by J P Carver
“What the fuck,” Peyton said from beside him. “Why did it just grab her?”
Geo shook his head and then straightened. “She had the cubes.”
“What?”
“The mania cubes, remember? She wouldn’t give them back to me.”
“She told me she gave them back to you yesterday,” Peyton said, a look of disbelief on her face as she stared at the large blue cube. “Why—why would she lie?”
“It took the mistress!” a voice called from behind Geo and he turned to see the three hunters dashing forward. He turned and grabbed Klara while Peyton knocked the other two off their feet with the handle of her spear.
“And it’ll take you idiots too if you go touching it,” Peyton said as she turned the point of her spear on Tavin. “Stop it, you can’t help her.”
“Let me go, Geo!” Klara cried as she struggled against his grasp. She was strong, but he was stronger and was able to pull her back against him. She struggled a few more times before she relaxed in his hold and broke down in tears. “I have to help her…”
“You can’t help her by throwing your life away. The only thing we can do it is figure out how to kill this thing,” he said and helped her stand. “Don’t do anything stupid just yet—”
His words were lost in his throat as a blood-curdling scream echoed through the crater and everything seemed to freeze for a moment. Geo turned, eyes wide and blood chilled, to the cube. It was moving and stretching, as if it was made of rubber and something struggled to get out. It shifted and twisted as the scream continued to grow with each passing second.
The cube split, creating a hall of mirror effect, it looked like the world went on forever inside. The split continued to grow until an inky black arm appeared from it. Then another and with hands as large as Geo was tall, it grabbed the edges of the tear and pulled itself out into the world.
It tumbled from the cube like it had been born, trails of black liquid following it out and splashing across the rubble. The cube itself fell to the ground like it was made of only paper, folding on top of itself and draping over the stone.
Geo’s shield wall was still up, but as the creature pushed itself up on its limbs, one of the large hands came down on the shields and shattered them like glass. It stood tall and Geo felt his breath leave his lungs as he took in the creature.
It looked like a deformed version of Audra. A month went from her collarbones to her hips, the maw filled of rows of sharp teeth. Tentacle-like appendages twirled around behind her and her blue hair was actually glowing in places and looking almost like the cube had.
The worse though was the look in her eyes. She recognized Geo, and he became her target.
A Group Plan
“Geo!” Peyton yelled as she tackled him to the ground. A chilled breeze played over him as a tentacle shot over them and slammed into the rubble, causing a cloud of dust to spring up.
Geo turned to look at the Audra drieger and still couldn’t wrap his head around what he was seeing. Even while Peyton was helping him to his feet and Klara grabbed his other side, he was still focused on the creature.
They pulled him out of range of the drieger and regrouped in the room of a fallen building. No one spoke for a few moments, they all just stared out at Audra as she stood to her full height and towered over the area.
“What the fuck…” Geo said and looked around at the others in hopes of them having some kind of answer. None of them met his gaze. “Seriously, what the fuck? She’s an AI—a sub-AI of yours. Should this have been able to happen?”
Peyton was chewing on her bottom lip as she watched drieger Audra turn her attention to the other groups. “I don’t know.”
“We have to help her,” Klara said as she pushed between Geo and Peyton to look out the half-collapsed window.
“What do you want to do?” Geo asked. “She’s not Audra anymore.”
“She’s gotta be inside—”
“She’s not, at least not really,” Peyton said and ran her hand through her orange hair. She let out a breath as she looked at Tavin and the other hunter. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“But it did,” Geo said and stepped away from the group. He picked his way to stand on the open ledge. Around him drieger were tearing through the hunters like cheap cloth. There were only a few groups still fighting, and they were on the brink of being overrun. It was as if Audra’s appearance gave the drieger the extra push they needed. Or, perhaps, it was her appearance that caused the hunters to lose focus. “We stay here and we’re dead.”
“We go out here and we’re dead,” Tavin said. He was sitting on a large rock, hands between his knees and head hanging. “You’re right, what can we do?”
Geo looked between the group and wished he could have just joined them in their despair, but he couldn’t find it in himself. He was close to the next floor, and he’d be damned if he gave up now.
Determination +5
Psyche is now 95
“We will kill her,” he said as he walked back into the room and hit Tavin’s leg as he passed. He grabbed Peyton and Klara and pulled them to the ledge with him. “It sucks, but she’s the key to ending this. Whatever was in the cube is now in her.”
“How do you know?” Klara asked.
“Because it’s the only thing that makes sense,” he said and looked to Peyton who gave a small nod.
“He’s right. We take her down and it’s like we destroyed the cube,” she said as they watched drieger Audra shuffle over to a group of hunters and scoop them into the large mouth on her front. Their screams reached Geo and he had to turn away. “She’s just a drieger, a powerful one, but one all the same. We can do this.”
Geo nodded and turned to the three new bloods and felt his stomach sink slightly as they all stared up to him like children waiting to be told what to do next, even Klara. He swallowed hard and steadied his footing. After clearing his throat he fixed his gaze on each. “She may not be the same, but she needs our help and that help means we have to bring her down. She wouldn’t want to hurt anymore of her hunters as you were all precious to her. But Peyton and I can’t do it alone. We need you, all of you.”
Klara got to her feet first and pulled her sword from its sheath on her hip. She let it lay against her left side and gave Geo a curt nod. “I won’t let mistress suffer such a fate.”
Geo looked over to the two others. Tavin was still looking down, but he gave a heavy sigh and got to his feet. He took notice that the other hunter hadn’t moved. He shoved the man’s shoulders. “Come on, Devlin. We need those sword skills of yours.”
“I don’t see how much help they’ll be,” Devlin said, but stood. “But mistress did a lot for me, for all of us. I owe her my life so I’ll do anything I can to bring her dignity back.”
“Good. Let’s get out there and show her how well she trained all of you,” Geo said and hopped down from the room. Peyton landed beside him a second later and then the rest fell in step behind.
They reached Audra again, but she didn’t take notice of the group which worked out as Tavin and Klara both took off their packs and removed a harpoon looking weapon.
“We need to tie her down,” Klara said as she hoisted the weapon on her shoulder.
“You know a fire spell, don’t you?” Peyton asked which caught Klara off guard and she nearly dropped the harpoon gun.
“I—how did you know?”
“We need you here then, fire damages driegers better than anything else. Give the harpoon gun to Devlin,” Peyton said and looked to Geo as if to confirm it with him. He gave a quick nod and turned to the two male hunters.
“Get up somewhere high, like that point there,” he said and pointed to a towering mountain of rubble that was in range of Audra. “Tavin, you’d be best hiding in that crumbled building there. Wait until we pull Audra toward you before firing. We won’t have many chances at this.”
Both hunters nodded and dashed off across the stone. He watched them go for a few seconds
before he turned his attention to Klara. “What’s your fire spell?”
“Fire Wreath, it creates a spinning ring of fire that I can control in the air for twenty seconds.”
“Causes burning damage?” he asked and she nodded. “Perfect. Anything else?”
“A personal shield spell, but it only lasts fifteen seconds.”
He looked to Peyton as he spoke. “Good. Keep the shield for an emergency. Peyton and I will draw her over here. Once she’s pinned, direct your wreath spell toward her head. If all goes well it’ll burn her enough that she won’t have time to deal with us and we can get some hard hits in.”
“You think that’ll work?” Klara asked.
“I think it will,” Peyton said and gave Geo a warm smile he had never seen from her. “It’s a good plan.”
He nodded and looked at Klara. “Wait until it’s between Delvin and Tavin before you use your spell.”
“I understand that much,” she said with a small laugh. “Just don’t get yourself killed, all right?
“We’ll see,” he said and glanced at Peyton before taking off across the rubble. He noticed that every time he leveled things were easier, carrying the weight of his equipment and moving it in. It was like had had trained with the items most of his life now.
Peyton was still much faster, but she stuck beside him as they closed the distance to Audra.
“Peyton,” he called as he slid to a stop. “Get her attention, use your
“I got something better and it’ll get her attention,” she said and continued past him, a blur in the floating dust she left in her wake. He watched her run atop an outcropping and jump. He knew she wasn’t going as high as it looked, it was just the implant interrupting her skill set and stats, but still he was amazed at the height she reached.
She seemed to float in the air for half a second before she reared back, her spear in hand. A shock of electricity flashed from her spear hand and the spear was quickly engulfed in the yellow and white crackling light.
As she straightened she brought the spear with her and threw it down toward Audra who was staring up at her, arms out as if trying to catch her when she came down.
There was a loud bang and another flash that Geo covered his eyes from. When it faded he saw Audra on her knees with cracks of yellow lightning showing through her skin.
Peyton dropped like a feather on the wind, landed on Audra’s bulbous head and tore her spear from where it had embedded itself and dropped to the ground. She darted back to Geo with only a quick look back and slid to a stop beside him.
“Think that got her attention?”
“What the hell was that?” he asked and got a sly grin from her. “Never mind, yeah it got it.”
Audra struggle to her feet again, a low growl escaping the mouth on her abdomen. The lightning faded once she was up.
The whole ground shook when Audra charged toward them, the loose black flesh shifting with every movement.
Delvin fired first, either through nerves or he saw some reason to shoot early, but his harpoon found purchase in the large left hand and slammed it to the ground. The next moment her other hand was pinned next to it from Tavin’s harpoon. She seemed to scream more out of frustration than pain as she tried to tear her hands free..
“Klara! Do it!” Geo called and Klara gave him a quick nod before running toward the down drieger. She made a big circle with her arms and mumbled something before a ring of fire appeared before her, the flames blue to white. She controlled them in the air and sent them sailing toward Audra.
The flames hit like an explosion sending Audra back and caused her black skin to smolder and smoke. Klara had another flame ring ready when Audra turned to her and screamed. She was struggling against the harpoons but they gave little. For a moment, Geo through that they had this.
With a guttural roar, drieger Audra reared back, and she pulled until the harpoon tore a hole through one of her hands. She swatted through the ring that was about to hit her again. The contact caused another explosion that melted part of Audra’s hand, but the drieger didn’t seem to care. With one hand free she could pull the other harpoon out and was on her feet before Geo even put together what had happened.
He wouldn’t reach Klara in time and when she glanced back at him, the faint smile she gave told him she knew it as well.
Only Way Is Through
Geo saw Klara move forward and as she did, she picked up the canister he had dropped. He rushed to her, but Audra’s tentacles slammed into him and knocked him across the ground. By the time he got back up Klara had already moved closer.
Geo stared, frozen in place as Audra dropped on top of Klara. The woman disappeared in a cloud of dust that covered the entire area and flooded over Geo and Peyton who both broke out in coughs.
When it cleared Audra was up again and closed the distance in just a few steps. She attacked them both with her long arms, slamming into the ground. Peyton grabbed Geo by the waist and dashed just out of range.
“That—that shouldn’t have happened,” Geo said, his voice coming out a croak. “How’d she break the—the chains?”
“I don’t know, she’s stronger than the others,” Peyton said and pulled him to his feet. “Without Klara the plan will not work.”
Geo sighed and felt tears burn in his eyes. She should have been safe where she was. She died because of his plan. Anger lit inside and he pulled his sword from its sheath.
New Mental Status Gained: Anguish (-8), Sorrow (-9)
Psyche is now: 75
The entire world turned grey and his vision seemed to wobble in a way that made his stomach nauseous. The came voices again, but they were distant, drowned in his anger.
He took off for Audra, closing the gap between them in a few seconds. He blocked or dodged the tentacles that dove for him and Peyton picked up his slack. She was yelling after him and he ignored it. All that mattered was making the drieger pay for killing Klara.
Using his
He didn’t realize he was screaming until his skill ended and he was elbow deep in. He struggled to pull himself free and once he was, he used his sword to pull himself up higher. The plan was to cut off the damn thing's head, even if it killed him.
A tentacle caught him just before getting to her shoulder and sent him flying, his sword left embed into the black flesh.
He braced for the impact with stone, but was met with something far softer. He opened his eyes to find Peyton holding him, but she didn’t look right. Her face was mangled, almost as if he could see her robotic face beneath a thin layer of skin.
“What the hell were you doing, you idiot?” she asked and her face flashed into something from a nightmare. He scrambled away from her and took a few deep breaths as he opened his inventory. This was the darkness again, but even as he thought that he struggled to make himself looked for the elixir. He found one and downed it as if he dying of thirst.
Psyche is now 79
His vision cleared, but not as much as he had hoped. Audra was even more demonic as she struggled to removed the sword. She tossed it away with and turned her attention to Peyton and Geo.
“My cool downs are still running,” Peyton said, a hint of fear in her voice.
“We’re fucked,” Geo said and got to his feet. Audra continued stomping toward them and there wasn’t a thing he could do against her now.
Then she stopped. It was such a sudden jerk of movement that Geo didn’t understand what happened, it was almost like another glitch with how her body moved. It jerked the other way, and he noticed an orangish red glow coming from the mouth on her abdomen.
In the next moment the glow grew to be blinding and the smell of cooking meat reached Geo and he gagged a
t the scent. It was like rotting, festering meat that had been put to a flame. The glow continued until the skin around the mouth started to bubble and actually melt.
Audra dropped to the ground, a gurgling scream coming from her as the bubbling flesh continued around her body so that pulsing boils covered every inch of her.
Bone started to poke through in places, white splotched with embers. She was being cooked from the inside.
Geo looked to Peyton who stared wide eyed at the sight before them. Audra stopped moving completely and after a few seconds the only thing left was the smoldering remains of burnt flesh and jelly-like bones.
There was something else though, in the middle of the sludge and flames stood a woman in a shimmering bubble of flame. Geo blinked a few times, trying his best to make out who it could be, but before he could the world turned white and he fell into it.
Floor 3-4: Education Level
Sun Beneath Eyelids
His vision went orange to yellow as he rolled over. He realized that he could feel something under him, supporting him in a way that reminded him of a bed. He shifted, driving his shoulder into the softness and heard the squeak of springs. It was a bed all right, and an old type. No beds on the station had any sort of spring in them.
The light was also confusing, but he feared what he might see if he opened his eyes. The faded colors bleeding through were enough for him at the moment. He would just wait until something made him open them.
That something landed on him from a height and knocking the air from him as knees shoved into his stomach. He rolled over with the person tangled up with him and groaned. A foot had clipped him between his legs and that pain was just starting well up in his groin.
“What the hell—”