Unchosen Champion

Jones and Coop resumed their conversation in the mess hall while Jett held court on the table. Jett waited patiently as if she would be participating in the discussion herself. She was an old cat, apparently in her 20s in human years, which Coop hadn’t even known was possible. She calmly listened as Coop described what he had seen during the apocalypse, allowing Jones to interject with what he had learned.

After the first interjection, Coop had to ask where the hell Jones got his information, but he just insisted it was reliable and wanted to try explaining it all in order, encouraging Coop to continue.

Supposedly, the meteors that Coop spotted in the sky were actually magical objects designed to release ‘mana’ on Earth. The sonic boom that exploded Coop’s ears announced their arrival and all the proceeding events were caused by mana being released into Earth’s ecosystems. Coop only half trusted what Jones had learned, unsure if Jones was damaged by the floating blue orb, or if whoever gave Jones this information mistranslated radiation and called it mana.

In any case, Jones explained that the large meteors had landed on Earth in specifically calculated locations. They had to be precisely arranged in order to optimize the mana cycles of the planet. Neither of them knew what mana cycles were, but Jones interpreted it as mana becoming a part of the fundamental processes of Earth, something like the carbon cycle except magical. It seemed like everything had some mana and it came in all sorts of different types and flavors.

The story was that the massive meteors awakened mana ley lines, jump starting the planet’s mana cycle. Unleashing mana caused all sorts of reactions, even expanding the planet itself. This was why the fort was split in half and the trip from the lighthouse to the fort took longer than Coop expected. Rock Key had expanded with the Earth.

The smaller meteors were also noteworthy, even if they were less exact with their placement. Some of them were mana seeds. These seeds form valuable ‘Mana Wells’ by slowly concentrating ambient mana around their landing spot. Jones speculated that the meteor Coop witnessed crashing into the ocean was one such seed. It would be a double edged sword to have one so close to them, it promised to be a source of potential wealth and potential conflict.

The crystalline meteors that landed gently, causing no damage, were civilization shards. Civilization shards were essential for survival. There would be a limited number of civilization shards dispersed to locations that had the widest variety of mana affinities which normally corresponded to population densities. They were meant to establish the population centers for the newly mana enriched planet. They held the possibility of becoming places of shelter and safety, and would ultimately determine the fate of the planet. Coop wasn’t clear on why the previous population centers couldn’t be used, but if he asked, he was sure the answer would have something to do with mana. Jones was excited to learn they had one land on their tiny island, claiming they were very lucky.

When it was Jones’s turn the explanations got… crazy. Crazier. Coop was more ready to accept the weird magical meteors and the expanding planet because he had seen it with his own eyes, and he couldn’t come up with a more believable alternative to explain what he had witnessed. Mana, like the magical fuel from popular fantasy, was real? Fine, whatever. But when Jones claimed that, the instant the planet had received mana, his consciousness had been whisked away by an interested faction of aliens, Coop felt like he was being taken for a ride. Apparently, Coop drew the line at aliens.

Supposedly, Earth was being integrated into a galactic community of aliens. A community regulated by an ancient AI that preexisted all known species. The AI itself was the original source of mana, which was the primary component that unified the factions of the universe. The AI had encased Earth inside a giant shield that isolated the planet for 111 years to allow the mana assimilation process to proceed uninterrupted by other civilizations.

Yes, Jones reiterated upon Coop’s skepticism, there were aliens out there. He even claimed that he had met one, as that was the source of his information. Still, it was all more magical than sci-fi. Jett just quietly observed them both while Coop remained incredulous.

The problem for Coop was that he and Jones had vastly differing priorities. Coop really just wanted to know what was going to happen to them and what to do next, but Jones was absolutely fascinated with the machinations of the universe as a whole. Coop was in disaster scenario mode, while Jones was operating through the lens of a scholar discovering humanity wasn’t alone.

He had been summoned to an interview with some alien who offered him a sponsorship. Once he accepted, he became a ‘Chosen’ for their faction, and they gave him a short orientation to the universe while offering some advice for survival. In exchange, Jones would provide the faction with what they called pre-mana knowledge after the assimilation completed. Other factions would have other priorities.

Of course, Jones had been recruited by a faction of academics. They called themselves Collegia Universal.

Evidently, most humans on Earth were expected to have received sponsorship opportunities from aliens. Afterall, there were more factions in the universe than individual humans on the entire planet. Yet, not even one had expressed interest in Coop. He felt a grudge forming against the entire universe.

Jones consoled Coop by pointing out that their isolation limited their prospects. Jones had only received a minimum bid due to his profession and he was told his survival would depend on him successfully journeying to a civilization shard. They hadn’t predicted one would land on their remote island. Coop didn’t feel any better.

Coop had to ask, why bother with what essentially sounded like the draft for a sports league? The answer was limitations imposed by the system. The galactic community viewed the 111 year isolation of newly assimilated planets as a competition between factions, vying to gain resources, influence, or control depending on the faction’s priorities. They were allowed to sponsor native sentient beings to compete on their behalf through open auctions prior to the assimilation. The factions were limited to native proxies by the system.

Some factions would recruit armies to try and conquer the planet, while others would focus resources on smaller groups in an effort to propel them to dominance. One faction would even spend a fortune to sponsor the planet itself, earning the exclusive right to set the stage for the competition to play out. In Earth’s case, the planetary sponsorship was won by a faction called The Primal Constructs. They weren’t known for leaving native sentients alive on planets they successfully claimed and would be invading Earth with mechanical enemies.

The civilization shards and their associated settlements were the primary resource the more competitive factions aimed to control. If, at the end of the assimilation period, a single faction monopolized the settlements, the planet would join their territory. If a variety of factions maintained settlements, then the planet would be divided among them based on the territories of their settlements. If no settlements remained, the planetary sponsor would claim the planet. In this way, humans themselves would be determining which faction would claim Earth, and if humans would survive at all.

His advisor strongly suggested for Jones to seek a secure settlement and hope it lasted to the end for the best chance of survival. They anticipated a great rush to claim the shards resulting in initial violence, but once they were claimed they would quickly become safe havens compared to the rest of the planet.

The shard owners typically wanted to keep a population of citizens happy and protected to advance the settlement and support their own efforts in defeating monsters. There were settlement leaderboards and population was a major factor in determining settlement strength. However, he was still advised to avoid cities belonging to the undead, insectoid, or most religious zealot factions. He was told to stay as far away as possible from those.

Coop led Jones to a discussion on what to do next, not wanting to worry about galactic politics. The changes that mana brought would be extreme. The electricity being down, the radio not working, and the generator also failing were all caused by mana. Native technology was disabled everywhere and would need to be reworked to incorporate mana if it could work at all. With the planet in flux, no ferries would be arriving. They would have to stay on Rock Key for the foreseeable future.

It wasn’t all bad. Mana would conveniently provide for many of their basic needs. The strength they needed to accumulate would come in the form of fantastic magical powers that Coop couldn’t help but feel excited about. Jones described classes and menus that would make more sense in a video game even though Coop doubted the old man had ever played one.

Knowing that they had a civilization shard on their doorstep, Coop and Jones finalized a plan. They would claim the civilization shard, establishing a settlement. They had no choice other than securing the settlement themselves. Trying to progress fast enough would be a daunting task that Coop resolved to undertake. Jones’s faction emphasized that ‘leveling’ was important, but the breakneck pace that would be necessary to rise above the monster tides was an aspiration meant only for the exceptional. And those special individuals would have significantly more martial resources and training poured into them by their sponsors than the academic faction had provided Jones. Coop once again wished he had been offered to become a Chosen.

They would rest a bit before claiming the civilization shard in the morning. They would gear up as much as they could and go out together just in case monsters were already showing up. Coop would claim it and they would fortify the settlement together. They didn’t expect anyone to come to the island from outside for some time, if ever, so they planned on bunkering down.

By the time they wrapped things up it was late in the evening, meaning it had been almost 36 hours since everything began. Coop thought it felt much longer. Coop claimed a guest room and tried to fall asleep while wrapping his head around the new status quo of Earth. He slowly came to terms that there was a planetary competition beginning. One that would determine the fate of humanity. Coop wouldn’t be idle.

—

When Coop woke up Jett was once again on his chest, purring. He felt even better than the previous night, but that was probably a given since he fell asleep in a bed rather than being knocked unconscious during the apocalypse.

Jones had made all three of them some breakfast. He was curious to see how to derive benefits from eating, though they probably wouldn’t be able to detect them until they had those menus from leveling up. Jones explained that the meteors fell on Day 0 making today the start of Day 2. He wanted to keep his records straight.

They spent the rest of the morning scrounging up items that might be more useful in this new reality than they were before. Coop had been rearmed with a machete and Jones had a flare gun. They were almost ready to claim the civilization shard but they were trying to decide whether a rake would be more useful than the pole spear for Jones. He was in good shape but he was still an old man and having mana hadn’t really changed much for either of them just yet, so they wanted him to have something with reach. The spear was probably deadlier than the rake on fleshy targets, but the rake was just a more robust item and they expected to find mechanical enemies from the Primal Constructs. Ultimately, Jones took the rake. They would be relying on Coop’s machete to end things and keep the flare as an ace in their pocket.

An unclaimed civilization shard would attract creatures, but it was so early on they didn’t expect to find much. Especially since they didn’t have to worry about other humans, but Jones was meticulous when it came to preparations. Coop had no objections. The only thing they decided not to do was rotate some of the multiple centuries old cannons to aim at the bridge. They’d probably hurt themselves more than any monsters trying to hit them with old cannonballs. Not to mention the things were too heavy to easily move.

As they exited the gate and approached the bridge Coop actually felt a bit enthusiastic. It felt like he was about to take the first step in a long journey. They looked like some budget Mad Max extras with the bits of improvised armor they had made and attached with duct tape.

Coop had stayed far enough away from the civilization shard that he wasn’t sure what they’d find. It wasn’t like there was any cover around it but it had been night and he was pretty rattled when he skirted the beach to avoid it. Now they could clearly see that it had only attracted a single mechanical defender. One look made it clear that it belonged to The Primal Constructs.

Coop’s first alien was kind of pitiful. It was the size of a very large dog with a shape that reminded Coop of a headcrab. It had four legs, and each had a rust colored metal plate ‘shin guard’. The ‘knees’ were the tallest part of the creature, reaching about three feet high, and they connected to the body with narrow cylindrical metal pieces. The body hung in the air suspended off the ground between all four of the evenly spaced legs. The top of the body was made of layered metal plates, while the bottom was a single solid piece, combining to form a shell that contained only darkness and a shining red light ‘eye’.

Coop approached it cautiously, wary of it moving quickly or shooting laser beams out of its eye. He wanted to be ready to dodge out of the way. It barely moved, but it did shift its entire body so that its eye continued facing Coop, requiring all four legs to take small, shuffling side steps. Jones followed behind and at an angle.

Once Coop was in striking distance he planted his lead foot and tried an overhand strike with the machete, intending to split the body from the top. There was no elegance to the swing; he just gripped the handle and brought the blade down like a hammer. The machine raised one of its legs and caught the swing with its shin guard. Coop barely kept hold of the machete through the impact as he jumped backwards to avoid a counter that never came.

Coop was a pretty strong guy so he had expected to drive the thing into the ground even if he didn’t split it open but instead the reverberation in his arm made him rethink his tactics. The machine was stronger than he was.

He waved Jones off to the left side while Coop sidestepped to the right so that they could each flank the machine. The machine continued to face Coop who kept his guard up expecting retaliation at any second. The machine hadn’t attacked yet and it wasn’t clear how it would at all. Unless it shot lasers.

Jones poked at its side with his rake but the machine lifted its back left leg to block. Jones tried to pressure it by pushing it off balance and, as he pushed, Coop tried another overhead strike, this time bracing his arm in case he was blocked again.

The machine raised its front left leg to block Coop without giving up its right legs which were bracing against Jones’s push. With both left legs off the ground Coop tried kicking the thing in the chin. This had a good result, lifting the machine into the air and forcing it to land backwards several feet. The top of Coop’s foot would probably be bruised from the contact.

The machine may have been strong but it wasn’t massive. While Coop considered how to take advantage of this the machine reared back on both of its back legs and lifted both front legs before lunging at Coop like a praying mantis.

He scrambled to get out of the way, but it was too quick. Coop realized too late that it wasn’t unarmed after all. Its feet were spikes. One of them ripped through his left calf before he could escape, tearing a bloody hole that made Coop feel faint. The pain was immediate and Coop yelled in shock and agony while stumbling backwards, trying to avoid putting weight on his injured leg. He barely stayed upright, fearing a followup from the metal monster.

Jones continued harrying the creature with the business end of his rake and the machine repeatedly blocked as it shifted its front legs and its eye to face Jones. He maintained his distance thanks to the longer reach of his weapon. He was really just shoving the creature around without causing any damage, but it was forcing the creature to keep one leg blocking and two legs bracing.

Coop recognized the opportunity Jones had created so he gritted his teeth and forced the pain into the back of his mind as he lunged toward the creature. He managed yet another overhand strike with the machete, this time with more desperation. He was aiming at the cylinder that connected the leg to the body on a leg that was bracing against Jones’s shoving. The swing struck accurately and the cylinder crumpled like an empty soda can before detaching from the body and spraying an oily substance all over the sand.

With the loss of its leg Jones was able to shove the machine completely off balance and open it up for another strike from Coop who didn’t hesitate to continue. Once its second leg was removed Coop started hammering away at the body. The blade of the machete wasn’t sharp enough to slice the machine so he ended up bludgeoning it instead.

Eventually, Coop was interrupted by a flash of bright white light. With his eyes fixed on the creature, he panicked thinking that the machine was self-destructing. In his desperate attempt to flee, he only managed to stumble on his injured leg and fall backwards.

Instead of exploding, the monster dissolved into pale smoke that dispersed into the breeze. He noticed a message that without the horrible pain in his leg would have convinced him he was actually playing a video game.

[You defeated Ancient Defender (Level 2)]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[You have a new quest!]