by Skyler Grant
Dungeon Crawl
The Crucible Shard: Book One
Skyler Grant
Copyright © 2016 Skyler Grant
All rights reserved.
This novel is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and incidents described in this publication are used fictitiously, or are entirely fictional.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, except by an authorized retailer, or with written permission of the publisher. Inquiries may be addressed via email to [email protected]
Cover designed by Grace Zhu (gracezhuart.com)
Formatting by Polgarus Studio (www.polgarusstudio.com)
Electronic edition, 2016
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Chapter 1
The coliseum had become a killing field. Down below gladiators and beasts fought for their lives while giant screens focused upon the best moments.
It was Tournament Day in Piper’s Mill. It was the day we got to see legends firsthand, the day our best and brightest competed to join their ranks.
My brother Tommy was down there in that melee, a man and a trident against the world. As family I was in the VIP section, although my interface wasn't nearly so grand as most. There were those connecting from the city, and our special celebrity guests who had come to witness the competition personally. They were indulging in full sensory, lounging with glasses of wine and sampling artfully prepared treats as they watched. Sadly my connection was strictly visual and audio, as it was for any locals apart from the competitors. In cordoned-off areas of the party the most dramatic scenes from below were re-enacted, as if the spectators were in the heart of the action.
In the arena three gladiators, who earlier fought each other and each survived with only a quarter of their health bars, had formed a triangular formation back-to-back, lions circling them.
A diminutive dark-haired woman brushed past me, my avatar flickering to the side as hers took priority. I recognized her, Drea Saunders. Last year in the regional she’d played a physical carry and perfectly timed tower dive to take out enemies that believed they’d found sanctuary. The thin silks she wore made me decide that a visual connection wasn't all bad and I gave her my best flirtatious smile. Her return look was speculative, the smile only polite.
The crowd cheered and I turned my attention back to the display. One of the lions had leaped and ripped out the throat of one of the three fighters. Their formation broken, the others were quickly overcome in a bloody spectacle.
I looked back to seek out Drea again and saw her talking to Tyler George, support in dozens of games and a mediocre one at best. Perfect hair and a winning smile explained how he largely got picked because of his run of high-profile lovers. Given the way they were just a little too much in each other's space, I suspected the gossip sheets would soon have something new to talk about.
I found a display no one was watching and worked with the interface overlay to bring up Tommy. The plan had been for him to stick to the edges of the fight, away from the overly aggressive who would battle in the center at first.
Tommy Ottani
Health: 411/450
Kills: 3 Assists: 4
Score: 500
Current Place: 19
What did I miss due to my wandering eye? That was a surprisingly good score for him having taken so little damage. I selected to replay his performance so far. He was sticking to the plan, moving around the wall of the arena and keeping his distance from the other players, only occasionally rushing in to strike at the back of an already wounded foe or to finish off a gladiator groaning on the ground.
It might not be an especially honorable way to inflate the score, but it was working, and conserving his resources for later.
“Smart,” someone said from behind me. I turned to see a distinguished-looking bearded gentleman. “Although he’s ignoring the animals and focusing on the people. A mistake. A relation of yours?”
“My twin brother,” I said. “I’m Liam Ottani, that's Tommy.”
“James Prescott,” James said, introducing himself. “Your twin? Why aren’t you competing yourself?”
Why wasn’t I competing myself? If you wanted out of the small town life, the tournaments were it. The answer was I’d missed up, and like most of my great screw-ups in life it involved a girl. Amelia was a hauler, from a close-knit clan who moved supplies from town to town and even made it to the cities on occasions. I thought I’d found my own way around the system and out of town, and a girl I loved into the bargain. She thought she’d met the perfect guy until she found someone better. It wasn’t a new story, and I was on the wrong end of it.
“Girl trouble,” I finally told him, really not wanting to get into the whole thing with this stranger.
The screen flashed.
KILLING SPREE
The arena rumbled with the words and one of the gladiators took on a distinct red aura. She was in the middle of the fray and more armored than most with a heavy plate along one shoulder. Aided with a damage boost and some health regeneration, she was a force of nature. I pulled up her information.
Melissa Riley
Health: 220/450
Kills: 18 Assists: 12
Score: 2400
Current Place: 1
“Looking for more trouble?” James asked. “I knew her father. Jim Riley. Four time champion of the Grand Arena, the man used to bring a sword to gunfights and win.”
A lot of those with high scores were lucky, but she wasn't one of them despite the way she caught blows on even that tiny bit of armor and returned them to the most vulnerable parts of her foes.
She was going to go down. That spree had come too early and surrounded her, but it was glorious to watch.
19TH KILL!
20TH KILL!
21ST KILL!
The numbers flashed almost faster than I could keep track as she executed a spinning slash that left three more corpses in her wake.
“She is a mistake I’d make in a heartbeat,” I breathed in sincere admiration.
“Your brother isn’t doing too bad either,” James said.
Well, way to make me feel like an asshole. I shifted my attention back to his display. Tommy and several others who had kept their distance were capitalizing on the chaos. While others were after the big points of bringing down Melissa, they fell upon those distracted by the main fight.
MULTIPLE KILLING SPREES
The crowd was on its feet. In the coliseum's cheap seats the citizens of Piper’s Mill, Sunnyslope, and Flat Rock were cheering themselves hoarse and here in the VIP section even the jaded celebrities were stirred to interes
t. This was the good bit.
On the edges of the fight several figures were flickering over to red as they finally scored enough kills. Tommy was one of them!
Melissa seemed to have vanished under a crush of bodies and though I missed the announcement of her death, there were just too many. She was hardly needed. Those with sprees enabled ignored each other and focused upon the mass of fighters in the middle.
Body after body went down as the announcer roared another kill. It was more chaos and slaughter. There couldn't be more than ten fighters left in the center and they finally formed up into a circle with weapons facing outward. Including Tommy, there were only four on the edges. Even with their buffs, the first to charge into that would surely meet their end.
It was the timeless sort of moment when breaths are held. The outsiders would have to charge, a death would count against their points, but their place may be secured anyway. The insiders had nothing to lose by holding their line and waiting, their only chance at survival was remaining in formation.
Then it happened. With a fearsome roar bodies were shoved aside inside the formation and a red glowing form emerged. She wasn’t dead—how could she possibly not be dead? From among them Melissa tore into the formation. Tommy and the others took the opportunity and charged.
Battle Concluded
Champions
1. Melissa Riley
2. Curtis Grey
3. Mitchell Smythe
4. Tommy Ottani
5. Lucinda Cantelli
I stared in disbelief. He’d made it. He actually made it. Fourth place might not sound like much, but when hundreds stepped into the fray each year even being good usually wasn't enough. This was everything. For this he’d get a pass to the city, for this he’d get a patron.
James was trying to shake my hand, though it was mostly displacing my avatar causing it to wobble ludicrously in the air. I don’t think I could have been more proud. Tommy deserved this. He really, really deserved this. I made my apologies and went about logging out. I wanted to be there to give him my congratulations when he left the pod. Little did I know Tommy’s victory wasn't the biggest surprise he had in store for me today.
Chapter 2
I triggered the log out prompt and the surroundings of the arena faded. I was back home stretched out in the gaming chair. I lifted the helmet off my head.
In the cities gaming pods were full immersion, they looked something like metal potatoes. Roughly cylindrical, but with strange bumps and protrusions, and the inside filled with some sort of gel that transmitted sensation. In Piper’s Mill and other towns we only had the headsets. Each year, for the Tournament, they brought in pods for the competitors, dotting the fields outside town like we were growing them.
I lived a bit off Main Street and it wouldn’t be too far of a walk to Tommy’s pod. In the arena they’d still be celebrating and I should have time.
Main Street was adorned with bunting everywhere. Greens and blues were the colors of the most popular local teams. Confetti lay heavy upon the empty streets after a parade earlier to honor the tournament and celebrity guests. The only other people I saw on the streets were about my age and coming into town, losers who were making their way back home to sulk a bit before the party for the victors later tonight.
Piper’s Mill was like every town, identical in the fundamentals and yet unique in the details. There was the grocer, farm supplies, the tech center and the school. A population of around 5,000, give or take. The city existed, sure, but for the most part this was life. The core of the town surrounded by farms and, if you went far enough, you’d find the whole thing repeated again.
It took about ten minutes for me to get outside town. When I arrived, I was surprised to see two people already waiting for Tommy to exit.
Walt was bearded, overweight and had that food-splattered look of one who is so lost in their own thoughts they forget to eat properly. I only knew him a little, one of the town techs who helped with anything mechanical or electrical.
Then there was Ashley. I remembered her growing up, a pretty girl. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed. We’d dated briefly, too young to be anything serious, and then she’d disappeared for several years. I never did get the story of where she’d gone, or why she’d returned, but she came back with scars and burns enough to speak of some serious tragedy. She had once been a promising contender in the games. Now they wouldn’t even let her into the tournament. The scars hampered her movements too much, and so much of being a gamer was social they would not even give her a chance based upon her looks.
Ashley had been training Tommy for the past few months, so no great surprise to see her here. His victory was her best chance of showing off her skills, perhaps finding some role still in the city, even if not in the spotlight.
“I didn’t expect anyone else to be waiting,” I said.
Ashley and Walt exchanged a look. She said, “Just wanted to offer our congratulations. You know how crazy it's going to get.”
I did. I had some fond memories of the nights after tournaments, and some I didn’t remember at all, which is often proof of a good time.
The pod hissed and layers peeled apart to reveal Tommy. Really, it was probably rather rude of everyone to ambush him like this. The pod's gel requires contact with bare skin to properly convey sensation, meaning Tommy was naked and covered in a sort of grayish slime. Fortunately Tommy has never had the least bit of shame.
“Ashley, Walt, Liam,” Tommy said, stepping out and blinking against the real sunlight. “Badass, right? Liam, can you give us a moment? I just need to dry off, get dressed, and have a chat with these two.”
Hmmph. While at first I felt a little offended, then I was more than a bit suspicious. It wasn't a total shock to see Ashley waiting outside the pod, but I couldn't think of a good reason for Walt to be there. Still, I gave an amiable nod and walked a short distance away and did my damndest to eavesdrop.
There was clearly some sort of argument and given how often Tommy was pointing in my direction, I seemed more involved than I’d have expected. Walt was a tech, had Tommy cheated in some way?
Walt said loudly, “It doesn’t work that way. I don’t care if you're a physical match, there's the mental alignment, too.”
“We can’t trust him,” Ashley said.
Nobody looked particularly happy. Tommy finally motioned me over and gave me his best smile. I wasn’t buying it for a moment.
“Liam, how'd you like to be famous?” Tommy asked.
“I am not going to the awards ceremony pretending to be you,” I said. We're twins, and it wouldn’t be the first time we’d swapped places for things, although we’d not done it in years.
Tommy looked surprised and then thoughtful. He glanced at Walt.
“That won’t work either. The biometrics would be off,” Walt said with a shake of his head. “I don’t like it, but if tonight is a go you either have to bail on the ceremony or it has to be him.”
“Bail on the ceremony? You can’t bail on the ceremony, you’ve been working your whole life for this,” I said, more confused than ever.
“I’m not going to bail on the ceremony,” Tommy said patiently. “That's why I need you to take my place doing something else.”
“I don’t like this, we can’t trust him,” Ashley said again, her eyes narrowed at me.
“We don’t have a choice,” Walt said.
What was going on here?
Tommy said, the words coming in a rush, “Liam, this is hanging on by a thread, so I need you to agree first before I tell you what it is. It’s illegal and risky, but worth it. I gave my word to these two to help get it done, but I didn’t expect to win.”
“So now, because you have a better life on the way, you don’t mind throwing away mine in your place?” I said. The question didn’t feel exactly fair, but then it kind of did.
Tommy winced and looked to the others, “Guys, he’s right. I’ll do it, we just...”
“No, I’ll do it,” I cu
t him off. “You're my brother, I have your back. This is your day. I just wanted you to feel like a jerk about it, because you should.”
“I’m liking him a little more now,” Ashley said with a weak grin.
Tommy sighed, looked between us and nodded. “Not here. I need to go shake some hands in person and transfer over to a better pod before the ceremony. They’ll explain what's up. It’s not screwing you over, Liam. Really, this is an opportunity.”
Sure. Nothing could go wrong. I hugged Tommy and gave him rather weaker congratulations than I’d intended. Then he was gone and I was left with two people still looking less than thrilled that I was a part of whatever enterprise they had planned.
Walt and Ashley led me away from the fields outside town and I soon realized we were heading towards the old city. Cracked asphalt was underfoot and ruined structures cast shadows in the distance. Nobody really went into the old city. You might once or twice as a kid for the thrill of it, but those who'd lived in these ruins were long gone. Nothing but rusted metal and broken stones were left to mark their passage.
Before we got into the city proper, Walt and Ashley shoved a piece of rubble aside to reveal a hatch covered with debris to make it nearly invisible. Beneath, a long tunnel led into darkness.
What had I gotten myself into?
Chapter 3
Walt climbed down a ladder. Ashley jerked her head indicating that I should follow.