by Alan Bard
Leader: Sergeant [Victoria]
You must obey the leader’s orders.
Within a minute, a few more messages flashed before my eyes.
Recruit [Jelena] has joined the [Dominant] cohort.
Recruit [Rio] has joined the [Dominant] cohort.
Recruit [Black Dragon] has joined the [Dominant] cohort.
“Hold on,” said Rio quickly, “is that you, Eli? The Black Dragon?”
For a moment, there was silence and then Rio burst out laughing. To be honest, this wasn’t the worst way to blow off some steam. Looking at him, I also heaved with laughter. Although I knew that there was nothing particularly funny about it, I couldn’t help myself. It was a burst of hysterical laughter that made my stomach hurt. Even Victoria’s lips twitched slightly. Only Jelena’s face remained emotionless, set in lines of fatigue.
“Hey, what are you laughing at?” Eli glared at us in confusion.
I made a serious face and looked into his eyes.
“Black... Dragon!” I shrieked with laughter. “What should we call you now, man?”
Unfortunately, the hysteria wore off and left behind only the grimness of reality and an emptiness. We were screwed, without hope that we’d ever get out of here.
We were following Victoria in silence. Every step required great effort; my heart was pounding, like after a long run, and Victoria had to stop and wait for us. She would’ve been glad to make her slaves move faster, but she knew that that might kill us. She needed us—there seemed to be a struggle for human resources on the island.
As I walked, I thought about her words, trying to distract myself. It seemed that the Core and the Contour weren’t something that I got just because of the Cultivator. All the players seemed to have it, but it was available to most only at a certain point, and some couldn’t see it at all. What did a player get through direct access to the Core and Contour? Was it all about setting it up? More deliberate development and cultivation of your powers?
A lot of things still had to be figured out, but I felt like I was getting somewhere.
It seemed as if we had circled the globe twice before we rounded a low hill and reached our destination―a rocky wasteland. Here and there, withered trees stretched their branches like arthritic hands toward the sky. Sparse grass was yellowing between the stones. In the middle of the plain stood an unusual structure—a stone foundation and the remains of a fortress wall. It was five feet high, with holes filled with cobblestones mixed with clay.
We climbed the steps carved into the rock to the gate in the form of a fantastic fish with its mouth open. However, as I looked closer at one of the statues with a preserved eye, I realized that it was actually a reptile. The grandeur of the ancient sculpture contrasted with the gate made of old logs. I couldn’t resist touching an arch that looked like solid stone. The gate closed behind us, and we entered a stone courtyard, perfectly smooth and level. Under us was solid magma mixed with loose rock.
In the middle of the courtyard was a granite bowl the size of a small pool, similar to the one we saw in the city. There were buildings along the walls where the ancient masonry had been mixed with the modern. The roofs were thatched, like those of Papuan huts. A stone that looked like a crude Celtic cross stood in the distance. Another Totem. Again I felt like someone was watching us. Like a gust of wind, I got a sense of alien power emanating from it. Approaching it, I warily touched the cold, rough surface, and the stone shone from within like a gigantic lamp, with rune-like symbols appearing on it. Just what was this island? Runes. Totems. Mages. Was all of this really a part of the experiment?
I had a lot of questions. I was wondering how I could find my path in all this. The one Green had mentioned in his message.
Were there any mages among my friends? Victoria was a mage-psionicist. What superpowers did the people in her team have? And, most importantly, who was looking at us through the stone eyes of the Totems?
The system decided to give me a hint to one of my questions.
Members of the [Dominant] cohort, sorted by system
Sergeant [Victoria], the leader
Private [Ksandra]
Corporal [Joseph]
Recruit [Nick]
Recruit [Jelena]
Recruit [Rio]
Recruit [Black Dragon]
“Eli, you look like an idiot with that nickname!” Rio said, then grinned and continued, “On the other hand, it might help us. Imagine, the battlefield, the enemy suddenly sees you—a Black Dragon. And then they die from laughter.”
“Maybe we all need related names?” I decided to play along. “Chocolate Dragon, Vanilla Dragon, Caramel Dragon?”
Eli threw his hands in the air and screamed, “I’m sick of you guys!”
“Hey, morons,” Victoria interrupted us, “get over here!”
There was no sign of her. I entered the building to the right of the entrance, thinking about how the system had ranked us either by our power or strength. I wondered if the network took me for the most promising member in our group of four. I also wondered about the other two members of the cohort.
A dark-skinned Latina came out to meet us. She had curly hair, full lips, and huge eyes, so dark that the iris merged with the pupil.
Name: Ksandra
Age: 18
Status: Private
Cohort: [Dominant]
Specialization: Portal Wizard
I noticed that her left arm was missing, and that the sleeve of her jacket was belted. The amputation seemed to be of the DIY sort, so I wondered if she had lost the limb in the Arena.
“Hi, newbies!” she said with a wide, humorless grin. “Welcome to hell! Victoria doesn’t have time to deal with you, so she turned you over to me.”
Eli took it worse than any of us. Still struggling to accept all of this, he decided to relieve stress and avoid going insane by fooling around.
“Another mage... Where are the dungeons and the dragons?”
“...great, one of those...” Ksandra rolled her eyes and looked at us. She then took a step toward Jelena, stood tiptoe, and snapped her fingers in front of her face. “Hey, are you even alive? What’s wrong with you, pretty girl?”
“My brother was killed in front of me, and there was nothing I could do,” she replied, her voice flat and emotionless.
“That’s sad.” Ksandra slapped her on the back. “But there’ll be no concessions; you’ll be training like everyone else.”
“You’ll probably become a good warrior,” she said to Eli, standing beside him like a hare next to a bull.
Maybe she’ll tell us about what’s awaiting us. Alpha’s voice was different, as if it was changing, too.
“Can you tell us what can you do as a mage?” I asked.
“Follow me,” Ksandra said and headed for one of the huts with a bounce in her step.
Eli kept staring at her ass, so I had to smack him.
“Hey, stop drooling and let’s go!”
“My specialty is a precious one—I create portals,” Ksandra told me. “But, to be honest, I’m not very good at it yet. I feel exhausted after making one. But I’m working on it. I’ve only been here for three weeks. They say that I’ll become much better at it in a month. I’m also a bit of a telepath, but I won’t be pursuing that career path; it takes great skill to become good at it.”
“I don’t believe this. This all sounds like a fairy tale!” Rio whispered in frustration. I understood him, but after the cavern, Green, and his Cultivator, I was ready to believe anything.
“That sounds cool. Can we do that, too?” Eli asked.
“In your dreams! To be honest, I don’t envy you. Among the commoners, I’m the only special one, even though I’m a mage without a lot of potential. The rest are only fighters.”
“The commoners? Is there someone uncommon?” Rio asked.
“Sooner or later, you’ll see them.”
We entered the hut. As I had expected, there were no beds, just dry grass, and blankets made f
rom rags.
“Awesome!” Eli let out a sigh, and then he collapsed like a sack of potatoes.
Ksandra narrowed her eyes at him.
“You’ve only recently connected, so it’s okay if you’re feeling all sorts of fucked up. I was freaking out for almost a week, they even wanted to finish me off, but in the end, I came to my senses. Sleep it off—I’ll wake you up in the morning.”
Jelena lay down, too, and stared at the ceiling.
Rio muttered about his empty stomach; I was feeling queasy, so I didn’t feel hungry.
But I was a little worried about the red text that appeared.
Attention, [Nick]! Seek calorie intake.
If you don’t take action, your physical characteristics will decrease.
I mentally reached for the log to open it. The message that unfolded before me was colored neutral yellow.
You are suffering a 475 kcal deficiency.
Intelligence and physical characteristics are reduced by 20%.
There is no glamour in all this, only the desperate struggle for survival.
“We have nothing to eat. We might get something by morning,” Ksandra said with a strange grin. “If you do a poor job, ha, you don’t get to eat.”
I remembered the Sugar Tree Leaves; they would’ve come in handy now.
“They don’t feed you here?” My innocent question made her burst out laughing.
“Oh, you’re funny. There’s a war going on here... Over... items, food, water, and artifacts. Each cohort knows its place. We have to work hard to survive. The stronger ones have everything. We don’t have food right now, and there’s not much to hunt. It’s a good thing you showed up, although there’s still hope that we’ll manage to train you before they kill us all.”
“What’s all this for?” Rio said in a broken voice. “Are we just guinea pigs? We’re starved to eat each other so that the strongest pack can survive?”
Ksandra shrugged.
“You’re right, I guess. I doubt that even Victoria knows what this is all about. Also, I advise you not to make her angry.”
I liked what I was hearing less and less.
“Just to be clear, we’re not the strongest cohort?”
Ksandra laughed.
“You can’t even imagine how screwed we are. Some time ago, we were attacked by the Alliance. They killed most of my group.” She rubbed the stump of her arm. “They almost killed me, too... Go to sleep! Tomorrow will be a hard day: grind, grind, and more grind. You’ll learn something new and very interesting about your body and mind.”
Is it just me, or is she being really sympathetic? Zeta asked.
Chapter 14
TRAINING
Thirty-one days before the Invasion
Corporal Joseph, number three on the cohort’s list, a lanky blond man with dreads and a thin beard, woke us up by banging on a brass pot with a spoon. Due to his eyebrows always being raised, and droopy, watery eyes, he looked perpetually stoned. A bamboo flute tied to his belt, baubles, and homemade beads made from some dried fruit only added to his hippie image. It seemed that at any moment he’d sit down and invite me to get high.
I thought there were no such people left. But I later learned that Joseph’s appearance was nothing but a façade.
Name: Joseph
Age: 19
Status: Corporal
Cohort: [Dominant]
Specialization: Acrobat Fighter
Acrobat, damn it! This is a damn circus, Beta commented.
A Corporal was higher in rank than a Private and lower than a Sergeant, but Joseph was lower on the list than Ksandra. I wondered if it meant that for the system, even the shabbiest mage was more important than a well-trained fighter.
I bet that acrobats are just not all that highly appreciated, Alpha put in.
Rio, who seemed to be thinking the same thing, asked the question that was sitting on the tip of my tongue.
“Hi, Joseph. Could you tell us how we’ll choose our path and how this all works? Will Victoria choose for us?”
“It’s already a part of you. We’ll find out more during your first training session.” He took a burned piece of meat the size of his hand from a canvas bag and tossed it to Rio. “I brought some food. You’ll need a lot of this stuff; otherwise, you’ll never recover.”
He tossed the second piece to Eli, who caught it mid-air and bit into it greedily.
Meat (roasted, edible): 500 kcal
When you eat meat, you ingest an animal's fear.
I ate my breakfast without much pleasure. The meat was tough and bitter, and I felt like I was chewing on a piece of burnt rubber. But hunger forced me to finish it.
You have absorbed 500 kcal.
Basic physical characteristics have been restored.
Transformation Progress: +0.04%
Jelena put down her piece, attracting Joseph’s attention.
“You should eat—it’s the best thing we have. The only alternative is herbs and roots. And believe me when I say that you’d come running back to this pretty soon.”
After a while, realizing that starvation wasn’t the way to end her stay on the island, Jelena started chewing her piece. There was something similar in Joseph and Ksandra’s behavior; it was like both of them didn’t give a crap about what was going on around them. The only difference was that the former looked somehow joyless and unhappy.
“Have you eaten? The first days are always the hardest. You’ll need a lot of food so we’ll have to go hunting soon. Until then, follow me.”
As we went after Joseph, I tried to guess about his past. It was likely that he had been arrested for something drug-related.
Fuckin’ hippies with their ideas of love and peace, and all that crap, Alpha said slowly.
Being stuck in a place where it was necessary to fight and kill to survive must have been as close to hell as one could get for a guy like Joseph. Or had the poor bastard become a soulless puppet? Were the dreads, the baubles, and the flute all that was left of the real Joseph?
The stone Totem still seemed to be watching us from its corner. Victoria was waiting for us by the granite bowl, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Are you ready, Recruits? Let’s split up into groups of two. Well, what are we waiting for? Or should I order you?”
Rio came up to me. Eli went over to Jelena, who was as silent and indifferent as ever.
Joseph turned to Victoria.
“Can I go?”
“No, I need you here.”
If Joseph was upset, he didn’t show it, face permanently stuck in an expression of unhappiness. He seemed both alive and dead at the same time. Like he was an empty shell of a man. I didn’t want to become like him. The thought alone seemed depressing.
“You two,” Victoria pointed at Eli and Jelena, “fight.”
“Hell no, I’d knock her out cold with one punch,” Eli protested, giving her a strange look.
“There’s a chance she’ll kick your ass. We’ll see. On the count of three... If you don’t start fighting, I’ll order you to do so. One. Two. Three!”
Eli looked at Jelena, grinned, and shook his head.
“No, I’d rather die.”
“You wish! So, you decided to disobey...” Victoria tilted her head to the side and whispered, “I forbid you to harm yourself in any way. Jelena, Dragon, you two are a real pain... I order you to disable your enemy without crippling them. Go ahead!”
She clapped her hands. Jelena flinched and threw herself forward, screaming like a banshee. Eli remained where he was, just leaned forward a little. Once Jelena got close, he lunged to the side with the agility of an experienced fighter and got behind her, pinning her neck with his forearm, strangling her. A second later, Jelena was gasping for air and trying to kick him off her, but there seemed to be nothing that she could do. Tears of protest and anger rolled down Eli’s cheeks, but he couldn’t stop either.
Rio’s nostrils flared. I, too, was filled with anger, ready to do anyth
ing to stop the fight. I picked up a rock, ready to throw it at Victoria’s head with all my might, and watch the bitch bleed out. There’s a special place in hell for your kind.
At the last moment, Joseph grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Even though he looked weak and his hands were more skinny than sinewy, his grip was so strong that I felt my bones crack.
“Lower your hand. You can’t hurt her anyway, you’ll only hurt yourself,” he whispered. The rock fell from my hand and rolled to his feet.
Victoria was so engrossed in the fight that she didn’t notice my failed assassination attempt. By this point, Jelena had already lost consciousness and her body had gone limp. For a second, Eli froze, scared that he had hurt her too badly, but he quickly got himself together and checked her breathing. To his relief, Jelena came to, coughing and gasping for air. She rubbed her neck and crawled away.
Victoria frowned, looking dissatisfied.
“Now, choke yourself, big guy,” she commanded. Eli wanted to protest, but his hands slipped around his own neck to strangle himself.
Jelena sat still, watching in horror as Eli struggled with himself. Losing the fight, he first fell to his knees, then toppled sideways and onto his back, on which he lay, writhing in agony, until he went limp. Now it was Jelena’s turn to crawl up to him and listen to his breathing. With a practiced move, she tilted his head back and performed CPR, holding his tongue like a trained nurse. Less than a minute later, Eli took his first breath.
Victoria seemed satisfied. There was a weird smile on her face.
“There are very few people with a talent for healing,” Joseph whispered. “The big guy seems to be a born meat shield. He’ll be a good tank.”
So this is all to discover our “class?” Is there no other way?
Eli and Jelena were almost crying as they hugged each other. I watched Rio nervously shift from one foot to another.
“The two of you, your turn,” Victoria said.
Without waiting for further orders, Rio and I went around the bowl so that we wouldn’t disturb our friends lying on the ground.
“You guys got that, right?” Victoria asked. “Don’t feel sorry for each other. Give it your all, and we’ll do without mind-control.”