Caws fell from overhead. Scott coughed, and he awoke. All his muscles ached, and he groaned as he writhed in sand. He rolled to his side with a fierce groan, and he struggled to lift his eyelids. Even they were sore, and bright bronze light entered his quickly watering eyes.
“Oh shit. I can’t fucking believe it.”
Scott rose to his knees. He cupped his hands over his eyes, and he surveyed the beach. Rocks peppered the sand. A neon purple surf slid up the sand. A dozen feet out in the expanse of sea, the water was sapphire blue. Up the beach, foreign flora swayed in the sea breeze. The shade was black beneath the trees.
He dropped to his back, and he laughed, and he thought of his last terrifying year.
He’d survived the cataclysm when it had first announced itself in the heads of billions of people as an event: a thing: The System. He’d survived the black alien pillars which had appeared overnight. He’d survived the monsters. He’d survived the storms. He’d survived the lethal panic of humankind. He’d survived the constant strikes of red lightning until the moment that he had been struck.
Instead of the constant stormy black sky which made him think he’d never see the sun again, he gazed up at a cloudless blue sky. Birds circled far above.
Scott recalled all the people that he witnessed disappear when they’d been struck by red lightning. He thought they’d just been blown to dust. The system had warned everyone on earth that they would be located and relocated. That’s what the red lightning must have been for because…
“Here I am.”
Scott shut his eyes and took a deep breath. In the void of his mind’s eye, a stream of sky blue text appeared.
Level 1
Experience 000/100
Strength 10
Wisdom 0
Intelligence 1
Dexterity 5
Constitution 4
Abilities none
Inventory 00/10
“Oh shit.”
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
The list of statistics was then replaced with what seemed like a notification.
Survive.
“Survive? Survive! What the hell do you mean survive? I’ve been surviving for a year now!”
Scott bolted to his feet, but when his muscles ached, he tumbled to the sand.
Wherever he was, it was much better than the apocalypse on earth. Hunger and thirst had stretched time. Fellow humans had put as much fear into him as the monsters and the storm had. He’d seen countless deaths, and he’d narrowly survived only to find himself alone on a beach.
Scott laughed. Compared to his last year on earth, this seemed like paradise. And with statistics? Levels? The shit from games?
“Half nightmare, half dream.”
Despite every stiff muscle, Scott staggered to his feet. His shoes slid in the sand. His tongue felt dry, and he was parched. A long rumbling grumble bubbled in his gut.
He jogged to the water, and he peered along the coast. There was nothing but coastland, flora which seemed tropical, and the expanse of purple sea then blue sea. He searched through the water where it was purple and shallow while he considered his stats.
His stats made no sense. Zero wisdom? His intelligence was one? What was the intelligence of a bird then, if his was so low? Scott refused to frett. He would make sense of things in time. There was always an explanation.
“There we go,” said Scott as he gazed through purple water. “And there’s always fish in the sea.”
Small fish, which Scott could not identify, darted around shells which looked similar to clam shells.
They were each as large as a shoe. He plucked one, and it clamped itself in. Ashore, he grunted with effort for ten minutes of bashing it with a rock until the shell shattered. Sea water spilled from the broken armor. A few more bashes weakened the clam enough that it lolled open.
Level 1 giant clam slain.
2 xp gained.
Scott tore the slippery meat with his bitten fingernails and with his teeth. It had been three months since he’d last had meat. Ah, what a delicious thing!
And what a thrill it was that he earned his first experience points. The feeling was cut short as he thought of his home on earth, for the absence of a world encompassing storm was enough evidence that he was no longer on planet earth. So many people had died. Friends and family had either succumbed or been relocated by lightning as he had. Scott had spent the last year being salty about it, and ever shrewd and powerfully resilient, now it was time to live again. For that he needed was fresh water.
Scott scooped the shards of the giant clam. Those with sharp edges he slipped into his back pockets. He climbed the beach, kept to the edge of the black shade, and jogged up the coast.
Keeping keen, Scott mulled his stats once more. He found it odd that some things were at zero or nearly there. He really had almost no intelligence? The hell does that work?
So he questioned his stats directly with as loud a thought as he could think. What is the wisdom stat?
The wisdom statistic has a variable which ranges from 0 up. Wisdom is accumulated with experience: The child achieves wisdom the moment they touch fire.
The wisdom stat ingrains experience for 24 hours after a stat point has been assigned: Training to punch for 24 hours after assigning a stat point to wisdom is equal to training to punch for 1 year.
Applying a stat point to wisdom opens your mind. Plan your next 24 hours carefully: Warlords save their stat points for their time on the frontline.
Scott frowned. He noted skittering crabs as he jogged on. As he kept focused and keen, he couldn’t help but wonder why hos wisdom stat was at zero. His life was full of experience, and he knew there were fewer people more resilient than him. It made absolutely no sense. None at all.
Why was his wisdom stat at zero? He asked, but received no response from the system.
Scott’s stat sheet:
Level 1
Experience 002/100
Strength 10
Wisdom 0
Intelligence 1
Dexterity 5
Constitution 4
Abilities none
Inventory 00/10