by Deck Davis
“Eddie, how long until the next wave?” I said.
“Twenty minutes,” he said.
“Glora, how many teams left?”
“Thirty. Aaaaand now twenty-nine.”
“Looks like we’re okay for now, but the wave is going to send us into the shadows. After that, it’s only a matter of time to the end. Until then, we need to level up as much as we can.”
We were stood in a circle. Rynk put his closed fist into the middle of us as though he was waiting for us to join him. When none of us did, he lifted his fist in the air and shouted, in a tone I was sure was sarcastic, “Gooooooo Team Perlshaw!”
We scouted the tundra no-man’s land. With the numbers of the other teams plummeting, and after our brief rest in the crevice, it seemed like we were filled with renewed energy. We circled the icy grounds looking for groups of tuskers. The seal-like tuskers grazed on sheets of ice and beds of snow in the same way cows would in a field. They usually lazed around in gangs of twenty or so, which would have made them too dangerous to tackle were it not for their low hitpoint totals. The key to taking on tuskers was to try and take them out four or five at a time.
Eddie accomplished this by creeping toward a grazing gang of tuskers with his Sneak Attack skill activated. This let him get close enough that only the tuskers on the edges of the pack noticed him. With their aggression sensors triggered, they would follow Eddie for twenty or so meters, where they’d walk straight into the mana traps Glora had laid down. After that, Rynk and I would make short work of butchering them with our scimitar and waraxe weapons.
It was an effective system, and in this way, we cut through hundreds of the tuskers, making sure to circle around our little no-man’s land to find their spawn points each time we killed a bunch of them. Every so often, we’d also run into lonely mammoths. These were a daunting sight; hulking masses of fur, fifteen feet tall, wider than a truck, and chocked-full of experience points.
The mammoths posed more difficulty. They were slow as hell, but if they caught you with one of their charging attacks it instantly drained half your hitpoints. Not only that, but Glora’s traps only held them for a few seconds at a time, since their bulk was too much for her level-two mana traps to handle.
We got around this by having Glora stop a mammoth using her traps. In the few seconds available I cast Terrain Drain and built walls from the ice, trapping the mammoth in an ice prison. This gave us enough time to circle it as a group and carve away its hitpoints until it smashed through my ice walls, and at that point it would only be a few more hits away from death.
Every so often while we levelled up, Glora would call out the latest team count. Each time she did, I got a warm feeling in my chest when I learned that our odds were getting better.
“Twenty-five teams,” she’d shout.
“Twenty-three!”
“Fifteen!”
When we’d each levelled a few times, we sat opposite Bluejaw lake with our backs against one of the giant hills. This gave us cover from anything behind us, but I was still worried that we were a little exposed. I felt the cold touch of ice spread across my spine, going down to my buttocks and up to my neck. It was reassuring, in a way. We’d been in battle so long now that whenever I rested, an overwhelming ache gathered in my arms and legs. The cold of the hill seemed to puncture this.
We hadn’t managed to loot any kind of snow armor, which meant that we stood out wearing our dark-colored mish-mash of armors. If only one of us had taken the Tinker class, I thought. It was useless combat-wise, but a Tinker could gather fur from animals, and metals from the structures in the map, and he could create armor and weapons from them. If we had a Tinker with us today, he’d have been able to whip up some arctic camouflage for us. We were going to have to make do with what we had.
“Rynk, you watch the west of us, I’ll cover east,” I said.
“What about me?” said Eddie.
“Keep your eye on the wave please buddy.”
“Got it.”
“Okay guys,” I said, “We’ve all levelled up a few times. We need to decide what to spend our points on. We know that we’re coming to the end here. The time of staying out of trouble is over; it’s going to be a damn hard from here on out. We need to choose our skills with that in mind. Rynk, what about you?”
“Already got it covered. Pulse of Death magnifies my damage, and Blade Float lets me hit ‘em without getting close.”
“Good. Eddie?” I said.
“The wave’s in five minutes.”
“No, Eds, your skills. What are you going to pick?”
“I levelled up twice out there, so I figure I’ll get Snuffer up to two, so I can nullify any bad-ass attacks. If I put Combat Leader to two as well, you guys get a boost.”
I smiled. Eddie’s use of his skill points showed a growth in him. Back in Perlshaw, he’d told me that he didn’t think he could act like a leader. This showed that he could. Rather than choosing to boost his Evasion and Sneak Attack skills, which would have benefited him personally, he went for the more team-orientated ones of Combat Leader and Snuffer.
“Good stuff, Eds,” I said. “And Glora. How about you?”
“I’ll level up Hex Igni,” said Glora immediately, and a little coldly, and then that was that.
Satisfied with what the others were doing, I let my own post-tusker and mammoth combat messages display.
Level up to Level 6!
-HP increased to 249
- Stamina increased to 234
-Mana increased to 331
Level up to Level 7!
-HP increased to 274
- Stamina increased to 256
-Mana increased to 358
Unspent Skill Points: 2
[Choose new skill or upgrade existing]
Armorer [2/5]
Terrain Drain [1/5]
Abmeleon [1/5]
Skill Steal [1/5]
This time, I needed to think less about stealth and more about fighting. That meant that Abmeleon, my camouflage skill, was out. Although my Armorer skill was at level two, I’d already used it to steal axe and crossbow proficiencies, which meant I’d have to level it up to use it again. Whereas I hadn’t used my one Skill Steal level yet, and to do so I’d have to knock an enemies hitpoints don to twenty-five present before it would work.
So, which to choose? I decided that Armorer was a must. It was unbelievably useful to be able to steal an enemy’s skill in battle, and I needed a free slot.
Armorer upgraded! [3/5]
After that, it was a choice between Skill Steal and Terrain Drain. Given the difficult pre-requisite of injuring an opponent down to a quarter of their health, I doubted I would get much chance to use my Skill Steal once, let alone a second time if I levelled it again. Yet, Terrain Drain had already proven itself useful to me. I spent my skill point.
Terrain Drain upgraded! [2/5]
- Field of manipulation increased
-Mana cost decreased
I was happy with my skills choices. I could have used an extra level or two, and more looting would definitely have been welcome, but things hadn’t transpired that way. Overseer Lucas had thrown trap after trap in our path, which had given us little to do other than react to circumstances.
I made a last check of my inventory. Although I had a crossbow, I was out of bolts. This meant my waraxe was my main offence. Defensively, I had the asbestos ring that gave me ten percent fire resistance, as well as the regeneration ring that replenished my hitpoints at an achingly-slow rate. Finally, there was my rune. My dad’s single-use Rune of Lesser Healing. It was one of the most useless runes I could have brought with me, but my damn sentimentality had won me over.
“The wave is about to hit,” said Eddie.
I checked my map. The arc of where the wave would hit was drawn on it now, and I wasn’t surprised to see that when it gained momentum, it was going to wash right over our tundra no-man’s land. When it finally stopped, the only safe area in the map would b
e the Shadow Quadrant. The problem was that the word ‘LOCKED’ was still written over the shadow part of the map. What were we supposed to do?
“Looks like the wave is taking a few more of them out,” said Glora. “Tsk tsk, someone forgot that you’re supposed to outrun a wave, not stand in it. Down to seven teams now.”
“The Shadow Quadrant is locked,” I said. “Where are we supposed to go?”
“Six teams now,” said Glora.
Rynk shrugged. “I don’t know, partner, but if we stay here we’re done.”
“Five teams!”
I ran my fingers through my hair. This just didn’t make any sense. The way the map looked right now, the wave would just crash over the open areas, leaving no team with a place to go. What would that accomplish? The spectators in the stadium and the ones at home didn’t want to see each team just slowly die in a wave of blue light.
“There has to be somewhere we can go,” I said, standing up. “They wouldn’t just let everyone die.”
“Aaaaand now it’s four teams,” said Glora.
As soon as the fifth remaining team succumbed to the wave, a message flashed in front of me. It displayed in a giant, golden font for a few seconds, and then dissolved.
SHADOW QUADRANT UNLOCKED
Chapter Sixteen
4 Teams Remaining
We left the tundra no-man’s land with all the enthusiasm of doomed soldiers climbing a trench and onto a battlefield. We walked in a line, with Eddie on the left, then Rynk (since Eddie refused to walk next to Glora), me, and then Glora. We each showed how our nerves were faring in our own unique ways; Glora stared ahead resolutely with cold eyes and a look about her that said she had something to prove, Rynk absent-mindedly swung his scimitar in his hand, while Eddie kept hold of the strap of his inventory bag as if a thief might come to steal it from him. I gripped the handle of my waraxe, holding it as tightly possible as if I could transfer all my tension into the wood.
After walking by the lake and then leaving the snowy tundra behind, we finally crossed into the field of mist that marked the start of the Shadow Quadrant. It was a blanket of fog so dense that it was impossible to see through.
“Stick together,” I told the team.
We bunched a little tighter together and pushed on through the wall of mist. The lack of visibility played havoc with my nerves, and I imagined some unseen, hideous creatures leaping out at us, striking at us while we were blind. I gripped my axe tighter. I had to stop myself putting my free hand out in front of me, as if I could part the mist like a curtain.
It wasn’t just the blindness that was disconcerting; there was also an absence of noise. No wind, no distant shrieks of NPC monsters, no patter of rain or sound of our footsteps. It was like walking through a vacuum of darkness. I couldn’t help thinking that it had been designed this way in order to ramp up our tension, to spark a fear response in us, and to get adrenaline rampaging through our already-weary bodies.
Finally, I began to see light in front of us. It was dim at first, as if someone stood in a fog-filled moor holding as flickering torch. The further we walked, the brighter it became. Questions filled my head; what would we find at the end of the mist? What horrible, danger-filled terrain awaited us in the Shadow Quadrant? Then, as if the others had the exact same thoughts, I felt the brush of Glora’s shoulder against mine on my right. Similarly, even Rynk moved closer to me on my left.
“This is it,” I said. I was unsure why I said it, but it was something that I felt deep down inside. That this was the end, one way or another. Everything, from the betrayal at Bernli all the way through to Eden, had led to this. With that dull, dark feeling in my soul, I saw the end of the mist. We stepped out onto the Shadow Quadrant.
The mist lifted completely. Colors streamed into my vision; a dull blue sky with clouds overhead, an expanse of brown-green fields of buckwheat, trees that were bare save a few sparse auburn leaves, and bronze cars rusting by the sides of grey roads.
I lost my breath for a second. I couldn’t believe it. With the mist gone, I saw the Shadow Quadrant for what it really was. This, I realized, was Lucas’s last gift to me.
The Shadow Quadrant, unlocked and free from its sheet of fog, revealed itself to be Autumn Steampunk. It was the map my dad had designed, the one that, in what seemed like years ago but was just months, was supposed to have been what made Team Wolfhound rich. Lucas must have decommissioned it from the Bernli VBR and then adapted it for use in New Eden. Only now, I saw that this wasn’t the full map. It was a scaled-down version, with none of the quaint cottages or giant, disused, cog-filled factories. Instead, there was just one giant field of buckwheat that rippled under the force of the wind or possibly a serpent, and which led to an estate of cheap, 3D printed houses.
It was Newtown Estates. It had to be. That was where I’d first been betrayed by my Team Wolfhound comrades. It was the place where Lucas had engineered my downfall. Now, he planned to defeat me here once again.
We stopped for a second. Ahead of us, I saw the other teams scurrying across the field of buckwheat. Over in the east was Team Wraith, dressed head-to-toe in black. North of them were the New Eden Tronix, with their sparkling uniforms. Then, way out west and moving as a unit, were Team Wolfhound. They were all headed to the Newtown Estate, seemingly accepting that the final battle would happen there.
I didn’t know what I’d expected of the Shadow Quadrant, but it hadn’t been this. I thought Lucas might have conjured up some fiery hell filled with humongous beasts designed to rip us apart. Or some stinking of swamp swarming with acid pools and amphibious monsters. Both would have been tough enough for any team to handle, but this map, although filled with calming bronze and yellow colors, was much, much worse.
Even so, this gave us a chance. I knew this map better than any of the teams here, and not only that, but I had learned from my earlier mistakes. With the Tronix and Wolfhound focused on heading toward the Newtown Estate, we could act.
“Guys,” I said. “See the trees over there?” I pointed to our south east, where a grouping of thirty or so trees formed a miniature forest within the buckwheat fields.
“What about it?” said Rynk.
“Eddie, Glora, I want you to head there.”
“But…” said Eddie.
I knew he was going to protest at going there alone with Glora, so I interrupted him. “Just do exactly as I say, okay. This is our chance. There are four teams left, and we can make it three. But you have to follow what I tell you, and for god’s sake, no map markers yet. That’s so important that the only way I could stress it more is to write it in blood.”
“Sheesh. Got it. No map markers,” said Eddie.
“Glora?” I said, unsure what I actually wanted to say to her, but needing some sort of reassurance.
She nodded as if she could read my thoughts. “I’m with you this time.”
With that, I outlined my plan to the three of them. Rynk made a modification or two to it, and once we were decided, Eddie and Glora headed out toward the small forest. I watched as they disappeared across the field, their figures getting smaller and smaller in the distance until they were hidden by the tight grouping of trees. This left Rynk and me alone.
“Think this’ll work?” he said.
I nodded. I felt something in my chest, a strong feeling of resolution. “We’re done being the ones caught in a trap. It’s time we laid a few of our own.”
A few minutes later, Eddie spoke over teamspeak. “It’s done,” he said. “Do we stick around?”
“Get out of the trees, remember?” I said. “Get a few hundred meters away, then lie in the buckwheat so nobody can see you.”
“Roger that.”
I turned to Rynk. “Let’s move,” I said.
Rynk and I crossed the fields until we joined Eddie and Glora. We were two hundred meters away from the grouping of trees now. We found Eddie and Glora laying on the floor, covered by the swaying buckwheat. I dropped down next to them so that I wa
s on my stomach, and then Rynk did the same.
“Now what?” said Eddie.
“We need to wait for a minute.”
I opened my map. I zoomed in so that the Autumn Steampunk map filled my holo-screen. In the centre of the map was the Newtown estate. Both the Tronix and Wolfhound were heading toward it, their little dots covering inches of the map at a time. Way out southeast of them were our own dots marking our position, but ours were static.
Come on, I thought. Disappear.
“How long’s this gonna take?” said Eddie.
“A few seconds, pupper,” said Glora.
“Don’t call me pupper.”
