by Cosimo Yap
“What?” Aurora asked. “Everyone gets the same two standard tasks: the exams and then the physical training or wilderness survival.”
“Of course. It’s probably nothing, just something additional for me. The exams will be easy,” Alan said.
“Really? If I recall correctly, your home world’s education system was less than stellar.” Aurora stared at Alan, giving him an indecipherable look.
“Hey, Alan, I certainly didn’t expect to see you here! You’ve made some progress since the tutorial finished,” a voice called out. Alan turned around, surprised to find Thiago, wearing his usual white suit. He was accompanied by Kitana, Ace, and Daisy. Ace was wearing a set of power armor emblazoned with a United World Government soldier insignia, designed for strength rather than agility or stealth, while Daisy had on a white leather outfit with a medic’s symbol on it, a white circle.
“Hi, Thiago,” Alan said, “I didn’t expect to see you here, either. Um, what program are you in?”
“I’m in the Rogue program like you, while Ace is in the Warrior program and Daisy is in the Healer one,” Thiago said. He then turned toward Aurora, bowing low. “And this lovely lady must be Aurora, daughter of Elissandra. I’ve heard so much about you from Kitana.”
Sidestep blinked forward, laying a hand on Thiago’s shoulder. “Yup, she is. I’m Sidestep, by the way, her guardian. I try to make sure no one gets…too close.” He gave Thiago a brittle smile.
“So anyways…” Alan said. “I assume you guys are here as part of the United World Government?”
“We are,” Ace said, motioning to Daisy and himself. “Thiago paid for his own tuition.”
Suddenly, faint presences began to appear at the edge of Alan’s consciousness, similar to a friendly Administrator or the machine presences in the Abyss Labyrinth. Alan turned around, staring at the wall before him. Eve ran dozens of possible scenarios through his mind.
“Um, right,” Alan said absently. “Well, it was nice seeing you guys again, I’m sure we’ll talk soon.”
“Alan, the introductions task still has two minutes remaining—”
Alan activated his upgraded power armor’s advanced stealth mode, which made him invisible to others, as well as hypercognition. One of the presences formed a connection with him.
I greet you, Traveler. If we’ve alarmed you I apologize, for our detection was not foreseen.
Who are you? Alan sent. He deactivated hypercognition, as the entity didn’t seem hostile.
We are the Trainers.
So then, you’re here to train us?
Yes, the training will soon commence.
Odd, I thought training was optional. Got any pointers for me, then?
Follow instructions, and be aware that your limits are known to us.
Right, that sounds pretty familiar—though if your standards are the same as my AI’s, that’s not exactly encouraging. Nothing else then? Just wait here with everyone? How do I even know you are what you say you are? I see nothing around me.
Take a few steps forward and deactivate your stealth protocols if you wish to observe us. It is difficult to locate your presence.
You know there’s a wall in front of me, right?
The Trainer remained silent. Alan sighed, and then took a few tentative steps forward. He passed through the wall. He could have sworn that it had been solid moments earlier, and that he had even leaned against it.
Alan emerged outside in the forested area. Looking around, he saw nothing but trees and grass. A second passed, then Alan had Eve deactivate his armor’s stealth mode. As soon as he did so, other figures began appearing, mechs resembling Administrators, all a uniform height around six feet. Each Trainer shimmered, somehow camouflaging with their surroundings. There were hundreds, all facing Alan.
One for each player, Eve sent.
Alan glanced around, narrowing his focus, trying to detect the Trainer he was connected to mentally. After a bit of trial and error, walking in a direction and seeing if the connection changed, he managed to find the Trainer he had originally spoken to. It nodded approvingly.
Now wait. You may reactivate your armor’s stealth mode if you so wish, it sent.
Alan glanced at the countdown; there were ten seconds left. He re-activated his armor’s stealth ability. Something was about to happen, he just wasn’t sure what. The timer hit zero, and then the wall vanished, leaving gaping, open-mouthed players staring out into the forest.
Trainers shot forward, each appearing before a student. They traveled at a speed that was on-par with Sidestep, gliding forward using some type of hover-technology. They each gave a simple command: “Follow.”
Alan watched as the players came to their senses, taking off after their Trainer. The Trainers moved at various speeds, in varying directions. Alan watched as Sidestep’s Trainer shot past the rest, with Sidestep hurriedly teleporting right after it; they were gone from Alan’s view in seconds.
Alan waited for his own Trainer to tell him to follow, but it stood still. Glancing around, Alan saw that a number of the other Trainers had also remained in place.
Follow, it sent. The Trainer began jogging west, deeper into the forest. Alan leaped to follow it, noting that other Trainers were guiding players in the same direction. Alan felt his mind wander as Eve began trying to plot out and gather information about all the other players: the directions they headed, the rate at which they moved, how they moved, and other such data.
Alan’s Trainer seemed to detect this lapse in attention, and it disappeared from Alan’s view. Alan stopped in his tracks.
Follow.
What? But I can’t see you.
Can you not sense me?
Alan frowned. He could tell the strength of the connection to the Trainer, like a sensor constantly telling him if he was getting hot or cold, but that was it.
I’m sorry, I don’t understand…
What is your ability? What is the nature of the Game?
I don’t know?
It is simple. The Game is a simulated universe, created to mimic the actual, physical one. But as it was created, designed with a common fabric, it allows for all of space to be tied together with a unifying, underlying force that encompasses all.
Wait, you mean, like, the Force? Or like how God is supposed to be part of everything?
I am a Trainer, not a Teacher. I do not understand the fabric of this reality, or its properties. I am simply aware of its existence, and use these channels to communicate or detect the presence of others. Follow.
Alan concentrated on his ability to detect other presences, struggling with this other sense. It was a disembodied awareness that was hard to understand. It was a sixth sense, and thus indescribable with normal language; he tried to form words in his mind to capture the feeling, but it was like trying to explain color to the blind or music to the deaf.
It was like when he activated an ability, his mind just did it. He did not see these presences or feel them or hear them, they simply were—part of the nature of reality that somehow manifested itself within Alan’s consciousness. When he closed his eyes it made no difference; the sense remained in his mind, a dim awareness of everything around him.
Alan began to wonder if Eve had created his minimap with this sixth sense, as the range of it was identical to the range shown on his interface. As he thought about it more, he realized this was the best analogy he could come up with, for it really was like a minimap found in a video game that interfaced directly with his brain.
A message popped up:
You have gained a new ability, Detect Presence! +25 Perception
Alan recalled the Lord of the Abyss’s words about presence, and briefly wondered how he could hide his own.
Follow.
What, but I just—
The Trainer took off at a sprint, racing into the dense jungle foliage. Scrambling, Alan ran after it, concentrating on the Trainer’s presence.
Eve frantically tried to categorize and analyze threats that appeared, ran
ging from unknown plants, to small insects, to large beasts, to possible resources. Alan focused on where his foot would land next, completely unused to the uneven forest floor.
The mad dash forward continued for a few minutes; then the Trainer finally slowed down when a number of other players and Trainers began popping into view, all waiting in a large clearing. With a quick glance Alan noted that Aurora, Thiago, and S were among the other players. There were perhaps eight others, three of whom were hidden.
Panting, Alan stepped forward, trying to figure out why everyone had stopped. A dense thicket of tall trees that looked like pines blocked the way. Strands of a translucent substance stretched from branch to branch, tree to tree; it shone in vivid colors as light hit it. The strands were placed at steady intervals, with almost perfect geometric precision, like—
A spider web, Eve supplied, but it is spherical rather than circular. Designed to trap from all directions, rather than one.
The Trainers then spoke as one, though Alan’s Trainer sent the message into his mind.
The first to reach the center may claim the prize, and shall be awarded one Rogue Commendation. Begin.
Half of the players sprinted forward, while the other half waited to see what would happen. This time, Trainers followed players rather than the other way around.
Alan chose to wait, watching matters as they progressed.
What’s a Rogue Commendation? he asked his Trainer.
Ten are required to complete the Second Phase of your education. Enough questions, I am no Teacher.
Alan nodded, moving up to the edge of the forest to follow the players’ progress. Most elected to try to maneuver around the strands of web, moving about with surprising dexterity.
Thiago tripped, trying to walk too quickly in his suit. He fell forward, and his right arm momentarily touched a web. Almost immediately Alan detected a dozen new presences. They converged upon Thiago—small, brown, furry creatures racing along strands of webbing, moving faster than Alan could follow without hypercognition. They leapt out at Thiago together, who managed to fend off a few. But as soon as the first creature physically touched him, he fell to the ground, unconscious.
The creatures began rapidly spinning webs around him, cocooning him in a white, silk-like substance, but before they could drag the cocoon back into their lair, Thiago’s Trainer grabbed him and darted back toward the Student Center. The creatures retreated to their original hiding places, their presences disappearing from Alan’s awareness.
Everyone who saw this occurrence froze, and players began to move forward more slowly, with much greater care. Still, Alan saw that many were venturing farther and farther into the darkness, where it was harder to see the webbing.
A player a few hundred yards forward turned a bright light on, trying to illuminate their path. There was a sudden yell, and then the light was quenched. No Trainer emerged, making Alan wonder whether it was because the player had been killed instantly, or if they were still fighting.
One player wearing a bulky, mechanical suit chose a different option. Two narrow nozzles emerged underneath his wrists, and out of each emerged brilliant blue flame. The player strode forward, burning all before him, stepping through unquenched flames without a worry in the world. Alan thought he could hear mad cackling.
This strategy seemed to work fairly well, with the player making steady progress, until a spiked carapace emerged out of the ground directly beneath them. The player was flung into the air while giant insect mandibles reached out of the carapace, biting through the player’s armor and into his leg. The player’s HP fell by 40%.
The insect took another massive bite, and the player’s HP pool was further reduced. He cried out in pain and yelled that he gave up. His Trainer darted forward, easily knocking the massive, beetle-like creature to the ground. The Trainer grabbed the player and walked out of the forest, ignoring the giant insect. The monstrosity rained blow after blow onto the Trainer, but each attack didn’t even leave a scratch, numerous 0’s appearing as damage above the Trainer’s head.
Apparently figuring that it could do nothing more, the insect burrowed underground once again. Alan noticed a single strand of webbing that emerged from its back.
What the hell was all that? Alan asked Eve.
Those were the guardians of the nest. Enough dawdling about, we should proceed forward lest another reach the center first.
Are you crazy? Why would I ever go in—
To complete this challenge.
Alan took a deep breath, trying to settle his thoughts. Right. This was just a game. The giant, freaky insects couldn’t cause him actual harm. They would just inflict pain and give him nightmares for the foreseeable future.
Alan walked forward, carefully following a simple path outlined by Eve. At first, he had little trouble avoiding the webbing, but it became more difficult to find a path as the trees grew denser.
Eventually, he came to a standstill. There was no path forward. Calmly, he regarded his surroundings, trying to figure out what to do next. In the distance, he could hear the noises of a battle, and saw brief bursts of light as energy weapons were fired off.
Try your various types of vision, Eve suggested.
Alan hesitated, wondering how the experimental cybernetic eye implant Phantom had created was supposed to help him here. All it did was show him various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation—which, while cool, wasn’t as helpful as he imagined it to be. He hadn’t really been able to use the special program Phantom had written, either, so it wouldn’t be helpful here…
Just do it.
Fine.
Focusing his mind, Alan began to filter between the various spectrums, seeing very little at first. Then, as he switched to Ultraviolet Vision, the world suddenly exploded in color. An electric blue web that took up the entirety of his vision illuminated his surroundings.
How— Alan began to ask Eve.
These insects had to see somehow, didn’t they?
Examining his new view of the world, Alan noted that some of the strands of web didn’t glow. Hesitantly, but at Eve’s behest, Alan prodded one. He waited. Nothing happened. Letting out a deep breath, Alan continued, making sure to only touch these dark strands.
A few minutes passed as Alan progressed forward one step at a time. The desolate forest began to tingle with life; worker drones best compared to giant ants went about harvesting some sort of fungus. The horse-sized drones moved in and out of large holes in the ground, some carrying web-wrapped prey. Every so often one of the tiny, furred assassin-spiders would flash by, surfing along a thread of the web. They blazed with ultraviolet light, burning up with energy as they moved about. There had been no sign of another player for a while. Alan felt like he should be coming close to the center.
Another few minutes passed. The amount of activity began to lessen; the trees and webbing grew less dense. Alan came to a stop. Before him was a clearing—he had walked through the entirety of the forest.
What? But, that means we walked through the center. There wasn’t anything there, just…We have to go down into the holes, don’t we?
That seems likely, Eve replied.
Alan sighed, then looked around him. The only other presence he detected was his Trainer, who was bulky but managed to completely escape the insects’ notice. Alan decided to take a break, resting his legs and recharging his armor’s energy before making the next attempt. If another player managed to reach the center, so be it. It would just mean that he didn’t have to go into the creepy, underground colony.
***
As Alan crawled down the tunnel, doing his best to ignore the giant insect right in front of him, he was grateful that he wasn’t claustrophobic. If he were, he would have been really fucking scared, instead of just kind-of fucking-scared. The fact that the tunnel seemed to be narrowing, rather than expanding, wasn’t helping things, either. The brightly lit webbing, which continued down into the tunnel, was getting harder to avoid.
I can no longer guarantee your safety, Traveler. Proceed with caution, the Trainer said.
Great, then I’ll start paying attention, Alan replied as he leapfrogged over a large tangle of web. The Trainer didn’t answer.
Alan crawled forward, trying to avoid getting any more dirt inside his power armor. He’d thought that power armor, being a highly advanced technologically, should stop something as simple as dirt from getting in, but it turned out if you tilted your wrists at just the wrong angle…
Stop, Eve said.
Alan froze. He tried to scan his surroundings as best he could. There was dirt below him. There was dirt above him. There was dirt behind him. There was probably dirt in front of him, but he would need to check to be sure.
Never mind, Eve said.
What do you mean, never mind?
An anomaly, nothing more.
Is there something I should be worried about? The Trainer, who we’ve seen take massive hits without a scratch, just informed us that it couldn’t guarantee our safety. Maybe we should just call this a loss, go back and—
Continue. It was nothing.
Alan sighed, then crawled forward some more. He finally emerged into a large cavern with various tunnels that led to who knows where. In the center of the cavern was a glistening lake, glowing with infused energy. Larvae sat at its edge, switching between drinking from the lake and eating prepared globules of food, carried to them by drones.
There had been a battle here. Whoever had made it this far had killed many of the large, beetle-like guardians. Everything seemed to be proceeding as normal now, though Alan had no idea what normal was for a giant-mutated-hybrid-insect colony.
Based upon our travel, the center of the forest should be in the direction of the tunnel on our far right, Eve informed Alan. Alan followed Eve’s advice, as always, taking the highlighted path.
He continued past numerous gigantic beetle guards with large spiked carapaces, noting that a few looked like they were capable of flight. He continued past more larvae rooms, and rooms with resting, brown-furred assassins. He saw that they looked like cat-sized tarantulas that pulsed with glowing energy. Nothing to worry about.
