I was lost. Completely and utterly.
The chat was silent for a long time, and all of the icons were gray. If they hadn’t managed to leave through the portal, then their names would have skulls over them. They were simply out of range. I sincerely hoped that some of them were lucky enough to have escaped. The glass is both half-full and half-empty.
A Fragment of Reality has been found and named The Shriek Citadel.
Distance: 666 feet
Follow the mark on the map. Activate the Dimensional Key to raise your chances.
What? This isn’t a system error? There’s still hope?
The message didn’t disappear. It was real.
My failing spirit was rekindled. So, those were the conditions needed to trigger the Door search. Of course there were Fragments — after all, the world was falling apart before our eyes!
I hastily turned Fury toward the Citadel, still not really knowing what to do. At least I received a hint. My heart was pounding like crazy, threatening to jump out of my chest. But before Fury and I even had time to advance, several giant cracks appeared on the plain ahead with a deafening roar, opening an abyss between me and my target.
Right before my eyes, the mound with the Citadel began to slowly sink, like a colossal ship devoured by a whirlpool. Fury and I were at the very edge of this whirlpool; all around us, mile after mile, the world exploded into bits; giant debris flew in all directions, floating in the air as if gravity had disappeared.
Follow the mark?! Where? Into the abyss?! To hell with all of you...
The entrance to the Shriek Citadel Reality Shard is in range. Time is of the essence.
Activate the Dimensional Key: yes / no?
Fuck everyone who invented this! Yes, activate the damn thing!
Pulling the Key out of my pouch, I frantically squeezed it in my fist. Put it where?!
The Crystal in my hand flared up; a thin, luminous thread shot from it in a smooth arc, diving somewhere downward. My gaze fixed on that beam, I followed. The air around me stirred violently, roaring, causing the world to sway in front of my eyes, like a boat in a storm. By this time, the pointed roof of the Control Center tower had sunk more than a hundred feet below the level of the plain, and it had no intention of stopping. The courtyard was already dragged into darkness, from which some kind of prismatic spot rose. Was that the entrance?! The thread, thinning with the distance and almost disappearing from sight seemed to have rested just there...
I spurred Fury’s with such force that she rose in pain.
Turning around, we raced a dozen steps. Another sharp turn — right in front of a gaping crack. A mad jerk back to reach maximum speed. In the next moment, Fury leapt forward with all her strength, sprawled in the air like a flying squirrel.
New ability unlocked: Keymaster
When you’re falling into the abyss, you somehow have no wish to read system messages.
All I could do was stare at the prismatic funnel of the entrance toward which I was rushing like a madman, with Fury howling in horror and Tinnie screaming in my ear. Whole islands of debris crumbled around in cascades of snow dust, colliding with stones and one another, but Tinnie’s screech overpowered even that rumble. Any pair of such stones could grind us all to dust.
The funnel approached mockingly slowly, growing in size, but at the same time gradually shifted to the side and down. Yellow and blue lightning flashed around it, frenziedly blasting any approaching stones, and turning them into molten chunks of lava.
In my terror-stricken mind, only one thought persisted — will I make it?
Note from the author
Hello, friends! I hope it was interesting for you to travel through the Universe ICS.
If you like the story, consider leaving a review, please. Let it be short, never mind, every your feedback is the best reward for my team and me. I read all of them with the great pleasure.
If you have no opportunity to review on Amazon, here are my publish pages:
Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/Zuboskales
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Zuboskales
All the books in the series the "Universe ICS":
1."Soulcatcher"
2."Keymaster"
3."Seeker"
4."Executioner"
5."Destroyer"
There are several Facebook LitRPG groups:
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Keymaster Page 50
