A moment before the storm

I woke up sometime later, still lying down in the first floor of the cursed Kastle. My entire head was throbbing with pain, and I winced as I slowly got to my feet.

I remembered everything. My childhood. The orphanage. The island. The lab. And the mysterious white woman, Anna Wara. I remembered it all.

So, the other children and I were sent to different worlds to be heroes, to save the people of those worlds from fated prophecies, from coming disasters. I thought as much.

“Hunter, are you okay?”

It sounded like my AI companion was back and wasn’t glitching like she did before.

“Yeah, I’m good,” I responded, but that was a lie.

In actuality, I desperately wanted a second to just sit and process everything I had just witnessed. I still had so many questions, and now that I had my memories back, I knew that if I just sat down and thought, I would eventually find the answers I was looking for. But I couldn’t do that. At least not yet.

As it was at that moment, I didn’t have the luxury of time on my side. Shortly before I’d passed out, Rachel mentioned the town being under attack by Widow Makers. My problems could wait. I needed to get back as soon as I could.

I marched out of the building and discovered it was dark outside. I still couldn’t believe I’d spent three whole days in the castle. It really only felt like three hours.

“Hunter, I really think we should talk about what just happened,” Rachel said as I made my way through the empty courtyard with zero zombies. “The signals in your brain were all over the place while you were asleep this time, and I know you must have seen something significant. Was it a memory from your past? Or a vision? What was it?”

“Tell you later,” I simply replied, stepping outside of the castle gates. I couldn’t afford to be distracted, not right now. Unfortunately, the horse wasn’t tied up by the tree where I had left it.

“What happened?” I asked Rachel, staring at the spot where the horse should have been.

“I’m not sure,” she replied. “Maybe it got loose? You were in there for three days after all. Maybe the animal freed itself and ran off somewhere in search of food and water.”

“Shit,” I muttered, suddenly at a loss on what to do. There were people counting on me, waiting for me, and I was going to fail them.

I sat down to think, resting my back against the tree. Could I possibly run the whole way back to town? Nah, that was probably stupid. I would never get back in time.

Plus, there was also the additional risk that I had been operating on temporary healing boosters throughout my fights with the zombies in the castle, and there was the chance the effects were going to start wearing off anytime soon. It was a good thing I had three bottles left. I would have to take one to even things out.

So, I guess Anna Wara personally transported me to her world to prevent the coming apocalypse, even though I was the weakest hero candidate among all of her chosen. How pathetic.

Since I’d gotten to this world, I’d done nothing but lose, and lose, and lose whenever I tried saving people. The little girl at the cabin—I nearly lost that fight and was only lucky at the last minute. The farmers in the fields—even though the people hiding in the barns survived, all of the vanguard who accompanied me during the rescue mission died. And now, the entire town of Templa was in danger, and I most likely wasn’t even going to reach them on time.

I was a failure. The sergeant was right. Anna Wara should have never sent me to this world as a hero. She should have never chosen me to begin with.

As I sat there wallowing in self-pity, my head resting on my knees like some kind of kid, a window suddenly appeared in the center of my vision, depicting a thumbnail of a woman with white hair wearing a lab coat—Anna Wara—as well as a play button at the center.

“Rachel, what is this?” I asked.

“Shush,” she responded. “Just watch.”

The play button in the middle began spinning, and soon, the video started.

…

“Please state your name,” the woman in the video, Anna Wara, said as she took a few steps back from the camera. I guessed she was talking to whoever was on the other side of the tape, a person I couldn’t see.

“I am Rachel,” came an all-too-familiar, snarky but gentle artificial voice.

“And your designation?” the woman asked.

“I am a Reliable, Advanced, Combat Helper and Electronic Liaison.”

I couldn’t believe it. It was the voice of my AI companion. She was talking to Rachel.

“And what is your primary duty?” the woman asked another question.

“I was created to assist the hero candidate, Hunter, in his goals to save humanity from a coming apocalypse.”

It was uncanny watching the whole thing. Also, listening to Rachel talk in the background of the video was a little weird to me. I guess I had just gotten used to her speaking directly inside my head.

“Yes, that is correct,” the woman replied. “I will be deploying both of you shortly, so I need you to get ready. Hunter is already in the operating room, and you will be joining him soon.”

“Understood, ma’am. Ready when you are.”

“Oh, and Rachel?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

The woman was busy looking through a few files on her desk as she continued speaking.

“Hunter was prone to doubting himself a lot as a child during training, and I’m sure it will be no different as an adult too, in this new world you both will be going to. So, whenever he starts spiraling and blaming himself, calling himself things like weak, not strong enough, yada yada yada, do me a favor and help bring him back, alright? Is that understood?”

“Yes, ma’am. Understood a hundred percent.”

…

That was the end of the video.

Rachel closed out of the window soon after, giving me an unobstructed view of my environment once more.

For a moment I didn’t speak. I just sat there. Thinking. Processing. Allowing all I had just watched and heard from the video to properly sink in.

“So, I’m guessing you’re my babysitter, huh?” I asked my AI companion up in my head, teasing.

“Yup. Appointed by the woman herself and everything,” Rachel responded, sounding like she was enjoying herself with her newly discovered authority over me.

“Where did it come from?” I asked. “The video, I mean. How did you get it?”

“That was another thing I wanted to show you,” Rachel said. “But... check this out first.”

__________

Basic Info:

Name: Hunter

Age: 22

Height: 7’2”

Weight: 360 pounds

Class: Monster Slayer, Weapon Summoner

Level: 50

Skills:

Combat Level: 82%

Weapon Summoning: Level 40

Cooldown time for summoning: deactivated, multiple items spawning now unlocked

Available Weapons and Items:

Bow

Arrows

Sword

Dagger

Gloves

Book

Spear

Cursed Axe

Special Abilities:

Weapon Summoning by Voice: Available

AI Companion: Active

AI Capability: 45%

AI Spell Casting: Available

AI Scouting: Available

Enhanced Speed and Agility: 55%

Brute Strength: 52%

Force field shield: Available

Leap frog: Available

Sky Glider: Unlocked

__________

Huh. I had gone up a lot of levels, gained upgraded combat power and several new abilities, and even Rachel had significant updates herself.

“The moment you crossed level fifty, I suddenly had a lot of access to stuff I didn’t have before,” Rachel said. “Like that flash drive we found back at the cabin. We couldn’t open it before because there was a lock on it, but that’s where I found the video I just showed you.”

“What else is inside?” I asked.

“A lot of useful stuff, like you cannot begin to imagine,” Rachel said excitedly. “Notes, schematics, cheat sheets for powers and abilities, but... let’s not get off track here. Hunter, you understood what that video was trying to say, right?”

“Yeah, I think so,” I replied, staring down at the ground and kicking a rock with my boot.

“We are partners on this mission,” Rachel said. “You and I. And whenever you start to think you’re not good enough, it’s my job to talk some sense and logic into you, and bring you back. Do you understand, Hunter? Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, smiling a little.

“Good,” Rachel replied. “And Hunter?"

"Yeah?"

"You’ve not been losing since you got to this world." she said. "As a matter of fact, I’ll even go as far as to say you’ve not lost a single time.”

“Huh?” I asked, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Allow me to explain,” Rachel replied. “You’ve been adapting since you got to this world, not losing. Growing. Getting stronger. Doing everything she wanted you to do, everything she hoped you would do when she took away your memories. She didn’t want you to simply follow orders and play hero in this world. Anna Wara wanted all of you to care about the worlds you were meant to save, to develop your own individual reason for fighting to your last breath, and not just completing an assignment you were told to complete.”

Hearing that, I took a moment to reflect on my past life. Back on Earth, the only people I could truly call my friends and family were the other kids I met during training on the island. Outside of that circle, I was no one. I was alone, unloved, unimportant. My existence was basically meaningless.

“But not anymore,” Rachel suddenly replied, reading my thoughts. “Not in here. Not in this world.”

“Your existence is crucial to the survival of these people,” she said. “Their world is in danger, and nobody else possesses the powers to save it other than you and the rest of the children from the Lab.”

“Where are they, anyway?” I asked, a brief image flashing in my mind of four others at that moment: Pigtails Emma with blonde hair, Tyler with glasses and blue hair, Susan with long black hair, and Bruce with a white buzz cut. I remember—they were my main group of friends when we were back on the island. We did everything together.

“Scattered around the globe, solving problems of their own, just like you,” Rachel responded. “Susan, Tyler, and Bruce in particular weren’t even deployed to this world. Only Emma is here with you.”

Maybe when all of this is well and done, I might go look for her, I thought to myself.

“All right,” I said to my AI companion as I sat up from the ground, dusting the bottoms of my jeans in the process. “Thanks, Rachel, for the pick-me-up,” I added. “I needed to hear all of that.”

“Just doing my job, man,” she replied. “Also, we really need to get going. We have a town to save, remember?”

“Yeah, that's right. So, any ideas?” I asked Rachel as I stared at the long stretch of open road ahead of us. It was going to suck running the whole way back, but it seemed like I might have no other choice. I just hope I am able to get there in time.

“Hmmm...” Rachel said as she pondered the question. “Actually, I might have something.”