Myrandas Journey Ch. 01

Myranda sat quietly in the only chair in the small apartment, staring blankly outside. Myranda was dreading the next day. She, like every eighteen-year-old, was being drafted into military school. She had never been much of a fighter, and often paid the price for it, being a shy, mousy girl with thin, straight brown hair that reached her lower back. Her secondhand clothes, and the lack of ability or money meant she was at best ignored; at worst, abused by those with money and abilities. She was quite smart, so she quickly learned tricks to avoid the worst of the abuse, but it couldn't be avoided completely.

The state-issued room she lived in was just big enough for a small bed with some drawers for her clothing and any other personal belongings. But she only had the clothes given her by the state that had been donated to orphans of the first war. She used to wonder who her parents were, but gave up a long time ago trying to find out. So many had died back then that nobody could keep track of them all.

Myranda continued to stare out the small window as the sun began to set. It was one of the few things she could enjoy, but the new bruise on her ass kept reminding her of how Michael had slapped her ass and laughed in front of everyone. She just squeaked at the time and ran away. There was nothing else she could do, and was happy that option was left to her. It wouldn't have been the first time she'd been cornered and abused in various ways.

Her woeful musing was suddenly interrupted by a knocking at her door.

Myranda sighed, expecting this to be another attempt to abuse her. Looking over to make sure the door was locked, Myranda moved the two steps to the door as quietly as possible. Standing on her tiptoes, as her small five-foot-four-inch frame was too small to see through it properly, otherwise; Myranda was confused by what she saw.

A slim man stood on the other side of the door holding a box.

"Yes? Who is it?" she asked, just loud enough to be heard on the other side.

The smooth and deep tenor of the man's voice, as he answered, was almost mesmerizing. "Special delivery for a Myranda Ann Smith."

Myranda had been tricked too many times for her to trust anything a stranger said. Quietly, again, she answered, "I'm not expecting a delivery. Who is it from?"

The man answered, "I was instructed to tell you that if you take the delivery but decide later you don't want it, you may return it for a million credits. If this is your decision, just leave it in your room when you leave for military school tomorrow, and the credits will be deposited into your account. But, I was also instructed that if you make this choice, you will be making a poor choice and one that cannot be undone. Are you willing to accept the delivery? I can't stand outside a girl's door much longer without gathering attention."

Myranda unlocked the door and opened it, looking up at the stranger in the nice suit, his large frame blocking off the entire hallway.

He held out an electronic pad. "Please place your hand on the pad to verify your identity."

Myranda placed her shaking right hand on the pad, still expecting something nefarious.

The pad lit up green with the word 'Verified'. The man held out the package. Taking it from him, Myranda found it to be heavier than expected and almost dropped it.

"Uhh, thanks," Myranda said.

The man looked down at her with a warm smile. "Don't prove me wrong," he said, then immediately turned and walked away quickly.

Watching him until he vanished around a corner, Myranda was thrown. 'Prove him wrong?' she wondered, but she could hear some kids coming and quickly shut and locked the door.

Placing the box on her bed, Myranda stared at it, still not sure if this was a trick. Finally deciding to at least open it, she pulled the top off and found something wrapped in what looked like very thin but expensive white fabric with gold wings sewn into it. Lifting the item out, Myranda could tell it was a large book of some kind.

'Is this an ability book?' she wondered.

Ability books were highly sought after; during the war, they had come into existence and were used to fend off the Aliens. Myranda never had the money or connections to get such a thing, so this was huge.

Tentatively, she unwrapped the cloth, and it was a book. A tome would be more accurate. It was thick, having a white stone cover, with what looked like a golden replica of her own face with its eyes closed. Picking it up to take a closer look, she heard a soft female voice in her head.

"The gift has been delivered. Do you accept?"

Surprised, she dropped the tome back on the bed. Staring at it, Myranda wasn't sure what to do. Reaching out, she touched the tome, finding it was warm.

After a moment, the voice returned, "If you wish to accept the gift, place your hand on the vessel and say 'yes'."

After thinking about it, over and over, Myranda finally decided that she had nothing to lose. 'And besides,' she thought, 'it's a gift, right? What could be the worst that could happen?'

Finally, Myranda placed her hand on the tome over the copy of her face, right on her lips, and almost whispered, "Yes."

Myranda pulled her hand back quickly, when she felt the face move into a smile. As her eyes opened, light filled the room so bright that she could only see white, and a moment later, she was standing there, looking where the book was as the light blinked out.

Almost immediately, there was a knock on the door.

Looking back at the door, but seeing the time displayed on the wall-- 8:00am.

'But, how?' she wondered. Looking around, she found her bag. Snatching it up, she opened the door to see a bald man in a black military uniform.

"Miss Smith, come, it's time."

She sighed and followed him as he led her downstairs and outside. She stopped as a notification appeared before her.

[You are in direct sunlight and all stats are doubled.]

She suddenly felt full of energy and smiled.

'What is with this generation?' The soldier thought. "Hey, Smiles, get on the bus, I don't have all day."

Myranda almost skipped onto the bus.

[No longer in direct sunlight; stats returned to normal].

Frowning, Myranda found a seat in the middle of the bus. She thought about what the notifications could mean. At that moment, a screen appeared before her showing an image of her with a list of numbers after letters.

[STR 5, AGL 7, STM 7 HP 5 LA 10]

Not sure what any of it meant, she noticed a series of tabs along the top of the screen.

[Status, Abilities, Skills, Quests, Info]

Focusing on the 'Info' tab, a new screen appeared with a lot of grayed-out icons, with only one not being grayed out-- an image of a young woman with the words 'child of light' underneath it. Focusing on the image, the screen changed again, then showing a young girl bathed in chromatic light with a description next to it.

'Child of Light: Born in the light of creation, a child of light holds in her the spark of creation.'

Squinting, Myranda thought of the stat page again, causing the stat screen to reappear. That's when she saw it.

[Myranda Ann Smith, level 1 Child of the Light].

'What the heck? Child of the Light?' Myranda thought. At this point, a notification popped up...

[New daily quest: Meet someone new.]

A moment later...

[New Daily Quest: Spend 8 hours in direct sunlight. Bonus: +1% per % of bare skin bathed in the sun.]

This surprised Myranda and images of her lying naked in the sun popped into her head and she began to blush.

Deciding to change focus, Myranda focused on the next tab, 'Abilities'. The screen changed again, showing a list of numbers zero through eight along the left-hand side. All but the zero were grayed out, but next to it, two abilities were listed.

[Invest Light: This ability plants a small amount of light into a living being and allows the user to know if that creature stops living. Grow Light: While in direct sunlight become invigorated and recover stamina at an increased rate.]

Looking around, Myranda was about to try out one of her abilities when a notification appeared.

[Sleeping gas detected. Immune.]

'Wait, I'm immune to sleeping gas?' Thinking fast, Myranda decided to pretend to fall asleep, curious as to what would happen next.

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