Defiance of the Fall

Hazy memories of his mother hugging him , her long brown locks cascading around him in her embrace . His dad giving him a quiet smile as he opens the door of their apartment to head to work , his eyes sad and tired but full of love . Spending most of his youth plastered in front of the computer , largely ignoring his smaller sibling . College years drowned in alcohol and partying . First day at his job , and the humbling realization how ill-prepared for adult life he was even after 17 years of school and university .

Protocol SL-34572 accepted by Herald . Rolling

The monotone voice one again droned , like an executioner giving final rites .

Congratulations!]

Zac didn’t bother with the voice anymore , and memories flashed past in his mind one by one . Friends , family , and events both happy and sad . Not the most exciting of lives , but it was his…

Wait , what , congratulations? His eyes snapped open and refocused on the monitor .

Ur’Khaz

91

Rerolls Unavailible

Zachary Atwood

98

Rerolls Unavailible

Stunned , he stared blankly at the screen until the voice interrupted his lack of thought .

Protocol results in the continued existence of Zachary Atwood . Ur’Khaz vanquished . Resuming standard protocols

A nauseating explosion of light , color , and sound took over , disorienting him and turned his insides to mush . His body suddenly felt like it was on fire , tearing and scorching him all over . The last things he saw before passing out was the small clearing he disappeared from , and a huge red pillar reaching toward the sky .

Chapter 2 - A New World , v . 2

Zac slowly woke up , groggy and disoriented , finding himself face-first on the ground . Spitting out a few blades of grass and dusting himself off , he scrambled up and surveyed the surroundings , his body still aching from whatever happened to him before . The glade looked the same with the few rocks and flowers , surrounded by stout leafy trees and dense shrubbery .

His first reaction was that luckily he had just passed out from the heat or exhaustion and woke up . There were some things that gave Zac the foreboding feeling that what happened was more than just a heat-induced dream . First was the fact that he was currently staring up at two suns , only one them being the familiar yellow .

He thought he was seeing double for a second , but shaking himself awake had no effect on what he saw . The sun was accompanied by a little brother . He felt something was a bit off with the original one as well though , seeming larger or more intense than he remembered . The other sun was far a far smaller star that shone in a piercing aquamarine . It hovered close to the other celestial body and seemed to orbit it like a satellite .

The other unsettling sight was the pillar . A huge vortex of light and energy reached up towards the sky in the distance , like a grisly red claw reaching up from the ground . It pulsated in an eerie red glow that could only be called demonic . It looked that it was quite some distance away , but it was hard to tell . This pillar was the last thing Zac had seen before passing out , and it greeted him as he woke up as well .

A bestial roar snapped him out of his thoughts , refocusing him at the situation at hand .

Hannah . . . - he muttered , a glint of determination in his eyes as he threw all these inexplicable events to the back of his mind . If this was all real , he needed to get back to the camp immediately . It seemed the crazy events he recently experienced was all real , he realized after looking around . The emotionless voice in the darkness said something about making the wildlife more dangerous to - improve the challenge’ . The roar he just heard could be a freaking tiger or bear for all he knew , which meant the others were in danger .

For a second he was even afraid that the others would jump in the car in a panic , and leave him stranded here with whatever was roaring . Even though he didn’t know what was going on burning anxiety was already consuming him and urging him to action . Not daring to wait any longer he took off in a sprint toward the direction of the camp , unheeding of the unfamiliar sounds all around him or the prickly greenery aiming to slow him down .

The surroundings blurred around him as he thundered on through the forest like a runaway train . It was as though he had gotten ten shots of adrenaline , his legs pushing him forward at a breakneck pace . Something was off , as he felt that he was running even faster than Olympian athletes , and in a complicated forest terrain at that .

The previously somewhat weighty axe in his hand seemed weightless and tore through any branch trying to impede his way with pinpoint accuracy . Zac had never felt as strong or fast as he did right now . The voice said it upgraded wildlife , did his speed and power mean he was considered a part of that? He didn’t know whether to be happy with his improved physique , or whether to be pissed off the mysterious voice considered him an animal .