#Team#
Viki: IS EVERYONE OKAY? ANYONE HURT?
Kjell: I am good!
Sonny: I’m Ok.
Erika: OKAY.
Vamp: Wow I’m still alive!
Kate: THOSE BASTARDS!
Godu: I’m all good! Not sure how we survived that shit though?! Viki, was that shield yours?
…
Viki: I believe so..and yet I’m not 100% either. It seems being in close proximity in a group strengthened my Globe Shield somehow. It was constructed with 8 times the normal durability. It’s never exhibited such strength!
Oh-hoh. Okay. So THIS is the fuckers secret! I bet they all have some group up skill and they weren’t expecting us to have one either eh fuckers?! What do you think, Seren?
Ha-hah! Yes! It’s highly likely so we must press on! They clearly used their trump card FAR too early and now they are starting to panic. Their gate engineers are struggling to maintain the reinforcements on the door. We’ve got them on the backfoot!
Damn fucking right. And now it’s time to sever that foot clean off..
#Team#
Godu: Okay everyone I think Viki is right! But whilst those pricks are shitting themselves, we KEEP moving forward!
We marched forward towards a far less confident frontline. They had clearly thrown a great deal of their resources at us with that absurd attack and were now staring in dismay as this little ragtag group of peasants were rebelling against their combined might, following a large dark daemon right into their faces.
As we got closer, fearful cries and desperate taunts of warning belted out towards us. There were lots of swear words and warnings but I let Kate return fire, spitting venom in both Italian and English. I was especially shocked when she roared out to them that she must have knocked their little unborn skulls stupid when she fucked all their mothers with a strap on cucumber.
So many questions. But no time-
The projectiles kept flowing in, with more and more groups being directed to attack us, but like a giant steam train ploughing through a blizzard, we just kept on moving up. Only able to do so thanks to Sonny and Viki sending streams of green, blue and white towards Seren, repairing any damage she took and bolstering her defences.
This is actually WORKING!
We finally got into melee range and two piddly attackers leapt out at us.
Things went to absolute shit, extremely fast. But this time it was for them.
The very second those two grunts stepped out of their barrier line and lept into the air, Seren harpooned them, Viki impaled them with needles of white plasma, Sonny sent out some kind of sonic bass slap attack and Kate double tapped them. Or it was more accurate to say she quintuple-tapped them with a spray of icy bullets and verbal venom.
This team thing was incredibly effective and after we dunked those two, Seren cried out with glee as she saw an opportunity.
I see a gap! I’m going to pry those bastards open like a tin of beans!!
Mneh! Lacks a touch of raw violence and vulgar language, but I like the sound of it anyways!
#Team#
Godu: Get ready to shield up! Seren’s about to crack their egg!
In a shocking display of speed and precision, Seren blurred forward, leaving us as she collapsed the fan shields into their default kite shield forms and pierced through a shimmering transparent section of the barrier that at first resisted, rippling like water, but gave in and shattered like a pane of glass.
Behind their ranks, screams erupted and something exploded like a balloon filled with watermelon.
Seren’s shield had found the head of this section's supporter.
Anchor placed successfully.
My heart exploded with adrenaline, my mind was filled with a menacing, joyful glee at finally being able to erase these insufferable pieces of shit that dared to deny me my freedom amongst the long list of other things..
Now I truly understand why the yanks loved that word so much. Freedom is the only way motherfuckers!
Still holding a remarkably unconscious Siya, I surge-leaped up away from the group and winked out of sight and the poor bastards didn’t know what hit them.
Appearing behind the closest gate engineer, I didn’t even bother to register the person's face as I surge kicked them into the wall with a sickly smack, disrupting whatever they were doing. I then phase dashed out of the way as a stream of attacks came my way and proceeded to start tearing apart their back line supporters.
Slipfold close - surge kick in the back - slipfold away - and render their flesh and defences obsolete.
REAP WHAT YOU SOW! BITCHES!!!!
An old part of me was abhorrent with what I had become. This mad lethal shell of what once was a tentative and gentle natured techy guy.
But it felt justified. All of it.
THEY were the aggressors. They even tried to shoot at Kate! One of their own!
Piss off I say! To all those moral philosophers!
What’s the point of caring about the means if you won’t live to see the end? CHEAP WORD TRICKERY TO STOP THE PEASANTS FROM RISING UP AGAINST THE NOBLES!
Sure, maybe this violence and fury has been in me since I was born and ditched at the child protection services office.
SURE I had my small ball of rage inside me that we all have. That we all fantasise about unleashing one day in a righteous and justifiable crusade, but..
No.
This was about survival.
This was about getting back to my family and making sure that Lone NEVER had to feel abandoned or alone. It’s why we called him what we did. And in a bit of a fucked up way, having him was our defiant answer to a universe that had discarded us.
The thoughts blazed in my mind like a cyclone of hellfire and I violently kicked a loose clothed woman supporter into her team and roared at them in frustration as I performed several Slipfolds in a row, mincing their back row to bits.
It felt vile but it WAS their fault that I hadn't progressed towards home for the past month! They DESERVE TO ROT AND SUFFER AND..
EASY THERE! STAY FOCUSED! IT’S WORKING! THEY ARE IN CHAOS!
Argh. Maybe a teeny bit of this was inside of me after all..
To me, these people were no different to the monsters. In fact, they were WORSE. They had a choice and they decided to become utter degenerates.
And this is my choice. An extremely pissed off guy who-JUST-WANTS-TO-GO-HOME!
It took hardly any more time at all to sack their healers and shield casting members. Their frontline defenders and fighters' efficiency plummeted, causing them to turn around in shock and confusion, then horror as they saw the pile of meat their teammate had become.
The entire translucent dome shattered and dissolved into dust and Seren unleashed a thunderous synth growl that cooled my blood and sent chills running down my back.
Aaaand that’s my cue to move out of the way.
EXCELLENT WORK MY dEaR hErO bOY!
Her voice distorted with an unsettling, otherworldly growl, and she started to emit audible giggling like chirps and sighs from her construct as she jumped up in the air, coming down like a freight train and flattened an entire front line with her shields.
I slipfolded to the back of Kjell, Viki and Co, who were all using defensive skills, bar Vamp who was just hiding behind Sonny, to absorb or deflect the odd projectile that came their way. But the gate staff currently had much, much bigger and daemonic problems to deal with over the ragtag group and I glowered in grim satisfaction as she churned through their flanks like a hot knife through butter, sending limbs flying and blood spraying everywhere.
Kate was going in, elbow deep.
She had become completely unhinged, screaming incoherently and firing indiscriminately at her ex-people. Viki and Kjell were just laser focused on her surroundings and protecting Erika and Sonny, with the latter either gaping at the carnage or looking around for monsters. The monsters themselves were excitedly racing towards the torrents of EXP and free meat, catching a few remaining survivors off guard.
And without fanfare or some epic final explosive ending, it was done. Their numbers were decimated and the few survivors that weren’t caught in the blender had all started running and disappeared into the surrounding woodlands; leather twigs and other nightmare fuel monsters hot on their trails.
#Team#
Kjell: I’m damned glad that Seren is on our side.
Vamp: Eek. Totally. Baddass. Scary.
I snorted.
"Run-ass-holes!! THAT'S-RIGHT! RUN! GO-RUN-AND-DIIIIE!" Kate had turned full barbarian in between gulps of air, her MP was running on fumes, everyone's was, but she seemingly wanted more blood; she'd fully switched teams.
Godu: Let’s move up to the gate, carefully.
Seren we’re coming up, can you-
*BOOOOOOM*
Oh for shit..What now?!
*CRRRRRRRRRACK*
*GROOOOAAAAAN*
A cataclysmic impact rumbled the ground and it felt like a skyscraper had been dropped from a plane and slammed into the gateway, scattering spiderweb cracks
Ugh-I’m..tired..Godu..I.. can't….gate..breached..need to...come…..back..
She stumbled and collapsed as she tried to reach me but I Slipfolded close and placed a hand on her strangely warm surface.
Shit! Okay Seren, hurry back in! Rest up! You saved me once again. Thank you.
Hehmm..any..time..
She had a smirk to her voice as she exploded into a swirl of shimmer and streamed home.
*BOOOOOOM*
Another earth shaking impact
"Well, shit. I was hoping we'd have a few minutes to rest but-"
"SCREEEEEEEEE"
WHY. WHY DO I EVEN OPEN MY MOUTH.
#Team#
Vamp: We got company boss! The infected are coming in HOT!
This shit couldn't get-HEYOO-NOPE. I'm not setting THAT flag up so easily.
#Team#
Godu: Alright. Kate, PLEASE tell me you can open the gates.
Kate: THOSE DAMNED BASTARDS!
Godu: Kate STOP.
I'LL CASTRATE THEIR SOULS!
Godu: KATE!
Kate: I'LL PULL OUT THEIR-
"KATE! PLEASE OPEN THE FUCKING GATE! THE CORRUPTED ARE COMING!" I roared at her so hard it gave me an instant sore throat, but it was enough to snap her out of it and with a glare she rushed over to a side panel. A somewhat unnecessary large part of my attention felt my ‘Shed Wound’ skill kick in and soothe the soreness.
She rushed over and placed her hand on the panel and.. nothing happened. She tried again but again, nothing happened.
"SCREEEAAAAA"
#Team#
Vamp: Infected ETA is probably 60 seconds! Anyone have a backup plan?
Godu: Shit! Everyone, get close to the gate. Hurry! Kate? Any luck??
She was still muttering and tried her other hand but barked out an unhinged laugh when more nothingness happened. Abruptly she went quiet and froze, and then gazed over at the gore riddled floor. Everyone ran towards her to group up but she instead ran past them and proceeded to search around the corpses and offal.
"SCRAAGGHH"
"ROOOOORG"
#Team#
Godu: Kate! Talk to me here! What the heck are you looking for? Do you need a hand?
Kate: WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING? YES OF COURSE I NEED A HAND!
Okay. I deserve that.
Godu: OKAY. What the heck do we look for? A keycard or a bracelet or something?
I dashed over and started to look around. It was a horrific mess.
Kate: NO I NEED A HAND!
Stay calm. She’s just very stressed.
Godu: YES! I'm offering to give you a bloody hand! But what are you-
Kate: A HAND! A HUMAN FUCKING HAND!-
Oh.
Kate: THEY SHOULD HAVE CLEARANCE! ONE OF THOSE FUCKING CENTURIES OR HOWEVER THE COCKSUCKERS CALLED THEMSELVES..AHA! YESSS! NEVERMIND GOT IT! HAAA!
She held up a severed arm and ran over to the wall.
I’m at the point where limbs really do not bother me..But surely Majik locks aren't going to just simply accept-
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
*BWAAAAAAAAARRN*
A loud familiar klaxon sounded out and the absurdly thick gates groaned and split open, slowly peeling apart.
"Arghhh shit!!"
"They are here! We need to run!"
Kjell and Viki cried out as dozens of corrupted emerged streaming from the woods.
Kate: NO! WE CAN'T LEAVE! IF THE HAND FULLY DIES, IT WON'T WORK! THE GATES..THEY WILL..close..if I let go..
Kate looked at me and the others with pleading eyes. Searching for reassurance that we wouldn't leave her for dead.
Godu: DAMN IT ALL! We might have to try and outrun them and try to find another way! I-..what the HELL IS THAT NOISE?!
From the other side of the thick gate doors, a roaring was elevating in volume, like there was a crowd or a…Horde.
THANKS UNIVERSE! MIGHT AS WELL KICK ME IN THE BALLS AND GET IT OVER WITH-
#G#Grave# Siya? Siya respond! Siya? Come on girly, talk to me..You damned well better still be alive!
A shiver ran down my spine and I choked up at the sound of his voice. It was oddly terrifying. A part of me didn't want to believe it and didn't want to try and respond. The fear of having my hopes shattered was too overwhelming
I forced a deep breath and tried to respond.
#G#Godu# G-grave?
Silence. Except for the roaring and the approach of the screeching Corrupted.
Then suddenly-
#G#Mya# G-GODU?? IS THAT REALLY YOU??! YOU'RE ALIVE?! HE'S ALIVE HAAAAAAA! GRAVE SHE FOUND HIM! BY THE HEAVENS SHE FOUND HIM!
#G#Vyolyn# Holy tits, there goes my bottle of red..Good to hear your voice Goduyne.
#G#Grave# Well I'll be a sack full of nuts-Oh shoot! Pucker up people! We can hug and kiss later! Viv! 24 corrupted approaching on the other side of the gateway. Take your team and teams 2, 3 and 4 and clear them out. Vyo! Confirm Godus location and get him the hell outta there!
#G#Vivatti# Understood. I am relieved to hear you are alive Goduyne.
#G#Vyolyn# Rrrroger. Scanning..oh. OH-
My mind fell into a stupor. I stared at the shouting faces of Kjell, Viki and Kate, their skills flaring up, bunching closer, screaming at me for answers as to what we should do and I just blank faced them, completely in shock. All whilst corrupted charged toward us.
Shouts came from the still sliding thick slab gates, and I drunkenly turned to the entrance.
#G#Vyolyn# HURRY! HE'S ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GATE WITH SIYA! CORRUPTED DANGER CLOSE! VIV - GO! GO! GO!
From the gates blurred out dozens of unfamiliar dark figures. They wore matching black robes and held beautiful staves with complex designs on the shaft with a sharp blade on one end and something that looked a bit like a light bulb without the glass on the other.
And the reason that this was the first thing I took note of was because they all pointed the light bulb end towards us and unleashed a dozen small fiercely electric blue comet-like projectiles that spread out for a split second before shooting straight towards us.
“SCRAAGHH-URKKK”
The projectiles whizzed passed us and I felt the heat coming of them singe my skin but none of them hit us and instead slammed into the half dozen corrupted that were right on us.
The corrupted were sent flying back.
In the space of a few seconds, the projectiles threw them back and effortlessly pierced through their flesh, then slowed to a quick stop and reversed back, slamming back into their designated target again and again, continuing like this, going back and forth through the corrupted until they flopped down dead and punched full of gore holes like swiss cheese.
The others around me had thrown up shields and defensive skills and Viki had started to conjure up ice shards, aiming them towards the newcomers.
“AYY AYY!! SAME TEAM!”
“WEAPONS DOWN! NOW!”
They belted out for us to stop pointing shit at them. My mind managed to slap itself out of it.
"WOA! EVERYONE STOP! It is OKAY. They are friends..I think." I moved in front and turned to look at everyone, spreading out my shields to diffuse the situation. There was a tense moment where I thought everyone would start blasting, but the robes had other things to worry about and swiftly pushed forward, moving in groups of 6 to intercept the approaching corrupted and monsters. We gawked as they dropped everything that came into range, the groups making it look easy as they tackled the last few straggling corrupted.
Vivatti, a face I thought I'd never see again ran up to me with a big grin on his face.
"Hello everyone! Be at peace, we're-" he froze and eyed up Kate in her guard uniform, awkwardly holding the severed arm against the wall. "-uhh, here to..help." he trailed off at the sight. Grave, Mya and Vyolyn came sprinting over with a couple of people wearing matching white hooded jackets that were kind of robe-like. More people streamed in behind them and started to form a perimeter whilst outer groups continued to eliminate incoming threats.
"Godu!! Hot dang it's good to see your face Sir! Easy there folks! We're here for him, friendlies, but if you're looking for help? Well then there's that too.." He still wore his helmet but you knew there was a broad smirk on his face.
He gestured to Siya. "I'm glad she found you, big guy-” He paused and sighed. “Looks like you both have been knee deep in some crazy fizz though…Well, you can hand Siya over to these guys though, they are the best medics here. They’ll fix her up, don't you worry." He motioned to the guys in white to come over. "I know this is a lot to take in but you're safe now. She'll be fine. You will be too."
I just stood there in shock as he came over and carefully lifted Siya and handed her over to one of the medics who abruptly ran off with her. It made me instinctively flinch a step forward to follow. I hadn’t realised how much of a vital comforting presence she had been and seeing her go filled me with cold icy terror at the thought of something happening to her with me not watching her back.
She had dived into absolute hell to save me. I'd never forget that. Ever.
"Don't worry lad, we can chat later if you want to go with her. Mya will take you, but before you shoot off, can you tell us how the gates are being controlled?"
I was fully glazed over at this point, but I pointedly looked over at Kate who peeled back her lips to give the weirdest forced smile and pointed at the severed arm.
"Um H-hello. Yeah-Godu, can you remind them that the doors are going to close when this piece of shits arm fully dies?" She called over as if it was a casual conversation and pointed at her meaty keycard.
"Ha. Well alright then. Thanks for the uhh-handy tip!" Grave nodded back, definitely with a grin, prompting an unhinged cackle from Kate.
He clapped me on the shoulder and leaned in as he spoke in a lowered voice. "I like her."
He paused, looked over at the gate way that had finally finished opening and then nodded. "We got a specialist coming to see if we can take control of the lock. I'll head over and relieve Miss..handy, over there. Assuming that I can, Maam?”
Kate eagerly nodded.
“Great. Vyolyn, can you get someone to come process Mr Goduyne’s friends here? Whilst he goes with Mya for some well earned rest and I’m sure he’s got lots of questions. Maybe a bowl of grub too eh?"
The archon smiled at me and nodded.
"For this fine gentleman? Anything."
…
..
.
Mya led me outside and the first thing I saw were tents. Lots of tents.
The next thing I saw were people. Lots of people.
#Mya# Stay close now!
We moved purposefully through the rows and dodged the foot traffic, everyone of all ages and types were scuttling around like busy worker ants, carrying things, sitting around a fire, cooking, eating, inspecting weapons and I even saw a circle of people standing around someone who was doing some kind of demonstration with a sword, talking loudly in Italian.
It was astounding to see and confusing to comprehend how so many people were here risking it outside-
Outside..
We’re actually outside..
I stared up at the dawning cloudy sky and it sunk in that I was free.
We made it Seren. We actually made it..
My eyes started watering as I took in the sight of the dark clouds and breathed in the cool fresh air.
Marri, Lone. I made it out. I'm-
I turned around and then I saw it. My undeserved prison. My tortuous hell.
The cube.
The confusion and subsequent logical realisations sent my mind in a whirl. Screams and flashes of violent images flurried through my mind. Things I'd seen and done. Images of the death, and the pain and the suffering and hatred and ANGER AND-..
Squeezing my eyes shut, I took a deep breath and fought them back. Back into the darkest depths of my mind.
..I'm..I'm okay now. I’ll get back to you guys soon okay? Just..hold on and wait for me..Please.
Mya reached a large brown tent that had a white flag outside it and gestured inside.
#Mya# Here we are, the medic tent! Head inside and we’ll get you looked at.
I entered the tent. And not really knowing why I was expecting to see people on beds with injuries or sickness, I looked around, but there was nobody except Siya and the same couple of white robe hooded healers checking Siya over and sending pulses of red and gold Majik into her.
She was still unconscious.
One of the healers sprang over and led me to a funny looking bed next to her and set me down.
He spoke something in Italian and Mya laughed and shook her head, telling him something in Italian and coming over to me.
“Here, friend.” She spoke in heavily accented English as she held out her hand and I looked at it momentarily before taking it. Her hand felt warm, soft, kind. My mind recoiled, terrified to feel such positive things again. As if by doing so, I would be inviting ruin and pain to come destroy it all.
Accept skill Lang:Global?
Warning: This will overwrite [Hand Speak]
My eyebrows shot up.
Global? Uh yes sure.
My hearing popped and millions of voices whispered all at once. Languages, images, slang and sayings were becoming more clear to me, more obvious.
I knew all this already..how did I forget?
That wasn't possible, but that's what it felt like once it finally completed whatever process was going on.
Mya bent down and gently placed her hands on my shoulders prompting me to look up.
“My dearest friend. I would ask you how you are but..” I understood her words perfectly as she pulled me in and squeezed me tight.
There was a time where I would have been awestruck by suddenly being able to understand another language.
But now that wonder and awe was dull and sullen. That time felt like aeons ago now.
“I know you’ve been in a living hell..We’ve been looking for you everywhere, you big oaf..if it wasn’t for Siya..” She sniffed and softly chuckled, pulling back.
“Pah! All of that fluff, it matters not! What matters is that you are safe now.” She beamed at me and it was so incredibly infectious that it broke through all the mental crud and scum that caked my thoughts.
I smiled back.
Mya could have been Marri’s sister in that regard, always able to flip sad things with just her presence and defiant positivity. I was feeling better already.
“I’ll grab some food and drink whilst the priests check you over and provide some buffs, then we’ll have a nice long chat about everything okay?”
I nodded, struggling to find the appropriate words for this situation.
Food sounds.. amazing.
My body was starting to crash, feeling exhausted, mentally abused, and psychologically wounded yet my soul was somehow still warm and my heart was at a relative peace. Siya had dived into the pits of hell all the while my allies and friends were bashing down the gates, just to help me and Seren had enacted an Eldritch level of retribution on those responsible.
It was hard not to feel some degree of positivity after all of that.
The healer priests performed a combination of an old medical examination and what was now the normal Majik based diagnostics, using pulses of gold and white lights that repaired damage but also purified and provided boosts to my energy and regeneration factors for a few hours.
Mya came back during this procedure with a tray of steaming bowls of something that smelt absolutely delicious. It had meat, vegetables and an actual broth. OH SWEET HEAVENS! THE FLAVOURS! And after finishing that and listening to Mya explain some things, I finally managed to croak out some words and burst into fits of laughter when it came out in plain English. I expected to be able to speak Italian.
How inefficient would that be? Much easier to just do translations right? Oh who cares haha..
Mya could still understand me and it was her turn to giggle when my first words were asking her what was in the food; her reply simply being “Giant cows”.
But Mya had given me a cut down version of what had happened since my disappearance and I felt both troubled and amazed.
Firstly, the day I disappeared, Siya had begun freaking out as she could no longer sense me through our soulbind, adamant that I must either be dead or was being hidden.
This had prompted her to disappear immediately in search of me.
She had found the cube, it was hard to miss, and had reported back what she had found to Grave and Mya who at the time couldn’t do much about shit, because, what options did they really have?
Things drastically changed on the second day however, as Vivatti and his people appeared, motivated bt a tasked mission to head towards the sanctuary, with one of the optional parts being to pick up survivors living on the airport military base - Mya, her boy, Grave and Siya of course.
Vivatti and his people had apparently taken my words as gospel, becoming fanatically dedicated to training and working as teams to help find survivors, they had become a militant tribe whose elites could boast enough strength to put down the corrupted mainly thanks to the null corruption ability I shared in combination with som kind of specialist crafting skill they had that let them make weapons that could really hurt the corrupted.
And so Siya returned from the cube, having spent the night there, correctly convinced it had something to do with my disappearance, and they immediately set off on the long and dangerous road towards the sanctuary to find the archon.
My immediate question to this was “how the hell did you all travel so far on foot?” and the simple answer was creators, building carts and carriages. Vivatti’s people had found survivors that were equipped with abilities that allowed them to build carts and carriages; the small ones could be powered by Majik but the much bigger ones were moved via an interesting pedalling system, powered by passengers. It sounded far-fetched but apparently it was incredible, with the bonus that the carriages were made from an absurdly strong material that could be repaired by their builders. It still took them a couple of weeks but they made the journey safely and picked up more survivors along the way.
Once they arrived at the sanctuary, they were surprised to find that Vyolyn and her people were already preparing to go to war. Unfortunately I'd not had the foresight to set up communications between the Archon and my lot, but her people had forged weapons and armour and crafted tents and various healing and enhancement tonics and she had also been expecting Vivatti, his people and Grave Mya and Siya.
All thanks to the tasks that kept being handed out to everyone.
I used to think that the tasks were just instincts or strong desires that could manifest thanks to this new matter of Majik, but now I was starting to wonder if there was something orchestrating them.
Perhaps whatever mechanism birthed Seren, also birthed a task giving entity?
Whatever it was, it had been rounding them all up, telling them to prepare XYZ and then simply gave them one last direction to ‘Gain entry to the Cube and extract entity #71542125145 'Goduyne'.
Nobody refused.
Not only because of the rather generous rewards from the task, but also because Vivatti and Vyolyn's people were fully aware of the times I'd helped out and were eager to repay the favour. Oh, and there was also a little issue with overcrowding with survivors at the sanctuary apparently, so they decided that this would be the perfect excuse to send an expeditionary team to set up shop in the capital after Vyolyn's tribe also experienced huge success after the gift of nullify corruption came into their lives. Their mag levels skyrocketed.
During their travels, Siya had spent every possible spare moment, soaring around the cube, fighting monsters and searching for a way in, day and night..
I don't deserve her friendship. Bless her. Truly.
But then, yesterday, she reported seeing a group of people carrying four others to the gates and that was when she had simply gone silent, completely off the radar.
Just like I had.
The main group's journey had been bard worthy, with intense fights on all fronts, countless bonds woven and so many survivors sneaking out of their hidey holes in hopes to join this absurd army walking the open roads.
Everything about it really was absurd, it defied the monsters, defied the nightmares and defied the looming extinction.But defiance is humanity's middle name right?
After a few days, they arrived at the cube, a few thousand people heavier-More absurdity-and they found the gates Siya had described, set up camp and then set their engineers and technicians the task of opening the doors, whilst simultaneously training and teaching the new people thanks to Graves' experience and instruction and Vyolyn's leadership and management.
And the camp kept getting bigger as more stragglers and groups received tasks directing them to the location; it was a first for the majority of people.
They tried to brute force entry but had zero luck until earlier today something changed and some of the protections went down allowing them to damage the gates and even blast a hole through it. It had been enough for Siya to re-establish communication for a short period, where she had told them what she had found, including her intentions to rescue me, before getting cut off again as something started to repair the damaged gates.
After that it had been a tug of war between them trying to steadily break the gates and the gate repairing the damage, until the gates suddenly started to open to show our faces timidly looking out.
I had endless questions.
Why the tasks? How did Siya get in unnoticed? What DID she do inside to mess up all their North Korea style suppressive bullshit? WHY were people joining together so easily? And why did everyone come just for me?
I understand the tasks are compelling..but this would be like asking…well, it WAS EXACTLY like asking people to travel through monster infested lands to an absurd giant foreign cube and then declare war on the psychopaths inside!
Mya just shrugged as she passed me my third bowl of stew. She suggested times were different and people would do lots of crazy things for easy EXP nowadays.
Bull-Fucking-Shit! People don't just blindly follow instructions given to them! They don't just jump into harm's way without..…
…Shit.
It sounded insane and yet..what have I been doing since day one? And can I really say it's only to save other people?
EXP was one helluva drug.
Mya went into some details about more gossipy things, like how it had started to feel like a community and how her boy Trion had joined a school area with other kids.
I smiled and nodded but my mind felt detached and fuzzy.
Something fucking weird is going on, I can feel it in between my fingers like a film of slime..
My gut agreed. Yet my mind told my gut to mind its own damned business and stick to its day job.
Was it because of my circumstances and having Lone? Or has something else been subtly influencing me? Have much have I changed?
As time goes on, things feel more and more.. Artificial? Not real?..
Mya must have sensed my existential mood because she finished talking and patted me on the head, the act melting my heart and making me feel all warm and fuzzy. Smiling, she handed me a small flask that contained alcohol and practically ordered me to have some before getting some sleep and that if I needed to talk some more or needed company, all I'd need to do is ask.
Damn. It is good to be around kind people again..
Happily accepting, I took a swig of the burning liquor and spluttered a goodnight to her, making her chuckle as she left. The beddings were divinely soft and clean and had a pleasant sterile smell to them. They looked like something generated from Majik.
My god this is heaven..Yes. I'm.. exhausted. I'll save the dwelling for another day. Now is the time for..rest..
…
..
.