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Maps
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Welcome
Books by the Author
Maps
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Gamelit and LitRPG Communities
Copyright
BY TERRY C. SIMPSON
AEGIS OF THE GODS
Etchings of Power
Ashes and Blood
Embers of a Broken Throne
Forges of Creation
The Shadowbearer (Prequel)
THE QUINTESSENCE CYCLE
Game of Souls
Soulbreaker
Crown of Souls
Soulsworn (Sidestory)
THE FROST FILES
Void Legion
The Forsaken Crypts
THE ARCANUS ARCHIVES
ShadeBorn
MAP
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CHAPTER 1
“Do you ever think about the outside world?” Standing at a window of their Upper Ward hotel room, Blaze stared out at Downtown Brooklyn, dawn’s pallid glow framing her slender form through the sheet draped over her shoulders.
“Outside world?” Frowning, Dre sat on the edge of the bed in his boxers.
“Yeah. You know… the world outside the NAR. The rest of the world that we used to be able to travel freely. You ever think about what it’s like?” Her dark hair fell in braids atop the white sheet.
Dre shook his head. “Maybe when I was a kid. I usually don’t dream that big anymore. I got enough trouble dealing with the world we’re in.”
“No doubt. But you were out there before, weren’t you?”
“Yeah. When I was six. Just before they banned all international flights and closed down the public airports.” He’d been back in Barbados at the time. It was a memory he preferred not to dwell on.
Dre stood and strode across the room, bare feet slapping on the heated marble floors. When he got to Blaze, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. “The most I thought about it since were stories Pops told me about Barbados. Or how the USA used to be before it became the NAR. I used to be fascinated about life back in the days, before the War of The Americas, the Climatic Shift, or the superstorms.”
She snuggled closer into him, tilting her head back and to the side of his chin. He leaned his head down, her braids soft against his cheek. Dre inhaled long and deep, relishing her shampoo’s vanilla aroma. He sighed. He could stay in this position, in this room, with her forever.
Up here on the two hundredth floor, the only vehicles zipping along on the massive invisible skyway outside were Personal Transports. Drones emblazoned with NYPD or SDF hovered at regular intervals, silent and foreboding. All other traffic, from Airbus to Maglev, was relegated to below the Upper Wards.
Sunlight weakened by the city’s perpetual smog glinted off the other skyrises. Far below, pedestrians on skywalks were little more than dots. In the distance was the mist-shrouded ocean and the dark stain of the massive seawall eating the coast.
“I dream about the world all the time.” Her voice was soft. Longing. “I want to go out there one day. See what it’s like.”
Dre could understand her feelings. Even if he couldn’t exactly relate. Blaze was a DeGen. He paused when he thought of the word, hearing her correct him gently as was her habit of late, telling him she was a Lifer. That’s what they called themselves in the Bottoms. Lifers. She was born in the First Ward, and had lived in the Bottom Wards for the majority of her life. Suffering was a part of her.
She had the scars to prove it. Ribbons of raised tissue ran down her spine, her left side, and along her left leg. He’d asked her about them, but she’d said they were nothing, a product of recklessness. He suspected there was more to them than she let on.
Closing his eyes for a moment, he considered the stories told of the Lifers, the things he’d grown up believing to be true. The government had labeled them DeGens, the worst of the North American Republic. Many of them were illegal immigrants who’d come to the city during the Great Migration, fleeing both the Second Civil War and the War of Americas. They had hidden themselves away beneath cities, in places unfit for humans to live. Later on, escaped criminals had joined their ranks. Gangs had formed.
When he saw Lifers on a broadcast, they were dirty, disheveled, emaciated, and riddled with disease. Such displays always labeled them as criminals. Murderers. Thieves. Rats. Dre knew some of it was propaganda, lies told by the likes of Sidrie Malikah and those in power.
Blaze and Pops’ tale in Void Legion was proof of those lies. If someone had told him he could feel so much for a Lifer he would have laughed in their face. Not now.
He opened his eyes, gaze drifting to the blanket of smog and clouds blushed by the distorted coin of a sun. “Maybe when this is all over, we can all go one day. You, me, Mom, and Kai.” And Pops, he thought.
“Maybe.” She sighed.
Despite it being a ridiculous thought, an impossible dream, he wanted it to come true. He felt good saying it.
“I never told anyone, but getting away is one of the reasons I game so much.” Her chest heaved. “I can go anywhere. Fly anywhere. Do anything. I can be as strong as I want to be as long as I’m willing to work hard. My troubles fade away. I can be someone else. I can be someone.”
“I’m sorry.” Dre gave her a comforting squeeze.
“Sorry for what? You’re not the one making us suffer. Making our lives worse.” Her voice hardened. “They are. Why? Just because they can? Because they think we’re weak? Don’t we endure enough? We just want to be left alone to live or lives, be able to build our society, and not be beholden to the Corps, or bowing and scraping to skyrisers for food or shelter.”
Dre had no words to soothe her. To reassure her that things would get better. He let silence stretch, leaving her to her thoughts, hoping that holding her, listening to her, was enough.
After a while, Blaze let out a slow breath. “I can’t wait to get back in the game.”
“I understand exactly what you mean.” Dre smiled. He was more at home in-game than IRL. He enjoyed being one of the top dogs, exploring, fighting, clearing dungeons, and visiting exotic locales.
“Speaking of the game, I heard some disturbi
ng rumors.” She lifted the back of her head off his chest.
“What did you hear?”
“Remember they mentioned the risk of brain damage from in-game death? How brain function stops for an instant IRL?”
“Yeah.”
“I heard it’s worse than they let on. A few Total Immersion testers who died in-game ended up as invalids. They can’t walk, can’t talk, can’t see, or hear. They just sit there.”
“That’s fucked up.” Dre couldn’t even begin to imagine such a fate.
“Same thing I said.”
“Where’d you hear this?”
“Players I know.”
“How’d they find out?”
“It happened to their friends. They picked up on it because of the mystic’s rez spell. When a mystic rezzes a player, they don’t return to life at that moment. The person can either stay in that spot for a few hours, appearing barely conscious, or they can choose a respawn location.”
Dre thought it was a weird way for resurrection to work, but he knew the reason. “That’s because the devs wanna make sure TNT has done its job effectively. A precaution.”
“No doubt. But these players who died never came back in-game. They didn’t respawn. Equitane delivered them to their homes. When their friends went to visit, they found the ex-players bed-ridden or in wheelchairs.”
Dre was speechless. At the same time, he wondered how Equitane was keeping a lid on such news. Until he thought about the NDA and his own situation.
Blaze sighed. “Funny thing is that a part of me finds the risk exciting while another part is scared shitless. Especially since we have to play.”
Without giving the idea much thought, Dre knew his feelings ran deeper. “I’d still play regardless. Particularly after experiencing Total Immersion. And seeing Pops. He’s worth it all by himself.”
“True.” She brought her hands up and placed them over his at her midsection. “I don’t even know why it bothers me at all. I mean, I know why, as in no one should be getting hurt doing what we do. But for me, I’m not worried. I’m fully capable of playing without dying.”
Dre grunted derisively. “Somebody’s feeling themselves.”
“Hey.” Blaze shrugged. “I can’t help it if I’m that good.”
“You’re too damned cocky.” Dre chuckled.
“Trust and believe I got every right to be.”
Dre grew serious. He kissed her head. “There’s another reason you shouldn’t worry. There’s no way I’d let you die.”
Blaze leaned away, twisting until she could glance back at him over her shoulder. She smirked. “Let? Pfft, boy, you better go somewhere with that.” She straightened, facing the window again.
“Yeah… let.” Dre smiled down at her. “I promise not to let you die.”
“Oh, now we’re promising?” She shook her head, voice tinged with mirth.
“We sure are.”
“I feel you.” She nodded appreciatively. “I’ll let you have that one.” They burst into laughter. When their mirth subsided, she added, “I won’t let you die either.”
The idea warmed Dre’s insides. He grinned like a big kid. They remained in that position until the sun set the smog and clouds on fire.
Blaze turned to face him, dark angled eyes staring up into his. “It’s about that time.” Her voice carried a hint of reluctance. “You’re going to see your Mom, right?”
Dre nodded. “And my sister. I wanna spend a few days with them before we play Void Legion again. What’re you gonna do?”
She got up on her tiptoes, planted a kiss on his lips, then slid her face past his cheek until her mouth was at his ear. “Do some research on old school puzzles in games, and deliver the first protocol,” she whispered.
He matched her timbre. “Be careful.”
“No doubt.”
They hugged for a bit longer. Finally, they separated and got dressed. Before they left the room, they shared a long kiss.
******
Blaze’s mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Dre as the elevator made its way down toward the Mid Wards. She didn’t understand why she felt the way she did for him. Keeping business and pleasure separate had been what kept her alive over the years. She prided herself on the ability. But though she tried with Dre, she couldn’t help her feelings.
At first, she’d thought it was just an in-game thing. When she watched him play, she was immediately drawn to his skill, command, and quick thinking. The fact he hadn’t judged her as a girl but simply as a player had made the attraction even easier to accept.
But IRL, it had become more than that. She liked him from the very first day she watched him, studied him on his way to and from Downtown Brooklyn. His tall, slim but fit frame, low fade haircut, impeccable waves, broad nose, thick eyebrows, caramel complexion. They all seemed so… right.
Sure, he was young, turning seventeen in a few weeks. But then she was young also. And in this life, the way the world was, time waited for no one. She or he could easily be dead in a few months if caught in the wrong place during a superstorm despite the advantage of the seawall.
Making matters easier, or more complicated, depending on how she looked at them, he hadn’t been grossed out when he discovered she was really a Lifer. He’d opened himself to her all the same.
She shook her head. Maybe her mind was just playing tricks on her. So why is he always in your thoughts? Why do you think about his lips, his hands, his voice, his smell?
The elevator stopped. Floor 100. Center of the Mid Wards. The door opened on the skywalk side, letting in a blast of frigid early November air.
Dismissing Dre from her mind, she hunkered into her jacket and strode out onto the skywalk, mist drifting into the air with her every breath. She needed a clear head for the work at hand.
Androids mingled among people who bustled by on their way to work or school or shopping, for those who still felt the need to physically do such activities rather than use the Grid’s plethora of VR facilities. She understood the sentiment of the ones making that choice. Sympathized with it. Certain things made you feel more alive. Even if it meant coming outside on a cold ass day.
Walking and smiling like she was a tourist or a Bottom Warder enthralled by the soaring glass facades, the many PTs, hover vehicles, and EVTOL craft, she headed to her destination, certain Equitane security was tracking her as they did every other tester. The monitoring was routine. She did not want it to become more than that. Draw attention to herself.
So, she practiced the same habits whenever she’d come up from the Bottoms, gave the same impression of herself: a girl of low status caught in the wonder of great society. The thought almost made her scowl.
Equitane’s teams relied on the city’s numerous cameras for monitoring. Cameras on everything from buildings to signs to droids to the drones hovering overhead. She found comfort in knowing they had to resort to such means for her rather than through direct contact by way of implants. But for the lone chip on her finger for ID and biometric tatts, both of which she had scanned to make sure there were no transmitters, she had no other wearables.
Her current smile was for the frustration security displayed over the years as she’d removed anything they planted on her. It had made for a great game of cat and mouse. A game she always won. Eventually, they’d given up.
What damage could a poor little Bottom Ward girl do anyway? What damage, indeed. She smirked.
“The city’s amazing, isn’t it?” A man with a too perfect goatee, dressed in a bright green sweater and khaki pants, looked from her to one of the other skyrises. The blue light of implants flashed in his eyes and was gone. “I try to come once a year.”
His accent and choice of clothing would’ve given him away as someone not accustomed to the cold even before he said that bit. The regular
New New Yorker wouldn’t have donned body heat wearables until the temps were in the single digits.
“No doubt.” She nodded curtly.
“I fly in from Boston.” He was at the partitioned edge of the skywalk, gazing below at the many levels all the way to the crumbling brick buildings and asphalt that made up the First Ward. “You can’t begin to imagine what the countryside looks like outside the cities. I never imagined we could’ve avoided as much damage as we did or grow as quickly as we have after all the madness. Says a lot about being American. As we used to say back in the day, God Bless America.”
Blaze slipped among the pedestrians before he turned back to her. She made her way to her favorite spot since she’d become a tester. Skybucks, a quaint little coffee shop that was a throwback to yesteryear.
She entered the Skybucks to the strum of soft jazz music. Two CX3 droids manned the counter while another busied itself making certain everything was clean. All three had the new synthetic skin most companies had adopted in an effort to make bots more acceptable. More human. One was dark-skinned, one white, and the other was Asian like Blaze.
Blaze passed the cushioned bench seats near the front; the pairings of stools and single round tables; sofa, armchairs, and small table set up in the middle of the room; and headed all the way to the rear that held another set of benches against a wall. She chose her usual corner and sat.
A holo popped up on one side of the table. It displayed a selection of drinks. On the other side was another holo with access to the Grid. Between them was a set of Smart Glasses.
With a flick of her finger, she scrolled down the list and tapped to select a drink. Caramel peppermint latte. Yummy. They didn’t have drinks like these in the Bottoms so she got one whenever she came up
The credits deducted automatically from her Equitane account. With her other hand, she hovered over Grid content selections for entertainment, news, or info.
Her first hand now rested on the tabletop near the connection she needed for her ID chip’s second and true function. Built by the best Lifer techs to specifications given by Alphonso Taylor to imitate Equitane’s real one, it circumvented the Grid’s security, allowing her to pass messages and data on the old system hard-wired into this very table. The internet. Banned by the NAR to limit outside world influence. And blamed by many for the USA’s downfall.
The Forsaken Crypts Page 1
