The Connected System

One figure was being chased by another.

Except the second was huge.

Loch couldn’t make out many details at this distance. If the first figure was average height, that put the second at least twelve feet tall.

A giant.

A freaking giant.

Loch almost dropped his axe. He was glad all the gear in the back kept the girls from getting a good look. They didn’t need to see this. He didn’t need to see this. He didn’t want to see this.

The ground started to shake as the two came closer.

Loch wanted to run but he couldn’t. Getting the girls out of the car would take time. They wouldn’t get too far before whatever was happening was right on top of them. Loch tightened his grip on the axe.

No way was this going to hurt his girls.

They came closer.

The first figure was staggering, one hand clutching at his side. And it was male. Loch could see that now. Tall and thin, dressed in what looked like animal hides. But fancier. Chest, arms, legs. Like armor.

Leather armor.

Something straight out of a game.

Long blond hair, tinged with green. Pale skin. Pointed ears.

A giant chasing an elf.

Loch shook his head.

He had to be going crazy.

Maybe they’d gotten into an accident and he’d hit his head?

That would explain it.

Both the elf and giant were straight out of the fantasy games and books.

In one hand the elf held a slender sword, the blade glowing a dull blue.

The giant held a tree.

It was a club, but it was a tree.

The giant was also dressed in animal hides, not as fancy as the elves. It had skin the color of tree bark, wild hair and beard. Mad eyes that focused on the elf.

It was also wounded.

Dark red blood streamed down its side, leaving a wide trail that swallowed up the bleeding elf’s much thinner one.

Even though the elf was half the size, the giant wasn’t catching up. It was actually slowing down.

The elf caught sight of Loch, eyes widening in surprise. He didn’t slow or veer direction, heading straight for Loch.

He set his feet, holding the axe out to the side.

The giant roared. There were more wounds on the monster. A slash across its face, part of it looking like it’d been in a fire. Three or four arrows stuck out of its shoulders, one in the monster’s neck, a line of blood flowing down its body to stain the rough leather armor it wore. More cuts covered the things legs, more blood flowing down.

Aside from the one wound on his side, the elf didn’t appear hurt.

He rushed at Loch, raising his sword.

Why was the elf attacking?

Acting on instinct, Loch moved to the side. He swung his axe as he did.

He felt the head struck the elf in the back, cutting through leather armor. Warmth covered Loch’s hand. He wasn’t looking at the elf, but he knew it was blood. The body fell to the ground, the sword clattering as it fell from the elf’s hand.

How had he reacted so fast? Loch kept in shape. He was in an adult soccer league, played flag football. A good player, with quick reflexes and reactions from years of playing, but not like he’d just done. Where had that come from? Part of this Adaption he’d supposedly undergone?

Loch wanted to look down at the elf, to see what he had done. What he had been forced to do. He hadn’t wanted to attack the elf. He was defending himself.

He didn’t get a chance.

The giant was there.

Coming to a stop, the monster lifted its huge club. It had once been a mighty tree, the knots of old branches still there. The end had been roughly carved into a handle. Parts of the club were stained red.

The giant looked at the elf then at Loch. It rumbled something.

Words.

Deep and guttural.

Loch had no idea what the giant said.

The monster roared, swinging the club.

Loch ducked, feeling the air pressure as the tree barely missed him.

He had no idea what he was doing. None of the training he’d gotten in his brief military career had prepared him for this. Maybe all those video games. In those he’d fought giants. In those, he knew what to do.

Which is what he did.

In games, the best tactic against a giant, if couldn’t just keep shooting it with arrows or fireballs to the head, was to take out the legs. Loch lunged forward, somehow not falling flat on his face. He kept his balance, rushing past the giant’s legs.

Which were as thick as trees.

Loch swung at the leg like it was a tree.

His axe cut into the giant’s achilles tendon.

It looked like a human, just a bigger one, Loch assumed it was built like one.

He could feel the impact in his hand as the sharp weapon cut the thick tendon.

The giant roared in pain.

Loch kept running.

He swung again, the axe head cutting into the skin of the giant just behind the knee. Loch was glad it didn’t have metal armor protecting its legs. The hide was thick, but somehow he got through it.

The giant swayed to the side, then started leaning backwards. Loch rushed away from it. The giant’s arms waved wildly, the club dropping to the ground. It struck, raising a cloud of dust. Loch barely got out of the way.

Falling backward the giant crashed into the ground. Everything shook. A small tree along the edge of the woods fell. Loose grass and pavement along the edge of the chasm shook loose. The car shook.

Harper screamed.

Loch turned to see the elf had gotten up. Blood poured from the wound on his back, the wound Loch had made. The elf no longer held his sword, leaning against the car, leaving red stains as he slowly crept his way toward the now open door.

Harper was leaning out, watching the elf come toward her. She was trying to pull the door closed, Piper reaching out to help. The elf had one hand on the door, keeping the girls from pulling it shut.

Tall and thin, the elf didn’t look strong, but apparently was.

The elf was going after his girls.

Axe throwing had been popular. Loch, Kelly and a couple of their friends had gone a couple of times on date nights. He’d discovered he was actually very good at throwing axes.

Loch didn’t stop to think.

He just threw.

The unknown elf was threatening his girls.

Loch threw the axe.

The elf grunted, the weapon slamming into his back. The axe head cut through the leathers, the impact pushing the elf forward. He fell to the ground. The girls slammed the door shut.

Loch stood there, breathing heavily.

What had he done?

The elf was still moving, trying to drag himself away from the car. The axe was still lodged in his back.

Loch took a couple steps toward the elf. The giant thrashed, growling. Turning, Loch saw the great beast trying to push itself up. Blood continued to flow from its many wounds, including the two new ones on its legs. The more immediate threat.

Loch wondered where that thought came from. Why would he think that?

He’d done a tour of duty out of high school, before college. Nothing extreme. He hadn’t been a Special Ops soldier, just a regular old grunt. He’d gotten some tactical training, but threat assessment? And it had been so long ago. He’d been in some fighting, nothing major. It had also been decades since he’d used any of his Army training.

Why now?

The giant stood, taking a stumbling step toward Loch.

He looked around for a weapon. The axe was too far away.

But the elf’s sword wasn’t.

Loch grabbed it, feeling the weight of the weapon, surprised at how light it was. He’d never used a sword before but somehow he knew how to hold it. At least he thought he did. It looked right, felt right. The dull blue glow was gone, leaving the blade a shining metal.

The giant took a step, stumbling. It took another, stepping down on the left leg that Loch had severed the tendon of.

The leg didn’t take the weight.

It buckled, the giant falling to the side. It threw a hand to the ground to help hold itself up, misjudging where it was. The hand didn’t hit ground. There was no ground to hit. It hit nothing, being over the chasm. The giant overbalanced, tipping to the side, growling in pain as the wounded leg twisted.

The giant hung over the chasm, trying to keep itself from falling.

Loch, not sure what he was doing, rushed forward. He swung the elf’s sword, cutting into the giant’s side. The monster instinctively twisted its body away, putting more weight over the chasm.

With a roar, the giant fell into the chasm.

Loch could hear the roar for a long time until it ended in a dull thud.

Still holding the sword, Loch stepped away from the edge.

He looked down at the weapon, seeing blood dripping from the blade.

Lights drifted up from the chasm. Blue and green glowing dots trailing streamers of foggy light. They moved swiftly, heading straight for him. He took a couple involuntary steps backwards, moving too fast to avoid, watching the lights as they slammed into his chest.

A warm sensation spread through his body. It faded quickly. He felt his entire body change. Not in a physical sense, nothing outwardly changed, but more inward. He just felt different.

Loch gasped, worried about what had happened.

YOU HAVE SLAIN LEVEL 21 HILLGROWL CLAN BERSERKER

YOU HAVE GAINED 10,250 SPIRIT

YOU ARE NOW LEVEL FOUR

YOU HAVE FOUR ATTRIBUTE POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE

DEPENDENT MEMBERS OF YOUR CLAN FAMILY HAVE RECEIVED A SMALLER PERCENTAGE OF YOUR SPIRIT GAINS.

YOU HAVE EARNED YOUR FIRST ACHIEVEMENT: GIANTS BANE RANK (1)

GIANTSBANE: YOU HAVE KILLED YOUR FIRST GIANT. CONTINUE KILLING CREATURES OF THE SAME RACE TO INCREASE YOUR BANE RANK FOR ADDITIONAL BENEFITS AND REWARDS.

RANK 1 REWARD: +2 TO STRENGTH, +5% DAMAGE INCREASE TO GIANTS

YOU HAVE EARNED AN ACHIEVEMENT: HIGHER LEVEL RANK (4)

HIGHER LEVEL: YOU HAVE KILLED AN ENEMY TWENTY LEVELS OR MORE ABOVE YOUR CURRENT LEVEL.

REWARD: +2 TO ENDURANCE, +5% TO DEFENSE

YOU HAVE EARNED AN ACHIEVEMENT: FIRST ACHIEVEMENT EARNER

FIRST ACHIEVEMENT BEARER: YOU ARE THE FIRST ON THE NEWLY CONNECTED WORLD TO EARN AN ACHIEVEMENT.

REWARD: +2 TO INTELLIGENCE, +5% TO ATTACK, +5% TO DEFENSE, +5% TO SPIRIT RESERVES

Loch stumbled as the words appeared in his vision.

He recognized what had happened. It was like a game. He’d just killed a mob and gained experience. But it was called Spirit?

The first words had used Spirit. He tried to remember exactly what the words had said. It sounded like Spirit was similar to magical energy. Mana in most games. It hadn’t sounded like it meant experience points too. Or instead.

And he’d gained enough to get to Level Four?

What exactly did that mean?

He hadn’t really killed the giant. He’d gotten in a couple of lucky strikes. The giant had killed itself by falling into the chasm. Apparently that didn’t matter to this Connection.

Whatever the hell that was.

Loch got credit for the kill.

Or maybe he’d only gotten partial credit?

The words, the so-called Connection, listed the giant as Level 21. That was a huge difference if he was only Level 1. There should have been more experience points if he’d gotten full credit. The giant had been wounded by the Elf, and it had died by falling. He’d wounded it, which led to it falling.

But he hadn’t killed it.

What did it mean by dependent members of his clan? Did it mean the girls? They’d gotten experience gains from his kills?

And what were achievements? The wording was fairly easy to understand. Loch didn’t know what all the values were or affected, but had a basic idea. It was more gaming terms. He just didn’t know what it meant for him.

Remembering the Elf, Loch turned back to the crawling man. His axe still stuck out of the Elf’s back. Holding the Elf’s own sword, Loch walked over to it. Panting, eyes full of pain, the Elf’s head tilted toward Loch. He spoke, words that Loch had never heard.

It was a musical language.

“I don’t understand,” Loch said, crouching down next to the Elf, the sword laid across his knees.

The tip still dripped blood.

The Elf muttered something in his language. Loch thought it sounded like a curse.

“Why did you attack me,” he asked the elf, not expecting an answer.

One arm moved toward the other, Loch shifting back a couple steps. He didn’t think the elf was capable of hurting him, but he didn’t want to take any chances. The elf’s arm clutched at the other, touching a bracelet that Loch just noticed. Thin, it looked to be made out of some kind of metal. It was plain, no jewels or adornment, just covered in intricate linework. A lot of it. Symbols, Loch thought they were probably runes, surrounded by a continuous pattern or even one continuous carved line in swirls and designs.

The bracelet flared briefly.

The hand fell away.

Loch looked down at the bracelet, startled when the elf started speaking.

In english.

“You were in my way,” the elf said, forcing the words out.

Loch stared at him, confused, shocked the elf had spoken english.

“Killed by one such as you,” the elf continued, every word painful.

Blood bubbled at his mouth, laying on his stomach, head turned to the side, the elf struggled to spit out the blood.

“I bring dishonor to my clan.”

“Who are you?”

There was a pause before the elf responded, as if he was listening to a translation. More blood was spit out before talking.

“Misheal of the …. Bark Clan of …..,” the elf said, falling into a fit of coughing.

Loch had only caught parts of it. No closer to knowing what was going on.

“Why was the giant chasing you?”

“Foolish…,” Misheal tried to laugh. It turned into a body wracking cough. “Yours is a new Connection…. Resources…. Fight over…”

It seemed every other word was broken by coughing. Loch only caught part of the answer. It seemed Misheal and the giant had both appeared at the same time, knowing they were being somehow transported to the newly connected Earth. They fought and Loch saw the results.

Was this happening all over the world?

There were so many questions.

And no answers.

The elf started trying to crawl away again.

Loch watched him, wondering what he should do.

He stopped looking at the elf.

A mistake.

He felt searing pain in his shoulder. The force flew him back, knocking him off balance. Landing hard, Loch bit back a scream. He didn’t need to. Both girls were screaming in the car.

Smoke rose from his shoulder.

His vision flashed red.

The shoulder was on fire, not physically, but felt like it was. Pain spread down his arm, across his chest.

A blue white bolt streaked toward him.

Loch rolled to the side, the bolt striking the dirt where he’d been. Bits of dirt and small rocks exploded into the air, pelting Loch. He pushed himself up, facing the elf.

Misheal had somehow managed to get into somewhat of a sitting position. Enough to point an arm at Loch. His palm was held flat, facing Loch, blue-white swirls of energy surrounding it.

“What the hell,” Loch yelled, diving to the side as another bolt of energy flew through the air.

The elf was firing lightning at him.