She sighed. It still didn’t make the decision any easier, considering the next team she’d activate had a few members she wasn’t one hundred percent sure about. She’d hoped the problem would be located on the space-based world. So much for luck, she thought sourly. She’d lost Royce and almost Shane in Ganymede. Not to mention the amount of danger the entire team, and all the tournament gamers, had been placed in after the furballs had breached the station. Then Gargoyle had shown up and taken things from bad to horrible. Worst of all, she thought sourly, was they hadn’t even had so much as a whiff of the issue so far. Something else I’m to blame for.
Michael and Tyler arrived last, the two brothers’ names appearing on the Nexus board. While she couldn’t visually “see” their bodies within The Warp, she knew from past experience they were actually standing next to her, or even in front, based on the way the encoded bits of data flowed into the Nexus. There could be fifty Moderators standing in the same spot in the Nexus, and yet they wouldn’t be able to see or feel one another.
Not yet, at least. She’d read that WarpSoft eventually planned on turning the Nexus into a commercial hub for gamers to hang out in without actually being in a specific world. World-transferrable codes could be bought and sold in the Nexus, though these would still be half as powerful as one that was uploaded into a specific world through a node.
“Okay people, listen,” she spoke into her comms after a minute of thought, looking at the names of the Ganymede team, sans Royce. She transmitted her comm directly to them so the others couldn’t hear. “We’re going to link up with the next team, the Kadashter team. They’ve got some guys you may have worked with before, but the top dog of that group is Alex Swavely. You guys remember him, right? He got the Night King?”
“Oh,” Stacey said after a moment. “Is his name Gloom?”
“Yeah,” Tori replied as she continued to stare at the Board. “Okay, so let’s get inside Kadashter. If we get separated during insertion, meet up at the old wooden mill behind the cement foundry at Taruna.”
“Why there?” Tyler asked. Tori opened her mouth to reply but Shane beat her to it.
“Taruna is the second largest settlement there,” Shane explained quickly. “There’s no ruling ‘deity’ there, and it’s more or less a quiet, out-of-the-way settlement. It gets overlooked by a lot of the gamers, because there are only high-level missions there. The tournament gamers aren’t going to be there, or rather, shouldn’t be there. It’s simple.”
“What he said,” she stated firmly. “All right? Good. I’ll see everybody inside.”
She closed the Nexus comms and activated the realm she’d chosen. Moments later, she was inside. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Full immersion always sucked for the first second, no matter how much she prepared herself for it. Her sense of balance notwithstanding, she really hated feeling exhausted for no reason. Especially when she was gaming. She recalled the time she’d been down with the flu and tried to play within The Warp. She shivered at the thought. It’d taken days to clean the neural interface device fully and she’d still been exhausted afterward.
She opened her eyes as the wave of exhaustion passed, and she looked around. Kadashter, oddly enough, was in the evening cycle, something that didn’t occur much whenever she’d uploaded into it in the past. Unlike most of The Warp’s realms, Kadashter was slower with its daytime cycle, where it usually ran five hours inside The Warp as compared to an actual one outside. Kadashter was closer to a three to one ratio, which was definitely sluggish and made for much longer days in comparison.
She searched through her inventory and withdrew the proper weaponry she’d need within the fantasy realm. Kadashter was big on classic fantasy, with dashing knights battling the evil trolls and dragons throughout the mountainous regions. It was also a great place for players to battle one another as well, making Kadashter almost a toned-down version of Crisis. Of course, she thought as she rubbed her eyes, everything is a toned-down version when compared to Crisis. Well, maybe not the Crownworld, she amended.
She glanced to her right and scowled. She hadn’t landed near the cement foundry in Taruna as she’d planned. As she looked to her left and took in the sights, it appeared she’d emerged in an entirely different city altogether. A much bigger city, which narrowed down her possible locales to just one: Selene.
The ancient city was built in a style reminiscent of medieval Prague. It was a sprawling city designed around the massive Tower of the Dark Hand at its center. The tower, named because of the five black minarets which thrust themselves into the sky as a hand would, was home to the vilest creature within the world of Kadashter: the vampire Delano. This in itself made Selene the most dangerous city for a gamer to walk around during the night.
If being in a city at night with a vampire lord wasn’t bad enough, she knew the brigands which ran through Selene on a regular basis were just as dangerous, if not more so. The religiously pure men, who wore the symbols of Delano, were the fanatical believers in Kadashter who thought of the vampire not as a blood-sucking parasite but as a god. They were AI-controlled non-player characters of course, but they were still very dangerous. If a gamer or even a Mod made any sort of perceived blasphemous comment about Delano in their presence, the brigands would mark that person as a heretic and... She shivered. She recalled the one time a non-player character within the game had been “caught” by the brigands. It hadn’t been pretty, though it had been informative.
“Perfect,” she muttered under her breath and sheathed her massive broadsword. She felt her clothing ripple as the program embedded into her outfit kicked in, changing her appearance to match those of her surroundings. Gone was the bright silver armor and blue robes. She was now in her dark robes and black cowl. She cursed again as she took a step to her left and stumbled on a small rock in the road. She reopened her comms as soon as she regained her balance. “Shane, I’m in Selene. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
“Gotcha,” her friend replied immediately. She scrolled down her friends list and selected the next person she needed to talk to. “Alex?”
The face of the de facto leader of her Kadashter team came on immediately, his blonde and handsome features scowling in the dark. He was, apparently, already at the foundry. From his facial expression, she guessed he wasn’t pleased with something. His perpetual frown was actually how he’d earned his name.
“It’s Gloom, you noob,” the man reminded her forcefully. She shook her head and sighed. Some things, she guessed, never changed, no matter how much time had passed in either The Warp or in real life.
“Sorry, Gloom,” she corrected. “I’ve been working with a team that likes names better than call signs. You know I like to work casual.”
“Their mistake, then, when a Mod tracks them down,” he grunted.
“I’m over in Selene, for some reason,” she stated as she ignored his poor attitude. “I’ll be there in two hours or so, give or take. If I stumble across anything here I’ll let you know.”
“The streets here are quiet tonight,” Gloom informed her after a moment. “The tourney gamers are mostly up in the mountains, item mining from some of the trolls before they rumble with each other. They have a timer, and it’s almost at the halfway point. I haven’t gotten a ping lately, either, so no members of the teams have been taken out yet this morning. Not since Skittle Boy last night, actually.”
“Yeah, that was my fault,” she said.
He shrugged. “You yelled duck; he stayed standing,” he replied. “Lesson learned. He’ll be back in the game in no time, so it’s not like this is permanent or anything.”
“Still embarrassing,” she stated.
“For him? Yeah,” Gloom offered a thin-lipped grimace which she took to be a smile. “Anyway, stay safe. The City of Eternal Night is not a place I’d want to be alone in.”
“It’s not all that bad…no, I’m lying. This place is horrible.”
“Heh.” he chuckled. “Well, the tourney gamers aren
’t a problem at the moment. Can’t promise they won’t be later, though, when they come screaming down the mountains to kill each other. Ah, good times will be had by all.”
“Makes sense.” She nodded. “Remember, just observe. No messing with the gamers. You scout the areas yet? Any signs?”
“The only signs I’ve seen are the tavern signs,” he said. “If the glitch is here, it’s not in the more obvious locations.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll be in touch when I get close.”
“Gloom out,” the blonde man said and killed the connection. Tori grunted and killed her comms.
“Man, he’s stuffy,” she complained as she looked around the darkened area. “But he does know this world better than anyone else.”
She turned, avoided the small rock she’d tripped on before, and began to trek east to where her teams were waiting for her arrival, about a day’s walk away. She hoped if she pushed herself and maintained a rapid pace, she could arrive before Shane and Alex got into it and killed each other.
She also hoped she’d get out before anything spotted her in the city of the night.
* * *
Tori felt eyes upon her back with every step she took through the city. It was disconcerting, and she knew it was only a matter of time before something finally made a move on her. She gripped the hilt of her sword with a sweaty palm, more than a little nervous. She absolutely hated what the WarpSoft designers had done to Selene in the last major update a few months back.
Kadashter had been a strictly fantasy world since its inception, until one of the newly-hired programmers made the idle comment about how to make the world even more difficult for gamers. Intrigued, the project manager for Kadashter had kicked the new hire’s idea upstairs to the design team supervisor. The longtime WarpSoft employee had jumped on the idea and let the new programmer redesign some of the backstory and game mechanics of the world, though he had to leave some of the fantasy elements alone.
Gone were the centaurs and the wood nymphs, the classic ode to fantasy and mythology she’d always loved. Dragons remained, as did the trolls and fairies, but the small halflings who had lived in the hills were removed from the game. Sprites, true magic, and other fantastical creatures who offered nothing more than environmental beauty had been taken out. Other than that, it appeared at first glance nothing had changed within the world, and gamers returned slowly.
Six hours after the world went live and gamers had begun to flock back, ghouls suddenly started appearing within the world, as well as werewolves and zombies. Some of the younger gamers had cancelled their subscriptions to the world as the rating changed, but a completely new crowd emerged from nowhere to play the redesigned world. Seeing the success of the world, the designers took it a step further. It slipped from a light fantasy world to a truly dark one. It was only after this the new programmer had gone too far, in her opinion. He’d created Selene, the City of Eternal Night.
She’d heard all this from Dylan one night after he’d logged off after spending six hours in Kadashter trying to figure it out. It’d been so dark and grim even Dylan, normally a huge fan of creatures of the night, had sworn off it. He’d claimed it made him feel completely sick to his stomach, as though the world was purposefully skewed sideways to make the gamer uneasy. A subliminal trick, both had guessed, and a nasty one. She was beginning to feel it already.
A cat meowed loudly somewhere in a dark alley. She instinctively whirled quickly to face the threat. She could see the sleek tabby on top of a pile of rubbish. It looked at her with luminescent eyes. The eyes seemed to be inspecting her, assessing her worth. She shook her head and grimaced. The predator had a gaze that ensnared mice, she remembered. Nothing mystical about it, except for maybe the unfortunate mouse. She watched the creature warily before it caterwauled again and jumped off the pile. It moved off into the darkness, intent on finding its evening meal. She sighed and looked back down the street. She really missed the annoying gamers who oftentimes were the bane of her existence. Even with their ridiculous black capes and puffy white shirts, or the slinky dresses and black thigh-high boots, their presence would be a comfort. Not this... silence.
Or not so silent. Something faint rustled in the distance. She ducked into a darkened entrance of an old bakery shop as the sound of marching feet reached her ears. She tried to stay out of the light of the moon as a brigand band came into view, over twenty men strong. She pressed her back against the smooth stone wall and tried to make herself disappear. She watched the brigands come closer, their torches lighting the area and ridding it of shadows. She swore softly under her breath. There was no way they were going to miss her.
She fingered her sword and waited as they came closer to her hiding spot. They hadn’t noticed her yet, apparently, so intent on dragging something behind them. Her view was blocked by the few men who pulled the object behind them, so she waited anxiously. She could hear them arguing, not concerned whether they were heard or not. They were talking about whatever they were dragging, she realized.
“He’s a heavy one,” one of the men grunted.
“Silence, fools!” the man she’d tagged as being the leader growled. “The Lord is eager to take from this one. One of these types are a rare delicacy for His Dark Majesty.”
Tori finally spotted what they were dragging and bit her lip. It was Andre Miller, one of the Moderators from Gloom’s team. If she could’ve sworn loudly without being caught, she would’ve. Why hadn’t Alex told her he was missing a Moderator? She wondered for a moment before she recalled Alex had said none had been taken out yet. That did not mean one hadn’t been captured unknowingly. She looked back at the brigands, who had moved wordlessly past her hiding spot. Somehow, they’d missed her. Probably their intense focus on the already captured prey, she rationalized.
She watched them move toward the dark tower not too far away, and she shook her head. She really needed to move to the rendezvous location at Taruna, but then she wouldn’t be able to help Andre. She scowled. She was outnumbered by the heavily-armed brigands, and each one could probably match her in combat. She stood little chance against all of them combined. Competition was one thing. Suicide was a whole different story.
She closed her eyes and sighed.
“Sorry Andre,” she said as she moved out from the shadows and further down the street, opposite the direction Andre had been dragged. She cast one last, furtive glance over her shoulder before Andre and the brigands disappeared from sight. She had a mission to accomplish, no matter how guilty she felt about leaving the Moderator to his fate.
Her stubbornness allowed her to make it to the end of the block before she swore and stopped. She looked back at the massive tower behind her. Somewhere in there, one of the Moderators was trapped. One of her Mods. She sighed. One day, she thought as she turned around and started to trek back to where the brigands had been headed. One day my conscience is going to get me killed in a violent and bloody manner.
She followed the brigands swiftly through the shadows, her movements to the castle the same pace as the men she pursued. She knew if Andre was inside the castle already, he was as good as eliminated. She knew he was probably gone already, but she still had to take that chance. Okay, she admitted as she approached the castle gate cautiously. There were no brigands or Moderators in sight. I don’t have to take the chance, but then how can I claim to be the best if I give up on a friend? Especially one I selected for this mess in the first place?
She definitely needed to talk to her psychiatrist about all this sometime.
The ancient, rusted gates squeaked perfectly as a breeze slowly kicked up, and clouds rolled overhead to block out the moon. She made a mental note to throat punch the programmer who had redesigned the world. She hated spooky things, which always came as a shock to her friends. She could never manage to sit through any sort of horror movie.
She leaned against the gates and pushed gently. They groaned in protest as they opened, but not as loudly as she’d feared t
hey might. She slipped through the gates and saw the last brigand of the group that had captured Andre move inside one of the smaller doors to the left of the main entrance. She smiled as a small stroke of luck finally fell her way. She wouldn’t have to brave the front entrance of a vampire’s domicile, where only the most fearless gamers dared to tread. She’d get to sneak in through the service entrance. All hail Murphy.
No, she thought as she slipped out of the shadows of the gate and toward the small side door the brigands had disappeared into. No scary, spooky entrances with vampires waiting at the top of the stairwell for her. Side entrances and avoiding direct confrontation was the way to go.
I hate vampires, she silently complained. She couldn’t even watch reruns of Buffy, for crying out loud.
She stopped outside the closed door and breathed, her heart racing in her chest. She was oh so very glad that she’d never run across a vampire outside The Warp. She doubted very much that all the money in the world would’ve gotten her to even come this close to the vampire’s castle, much less do what she was thinking of doing.
She pushed the door open and closed it behind her after she moved inside. Lock latched to ensure nobody followed her in, she turned around. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkened atmosphere on the inside of the castle. As she looked around, she suddenly felt the power within the castle pulse. There was no other way to describe it, she realized, as the dark room swam before her eyes. She swore as she realized what had happened.
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