Awaken Online: Inferno (Tarot #3)

by Travis Bagwell

  Julia just shook her head. “It still seems weird.”

  “Any weirder than getting experience from studying a magical language?” Finn interjected, recalling the notices that he had received back during his time in the Mage Guild. “Like Kyyle said, it sort of makes sense. The game world is rewarding us for thinking and acting outside the box.”

  Julia let out a soft chuckle. “Maybe a girl just wants an excuse to beat the crap out of something. There’s been too much talking and running away lately for my tastes.”

  “If it’s any consolation, I have a feeling you’re not going to have to wait long to get your opportunity,” Finn murmured, flicking aside the notifications.

  He paused as he went to bring up his Character Status. He wasn’t certain he wanted to see the toll the infection had taken on his stats. On the other hand, he couldn’t afford to stick his head up his ass, either. If he was working with a larger handicap, then he’d be better off knowing the full extent of the damage.

  Taking a deep breath, Finn pulled up his Character Status.

  Character Status

  Name:

  Finn

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  108

  Class:

  Fire Mage

  Race:

  Human

  Alignment:

  Lawful-Neutral

  Fame:

  1800

  Infamy:

  0

  Health:

  1855

  H-Regen/Sec:

  6.40

  Mana:

  2051

  M-Regen/Sec:

  37.28

  Stamina

  1335

  S-Regen/Sec:

  8.00

  Str:

  38

  Dex:

  80

  Vit:

  132

  End:

  80

  Int:

  347

  Will:

  24

  Affinities

  Dark:

  2%

  Light:

  10%

  Fire:

  50%

  Water:

  5%

  Air:

  3%

  Earth:

  11%

  It was about as bad as he’d expected. Even with the levels he’d gained, he’d lost a decent chunk of health, mana, and mana regeneration. And then there was the loss of damage since most of his spells scaled with Intelligence. He wasn’t even certain how to allocate his remaining stat points right now, given that he’d lose 20% of them immediately.

  With a growl of irritation, Finn swiped the window away.

  There was no sense dwelling on this problem right now. Finn certainly had plenty of other issues to deal with – like being trapped in this damn facility. He was just going to have to hope he was able to find a way to stop the spread of the infection. Or, even better, cure it entirely.

  Maybe there was something in the Forge that could help him.

  With that thought, his attention shifted back to the chamber around them. The room was filled with what appeared to be worktables, a scattering of junk spread across the surface of the closest one. They needed to keep pushing forward, but perhaps they could spare some time to search the sealed-off cluster of rooms. After all, they were here to find some sort of ancient tech, weren’t they? Not to mention these so-called supervisor credentials that they were going to need to restart the fire pylon and turn the lights back on.

  “Alright, Julia,” he began, glancing at his daughter, “since you’re basically invisible to the corrupted, you get the solo project. Why don’t you find the door into the pylon chamber and get a better idea of what we’re dealing with?”

  “Sounds good,” she said, bringing up her map with a flick of her wrist before heading toward an adjacent hallway.

  “And be careful!” Finn called after her. “We can’t be certain that Daniel attracted all of the corrupted in these rooms.”

  “That’ll just give me a chance to see if I can take out one by myself,” she shot back over her shoulder, giving him a grin. Then she abruptly disappeared into the shadows.

  “Yeah, for the record, I totally don’t want to see if I can handle one myself,” Kyyle said, raising his hand.

  “I’ll second that!” Daniel offered.

  “The odds do seem improbable that we would survive,” Brock rumbled.

  “Well, aren’t you all just a cheery bunch,” Finn grumbled.

  He cast Imbue Fire on one of his orbs, increasing the heat just enough that the flames lit most of the chamber, but keeping his mana usage minimal. “Besides, our job might actually be riskier. I want to search these rooms we’ve cordoned off. According to Brock, the facility’s tech is stored in the central chamber, but it looks like they were using this place like a workshop. There might still be something we can salvage in here, and we need to bank on the possibility that we might not make it into the central room.”

  “I’m not seeing the risky part,” Kyyle offered.

  “We all practically glow with mana – which means we could easily draw the attention of any other corrupted that might be lingering inside this cordoned-off area. In short, we need to stick together. Keep eyes on the rest of the group at all times.”

  The two elementals and Kyyle glanced at each other, a frown tugging at the earth mage’s lips. “Greeeaaat,” Kyyle muttered. “Let’s just carefully explore the super creepy high-tech underground facility. Sounds awesome.”

  “At least he isn’t using us as bait this time,” Daniel grumbled beside him.

  “Just give him a few minutes,” Kyyle shot back with a smile. “If he finds some interesting tech down here, he’ll probably try to test it on you.”

  “He wouldn’t—” Daniel began indignantly.

  Finn let out a sigh. Best to ignore them. If he rose to their bait, they would just keep going. He turned to Brock. “Can you tell us what the staff was doing in this area? Were they researching or building something?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry, but that information is restricted to a user with—”

  “Supervisor credentials. Big surprise,” Finn replied with another sigh.

  The differences between Brock and Daniel were stark – unusual, even. The earth elemental was almost robotic. Daniel’s teasing aside, Finn was beginning to wonder if there was some truth to the whole magical lobotomy angle. Had the staff done something to the attendants to make them artificially stupid? That would have made sense from a security standpoint. If they were developing valuable technology down here, and these attendants were helping to facilitate that research, they wouldn’t want one of these floating piles of rubble giving away their secrets.

  Although, that was yet another question he couldn’t answer – not yet, anyway.

  He supposed they would just need to investigate on their own.

  Finn scanned the room with his Mana Sight. Now that he wasn’t desperately sprinting through the section, he could see that the place was a mess. Several of the workbenches had been upended, and their contents were strewn across the floor. Scratch marks and what appeared to be burned furrows had been carved into the patterned walls, the indentations barely visible in his enhanced vision.

  More signs of battle? It seemed the staff must not have quietly agreed to have their bodies repurposed in the interest of security.

  He stooped and picked up a metal casing. Whatever it might have been, it had long since been ripped apart. The shell was torn in a way that reminded Finn of the claws that the corrupted sported. His lips pinched into a thin line. Maybe the casing had once contained mana crystals. If he was right, then the mech-human hybrids hadn’t stopped with the staff. They had scoured the rooms and devoured every bit of mana they could find.

  That didn’t bode well for finding something useful.

  But he wasn’t going to give up hope.

  “Let’s each start in a corner and break the room up into quadrants,
” Finn called over his shoulder, interrupting Kyyle and the elementals. “We can work our way through our section in a snaking pattern. Make sure to examine every object. Daniel, you should scan partial components. We never know if that might come in handy later. Hell, we might be able to extrapolate what they were trying to build even if it’s not functional.”

  Kyyle nodded, and the AI flashed once before they set to work.

  Hopefully, they would find something useful. Finn hoped so. That worried knot still lingered in his stomach, curling and coiling, as he observed every inch of the devastation the corrupted had wreaked on the room. It forced his thoughts back to the pylon chamber and the many, many unanswered questions that kept spinning through his mind.

  He suspected they were going to need an edge for whatever was coming next.

  ***

  “Well, this has been a splendid waste of time,” Kyyle grumbled, slumping back against a nearby wall. He had long since given up taking notes and just stood there with his eyes closed, his staff leaning against the wall beside him.

  The group was standing in a narrow hallway adjacent to a larger workroom – one of the last series of passages inside the cluster of rooms they had sealed off. A series of doorways lined the hall, but the portals were all firmly shut. Finn’s guess was that this was a storage area for the nearby workshop.

  He rubbed at the simmering ache in his arm absently, his thoughts dark. They’d been looking through the abandoned rooms and passages for roughly twenty minutes now and had come up with practically nothing. It seemed the corrupted had thoroughly scoured these rooms and halls. All they turned up were the ruined metal carcasses of what might have once been useful tech and a staggering number of rock piles – the remains of the attendants that had likely serviced this area. Kyyle had harvested the depleted mana cores, but Finn didn’t know how they could use those right now.

  “At least we haven’t gotten attacked,” Daniel chirped helpfully. “It seemed that Julia did a good job of identifying the corrupted in these areas.”

  Kyyle frowned slightly. “Speaking of Julia, it’s been a while, and she still hasn’t returned. Should we be worried?” he asked, glancing at Finn.

  “She messaged me a few minutes ago and said she’s been examining the chamber doorway and looking for weak points or nearby controls,” Finn replied in a tired voice. “Sounds like she’s fine, but I suppose we could meet up with her. Probably more useful than searching this abandoned hallway.”

  “If I may interject?” Brock spoke up, his grating voice echoing through the hall. They all turned to look at the elemental. Yet he just stared at them without speaking.

  Kyyle and Finn shared a confounded look.

  “Yes… yes, you may interject?” Kyyle offered tentatively.

  “Thank you. These rooms are all storage compartments for the workshop behind us. Based on the information collected prior to this section going offline, they had not been opened for at least 24 hours. I also observe no evidence that they have been disturbed since,” Brock said, waving a rocky hand at the doors next to him. “If you are searching for salvageable materials and equipment, then it is possible that these compartments may contain such items.”

  Finn and Kyyle stared at the floating pile of rubble.

  “And now he offers useful information…” Kyyle murmured.

  Finn let out a frustrated huff as he realized their mistake. “I’m guessing that not all of the information he has is restricted. We’ve just been asking him the wrong questions. The staff here would want to protect the details of high-profile projects. But a mundane inventory of parts and materials would probably be non-confidential.”

  Kyyle’s eyes widened slightly. “Damn it. We just wasted a lot of time, didn’t we?”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Finn replied, unable to fully remove the bitterness from his voice. He forcefully tamped down on the frustration simmering in his veins. That was water under the bridge now – an easy mistake, but one Finn didn’t plan to repeat. Besides, Brock’s suggestion was intriguing.

  Finn turned his gaze to the doors that lined the hallway. He peeled away the earth mana with his Mana Sight, peering into the rooms beyond. The image was hazy, but enough to get a rough sense of what might linger on the other side. The first two chambers were empty. If Brock was right, they must have cleared out these rooms before the facility had gone into lockdown.

  However, Finn hesitated at the third. He could make out a telltale orange glow in the room beyond, the fire mana standing out above a few stray bands of other colors. It was faint but noticeable. Between the interference of the crystal-laced walls and the ambient glow of whatever was inside that room, he had difficulty identifying specific objects. It almost looked like a painter had smeared the normally straight lines and angles together.

  “There’s something inside,” Finn said quietly. “Fire mana, but I see a few other affinities. I can’t make out much detail.”

  “Corrupted?” Kyyle asked, his grip tightening on his staff.

  “I can’t tell,” Finn replied with a frown. He glanced back at the earth mage. “You want to risk it? With just one hand, I’m not going to be able to maintain one of my orbs while I’m opening the door.”

  Kyyle hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “Worst case, I can distract whatever is inside long enough for you to re-cast Imbue Fire and cut the connections to the mech’s cores and Najima.”

  “Okay, then let’s do this…”

  Finn began casting on the deadbolts, the metal bars soon awash in a coating of flame. Kyyle moved in front of him, emerald energy curling around his staff as he precast a spell, holding the mana suspended in the air. He only needed to buy Finn a few seconds… assuming there was anything dangerous inside.

  “On three,” Finn said.

  “1. 2. 3.”

  Finn shoved the door to the side, the stone grinding against the frame with a rumbling shudder. A shower of dust billowed outward from the crack that was forming. As the door slid open, Finn peered inside. He could see shelves lining the walls. Glowing green cylinders lined their surface, but they had all been ripped open and destroyed.

  And against the far wall…

  Finn’s eyes widened even as a thin white fan of light struck him head-on. Mana flared along the mech’s cores, and a familiar cylinder rotated out from its arm. “Intruder detected,” it bit out in a metallic voice.

  A condensed ball of fire was already charging along the barrel, and time seemed to slow. Finn saw Kyyle tense. A wall of earth was beginning to form, but it was moving incredibly slowly. Too slowly.

  Finn realized he wouldn’t be able to recast Imbue Fire quickly enough.

  And Kyyle didn’t have enough time to move out of the way…

  Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

  The beam arced toward them, and the air rippled from the heat. It was on a collision course with Kyyle’s chest, and the earth mage’s eyes went wide, raising his free hand in a feeble attempt to ward off the beam. All at once, a massive form pushed past Finn, knocking him back against the wall. The wind rushed from his lungs as he hit the stone and slumped to the floor. He heard a sizzle and pop of the beam striking something.

  Yet there was no cry of pain.

  Finn looked up, gasping for breath, to find Brock’s bulky form standing in front of Kyyle. The beam had scored the rocks along the elemental’s chest, leaving a jagged dark line in its wake. However, Kyyle and Finn were unharmed.

  The mech! Finn thought frantically.

  His hands struggled through the gestures of Imbue Fire as he tried to lift himself with his ruined arm, the dark blade jutting from his elbow scoring against the rock floor. One of his spheres was soon awash in flame, but as Finn managed to rise to his feet, he froze in place.

  “I think it’s offline,” Kyyle murmured, peering around Brock’s form.

  Finn could indeed see that the mech had powered down, its metallic body slumped against the far wall of the storage compartment. It looked like it
had only had enough juice left for a single beam, unable to even make it to its feet. More interesting, the mech’s body didn’t appear to be damaged, and there was no telltale glimmer of Najima nestled under its metal casing. Which could only mean…

  “This isn’t one of the corrupted,” Kyyle said softly. “I… I think we just found an intact security mech.”

  “Good job, Brock!” Kyyle crowed abruptly before whirling and smacking the elemental on the back, wincing slightly as his palm struck hard stone. “You saved my ass and found us something interesting to tinker with!”

  “Attendants are responsible for their guests,” Brock rumbled in reply, no emotion coloring his voice. “No thanks are necessary.”

  Kyyle glanced back at Finn with an excited grin stretching across his face. Finn could feel a similar burning enthusiasm surging through his veins as he looked at where the mech was slumped against the wall. Its mana cores still glowed faintly, but the mech clearly lacked the energy to sustain its systems – systems that Finn would now get a chance to pick apart and examine.

  It seemed that they had finally found something worth salvaging.

  Chapter 18 - Ignite

  “What exactly is going on here?” Julia asked from the doorway to the abandoned workshop. “I’ve messaged you both at least a dozen—”

  She froze in place, her eyes going wide as she stared at the worktables Brock had pushed together in the center of the room. Strewn across the surface of the tables lay metal panels and crystal wiring that Finn and Kyyle had meticulously disassembled. Daniel’s flickering form floated nearby, his body nicely illuminating their work area.

  “Is that one of the corrupted?” she asked, her hand drifting to her lance.

  Finn waved off Julia’s concern without turning around. “Nope. Kyyle and I found this mech in one of the storage rooms. It seems it was being kept there before the facility went into lockdown. Our guess is that the mech wasn’t able to break through the door or find acceptable human parts to incorporate into his design. So, he’s completely out of juice now…” Finn murmured, trailing off as he plucked another panel free from the metallic cylinder he was dissembling and carefully set it aside.