The news of another destroyer making its way to the Kev nearly made Heaven sick.
After the first one had been deterred, they had assumed they had the time to work their way up at a slower pace. In the days when they first arrived, they quickly learned just how dangerous this tiny pocket of the world was. Fighting had then broken out with the various NPC sects, and further lives were lost in the ensuing battle.
The sects sent their message loud and clear. They were willing to help, but needless, wanton violence against their own was not going to be tolerated, and they would RD the players immediately if it called for it.
They were able to procure a spirit of cooperation shortly after. The players who lost their first precious lives were immediately on the back foot, playing ever more cautious, and less willing to put their necks on the line if it meant that they might be risking another life.
Some were bold enough to try again, while others became more diplomatic, currying favor within their respective fraternities and the NPC factions.
The Aegis forces comprised the military sect, while the Keepers were a smaller special forces unit that guarded the cloning facilities where their synth bodies were produced.
After the first uprising, the threat of having the facilities outright destroyed was enough to make even the staunchest opponent hesitate. Even still, many thought it was just a bluff, because there was no way a game would nuke its player base so nonchalantly, but as if on cue, a mass email was sent to every player confirming they would all be living on their last lives right then and their if further hostilities continued.
From that point forward, Synthers and Tears worked hand in hand to see to it that they grew their defenses and powers. Sentinel class Riders went out in the world, using their numbers as their shield while they gathered resources.
Civilian class Riders would then use those resources to produce everything from weapons, armor, and upgrades for the Kev’s defenses.
The quest system, Contracts, were handed out in droves to drive incentive. The majority were handed out by the Aegis sect and by some high-ranking officials that oversaw governing the Kev itself.
As the number of players grew, so too did the need to delegate who could hand out contracts. Fraternities were soon established, and the leaders were given access to creating and receiving contracts. The most plentiful were always dungeon clears, but more niche contracts quickly became the norm as players and NPC’s alike started using all of the extra resources to build up The City of First Light into its current shape today.
Heaven was a part of the first wave of players to arrive in-game, and she had witnessed everything from start to present. Her influence had grown rapidly as she helped players and NPC’s alike, creating various armaments and completing contracts.
The first destroyer ignited a drive within her to become the best crafter the city had ever produced. Her weapons were among the best on the market, and she soon employed her own creations for the sake of joining the Sentinels in dungeon clears and resource gathering.
The constant forays were enough to raise her up to Hunter tier, putting her squarely in the middle of the pack of adventurers within the city.
Being in the middle was no longer enough, now. She brought Ma’Z into the world under the pretense that he’d be able to race without worry, and just enjoy the game without being bogged down with all of the fighting and endless grinding.
She never had any doubt he could hold his own, and their recent hunt together put that squarely into perspective just how capable he was.
But he was here to have fun in his own way, and this stupid monster was now threatening to put an end to that before he even got a chance to really get his teeth wet.
She was pacing about in the hallway when Tera’Lese happened by her and stopped to check on her.
“Heaven, dear, are you alright?” she said.
Heaven stopped her pacing momentarily, clenching her fist as she tried to get her warring emotions under control. She looked at the woman, partly blaming her and partly admonishing herself for even thinking it. But she needed an outlet, and poor Tera just happened to be the poor soul that wandered into her field of view.
“Did you know?” Heaven said.
“I- I’m sorry? What?” Tera stammered.
“Did you know? About the destroyer?”
“What? No! Heaven, how could you even accuse me of such a thing?”
“Your father is Viceroy. You’re really trying to tell me that you knew nothing about this?”
“I won’t suffer this slander, even from you, Heaven. You know I am on no good terms with my father, let alone those old gilded farts. I didn’t know.”
Tera’Lese’s words cut through Heaven’s rising anger, and like a fog being lifted, the realization of what she was doing came rushing in, and she rushed to apologize to her friend.
“Oh skat, I’m- I’m so sorry, Tera. I didn’t mean–” she started to say.
“You did. But I forgive you,” Tera cut her off. “I can see you’re stressed by the news, as are we all. Even the little Master is barely keeping his emotions in check.”
“Striga? Seriously? I guess that tracks. We tend to treat him like an anime villain, but he’s still a person, like the rest of us.”
“Anime?”
“A style of animated imagery on Earth. That’s not important, though. I just- I don’t know what to do Tera. Ma’Z has literally only been here for two days and already we’re under threat of annihilation. Is there nothing we can do to secure the Vault?”
“Your ability to respawn should be secure, even if the Kev is destroyed. The facility walls are over two ewl of solid crysteeline steel and as long as the ætheric generators hold, they’re essentially indestructible.”
“Don’t suppose we all can’t just turtle up inside, can we?”
“Too many. Some have already brought forward the motion to draw lottery.”
“Unbelievable,” Heaven said leaning against the wall.
“Indeed. The panic is making the rounds through the military ranks as well. All the Tears, really. We all have family here, and the threat of losing any of them is sparking no small amount of dissent in the ranks.”
“Holy Three, I didn’t even think of that. I don’t even want to consider the death toll should we fail to hold it back.”
“Agreed. Quite a few squads have set out on dungeon clearing parties to double down on team tactics and raising their proficiencies to climb in the tiers. I’ve seen a few fraternity parties heading out as well.
“Hunting parties aside, of those that are left, there’s no end to the rumors and conjectures on what we’re going to do next. Most of the chatter seems to be across the network, though. The streets are all but empty.”
“Ha. I bet Ma’Z is very confused as to where everybody is at right now.”
“Undoubtedly. You were going to meet him later?”
“Yeah, I told him I’d go meet him after the meeting, but as you can see, I’m not in much shape to be playing the good wife right now.”
“Nobody expects the end of their world, that’s for sure.”
“Not exactly how I pictured the apocalypse, I’ll give you that.”
“Can’t say I know any better,” Tera said, while she stared at the floor.
Heaven stared at their liaison and friend.
Ever since she was assigned to the group, she was pegged as a spy from the start, but not only did she not deny it, they also didn’t care. Her job required her to help out by whatever means she was able, and that meant fighting side by side when it called for it, and gathering information which they submitted freely.
Her efforts saw her quickly become indispensable as their resident support fighter and records keeper. She used a variant of the leveling system from Caomhnóir 7, which allowed her to level without having her nanites rip her body apart on the molecular level, and be rebuilt bit by bit. Her Frame got that treatment instead, and it was very visibly evolving as she reached each tier. Her affinity had barely crossed into silver, however, but they were all certain she’d be the next to cross into gold.
Seeing that stalwart girl look so dejected, Heaven’s heart cracked a little.
“Hey, come here Tera,” Heaven said.
Tera moved closer to Heaven who quickly pulled her into a hug.
“Sorry, that was thoughtless of me,” she said. “I keep forgetting that our realities are very different.”
“No. I know. You’re fine. Really,” Tera said.
“No, it was insensitive, and I should’ve been more thoughtful of how this situation would impact you and the other Tears.”
“Failure means a lot of you probably aren’t coming back, and that’s basically the same as dying from our POV. It’s not like we’ll see you again if that happened.”
“Fair. Does it bother you that we can only interact with you through these synth bodies?”
Tera pulled away from Heaven, shaking her head as she wiped away at her eyes.
“You have to admit it’s crazy though, isn’t it? We were never able to solve manned faster than light travel, but we were able to do so when it came to transmitting data, and with it we found a way to cross the stars.”
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“You sent expeditions though, didn’t you?”
“We did. After the Kha invaded our world, it turned out it was ultimately just a case of bad communication. Where we failed, they hadn't. So, we sent the first migrants out with them after they departed. Man, I wish I could’ve been part of that expedition.”
“Were you alive for the invasion?”
“No, I was born a couple generations after.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, why did you answer the call?”
“Growing up, I had no small amount of animosity towards our god. Not long after the Kha invasion, our god went full biblical and trapped us in a thousand-year purgatory where nobody could die. We were convinced that our god took a sick pleasure in our suffering, but it was yet another case of miscommunication. Borag’Niel’s goal seemed to have been an effort to temper us for the call. Unfortunately this lesson ended with my grandparents having my parents and as soon as they were able to talk, they essentially deleted themselves.”
“That’s horrible,” Tera said, covering her mouth.
“It’s ok. Like I said, I grew up with no small amount of animosity towards our creator. Now I just seek answers. I want to know why.”
“That seems to be the collective reasoning for many of us.”
“And the yautshi challenged us to a fight for it. Go figure,” Heaven laughed.
Tera began to quietly laugh alongside her. The two shared the moment, ultimately comforting each other. Soon, however, Tera remembered she needed to leave and said, “Oh man. The time! I’m so sorry Heaven, but I was on my way to report to my father before I ran into you.”
“It’s fine. I’m feeling much better now, so thank you for letting me vent.”
“No, I’m the one who should offer thanks. I often forget that I can just talk to you all when I’m feeling down.”
“I think we all forget that at times.”
“Indeed. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should get going now.”
“Right. See ya, kiddo.”
Heaven waved as Tera turned to leave. She took a moment longer to enjoy the feeling of relief before she got back to her own plans and pulled up Ma’Z’s info in her contacts and attempted to call him.
No response.
Heaven cocked her head, staring at the non-responsive image in her Vision. She attempted to call him again, and again, no response.
Starting to get worried, she sent him a message instead.
Hey Ma’Z, I’m out of the meeting I’m pretty much free for the rest of the day. Did you ever find somewhere where you wanted to meet up? Hit me back.
Heaven waited another minute, and when she didn’t get a response, she started to get a sinking feeling something was wrong.
She found herself pacing back and forth in the hallway again, when after another minute, she got a ping back from Ma’Z, but instead of a message or a call, it was his GPS location.
It showed he was downtown by the library.
Not knowing what else to do, she quickly made her way to the garage, unable to hear anything but the sound of panic pounding out of her chest. On her way, however, she sent a message to Oraria.
Hey Oraria, you free?
A few seconds passed before Heaven got a message back.
Sup Princess? Having man problems already?
Heaven rolled her eyes but decided to ignore the jab.
Something like that. I think Ma’Z is in trouble.
Well that didn’t take long. Why you telling me, though?
Because I have a sinking feeling it’s that kind of trouble.
Oh. Well then say no more. Where we headed?
The Think Tank.
The Library?
The Library.
Heaven didn’t wait for Oraria, knowing she’d catch up in due time. Instead, she boarded her Frame, flooring it the moment she was past the Fraternity gates.
Ignoring terrain or obstacle, Heaven made a beeline for Ma’Z’s location. She tore through lawn, garden, trees, road signs, windows; if it was in her line of sight, she didn't spare a second thought to go through it. Light tethers shot from her in droves, as she moved civilians and other obstacles out of her way as she could.
In her frantic dash to get to her fiancé, she was forced to dive out of the way, narrowly missing a bus full of civilians.
“Yo, you going to slow down? You about took those people out!” Oraria called over comms.
Heaven could feel her anger rising, but the calmer part of her told her that Oraria was right, and it wasn’t fair to lash out at her. But she wasn’t going to stop either, and continued her tear through the city.
“Hey! Are you listening? Slow down,” Oraria called out.
“Would you?” Heaven said coldly.
Oraria had been following in her wake, somewhat amazed and afraid of the irrational behavior Heaven was currently displaying lately. She was still annoyed with her from when she shot her the other day, but having had time to cool off, she was forced to admit she was out of line.
Still, she had listened to this woman talk about her amazing boyfriend for ages. Then when things got on the rocks, she had become withdrawn, and a lot of the spark she usually displayed had dimmed noticeably.
Oraria had only intended to console her friend, and felt stupid when she started to develop feelings for her, and even dumber when she escalated it before getting summarily rejected.
She had been bitter ever since, and the moment she found out that he was finally going to come join the squad, her bitterness had reached a crescendo.
That spark that she liked so much had come back tenfold, and she started engaging with the crew again. The coldness had evaporated, and then the day came when he finally arrived.
Oraria couldn’t stand it. He was getting special arrangements, free range to use their facilities, their gear, and most of all, complete access to Heaven herself.
Oraria hated it. She hated all of it. But after Heaven shot her, she had to finally admit what she refused to admit all this time. Heaven’s heart had belonged to one person, and no matter what it was never going to stray. And she just needed to accept that and move on.
Oraria thought about how she would’ve felt if she was in her position. If that was her irreplaceable person, how would act?
“Crazy woman, you know I wouldn’t,” she said. “But you know the barons are going to raise an unholy stink over all the damage we’re causing.”
“They can bill me. I already calculated the costs. I can cover it.”
“What the falsh? Woman! That’s not the problem… I mean, it kind of is, but that’s not what they’re going to be crying about.”
“If someone attacked Ma’Z, then I don’t care what their complaints are. I’ll tear every sphere apart if I have to, to find out who did it.”
“Girl, I hear you. I do. But even you know your limits. Not even a seraph can take the combined might of an entire sphere.”
“I’ll still go.”
“No. You won’t. Striga won’t let you. None of us will. And yes, we will all stand in your way if it comes to that.”
Oraria sighed.
She stared ahead at Heaven’s Frame as it moved forward, undeterred by the obstacles in front of her. Even at her fastest, she couldn’t keep up Heaven’s scout. It didn’t help that she was moving so smoothly past each hurdle, it might as well have actually been a straight line.
After a few seconds, Oraria knew she wasn’t going to answer, so she decided to follow up and say, “Look, I’m not saying we won’t find out who’s responsible, but we’re going to do it smart. Like we always do. You hear me?”
Still no response.
It didn’t matter though, because after Heaven jumped a guard rail, down a small incline, they were finally at the library.
The two of them stood awestruck at the amount of destruction that dotted the library’s courtyard. Gravel, park benches, dirt, trees; nothing was spared.
The two moved forward cautiously, Heaven instantly aware of Ma’Z’s frame parked in front of the library.
When she was near enough to see inside the frame, it took everything she had not to scream at the sight of Ma’Z unconscious, bloodied body. He was covered nearly head to toe in burns, and a gaping hole shown through his right shoulder.
Heaven went to pull him out of his Frame when she was stopped by the Erzalis’ shield. Confused, she tried again, and once again the shield held in place.
“That’s not- his shield’s still active. I can’t get him,” Heaven said, her voice rising slightly.
“If his shield’s intact, then he’s probably alive. Is he breathing,” Oraria said as she circled around to have a look. “Yeah, it’s faint, but he’s still got a pulse. He’s alive. Homie looks like cooked hamburger, though.”
Heaven staggered as a wave of emotion swept over her.
He was alive!
Heaven started to tap on the shield, calling out to him. She kept calling and calling, while Oraria surveyed the surrounding area in case of an ambush.
After several attempts, he still hadn’t responded, and eventually a young looking, blue Helios man came out of the library and approached the two women.
“Are you two associated with this man, or are you here to try to kill him as well,” he said looking none too pleased.
“We’re… I’m his fiancé,” Heaven said. “I got a ping from his GPS a few minutes ago and came as fast as I could. Did you just say he was attacked?”
“Yes. He was. Two men ambushed him after he left the library, and nearly killed him. We spoke briefly after the battle, before he hobbled away and jumped into his mech. He didn’t look to be in any shape to be driving, so I suggested he turn on his GPS. Didn’t think he heard me, but I guess he managed to do it before he fell unconscious.”
“Oh. Then thank you so much,” Heaven said. “Judging by the looks of things, I’m surprised he managed to survive.”
Bellfram looked at the woman aghast. “Are you kidding me? HE did this!” he said pointing at his lawn. “Those two ruffians cut off his escape and were working on boxing him in until he pulled a gun from his mech and put so many holes in them, they were essentially reduced to kibble.”
“He did what?!” Heaven and Oraria shouted in unison.
Bellfram stared at the two, mouth agape, as if in utter disbelief at the question. “Miss, we don’t see many of the Firsts anymore, but stuff like this used to be considered a standard course of action. I’Lu were always regarded as a very gentle race, but when roused to battle… Well, let’s just say they were no strangers to putting down their prey.”
“I know the lore,” Heaven said. “But Ma’Z is a player. Even if that were true, he’s only been playing for two days. Through a stroke of luck, he managed to raise his status to blooded, but that’s hardly a level capable of doing all this.”
Heaven looked at the Helios as he emphatically shook his head in disbelief. Pointing at Ma’Z he said, “Miss, I witnessed his actions with my own two eyes. The boy practically danced through all the fire spells they threw his way, but try as he might there were still too many of them. He later summoned a shadow that turned the tables, absorbing their fire and redirecting it at them. The whole while, I thought it odd that he didn’t fight back, but after a short while I realized it was because he couldn’t. Or so I thought.”
As if to recreate the scene, Bellfram walked to the spot where Heaven presumed Ma’Z took his last stand. Belfram then pointed to a spot ahead of him and said, “He started over there and used his shadow to lure the two towards him before jumping over here. After the two turned around, he shouted something incomprehensible and then a gun, fit for a mech, appeared in the sky above him. It was then that he unleashed this unholy horror of gunfire and lightning, before he teleported again, and shot some more.”
Heaven listened somewhat in awe, mentally reconstructing the events in her mind. She imagined Ma’Z doing everything in his power to escape before being forced to skirt around the courtyard while being pelted over and over with whatever spells they were using to cause such god awful burns across his body. She assumed the wound in his shoulder had to have come early, because if he was caught after taking that much damage there was no way he would’ve been able to do anything more.
Oraria had joined Bellfram in his retelling, asking him questions about positioning, and taking a pointed interest about his condition when he seemingly lifted his Erzalis’ gun into the air and summarily executed his would be assassins.
Guilt weighing heavy on her, Heaven turned to look at Ma’Z to see him staring back at her like a monster out of a horror movie.
Completely taken off guard, Heaven screamed, causing Bellfram and Oraria to halt their conversation and make their way over.
“You ok?” Oraria called out. “What happened?”
“Holy bumskat Ma’Z, you-” Heaven held her chest as she tried to get her breathing under control. “Don’t ever do that again! You scared the ever-loving skat out of me.”
“Roger that. Captain,” Ma’Z said, straining to smile. “Kept a. Souvenir.”
Heaven pulled back, confused. “A what?” she asked.
Ma’Z pointed to the torso stuffed behind his seat. “Fucker. Owes me.”
“Oh holy Goddess,” Heaven said, covering her mouth.
Seeing Heaven’s horrified expression, Oraria moved closer to Heaven and said, “What’s going on? He’s ok right? He’s- Oh, holy falsh Ma’Z. That’s nasty!”