Awaken Online: Inferno (Tarot #3)

by Travis Bagwell

  “I think I might have an idea for that,” Kyyle replied.

  Finn and Julia turned to him – the same question painted on their faces.

  The earth mage grinned back. “After that fight with Kalisha and Malik back in the Abyss, I’ve been practicing what I’m calling my Doppelganger spell.” He raised a hand defensively. “I know, I know, it’s not technically a separate spell, but just go with it. Either way, we’ve already established that the corrupted use some sort of light-mana-based detection system that allows them to sense mana. Maybe we can use my clones as decoys to distract whatever is in there into attacking the doppelgangers instead of us.”

  Julia glanced at Finn. “That’s not bad. It may buy us time, at least until Kyyle runs out of mana. After that, if you cast Imbue Fire on my armor, that might allow me to act as our tank for a while. If this thing is using fire-based attacks, I may be pretty resistant between my armor and your enchantment.”

  “Maybe. But that assumes this thing is using the same flaming claws or beam weapons we’ve seen on the security mechs,” Finn retorted.

  “Well, all we have to go on here are assumptions and a few educated guesses,” she retorted with a small, anxious smile.

  “That’s what’s troubling me,” Finn replied under his breath. “If we’re wrong, we could be screwed. Are either of you certain of how the respawn system works in here? I certainly haven’t been prompted to set a new spawn point since we made it to the Hive or arrived at the Forge. If we die in this facility, my guess is that we’ll end up back in Lahab, or, best case, back in the reception area. Either way, I expect it’s going to be a pain to get back here – if it’s possible at all.”

  “Well, technically, there’s a third and even worse option,” Kyyle offered hesitantly. “We could respawn in one of the other sections with no easy way to access this section or bring the fire pylon back online and open the central chamber.”

  Finn winced at that statement. That meant they might be trapped down here – one of the few ways to permanently destroy a player’s avatar. No matter how they sliced this, they were about to take a big risk.

  His daughter let out a snort. “There’s no sense contemplating every terrible scenario. This whole journey is a shot in the dark – a gamble. If we do nothing, where does that leave us? Facing a demon king with nothing to prevent him from using that damn staff to convert our own soldiers. Translation: we’re still screwed.”

  She took a deep breath, rubbing at her neck. “Not that any of that matters anyway. We’re already effectively trapped in here. We aren’t getting back into the reception area now that it has reestablished the connection to the air mana section. So, the only way we’re going to escape this place is if we die or if we bring the damn pylon back online.

  “So, the real question is, do we really have anything to lose?”

  Finn met her gaze. With his Short-Sighted ability, he could see the determination reflected in her eyes. She was right. He knew she was right. But more than that, even staring at the terrible hand that they’d been dealt, she didn’t blink – didn’t hesitate for a moment. Not that he was surprised. The only shock was that it had taken him this long to recognize just how strong his daughter had become. Rachael would have been proud, regardless of whether they won or lost here.

  He could also see that same resolve echoed in the way that Kyyle stood beside Julia. As her eyes flitted to his, Kyyle’s back straightened, his breathing evened, and he gripped his staff firmly. He gave her a curt nod of agreement. The earth mage’s motivations might have been just a touch self-interested – staring down death to impress a girl. But Finn couldn’t begrudge him that. It wasn’t so long ago that he had done the same.

  More importantly, it seemed both of his companions had faith in their ability to overcome even this obstacle.

  Anything. Everything. They had taken his motto to heart.

  Who would he be if he backed down now – after coming so far?

  “So, what do you say? You ready to get to work?” Julia asked, offering her hand.

  Finn accepted her grip, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Always.”

  Chapter 20 - Supervisory

  The beam of fiery energy cut into the dense, jagged lump of metal welded between the blast door and the frame. The ensuing shower of sparks and heat forced Finn to stand a few feet away, holding the beam steady with his hand and following the guidelines painted in his UI. It had taken him a while to learn to stabilize his new Molten Beam spell, but he’d had plenty of opportunity to practice over the last hour.

  As the molten energy touched the metal, the surface quickly heated to a dull glow and then a vibrant, glowing red. With his Mana Sight active, Finn could see the moment the beam was about to pierce the other side of the slag, and his right hand twitched. The beam shifted, gradually etching a horizontal line in the metal. When the energy began to lick at the adjacent wall, he adjusted the trajectory downward. Then ever-so-slowly to the left. Then upward again until he had formed a rough rectangle with the burnt furrow.

  Finn abruptly extinguished the spell and backed off, wiping at the sweat that dotted his brow with the back of his hand. He surveyed his work. He’d carved nearly a dozen of these narrow, rectangular blocks in the metal now, the burnt, black lines running the length of the slag.

  “I think that should do it,” Finn declared.

  “About time,” Daniel reported from his shoulder. “The others are nearly ready.”

  Finn nodded. It had taken him longer than expected to carve up the metal. The block of slag was far too large and thick to use his Imbue Fire – and even if he had, he ran the risk of simply welding the metal even more firmly in place. Not to mention that coating the entire block of metal in fire mana would likely alert whatever might be lingering on the other side of that massive blast door.

  He paced through the dark chamber into one of the adjacent rooms, reflexively rubbing at his neck again. After losing a second Najima to the infection, that perpetual, simmering ache had begun to spread up toward his head and right shoulder. Even casting Molten Beam a few times had caused the infection to spread toward his other Najima. He abruptly switched back to Short-Sighted, refusing to look at the magical injury. He wasn’t certain what was happening to him, but there wasn’t much he could do about it right now.

  He just needed to move faster.

  And hope that he could complete his goal before his digital body entirely fell apart.

  As soon as he stepped into the adjacent room, Finn stopped stock-still. He was staring at the mirror image of himself. An older man, robed in thick cloth, his eyes bandaged, his arm injured, and a dark metal blade stretching from the stump.

  As Finn looked on, the doppelganger abruptly lunged forward, his makeshift blade swiping at Finn’s head. He easily parried the blow to the discordant screech of metal and pivoted for the counterattack. Yet the doppelganger stumbled from the force of his parry, and Finn dropped into a crouch, kicking its legs out from under it. The clone hit the floor and immediately dissolved, breaking apart into streamers of rock that surged back to Kyyle and coiled around his staff like stone serpents.

  “It’s better, but the movements are still a little jerky,” Finn said, side-eyeing Kyyle and Julia.

  “Always the critic,” Kyyle grumbled with a faint smile. “Either way, it’s good enough to fool the corrupted. I expect they won’t care much for the detail work.”

  “You tested it on the ones we trapped?” Finn asked.

  Kyyle nodded. “Yeah, I formed a doppelganger just past the door. I was firing blind, but we just needed to see if they reacted.”

  “We accidentally woke the hornet’s nest,” Julia reported as she double and triple checked her equipment, tugging at the straps that held her platemail in place. “They went nuts for a few minutes once they detected the mana. It looks like the corrupted can regenerate in about an hour with their limited Najima… at least, if the noise on the other side of the sealed door was any indication.�
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  As she noticed Finn’s frown and the way his eyes drifted to that section of the facility, she added quickly. “They damaged the last door in that section but didn’t manage to break through, and they’ve been down for their magical naptime for about 15 minutes. It should be safe to breach the pylon room.”

  “I hope so,” Finn said with a sigh. “I’m really hoping that the distortion from the crystal will make it impossible for them to pick up on our mana when we breach. I’d rather slip into the pylon chamber unnoticed,” he continued. That limitation had become increasingly frustrating for Finn as they navigated the complex. It felt like he was half-blind. But perhaps they could use it to their advantage here.

  “That’s the plan,” his daughter said, eyeing him with a concerned expression. She approached and rested a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

  Finn nodded, straightening and meeting her eyes. He had to resist the urge to rub at his stump again – that ache still hadn’t relented. “Yeah… yeah, I’m fine. The decoys work. The blast door is prepped. You ready with your new toy?”

  A smile stretched across Julia’s face as she lifted a solid cylinder of dark metal. Loops were welded onto the top and back – makeshift handles that imitated a real-world design. Finn had forged a crude battering ram using several of his metal spheres. The damn thing was a solid hunk of metal so dense that he and Kyyle had difficulty lifting it. Even his daughter’s arms strained under the weight. Although the feat was still quite impressive given that she was also wearing full platemail. He should be able to help compensate for the weight once he enchanted her armor.

  At least, that was the theory.

  “I’ve been practicing getting the angle of the swing right. I did some digging online and found a good SWAT training tutorial,” she replied with a grin. Letting the battering ram lean against her shoulder, a shower of sparks flashed where it struck her dark armor. She waved at a series of workbenches along the side of the room, many of which had been cracked in half. “Turns out, I’m a fast learner.”

  “It certainly looks like it,” Finn said, chuckling in amusement. He paused as he mentally inventoried their next steps. “It sounds like we’re ready then.”

  “For the record, I’m definitely not ready. I say we should practice for another few hours,” Daniel chirped, his form dimming. “Brock is with me, right?”

  The rocks that made up the earth elemental’s body ground together as the elemental turned his glowing green eyes to Daniel. “An attendant’s duty is to serve. If it is time to serve, then we are ready.”

  “Sounds a lot like slavery to me,” Daniel muttered.

  Kyyle patted Brock on the shoulder. “I’m kind of enjoying our new elemental. All of the benefits with none of the backtalk,” he said with an amused glance at Daniel.

  “Yeah, it’s great if you like talking to an oversized doorstop with no sense of self-preservation,” the fire elemental grumbled. For his part, Brock seemed oblivious to the banter. He simply floated in place, his glowing green eyes watching them.

  Finn just shook his head. He knew the squabbling was just nerves. They were about to make a big gamble… another one. “Well, I, for one, enjoy the added personality,” he offered, glancing at Daniel with a smile. He hadn’t forgotten how the AI had managed to lure the corrupted into the dead-end hallway. That comment earned him a soft flash of orange light, and the fire elemental promptly darted over to his shoulder, circling Finn slowly.

  His attention shifted back to his companions. “Alright, enough standing around. The clock is ticking. Let’s get in position.”

  Kyyle and Julia nodded, and the group shuffled back into the main chamber in silence. Without the verbal sparring, there was nothing left to distract them from what was coming. The tension in the air was almost palpable, a heavy weight that seemed to blanket the darkened room.

  They immediately moved into specific spots around the chamber. Julia hovered in front of the blast door with the battering ram gripped firmly in her gauntlets. Kyyle summoned two of his doppelgangers and maneuvered them into place on either side of the doorway, but kept them out of range of any shrapnel from the pre-cut slag. The earth mage precast the clones to allow his mana to regenerate to full capacity – the channeling cost less than his natural regeneration. Hopefully, that would be enough to buy them some time to assess their enemy.

  Brock took up a position just behind Julia. The slag filled a gap, only a scant foot between the door and the frame. Once the obstruction had been removed, the earth elemental’s job was to force the blast door open wide enough for the doppelgangers to enter.

  Finn and Kyyle were standing about fifteen feet back from the opening, keeping the door and part of the pylon chamber on the other side within their control range, but themselves out of direct line of sight of the gap. They had no clue what was lingering inside that room, but they had already had enough experience with the beam weapons employed by the security mechs to be cautious.

  The goal was simple. Breach. Send in the decoys. Assess.

  “Man, I hope this is overkill,” Kyyle muttered under his breath.

  “Statistically, that’s highly unlikely. Would you like to know the exact probability of our gruesome and untimely death?” Daniel replied, earning him a mock glare from Kyyle. The fire elemental darted around Finn’s shoulders, flying through an anxious loop.

  “No, I’m good. At a time like this, it helps to lie to yourself a bit,” the earth mage said with a frown. “It’s reassuring and helps you overcome your nerves.”

  “Ahh, I understand. So, self-delusion is beneficial in stressful circumstances,” Daniel said, his form freezing in place and blinking once as he processed that information. “In that case, we’re totally going to be okay! This will be a cakewalk, team!” he announced in a chipper voice, his body flashing in an alternating pattern – like some sort of fiery cheerleader.

  “Okay, now that’s way worse,” Kyyle grumbled.

  “You know your part?” Finn interrupted, eyeing Daniel.

  “Yes, sir,” the fire elemental replied, his tone returning to normal. “Enter after the doppelgangers, use them for cover, and get a scan of whatever is inside. Then return to you and report.”

  Finn nodded. His eyes surveyed the room, his mind already working through a mental checklist. They were in place. The door was prepped. Kyyle’s decoys were ready. He glanced at his group UI; their health, mana, and stamina were all full.

  They were as ready as they could be.

  “Alright, get ready to breach. We go as soon as I light you up!” Finn called out to Julia. She nodded and gripped the ram firmly, the metal of her gauntlets scraping against the handholds and her feet scuffing the floor as she adjusted her footing.

  Finn took a deep breath and then channeled his mana. The burning energy rushed through his body in a raging torrent, sweeping away his doubt and hesitation. The sensation was a relief, even if he knew it came with a cost now. With the flames came a boundless excitement, the glowing metal embedded in his eyes focused on the blast door as his fingers began to wind through the gestures of Imbue Fire automatically.

  Flames soon encircled Julia’s armor, wrapping around the dark metal at her feet before sliding up her thighs, then her chest and arms. The fires soon swept past her head, the patches of skin between the panels of metal rippling and contorting as her natural absorption took hold, and her body converted into flame.

  Once she was completely coated in fire, and her armor began to glow a dull red, Julia yanked back on the battering ram, swinging it behind her. Finn offered some assistance, the fingers of his right hand twitching as he added a bit more force to the upswing. The battering ram arced wide and seemed to hover in the air for a moment – as though suspended in time.

  This is it, Finn thought. There’s no going back from here.

  Then the battering ram rushed forward. The combination of Julia’s natural strength and Finn’s enchantment sent the metal cylinder hurtling through the air with
incredible force. The dark metal was a blur as it barreled toward the pre-cut slag.

  Then it slammed home.

  The dense metal crumpled under the blow, and the pre-cut blocks exploded into the pylon chamber, tearing chunks from the nearby wall where the metal still clung to the reinforced stone. A shower of dust and debris blew out of the newly formed hole, filling the area around the door. Yet that did little to obstruct Finn’s Mana Sight.

  He saw Julia dart backward, and Brock moved forward into position. The earth elemental’s massive hands grappled with the edge of the door, his fingers shifting and rotating to help him find purchase on the stone. With a surge of emerald energy, the elemental began to pull the portal open one reluctant inch at a time, the blast door grinding against the frame above and below the doorway. Just a few seconds later, Brock had formed a large enough gap for Kyyle’s doppelgangers to slip through.

  The living statues barreled into the room with Daniel hot on their heels – his flaming body a streak of color. Finn shifted to the side carefully to get line of sight on the pylon chamber, peering through that crack in the door. Now that all of the interference had been removed and the viewing angle was much wider, he could finally make out the interior of the room. It was roughly circular, the floor littered with metallic debris. And along the edges of the room and the back wall were low counters or worktables.

  A fan of white light swept across the room as soon as Kyyle’s statues crossed the threshold, the origin point lingering near the back wall. As soon as that energy touched the glowing emerald doppelgangers, the location of their enemy became clear – a dull orange glow igniting on the far end of the room.

  Possibly one of the corrupted? The scan and initial energy signature were a close match to the mech-human hybrids they had encountered. That was troublesome but manageable. Working together, they should be able to take out one of the corrupted.

  Yet Finn hesitated as he saw that energy continue to grow brighter and brighter, illuminating a figure that was much larger than the human-mech hybrids they had encountered before. His eyes widened as he saw several cores flare to life in its chest, orbiting a sun-like primary core that glowed with brilliant orange and red energy.