[THE HAVEN]

Bander gripped Eye’s hard drive in her palm.

“How did you get this, weirdo?” asked Bander.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Jay. “Can you hack it or not?”

Bander glanced at Esara and Janzo - Zero Space held their full attention.

“Probably,” said Bander. “I’ve got the parts for it now.”

Bander plugged the hard drive into an external device. A series of menus popped up on her monitor.

“Pretty normal hard drive actually,” said Bander. “Not encrypted or anything.”

“It’s from one of the Infinities,” said Jay. “Same silver assholes that attacked us. I’m trying to find their leader Dragon. Can you do that?”

“Maybe,” asked Bander. “Why though?”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Jay.

Bander groaned.

“I worry about you more than I should, jerk,” said Bander.

Bander dug into a series of interfaces, navigating to Eye’s Friends List.

“Looks like this Eye person got kicked from their guild,” said Bander. “But Dragon’s still on their Friend’s List. That’s a stupid oversight.”

Bander loaded up a tool, analyzing Dragon’s player profile.

“Now I can see Dragon’s extended profile,” said Bander. “Only enforcers and devs have access to this shit.”

Jay nodded, pretending to understand.

Bander’s eyes narrowed.

“This guy’s not even off the enforcer grid,” said Bander. “Seriously? I thought he was some sort of super-criminal? He’s either really incompetent, or he doesn’t give a shit.”

“Probably both,” said Jay.

Bander cracked her knuckles.

“Whatever,” said Bander. “Here’s where it gets tricky. I gotta track this idiot. That involves going into glitch space.”

“Glitch space?” asked Jay.

“Just a hacker term,” said Bander. “It’s like a backdoor through Zero Space. I can use it to bypass the enforcer firewall.”

Bander’s fingers hammered the keyboard.

“This shit’s risky,” said Bander. “If I screw up, it can glitch stuff out. Or worse, send a Game Master after me.”

“What’s a Game Master?” asked Jay.

Bander paled.

“Nevermind,” said Bander.

A few clicks and beeps later, Bander whooped, leaning back in her chair.

“I’m a genius,” said Bander. “Done!”

Bander scrolled through a list of IPv7 addresses, highlighting one in particular.

“There’s your guy,” said Bander. “Unit 38901. That was pathetically easy.”

“Nice, nice,” said Jay.

Jay ripped out Eye’s hard drive, shooting it about a million times.

“Holy shit!” said Bander. “Jay, what the hell?”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Jay.

Jay turned towards the unit door.

“Now where the hell are you going, weirdo?” asked Bander.

“Take a wild guess,” said Jay.

“Don’t even think about it, idiot,” said Bander. “The guild needs you.”

“I’ll be back soon,” said Jay. “Probably.”

“Soon won’t work,” said Bander. “We need you now!”

“There’s someone else who needs me more,” said Jay.

“I doubt that, moron!” said Bander. “The whole guild’s in some serious shit right now. We’re about to go to war. Don’t you dare walk out on us.”

“Sorry,” said Jay. “I can only handle one war at a time.”

“Jay, we’re about to fight the Deadly Skulls,” said Bander. “If we lose, the whole guild falls! Nothing could possibly be more important than that.”

Jay let out a deep sigh.

“Some things are more important,” said Jay. “Family’s more important.”

“The fuck are you going on about?” asked Bander. “We are your family, idiot! I just risked Game Masters for your shit. You’re our fucking Raid Captain. We’d do anything for you. And now you’re just fucking walking out on us?”

Jay hesitated.

“You selfish fucking prick!” screamed Bander. “You think it’s just your life on the line here? You think this is just a game? This is our fucking futures!”

Tears formed in Bander’s eyes.

“Please Jay,” said Bander. “Don’t leave us. I’m begging you. We’re all begging you. You have no idea what we’ve been through. Everything went to shit when you were gone. We need you. Right now.”

Bander wiped her eyes on Jay’s sweatshirt.

“Please Jay,” cried Bander. “Please don’t go.”

“I’m sorry,” said Jay. “I have to.”

Jay shook Bander loose.

“Jay, you’ll have nothing left to come back to!” shouted Bander. “Nothing!”

Jay paused, his hand on the door handle.

“Jay,” said Bander. “Please don’t go. Stay for me. Stay for Esara.”

Jay hurried from sight.

“Jay!”

***

DD adjusted his tie, thick patches of sweat leaking through his suit. This room was even darker than the dev floor and somehow colder too. His eyes watered from the suffocating stench of a dozen unwashed gamers. Glowing green computer monitors surrounded him, watching him like an audience of fiendish alien doctors, eager to operate.

V stood across from DD, rolling a jagged dagger between his fingers.

“It sounds like you’re in quite a predicament,” said V. “But there’s not much I can do.”

“Huh,” said DD. “I suppose there must be something. Maybe you could make me a premium account user?”

“No chance of that,” said V. “If I could get a hold of premium accounts, I’d be premium myself.”

“But you’re our Haven’s core distributor!” said DD.

“And yet, Premium Accounts are near impossible to find,” said V. “Few can access them. And those who can, don’t just hand them out.”

DD wiped his bald spot with a handkerchief; V hid a sadistic smile.

“If you’re that concerned about your son, just destroy his hard drive,” said V. “That should solve all your problems at once.”

“Huh,” said DD. “I suppose I can’t do that. Zydan inherited my old computer. There’s years of essential Zero Space information stored locally.”

“Typical DD,” said V. “More obsessed with Zero Space’s past than its future.”

DD shot him a dirty look.

V smirked, removing the headset of a man in a puppy dog headband.

“Daniel,” said V. “Fetch me something from the yellow drawer.”

“Yes, of course Master V,” said Daniel. “Erm, what in particular should I fetch?”

“Anything you can lift,” said V.

Daniel nodded, prancing into a back room.

“I’ll give you one small thing,” said V.

Daniel returned promptly, handing V that small thing.

DD squinted at it.

“A pen?” asked DD.

“The pen is mightier than the sword, as they say,” said V.

“Huh,” said DD. “I suppose this is your idea of a joke.”

“It’s a half-joke,” said V. “Twist it for the punchline.”

DD did as told –

V slapped his wrist.

“Not here, you buffoon!” yelled V. “And keep it pointed away from you!”

DD shook his head, pocketing the pen.

“Surely you must have something better,” said DD.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Not for you, old friend,” said V. “You’re not king of the Haven quite yet.”

“Huh,” said DD. “I suppose you aren’t either, old friend. You’d do well to remember that.”

“Bah, I have no desire to be king of the Haven,” said V. “I prefer King of all Havens.”

DD groaned, adjusting his tie.

“I swear, this whole Haven’s gone crazy,” said DD.

DD departed, slammed the door behind him.

Daniel’s cloth puppy ears whipped around.

“V –” Daniel started.

“Master Valdi is fine now,” said V.

“Yes, of course Master Valdi, but why didn’t you give him a glitch blade?” said Daniel. “Wouldn’t that stop Zydan?”

“Bah, DD cannot know we have those,” said V. “That would just complicate our relationship further.”

A glitching white dagger materialized in V’s hand, cubic particles leaking from its edge.

“DD and his idiot son already ruined Zero Space,” said V. “I can’t have them ruining my operation too. With any luck, they’ll take each other out.”

Daniel nodded, foam tail dangling from the back of his chair.

The white dagger faded from V’s palm.

“Anyway Parper,” said V. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

With a swift nod, Daniel tucked his head into his Zero Space headset.

V smirked, ascending a set of red stairs. His glowing green computer sat in a small room, cramped between the most lavish desk and chair that rep points could buy. It wasn’t quite a throne, but it would have to do.

Behind the kit was an impenetrable glass wall, looking out into the static. V gazed through it, letting its rainy rhythm wash away his foul mood. Somewhere out there were other Havens, just like this one. Some were smaller. Some were far larger. And V wanted to control them all. Or at least control what traveled between them.

Someday, he planned to travel between them too. He would travel until he found the Haven that started it all - the Haven hosting Zero Space’s original server. That Haven held all the answers; the key to his survival. And maybe humanity’s survival too. But screw humanity. Humanity wasn’t what made V strong. To survive, V had to become something more than human.

That was a problem for later however. For now, V sunk into his chair, slipping into his headset.

[ZERO SPACE]

Master Valdi strutted across a flat blue plain, neon particle patterns swimming in the sky like schools of electric eels. His bright red eyes passed over the other Deadly Skulls. Punctual as always - they knew better than to be late.

Master Valdi nearly tripped over Kezzle. The tiny armoroid perched by his feet, flapping her wings. With an enraged snarl, Master Valdi pulled his foot back –

– And then paused. Kicking Kezzle’s exo-skeleton wouldn’t end well for his toes.

“Obnoxious little thing,” said Master Valdi.

Kezzle flapped her wings.

Master Valdi recomposed himself, approaching his crew with his jagged dagger in hand.

“I see you’re all here,” said Master Valdi. “Good. Have the Feather Birds arrived?”

Tambien bowed low; an impressive feat in his heavy knight armor.

“Not yet, m’lord,” said Tambien. “Perhaps those dishonorable heathens have cowered at our challenge!”

Kezzle flapped her wings.

Bowman strummed his bow like a guitar string.

“Bet they chicken out,” said Bowman.

“They’d better not,” said Wagger, chewing on a stick of TNT. “I’m gonna blow up Bez real good!”

Auron sucked on his lollipop, nudging Janzo.

“Eh, you live with some Feather Birds, right?” asked Auron. “Maybe you could check on ‘em?”

“Uh huh,” said Janzo. “I cuddle with them sometimes too.”

Auron nearly choked on his lollipop.

“Meh, I really didn’t need to know that,” said Auron.

Syadd stood at the group’s front, squeezing her flail like a stress ball with all four brutoid hands. If they failed here today, that would be the end of the Deadly Skulls - knowing Master Valdi, probably in more ways than one.

Parper’s puppoid ears perked up. With a happy pant, he hopped in the air, tail wagging.

“They’re here!” said Parper. “The Feather Birds are here!”

Frenzied green particles erupted on the arena’s other side.

Chief’s massive beetle body touched down on the glossy blue plain. She donned a hefty purple robe, swiping her towering spear at the sky.

Dalli marched behind Chief, mimicking Chief with his own spear. His slender leggoid body was less intimidating, but his hatred was far more pronounced - leggoids emoted better than armoroids.

Asira crept behind them in her orange ninja attire, sliding her swords out from two black sheathes. It was impossible to avoid Master Valdi’s stare - those glowing red eyes peered directly at her, projecting their malicious intent.

Asira hesitated - could the Feather Birds really defeat the Deadly Skulls? She figured they had a fighting chance, but that was before she leaked Chief’s power. It was impossible to know what Master Valdi could do with that information.

“I love marching into battle with you all!” shouted Umi.

Dane trailed behind Umi, armed only with his solemn demonoid expression. Lanzer trailed even further behind, chewing on his claws with massive piranhoid teeth. This was his one chance to save face; even if it was a clown face.

“Holy snap, are you seeing this Bez fans?” Bez shouted into his golden microphone. “We’re finally going to kick some Deadly Skull butt!”

Bander conked Bez with his staff.

“Leave the fighting to everyone else, dummy,” said Bander. “If you and I go down, everyone goes down!”

Bander glanced back at Shae; he stood silent and AFK.

Master Valdi flashed Chief a sadistic grin.

“So you finally arrive,” said Master Valdi. “Still running on Feather Bird time. Typical Chief.”

“Keep talking and I’ll put my spear through it,” said Chief. “Your mouth, I mean.”

Master Valdi grinned with rows of sharp teeth.

“I’ve been waiting for a long time to kill you,” said Master Valdi. “I’ve watched your guild grow. It takes after you. Bloated, sluggish, and mostly useless.”

“Your guild takes after you too,” said Chief. “Thin and terrible. Not to say everyone in your guild is terrible of course. Some of them are, but, erm, I mean, yes, I look forward to having them join us.”

BOOM

A dragonoid suddenly catapulted from a bouquet of fireworks, flipping into existence. He wore a cool pair of sunglasses and a rad black jacket that appealed to the youth.

“Hello dragonoids and non-dragonoids,” said the dragonoid. “It’s me! Your favorite NPC dragonoid host, Garola!”

Garola moonwalked between both guilds.

“I haven’t seen most of you since the battle royale in Trader Town!” said Garola.

Garola turned towards the Deadly Skulls.

“Shae really did a number on you all,” said Garola. “How many Deadly Skulls did he take out in the Battle Royale? Five? Six? I bet you’re still angry about that!”

They were.

Garola cartwheeled to Shae, flicking his AFK nose.

“Looks like Shae is running late,” said Garola. “Sure hope he shows up!”

Garola leaned in close to Shae.

“I’ve been waiting for revenge since the battle royale,” whispered Garola. “Cheater.”

Garola’s threat fell on deaf AFK ears.

“Anyway, we have one heck of an event for you all today!” said Garola. “Two of the strongest Zero Space guilds meet for an epic battle! Winner takes all!”

Garola tipped his glasses down, showing off his reptilian retinas.

“The entire Haven is watching,” said Garola. “No pressure!”

Parper tugged at Master Valdi’s pitch black suit.

“Master Valdi,” whispered Parper. “Did you agree to make this public? Won’t everyone see our powers?”

“Bah, we had no choice,” Master Valdi grumbled. “High stakes PVP is always public. That’s just how Zero Space works.”

Garola did the world’s flashiest backflip.

“The rules are simple!” said Garola. “Both guilds fight until one completely falls! In the event of a tie however… well, you’ll have to see!”

Garola lifted his sunglasses, giving the viewers at home a neat little wink.

“The arena will change every few minutes, just to make things interesting,” said Garola. “I promise to keep things fair for both dragonoids and non-dragonoids alike.”

Garola performed a fancy twirl.

“And that’s all there is to it!” said Garola. “Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for…”

Garola pulled an invisible camera in for a close-up.

“The battle will begin in, 5… 4…”

Both guilds raised their weapons.

“3…”

The Feather Birds locked eyes with the Deadly Skulls.

“2…”

The Deadly Skulls stared right back.

“1…”

Bander nudged Shae’s AFK body with his staff.

“Aaaaaaaaand…”

Garola took a deep breath.

“FIGHT!”

Both guilds charged forward!

The battlefield shook from their stampede. An orchestral score accompanied their charge, barely audible over their ear-rending screams.

Weapons flashed.

Eyes blazed.

Teeth bared –

“BLACK WAVE!!!”

Chief paused.

Her bug eyes bulged.

Her exoskeleton numbed.

“Wait!” screeched Chief. “Everyone stop! Charging, I mean!”

The Feather Birds stopped on a dime, crashing and toppling over each other.

“Chief, what’s wrong?” asked Dalli.

“Valdi just activated it,” said Chief. “His Level Three, I mean.”

“Already?” yelled Dalli.

“Yes,” said Chief. “He’ll wipe us out. In one blow, I mean!”

The Deadly Skulls stalled, settling into a rehearsed formation. Only Auron remained by Master Valdi, slurping his sucker without batting an eye.

The entire arena rumbled.

“Feather Birds,” said Chief. “Stand! With me, I mean!”

The Feather Birds surrounded Chief, sharing panicked glances and whispers.

In the distance, a great wave bloomed, expanding like a black sunrise until it encompassed the arena’s entirety. It loomed over the arena, darker than its own shadow. Darker than the static sky - a gaping maw leading into the belly of death itself.

A bubble barrier formed around Master Valdi and Auron.

“Eh, you sure this is gonna work?” asked Auron, licking his lollipop.

“Bah, of course it will,” said Master Valdi. “Observe –”

“RIBBON RIP!!!”

At Chief’s command, a thrall of thick cloth ribbons wrestled free from the ground, twisting and squirming like earthworms awakened by the rain. They whipped together and interlocked, fabricating a fabric fortification around the Feather Birds.

Master Valdi smirked.

“Chief made a barrier with her level three,” said Master Valdi. “As predicted. It’s the only way she can counter mine.”

With a flick of Master Valdi’s hand, the Deadly Skulls charged forward.

“Chief’s power affects a specific area,” said Master Valdi. “That area is right in front of her.”

The Deadly Skulls threw themselves at Chief’s ribbons. Crimson fabric suddenly unwove, each ribbon seeking a new Deadly Skull home.

Chief chittered in frustration, struggling to control her ribbons - they seemed intent on doing their own thing.

“Chief has limited control of her power,” said Master Valdi. “If enemies enter its range, the ribbons will target them automatically.”

The Deadly Skulls screamed as snaking red ribbons weaved around their joints.

The titanic wave sped across the battlefield.

“We’ve wasted Chief’s power on killing our team,” said Master Valdi. “Now there’s nothing left to protect her guild.”

Auron’s jaw hung open, letting his lollipop slide down his tongue.

“Eh, you deduced all that from watching a replay?” asked Auron.

“I’ve seen a thousand abilities,” said Master Valdi. “They all share similar functionality. Targeting parameters. Ranges. Limits. Chief doesn’t know her own strength. But I do.”

The red ribbons recalled, shredding the Deadly Skulls, then disappearing into the ground.

The massive wave parted for Master Valdi’s bubble barrier, then continued on its way.

“And just like that,” said Master Valdi. “The Deadly Skulls are victorious.”

The Feather Birds shriveled in the shadow of the black wave.

Dalli and Chief squeezed each other tightly.

Bez screamed into his microphone, deafening eight viewers.

Bander curled into a tiny magicoid ball.

Lanzer stood wide eyed and open jawed.

Dane watched ambivalently.

Umi prayed to Ledgess.

Master Valdi’s glowing eyes settled upon Chief, casting bright red rays of malice.

“Goodbye Chief,” said Master Valdi.

Master Valdi grinned.

“Goodbye Feather Birds –”

“PIERCING SHOT!!!”

The entire sky flashed purple, fading into a world-shattering thunderclap. Two tons of fuchsia metal tore through the sky, cleaving through the arena and virtual reality itself. A bullet this large had no right to exist. No gun could possibly fire a thing like that. No clip could contain it. And yet it persisted, soaring above the awestruck Feather Birds like a shooting star on a suicide mission.

Then it penetrated the breaking wave. Rushing water foamed and burst outwards, rupturing the wave in a fissuring spray. Ebony liquid rained across the Feather Birds, bombarding their bodies with hail-like droplets.

Shae stepped through the blanketing downpour, water gliding off his purple outfit, twin pistols spinning like fans.

Master Valdi gaped at Shae in absolute horror.

“That’s right motherfucker,” said Shae. “You and Chief aren’t the only ones with Level Threes.”

Bander grinned from magicoid ear to ear.

Master Valdi elbowed Auron in the ribs.

“Auron!” screeched Master Valdi. “Heals!”

Auron nearly choked on his lollipop.

“RAVE REVIVE!!”

Auron’s sucker spun like a disco ball, reanimating the other Deadly Skulls in style.

“I’m Raid Captain of the Feather Birds!” screamed Shae. “You fuck with my team, and you fuck with me!”

Shae struck a pose and screamed.

The Feather Birds joined him in an uproarious war cry.

“Now let’s get this shit over with!” yelled Shae. “I’ve got places to be!”