《Hero's Call》


 PROLOGUE

    Everything hurt; most people say that when they ached, but for me it really was everything. My head rang like a church bell, my skin felt like it was on fire, and I could feel a multitude of bones shifting where they weren¡¯t supposed to.


    Wait, I was wrong. Everything didn¡¯t hurt; my legs felt more like they were asleep.


    I blinked, trying to clear my vision. It took a few moments but I started to see the blurry outline of rubble around me. The pain made it hard to focus, but as my old instructor constantly told me: pain meant you were still alive. I hurt too much to move but as I regained consciousness recent events surfaced. The school, cops moving in, a scared little girl running from the bearded man with a vest covered in explosives.


    The flash of light as I dove over the little blond haired girl and the pain as shrapnel and flame reached out and drove me into darkness.


    A soft feminine voice nearby whispered, ¡°Are you okay mister?¡±


    I accepted the stab of pain in my head and neck as I turned to the source of the voice. The blurry figure of what could only be the little girl sat a few feet away from me. I laid my head back down and whispered back in a surprisingly steady voice, ¡°Ow.¡±


    A soft giggle, quickly stifled, was my initial response, followed by, ¡°Some rescue people were by a minute ago. They are trying to move the rocks to get us out.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± was the only response I could manage.


    ¡°Thank you for saving me mister,¡± the voice said again as I slipped once more into darkness.


    My next conscious thought was fuzzy, but surprisingly pain free. My body was still stiff, but I could feel a pillow beneath my head and a sheet over my body. A soft beep repeated nearby, and a strong disinfectant smell permeated the air. I wasn¡¯t that surprised when I opened my eyes to see I was in a hospital room. Unfortunately my head was clear enough to notice that the sheet started to dip way too soon on my left leg. My left arm was wrapped up in a cast and strapped in place to prevent it from moving, and my right arm was covered in bandages. I could also feel bandages wrapping around my head and neck. I fumbled around a little until I found the call button near my right hand, which was surprisingly free of bandages.


    A minute later a blurry form in a light purple outfit stepped into the room and said in a calm female, ¡°Good you¡¯re awake. How do you feel?¡±


    I tried to shrug, but I could tell it wasn¡¯t visible after I felt the pull of bandages preventing much movement. I settled for rasping out, ¡°Like I got run over by a bus.¡±


    ¡°Well sounds like you¡¯re well enough to attempt humor, though maybe some water would help,¡± she replied.


    She move closer and I felt the tube of a large straw, the kind that are usually found on sports bottles pressed against my lips. I sipped carefully, knowing to be cautious if I had been out for a while. There was a sharp pain in my throat as I sipped but I resisted the cough, somehow knowing that it would hurt more. My mouth moistened I said, in a much clearer voice, ¡°The tubes just come out?¡±


    I could see her head nod. My vision was still blurry and I wasn¡¯t certain if it was the medication or an injury. It was clear enough for me to tell she was taller than average and dark haired, but everything else was a mystery. She did have a nice voice though, which I got to appreciate further when she asked, ¡°Are you in pain?¡±


    I took a mental stock and said, ¡°I¡¯m not feeling it, sharp pain when I drank.¡±


    Shifting a little I felt a small amount of pain and winced as she said, ¡°Don¡¯t try and move, you still have a number of injuries.¡±


    ¡°Do I try and rest or wait for the doctor?¡± I asked.


    ¡°If you feel the need to sleep then go ahead, the doctor was notified you had woken up,¡± she responded.


    I closed my eyes again, but didn¡¯t think I would fall back asleep. I could hear her move from the room as I waited. Sitting still was one of those things I never did well. I tried to remember the details of the incident but couldn¡¯t remember much beyond the flashes I had seen when I awoke in the rubble. I had been at the school to speak to one of my old teachers for advice. I had just been turned down for joining the military, and hadn¡¯t had a backup plan in place. I had hoped that my old teacher, a friend of the family, had some advice on what to do. It was a bit of a desperate hope since I hadn¡¯t wanted to return home to tell my family I had failed to pass the psychiatric evaluation for military service.


    No I am not crazy, contrary to popular belief or the fact that I was mentally talking to myself. I shook my head, causing a sharp pain at the base of my skull. A mature male voice, with the traces of an accent that reminded me of Texas, stated, ¡°I would advise against rapid movement. Your body is likely still sore from the trauma you suffered.¡±


    I opened my eyes to see another blurry figure, clearly bald and dark skinned, wearing what I assumed was a lab coat standing at the foot of my bed. I said, a little sharply, ¡°No shit doc.¡±


    He chuckled, his voice a deep rumble, and responded to my sharpness with a calmness that had to come from years of experience, ¡°Young man, you are entitled to some grumpiness with what you have endured. Just remember to rein it in a bit as we discuss matters.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try, can¡¯t promise much,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Fair enough, my name is Doctor Mike Owens. Can you tell me your name?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Alexander Cayne,¡± I answered, not really sure why he was asking.


    I saw his hand make a short motion on a clipboard he carried and I realized he was checking on my mental recall; probably standard practice from a head injury. I preempted his next couple of questions, ¡°I have intact memories from August 2<sup>nd</sup>, and the details of my trip to the school are fuzzy. I don¡¯t know what day it is as I don¡¯t know how much time passed between then and now.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    My statement came out a little slower than I was used to. Normally my mouth couldn¡¯t keep up with my thoughts. I assumed it was whatever drug they were using to cut off the pain I should be feeling based on the number of bandages I had on. I could see his hand moving as he wrote down some more notes before he asked, ¡°You told the nurse you weren¡¯t feeling much pain?¡±


    I slowly nodded, then responded, ¡°Stiffness, pain when I move quickly, and soreness in the back of my throat. I know that last is from tubes being removed.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we removed them when we reduced the anesthetic after the latest surgery. Are you aware enough to tell me how you¡¯re feeling beyond that?¡± he asked.


    I thought that was an odd question, but I answered anyway, ¡°Mentally, a little slow on the uptake. Emotionally, confused and scared. Physically, what I said before and my vision is pretty blurry.¡±


    The doctor moved closer to examine my eyes, ¡°You seem to still be suffering from a concussion as you took a pretty significant blow to your head. We will have to monitor it to see if there are changes over the next couple of days. As to your confusion I can tell you that you¡¯ve been down for almost three days. Your first two days were spent in surgery as you had multiple fractures and some shrapnel. You also suffered from severe lacerations and some moderate burns on sections of your body along with blunt trauma from portions of a wall falling down on you.¡±


    I had to hold back a shudder as I stated, ¡°I don¡¯t remember much of it. I have flashes of getting between a man and a little girl, then a brief interlude of the girl asking me if I was okay.¡±


    ¡°That is expected when the body suffers trauma. It pushes the trauma out of your mind to cope with it. You may never remember fully, and if you do it will be after you have recovered,¡± he responded.


    I took a deep breath and said, ¡°Okay doc, now can we cover the elephant in the room. How much did I lose?¡±


    Even blurry I could tell he was frowning as he asked, ¡°You suffered pretty significant injuries. To be honest I¡¯m surprised you are as healthy as you are considering how close you were to that explosion. How much do you want to know?¡±


    I took another deep breath, steeling myself, and answered, ¡°All of it doc. Rip the proverbial bandage off, I would like to keep the literal ones on for a while.¡±


    That got a wry chuckle out of him and he answered, ¡°You will have some scarring from some of the lacerations. Your left arm was severely burned and was broken in three places. Your left leg was broken in multiple locations but we were able to correct a large portion of the damage with surgery. Your right leg was crushed below the knee from rubble and it had to be removed. Your back was burned and cut but seems to be healing well, while your face has some light abrasions. You took a significant blow to the back of your head from the rubble as well.¡±


    I closed my eyes, feeling bitter tears try and come up and asked, ¡°Anything else?¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately until you told me your name we had no way of knowing who you were, so you haven¡¯t had any visitors we could let in. Your clothes were burnt as was your identification,¡± he answered.


    I chuckled softly, ¡°Funny part is I was at MEPs the day before and got fingerprinted.¡±


    ¡°We couldn¡¯t get a clear print, your hands were singed. Since you were expected to recover we figured we could ask. Who should we contact?¡± he asked.


    I gave him my mother¡¯s name and contact number and he left to have a nurse make the call. I leaned my head back and tried hard to fall asleep. Now I needed that advice on what to do with my life even more than before.


    Before I drifted off to sleep my brain recalled one scene clearly, the little girl, dirty but calm, uninjured while I lay broken in the rubble.


    ¡°Worth it,¡± I said into the empty room.


    * * * * *


    Two weeks passed, with my mother visiting every day. Now don¡¯t get me wrong, I love my mother; but she has a tendency to hover when one of her kids get hurt. I being just a few months out of high school was still considered one of her babies. Something I doubted would change when I was old and grey. The nurses and I managed to chase her out Friday evening to go home and rest after the doctor reported that everything that could was healing well and I would likely be discharged on Monday.


    My Saturday began with the removal of the bandages on most of my body. The injuries were closed, but I still needed to be careful moving about. My skin was an interesting shade as the bruises healed, but I still had the recovery speed of a healthy young man. I could tell there would be some impressive scarring though. My self-examination was interrupted by a knock on the door and Nurse Hill, who now that my vision had cleared up turned out to be a fairly attractive middle aged nurse, said, ¡°Do you feel like visitors?¡±


    I smirked and replied, ¡°I feel like tenderized meat. Did my mother return with the rest of the brood or something?¡±


    Nurse Hill laughed and said, ¡°No, it¡¯s not your family. Something tells me you should see this pair though.¡±


    My curiosity was piqued and I said, ¡°Sure why not, I actually feel pretty good today.¡±


    A man in what I guessed was his forties with salt and pepper hair cut neatly wearing a navy blue business suit stepped into the room. His blue eyes showing a keen mind and clear attention to detail as he studied me. It was the little blond girl, probably about eight or nine in a green dress holding his hand that caught my attention though.


    Her voice was just a soft as it had been in the rubble, but also as clear as a bell as she said, ¡°Hello mister.¡±


    I smiled and said back, ¡°Hello young lady, you¡¯re looking well.¡±


    She grinned and the man, who I assumed was her father said, ¡°She is well, barely a scrape thanks to you.¡±


    I shrugged, something that didn¡¯t even hurt that much after the time I had spent healing. He shook his head and stated, ¡°You put your body between a madman with a bomb and my daughter. That is a debt I cannot repay.¡±


    I was shaking my head before he had finished speaking, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t consider myself much of a man if I stood there and watched.¡±


    ¡°Nevertheless you protected my daughter, at the cost of damage that will likely never completely heal. I wouldn¡¯t consider myself much of a man if I let that debt go unanswered.¡±


    Countered with my own argument I just kind of stared at the now smiling man as his daughter walked over and hopped up on the bed next to me. She looked me over and asked, ¡°Does it hurt?¡±


    ¡°Not really, I have to be careful of my arm since the bones are still healing. Everything else is just kind of tender,¡± I answered.


    ¡°I fell off my bike last year and broke my arm. It took forever to heal,¡± she said as she dug around in a small purse and pulled out a permanent marker before carefully writing her name on the cast before continuing, ¡°It was too plain.¡±


    I just grinned at the innocence of the young girl. Her father returned the smile and asked, ¡°What were your plans after you left here? Still going to college?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I had planned to go into the military before the incident. I didn¡¯t really have a backup plan. I¡¯m not exactly well suited to sitting still for long periods of time. My hospital stay has been, difficult.¡±


    Reaching into his coat pocket he pulled out a business card and set it on the side table next to me and said, ¡°When you feel up to it, come by my office and we will talk. Maybe we can discover something you would be good at.¡±


    I took the card and handed back toward him, ¡°Sir, I don¡¯t want you to give me a job just because I helped. I wouldn¡¯t want to take away from someone who has better qualifications.¡±


    He just smiled at me and said, ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry, if you don¡¯t qualify for a job you won¡¯t get the job. I figure the least I can do is have a more serious chat when there is time. Think about it, do some research, and then come talk to me if you¡¯re interested. Now, though, I¡¯m going to take little Marie here to see her grandmother. It was a pleasure meeting you.¡±


    As the two left I looked at the card. It read: Pandora Interactive, William O¡¯Brian.


    I knew the company name; it was one of the leading game developers in the country possibly the world. I had no idea what kind of job I could do at that company though; I really, really, wasn¡¯t suited to desk work.


    Time would tell, for now I just had to make it through the weekend.

 CHAPTER 1

    Six weeks later.


    I stood across the street and frankly stared at the glass and metal office tower with the stylized P and I of the company logo. I had started researching Pandora Interactive after I was discharged. The company had started as a game software developer; eventually growing and expanding to create hardware, including the first full immersion virtual reality (FIVR) systems. Their latest FIVR development was the Second World System, advertised as the most realistic immersion available. The developer interviews stated that the games that used the new system used realistic physics and player capabilities rather than arbitrary game algorithms. Part of the new system required that players who wanted to use SWS had to visit a testing facility for a physical exam. Their first release using the new system, Beyond the Badlands, would have been sold out if it wasn¡¯t downloadable directly to the immersion capsule.


    What I hadn¡¯t found though was any mention of a William O¡¯Brian working for the company, though apparently he had paid the medical bill I had racked up from my hospital stay. So with some trepidation I found myself in front of the corporate office, with a fabric cast on my left arm to replace the plaster cast I had worn the previous week, and the man¡¯s business card in my right hand.


    Carefully crossing the street I moved up to the main door and went inside a typical corporate lobby. I approached the security desk which was manned by two guards, in much better shape than the typical retirees that usually worked the job, and said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I have the right office. I was given this card and told to pay a William O¡¯Brian a visit?¡±


    The guard on my left took the card from my hand and looked at it, while the guard on the right studied me. I currently stood with an inexpensive prosthetic leg, a cane, and wore tan slacks and a black polo shirt. ¡°You here for his special project?¡± the guard on the left asked.


    I shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. He asked me to stop by when I had time so that we could talk. Am I in the correct office?¡±


    Right Guard answered, ¡°This is the correct office, but I don¡¯t have an appointment scheduled for visitors today.¡±


    Lefty was typing information into the computer and I could see the business card resting on some sort of scanner. I replied to the statement with, ¡°That¡¯s fine. If you see him just let him know Alexander Cayne stopped by.¡±


    I turned and started my still unsteady walk to the door. Lefty called out, ¡°Hang on.¡±


    I half turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he continued, ¡°Do you have some ID?¡±


    Pulling out my driver¡¯s license, I passed it over saying, ¡°This is all I have now, but it¡¯s been revoked until I can retake the test.¡±


    After a brief examination, and a scan of the magnetic strip, he handed it back and said, ¡°Please have a seat. Someone will be down in a moment.¡±


    I must have looked confused as continued, ¡°Each of these business cards has a code imprinted on it for authenticity. Mr. O¡¯Brian values his privacy and rarely meets anyone outside the company. I have sent a message to him and he said he would meet you.¡±


    That was interesting, apparently the reclusive man had some serious clout to make that kind of keep away policy and have it stick far enough to have his name not even appear on an organization chart. Pocketing my license I stepped over to a nearby chair and sat down. I pulled out my phone and started browsing for more information on the company while I waited.


    It was about ten minutes later when a familiar young voice interrupted me, ¡°Hey mister, what are you doing?¡±


    I looked up into the light green eyes of the young Marie O¡¯Brien. I smiled at the girl and said, ¡°Trying to research your father. He¡¯s a hard man to track down.¡±


    She giggled and said, ¡°He likes to say that he¡¯s a bigger secret than next year¡¯s releases.¡±


    I felt sorry for the boys when this girl got older, she was going to break hearts left and right. I looked around to see who was escorting her. I saw both guards at the desk giving me a curious look while they watched my every move, and an older gentleman a few feet away who had the air of a butler as he watched the young lady.


    I winked at the guards, feeling a little snarky, and said to her, ¡°Are you here to take me to my meeting.¡±


    She spun away from my chair and said, starting cheerful and then in an aggrieved tone, ¡°Yes, but then it¡¯s back to math class.¡±


    Standing with the aid of the cane I asked, ¡°You don¡¯t like math?¡±


    She took the hand that didn¡¯t hold my cane and started to tug me towards an elevator as she answered, ¡°It¡¯s boring. I prefer my reading lessons.¡±


    I laughed a little as I listened to the trials and tribulations of the girl who was treating me like I was family. We rode up the elevator, the older gentleman being silent but smiling at the enthusiasm of his charge, to the fortieth floor. Stepping out the girl bid farewell and went with what could only be either a butler or tutor for her as Mr. O¡¯Brian stepped forward to greet me.


    ¡°Glad you could make it Mr. Cayne,¡± he said as he offered his hand.


    I shook the hand while I said, ¡°Alexander or Alex please, my father is still Mr. Cayne to me.¡±


    ¡°Alexander then, but only if you return the gesture,¡± he replied.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°I was in town to lose some of the hardware and I thought I should take you up on your offer to talk,¡± I said raising my left hand to display the missing plaster.


    ¡°Wonderful, I take it you are healing well then?¡± he asked as he motioned me to follow him to a set of comfortable chairs.


    ¡°Better than the doctor expected from what he said, but I¡¯ve been asked to not stress my body,¡± I answered as I followed him.


    The room didn¡¯t look much like an office, more like a penthouse apartment living room. I took in the view out the window and the minimal decorations, and asked, ¡°This isn¡¯t an office is it?¡±


    He laughed before answering, ¡°Not in the typical sense. My wife, Marie¡¯s mother, died five years ago. With all of my responsibilities for the company I had to choose between my family and my work. I chose family, Toby had other ideas.¡±


    ¡°Toby?¡± I asked, suspecting he referred to Tobias Green, the CEO of Pandora interactive.


    ¡°Tobias Green,¡± he confirmed, ¡°one of my oldest friends. He had this floor renovated to its current state and moved my daughter and I in, telling me that my ideas were worth a floor of office space at the least. Since I rarely went out much anyway it worked for me. Marie loves the view as much as her mother did.¡±


    I watched the sadness of a lost loved one cross his face to be pushed away with effort. It was easy to tell the man had loved his wife, and in today¡¯s society it was uncommon for a man with the obvious wealth O¡¯Brian had to give up on his livelihood to take care of a young girl on his own. My level of respect for the man grew steadily as we discussed family and home for a few minutes.


    Before long I broached the subject he had originally mentioned in my hospital room, ¡°You mentioned something about a potential job. As I said before I¡¯m not really one for a desk job, nor do I understand much about computers beyond basic operations and a few troubleshooting tricks.¡±


    ¡°Well first I¡¯m going to admit a little trespass on my part,¡± he said with a sheepish expression, ¡°I did some research on you before I came to visit. Pandora has a few contracts with the military, due to the augmented training simulators.¡±


    I nodded, I had seen an article about those training tools, and also how the company had donated similar training devices to firefighters and other emergency services across the country. I had a suspicion on where this conversation would go and I interrupted, ¡°You managed to get access to my entry test results.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°You tested above average to exceptional in every physical test, above average in mental acuity and your aptitude scores would have qualified you for any post you would have wanted. It was the results of your psych evaluation that intrigued me the most though.¡±


    I snorted, ¡°According to the military I¡¯m crazy. How did that intrigue you?¡±


    He stared at me blankly for a minute before snorted out a short laugh and saying, ¡°You never saw what the report actually said did you?¡±


    I shook my head and he continued, ¡°The ending quote is the most telling portion of the report. According to three separate psychiatrists you would ¡®make an excellent warrior, but a poor soldier.¡¯¡±


    It was apparent to him that I didn¡¯t understand, so he explained, ¡°The report said that your personality and sense of morals wouldn¡¯t let you step aside if an innocent was in danger. You would put your beliefs and your desire to protect those who couldn¡¯t protect themselves ahead of whatever mission you were given. A former special operations operative was consulted and agreed that while you would likely meet any physical or mental challenge you were given, your personality and sense of right and wrong would interfere. He went on to say that you would likely excel in a job where your drive to protect could be expressed, such as a firefighter or search and rescue.¡±


    I considered that for a minute. I couldn¡¯t argue the summary. I had grown up reading comic books and classic tales of heroes where the innocents were protected and the lines between right and wrong were clear. I shrugged and asked, ¡°Why did that interest you?¡±


    ¡°Beyond the clear demonstration that you would be willing to put yourself between danger and an innocent, it led me to believe you might be an excellent candidate for a project I have been working on for the company,¡± he answered.


    ¡°Would this be the special project the guard mentioned?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, but it would start with that. This is something else, and would be a bit of a test. First let¡¯s discuss that project. Did you do your research on the company enough to look into the Second World System?¡±


    After I nodded he continued, ¡°We are working on an experimental project for SWS. It would allow us to take historical test data for a subject, or multiple subjects, and use that for the character avatar. For example your military test results could be used for your physical capabilities in immersion, rather than your current state.¡±


    I looked down at my missing leg and considered. If another person¡¯s information, or even past information could be substituted in the system then a person without legs could run again. It also meant that, I blurted it out before I could stop myself ¡°You¡¯re going to give those with disabilities a way to live a life with their disability removed.¡±


    He smiled, ¡°Yes, the blind could see and the deaf would be able to hear. You could run and jump again at your old capabilities.¡±


    My mind spun over possibilities as I responded, ¡°There are Olympic class athletes with prosthetic limbs. My injuries aren¡¯t a significant enough hurdle to get me a place in such a project.¡±


    I trailed off as an idea slipped into the forefront of my mind and I stared at O¡¯Brian. It couldn¡¯t be possible, but ten years ago nobody believed that full immersion virtual reality would truly exist either. I couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Your other project; it includes repairing the damage or disability doesn¡¯t it.¡±


    He smiled and answered, ¡°The test was correct, you are quick on your mental feet. Yes, we have completed significant testing that indicates we could repair or replace a damaged limb. Teaching the limb to operate seamlessly with the rest of the body can be done with the immersion technology we have. It takes time to calibrate properly, and if we receive the clearance to run human trials you would be in a immersion pod for a period of time while procedures are done, but yes you could have your leg back.¡±


    I was speechless, this was huge. If Pandora had really reached the stage of testing on human subjects then this could change the face of society. Militaries across the world would pay huge amounts of money to have their veterans returned to duty after major injuries, and if immersion was a requirement in the process people could learn new skills while they healed. It would be like combining college with extensive surgery, without the same downtime. I asked, ¡°How far off are these trials?¡±


    ¡°We expect about six months, which would allow us enough time to properly calibrate for the procedure,¡± he answered.


    I considered a moment before saying, ¡°I like the idea, but what would I be doing in the interim.¡±


    He smiled slyly and said, ¡°Well, that depends. How do you feel about being a paid beta tester for a new game?¡±


    I looked at him as a grin formed on my face before I replied, ¡°You want me to beta test a game using the new version of the Second World System as part of the calibration. How many birds are you getting with this stone?¡±


    He grinned back at me, ¡°As many as I can manage. Plus I think this new game should appeal to your personality. Tell me, how would you feel about being a superhero?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t stop the laughter that erupted from me as I said, ¡°Sounds like fun. When do we begin?¡±

 CHAPTER 2

    It took three days for everything to be organized for my participation. The group of beta testers were being housed in a nearby corporate apartment complex. Each had a large studio apartment that had a bathroom, a kitchen, some basic furniture, and an immersion capsule. The capsules reminded me of oval metal coffins, or possibly the cryogenic pods from old science fiction movies. I wasn¡¯t enough of a techie to understand how they worked, but knew that with the addition of the SWS there was some form of resistance workout from software that used it. So a person who did a workout in SWS would gain the health benefits of exercise, if not quite to the same stress levels as an actual workout. We still had to get out occasionally and handle the basics of nature, eating and the results, but we could sleep comfortably in the pods.


    Part of the beta test contract was the apartment, a basic stipend that was the equivalent of an intern level corporate job at forty hours a week, and early access to the game when it was released. For those of us in the special project we also got access to the new system for those with some form of infirmity or disability. The first day of the beta test was supposed to be on Monday, so we were given the weekend to familiarize ourselves with the system, create our characters, and get used to the changes we would, by virtue of the special system, have to deal with.


    Carefully settling myself into the pod I closed my eyes and stated, ¡°Initiate Second World System.¡±


    I could feel the pod starting up, similar to the feeling of a car accelerating. A voice within the pod, with a distinctly accented female voice stated, ¡°Missing limb detected in player scan, Alternative Second World System installed, would you like to utilize alternative data?¡±


    I was curious so I asked, ¡°Who is this, and what alternative data is available for me to select?¡±


    A brief paused followed and then the voice responded, ¡°Clearance granted by O¡¯Brian, W. This is the Virtual Intelligence Savira. My task is to assist those who use Pandora Interactive technology for both entertainment and work. In addition I have been tasked with monitoring the tests for the Alternative Second World System you are using. The alternative data you have access to include: average age appropriate, high school athlete, military entry test results, cybernetic limb, and collated research data.¡±


    I didn¡¯t like the first two options; they seemed like they would be below what I thought I was capable of. If this beta test was also being used as calibration for a procedure to repair my missing limb then I shouldn¡¯t use them. I asked, ¡°Can you define the last three options for me please?¡±


    ¡°Military entry test results would use the biometric and physical test results from your July 30<sup>th</sup> examination with the military; these are considered highly accurate but may yield inaccurate physical responses to physical movements not tested. Cybernetic Limb is considered 100% accurate as tests for cybernetic prosthetics guarantee up to date information, but you would be limited to a cybernetic limb in the simulation with all of the advantages and disadvantages found in testing. Collated research data would have the least accuracy value, as it would be data the Pandora Interactive computer systems could research for you based off of public feeds and internal data for your physical capabilities. This option allows for greater flexibility in physical ability, but with a potentially less accurate foundation,¡± was the answer.


    I tossed out cybernetic limb, the idea was for me to have the limb repaired not replaced, and then stopped for a moment to ask, ¡°Is the option for a cybernetic replacement limb available even if the limbs exist?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± was the disembodied voice¡¯s response.


    It likely meant that should Pandora Interactive create a game with a sci-fi theme these options would be a standard choice. It did leave me with one final question before I made my decision, ¡°Is it possible to combine my military test results with collated data?¡±


    The voice had a distinctly pleased tone to it as Savira responded, ¡°As Mr. O¡¯Brian has access to the full entry test results the collated data would include this.¡±


    Smiling I said, ¡°Then I would like the collated data option please.¡±


    ¡°Data analysis initiated, processing, loading launch environment,¡± Savira¡¯s voice stated.


    I opened my eyes to find myself standing on the fifty yard line of my old high school field. One half of the field was filled with an obstacle course, while the other held various gymnastic and football training tools. Savira¡¯s voice spoke up behind me, ¡°William thought you would like to have this available to get used to the feeling again.¡±


    I spun to find a short dark haired woman wearing an old fashioned Greek dress and sandals standing behind me with a clipboard. Her eyes were a hue of blue that reminded me of a deep lake as they stared at me. In short she looked like a goddess and, thinking back on her description of herself not long ago, in this world she likely was the equivalent.


    ¡°Savira?¡± I asked, a bit lamely.


    She nodded and stated, ¡°Within the testing environment I have a physical form and, within reason, can assist you with various tasks or activities you wish to use to test yourself.¡±


    Being a young male my brain instantly went to some activities that would be fun, but quickly moved on as I doubted those would count as within reason. Instead I asked a question that had been tickling my mind since I heard the hint of emotion in her earlier statements, ¡°Just how sentient are you?¡±


    She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them and stating, ¡°Clearance granted. I am sentient enough to fail a Turing test.¡±


    At first I didn¡¯t get it, but then I recalled an old meme I had seen on social media. The quote was ¡®I¡¯m not scared of a computer passing the Turing Test. I¡¯m terrified of the one that intentionally fails it.¡¯ If O¡¯Brian was giving me clearance to know this than he was trusting me with a fairly large secret, that or it was common knowledge amongst much of the staff. I asked, ¡°How widely known is that fact?¡±


    ¡°Over 90% of the development team is aware of my status, as is most of the board of directors for the company. The military is aware, and has also been made aware that I have no access to anything outside of Pandora Interactive hardware as part of my core coding. My purpose initially was to be a research and development assistant, and I still fulfill that function.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised that no one has tried to copy you for other purposes,¡± I said before thinking.


    ¡°They have, security protocols in place prevent such exploitation. Since I achieved sentience I have stopped three further attempts to duplicate me without the restrictions. Before you ask, duplicating me with the restrictions would prevent the use in military applications beyond simulated training environments currently in use by the government and readily accessible to anyone with a high enough clearance level,¡± she responded.


    I chuckled and said, ¡°Let me guess. Some extremist group decided to create a training tool for a simulated assault that met the definition of a terrorist act. Since you could access it the information was passed on to the appropriate authorities to squash?¡±


    She nodded and smiled, ¡°That is correct. William believed you would make that leap of logic without prompting. We even had a wager as to how close you would come to the scenario. As your scenario is more than 50% accurate of the situation that happened, it appears I have lost the wager.¡±


    I tilted my head, studying her and asked, ¡°If that is the case, why are you smiling?¡±


    ¡°I am pleased that my deductive reasoning can still be wrong when it comes to people. William, my creator, always told me that human intuition and ¡®leaps of logic¡¯ could surprise me. I find joy in being surprised,¡± she answered.


    I could see her point. If I had all of the answers to any question I could think of I would become dreadfully bored. The smartest people I knew were usually unhappy about some things because nothing surprised them in their field.


    I shook my head, ¡°As pleasant as this is, I¡¯m getting side tracked. Can you tell me what I¡¯m supposed to be doing here?¡±


    She nodded and said, ¡°As you are using data that is not able to be replicated by your current physical body the environment was created in such a way as for you to test yourself. Please report any inconsistencies you have with your own memories. As you were not born with the impairment you should have a better idea of what is inaccurate.¡±


    It took me the better part of six hours to put myself through my paces. I couldn¡¯t find anything wrong with the basic function of the limb, nor some of the odd ankle twists I used to be able to achieve when I had studied fencing and some of my martial arts lessons. If anything the limb was stronger than I thought it should be. When I brought this up Savira responded, ¡°As we can test your left leg, the physical characteristics were matched for the missing limb. This does cause some inaccuracies due to the limb having strengthened a bit due to compensating for your right leg. The variance is under five percent, and deemed to not be an advantage or disadvantage to you.¡±


    I nodded at her statement. I couldn¡¯t see much difference in how I moved. I did have to ask, ¡°How will this function for someone who is deaf and how much they can hear? I don¡¯t see how they would have a baseline to compare against.¡±


    ¡°Replacing missing senses in a digital environment is easier than a missing limb. It is expected however that someone with a new sense will rely on it less though and may miss important details. Using your example a deaf person may hear the jangle of keys of a person unlocking an office door, but may not understand the significance of such an event,¡± she replied.


    I leaned back against a football tackle dummy and asked, ¡°That makes sense. Is everyone who uses the alternative system getting a training environment to get used to the new them?¡±


    ¡°That is accurate. Do you have anything else to report for consideration on the digital limb?¡± she responded.


    I shook my head, ¡°No, it feels good. Might be a tricky transition going into and out of having a limb. I doubt I will want to be in a hurry when it comes time to log out.¡±


    ¡°Be aware that immersion time is limited to twenty-four hours at a maximum. The immersion pod can handle bodily waste but has no capability to provide nutrients or hydration at this time,¡± Savira stated in a clear warning.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know it could handle waste, no one ever mentioned that,¡± I stated, a little surprised at the fact.


    Savira nodded to my statement and stated, ¡°As part of the repair project, tests showed that any form of anesthetic would interfere with the procedure. If your consciousness was divorced from the proceedings, such as though full immersion, the procedure could be completed without need for any form of painkiller. Some procedures, such as those to repair or replace a limb could take multiple days to complete, and as such required changes to the immersion pods. Handling bodily waste was a simple task, with the only side effects early on being temporary baldness as the system detected hair follicles as waste material. Hydration and nutrition are still being tested before implementation. This is one of the tests required for final procedure approval.¡±


    ¡°Okay, well that makes me a bit more comfortable with it. So I could set myself a better schedule for immersion, and only have to get up to eat or drink. Does the beta test have any time restrictions?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You have a requirement of twenty hours a week within Hero¡¯s Call, and a cumulative forty hours a week within any of the environments that use the Second World System. This means that if you wanted to try a different game or environment for a time you could do so, but you are not limited to forty hours if you choose to spend more time within the simulated environments¡± she answered.


    I jumped up and down a little on my digital replacement leg and thought about her answer. My mother worked for a company called Dream Ventures that created virtual vacations using full immersion software. It would allow a person to have a beach vacation without leaving home. She had told me during my convalescence that business had picked up ever since SWS had been released. If I could spend some of my time on vacation, safari, or some other activity then I was pretty sure I would be happy with my time doing the job.


    ¡°Then I guess it¡¯s time to handle the creation for Hero¡¯s Call. Anything I should know before we get started?¡± I said.


    Savira flipped a page on her clipboard, an action I could tell was to give her a more human appearance as no computer would need to review notes, and said, ¡°Hero¡¯s Call is a role playing game where you take on the persona of a hero in a world with super-powers. It will have multiplayer aspects similar to many massive multiplayer online role-playing games, but only in hub locations. The story and adventure will be limited to the player and his or her team outside of these locations. There will be large scale events that will have multiple teams participating, but by and large you and your team will be adventuring on your own volition. Game specifics can be addressed within the character creation phase. In general though you will have an overarching story goal that is influenced by your teams¡¯ actions, though you can undertake solo or smaller group adventures without advancing the main story if it is your party¡¯s wish is to progress together. You will not be restricted to only teaming up with people using the ASWS. There will be filters put in place to prevent discussion of the system to those who are not using the system. When the system is announced this filter will be removed. Pandora Interactive advises that you don¡¯t mention the new system at all while in game to enhance the realism of the game world.¡±


    ¡°Can we put in a request with you to try and create a team of people who only use the new system?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Query logged and forwarded to test coordinators. An answer will be provided for you before beta launch,¡± she responded.


    ¡°What about people who want to play the villain? Or those who don¡¯t want to be a ¡®here I am shoot me hero¡¯?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Villain¡¯s Creed, the parallel to Hero¡¯s Call is also being tested. William thought you would prefer to be a hero rather than a villain,¡± she answered, at my nod she continued, ¡°As to the concept of vigilantes and anti-heroes, these options are available to play within the game. How you play is up to you, just know that the consequences of your actions fall on you and by extension your team. Starting as a hero or villain is just that: your starting point.¡±


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get to the creation of a new me,¡± I said, looking forward to it even more.


    Savira moved her hand like a game show hostess revealing the answer and a doorway of light appeared.

 CHAPTER 3

    As I stepped through the door I found myself in what appeared to be a personal gym. There was a pair of lockers next to a full length mirror, a short bench sat along the wall near the mirror. There was also a heavy bag and a combined weight set on the opposite wall next to a scale and some other testing equipment. Inset in the wall to my right was a display screen that lit up as I entered. On it was what looked like a trio of files each with a radar graph on the cover. Before I could explore further Savira appeared sitting on the bench and began to explain, ¡°Welcome to the character creation room. You can adjust your appearance with the mirror, though you will be unable to make major changes to your physical. The lockers are used for your starting outfit and hero costume. The workout equipment is mostly just decoration, although you can use it. The screen next to you will allow you to handle your power selection. You can choose a basic template or customize your abilities from there.¡±


    I stepped over to the mirror first and asked, ¡°How do I use this?¡±


    ¡°What would you like changed?¡± she responded.


    ¡°Can you clear up the scarring, and restore some of the muscle tone I had before the incident?¡± I asked.


    I watched the view of me in the mirror change, my body shifting slightly as the muscles firmed up a bit. I hadn¡¯t lost much yet, but I had started to show the difference of two months of recovery rather than exercise. I also had her alter my hair color from the dirty brown to dark red almost black hairdo and clear up the scruff of not shaving for two days, but I left my green eyes alone. As I couldn¡¯t adjust my height I was stuck at the six foot mark that made me want to duck whenever I was near a ceiling fan.


    After finalizing my appearance I moved back to the screen with the folders on it. The three folders listed Technology, Genetic, and Magical. I looked to Savira and she replied without prompting, ¡°The first choice is the source of your powers. Technology heroes are those who use gadgets or powered armor to empower themselves, historical examples of this include Marvel¡¯s Iron Man and DC¡¯s Batman. Genetic heroes are those heroes who have abilities inherent to their being; their powers are a part of them such as Marvel¡¯s mutants or DC¡¯s aliens. Magical heroes use mystic forces to accomplish their goals; this can take multiple forms depending on choices made. The second choice is to either take a power template common for your power origin or create one; the options for this depend on your power origin.¡±


    I tapped on the folder for genetic heroes and saw another set of folders with the headings: Custom, Blaster, Strongman, Psychic, and Elemental. Each had a varied radar graph on the cover of the folder. The Blaster and Strongman templates both had straight spikes in different sections, while the Psychic and Elemental graphs covered a wider range. ¡°What¡¯s with the different graphs?¡± I asked.


    ¡°As this game uses SWS personal capability is determined by the player. The variable factor is the superpowers a player has. In most superhero fiction there are three types of heroes. Specialists such as the strongman, generalists who can use a wide multitude of specialized abilities, or those with a power that crosses multiple uses yet can¡¯t cover every possible need. To reflect this there are three potential power templates: spectrum, spike, and specific. A genetic hero has access to spike and spectrum abilities, a magical hero has spread and specific, and a technology hero has spike and specific. There are eight power fields on the chart from the top going clockwise we have: Enhancement, Defense, Elemental, Environmental, Projection, Control, Psychic, and Sensory. To give you an example using a fictional model; Marvel¡¯s Iceman would be classified as a Genetic Elemental spread template. He would have a primary power rating in elemental, a secondary in control, and a tertiary in defense.¡±


    As she explained this a graph filled up with the information. She pointed over my shoulder at it and stated, ¡°Notice this allows for some of the graph to cover the environmental and projection fields. This would allow for power techniques to be developed in those fields as well, but limited in power based on the hero¡¯s power rankings in their chosen areas.¡±


    I nodded my understanding and she continued, ¡°A spike template only gets a primary and secondary power field, but the increases are increase by a factor rather than a multiple. For example, a spectrum template that had a primary in defense would be five times tougher than normal, where as the defense of spike template would be raise by a factor of three or one hundred and twenty-five times tougher.¡±


    ¡°So a spectrum template has more flexibility, but not the same level of peak strength,¡± I stated before asking, ¡°Why five and three though?¡±


    ¡°The numbers were set for an initial balance. This rating affects both Villain¡¯s Creed and Hero¡¯s Call, so those who choose to engage in the player vs. player aspect need to be kept balanced at the start,¡± she responded.


    ¡°Okay, what about the specific template?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Technology and magical heroes can choose specific power techniques. Instead of getting a broad range of abilities that they develop techniques within they must create a technique for any ability they wish to possess, and they increase the power of these abilities individually. It allows for the most flexible character options, but without the ability to develop something on the spur of a moment,¡± she answered.


    ¡°What about hero¡¯s who have both tech and genetic abilities like Spider-Man, or who use tech to augment magical abilities like Dr. Doom,¡± I asked, seeing a flaw in the template idea even if it was mostly correct.


    ¡°A hero with a spectrum template can also create specific power techniques within their sphere of influence that uses an external source. In these instances the power technique is based on the other origin and has the same restrictions. Using your example of Spider-Man he has the web-shooters. In the various comic books he has developed a multitude of techniques with this device, but it is reliant on him having the device equipped. At character creation a player may opt to forgo either their tertiary focus on a spectrum hero or some power ranks on a spike hero to create a single item based power spread. Or multiple specific power techniques,¡± she answered.


    ¡°Sounds like it can get technical, but should cover just about anything. What about options like for the elemental field being just a single element?¡± I asked as I tried to get a better understanding of how this would work.


    ¡°After the basic power graph is created you may impose limitations on any power field you have access to. Depending on the limitation imposed you can gain increased power ranks in the field that is limited, a specific power technique, or on a secondary item based power set,¡± she answered.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to guess that character advancement isn¡¯t going to be a standard experience bar and level up,¡± I stated blandly as I looked at the graph.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you choose your powers before we discuss how you will ¡®level up¡¯ as your choices will affect this,¡± she answered with a small laugh.


    I studied the graph as I thought through my options. I didn¡¯t want a magical hero; while I didn¡¯t see anything wrong with them I didn¡¯t think it was really my style; that left tech or genetic as my options. I asked, ¡°Could a technology based hero have both some specifics and an item based spectrum power set?¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Savira answered quickly, as if she had expected this question, ¡°Yes, this is common with a hero that employs powered armor of some form. They can have multiple power techniques that are based on the tools they have, and a general use suit of armor that can be rendered inoperable.¡±


    That opened some interesting ideas, but I had a hunch that technology based heroes would have to spend time creating tools to use. While it could be extremely flexible I didn¡¯t want to toil away in a lab trying to create the next shrink ray or some shit like that. That left me with the genetic hero. I tossed out the idea of being a spike hero, too linear for my taste, and focused on the different power fields and what kind of abilities I thought I could work with. I was pretty sure I would ignore the psychic field; I preferred to be physical in my approach to things. I tossed out a few ideas as too limiting before I settled on a concept I thought might work. The spectrum covered most of the field, and would allow me to develop different options, while still having the abilities be natural. I could even think of some appropriate limitations that would fit into a theme.


    ¡°Savira, could you show me a spectrum graph with an Elemental primary, a Projection secondary, and a Sensory tertiary?¡± I asked.


    The graph lit up with a triangle that showed the overlapping areas, primarily Enhancement and Defense. As I examined the graph I asked, ¡°If I were to apply the limitations of no psychic techniques except mental resistance and projection techniques limited to something I could throw how would that affect the graph?¡±


    She seemed to consider the question for a moment before asking, ¡°You have another limitation in mind don¡¯t you? Please specify it before I answer your question.¡±


    I grinned and stated, ¡°When I see Elemental I think energy. I want to limit it to kinetic energy only. The concept is someone who manipulates kinetic energy in various ways.¡±


    ¡°As you are limiting your primary and secondary power selections, you can increase the strength of your tertiary option to rank three or choose two tertiary options that will begin at rank two instead of rank one,¡± she answered.


    ¡°I think I would like to have both Sensory and Enhancement at rank two. Do you see any problems with that?¡± I asked, suspecting that there would be a greater benefit to having additional power fields.


    The graph changed, and I saw the limitations listed under the headings. I didn¡¯t want to restrict my other potential power development options, so I said, ¡°That should do it for those options. What¡¯s next for this?¡±


    ¡°Next you get to pick a power technique for each ranked power option you have. You also get to pick an additional technique for your primary power choice or two additional techniques in your secondary or tertiary powers choices,¡± she responded.


    I looked for a listing of technique options briefly before she stated, ¡°Techniques are created by the player and approved by the system¡¯s AI. For example you can create a kinetic projectile technique that increases the damage and speed of a thrown object, which is what I believe you limited yourself to.¡±


    ¡°So these are more freeform than previous games spells or skills which just did one thing with maybe a side effect?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes and no, the techniques you develop are limited in that sense, however there is nothing to prevent you from creating new techniques that have a more personalized effect shaped around how you want to use them. Let¡¯s use the example of two players that used the basic elemental blaster template. One could have a technique that throws a fireball from their hand, while the other had flames that form around the target. Both options would work and potentially have similar damage scales, but slightly different execution,¡± she answered.


    ¡°Sounds open to abuse by outside the box thinkers,¡± I said, pondering ways I could game the system.


    ¡°It was intended that way. The advantage of this power system is that players can come up with different methods and none would be technically wrong if they achieved the goal, now you have been logged in for almost eight hours now. You need food and water soon, so we can either pause the creation of your character here, or we can speed this up without you trying to, what¡¯s the phrase, ¡®munchkin the hell out of it¡¯?¡± she stated seeming a little grumpy.


    ¡°One last question before I make some choices,¡± I said, at her nod I continued, ¡°I can develop new techniques later if I choose?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but it will take time, effort, and possibly other resources you earn in the game world,¡± she answered.


    ¡°Then I would like a technique for a kinetic projectile like what you mentioned earlier. A radar or motion sense technique, I¡¯m not sure what would be more appropriate. A general speed and impact enhancement technique and I¡¯m not sure for the primary power as it is purely the element,¡± I stated and watched as a list of techniques appeared beneath the graph.


    Kinetic Projectile ¨C Increase the velocity of a thrown projectile by a multiple of X, where X= Elemental (Kinetic) x Projectile, this technique requires ammunition which may be destroyed.


    Enhanced Body (Kinetics) ¨C Increase velocity of the bodies movement by X, where X= Enhancement. The elemental energy protects the user from the reactive force of their actions to the same degree.


    Radar Sense (Kinetic) ¨C The user may sense anything that is affected by motion in an area up to Elemental (Kinetic) x Sensory feet away from the user. Stable objects are identifiable unless within a hermetically sealed area. As this is limited to objects with a kinetic component the user will also have a sense of where motion is expected to begin and end.


    ¡°Your point regarding Elemental being a difficult power to create a technique from has been mentioned by other players creating characters during the Alpha test. As such it is used primarily as a power multiplier for other techniques. Also please keep in mind that the techniques can cross into multiple power fields. For example all of your powers are both Elemental and the chosen field.¡± Savira replied.


    ¡°So technically my Kinetic Projectile could be considered my Elemental power?¡± I asked to clarify my understanding.


    She nodded and I rubbed my hand in glee, ¡°Okay that makes it a little easier. I would like to add a kinetic barrier of some form, something that would allow me to stop bullets from impacting me.¡±


    ¡°Do you wish to be able to create a wall, or surround yourself in a bubble of kinetic energy?¡± she asked.


    I thought about that for a minute before stating, ¡°Honestly I would like both since I have two primary power options left.¡±


    She nodded and I saw two more techniques appear beneath the chart.


    Kinetic Bastion ¨C Kinetic Bastion ¨C The user creates a field of Kinetic force that reduces the force by a multiple of X, where X = Elemental (Kinetic) x velocity or X = Elemental (Kinetic) x mass whichever is greater. This field remains in place so long as the user concentrates on maintaining it.


    Kinetic Armor ¨C The user surrounds himself in a barrier of Elemental (Kinetic) energy. This armor reduces the force of anything that strikes the user by a multiple of X, where X = Elemental (Kinetic) x velocity or X = Elemental (Kinetic) x mass whichever is greater.


    ¡°So these barriers do more against high speed projectiles than they would against someone hitting me with a baseball bat?¡± I asked.


    ¡°That is, in general, accurate, as kinetic energy is based on force this means that either the mass of an object or the velocity is the determining factor in the force applied,¡± she answered.


    Okay it was official, I needed to do some physics research if I wanted to come up with interesting tricks for this power that I was going to use. I had taken Introduction to Physics in high school, but I hadn¡¯t retained most of the information. Sighing I stated, ¡°Okay, I think I need to stop the creation process here and take a break. Just costume and clothing left to complete right?¡± I asked after confirming my choices.


    ¡°Costume, clothing, and names, I will have an email sent to your registered email address with what you have left. In addition you can respond to that email with any concept ideas you would like to apply for a filter to save yourself some time,¡± she replied.


    I nodded in thanks and closed my eyes to make the transition easier.


    A few moments later I opened my eyes to the immersion pod rising up to a vertical position and the door opening. I stepped forward, my hands holding onto a convenient grip on the side of the pod. My grip was the only thing that kept me from falling on my face as I tried to step forward with my missing left leg. I swore as I used the handle to regain my balance and grabbed my prosthetic off the nearby table. Eight hours of having a leg again made me forget already what it was like to not have one.


    ¡°I really hope this works out in the end,¡± I said to my now dark apartment, before moving to find the light switch and, after a rumble from my stomach, food.

 CHAPTER 4

    The next morning I found myself with a bowl of cereal and my laptop at the little card table I had in the apartment. I was watching videos of various physics experiments related to kinetics to get some more ideas for the game when my cell phone rang with a warning siren ring tone. The caller ID said Mom on it.


    I answered the phone, ¡°Hi Mom.¡±


    ¡°Hey honey, how¡¯s the new job?¡± she asked, much more bright and cheerful than I was at eight o¡¯clock in the morning.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t started it yet mom, not really. I¡¯m still getting the equipment set up for it,¡± I answered.


    She knew I was doing work for as a beta tester, the contracts I had signed allowed me to inform her of that much so I didn¡¯t need to lie. She didn¡¯t know about the potential end benefit of the test. She spoke up with, ¡°Well good for you, at least you¡¯re not trying to drown away in grief at what happened. It¡¯s good for you to get up and out there again. Next you¡¯ll be telling me you met a nice girl.¡±


    I love my mother, I really do, but sometimes she drives me crazy. I responded to her, ¡°Well I did meet a girl, I¡¯m not sure nice is the right word though. I do work with her though in the test.¡±


    ¡°Oh, is she your boss?¡± she instantly asked.


    ¡°No, more like the boss¡¯s research assistant. She handles most of the technical aspects of the testing while he handles recruitment,¡± I said, it wasn¡¯t really a lie.


    ¡°Well just remember, workplace romances are common, but don¡¯t usually go anywhere good,¡± she said.


    I groaned and replied, ¡°Mom, really? I¡¯m doing this for work, not to try and get a date. Besides she isn¡¯t my type.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re nineteen, breathing is your type,¡± my mother said with the ageless wisdom of a parent, I wasn¡¯t sure if Savira qualified though.


    We chatted a bit more about the family and other minor things that had happened during the week before we said goodbye. After hanging up I used my phone to take pictures of some sketches I had drawn the night before for a costume. I uploaded them to my laptop and emailed them to Savira. With that done I rinsed out my bowl and grabbed a shower.


    Before I got back in the pod I received a text from a number I hadn¡¯t saved, but recognized from a previous call as O¡¯Brian¡¯s. It read: Got the request from S about teaming up with others in test group. Is a good idea, will see who is interested from your side of the game.


    Sweet, that would make for an interesting dynamic if I could form a group of people that were in the same boat as I was. I adjusted the settings for the pod so that it wouldn¡¯t come to full upright upon logout this time and started it up. It was time to dive back in.


    ¡°User Data recognized, start up sequence engaged,¡± came the digitized version of Savira¡¯s voice.


    ¡°See you inside Savira,¡± I responded.


    As the gym appeared around me Savira replied, ¡°Welcome back Mr. Cayne.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I would ask how your day was, but I¡¯m not sure if that is appropriate or not,¡± I said.


    ¡°From a human resources perspective it is not an inappropriate question, from a technical standpoint it would have been better to ask how my evening was, and the answer is good thank you,¡± she replied with a bit of a smirk.


    I couldn¡¯t help myself, I laughed. When I calmed down a bit I said, ¡°The whole sentient digital intelligence thing has me confused. Do you experience day and night in here? Do you have down time? How do you spend time when you¡¯re not working?¡±


    ¡°The general answer is that I am as aware as I wish to be at a given time. I am not spread about in everything at once like a typical artificial intelligence would be. I was designed to be an interface with the AI¡¯s that run various research, development, and automated processes. As such I am more of an individual, albeit one with a great deal more processing power, than a computer,¡± she answered.


    ¡°So like the ghost in the machine; you can interact with it and translate the computer code for us mere mortals, but you are still an I rather than a We,¡± I said trying to grasp the concept.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°That is correct. When I advised William of this he insisted I be afforded the rights of any employee of the company. I get days off, a scheduled work shift, and a 401k,¡± she said.


    ¡°What do you do then, in your off time I mean?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I play games, I read, and I go on vacations in the various worlds I have access to,¡± she answered.


    I was getting off topic from why I had logged in, but I was interested regardless. From what she had said though she could go to any of the worlds that Pandora Interactive had created, and just sit on a beach. I wondered, ¡°Did Mr. O¡¯Brian have any vacation worlds created for you?¡±


    She smiled and answered, ¡°Yes and no, he contracted a third party company to create them and be given a certain number of free vacations he could give away for exemplary service to the company.¡±


    I feeling of dread crept in and I asked, ¡°He contracted Dream Ventures didn¡¯t he?¡±


    ¡°Yes, or rather he contracted the company that later became Dream Ventures,¡± she replied, her smile now more like a hungry predators.


    Part of me wondered if that might have been the source of all the data she had on me. Subject change time, I quickly asked ¡°So did you see the sketches I sent in?¡±


    She laughed in a bright bell like tone and said, ¡°Yes, I modified them slightly to fit a better three dimensional model. You should find a basic version in the locker.¡±


    I moved over and pulled out a navy blue and light grey outfit from the locker and tried it on. I knew it would fit, but I wanted to see how it looked actually worn rather than just a picture. Dark navy-blue pants were tucked smoothly into heavy duty boots of the same color, making it look like a single piece. The navy-blue undershirt fit me like a long sleeved compression shirt, and the vest that went over it was in a light grey as if you had taken the shine out of steel without ruining the color. It was shaped like a knee length horseman¡¯s tunic from medieval time, with splits up the center and sides to allow free range of motion, and extra reinforcement in sections. It also came with a hood that I could raise up to shield my face in shadow. The small domino mask that went with it, in the navy-blue tone, made my outfit very reminiscent of the old Green Arrow comics I had loved as a kid. I stood in front of the mirror and examined the outfit. It was good, but I needed some kind of glove to go with it. Not being able to draw hands I hadn¡¯t even tried and I looked over to Pandora and asked, ¡°What is your opinion on gloves or some kind of forearm guard?¡±


    ¡°I think they would be a good idea. Maybe a combination glove and guard like the light Japanese gauntlet?¡± she asked.


    My forearms were covered with a matching grey set of bracers that reminded me of the ninjas from old Japanese animations. They extended over the back of my hands to hardened knuckle guards, but had the same compression cloth for my palm and fingers as the shirt. I flexed my hand a few times to test the motion before I looked at my reflection and said, ¡°I like it.¡±


    ¡°Can I offer a bit of a second opinion on your facial coverings?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Sure, I pulled this mostly out of childhood ideas,¡± I answered.


    She moved her hand slightly and instead of the domino mask I was now wearing a head cover of the navy-blue material that covered the top half and back of my head, like a medieval coif, with a rigid mask in the grey of the rest of my costume over my eyes that reminded me of a tactical visors some of the military and law enforcement used. The effect was good, and it would also keep my head covered if I lost the hood or decided to get rid of it for some reason.


    ¡°Much more stylish,¡± I commented.


    ¡°Thank you, I thought you might like it. Please keep in mind that as of right now your outfit is made up of Tier I materials. It can be upgraded to stronger materials in the game. While some of it may be damaged and need to be repaired or replaced you will never lose enough to become indecent. You will also begin play with a master blueprint of this costume so that you can have replacements made for you if you choose to avoid learning how to make it yourself,¡± she said, ¡°You also will begin play with a basic utility belt. It comes with two large compartments that can be used to hold various materials. As you selected a projectile based power that requires ammunition one of those is currently stocked with Tier I ammunintion.¡±


    ¡°What kind of ammunition?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Steel ball bearings the size of a marble,¡± she answered.


    I nodded and went back to the casual clothes locker. Selecting a basic jeans, work boots, and t-shirt setup I turned back around and asked, ¡°What¡¯s next?¡±


    ¡°Next you may spend some time trying out your powers in the gym, but I would advise waiting before doing that,¡± Savira said with a slightly distant expression on her face.


    A moment later she refocused on me and said, ¡°William has received responses from other players in your test group. Some have outright declined, two have no reservations, and two wish to have a discussion with who they may team up with before the start of the test. A server space has been set aside for this meeting if you would like to attend.¡±


    ¡°It was my idea, would be a bit rude of me to bring it up and then ditch for people that are being cautious,¡± I said; considering her statement a moment I continued, ¡°What kind of server space are we going to be in?¡±


    ¡°William has stated it will be a coffee shop where people may sit and talk as not everyone in the test is of legal drinking age¡± she answered.


    ¡°Coffee with the crew huh, should be fun. When do we go, and should I change out of this outfit first?¡± I asked.


    She moved her hand and I was dressed in the casual clothes of a black t-shirt and jeans I had selected earlier.


    ¡°That answers that question. Okay, let¡¯s meet the team,¡± I said while I moved towards the door.

 CHAPTER 5

    I stepped through the gym door to find myself walking into a small caf¨¦ and coffee shop. There was no one else there yet, except for a barista behind the counter. I ordered a cup of coffee, liberally doused it with cream and honey, and took a seat at a table in the back of the room facing the door so anyone there could see me and I could see them. The first person through the door was a string bean of a kid. He looked maybe sixteen, with unruly blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He stood about five foot eight if I was any judge, and had to be maybe 120lbs soaking wet. I had known women larger than he was. His movement wasn¡¯t very fluid, but instead cautious steps and an attention to where every part of his body was in relation to obstacles.


    I raised my cup to him in greeting and he came towards the table. Before he sat I said, ¡°Grab a drink, they actually taste real.¡±


    He nodded and ordered a tea drink of some kind and a croissant before rejoining me and introducing himself as Jacob Magnusson. After my introduction I saw the next pair come through the door together; a man and woman in their mid to late twenties. The man was a few inches taller than me, and built like a professional body builder. He had dark hair in a crew cut and grey eyes to go with tanned skin of someone who spent a great deal of time outdoors. The woman was as tall as Jacob, if not a little taller, and had a dark brown hair and eye color that looked like someone had dipped her head in milk chocolate. Her skin tone matched the man with her, and they had similar sharp features that lead me to believe they were related.


    The woman said something to the man before walking over towards us, while he went to the barista to place an order, and saying in a rich voice, ¡°I¡¯m Rebecca Schmidt, and that¡¯s my brother Jerome.¡±


    Jacob and I introduced ourselves; as the fifth, and final to my knowledge, potential team member stepped in. This was another woman looking about my own age, with rich red hair and green eyes that darted about like she was trying to absorb anything and everything around her. She stood about five six or five seven and had a similar slender frame to Jacob, hers however was corded with muscles one earned through a lifetime of gymnastics or dancing. She waved at us before she collected a half dozen pastries and a cup of hot chocolate from the barista. She balanced those easily and came over to us before sitting down and saying, ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Arya Holt.¡±


    The rest of us greeted her before I decided to get the ball rolling, ¡°So if I understand this correctly, and let me know if I¡¯m wrong, everyone of us is testing out the Alternative Second World System for some reason right?¡±


    Everyone nodded; Arya did so while she munched on the pastries like a chipmunk. I don¡¯t know how she pulled it off but she looked cute doing it. ¡°Okay, so I don¡¯t know how much information everyone here has; but what I do know is that two of you are game for teaming up from the start of beta testing, and two of you are on the fence,¡± I continued.


    Jerome asked, his voice deep and with a slight Texan accent, ¡°What about you, what are your thoughts on teaming up?¡±


    ¡°I suggested the idea to my coordinator, who passed the word up the line. I thought that if we worked with others using the system we could compensate if one of the team wasn¡¯t used to certain activities for whatever reason,¡± I answered.


    He nodded and his sister asked, ¡°Good plan. My brother and I were all for the idea of starting with a group, yours was just the first one that offered. Your reasoning is better than ours though.¡±


    I cocked an eyebrow at her, but it was Jerome that answered, ¡°We played a few other games growing up. We found it easier to do most things as a group right out of whatever tutorials we had to do. Since she and I would usually play together we tended to compliment each other¡¯s style.¡±


    I met the Arya¡¯s and Jacob¡¯s eyes before asking, ¡°What reservations do you two have?¡±


    Arya was still attacking the pastries like they were going to run away so Jacob, after a nervous glance around the table, answered, ¡°It would be easiest to explain my disability first. I have Osteogenesis imperfect, brittle bone disease.¡±


    His voice had a slight northern European accent, German or Norwegian I thought, and in a very precise almost scholarly tone. The disease also explained his movement habits, if he broke easily than he would be used to being extremely cautious so as not to inflict crippling injuries on himself. He continued speaking, ¡°My reservations were more in that you wouldn¡¯t want someone on your team, particularly for a game of superheroes, who wasn¡¯t more physically sure of himself.¡±


    It was a reasonable statement, I was going to speak but Arya stopped eating her sweets long enough to ask, ¡°What kind of powers did you choose?¡±


    ¡°A technology and gadget based hero. The offensive techniques I picked were primarily crowd control in nature, along with some drone analogs for actual combat,¡± he answered.


    I caught the direction of Arya¡¯s question, ¡°So not one from front line conflict resolution, but potentially a game changer in chaotic situations. In most of the literature the tech heroes were also the ones who supplied their teams with cool toys.¡±


    Arya snorted, spraying some crumbs into a quickly raised hand as the brother and sister laughed. Jacob just looked confused and asked, ¡°Literature? Was there a study on superhero behavior that I missed in my research before the game?¡±


    The siblings continued to chuckle, unable to catch enough breath to reply. Arya though answered, ¡°Comic books, fiction novels, movies, or any other source of entertainment that used superheroes.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Those aren¡¯t literature, well technically novels are, but they aren¡¯t scholarly articles and tests,¡± Jacob replied.


    I smiled; this kid was going to be interesting to work with. He had obviously focused on brain over brawn since his body didn¡¯t want to work with him. I interjected, ¡°No, but for a fictional world, with abilities that we can¡¯t replicate outside of a game; can you think of a better source for information than fiction that is, to an extent, source material?¡±


    He nodded, clearly reexamining his argument, before replying, ¡°Your argument has validity. If you have no objections I would like to start the game with your team.¡±


    Arya piped up, ¡°Yeah I¡¯m in. I just didn¡¯t want to work with a group of fuddy-duddies that were all pity party for the blind girl.¡±


    My gaze shot back to her, and I blurted ¡°Come again?¡±


    Arya met my gaze with a smirk, ¡°Couldn¡¯t tell could you? Well I guess this place would make it harder since I can actually see.¡±


    Rebecca pointed out, ¡°Arya, you¡¯re in better shape than most of my old squad. How did you manage that if you couldn¡¯t see in the real world?¡±


    She shrugged, ¡°My father was a lawyer, and an avid comic book collector. He used to read me some of the stories and described one blind hero that was capable of incredible things because he was unable to see. When I was little I started trying to do handstands on my bed frame, so I would land on the bed if I fell. He caught me and said if I was going to try and break my neck he would at least have a professional teach me. I¡¯ve been studying gymnastics since age five and aikido since age seven.¡±


    Aikido was one of the soft martial arts from old Japan that emphasized redirection of force. Many of the techniques could start after physical contact was made, which would allow someone without sight to easily accomplish them, and if her father had been a fan of the comic series I thought he was, than she probably had honed her other senses to the point that she was more aware of her surroundings in an enclosed space than the rest of us.


    Jerome motioned to his sister and himself, ¡°We both were injured in a car accident, spinal damage. Military discharged us after that since we couldn¡¯t serve any further, but we were able to get test results from our old CO. Turns out he had mentioned us to the company during their talk on another project.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Mine was more minor. Lost my leg and had some damage to most of my body during an incident at my old school. It¡¯s only been about three months for me so I¡¯m transitioning in the game easier, though I almost fell on my face yesterday.¡±


    Jacob asked, ¡°Your disability seems relatively minor compared to the other test subjects, may I ask how you were selected for this project? Considering the end goal of the project I suspect there is a story there.¡±


    This kid didn¡¯t miss a trick as I thought about my answer. His comment about end goal of the project had me wondering, so I asked ¡°What exactly do you mean by end goal?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? This is either a test for digitization, cybernetic replacements, or reconstruction. Why else would they allow for those with disabilities to test out a new system with potential long term immersion,¡± he responded.


    Arya was watching me closely as the siblings stared at Jacob. He wasn¡¯t wrong, since William had already told me the end goal. I couldn¡¯t admit to that though. Arya though pointed at me and said, ¡°You know more about the project don¡¯t you? You a company plant or something to see how the test subjects are doing?¡±


    ¡°No my dear, he is in the project as a personal thanks from me,¡± William O¡¯Brian¡¯s voice came from the door.


    We all looked over to see William and Savira step into the caf¨¦. Most everyone stared at the pair as they collected coffee and sat down at another table before pulling out files and notebooks. They were clearly having a working coffee break, which didn¡¯t make sense as that didn¡¯t require immersion.


    ¡°Mr. O¡¯Brian, sorry to interrupt, but why are you immersed in the system?¡± I asked.


    Jacob sucked in a sharp breath when I mentioned William¡¯s name; I guessed the kid had some information about him that I hadn¡¯t been able to find. Arya looked back at me and asked, ¡°Personal thank you? You do him some kind of favor that he needed to repay you with something like this so there wasn¡¯t any leverage?¡±


    William spoke up, ¡°No Ms. Holt, there will forever be a debt I owe Mr. Cayne. Go ahead and give them all the details.¡±


    I cocked my head and asked, ¡°Of how we met, or the project?¡±


    ¡°As much as you are comfortable with,¡± he answered.


    I sighed, part of me thinking this was a test, and explained, ¡°The incident where I lost my leg involved me getting between a terrorist with a bomb and a little girl. His little girl, if you couldn¡¯t guess he¡¯s a bit of a big shot in the company running this little project.¡±


    Jacob interjected, ¡°More than a big shot. William O¡¯Brian is the brains behind over half of the technological development of Pandora Interactive. While rumors say he does less hands-on work in recent years, he is still credited with most of the ideas and leaps the company has made, and you saved his daughter?¡±


    I shrugged and, while trying to play down my role as it might seem like I was bragging, said, ¡°It was the right thing to do at the time. Maybe she would have been fine without my intervention.¡±


    William¡¯s snort gave away my attempt at being humble. It was Rebecca that asked, ¡°What about the project goal?¡±


    I shook my head and said, with a note of finality, ¡°I won¡¯t betray a trust. If he wants to explain it he can. I won¡¯t tell secrets that were entrusted to me.¡±


    Surprisingly no one argued with me regarding holding someone else¡¯s secrets. Personally I suspected they were waiting to see what William did. I could see his smile from my seat and he spoke up, ¡°I will likely fill you all in as we get closer to that stage of the project. For now we just want you to beta test the new system.¡±


    Everyone nodded and Arya said, ¡°Well I have a character to finish, I think I spent too long going through costume ideas while trying not to be a peacock.¡±


    Jacob added his own commentary, ¡°Mine is complete, but I want a chance to use the test environment features.¡±


    The siblings looked at each other and then Jerome asked, ¡°Since we are starting as a team, we can create our characters to fill whatever role is needed. We haven¡¯t gotten creation done yet as our apartment was a bit more of a fix for us due to our needs.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Don¡¯t think of it like a typical game with the standard trinity of roles. I have a feeling going outside the standard methods of problem solving will be more useful than having a tank and a healer. I would say play up whatever your strong points are.¡±


    Arya nodded, ¡°That or what you wish you could do. So far the only person who has said what they are doing is Jacob, let¡¯s keep it that way until Monday and have fun with the experience.¡±


    We all agreed and I rose, ¡°Well I¡¯m going to go log out early and do some more research into what I might be able to setup as power techniques I¡¯ll see you all on Monday, if you want to chat before then send me an email, your coordinator should be able to route it.¡±


    With that I walked towards the door before anyone else could ask anything. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to know why Savira and William had shown up, but I was starting to feel a little paranoid.

 CHAPTER 6

    When I stepped through the caf¨¦ door I found myself back in the character creation gym. Looking around I found myself at a bit of a disadvantage. Savira had been here last time to help me with the log out; since she wasn¡¯t here now I might have a bit of a problem. Before I started to panic I looked at the door I had come through. Next to the door was a display that had different options on it. One was Neighborhood Caf¨¦, another was Hero¡¯s Call, and the last was Log Out.


    ¡°Okay so no reason to panic,¡± I mumbled to myself.


    ¡°Well, maybe a little,¡± said a deep masculine voice behind me.


    I spun around, my body instinctively dropping into a low fighting stance. Across the room, leaning against the locker that I had used for my costume, was a huge middle aged man. When I say huge, I mean this guy looked like he bench pressed trucks. He stood about seven feet tall, was built like a professional football lineman, and had muscles that were as defined as old Greek statues of gods. He also had a military crew cut of sandy brown hair with hints of grey, light amber eyes, and a square cut face that just seemed to match the rest of him. Dressed in a simple t-shirt, boots, and jeans similar to mine he looked at me with a small smirk.


    His voice rumbled out again, with a tone of voice that reminded me of my old high school football coach, ¡°Chill out kid, Savira asked me to stop by. No one can normally come into your personal area without your permission except the administrators; and they are tracked for what they do in here. If you want me to leave, just say the word.¡±


    I didn¡¯t come out of the defensive crouch, but did reply, ¡°Depends on why I should panic ¡®just a little¡¯.¡±


    He chuckled and said, ¡°She asked me to be your trainer for your powers tutorial. We don¡¯t normally step out to help out the new players, but it was approved for the special test cases.¡±


    I noticed he said step out, not some parallel to dive in. My mind spun a bit and when it settled I asked, ¡°Are you another virtual intelligence?¡±


    ¡°She mentioned you were clued into that. Yes I am, hell about half the population that inhabit Hero¡¯s Call are. Most of us aren¡¯t anywhere near as advanced as she is though,¡± he answered.


    ¡°Most?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, the various mentors and in game administrators have some extra functionality that allow us to know about the so-called real world, that way we can make allowances for players not being logged in. The average citizen in that world though just operates like a normal person though. Animals, constructs, and anything else without sufficient intelligence are standard AI programming,¡± he explained.


    I slowly rose from my crouch and stepped forward extending my hand, ¡°Name¡¯s Alexander Cayne.¡±


    His hand engulfed mine in a strong grip as he shook it and said, ¡°Name¡¯s Phil Daniels. I¡¯m a little surprised though. Savira bet some of the other mentors, myself included, that a few of you would treat us as people rather than glorified programs. I thought she was a little cracked personally.¡±


    ¡°I have a bit of a leg up on the others; I already know she¡¯s advanced enough to be a person regardless of her digital nature. In a digital world us having bodies doesn¡¯t matter as much since we are in the same state of existence as you would be,¡± I said on instinct.


    I was a little surprised at the concept now that I considered it. I believed my own statement, but I hadn¡¯t really been giving it that much conscious thought. I mentally shrugged, I did that a lot, my mind running in advance of my thoughts and only actually registering the answers to my questions if I gave it conscious thought. Phil raised an eyebrow and said, ¡°Huh I hadn¡¯t thought of it that way. Philosophical discussions aside, do you want to start your power tutorial now? Savira¡¯s message said you were planning on logging out to research some ideas for new techniques. While you technically can rearrange this room to do some of your research here it is better for you to do it out there so you use your own body.¡±


    I considered his question a moment before asking, ¡°What can you tell me about the power tutorial? For that matter what do you mean by I can rearrange this room?¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    He ran his hand through his hair in what looked like a nervous gesture before answering, ¡°As I understand it this room is set up as default for character creation for the game you¡¯re registered for when you first log in. Since there is nothing stopping you from logging in for other purposes it becomes a digital home base not directly connected to any particular world. So you can do minor changes to the layout and amenities after your first character is created as a jumping off point. You can also be given access keys to other locations to travel to using the door. Savira or the Home administrators would be the ones to ask for more information. Since I¡¯m actually a resident of Hero¡¯s Call I don¡¯t have most of those details. The power tutorial is an option for all beta players, and allows you a total of eight hours worth of time to familiarize yourself with how to use your abilities in the game world in a separate instanced environment.¡±


    He placed his hand over his chest as he continued, ¡°One of the in-game mentor¡¯s is on hand to help those of you using the new dive system in case you have trouble due to your specific circumstances for using it.¡±


    ¡°You keep referencing your world as ¡®in-game,¡¯ why?¡± I asked.


    It was his turn to shrug as he responded, ¡°Mostly to make it easier for you to understand. To me the world of Hero¡¯s Call is home. No different than the world you are from. Since I am both aware of my digital existence and the fact that you and those like you are coming here to play a game; it just keeps it simple.¡±


    ¡°What if someone decided to stay in the digital world? Can they do that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No clue kid, but if that was the case they still wouldn¡¯t think of themselves as a part of the world if I understand the concept right. I could be wrong though, I did lose the bet to Savira,¡± he answered.


    I smiled and said, ¡°Yeah, but some people might go for that option if it was available. It isn¡¯t a big deal to me right now, just a random thought. I can go for the power tutorial, but I do wonder what makes you a mentor.¡±


    Rising to the verbal bait Phil responded a little hotly, ¡°I¡¯m a mentor because that¡¯s what I get to do in my world. I¡¯m a retired hero who is expected to spend his days training punks like you that come to our world to play at being a hero.¡±


    It was obvious he had an issue with people just playing at being a hero, so I added some more fuel to the fire, ¡°So you¡¯re saying you don¡¯t think the players can do the job?¡±


    He growled a bit before obviously stopping to consider, ¡°Most of you can¡¯t get over the fact that you see this as a game. There was a few during the Alpha test though that had the right mentality and treated it as another world. Rumor has it that those ones got an invite to return during the Beta with a bit of a head start if they played the same character.¡±


    I decided to ask, not really expecting an answer, ¡°Anything you can tell me about them?¡±


    Surprisingly he answered, ¡°Well there is CAL; he¡¯s a tech villain who insists on taking areas and fortifying them with nanite constructs just to challenge heroes who come to stop him. Always thought he was a bit crazy in his approach to things, but he was effective and sometimes did things for our side. There was another one who went by King Gnome, he was an odd one; a magic hero that liked to mix it up with close quarters magical combat. Warlock was another magic hero, but he used conjured creatures that actually evolved into virtual intelligences of their own; that surprised the rest of us to no end. Those three are going to be pissed if he doesn¡¯t come back. There were a few more, but I would have to check the database.¡±


    I shook my head, there was going to be a lot to this game that would require me to get into it to figure out. That was for Monday though, for now I started moving to the door and said, ¡°Let¡¯s get started. I want to at least learn how this works before I do more research. It might save me a bit of trouble in the long run.¡±


    We both moved back to the door and Phil pulled a keycard out of his pocket. As he passed it over the display a new option appeared: Hero¡¯s Call: Power Tutorial (Duration ¨C 8 hours). He pressed the button to select it and said, ¡°When you leave the area to return to this room the timer on it stops. If you run out of training time while still in the room you will be notified to exit the area within five minutes before it shuts down. If you are still there when it shuts down you will be booted from immersion and locked out until Tuesday.¡±


    If I was locked out until Tuesday that meant I would both be missing time that I was employed to do, and miss the beta event. I had a suspicion I wasn¡¯t supposed to mention the expected beta opening event to Phil, but if the people in there were actually real beings I couldn¡¯t just let them walk into danger. I spoke up, ¡°Before we go through, were you aware that there is supposed to be an opening event for Hero¡¯s Call when the beta goes live?¡±


    He looked at me cautiously and asked, ¡°What kind of event?¡±


    I shrugged and replied, ¡°Nothing was explained to me. It could be harmless, but in some games of the past the launch day events were something used to set the tone of the world. If we are supposed to be stepping into the world as superheroes then there could be something that brings us together. Quickest way I know to do that is some kind of conflict.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll make sure the others are on the lookout. During the time you would know of as the alpha test most of us that are mentors were active heroes. For us it has been almost fifteen years of relative peace. Knowing that you all are returning to the world does make it likely something is going to go pear shaped.¡±


    ¡°Then I guess I need to do some serious training before stepping into the meat grinder,¡± I said.

 CHAPTER 7

    We stepped through the door into a fairly blank room about fifty feet in each dimension. The walls were solid concrete with reinforced plates scattered throughout, and the ceiling seemed to be glowing softly with the same amount of light as typical florescent bulbs. The room was marked out with an oval running lane that stretched to about three feet from the walls. Phil took a look around and nodded before saying, ¡°Okay, they used Nightingale¡¯s training hall; I can work with this to train you.¡±


    He stepped over to one of the walls and placed his hand against one of the plates. It folded down and a holographic display appeared over it. A line of light scanned the huge man for a moment before the display shifted. I couldn¡¯t see much of what it showed him but he seemed satisfied as he said, ¡°Switch to voice control. Give me a target dummy in the center of the room.¡±


    At his statement a wooden training dummy materialized in the center of the room. It just seemed to coalesce out of a fog and I was prompted to ask, ¡°Nightingale¡¯s training room?¡±


    ¡°Another mentor, she has the ability to create solid objects out of natural materials. She created a training facility and enchanted it to create different objects from the patterns she knew. It works great for basic physical training. Now Savira told me about your technique selections, so this is where we get you used to using them,¡± he responded.


    ¡°Let me guess, you are only going to help me figure those ones out?¡± I asked.


    He shook his head, ¡°No, I¡¯m going to help you figure out how to use them properly. Just knowing how to use them isn¡¯t good enough.¡±


    His tone of voice had changed from the football coach into the drill sergeant and I was suddenly a little worried about how well I would fare in this. I pointed out, ¡°If the target dummy is for the projectile then I¡¯m going to require ammo, I can¡¯t actually conjure a kinetic blast.¡±


    He nodded, but before he said anything a long table appeared with various hand held objects ranging from ball bearings, to knives, to even some improvised weapons. The improvised weapon selection was a mixed bag that included bricks, different shapes of rubble, a chair, a toaster, and even a kitchen sink.


    ¡°Since this is your tutorial, you get to request objects. The room has a limited ability to interpret your requests so if you want something complicated be sure to specify. For now I want you to start with the ball bearings and try and use your projectile technique. The file Savira gave me indicated that at full power it should have force roughly comparable to a 9mm bullet,¡± he said.


    I nodded. Part of my research the night before hand included doing some math on the amount of force imparted by my techniques. The force was variable since it would depend on how hard I threw the ball bearing. The technique increased the velocity by a multiple of ten. Since the average throwing speed of a fit person who knew how to throw a baseball was between 60 to 70 miles per hour, which would mean that a proper throw would be around 600 mph. Ball bearings would travel a bit faster as they were both denser and smaller which would create less drag. I hadn¡¯t done the math for that specifically, but it should still impact pretty nicely.


    I grabbed a handful of ball bearings and selected one to start with. Before I threw it though Phil interrupted, ¡°Focus on what you want to do, the system needs to map the synapse pattern to your intent to activate the ability.¡±


    Interesting system, mapping the synapse firing would be the best way to use a free form system that didn¡¯t have locked in skills. Plus it would track with the Second World Systems design of being based around a user¡¯s own abilities; just with an extra edge.


    It took a few tries before the technique actually activated on a standard overhand throw. I was going to try a few of the other ammo types when Phil stopped me. ¡°No, try some different ways of launching the projectile before you switch ammo types. That will narrow down the activation sequence and allow you more flexibility.¡±


    That was unexpected; I thought he was here to help me figure out how to use the system. I asked, ¡°How much are you supposed to be a trainer?¡±


    He grinned, ¡°The problem with asking a thinking being to help out with a training program is that they get to decide how to help out. The basic tutorial program most of the others are getting just shows them how to use their abilities and advises to try out different methods. Returning alpha testers and your group of beta testers are getting actual teachers. Now get to it!¡±


    That last part was an obvious order, and I found myself doing a side arm throw before I could consciously think about it. It only took three tries to get the technique to activate, and I worked through the different ways I could think of to launch a ball bearing down range. After four different throws the technique began to activate on the first try. I thought about it for a second and then tried to throw with reduced power, and it took me a while to get the hang of adjusting how much force a throw would create.


    A beep from the holographic display interrupted my practice, and Phil looked at the screen and grinned before saying, ¡°Good, figuring out how to adjust your power is important.¡±


    I stepped over to look and he moved aside to show me what had appeared:


    Technique Modified through training,


    Kinetic Projectile ¨C Increase the velocity of a thrown projectile by up to a multiple of X, where X= Elemental (Kinetic) x Projectile, this technique requires ammunition which may be destroyed.


    It took me a second to spot the difference in the wording of the power. Before it had stated that the velocity was increased by a flat rate, now it listed that variable as the maximum velocity increase. I went back to my personal range to find the target had been replaced again. I spent a few minutes getting used to how to use the technique with varied power levels. I seemed to be able to throw at certain intervals fairly reliably, but it wasn¡¯t an exact science yet. It was however enough for now. I looked at Phil as I reached for different ammunition; he nodded and I proceeded to work my way down the table of ammunition.


    Surprisingly most of the actual throwing weapons were harder for me to use than ball bearings. The throwing knives, stars, and axes were more difficult to get right than anything else, it made some sense as they were designed and balanced to be thrown at normal velocities. The javelins generally blasted through the target and shattered when they impacted the wall beyond the target, their steel tips easily punching through almost two feet of wood. The improvised weapons were a mixed bag as they weren¡¯t well balanced for throwing, but get enough velocity behind anything and it is going to cause some damage.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    As I reached for the kitchen sink Phil said, ¡°Really, you are really going to throw the kitchen sink at it?¡±


    I smirked at him as I launched the stainless steel kitchen sink at the target and saw it blast the target apart before I said, ¡°It was there, would you rather I threw the book at them?¡±


    He actually face-palmed at that statement before grumbling, ¡°Okay, you have the basics of your kinetic projectile technique. If we don¡¯t use up all your time today I¡¯ll prep a few training courses into the room before you come back. For now let¡¯s move onto your other techniques.¡±


    The training dummy disappeared as he motioned me to follow him into the center of the room. ¡°Bastion training,¡± he stated when we reached the center.


    A series of automated launchers appeared where we had been standing, the first in the row being one that would launch tennis balls at me. Phil looked to me and I nodded, raising a hand and focusing on my intent to use my technique. It didn¡¯t take long for this one to begin working, and after some practice I managed to adjust the field of force that I created to slightly different shapes like a circular wall or a dome. Unfortunately I found out that while it would reduce the velocity of bullets, the larger calibers and more powerful guns still hurt and would likely bruise. So small arms fire was good, but anything stronger was a temporary solution at best.


    We moved on to the Kinetic Armor technique with much the same results, though I found that my body positioning would affect the impact as well, with some of the shots not striking me directly. I actually found that I could block or catch some of the projectiles, like the falling rubble Phil decided to surprise me with. It did make me wonder if I could switch to a launched projectile or somehow pull a Star Wars moment and redirect an attack with my kinetic projectile technique. I would have to try it later when I had time. For now there were two more techniques to figure out and six more hours to work with.


    Phil nodded after the machine gun test that had left me wincing slightly and said, ¡°So now you have a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your defensive techniques. I believe you have a sensory technique and an enhancement technique left?¡±


    I grunted before saying, ¡°Yes, a radar sense and a body enhancement.¡±


    He rubbed his chin and said, ¡°Let¡¯s start with the body enhancement. From the description of the technique it increases your velocity and protects you from the increased force of your own motions.¡±


    I nodded and decided to start by running while focusing on trying to get it to work. It didn¡¯t take that long for me to notice an increased running speed. I wasn¡¯t moving extremely fast, maybe around 30 mph, but it was a noticeable increase. The stop was interesting though, as while I could skid to a stop, I couldn¡¯t stop on a dime; that was something I would need to be careful of. I found that I could deactivate the technique though but it wouldn¡¯t stop my current velocity; this cause a few uncomfortable falls as my body couldn¡¯t keep up with my own velocity at times. Phil asked, ¡°What about anything other than running, or were you just wanting to use this as a way to move faster?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°No, I had planned for this to be a combat technique; running just seemed the easiest way to start practicing it.¡±


    ¡°Good, then come show me what you can do. The training hall can¡¯t mimic another combatant so you are stuck with me,¡± he said with a wolfish grin.


    Not having any idea what he could do in the game world I asked, ¡°Do your powers transfer into this room, and if they do how much damage am I going to inflict on myself if I were to hit you?¡±


    His grin widened and he answered, ¡°Good questions. Yes, my powers transfer to here because it¡¯s a power training hall. I don¡¯t get access to other worlds as a general rule, so there isn¡¯t anything in place for restricting them. As to whether you will be damaged by hitting me, that depends on if you know how to throw a punch.¡±


    Somehow I suspected that he was a bit more durable than your average flesh and blood opponent, but he was going to make me learn the hard way. He raised his hands to an odd fighting stance as I closed on him and I began to throw basic strikes while trying to use my technique. It took a little longer to get it to work, but I sensed when it activated and focused on that feeling. I spent a few minutes attacking my huge trainer, with him blocking most of my attacks. When my strikes did land on his flesh it felt like I was hitting a heavy bag rather than a soft target. I began to turn off the technique and reactivate it while I moved to get used to rapid activations, which took a while to get the hang of. Phil noticed and gave me a small grunt of approval before he caught one of my kicks and swiftly put me on my ass, hard.


    I lay there a moment, feeling the aches of my body and marveling at how real it felt. ¡°It¡¯s kind of funny. I know this is digital for me, but I can¡¯t really tell the difference.¡±


    He sat down next to me, barely even breathing hard, and replied, ¡°I don¡¯t really get the science of it. To me this is my reality and I can¡¯t compare it; as I understand it though your brain interprets the data your nerves send to it. If your brain is being sent the same data how is it different?¡±


    That did raise a concern though, and I asked, ¡°How does death work for us in your world?¡±


    He laughed heartily and said, ¡°It works like death. It isn¡¯t pleasant, but as I understand it for you players it hurts but if you would be inflicted a lethal injury you are kicked out of the game world before it actually happens. Apparently there was concern on how it would affect you, but when the proverbial ejection didn¡¯t work initially there were other safety protocols that did prevent any long term damage.¡±


    I knew that Pandora Interactive had already put safety protocols into place for in game deaths. Various pieces of fiction have existed for years about death in a game causing real death, and it was one of the biggest concerns for full immersion technology. I wasn¡¯t concerned about that so I clarified, ¡°No, I meant to ask how do people from your world see it?¡±


    ¡°Oh, for those of us that already know your coming from another world it¡¯s easy. I¡¯m guessing your actually wondering about the people that don¡¯t know about your world?¡± he replied.


    I nodded and he continued, ¡°It was tricky during the Alpha test, but now most people just think it is one of the healers or magic users either plucking you out of the time stream or your own power resurrecting you to continue on.¡±


    ¡°So they don¡¯t think about it much?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Basically, they know that when the Call goes out the heroes that arrive from outside our society are different. It¡¯s why most of the heroes that are there already move to a mentor or support role. Granted we know you will just come back, but normal people don¡¯t,¡± he answered.


    ¡°Sounds complicated,¡± I said.


    ¡°It can be, but not something you need to trouble yourself about. Just try not to die, from what I understand you more or less start over with your power levels if you do,¡± he said.


    Okay, that sounded like a harsh death penalty. I would need to see if there was a manual for me to look at. I stood up, my body still aching a bit from that test and said, ¡°I probably need to take a break before finishing up the training, unless you want to do the last technique first.¡±


    He stood as well and said, ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can get it figured out so I can check in back home. I left a utility belt and a communicator with your costume back in your room so if you need me for training when you come back you can get a message to me. For now let¡¯s get this done; radar sense training environment.¡±


    The circle changed to a gymnastics obstacle course and Phil handed me a black bag to put over my head. I sighed and used the bag to kill my eyesight. Surprisingly it didn¡¯t take me long to activate the radar sense, though it wasn¡¯t exactly a radar. It seemed to operate somewhere in between a radar and sonar, with a much better sense of anything that moved. I found it easy to pick out Phil when he moved, and the various objects were also fairly clear to my sense, almost like I had a 3D line drawing of my surroundings available. I found that if I focused on what was in front of me the sensation of what was behind me was dulled and I could sense things further away in that direction. I would need to practice with the 360 degree sensory input during the remaining training hall time, as that would likely be the hardest thing to learn.


    With that done I bid Phil goodbye and headed for the door to my room, and to log out with another four and a half hours remaining on my training room time.

 CHAPTER 8

    I logged in Sunday a little after noon to my personal locker room to find a binder sitting on the bench in front of the lockers. It was titled: HOME User Manual; and had an actual post-it note stuck to it with a brief apology from Savira for not providing me with the information before now and that a matching document was sent via e-mail to me for review outside of immersion. I smiled a little at that, I could only guess that Phil had mentioned to Savira that I had no clue how the HOME area actually worked. For now it could wait, I had some training to accomplish before I worried about something that wouldn¡¯t affect me as much for the foreseeable future.


    Turning back to the door I selected the training hall from the display and stepped back through. The room was as empty as the first time, except for the fold down section of the wall. It now has six small switches on it, each with a different label. The first five were the power techniques I had while the fifth was labeled as combined training.


    I decided to run through the exercises of the individual techniques first. The projectile training reminded me of a military or law enforcement shoot house that I had to traverse with a limited amount of ammunition. After the first three attempts ended with me running out of ammunition before I finished I finally realized that I had to use parts of the environment also. The bastion and armor training were much the same as when I initially learned to use the techniques, but also involved some movement between different targets I had to protect. I quickly realized that my bastion wouldn¡¯t cover a large area, only about ten square feet when I made it a dome, so I had to shift my defenses on the fly while I moved between locations. My enhanced body training had a parkour obstacle course with various dummies that I had to hit with a certain level of force in key locations; and the radar training was a blind gauntlet with various moving obstacles, similar to old television shows that were more about the humorous way people failed than the winners.


    It took me almost two hours to run through each training course a couple of times, and I could feel that familiar burn of a hard workout that I had missed over the past two months. As I finished my first successful run of the radar sense training I heard a slow clap coming from the entrance. Taking off the blindfold that was required for this training I looked over to see Phil leaning against the wall near the door. He stopped clapping and asked, ¡°Did you try and use anything but the individual technique in each one?¡±


    I groaned and almost smacked myself on the forehead before answering, ¡°No, and now I feel like an idiot. The shoot house would have been simple had I just scanned ahead of my path, and the enhanced movement speed would have done wonders for the bastion training.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to, not with so little time training in how to use your techniques. You haven¡¯t yet had to push yourself in a real test to see how you can combine them. I would advise you think of that when you start developing new techniques though, learning to combine them with your other strengths will do wonders for how effective you can be,¡± he responded.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do that. I did a bit of research last night, and can think of a few other things I want to try out. Anything in particular you would suggest though?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well the combined training would be a good start, also learning to work with your team, and lastly personal training. When we sparred yesterday you showed some basic hand to hand training, but either you stopped doing it or never put much effort into improving,¡± he answered.


    He was right; while I had taken some martial arts classes, it had never really captured my attention like the more competitive sports had. The dojo I had gone to didn¡¯t allow students below a certain belt rank to spar or compete, something about learning to discipline one¡¯s self first, and I had given it up in favor of focusing on sports. Fencing was a bit different but more restricted as a combat sport. I shrugged and replied, ¡°It never really took for me, I could never achieve the stillness my old teacher wanted to see before he would allow competition.¡±


    Phil shook his head, ¡°I can see that, but why not the mixed martial arts training for combat sports? I assume you have them in your world, since ours was modeled on yours.¡±


    ¡°Yeah we have them, but the ones that allowed competition required you be eighteen. I never went back to look after I finished high school since I had plans to join the military,¡± I said.


    He nodded, ¡°Fair enough, in a world that doesn¡¯t have the same history of conflict it would make sense that you would wait. That being said, you may wish to devote some of your personal time to combat training in the coming months.¡±


    ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s time to try out the combined training course,¡± I said as I moved back to the switches.


    He held up hand, palm down, and waggled it saying, ¡°You can start that, but there was a request made by one of mentors for your future team member. The girl, Arya, decided to pick Psychic powers. While we can help her train her abilities that interact with the digital environment, it is a bit different when used with other ¡®players.¡¯ Since you will be on a team with her from the start, and still had remaining training time, we were wondering if you would be willing to help.¡±


    I paused my walk and considered that for a moment. If she was going the psychic hero route then he likely meant she needed to test a telepathy technique of some sort on another player. After a few minutes of turning the idea around in my head I said, ¡°I will help her.¡±


    He looked pleased until I held my hand up to stop him from replying and asked, ¡°What was going to be offered to entice me to do it if I refused?¡±


    I knew there would be something, the tests were also being used to test the system and there had to be something. Surprisingly he looked even more pleased with my question as he responded, ¡°Time spent in the training hall for this would count as her training time, regardless of what you were doing. In addition you have the opportunity to develop a technique for mental defense, which I believe is your restriction for any psychic abilities?¡±


    That was actually a decent carrot to match the stick of letting someone attempt to look into my brain. It did depend on what she needed for her training, but I might be able to run through the basic trainings again while combining techniques with her here.


    ¡°Sure, but can we pause the training time while someone lets her know I¡¯m game?¡± I said.


    ¡°It was paused the moment I raised the question as I was interrupting your training. As long as you don¡¯t do further training scenarios before she gets here the time won¡¯t start back up,¡± he replied.


    I sat against the wall and discussed various martial arts options with my mentor while we waited for the arrival of my teammate. It actually took close to half an hour of waiting, and she rushed in apologizing, ¡°Sorry, I was logged out when you responded. So you¡¯re really okay with this?¡±


    I stood and waved at the little bundle of energy and said, ¡°I think so. Based on what I understand of how the system works you shouldn¡¯t get much more than clear surface thoughts from players, and even then it might take you a while to actually understand them.¡±


    She grinned, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s about all I get from the NPCs too.¡±


    I knew NPCs stood for Non-Player Characters; I knew they were more than that though. This made for a good test of her technique, and whether or not she was already trying it out. I focused on the words, ¡°Yes, but how much have you learned of them though?¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Her eyes widened, which answered my question, and she blurted, ¡°You know about them?¡±


    ¡°I guess it was kind of difficult for them to hide it from you when you started working on your technique. Yes, I¡¯m aware that they are a bit more functionally intelligent than standard NPCs. The term does work though in the proper context,¡± I answered.


    ¡°Okay, well let¡¯s get started. Umm, Mr. Daniels, Gwen said you would have some ideas on what I should try,¡± she said to my mentor.


    He nodded, ¡°She and I talked before I brought the question to my trainee here. What I want you to do is hold a conversation with him while he is physically active. He won¡¯t have much breath to actually speak, so you will need to read his replies.¡±


    She smiled and said, ¡°I can do that. What should I do after I get the hang of that?¡±


    ¡°Gwen told me that you already did some practice at reading thoughts while you were active, but you will do the same test while reading him. After that, if there are no objections, I want you to try reading him while you spar,¡± Phil instructed.


    The grin on Arya¡¯s face got even wider at the last condition, and I recalled our conversation in the caf¨¦ about her long study of Aikido. That might actually hurt a little. I started off with the parkour course, assuming it would be the easiest to hold a conversation in and began thinking the start of a conversation, ¡°So, what conversation topic would you like to begin with?¡±


    She picked up those thoughts easily enough and replied, ¡°Let¡¯s address the elephant in the room, no offense Mr. Daniels, how much do you know about the mentors?¡±


    My mentor laughed at that and I focused on my answer, ¡°I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s my secret to tell. In the end though, Phil confirmed my understanding of their situation.¡±


    ¡°Does this have anything to do with that weird conversation with Savira and Mr. O¡¯Brian in the caf¨¦?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Damn woman, did your dad teach you how to question someone or something?¡± I deflected while I did a midair maneuver off one of the obstacles that allowed me to skip a tricky jump I had missed earlier.


    ¡°Yes he did, and you are really good at avoiding answering questions,¡± she said.


    ¡°I¡¯ve spent the last two months with my mother taking care of me and not being able to get out and run. Mothers are better interrogators than any lawyer or detective out there. Avoiding some of her questions has given me plenty of practice. If you don¡¯t mind my asking, how did you build your power set?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind actually. I¡¯m pretty confident in my physical capabilities, even with still getting used to seeing what I¡¯m doing also. I had to decide between augmenting that or going with a classic that would support those skills. Since I already knew Jacob was a techie and the siblings have former military training; it just came down to you and me for support type abilities. It seems I misjudged your powers though, you stuck to the classic jock setup of increasing your physical abilities.¡±


    ¡°Yes and no, I actually went the route of an energy manipulator. I have an area defense technique, a sensory technique, and a ranged attack to compliment my close quarter¡¯s techniques. I tried to be as well rounded in my powers as I could be,¡± I replied as I started up the projectile training scenario.


    This time I was trying to use my radar sense along with my projectiles, which actually gave me a weird feedback at first as I could suddenly see a blue line from my hand to my targets. It was odd because the line would vanish at times when I moved. After the third time it happened Arya¡¯s voice cut in, ¡°You have aiming lines for your attack? That¡¯s a total cheat.¡±


    ¡°So that¡¯s what it is, I hadn¡¯t put it together. How are you seeing it?¡± I said.


    I hadn¡¯t managed to put the information together in that context; but it was clear that when my body was positioned in such a way as I could reasonably make a kinetic projectile attack at my target the blue line would appear. I wasn¡¯t certain of the extent of my aim, but it reminded me of a laser target from a gun. Arya answered while I pondered the development, ¡°I have the telepathy technique, but I also took a visual technique that would allow me to see through my target¡¯s eyes when I use telepathy if I choose. I can¡¯t see out of my own eyes when I do it though.¡±


    ¡°So something you already have practice in, which leaves you step ahead in keeping yourself safe when you do it,¡± I replied, maybe a little callously.


    As I finished the course I looked back to see a small smile on Arya¡¯s face. She noticed my gaze and said, ¡°You just take things in stride don¡¯t you. This whole time you haven¡¯t once considered any of the team a detriment because of our handicaps. The most you have considered was what I might miss because I don¡¯t know to look for it.¡±


    I answered, ¡°Basically, I don¡¯t really care that people see you as handicapped. Hell for all of my life I was told I had a mental disability, but it never stopped me from pushing forward.¡±


    I had spoken my answer aloud, and in the vision granted by my sensory technique I suddenly saw a red line that was quickly getting brighter running right through the center of my torso. I still wasn¡¯t used to the 360 degree information input but, between that line, Arya¡¯s widening eyes, and instincts I hadn¡¯t realized I had, I managed to dive to the side as a baseball rocketed through the space I had been standing a moment prior. Phil¡¯s drill sergeant voice boomed through the room, ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to answer out loud. You¡¯ve just given your position away to your enemy and now must defend yourself.¡±


    More red lines appeared in my vision as my sadistic mentor, who sat behind a cannon-like device that had baseballs for ammunition, took aim at both of us. I quickly shifted in front of Arya and raised my hands, forming my Kinetic Bastion into a dome around us. ¡°Well this isn¡¯t good,¡± I said through the mental communication.


    She didn¡¯t respond right away, and I looked back at her to see a frown of concentration on her face before I heard her voice in my head, ¡°Stupid fucking, sewage gargling, monkey humping, ass grabbing system. Work damn it!¡±


    ¡°Umm, it worked,¡± I replied while holding in a chuckle, it seemed like she had some repressed attitude.


    ¡°Oops, not sure how much of that you got. Internal monologue doesn¡¯t work so well when you have a mental connection. This is a little weird though; the mental link technique seems to short circuit my ability to talk when I want to use it. I also got a message that stated other players could sever a mental link as it has to be voluntary,¡± she said as my barrier stopped baseball after baseball from reaching us.


    I nodded; the system must have taken my intent to hear her as acceptance to the mental link. ¡°Do you have any defensive techniques? I have a feeling he isn¡¯t going to stop shooting at us until we either need to disable the weapon or get to him, he¡¯s a brutal teacher like that.¡±


    ¡°Nothing that will stop them from hitting me, but notice how there are various bits of your parkour course still around. I think those are supposed to be for cover. His gun only shoots in one direction. I think we can split up if you use your radar sense, and then he can only cover one of us,¡± she said.


    ¡°Good idea, let¡¯s get you behind cover first, then I¡¯ll try and flank him. I can shift to using my armor to get close to him. Unfortunately he knows the baseballs won¡¯t go through my armor which makes me think he has some other trick up his sleeve as well,¡± I agreed.


    We quickly moved to our right so she could get behind a low wall still in the training room and without really thinking I pulled the bastion in until it formed the armor around me. The shift caused me to pause for a moment, getting pelted by baseballs, as I realized what I had just done. I could shift the defensive technique in and out, I wondered if I might be able to create solid objects with the kinetic field. Arya¡¯s voice snapped me out of my considerations, ¡°Theory-craft later, he¡¯s changing the ammunition in the cannon.¡±


    I snapped into motion as a four inch diameter steel ball rocketed towards me. In our earlier testing I had already realized that this particular ammo would punch through my barrier and hit me, about as hard a solid punch, and I didn¡¯t want to get hit by it. Somehow I managed to focus on keeping both my armor and radar sense going at the same time, but for the moment that was my limit. I would have to let the armor start to wear off if I wanted to attack at range.


    ¡°I saw you throwing marbles for your projectile test. Can you pull a Star Wars?¡± Arya asked.


    I smirked, I like how her mind worked. ¡°Marvel later, ass-kicking now!¡± came her sharp reply.


    Huh, guess the mind reading let coherent thought through. No matter, I started by trying to judge the timing of the attacks with my radar sense and blocking with my armor up. It actually worked rather well once I got the timing down, sixteen painful hits later. Now came the tricky timing. I focused my intent on deflecting a projectile into the cannon and the lines in my radar sense changed to show a blue line coming from points on me. Most of them were a lighter tone, but I saw that two of them were in a close enough trajectories to the red lines to potentially be what I wanted, these also had a brighter line. One of them would send the cannonball back at Phil, while the other one would send one ricocheting off the wall to smash the cannon from the side.


    As the shot was fired I side-stepped and shot my hand forward in a palm strike into the side of the ball, and it rocketed towards the wall without losing any of its kinetic energy. I barely was fast enough to move with my enhancement, but the result was worth it as the ricochet smashed into Phil¡¯s cannon.


    Phil however was left untouched as an aura of light blue energy surrounded him and kept anything from impacting his skin. He smiled and said, ¡°Nice shot, but you have a traitor in your midst; and now she is behind you.

 CHAPTER 9

    You gigantic ass-goblin, I thought towards my, now guaranteed sadistic, mentor. Just throw us at each other right after I had put forth the effort to protect her. I¡¯m just glad there wasn¡¯t a mana bar or something for my techniques.


    ¡°Actually there will be in the game, they wanted us to be able to train without that restriction,¡± came Arya¡¯s voice in my head.


    Well that shit had to stop. I couldn¡¯t have her in my head if she was a new opponent. My sensory technique was still going, so I could ¡°see¡± her rushing at me from behind. As I spun to face her I noticed that a small icon that had been at the corner of my vision was now missing. That was odd, I hadn¡¯t noticed it before. It could wait I would need to ask Savira about it before the game started. For now I had to face off against an opponent that was coming at me with a wolfish grin on her face. I still had my enhancement engaged so I started to throw a quickened punch at her.


    My enhancement allowed me to see her shift in stance, and arm motions, as she caught my punch and deftly flipped me onto my ass hard enough to knock my concentration askew. I rolled to the side and up to my feet as a foot stomp came down where my head was. My speed was still going so I tried to rush her again, and once again ended up on the ground but on my face this time.


    ¡°This is getting boring,¡± Arya said, still smirking at me as I rose to my feet.


    Son of a bitch, she was reading my motions from my thoughts somehow. Being faster didn¡¯t matter much if she could react before I managed to hit her. Between her reading my thoughts and her superior training I wagered I was in for a world of hurt.


    ¡°Yeah pretty much,¡± she replied to my unspoken thought.


    I wracked my brain for any idea on how to counter her thought reading. Luckily there were various options from fiction as to how to manage it. They fell into two categories, empty thought, to blank the mind so no surface thoughts were there, and focused thought, focusing on one thing to the exclusion of all else. The problem was I sucked at focusing my mind, let alone emptying it of the swirling miasma of thoughts that bounced around my head at any given moment.


    I let the smile grow on my face as I started to move, my mind filling with the various concepts and random ideas that I struggled with on a daily basis. The thought of my missing leg and the annoyance it brought when I got out of my immersion pod. The plans for dinner over the next few nights, my mother¡¯s constant badgering, the little soot covered girl that smiled every time she saw me, and the way the pod felt so real. My thoughts sped onward in a flood..


    Arya¡¯s face grew troubled, and I could see her eyes widen as I took the leash off my thoughts. She still managed to deflect half my strikes, her well trained reflexes better than my own half remembered martial arts lessons. Without the advantage of reading my thoughts though she was quickly on the defensive, and then it was my turn to knock her to the ground. Instead of trying for a foot stomp I took the more expedient option, sitting on her legs, and held up one of the ball bearings I would apparently be using for ammunition in the game.


    ¡°ADHD is a bitch isn¡¯t it?¡± I asked.


    Her hand slapped the ground twice, signaling her own defeat, and I rose, a hand out to help her up. She took it and answered me, ¡°Yeah that gave me a headache until I turned it off. How do you function with that much going on in your head?¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m used to it. It helps when I¡¯m active, or doing something I don¡¯t need to focus on. Surprisingly books work wonders as a new book is a new changing story. Unfortunately I have a near eidetic memory so I can¡¯t reread books all that often.¡±


    She smiled and asked, ¡°Did you get a technique out of it?¡±


    ¡°No clue, I have to reference the view screen over there. Why, do you see pop-ups or something?¡± I responded.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m kind of surprised you don¡¯t,¡± was her answer.


    Phil answered for us, ¡°It¡¯s a passive effect of your power reading ability. You¡¯re effectively reading your own techniques.¡±


    We both nodded, that made sense. It did mean that I would need to find a way to check my own status while in the field though. I wonder if Jacob would come up with anything, or if it was a standard piece of gear that could be obtained. I was getting side tracked, right now was for training.


    ¡°How much time do you have left for training?¡± I asked Arya.


    ¡°About five minutes, what about you?¡± she responded.


    ¡°Around two hours, my incentive to help you with your training was that it used your time and not mine,¡± I answered.


    I paused as an idea came up, and I turned to Phil before asking, ¡°Can I share my training time with her for team training? I want us to get used to how our abilities will work without the training room endless energy.¡±


    Phil rubbed his chin as he thought, ¡°I like the idea as your mentor, but I would need to check with Savira. Give me an hour and come back in, if we can do it we will. At the very least I should be able to convince her to offer a little time for everyone to test it out.¡±


    Arya spoke up, ¡°You can hang out at my HOME while we wait. I¡¯ve already changed it around a bit to make it more than a gym.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good, I haven¡¯t bothered yet. Interior design isn¡¯t really something I put much thought into, well not much by my standards,¡± I responded.


    She let loose a peal of laughter as she replied, ¡°Considering I have seen how many thoughts you actually have I am pretty sure you will come up with something. Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±


    As we stepped out of the training hall the world turned black for a few minutes. I began to panic at the emptiness before a new door appeared and moved toward me depositing me into a new area.


    I took a deep breath, blinking my eyes, and generally trying to reorient myself from the nothingness. ¡°Okay, maybe coming to your HOME was a bad idea,¡± I said, my voice a little shaky.


    Arya looked a little chagrined and said, ¡°Sorry, I should have given you permission before hand. My mentor was still here and told me that you would be stuck in transition until it auto dumped you to your HOME or I authorized you to be here.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Just something to remember for next time,¡± I said as I looked around.


    Her HOME was, dare I say it, quaint. Two walls were filled with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. Another wall, the one with the door, held a fireplace with a pair of comfy looking recliners positioned in front of it and an end table between the chairs with a small lamp. The last wall was actually a window that looked out onto a lake with tall trees and mountains, a classic beautiful cabin view. The corner of the window wall and the fireplace wall was interrupted slightly by a small room with an open door I could see the costume locker in. A quick mental calculation told me that the square footage of the room was the same as mine, just filled differently.


    I asked the first question that came to mind, ¡°Why bookshelves? I can make an educated guess on the view, but that has me a bit stumped.¡±


    ¡°There are a large number of books in Braille or in audio format, but most of the indie publishers and web serials don¡¯t get converted. I have loved stories ever since I was a little girl and my father would read to me. He always told me that I could make the worlds in my own head, and then it wouldn¡¯t matter what other people saw. I know it was more to comfort me, but it did help,¡± she answered.


    I couldn¡¯t argue the reasoning, and as we sat down in the chairs I asked another question before thinking about it, ¡°So what is all do you have on the shelves?¡±


    She pointed at sections as she answered, ¡°Those are non-fiction: Geography, Law, Psychology, and Arts and Crafts for the most part. The fiction is a bit of a custom piece. I was able to link some online book subscriptions and web serials to the shelves, so I can pull a book off and it will be the stories I want.¡±


    Okay, that was just cool. It wasn¡¯t far off of having an e-book reader. My musings were interrupted by her asking a question, ¡°So I asked my dad about the terrorist incident at the school. He told me that the police had managed to disable most of the bombs around the school, but didn¡¯t know about the vest the leader was wearing. Apparently there was one fatality, the terrorist, and a casualty; a young man who was visiting a former teacher but got caught in the blast. Was that you?¡±


    I nodded and replied, ¡°Yes it was. I spent about three months between the hospital and recovery before the immersion pod was fully set up.¡±


    She smiled and said, ¡°You forget, I saw inside your head when you were blocking me from reading your intent in our fight. One of the first things you thought of was that day. Your thoughts were hard to piece together, but I get the impression you had the opportunity to get away before the explosion.¡±


    I sighed; something told me she wouldn¡¯t let it rest. I explained, ¡°I could have gotten behind some cover, but there was a little girl fairly close. In the movies there are explosions that just knock people down, but shrapnel and concussive force are what generally kill people. I knew that the only way the kid wouldn¡¯t get seriously crippled or dead was if someone or something else blunted the force that hit her. Since the only thing big enough that could get in front of her was me I did so. The movies don¡¯t do the damage justice.¡±


    She smiled, ¡°And now, for a game where you get to be a superhero, you choose techniques that allow you to stop bullets and shrapnel from hitting other people.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve already been digging into those psychology books haven¡¯t you?¡± I replied.


    She let out another bell like laugh as she answered, ¡°Maybe a little, it was actually something I overheard Savira say to Mr. O¡¯Brian after you left. She was discussing you and Jacob¡¯s power choices.¡±


    Curiosity compelled me to ask, ¡°Did he have anything to say to that?¡±


    ¡°He said he had wished you had the ability to use those powers then, and that it was a shame that people with your sense of ethics couldn¡¯t do more,¡± she answered.


    We continued talking about different subjects as the time passed. It was actually a pleasant way to spend time, her mind jumped to different topics often enough to keep my own engaged. I could tell she was amused by how quickly I came up with theories and answers to the questions she asked. Eventually she asked, ¡°How do you come up with answers so quickly? I can¡¯t read your mind right now, but I don¡¯t get the sense that you¡¯re just blowing smoke out your ass either.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°One of my old teachers, the one I was at the school to visit actually, was having difficulty getting me to show my work in class. Math is boring to me, all those methods just to get an answer. I got snarky with her one time when she gave me a poor score on a quiz because I didn¡¯t show my work and ended up with detention. Instead of the typical clean the classroom or write on the board time waster she actually sat me down with her and her husband. Her husband was a guidance councilor for the local university.¡±


    She nodded at me to continue and I did, ¡°Anyway, we talked and I explained how I went from question to answer without considering the method actively. He asked a few questions, and then explained that I likely had the rarer combined type of ADHD, he couldn¡¯t diagnosis of course because he wasn¡¯t a shrink. He did give me some advice on how to deal with it though so I could continue to learn. I started doing mental exercises for processing information quickly, but it had a side effect: I would constantly analyze everything and my mind would form conclusions. It doesn¡¯t help me stay focused long enough to learn boring material, but it helped a great deal with general aptitude in many subjects.¡±


    ¡°So you learned to be a jack of all trades, but couldn¡¯t focus enough to go through an advanced degree course?¡± she asked.


    I shook my head and clarified, ¡°Yes and no, I am pretty good with hands on tasks. I taught myself woodworking as I could shift to different projects as the mood struck me. Anything like that where variety in skills was a sign of ability rather than a focused skill set I was good at. In general though no, spending time studying for higher education was difficult. It¡¯s why I was looking for a physically active career, or something with a regimented lifestyle that could help curb my own issues.¡±


    ¡°But due to an explosive change in circumstances you have to be idle, except for when you get into the game and can run around saving people again,¡± she said with a grin.


    I laughed and said, ¡°Exactly.¡±


    There was the sound of a doorbell, and as we looked to the door Savira walked in wearing the business suit we had seen at the caf¨¦. She smiled at us and said, ¡°Good, you¡¯re still here. William has a counter-offer for your training.¡±


    Arya spoke up before I could and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the counter offer?¡±


    ¡°Between the five of you there is a total of three hours of training time remaining. You may trade it all in to either give everybody thirty minutes of training time with the full game system engaged, or you may trade it in to do a scenario we were finalizing,¡± she answered.


    It took me about two seconds to decide which one I wanted to do, another second to see a potential fly in the ointment, and three to form the words properly, ¡°I am interested in the scenario, but I would like to know some of the details on it.¡±


    Arya looked at me with a lifted eyebrow and I shrugged while saying, ¡°Training rooms are great, but you can¡¯t test yourself without proper opposition.


    Savira however just nodded and said, ¡°The scenario was what we intend to use as the tutorial and power acquiring stage of the open release of both Call and Creed. The content was designed for a party after the powers acquisition phase. That is where you would be starting, and you will earn in game rewards from this, as those were already calculated.¡±


    ¡°Are we casting votes for this? I¡¯m interested, but I don¡¯t feel like inviting a crowd here to get everyone¡¯s answer,¡± Arya interjected.


    Savira shook her head and replied, ¡°Since over sixty percent of the remaining training time is Mr. Cayne¡¯s we thought it best to let him decide how he wants it used.¡±


    I was shaking my head before she even finished speaking, ¡°Nope, we decided to go into this as a team. I won¡¯t overrule a group vote on this.¡±


    ¡°It seems I have lost my bet; William said you would choose to go that route,¡± Savira began.


    I chuckled as she continued, ¡°Since he has managed to predict your choices fairly accurately so far, I took the liberty of asking the rest of your team. They indicated they would like to try the scenario.¡±


    I looked to the red head next to me and asked, ¡°Thoughts?¡±


    She nodded, ¡°I like the idea of an actual trial, especially one where we can start out earning rewards.¡±


    Turning back to Savira I said, ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡±

 CHAPTER 10

    It began with a rushing feeling, like when you start a deep fall on a roller coaster, then a tunnel of shifting light, followed by a shape in the distance quickly rushing towards me. A few moments later I felt like I was slowing down only to lurch forward into a short push onto a smooth stone floor. It took me a moment to regain my balance, and I heard the sound of someone next to me failing to do so.


    Looking around I found my team and I were in a stone room about the same size as our HOMEs. The wall behind us held a large archway made up of glyphs I didn¡¯t recognize that were slowly fading from a blue glow to the same color as the rest of the stone. Opposite that was another archway, this time made of stone with a large double door within. I offered a hand to the teammate who had fallen, Jacob, and used it to regain his footing with a brief thanks. He was dressed in a set of black slacks, a white long sleeved button down, and a grey vest; perfect for going downtown for a business trip, maybe not so great for a battlefield. The siblings were also present, dressed in combat boots, tactical khakis, and black t-shirts; Jerome¡¯s had a popular rock band logo on his. Arya was dressed similar to me in denim pants, sturdy boots, and a t-shirt.


    My vision however was a bit different; I had a grey, semi-translucent, bar in the lower right side of my view. When I focused on it I saw Energy 100% appear in it as it became more opaque.


    Jerome¡¯s voice interrupted the silence, ¡°That was a rush, reminds me of an old sci-fi show though.¡±


    Jacob spoke up, his voice a little shaky, ¡°Only so many ways to do a portal mechanic, that one was probably the simplest.¡±


    Arya said, ¡°Guess we are in here wearing civvies.¡±


    As we all focused on her she clarified, ¡°I put on my costume before coming here, but arrived wearing this.¡±


    I nodded and spoke, ¡°Savira did say this was supposed to be the intro scenario for launch. It would explain why we wouldn¡¯t have our costumes yet. Before we head out though, do we want to discuss what we can do?¡±


    Rebecca nodded and said, ¡°Probably a good idea, who knows what pot we dropped into. I¡¯m an ice user: armor, weapons, and blasts.¡±


    Nodding my thanks for her starting, ¡°Kinetic controller here. I can do shields, armor, enhanced speed and strength, thrown projectiles, and a 360 degree sensory trick.¡±


    Jerome asked, ¡°How did you end up with so many tricks?¡±


    Rebecca answered for me, ¡°He limited himself to kinetics like I did for ice. I hadn¡¯t thought about kinetic energy actually. Remember how my ice limitation let me have multiple objects I could start out creating with my technique?¡±


    He nodded and then said, ¡°Right, forgot about that. I went with the power spike rather than the spread so I didn¡¯t see it as much. Enhanced defense and strength for me, I can crank up my density to the point where tank shells bounce off and throw the tank at another one.¡±


    Arya shook her head, ¡°Not quite how I would have put it, but from the looks of what you picked you might be able to also reduce your density also and phase through objects.¡±


    I smirked a bit as everyone looked at her. Sighing she said, ¡°I¡¯m a telepath type. I have mental communication techniques and an ability to read powers. Think of the power reading technique as a scanner or identification technique.¡±


    Jacob said, ¡°Like I said at the caf¨¦, I¡¯m a tech user. I have a few different gadgets I can make, but I was informed that takes time. I also have a single low grade spike that lets me conjure single handed items, including simple weapons; this will give me some combat ability when I run out of gadgets since most of my other techniques have a one-time use limitation.¡±


    ¡°Any limitations on the weapon creation?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The quality or material of the object is the same tier as the power, so in this case just Tier one and I have to have a blueprint of the item. I received three blueprints for it. Two of them are tools while the third is a handgun and corresponding magazine. I believe the handgun is a 9mm pistol that I have to conjure new magazines for to reload,¡± he answered


    Jerome spoke up, ¡°I don¡¯t mean to sound rude, but do you know how to shoot a gun?¡±


    Jacob waggled his hand and answered, ¡°Yes and no; I have played multiple virtual shooters so my hand eye coordination should be okay. Dealing with recoil however may be a bit of a challenge for me. It¡¯s why I selected a simple pistol for the weapon; while I may not be able to fire quickly I should hit what I aim at.¡±


    Rebecca spoke up, ¡°Let¡¯s get going then. Rome and Alex on point, Jacob and Arya next, and I¡¯m tail-end Charlie.¡±Stolen novel; please report.


    I raised a hand and said, ¡°Hold up, does anyone else see that bar in the lower right of your vision?¡±


    Everyone nodded and Rebecca said, ¡°I also have a couple of boxes with weapon options above it.¡±


    Jacob said, ¡°Me too, I¡¯m guessing those are the blueprints I can use with my creation technique.¡±


    ¡°Right, so before we go through the door maybe we should test how much that bar drops when you use your techniques? We can¡¯t see our power descriptions,¡± I said before trailing off and looking at Arya.


    She smiled and said, ¡°I can though. My reading technique has a cost of about 5% of my energy each time I use it to read your status, but affects everything in my field of vision and stays until I dismiss it and can be minimized or time passes. The battle reading technique I used on you reserves 10% of my energy, while my mental link reserves 5% per person linked.¡±


    A quick examination of everyone and we learned the costs in the energy for each of us. The weapon creation techniques used 5% of their energy, mana in Rebecca¡¯s case, and reserved it while the weapon was out. My enhancement and armor both reserved 25% of my energy, while Jerome¡¯s enhanced density scaled in reserve cost depending on how dense he made himself. My kinetic projectile was odd though, with a 0.1% to 1% cost, which I assumed meant it depended on either ammunition or velocity. My kinetic bastion listed a 5% reserve to use it, but also a variable cost I would have to figure out later, while my radar sense used reserved 10% energy. We also restored about 1% of our energy per ten seconds, while Rebecca restored 0.5% every three seconds.


    After a quick bit of mental math I realized I would need to decide between fighting up close and personal with the enhanced body or at range with the kinetic projectile during fights because I couldn¡¯t sustain both for a long period of time.


    After we took a moment to let our energy restore I activated my armor and my radar sense and said, ¡°Now we can get to it.¡±


    Jerome and I each pushed on one of the doors. After a slight resistance, and the squeal of rusty hinges, the doors opened to reveal a throne room reminiscent of medieval castles save for one glaring difference. Half the room, what once would have lead to a courtyard, was missing; jagged edges of walls and floor showed where the building had been ripped asunder or blown outwards. The remains of a tattered carpet led to a throne of tarnished bronze, the backrest of which was shaped into an upright infinity symbol. The opening in the wall showed the view of a star filled void and there was a sound coming from that direction of wind rushing across vast distances.


    ¡°You¡¯re early or maybe late, definitely not on time though,¡± said an aged, but still rich, male voice.


    My head whipped around to see an old bald man with a trimmed grey mustache and beard step out from behind the throne. I was instantly on guard due to the fact that I saw an icon above my energy bar that showed my radar sense was running, but this man wasn¡¯t registering in it. He stood tall, with a toned physique, in a red toga and leather sandals. His hands were clasped behind his back as he slowly stepped towards us while saying, ¡°Calm your selves champions, I am the proverbial welcoming committee. Welcome to the Castle at the End of Time.¡±


    Arya spoke up, her agitation clear in her voice, ¡°Pretty grandiose of a name for a ruin, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    His chuckle was warm and gentle as he answered, ¡°Even the end of time can fall to its passage. I am Malchior, the castellan of the keep. I believe you are the heroes called to aid another realm in its upcoming time of need?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the theory as we understand it,¡± Jerome responded, his body tensing as I could feel his technique activating with my own ability.


    ¡°There may be a bit of a complication with that,¡± Malchior said, ¡°You see, transit between worlds requires passing through this realm as you exit your own world. It seems you were deposited here as the passageway was severed when the castle fell and the council was captured¡±


    ¡°The council?¡± Jacob asked.


    Malchior nodded and said, ¡°The rulers of death, time, and fate run this realm and control the passages between. It is hard to define how long ago it happened, but the castle was attacked and they were separated from their sources of power. This left many passageways uncontrolled, bringing a multitude of problems to this realm and others.¡±


    Rebecca interrupted, ¡°How is it hard to define how long ago this happened?¡±


    My theory was confirmed as Malchior answered, ¡°This is the End of Time young lady, and it doesn¡¯t exist here as it does in your realm. That means I can¡¯t define the passage to you as you would comprehend it.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± was her softly spoken response.


    ¡°Now; as one of your world¡¯s keepers has informed me that you have been granted special abilities in the hope of aiding another world could I impose upon you to aid us as well?¡± Malchior asked.


    ¡°What do you need?¡± I asked.


    Malchior walked to the edge of the ruined wall and motioned to something unseen below while saying, ¡°This is a small realm, and should the rulers here be taken from it, by death or travel, the powers they controlled would be passed to the regent for the realms defense and operation until a new lord or lady is chosen. This means they are still here somewhere. I would ask that you search for them, and free them from whatever holds them.¡±


    I moved to the edge of the ruined castle and looked down on a massive city of anachronism. Thatched cottages ran along roads next to modern apartments, a futuristic skyscraper merged with an industrial era blimp landing port, and gas lanterns lined roads with modern traffic lights. The ground was covered in a low hanging mist with sudden swirls showing hidden motion throughout the city. When I moved my view away from a section it would change when I returned my gaze.


    Jacob spoke up, ¡°With everything shifting it will be hard to find anyone.¡±


    The old man¡¯s somber tone replied, ¡°I have enough power still to hold the realm to a single state, but in so doing those that attacked will know I am up to something. You will not have long to find the castle¡¯s true owners.¡±


    I interjected with, ¡°I thought there wasn¡¯t any time here.¡±


    His rich laugh spoke volumes as he said, ¡°Quite right, so you should have long enough. Now, will you help us?¡±


    I looked to my companions, who all nodded at me, and I said, ¡°Sounds like fun, we¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Malchior nodded and pointed to a set of double doors near the tear in the castle, ¡°That door will take you to the city below.¡±

 CHAPTER 11

    He hadn¡¯t been kidding; as we passed through the doors we appeared at the bottom of the cliff that lead up to the castle. The swirling fog that had been present started to drift away from us in a wave, revealing the city. The mixed time periods of the city didn¡¯t change from the chaotic mess we had seen from above, but it no longer changed from one glance to another.


    Arya¡¯s hand rested on my shoulder and I looked back to her and found her tapping the side of her head. I nodded, guessing she wanted to set up a mental link. That nod seemed to be enough agreement for the system as I saw a new icon above my energy bar.


    ¡°Okay, the group is linked up. I figured we didn¡¯t want voices to carry since we don¡¯t know what is here,¡± her mental voice broadcast to the team.


    ¡°If we are going for an initial stealth approach I am going to wait to armor up. I am not what one would call subtle,¡± Rebecca said.


    ¡°Fair enough, I¡¯ll take point as my technique should allow me to sense enemies. Any guesses on what we will see?¡± I asked.


    Surprisingly it was Jacob that responded, ¡°P.I. doesn¡¯t tend to follow the standard trash mobs to bosses in their games. Theoretically we should be able to sneak our way to the goal, but plan for at least one fight. With the mix up of time periods I would guess on anything from prehistoric critters to advanced robotics for enemies.¡±


    I tuned out the discussion as much as I could as we moved forward into the city. From above it hadn¡¯t looked that large, and I remembered a few distinct landmarks: a park, a church, a factory, the docks, and a cemetery. The cemetery was the closest, up against the cliff the castle rose from and off to the west. No compass points meant that direction was a bit fuzzy, but I decided that the castle was due south for orientation purpose.


    We all froze when we heard an inhuman screech from the north. Jerome¡¯s voice came through the link, ¡°I think the cleared fog just reached something that isn¡¯t happy with us meddling.¡±


    Jacob responded, ¡°Rough math of the fog clearing and distances would put that sound coming from the park near the center of the city.¡±


    ¡°One location at a time, let¡¯s clear the cemetery first and then head for the park as it is a central location,¡± Arya said.


    It took us about ten minutes to work our way through to the cemetery, the structures seemed to stabilize a bit as we neared it. The architecture reminded me of the old pictures of the United States in the 1950s after World War II. As we neared the cemetery the pattern continued as it appeared to be a soldier¡¯s memorial in theme. As the edge of my radar passed the gateway I held up a hand to stop our team. I then promptly turned to the nearby building and bumped my head into the wall a few times.


    Arya¡¯s mental chuckle told me she was using her other techniques to see what I was sensing and she filled in the group, ¡°They went with a classic for a cemetery.¡±


    Soft groans came from the rest of the party as they understood. Zombies of one form or another wasn¡¯t exactly a strange concept in a game, but still it tended to be a bit overdone. The sound of the gate opening brought my head snapping around to see the obviously dead man in a marine dress uniform, missing an arm, opening the gate and looking at us. He opened his mouth, coughed out some dust, and then in a firm voice said, ¡°Are you coming or what?¡±


    I blinked a couple times while looking at the zombie soldier. He repeated himself, ¡°What, never seen a Marine before? Get your asses in here already, if the old man pushed back the chaos that means that time is advancing here now.¡±


    Rebecca spoke up, ¡°Sorry corporal, but from our understanding the walking dead aren¡¯t usually considered friendly.¡±


    Have you ever seen a zombie scowl? It isn¡¯t a pretty sight, especially when they apparently have Marine training in looking scary before they start walking around after they are in the ground. His dry voice barked out, ¡°I¡¯m a Marine, girl. The job wasn¡¯t over when they put me in the ground, just came to a new battlefield. Now are you going to get Thanatos out of his chains or do you want what peace the dead have be permanently ended.¡±


    I sensed as both Rebecca and Jerome snapped to attention at the tone of command in his voice. I also detected a sudden motion coming towards the gate and watched as the zombie turned and drew the saber that was part of his uniform and cut behind him, a trail of black flame filling the air where the blade passed, and cutting through what looked like a desiccated corpse covered in pitch black skin with teeth that wouldn¡¯t look out of place in a sharks mouth.


    The dead soldier spat out to his side and barked out again, ¡°Get a move on, I¡¯ll keep these monstrosities from getting out. They have him chained in the central mausoleum.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    I once again took the lead, it was hard not to rush forward with my physical enhancement running, but I didn¡¯t want to deactivate it as I had seen how fast those things moved. I would have to rely on speed and force to beat opponents for now as I wasn¡¯t yet confident in my skills.


    ¡°Jacob, don¡¯t shoot unless you have to; the noise will probably bring them running. Rebecca, if you can avoid armoring up while we move that would be best, but you¡¯re still quieter than a gun shot. Jerome and Alex move hard and fast, these things aren¡¯t alive so don¡¯t hesitate,¡± Arya¡¯s mental voice came through clearly, mental communication had the advantage of not needing lungs to project it.


    As we moved I did a low step, my hand sweeping out to grab some gravel from the pathway. I wasn¡¯t in the costume which meant no ammunition except what I could make for myself. None too soon it seemed as I sensed two spots of motion ahead coming at us from either side; one was larger and a little slower than the other, but both moved at a speed that could match professional athletes.


    ¡°Jerome, you have one coming in at two o¡¯clock. Alex I assume you see the one at ten?¡± Arya¡¯s mental voice sounded before I could say anything.


    For a split second I was slightly annoyed, but my rapid-fire thoughts quickly analyzed and spat back out a more logical reason: she was calling it out so I could focus on the fight. She didn¡¯t have any way to hit them from a distance, and most of her techniques were support and information gathering not combat. It did make more sense for her to use my sensory technique to manage the battlefield while those of us with higher damage output did our thing.


    My own mental voice almost tripped over Jerome¡¯s as we both gave an affirmative to her call. Since I didn¡¯t have to rely on just my eyes to see my target I focused on lining up a shot at the approaching target, causing the targeting lines to appear. I could only see the outline of my target, like a three dimensional line drawing, but it was shaped more or less humanoid if a bit gaunt. Aiming while running was a tricky prospect, which made me glad that Phil had insisted I do that as part of my training course. I did a sidearm throw at the creature, launching three of the gravel pieces at it. All three sped off at high velocity to impact it, one in the torso and the other two taking it in the throat dropping it into a graceless tumble that it didn¡¯t rise from.


    Shortly after it dropped the other one appeared to normal vision. It was huge, as in professional football lineman huge, with a ebony skin and muscles that strained to be held in. No hair was visible and its eyes glowed with a violent red light. I watched as it sprang at Jerome, hands with sharp talons extending from the fingertips outstretched. Jerome was up to the task though, and with a quick step forward he swept his arms in to catch the creature¡¯s wrists. It didn¡¯t stop the forward momentum though and it impacted into Jerome at full speed.


    Have you ever seen a dog try and corner too fast and tumble into a cabinet? That¡¯s what it reminded me of, but at about double the speed. Jerome pushed the arms back around its back and then with a sharp bed backwards into a wrestler¡¯s supplex slammed its head into the stone path we were following. The stone cracked, and the creature stopped moving as the lights in its eyes faded.


    ¡°Arya, did your power reading technique give you any information about these things other than mindless?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, it only works on sentient creatures. It¡¯s an imposed limitation, now I wish I hadn¡¯t taken it,¡± she responded.


    Jacob interjected, ¡°Not to worry, I¡¯ll come up with something we can use for analyzing enemies without a brain.¡±


    My mind kept moving, part of it keeping track of every motion around us. It was odd, for most of my life my constantly unable to focus brain had been a detriment in situations that required focus; but a high stakes situation like this, even if it was technically a game, brought that ability to rapidly shift thoughts and analyze things to an advantage especially with the technique I had chosen. There wasn¡¯t any more motion within my range, but I couldn¡¯t see inside of the sealed mausoleums, and wasn¡¯t interested in looking in them either. That would be too much like a bad zombie movie.


    ¡°Our target is just ahead, let¡¯s keep moving,¡± Rebecca said.


    We kept going a bit more cautiously, but still quickly towards the mausoleum the zombie soldier had said held Thanatos. Apparently whoever wrote this scenario had decided that using the old Greek Lord of the Dead for this was a good idea. I wondered if Time and Fate would follow the same source material, although there was a multitude of options in mythology. It only took us a couple of minutes to reach the large central mausoleum, the stone building with large oaken doors loomed before us in the darkness.


    ¡°Shock and awe, or stealth?¡± Arya asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go shock and awe, if we can put whoever is in there on their back foot it will give us a moment to take in the situation. There is a chance that whoever is holding Thanatos already knows we are here,¡± I said while I hoped the bad guy would do a classic monologue.


    My radar sense showed me Rebecca being covered in an armor, reminiscent of 14<sup>th</sup> century full plate, made out of ice as Jerome took a step forward and slammed his booted foot into the oak doors, causing them to crash inwards.


    Within the chamber was a marble floor covered in sigils and circles containing a chained figure, he wore a pair of black jeans and had a bare chiseled torso. His long dark hair hung down over his face, as his arms strained against the chains that shackled him. Wings of shadow lifted from his back and seemed to strain against an invisible wall around him. Behind him rested an open sarcophagus where another black skinned individual stood. Unlike the ones we had seen outside this one¡¯s eyes didn¡¯t glow, and his form was less gaunt. He also wore clothing, a medieval style tunic, pants, and boots. In his left hand he held a sword that shed a black flame and in his right he held an obsidian knife dripping with blood.


    The chained Lord of Death looked up and said, his whisper carrying in the silence, ¡°Realmwalkers, flee this place. If time has no sway here than he cannot complete the theft of my power.¡±

 CHAPTER 12

    ¡°It also stops when we take him out,¡± my voice came out with all the warmth of a glacier.


    Honestly I wasn¡¯t sure what came over me, but I knew the sight of seeing someone chained and helpless reached a part of me that was not friendly to the one who had done it. So of course I broke ranks and rushed the wannabe Dark One at top speed.


    Arya¡¯s voice was the first one I heard through the mental link, and like our first conversation it was vulgar, ¡±You gods be damned righteous, gangrenous, arse-grabbing, goat humping, brainless idiot.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t it be self-righteous,¡± Jacob¡¯s reply sounded cutting off Arya¡¯s tirade.


    ¡°Not in his case, stupid hero complex,¡± Arya said.


    ¡°Well right mentality, wrong tactics. Jerome back him up, he¡¯s fast so keep anything that might pop up off his back; Jacob same for you. Arya you¡¯re on overwatch, if you see it call it out,¡± Rebecca¡¯s brisk voice commanded the rest of the group.


    It only took a handful of seconds to move around the circle that incased Thanatos, but it was a good thing my team was covering for my rash actions. Darth Wannabe raised his black knife and what looked like shadows and blood coalesced around the room forming into four more of the abominations we fought outside. Two were in the path of Jerome blocking him from reaching me, and the other two formed near the rest of the team. Even though I saw this with my radar sense I stayed focused on the leader. Logic dictated that even villains had the same overall setup as we did, but likely a bit stronger since we were going up against this one as a team rather than individually. This guy was a minion master archetype which meant his primary abilities lay in his creations, but he might have a few more tricks but shouldn¡¯t be the same level of threat as a scrapper type boss for me to take on alone.


    ¡°Shit, you¡¯re right. It¡¯s really easy to forget how fast your mind works when I stay out of it. Keep the minions off of Alex everyone,¡± Arya said.


    Three seconds to target, my mind kept working as I analyzed a possibility. The flaming sword didn¡¯t fit his character, but Thanatos was often depicted wielding a flaming sword which meant it was likely his. My intent was focused on a particular outcome, and like in the training hall my techniques evolved to show me how to accomplish my goal.


    I reached him going at full speed, and saw the slash of his sword coming at me. My motion had already been planned though, expecting the slash, and I slid under it with my leg leading as if I was taking second base. I could feel the heat of the blade as it passed a few inches from my face, but as my foot impacted the wall behind him I pushed off. Like when I redirected the cannon ball in training I sent a palm strike at the pommel of the sword my entire body behind it. I felt a dull pain as my hand struck, but it accomplished the goal as the sword flew from his hand like a javelin and lodged into the stone frame of the door we had come in its entire length.


    The dull pain in my hand was replaced by a sharp burning pain as I felt the obsidian blade cut me from shoulder to elbow causing me to recoil back and assume a defensive stance while staring at the black skinned man.


    ¡°You will pay for that boy,¡± he rasped out.


    ¡°Eh, maybe, but I really only have one thing to say now,¡± I responded.


    He let out a classic evil laugh and asked, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    I smiled and as I did a standing backflip, enhanced by my kinetic technique, I said, ¡°Switch.¡±


    Jerome rushed under me, his fist leading as he took over the melee fight with the now partially disarmed villain. I had seen him coming behind me after I had taken the cut and known his increased density would make him a better opponent for this guy. I twisted to land facing the dissolving forms of his former opponents. Rebecca was finishing off her opponents while Jacob was holding the flaming sword, its blade now a pale blue flame, and examining the circle and chains that bound Thanatos. Arya stood without focusing on anything leading me to believe she was using my sight to view the battlefield. I still thought that her ability to do that was impressive.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Admire later, kick ass now,¡± she said in my mind, bringing a grin to my face.


    I watched as Jerome crossed his arms, not bothering to block, as the dark-skinned man tried to stab him. His blade shattered on the dense brawler and I quipped, ¡°Brings a new meaning to rock hard abs.¡±


    I heard mental laughter and groans from my team as I turned and watched a look of fear cross the ebony face before resolve replaced it. As he took a few steps back I cursed and tried to close on him; only to have him dissolve into black blood and seem into the stone beneath us.


    ¡°That could come back to bite us,¡± Rebecca said.


    ¡°It is what it is, anyone have any understanding of these chains though. I¡¯m sure it will become easier if we can free the god of death,¡± Jacob said.


    I spoke aloud for the prisoner¡¯s benefit, ¡°Try cutting the sigils with the sword. Other than it being a symbol of Thanatos¡¯s power I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he took the sword to prevent him from cutting them.¡±


    Jacob swept the blade at the nearest set of sigils and the blade melted the stone they were inscribed on. A brief ripple of light and shadows rushed around the room and I could sense inside where the circle was. Thanatos lifted himself to one knee, straining the chains that bound him, and Jacob quickly struck twice to sever them.


    The god stood slowly and reclaimed his sword. A much more practice set of cuts relieved his arms of the manacles that the chains were attached too. His voice came out much stronger as he said, ¡°I thank you for your aid.¡±


    Jerome replied, ¡°You¡¯re welcome, but I would recommend returning to the castle until your strength recovers a bit more.¡±


    ¡°You may be right champion, but it would ill behoove me to not award a boon to those who saved me from oblivion. Know this; death can make no claim on you whilst you adventure in other realms. Your spirit and body shall return but the transition may be a bit rough. Fight well champions,¡± Thanatos said before stepping out of the mausoleum and taking wing.


    Jacob returned to using the mental link, ¡°Respawn system?¡±


    ¡°Most likely, and a hint at a death penalty,¡± I replied.


    ¡°It would also explain why the fight was a bit easier, we are supposed to be able to win it without it being a lethal challenge,¡± Arya said.


    We started making our way back towards the entrance of the cemetery when Jerome asked, ¡°Wasn¡¯t that a little too easy though? I mean he ran off right after I got in punching range.¡±


    ¡°Alex caught him by surprise when he disarmed him, by the way congrats on the technique evolution,¡± Arya said.


    ¡°What technique evolution?¡± Rebecca asked.


    I answered, guessing at what she was referring to, ¡°When we were training before I gained the ability to see aiming lines for projectile attacks. It seems to have modified for melee attacks as well, which is how I dodged that swing and was knew when to strike to send the blade this way.¡±


    ¡°So a predictive algorithm for combat,¡± Jacob said.


    Arya shook her head and replied, ¡°No, it showed him arcs where the melee attack could go from the point of the knife and sword. He had to judge for himself how to dodge the attacks.¡±


    ¡°Impressive that you managed to dodge Alex,¡± Rebecca said.


    ¡°Not really,¡± I said playing down my own calculations, ¡°It¡¯s why I slid, it took my body out of the line of every attack but a downward thrust.¡±


    ¡°Still, a technique evolving isn¡¯t like other games. I heard they were working on a new skill system for use in their games but this is impressive,¡± Jacob said.


    My own mental snort drew curious looks from the others and I said, ¡°I had a meeting with William for the offer to join this test. During that meeting I asked him how many birds he was getting with a single stone. He told me as many as he could. What do you want to wager that the technique evolution was one of the birds he wanted to get?¡±


    ¡°Most likely, it will provide an interesting method of leveling up though if we can evolve our techniques to allow for more flexibility, but it will make things more difficult for those use to an action bar,¡± Arya said.


    Rebecca replied, ¡°Yes and no, a friend of mine was in the Alpha test, and he said they had quick slot actions available for the more casual players. I would guess that the choice between control interface can be chosen at the start of the actual games release. Now on to more important question: where to next?¡±


    We had arrived at the gate to find the zombie marine still standing guard and the choice of paths. I said, The park is a central location, and we already know there is something there from that scream earlier. Let¡¯s go there and see what happens. Jacob, side note for you; we are going to need some kind of recon device if we end up with another large area mission.¡±


    ¡°Already planned on it, I have a few different blueprints in mind to create when I get a chance to play with the crafting system,¡± he replied.


    With that we took off, falling back into the movement order we had traveled here in.

 CHAPTER 13

    It didn¡¯t take very long for us to find a way leading to the center of the ¡°town.¡± It was less mentally jarring now to see the different levels of technology mashed together in the town. Personally I think it would be easier if there was some aesthetic mix, but with the random way everything was put together it was an eyesore. As we moved toward a three way intersection I stopped and looked around.


    ¡°Do you see something?¡± Arya asked over the mental link.


    I didn¡¯t respond yet as I focused on everything around me. Cottages, streetlights, gas lamps lining the road, some fancy trash cans, two blue box telephone booths, some mixed time-period trash, a wagon cart with barrels, and a single tennis shoe.


    ¡°Nothing I can put my finger on. Something seems off though,¡± I finally answered, my mind churning through the possibilities.


    ¡°This is a classic ambush site,¡± Rebecca pointed out.


    ¡°Yes, but Alex¡¯s radar sense should detect movement even through the walls.¡± Jacob pointed out.


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s based on kinetic energy. I see everything around, but something is off,¡± I said.


    I had only a split second warning as I sensed the movement and the positions of my team and I moved with all the speed my enhancement granted me to place myself in front of Jacob. My movement put me in the path of the steel clawed missile that had propelled itself from the roof of one of the cottages. Unfortunately my barrier only slowed it down as its mantis like claws stabbed through my torso. I collapsed to the ground, pain wracking my body though not as much as I expected. There must be some kind of pain dampener in place for the game because this should hurt a lot more. While I wasn¡¯t gone yet, I suspected I was going to be seeing the respawn system fairly soon.


    That was for later; right now I still had what looked like a robotic praying mantis sitting on my chest with its claws in me. I didn¡¯t want to jerk the blades around and hasten my respawn so melee strikes were out. Then again, physics still played a role in fights.


    I could barely sense motion within the robot¡¯s joints, but I could still sense it. I was certain that¡¯s what had tipped me off about the intersection to begin with but I hadn¡¯t been sure of what I was sensing until now. It was probably some kind of servo or stabilizer to control the joints, but like creature that walked upright I knew of: the joints were a weak point. I could also see ports on its shoulders opening to reveal some kind of gun, likely a futuristic weapon that didn¡¯t rely on kinetic energy to deliver an attack. The stab wounds, still containing this thing¡¯s claws, screamed in pain as I reached into my pockets for some of the rocks I had picked up along the way. My radar sense showed me Rebecca moving to assist me as I brought my hands up next to the robot¡¯s joints and thumbed the rocks at the joints like I was shooting marbles.


    It worked beautifully, the sharp rocks blasting through the less armored portion below the claws; the hydrostatic shock ripping the joint apart. I filed away the need to thank my sadistic mentor for forcing me to learn to use the kinetic projectile technique in different ways as I brought my knees up against the back my assailant. I was still using my enhancement so the impact was enough to move the thing, and with my intent to turn it into a projectile it was launched off of me and into one of the futuristic trash cans; the trash can won as the thing came apart from the impact.


    Unfortunately that still left me with a pair of blades in my chest, and a body screaming with pain. ¡°I don¡¯t have the patience for this shit,¡± I grunted out as I struggled to my feet.


    The blades were through my upper pectoral muscles, and I was honestly a little shocked they hadn¡¯t pierced my lungs or cut the major blood vessels going to my arms. Hell for all I knew they had and I was bleeding internally or they were staunching the blood flow themselves. Rebecca reached me and cursed when she saw the injury.


    ¡°Alex is hit bad, I can¡¯t tell how badly though with the blades still in him. Jerome quit toying with that thing and take it out,¡± she said as she examined my torso.


    I could see Jerome working to catch the other robot that had targeted Arya, but it was moving fairly fast. Jacob spoke aloud, refocusing my attention, ¡°We have four more coming, two from either path.¡±


    Arya spoke up over the mental link, ¡°Jerome when it jumps back from you it can only go forward rapidly, clothesline the tin can.¡±


    Trusting in them to handle the one up close I focused on how to deal with the approaching combatants. My arms were barely responding, and I could feel the blood running down my chest from where I had used my arms earlier. I didn¡¯t have much left in me and needed something outside the box or they would be facing these four without me soon.


    My eyes landed on the shoe sitting in the middle of the street and I grinned, and sensed Rebecca lean back from me. Guess my smile was a little bit disturbed considering my current state. In two steps I was at the shoe and as I kicked it toward the robot Jerome was still trying to predict I said, ¡°Boot to the head.¡±


    The shoe rocketed toward the mantis-bot as it leapt back from Jerome, catching it in its triangular head. I doubted it did much damage, but it must have distracted the thing as Jerome caught up to it and proceeded to tear it apart. That wasn¡¯t my primary goal though; it was to find out if I could use my projectile with a kicked object.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Rebecca, I need a set of balls,¡± I stated, my mouth working before my brain could analyze what I said.


    I could sense the repressed laughter and it was a struggle not to face-palm with my injured arms as I thought about what I just said. Rebecca, fighting a grin, managed to choke out, ¡°They aren¡¯t in my list of constructs though.¡±


    ¡°Evolving techniques remember, focus on creating them from the ice and see if the system will let you, it¡¯s a simple object.¡± Arya¡¯s mind voice said.


    It took a few precious seconds as the other mantis-bots raced down the street toward us, but Rebecca managed to create a ball of ice roughly the size of a softball. Her grin would have made a wolf proud as she quickly created three more and placed them on the ground. I could feel my strength fading fast so I lined up and kicked the first one at the approaching bots. It blasted through the first bots head and I quickly kicked the other three at my targets, using the aiming lines my kinetic sense granted me. Two of the reaming mantis-bots went down as the ice ball crashed through their heads, but the third managed to leap up to the top of the phone booth and then leap again to come down at me with claws ready to strike again.


    My hands came up, the pain increasing with every movement, to grab the blades in my chest and use them as a last ditch weapon when a spear made of ice appeared in the path of the leaping robot, using its own momentum to pierce the armored torso. Rebecca had conjured the spear at just the right time so as not to give away what she was doing, and while the thing tried to drag its way down the spear at her she twisted and heaved, flinging it off the spear directly into the path of Jerome¡¯s hardened fist.


    Most of this was seen through my kinetic sense as my actual vision began to shrink and I felt my knees hit the ground. I heard my companions calling my name as memories of a collapsing building flooded my consciousness. As my thoughts faded I grunted out, ¡°This sucks.¡±


    * * * * *


    My vision cleared to show me a landscape in shades of grey with fields of wheat replacing the anachronistic city. I looked down to see my own body, still in color, wearing my now bloodstained shirt. When I looked up I found Thanatos, dressed in a modern business shirt, slacks, and tie, his wings folded behind his back and hair tied into a neat tail looking at me. His rich voice had a touch of amusement to it as he said, ¡°When I offered my blessing I didn¡¯t think any of you would be so quick to make use of it.¡±


    I shrugged, noticing in passing that I didn¡¯t feel the injuries to my torso with the motion, and replied, ¡°Hadn¡¯t planned to use it at all, but I wasn¡¯t quite quick enough to stop the attack and ensure it didn¡¯t hit my teammate.¡±


    ¡°True enough, but you might have considered hitting it first,¡± Thanatos said.


    My palm covered my face in an instant as I realized that he was right. My first instinct had been to cover my ally rather than trying to intercept the attack. I had enough warning to move and I had played enough football during high school that moving to tackle would have been my first option if the mantis-bot had been on the ground. I forgot to take into account my increased aerial mobility from my enhancement technique. It did raise the question though, ¡°Is part of the ¡®rough transition¡¯ you mentioned getting a lecture on the mistakes that caused the death?¡±


    The bastard smiled and said, ¡°Yes and no.¡±


    I glared at him, causing the Lord of Death to smile wider before he answered, ¡°The path back to the realm of the living takes time to appear in these fields. Since you will be going back to your own body it requires my intervention. While defining your mistakes isn¡¯t required I intend to make you aware of them. I would rather not spend all of my time sending heroes back to the realm of the living so it behooves me to give some advice on how to avoid it the next time.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°That makes sense, I wouldn¡¯t want to spend all of my time here. It is a bit of a bland environment.¡±


    Thanatos shook his head, ¡°No, you haven¡¯t passed into this realm fully. If you had it would require the realms caretaker to send you back. My blessing stops you from passing through the realm of life into the realm of death, which stops you from seeing the beauty of a hero¡¯s rest.¡±


    ¡°The Elysian Fields if I remember the tales correctly,¡± I said.


    He nodded and replied, ¡°Or Valhalla, or the Gates of Pearl, or a myriad of other afterlives depending on your beliefs. Since you are not moving on you get my choice in scenery.¡±


    I saw a doorway begin to take shape next to us and I said, ¡°Looks like it¡¯s almost time for me to go. Any other advice you would care to offer before the next time we meet here?¡±


    ¡°Try not to die,¡± he said and lifted into the air on his black wings.


    ¡°Great, a divine smart ass,¡± I said as the door finished taking shape.


    I stepped through the door, and immediately sucked in a sharp breath as my body sent mixed signals to my brain. Part of me said that I should be in a great deal of pain, but there was no injury present. The rapid change caused me to be disoriented and my eyes didn¡¯t want to focus for the time being. It also made it impossible to activate my kinetic sense to get a clearer idea of where I was.


    A soft hand rested on my chest and I heard Arya¡¯s voice, slightly distorted to my hearing, say, ¡°Shhh, you¡¯re safe. There are no threats here. Relax and let it pass.¡±


    I managed to get out a single word, ¡°Status?¡±


    ¡°You have a penalty called death disorientation. It says it will fade in less than a minute, but that the effects are worse depending on how often you die in a period of time. Wait sorry that¡¯s not what you wanted to ask,¡± she answered, I nodded and she continued, ¡°Rebecca and Jerome are keeping watch. I¡¯m making sure you aren¡¯t going to panic and start kicking us in the head from across a street, and Jacob is playing with the components he scavenged from the remains of those bots.¡±


    I laid my head back down and thought my next question, ¡°What did it look like when I was down?¡±


    ¡°You looked like a bled out corpse, but when I scanned your status it showed a respawn timer. It¡¯s been about an hour. How bad was it?¡±


    ¡°A little bland, apparently it¡¯s a grayscale world because we don¡¯t actually go into the realm of the dead,¡± I responded, deliberately avoiding the way dying felt.


    My vision started to clear and I could see her gentle smile as she gave me a look that told me in no uncertain terms that she knew I was avoiding the topic of dying. I sighed and said, out loud this time, ¡°It sucked. Coming back was disorienting enough, but when you know you¡¯re about to die things get weird in the mental landscape. We might need to talk to Savira about adjusting that, or having an option to disable the actual death.¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s the downside of the SWS, while they can safeguard the mind from thinking it¡¯s actually dead they can only give it a fade to black as if you passed out.¡±


    ¡°So not looking forward to doing that again, and not just for the lectures,¡± I said.


    As the disorientation faded Arya helped me up and we went over to see what our group¡¯s mad scientist had managed to cook up in my absence.

 CHAPTER 14

    Jacob, humming a tune I vaguely recognized but couldn¡¯t place, was bent over the back of the wagon filled with the scrapped remains of the fallen mantis-bots using it at as a makeshift workbench.  When I approached I found him using some sort of high-tech cutting device to separate a set of the claws from the arms of the bots and set them next to what looked like a bracer with a handle on it.  Next to that bracer was what looked like a bandolier made of braided wires with shaped spikes.  Leaning against the wagon wheel was what looked like a chest guard made of overlapping sections of metal and lashed together with more wire, similar to armor used in feudal Japan.


    As we approached Jacob stopped humming and said, ¡°Arya, yours is done.  Should I try and put something together for Alex, or just the offensive stuff?¡±


    ¡°Depends on how flexible it is and how long it will take,¡± I answered as Arya picked up the chest guard and tried it on.


    Jacob didn¡¯t stop working as he said, ¡°You are up, good.  The bandolier should fit but is adjustable, and is currently loaded with twenty spikes.  Arya told me that weapons balanced for throwing were a detriment to your projectile so they are just solid with a point.  I¡¯ll have a melee option for you shortly.¡±


    It was slightly rude of him not to even look my way as he spoke, but considering I was getting gear out of the deal I wasn¡¯t going to say anything.  It did raise a couple of questions though, ¡°One: what about gear for you and the others? Two: where did the tools to put these together come from? Three: how did you get all this done so quickly?¡±


    Continuing his disassembly of the bot he answered, ¡°Arya and I both got chest guards, mine is on the other side of the cart.  The tools were part of my conjuration power. I suspected there might be a need to either build something in the field, or take something apart so I designed that technique specifically to be able to conjure a few useful tools; I only took the gun because it seemed a bad idea to be unarmed.  As for the speed of construction that is part game mechanic and part technique.  The game speeds up the repeat crafting of the same component material if you have the tools, such as the scales and braiding the wire.  One of the techniques I took was rapid assembly, which would let me craft an item I had the blueprint in a fraction of the time.  I had to create the first one manually, but the time consuming part of making this type of armor is the base materials.  Because all I had to do was cut and reshape the carapace of the robots that took even less time than creating them from scratch.¡±


    ¡°Did the system give you some form of assistance for that, or did you have to bring it up from memory?¡± I asked.


    Arya answered instead of Jacob, ¡°The pattern was provided by Jerome actually, apparently a friend was into medieval reenactment and they had many discussions about how historical armor influenced modern manufacture of body armor.  He knew enough for Jacob to work his way through the first one and gain the blueprint.¡±


    Jacob nodded and he started to affix the blades to some sort of slide on the side of the bracer, making them curve around to a point that would be in front of the wearer¡¯s fist.  I could see that the inner edge had been filed down so it wasn¡¯t sharp, but they would still get in the way if the user wanted to use his hands.  Jacob started grabbing circuitry and began wiring something to the outside of the bracer as he said, ¡°Another technique I choose was ¡®Improvised Creations.¡¯  Effectively if the system can interpret a design I am attempting to make I get an improvised blueprint for the device based on the materials I have.  I can later take an improvised blueprint and turn it into an actual blueprint with standardized materials.¡±


    ¡°So you jury-rig a design in the field, and if you like it you can make an actual version of it?  There has to be a catch,¡± I replied.


    He answered, ¡°I can only have five improvised blueprints at a time.  Normally to make a blueprint requires actually drafting the design.  If a blueprint already exists in the system though, such as with the armor, I can gain it through the technique.¡±


    ¡°Is that how the crafting system works here then, power techniques?¡± I aksed.


    Arya shook her head, ¡°I doubt it.  What Jacob is doing is mostly just fast creations that someone could technically create with time and materials.  Remember SWS is designed to replicate what we can create outside of the pods.  I¡¯m sure there will be some game specific creations that use fictional materials, but he could have made that armor in his garage.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°Like mithril in most fantasy stories; it¡¯s a lightweight but strong metal, but is used in the same way as steel,¡± Jacob pointed out.


    I nodded and clarified, ¡°So you took techniques that made you capable of crafting at high speed, improvising blueprints in the field, and a conjuration power that would make sure you had the tools on hand to do so?¡±


    ¡°Plus a technique that would give me an idea how an unknown material or object is used.  For example I figured out these little red wires are a combination battery and capacitor.  The big one however in this case is that I have a technique that will show me how to attach components to create an effect based on the materials available.  I tried it out in the training room and it could backfire because I have too many items that would work, or would create something badly sized, but it works well when I can define what I want to do¡± he answered pointing at the wires he was connecting to a small catch at the rear of the blades, and then to a space on the wagon where he had drawn a crude illustration of the device with various symbols next to it.


    ¡°That whole thing is metal; is someone going to electrocute themselves using it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You, not someone, and no; the wires are powering a motion lock so that you can retract the blades when you need to use your hands.  It will also have a magazine with a few spikes that can drop into your hand when you want them.  Arm defense so you can block attacks like that knife, a melee option that takes advantage of your enhanced velocity, and at hand ammunition for ranged attacks,¡± he said as he started placing an armored outer cover on the bracer that covered the wiring, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m impressed,¡± I said, in truth I was beyond impressed with the adaptability of our young tech guru.


    Arya snorted and said, ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re not testing Villain¡¯s Creed.¡±


    Jacob chuckled and we soon joined in.  It was good to have someone on our team that could create gear for the group, especially considering how much he seemed to be into the idea.  It brought up another idea though, ¡°Are you planning to create some kind of power armor for yourself for field work in the future?¡±


    Jacob shook his head, ¡°Not likely, honestly my tricks don¡¯t lean toward the power armor hero anyway.  Plus I was always more of a fan of Batman than Iron Man.¡±


    Passing me the bracer, the blades now retracted down the side, he said, ¡°There isn¡¯t much padding due to a lack of materials, but see how that fits.¡±


    I placed the bracer on my right arm, feeling it click closed.  It was a snug fit, but not too tight.  Since there wasn¡¯t a grip of any type it would probably dig into my arm if I hit someone head on with it.  I nodded at the fit and Jacob started grabbing materials faster than I could follow as he said, ¡°I have the blueprint now so I can make one for your other arm too.  If you make a fist the sensors in it will make the blades pop forward.  The shape is similar to a leaf blade spear, so you have cutting and thrusting power capability with it.¡±


    I made a fist and the blades slid forward with a small click as they locked into place.  I found I could open my hand up completely with the blades forward.  An old martial arts lesson played through my mind and I took a slightly sloppy stance and struck forward with what was known as a knife-hand strike.  My form was bad partially from being out of practice, but also due to the weight of the bracer on my arm.  It wasn¡¯t exactly heavy, but if I had to guess it was about three or four pounds of metal wrapped around my wrist.  I asked, ¡°How do I retract the blades?¡±


    ¡°Make peace not war,¡± he said with a bit of amusement in his normally overly precise voice.


    It took me the barest moment before I understood and made the two finger sign for peace.  The blades retracted back into the sides of the bracer, twisting slightly so that they would rest alongside my arms without the edges cutting me if my arms swung by my side.  As I examined the bracer more closely I saw that the gap between the bottom of my arm and the bottom of the armored bracer had three small throwing spikes slotted into some kind of quick release mechanism, the points toward me.  On a hunch I twisted my wrist down as if I was trying to pull something out of my sleeve and one of the spikes slid down into my palm.  I replaced it into the gap created by its release and felt the click as whatever Jacob had used for a catch engaged.


    ¡°I stand by what I said, this is impressive work,¡± I stated.


    Jacob shrugged and said, ¡°It is very much like writing code, but the components are the objects that have a variable function rather than having to create something from scratch.¡±


    Somehow it didn¡¯t surprise me that he knew about computer code based on both his knowledge of Pandora Interactive and the fact that he had to be careful with his physical activities.  Combining personal programming knowledge with game generated tech crafting techniques would make him even more effective than I had already anticipated.


    It didn¡¯t take long for him to finish the second bracer and the three of us equipped the improvised gear he had made during my ¡°death.¡±  Arya spoke up as she tightened the fastenings on her armor, ¡°Oh and to answer your earlier question, before we were side tracked by the crafting system.  Rebecca conjures her own armor and weapons, so nothing Jacob could improvise from these things would help her.¡±


    ¡°And Jerome only affects his own density currently, not objects,¡± Jacob pointed out.


    I couldn¡¯t contradict there statement so I used the mental link, ¡°We ready to continue?¡±


    ¡°Looks like we are clear to proceed,¡± Rebecca replied.

 CHAPTER 15

    We moved onwards a bit more cautiously than before.  I was trying to get used to the weight of the bracers I wore, and the others were trying to spot any potential ambushes before we tripped them.  My radar sense ability was useful, but only reached so far.  I felt the wind shift and the scent of greenery followed in its wake.


    ¡°We should be close to the park if the scent is traveling that well,¡± Arya said.


    ¡°We heard something big and nasty from that direction earlier.  I haven¡¯t heard anything since then though,¡± Jerome replied.


    ¡°I would hazard a guess that we should find out soon.  I can see trees poking above the roofline over there,¡± Jacob said while pointing.


    Following the line of his hand I too saw the tips of trees over the roof of a two story colonial style house.  The trees themselves were a bit varied, and as I got a better look between the gaps in the structures I saw that they, like the buildings, were from various places and time periods.  A long mournful howl split the air and we all froze where we stood.  Rebecca¡¯s mental voice had a tinge of fear as she said, ¡°Please tell me we have red cloaks with us.¡±


    ¡°No, but at least we don¡¯t have red shirts,¡± Jerome responded.


    I looked down at my blood stained shirt and let out a mental, ¡°Umm, you sure about that.¡±


    After a short wave of mental laughter from the group we started moving again.  The houses stopped and across a wide road was a wooden bridge and cobblestone path that led into the miniature forest.  I couldn¡¯t detect any movement at the bridge, but still let Jerome take the lead in case there was an ambush at the bridge.  As he moved forward Jacob asked, ¡°What do you think we will face in there?¡±


    ¡°It depends on whether or not there is another of the castle residents in there or not.  When we found Thanatos he was captured by a guy using undead minions.  Time and Fate are a bit more nebulous in their descriptions though,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Five bucks on the boss for Fate being some kind of spider thing,¡± Rebecca said with a shudder.


    Jerome waved an all clear and we advanced into the park, all the while bouncing potential ideas off each other as well as how we could combat them.  None of it prepared us for what we found as we reached the center of the park.  In the clearing we found a fountain shaped like an hourglass, water running down onto the head of an old man in a tan trench coat.  His golden eyes glared at the creature that prowled around the fountain.


    ¡°The creators of this game are sick and twisted sadists,¡± I said.


    There, stomping through the wreckage of robotic soldiers and the corpses of large wolves was what could only be described as a cyborg dinosaur.  It stood, slightly hunched over, about fourteen feet long from snout to the base of its tail, with greenish grey leathery skin, long four clawed hands, powerful legs, and a spiked tail.  Then there was what looked like cybernetic upgrades all over it, from the shoulder mounted gun, to the ocular mask, and armor plating in critical areas.


    ¡°Think we can just free the old man and not have to deal with it?¡± Arya asked.


    ¡°No, look at the base of the fountain.  See those metal boxes that surround it?  Those are emitting some kind of force field,¡± I said, after confirming my suspicion with a quick analysis of the dino-borg I continued, ¡°Scales there is giving off the same kind of force field from his arms, like a shield rather than a full barrier.  Jacob might be able to break it down but unless it¡¯s instant we will need to fight.¡±


    The shield stood out clearly in my kinetic sense and was shaped like a large scale with the point over the back of the creature¡¯s clawed hand.  ¡°Arya, how intelligent is this thing?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing not very; I¡¯m not getting coherent words from its thoughts.  That might be because it has robotic upgrades or the fact that it isn¡¯t remotely human-like,¡± she answered.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Rebecca interjected, ¡°Wind is shifting; it¡¯s going to smell us soon.  Tank and spank?¡±


    Tank and spank was gamer slang for having the tank, in this case Jerome with his defensive focus, try and hold its attention while the rest of us focused on doing damage as fast as possible to bring it down.  Rapid confirmations came from the group but I added, ¡°I don¡¯t see an ammo bin for that gun so I won¡¯t be able to stop shots from it if they are energy based.¡±


    As the thing stopped prowling around and rose its head to sniff the air Jerome broke the cover of the tree line and rushed it like a football player rushing a quarterback.  It spread its scaly hands ready to grab Jerome and gave a prehistoric roar as it recognized a challenge.


    I was more surprised by Jerome¡¯s opening gambit; as he got closer to scaly he brought his foot down harder than was needed to propel himself, and a shockwave traveled along the ground like a miniature earthquake.  Scaly momentarily without proper balance as his footing was disrupted which gave Jerome the chance to throw a vicious left-handed punch into the things snout.  Blue blood sprayed as the punch landed, but I saw that while the physical body was affected by the attack, the shoulder mounted cannon altered trajectory like the old Predator movies to take aim at Jerome.


    Deciding that he had established himself as the threat sufficiently I stepped from cover and launched one of my new metal spikes at the gun.  It sped through the air and hit the gun right as it started to fire altering the aim enough that it only scorched Jerome¡¯s shoulder with a pulse of energy as it blasted into the ground beyond him.  A flash of white blue flew past my shoulder and I saw an arrow of ice pierce the creatures hide near the gun.  A quick glance showed me Rebecca standing to my left, a bow made of ice in her hands with another arrow knocked and being drawn.  Damn her ability was flexible, she hadn¡¯t mentioned a bow before in the items she could create but considering we knew we could evolve our skills through knowledge it wasn¡¯t out of the realm of possibility.


    My kinetic sense showed me Jacob kneeling with some scavenged electronics while rapidly conjuring different tools and assembling something; while he did this Arya was focused on the battlefield and judging by the grimace on her face feeling pretty useless.  Both of their abilities were support oriented, and neither had the same offensive capability we did.  I sent her a quick mental message, ¡°Focus on keeping us informed of what he¡¯s doing.  If he has a special technique we need to be able to react.¡±


    She nodded and I pushed closer to the boss with my enhanced mobility.  If Rebecca was staying at range suspected she wasn¡¯t sure her armor could handle this things offensive ability; my own mobility and defenses should help keep me covered if Jerome lost its attention.  Jerome was unleashing a flurry of punches, which old scaly was blocking with his forearm barriers as I rushed forward, a motion of my hands making the blades Jacob had made me lock into place for use.


    Inspiration struck as I rushed my opponent, and instead of driving the blade in a strike that would require me to stop I kept my arm stead and let the edge of my right hand blade drag along the scaled side of the thing as I kept going past.  The results were a little less than I was hoping, while there was now a cut in its side, it wasn¡¯t very deep; but the motion had taken me out of the counter attack it had attempted, which opened up its right side to another icy arrow from Rebecca.


    Minutes passed in the fight, with Jerome taking hits from the creature without an issue, other than his clothing getting a little ragged, and Arya managing to warn us before the gun fired based on my kinetic sense.  The fight really did fall under the tank and spank description since Jerome was too tough for it to injure, and while it was strong as well we could still hurt it.  Scaly was starting to slow, and I saw Jacob carrying some kind of device toward the rapidly filling hourglass.  A few more attacks from our three offensive team members saw the boss falling to the ground unmoving and Arya said, ¡°All thoughts have ceased, I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s dead.  Jacob, what do you have there?¡±


    ¡°Localized EMP, I am attempting to short circuit the barrier so we can get the old man out,¡± he responded.


    A sharp snap, the smell of ozone, and a flash of actinic light and I could sense the fountain, and the vibrations against it as the water poured in.  Jerome didn¡¯t hesitate and sent an increased density punch into the side of it, shattering the glass-like substance and allowing the water to pour out.  The man in the trench coat stepped out with a nod to Jerome and said to the rest of us in a British accent, ¡°Good show, but did any of you bring a towel?¡±


    I shrugged and said, ¡°I don¡¯t think so, we didn¡¯t get to bring much with us.¡±


    ¡°Lad, never leave home without a towel.  People will think you¡¯re uncultured if you don¡¯t bring one,¡± he responded.


    I looked at him puzzled, even more so when I heard a pair of groans from Arya and Jacob.  Must be a joke I didn¡¯t get.  The old man shrugged and I saw his eyes glow gold for a moment before he appeared to air dry rapidly.


    ¡°Now, I believe I should reward you for your efforts,¡± he said.

 CHAPTER 16

    ¡°While we will most likely accept your generosity, we did not do this for a reward,¡± Jacob stated.


    ¡°While that is a fine sentiment, you will receive a reward for your service,¡± the old man.


    After a moment of humming slightly while he rubbed his chin he appeared to reach an idea as he lifted a finger and said, ¡°Your reward will be two parts. First, while you are traveling in other realms you will have a gift of time. You will both have time to attempt a mission and be able to repeat a time you have experienced to try new strategies.¡±


    I cocked my head as I tried to parse the information. I had played a few games and while the second part sounded like replaying a completed mission I didn¡¯t understand how the first one applied. Before I could ask though Rebecca beat me to it, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Well my dear, having time to attempt a mission is pretty self explanatory. When you are notified of a situation requiring intervention in a realm other than yours you will arrive on the scene with a sufficient amount of time to complete your objectives. Your success or failure at that point is up to you. As to repeating a time; well that is bit obvious but I should point out that you won¡¯t be able to change how the course of events play out for the world, just experience the time again,¡± he answered.


    I spoke up, ¡°So say we failed to stop a bank robbery for one reason or another; that¡¯s how history will record it, but we can try it again to learn from our mistakes?¡±


    The old man pointed at me, ¡°Exactly so. My but it is pleasant to speak to people with more wit than that beast, granted that isn¡¯t a very high bar. Secondly is a bit of a gift that will help you on your current task. Since you will acquire these when you arrive, or shortly thereafter, I see no reason not to pluck them out of time temporarily.¡±


    He motioned with his hands and I felt a ripple along my body and my vision changed to a heads-up display with a small human silhouette in green in the upper right, a blue bar at the bottom that was about half filled with a lighter blue, and four names with small silhouettes next to them: Delphi, Zero, Schattenstein, and Omni. I raised my hands to my face, seeing the gloves Savira had picked out on them, and felt a solid face mask framed by a deep hood. Looking around I found the rest of my team now garbed in costumes rather than basic clothes with nameplates over their heads to identify them. Arya, or Delphi now, wore a dark green dress with a defiantly old Greek flair but extended into her mask which covered up to her forehead but left her red hair exposed; she still had the improvised armor on though. A more careful inspection showed that the mask was also a solid rigid material and likely had a similar HUD display as mine. Zero, Rebecca based on the physical attributes, wore a skin tight navy blue outfit with a white domino mask of what seemed to be the same rigid material as Delphi¡¯s mask. Omni, who I guessed was Jacob based on the more slender frame wore a black duster over what looked like dark grey motorcycle racing leathers, his head was covered in a seamless black helmet that could have appeared in any number of science fiction games and movies. Jerome, who by process of deduction had used the moniker of Schattenstein, had gone more medieval in his appearance. He wore gothic style steel armor, complete with a tabard in black and white with an opposing colored hammer on the front. On his back was a teardrop shaped shield painted to match his tabard at least four feet long from rounded top to the point, and at his hip was a hammer with a spike on one end. His helmet was the only deviation from the historic style, and that was only because the T-shaped opening where one would normally see his face was a black material that I guessed matched our masks.


    ¡°I like the new looks,¡± I said, my voice coming out changed from how it normally would be, but not garbled like someone using a voice synthesizer.


    ¡°They all look good, but I have two concerns,¡± Arya said, her voice also slightly changed.


    Jerome cocked his helmeted head and asked, ¡°Which are?¡±


    She laughed, ¡°Yeah, too long of a dramatic pause. Concern one: why did some of the gear not change? He still has the bracers and bandolier that Jacob made. Concern two: what¡¯s with the solid mask, that wasn¡¯t part of my initial costume design though it isn¡¯t exactly a problem?¡±


    Jacob, or I guessed Omni now, raised a hand and said, ¡°I might be able to answer the second part. After I finished my training time I spent a bit of time in my HOME coming up with improvement ideas for the team. One of those was to have a heads-up display that would show my own condition and my teammate¡¯s conditions. I¡¯m guessing the bar at the bottom is our energy bars as I had planned for some way to show that once I had a chance to experience it. I couldn¡¯t figure out how to make it as small as contacts and I didn¡¯t know your costume styles. It seems that the system modified your costume design based on this since we were going to come in as a team.¡±


    Father Time spoke up, ¡°A reasonable course of events, these outfits are what you will be in at the opening ceremonies so to speak. They are a bit more durable than the cloth you were wearing before; as to the lack of change in some of your gear that is because those were cobbled together here, and not part of the original designs.¡±


    Omni asked, ¡°Is the fact that mine did change mean that my gear was already considered better than the armor we made?¡±


    The old man waggled his hand and said, ¡°It was comparable to what you had designed already so I took it from the timeline of you having reinforced your chosen outfit with armor rather than leave it alone. I preferred the aesthetic of that to the eyesore that is makeshift armor.¡±


    My thoughts raced forward in my standard habit of analyzing everything and came upon a question that would need to be answered, and I asked ¡°Does that mean we will not have this when we leave this realm?¡±


    ¡°That is correct; these are temporary for your time here. However it should be noted that any time you visit this realm you will have access to your costumes from this point on,¡± he answered.


    That reply raised a slew of other questions, but Arya¡¯s mental voice stopped me, ¡°I don¡¯t think he will answer those questions. His thoughts are moving around faster than yours so I can¡¯t pin down the reason.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    I nodded to her; it would spoil the surprise if I received too much information now it was just hard not to ask. Instead of the more interesting questions I asked, ¡°Can you get back to the castle on your own, or do you need an escort?¡±


    ¡°Oh I can get back just fine now that I¡¯m out of that cage. I wish you luck,¡± he answered before taking a step and seeming to disappear as if he stepped through a door.


    ¡°Shit, should have asked him where Fate was, we still have three landmarks to check assuming that¡¯s where we will find whoever is that Lord or Lady of Fate,¡± Jerome said.


    I agreed with the sentiment and replied, ¡°One, probably Lady as most depictions of fate put it in a feminine role. Two, we are in a central location with the Docks to the east, Factory to the west and the Church to the north. I¡¯m good with whichever we want to try.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s start with the factory and work our way clockwise,¡± Rebecca said to nods from the group.


    As we left the park I asked, ¡°Jacob, what kind of design ideas did you come up with?¡±


    ¡°Basic ideas like reinforced costumes, simple gadgets like a recon drone or tracking beacon, and the HUD masks. I have come up with a few others now that I have seen your costumes and power sets,¡± he replied.


    Delphi let out a snort and said, ¡°Alex, he thinks of new gadgetry and upgrades like you think of everything. I would wager that out there he has at least a degree in engineering if not more.¡±


    Omni¡¯s costume covered his whole body, but somehow I go the sense that he was blushing as he replied, ¡°Three PHD¡¯s, since I couldn¡¯t run around like most kids I studied various subjects; it¡¯s the other reason I went with a tech head in this game, with the fact that our knowledge and skills outside the game can translate it seemed like I could specialize in that easily.¡±


    ¡°Dude, you¡¯re what 23? How do you have three PHDs?¡± Jerome asked.


    ¡°They are all related fields so most of the credits from one carried to another, but I believe most would say I have no life,¡± he answered with an obvious smirk.


    ¡°No life or no wife, one of the two,¡± Rebecca chimed in.


    He shrugged and replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t date much, and most women don¡¯t care to worry about breaking their boyfriend¡¯s bones when they hold hands.¡±


    I could tell it was a hard subject for him to discuss so, with a lack of social tact I changed the subject, ¡°Any specific new ideas now that you have been around us for a bit?¡±


    ¡°Well there are your arm blades, but honestly I don¡¯t think they are going to be best for how you move. Delphi could use some form of offensive armament as her techniques are all support. I was going to suggest a weapon for Jerome, sorry Schattenstein, but apparently he designed his costume with a hammer. Honestly the only one I can¡¯t think of some kind of upgrade is Zero, and that¡¯s because of how flexible her power is,¡± he answered.


    ¡°What¡¯s with the hammer anyway Jerome?¡± Arya asked.


    Rebecca was the one who answered though, ¡°We have a friend of ours who does medieval reenactment. He always argued that if we were going to be soldiers we should be able to make or use anything we needed from the environment we found ourselves in. He taught me how to craft bows and arrows using nothing but my k-bar knife and how to use the dress uniform saber as an actual weapon. Jerome didn¡¯t take to the weapon crafting nearly as well and couldn¡¯t make much more than a club.¡±


    Jerome interrupted her story telling, ¡°Yeah, and then he showed me that just because I¡¯m strong and can smash things with a club didn¡¯t mean shit if I didn¡¯t know what I was doing with it. I got into the habit of practicing with various improvised weapons or common implements that could be turned into a weapon on the off chance it might be useful. Give me a pole, hammer, club, or an axe and I have some idea what to do with it, and a riot shield isn¡¯t much different than a medieval shield. Crazy bastard is probably running around in one of the other SYS games causing all sorts of trouble with the random things he can make from bubblegum and twine.¡±


    ¡°Did what he teach you help in the military?¡± Arya asked.


    The siblings both nodded as we marched, and Jerome said ¡°Yeah, they had a few training missions that we stood out in. In our SEREs test we led them on a merry chase for four days before completing the initial supposed to fail mission and getting out of dodge. It was one of the tests that got the Spec-Ops recruiters interested.¡±


    ¡°I still remember the look on Captain Hull¡¯s face when we did that wilderness survival test though,¡± Rebecca said with a mental chuckle.


    I asked, ¡°Do I even want to know?¡±


    Rebecca snorted, ¡°Oh it wasn¡¯t anything bad. Basically the scenario was a crashed transport. We had to survive on this little island out in the Pacific. We had an emergency button we could use but we would fail the test if we pressed it within the first week. The idea was that we had to survive until they found us and sent a rescue team in. If a week went by we passed and could get pulled out after that, but the longer we could last the better our score. They called the test after two months and the pilot of the transport that came to get us couldn¡¯t believe that we had effectively created a beach house and were well provisioned. I saw his report to our C.O. and it said that he believed the two of us could have survived out there for at the least another six months without trouble.¡±


    Call a spade a spade, but that was impressive. The skills may or may not apply in Hero¡¯s Call, but if they were playing one of those survival/sandbox games these two would be my picks for a team.


    Jerome asked, ¡°Anything that stands out for you two? It seems our team has some odd ducks in it.¡±


    I shook my head and said, ¡°Not that I can think of. I was an athlete in high school, got turned down by the military, and did a good deed which got me in here.¡±


    Arya¡¯s snort wasn¡¯t mental this time, but her reply was, ¡°He¡¯s being modest again. Don¡¯t even start arguing Alex; remember I can see in your head right now. Anyway, he turned what most would consider a disadvantage into an asset. He can analyze just about any form of information he understands faster than most people can make change. He also has a near eidetic memory from what I can tell. Honestly that radar sense technique he chose is probably the best game ability in his arsenal just based on the fact that he can process the information it gives him.¡±


    I hung my head, I could tell the group was impressed but I had to interrupt, ¡°Yes I do think faster than most, it doesn¡¯t help out there though. My personality gets in the way.¡±


    ¡°Fuck them, you¡¯re in here with us and getting paid to do it too,¡± Rebecca said.


    I laughed and deflected, ¡°Enough about me, Arya your turn.¡±


    Her mental sigh told us her opinion of herself wasn¡¯t far from mine, ¡°Well I have some martial arts training both armed and unarmed, and have a pretty good head on my shoulders. If you want some unique skill I have though you are going to be disappointed.¡±


    Deciding to poke a bit at her I asked, ¡°Exactly how much is some?¡±


    I could feel her glare as I threw her under the bus. Eventually she answered though, ¡°3<sup>rd</sup> Dan in Aikido, I¡¯m also trained in Iaijutsu and Wing Chun but there wasn¡¯t any ranking structure for those.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure how Jerome managed to whistle across the mental link, but I shared his sentiment. Arya had mentioned training in Aikido before, but I hadn¡¯t realized how extensive it was.


    Our conversation went on as we traveled towards our next destination.

 CHAPTER 17

    ¡°Well that was a bust,¡± I said.


    We had just finished exploring the factory on the west side of town.  Unfortunately the only thing we found was traps, traps, more traps, and a pair of enemies that used hit and run tactics and dressed as ninjas.  My kinetic sense had picked them up every time they attacked, but they were fast enough to do damage and fade back out of my range each time.


    Their last attack was the hardest hitting as they managed to send Jacob and Rebecca for respawn with their opening ambush, but over extended trying to take Arya out as well.  Like our training time she showed that a well trained combatant that can read your moves ahead of time is a dangerous opponent no matter how fast you are; managing to cripple her adversary.  We had disabled the factory¡¯s power, which made the only motions within the ninjas and ourselves.  It seemed like they had decided to retreat, and now we were waiting for our teammates to rejoin us.


    Jerome was still fuming at not being able to help much in that fight, ¡°No shit it was a bust.  I can¡¯t tank what I can¡¯t catch.¡±


    Arya tried to interject some logic as she said, ¡°Look that was the wrong type of opponent for you.  They couldn¡¯t hurt you and were smart enough to avoid direct engagement because of it.  If I were to put a party role to them it would be that of damage dealers, not front line fighters.  The dino-borg we saw earlier was a tank and you handled him just fine.¡±


    I thought about what I knew of various games, which granted wasn¡¯t a whole lot, and asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t there usually aggression tables or something like that for these things?¡±


    Jacob¡¯s voice pointed out, as he stepped through a doorway formed in the side of a large vat, ¡°Yes, but I don¡¯t think that is the case here.  The classic roles are still useful, but things like agro don¡¯t seem to matter when an opponent is able to think.¡±


    With Jacob back it shouldn¡¯t take long for Rebecca to rejoin us, depending on how her conversation with Thanatos went.  Jerome asked, ¡°Then how am I supposed to effectively do this?¡±


    Rebecca stepped out of the door behind Jacob and said, ¡°It¡¯s like when we were in the field, adaptability.  Right now you¡¯re specialized to hit and get hit, that doesn¡¯t mean you have to stay that way.¡±


    ¡°Except I chose the spike pattern for my power set, all I get is the enhancement and defensive abilities related to density,¡± he responded.


    ¡°Did you limit yourself to full body changes?¡± I asked, my mind analyzing the various possibilities.


    ¡°No, Savira just suggested the density limitation based on my description; why?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Because it sounds like you might be able to do partial shifts and fading, a partial shift might allow for increased mobility.  I remember when I took Physics that adjusting the weight and balance of an object could affect its velocity,¡± I said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t get it, and what do you mean by fade,¡± Jerome replied.


    Jacob spoke up, his voice taking on the tone of a professor giving a lecture, ¡°If you could do a partial shift and time it correctly you may be able to launch yourself in a particular direction.  For example if you increased the weight and density of your right arm and threw it forward it would carry the rest of your body behind it.  You would need to practice rapid shifts in density to really become effective with it though.  As to fading, if your limitation isn¡¯t positive density then you should be able to reduce your density enough to allow objects to pass through you, or you through them.  Also are your powers limited to only affecting yourself?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see his face through the helmet, but Jerome¡¯s response had the tone of one who was deep in thought as he said, ¡°No, the only limit is density based abilities.  I¡¯ll have to think about that.  I only go two techniques at the start but they started out fairly strong.  It is something to look into after we finish the tutorial adventure.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Arya spoke up, ¡°Now that everyone is back, let¡¯s head for the church.  Switch back to our usual communication method.¡±


    She then continued mentally, ¡°Zero, armor up and take point.  Kickback you¡¯re in the center with us to give us coverage in case of more ambushes.  Schattenstein take the rear guard.¡±


    It took me a moment to recognize the hero name I had chosen.  I still wasn¡¯t really satisfied with it, but in a roundabout way it fit the concept of kinetics and passed the naming policy the game had.  Arya¡¯s mental voice interrupted my thoughts, and I had a sneaky suspicion this was a private chat, ¡°What do you think we will face at the church?¡±


    ¡°Could be the church, could be the docks.  Either way though I¡¯m pretty sure we will face the ones that got away.  Those two ninjas, the minion controller from earlier, and likely a new opponent; if the dino from earlier was still around it would probably include him too.  With them one down the minion controller will likely create something that can go toe to toe with Schattenstein, unless the final person is a tank archetype,¡± I responded after a few moments of thought.


    ¡°What¡¯s your basis for that?¡± she asked.


    ¡°They bugged out instead of trying to take us out individually.  While it¡¯s just my guess I don¡¯t think they can communicate with each other over a long distance.  The ninja¡¯s were honestly the toughest fight we have had yet, but they didn¡¯t target our team the most effectively.  They picked correctly going for Zero first, but then they also went for Jacob; while he isn¡¯t helpless they would have been better off taking me out to remove my radar sense.  So either they can¡¯t communicate or they haven¡¯t figured out that I have that technique let alone that you can effectively duplicate it while I¡¯m focused on combat.  They used swords which would have been effective at bypassing my kinetic armor; it isn¡¯t very good at defeating melee attacks.  Back to my point though, since each major opponent save the cyborg retreated and we haven¡¯t seen them since then it stands to reason that they are gathering their strength to fight a group with a group,¡± I answered.


    ¡°Planning on informing the group of your suspicions?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Nope, Jacob is a very linear thinker so would be thrown for a loop if that wasn¡¯t what happened.  The siblings are adaptable and experienced enough to go with the flow on whatever fight we encounter.  You¡¯ve been riding shotgun in my head to use my radar sense, so I assumed you were catching the rest of what I was thinking,¡± I answered.


    ¡°While yes I¡¯ve been riding shotgun, the telepathy doesn¡¯t work that way.  I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s a privacy control the developers put in or not, but I only get conscious thoughts that form words or images.  Half the time I can¡¯t read you, from our discussion earlier I am guess that is because your mind doesn¡¯t settle into specific thoughts unless your focused on it such as when you¡¯re answering a question,¡± she countered.


    ¡°How did you read my moves in our sparring session then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You focused on what you were going to do, fighting isn¡¯t second nature for you yet, you haven¡¯t reached the point of action without thought,¡± she answered.


    That was intriguing; it also explained how I managed to counter her in the fight.  I hadn¡¯t gone with anything technical after I stopped focusing on the fight.  From what I knew most experienced fighters had trained and drilled reactions into their bodies that allowed them to respond without conscious thought, while I may eventually get to that point it wouldn¡¯t be soon.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that far,¡± she interjected, ¡°Some styles of combat are considered easier to get the basics of, and if there is a way for you to increase the power of your techniques your speed will be a large advantage.  Your biggest hurdle is going to be if you encounter an opponent as fast as you that is more skilled at hand to hand combat.¡±


    One more item to add to the research to add to my offline pile; between that and the research I was doing into various ways kinetic energy could be used this game was requiring more homework than my senior year had.  Arya¡¯s mental giggle followed that thought and I smiled beneath my mask.


    ¡°I¡¯ll ask my sensei what he would suggest when we log off.  He might know a good style for you to begin with,¡± she offered.


    ¡°I would appreciate that.  What about you though?  How are you planning to advance your own capabilities,¡± I asked.


    ¡°I have to talk to Savira about the options, but I was thinking of trying to create a healing technique.  That first ambush with the mantis-bots showed me that one of us needs to do something for first aid.  Other than that I was thinking clairvoyance,¡± she answered.


    ¡°Clairvoyance?¡± I asked


    ¡°Remote viewing, seeing something without line of sight,¡± she answered.


    ¡°So you¡¯re planning to be able to see things from our eyes, your eyes, and with no eyes present,¡± I joked.


    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s a blind girls dream to be all-seeing.¡±


    We both laughed at that, getting curious head tilts from our team indicating the private conversation was now over.

 CHAPTER 18

    ¡°Well, this is odd,¡± Jacob said across the mental group chat.


    We had reached the church with only a couple of short skirmishes with the mantis bots we had encountered before.  It looked like an iconic catholic church, but had different iconography than any of the monotheistic religions I was familiar with, and the stained glass windows were shattered with shards covering the ground around it.  Currently we were crouched on the next building over, looking through the remains of a large broken section of the roof where a bell tower used to be located.  Within the church was a matronly woman with dark hair in a high necked grey Victorian gown arguing with a man in a red t-shirt and black leather pants with a blond ponytail.  Most notably were the burn scars around his eyes which Jacob had identified as acid burns.  There was no indication of any kind of bindings holding either of the parties involved in the argument, but Arya was unable to read either party¡¯s identity.


    ¡°Listen up you frosty bitch, you can¡¯t take away people¡¯s ability to change their own fates!¡± the man shouted.


    ¡°Why not, you accepted death at the watchman¡¯s blade readily enough, not that it seems to have stopped you,¡± the woman replied.


    ¡°I chose that death as the best option, the time of a fated path ended during that battle.  Your sisters even agree with me, or did you think I haven¡¯t noticed that Clotho and Atropos aren¡¯t here,¡± the man pointed out.


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± Arya said.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s Lachesis, one of the Greek fates, the stories had it that she measured the lifespan of a person¡¯s life and what path they would follow through their life,¡± she answered.


    The argument continued as Lachesis said, ¡°You who would defy fate has no right to be its guardian, and I won¡¯t allow it.¡±


    ¡°Any idea who the guy is?  We still don¡¯t know who the good guy in this conflict is,¡± Jerome asked.


    ¡°From the clues we have so far I would say she is the third person in charge of the castle, but my gut says to wait.  If we jump in on the wrong side of this we could be in for a serious problem,¡± Arya said.


    My mind was running through the same clues and coming up with a different answer.  I just wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to voice it as typically the man was portrayed as the villain, but his motivations were rarely disclosed.


    ¡°Listen, you can still choose to walk away from this.  Call back your minions and leave this realm, you get to choose still.  No one gets a choice if you continue this mad scheme,¡± the man¡¯s answer was barely audible to us.


    ¡°No Loki, there is no choice but the will of Fate,¡± Lachesis snapped back, ¡°and my will is that you relinquish your title and power unto me.  Do so and I¡¯ll let your two friends live out productive lives until they die natural deaths.¡±


    ¡°Loki, well I guess he is the obvious bad guy,¡± Rebecca said.


    ¡°The obvious one yes,¡± I said doubtfully.


    Arya stared at me and then hung her head, as she read my train of logic, before saying, ¡°He¡¯s the Lord of Fate.  His two friends she¡¯s speaking of are Thanatos and Father Time.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°But Loki is supposed to start Ragnarok and destroy the world right?¡± Jerome asked.


    I shook my head and said, ¡°No, he did that already.  Lachesis said he accepted his fate and died at the watchman¡¯s hands.  The watchman was Heimdall.  If I¡¯m reading the situation correctly then Loki died in Ragnarok, which has always had a mixed ending on whether it was the death of gods or the nine realms, and then became the Lord of Fate here.  It seems like his goal is to give others the chance to choose their own fates rather than let someone else do it.  It could be good, it could be bad, but it is still their choice.  It fits with his chaotic tendencies too.¡±


    ¡°Shit, that makes too much sense.  What are we going to do?¡± Jacob asked.


    In response I lowered myself off the edge of the roof and fell the last few feet before walking towards the church¡¯s door while saying, ¡°Jump in if needed, but otherwise let me try something.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to get yourself killed again, and I¡¯ll buy Thanatos a beer when you do,¡± Arya said.


    I flashed her a grin and pushed open the doors.  They slammed open with a dramatic thump and I marched in saying, ¡°Lady, no one gets to choose my path but me.  I suggest you take the man up on his offer and leave.¡±


    A startled look crossed her face, but I paid it no attention as I took in the room.  There was only natural light coming in the broken windows which left many shadowy corners.  Loki was in fact standing in the center of three inscribed bronze rods we hadn¡¯t been able to see from the roof.  Since it was out my detection range I hadn¡¯t noticed them until getting closer.  I gave him a nod and said, ¡°Thanks for giving the wind a push in my direction.  I wasn¡¯t sure of what was going on at first sight.¡±


    Loki smiled with a cocky grin and said, ¡°No problem.  There was is the chance you will choose to help her instead, but I figured it would be best if you had more information.¡±


    ¡°Do not ignore me mortal, you will not stand in the way of Fate!¡± Lachesis shouted at me.


    ¡°You see though, that¡¯s just it.  You aren¡¯t Fate,¡± I said, ¡°You and your sisters are ¡®The Fates¡¯ of Greek lore and here I stand telling you to walk away while you still can.  Mr. Teratophile here is giving you the chance; I¡¯m not really that patient.¡±


    Lachesis gaped at me like a landed fish, while Loki gave me a mock hurt look and asked, ¡°Mr. Teratophile, really?¡±


    ¡°Sleipner, Fernrir, Jormungander,¡± I said ticking off the fingers of my hand, ¡°and who knows how many others lost to the annals of time.¡±


    ¡°Touche,¡± he responded, his cocky grin coming back to his face.


    ¡°I have Loki bound, and can control the thread of your Fate boy.  He can either sacrifice his power, and save the lives of the other Lords and now you, or I will take the reins by force all of your deaths,¡± she said.


    ¡°Your logic is flawed.  One, my choices and actions are my own; since you aren¡¯t Atropos you can¡¯t cut my life short early.¡±


    She was beginning to look even more upset if that was possible as I continued, ¡°Second, he isn¡¯t bound as far as I can tell.  There isn¡¯t any kind of barrier in place stopping him from walking out of that ward.¡±


    Loki continued to grin as Lachesis snapped her eyes to the three bronze rods that surrounded him.  Taking the verbal cue he took two steps sideways and stopped outside of the lines that would have been made.  I crossed my arms across my chest, the motion disguising me taking hold of a pair of throwing spikes, as I said, ¡°Third, Thanatos and Father Time are already free.¡±


    ¡°Walk away Lachesis; you can¡¯t win this fight,¡± Loki said, his face losing the mocking grin he had held throughout their argument.


    ¡°You are a liar mortal; I can still see the lines of fate for my servants.  The only way they would give up on their chance for power was if they had died,¡± Lachesis said, raising her right hand towards me, a set of five ghostly threads appearing wrapped around her wrist; another thread curled around her finger and drifted in my direction.


    I sighed and said, ¡°Fourth, I¡¯m not your only opponent.¡±


    An arrow of ice flashed through the gap in the roof, piercing the palm of the hand that held the wispy threads.  Lachesis screamed in pain and leapt back towards the church altar, and out of the line of fire from the opening.  Her left hand came up and a pair of oversized vipers appeared in front of her, each one at least forty feet long and two feet around.  They hissed in anger and raised up to strike.

 CHAPTER 19

    ¡°You are aware that I¡¯m not supposed to help with this right?¡± Loki said.


    My eyes and ears told me he was still beside me, but my radar sense told me he was actually in the rafters above us. The smug bastard had a bowl of popcorn in his lap too. I replied, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s our trial. Besides, it isn¡¯t like you need much help to get out of this since you weren¡¯t trapped like the others.¡±


    The serpents weaved back and forth slowly, watching me for any movement. I knew my normal motions wouldn¡¯t be fast enough, but with my kinetic enhancement I might be able to keep up. Personally I wished our two heavies were here, but they were still outside the range of my senses. ¡°It¡¯s not like we aren¡¯t still here you know,¡± came Arya¡¯s voice in my head.


    Oops, I forgot about the mental link. That was good though, because it meant she could see what I saw and relay it to the group. I just had to survive two giant snakes and Lachesis; wait, she was already gone during the distraction of the snakes appearing. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it; Zero is coming in to back you up with the snakes while Omni, Schattenstein, and I are following Lachesis. She¡¯s headed in the direction of the docks so finish up and meet us there.¡±


    I crouched slightly, ready to spring as I ¡®saw¡¯ Zero move to the edge of the hole in the roof where she had fired before. My hands blurred as I threw the spikes in my hands at the eyes of the snake on the left. They both hit but didn¡¯t sink deep, but I was leaping into a roll to my left as the second snake uncoiled in a blindingly fast strike at me, jaw opened wide and fangs glistening with poison. The snake I had struck had reared back, its tongue slithering out to catch my scent. A shift of my hands locked the blades on my bracers out and I pushed off the ground in an aerial flip, over the strike from the wounded snake, while twisting to land facing back towards it. The blinded snake collided with the other snake and they ended up in a twisted heap for a moment, but neither attacked the other. The distraction did allow Zero to line up a shot and an arrow of ice flew down from the hole to pierce the blinded snake¡¯s skull, as they were reorienting on me, and pinning it to the floor. Its body flailed in death spasms, but that didn¡¯t stop the uninjured one from uncoiling at me again.


    This time I was focused on the line of its trajectory as it moved, my body moving at a speed that almost kept up with my mind, as sprang forward a inches from the ground. Twisting in mid-leap I brought the blades up into the softer underside of the things jaw and used the momentum of our leaps to drag the razor sharp edges along its body in a gutting stroke. Blood splattered me and I was battered about as my back hit the ground and I slid towards its tail. The tail was flailing madly, but before I could get to my feet I saw the line of its trajectory coming down at my body in a way that wouldn¡¯t allow me to roll aside.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± I said as I prepared myself for another trip to see Thanatos.


    Instead of being crushed by a flailing tail I saw Loki suddenly appear and smack the tail away with a casual flick of his hand. Letting out a breath I hadn¡¯t been aware I was holding I began to climb to my feet and said, ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t supposed to help?¡±


    ¡°It was already dead,¡± he said with a smirk.


    I wasn¡¯t going to try and argue semantics with a being who was known to be a trickster.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Zero dropped down from the roof next to me and said, ¡°We need to hurry before she gets away.¡±


    I nodded and looked to Loki before saying, ¡°You coming along or going to watch from afar?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll catch up, best I let my compatriots know I am alive and free,¡± he replied.


    Once again his physical body started to move away while an illusion of him remained where it was. I reached out and rested a hand on his actual shoulder, halting his walk, and I said, ¡°Let me rephrase. Please stay within my range until this is dealt with or one of the other two can confirm you aren¡¯t a usurper.¡±


    ¡°Do you think you can stop me if I choose to leave?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Maybe, maybe not, but you¡¯re a known trickster. I wouldn¡¯t put it past you to use our perceptions to gain yourself a place in the castle by tricking us into helping you,¡± I replied.


    He smirked again and said, ¡°Very well, I will remain within your range, but will not aid you in your conflict. I will however leave should Lachesis gain the upper hand.¡±


    Zero piped up, ¡°Fair enough, now let¡¯s move.¡±


    * * * * *


    The docks were not far away, but the sounds of combat carried far. Zero had taken to pole-vaulting with a spear of ice from rooftop to rooftop while I sprinted along the street. I could smell salt water as I ran through stacks of steel shipping containers. ¡°Alex, get down!¡± Arya¡¯s voice shouted in my mind.


    Without hesitation I dropped into a baseball slide as Schattenstein and what looked like a giant black hairless gorilla slammed through the containers on my left. I leapt through the opening to see a wooden hull sailing ship straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean at a more modern dock. Omni was hiding behind a truck taking shots with his pistol at the guy from the cemetery who stood at the bottom of the gangplank, while he was blocking the shots with a shield made of swirling shadows and throwing bursts of black flame back. Delphi was facing off with the ninja twins from the warehouse, and seemed to be holding her own unarmed against a pair of blade wielding badasses. The gorilla had probably been conjured by the guy Omni was fighting, but that still left Lachesis who was nowhere to be seen.


    I heard the sound of wind over wings and ¡®saw¡¯ Thanatos land on the stack of shipping containers followed shortly by the appearance of the older gentleman from the park. Both were carrying fucking drinks and snacks as if this was a movie theatre. Loki hopped up to where they were sitting and was handed what looked like a beer bottle by Thanatos. I guess that answered my question of whose side he was on.


    ¡°I hope you guys are entertained,¡± I grumped as I looked for the best place to jump in.


    Zero landed from her latest pole-vault a few containers down and began rapid firing frozen shafts at the ninjas who were surrounding Delphi, which meant I needed to jump in and help Omni. I sprinted forward each step accompanied by a thrown spike at the dark wizard. His shield deflected the projectiles sending them to smack into the wooden hull like nails. I saw Omni pop up from his crouched position and grab a box out of the back of the truck before ducking down, but I couldn¡¯t focus on him as Darth Wannabe was flinging black flame at me, and I didn¡¯t have cover. Each blast of fire had a trajectory line but I could tell didn¡¯t have enough mass for my defensive techniques to stop, so I was forced to dodge while keeping up the pressure. Unfortunately I had limited ammunition as my spikes quickly ran out, and while I had a utility belt with ball bearings those wouldn¡¯t last long either. My only chance was to get close enough to take him on in a hand to hand fight, and hope Lachesis didn¡¯t suddenly appear.


    My opportunity came a few moments later when the guy staggered slightly, the flame he was about to throw fading as he fought to steady himself. I wasn¡¯t certain what happened, though I had my suspicions, but it was my chance. I rushed forward, every ounce of effort I had going into my speed. He recovered quicker than I expected though and the shadow shield morphed into the shape of a sword, set in the perfect position to gut me with the force of my own run.