John's eyes widened, noting only then that what had lanced his still surprised-looking brother's chest hadn't been an obsidian blade after all, but rather a shimmering tendril morphed from the girl's own hand.
The girl winked at John before bending over, smiling as she ruffled Mitch’s curls, gently pressing a perfectly manicured finger over his gasping lips.
“You’re breaking the rules, Michaelmas. No one’s allowed to dictate the level-ups of another.”
Mitch glared but said nothing, fading away before their eyes.
The girl caught John’s confused expression and grinned. “Like what you see?”
John swallowed, jerking a nod. "You're beautiful."
She smiled. "Thanks, John. A girl always likes to be complimented. I don't look that much different than you, do I? You want to know why that is?"
John grimaced. "Now I'm afraid to ask."
The girl smiled, her obsidian eyes sparkling, and John's heart skipped a beat. "My name is Sade, by the way, and you're actually lucky. You got to be raised by your parents. Or at least, your mom, until she was conveniently given tenure half a world away from you, your divorced deadbeat dad showing up just in time to pick up the slack. But only after you survived your implant."
She gave a sad shake of her head. "My sisters and I didn't even get make-believe loving families. We were treated little better than lab rats. Fucking lab-rats, John." Bitter laughter echoed strangely through his stuffy little bedroom. "We were implanted decades ago, the invasion of Earth already well underway. Once puberty hit, we were kidnapped, locked in cages, injected with horrific drugs that left us feeling like we were stuck in an endless bad acid trip, half of us so badly gone we were incoherent. Then we were shot up with gene-splicing retrovirals and brain parasites very much like the one now fused to every cell of your being. Only we didn't need to leave Earth before those parasites made themselves fully at home."
John swallowed, horrified by the confession, and somehow knowing with absolute certainty that every word she said was true. He ignored the tipped-over chair, struggling to his feet and blinking away the sting in his eyes that left the computer screen a blur. Heart hammering with sudden anxiety, somehow knowing he was running out of time, he quickly put his character sheet back to the way he knew it had to be. Perhaps, had always been.
Sade gently kissed his cheek. "And you're the best those bastards could do at exterminating us, once they were done with us. Just another kid they turned into a science project. And once we're dead, they'll surely do the same to you."
John swallowed. "Sade, I don't want to hurt you. Or anyone else, really. Not even my brother, who for some fucked up reason wants me looking like a Doomclaw. Maybe there's another way?"
The room rang with bitter laughter. "Which way is that, John?" Her gaze hardened. "They tried to kill us. They made our lives a living hell. And the only reason they're trying so hard to exterminate us now is because Earth's new Overlord has decided that he no longer needs Tytus's doomsday weapon programs. Between you and me, I think that chickenshit coward just realized that with the Jordian succession now in full swing, there's no way he can flee Earth if things get out of hand. If we, ha ha, break free. As if that battle hadn't been lost long ago."
John’s heart began to pound. "Wait, Caesar is real? It's not all some group-think hallucination? Or some sophisticated black hat prank? My memories are so jumbled up, I’m not even sure what’s what anymore. But what you're telling me, all of this is the truth. Isn't it?"
Sade chuckled. "Like you're going to believe anything I tell you. I'm Spirit-Linking to you through a dream, John. The answers to those questions you're going to have to figure out for yourself."
John blinked. "How are you even able to do that? How did you stop my friend… I mean, my brother, I guess, from forcing my build? And how do you even, well, know all this?"
She gave a bitter shake of her head. "Because I can read your mind. Because nothing is sacred in the games Highlords play. Not even their own children. Don't you get it, John? All of us, Plague Queens and Wildcard killers, we're all half-blood scions of a dozen different clans. As much Jordian noble as human as genetically engineered monster. And our asshole parents couldn't care less if we live or die."
Her eyes flashed like fire before turning to liquid obsidian once more. "And that's why we feel no regret, no shame, in what we're going to do to these bastards. Stay out of our way, John. Okay? You're cute, protective, and you have a kind heart. And I just know, looking into your eyes, that if we were dating, you'd never hurt me unless I asked you to."
She winked and bit his lip. He gasped in surprise. "And I would. In another life, I'd want nothing more than for you to ask me out, and maybe give me a good spanking before I stole your heart. But now? We're tired of living our lives in fear, John. We're tired of running. We're going to make a world where no one will ever hurt us again. Where all our foes can ever feel is devotion and fear. And if any asshole opposes us? We're taking them out."
John blinked, both chilled and aroused when she leaned in, giving him a soulful, passionate kiss. "But I'll keep my shape human, for as long as I can. Provided you do the same."
John smirked. "Even if you've basically just declared war?"
She trilled golden laughter. "Only if you cross us, Johnny-boy." her hot, suddenly very human gaze pinned his own. Obsidian orbs? No. They were a beautiful shade of amber brown. "And even if you do, nothing says I can't go all black widow on you. I'll win your heart, your seed, and your devotion, or I'll take you down."
"Wait... go all black widow on me?"
Sade smiled as her clothes disappeared in butterflies and mist, revealing a strikingly beautiful body, both supple and graceful, with generous curves. "Whether you join us or not, nothing says our dreams, at least, can't be sweet." Golden laughter shivered through his soul as she placed his hands against her hot skin. He took a shuddering breath, inhaling her exotic scent. Her lips tasted of wine and laughter. Her kisses quickly became so much more, a storm of lust and insatiable hunger leaving him desperate to claim and consume the wild, passionate girl in his arms. Even if they were now sworn enemies, their lovemaking no more real than a dream.
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John Reacher – Level 2 Evolved Symbiote
Primary Attributes
Strength 14 – (Tier 1 Symbiote Status achieved). Your strength has gone up 3 points! Look at those muscles! You're now stronger than 90% of all Terrans.
Vitality 14 – (Tier 1 Symbiote Status achieved). A 3 point increase! Wow! You could run varsity track with ease! Your Vitality now exceeds 90% of all Terrans.
Finesse 12
Quickness 14 – (Tier 1 Symbiote Status achieved). A 3 point jump. You were quick to make the right move! You're no Olympic fencer, yet, but your reaction time is impressive. You strike quicker and punch faster than 90% of your peers!
Perception 15 – (Tier 1 Symbiote Status achieved). A 3 point increase, because you're perceptive enough to improve what matters! Your powers of perception have developed with phenomenal speed. You've always had an exquisite sense of smell. Now you can see farther and hear better than 95% of your peers!
Scholarship 11
Willpower 14 – Unlike your Symbiote-enhanced stats, your mule-headed stubbornness only went up 1 point! But it's not like anyone will ever talk you out of putting a point here, right? Congratulations! You're more headstrong than 90% of your more reasonable-minded peers. And to think! If you had just lowered your Willpower to 10, a perfectly normal, perfectly reasonable number, you could have had Tier 2 in all your Symbiote traits!
Charisma 12
Luck 12
Secondary Attributes
Health 10xVit+Str= 154
Survival (Health+(10xLevel)+Luck) = 186
Stamina 10xVit+Str= 154
Mana 50
Psion 50
Insight 14
Base Appearance 10. +1 (12 Charisma) +1 (Athletic) - 2 (Dark Points) =
0 reaction modifier.
Dark Points 2 – Your genes have been fused with a horror, and it shows! One day you will learn to master your darkness. Unless it masters you first! You have achieved Tier 1 Status with all key Symbiote traits! Tier 1 Metamorphoses complete! Additional Dark Point earned! – Your humanity is stretched thin! Terrans and Jordians will randomly react with horrified disgust at your increasing alienness. Others will find your powerful frame and brooding gaze fascinating! Most, however, will react with a: 0 reaction modifier.
Perks
Symbiote Hybrid – Who knows what cool abilities you'll manifest? Increase all of your Symbiote-linked stats and continue your metamorphosis!
Flaws
Parasitic Infection – You're growing in ways both hideous and profound. Careful, or you'll be a Doomclaw before you know it!
Skills
Grappling Rank 3 / Saber Rank 2 / Stealth Rank 1 / Mercantile Rank 1 / Persuasion Rank 1 / Arcane Perception Rank 1
Powers
Greater Regeneration Rank 1 – You heal 1 Health per second, no matter how severe your injuries!
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8
John groaned, head throbbing slightly, afraid to open his eyes lest they be speared by pitiless flashes of sunlight, wondering just how late he and Mitch had been drinking. Something he almost never did unless they were celebrating something. Graduation? Finally dating the girl of his dreams? A bemused smile froze into a rictus as stretching arms slammed against the underside of the bed he had hidden under, the horrific events of the last few days suddenly blazing through his mind.
A beautiful afternoon had become a scene of horror as nuclear bombs were unleashed, an apocalyptic plague of zombie-like horrors threatening his world.
And this one as well.
And somehow, he was expected to put a stop to it.
He winced, viscerally recalling the desperate frenzied battle of the day before. It had been both exhilarating and terrifying, and he could all too easily have ended up dead. His nose wrinkled as he caught a whiff of an awful stench nearby.
Suddenly alarmed, he scurried out from under the bed, surprised by how difficult it was, having to fight past the sticky strands of webbing and what seemed like discarded arachnid shells, all around.
He hissed, heart pounding, as he beheld an utterly desiccated body cocooned over the bedroom entrance. The door itself had been sealed shut with webbing, the drained corpse at the center of it all.
John lurched around, more terrified than he had ever been before in his life.
But there were no signs of any predator that he could see, his eyes taking in the room washed by moonlight with surprising clarity, amazed that his night vision had adjusted so well.
But wait, hadn't his perception just shot up to 15? He felt a chill as his mind's eye replayed the tail end of his dream, recalling the snarky comments peppering his character sheet. But when he visualized the most abbreviated version of his stats that he could in his mind's eye, he was happy to see nothing more than a condensed list of his attributes.
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John Reacher – Level 2 Evolved Symbiote
Strength 14 / Vitality 14 / Finesse 12 / Quickness 14 / Perception 15 / Scholarship 11 / Willpower 14 / Charisma 12 / Luck 12 / Insight 14 / Mana 50 / Psion 50 / Survival 186
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He was both awed and chilled by the changes he had undergone. Dressed in no more than a now too tight undershirt, he spent a dazed moment just gazing at his physique. It still felt like him, was him, but after say a year of working out. He smirked. More like after four years of intense, hardcore lifting in college. 14 Put him in the top 10% of all humans. And quickness. How to test that?
He flashed a grim little smile as he unsheathed his saber, unleashing a rapid series of moulinets before lashing out at an imaginary series of targets, both awed and chilled by how adroitly the blade moved in his hand. He was no more coordinated than he had been before, but the blade had moved so quickly!
Then he blinked, chuckling softly. Of course! It was so obvious. His strength made the saber feel so much lighter in his hands. Anyone could move a lighter weapon quicker, and his Strength and Quickness had both increased by 3 points! And though he was panting after going through saber forms for a good handful of minutes, his boosted vitality allowed him to catch his breath within seconds after stopping.
He laughed, both amazed and humbled by his miraculous transformation, lips curving in an awe-filled smile as he gazed down at his now impressive physique. It was real. This was really happening. All the tantalizing rumors about this place that people hinted about on Readit were nothing less than the truth! Any player who could port into this world really could reinvent themselves in miraculous, wonderful ways. With enough time and discipline, they could forge themselves into super athletes.
Assuming they survived the process, of course.
And here John was, only level 2, and already growing by leaps and bounds.
Then he caught sight of the half-eaten wheel of cheese sticking out of his travel pack along with the remains of a smoked ham, quite salty, but still unspoiled and utterly delicious, devouring them while guzzling down the last of the wine and the pitcher of water beside the bed stand, hunger and thirst slaked at last.
Then his eyes wandered back to the door, and he felt a cold frisson of horror.
A desiccated body tightly bound in spider webs, and he was paying it no more mind than he would a stuffed animal. What the hell was wrong with him? For all he knew, this inn was now home to those monsters. He shook his head, bubbly exhilaration replaced with the sobering realization that it could have been him.
This town might be infested with horrors even now. Undead and spiders both. If he hadn't been hiding under the bed...
He grimaced, heading to his pile of armor and equipment, relieved to find it all in one place, then forced to chuckle ruefully as he realized that the carefully chosen mix of armor was all but worthless to him now.
He must have put on at least twenty pounds of solid muscle. Maybe more.
The Dominion armor was of more uniform construction and had straps he spent some moments adjusting for a halfway decent fit. Of course, most of it was damaged, some of it severely so. But his gambeson and leggings were uncomfortably tight, and the snug shirt of mail wouldn't even fit him unless he skipped the gambeson entirely and wore it naked against his skin.
He frowned at the open window, quickly thinking of a plan to get out of there safely and reequip himself. A few moments later, with bed sheets knotted and secured, he began the exciting adventure of climbing down the fourth story window, much as he would climb a knotted rope in gym class, both relieved and unnerved that the town seemed to be completely empty, his heightened senses detecting no sight or scent that was out of place.
Still, despite his greater strength and vitality, climbing down a rope in full gear with a shield dangling from his back was a right pain in the butt, John decided, breathing a sigh of relief when he finally touched the ground. He quickly made his way to the town hall where he had first been summoned, hoping that Emil’s off-hand assurance that all the arms and armor he had brought would be left there in case they needed to replace lost or damaged gear would hold true.
John frowned as he approached the thick reinforced oak door to the entrance, finding it locked. He thought he heard faint voices within from the other side of the door.
He slowly made his way around the dimly lit building, not exactly sure why he didn't bother to knock, but happy enough to find a back door with little more than a latch bolt. He was surprised by how easy it was to force open, hands only tingling slightly when he gave it a tug and crept inside, closing it softly behind him before making his way down the dark hallway to the central chamber where they had been wined and dined the day before. The fine-grained hardwood double doors had been shut, but he heard voices inside so took a momen
t to press his ears against the wooden paneling, trying to get a sense of the room before entering.
"... And so you sit there, eating our food, drinking our wine, demanding we pay you gold while our children are out there, no doubt starving and dying! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't lock you up this instant!" Elowin Everwood's voice, and she did not sound happy.
"Simple," said a gruff, belligerent voice that could only be Mason. "Because if you try to lock us up, we'll 'chute out of here and I'll make sure the whole goddamned net knows you're not to be trusted and to let you bastards burn."
His words were cold with threat, and John didn't doubt the man would do just that.
"Your little manservant Emil was threatening to blackball us if we didn't do our part. Well, two can play at that game, lady. Fact is, we risked our lives killing six of those damned ghouls, and my girl almost got killed while we were doing it! And now you expect me to just give you a cheery fucking wave and head out there against those motherfuckers in the middle of the night without backup? You're crazy as fuck, if you think I will!"
"As base as it was, you promised me ears, Mason. If you think I'm going to pay you good credits on your word alone..."
"No choice, lady, not unless you want us to bring you their goddamned skulls! They shriveled to desiccated husks as soon as we killed them. Trying to break off their ears just gave us handfuls of awful-smelling powder. There, you happy? Those aren't your precious villagers anymore. They're undead horrors. Because if they were anything close to human, they wouldn't be shriveling like vampires under the sun!"
"It's true," John said as he entered the room, choosing that moment to speak. "We were fighting for our lives. They nearly got Sophia. Honestly, we're lucky just to have survived. And when we tried to collect tokens of our engagement, well, it went down just like Mason said."
Queen Killer Page 10
