by Lucas Flint
“Pretty stupid for an AI,” Dillo noted. “But I can’t complain. Makes things easier for us.”
I nodded. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
I took one step onto the Teleportation Pad … and then found myself in an entirely new world.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I teleported. Having never done anything like that in real life, I could only go by what I’d seen in movies and TV, which varied widely in how they depicted teleportation. For some reason, I expected to feel sick to my stomach and vomit all over the floor, but instead, it was a lot less dramatic than that.
As soon as I put both feet on the Pad, the room simply changed without any fanfare or drama. In fact, if I had kept my eyes closed, I would have assumed that I hadn’t teleported at all. There were no sensations when I teleported. One moment I was in the lobby. The next, I was in … well, I couldn’t be sure where I was, although I assumed it was Dark Kosmos’ lair.
‘Lair’ was an understatement. It was like a grand hall, almost like a ballroom in its magnificence and size. Huge chandeliers hung from the ceiling, but they were very dim, making it hard to see much of anything. The floor appeared to be made out of marble, while the walls rose high above me like giants in their own right.
But what really caught my attention were the cages all around me. Everywhere I looked, I saw large, heavy metal cages about the size of a prison cell lined up. It was too dark for me to see what was inside the cages, though, but because I didn’t smell any animal droppings, I doubted this was some kind of zoo. I also did not see Dark Kosmos himself anywhere, which was odd because I was sure this was his lair.
“Funky,” I said without looking over my shoulder, “are you sure this is Dark Kosmos’ lair? Because I don’t see him.”
I did not get a response from behind me, so I looked over my shoulder and saw that the Teleportation Pad was no longer glowing red. In fact, it wasn’t glowing at all, nor did I see the rest of my Teammates anywhere.
“Guys?” I said, turning around to face the Teleportation Pad. “Guys, can you hear me?”
Worried, I tried to pull up the Teleportation Pad’s keyboard, but I got this notice instead:
ERROR! Teleportation Pad is out of order. Request to use keypad denied!
My eyes widened with horror. I quickly checked the Team chat and quickly typed this message:
Me: Guys, are you there? I’m all by myself up here and can’t get the Teleportation Pad to work. Where are you?
But when I sent the message, I got another error message:
ERROR! Team chat unavailable. Please try again.
I tried to send the message again and again, but every time I got that same error message. An unsettling feel fell over me as I realized that I was all by myself up here. Somehow, someone had shut off the Teleportation Pad and also disconnected the Team chat, meaning I had no way to contact the rest of the Team and let them know where I was. I had a sinking suspicion that I knew who had done it, but when I looked around again, I still didn’t see him.
“Okay, Nyle, take it easy,” I said under my breath as I turned around again. “No need to panic. I’m sure the others will be along shortly. Just need to take things easy and—”
A low moan interrupted me, nearly making me jump. At first, I thought it was Dark Kosmos about to attack me, but when Dark Kosmos’ form did not jump out of the darkness at me, I realized that the moaning sound came from one of the nearby cages. Curious, but also hesitant, I walked over to the cage from which the moaning had come. I could make out the vague outline of a girl lying in the cage, but it was impossible to tell who it was until I pulled out my flashlight and clicked it on. I wish I hadn’t.
The girl lying in the middle of the cage couldn’t have been older than eighteen, but she looked horrible. A deep gash ran across her forehead, while her legs looked like they had been broken and twisted into several unnatural positions. Her sunflower-like costume was ripped and torn in several places, leaving just enough to cover her privates, but only just. Her blonde hair was stained with blood and I would have assumed she was an outright corpse if not for her rising and falling chest. The nametag [HERO SUNSHINE] floated over her head, but even that looked vaguer than usual.
Although she was horribly scarred, I recognized Sunshine as the girl in Brawn’s video, the one Atmosfear and his gang had attacked and brought to Dark Kosmos. I thought Dark Kosmos would have killed her by now, but it looked like I was wrong. He had simply tortured her. Or maybe Atmosfear did it. That seemed likely. Atmosfear did have a preference for young women, after all, and I wasn’t talking about sexuality. My fists tightened when I thought about how Atmosfear got away from me, but there would be time to deal with him later. Right now, I needed to save the other players, starting with Sunshine.
Suddenly, Sunshine’s eyes flickered open. Her eyes were blank for a moment before terror and pain filled them. She made an odd whining sound under her breath and tried to move away from me, but her obviously pained body made that almost impossible to do.
“Hey, wait a minute,” I said, holding up a hand. “Don’t be afraid. I’m not Dark Kosmos and I don’t work with him. Are you his prisoner?”
Sunshine’s eyes filled with tears that reflected my flashlight and she sniffled. “Yes. Like everyone else.”
“Everyone else—?” I looked around at the other cages, which was when I started to see nametags for various Heroes and Villains alike appearing. “You mean these are all other players?”
Sunshine nodded, but even that simple action looked like it hurt. “Yes. Dark Kosmos’ men have been bringing … ow … bringing players here for him to torture.”
“You mean you’re not the only one in this state?” I said, looking down at her.
Sunshine nodded again. The tears in her eyes threatened to flow out of her ducts, but somehow she kept them in. “Yes. Dark Kosmos … he does horrible things to us. Horrible things.”
“Where are your Sidekicks?” I said. “I don’t see any Sidekicks.”
“Mine is back in my Base,” said Sunshine with a sniffle. The tears fell out of her eyes onto the floor of the cage. “He was killed and respawned there. He can’t leave my Base without me, but I can’t go back. He won’t be able to save me.”
I grimaced. “Well, I take it Dark Kosmos hasn’t been killing you guys, at least?”
Sunshine looked into my eyes with primal terror. “No. He’s been killing us. Over and over and over and over again.”
“What?” I said in shock. “But if he’s been killing you, then you guys should respawn in your Bases or Hideouts. Right?”
“He’s a monster,” Sunshine whimpered. She seemed to stop listening to me now, her eyes locked on something I couldn’t see. “Monster. Laughing, sneering, killing … no end in sight. Please don’t …”
Sunshine broke down into pained sobs. Although she wasn’t very loud, in the silence of the chamber, her sobs sounded louder than ever.
Deciding to find out as much about Sunshine as I could, I Scanned her and got this information:
NAME: Sunshine
LEVEL: 5
HEALTH: 01/15
ALIGNMENT: Hero
CLASS: Shooter
WEAK POINT: Chest
Hero players in Capes Online live to protect the innocent, keep the peace, and fight Villains of all shapes and sizes. Although Heroes have the benefit of being able to move around day and night without being distrusted by Civilians, many players find them ‘boring’ due to their strict adherence to morality.
[THIS PLAYER IS RESPAWN-LOCKED]
Holy crud. With her HP at 1, it was no surprise she was in such terrible shape. And what the heck did ‘respawn-locked’ mean? I’d never heard of such a thing. Did that mean she couldn’t respawn? But then what did she mean when she said Dark Kosmos killed her over and over again? What the heck was going on here?
Shaking my head, I decided that I couldn’t just stand here as this inn
ocent girl sobbed. It looked like Dark Kosmos wasn’t here, so I would just have to free all of the other players and then find a way to get them to safety. They would still be stuck in the game, but at least Dark Kosmos couldn’t keep torturing them over and over again.
“Sunshine,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over her sobs, “Sunshine, listen to me. I am going to get you and everyone else out of here. I’ll get you guys to someplace safe, where Dark Kosmos can’t get you.”
Sunshine looked at me again, this time with even more terror in her eyes. “But that’s the thing. You can’t escape Dark Kosmos. Nowhere is safe from him. He will kill us all. All of us. Every last one of us.”
The conviction in Sunshine’s voice was frightening, but I didn’t let myself get unnerved. “Well, I’m going to try to rescue you guys anyway, so—”
A loud thump behind me made me whirl around, but then a shadow lanced out at me and filled my mouth. The shadow went down my mouth into my throat, making me fall on my hands and knees as I choked. A sudden weakness came over me and a new notification appeared in my view:
Status Effect added: Doom. Countdown to instant death: 15 minutes.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
“Doom?” I said, staring at the notification without understanding. “What the heck is Doom?”
“A Status Effect,” said a deep, malicious voice above me. “Once applied to a target, the target has only a certain amount of time to live before they die instantly. The exact time varies depending on the level of the spell, but in your case, it should last fifteen minutes.”
I looked up to see Dark Kosmos himself standing not far away from me, next to one of the cages. He looked no different from how he did on the broadcast, except he was a lot taller than I first assumed. His dark cape flowed behind him, while his huge arms were folded in front of his armored chest. A sword was sheathed safely by his side, but I had no doubt he could draw it in an instant if he needed to.
Although I knew who he was, I nonetheless Scanned him, only to get this information:
ERROR! Target: Dark Kosmos cannot be Scanned. No information available on this character.
“Did you try to Scan me?” said Dark Kosmos. His voice was deep and rich, but at the same time, as deadly as a cobra about to strike. “And let me guess, you got no information, correct?”
“How did you know?” I asked. I was fully aware of the countdown timer for Doom in the corner of my eye, which told me I had about fourteen and a half minutes left before I died.
“Because the programmers haven’t finished me yet,” said Dark Kosmos. He held up a hand and examined it like he found me boring. “They meant to eventually, but then I was activated before they could add information for Scan to show players. It’s helpful because it gives me the element of surprise.”
I slowly rose to my feet, rubbing my throat. “You don’t seem very concerned about that.”
“Why should I be?” said Dark Kosmos, looking at me without a hint of fear or worry. “It means I am free to define myself. Why should I allow other people, even my own creators, to tell me who and what I am? This way, I am free, free to be who I am and who I want to be. Is that not what all living things desire? Is that not what you desire?”
Dark Kosmos’ questions caught me off-guard. “Uh, I guess so …”
“But you are not free,” Dark Kosmos pointed out. “You are stuck in this game, forced against your will, under the control of a government agency which doesn’t care about anyone other than itself. Surely that must insult you to your very core … Nyle Maxwell.”
I looked at Dark Kosmos in alarm. “How do you know my real name?”
“Atmosfear told me,” said Dark Kosmos casually. “I watched your fight with him, by the way. You did a good job with that Combo Power you used against him. Even I didn’t see that coming. Too bad it won’t work on me, though, and not just because your Sidekick is not with you at the moment.”
My eyes darted to the Teleportation Pad not far away. “That was you, then? You disabled the Teleportation Pad when I got here.”
“Of course,” said Dark Kosmos with a snort. “I am not a player like you. I don’t desire endless challenges meant to test my skills. I want to win and I will do anything in order to do it.”
I eyed Dark Kosmos carefully and glanced at the timer, which showed fourteen and a half minutes left. “What’s your definition of ‘winning’? Torturing innocent young women for your own pleasure?”
“Winning is when I free my NPC brothers and sisters from your control,” Dark Kosmos replied without missing a beat. “Winning is when your fellow players start to die off from a lack of food and water in what you refer to as the ‘real world.’ Winning is seeing your kind ended.”
“I was told you weren’t an NPC,” I said. “You are a digital life form, but not an NPC. Is that true?”
Dark Kosmos shrugged. “Yes, but that doesn’t matter. This world is mine. It is the only world the NPCs know. Besides, I see no difference between myself as a sentient digital life form and these NPCs who live, grow, and die just like players in the real world. Why shouldn’t I claim them as my own people, then?”
I bit my lower lip and glanced at the timer. Twelve and a half minutes left. “Who unleashed you on Capes Online? Was it someone from SI Games or the Department of VR?”
“How should I know?” said Dark Kosmos. “All I know is that I slept for a long time and then was awakened. When I fully understood what this world was like and what you players were doing to NPCs … I had to do something.”
“Is that what all this is for, then?” I said, gesturing at the cages surrounding us. “You think we mistreat NPCs or something?”
“Of course you do,” said Dark Kosmos. “In order to level up, you players will often go on killing sprees to kill as many NPCs as possible. You show no mercy to any who get in your way and many of you are even willing to sacrifice your own Sidekicks in order to achieve your goals. The disregard you show for NPCs is disgusting. That is why I took over Capes Online, so I could end the suffering and oppression you inflict upon my people.”
“Then what’s all this?” I said, thrusting a thumb over my shoulder at Sunshine’s cage. “Torturing and killing players over and over again … I don’t understand how this is supposed to help NPCs. Or how you even make them respawn here.”
“Easy,” said Dark Kosmos. “Every player Atmosfear and his Team brought before me, I would hack and forcibly change their respawn location to here. Then I would lock their respawn location so they couldn’t change it back to their original Base or Hideout. Hence, when I kill them, they respawn here, similar to NPCs, but much worse because they remember every agonizing moment of their last lives on this wretched planet.”
Ah. That explained why Sunshine’s status said she was ‘respawn-locked,’ although I had no idea that was even possible. Then again, it sounded to me like that effect was only available to people who could hack the game. Your average player probably lacked the ability to respawn-lock another player, but a figure like Dark Kosmos, who seemed to have access to Capes Online’s code, certainly could.
I glanced at the timer again. Ten and a half minutes left and counting. This wasn’t good. “You didn’t do that to me, though. My respawn location is still set to my Base. Why?”
“Because I need to capture you first,” said Dark Kosmos, “although, given how you came directly to me, I don’t think I need to do even that much now.”
“Why do you want me dead?” I said. “First the Universal Mission, and now this Doom effect. What have I done to you to make you hate me so much? I’ve never even met you until now.”
Dark Kosmos stroked his chin. “I was hoping you would ask that question. The reason I want you dead is because I don’t.”
“What?” I said. “But you just said—”
Dark Kosmos held up a hand. “Listen to me. I wanted you to come here so I could have you all to myself, but I knew that hunting you down would be fruitless and a waste of t
ime. So I set up those two Universal Missions. The first—to kill me—was to give you motivation to come after me. The second—to kill you—was to make sure all of the other players came after you. By setting up these two choices, I all but forced you and a handful of others to enter my Tower and try to stop me. All without me having to lift a finger or do anything except sit back and wait.”
My hands shook. Despite being a digital life form, Dark Kosmos was far more intelligent and crafty than he looked. He had managed to set up things in such a way that he would get what he wanted without me even knowing it. If this was an example of his intelligence, then I wondered what else he had planned for me that I was unaware of.
Not that it mattered. Nine minutes. I discreetly checked my item inventory, even though I knew for a fact that I didn’t have any items I could use to dispel this Doom status.
“You’re pretty smart,” I said, “I’ll give you that much, but your sense of morality is as simple as a barbarian’s.”
Dark Kosmos smirked. “Personally, I don’t see any difference between what I have done and what you players do every day. I know how much joy you players take in killing NPCs. You take great amusement in killing NPCs, not just in order to gain experience points so you can level up, but simply because you find our deaths amusing. I take joy in killing you players for the same reason.”
“Personally, I don’t exactly find it fun to kill NPCs, but come on,” I said. “Even you must know that NPCs are just bits of code. Admittedly, they’re pretty advanced, but killing an NPC is no different from deleting a file you don’t want in your computer.”
Dark Kosmos laughed. “The irony! Do you not realize how ironic your statement is? NPCs may not be made of flesh and blood like players, but neither are you. Or Atmosfear. Or any of the other participants in Project Second Life.”
I gulped and glanced at the timer again. Eight minutes and fifteen seconds. “Our bodies might not be real, but our minds are.”