I stab the final white creature, then look up at the other Beta Testers. Isfet had collapsed on the ground and Henrik’s bandages are covering him in a white light. Xian Lee carves into the body of one of the white creatures with his spear. Ana sits against an ice wall, her arms resting on her knees, still holding her guns.
She matches my gaze and salutes me with her gun.
“Fucking monsters.” Xian Lee growls.
I ignore him to look at my notifications. It’s mostly a bunch about acquiring points, with a few level ups mixed in. I’m now level six, but the most important message is this one.
Congratulations on reaching Level 5! You now have access to your class
Class Gained: Shadow.
You looked into the abyss and the abyss looked back.
The shadows accepted you as one of their own, now you walk a line where a single misstep can lose you to the darkness forever.
Go as far as you can, for even a shadow is a reflection of the light we cannot see.
Abilities Gained:
[Summon Shade]
[Shadow Walk]
[Twist Shadow]
Physicality: +5%
Brilliance: +10%
I reach out to the shade caused by the ice wall, my hand cups it and I feel it bend to my will before I let it go. That’s [Twist Shadow] at work, but I’m not sure how shadow walk works. My best guess is that it’s some kind of hiding technique.
“Shade?” I ask.
Yes?
“Do you know what [Shadow Walk] works?”
It lets you join me in the realm of the shadows.
I purse my lips, then shake my head. I’d rather not test it in front of everyone else.
I turn my attention to the other people. They all seem to be lost in their own blue screens, except Ana. Her eyes keep falling closed before she forces them open to glare at the snow.
I chuckle before I can stop myself.
She looks up, meeting my eyes. “Something funny?”
I speak before I think. “You shouldn’t be so mad at the snow. You might hurt its feelings.”
She raises an eyebrow, then snorts. “Uhuh. I don’t know, I’m pretty sure the snow insulted my brother.”
I move over to the wall she’s sitting against, and slide to the floor next to her. My eyes move over to Isfet, who is sitting up now, quietly speaking with Xian Lee. Henrik is busy meditating on his own. His white wraps float in a circle around him, which is interesting.
I turn to Ana, who’s raising her eyebrow at me.
“It looked comfy over here.” I say.
“Mhm. Sure.” She turns to look out and over the dead bodies of the creatures. “Don’t trust any of them.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Don’t trust me. Don’t trust the kid. No one, nada. There’s more happening than you realize, hermano.”
I open my mouth to respond, but she motions towards Isfet who is looking in the distance.
“Do you see that light?” He asks.
I stand up and move over to where he is. I squint into the distance. It’s hard to tell under the bright white of the snow and the sun, but a flickering light is barely visible over the waves of snow.
“We all know what that means, right?” Xian Lee asks.
The others nod, and I look between them in confusion.
Henrik pulls my arm and I lean down so that he can whisper into my ear, “It looks like the light from the tutorial.”
Ah. That would explain why they all seem to know what it means, but I don’t.
“There could be more out there. Don’t let your guard down.” Isfet says, then he starts walking towards the light.
The others follow close behind, leaving me alone among the corpses of the eyeless creatures. Ana’s words are strong in my mind, and I’m constantly finding out how little I know about everything.
“What do you think Shade?” I ask, looking at the backs of the people as they walk.
The old man is familiar with death. Be wary of the spearman, he is a killer.
I let out a sigh. Man, I do not want to fight other people, but I’m not going to take Ana’s warning lightly.
I hurry to catch up with the group. The snow crunches under every step, and I have to work extra hard to free my feet so that I don’t slip.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
As we approach the light, a structure starts to be clearer and clearer on the horizon. Occasionally one of the eyeless creatures would jump out of the snow, only to be quickly taken care of by Ana’s guns or Xian Lee’s spear.
Finally, we realize that the flickering light wasn’t actually a light, but instead a tower made of ice, reflecting the sun through a series of ice spears that stand in a circle around the tower.
At the base of the tower is a statue. Twice as tall as any of us, and sculpted beautifully, it stands guard to the tower.
We get ever closer, until we step past an invisible line, and I hear the clink of shattering glass.
The creature moves, turning towards us with a silent roar. It reaches to one of the spears, pulls it from the ground, and throws it at us like a javelin.
I jump out of the way, grabbing Henrik to pull him with me. The snow is thankfully a soft landing.
I push myself out of the snow to see the spear piercing deep into the ground where we’d been standing.
Xian Lee yells as he charges at the statue, and Isfet joins him a second later. I pull Henrik out of the snow, and he spits, having accidentally swallowed some of the fine powder.
Ana shoots at the ice statue, her bullet expanding and forcing it to take a step back. The gunshot echoes far into the empty landscape.
Snow is thrown up everywhere as more of the eyeless creatures rise from the snow. I look at Xian Lee and Isfet keeping the living ice statue busy, then turn to look at the many eyeless creatures sprinting across the snow towards us.
“God damn it.” I pull my sword again, ready for the fight that’s coming.
“Gods. There’s more than one, remember?” Ana says. She turns to the creatures, takes aim, and fires, taking down many of them as they approach. “I’ll cover you, but it’s up to us to hold them off while they deal with that thing.”
I nod. “Ready?”
Always.
“Yeah!” Henrik says from beside me, the wraps around his arms unfolding.
I wasn’t talking to him, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.
The first one reaches us, and my shade moves as a shadow on the snow. It grabs the shadow of the eyeless creature, tripping it.
Huh, I didn’t realize that the shade could affect other shadows. Makes sense, I guess?
I take advantage of the prone creature to slice through its neck. A flailing arm leaves a long gouge in my leg, but the energy coming from my sword quickly heals it.
“HEADS UP!” A shout comes from behind us.
White bandages wrap around me and pull me back.
Another ice spear punctures the spot I’d been standing.
I look at Henrik who gives me a cheeky smile as his bandages return to him.
A shout from Ana returns me to the approaching mobs.
I raise my sword. At the very least, I’m grateful to have other people with me. I don’t think I could fight these guys on my own.
The fight lasts a long time, the energy flowing through the sword keeping me moving. Still, my muscles start to ache from the constant swinging of a sword. Beside me, the others are even worse off, their bodies drooping from exhaustion. Isfet and XIan Lee had to chip away at the ice statue piece by piece, leaving a large pile of ice shards all around the tower.
Finally, after who knows how long. Ana shoots the last of the eyeless creatures, then she practically drops to the snow, breathing heavily.
The others in the group do the same, until I’m the only one left standing.
I look at the ice tower, wondering what could be inside it. I step towards the entrance, only for a spear to be in my path.
“Don’t think you can just take the loot for yourself.” Xian Lee says. He pushes himself off the ground to glare at me.
I put my hands up, “I just wanted to see what was inside. We can all go together.”
Isfet stands up with a groan. “We should go inside. Together. We don’t want to be in the open for longer than we have to.”
Henrik and Ana pull themselves from the snow and as a group we make our way to the entrance of the building, right before we cross the threshold, a series of messages pop up.
The event is officially over!
Rank #3 goes to your team, Team 160! At 588 points! Rewards are being awarded.
Rank #1 goes to Team 54! Rewards are being awarded.
Rank #2 goes to Team 78! Rewards are being awarded
Rank #3 goes to Team 160! Rewards are being awarded.
There’s a long list of rankings, but I just dismiss the window to look at the next one.
199,995 Beta Testers participated in the South Pole Event. Out of those;
8,045 Beta Testers were killed by the infestation.
1,765 Beta Testers were Killed by Other Beta Testers.
0 were killed by Humans.
As I’m reading, the number of Beta Testers killed by other Beta Testers steadily goes up.
The Game Of The Gods is just beginning. But congratulations for making it this far.
Your rewards for the event will be given in an hour, then you will be returned to your starting location.
Warning: The fewer Beta Testers left in your group at the end of the hour, the more rewards you will receive. Make sure your former allies don’t kill you! <3
Before I can even react to the message, a spear is moving past me, towards Ana. She jumps away from the sudden attack, but an illusion of the spear continues further, puncturing her arm as she twists.
Cloth wraps around me, then throws me back as two scimitars seek my throat.
I roll in the snow, then quickly get to my feet. All of us are arrayed in a circle. Ana bleeds from her pierced arm, Henrik struggles out of the snow a few meters away from me as his bandages wrap around a shallow cut in his chest.
Xian Lee’s head rolls across the snow, leaving a red trail. Isfet calmly stands over him, then looks around at the rest of us.
“It was always going to come to this. I apologize, but my god asks it of me. I promise that once my work is done, I too will die by my sword.” Isfet bows his head to us, then raises it.
Ana raises a gun, her other arm unmoving, and fires it at Isfet.
It punctures his head, only for his body to disappear as an afterimage. He stands a foot away. “I thought his strike would kill you, but perhaps I should have gone for you first.”
He steps forward, then he is next to Ana. Her eyes widen as death approaches her, but cloth wraps itself around Isfet’s arm, pulling his strike short.
His eyes turn to Henrik, and he steps again, Henrik’s cloth moves too slow as another slash cuts through his chest.
I watch blood spurt out in an arc, and my heart beats, my mouth turning to a thin line as I watch the boy slowly fall backwards into the snow.
Time slows to a stop. Ana is turning to run to the tower, Xian Lee lies dead in the snow, and Henrik approaches the world of the dead.
I don’t want that.
There is someone who wishes to speak with you.
I can’t blink, or move, but I’m surprised at the words of the shade. It’s not like I’m opposed to meeting this person, but is now a good time?
A man appears on top of the snow, looking around with a curious eye. On his head sits a crown of long white feathers. His beard is well groomed, with gold beads braided in. His shirt is a light forest green, and his legs are wrapped in bandages similar to the ones Henrik wields. His gaze carries a powerful presence, telling me that this man’s words and actions carry weight. He taps a long shepherd’s crook against the ground as he finally turns his head to me.
“This is a wonderful ability. To think, you could comprehend this second for an eternity.” He smiles at me. “Hello, Ezekiel. I am Osiris. It is a pleasure to meet you.” He bows his head while holding my gaze.