World Boss: Break the Narrative

Angelica and I made it to the first safe zone. It was a concrete bunker built into the ground. It had narrow slits for windows and the door was a massive metal thing that reminded me of a bulkhead or a bank vault.

I managed to get it open eventually. The inside was utilitarian and basically empty. Two rooms, a large main room that had two cots lit by a single bulb. The second room was closet-sized with a toilet and sink in it. Angelica closed the door behind her and barred it with a massive iron bar, and several sliding rods at the corners. That door was not budging any time soon.

Notice check… successful

I spotted something on one of the cots. Under the rumpled blanket was a small leather-bound book. I opened it and found handwritten words. Flipping through it quickly I saw most entries had a header like Day 15, or Day 41.

“You find something?” Angelica asked.

“I think it is a journal,” I said holding up the book.

Angelica raised an eyebrow, “anything good?”

I turned to the front, “Day 7 Managed to cross the ocean into the frozen wastes. I hate the cold, but this is as close to the Dead Coast and Nada All-Death as we dare get. The mobs won’t approach us. Even they keep their distance from her.

“Day 15. We crossed the Rockies and entered the Goblin Wastes. We had three close calls with goblin tribes. The spindly bastards took some potshots at us but we all got away clean. I hate goblins. They set traps, and unlike most mobs will seek revenge.

“Day 41. I was separated from the others. I hope they succeed. I know I am completely lost. I saw the spire. That damned edifice. I thank whatever god was listening that the imps didn’t catch me. I don’t know what the tower is for when they are clearly making the slaves dig down into the frozen ground. What is the Demon of Frost up to?”

“Day 44. Something is out there in the snow. Whatever it is, it has claws and fangs. I found the remains of a goblin village. No goblins, just bones. I think I am being hunted. I am so cold.

“The last entry had no date. It just says, ‘I miss my husband.’” I finished.

“Is that everything?” Angelica asked.

“I was skimming, here,” I said, offering the little book to her.

Angelica took the book, but didn’t open it, “before we get too comfortable, I think we need to get a few things figured out.”

“Okay,” I said sitting down on one of the cots.

Angelica sat on the other, “Who are you, Doug?”

“I don’t think I am anything special. I was born out here. I have spent all my life wandering around this place.” I answered.

Angelica sat down and seemed to be looking into the middle distance. I realized she was reading a prompt. “Have you been out here all alone?”

I shrugged, “I have… I guess you could call them older siblings running around, but they are not what I would call reliable. What about you?”

“I am here to kill the Demon of Frost. I have issues with the Technacoast and Demons.” She said.

“Wait the thing with the tower from the journal?”

“Probably, Technacoast has been spreading westward for 80 years at least. I know he has a fortress and an army of Imps.” She shook her head, “Do you seriously expect me to believe you aren’t connected to the Technacoast?”

“I honestly do not know what that is,” I answered completely truthfully.

Angelica studied me for a long moment, “Huh, then what’s your deal dude?”

“I really don’t have a deal. Currently, I am just trying to survive.”

Angelica sighed, “Okay, cards on the table, I have been using skills on you.”

“Sense motive?” I asked.

She nodded, “I am not gonna apologize. You came out of the storm covered in gore trailing snow lions.”

I shrugged again, “That’s fair. For what it is worth. I honestly do not intend you any harm.”

Angelica’s eyes looked to the middle distance again, “I… believe you.” She sounded surprised. She paused for a long moment. I almost figured we were done talking when she said. “I can’t make any promises, I am on a crash course with a serious heavy hitter, but I will do what I can to keep you safe.”

“Thanks. I will watch your back as best I can too.”

Angelica gave me a smile that clearly showed she thought that was cute. Angelica sort of clipped from reality for a split second. She went from wearing a bright red coat, thick black snow pants, and yellow boots, to pajama pants and a t-shirt. A dagger appeared in her hand and she proceeded to nonchalantly cut into her other wrist.

“What the fuck are you doing!” I shouted.

A split second before some of the worst memories I had could rise to the surface. A prompt appeared.

Willpower check… Successful

Unwanted memories suppressed.

Angelica looked at me like I was loony. “Ah, damaging myself to optimize training for my health regen.” She said this like someone would say brushing their hair.

“Oh,” I said, not understanding what she was talking about. That said Angelica seemed to know what she was up to. So, I just left that alone.

Once she finished cutting into her arm, she wiped the injuries down with a cloth. The dagger and cloth disappeared. She clipped again and a large blanket appeared over her shoulders. It was a massive quilt of varying colors. An energy bar with the label “Starve Away!” written in lightning bolt text on it. She took a bite, and realized I was watching her, “Do you want one?”

“Nah,” I said. I laid down on the cot. After a few minutes, I realized Angelica was still watching me. “Sup?”

“Eh, just watching you,” she said.

“Because?”

“There’s nothing else to watch,” she said. “You are hard to wrap my head around. I fought through all sorts of hell to get here. This place is famous for being more or less empty, and I find a new travel buddy. Then there is this journal implying someone else is running around here.” She opened the journal and started paging through it.

Angelica spent another twenty minutes looking through the journal. Finally, she closed it, and it vanished into her inventory. She stood and reached for the pull string for the light. “You cool if I turn the light off.”

“Yeah,” I said, then the light clicked off.

Notice check… Successful!

One of the narrow-slit windows was blackened. After a second whatever was out there moved away from the bunker.

“Did you see that?” I asked, a chill running down my spine.

“Yep,” Angelica said. She sighed. “Sleep well, Doug. Not like we can get well rested with crappy cots like this.”

“Any idea what that was?”

“Nope.”

“Are we going to do anything about it?”

“Relax Doug, we are in a safe zone. If it is a mob it can’t force its way in. either way we will probably have to deal with it tomorrow.

Something outside screamed. It was a terrible scream of anguish and hatred. Both Angelica and I sat up. Something rattled the door twice. Then slammed into it once. Dust fell from the ceiling.

After a few minutes, the scream came again. This time it was much farther away. A few minutes after that it shrieked again even further away.

“Ah shit, that is going to be a plot hook later,” Angelica muttered. "Either way, that is going to be a tomorrow problem.” She flopped back down. “Try and get some sleep.”

I settled back down but kept getting prompts

Notice check… successful

Source of noise is now 4 miles away

Notice check… successful

Source of noise is now 6 miles away

Notice check… successful

Source of noise is now 5 miles away

Notice check… successful

Source of noise is now 8 miles away

Over the course of about three hours whatever was out there eventually wandered further away. I didn’t receive any further prompts after the 8 miles away prompt. Had it wandered beyond my ability to hear it? Had it stopped moving and screaming for the night? Was it doubling back quietly? I suspected I was not getting any prompt for failed notice checks.

Angelica began to snore.

I just couldn’t get to the point where I could relax and conk out. The feeling of lightning burning my flesh flashed through me again. An echo of the pain.

This was the first quiet moment I had since… well technically ever. All the memories I had were someone else’s life. Oddly that didn’t really seem to bug me. it didn’t make me happy either. It was just a fact of life. The real problem was quite a few of those memories were effectively useless in this new world, and this new world was full of monsters, and super-powered beings.

How on earth was I supposed to stop someone like Zach? His shouting had more force than the blizzard, and that was just his shadow. My guess was the actual guy would be way more powerful.

Then there was Angelica. She didn’t want me around. Did I really want to keep hanging out with her? Did I want to head out on my own? No, I didn’t want to do that. The memory of the alpha snow lion’s fang pressing down on my neck made my breath hitch. I also suspect Wilson would retaliate if we tried to go our separate ways. Was whatever was out there screaming, meant to drive home the point that we had to stick together or else?

I needed to sort through this. Okay, goals for tomorrow: survive, learn about the world, figure out rough geography, and learn more about Angelica. Seriously what the hell was up with her taking a knife to her arm?

Willpower check… successful.

Best not focus on that too much. She mentioned training her health regen. That probably meant you had to be damaged to improve your ability to heal from damage. That sounded right, but it was probably wrong to assume.

She was here to take down a demon of frost. The journal also mentioned slaves. I thought about that for a moment as well. Yeah, if I could, I had to try and help them, whoever they were. I am not going to pretend like I was some saintly figure, but helping whoever was enslaved by a demon was going to be a priority. There was no way being stuck in that situation wasn’t terrible.

Okay, now that I had goals, what was the best way to achieve them? Grinding out the levels I supposed. Now from what I could tell, the most commonly spawned enemy in these supposed goblin wastes was snow lions. Killing them would eventually spawn a Snow Lion Alpha. Killing enough alphas would spawn a snow lion pack. If I kept killing that would likely spawn something even more dangerous. That didn’t make a lot of sense, except from the perspective of a show. Watching someone stomping on mooks that can’t hurt them would get boring eventually so having something scary step in at uncertain intervals would keep the audience engaged. It would also force people to mix up activities.

One last question popped into my mind. Was I being watched right now?

Rather than dwell on that I focused on falling asleep. A prompt popped up,

Sleep? Yes/No

I selected yes.