by Alex Knight
The woman spun, shield at the ready, and Kaiden fell into line beside her as the voidspawn surrounded them.
The strength of the voidspawn, Kaiden figured, was in numbers. They were the same as any low-level mob. Like giant rats or slimes in fantasy games, they were weak enough to be a fair fight for new players, but increasingly fearsome in a group such as this.
The closest spawn lashed a tentacle at Kaiden, its suckers sliding across his shield. The blow sent ripples of energy across the face of the force field, and Kaiden saw a white bar appear in the lower right of his vision.
Charge bar activated
Current charge: 10/100
Let’s try this new attack, huh?
Just like he flicked his shield on with a thought, Kaiden thought ‘Hammer Smash’ as he slammed his hammer into the ground.
Lightning crackled across the floor for five feet in all directions, a glowing wave of light that lit up the room as if it were day. The energy slammed into the four voidspawn and the two previously injured creatures screeched and collapsed.
Voidspawn killed - 50 EXP gained!
Voidspawn killed - 50 EXP gained!
The remaining two spawn recoiled, hissing in pain, but still standing with their health bars in the green. A quick focus told him the pair were level three.
Kaiden brought his shield to the front and reared back with his hammer.
“I’ll take the one on the left,” he said, backing up shoulder to shoulder with the other recruit. The burst of light from Hammer Smash had ruined his night vision, and in the darkened room he couldn’t quite make out her face.
“I don’t need your help,” she spat, but raised her weapons nonetheless.
Her response made Kaiden furrow his brow, but he had little time to think on it as the voidspawn attacked.
Both launched at his shield together, slamming their bodies against it and pushing him back, inch by inch. The voidspawn were fast, but while they excelled in aggression, they seemed lacking in intelligence. Their fighting style largely consisted of hurling themselves at their enemies which, considering Kaiden had a shield, worked to little effect.
The other recruit lunged with her hammer, but her target dodged aside before lashing at her feet beneath her shield. She yelped in surprise and dropped to her knee, crouching behind her shield to be more fully covered by it. Kaiden did the same, bracing as his shield was slammed into again and again.
He had built twenty-five units of charge, and launched another Hammer Smash. The voidspawn were unable to dodge, and the energy crackled through their bodies as their health dropped into the yellow.
Lunging with his shield, Kaiden pushed his still-twitching voidspawn opponent back into the other, tangling them together. He raised his hammer for a finishing blow, but was interrupted when the other recruit jumped in front of him.
She crushed one voidspawn’s head with a forehand swing, then splattered the other against the wall with a backhand blow. It was a one-two punch that left both creatures limp on the floor.
Voidspawn assisted kill - 25 EXP gained!
Voidspawn assisted kill - 25 EXP gained!
Kaiden shook himself from his thoughts to find the other recruit standing still and staring off into space.
“Level two,” she said, no doubt reading the text on her screen. “Hammer Smash unlocked. So that’s the attack you’ve been using.” She almost smiled then, but as her eyes fell on Kaiden her face twisted into a scowl.
It was then that he recognized her.
Zelda.
“Oh. Oh, uh…” The words caught in his throat as he panicked over what to say. The recruit he’d just fought with – the recruit he’d just saved, one might say – was the very same one from the shuttle earlier. The one who’d been trying to bore a hole through his head with her gaze alone. Kaiden felt his cheeks flush, then grow even hotter as anger rose in him.
“What’s your problem with me?”
“I already said I didn’t need your help,” she huffed, then turned toward the door.
Before either could speak again, Sergeant Dawson’s voice came over the comms.
“Boat’s leaving, recruits. If you’ve managed to live this long, consider me almost impressed. Be a shame to see you fail because you couldn’t make it back on time, though. You have five minutes, starting one minute ago.” A timer sprang into being in the corner of Kaiden’s vision, counting down.
After the sergeant’s message, Kaiden looked back to Zelda.
“Look, I don’t know what your deal is, but if we don’t make it back we’re both going to fail this test. We need to–”
She didn’t even wait for him to finish before sprinting from the room and down the corridor.
Kaiden sighed, then broke into a run.
Gaming had never been this intense before. Then again, he’d never been playing to earn a chance at freedom. The stakes, as it happened, were just a bit higher here.
Apparently, whoever Zelda was, she knew her way back to the docking bay. Kaiden followed her at a comfortable distance, footfalls clanking and clanging on the metal floor. It wasn’t the stealthiest method, but they didn’t really have time to worry about attracting attention, as Sergeant Dawson repeatedly reminded them over the comms. The timer continued to tick down.
Turning back into corridors Kaiden recognized, they came across the remains of what had to have been a massive battle. Recruits and voidspawn alike littered the floor, bodies torn and battered. It was all too obvious who’d won, however, as several living voidspawn still lingered among the fallen, feasting on the corpses with macabre jerking motions.
They hissed and reared back as Kaiden and Zelda ran past, but there was hardly time for a fight. Kaiden bobbed and weaved, dodging the creatures' attacks as he sprinted after Zelda.
A chorus of chittering rose up behind him, and after stealing a glance backward, Kaiden ducked his head and sprinted even harder. Apparently, more voidspawn than they’d realized had survived the fight, and now they’d been worked into a frenzy. In a rolling, writhing wave of tentacles and pink-gray flesh, the voidspawn surged after them.
“We’ve got company,” Kaiden yelled up to Zelda. Whether she heard him or not, he couldn’t tell.
The horde of voidspawn was mere paces behind him, and only thirty seconds remained on the timer. Kaiden turned one last corner and breathed something resembling a sigh of relief as the docking bay drew into view. His stamina bar was near empty and he couldn’t outrun the voidspawn for much longer.
A clattering from an open door to the left caught his attention and he flicked his shield on, expecting more voidspawn to come charging out as he ran past. Instead, Titus leaned his head out and grimaced deeply at the oncoming horde.
“Gotta move,” Kaiden yelled as he sprinted past.
“I can’t leave yet,” Titus’ voice trickled back.
“Run or die, up to you!”
Titus stood frozen for another moment, then, with a last look back into the room he’d been searching, sprinted after Kaiden.
Zelda was first into the tunnel, then Kaiden followed moments later.
Another recruit was already in there, banging on the door to the shuttle and shaking wildly.
“I can’t handle this shit. I’ll wait my time out in a cell. Just get me out of here!”
“That everyone?” Sergeant Dawson asked over the comms.
Titus rounded the corner, a barrage of tentacles lashing after him, and dove into the tunnel.
“We’re all here,” Kaiden said, pulling Titus to his feet, then backing up against the door to the shuttle.
A hiss of air filled the tunnel and the Dalcinae’s damaged door began to open. But too slowly. The voidspawn were streaming up to them, tentacles and teeth at the ready.
“One last fight, then,” Kaiden said, raising his shield and pressing his back against the door. “You with us?” he said to the shaking recruit.
“The hell I am!” He turned around, trying to help pull the two h
alves of the sliding door open. Another hiss and the door to the shuttle shot open, and the four of them fell through.
“No time to dawdle, recruits.” Sergeant Dawson said, dragging the terrified recruit inside.
As the door snapped shut, one ambitious voidspawn dove through the gap. It pulled itself up and hissed at the recruits.
“This party’s invite only,” Sergeant Dawson said and picked the voidspawn up by its throat. He shoved it into the trash chute, then closed the latch and pressed a button, ejecting the voidspawn into space.
Sergeant Dawson turned, wiping voidspawn ooze off his hands, and smiled.
“Well done, recruits. Some of you might even pass this test.”
Chapter Eight
Fourteen survivors. That was all who'd made it back.
Fourteen ‘victors,’ as Sergeant Dawson called them, but Kaiden wasn’t so sure that term was appropriate. Fourteen recruits had made it back, which meant as many others had died in-game.
In and of itself, it wasn’t that bad a punishment. Dying in Nova locked you out of playing for seven days, Kaiden knew. Not fun, certainly, but nothing permanent. These recruits hadn’t just died, though. They’d also failed the test. They’d botched their chance at becoming wardens.
They’d all done something wrong to end up in prison – or probably had, considering his own case – but that didn’t mean they didn’t deserve the chance to make up for their actions.
The Governor might’ve been a bit odd, and Sergeant Dawson was certainly a bit too dedicated to his job, but spending your time in prison playing the most popular video game in the world didn’t sound like such a bad deal.
Looking around the silent shuttle, Kaiden could see several of the survivors weren’t long for the program. It was obvious from the dejection in their faces.
The closest to him was Titus, slumped in his seat. Whereas the other recruits simply looked happy to be away from the terror of the voidspawn, Titus was different. Something about him didn’t look afraid. No, it was more...disappointment.
He’s more afraid of failing the test than he was of the voidspawn.
The realization struck Kaiden like a hammer blow. As he processed it, he noticed what Titus was holding. In his loosely closed fist were two vibranium crystals.
What an unfair system, he thought. We fought together in that mess. Titus proved mastery of the basic elements of the game, held his own in combat, and saved my life. Why should he fail just because he didn’t stop to collect some useless crystals?
Kaiden patted his own pockets where he’d stored a total of eight crystals. Three more than he actually needed to pass the test. But the bonus experience from them would probably be helpful, right?
And then an idea crept into his head. It wasn’t a good idea, not by any means, but it was the right thing to do. Once again, he found himself acting without thinking, moving from his seat to plop down next to Titus.
“That was a rough first mission, huh?” Kaiden said, realizing just how bad he was at small talk.
“You like to state the obvious, don’t you?”
“Well, you know, it’s one of my favorite pastimes,” Kaiden said, not making much sense, but not caring either. He was too distracted watching the rest of the shuttle, trying to see if anyone was looking their way.
“I’m going to have plenty of time to waste on useless conversations while I serve out the rest of my sentence,” Titus said. “So why don’t you give me these last few moments of peace before they kick me out of the program?”
“Fair enough, fair enough,” Kaiden said, then patted him on the shoulder. As he did, he let three crystals fall from his hand and into the man’s lap.
“What’re you doing?”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” Kaiden whispered as he stood to head back to his seat.
Titus opened his mouth as if to say something, then stopped, eyes darting around to the other occupants of the shuttle. Kaiden did the same. No one seemed to be paying any attention. After another moment, the big man nodded, then took the crystals.
“Thank you, Kaiden.”
“My friends call me Kai,” he lied. No one called him that, and the only friend he’d had had been murdered. But he’d always wanted someone to call him Kai.
“Thank you, Kai.”
“It was a pleasure killing voidspawn with you, Titus.”
Kaiden headed back to his seat, fighting a smile. Who needed the bonus experience points from extra crystals anyway? He’d done what was fair, and that had been in short supply in his life lately. Better yet, he’d pulled it off without anyone noticing. Or so he hoped – he was pretty sure if he’d been caught, both he and Titus would be kicked out of the program.
Guess I’m just that smooth, Kaiden thought, until he noticed Zelda staring at him.
He felt his smile give way as the shuttle seemed to instantly rise in temperature. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead. Had she seen him give Titus the crystals? Would she report them to the sergeant?
A dozen questions raced through his mind, but as the shuttle continued its journey back, the only answer he found was silence.
It was lucky Kaiden had passed the crystals on in the shuttle. As soon as the shuttle returned to the WCSS Anakoni’s hangar, Sergeant Dawson had them all turn their crystals in. Thankfully, Zelda didn’t rat him and Titus out. Maybe she hadn’t seen the exchange after all. Or maybe she just hadn’t cared. But with the looks she’d been giving him, Kaiden was sure she would have jumped at the chance to get rid of him. Perhaps he’d earned some goodwill when they fought together? He doubted it.
All in all, he was thoroughly confused. But he didn’t get reported for sharing crystals, and just then, that was enough.
He and Titus, Zelda, and most of the others passed the test. Two of the fourteen survivors were short on crystals, however.
“Close,” the sergeant said. “But close doesn’t cut it in the Warden Corps. Turn in your hammers and shields, and log off.”
“This is a load of crap!” one of them protested.
“Turn in your gear and log off,” the sergeant said. “I won’t ask again.”
The recruit reared his hammer back instead. A bad choice, as it happened. He never stood a chance.
Sergeant Dawson punched his chest, then swept his feet out from under him. The surprised recruit slammed to the floor, his hammer clattering away. The two strikes had almost entirely emptied his health bar.
In the span of a heartbeat Sergeant Dawson stripped the recruit’s shield bracer from his forearm, then hefted him by the shoulder. He dragged the man to the edge of the hangar, stopping just where the glowing energy barrier separated them from the frozen abyss of space.
“Last chance to willingly log off,” he said with a growl.
“Screw you,” the recruit spat and reached for a latch on the wall labelled “decompression alarm.”
Sergeant Dawson jerked him away before he got near it.
“Pull that alarm and you’ll be locked in this hangar with me for an hour or more until the gearheads get it deactivated. For your sake, this is a much preferable alternative,” he said, and tossed the recruit through the energy barrier.
For the first few seconds he flailed, arms moving as if he were swimming back toward the hangar, but his momentum carried him further and further away. What little was left of his health bar ticked away in a matter of moments. Soon he’d fallen still but for a slight rotation as he spun slowly into the void. It didn’t take long before his darkened form was indistinguishable from the blackness beyond.
Sergeant Dawson placed his hands on his hips and gave a firm nod.
“Been too long since I got to do that.”
He turned back to the other recruit who’d failed.
The man yelped, then logged off. One moment he was there, the next he was gone.
“Well now, I believe congratulations are in order, recruits,” the sergeant said, dusting off his hands and walking back to them. �
�Though 'recruits' is no longer an appropriate title. You proved yourselves today. Welcome to the Warden Corps.”
Quest complete: Collect 5 vibranium crystals
Rewards: +200 EXP
Initiation into the Warden Corps
“You’ve earned the honor of wearing our sigil.” As the sergeant spoke, a light glowed to life on each of their shoulders and then the crossed hammers and shield of the Warden Corps materialized on their armor.
Faction Alignment Update
Alignment: Warden Corps
Rank: Ensign
As the notification appeared, Kaiden felt another addition to his uniform snap into place. A small metal band now sat just below the base of his helmet. It ran the whole way around his neck like a strange piece of sci-fi jewellery.
“I see a few of you are admiring your shiny new collars,” Sergeant Dawson said with a smirk. “You, my fortunate little ensigns, are now the exclusive property of the Warden Corps.” His smirk became a grin as he continued. “From this day forward, until your release from service, that collar signifies your duty to the corps and all it stands for. While you are wearing that collar, we will always know where you are, and you will be bound to this station as your one and only spawn point.” His expression made it clear that he considered this a wonderful prospect.
“Those of you who manage to make it to retirement will have your collars personally removed by Captain Thorne and become veterans, retaining all of your levels, gear and abilities but without any formal affiliation to the corps. Though why anyone would want to leave my beautiful Anakoni is, personally, beyond my understanding.”
Kaiden fingered the collar. It was a not so subtle reminder that even in this virtual world his situation was the same. He was a prisoner. Pushing the collar from his mind, he tried to focus on the game.
“You’ll now enjoy many of the benefits of my beloved corps,” the sergeant explained, pacing in front of them. “Equipment repairs, shuttle refueling, and other necessities will all be taken care of here free of charge. Next, you’ll be grouped into squads of three, then paired with a handler. This handler will relay your orders from command, give you quests, and travel with you on said quests to ensure you do the Warden Corps proud.” He squinted as he delivered the next part of his speech, leaning in close to their formation.
