Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

his nosy nature was only one of his annoying traits. Plus the kid was going to be a legacy one day.

He would get his powers thanks to his family rather than having any merit himself. Methiochos just knew that Archon was eventually going to put this kid in place as his successor, despite the contributions he and the other members of the council had made over the years. It was one of the reasons he was making his play now, and he only needed to keep it together for a little longer. Methiochos put on a kind expression, forcing it in place. If he wasn’t the boss’ son…

“How soon are you going to be done? When can I come visit?” Basil started, more questions ready to spill forth.

“Whoa, there! So many questions! And there’s a lot of heavy equipment moving around. It isn’t quite safe for you two, especially with the men on a time crunch. I nearly bowled you over—what if I had a hover-loader and rounded that corner? I know you’re excited, but I just want you guys to be safe.”

“Alright…” Basil said dejectedly and began to walk away. Turning back, he said over his shoulder, “…but you’ll tell us what it’s like when you get there, right?”

“Of course,” Methiochos said, happy that the boy was mollified so easily, then continued on his way.

The little girl by Basil’s side was still playing with her doll. She didn’t like eye contact, and the doll helped her be around other people. When she looked people in the eye, she saw things. So many things, and a lot of it was ugly. She didn’t mean to look at the man, but he had startled her and she had taken just a glimpse. Her mom told her that for now it was best not to talk about her ability with others, and that when the time was right, she could share it. She had told Basil, but he was the only one. He didn’t think she was weird, either, like the other kids, so that made it ok.

As the two walked back, she mumbled, “He’s lying.”

Basil’s head perked up. “No, M is my dad’s best general. What are you talking about?”

“He’s trying to fool your dad.” The little girl then began to tell Basil all of the things that she saw in the brief instant she peeked into the big man’s eyes. The more she spoke, the angrier Basil became. He had admired Methiochos, which made the betrayal all the worse.

Even though he was young, Basil was tenacious. His dad called him his little pitbull, because once he became engaged, he did not let go or quit. Basil began to form an idea on how to make Methiochos pay.

###!###

Day 7 2:09 AM

7:10:27 remaining

Gus woke up with a start. Where am I? He looked around, disoriented, his neck sore from sleeping at an odd angle in the chair. What are you doing sleeping outside, idiot? Did you forget there are zombies stalking you out there? The tiny sliver of the moon gave just enough light to navigate with, so he grabbed his backpack and made his way back to the master suite. He stretched and the soreness soon faded, but he was still exhausted from his earlier exertion. Pushing himself to the point of collapse was great for leveling, but he could have easily been attacked. Shaking his head at his stupidity, a quick peek at his watch showed it was two in the morning. He wearily made it to bed and crashed for the night.

###!###

Earlier than expected, Gus awoke full of energy. He was surprised that even though he had pushed his Nth to the limits, that they rebounded just as strongly. He had hoped he hadn’t accelerated their shutdown with his expedition yesterday.

Though it was still dark outside, Gus got ready for the day. Time to place those sweet stat points, then unlock some goodies from the control center. Gus rubbed his hands together and opened up his stats. A quick peek showed Dash had reached level twelve and TimeSight was at level six. Both would be a big help when fighting the Dark Nth.

He tried to think about where he was lacking. With more abilities, his MP pool was becoming more important, so he knew intelligence was something to raise this time. He could do with an agility boost also, to better engage the Mantids. His stamina was ok for the moment, and he had already given constitution a good boost the last time he dropped points. Perception was good at its current level, and maybe luck could use a point. After deliberating he decided to put five into intelligence, four into agility and one into luck. He stopped to admire the changes as he began to feel his body react.

He was using his skills more and more, and it was difficult to manage MP during the heat of battle. As his skills increased, he wanted to avoid the killer headache that accompanied MP depletion. As his powers evolved in the future, he would have to allocate more and more MP to utilize his skills. There was a benefit in being able to handle close combat situations, but as time went on, he hoped he could get more solid attacks that he could fire at a safe distance.

Gus felt a shudder along his body and the tightness and exhaustion in his muscles unwound as if he had just undergone an instant form of massage therapy. Rolling his shoulders, his movements felt more fluid. On a whim, he tried to see if he could do the splits, and was shocked to see that he actually could, without effort or strain.

What other changes are there to my physicality? I need to quantify just how much each stat point affects things like my speed, strength and stamina. Checking his countdown timer, he was cutting it close to when things would start shutting down according to Nick. Time for experimentation after level ten.

Gus moved