Alec stopped before a series of ruined buildings. If he were to guess, this area once contained a small, fortified town. He had begun seeing large rectangular stones half a mile into his journey. A few had other stones still connected to them with a strong mortar. Not many things in Alec’s imagination could cause such devastation. When he came to where the walls had stood, there wasn’t a stone standing. He could see the twenty-foot-thick line of leveled bedrock that served as the foundation, but not one stone stood upon it. It was as if the wall had been deliberately and tediously destroyed.

He walked past the once-wall to the ruins of the town. Buildings made of stone half-stood in a line on either side of what was once a road wide enough for several horses riding side by side. Stones littered the street, making it all but unusable. He was able to make his way through and over several of the piles but had to navigate off the road and around buildings and into alleys as well. Through it all, not one building stood undamaged. As he made his way to what he believed was a tower in the center of the town, he began to notice that a majority of the debris was lying in the direction he had just come from. As he passed different buildings, there would be wide, clear spaces for him to travel. As he came closer to the next street, rubble once again started to block his path. It was as if the damage he was seeing had come from an explosion within the city itself. The power required for that to be true was mind boggling.

As he walked through the town, he had gone through many buildings. Searching them had produced nothing of note. The owners had taken anything of value, leaving only furniture too heavy to move. They must have known what was coming and had time to evacuate. This didn’t appear to be a last-minute evacuation.

After walking for another hour, Alec found himself at the foot of a nearly pristine tower. He hadn’t been able to see it at street level due to the ruined buildings marring his line of sight. He believed that this building was where the light he saw originated from. He walked a full circle around the building, taking in the beautiful dark stone it was made from. He walked to the wall and put his hand on it, feeling a smooth, warm surface. He couldn’t find any seams in the structure to indicate separate stones, meaning this building was most likely brought up through magic. He walked back to the entrance, a wide portion of the wall that was thinner and more glass-like than the rest of the building. He could look through the dark stone to the inside, though it appeared just as dead as the rest of the city.

“This place is giving me the creeps.” He said to himself.

As he spoke, a light shined on him from above the door.

Scanning…

Scanning complete.

Access is currently locked to all non-essential personnel. Please see a local administrator for entry.

He took a step back as the screen hovered in his view. The only time a message had ever appeared to him was when the system was notifying him of something, but this message was from a building. Was it alive somehow? How was it interacting with his notifications? He had never heard of anything like this, not even in legends or stories.

“Um, what’s a local administrator?” He asked the building, trying for more information. He stood there, staring at the building for several moments.

“Hellooooo? Anyone in there? How am I supposed to find something when I don’t know what it is? There isn’t anything else standing in this town.” Still nothing.

He turned around, looking around the square he was in. The area around the tower was clear of any debris. The nearest building was a good thirty feet away. A wide road circled the building. There were areas he could swear were for gardens if he weren’t underground.

He started walking a circle around the building again, looking for anything that would help him figure out how to get inside the building.

He started following each of the four roads that went away from the tower square for about a mile before turning back. It was on the third passage that he found another building that wasn’t as damaged as the surrounding ones. The door was locked, but there were empty spaces where windows should be placed just above his head that he could climb through to search for anything useful. He grabbed ahold of a windowsill and pulled himself into the building. He stopped as he crouched on the perch, looking around. This building looked a lot like the bank in town. Counters lined one wall with enough room for the clerks to walk behind and stand behind them for interaction with customers. Another wall held a series of doors and a hallway leading deeper in. He hopped onto the floor, stood up, and walked around the room. It was a sizable affair, several small tables were scattered along the walls, one chair on either side.

He walked behind the counters, finding nothing but piles of dust in the cubbies beneath them. He walked toward the hallway, glancing around to ensure he hadn’t missed anything. He had checked the doors along the wall, but they led to what he assumed had been small offices with nothing of note. He found no doors as he walked to the end of the hallway. It turned sharply to the left at the end, showing him a staircase going into a basement. As he approached the stairs, he saw an imposing metal door at the bottom. He made his way down and saw that it was slightly ajar. He pushed on it, putting more and more of his strength into it before it finally started inching inward. It took a full minute of him struggling with it to get enough room to pass by.

As he entered the room, orbs hidden along the walls of the room started to glow until they illuminated the entire room. He expected to find a vault of some kind, is inner greed hoping it was filled with gold. Instead, the room was empty save for a pedestal holding an orb in it’s center. It looked similar to the one containing the dungeon crystal in town. He approached it cautiously, looking around for a guardian. The last thing he wanted to do was repeat his last boss fight. Finding nothing, he placed his hand on the crystal.

You have discovered a Town Crystal.

Current Owner: None

Would you like to claim this crystal?

Yes/No

Alec thought it over for a second. The town was obviously abandoned and destroyed a very long time ago. There was no one around that could contest him if he decided to claim the place. He knew about town crystals, though he had never seen one. Brennan had it’s well hidden and protected. Unable to think of a reason not to, he selected yes.

Congratulations! You are now the owner of the town. Please give it a name.

Previous Name: Meridia

He rather like the name of the town. Meridia. It sounded sophisticated. Plus, he was horrible at naming things. He chose to keep the name of the town. As he did, a new screen appeared.

Meridia

Owner: Alec Montaine

Town Level: 0

Population: 1

Mana: 0/10000

Gold: 0

Buildings: 374 (373 damaged)

Economy: None

Town Bonuses: None

He went through the menu with a smile on his face. He owned a town. It was a wrecked ruin, but it was still a town. If he could find a way to make money and repair it. Wait…repair it.

He left the crystal, running to a wall and pressing his hand against it. Instead of thinking of the wall he was touching, he pictured the building as a whole.

Meridia Town Hall

Building Level : 1

Rarity: Common

Building type: Administrative

Condition: Damaged, Unstaffed.

Durability: 270/500

Staff : None

Would you like to Enhance this building?

Choose the property you wish to Enhance.

Building Level

Durability

Enhance: Durability

You can add 1 point of max durability for 750 experience points.

You can repair the item for 50 experience points per 1 point of durability.

It looked like he could use his trait to modify his town as well. This would give him a significant advantage if he needed to repair anything without the proper tools or personnel. He looked at the options for increasing the building level, but the price was exorbitant. It made sense, as higher-level buildings were made of better materials.

He went back to the town crystal, familiarizing himself with the interface. He could select an item to get a more detailed readout. He jumped around the list until he selected population and, just as he’d suspected, he was the only person on the list. He was labeled as Alec Montaine (Owner). Everything else was pretty much as expected as well until he got to the mana tab.

Town Mana

Totals:

Generated 25 Mana/Day

Used 25 Mana/Day

Generating:

Control Tower 25 Mana/Day

Portal (Disconnected)

Using:

Town Steward 25 Mana/Day

He wasn’t sure what a Town Steward was, but the only sign of life he had seen thus far was from the tower. Perhaps the entity that spoke to him at the door was the steward? He had taken control of the town, surely that gave him administrative privileges. He looked through the rest of the interface and, finding nothing, started back toward the tower.

It took him less time to get back to the building than it had to find the town hall. He approached the door, placing his hand on the smooth black glass.

Administrator detected. Re-scanning…

Recording Administrator’s bio-signal…

Contacting Lead Administrator for credential creation…

Error. Unable to contact Lead Administrator.

Contacting Secondary Administrators for clarification…

Error. Unable to contact Secondary Administrators.

Querying database for additional Administrators.

None found.

Activating automatic emergency override.

Alec read the notifications as they scrawled past. As the last one was written, the light above the door turned a deep green.

Mana Supply at 5%.

Awakening Steward…

Steward Awoken.

Time until critical mana depletion: 29:55. 29:54. 29:53…

The clock continued ticking down as a voice seemed to project from the tower.

“I’m awake. This is either very good or terribly bad.” The voice spoke quickly.

“Oh, I mean, WHO GOES THERE? That sounded intimidating, yes? Yes. If I was awoken by raiders, that will have definitely terrified them and caused them to flee. Probably. Good, very good. Now, what is the current status of the town. Hmm. Oh, that’s not good. That either. That’s absolutely terrifying. Oh, wait, this might be good! Nope, not good, not good at all. I wonder if..” The voice continued to mutter to itself, repeating how bad its current predicament was.

“Excuse me,” Alec said, interrupting the voice’s rambling. “are you the one who is supposed to let me in?”

The muttering stopped as Alec felt the thing’s attention snapped to him.

“In? It wants in? Only an administrator can allow access. Wait, oh! It looks like… yep, everyone’s dead. Or gone… Probably dead. Reawaking Steward for Administrator induction? Oh, excellent! You, tiny one. Yes you. I am going to scan you. Please don’t move.”

A green light enveloped Alec’s body. A slight pressure could be felt on the back of his right hand as the light there intensified. He felt a sharp, brief sting as the light pulsed then disappeared.

“There we go! Hopefully that didn’t hurt too much. Look at your right hand please. If it is still there, an administrative sigil should be present. If your hand did not survive the process, notify me and I will attempt to brand your left hand instead.”

“Its there!” Alec shouted quickly, bringing his right hand to his face to study the sigil. It looked like nothing more than a series of squares with spaces between them in the vague shape of a slightly larger square. “What does it do?”

“The sigil is a mark of authority within Meridian. According to the information I received from querying the Town Crystal, you are currently the owner and Lead Administrator of the town and all of its contents. This is vastly different than the previous political setup which will make things a lot simpler for you. Yay you! Come in and proceed to the fourth floor so we can begin the administration of the town. Currently, we need to view our mana expenditure to avoid a critical shutdown.”

Alec nodded to himself as the doors opened. He stepped inside the tower for the first time, his eyes bulging at the expensive interior. Heavy dark wood inlaid with white and yellow gold was spread throughout the floor. Comfortable cushions, looking almost new, sat within massive couches and gaudy chairs. He ignored it as best he could, even if a part of him wanted nothing more than to lie on a couch and good some real rest for a bit.

Finding the stairs was a simple thing. The entire first floor seemed to lead you directly to them. They were overly ornate, black stone that glistened in the light produced by long lines of strange lights in the ceiling. They led upward before turning back in a smooth U-shape, leading to the floor above. The stone was solid under his feet as he climbed. Each step grabbed the floor firmly, surprising him, as the stone looked more slippery than anything.

Arriving at the top, Alec was once again surprised. On this floor, the gaudy layout was replaced by an almost spartan workshop. Workbenches lined the walls, each separated by only a few feet. The majority of the area was open, with tall shelves near the center of the room. The shelves were bare, the items probably taken in the exodus. He continued to a much more practical staircase, one that continued seemed to rise to the roof of the building with a landing for each floor, rather than the first one that led to the second floor only. He followed the new staircase to the landing for the fourth floor. A thick steel door opened on his approach, a blue mist hugging the floor as it creeped out.

He took a moment to examine the mist, finding similarities between it and the aura caused by his trait. Mana, he thought. He moved through the doorway the mist hugging at him as he walked and the door closing behind him. The floor was empty save for two items. The first was a large window that was inside ran the center if the room. It was a thick crystal, rather than the glass he was used to. The second was another crystalline structure that rose from the floor to the ceiling in a twisting fashion. It intertwined with itself as it rose, almost like several tree branches hugging each-other as they spun toward the sun.

“Ah, the human is here. Took him long enough, though he is rather small and weak looking for one of his species. He obviously has never seen a mana generator before as well. Maybe he comes from a small village away from proper civilization? Poor thing. Probably bathes with his animals. Hello young master, you made it up here so quickly! As you can see, the mana generator is currently in standby mode. It was placed that way during the lockdown and forfeit of the city. It is currently producing enough mana to upkeep myself and three primary structures, this tower included. If you would press your hand against the monitor wall, we can begin.”

Alec was beginning to become seriously concerned about the voice’s mental state. He didn’t think it knew it was speaking it’s thoughts out loud. Choosing to ignore it, as it was rather amusing and let Alec know what the thing was thinking, he walked to the window, no, the monitor wall, placing his hand upon it. The entire thing lit up in a familiar blue color.

Administrator detected.

Systems offline.

Would you like to Re-activate the System interface?

Yes/No

Alec stared at the message for a moment. It was held within the monitor wall but looked exactly like how he had set his notifications. This was clearly a magical relic. He selected yes. Immediately, he felt a pressure building in his head. It started small but rose steadily. His eyes began to water as his nose began to run. He fell to his knees, hands trying to hold his head together as his head felt as if it were going to split.

Syncing with Administrator

Resistance detected.

System pathways blocked.

Unblocking pathways…

Anomalies found.

Resetting system to species default.

System restart needed.

Restarting system.

Blood ran between Alec’s fingers as he held his hands to his face. He failed to see the messages before him as the pain reached a crescendo. Then, for a brief, blissful moment, the pain stopped. He had just enough time to take a breath before his world turned black.