City of the Dead

by Vasily Mahanenko

  FOR PERHAPS THE FIRST TIME in her life, Valia regretted her pedigree. Tailyn told the girl about the mission without digging too deeply into the details, though that was enough to more than pique her interest. What kind of reward did he get from the ancient? How did he learn how to talk with the lix? Where did he get his cards? Why did Forian decide to be his mentor? Valia had so many questions to ask, but giving into impulses was for commoners. Of course, she did ask where Tailyn had gotten his OGM-II, posing the question briefly in passing. But even that didn’t work. All the boy said was that his mentor had said he couldn’t tell anyone, leaving the girl to come to grips with her curiosity and throw on a mask of indifference.

  But Valia’s issues were the last thing on Tailyn’s mind. He was too occupied trying to decide what to spend his mana on—which cards was he supposed to prioritize? Obviously, there was his wave of fire, which had just six charges left, but his shield enhancement wasn’t doing that great either. It was down to twenty-five charges. Even if he drank the elixirs he’d made, there wasn’t going to be enough mana to go around. He was going to have to make a tough choice. Offense or defense? And he couldn’t forget that his fireballs burned mana, so he had to leave some in reserve…

  Ultimately, he decided to take things step by step. He started by polishing off all his elixirs and restoring 210 mana. Next, he began adding two or three charges to each card, almost as though he was trying to sense the exact moment when it was time to stop. And he hit it soon enough.

  Wave of Fire-I recharged. Charges remaining: 36 of 50.

  Enhanced Shield-I recharged. Charges remaining: 36 of 50.

  You spent 369 mana. Restoration speed: 3 mana per hour.

  The warm feeling in Tailyn’s chest was pride that he’d made a decision and conviction that it had been the right one. Both cards were looking better, and he still had thirty-four mana left over to spend on fireballs. One thing was for sure—he needed to boost his mysticism so his mana wouldn’t be such a bottleneck. His mentor instantly charging two completely empty cards back in town sprang to mind. That was a master at work.

  The white beasts didn’t notice the loss of the perimeter. Running around just the way they had been before, they were too busy to be distracted by anything. Ka-Do-Gir quickly ruled out climbing in through a window. The walls looked too smooth, there wasn’t anything to grab onto, and so climbing up without some kind of ladder just wasn’t going to work. The lowest windows were out of reach, too. Of course, he could have tossed Tailyn up… But no, that would have been a risk. And with no other openings or niches in sight, the only remaining option was to march straight through the open gate. Ka-Do-Gir didn’t like that in the least, but they didn’t have a choice—he’d been keeping an eye on the palace as they’d made their way around it, and he was sure that was the only entrance. If only Tailyn hadn’t burned that ladder up…

  A couple minutes later, they were at the gate. Right on the other side of it, they could see a big empty area lined with columns. And while it was empty, there were several doors and an enormous staircase leading up to the second story. Ka-Do-Gir was just about to step inside when Valia placed a hand on his back to stop him.

  “Wait! You can’t go in.”

  The lix spun around in surprise, not understanding what the girl had said, and the latter jerked her hand away in fear that Ka-Do-Gir would bite it. But she continued speaking.

  “Tailyn, tell him I have good perception, and I can see a security system we don’t have access to. As soon as we go in, the monsters will all find out.”

  “Let them,” the lix replied once the boy was finished. “That way, we won’t have to chase them around the building. They’ll come to us.”

  “Why would they? This is an ancient city, and they focused on security. The whites won’t have to do anything themselves—the security measures will take us out. If even regular palaces have security systems, what makes you think the ancients would be any different? Especially since this isn’t abandoned. It’s still in use. No, there’s definitely something here, something hefty. Remember how the lixes left without putting up a fight? And they’re much stronger than we are.”

  It was a wise warning. The lix took a closer look at the door and saw for himself the shimmering field the girl was talking about. If he hadn’t known it was there, he wouldn’t have noticed it. Dangerous. Very dangerous. Not happy at all about the move, the lix decided to beat a retreat. There was no way he could help his clan if he was dead, and Li-Do-Ga, the most beautiful of the green lixes, wasn’t going to mourn a corpse.

  “We’re leaving,” Ka-Do-Gir said, pointing in the direction of the portal. “I’ll go first and try to warm things up, see if we can make sure they don’t eat you right away. Tailyn, go get the rest. This isn’t worth the risk—you can come back once you’re stronger.”

  The lix plodded off, his decision final. But Tailyn’s heart sank. They’d come so far, they’d almost emerged victorious, and there they were, everything ruined by an obnoxious girl. What if there wasn’t a security system? What if she was wrong? The city was thousands of years old, and something could have broken long before. No, he needed to see for himself.

  “Wait, where are you going?!” Valia exclaimed. Ka-Do-Gir leaped back, but he was just a split-second too late. Tailyn had stepped inside the palace.

  You were identified as Tailyn Vlashich, level 1 player. Partial initiation…

  Verifying access…

  Addition algorithm applied. Player Tailyn Vlashich added to white list for City of the Dead palace.

  “You idiot!” Valia yelled as soon as the boy stepped back out. “You could have died! No, you could have gotten us killed!”

  Tailyn waited until the girl stopped to take a breath before replying.

  “You were right—there’s a security system. Do you know how to add people to the white list?”

  “What do you mean, how to add them? You mean to tell me that you…” The girl paused when she saw how serious Tailyn’s face was. “That’s impossible!”

  “Yes, I was added automatically, but you won’t be. How do I get you onto the list? Come on, I’m sure you know!”

  “Everybody knows!” Valia replied in surprise. “Have you not prepared for the academy at all?”

  Tailyn blushed, though he held the girl’s gaze. It was Valia’s turn to be embarrassed—she wasn’t used to people looking her in the eye. Turning away, she mumbled a reply.

  “You need to find the control unit and get access. That’s the only place where you can update the lists, just don’t ask where it is. I don’t know. They’re usually well protected and hidden.”

  None of that made any sense to Tailyn. Valia was explaining something, and she was doing it pretty confidently, only he didn’t really get it. Sure, taken separately, he knew what all the words meant. It was when she put them in that order that she lost him completely. But what did make sense was that he needed to find something like a remote terminal, and that something was somewhere in the palace.

  “Wait here. I’ll go find the control unit.”

  Tailyn had to repeat himself in two languages—the first time for Valia, the second for Ka-Do-Gir. But while the girl was skeptical, even snorting in response, the lix went right along with the plan. The young mage had already proven himself. If he said he’d get them access, get them access he would. The other two just needed to wait for him.

  The space Tailyn found himself in was something like a banquet hall. Master Isor had one like it where he liked to throw dinner parties—the guests would arrive, dance, laugh, and compliment the city elder as he sat on his throne. Only there wasn’t a throne or decorations where the boy was. There was nothing. Just the staircase. Tailyn could hear chomping sounds filtering down from up above him, the minions continuing their hectic running around regardless of the intrusion.

  Pulling his cards out and keeping them at the ready, Tailyn went over to the nearest door and carefully pulled it open. It was some kind of empty close
t. Unlike in the main hall, the floor was covered in dust, apparently having not seen any visitors since the ancients. The next door concealed another dusty space. And Tailyn was about to head over to check the doors on the opposite side when he stopped suddenly.

  Something didn’t add up.

  The outside wall was straight and even. Inside, the little rooms were right up against the wall, and there wasn’t much space between them. Tailyn went back over and checked, coming up with seven large strides. Stepping back into one of the rooms, he took one step and found himself up against the wall. Thinking to himself, he realized that if there was only one meter in that room and one in the next, there were still five meters in between them.

  He tapped on the wall. Nothing. It was solid, no hollow sounds that might have pointed to some kind of empty space behind it. And while the boy wasn’t terribly well-versed in architecture, he knew enough to figure out that the second floor was held up by the many columns in the main hall. But if that was the case, what was the point of having such a thick wall?

  The wall sounded much hollower when the boy knocked on it from the side of the main hall. Tailyn even froze, worried the white minions might even hear the loud echo. Finally, going back over the wall, he realized he was right—there was another space behind it. And it was fairly wide, at least two strides across, only Tailyn didn’t know how to get in. There was no door.

  Frustrated he’d wasted so much time, the boy slammed a fist against the wall and nearly yelled in horror when an enormous hole appeared. A piece of the wall fell away from him, and a couple long seconds later, he heard the dull sound of the impact below. The stone had hit the bottom. And it was far, far down.

  Status change. Current status: combat.

  You cannot modify your active deck.

  Opponents remaining: 8.

  An unpleasant clatter came from up above as the white minions hurried to see who was there. Tailyn did have time to peek through the hole—everything inside had been rotted away by the passage of time. Only the thick layer of plaster held the wall in place, hiding the dark shaft. Tailyn even noticed some of his old friends, the snakes. The only difference there was that they were thicker and glittering, almost as if they’d just recently crawled into place.

  When the first minion appeared on the staircase, the boy was already sitting in one of the empty closets hoping Ka-Do-Gir and Valia had gotten far away from the gate. The unpleasant sounds were nearby—the gurgling creatures were talking amongst themselves by the opening. There was a dull thud. Apparently, the monsters had ripped off another piece of the plaster, and it had also fallen into the shaft. The gurgling intensified. In fact, Tailyn got the distinct impression they were arguing with each other, not sure where their target was. And that moment struck the boy as his best shot at an attack. Opening the door, he blew onto the card he had at the ready as the minions tried to figure out who the live person in their palace was.

  Ka-Li.

  You used Wave of Fire-I 10 times.

  You destroyed One’s 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th minions, level 18 creatures.

  Charges remaining: 26 of 50.

  There was a deafening roar that swallowed up even the wild screams of the creatures being burned alive. The door the boy was hiding behind heated up—the fire was bouncing off the walls and scorching the entire hall. And while the flames only burned for eight seconds, that was more than enough for them to consume both the minions and something else. When Tailyn opened the door, the first thing he saw was the remains of the staircase blazing merrily on the floor. His first thought was about the lix—what was his partner going to say when he found out the boy had burned yet another way up for them? But when he looked slightly over to the side, that thought was quickly banished, and his knees knocked together.

  There was one more opponent right in the middle of the hall.

  One’s 1st minion. Level 30.

  The white creature was enshrouded in a transparent and shimmering dome. All its monstrous arms and legs together, it was sitting calmly on the floor waiting for the flames to die away regardless of the fact that Tailyn had spent ten charges. But the monster didn’t move, and that gave the boy the time he needed to pull himself together. Assuming he must have just missed, he decided to give it another try.

  Ka-Li.

  You used Wave of Fire-I 5 times.

  Yet another fiery avalanche burst out of Tailyn’s hands and rushed toward his opponent. But the creature just sat there placidly inside its dome. The fire bounced off the far wall, and Tailyn had to duck back into the closet, counting off eight seconds before stepping back out into the main hall with a sense of dread. He had a feeling his opponent was somewhat less than defeated.

  The minion was right there in the same pose. Tailyn flew off the handle, and he decided to really get down to business. Another card appeared in his hand. If the creature was capable of standing up to fire, it was time to see what it could do about electricity. Something had to work.

  Ka-Li.

  You used Electric Strike-I.

  You did 87 damage to ZK-III protective shield. 19473 durability remaining.

  There came a moment when Tailyn could have sworn the white creature grinned, though not a single trace of emotion flitted across its terrifyingly implacable face. Nineteen thousand durability… The numbers came up by themselves in the boy’s head—nineteen waves, eight seconds each, 87 damage per second, plus electric strikes. That was closing in on eleven thousand damage, which meant the minion had started with thirty thousand durability. How was that possible? Tailyn’s shoulders drooped. It was going to take all his magic just to beat his way through the dome, and then there was the creature’s personal shield to think about…

  Almost as if reading the boy’s mind, the monster began to get up. The dome didn’t go anywhere, just rising right along with its owner. Finally, it was standing straight up and took a step forward. Then another. And one more. Tailyn’s stomach clenched in fear—the shimmering dome didn’t just follow the minion as it stood up; it followed as it walked, as well. A creature with awe-inspiring defenses was heading in the boy’s direction, and he couldn’t move a muscle.

  Suddenly, the minion ducked so quickly that Tailyn didn’t have time to notice what happened. All he knew was that the monster was back sitting in the same pose he found to wait out the wave of fire. And then, a fireball slammed into the dome. It was followed by a second, and then a third. An entire procession of them hit the monster’s protection only to disappear helplessly when they did. Confused, Tailyn looked in the direction of the gate, which was where the fireballs were coming from, and saw Valia standing there. She was blowing on a card in her hand.

  “Don’t just stand there!” he heard her shriek. “Do something!”

  Do something… That was easy enough to say, but what was there for him to do? Twenty-nine thousand damage…where was he going to come up with that much? Valia’s fireballs were barely doing anything to the dome. Soon, the girl’s card was going to run out, especially if she kept up her pace. It was just level one, not level two and the 150 charges you got with the upgrade.

  Tailyn turned red. He wanted to sink into the ground, anything to keep people from seeing what an idiot he was. How had he forgotten that he had a card that would be enough to give them the win? As long as he had enough mana…

  “Get back!” he yelled as he returned to the closet. First, he needed to empty his wave of fire card—that was twenty-one charges, or 14,600 damage. It certainly was great that the god had gifted humans the ability to make calculations quickly. Valia was going to do some more, though not as much as Tailyn would have liked. Her fully charged card put about a thousand damage at her disposal. But that left just a bit remaining, hopefully enough that Tailyn’s thirty-seven mana would make up the difference.

  You used Wave of Fire-I 21 times.

  Charges remaining: 0 of 50.

  That was that—there was no way they were going to head off to see the black minions.
There was nothing left to fight them with. Tailyn counted off the time, opened the door, and began his next attack.

  Ka-Li.

  You used Fireball-II.

  You did 130 damage to ZK-III protective shield. 4230 durability remaining.

  Mana -1 (37).

  A fireball hit the white creature from Valia’s direction, which surprised Tailyn. He’d thought she was out of charges. But no, she just motioned toward the minion as if inviting him to join her, and Tailyn suddenly smiled. It was going to work.

  The creature began moving as soon as its protection dropped below a thousand. Tentacle arms nervously jerked as it stood up, crouched back down, and took another hit. But it couldn’t leave the safety of the dome—the air around it was so hot that even the stone was beginning to belt, turning into rough black glass. The additional quality the fireballs brought to the table was beginning to have its say. And Tailyn hadn’t given it any thought, figuring that nobody would really care if the area around them heated up three degrees. But oh, the minion did. It began moving slowly toward Tailyn, only the air and stone around it continued to heat up. It was more swimming than walking.