by Dawn Chapman
I looked to the kill shot I had. I saw the lines, and I knew it was there.
I wasn’t totally sure the mech would turn; it was like a second from it. That was all it was, one blink. A mistake. But this wasn’t. This was a move that would end the life of what was in the way of claiming this win.
I struggled with the weight of the swords. Of course because it was Saskia and now Tyto. He was the right-hand sword. Like it or not, he was mine to command.
When I saw that mech turn in for the kill, I moved, switched with the thoughts and feelings I had, and I swung back. The sword hit, and it hit hard. I wasn’t expecting my strike to be on point at all, but I guess with the experience of us all working in one motion instead of against each other, it worked. For that I was very grateful.
Our strike also took off almost forty percent damage. I had to take another hit. And I would. Just needed it to be right. I wanted to knock this fucker out for good, and as I was now, I didn’t know if it were possible. I mean, I hoped for it. But still.
I stepped backwards as both our blades thrust forwards. They stuck in, both very deep. And something I didn’t want to experience came at me as the enemy mech fought to push us off and countered.
But as our blades hit home again, the pain was not from me, but from them. It was so very real. I had no idea why I was able to get their side of the pain—no one else would, surely? But no, I realised as I experienced it. This was a pain no one could feel but me. It was all there was, nothing else. Pain upon pain. And that was worth more than anything someone of this world could offer me. I wanted it. I needed it. I thrived on it more than anyone else would ever. I took a step back and I breathed in.
Savouring that pain, it felt wondrous, even joyous.
SHADOW AWARENESS BOOSTED – RANK 10 ACHIEVED!
OH BOY! YOU’VE GONE AND DONE IT NOW! YOU HARNESSED THAT DARKER SIDE OF YOU AND YOUR MECH!
CONSISTENT RANK FOR YOUR MECH TEAM IS PHENOMENAL! BUT YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS TO KEEP IT! BATTLE MAGE RANK 10
NOW YOU WON’T LET ANYONE TAKE YOU FOR A RIDE—YOU WILL CRUSH THEIR SOULS AND THEIR DREAMS, RELISHING IN THEIR PAIN AND SUFFERING!
Looking down on the creature that was trying to best me, I knew I had to finish it. I had to take that killing strike, and I did relish it. I raised the blade, and with the thoughts that I needed to get it, I brought it down hard. The killing blow took it out. That was it. The main bosses were dead.
The mech was gone.
I saw movement in the back of my head, and I wanted to turn to it, but found I couldn’t move much. I was struggling more to keep control of the mech, but a blast of notifications kept coming. I pushed them away.
Tyto said one thing: “They catch you as lead, they’ll kill us all.” I had to drop down. Let him back in.
It stung that I couldn’t take the credit, but he was right.
However, I still felt his energy was nearly gone, and no sooner was he back in pilot position than I felt the ground rushing at my face.
Chapter Nineteen
I don’t remember much of anything after I collapsed. I didn’t know if I’d died or just pushed past the shit that was happening as the whole mech and its mechanics failed around me.
Screens, warnings—everything flashed.
I’d gained levels, skills, everything. It had been the hardest fight of my life.
I couldn’t look. I didn’t have the strength or the brainpower to understand what had happened to me just yet.
It is okay, Hiroto said. I took care of it all. Rest.
I wasn’t sure if he meant, all my stats, the loot…but I was exhausted, I needed the rest. So I did.
Somehow when I opened my eyes though, there wasn’t any pain. It was just something. Something that was good. It felt okay.
The white walls and surface of the ceiling blinked at me, shiny in the darkness. Yes, it was dark wherever I was. Hospital, or some kind of Med Bay? I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t a respawn pod.
I checked my full character sheet. I needed to know how much that fight meant to me, to us. I was also curious to ask both Hiroto and Xirob what they had. Try as I might, though, I couldn’t get access to their character sheets. Just mine. I’d levelled up to Sixteen! That felt fantastic.
Name - Kyle Ranz
Species - Human/Denti
Year of Death - 2629
Class = Fighter/Sorcerer
Age 18
Level = 16
Respawns = 2
Memories = 94%
Health = 68%
Mana = 20
Nanites x 66,063
Body Type = Unknown
Structural Integrity = Tungsten and Alumi
Internal AI Chip = X Class
Skin Strength = 12
Blood Capacity = 14
Healing Speed = 18
Strength = 10
Dexterity = 12
Constitution = 13
Intelligence = 12
Wisdom = 14
Charisma = 6
Luck = 5
Quick Points = 2
Skills =
Foot Soldier - Rank 9
Battle Mage - Rank 12
Merc - Rank 4
Sniper - Rank 11
Gun Smith - Rank 8
Nanite Engineer - Rank 10
Mech pilot - Rank 10
Human/Machine Interface - Rank 13
Shadow Awareness - Rank 10
Deception - Rank 5
Sword Play - Rank 6
Vrolsh Coding Learned
Mech Merge - Rank 10
Special Traits Awarded x 4 – Any extras here do not show on your Stat Sheet Totals.
Healer = Internal AI Chip X Class – Crystalline and Silver metal chip with integrated healer nanites led by Xe Aria.
Intelligence = Internal prototype AI Chip, inserted on 17th birthday, with consciousness of Hiroto.
Knowledge = direct from Xirob if he freely gives it. Extra skills and training available.
Shade Brain – One in a million, you managed to not only keep your memories, but you can also hide them. Your character sheet is elusive to even the strongest of will. Be aware, this will be your downfall in high company (expert and above).
Spell - Active - Minor Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 2 and x 1 Mana per second.
Spell - Active - Medium Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 7 and x 10 Mana per second.
Spell - Passive - Intensive Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 14 and x 100 Mana per second.
It was amazing, so many increases. I had ten points to place again. I didn’t have a clue what to do with my Quick Points as yet. Two! I gained two for saving Delta 81. I’d also jumped to Rank 10 in Mech Merge. That alone felt phenomenal, even if it had been part hack.
I had lost some Nanites though, but I was sure Xe was replicating already.
The Quick Points were because of saving Delta 81 and in saving Tyto’s ass. Hiroto agreed.
I guess that made sense it was heroic… I laughed on the inside.
Before I could assign any stats or check my loot. I heard a voice. A guy. No. Yes. It was a commanding voice. Deep, penetrating my world. I didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to come around. I wanted to be home with my dad, my friends. This quest, the whole thing a sham.
Oh, shit. Yeah. Fuck. I could have really screwed everything. Xirob, I’m sorry.
It’s mostly metal damage. The inside part that’s me is fine. Don’t worry.
I still didn’t quite understand what a denti was. I struggled with the pain of this body. Whatever I was, I didn’t want to move. Just to curl up, to rest.
We’re essentially just the brain for your transfer, Kyle. We are made, yes, because our bodies fit perfectly to the design. We are the guts, the inside. The metal parts—the shell—are attached to us in the spawn chambers.
I had visions of thousands of young creatures being pushed into outer skeletons. The denti. I shivered.
It’s a long story. That’s not quite t
he truth.
My eyes popped open for a brief second. Then I drifted back. I wanted Xirob to tell me, to show me. I wanted to check my stats, see the loot we’d gained… But then a voice…
“Wake up, soldier.” Borix spoke clearly to me. “You almost died, but you didn’t. I had medics on the field faster than anyone when you sent that last recording.”
I sent a recording?
No, it was me, Xirob said. I told him the truth. If you died I would be lost.
I opened my eyes again to stare at him. He sat before me on a chair.
One leg crossed over the other and his cold stare scared me.
“You broke how many rules getting me off that field?” I asked him.
“Enough that I will struggle with the consequences for a while, but I am glad I did it.”
I struggled to sit up, but there wasn’t a lot of pain. I just felt bruised on the inside. Tired, no matter what I’d just done.
“How did you steal the mech in the first place? There’s severe reprimanding and more needed here. Command’s going nutso. But I need to understand how it happened?”
“It was easy.” I had no need to lie to him. “There are no defences in your systems. Any of it, I am going to presume. If you’re smart enough, you can do it. That’s why they keep you in the spawning training camps for as long as they do. They hope everyone’s memories are almost gone by the time they get here. So there’s no real need for security, everyone’s forgotten things.”
“As sad as it makes me that you are nothing but pawns, would you show me so I can at least try and defend from any other attacks in the future?”
I was going to say yes, to offer to help him out at least. I hesitated, much to Xirob’s annoyance.
There was a knock at the door, and I saw a face I wasn’t expecting so soon. Nor did I know how to react to the glare he gave me. Tyto.
“We will talk later.” Borix looked at him and then to me. “Do I need to stay?”
“No, we’re good. Let him in.” I sat up straighter, sure to not wince or seem tired at all. I didn’t want this man seeing anything that gave up my state. “I’ll come by your office in a bit, okay? If I can find it.”
Borix moved to the door, and I got a pushed notification with a little flag. “Follow your nose. The guards will let you in if you do stop by, but don’t worry. Just message ahead. I’m not always there.”
He nodded to Tyto then let himself out. I straightened up more so that I could meet Tyto’s glare full on.
I could now see unanswered screens in my view. I wanted to see what I’d learned, what goodies and rewards I’d been given and assign my points.
But Tyto sat down, a dagger twirling in his hand, around and around. “What you did?”
There was nothing I could say here to deny what had happened.
He pointed the dagger at me. “Don’t. Just listen. There’s a lot I have in my name out there.” He then pointed to the door. “You could have just blown all that hard work out the proverbial airlock, but you let me take it back, you let me take the credit?”
“I did what I had to do.”
“Even after I put that bullet in your head and killed you and took all the goodies?”
I shrugged. “Their threat of death means more to me than you. Like you said, your name means a lot, and I have—”
“You are a Shade. I don’t see it. We both don’t understand what’s going on here. That much is obvious.” His eyes scanned over my face. His internal was watching for any signs, weakness, lies? “You wouldn’t have been able to take that mech in the first place without your memories and without certain skills already in you. But there’s something else, too.”
I wasn’t going to tell him. But his eyes, they probed deep into me. It was almost like he was trying to get in my head?
Was he?
I don’t know, Xirob said. It feels weird.
“Saskia said she saw something from you, from your mind. She asked me to help you, not to kill you.”
I swallowed, watching the knife as it twirled around and around. He could if he wanted. He could end me right now. Xirob would be no more, and I’d just respawn. Respawn where maybe they wouldn’t let me live again. I had to play this calm.
“I need you to put on that show still for the people out there,” Tyto said finally. “I want you to be the underdog. Rise up the ranks and push me. There’s a few more things I need to acquire before I can get out of here with what I want, who I want. You gave Saskia something I never wanted her to have though in our merge—she also got a look into my mind. She’s evil, Kyle.”
“Oh.” My stomach dropped, and I saw genuine regret over whatever she’d seen in him. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve been working here long enough, Kyle. I want to complete my mission and get out. If you can help me do that, I will steer clear of whatever it is you’re doing, deal?”
“I’m sorry.” I sat back my mind whirring on all his revelations.
I really don’t trust him, Hiroto said.
Me neither, Xirob chimed in. What’s to stop him killing you again when you’re in the midst of your mission?
I watched his face for a while. I needed more of him here, security for Xirob at least.
“You killed me once already. I’ve no real reason to ever trust you.”
He looked away. “No, and I do regret that. It will take me some time to prove myself, but I will. Other than that, I can only offer you a contract, one perhaps where I can’t hurt you?”
How do they work? I asked Xirob. Would that help?
Pretty much like any binding oath or contract in games, I’d imagine, Hiroto said. If you go against it, the system punishes you. I’d take that as a precaution at least.
“Then let’s put it in writing. Together, even if we’re against the system.”
It was the way he said it, against the system. It made me rethink everything. What the hell had Saskia seen in me? Did he know I was going up against Arndale?
Be careful. Hiroto spoke for us all.
MISSION LOG – HELP TYTO
NO DOUBLE CROSSING, OR YOU FACE THE SYSTEM’S WRATH!
YOUR MISSIONS INTERTWINE MORE THAN YOU KNOW. HELP EACH OTHER AND GET CLOSER TO YOUR GOALS. OR GO IT ALONE AND JUST WAIT FOR SASKIA TO TAKE YOU OUT. SIMPLE, RIGHT?
ACCEPT Y/N
I wasn’t going to sign my life over, but there were no real red flags here. I didn’t know him; he’d killed me without mercy. But was it all for show? Seemed there was a lot going on here I didn’t understand. I wanted to. Keep your enemies close and all that.
“Okay.” I mentally hit the Y.
Tyto put the dagger away, and when he held out his hand I saw something else there. A shiny silver mark. I pointed at it, and he pulled back a little.
He’s jacked? Xirob said, so I repeated it not even knowing what it was.
“You’re jacked, why?”
“No noob can know that. What’s going on here?” Tyto stood up, about to leave. “Who’s fucking with me?”
Xirob, what the fuck does that mean? I asked.
I could see how anxious he’d become just on my words.
Tell me what jacked means, now! I said to Xirob.
It’s simple—he’s not human either. He’s one of us, but he’s jacked to our main security hub. Whatever he’s got going on with Saskia is more serious than just her lust for power.
What? How the fuck. What is going on here with this planet, this place?
I was going to lose Tyto. He was about to open the door. If I didn’t say something that was gonna change it, the deal would be off, and he would be gone.
Fuck. I gripped the sheets of the bed. Can we trust him, Xirob?
Absolutely. If he’s with security, he’s technically above me and Borix.
I had no idea they were here. I could have blown everything they were doing, fuck.
“Tyto, we’re on the same side.”
That got his attention, and he turned back to me. “What
do you mean?”
“We’re on the same side. Your denti, and you are awake, working with the human that’s inside of you, right?”
“Don’t say that out loud. Fuck.” He sat back down. The dagger came out once more and pointed at me again. “No, I don’t have a human mind in here. To play your system fully I am a full plant. Downloaded, just like you are. But there’s no other mind in here. Who are you?”
I looked around the room. Then asked. Hiroto?
We’re clear, for now. But they do sweeping checks, and they want to know what happened out there. Borix is just about keeping them out of here, but he’s putting himself at risk too. This could all come crashing down any second.
“I can’t tell you too much, just that I am here to help. I need you to trust that I will do as you ask. I will help you get out of here,” I said to him, trying my best to reassure him.
“You knew the one thing no one else should about me. Who are you?” It was the way he looked at me. “You’re just like you asked of me, aren’t you? Human and live denti?”
I didn’t deny it, but now we were to work together. “Tell me about your mission.”
“My mission is different. My mission is Saskia. I was playing her, and I think she knows it. I had been waiting for the right time, to show more of her conniving. The corruption around here runs deep. Now I need to move quicker.”
He was here for her? I didn’t understand. Was she that bad? I didn’t have time to question all that. “You need to get out of here, right? So do I.”
“I don’t see how it’s going to be possible.” He sighed, putting the dagger away finally in its sheath.
I watched him. The worry was clear on his face. “Then we need to come up with a plan that will work for us both. Because I need off this planet. If I have to, I’m going to enlist the help of anyone and everyone I can to do so.”
“I don’t know how we can both get out of here. They’d love to see you rise to the top and for me to kick your ass. That’s my way out of here.”
