dark room as he resists the urge to lose yesterdays lunch. He pulls out his headlamp and puts it on and grabs his shield from off his back. After turning on the lamp he could see they had entered into a cave biome. "Be on your toes guys anything can happen here." Marcello says as he moves to the front of the group. They proceed through a hole in the wall and start smelling the scent of blood and decay. They entered a big cavernous chamber with 2 different paths. Monster bodies and parts were strewn around on the ground. "Looks like it was just goblins. Shouldn't have much to worry about. They aren't particularly bright." Marcello says. "Only problem is figuring out which way to go." Aeric shines his light down both paths one veered off to the right while the other looked to be blocked off by a cave in. At the bottom of the pile of rocks was an abnormal look goblin covered in a strange black dust.

"Looks like we can only go left guys," Aeric says as him and Marcello make there way down the left tunnel. As they came around the bend they saw trails of blood leading further in alongside human weapons. "That's never a good sign," Marcello says grimly. The slowly advance forward as the passage becomes more narrow. As they squeeze through the passage they come across a human body entertwined with that of a goblin. Marcello pushes them out of the way to see that the tunnel began to open back up. As they three of them came out of the tunnel into a giant cavern filled with holes and tunnels with a massive boulder in the center of the room. They felt the ground begin to tremble. "Let's move cautiously guys, the Dungeon boss might be near by." Aeric says. "No surprise the weakest one warns of caution," Theresa teased as a shadow darts towards them from one of the many openings. Marcello leapt into action and chucks his spear in the direction of the movement.

*SCREEEEEEEEEE*

"Yes, got it," Marcello exclaimed. They moved over to where the sound came from to find a goblin, but it looked strange. It's eyes were bright red and it's skin was darker than coal. "What the hell? Why does it look like that," Theresa asked as the goblin disintegrated into a fine black powder. "Let's just keep moving. We have to find the advance team and figure out the situation," suggested Marcello. "I don't think we have that option any more guys," Aeric says grimly, "you should come look at this." On the other side of the boulder from where they came in was the advance team. It looked like a massacre, some were basically blood puddles, others were ripped limb from limb. The only one with any semblance of being whole was a stern looking man proped up against the boulder. He had short gray hair, a green tunic, and was missing an arm. As they approached the man they saw he was still breathing. "It's the foreman guys! What happened boss? How did everyone get slaughtered like this in a measly F rank goblin Dungeon?" Marcello asked the man. He began spitting up blood as he attempted to move. "Stop moving its just going to make it worse. What on earth happened?" Theresa said. "It happened quicker than we thought. We were swarmed by strange goblins and as we killed them they all turned into a strange black powder. As we fought the powder started floating around and when we thought we were in the clear we all felt an manse pressure that brought as to our knees. As I looked up the black powder started gaining mass and creating something in the center of this cavern. It turned into a big hulking mass of a creature with fiery red eyes, and hide thicker than a wyvern.Then in a blink of an eye my men were screaming. Blood was everywhere. I did everything I could to try and stop it but all I could do was seal it with this boulder. I don't have much time left though. Once I'm gone the boulder will be too. So if I were you I'd hurry up and get out of here." The foreman said, he then starts profusely coughing up blood.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEE*

*SCREEEEEEEEEEE*

*SCREEEEEEEEEEE*

*SCREEEEEEEEEEE*

*SCREEEEEEEEEEE*

*SCREEEEEEEEEEE*

"SHIT! Here comes more guys! Aeric get behind us and try to protect yourself as best you can!" Said Marcello. The strange black goblins started pouring out from all over the place. Marcello starts fighting using his spear and fights the ones that get too close to the group. Theresa begins using her revolvers and spatial magic to shoot enemies from afar. Only using the shotgun to cover Aeric and Marcello when they began getting overwhelmed. After what feels like hours the battle comes to a halt.

The group all gasps with relief as Aeric hands the 2 elixirs to Marcello and Theresa. "Here drink up guys, these should help heal any injuries you sustained." He tells them. As they knock back the elixirs the rumbling starts again. The goblins they had killed start turning into that strange black powder and starts to swirl around the cavern. The group walks over to the foreman and sees he was already dead. The boulder behind him disappears and his body falls into a giant hole where the boulder was. As they look over the edge to see how deep the hole goes a thick black cloud of that power surges from out of it. The powder began to intermingle with what was already in the room as it start taking shape into a giant black ball. Monstrous sized arms and legs grew from the center of the mass, the arms grew massive clawed hands and sprouted human like feet from it's legs. As the group stood there gazing in horror the creature had grown massive leathery wings and a ridge of spikes coming to a sharp whip of a tail from its back. As a massive earned skull grew from the torso, Marcello began to scream, " Ruuuuuuu-

Before he could finish his sentence the creature had advanced on him and batted him across the room with its hulking hand. He slammed into a wall and his body slumped to the floor lifeless. Theresa had already started running towards the nearest tunnel Aeric following directly behind her. Aeric heard a rush of wind pass by as he glances to see the massive creature pass him busy and grab Theresa by the leg and threw her into the air. "NOOOOOOOO!" Aeric screamed as her body slammed into the ceiling and the creature throws its head back and roars. Her body begins to fall back to the floor as the creature jumps into the air and bites into tearing her in two. "IIIILLLLL KIIIIILLLL YOOOOOUUUU," Aeric screams in distress brandishing his shield. Remembering his sword he pulls it from its sheath to see the blade looked like it was filled with a black smokey substance that gave off a faint red glow. He charged the monster as the monster looks at him and rushes his way. It smacks its hand into him as he barely blocks it with his shield. It completely shatters his arms and legs, his lungs slowly begin to fill with blood. "Not like this. It can't end like this." He thought. "If only I was awakened maybe everything could have been different. Nobody would have died in vain....." He began hearing the loud ringing as his vision began to fade. The monster grabbed him he lay there unable to move and slowly brought him into the air as it pulled its head back as if to eat him. The ringing sound became so deafening it began to sound electronic. As the creature let him go everything began to feel like time had slowed down. A strange screen appeared in front of his face that read [would you like to try again?]

"What the hell," he thought as he slowly fell towards the creatures gaping jaws. "What's that even supposed to mean," he shouts! [Would you like to try again? YES or NO?]

"Fuck yeah I'd like to try again! Not like any of that matters when I'm about to die!" He shouts. As the strange screen highlights yes and the option for no disappears. Stab yourself. Said the screen. "What the fuck?!," he exclaims. Use that blade and take your life before that creature. "Not like it matters I guess, I'm gonna die either way," he thought to himself. He took the sword and pierced himself in the stomach with what little strength he had left. The strange glowing smoke from the sword filled his body and he began to glow a deep shade of red as the monsters jaws snapped shut around him and everything goes dark.

Aeric wakes up in a panic clutching at his chest gasping for air. He looks around as his eyes adjust to the darkness. He's back in his room laying in bed. He looks over at his clock and it says 4:20 AM. He slowly gets out of bed and walks over to a doorway parallel to his bed. He turns on a light and walks over to a massive bathroom mirror and starts splashing cold water on his face with the faucet. As he dries his face with a hanging towel beside his door he looks into the mirror in shock to see his jet black hair now had white highlights throughout it. But strangest of all was his eyes. They were a nice shade of hazel, but now one was a deep crimson red where as the other was a bright teal blue. He stood there in shock at his new appearance as words appeared above his head.

[*Aeric Pentafrax Lvl 35*]

"What the hell is this shit," he thought as his phone began to ring downstairs. Without a second thought he runs out of the room and down stairs to see who was calling. He grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket and sees it says Theresa was calling. He answered the phone and without thinking frantically started asking her questions. "What the hell happened in the dungeon yesterday?! I thought we were all dead! How did we make it out?!" "What kind of shit have you been smoking" she asked him. "I was just calling to make sure you were gonna be here on time for the subjugation today. Sounds like you should just stay home with whatever fever dream your having," she joked. "Whatever I'm heading out now knowing Gary he should be here soon. Imma go get ready and I'll head out." Aeric replies as they end the call. He looks at his phone again and sees it says [Friday, 4:32 AM]. He goes upstairs and hurriedly gets dressed in his gray shirt and black jeans. After putting on his boots he heads down stairs to grab his jacket from off the door and his house key.

As he locked up Aeric could hear Gary's bus approaching. He walks up to the spot Gary usually stopped and waited for the bus to come to a halt as checked the time again, 5:00 A.M. "Looky who's up bright n early this mornin. I see you even changed up the doo Hoss" Gary said as Aeric stepped onto the bus. "Morning to you too Gary, can I just have my bag please. I'm not really in the mood for conversation this morning." "Grouchy this morning ain't we," Gary says to Aeric as he hands him his satchel. He takes the bag from Gary and as he goes to walk away a screen appears in front of his face that said ["put items in inventory?" Yes or No?]

"Sure?" Aeric thought as his bag fades into what lookes like digital beams of light as it disappers. Astonished he turns and moves past all the cloth mannequins and takes his seat in the far back. "This is so strange. Was that all just a dream? What happened to me? The hell was that strange message I saw? It was kinda like those video games I used to play. They looked like system messages you would interact with" Aeric thought.

"Open inventory," he said as a screen with a bunch of little boxes popped up. He could see the satchel taking up on of the slots. He reaches out his arm and taps the square it was in as the bag materialized in his hand. He opened it to double check his gear was still in it. As he touched each item the strange messages kept popping up asking if he would like to put the items in his inventory. "That's sure to come in handy later," he says to himself. "Status screen" he said aloud as another see through screen appeared in front of him.

[~Aeric Pentafrax Lvl 35~]

*Class: ?????? SwordMage*

*Specializes in ??????????*

HP: 3200 MP:3400

Strength: 25 Intelligence: 19

Agility: 22 Endurance: 23

Vitality: 22 Dexterity: 24

[Vigor : 14 Charisma: 13]

"Not as bad as I had thought, an awakenings an awakening and i sure wont look this gift horse in the mouth" Aeric thought to himself. "But why can't I see much of anything? That's so counter productive. What kind of stupid system would even think that would make sense?" As he finished his thought Aerics head began to hurt, as Gary screams, "What the he--" as the bus crashes directly into something. The bus flips a few times and screeches to a halt as it slams through a wall on its side. Dazed Aeric looks around choking and coughing to see dust in the air and broken glass everywhere, the mannequins were dismembered and tossed around. He slowly got up and moved to the front of the bus, seeing the front window was destroyed as he climbed over seats. He apprached the front of the bus and as he did Aeric saw thick pieces of metal rebar, that came through the windshield, dripping in what looked like blood. "Shit Gary! You okay?" Aeric asked in a panic as he saw the rebar sticking out of Gary's chest and neck as he came up to the driver seat. Aeric then reaches over and closes Gary's eyes as he lay there lifeless. Aerics phone began to ring, incoming call from Theresa, as a pop up message appeared in front of him and a strange red energy that felt like molten hot liquid started rushing into him through his veins from Gary's now lifeless corpse.

[Absorbing Essence...]

[Essence Absorbtion Complete...]

"What the fuck?!" Aeric screamed as he falls back in shock reeling in pain on the ground. "What the hell was that about?! Was that a part of my awakening? This is why that stupid system needs to make more sense!" He rambles to himself as he hears the sound of hiss and clacking approaching the back of the bus. He quickly crawled out of the window and exited the bus to hears something big jump on to the bus as he heard a loud clicky growl. He slowly creeper around one side of the bus keeping crouched hoping that what ever was on the bus didn't find him. "What do I do? Do I have any attack capabilities? Let me try this, open skills." He said hoping to see a screen full of usable moves. What he saw was this.

[Absorb Essence]

•The user will Absorb Essence passively upon interaction with corpses.

[Transmute]

•Allows the user to Transmute nearby objects using stored Essence.

"Come on! Why cant I get a stinking attack move or something! He mutters as he heard the sound of a mechanical whir above him. He looked up to see a half skeleton half spider monster that looked like it was made from a strange black dust. "That's like the thing from the Dungeon that got me killed!" He thought as he dashed away from the creature towards a boulder on the side of the road. The creature let out a bellowing clicky growl as it leaped off the bus and took chase after him. He approached the boulder and got his foot caught on a vine sticking out of the edge of the road making him trip. He gets up as the creature gains ground backing him right into the boulder. Aeric places one of his hand against the stone and the other up as if to shield him, as a pop up message appeared.

[Transmute?]

[Y/N?]

"Yes! Transmute! Do something so I don't die Dammit! Not when I just got my awakening!Help me kick its ass with something!" He screamed as a confirmation message appears. [Transmuting...]

As the pop up disappeared the strange energy he absorbed before started flowing out of Aerics hand and around the boulder like a deep red river. It began to seep into the stone making into bulge and distort. The strange blob splattered to the ground and started to take shape as a blue steam started coming off it. It looked like a little blood red golem with fat, stocky spiked arms and legs, and to his surprise was about a foot smaller than Aeric. The golem stood up and charged at the monster. Aeric stood up and tried to take cover as he watched as the two things duked it out. The golem grabbed the thing by its leg and tossed it into the bus as it attempted to bite the golems arm. The golem jumps into the air landing on the spiders abdomen and grabs it by its head and rips it in half. Aeric stood there in shock as he took in what just transpired. The golem dropped the remains of the creature as it turned towards Aeric as he walks over to it and looks at it in awe. "That was close," he thought to himself, "I'm just glad something worked out for me in the end." He looks over at the strange monster and touches its corpse and could feel the warmth rapidly fading from it.

[Absorbing Essence....]

Aeric felt the searing pain shoot through his hand again like it had before with Gary. "Damn, I forgot about this!" He thought to himself as the energy pulsed through his veins. "It feels like my veins are about to explode" he said in agony as his vision began to fade out. "Shiit I never answered Theresa's call, she's gonna kill me" he mumbled as the energy subsided and he passed out on the spot. The golem picks up Aeric and carries him as it walks towards the Devils Gulch station.