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Chapter 16: The Mousy Park Ranger
🕑 Added 2023-01-13 16:11:01 +0000 UTCCharlie was gathered with her assigned party. They were preparing to return to their true bodies on Earth after receiving 10 days of training. She had become a ‘Chosen’ for a faction called the Endless Empire. One minute she was walking to her apartment with groceries, and the next she was being offered a sponsorship in exchange for representation. She would have thought it was a joke if not for the strangely beautiful, but mean looking, purple alien woman who was doing the offering and the explaining.
Charlie was never the assertive type, so when offered guidance for facing an unknown future, she timidly accepted it. What came next was a whirlwind. On the first day, they power leveled all of the Chosen to level five through virtual reality simulations that they shortly explained were powered by mana. They gave her directions on how to properly distribute attribute points and guided her through selecting her class.
The instructors became particularly infatuated with her after her affinities were revealed. She had the Wind and Rain affinities. Apparently, if in the future she gained the Lightning affinity, all three would evolve into the Storm affinity, something that had only happened once before in the Empire’s recorded history. The battle mage that had achieved the feat was something of a legend on the battlefield, so they gave Charlie special attention.
The class she chose was Aeromancer, a ranged spell caster that manipulated the winds and weather. She was happy that her favorite choice was also the one suggested by the instructor. They intended to build a party that would be dedicated to protecting her and maximizing her abilities. Charlie wasn’t comfortable being elevated in such an arrangement and she hoped she wouldn’t be thrust into a position of leadership and responsibility. She didn’t really want to fight at all.
The instructors directed her to put all of her points into Intelligence, but she only spent two or three points in Intelligence for each level. She saved the rest, wanting to put them into the defensive stats but unwilling to do so without permission. She was lucky that she didn’t need to spend any points in Acumen. All of her skills would already cast instantly, though the effects were delayed by one thing or another built within the spell. Some required additional mana to charge and others needed time to build up before releasing their energy.
After she had selected her class and skills they brought her to someone who was meant to be the first to join her party by choosing a complementary class to her Aeromancer choice. This person was another with an affinity that led to special attention. But even before they arrived Charlie heard cursing from their destination. A girl was vigorously refusing an instructor’s directions, declaring that she wouldn’t do what they told her, and for them to shove their directives where they didn’t belong.
Her first impression couldn’t have been worse. Charlie steeled herself to meet someone uncompromisingly belligerent.
Despite Charlie’s preparations she wasn’t ready when she entered the doorway. The defiant woman was astonishingly beautiful. She had smooth olive colored skin and long dark brown hair that flowed down her back and shone in the magical lights of the alien facility. Charlie was instantly jealous, and then immediately ashamed of it.
The woman cast her green eyes toward Charlie and raised her dark eyebrows. Charlie noted the girl’s black eyeliner and bronze eyeshadow were perfect despite them being abducted over 24 hours earlier. Charlie felt like a slob. Charlie quickly looked down and thought with a figure and a face like that, the woman belonged on a magazine cover instead of an alien briefing room.
Charlie by comparison had a similarly dark skin tone but she was dusted by freckles that she self consciously believed looked like imperfections. Her short hair didn’t quite reach her shoulders and it was unkempt, often windblown since she was outdoors a lot, and a boring brown. She thought the less said about her slightly boyish figure the better, though at least that had improved a little since high school. She was too shy for most to notice the hint of blue in her stormy gray colored eyes that she inherited from her mother.
Charlie heard the woman’s double hoop earrings chime as she whirled back to the instructor, “Look what you did, you scared the poor girl! You better start apologizing!” Then she rushed over to Charlie’s side, “Hey, it’s alright sweetie, my name’s Camila. What’s yours?”
“Oh.. I’m Charlie…nice to meet you…”
“Alright Charlie, you don’t worry about these purple people eaters, they need us more than we need them. We can’t let them take advantage of us okay? I’ve dealt with more than my fair share of demanding people. These are no different.” Camila assured Charlie.
They had been inseparable since that first encounter, with Camila assertive and possessive of Charlie, and Charlie quietly admiring Camila.
Camila wasn’t a model or an actress or some other celebrity like Charlie had assumed, she was an aspiring lawyer in her first semester of law school at 23 years old. Despite Charlie’s 19 years, she still felt like a newborn babe compared to Camila’s worldly knowledge. When Charlie admiringly discussed Camila’s demeanor, Camila just laughed and called it being calm like a bomb.
Camila had picked her own class in defiance of the suggestions of the aliens, ruining their plans of forming Charlie’s perfect party. When her affinity was revealed to be Kinetic affinity, her instructor had put herself into a tizzy, hysterical about the Empire’s protocol, and while she patted herself on her back for advising such a promising candidate, Camila had just continued with picking her class, skills, and assigning her attributes. Her instructor was apoplectic when she found out and ran Camila up the chain of command for disciplinary actions, but Camila had spent that first 24 hours disciplining them one after another instead.
Camila’s selected class was called Interceptor and it was fittingly quick and tough. It was Camila that convinced Charlie to spend her saved points on Body and Mind, arguing that it was no good for her to rely on others so completely by avoiding the defensive stats. Camila herself was distributing her points in a similar way, but focusing on Agility rather than Charlie’s focus on Intelligence.
Now, Charlie was standing with Camila and the three others that had been assigned to a party with them. The Empire had wanted to compromise and create parties around both Charlie and Camila due to each of their classes, but Camila adamantly refused all their attempts to separate them. Charlie wasn’t sure if the three others were also misfits, or if they were meant to be their minders. They had performed adequately enough during the training simulations and the whole party was level 25, the highest level anyone else had achieved. They were each equipped with a temporary storage necklace that held their gear and party location artifacts for regrouping after their return.
She watched as Camila hopped in place, ponytail bouncing, and stretched her limbs with easy flexibility and grace. A countdown completed, her vision went black, and she was returned to her true body on Earth.
Charlie found herself floating inside of a blue bubble with a prompt to exit. She didn’t accept until she had dutifully surveyed her surroundings. The Empire’s instructors had warned of rival factions, bandits, and other opportunists camping their true bodies, but Charlie was alone.
If she had spotted anyone she was supposed to wait for her party to collect her. Weirdly she was floating above a rather large lake. Before the assimilation began she was walking to her apartment after grocery shopping, nowhere near any lakes. Her neighborhood was a medium density suburb next to a major coastal city, and yet she was in rather unfamiliar wilderness. They had been warned of some changes to Earth due to the effects of mana, but this went beyond her expectations.
She exited the mana bubble that was suspending her above the lake and fell in. The first thing that happened was embarrassing.
She nearly drowned.
She’d never recommend swimming with sneakers, jeans, and a hoodie. She only survived by kicking off her shoes and tearing her hoodie off before stripping her jeans as she sank toward the bottom. She coughed and sputtered when she made it back to the surface, thankful that no one had seen her.
She slowly floated to the nearest shore using a skill to generate a gentle breeze behind to push her along while she slowly doggy paddled.
By the time she made it to the grassy shore Camila was already waiting for her, fixing her high ponytail and breathing heavily. Camila’s stats and skills made her extremely fast and she ran directly to Charlie upon her return.
When Camila beheld Charlie’s state she couldn’t help herself, “Damn, if you’re gonna go skinny dipping let a girl know! I’m always down to join in the fun.”
Charlie tried to hide herself, but with no cover, all she managed was to elicit Camila’s laughter.
Camila had changed from her regular civilian clothes before setting off to meet Charlie. They both agreed that the faction’s armor was basically magical bodysuits customized to the person’s class. The base material was an untearable manaweave instead of more familiar Earthborne fabrics, and there were metallic flourishes that either had some defensive property or had relevance to the faction by displaying ranks and memberships. It was extremely resistant to stabbing and slashing attacks but didn’t do much against blunt damage. They were all in matching dark grays, blacks, and reddish browns.
Camila’s was essentially a sleeveless high-waisted bodysuit with a high neck and accessorized with a protective metallic headband, bracers, and greaves for good measure. Camila’s fighting style relied on movement and flexibility, and she was a being of absolute confidence, so she had been happy with her gear appointment, even with it as revealing as it was.
On the other hand, Charlie had tried to have her gear changed and altered several times. She had been given what was essentially a charcoal gray long sleeve bodysuit. She felt uncomfortably exposed despite only showing her legs from her hips down. Charlie understood that it was perfect for her new magical skills, she primarily controlled wind after all, it made sense to be aerodynamic, but it was still too much for her sensibilities.
Where Camila was a sporty Psylocke, Charlie had been a cloakless Raven. Of course, Camila loved it even if she didn’t understand any of Charlie’s references, she knew they were superheroes and thought that was perfect. Eventually, when Charlie refused to relinquish her hoodie even while wearing her armor during their battle simulations, Camila convinced the Empire to also cough up a heavy hooded cloak that unintentionally completed the look.
The heavy cloak only worked thanks to Charlie’s built in air conditioning.
Charlie and Camila had already discussed what they would do, so they set off together in search of Charlie’s parents. Their official mission was to first regroup with their party, then, as a group, confirm the status of the faction’s settlements. They were supposed to secure them if necessary so that they could act as safe havens for the future subjects of the Empire. Then they were ordered to scout for potential threats or other settlements in an ever widening perimeter. If they found any they were meant to eliminate them or take control of them if possible, or report for backup if necessary.
They had been briefed on all sorts of possible faction threats, but neither of them were particularly interested in conquering Earth in the name of the God Empress of the Endless Empire, so they made their own plans. The factions had no idea what was going on underneath the planetary mana shield that was encasing the entire planet, so their lack of enthusiasm would go unnoticed.
Instead, the pair planned to find Charlie’s parents, bring them to the safety of a settlement, then organize an expedition to Ghost Reef. Embarrassingly, when brainstorming on people they thought might need their help, Charlie had brought up Coop. Camila pounced onto the hint of a crush like a cat onto a mouse.
Charlie didn’t think she would even be noticed by a guy like that unless she was the only girl within 100 miles, and, in a twist of fate, that had been the exact situation when Coop started living on a remote island in the middle of the ocean. Though Coop seemed like an aloof guy, he still engaged with her whenever the Park Supervisor brought her to the island, further fueling her infatuation. Charlie’s job as a Park Ranger was mostly writing articles and updating the website for various parks including Ghost Reef, so she told herself she had to visit for work and it was partially not a lie.
Camila wasn't worried about anyone. Her family lived in New York, and when she recounted all of her siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, along with her parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and all of their family friends, neighbors, and their families it made Charlie dizzy. She wasn’t concerned because she knew they would take care of each other over any interfering faction of outsiders.
So Charlie and Camila’s foreseeable plans revolved around Charlie. They hadn’t bothered coordinating with the three guys in their party, half hoping they just wouldn’t see them ever again. Charlie doubted they would be so lucky, at least not until after they disabled the tracking artifacts by uniting them.
When their party was first formed it hadn’t taken long for all three guys to start hitting on Camila. She was not shy about shooting them down firmly and thoroughly. Two of them somehow didn’t get the message and persistently continued, believing she was playing hard to get or something. The other one turned his attention to Charlie like she was his deserved consolation prize. It was gross.
Camila led the way toward the remains of an interstate she had seen on her way to rendezvous with Charlie. It was a bizarre sight, having been perfectly cleaved with one half remaining and the other missing, presumedly pushed into the distance. The vegetation that was growing on the remaining pavement and the dozens of abandoned cars looked like nature had been reclaiming the road for hundreds of years instead of a matter of days. Charlie was able to navigate based on the remaining signs and the two eventually found the mostly intact neighborhood where her parents lived.
Luckily, their block was also unchanged aside from some incredibly thick hedges in a few yards that had expanded past the sidewalks and into the roads. Several houses were looking pretty ragged; it reminded Charlie of the weeks without power after large hurricanes struck when she was still a kid.
At her parents’ house they found her father sitting in a lawn chair below the front steps with a stop sign held in one arm, leaning it over his shoulder. The sign itself was severely crumpled as if he had been using it like a hammer. His head was shiny and bald as ever, but his beard was looking unusually unkempt. His gray tank top and black jeans both had new holes here and there. When he saw his daughter he tossed the sign aside like it was weightless and ran to her.
“Charlotte! My daughter!” He crossed half a block in a rush and lifted her in his huge arms. “I was so worried! But I couldn’t leave your mother.” He openly sobbed.
Charlie wasn’t too short but to her father she may as well have still been an infant. He was a massive man before mana had been assimilated into Earth and by the look of him he had been spending plenty of attribute points into Strength. Charlie Identified him.
[Human (Level 12)]
Not bad, she thought, feeling proud of him. The Endless Empire had suggested even the fastest to level wouldn’t exceed one level per day, but here was her Dad, at the end of Day 10, ahead of the curve.
“It’s alright, Dad, I’m fine.” She tried to calm him. “Where’s Mom?”
“She’s been in the kitchen,” He answered between sobs, “I can’t reach her,” he complained before crying even harder.
Eventually, he calmed down enough to put her back on the ground, allowing her to introduce Camila. He told her she could call him Emmanuel and thanked her profusely for taking care of his little Charlotte. He invited them both into the house after walking them back to the front.
Charlie’s mother was in a mana shield receiving training from another faction. Charlie explained the situation to her father and after plenty of assurances he calmed down, feeling glad that she wasn’t just okay, but being prepared to thrive upon her return.
Charlie’s parents had been inseparable ever since they first met when they were both 18 years old. When her father tells the story he describes how he was a lanky Haitian migrant who was taking an English class and she was a blonde, blue-eyed, freckled beauty of a French-Canadian. The teacher had introduced her as a friend when she sat in on his class, helping in practical exercises as a fluent speaker of both languages. He asked her out in broken English in front of the class during the exercise and she played along and accepted. Then after the class he held her to her promise and took her on a date for ice cream, and that was that.
He worked as a bouncer while Charlie’s mother went through college and they got married before she went to medical school. Charlie’s mother became a doctor with a thriving practice, frequently volunteering to help in disaster areas and the whole family would join her. Her father claimed that his life hadn’t even started until her mother entered his life. She thought he was understandably upset at being forcefully separated without warning when they had never spent even a single night apart.
Charlie got him to let them know what had happened to him so far.
Apparently, he had also been offered a sponsorship. He rejected it so quickly he wasn’t even sure what faction it was. They claimed he had the soul of a titan, but he just wanted to be returned to make sure his family was alright. He had been returned quickly enough to witness the meteors in the sky and believed it was the apocalypse. Finding his wife suspended in the mana shield he refused to seek shelter, choosing to stay by her side until the end.
There was no way to get any news, so he stayed home and waited for the end but it didn’t come. Instead looters started showing up. Foolish opportunists who were gathering knick knacks that were now permanently useless thanks to the assimilation of mana. He defended his home and eventually checked on the neighbors around the block. Most of them were either missing or in the same state as his wife, so he started protecting the whole block. A few of the neighbors woke up and went off to who knows where. Most of them were oblivious enough to not even notice he had been there watching the street.
The looters were preferred over what came next. Mechanical monsters that moved like wolves and hunted in packs. He’d been destroying the ones that entered the street from either side, smashing them to pieces with his only available weapon, the corner stop sign. He hadn’t even noticed his notifications until he was approaching level five.
His class was called Enforcer, and he was indeed putting his points into Strength and Body. Charlie and Camila convinced him not to neglect Agility and Mind which he took to heart, though he didn’t understand why they suggested Mind, not having any idea about magic. After his daughter revealed some of her magical abilities, he was shocked that it was real. The demonstration convinced him that he was both afraid of it and proud that his daughter could wield it.
Both Charlie and Camila were shocked that his affinity was Gravity. There was no way it wouldn’t be extremely powerful and they suggested he keep it a secret, as they had both been given the same suggestion. He had been offered several mage type class options, but he went with what he understood. He had been a physical man his whole life and even before putting points into Strength he was over six feet tall and over two hundred pounds. Now, he gloated that he could be whatever weight he wanted. Both girls feigned jealousy.
After they caught up with each other, Emmanuel convinced them both to go to bed. They weren’t that hard to convince once he put the idea to them. They both went, worried finding time to sleep might not be so easy in the near future.
