Dreadpool revives, shuddering and cursing.
“Let’s go,” Astra says. “Let’s… Let’s get out of here.”
Everything inside of me screams to run back to the glade. To try to help. But I know it’s useless. “Yeah, I… Yeah.”
“Wait, what the hell is going on?” Dreadpool pulls away from us, eyes wild. “Is that Hav? What the hell did you guys do?”
“Not us,” Astra says. “We’ll explain later. Just… Take our hand. We have to go, right now. Your guildmate gave us a teleportation rune and–”
“Gave? Gave? More like you stole it after you… You fucking cheated to kill him or… Or something…” On cue, the screams from the clearing abruptly end, dousing us in silence.
“Look, man, I know we didn’t get off to the best start, but I’m telling you that bad shit is going down and Havel gave us the rune and potion.” I hand the them to Mika and then hold up my empty hands like I’m trying to calm down a rabid animal. “Now, please, he asked that you come with us and–”
“No, no way. Fuck that.” Dreadpool backs up another step, eyes darting from the clearing to us. “You murdered me, and now you’ve murdered him. And stole his shit.” He suddenly lurches at Mika, dirty fingers reaching for the healing potion. “Give me that. It’s not yours. That shit’s worth more than all of your lives and–”
He cuts off when he runs straight into a handful of black claws. Syl sneers. “If you touch her, I will kill you again.”
Dreadpool stumbles back, then lurches away to dart down the lane. “You’re crazy. You all are!” he shouts over his shoulder. “When I tell my guild what you’ve done, you’ll be fucking dead. And when you respawn, we’ll be waiting! I’ll tell everyone what you did to Hav… I’ll…” he trails off, huffing as he turns off the path and disappears into the trees.
Great. Thirty minutes into salvation and we’re already gonna be on the run.
I guess I should be used to this by now. “What’s his guild? So we know to watch for them.”
“Serpent’s Wrath.” Mika shakes her head. “Terrible name.”
“Follow him?” Syl has murder in her eyes.
“No time,” Astra murmurs. “He’s coming.”
The Shepherd stands at the exit of the clearing less than twenty feet away. He doesn’t move, doesn’t try to chase us down. Almost like he knows that we can escape, that the rune will spirit us away. He just watches.
Like he’s getting ready for the chase.
Whatever. I’m not waiting around. We outran him once and we can do it again. Or maybe there’s someone or something in this world that can help. I just know that waiting here is death. “Let’s go.” Mika raises the rune and everyone joins hands. She presses its center and the raised symbol bursts into brilliant light.
The world blurs into nothingness.
11
Portal Cavern
Player: Sam
Level: 1
We reform almost instantly as the rune crumbles to dust in my hand.
I’m not sure what I expected. My atoms ripped to a thousand particles like Star Trek or something. Loss of awareness. Maybe pain. It seems like everything we’ve done since I woke up in that first hallway has involved agony of some kind or another.
Instead, the world just… Shifts. One moment, I’m staring down the Shepherd, and in the next we’re in…
I blink, eyes slowly adjusting to dim neon light.
We’re in Blade Runner?
“What the hell…” Mika breathes, turning a slow circle after we release hands.
I don’t blame her reaction. Going from giant knights and a gentle forest to this… It takes me a minute to adjust and take in my surroundings.
This is a mammoth cave at least a mile across. The ceiling hangs high above us, and I can only tell it’s there by what looks like pinpoint tunnels that worm up into daylight. They do nothing to illuminate the area around us. But it is lit; channels of soft glow emanate from long grooves cut into cave walls that then extend in a lattice above us about twenty feet up. It looks like a massive neon sign hung in a roughly square grid.
The dark stone walls are spanned at regular length by enormous circular tunnels, each surrounded by a metal ring. Some kind of energy field crackles at the entrance to each tunnel, swirling blue energy that reminds me of the rune when it transported us. Ornate signs are hung above each tunnel and I turn, reading them quietly to myself.
Haven, The Stormspire, The Black Shroud, Acheryx…
“There,” I say, nudging the others. “We need to get over there. Like, fast. If the Shepherd’s chasing us again…”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. At least, not yet,” Astra says. “Well, worry a little, but for now we should be safe.”
Syl claws flex. “How do you know?”
“Because he’s like us, now.” Astra pushes her glasses up. “Well, not exactly. He’s still the Shepherd. But like me, he used to be able to ignore things like distance. Teleport through the Citadel. Now?”
Mika’s eyes widen. “He has to walk? Like some normie?”
“Well… Yes.”
“That’s good news,” I say. And good timing. Our spirits feel pretty goddamn low right now, so a little boon is definitely welcome.
“If you need a free hand, I attached a leather strap to the back of your belt,” Astra tells me, tapping it with a slim finger.
“Handy, thanks,” I say, attaching the potion without looking.
“Bravo,” Mika says with a mock clap.
“Thank you, thank you,” I bow. “Alright, let’s get to the Acheryx portal.”
“That may be a bit rough…” Mika points, face grim.
I’ve been vaguely aware that we’re not the only ones in the cave, but it’s not until Mika draws my gaze from the staggering view above us that I really take in the players we share the space with.
And realize that they’re watching us. Every single one of them.
There are at least fifty people in the cave; at a glance, they mostly seem like other players on the way to adventure. Their skins range from mundane, such as knights in armor or wizards in long robes, to futuristic or bizarre; I spot at least one Stormtrooper with a long blaster rifle, and next to him is a woman half my size wearing see through, skintight leathers. Behind her head floats a crackling orb that darts and weaves through the air, and she holds some kind of pike that’s almost comically huge for her tiny frame.
Their eyes are fixed on us. It’s like the moment in a movie when something embarrassing happens and the record scratches and the narrator pops in to say something like: “You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation…”
“Uh, we should move on,” I whisper, starting toward the Acheryx portal.
“Yeah, this is really creepy.” Mika’s hand is warm in mine, squeezing tight.
Most of the players are between us and our destination; my instinct is to squeeze around the edges of the cave, avoid conflict.
I squash that. We’re not looking for a fight, but after everything we’ve been through, I’m not cowering, either. The four of us have been to hell and back to get to this point, have almost died a dozen times, and have been torn to pieces and put back together more than once; a group of gawking assholes doesn’t scare me.
As we press into their midst, it’s like we’ve broken some kind of spell. They start moving again, lazily making their way to their various destinations. Low murmurs whisper through the crowd like a blanket of resentment, and though no one’s actively watching us anymore, when someone steals a glance at our group it’s angry. Outraged, even.
It doesn’t take long to realize why.
Syl. They’re watching Syl, and their hatred is almost palpable.
“We need to hurry,” Mika says.
“Yes,” Syl says, uncharacteristically quiet. Her claws are retracted and her beautiful alien features are subdued.
“Level 22, level 6 level 18… Shit, level 31,” Mika mutters, voice pitched so only
we can hear her. “That guy has over at thousand PvP kills. If these guys decide they have a problem with us…”
I swallow. “Why aren’t they?” Their anger is so vivid, I can’t believe no one’s attacked yet.
“That’s why.” Astra points along at the cave wall without looking.
I squint, peer up, and almost stumble and fall when I see it.
Enormous figures, at least thirty feet tall, sit in recessed alcoves. They’re some kind of robots, all black metal and long, terrifying lines. Their arms bristle with guns and blades, and the only thing marking their faces are ominous amber lights, parallel lines the same color as the neon that illuminates our path.
Amongst everything else, the lights and people and portals, I somehow missed them. They’re shrouded in darkness, but I still feel like an idiot.
“Peacekeepers?” I shudder. “I would not want to screw with that.”
“Amen.” Mika chews her lip. “Though, that seems to conflict with everything I’ve heard of this place.”
“What do you mean?” Astra asks, and she sounds as eager as I feel for something to distract her from the hateful glances.
“The whole point of Lifestream, even before the invasion when it was in beta, was that there were no rules here, aside from a couple obvious ones like ‘no sexualizing children’. Other than that, the players ran everything. The economy, society, even cities… It’s all player built and owned. It really was supposed to be a living world, complete with murder and prostitution and battles… You name it.”
“We instituted some policies.” Syl’s voice is almost too low to hear and she barely looks up as she talks. “And we established a presence in the game. But for the most part, we have let the players police themselves.”
“Exactly. So, what’s up with tall, dark, and terrifying in here?”
I shrug. “Maybe the robots are player made, too?”
“That’s…” Mika ponders as we push our way between two orcs that could be brothers of the ones from the first Citadel trial. They watch us pass, faces like stone, hands caressing sword hilts. “That’s kind of a crazy thought. Maybe a huge guild wanted to enforce some order? Maybe these Obsidians Valistrad told us about?”
“I don’t know, but I’m glad they’re–”
My words die as a voice raises high above the whispers around us. “Daaaaamn, girl! You chose a Threv skin? Way to troll these uptight bitches!”
The crowd thins, pulling away from owner of the voice; it’s a kid of no more than sixteen in patchwork armor and a ratty shirt with fuck bitches get money scrawled across the front. Somehow, I doubt he’s done either. He’s remarkably ugly, and the spear that juts up over his shoulder looks like it wouldn’t cut through butter.
He walks right up to us, brazen, circling around. “I mean, damn, I’ve seen some crazy shit in game, but this takes the cake. A fuckin’ snake.” He shakes his head, glances at me. “You peeps must have a death wish. I love it.”
A million responses are born in my throat and die on my lips. That we’re not like him. That we’re not here to troll. That Syl’s not like the other Threvians. That she’s helping to save his stupid ass from what’s happening in the world.
But it’s pointless. I know trolls like him. He’s not here for logic or debate. He’s here to screw with as many people as possible. He’s looking for a reaction.
One we won’t give him. “Let’s go. Fuck this guy.” Syl’s scales are warm against my hand as I gently push at the small of her back. She barely resists and doesn’t even glance at the troll as we pass. It’s so unlike her, so uncharacteristic, and it’s freaking me the hell out.
I’ll ask her later, though. Not here.
“Hey, where you assholes going?” The troll spits at our feet as we thread between him and the crowd. “You heard me! Just gonna stroll on through like you don’t have a snake bitch with you?”
Astra takes off her glasses and presses them to her chest. Her face is filled with as much rage as mine must be. At my side, Mika’s practically shaking with impotent anger. I can feel her need to burn this asshole to the ground. She’s a heartbeat from stepping forward to defend Syl. A heartbeat away from starting a shitstorm.
The sentinels in the walls stand behind us, and somehow I’m sure they’re watching everything. I calm Mika with a touch.
Still, I can’t let this go. If you disrespect my clan, you die.
“Say that again, asshole,” I taunt. I don’t care if I start a scene. Maybe we can even buy some respect.
“I said that your Threv friend is a bitch,” the troll grins. “She’s sexy, though. Maybe that’s your fetish, eh bud? Like to stick your dick in the enemy? What’s hers? Wearing a Threv skin because she likes the abuse?” He grabs his crotch, shakes it suggestively. “Come on, man. Let’s double team her. Everyone knows that snake bitches have two–”
He chokes. Well, not exactly. He just can’t breathe past the gag of energy I force down his throat. I do it carefully, precisely, because I have a theory.
It’s a risk, but I glance up to the sentinels, then smile.
They’re not doing shit because I’m not fighting this asshole. I’m just shutting him up.
The crowd rings us, forming a barrier as the troll stumbles, clutching his neck. His eyes bulge as he fights for air and falls to his knees. I hold the power in place a moment longer, just enough to get my message across before releasing my hold on the power. If I kill him, I’m afraid the sentinels will step in.
The troll gasps, face purple, before sputtering. “You fuck! You fucked up now! I’m gonna–”
I stand impassively as he rants, know what’s coming.
I don’t have wait long.
The troll’s hand darts up over his shoulder, grasping his spear in white knuckles. He pulls it free with a dumbass flourish, spinning it in place, then shrieks and stabs toward me.
I don’t even flinch as a beam of molten energy pours from somewhere behind me. A thick lance of scarlet engulfs him, and the roar is enough to drown out all sound but his pitiful scream. It lasts just a heartbeat before his body blackens and chars to nothingness.
And then it’s gone. A wisp of ash settles slowly to the cavern floor as I stand, straight backed and arms crossed, staring down the crowd. The smell of charred meat, disturbingly alluring, wafts over us.
They disperse quickly with a volley of frightened looks over their shoulders. Their muttering ceases and almost all of them disappear into various portals, apparently wanting to be anywhere else in Lifestream than in this cave with us.
Mika’s arms circle my chest from behind. “I am so in love with you right now.”
Astra waves at the sentinel. “Thank you!” she calls.
The only response is the giant’s arm slowly settling back at its side. The weapon it used for human barbecue still glows in its fingertip, its heat slowly fading.
I turn to Syl. She gives me a slow nod, and though there’s hunger in her eyes, the same as when I do anything she respects, there’s also something else. Something I hate.
Sadness.
At what? The way she’s being treated? I doubt it. That doesn’t sound like the Syl I know. No, it’s something else.
Worry squirms its way into my heart.
But for now, I won’t acknowledge it. She may be a walking target of resentment to everyone around her, but she’s my walking target of resentment, and I’d rather die before abandoning her because things suddenly get inconvenient.
I hope she knows me well enough to realize that.
“Come on, ya’ll,” I say. “Acheryx awaits.”
As we pass into the yawning portal, I faintly hear Mika snort. “Ya’ll?”
12
Acheryx Outskirts
Sam
Level: 1
“What in the holy living fuck is that?”
Mika stops at my words, shaking her head. “I think that’s… Acheryx?”
We’ve crested a low hill after exiting the portal about a hun
dred yards back, and this is our first view of the city. If you can even call it a city.
Monstrosity is more the word I’m looking for.
At a distance, the city is beautiful and horrible. It’s about a mile off, but we’re close enough to make out enough detail that I want to turn the hell around and go through literally any of the other portals back in the cavern.
A hulking silhouette against a perfectly blue sky, Acheryx looks exactly how I figure a city designed and built by players would look; it’s a hot mess. Not so much in layout or design. I can’t see any of that from here. No, it’s more that thousands of people with thousands of different personal tastes all had a hand in building a hub for everyone to live. It’s like a design team took every pop culture phenomenon of the last fifty years, threw it in a blender, drank the resulting slurry, and then vomited it in the middle of an idyllic English countryside.
It starts fairly benign; a mammoth wall rings the city. It’s shining silver, at least a hundred feet tall, and is festooned with banners and signs I can’t make out from here. But beyond that’s where the ‘fun’ begins. At least a hundred towers spear upward, and I doubt any two of them are even close to the same. Medieval spires of dark stone, elegant and tapering, are crammed next to sci-fi behemoths dotted with blinking lights and turrets. Some aren’t even connected to the ground, and there’s at least one miniature Death Star that’s only connected to the towers nearby by bridges big enough for me to see even from here. Ships and dragons dart and swoop between towers built of single massive trees and others carved of crystal. One tower, taller than the others by at least fifty stories, is a hive of activity; airships leave tiny docks while others arrive. Apparently, it’s some kind of airport. Lower to the ground, I even spot a castle that looks weirdly familiar. In fact, I think it’s…
“Hogwarts?” Mika gasps. She winces, and it’s a perfect reflection of how I feel. Fascinated yet disgusted.
Even Syl snaps from her reverie to gape. “Letting humans have free reign of this place suddenly feels like a mistake.”
Aspirant 2: A Sci-Fi Harem Adventure Page 17
