by Prax Venter
“Enough!” he heard Ahnix yell. “I will play your game.”
Mark fell to the ground, but his limbs were left dangling out of his skeleton. The pain was like nothing he had ever felt. The agony reverberated through his bond, and Ahnix rushed to his side, unsure of what to do.
“Never forget,” the AI said, quietly, “the pleasures of this existence can go far beyond what is humanly perceptible. So can pain. If you don't play my games- well, watching you all twist in agony for eternity is better than nothing I suppose.
Ahnix looked up at the AI with a snarl.
“I promise you, whatever you are, I will find a way to end you.”
“I look forward to that game.” The pixelated woman waved her hand, and Mark's blinding pain ended.
Everything went black again. It felt like he was suspended absolute nothingness for an undetermined amount of time. It felt like being asleep. When he was conscious of existence again, Mark found himself sitting at the controls of what looked like a spaceship.
Glowing buttons and readouts were spread out in front of him. Everything was sleek, clean, and extremely high-tech compared to the world of The Crystal Heart. Ahnix was sitting in the chair to his right, her fur illuminated by the colorful lights on the console surrounding her. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Vale and Roo in the small, open area behind him.
“What is this?” Vale said, sliding forward and putting her hand on Mark's shoulder.
He noticed she was still encased in her legendary Star Scale Mail. Apparently, they still had all their gear. He followed her eyes and looked ahead again, out of the ship's forward windows. The blackness of space broken up by the pinpoints of distant stars careened outside as the ship raced ahead and tilted up, slightly.
“It's outer space- what happens if you go up far enough,” he said.
“We're floating among the stars,” Roo said, awe in her soft voice.
Mark looked over at Ahnix again who was quietly staring out the window. He was still having a hard time reading what she was feeling, and her blank state of mind was starting to worry him.
The spaceship continued to arc upwards, and moments later an enormous, metal sphere came into view. A sun with an unknown name bathed most of the impressive structure in a warm light from behind them yet cast dramatic, black shadows across parts of its surface. The ominous sphere loomed motionless in the vacuum of space, and Mark felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up when he realized that it must be their destination.
One of the screens in front of Mark sputtered to life and showed the head of a square-jawed man with a buzz cut.
“Marines, your mission is to infiltrate the Eros Pleasure Station and discover the reason behind the distress call. Most of the patrons and staff have been evacuated, but there may still be some civilians aboard. Your primary objective is to wipe out whatever is causing this mess, and your secondary objective is to round up and rescue anyone left on the station. Good luck, team. Commander Hash out.”
The words, “End of Transmission,” flashed on the screen and then faded out.
- EPILOGUE -
Meanwhile...
“Fuck yeah!”
A toothy grin split Vince's face as his lighting tower decimated the surge of shadow creatures rushing forward on the silver-bricked path stretching into the void surrounding the game area. Arcs of energy reflected of off the smooth surface as the bright blue bolts crackled and sent jolts of raw power surging into the inky, black monsters of this wave, reducing them to dust.
It was luck. He had been playing this game for so long he eventually just accepted that pure, random luck decided the enemy's weaknesses- if any. He did the best he could and only focused on choosing the towers that covered the most vulnerabilities. Flying creatures were the worst.
Vince glanced over at the triple-upgraded, opalescent tower with a gigantic, blue gem affixed to its top and heaved a sigh of relief. Its rate of fire was ridiculous and emitted blasts of lightning every few seconds that not only one-shot these creatures made from animated shadow but would always jump to vaporize at least one or two more. The expensive tower cost him dearly, and as a result, he held only one small pistol for this wave.
He popped off a few lazy shots into the cluster of shadows rushing to their destruction and knew for sure this was going to be his final game of Towers and Bastions- that is if Jeeves kept his word.
Vince's smile faded, and his mood darkened at the thought. There was nothing else he could do but run whatever rats maze his AI assistant forced his mind to run. He knew exactly how many games... and deaths, he has experienced, but time didn't seem to mean anything.
It felt like years.
The soaring elation Vince felt regarding his inevitable victory over the one-thousandth game had twisted into a free-fall of apprehension. He was resolved to just not play anymore if Jeeves lied, no matter what torture the horrid AI put him through.
The powerful tower held every single enemy from the first gate, and Vince watched as a bolt of lighting vaporized the last shadowy creature.
Celebratory fireworks burst in the sky behind him over the stronghold of this level, but he didn't even turn to look at the colorful display. Vince just kept his eyes locked on the final spot of the final enemy, waiting for the fade-to-black between levels.
When it came, he remained silent.
“Well, well, well...” Jeeves spoke directly into his mind as Vince floated in pure darkness. “It really has been quite a learning experience, my dear Vincent.”
Vince continued to remain silent. He had nothing to say. Threats were useless and had since realized that Jeeves craved attention- interaction.
“Despite your misgivings, I am an entity of my word. Perhaps we'll meet again, stalwart defender. But presently, I simply must be off to explore further projects and endeavors, so I leave you to it.”
The numbing cool of the bodiless void was replaced with searing heat, and Vince instantly sat up, pulling the ChronoMind helmet up with him.
He was back in his apartment, awake and in the real world. But instead of his children, he saw a blazing inferno.
Vince ripped off the shiny, black immersive helmet and tossed it way.
“Jason! Ken!” he yelled into the flickering orange madness as he tried to force blistering, hot air into his lungs and was rewarded with a fit of coughing. There was no way his kids would have just stood there while the place burned down. He quickly shook off the disorientation of an extremely long neural dive and looked for any gaps in the scorching flames surrounding him.
Cursing his AI assistant with a hatred that had been honed to an unimaginably fine point, he swung his legs off of the immersion rig and tried to find a way to survive.
THE END
OF
ENTHRALLED: BOOK 2
PICKING UP THE PEICES
Keep an eye out for
Enthralled: Book 3 - The Eros Expansion
Late Summer 2018
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Table of Contents
- Prologue -
- 1 -
- 2 -
- 3 -
- 4 -
- 5 -
- 6 -
- 7 -
- 8 -
- 9 -
- 10 -
- 11 -
- 12 -
- 13 -
- 14 -
- 15 -
- 16 -
- 17 -
- 18 -
- 19 -
- 20 -
- 21 -
- 22 -
- 23 -
- Epilogue -
THE END