Atlas Reign

Chapter 3 Adonis and Invo

“Adonis!” I heard a voice among the scream calling for my name. The vision is blurry.

“Adonis!” Why are you calling my name and who are you?

I heard a high-pitched howl coming from behind me. I searched for the source of the howl and what I saw is a blurred image of a giant

“Get away from my child!” A woman voice? Child? Who?

Wait, why am I up in the air and why is it hurt?

The giant is extracting my mana, and it is hurting me it feels like I am a speck of dust on a ceiling getting suck into a vacuum cleaner.

A huge blast hit the giant head from behind. It was the woman who cast it and the monster drops me. The woman manages to save me from falling using some type of pillow, but the giant quickly grabs her.

The giant squashed the head of the woman and I saw blood, flesh, and skull bone. The giant opens its mouth and eats her.

Why can't I do anything? Why can't I move? Don't eat her. Stop!

Stop!

“STOP!!” I screamed as I woke up, the room fills with the sound of my screams. I take a look around the room, and then I touch my hand, feet, and face to see if I'm still dreaming. After that, I took a heavy breath of relief, and then the door to my room is being knocked, and I can hear a voice behind it.

“Hey, Adonis stop screaming and wake up, or we're going to be late.” A man's voice is calling me behind the door as he keeps knocking.

“Okay, okay, I've woken up you can stop knocking on my door.” I tell him.

I stood up from my bed, grab my towel, and headed toward the door, as I was opening the door I notice a man with red hair and brown eyes standing outside my door as I open it. The man is called Invo Carlsen, my best friend, and roommates. We have known each other since we were just 6 years old. I was an orphan and his family has taken me to become one of their slaves at their house. My first impression of him is that he is a spoiled child, and he has this hot temper attitude which is still can be seen till now. But one day, he suddenly changed for some reason, he treated me better and kinder which is suspicious at first, but then I grow used to it, l have asked him many times why did he change, but he refuses to answer me. He told me, if I want my answer, I must help him to reach his dream that is becoming a king. A bold dream in which I was dumb enough to say yes. We both graduated from the same academy and work in the same place.

“Same dream again?” He asks me. In which I reply with a nod. I headed to the bathroom, I wash my face, I took a look at my face in the mirror and saw my black hair and my brown eyes, I take my toothbrush that is near the sink and apply toothpaste on it then brush my teeth. After that, I take off my clothes, and throws them into the basket, and then step into the shower and start showering. The water was hot but it feels nice as the water pours into my body. After I finish showering, I grab my towel and wrapped it around my lower body. I step outside the bathroom and head to my room and dressed up in my uniform. After that, I grab my black jacket that has a dragon logo on it that is hanging in my room and I put it on. I step out of my room to greet Invo who is now waiting for me.

“Took you long enough.” He tells me with an expression of someone who wanted to ask something.

“What is it you going to ask me?” I ask him.

“Did I do something stupid last night?” So he was asking about last night. As I recall the event of last night, I remember that he was so drunk that he tries to take the princess of this kingdom to a hotel. Luckily, the princess refuses his offer because her friend was also drunk at that time, and she wants to take her back home. The princess tells me to take care of him and gave me a pack of anti-dizziness pills for us. I took the pills and carried Invo back to our apartment and I gave him 2 pills before going to sleep. I told Invo what happened last night.

“Oh god no.” he says that with a shocked expression and a sudden realization as he remembers the events of last night, and now he is embarrassed about himself.

“Will she be mad about it?” he is now wondering if the princess is mad about it and all I can think was the princess does not even thinking about it when I saw her expression, maybe because of her drunk friend.

“I don't think so, because last night she was busy taking care of her friend than thinking about your invitation.” I gave him a piece of my thoughts about it.

“Hopefully, she will forget about it when you two meet up.” I continued.

“Yeah, hopefully.” he sighed.

“By the way, Invo what time is it?” I ask him

“It is 7:25 AM.” he tells me as he looks at the clock on the wall.

“Are you ready to head out?” I ask him.

“Yeah, but let me get my cloak first.” He then enters his room to grab his cloak and put it on as he exits his room.

“All set, let's go.” he told me.

“Wait, the keys and my bracer.” I ran to my room to grab my bracer and the keys to the apartment.

“Alright, I got everything I need with me, now let's go.” We walk outside our apartment and I close the door and lock it. We then proceed to walk towards the elevator. Invo pushes the button to go down, the elevator door opens, and we enter it. I push the button to the lobby and the elevator door closes.

“Hey, Adonis, lately you're having this nightmare more frequently, and you always woke up with a pale expression on your face.” He told me.

It seems that he is worried about me having this nightmare every night and that expression is my shock and fear of what I saw in my dream. The fear that I felt when my life is in grave danger and the way that giant killed and eaten the woman.

“I'm sorry if I made you worry.”

“Then, you should see a doctor like a psychiatrist to help you.” He advises me. Well seeking a doctor's help might help me, I guess there is no harm in doing so, and maybe it will tell me something about what happened during my childhood when I was an Alexandria citizen.

“Thank you for the suggestion, I'll keep that in mind.” I thank him.

“Just don't let the nightmare get inside your head when we're hunting monsters.”

“Alright.” I replied to him.

“Is there any request to kill monsters on the Monster Hunt App?” I ask him.

The Monster Hunt App is an application that the citizen of the city uses to request soldiers or bounty hunters to kill monsters. It also acts as an emergency notification to the people when there are monsters nearby. The App itself will tell the information about the monster based on the information given by the requester. We, the ones that receive the request can either choose which monster to hunt down or be chosen by the dispatcher.

Invo took out his phone and tap on the Monster Hunt App, he enters his ID, password, and Call sign. He scrolls down to check if there are any monster requests and suddenly his phone dies.

“Ah... My phone dies.” I look at him with a disappointing expression. He forgot to charge his phone this morning after waking up.

“You didn't charge it right?”

“Yeah... Sorry...” he tells me.

“There is nothing we can do about it, just charge it when we're in the car.” I let out a heavy sighed.

“Okay, but can you lend me your USB?”

“Sorry, I didn't bring it with me.”

“You can ask the receptionist at the front desk.” I tell him another option, but I think he won't ask her.

“No, definitely not the receptionist.” My guess is correct.

“She will murder me if I come close to her. You can see just the way she looks at you.” he tells me with a scared expression on his face and his eyes are starting to fill with water. I don't know why he is being like this but whatever it is, I am enjoying it. Good thing I can hide my enjoyment very well.

“Pfft.” I let out a giggle. Dammit as soon as I said that the opposite happens.

“Oi oi oi, do you think it's funny huh?!” he tells me as his expression change from scared to anger.

“Sorry, I didn't mean it.” I lied. The truth is that I really want to laugh at him.

“You're lying, I can see it under that sorry attitude of yours!” He knows me too well.

“Alright, alright, you got me. This time I'm really sorry.” I reply to him with both my arms held in the air as a sign of surrendering.

“There is nothing funny about this you know. A week ago...” he then proceeds to tell me about what happened a week ago between him and the receptionist.

When he was going for a jog in the morning, he saw the receptionist coming out from the women's restroom with blood on her dress, and she is holding a knife, the receptionist saw Invo and gave him a cold murderous look along with a smile. Invo was scared of what he saw that day.

“Maybe you're misunderstanding what you saw. I think she was chopping something like meat and then the blood got onto her dress, and as for why she exits the restroom I think her room doesn't have any water or the pipe breaks to clean the knife.” I explain to him.

“No, you're wrong.” he replied to me with a gloominess look on his face.

“Huh?” I ask him.

“Well, you see... The other day...” He tells me another story about the receptionist.

That day, when he was coming out of the elevator. He saw her dragging a big plastic bag with the shape of a body. She drags the bag to the outside. Invo follows her without her knowing about it. He saw her dragging the bag to her car, she opens the back of her car and she put the bag inside. She turns around and notices Invo, she then gave Invo a smile before entering her car and drove off.

At that time, on that elevator, while hearing the sound of the elevator music one thought come through my mind to describe what he said. 'Stupid'. There is no way she is dragging a bag with a body in it. It might be a garbage bag and about the shape of the bag, it must be him imagining things.

“You're imagining things there is no way she would do that and have your mind ever thought that she was dragging a garbage bag?”

“I know what I saw Adonis, she is a murderous monster and one that will kill you in your sleep.”

“Right now, I think she is targeting me as her next victim.”

“You need to help me, Adonis!” He tells me with a tear in his eyes as he kneels in front of me with both of his hands holding my jacket.

Still looking at his face, a voice came through from the elevator Intercom.

[Hello, Invo and Adonis.]

That cold eerie voice is from her, the receptionist. Both of us were shocked and scared, but not me I am not scared, I am just shock and the scared one is Invo as I look at his face.

[I heard everything that you said about me Invo and to my surprise. I never thought that I gave you that feeling. I thought that you are my friends and as a friend, you should probably ask me what I was doing. If you want to know you can come to see me at the front desk Invo. I'll be waiting for you. Have a good day.]

It appears to us that she was listening to what we are talking about. This might be troublesome for me because I got drag into this situation. We look at each other with the same expression as before. Invo was the one who breaks the silence.

“Help me.” he muttered those words to me with a low voice because of how scared he is right now. The elevator door opens and we step out.

I look around the lobby from left to right. My eyes turn in the direction of the reception and there I saw her, the receptionist called Mrs. Smith waiting for us with her eyes fixated on Invo. I pat on his left shoulder and whisper these words to him.

“Long live the King.” I take my feet and start walking in the opposite direction towards the exit, I took a look behind me and saw Invo's face fill with rage as he gave me the middle finger, to which I replied with the same method. After we exchange gesture, Invo walks toward the reception desk as he starts to calm down. He then starts to have a conversation with her. I was too far to listen to their conversation, so I do not know what they are talking about.

I continue to walk while checking my phone. The time is 7.30 AM and the weather forecast shows that there will be rain in the evening. While I was playing with my phone, I heard a news report from the lobby's television that shows an increasing number of monster sightings and rampage throughout the city. In which most sightings are around Julius Park and Diamond District. The type of monster that is reported is Type 1 and Type 2. I put my phone away and focus my attention on the news.

The newscaster explains the details on how the monsters look likes and what the monsters can do. Type 1 monster named Frokey, is a half-monkey, half-frog. The arms, legs, and body are similar to a monkey, but the skin itself is similar to a frog. It can jump and climb higher. The tongue when stretched can reach 10 meters. The monster skin and tongue are toxic. A single touch will lead to skin burn and then death for the next 3 hours without proper medical care. The Type 2 monster named Gremlin is a monster who destroys everything and kills everyone that they see. The monster has spiky backs, large strange eyes, and small-clawed frames that feature sharp teeth. The monster can multiply itself up to 100. The newscaster also told to the viewer that if there is any sign of those monsters, the viewer must report it immediately using the Monster Hunt App.

The newscaster then reports the next news. The news is about the 8th anniversary of the deaths of Queen Sarah Vellion and her two kids, Prince Alexander Vellion and Princess Carmin Vellion. Next week, the flag of the country will be flown half-staff to commemorate their deaths. After that, the newscaster proceeds to reports that the walls surrounding the Alexandria Kingdom are in great shape, and no sighting of monsters can be seen near the walls.

As I was watching the news a hand reach out for me and pat my right shoulder. I turn around and saw both Invo and Mrs. Smith standing together.

“So it has been 8 years since their deaths.” Mrs. Smith said.

“Yeah...“ Invo replied to her with an expression of guilt and sorrow. I notice the change in his behavior and reach out to him.

“Invo, what happened back there isn't your fault. They are too strong and too many for us to handle.” I reassure him. Both of us were there when the tragedy strikes. The horror we see and the huge power gap between the monster and us.

“I know, but I was too weak, and I can't even protect Alex.” he clenches his fist.

“Hey, you manage to protect Eltia back then.” I pat on his shoulder to tell him what he has accomplished.

“You did a great job protecting her and don't reminiscent about the past, you keep moving forward. You might be weak back then but right now you're stronger. We will make sure something like that never happened again.” I encourage him.

“I guess you're right.” he told me as his expression began to lighten up.

“Alright, boys enough with this heart-to-heart brotherhood talk, the air around here is getting warmer.” Mrs. Smith cuts in.

“Anyways, I told Invo everything about what happens when he saw me.”

“So, what really happened Invo?” I ask Invo.

“Well, what happened was...” Invo proceeds to tell me what happened.

It appears that Mrs. Smith manages to kill a Type 1 monster that tries to attack her. She takes out a knife and starts stabbing the monster multiple times. Hence, the blood on her dress and the bloody knife.

“Oh... I didn't know that you're capable of doing that, Mrs. Smith.” I praised her.

“Well, didn't I tell you that I'm a former soldier before becoming a receptionist?”

“Yeah, you did... Still, it's a surprise.”

“Then, how about the bag?” I continued.

“I was about to talk about it, but you cut me in.” Invo told me.

“Sorry, you can start explaining again.”

“Good, the body bag was...” He continued to explain about the body bag.

Mrs. Smith was dragging a bag full of dead monsters that she had killed the night before, and she gives the bag to a friend of her at the Academy for research purpose.

“Wow... How many monsters did you kill?” I ask her.

“Around 69 to 420 Type 1 monster, I think.”

That many, I am totally in shock and speechless. It is very hard to believe the words coming out of her mouth.

“It's true, you can ask Professor Gazzer or you can check the date and time at the Academy. They will record the packages that I send to them and I think the lab also recorded how many monsters that I brought to them.”

Damn, she can read my mind.

“Well, I guess we don't have to check.” Invo told her.

“By the way, Mrs. Smith please don't smile at me when you're doing that it gives me goosebumps.”

“Oh sorry, I will try to refrain myself but if we meet again under the same circumstance, don't hesitate to ask me what I was doing so that there will be no misunderstanding between us. Okay?” She told Invo.

“Okay, I will.”

“And you too, Adonis.” She pointed her finger at me.

“huh?, I never misunderstood your action.” I told her.

“But, didn't you said that I was chopping something and carrying a garbage bag?” She told me.

“That can still be a misunderstanding.”

“Hey, I was just being positive.” I told her.

“But alright, I will ask you what you're doing if we got caught up in the same situation.” I continued. It is better to just ask the person who was doing it. Instead of just aimlessly making assumptions.

“Thanks and you two can call me Kori.” She tells us.

“Sure.” We tell her.

We waved goodbye to her and walk towards outside. Invo takes out a miniature car and places it on the side of the road. He applied mana to the miniature car, and it began to expand to become an actual car. We enter the car and Invo plugs the USB charger into the car and to his phone. He starts the car by touching the steering wheels and applied the car with mana. The car began to starts and his phone began to charge. He releases the hand brake, changes the gear from park to drive, steps the pedal slowly and the car began to move. I turn on the GPS on the car and pick the road that has less traffic. Invo follows the GPS, and we are on our way to the headquarters.

We arrive at the HQ at 8 a.m., Invo parks between two cars. On the left is a black and white car with a dragon logo on its driver's door and the right is a yellow car. I open the door and exits the car, I close the door and wait for Invo on the side of the parking lot. Invo unplugs his phone and exits the car. He turns on his phone and he looks surprise all of a sudden.

“Hey, what's the matter?” I ask him.

“I receive a message from Eltia, and she is very mad.” He told me.

“I'll call her.” He frantically dials her number and calls her.

“Wait-” I need to stop him. Eltia is in class right now!

“Eltia is in class right now, Invo.” I told him, but he shrugged it off as he continued to call her the second time.

“She will be in trouble if you call her.” I continue to advise him but he ignores it.

The call came through.

“Hello.” as he said those words, his expression change from worried to scared. He listens to the voice and then the call was hung up.

“What happened?” I ask him. He turns his eyes towards me and his mouth open.

“It's Professor Gazzer, he wants to meet us in the afternoon.” he told me. It seems like he calls at a very wrong time and to be greeted by a very wrong person. All I can do right now is letting out a heavy sighed.

“Why do you always drag me to your problem?” I ask him with an unpleasant look.

“Sorry, I will make it up for you.” he told me.

“Yeah, you should, but I think right now you should worry about Eltia.” I told him.

“I think I can already Imagine Eltia embarrassing herself, getting laughs at, and asking questions about why did he pick us. In which, the old man replies to just wait in the afternoon.” I told Invo about my assumption.

“Oi, where you got that imagination? Did you get some divine intervention?” He asks with his eyes glaring at me.

“Sort ta.” I told him.

“Well, I hope he makes you a bad guy.” He teases me.

“And you're the one who will have to kill me.” I jokingly replied.

“In which case, I will gladly accept.” We laugh at the jokes we made.

We moved from the parking lot to the BMP HQ. BMP stands for Baron's Kingdom Military Police. It is one of the 3 forces under the BMF or Baron's Kingdom Military Force.

BMP is tasked to protect the citizen from monster attacks and maintaining peace within the kingdom. Our station is near Callus City which is the capital of Baron's Kingdom. The other two forces that are under BMF are Baron's Kingdom Military Agency or BMA and Baron's Kingdom Military Defense or BMD.

BMA is tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information including monsters attack or sightings from around the world, and report it to the General, and providing intelligence to King Orion, so that appropriate action is taken. BMA will work alongside BMP and BMD by providing them with intelligence about the when, where, or what dangers they are dealing with whether it's monsters or terrorists.

BMD is tasked with defending the borders of the kingdom from any enemy or monster attack. They are also tasked to keep watching over the wall that separates them from the land of the monster. The BMD who watches over the wall is called Watcher, they will provide reports to the General if there are any unusual things happen. Other than that, BMD alongside other kingdom's defense forces will enter the land of the monster to retake the land that had been lost by the war 18 years ago.

The lost land is my home country Alexandria. Long ago it was an actual kingdom with many people visiting from different parts of the world. Then, 18 years ago a war broke loose, A monster named Gollux a Type 7 monster leads an army of monsters to seize the kingdom of Alexandria. The Alexandria Kingdom was overwhelmed by the number of monsters that attack them and thus the kingdom has fallen. Many of its citizens ran away to the other kingdom and thus becoming war refugees. Most of the citizens became slaves and roaming around the streets and some became criminals and starts to cause trouble to the kingdom that helps them. Only small numbers of the Alexandria people try to work but most of them failed and were left with nothing. As for me, I was lucky enough to be taken by Invo's parents.

We enter the building and I look around the lobby, and It seems that there a very little activity going on. It must be that the others soldier are now outside the city killing monsters. We walk towards the reception desk and I enter my ID and Call sign on the board to report in. Invo was waiting for me while chatting with the receptionist. I pat on his shoulder, and we move to the lab to meet with Sylvia our weapon and tech specialist. We enter the lab and there I saw her golden hair, and she is wearing a lab coat.

“Good morning, Sylvia.” I greeted her. She turns around to the source of the sound. I can see that she is working on some new boots. The boots have two blue stripes and have a crystal on them.

“Good morning, Adonis.” She then turns her eyes toward Invo.

“And Invo.”

“Morning, Sylvia, what are you working on?” Invo asks her.

“Oh, I guess the cat is out the bag, huh.”

“Well, I'm working on new power boots that let the user run faster, jump higher, climb walls, and stand on the walls.” She replied to him.

“huh? Run faster? Climb walls? Is that even possible?” He asks her.

“It's possible, all you need is to apply mana to it.”

“And how does that work?”

“Well, I wanted to show you but there is something wrong with it, and I haven't figured it out.” She told Invo. While they were talking, I notice that the circuit board has a slight burn on it. That must be the case why it is not working.

“Hey, Sylvia there is a burn on the circuit board here.” I move toward her and takes the test pen from her desk, and I pointed where the burn is. She turns herself and her eyes moved to where I pointed out.

“Yeah, you right, thanks, Adonis.” She thanks me as she began to unscrew the circuit board from the boots.

“I will contact you when it's ready and Adonis your dual gun has been fixed. It is on the table over there.” She pointed in the direction of the table. I move towards the table and take my dual guns and I tap on my bracer and a bright blue light began to scan the guns. The guns began to shine and became smaller like marble. The small lights fly to the air and into my bracer. The bracer then shows that the guns have been successfully stored.

“Thanks, I owe you one.” I thank her.

“Buy me a coffee, when you're out there.” She told me.

“Sure.” I respond.

We say goodbye to Slyvia, as we exit the lab. All of a sudden, Both Invo and my phone receive a message. I take out my phone and tap on the messages. It came from Commander Erik. He wants to meet with us right now. We face each other and uncertainty expression can be detected on our faces. All I can think of are we in trouble or did something bad happens and Commander Erik wants our help?. I ask myself this question while we walk toward his office.