Life 38/132. You are temporarily deafened. You are bleeding internally and will lose 3 life per minute for the next 30 minutes. You have a fatal wound and need healing.
Boyd mentally hit his Manatap function as fast as he could and bolted back up to full health. While he didn’t have much use for Mana yet, being able to tap his internal Mana pool to restore his life was incredibly useful.
Life 81/132. You are temporarily deafened. You are bleeding internally and will lose 1 life per minute for the next 30 minutes.
“Why are you here?” Salia asked.
“I was delivering a box before something damn near blew me up,” Boyd replied
“Oh. That was me. I didn’t realize you were there. I mean, I did, I knew something was there, I just didn’t know it was you.”
“Does that mean you wouldn’t have done it if you knew I was there?”
“Well… no, but I was just pointing it out. I didn’t know you were there. You specifically. Either way, who gave you the box?”
“An innkeeper named Glipglaup, wait, why are you here? Did you just kill all those people? Aren’t they… you? What the fuck is going on here?”
“Glipglaup. That motherfucker. Where’d he get this? What were you supposed to get from Eralia?”
“Who is Eralia?”
“Wait, to whom were you supposed to deliver the box?”
“The guy just said here. The Venian enclave.”
“Oh, huh. Glipglaup is slipping in his old age. Also, they probably would’ve killed you just so you know. I mean, not immediately, they would’ve waited til you left the compound and made it look a little less obvious just in case, but it hardly matters. There is no way they would’ve let you walk around after you held this. Particularly if you have Mana Nodes. How the fuck did you get Mana Nodes? Last I remember you couldn’t count to ten, much less figure out how to get that many Mana Nodes. Nicely done Human.”
Boyd smiled and ignored the question, “What is it anyway? The thing in the box.”
“It’s mine. It doesn’t matter. They took it from me.”
Boyd paused for a second.
"Why did you kill your own people though?”
Salia’s VMR made a laughing noise. “It’s even worse than you might think, they’re not just my people, they’re my friends. Or were my friends. We aren’t friends anymore. Obviously the dead ones aren’t my friends. Even the non-dead ones aren’t my friends either now though.”
“Why did you just do that though?”
“They took something from me, and I needed it back, and they didn’t want to return it. In fact, they came here to get rid of it, which didn’t work for me. So I got it back. Also we should be going as I am guessing the Venians slipped a few extra through the protocols. We’d been working on the Technology before I left. I am assuming there are at least two more around here somewhere and they will definitely kill us both if they see us talking.”
"Oh… uhhh… Where are you going?”
“I am going with you. Glipglaup is another friend of mine. Let’s go see him.”
Boyd stared at her intently.
“You’re going to kill him aren’t you?”
“Of course not, I just told you we are old friends.”
Boyd stared at her again. “Seriously? Cause I need a place to stay, and you just killed a bunch of people I thought were your friends.”
Salia’s VMR laughed again. “No, I just need to talk with him. Let’s go.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salia hovered above Boyd as he took off at a run.
“You know that this place is full of Ground Dirt Weevils right? That’s not nearly as innocuous as it sounds either.”
“Yea, I dealt with a few now. I just try to stomp in the middle of the swirly parts that does ‘em in.”
“Hmm…smart,” Salia said.
A few minutes later, a swell of ground boiled in front of Boyd. A projectile shot past him into the ground and it quickly rumbled and then stopped. Boyd remained ready for a few second but quickly realized what happened.
“What was that?” he asked.
"Smart bomb. Goes underground, lets out a seismic wave. The wave kills them by stopping neural function. It’s one step better than stomping on them. Why let them come out of the ground at all?”
Boyd thought a minute and started running again. “Hey, why didn’t I get any experience when you killed those weevils?”
“Fleon booted you. We aren’t in a Foray anymore.”
“Oh… right.”
They continued the trip back to the inn. Salia would occasionally send an explosive round into any Weevil holes and they made steady progress with few interruptions.
“You’re becoming less useless now that you can run a bit,” Salia offered.
“Thanks, I guess,” Boyd said.
They made great time all the way back to CavesWall. Boyd’s ability to run at near top speed was easily matched by Salia’s VMR and with his increased life and ability to Manatap his Life back, Salia could occasionally grab him and carry him over random holes or other obstacles to expedite their journey.
Salia was a ways out ahead of him, floating in the air as always when she moved. She suddenly burst to a stop and spun in the air and then fell to the ground.
“Hey, I need a favor.”
“Sure,” Boyd said happily,.
Salia tossed him a small red ball.
“I need you to hold this.”
“What is it?”
“Just hold it for now.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boyd walked into the bar. It was some sort of event night as rainbow colored strobe lights were going all over the bar, which made it that much weirder than no one was dancing. The music didn’t help. He was a bit nervous but was hoping it didn’t show. He really just wanted whatever his reward would be, “Hey Glipglaup. I’m back. I delivered the box.”
The alien’s slits in his grey skin flared, “Ha! Why haven’t I heard from the Venians then yet? Don’t lie to me boy.”
“Was just hoping I could get my reward? I wasn’t sure if it was just access to the Inn or if you had something more for me?”
"Sure you want a reward, I get that, but like I just said, if you actually did what you said you did, I would’ve heard. The Venians would’ve told me, they have means of doing that. I haven’t heard shit. So why not? How do I know you didn’t just throw it on the ground somewhere and come back here with your hand out? If you delivered the box, how come I haven’t heard about it?” His slits flared more extensively as he reached under the bar.
Stolen story; please report.
“Probably because I killed most of them.” Salia Slitt emerged through the doors and started firing at him from a device on her arm. Most of the projectiles slowed considerably before reaching Glipglaup, but a few of them got through and hit him. A glob of blue blood flew from Glipglaup’s shoulder before he flipped and ducked behind the bar. Boyd heard a random smattering of noises immediately started and assumed this was bad news. Patrons rapidly began fleeing the scene and covering their heads as they ran. The House music banged harder and harder.
“He was going to give me a reward though!” Boyd yelled. “God dammit, you said you wouldn’t kill him!”
“Quick lesson for you boy, all Venians lie all the time.” Glipglaup emerged from underneath the bar covered in a suit of metal. Bits and pieces of metal flew towards him from all across the bar. He was steadily increasing in mass having grown from a small grey-ish alien-like creature to a large chunk of metal. He sprung from behind the bar and swatted Boyd out of the way. Metal shards kept flying towards him. The remaining patrons in the bar cut to ribbons as the metal continued to fly into the larger mass. The deep thumping bass continued to play.
Life 24/111.
Bits and pieces of the metal had formed into a massive axe, which he now swung at Salia. It hit the VMR in the side, but didn’t pierce her armor. It did send her flying against the wall, but she bounced off it and fired into the air firing strings of projectiles at Glipglaup. Similar to his axe attack, it seemed to do little damage and in fact, many of the projectiles just ended up as a part of the larger mass. Glipglaup smiled and swung his larger and larger axe at Salia. It stuck in a patrons table where he was trying to extract it. Salia took this moment to bring her sword out and try to slice Glipglaup’s hand off, but the sword stuck to his metal bits. Salia pulled as hard as she could, but the sword was stuck.
“You think I wasn’t prepared for you Venian?” Glipglaup laughed before he leveled Salia with a fist. He slammed his fist into her again on the floor and smashed her into the ground. Salia’s much more sleight frame suddenly magnetically hooked to Glipglaup. Bits of metal still flew into them, slowly encasing Salia in metal with Glipglaup’s frame. Boyd couldn’t see her Life bar anymore since they were no longer in the same Foray, but he was sure that Glipglaup was doing some damage, and he was positive that if she was fully encased it was going to be fatal.
Boyd stood up with the intention of helping but he had no idea what to do. He couldn’t damage the growing iron mass with his bare fists and if he got closer he would almost certainly die if Salia couldn’t defeat this thing.
Salia screamed, “Drop the fucking ball!!”
A shard of metal flew past his head and cut his cheek as it integrated into the larger mass of Glipglaup. Boyd raised his hand to his cheek and felt the blood dripping down his cheek. He had forgotten he was still holding the red ball Salia had given him, but upon hearing her scream, he threw it at the iron mass of Glipglaup. The ball flew towards Glipglaup, urged on by the magnetic field, and lodged in the chunks of metal flying towards him. Almost instantly, the mass of iron surrounding Glipglaup fell apart entirely. Salia fell to the ground in the mass of metal. Glipglaup, unsure about what was happening looked around with confusion. Boyd saw an opening and charged towards him, hoping to help Salia. It was for naught though, as Salia’s sword exploded through the top of Glipglaup’s head. She pulled her sword out of his head and wiped the blood on his shirt. She powered quickly over to Boyd and shoved him in the chest.
“When I hand you something and tell you to hold it, what does that mean?”
“Uhhh… I thought you wanted me to hold it.”
“Right, but we’ve done this before. ‘Hold this’ means I am going to use it to kill someone, so why did you keep holding it and not throw it at him.”
“You said you weren’t going to kill him!”
“Why on Venia would you think that was true!”
“Because you said it!”
“Well obviously I was going to kill him. I'm always going to kill him!”
“Dammit! I just wanted to finish my Quest!”
“Sorry. I thought you knew what was happening. God damn, I forgot how dumb you are.”
Salia rifled through Glipglaup’s belongings as she mumbled to herself. It was a lot of commentary about who had given Glipglaup the tech and how she might be able to use it. Boyd was going to interrupt, but she didn’t seem like she was in a very good mood. Salia then jumped over the bar and grabbed a few things from behind it and shoved them into her pack. “Good news, I got what I wanted. So we’re good here. Thanks for your help, and next time, if I hand you something, it’s for killing people, not for holding. Doesn’t seem likely we have a next time, but all the same. Well I guess that’s it! Thanks again!” Salia waved as her jet boosters powered on.
“Salia, maybe you can put in a good word for me with Fleon? I am so lost here. I have no idea how to get to the next Level, I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing, I didn’t even realize I was supposed to throw the damn ball, I…” Boyd realized that this conversation might lead to tears. Crying was for pussies so he just stopped.
Salia sighed heavily, “No, I won’t. But you shouldn’t expect me or anyone else to do that either. Boyd, let me tell you the one thing that no one told you before you came in here. There are no teams. There is no one here to help you. No one gives a shit about what you want. There are barely even Forays realistically. There is no peace in here. Everyone is out for themselves. A single Mana Node that you hold is worth more than your entire planet to much of the galaxy. There are hundreds if not thousands of civilizations that don’t see that much power in a lifetime. Since you’ve never encountered magic, you have no idea how powerful it can be. Consider even yourself. Have you ever thought about how much stronger you are already? Go try and pick up a boulder, I bet you can do it now. Go throw a rock and see how far it goes. You are probably one of the strongest Humans that ever existed already, and you’ve barely cracked the surface of what is possible. My point is you are playing on an entirely different battlefield than what you thought you were. This isn’t fun time games with Fleon’s Filary Fuckup Squad. Fuck Fleon man, the fucking guy ripped your eye out. If I was you, I’d make it my mission to do it right back. It takes something like that to keep you going in here. You have to be mean, and hurtful, and dangerous, almost to the point of desperation. You seem like a nice guy. You don’t take things serious. You want to have fun. That’s fine. Have as much fun as you want, but it’s gonna get you killed. Most of the people here are literally psychotic killers who were born and bred to compete. Those of us who stumbled into this for other reasons, typically have…” Salia drifted and then stopped. “Keep in mind, you’ve been drawn into a major struggle to see how much of the galaxy some extremely wealthy groups hold. The Filary, the Venians, the Kazaladoori, whoever it is you want to talk about, we need to win. We will do whatever it takes. There are many people here who will kill you for holding one Mana Node. Hell, I thought about doing it. I still might in fact. But that’s just it man. You need to figure out what the fuck this place is, and how to navigate it. Now. Cause next time I think I will do it and if I do, I won’t feel bad for a second.”
Boyd stared at the metal bird-like creature in front of him. She has basically been dressing him down. It felt like a lecture from his father. He wasn’t sure how to respond. “Got any advice on what I should be doing then?”
“Yea, if you want to go home, then find someone who can get you there and stick a sword against their neck and tell them you’re going to cut their fucking head off if they don’t send you right now. And if that doesn’t work, get something people want, and offer to buy your way out. If that doesn’t work, walk in during the middle of the night and steal it and blow the whole fucking roof off the place on your way out. Look man, usually by the 30th or 40th Level everything has gone to shit and it’s just all-out war. There is a reason Forays don’t make deep runs anymore. People can’t keep their shit together. Take us for example: since you left, Fleon just sits around and prays all the time because he can’t figure out if Ioer is mad at him or not, Gmol just wants to plant daisies on corpses which hasn’t been a problem since Jellybean Jenkins has gone off his fucking rocker and is just killing shit left and right trying to get us further down. Here I am, talking to you of all people, because I lied and told them I knew of a secret cache when I was really just going to pay my respects to some old friends.”
“You killed them all.”
“No, I killed some of them. I will kill the rest of them later.”
“Fair enough.”
“Either way, my point is nothing is as it seems and the one way to make absolutely sure that you don’t leave this place alive is to assume that anyone is going to help you. This probably sounds a bit cynical, but it’s the only honest advice you are ever going to get in here. Figure out what you want and then make that happen through any means necessary. It won’t be long before this place is total chaos just like always. You better figure out how you are going to navigate that, and fast, before you end up with Jellybean eating your entrails. He’s told me on several occasions he still wants to do that, so I would probably avoid him.”
Boyd scratched his shaggy hair. “Uhh. Ok.”
“Wow. A real poet.”
Salia’s jet boosters lit up and she prepared to take off. “Last piece of advice. I get the succinct impression you aren’t good at shit. Or maybe you just don’t care. You’re the only person like that here. If you want to survive, I’d start taking shit seriously. Whelp, off I go. Fuck off Human!”
Boyd waved. “Bye forever, I guess then?”
“Yea. Bye forever.” She waved as she blasted into the distance. She turned back to smile and wave as she disappeared in the distance. She then stopped turned around and came back. “Oh yea, your half of things.” She flew directly up to Boyd and slapped him in the face. His eye started burning intensely and his knees buckled.
“I was going to keep that and try and reverse engineer it to fit my kit. You need it worse than I do though. It’ll either kill you or optimize with your Mana cores pretty quick. You aren’t going to make it without it. Hey if you don’t die, go have a scan of old Mr. Glipglaup. Might change your opinion about some things. Consider it a free lesson on survival in Zenith. Best of luck. Bye.”
Boyd felt his face tearing apart. There was a tiny metallic spider burrowing into his skull. He mentally checked his Life, but it wasn’t really receding at all. This was completely confusing as it felt like someone had stabbed him in the face. He tore at the mechanical device but it was firmly entrenched in his eye. No matter how hard he pulled, the pain continued and the machine wouldn’t deattach.
His knees buckled and he started vomiting.
Then he opened his eyes.