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[>>Now replaying: Log 3.43 - incoming_hostiles.wav]

Date: Error

Location: The Bunker at Progress’ Head // Zephyro’s Domain

//We’ve got incoming.//

//Let’s do this.//

//Here’s your personal anti-magic shield, keep it strapped to your chest at all times, and whatever you do, do not lose it. When it’s gone, one stray fireball or a chain lightning, and you will be gone, too. Now don’t think you can just walk up to a Wizard and wade through their spells either, recruit. This thing can overload, and it will overload, and you do not want that to happen. Anyhow, stay away from the fucking nobles. They got some new enchantment or whatever that breaks tech, and &/$!§%//

[>>DATA CORRUPTED]

General Turret’s shoulders sank with relief, his absurdly large minigun, however, didn’t move an inch.

“Thank you, Ma’am! Never doubted you would, but hearing it helped, Ma’am!”

We lapsed into a tense, but companionable silence for a few more seconds, and just as I was about to ask about the kids, the world beyond the projection flickered.

“Reboot’s almost done, Ma’am. Get ready, I’m getting reports of several hostiles.”

With one more deep breath, I pulled my mace out of its loop on my belt. My anger was still there, burning as hot as ever, and finally, I would have something to hurl it at.

Pharus ignited without a second thought.

“Ma’am, proposing strategy: I’ll create a killzone down the hall, but I can’t turn so well anymore. Old bones, you see? Can you handle any tangos that slip through?”

“Affirmative,” I said as Pharus’s ghostly flames sent teal light dancing through the room in anticipation.

As the world around us blinked back into Zephyro’s Domain, the general’s projection overlaid it like a ghostly afterimage. It started to dim as he reached to disable his medals.

“Leave it on,” I said. “I need to know what’s happening in the Real. Also, add the three children to the overlay if you can.”

“Acknowledged, Ma’am!” The general said, putting his finger to his ear like he was wearing a comms headpiece. He tilted his head as if listening to something, and nodded after a few more seconds.

“Realtime and Domaintime are almost aligned. Compensating.”

With a soft humm, the three figures blinked into existence. The projections were incredibly detailed, and only their faint blue hue told me they weren’t real. Hell, I could see how the sweat matted Voni’s hair to her forehead.

She stood next to the laptop, staring at the readout while hugging Tin close. Pina had taken up position next to the door, baton extended and crackling with electricity as arcane runes ran mana up and down its length.

“It couldn’t have been a rival nomad gang for once? Did it have to be Takers?” she muttered.

Tin shivered, which prompted Voni to pull him closer. “It’ll be fine, Tin. We’ve got the AI now. I have no doubt it will do something that can get us out of here.”

Pina did not respond, just grabbed her arcane baton tighter.

I frowned as I walked over to her, inspecting her weapon. Those kinds of enchantments were incredibly expensive, and I wondered where she had gotten it. It wasn’t as though I could ask, though, and even if I could, it wasn’t the time. You could almost chew the tension in the room.

“I can hear them coming,” Pina said, gripping her baton tighter. “Get ready!”

“We should have ran, I’m sorry…” Tin said, and Voni shushed him soothingly.

“Shhh. The Torchbearer will save us,”

No pressure, really. My anger flared, but I kept it tight and focused on drowning out my anxieties. They were just kids who didn’t even know me. I was taking this responsibility because it was right, and if I failed, they wouldn’t blame me. Fuck, There would be nothing to blame. I wouldn’t fail them. I would crush anyone who tried to touch them on my watch.

“The ‘Torchbearer’ has been stuck on 4 out of 15 updates for minutes now,” Pina hissed. “Just take the damn thing and let’s go.”

Damn! I knew I had forgotten something.

Chris, time? I thought, careful to skirt around that weird sensation that told me I would be projecting my words on the screen.

{SAMANTHA_v0.1}

{▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱}

{DOWNLOADING DATA 99/100%}

{15.6 LTB/15.7 LTB}

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

[>>Estimated time remaining: 00hr, 7min 23s]

I eyeballed what that could mean for the kids, then sent them a quick update. I was reminded of some of the product releases I had managed on Earth. The way I had to string my audience along, generating interest without promising too much too soon was weirdly similar.

Please do not power off or unplug your Machine.

Installing Shackle.exe (Update 5 of 15)

“It just updated,” Voni said, having the grace of not looking too smug. She released her hug on Tin to reach into her jacket and pulled out a small collapsible crossbow. The weapon had dozens of cables attached to its stock and various cylinders, and as she reconnected the wires with deft hands, the device unfolded itself with the hiss of pneumatics releasing and recharging.

She hugged Tin tighter one more time, then let him go.

“Watch the AI, okay?” she said as she unzipped her coat and grabbed a handful of bolts from one of the pouches that lined its insides. She clicked her thumb over a small gear on the grip, and the crossbow pulled itself taught with a sharp hiss.

Voni slammed in a bolt, and then silence reigned in both worlds.

Tin fidgeted as he stared at the screen, his attention slipping. His eyes started wandering around the room, staring frightfully at the ceiling and the entrance.

I did the only thing I could think of to help.

Please do not power off or unplug your Machine.

Installing Shackle.exe (Update 6 of 15)

“Six!” Tin said, relief visible in the set of his shoulders, even buried as they were inside his parka.

Voni reached for his head, ruffling his hair.

“Charged, Tin! Stay on it,” she replied, glancing down at him as if to make sure he stayed where he was. She wanted him in the middle of the room where she believed him to be safe, I supposed. At least that was what I got from the way she kept checking the vents.

I swung Pharus through the air, twirling it with my wrist. Its flames whooshed in the dark night air. At least the Domain seemed to have stopped shrinking when the darkness hit the Palace walls. Only a few buildings outside of its limits were still untouched by the void, and almost all of them seemed to be on fire, bathing the scene in their red glow.

I wondered how Zephyro was doing. That last glitch had been ominous, but as long as the Domain held—

There was a scratching sound coming from the walls underneath the terrace, and I had been in enough ambushes to trust the instincts that were telling me trouble was on the way. I turned, unwinding Pharus’ chain, and just when the first few links hit the floor, a red hand grabbed the balustrade. At the same time, one of the vents started rattling.

I hurled Pharus in the direction of the hand just as the Shackled pulled itself onto the rooftop with an effortless motion. While it was still in mid-air, the head of my flail hit it in the chest, but not hard enough to knock it back down as I had hoped. At the same time as its feet touched the rooftop, the vent burst open and a camera with a gigantic telephoto lens dropped from the ceiling in a heap of coiling cables.

“I shouldn’t turn, Ma’am. Do you require—?”

“I got it,” I replied.

The red figure flickered, and reappeared straight on top of the camera. When I tried to focus on one of them, both lit up in my vision.

[LykaW]

[DPM filesize: XX LKB]

[>>Calculate exact filesize?]

Cyan flames engulfed it, slowing it down thanks to Pharus’ upgrade. In the Real, arcs of cyan electricity ran over its body, and its movements slowed as well.

[>>PROCESSES BY USER LykaW ARE NOW HIGHLIGHTED]

[>>Initiating Denial of Service Attack]

“Fuck yes!” I hissed. I’d been worried there wouldn’t be anything I could do to help the kids but kill stuff as fast as possible. The camera in the real world wasn’t completely paralyzed, but it moved at substantially slower speeds, buying me time to smack it out of alignment with Pharus. While this wasn’t as good as shooting the thing in the face with a minigun, it was good enough.

As I pulled back my flail for another attack, Voni leveled her crossbow at it and fired, not even watching if the bolt hit, immediately slotting a new one. Her first shot slammed into one of the camera’s tentacle-like cables as it tried to get up, shattering the plastic and breaking off the limb.

Unfortunately, the Shackled had enough limbs remaining, and started creeping forward, even though slowed down by Pharus’ effect. It jerked to the side at the next crossbow bolt, making it miss and causing Voni to take more time to aim.

In the Domain, the red figure just held its hand to its leg for the time of a breath, but it hadn’t been slowed down beyond Pharus’ effect, as far as I could tell.

Being able to see Domain and the Real like this was fascinating and creepy at the same time, but beyond everything else, it was helpful. I didn’t have to guess and pray I was hitting the Shackled closest to the kids, didn’t have to ask the General for updates, didn’t have to worry about missing the point where Voni or Pina just unplugged me before it was time.

I could just focus on the fight.

The Shackled lit up in my vision again, and my anger urged me to rush in, to hit it until it no longer moved. Reminding myself this was bigger than me, I barely managed to restrain it. Yet again, I was carrying the burden of responsibility for thousands of people, including three children. As much as that burden was crushing me under its terrifying weight, I was the only one who could carry it, and so I had to survive.

And to survive, I had to stop rushing in, had know what I was up against.

So I gambled, and accepted Ardor’s prompt to scan the Shackled.

[LykaW]

[DPM filesize: 15 LKB]

{CPU Load: ▲ 38%}

{Core Temp: ▲ 62° C}

The gamble paid off, with barely a spike in my CPU. As for the readout itself, both the small filesize and my low CPU load were confusing, but I didn’t let my surprise hold me back. I was on the red figure in a second, Pharus’ chain flying in front of me, whipping around the Shackled’s body and wrapping its arms to its side. I only had a split second to notice the camera seizing up in the real world before I crashed into its representation in the Domain, knocking it off its feet as I pummeled its face with my free fist.

Every strike hurt my hand but didn’t leave as much as a dent on the smooth red features. The rage told me to just keep going until it worked, and it took me a concerted effort to keep myself from giving into mindless rage.

This was not the Real world. If I wanted to hurt the Shackled, I’d have to use a means of attack this Domain recognized. I tried slapping it with Pharus’ handle as it writhed underneath me, but didn’t have enough leeway. I cursed, ready to disengage, when a bolt flew through my chest and right into the Shackled’s face, shattering its red polygon helmet. As the armor exploded away, it revealed a wispy, haggard man underneath.

The bolt was sticking right between his eyes.

His last words were “I just wanted to see… you promised me I would see the world…”

After a second of shocked checking if the bolt had injured me (it hadn’t), I untangled Pharus and got back up as fast as I could.