Condition Evolution 2: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure

by Kevin Sinclair

"We won't have a repeat of last time, I'm sure," Rob said. "We just need to get in and out. We’ve arranged for the pickup of the supplies we asked for. There are currently five other crew getting the hover-loaders ready. They will be responsible for handling that end of things. We're only allowed ten people off the ship at any one time.”

  “Why?” I asked. “Seems a bit odd.”

  “Just their protocol apparently. It should be fine though. We’re a pretty strong team.”

  “That we are,” Mick said with a shit eating grin on his face.

  “I’ll be coordinating everything. I've been along to the supply store earlier, so I know where we’re going,” Rob continued.

  “Gus, you will handle communications between us and the ship. Shaun, Ember, and Mick, you are protecting everyone else. You’ll be the muscle of this little operation, Shaun,” he chuckled.

  “Good one!” I replied with as close to a real laugh as I could muster. Rob seemed okay, but that was a shit joke.

  “Now any questions?” Rob asked

  “How far do we have to go for these supplies?” This was from Mick.

  “It’s about half a mile,” Rob replied.

  Gus nodded, “Well within range of our comms, then?”

  “Yeah. There should be no problems with that.”

  “Can I take Havok?” I blurted out. It was all I really wanted to know.

  “Most definitely!”

  Havok whooped for joy.

  Rob continued, “I’d say Havok is a minimum requirement. This place is as rough as toast.”

  A shit analogy, but I decided I liked the guy after all.

  “Now, is there anything else?” he asked.

  “Are we actually expecting trouble here?” said Ember.

  “No. We are not. There seems to be a grudging respect for us, which is unsurprising from what I hear the Fystr did to the other races of the Galactic Empire. Now, if you all want to get ready to leave."

  Dutifully following the command, Ember, Mick, and Gus selected their weapons, and then we all donned our armor. Our team assembled in the cargo hold. Some of the members were still bringing the hover-loaders into position when the ramp began to lower.

  The first thing to hit me was that the temperature was actually quite cool. There was an odd smell of sulfur in the chilly air. I think, because of the red color, I just expected the place to be warm. The roads were paved just like a normal town back at home, so with little fanfare, we went down the loading ramp and into the unknown.

  This was our first time of actually seeing aliens. It was amazing and unexpected. Most of them were humanoid in appearance, with grey colored skin. They were fairly tall, probably about five-foot-ten, on average. Though, I did see a few beings of different colors and sizes.

  Most of the population who passed gave us sly, mistrustful looks, but that was fine as long as no one was verbally or physically aggressive. All in all, it was a fascinating walk through the alien landscape.

  When we got to the supply depot, we had to talk to someone called Lillano. She was the same as the majority of the aliens we’d seen. Grey skinned, with odd beard-like tentacles, drooping down from her chin. She looked at us, uttered a series of clicking noises. When we looked at her blankly, she angrily raked around on her desk. Finally, picking up a small machine, she hooked it around her ear and began speaking perfect English. I assumed the earpiece was a translator. “You’re back for your supplies?” she spoke, in a monotone voice.

  “Yes we are,” Rob said. “If you could just show us the way.”

  They let us through some roller shutters into the compound area, where our supply crates waiting for us. We quickly got all of the supplies on to the loaders we brought and headed back out of the shutter doors. They shut very sharply as soon as we left. A little too sharply for my liking.

  I turned away from the supply depot, shrugging off the bad feeling. I shouldn’t have bothered. We were surrounded by a group of very aggressive and heavily armed aliens. There were about forty of them.

  The guy in charge of the group started clicking at us. Rob shrugged and spoke back in English, “We don’t want any trouble. Just let us pass. We’ve a ship of armed soldiers. They will come if we are hurt.”

  The alien clicked angrily at Rob again.

  Havok spoke to me, “This shit’s about to get real! Shauny. Are you ready for some fun?”

  “Not really dude,” I replied. Then whispered to Ember, “Why have we got no translators?”

  “I don’t know. We do seem to be constantly underprepared, like having no comms. on the supply station,” she said back.

  I was about to reply when Rob raised his voice to the alien, “We’re leaving, now. Let us through with our supplies and we’ll be gone.”

  The Alien looked almost like he understood, then he fucking shot Rob! A brain fountain exploding from the back of his head... Shit!

  We all stood there, stunned into absolute shock. No one reacted, apart from Havok that is. The crazy bastard actually put himself in my hand in an instant, breaking me from my immobility.

  “Let’s dance, motherfuckers!” he howled.

  The first thing I did was to step in front of Ember as the entire street erupted into gunshots, laser fire, and total fucking chaos.

  “Stay behind me, Ember. Go Sopeka hut tactics all over again,” I shouted, while deflecting a laser blast.

  “Sure thing, boss!” she shouted, as she pulled out her sword.

  I continued to whirl Havok around to deflect any fire. I won’t lie, though, he continually made slight adjustments as I moved, deflecting bullets and laser fire as he went. It was rather uncomfortable to wield him when he did his own thing, but I was so grateful.

  After the first volley of gunfire, the only people to come out unscathed in the whole shoot out were the people standing next to me. Ember, and unsurprisingly Mick, and Gus. Seems they knew where to be when shit went down.

  The leader started clicking at me loudly and aggressively.

  “I’ve got no fucking clue what you’re saying!”

  Then, in an uncharacteristically violent move for me, I took his head off with Havok. Well, the fucker did just randomly shoot Rob and kill six of our people. Once Havok had passed through his neck, I didn’t stop moving. I pushed straight into the crowd of alien shit-stains.

  I ended up in such a crush that Havok was occasionally getting snagged. It never took long to free him, but in those moments that I was vulnerable I had a ferocious ex-panther lady who had my back. She was stabbing and thrusting, saving my life again and again.

  Meanwhile, Gus followed shooting, and Mick was levitating various objects into people and various people into objects. In the end, we had produced quite the massacre. Over forty bodies were laid strewn around.

  “We need to move, now!” Ember shouted. “Shaun! Cover us. Mick help check if any of our guys are alive and we’ll get them on the hover-loaders. And Gus, you need to contact the ship.”

  I scanned the surrounding area. No one else appeared to face us. Gus was shouting desperately into the communicator. “I can’t get through. Shaun, will you try? It may be just my comm,” he said, raising his rifle to provide cover.

  I tried, and got nothing back when Ember shouted, “Shaun! They’re all dead! Let’s get the fuck back to the ship!”

  We ran through the streets, aliens jumping out the way as I shouted at them. They heeded the universal language of rage, aggression, and a big motherfucking axe that was charged with an energy field.

  I saw a few armed and dangerous looking aliens in small groups, but evidently, they didn’t want to eat what we were cooking.

  The momentary relief I felt when we made it to the street of the docks quickly vanished. There was a line of at least a hundred-armed men blocking our way. They started shouting at us. Well, clicking loudly.

  I turned without missing a stride to shout at Ember and the guys behind me, “We’re going straight through!”

  I hurtled forward, in
creasing my speed. Havok was a blur blocking laser fire, while Gus and Mick did their respective jobs from behind the safety of the human Shaun-shield. The line of enemies tried to thicken up at the point where we were going to hit. I didn’t give a flying fuck in a high wind. I was going through them.

  Just before I hit the line, Havok shouted at me, “Give yourself some space this time. Swing for your first few opponents a few feet before we hit.”

  I did as I was told, taking three heads and a bit of a shoulder off with one swing. Reversing, and swinging again. Havok helped my control a lot, and before I knew it, we were clear of the line. Havok’s reach allowed my friends to pass through in my wake, shooting and slicing like their lives depended on it.

  As I passed the last man, I pirouetted like a fucking pro ballet dancer, all the while continuing to block the laser light show.

  “Shaun! We’ve shields up,” Ember shouted.

  I kept backpedaling smacking laser fire away like a mad man until I was beyond the shields.

  Once I moved beyond their shields they closed up, and then we moved back as one. I was blowing out my ass trying to catch my breath.

  “I finally have a signal!” Gus cried amid the onslaught. “I don’t know how they managed to block it.”

  His comm crackled to life. “Thoth, come in.” It was Ogun’s voice.

  “Ogun! We’ve been attacked. Our communicators were blocked. We have six men down and a numerous enemy. We need help. Now!” exclaimed Gus.

  “Where are you?”

  “On the street of the dock.”

  “Hold on,” Ogun answered through the comm. “We’re coming.”

  Despite our best efforts at moving backwards down the street, they managed to surround us. Now, I couldn’t exactly just charge through them as they could shoot from all sides, but it had come to the point where I would need to go back on the offensive. The shield-wall was far from perfect now we had been surrounded. It just couldn’t keep us safe.

  Throwing caution to the wind, I attacked again. Ember, Mick and Gus tried to cover our back and sides with their shields. Once I’d fully engaged the crowd, Ember joined in with her sword, while Gus and Mick continued to protect us from behind with shields. The fight became a blur, yet somehow still seemed to last an eternity. There was still no sign of Ogun. He was taking far too long.

  “Ember has been knocked unconscious!” Havok said, loudly in my head.

  I turned to see Ember being dragged into the crowd and I almost passed out I was that angry. Literally seeing red, I went after her without a thought. Some emotions transcend words. I attacked anything that moved in front of me. I moved straight into the thick mass of enemy aliens with no thought to my safety at all.

  Before long, there was no one else to kill. The remaining aliens had backed off creating a wall with their shields. Havok was now ineffective. Shields were useless in most situations, but in a relatively static defense they were massively OP.

  Gus and Mick used their shields to cover my back, but the enemy didn’t seem interested in a fight anymore. We had probably killed another fifty, to sixty of them. They began to retreat into a smaller side street, taking Ember’s prone body further away from me. I followed, trying desperately to get around the shields before they could entirely block off the street they’d begun moving into.

  I couldn’t make out where Ember was anymore, which sent me further into panic and rage.

  “We need to stop and wait for reinforcements,” Mick said.

  For the first time in a while, I took stock of our position and we had a clear route back to the ship. Standing there, staring silently for a moment at the retreating group, I turned to ask Mick, “You can levitate a person, can’t you?”

  “Yeah,” he said carefully. “Where are you going with this, Shaun?”

  “You’re gonna levitate me over their shields.”

  “That is a stupid idea! You’ll just die.”

  “Do it now, or leave me alone.” I turned and ran at the shields wall

  A few feet away, I felt myself lift into the air. I cleared the shields by a good margin. Havok whirled with all his, and my might. I landed like a pro. in the middle of the group, not wasting a second to begin my one-man war. They just couldn’t handle my unbridled rage and Havok’s unerring skill. Together, we slaughtered everyone in our path, desperately trying to find Ember.

  I took plenty of hits, but with the constant supply of energy Havok was getting fed, he had more than enough to keep me in tip-top condition. After around five minutes, the street was filled with corpses. I was covered in blood. It was a horrific sight, and I threw up. But I still didn’t have Ember and I’d have loved a synthesized juice right about now.

  I continued to walk in the general direction they took her. “Shaun, stop!” boomed Ogun’s voice.

  I turned to face him. “They’ve got Ember. Why the fuck would I stop?”

  “The Fystr must have been able to communicate with the people of this planet. I believe they are stalling us until the Fystr arrive. Our ships in orbit have picked them up on their scanners. We have around twenty minutes before they are here. We must take off and escape in that time. Now, come on. Ember is gone. We will try and avenge her later, once we at least save our own lives!”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Leave Ember!” I cried, dazed.

  “We have no choice. It’s that, or we will all die.”

  “Ogun. You know that I’d never leave her. That I’d rather throw myself on my axe right now.”

  I turned and walked away. I heard him shout again, but it wasn’t to me. “Everyone. Back to the ship now. We’re leaving. Only death awaits us here.”

  As I walked, I realized a couple of things. Ogun had left us twice to die now. He was a coward who always ran. I made a vow in that moment that I’d never follow him again. The second thing was that I really was going to kill every, single mother fucker on this planet to get Ember back. What I’d do after that I didn’t know. And I didn’t care.

  I marched forwards away from mine and Havok's massacre. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Havok. You saved my life so many times back there. Thank you so much for everything, and for letting me know Ember was in trouble.”

  “Everything I’ve done was worth it one hundred times over just to be thanked for my work by a human. I almost feel like a real person when I’m with you, Shaun. Now, let’s go and get our fucking Ember back.”

  “It’s nice to have another friend I can trust,” I said back, smiling grimly.

  “And you even call me your friend. I’m so happy. Let’s go kill some more people to celebrate.”

  “Yes. Let’s,” I said grimly.

  I kept walking deeper into the town. The streets were deserted now. Literally no one was to be seen. When I finally saw a few aliens they ran when they saw me. I followed, but took care not to be led away from the general direction I was headed.

  I finally encountered another group of aliens all lined up with shields, blocking the street. I was stumped again. “We can’t get past those shields, Havok. What should we do? Walk around?”

  “I could kill a few if you threw me but it would drain my energy quickly. You may end up losing me.”

  “No. There is no way I’m risking losing you. You're too important.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “What would Jotun do?”

  “As powerful as Fystr are they’re limited in imagination.”

  “Shit. No help from there, then. What about some telekinesis? I could try just throwing things at them.”

  “Worth a try,” Havok said.

  So, that’s what I did. Everything I could see in the street I tried to throw. Compared to Mick’s or even Ember’s skills I was a bit shit, but I opted for a war of attrition. A never ending stream of junk and even two small motorcycle type vehicles went up and over the shield wall.

  Not long after that they decided to change their game. For the first time since the battle started, they
fired an actual, gods-be-damned missile right at me. Not going to lie, I thought I was fucking finished. Havok had no such attitude, he brought himself up into position, and though he couldn’t withstand a direct missile hit, he cleverly directed it away from me.

  A nearby building collapsed to the ground, giving me even more ammunition. A second missile came, and the result was the same. Now, I had bricks and glass and all kinds of shit to levi-throw at them. No more missiles came, as they obviously didn’t like the results at all.

  Finally, a gap opened up in their defenses. Havok flew out of my hand on his own accord. He skewered an alien, which made the gap bigger. I didn’t hesitate and started sprinting forward as Havok disentangled himself and shot back into my hand. Within another second, I was through the gap, bringing the pain again.

  “Sorry for shooting off like that. Jotun would have melted me if I’d taken the liberties I have with you, but I only want to help.”

  “You just keep on doing what you’re doing, pal,” I said back quickly, as I continued my blood bath, taking out enemy after enemy until I was really in amongst it again. Hacking, slashing, thrusting, and even the odd bit of kicking when necessary. They fought well, trying to stymie me with numbers.

  I could have been fighting all day for all I knew, but I just needed Ember back, and these endless fuckers were in my way. The noise of our battle was awful, yet somehow a deep, gruff voice rose above the din. There, at the back of the remaining aliens left to kill, stood a giant. He must have been about nine-feet tall. As soon as he shouted, “Stop Fighting!” The entire remains of my enemy retreated behind and alongside him.

  “This dance just got interesting,” Havok said.

  “I hope when we kill this big bastard, we’ve won. I’m knackered.”

  “Knackered? I’ve kept you in perfect health,” Havok retorted.

  “Mentally, dude! Killing all these people is fucking horrible.”

  The giant spoke before Havok could reply, “All told, you have killed over five hundred of my men today.” He shook his head at me.

  It took me a moment to realize I understood him.

  “How can I understand you?”

  “Translators.” He tapped the metal contraption round his ear, and I felt stupid. I’d already seen them at the supply depot.