Peacock flowed along a luminescent vein. Smaller branches shot off the main vein, passing by in a blur as they carried blue light to more places than Peacock could count.
If he had to navigate by sight alone, he’d have no chance. Good thing sight had little to do with it.
A shiver passed through him, like the breeze of a narrowly evaded attack, the thrill of a successful pickpocket, the slip out of sight right before a guard caught sight of him.
Peacock pulled toward it. He jerked right, out of the central vein, then left, right, right, threading his way further into the network as the shiver became a tremble. The feeling grew nigh-unbearable before the branch he rode opened up into a rainbow-hued expanse. He shot out into it.
The unrelenting momentum of the vein bled away like heat on ice, leaving Peacock suspended, weightless, within the oscillating colors as they slipped around him in a steady rhythm.
To an untrained eye, the place was empty, a pocket dimension void of anything tangible. Even the vein he had exited had vanished. The first time he’d got this far, he’d panicked, sure he’d stumbled onto some sort of physically deprived purgatory where he’d be trapped forever.
Fortunately, he’d learned a lot since then.
The tremble settled into a vibration, out of tune with the slower heartbeat of the colors. Peacock grappled with the vibration, willing it slower, slower, until it too oscillated in time with his surroundings.
The colors reacted, the hues shifting and narrowing into crystal blue. As the blue took over, the expanse shrank, closing in on him with such force it took all of his will to not break the connection. The shrinking universe stopped. Its spherical edges shimmered much like the cheat orbs.
Peacock pushed against his new boundaries. The edges stretched, then sprang back. Peacock pushed a little harder. This time, when the border snapped back, it didn’t do so all the way. He continued to expand his borders, in turn and simultaneously, time and space losing meaning as he focused on his work. Only when the fatigue grew enough to break his concentration did he stop.
The blue universe, its edges deformed and no longer a perfect sphere, slipped out of existence and Peacock found himself lying on the cold, slick surface of his gold pile.
Haven sat a few feet away in an opulent gold and silk chair Peacock had liberated from an abandoned village. She leaned forward, elbows on her knees and hands on her chin. “How was it?”
“Good. Great, even. It felt almost natural.” Peacock didn’t mention the surge of panic when the rainbow expanse collapsed. After all, he’d stuck it out just fine.
“Hmm…” She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. It made her look like a petulant child. Peacock found it adorable. “Were the gains similar?”
Peacock opened his character sheet.
LEVEL: 40 XP: ()
HEALTH: 365 (+108) ESSENCE: 470 (+11)
AGILITY: 175 (+41) MANA: 93 (+24)
STRENGTH: 94 (+30) FOCUS: 156 (+26)
Peacock’s eyes lingered for a second over the blank xp before taking in his new stat bonuses. It had startled him the first time he’d seen it, but he’d become used to it. Mostly. According to Haven, it was a side effect of hacking, and she’d since been unable to level normally. Fortunate for them both, cheating allowed growth well beyond what was ‘natural’ in the game world.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“Looks like a plus five to agility,” Peacock said with satisfaction.
“That’s two points more than last time. I’d say that’s progress!”
Peacock closed his UI and grinned at Haven. “Told you it was getting easier.”
“So you did. How’s the orb generation going?”
“Still ridiculously easy compared to stat alteration.” A bit of smugness creeped into Peacock’s words. “I can see why it’s the only thing Zenith Flight relies on. They’re not smart enough for the deeper stuff.”
Haven clicked her tongue. “Easy, now. I only said I’d never seen a Zenith Flight member cheat with anything other than orbs, but they get their orbs from someone. As far as we know, we’ve never seen a high-ranking member. The leaders could be doing things we’ve never dreamed of.”
“I doubt it. If they were, the world would be burning already.”
“Maybe.” Haven sighed. “I don’t like all the guessing we’re doing.”
“What do you mean?”
“All this training. We’re only guessing we can out-cheat Zenith Flight, that we can somehow overpower them with more complex coding than the orbs need. But what if we’re wrong?”
“Then it’ll be the shortest fight in history.”
“Huh?”
“If what we’re doing doesn’t matter, I’ll walk into Zenith Flight’s den, and they’ll shoot me down. End of story. But if we’re right, and we can bend the code into something they can’t counter, then we can wipe them out.”
Haven’s eyes went wide. “Wipe them out? Peacock, we need to tread carefully. What’s happened with Zenith Flight doesn’t condemn every Rebirth involved.”
Peacock’s mouth fell open as his mind scrambled to understand what Have had said. After a few revolutions, he settled on anger at her impossible naivety. “Are you serious? We’re talking about the same Zenith Flight, correct? With Viseral, Nex, and all the other dragons that have no qualms hurting and killing others?”
Haven’s eye grew dark as she chewed her lip. “We could have been the same, you know. One slip-up, one torture doing its job too well, and we’d be right alongside them, tearing this world apart.”
“No.” Peacock shook his head vehemently. “No, we wouldn’t have, because we are stronger than them, better than them. We didn’t break because we refused to.”
“Or because luck favored us. We don’t know what other Rebirths suffered in that cave. Who are we to pass judgment?”
“The survivors! Who else can but us, Haven? Or would you rather M and M be reduced to those bastards’ sadistic playground?”
Peacock’s voice boomed around the sanctuary as he rose onto his back legs, frill at alert and wings outstretched. He didn’t understand where Haven’s newfound soft spot for their captors came from, but it grated like sandpaper against his skin.
Haven shrank back, backpedaling until she ended up beside a weapon rack. Peacock bared his teeth and dared her to raise one of the weapons. She didn’t move. She merely stood there with fear and defiance in her eyes as she stared back.
All at once, the heat left Peacock. His wings and frill deflated, sagging down toward the ground. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to… I just want this to end.”
“What, though?” Haven’s words were heavy with hurt. “What do you want to end?”
Her question threw him off balance. What was that supposed to mean? Hadn’t he been clear enough about his goals? He wanted Zenith Flight gone. That was it, wasn’t it? Something tugged at the back of Peacock’s mind. Something chained down and locked away which begged to be free.
Peacock ignored it, turning away from Haven and moving over to a pile of unknown orbs lying around a central pedestal. On top of the pedestal, a sphere twice the size of the other orbs glowed in swirling shades of purple, blue, and green. Haven had finished it just that morning. An ultimate hacking tool attuned only to him. Peacock had had planned on increasing his stats more before attacking Zenith Flight, but considering the current situation, it was now or never.
Peacock waved his hand over the lot, all of it vanishing into his inventory.
“Peacock, wait.”
“No.” He spun on her. “I’m done waiting and obeying. I waited while Zenith Flight killed my family and friends. I obeyed what Nex told me for far too long. I obeyed you, then hid and waited while you were tortured and killed, and I’ve waited while Zenith Flight does whatever the hell they want. I’m done, Haven.”
She flinched at his words, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore except the eradication of Zenith Flight. With all he needed tucked into his inventory, Peacock ported out of his sanctuary and flew straight into the mouth of hell.