Blake listened to the survivors detailing their experiences so far, and what they’d done to try and find their lost friends. The woman’s name was Sarah, the old man was Samuel, and the scared looking young man they had with them with the curly hair was David.
Samuel sighed before launching into a recounting of the story that led them here. “My son thought he was doing the right thing by taking this mission from the City Hub. And Clay Atlas and his cronies don’t want anybody to know just how tenuous their hold on power is in New Meridia. While it’s true that they have a whole host of facilities within the city that make life better, there is a maintenance and upkeep cost to keep them running. It’s all part and parcel of being a City Lord.”
“I figured there would be some kind of cost for the power that Clay Atlas has,” Blake said. “So tell me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like the system itself has a number of things that Clay needs to be able to maintain in order to keep his control of the city, right?”
“Yes, that’s exactly it. My son, Randall Jackson, took this mission as soon as he hit Rank 3,” Samuel explained. “He didn’t really know what he was walking into, and the quest itself was so vague in details that it basically just said go out and find parts to fix a water treatment plant.”
Blake nodded. “It sounds a lot like what sent me out here today. The work order said there was a monster disrupting a trade route, and it was my job to go out and kill it. It gave me a vague map marker to follow, but that was it.”
“Maybe the system knew what it was doing. Maybe you were sent out here to help us find my son and the rest of his expedition,” Samuel mused, but Blake got the impression that there was something else the old man wasn’t saying.
Blake considered this for a moment. True enough, it sometimes did feel like the system itself had a will of its own. It was almost like the system was a puppet master playing games with people.
Blake didn’t think it was the system that connected the dots between the work order and the missing expedition, though. Blake himself had selected that mission from all the available missions at the City Hub. Still, he had to admit that it felt a little serendipitous.
At that moment the system itself displayed a notification directly to Blake Thornwood.
New System Quest Received: Savior or Saboteur
Blake Thornwood, you were sent out into the Wilds by your City Lord to slay a terrifying monster. Not only did you dispatch this monster with ease, but you have stumbled onto a situation that gives you a chance to shake things up in this new world.
Clay Atlas seized the power of New Meridia for himself, but power never lasts forever. Especially when the grip upon that power is so tenuous. You now have an important decision to make.
Will you be the savior of New Meridia and bring back the water purifier parts to Clay Atlas and his people? Or will you use those parts to disrupt the balance of power in New Meridia?
You do not need to make your choice now.
Either path will provide you with power and riches. It’s up to you to decide what kind. Do you wish to be a Paragon, or a Scoundrel?
Blake’s eyes went wide. This was not a work order, and nor was it a mission obtained from the City Hub.
This quest, this opportunity, and this impossible choice had been set for him by the system itself. A terrifying prospect. The system itself had taken enough of an interest in Blake and his actions to offer him something of this magnitude.
But first, Blake needed to find the lost expedition and get those parts. Then he could decide what to do.
The choice already lay heavy on his mind, because while he didn’t agree with how Clay Atlas ran things, sabotaging the water supply of a massive city with an ever-expanding population was a line Blake did not want to cross.
“Do you know roughly where your son Randall would have gone to?” Blake asked.
Samuel nodded. “There’s an old world water treatment plant a little further along the highway, then you head off to the south.”
Blake commanded his Fire Drake to attend him, and the winged wyrm trotted up beside him. Blake stepped up into the saddle. “I’ll go and scout ahead. My colossus will kill anything that threatens you. Let’s go.”
Blake and his drake took to the skies. He still had long enough left on the summon timer to reach the marker on his interface for the Lost Expedition quest.
Blake kept circling back to keep an eye on Sarah, Samuel and David, and he was glad to see his Meteor Colossus keeping pace with them.
The Fire Drake glided along the highway, its massive wings beating steadily as Blake scanned the surroundings for any signs of danger. He always stayed close enough to the survivors that he could swoop back in if he needed to.
The countryside was a blur, and every time Blake saw something moving he was ready to swoop in and attack. But most of the animals he spotted were just animals. Regular, boring, unempowered animals.
Blake felt the Fire Drake moving under him, and again was struck by how much more exhilarating it was to fly than he ever thought it could be. He knew the basic mechanics of flight. Birds often used thermals, or areas of hot air, to rise higher. Well this Fire Drake had its own inbuilt thermals, which it could use to rise higher and higher into the air while simply gliding.
Blake reveled in the warmth of the sun on his face and the breeze. A part of him never wanted to come back down.
But eventually the massive dam came into view. His quest marker hovered over the biggest building in the complex, and the survivors would reach the turnoff fairly soon. There was a massive concrete fence around the whole facility, but that was nothing that his Meteor Colossus couldn’t handle.
Blake swooped back down next to Sarah, Samuel and David. His Fire Drake landed right next to them with a plume of dust and heat.
“We’re almost there. A little further and you’ll be at the turnoff,” Blake said.
“Your monster is scary strong,” David said. He had a head full of unruly, curly hair, and he was incredibly soft-spoken. He made a punching motion, then an explosion noise. “It just punched a bus out of the way. Kapow!”
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Blake grinned. “Yeah, he’s pretty powerful. Now come on, we need to get to the walls around the water treatment plant before his summon timer runs out. He needs to put those big old punching fists to work again.”
They made haste and soon came to the turn that led to the water treatment plant. The summon timer on the Fire Drake reached zero as they walked, and it disappeared.
Blake decided to keep the anima he had left in reserve, no matter what happened, so he could fly back to New Meridia if things went south. As his dragon disappeared, Blake noted a pair of wolves hovering at the edge of the forest that lined the cracked road. The moment they saw the Meteor Colossus they ran away and back into the forest.
They approached the walls of the water treatment plant confidently and in the open. The summon timer for the Meteor Colossus was running low, so Blake commanded it to sprint through the walls surrounding the plant.
The ground shook as the colossus took off. It lowered a shoulder and slammed into the wall, putting its entire weight behind the strike.
There was an almighty crash. Thick concrete walls were reduced to rubble. Debris flew everywhere as a plume of dust rose into the sky.
The colossus stood for a moment before fading into motes of pure anima as the summon timer ran out.
Blake shared a look with the other survivors. “I’d like to conserve my anima for a while. Let’s have a look around, shall we?”
“I’ve got one anima in reserve,” Sarah said. “But like you, I’d like to conserve it as much as I can.”
“I don’t have any power cards,” David, the young man said sadly, but there was something in his tone that made Blake question the truth of what he was saying.
“Nor do I,” Samuel replied. “Let’s just find some sign of my son and his group, okay?”
And so they did. There were signs that someone had made camp here outside the water treatment plant, but the fire had long since died, and the canvas tents had been absolutely torn to shreds by something.
Blake crouched next to the tattered ruins of a tent. The metal poles were bent and twisted. The ground around the tent was littered with small rocks and debris, as if a landslide had swept through the area.
Whatever had caused this destruction had been strong, and angry.
“It looks like they thought they were safe here and decided to stay the night,” Blake said.
Samuel’s voice wavered. “Any sign of blood in the wreckage?”
Blake inspected the scene further in, lifting some of the tattered canvas out of the way. There were signs of a fight, but only a few drops of blood.
“A couple drops of blood here and there,” he said, “But it doesn’t look like a slaughterhouse.”
“Then there’s still a chance,” Samuel said.
Blake noticed a distinct trail that led from the destroyed campsite around the side of the nearest building. Human footprints were followed by puncture-like impacts in the soft ground, as well as deep gashes as if something large and heavy. Blake recognized the tracks almost immediately.
Rock crabs.
“I think I know what happened,” Blake said with certainty. “Rock crabs. They must have attacked the camp and driven everyone away. It looks like they all took refuge in the water treatment plant.”
Sarah nodded, her face pale. “Rock crabs? What are they?”
“Exactly what they sound like. Empowered crabs with shells as thick as stone, they hide in fresh water and attack under the cover of darkness. Your friends never stood a chance, but I don’t see any… remains. So maybe they all got away?”
“Not quite,” David said as he stood at the side of the building head. “You guys should come and see this.”
Blake joined David and saw the grisly remains; a shoe with a foot still inside, white bone shining in the morning sun. The rest of the body was gone.
David’s eyes went wide with fear. “Did… did the monsters eat them?”
“Don’t think about it,” Blake said. “We’re here for a reason, and if they fell – and I’m not saying they did – then we have to pick up where they left off and finish what they started. If not for us, then for the people of New Meridia. If the water treatment plant is going to fail without us, that’s a lot of people who are going to be affected.”
That seemed to steel the resolve of the three survivors.
Blake was a little surprised how sure he was of his own actions from here on out. As he was talking he had realized that no matter what, there was no way that he would be able to sabotage the water supply of New Meridia. Not for his own gain.
Not if it meant that thousands of people were going to suffer. But there was a part of him that wondered if they were suffering worse under the rule of Clay Atlas.
Blake led the survivors, Sarah, David, and Samuel, down into the darkened steps of the water treatment plant. They had come prepared and had flashlights flicked on. Blake pulled his own flashlight out and switched it on as well.
The air was thick with dampness and mildew, and their footsteps echoed off the concrete walls. Smell alone was enough to tell them the treatment plant was no longer working. There was an undercurrent smell of rot and decay, like there were dead things hiding in the dark just waiting to be discovered.
The flashlights cast jumping shadows all around them.
“This place is creepy,” David whispered, clutching his flashlight tightly.
“We need to be careful,” Blake said. “There could be hazards or other dangers lurking in the shadows.”
He wanted more than anything to summon one of his monsters as backup, but there was no telling how long it would be before they actually came across a monster that needed to be fought.
Cautiously, the group made their way down the dimly lit corridor. Drip-drip of water echoed with their steps. They reached a fork in the road, and Blake hesitated.
“Do any of you have any knowledge of this place?” he asked.
“The power generator is this way.” Samuel pointed down the left-hand path. “Randall was sent out here because he used to work here. Just as a janitor, mind you, but he was the closest they had to an inside man. Randall would have gone left.”
Blake led the group down the left path. They came to a large room filled with pipes and machinery.
Metal clanged on the far end of the room.
The trio behind Blake jumped, but Blake held up his hand. They inched toward the source of the noise.
Flashlight beams illuminated the terrified eyes of a woman in her late twenties.
“Kerri? Is that you?” Sarah asked, then rushed across the room to her.
Kerri had matted brown hair and wide, haunted eyes. Her clothes were torn and dirty, stained with dirt and sweat from her time surviving the rock crabs.
She broke down into tears at the sight of Sarah. Her words were incomprehensible at first, but soon started to become more intelligible.
“There were so many of them!” Kerri said. “They got Dominic before we even made it inside here, and the barricade we put up inside wasn’t worth a damn. They have ways of getting inside here without going through the front door.”
Samuel knelt down next to Kerri and put a hand on her shoulder. “Kerri, it’s me. Is Randall still alive?”
Kerri’s face fell in grief and shame. “I don’t know, Sam. The crabs came for me, and Randall drew them away. He tried to lead them away from me, and it worked, because I’m still alive. But I haven’t seen him since, and the crabs are still patrolling the plant…”
A sudden noise behind Kerri nearly made her jump out of her skin.
“What do you know about the rock crabs?” Blake asked. “Do you know where they’re nesting?”
Kerri shook her head. “No, but I know there are more of them down in the filtration facility. That’s where we needed to go to get all the parts the work orders wanted us to get. There were just too many down there.”
Blake nodded. “It’s okay. If there are a lot of them, especially little rock crabs, we can handle them. I’ve already killed one of them, and I’m sure I could take down more.”
“Kerri,” Samuel said. “Can you take us to the filtration facility? Is that where Randall went?”
Kerri nodded. “Yeah, he said he was going to destroy them all so we could go home.”
This was sounding worse and worse by the minute.
“Did he have a plan on how he was going to destroy the rock crabs?” Blake asked.
“Randall is the most powerful out of all of us. He has a power card called Rock Smasher, which is this massive hammer with a pickaxe head on one end,” Kerri explained. “It cracks crab shells with ease. He wanted to use it to kill the big one, but it’s been days since I’ve seen him.”
“Don’t worry, Kerri,” Blake said, trying to reassure her. “We’ll find Randall and put an end to these monsters once and for all. I’ll do everything in my power to keep you all safe.”
Kerri looked at Blake with a mix of fear and gratitude, as if she couldn’t believe it was finally over. She had been living in the water treatment plant for days now, surviving on her own and trying to stay alive. It must’ve been pure horror.
“We’ll follow your lead, Blake,” Kerri said, her voice a little steadier now. “You’re the Rank 3 Challenger here. Let’s find Randall and put an end to these rock crabs.”
Blake nodded and turned to the rest of the survivors. “We’ll stick together, and we’ll work as a team,” he said. “I have a feeling that this isn’t going to be easy, but I know that we can do this. Are you all with me?”
The survivors all nodded. They had been through a lot already, but they looked like they were ready to finish this.
One thing bothered Blake, however. As they headed deeper into the water treatment plant, Blake couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched.