Descend- First Steps

by David Burke

  He didn’t expect to be able to fall asleep but the exhaustion and tension of the day finally caught up with him and the next thing he knew it was morning. The sun was only peeking over the horizon but Huong was leaning over him in that dress of hers. He grinned up at her.

  “Time to wake up,” she said.

  Jay stretched and then realized he had opened his mouth wide before slamming his hand over top of it. All he could think was, “Real smooth.”

  Huong just giggled and said, “Amelia and Meikiyo are taking baths in the stream. Once they get back we can resume the hunt. Maybe we will have more luck this morning.”

  Jay just nodded not wanting to make a fool of himself again. He turned to dig through his backpack and pull out another one of his diminishing stash of rations. There was no denying it, he was definitely eating more than he had to. If they had to stay in the dungeon for another day he would either go hungry or learn if the local fruit was safe to eat.

  He had just finished eating when there was a huge crashing sound in the trees. Either a tree had fallen over or something massive was coming their way. Jay instinctively sent out a pulse of life sense and at the very edge of his range he found a living creature that was much larger than even an owl bear.

  Immediately, he jumped down from the tree while shouting at Huong to stay put. He needed to reach the other two at the stream before whatever that thing was got here. A second pulse sent out confirmed that it was making a beeline straight for their tree.

  Running to the stream and fearing an incoming monster didn’t diminish the fact that for a passing moment Jay hoped he would get to catch the girls still bathing. He shockingly didn’t even feel guilty for the thought. After all he reasoned, it would be justified.

  It really was a moot point though because by the time he had made it half-way he found the two of them walking towards the tree and looking in every direction. Amelia had her dagger out and it was sheathed in black shadows. Meikiyo was the exact opposite of her shadowy power as she held a small glowing sun between her hands.

  “Whoa, it’s just me,” Jay said as they jumped when he came running up.

  “Fine, but do you hear that?” Amelia asked, pointing off in the direction the sound was coming from.

  “Now who is the bonehead? I’m not deaf and remember, life sense?”

  It was a tell-tale sign of how nervous the petite blonde was that she didn’t bite his head off for that comment but only mumbled, “Oh yeah.”

  Meikiyo asked, “What is it?”

  “I don’t know but it is headed right for us and it is larger than an owlbear by a good margin. We need to get back up in the tree.”

  The benefits of having bonded as a team manifested as without another word they began running for their tree shelter. Once they got there, Jay said, “Brace yourself.” Then he grabbed Meikiyo and maxed out his strength boost to send her flying up into the air just over the 30 feet of the platform. She was able to twist midair and land near the edge.

  “Wait, what if you miss?” Amelia asked, but Jay didn’t answer other than to say, “You gotta trust me at some point,” even while grabbing her for her own heave-ho.

  Jay watched long enough to make sure that she had landed safely before he began to scramble up the tree. Only halfway up he felt the most overwhelming premonition of danger. If this had been his first day here he likely would have questioned it just long enough to get hit, but as it was, he knew to immediately obey those warnings.

  He pushed off from the side of the tree without any hesitation and spun mid-air with a grace any gymnast might have envied before landing legs spread and hands up. What he saw shocked him. Where he had been on the tree a second before a huge swath of the wood had been ripped out by a gigantic hand.

  The tri-ape, for that was the name that came to his mind first, was at least 18 to 20 feet tall. It stood on 3 legs, one jutting to the front and two more like normal legs. This setup had it lean forward slightly with its torso distributed between the three legs. Its arms were long and covered in a shaggy gray fur the same as the rest of its massive body, well except for a bald chest that was purple in color.

  It was both terrifying and weird at the same time and hard for Jay to look away from. The more he looked the more he learned. Those arms were long enough to reach the ground even from its great height and it at least partially knuckle walked like Earth apes. The head was massive with squat flattened features including a broad nose, narrow-set, beady eyes, and two massive lower canines that stuck up in front of its upper lips. Jay didn’t want to measure them but from here he guessed they were at least eight inches long.

  The creature stared in confusion at the spot where Jay had been a moment before. Then it looked at the outside of its fist as if expecting to find remains of the human there. Only then did it notice the girls up in the tree and let out a loud sound that was part hoot and part screech.

  It reached up with those long arms and while it couldn’t reach the platform that didn’t stop it from trying. Jay stood watching, gathering his thoughts. He had dropped the spear when he leapt off the tree and it was now on the ground between the tri-ape’s feet.

  At least one of the girls squealed in terror as the massive creature wrapped its arms, which were as thick as the diameter of a tire, around the tree and began shaking. Before watching it, Jay would have assumed that the tree was far too sturdy to be disturbed even by something as massive as this, but he had obviously underestimated its strength.

  Up above, Amelia began to stumble off of the platform and was only caught by vines that whipped out around her and anchored her safely next to Huong. Seeing how much danger they were in, Jay yelled at the creature. He wanted to get its attention. Unfortunately he only had one rock in his pocket at the moment but he figured he would find out how tough this thing really was.

  While yelling he magnified his strength and then hurled the rock with everything he had before accelerating it to the speed of a high-velocity bullet. The rock slammed into the side of the creature, which howled in anger. A bloody wound appeared but the thick fur made it difficult for Jay to determine just how injured it was.

  For good or ill though, Jay now had the beast’s full attention. He rushed forward and made a roll along the ground aiming to get at his spear but a swing of the creature's arm gave him a back-handed slap from an 18-inch-wide hand. It bowled him over and sent him rolling until he came to rest on the ground a good 50 feet away, his progress having been stopped by some of the underbrush.

  Jay was dizzy and disoriented but as he searched his body he felt that there were no serious wounds, which was beyond lucky, just a bunch of cuts and scrapes. Still the creature was on him surprisingly fast. He barely managed to roll out of the way of a fist that was slammed down towards him.

  Then life became a game of Whack-a-Jay and he kept trying to get up off the ground but each time, a fist would come back at him and he would have to throw himself to the ground. He was reacting instead of thinking it through and his passive speed increases were probably all that kept him alive, for he had not yet gathered the mental wherewithal to boost his speed further.

  He didn’t know how long he could keep this up but was amazingly grateful when he saw a burst of flame strike the creature from behind. Even from his position beneath it, he could feel the incredible heat and worse, smell the burning hair and seared flesh. Another blast followed from Meikiyo up on the platform as Jay scrambled to his feet. He couldn’t let the distraction that she gave him go to waste and didn’t want the tri-ape to go back and focus on the girls again.

  So he ran again for the spear. This time he thought to magnify his speed and pumped in the necessary PSI points. He became a blur as he covered the ground between him and the weapon, only to lose his feet and go flying forward in a clumsy dive when the creature jumped and landed its entire colossal weight, causing the very ground to shake.

  His momentum was so great that tripping as the ground shook caused him to land twenty feet past th
e tree. As he rolled over, he simultaneously saw Amelia climbing down the tree and the tri-ape rushing at him for another round of Whack-a-Jay. This time though he at least had the forethought to boost his speed and was able to quickly get up.

  As he got out of the way of the incoming fists he yelled to Amelia, “Don’t come down unless you have to. One tap from this guy and you are done for.”

  He saw her hesitate before climbing back up but wasn’t able to spare much attention for what she was doing as he was busy dodging the wide swings of the 12-foot-long arms. Every time that he would make a dash for the spear, one of the arms would throw him off course.

  Jay took great care not to get hit again because he knew how lucky he had been last time and while he could sustain an enhanced speed for quite some time, the sweeping strikes covered such a great area that he had to stay clear. Thus he wasn’t able to get close to the spear. Even with his speed the only reason he was able to consistently avoid all of the attacks was his passive precognitive ability.

  He saw both flame and shadow strikes lance out at the creature’s back but all that did was buy him time to pick up a couple of rocks. The girls’ attacks were enough to draw the ire of the creature who once again went leaping at them. This allowed Jay to launch another bullet-like rock.

  From there they kept ping-ponging it back and forth but its vitality was such that the wounds they gave it seemed to heal up before it became seriously impaired.

  Jay shouted, “Try to aim for sensitive spots.” He knew his aim with the rock wasn’t good enough to hit an eye except by sheer luck so he had to hope that the girls' attacks were more accurate.

  Sadly even injuries to an eye began to heal far faster than he liked. Meikiyo went all out at one point and had the three-legged King Kong bathed in fire. When it went ballistic trying to climb up the tree, Huong did her best to bind it with her vines, but they didn’t hold it long enough for Jay to throw more than a single rock. The problem was that didn’t cause it to turn back to him so he ended up being able to pelt it twice more before it turned towards him.

  By this time, Jay was fairly confident that they would be able to eventually wear it down. There should be still well over 90 minutes before the reset so that wasn’t really a fear either. The only fear that he had now, the one that was making him be super cautious, was the knowledge that if anything happened to him the rest of his team was sure to be hurt or killed. Maybe Amelia could sneak away but the others certainly couldn’t.

  He knew he needed to find a way to get the spear. Its length combined with the new strength put into it by the crafting done on it meant he should be able to drive it into the beast’s heart. Of course that was presuming that its heart was somewhere near where it was on an Earth ape.

  Then he had a stroke of genius. It might be keeping him from reaching the spear but maybe Huong could reach it with her vines. He called out to her with his plan and she immediately went to work trying to grab the weapon up. Jay had to keep dodging and annoying the beast to keep it as far away from the spear as possible.

  After one blow that he so narrowly avoided as to ruffle his hair, he saw that Huong had the spear. “Now get its attention.”

  With that instruction Amelia and Meikiyo rained a fiery hell down on it cloaked in shadows. They were really going all out and searing its flesh as well and causing deep piercing wounds. Huong wasn’t lax either but used the opportunity to flip the spear to Jay who caught it midair.

  Given his concern about where the beast’s heart might lie he assumed that the placement of its spine was more likely to be consistent with other life forms he knew. So he caught his breath for a second and magnified his speed and strength to their maximum before making a running leap.

  His first step landed on its hip and he jumped further up off of it until he was up above head level. He then fell forward towards it. He stopped increasing his speed and instead accelerated the speed of his fall into it. With the spear outstretched he rammed into the back of its neck.

  The spear tip must have hit something but whatever it was didn’t cause an instant kill. It drove all the way through the neck and out the throat in front, while Jay landed on its shoulders and managed to hang on. The beast became sluggish and Jay was determined not to let this opportunity go to waste so he pulled himself up and closer into it, hugging one arm over its shoulder as the other arm pulled his dagger free.

  From the ground the dagger would have been completely ineffectual against the creature but up here he was able to draw its steel blade across the beast’s throat, opening the jugular. Hot blood gushed forth and the creature flailed, still clearly not in complete control of its motor functions but desperate to stem the flow of life from it.

  The herculean muscle shrugs hurled Jay off to the ground but also only further served to open the two wounds in its neck. Jay scrambled groggily out of the way as it tottered first one way and then another while literal gallons of blood pumped out of the massive body. To Jay it felt like the thing hung on for a couple of minutes but it was more likely little more than five seconds until it fully collapsed and the light faded from its eyes.

  Jay began to cheer until a blue screen popped up in front of his eyes.

  Congratulations! You have completed Quest 1.2: Clear the Dungeon

  Note: It shouldn’t have been much of a challenge for you at your level but still serves as a tactical assessment tool.

  Reward: 2000 credits (Value of Exploration) to be divided equally among the team of 4 subjects grouped together.

  Reward: Access to Shop Terminal 1.1 (see nearest outside terminal)

  Reward: Access to Dungeon Floor 2

  Hidden Reward: For being the first to clear this floor you gain double benefits in levels and stat boosts at your next awakening. Make good use of this.

  Additionally, you have survived another 2 cycles in the dungeon. Normally benefits are not awarded until you leave the dungeon but since this floor is now cleared there are no dangers involved.

  Owlbears: 15 credits each

  Lizats: 10 credits each

  Tri-ape (boss x10): 200 credits

  Total personal credits gained including quest completion: 2020 (Value of Exploration)

  Jay’s head was spinning in excitement. “We need to make sure that we maximize our boost when we awaken. Let’s try to train right up till when the reset happens.”

  “I don’t know if you are crazy or a genius. We are all emotionally and physically worn out by that but all you can think about is increasing power. Truly you are a gamer nerd,” Amelia said.

  “He does have a point,” Huong said and Meikiyo nodded in agreement.

  “See, I have a point,” Jay said, grateful for the support.

  “I know you have a point but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to be reminded of your bone headedness,” Amelia gave him that wicked grin that always left him somewhere between checking his pockets for his wallet and downright turned on.

  “Just keeping me humble, I suppose.”

  “Well someone has to.”

  “No one better,” Jay said as he and Amelia shared a look of understanding. She might not be capable of showing vulnerability but she really did care.

  “Before we start training I want to see if it is possible to harvest part of the creature. I have been meaning to check on this but still not sure if it will work with the reset.” As soon as he finished speaking, Jay ran over and hammered out the two huge canines and cut out a good-sized piece of furry skin off the corpse’s back. He might have tried for more but didn’t want to waste his training time.

  For the next 75 minutes they all pushed themselves to the max. Whether it was with tests of strength, speed, and durability all while trying to work a precognitive ability or disappearing from sight to pop up and shoot shadow lances with growing precision, they all worked on their own thing.

  Just before the awakening, Jay stumbled in complete exhaustion and fell at the base of the tree. He was panting from the exertion whic
h was saying something because his enhanced metabolism made most exercise a joke for him. As he lay there waiting for the reset and awakening he knew was coming any second, he saw the deep gouge that the tri-ape had torn into the ground at the base of the tree during one of its fits.

  The hole was a good three feet into the ground. Down at the bottom of it, Jay saw a glint of silver. Curious he rolled over on his side and saw what looked like a plate of metal partially torn back to reveal some flashing lights traveling through crystal-like tunnels. No sooner had he started to reach down to touch it than his eyes rolled back in his head and the implant inside him began to sync with core-frame and initiate the necessary structural and genetic changes keeping with the information obtained in the process that Jay had come to know as awakening.

  Interlude 4 - Preliminary Conclusions

  D’varn’s hands scrambled over the control panel. It was not outside of the expected parameters for one of the test subjects to discover some of the vessel’s components. They were after all inside of one of the five largest starships ever built by his people. It was just that none of the predictions ran by core-frame found it to be likely that they would discover it this quickly.

  Their scientists didn’t like to admit it but in the end every A’snkarnt knew that there was still far too much random chance in the universe. It was something that they strove to limit with their science. As a species they had worked to control their own evolution and were guided by the AIs of core-frame. Yet, it was a hopeless goal and so one which they ignored. Chaos could never be fully eliminated.

  So now D’varn was stuck with this issue. One of the test subjects had discovered a minor energy conduit. Now a decision needed to be made about which protocol to enact. Normal hoomans could have their minds wiped. It was fairly effortless and more or less painless or at least only briefly painful.

  His race had been doing it for millennia as they experimented on hoomans. Oh sure, every so often there was a test subject who remembered something, most often as nightmares. Many of the myths of Earth were based on those stray memories.