“Are we done here?” the demon asked.
“I suppose we are,” Ethan replied.
Without another word, the creature gave Ethan a little bow and then disappeared into a cloud of black smoke. Its collar hit the floor with a clatter, and Ethan scooped it up and shoved it back in his inventory.
After studying the map he’d been given for a moment, Ethan realized the base he was looking for wasn’t all that far from his team’s old one. He supposed that made sense. With Jude’s help, they’d probably been shadowing his team for quite a while, just waiting to swoop in at the last minute to steal their keys. The fragging bastards.
Ethan decided to get moving. He threw on his stealth cloak before heading for the stairs his team had used before. He then carefully crept down them and looked around. There were three humanoid robots guarding the elevators down there, but none of them were looking in his direction. They weren’t set up to watch for threats from above.
Drawing his energy blade, Ethan took a deep breath to calm his mind in preparation and then he jumped off the stairs. As he landed on the floor next to a robot, he lashed out with his blade, bisecting it in a shower of sparks.
The other two robots were already swirling around to aim guns his way, but Ethan was ready. He lunged sideways to confuse their shots and line up his own. Then, he grasped at the Origin and hurled a blast of aether at the closer target. There was a loud cracking noise when the robot was thrown back into its ally, and they both smashed into the wall with a bang. Before either robot could recover, Ethan dashed forward and cut them apart with a series of quick slashes. The entire fight had taken about five seconds.
Victorious, and feeling fairly smug about it, Ethan turned toward the elevators. His team had avoided them the first time because they were too easy to trap, but now Ethan had some new tools at his disposal, and he didn’t really want to fight all the way down the tower.
A simple touch of the panel next to the central elevator door opened it, so Ethan stepped inside. Once there, he closed his eyes and attempted to once again access his new ascended abilities. Using them, he should be able to seize control of the device in a far more effective way than the hacking used by regular players. He could alter the code of the game itself.
This time, the ability was easier to use. The elevator shuddered and began descending. Ethan rode it all the way down past the first floor and then to the basement. Hopefully, there would be an easy way out of the tower down there.
Once the elevator stopped, Ethan pressed his hand against the panel to open the doors and stepped to the side. He didn’t want to be in plain sight if there was something waiting for him.
Once the doors opened, Ethan cautiously peeked through the widening gap between them. He saw another small lobby, but he didn’t see any guards. There was a pair of swiveling cameras, but he dealt with those by releasing a mechanical bug he still had from Michael that flew toward them and took over their feed.
That done, he stepped out of the elevator and carefully studied his new surroundings. There wasn’t much to see. The room he was in had a plain cement floor and no real decorations. Lots of dull grey. Up ahead, there was a wide tunnel he couldn’t see down because it took a sharp turn to the left, but a cacophony of noise echoed from it, full of clanging and whistles.
With nowhere else to go and drawn by all the noise, Ethan headed into the tunnel. Everything down here was gloomy and industrial looking. Featureless cement dominated the walls and ceiling.
Once he reached the turn in the tunnel, Ethan peeked around it. He saw exactly what all the noise had made him expect to see, an underground subway station like the one he’d seen before. It was no wonder his team hadn’t been able to find an underground tunnel that led to the central tower. The only way to reach it was by using the heavily guarded train.
The station before Ethan was bustling with activity. Both humanoid robots and spider bots were unloading cargo from a stopped train. The drones took the boxes to a crane that dropped them next to a huge freight elevator.
Ethan studied the movements of the robots for a few minutes. It looked like they were just finishing unloading the last two freight cars. Their movements were also very repetitive, so Ethan quickly memorized them. However, it turned out he had less time than he thought. There was a series of loud clangs as the doors of the freight cars slammed shut. The train was getting ready to leave.
“Frak,” Ethan swore as he tugged his stealth cloak tight and ran into the station. He dashed behind a pile of boxes and then right behind a spiderbot carrying a crate.
The sound of a powerful whistle echoed through the chamber as the train began moving. Ethan was close now, but the doors had all closed. So, with no other option, Ethan dashed forward and jumped onto the moving train. In the air, he reached out and grabbed the top of one of the freight cars so he could pull himself up on top of it, where he was hopefully out of sight.
As he pressed himself against the car’s steel roof, Ethan thought he heard an alarm go off at the station, but the train was already hurtling away through the tunnel. Within seconds, the station was far behind him. It seemed like he’d escaped the tower, but he couldn’t afford to relax yet.
Wind whipped over his armor, and the entire freight car shuddered beneath Ethan as it raced along the underground track and toward some unknown destination. Ethan was more than a little curious to see where it eventually stopped—how big was this floor?—but he knew the train would soon pass the point where he would begin getting farther away from his destination instead of closer. Thus, the next time Ethan saw an empty station ahead, he jumped off the train. The landing was quite rough, but after rolling, he noticed his armor had managed to absorb the impact without much problem. He was left with only a bit of wooziness and no major injuries.
After brushing himself off and fixing his cloak, Ethan checked his map again. He then walked across the empty station and out into the main tunnels of the metropolis’s underground. His destination wasn’t all that far now, and he was quite used to moving through these passages.
There were cameras all throughout the tunnels, but Ethan knew how to deal with them. The scanner built into his helmet detected them from a distance, so as long as he didn’t get too close and he moved slowly, his stealth cloak concealed him from them. Occasionally, he ran into a camera he couldn’t slip past, so he used the mechanical bugs to hack them.
Of course, the cameras weren’t the only obstacle in his way. Ethan soon ran into a patrol of humanoid bots that were wandering around through the tunnels, but thanks to his stealth cloak, he was able to slip out of their way without being detected.
Now that he knew about the true purpose of the Tower of Ascension and the technology hidden within it, it was obvious to Ethan that this entire floor was a training area. Players who passed it would have experience dealing with the type of surveillance that was common in real life, although they would still need the technology from the game. That had been Ethan’s problem. He’d been grabbed by the bureau before he’d had a chance to arm himself with equipment from the game.
The first three floors of the tower also had clear purposes. The first one presented the players with a series of tests that selected for self-awareness and willpower among other things. Ethan assumed those were traits that helped people ascend. The second floor was probably designed to make the players form teams. Standing up to the government or even just surviving what was to come would require teams of skilled people who could work together well. The third floor’s purpose was obvious. It was where players learned about the Origin and evoking. Ethan wasn’t sure about the exact relationship between ascension and the Origin, but they were probably related somehow.
After taking a left into a tight side-passage that had steel pipes running along the walls, Ethan’s scanner alerted him to the presence of two nearby cameras hidden among the pipes. These cameras were different from the usual ones though. They were much smaller and better concealed, which meant they had prob
ably been placed by Jude’s team to guard their base. He was close now.
Ethan decided to simply slip past them. He didn’t recognize their design, but it was unlikely they’d be able to detect him under his cloak now that he knew they were there, and he wasn’t in the mood to play around. He wanted to get this over with.
Thus, Ethan ducked and crept past the cameras. He then took another left and found himself in a short hallway full of crisscrossing pipes. It was a dead end, and there was no visible way forward. Frowning, Ethan checked his map and then turned to study his surroundings again. A moment later, his scanner spotted what he was looking for, a hidden entrance. Behind some pipes lay a shadowy stretch of wall. It was hard to spot at first, but there was a door there. It had been painted the same color as the walls, so it was hard to see in the dark.
Ethan briefly considered trying to hack the door and sneak inside, but he wasn’t in the mood. It was time for some action. These traitors and revolutionary wannabes were about to get an ass-kicking.
Grinning fiercely in anticipation, Ethan took a deep breath and reached for the Origin—that which was everything and yet indivisible, a gateway to another plane of existence. Isolating a single point, Ethan then delved within himself for a rune to offer the Origin. He knew which one he wanted, but he’d only used it once before. Still, the blazing red symbol appeared almost immediately. It shimmered with frantic passion and violent energy drawn from Ethan’s own being. It burned with the anger Ethan felt at being stifled and the righteous fury he had felt when he cast off his chains.
As Ethan grasped the rune, power and aether seeped forth into the air before him and formed a swirling ball. Flames flickered around the edges of the orb as it quickly heated, and within seconds, it had become a seething red fireball.
Ethan laughed wildly as emotional feedback from the rune hit him. As he felt the glorious rage, he slammed the fireball into the door of Jude’s secret base. The steel cracked and sizzled as the burning aether tore it apart. There was a loud boom a moment later, and the broken remnants of the door were thrown into the base. Steel skidded against cement before coming to a stop with an echoing bang.
Smiling, Ethan walked through the smoldering doorframe and stepped into the base. It was much like his team’s old base: a small abandoned room that had been fixed up as a temporary shelter. Ethan didn’t have time to look around much though. The room wasn’t empty. Three players in black were present. Each of them was staring at Ethan as if stunned, but they quickly reacted to his surprise invasion. Ethan didn’t see Jude around, which was disappointing.
“What the frak!” a man exclaimed as his helmet appeared over his head.
There were two players to Ethan’s left. The closer one was standing and drew a pistol. The other one was leaning over a machine on a table, and he immediately raised his arm and activated an energy shield, as if to protect both himself and the machine. The third enemy was standing to Ethan’s right and was only a few feet away. She lunged for Ethan as she drew an energy blade.
Jumping away from the woman with the sword, Ethan twisted around and sent a blast of aether at the man with the pistol. This forced him to dodge to the side and lower his weapon.
“Who the shock are you?” one of the men asked Ethan.
“I’m here to collect a debt.”
CHAPTER 38
INFORMATION EXCHANGE
Still grinning, Ethan drew his own energy blade as he spun around and blocked a slash from the woman. As their blades sizzled from the impact, he pushed back with all his strength, which surprised the woman and almost made her stumble. Ethan then took advantage of this distraction to dance around the woman so that she was between him and the shooter. It wasn’t where she wanted to be, so she tried to swing to the side, but Ethan stopped her with a series of quick strikes that she had to block.
The man with the pistol ran around to line up a shot, but Ethan was easily able to keep the woman between them. Of course, the man with the shield didn’t stay idle either. He now had a clear shot and he took it. An orb of aether appeared in front of the man, and he hurled it at Ethan.
Still fighting the woman, Ethan watched the incoming projectile out of the corner of his eye. When it was just about to hit him, he summoned an orb of his own that enveloped the projectile and froze it in place. Ethan then hurled the orb back at its creator. The man quickly raised his shield, but the impact of the blow still threw him backward and knocked him onto the ground.
This display of evoking skill surprised the other players in black armor. They both flinched. Meanwhile, Ethan threw himself forward. He unleashed another flurry of swift strikes against the woman, which she had difficulty avoiding. Ethan’s glowing blade hummed as it cut through the air.
It was time to end this. Ethan was more than a match for these players now. His improved reflexes made it seem like they were moving in slow motion, and his senses allowed him to easily perceive everything going on around him. He was like a shark in the deep waters of the ocean confronted by scuba divers. Now that he’d ascended, this was his environment and they were but clumsy visitors who could never truly be at home here.
The woman slashed at Ethan’s shoulder, but he easily sidestepped the blow and counterattacked all in the same motion. With snakelike speed, his sword lashed out and sliced into the woman’s arm. Her armor did very little to stop the energy blade, so Ethan’s weapon cut right through her limb, severing it completely. She shrieked as she stumbled back, so Ethan finished her off with another strike that decapitated her.
“Fuck you!” the man with the pistol swore. Immediately, he began unloading his weapon at Ethan.
Raising a hand, Ethan blocked the bullets with an aether shield. Shocked, the man hesitated, so Ethan sheathed his blade, drew his pistol, and shot him right in the center of his helmet. His very dead body then flopped over backward.
That left one player in all black still alive. Ethan looked over and saw the man in question jump to his feet and pull out a familiar weapon. It was the energy whip from before.
Ethan laughed as he prepared himself. “All right, let’s do this.”
The player in black armor activated his weapon, and the whip dropped to the floor as it extended to its full length. Over six feet long, it was made from glowing white metal blades connected together by thick black wires. It didn’t stay still either. The player in black twirled it beside him, and it crackled with electricity as it tore through the air. All in all, it was a very intimidating weapon.
Suddenly, the enemy player lunged forward and whipped his weapon at Ethan. Slicing through the air, it zipped straight toward Ethan’s face with incredible speed. Ethan was ready though. He sidestepped the attack and tried to charge in closer to his enemy. Dancing aside, the enemy tugged on his weapon and it gracefully curved back at Ethan. The whip almost seemed alive, like a snake determined to bite.
Changing tactics, Ethan stood his ground and pushed the whip away with a blast of aether. The enemy reacted quickly and twisted around to regain control of his weapon, and at the same time, he raised a hand and launched an aether blast of his own at Ethan’s face.
Ducking below the attack, Ethan tried to charge in and stab his foe, but the man took a graceful step back and kept him away with a flurry of quick whip strikes. Flinching away from the dangerously fast whip, Ethan scowled. It was proving difficult to get close to his enemy. He should start taking this seriously. He wasn’t just another Worldshift player anymore.
Blade held low, Ethan glided forward. Immediately, the whip lashed out at him, but he was ready. As he stared at the weapon with intense focus, it seemed to slow in midair as his perception of time shifted in response to the danger. Calmly, Ethan stepped to the side and dodged the whip before continuing to advance. It came around again, and he deflected it away with a swing of his blade. Then, he ducked under a third swing and raised his blade to strike at his foe.
Startled, the player in black jumped to the side and lashed at Ethan with his whip a
gain, which was what Ethan had been waiting for. The tip of the weapon swung clumsily through the air before being caught in an orb of shifting force that hung right next to Ethan’s helmet. The player in black tried to push Ethan back with another aether attack, but Ethan simply leaned out of its way. Spinning around, he then brought his energy blade down on the trapped whip as hard as he could. The sword hissed and flared with light as it cut through the energy whip.
The player in black was caught off guard and stumbled back, away from the destruction of his weapon. Ethan didn’t let him get far. Leaping forward, he punched the man in the head as hard as he could. There was a loud thud when the armored glove smashed into the helmet, which was sent crashing over backward.
Ignoring the vibration going down his arm, Ethan stepped toward his stunned enemy. However, instead of finishing him off, he simply swung his blade around so that it was aimed at the man’s chest. “Contact Jude and get her online. I want to talk to her.”
The man in black hesitated for a moment, but he knew the fight was over. “Why would I do that?”
“Because otherwise I’ll kill you and destroy everything here, including that machine you were trying to protect earlier,” Ethan replied simply. “And tell her to come alone. I’ll shoot anyone else who appears.”
After a brief nod, the man shimmered out of existence as he logged off, leaving Ethan alone in the room.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long. After about five minutes of in-game time, a familiar figure teleported into the room. Jude was still wearing the same purple armor as before, although her helmet was off so he could clearly see her scowling face and short purple hair. She hadn’t spawned looking in his direction, so she had to turn and look for him. When she did see him, she gave him a frustrated look instead of an outright hostile one. Ethan studied her a moment more before removing his own helmet so they could have a face-to-face discussion.
Worldshift- Virtual Revolution Page 44