Earthdom: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 3)

by Ryan DeBruyn

  At least fifty Mechanoid Humans encircled his group's door to the shop dome, and behind them, row upon row of citizens. Ernest stood a few feet in front of the ring.

  “This man—” Ernest pointed at Rocky, “—has attempted to deceive us.” The jeer of the crowd behind the shop alerted Rocky to an even larger presence.

  Sela and Derik exited behind Rocky.

  Rocky held up his hands and shouted, “We did not come here to fight or deceive. We came to talk.” People gasped in the crowd, and Rocky looked around to find the cause. His starship slowly inched closer to the Port. A haze occluded the ship, indicating a shield or an effect that distorted the air.

  “They came to talk. Then why do they need a ship?” Ernest didn’t sound like himself. There was something about his voice. Rocky’s eyebrows knit together.

  Ernest glared at him, a red light of hate shining from his human eyes. He didn’t remember the red in Ernest’s eyes before, but it might have just been the sun’s reflection. But his eyes had changed so fast.

  Ernest turned back to the crowd. “I do not wish to hurt these humans. However, if I let them go, they will only come back to invade us later. They know where we live—” he pointed at the ship, “—and that ship can come at any time.”

  Derik tried to speak, but even Rocky couldn’t hear the man over the deafening reaction of the crowd. The noise cut off sharply as The Scourge continued its steady approach.

  A heavily accented voice drew his attention. Dmitri stood in front of a large contingent of dangerous-looking men. “These people come here—talk. They not attack, only talk. Ernest, you say protect humans, but now want to attack first outside humans that find us.”

  The crowd hummed at Dmitri’s revelation. “I was in shop. They as shock as you.”

  Ernest glowered at Dmitri, his eyes flashing red again. “A demon, Dmitri. They brought a demon to testify against Dahrix. They wanted us to turn against the only people who were coming to help us.”

  Rocky narrowed his eyes. Ernest seemed to be acting strangely. The man had every right to be worried, but this angry? Was it the appearance of Amelia that disturbed him so much? Was he highly religious?

  “Just because she looks a certain way does not make—”

  “You say that, but what was your real intention coming here? What did you hope to gain?” said Ernest, spittle flying from his mouth.

  Sela shouted, “Allies; we wished to gain an ally against future invasions. We wanted you to turn off the beacon—”

  Ernest clapped his hands, creating a soundwave that silenced the crowd, Sela and Dmitri. “By their own admission, they came here to stop our saviors from coming. They wanted to shut off our only hope!”

  The crowd jeered and booed again, stoked by Ernest’s words.

  One of the Mechanoid Humans stepped forward, “Dockmaster, they are just talking. I believe as Dmitri does—” He stopped speaking mid-sentence and retreated into line.

  What had just happened?

  Dmitri looked between Ernest and the retreating man. Then he sneered, “Ernest, what evidence you have that they invade?”

  Ernest scowled at Dmitri, but he didn’t shrink back. Those behind him gripped their weapons tighter.

  Ernest attempted a smile, but it wasn’t even close to human. Not at all like his fatherly smile of that morning. “Dmitri, when they come back to attack us, will you and your men protect the people from that?” He indicated the starship.

  “I will protect people from any threat. These people are not threat. If they want attack, they would do without talk. Evil men no talk, just action.”

  Ernest clenched his mechanical jaw, the metal creaking in the silence. “On your head, be it then, fool.” He walked purposefully toward Rocky, Sela, and Derik.

  Once he was right in front of them, he whispered, “I will find your little Kobold wannabe. I did not know we had left any of them alive. I must thank you for that.” His eyes were bright red.

  Dahrix.

  Rocky’s posture stiffened, and a coldness spread from his core. But how could—he was—the beacon allowed this much control?

  He raised his voice for the crowd. “We know you are from the north. If you come south in any way, I will take it as an act of war. That is your only warning.”

  Ernest shot up from the ground, flying away.

  Rocky looked to Dmitri and nodded in gratitude for the man's support.

  The crowd’s buzzing over what had happened quickly morphed to gasps and a few shrieks as Azoth landed.

  The pet looked around nervously but allowed Derik and Rocky to mount up.

  Dmitri came forward. “I pet bird?” He moved forward, not waiting for an answer, and rubbed Azoth’s neck. “Ernest, not same. Do not go straight home. He likely follow you. Be careful.”

  Rocky whispered. “Do you want to come with us, Dmitri?”

  “No, we stay. People need us here. People need you back home, yes? Good luck—next time you tell me about beauty here, ya?”

  “Hopefully, we meet again, my friend. And thank you.” He held out his hand to shake. Dmitri took it and looked shocked for a split second. Rocky pulled him in close. “Take this. If you get it close to the beacon, it will disrupt the control Dahrix has on the robots. It may save your life.”

  Dmitri pulled back, the shock erased from his face. He nodded once, smirked, and walked away.

  Azoth made a running start and jumped into the air, pumping his wings as Rocky engaged his earpiece radio. “We are coming back. Stand down shields and open hatch.”

  As soon as they landed onboard, Sela ordered the ship to fly south instead of north. If they could circle the planet once, they should lose anything following them. At least, Rocky hoped so.

  Derik asked Rocky, “What do we do now?”

  “I don’t know, Derik. In Ottawa, Corsair was killing people, otherwise I probably never would have attacked him. Here...” he ran his hand over his sweaty forehead and into his hair. “Here, they are protecting and providing for all those people. If we disturb the balance, Dahrix will retaliate in a way that hurts as many humans as possible.”

  Sela said, “Did anyone get eyes on the beacon?”

  No one answered.

  “We can try to have the satellite team pinpoint it. Perhaps we can sabotage the beacon only?” said Sela.

  “I gave the disruption device to Dmitri.” Everyone looked at him, stunned. “They already have a bearing on the planet. Now the beacon lets them control people stupid enough to accept the mechanical hybrid class. Dmitri is our best chance to get the device close to the beacon.”

  The trip back to their Territory took three hours. They took the southern route and stopped over the frigid waters of Antarctica for an hour. The starship, designed for space exploration and well-built to handle the cold, kept them warm. They hoped that any following individuals, mechanical or otherwise, would not be able to survive the frigid temperatures.

  As a last measure of safety, the pilots ascended into space. Rocky, glued to the window for the remainder of the trip, studied the beautiful blue sphere of the Earth. Hollywood movies didn’t do it justice, and most of those movies made the scene unforgettable. Looking down on the real view himself, Rocky was unreservedly amazed. Somewhere in that sphere was his family, and he was going to find them.

  He had imagined the ascent and descent from space differently. The Scourge made it seem like a simple elevator ride. Sure, there were some bumps and shakes, but it was akin to minor turbulence. The technology of the Etherverse was far superior to what humans had reached with their technological innovations.

  Once the ship landed, Rocky, Sela, and Derik decided to allow it to return to its previous mission of ferrying survivors. They stipulated that the pilots were to come in super-orbital and hover below five thousand feet, in hopes of reducing the visibility of the starship from range. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but he wouldn’t willingly let people die because of Dahrix.

  An emergency council meet
ing followed, and after hours of talks, everyone left frustrated. There was no easy solution to this problem. Any action they took would inevitably bring backlash. In the end, they chose to continue growing and building their Territory, gaining allies and preparing for the inevitable invasion. Still, the decision left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth.

  Sela and Rocky exited the council meeting and met Zippo and Smith for dinner. They didn’t converse much but enjoyed each other’s company as they ate their meal. Only Zippo seemed inclined to speak, and then only because he wanted to hypothesize about the meal. “I think this meat is marinated. I think that is Mage Leaf, Chives, Mint—Coffee? Wow, this is good; right, guys? I think I am going to go chat with the chef.”

  Smith smiled at them both, “I would also like to discuss some things with the chef. Thank you for the company.”

  Sela and Rocky suddenly found themselves alone. It was late at night, and tension hung in the air. At least Rocky could feel something, like an unspoken question. The moment grew uncomfortable, and Rocky could no longer take the silence. “Do you think you could help me with an experiment?”

  “Another Enchanting experiment?”

  “I can’t seem to figure out how to hold the Enchantment in place. I need something to both hold the power and buffer it from the material. The concentrated Ether channels burn it up, otherwise.”

  “Didn’t you manage to collapse the Enchantments on the ferret gear?”

  “I think that gear would hold any Enchantment I try. There is something different about the material it is made of, like it already has the medium inside.”

  They put their plates onto the waste station and left together, continuing to hypothesize about mediums that might work. They considered ores first. Rocky pulled out the piece of Enchanted gear he had purchased from the shop. They both scrutinized it. Even using an Ether Thread, no metal existed on the cheap leather jerkin. Sighing, he pointed to the small sparkles that were visible to his Ether Manipulation. “This here is the medium, but I have absolutely no idea what that is.”

  Sela shrugged. “Want to try to cut open the ferret boots and see what makes it different?”

  Rocky nodded, and they made their way to an open field to experiment.

  Rocky and Sela had been over every inch of the leather gear, in both the visible and Ether spectrum. There was nothing discernibly different, nothing that they could feel or see, at least.

  He was reluctant to destroy it, but one Enchanted piece of gear would do very little. Discovering the secret to Enchanting could be the pivot to victory.

  Rocky cut the leather boot with Dark Tidings. “Look at the Ether Pool.”

  “It's leaking out, creating forking, random channels, but why isn’t it destroying the material as it moves through it?”

  Rocky studied the exposed material and found a subtle difference. Those same sparkles were interwoven with the leather. The leaking Ether moved randomly through the destroyed item, but anywhere it went, it took a path through the medium. Almost like a conduit for electricity—the path of least resistance. Maybe.

  They spent an hour on the destroyed boots, trying to discover the medium and coming up empty. They tried cutting out the sparkles, but whatever they were was either destroyed in the process or had retracted into the Ether pool They finally gave up on the Enchanting for the evening, after several unsuccessful attempts.

  He slammed the shredded boots into his Bag of Holding and pulled out the Territorial Sphere. “Any idea how to use this?” He hoped to do something productive after banging their collective heads against the wall for hours.

  “I am pretty sure you just touch it to the ground. However, I usually handed the captured spheres to others. Just try it.”

  Rocky placed the sphere on the ground. A notification popped into his vision.

  Would you like to assimilate Small Territorial Sphere into Algonquin Valley?

  | No

  Sphere will increase Territorial size by 10%.

  Sphere offers a secondary option. Would you like to:

  ● add 10 points to Territorial Skill Points?

  | No

  ● add 10,000,000 Etherience to Leaders’ personal Classes?

  Yes |

  ● add 2 levels to Leadership Classes?

  Yes |

  For additional secondary options, find higher grade Territorial Spheres to convert.

  Rocky and Sela stared at the prompt. They spoke over each other in their excitement. They looked at the options in their Leadership Classes. They had already explored the Territorial Skill after the pregnant women's rebellion. They had agreed that Growth Boost was their first to fifty.

  Leadership Class

  Strategist Level 5

  Skill Tree

  Current Skill Points to Assign: 4

  Skills

  Production

  ● Production will increase the amount of material dropped by monsters who die inside your Territory Borders. In addition, this will slightly increase the rate that your profession skills increase.

  1/5

  More skill points increase effects. Five skill points needed to unlock subsequent skills in the tree.

  Army

  ● The army will increase the combat skill gains of individuals when you are leading large raids. This will also slightly increase the speed of your personal combat skill gains.

  0/5

  More skill points increase effects. Five skill points needed to unlock subsequent skills in the tree.

  Enlightened

  ● Enlightened will increase your popularity amongst the people for the good decisions you make. It will also slightly mitigate the anger toward you when you make bad decisions.

  0/5

  More skill points increase effects. Five skill points needed to unlock subsequent skills in the tree.

  Adventurer

  ● Adventurer will increase you and your party’s Etherience gains slightly when you are fighting together. Inside Cardinal Dungeons, this effect is doubled. Inside other areas of interest or non-Cardinal Dungeons, this effect is increased by fifty percent.

  0/5

  More skill points increase effects. Five skill points needed to unlock subsequent skills in the tree.

  Rocky and Sela looked at their Leadership Trees. Sela’s would add some functionality, mostly during combat, but only when she was present. Rocky’s Strategist class would add to the entire Territory, and perhaps even unlock higher levels in the military ranks. As they considered, he placed his four free skill points into Production toward that end.

  They continued to discuss the best use for the sphere. Azoth joined them, and they gave him loving scratches as they considered the options.

  The contact and closeness of his pet lessened his frustration. They had failed at Enchanting, he still had no idea where his family was, and he couldn’t talk to Azoth. Rocky considered screaming into the night sky. He accidentally clenched his hand in his friend's feathers, and Azoth growled. He let go and gave him an extra scratch as an apology.

  “Alright, so the ten million Etherience will bring us both to level ten. Ten Territory skill points will increase the growth of young children and the pregnancy rates of their mothers. That should keep the ladies happy. Two Leadership Levels will increase resources and your ability to intimidate creatures and people. Maybe offer higher military ranks, but we doubt it?” said Rocky.

  “That sums it up. My vote is for personal Etherience. We are going to be capturing more Territories in the future, and being higher levels should help with that. The stronger we are, the better for everyone. We can always start adding to other areas later.”

  It was selfish, but it was also the fastest way to grow the Territory. As long as they both survived, that is. The stronger he and Sela were, the more quickly they could capture Territories, and the more people they could save. Like his family.

  His mood bottomed out, and he didn’t know how to pull himself out of it.

  Se
la leaned in and whispered, “Do you think it is about time for a hot shower?”

  They walked back to the Town Hall and their apartments, laughing and joking along the way. The unknown heaviness in the air vanished.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The hum of activity outside the Town Hall woke Rocky far too early after a late night. Sela was curled up next to him, using her pillows as earmuffs instead of waking up. At least he wasn't the only one. He decided to get out of bed—the Territory was preparing for Toronto.

  He checked his interface. They had gained a few hundred citizens throughout the morning and previous night. This had bumped up his Etherience through the shared quests, and if this windfall continued, he was hopeful his Guild would have a good source of growth. They would run out of people to save eventually, but the fact that the ship was working around the clock was promising.

  The return of the starship was the majority of the action. The rest of the buzz was likely the military mobilizing for the operation. From what he could tell, there were a few pockets of survivors within Toronto. The most concentrated area was in the downtown core, but there were quite a few survivors in what had once been the surrounding suburbs of the Golden Horseshoe. Most of the golems in the suburbs had been taken care of already. The individuals in those suburbs were struggling more because of the level gap between themselves and the wildlife. Golems still surrounded the downtown core and schools, however. Today, they planned to start from the outside and move slowly inward.

  As the Territory readied for the journey to Toronto, Rocky mounted Azoth and flew north to find out the Puzzle Dungeon’s answer to his offer.

  He opened the front door and spoke into the Science Building. He didn't want the Dungeon to lock him in.

  A smoky pink orb rose from the concrete just inside the door. The globe pulsed as it said, “We agree with the terms of the contract. However, before we sign, we would like to speak with your other two Dungeons. Can you accept this?”

  Rocky picked up the Crystalized sphere, “Yes, I will have someone bring you to their entrances. If you choose not to stay after your conversation, I can bring you back here.”