The Grind

by Dante Doom

  “Man, go to hell!” Savannah shouted back into the air around them. “I’m not some plaything for you!”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” the disembodied voice said. “You’re all my playthings. Now, you will fight for my amusement. Prepare to face the end!”

  The ground began to rumble as four silver shadows appeared on the ground.

  “Ah, great, why the hell does this gotta play out like a boss fight?” Fingers moaned as the shadows began to take on a third dimension, forming humanoid Virals armed with Energy Rifles. “I mean, he’s a regular guy.”

  “There’s nothing regular about Leopold,” Timon replied as he started to shoot at the humanoids.

  Savannah went to activate her glasses, but felt a powerful telepathic urging rush to her mind. Wait, the urging said. Wait until the time is right. Was this Kireen’s way of talking to her? It must be. Savannah nodded to no one in particular and set about firing on the silvery Virals. Her energy blasts tore through one of them easily, killing it instantly.

  “Nice shot!” Timon shouted. The victory was short-lived, however, for two more silver shadows appeared in its place. They began to form into humanoids in turn, both of them turning their attention to Fingers.

  “Ah crap!” Fingers yelled as a torrent of silvery energy came flying at him. He dodged to the left and then to the right, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid the brunt of the attacks. 300 damage hovered above his head, dropping him down to 1,600 points. At least he was heavily armored.

  “This is getting us nowhere,” Elanor shouted out as she rushed up close to two Virals and blasted them with her Energy Gloves. The blow was powerful enough to kill them, but three more appeared in their place.

  “How is he summoning these things?” Timon asked. “There’s got to be some way to shut off his power!”

  “Oh, this is only the beginning,” Leopold’s voice echoed over them. His laughter echoed through the chamber next as the team fought in vain against the seemingly endless wave of silvery shadows. “I haven’t even begun to send in the heavy hitters!”

  “Elanor, please tell me you know what you’re doing here,” Timon pleaded as he took an energy bolt to the face. The words 150 damage hovered above his head, dropping him from 2,000 to 1,850.

  “I’m working on it,” Elanor grunted as she unleashed a shockwave of electrical energy from her gloves. The wave pulsed through six of the shadows, killing them instantly. “Just keep fighting.”

  Savannah took a few steps back from the chaos and scanned the room. There had to be some way to stop all of these Virals from continually being summoned. Something wasn’t right, though, even in the midst of their battle. Elanor was completely relaxed, despite the fact that more and more Virals were coming out of the ground with each second. This was all some kind of game, wasn’t it? Leopold was trying to scare the team right now. Why? Why not fight them as fiercely as possible?

  “Wait!” Savannah shouted. “Leopold, I want to talk!”

  All of the Virals ceased their fighting immediately. There was a pause as everyone looked at Savannah. Timon was scowling even more deeply than the others, and he looked worried.

  “I’m listening,” Leopold’s voice said.

  “No, I don’t want to talk in front of everyone else. You and me. Face to face,” Savannah demanded.

  “If this is some clever ploy to kill me, it won’t work,” Leopold replied. “Your little rifle won’t do much good against my true avatar.”

  “I’m not trying to pull anything, I swear,” Savannah lied. “I simply want to talk to you alone.”

  “What are you doing?” Elanor hissed. “I have a plan.”

  “I know you do, but… I have a different one,” Savannah whispered back.

  “Very well,” Leopold said. “Sit on the throne. That will take you to a private area where we may converse face to face, as you have requested.”

  Savannah slowly trudged up the steps.

  “What are you doing?” Timon asked from behind her.

  “Trust me,” Savannah replied softly as she walked up to the throne.

  She had some semblance of a plan, too, it was true, but really, she was in large part following her instincts on this move. Leopold still had hope of seducing her—he’d proved it by freezing his attack on them—and that meant that he was vulnerable. All she had to do was figure out some way to exploit this weakness in the moment, and then she’d strike when he least expected it.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Savannah was sitting on the throne one moment and, in the next, she was standing in an ethereal mist. Silver clouds floated above and below her. There was no floor beneath her, and yet she walked as if there was one. She could feel a cold draft moving against her skin, and a shiver ran down her spine. What was this place?

  “The Grind is a wondrous place, is it not?” Leopold asked her as he appeared in front of her. “They have created a truly incredible piece of work. I’ve been opening doors in the Maintenance Section for years, learning all sorts of interesting ways to control the world around me. It’s not an exact science, but I’m getting the hang of it.”

  “Why are you so deadset on doing this?” Savannah asked. “Why do you need to become the supreme ruler?”

  “Is that why you interrupted my entertainment? To come lecture me, rehashing the same boring topics that anyone who has ever opposed me tries to speak of?” Leopold asked. “Oooh, please, King Leopold, think of all the good you can do. Oh, King Leopold, stop oppressing people.” He growled, and frowned deeply. “It makes me sick.”

  “I’m not here to try to convince you to change your mind,” Savannah said as she took a deep breath. “I’m here to make a deal with you.”

  “I’m listening,” Leopold said as he floated away from Savannah once again. The silvery substances around them changed shapes, turning from clouds into question marks.

  “I want all of the information in these halls,” Savannah replied. “All of it. I want all of the knowledge brought to the real world, so that Verre can prosper. They have a floor for every major human endeavor here… we need it if we are going to do more than get by. So, here’s my deal. In exchange for all of that knowledge, I’ll kill Elanor in the fight. We’ll make it look like I pissed you off and then, when she’s most vulnerable, she’s dead, provided that you don’t kill her in the real world.”

  Leopold stroked his mustache. “That is a very interesting proposition, but I’m afraid that I must decline. You see, I know for a fact that I can kill Elanor.”

  Savannah perked up a little. This was the information she had been waiting to hear. “How so?”

  “Easily,” Leopold said as he waved his hand. “The existing Virals can’t be controlled, but new ones can be created. Programmed. Designed. So, I made a few monsters of my own. At first, I experimented with fusing players to Virals, but the player part was always vulnerable. So, I decided to create my own Virals instead, and these powerful entities do as I say. I’ve tested them out across the board, and guess what? They are one hundred percent lethal every time. The only drawback, if you can call it that, is that since they are nothing more than damaged pieces of code, whenever they kill someone, they kill them for real. I have no control over that.”

  Savannah nodded slowly. “I see. So, you have access to monsters far more powerful than the rest of us?”

  “The Maintenance Section of the college taught me a lot,” Leopold said. “All of the theatrics back there?” He waved his hand over his shoulder dismissively. “That was only meant to rile you up. I don’t want to harm you or your friends, but I will if I have to.” There’d been a softness in his voice as he’d spoken the last words of his threat, but Savannah knew better.

  “Well, what about the data then? Give it to me and we’ll go away.”

  “I cannot hand my vast stores of knowledge to you, Savannah,” Leopold said as he shook his head. “You are far, far too naive if you think that the people will use this knowledge for good. Man will simpl
y rise up and use all of this scientific forethought to kill one another.”

  “Medicine and farming equipment will–”

  “Create healthy and well-fed killers,” Leopold finished for her as he chuckled at his own comment. “Come on, Savannah. I know you’re trying to figure out some clever angle here. You’re trying to think of some way that you can pull one over on me, so that you can return to your friends victorious. The truth is? You can’t. You can’t win, so you might as well join me.”

  Savannah laughed at the last comment, almost despite herself—she couldn’t help it. “Aren’t you pitiful?” she asked him.

  “Excuse me?” Leopold demanded as he took a step back with a look of shock on his face.

  Savannah laughed again and shook her head. “You really are the most pathetic man I have ever met. You hold in your hands the keys to transform the world, to save Verre and reboot society, so that we could be as prosperous as the World Before, and all you can focus on is… what, exactly? Becoming a dictator and wooing some girl, a Serf like me who’s happened to catch your interest? You could have statues erected not because of your orders, but because of how much the people love you! You could have the adoration of all the people of Verre and their future descendants, because you chose to lift others up rather than put them down, but instead you… you want to rule the biggest anthill on the block. I don’t think I realized how pathetic you really are until now.”

  “I do not take those words kindly,” Leopold growled. “You best watch your tongue, Grinder. There are some words that simply cannot be unsaid, no matter how many times you beg for forgiveness.”

  Savannah threw her head back with more irreverent laughter. Leopold’s face grew bright red in response, and he stepped toward her. His fists were clenched and he was beginning to tremble with rage now.

  “Listen here, you little…” he paused and tried to compose himself, taking a deep breath. “You don’t realize that, once you burn this bridge, there is no going back. Do you really want to do this?”

  “Leopold, you are, without a doubt, the most idiotic man I have ever met. You would trade everything away, and for what? A legacy that will vanish the moment you’re dead. You could have had so much more. Instead, you… you gave into your short-sightedness. So threaten me all you like, but in the end, you’re going to lose because, once you’re gone, no one will remember your name.”

  Leopold let out a deep breath and closed his eyes tightly. “You’re trying to provoke me, trying to get me angry. When I become emotional, I lose control. I will not let you get to me. Begone! If you have no intention of making a deal, then go!” He raised his hand, and Savannah felt the world around her shift; suddenly, she was back in the throne room.

  “Well, did you betray us?” Fingers blurted out at the top of his lungs.

  “Fingers!” Elanor snapped. “Don’t say that.”

  “We were all thinking it,” Fingers replied. “I’m only being the voice of the crowd.”

  “No, I didn’t betray anyone,” Savannah said. “But I managed to rattle him enough to get a valuable piece of intel. We need to get out of here.”

  “What?” Elanor asked. “Why?”

  “We have to get to the Maintenance Section. It’s where his source of power is coming from,” Savannah said as she rushed over to the exit portal. “We have to be able to stop him from manipulating the game world around us.”

  “Why isn’t he attacking?” Fingers asked.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s emotionally distraught,” Savannah said. “I think I hit a nerve with him.”

  “What did you call him?” Elanor asked.

  “Pathetic,” Savannah replied as the team hurried back to the secret passage.

  “Oh, yes,” Elanor chuckled. “My ex-husband certainly hated being called that.”

  “Your ex-what?” Fingers gasped.

  Elanor shrugged. “I didn’t mention that I was married to Leopold?”

  “You didn’t know that, Fingers?” Timon asked.

  “No,” Fingers replied.

  “I didn’t know that, either,” Savannah replied.

  “Indeed, I was, for three excruciating years. Oh, how we loathed each other,” Elanor said. The four reached the stairwell that would lead back to the Maintenance Section. “He refused to care about anyone other than himself. We bickered day and night, fighting about all sorts of political issues and, eventually, he took notice of some other woman. I swore a sacred oath the day he threw me over the wall that I would get back into Verre, and save it from him.”

  “So, does that mean you were already the Queen?” Fingers asked, scratching his head.

  “Of course not, silly. I didn’t have enough points to be Queen. I remained a Noble,” Elanor replied, turning around to look at him. “Besides… that man isn’t prone to sharing rule.”

  “Fascinating,” Savannah said as they walked up the stairs. Timon didn’t seem bothered by the revelation, so she figured that it didn’t really matter. “And you didn’t think to mention he was your ex-husband once?”

  “I could have sworn I mentioned it before,” Elanor muttered. “Shush—I hear something.”

  They all stopped at the top of the stairs. There was a rustling in the halls, followed by shouts and screams.

  “Ahhhh!” a man shouted.

  “It’s impossible to fight!” another voice cried.

  There were more sounds of struggle, followed by pure silence.

  “Well, I’m not going first,” Fingers whispered. “I’ll guard the stairs.”

  “Out of the way,” Savannah hissed as she pushed past the coward and into the hall. Ten-Thirty was standing alone, covered in blast marks.

  “Ten!” Savannah cried as she rushed up to hug the android. She threw her arms around the Machina and hugged it tightly. “I’m so glad you’re alive!”

  Ten gently patted Savannah on the head. “I am doing fine. I departed so that I could have some time to think, and I have made my conclusion.”

  “We need to move,” Elanor said as the rest of the team entered the hall. “These doors are very different.”

  Savannah turned her attention back to Ten-Thirty. “What was your conclusion?”

  “That–” Ten was interrupted by Elanor.

  “We don’t have time to chat! Spread out and look for a door that would be the source of Leopold’s power.”

  “That’s an ambiguous phrase,” Fingers said as the team moved around. “Would the door be marked ‘Leo’s Power?’”

  “Then it can wait,” Ten-Thirty said. “Let us search at once.”

  Savannah moved to the right and began to inspect the doors. They were very different from the other levels. These doors had words that were foreign to her. One door read Bandwidth and another read Latency. She wasn’t sure what these phrases meant. The point requirements were far more steep than normal, too. Some were upwards of 100,000 points. She couldn’t imagine paying that much to gain access to whatever was behind these doors.

  “I believe I have found something worth noting,” Ten-Thirty said. “There are three doors here. One is for spawning, one is for bypassing travel requirements, and the other is for character stats.”

  “You can control all of that in here?” Fingers asked as he rubbed his hands together. “I say we crack open the Stats door and become akin to gods!”

  “With those point requirements, you’d have to be a god to afford it,” Timon said as he pointed to the cost of activating each door. They were 200,000 points each.

  “Well, let’s disable the Spawn room,” Savannah said. “I’ll cover that one.”

  “Really?” Timon asked. “That’s a whole rank.”

  “Look, if we do this right, ranks will be gone and forgotten,” Savannah said as she stretched her arm out and pushed it into the hole. She took a deep breath as her points rapidly dropped down to a paltry 10,000/1,500,000. That was a lot of progress, gone in an instant.

  Elanor, who’d been on the other sid
e of the room, strolled over. “I’ll check the Stats room,” she said as she thrust her arm into the hole of the door. She had a lot more points to burn, although Savannah wondered how much Elanor would be willing to give up. After all, the woman still aspired to be the Queen.

  “Look!” Timon said as he pointed to the interior of the Spawn room. There were dozens of screens mounted around a large central console, each one with a different type of Machina displayed. Below the screens were computer consoles. Savannah didn’t have much experience working with computers, and almost took a step back in surprise at what she’d opened them up to. She knew how to type at one, and how to debug a broken pod, but this was way beyond her field of expertise.

  “This area is interesting,” Ten-Thirty said as it approached the closest computer console and began to type on it. “It would appear that there is a modified program that warps Machina code into Viral code. This is not a simple operation. Doing so would require… knowledge of the kind of code that I have seen.”

  “Well, according to Leopold, he can create Virals,” Savannah replied.

  “That… is trouble,” Ten-Thirty said as it continued to work on the controls. “Yes, there is a code that, once learned, can be implemented. However, in order to do so, we’re going to need access to the Script room. Scripts are how Leopold is able to create Virals. This room only creates code for them.”

  “I understand,” Timon said, stepping toward Ten. Seeing Savannah’s confused look, he offered, “So, it’s like these rooms are the spells and the scripts are the spell book?”