The Talentless Sovereign

Chapter Two: A New Beginning

Jett stood up to realize he was surrounded by a swirling canvas of colors reflecting into one another and spiraling in an impossible four dimensional movement.

“Where am I?” he blurted. The last thing he remembered was feeling a whole lot of rage and then he was shot.

He jumped back when he remembered the pain of the bullet piercing his head. He touched his forehead but he didn't feel any wound or scar.

“What? Was I dreaming or am I dead?” he blurted.

Nothing responded but colors that kept dancing around him. Then he remembered another detail. He remembered the screen that appeared in front of him. “The Sovereign System,” he muttered.

Just as he did, the colors around the room turned white and translucent like a mirror of sorts.

[Welcome to Limbo!] Words appeared on the screen right in front of him.

“Limbo?” Jett muttered. “I, I don't… I don't understand why am I here?” he asked. Limbo was the realm between the land of the dead and the living, it was a common story among townsfolk.

[You Died!] the screen flashed.

Jett frowned. “Yes, I know but why am I here?”

[I don't know. You are the one who wanted a second chance, so mortal; Why are you here?]

When he read the words, the memories of his past world flocked into him. Then he remembered all those who had wronged him and fury took hold of him. “I want to live,” he muttered.

[Are you sure?] the screen displayed. [With your deeds, you are meant to spend your eternal life in heaven and eternal bliss. Are you sure you want to go back?]

Jett let out a low chuckle that quickly spiraled into erratic laughter. “Heaven? How could I ever embrace bliss when my soul is weighed down by regret? When I know my life could have been more? I reject paradise. I want to live… to live properly, without regrets. I want to carve vengeance into those who scorned me and hold the world in the palm of my hand.”

[Good! Just wanted to be sure!] the white screen shattered like glass and darkness descended upon the room. A voice thundered from the darkness.

“Jettai Ghalkan!” His name thundered through limbo, shaking its very foundation. “You have been chosen. Rise as a Sovereign, and claim the power placed within your grasp… if you can survive until nightfall.”

Before Jett could speak, a blinding beam of light crashed over him, forcing him to the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he was sprawled across jagged scrap metal in the heart of a junkyard.

He stood up and a few meters from him stood a wall that rose beyond the clouds. He realized in a heartbeat that he was outside the walls and also that he was back in the land of the living.

If he was outside the walls, that meant one thing— he was in danger. He glanced around and all he could for miles were scraps of metal.

“Oh, no. Oh no.” he muttered under his breath as he began to move back towards the wall. He tried as much as possible not to trip over the various scraps of metal. When he did fall, it wasn't over metal.

It was over a rotting human body.

“Damn!” he staggered backwards, fear permeating through his entire body.

He tried standing up but something grabbed his leg before he could. He turned around and a small machine with a flat head was pulling him back.

“Get away from me!” he yelled, kicking the machine away. He quickly stood up.

Then all around him, multiple scraps of metal began to join together to form humanoid robots. “The Men of Iron.” Jett shuddered.

He turned around and fled. “I am meant to survive this hell till nightfall?” he felt like giving up immediately but he remembered his conviction, his anger and decided he would forge forward.

When he looked back an entire armada of robots were chasing him. He was about to cross a huge heap of metal scraps when something pulled him sideways and he tumbled down a tunnel.

He stood up, ready to fight. “Stay quiet,” a voice said.

He was surprised to hear a human voice so he obeyed on impulse. After a while someone walked towards him. “Boy, you are out of your depth.”

“Who are you?” Jett asked with a shaky voice.

“Call me Rake. What did you do?” the man asked.

“I didn't do anything,” Jett replied.

Rake chuckled and gestured for him to follow, leading him into the deeper part of the tunnels. “You do know you have at most a week to survive, right?” Rake said. “Now is the high time to start telling the truth.”

Jett understood what the man was trying to say. Anyone who was thrown outside the walls of a stronghold were either murderers, embezzlers or traitors. There was no way he could explain that he’d only been set up.

“How long have you been here?” Jett asked him.

“Two days.” he smiled. “Been running from tunnel to tunnel, the most dangerous time to survive is the evening, just before nighttime. The real ones start to hunt. I only survived due to pure dumb luck.”

He led them further through the tunnel and finally when they reached a basement of some kind, Jett began to feel a little trepidation. The place was quite set up. A tv was set in a far corner and two chairs.

“You did all this in two days?” Jett asked, turning to look at him.

Except he wasn't here anymore. “Rake!” He yelled his name.

Then Jett felt liquid drop on him from the ceiling. He glanced up, to see a mechanical spider-like entity with mandibles snapping gazing directly at him. “Argggh!” he yelled, dashing back through the way they came.

The spider dashed towards him and he ran, yelling. It was faster, so it caught up in no time, tossing him backwards.

He rolled and crashed into the makeshift living room. Then it struck out with one of its mechanical legs, stabbing him through the shoulder.

Blinded by pain, Jett seized the mechanical leg and pulled at it, trying to break it off, but it wouldn't budge. He then picked up a piece of metal scrap lying around. He then began to smash against the metal leg.

“Leave me alone! You dull creature!!” he screamed through gritted teeth.

The creature screeched and then opened its mandibles, aiming to devour him. At the last second, Jett hauled the metal scrap into the creature’s mouth and it stopped midway.

The creature stepped back, staggering on its eight legs. After a while it tilted over and stopped moving.

“Heavens, heavens!” Jett repeated panting as the wound in his shoulder dripped blood.

“You actually managed to kill it?” A voice said from behind him and he saw Rake coming from another room behind him.

“You, you betrayed me!” Jett yelled.

“Haha,” Rake chuckled. “You really believed a human being survived two days here in luck and for some reason, underground here was better? The Spider mech didn't kill me because I helped it hunt in the afternoon. It is also the only way I ate in this hell hole. “

He bared his teeth at Jett and instead of a normal human teeth, they were serrated homodont dentition, like that of a shark.

“You are not human?” Jett scrambled up, his heart beating fast.

“Human? Humans don't exist here. The only human outside the walls is a dead one.,” he dashed towards Jett and the boy jumped backwards, evading his lunge.

“Oh, you can still move?” he shook his head. “That damn spider has really lost its touch.” His voice had lost its human touch now, and it was like sandpaper against metal sheets.

“What do you mean?” Jett said as he staggered backwards, his feet were getting wobbly and his grip on reality was escaping him.

“Oh the idiot, captures its prey by releasing a toxin that knocks them out for a while.” he began to laugh and that laughter was the only thing Jett heard before collapsing on the ground.

When Jett woke up, he was in front of a large fire and his arm was bound behind him. “Ah. You are awake. It is already nighttime, and I can't go out to hunt yet. So I figured, I will just eat you tonight, tomorrow morning, maybe I will be lucky to find something like you. If not, I’d just starve.” he smiled. “But, I bet you will taste good!”

Jett struggled against the rope. “What are you? You don't look like an Artificial Intelligence or a Machine.”

“Yeah. I was once human. A long time ago. But you humans, this is what you do to the weak isn't it?” he chuckled.

Jett frowned. “You mean, humans made you like this?” he asked.

“Oh, don't act like you don't know. Or maybe you really don't. I don't care. But the corporate tower, it is not whatever lies they tell you.” he laughed. “It is a meat grinder, a hellscape. You think you know what is really going on in your world. Well little kid, you have no idea.”

While he spoke, Jett had found a small metal scrap with a sharp edge, so he began cutting the rope. To distract him, Jett had to keep the conversation going. “So, tell me about it. At least I deserve to know before I die.”

“Oh, you think I am gonna mix dinner time with story time?” he chuckled. The underground suddenly shook like it was an earthquake.

Rake stopped speaking and traces of fear appeared on his face. “What is that?” Jett whispered.

“One of the Terraformers.” Rake whispered. “They hunt at night. Humans, robots, mechs like that spider.” he shuddered.

Jett cut the last rope as the quake stopped. He glanced around and found that they were in a central area with three tunnel outputs surrounding them. The fire was made from some sort of mechanical part and the reason why he hasn't been roasted yet was because Rake was actually making ingredients.

He dashed away, heading towards one of the tunnels. “You rat!” Rake growled and followed him.

He arrived at the area where he’d fought the spider mech and that was where the monster of a man caught up to him.

He dove at him and they crashed against the tv set, glass shards piercing Jett’s face.

When he rose up, Rake was no longer human at all. He had claws now and his face had gone pale white with longer ears and bigger fangs.

Jett stepped back and tripped over the dead Spider Mech, causing Rake’s claws to miss him by an inch. “I should have killed you immediately. My kindness has once again been taken for granted.”

Jett pulled out one of the Spider legs, standing up to attack. Rake dashed at him and instead of running, Jett attacked too. He felt Rake's claws stab him in the stomach as he ran the spider leg through the monster’s torso.

Rake giggled, twisting the claw inside Jett. “How does it feel? You think a stab like that will kill me?”

“No.” Jett said, his voice shaking from the pain. “But this will.” He brandished the metal scrap that had helped him escape earlier and stabbed it into the eye of Rake.

The monster screeched in pain as Jett kicked him away while pulling out the spider leg. Without letting the situation breathe. He stabbed the leg through the creature's skull. There was a loud screech and then everything went silent.

He began to stab it, again and again, till he passed out himself.

[YOU HAVE SURVIVED YOUR FIRST LABOUR!!] A screen flashed in his face.

[YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE SOVEREIGN’S SYSTEM!!]

Jett grunted, feeling the pain subside around him. “What the hell is this?” he sighed.

[THE SOVEREIGN’S SYSTEM IS CONFIGURING YOUR STATS…]

Jett sat up.

[THE SOVEREIGN’S SYSTEM IS CREATING AN AUDIO INTERFACE…]

A series of system setups were flashing in his face. He wasn't too confused though. This was how their computer felt like, but this felt somehow like an artificial intelligence.

Jett didn't care though. As long as he could gain power.

“*Hello little human?*” A tiny voice rang in his head and he jumped back in fright. “*This is the audio interface. Do you like my voice or should I change it?*”

Jett calmed down a bit, then spoke. “*This voice is fine.*” It was like a little fairy voice.

A screen flashed in his face.

|||Status Metrics|||

[Name: Jettai Galkhan]

[Title: Locked.]

[Archetype: Locked]

[Tier: Scion]

[Progress: 1/20]

[Techniques: Locked]

[Attendant: 0/1]

[Inventory: x1 SpiderMech Leg]

A voice rang in his ears. “*Before you continue,*” the fairy voice of the system said. “*You will need to choose an attendant. Every scion must have an attendant.*”

“What is an attendant?” he asked.

“*Someone who helps you*” the system hummed. “*You have killed two entities: the SpiderMech and the Deviant. Choose one to serve as your attendant.*"