Oblivion's Crown

by M. H. Johnson

  Reed, however, was frowning. “He’s shitting us. No one comes back after death in this game. No one.”

  Bill shrugged. “We all know Jager’s a strange cat. Let’s just get moving. Loot is calling my name!”

  Wasting no time, the group proceeded up the central boulevard bisecting the entire city, and awed as they all were by the magnificent architecture, they kept a sharp eye out for further patrols, Val finally easing his party-members’ concerns sufficiently to slip forward, embracing Shadowmind like an old friend, plotting a path to the heart of the city using a circuitous route down side roads and byways that allowed them to avoid nearly all the sentinels between them and their prize.

  Val was impressed by how well his friends fought after he’d give them quiet warnings from the depths of shadow of trouble ahead. He did his best to make sure they never encountered more than a single sentinel or two at a time, automatons he suspected were more for maintenance than combat, but deadly enough with whipping tendrils or eyes that blazed as hot as any Dominion infantry blaster. But those sentinels were dispatched with remarkable efficiency, Val seeming to appear by Mick’s side in a confusing eyeblink, Synergized Ward already in place to meet vibro-saws and whipping tendrils, distracting their target as Mick roared buffs while Jiu distracted it with ice and Eric blasted it with liquid flame. Well-timed thrusts with crackling tridents served to further damage and disorient their prey, until the off-balance and crippled automatons were finished off by trident, flame, or Val’s own Automative Folly.

  He’d always flash a smile or a wink when commended for his versatility, never holding back from complimenting his newest companions’ considerable skills. And when conversations shifted to just how, exactly, was he able to cloak as well as their former scout, a player they all feared had been butchered by the swarm of revenants they had faced, Val was never around to answer those awkward questions.

  Yet even as he exulted in their kills, in the growth he sensed they all were experiencing, savoring the beauty and wonder of this city, Val's heart racing with excitement barely muted by Shadowmind at the thought of finally achieving his objective… still he was troubled.

  For all that he was as much the flicker of light and shadow streaming through the ancient city as Val, flowing effortlessly past all sentinels and guardians as he led his party safely to their destination, still he couldn’t help feeling as if he were in the cross-hairs of a sniper.

  He was unable to shake the feeling, for all that Psi-Sense and Magesight both made it clear that, save for automatons, they were well and truly alone.

  Yet all such brooding thoughts left him as he slipped free of the narrow service alley they had been using to skirt free of most encounters. He gasped, heart racing, as he beheld his objective at last.

  The massive edifice of brilliant bronze-gold alloy standing tall and proud in the heart of that ancient city was now before them. Larger than half a dozen football stadiums side by side, that ancient city command center and shipyard held the hidden jack that would give his mad gambit for the throne a winning hand.

  And Ava’s people a second chance at living free once more.

  A prize beyond compare, and his to seize.

  But everything depended upon him getting past the massive Dread Sentinel patrolling the clearing around the shipyard.

  Val grimaced, gazing up at the massive tank-like sentinel rolling on treads and covered in alloys that shimmered like obsidian, reinforced not simply with Elementium, but Valorium as well. It was nearly as strong as the battleship Val desperately hoped to claim, and with the crackling Electromana forcefield Val sensed protecting the sentinel, thanks to the Valorium core he just knew was in the well-protected heart of the massive machine, it was all but indestructible.

  It would survive at least one volley from a dreadnought’s central cannon.

  Arilius himself had warned him.

  There was no way in hell he could even get close enough with the force fields it was generating to infect it with Automative Folly.

  To fight it was to fight death itself.

  He had to embrace Shadowmind so deeply he could slip past even its battery of sensor arrays and reach the tightly sealed command center without being blown to oblivion.

  Val hissed, tasting dread for the first time in a long time as the sentinel’s massive glowing eye washed over and past where he hid in shadows even now, deliberate camouflage and utter stillness combined with his cloak-boosted Shadowmind all that was keeping him alive, he suspected.

  Endless heartbeats later, he let loose a shuddering breath as the titanic sentinel slowly continued its circuit around the city hub.

  “What the fuck was that?” an awed Eric asked, gazing right over his shoulder.

  Val flinched. What the hell? He castigated himself for being so distracted that Eric had actually snuck up behind him. Something that would never normally happen if he weren’t so focused on his prize, and the peril he faced.

  Val hastily schooled his features even as he spun around, giving Eric and his companions behind him a curious look. “Wait. You guys can see me?”

  “Well, yeah,” Eric said. “Of course we can. We’re all in the same party, right? We just see the symbol over your head when you’re in sneak mode. It’s just surprising you can keep that active even when in formation! I’m glad it works for you, though. We’ve been able to ambush over half a dozen of those bastards. And the fortune in scrap you’re storing for us? Sweet lewt!”

  Val blinked, feeling oddly chilled. “It doesn’t work that way,” he whispered. “There’s no way you should be able to...”

  Jiu and the others, quietly making their way toward them, were smirking at his poleaxed expression. “See, Jager? This is why I still think...” she flushed. “Well, for the longest time, wanted to think it was all just a game. I see a symbol I know means you’re hidden, but I can see you just fine.” She swallowed, suddenly looking anxious. “Umm… I caught just a glimpse, but that thing looks scary as fuck. Please, please don’t tell me we’re fighting it?”

  Val solemnly shook his head. “Not a chance in hell. It holds a Valorium core. You guys have absolutely no idea how powerful that is. Point is, it generates a forcefield that will last practically forever. There is no way any of us can penetrate it. Think… I don’t know… we’re facing a level 100 foe. All we can do is slip past it.” His gaze hardened. “And I won’t ask any of you to risk yourselves to that madness. Not that it matters, now. If you guys can pierce my veil, we’re absolutely fucked. There is no way I can get through.”

  Mick grinned. “Is that all? Really? It’s not that big a deal, Jager.”

  Val blinked. “How the hell do you figure that?”

  Jiu rolled her eyes. “You joined our party. Even if you didn’t formally link up, you’ve been around for all of Mick’s blessings. It should still be boosting your vitality and giving you some buffs, even if you're not Spirit Linked to us. It just makes it harder for Crystal to heal you without actually touching you.”

  Val frowned. “So?”

  “Seriously? Isn’t it obvious? Our paladin buffed you! You’re part of our group! Of course you can’t hide from us, what good would it be if we can’t see you? We’re all aware of each other’s status and ailments. That’s one of the advantages of being around a Paladin.”

  Val blinked, chilled, gazing at Jiu with such a dumbfounded expression that she couldn’t help but flash a bemused smile. “I’m not seeing anything.”

  Jiu rolled her eyes. “Of course not. You’re not Spirit Linked! You’d see all our status effects if you were. But you can see us just fine. And we can see you, the half-closed eye just telling us that you would be invisible if you weren’t part of our party. But the point is, Mick’s buffs automatically make sure our powers mesh well, in addition to boosting our stats! I don’t appear to be surrounded by a blurring mist, do I? Your eyes aren’t stinging from the flash-pulses Eric puts out whenever you give the okay to attack, right? And the twins… you do know
they can turn invisible at will, right? How do you think they’ve managed to avoid getting hurt so far? Mostly, anyway.”

  “No. I didn’t know any of that.” Val frowned, knowing he had mostly been keeping aware of the twins behind him with Psi-sense. He gave Reed and Snipe a closer look with just his eyes, sensing for the first time something wavering just above their heads. Which chilled Val, to realize he was benefiting from an enhancement he hadn’t even known was buffing him. Affected by blessings outside his paradigm. Another class, another time and place, god knows if he might get killed facing powers he didn’t fully understand.

  Reed smirked, looking at his brother. “Comes off cocky as hell, and he misread half the screen.”

  Snipe nodded. “We can scout almost as well as Ramos could, though that cat can hide from anything. Even a hound dog’s nose.” He chuckled softly. “I don’t know how the fuck those sentinels sense. Sight’s one thing, but vibration? Sound? Hell, maybe picking up heat waves. Our tricks don’t always work on those tin cans, or Doomspiders, I guess, so I’m glad you don’t mind serving as bait for those bastards, Jager. That glory’s all yours.”

  Val swallowed, giving Mick a respectful nod. “I’m impressed. And I’m sorry I didn’t take the time to understand your abilities better.”

  Mick waved the words off. “Like we gave you time for any of that. You didn’t want to link? We didn’t bother you with it, but maybe we should have. And don’t worry about the buffs. They have no effect on anyone who isn’t a part of our group. I mean none of those sentinels saw you coming, even when you were ghosting right next to them, right?”

  Val forced a nod. “Fair point.”

  Bill’s brow furrowed as they instinctively scurried down the alleyway upon hearing the massive sentinel making its way back around once more. “All that shit aside, what the hell are we supposed to do now? That thing’s a monster, and that’s a good half football field length you’ll have to sprint, Jager, cloaking skill or no. What the fuck do we do if that thing spots you? I saw that damned orb crackling in its front, like the eye of you-know-what. If anything can spot you, Jager, it’s that. You think you can survive a tussle with that monster?”

  Val chuckled softly. “Not without blowing up half the world, no.”

  Bill blinked. “You and your fuckin’… point is, I think we should call it.”

  Mick frowned. “You sure, Bill?”

  His friend scowled, glaring at Val. “It doesn’t matter what the hell I think. Even if the rest of us holler the P word, this cat's still going for it. Aren’t you, Jager.”

  Val forced a nod. “I’m afraid so, guys.”

  Reed’s gaze hardened. “Because the real reason why you came all the way down here and grouped up with us… it’s in that building. Isn’t it.”

  Val dipped his head. “Yes, Reed. It is.”

  Jiu’s beautiful almond eyes pinned his own. “You saved my life today, Jager. You made me realize like nothing else ever has that this is no fucking game.” She swallowed, forcing a smile. “And I just found out I get to level up! One more chance to shape my potential for the rest of my life, and I don’t think I’m ever coming back.” Her hand slowly reached for Eric’s. “Truth is, I think I was so desperate to remake myself, to escape my life back home, that I halfway didn’t care if it killed me. But now? After coming so close to death? I want to give life a second chance. To live some place safe with my sisters, free of my past, with people who love me. And never risk my life like this again.”

  Jiu flashed a bittersweet smile, taking them all in with her gaze. “Honestly, the only reason why I’m even here right now is you guys. I’ve got your back until we see this through. But with that massive boss monster to face down, is what you seek really so priceless you’re willing to risk your very real life on it, Jager?”

  Val nodded. “It is.”

  Even Mick paled when the entire corridor filled with the rumbling sound of massive treads, the sentinel rolling by once more. “Jeezus, Jager. I’m no spider man, but my freaking survival sense is tingling like mad. I don’t mind pillaging a few of these buildings before we go, but what could possibly be worth getting blasted by that horror?”

  Val held his gaze. “Claiming a prize none of my enemies expect. Putting a piece on the board none of my foes see coming.”

  Utter silence as the group just stared, Bill shaking his head, cursing softly. “You’re not just a recruiter, are you, Jager?”

  Val flashed a bleak smile. “I recruited all of you, didn’t I?”

  “For a crazy fortune. And you didn’t let up for a second.”

  Val shook his head. “No. I didn’t.”

  “Why?”

  Val gave an abrupt shake of his head. “No time. The bastard’s just gone past. I’m making a run for it. Cover for me if you like, but for fuck’s sake, parachute out, the second heat comes your way. You got me? The second.”

  Eric blinked. “Shit. He said it again. How come he’s able to say it? Unless… oh fuck, you’re really here?”

  But Val was already racing across the courtyard that seemed to stretch forever. Not a single shadow could be seen, so bright was the all-encompassing glow basking the entire city, but somehow it didn’t matter, Val slipping into the space between moments, the emptiness between one heartbeat and another.

  Sensing the Death-Sentinel slowly pivot and turn on massive treads, back the way it had come.

  The odd gloom felt a strange sensation, alien to the absence of anything, tasting strangely of terror.

  But crackling red orbs cutting through the soft luminescence paid no mind to nothing at all, alerted instead by a sound.

  Mocking laughter washing over the panicked gasps of his friends.

  A voice he almost recognized.

  And then the hot shriek and hum of a laser of unbelievable potency blasting into the alleyway they had come from, vaporizing the corner of a nearby building, superheating the stone walkway such that it both vaporized and exploded.

  A single scream cut short.

  He could only hope his friends had survived.

  “Parachute!”

  Six… no, seven screams that would have filled Val’s soul with heartfelt relief, if he was anything but a puff of air flowing across dwarven tile panels at a mad sprint, to know his friends would make it out alive.

  “Parachute!” Voices now raw with genuine panic.

  The same seven.

  Something was wrong.

  43

  His friends’ desperate screams rang through the air.

  Cut off by the crackling roar of an inconceivably powerful laser blasting through stone once more.

  The horrible tread of a monstrous automaton rolling down corridors, in hot pursuit of prey.

  Awful dread squeezed Val’s heart in its icy grip. It was all too easy to imagine his friends being blasted by that nightmare, all their hopes and dreams replaced by terrifying moments of agony and death, followed by nothingness, forever more. Their souls trapped between worlds, perhaps for all time.

  Focus!

  Val forced himself to take a deep breath, focusing only on this moment, gazing at the door before him, trembling hands pulling out a crystal key he carefully pressed against the door.

  Despairing as it stood inert for endless moments, wondering if he had done something wrong, or Arilius's desperate hope had been just that.

  And then a sense of heartfelt relief as the massive door of ruby bronze began sliding into the surrounding walls as if no more than liquid, and with a single hesitant step, Val was through.

  He still felt the dreadful itching in the back of his neck, but he knew he was running out of time.

  Spinning around, dwarven blade in hand. At one with darkest gloom, Rank 9 Shadowmind near master level.

  Psi-Sense activated! Magesight activated! You spot nothing, save the lingering screams of your companions!

  Val hissed, wasting no more time, embracing the memory of shadow, the lingering gloom within the grand hallway
of perfectly polished panels and what he was strangely certain were the dwarven equivalent of computer banks.

  He wasted no time admiring the magnificent architecture, the grandly arched hallways or Altersian crystal lining the hallways giving everything a gentle luminescence as he raced for the heart of the massive complex, somehow sensing where it must be.

  Before stopping with awe and wonder after racing through numerous corridors, hallways, and turnings, opening up at last into a massive domed hangar like an inconceivably large sports stadium, and the wonder Val felt, gazing up at the dry-docked prize, supposedly just hours away from completion, left him speechless with awe.

  As someone who had fallen in love with battleships and carriers as a small boy, what he saw was beyond magnificent. It looked both impossibly bulky and inconceivably graceful. As if someone had hybridized the largest battleship ever built and made it spaceworthy. Val could all but feel the deadly potency radiating from it, noting the array of sleek and deadly looking turrets on its sides, though its front was what truly left Val breathless, gazing upon what looked like the muzzle of a massive gun. As if the entire vessel was simply the barrel for the most powerful blaster imaginable. As if it were a massive mobile cannon as much it was as a battleship that could soar through the heavens.

  “There is no way that could be the Yamato. No way!”

  Val took a shuddering breath when it all clicked in his mind. It was far more massive, made of exotic alloys which Earth utterly lacked, but for all its striking differences, Val was strangely certain that the wondrous vision before him had haunted the minds of artists, dreamers, and thousands of excited children gazing raptly at the television, decades ago. In truth, the ship looked nothing like his father’s favorite childhood anime, but Val was strangely certain that if ever there was a rebooted series… this was the image that would be haunting the minds of countless artists who would be using the latest technology to capture their vision in ways never possible before.

  If there had ever been a ship forged that could take out a dreadnought, then it was the masterwork before him.