The Holy Land Read online

  THE HOLY LAND

  Tristan H. Brown

  Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing ©

  All rights reserved. This book and cover are under

  copyright. No part of this book may be reproduced or

  used in any manner without written permission from the

  author except for the use of quotations in a book review.

  Copyright © 2019 Tristan H. Brown

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,

  and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,

  events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN: 978-1-6791-6534-4

  Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing ©

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER ONE

  Somewhere in the United States, the crickets chirped loudly, and the blazing sun illuminated the ground. The weather was both extremely humid and hot, resulting in the average individual to stay inside their home, chilling their bodies with air conditioning.

  Within the less than desirable atmosphere, sitting on a porch, was an average looking middle-aged man. He possessed long, blonde hair and a small stubble growing on his chin. Overall, there was nothing too special about him, other than the eyepatch covering his right eye.

  Large droplets of sweat trickled down his face as he expertly shuffled a deck of playing cards in his hands. To his side, empty beer cans and cigarette butts littered the porch he rested on. Most prominently, was the awfully ragged house behind him. It was full of holes and missing floorboards; even the windows were shattered, letting in bugs and other such critters.

  The pedestrians that happened to drive by looked at him with scorn and disgust. He was the well-known 'loser' in the neighborhood. Parents would always tell their children to steer far, far away from him. After all, parents usually wanted the best for their children, so they hoped to use the drunkard as an example of what not to be.

  Little did they know, the man that they scorned and looked at with repugnance had fought for their very own country. He had been in the military for 18 odd years before finally deciding to quit his job. Before working in the military, he had always aspired to be a politician or businessman. He originally believed that working for the military would propel his career forward... but boy was he wrong.

  Unfortunately for him, because of his abrupt decision to leave the military, no working places would hire him. No matter how much he tried, or how much better he was than the other applicants, to his dismay, he could just not land a job. It didn't matter about what the job entailed, or how long he searched, all of it was for naught.

  While thinking to here, in a moment of frustration, the man unexpectedly flung the deck of cards that he was shuffling. He watched as the cards scattered in the air and slowly fell to the ground, like feathers dropping from the sky. He waited until the last card hit the floor before mashing his lit cigarette on the porch, gazing at the clouds in a daze.

  "I loathe this despondent world... I fought with my life on the line for years, and this is how they repay me?" he whispered to himself, his voice was deep, raspy, and contained a trace of abominable hatred.

  His name was Wilhelm Siegfried, hailing from pure German descent. Synonymous with his tragic adulthood, his childhood life was anything but extraordinary. The other kids would often ostracize him for his different type of name or appearance. Referring to him as Hitler or other such forms of slander.

  Despite the constant setbacks, Wilhelm had excellent grades while growing up. However, due to his poor background and status, he had decided to go into the military. Mainly due to the fact that they paid for his housing and schooling, which at first, made it seem worth his while.

  But, as time went on and as he rose through the military rankings, his opinion of the world, and more specifically, the government, had started to fall. In his 12th year, he was promoted and had finally become a top special forces soldier, where he was then deployed to Afghanistan, to help "keep their citizens in line." A righteous job on paper, but a dark hell in reality.

  While stationed in Afghanistan, he was ordered to kill on sight, whether they were citizens or not. Due to the area being war-torn, he had to sleep with one eye open and watch as all of his comrades and friends died one by one. He saw first-hand what the peak of human cruelty was capable of. Or at least the very least, he thought he did.

  After fighting in Afghanistan for two or so years, he was eventually pulled back into the United States, where he was then given a commanding position. He commanded the rookies and other fresh troops for about two more odd years, handling things like public relations and upkeeping international image.

  Everything was progressing at a steady pace, but because Wilhelm was fed up with all of the lies and filth that was hidden behind the government's clever facade. He finally decided to retire on his 38th birthday.

  Fast forward about two more years, on his 40th birthday, Wilhelm was now living in a tiny house which he could barely afford with the pitiful pay that the government supplied him with each month. In fact, his body had grown increasingly thin and unhealthy, but he wasn't yet willing to give up on his booze. It was the lubricant that he used to slide through life.

  Wilhelm knew better than anyone about why he was stuck in this unusual predicament; he was probably considered a 'liability' to the government. He knew a lot of secrets and other classified information that the average citizen should never come to know about. He was already thankful at the fact that they had let him leave with his miserable life. Though, he frequently thought that it would've been more merciful to have just killed him.

  "I can't blame anyone else for my mistakes," Wilhelm breathed out a deep sigh and started to pick up the scattered playing cards.

  As if nothing had happened, he once again started to quickly shuffle the cards and imitate the magic tricks he had seen on the television when he was but just a child. The only fun that he could manage to muster with his shallow connections.

  Wilhelm continued like this for the next few hours, and soon, the sun went down, and the weather started to cool off. Once evening arrived, many of the neighborhood kids came out to play around the same time. It was about an hour before supper was served.

  They rode their bicycles and scooters along the broad road. They glanced at Wilhelm quite a few times, but were reluctant to say anything to the weird 'uncle.' Their parents would scold them if they so much as got close to him.

  "Hey, old man! Go back to your shack, you
're scaring the kids" A young man said, he had short brown hair, freckles covering his face, and an unsightly countenance.

  A loud, obnoxious voice soon entered into his ears, causing him to raise his remaining eye and inspect the person talking to him. He was already in a sour mood, and now some punks had decided to cause trouble.

  In front of him was a group of three teens, probably around the age of fifteen or so. Yet, after noticing they were mere children, Wilhelm didn't pay them much heed and went back to playing with his cards. Kids were annoying, but tolerable. There was no real reason to respond with anger.

  "Heh, you want to ignore us? My father can sue you for disturbing the peace!" that same displeasing voice, once again, entered into Wilhelm's ears. Alas, without even raising his head, he shooed them off with his hand. He didn't feel like talking to some brats, so he just ignored them.

  "Hmph, don't be acting arrogant with me, old man. You're just a useless swine that shuffles cards all day," the teenager grumbled audibly and walked towards Wilhelm… he moved his hand forward and tried to grab the collars of Wilhelm's ragged shirt.

  However, contrary to the teenager's expectations, before his hand could reach Wilhelm's collar, he felt his neck being squeezed. The sound of gagging echoed throughout the streets as Wilhelm gripped the teen's neck and gawked at him with a sharp glint.

  "I don't enjoy giving free lessons to a stranger's child; such is the responsibility of their parents… don't force me, boy," Wilhelm said nonchalantly and released the teenager after a few moments.

  As he let go, the unprepared youngster fell to the ground and landed on his rear. He was shaking nervously and had clearly wet his pants, as the smell of urine wafted through the air. The other kids scrunched up their noses and watched on in disgust.

  "D-do you know how much trouble you can get in for hurting a child?" the kid stammered for words and quickly got up, he then started running towards his house, presumably to go tell his daddy.

  Seeing this, Wilhelm chuckled dryly, sat back down, and continued shuffling his cards.

  After some time passed, he had expected some of the other children to scream or make loud noises, but contrary to this firm belief, none of that happened. The awkward silence caused him to raise his head and observe his surroundings.

  His left eye suddenly widened in shock. in front of him, the children that were once talking and full of life were all stationary. They looked as if they were frozen in time. Wilhelm hurriedly stood up and waved his hand in front of one of the teenager's faces.

  Wilhelm furrowed his brows after seeing that the child had no visible reaction and further studied the surroundings. The birds were paused in mid-air, and the leaves falling from the trees weren't any different. Even the clouds in the sky above were suspended.

  Confusion was apparent in Wilhelm's eye, 'is this a dream…? No, that can't be!' he quietly mused to himself while pinching his arms.

  As he squeezed his arm, he felt a sharp stinging pain, indicating that it wasn't a dream. The confusion in Wilhelm's eyes became more and more apparent as time went on.

  "Tsk."

  Wilhelm clicked his tongue in displeasure.

  "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" he roared.

  Then, unexpectedly, as if a balloon popped, Wilhelm heard a cracking sound from behind him, causing him to reflexively turned around and see what the cause of the noise was.

  "W-what the hell… a fairy?" Wilhelm muttered out in disbelief.

  'Hello, human… you are amongst the first one percent of humanity that will travel to the holy land, ' The strange-looking fairy spoke in an almost ethereal and robotic voice.

  "The holy land? Is this a joke?" Wilhelm couldn't help but ask, everything that had happened until now, including the 'fairy', was hard to believe.

  As if the fairy didn't hear Wilhelm's questions, it continued talking in its nearly robotic voice.

  'The Holy Land is a world ten times larger than Earth. Once you arrive, you will figure out that there will be creatures much stronger than you humans… even your prided guns and nuclear bombs will not be effective.'

  "I don't understand what you're talking about, why are you transporting us? Why earth?" Wilhelm asked a handful of questions at once. However, the fairies' calm expression didn't contort in the slightest.

  'Humans are very adaptable. We need you to become stronger… stronger than even us. You will understand why you are being transported, sooner or later.' The fairy replied calmly, which made Wilhelm even more anxious.

  Wilhelm wildly scratched his head, "Is this an alien invasion, or perhaps, I'm in a lucid dream?" he started to grumble out indecipherable words.

  'Another one percent, or more, of humanity will be transported each subsequent year.' The fairy, of course, didn't answer Wilhelm, but instead, supplied him with even more confusing information.

  "What are the chances that I'm amongst the first one percent?" Wilhelm complained loudly. Still unable to digest the current happenings.

  'Don't worry, you will not go to holy land without any tools… assisting you will be a system that follows a relatively easy to understand rule set.'

  "System? Rules? Can you explain?" Wilhelm asked curiously, after he calmed himself down.

  'The system will work similarly to how games in this world work, classes, stats, coins, hp, mp, etcetera. It was made this way so that most humans could understand it easily, ' the Fairy replied.

  "A gaming system? So, like an MMO?" Wilhelm inquired.

  'Yes, similar to what you humans refer to as an "MMO"... well, enough chatter, you and the other one percent of humanity will be transported momentarily, ' the fairy maintained a relaxed expression on its face the entire time as if it weren't even alive.

  [Transporting to the holy land in 10 seconds…] A strange robotic voice resounded in Wilhelm's mind, vastly different in comparison to the melodic fairy.

  "What the hell? Did you say something?" Wilhelm looked at the Fairy suspiciously, but its lips didn't move.

  [9 seconds…]

  [8 seconds…]

  [7 seconds...]

  The strange voice continued to echo inside of Wilhelm's head; he once again scratched his head in confusion.

  "What the hell did you put in me?" he shouted at the Fairy, alas, he didn't receive a reply.

  [6 seconds…]

  [5 seconds…]

  [4 seconds…]

  [3 seconds…]

  [2 seconds…]

  [1 second…]

  "Is this the end?" Wilhelm muttered out a few last words, the last he would ever utter on earth.

  [Initializing…Welcome to the Holy Land]

  As he heard those words, Wilhelm felt his mind go blank, and his vision become impaired. He felt as though he traveled through an endless amount of darkness, for months.

  Until finally, a robotic voice once again echoed out inside of his head.

  [Congratulations, you are the first one percent of humanity to arrive at the Holy Land]

  Wilhelm, who was assaulted by a splitting headache, slowly opened his remaining eye with some difficulty. He studied his new surroundings and drew in a breath of cold air.

  It appeared as though he was in a very dark cave. He massaged the temples of his forehead and rubbed his chin while trying to piece everything together.

  While he was stroking his scraggly beard, attempting to comprehend the recent chain of events, droplets of water ominously fell to the ground every now and then. However, that was the least of his worries. The main problem was the animalistic grunts and other strange sounds that came from all of his directions, causing large beads of sweat to slide down his face.

  "Is there a tutorial of some sort?" Wilhelm whispered, not wanting to spook anything in the cave. But, he also wanted to make sure that the thing inside of his head heard him.

  [Tutorial initiated…]

  [You do not need to speak out commands, just think them audibly]

  [Think of the word "status" for your personal infor
mation to pop up]

  A series of robotic instructions rang in Wilhelm's ear. It took him a few moments to comprehend, but without hesitating much longer, he did as instructed and quietly thought of the word "status."

  Abruptly, a string of words and numbers appeared in front of his eyes, somewhat similar to a panel.

  ---------------

  [Character Information]

  Name: Wilhelm Siegfried

  Race: Human

  Gender: Male

  Level: 1, [0/100 EXP]

  Class: None

  Strength: 11

  Agility: 8

  Intelligence: 15

  Stamina: 7

  Magic Power: 0

  HP: 100/100

  MP: 0/0

  Skills: Krav Maga (level 10), indomitable will (level 1), superior intellect (level 2), Gun proficiency (level 10),