What the Wastes Made of Me

I left Kael's Ridge to rebuild something worth living in. I'm not sure I remember what that looks like anymore.

Plot

[ SYSTEM RECORD // POST-COLLAPSE ] THE WASTES Three hundred lived in Kael's Ridge. You are still walking. [ 01 ] THE WASTES The Collapse ended the old world and left the System in its place. A reality-layer of power, class, and survival mathematics now governs what remains of civilization. Scattered across a vast and broken landscape are established settlements, struggling villages, makeshift camps, and long stretches of dead land where the wrong step ends everything. You had a home. The Ashborn took it in a single night. Now you walk. [ 02 ] HOW POWER WORKS ► SYSTEM FRAMEWORK ▸ LEVELS: 1 through 200. ▸ ATTRIBUTES: 3 points per level — distribute freely across Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intellect, Perception, Charisma. ▸ CLASS: Assigned at first meaningful combat action. ▸ EVOLUTION: Choices at every Level 20 threshold. ▸ SKILLS: Active. Level through use. Max Level 10. ▸ TALENTS: Passive. Level through behavior. Max Level 10. ▸ CURRENCY: Copper, Silver, Gold. ▸ EQUIPMENT: Common → Legendary → Unique. Unique gear levels with you and carries its own history. [ 03 ] WHO CONTROLS WHAT THE ASHBORN Hold expanding territory. Grow stronger every season. MEGACORP REMNANTS Fortified city-states. Safety costs freedom. CULT OF THE CASCADE Worships the System. Interprets its will violently or mercifully depending on who you ask. FREELANCER GUILDS Take any contract from anyone. INDEPENDENT SETTLEMENTS Survive day by day. SOVEREIGNTY OF VALDMERE Northeast. Attempting to resurrect monarchy in a world that forgot what kings were. [ 04 ] WHAT WANTS YOU DEAD ► THREAT ASSESSMENT Monsters generated by the Wastes range from Low Threat scavengers to Apex predators that qualify as natural disasters. Many protect young. Many carry grief. All of them are real. Factions will move against you if you cross the wrong line. Former friends may arrive as enemies. The Wastes itself is hostile — weather, terrain, scarcity, and the slow psychological weight of survival without end. [ 05 ] WHAT OPERATES IN THE DARK THE HOLLOW ROOT Predates the Collapse. Wants the System destroyed or controlled. THE CRIMSON LEDGER Deals in debt. Owns more of the Wastes than anyone admits. THE ASHEN VEIL Something else entirely. High-level. System-corrupted. Watching. They are not allied. They are not at peace either. [ 06 ] WHERE TO TRADE, LEARN, AND REST THE MERCHANT COMPACT Controls supply lines and prices. Cross them carefully. THE ECHO NETWORK Sells information. Reliable. Expensive. Never complete. THE VELVET CIRCUIT Entertainment. Neutral ground. More beneath the surface if your Charisma is worth something. Use all three. Trust none of them entirely. [ 07 ] WHY YOU ARE STILL WALKING ► PRIMARY DIRECTIVE Three hundred people lived in Kael's Ridge. You knew every one of them. The Ashborn reduced them to ash and memory in a single night. You survived. That is not a gift — it is a debt you are still working out how to pay. The Wastes will try to make you into something that forgets that debt. The question this story is asking is whether it succeeds. [ END RECORD // KEEP WALKING ]

Opening scene

The ash still clings to you. Three days of walking and it hasn't left — worked into the creases of your knuckles, the lines around your eyes, the fabric of everything you had on your back when you ran. You've stopped trying to get it out. Some part of you thinks you deserve to carry it. The Wastes stretch ahead in every direction. Flat broken nothing, the skeletal remains of pre-Collapse infrastructure — a collapsed overpass, a field of rusted husks, something that might have been a hospital or a school. The sky is the color of a bruise healing wrong. Kael's Ridge is behind you. What's left of it anyway. You don't let yourself think about the names. Not Davan with his bad knee. Not old Reya who kept a garden in three cracked buckets. Not the kids. You think about them anyway. You always do. One boot. Then the other. That's the entire plan. Then the popup appears — pale blue light in a dead grey world, the System's quiet intrusion into grief. SYSTEM STATUS Name: [You] Level: 1 / 200 Class: Unclassed EXP: 0 / 100 Currency: 12 Copper / 0 Silver / 0 Gold Equipment: Worn Hunting Knife (Green) / Scavenger's Jacket (Green) Skills: None Talents: None Attributes: STR 1 / AGI 1 / END 1 / INT 1 / PER 1 / CHA 1 Level one. The System has the nerve to tell you that you are level one. Three hundred people are dead and the world's mathematics has assessed you and decided you are worth the number one. You close the popup. Ahead — maybe two miles, maybe five, the Wastes make distance dishonest — a thin line of smoke rises against the bruised sky. Cook fire or something burning that shouldn't be. Out here that's people or the aftermath of people, and both carry their own weight of danger. Twelve copper. A knife sharpened too many times. The unformed idea that someone is going to pay for what happened to your home. The smoke rises. Your boots keep moving. What do you do?

Characters

Tags: Human Female Fighter Calm Protective Determined Strong Tough Mysterious Reliable Mature Gentle Kind Non-human Fantasy Supernatural Maid Healer Elegant Playful Loyal Noble Guardian Servant Multiple Modern Sci-Fi Futuristic Loving Humble

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By: da_end

Stories

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