by Rick Scott
My body hits the ground as the monster pins me to the floor. I’m barely conscious of what’s going on. Its gaping maw is inches from my face. I scream, terrified, preparing for it to chew my face off! It screeches instead and again I feel my life force draining.
You are defeated.
You have lost a level!
You are now level 81.
You are defeated!
You have lost a level!
You are now level 80.
You are defeated!
You have lost a level!
You are now level 79.
“ARRGH!”
My soul is on fire. What is this? How’s it even doing this?
I watch helpless as a faint white aura is pulled from my body, sucked into the fiery vortex of the demon’s throat. My levels tick away like seconds. No…this can’t be. A morose sadness fills me as I count down the final seconds of my life.
Have all my struggles vainly come to this? This nightmare realm where all my powers are negated and this demon feeds on me endlessly? Hot tears run down the side of my face as my despair engulfs me. My mother, Gilly, the world…I’m no help to any of them now. True death awaits me. And there’s nothing I can do.
I scream in anguish.
Someone help me!
Then something snaps. A new emotion builds inside me.
Indignation.
How can this monster do this? It’s like the gaming rules no longer exist. And if they don’t exist, then why do I need to follow them? Why am I still losing levels and preparing to die? I seethe with resentment. This horrible monster is gnawing at my very soul!
No….I can’t allow it.
I’ve gone through too much.
Come too far.
And have too much left to do!
I won’t die like this…. I won’t.
I refuse!!
“I’M NOT DYING TO YOU!”
Brilliant white light bursts from my body, throwing the monster off of me and pushing it back some twenty feet. Power surges through me as I rise off the ground. My meters peg to full and my mind reforms with a clarity I’ve never experienced before.
I check my HUD and can’t believe what I see.
Name: Reece
Class: NULL!
Level: 99
Strength: 99
Dexterity: 99
Agility: 99
Intelligence: 99
Mind: 99
Vitality: 99
HP: 99999/99999
Stamina: 9999/9999
TP: 9999/9999
What the….? No way!
The monster screeches and thrashes on the ground, righting itself like a crab thrown onto its back. A new emotion exudes from it now. Terror… It’s terrified of me! It lands on its feet and cowers away, hissing and belching fire.
I have no idea what it just called me and right now I don’t even care.
This monster is dying today!
I look down at myself. My body is naked, but with a thought I reform my armor, pristine and glistening in legendary form. In my hand I imagine a weapon strong enough to lay this creature low and golden tendrils spill from my palm. They form into a blade over six feet long, a gleaming katana made of fine curved steel and glowing with a dark purple hue.
[Limit_Break!]
[Relic Weapon Unlock!]
[Great Murakumo Blade]
I wield if effortlessly, gripping it in two hands. I fix my eyes on the beast and feel my anger channeling into the glowing steel.
It ends for you, beast!
It screeches at me again and I can feel its fear, its desperation at the possibility of losing its near-eternal life. I have no pity for it. No remorse for this alien thing that has killed and fed on so many of my people.
Was feeding on me!
“Die, you monster!”
I lunge at the demon with a battle cry and sail across the room with incomprehensible speed. I raise my blade and cut downward with the full momentum of my charge. It squeals like a pig as my blade penetrates its neck and then falls silent as its head separates from its body with a single chop.
You hit XoXalt for 99,999 damage!
XoXalt is defeated!
Molten fire flows from its severed neck. Even with no head, I sense unbelievable panic and pain pouring from it. It’s dying and it’s afraid…
Several system messages flash onto my HUD.
[System Error!]
[Core breach!]
[Data purge!]
[Warning: Unsaved memory will be lost!]
[Attempting Emergency backup: 4%.....8%....15%....]
And then nothing.
Blackness again…
…
…
My senses flood back to me while still in midair. My kunai blade cuts straight through the glowing orb, which flashes once and then turns a dull gray before shattering like glass.
I fly through the air, disoriented, heading straight towards a pillar of crystal.
What the heck?!
I flip in midair. Feet aiming toward it, I break my fall with Wall Run and then slide down the rest of the pillar to hit the ground. My teammates all burst into cheers around me.
“Wow! One hit!” Becky says with a clap. “Good going!”
Val Helena grabs me with a hug around my neck. “Geez! Say something before you go shooting off like that again, huh? Great job though.”
My mind is askew. I’m not sure what’s going on.
What just happened? Was that all real or what?
“Damn,” Aiko says staring up at the glittering cloud of nano-dust where the orb once hung. “Much easier than we thought it would be.”
“See!” Becky says, beaming. “That didn’t take long at all. Now let’s go raise your friend.”
I’m about to open my mouth to say something when the ground shakes beneath our feet.
A huge rumble accompanies it, followed by the grinding of gears and the snapping of steel beams. All around us the clockwork mechanisms of the jumping quest go haywire, crashing into one another.
“The sphere!” Val Helena cries out, pointing ahead of us. “It’s collapsing!”
“Move before something blocks the path!” Aiko cries.
We dash for the open doorway to the observation path, Aiko leading the charge. Val Helena runs with Gilly slung across her back and amazingly lifts Becky into her arms as well. I follow closely behind the giantess, still wondering what the heck just happened.
It feels like the remnants of a dream now, slowly fading away. No…something important happened to me, I need to remember! I struggle to cling to my memories. A monster, I saw it. And it spoke to me. Rage and hate. But it’s all just fuzzy shadows of emotions now.
What the heck did it even say?
I remember something else though.
I died.
But I felt something too. Greatness. Power.
I look down and find I’m still naked. I check my character sheet.
Name: Reece
Class: Ninja
Level: 84
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 80
Agility: 80
Intelligence: 4
Mind: 6
Vitality: 26
HP: 122/1032
Stamina: 297/297
TP: 176/176
No change there. Even my hit points are still in the red. Crap…Did anything even happen at all? Was it all just some kind of hallucination? Or dream? Something tells me to check my inventory and I begin doing so as we clamber down the gangway, my memories still fading. I scroll through my item list, but don’t see anything unusual, until finally ….
[1]
My heart nearly stops.
Level 99?
I focus on the name and it resonates with me at the core of my soul. I d
on’t know what that name means, but it’s important somehow. I say it aloud just so the significance of it won’t slip from my memory along with everything else.
“Kono-Zemsu…” I whisper to myself as I charge ahead with my friends.
Kono-Zemsu.
Chapter 17: Race for Home
The contraptions crash and explode violently below us as we run overhead on the observation path. My memories fade faster as we clamber down the gangway toward the rapidly receding edge of the sphere. We hit it like a wall, but pass right through.
The airy space of the labyrinth greets me like a breath of fresh air. I see my brother and Rembrandt on the opposite side of the platform, a football field’s length away, fighting a Labyrinth Keeper. Rembrandt spots us first and yells through the party chat.
“They made it! Max! They’re here!”
Maxis swings about in our direction while delivering a punch to the angel’s midsection. “Are you guys all right? Just hold on. We’re coming. Stuff’s falling to pieces out here!”
Falling to pieces? I’m not liking the sound of that. I glance behind me at the huge ball of mercury. Although it’s not so huge anymore. It shrinks before my eyes, growing smaller and smaller, the edge of it receding from the surface of the platform like an ebbing tide. We all turn to look as it dwindles to the size of a building, then a house, then a car. I back away instinctively as it vanishes, expecting some kind of implosion.
But nothing happens.
A wall of text streams over my HUD instead.
[Intrusion annulled.]
[Initializing core functionality check.]
[0……………….100%]
[Core Functionally confirmed with 4 Error(s) unresolved]
[System restoration in process…….. Success!]
[Core Functionality(Class_Change) == (True)]
[System restoration in process……….Error!]
[System restoration in process……….Error!]
[System restoration in process……….Error!]
[System restoration completed with 3 Error(s) unresolved]
What is all this?
“Guys, did you see that?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Aiko says, staring into the open space where the sphere used to be. “The whole thing just collapsed in on itself. Good thing we got out in time.”
“No, not that. I mean the system messages.”
Val Helena looks at me oddly. “What messages?”
“I didn’t see anything,” Becky says.
Darn. Guess it’s something only I can see again. I struggle to make sense of it all while still trying to reconcile the strange item in my inventory and the memories that keep fading away. What happened in there? I know I must have defeated that monster somehow for all this to happen, but that wasn’t the important part. There was something else. Something that made me feel strong, powerful. Argh! I just can’t remember! I check my inventory again. That sword has to be the key to it all. That name: Kono-Zemsu. Maybe if I can focus on it, it’ll restore my memories somehow.
But no, not now… Too many things are happening at once. And as important as they all seem, I can’t let them distract me from the main focus.
Gilly.
I check on her timer.
7:44
Crap! Time has really picked up again. “Guys, we need to go! We’ve got just under half an hour to get out of here.”
I’m just about to turn and run when rapid footfalls come from behind me. I see Maxis and Rembrandt, both breathing heavily, their Health bars now in the orange at around 30%.
“I don’t know what you guys did in there,” Maxis says, “but that giant mermaid thing is going nuts!”
The Labyrinth Spirit? I look for it, but don’t see it. Or hear it.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“It’s busting up the place, mate.” Rembrandt says. “Wrecking tiles at random.” His mouth then falls open as he sees Becky for the first time.
“You found her!”
Rembrandt grabs both of Becky’s hands in a shake as Val Helena lowers her to the ground. “So happy to finally meet you, miss. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Ah, thanks…?” Becky says a bit guardedly. I can’t blame her though. Everything is happening so fast and there’s no time for proper introductions. “And you are?”
“Rembrandt,” the cyberpunker says and then he points to my brother. “That’s Maxis.” He then looks around, concerned. “Where’s Gilly?”
My heart pangs at the mention of her name. I shake my head at him. “We couldn’t raise her. Becky tried but it didn’t work. I think we need to get back to the outside to do it.”
Rembrandt furrows his brows above his mirror shades. “Could be the time dilation. Probably needs a proper timestamp to work.”
We all pause dumbfounded and then Val Helena looks at him like he just copied her homework. “Geez, are you a genius or something? We all came to the same conclusion, but it took us a lot longer than that.”
He cracks a grin. “Just like solving puzzles, I guess.”
“Well, I’ve got a few more for you to solve,” I say. If there’s anyone who can help me figure out this mess going on inside my head, it’s Rem. “But there’s no time for it now. Let’s get out of here and save Gilly.”
* * *
We sprint nonstop, crossing half the distance to the exit. Rembrandt takes point, guiding us through the maze of tiles. The patterns are mostly frozen and unlocked and we cross the platforms without needing to pause. My heart is beating so fast it causes my head to throb. So close now.
I check Gilly’s timer.
6:17
We can make it…!
A piercing whale song splits the air.
I stiffen at first, but it doesn’t sound too close.
“What was that?” Becky says as she runs alongside her sisters who both tower over her like giants. I have to admit, the sight of all three of them together brings a warmth to my heart. We did it. We actually found her. I hope we’ll be out of here soon so they can properly reunite. And that goes for me and Gilly too.
“The Labyrinth Spirit,” Rembrandt answers her. “A giant version of the angels on those islands.”
“I don’t remember seeing that before,” Becky says. “Is it a Boss?”
“Could be,” Val Helena says and then she points. “Look! Over there!”
We follow the giantess’ arm to a platform a couple tiles over. The Labyrinth Spirit hangs in mid-air, crashing through it. Debris from the platform sparkles in the distance, cascading down its gleaming white skin like droplets of water.
“Whoa!” Becky exclaims. “That thing is huge!”
“Yeah,” Maxis says. “We were trying to avoid it. That’s why we never got any keys to get to you guys. That thing kept crashing the party. What happened inside there anyway?”
I’m still not 100% sure myself. I’m nearly at a loss for words when I try to answer him, but thankfully Aiko beats me to the punch.
“There was a jumping quest,” she says. And then she grins at me. “Reece owned it like a boss. Then he smashed the dungeon core and the whole thing imploded.”
My brother cracks a smile at me. “Dang. Way to go, little bro.”
The compliment embarrasses me a little, as does the lingering gaze from Aiko. But more than that, the mention of the core makes me feel ill at ease. I’m still not certain what even happened when I hit that thing. Like before, I don’t want this to distract us from the critical task at hand, but I’ve learned now not to hide secrets unnecessarily.
“When I touched that core or whatever it was, I think I got teleported someplace,” I say. “I can’t remember exactly but I think I killed one of the monsters. And it gave me this.”
I link the weapon to the party chat.
[1]
Everyone balks when they see it.
“Whoa! What is that?” Maxis says.
“It gave that
to you?” Aiko asks.
Val Helena looks equally floored. “A level 99 weapon?”
“How’s that possible?” Rembrandt asks.
“No idea, but it might have something to do with this too. When I exited the sphere I saw a whole bunch of system messages pop up.”
I link that next and their eyes light up with the glow of their HUDs as the wall of text appears before them. I wait for their reactions as they read through. A few seconds go by and then suddenly Becky screams.
“Ahhh!”
She falls to the ground holding her head and we all slam to a halt.
“Becky!” Val Helena cries, dropping down to the ground next to her.
Aiko does the same. “Is she all right? Becks!”
Becky arches her back, still screaming.
“It hurts! Make it stop!”
What the heck?
Then I see something that terrifies me.
Her body flashes with nano-dust and a message appears.
Level Down!
Becky has lost a Level.
Becky is now Level 15!
I check my own XP and see it rapidly depleting. Only one thing was capable of doing that. I look to where we saw the Labyrinth Spirit and don’t see it anymore.
Oh God…
“Guys! Grab her and run! Run for the next tile now!”
We barely have chance to move when a sharp wail pierces the air.
KRRREEEEE!!!
I cover my ears as the sound scrambles my brains. Val Helena grabs Becky from the ground and flings her over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. We take off and I look behind me to make sure everyone’s running as we head for the edge of the tile.
It’s close! Just 50 feet away…30 feet…20!
The floor lurches upwards with a massive crash! throwing us into the air.
I cry out as do my teammates as the platform rips apart, debris flying everywhere. I rotate in a spin and catch a glimpse of the Labyrinth Spirit bursting through the center of the platform behind us—majestic even in this moment of extreme turmoil. Gravity tugs at my body and I feel myself falling to a platform that’s far below us. Way too far below!