System

[Welcome, reader #000545]

"Reader #000545?" Ann attempted to look around for clues but again only the pitch-black space was staring back at her.

The screen flickered, letters and symbols realigning into a coherent message

[Yes! Welcome reader #0000545]

'Am I hallucinating?' She waved at the glowing screen before her. To her surprise, not only was the screen still there, her hands went through it, like those holograms she have heard so much about.

'If it's a hologram, there should be a source somewhere but I don't see it?'

"Who are you? No, what exactly are you?" She asked after contemplating the possibilities of who could have done this. If such technologies did exist in the real world, it was impossible for her, the professional forum tracker, to not have heard of this.

[Secret ^3^]

Her jaw dropped. She expected a response, though never a playful response like that of a mischievous child. 'A playful hologram? System? Wait a minute…' Ann had heard of these situations happening before.

'No way! This isn't a novel.' She scratched her head furiously, her fingers running through the grease built-up on her tangled hair. She pinched herself in the armpit.

'Wake up! This isn't real!'

However, Ann already knew this wasn't a dream. A chuckle turned into a giggle, then a loud hysterical laugh that echoed across the dark space. The situation she had read so much about in novels became a reality. System. Transported into a different space and time. This was a popular genre that everyone had been raving about this past year.

'I don't have any fighting skills though. Wait, maybe I can learn new ones as I level up or something. Isn't that how those novels went? But what about....'

Millions of scenarios ran through her brain. She needed to analyze. No. She had to analyze. Analyze her current situation. Analyze all the future possibilities. Analyze the best possible course of action she could take based on her ability. This was the only way she tackled numerous challenging cases she encountered on her job.

[Reader #0000545, are you ready to accept the mission?]

"What's the mission?" she asked, her heart beating erratically despite her composed face.

[Mission: Enact revenge on behalf of Evelyn Ashe, and create a satisfying ending to the story.]

'Evelyn Ashe, as I had suspected. Is this karma for tearing the author down?' She tried tapping the screen that remained frozen. 'This isn't like a game interface.'

"And what if I don't want to? What are you going to do about it?" There was a strange curiosity in her dare.

[… You can return to Earth after succeeding.]

'That's a good deal but this isn't enough information. I'll have to negotiate a deal here.'

"I'll consider it if you tell me who you are."

[…]

"Then, what about this?" She pointed her fingers at the blue screen with a confident smile. "Are you a system with an ego or some sort of higher being?"

[… A higher being. Now then, will you accept the mission?]

"Wait! I've just said I'll consider it."

[Arrogant human!] A bright red screen followed by a 'ding' loud enough to have woken her up in her sleep. [You have accepted the mission. Ten seconds until forced teleportation.]

Huh?

"Hey! When did I accept this?" she cried out.

[Ten. Nine.]

"I need more information! How am I supposed to succeed?!" She paced around, scanning the place once again for clues about this "higher being".

[You are a reader. You should know what to do. Eight. Seven. Six.]

Ann raised her head, her hands clasped together. She also pulled her ultimate card: the puppy eye look even though she knew it wouldn't have been very useful in convincing this being.

"Give me anything. Please!! Don't you want me to complete the mission?"

Deep into the void, her ears picked up a soft chuckle. She swiftly faced the direction of the faint sound.

[Fine. I will give you a gift when you get there.]

"Thank you!"

[Three. Two. One.]

The dark space around her began crumbling into small pieces in the same manner as a jigsaw puzzle slowly being destroyed. Beyond the cracks formed by the dark space, she registered in the myriads of stars expanding across the endless skies. Each bright dot was orbiting around a glistening green core.

'What exactly is this place?'

Sadly, there was no time for her to admire the scenery. The ground shook with a violent force similar to how she imagined a 7.0 scale earthquake would have been. Not just that,1000 invisible needles had seemingly appeared out of thin air to stab her entire body.

'This... I can't'

She slumped down with her hands clutching her head. Everything had merged into one big blur, swirling around like a lollipop, and not long after she saw the system's message, her consciousness faded away.

[Don't disappoint me, reader #000545]

***

"Ughh" Ann groaned while her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. Dark tree trunks stretched up in different directions a couple hundred meters into the sky, brown contorted vines overhanging black trails, and a rotten smell from the moist earth and decaying vegetation. The full moon shone through the thick layer of green-tinted mist, illuminating the moss-coated rocks.

'This eerie atmosphere...Undoubtedly, it's the Hinlan Forest, on the southwest of Athilia. But why am I here?'

Before she could formulate a plausible answer, Ann detected some swift but heavy footsteps that were approaching her vicinity.

'An ominous feeling.' She knew better than anyone it was always correct to trust her intuition. Laying flat like a pancake, the girl crawled towards the suitably dense bush behind her. She waited patiently, observing the dark figures that emerged from the fog like a lioness stalking its prey. An all-black tight leather suit underneath a large crimson robe that hid most of their faces. They carried a long thin sword that had been dyed crimson from the dried-up blood.

"That was tough! It's good we had our infiltrates stabbed him beforehand," the figure on the right complained.

"I don't know what would have happened if we didn't," the other hooded person responded, stretching their arms above their head. The arms were unbelievably long and slender, which further emphasized the flower tattoo wrapped around the wrist.

"Let's report back to master! He would love to hear this!" A high squeaky voice chimed in. Despite the short stature, this figure emitted a much more lethal dark aura. Ann instinctively held her breath and averted her gaze toward the ground. She balled her hands into a fist to stop the trembling.

When the noises in the distance had died off, Ann peered over the jagged leaves. She stood, dusted her ruffled sleeves, and dashed towards the direction the hooded people came from.

'If I'm not mistaken, someone's in critical condition up this path. Ughh I hate these heels.'

High heels had never been her thing; she had spent most of her time at work in running shoes that she had forgotten demanding moving in heels was. Nevertheless, there was no time to waste.

'Right, didn't the thing have a gift for me? But how do I summon it?' If she had gone with the logic of system genre novels, it should be...

"System, Status Menu."

The familiar luminescent screen popped up. Ann blinked twice, rubbing both of her eyes in case she had missed something.

"No way, there's only a health bar, mana bar, mission, and inventory!? What about other statuses? What about a map?"

'Whatever, I should check my inventory. The gift should be there, right?'

But why of course, it wasn't. Nor was there anything else in her inventory.

'F*cking F*ck. I shouldn't have trusted anything that thing said.' She swore vehemently in her mind while evading the thorny vines that dangled over the sprawling limbs of ancient trees. Wind slipped through the leaves, blowing strands of her long wavy hair away from her damp face. Ann leaped across the web of bumpy roots and landed perfectly with both of her high-heeled shoes intact.

A pungent smell oozed from the countless hooded bodies laying above the rotten leaves.

"Hello? Is anyone here alive?"

She waddled across, checking the pulse and breathing of each and every body. Although most bodies had gone cold and flaccid, Ann had a sliver of hope that there might be someone alive.

"He...Help," a weak voice cried out.

Ann's head jolted to where the sound came from. She rushed to shadow hunching underneath a gnarled tree. It was a large-bearded man with a scar across his forehead. He was heaving, arms guarding his abdomen.

"Him. First." He turned to the hooded person with a scowl on his face. The man never expected to see a girl deep in this forest, yet a beautiful young noble lady.

Ann scooped down and examined the pulses and breathing of both men. She then proceeded to feel for their temperature and checked their nails and mouths. Unfortunately, the hooded person had fallen into a stupor

'Patient with late stage III shock and another patient with an abdomen wound.'

Two critical patients with no one else to assist her.

'God. I just wanted to go home and rest!'