System Change

Darvin was in the meeting room waiting for Kelvin. The human leader had been personally gathering information on planet C-186. In the recent months, the system’s speed towards the anomaly had been increasing, and the human, Derek Hunt, was the only lead that Darvin and the other council members had.

When the system introductory phase on C-186 ended, Kelvin had rushed to the planet to learn everything there was to know about Derek. Yesterday, his mission was deemed complete, and he was to report back with what he learned today.

Darvin had paced more over the last three months that he had in his previous centuries of life. The more the system expanded in the singular direction, the more anxious the Malaxi became. He hoped that whatever was to happen would not be of great consequence, but in his gut, he knew something great was bound to happen.

Just then, the teleporter flashed, and Kelvin stepped out. His neat blonde hair had grown shaggy, and he had a frown on his face. Darvin suspected he was not going to be happy with what Kelvin had learned.

Without any courtesy, Kelvin walked to a center chair at the table and flopped down. “Well, shit.” He said aloud to Darvin. “I got nothing useful.”

“Nothing?” Darvin replied. “There has to be something.”

Kelvin sighed. “I have some extra background on the man, but nothing concerning what is happening with the system.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Darvin replied. “Start at the beginning.”

Kelvin shook his head and began recounting his time on Earth.

***

I stepped through the teleporter and arrived at one of Earth’s busiest hubs. It was previously known as Chicago, but when the system arrived, the cities went to shit, just like always. Still, one of the residents, Jace, happened to be one of the few Earthlings to adapt well to the system, and he was able to establish a safe zone in the area rather quickly.

If you were to look at the rankings on Earth, before the introductory phase ended, Jace was in second place. The man wasn’t very creative though, as he named his new safe zone, Chicago II. Still, the city is the current largest city on the planet. The other top cities include Jiù zhǔ from a country known as China, Kingston from the United Kingdom, and… Muscle Town, created by a guy only known as Jim, it’s in the United States, same as Chicago, though it was formerly known as Houston, Texas.

Needless to say, I avoided going to these places. I especially would not like to meet Jim, who somehow ended up fifth in the rankings.

I chose Chicago II because it was the closest city, with a teleporter, to where Derek Hunt frequented. From there, I went east to a state known as North Carolina. You know, I really don’t get the point in breaking a country up into states, then the states up into cities.

Anyway, it was quite the trek from Chicago II to North Carolina. Of course, I used a few local transporters to jump from city to city, but it still took a couple days to get there. After a couple days, I finally made it to the Charlotte safe zone. Bless the person who made that safe zone, keeping it the exact same name as the city.

Apparently, this was where Derek Hunt was from. Well, I made my way around Charlotte, asking around about the man and the others. Luckily, Silvi Jacobs was very easy to track down.

After getting the woman’s location, I headed to the bar where she worked. That’s right, she was a bartender now.

I walked inside and there she was. It didn’t take any time for me to find her. The woman had silver hair, she was wearing a tight, white shirt, and some kind of blue pants. She was wiping down the bar in front of an empty stool.

I walked over and sat on the stool. I waited for her to finish cleaning the bar before I spoke. “You must be Silvi Jacobs.”

She raised her eyebrows and looked at me with her emotionless green eyes. “What do you want?”

I grinned. “What I want… Is to talk about Derek Hunt.” That got her attention as I saw a flash of pain register in her eyes.

“Don’t know who you’re talking about. Order something or leave.” She lied.

“Oh, I think you will be talking. See, there are some people, including myself, who are very interested in the man, and you just happen to be the only person who was even a little close to him.”

“Leave.” She said and turned.

I reached over the bar and grabbed her by the wrist. She turned back around. “You will tell me everything you know. Don’t think you have a choice.”

I heard footsteps approaching me from behind. Of course, there was nothing on Earth that could injure me, so I allowed the approach. While still holding the wrist of the woman, a hand landed on my shoulder. I turned to look at the assailant, and to my surprise, it was Gerard Brooks, one of the people Derek rescued before vanishing.

“Oh, you’re Gerard, that’s good. I have some questions for you too.” I reached over to the hand on my shoulder and grabbed it. I squeezed until I heard a cracking sound and the man let out a groan. He was weaker than I imagined. “Now, would the two of you like to go somewhere quiet to talk, or should have everyone in here vacate? I really don’t want to cause more of a scene. Look, people are already looking at us.” I gestured to the rest of the bar.

The woman squinted her eyes. “What do you want?”

“I told you, I’m just looking to talk about Derek Hunt. You know, black hair, blue eyes, vanished a bit over two years ago.”

“Would you sign a contract that you won’t hurt us?” Gerard said from behind me, holding his broken left hand.

“No, I won’t sign a contract with pathetic humans like you. I should kill you for even asking, but I’m on a mission, so I’ll ask one more time. Do you want to go somewhere to talk, or would you rather me drag you out of here and talk then?”

The two teammates made eye contact, then the woman nodded. “We can go to the back. It’s empty.” She walked over from behind the bar, then shouted at a woman clearing a table. “Cindy, watch the bar.”

“Good choice.” I stood and had them lead me to an empty room in the back. There was a couch and a few chairs. I guess it was an area for the workers to take a break. I put one of the chairs in front of the couch and sat. “Have a seat.”

Again, the two looked at each other before sitting. “What do you want to know about Derek?”

“First, where is the other alive member? Allison, I believe?” I asked.

“She’s gone. Couldn’t handle it after John and Andrea. Left the city, we haven’t seen her since.” Gerard answered.

“And you two? Why are you working here in this bar?”

“We…” Silvi looked down. “We’re considered bad luck. Nobody would team with us after Derek. Then, I read up on my abilities and found out how bad Portal was to use, so I’m practically useless.”

“Well, I would say you are extremely lucky to have never summoned a Void Beast. You would have been the cause of hundreds or thousands of deaths. It would have killed until it got bored, and no one would have been able to come down to stop it because you were in an introductory phase. I’ve seen it happen.” I explained.

“You’ve seen it happen?” She asked, confused. “Are you not from Earth?”

“Hahahah!” I laughed. “No, I’m Kelvin, the human leader, and a member of the System Council.”

“You…” I cut the woman off.

“Could crush this entire city with one finger. Now, can we get back on point? What do you know about Derek? From before the system.” I asked.

“He… He didn’t talk much about himself. I only know what the few people who knew him and his family before the system came told me. His family all died a couple years before the system came. He moved out to his family’s cabin on a lake afterward and stayed there until the system came. Well, he stayed there after the system arrived too.” Silvi answered.

“That’s it?” I asked. She nodded. “Do you know anything else?” I asked Gerard.

“That’s more than I knew. He didn’t talk about it, so I never snooped.” The man answered.

“What about Titles or skills?” Maybe he had a Title that could help to explain what was happening, or a skill related to the void.

They both shook their heads. “He never talked about that stuff.”

I don’t know what I was expecting to find out. These people were useless. “His cabin, where is it?”

“It was about 50 miles outside of Charlotte, but it was destroyed by beasts a few months after he disappeared.” Silvi answered.

Dammit. “Mark it on this map.” I pulled a map out of my inventory and the woman showed me where it was. I thought that I may be able to find something there, anything.

I stood up to leave. “You enjoy your meaningless lives.” Began to walk out of the room.

“Wait. Why are you so interested in Derek?” The woman asked.

“Well, because he’s still alive.” I smiled and left the girl standing in the room in shock.

Afterwards, I left the city and went to search for the cabin. I found it, but Silvi was right, there was nothing left. The grass had grown up, there was barely even any part of the cabin left. I only found a single photo of a young Derek holding who I could only assume was his little sister in his arms.

Then, I made my way back to Chicago, and here I am.

***

“That’s it?” Darvin asked. “Nothing else? There was no one close to the man?”

“I asked around while in Charlotte, but there was nothing. He didn’t have any friends, hell, the man barely had acquaintances. He’s a mystery.” Kelvin answered.

“And you left the two alive?”

“Yeah, they aren’t strong enough to do anything. They have barely leveled since everything happened, and they don’t know anything. I had my skill activated the whole time I was there, they didn’t lie.”

Darvin shook his head. The two of them stared at the holograph of Derek floating in the middle of the table. “Just what is going on?” Darvin said to nobody.

Kelvin smiled a predatory smile. “I don’t know, but I can’t wait. It’s been so boring these last few decades.”

“You can go.” Darvin dismissed Kelvin. Kelvin got up and left through the teleporter.

Darvin stared at the system model with the deviation at one point. “Just where are you going?”