Chương 81: Chapter 80 - A First Evolution

*Ding*[Tier I Evolution Started - Humanoid] *Ding*[Evaluating achievements, please standby…] His body froze, and as Elias attempted to shift nervously he realized that he was paralyzed, completely unable to move. As the notice faded so did his perception of the world around him, as his mind slipped into a deep dark pool devoid of light and sensation. Elias was unsure how long he drifted in the inky blackness, his discomfort slowly growing with the similarity to his previous brush with death.

However, before his unease could build into true anxiety, the sensation began to sift back into his mind. Motes of light drifted through his vision, a waft of a cool breeze drifted across his skin, and a sense of weight settled over his body as gravity reasserted itself. The shifting motes of light resolved into drifting fireflies, and as he glanced around, Eli found himself on a gravel path in a dark forest, but a vaguely familiar one.

The starlight drifted down through the canopy from above dappling the path before him, and as he looked down Eli realized he was no longer wearing the linen tunic and leather trousers he had laid down in, but a more familiar set of well worn blue denim jeans, tan boots, and a faded flannel shirt. The canopy obscured the sky above, but enough light drifted through to see, and after a look around Eli decided that there was no use waiting and turned to stride down the path.

His steps crunched underneath him, and a sense of familiarity grew, and as he reached the clearing ahead he already had a strong feeling of what he would find. Stepping through the trees, the gravel switched to a flagstone path that led across a short clearing of manicured lawn, a small neat garden to one side, another gravel path leading to a covered garage on the other, and dead ahead a small two story house with a covered wooden porch.

The stars of the milky way stretched above, joined by the bright face of the full moon illuminating the scene before him, and a small smile slipped across his face as Elias spotted the familiar face of an old friend sitting on the porch in a wooden rocking chair, gently drifting back and forth with one leg crossed over the other, a shotgun propped on the wall next to him, sipping from a glass of clear liquid lazily held in one hand.

Elias's smile grew into a nostalgic grin as he stopped at the foot of the rickety wooden stairs leading up to the porch. The man before him was large, well muscled, clean shaven with a buzz cut under a worn trucker hat, barefoot in a set of camouflage cargo pants and old band t-shirt, he turned to spit a stream of tobacco juice into the bushes next to him before facing forward and returning Ei's grin with one of his own, " Well look what the cat dragged in." Elias laughed, " Will."

He arched a brow, " Yeah that's my name, don't wear it out. How's it hanging these days?" Elias shook his head, " Good to see ya too, it's been ages!" Elias eyed the loaded shotgun and then the glass before glancing back at his old childhood friend, " You sure it's a good idea to be packing when you're drinking?" The man nodded, " Ayup, if you had seen the size of the bear that charged me on this here porch, you wouldn't step outside barehanded neither."

Mischief twinkled in Will's eyes as he chuckled, gesturing wide with his arms outstretched, " Big ol' sum bitch, must have been bigger than my truck." He waved at a rocking chair next to him, " Sit a spell, I'll pour you a drink." Eli smirked, " Sure." Plopping down into the chair with a sigh, snorting as Will poured him a glass from a pitcher at his feet, " Although the bear is somehow always just a little bigger the next time you tell me about it."

Will shrugged as he passed over the glass, " If you take too much longer to visit next time it'll be bigger than the house." Eli sat back joining the man in his slow rocking before taking a sip, shuddering slightly as the fiery fluid dropped into his belly, a line of gentle warmth trailing down his throat, " Guh, still hits like a MAC truck."

At this point Elias couldn't remember which one of them thought moonshine and homemade blackberry soda was a good mix, but at this point nobody was willing to admit fault, and it had become a bit of a tradition. Will smirked, before taking a sip of his own, " Eh you just got soft, hanging out with all those crayon munchers, should have joined the real service like me." This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Elias rolled his eyes, " Whatever."

They sat in silence for a moment, Elias enjoying the peace and quiet of the backwoods of his small hometown, looking up at the same old stars he had looked up at hundreds of times. The moment provided a soothing balm to the raw edge recent events had carved into his mind, familiar scents and sounds putting him at ease in an unexpected way. The sound of a stream spit hitting the bush, the clink of ice in their glasses, and the soft creak of the wooden rockers the only sounds breaking the silence.

For a long while Eli basked in the comfort of the old, but the memory of the urgency of the new crept in soon enough, and he glanced over at the garden before deciding to break the silence, " The peppers are coming in good, your hot sauce should have some real kick this year." Will snorted, " Yup, enough to put some hair on yer back, but you didn't come here to talk about crops did ya Eli?" Eli shook his head, " No, I didn't. But then again you're not really Will are you?"

The man shook his head before glancing over at Eli, " No. But you already knew that didn't you?" Eli nodded, " Why though?" The man shrugged, " People are more at ease, with the ones they know, and at one point this place felt like home to you." Elias had been told the evolution was different for everyone, some people just got a few choices on a screen, some experienced full blown environments just like this one, and in most of them the system generated an avatar to serve as a guide.

Eli snorted before sitting back as he thought about it, " Maybe when I was trying to duck Viv… Alright, maybe Will and his dad were good folk." They had been willing to put him up a few times when he had been younger, life had been hard on Elias and Vivian after their parents passed, and the strain on their relationship led to more than a few fights. Without any family close by they had to look out for each other and, only being teenagers, they could only afford a small place on their own.

Close quarters, teenage hormones, and trauma were not a good mix. Will had been a good friend and when Eli and Viv needed some space, he always had a couch on offer, and was happy to skip out on work or school to take to the woods, spending the day hunting, fishing, or just taking in the fresh mountain air. He loved those mountains, and didn't want to move even when the developers started pressing west. Just close enough to get to the city when you needed, and just far enough to see the stars.

Eli froze, he stopped rocking for a moment before turning to face the entity wearing his friend's face, " Do you know if he is ok? I mean he lived pretty far up in the mountain valley, the bombs would have missed him right?" The man gave Eli a sad smile for a moment, " I don't know for sure Eli, but if I had to estimate from your memories, probably so. I'm not omniscient, at least not yet in your old world." Eli arched a brow, " Yet?"

The man smirked, " Time changes many things Eli, and while this form is not the most erudite, the lack of recent data to supply to the local model means the system does not contain this individual entity." Eli snorted, " All right this is getting a little weird. Will was plenty bright, a regular backwoods Socrates; well more like Diogenes really, but if his dad ever heard him say 'erudite' he would have locked him in the cellar under suspicion of being replaced by lizard people or something.

Can you take a different form?" The entity that looked like Will laughed out loud, " Yeah, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. He just might have wouldn't he?" He closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them, arching a brow at Eli, " Trust me the blank room and impersonal space you are thinking of, does not work. I have reams of data that show that in such settings people make pretty poor choices."

His eyes searched Eli's for a moment, before lighting up in recognition, " Ah, that should be a good choice." Eli arched brow, " What is?" When Elias blinked, there was a slight delay in his eyes reopening as a shift in sensations unfurled in a moment, and when he opened them again Elias looked around, confused for a moment at the rapid shift in location.

He was still seated, but the chair had been swapped from a rocking chair to a wicker lounging chair with a faded cushion, and the moonlit clearing was replaced by a stretch of soft white sand leading to a turquoise blue ocean. A soft breeze brought the sounds of seagulls wheeling through the air, the sound of the waves breaking softly against the beach before him, and the salty brine of the ocean wafting past him.

It was no longer night time but mid morning as he sat on deck of fading whitewashed planks gazing out at an ocean through a break in the grass covered sand dunes before him, and as he looked down, his clothes had been replaced with a pair of faded blue board shorts, a set of worn leather sandals, and olive green tank top. Even the drink in his hand had been replaced, no longer the heady scent of moonshine but the faintly herbal scent of a freshly brewed glass of iced tea.

Eli took an appreciative sip, much better, I don't know how we ever drank that swill. Eli stood walking up the edge of the dunes, and leaned against one of the scattered palm trees to watch the birds about the ocean for a moment. I liked those woods, but the scenery here isn't so bad.

A woman's voice sounded behind him, a low-pitched, resonant contralto that Elias knew all too well, and as he turned Elias's heart lurched in his chest, as he spotted the figure waiting for him standing in the sand next to the pair of wicker loungers, " This should be better, right?" Vivian.