Heart beating like mad, Ethan launched himself forward toward the open door. He didn’t make it. Tendrils made of pure darkness shot out from behind him and wrapped around his body. Everything went black as the shadow creature enveloped Ethan.
Blinded, Ethan flailed. Moving his limbs was almost impossible, as if he were drowning in tar. At the same time, loud whispering flooded into his ears. The incomprehensible noise seemed to seep into his ears and reach into his brain. It hurt, like alien thoughts that tore his mind apart because they didn’t fit.
Held in place, Ethan realized he couldn’t breathe. His lungs began to burn, but the alien whispering had grown so loud it was drowning out all other sensations. It was more than just a sound. Somehow the darkness itself was squeezing into his skull. His thoughts grew dull under the onslaught. For a moment, Ethan considered letting his consciousness drift away, but then his rage returned. No, this couldn’t be the end. He’d just started, and he hadn’t found what he was looking for!
Ethan gathered all his will and screamed. His fury pushed back against the whispering, driving it away for a second. That was all he needed. Feeling the pressure around his body weaken, Ethan leapt forward.
After pulling himself free of the shadows, Ethan dashed through the doorway, until something grabbed one of his legs and he stumbled. Desperately, Ethan pulled his leg free and then rolled across the floor on the other side of the door.
His armor cushioned him, but he felt a flare of pain in his left elbow as he landed in a heap.
“What the cracked hacks was that?” Ethan remarked angrily as he got up and looked around.
He was standing in a long tunnel made of stone blocks. Quickly, Ethan glanced back the way he’d come, but there was only a blank stone wall and no sign of the door he’d come through. Normally, Ethan would have found it sort of creepy, but now he was just glad there was no sign of the darkness. Since there didn’t seem to be anything dangerous around right at the moment, he took a minute to rest and collect himself. He needed it.
“Seriously, what is wrong with the asswipe who designed that last room?” Ethan grumbled. “Does he just get off by terrifying people?”
Putting players through that kind of stuff without any warning should be illegal. In fact, it probably was! The weird mental effect he’d felt seemed like the sort of game feedback that developers swore didn’t happen. Was this what he’d been warned about? The implant wasn’t supposed to mess with your mind. Ha, the jerkoffs who ran Tekko probably thought they were above the law, and they were abusing their power just so they could screw around with people. Well, with so much money on the line, they were probably right. Stupid corporate jerks.
Ethan drew a deep breath and tried to calm down. The hungry darkness had affected him more than he liked to admit. It had seemed more real than anything he could remember, in or out of VR. Well, at least he’d passed. Since he was now out of danger, his fear was subsiding, leaving only excitement. Despite how creepy the dark room had been, Ethan was actually starting to feel proud about getting through it. It hadn’t been easy. More than a few players had probably failed that test.
The tunnel he was in was lit by round crystals on the ceiling. They were red and gave off a fair bit of light. The walls around him were decorated by lines of intricate hieroglyphics. Below them, the floor was made of stone tiles that looked rather suspicious. They would be a great place to hide traps. Looking down, Ethan noticed the tiles he was standing on were blank, but up ahead they were covered in symbols, and where the symbols on the floor started was where the writing on the walls suddenly ended.
Curious, Ethan began to study the hieroglyphics. There were a lot of them. Most of them featured scenes of stick-like figures with spears, doing battle with beasts. Occasionally winged figures would show up to help the warriors, and some of the figures had simple symbols over their heads that seemed to signify who they were. Ethan ran his hand against the stone as he studied the walls. All the hieroglyphs seemed to combine to create a story about a war.
When he was done reading, Ethan made his way to where the symbols began on the floor. There, every tile in front of him was marked for about a hundred feet, and the only way to advance through the hallway was to go over them. Luckily, Ethan recognized the symbols. They were the same ones that appeared in the hieroglyphs. Each one represented a person or being.
“I’m guessing the ones that represent humans and good guys aren’t trapped,” the amateur linguist mused as he began to think.
To test his theory, Ethan cautiously put his foot on a tile with a mark he recognized as a hero. Nothing happened. He was safe.
“Okay, that seems right,” Ethan said as he let out a nervous breath and stepped back.
The problem was that there were dozens of symbols, and once he began crossing the hallway, it would be difficult to go back and read the hieroglyphs. That meant he had to memorize all the symbols from the story. Ethan sighed. It wasn’t really his specialty. Rote memorization was sort of boring. Maybe there was a trick to it?
“I’m going to have to learn the story,” Ethan told himself.
Memorizing each rune to determine which ones represented heroes and villains would be iffy. However, what if he learned the story? Ethan wandered to the corner where he was pretty sure the story started. It featured a woman with a crown holding up a baby. Above the baby’s head was a rune that sort of looked like an S.
“You seem like Sam.” Ethan chuckled as he began to read.
He narrated the entire story aloud, giving each character a name to match their rune, and then he went through it again.
“And then Prince Aster killed the horned beast, Giggles, saving his people from the oddly triangular monsters that were threatening them, and the war at last came to an end. Everyone then rejoiced and his bride, Princess BB, was released from her prison. Thus, they all lived happily ever after, except for the dozens of people who died horribly, such as his father King Sam, who was my favorite character and deserved better,” Ethan narrated as he finished his third reading.
Thus, armed with a story that was probably almost completely made-up nonsense, Ethan walked to the tiles and began to cross them. Carefully, he stepped from tile to tile, while being careful to only put his weight on symbols that represented heroes from the story. There were a few times where he was forced to step on tiles he had to think about—stupid forgettable side characters—but he eventually made it across without a problem.
“Seriously, Ralph, you show up in one scene and immediately get eaten by a giant goat. Why did you get your own rune?” Ethan chuckled as hopped off the last marked tile and onto the smooth floor at the end.
There was a wooden door on the wall in front of him that obviously led out of the room, but something was bothering Ethan, so he turned back around. The runes he’d stepped on to cross the floor had roughly followed the order they had appeared in the story, but one important rune from the story had been completely missing, the symbol for the angel that had shown up to guide the young prince, which was odd since it showed up over a dozen times in the hieroglyphs. Curious, Ethan scanned the tiles again for any sign of it. There it was! It seemed the rune was only on a single tile. It was a short jump from where Ethan was standing, right up against the wall and well away from the path he’d used to cross the floor. That was odd and very interesting. Ethan hesitated. He had already made it safely across the tiles, so going back would be foolish, but he was rather curious now.
“Here goes nothing!” Ethan jumped onto the tile marked by the angel’s rune.
As his feet hit the stone, Ethan felt the tile sink slightly, and there was a faint click. He cursed and froze in fear, but no traps activated. Instead, one of the stones in the wall next to him slid away to reveal a hidden compartment. Inside was a small object, which Ethan reached for and took out. It looked like some sort of electronic key.
“You seem important, but what do you do?” Ethan mused aloud as he activated the game function that scanned i
tems. After a brief second, an explanatory pop-up appeared above the key.
Data Key Shard acquired!
Collecting three of these hidden items is necessary to open a certain door in the Tower of Ascension, and they will drop from slain players. Each shard also contains a message. Would you like to watch it now? Yes/No
Ethan quickly jumped back to safety before clicking yes. A video played within the pop-up. It featured a close-up of an older-looking man with greying hair and a distinguished appearance. Ethan recognized him. It was Victor Crown, the CEO of Tekko. In all the clips Ethan had seen of him, he had looked confident and smooth, as befitting his status as one of the most powerful people in the world. However, in this video, there was a sadness cast to his eyes that made him look somewhat haggard. Ethan remembered hearing somewhere that the man’s daughter had died a while back, so maybe that was the cause?
In the video, Victor spoke. “Congratulations on finding this data shard, player. You have taken the first real step on your journey up the Tower of Ascension, so I thought I should dispel some of your illusions, in case you aren’t from any of the factions with access to the truth. The true prize that lies atop this tower isn’t mere money, although there is that as well, should you still desire it in the end. Throughout history, the wise and the powerful have vainly sought that which is now being offered to you. Do not waste this chance, and beware of false allies. As you are tested, others will seek to tear you down. If you survive long enough to find more shards, then I will reveal more of the truth about this tower to you. Good luck.”
Victor gave the watcher a grim smile and then the video closed. Ethan stared at the empty space it had vacated. He didn’t know what he had been expecting to hear from the message, but it hadn’t been anything like what he’d gotten. This was just an event in a video game, wasn’t it? Ya, this rich jerk was just messing with him and trying to make the game more exciting. It seemed the big CEO was into role playing. Well, whatever. Ethan’s way forward was still the same.
Since he was done with the room, Ethan walked to the simple wooden door and pulled it open. There was another set of sliding steel doors behind them, and they immediately opened to reveal an elevator. It had steel walls and electric lighting. The sight was a little jarring, but experience with the Worldshift game suggested to Ethan that this wasn’t a trap. Usually you could tell the safe zones from the dangerous ones, and the game developers weren’t so sadistic they would trap elevators. Still, this wasn’t the normal game. Tentatively, Ethan stepped inside. There was a single button next to the door. He pressed it, and the doors closed. Then, the elevator shifted and shuddered as it began to rise, but nothing exploded. A few moments later, it came to a stop and the doors opened.
CHAPTER 5
GAMES OF SKILL
Ethan stepped out into a circular room with modern-looking white walls. It was large, with enough room to hold hundreds of people. Including the one he had just walked out of, three steel doors ringed the room, and there was a large video screen above each of them. As Ethan studied his surroundings, the door behind him slid shut. Immediately, the video screens came online, and writing flashed across them.
Fight! Survive! Conquer!
Defeat the three waves of monsters to proceed to the next room.
“Well, this is straightforward at least,” Ethan remarked as he read.
The floor beneath Ethan’s feet trembled. Startled, he looked around and saw stone pillars slowly rise out of the floor all around the room. There were dozens of pillars of different heights, and they were obviously meant to change the layout of the room and make it a more interesting place to fight. Another flash from the video screens drew Ethan’s attention. Timers had appeared above each of the doors. The closest was counting down from thirty seconds, the next from five minutes, and the last one from ten minutes.
After a quick second of thinking, Ethan drew his pistol and ran toward the door that was closest to opening. The best plan would be to eliminate its occupants as quickly as possible, before the other doors opened. He ran around several pillars until he reached the one closest to the door. He then placed his side against the stone and raised his pistol. He wanted a chance to study whatever came out before engaging it, and the pillar could serve as cover if needed.
A loud buzz echoed through the chamber when the first timer reached zero. As Ethan watched, the doors in front of him slid open. It was dark on the other side, but he quickly recognized several humanoid forms. Their heavily muscled limbs were thicker than a normal human’s, and the skin visible under their rough armor was a dusty grey. The armor itself was made up of dirty ballistic vests above loose pants covered in a camouflage pattern. Their faces were flat and bestial with red eyes, pig-like noses, and jagged teeth that stuck out from between their lips.
“Combat mutants of some kind,” Ethan muttered as he studied his foes.
The creatures snorted loudly among themselves as they cautiously walked out into the arena. There were only six of them. It wasn’t obvious what level they were though. Their rifles and other equipment were generic looking, and Ethan hadn’t encountered mutants that looked exactly like them before. He tried scanning them, but his interface just listed them as unknown hostiles. That left only one option.
Ethan immediately opened fire. His gun thundered as the mutants ducked and raised their own weapons. Ethan’s first few shots slammed into the lead mutant’s chest, and one of them penetrated the chest plate. There was an explosion of gore as the mutant was thrown backward. Good, their armor wasn’t too strong, and they didn’t seem to have energy shields of any sort.
Unfortunately, the other five mutants quickly shot back with the rifles they were carrying, and they howled like raging beasts as they unloaded their weapons. When Ethan crouched and leaned back behind a pillar, bullets slammed into the stone. Splinters of rock went flying as they blew holes in the stone, and Ethan was forced farther back.
Safely out of sight, Ethan reloaded his weapon and planned his next move. The mutants hadn’t been too accurate, so their marksmanship level didn’t seem very high. That, or their weapons were crap. However, the mutants were still laying down too much firepower for Ethan to get his own shots in, and the timers above the other doors were still counting down. Ethan grunted. He needed better cover and to stay mobile if he wanted to win this fight, so he pulled up his inventory screen and took out some cylindrical grenades. Then, he hurled one of them at the mutants and another to his left. The grenades hit the ground and made a clinking noise as they bounced.
Noticing the grenades, one of the mutants howled at the others. As the mutants stopped firing and jumped away, the grenades exploded into clouds of black smoke. The smoke billowed out into a huge cloud that blocked Ethan’s sight of the mutants completely, and their sight of him as well. Perfect!
Grinning in excitement, Ethan dashed from behind the pillar and into the cloud to his left. Running through the smoke, he sprinted to a cluster of four pillars and hid behind the closest column as the black smoke faded.
When their vision cleared, the mutants looked around for their target. Ethan smirked in response. They had lost him in the smoke. All the mutants could do was head to the pillar where they’d seen him last. Ethan let them get a little closer to it and then leaned out from behind cover and opened fire at their unguarded flank. Most of his bullets hit their target. One impacted the lead mutant’s chest. It stumbled as its allies spun around to face their attacker.
Taking the time to aim properly, Ethan shot at another enemy. His bullet slammed into its face, and its head promptly exploded. As they returned fire, the remaining three mutants took cover behind the pillar they’d been approaching.
The mutants had simple but effective combat tactics, as Ethan had assumed based on their crude looks. He’d been waiting for them to make this exact maneuver.
“Got you now!” Ethan yelled as he threw another grenade at his opponents. He wasn’t sure if they understood his words, but it didn’t real
ly matter.
Black smoke enveloped the mutants as it issued forth from the grenade Ethan had thrown behind them. This blinded them, even if it didn’t stop them from continuing to shoot at their enemy’s last location. Ethan went over the shots. He jumped and activated his hookshot. He’d left the hook attached to the top of the pillar the mutants were currently hiding behind, and as the reel spun, Ethan was pulled into the air and over the heads of the mutants.
Just before hitting the stone top of the pillar, Ethan cut the line loose. He plummeted down toward the blinded mutants and landed directly atop of one. Together they crashed to the ground, and the mutant lost its weapon, but Ethan used his enemy’s body to cushion his fall and rolled away unharmed.
As he sprang to his feet, Ethan drew his sword and chopped down on another mutant’s arms. It screamed as the blade easily bisected its limbs so that they and the gun they’d been holding fell to the ground. Ethan flinched momentarily at the unexpectedly loud noise, but he quickly recovered. This wasn’t different from any other virtual reality fight.
The last mutant spun around to take a shot at him, but Ethan slipped sideways and used the motion to cut the beefy mutant’s head off. Then, with a few quick movements, Ethan finished off the mutant on the ground, ending its screaming.
As the last traces of smoke faded, Ethan sheathed his sword and took a deep breath to calm himself. The bloody remains of his enemies lay unmoving on the ground around him, and he couldn’t help but frown as he glanced at them. Brutal fights with virtual enemies were nothing new, but the mutants had seemed more alive than most enemies he’d fought. They mimicked pain much more thoroughly than normal. Was it a feature of the tower? If so, it was a creepy one.
Suddenly, Ethan’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud buzz as the next timer hit zero, and off in the distance, the second gate opened.
Worldshift- Virtual Revolution Page 5