LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 2: 1.2 – Zero
Cold wetness lapped over Ilse's skin, it was faint but came back heavy again, trickling like water. She knew she was lying on the ground, the texture of it was fine and coarse, like sand. She struggled to open her eyes, rubbing under her eyelids, she awoke.
"Mmmphh…" she groaned. Stretched her arms and legs. Her feet slid over the soft sand, toes digging under it. She wiggled her feet.
She was alive!
She lifts herself, the sea-like sand clinging to her bare legs like insects.
A vacant river bank stretched before her, the streaming leading deeper downwards, god knows where and why. Then a rustle behind her shook her, she wasn't alone. Behind her stood a walled gate and beyond that
civilization a city.
She panics, and a shiver goes down her spine. She starts feeling her breasts and looking down at herself. She was completely naked in full view of where others could see.
Stumbling away from the gate, and its outer walls she creeps away intending to hide in a nearby bush to escape, the public eye. Hiding behind a tree she looks up at the city from a distance. There were a couple of glass-like spires stretching into the horizon, their edges were gleaming with light under the blue sky.
Everything about the structures were wrong, they were clearly medieval and yet, their was a cybernetic edge to it, like two worlds had crossed. Glowing circuitry was displayed on the nearest tower.
Footsteps echoed behind her, and she turned with fright. She held her arm over her exposed nipples and breasts, the other hand over her bare genitalia. She looked wide-eyed at the figure with shame and fear.
A woman, in white robes appeared feet bare as she traced the sand. She approached ilse and handed her a bundle of rags, more lay together under her arms.
She nods. Then, she walks off, but her head clings to Ilse's naked upper body.
Ilse scrambles. Slapping on the ugly rags, the fabric clinging to her wet skin. The woman turns, a smile on her face. "Welcome." Then turns, vanishing through the obscured gate.
"Where the hell am I?"
It seems unfortunately, the voice hadn't put her in a ideal situation and without a manual or guide too, how was she supposed to survive if she was a nobody or homeless. Perhaps…perhaps she shouldn't make assumptions.
Ilse walked slowly towards the gate, peering through. What lay on the otherside seemed horrifying. Everywhere people in tattered clothing scuffle through the streets, always busy, but their faces hollow.
Some wandered without purpose, moving like zombies, whispering, begging, hiding away in alleys. The city was alive–but there was a system at work here she didn't understand.
A sudden gnawing hunger gripped her stomach, it was sharp painful, and unnatural. No, she wasn't hungry, not yet. It was something else, ethereal, otherworldly, haunting. A flash of light buzzed in front of her face, glitchy text appeared in front of her.
[C0rrup*ion : 9%]
She watched in fear as small decimals next to it started ticking up.
[9.267]
[9.268]
[9.269]
"Shit, what is this?" she cried out. "What the fuck am I supposed to do."
No one in the street paid attention to her, or her concern, they all stumbled along.
A new screen was displayed in front of her.
[Ilse:]
[Classless: Zero]
Zero. what could it mean?
It briefly vanished again. She didn't know how to recall it to observe it.
It was like she had stumbled into some hardcore vrmmo. The voice never explicitly stated where she would go and what she would experience here. It really felt like she was in some kind of game world except, everything looked so real. The people in the street, were they real, were they npc's.
Ilse started walking, dragging her feet forward, she didn't no where to, and what to do here. Her eet kept slapping against the cold pavement, every step taking deeper and deeper into this strange place.
Her eyes caught the sight of something out of the ordinary. An armed guard sat on a chair in the distance, observing the perimeter of the district. His armor was made of cruel carved steel, there were minor glowing circuit-like veins embedded in the armor. His face was crude but quite handsome.
Perhaps he could help me. She ran up to him, desperate.
"H-hello sir." she forced out, half forgetting how to speak to another person."
She eyed him as he turned towards her. The scar under his sleek eyes, he was of the 'dangerous' sort or had seen his fair share of battles.
"Yes," he raised a brow. "Can I help you zero?"
There it was again
"Zero?"
"You don't know?"
She shook her head. "I don't even know where I am."
The man raised a smile, but his eyes betrayed him. "You're in Erytheim of course. Are you new?"
She nodded but before she could answer and explain. A commotion broke out near a sprawling fountain, crowds of wanderers in rags gathered to watch. A muscular man stood in the center, he had ripped his shirt off to reveal his glistening and toned body. His pants went off shortly after, the crowd took a step back. Revealing a huge penis, he started stroking it vigorously.
A woman ran towards the fountain, her rags disappearing as quickly as the man had popped his. She fell on her knees before him.
He doesn't wait. He pushes his cock forward towards her, and she takes his shaft in her mouth, enveloping it. Bopping her head back and forth, she groaned in pleasure.
She felt something stirring inside of her crotch.
Another screen pops up.
[Corruption rising]
[9.269 ]
[9.761]
Was corruption tied to her sexual arousal, why was it ticking up?
The guard she spoke to started walking towards the scene, shouting at the pair. "Hey!"
They paid him no attention.
Her tongue kept swirling on his penis. Her hands cusping his balls and squeezing it, adding to the intense scene.
"Hey! Stop that!" The guard started jogging, struggling to get through the crowd that stood in front of him.
She releases him from her grasp. They swapped positions and Ilse could only stare in jealousy and lust. She didn't know why it was so alluring but she needed it.
The pair swapped positions, her hands and knees, placed on the fountain basin. Her back was arched as she leaned forward, her ass lifted in the air.
He grasped her hips for leverage and started to enter inside of her, thrusting like a wild beast. They started moaning together, gasps and murmurs erupted from the crowds.
The slap of flesh on flesh, and their vocal feelings. Raised the lust inside of her, it was impossible to ignore, she stepped closer, to see.
The guard broke through cursing, he storms at them. "Behind closed doors, dammit!"
The pair bolted away, the muscular dude grabbed her by her arms and lifted her on his neck. Ilse stood frozen watching it unravel, the scene burned into her mind. Then she felt that strange feeling of being corrupted well down.
"What the actual fuck?"
She turned away, the guard had left in pursuit, perhaps she should find another. The people around her didn't seem to want to mingle with her.
The corruption now a whole level higher was ticking like a time bomb.
[10.047]
She kept walking away, the buildings warped subtly, as if they were leaning closer into her head. Her breath quickened, she moved deeper into the abyss.
A zero? Is that what she was?