The Bloodforged Kin

Their small circle rotated like a wheel of death, Luna lashing left and right, then rolling and dodging out of the way as the furious creatures charged her. Once they were past her Cass would strike with the shield to daze them, then shoulder check them into Zavier or just let them stumble past. Tess stood back and kept the strikes from hitting Zavier, only enough to cripple them so he could step in and make the killing blow.

What started out as four people awkwardly moving around each other soon turned into a choreographed dance of evasion and killing. Luna moved further out from the group as she gained confidence, laughing as she flexed, bent, and dodged around them, scoring more and more accurate strikes on everything that came her way. Soon she was whipping them on the backsides to send them jumping forward, straight into Cass.

Cass was even smiling as his movements became more controlled. No longer was he trying to bear the weight of every attack, he had gotten better at redirecting their momentum to where he wanted them to go.

Tess stood as a rock in the maelstrom, unflappable and relaxed, without a hint of concern on her face. She watched her kids with the love of a mother watching star performances, only occasionally having to step in to take care of a threat that got a little too close to Zavier.

Zavier staggered, his movements sluggish and uncoordinated. He bled from multiple wounds, each step a struggle as his thoughts slipped through his grasp like water through clenched fists. What the hell is going on? his mind roared in frustration. His health was still at 75%, but he felt as if he were under a spell, every action tinged with an unshakable sense of bewilderment.

Every tactic he tried to come up with went blank a moment after forming it. Every command he yelled was immediately countermanded by Tess because he'd made the wrong call. Somewhere in the back of his head, a saner version of himself was screaming to slow down and think - but he couldn't seem to hold onto that voice long enough to listen. He felt dumber than before the system had even arrived, which made no sense since his Intelligence was higher than then. Or was it? The thought slipped away before he could examine it. He felt like a clumsy child learning to take its first steps. And his shoulder fucking HURT.

In frustration he checked his experience and saw that it was edging close to the next level, but slower than expected.

"Honey," he said to Tess, "can you check your experience?"

Tess's eyes unfocused for a second then she was back. "Looks fine, why?"

"Have you noticed it's climbing more slowly?"

She considered this. "Huh, I think you're right. I'm guessing we're sharing the experience between all of us. The twins are doing most of the work and you're finishing them off. I'm barely getting anything since I'm not doing much at all."

Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that? That would have been something he'd normally have picked up on immediately. The realization felt like grasping smoke - there and gone. He shrugged then winced. "I guess you're right. This is going to be a slog."

"Well, let's just keep it going until you're healed."

They did exactly that, the fighting turned from a fracas into an organized melee that felt more like practice than the big game. They whipped, hacked, slashed, and bashed until finally Zavier felt his body go ethereal for a moment before his pain disappeared. With a gasp of relief he said "We're good, Tess!"

She smiled at that. "Alright kids, back to the house. I'll finish this up." She moved through the remaining creatures like lightning with teeth.

The music was off and they sat on the grass, leaning against the house. Tess had her pistol out and Luna's gauntlet was back on, but nothing was coming out of the woods.

"Think we got them all?" Cass asked.

"All of the ones dumb enough to come after us anyway!" Luna said happily.

"You guys leveled, right?" Zavier asked and the twins nodded. "What'd you get?"

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"All of my points went to Endurance, so that's 12 now. Guess you were right about needing that, dad. Good thing too, I was starting to feel pretty beat up by taking those hits. I don't know how much longer I was going to be able to keep the shield up."

"I got a point of Agility and two in Luck!" Luna was obviously thrilled with her gains.

"But check this out!" The twins said in unison, then laughed like they did every time that happened. Luna rushed to share her notification and Cass glared at her in mock-anger for beating him to it. "We got a skill!" Luna cried out.

Name: Empathic Melee
Type: Passive Skill
Description: Due to your deep empathic bond with your sibling, developed through countless battles fought side by side, you have gained the ability to anticipate each other's movements, enhancing your coordination and effectiveness in combat.

Effect: When within a certain range of each other, both you and your sibling receive a 15% boost to your agility and accuracy. This skill reflects your unique connection, allowing you to fight as a seamless unit and respond to each other's actions with unparalleled synchronicity.

Even though the screens were in their vision, both Tess and Zavier leaned forward to read it. Zavier whistled and Tess reached out to squeeze Cass's shoulder.

"How did we get a skill without hitting level five?" Cass asked.

"It's like what I saw with the Bouchards," Zavier replied. "They'd gained skills for immersing themselves fully into specific skill sets. As far as I could tell, we'll get skills at level five, and maybe every five after that, but you can also 'fill up the tank' on other skills. Focus on specific activities, actions, or abilities and you can gain enough experience with them to get an additional skill or benefit. I'm betting The System has a way of improving skills we've already gained through experience with them, so it makes sense that we'd also be able to gain skills from just doing something over and over until we've mastered it. I'm sure that intensity factors in too - you two were doing a ton of heavy cooperating to survive the situation you were in. That probably goes faster than just crafting the same thing over and over."

He paused in introspection. Was this a way to overcome his current situation? Are there other things he could focus on now? He stopped his musings with a shake of his head, there would be time to consider that later.

"Oh, my loves, I'm so proud of you!" She beamed. The twins returned her smile with equal enthusiasm. She turned her head to look at Zavier. "How about you?"

"Yeah, it's weird," he said, staring at his character sheet with a frown. "Look at this."

Zavier Torres, Level: 8
Core Stats:

STR: 12

AGI: 12

END: 13

INT: 23 (16/21)

LUC: 12

CHA: 8

"I dumped my points into Intelligence and it looks like it put one into recovery and the other two into increasing my overall stat. Best guess is that it's trying to help me recover the damage but can't do it in big chunks. Looks like I need to recover to the original 21 I had when I injured myself. The 23 is the excess that I can't access yet, but hopefully will be able to once I'm healed. In essence, my intelligence is 16 right now."

He paused, a flicker of doubt crossing his face. "It seems like I can't access the full System until I've healed."

Tess's voice held hope and compassion. "But that's good, Love! If you can heal, even if it's slowly, then that means you're not stuck like this!"

Zavier felt frustration bubble up inside him, but it was different now - less anger, more vulnerability. "It's good," he admitted, "but... dammit, I hate feeling like dead weight out there. I know this was supposed to be the plan - me as tactician, you all doing the heavy lifting - but living it is harder than I thought. You all had to keep me alive."

He sighed, looking at them. "The plan was fine when I had access to The System and could actually grow. Sure, I'd need you all for a little while, but I thought I'd be growing right alongside you, just in a different way. Now this?" He slapped his hand down in frustration. "I thought I was just going to need your support for a little while, not be an anchor around your necks. Now instead of advancing I have to just try to get back to zero."

Luna reached forward and put her hand on his ankle in support. "Dad, you've always taken care of us. We can take care of you until you're better."

He nodded in appreciation, love filling his chest as he saw all of them nodding in agreement. "I know, Honey, and I love you all so much for that. It's just... parents are supposed to take care of their kids, not the other way around. Even if that was never really realistic in this new world, it's hard not to feel that."

"I don't know about that," Tess smiled, "I was planning on living the easy life when we retire and let the kids come do all the cleaning and cooking. Might even make them change my diapers."

"Ew!" the twins cried in unison.

"I was just going to put you both in an Old Folk's home," Cass said.

"I was going to leave you both in a field with a note that said 'Adopt Me!'" Luna laughed.

They leaned forward into a group hug and Zavier and Tess took turns kissing the twins on their heads.