by Rick Scott
You find a Labyrinth Key.
You find a Labyrinth Key.
You find a Warden’s Key.
What the heck…?
I look to my brother. “Hey, did you get a bunch of keys just now from the corpse?”
“Yeah,” Maxis says. “Like six of ‘em.”
“Weird…”
We’ll need to figure out what they’re for, but for now we need to regroup.
“Are any more of those things coming?” I ask Rembrandt.
The bald cyberpunker studies the ice crystal island where they emanated from and shakes his head.
“Doesn’t look like it,” he says. “That was my bad, by the way.”
I give him a puzzled look. “Huh?”
He shrugs within his trench coat. “I saw them floating out there and decided to try sniping one. A blasted headshot only took it down 20%. And then it used that call move to bring the other two.”
“Guess we’re lucky there weren’t more,” I say, staring at the island. It’s a good thousand feet away and I marvel at how Rembrandt was even able to make a headshot from that distance. But as a purely ranged class, I imagine he must have a special sniping ability for it.
“What are those keys for?” Aiko asks, looking to Val Helena. “Do you know?”
The giantess shakes her head. “I didn’t come across any when I was here last. Not that I killed anything in here either. It’s the first time I’ve even seen those angel things.”
“How much time has Gilly got left?” Rembrandt asks, looking to me.
I check the time next to Gilly’s name again on the party list and watch it count down.
52:23
…
…
…
52:22
…
…
…
52:21
But I wonder why Rembrandt even asked. He should be able to see the same thing.
“Fifty-two minutes,” I say. “We’re burning time. We need to find Becky.”
“Hold on a sec,” Rembrandt says, still staring into space. But then I figure he must be studying his HUD still. “I think time is on our side for once, mate. Look at those numbers again. We’ve been in here a lot longer than eight minutes.”
I do what he says.
In fact, I think we all do, going silent as we watch the numbers, our HUDs lighting up within our eyes.
51:58
…
…
…
51:57
…
…
…
51:56
Holy cow…he’s right! The seconds aren’t really ticking like seconds at all. Almost three seconds pass before the digits move.
“No way…” I don’t understand it completely but a new sense of hope fills my heart with exhilaration. “The time is moving slower!”
Val Helena did mention as much about this place when she described it—that time moved slower, but I didn’t expect it to affect Gilly’s timer as well. “I thought we had less than an hour. But now it’s more like three!”
“It could have something to do with her dying outside in the real world,” Aiko says. “Maybe the timer is set according to the outside rather than in here.”
“Maybe,” Val Helena says. “And if that’s the case, then we just got ourselves a Hail Mary. And we shouldn’t waste it.”
“I hear that, love,” Rembrandt says.
I scrunch up my face at the unfamiliar term. “What’s a Hail Mary?”
“It means an unexpected boon,” Rembrandt says. “Like a divine intervention.”
I nod, but then wonder if it could almost be literally so.
“Maybe it has something to do with these weird kernel pulse messages I keep getting,” I say. “I do notice the timing between them and the delay in Gilly’s counter is close. Think it could have anything to do with the Builder?”
Builders are the ancient AI machines that created both our home city of Citadel as well as the fantasy surface world we’re now in, using the same nano-technology that formed our bodies. But on the surface they’re revered as gods. At least by the natives.
“What messages?” Maxis says. “I don’t see anything.”
Maybe it’s something that only I can see again. Just like the Shadow King appearing as one of the fire-breathing demons. I throw a link of the messages into the party chat so everyone else can see.
“Didn’t see that before, either,” Val Helena says. “But I felt it, or feel it rather. Don’t all of you?”
With the exhilaration of combat waning, I do feel that throbbing headache return and it’s in time with the messages. I recall Val Helena’s story she told me, of when she came in here the first time. “Is this what you meant by something else getting inside your head?”
Val Helena nods. “It’ll get worse the longer we stay.”
“That means we’re under a time crunch in more ways than one,” Aiko says, stowing her blades. “We need to find my sister and fast.”
“I’m for that,” Maxis says, starting toward the edge of the platform. “If a Builder is causing that pulse thing, I don’t want to wait around for the final outcome. Let’s move.”
“Wait,” Val Helena says, catching the crook of his arm. “We need a plan, Max.”
Maxis shrugs. “We’ll come up with one on the way. Time’s burning.”
“But Reece and I found you guys pretty much by luck. We don’t even know where to go to find Becky.”
“I do,” I say. “Sort of…”
Everyone goes quiet and looks at me.
“I say we head towards that,” I say and point toward the metallic sphere at the center. “At the very least there has to be something important there. Maybe it can lead us to her. Or give us a better vantage to find her.”
“Okay,” Maxis says. “That sounds pretty obvious. Maybe too obvious. But either way, how do we get there? These platforms are moving around like crazy.”
“I think there’s a pattern,” I say, and begin studying the colored lines on the surface. “We just need to figure it out.”
Rembrandt rests his hands on his knees and studies the lines with me. “You’re right there, mate. This labyrinth is a puzzle, not a racetrack. We need time to figure it out.”
I nod and thank God that we have time on our side now. Like Val said, this extra time is a gift, a Hail Mary, and we can’t waste it.
Not even a second.
Chapter 3: Contingency
“Is this all of them?” Bruce asked.
Dennis Fields, head software engineer for the Crystal Shards, gave a nod. “Yes, these are all the members of the most recent excursion team.”
Bruce swallowed the dry lump in his throat as he studied the holographic display within the observation lounge. On it were six sets of vitals and corresponding names. The only one he could focus on however…was his daughter’s.
Unlike the others, which showed steady brainwave activity but slightly decreased vitals, hers was the opposite: strong vitals but a completely flat-lined brain pattern. Bruce didn’t know what to make of the others, but he had seen the loss of brainwaves once before.
It had happened to Gina’s younger boy, Ryan.
But he had recovered from it.
Bruce prayed the same would happen for Gilly.
Somehow.
“What’s the chance of this being another glitch?” he asked Dennis. He made sure to emphasize ‘glitch’ in a way that made it clear he knew it had to be something other than just that. Bruce had to admit, he was coming to grow more and more distrusting of Dennis of late. The fact that the software engineer kept parts of how the Crystal Shards system functioned completely to himself was reason enough for that. As for why he did it, however, was still a mystery, but using it as leverage to become the next chairman seemed likely. More than once, Dennis had used something like that to railroad him in a board meeting.
“A glitch?” Gina asked.
Gina Roberts was n
ext to Bruce and clung uncharacteristically mouse-like to the sleeve of his jacket. It was just another shot in the gut that emphasized the dire situation Bruce had placed the woman in. Through actions she would probably never understand, he had gotten both her sons onto the surface, fighting for the city’s future and facing risks unknown. Not that he had disclosed all of that, or ever would, but he wasn’t trying to uphold the standard “synaptic overload” façade anymore.
“These things happen sometimes,” Bruce said. “We may just have to wait it out. A correction to the system will likely occur.”
He was talking nonsense, but he hoped she couldn’t detect it.
Gina Roberts nodded, still pale-faced, but seemed to accept it for now.
The observation lounge was built like a ship’s bridge, with several control panels and large picture windows to view the multiple racks of stasis pods that housed the city’s dormant just outside. With the nano crisis, the numbers were up to 30% now.
Dear God…30 percent. Over 300 thousand people were now trapped in the virtual servers of the Crystal Shards. And more would soon be joining them, if this truly was the end of the latest excursion team.
Their last chance.
Gone.
Along with his Gilly.
“We should perhaps call an emergency board meeting,” Dennis said. “Don’t you think?”
Bruce shifted his eyes towards Dennis and prayed he wouldn’t say anything else, for Gina’s sake. But Dennis was thinking along the same lines as he was. If this was the end of the team, then they needed to talk contingencies. Something that Dennis had been hinting at from the very beginning.
A sickness rose up in Bruce’s stomach. This was exactly what Dennis had wanted, wasn’t it? Could it be possible he had something to do with this coming about? Bruce eyed Dennis harshly as the sickness in his stomach turned to venom.
Bruce waited for some sign of confirmation, a subtle smirk or grin of satisfaction on the software engineer’s face. But nothing was there. Just a concerned grimace. Perhaps, he was overreacting. Dennis couldn’t possibly have influence over what happened on the surface. It was his grief deceiving him, looking for something or someone to blame.
Besides himself…
“Is this…serious then?” Gina asked. “Enough to call a board meeting?”
Bruce shook his head dismissively. “It’s concerning another matter. Our children will be fine.”
“That’s right,” Dennis said. “Both your sons’ vitals are strong and only slightly outside of normal parameters. I’m sure it will correct itself soon.”
At least Dennis had the decency to play along with the facade.
“Call the meeting to take place within the hour,” Bruce said to him and then turned to Gina. “You’re welcome to stay here in the observatory in the meantime. I’ll bring you some coffee.”
Gina nodded and he left the observation lounge.
Bruce glanced upwards with a silent prayer as he departed.
Please let this blow over…whatever it is.
And if either of you boys are still alive up there.
Bring my daughter back to me.
Chapter 4: Near Miss
I’m watching the patterns change on the platform when an idea hits. The keys obviously fit into this somehow. I pull them both up on my HUD to check if they have anything to offer in their descriptions.
Labyrinth Key
N/A
Single-use item.
Warden’s Key
N/A
Single-use item.
Great. Not much good that’s going to do. I’ll have to use one of them to figure out exactly what they do. Val Helena and Maxis stand with Aiko at the edge of the platform, trying to make sense of the island and angels floating in the distance. Meanwhile, Rembrandt and I stay focused on the patterns and tiles.
I look to Rembrandt, who is crouching next to me. “I’m going to try using one of these keys.”
“Just a sec,” he says, still studying the platform. “I’m nearly done making a catalog of these patterns.” He focuses with his tech shades a moment more and then says, “There…go for it, mate.”
“You making any sense of it, Rem?” Val Helena asks, glancing over her shoulder at us.
Rembrandt stands and shrugs.
“There are not as many combinations as it first looks. A lot of repetition mixed in. But the pattern starts repeating itself after 8 patterns. And each pattern stays active for 30 seconds.”
240 seconds for a full rotation. Four minutes. That’s a long time to be waiting for a particular pattern to appear. Especially under the time crunch we’re in.
“What are you going to do with that key?” Maxis asks, strolling towards us. “If they’re important we don’t want to be wasting them.”
“Yeah, but you got six of them right?” I say. “I’ll only use one.”
“Sounds fair enough,” Aiko says as she saunters next to Val Helena and my brother. “And it’s not like those angels were that hard to kill if we need to get more.”
That reminds me of something.
“I also got a Warden’s Key from the one I was tanking,” I say and link it to the party chat. “But it only dropped one of them.”
Rembrandt nods. “I supposed we’ll need to test both of them then.”
“Go for it, Reece,” Val Helena says. “Let’s see what they do.”
I materialize the Labyrinth Key in my palm, spending a few nano to do so.
It forms the shape of an old-fashioned novelty key, about the size of a dagger, and is made completely of blue crystal. I then crush it within my palm to activate it.
You use a Labyrinth Key.
Which stream do you wish to unlock? [R/G/B]
Oh snap… “It’s letting me pick a color.”
I choose ‘G’.
Are you sure you wish to unlock stream color Green? [Y/N]
I confirm my decision and the green line illuminates.
“It activated one of the lines!” Val Helena says excitedly. “This will make things much easier.”
“Is this what you guys were talking about before?” Aiko says, looking up at the giantess. “When you teleported from platform to platform?”
“Yeah,” Val Helena says. “But it was random before. Using these keys will speed the progress up a lot.”
“We’ll really need to study the patterns then,” Rembrandt says. “To make sure we don’t waste them.”
The pattern then changes and the illuminated line disappears, replaced by three new lines going in different directions.
“Damn,” Maxis says. “Does it wear off? Or is it only for that one pattern?”
“We’ll have to wait a full rotation to find out,” Rembrandt says.
An agonizing 4 minutes go by before we see the same pattern re-appear. Thankfully the green line is still illuminated.
“Looks like it’s permanent,” I say.
“What’s the Warden’s Key do?” Val Helena asks.
I shrug. “Maybe it’ll unlock all of them? Should I try it?”
“Only one way to find out, Pretty Boy.” Aiko winks at me. “Go for it.”
I materialize the key in my palm. It’s much the same shape as the Labyrinth Key, only this one is purple in color instead of crystal-blue. I’m just about to crush it when I sense something above me.
Your Awareness increases by 0.7.
Skill Up! Your Awareness is now 44!
“Watch out!” Maxis yells.
My brother leaps in front of me and deflects a crystal spear aimed straight for my head!
Maxis parries the Crystal Spear!
With a flash of lightning, the spear reverses direction and sails straight back the way it came. It flies upward to the platform high above us and impales a robed mage standing on its edge.
The Crystal Spear hits the Battle Mage for 754 damage!
Battle Mage defeats Battle Mage!
The Health bar above the mage’s head flatlines and he falls over
the edge, slamming into the glass platform a few feet from us.
Holy heck!
“Did you just parry a freaking spell?” Aiko stares at my brother with her mouth open. “I didn’t even know that was possible!” She then mutters more to herself. “Crap…no wonder I lost to you.”
“No time for flattery, love!” Rembrandt shouts, drawing his pistols. “Move! I’ll cover us!”
I glance above to see what Rembrandt is reacting to and see half a dozen more mages slipping out of stealth, accompanied by at least ten soldiers with bows. Behind them are two giants. And in the center is Ziegfried in his gleaming knight’s armor, issuing commands.
“It’s Braxus!” I shout. “He’s followed us inside!”
But I don’t see Braxus himself. Knowing the coward he is, I’d be surprised if he’d actually risk his own life to follow us. More likely he just sent one of his minions ahead into the unknown to do his dirty work. But it’s a problem all the same.
We make a break for it just as the first volley of arrows arrive. They clatter and break against the glass platform, sending us scattering in all directions.
I cast Shadow Copy as I run, preparing for the next wave of attacks.
Rembrandt performs a series of backflips to gain distance quickly and then opens up with his pistols aimed above. The action forces the archers to back away as sparks light up the edge of the platform, but behind them the line of mages take refuge behind the two giants and cast freely.
Battle Mage casts Fire Storm!
Battle Mage casts Fire Storm!
Battle Mage casts Fire Storm!
The air around us erupts into flames and I lose my shadow instantly.
Aiko loses her shadow as well and Rembrandt is thankfully out of range. But Maxis and Val Helena cry out as they are engulfed in the flames, losing about 20% of their HP.
Not good.
“We’re ducks in a barrel down here!” Rembrandt shouts, still blazing away. “They’ve got the high ground, a bonus to range and accuracy. And I got the opposite. We need to get off this tile!”
