Reborn as a Fire Mage!, page 6
Level One Communications Unit!
This unit can receive or send verbal communications within a five-mile radius. You may upgrade the unit to increase the radius. You have also received a personal communicator to use when you are away from Station 15. You can purchase more communicators from the shop for other inhabitants if you wish.
A pulse of light manifested in front of me and another hologram appeared, which I assumed to be the personal communicator. A small, silver, circular device the size of a quarter rotated in front of me slowly. There was a small green light in the middle. I grabbed the communicator with my index finger and thumb when I looked closely at it.
Echo broke his silence as he watched nearby. “Think, Analysis, to learn additional information about the communicator.”
I did as my celestial assistant commanded. A new screen popped up that told me different pieces of information. Upgrade and Repair were options, along with a choice labeled Information which I chose immediately with my finger.
This communicator will adhere to the skin behind your ear.
After that sentence revealed itself, a screen showing me zoomed behind my ear and marked the spot that the communicator was to go. I looked at the small silver disc and placed it behind my ear as instructed. There was no adhesive on the back of the communicator, so I had no idea how it would stick. When the back of the disc touched my skin, I felt a sudden blast of pain. It felt as if needles punctured my skin. I grimaced briefly and took my finger away slowly, expecting the device to fall to the floor. Instead, the communicator stayed perfectly in place.
To operate the communicator, touch the center with your index finger.
I did as the screen demanded, and another screen bombarded my vision. However, it was much smaller, preventing me from seeing anything in front of me.
Communications Options:
Station 15 Base Unit
Echo (Celestial Assistant)
No other options are available
I selected the only option I had and spoke normally. I was able to hear my voice blare from the base unit immediately. I was expecting some interference since I was so close, but everything worked like a charm.
I chose the second option soon after. “Come in, Echo. I repeat, come in, Echo.”
“I am in. Do you not see me beside you?” Echo asked with confusion in his stoic voice.
“Ha, sorry about that. On Earth, people talk that way through communicators similar to these. I’ll just talk normally from now on.”
“That would be wise, Mason.”
“This stuff is cool as hell. I’m a bit overwhelmed, but that will pass soon enough.”
Echo began to move around me slowly. “A lot of the items available for purchase in the terminal store will be familiar to you. The Celestial Architect has placed many items in there that you will notice as American. Other transients may have access to items that they are familiar with from their planetary homes.”
“Do natives of this planet have this kind of access?”
“No, these abilities have been given to transients alone. Natives to Lelara use reward points as currency, but they cannot use terminals. They engage in commerce as you did on your last planet. They must visit vendors and whatnot.”
“Do all transients have celestial assistants?”
“No, they do not. You are rather fortunate. The Celestial Architect has shown you favor. There are others with assistants, but they are rare. Your life on Earth impressed the Celestial Architect enough to be given an assistant.”
“Really. That’s cool, I guess. But, if most people don’t have an assistant, how the hell do they know what the hell they are supposed to do and how to work things?”
“The Celestial Architect will give them some instructions when they arrive on Lelara, but they will have to learn most things on their own.”
“Well, that isn’t very fair to others. It sucks for them, actually.”
“Be very careful when you speak of the Architect. Do you want to incur the wrath of him? Do you want your abilities he has blessed you with to be taken from you instantly?”
I shook my head. “Of course not. My bad.”
“Your expressions are confusing.”
All of a sudden, I heard movement from outside of the building. I was confident that I heard mumbling as well—coherent mumbling, which told me that the visitors were not fiends. I equipped my halligan bar and snuck to the window on the front of the building. I saw a man and a woman lurking outside. The skinny man stood six feet tall with stringy, shoulder-length black hair. The man was dressed in a simple shirt and pants with boots on his feet. He held what looked like a machete in his hand. The petite woman that accompanied the man didn’t look like she was pleased about it. She stood with her arms crossed, and an edgy look was on her face as the man hurried around. Her hair was a beautiful brown color that fell almost to her waist. She had a short, tight, white shirt that only went to the bottom of her rib cage and blue pajama looking pants that fit her ass cheeks like a glove. She wore shoes that looked like muddy bedroom slippers. She turned her back toward me, and my jaw dropped. This girl had a bushy brown tail fluttering behind her sculpted ass. My jaw stayed open when I saw a pair of brown ears on her head that I didn’t see initially.
“What the fuck? This girl has ears and a tail. She’s gorgeous but half-animal,” I whispered to Echo, who looked out of the window over my shoulder.
“She is a catgirl. So there are no monster girls on Earth?”
“Of course not. I mean, I have had some girlfriends that were monsters, but they weren’t literal monsters in their appearance. So are these people transients?”
“I advise you to purchase the Analysis skill soon, which will give you the ability to learn information about people quickly. This man and woman are transients without celestial assistants. The man grabbed the front doorknob and began turning and pulling frantically.
“Fuck, this building is locked. It looks abandoned, though. I’m going to get us in here,” the man turned toward the catgirl with a scowl on his face. “Listen, don’t you get any ideas about running off. I need you to help me get accustomed to this world. Do you understand? I don’t want to have to kill you, but I will! Shit, what am I thinking? I can’t trust you to stick around. Stand over there beside that pipe!”
The girl shuddered from the man’s yells as he pointed the rusty machete at her. She walked over to the pipe attached to the building and stood. The skinny man walked over and pulled some rope out of his pack. He tied her wrists to the pipe and nodded in approval of his handiwork. “There, you ain’t going nowhere.”
She placed her back against the wall and slid down to the ground. “Why do you need to tie me up? I’m not going anywhere. I also have no idea why you think I can help you understand this place? I’m a transient too, you dumbass!”
“Shut up. If there is anyone here, I don’t want them to know we’re here.”
“Really? You have talked nonstop since we got here. Let me go! I’m going to be stuck here if you get killed by someone or some...thing. There’ll be no one to untie me which will make me a snack for those nasty monster things.”
“Not a chance,” the man replied.
The girl exhaled in frustration and rolled her eyes. “I really don’t like you,” she muttered.
“Quit running your mouth!”
My teeth ground in anger as I watched the man bully this girl. I hated a fucking bully. “Ugh, what the hell am I supposed to do with this guy. He’s got a fucking machete.”
I removed my turnout coat, leaving a white shirt on with my suspenders and bunker pants. The cool air to my skin felt wonderful. I figured if I had to get physical with this guy, it would be easier without the coat on.
“Let’s try diplomacy first,” I whispered to Echo as I put my hand on the front doorknob. “Here it goes.”
I opened the door slowly. “Hey. What can I do for you?”
Both of the visitors almost soiled themselves from fright.
“Who are you?” the skinny man screamed.
“The name’s Mason. This is my refuge.”
“Are you a...transient?” the catgirl asked.
I nodded. “Yup, I am. I just got here a few hours ago.” I furrowed my brow at the man. “Why do you have her tied up? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I need her to help me. She knows more than she lets on. What’s it to you anyway?”
“Fuck this. I’m untying her. Stand back and don’t do anything stupid.”
“Hey, you don’t tell me what to do, and you better not touch her,” the man said as he pointed his machete at me. I could see his lack of confidence in this situation because his hand was shaking.”
“I’m going to untie her. One reason, it’s a nice thing to do. The second reason, there are fucking fiends approaching,” I replied as I pointed fifty yards in the distance at the pack of five fiends headed in our direction.
“Shit! We have to get inside now,” the man spurted as he darted through the door of Station 15.
I shook my head angrily. “Fucking prick, he was going to leave her out here to get eaten alive.”
I walked over to the girl. I smiled as I held my hands up to show no aggression. “I’m going to help you, okay. We need to get inside. I’m going to untie you. Alright?”
“Okay, thank you,” the catgirl replied softly.
I began to untie the rope, which became more complicated than it had to be. It was a terrible knot that I had trouble with. “What’s your name?”
“Lola.”
“Hello Lola, I’m Mason. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Umm, you too, and ah, thanks for helping me.”
“No problem,” I smiled as I grabbed her arm and slowly pulled her to her feet.
Lola smiled warmly as she rubbed her wrists. “Thank you again!”
“I’m glad I could help. I’m happy I was here. Let’s get inside right now. Don’t worry about that shit stain, skinny guy. He won't bother you while I’m around.”
I slammed my fist on the wooden door angrily. “Open this fucking door! Right now!”
“Those things are going to get inside! Five of them are on their way right now,” the man said through the door.
“All the more reason to open the damn door for us. This is my refuge anyway, asshole!” I replied with a two-fisted slam on the barrier between us and safety. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the element of surprise against these fiends this time around. Things worked perfectly when I killed that pack before, but I was unsure if I would be able to take all five of them head-on. These looked to be moving a little faster as well. In addition, there was a girl in my care with no weapons, and she didn’t appear to have experience fighting these things. There were windows that I could shatter, but they were too high off the ground to enter without a ladder.
I put my finger on the communicator and chose Echo from the menu. The fiends were getting closer and closer. “Echo, can you open this door?”
“Not until you upgrade them with electronics. I have no arms and cannot turn the doorknob,” Echo replied.
“Fuck! Open the fucking door, you lanky asshole!”
“No!” he replied angrily.
“Mason, they’re coming!” Lola cried as she pressed her back against the door. “There are more coming from our right and left!”
I turned to see a dozen more coming from both sides. We were surrounded as I held my halligan bar. These things were for forcible entry. I would get in and then repair the door with RP before the fiends arrived. I swung the titanium tool and jammed the adz into the door jam. A partner would usually strike the bar with a sledgehammer to push it in more, but that wasn’t an option. It was jammed enough to stay in place, so I performed a front kick as hard as I could with my boot. After two kicks, the adz end was pressed in thoroughly. I moved beside the bar and pushed and pulled with great strength. I heard a pop, and the door opened. I grabbed Lola by the arm and slung her into the refuge. The fiends extended their arms for me. They were only a few feet away. I entered the door and pushed it closed, leaning my entire body weight onto it. I turned to the cowardly man. “Hold the door while I repair it!” He shook his head. “Do it now. Otherwise, these things are going to get in. There is a shit load of them!”
He finally grew some balls, made his way over, and began pushing the door closed. The fiends reached the door and began banging on it from the outside. The man was weak, so I knew that the door wouldn’t be shut for long. Light pierced the room from the crack between the door and the frame. Rancid, red fingers slithered through the gap. I opened the door menu and selected the Repair option. The door was completely fixed in a split second, and the fingers of the fiend snapped off and plummeted to the floor. Blood squirted from the four stumps causing me to gag from the stench.
“We did it!” the coward yelled with a fist in the air. He turned toward me and met my fist. I punched him as hard as I could and knocked him against the door out cold. After hitting the door, he fell face-first onto the stone floor. Blood poured from his nose, which was broken more than likely from the cracking sound that I heard.
“Son of a bitch!” I said under my breath.
“He deserved that!” Lola snarled. “That was awesome, by the way. Thanks for helping me.”
“No thanks are needed. I can’t believe this jerk treated you this way. What’s his name?”
“Jester,” she replied softly.
“That fits him well, what an asshole,” I grabbed his arm and dragged him over to a pipe and tied him with the rope he used to tie Lola. “There’s a little taste of his own medicine. I don’t trust him to walk around my place anyway.”
“This is yours?”
“It’s called a refuge. I’ve got a terminal that I can use to improve it or build other things.”
Tears began to pour from the beautiful cat girl. “I thought this was some kind of dream, but it’s real, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I died on my planet, and I was placed on Lelara. Is that what happened to you? Death? I’m sorry, that’s personal. You don’t have to go into any details.”
“I don’t mind. We just met, but I can already see that I can trust you. I know it’s crazy.”
“It’s not crazy at all. Unlike this jerk, you can trust me,” I replied as I rubbed her shoulder, which startled her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t scare me. Your touch just surprised me a bit,” she showed me a small smile that quickly morphed into sadness. “I can remember smelling smoke which woke me in my home. I opened the door to find the house in flames. My first thought was my sister across the hall. We had lived together for years after leaving our parents. I called out to her, but I heard no reply. The fire was getting closer, and I darted out of my room to hers down the hallway. We were on the second floor, and I heard the floor crack underneath me. I fell through the ceiling, and that was it. I hope my sister escaped the fire. I pray to the gods that she did. Well, I thought there were gods until I met this Celestial Architect fellow, and he told me it was all a lie.”
“You sound like a courageous girl. I’m sure your sister got out fine. On the other hand, she may have already been out. Were you close in age?”
“Piper was a couple of years older than me. I looked up to her so much, and she took care of me,” Lola began to sob heavily.
I chose to hug the cat girl. I slowly approached to embrace her. She moved into my arms and held me tight. I placed my hand on the back of her head as I pressed her face against my chest. “Your sister sounded like an amazing person.”
“She really was. Gods, I hope she is okay.”
We embraced for a while. Then static blasted from the communicator, startling us both. The static dissipated quickly, and a female voice spoke.
Hello.
Is there anyone out there?
Help me, please.
I’m all alone, and I don’t know what to do.
I don’t even know if this is real.
Lola released me and darted over to the communicator. “That’s my sister! That’s Piper!” Lola grabbed the receiver frantically. So frantically that she dropped it, and it slammed against the floor. “Piper, it’s me, Lola! Oh, my gods, you must have died too. Are you okay?”
“Lola! I’m okay right now. I’m hiding in an old cabin somewhere on a mountain. I awoke from that talk with that shiny god guy, and I was on the summit. It was so cold. I was given a trail thingy that led me to this cabin. Those monster things chased me most of the way. I’m stuck inside now. There is a pack of them just hanging out. I’m trying to be quiet, but I’m so scared. Gods, it's so good to hear from you. I found this communicator thing, and I can’t believe it actually worked.”
I turned to Echo and spoke. “If we’re hearing her on the communicator, doesn’t that mean she is somewhere close by?”
“She is in a five-mile radius of the refuge here,” Echo replied.
“I have to find her and bring her back here,” Lola said excitedly.
“Echo, is there any way to get some sort of map?”
Suddenly, a new notification popped up on a blue screen. It was in the same place that I found the communicator award. It was an inbox of sorts. I clicked on the blinking notification and waited anxiously for the next screen.
Level One Quest Board
This board will provide you with quests to pursue if you wish to gain reward points. These quests are entirely optional unless they are labeled “mandatory.” You will have descriptions of each quest and the reward points earned from completion. Only the leader of the refuge will gain the reward points. When a quest is selected, you will be given a map leading you to the objective. The way you accomplish the challenges will be up to you. A Level Two Quest Board will provide you with more lucrative quests and an arcane trail to lead you to the objectives more efficiently. If you select a quest, but choose not to complete the quest, or you fail the quest, twice the Reward Points will be taken from you. So, don’t accept quests unless you intend on completing them. Place the quest board at the location you desire.
