by Azalea Ellis
Birch mewled and tried to climb onto my lap to lick it up, but I shouldered him away, focusing my glare on the bloodied puzzle in my hands. "The Oracle got me into this mess, and the Oracle is going to get me out of it," I said. But even so, I wanted to cry.
My meditation had been helping to keep my emotions under control, but the stress of my current situation was too great. So I scrabbled with the silver bands, and tears fell from my eyes to meet the drops of blood. I couldn't help it.
I gasped, eyes widening. Pushed by the tears, my blood formed spider-web-thin lines on the bands, spreading, and converging into delicate pathways. The last puzzle, the ring, had tiny protrusions and grooves that kept it from forming up unless I matched them together exactly. This one hadn’t, and I knew because I’d searched desperately for them.
What type of ridiculous prerequisite was both bleeding and crying on the puzzle before being able to solve it? I scowled at the Oracle's gift. Had she somehow known that this would happen, that I would fulfill the condition? If she really could see the future, as her name implied, maybe she had.
It took almost an hour, even after that, but I solved the puzzle, each of the bands fitting with the other perfectly, creating a woven cylinder. Nothing happened.
So, I held it with my left hand, making sure to pinch hard so none of the pieces slipped out of place, and slipped my right hand through it.
It immediately seemed to come alive, like its smaller counterpart had done, and wriggled up my forearm like a snake, clasping to the flesh. It stopped when it reached my elbow, and injected its contents into me.
My VR chip popped up with two messages a few seconds later.
YOUR NON-SENSORY PERCEPTION HAS INCREASED!
YOUR INTELLIGENCE HAS INCREASED!
Then, once again, my body was seized with pain and I spasmed uncontrollably, flailing about. I smashed my arm against the floor involuntarily, but the solved puzzle acted as a guard and stopped me from bruising it. My eyes rolled back. Flashing lights behind my lids put on a show to match the pain.
Then, I began to see, as before.
A rush of images passed, almost too fast for me to recognize them. Bright red ants swarming and stripping every ounce of flesh off a small animal, the streak of a wing passing behind a fluffy white cloud, a flash of light as a blinding sun shone fully into my eyes, and a thousand other things that passed from my memory as quick as they came.
Finally, it slowed. A moon hung over a black sea, shining silver into the depths. A blonde man stood on the surface of the water, and he pointed downward. My sight followed the rays of moonlight into the darkness, and I saw that here and there they connected with the beams from another orb. This one was bright and almost golden, but it was crumbling. Bits and pieces fell and floated away, mixing like blood in the water. I watched them float until they were lost in the inky darkness, and when I looked back, the orb was an eye. It noticed my presence, then, and as happens sometimes in dreams, I knew that it was my great enemy, and that it knew not who I was. I lost the sense of myself in the knowledge of how little it cared for my existence, and then it devoured me, absorbing all that I was and ever could be. And I, too, rusted away into nothingness.
I woke, gasping, to Birch on my chest, licking my cheek with his painfully raspy tongue and yowling full force into my face.
I groaned. "Oh, shut up, please." My head throbbed so hard I felt like I could almost hear my brain thumping against the inside of my skull. "You're getting big enough that your voice is a weapon."
Birch quieted and scrambled off my chest, hopping around on all fours like an excited baby deer.
"What time is it?" I whispered, and pulled up the answer on a Window, then groaned again. I had no idea what the vision meant, or what I was supposed to do next. And I was late for breakfast.
Interlude 1
They had taken her off the side of the road, on her way to work. It was a simple thing, to cause the pods ahead of her to crash. Her own slowed and stopped to protect her, and he ripped the door off it.
She squinted and flinched back as his body dwarfed the breach he'd created in the tiny vehicle's side.
He bent, snapping the protective straps off her shoulders.
Her eyes widened, and then she glared at him like a rattlesnake. "You," she said, fairly spitting with anger.
His eyes tracked over her face, taking in the faint wrinkles--those were new--and the challenge in her expression--that was not new. He didn't respond, simply grasping her by the shoulders and yanking her out of the pod.
She screamed for help.
No one responded, or even looked their way. His companion's blood-borne ability redirected the gazes of the humans around, so he didn't fear their notice or reprisal.
He forced her into their own, much larger vehicle, careful not to damage her. He remembered how fragile humans could be.
Another of his companions disposed of her vehicle, and as the pods involved in the crash pulled themselves off the main road, traffic began to move again.
She didn't bother screaming at them or begging them to let her go. Her long polished nails went straight for the eyes, and she kicked at his genitals.
He turned sideways so her foot impacted ineffectually against his thigh, and grabbed both her wrists in one hand. "Calm yourself, woman. We mean you no harm."
She laughed, loudly and bitterly. "And yet, you are kidnapping me."
He settled back with a tiny twitch of his lips that someone might interpret as a smile. "It is for your own good."
She scoffed. "I've heard that one before. Bastard."
He ignored her.
Once they arrived at the compound, she was hustled away to stay with the other humans. He had not seen her since, but he found his thoughts drawn to her. It had been a long time.
Chapter 7
I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark.
— Gillian Flynn
I didn’t even make it out of my room before my VR chip malfunctioned. Screens flickered in front of my face, flashing with varying brightness, spreading, popping, and flying around. They were filled with random symbols, but nothing that resembled words or the stats that I’d become accustomed to. They came like a barrage, cutting off my vision with their numbers and movement.
I dropped to my knees, clenching my jaw so tightly I could hear my molars creaking. I held back a scream of fear. Was NIX somehow attacking me, or had the second puzzle damaged the chip? Seizures couldn’t be good for the electronics attached to my visual cortex, to say nothing of their detrimental effects on my brain itself.
Birch yowled at me again, and then began to whimper under his breath as he pressed his body against my thigh.
To my relief, the Windows disappeared after another minute or so. I patted Birch on the head and made some soothing sounds until he calmed down. I was about to pull up my Attribute Window, to make sure the VR chip wasn’t broken, when one last screen appeared in front of my face.
ACCESS ACCEPTED. PRINCIPAL GUIDE UPDATED. GUIDE NAME: ORACLE
I screamed, then, just a little.
FORGE AN ALLIANCE WITH ESTREYAN CAPTIVE
COMPLETION REWARD: ALLIANCE
NON-COMPLETION PENALTY: DEATH
A timer popped up, set at 24 hours. I watched, wide-eyed, as the numbers ticked down, second by second. A single day to complete the quest. I wasn’t sure whether to be horrified or elated.
Birch fell asleep several times just during breakfast. It was quite hilarious to watch the little creature’s head begin to fall as he succumbed to sleep, only to jerk awake again repeatedly.
His antics amused the whole squad, but did little to distract me from the timer in my peripheral vision. I’d tried to dismiss it, but neither actions nor words had any effect on it, and it remained like an omen of doom.
A thorough examination of my VR chip’s Windows and information also showed a couple significant changes. The Skill Window was one.
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Characteristic Skills
Tumbling Feather (kinetic class): Increases Grace and Agility. Improved sense of balance and motion. Skill effects will expand and strengthen with Player improvement.
Spirit of the Huntress (Spirit Class): Increased Grace, Agility, Perception, Focus, Physique, and Stamina. Nails extend and sharpen on command. Greater chance to land on feet after a fall. Aggressive tendencies increase. Skill effects will expand and strengthen with Player improvement.
Skills
Command (mundane class): Allows leader access to the Team Management Window. Leader can communicate with team members through Game Windows, see location of team members on team management map, and is able to access basic Game Information of team members.
Wraith: Increases Perception. Senses extend beyond the body, giving a comprehensive understanding of surroundings, and marking areas or beings of power according to degree. Skill effects will expand and strengthen with Player improvement.
Chaos (Godling class): Latent ascension potential. Gives access to the primordial power of the Goddess of Chaos.
The Oracle recognized that Perception Skill I’d found so useful, and there was some actual information about Chaos.
The second change was the Attribute Window.
STRENGTH (14): ABILITY TO EXERT PHYSICAL FORCE.
AGILITY (21): PHYSICAL ABILITY TO INITIATE QUICK-TWITCH MUSCLE MOVEMENTS.
MANUAL DEXTERITY (9): ABILITY TO UTILIZE FINE MOTOR CONTROL.
INTELLIGENCE (20): ABILITY TO REMEMBER DATA AND EMPLOY REASONING.
MENTAL ACUITY (18): ABILITY TO THINK AND DRAW CONCLUSIONS QUICKLY.
FOCUS (17): ABILITY TO CONCENTRATE ATTENTION ON A SPECIFIC ISSUE.
BEAUTY (10): PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, CONFORMING TO THE WISHES OF THE PLAYER.
CHARISMA (12): MEASURE OF INFLUENCE OVER OTHERS, BASED ON ATTRACTIVENESS AND FORCE OF PRESENCE.
GRACE (18): ABILITY TO CONTROL THE FLOW AND CONSEQUENCE OF BODY MOVEMENTS.
RESILIENCE (23): ABILITY TO RECOVER FROM DAMAGE AND MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EXHAUSTION.
STAMINA (19): MEASURE OF HOW MUCH PHYSICAL OR MENTAL FORCE CAN BE EXERTED BEFORE BECOMING EXHAUSTED.
PERCEPTION (24): ABILITY TO SENSE BOTH THE PHYSICAL AND THE IMPLIED.
LIFE (28): MEASURE OF HOW MUCH DAMAGE CAN BE ABSORBED BEFORE DYING.
Physique seemed to have been rolled into Beauty, and there was a completely new Attribute. Charisma. I’d never put any Seeds into it, but if I calculated based off the total number of levels it already had, it had something to do with Beauty and Physique. Not so surprising, but Charisma seemed much more valuable than either.
There was also no indication of any “unplanted” Seeds, or even a space for it.
Zed’s eyes caught mine several times during the meal, and I knew he wanted to talk with me, but we both knew it wasn’t safe till we could be sure we weren’t being monitored.
I watched both Bunny and Blaine surreptitiously. Our former Moderator seemed lively and carefree, joking around with Kris and Jacky easily, while Blaine had bags under his eyes, and had brought a smartglass tablet to the breakfast table with him, so that he could continue working on his latest project.
My claws scored lines in the back of my plastine food tray as Bunny yawned, then poked Chanelle in the side when no one else was watching. His continued presence was like a bloodsucking tick burrowing into my skin, which I couldn’t even attempt to remove yet. Blaine, I could at least sympathize with. Bunny had no excuse.
When breakfast was over, Zed tried to move toward me as we left the cafeteria, but Blaine got to me first, using the noise of all the Players around us as cover for his words. “I have looked through your samples,” Blaine murmured to me. “I destroyed them, and erased the data. I am sure NIX has access to my devices, and I didn’t want to leave evidence of your condition for them to find.”
I stared at him for just a moment too long, but he didn’t seem to notice. Was his paranoia and secrecy from NIX a ploy to get me to lower my guard, or was he truly eschewing his duties as spy? “What did you find?” I asked.
“Not much more than Sam. The Chaos Seed material seems to be attempting to drag your body toward entropy on a cellular level. There may be a way to combat it through ‘mundane’ means, but I have not been able to think of any. I considered the modified meningolycanosis as a way to combat them, but there’s no discernable way to target them to one specific type of Seed. And seeing what it did to Chanelle . . . I believe I am understandably reluctant to suggest such a thing. There may be others besides Sam who would be able to heal this with a Skill, but NIX would be made aware. The only viable solution is likely to be what you already suggested. Overwhelm its destructive capability with Seeds in the healing Attributes.”
I’d suspected as much. And at this point, I’m not sure I would’ve trusted Blaine if he had suggested anything else. “Thanks for trying,” I said simply.
“I have also started work on getting the modified VR chips for the kiddos, myself, and the others ready. Whenever the rest of the team is ready, I should be able to enable communication in their chips so that you don’t need to relay messages for them.”
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll set something up, maybe in a couple days. We can’t be too obvious about it.”
He nodded and left, ignoring the rule about traveling alone.
I spent a tense day slogging through classes and meals while worrying about completing the Oracle’s quest.
Birch ended up taking several naps during my classes, which some of the Players around seemed to think was cute. One tried to pet him when I was distracted, and he woke up immediately and bit them. His human-like eyes glared at them in a manner that I imagined was somewhat disturbing, especially with his little pointy teeth glistening red.
No one tried to touch him after that.
During our shared Battle Tactics class, I sent a Window to Adam.
—NIX wiped all your data on them, right? All the stuff we took or changed both times we were able to access the system?—
-Eve-
—Yes.—
-Adam-
He looked at the smartglass screen in front of us with an almost comical load of sadness and frustration.
—You know the…stuff down in the basement?—
-Eve-
He looked up at me, and then back to the screen, matching my deliberately casual expression.
—Yeah?—
-Adam-
—Do you remember if there was anything about it in the data you downloaded?—
-Eve-
—The first time, I only modified the data. And the second time, I didn’t have it long enough to look through it. When we agreed to join, you know NIX force-wiped everything I had. I’d tried to keep some hidden, but they did a wonderful job. I’m considered a high-priority risk for the information systems now. I’m not allowed to access them outside of classwork or the allotted hours I work with Blaine, and they monitor my logs.—
-Adam-
He paused a second, and then sent me a second Window.
—Why? Is something happening?—
-Adam-
—Yes. I’ve got to find a way to get down to it without being caught. I’ve got an idea how to do it already.—
-Eve-
—They’ve got the surveillance system working overtime. We’ve proved it fallible twice, but you better be careful. Do you need help?—
-Adam-
—No. My method requires my Skills, so I have to do it alone. I’m not planning to get caught, so don’t worry.—
-Eve-
He looked at me doubtfully, but I was already lost in speeding thoughts.
At the end of the day, back in my room, I moved my little stool over to the vent in the corner. It was smaller than a lot of the other vents around NIX, but it was significantly bigger than it probably would have been, if NIX wasn’t cut into the depths of a mountain. I measured it carefully, then compared it to the width of my own shoulders.
I wouldn’t be able to move my arms and legs, but if I could find a way to avoid needing to climb until I reached the larger ventilation tube that my own fed right into, I could make it. I crouched low, then sprang upward, grabbing onto the metal grate with my clawed fingers. I held myself suspended with one hand as I reached out with the claws of my other hand and unscrewed the nine rods holding the grate to the ceiling. I hid the grate and the rods in my bedding, turned off the light, then returned to the stool.
I jumped again, my arms close to my head and pointed straight toward the vent. My shoulders hit the sides with enough force to bruise, but the tips of my claws caught on the edge of the main vent system. I had to let go, because I didn’t have enough space to wiggle my way up.
I pulled over the small table and balanced the stool atop it, as Birch watched curiously.
My feet had changed significantly after getting the Spirit of the Huntress Skill, so much so that wearing shoes was difficult. The toes were too long, and with a little extra push, they grew claws, making it a simple thing to grip the edge of the stool for balance. The little extra boost activating the Huntress Skill also gave me the necessary power to fully reach the bend in the vent. I scrabbled with my claws, and managed to drag myself up and into the larger duct.
Birch mewled pitifully and scrabbled up atop the table and then the stool, and with a motion familiar to cats everywhere, wound up for a seemingly impossible jump. His tiny body launched up toward me, and I caught him by the forepaws, helping him over the edge.
“Be quiet,” I whispered to him. “We can’t get caught.”
