“What do I need to do?” Zayd asked, his eyes riveted to the relic as it floated gently in the air, pulsing in time to the beat of his heart. The rest of the sophisticated alien lab fell away from his vision while the relic pulsed in time to the beating of his heart, shrinking his view of the world until little remained other than the seven-pointed star.
“Strip off your shirt and lie down on the table,” Eirian instructed. “The records we recovered are thin, much of the use of the relic was a secret between the king and his heir. We believe that it will merge with your body, there’s a reference to one king physically ripping it from the heart of his predecessor though that may just be colorful language,” she explained. “Once you lie down, I’ll guide the relic to touch your flesh and we’ll see what happens. If physical contact isn’t enough, we’ll begin with energy flow testing but I personally believe that the pulsing it’s doing now indicates that you are ‘authorized’ to meld with it.”
Unwilling to wait a moment longer than necessary, Zayd quickly pulled his tunic off and all but hopped onto the exam table, stretching himself out and shivering. Whether he shivered in anticipation or at the slight chill in the air was anyone’s guess. Moments later, the floating seven-pointed star-shaped relic began to move through the air, sinking down until it made contact with the center of his sternum.
“Now,” Eirian said, her tone becoming clinical. “Tell me what you…”
Whatever she was saying, Zayd heard none of it, nor could he see her, the lab, or anything else from the place he’d been. Instead, he found himself standing in a vast junkyard, standing atop a heap of broken mechs and machines. In the distance, he could see whole cities in ruin beneath a smoky red sky. Far above the heaps and piles of broken mechs, rubble fields of broken moons and even planets filled the sky. Turning around, everywhere he looked, the carnage extended in every direction as far as the eye could see.
Atop the mountain of wreckage, seemingly fashioned out of the parts of broken mechs stood an impressive throne. Twisted metal had been arranged into a seven-pointed star at the top of the throne while the body of the throne itself had been assembled using everything from the most primitive of old-school hydraulic actuators to modern composite synthetic muscle fiber. There were even bits of bizarre alien parts mixed, the purpose of which he couldn’t begin to grasp.
Suddenly, as Zayd examined the throne, dark red glowing letters appeared, first in one ancient script, then another, and finally settling in the Galactic Standard that Zayd was familiar with.
[THE LORD OF DESTRUCTION HAS FALLEN. A NEW CANDIDATE HAS EMERGED. ONLY THE WORTHY MAY SIT UPON THE THRONE OF DESTRUCTION. CLAIM IT AND BE JUDGED.]
“That seems fairly direct,” Zayd said as he eyed the imposing metal throne. “Let’s see what it considers worthy,” he said, striding forward past the floating text and taking a seat directly on the throne. From here, the view of carnage was even more impressive. In the distance, he could see flames burning, smoke pouring into the sky, and even hear the sound of rending metal. Whoever sat upon this throne wasn’t just a ruler, they became a force of nature, dominating the world by destroying all opposition! What was power? This was power! The power to destroy anything and everything that could suppress him!
[SCANNING…. SCAN COMPLETE. CANDIDATE CONFIRMED.]
[MECH DESTROYER SYSTEM: ONLINE. ANALYSIS AVAILABLE. OPTIMIZATION AVAILABLE. SYSTEM ACTIVATION: INCOMPLETE. SOME FEATURES WILL BE LOCKED UNTIL THE ACTIVATION MISSION IS COMPLETED]
Zayd read the text as it appeared, a smirk forming at the edge of his lips. “So this is a user interface for the relic?” Looking around the piles of broken mechs, cities, and all of the rest of the carnage he couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s one hell of a wallpaper, don’t you think?”
[THE MECH DESTROYER SYSTEM EXISTS TO AID IN THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD OF DESTRUCTION]
The message appeared briefly before being replaced by a more basic menu. Most options on the menu were grayed out but a few were accessible.
[STATUS]
[SKILLS - LOCKED]
[PERSONAL COMBAT - LOCKED]
[MECH COMBAT - LOCKED]
[######## ###### - LOCKED]
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[SHOP - LOCKED]
[MISSIONS]
COMPLETE ACTIVATION MISSION TO UNLOCK ADDITIONAL FEATURES
“Well, let’s see what this is all about,” Zayd said. “Status.”
NAME: ZAYD
[SPECIES]
BASE HUMAN: 99.99%
LUMINARY: 0.01%
[ATTRIBUTES]
STRENGTH: 6
ENDURANCE: 5
AGILITY: 5
SPEED: 4
INTELLIGENCE: 5
WILLPOWER: 6
EMPATHY: 3
BEAUTY: 4
DARK ENERGY CAPACITY: 5
DARK ENERGY SENSITIVITY: 1
DARK ENERGY AUTHORITY: 1
DARK ENERGY EMPOWERMENT: 1
GENETIC OPTIMIZATION: [AVAILABLE]
[BALANCE]
0 ENTROPIC ENERGY
COMPLETE MISSIONS TO HARVEST ENTROPIC ENERGY
“So it isn’t just a UI, it’s like a video game,” Zayd mused. “I wonder if I’ll get points later to spend on attributes? Who the hell would put their points into looking pretty?” he wondered. “Okay, let’s see the missions,” he finally said, a sense of dread beginning to form in his gut. This thing was going to be just like his last employer wasn’t it? Nothing for free. Well, he was hardly allergic to putting in the work, as long as the rewards justified it. What he hated was the way assholes like the foreman would skim off the top of his work to line their own pockets or otherwise deny him what he was due. As long as this Mech Destroyer System paid what it promised, he wouldn’t mind too much.
[MISSIONS]
[SYSTEM ACTIVATION MISSION]
OBJECTIVE: DESTROY FIVE ENEMY MECHS IN LIFE-OR-DEATH COMBAT. DEATH OF ENEMY PILOTS REQUIRED FOR MISSION COMPLETION
REWARD(S): SYSTEM ACTIVATION, 100 ENTROPIC ENERGY
“Well, that seems simple enough,” Zayd said. Or at least, it was simple enough if he had weapons like the ones used by the Imperium against him and the other pilots of Rockbreakers that had assaulted the Spear of Destiny with him. In fact, while Sergeant Dane Quan wasn’t that bad of a guy, there were a few other Employees he wouldn’t mind getting his hands on with some of the advanced weapons from the Imperium. “I’m sure if I tell Eirian that I need to blow up a few human mechs to unlock the power of the relic, she won’t mind giving me some of their weapons. I’m a ‘Champion’ after all,” he said with a dark smile.
“What is Entropic Energy?” Zayd asked. The system displayed it like a form of currency but it felt like more than that.
[ENTROPY IS THE INEVITABLE PROGRESS TOWARD DEATH, DISORDER, AND THE END OF ALL EXISTENCE. ENERGY IS RELEASED WHEN ENTROPY IS ACCELERATED. TO AID THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD OF DESTRUCTION, THE MECH DESTROYER SYSTEM HARVESTS ENTROPIC ENERGY TO FUEL ITS FUNCTIONS]
“So all of this,” Zayd said, looking around at the carnage of the environment he’d been drawn into. “This is what fuels the relic? Who made this thing and how did they figure out a way to power it through… carnage?”
[CANDIDATE HAS INSUFFICIENT AUTHORITY. UNABLE TO ANSWER QUESTION]
“Not like I expected answers anyway,” he said. He was, however, beginning to agree with Eirian’s assessment that the ‘King of Ruin’ hadn’t been the one to create the relic but instead had used the relic to rise to power.
Looking back at his status, he noticed that there was an option for ‘Genetic Optimization.’ “Let’s see what that one does.”
[GENETIC OPTIMIZATION]
DESCRIPTION: REFINES THE CANDIDATE’S GENOME TO ELIMINATE DEFECTS WHERE POSSIBLE AND ENHANCE USEFUL TRAITS
NOTE: USING GENETIC OPTIMIZATION BEFORE ACTIVATION IS COMPLETE WILL INCREASE THE DIFFICULTY OF THE ACTIVATION MISSION AND REDUCE THE REWARDS.
DO YOU WISH TO USE GENETIC OPTIMIZATION? [YES/NO]
“No,” Zayd said definitively. He didn’t mind working harder, but working harder for lower rewards was exactly the sort of thing he wanted to avoid. “I should come back to this once I’ve finished the activation method. How do I leave?”
No sooner had he asked the question than he found himself back in Eirian’s lab.
“... experience when the relic, wait. Where did it go!?” the priestess said in a panic when the relic disappeared as soon as it made contact with Zayd’s skin. “Zayd, tell me what happened when the relic touched you, did it do anything?”
“It did,” Zayd answered, realizing that time had effectively stopped while he interacted with the relic. “I have access to the relic,” he explained. “But I’m going to need some help to activate its power.”