by Rick Scott
Val Helena goes quiet a moment as if contemplating it. “Yeah…I guess there’s that. So what are you going to do then?”
I shrug. “I dunno. I just wish things could go back to how they were. I mean, I didn’t mind the playful flirting too much, because it just seemed like she was trolling me, but now it’s really awkward.”
Val Helena rests a hand on her armor-clad hip. “Well, I’ll stay out of it for Gilly’s sake, but you’re going to need to sort this out, Reece.”
“How?”
“You need to go talk to her and lay down some boundaries.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “I don’t want to lose her friendship over this. She seemed distant afterwards. She gave me the cold shoulder and everything.”
“Cause she’s probably embarrassed,” Val Helena says. “Trust me, this is typical Aiko. She’s a damn sociopath. Anytime she sees someone in a happy relationship, she needs to try and mess it up somehow. And I mean any relationship. Not just romantic ones.”
“You mean like you and Becky.”
“Exactly. The girl gets jealous so quickly. And over nothing.” Val Helena huffs out a scoff. “I suppose I should be relieved she’s not throwing herself at Maxis.”
“Oh, I don’t think there’s much chance of that. They don’t seem to like each other too much. Too much PvP history, I guess.”
“Yeah. Maxis would probably tell her where to go shove it too,” Val Helena says with a playful grin.
I wait for her to say something else, but that seems to be the extent of what Val Helena has to offer. I don’t feel any better about the situation, though. Or quite know what to do. If I’m honest, my ego kind of likes the idea that someone as hot as Aiko could have a real crush on me. But it’s kind of inappropriate too. I think.
A message appears on my HUD.
Gilly: Hey! You still down there with Val? (:
Gilly. She’s just the distraction I need to stop thinking about this crazy stuff.
Me: Yeah. We were just sparring.
Gilly: I know! Becky told me :P She said to tell you guys the soup is ready.
Me: Okay thanks. See you in a few! <3
“Gilly just PMed me,” I say. “Food’s ready.”
“About time,” Val Helena says, sheathing her massive sword. “A good enough excuse to call this a draw, I guess.”
“So, any other advice on this Aiko deal?”
Val Helena pulls her lips to the side and then her voice softens a bit.
“Let her down easy,” she says. “She probably knows what she did was wrong and doesn’t know how to deal with it. She’s a lot more sensitive than she lets on.”
I chuckle. “Yeah…I kind of gathered that much myself.”
“Okay, let’s get out of here,” Val Helena says. “We’ve got a lot of plans to discuss over dinner.”
* * *
I enter the kitchen to the sound of slurping and the clinking of spoons. Everyone is sitting around the single dining table that’s lined with wooden bowls and a big pot in the center with a basket of rolls to the side. I take the spot saved for me, next to Gilly, and Val Helena takes the same next to Maxis. My stomach growls as the aroma of the soup fills the air and I can’t wait to dig in like everyone else.
I risk a glance toward Aiko who is seated at the far end of the table by herself. She eats slowly, staring straight into her bowl. Val Helena’s probably right. I do need to have a conversation with her to clear the air at some point, but by her body language it won’t be right now. I share a smile with Gilly instead, who is sipping the steaming soup somewhat daintily.
“You so have to taste this, Reece,” she says between spoonfuls. “It’s amazing.”
“Yeah, it looks good.”
Pieces of chicken, potatoes and other vegetables swim in a hearty broth so thick it could be called a stew. I grab my spoon and tuck in. The savory soup bursts with flavor in my mouth and warms my stomach on the way down. It relieves my hunger as well as the turmoil in my mind. I help myself to some bread and the sweet rolls take the dish to a whole new level.
“This is excellent, Becky,” I say with my mouth half-full. “Really hits the spot!”
“You said that right, mate.” Rembrandt gives Becky a grin. “I now see where Val stole her cooking skills.”
That gives everyone a laugh. All save for Aiko who stays quiet down at the end of the table. We eat for a bit, mostly in silence because I think everyone is just that hungry and the soup just that good. I try to think back to the last real meal we’ve had and it has to be before we fought the Shadow King. With everything that’s happened since then, it feels like ages ago now.
We help ourselves to seconds and thirds and nearly clean the pot before everyone declares they’re stuffed. We’re all well-rested and fed now and it seems the perfect opportunity to start our meeting.
“Okay, guys,” I say. “We have some decisions to make about what we’re going to do next, but before we get into that I think I need to share with everyone about what happened to me inside the labyrinth.” I look to Becky. “Becky and I had a conversation earlier about the monsters we saw. I still don’t know what they are, but dealing with them is something we may be forced to face and we need to be prepared.”
“I agree,” Gilly says. “I saw those things too, you guys. I don’t know what they are either, but they’re like nothing in the game.” She pauses a moment, looking down into her soup. “It was terrifying. If that’s where we all go when we die, then we can’t let anyone else get killed out here. Ever.”
Her words sober us some and I rest my hand on top of hers for comfort.
“Look,” Maxis says, leaning back from the table with his arms crossed. “I can’t pretend to understand what it is you three have experienced.” He looks between Becky, Gilly and me. “But we can’t lose sight of the main goal. Our families are dying back home. We need to find Citadel and restock the nano. That’s what we came for. If we don’t, we’re all dead already.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I know that. And that mine I found could be the path to finding Citadel. But it’s crawling with those things too.”
“Or it could not be the path,” Aiko says.
Everyone turns to her, surprised to hear her speak for the first time since sitting down to eat. She doesn’t look up from her soup as she continues.
“What evidence do you have that it’s even down there, Reece?”
Her tone has an edge to it. Accusatory. She’s slipped into her other self again—the old Aiko with the abrasive attitude and sharp tongue, which now appears to be directed at me. She asked me a question though and I don’t really have a good answer. “I don’t have any evidence. Except it being underground and I saw something huge in the distance. After seeing Planet Hell, I’m wondering if it could have been a whole bunch of those giants swarming on top of something down there.”
“And you think that something could be Citadel?” Aiko says sardonically.
“It’s a good enough place to start looking to me,” Maxis says.
Aiko lets out a cackle. “Says the guy who hasn’t been able to find Citadel in what…three tries now?”
Maxis turns red and his knuckles crack as his hands ball into fists. “What did you just say?”
Val Helena throws Aiko an icy stare. “What the heck is wrong with you? Cut it out.”
“Cut what out?” Aiko says. “Being realistic? I’m not going down a hole full of giant monsters for a maybe, Helena.”
She spits out the word Helena like a curse. I’ve only ever heard Aiko refer to the Half-Giant as that a couple times before—back in the Shards when she was being a real jerk about everything.
“Did you not hear what he said?” Maxis says, pointing at me. “He saw something huge down there. It could be a Builder. And we know one is supposed to be close to Citadel. If we’re trying to figure out where we need to head next, then I say that’s where we ought to go. Back to that mine.”
Aiko shakes her head dismissively
, but doesn’t say anything else. Maxis looks like he wants to belt her one and so does Val Helena.
I get a PM.
Val Helena: She’s acting out. You need to sort out that business with her sooner rather than later, understand?
Me: Okay.
Val Helena: I mean it. Or I will. With my fists.
Eesh.
“What about that code?” Gilly says. “Remember, Reece?”
“What code?” Maxis says.
It takes me a moment to remember myself, but then I recall what Gilly’s talking about then. The error code when I touched the crystal pillar down in the mines. “When I was down in the mine, I touched one of the crystal pillars and it gave me an error code. It was the same code I got when I touched the Wayfaring Stone in Brookrun too.”
“What do you think it means?” Becky asks.
I shrug. “I dunno. But Gilly and I were thinking that maybe if we got to a tech world we could research what it means.” I turn to Rembrandt. “Do you think that’s possible, Rem?”
The cyberpunker is quiet for a moment, like he’s studying something behind his mirror shades. Finally, he says, “I’ve been thinking about all this for a while now. To answer your question, yes I think it probably is possible to find out what it means. New London has an archive, but it’s controlled by the ruling AI there.”
“Will it allow us access?” Gilly asks.
“We’d have to ask. Like I said, their control is more overt there. We’d have to find a way to have an audience. It’s a bit like meeting a president or something.”
“You’ve spent a lot of time there?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Maxis answers for him. “We were both there over a month the last time we were here. It’s a different ball game over there that’s for sure. You think that guy Braxus was a prick?” He lets out a caustic laugh. “The place is full of punks like him. And those are just the NPCs.”
The mention of Braxus sours my spirits. We still need to deal with him, but I can’t let that distract me from the bigger goals we’re discussing now.
“So do you think it’s worth heading there for more information?” I ask.
“Perhaps that and more,” Rembrandt says. He shifts on his stool, crossing one leg over the other as he leans an elbow on the table. “I’ve got a couple of theories of my own that I’d like to share, but first I’d like to hear what you wanted to say, Reece. I think whatever happened to you in that sphere will have a lot to do with where we need to go next.”
The way he says it, makes me feel almost nervous about telling everyone what happened now. All eyes shift to me, both in anticipation of what I have to say as well as whatever Rembrandt is hinting at to discuss further. I take a deep breath and prepare to let it all out—as much as I can remember anyway. The thoughts are faded and fuzzy even as I try to recall them.
“After I got inside, there was a monster like the ones I’ve seen before. But this one was different,” I say. “Special.”
“Special how?” Val Helena asks.
I shake my head, the memories already eluding me. “For some reason it reminded me of another player more than a monster or an NPC. It had classes and could change them. I remember that. There was a whole bunch of other stuff too, but I just can’t see it clearly. We fought I think.” I close my eyes and try to conjure up the memories, but all I feel is a sense of extreme desperation and hopelessness. “I don’t know how I beat it. Sometimes I’m not even sure I did.”
“You must have done something,” Rembrandt says. “It gave you that weapon didn’t it?”
I shrug and link it to the party chat again.
[1]
“Yeah… this weapon definitely has something to do with it, but beyond its name, the rest is pretty fuzzy.” I look to Rembrandt. “Do they have stuff in New London that can restore memories too?”
“They have the equivalent of med pods,” Rembrandt says. “So probably, yeah.”
Maxis lets out an impatient sigh. “How’s this supposed to help us find Citadel, guys?”
“Maybe it won’t,” Rembrandt says. “But it might help us find something even greater.”
We all look at him then.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“All of you,” he says. “Bring up those system messages that Reece sent to you earlier.”
We look to one another and our eyes light up with our HUDs as we recall the data.
[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]
“Click on the area where it says 3 Errors unresolved.”
I do so and a new window opens up with more text.
[Error list:]
[Core Functionality(Fast_Travel) == (False)]
[Core Functionality(Level_Cap_99) == (False)]
[Core Functionality(Respawn) == (False)]
What the….?
“Whatever you did inside that sphere was not insignificant, Reece,” Rembrandt says, looking at me. “You removed some kind of system fault. It gave us the ability to change classes again. And from this list, I think there exists the possibility to restore even more.”
“Holy crap,” Val Helena says, eyes as wide as quarters. “Fast travel? Level Cap 99?”
“The last one’s most important,” Rembrandt says. “Respawn.”
My heartbeat quickens at the thought of that. To be able to die and respawn?
In real life?
“Gilly, Reece,” Rembrandt says. “When you died and saw those monsters, you were transported somewhere else, yeah?”
Gilly nods. “Yes. Like a…hell kinda place.”
“On another planet,” I add. “I saw two moons.”
Rembrandt nods. “So here’s my theory. Whatever those monsters are, I think they’re causing some kind of viral infection to the system. They’ve disabled these core abilities and by destroying whatever was inside that sphere, you cleared the fault. When we travel here the system warns that you can’t respawn. We always assumed it meant real death, but from what we know now, that’s not true. It actually takes you someplace else. I’m guessing those things replaced the respawn system with something else and now it respawns you in a different location. In that hell place you went.”
My mouth goes dry at the thought of that.
“The point is,” he says. “These monsters have messed with the game world at its very foundation. And we uncovered it. Not only that, we found a way to reverse it.” He then smiles at Val Helena. “I guess we have you to thank for that, Val.”
“Huh?” Val Helena says. “Me?”
“You’re the one who wanted to enter that labyrinth in the first place, didn’t you?” he says. “We never would have discovered all this if not for that. Turns out there was far more hidden in there than we bargained for. Things that could change our very existence, both in game and out.”
The way he says it sends a shudder down my spine.
But he’s right.
What we just discovered, could change…everything.
“So what’s all this mean?” Gilly asks. “Should we be trying to find more of those spheres or something?”
“I think I might already know where one is,” Rembrandt says.
“Where?” I say excitedly.
“In New London, I remember people talking about a place that sounds a lot like the labyrinth, now that I’ve seen it for myself. I think it could be the gateway to another sphere.”
“Whoa, hold up!” Maxis says, pushin
g away from the table. “We nearly all just died multiple times in that crazy death trap and you want to go looking for another one?”
“Look at that list, Max,” Rembrandt says. “Fast Travel? Respawn? Do you realize how much more powerful we’d be if we had those abilities back? Look at what we were able to do by restoring class change. We’d all be dead now without it.”
I never thought about it in those terms until now, but he’s absolutely right. “So you think we should try to unlock all these abilities first before looking for Citadel?”
“Aw, hell no!” Maxis says, already shaking his head.
“Max!” Rembrandt says. “I’m not saying anything like that. I’m just presenting what I’m piecing together here. And there are a lot of big gaps. Like where do the Builders, the AIs fit into all this?”
“What if they are the AIs?” Aiko says. “The real ones. Not the stupid NPC keepers we find in the safe zones. What if these things are what the AIs have evolved into now that they’re totally free of our control? What if these are the Builders we’ve been looking for all this time?”
Her words send another chill across the table.
“We simply don’t know,” Becky says. “That’s the issue. We need to learn more. We need answers. We need to find out what Reece has locked away inside his head.”
The attention shifts suddenly to me.
I raise both hands in defense.
“Hey, don’t look at me guys.”
“No, we have to,” Rembrandt says. “That sword is proof of it. You’re likely the key to this, Reece.”
Maxis sighs loudly. “Look, we can’t keep putting Citadel on the backburner like this. If we don’t focus on it, we’re never going to find it! We’re never going to save anyone!”
“No one says we have to, Max,” Gilly says. “Just like before, the goals need not be mutually exclusive. If I have access to a database, I can research and find the location of Citadel, I know I can. Especially if that error code is any clue. And if we’re able to restore these functions, it’ll only make it easier for us to get where we need to go, right? Fast Travel? Hello?”