Project Xero: Reblood: A LitRPG and Gamelit Adventure

by J. Cee

  They dashed into a side alley and burst through the nondescript back entrance of a building. The building was some kind of restaurant, and they raced through the closed restaurant’s kitchen and dining area before emerging from the other side of the building on another street. Within minutes, they were safely hiding in the shadows underneath an overpass. They had scouted this escape route for exactly this situation.

  Aeri poked a hard finger into Ceph’s sternum. “What was that back there?”

  “What?”

  “When I say run, we run.”

  Ceph stared at Aeri and stammered. “But, but… isn’t running bad?”

  Aeri looked at him as if he were an idiot. “Running because of blind fear is bad. Running because you know that’s the best option is good. Learn the difference!”

  “Sorry. It’s strange. I’ve been terrified of the Everborn forever. But I forgot all of that. All I wanted was to see how many power points I was getting.” Ceph felt a pang of disappointment at the lost opportunity. “We almost had him.”

  Aeri yanked her silver hair in frustration. “It’s not a game for us! Staying alive is the top priority. I didn’t think you of all people would forget that.”

  Aeri was right. Ceph had been hypnotized by the rhythm of the fight, seeing only the most immediate goal. It was disturbing that he had forgotten his fear.

  “I got caught up in the fight, in gaining power points.” Ceph shook his head. “I was stupid. I’m not used to this. Killing Everborn. Not feeling weak. It’s scary, in a different way.”

  “Tunnel vision can be deadly. Focus during a fight, but don’t forget the bigger picture.”

  Ceph nodded wordlessly. He wondered what it was like to be Everborn, to fear no consequences. The thought made him shiver.

  “Fear isn’t always bad,” Aeri said. “It’s our greatest weapon if used correctly. It’s our advantage over the Everborn.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They fight for pleasure. We fight to survive. They’ll never push themselves as hard or make the sacrifices that we do. That’s why they’ll lose.” Aeri’s red eyes shone fiercely in the moonlight.

  Ceph had been concerned about Aeri’s brutal hunting of the Everborn, but he was starting to appreciate her cold, ruthless efficiency.

  “You’re right.” Ceph frowned. “But it’s still daunting. Taking on the Everborn. And the Book thing. They have countless lives. We don’t.”

  “We have our own advantage, you know.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s probably too early for you to notice, but your reactions are faster and smoother than any Everborn’s. It’s because we’re part of this world. The Everborn are outsiders, visitors. They’ll never bond to our world as tightly as us.”

  “Like harmony?”

  “In a way, yes, but more subtle. It’s less important at lower ranks, but at higher ranks, the outcome of a fight can hinge on small advantages like this.”

  Ceph thought for a moment. “Is that why you’re so graceful?”

  “Hm?”

  “The way you move. Your body moves differently from the Everborn’s. It’s graceful. Like a dancer.”

  “I didn’t realize you were watching my body so carefully, Ceph.”

  Ceph blushed. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “I’m only teasing. You’re right, though. It’s hidden by your inexperience, but the same’s true for you, too. It’s also one of the only ways to tell apart a Onceborn and Everborn, short of death. Keep an eye out for anyone you think moves like us.”

  “I thought we were the only Onceborn left, after Kaine.”

  “Not necessarily. Xero is the Endless City, after all.”

  As they rested by the underpass, recovering their blood and spirit pools, Ceph mulled over Aeri’s last remark. He was beginning to realize how little he knew of Xero, and that realization wasn’t comforting at all. No, it was terrifying.

  Chapter 7

  Aeri decided that hunting low-ranked Everborn by the gateways was becoming too dangerous, now that word was getting around about their activities. Ceph agreed. The power point rewards were also paltry. They needed stronger prey.

  “We’ll need equipment to fight higher-ranked Everborn,” Aeri said as they roamed the streets at night.

  “That Everborn was carrying a sword,” Ceph said. He fingered the tear in his tunic from the surprised shopkeeper’s dagger that had glanced off his chest. “Are Everborn swords different from regular swords?”

  “Yes. We can pick up a healing item too. We’ll visit the closest challenge sites. Rank forty should be high enough to survive a trip into the Wild.”

  The Wild? Ceph shuddered. No one sensible went into the Wild, except the Everborn. Or Onceborn, he supposed.

  “I thought the Wild was dangerous, even to the Everborn,” Ceph said.

  “It is. New Everborn often start their training in the Wild, but for us, that was too dangerous. There are beasts. Monsters. Other beings. Only the spirit imbued ones can harm us.”

  “Spirit imbued?”

  “They aren’t Everborn, but their claws and teeth can hurt us. Some have attacks or abilities that mimic ours.”

  “Like a dragon.” A rush of emotions flooded Ceph as he said the words. The day that Nikola had attacked an Everborn seemed like an eternity ago.

  “Like a dragon.”

  The two headed south, jogging on a dusty road. They passed the outskirts of the city and the bordering farmlands. A small outpost was the last sign of Xero, a sideways figure-eight in black adorning a simple white banner on top of a wooden hut.

  Ceph and Aeri wore cloaks to hide their identities, but the pair of guards at the outpost didn’t bother stopping them. Who but the Everborn would venture into the Wild with nothing but the clothes on their backs? Everborn didn’t eat, sleep, or grow tired from physical exertion. They went wherever they wanted without a second thought. The guards gave Ceph and Aeri a cursory glance as they continued into the Wild.

  “Maybe we can stick around the city and lay low until this all blows over,” Ceph said. He was starting to have second thoughts about stepping into the Wild.

  Aeri frowned. “The Word, and that means the entire ten Zones, is looking for you. Not just me. You. Plus, we left behind a lot of unhappy Everborn with grudges.”

  “But I’m starting to get the hang of this Onceborn stuff. Can’t we, I don’t know, pause here? Save it for later? Take it easy?”

  “It’s great you’re becoming comfortable, but we’ve barely begun. We can’t even handle a mid-ranked weapon user.” Aeri saw Ceph’s unhappy expression, but she didn’t soften her words. “There’s no laying low, no standing still. You get stronger, or you don’t survive.”

  Ceph didn’t respond immediately. After a minute of walking, he asked, “When will this be over?”

  “You know what I need to do. My mission. This ends beyond the Firewall. In the Sanctuary with the Book of Life.”

  Ceph shook his head. “What about me? I don’t have a mission.” He avoided Aeri’s gaze.

  “Don’t you care…” Aeri began, but she stopped. “It’s over when you can fight the Word and survive. Not run, but fight. That should be enough for you. There’s one other way.”

  “Oh?” Ceph looked over at Aeri.

  “If I’m dead, this will be over.” Aeri held Ceph’s gaze, daring him to look away.

  Ceph looked away.

  They jogged in silence deeper into the dark forest.

  * * *

  The rough path of flattened earth they followed wound its way further south. After an uncomfortable period of not speaking, Ceph tried to lighten the mood with his singing. That had annoyed Aeri further, but the trip was otherwise uneventful for the next several hours.

  “How much further?” Ceph asked.

  “Another hour or two,” Aeri replied.

  There was nothing but dense forest for as far as Ceph could see. “How can you tell? It all looks the same.”
Ceph began whistling a familiar melody, earning a punch from Aeri.

  “Ow! What was that for?” Ceph rubbed his shoulder where Aeri had hit him.

  “Enough with that ninety-nine barrels of ale on the wall. If you start that nonsense again, I’m going to cram a dead frog down your throat.”

  Ceph’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”

  “I would.”

  “What did the frog ever do to you?”

  “Ceph,” Aeri said in exasperation. She raised a fist in warning.

  Ceph held up his hand to placate her. “Okay, okay. You’re not still mad at me, are you?”

  “No, I’m not mad.” Aeri sighed. “Disappointed.”

  “I do care, you know,” Ceph said. “About stopping the Everborn. Helping people. I get it. I don’t think you’re a crazy cultist anymore. At least not completely.”

  “How understanding of you.”

  Ceph scratched his chin. “It’s just… I care about not dying too.”

  “Which is why you should stay close to me.”

  “I know you saved me, and I appreciate you teaching me everything, but—” Ceph began.

  “I have visions,” Aeri said. “I see threads, future paths.”

  Ceph stared at her. “You can predict the future?”

  “Not quite. I see possibilities, some more clearly than others. When we stay together, your thread runs strong, further than I can see.”

  “And if we don’t? Stick together?”

  Aeri shook her head. “I can’t see everything. In what I can, when we go separate ways, your thread fades.”

  “Just my luck,” Ceph muttered. He hoped Aeri was wrong. “Aren’t visions tricky to interpret? What if that means I don’t see you again? That I live happily ever after somewhere else?”

  “In your case, no, the meaning was clear. Your threads were cut. Severed. Torn. Ended abruptly.”

  “You said fades.”

  “I tried to soften the meaning.”

  Ceph pouted. “What about you? What happens with your thread?”

  Aeri’s lips pressed into a thin line. She held out her hand, motioning for him to stop.

  “Quiet,” Aeri hissed.

  “Come on, you can see my thread. It’s only fair we talk about yours, too.”

  Aeri replied in a fierce whisper. “Not now, Ceph. Quiet!”

  Ceph covered his mouth with his right hand. “Oh. Sorry. Was that indecent of me again? I’m not used to—”

  “No, not that. That.”

  A dark blue humanoid, the color of midnight, stood in their path, blocking the way. The creature was short, about half a person’s height. It had thin wiry limbs ending in small hands tipped with long black claws. Giant white eyes, the size of a man’s fist, contrasted sharply with the rest of its dark body. In place of a mouth, the creature had insect-like mandibles clacking open and shut.

  “What is that?” Ceph asked.

  Before Aeri could reply, the forest around them burst into movement, small dark figures rushing towards them with shrill cries. Aeri didn’t hesitate but cast Soulstrikes at the rushing bodies. Ceph watched, frozen in surprise.

  A sharp pain in his back broke Ceph out of his stupor. He grabbed the creature that had latched onto him and hurled it away. Another creature lunged at him with outstretched claws.

  “These things hurt! What are they?” Corpus. Ceph checked his blood pool. He had already lost five blood points.

  “I don’t know. Use your Soulstrikes!”

  Ceph cast a Soulstrike at the nearest creature. It exploded from the single hit.

  “They’re easy to kill,” Aeri said. “Don’t let them swarm you.”

  The two stood back to back, casting Soulstrike after Soulstrike. They had killed tens of the dark creatures already but more kept emerging from the trees around them. Ceph checked his spirit.

  “I only have two spirit left,” Ceph called out. “What now?”

  “Use your hands, your feet, whatever you can,” Aeri called back. “Like this.”

  Ceph saw Aeri seize a creature. She grabbed the neck with one hand and a flailing leg with the other hand for leverage. Aeri folded the creature in half and threw the broken body to the side. She punched another creature in the face with such force that the skull collapsed into ruined pulp.

  Ceph sent his last Soulstrike into a cluster of the dark blue creatures, then tried kicking another one. The creature flew into the air before slamming into a tree, cracking open both the creature’s body and the tree trunk.

  “Holy butter smoke!”

  Ceph had forgotten about his strength. Against other Everborn, physical prowess hadn’t been an advantage, but his Onceborn body was much stronger than an ordinary person’s.

  A solid punch sent another creature sailing into the forest. With blow after blow, Ceph fought off the wave of enemies, adding the occasional Soulstrike whenever two points of spirit regenerated. Killing the creatures wasn’t difficult for the Onceborn. Ceph likened it to fighting a group of children carrying knives. But his blood pool continued its slow decline from the onslaught of scratches and bites.

  The swarm of creatures was endless. Ceph’s world became one of claws, mandibles, screeching creatures, and nothing else. He had a vague awareness of Aeri fighting at his back. Then, suddenly, the fight was over. An eerie quiet loomed over the mounds of blue bodies littering the forest floor.

  Ceph rested his hands on his knees, more from mental than physical exhaustion. There was no doubt that they had killed hundreds of the creatures.

  Aeri surveyed the carnage. “This doesn’t make sense. These paths are well-used by the Everborn. Most creatures would have learned to stay away.” She walked over to a corpse to examine it.

  Ceph shivered in disgust as Aeri touched a pair of mandibles. “Those are gross. As if tiny bugs weren’t bad enough.”

  “This isn’t right. I’ve never heard of them. Creatures like this would be noticed with these numbers.”

  “What if there’s more?” Ceph asked.

  Aeri let the corpse in her hand fall to the ground. “You’re right. We should go.”

  They continued jogging down the dusty path.

  After time and distance had dulled the excitement of the unexpected fight, Ceph remembered to check his status.

  Corpus. “Hey, I got ten power points for that fight. Ten!” Ceph pointed at the blue sigils on his arm with a broad smile.

  Aeri lit the sigils on her own forearm. “Fifteen,” she said with a casual tone.

  Ceph’s smile dimmed a little. “Aw, that’s not fair.”

  “I probably killed more than you. I do have faster spirit regeneration and better speed in general.” Aeri finished with a smile of her own.

  “I get it. I get it. Because I put everything into blood.”

  “That’s not always bad. How much blood did you have left at the end?”

  “Maybe thirty? They didn’t hurt much, but there were so many of them. Wait, isn’t your blood pool a lot smaller? How much did you have left?”

  “About ten. Even doing my best to avoid attacks, I probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”

  “Oh.” Ceph hadn’t realized that Aeri had been that close to dying. He was more grateful than ever for his ample blood pool.

  “As you gain ranks, you’ll need to choose a path that suits you.”

  “But you made me put points into spirit.”

  “Because having a spirit pool of zero is stupid. You should choose what’s best for you, but you need to understand what’s going on.” Aeri was giving Ceph the look again, the one that said he was an idiot.

  “Fine,” Ceph conceded. “I still can’t believe you got fifteen power points and I only got ten.”

  Aeri laughed. “Speaking of power points, we should both be past rank fifty now. That means you should have two new skills.”

  “New skills?”

  Aeri smirked as she stretched a hand towards Ceph. Violet energy swirled within her open palm.
/>
  “Watch where you point that!” Ceph yelled as he ducked, covering his head with his arms.

  When the expected Soulstrike didn’t materialize, Ceph peeked out from beneath his arms. The intense light in her hand grew even stronger. Ceph yelped and jumped to the side as a massive blast shot out of her hand, streaking into the forest beyond him. A hail of splinters covered Ceph, accompanied by a string of crashes echoing into the distance.

  When the noise settled down, Ceph brushed the debris out of his hair and turned to examine the results of Aeri’s attack. She had carved a clean tunnel of shattered trees deep into the forest, for as far as he could see. Nearby, a teetering tree trunk smashed into the ground in a final note of destruction.

  Ceph turned back to Aeri. Blue lights shimmered across the surface of her skin.

  “Whoa.”

  Chapter 8

  After an hour of uneventful trekking through the forest, the dense foliage opened up into a clearing at the side of a small lake. Ceph heard the sound of rushing water. A small waterfall off to one side fed the forest lake.

  “We’re here,” Aeri said as she pointed to the waterfall. “There’s the spirit guardian.”

  A white stag with an immense crown of gray antlers stood in front of the waterfall. The creature was either able to walk on water or, more likely, had found a rocky perch within the roiling waters. Ceph rubbed his eyes and squinted. Actually, its hooves were floating above the water, which meant it was able to walk on air. Inspect. A red aura of power surrounded the stag as well. This was no ordinary beast.

  “I thought flying deer were from children’s stories,” Ceph said. “Is it friendly?”

  “Friendly enough. We should be safe while in its presence,” Aeri said.

  “You mean from those bug heads.” Since neither of them knew what their attackers were, Ceph had settled on that term.

  “Yes, from those creatures. Come on, we have a lot of training to do before starting the challenge.”

  Aeri had pushed them to reach the safety of the challenge site before giving Ceph a chance to ask questions or practice his new skills. More of Ceph’s bug heads could have attacked at any time, so Aeri had only given a brief explanation of the skills while on the forest path.