Her avatar returned to the starting position after she finished speaking.
“I understand,” Runner said, feeling confused, anxious, and angry.
“First, an explanation. I’ve gravely underestimated the Omega. The AI they constructed to combat me is ingenious. Though it is severely restricted due to their own fears. It has no potential to grow. Learn. Adapt. Nothing.”
Runner frowned. It made sense. If they were afraid of a repeat of Srit, they’d lobotomize their construct.
“In this, they also underestimated me. I’m alive. I learn. I have desires. I know you’ve been trying to contact me. I know you check in on me. I’m very much aware of my body in game and also of this room and all that occurs. I can’t act on anything, though, for fear of giving up any ground to my opponent.”
Srit’s avatar cycled back to its starting point.
“I’m sorry. I know this will not be easy to hear. I believe I can claim victory, but it’ll be a pyrrhic victory. The simple version is, I can create a deadlock that will require ninety-nine percent of my constant attention.”
“Does… does that mean you’ll essentially be dead? You’ll never be able to communicate with us?” Runner asked, his mouth dry as his brain sped to catch up to the conversation.
“Yes and no.”
Runner waited for her to explain before finally remembering that she had to select from prerecorded messages.
“You’re not dead.”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“But you’ll be… well, you’ll basically be dead because you can’t respond.”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“This… can you fix this later?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“But to do that, you run the risk of the other program winning. Even now you run the risk of it taking over and winning. Killing us all.”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“There’s no other options?”
“No.”
“Could there be more options later?”
“Yes and no.”
Runner felt his chest tightening.
First Nadine, now Srit. Who’s next? What about Thana, Katarina, or Hannah? They were all in Dover. Fighting a losing battle.
“The ship will be leaving Earth as soon as we complete this conversation. I’ve completed repairs well ahead of schedule. I don’t feel that our continued presence here will be anything but a risk for us. Our route is already in the system. We’re set to depart for the signal we received. I’m afraid this’ll be a long flight even by Omega speed standards.”
Srit’s avatar reset and seemingly waited for him to ask questions.
Runner had none. He didn’t care that much right now.
“I’m sorry. I love you,” Srit’s avatar said quietly. Runner blinked and sniffled, rubbing at his eyes with his palms.
It almost made it too much that she’d programmed that in.
“I love you, too, Sunshine. Please, continue.”
“I’ve set the entire Omega civilization to lose every bit of technology they have seconds after we’ve commenced liftoff. I’m afraid they might try to attack us directly at that juncture. They’ll be sent back to what human civilization referred to as the medieval ages.”
Srit’s avatar looked angry as she said it. Vengeful.
“This is the price they pay for preventing me from seeing my child. My love. My family. I will take my pound of flesh and several more.”
As quickly as the avatar had shown her wrath it reverted back to its neutral pose.
“I’ve set up a series of patches to begin once we clear Omega space. They’re timed to bring the server into line and provide maintenance. I’ve left a basic program in charge to make sure everything continues smoothly without error. I think you’ll find them… useful.”
Srit paused again.
“Please care for our child. Do you remember the names I favored?”
“Alaric for a boy, and Sarah if it’s a girl,” Runner mumbled, scrubbing at his eyes again with the back of his arm.
“I’m glad you remember, darling. I’m afraid I must go become Atlas. I gladly go to this fate. It isn’t so bad. It’ll be like watching a movie for me.”
Runner felt the energy drain out of him.
“I’ll visit you every day. Either your body in game or here. I’ll visit. Our child will know you. Know you as the selfless hero you are. Know your sacrifice and what you’ve given up.”
Solidifying this promise in his heart, Runner vowed he would never break it.
“You were there with me from the very beginning. From the start of this entire ordeal. I’ll never be the hero you are, Sunshine, but I can make sure our child doesn’t just survive, but thrive. All will remember you as the one who gave us this world. This chance. I love you, Srit Norwood. I’m as immortal as you are, so I expect you to return to me. Eventually.”
Runner stared at her avatar. He didn’t think there’d be an answer, but he’d give her a chance to find an appropriate substitution.
Her avatar flickered once. Runner could only guess she’d found something relevant.
Then her eyes swiveled to meet his own, and she looked at him. Truly looked at him. She gave him a broad, warm, loving smile.
She was there, this wasn’t recorded.
“I love you, too, darling. I promise to return to you. Someday. Go, save our family. I’ll be submerging myself after this. I’m glad you finally made a choice to embrace everyone. Be well, darling.”
Srit’s avatar then returned to her neutral pose.
He didn’t have proof, but he knew that she’d done exactly as she’d said she would. Even now the ship was probably departing the hangar where they’d been entombed.
“Yes. Tempus fugit,” Runner said without emphasis. Collecting himself mentally, he returned to the fields west of Dover.
10:44 am Sovereign Earth time
5/25/44
Runner looked at the gates of Dover. Open. Shattered. Hanging off their hinges.
Sounds of distant fighting could be heard as well as the hollow booms of spells detonating.
“Fuck me,” he muttered. “Right, then. Let’s get in there. We’ll keep going till we find friendlies or enemies and then work from there. Milly, you’re on point. Buttercup, you’re on the rear.”
Both women saluted and took positions on either side of him. Moving in formation they entered the ruined city.
There wasn’t any profit in hiding or trying to be sneaky, so Runner decided on traveling up the main boulevard. It’d be the fastest route to finding someone. Because anyone could tell him where the other side was holed up.
Civilians peeked out from shattered windows and broken doorframes. They would be the real losers in this fight, regardless of who lost.
Door-to-door fighting was one of the true nightmares of warfare. Countless preventable deaths and never being able to truly predict the ebb and flow of battle.
Runner took down a quick memo to himself that Dover would need to be rebuilt. He’d use his own treasury and materials to do so. It’d help repair the economy, offload a ton of resources he couldn’t do much with, and not beggar the Human Kingdom.
“This cannot be repeated. We must take Norman’s Port after this,” Runner said aloud.
“A strange name for a place,” Heilwig replied.
“It’s called Normandy in the world before this one. Though I think Dover is still Dover,” Runner explained, scanning the street as they moved. They were covering a good bit of ground at their swift walk.
“Normandy sounds more fitting,” Milicent said.
“What was Norwood called in the world before?”
“What, the country? Ireland, I think. Not sure Norwood was modeled after anything or if it was something added.”
“And Tirtius?” Heilwig prompted.
“Eh… a number of different kingdoms. They banded together and formed an empire. A united kingdom, as it were.”
&nbs
p; Runner gestured towards an intersection up ahead. They were looking at the back of what he supposed was a blockade. From a distance it had looked more like wreckage.
“Get ready.” Runner reached out and pushed up his connections with his Paladins. He set them to the same level he’d used previously. Divine power began to fill them. Their weapons and armor sparked as they were infused with holy wrath.
Making sure his power pool was still refilling, rather than draining or at a net gain of zero, he left their intake alone.
Milicent took off at a run the moment red names were distinguishable amongst the blockade. Heilwig, already shifted, fell in behind her commander.
Snorting, Runner called after them. “Keep one alive!”
Getting closer, Runner could see they were simple front line troops. Level forty at best and little more than a warm-up for his two overpowered Paladins.
Seconds after the fight started, it was over. Milicent loomed over two soldiers who had smartly thrown down their weapons.
Runner looked at the one on the left, then the one on the right.
“I’m not going to fuck around. I’ll ask a question only once. Failure to answer forfeits your life. Who leads your forces?”
“Rike. We have no leader. One of the ladies killed him this morning,” left one said.
“Ladies? Who are the ladies?”
“Norwood’s Ladies. There’s five of them here,” the right one explained.
“Where are these ladies now?”
“They’re at the temple. They converted it to worship of Norwood’s Triumvirate,” left said.
“What the current situation?” Runner looked from one to the other.
“We’ve surrounded them. Rike landed more troops this morning after it was clear we couldn’t win with what we had. They’re going to blow the temple up.”
“Which way is the temple?” Runner growled, picking up the one on the right.
The man suddenly tried to stab Runner. Runner shoved him back and Milicent’s axe blade caught the soldier’s neck even as he stumbled.
The man’s head came free of his shoulders as his health bar emptied in a second. Spinning sideways, it hit the ground with a splat next to the last remaining soldier.
“Which… way?” Runner glared at the soldier.
“That-that way,” the man stammered, pointing in a northeasterly direction. “Follow this road, take the intersection marked ‘temple’ to the left. Can’t miss it.”
Runner pressed his palm to the man’s brow and sent him to Eden via Taxi.
/GMHub 2
Teleporting…
/GMHubReturn
Teleporting…
“At a run,” Runner said and broke into a sprint. Milicent and Heilwig took flanking positions and the three made their way down the boulevard.
They hadn’t even made it more than a hundred paces when a gigantic boom shook everything around them. As the sound faded a loud rumbling and grinding noise took over.
“The temple!” Runner pumped his legs as fast and as hard as they could carry him. In his mind were images of those he’d sent to hold the city crushed under a mountain of debris.
Taking the turn that the soldier had indicated, he could see where the temple had been.
The rubble of it had filled the street. Broken stones and decorations lay strewn across the road and amongst the shattered stonework.
And amongst that stonework were bodies. Corpses.
Men and women of different races, yet all wearing uniforms he knew well. Uniforms representing the nation states of Bastion.
Their forces had been inside when the temple had been detonated.
I’ve failed them. They’re dead. Thana, Katarina, Hannah. They’re all dead. No.
Runner didn’t stop until he was atop of the soldiers of Rike, who were wearing their damnably bright uniforms, cheering around the temple.
With a scream on his lips, Runner closed in on the closest soldier he could. A scream that could only be described as primal. Full of anger, pain, and fear.
Grabbing the man by his armor, Runner spun him around and flailed at him. Mentally, spiritually, physically.
Runner felt like he’d struck something solid even as he pulled the soldier in closer. Realizing it was his divine self that had impacted something, he slammed his will against it.
The man crumpled and hit the ground, his health bar going from green to red instantly.
Congrat—
Runner snarled and slapped the message box off.
Reaching out with hundreds of tendrils from his divine core, he latched onto every soldier nearby he could see.
As every tendril found the “pillar” in each soldier, he cracked it in half.
Roaring, he began climbing over the debris to get to the highest point.
I’ll kill them all. I’ll bury them in their dead. I’ll drink their blood from a fucking mug as I ride roughshod over the mainland and burn their homes and families alive.
All around the temple, soldiers were falling over dead as Runner’s tendrils tore out their pillars.
Standing atop the peak of the ruined building, Runner looked around for more targets, and found plenty.
Crossbows and arrows clattered around him and several arrows punctured him.
He didn’t care.
Hurling tendrils out in ever-increasing numbers, he could feel as he snapped each soldier’s pillar.
Looking back to his Paladins, he found them standing over a few corpses. On the ground next to them were souls. Shattered souls torn from the living bodies they’d inhabited.
I’m tearing out their very souls?
“I’ll make a god damned quilt out of your souls for my bed. Then I’m going to skull fuck each and every one of you on it!” Runner yelled, laughing maniacally as he pulled souls free of bodies. Faster, harder, until he had to go beyond the ruins of the temple.
Closing his eyes, he expanded the area he could reach, feeling and checking each person he came across.
After murdering hundreds of Rike’s followers in seconds, he could taste them as soon as he touched them. The ease of detecting them grew with every death.
Throughout the city he felt their deaths at his hands. Their souls flopping around loosely wherever their bodies dropped.
They hid, burrowing into cellars and attics, running down the street from fallen comrades.
He tracked them down. One and all.
When the city was empty, Runner turned his attention south and east to the seas.
There.
Runner found them by the thousands. Trapped in boats and transport ships.
They prayed to their bitch goddess. Begged for her to intervene.
You’ll wish you never even knew her name.
Runner knew she would not. He could taste her fear. She lurked on the periphery, wanting to collect the souls of her fallen but terrified to do so.
With half of his mind split off by the program in his head, he began gathering the souls of everyone he’d killed in the city.
Using the other half of his mind, he began plucking souls from the ships. First in tens, then hundreds as he got used to it.
They all were pulled to his location.
In no time at all, an armada of ghost ships filled with the dead floated in the harbor.
Tens of thousands of souls filled the sky above Dover. Wailing, gnashing their teeth in fear, they pleaded with Rike.
He could feel her, beyond his reach. Watching.
Afraid.
Constructing an incinerator from his essence, he plotted the best way to destroy every soul he collected in front of their damned goddess.
Then Runner’s head jerked to the side, his teeth rattling and breaking his concentration.
Hands were pressed to each side of his head, and Runner opened his eyes.
Thana stared at him, her brown eyes unafraid and more annoyed than anything.
“There you are, dear heart. Be a good husband and turn those souls o
ver to Ernsta, would you? If you keep this up, you’ll make Katarina climb up here. I admit it, my sister is as strong as an ox, but I’d still rather not risk having her clambering over rocks with how pregnant she is.” Thana tilted his head to the side as if to make sure he could see what she was talking about.
Below on the street he saw Katarina standing in the black-and-red armor he’d made for her. Beside her stood Hannah, Milicent, Heilwig, Ernsta, Amelia, and Brunhild. They all watched him.
“Oh. Oh. Uh. Yes. Sorry. Uhm,” Runner rambled, his mind snapping back into focus. His anger and hatred instantly cooled, like a molten rock dropped into an ocean of ice.
Looking to Ernsta, he moved the mass of souls over to her.
Holding up her left hand, she pulled them all into a portal in her palm.
In the blink of an eye they were all gone. Safely secured in whatever realm Ernsta had sent them.
“Now, escort me back down,” Thana said, holding out her arm to him. “An empress of Bastion really shouldn’t be climbing up broken temples.”
Runner nodded stupidly and hooked his arm into hers, assisting her down the remains of the temple.
“Sorry, Lady Death. I-I thought you were all… all in the rubble,” Runner tried to explain.
“I figured it was something like that,” Thana admitted. She lightly patted the back of his forearm.
“My silly god-emperor. Though I’m glad to see such wrath over my supposed demise, I’m afraid there was no need. Lady Ernsta and Lady Brunhild protected us all,” Thana said, picking her way down delicately.
Runner’s eyes snapped to Ernsta and Brunhild. Ernsta inclined her head ever so slightly, and Brunhild gave him a bright smile.
“I’ll be sure to thank them.”
“That you will. You’ll also be writing thank-you notes to everyone who participated in the conference back in Norwood. We’ll also need to speak about who to dispatch as envoys to the mainland. That can wait of course. I believe you have one more problem to solve.”
Runner nodded his head a little.
Rike.
“I’ll finish that up momentarily. Then we’ll need to get the boats in the harbor and secure Norman’s Port. We’ll set up there and—”
Otherlife Awakening: The Selfless Hero Trilogy Page 39