by Alex Knight
The elevator shuddered violently then gave way entirely. It was as if the artificial gravity had gone out again, except much quicker, and in the opposite direction.
Kaiden descended into the darkness below, a brief trip ending in an echoing crash.
The good news was they’d found the cargo bay and it was loaded with vibranium crystals. All around, the gleaming red treasures lay scattered and spilled from a debris field of overturned crates.
The bad news was the fall had done a significant amount of damage. His health bar had turned from green to yellow and now read sixty-five percent. Which made sense, considering the hole they’d fallen through was a good distance above them.
The worse news was they’d also found the voidspawn. Or at least Kaiden couldn’t imagine what else the monstrous masses of tentacles, teeth and spidery legs surrounding them could be. Sergeant Dawson had been quite clear about the horrors having tentacles, but why hadn’t he mentioned the teeth? Kaiden shuddered. So. Many. Teeth.
The voidspawn were everywhere. Curled up on the floor, the shelves, even hanging from the ceiling. He couldn’t get too good a look at them in the low yellow of the emergency lights, but what he did see was more than enough. No two looked the same, beyond the fact they all had tentacles, teeth like saw blades, and were variations on pink, gray and black. Some were large as a car, others no bigger than his head. To some degree, they all looked like an abominable mix between octopus and spider.
Kaiden focused on one for a moment and text faded in across his vision.
Voidspawn
Level: 1
Quick facts: While hard to quantify due to their great diversity, most voidspawn boast active abilities including Tentacle Whip and Binding Grasp, and passive abilities that allow them to hibernate to regain health or survive extreme conditions such as the vacuum of space.
The very worst part was that they appeared to be waking up.
One of the recruits’ voices echoed down from above.
“Hey, I see crystals down there.”
“Crystals?” said another. “Let’s get down there!”
“He said crystals!”
“They found crystals!”
“Wait,” Kaiden said. “Don’t—”
But too late. The first recruit jumped down, hitting the floor with a heavy thump. Then came the others.
“You guys are idiots,” Titus’ deep voice boomed.
A chittering filled the air as the already waking voidspawn began to stir in haste. Tentacles, previously curled up tight, unfurled as if stretching. Teeth, previously still, gnashed together, preparing for the feast to come. The chittering rose to a fever pitch and all around the room, the voidspawn turned to face them, and opened their eyes.
Eyes.
Eyes on eyes on eyes. Each spawn was covered in random clusters of them. They caught the glowing blue light of the recruits’ shields, a thousand pinpoints of light staring, unblinking, from the darkness.
All at once, Kaiden’s minimap lit up in a flurry of red dots. Too many to count.
Kaiden’s breath caught in his throat and his thoughts rushed in a mad frenzy. Adrenaline surged through him and he lowered his stance, preparing to take as many of the abominations with him as possible.
An inquisitive tentacle slipped along the floor, feeling its way forward through the dark.
“To hell with this,” cried a recruit.
The recruit brought his hammer down on it with a wet squelch and the tentacle was flattened into goo. There was a squeal of pain – and then chaos erupted. The spawn surged forward.
Kaiden ducked behind his shield as the front runners slammed into him. His shield held as combat text began to fill the bottom corner of his vision. Yet he didn’t seem to be getting this charge resource he’d read about. Maybe that came later?
Kaiden leaned away as, just on the other side of the energy barrier, slimy flaps of skin retracted from a voidspawn’s underside and a stinger as long as his hand plunged into the shield. It struck with a dull thump again and again, striking so fast Kaiden could hardly follow it.
Through his shield, Kaiden could make out a health bar above the voidspawn’s head in the form of a thin green line.
Let’s put that to the test.
Letting loose a battle cry, he brought his hammer down on the voidspawn.
Quick facts: A warden’s basic melee attack can be used with no charge. It deals base damage and has no cooldown.
The notification ticked in his periphery. He continued to whack the creature over and over, draining its health bar; it flashed from green to yellow and then to red. Two messages popped into in the corner of his vision.
Voidspawn killed - 50 EXP gained!
Achievement Unlocked!
First Blood - 50 EXP gained!
You’ve killed your first opponent. As a warrior, you’ll likely have to kill many more – unless they kill you first.
He ignored the text and raised his shield again as another voidspawn threw itself at him. He stepped into this one, bashing his shield into what was probably its face. The creature flattened against it, but its tentacles wrapped around, grabbing Kaiden by the shoulders.
You’ve been bound! Movement slowed by 50% until freed.
Another stinger plunged into his shield. With each strike the energy barrier wavered a bit, rippling like a pond assaulted by a barrage of stones.
How much longer before the shield overloaded? Kaiden remembered reading something about that when he’d received it, but he couldn’t remember the specifics. Not with the voidspawn doing its best to impale him.
Kaiden stretched his shield out away from him and the tentacles were pulled from his shoulder.
Normal movement speed regained.
A few hammer strikes and the spawn’s health bar flashed, turning yellow as it emptied a bit beyond halfway. This one was more powerful than Kaiden's last opponent; it was level two. One of its rubbery tentacles caught him across the torso.
His health bar flashed, then drained. It was now in the red, at forty-five percent.
I can’t afford to get hit much more.
He slipped on some gore underfoot, falling onto his back. His shield arm stretched out wide, not protecting his body at all. The spawn took its chance, leaping above him. As it dropped, its stinger reared back, aiming for his chest.
This is it, Kaiden thought, fighting to raise his shield to no avail. So much for my freedom–
A hammer flashed above him, catching the leaping voidspawn dead center. The creature’s health bar fell from yellow to zero as it burst in a spray of slime.
Voidspawn assisted kill - 25 EXP gained!
So I get experience for kills and assisted kills. Nice. Makes teamwork even more important.
His savior grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to his feet. Titus.
“We need a way out of here,” the big man shouted, leaning in close. Even as he spoke, Kaiden saw how badly the battle was going. Two recruits already lay face down, their bodies almost entirely buried under a swarm of gray-pink flesh. The others were losing ground quickly, stumbling backward beneath a barrage of stingers, tentacles and teeth.
An idea sparked in Kaiden’s mind.
“Gravity!” he shouted, barely holding back the screeching creatures with his shield.
“What about it?” Titus yelled.
“We need less of it!” Kaiden felt himself smile.
This might just be crazy enough to work.
“Sergeant Dawson?” he ventured, hoping he was listening.
“I’m here. What’s going on in there?”
“We need you to cut the artificial gravity.”
“What?”
“Just do it!”
“I don’t take orders from you, recruit,” the sergeant growled. Then, after a moment: “The power’s cut.”
Sure enough, even through the din of battle, Kaiden heard the gravity generators in the floor winding down.
“Aim for the gap left by the elevator,
” Kaiden shouted, then kicked off the floor with all his might, launching himself into the air. A moment later he soared through the hole and slammed into the ceiling. His health bar drained down to forty percent.
But he was out of the cargo bay!
Looking down, Kaiden watched as Titus followed almost his exact trajectory, then tucked a shoulder in and hit the ceiling. Two more recruits followed them.
“That was close,” one said.
Moments later, a many-eyed monstrosity rose from the blackness. And another, clinging to the first. More and more swarmed as a legion of tentacles wrapped around the edge of the hole. The first of them surged out of the cargo bay in a chittering frenzy.
Kaiden guessed that now they’d aggroed the mobs, the spawn would chase them down.
One recruit began scrambling along the wall. “Screw the program. I’m getting out of here!”
Titus tried to do the same, but couldn’t get a grip on the smooth metal wall. A tentacle grasped at him, stretching at his kicking foot.
“We don’t have time for this,” Kaiden said, pushing off and grabbing Titus in a bear hug. Spinning in the zero gravity, he pulled his knees up to his chest and placed his feet against the big man’s back.
“What are you doing?” Titus said, but Kaiden had already made his decision.
“Get back to the shuttle!” he shouted, then pushed off. The force threw Titus back toward the docking bay, and Kaiden deeper into the ship.
“Turn the gravity back on, sergeant!” Kaiden yelled.
A moment later, the generators in the floor hummed back to life. Kaiden fell to the metal floor and slid several feet. He was on the far side of the elevator shaft now and had taken another chunk of damage in the fall.
The gravity caught hold of the voidspawn and pulled them back into the cargo bay. Barely a moment later, however, their tentacles found purchase around the pit and they began to pull themselves up.
“Don’t let the shuttle leave without me!” Kaiden called.
“I don’t wait for stragglers,” Dawson said.
Kaiden cursed. He’d have to find another way back. The hole was too big to jump across, and it was filled with writhing voidspawn anyway.
Kaiden was left with no other option. He turned and ran.
His path was lit only by emergency lights and he had no idea where he was going. But the voidspawn chittering behind him left little time for anything other than a mad, fear-fuelled sprint as he plunged down the darkened corridor.
Chapter Seven
Sergeant Dawson’s voice came over the comms again as Kaiden jogged through the darkened hallways of the Dalcinae.
“Time's running out, folks. Get back to the shuttle. And you’d better have five crystals with you. Understand?”
Several voices answered him. “Understood, sir.”
The comms channel clicked closed and Kaiden was alone.
He slowed to a walk as his stamina bar fell to empty. Even if he wanted to keep running, he couldn’t. The game didn’t let him. The only good news was that his health appeared to be regenerating. Slowly, but surely.
I have to get four more vibranium crystals and find my way back to the shuttle. And now, I have to do it alone.
Navigating the corridors of the Dalcinae wasn’t too daunting a concept. He’d already been using the guidance of his minimap and the signs leading him toward the docking bays. But this route was a new one, which meant it hadn’t been cleared of voidspawn. Not that their old route was doing much better, he figured. Probably worse, if he was being honest.
Suddenly, a notification appeared.
Achievement Unlocked!
Lucky Escape - 50 EXP gained!
You’ve survived your first voidspawn swarm. It won’t be your last.
Level 2 Achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
Shield capability unlocked: Charge
Ability unlocked: Hammer Smash
Finally, a level up!
Eagerly, Kaiden opened his character sheet.
Character
Name: Kaiden
Race: Human
Level: 2
Class: Warden
Attributes:
Strength: 11 Intelligence: 11
Endurance: 11 Perception: 11
Dexterity: 11 Unassigned: 3
Abilities:
Hammer Smash
Perks:
None
Hm. My attributes went up by one point each. Safe to assume, then, that they’ll go up by one point for each level? Our overall stats will increase as we level, while allowing us the option to boost specific stats through allocating additional unassigned points.
Those would be particularly useful, Kaiden knew. But he didn’t have enough information about what to specialize in to use them yet. He could distribute them later. Maybe once he had a better understanding of the warden specialization choices Dawson had mentioned.
Charge and Hammer Smash, he thought next. Now those sounded interesting. Kaiden focused on the text and further clarification appeared.
Charge: Blocking attacks with your shield will grant charge in proportion to the damage that would otherwise have been dealt to you. Your warden class implants will store charge, depleting at a rate of 5 every 30 seconds.
Hammer Smash: The warden pounds the ground with their hammer, dealing base damage to enemies in a 5-foot radius. Cost: 10 charge. Cooldown: 15 seconds.
This is starting to get fun. Kaiden couldn’t help but smile. Level two had brought some very useful abilities, including an area of effect attack (AOE).
If only I’d had these in that last fight. I wouldn’t have come out half dead. But even as he glanced down to his health bar he noticed it had instantly returned to full.
So leveling replenishes my health? That could be very useful. For the time being, however, he had vibranium crystals to find, voidspawn to avoid, and a shuttle to catch.
Focusing back on the corridor, Kaiden stumbled to a stop. Something lay in the darkness ahead. Voidspawn, he thought at first. But no. Whatever it was, it wasn’t moving. Looked rather limp, actually. He took a few steps closer, then focused on the dark shape.
Marcel **Deceased**
Warden Recruit
Class: None
Faction: None
Level: 1
The ‘deceased’ status indicator over the recruit’s body sent a pretty clear message, but the gaping holes punched through his armor sent an even clearer one. He wasn’t the only downed recruit, either. As Kaiden walked on, more limp forms materialized out of the darkness. Four, five, six...nine of them in total.
Based on the splattered ooze and limp tentacles, they’d taken more than a few voidspawn with them.
Something red flashed in the corner of Kaiden’s eye and he spotted a crystal on the floor, half-fallen out of one of the recruit’s pockets.
Did they find a cache of vibranium before they were attacked?
As Kaiden approached, a line of text materialized over the recruit’s body.
Loot corpse?
Don’t mind if I do, he thought.
A window appeared in his vision showing his inventory as well as that of the recruit. The recruit didn’t have much, but he had what Kaiden was looking for. Four vibranium crystals.
Smiling, he selected the crystals. As they popped into his own inventory, the game notified him one by one
Vibranium crystals collected: 2/5
Vibranium crystals collected: 3/5
Vibranium crystals collected: 4/5
Vibranium crystals collected: 5/5
Kaiden turned his eyes to the other corpses, then looted those as well. He felt bad for the dead recruits, but he also couldn’t help but feel relieved at the same time.
Vibranium crystals collected: 6/5
Vibranium crystals collected: 7/5
Vibranium crystals collected: 8/5
A final line of text flashed in his vision, then faded as the la
st of the crystals appeared in his inventory.
Now we’re talking, he thought, patting his pockets. All he had to do now was get back to the shuttle in one piece.
Achievement Unlocked!
Waste Not, Want Not - 50 EXP gained!
You’ve looted 5 corpses. How very thrifty of you!
He set his mind to the task with renewed vigor, and his feet even more so. His stamina bar had replenished now and he put it to good use, sprinting through the corridors. With the level up increasing his dexterity, Kaiden was moving more quickly than he ever had before and the increased stamina meant he could run for longer. He was making good time.
Every so often the clangs and screams of battle would echo out from some distant part of the ship, but for the most part, the Dalcinae was abandoned as Kaiden made his way ever closer to the docking bay. His minimap showed him as the only blip in a sea of empty hallways.
A nearby clattering sound made him stop. He flicked his shield on and huddled close to the wall. Peering into the room the sound had come from, he saw movement inside. Something was digging around in one corner, tearing at a shelving unit.
Something human, he realized, as a woman’s voice echoed through the room.
“Come on. I just need one more.”
A box tumbled off the shelf and a vibranium crystal rolled across the floor.
“There you are!” The recruit bent to pick up the crystal and a voidspawn dropped from the ceiling behind her.
It was injured, with several mangled tentacles and a yellow health bar, but the creature reared back nonetheless, stinger at the ready.
“Behind you!” Kaiden shouted, his eyes widening in horror as three more of the monstrosities dropped to the floor. He charged.