‘His suspicions were right. I truly have no idea how much of his life was pre-lived before he was turned into a character in a play. The self-awareness of the experimental subject is interesting though, likely he was working for one of the Ocean Gods. At least we have a better idea of what Code Zeta entails. Time to make a rough start at least.’ said Carissa as she slammed the black binder shut and stood up.
She wasn’t planning to read more of the entries from the dead scientist and none of it interested her further. At least not during this time, she willed the diary entry to finish and the text screen in her mind’s eye vanished as she opened her spatial backpack and threw the binder in.
Rather than approach the sleeping Matthias she decided to take a more reasonable approach. He needed to be woken up and she had several options at her disposal.
Clearly directly approaching him when he was slumbering holding onto a sword wasn’t a good idea. The memory of possession from the Ocean God was fresh enough that they’d made their own agreement when discussing a breakdown of strategies to take.
Obviously, she couldn’t talk to him directly to verify who he was but he’d shared enough of his own life and she’d shared details with him that she’d kept hidden from everyone, even her ex-husband Liam, which would enable him to verify her in turn.
Carissa decided on an approach which she had frequently used in the past, she’d work on it in a moment staying inside this bare-bones research room wasn’t a viable option.
She wasn’t clear on the exact reason but the Ocean Gateway System had entirely failed to activate for a decent period of time. Not that she wasn’t thankful for the barrage of messages from Ocean Gods who either wanted to tell her something, express their hate or demands.
For now, it appeared, as long as she remained inside this room there was a period of respite. She’d already established her group name, her level of authority with Matthias, checked through their items and even checked through rewards provided.
The binder was a no-go for now. The information that it showed was mostly filled with guilt rather than actual information. In her own perspective this intermediate level clearly wasn’t designed for player-candidates at their level.
‘Makes no sense. Realistically, we shouldn’t even be here. For those Ocean Gods watching or paying attention than your experimental design for test subjects doesn’t make a great deal of sense. You don’t throw untested quantities into immediate danger if you plan to keep them.’ said Carissa.
The fact that they weren’t even full players and hadn’t even fought a single other creature, encountered traps or various dangers aside from a mysterious virus and a mission to destroy an entire facility.
All of it was likely designed to kill or break her and Mathias. Her methods clearly weren’t working but they had an ally in the form of one of the Ocean Gods called Oannes and another who had entered her memory of a storm on a summers day and asked her to be careful.
‘Questions, questions and enough of strange alien beings telling me what do to do.’ said Carissa as she planned the situation on waking up Matthias inside her own mind.
The technique should work easily enough, both of them were part of the group designated as Thassalaphobia. He could contact and share information with him as he could with her. The Ocean Gateway System lacked a tutorial function but the basics were clearer to her by this point.
Standing up and stretching after she made sure that her laboratory quest gifted item was fitted on. She ran a quick check through the rewarded item to check the details once more. Due to her own early training, she was able to view it directly in her mind’s eye and scanned the words in seconds.
[Player-Candidate Group Designate: Thalassophobia.
Intermediate Level Reward:
This outfit provides little physical security in the Deep-Water Purification Facility but those staff, prisoners and test subjects who are not directly hostile to you will identify you as a Level 2 Research Scientist.
-Additional Benefits: Security Avoidance x3.
-When wearing the coat, as long as it maintains 80% of physical integrity you can avoid direct security checkpoints or random security checks from both civilian and military staff.
-Warning: When all usages are finished, you will be identified as an intruder unless you are in possession of a valid security pass.
-Warning: This item only offers access to Level 2 facilities, including prison cells, recycling, research rooms, body and waste disposal zones, animal testing, recreation and rest quarters and general staff sleep quarters. All military controlled facilities are inaccessible with this item of clothing.
-Warning: This item cannot be removed from this testing scenario.]
Even when she was wearing it, she was able to view the properties of the outfit. Most of it made little sense to her mind as she knew little about the Deep-Water Purification Facility aside from the fact that had decided to conduct viral tests on prisoners for the purpose of building superhumans who would fight the Ocean Gods or their servants.
Given how time operated inside this world, the words which Mike had told her in what felt like a month ago, any events which had occurred had already taken place years if not decades ago.
A tingling came into her mind as familiar sensation of the Ocean Gateway System sending her a message came into her mind’s eye again.
She dismissed the details of the scientific coat as a message began to appear in her mind before it vanished and a watery flow of text appeared on one of the walls of the research room.
Matthias continued to slumber; this time he wasn’t making a single sound but to the surprise of Carissa the young man now had a bright smile on his face as though he was experiencing a good dream for once.
His coral sword had shifted somewhat but he held on to it tightly.
The water began to flow before it drained away and dust and a sense of heat came from the wall as words rewrote themselves.
Dry heat and words made of flowing sand appeared on the wall as the text continued to flow.
[…. Is this thing on? Casey? You fixed it? Ah right. Need to stick to the rules when it comes to the poor fools taken to this...wait. Is she reading this message? No. I said wait for me to finish cooking first. I mean I was just. Fine. Not your fault Casey. Uz. Let’s try that again. Hi there lady, you don’t know me and... forget it. Ah...I’m not an Ocean God. One of them should have sent you a message. Wow, they all kinds of messed up when they built this place. I mean I’ve been to some system designed worlds and this place is...well it’s not good quality. Casey? We ready yet? Yes? No? No. Bear with me a second Lady. You and me need to talk, I mean your friend can join in but just between you and me he’s boring. His world is boring, his Goddess of the Lake is boring. You are interesting, or rather you will be…. yeah, this isn’t working. See you soon. Horus. Casey? I added my name? Was I mean to add my na-]
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
The sensation of dry heat remained inside the research room; it wasn’t unpleasant but it certainly had an effect on Matthias. The words and text made from sand stayed on one of the research room walls.
The young man with platinum hair began to shift as his eyes opened up and his gaze was immediately drawn to Carissa and then to the sandy wall. His mouth opened as he spoke out the words softy to himself before he froze and gave Carissa a strange look.
His coral sword half-dropped from his hand before his muscle memory reflex kicked in and he threw it inside his own spatial bag on his belt in one swift movement. He ignored Carissa as he pushed off the floor and moved closer to the letters of sand on the walls.
Then he reached out a finger and touched it. The dry heat within the room wasn’t rising or reducing in temperature, it simply let Carissa experience the sensation of a warm summer’s day.
‘Doesn’t appear to be a trap. Strange though. Did you sleep well? I had planned to use our group messaging option to set an alarm clock to wake you up from a distance. Matthias, the one you killed in your first dungeon. Was he handsome with blue eyes?’ said Carissa as she placed a hand on her own spatial backpack fully prepared to draw out her own bone tooth club weapon.
After the possession, herself and Matthias had agreed to stick to identify each other clearly to make sure neither of them was a threat to each other.
‘My mistake. He had red eyes and was a... hobgoblin.’ said Carissa as she kept a close eye on the young man wearing a similar style science researcher coat as her.
His appearance was modern as the reward covered his body but his spatial bag and coral sword made for a jarring contrast. At least he’d put the sword away.
His hand remained on the sand words on the previously bare white wall as he nodded his head and talked without turning towards her.
Carissa was pleased that closing the doorway into the next part of the Deep-Water Purification Facility had been done so easily. All she had to do was follow the words of the Ocean God Oannes and cut her finger, allowing a few drops of blood to fall onto the keycard.
The entrance into the room filled once-screams, cells on the side which ran straight down a good distance had simply shut off earlier through her hand just before she wanted to read the black binder.
Time to reopen the world to nightmare horrors the eventual destruction of a facility. Who comes up with these names? The Deep-Water Purification Facility? Too fancy.
She checked the usage on the card as according to Matthias dungeons like this were common in his world for testing errant knights and built with magical powers. There had been something else about cores and rules but she had largely tried to absorb the bare minimum and focus on their present situation.
Perhaps if she entered his planetary reality, she would find his advice more useful but he had agreed with her that despite their being common similarities there was more differences and alterations which made little sense to him.
‘Matthias. We need to enter the room, are you prepared for what Code Zeta has to offer us? I have the opinion that the direct or indirect interference of the Ocean Gods and their kind has done something to this place. To put it simply we don’t belong here at our low-level and rather than removing us there are limitations and restrictions in place. A shame really, despite the weakness of the researchers I think it would be interesting to find some experimental technology. I’m sure this place held wonders once, a shame they lost the war and never realised it.’ said Carissa as she viewed through the security access card, she had received for killing a mutated passive scientific researcher.
Not something I’ll forget. All he wanted was to see his family but after reading his notes he likely killed at least dozens of human beings in experiments. Would the survivors be glad I killed him? Would they thank me in turn?
[Player-Candidate Group: Thassalaphobia
-Registered Access Key Card
-Security Clearance: Research Scientist Level 2
-Owner: Hua Pengfei Members of Player-Candidate Group – Thassalaphobia
-This key card will grant access to select rooms and most common areas inside the Facility of Water Purification.
-Warning: Item holds two usages before security access is revoked. Applies to security checks.
-Warning: Requires redacted genetic trace to be operated.
-Temporary item. No ownership restrictions.]
‘Dropped to two then. The item works as you mentioned Matthias. Do you find that sand writing so insightful? A random message appears from someone who claims not to be an Ocean God and likes a little bit of heat. A test likely to see our loyalty and belief in the Drowned Gods. Not that I care for them but I am grateful for their lack of intrusion and a lack of pain inside my head is a nice feeling. Matthias, as the leader of your group, leave the message alone and come to my side. We need to enter the room. I’m not staying in here until we both starve to death or die of emotional exhaustion. Do it.’ said Carissa as after scanning the message she watched the same security scanner emerge from the seemingly blank random research room wall the same large space filled with cells and walkways running on both sides, as a series of ceiling strip lights turned on one by one.
There were no screams this time, not even a single sound. There was a presence though and a smell which she clearly recognised, even with reduced senses she had grown used to a diet with blood in it.
Carissa opened her spatial backpack and pulled out the scientific coat which was meant to give her a degree of camouflage as she put her arms into it and watched her entire appearance transform into a Level 2 Research Scientist.
Her hair shifted into a tight bun although a pair of glasses on her face didn’t appear as it had with Matthias. She took the reduced bone tooth club in its cudgel form and tucked in into one of the larger pockets of the pristine white coat.
The grey suit was covered with a woman’s standard light blue shirt, black office trousers and a pair of beige woman’s footwear. Her own appearance woes marginally less formal than Matthias with similar results.
He walked over to her; the coral sword was tucked under his own white scientific coat at the back. He had managed to make it shrink in size according to his own will when Carissa had tested with him earlier the effects that they could individually have on Ocean Gateway provided items.
The science coats refused to be altered in any form, either in length or weight. The description of them remaining exactly the same despite her best efforts and several nosebleeds which had been cleared up.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the sand message on the walls had simply gone as though it hadn’t been there. And possibly the whole thing had been a visual hallucination or an attempt at a joke by the Ocean Gods.
The concept of sand and heat didn’t make much sense when she considered they had flooded an entire planet in a game of gods. Matthias stood next to Carissa as they looked inside the large space. From the way his own nose was moving, she was certain that he had picked up the smell of blood as well although all they could see was a space devoid of inhabitants.
‘I’m prepared as I can be. Do you mind if I practice a little? We know we can share messages and items in the group but I don’t have your ability entirely to read them. ‘Queried Matthias as his fingers gripped onto the scientific white coat altering his appearance.
Shaking her head Carissa pointed to the large space in front of them.
‘If we stay here longer, we’re going to begin to lag behind any other player-candidates. You heard Oannes, Bonnie and others will surpass us. This entire so-called intermediate-level area has made no sense to me. Nothing useful granted, no powers, no items, no... special abilities as you called them. Come. We enter and find out what Code Zeta means.’ said Carissa.
The pair of them had begun to enter the large space, as a klaxon began to ring out.
A dry heat went straight through Carissa as sand rose from the metallic floor and blocked their immediate field of vision as a pair of empty white coats dropped to the floor as Carissa and Matthias both vanished as gunshots, the sound of screams and tormented individuals rang out.