Day 16 A.F
“Those NPCs are weird as fuck,” Chad said to Darius.
“You’re not wrong, but they do get the job done, right?” Darius asked.
“Yeah, I mean, they listen to orders perfectly and all that, but that’s about it. They’re great for standing watch, and will kill any monsters that get close, but I don’t think they will do very well if we try to combine them with the regular people.”
Darius stood with Chad as they watched the new NPCs launch arrows down range at the stationary targets. Each one managed to maintain tight clusters of arrows, all within half a foot of the center at a range of almost two hundred feet.
“That’s fine,” Darius said. “I was mostly intending for them to be a defensive squad anyway, something to man the walls while we go out to fight the undead. That reminds me, how has the armor and weapons enchantments come along?”
“Ethan has managed to get the suits of armor, shields and spears enchanted so far, so at least our Infantry is fully equipped. I believe he’s working on the bows now. here, have a look at what he’s managed to pull off.” Chad then showed Darius to the Armory.
Scale-Mail Armor, Enchanted
Quality: Excellent
Rarity: Uncommon
Base Material: Steel
Durability: 52/52
Defense: 44
Weight: 45 lbs.
Enchantments:
Above Average: Durability, Defense, Cold Resistance, Strength, Agility.
Cold Resistance: 17%
Constitution +3
Endurance +3
“Wait, since when can Ethan add attribute bonuses?” Darius asked. While he knew it was possible, this was the first time he saw anything enchanted by the young man that used them.
“About that… the Guards and I all pooled our credits so Ethan could get the set of Glyphs that enhance the attributes. It was pricey, but as you can see, well worth it.”
“It’s not a huge boost,” Darius said, “But you’re right, it’s worth it. That’s at least fifteen more health and thirty stamina worth on the armor.” Darius then turned his attention to the Shield that accompanied the armor on the stand.
Iron Banded Round Shield, Enchanted
Quality: Excellent
Rarity: Common
Durability: 52/52
Defense: 27
Weight: 23 lbs.
Base Material: Oak/Iron
Enchantments:
Above Average: Durability, Defense, Strength, Skim, Friction.
Strength +3
Mana Capacity: 100/100
“Hold on,” Darius said as he saw the enchantments of the shields. “What’s this Skim thing?”
“Oh, right? It turns out that Ethan figured out that flying enchantment he’s been working on. The Skim Enchantment basically turns the shields into hover boards.”
“You mean like those weird wheeled platforms? The ones that kept catching fire?”
“No, more like the Back to the Future hover boards. It lets you hover about three feet off the ground and moves at about ten miles per hour. It’s not the most efficient thing, but it helps the soldiers get around more easily. It costs ten Mana per minute, so the soldiers on the path of Mana can power it themselves, but everyone else has to use charged Mana Crystals to refill them.”
“Mana Crystals?” Darius asked. “Where did we get those? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them before.”
“You remember all of those Arcane Crystals we got in the War chest? Ethan was able to convert them to Mana Crystals. Honestly, it didn’t take much. They are apparently quite versatile. All it took was some scripting and then anyone could use them to power enchantments, just… someone has to charge all the crystals. For now, we are using our Mages higher Mana regeneration to fill them. Everyone that can’t use Mana has two crystals, each that holds three hundred Mana. That’s enough crystals to power the skimmers for an hour. What we really need is something that can charge them automatically, but Ethan doesn’t know that enchantment yet, though he is working on it in between enchanting the rest of our gear.”
Darius nodded at the explanation. “While ten miles per hour isn’t all that fast, it's still three times faster than just walking. What’s this friction thing?”
“you see, instead of having straps for our feet, so we don’t just fall off, Ethan came up with this brilliant idea. He was able to increase the force of friction on the back of the shields. It keeps your feet from sliding around when you are maneuvering. He tried saying it wasn’t his idea, mentioning ascension paths or something like that, but in short, you lay the shield down, step on it and when it’s activated, it holds you in place as it starts hovering.”
“As long as it works, that’s fine. It doesn’t matter where an idea comes from, as long as it works. By the way, any word from Michael about troop Transport?”
“Yeah, he says he has a working prototype,” Chad answered. “But it’s heavy as hell and made mostly out of wood.”
“Wood? Why wood?”
“He said he didn’t want to waste so much metal on a prototype. He actually has a plan to salvage materials to make them more efficient. Right now, the Infantry Squad is on escort duty. They’re looking for cars and trucks that aren’t too mangled, so that they can push or tow here. he wants to strip them down, take out the engines and stuff and refit them for Essence powered Engines.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Let me know how that turns out. What do you have the ranged squad doing?”
“They’re on escort duty as well. They’re guarding the gather type NPCs. I’ve got a few going with the Clay Gatherers, and the rest going with the Herb Gatherer. I figured it will be a good way to get more combat experience while getting more resources for the Village.”
“Good plan. Keep up the good work.” Darius gave Chad a firm Pat on the shoulder, then turned to check on the rest of the Village. He was trying to be more active, interacting with the fifty plus citizens more and getting a feel for how everything was going. He also wanted everyone to be productive. Most of the skills people had in the modern world didn’t really apply to the new world, and he wanted to do his best to help everyone transition to the new way of life. That meant helping them learn new skills, explore any latent talents or abilities they might have, and, in general, be productive members of their new society.
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“Darius. You have an incoming communication request from Emily of Elysium. Would you like to be connected?”
Darius twitched slightly when he heard Pax pop up in his head out of nowhere. It was taking him some time to get used to the AI talking straight into his head. “Emily is calling? Yeah, put her on.” Darius replied.
“Darius, you there?” Emily asked.
“Yeah, I’m here. You wanting a progress report for Sean?”
“Actually, yes I would. Though that’s not the whole reason I called. How is he?”
“He’s doing a lot better. The treatment seems to have worked. There isn’t any sign of the death Essence in his system. My people want to keep him under observation for another day, though. They want to make sure it doesn’t come back after we’ve stopped treatment. If you like, you can arrange your teleporter to be here tomorrow morning so he can go back home.”
“That’s wonderful news.” Emily exclaimed. “We’ve all been worried about him; it will be good to have him back home. His husband, Adam, has been especially worried. Thank you again for the help. With the notes from your Alchemist, we have begun production of our own potions to keep on hand in case this happens again.”
“We’re glad to be of help. What else was it you wanted to talk about?” Darius asked.
“Right! Two things really. We’ve finished negotiating with that smaller group of survivors, and they are willing to join us here at Elysium.”
“That’s great news. We just saved a group of survivors ourselves and they decided to join us here. That reminds me, watch out for these lizard men things. They’re called the Kresh’ack, and they are tricky fuckers. They like to lay ambushes, use magic and won't hesitate to run away if things go badly for them. We’re still looking for where they’re holed up, but they are damned good at hiding.”
“Good tip, thanks. We haven’t seen anything like them yet, but we have found another settlement. This one is pretty big and they want to meet up. I told them about your settlement. Don’t worry, I didn’t give them your location, just that you are out there and working with us. They’ve been attacked by the undead as well, and were planning on invading the Fog, at least until I told them about what happened to Sean.”
“Good call, there. I’d hate to see that same thing happen to anyone else. Did they mention when they wanted to meet? And where?” Darius asked.
“We’re trying to find a neutral location for everyone to meet, but unfortunately, Alburquerque is between all of us, so we can't just meet in the middle. They are located to the north, along I-25. I was thinking we could gather at El Llanito. There’s a golden Arch there just off of the highway. I know it’s a bit far for you, something like forty-five miles, but I really think this is an important meeting. There aren’t many large groups of people left in the area, and we need to work together to eliminate the undead threat.”
Darius thought about the proposal for a moment before responding. “I agree. We should work together. Give me a few days, I might be able to have transport sorted by then. Otherwise, it will just be my Quick Reaction force that would be able to attend.”
“A few days? That should be fine. Things have been fairly quiet the last couple of days, anyway.”
“I know,” Darius said. “And to be honest, that’s worrying me. What are they up to in there? I’ve tried to send in my drones to scout it out more, but the stealth system they have aren’t good enough. They are discovered almost as soon as they enter the fog, and they almost destroyed one before it could escape.”
“All this shit had my hair turning grey already. I wish we could just carpet bomb the place and get it over with. It’s hard enough to deal with the regular monsters roaming all over the damn place, let alone the grey dome of doom hovering over us all the damned time.”
“How are you holding up?”
“To be completely honest, not great. The world ended. Damn, near everyone I’ve ever known is dead. Somehow, the lives of hundreds of people are my responsibility. I lost two people yesterday, two people who were alive that morning but were gone by nightfall. Do you know the worst part? You won’t even believe this! I mean, they shouldn’t even have died. They ate what should have been a perfectly harmless fruit, a god damned apple. They ate a fucking apple and died! They didn’t get attacked by a monster, they didn’t fall and break their neck, they just ate a mother fucking apple.”
The raw emotion bleeding through the call shook Darius. He knew how rough it could be being in charge, especially when people died. After all, he lost thirteen people just the other day, and it still bothered him. But hearing the pain and anguish from Emily really brought it home to him. He realized that he had been compartmentalizing everything, packing everything away into neat little boxes and shoved into the deep recesses of his own mind. Now, those boxes weren’t sitting quietly in the dark. They were rattling around, trying to burst open and make themselves felt.
“I… uh, Damn. Was it poisoned or something?” Darius asked. It didn’t make any sense to him.
“that’s what we thought at first. They brought in a bag of apples, but soon after getting back, they started sweating and grew pale. We have someone with an antidote power, but it didn’t have any effect. They just grew weaker and weaker, their Constitution score dropping every hour. Nothing we did changed a damned thing. Once they dropped to zero, that was it. Their hearts stopped beating, they just died.”
“What did you do with the fruit they brought back? Did anyone else eat any of it?”
“Fortunately, we put it to the side when they started feeling sick. I burned the apples myself, drowned them in lava. Then I went and found that damned tree and burned it until there was nothing but ashes remaining. “
“I’m so sorry,” Darius said, doing his best to convey the condolence in a heartfelt way.
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just unloaded on you like that. You didn’t deserve it, and you don’t need to bear my burdens. I know you have enough of your own to be on with. Look, just meet us at the golden arches in three days, at noon. We can compare notes then and meet this new group.”
“Okay, and look… if you need someone to talk to, you can call me. I may not be the most eloquent man, but I get it. I’m willing to listen if you need to vent.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate it. I really need to get going, though. See you in three days.”
After that, the connection was cut, leaving Darius to deal with the unexpected emotional turmoil roiling through his guts. He really didn’t know how to deal with everything. When he was younger, he’d just go to the gym and wail away at a punching bag until either his arms gave out or he’d calmed down. There was a set of exercise equipment on the base, but that didn’t really appeal to him at that moment. Instead, Darius triggered his Power Armor then conjured Skyblade. while he hadn’t finished his rounds, there wasn’t anything that needed dealt with. It could all wait until he’d gotten back.
With an effort of will, Darius engaged his thrusters and took off into the sky. The sense of freedom helped calm his mind as he soared through the air. The subtle vibration soothed his spirit, and the G-forces from hard banking calmed his racing heart. There was nothing quite like flying, and he thought he might be growing addicted to the sensation. With his upgraded Navigation system, Darius didn’t need to be carefully track his location, as long as he didn’t fly west, towards the grey dome, he was good.
It was only in moments like this that Darius felt free from the burdens of leadership. He understood all too well the weight of responsibility Emily was talking about. He felt it all day, every day. While he didn’t have as many people to be responsible for, it was still more than he’d ever had in his entire life. Until the apocalypse, he only had himself to take care of, and he was shit at that. He ruminated over the many mistakes he’d made over his short life and regretted most of them. Life was hard, and he’d been dumb enough to make it even harder than it needed to be. Now it was his job to make life less hard for the people under him, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to do that. He was doing his best, listening to his Uncle and even Xavier, doing everything he could to benefit from their years of wisdom and experience in dealing with people. Then there was the game-like aspect of life these days, and the help of Ethan and others with adapting to all the changes, doing what they could to maximize the benefits they got from the System. It was just… all a lot.
Gradually, Darius’s racing mind calmed, and he felt a Zen-like peace fall over him as he flew. A beeping sound drew him from his reverie. His eyes focused on the helmet’s display and found the sensors had picked up a strange energy reading. He flew closer to the point of interest and saw something that looked like a weird mirage, only it wasn’t a flat plane along the ground, making light ripple. It was an oval that refracted the light in strange ways. It stood perpendicular to the ground with nothing supporting it.
“Pax? What’s that?”
Scanning anomaly, please stand by.
Darius landed and retracted his wings while he waited. He walked around the weird sight. It had no depth. When he stood at its edge, it disappeared, but the moment he shifted the slightest bit to one side or the other, he could make it out.
Scan Complete.
Folded Space Anomaly
Classification: Spatial Expansion Bubble
The anomaly presents an aperture approximately 2 meters in diameter, consistent with a region of non-standard spatial geometry. Analysis indicates this is not a typical pocket dimension, but rather a folded space anomaly. Space within the aperture has undergone advanced spatial manipulation, folding in on itself while maintaining an external point of access.
Internally, the folded space has been expanded to create a self-contained, larger-than-normal environment, referred to as a spatial bubble. Unlike a pocket dimension, this bubble exists within the conventional universe, though its spatial properties are highly unstable and non-Euclidean.
The portal functions as a bridge between standard space-time and the expanded internal environment, remaining tethered to this plane via a dimensional anchor. Entry into the aperture leads directly to this folded space, with no apparent transit delay.
Energy Signatures:
Spatial tension is high around aperture boundaries.
Unusual energy flux detected at 3.7 terajoules, stabilizing the connection between the anomaly and base reality.
Temporal distortion is minimal: time within the expanded area should behave similarly to external time.
Threat Analysis:
Spatial anomalies of this nature can exhibit unpredictable internal conditions. Topological variations may lead to regions of disjointed geometry or gravitational shifts. Further exploration is necessary to determine environmental stability and potential hostiles.
“What does all that mean? In English!”
Darius, according to my Databanks of similar special anomalies, I can only come to one conclusion. You have Found a Dungeon.