The Enchanter (Project Stellar Book 2): LitRPG Series

by Roman Prokofiev

  My cogitor’s inner greedy pig just couldn’t keep quiet, could it? Miko highlighted the monster’s black spiky skull and his staff lying in the grass – but I wanted to help Alice first.

  She lay motionless in her human form by the platform’s edge. Although I couldn’t see any external damage, the King’s Azuric weapon must have also dealt damage to Incarnators’ ethereal bodies. Despite all of the weregirl’s awesome regeneration, I had a bad feeling that this was Tara’s story repeating itself.

  No, it wasn’t. She was alive. Alice stirred and opened her eyes.

  Immediately she shoved me aside, trying to get to her feet. “Behind you!”

  The death of Rat King didn’t mean the end of the fight. New actors stepped onto the stage, emerging from behind the cliffs, their guns trained on us. The Rogues.

  The familiar slim figure in the tattered blue cape walked in front, flanked by two giant cyberwargs.

  The Possessed One.

  Evyl.

  Although she didn’t at all resemble the old Evelynn Mail, I immediately recognized the swaying of hips and the caressing hand on the monstrous dog’s shackles. So I hadn’t killed her, then. I’d allowed the black puddle of Darkness to take over a new body.

  She was silent. She wasn’t here to capture us. She was here to wreak murderous revenge. An ominous purple glow enveloped her body, forming a long quivering whip which came out of her right hand. It was identical to the energy lasso which had entrapped me during the battle for Fort Angelo, pulling me down from the sky and disabling Angel’s wingsuit.

  “This is Whip of the Void!” Miko’s voice rang with panic. “It’s gonna kill us!”

  Neither Alice nor myself got the chance to do anything. Obeying Evyl’s signal, the Rogues opened fire. The purple lash of energy darted toward us like an attacking snake. I shrank into myself, expecting a new bout of pain.

  There was no pain. The forking branch of Azuric lightning dissolved impotently within a dozen paces of us, hitting the cylindrical surface of a power shield. The barrage of the Rogues’ slugs struck sparks against it, unable to penetrate it. Not expecting such foul play, the techno monads recoiled, pointing superstitiously up into the sky.

  A starship, so huge it blocked out half the sky, unstealthed right above us, moving dangerously low. The absolute silence sent shivers down my spine. A vicious gust of wind flattened the grass and ripped leaves off trees. The gigantesque black shadow of the ship’s wingspan submerged us into darkness.

  I didn’t need Miko’s prompts to recognize it.

  This was Avenger. The corvette flying the colors of the Possessed.

  Chapter 11

  ALMOST IMMEDIATELY it became clear that they weren’t going to let Evyl have her way with us. The ship sent down a conical beam of green light which surrounded me and Alice, trapping us inside. The air around us seemed to have thickened, enveloping us like cotton wool.

  An invisible gentle force lifted us off the ground.

  “Stay cool, Incarnator. They’re beaming us up. It’s perfectly safe.”

  Slowly we rose through the air, drawn toward the diaphragm of an airlock which parted open in the corvette’s belly looming over us.

  Evyl was screaming and shouting below, shaking her fist at the ship’s unknown captain who’d stolen her prey from right under her nose. She was so preoccupied that she hadn’t even noticed she was all alone by now, as the Rogues were scampering downhill and cowering behind the cliffs.

  Judging by her reaction, the arrival of the starship had come as a complete surprise to her. How strange. I used to think that the Possessed Ones were an organized and well-knit bunch. It certainly didn’t look it now.

  The starship’s black hull loomed near, charred and pockmarked with the silvery sores of meteorite impacts. Angel shit, it was huge

  The beam drew us inside and placed us gently onto the ribbed steel floor. The airlock’s diaphragm hissed shut behind my back.

  This was an assault airlock: a short hexagonal tunnel blocked at both ends. Its walls were lined with spacesuits in translucent niches; handholds and tether lines ran the whole length of the passage. The metal was marred and bruised with the indelible signs of long-term use. This must have been the airlock which had released the Rogues’ flying horde onto Fort Angelo.

  “Starship. Possessed Ones. That’s bad,” Alice hissed. “That’s death!”

  An alarm wailed. A whole row of concealed niches opened under the ceiling, releasing massive cylinders bristling with scary-looking clusters of black guns.

  “Don’t move, Incarnator! These are anti-boarding turrets. They’ll make mincemeat out of you in ten seconds flat.”

  “Stay calm and don’t move,” a male voice said.

  It sounded familiar. This was the same voice that had contacted Angel’s wingsuit during the battle: ‘Angel! Angel, do you read me? Speak up, for fuck’s sake!’

  “Don’t move! Stay where you are!”

  A grid of scanning light ran over us. The guns got sucked back into the turrets which disappeared back into the ceiling.

  The other diaphragm entrance rustled open. Five people walked in, moving in synch. Four of them wore identical armor suits, their helmets and breastplates sporting the logo of a silvery wing within a circle of stars: the symbol of Star Fleet. They held their weapons at the ready, their human faces marble-white behind their transparent visors.

  “These are synthetics, Incarnator. This model is called Myles, trained soldiers with a large range of advanced features. You’d better be careful. These guys don’t miss. Neither do they feel pain.”

  So they weren’t human beings, then. Androids. I could have guessed without Miko’s help. Their faces were too frozen, their movements too precise. Their weapons were trained on us now.

  But the fifth person who stood behind them… that one was a woman. Her black jumpsuit looked eerily like Tara’s Anaconda. She was helmetless, slim with cropped white hair. Her face with regular features could be called handsome had it not been for the piercing icy glare of her bright blue eyes.

  Also, she was literally reeking of Azure.

  An Incarnator. A Possessed One. A box appeared over her head, flashing crimson, but all it contained were a series of question marks.

  “No one’s going to harm you,” the familiar male voice repeated. “Lay your weapons on the floor, put your hands in the air and don’t move.”

  Alice emitted a furious hiss. It didn’t look as if she’d be prepared to surrender without putting up a good fight.

  “Wait! Please don’—” I began.

  Before I could finish, she’d already leapt forward, shapeshifting in mid-air. An absolutely pointless attempt which could only have been prompted by her despair. What did she expect? Did she plan to take cover behind the synthetics’ bodies and grab hold of their weapons? And then what?

  Having said that, she didn’t know what I already did. All she could see were new enemies facing her.

  Predictably, her attempt failed. No matter how lightning-fast she was, her awesome leap was stopped short by the power field which formed around the androids. Alice smashed against it in mid-flight, rebounding off its shimmering surface. A bunch of sticky gray threads shot out toward her, enveloping her and pinning her to the floor. It was in fact the strange Possessed woman who was launching them with remarkable accuracy. Alice struggled furiously against the sticky bonds but they just kept coming, entwining her body.

  The synthetics acted in synch. Two of them simultaneously dropped to one knee while those behind them shouldered their unusual-looking rifles. The shots were absolutely soundless. Both Alice and myself got our fair share: I sensed sharp prickling pain in my shoulder and thigh which immediately spread numbness over my body. I dropped to the floor, unable to resist. This must have been some sort of instantly immobilizing substance.

  “That’s neuroleptics, Incarnator! The only way to purge your body of them is by urgently reincarnating!”

  That would be pointless, w
ouldn’t it? Why even try to fight or resist? The ship’s owners had had ample opportunity to finish us off – and if they hadn’t done so yet, it was because they needed me, for whatever reason. The problem was, Alice continued to struggle and might really suffer for it.

  That was the last thing I’d realized before my mind went blank.

  * * *

  After a couple of hours, I came round. My body was still numb so I just lay still for a while trying to work out what was going on.

  I was in a small but cozy-looking cabin with a shimmering ceiling. Definitely not a prison cell, which was good news, I suppose. Its design reminded me of the Monolith’s interiors with their minimalist Spartan furnishings and smooth rounded edges. I was lying on a bunkbed; if I reached out, I could touch the opposite wall which held a small folding table and built-in closets.

  For a few seconds, I stared blankly at the huge rectangular viewing port overhanging the bed. It was crowded with stars. Had we left the Earth? Were we orbiting it now?

  “This is a virtual image, Incarnator. We haven’t left the planet’s atmosphere. In fact, we’re not very far from the place where they beamed us up. A ship can’t travel through space while in blind-spot mode.”

  “So what happened after I went out?”

  “Nothing worthy of notice. Alice continued to struggle because she’s immune to tranquilizers as well as neuroleptics. Judging by the sounds, they must have immobilized her in the end and dragged her away somewhere. Then they searched you, removed your clothes, took all of your possessions and brought you here.”

  Finally, the sensations in my body began to restore. I raised myself on an elbow and did a quick check. Miko had been right as usual. They’d taken everything – my weapons, the cryptor, Fang, even whatever was left of my Fox suit – leaving me in my underwear.

  The cabin was bare and surgically clean. It only contained a single item: a sealed plastic bag at the foot of the bed. Inside was a stretchy dark green jumpsuit with Star Fleet’s markings, as well as a towel and a tube of hygiene gel.

  I used this opportunity to squeeze some gel into my cupped hand and quickly wipe my whole body with it. What a great invention: soap, water and even toothpaste in one. I then pulled on the jumpsuit which fitted me remarkably well, and studied the cabin once again.

  Just as I’d suspected, the door was locked, its sensor panel irresponsive to my touch.

  So it was a prison cell, after all. Which got me thinking.

  So what did we have here? Formally, the corvette belonged to the Possessed Ones. This was the ship which had brought them back from the Black Moon after Darkness had had its way with them. When I’d put on Angel’s wingsuit and joined the battle for Fort Angelo, someone from the ship had contacted me – or contacted Angel, rather — via the suit’s communications system. When I hadn’t replied, the corvette left without engaging in battle. And now it had snatched me right from under Evyl’s nose. Which meant that there must be someone on board Avenger who used to know Angel – possibly, someone sympathetic with his cause, to the point where that someone dared contradict his teammates’ interests.

  “Hi. Feeling better now?”

  It was the same voice, low and rather young, speaking with an accent I couldn’t quite place. It seemed to sound out of thin air as if the man was standing right next to me.

  “Who’s that?” I asked warily, looking around me.

  “Can’t you remember? I’m Zac, Zac Carraghan. Remember me?”

  I didn’t reply. If I said yes, they’d easily see through my lie. And if I said no, they might lose all interest in me.

  “Where’s my teammate?” I asked firmly instead.

  “She’s extremely aggressive. We had to neutralize her,” the man’s voice rang with sarcasm.

  “What have you done to her?”

  “She’s all right, don’t worry. We used non-lethal weapons and placed her under quarantine. She’s uncontrollable and refuses to communicate. She injured two synthetics while they swaddled her. How on earth do you manage to keep her under control?”

  “I need to make sure she’s okay.”

  The voice heaved a sigh. “Typical, isn’t it? Your people always come first. Is that what you used to say, Angel?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?” I said.

  Once again he’d called me Angel. This Zac definitely seemed to be taking me for the legendary Incarnator. This was a very dangerous game where my enemies had all the trump cards. He would easily see through my ruse.

  “That’s provided you’re NOT Angel, Incarnator. Which we still don’t know. We know nothing about your past. You might be Angel or you could be any other Incarnator who went missing back on the Black Moon. In my opinion, we really should play this card.”

  “Both of you are perfectly safe here,” Zac said. “Ice and Evyl can scream and shout all they want, I’m not giving you up to them. Still, we need to talk. It’s pretty urgent.”

  “Before we start, I need to make sure Alice is okay,” I insisted, continuing to play my part.

  “Not a problem. Just please don’t do anything stupid.”

  “I won’t, if you can guarantee our safety.”

  The oblong door slid silently aside. What, was that it?

  “Follow the lights in the corridor. I’ll get someone to take you there.”

  I stepped out into a hexagonal passage. One of the synthetics stood watch to my right: he must have been minding the door all along. Without saying a word, he turned, letting me through. A sequence of pale-blue lights ran along the floor, showing me the way.

  The ship appeared deserted. Not a single soul anywhere. Just an endless maze of hexagonal corridors, their walls covered in the repetitive pattern of stenciled Star Fleet logos. I got the impression that Avenger had no crew at all – although of course it can’t have been the case. Most likely, the crew were all busy at their respective workstations.

  Finally, the trail of lights brought me to a door marked with the ancient medical symbol of a snake coiled around a bowl. This place too looked almost identical to the Monolith’s medical center: the same recognizable beds with clusters of equipment hanging over them, the oblong forms of regeneration capsules and the faint smell of disinfectant.

  Here, I finally saw some people. They didn’t show much interest in me, though.

  “Hey, Cherub. Show the prisoner to our friend here.”

  One of the men turned round. He was dressed in a dark-green jumpsuit identical to the one I had on. A complex device which looked a bit like the compound eye of an insect was mounted on his furrowed forehead. He was doing some work on a synthetic’s dissected body, fixing something in the android’s entrails.

  Also an Incarnator. A Possessed One.

  He had no intention of attacking me. He studied me calmly, then proffered his hand with a chuckle. “My name’s Cherub. I pass for the chief physician here, after a fashion. So you’re our… our guest, then?”

  “It certainly looks that way,” I said. “Where’s Alice?”

  “She’s in the quarantine. Follow me.”

  They’d put Alice in a cell fenced off by two levels of protection: the impenetrable cube of a force field and a row of humming bright-red vertical beams forming some semblance of prison bars.

  “Don’t touch them,” Cherub said, stopping me within a couple of feet from them. “It can be dangerous.”

  Alice was cowering in the cell’s corner, dressed in an identical Star Fleet jumpsuit. Seeing me, she climbed to her feet and walked slowly over to the bars until her body pressed against the force field. She gave it a furious punch. Her lips were moving: she was trying to say something although I couldn’t hear a single word.

  “This is an extremely interesting case,” Cherub said. “It’s not just her genomods that have been very badly neglected, because that’s quite normal for a Renegade. But it looks like she was implanted with some kind of parasitic entity. Why? – most likely, in order to get the most out of her genetic
transformation potential as an Incarnator. The implanted entity receives a body capable both of absorbing Azure and of processing new genomes, which gives it the propensity for combustive development, eventually allowing it to either subjugate or replace the host’s identity. This is a classic Lilith scenario, I’m afraid, aggravated by the subject’s immortality.”

  “Is there a way to help her?” I asked.

  He looked up at me. “Help her? You can’t get the parasite out without destroying the host’s body, I’m afraid. You’ll have to kill her. In which case, both will die. But you can’t keep the host’s anima intact while getting rid of the alien spirit. The only possible way to do so would be if the host abandoned her current body and reincarnated in a new one. Problem is, that’s something a Renegade can’t do because that requires an active Stellar system. Either that, or an injection of Umbra.”