Chapter 2
Kayden was sitting in a cramped, cylindrical tube with a small, circular window in front of him. Through the window, he was able to see that he was plummeting to the surface of a planet. Kayden tried to stand to get a better look at where he was falling to, but he was halted when he banged his head on the ceiling of the tube. There was a loud clang and Kayden let out a string of curses as his head slammed against the top of the tube. His hands immediately shot the crown of his skull, “OOWW!!! SON OF A--!!!”
Just before finishing his verbal tirade, Kayden was thrown forward as the vessel he was crammed in came to a literal crashing halt, and like that, everything was still and quiet.
Kayden had no idea how it happened, but at some point in the crash, he had ended up completely upside down. Most of his weight was on his neck and his back was against the opposite end of the tube.
“UGH…” Kayden groaned.
From his new position, he was unable to look out of the window to see where he was. In an attempt to right himself, Kayden tried to prop his foot on the surface just under the window of the tube. When the back of his neck left the floor, it fell right back down as half of the tube fell away causing him to crash back to the floor.
“Metal tube, you’re a dick,” Kayden said sarcastically.
After a few seconds of contemplation, he didn’t even try to stand up again, he just rolled himself out of the tube and landed on solid ground. Rolling to his side, Kayden stood up and took in his surroundings. First, he looked to the vessel he crashed in. Just as he figured while he was inside, the outside was grey, cylindrical tube with yellow and black cautionary stripes on the top end. Any other details about the bottom end of the vessel were lost due to the fact that it was partially embedded in the ground. He looked around the area to see what was in his vicinity. He was in a city area surrounded by tall buildings that were all in a state of decay. An asphalt road stretched all around him with the exception of the occasional areas of broken sidewalk on either side.
As Kayden looked around, two messages took over his view, one overlaid on top of the other,
[Welcome to the game! You have landed on the planet of Parria. This planet has a combat level of 1-10. ]
[New mission!
You have 24 hours to the planet Parria and make your way to the Hyperion space station. There is a signal beacon in the capsule you arrived in. Find an area of sufficient height to send a call for extraction or find another way off-world before time expires.
Reward: Experience/???]
Kayden swiped the notifications away and proceeded to inspect the capsule he landed in. He didn’t have to search for long before noticing something that had fallen out of the opening. It was a three-foot-long metal case. The case was painted matte black and was held shut by two heavy cloth belts with tactical buckles. Kayden approached the locked container and hunched down. He pinched the sides of the buckles which caused the case to pop open with an audible click. He raised the lid to reveal two weapons and the signal beacon mentioned in the mission prompt. The weapons inside were a pistol, and a single-edged, tactical combat knife. Both weapons were held in place by hard foam that was cut to keep the object snugly in place. Finally, there were six 10 round pistol magazines resting just below the firearm. After looking the objects in the case over, Kayden focused on each weapon individually and pop-ups began to appear beside them with details about each object,
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
[You have found Mk-I Kinetic Pistol
Damage: 4-8
Quality: Standard
Rarity: Common
Traits: None
Description: A basic pistol. Ideal for beginners. Holds a 10 round magazine.]
[You have found Tactical Combat Knife
Damage: 2-6
Quality: Standard
Rarity: Common
Traits: None
Description: A standard combat knife.]
Kayden looked over the gear in the case with just a bit of derision before letting out a sigh. It may have been newb gear, but at least he had something.
As Kayden picked up the knife, a thought crossed his mind as he thought to instinctively equip it to his belt,
“What am I wearing?”
He looked at his hands, then his chest, legs and, finally, his feet. He was wearing a grey-black set of military combat clothes on his chest and legs, as well as a pair of fingerless leather gloves and a pair of combat boots. The knees of the pants and the elbows of the shirt had a hard plate on them to provide extra protection. To get a more thorough look at his clothes, Kayden opened his character sheet. There he found a 3D representation of him wearing the clothing. He focused on the model to see the stats of his equipment.
[Basic Military Combat Shirt
Quality: Standard
Rarity: Common
Damage Resistance: +2
Upgrade Slots: 0 ]
[Basic Military Combat Pants
Quality: Standard
Rarity: Common
Damage Resistance: +2
Upgrade Slots: 0]
[Basic Military Leather Gloves
Quality: Standard
Rarity: Common
Damage Resistance: +1
Upgrade Slots: 0 ]
[Basic Military Combat Boots
Quality: Standard
Rarity: Common
Damage Resistance: +1
Upgrade Slots: 0 ]
[Description: This combat uniform is standard issue for fresh axiom military recruits fresh out of basic training (hence the name). It provides light protections from both energy attacks and kinetic attacks.]
Kayden wasn’t shocked at the low values of the armor. It was standard newb gear after all. He knew if he wanted better equipment then he would have to earn it, just like any other game.
Kayden was packing away his equipment when he heard the sounds of snarling and approaching footsteps approaching from his left. Drawing his newly acquired pistol, Kayden hid behind the crashed pod and waited for whoever it was to reveal themselves.
“I told you I heard another pod touch down!” said a gruff, masculine voice.
“Good, either more money or another kill for us. You go find the other one, I’ll search around here.” Came a second voice.
Whoever these two were, they didn’t seem like they wanted to make sure Kayden was alright. He chanced a peek around the corner of the pod to see who exactly he was dealing with. About 15 feet away stood two men wearing black clothing with a red crescent painted on their chests. One of them had a long slash that ran from his mouth to his cheek the other had a bald head covered in some sort of tribal tattoos. “Yeah, definitely not Triple-A,” Kayden said sarcastically under his breath.
To make matters worse, both men were traveling with black, rabid-looking hounds that were continually sniffing the ground in an attempt to pick up a scent. Kayden gave an inward curse to himself for not being quick enough to get away before they came.
A few moments later, the tattoo headed man and his dog strafed off into the deeper parts of the city. When he was out of sight the scar-faced guy turned to Kayden’s pod and commanded his hound,
“Track!”
The beast then started to sniff the ground at the exact spot where Kayden was inspecting his gear. At that moment, he knew it was time to come up with a battle plan. He knew that if he didn’t, it was only a matter of time before he was caught.