Panicked, Beth tried to apologize. That was like watching a pigeon swimming butterfly style. Ian just couldn't get into his head how this could be happening.

Beth was a pretty girl, of medium height, brown hair and blue eyes. But she had such an aggressive temperament that it overshadowed any good qualities she might have. Always humiliating those around her, whether they were friends or not. Always flaunting about everything she could buy since her father had a lot of money. Although it was true, she really didn't have as much as she claimed. Always arrogant. Always haughty. So seeing her cry for the second time on the same day, was very disconcerting. Showing unprecedented humility, she raised her voice slightly. "I would like to apologize for everything I've done to you Emily. I truly mean it." It was so believable, that for a moment, Emily almost believed her.

Ian cut her off, exuding disgust with every word. "And why now and not any other day in the five years you've been making her life miserable?!" Ian let her know with a shout that made even Emily shrug, thinking it was a thunder instead of a man's voice.

Beth was crying like she had never cried before as she mumbled something Ian already knew, but didn't want to hear. Although Ian had done his best to ignore her, Beth raised her voice proclaiming her feelings out loud. "Ian, I've always loved you. Ever since I first saw you in kindergarten. Please! Believe me! I..."

Ian's answering words reached Beth's ears, cutting like knives. "You're crazy if you think that will make me lift a finger for you. You make me sick!"

Astonishing the girls, Ian rushed out in Emily's direction. He stood in front of her, lifted her up and placed her face down on one of his shoulders. All this, without stopping walking. Within a second, he was already running. Emily felt like she weighed nothing to Ian. She didn't want to see Beth, but her cry of despair made her looked up. "Iaaaaaaaaaan."

Emily looked up and saw her, still there, on her knees. She also watched, terrified, as humanoid figures emerged from the undergrowth, approaching and surrounding them. Many, many figures covered in fur. "The Apes! Have they been there whole time?" She thought, horrified, as they moved away. With every stride Ian took, the screams of the girls echoed in the distance, but Ian didn't let up. He was running faster with her on top of him, than Emily would ever have run in gym class on her own merits. She felt his strength carrying her. She felt like a cowgirl on a wild bull that was impossible to tame. Ian was a beast when he was raging. He seemed unstoppable.

Emily didn’t want to imagine what would happen to Beth and her three friends, but she had no intention of asking Ian to slow down or help them, especially as several of the apes were trying to catch them. They ran much faster than Ian. It was only a matter of time before the apes caught with them. Emily tried to warn Ian, but she didn't have time. Without warning, Ian left her behind a tree and vanished without further explanation.

Emily couldn't believe what had just happened. He had left her alone, again. "Why does he do that all the time?" Emily felt like the ballast of a balloon. Even with the spear in her hand, she didn't know how to use it. She thought about how to defend herself with that pointed stick. Years of video games gave her a slight idea that she could throw it and that it could be used as a pike, but she didn't have the skill that those who were chasing after her would surely have. She understood that if she tried to defend herself against her pursuers, they would surely kill her.

Emily understood that the best option was to surrender. "Maybe then they won't kill me at first sight." Desperate, she heard the footsteps of the creatures approaching, closer and closer. Her heart was beating so hard and so fast she felt like it was going to burst. One of the creatures brushed past her, stopping when it saw her behind the tree.

Despite being much shorter than her, it seemed very aggressive and confident. It saw through Emily as soon as it saw her. It knew she was terrified, but it wasn't that hard to imagine either, seeing how she shuddered. It was some kind of ape-like man with huge teeth. A little over 1.5 meters tall. It was panting from the exertion of the run, and it was glaring at her with terrifying fury and lust. Then two more came. And finally a fourth. No more came. Emily quickly dropped the spear in surrender.

One of the strange apes was looking for Ian, but stopped that annoying task as soon as the other three completely turned their attention to Emily. They were staring at her with lascivious eyes and drooling mouths. They were like hypnotized, but none of them touched her. One of them was aiming at her red hair, but he bigger one pushed the latter with one arm. It didn't mind any stupid orders given by their superiors about not touching the redheaded girls. It handed the spear to another ape and smiled. The ape got so close to Emily that she almost seemed to feel the heat of its furry body, but all she feel was its stench. It was obvious they didn't know what bathing was. It was almost repulsive.

Emily, cornered against the tree, chose to close her eyes. She was shaking so badly and felt so desperate that she started crying. She felt with disgust and despair how the ape fondled her breasts, but she did not open her eyes. That unpleasant and endless sensation lasted barely three seconds. Suddenly, she heard a strange noise that reminded her of the spears that had been thrown at Ian. The sound ended with the strange cracking sound of bones breaking. She also felt the pressure that had been exerted on her breasts suddenly cease.

Emily opened her eyes just to see it fall with the spear horribly stuck in its head. Emily wondered in incredible surprise. "How much strength does it take to throw such a light spear and have it break the that ape's skull like that?".

The other apes screamed madly searching for the source of the attack. Suddenly, another fell backwards with a spear stuck in its chest. It would have gone through its back if it hadn't impacted its shoulder blade right after breaking two ribs on the way to its lungs.

Emily watched with fervent encouragement as only two remained. They nervously looked at each other, and rushed towards the attacker. The next thing Emily saw was a fist-sized rock hitting one of them, right in the face. Finally, Ian stormed out of the bushes, furiously charging with his last spear. He didn't shout to frighten them. His gaze and tenacity were enough as a business card. The ape shuddered at Ian's size and the fury with which he charged. It tried to turn around and run, but it was its last decision.

Ian charged and impaled the ape from behind. The ape barely screeched. Possibly, it had also punctured its lungs. Then it fell, writhing and futilely trying to grab the spear that was piercing it from the back. Ian stomped on its spine so hard, that she heard it snap. Without bothering, he yanked hard on the spear to finish what he had started. A small fountain of blood gushed out violently, splattering the adjacent ground.

When the standing ape recovered from the blow to the face, and saw its two companions in agony from the pain, it just raised its hands. But Ian had no mercy in his eyes, only anger. He jumped, charging at the ape with the bloody spear. The ape shrieked, trying to stop the spear with its hands. It managed to grab it with a display of incredible agility, the last of its life. However, Ian's strength was too much for the ape's wrists, which snapped as they bent grotesquely.

Emily had been holding her breath the whole time without realizing it. Watching with disgust as the spear sank slowly into the chest of that terrified creature. The ape's screams made her wince, but she didn't look away from that unpleasant sight. New footsteps caught the attention of both. Three more apes arrived almost in unison. As a reflex action, Emily desperately shouted out Ian's name. That was like an execution command for him. He looked like an executioner. He ripped the spear from the chest of the nearest ape and charged towards them.

Emily felt Ian walk past her. It looked as if a bus was about to hit her at high speed. Ian jumped at them, not caring about the two spears and some kind of stone ax they were carrying. Without thinking that if they reached him, they would fatally wound him. Without thinking that he could die there. Ian attacked the one with the hand ax first.

Emily didn't understand how Ian could act like that. Without thinking of death or pain. She could tell he wasn't afraid of anything. In contrast, she was totally terrified. Her heart was pounding inside her chest with terrible force. It hurt and paralyzed her. Her ears were ringing and her vision was blurring. She tried to grab the spear that was still at her feet, but she could hardly feel her hands. Inwardly, she screamed to herself. "Oh, come on! Not now! Not now!". She managed to grab the spear on the second attempt.

When she managed to grab the spear as Ian did, she didn't know what to do, but she had to do something. Then, she shouted to distract one of them, to help Ian in some way. That burst of courage was short-lived. Behind them, more apes came.

Emily counted four more, but even though she couldn't see them coming, she could sense many more coming. Terrified, she took a step back. She wanted to help Ian but.... What could she do? She was barely able to hold the spear in her trembling hands. At that moment, with such tension, her mind took her out of there. Merely a few tenths of a second, but it seemed like weeks for her.

She remembered her childhood with Ian when they played, as children, in the park with their friends. Friends who came every summer. They played on the swings and slides, in the sandbox and in a very short grassy meadow that was right next to the park. Ian looked smaller than her and they were smiling a lot. They played that they were all adventurous heroes who overcame any evil together. It didn't matter how powerful and evil the enemy was. They always defeated it. She remembered that Ian took that game very seriously, much more seriously than the other kids. He really got into the role of the adventurous hero. She thought that was one of the few good memories of her childhood. One of the few memories of her life where she felt happy with someone.

She remembered many happy moments with Ian. Moments that had happened before the incident with those boys who had hit her shortly before her mother forbade her to talk to Ian. Back then, Emily felt she had the perfect friend friend to talk to. He always understood her. They always thought alike, even though they were just two innocent kids. They didn't even know what lay beyond the exit of their town.

She remembered how her mother had forbidden her to speak to Ian again. She recalled being taken to a religious psychologist and then, to a place where priests tried to remove the devil they said she had inside her. Emily had claimed that it was her the one who had beaten the children. She couldn't remember why she had said that back then, but at that time, she firmly believed it. Emily's mother said that Ian was turning her into a savage, a delinquent and a devil.

She remembered those two years as if they were a descent into hell. Two years in a religious new school. Without friends. Feeling lonely, listless and depressed. When her parents saw she couldn't take it anymore, they went back to their old house, to the old school, to their old life, but nothing was the same.

Emily never greeted or spoke to an unrecognizable Ian again. He had become a troublesome boy. He never smiled anymore. Everyone said he would be like his father and end up in jail.

Emily also remembered how one of her childhood friends had told her that she, too, was unrecognizable . "You're a crybaby now. A repressed person. You're always shaking. You're so weak now." That friend was Beth. She stopped being her friend soon after to become her biggest nightmare.

Then, she finally realized. "Why am I remembering all this now? Why at a time like this? Maybe it's because I'm going to die? Maybe it's because I wanted to remember what it was like to be an adventurer fighting alongside her inseparable friend? Straight to the death. Fighting against any evil, however great or impossible it may be to defeat.

Emily exhaled a gasp. Lunging with that simple pointed stick in hand toward the ape that was trying to skewer Ian from behind. Her body was shaking so badly, that she felt she had no control over it. With each step, she could see less and less, and the ringing in her ears prevented her from hearing anything. Her chest hurt so much, that it felt like it was bursting. After a few steps, everything went dark.

She felt a very strong dizziness, as well as rapid and frantic movements of her own body, as if she was jumping or being shaken. She didn't know why. She also felt anger and helplessness that quickly turned into a strange frenzy that shocked her greatly. She felt as if she were in a nightmare where she couldn't hear or see anything but echoes of screams, flesh being torn apart and bones cracking and breaking. She didn't understand anything. Finally, she realized that she no longer felt pain. She hadn't expected that. "Are they killing me? Is this how it all ended? Am I dying?"

After a while, she stopped feeling or hearing anything. Everything calmed down. Her heart stopped pounding so violently in her chest. She thought she had already died and now she would meet the strange scarred man. That man who had first appeared dressed in a suit so white and so shiny that it was blinding. But in the end, it didn't happen.

All at once, the three panels appeared floating in front of her in the darkness. With a single glance, she could see how, in the central panel menu, multiple submenus were emerging from the bruises and scratches all over her body. Hands, arms, torso, legs, feet, head... Even her mouth. "The mouth? They hit me in the mouth? What sons of...!" Focusing on one of the submenus, it expanded and showed much more details. Detailing skin and muscles damage. There were no broken bones or serious injuries.

Emily was surprised to still be alive and in one piece. "How is it possible!? I thought they would kill us!". Then, she focused on the damage to her head and the warning alert that still lingered in her brain. Apathetically, she ignored it again. "Now I don't have the strength to go through that."

She also saw the muscle enhancement submenus and then, all the summaries that had been seen the previous time. With the expenditure and balance of all the important nutrients and components of her body. There was also a summary of everything she was spending and hadn't ingested yet. Reminding her to eat.

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Statistics

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Math 10 (+0,01)100% (+0,00)100% 10

Poth 5 (+0,52)100% (+0,00)100% 5

Sawh 18 (-5,18)100% (+0,00)100% 13

Enth 2 (+0,04)100% (+0,00)100% 2

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Agth 3 (+0,71)100% (+0,00)100% 3

Dewh 2 (+0,02)100% (+0,00)100% 2

Vrok 5 (+0,08)100% (+0,00)100% 5

Peth 8 (+0,01)100% (+0,00)100% 8

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Sats 11 (+0,12)100% (+0,00)100% 11

Inwt 12 (+0,01)100% (+0,00)100% 12

Voth 3 (+0,62)100% (+0,00)100% 3

Coth 1 (+0,00)100% (+0,00)100% 1

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Finally emerged what she wanted to see, the expected summary stats table. This time, many more values had changed than the previous time. She noticed the one that had changed the most. "Why is it negative? They should all be positive, unless... that's my health. I have a lot of injuries. I'm sure it's my health."

"What about my strength? I been felling very weak the whole time. I've been struggling, I think." However, there were others who were not so far behind the one who had climbed the most. "So this must be strength, dexterity, endurance.… And the others? This can't be intelligence. I haven't studied anything. Although, will it be willpower? Damn it! Why doesn't it say what each thing is?"

Thinking about what the strange being had told her, she remembered. "You also have some kind of stats, though that as such doesn't exist in reality. You will see that when you are ready. Since you are the result of many factors at every moment and under certain circumstances."

Emily continued to think about the matter in her mind. "Obviously I'm not ready, or I would understand it, I guess." Suddenly, a new message appeared floating in the middle of all the panels. "New item equipped." A detailed drawing of some sort of foot protection, appeared. "Left foot protection." The message disappeared, but nothing else appeared. Curiously, she tried to look at her feet, but belatedly realized that it was in vain. A giggle escaped her.

"That's right! I have no body here! I don't while I'm looking at the panels. That doesn't matter now! What matters to me now is, why do I suddenly have a foot protection?". After a few moments of thought, she enthusiastically understood. "Ian? Did Ian do it?" She couldn't wait to wake up and find out. That thought made the panels fade away and she started to wake up.

When she finally regained consciousness, she was lying on the floor. The darkness was almost total, except for the stars. Emily's hands and mouth were covered with dried blood. Ian was nearby, manufacturing something. He turned and for several seconds he saw her. Emily looked at him expectantly. Ian finally spoke to her, visibly tired and hurt. "Welcome Sleeping Beauty." His face suddenly became more serious. "Do you remember what happened after the first seven apes showed up?"

Emily shook her head and groaned. Her whole body was terribly sore, and her head hurt even more. She wanted to speak, but her mouth was full of dried blood. Her teeth and mouth also ached. She coughed trying to speak, but to no avail. Ian urged her to stop while he continued to work on some kind of foot protection. "It's better this way. Trust me!"

Emily looked at him puzzled. He looked sad and discouraged. As if something had taken years off his life. She couldn't help but think. "What the hell happened?"