by Riker Kane
“I just wanted to let you know I’m sticking around. They say this shit’s gonna get harder now that we’re Omegas but I’m gonna push through. I don’t care what’s in front of me. I’ll bowl it over.”
The determination in his eyes was clear. I hadn’t known Quentin for very long but he was the only man outside of my brother that actually seemed to give a shit. That just made it easier to give him my word.
I put a hand on his shoulder and nodded. “I’m right there with you.”
He swallowed and sighed another deep breath. “C’mon. Let’s not keep Nina waiting.” He turned and began heading down the hall. I started following after him when my communicator vibrated on my arm.
SYNERGY with LIAM ALDRIDGE
Nina Higashi - Level 2: +3 increase to speed
Quentin Young - Level 2: 5% damage resistance
Paige Costa - Level 2: 5% increase to saber damage
Brooke Silvestri - Level 2: 5% increase to saber damage
I didn’t give it more than a second thought before catching up with Quentin.
30: ?????
Current World Status: Undefined
Threat Level: ???
Junctions Closed: 7
Junctions Available: ?????
Current Herald Threat: ?????
“What the hell is this?” Quentin held his hands out at the blue digital display hanging from the center of the wall. All of the other Cadets were just as confused but Quentin made it a point to be louder than anybody else. “Is this a joke or something?”
“Maybe there’s a glitch in the system,” I said with a shrug.
“That’s even worse. Think about it, Liam. Do you really wanna be heading into another dimension when the guys who opened up the gate don’t even know where it leads?”
I chuckled, trying to find some humor in the situation. “We’re not recruits anymore. We’re Omegas now.”
“Omegas or not, this is crazy.”
“C’mon, Quentin. You leveled up. You got some fresh gear. Don’t you wanna show off your new ability?”
“I can show off my new ability in the comforts of one of the training labs.” He let out an exasperated sigh, knowing there was no way around it. His whole body slumped and his head fell. The bulky dark-blue armor draped over him made the sight even more comical. It was like he thought we were going for ice cream but instead ended up at the dentist.
“It’s cool,” I said as I patted him on the back, doing my best to hold back my laugh. “We keep doing what we’ve been doing and we’ll be fine.”
“I guess…”
Nina walked up and raised an eyebrow at Quentin. “What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean what’s wrong?” Quentin pointed at the display. “That’s what’s wrong.”
“You ever heard of anything like this before?” I asked.
Nina stared at the screen. The longer she didn’t respond, the more anxious I started to get.
“Strange…” she said it softly, barely loud enough for me to hear. “Either there’s a glitch in the system or the engineers are having trouble getting a lock on the exact parameters of the world. Some Junctions have already been closed though, so we should be okay.”
“You hear that? We’ll be all right.” I gave Quentin a hearty thump on the back but the dejected look on his face didn’t go away. “I’ll tell you what. We’ll clear a Junction or two and then we’ll go for some ice cream.”
“I’m not a child… But there is this place in the Central Square we haven’t been to yet.”
“That’s the spirit. Defenders up.”
“We should be able to handle some gates on the second floor now,” Nina said.
The Junction Room’s ceiling extended four floors high, making the gates on the upper floors visible. The other squads were already making their way to their gates despite the question marks on the display.
I was about to head up to the next floor when Dr. Bonet rushed up to us. The swirl of white hair around his head swayed like cotton candy with every step he took.
“Ah! Omegas! If I could have a word with you for a moment. I was wondering if you’d be interested in a little quest for me.”
“What kinda quest?” Quentin raised an eyebrow.
“We’re getting particularly peculiar readings from the nearest dimension. There’s nothing in the LOD database that corresponds with the data we’re collecting now. We need to collect as much information as we can.”
He pulled something from his pocket. It was a small metallic device shaped like a Rubik’s cube. Blue lines pulsed in an intricate pattern all around it.
“This is a Shadow Cage. It’s activated by pressing this button right here on the side. In the next gate you head through, I want you to collect a Shadow inside of it.”
“Collect a Shadow?” I raised an eyebrow. “How am I supposed to fit a Shadow in that thing?”
“The Cage compresses the Shadow to its base essence. It’ll fit in here.”
He placed the metal box into my palm. “I can fit a whole Shadow in this thing.” Nina grabbed it from me and placed it into the pouch on her hip.
“We’ll take care of it,” she said.
“Thank you.” Dr. Bonet tapped on his tablet. “I’ve updated your available missions with what I’ve asked of you. You’ll be rewarded appropriately.” My display lit up with my missions.
CURRENT MISSIONS
Defeat 100 Shadows in Pandora
Reward: $400
Complete 1 Hard Junction
Reward: $250
Collect a Shadow for Dr. Bonet
Reward: $500
“Make sure you weaken a Shadow before attempting to collect it,” he said. “The Cage will hold them better when they’re not trying to resist.”
“You don’t have a better Cage?” Quentin said. “Like a… Master Cage?”
Dr. Bonet stared at him blankly, slowly raising an eyebrow in confusion. Quentin rolled his eyes and sighed. “Never mind…”
“For 500 bucks, we’ll get you a Shadow, doc,” I said. “Let’s go, guys.”
Quentin and I followed Nina up to the second floor to the nearest gate. They didn’t look any different from the Junctions on the first floor but the information on the display had changed.
Pandora Junction
Level 20
Threat Level: High
Precautions: ?????
Status: Open
“Oh, c’mon!” Quentin said. “More question marks. What the hell is going on?”
“The threat level’s up… But we know it’s still around our level. We should be able to handle it. Let’s go, Defenders.”
I stepped through the wave of soft blue energy with Nina and Quentin following close behind me. The Junction Room disappeared. I knew it was gone before I’d even put my foot back on the ground.
I shifted my head around slowly, not sure I was taking in my surroundings correctly.
“Holy…”
~ ~ ~
The smell of burning ash hit my nostrils first. It was like standing next to a barbecue grill without the smoky scent of the meat being roasted or sweetness of the sauce. I didn’t have to look very far to see where it was all coming from. I stood in what looked like the middle of a street. Buildings. Cars. The road itself. Everything was covered in enough soot to blacken the soles of my armored boots.
I looked around to make sure I was seeing everything right. “It looks like… like we’re in a regular city. Just like Earth…”
“A regular city all right,” Quentin said. “If somebody had burned the entire thing to the ground.”
Everything had been blackened to a crisp like a roaring fire had swept through our surroundings. Stores and restaurants. Apartment buildings.
“I really hope we’re in Pandora,” Quentin said. “Because of this was a real city…”
“If this was a real city, there would be information on the news,” Nina cut him off. “The dimensions take different forms. Just because the
last dimension we traveled through was made up of mostly grassy plains doesn’t mean this one has to be the same.”
“No kidding. They went for the exact opposite.”
There were no flames visible. The streets were lit by the working streetlights. The sky was dark but a full moon illuminated our surroundings as far as we could see.
I held my hand out and caught small flakes of gray ash in my palm. Up above, the wind swirled the ash in our direction.
“This is weird,” I said. “But Rose’s right. We’re used to green grass and blue skies. We’ll close this junction like all the rest.” I pulled my saber from the magnet keeping it latched to my belt and pointed forward. “The Obelisk should be in this direction.”
“How do you know?” Quentin asked.
“Because that’s where all of the ash is blowing from.”
Quentin activated the compartment on his right forearm and silver sheets of metal formed a rectangular shield on it. He walked next to me while Nina trailed behind.
We stayed on our guard as we walked down the road. The streets were silent except for the ash continuing to slowly blow by us.
It wasn’t long before I noticed the energy beginning to form before us. Swirls of white light crackled like electricity. A blinding flash was followed by a pack of wolves leaping out from it.
Ten beasts howled at the moon in unison. Their fur was just as black as their ashy surroundings. Yellow eyes were filled with the kind of feral ferocity you didn’t wanna see.
“I wonder if I’ll get rabies if one of these things bites me,” I said.
“Try not to satisfy your curiosity,” Nina said.
“I got this, y’all. Check this out.” Quentin stepped forward as the wolves ahead began galloping toward us. A blue aura formed around his shield like faint smoke. The energy continued until surrounding him completely. Quentin moved into a slow jog then suddenly dashed like a blur of lightning, colliding with the pack of wolves and sending them flying like bowling pins.
“Q!” I shouted out as I watched him lose his balance and tumble down the road. “Rose!”
“I’m on it!”
The Strider dashed forward while I ran to make sure Quentin was all right. Still in a daze, the wolves met a bloody end from Nina’s katanas. She spun around the pack, downing as many as she could before they could recover.
“Get up… You all right?” I grabbed Quentin by the arm and helped him to his feet.
He shook the cobwebs away and slapped the side of his head. “Didn’t expect to move that fast… Maybe I should talk to Captain Bell about doing it properly.”
He put his shield back up and raced toward the wolves that remained. We ran together toward Nina as the beasts surrounded us.
BOOM!
Another pack of black wolves emerged from a burst of energy above us. The beasts weren’t much bigger than what I guessed normal wolves looked like. But they made it a point to show off how sharp their fangs and claws were.
They circled us in the middle of the street, unblinking eyes stalking us like prey.
“I count fifteen,” Nina said.
“Fifteen,” Quentin said. “Five each.”
“This isn’t a competition.”
“Who said anything about that?”
“She’s right,” I said. “Why take five each when we can take down all fifteen at once?”
“You got a plan?”
“I think I do… How many targets can you hit with Ice Slash?”
“I can hit anybody in the vicinity.”
“Perfect. Wait for my signal. Keep your shield up, Q.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “As opposed to what?”
We exchanged smirks before turning our attention back to the wolves. The beasts slowly paced around us, waiting for their moment to strike. I gripped my saber tight in anticipation. If I did this right, I could end it without having to engage for very long.
I gritted my teeth then shouted in frustration. “C’mon!”
The wolves howled and lunged toward us.
“Rose! Now!”
Nina leaped into the air just as the wolves converged on us. Both katanas extended outward, she spun around like a top. White energy formed around her like a snowstorm. The aura swirled around her blades just before the wolves pounced. The sound of sharp icicles ripping through the wolves was joined by them howling in pain. The beasts landed hard back on the pavement. Their bodies covered in frost, they struggled to get back up to their feet.
“Go!”
Quentin followed me as we moved forward and finished off the helpless wolves. The added damage from my saber made it easier to slice right through their prone bodies and turned them into Mana. Quentin slammed his shield down and severed their heads from their bodies.
Nina landed back onto the street next to us, bracing herself with her fists. But there was nothing left for her, as Quentin and I had already quickly dispatched the beasts.
“Teamwork,” Quentin said as he began collecting some of the Mana. “Set ‘em up, knock ‘em down. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.”
Nina picked up the lone Mana Core that was dropped and scanned it. “It’s an uncommon Core,” she said as she stuffed it into her pouch. “I’ll bring it back to Gage to extract more Blue Mana from it. Remember, you also have to capture a Shadow to give to Bonet.”
“Maybe you should capture whatever is guarding the Obelisk,” Quentin said.
“If we ever find it,” I replied. “C’mon.”
We made our way down the street. Seeing everything burned down made it more eerie than it if it were any other location. I knew it wasn’t a real city but everything looked so familiar.
We turned the corner and I spotted what looked like a gas station a half-mile away. “Is that…” I narrowed my eyes and could barely make out the faint purple glow behind all of the ash falling from the sky. “The Obelisk is over there.”
“One minute we’re going through a maze,” Quentin said. “The next we’re going to a gas station. Pandora’s strange as shit. Maybe that explains all the question marks we were seeing.”
“That’s not for us to figure out. Let’s go.”
We made our way down the street, walking by the burned down cars and buildings. I noticed all of the vehicles were empty but it didn’t make me feel any better.
The pulse of purple energy grew brighter as we neared the gas station. The building was just as burned as everything else we’d walked by.
I moved around the back of the garage. There was an undeniable energy burning behind the garage door.
“All right,” Quentin said. “There’s an Obelisk inside of the garage. And who knows what else is in there…”
I reached up to push the door open when Nina put a hand on my shoulder.
“Soul… Remember. Our main objective is to destroy the Obelisk and return. We don’t have to kill any more Shadows. We can head to another Junction to capture a Shadow for Bonet.”
I gave her a nod and proceeded. In the center of the gas station garage, the Obelisk pulsed. It was half the size of the others I’d seen before but I didn’t think too much of it.
“Let’s get this over with quick.” I raised my saber up and slashed at it. It shattered like glass and the purple energy faded like mist.
We stepped back out of the garage and looked around. Our surroundings were just as quiet as they’d been this entire time.
“Ha!” Quentin said. “Maybe the Obelisk doesn’t have a guardian. I thought this Junction was labeled hard—”
SCREE!
A deafening screech filled the air, loud enough to shake the ground. We all looked around to see where it had come from but there was nothing.
“Where is it?” I said. “Do you see anything?”
“Not a damn thing.” Quentin pounded his fists in frustration. “Maybe that was just the Obelisk.”
“The Obelisk?” Nina raised an eyebrow at him.
“You know. Like the noise it makes when it
’s destroyed.”
“I don’t think—”
SCREE!
Another screech pierced the air. It sounded like a bird squawk but when I looked up, all I saw was the moon.
“That’s not the Obelisk,” Nina said.
“Oh, yeah?” Quentin replied. “Then what the hell is it?”
I squinted up toward the darkness. I thought I could see something moving around in the sky. An outline. A shadow. It was so dark but when it moved toward the moon, I saw it.
“There!” I pointed my saber up. “It must be some sort of bird…”
It began circling the sky like it just heard me. It continued to grow in size as it neared. Its wings flapped faster and harder, strong enough for me to feel the wind. By the time it was right next to us, I saw just how big it was.
“Watch out!” Quentin raised his shield up and blocked its talons from digging into us.
I moved away from him and did an Upper Thrust. My saber caught its side, making it squawk and fly back into the sky. I was barely able to get a good look up close. The thing was the size of a bus. Long wings connected to a massive body covered in black feathers. A giant, pointed beak that was just as dark. Even its eyes appeared to be the same shade, invisible on top of its head.
“It looks like a giant crow,” Nina said.
Bursts of white energy popped in the sky around us, quickly followed by smaller birds flying out. Dozens of them squawked in unison and broke the silence.
“Crows,” I said. “That big one must be their mom.”
“Mom or not, we’re still gonna kill it, right?”
I gave Quentin a look and nodded. He tapped the front of his shield and a blue aura formed around it. “Lemme try this thing out…”
“Be careful now.”
“I got this.”
He jogged forward slowly before sprinting and leaping into the air. He turned into a blur of white and blue energy as he went sailing through the sky. His shield in front of him, he slammed into a group of crows and sent them tumbling to the ground.
