by Rick Scott
I watch them fight a couple of angels as we race across the tiles and although they take on about three at a time, they surround them with about twenty soldiers each, plus the mages casting strings of attack spells. The giants too, team up in groups of three to take on the Labyrinth Keepers. And they take them down at the same speed we were, perhaps a little slower even. It reminds me just how OP we are compared to the NPCs of this world. They have numbers, but I bet we could easily go up against a dozen of them at a time.
Not that it’s a theory I want to test out at the moment.
A message pops onto my HUD.
You have lost 1 Veteran Point.
Darn. Think I’m down to just one left now. Just another reminder that we need to get done with this place. We finally shift to the last tile and the floor shakes as Val Helena’s huge invisible outline goes running off ahead of us.
“Becky!” she calls aloud.
I run after her, as do the others.
At the far end of the platform is the figure Rembrandt spotted, a person dressed in a white robe with green trim. It’s definitely a woman, although I can’t see her face since she’s turned away from us. The hair is dark like Rembrandt said, jet black in fact, and spills just past her shoulders.
Val Helena keeps shouting Becky’s name as we get closer, but the woman doesn’t respond. And then Val Helena stops short and we all nearly run into her invisible form.
Aiko lets out a curse next to me.
“What?” I say.
Val Helena releases a dejected sigh. “It’s not her…”
I step next to Val Helena and can see for myself the truth as I bring up the person’s info on my HUD.
Name: Alexi
Sex: Female
Race: Human
Class: Summoner
Level: 85
Guild: Nasgar
“Well, it isn’t Becky,” I say. “But it’s still another player. And she’s from our Shard too. Maybe she can help us find her. Or raise Gilly even. Do Summoners have Raise?”
I feel like a bit of a heel asking the last part. I know Aiko and Val Helena are probably torn about not finding their sister, but I can’t help but think of Gilly as well.
“I tried PMing to her, already,” Val Helena says. “She’s not responding.”
If we were back in the Shards, this would be a pretty normal situation. A player simply multitasking or something like that, but going away from controls was a pretty hard thing to do in the real world. Although maybe she’s trying to puzzle her way through the labyrinth and looking at maps on her HUD the same way Rembrandt was.
“I’ll approach her,” I say. “I’ll become visible so she can see me.”
“Careful,” Maxis says. “Braxus’ army is right above us.”
“Yeah,” I say with a shrug. “But if they haven’t spotted her all this time, then maybe they’re too distracted to see me too.”
The logic makes sense to me anyway.
Maxis: Just be careful…
Man, my brother can really be the worrywart at times too, but I appreciate it. I refresh Shadow Copy just in case and become visible at the same time. I get about ten feet from the woman and call out to her.
“Hey,” I say. “Can you hear me?”
Nothing.
A crackle of thunder booms from above me and I flinch, expecting to be hit by a spell from one of Ziegfried’s mages. But nothing happens. I look up and confirm it’s just them killing the angels. But part of me fears this could be some kind of trap or set-up by them. My heart beats faster as I edge closer to the woman.
“Hey!” I call to her again a bit louder.
Still nothing.
I take a wide arc around the woman to get a look at her face, and when I do my blood runs cold. Her face is like a mannequin, frozen stiff. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she actually was one. But what haunts me the most are her eyes—fixed open and completely black. No sclera or iris, just shiny black orbs set in a soulless stare, just like the monsters from my nightmares.
Is this what I think it is?
Is this a Shard Wraith?
Her head swivels in my direction and she screams. “You never gave me what I needed!”
I jump back in fright, drawing my weapons.
“Reece!” Val Helena yells and suddenly she appears next to me.
The woman, Alexi, or whatever she really is, keeps screaming at me.
“All you cared about was yourself and that’s how I ended up like this! Tommy never took it, I did! Apples aren’t supposed to taste like this! How would you even know? We’ll never get to Pangea this way!”
What the heck…?
She keeps yelling at me savagely, her language devolving into an incoherent tirade of random nonsense until finally she releases an anguished howl.
“AHHHHH!”
Streams of blue energy pour from her body and merge to form the rough outline of a humanoid figure standing behind her, a figure that has to be ten feet tall.
Alexi summons Diablos!
“Get out of there!” Maxis shouts. “She’s a wraith!”
My brother confirms the obvious, although in truth I had no idea what to expect a Shard Wraith to actually look like. Or act like. I had expected some kind of zombie-looking thing maybe but the woman going from catatonic statue to psycho manic-depressive was startling, to say the least.
Gunshots ring out and Alexi’s Health bar depletes as Rembrandt opens fire on her. She winces from the hits but then takes refuge behind the massive figure taking form behind her. It solidifies into a huge red-skinned demon with bullhorns and flames exuding from its massive clawed hands.
Alexi points to Rembrandt and opens her mouth to perhaps issue a command to attack.
“Fight me!” I shout at her with War Cry and her head snaps in my direction.
“Inferno Storm!” she yells.
The bull demon releases a howl and huge flames shoot from both of its clawed hands. I pop Active Dodge to avoid the dual streams of fire, but they hit the ground in front of me and explode into an AOE.
Your shadow absorbs the attack!
Dang it!
The flames cloud my vision and I use Retreat to get clear. But then a freight train hits me right in my chest. I see stars and lose a third of my HP as the Diablos demon bursts through the wall of flames and shoulder-checks me like a linebacker. I go flying across the tile, winded, my chest aching so bad I forget how to breathe.
The demon jumps forward and nails me with a backhand while I’m still in mid-air.
My vision doubles and I see another third of my HP disappear before the world goes black.
I come to while still bouncing off the hard glass surface of the tile.
I slide to a halt and it takes me a few seconds to regain my senses.
I gasp, trying to suck air. Eventually I catch myself and draw in a huge lungful of sweet relief before hacking it back out again.
I check my health bar next.
HP: 674/1732
Geez, what kind of attack was that?! A two-hit combo that took more than half my life?
My mind slowly takes in the chaos erupting around me. Aiko is tanking the demon now, with Val Helena and Maxis backing her up. Rembrandt is firing at the girl still, but the demon shifts and weaves, keeping her at his back to protect her. Fire spills from the demon’s hands and mouth and runs onto the floor like flaming honey.
Looks like that demon actually did me a favor by knocking me back so far. If not, I’d have been caught in that pool of fire and probably would be dead by now.
But that’s not the worst of it.
Above I see Ziegfried’s army repositioning, the archers starting to shoot arrows down at us.
Crap!
The stupid demon must have drawn their attention with that explosion attack. They still have their hands full with a couple of angels though, so only a handful of archers are responding. But it’ll be just a matter of time before the angels die and then the full might of the
army will be upon us.
“Target the girl!” Rembrandt shouts, still taking potshots at her. “That demon will have as much strength as she has TP. And by the looks of her she’ll have a lot!”
I check her again, including her gear this time.
Cursed Arcane Circlet: -250 HP +25% TP at FULL Health
Grand Summoner’s Robes: +900TP +100 MND
Priestess Bracelets: +25 MND +150TP
Priestess Stockings: +50 MND +250TP
Channeler’s Boots: +300 TP +50 Celestial Magic
Orb Focus: +400 TP +50 Celestial Magic
Holy TP… she must have over 3000!
But I’ve got no time to consider that now. We need to do something about her quick, before Ziegfried attacks en masse.
“I’ll get her,” I say through the party chat.
I clamber to my feet and then conceal myself with Shadow Cloak.
I circle behind both her and her demon protector, readying my kunai to strike. As I approach her exposed back, a strange sense of déjà vu besets me. This was the same chance I’d gotten with Braxus, but I’m not blowing it this time. Although in this case, I’m not even certain this Alexi is even human anymore. For this to happen, her body would have had to die already back in Citadel. And if so, then just what is this I’m looking at right now? A soulless husk? A nano-body driven purely by her residual memories?
A sadness weighs on my heart as I get close and draw back my blade to strike.
I understand now why Val Helena was so hell-bent on trying to get here and prevent this from happening to her sister. I could only imagine the anguish she must feel—fearing that this could come about. For a second, I imagine one of my friends turning into a soulless monster like this and it spurs me on to do what must be done.
I’m sorry, Alexi…or whoever you were. I hope this brings you peace.
I buff with Backstab and pull my single blade back in a Charged Attack.
I let my arm fly.
You Backstab Alexi for 967 damage!
You defeated Alexi!
You gain 0 experience points.
She lets out a sharp yelp as my blade sinks into her back, and then collapses to the ground. The giant demon falls with her, vaporizing into a blue mist. Before I can even touch her body, it collapses further into a pile of gray nano-dust, leaving only a cluster of pink crystals in their midst.
Nanoshards…?
My brother clambers over to me, along with Val Helena and Aiko. “Reece, you okay?”
I check my HP bar to see how much I’ve healed.
HP: 694/1732
“Not really. That thing hit like a truck.”
“Cause she’s a player,” Maxis says grimacing at the pile of nano-dust at our feet. “Or was one.”
He then crouches down and reaches for one of the crystals and examines it. “She had a heck of a lot of nano on her too,” Maxis says. “I wonder if maybe she was trying to get these back to Citadel.”
The thought that we may have just dispatched one of our failed predecessors fills us with silence.
“No time to worry about that now, mates!” Rembrandt says, backing towards us as he lays down cover fire. His rounds impact the edge of the tile above us, keeping the archers at bay. “We’ve got to move!”
The ground shakes as one of the giants leaps down from the platform above. And then twice more as two of its companions follow suit.
“Ah crap,” Maxis swears, grabbing up the nano crystals. “Use a key!”
“We can’t,” Aiko says, scanning left and right. “They’re hemming us in!”
What…?
My heart jumps as I see half of Ziegfried’s army dashing across the tile to flank us from the opposite side, cutting us off from the way we came. The only side open to us now is behind us, but that leads to empty space and a crystal island filled with more angels than I can count.
“We’re too late,” Val Helena says absently as she stares at the mass of soldiers encircling us. “They’ve cut us off.”
I look at my brother and swallow back the hard lump in my throat. “What do we do?”
Maxis shakes his head, looking like he’s at a loss.
“I don’t know…” he says. “I think maybe we’re screwed.”
Chapter 10: Trapped
I try not to think about my brother’s words as I watch the scenario unfolding around us. There must be at least two hundred soldiers, six giants and who knows how many battle mages hidden within their ranks. I prepare for the giants to come charging at us, but for some reason they don’t. And then a split second later I understand why.
Huge columns of fire shoot from out of the masses of soldiers along with a barrage of arrows.
“Run for the edge!” Val Helena cries, raising her battle axe to shield us from the incoming arrows.
We all run, even though it’s a dead end. Spells impact the hard surface where we once stood, filling the area with AOEs. Rembrandt runs backwards, firing a hail of bullets at the soldiers in the front ranks, dropping a few of them to the ground.
You gain 3500 experience points.
You gain 3500 experience points.
You gain 3500 experience points.
My heart pounds with panic as we near the edge. We need to do something! I look back at the army and again wonder why they didn’t just swarm us and even now, why they’re just closing in at a steady pace while streaming arrows and AOEs from a distance. Were they somehow wary of fighting us hand-to-hand? Or was Ziegfried perhaps holding his men back to avoid friendly fire? That would make sense. But then I scan them closer and see the HP bars of the soldiers all look around 75%, as do some of the giants.
Your Awareness increases by 0.5.
Did those angels really mess them up that badly? But then I notice something else. Their levels are all over the place. Some are Level 65, others Level 63, some as low as Level 47. Were they losing levels in here the same as us? And at a much faster rate? It would make sense. They wouldn’t have Veteran Points to eat through first like we do. It was no wonder they were having such a hard time against the angels now. They’re probably only half as strong as they’d normally be. I glance down at the angels on the crystal island behind us and get a crazy idea.
“Rem!” I shout. “Stop shooting them and shoot at the angels. Shoot as many as you can!”
He looks over his shoulder at me like I just lost my mind. “What?”
“Just do it!” I say, buffing myself with Shadow Haste and Shadow Tendrils. “No time to explain! Just trust me!”
The cyberpunker wheels in a 180 and unloads on the groups of angels gathered on the tip of the island about fifty feet away. I buff myself with Shadow Copy as five or six of them glide across the expanse, heading straight for Rembrandt.
I dash in to intercept, using a War Cry. “On me!”
I Charge Strike into the lot of them and spin in a flurry of attacks to land a couple of hits on each one. With my 200-plus Agility, I manage to peg all six of them before they can even react. By the time they do, I’m already away and headed towards Ziegfried and his army.
I can’t see Ziegfried. But I know he’s in there somewhere. Issuing the commands that will seal our doom—or so he thinks…
No way that’s happening today.
I pour on the speed and rush to the battle line.
“Reece!” Val Helena yells through the party chat. “What are you doing!”
“Making us some allies!”
She pauses as if lost for words and then says, “What?!”
“He’s going to mob train them…” Aiko says, sounding almost proud. “Damn good thinking, Reece!”
Aiko catches on to my plan quickly. But as a fellow Dodge Tank I probably shouldn’t be too surprised. I run straight into the area where the Battle Mages are bombarding the ground with AOEs. I lose my shadow but all six of the angels following me get hit by the blasts as
well.
The Battle Mage uses Firestorm.
Your shadow absorbs the attack!
The Labyrinth Keeper takes 537 damage!
The Labyrinth Keeper takes 534 damage!
The Labyrinth Keeper takes 541 damage!
The Labyrinth Keeper takes 535 damage!
The Labyrinth Keeper takes 542 damage!
The Labyrinth Keeper takes 539 damage!
I roll out of the fray and watch my handiwork as the six Labyrinth Keepers fly into the ranks of Ziegfried’s army, seeking out the mages who struck them. Their screeches fill the air and battle horns sound as the soldiers reposition to fight the angels instead of us.
Yes!
“Now’s our chance!” I cry. “Break through while they have their hands full!”
“Which way?” Aiko says.
A good question. Both sides, left and right, seem packed with the same amount of soldiers. But then I notice something else. The pattern on the tile has gone static and there’s no longer an option to head back the way we came.
“Ziegfried locked the tile,” I say. “We’ll need to use a Warden’s Key to shift it back.”
“No,” Rembrandt says, looking back and forth between the tiles quickly. “Head to the right. Up to the same platform they were on.”
What?
“But that’s probably where they want us to go!” Val Helena says. “There are still some of them up there!”
“It’s the way we have to go,” Rembrandt says. “The fastest route to the center is through there. And we don’t have many keys left.”
