City of the Dead

by Vasily Mahanenko

  Suddenly, the boy remembered his unsuccessful attempts to clamber up the rope. Back then, he’d been trying to get out of the cave and couldn’t despite the fact that his life had depended on it. And since there wasn’t an immediate threat in the situation he found himself in then, he figured he was going to be even weaker. But the fall was a long one. The boy tossed a piece of plaster into the darkness, and the sound of the impact only echoed back a few seconds later. Was it a basement? Or just a deep shaft?

  But there wasn’t much of a choice, and so Tailyn grabbed the cable with both hands and took a step forward. Sweat broke out the moment he couldn’t feel anything solid beneath his feet. And while his wet palms left him sliding downward, his legs instinctively wrapped themselves around the cable and arrested his fall. A moment later, he reached upward. There was no more slipping. Trying again, the boy got just a bit higher up, already on the same level as the opening he’d broken through. Once again, everything was calm, including his breathing and heartbeat. He felt no panic, no helplessness, no shortness of breath. Surprised by his newfound strength and the fact that physical exertion didn’t make his head spin anymore, he kept climbing.

  Soon, the opening was below him, filtering dim light into the shaft. But it was still enough for Tailyn to see where several different cables and wires connected. Some of them disappeared into the wall; some kept running upward and disappeared in the darkness above him. The boy made his way to the junction, reared back, and slammed a foot into the wall. The result was the same—an enormous piece of plaster holding a few stones together fell away to create another hole. Suddenly, it was much lighter. There were windows letting light into the room, and the boy was able to climb out of the dusty shaft with a final look upward just a few kicks later. The cable led off and ducked into the wall one level higher.

  The space Tailyn found himself in had two small windows up by the ceiling, a steel-reinforced door, and a small desk outfitted with something that looked very much like a typewriter. Tailyn’s ward, Master Isor, had one of them. The town elder disliked his underlings’ poor penmanship and required them to use the wonders of technology, looking for every piece of legal paper to be beautiful and well-written. For some reason, he didn’t just resort to scribes. The cable connected to the device, but Tailyn sensed a trap. Something was missing. And after accidentally stepping on the cable, the boy figured out what it was—the cable wasn’t vibrating.

  For whatever reason, he suddenly lost all desire to step any closer to the typewriter and instead backed away as if the thing was a poisonous snake. Valia had mentioned how protected the control block was, but there wasn’t anything like that there. Just windows and a door. Anyone could have walked in to take whatever they wanted, and so the boy’s paranoia that had been cultivated over the past few days told him he needed to get out of the room before something happened.

  Tailyn climbed back through the hole and continued upward. The familiar vibrations calmed him, almost as if telling him he’d made the right decision. But he didn’t get far—there was a ceiling right above where the cable went into the wall. Tailyn twisted and stretched to get into a position where he could kick through the wall, and it took some doing that time. The material was much heftier. One blow, another, and a third. It was only on the tenth try that something cracked, and a hole opened up. The boy frowned. There was a little door right next to him, and if he’d been just a bit more attentive, he might have noticed it. His perception hadn’t kicked in for whatever reason.

  After clambering through the hole, Tailyn realized he was in the right place. The room, which was lit by several lamps, had neither windows nor doors. In fact, the only way to get in or out was through a portal—there was curved posts by one of the walls, similar to but much smaller than the ones by the main city gate. And while there was no shimmering film, Tailyn wouldn’t have used it even if it had been there. First, he’d never used portals, and the idea scared him. And second, he didn’t know where that particular portal led.

  The middle of the room was occupied by a typewriter and a fairly large chair. Tailyn sat down in it and felt the tension seep out of his weary muscles the second his body found the right position. Something began massaging his lower back; some metal arms came down to rest on his shoulders. And while he would otherwise have panicked at being pinned to the chair, he completely relaxed as soon as the arms began massaging his shoulders. The only time he’d ever felt so good was when he’d been hugging Valia. But the girl was far away, and the fantastic chair was right there.

  A little while later, the bliss came to an end as the chair decided its occupant was completely satisfied. And that wasn’t far from the truth—Tailyn had even nodded off, and he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to concentrate. It didn’t work. He stretched in sweet repose a couple times, and that was when he accidentally clipped the panel with the buttons.

  You logged into the control block for the above-ground level of the City of the Dead palace.

  Missing skills required to work with control blocks. Applying vocal interaction.

  “Hello, Tailyn Vlashich. Why did you activate the terminal?”

  Next to the desk, a barrel appeared, a carbon copy of the assistant from the workshop. That time, the boy knew it was called a projection. Valia had filled him in when he’d told her about his adventures.

  “I need to add two creatures to the white list,” the boy said. The device thought for a few seconds before responding.

  “You don’t have sufficient access. You’re a guest here.”

  Tailyn was taken aback, having gotten used to all his problems being taken care of by the fact that he had yet to complete his initiation. But for the first time, that wasn’t a factor. The boy was at a loss as to what to do.

  “But I need to add them!”

  “You don’t have sufficient acc—” the barrel began calmly.

  “Okay, how to I get access?”

  “Lirhart, One’s senior minion, handles access, and your request was denied.”

  The boy frowned when he heard the familiar name. The black lixes back in the metro tunnel had mentioned it when they were looking for him and his partner, and he suddenly began to worry about the people walking around the city.

  “He processed my request that quickly? Is he somewhere in the city?”

  “Lirhart lives in the palace’s underground level.” The device saw no need to make a secret of where the creature was. “According to policy, access requests are processed within a second and a half. Delays are not tolerated.”

  “The underground level?” Tailyn asked in confusion. “What, does the city go farther down?”

  “Request processed, level access confirmed. Projecting.”

  Colored beams shot out of the barrel and formed some kind of an image. There were angles, lines, squares, and even a red dot marked you are here. Tailyn gazed at it for quite a while, brows furrowed, until he saw the four tall spires. They were the very same towers used to slaughter humans. And yes, there were the spiral staircases, the rooms, and the black dots representing the remote terminals.

  Map updated.

  City of the Dead studied 100%.

  And it was the terminals Tailyn’s attention was drawn to. The thick, straight lines of corridors ran away from them and reached the lowest part of the city, a square room almost as big as the palace hall. Concentrating on it, the boy received a hint—One’s Tomb. Above it, there was an enormous open area that was hidden underground, complete with rooms, halls, passageways, and tunnels. The lower part of the city might very well have been bigger than its upper part, in fact.

  “Is there anything else I can help with?” The device clearly didn’t enjoy just standing there, and so it decided to speak up. Tailyn took a risk and announced the main reason why he was there.

  “I need the backup copy of Lavr Nalin’s book. Is it here?”

  “Request processed, access level confirmed. That item is in the lower level’s second storeroom.”

  A gre
en dot appeared in one of the lowest rooms in the projection, not far from One’s tomb.

  Mission update: Search for Coordinates. You found the location of Lavr Nalin’s backup copy. Find your way into the lower level of the City of the Dead and get the coordinates for the stash. Additional mission: destroy Lirhart, One’s senior minion.

  ***

  You took another step on a difficult journey and earned a reward.

  Your group receives a reward: +1 to a random skill.

  Alchemy (Mana Restoration Potion) +1 (2).

  Tailyn barely noticed the upgrade. Instead, his attention was fixed on the projection, where several paths led down to the lower floors. But as soon as he focused on them, he received a message: Path locked, no access.

  “Is there anything else I can help with?” The pushy device jerked, the projection jerking with it. The boy realized he needed to keep his assistant busy—he didn’t know how to pull the map back up if the thing disappeared. The functionality wasn’t available to uninitiated people. Or players? And that gave him an idea.

  “Why did the ancients call themselves players? And why do I get called that sometimes?”

  Apparently having not heard the question, the assistant stayed silent for a while. On the one hand, that was great—it stopped jerking around, leaving the projection still. On the other, getting the answer to his question was just as important to Tailyn as finding the book.

  “That request is outside the competency of the City of the Dead. To get an answer, please visit any temple.”

  For possibly the first time, the boy had been told where to go next. But since he needed the barrel to stay still, he continued asking question after question.

  “Why does this location have such a strange name? City of the Dead. Who’s dead here? And how did a city appear inside the mountain? Who is One?”

  Again, there was a pause that let the boy go back to studying the map. All direct routes were cut off, unfortunately, but he did find something else—there were the shafts leading away from the black stones. They definitely warranted a closer look. But no sooner was the boy about to get up from the chair, than the assistant began to answer.

  “Request processed, access level confirmed. One is the hexagon general’s greatest creation, the pinnacle of its creativity. It’s an artificial creature designed solely to destroy all things living to the glory of its master. The city was moved under the mountain to protect it from the ancient humans who found an effective way to destroy alien players. Three thousand, five hundred, and seven years ago, One was locked in a cocoon by player Mortus Gar. That kept the city’s master from leaving the release, forcing it to stay in the city even after the exodus. Unblocking it and releasing One requires the sacrifice of another fifteen hundred and twenty-three humans, so Lirhart signed an agreement with the black lixes to deliver them to the city in exchange for knowledge and equipment. All humans sacrificed in the city die their last death with no respawn. That’s why the location is called the City of the Dead. It is the last resting place of the people sacrificed to free the real master of the city.”

  Mission update: Ancient History. You learned that the world was split into enormous territories called hexagons, each of which were ruled by a monster called a general. The cataclysm that freed the world of monsters was called the exodus. For information about releases, the exodus, and why the ancients were called players, visit any of the god’s temples.

  ***

  New mission: City of the Dead. Description: the return of One to the world would bring with it untold woe. Find a way to stop that from happening, and your reward will be great.

  Chapter 17

  Loot received outside combat is divided according to the general distribution rules in the group.

  Dividing loot…

  Valia Levor receives Administrator’s Chair.

  TAILYN REREAD THE MESSAGE and glanced over at the empty spot where the delightful chair had just been. It was impossible. He’d been counting on having it for himself, even planning on buying it from Ka-Do-Gir if the god gave it to the lix. But Valia? That was something else—Tailyn wasn’t sure what the girl wanted. He also didn’t understand how she’d suddenly started getting loot. Had his partner really forgotten to make sure she didn’t have any rights in the group? Apparently, that was the case. Tailyn hadn’t gotten any messages about the lix making changes.

  There was no more loot in the room with the control block, so Tailyn headed back down. When he came even with his first hole, he was about to climb out, though he had second thoughts and decided to keep heading down into the complete darkness. The city layout had shown the shaft ending in a dead end without any tunnels leading off, but Tailyn already knew time had not gone easy on the walls. They crumbled at the touch. Hitting them hard enough broke right through. Remembering the projection, Tailyn headed down, the shaft dropping almost all the way to the bottom. If he could batter his way through…

  Sadly, his excellent idea was doomed to failure. Tailyn didn’t get far before he felt something firm under his feet—the shaft was blocked off. And instead of some rotten remnant left over from the ancients, it was a thick steel lattice with a fat lock holding it closed. Kicks did nothing, and the holes were too small for the boy to crawl through. Even an attempt to break through the wall came up empty. Lirhart had been thorough.

  The boy was forced to head back emptyhanded. The lix was waiting for him at the entrance, his gaze fixed on the portal.

  “You found out where the backup copy is,” he more said than asked.

  “Yes,” Tailyn replied. “It’s down below. There’s a whole second half of the city hidden underneath us.”

  “But you came back, which means you couldn’t find a way down.”

  The lix’s non-questions were starting to get on Tailyn’s nerves.

  “No, not yet. There are a couple options, and I need your help.”

  “No, young mage, we’re done. You know exactly where your objective is. That’s enough for me—I’ve fulfilled my obligations to you, and I have no desire to risk my life fighting the city master. It’s time for me to go home.”

  “You want to leave?!” Tailyn exclaimed. The news hit him hard.

  “I don’t want to leave; I am leaving. There’s just one thing stopping me, but I can take care of that now. Here.”

  Ka-Do-Gir held out his bukamonster summoning card, and Tailyn looked down to see the blue sparks engulfing it.

  “You saved my life five times. I saved yours twice. With this card, I’d like to repay my debt.”

  “But I didn’t get the coordinates…” Tailyn wasn’t sure what to say. He looked down at the card and refused to take it—maybe, the lix would agree to stay?

  “Like I said, you know the exact location of what you’re looking for, and that’s the end of my obligations. Are you taking the card?”

  “No!” Tailyn yelled heatedly. “I don’t need the card; I need you! Without you, I won’t be able to beat the last monster. The senior minion is down there!”

  “That’s your choice,” the lix said, dropping the card back into his inventory. “It was interesting spending time with you. I hope the god never brings us together on the field of battle—I would hate to have to kill you. Goodbye, Tailyn Vlashich.”

  Ka-Do-Gir left Partners.

  New group leader: Valia Levor.

  Tailyn had promised the lix he wouldn’t cry anymore, but he couldn’t hold back the tears as he watched his former partner walking away. To the last, the boy held out hope that it was just a cruel trick. That the lix would turn around, that they’d laugh together about the joke. But Ka-Do-Gir walked over to the portal and disappeared into the shimmering film without even a backward look. Tailyn was at a loss. Deep down inside, there was a tight feeling, and he wanted to roar and shout, tear the traitor into tiny pieces, and throw them around the city. He’d believed the lix. He’d considered him a friend. And the bastard had walked away. How could he?

  Valia’s voice broke thro
ugh the ringing in his ears as she ran over.

  “Tailyn, what happened? What’s wrong? Where’s the lix?”

  The boy turned red eyes toward the girl.

  “He left. He left me!”

  “Okay, so he left. What’s there to cry about?” Valia knew the group had lost a strong fighter, but with her new status as leader, she decided she needed to play the part. She needed to show strength the way her father had taught her. “Did you find the control block?”

  “You don’t get it!” Tailyn stomped a foot when he saw he wasn’t getting any sympathy. “There’s one more monster, and now we’re going to have to kill it on our own!”

  Valia’s stomach flipped when the boy reminded her of One. When she got the mission, all she wanted to do was run and hide—it wasn’t every day the god asked children to kill powerful creatures. And she’d only been running after the lix to hide behind it, feeling somehow safer with the creature. But he was gone, while the mission wasn’t.