Ghost in the Mist: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Mists of Redemption Book 2), page 1
GHOST
IN THE
MIST
Mists of Redemption Book 2
M. L. REID
To my writers group;
Seriously, you ladies make me a better writer and keep me sane.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from Podium Publishing.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2023 by Michelle Reid
Cover design by Podium Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-0394-3582-7
Published in 2023 by Podium Publishing, ULC
www.podiumaudio.com
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER 1
I hated the smell of hospitals. Hated the sounds—or sometimes, the lack of sounds. Hated the “calming” monochromatic colors they were decorated in. Hated the maze of halls I had to walk through every time I wanted to see Mom. Hated opening the door and seeing the wonder woman from my memory look like a fading doll on a white bed. Hated seeing the breathing mask over her face and a feeding tube snaking out from under the edge of her white quilt.
For financial reasons, she shared the room with three other women, all Dreamers. All had fallen unconscious on the same day six years ago. They never spoke a word to each other, but they’d spent every day together since coming to this hospital. From interacting with their family members over the years, I knew the other women pretty well. Luckily, I was the only visitor right now.
My senses were good enough now that I was aware of doctors and nurses walking up and down the hall outside Mom’s room, even through the closed door. I ignored them as I picked up a padded metal chair from the wall and carried it to my mother’s bedside, sinking down as I smiled softly. “Good afternoon, Mom.” I reached out and gently touched her light brown hair, the same color as mine and Aliya’s. There were graying strands at her temples, something she would have been proud of if she were awake.
“I’m not getting older; I’m getting more experienced. It’s an honor,” she used to say when I’d tease her for aging.
I opened up the bedside drawer and pulled out a red brush. “I’m going to brush your hair now, okay?”
She never answered, but it seemed rude to just start doing things without asking. Maybe it was because there was a small part of me which hoped that Mom could actually hear me, even if she couldn’t respond. As I carefully drew the soft bristles through her hair, I started to speak about anything and everything that came to my mind.
“It’s been a long time since I last visited, huh? I’m sorry; I’ve been busy. Things have changed a lot recently. Like, a lot.” I paused. I bet I couldn’t even tell her about the System, even though she wasn’t conscious. “I’m not an E anymore.”
That single letter E had plagued me for the last year. When Mom fell into a coma, I hoped I would become a Hunter. It meant a life of blood and battle, killing monsters in the Gate every day. It also meant I could improve my family’s life. Every Hunter was ranked based on their stats, the highest being S, then A, and so on down to E. The stronger the Hunter, the better their perks such as income, housing, treatment and, well, overall state of life were. Everyone around me fit in that lucky place.
Everyone, except me—an E-ranked Hunter, and the weakest one in the short history of Hunters. So weak, there were humans stronger than me. That one letter plunged me into the depths of hell, and every day was a battle just to survive.
That is, until a couple months ago. Since getting my System, I’ve been able to get stronger and level up like a video game—something that was supposed to be impossible. A Hunter was stuck with their stats till death, but by collecting EXP from killing monsters, I’d managed to scrap my way up from level one all the way up to level twenty-two.
Even though I was now D ranked, the visible rank which other people could see was stuck at E. Since a Hunter shouldn’t be able to change their stats, it was safer to hide it until I was strong enough to ensure I wasn’t killed by someone threatened by my future prospects. Or become an experimental rat for some scientist trying to figure out a method to level up.
As for what my System was, well, it was complicated. Unlike the Guides all Hunters had which simply provided information and a form of communication, my System had a consciousness. It enabled me to improve my stats, learn skills and abilities, and even gave me magic.
In return, it wanted me to get revenge for it. Revenge on what, I didn’t know yet. I wasn’t strong enough to know. And honestly, I didn’t care why. As long as I could keep my family safe and fed, I’d pay any price.
“I can’t tell you why, and honestly, it’s really complicated. But I’ve been doing some pretty dangerous stuff lately. Nothing too out of control.” I paused when I thought of everything that’d happened the last couple days. “Okay, that’s a lie. You would pull my ear off and yell yourself hoarse if you knew what I’ve done lately.” I laughed, despite myself.
God, I would give anything to have her do that right now. I’d go deaf for life if it meant Mom smiled at me again.
“I, ah … ” My voice cracked, and I had to swallow before I could force another smile. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” I leaned back and let my hands drop into my lap as I stared up at the fluorescent light. “I’m sorry, Mom. About the Feng Jungle energy crystal.” It had been wonderful, watching that asshole Blake’s face fall into despair when I broke the crystal in front of him. But now that I was face-to-face with Mom, guilt tore at me.
“I promise, there’s a reason why I did it. I know it probably put the hospital in a desperate position, and I don’t even know how many innocent people this will affect, but I couldn’t let that energy crystal come into Earth. It’s not even just because of the task.” My heart felt like it was ripping apart just thinking about it. “But it would have been worse if it came into Earth.”
When the Gates first appeared twenty years ago and spilled out millions of unbeatable monsters, cities were decimated, countries fell apart, and electricity failed because there was no one left to man the plants. Once Hunters evolved out of the remaining humans and were finally able to kill the monsters, a new power source was found. Every creature had a blue gem in them, just bursting with clean energy, and since every Gate had an unlimited number of monsters in it, there would never be an energy crystal shortage. It was the Hunters’ job to go into the Gates every day to bring out one or more of them.
What nobody knew was that there was an interdimensional parasitic planet hanging over Earth. And those seemingly innocent energy crystals were bits of that planet, slowly poisoning Earth until the ginormous monster could strike and eat the planet. Monsters, and even the manifestation of Hunters, were caused by the toxic magic leaking from the energy crystals and Gates they came from. Sounded far-fetched, huh? If only it wasn’t true. But it was. And no one believed me.
I sighed and rubbed my face. “Still, it’s just one energy crystal,” I said, thinking about the mission in Feng Jungle. “A huge one, sure, but how many millions of crystals are brought out of the Gates around the world every day? How many Hunters get turned into monsters and killed by their own people weekly? Is what I’m doing even doing anything? Am I really helping? But I can’t just sit back and do nothing. If it were just me, maybe I could close my eyes and pretend, but knowing that you, Aliya, Aunt Mina, and Uncle Carl are in danger, I can’t just sit still. Even though I’m pretty sure all my efforts are useless.” I took a long breath and held it before letting it out. A bitter smile curled my lips. “I wonder if this is how Kesstel felt? Or did he get blindsided by it, too, and that’s why he’s so pessimistic?”
A pict
“Kesstel is … well, out of this world.” I laughed at my own joke. Literally. He wasn’t from Earth but from a planet the parasite had destroyed long ago.
Gently, I rubbed the lotion onto Mom’s cheeks, around the clear oxygen mask, and over her nose and mouth. “He’s cold and standoffish. Honestly, he scared the hel—heck out of me when I first met him, and the next couple times after that. He’s not a bad guy, I think. I don’t know much about him, but I’ve seen him enough that I’m getting used to him. I actually even forgot he was an S rank for a while yesterday. Then when he got mad, I was actually shocked—even more so when he made it so I wasn’t affected by his aura.”
I paused, my hand at her throat. Mom’s faint pulse pumped under my fingertips. “I don’t know what I should do about him. Should I keep a distance between us or try to be friends with him? It seems like he has all the answers I need; I just don’t know how to get them from him.” Another bitter smile pulled at my lips. “What right do I have to be friends with an S god?” Then I laughed. “And how many assassins are going to come at me just for trying?”
Seriously, who got assassins sent after them for simply talking to a guy? Me, apparently. And the person commissioning them wasn’t his wife, or even his girlfriend. They had no relationship at all. It made the situation all the more unreasonable. And sucky.
I let out a long sigh and started to rub lotion onto her left hand, feeling her bones and veins through her tissue-thin skin. “Ah, Mom. What should I do?” I whispered and lapsed into silence, listening to the ticking clock on the wall.
I noticed a human in the hallway stop at Mom’s room. A moment later, there was a light rap on the wooden door.
I looked over my shoulder as Uncle Carl stepped into the doorway. “Hey.” I smiled and stood up to give him a tight hug. “I didn’t know I was going to see you here.”
“Jynn, it’s good to see you.” Dark bags circled his eyes, yet he smiled and hugged me back. His thin face had aged since I last saw him, and there was more gray in his dark hair. “It’s been a while, huh?” He grabbed a chair from the wall and set it next to mine. How many times had we sat like this in this sad hospital room throughout the years? Too many times.
I bobbed my head. “Yeah, you were out the last time I visited.”
He paused and nodded. “I find myself coming here a lot.”
I glanced at him, surprised. “Why?”
A tired smile pulled at his lips as he gave me a side glance. “Your mom is a good listener, I guess.” His face brightened, and he pointed to the fanged snapper bracelet on my wrist. “You’re wearing yours too. Aliya never takes it off, I swear. She can’t wait to show it to everyone she meets. Sometimes, I see her just sitting there and twisting her wrist to make the scales rattle. She says she likes the sound.”
I smiled and touched my own bracelet. “I’m glad she likes it.” I wore mine as long as I wasn’t in armor. The shop clerk had been right—the bracelet did give a small +2 magic boost, but I couldn’t fit it over or under my arm bracers. I’d thought about enlarging it, but I didn’t want it to get damaged in a fight. I’d rather not use it in the Gate and keep it longer.
I swallowed hard so my voice didn’t crack. “Mom is a good listener. I’m a good listener, too.” I looked into his brown eyes. “I mean, we’re a family. And you’ve been an amazing uncle to me and Aliya all our lives. I owe you a lot. I want to do anything I can to help, and if listening is what you need, that’s what I’ll do.”
His smile wobbled, and tears pooled in his eyes. He reached out and hugged my shoulders hard. “I don’t deserve you or Mina or Aliya.” His voice broke, and he took a couple deep breaths until he calmed down.
“I was just spilling my guts to her, too.” I sat back and straightened Mom’s blanket. “What were you going to talk to her about?”
He took a big breath. “The usual,” he said slowly. “About job hunting and worrying about your aunt’s health. About how … ” He paused. “I wish I could do more. I wish I wasn’t such a failure.”
My mouth cracked open, but it took me a couple of seconds to speak. “I don’t think you’re a failure. You’re just in a slump, but you can pull yourself out. We’re all here for you, believing in you.”
I knew depression wasn’t like a cold, where you felt bad for a couple days then poof, it was gone. It would be great if it were, but it wasn’t. I didn’t know what to say to help him. This was the man who’d helped raise me. Every time I felt like a failure, he was there to buoy me up. I should be able to do the same for him, but what if I said something which made it worse?
He gave a sad laugh. “Right. A slump.” He sighed. “I’ve always been in a slump. I took in two sweet girls and raised them in poverty.” He started talking faster, as if spilling out words he’d kept bottled up for too long. “I’m in such a slump that I need my little niece to work herself to the bone to put food on my table. And don’t think I have the same magical illusion as Mina and Aliya. I heard the stories your dad told when we were sharing a beer; the ones he didn’t dare tell your mom. I know how it is on the other side of that Wall.”
His breathing sped up. “No matter how many applications I send out, I’m getting old, and there are younger, more capable people out there. When I did get that telemarketing job, there was just so much noise. I couldn’t think, my brain shut down, and I couldn’t breathe. The next thing I knew, I was walking out in the middle of training.” He buried his face in his hands. “I failed. I failed to help my family. Again.” His voice broke. “I’m worth more dead. At least you’d get the life insurance money.”
My eyes widened, and my heart stopped. “Shut up!” I jumped to my feet as my chair skidded across the ground then fell over.
Uncle Carl jumped and looked up with red eyes.
I glared down at him, heaving out fast breaths. “You are not a failure. You never have been. You could have abandoned me and Aliya at an orphanage when Mom fell into a coma, but you didn’t. You raised us with all the love and encouragement you could. We might not have had the newest clothes, but we knew what family meant. That’s better than what half the people in this city have.” I jabbed a finger out the window. “No amount of money is going to replace that. I know. I know. I got a lump sum of money instead of a dad. That money never hugged me. That money never told me it was going to be okay. That money didn’t stay up with me till one in the morning helping me with homework even though he had work in the morning like you did.”
