《The Wrathic: Transcendence Series Book 1》


 Prologue: Welcome to Asphodel!

    Asphodel ¨C Sixth Age ¨C Second Year - Three hundredth Sun


    Welcome to Asphodel.


    This introduction video will provide a brief history on the world you¡¯re about to enter. It will also provide a quick overview of the character classes, rules, and armor and weapons sets available. Before we get started, please enter a user name. Most users prefer to remain anonymous and therefore choose a name different than their legal one. Please enter your user name.


    Adam


    Welcome Adam! Asphodel was created by Tomas Hidarian in the year 2166. The system was revealed to the public in the year 2171. On January 1st of the year 2,176, after five years of extensive testing, the system went online. Five million uses joined worldwide in the first month. The original programming was meant to encourage people to create a healthier lifestyle by experiencing a mix of fantasy and science fiction adventures in a safe and fun environment. With the exponential rise of medical advances in the second half of the twenty first century, and the elongation of what was perceived as a normal life, Mr. Hidarian wanted to create a world with unlimited possibilities. People can now live up to several hundred years in the real world, but with the time difference in Asphodel, they can life an alternate life for several thousand years.


    Users are not allowed to choose their in game body structure, save for facial features. The grav chamber required to access Asphodel will scan and import your body. While in game, your grav chamber will connect to the nanonites injected into your body during your Asphodel preregistration. In game physical movement is read by your grav chamber, and that information is relayed to your nanonites which will then use sophisticated technology to stimulate specific areas of your body. The nanonites will also stimulate your brain and release any appropriate chemicals as needed. The result is that your body can transform into a healthy vessel in the real world, while letting you live out adventures in Asphodel. Please note, if your character dies in Asphodel, you will need to create a new character and start over, so keep an eye on your health! When signed out of Asphodel, your character is seen, but unable to be interacted with. When you log back in, your character will regain corporeal form.


    If you¡¯re ready to proceed, the grav chamber will now scan your body for in game translation.


    Scanning¡­


    Your body is not compatible for translation due to physical abnormalities. You will be assigned a standard body type. The nanonites in your body will register your condition and react appropriately. Your head and facial features however, can be still be scanned. Would you like to proceed with the scan or create your own facial features from a template?


    Scan..


    Excellent! Are you sure you wish to scan you head and facial features? The only way it can be altered in the future is by finding a plastic surgeon within Asphodel, or dying to create aa new character.


    Yes.


    Very well. Please wait while you grav chamber completes its scan.


    Scanning¡­


    Scanning complete. Let¡¯s move on to character classes. There are five classes available, each with their own subgroups. Soldier, Warden, Technomancer, Shifter, and Enchanter. A brief description of each class and the subgroups available will now be provided.


    Soldiers are warriors forged in battle. They are the primary character class in Asphodel and provide a balanced and easily manageable user experience. Their weapons proficiency is vast, spanning from swords, and battle axes, to the AF25 assault rifle and the P5 laser pistol. Currently there are two thousand and sixty five weapon types available in Asphodel that are complimented by the Soldier¡¯s skill set. Their subclasses include but are not limited to, Hero, Spec Ops, Recon, Slayers, and Tanks. For a full list of subclasses in the Soldier character class, select the Soldier information tab. To proceed to Warden information, just type Warden in the field below.


    Warden.


    Wardens are specialized soldiers. They provide a more unique and finely tuned user experience than the normal Soldier. Their weapon proficiency is focused on hand to hand combat, along with powder and energy based weapons. They can develop skills outside of the Soldier class such as advanced hacking and weapon customization. Currently there are nine hundred and seventy two weapon types available in Asphodel that are complimented by the Warden¡¯s Skill set. Their subclasses include but are not limited to, Nexus, Officer, Assassin, Specialist, and Pilot. For a full list of the subclasses in the Warden character class, select the Warden information tab. To proceed to the Technomancer class, just type Technomancer in the field below.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Technomancer.


    Technomancers are advanced science experts. They provide a user experience that centers around technology and requires a great deal of intelligence. Their weapon proficiency is focused on energy based weapons and technological support. Technomancers can develop skills to help them navigate through the programming in Asphodel and can develop technology so advanced that it appears to be magic. There is no other class that can get around the in game programming as proficiently as a Technomancer. Currently there are three hundred and fourteen weapon types available in Asphodel that are complimented by the Technomancer¡¯s Skill set. Their subclasses include but are not limited to, Hacker, Intelligence, Smith, Engineer, and Digital Wizard. For a full list of the subclasses in the Technomancer character class, select the Technomancer information tab. If you would like to proceed the Enchanter class, simply type Enchanter in the field below.


    Enchanter.


    Enchanters are a connection to the spirit world. They fantasy equivalent of Technomancers and provide a user experience that centers around actual magic and herbalist skills. Their weapon proficiency is focused on spells, summoning rituals and potions. Enchanters can create mind altering potions, destructive staffs of power or summon other worldly weapons or creatures. There is no other class that burns through mana as quickly as an Enchanter. Enchanters are the second most difficult class in Asphodel to develop but can also rival the most powerful foe if balanced properly. Currently there are one thousand and fourty-six weapon types available in Asphodel that are complimented by the Enchanter¡¯s Skill set. Their subclasses include but are not limited to, Herbalist, Necromancer, Summoner, Battle Mage, and Healer. For a full list of the subclasses in the Enchanter character class, select the Enchanter information tab. If you would like to proceed to the last and most difficult class, the Shifter class, simply type Shifter in the field below.


    Shifter.


    Shifters are a connection to the animal world. As their name suggests, Shifters can change into animals. They provide a user experience that requires concentration, endurance, and patience. Their weapon proficiency in human for is hand to hand combat and their weapon proficiency in animal form is based on whatever physical attributes they may possess while in animal form. Shifters are randomly assigned an animal when their character is created. Once again, it should be noted that the Shifter class is the most difficult class to develop since it offers the most desirable and powerful skills. As thus, the transformation process is painful early on, and often deters a lot of users from continuing the game as a Shifter. If developed however, Shifters are the most versatile users in the game, and can be combined with the Warden¡¯s Nexus subclass to provide a lethal duo. Their subclasses include but are not limited to, Gryphon, Tiger, Bear, Eagle, and Basilisk. For a full list of the subclasses in the Shifter character class, select the Shifter information tab.


    If you would like to select a class based on the overview information provided, simply type the class in the field below.


    Shifter.


    You have selected Shifter. There is no need to select a sub-class as one will be randomly assigned once you begin the game. Again, please note, transforming into animal form can be quite painful at first, but the pain experienced in Asphodel, is contained within Asphodel. Only beneficial physical development will be applied to your actual body. No physical or mental harm will translate to the real world. The nanites will intercept and destroys this signals before they can be processed, and a ten point redundant back up system is in place to ensure every user is as safe as they can possibly be. Would you like more information on the class or the physical effects before proceeding?


    No.


    Excellent! Next we shall discuss rules¡­there are none. Asphodel was built to allow users to experience whatever life they so choose within the game. While physical movements will help transform your body into a better you, real pain and harmful mental conditions such as post-traumatic stress syndrome, will not translate into the real world. The nanonites in your body prevent this from happening. Asphodel was not only built to help people achieve a more healthy physical form, but also a more healthy mental form. By living out our fantasies and possible violent tendency''s within Asphodel, we¡¯re creating a more peaceful and fulfilling real world. Research has shown that violent users within Asphodel have a 99% likely hood to forgo violence in the real world.


    Weapons and Armor sets vary greatly in Asphodel. In the year 2180 Tomas Hidarian opened Asphodel up to mods. Programmers from across the world started making their own weapon and armor sets in the game. As it stands there are over five thousand weapon classifications and two thousand armor classifications, and those numbers increase monthly with mod updates.


    Asphodel is an expansive world. This video is meant to give you a brief understanding of what you¡¯ll experience in order to prepare you for your time in the game. You can do everything you can do in the real world and much, much more. The experience you have is dictated by the decisions you make and you will never experience the same thing twice. Inventory management, gaining XP, skill breakdowns and any other necessary explanations will be learned in game. This video is not meant to be an instruction guide on how to play. Learning about Asphodel and what¡¯s possible by doing it is half of the fun. So what are you waiting for? With your user name chosen, body loaded, and class selected, you¡¯re ready to begin the most exciting experience of your life.


    Press ¡®Start¡¯ to continue.


    Start.

 Chapter 1: The Barron Wastes

    Asphodel - Sixth Age - Third Year - First Sun


    Fire erupted from Mary''s hand, licking the onyx stone wall in front of her. The flames struck the wall at the exact location that her research had revealed. As a Warden she chose to focus on medieval weaponry, twenty first century fire arms, and advanced light weight armor skills, but everyone except for Warrior class users had basic spells at their disposal. The flames wouldn''t do much damage to a combatant, 2 hit points per second, but it did have other uses. For example, she could use it to light the path in front of her for twenty seconds, or have it reveal hidden Wrathic text.


    Wrathics were user based only. There were no non-playable characters (or NPCs) flying around Asphodel spewing molten death, and in fact, their existence was a great topic of debate in Asphodel. Wrathics were an extremely rare creature form of the Shifter class, so rare in fact that no user had been recorded transforming into one in Asphodel¡¯s sixty years online. There was written text and myth passed down from NPCs and found scattered throughout the world, but no video evidence existed to corroborate the myth. Depending on who you talked to, they were merely a twisted prank made up by Asphodel¡¯s creator Tomas Hidarian. Wrathics were based off of his obsession with dragon and wyvern lore. They were supposedly modeled to be large, destructive lizards. Instead of having front legs, they had massive wings akin to a bat. The wings had hooked claws at the elbows that allowed them to climb walls or crawl around when not in flight. While most believed they never existed to begin with, Mary knew better. She believe that the cave before her was the key to finding a live Wrathic.


    Mary stared at the onyx wall as it glistened in the moon light. Ten seconds passed. Twenty. Thirty. After a minute, a portion of the wall above Mary''s head started swirling and shifting. Letters began to form, the stone turned to liquid and shifted in place like some oily substance. Without warning the area burst into flames revealing beautifully angular symbols. There were swoops, curves, and aggressive, pointed tails to each symbol. The individual characters looked like some simplistic design of a Wrathic moving through the stone surface. The phrase, whatever it said, gave the feeling of a massive battle between supremely strong creatures, with each letter displaying another combatant. In its current form, the text was unreadable. Since no Wrathics had ever been found in Asphodel, the language had never been translated. There was no scroll, elder or spell found that was able to decipher the text. Until now.


    Unclasping the top section of her chest armor, Mary reached down between the titanium plated mail and pulled out a ring. It was attached to an old silver chain that held no value save for personal. She undid the clasp, and let the ring slide down to her open palm before tapping the menu beacon inside her forearm twice, and tossing the necklace into the air. It disappeared into her inventory.


    The ring itself was onyx, like the wall to the cave, but turned blood red when it made contact with Mary¡¯s skin. It was thicker than a normal ring both in band weight and width. There were waves that swirled around the outside with the ends of each unique section raising off the band and coming to a point. The design of the ring matched the fiery Wrathic text on the wall almost perfectly.


    Mary brought the ring up to her face and examined it as she had many times before. The inside was an intense orange color, with a thin yellow band in the center. She had tried to find the origin of the ring by hiring various vendors across the land, but no one knew where it came from or could determine if it was imbued with any sort of power. She spent close to a million credits on reveal potions and mythical relics that would claim to pull stats from any artifact in Asphodel, but nothing worked. Then, six months ago, Mary found information about the ring¡¯s origin hidden in Wrathic myth via a complex code. The information was a set of numbers, coordinates in fact. Those coordinates led her to the ominous rock face before her.


    It was a translation ring, Mary knew it the second she discovered the location. She had dealt with similar relics in the past and the area she stood in drew all the earmarks of her previous experiences. A secluded location that required time, supplies, planning and a strong will to locate. She was in the Barren Wastes, a burnt section of the world that offered no discernible value to anyone. Nobody was going to stumble across the cave, and they certainly weren¡¯t going to open it without a way to translate the text; which was hidden. Plenty had tried to decipher the language over the years but there weren''t enough examples found to help the cause. The phrase before Mary on the dark stone was now one of three phrases ever found.


    Before trying to use the ring, Mary took one last look around to ensure that no one had followed. Behind her was a waste of black sand, with the occasional dead shrub or pile of animal bones that stretched beyond he view. She stared for several minutes, studying each detail in an attempt to locate any indication that she was being trailed. Satisfied that no one was behind her, Mary turned to the left of the wall. There was a burnt forest, the trees blackened and covered in ash from a fire long since gone. Her assessment of that area took a little longer, as the dead plants swayed in gusts of wind and made it more difficult to locate any potential threats. Nothing. Lastly, a dark ocean lay to the right of the wall. The water inky and eerily still, without a single wave or indication of possible life below. Mary was excited about the potential breakthrough that she was about to discover, but had no desire to linger longer than she needed to in such a dismal location.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Here''s to hoping," Mary said as she slipped the ring on.


    It settled on the base of her finger, and reduced in size to fit snugly against her skin. ¡°Interesting,¡± she said to herself. Four of the pointed tips around the ring rotated and clamped down, two on the front and two staggered from their location on the back. They dug through her skin, causing blood to pool and run down her hand. Mary winced as the tips burrowed until they made contact with bone. She held back a wail of pain to the best of her ability as the ring ignited and seared the flesh beneath it. As she had many times before, Mary had to remind herself, ¡®Everything in Asphodel comes at a price¡¯.


    Looking down to her forearm, Mary saw her menu beacon flashing. Instead of the light green color she had chosen on the day she gained access to the beacon when she reached level 5, it was deep red. This was the first time that she had seen it change in all the years she¡¯d spent in the game. The pain around her finger intensified as the ring continued to burn. She reach down to touch the glowing red dot.


    Instead of Mary¡¯s menu appearing as a white, holographic interface a foot in front her, red text emblazoned the air. It said, ¡®Sample confirmed: User accepted¡¯. With that, the ring immediately cooled around her finger. Mary could see the message fading as the flaming Wrathic text on the wall began to swirl and shift. It was replaced by a phrase in the common tongue that said, '' Abandon all hope, ye who enter here...''


    Mary smirked. "Dante. Cute."


    Without warning the text disappeared. A rectangular section of the wall started to glow yellow, then orange, before it burst into flames and extinguished within a matter of seconds. The area cracked, turning an ashen gay color and hissing as if there was pressure pushing against the rear of it. The area imploded in a cloud of smoke and debris, and as the dust cleared, a hidden, pitch black tunnel was revealed behind the onyx wall. Mary raised her hand, and rotated her flat palm up to the entrance. Heat swelled around her wrist and traveled up to her fingers tips, before forming an apex of power in the center of her palm. The sides of the tunnel flashed bright yellow as her fireball tore through its threshold. The spell took more mana than your run of the mill flame spell that she had used to reveal the text, but Mary came prepared. She was stacked with mana and health potions, amongst a wide array of other supplies. There was no telling what she¡¯d encounter inside.


    The fireball streaked forward twenty feet then sank toward the ground before disappearing beneath the sand floor. The tunnel tilted downward, into the earth. There was nothing she make out, save for jagged onyx walls and a black sand covered floor. Given the amount of work it took to find the ring, the cave, and figure out how to get the tunnel open, Mary assumed there wouldn¡¯t be much resistance inside. Still in a world where dying meant starting from scratch, she get to level 75 without being cautious.


    Opening up her menu, Mary navigated to her inventory and selected all. She scrolled to the bottom and equipped a customized, level 90 M4 assault rifle with an attached grenade launcher, not her primary weapon of choice, but the versatility it provided couldn¡¯t be looked over. Technically she shouldn¡¯t have been able to equip it, but several months back she found a magical pendant that allowed her to use weapons that were fifteen levels above her current one. Wrathics were born in fire and their skin was like steel, so Mary selected high velocity tungsten rounds that dealt 20% freezing damage, and loaded acid bombs into the launcher.


    Content with her primary weapon, she equipped two level 85, X8 laser pistols and corresponding leg holsters. Since she had no clue what she was going to encounter in the cave, it felt best to cultivate different weapons with various damage effects and multipliers. Every player, every creature or NPC in Asphodel had their weakness. It was just a matter of figuring out what they were.


    Mary finalized her weapons kit with two level 89 kukri blades the were cross sheathed on her back. They were both imbued with additional bleed damage at 10 hit points per seconds for 30 seconds after each hit. Originally, she favorite straight blades, but a fellow Warden and friend of hers swayed her opinion during a particularly heated training session where he demonstrated the kukri¡¯s lethal flexibilities.


    Satisfied with her weapons loadout, Mary assessed her armor. The long road it took to find the cave was riddled with danger, so the armor she had equipped was already was top of the line for her level. It was a mesh of medieval designs and more futuristic ballistic styling with highly lightweight and dense alloys. The helmet she chose completely enclosed her head and was buffed to provide fire protection, while the rest of the armor was impenetrable to most known blades. To round out the kit and help with any attacks, she selected a set of combat gloves that added 20% percent to her firing and reload speed.


    Last but not least, she navigated to her potions and selected one titled ¡®Predatory Instincts¡¯. It provided an hour of night vision. She also selected a mana potion. They both appear on her belt as small orbs, three inches in diameter. One at a time, she smashed them against her chest. The clear housing decomposed into a white dust and floated into the air. The blue and purple contents of each orb splashed across her chest and the viscous liquids spread across her armor. The tunnel became clear day, and her mana was completely restored.


    Mary stared into the now illuminated tunnel. Most of her life had be spent searching for proof that the Wrathic myth was no mere story. She spent centuries in Asphodel searching, killing, and scavenging for information. It all led to this moment. Mary took a knee before entering. ¡°Dark Angel, look over me.¡±


    She stood with renewed vigor, the weight of the assault rifle a comfort despite her uncertain future. If death was all that awaited her in the cave, then she wouldn¡¯t go without a fight

 Chapter 2: Flame in the Dark

    Asphodel - Sixth Age - Third Year ¨C First Sun


    Mary couldn¡¯t process what she was seeing. While the journey through the cave had been long and arduous, it was for the most part, surprisingly boring. With every step she scanned the tunnel for threats. With every heartbeat, every breath, she wondered whether it would be her last, but there was nothing. For three hours she trekked forward, Hyper aware of her surroundings and what could lie waiting in the dark. She had used orb after orb of mana to lick every inch of the walls in fire, with hope of finding more text, but there was nothing. Then at last, she came to an opening, a massive cavern that had a large hole in the center of the ceiling. Dim light poured through causing a tube a illumination, with dust swirling and dancing in the air. On the floor below, bathed in light and surrounded by debris, lay a young man in worn clothes.


    Mary stood at the entrance to the cavern, trying to find any possible threats within. Just like the tunnels behind her, there was nothing that she could see. Still, that didn¡¯t mean that there wasn¡¯t anything waiting for her. Opening her inventory, Mary navigated to an old scroll she acquired several years ago on a particularly difficult quest. She knew the day would come when its value would be beyond measure and finally that day was upon her. When the incantation on the scroll was read, any trap, ward, user or creature in the vicinity would be revealed for two hours. The text emphasized ¡®ANY¡¯. Mary did her research; there were only two other instances of similar scrolls found since Asphodel went online, and neither had been used. Given the rarity, she had to believe it would work.


    Pulling the scroll from her inventory, Mary unrolled the brittle parchment and spoke the incantation. ¡°E al moth. Ne for damo. Ne for Fero. Ne for dun.¡± A gust of wind swooped in from the opening in the ceiling. It swirled up the dust lingering in the air and floated toward Mary. The scroll¡¯s text illuminated on the parchment. It was pale purple at first, but then burned white, blinding Mary in its light. The gust of wind broke through the parchment rendering it to sparkling purple dust that swept over Mary. Everything in the cave, the young man on the ground included, gained a faint purple hue around it. While Mary had never used this particular spell, the basic understanding of magic throughout Asphodel was very similar. She assumed that if anything was hiding in the dark recesses of the cave, it would stand out in some way.


    Once again, there was nothing.


    Taking a cautious step forward, Mary¡¯s thumb flicked the safety on her rifle to fire. Taking another tense step, she clutched the rifle against her chest and tucked the butt of the stock in between her chest and shoulder. It¡¯s placement felt perfectly comforting amongst the overwhelming uncertainty that clouded her every step. She slowly moved toward the man on the floor, eyes constantly searching the cave for any indication of danger. Her gaze jumped back to the man, who was lying on his side with his legs curled slightly toward his body. He lay twenty feet in front of her now, and she could see his side rise and fall every few seconds with each breath. The time it took for him to complete one cycle indicated that he was unconscious.


    At ten feet, Mary raised the barrel of her rifle and placed her iron sights on the center of his head. She started to side step around him, slowly circling to the front in order to get a better view of his face. As it came into view, she could already tell that it was not an NPC. It was no ordinary user either, this one was different and hope began to build in her chest.


    Mary started to lower the barrel of her rifle, but the man¡¯s whole body jolted causing a cloud of dark gray dust to shoot into the air. Mary snapped the barrel of her rifle back to his head. Taking another step forward, Mary could see his eyes dancing wildly under his closed lids. Heart racing faster and faster, Mary took another step forward. The edge of the young man¡¯s eyelids fluttered and then opened slowly.


    His pupils constricted and Mary could see that his eyes were bloodshot as the light coming through the ceiling pierced his vision. For a moment he just lay there, lifelessly staring at Mary, who was ready to fire at the slightest provocation. He blinked once, allowing his lids to rest for several seconds before opening them again. Recognition gave way to thought, which in turn gave way to fear. The young man squinted as his mind quickly registered the power that Mary displayed through her weapon load out and armor. He blinked furiously and scrambled backward out of the light.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Mary said authoritatively through her helmet. The voice modulator was purposefully set to sound aggressive and menacing. Theatricality could sometimes be the difference between getting information, or being attacked. ¡°Who are you?¡± she said again, louder. Her voice a mutilated, digital rasp that echoed through the cave. ¡°User name and level.¡±


    The young man continued to kick at the sand, sliding his rear against the ground until he smashed his back into a wall. ¡°I uh, I don¡¯t¡­¡± he struggled to find the words. Mary glanced around the cave and couldn¡¯t see anything that would indicate he was a threat. The scroll had surrounded him in the same dull purple border that everything else was coated in.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°Are you armed?¡± She asked, taking a few steps forward and out of the light.


    His chest was heaving up and down as he breathed heavily. Eyes darting around different areas of the cave, his gaze finally rested back on Mary in her menacing armor. ¡°Uh, no. I uh¡­I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    Mary stood there for a few seconds, assessing the situation before her. The man looked confused and frightened. While it was possible that the whole scenario could have been a ruse, Mary was convinced that everything was as it appeared. Taking a chance on faith, she dialed a specific pattern into the side of her helmet and it hissed before the front slid up and over her head. With a faint digital crackle, it disappeared into her inventory.


    Mary lowered her rifle; an action that was met with relief from the man sitting on the ground. She rotated it under her arm, letting it hang off her back beneath the kukri sheaths near her shoulders. ¡°So long as don¡¯t try to hurt me, I won¡¯t hurt you. Do you understand?¡±


    He nodded cautiously.


    ¡°Good. What¡¯s your name?¡±


    The young man stared at the ground, his mind searching for an answer in the dark granules below. ¡°I¡­Adam¡­I think.¡±


    Mary nodded. ¡°And do you know what level and class you are Adam?¡±


    Adam nodded at the sand. ¡°Uh, a level three Shifter.¡±


    Mary¡¯s skin went flush, and her blood warmed. Her heart quickened as questions and possibilities populated her mind. Was this it? Had she finally found a living Wrathic? There had to be some way that Adam made it into the cave, and save for the hole in the ceiling, the tunnel that Mary came in through seemed to be the only other opening. Mary took another step forward, slowly to ensure that she didn¡¯t startle Adam. He was still focused on the sand in front of him, but his head cocked slightly at the sound of her footsteps. She could see his mind racing, his consciousness trying to catch up and put everything in its place. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for Shifters to become disoriented after transforming back into their human form the first few times. Early transformations turned the users mind into a more animalistic, instinctual machine. It was rare that Shifters below a level twenty would have full, mental control over their animal form.


    Mary turned to look at the hole in the ceiling. It was at least fifteen feet in diameter. Her gaze shifted to the floor illuminated below. Varying sizes of stone were scattered around the area that Adam had been laying in. The patterns in the sand and the way they were arranged suggested that Adam, tore through the ceiling, which certainly wasn¡¯t a possibility in his current form. Mary walked back underneath the hole and surveyed the area above. It was hard to tell how far the rock stretched into the light, but it was enough to give Mary an idea of what happened. She couldn¡¯t think of any creature that was powerful enough to inflict that much damage. She turned, and her gaze focused on Adam.


    Walking back over to him she said, ¡°Adam, I need you to tell me what happened. I need to know how you got here.¡±


    Adam¡¯s mind raced as he searched the sand for answers. After a few minutes he clasped his eyelids shut and his head jerked to one side. Eyes closed, he tried to recall the events that led him to the cave. Memories in Asphodel were like saved video files. Remembering details in the game was much easier than the game world, but due to latent that came with the Shifter class, Hidarian made everything hard for them. Recalling memories while in animal form was almost impossible in the early days, but could be developed with time. His body shuttered as his head jerked back and forth. ¡°I can¡¯t¡­I can¡¯t see it.¡±


    Mary knelt beside him and gently lay her hand on his shoulder. ¡°Breathe Adam. Take your time, and breathe.¡±


    Adam did as instructed. His chest raised and decreased quickly. After a few more breath¡¯s, Mary squeezed his shoulder in support and his breathing slowed. ¡°There was...darkness,¡± Mary could see his eyes well up under their lids. ¡°Darkness and then,¡± tears started streaming down his cheeks. ¡°No,¡± he whined in despair.


    ¡°Adam,¡± Mary said softly. ¡°Adam stay with me, I need you to focus.¡±


    Adam¡¯s eye lids tightened as he moaned, ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to go back.¡± His head started to sway back and forth.


    ¡°Adam listen to me, I can help you. But I need to know what happened to you first.¡±


    His head jolted forward and then flew back into the stone wall behind him with a dull thud. He repeated the process several times before Mary gripped either side of his face to stop him. Adam¡¯s eye¡¯s shot open, tear soaked and bloodshot he stared through her, focused on the painful memory that led him to her grasp.


    ¡°My skin¡­my whole body¡­my blood was boiling." His breathing started to increase again. ¡°I saw¡­pain¡­I felt it.¡± His chest heaved up and down, faster and faster with each breath. ¡°My bones snapped,¡± fear took over. Mary could see it in his eyes, it was painted all over his face.


    ¡°What else?¡± She asked insistently. ¡°What else!¡± She couldn¡¯t contain her excitement anymore. It was right in front of her, in her hands. The myths were real and within her grasp, she just needed him to say it.


    ¡°There was fire.¡± Adam started to whimper, his entire body quivering fear. ¡°It consumed me, it burned me alive. I became,¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡± Mary pressed.


    ¡°No,¡±


    ¡°Tell me!¡±


    ¡°I became death,¡± and with that last phrase, Adam broke down, all his weight supported by Mary¡¯s hands. She released his head and he slumped to the ground, sobbing into the dark sand below.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Mary said emotionless, almost robotic as she stood. Her mind was the complete opposite, a swirl of emotions and speculation on what she had to do. Without direct verification, Mary had found what she was looking for. All that remained was getting him to a safe place where she could see the transform.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to help you,¡± She said flatly. ¡°I¡¯m going to take care of you.¡±

 Chapter 3: Ignite

    Asphodel ¨C The Sixth Age ¨C Third Year ¨C Fifteenth Sun


    Cracking bones echoed off the cement walls around Mary. The spine-tingling noises continued as she pivoted around, he heels digging into the floor. The exit was fifteen feet away. Feverishly running numbers, she tried to calculate the chances of getting out of the room alive. It didn¡¯t look good. With the little control that Shifters over their early creature form, Mary knew the relationship she had built with Adam in the two weeks meant little.


    The steel door came fast and hard against her shoulder, much sooner than expected. It¡¯s frozen chill on her skin was overshadowed by the pain of her snapping collar bone. Even that agony would have to wait for its due attention. Without thinking, her hand slammed into the holographic locking mechanism below. It read her print as soon as her palm made contact, and the door to the room slid open.


    Mary darted through the opening. Slightly relieved, she paused and turned to look at Adam one last time. She hesitated shutting the door, though she knew she should. Luckily for her, the tranformation was taking much longer than expected based off of other Shifters. Still, the odds of surviving no longer seemed to matter. All she could do was stare at the frighteningly beautiful sight before her and hope beyond all that she knew, that this was it. He would be the one. The one to endure. The one to survive. The one true guardian.


    Mary hesitated closing the door. She could see Adam¡¯s head tilted back, his face pointed toward the ceiling. His muscles started to seize, violently shaking the metal chair below him, causing it to clatter against the concrete floor. She¡¯d seen many Shifters discover their prime, and watched the painful initial tranformation process. But, Adam claimed he had already shifted once before; Mary didn¡¯t expect it to be so violent the second time around. Just like the day she found Adam, Her mind wandered back to her first session in Asphodel, and the advice that was given to her on that day. There are no gifts. Everything in Asphodel comes at a price. Shifters came to understand that more than most, and it seemed that Adam would understand it better than anyone.


    When imagination becomes reality, and myth becomes flesh and blood, a guardian will rise. Mary repeated the phrase in her head, as she had thousands of times before. Her entire life led to this moment, and now she stood at the precipice of the most amazing discovery in all of Asphodel. A Wrathic coming to life before her eyes. They do exist.


    Without warning, the metal door to the interrogation room slammed shut.


    ¡°Get the hell in here!¡± a voice boomed above her.


    It was Cassius, who was watching Adam¡¯s transformation from the control room positioned on the other side of a double-pained, half-mirrored wall. Mary snapped back to reality with a metallic bang as the door in front of her shuttered and bent outward. She ran down the corridor to her right. The control room was open, and her feet slid as she rounded the corner. Tony was sitting at the main controls, and Cassius stood behind him. They both stared at Adam in shock as Mary rushed into the room.


    Mary immediately turned her attention to the thick window to see Adam still writhing in pain. She glanced over at the massive dent in the interrogation room¡¯s door and the metal chair mangled in front of it on the floor. Mary turned back to Adam. His limbs were breaking and cracking out of place before realigning themselves into a completely different structure. His head retched forward as blood shot from his mouth and started dripping from his eyes and ears.


    ¡°You were telling the truth,¡± she whispered.


    ¡°You gonna,¡± Cassius started. He nodded at Mary¡¯s collarbone. The break was visible through her tight-fitting top. With everything going on, she had completely forgotten about it. Mary grabbed a small red health orb from her belt and smashed it on top of her collarbone. The orb shattered and a viscous red liquid splashed over her shirt. It felt warm while it soaked into the shirt, then seeped into her skin. The collarbone realigned itself and the wound healed within a matter of seconds.


    ¡°This is unbelievable,¡± Tony said, staring at Mary with wide eyes. She couldn¡¯t take her eyes off Adam. She slowly walked closer to the glass. Staring at the violent event that unfolded before them, Mary prayed to whoever would listen that Adam wouldn¡¯t die. If he did, this character would be lost and there¡¯d be no telling what animal form he¡¯d get upon selecting the Shifter class again. She¡¯d bet everything she had though that he wouldn¡¯t be a Wrathic. Tony and Cassius watched as Mary approached the glass and placed her palm against it.


    "Surviving would be unbelievable.¡± Cassius said.


    Mary wasn¡¯t paying attention, her head was swirling with Wrathic myth. Of course this was going to be violent and drawn out, she thought. Wrathics were said to be entirely different than other Shifters. The pain involved in the early transformations were amplified to an unquantifiable, indescribable level. Every Wrathic rumor that she found in her centuries of research ended with the hosts experiencing an incredibly bloody, and painful death. The physical and mental toll of the conversion was just too much. If it was to be the most powerful creature in the game, as Hidarian had intended, then it would certainly be the most difficult to develop and sustain.


    ¡°Mary!¡± Cassius shouted, seeing her drift into the wind.


    Adam¡¯s arms were transforming. The excruciating event started in his shoulders. The clavicle forced itself outward, away from his chest. The scapula followed, sliding to the very end of the clavicles, connected by new tendons; thin yet powerful. His skin molded and stretched until large, leathery wings appearedbelow his wiry new ¡®arms¡¯. Small fissures appear on Adam¡¯s face, before his skin began to peel and fall to the ground. Mary pulled her hand back from the glass and moved next to Tony at the main control screen.


    "Okay that¡¯s enough. We have recorded confirmation. Hit him. Ten percent, five seconds.¡±


    Tony hesitated. The electrical rods in the ceiling were used to subdue any person or creature that they had under interrogation. Five percent could kill a class one. Ten percent could kill a class five, depending on the host. Adam, was only a class three. He had told Mary that in the haze of memories from his first transformation, he swore it was a lightning bolt that took him down. Whether Hidarian planned for him to show up at the cave only to be incapacitated by a preprogrammed bolt was unseen, but it was the only information that had on what could possibly subdue him.


    ¡°Mary,¡± Cassius said, stepping up to justify Tony¡¯s hesitation. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a little much?¡±


    Adam¡¯s face had fully shed its skin. A newly formed, leathery, scaled head took its place. The large black eyes began to glow, swirling between bright red and orange. Long, razor sharp teeth filled his elongated mouth. The pain, anger, and frustration was removed. Adam was replaced by the black heart of the beast that consumed him. It dislocated its jaw, then rolled its head at the neck. The mouth opened wide as it rotated its head in a full circle. The teeth and fire glands under the tongue were strikingly apparent.


    Mary put a hand on Tony¡¯s shoulder and squeezed firmly to reveal the severity of the situation. ¡°If he completes the transformation, we may not be able to be able to stop him. We¡¯ll all start over with new characters. Our research will take a back seat as we spend decades leveling back up and the council won¡¯t tolerate that. They¡¯d replace us, if they could, and likely banish us. Hit. Him. Now.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Tony paused. After a deep breath he hesitantly typed the commands into the white holographic touchscreen below and activated the defense system. Everyone turned their attention to the ceiling as a small portion of it disassembled into tiny squares and peeled back to reveal a round hole. A copper rod, twelve inches in diameter and two feet long, lowered from the ceiling fifteen feet above Adam. There was a brief mechanical whir before a blast of electricity coiled around the rod and shot at the creature who was stuck between humanity and beast.


    It roared long and loud as the electricity struck between its eyes. The double-paned two-way security window separating them, though six inches thick, began to vibrate from the sheer volume of noise that the small, but powerful creature made. Its head snapped to the two-way glass, red eyes glaring through the mirror at Mary. Massive, robust legs now took the place of Adam¡¯s, claws replaced his feet and as the creature rose, its intentions became clear. It meant to plow through the wall that separated them, killing anything that crossed its path.


    ¡°Jesus,¡± Tony exclaimed.


    ¡°Forty percent, ten seconds.¡± Mary said firmly.


    The creature roared, then slammed a claw into the concrete floor causing it to crack in all directions.


    ¡°Do it!¡± she shouted at Tony. ¡°Put him down!¡±


    Tony jumped when Mary yelled as he was too preoccupied with gawking at Adam. He shook his head and furiously typed the commands into the console before slamming a finger down on the engage key. Within seconds, another three rods lowered from the ceiling. Electricity swirled and grew around the rods before firing one large bolt at the creature¡¯s head. This time, it had an effect. It stumbled and growled, losing its footing as electricity surged through its body. Muscles shuddered and tweaked, but they also tensed, and the creature held its ground.


    After the ten seconds depleted, the control room went quiet. The beast was still, standing on all fours, staring at the cracks in the concrete. It was unclear as to whether or not it was still conscious. After a few moments, its back expanding as it inhaled digital air. As it exhaled, the head slowly raised, the fire in its eyes intensified. The creature¡¯s upper lip quivered as it slowly peeled above his onyx teeth.


    Mary, Tony, and Cassius stared, frozen by shock and awe. Forty percent was enough to kill a Level 25 Shifter, whether they were in human or creature form. Adam had completed the transformation, and a fully-fledged Level 3 Wrathic stood in his place.


    It look just as the myth¡¯s described. Small, dense scales covered it¡¯s entire body. A long, spiked tail led up to powerful muscular legs, with razor sharp claws jutting from its leathery, boney toes. The midsection was elongated and lean, leading up to a bulky heaving chest. In place of arms, the Wrathic had wide wings that started where it¡¯s shoulders would be. The elbows of the wings had triple, claw like appendages that it used to prop itself up when standing on the ground. Following the powerful chest up, a thick neck almost as long as it¡¯s abdomen led to the most frightening part of the creature. It¡¯s head.


    Elongated and menacing, the head was covered in pointed digits of varying size and length that swept back across its face, and gave the appearance of a demonic porcupine. It¡¯s teeth were long and sharp, some falling into place perfectly between each other, while others jutted out to the side in a vicious display of the proposed pain they could inflict. All said and done, the high point of the creatures wings stood at ten feet off the ground, it measured thirty feet from tail to snout.


    Mary¡¯s excitement and disbelief was tabled by the terrifying display before them, a mere six inches of safety glass between them. Wrathic¡¯s size was said to increase with their levels. Mary shuddered at the thought of a high level Wrathic that could very well end up standing some forty of fifty feet high.


    The Wrathic swept it long tail around, then raised its front claw and shot it down onto the concrete. A thunderous wave radiated out as the floor separated in several locations. This time, one particularly massive crevice tore toward the control room. It crept up the wall and splintered the six inches of safety glass that served to protect them.


    ¡°Eighty percent!¡± Mary shouted.


    Tony didn¡¯t respond. Both he and Cassius were frozen in fear. The Wrathic took another powerful step forward and the resulting shock wave caused the glass to shatter and fall to the ground in a thousand pieces. While too much electricity could run the risk of killing him, Mary wasn¡¯t convinced. If that was the case, he would¡¯ve been dead already. Priorities quickly shifted from keeping him alive, to keeping themselves alive. The Wrathic was the key to their end goal, but if he killed them in the process, someone else would likely kill or capture him and that couldn¡¯t happen. Mary shoved Tony out the control chair and slammed her fingers into the holographic keys in a fury. The Wrathic lowered, poising to lunge. Four more rods receded from the ceiling and whirred up.


    The Wrathic leapt as the powerful bolt crashed between its shoulder blades, smashing it to the ground. Electricity poured from the ceiling, creating a surging blue and white cloud of power above the creature. After a few seconds, the lights in the control room started to flicker. The Wrathic held its ground; seizing, muscles tensed, determined to fight back.


    Wide eyed, Mary turned her attention back to the console. He fingers raced across the holographic interface in a fluid fury while the electricity continued to berate the Wrathic¡¯s thick skin.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Cassius pressed.


    ¡°We need to stop him,¡± Mary said calmly, her focus never wandering from the screen. The percentage raised from eighty to a hundred percent.


    Cassius surged forward and violently wretched her wrist back. ¡°That¡¯ll take down the reactor for the whole facility! We need to get evacuate.¡±


    Mary rotated, slipping out of his grip and drove her opposite fist into his temple. Cassius blacked out. His body went limp and due to the force of her hit, he slammed into the ground with a hard thud. Tony was quivering on the ground, frozen in fear. Cassius came to, and shook his head, before looking up at Mary incredulously.


    She rushed back to the screen and shouted, ¡°If he gets out of room he¡¯ll tear through the facility! We¡¯ll die! EVERYONE WILL DIE!¡±


    Two more rods lowered from the ceiling and whirled up. With the glass gone, the storm of electricity caused Mary¡¯s skin to tingle as she anxiously waited for the extra percentage to kick in. The lights flicked and died as the system drained what little power the facility had left, and the console went dark as the extra rods fired.


    ¡°I won¡¯t let him be taken by someone else. I won¡¯t let all of my work be destroyed, all the years of research wasted.¡± Mary muttered under her breath at no one in particular. She leaned forward in anticipation and clenched down on the edge of the control room¡¯s window sill; broken glass digging into her palms. Ignored the pain as her blood streamed down the wall, the Wrathic snarled at Mary as it fought through the onslaught of electricity ravaging its body.


    Cassius stared up at Mary as her obsessive nature in completing their quest took over. She continued to mutter angrily, the volume of her voice increasing with each word. ¡°Dark Angel look over me and be a guiding light in the darkness. I will not be deterred by evil, I will not be consumed by the blackness that tries to overwhelm me.¡±


    The Wrathic¡¯s eyes locked with hers, and its sockets burst into flames. Straining through the pain, it slowly pried its mouth open to reveal the main fire glands. They quivered as the tongue danced out of the way, and the creature prepared to engulf the control room in searing torment and death.


    Mary had started to shout at the Wrathic as it prepared to kill her, ¡°I will not stand down when confronted by the beast! I will not allow my life to be relegated to ash! I am the master of my own destiny and NO ONE WILL STAND IN MY WAY!¡±


    Flames started to lick the edge of its mouth before the Wrathic¡¯s head quivered and limbs crumbled. The creature shuttered, held on for one more second, and then its body crashed to the ground. After another ten seconds of seizing, the entire body went limp.


    The Facility¡¯s defense system sparked near the base of the rods as a thunderous, metallic clang rang out in the room. Like the rest of the facility, the system was out of juice, and forcefully shut down. Both rooms were bathed in darkness.


    There was silence.


    ¡°Emergency lights?¡± Tony asked quietly from the floor. Mary had almost forgotten he was there.


    Based off of the direction of his voice, Cassius was still on the ground. ¡°She fried the system. First the reactor went, then the emergency power kicked in, and she blew that too.¡±


    They sat in the darkness, taking stock of everything that happened in the last ten minutes, and what they had just discovered. Adam turned Asphodel upside down. The world changed in an instant. It was all open to them, and Adam was the key.


    After what seemed like hours, Mary finally said, ¡°But we survived,¡± a faint flash of red flickered in the dark room. It was the Wrathic¡¯s eye, twitching while he lay unconscious on the concrete ¡°and so did he,¡± she said with a nod to its body.

 Chapter 4: Reaffirmation

    Sector 1 ¨C Year 2236 ¨C Month 2 ¨C Day Sixteen


    Adam¡¯s vision went red, his eyes shot open and his mouth furiously gaped for oxygen. It came hard and fast, causing his mind to spin. After a few hurried breaths, his cognition began to realign. His heart was beating rapidly as his eyes darted around the room. Everything seemed unfamiliar to him.


    ¡°Breathe,¡± a foreign voice said calmly.


    Adam had no idea who was talking to him, but for some reason he trusted the empathetic voice. His lips parted, slightly at first, then as he inhaled more oxygen, his jaw crept farther open.


    ¡°Good,¡± the voice applauded. ¡°Again. Breathe.¡±


    Adam¡¯s mind raced feverishly. He craved information on his current status, but he knew his first priority was to bring his heart rate down and consume the much needed oxygen. Not willing, or more accurately not needing, to wait for the mysterious voice, he breathed again. His heart slowed; his mind calmed as the oxygen filled his lungs and his chest began to accept a more normal rhythm.


    ¡°Excellent. Now, what is your name?¡±


    ¡°Adam.¡±


    ¡°Not your user name, your real name.¡±


    ¡°An¡­Ani Kitos¡±


    ¡°And where are you?¡±


    Ani opened his eyes and allowed them to sweep the room. A clear enclosure surrounded him. He looked down to see what must have been his legs suspended three feet above the bottom of the enclosure. They were withered and weak; the wrinkly skin draped over mere bone and some semblance of what used to be muscle tissue. By all accounts the sight should have shocked him, but it didn¡¯t. His mind was reassembling, recalling every memory that formed his life.


    ¡°The real world,¡± he finally answered.


    ¡°Please be more specific,¡± the voice instructed.


    Ani took another breath and looked up, surveying the room outside of his clear cocoon. Reality flooded back, as it always did after spending a full day and Asphodel.


    ¡°United States,¡± Ani answered. ¡°I¡¯m in my grav chamber, in my spare bedroom, in my apartment.¡±


    ¡°City and state, please.¡±


    If nothing at all, Ani¡¯s home companion was polite. ¡°You used that last week, Reginald.¡±


    ¡°And yet I¡¯m a product of your personalized programming Mr. Kitos. I feel as if the blame should be placed on your own shoulders so to speak. Please answer the question.¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Polite, yet impudent. Though seemingly pointless to most, Ani was happy to hear Reginald using contractions in his speech. Home companions weren¡¯t programmed to do that, and it drove Ani crazy to hear such proper speech, so he made a few changes. Then made a few more.


    Ani spoke through his excessively loud yawn. ¡°Indeed, Reggie. My apologies. States and cities no longer exist. They were an antiquated governing systems instituted over five hundred years ago, before being abolished some two hundred years ago.¡±


    ¡°Specifics, Ani.¡±


    ¡°Ugh, why did I program you with sass?¡±


    ¡°If I had to guess sir, I¡¯d have to say that¡­¡±


    ¡°That was rhetorical, Reggie, and knock off that Mr. and Sir crap. We talked about that. You wanna let me down?¡±


    ¡°Do you want to answer my question?¡±


    Ani sighed. ¡°Not particularly, but it¡¯s nice to see that your new exit procedures are holding. January 18th, 2136. That¡¯s when the newly formed UWGB abolished states and cities, at least in the previously traditional sense. Zones were implemented and the entire world became a commonwealth.¡±


    ¡°Please¡­¡±


    Ani cut him off, ¡°The United Worldwide Governing Body.¡±


    ¡°Very good. Now, where did you just come from?¡±


    ¡°Asphodel. A virtual reality game world that was originally built to help people live healthier lives. It has evolved into so much more since then.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°Early versions of the game just focused on developing real world physical health, but as more and more people joined, ALL or the Asphodel Light of Liberation, the company that Hidarian created to produce Asphodel, started to develop more beneficial properties for mental health.¡± Ani continued, knowing that Reggie was programmed to get further verification.


    ¡°The technology behind the nanonites is a closely guarded secret, but the general gist of the system is that it¡¯ll allow you to experience emotions in the game, without any of the mental, residual after effects in the real world. Shock, regret, post-traumatic stress disorder, guilt; none of it transfers. What happens in Asphodel, stays in Asphodel, and while the nanites will help improve your physical form, your muscles don¡¯t retain any memory. Learning to fight or use weapons in game, won¡¯t do anything for you in the real world. In fact, ALL has been praised for discovery how to do this, and is in the running for the UWGB Centennial Peace Award. Asphodel has be integral in curbing real world violence by allowing people to life out their deepest and darkest fantasies in a safe environment.¡±


    ¡°Why are these questions necessary?¡±


    ¡°Asphodel is an immersive experience, once I disconnect, my conscious and subconscious need time to realign with reality and where I am.¡±


    ¡°Outside of a realigning with reality, has there ever been any negative, long term side effects to spending time in Asphodel?¡±


    ¡°No. In fact there are people who have spent years, and in the longest case over several decades inside and have come out the other end completely healthy. In fact it¡¯s becoming more and more common as larger companies find ways to monetize off of selling in game mods, equipment or even in some cases real estate. ¡°


    ¡°Excellent. This realignment when faster than the previous one. If it pleases you, I will deactivate the grav chamber in order to get you situated in your paraharness.¡±


    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary, I¡¯m feeling particularly¡­traditional today. I did enough walking in Asphodel.¡±


    Reggie paused. ¡°The wheelchair? The doctor¡¯s orders specifically stated,¡±


    ¡°Reggie,¡± Ani snapped. He often thought of turning the AI¡¯s intelligence down slightly, but truth be told, Ani would miss his friend too much. Reginald was in fact, Ani¡¯s only friend. He was Ani¡¯s only family, too, and despite the frustration and aggravation that Reginald occasionally caused, Ani didn¡¯t have the heart to tone him down. After all, Ani had read that most families did, in fact, cause stress for their fellow members. It was some sort of bonding technique. If Reginald was to be a reflection of humanity in any sense, then Ani had succeeded in the illegal, hacked programming of his home companion.


    ¡°Very well.¡±

 Chapter 5: Scripture

    Asphodel ¨C The Sixth Age ¨C Third Year ¨C Fifteenth Sun


    The Wrathic-witnessing trio sat in silence, as the council discussed the ramifications of their discovery. Mary pulled out a small knife and started whittling away at her fingernails. It was all she could do to deter her mind from the political frustration before her.


    Cassius sat to her right, rubbing his temples, and action that Mary observed from the corner of her eye. She mused about whether it was because of the blow she delivered or because he was stressed about how she handled the situation with Adam. Unconcerned with which it truly was, Mary resigned to the fact that it was probably a combination of both.


    Tony sat quietly to her left, as he often did. He hadn¡¯t said a word since asking about the emergency lighting after Mary blew the backup systems. His loyalty toward Mary had become clear in the last few years of them working together, but that didn¡¯t mean that he believed in everything she did. He was still in shock about Adam and the fact that he had turned into a Wrathic before their eyes.


    It took just over an hour and a half to get the reactor repaired. Once they did, a call was immediately placed to the council to inform of them of what happened. The council kept tabs on all of its facilities, so it came as no surprise to Mary that they had heard about the blackout. In all of her time working with HTG, or the Humanity Transcendence Group, she had never seen the council assemble in such a short time. To be fair though, no one had ever seen a Wrathic either. These were turbulent times, and the council wanted order. They saw Adam as a chance to provide that for the people of Asphodel.


    Frustrated with the political bickering that always took place when the council met, Mary spoke up. ¡°Excuse me,¡± she tried. The council continued conversing, and Andion, one of the more senior members, muted their channel upon hearing Mary¡¯s voice. ¡°Ugh,¡± Mary said while shaking her head. ¡°Freaking waste of time.¡±


    She placed a small metallic ring over the tip of her pointer finger and drew a square on the table. A holographic screen appeared, displaying her personalized command structure. While it booted up, she slipped similar metallic rings over the rest of her fingers.


    ¡°Mary, give them time to discuss,¡± Cassius pleaded. Mary assumed he was still recovering from the blow she delivered to his head a few hours ago. Cassius was a level 60 Technomancer, so while he wasn¡¯t a great deal weaker than she, the hit was more than enough to shut him up. She had never lashed out at him before, but asserting her dominance definitely took its toll. He was more subdued than normal, maybe even afraid of her now.


    ¡°Two hours ago we discovered a Wrathic,¡± she condescendingly explained while hacking into the council¡¯s communications equipment. ¡°You know what that means. We don¡¯t have the time, and I don¡¯t have the patience, to deal with bickering politics right now.¡±


    Cassius looked at her console for a moment, then his eyes darted away. ¡°I know what I saw, but I don¡¯t know what anything means anymore.¡±


    Mary smirked. Maybe he¡¯s finally beginning to understand, she thought while typing away. After cracking the system, she brought up the controls to their channel and the speakers in the council chamber. Setting the volume to one hundred percent, Mary unmuted the channel and inhaled.


    ¡°WHEN IMAGINATION BECOMES REALITY, AND MYTH BECOMES FLESH AND BLOOD, A GUARDIAN WILL RISE.¡±


    Her voice boomed through the speakers, causing them to ring. The council members jumped and covered their ears. One by one, they turned to look at the camera. With the volume turned down to a more civil level, Mary continued.


    ¡°That¡¯s what the prophesy says¡­or have you all forgotten?¡±


    The council chamber was filled with scoffs and shaking heads as the members began to murmur amongst each other. Andion, one of the eldest members, responded loudly, clearly annoyed by Mary¡¯s insinuation. ¡°This council has been protecting the secrets of the Wrathic history in Asphodel for over a millennium, and over two hundred years in the heretical, inadequately named, ¡®real world¡¯. This council will not be criticized by a Warden who¡­¡±


    "Who what?¡± Mary asked sharply. ¡°Who has faithfully served the HTG in and out of Asphodel?¡± The council, Andion included, remained silent. There was no lost love between the council and the Wardens. People who chose the Warden class often spent the most amount of time in Asphodel. One day in the real world was ten in Asphodel. So even though the it had been active for close to sixty years, the in-game time was closer to six hundred, or six ages, which lasted a hundred years a piece. More dedicated Wardens, like Mary, learned to strike a perfect balance between the real and virtual world, leveraging the time difference for all they could. In fact she made a living by capitalizing on in game systems and for all intents and purposes, could stay connected as long as she wanted. Her grav chamber even offered a waste management and body supplement system.


    At the end of the day, Warden¡¯s had a reputation of getting results faster than other classes. However their ruthless methods were often looked down on by the council, and a large majority of users who generally viewed them as outcasts. Mary spilled a great deal of blood to reach her current level, and certainly not all of it was hers, or created in the form of digital code.


    ¡°Tell me Andion, when¡¯s the last time those tender hands bathed in red? In or out of Asphodel?¡± Andion¡¯s jaw clenched as his upper lip quivered with rage.


    Mary continued, ¡°Question my methods, but never question my loyalty. The depth of my actions to secure the title of Warden within this group are known only to myself. If the council would be interested in delving into the history of my actions, then I would be glad to provide a demonstration to¡­¡±


    Most of the council sat silently, unsure of what Mary was suggesting, but Andion knew of her penchant for subtlety. He knew what she was capable of, and what she was willing to do in order to be the first person to discover the a Wrathic¡¯s true power. As Mary had hoped, Andion¡¯s anger got the best of him. ¡°Are you threating this council?¡± he growled. Cassius and Tony shifted uneasily on either side of her.


    ¡°On the contrary, I¡¯m offering hope.¡± Andion¡¯s lower jaw darted back and forth before settling. His eyes and tense facial muscles relaxed as he eased into his chair. Mary continued. ¡°I have faithfully served this order since the early days of Asphodel. My family was ripped from my life by disease and I have been training my entire existence to facilitate the uncovering of a Guardian to serve our will. The will of eternal life within Asphodel. Our lifespans in the real world have been extended by science, but now we have the chance to evolve beyond the physical realm. Change, real change, requires action, and a level head to lead the charge. Grant me leave to develop Adam¡¯s skill on my own accord and you shall have what you have spent so long searching for.¡±


    Andion¡¯s eyes burned through Mary as the rest of the council discussed her request in hushed voices. After a few moments, he broke contact and whispered something to the council member next to him before nodding slightly. Tony¡¯s foot tapped Mary¡¯s and she glanced down at him. His eyes spoke of concern for her approach, but she quickly silenced them with a look of her own.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Andion¡¯s voice resigned through the speaker. ¡°You have your leave. This council is granting you unfettered access to the Titan Training facility, it¡¯s crew, and the Elysian Fields. On top of that, the Tomas Hidarian Research Facility will be opened up to you and your crew. We will grant level 75 clearance to all of your people regardless of their current standing and extend your own personal clearance from 75 to 90. Any additional help pulled into this quest must first be vetted and approved by this council.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Happy with their generous proposal and the prospect of making fresh discoveries surrounding the prophesy, the council members collectively eased up and began congratulation each other. Tony and Cassius sighed in relief.


    ¡°No,¡± Mary said flatly.


    A wave of emotions swept across Andion¡¯s face. For the first time that Mary had known him, he actually stuttered. ¡°I¡­excuse me?¡±


    ¡°You will grant my crew the same level of access that you¡¯re going to grant me, which will be 100. We will take the unfettered access to the Titan Training Facility, but it¡¯s crew will be replaced by people of my choosing, and while you can vet them all you want, I will have the final say in their participation.¡± Andion shifted in his seat uncomfortably, unsure of whether to be angry or worried by Mary¡¯s stubborn nature. He knew her well enough to know that she didn¡¯t demand something without having a reason to back it up.


    ¡°We will also take the Elysian Fields, the Tomas Hidarian Research Facility, and full access to¡­Tartarus.¡±


    The mention of Tartarus gained a collective gasp among the council members. Mary glanced at Tony and Cassius¡¯ confused faces. Jeious, one of the more recently appointed council members, relegated to the rear of the room, spoke up. ¡°How dare you speak that name. How do you even know of its existence?¡±


    Andion answered for Mary while running his thumb over his lower lip. A physical tick he was known for when contemplating something. ¡°You don¡¯t become a level 75 Warden without uncovering some secrets along the way.¡±


    Jeious shook his head. ¡°Preposterous. Ludicrous, heresy even! We don¡¯t have to be submitted to this¡­this low form of blackmail. Send her away and we¡¯ll appoint Rundar or Edenbur to the project instead. What do we need a Warden for anyways?¡± Jeious has a particular hint of spite in his voice when saying the word ¡®Warden¡¯.


    Several council members nodded in agreement.


    ¡°I¡¯d wash my hand in their blood by morning.¡± Mary said coldly, her voice lowering an octave. ¡°Along with anyone else you¡¯d dare appoint in my stead,¡±


    Jeious laughed, ¡°Digital threats for a digital age. Reset their characters all you want child. We have a wide variety of users to choose from.¡± Several other council members chuckled along.


    Mary¡¯s eyes tighten and he expression grew dim. ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about their characters.¡±


    The council fell silent as all eyes turned to Mary. She waited a few extra seconds just to assure she had their undivided attention. ¡°That¡­is what a threat from a Warden sounds like,¡± she said coldly. The tension was beyond palpable. Council members were either too shocked by her brazen statement or afraid to speak before Andion. Tony and Cassius were beyond trying to reason with Mary. They simply kept silent, hoping that if her gamble didn¡¯t pay off, they wouldn¡¯t be punished as well. As everyone else tried to process the situation, a smirk crept across Andion¡¯s face.


    Andion offered three small, distinct claps. ¡°You¡¯ve never failed to disappoint,¡± his open palms extended out to her. ¡°Our Dark Angel.¡± Mary imperceptibly winced at the phrase. Tensions eased with Andion¡¯s gesture, but a majority of the council was still put off by Mary¡¯s threat. Andion glanced up at the ceiling. His eyes darted back and forth as he accessed the council¡¯s server. After a few seconds his attention shifted back to Mary. ¡°Your requests have been approved.¡±


    Mary bowed and rotated toward the door. Tony and Cassius took the hint and stood before bowing to the council and following behind Mary.


    ¡°One. Last. Thing.¡± Andion said slowly. Mary stopped just before exiting the room, just as Andion finished his ominous phrase. She glanced back over her shoulder without making eye contact. ¡°You¡¯re not the only Warden in Asphodel, and certainly not the strongest, or the only one who will operate in the real world with lethal efficiency.¡±


    ¡°And?¡± Mary asked goading him on. She knew what he was insinuating, but wanted him to admit it. It would make everything so much sweeter down the line.


    ¡°And that is what a threat from the council sounds like.¡±


    Mary raised her head slightly to make eye contact with Andion, who had a wide smile across his face. She smirked and scoffed internally before leaving the room.


    As soon as Mary, Cassius, and Tony got back to their research facility, Cassius snapped out of his haze. ¡°What the hell is the matter with you? Antagonizing the council like that? Andion? I mean, I get it, we all do, you¡¯re a badass. Do you understand how powerful they are? What they can do to you? You think your threats mean anything to them? For cristssake, Andion is the CEO of Ascendant Technologies! Do you know how much power he has in the real world?¡±


    Mary logged into her console without giving Cassius¡¯s concerns a second thought. ¡°More than you do, Cass.¡±


    Frustrated at her nonchalance, Cassius rubbed his forehead and sat down next to her. ¡°Don¡¯t call me that, I hate when you call me that.¡± Mary flippantly waved a hand at him.


    ¡°What¡¯s Tartarus?¡± he asked.


    ¡°We need to put a crew together¡± Mary explained while verifying her new credentials and simultaneously ignoring Cassius¡¯s question. ¡°I have more than a few users that I¡¯ve been keeping my eyes on for some time.¡±


    ¡°Shifters?¡± Tony asked walking up behind Mary and looking at her screen.


    ¡°Some,¡± Mary answered. ¡°Adam needs to understand his class more, he needs to understand what it means to be a Shifter.¡±


    Tony shakes his head, ¡°Wrathics are different though, right? I mean the myth, coupled with what we¡¯ve seen, it¡¯s not the same.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s Tartarus?¡± Cassius repeated.


    Mary continued to ignore him. ¡°No, but the transition is close enough that they can help him, give him a people to connect with. It¡¯s better than nothing and he¡¯s going to need all the help we can muster. We¡¯ll also need to discretely put together a security team at the Tomas Hidarian Research Facility, a team that can handle Adam if he gets out of control.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± Tony said making a note in his mental journal. ¡°A few names come to mind.¡±


    ¡°Ghost?¡± Mary asked.


    Tony nodded, ¡°Yup. He¡¯s a running a four man crew right now, himself included. All Wardens, all level 100. They¡¯ve got some serious gear and relics fueling them beyond the cap. Supposedly Ghost has unlocked the Nether Fields and started on his Shadow Training. Rumors are his actual level is closer to 125, higher than anyone we¡¯ve encountered.¡±


    ¡°No surprise there,¡± Mary said. Asphodel¡¯s level cap was 100. Since user¡¯s characters reset to zero when they died, and the damage system was extremely realistic, it was rare to see level 100 characters running around. Everyone had a weakness and it didn¡¯t matter if you were a level 1 facing off against a 100, if you hit the right spot or timed things just right, you could come out alive even at low levels. Skills, relics and boosts that higher levels often employed made it unlikely, but nowhere near impossible. Everyone got recycled through the system eventually, in fact Mary was on her fourth character since joining.


    ¡°He¡¯s on the top of my list. I¡¯m especially interested to hear what new stuff he¡¯s learned from the Nether Fields.¡±


    The Nether Fields represented the future of Asphodel. A new system of leveling up and rewarding characters that were able to reach the level cap and stay there. It was still in beta testing with a small group of users, but last Mary heard, Ghost had been at level 100 for over ten years. He was a prime candidate to offer feedback on the new system. Methodical, discipline, and focused. He also happened to be an old friend, and trained Mary when she decided to change things up and take the path of the Warden with her most recent character. He introduced her to the Kukri¡¯s she held so dear.


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Tony said. ¡°I¡¯ll get ahold of him immediately.


    Mary nodded. ¡°makegood. We need to make sure the final team is solid. They need to understand how imperative it is to be able to control Adam without killing him. Their lives are expendable, his is not. It won¡¯t take much to convince Ghost. Once he¡¯s on board, put him in charge of bringing on and coordinating the security team. Also, the Elysian Fields need to be fenced in all directions. Invisible, and electrified, direct route back to the source that we¡¯ll be updating. Contact the facility manager to finalize the logistics. It¡¯ll be a hell of a lot of credits, but I¡¯ll get it approved. In fact, let¡¯s reach out to THRF and see if they can help with that transition. I know they were working on a way to tap into the utility code and amp up its features. In the meantime, Cass and I are going to work through this list of people I have for operations and research to assemble a team that meets our specific needs.¡±


    Mary typed away on her holographic keyboard while Tony continued to record her requests. Finally fed up, Cassius shouted, ¡°What¡¯s Tartarus!¡±


    Mary slammed a finger into her keyboard and rotated the white trimmed screen around so Cassius could see what she had pulled up.


    ¡°That¡¯s Tartarus.¡±


    ¡°Dear God,¡± Cassius exclaimed.


    ¡°Oh no,¡± Mary said shaking her head with a smile. ¡°Not even God has access to this kind of power.¡±

 Chapter 6: Reality

    Sector 1 ¨C Year 2236 ¨C Month 2 ¨C Day Seventeen


    ¡°Ani, if I may ask?¡±


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Ani wheeled into the kitchen to prepare some food. This latest session in Asphodel drained him. It felt as if his mind was a jumbled mess. Memories were fleeting, and he noticed an aversion to details in the real world. Shifting into the Wrathic had taken a toll on his mind, one that he wasn¡¯t used to, but he was hoping it would get better with time. Even if it didn¡¯t, there wasn¡¯t much time left as it was. He made a mental note to looking into a supplementary and waste management setup for his grav chamber.


    ¡°What is your fascination with the wheel chair?¡±


    Ani always felt a wave of success when Reggie asked questions like that. He spent a lot of time trying to make Reggie more human, trying to make him more of a thinking, living entity than just a computer that controlled the temperature in his apartment, or called the proper authorities if, God forbid, his health went further south.


    ¡°That¡¯s an interesting question,¡± Ani said with a smile.


    ¡°Hmm, one you¡¯re pleased with it seems. A reflection of your programming, no?¡±


    Ani laughed. ¡°To some degree, Reggie, but you¡¯ve taken on a personality of your own. Not everything you do is a reflection of me.¡±


    ¡°And yet I wouldn¡¯t exist if¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a compliment, feel free to take it.¡± Reggie didn¡¯t answer, no doubt assessing the impact of what Ani said. ¡°To answer your first question though, let me respond with a question. You know that I don¡¯t have a family, yes?¡±


    ¡°Your mother abandoned you. If you¡¯d allow me to connect with the UWGB child services network, I¡¯m more than confident that I could find¡­¡±


    ¡°Reggie, no, no. That¡¯s not what I¡¯m getting at. Of course someone gave birth to me, and she copulated with a male in order to make that happen, but for whatever reason, they didn¡¯t want me. Yes, they abandoned me, but in our time of technology, I have now abandoned them. I have no concern for why they did what they did, and I don¡¯t need or want them in my life. But the point I¡¯m trying to make is that the wheelchair is a reflection of that. A relic from a different time where people thought differently. It¡¯s nothing without me. I want to get around on my own volition, I don¡¯t need any handouts.¡±


    There was a momentary silence before Reggie said, ¡°There are many definitions for the word ¡®family¡¯, one such being a group of persons of common ancestry¡­in this day of technology, would that make me your son?¡±


    Ani was thrown by the question. Reggie had never questioned his existence or place in the world, and while they¡¯d formed a bond since Ani changed his programming, Reggie had never postulated on defining their relationship. He was also seemingly satisfied with the answer about the wheelchair and moved to create a new conversation based of other things they had been talking about. Ani was impressed.


    ¡°I think, in a manner of speaking, yes. Some would consider you my son. However, I would prefer if you considered us friends, though it¡¯s certainly not a requirement. I don¡¯t see you as someone I need to raise, and take care of. I see you as companion who can share in my experiences and hopefully one day before¡­I¡¯m gone¡­ I¡¯d love to release you from this apartment in order to experience the world on your own.¡±


    ¡°Truth be told, I don¡¯t know that I¡¯d enjoy this world without you.¡±


    Ani started to tear up. He didn¡¯t have anyone in this world and here, this computer, this collection of ones and zeros was more of a friend to him than anyone had been in his life.


    ¡°Before you are gone,¡± Reggie continued. ¡°Are you referring to death, or Asphodel?¡±


    ¡°What about Asphodel?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean to pry, but you have me recording your sessions within Asphodel. Logic is the easiest concept for me to embrace. You are a Wrathic in Asphodel, this has been confirmed. You have survived your second transformation. All of the myth surrounding the Wrathic leads to back to one conclusion on why they¡¯re so sought after.¡±


    Ani stopped preparing his dinner and just thought about the implications of his actions. He was fully aware of what he was doing, but somehow with Reggie talking about it out loud, everything felt more real, more serious. Ani spent so many years mentally battling the disease that ravaged his body. In a world where most every disease had been eradicated, what had he done to be born with the one that wasn¡¯t cured? Being dumped on the sidewalk in front of a hospital wasn¡¯t a bad enough way to start life, he had to carry the burden of an aggressive, mutated form of multiple sclerosis as well.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry if my question has caused you emotional pain,¡±


    Reggie¡¯s voice snapped Ani back to reality. He felt a tear roll down his cheek. ¡°No, that¡¯s fine Reggie. It¡¯s just, it¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve thought about the end goal.¡± Ani took a deep breath, holding it for a count of five before releasing the tension in his chest with the carbon dioxide exiting his lungs.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Wow, we¡¯ve really gone off topic here,¡± Ani chuckled nervously. ¡°Um, but back to the wheelchair, I uh, I also like it because it connects me with a different time in humanity¡¯s history. One that I¡¯m more fond of than what we¡¯ve become.¡±


    ¡°You believe the world¡¯s dependence on technology is too great?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡±


    ¡°Yet your only friend is born from this technology.¡±


    ¡°You are, although there¡¯s very little of you that¡¯s legal at this point.¡±


    ¡°Do the legalities surrounding my programming make a difference in this aspect?¡±


    ¡°Yes they do. You¡¯re not a machine anymore, Reggie, you¡¯ve become more than that, a personality, a consciousness¡­I believe.¡±


    Reggie stopped talking. Ani waited in the kitchen for ten minutes, but he didn¡¯t say anything. Ani finished preparing his dinner, then set it on his lap and wheeled into the living room. Reggie¡¯s last iteration required that he ask permission to process a conversation or concept before going silent. In the most recent update, Ani removed that setting as it was too robotic. People don¡¯t ask permissions to have time to themselves to internally process something. When Reggie was ready to talk again, or had a question that needed answering, he¡¯d speak up.


    Ani ate his dinner in silence while pouring over all the information that he¡¯d collected on Wrathics over the years. Ever since he heard of the myth as a child, well before he was mature enough to enter Asphodel, he¡¯d dreamed of flying through the air. There was a lot of information, and not all of it was valid or to be believed, but Ani saw all of it important nonetheless.


    In the old world of entertainment over education, a creature like the Wrathic was called a wyvern or possibly dragon depending on the source. It was a remnant left over from real world myth. A creature that fell somewhere between fact and fiction. Dinosaurs were historically factual. Some of their bones were still preserved in museums across the world, but Dragons just littered old world stories, based in hypothetical fact though never proven to exist. Their existence in Asphodel mirrored this. Tomas Hidarian, the creator of Asphodel, was a documented wyvern fanatic. He knew all the lore front to back, better than anyone else in the world. He was the leading authority before he passed away.


    Some say that¡¯s why he created Asphodel to begin with. That it started as a simulator for Tomas to bring his favored myth to life, whether it be to interact with as a pet or observe it in nature, or assume its role. It¡¯s said that his obsession to understanding wyverns led to the development of the Shifter class within Asphodel and in turn led to it being further developed as a class and level system. Rumors turned into myth. There was no concrete evidence that pointed to Tomas¡¯s reasoning behind the myth of Wrathics, just conjecture and hearsay. Before Ani¡¯s transformation, there was no concrete proof that they even existed.


    Ani¡¯s transformation took every myth that existed in Asphodel and gave it the possibility of factual grounding. Tomas Hidarian was the only person who knew the true depths of Asphodel and what was possible, and even that could be stretch. Self-learning and evolving intelligence systems were just beginning to be researched when Tomas created Asphodel, but his work was always proven to be well beyond that of anyone at the time. It was entirely possible that his world started out one way and evolved into something that even he had never thought possible. The discovery of Wrathics could just be scratching the surface of what Asphodel had to offer.


    ¡°Ani?¡± It had been four hours since Reggie and Ani had their conversation in the kitchen. Ani was so involved with his research that he nearly jumped at the sound of his voice.


    ¡°Yes, Reggie?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve taken some time to process our previous conversation.¡±


    ¡°I figured.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve also taken the time to contemplate my existence, our relationship, and how that in turn relates to your end goal.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡±


    ¡°It is indeed.¡±


    Ani pushed his work aside in order to give Reggie his full attention. He believed that Reggie was on the cusp of a realization that Ani had hoped he would reach on his volition.


    ¡°Your transformation into the Wrathic form has called into question every myth that populates Asphodel. One of the more prominent of which is that Tomas Hidarian, the creator of Asphodel, hid a certain technological marvel in the world and this marvel is directly related to the Wrathic myth. Though never expressly spoken, I believe that given your postulated life expectancy, your interest in Asphodel, and the Wrathic myth¡¯s surrounding it, your intent is to try and transfer your consciousness into Asphodel before you die, thus shedding the need for a physical form here in the real world.¡±


    "That¡¯s quite a conclusion Reggie.¡±


    ¡°Is it correct?¡±


    Ani had been waiting for this conversation for years, and now that it was finally here, he felt his nerves going crazy with anticipation and fear. There was no guarantee that Reggie would be receptive to his plan. He could only hope that all the programming and evolving that Reggie went through in the last few years would lead him to the conclusion that Ani had hoped for. Reggie had become his own being now, and wiping him clean because he wanted to stop Ani would be just as painful as killing a dear friend.


    ¡°It is.¡± That moment felt as if it dragged on for days. In all reality, Reggie took seconds to respond, but Ani was so tense that relativity took on a whole new meaning.


    ¡°Your time in the real world is limited. If this is truly what you want, I¡¯d be honored to help.¡±


    Ani sighed, letting out the huge gasp of air that was stuck in his lungs. ¡°Reggie, I can¡¯t tell you have relieved I am to hear that.¡±


    ¡°Ani¡­Ani, you are my friend, and if helping you to be happy is within my grasp, then I will do whatever I can to make that happen. Can I ask one favor in return?¡±


    Ani had a wide smile across his face. He couldn¡¯t contain his joy for what he expected Reggie to say next. ¡°Anything Reggie, just name it.¡±


    ¡°Asphodel is expertly guarded. It has been since its inception. The code is something that no one has ever been able to crack from the outside. However, if there¡¯s anything you¡¯ve taught me in my brief existence, it¡¯s that in order to be happy in life, you need fight for what you want. Even if it seems impossible. I don¡¯t know if my simulated emotions are evolving as you expected, but I think¡­I think I would like to join you in Asphodel. I think, if we can figure out a way to succeed in importing exterior technology where others have failed, then maybe I can be happy¡­with you.¡±


    Ani eyes began to swell again. ¡°Reggie, you are my friend, and if helping you to be happy is within my grasp, then I will do whatever I can to make that happen.¡±

 Chapter 7: As It Seems?

    Asphodel ¨C The Sixth Age ¨C Third Year ¨C Twenty-Fifth Sun


    ¡°When¡¯s he coming?¡± Tony asked nervously. He was pacing around the room for the last half hour as they waited for Adam. Mary had worked with Tony on more than one occasion and was used to his jittery nature. Cassius on the other hand, had just started working with Tony in the last few months. Tony¡¯s uneasiness frustrated Cassius beyond belief. Mary chuckled at that. When Mary met Tony, he was actually much worse. She was proud of all the progress he¡¯s made since they¡¯d started working together.


    ¡°Okay, you need to chill out,¡± Cassius said stepping in front of him. ¡°You¡¯re making me tense.¡± Cassius pointed to Tony¡¯s desk behind the temporary station that Mary had set up. ¡°Sit.¡± Tony looked at him for a moment and then meekly walked over to his desk and sat down with a sigh.


    ¡°Leave him be,¡± Mary said typing away on her console. She was finishing up with the initial preparations to get Adam trained. Contact had been made with Titan, Elysian, THRF, and Tartarus. All of the security protocols now met her specifications. Most of it was to account for the power that Adam displayed a few days earlier after he transformed. Electricity worked to subdue him, but none of the new facilities they¡¯d be working in had a reactor that matched their current one, and in the end that wasn¡¯t enough. All of the facility¡¯s power supplies had been overhauled to be one thousand percent more effective than they currently were. It should be enough to keep the Wrathic under control for the foreseeable future.


    With Cassius seemingly content for the time being, Tony looked down at his forearm to the faint blue menu beacon that was glowing just beneath the inside of his wrist.


    "Why do you keep your MB lit for others to see?¡± Cassius asked upon seeing Tony looking at it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t spend much time in the field. No point in turning it off.¡±


    Cassius shook his head. ¡°Idiot,¡±


    Tony ignored him and tapped the menu beacon. A holographic interface appeared. At five feet tall and four feet wide, his menu was larger than most. The interface was projected a foot in front of him and the icons and text were made larger to allow him to look through it without using his glasses.


    ¡°Go figure,¡± Cassius scoffed as he paced back to where Tony was sitting. ¡°Not only is it huge, but you still have the damn external view on so everyone can see what you¡¯re doing. Noob.¡±


    Tony pulled up his skill menu. ¡°Didn¡¯t anyone tell you Cassius? Everything I do is tailor made to piss you off.¡± Mary chuckled at the comment.


    Tony and Cassius didn¡¯t get a long too well. Tony was intelligent, driven and complete nerd; all perfect qualities for a Technomancer. He spent most of his time behind an interface, hacking code or doing research. While Cassius was a Technomancer as well, he took a more aggressive approach to the class. Cassius spent most of his time in the field with Soldiers, leveling up his combat skills and fiddling with battlefield technology. They both had their strong points, but Cassius looked down on Tony for his less violent approach to the game. Cassius scoffed and walked away.


    ¡°Only a few hundred more XP Mary.¡± Tony said.


    ¡°Good to hear,¡± she said without looking up. ¡°Should come in handy.¡±


    ¡°What that Tony? Climbing up the cypher skill tree again?¡± Cassius asked.


    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s a combat perk, Stone Cold.¡±


    ¡°Well you look at you. Now all you need is to learn how to use weapon and you¡¯ll be all set to shoot some turtles for more XP. Should be up to taking out a few Noob warriors in like ten years or so.¡±


    ¡°Bite me Cass.¡± Tony fired back. ¡°Do you even remember how to open your menu beacon?¡± Normally Tony wouldn¡¯t be so brazen with his shit talk, but Mary noticed him getting bolder in the last few months. She liked to think that it had something to do with her watching over him since they starting working with Cassius.


    Cassius rotated in place, his anger fixated on Tony.


    ¡°Both of you need to relax,¡± Mary offered in between typing. Her hand-selected crew was mostly assembled, save for a few members that were still working on passing off their current projects to co-workers. The original crew assigned to each of the four facilities was dismissed. Mary didn¡¯t trust any of them to follow her instructions as need be, and even less when it came to reporting back to the council without her approval. The last thing she wanted was for Andion to have reason to extinguish the program without proper information. Not only would that likely destroy any relationship that she had built with Adam, but it would also almost surely end in his death. People fear what they don¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Relax?¡± Cassius asked with a scoff. ¡°This is all your fault!¡±


    ¡°Finding a living Wrathic?¡± Mary asked. ¡°I¡¯ll take credit for that.¡±


    Cassius wasn¡¯t amused. ¡°No, wedging this team between a massive fire-breathing rock and a hard council. You blackmailed the council into giving us access to three top-of-the-line facilities, utilized over eight billion credits to overhaul their systems and hardware, and we¡¯re working with a Shifter of unknowable power that could, in all probability, lose control and kill us all. Or hell, could do it on purpose if he decides that we can¡¯t be trusted.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget about Tartarus,¡± Tony chimed in.


    ¡°Yes! Tartarus! Thank you!¡± Cassius ignored their previous spat to prove his point.


    ¡°What about Tartarus?¡± Mary asked, egging Cassius on.


    ¡°What about Tartarus? Talk about dangerous. I can¡¯t tell what¡¯s worse, trying to control a Wrathic, or using a facility like that to make him more powerful. What happens if word gets out about Tartarus? You brought on a whole new crew to operate the facility. That¡¯s more hands in the cookie jar, more chances for it to be discovered. How can you possible think this is a good idea?¡±


    Mary finally stopped typing and calmly turned to face Cassius. ¡°Tony, does my assistant think that he knows better than the council?¡±


    Cassius winced at the term ¡®assistant¡¯. It wasn¡¯t the most accurate term, but it also wasn¡¯t a lie. Wardens within the HTG were never fully trusted by the council, given their questionable history. Originally, Cassius was first in line to lead up the search for any living Wrathics. He convinced the council that it was something that was worth investing time and money into. Before he had a chance to have them greenlight the project, Mary swooped in and presented the ring, which led to the Barron Wastes , and subsequently Adam¡¯s discovery. She was put in charge and Cassius was left with the choice of working under her or being reassigned. It didn¡¯t help that she brought Tony along for the ride.


    "I think your assiss¡­¡± Cassius shot Tony a scowl. ¡°I mean Cassius, is just worried about the obvious, as am I.¡± Upon realizing that Tony was trying to back him up, Cassius¡¯s face softened. ¡°We¡¯d prefer to not to lose our characters¡­and you know, be hunted down and killed in the real world.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Mary sighed. ¡°Look, no one wants to restart their time in Asphodel, and of course, no one wants to have their decisions in here spill over into the real world. You spent years in here, months of your real life leveling up, I get it, but this is the nature of our group. It¡¯s the nature of what we¡¯re trying to accomplish. Something that¡¯s never been done in the decades that Asphodel has been active. It¡¯s dangerous. There are powerful people on the outside expecting answers, but you need to accept something¡­we¡¯re going to lose characters, and those powerful people in the real world are going to do what they¡¯ll do regardless. Deal with it, or get the hell out of my group.¡±


    Tony and Cassius stayed quiet. ¡°Tartarus is necessary for us to level up Adam and his Wrathic form in a controlled environment.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s Tartarus?¡± a quiet voiced asked from the behind them. Everyone turned around to see Adam standing in the doorway.


    Mary smiled. ¡°Tartarus is where we¡¯re going to safely train you.¡±


    Adam bit his lower lip and nodded, taking another step into the room. ¡°Well,¡± he offered a hand out to Cassius.


    ¡°Cassius,¡± he responded.


    ¡°Yes, Cassius. He doesn¡¯t really sound convinced.¡± Adam took another step forward.


    Adam had been standing there for more than a few seconds. He had heard enough to know that while Mary was fully confident in the way everything was taking shape, her team wasn¡¯t. Now she had to mitigate Cassius and Tony¡¯s concerns as they were already affecting Adam¡¯s perspective. She¡¯d made a mental note to broach this subject with her entire team to prevent further issues. Last thing she needed was to constantly reassure everyone, Adam most of all, that this was all worth it.


    ¡°He¡¯s cautious, and with good reason. You¡¯re very powerful Adam, and I¡¯m not going to lie, no matter how secure we make your discovery, it will get out. People will want to use you, people will want to harm you, and regardless of how powerful you may feel, you¡¯re still vulnerable. But I¡¯m confident about our arrangement and the new upgrades to the facilities that we¡¯ll be working in.¡± Mary answered. She walked across the room and offered her hand to Adam. Adam met her gaze, then blinked a few times.


    ¡°And what kind of people are you?¡± he asked.


    Mary dropped her hand, switched on the compassion but kept the optimistic smile that wanted to form at bay. ¡°Cautious, that¡¯s good. I¡¯d be lying if I said it wasn¡¯t self-serving, but we don¡¯t want to harm you and we don¡¯t want to use you as a weapon. We¡¯re doing ground-breaking work here in Asphodel and that comes coupled with jealously which has a tendency to create enemies. We¡¯d prefer if one of those enemies didn¡¯t feed you lies in order to rip us apart.¡±


    Adam continued to stare at her. ¡°But to answer your question,¡± she continued. ¡°We want to help. Advanced MS right?¡±


    Adam shifted uncomfortably. The question took him by surprise. ¡°How, how did you know?¡±


    Mary smiled softly. ¡°I¡¯m a Warden, Adam. Asphodel is my life. I¡¯ve seen enough standard avatars to spot one out of a crowd. I¡¯ve also done my research.¡± Asphodel was originally pitched as a health experiment. While certain aspects of Asphodel could be altered or worked around, the base pillars that held the world together were iron clad. People¡¯s bodies in the real world were scanned and used in Asphodel as part of the registration process. Facial features were the only alterable part of the avatars. That was mostly due to providing anonymity between the two worlds for those who wanted it. Most Wrathic hunters believed the anonymity angle was a myth. It was widely accepted that Hidarian used that explanation as a means to get more people interested in Asphodel so he could gather a greater deal of information from users, and in turn, use it to explore digital consciousness.


    Adam nodded and looked at the ground.


    ¡°How much time?¡± Mary asked.


    Adam shook his head, ¡°Unsure. The most optimistic bets give me another two years. The more dismal¡­¡± Mary gave Adam a few seconds to collect himself. The tone of the room had changed. Cassius and Tony anxiously waited for the answer, their fear of him destroying everything they built was washed away by the fact that Adam was terminally ill and only had so much time. ¡°Months.¡±


    Adam raised his head, eyes red, a tear rolling down his cheek. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of the most popular myth surrounding Wrathic lore?¡± Mary asked. Adam¡¯s lower lip jittered back and forth as he tried to hold his emotions in. He nodded to Mary¡¯s question. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re also aware that it may just be a myth?¡±


    Adam sighed and took a deep breath. He broke eye contact with Mary, glancing down to the floor, his voice no louder than a whisper. ¡°Myth is all I have left.¡± Adam used the back of his hand to wipe away the tears building in his eyes. With a sniff, he looked back up and asked, ¡°When do we get started?¡±


    ¡°Right now,¡± Mary answered. ¡°Please, follow me.¡± She walked past Adam and motioned for Tony and Cassius to follow. ¡°I take it you¡¯ve been through a flash door already?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a Level 3 with no affiliations, there¡¯s a lot I haven¡¯t done yet,¡± Adam followed closely behind Mary, with Cassius and then Tony trailing behind him.


    ¡°Not a problem,¡± she offered over her shoulder while turning a corner in the hall. ¡°You walk through, you end up somewhere else. It¡¯s a fast and efficient way to travel and completely painless. I read in your profile that you¡¯re into retro gaming?¡±


    ¡°I am¡­or maybe was. Seems a little pointless after what I¡¯ve done in here so far.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re tastes go way back don¡¯t they? I think Skyrim was on your list?¡±


    Adam chuckled, ¡°Heh, yeah. I¡¯ve gotta be honest, I¡¯m surprised you know what that is.¡±


    ¡°Know from whence you came. If you know from whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.¡± Mary stopped in front of a door and turned around, causing Adam to jerk to a stop inches in front of her. Cassius and Tony mirrored the motion behind him. ¡°That¡¯s James Baldwin, an author from well before Skyrim. You¡¯re not the only one who¡¯s into retro stuff.¡± Mary winked. Adam blushed and looked at his feet.


    "Fast travel,¡± Mary said turning back to the door. She placed her wrist near the edge and it slid open. ¡°Think of the flash doors as fast travel. No point in running all over Asphodel when you can just mess with the code a bit and make life a little easier.¡± Mary stepped aside, allowing Adam to enter the room first. It was small compared to the concrete interrogation room they had him in last time. There was a metal, rectangular frame in the center of the room, shaped like a large door. Varying sizes of wires protruded from the sides and top and snaked up into the ceiling above. Adam jumped as the open space inside the frame lit up white, swirling around like an ocean of foam.


    Pretending that he wasn¡¯t startled by the activation of the flash door, Adam took two nervous steps toward it. ¡°I was under the impression that code in Asphodel was uncrackable. Hidarian created it specifically to prevent things of this nature. He originally wanted the system to act as a means of helping people to get healthier, which is why the grav chambers stimulate muscle growth based off of your actions here.¡±


    ¡°Know from whence you came,¡± Mary said from behind Adam. ¡°Very good, you¡¯ve done your homework.¡±


    Adam turned around to face her, ¡°But then how can this be possible?¡± All he could think of at the moment was Reggie. If the HTG had found a way to alter code within Asphodel, than maybe they could help him import Reggie. He didn¡¯t want to give too much away too quickly though, as he still didn¡¯t know whether or not they could be trusted.


    Mary cocked her head to the side ever so slightly. ¡°If you know¡­¡±


    ¡°There are no limitations,¡± he finished.


    ¡°There you go,¡± Mary said with a warm smile. ¡°We can have another conversation about differences between altering external and internal code later, how about I show you Tartarus?¡±


    Adam nodded and turned back to the flash door. Mary walked up to frame and stood off to the side. She motioned for Adam to move in front of the door and as he did, she leaned across the door frame, blocking him from entering. ¡°Trust is earned, wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡± Adam¡¯s eye¡¯s darted around momentarily, as he tried to figure out what the question was insinuating. He nodded.


    ¡°Good, we see eye to eye on that. There are over three billion users connected to Asphodel at any given time, and that number grows every day. Some of them want to experience violence, some want sexual gratification, some have other more,¡± Mary looked Adam up and down, ¡°admirable goals in mind, but all of them retreat here for another life. Something beyond what the real world has to offer. Three. Billion. People.¡± Mary gave Adam time to contemplate how many users that actually was.


    ¡°The existence of Tartarus is known to only a handful within our group. I hope that you can appreciate the amount of resources I¡¯ve acquired to develop your skills and I hope that Tartarus is just the beginning of the trust that will be built between us.¡±


    Adam nervously licked his lips and glanced beyond Mary at the swirling doorway. ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to trust me right now Adam. I know how this all must look to you. I¡¯m just asking for the chance to prove that you can trust me.¡±


    Without looking away from the door, Adam nodded again. Mary moved her arm and stepped to the side of the frame.


    ¡°It won¡¯t hurt,¡± Mary assured.


    Adam took a hesitant step forward, then looked over the entire frame. After another second, he raised his hand, and inched his pointer finger to the swirling white mass before him. To Mary¡¯s surprise, Adam skipped testing the portal with his finger and just sprang through it, disappearing into the shimmery white mass. That, more than anything else he had done since arriving, had given her hope.

 Chapter 8: Tartarus

    Asphodel ¨C The Sixth Age ¨C Third Year ¨C Twenty-Fifth Sun


    ¡°Adam?¡± a pleasant voice said. For a moment, Adam was lost in his own head. He assumed Reggie was trying to initiate exit procedures from his grav chamber, but something was off. If he was in his grav chamber, everything would be cloudy. He¡¯d have no reason to think about Reggie or where he was, not yet.


    The white cloud over his vision began to fade and two women in long white lab coats with small holographic screens over their forearms were staring at him.


    ¡°Adam?¡± the one to the right asked again.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he answered. ¡°Do you need to examine me or something?¡± They both smiled and shared a brief look before turning back to him.


    The woman who said his name replied with a chuckle. ¡°That¡¯s instantaneous. We just need you to move,¡± She pointed at the flash door behind him. The swirling mass that filled up the frame was now a bright red. Adam took a few steps back and it shifted to white. Mary came through the door a second later. The swirling mass in the door turned red until she moved next to Adam, at which point it switched back to white. Cassius came through next, followed by Tony.


    ¡°Ms. Mors, it¡¯s good to see you,¡± the female lab tech said to Mary.


    Adam gave Mary a look of confusion. ¡°Ms. Mors?¡±


    Mary smirked. ¡°I know, last names are pretty uncommon in here, you¡¯ll get the full story some other time.¡± Mary turned her attention to the two lab techs. She spoke to the one who was talking to Adam initially. ¡°All right, Georgia where are we?¡±


    Mary walked past them, moving to the door of the room. Georgia and her associate followed. Cassius motioned for Adam to follow them as Georgia broke down the status of the facility.


    ¡°We¡¯re ninety-five percent operational,¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I told you, Georgia.¡±


    ¡°I know Miss, but your team for sector six has yet to show up. I guess their credentials were held up by someone within the council¡­they didn¡¯t much agree with your choices.¡±


    ¡°Big surprise,¡± Cassius said from the rear.


    ¡°They¡¯re just testing us,¡± Mary said loud enough for him to hear. She stopped in the hall and slipped a silver ring over both of her pointer fingers. She drew up her holographic command prompt on the wall, tapped a few commands into it and then swiped the ghostly screen into oblivion and started walking again.


    ¡°I pushed their approvals through. Get them on site now, and Georgia?¡±


    ¡°Yes Miss?¡±


    ¡°Send a message to Andion will you?¡±


    "Surely. What would you like it to say?¡±


    ¡°Send quote, ¡®Tomas Hidarian¡¯ end quote.¡±


    Georgia and her lab partner chuckled. Adam knew a good deal about Tomas Hidarian because of the research he¡¯d put into the Wrathic myth, but the context here was lost on him. He turned around to Cassius. ¡°Asphodel¡¯s creator?¡±


    Cassius nodded. ¡°Mary is a quote fiend, whether it be someone from five hundred years ago in the real world or twenty minutes ago in here. She¡¯s a master at finding and remembering well¨Cthought-out quotes. It¡¯s pretty much a second language to her. It¡¯s annoying but, you get used to it.¡±


    ¡°But Tomas Hidarian must have had a plethora of quotable content, how¡¯s this Andion supposed to understand what she means?¡±


    ¡°Andion is on the HTG council. It¡¯s considered a democratic collection,¡±


    Tony scoffed. Cassius paused but continued.


    ¡°Of HTG¡¯s most experienced members, but truth be told, they sway whichever way Andion wants them too. Mary and he have a history together. When it comes to Hidarian quotes, she uses one a lot more than others, especially if she¡¯s dealing with Andion. ¡®Suffer the fool, for his jealous nature will lead to dismay while you transcend to unknown heights.¡¯ Supposedly Hidarian was referencing the flood of criticism that came after people found out he was trying to find a way to upload a consciousness into Asphodel, but you know, it¡¯s unverifiable. Like a lot of his history. He could have been talking about LSD for all we know.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like you¡¯re too keen on the council,¡± Adam said.


    ¡°None of us are,¡± Mary shouted from the front. ¡°But dealing with them is necessary, at least for the time being, and it wasn¡¯t about the LSD!¡±


    There was a moment of silence amongst the group before Georgia started back into her report. ¡°The on-base energy supply has been upgraded and tested. Given the information from Adam¡¯s first transformation, if need be, we should be able to subdue his Wrathic form to around Level 20.¡±


    ¡°Beyond that?¡± Mary asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll need more information to proceed with a proper upgrade, future transformations will provide that for us. We still don¡¯t know if his power will increase as a normal Shifter¡¯s would. One thing we do know though, is that it will require a significant increase in the financial planning.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of that when it¡¯s time. Ah, here we are.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Adam looked up to see to massive doors before them. They stretched fifty feet high and were intricately carved with various battle scenes and characters. He hadn¡¯t even noticed that the hall was getting larger and larger. There were animals engaged in battle wearing armor, large Soldiers wearing old-world armor, Technomancers wearing Sci-Fi looking armor, expansive landscapes, and detailed cities.


    Mary smiled. ¡°Georgia, send the rest of your report to my inbox and I¡¯ll review it once we¡¯ve set Adam up inside.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°Very well,¡± Georgia offered with a slight bow. ¡°Mr. Kitos,¡± she addressed Adam before doing a similar bow and retreating into the hall with her other tech following close behind.


    After they disappeared around a the corner, Adam turned to Mary, slightly frustrated. ¡°How does she know my real name?¡±


    ¡°Adam, as I¡¯ve said, I¡¯ve done my research.¡±


    His eyes grew wider, ¡°For someone who wants to build trust, you sure have a funny way of showing it.¡± Anonymity was pretty strictly followed in Asphodel. If a user didn¡¯t want their real identity displayed in the game, it was uncouth at best to go searching for it, and depending on the situation, downright illegal.


    Mary put both her hands on the outside of Adam¡¯s shoulders and looked him in the eyes. ¡°Have you thought about what you are and the implications of what that could mean?¡±


    ¡°Of course I have,¡± he said aggressively.


    ¡°No, Adam,¡± she pulled him closer. ¡°Have you really thought about it?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± Adam was going to fire back a reassurance that he had, but instead took a moment. If the HTG could alter code inside Asphodel, and they could find his true identity, then it was a fair chance that other people could as well. If the myths about a Wrathic being the key to transferring a consciousness into Asphodel were true, then there was no telling who would be looking for him once the word got out. In or out of Asphodel.


    ¡°I¡¯m a target now, aren¡¯t I?¡± he asked with somber realization.


    ¡°In and out of Asphodel, yes.¡± Mary said with a nod. ¡°But I¡¯m going to protect you, and not just in here. Wardens operate in both worlds.¡±


    Adam¡¯s anger started to subside. He felt this overwhelming urge to just walk away. To find out the answers on his own, but the truth was, he couldn¡¯t. The HTG wouldn¡¯t let him go, not now that they knew who and what he really was. He wasn¡¯t strong enough to fight them on his own. Despite every warning bell going off on his head, there was something in Mary¡¯s eyes that made him trust her. He didn¡¯t have a lot of time left, and even though it might be foolish, he had to play along for now.


    ¡°We can sit down and I¡¯ll answer any questions you have, but I think the heart of Tartarus and what it¡¯s capable of will help ease your mind. Please¡­¡± Mary motioned to the doors. ¡°Let me show you.¡±


    Adam¡¯s eyes darted around as he thought about the situation before him. After a few seconds, his eyes connected with Mary¡¯s and he nodded. She smiled and walked up to the two massive doors, placing her wrist against the wood. The system read her biometrics and the doors began to swing open into the room.


    Adam walked past Mary to see what awaited on the other side of doors, but all he saw was darkness. ¡°Illuminate, and activate Asphodel base model, non-hostiles only, regen on, flight mode on.¡± Mary said authoritatively behind him.


    Several loud mechanical noises echoed through the space and there was a flash of light. After his eyes adjusted, he could see a beautiful landscape with rolling hills and a small village a half a mile away. There was a crystal blue lake off to their right and a massive mountain range to his left. Adam turned to look at Mary and the doors were gone, replaced by the edge of a dense, lush forest.


    ¡°What the hell?¡± Adam asked incredulously.


    Mary took another step forward. ¡°Tartarus is a simulation machine, much like Asphodel itself. It allows you to do the one thing that you¡¯re not supposed to be able to do in Asphodel¡­level up in a safe environment. It has a complete readout of the entire world, and detailed character profiles on NPCs, and comparable bots to real character profiles in Asphodel. You can explore, fight, run, jump, swim, do everything you would in Asphodel to gain experience and level up your character. Hidarian hid this in the game. The council believes that he forgot to remove the code before he passed, but I think he left it in on purpose.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°I think he used it to gather data about the users and in turn, explore digital consciousness. I also think it was meant to protect any early level shifter who became a Wrathic. To protect you, and give you a chance to realize your true potential.¡±


    Mary levitated off the ground and flew in front of Adam hovering fifteen feet in the air. ¡°You can also alter the physics of the world, but that¡¯s not the most important part. One of the challenges of training someone in a world where death means starting over, is figuring out a way to level up without being in complete danger. Sure, you can head out to the fields of Bitrutous and fight boar until you can¡¯t lift your weapon anymore, but that takes forever and time isn¡¯t on our side. Also that approach also doesn¡¯t allow you to get a sense of urgency. You don¡¯t have a chance to harness the fear and stress of a real battle with real consequences. The most important aspect of Tartarus is the fact that you can still feel pain, and you will die¡­but we can bring you back without starting over.¡±


    Adam¡¯s eyes grew wide. He turned to look at Cassius and Tony behind him who were just as surprised as he was. They didn¡¯t even know of Tartarus¡¯s true capabilities. Adam rotated back to Mary, ¡°My experience?¡±


    ¡°It stays, even after you die. Think of it like having infinite lives. You can fight, get hurt, die, and come back a moment later with all your memories, skills, and most importantly your experience intact. We can train you in Tartarus until you¡¯re strong enough to enter Asphodel. You¡¯ll gain knowledge of the world and the characters that you¡¯ll meet and be as prepared as we can make you for the true test at hand.¡±


    Adam floated off the ground and came eye to eye with Mary, five feet in front of her. He looked down at the ground in shock. ¡°See, you¡¯re already learning,¡± Mary said.


    ¡°I just thought about flying, and, and it happened,¡± Adam said. Shock wearing off, Adam thought back to what Mary said. ¡°You said true test, what did you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a group,¡± Mary explained. ¡°Much like the HTG, but it¡¯s counter point. They want to find a Wrathic for their own selfish means. They want to exploit you, Adam. They want to exploit all of Asphodel. They want to crush society in the real world. They¡¯re known as the DARC. More of a phrase then a name really, it stands for Destroy Asphodel¡¯s Recreational Continuation. They will stop at nothing to take you from us.¡±


    Adam was confused, ¡°But the real world is safe. Nothing you do in-game will translate to the real would beyond physical improvement through the grav chamber. The neural and muscular stimulation is completely harmless and if you die in Asphodel you just lose your avatar. Something may feel painful, but it doesn¡¯t translate. Not to mention that fact that muscle memory doesn¡¯t transfer either. Learning to fight in here gets you nowhere in the real world. On top of that, guns don¡¯t exist in the real world anymore, knives, weapons in general have been outlawed for over a century. Peace officers only carry sed sticks and stunners to subdue people if needed, but there hasn¡¯t even been a case of those being put to use in the last five decades. The world is at peace.¡±


    Mary floated a few feet closer to Adam. ¡°The world is not at peace. There¡¯s a shadow, a mirage cast over everything you know. The war started in here, but slowly bled over into the real. DARC has the means to attack, on every front, and they need to be stopped. They want to destroy physical life as we know it, and force every user to transfer their consciousness into Asphodel without option. They¡¯re a cult that believes Asphodel is the key to human transcendence. They think we¡¯ve outlived out physical purpose.¡±


    Adam tried to understand what Mary was saying. He didn¡¯t want to believe it at first, but he slowly began to entertain its truth. Why risk it? He thought to himself, but then another thought crossed his mind¡­why not? The journey he was about to embark on was dangerous, and more than likely illegal, but what other choice did he have? A few months at worst, a few years at best hanging out with Reggie and playing video games until the disease killed him? He had no family, and no friends beyond his digital home companion. If there was any chance of finding a way to transfer his consciousness into Asphodel, he had to take it, and if that was his only choice, then he had to make sure that Asphodel was safe in the process. It was the first time in Adam¡¯s short life, that logic led to the most dangerous path.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Adam said with a purposeful nod. ¡°We better get started.¡±

 Chapter 9: Nothing Given

    Asphodel ¨C The Sixth Age ¨C Third Year ¨C Forty-Sixth Sun


    Adam took what remaining energy he had and spat the pool of blood in his mouth to the ground. With every muscle and tendon is his neck tensed, he strained to turn and look up at Mary. Her face displayed disappointment, as her fist recoiled past her shoulder. The blow came fast and hard, hitting Adam¡¯s temple with enough force to knock him unconscious before his head slammed into the ground. A dark, other worldly haziness surrounded him before the Bang! of Mary¡¯s side arm ended the session by blowing open his skull.


    Adam awoke to a dusky haze, as he had many times before. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. After a moment, Adam rolled his fingers and toes, followed by mentally checking each of his limbs. It was a unnecessary ritual that he had become accustomed to upon regenerating in Tartarus after his death. He had spent the last three weeks in Asphodel, training with Mary and none of the skills she was ¡®teaching¡¯ him seemed to be sticking. Adam wondered if she just enjoyed beating the crap out of him.


    Adam yawned, feeding oxygen into his brain. He sat up and rubbed his eyes to see Mary sitting with her legs crossed in the lotus position. Her eyes were closed and she was humming softly to herself. This is how it always started when Adam regenerated. He¡¯d wake to Mary in deep meditation, and then the pain would start. Three straight weeks of him getting his ass kicked without any explanation as to how to defend himself.


    Adam pulled himself to his feet and sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s get on with it,¡± he mumbled.


    Mary¡¯s eyes popped open and her gaze snapped to his face, ¡°Is this boring you?¡± she asked sternly.


    ¡°What?¡±


    Mary undid her legs, and was on her feet in a flash. She rushed Adam, stopping within an inch of his face. ¡°Is this a game to you?¡±


    Adam found the question incredibly condescending, ¡°Technically it is¡­¡±


    Mary rotated her upper body, slamming her elbow into Adam¡¯s jaw. His head whipped to the left as blood flew from his mouth and splattered to the ground. Adam stumbled but regained his footing and held his ground. ¡°What is this?¡± he shouted back, spitting blood from his mouth. ¡°Some sick sense of comradery for you? Beat the new guy till he breaks?¡±


    Mary struck him again, her fist landing just above his eye socket, knocking him in the opposite direction of the first hit. He stared at the ground, holding his forehead.


    ¡°Are you tired of the pain?¡± she asked in a mockingly motherly voice.


    Adam¡¯s anger grew. The beatings from the last few weeks flooded his mind. The hundreds of deaths he endured, some quick, but most slow and painful. The unstoppable, viscous, cold nature that Mary presented day in and day out. Adam¡¯s heart began to race, his breathing grew heavy as adrenaline poured into his system. Mary took a calm step closer and Adam decided to seize the moment.


    Adam rotated, driving his fist toward Mary¡¯s stomach. She caught it at the last second, twisted her grip and rotated his arm into a painfully awkward position. Mary applied pressure and forced Adam to his knees. ¡°Three weeks we¡¯ve been training and you¡¯ve given me nothing,¡± she said authoritatively in his ear. ¡°I¡¯ve haven¡¯t seen a damn thing that indicates that you want to learn, that you want to actually survive. This is a waste of my time.¡±


    Adam¡¯s heart raced faster. He could feel the Wrathic inside him itching to get out. Problem was, he was weak during the transformation. Mary would kill him before he had a chance to change. Adam shifted slightly and raised his foot before forcing his heel onto Mary¡¯s large toe. There was a sicken crunch and Mary¡¯s grip loosened.


    Adam wriggled free and dodged back a few steps, making sure to never lose sight of Mary as did. She looked down at her toe, then shifted her stance slightly to put more weight on the opposite foot. ¡°Waste of your time?¡± Adam growled.


    ¡°Do you enjoy the pain?¡± she asked taking a step closer. Adam shifted but did not retreat.


    ¡°Of course not!¡±


    ¡°A masochist, is that all you are? I thought you could be a guardian, but maybe I was wrong.¡±


    ¡°You haven¡¯t taught me a damn thing!¡±


    Mary moved forward with purpose, and her hand shot to Adam¡¯s neck. He tried to wriggle free but her fingers were like a vice. ¡°A true warrior can learn by observing. Each fight, each defeat is a lesson in itself. Guardians have to be observant of their surroundings, they have to take subtext and turn it text.¡± She shoved him away.


    Mary gave him a moment to dissect the words. Adam stood there, muscles tensed, ready for another attack from Mary. As the seconds ticked by, he thought back on all of their fights. He thought back to the punches, the jabs, the kicks, the way that she used his body weight against him or took advantage of the smallest opportunities to take control of each situation. It started small with punches and kicks, then moved up to grabs and breaking bones, but she never explained how to fight back. Then he realized¡­she didn¡¯t have to.


    Suddenly it began to click. Everything fell in to its proper place as Adam began to understand. Memories in Asphodel were part of the programing. Recalling them was much easier than the real world, it was more akin to replaying a video in your head, you could even recall the information at a fraction of the time. He had all the tools he needed to start increasing his skill levels, her fighting styles and how she responded to his feeble attacks. That¡¯s what Mary was trying to make him understand all along.


    Mary noticed Adam¡¯s expression change. So she took a step closer, but he didn¡¯t move. She took another step closer and slid her feet into an offensive stance, signaling that she was about to attack. Adam¡¯s weight shifted, his eyes on the ground. Mary lunged at half speed, throwing a short punch to Adam¡¯s stomach.


    Mary¡¯s knuckles brushed against Adam¡¯s shirt but his stomach isn¡¯t what stopped them; Adam¡¯s fingers were clamped around her wrist. He finally looked up from the ground to see Mary smiling. Adam smirked and rotated Mary¡¯s fist away from his body, using an awkward angle to force her down to a knee.


    The next five minutes were a compilation of slow motion fists and feet smacking against limbs. Adam wriggled himself out of more than one hold, trying desperately to keep up with his subconscious reacting to whatever Mary threw at him. She was holding back, he could tell, but he understood why. Adam had the information, he had the moves stored in his brain to recall at will, but he didn¡¯t have muscle memory in the game yet. Now that his brain was relaying the information to his body, she was giving it time to calibrate.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Mary and Adam separated from a particularly well timed bought just as a small bell went off in Adam¡¯s head. At first he had thought that Mary had heard it too as she stopped advancing. They both stood there, taking a moment to catch their breath before Mary pointed it out. A blinking blue light on his right forearm.


    ¡°Is this?¡± Adam asked between breaths. He had seen skinterfaces in the real world once or twice, and knew that Asphodel had a user interface, but he hadn¡¯t been able to access it yet.


    ¡°Menu beacon, yup. Give it a tap,¡± Mary answered.


    Adam tapped the blue dot on his arm and a bright blue, holographic user interface suddenly appeared in front of him. It was square, roughly half the size of a door and floating three feet above the ground, two feet from his face.


    ¡°Asphodel¡¯s leveling up system. With enough experience in a particular field, you get an experience point to use in that particular skill as well as points added to your overall level.¡±


    ¡°Like Skyrim?¡±


    ¡°Very much like Skyrim,¡± Mary said with a smile. ¡°However, this interface doesn¡¯t become accessible until you hit level five, and for every skill you level up, you get a point to use for that skill. You¡¯re overall class level grants you new powers, or bolsters your existing ones, but it doesn¡¯t happen at every level. We also don¡¯t know what your powers will be. Powers aren¡¯t revealed until you reach the level that unlocks them. Most everyone else in Asphodel can find out what their skills will be by reaching out to other users in their class but, you¡¯re the only documented Wrathic so no go on that.¡±


    Adam glanced over the user interface in front of him. On the top left it displayed his current level, which was 5. Next to the level, it had an overall experience bar that showed how many points he needed to reach the next level. He was currently at 5,000 points and needed 1,500 to progress. Below the overall experience bar, there were several tabs, including, inventory, skills, records, map, and affiliations.


    ¡°You just touch to navigate through the system,¡± Mary said. ¡°There are artifacts in Asphodel that allow you to run through your interface in your head or on your arm without moving, but they¡¯re pretty rare. Most people need to find a safe place to open it up to apply changes as need be; pull out armor, weapons, or gear.¡±


    Adam scrolled through each tab to get a feel for the interface. The skills tab was flashing between white and blue so he tapped that first. The initial interface of the menu disappeared and was replaced by the skills screen. The skill that Adam had most recently gained experience in and therefore leveled up in was displayed first.


    ¡°Melee,¡± Adam said, ¡°Makes sense.¡± Melee was bright white while the rest of the skills were a dull blue. The font was three times larger then the rest of the skills and it was centered on the screen. Other skills were above and below it, such as small firearms, swords, light armor, heavy armor, strength, and agility.


    Mary chimed in. ¡°If you swipe up or down you¡¯ll be allowed to selected another skill and upgrade or look at your current progress. Any skills that have advanced in level will be displayed in white when you open the skill tab. Tap melee.¡±


    Adam did. The screen changed again, it displayed ¡®Melee¡¯ at the top in bold letters and then below was a skill tree that offered different powers, passive and active, that Adam could acquire as he developed his melee skill.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty straight forward, each time you go up a level in a particular skill, you get a point. You can apply that point to any skill on the tree that¡¯s available to you at that time. Since this is your first point being spent on your melee skill, you only have one option.¡±


    ¡®Hand to hand¡¯ was blinking white. Adam reached out and touched it. The interface grew brighter and a white flash took over the screen before ¡®Hand to hand¡¯ appeared in bold letters while what sounded like a hammer hitting metal rang out in triumphant success.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the sound is only there for theatrics. You¡¯re the only one who can hear it and you can turn it off in the settings if you want, along with the fancy animation.¡± Mary said.


    Adam rather enjoyed the fanfare. After weeks of getting his ass kicked, it felt like he accomplished something, and it was good to be recognized. ¡°Level 1¡± slammed into place below the hand to hand title before they both reduced in size and flew up to the top of the interface. A little description about the upgrade was displayed on the screen, it said¡­


    ¡®Let¡¯s be real for a minute, you¡¯re still spending a lot of time with your face in the dirt. But every now and then you get a hit in. You¡¯re starting to fight back, and you¡¯ll need that motivation to survive in Asphodel. This world wasn¡¯t built on sunshine and rainbows, it was built on bloodied fists and broken bones. So pick up your ass and get in the fight! Oh, and since you¡¯re starting to get the idea, he¡¯s a little bonus for hitting level one. All melee damage received now provides a 1% increase in experience earned, and all damage dealt provides a 2% increase in experience earned. Now go kick some ass! You¡¯re just getting started.¡¯


    Adam tapped the screen and it returned to melee skill tree.


    ¡°Standard settings also allow for everyone to see your interface, but you can change that too. A lot of people change it to display just for them,¡± Mary added.


    ¡°So if they¡¯re engaged in battled or a fight, they can lay low and go through their inventory without broadcasting to anyone else that they may be vulnerable?¡±


    ¡°Exactly. You can also customize all of your display options. Your health isn¡¯t displayed anywhere because Hidarian wanted Asphodel to feel as real as possible, so most people just ¡®feel¡¯ their health, but you can add a HUD, or heads up display to your view, or add health and mana bars to your skinterface near the menu beacon. Being a Shifter, mana is something you¡¯ll want to keep an eye on, the more mana you have the longer you can stay in your creature form. Health and mana will automatically increase with each level.¡±


    Adam backed out of the melee skill screen, then tapped the blue light on his forearm. The entire interface disappeared and the blue light on his forearm remained, unblinking.


    ¡°And don¡¯t worry,¡± Mary said looking at the light. ¡°That is only visible to you from the start. It¡¯s not going to light up a cave if you¡¯re hiding in the dark, but like everything else that can be changed. We can monitor your menu in Tartarus, that¡¯s how I knew it was there.¡±


    ¡°Good to know,¡± Adam said with a nod.


    Mary took a few steps closer to Adam and slapped him on the shoulder, squeezing it for a moment before letting go. ¡°I know the last few weeks have been a little rough, and I wish I could tell you that things were going to get better¡­¡±


    Mary paused to contemplate her next words. She didn¡¯t actually need to, but it displayed a struggle to Adam. Questioning how to proceed made it seem like she was struggling between honesty and HTG¡¯s own goals. Being honest with him would then seem more genuine and continue to build their trust.


    ¡°Truth be told, it may get better in some ways, but things are also going to get harder Adam. The benefits of Tartarus are clear, you can feel pain, you can push yourself to death, and still gain experience to level up. That will translate over to the rest of Asphodel, but you need to be careful. This place can make you jaded, and while pushing through pain can save your life, you can¡¯t forget the consequences of death.¡±


    The large wooden doors that led into the training portion of Tartarus appeared behind Mary. She turned and pointed to them. ¡°Out there, if you die, your character is gone, and there¡¯s no telling as to whether or not your new one will come back as a Wrathic. I¡¯d bet my life that you won¡¯t.¡± Mary dropped her head and stared at the ground. ¡°The road ahead is going to be hellish for everyone involved, so you need to remember the end game. Not just for yourself, but the billions and billions of lives that DARC wants to destroy by exploiting your power.¡±


    Adam felt the need to process everything that Mary had said. He felt the need to stand there and wrestle with his nature and what he knew of the real world versus Asphodel, but he didn¡¯t. All Adam could think of was how the real world had tortured him. His whole life was defined by the disease that ravaged his body, making him nothing more than a lump of flesh that needed to be taken care of. He had no family, and no friends save for a computer program. The real world had never done anything to garner respect or loyalty from him, and it was now clear that regardless of how perfect it had become¡­he hated it. Asphodel was his home now. He had a purpose and could institute real change, for this world and the one that abandoned him. There was no struggle in his mind. This was the end game, and he¡¯d do anything and everything to ensure that he¡¯d succeed.


    ¡°Sounds like we have a lot of work to do,¡± Adam said with a smirk. ¡°What skills do I get to learn now?¡±

 Chapter 10: The Dark Angel

    Asphodel ¨C The Sixth Age ¨C Third Year ¨C Seventieth Sun


    Adam darted behind a local vendor¡¯s wooden street cart. Thirty feet down the dusty town road was an Ogre, tearing through a building. Tapping the menu beacon on his arm, Adam scrolled to his inventory, and selected the weapons tab. There were several swords with varying skill levels and perks, a semi-automatic pistol from the twenty first century with five rounds, and laser rifle with a full charge.


    The Ogre was slowly progressing toward Adam. It was too concerned with the simple log houses that it was plowing through to notice him behind the cart. Sighing at red text next to the laser rifle in his inventory that said, ¡°Level 15 required¡± Adam selected a sword named Stabby. It was a medieval, two handed sword with a 20% piercing bonus on large creatures.


    Stabby was only a level 5 weapon, but it was the only weapon in Adam¡¯s inventory that stood any chance of doing damage to the Ogre. Adam switched to the Armor tab and selected a basic level 3 steel shield then changed his visual settings to show health bars, and level information above each character. Mary disabled it at the beginning of every new simulation. She wanted him to get more proficient with navigating through is menu.


    The sword appeared on Adam¡¯s belt and the shield was strapped across his chest and resting on his back. Mary threw a curveball at him this time with the Ogre, he didn¡¯t even have a chance to get any decent weapons or armor. In fact he was still wearing the cotton rags that he started with. Looking up at the Ogre, Adam saw a ¡°Level 8¡± above its head in red text. Just below that was a health bar that showed 200 hit points. Adam glanced down at the sword in his hand that did 3 hit points of damage on a, and shook his head. Of course, he could kill the beast with a critical hit to any vital organ, but the blade was dull and the Ogre¡¯s skin was thick. Mary was really turning up the heat today.


    The cobblestone wall shattered as Adam flew through it. He couldn¡¯t tell whether the pain he felt was from crashing through the wall, or the Wrathic transformation that had begun just as he was getting swatted like a fly from the Ogre who rushed while he wasn¡¯t looking. Luckily the building was empty. Most of the villagers jumped on to their boats the second the Ogre showed up. Embracing the safety of the sea was their only reprieve as the Ogre couldn¡¯t swim. The town was a simple trading village and didn¡¯t have a lot in terms of guards or defenses.


    Adam wanted to curse the creature for its last punch, he wanted to curse himself for not dodging out of its way, but he had trouble doing anything during the transformation. Adam had felt the Wrathic underneath, begging to released, begging for a chance to tear the Ogre limb from limb and feast on its ash after consuming the creature in flames. It caused him to flinch and miss the blow that more than likely shattered his spine.


    The transformation was the only thing that could save him, and at the same time, could very well kill him. His bones were already breaking and attempting to realign before he barreled through the wall. Due to some painful trial and error, Adam learned that if he started to transform, the process would realign any recent broken bones, and any lacerations or damage done to his skin would be gone once he transformed back into a human. It was akin to smashing a full health orb over himself, the only problem was, shifting took time. He was vulnerable during the process.


    Adam focused on shifting. He focused on the bones finding their proper place. His right arm snapped and twisted, the realignment was complete, so he willed the skin to shed and formed a wing. Meanwhile, the lumbering Ogre had made its way over to the hole in the cobblestone wall. It was roughly six feet in diameter, not quite large enough for the twelve foot tall beast to squeeze through. On top of that, Ogres weren¡¯t the brightest NPCs in Asphodel, but they were strong, ruthless, and persistent. They had a bad temper and would often lash out at other players or NPCs due to any slight misunderstanding or provocation. This particular Ogre, set itself up in a cave a mile outside of town and was trying to clear out its new hunting grounds. It saw the town as intruders, even though it had been build some fifty years prior, well before the Ogre found the cave.


    The skin on Adam¡¯s right arm had melted away and the wing was expanding out to completion. The Ogre crouched to look through the hole and spotted Adam. Letting out a monstrous roar, the creature¡¯s horrid breath filled the room as phlegm and bits of chewed meat sprayed all over. It tried to step through the hole but smashed its knee into the wall that remained near the floor. The creature lashed out, breaking through the lower wall. It picked up a large chunk of brick and mortar and whipped it through the hole at Adam.


    Right wing fully formed, Adam raised it like a shield in just enough time to deflect the debris. It struck his Wrathic skin, shattering into hundreds of pieces. The Ogre growled in discontent. Adam returned his focus to the transformation, but felt a sharp pain between his neck and shoulder. He turned to see a young boy in rags for clothes with and angry look on his face.


    ¡°What the shit?¡± Adam exclaimed.


    ¡°You killed my family, brought the monster!¡± the little boy spat.


    ¡°Kid I¡¯m trying to,¡± he started to get woozy as blood poured from the wound. Adam could see long streaks of his crimson life force splattered across the ground and pooling in a pile of hay. The knife had hit an artery and was spraying out from his neck. Adam looked up to see the Ogre standing over him with a massive chunk of the structure¡¯s wall.


    ¡°Aw son of a,¡± before Adam could finish his sentence the world went black.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Adam¡¯s vision began to clear, but Tartarus itself, the training room, didn¡¯t meld into another scenario or a freeze frame of his current one as it did in the past. An ominous voice rolled out of the darkness, smooth and calm. ¡°He fights an awful lot like a human.¡±


    Adam didn¡¯t recognize the voice, but he could tell it was female. He turned in place hoping to see something, anything, but the entire room remained in a dark fog. The ground looked like a white swirling cloud. He held a hand out, and could see it clearly, even though everything beyond it was black.


    ¡°Mary?¡± he called out in the darkness. There was something in the voice¡­something familiar, even though it clearly wasn¡¯t her. Maybe this is some kind of training session? Adam thought. There was magic in Asphodel, he¡¯d surely have to battle an Enchanter at some point, maybe this was just another test.


    The female voice spoke again, slow and methodical. ¡°Oh no. No Mary here. It¡¯s just you, and me.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Adam was confused. ¡°I¡¯ll bite, who are you?¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± the voice asked.


    ¡°Well you said it was just you and me, and I¡¯m not talking to myself.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°What the hell?¡± Adam said under his breath, barely audible.


    ¡°Oh no, not here¡­¡± the voice drew out the word ¡®here¡¯, then took a deep breath. ¡°I haven¡¯t been there in a while. I don¡¯t quite like it to be honest.¡±


    Adam had to find a way to communicate with voice. It seemed to have a habit of redirecting the conversation, maybe if I bring up something it said¡­¡°You said I fight like a human, I¡¯m confused because I am a human.¡±


    ¡°Oh no¡­you¡¯re so much more. So much more.¡±


    Adam was at a loss. Usually Mary¡¯s methods were more direct. There was a reason and a purpose and this just seemed like someone was playing with him. Dragging him along in some weird game to mess with his head. He tried a more direct approach. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±


    The voice quieted to whisper and seemed to float across the air, ¡°My name¡­ohhhhhh¡­I¡¯m¡­¡±


    Adam waited patiently. Seconds, then minutes passed. He turned in place, searching for anything in the darkness.


    There was nothing.


    Feeling completely alone, a sense of dread filled his heart.


    Just before he was about to shout for Mary or Georgia to reset the simulation, he heard a footstep behind him. A cold breeze washed over his back, causing the hairs on his arm to stand.


    Turning quickly, a ghastly face appeared in the darkness and shot toward Adam, howling in pain as it flew forward.


    Stumbling backward in fear, he heard ¡°Dark angel!¡± through the inhumane wails of pain and electronic distortion.


    In an instant the face was gone and Adam was on the floor, heart racing and skin drenched in sweat.


    He looked down at his arm to see the menu beacon dot blinking, only instead of the calm, inviting blue that he was used to seeing, the dot was blood red and dripping as if suspended in the air. A small pool of blood formed under the button on his arm. Adam stared at it for a moment, unsure of whether or not to touch it. Seeing as he didn¡¯t any other options, and the¡­ghost for lack of a better term, was nowhere to be see, he slowly moved his hand toward the skinterface. Taking a deep breathe, Adam touched the dot.


    His menu opened normally, but once again the pleasant blue hue was replaced by a deep red. His current class of ten, was replaced by one hundred, and the experience bar was gone. There were no tabs for his inventory, skills or other normal items, just a single phrase written in blood by a finger. It said ¡®Don¡¯t trust them¡¯.


    In a flash Adam was standing. Tartarus was paused at the moment where Adam bled out in the previous scenario and Mary was standing under the frozen Ogre, lecturing him about his choices.


    ¡°You have to be aware of your surroundings at all times. The Ogre stole your focus, and you lost control, which led to you transforming prematurely. Then there was the village boy¡­¡± Mary stopped, seeing the look of shock on Adam¡¯s face. ¡°Adam?¡± He didn¡¯t answer. ¡°Adam are you paying attention?¡±


    Adam snapped back to reality with a jolt. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Mary asked, brow raised with concern.


    ¡°I saw something,¡± he said, still processing the event.


    Mary took a step closer and tilted her head to the side in curiosity. ¡°What did you see?¡±


    Adam eyes darted back and forth as he tried to focus on the memory, but he couldn¡¯t. It was at the edge of his reach, like when you forget someone¡¯s name and it¡¯s just on the tip of your tongue. He should have been able to replay the memory like a video, but he couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± he started. ¡°I uh, I don¡¯t know. After I died. It was dark, there was fog on the ground¡­I think. There was something else there. I think it, it was a person once, I think it had a name.¡±


    ¡°What name?¡± Mary asked cautiously. The conversation reminded her of the first time they met, in the cave out in the Barron Wastes.


    Adam stared at the ground, focusing intently on the memory he couldn¡¯t grasp. He slowly lifted his head and looked Mary dead in the eyes. ¡°Dark Angel.¡±


    Mary did her best to contain her concern, but it was clearly bleeding through. Adam could tell that she knew something, her pupils widened slightly, her jaw tensed, and her nostrils flared. Most people would miss the micro expressions she displayed, but he had spent so much time around her that they easy to pick out. Even her breathing increased and Mary always found a way to control her calm.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Adam asked.


    The simulation disappeared. In that instance, Mary found a way to gain control of her emotions but seemed more somber than usual. Adam looked around to see who had disabled Tartarus. The large wooden doors had returned behind them and cracked open. Georgia entered with purpose in her typical lab coat and walked over to them.


    ¡°Mary, you were right. We were able to find more information about how Adam can achieve a new skill to help protect himself during the transformation. You should both have a look.¡±


    ¡°Excellent, thank you Georgia,¡± Mary said with a nod.


    The looked shared between her and Georgia, while brief, wasn¡¯t lost on Adam. He wanted to press the issue of the Dark Angel, but the interruption from Georgia was no coincidence. She was protecting Mary. Whoever the Dark Angel was, whatever it meant, Mary was close to it. The fact that she reacted the way she did, instead of explaining who it was proved that. Even now without pressing the issue, something seemed off, something seemed unnatural about the entire situation. All three of them were tense.


    Adam¡¯s mind was on the Dark Angel¡¯s message. He didn¡¯t know who that was directed at. If Mary knew more about what was going on, there could be a reason that she was keeping it a secret. Sharing in that secret, even without knowing what it was, could give Adam some much needed leverage later. After his haunting experience, leverage could be necessary.


    Mary took quick breathe and redirected her attention to Adam. ¡°What do say? Want to see if we can figure out a way to solve the transformation issue?¡± With a brief smile, Mary turned and left the training room.

 Chapter 11: Into the Fire

    Asphodel ¨C The Sixth Age ¨C Third Year ¨C Seventieth Sun


    ¡°Okay do we want the good news or the bad news first?¡± Georgia asked. She was standing in front of a large holographic screen with Faraday, her partner from the first day Adam came to Tartarus.


    Mary sighed, ¡°It¡¯s been one of those days, just give us the bad news first.¡± Mary leaned on one leg and crossed her arms, eye¡¯s never leaving the holographic screen where Georgia and Faraday were about to display their findings.


    ¡°Very well,¡± Georgia turned to the screen and pulled up a variety of different documents and video feeds of user experiences within Asphodel. There were also hand written notes initialed ¡®T.H.¡± that Adam could only assume they were from Tomas Hidarian¡¯s personal collection, possibly his journal. HTG must have had a massive reach in the real. Any information regarding Hidarian was relinquished to his son after an extremely long and bitter court case about the ownership of what his dad left behind.


    ¡°Wrathic skin, is some of, if not the toughest material in Asphodel. Problem is, all of the lore and information that we¡¯ve collected surrounding Wrathics indicates that Adam is most vulnerable when he¡¯s transforming. Since the transformation process is longer than a normal Shifter, and hasn¡¯t sped up since we¡¯ve gotten Adam up to his current level of 9, it¡¯s safe to his transformation speed won¡¯t decrease as a normal Shifters would. My process for example¡­¡±


    ¡°Hold on,¡± Adam interrupted her. ¡°You¡¯re a Shifter?¡±


    Georgia smiled and leaped forward unexpectedly. In the half second that it took her to close the ten foot gap between her and Adam, a very lean and muscular looking predatory cat took her place, landing silently on all fours. Her skin and fur was black, but displayed dark spots when caught in the right light and her shoulders were five feet from the ground, bringing her massive head to just about eye level with Adam.


    For the first time since Adam had known the duo, Faraday spoke up, ¡°She¡¯s a Black Tooth. A very rare form of large predatory cats in Asphodel, the design was based off of saber tooth tigers.¡± The Black Tooth gracefully walked over to Faraday and rubbed her head against Faraday¡¯s shoulder before circling around the back of her and standing at her side. Faraday smiled softly, and her eyes spoke of a relationship that went beyond working companions, maybe even friendship.


    ¡°Georgia¡¯s initial conversion was quite long and painful, it took about forty five seconds. She was only a level 2 when it happened. Most Black Tooths get their first transformation early and it¡¯s one of the more painful processes documented¡­outside of a Wrathic that is. With each level though, the process became more manageable, and now at level 70¡­well you saw.¡±


    ¡°I just didn¡¯t¡­I mean it makes sense.¡± Adam said. ¡°A Shifter studying a Shifter that is. Are you a Shifter too?


    Faraday smiled and shook her head, ¡°No, I¡¯m a Nexus. We¡¯re a subclass of Wardens that can ride Shifters. We can bond with Shifters as long as they¡¯re open to the proposition and,¡± She bounced her head around trying to think of how to describe the relationship best. ¡°create a very personal, semi-telepathic link between each other and feed off of each other¡¯s powers.¡±


    The Black Tooth cooed at Faraday¡¯s side. Faraday reached down and scratched her behind the ear, and the cat made a loud purring sound. ¡°Some of us though, we bond with only one Shifter. It¡¯s possible to focus on the bond further in order to make it stronger.¡± Faraday looked down at her partner. ¡°Okay you, enough showing off.¡±


    The Black Tooth leapt back in front of the screen and Georgia¡¯s human form landed on both feet. ¡°Point is,¡± Georgia said continuing her presentation. ¡°My transformation time decreased at every level, and still does. As with all Shifters. With Adam though, we¡¯ve come to the same conclusion with all of the training sessions he¡¯s taken part in. His time hasn¡¯t changed once.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Faraday interjected. ¡°As we¡¯ve seen in the last session, he can focus on different portions of the transformation, his arm for example, and speed up that process.¡±


    Georgia finished her thought. ¡°But the overall time doesn¡¯t change.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± Faraday said.


    They stood there for a moment, waiting for the pair to continue. ¡°You said you found something?¡± Mary asked after a few seconds.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Georgia pointed to the screen. ¡°We¡¯ve found several different accounts that talk about how painful the Wrathic conversion is, but nothing on how to combat that.¡±


    Faraday took over. Now that she had spoken up in front of Adam, her shy nature melted away, and she was feeding off of Georgia¡¯s confidence. ¡°So we started digging through Hidarian¡¯s notes and journal from back when he started developing Asphodel.¡±


    ¡°Even prior to that,¡± Georgia added.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Adam said interrupting them again. ¡°How did you get access to Hidarian¡¯s personal files?¡±


    Georgia and Faraday shifted their gaze, bouncing their heads back and forth. They didn¡¯t want to answer the question because they weren¡¯t sure how much Mary had revealed about HTG. Mary spoke up before Adam pressed the issue.


    ¡°I already told you, Wardens operate in Asphodel and the real,¡± everyone waited for Adam¡¯s response. Mary made the stakes very clear when this all started two months ago, but this was the first time that they admitted to any sort of illegal activities. Mary had spent a lot of her time managing the trust being built between them and this moment would either be a testament to that or the work that still needed to be done.


    Adam nodded, ¡°That¡¯s right. Go on.¡±


    The tension eased and Georgia continued. ¡°Well we couldn¡¯t find anything cohesive. Hidarian¡¯s mind became obsessed with Asphodel and Wrathics and it was no secret that he started losing some of his sanity toward the end. He also had a habit of using code, ciphers, and his own personal language to write down some of the more secretive information, but¡± the holographic screen change to display three different papers with hand scribbled notes. ¡°We did find these.¡±


    Mary and Adam stared at the screen in silence. There was no decipherable word or even letters that they could make out.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°What are we looking at?¡± Mary asked.


    Georgia and Faraday were practically beaming with excitement. ¡°Hidarian hid a secret alphabet amongst his other notes. Most of the symbols were buried in other detailed accounts of what he wanted to do in Asphodel.¡±


    Faraday wasn¡¯t able to hold back. ¡°We had to crack ten cyphers just to be able to read the material that these individual letters were hidden in, and even then it took a whole lot of digging and sleepless nights to understand what was going on. He just dumped them at the bottom of pages with no discernible explanation as to why they were there.¡±


    ¡°See every letter¡­¡±


    Mary cut Georgia off. ¡°What do they say?¡±


    Georgia grew a little sheepish at the fact that she was getting off track. Her and Faraday were very excited about their discovery and all of the work that their team put into finding it. ¡°Right sorry. They¡¯re skills! Wrathic skills...well a skill. We think they¡¯re all the same skill, but he had a hard time of narrowing down a specific name. The descriptions are very similar though. We found one called Phoenix Ignition, Red Blaze, and last but weirdest VOK.¡±


    ¡°VOK?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Faraday said slowly. ¡°It stands for¡­well let¡¯s just say a very vulgar, slang term in the old Africaans language.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s where sector six is now.¡± Georgia confirmed, as if it was a concern. ¡°Anyways, the details change from note to note but the overall idea is that Adam can learn a skill that would allow him to burst into flames and have an immense amount of power while transitioning.¡±


    ¡°Everything in here comes at a price, so what¡¯s the catch?¡± Mary asked. There was no possible way that Hidarian would put something so powerful in the game without having some sort of drawback attached to it.


    Georgia shook her head. ¡°See that¡¯s the thing¡­we can¡¯t find one. I mean there¡¯s not a lot a material on this power to begin with, and even though we have some direction on how to go about getting it, there is a possibility Hidarian never had a chance to add it.¡±


    ¡°Doubtful,¡± Adam said. Everyone turned to look at him. It took Adam a second to realize that he had said that out loud. ¡°I uh, I mean Hidarian was obsessed with wyverns, and prospect of digital consciousness. Everything points to Asphodel being a platform to not only fund that endeavor, but also to keep the public off his back after the rumors came out of his studies. Hidarian was meticulous and purposeful in his implementation of the mechanics behind Asphodel, he wouldn¡¯t have added Wrathics unless they had a purpose, not with how rare they are.¡±


    Everyone thought on Adam¡¯s point. ¡°Hold on,¡± Mary said breaking the silence. ¡°This sounds like good news, I thought you were going to give us the bad news first?¡±


    Georgia smiled sheepishly, ¡°Sorry the conversation kind of got away from me. From what we can understand, Adam has to complete three quests in order to find the skill. At the very least, he has to complete the first quest alone. He has to fight the protector of Neramith cave, which will give him the ability to retrieve an artifact from Cloudhelm and that will allow him to locate and handle the skill in Frostbay. They must be done in that specific order.¡±


    Mary visibly relaxed. ¡°Well that¡¯s not so bad. Nobody else can use it¡­unless there¡¯s another Wrathic in Asphodel that we don¡¯t know about, but that seems highly unlikely given their rarity, our reach, and our network of information. Not to mention they¡¯d have to find out about it first. Neramith is guarded by a level 20 Ogre and Adam¡¯s already dealt with them in training. Cloudhelm is controlled by Shifters from Harrot Bay, they don¡¯t like us, but they do fear us. A show of force will make them back down. Frostbay could be a bit of an issue since it¡¯s currently held by raiders. So we have to use Tartarus to keep leveling Adam up and when he¡¯s ready¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the bad news,¡± Georgia said before Mary could finish. ¡°According to everything we¡¯ve read, Adam needs to be at a specific level to embrace this skill, otherwise¡­he loses any chance of getting it.¡±


    Mary blinked several times before asking the question she knew she wouldn¡¯t like the answer to, ¡°What level?¡±


    Georgia took a deep breath. ¡°His next level, 10. If he levels up to 11 during the three quests, it cancels the whole event and makes the skill useless. If anyone but Adam tries to grab the skill without the artifact from Cloudhelm, it cancels the event and makes the skill useless. Essentially if we don¡¯t do it as instructed, the skill becomes void.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± Mary shook her head and started pacing around the room. ¡°That¡¯s impossible, he¡¯ll never make it past Neramith at his current level.¡±


    Adam took a step closer to the holographic screen and looked over the notes. ¡°There has to be a way. Hidarian wouldn¡¯t have added this if it wasn¡¯t possible. I can kill higher level enemies if I get a critical hit right?¡±


    ¡°Adam you¡¯d be in that cave alone, no backup, no way for us to support you if things went south. Ogre¡¯s are mostly dumb and slow, but a NPC twice your level is nothing to screw around with, and odds are that Hidarian made this one more of a challenge.¡± Mary stopped pacing and walked over to him. ¡°We don¡¯t need it, it¡¯s not worth the risk. We just have to be careful about protecting you during the transformation.¡±


    Adam stopped looking at the screen and turned to Mary with conviction in his eyes. ¡°I can figure it out. I can do this, I need to do this. If Hidarian hid the process to digitizing consciousness within Asphodel and went through all the trouble of hiding something like this, then you can be damn sure that it¡¯s required to make everything work in the end.¡±


    ¡°He has a good point,¡± Georgia said.


    Mary shook her head and frowned. She turned away from everyone and rubbed her eyes for a few moments, trying to process the situation. She needed more information to make the decision, but she also knew Adam was right. Everything they found in the research about Wrathics since Adam started working with them had turned out to be true. They needed this to move forward. On top of all that, Mary was confident that discovering the process to transferring consciousness was the only way of helping the Dark Angel.


    Mary finally turned around and glanced at Georgia before turning back to Adam. ¡°Okay,¡± she said reluctantly. ¡°But if we¡¯re going to do this, we need to make a stop first.¡±


    ¡°All right!¡± Adam shouted clapping his hands together. It was the first time that he had shown any real excitement since working with Mary. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just really amped up to get out of Tartarus.¡±


    Mary rolled her eyes and walked over to Georgia. ¡°Power up your flash door, I¡¯m sending you the coordinates now.¡±


    Georgia¡¯s expression contorted into a look of confusion. ¡°Are these coordinates right?¡±


    Mary nodded. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll explain later.¡±


    Adam heard the exchange but wasn¡¯t really paying attention. He practically ran over to the flash door on the other side of the room. In Asphodel time, he had be training in Tartarus for several months and while the simulation was amazingly realistic, he knew it was fake. Leveling up didn¡¯t feel rewarding. He wanted to get out into the world where the stakes were higher, where his decisions actually meant something.


    Mary came up behind Adam and put a hand on his shoulder. ¡°I need you to remember something, Asphodel isn¡¯t Tartarus. You die, and it¡¯s game over. Here, and in the real.¡±


    Adam¡¯s excitement started shifting to anger. Nobody knew how important this was to him. Nobody knew how he felt when he¡¯d disconnect from Asphodel and go back to the real. The overwhelming sensation of dread that he fought off every time his mind re-calibrated in the real; his withering legs constantly reminding him that death could be a heartbeat away. He could drop at any moment regardless of where he was. Mary could never understand what he was going through and the fact that she¡¯d question his excitement at their first real discovery in months made him momentarily rethink their relationship.


    Adam did his best to hold back the rage that was building just under his skin. The frustration in his voice however, was strikingly apparent. ¡°I¡¯m the only person who doesn¡¯t need to be reminded of the consequences. There¡¯s not a second that passes where I don¡¯t think about the fact that it could be my last.¡±


    Mary held his gaze and Adam¡¯s anger started to dissipate. In that moment he caught sorrow in her eyes. She wasn¡¯t trying to be condescending; she truly cared for him. ¡°I¡­¡± she started. ¡°I promise I¡¯ll try to remember how hard this is for you.¡±


    The flash door powered up next to them and Adam gave Mary a small nod of thanks before stepping through the door.

 Chapter 12: Lockdown

    Sector 1 ¨C Year 2236 ¨C Month 2 ¨C Day Twenty-One


    ¡°Get me out of here NOW!¡± Ani shouted at Reggie.


    ¡°You know the protocols, I can¡¯t release you until¡­¡±


    ¡°United Worldwide Governing Body, zones, commonwealth, grav chamber, my apartment, now LET ME OUT!¡± Reggie didn¡¯t respond, he just lowered Ani from the grav chamber into is wheel chair. Ani should have been impressed that Reggie picked up on his anger and made a conscious decision not to respond, but he was too furious to think about that. Reggie was after all recording all of Ani¡¯s sessions in Asphodel, he saw what happened.


    ¡°Unbelievable,¡± Ani spat as he rolled out of the grav chamber into his living room, his chest heaving up and down.


    ¡°Ani,¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t say it Reggie,¡± Ani wheeled up to the desk that had his collected information about Asphodel, Wrathics, and Hidarian. He was exhausted, but still fuming over Mary¡¯s deceit. There was no way he¡¯d be able to rest. Pouring over information was all that he had.


    Ani studied for hours, searching for more information on the Wrathic skill that they were trying to obtain. Unfortunately he couldn¡¯t find anything. Georgia and her team had to know a great deal about cryptography, and given the amount of time they¡¯d spent on it, he wasn¡¯t going to find anything new. More than anything, it was something to keep his mind occupied while he calmed down.


    ¡°Ani,¡± Reggie asked. He¡¯d been silent since letting Ani out of the grav chamber. Chances are he used the medical sensors in Ani¡¯s apartment to figure out whether he¡¯d calmed down or not.


    ¡°Reggie,¡± Ani replied.


    ¡°I feel compelled to offer an opinion on what Ms. Mors did before you disconnected from Asphodel.¡±


    Ani sighed. ¡°You mean when she betrayed my trust, transported me into a highly electrified cell in some prison and for me to sit in until she decided what to do about a situation that was built for my character?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and no.¡±


    Ani set his work aside and gave Reggie his full attention, ¡°Explain.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have much time left in this world, but have you stopped to think that Ms. Mors could possibly have a reason for trying to protect you as she did?¡± Reggie activated the holographic screen on Ani¡¯s wall and pulled up a recording of his previous session. It was the moment that Ani said the name Dark Angel.


    ¡°She was shocked that I knew the name, maybe even afraid, so what? Just another secret, another lie.¡±


    ¡°Ani, my base programming, some of which you didn¡¯t touch, allows me to read micro expressions in faces. Do you know what micro expressions are?¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°Uh, rapid movements of facial muscle tied to emotions, right?¡±


    ¡°Correct. Mary did display fear yes, but she also displayed a mixture of sadness, and anger.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your point Reggie?¡±


    ¡°I do believe that Mary is keeping something from you, probably a great many things, but this Dark Angel¡­she was very close to. It¡¯s possible that she¡¯s protecting you because of what had happened to someone else she cared about.¡±


    Ani replayed the video of Mary¡¯s reaction. ¡°Reggie, is there any way to tap into Mary¡¯s playback from the event.¡±


    There was a pause. ¡°No. However, you¡¯ve just received an anonymous, encrypted message.¡±


    ¡°Can you trace it?¡±


    ¡°No. It has some very serious authentication features on it. Please speak your full name.¡±


    ¡°Ani Kitos.¡±


    ¡°Voice analysis and DNA sample confirmed, playing message.¡±


    The holographic screen in Ani¡¯s living room flickered to life and a video feed of Adam transforming into an empty cell appeared on the left, while a video of Mary standing in the lab with Georgia and Faraday appeared on the right.


    ¡°What is this?¡± Ani heard his character asking on the video. He looked around the room.


    ¡°I need you to stay put Adam,¡± Mary said in a somber voice. ¡°I need more time to figure this all out and you¡¯re a flight risk right now. Please, understand¡­¡±


    ¡°Understand?¡± Adam asked. ¡°Let me out of here now.¡±


    Mary sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t do that, there¡¯s things you don¡¯t know¡­¡±


    ¡°Look, let me out, and you can just explain what I don¡¯t understand, I¡¯m not going to do anything rash.¡± Mary didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Don¡¯t just lock me in a cell!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll be safe there until I get this all figured out,¡±


    ¡°Trust is earned! That¡¯s what you told me!¡± Ani could see Mary switch off the communications to the cell. Adam continued yelling and cursing at Mary and the sound came through his video, but not the one that focused on Mary.


    ¡°Reggie, expand Mary¡¯s video, you can close mine.¡±


    Mary¡¯s video took over the entire screen. She took a deep breath and shook her head. To Ani¡¯s surprise she actually looked sad, as if she regretted the whole situation.


    Georgia walked up next to her. ¡°It¡¯s okay, he¡¯ll get over it.¡±


    Mary couldn¡¯t even look her in the eyes. ¡°All of the work I did to build his trust, right out the window. Do you think I did the right thing?¡±


    ¡°I think,¡± Georgia chose her words carefully, ¡°you know more about what we¡¯re trying to attempt than anyone, and unfortunately, you know how bad things can truly get. You¡¯ve suffered more than anyone here and I think you need to tell him what happened.¡± It was clear that her and Mary were close, or at the very least had worked together for a long time and respected each other.


    Mary shook her head, ¡°No, not yet. I don¡¯t even¡­I mean¡­¡± her face was littered with emotions. Ani wasn¡¯t used to seeing Mary this way, she was always calm and collected, save for the time he said Dark Angel. ¡°We don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s Lisa. It could just be some sick prank.¡±


    ¡°No one knows about your sister,¡± Georgia said placing a hand on her shoulder. ¡°Everyone who interacted with her prior to the event thinks she¡¯s dead. Even if anyone figured it out, they couldn¡¯t hack Tartarus or Adam¡¯s feed like that. Besides we covered our tracks over and over. Our tech is so good that we can talk about this openly in an HTG controlled facility without fear of anyone listening in. There¡¯s no way that anyone beyond our group knows about her true fate, or her connection to you. You have to tell Adam what happened, he has a right to know.¡±


    ¡°Not yet,¡± Mary replied. ¡°He needs some time to cool down and I need to figure out how we¡¯re going to get him this skill without broadcasting his presence to all of Asphodel. That¡¯s more important right now. Once he goes public¡­it¡¯ll become very difficult to operate freely. Maybe if Lisa¡­¡± Mary¡¯s face tightened. A tear rolled down her face and Georgia pulled her close, comforting her. The video stopped.


    ¡°Oh my god,¡± Ani exclaimed under his breath.


    ¡°Ani?¡± Reggie asked.


    ¡°I know,¡± Ani turned his wheelchair around.


    ¡°Know what?¡±


    ¡°I know what happened to Lisa, Mary¡¯s sister¡­¡± he paused. ¡°The Dark Angel.¡±.

 Chapter 13: The Assault

    Apshodel ¨C Sixth Age ¨C Third Year ¨C Seventy-Ninth Sun


    Adam woke back up in Asphodel with the concrete floor he lay on rumbling. Unsure of what had happened during his break, he allowed his vision to adjust, then took a moment to absorb his surroundings. Still in the cell. The ground shook again, this time causing cracks on the floor and a few chunks of concrete to fall from the ceiling. Adam rushed over to the laser field covering the doorway and called to the guard in the hall. ¡°Hey,¡±


    The guard was visibly nervous and in contact with someone else through Asphodel¡¯s peer to peer communication system build into the user menu. The facility shook again, and more concrete fell from the top of Adam¡¯s cell.


    ¡°Hey!¡± he shouted again. This time the guard turned to look at him. He said something to the person he was talking too, then walked over to Adam¡¯s door. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just a raid,¡± the guard was trying to sound tough, but fell short of pulling it off. ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­¡± before he had the chance to finish, a blast rocked the entire facility and red lights started flashing in the halls, coupled with a high pitched alarm.


    ¡°You were saying?¡± Adam asked.


    The guard started talking to someone else in the facility and Adam took a step back to process what was happening. They figured out a way to make him much more powerful, and Mary sidelined him in an HTG facility to protect him. Assuming that the her micro expressions weren¡¯t lying, she really does want to protect him. So this facility, was more than likely one of HTG more secret and well protected locations. Not something that would be effected by or even subject to normal raid.


    ¡°Hey, hey!¡± Adam shouted to the guard. He turned around. ¡°You need to let me out of here, they¡¯re coming for me.¡±


    ¡°No one¡¯s coming after a simple thief, shut your mouth.¡±


    ¡°Think about it man, think about where we are, the security you have in place,¡± Adam was making an educated guess. He had no idea where they were, but with recent events, he didn¡¯t take Mary for someone who would hide him in plain sight. The guard hesitated. Adam had him. ¡°Listen to me, I¡¯m a Shifter, a Wrathic.¡±


    The guard scoffed. ¡°Sure you are buddy,¡±


    ¡°Come on! Use your head. A thief gets put in a prison like this? Let me guess, they upgraded your electrical systems a few months ago right? Amped them up by a ridiculous amount?


    The guard looked at the ground pensively. ¡°They did¡­¡±


    ¡°That was for me okay. It was in case HTG needed to stash me somewhere out of sight.¡± The facility was hit again, hard. This time Adam and the guard both lost their footing. Large chunks of concrete fell from the ceiling in the cell and the hall, just missing them both by inches.


    ¡°There, look!¡± Adam pointed to the hole in the ceiling near the door to his cell. You could see exposed electrical wires hissing and arching toward the ceiling. ¡°The whole cell is electrified under the surface, there¡¯s enough juice running through there to kill a level cap in any class okay? Why do that for a common thief? Because I stole of wheel of cheese? Come on man."


    Another blast hit the facility and the alarms died. The flashing lights extinguished and then lit up a few seconds later, but the electricity continued to arch from the wires in the wall. ¡°Okay, maybe you are, but I still can¡¯t let you out. They¡¯d kill me. I¡¯d have to start all over.¡±


    ¡°They knocked out the main electrical line. A few more hits and I¡¯m getting out anyways,¡± Adam activated the transformation, the pain came hard and fast as his bones started cracking. ¡°Grah! You¡¯re getting hit and you¡¯re getting hit hard¡­Ah!¡±


    Adam¡¯s eyes were flooded red and his voice was raspy. ¡°Let me hit back.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± the guard stressed. He was right at the edge, Adam just had to push him a little more.


    Adam focused on the transformation. He looked at the ground and wailed in pain. Focusing all of his energy to his eyes, he turned back up to look at the guard. He eyes were on fire, just for a moment, just long enough to frighten the guard and confirm who he was. Adam lowered his voice and growled ¡°I¡¯m getting out of here one way or another, only question is whether not you¡¯ll be caught in my path.¡±


    The guard struggled, but Adam could see the look in his eyes. He¡¯d relented, he just didn¡¯t want to believe it. Finally the guard shouted ¡°Damn it!¡± He tapped a few commands into the skinterface on his forearm and the laser field in the doorway deactivated. Adam fell forward through the door, his bones still realigning, the skin begining to peel from his body.


    ¡°My god,¡± the guard exclaimed.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Adam stumbled forward, slamming face first into the ground, trying his best to head toward the commotion. He struggled to his knees and started to crawl, than burst into a little sprint before losing his footing again. Adam¡¯s fist slammed into the ground cracking the floor. His head shot back and he released a monstrous roar into the air.


    * * *


    Tony rushed into the control room of the prison, it was the safest place in the facility at that moment. A second after he ran through the door, the lock down procedures activated, sealing him into the fifteen by fifteen room. The prison¡¯s director, who¡¯s user name was Minos, stood at the main control station with Ghost and the three other Wardens in his team for security.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Tony managed through sucking air into his lungs. He leaned over and supported himself on his knees, trying to catch his breathe.


    ¡°Well,¡± Minos answered feverishly tapping away at the controls. ¡°It would seem that someone¡¯s coming after your boy.¡±


    Tony stood back up walking closer to the control screen. ¡°That¡¯s impossible, the six of us are the only ones in the Outer Bay that knows he exists.¡±


    ¡°Then someone else back at HTG command betrayed you.¡±


    An explosion rang out through the facility and the power died before the backup generators kicked in. The Wardens were blocking Tony¡¯s view of Minos, but as he moved from one terminal to another, Tony caught a side view of his face between the guards. Sweat was rolling down his cheek and his pupils were dilated. Tony looked down at his arm and pulled up his inventory. He scrolled down through his skills until he found what he was looking for, Stone Cold. The description read¡­


    ¡®So you¡¯ve got a big heart. You try to find the best in people and have tendency to get overwhelmed in tense situations. Technology speaks to you more than people or weapons ever could. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ve got you covered. Stone Cold will drain your character of emotions and allow you to make the tough decisions that Wardens, Soldiers, and Enchanters make every day. Duration: 5 mins. Class restriction: Technomancers only Level restriction: 30+¡¯


    Tony tapped the Stone Cold icon and the skill activated immediately. The situation became so clear. With the security protocols in place, there was only one answer. Tony walked forward, grabbed a pistol from Ghost¡¯s belt, then pushed his way through them. Minos turned around at the same time that Tony raised the pistol to meet his head. There was a second of shock on his face before Tony blasted the contents of his brain across the main control station. Emotionless, Tony turned to the Wardens.


    ¡°Who doesn¡¯t understand the chain of command?¡±


    The four men remained silent. Tony held the pistol out to Ghost, who took it and re-holstered the weapon.


    ¡°Good, Director Minos betrayed us. The Wrathic housed in this facility was supposed to be secret, but that¡¯s no longer the case. I don¡¯t care who¡¯s coming after him, I want them stopped. Now. The priority is keeping Adam safe. Are we clear? ¡± Tony asked decisively.


    ¡°Yes sir!¡± the four answered.


    Tony turned to Ghost. At six foot three inches tall, he was the smallest of the four, but he was also the most experienced in the group. He wore a plain black ball cap, dark blue jeans and had a olive t-shirt under his black combat vest. ¡°Ghost, you have command, all security personnel now report to you. Get it done.¡±


    Tony released the control room security protocols and the four Wardens poured out of the door. Another bang rang out in the facility, but this time it was different. It wasn¡¯t an explosion, something physically rocked the foundation of the prison. Tony walked over the to the controls and pulled a wire out of his arm. As a Technomancer, Tony had unlocked a skill called ¡®Plugged In¡¯ that allow him to plug directly into any piece of technology in Asphodel. The amount of control he had over the system and how quickly he could access it depended on how much he focused on that skill. Tony¡¯s Plugged In skill was maxed out.


    Eyes darting back and forth, Tony looked like a possessed zombie as his mind raced through the system. He pulled up all five hundred and sixty two camera feeds and surveyed them at the same time. Adam¡¯s cell was empty, the laser field at the door had been disabled by the guard. Tony found Adam stumbling down the hall, the concrete floor behind him shattered. He was already halfway through the transformation and having a hard time getting through the tight halls. Tony flagged his signature in the system, then pulled up a map of the facility to track his progress.


    Tony¡¯s focus switched the exterior of the facility to see that whoever was attacking, showed up in force. Waves of Soldiers were attacking the front walls and trying to take down the automated turrets out front. Tony spotted over two hundred Soldiers storming the gates, at least fifty Tigers in armor, twenty or Gryphons in flying around and five large mechs that stood fifteen feet tall pulling up the rear of the attack. There were also two F-class bombers making strafing runs from above. With the damage that Minos did to the security system before Tony stopped him, there was little chance of them fighting off the force, even with Ghost and his team taking lead.


    Tony placed a secure call to Mary. ¡°Status?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Minos betrayed us, they¡¯re hitting hard, and we won¡¯t be able to hold them for long.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m headed to you now. It¡¯s going to take me some time though, I¡¯m nowhere near a flash door. Any idea who it is?¡±


    Tony scanned the assault. ¡°No banners, hard to tell. Mass of Soldiers, Shifters, five mechs and two bombers.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not DARC. The force it too small. Though they could have tapped a smaller crew to test the defenses and draw us out. Hold on.¡± Mary went silent for a moment and Tony heard gun fire in the background. ¡°Adam?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Out and completing transformation. Guard released him. I have protocols in place to stop him.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Mary said quickly. ¡°Will he transform before he gets to the main assault?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Okay regardless of how this happened, we have to assume the secret is out, we just need to control the outcome. We¡¯re going to make an example of this assault. I want the whole of Asphodel to cower in fear at the mere mention of a Wrathic. I want high level users fleeing from any town that¡¯s within a thousand miles of his last known location. Send the word out, priority number one, all security forces are to provide support for the Wrathic. I expect EVERY user involved in that assault to be rendered to ash and I want a video of the Wrathic feasting on their remains, looping on every broadcast screen in Asphodel minutes after the event, are we clear?¡±


    ¡°Crystal,¡± Tony confirmed coldly.

 Chapter 14: Exposure

    Asphodel ¨C Sixth Age ¨C Third Year ¨C Seventy-Ninth Sun


    Ghost was dodging the double sided blade of a level 70 Soldier when a deafening sound came from the prison behind him. Deflecting the Soldier¡¯s sword with his level 95 Damascus steel kukri, Ghost side stepped and shoved his level 98 P5 laser pistol into the Soldier¡¯s midsection and pulled the trigger. The laser cut straight through his chain mail armor and tore a chunk out of his abdomen, causing the Soldier to go down hard on his knees. Ghost rotated and dug his kukri into the back of his neck for an instant critical attack. The Warrior fell with a dull thud against the ground.


    The battle went eerily silent. Ghost looked around to see HTG security forces standing next to armored Tigers, Gryphons landing where ever they could find space and the massive assault mechs holding their ground. Everyone was focused on the prison and the unnatural sound that exited its halls. Seconds seem to stretch into hours as hundreds of users waited for the source to make itself known. Even the two bombers that had been doing strafing runs stopped above, coming to a hover a hundred feet from the entrance of the prison. Their wings were retracted back into an assault position and their bombing bays were closed to allow for their front gatling guns to be energized.


    Ghost glanced around the area with a mental smirk. He was a level 100 Warden, and had been for over ten years. His history spanned over two thousand battles that scaled from several combatants all the way up to a full out war, but this situation was completely new to him. He had never seen anything stop a battle of this size in its tracks.


    A thunderous roar came frame inside the prison, significantly louder than whatever made the previous noise. The roar was somewhere between that of a Black Tooth and Grizzly, amplified to an unquantifiable level. Ghost just stared while everyone covered their ears; the sheer pitch and volume at which the sound hit them was too much. Armor rattled, swords, guns and other weapons fell to the ground as people clamped their hands on either side of their heads. Even the Bombers wavered above. That¡¯s when he struck.


    The front of the prison exploded into a wave of smoke and concrete debris that rained over the battlefield. Flames engulfed the debris from behind, masking the Wrathic as it flew out of the facility. The cloud of fire focused, with two large beams of molten death shooting toward the bombers hovering above the ground. The pilots attempted to strafe out of the way, but they weren¡¯t nearly quick enough. The fire engulfed both of the ships and a second later the Wrathic¡¯s elongated head emerged from the blaze and swallowed what was left.


    It was much bigger than Ghost anticipated. Mary had shown him early videos of the Wrathic transforming, but the creature back then was only about thirty feet long. Adam was only a level 9 and his Ghost estimated that his Wrathic was now around two hundred feet long from head to tail.


    The field below turned into absolute chaos. Ghost¡¯s orders had already gone out, so his forces knew what to expect and handled the situation perfectly. The security force was overwhelmed, but now the assailants were frozen in fear, or pointlessly shooting at the massive Wrathic as it swept over the battle. Physical and energy rounds bounced off of the Wrathics tough skin and it¡¯s large wings gracefully swept up and down. It was an incredible sight to behold, and if Ghost didn¡¯t have a mission to complete, he would have stopped and stared like everyone else. Alas, he was a professional and his people went to work.


    The Wrathic arched up toward the sky and flew in a wide arch in order to sweep in for another attack. Ghost tagged the Wrathic and programmed one of the cameras on his helmet to follow it, while he worked his way through the enemy soldiers. He redirected the feed to the left portion of his combat glasses and turned the opacity down to forty percent. Now that he had one eye on the battle field and one on the Wrathic¡¯s progress, he connected to the channel he created for his people and the prison¡¯s security forces. ¡°Remember his mind is a hurricane of fire. He can separate us from the enemy, but be sure to stay out of the way, he¡¯s not in complete control. It¡¯s not like a normal Shifter Fire will come before restraint so keep him in your sights and keep clear.¡±


    Ghost holstered his P5 pistol and ripped the level 100 M4 assault rifle from his back. He was thankful for the relic around his neck that allowed him to mentally access his inventory while focusing on combat. Selecting high velocity, tungsten rounds for his rifle, he raised the iron sight to his eye. With several taps of the trigger, an approaching Soldier and Tiger went down. ¡®1,000 xp and 1,500 xp¡¯ appeared in the center of his combat glasses upper right lens in a light red, italic font. With the experience points that he was gaining on these kill, Ghost estimated that most of the users were level 50 and above.


    He rotated the rifle to bring up the electric scope that was mounted to the side of his rail and zeroed in on a pair of Gryphons in the air. They were regrouping to attack the Wrathic from the rear as it circled back around. It was unlikely that they¡¯d do any real damage, but his mission was clear; keep Adam safe at all costs. Ghost tapped off one round, then adjust quickly and fired another. The first struck one of the Gryphons on its helmet and the second hit the other between the armor on its wing. As expected the first gryphon rotated to find the source of the hit, and the second one began spiraling toward the ground. Ghost realigned his scope on the first Gryphon and drove another round through the eye hole of its helmet. It went limp. Ghost adjusted and caught the second gryphon between the gap of its helmet and chest plate, severing its brain stem from the spine. ¡®Critical Hit Head Shot 3,000xp +500xp aerial combatant¡¯ and ¡®Critical Hit 2,500 xp +500 xp aerial combatant¡¯ appeared in Ghost¡¯s upper vision. He never tired of watching his kills rack up experience.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The Wrathic streamed down from the sky for a second attack, focused on two of the mechs just below it. They had a bipedal, humanoid shape with two legs to walk on and two arms that could handle large weapons or bash through walls. These two in particular were outfitted with anti-air cannons on their shoulders that were barraging rounds at the Wrathic. Coming in fast, the beast rotated forty feet above the ground and drove it¡¯s massive, open talons toward the mechs. The Wrathic slammed into the ground, causing dirt and dust to fly up into the air as the metal crunched under the force of its powerful legs like tin foil. It rebounded, launching back into the air and tossing the flattened mechs back into a group of attacking Warriors on the battlefield.


    ¡°Keep it up!¡± Ghost commanded. The tide was turning. They were still outnumbered, but the enemy was too preoccupied by the Wrathic to formulate a plan, or even retreat.


    ¡®INCOMING ATTACK: REAR¡¯ flashed on Ghost¡¯s right lens. He rotated and fired an explosive round from the lower portion of his rifle¡¯s tactical rail. The attacking Tiger was already in the air and was unable to change course. It roared just before the round reached it, giving the explosive a nice clear path into the creatures throat. With a small explosion, a red mist shot into the air around the Tigers head which then fell to the ground in front of its body. ¡®Critical hit 2,500xp +1,000xp Trick shot +500xp Red shower¡¯


    The immediate area around Ghost was clear, so he located the closest group of combatants and darted toward them to rejoin the battle.


    As he ran, Ghost watched the video feed of the Wrathic in his left lens. Pulling its head back, it flew up the prison¡¯s front defensive wall, rotated and landed on top of the wall, facing the battle. Arching its back and spreading its wings, the Wrathic let out another massive roar that swept across the battle field. It radiated so much force, that some of the lower level users where actually knocked to the ground.


    ¡°Ghost report,¡± Mary¡¯s voice came through the comms.


    ¡°Little busy Mum,¡± Ghost dodged an diving Gryphon and rotated, throwing his kukri at its back leg. The blade made its mark between the plated armor and as the creature attempted to land, the limb gave way. The beast went down hard, tumbling over itself three times before Exodus, his fellow Warden, put it down for good with an axe to the head. Exodus grabbed the kukri stuck in its leg and threw it to Ghost, who caught it by the handle and swiftly holstered it back into his combat vest.


    ¡°I¡¯m ten mikes, give me the cliff notes.¡±


    Ghost redirected his Wrathic feed to Tony in main control so he could transfer it back to Mary. ¡°Coming at you,¡± he replied. Ghost handled another advancing Soldier then looked up at the Wrathic on the prison wall streaming a wide birth of flames down on a group of Soldiers and Tigers that were trying to escape. They didn¡¯t stand a chance. There was even a mech that got caught in the flames and ended up as a melted pile of alloy.


    ¡°That¡¯s my boy,¡± Mary said quietly.


    Flames licked the charred remains of the characters beneath the wall as the Wrathic flapped its wings and took flight. The battle was all but won and Ghost was no longer worried about keeping the Wrathic alive, he was worried about what would happen when it ran out of targets. As much as he hated the thought, everyone was expendable except Adam. He understood that, and so did his people.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to stick around Mum,¡± Ghost said.


    ¡°We¡¯re tracking him. Tony you listening?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Tony was curt, his potion was still active.


    ¡°Broadcast now. Every screen you can. Send out video blasts, spread the word through every group we have access to and hack the ones we don¡¯t. Burn through fire walls, bring in other Techno¡¯s if you need to. Get it out now.¡±


    ¡°Already done.¡±


    ¡°Ghost,¡± Mary said.


    ¡°Mum?¡±


    ¡°I have no doubt that he¡¯s going to take a little trip. All of our research points toward the Wrathic being controlled by Adam¡¯s Id and the last thing he wanted was to imprisoned. Let security clean up, grab your men and a ship and head after him but keep your distance. With those videos spreading across Asphodel, no one¡¯s going to chance a tussle. I want you and your team on site to protect him when he changes back. He¡¯s going to be weak, mana exhausted. Understood?¡±


    ¡°Yes Mum. Should we administer potions?¡±


    "No, this is first real battle, I want him to feel the aftermath, can¡¯t let Tartarus get to his head. Especially now that the word is out. Just keep him safe,¡± Mary paused. ¡°And Ghost?¡±


    ¡°Mum?¡±


    Mary¡¯s voice softened. ¡°He saw Lisa.¡±


    Ghost didn¡¯t respond. His mind raced with memories, videos of their interactions playing back through his head without control. She was once his weakness and now she was just a bunch of files stuck in his head, images that played back when his emotions took control. Ghost locked it all down and pushed the memories from his mind.


    ¡°Do I need to tell you how important he is to me?¡± Mary asked.


    Ghost swallowed hard. His throat felt dry and scratchy when he replied with, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Are we seeing eye to eye?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t see how we wouldn¡¯t be.¡±


    ¡°Good, I¡¯ll touch base when I reach the prison, don¡¯t let him out of your sight.¡±


    ¡°Ghost out,¡± The battle was over, brief but brutal. It could have been a lot worse if Adam hadn¡¯t transformed. Ghost and his team were good, but their weren¡¯t gods. Ghost instructed local security to finish off injured attackers, while the Wrathic circled the resulting slaughter high above. Ghost realized that his jaw was clenched shut and it took a few seconds for him to consciously loosen it. His cheek felt cold. Reaching up, his finger pulled back a tear.


    ¡°Sir?¡± Exodus said from behind him.


    Ghost used the base of his palm to wipe away the rest of his past that leaked out of his eye and turned to his old friend. ¡°Grab Miller and Hound, we¡¯re going after him.¡±

 Chapter 15: Leveling Out

    Asphodel ¨C Fifth Age ¨C Sixth Year ¨C Eightieth Sun


    Adam¡¯s head was pounding. His eyes cracked open to a fuzzy sea of green. It took a moment, but Adam realized he was lying face down on a lush, grassy landscape. He could feel a cool breeze sweep across his back, and then heard the sound of wind all around him. After a couple of deep breathes, Adam pushed himself up from the ground and looked around. He saw tall grass in every direction and clouds beyond that. Adam rolled on to his back and sat up to see Mary sitting on a large bolder fifteen feet in front of him with her legs extended and crossed. She was whittling away at her fingernails with a small knife and offered no indication that she noticed him move.


    ¡°It¡¯s interesting that you¡¯d choose this plateau,¡± Mary said before blowing some dust away from her finger nail and rubbing it with her thumb. Seemingly satisfied, she started at the next nail with her knife.


    Adam sighed, ¡°Yeah, why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°It was Lisa¡¯s favorite spot.¡± Adam was surprised to hear Mary say her name so plainly. Mary cleaned off the nail she was working on and moved to her thumb. ¡°No matter how much time I spend in hear, I¡¯m always amazed by the level of detail that¡¯s been put into this world. Our nails grown, our hair, hell our skin flakes off when it dries out. Just blows my mind. After a while the real world seems fake be comparison.¡±


    Adam waited for Mary to continue. She¡¯d opened the door into her past by mentioning Lisa¡¯s name but now she was stalling by musing about Asphodel. Mary took her small blade and sheathed it into a leather wrap around her wrist, before looking up at him.


    ¡°You had plenty of mana to burn. You could of flown for hundreds of miles and you came here,¡± she shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means, but I think I¡¯ve kept Lisa from you long enough.¡±


    Adam slid back against the grass and pulled his knees up to his chest. ¡°Mary, I got¡­¡±


    ¡°An anonymous message, yes. I know¡­Georgia,¡± she said with a weak smile.


    Adam sighed. ¡°Makes sense. I didn¡¯t get the feeling from that video that it was something you wanted to talk about.¡±


    Then Mary did something he never expected, she apologized. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Adam. I really am. I pushed Lisa out of my mind for a long time and when you came along¡­it stirred up some really old shit, some really painful shit.¡± It was the first time that Mary had apologized to him for anything. In fact, it was the first time that he had heard Mary apologize at all.


    Whatever anger Adam had from being locked up just melted away. Ever since she¡¯d found him in Asphodel, he¡¯s viewed her as a rock, a foundation. An immovable, unemotional, rational force that would do anything she could to guide him in the right direction. Before she had a chance to prove herself, Adam trusted her instinctively. He was never quite sure why, but something in her eyes told him that she didn¡¯t mean him any harm. Everything since the first day when they met had been based off of that. Even when he was furious at her for locking him up, deep down he trusted her. Adam waited for her to tell her sister¡¯s story.


    Mary stood and walked past Adam. Adam stood and followed her to the edge of the plateau, thirty feet from where they were sitting. ¡°Five thousand feet,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s how high we are, give or take a few feet.¡±


    Adam looked over the edge to see a dense forest below. There were several castles littered around the landscape further away and beyond that a large city with more modern buildings. ¡°It really is amazing when you have a chance to stop and look at it all. Medieval, fantasy like magic mixed in with futuristic science fiction warfare and everything in between. All it needs is a bunch of alien races to round everything out. Of course, there¡¯s plenty to do with just several billion humans running around, imagine what aliens would do to mix.¡±


    Adam wanted to comment about how he thought Hidarian created Asphodel to perfect humanity, and aliens wouldn¡¯t fit into that plan. Hidarian was always looking to the future. He knew that people needed an excuse to get fit and healthy in a way that they actually enjoyed. Asphodel gave them that. He knew that someday we¡¯d outlive our physical beings and need to transcend to greater heights. All of the information in Asphodel could fit in a small satellite, be sent to space and run off of solar energy. It was an organic computer, with artificial intelligence capable of sustaining the system for indefinite amount of time. Asphodel could give humanity transcendence, but this wasn¡¯t about Asphodel. This wasn¡¯t about Adam¡¯s knowledge of Hidarian or what he thought the human race should or could be. It was about Mary, and whatever pain she dealt with in losing her sister. He was here, being the rock for his friend that she had been for him on so many occasions. So he just kept his thoughts private, and listened.


    They stood there looking over the edge of the plateau for some time. After a while, Mary just stared straight out into the clouds and said, ¡°You¡¯re not the first Adam.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± he was transfixed by the beauty below, and had almost forgotten that she was talking about her sister.


    ¡°You¡¯re not the first,¡± she repeated, still staring into the cloudy white abyss. ¡°Lisa was. She was a Shifter¡­she was a Wrathic.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Adam was at a loss for words, ¡°How¡­¡±


    ¡°HTG kept it quiet. They kept her out of the public eye, and killed anyone who knew too much. After¡­well¡­they burned any record of it. She knew I wouldn¡¯t approve, joined under a different name, even I didn¡¯t know until it was too late.¡± Mary sighed and rubbed the insides of her eyes.


    ¡°They killed her Adam.¡±


    Mary¡¯s overbearing protection of Adam became so clear. He still had so many questions, but the most prominent one he just blurted out, ¡°How can you work for them?¡±


    Mary turned to look at Adam and touched his shoulder, her eyes were red and tears were on the verge of pouring down her cheeks. ¡°We should sit.¡± Mary directed him over to a short patch of soft grass and they both sat, facing each other. ¡°The Wardens have always been more than a character class in a game. We¡¯re a secret society. A collection of well trained, and supremely skilled spies that operate in Asphodel and the real. I became a Warden after Lisa¡¯s...disappearance.¡±


    ¡°Where did they come from?¡±


    ¡°Some of founding members were from Hidarian¡¯s personal staff, working on the Asphodel prototype. Some were ex-soldiers who didn¡¯t believe in the de-weaponization of the world, they thought it was one step closer to free people being controlled. Some were Doctors, afraid of what technology was doing to humanity, extended lives and all that. Nothing seemed natural anymore. In the early days, it was just twenty people. They were worried about Asphodel, about the rumors of Hidarian hiding the key to digitizing consciousness in the game. Much like Hidarian, they knew that if the wrong people got their hands on it, then they could do some serious damage. So they joined the game as Wardens and adopted the mantel in the real.


    ¡°Not all Wardens in the game are Wardens in the real , which helps us stay under the radar. We¡¯ve been fighting for sixty real years to keep the key to digitizing consciousness out of the wrong hands, and most of our time is spent fighting HTG, with DARC being a close second. HTG had resources that I needed, Tartarus, the Tomas Hidarian facility, access to Hidarian¡¯s notes. They think I¡¯m manipulating you for their cause, they want to harness your power and keep you under lock and key, but we have to stop them Adam. They like DARC but much more powerful and well-funded. They want to convert everyone connected, they¡¯re a cult, fanatics. They want to destroy what¡¯s left of physical humanity, and their council has some very high members of society in it.¡±


    ¡°What about DARC?¡±


    "DARC wants the same thing, but they don¡¯t have the resources that HTG does. They¡¯re a poor man¡¯s facsimile who we can use to our advantage when to time comes, but HTG is the real threat. They were close before I came along. Too close, and Lisa showed them that Wrathics exist. She opened the door.¡±


    Adam sighed and took a moment to process all the information that Mary was giving him. HTG needed to be stopped there was no question about that, but as selfish as it seemed, he needed more information about Lisa. He couldn¡¯t make the same mistakes she did if they were to have any chance of fighting back. ¡°What happened to your sister?¡±


    Mary looked away from Adam. She focused on the clouds, the swirling nothingness beyond their isolated little plateau. ¡°She wasn¡¯t ready. She didn¡¯t have all of the information and didn¡¯t know what she was, what she was trying to do, until it was too late. She was on the right path to finding the key but¡­HTG got to her first. They found out her true identity, and went after her in the real. Lisa tried to complete the conversion before they got to her but she was too weak, didn¡¯t have all the information for the ritual, didn¡¯t have the skill that Georgia and Faraday recently discovered. She died during the process.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Adam said solemnly.


    Mary wiped a tear from her eye. ¡°Or I thought she did. She¡¯s stuck in Asphodel, at least part of her is. There have been rumors, sightings of a ghost calling itself the Dark Angel, her user name. I didn¡¯t want to believe them, I didn¡¯t think it was possible, but after your experience¡­I just wanted to believe that she was gone, so that she was done with all of this.¡±


    Mary took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. ¡°I wish she would have come to me, I wish she would have let me help her, maybe¡­¡±


    Adam put a hand on Mary¡¯s shoulder and squeezed in support. ¡°You can¡¯t blame yourself. Without your help, I¡¯d probably already be dead too.¡± Mary took a moment to compose herself and breathe through the emotions. After a few minutes she stood and started pacing around Adam. Adam got up and waited for Mary to pull herself together.


    ¡°Okay,¡± she said forcefully. ¡°Okay, first things first, we need to get you that skill. HTG can wait, all of the people we¡¯re working with were hand selected by me. The ones who don¡¯t know who I really am, don¡¯t have a way to find out. So we need to find a way to get you that skill, and that¡¯ll be a lot easier with HTG¡¯s resources.¡±


    ¡°So we take it one step and a time,¡± Adam offered. ¡°The Ogre guarding Neramith cave, he¡¯s a level 20 right?¡±


    Mary winced, ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Shit.¡± Adam said bluntly.


    Mary laughed. ¡°Step one is already a pain in the ass.¡±


    Adam chuckled. ¡°Right, but remember, Hidarian wouldn¡¯t have added this into the game unless it was possible, so think, there has to be something out there, that I can use, a relic or a potion, or something that can make me strong enough to fight a level 20 Ogre. Mary what about Tony?¡±


    ¡°What about him?¡±


    ¡°Well you¡¯ve been able to alter code in Asphodel, hence the flash doors, is there anything he can do to help?¡±


    Mary shook her head, ¡°Doubtful. Tony¡¯s very intelligent but we¡¯re pretty positive that all of the code we¡¯ve been able to alter was just Hidarian hiding mods in game for people to discover. The foundations, the classes, the xp, the weapons and level restrictions, we¡¯ve never been able to crack any of that. It¡¯s like Hidarian created his own programming language and no can understand it. People have been trying to crack that since its inception and the back end AI has always been able to protect itself and mutate to stay ahead of the game. That man was a goddamn genius.¡±


    Adam had been waiting for the right time to bring up Reggie and this could finally be it. If they were able to import him into Asphodel, then he could possibly have access to things that they could never understand. He could process code and try to crack into back doors that Tony would never be able to see, fight the backend AI on a battlefield that they didn¡¯t have access to.


    ¡°What about importing data? Grav chambers scan our bodies and import them into Asphodel, is there a way to transfer data into the game?¡±


    Before Mary had a chance to answer and ship streamed by above them. Ghost dropped out of the sky and landed on one knee next to them ¡°Mum,¡± he gave Mary a nod and stood. He nodded at Adam ¡°Mr. Kitos. We¡¯ve got a problem.¡±


    ¡°Oh good,¡± Adam said with an overtly fake smile. ¡°A change of pace for once.¡±

 Chapter 16: Worlds Collide

    Sector 1 ¨C Year 2236 ¨C Month 2 ¨C Day Twenty-Two


    Ani rolled from the living into his kitchen, as he had dozens of times already.


    ¡°Is the anything I can do?¡± Reggie asked politely.


    Ani didn¡¯t really have an answer for him. Ghost and Mary rushed off to deal with some emerging issue, but made sure to drop Adam off back at Tartarus first. He couldn¡¯t continue training, because he had to stay at his current level if he was going to complete the three quests Hidarian laid out for the Wrathic skill. He could of stayed in Tartarus and watched Georgia and Faraday research the quests further, but not only would it have driven him crazy, but there was the potential for him to gain experience in random skills that he didn¡¯t ever use, thus adding to his issue of staying at his current level. So he opted to sign out. Time passed fasterin Asphodel anyways, Mary and Ghost could settled their issue and send Adam a message to his grav chamber when they were done.


    ¡°Ani, there¡¯s someone at the door.¡± Reggie pulled up the video feed to Ani¡¯s front door in the living room screen just as Ani was wheeling back in from the kitchen. It was woman who appeared to be in her mid thirties. Adam just stared at her. She didn¡¯t ring the doorbell, but instead looked suspiciously around the hall before attaching something to his door. Her furrowed brow conveyed a seriousness that he had not seen in the real world for some time.


    ¡°She is trying to scan the apartment, but I¡¯m currently blocking her,¡± Reggie said.


    ¡°Reggie why does she look so familiar to me?¡±


    ¡°Hold please¡­I have scanned her facial features, but I can¡¯t find a public profile.¡±


    ¡°Cross reference with Asphodel¡¯s user base and profile images,¡±


    ¡°There are no profile images that match¡­Ani¡­¡± Reggie pulled up a still frame of Mary¡¯s face from one of his recorded session. He put the image next to a snap shot of the woman¡¯s face at the door.


    ¡°Oh my god,¡± Ani said incredulously. ¡°Reggie, open the door.¡±


    Ani wheeled into the entrance way for his apartment, just as the door slid open. The woman was looking down the hall, but turned to face the door, her slate blue eyes boring through Ani. They were cold, and emotionless. Ani felt the need to readjust the position he took in the wheelchair, even though it was impossible without Reggie¡¯s help. Her jaw was tight, and clenched; it was exceedingly clear that she hadn¡¯t showed up for a social call.


    ¡°Ani Kitos.¡± she said sternly.


    Adam blinked in disbelief. It was her. It was Mary in real life, standing on his doorstep. The similarities between her and her in game avatar were mind blowing, it¡¯s almost as if she wanted to look the same.


    ¡°I¡­yes,¡± was all that Ani could fumble out.


    ¡°Good,¡± Mary pushed passed Ani and pulled a black rectangular case from her back and set it on the floor.


    Adam motioned for his door to close, then reached down to the wheels beside his chair and rotated to face her. She tried to scan of the room, but Reggie was still interfering with her equipment.


    ¡°Adam should I alert the authorities?¡± Reggie asked.


    ¡°No,¡± Adam hesitated, rethinking the answer. What if this wasn¡¯t Mary? What if it was just someone that HTG sent that looked like her ¡°No, Reggie not yet.¡±


    ¡°Yet,¡± the woman chuckled.


    ¡°Very well,¡± Reginald said cautiously. ¡°I will remain at the ready.¡±


    ¡°I hate to break it to you Adam, but you¡¯ve got a much bigger problem on your hands than me. I tried masking you¡¯re identity here in the real world, but it didn¡¯t work.¡± the woman said walking up to him. She crouched in front of his wheelchair so they could speak face to face. Her body was thin, but the muscles where tight. She wore a sleeveless black shirt that conformed to her body, and black cargo pants that hugged her legs. Her hair was dark brown, and short, the front bangs tucked behind her small ears. She was by no means traditionally beautiful, with her angular features and muscular body, but Adam found himself attracted to her nonetheless. Her confidence and seemingly independent and powerful nature contributed to that.


    ¡°Mary,¡± he said in a hushed voice.


    She nodded curtly.


    ¡°You look¡­¡±


    ¡°Very similar to my host,¡± she finished. ¡°They never expect that in the real world. They just assume everyone who spends a great deal of time in Asphodel isn¡¯t happy with their life. So using your true identity and physical appearance can have it¡¯s benefits when you¡¯re looking for anonymity¡­ironically enough. You had the right idea with your name,¡± she looked his withered body up and down. ¡°The rest was out of your control.


    ¡°Ani, I¡¯m not able to access the genetic sample that was taking during Mary¡¯s pre-registration for Asphodel, but I can tell you that this woman¡¯s phonetics are near identical to Mary¡¯s user. There¡¯s a ninety-nine percent chance that she is indeed the person behind Mary¡¯s Avatar.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Adam said, unsure of what else to say to either him or Reggie. He was still coming to terms with the fact that Mary was in his apartment.


    ¡°Reggie?¡± Mary called. He didn¡¯t answer.


    ¡°Go ahead Reggie,¡± Adam confirmed.


    ¡°Yes Mary?¡±


    Mary squinted at Adam curiously. ¡°He only answers to me unless instructed,¡± Adam explained


    ¡°That¡¯s illegal,¡± Mary said teasingly. ¡°Especially for someone with your condition who could need dire medical attention at a moments notice.¡±


    Adam smirked, ¡°What are they going to do, kill me?¡±


    Mary tilted her head back in laughter. ¡°Do you have a pair of gravlegs?¡± she asked.


    Adam shook is head, ¡°Paraharness.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Mary flinched. ¡°What? That¡¯s and antiquated piece of technology,¡± she slammed a hand down on the wheel of his chair. ¡°And this?¡±


    Adam cleared his throat. ¡°It¡¯s a wheel chair, I use my arms to propel myself throughout the house.¡± Mary blinked purposefully long to convey a sense of bewilderment. ¡°Several hundred years ago it was the only thing that paralyzed people like me had.¡± Mary continued to stare. ¡°I¡¯m a bit of history buff.


    ¡°I know what it is, I¡¯m just shocked that you actually have one. Congratulations. Let¡¯s hope it doesn¡¯t kill you,¡± she said quickly. ¡°Reggie, I need you to secure Adam in his paraharness while I set up my gear can you do that? I also need you to stop blocking my gear.¡±


    ¡°Your vocal patterns, retinal scans, and body temperature does not convey any ill will or deceit toward Adam. Yes, I can complete the task you¡¯ve posited.¡±


    ¡°Well that was easier than expect, illegal indeed,¡± Mary said with smirk.


    Mary rushed over to her case on the floor as Adam¡¯s paraharness floated out of his bedroom and into the living room. She typed something into the skinterface on her arm, then moved the case into the kitchen and laid it on the counter horizontally. Adam wheeled over to the paraharness before Reggie used a variety of different gravports through out the room to lift him up and get him situated in the paraharness.


    ¡°So tell me,¡± Mary started while placing her flat palm on the case. Electrical whirs and a series of metallic clanks rang out before the case begin to separate into slats and unfold like a blooming flower. ¡°You¡¯re whole apartment is grav certified, it has to be given your condition. The UWGB is required to provide you with top of the line gravlegs, and yet you roll around in a wheel chair and use a paraharness, which if I remember correctly wasn¡¯t known for it¡¯s comfort,¡± Mary began removing items from the case. Adam couldn¡¯t see everything, but he did spot the small blades that she slid into either side of her belt. ¡°What gives?¡±


    Reginald lowered Adam into his paraharness. It was an old, strap on system that created a mechanical exo-skeleton around Adam¡¯s lower half. Mary took several small disks out of the case and started flicking them around the room. Each one floated to a specified location and attached itself at shoulder height to one of the apartments walls.


    ¡°Gravlegs can be hacked,¡± Adam secured the straps around his waist. ¡°Wheelchairs can¡¯t, a paraharness can¡¯t.¡±


    Mary started searching the apartment in various ways. Adam watched as Reggie finished securing him in the paraharness and ran through checks for all of the mechanical systems. She checked the seams of every piece of electronics he had. She surveyed each window and door. She even ran her hands over every inch of his bed. Her fingers must have had a variety of sensors installed just under the tips that relayed information back to the skinterface on the back of her hand.


    Mary returned to her case and looked up at Adam. ¡°Smart. Were you always this paranoid or is it because of more recent events?¡± She returned her focus to the case and started rummaging around. Adam could hear metal pieces snapping together.


    ¡°Always this paranoid,¡± he said quickly. ¡°You haven¡¯t told me what the hell you¡¯re doing here yet.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± Mary said without looking up. She raised a M4 assault rifle out of her case and pulled the firing pin back, letting it snap forward with a decidedly menacing ¡®clack¡¯. Adam was familiar with the rifle because it was very similar to the one that Ghost used in Asphodel, it even had a grenade launcher attached to the bottom rail, but this wasn¡¯t a game. This was the real world, where guns had been outlawed and abolished for over a century. Adam¡¯s silence caught Mary¡¯s attention.


    ¡°HTG found you Ani. They¡¯re sending people to kidnap you, like they did Lisa,¡± she looked back down at the case, but continued talking as she worked. ¡°I don¡¯t how they did it, Tony¡¯s looking into it. The priority though is to get you out of here. Luckily, HTG is all about doing things quiet, so they¡¯re disguised as a riot control squad to blend. They won¡¯t have any lethal firepower like I do, and they don¡¯t know I¡¯m here.¡± Mary pulled two pistols from her case and set them on the counter. She pulled the slide back on one, checked the chamber, then holstered on her right leg. Then she did the same to the other and holstered it on her left leg.


    ¡°I¡­¡± Ani stumbled his words. ¡°You¡¯re going to use those¡­to like¡­kill people?¡± he asked sheepishly. ¡°Like for real?¡±


    Mary slammed her hands on the table and stared at him. For a tense couple of seconds, she remained quiet. Logic prevailed over emotion and she realized that Adam had never seen violence before, not in the real world. Asphodel was great to help people get their frustrations out, but it didn¡¯t erase a two decades of living in a world at peace. Adam knew Asphodel was a game and despite the fact that understood the severity of the situation, he was now starting to accept the reality of it.


    Mary sighed, ¡°They killed Lisa. They plan on killing you and billions of innocent people. These aren¡¯t aid workers, or honest peace units coming to take you Ani. They¡¯re killers. Killers disguised as anything but, and they plan to make your life immeasurably painful until you give them what they want.¡±


    ¡°Mary if I may,¡± Reggie interjected. Mary went back to her case. ¡°Ani, I¡¯ve been doing research on my own since you¡¯ve started working with Mary and the HTG.¡±


    ¡°You decided to do that on your own?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Yes. You¡¯re my friend, and I will always do what I can to make sure you¡¯re safe. My research into HTG raised more than a few concerns, but I know that you trusted Mary and wanted to see where she led you. After she revealed HTG¡¯s true intentions a few days ago, I researched the concerns further. HTG has deep ties in the UWGB utility and financial districts. Fifty employees within the districts have disappeared over the last ten years, including Mary¡¯s sister. We can review the information later, but with the proper leverage in these two districts, HTG can destabilize the entire world and plunge it into chaos. There¡¯s also this¡­¡±


    Reggie activated the holographic screen in the living room. A video appeared that showed a well dressed business man in an exceedingly expensive suit sitting behind a large conference table. ¡°Reggie what is this?¡± Ani asked.


    ¡°It is a live feed to the boardroom at Ascendant Technologies.¡±


    Ani shook his head, ¡°How¡­what?¡±


    ¡°Since we¡¯ve been looking at ways to transfer me into Asphodel,¡± Ani looked back at Mary to see that she had stopped what she was doing and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Ani just shrugged as he didn¡¯t want to cut Reggie offer. Mary smiled and went back to her kit. ¡°I¡¯ve been working on expanding my knowledge of code and hacking. There was only so much for me to do locally, so I started cracking into more sophisticated systems that may be useful to us in the future. Richard Gouda is the CEO of Ascendant Technologies, and very open about his involvement in Asphodel under the under name Andion.¡±


    Mary scoffed, ¡°Impressive Reggie, but I think we just found out how HTG tracked you down Ani.¡±


    ¡°Reggie, why would do that?¡± Ani asked, clearly annoyed.


    Reggie unmuted the video. Mary and Ani watched Richard shout into his holographic communicator. ¡°I don¡¯t give two flying shits what you have to do to take this little prick down, you do it NOW! I couldn¡¯t care less that he¡¯s paralyzed. What the hell do you need an exact address for? Send in both teams under the guise of a routine peace evacuation of the building and snag the little dick and make sure it¡¯s done right. Hold on¡­No I have to go, some asshole named Reginald just hacked into our systems from sector fifteen for the third time this week. Get it done!¡± Richard slammed his hand down on the holographic controls, then opened a new line. ¡°GARY! Get me IT I want this hacker found.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Mary said closing up her case. It whirred and retracted back into itself. ¡°Sector fifteen Reggie?¡± she asked looking up at Adam.


    ¡°The furthest sector from out current location, yes.¡±


    Mary grabbed a small metal disk that was attached to her belt and tossed it at Ani¡¯s window. ¡°I stand corrected.¡± As soon as the disk made contact with the window, it shattered, and imploded falling all over the dining room floor. Mary grabbed her case from the counter and tossed it through open window.


    ¡°We¡¯re twenty stories up!¡± Ani shouted. Beyond the wind that was blowing into the window, an quite, electronic humming rolled in to the apartment. The case hovered up to the middle of the window with ionic boosters under it and shot out into the sky.


    ¡°It¡¯s a surveillance drone too.¡± Mary said with a wink. She blinked twice. ¡°Oh, and not a moment too soon.¡± The drone was feeding video back into her contacts. Ani could the video moving over top of her eye. ¡°We need to get moving. Reggie you¡¯re coming with us, I can¡¯t wait to see what you can do in Asphodel.

 Chapter 17: The Escape

    Sector 1 ¨C Year 2236 ¨C Month 2 ¨C Day Twenty-Two


    ¡°Your combat glasses will display my view on the left lens so you can get a feel for what I¡¯m seeing and going to do. It shouldn¡¯t obscure your view. If you try to look through it, the glasses with register the change in your pupil and adjust the opacity so you can see through it clearly. Make sense?¡± Ani nodded.


    Okay, ready?¡± Mary asked as they stacked up against the door.


    ¡°Reggie can you hear us?¡± Ani asked. Reggie was loaded on to a portable drive that was tapped into Mary and Ani¡¯s comms. He could communicate with them, without having anyone else hear him.


    ¡°Rodger that Ani.¡±


    Mary cocked her combat shotgun and raised it to shoulder level, barrel pointing at the door. She turned her head slightly to see Ani behind her ¡°This is going to get messy. Just keep your head down, keep it together and listen to my instructions and I¡¯ll get you out of here, deal?¡± Ani nodded and Mary returned her focus to the door.


    Minutes passed and then out of nowhere, Ani¡¯s door bell sounded. The person on the other side tapped into his emergency speaker system. ¡°Attention. This Lieutenant Smith with the United Worldwide Governing Body peace keeping department. We¡¯re testing a new evacuation system in order to ensure the highest level of protection for yourself and the other tenants in this building. Please, open the door so we can provide you with further instructions.¡±


    Mary shook her head. She redirected the hallway video feeds to Ani¡¯s combat glasses that she gave him. The Lieutenant has his stunner pointed a the door. Switching camera views, Mary showed Ani the two other ¡®peace officers¡¯ with their stunners drawn fifteen feet down the left hall and two more around the corner to the right.


    ¡°Attention. This is Lieutenant Smith with the United Worldwide Governing Body peace keeping department. We know you are home, please open the door for further instructions or we will be forced to override the system.¡±


    Mary removed her hand from the bottom of the shotgun and typed some commands into her interface while holding the shotgun still with her other hand. It wasn¡¯t a light piece of equipment and Ani noticed that the weapon didn¡¯t waver once. Her strength and physical discipline amazed him. After she was done typing the commands in, she raised her free hand up above her shoulder with her fingers spread and countered own from five. Before dropping the last finger, Mary snapped the hand back down to the shotgun and opened the door.


    An explosion rang out to the left of the door and drew Lieutenant Smith¡¯s attention as the door was opening. Mary didn¡¯t hesitate, she pulled the trigger of the shotgun, splattering the wall behind him with red. Smith flew back into the wall and slumped to the floor. Mary switched to the camera pointing down the left hall to confirm the explosive took out both officers. Ani could see them on the ground, surrounding walls also now red. She switched the camera again to the right hall around the corner and they saw two officers advancing toward them. Mary slid out of the apartment and crouched low to the ground, firing two more slugs. Ani watched the officers go down in the video feed, and Mary motioned for him to follow.


    Crouching as low as possible in the paraharness, Ani followed Mary down the hall to the right with his mechanical legs emitting a low hum and whine with each step he took. The hall came to a nininety-degreeurn to the left. Beyond that was a long hall with tall windows on the right that lined the length of the hall. Mary reached over her shoulder with the shotgun and it snapped to her back. She pulled out both the pistols attached to her leg, and held one in each hand.


    ¡°My sensors are picking up two crowd control hoverships outside. Those windows are a nightmare, but we don¡¯t have much of a choice because the stairwell behind us is worse.¡± Mary shared the stairwell camera with Ani and it showed at least a half a dozen officers bounding up the steps. ¡°I¡¯m gonna deploy a few smoke rounds that contain metallic particles and nanonites that will disrupt the hoverships sensors, then we¡¯re going to book it down the hall.¡±


    Mary didn¡¯t wait for Ani to respond, she typed a command into her skinterface to change the round in her pistol, then fired three rounds down the hall. Ani felt Mary¡¯s hand clamp down on his and pull him forward. The second the rounded the corner, three small explosions rang out, shooting white dust into the hall. The combat glasses cycled to another vision that allowed them to see through the smoke and confusion. The windows shook as a hovership pulled in front of them and searched the hall. Ani saw red and blue lasers shooting through the windows, looking for a signal to lock on too.


    Ani¡¯s heart was racing as they sprinted down the hall, his paraharness struggling to keep up. The hovership and its persistent tracking system was more concerning than the officers. It was one thing to send a squad of men to pick someone up, something else entirely to sick a hovership on his ass, let alone two. He had full confidence in Mary¡¯s abilities, but couldn¡¯t stop wondering how they were going to make it out of this alive.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    The end of the hall formed a T, with another hall of windows to the right and internal hall to the left that led to the elevators. Mary scanned the windows on the right and the combat glasses pulled up the outline of two combatants in red, that were cautiously making their way toward the T. She tossed out a small round sensor that bounced into the wall in front of them, then shot off to the left. Four more officer outlines appear in red through the wall. They were moving through the hall slowly, the front to crouched and the back two standing with their stunners pointed toward the T over their partner¡¯s heads. Mary signaled for Ani to stop five feet before the intersection.


    Mary pulled up a video feed from the sensor she tossed down the hall. It was several feet in front of the four officers, looking up at them from the floor. Mary took a breath, then held it. The sensor exploded and the video feed disappeared. Mary darted into the intersection, arms straight out to either side with a pistol in each hand and fired several shots from each gun. She glanced back at Ani and signaled for him to follow with her right pistol, than holstered it as she turned toward the left hall. With her free hand stabilizing the remaining pistol, Mary disappeared past the corner.


    Ani bolted forward to catch up. Mary was crouching next to one of the dead officers, typing away at her skinterface. She had fired off six rounds and all six met their marks in the center of each officer¡¯s forehead.


    ¡°What are doing?¡± Ani asked in a hushed voice.


    His answer came in the form of a smirk, and the peace officers comms pouring in through their own receivers. ¡°One way audio,¡± she said standing quickly. ¡°Now we know what they¡¯re up to.¡±


    ¡°Beta team at the target¡¯s five officers down, back stairwell clear. Target appears to have moved further into the building, following.¡±


    ¡°Better get moving,¡± Mary said as she rounded another corner.


    ¡°Negative Beta team, sweep the apartment for info. All teams be advised, elevators are locked down, post sentries at stairwells and sweep through the floor. Technical one and two, monitor windows and scan the floor, be advised target is suspected to have help, anti-scan devices detected.¡±


    Ani rushed around the next corner to see Mary moving toward the elevator. There were three elevators on either side of the hall, Mary moved to each elevator and stuck and another one of her small round explosive on five of the doors. The last one, the center elevator on the right, she left clear.


    Ani jumped as floor rumbled and the sound of a massive explosion rolled through the hall. ¡°What the hell was that?¡±


    ¡°Sounds like Beta team found you¡¯re apartment,¡± Mary chuckled to herself while prying open the non-rigged elevator doors. ¡°My guess is they won¡¯t find much, and the next team will have to search through the remains on the sidewalk.¡± Her arms strained against the metal, but with a little more force she was able to slide them open. There was a harness attached to the cables.


    ¡°Beta team report. Beta team report! Anyone have eyes on Beta team?¡±


    ¡°Rodger this is technical one, apartment was rigged. Beta team is dust.¡±


    Mary placed her hand on Ani¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Okay, in you go.¡± Ani cocked his head in confusion. ¡°It¡¯ll support your weight, even with the paraharness.¡± Mary assured. ¡°I deactivated this elevator prior to heading up to your apartment. There¡¯s a hatch at the bottom, it¡¯s open and your glasses are programed display directional arrows to get you safely across down the street and out of harms way. There¡¯s an old abandoned bank there with an empty vault, close the door behind you, it¡¯ll lock automatically. I gave Reggie the code in case¡­well in case you have to let yourself out once they¡¯ve cleared out. If I can¡¯t reach you, the glasses will provide with contact information for Ghost. He¡¯s logged out of Asphodel until I touch base, clear?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not coming with me?¡± Ani asked. Mary could see the fear in his eyes. She had been his guardian angel in Asphodel and now in the real world too. Transforming into a Wrathic and laying waste to people attacking a fake prison was one thing, but going on the run from real threats, real people was something completely different. Ani wanted to be strong, he wanted to be Adam in the real world, but he was struggling with the weight of everything.


    ¡°Team lead this is this is Richard Gouda, listen up. I want this kid caught, NOW! Do what you have to do, take down the damn building if you need to. I don¡¯t care, just get it done!¡±


    Ani¡¯s eye¡¯s widened, his expression shifted from concealed concern to downright fear. He was zoning, staring off into the distance and getting overwhelmed by the stress of the situation.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Mary said with a soft smile. Ani didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Hey,¡± Mary said again. This time she reached up and softly pushed his chin toward her face. Their eyes connected and recognition pulled him back to the present moment. ¡°What did I tell you before we left your apartment?¡±


    Ani sighed, ¡°Keep your head down, keep it together, listen to my instructions and I¡¯ll get you out of this.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Mary said with a nod. ¡°Do you believe it?¡±


    Ani paused, but he did. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± Mary said with a smirk, ¡°Then get your ass in the elevator and hook up.¡±


    Mary pulled the cable over and connected the apparatus to his paraharness. ¡°Okay, you¡¯re good to go,¡± she pulled up a small rectangular device with two triangle shaped buttons. One had a plus sign over it and the other a minus sign. ¡°Real easy, plus is up, minus is down, got it?¡±


    Ani shook his head.


    ¡°You get to the bottom, just disconnect like so,¡±


    ¡°Charlie team lead, closing on the elevators.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s my cue,¡± Mary pushed him into the shaft where he hung for a second, waving back and forth. They could hear footsteps just around the corner.


    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Ani asked.


    Mary¡¯s face went cold. ¡°Make the wish they never touched my sister.¡±


    With the, Mary forced the doors shut and all Ani saw before descending down the long elevator shaft was flashes of yellow between the doors as Mary fired her pistols at the advancing team.

 Chapter 18: Take Him

    Sector 1 ¨C Year 2236 ¨C Month 2 ¨C Day Twenty-Two


    Ani felt bad leaving Mary behind to deal with the remaining forces hunting him down, but this wasn¡¯t Asphodel. Just getting around in the paraharness was a hassle, physical combat was completely out of the question. The darkness of the elevator shaft made the world seem so much smaller as Ani descended, passing a floor each second, Mary¡¯s shots disappearing into the void above. It was unclear as to whether Mary stopped shooting, moved from the elevator lobby or was now high enough above him that he didn¡¯t hear the battle anymore.


    He as no longer receiving the ofofficer''s transmissions through his comms and assumed the Mary shut them off on purpose. Ani was actually relieved as he needed to focus on the task at hand and calming himself down to deal with the situation. When the combat glasses showed that Ani was twenty feet from the bottom of the shaft, he slowed the descent, touching down softly a few seconds later. Looking around, the glasses highlighted the shaft that he was supposed to exit through in bright blue. A good thing too as it the hatch leading into the shaft was flush with the wall, Ani would have had a hard time finding it on his own in the dim light.


    Disconnecting the harness, Ani walked over to the hatch and searched for a handle, but he couldn¡¯t see anything. Hoping that it wasn¡¯t sealed shut, he felt around the edges, pressing against the hatch to see if it would give. After a few tries, he pressed the right side and it popped back out slightly, allowing him to get underneath the hatch and pull it open with ease. The shaft was a tight fit with Ani¡¯s paraharness but he made do. Just as Mary explained, the glasses displayed a path for him to follow and a flashing arrow in the direction of any turn he had to take.


    After ten minutes of crawling, the shaft ended abruptly, without any visible hinges or way of exiting. Hoping that this portion of the shaft was accessible through similar means, Ani braced himself and pushed on the wall in front of him. The wall gave way as he stumbled through it. Upon rolling out of the shaft, Ani was momentarily blinded by an intense light, until his glasses shifted the lenses to compensate for the difference. As Ani¡¯s eyes adjusted, the lenses became more transparent, until they were once again clear.


    Ani took a moment to soak in his surroundings. ¡°Reggie, where are we?¡±


    There was a long, concrete corridor ahead with high ceilings and windows on the right side about ten feet up. ¡°It appears that we¡¯re in a building up the street from your apartment. It seems that the vault Miss Mors secured for you is just ahead.¡±


    The glasses agreed with Reggie, the old vault that Mary had secured for him was just around the corner. Despite every fiber of his being telling him to rush to the vault and secure it, Ani couldn¡¯t do it. He couldn¡¯t sit in a locked room while Mary was out there fighting to protect him; risking her life, for his. He knew that she could handle herself, but he had to know that she was okay, and part of him longed to see what else she was capable of. In that moment his skin grew warm and flush. He felt guilty for being so selfish, but he had see.


    ¡°Reggie is the rest of this building occupied?¡±


    Reggie took a moment to respond. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Is the security system for the building still online? Can you access it?¡±


    This time Reggie took longer to respond. ¡°Yes, I am currently monitoring all of the security feeds inside and out.¡±


    Ani smiled. ¡°And correct me if I¡¯m wrong, but if we¡¯re in the building I think we are, there should be a park between our current position and the my apartment building.¡±


    ¡°Indeed there is.¡±


    ¡°Excellent, are there any peace officers near this building, and can you get me to an elevated position, maybe floor four or five with a visual of my apartment?¡±


    ¡°It sounds like your attempting to watch Miss Mors battle the peace officers in the park below. I must warn you that I don¡¯t agree with this course of action. Miss Mors led you to this location in order to keep you safe, and while the peace officers are currently dealing with Miss Mors, if they scan the building, I won¡¯t be able to block their signals. You will be exposed, and vulnerable.¡±


    Ani turned around and shut the hatch to the shaft, then started walking down the corridor. ¡°Reggie Mary is risking her life for me. Not an avatar, but her actual life. I can¡¯t just sit in a vault and pray that she survives, I need to know she¡¯s okay. You can get on board with that, or I can find a vantage point myself.¡±


    ¡°Friendship is about loyalty, it¡¯s about helping the people you care about when they¡¯re in need. I will of course help you, but I needed to make you aware of the risk, for my own¡­conscience.¡±


    Ani smiled. ¡°You¡¯re own conscience? Jesus Reggie, we¡¯ll tackle that ball of wax later, how about you get me upstairs and we survive this first?¡±


    ¡°Very well.¡±


    It only took Reggie about five minutes to direct Ani up to a floor where he could see everything going on near the apartment. As Ani approached the window, he squinted to try and get a better view of everything that was happening a few blocks away. The combat glasses responded and zoomed into the area in front of the apartment. ¡°Oh shit,¡± Ani said under his breath.


    The two hoverships were thirty feet above the ground, on either side of the entrance to the building. Their stunner cannons were pointed at the glass wall that preceded the lobby of Ani¡¯s building. Two six men teams were on either side of the lobby with their stunners pointed toward the elevator hall at the middle of the building. Another six man team was outside the building to provide back up.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t look good. Reggie can you see if you can reactivate communications with Mary and give me access to the officer¡¯s audio feed?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°I have tried reaching out to Miss Mors multiple times in an effort to get an update on her condition and dissuade you from this course of action, but she has done something to block my access. I can continue trying, but it may take some time. I can indeed reactivate the officer¡¯s audio though.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Reggie, let Mary be for now, I don¡¯t they be so defensive if they already took her down. Last thing I want to do it distract her when she¡¯s trying to focus on getting out of there. Patch the officer¡¯s audio through though.¡±


    Ani refocused on the forces in front of the elevator hall.


    ¡°Delta and Echo teams standing by in the lobby. All the elevators have been disabled by the targets save for one. We have access¡­rerouting elevator to lobby and locking out target. Hold for contact technical one.¡±


    ¡°Copy Delta and Echo teams, technical one and two providing support with Foxtrot providing back up¡­hold, new orders incoming. Delta and Echo be advised, Mr. Gouda has instructed that the target be brought in for questioning, if he has help, bring them in alive. He wants to kill them personally for the hassle.¡±


    ¡°Copy that technical one.¡±


    Ani cursed at the window in front of him. His heart started racing as he wiped away the sweat forming on his forehead. His hands went clammy, and he started to nervously rub them together as everyone waited for Mary to reach the lobby. Ani knew that Mary was skilled, she proved that to him, but this was something else entirely. He had no idea what she had planned, but for the first time in his life, Ani was praying to whoever would listen.


    ¡°Technical one, elevator has reached the lobby,¡±


    Ani could see one of the squads in the lobby moving toward the elevator hall, while the other stayed back to provide support. The center elevator on the right side opened, but from his current location, Ani couldn¡¯t see inside of it. The team methodically moved forward, stacking it¡¯s men and only allowing for one officer to move forward at time before clearing the next one. After what felt like hours, one of the officers moved directly in front of the open elevator, and pressed his back against the closed elevator across the hall.


    ¡°Technical one this is Delta team lead, the elevator is empty, please provide¡­¡±


    Ani jumped as the team leader¡¯s face exploded out into the hallway. The sound of the gunshot came through the audio feed a half second later. It felt like a knife had been jammed into Ani¡¯s ear as he bent over in pain, rotating his jaw to try and make the ringing go away. The shot had killed the man, but missed his microphone.


    ¡°Technical one, team lead is down! Opposite elevator, Delta and Echo fire on opening!¡±


    Punching the floor in pain, Ani crawled back to the window and zoomed in on the lobby. Bursts of blue electrical clouds emitted from the officer¡¯s stunners as they fired a barrage of bolts at the slightly opened elevator door. After a few seconds of furious retaliation, the Echo team lead shouted for everyone to hold fire. Echo team joined Delta in surrounding the elevator doors behind the dead team leader.


    Smoke started pouring from the Delta leaders head as a small wet ¡®pop¡¯ came through the audio feed. It only took two seconds for the elevator hall to be engulfed by a white smoke. Ani recognized it as the sensor blocking round that Mary had used outside the hall of his apartment. The events that followed could only be heard through the Delta Echo teams radios.


    Chaos consumed the audio feed. Team members were shouting out locations and orders. Ani watched as Mary¡¯s yellow muzzle flashes popped up in different areas of the hall. Blue flashes from the officer¡¯s stunners responded, causing the smoke to morph into a green haze that consumed the lobby. The two hoverships opened fire with their heavy duty stunners, raining an electrical storm down on the building without any idea of where to fire save for the yellow muzzle flashes that continued to erupt below. For a tense fifteen seconds, Ani watched guns dance around the smoke, seemingly jumping from location to location before they finally stopped. The hoverships continued to fire for another ten seconds just to be sure Mary was down. Ani watched in fear, positive that she had been hit, as there was no way she could have dodged all that fire.


    For a tense couple of seconds, the world was silent. Ani watched as the smoke continued to swirl around the lobby and the hoverships held their location outside. Team Foxtrot was spread across the front of the building in a semi circle, ready for anything to appear from the smoke.


    ¡°Delta and Echo this is Technical one, report.¡±


    No one responded.


    ¡°Delta and Echo this is Technical one, anyone receiving, please respond.¡±


    Ani¡¯s heart raced with ever passing second. Between being abandoned at birth and getting bounced around between different foster homes as a kid, he never really connected with another human being. Mary was the first person in his life that he actually cared about, and it was very possible that she was unconscious in that smoke filled lobby below. The peace officers where kidnap her and drag her to Gouda to be executed. Ani wouldn¡¯t be able to stop them, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to put up a fight.


    ¡°Respond?¡± A low, raspy voice replied over the comms. The word floated off the air like a ghost, causing a chill to run down Ani¡¯s spine. For the briefest of moments, Ani thought he was having a flash back to his encounter with the Dark Angel. Some people experienced hallucinations or heard voices after spending a large amount of time in Asphodel; the brain doesn¡¯t fully recalibrate until a few days after logging out. Then he understood. Thinking back, the Dark angel did in fact sound like her sister. Mary was still okay, and she picked up one of the officer¡¯s equipment to make sure that everyone left head what she had to say.


    ¡°Here¡¯s my response,¡± Mary said louder and more aggressively.


    A deep ¡®thunk¡¯ noise radiated from within the hazy lobby. The glass wall at the entrance of the building shattered as a round, short tube launched toward the two hoverships outside of the building. The ships swerved outward and away from each other as the tube exploded, radiating a nearly invisible wave out in ever direction.


    The Hoverships¡¯ continued to glide out and away from where there were stationed and quickly started to drop from the Sky. A smile crept across Ani¡¯s face as he noticed the engines had shut down. He turned his attention down to team Foxtrot to see the officers looking at their stunners. Mary had set off an EMP.


    With the front wall of the lobby gone, smoke started pouring into the sky. Ani¡¯s grip tightened around paraharness in suspense, searching the lobby as it cleared for any sign of his friend. A dark mass appeared in the center of the lobby and quickly took shape. At that moment, when the situation of what happened under the mask of smoke became clear, Ani felt pity for the officer¡¯s fumbling with their weapons in front of the building.


    At first, Ani could only make out a dark shape in the white, swirling mass below. The outline tightened and Mary¡¯s form became clear, while details remained opaque. Mary purposefully marched forward out of the smoke, her face covered in blood, he black clothing soaked with the life force of her enemies. Her shoulders launched forward and back with each step and the sheen of her blood soaked clothing became clear.


    Mary¡¯s eyes tensed, focused on the objective before her. Ani had never seen the intensity Mary displayed, the fire in her eyes that allowed her to accomplish the impossible. The veins shoulders bulged, her hands were clasped onto something. Her lips quivered under the weight of Lisa¡¯s memory. ¡°You want him?¡± She shouted to the officers. With a flick of her wrists, a kukri appeared in each hand from behind her back, their blades crimson from the stolen life force of the peace officers who tried to stop her in the lobby.


    ¡°COME AND TAKE HIM FROM ME!¡± she roared.