These screens told him a lot of things. Yet Edwin could not make sense of half of it. What did stick out was two-fold. First, two ‘realms’ were sending invasion armies, and second, these screens had not disappeared. They were just floating there, without a care.

At that moment an epiphany struck. I should write this stuff down, he thought. Edwin scrambled to find a pen and paper.

Soon, Edwin’s hand was blazing across a notebook. Zoey stood off to the side watching him without comment.

It took him a minute and Edwin could feel his hand cramping, but each word was copied down. He sat back and felt satisfied. This would surely come in handy.

After that excitement Zoey took the chair that came with the wall length desk on the far side of the room and Edwin plonked himself down on his mattress. Seems Zoey probably got that message too. The question Edwin wanted to know was whether only those level five and above received the message or not.

“The panels,” Zoey said plainly. “I just saw more of them. You did as well. The same ones from what you wrote down.”

He nodded and her expression visibly lightened. Her shoulders straightened out and she exhaled deeply. “Yeah, I saw them too. And I did write them down. Here,” he said and handed over the notebook. “Double check it was the same stuff.”

She only took a moment to skim through before she told Edwin that it was exactly the same. A while later the hanging messages vanished. Not sure how to start Edwin ended up looking out the window, his view looking west across the city. Something he had not noticed earlier that morning caught his eye. A small green light was visible for a moment before it blinked out, a moment later it winked back only to vanish again. The blinking continued at the same pace. Zoey confirmed that she could see it when asked. Neither had a clue what it was, but it meant something interesting.

Zoey brought it up first. “That’s a light. A working light.” She was correct, and the light meant there was electricity. Something that had been noticeably absent since the earthquake yesterday. Edwin wondered if it was someone’s skill or if it was related to the recent announcement in some way. Maybe it was a gathering point for defenders. If it signaled an invasion location or something he would need to look for a way to leave the city. Before his thoughts could go further down that rabbit hole Zoey spoke again.

“Edwin, what’s going on?” she asked.

He decided to lay his guess out. “Well, I’m not exactly certain alright? But, this sort of stuff follows a pattern I’m familiar with. It’s actually a story genre. Ha,” he chuckled at how silly it sounded. “The basics is that some sort of apocalypse style event happens, okay? And all the survivors become video game characters. Like they can level up by killing things and they get stat points to become stronger. Then they get all sorts of skills—abilities. Like the ones you and I have. Oh, and yeah, these blue panels are a pretty common thing too.”

“But…You said those are all just stories.”

“Yeah,” Edwin said. “They are all just fantasy, and yet, and yet it seems like that’s what’s happening. There was even some sort of.” He paused and raised his fingers to make air quotes. “World merge message. It’s pretty crazy how much the situation mirrors some stories.”

“So, what usually happens next in those sorts of stories?”

“Hmm,” Edwin tried to sound thoughtful. “Typically the main character goes on a big monster killing spree and levels up faster than everyone else. They get some sort of awesome skill, or they are really lucky. Then they probably do some crazy stunt like kill a boss. After that, they have to deal with all sorts of human greed as other survivors panic.

“I mean we have the monsters already and a world merge or that invasion if you will, but it has not really been apocalyptic.”

Zoey was staring at him. Her eyes were unreadable.

“Which is good I mean,” he clarified. “I don’t want to see the streets choked with corpses or something. To be fighting for my life from monster hordes every hour of the day would suck. But I mean we have sorta seen what could be the beginning of something like that. We should be careful out there. Who knows what could be happening when all we have to work with is speculation.”

“Right,” Zoey said oddly. “So doesn’t that mean you’re a main character? All you have left to do is some crazier stunt. Maybe those owls have a boss monster?”

“Wha-what!” Edwin spluttered and felt his face burn with embarrassment. “That’s insane Zoey, why would you even think that?”

“Well, you beat all those owls, so that checks off the monster killing spree. Yeah?”

“Yeah I did but that was just luck,” he hurried to defend himself. Edwin did not think of himself as main character material, maybe a side character who struggled before they met the main character and ended up dying early to be motivation for the main character and his party to grow stronger. “It wasn’t even a proper monster killing spree. I wasn’t trying to farm them for experience. Hell, I was running for my life. I mean you’re the one who killed most of them even, you even leveled up five times. Are you a main character?”

A grin split Zoey’s lips and she burst out laughing. Full, belly busting laughs. She smacked her palm against the waist-high desk several times in her merriment. Edwin just watched her startled, unsure what he had said that was so funny.

As her laughter subsided she wiped at her eyes and made an effort to calm the still escaping chuckles as she gasped for breath. “This isn’t a story Edwin,” she said with mirth. “No one is the main character. We all play the lead role in our own lives. You sure did light up when I said you might be one though.”

Edwin felt his blush creeping up again and decided to change the subject. “Have you tried using your skill yet?”

She let her laughter fade and focused on the coming discussion. “Nah,” she shrugged.

With a bit of prompting and cajoling from Edwin, which mostly consisted of him saying, “It’s just something you have to feel.” Zoey attempted to use her skill. Sitting with her back straight, she held a pen aloft, her gaze focused intently. For a brief moment, her eyes flashed with pale light. Edwin blinked rapidly, unsure if he had imagined that or not.

A moment later she gasped and dropped the pen. It clattered down onto the desk. “I saw one of those blue panels. It was telling me about the pen.”

“What did it tell you about the pen,” Edwin coaxed.

“It said pen in a single line at the top, and then it said something like; a manufactured writing instrument that uses black ink,” Zoey said. She was still staring at the pen. Edwin sighed, he had probably expected too much. It was only a pen after all. The ability would probably prove its usefulness in time.

Zoey’s eyes flared again without Edwin noticing as he thought about her skill.

“How much did it feel like that use drained you?” Edwin asked a minute later.

“Hmm? Well my status screen says I’m down twenty psych points.”

“What!” Edwin jumped to his feet. “You can see your status screen?”

Zoey pulled back, defensive. “Uh? Yeah. I used psychometry on myself and it popped up.”

Edwin tried—to no avail—to calm his shocked expression. “I only saw it when it first appeared. It vanished, like, the second I finished reading it. You can really see it? This could be really important if your skill lets you examine parts of the screen.”

“Yep,” Zoey popped the p at the end, a large grin on her face once more. “I was just using it to check out different things on my status. Super useful. But it was using ten of my psych points every description. I’m like halfway empty.” She sounded exasperated but Edwin felt giddy at the potential here.

“Zoey, can you tell me a couple of the descriptions? Or better yet, can you write them down as you read them? That way you shouldn’t have to waste points to re-read something if you end up forgetting a little bit of it later.”

“Ohhh,” Zoey sounded enlightened. Edwin tried to keep his hand from shaking. Was this the true power of psychometry?

Edwin felt there was only one question that fit this situation.

“Zoey,” he said slowly. His tone was serious. Edwin’s eyes were sharp and his posture was coiled tighter than a spring. Zoey felt the atmosphere and she herself tensed. Ready to act depending on what Edwin said next.

“Are you sure you’re not the main character?” He deadpanned. Zoey twitched.

-Frontrunners-

Edwin left Zoey in his room to copy down any information she could get from her status screen. Considering how exhausted she looked, he also offered her the use of his messy bed. Which she had accepted. Edwin made his way downstairs without running into anyone. With a poptart and kool aid jammers in hand he was prepared for anything. These grab and go sort of items were really convenient. Although he should probably get something else to eat soon. He was likely to run out soon at his current rate.

He found the lobby subdued. People sat around the edges, huddled up and closed off. Tony stood by the counter to the information desk looking at a map of the city. “Yo, Tony,” he called in greeting.

“Oh, it’s you,” Tony sounded tired. It had probably been close to an hour since Edwin had left the lobby and things were not looking good. “Shit’s been crazy,” Tony continued. “I could use your help.”

“Sure thing, I can help as long as it isn’t too crazy,” was Edwin’s frank reply.

“Crazy huh?” Tony said, his voice different this time. He bent over the counter and beckoned Edwin closer. His eyes shifted around, checking if anyone could hear them. Just above a whisper he asked, “Hey, you saw them right? The blue messages. That actually happened, yeah?”

Edwin leaned in and said equally as quiet, “yeah I saw them.”

Tony’s eyes lit up. A strange grin split his lips. His voice returned to a normal volume. “Good to hear Edwin. That’s good to hear.”

“Uh yep,” Edwin said lamely. “Anyway, what did you need my help with?”

Tony crossed his arms and blew air out of his mouth in a deep exhale. “Oh boy Stein. Oh boy. Truth is, I need someone to go out and look around for students who might be injured and need help getting back. Or stuff like that y’see? We’re missing a lot of residents right now. See what you can do, but be careful. Capisce?”

“Yeah, capisce.”

Edwin really hoped the owls would have stayed around the park, they should have gorged themselves by now. It was time to see what he could find out here. What he needed first was a weapon, something to help him when his concrete throwing juice ran dry. He had an idea where he might find something good.