REVIVAL by Nick Venom (great book club books .TXT) 📕

“M-My skill? I’m not confident about my skill at all. I need more time to-”

“Enix!” She shouted, shushing the air particles around her. She looked down and shot a long glare at him. “I kill people who make up excuses.” She remarked. Goosebumps shot through Enix’s body as her glare intensified on him.

“Y-Your right,” Enix stated while looking down at the ground. His gaze slowly crept up before stopping at North. “I’m confident in my… abilities.” 

“Perfect… use the high-tier sub-skill that I’ve taught you,” North ordered before she put on a silver-colored helmet that covered her pigtails and upper part of her head with a tinted visor that hid her eyes.

“Yes, North,” Enix whispered as he prepared himself to chant a sub-skill of Creation: Ice. The riders were at bow’s range, dashing towards the town to steal it of its belongings. 

“Fire at will,” North ordered. 

Enix didn’t hear her words as he finished the chant. “Frozen Wave!” He shouted with his palms facing the bandits. His chant brought a tremor that ripped through the ground. The tremor roared as it began breaking the surface. An ice tsunami, emitted from his palms, ripped through the ground and crawled over the bandits and the first several carriages. All riders and some of the carriage drivers were frozen immediately by the sudden blast of ice. Unfortunately, Ice Wave drained Enix of almost his entire mana pool. 

“That’s one percent of his power?” She asked out loud.

“It seems like Mister Merlin was correct about his potential. I suggest that you deliver harsh training to ensure his level cap can be risen by the time Mister Merlin arrives.” Fred suggested. 

“You’re right about that Fred. I’ll give him today off, but tomorrow will be a nightmare for him.” She said with a creepy grin on full display, slightly creeping Fred out. Meanwhile, Enix struggled to keep his balance intact as the sudden wave of pain flooded over him. North flew down the watchtower ladder and alerted the citizens about the situation with the bandits. “The bandits have been defeated. You can leave your homes.” The citizens then began flooding out of the homes to witness the devastation of the bandits, encased in transparent ice boxes for display. 

“I did it,” Enix muttered as his breathing grew rapidly erratic while the pain shot through his body in waves. Somehow, with an insufficient amount of mana for any skills, Enix managed to stay on his two legs with a slight balance. North took her time to reach the remaining carriages to slaughter any leftover bandits that were not frozen by Enix’s Frozen Wave while the citizens rushed to Enix’s side. They brought out a stretcher to put Enix on before rushing him to their hospital, a large four-story building with a large red cross hovering about it. Enix’s eyelids slowly lowered themselves before collapsing under their weight as the citizens carried Enix to an empty hospital room. Enix’s hand reached out to grab at something, but there wasn’t an object there. 

Seven hours later… 

Enix awoke to the sight of North staring at him with an intense stare. Enix tilted his head and attempted to sit up, but his body yelled at him to sit down. “What happened?” He muttered while drowsy. 

“After you killed the majority of the bandits, I slaughtered the rest, but found something peculiar.” She said as the eyes of a child peeked in from the slightly ajar door. Enix picked up on the stare, directing all attention onto the pair of eyes. “It seems like they’re here,” North whispered before walking over to the door.

“They?” Enix questioned. North ignored his words and twisted the door handle, revealing five slaves of varying ages. 

“I’ll introduce your new servants. The first one is Rex.” She motioned towards a young dwarf boy with bright red hair that slumped on his forehead with dark blue eyes. “This one is Arson.” A frail bear demi-human teenager with straight black hair that’s parted to the left and dark red eyes nodded his head. “She’s Natalie.” A blonde elven teenager with light green eyes and straight hair, weakly, raised her hand. “Jessica and Milena.” She said, finishing her introduction. Jessica looked away from Enix and didn’t acknowledge him. She had black straight hair that she styled into a ponytail with bright yellow eyes. She looked to be a human noble’s daughter. The last slave was Milena, who was peeking into the room and was a cat demi-human. She had light brown hair that dropped to her waist and light pink eyes that stared at Enix with large curiosity. “These kids wanted to meet their savior.” 

“Savior?” Enix repeated.

“You saved our lives. The only way to properly thank you for your actions, we must serve as your servants. You can do anything to us; our minds and bodies are in your grasps.” Arson declared as he kneeled and lowered his head to Enix. 

“Not my body!” Jessica declared, stomping her foot on the floor. North shot her a glare with a large clump of malicious intent that drove her to the ground. 

“I apologize for her behavior. She was newly enslaved and doesn’t understand the behaviors of a slave.” Arson declared. 

“Don’t worry about it. As you can see, I’m not in the best condition at the moment. I nearly killed myself, so I don’t think that leaving your future with me is the best option.” Enix argued.

Arson shook his head. “My future has intertwined with yours. Discarding me is the same as death!” 

Enix let out a sight. “Fine… once I heal, we’ll begin your training.”

“Training?” North asked him.

“They need the ability to protect themselves similar to what you’re doing for me,” Enix told her. North shrugged her shoulders before walking out of the room. Enix smiled before turning towards the slaves. “Welcome to your second chance at life.”

TBC…

Emily arrived outside the apartment’s door, hovering her hand over the door handle. She worried that Blyke had changed again. She noticed a decrease in his health during her last visit. The girl also seemed suspicious to her. Her eyes were cloudy, almost full of distrust and disloyalty. 

Emily then took one more deep breath before turning the handle. She pushed the door open and walked in, immediately, being bombarded by a deadly stench. The smell of decaying skin filled the air, leaving no fresh air. Emily took a step back as she put her shirt over her nose to prevent the smell from getting in. 

“It smells like someone died in here.” She said aloud with an almost jokingly tone. She walked into the apartment and ventured farther in, noticing that every door was open except for Blyke’s bedroom. She walked up to his door and knocked on it. She waited for a few moments for a response, but she received nothing. She knocked again but received the same response. She scratched her head as she looked around the living room. She then pressed her hand on the handle and turned in, pushing her way inside. A stronger stench hit her in the face hard. She looked around, noticing Blyke was sitting in the corner with his head down. She scanned the room, noticing a notebook laying on his desk. She walked over to Blyke and asked him questions, but was given no answers. “Blyke? Are you okay?” She asked as she got closer to Blyke. She then picked up his head, noticing that blood covered his upper clothes. She shrieked as she backed away, letting Blyke’s head drop and return to its original state. 

Emily let out a blood-curdling scream as she scanned his body. She walked over to his body and touched his body, feeling no warmth. She then took her hand off him and backed away. Her eyes darted from Blyke to his journal, deciding to read his journal for clues. She picked up his journal and scanned each page until his last page, which looked unfinished and creepy. She then dropped the journal and went to wipe the tears that formed in the corner of her eyes. “I noticed that something was off with him, but I didn’t do anything to prevent this. I could’ve stopped him! He could still be alive right now if I did something!” She ranted before a bell went off. The bell signaled the last five minutes of humanity’s life. In five minutes, the world will be over. Emily wiped her tears before walking out of his room. “5 minutes,” she whispered as she walked through the living room. She then picked up his pace, running towards the door and out of the apartment building, reaching the ground within a minute. She ran into the parking lot and looked up at the moon as it shinned overhead. 

“The bombs have hit the ground!” A female shrieked from her apartment. Emily nodded as she watched the moon, the moon watching back. A minute passed then two. Another minute passed before humanity reached its final minute. The final minute passed slowly as a dust storm rapidly made its descent onto the town, taking it over. The dust killed all of the inhabitants of the world, giving them swift deaths. The world was taken out with nobody surviving. The world was no longer ours. Now it belongs to a new era. These moments were only the fleeting moments that humanity had. The final moments of humanity.

Two weeks passed since Enix managed to defeat the bandit party. Since then, he had recovered and continued his training with North. However, his training was interrupted by questions, complaints, and whining from Jessica. Thankfully, North detected the lack of motivation within Jessica and ordered her to complete several tens of laps around the perimeter of the town. She, reluctantly, followed North’s order while the others stayed with North to continue their training. They were motivated on getting stronger. 

“Today’s training will be based on your highest-tier skill. If we could get them to its maximum output, you’ll become stronger” She announced before turning to face Natalie. “Your highest-tier skill is Spiritual Power so you’ll begin focusing on increasing it. Meanwhile… ” Her voice trailed off as she looked around before Arson caught her attention. “You have Creation: Darkness. I need you to master five percent of the skill.” She ordered. Arson nodded his head. 

“What about me?” Milena asked.

“Milena… your training is to master your Physical Enhancement skill. As for