The Excisionists: Book 1

by Rebecca Jensen

  Phineas fingered the thick fur. “I’d love to just stay here.”

  Opal shot him a dirty look. “You’re such a baby. You don’t even want to help your comrades, huh?”

  He stuck his tongue out at her. “You’re the one who ran away on Taska so who’s the baby now?”

  “I did not. How dare you–”

  Edan cut her off. “Yeah you did. What’s wrong with you anyway? I’ve never known you to back down from a fight before.”

  Her eyes flashed with anger. “You don’t know me.”

  Edan tilted his head. “Why would you say that?”

  She crossed her arms. “I’ve never met you before now and I don’t know what that guy is talking about either.” She pointed to Phineas.

  Edan got close to her and stared into her eyes. “What’s your real name?”

  She blinked a few times and then answered. “Opal.”

  He shook his head. “No, I mean the one you were given at birth, not the name you chose for this game.”

  She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward into Edan’s face. “Vanya. And I didn’t choose my name for this game, they gave it to me.”

  I was confused. “Who gave it to you?”

  She stood tall and crossed her arms again. “Cygnet. She told me if I went by Opal, I could get out of the mainframe kind of like the Commander.”

  Amber was stunned. “What did you just say?”

  “You heard me. I’m breaking free from this construct, I just have to make it to the end.”

  Edan held his hand out to her. “Vanya, I believe you. I’ve seen the Commander too and I know what he’s doing. Take my hand and show me what you see.”

  She grasped his hand and closed her eyes. The crystals that hung about her neck twinkled and chimed. Edan’s eyes shifted back and forth rapidly under his lids. A few moments later, they both opened their eyes and Edan seemed unnerved. He dropped her hand and took a step back.

  Her demeanor changed from angry to inquiring. “Why are you afraid?”

  He shook his head. “Um, sorry, I didn’t mean for it to seem that way. I’m just…well, surprised I guess.”

  I raised my hands in a quizzical posture. “What’s going on?”

  He looked over at Amber and then back at me. “Things just got more complicated than I realized. I suspected on Taska that something was weird, but now I think I understand what they’re doing.”

  Mica’s voice was shaky. “So explain it to the rest of us.”

  Edan gestured to Opal. “Everyone, meet Vanya.”

  She curtseyed. “Nice to meet you all.”

  Edan continued. “Opal was not performing as well as she should have been. The game monitors pulled her out but not in the way I’d expected. You see, I was told that they were replacing the lowest performers with other players, but they’re actually overwriting their personality with a program. There’re some entities that were built in this game that were artificial to begin with but have taken on a life of their own. The Vanya, our ship, was one of them. Although Opal’s body is still connected to the game, her mind has been…”

  I offered a suggestion. “Hijacked?”

  “Yeah. That’s a good word for it. One question I have for you though.” He turned to Vanya. “What else can you do that Opal couldn’t?”

  She seemed proud of herself. “Lots. I can access programs, turn things on and off, receive messages…you name it, I can probably do it.”

  Jinx’s eyes shifted with greed. “Can you hack Alchemist’s Crypt? Can you get us inside without finishing anything else in the game?”

  She put her hand on her hip. “I can’t do that. I didn’t make the game.”

  Jinx exhaled. “Then what good are you to us? Maybe we just leave you here.”

  She grew desperate at the prospect of remaining inside a virtual world. “No, no, no. It’s not like that. I can’t break the rules of the game, but I can get you where no one else can go. I’m already familiar with the structure of Alchemist’s Crypt and none of you are. You have to take me with you.”

  Amber seemed nervous. “What about the Commander?”

  Vanya blinked a few times before answering. “What about him?”

  She bit her lower lip. “Who’s he inhabiting? Is he going to make it out of the game too?”

  She twisted her lips. “It’s complicated. He’s a little different than the others. It’s more like he’s a guide in here, plus there’s more of them outside the game. He’s just to get you ready for how they look.”

  Ambers eyes widened. “How who looks?”

  “The true Excisionists.”

  I couldn’t understand what she meant. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure I do either. I know they exist, but I don’t know anything else about them. Well, at least not yet. Dr. Sonnet said she’d introduce everyone after the game ends.”

  Jinx was tiring of the conversation. “Let’s go get this thing done. We can’t sit here all day talking when we’re on a schedule.” She threw on a fur and walked over to Phineas. “You need to transport us so we’re not walking all day to get to the glacier demon.”

  Phineas reluctantly obeyed and the rest of us followed her into the manifold. A short distance from the exit, we could see the whirlwind of snow and ice surrounded by dozens of anthropoids running in a circle and countless bouncing gray blobs. I drew a deep breath and prepared for battle hoping this boss would be defeated more quickly than the last.

  Before we engaged the enemies, Jinx did something she never had before. From under her pale gray robe hidden beneath the thick fur, she pulled the mirror of shadows. The rosy glow around her indigo eyes deepened to crimson and her face took on a fierce quality I couldn’t quite describe. Her wings tore through the back of the fur and she jumped and launched herself high in the air. This time the wings were like raven’s feathers. She cried out with a frightening noise and the ghosts poured from the mirror. Ghastly faces with torn skin stretched across protruding bones floated around the battlefield. Groups surrounded each of us and spoke in whispery tones.

  We will protect you. We will save you. Go forth in your power and defeat your enemy.

  I gripped my weapons with a renewed sense of fearlessness. My shoulder shield glowed red and my veins filled with ice. I felt liberated from fear and rushed toward the bouncing aliens as I morphed into the humanoid class. A battle axe was strapped to my back and four blasters were in holsters on my hips and thighs. I pulled out a gun for each hand and began blasting away. The blobs dropped and vaporized by the dozens. Roaring black anthropoids dispersed and sought out each of us individually. The one that barreled toward me stopped to beat its chest and bear its teeth in defiance. I aimed and shot countless times, but it kept coming. Finally, I pulled out the sleek weapon from my back. It was shapely and unlike any axe I’d seen before. The weight in my hand was perfect and it sliced through the neck of my enemy with ease.

  The anthropoid clawed at me but was pushed back by the ghosts. It howled and bore its metal teeth. Again, the ghostly figures cushioned its blow as it tried to attack. I grinned back at the beast and continued slashing through the thick gorilla fur. Thick drops of gray blood poured from the wounds and only after tens of hits did the beast fall and vaporize into dark smoke. The army around me drew in the fog and seconds later, the anthropoid was now a part of the army.

  I looked around at the others who were fending off attacks from the remaining anthropoids. I ran toward Mica and helped him kill the one that was attacking him. After we ended its life, we ran to Wes to slice and dice the anthropoid he fought. By the time we were done, most of the others had become part of the swirling army of ghosts directed by Jinx who flew high above us.

  The glacier demon was now the only thing we could focus on. The swirling twister of ice enlarged as the blue lightning from its eyes shot up toward Jinx.

  I yelled up at her. “No! Get out of the way!”

  Jinx saw
it coming, but not fast enough. She tossed the mirror toward me just before the lightning exploded through her body. It hurtled downwards. and I had to run to catch it. The force of it knocked me to the ground but I caught it before it shattered. My health dropped but the ghosts still roamed free around us. I could see the mirror was sucking the energy from me and I didn’t know how much longer I could take it.

  Mica cried out to me. “Use your potion!”

  I reached into a pocket and pulled out the energy potion. I ripped off the cork with my teeth and drained it in a second. My health bar was completely full but only for a few seconds. The mirror continued to pull the energy from me steadily but more slowly than before I’d drank the potion.

  I searched the terrain wildly for Jinx, but she didn’t return. “Phineas where’s Jinx?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Go find her now! Everyone else back off. Don’t let the demon touch you.”

  He disappeared into a manifold.

  Mica pulled out his potion and tossed it down his throat. “Throw the mirror to me.”

  I did as he asked just before my health reached zero. I drank my health potion and revived mere seconds before I’d have to respawn. The others in the group pulled their various potions and drank them without hesitation. We spent the next several minutes tossing the mirror from one person to another. Finally, a tunnel opened up and Jinx emerged with Phineas right behind her.

  She flew to Zuri and grabbed the mirror. “Get back to work we don’t want to lose our hold on this demon.”

  We turned back to face our foe. The azure sky had shifted to ebony and shadows emerged from every corner. Each hit from our weapons didn’t make much of an impact on the health of this boss. Mica used his magic to freeze the ice and tossed both crystal and ice shards through the beast. Finally, he encircled it with a cage of frozen water resembling the dome on a snow globe.

  Vanya wasn’t convinced we were using the right tactics. “Do you have the cave spiders?”

  I didn’t look at her when I responded. “No. That’s next on our agenda.”

  She stopped shooting. “I think we were supposed to get them first.”

  “Why? What are they for?”

  “I’m not sure, but the Commander keeps telling me to use them.”

  I called out to our flying protector and landed several more hits on the demon. “Jinx did you hear that?”

  She responded just like I thought she would. “We can’t leave here or we’ll have to start again.”

  I made the decision on what we had to do. “Crispin take Mica and get the cave spiders. Vanya thinks we need them to defeat this demon.”

  He responded without a moment’s hesitation. “Copy that. Let’s go Mica.”

  Jinx screamed at me. “You are not in charge here! You can’t change the order of things!”

  I looked up at her. “What we’re doing isn’t working. We’re missing something, and I intend to try whatever we need to so we can make it to our end objective. I’ll go too if you need it.”

  Crispin’s voice was loud and clear. “We can get it. You stay here and keep us from losing ground.”

  “Got it.”

  Chapter 11 – Cave Spiders

  I stopped firing and ran toward Phineas’s newly generated tunnel to get back to the ship. Mica and Amber emerged behind me and we boarded the ship in haste. Amber fired up the engines and made a quick trip to Verbinia. She flew a straight shot instead of following the normal orbital patterns which took more energy, but the Vanya didn’t seem to mind. I ran through our plans and showed her on the map where to hover the ship and drop us into the water. I knew this would be the fastest way to get from cave to cave rather than land on the few floating glaciers and walk or swim there. Amber piloted the Vanya to the correct location above the first cave and kept her steady while we exited the ship. When the door opened, I dove into the water and shifted into my original form.

  I lifted my head from the surface and faced the ship. “Mica just make a tunnel and follow me.”

  He selected some runes and started by freezing a block of ice into stairs that extended to the ship. He walked down the stairs to the water’s surface then began freezing a tunnel into the water. “How far down are we going?”

  I tapped my headset and transferred a visual map of the areas I’d been to his headset. “I need you to get to the five caves in this area. I’m headed further out to get the rest.”

  He nodded and turned his tunnel to the left before he hopped inside and slid into the cave below.

  Amber lifted the ship. “I’m landing on the nearest glacier. Call for me when you’re ready to go to the next spot.”

  I dipped below the water and propelled myself downward with my thick muscular tail. I stuck to the fastest currents and entered the closest cave. The ice had been worn smooth with repeated contact with moving water. I swam to the entry deep down below in the darkness and then back up into the cave. The cavern widened and opened upwards. I could see a ledge with an air bubble trapped inside the ice. I pulled myself up onto the ledge and searched for the elusive spider. It was somewhat hidden high above me in a gigantic funnel web. The glowing yellow and black spider legs protruded but I couldn’t see the body. I had to change form to be able to climb up to where it sat. I hadn’t expected the spider to move and was startled when it jumped out at me biting me on the neck as soon as I touched the bottom of the web. My body was immediately paralyzed and dropped back into the water below. Everything went black and I found myself back at the starting point when I opened my eyes.

  Mica had been sitting on the staircase of ice waiting for my arrival. “How are we supposed to catch them without dying?”

  I reached out to our companion on the ship. “Hey Amber, do we have any cages or something we could stun the spiders with? Apparently, they’re toxic to us too.”

  “Can’t Mica make a cage of ice?”

  Mica nodded. “Yeah.”

  I had another thought. “Put them to sleep too just to be sure.”

  He stood up with determination in his face. “Alright. Guess we have to go together on all of them.”

  I shrugged. “Yeah, I was hoping to avoid that so we could go faster but it seems like the best way to go now.”

  He formed a tunnel. “It’s probably faster to slide inside the tunnel than to swim.”

  “I agree.” I hopped up onto the staircase and jumped into the shaft behind him. It was like sliding down a luge without a sled. There was such momentum behind me that I crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the cave when I emerged from the opening of the tunnel. It was such a rush that I couldn’t wait to do it again. “Whooo! That was awesome.”

  He smiled widely. “Yep.”

  I watched as he lifted an orb of water and twisted it into an open basket. He handed it to me and I climbed up and held it in place. This time when the spider lunged, it got caught in the basket and Mica sealed it around the creature with more ice. I hopped down and held the striking arachnid out so Mica could sprinkle sleep dust on it. The spider dropped to the bottom of the cage.

  I peered inside the cage at the sleeping beast. “That’s so cool. I wish I could do that.”

  He nodded. “What’s a pain now is how to get back to the ship with it. We’ll have to climb a thousand stairs.”

  “I didn’t think about that before.”

  Amber offered another option. “I can drop a cable from the ship and lift everyone out.”

  “Great. Let’s do that instead.”

  Mica formed an ice shaft in a straight shot upwards.

  I waited for the cable and put Mica and the spider on it first. “When she pulls you up, unfreeze the water and I’ll swim to the next cave.”

  He agreed, and we went our separate ways. I loved the freedom of being alone in the cool water as it slipped past my skin. The next cave wasn’t too far, and I didn’t have to wait inside for long before the tunnel of ice appeared and Mica slid out from it. We finished collectin
g the spiders in the same fashion, then boarded the ship, and finally sped back to Yargkee. By the time we arrived, the demon was still nearly at full health and our companions had nearly lost their patience with the fight.

  Jinx was still mad that we’d left. “Finally. Back to save the day, huh?”

  I ignored her and went straight to Vanya. “What do we do now?”

  She tapped on one of the cages. “Wake them up and then toss them at the demon. We’ll see what happens.”