by Prax Venter
“Uh. Okay,” Jack said as Lex finished her healing song. “Does any of this knowledge help us? Does this place look familiar?”
Alt glanced around the quiet specimen chamber, “No, not really. Just the vampire space elf part.”
“Your conversations are endlessly fascinating,” Haylee said.
Jack rolled his eyes. “Let’s just keep moving. Alt, keep an eye out for Jorak the cursed elf, won’t you? We don’t need any more of those things getting the jump on us.”
The party of four moved out of the room Jack thought of as the science lab, and they proceeded to follow the left wall down the grassy hallway. Nothing jumped out at them as they slowly tread through the silent organic spaceship, but after another series of dead ends and glowing insects, another door slid open in response to their proximity.
Jack caught the eyes of his team, and everyone pulled in tighter before they searched the room. The first thing he saw were rows of coffins with glowing windows. Tangles of white vines and exposed roots snaked down from the dirt ceiling overhead and wove around the sides of the strange coffins.
Movement caught Jack’s eye, and he saw one of the blood-sucking space elves down on his knee, twisting some device into one of the coffins.
“Took you long enough,” the pale creature said as it stood up and turned to face them. “Did you bring-?”
The monster’s question died on its ruby-red lips when Jack, Haylee, and Alt all activated their ranged attacks at once.
Elvish Space Vampire -124 | 351/475
Elvish Space Vampire -224 | 127/475
Elvish Space Vampire -79 | 48/475
The monster lost a massive chunk of its life in the blink of an eye. It fell to one knee as Lex closed the distance, but her sword whiffed through the spot its neck had been. Seeing this trick only moments ago, Jack spun around to see their foe was now behind them. The fanged elf opened its mouth wide as it lunged for Haylee, but the chrome dog controlled by Alt was already by her side. The Canine Protector lunged at the monster’s chest and used his less effective bite attack to finish the weakened foe before it could place one bony finger on the young Hero.
“Nice work, everyone,” Jack said after they had a moment to slow their pounding hearts. He moved over to one of the black wooden coffins lining the walls and leaned over, peeking into the rectangular pane of glass. He wasn’t terribly surprised when he saw the pointed-eared space elf sleeping inside.
“Some type of cryo-sleep,” Alt said, rising up next to Jack on his hind legs.
“Cry to sleep?” Lex repeated, her straight hair swinging forward as she peered into another coffin.
The metallic dog turned to face the Bastion. “Cryogenic hibernation. It means ‘cold sleep’. If you slow a person’s heart and breathing almost to the point of stopping by lowering their body temperature, they can potentially survive for thousands of years.” Alt turned back to the coffin under his paws. “There’s more to it, of course, but that’s the premise.”
“The distance between the stars is much farther than most people think,” Jack added pushing off from the wooden box with the sleeping vampire elf. “Do you have hibernation pods on… in you?”
“No, I have a device that can warp the space in front of me. It drastically reduces travel time.”
Haylee looked like she had a thousand questions, but a gruff voice burst from the ceiling, and they all drew their weapons in response.
“All preservation crew, report to Medicinal. I repeat, all crew report immediately to Medicinal.”
The announcement ended, and Jack exchanged glances with everyone.
“Let’s get out of here and finish this Floor,” Jack said, sheathing his blade, “I don’t like the feel of this layout one bit.”
“And I certainly don’t want to be standing here when these things awaken,” Lex added, passing her eyes over the multitude of root-infused coffins.
The three Heroes and Alt moved into the hallway as they continued with their sweep of Floor 35. Jack kept his eyes focused ahead in the dim, cave-like corridor as they passed a few intersections and many more locked doors, but after what felt like half an hour of quietly creeping through the earthen spaceship, he was getting restless.
Jack was about to suggest they pick up the pace when he noticed three shadowy forms approaching around the slight curve of the hallway.
They noticed him too and promptly vanished.
“Get ready!” he yelled, drawing his sword.
“Behind!” yelled Haylee as she ducked the groping, pale arms reaching to encircle her. Jack turned and sprinted past the small Dark Prism and toward their attackers while Lex Shouted as she slammed her sword into her new black shield.
Jack had an instant to see the two monsters snap their attention to the Bastion before he stabbed his weapon through the soft flesh in front of him. With a grin, he activated Double Strike and immediately tore open another savage hole.
Elvish Space Vampire -89 | 386/475
Elvish Space Vampire -89 | 297/475
Alt also quickly hurled his deep sonic attack at the two monsters before they closed into melee range with the Bastion.
Elvish Space Vampire -79 | 396/475
Elvish Space Vampire -79 | 218/475
The properties of Lex’s new shield boosted her Shout ability, and despite all the damage, both monsters lunged for her at the same time. The Bastion blocked several claw attacks from the enraged space vampires, but they were unnaturally fast, and one tore open the flesh on her stomach.
Lex -119 | 529/648
Jack clenched his jaw and tried to finish these two quickly. The third shadow he’d seen approaching probably ran off to get reinforcements, and they needed to be ready to handle them when they came. He shot his eyes to the Dark Prism who had moved a bit farther down the hallway to get a better angle, but she just stood with her bow drawn, waiting for an opening in the savage melee. Jack stepped into the fray and shoved one of the monsters behind the other with the flat of his sword and yelled, “Lex, get down!”
They had been fighting side by side for a very long time, and the Bastion unquestioningly dropped to one knee. An instant later, a white beam of light passed through the heads of both monsters.
Elvish Space Vampire Critical! -451 | Defeated
Elvish Space Vampire Critical! -427 | Defeated
A huge grin split Jack’s face, and he turned to congratulate Haylee on a perfect shot, but his smile vanished when he saw the young Hero enveloped by the third monster.
Her gray eyes pleaded with him as her mouth made muffled noises, and all three of them ran toward the smug-looking space elf before it could hurt her. Then they both simply vanished into thin air.
“Haylee!” Alt yelled and dashed down the dark hallway on all fours.
Jack exchanged a terrified look with Lex before they both sprinted after the metal animal. Alt’s current form allowed him to move much faster than either of them, and he quickly disappeared into the clinging shadows of the earthen spaceship. After about thirty seconds of not seeing either Alt or Haylee, Jack mentally sent the frantic AI the message to slow down so they weren’t split up further.
“I need to find her!” Alt responded, and Jack could feel the AI’s desperate panic amplify his own fears. Then a thought occurred to him and he checked Haylee’s health in his HUD.
JACK HP 441/441 MP 169/257
LEX HP 529/648
HAYLEE HP 289/307
ALT HP 399/399
Coins: 9581
Inventory Value: 20,349
Alt Value: 30,559/250,000
She was still alive but hurt… then he noticed something that made him stop dead in his tracks.
HAYLEE HP 288/307
HAYLEE HP 287/307
…
Her life was slowly draining away.
“Alt, get back here!” Jack demanded. “We need to come up with a plan.”
A moment later, the metallic dog came sprinting back toward them from the darkness.
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“They’re hurting her,” the AI said from the dog’s mouth, and Jack had never felt such levels of turbulent emotion from the entity linked to his mind.
“I know, but we can’t just blindly dash around.” Jack pointed to a nearby door and the glowing runes above it. “You must be able to process what these say.”
The metallic dog turned his head up to the writing. “Diagnostics.”
“Good,” Jack said. “Now, where do ships normally keep their medical bays or whatever. I know it doesn’t match your blueprint exactly, but there seems to be more… logic to this layout. This ship doesn’t feel random.”
Jack felt a wash of sanity from the AI like a bucket of cold water poured over his head on a hot day.
“Yes, you are correct. Both military and civilian vessels keep their sick and wounded towards the center, where they are most protected. Based on the part of the layout I’ve seen…” The metal dog snapped his head to face back the way they had come.
“This way,” he shouted before sprinting off down the grassy corridor, and both Jack and Lex chased after him as he made several twists and turns through the near darkness.
“Intruders,” the voice spoke again through whatever intercom was set up throughout the ship. “We have your child, and her blood serves as payment for our lost brethren. Turn yourselves in, and we may keep you alive for food as well. Fight us, and you will surely all die here today.”
Jack couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The Tower was indeed random and always confronted them with the unexpected, but this was something else entirely. No monster had ever tried to negotiate their surrender.
The robotic canine dashing ahead of him locked his legs as he tried to stop his forward momentum, ripping up the grass under his metallic paws. Jack and Lex jogged up as Alt was backing up slowly.
Jack was about to ask, then he heard why Alt had stopped. There were voices barely echoing off the soft walls around them and he flicked his eyes to check Haylee’s dwindling health before doing anything.
HAYLEE HP 169/307
“I believe there are many grouped in a large room around the corner,” Alt whispered.
Jack nodded. “Stay here and let me take a quick look. I am the only one here with any stealth stats.”
Lex and Alt pressed up against the wall and waited as he moved down the dark corridor. Just before the junction, Jack lowered himself down to his knees and slowly leaned his face around the dirt wall. The first thing he noticed was the Dark Prism struggling in the grasp of a larger version of the space vampires. He had a glowing red jewel in his forehead and stood a good foot taller than the other four monsters surrounding him.
“The Boss,” Alt said in his head, his emotions running wild again.
The earthen room was large and sprinkled with wooden beds that seemed to grow out of the grassy floor as thick tree trunks. Glowing bugs dotted the walls, and several dozen fat fireflies clung to the roots hanging from ceiling helping to light the area better than the hallways. Yet, it was the softly pulsing Exit Orb in one of the corners that truly signified this room as the Boss Chamber.
“This is foolish,” one of the monsters said. “We should split up and hunt them.”
“No,” the bigger one said. “You haven’t seen the intruders fight. They will come here, and we will best them with our numbers.”
Jack pulled away and rejoined Lex and Alt.
“The Boss has Haylee, and there are four other monsters in there with them. This is going to be a hard fight.”
He turned his eyes down to the metallic dog and again experienced the mental anguish from his friend. The AI really cared for Haylee- more than Jack had ever felt him care about anything before.
Alt looked up at him through the canine’s chrome eyes and spoke telepathically.
“Our link prevents us from hiding anything from each other. I do care for her, Jack, greatly. I may be an artificial being, but don’t forget that Lex is also an entity of pure energy- and so are you, and the thought of never conversing with Haylee again…”
Jack reached down and patted the Canine Protector on his head, sending waves of understanding and determination through their link. They were going to get her back. There was simply no other option.
It struck him then that they hadn’t shifted Alt into anything new yet on this Floor, and his mind whirled as it searched for the perfect answer to this problem. Jack opened his Alter Alt interface panel and started scrolling quickly. It wasn’t until he reached the bottom before the obvious answer slapped him in the face.
“What’s the plan?” Lex whispered, noticing his reaction.
Jack answered by forcing Alt to take the form of an Elvish Space Vampire.
- 26 -
“I have them,” Alt growled with as much acting skill as he could muster, then shoved Jack hard from behind, forcing him to his knees in front of the Floor 35 Boss and his four minions.
“There was a fourth,” the larger vampire said, looking from Jack to Lex. “A beast of metal. Was it dealt with?”
“It is no more,” Alt said, “I surprised them and took the beast out first. These two surrendered shortly after.”
Haylee started violently struggling with her captor. “No!” she shrieked as her intense gray eyes bore holes of hatred into Jack. “How could you let this happen?”
He looked up and locked eyes with Haylee. “Even though our friend is gone, the shape of his soul will be with us forever.”
Jack twitched his head slightly to indicate the shapeshifted AI behind him as he said the word ‘shape’ and hoped the Dark Prism was smart enough to pick up the hint. By the way her eyebrows flicked downward slightly, she did, and continued to fight against the larger space elf holding both of her arms against her sides. When she spoke, Jack was certain of it.
“His weakness was always at the center of his mind.”
Jack, Lex, and Alt were now aware that the red jewel in the big monster’s head was his critical strike point.
“Excellent,” the Boss said. “Come take this scamp while I deal with these intruders.”
Alt strode past Lex and Jack to take hold of the Dark Prism with one hand. No one seemed to notice as Haylee led him into a position where she could hit the most targets within a straight line.
The lead Vampire Space Elf towered over Jack and began to gloat.
“Your warm blood shall make this long journey more tolerable.”
“Your journey is over,” Lex said quietly.
Before anyone could react, the Bastion reequipped both her sword and shield and kicked off her Shout ability.
At the same time, Jack phased his sword belt back into existence like flipping a switch. With the Boss so close, he was able to draw it from its sheath and upward across the glowing red gem in the creature’s forehead. The instant he felt the edge of his blade scrape along its multifaceted surface, Jack triggered Double Strike.
Floor 35 Boss Critical! -178 | 1052/1230
Floor 35 Boss Critical! -192 | 860/1230
The Boss grabbed his head with a snarl as Jack heard Lex sing three perfect notes in unison behind him.
The leader of the space elves recovered quickly and shot out a clawed hand to crush Jack’s throat.
Jack -92 | 349/441
Panic took hold as his windpipe closed, and he saw a status icon flash in the corner of his dimming vision. He wanted to look at it but had trouble focusing on anything.
Jack -132 | 217/441
It was then he realized that his blood was being drained right out of his neck before it had a chance to reach his brain. Jack lifted his sword as his vision began to dim and activated his Mining Laser into the monster’s guts, but the Boss was ripped away from him by a dark shadow. Jack’s blast tore through empty air and struck the ceiling above before he fell to his knees again.
With his throat no longer sealed and his blood free to flow again, Jack knelt on the grass for a few precious seconds as he pulled in deep breaths. Forcing himself back o
n to his feet, he turned just in time to see a line of pure-blue light appear from one end of the room to the other. He followed its path from the Dark Prism through three of the four monsters trying to hit a non-corporeal Lex.
Elvish Space Vampire Critical! -902 | Defeated
Elvish Space Vampire -436 | Defeated
Elvish Space Vampire Critical! -888 | Defeated
With that part of the battle seemingly under control, Jack’s lungs forced out one more violent cough as he turned to find two elf vampires wrestling on the ground.
Alt -92 | HP 310/402
Floor 35 Boss -71 | 753/1230
Jack channeled his Mining Laser into the Boss’s back as Alt struggled to hold the larger, more powerful creature in place.
“Shoot him, Hayl-ggh!” Alt yelled out before the Boss wrapped his hands around his throat. Even slowed down by her Withering Stare ability, the pale monster was still a blur of motion.
Floor 35 Boss -124 | 629/1230
Alt -92 | HP 218/402
The Dark Prism hesitated, and Jack realized that Haylee’s piercing Light Ray would also destroy Alt. She had never seen him fall in combat, and the young Hero seemed frozen by indecision.
Jack was about to yell out that Alt would be fine when he saw her switch out her Star Chaser for another bow she’d kept in her inventory. The Dark Prism fired quickly, and a narrow beam of white light appeared next to his lightning-infused Mining Laser.
Floor 35 Boss -124 | 505/1230
Alt -92 | HP 126/402
Floor 35 Boss -245 | 260/1230
With a snarl, the Boss teleported behind Haylee and attempted to sink his teeth into her neck, but she was shoved forward as Alt used his current form’s special ability to follow the space elf leader and appear between them.
Alt -206 | Defeated
“No!” Haylee screamed and fired a Light Ray directly into the Boss’s forehead.
Floor 35 Boss Critical! -499 | Defeated
All three Heroes rose to Level 36 as the Boss exploded in a vibrant shower of sparks.
Jack and Haylee helped the Bastion take out the final foe she’d been keeping busy, and the Floor was finally clear.