The First Legacies Of Zion: Omaye

The Understanding Of Skills And A World Event

FAITH

It was somewhat inspiring watching Nathaniel work his butt off to protect them. Well inspiring and funny, but the dude was a quick learner. It took almost six hard hours of work but Nathaniel was able to get his wall of vines up.

He had spent every second of those six hours moving one vine after the other around the trees, making it go around in a loop for as long as he could. The vines were not sturdy, which meant if there was an animal with a stronger disposition, it could tear through the barrier. So Nathaniel's solution for that was to stack the vines over each other, making it thicker and more clustered that the sheer amount of vines concentrated in one place, would have been enough to fend off any monster or animal. The result of Nathaniel’s experiment was that they were now all encased in a dome of vines, with no way to out.

Esther berated Nathaniel for such a folly in architectural plans, since he made this vine fort of his with no exit strategy. But Nathaniel was able to convince her he could get them out in seconds if things went wrong. But Faith didn’t think Nathaniel was able to convince her, Esther just wanted to avoid another argument.

So instead, Esther used her skill bless on the vines, it was not really a well thought out plan, but that skill gave the vines properties, that even Nathaniel did not foresee. Apart from making it a whole lot more sturdier, the tiny holy like aura the vine dome gave off, served as a repellant, and for some reason a relaxant. The fact that the spell was placed on the vine wall created an effect that made them more calm and clear headed.

It was amazing what a person was able to do and achieve in Zion, this thing was becoming less and less like a game with each passing hour Faith spent in it, and more like reality. Or better yet the answer would be she was slowly coming to accept this virtual world as her current reality. She was beginning to embrace it’s intricacies, it’s complexities, and its magic. Zion had a lot to offer, which was why Faith and her siblings spent the rest of the day researching the skills they had in their arsenal.

They were able to understand, that as far as battles go, the way the skill was activated and released was entirely up to the skill user. The only thing that is truly premeditated by the system, was the amount of damage capable of being dealt. But even then, in the right circumstances the amount of power and damage a skill can possess will exponentially increased.

In Zion the skills were never rigid, and the stat page did not really determine a person’s true strength. Faith had found out from an outline in the help menu, that the current stat page they all had was something made to help them adjust in the game. That stat page would only be around till level ten, and then from then on every stat would be narrowed down and combined to a base form. There would be nothing like HP bars or energy bars. The levels will remain though, and you would still get five stat points every five levels along with one skill point. So while its fundamental essence as a game did not change much, Zion was in effect slowly being fashioned to come off as realistic as possible.

In their hours of practice, their father had woken up from his blood loss induced sleep a few times. He didn’t say much due to how tired he felt, but he was able to share a few words with his children before going back to sleep. Faith did not have much to do except pay attention to their father’s wound which thankfully had stopped bleeding and was beginning to close up after focused healing from both her herbs and Esther’s holy spells.

The skill bless increased the power of other skills, and its effect was greatly increased when ever Esther used it on herself. So far she had grinded that skill and her heal spell till they were both level four, almost on the cusp of getting to level five. But such progress also brought another understanding to Faith.

Skills did not level up by how much or the amount of time you used it, but by how familiar you were becoming with it. If Nathaniel had chosen to keep his skill points and instead grinded his[vine Hold] skill to level five, which Faith was sure he could have done in the time it took him to set the wall, he would have gotten to his current destination easier without having to suffer the humiliation of having a vine pound your balls in greeting. But it was not too much of a loss, as it had gone into finding a way to protect them from the dangers of the forest.

And they continued that way, until dusk began to fall. In a way they were all minding their own business at the moment. Sure they bonded, but each and everyone of them was waiting to see who would be the first person to ruin the truce they had now. It was unfortunate that Faith had such little ‘faith’ in her family, but this was just the way they were. She could not expect them to change in such a short amount of time, and even if they did she still did not trust them enough to think they wouldn’t do something to f**k the entire situation up again.

It was unfortunate, but it was true. It was torture having to keep a wary eye on your family so that they wouldn’t unexpectedly do something that will blindside and hurt you. It was not healthy living like this, but this was how it is. The person Faith was really worried about however was Nathaniel, she knew he was the person who ended up loosing the most in that fight, and after Esther’s revelation about how little Faith thought about him and his so called love and devotion she had been waiting for him to blow up. But he just kept silent and worked on his skills like nothing had happened at all.

Nathaniel was a very emotional person, a Nathaniel with repressed emotions and feelings was just an atomic bomb waiting to go off. It made Faith very apprehensive, because the way she saw it there was an emotional storm somewhere in their future, and Nathaniel would definitely be at the forefront of it.

As the day went by and night fell the forest was beset by a cacophony of sounds and noises that made it difficult for Faith to do anything. There was a campfire, and all she and Esther could do was stare at the flickering flames due to their inability to sleep amidst all this forests noise. Nathaniel however felt right at home in the middle of all this noise. Faith irritatingly watched him tap his toes to a rhythm only he could hear. And it went that way for an hour before.

“Screeeeeeech!! Ahhhhhh. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put a blessed vine in this forest better prepare yourself, I will make sure your death is the most painful.”

They all scrambled to their feet in fright, any idea of sleep was completely chased away, and even their dad was also jolted awake by the loud inhuman screams and the following threats. Esther looked at Nathaniel and asked.

“What the hell was that?”

But before Nathaniel could answer there was a loud thud as something, or someone impacted the vine wall. The impact shook every tree that had a vine entwined around it to make the fence. It was obvious whomever or whatever was beyond their wall of vines was stronger than anything they had ever faced.

There was a thud again, only this time it was accompanied by that inhuman screech again, and the smell burning flesh. None of them knew what was happening right now, and Faith had no idea how to react. To the situation.

“I can smell your blood humans, your sweet blood. It calls out to me you know, it begs me to let it serve, to become sustenance to the dark prince Antoine. Ha ha-ha yes! It’s only a matter of time now.”

“Thud….Screeeeeeech.”

“it burns, Oh yes it does, but this will make it all the more worthwhile when I RIP YOUR HEADS OFF!!!”

And the pounding of the vine walls continued in earnest. Faith did not need to be a genius to know that in no time at all that vampire was going to break through this barrier of theirs.

“Esther we need you to use your holy spells, if that Vampire gets through, we’re all done for. And our second chance at life would be wasted in just four days.”

“How do we know it’s a vampire” Nathaniel asked with a shaky voice. But it was Esther who answered him.

“Dude seriously, does it need to be any more obvious?”

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a system prompt followed by a loud fanfare of trumpets and a marching band.

SYSTEM ALERT:EVENT:WORLD BOSS

[ALL PLAYERS AROUND AND WITHIN THE FOREST OF LOST CITIES, THE VAMPIRE PRINCE ANTOINE VLADIMIR HAS WOKEN UP FROM HIS FOUR HUNDRED YEAR SLUMBER, AND HE IS HUNGRY. ALL PLAYERS ARE EXPECTED TO BAND TOGETHER TO DESTROY THIS PRINCE OF DARKNESS, OR YOU WILL ALL BE WIPED OUT, AND THE CONTINENT OF BENIN AND MUCH OF THE WORLD WILL FALL INTO AN AGE OF DARKNESS AND CHAOS.]

[CONDITIONS: THE VAMPIRE PRINCE MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO DRINK THE BLOOD OF ANY HUMAN BEING OR HE WILL ABSORB THEIR STRENGTH AND GROW STRONGER FOR EACH CONSECUTIVE PERSON HE KILLS/ ANTOINE MUST BE KILLED BEFORE SUNRISE TOMORROW OR THE WORLD ENDS.]

[REWARDS: +3 LEVELS AND +2 SKILL POINTS TO ANYBODY WHO CAUSES DAMAGE TO ANTOINE, +5 LEVELS AND 5 SKILL POINTS TO THE PERSON WHO LANDS THE FINISHING BLOW. TITLE: VAMPIRE SLAYER FOR ALL DAMAGE DEALERS, TITLE: VAMPIRE HUNTER FOR DEALER OF THE LAST BLOW. DEED TO TWILIGHT MANOR AND CONTROL OVER ITS SURROUNDING TERRITORIES(DROP ITEM), CLOAK OF MIDNIGHT(DROP OF ITEM), VAULT OF THE MANOR(GOES TO WHOEVER GETS THE DEED.) HAPPY HUNTING]

Nathaniel, Faith and Esther looked at each other for a few moments before Nathaniel spoke up.

“We’re going to die aren’t we.”

Esther reached over and gave him a resounding smack on his face as she yelled at him. Seems like they would be back to arguing in a moment.

“What’s wrong with you, are you a man or what. We just need to hold out for a bit. If we do so, it won’t be long before other’s come and lend a hand. After all this vampire is a world boss. Players hunt this kind of things right.”

All Faith could do was nod her head in affirmation, even though she knew different. None of them were that naïve to think that anybody was coming. No body knew what death meant in Zion, this was a second life, and people would much rather prefer to live in an age of darkness alive, than to die in an age of light. Besides who could say that the help they needed would get to them in time, at the rate this vampire was moving, they would be dead in less than five minutes.

Then there was a resounding thud as the vampire’s pale white hand shot through the wall of vines. It was smoking and blistered from when Esther had blessed the vine. Faith felt her heart skip a beat as a wave of terror lanced through her body at the sight if that hand.

Then from where the hand was in contact with the vines, a red mist began to seep out, and at a rate visible to the naked eye the vines began to wither and fall away. And just like dominos the rot spread and every vine in that clearing fell away. And then he stepped into the clearing with such flourish it was as if he was walking into his own living room. Then he looked up at all of them and said.

“Hi”