Excise: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 2)

by Ryan DeBruyn

  “You have heard of the Mechano-Lords then? Perhaps this is the meeting I desired!” the little Kobold crooned as she stared interestedly at Rocky. A moment later, she continued her story, “The Territory has kept us hidden, and thanks to some special skills of our people, we have managed to infiltrate every guild within the collective. We are aware of the missions they undertake and plans that they have for the future.” She waved her hand grandiosely in the air. “For example, they recently tried to acquire a new planet to expand upon. The Mechano-Lords attempted to set up a beacon but failed.”

  She smiled a toothy, tiny Dragon smile at the masked Rocky and Sela. “I have made an assumption that they bit off more than they can chew and in so doing have met an enemy that I would like to make an ally.” She finished the last sentence and began clicking tiny Dragon claws on the table. “You see, they had another project that I have been keeping a watch on as well.” She took a pragmatic pause the sighed, since neither he nor Sela responded, and continued, “There has been a known area of space for eons, an area that has been a dead zone to any who enter it. This area was named the Etherless Void, and it was a dead zone. Dead, you see, because all technology was based on Ether, so practically all of it was useless inside.”

  Suddenly, a map popped into the space of the table between the four. The Kobold pointed to a planet that was rather large on the map, “This is my planet, and this was the line that denoted the borders of Etherless Space.” She pointed to a long, red line that exited the map in both directions. Sela and Rocky followed her hand as she started pointing to blinking dots that were scattered throughout the Etherless Void. “These were study drones; they have been releasing them ever since they captured my planet. They hope they can discover something in the Void and utilize it for their rise in power and profit. Well, in some ways they have.”

  “About a month ago, the previously dead Ether batteries on each research vessel began cycling back on and recharging. A few days ago, they had enough power to begin transmitting again.” She pointed at the Etherless Void and stated, “Now, the Ether converters could only work if Ether was restored to the Void. Then some new sub-race of humans who called themselves Floor Idians appeared and have been selling powerful Planetary Essence-based potions they call gasoline.”

  She clasped her tiny hands together and smiled. “Pair all that with the Mechano-Lords failure, and I believe that some planetary gods inside the Etherless Void are coming back to life as well.” The Kobold finished her story with her hands held wide open again over the map as the vessels blinked at them all.

  Sela touched Rocky’s arm, nodded at Garnell, and then vanished. Rocky looked at the Kobold, then Garnell, and then thought ‘exit’. As he made the motion, he heard one final statement from the Kobold, “I can only keep the information about the return from them for another week! At most!” Then he was in the pie-shaped room, blinking in the fluorescent lights.

  Once they were outside the shop, Sela began furiously pulling off her mask and kimono as she turned to Rocky, who began doing the same. “That seemed to make far too much sense for what I have seen. I wanted to scream at them both! I wanted to demand answers!” Sela stormed back and forth, kimono and mask in hand. “What caused this?

  Rocky, who had his own questions, didn’t bother with answering hers. “Did she just essentially say we were going to be invaded?” He looked at Sela and took her mask and kimono to store in his bag of holding as well. “You missed the last thing she claimed, too. Supposedly, the Guild Collective will find out the news in a week!”

  Sela blinked at him, mouth forming a sneer. “You don’t wonder about the larger picture at all. I mean, one-day, boom—Ether is gone. Then billions of years later,” she snapped her fingers, “boom—Ether is back. That doesn’t make you the least bit curious?”

  Rocky blinked at her words and took a moment to think about an answer; “Sela, I am curious, sure, but one of these two happened a billion years ago, and the other could mean we have ships landing to take over in a week!”

  “It wouldn’t be a week. What do you think? To travel through space is instant?” She glared at Rocky, her anger at his dismissal of her questions clearly getting to her. “Come on! Depending on how far from that border we are, it could take anything from a full year to multiple years to make the journey!”

  Rocky scoffed at her, “Yeah, because I know all about Ether space technology. It's not like I wasn’t just thrust violently into this world a month ago!”

  They must have raised voices in annoyance with each other because Smith, Zippo, and Amber walked up to them and stood in between the two as they both breathed heavily. Once he had a moment to think, Rocky realized this was obviously a sensitive topic for Sela. The question she had asked was the explanation for what happened to her family. This may even be part of the explanation of what happened to her.

  Rocky had thought he was logical during that conversation, but now, he saw that his actions came across as insensitive and childish. He turned to apologize to Sela only to see her storming away towards the Guild Tent. His mouth opened but nothing came out as he watched her stride away.

  An hour ago, she was there for you, and now, you just blew her off in a moment she needed you!

  His mood fell further as he stood and watched her go. Smith interrupted his downward spiral, “It’s not every day that you meet a woman like that, is it?”

  Rocky nodded, and Zippo chimed in helpfully, “Ewwww gross! That’s Sela… Come on. That’s just gross.” Then Zippo and Amber walked away, following after Sela. Smith and Rocky almost began crying with laughter behind him.

  Sela

  Within a few minutes, Sela had calmed down enough to think rationally about what had just happened, and she instantly knew that Rockland hadn’t ignored the problem like she thought. He truly was acting in something that she used to term ‘war mode’, only seeing the next immediate problem and not seeing the looming one. Often, when put in a non-stop, stressful situation, an intelligent person will become reactionary instead of being proactive. Add to that the fact that a problem from a billion years ago is so much further removed than something that could be here in the immediate future, and she understood.

  Sela understood the logic Rockland was following, but that didn’t mean she agreed that it was the more immediate threat. If a catastrophe had happened that literally could put a planetary god to sleep for a billion years, it was definitely the greater threat. To then find out that it wasn’t just Gaia who had been asleep but that an entire section of space had been Etherless, that knowledge had shaken Sela to her core.

  When she had lived, there was a contingent of Gaia that studied the Ether and how it acted in space. Millenia of studies showed that Ether slowly expanded, almost seeming to flood into channels, rivers, or lakes that would spawn shipping routes, back channels, and universes of new planetary gods. This process wasn’t instant as the Ether would need to grow potent enough to support life as they knew it, but then one day, planets just seemed to begin forming around a central, concentrated point of powerful Ether, and soon, new races would join the ever-expanding Etherverse.

  Many of the first conflicts between Gaia and Mars had occurred because of the conquest of these new universes and their ripe resources. Then those conflicts escalated as Mars began committing genocide of the local inhabitants of a new planetary god before colonizing. The culture of Atlantis couldn’t stand by and watch this happen to more innocent people, and soon, every new planet was put under the protection of the Atlantian flag. It was then quested out to guilds, the Gaian Military, and mercenary forces to repel Martians and safeguard the new Planets.

  So Sela was intimately aware of how new galaxies were treated, which meant while she knew they would lose to an invasion force of greater strength than them. She also knew Gaia was not as defenseless as a newborn hatchling planet, and while the invasion could be partially devastating, Sela could also guarantee that the Guild Collective was about to step into a situation t
hey were ill-prepared for.

  Thus, it was only logical to focus on a problem that could destroy everything they would be fighting for.

  Sela was even more disturbed because there was something sinister that was starting to form in all of her recent ‘discoveries’. The lies she had been told when she lived, the Dungeons, the places of power, the Tectonic Dungeons and even others about Gaia were beginning to stack higher. Why would her family hide so much from her? She had been a loyal commander in the army of the Cathodiem Guild; she had been in line to inherit one of the Seraphim positions and possibly even one day rule as the head of the Cathodiem Guild.

  Zippo jogged up beside her, cutting off her internal musings, and she smiled at him, happy for the distraction. “Good afternoon, Jason. How are you doing?” Sela watched as a myriad of emotions played across Jason’s face. Sela knew exactly how he was feeling and hadn’t needed to ask. How else does one feel after losing a close friend, a father figure, and fighting nightmarish creatures that used to be legends? Her question had been to allow him to talk about it.

  “I am so sick and tired of losing people to this Apothis and other evil people.” He paused, closing his fist, then opening it to reveal a small Fireball that grew larger incrementally as he continued, “I want to become strong enough to never let anyone I know die again.” His forearm flexed, and his fingers began to curl as Sela watched in amazement as Jason began contracting the Fireball into a small shape. “I want to burn Apothis from this world. I want to dig up Corsair and take him apart, melting every piece to ash.” The ball flashed for a moment before it changed color from orange to red and then stabilized.

  Sela blinked and tilted her head before using Analyze on Jason and gasping at what she saw.

  Jason (Zippo) Jackson

  Apprentice Red-Fire Mage

  Level 24

  Health Points 170/170

  Strong-Analyze has failed to provide additional information.

  She turned to look into his eyes as they reflected the miniature red sun of fire; a tear leaked out of his eye before it evaporated in a quick puff of steam. She put a hand on his shoulder. “Jason, I am pretty sure you will be strong enough before you know it. You just specialized like Rockland and I have with the Dark!” Zippo blinked and looked away from the Fireball, simultaneously closing his hand and extinguishing the ball. Then he focused on something in front of him which was probably his notification for the specialization.

  After he finished, he searched her eyes to see if she was trying to lie to him, to make him feel better. Seeing nothing to indicate the practical joke of getting stronger he thought was present, he asked, “I don’t think you have ever really explained to us what that means…” He let the end of his words fade off as he began focussing on something invisible in front of him again.

  Sela blinked and thought back, realizing that Jason was right. She had, like many other things, assumed that the knowledge she had grown up with was still common knowledge now. She laughed in realization, finally fully pulling her mind off of her previous negative thought spiral. Smiling with delight, she assented, “That’s pretty simple actually, and I guess I should tell as many people as are willing to listen.”

  She put her arm around Jason’s shoulder, realizing he had grown taller again when his shoulder was only slightly below hers and began steering him towards where she could see the Knights near the center of the Territory. Jason smiled back at her, picking up on her change of mood. “Yeah, it would definitely be good to start spreading knowledge like Rock is trying to do with his Montessori sessions.”

  Sela’s smile widened as she recalled another amazing creation Rockland had put in place. The man was far from perfect, but his openness to the changes that the world was going through combined with his understanding of the world that everyone had come from were creating something that she couldn’t even hope to have begun. Instead of yelling at him, she should sit and discuss her worries in a civilized manner. He seemed to respond better when you weren’t calling him an idiot, even when he was an idiot.

  About fifteen minutes later, Rockland ran up to the meeting area, looking excited by the prospect of something that was clearly on his screens. The fact that he was jogging around with a screen open in front of him made her shake her head. Just when she thought he was amazing, he would do something so stupidly childish that oftentimes it reminded her of some of the first lessons, taught as a faux pas, by her tutors. It was somewhat endearing because of the sheer power the man had combined with some of the innocence this seemed to represent to her.

  Jason nudged her with an elbow and shook his head before muttering, “Gross…” Sela straightened her head and looked at the young man, smile fading in confusion.

  What?

  Rockland seemed to almost bounce on his toes as he proclaimed, “Did you see the options for the boon we received!” Sela shook her head while still feeling confused about what Jason had found gross. Rockland continued again, distracting her, “I think this one will finish construction on any project that has been started and has the resources nearby. What do you think?” He sidled up beside her, and Sela began reading the notification he was talking about.

  Boon of the Builder Level 1

  This boon is primarily for the reconstruction of Territories after suffering an attack. If a building has an intact foundation and the material remains relatively undamaged, this Territorial Spell will finish repairs. In the event that the building material is damaged or inferior, the Territory will convert it to the strongest stored pattern of material known. Additionally, a conversion effect of material will remain in effect for one year, and construction speed will be boosted by 25%.

  This spell cannot stack with any other Territorial Spells or Personal Spells and is only available to those with a Place of Power.

  Sela read it and placed a hand on her chin before asking, “Do you think it will work on buildings that were never constructed in the first place?” In response, Rockland shrugged and showed her the list of other boons available, which dispelled her next question of what other choices they had.

  After a few minutes of going through the massive list, it was easy to tell why Rockland had chosen the one he had. There were other options with a variety of effects. However, it became clear quickly that the ones that didn’t require a place of power were just weaker versions of the ones that did. In addition, many of the other stronger spells had to do with increases to birth rates, Etherience boosts, or increases to stats while within the Territorial borders for citizens. The one he picked was probably the best for their current position.

  Sela nodded at his decision. “I am calling an impromptu meeting to explain specialization. Maybe tell everyone about this decision as well?”

  Rockland jerked his head back, confused, “Yeah, you haven’t ever explained that.” He paused and scratched his head. “Sela, one day, you and I have to sit down and discuss the list I have for things I don’t understand.”

  Sela laughed at his look of confused consternation and reached out to place a hand on his shoulder like she had Jason but hesitated before turning it into a punch. “Once we crush Apothis and have a moment to breathe, let’s do that!”

  Her dismissal of answering some of the questions now made Rockland grow confused again until she turned and spoke loudly, “Hello, everyone. Thanks for gathering again on such short notice. I know today has been difficult, and we will be putting together a plan tonight to make sure it never happens again, at least not from Apothis and his undead scum!”

  A small cheer started but died out quickly as Sela continued, “We have a lesson, some announcements, our plan for revenge, and a couple requests of everyone present. I will start out by teaching everyone something that was somewhat common knowledge when I was alive. After that, Rockland will tell you about the system bonuses we have earned and about the attack we will make on Apothis!” This time, a shocked look passed over a few faces before a cheer attempt began again. However, this time, more and more
voices added to it until it came from everyone present.

  Sela waited as the cheer, which had a bit of a vindictive and angry lilt to it, subsided before continuing, “Today we will talk about specializations. It was theorized that there are untold numbers of paths to take while specializing, and those paths can combine to create some truly marvelous or truly terrible effects.” Sela put a hand up to make sure everyone was listening. “I do not mean terrible in the way I have heard some people use the word ‘sick’. I mean bad, contradictory paths that can lead a person to depravity of the mind and soul. It is important that you do not specialize in contradictory paths!” A long pause let her point sink in. “Today, I do not have time to list these out in entirety, but they are sometimes quite obvious. Light and Dark, for example. Red and Green. The list can go on.”

  Sela looked around, watching some nods as people began to see the more obvious opposites. Some weren’t as obvious, like Blood and Stone, but she would write them down and post them for people to see. Regardless, it would likely be a long time before someone got a second specialization. After she was sure everyone present was taking the news seriously, she continued, “As for specializations themselves, they are relatively simple to explain but immensely more complex in reality.”

  “You have probably seen Rockland’s Dark Cloak ability or the fact that my vines are pitch black. This is because both Rockland and I have a Dark specialization. Simply put, this adds the element to our skills, increasing their strength in most cases.” She smiled, then put up a single finger. “However, this also makes them weaker against certain other specializations or elements. Dark versus Light is again an easy example, in that neither one is strong against the other. However, if a user of Dark creature attacks a Light specialized individual at night, their attacks will overpower the Light’s if the skills are at an equal level. If the Light specialized individual attacks during the day, the reverse will happen.”