Descend- First Steps

by David Burke

  “I can tell you that I didn’t look like this before I was taken. I mean sorta, but just not this much muscle and not this fit.”

  “What? So you were kidnapped, turned into a hottie and then dropped in the middle of a bunch of women who are being fed aphrodisiacs in the water?” Mia laughed. “I haven’t met a guy yet who wouldn’t think he had died and gone to heaven.”

  All the girls laughed for a minute till Jasmine said, “Maybe it has something to do with the status and how points were distributed.”

  “What do you mean?” Jay asked, eager to change the subject.

  “Simple, not a single one of the women got anything higher than a 1 in Durability and only a handful got a 2 in Metabolism. Almost all of the women’s increases came in Kinesis or Formation with a few having increases in Awareness. The working hypothesis now is that Durability and Metabolism are related to your body and control the Stamina score. Although no one yet quite understands how it works. If that is true though then it would stand to reason that you might have experienced changes in your body due to your new scores in Durability and Metabolism,” Jasmine said.

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” Huong said. “Liam has a 6 in Durability which is why he is so big and bulky and if Jay has a 3 in Durability that would be extra muscle but not as much as Liam while his Metabolism of 5 is probably why he is so cut.”

  “What you all probably want to know is why I have so many points in different things, but I honestly don’t know. I’m sorry. I went through the awakening the same as you. There was some kind of error message and then it said that excess Psi was being assigned as stats.”

  “You don’t know anything at all? There has to be a reason for why you are the only one with higher stats out of all 100 of us,” Jasmine said with frustration.

  “All 100 of us were kidnapped and don’t have any recollection of how it happened other than seeing lights in the sky. We don’t know where on Earth we are or dare I say for that matter if we even are on Earth. Please just trust me, I don’t know how I got those extra points. If I figure it out I will share it with you.” Jay felt a little bad not saying anything about the voice or the dreams he had twice now, but the truth was, he didn’t know if that was him going crazy or something else.

  “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. You are right. You’ve been very helpful so far. I don’t mean to accuse you,” Jasmine said. “I just feel trapped. I know we all do. We need water and food and dammit we need a place to sleep where crabs don’t come out of the ground to kill us.”

  “We need to go to the area around the ziggurat. There has to be more to this. Otherwise we are going to starve.”

  Huong trembled slightly as she replied, “You heard the roaring coming from there.”

  “Yeah so we are between a rock and hard place, but we know the beach isn’t viable and we also know that the only source of drinkable water is down there,” Jay argued.

  “Okay, well, everyone rest, the sun will likely be up in less than an hour. When that happens we will all move inland, agreed?” Jasmine said.

  Each of them nodded but Jay added, “We need to send an advanced party to scout it out. We don’t want all of us to walk into a trap. So I propose that I go ahead with whoever else the council thinks is necessary and scout. It just needs to be people who can move quickly. I will leave all the canteens here and you can distribute them as you see fit. I can buy another one from the terminal for myself.”

  More reluctantly, everyone nodded. Jasmine said, “We will ask for volunteers at sun up. Now try to rest until then.”

  Chapter 11 - Job Description: Pieces of the Puzzle

  Jay found that he wasn’t able to fall asleep again. There was too much going on in his head and he felt surprisingly refreshed for only having slept a couple hours. The exhaustion that he had felt after activating his enhanced speed had all disappeared. He had been periodically checking his Status and each time noticed that more of his Stamina had been recovered. He was now back to a full 80/80.

  As he noticed the sun coming up over the horizon it was beautiful the way the light splayed out across the water. If the beach wasn’t a death trap of crabs then it would have been an ideal place to walk at sunrise. Then he felt a weird disturbance, like he got dizzy and the world was spinning around him for a second. He couldn’t see anything other than flashes of color for a second, but just as quickly as it had come over him it left. He stood up and looked around. Other people were crying out asking what had just happened.

  Then he noticed the oddest thing. Whereas just a minute before the sun had barely peeked over the horizon now it was like thirty minutes had passed for it was good and fully up. The beach had been a wreck of holes where the crabs had burrowed out the night before but now the beach was smooth without any indication of crabs or for that matter any of their dead. It had been hard but they had left all of the people who had fallen on the beach as they couldn’t risk the living to retrieve their bodies. Now though those bodies were gone just the same.

  Even stranger, where the bodies had been there were now small gleaming piles. He was too far away to make out the details, but pulled out his spear and ran down onto the beach. Where each of their fallen friends, well not friends, but comrades maybe, had been there were now small piles of gleaming silver discs. They were translucent and when he bent over to touch one of the stacks it disappeared as soon as he made contact. On a whim he said, “Status” and looking at the blue screen saw that he now had 859 credits. So he had gained 10 credits.

  “Oh shit,” he thought, “I just got the 10 credits that this poor girl had before she died.” Looking around he saw that sure enough there were 9 other stacks similar to the one that he had just touched and another stack that was golden rather than silver.

  Jay immediately yelled, “Jasmine, does anyone know where Jasmine is?”

  In a few seconds she appeared. “Damn, look at the way she walks. How does she do that?” Jay thought before trying to focus on anything but the images he got from his dream.

  Once she reached him it was easy enough to focus on what he needed to explain. He told her about the credits and recommended that she pick up the rest before anyone else realized what was going on. “It would be bad if I picked them up as a guy- but you can do it as the leader of the council.”

  “You are probably right. Thanks for calling me. Can you get the rest of the council and fill them in without making a big deal about it. I am going to call for a meeting and ask for volunteers in just a minute.”

  “Sure, happy to help, boss lady,” Jay said as he left. She shook her head at his silliness but he hadn’t missed the hint of a smile in the corner of her lips. “Warm luscious lips, dang it stop that.”

  Good to her word, Jasmine filled everyone else in on what had happened. There was some crying when she told them the final death count from the night before but most people bucked up as they were told the plan for the day. Surprisingly there was no shortage of volunteers and she had to narrow it down. They ended up letting Amelia and Huong go since they had been on the prior scouting party. Jay was fine with Huong but not too happy with the secretive Amelia. Of course he had secrets of his own so he couldn’t be too upset with her.

  They didn’t waste any time in leaving. No one really had formed attachments yet and so there were no friends to wish well but just an awkward desire to do something, anything that could change their situation. The pace they set was easy enough for Jay but was pushing the other two to their limit so there was no conversation. This trip was even faster than the trip back as they were getting a feel for the easiest way to go and so made the six miles in just under two hours.

  The first stop they made was at the terminal and Jay bought all three of them their own canteen. He really played around with the idea of buying the water purifier but in order to buy enough for them all he would have to spend 40 more credits and that amount would be more useful spent on something else. That prompted him to step away from the terminal and turn to the girls. “I
can get you two weapons if you want- what do you think would work the best? I’m thinking spears so you can keep something at a distance but I don’t know if either of you have any special skills.”

  “If you are offering, I’d like some leather armor and a dagger,” Amelia said without batting an eye.

  “Um okay. What about you, Huong?”

  “Maybe just a spear. I think if anything that sounds like those roars gets close enough to me for armor to matter that I’m gonna be dead anyway and I don’t want you to spend that many credits on me.” Huong said the last part with a pointed look at Amelia.

  Pausing for a second to make sure that neither had anything else to say, Jay activated the terminal again and made the purchases, adding in 5 rations. Including the canteens he was set back 220 credits but it would be worth it if it saved one of their lives. When he handed each of them a ration and the items they had requested, he got one heartfelt thank you and another begrudging thank you but took both in stride.

  After that they filled up the canteens and drank their fill. It was so weird having to go hours without access to any beverage. Back home even if his fridge was empty the kitchen sink was never far away and the idea of being grateful for a drink of water put things into perspective for him.

  While munching on the rations, they started a slow walk towards the ziggurat. After a while Jay started speculating about what they might find and they made some plans for how to deal with various eventualities. Since they couldn’t possibly plan for everything though, the conversation drifted off into other areas.

  “Did either of you notice how the trees that we cut down for firewood yesterday were fully grown back and there were no signs of any of the branches that Jay had thrown on the ground?” Huong asked.

  “I saw it but wasn’t really sure what to make of it. Sorta like what happened to all the crabs and stuff at the beach this morning,” Jay said.

  “You mean how the dead bodies disappeared like they were never there? It’s just more proof that something really weird is going on. This can’t just be some tropical island.” Amelia seemed to have more that she wanted to say but didn’t know what to say.

  “Well that should prove that none of us are in on it. Right?” Jay said, trying to close the gap between them.

  “On one hand yes, if we were abducted by aliens or sent traveling through time or who the hell knows what, then it seems unlikely that any human could have been involved in that. But… what if one of you isn’t what you seem to be,” Amelia said.

  “You just want to be at odds with everyone else, don’t you,” Huong said.

  “Whatever, I’m just gonna walk by myself.”

  Jay couldn’t tell if she was pouting or angry or what but Amelia sped up and started walking a good thirty feet from them. This was fine with him. She was the most infuriating person here and it gave him more time to get to know Huong. He mostly let her talk and learned all about her horticulture program and what she had hoped to do after college. He was inspired by how big her vision had been and yet sad that she was ripped away from it all. It could have been depressing as he compared how little drive he had back on Earth, but he chose to let it motivate him. This was a new start, free from his loss, free from the shadow of his father’s tough love. He was determined to make the most of it.

  The conversation with Huong was so engrossing that before Jay realized it, the ziggurat was looming large in front of them, probably less than a quarter mile away. He thought wistfully that he would have killed for a girlfriend like Huong back home, but lamented that he probably hadn’t been worthy of one like her then. Now he would be.

  Even Amelia must have been nervous because she slowly got closer to them the nearer that they got to the ziggurat. From here they could tell it was made of a white rock. There were stairs up each side of it leading to some room at the top. In contrast to similar structures he had studied in history, this looked to be in pristine condition. Yet there was no sign of anyone around it and no indication of what had made the noise the day before.

  They walked the entire perimeter around it but most of it was surrounded by rock walls. The only open area was the section they were in. It was like they were the only piece of pie left. Something seemed odd about this set-up. It was like a reverse deja vu where it was like he had been here before and it wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. The rock walls around 7/8th of the structure were about a quarter mile back from it and high enough that they rose into the clouds. It just didn’t seem right, but Jay couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong.

  “So, I guess we are gonna have to climb it,” Jay said.

  “What’s that over next to the stair?” Amelia asked, and when he looked there was a smaller version of the obelisk that allowed them access to the shop. Except this one didn’t have any white pavers on the ground under it. It was just set up against the side of the stairs.

  “Try it out?”

  “Sure, that’s what we have you for, right?” Amelia said.

  “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, Jay,” Huong said as she came to his rescue.

  “Actually, she is right, even if she has such a poor bedside manner. We have to find out what we are facing here.” With that, he went up to the obelisk and found the expected space for him to place his hand. He looked back at the girls, Amelia who was ignoring him and looking all around the perimeter and Huong who was giving him what he thought of as her best encouraging smile. He shrugged his shoulders and placed his hand against the obelisk.

  Immediately he got a bright-red screen with golden trim. The letters of the text were larger than any other and still hard to read with the background the way it was. It was mentally jarring.

  Welcome, M1789-

  This is your first time at Terminal 0-prime

  Initial warnings will not be repeated: unlike store terminals this terminal comes with no extra protection. Please ensure that you have allies guard your back.

  Note that any creatures on the first floor of the dungeon who are still there when the sun goes down will be free to leave the dungeon until sun up.

  This terminal cannot access the store but will track your progress through the dungeon, assist you in further awakenings, provide you with level-appropriate quests and rewards, and once pre-requisites are met, provide you with information regarding your status.

  At level one of the dungeon only 4 people may enter in one group. Multiple groups are possible at the same time, however if multiple groups try to work in unison, the dungeon will trigger punitive responses.

  Dungeon Levels Cleared: 0/100

  Dungeon Quests Available: 3/3 Dungeon Quests Completed: 0/300

  As a level 1 you may only have 1 active quest at a time. Do you wish to obtain a quest?

  Jay stood there thinking about it but ultimately it was an easy decision. “What the heck, might as well see what the quests are.”

  Quest 1.1: Enter the Dungeon

  Success: Spend 15 minutes inside Dungeon level 1.

  Reward: 100 credits (individual)

  It doesn’t get any easier than this.

  Quest 1.2: Clear the Dungeon

  Success: Clear all hostile creatures from Dungeon level 1

  Rewards: 1000 credits (team), access to Shop Terminal 1.1

  Failure: Leave without completing the quest.

  Penalty: May repeat but with a 10% reduction in quest reward.

  Quest 1.3: Collection

  Success: Gather 7 beryl syrups

  Rewards: 150 credits (individual), 1 token for gourmet meal from Shop.

  Failure: Must complete within 72 hours (repeatable)

  Penalty: None

  With that he left the terminal to discuss the information with the girls. They were excited to find out that there were ways to earn credits, but less so when he explained what he thought the dungeon would entail. In the end it was determined they should wait for the rest of the group to arrive.

  Chapter 12 - Isolating Realizations
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  Jay felt more confident about being able to recharge his decreasing funds and so he splurged and bought them a gourmet meal for four. They still had part of their daily rations but it wasn’t anything compared to this meal. It had some sort of roasted bird that tasted like chicken in a berry sauce along with perfectly seasoned vegetables, chilled fruits, some crumbly but tasty bread, and even a dessert. When they finished eating they all were forcibly pushed into a notification screen briefly:

  Well Fed Buff: +10% Stamina for 4 hours.

  That was beyond cool and put everyone in a good mood. All in all, Jay was only having one problem. The more of the water that he drank the harder he was having preventing a certain swelling down below. Every time one of the girls would stretch and show their tummy, lean forward and show the tiniest amount of cleavage, or even just give him a little smile and he would be standing at attention. “Dang this isn’t the type of embarrassment that I need now just when things are starting to go right. It’s not like being around this many hot girls isn’t hard enough on its own without the spiked water,” Jay thought then snorted at his own pun.

  To make matters worse, or better depending on your perspective, both the girls were starting to become more touchy feely with him. Amelia would find reasons to hit him in a playful way while they were talking, while Huong was much less discreet. At one point she had “dropped” some of her food on the ground and practically wiggled her backside in his face while bending over to pick up her food. Jay didn’t know what he was gonna do but knew if they kept drinking this water he wouldn’t have long to figure it out.