Immortality Experiment

by Vic Connor

  “No, Niko, you’re shot—”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he managed to choke out. “Run.”

  Niko dropped to his knees, and the last thing he saw as the world darkened around him was his friends, escaping the lie Clark had built for them. You see? I’m not a waste, he thought. I’m not a waste.

  Epilogue

  Niko gasped awake to a yawning, purple sky. He blinked, coughed, and grabbed his side where the phantom pain of the bullet still lingered. But when he felt for blood, or even a bullet hole, he found his skin unmarred. He was alive.

  With a groan, he sat up. He was in some kind of desert, red rocks and plateaus jutting out from the horizon. Pools of bubbling hot springs pocked the nearby landscape. It looked familiar, but where had he seen it before? With a start, he noticed his UI was up. He was logged back into the game, but how?

  A deep, roiling growl rumbled behind him, sending a shiver up his spine. Slowly, Niko turned to look over his shoulder. It was a cave mouth, belching noxious, sulfur-smelling steam. Deep in the dark inside, a pair of animal eyes reflected the oppressive sun. A great, golden claw reach out, slamming onto the rocks, then out slithered a long, serpentine dragon. It was much, much bigger than it had looked on-screen. Niko fell back on his haunches, trying to scurry away from the beast’s opening maw.

  He activated his UI, trying to use EditValue to snap out of the way, but he heard the thunk sound effect. He gave his UI a closer look, shocked to find his first ability wasn’t ABIL_EditValue anymore. What was worse, his UI showed him as “Level 1.” Yet, over in his fourth ability slot, his ultimate still looked to be there, except now, instead of being simply greyed out, it was on cooldown. He was as weak as he had been when he first logged into Territoria almost six months ago.

  The dragon flared its nostrils, sucking in a deep inhale, fire glowing in its expanding neck. Niko stumbled, trying to stand, run, do anything. He was in the game again, but he was totally helpless, and who knew if he still had a living body to go back to?

  A shadow fell over him just as the dragon belched burning flame. Fire rushed past on either side of him, licking the air. Niko’s hair got singed, but otherwise, he was fine. He looked up, flushed from the heat.

  A massive body stood between him and the dragon, hefting a shield and blocking the dragon’s fire. The person’s free hand readied a heavy, flanged flail. He looked over his shoulder at Niko, grinning with black teeth that peeked through a braided, white beard. “Right where she said you’d be, kid! But I wouldn’t recommend given this lady here a kiss. She’s a little hot for you to handle.” He spun the flail to gain momentum, then swung it around to crack the dragon in the nostril. It roared in agony and rage.

  From around its side, a young woman with grey, patterned skin skidded across the rocks on a wooden surfboard, raking her claws along its side, then hopping back out of the way when it spat a small plume of fire her way. “Woo! That one almost took off my nose, huh?” She leapt back in, smacking the dragon’s face with her board.

  “You’re not going to lie around all day, are you, Niko?”

  Mesmerized with disbelief at the battle, Niko didn’t at first notice the hand reaching out to help him up. He took it out of sheer surprise, and soon found himself standing next to two more women. One could be more categorized as a girl, with her big features and cutesy attire. She waved frantically at him. The other was most definitely a woman, voluptuous in a tight, lacy dress. The smile she gave him was accentuated by her red, black, and white makeup.

  “You’re…you’re Made,” Niko stammered. “You guys are the Stingers.”

  “Oh, good. You’ve heard of us,” Made said. “Try not to fanboy over Precious too hard, okay? It goes to her head. Now, stay back. This thing’s a little above your level.” She winked, then turned to the dragon. She made a fist in front of her thin lips, then opened her palm flat, blowing as if there were sand there. Instead, a great cloud of red mist blew out from her fingers, sticking to the dragon as soon as it connected. Niko watched the creature’s hit points tick down.

  Made continued to cast curses at it as Precious shot a healing spell in Wayan’s direction, making his blue skin regain some of its color. “Don’t listen to her,” Precious piped. “You can fanboy all you want. It will go to my head though, teehee!” Teehee. She really did laugh like that. Niko chuckled despite himself, scratching the back of his head.

  “Precious, watch out!” Wayan bellowed. “A big fireball coming your way.”

  The dragon had knocked Wayan off his feet, and was now looking at them, inhaling, readying another breath. Wayan was getting back up, but he wouldn’t get out in front of it in time.

  “On it,” Precious chirped, then called out, “Bubbles!” as she flicked her wand. A burst of glass orbs, five feet in diameter, shot up into the sky, then floated down to the ground. One landed next to Niko, another in front of Precious, and two others behind them. Precious sidled up next to him, then hip-bumped him with surprising strength into one of the bubbles. Niko rolled around inside, getting dizzy.

  Precious grabbed the bubble in front of her just in the nick of time. The flames roared around them, but inside the safety of the orb, Niko didn’t even feel the heat.

  The bubbles popped. With a few more flourishes, the Stingers took the dragon handily, turning it into a puff of loot.

  “All that work for nothing,” moaned Wayan, picking up his cloak, which became furred as soon as he draped it over his huge shoulders.

  “We got some new accessories,” Precious pointed out, picking up her own cloak. It became a cutesy, lemon-yellow capelet.

  “Why can’t you use them?” Niko asked. “You’re in the Binary System Championship game, aren’t you?”

  “Not for long,” Made said. “Go ahead, use that new skill of yours.”

  Niko blinked, then looked again at his UI. Just as Made had said, the new ability in his first slot was off cooldown. It was still black with white text, and it read ABIL_OpenDoor. He hesitated, then activated it. Beside him, four lines expanded out from themselves in the air until they intersected and created a glowing doorway.

  Precious skipped through without hesitation. Gabriella, the shark woman, hefted her board and followed right behind her.

  “Wait, do you even know where that goes?” Niko asked.

  Wayan squeezed inside, angling his shield. Made smiled at Niko; a knowing, cat-like smile. “Of course we do,” she said, stepping toward it. “It leads to your mom.”

  Niko froze in place, going bug-eyed. Made’s smile widened. “We’ve been working for her for a while now,” she said, stepping to the doorway, then extending her hand. “Come on. She’s really looking forward to seeing you again.”

  TO BE CONTINUED

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  IF YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK…

  …I would really appreciate if you could help others enjoy it, too. Reviews are like gold dust and they help persuade other readers to give the stories a shot. More readers means more incentive for me to write, and that means there’ll be more stories, more quickly.

  By leaving a review of this book, you can make a difference. And the good news is that it doesn’t take long.

  Thank you.

  Vic.

 

 

 
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