Star Divers- Dungeons of Bane
Page 33
I had been logged in for over twenty hours and pushed my body to the edge. Kira was right, the shadow power I had gained in the first dungeon was taking its toll on me both in-game and in real life. On my first day out, I found myself losing track of time. If not for Hannah I probably would have forgotten to eat and drink. As the second day began, Kira and Alexis sent me a message asking if I wanted to meet up at The Sparrow with them. I told them I was busy, taking a break, but they - together with Hannah - insisted. Apparently Alexis (Lady Gray) herself was demanding my presence and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, when all else failed citing a clause in my contract. When they told me Gorge and Cass were going to be there, I gave in.
I arrived late as usual but I wasn’t alone. Hannah had picked me up and walked in with me. Everyone was gathered around a table on which stood a variety of coloured shakes. Alexis, Kira, Chaz, Pierce, Cass, even Shiru. Hannah held up her hand, a peace sign asking for two more as the waitress thanked us for coming in. I felt happy. I had never imagined meeting like this.
On the wall was a picture of Damien, Cass, and I sitting together. The picture was signed by him. It was taken after I had been playing Bane for a few months. Alongside it there was a picture of Scrawl, Kira’s brother, and the other two that had died in Bane sitting with Damien holding a sign that said: ‘the stars are ours’.
‘What is this?’ I said. Alexis and Kira were smiling. The two were sharing a plate of fries, acting like best friends.
‘We figured it out!’ Kira said.
‘Figured what out?’ I asked.
‘At Eternity, why they went.’
They had my attention. The whole start of this mess began when four players had found a way into the unknown.
‘Why?’
‘Because they could,’ said Kira.
Alexis wiped her fingers clean. ‘In the snow trenches of Cthonia, Scrawl and Damien were running a quest for a client named Gideon. He asked them to retrieve an artefact from a derelict ship that was neither human nor Chel. It was inside that ship that they found access codes to the gate. When they tried to return to Gideon to finish the quest he was dead. Taken out by a player-killer.
‘The stars belong to us, not the Chel. We declared war on them when we attacked the Spire. What we didn’t know is that was always a part of what was supposed to happen.’
This seemed cryptic at best. ‘What does that mean?’
‘The Chel have been lying,’ I heard Gorge’s voice, but he was the only one I didn’t see with us. Sitting next to Alexis on the table screen, facing everyone, was an old laptop with a video feed. There, from the waist up was Gorge, in his avatar as always.
‘Sorry I couldn’t join you in person,’ he said.
‘It’s okay,’ I smiled at the laptop’s camera, knowing this was as close to seeing him in real life I would ever actually get. And I was fine with that.
‘Before we set it to dive into the sun, we dug through the archives on the Hive’s ship,’ Gorge continued, ‘the Chel are not the only sentient life in the galaxy. Ruins are being uncovered deep in all of the quadrants. New dungeons filled with archives dating back eons. All have one thing in common, they were wiped out or assimilated by the Chel. The Chel tricked humanity into coming through the world gate because they were at war. They used Earth as a battleground. In the end both sides lost. The Chel went into hiding. That was why we found so few of them sleeping in the Spire. Their cities were in ruins. The humans that came through the world gate were meant to be lab rats, precursors to a new Chel army. They gifted us with powers and technology so that they could rebuild their empire. An empire they have started to reclaim. FTC troops have already started making moves against the Crimson Kings and Silvermanes using our attack on the Spire as a declaration of war.’
Alexis joined in, ‘The Chel have come out of hiding. Just last night a new status appeared in our user interface. Alignment. It had two options.’
‘Let me guess, Chel or human?’
‘Close. It is Chel or Other. We are either with them or against them now. The whole system is split and guess who humanity have chosen as their poster boy?’
‘No.’
Location: Deep Space
At Eternity
Three days passed and we all logged back in just as we had promised. Lady Gray was right. A message appeared in my field of vision asking what my alignment wanted to be. I pushed it to the side. Minimizing the whole alignment box and watching it fade into my inventory. I would review it another time. I had become the villain. The emblem of the human resistance. At the moment none of that seemed to matter. I wanted just one thing. To set things right. To explore. To dive.
We recovered what we could. Without a body Nel was nothing more than a large piece of scrap. A small data core the size of my thumb however housed her mind. Unable to salvage anything else for the time being I installed Nel onto Damien’s rifle, meanwhile Q-el’s data core had also survived and recently been uploaded into the Ibanez’s computer by Kira.
AKA Nel
Description:
Gone but not forgotten.
Chances of survival ensured up to 99.9%
Level: 51
Damage: 600
Weight: 7.5 Ibs
Weapon Type: Battle Rifle
Rarity: Ultra-Rare
Impact: 10
Range: 7
Stability: 10
Reload Speed: 9
RPM (rounds per minute): 300 bursts
Affinity: 10
Sharpness: 9
Elemental: None
Critical Chance: 91%
Modifiers: Artificial Intelligence Nel.
‘I promised you an upgrade,’ I said.
‘I promised cookies, you don’t always get what you want,’ Aka Nel answered back, a familiar friend once more inside my head. ‘What’s the plan?’
‘Answers. We still don’t know where Skull-Faced Man came from, not for sure. There could be others like him out there, other modifications or worse.’
‘I’ve already died once, what could be worse? Chances of survival are…’
‘We’ll survive,’ I interrupted.
Lady Gray’s Titan, the Ibanez, and seven other Corpse Diver ships stood at the threshold of the world gate. Kira entered the access code from the Ibanez and we watched as the gateway between worlds came to life. Unlike most warp gates that this one twisted in what looked like a hurricane of colour washing over all of us as we stared into it.
‘Chances of survival are .01%’
+10 Luck
End.
Adrenaline 45
Affinity (weapons) 15
Agitation 15
Animal / Aquatic Expert 35
Artillery 15
Attack Boost 5 (+5 Bonus)
Blast Attack Boost 5
Blast Resistance 35
Bleeding Resistance 45
Botany 5
Bow Expert 5
Capacity Boost 5
Capture / Tame 15 (+ 50 Familiar Bonus) = 65
Carving 10
Charisma 25 (+10 Bonus)
Constitution 5
Critical Boost 50
Critical Affinity 50 (+10 Bonus)
Defence 5
Detection (stealth) 30 (+10 Bonus)
Divinity / Fame 5
Evasion 5
Explosives 15
Fire Attack 5
Fire Resistance 5
Focus 40
Fortification 5
Gambler 5
Guard 5
Hacking 25
Handicraft (crafting) 5
Heat Resistance 15
Health Boost 15
Hunting (survival) 5
Hunger (cooking) 5
Ice Attack 5
Ice Resistance 15
Intimidation 5
Iron Body 5
Latent Power 5
Luck 25
Medical Specialist 15
Mind’s Eye 5 (+10 Piloting Bonus)
&nbs
p; Navigator 5
Nullification 5
Paralysis Attack 5
Paralysis Resistance 5
Peak Performance 5
Piercing (Damage Boost) 5
Pilot 5 (+20)
Poison Attack 5
Poison Resistance 5
Poison Duration 5
Psionic 5
Recovery 5
Stamina30
Sheath Speed (reflexes)5
Strength 10
Stun Attack 5
Stun Duration 5
Stun Resistance5
Survival 15
Tool Specialist 5
Training5
Name: Aiko
Level 10
Mana: 100
Friendly
Health: 100
Stamina: 100
Adrenaline 70
Agitation 15
Attack Boost 15 (+5 Bonus)
Blast Attack Boost 15
Blast Resistance 35
Bleeding Resistance 45
Charisma 75
Constitution 25
Critical Boost 50
Critical Affinity 40
Defence 75
Detection (stealth) 40
Evasion 55
Fire Resistance 15
Focus 35
Guard 5
Heat Resistance 15
Health Boost 15
Ice Resistance 15
Intimidation 20
Luck 25
Nullification 15
Paralysis Resistance 15
Piercing (Damage Boost) 25
Poison Resistance 55
Recovery 45
Reflexes 35
Stamina 55
Strength 20
Stun Attack 35
Stun Duration 5
Stun Resistance 25
About the Author
Stephen Landry is a writer and graphic designer living in Nashville, TN with his fiancée, two rescue dogs, and cat. Much of his work is character-driven science fiction (space opera with aspects of fantasy, horror, and time travel) and LitRPG. When not writing Stephen can be found doing graphic design for many different clients including other authors, publishing companies, independent film studios, and more recently a few video game companies. His other passions include other artistic endeavours, helping people, hiking, playing video games, and working towards inspiring others.
Find Stephen online:
Website: stephen-landry.com
Instagram: stephen.landry
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[1] From the Japanese 愛 (ai) meaning ‘love, affection’ and 子 (ko) meaning ‘child’, as well as other character combinations.