Opening Moves (The Gam3 Book 1) (46 page)

Alan looked down at the knives, feeling a strange connection to them. It was almost like the connection he felt with Eve or other AI, but not quite, as the knives lacked consciousness. It was odd, like the feeling he felt when Eve was off doing something without him. He bent down and picked up the knives. With a push of will he forced this sense into his body, and the knives liquefied, entering and sealing the wounds. A familiar dull burn shot through Alan’s body.

“Come here,” the Predecessor said from across the room, next to the power storage device.

Alan ran over. “Thank you for the gift, I will use them wisely.”

“I would hope so… but again I caution you to be wary. If any Predecessor learns you hold a sliver of soulsteel they will kill you for it instantly. You may gain the ability to shape the metal to your will, but you are far from awakening soulsteel's latent abilities.”

“Still, thank you, um, what is your name?” Alan asked.

The Predecessor stared at Alan with a raw intensity that almost made him take half a step back, but it seemed to favor boldness so he stood his ground, calmly looking back. His body felt so tired it was difficult to feel afraid.

“You may refer to me as the Lord of the Abyss," the Predecessor said.

"The name might get you out of a dilemma, or it may start one. It has certainly caused me a great deal of pain. Now, before we proceed, I hope to educate you. Tell an old story, if you are willing to listen.”

“Um, sure.”

“Very well. Let us begin with why I am here. Surely, you must wonder what crimes I have committed to warrant eons of imprisonment. Well, my crime was simple. I lost a war.” Alan widened his eyes.

“Yes, this is a prisoner-of-war camp, or at least it was before the power started failing. Now, it is little more than a desolate ruin. But enough of this dreary place. I am sure you are more interested in the war that was fought.

“Well, the war was in fact very simple. It was us, the Predecessors, against the ones who were led astray. They were lured away by a greed greater than any other. It was not treasure, nor power that directed their path, but a simple idea: Aleph. Going infinite. The prospect that one could achieve the infinities and immortality drove them insane.

"They did not choose life or death, but some in-between, something more and less. They chose to pursue the impossible. And we fought, and in their otherness we were unable to understand them. And so we lost. The rest is history.” The Predecessor, the Lord of the Abyss, gave Alan a half-smile, filled with a profound sadness despite its inhuman, scarred grey face. Personally, Alan didn’t think the idea of immortality was so bad.

“I can see that you, too, are enticed by this possibility. By this game. You are undoubtedly here with a singular focus, to grow stronger, to prevail over others. And, like all living beings, you will struggle to survive and rejoice in the struggle. And the Game will provide this. It will provide you with purpose, with life, with power and wealth and anything else you might desire.

“What it will not grant you, is reality. It is a game, just a game,” the Predecessor murmured, half to himself. “Yes, a game. A simulation, a slice of reality so strangely warped that it simply cannot be real. This is not real. It is a game. Do you hear me? I am not lost. This is a game and you have not won. IT IS A GAME. DO YOU HEAR ME? I AM NOT LOST. I KNOW THE MASKS YOU WEAR. THIS IS A GAME AND YOU HAVE NOT WON!”

The Lord of the Abyss furiously roared aloud in a rage as if it had forgotten Alan was there. It raised the purple crystal Alan had given it then began squeezing the crystal until it shattered into thousands of glittering pieces, unleashing a brilliant purple wave of energy that knocked Alan down.

The unknown AI silently formed a connection to Alan.

Abnormalities Detected. Abort Mission.

Hurriedly, Alan activated hypercognition mode while ending the connection to the unknown AI. It tried to reconnect to his mind, but he firmly blocked it. Alan leapt up and envisioned one of the knives. It emerged into his hand with a slight cutting sensation. Alan gripped it firmly, quickly reading the message that popped up as he rapidly approached the Lord of the Abyss.

Damn, looks like I’ll only be able to wield each knife for about four minutes… then it’ll have a cooldown of… years!?

You may absorb Predecessor blood to refresh the cooldown.

Oh, so you’re back now?

I was worried my presence would influence the Predecessor, given information and past interactions it would have reacted poorly had I made my presence known. Now concentrate.

A familiar outline appeared showing Alan what his next move should be. It appeared in his mind’s eye rather than in reality, creating an image that somehow overlapped with his vision but wasn’t as crude as the shadow projections Eve normally showed. Instead, this image was somehow more real, as if it could be something Alan actually thought. Alan was slightly distracted by this addition, but Eve simply commanded him:

Stop. Concentrate. This is a unique side effect of the bionic eye.

Easy for you to say, you’re not the one seeing this. See?

…

Alan's mouth slowly turned into a smile as he carefully brought the knife in an upwards slash to cut the Predecessor’s throat. It simply watched the knife come, eyes agleam. The knife began to pierce its throat right below the collar it wore, and with little resistance Alan cut all the way across. The Predecessor’s HP bar appeared, slowly draining at about 2% a second.

“Yes! Do you see me, brethren? Do you remember? I have not forgotten. I am here and coming for you! This simple game shall not stop me. Nothing will. I am coming, and I shall be your end!” A brilliant white arc of lightning emerged from its collar, coursing through the Predecessor’s body.

“Ha, pain shall not stop me.” The Predecessor spat out a mouthful of blood as it sank to the floor. It stared at Alan. “Go, take it!” It began laughing madly as spittle and blood was coughed up even as it started to spasm vigorously. The collar continued to send out brilliant white sheets of lightning. Using the settings in his cybernetic eye, Eve managed to dim the light, protecting Alan from blindness.

The other AI, which Eve confirmed was the main prison warden AI with 97% certainty, tried to reconnect to Alan once more. He denied the connection, running forwards to the cylindrical power generator before him. He grabbed the black crystal in an attempt to pry it out. It wouldn’t budge.

With extreme precision, he grasped the soulsteel knife and under Eve’s careful direction began to cut the crystal out. Luckily, no surges of energy tore out. Instead, the knife seemed to negate them, absorbing the energy like it did all sources of light. Finally, Alan managed to free the baseball sized black crystal.

The room plunged into darkness. Alan put the crystal behind his right leg in one of his power armor’s compartments. Electricity continued coursing through the Predecessor. Alan glanced at it, then looked away. The sight of its bloody laughter was too much. A message popped up:

Alan began to consider the implications of this message, when Eve interrupted his thoughts.

Gather one of the empty crystals.

Alan quickly cut one out. He put it in the compartment behind his left leg. Unfortunately, he didn’t have room for any of the others. He reminded himself to ask Phantom for an advanced bag or something as soon as he got back. Alan deactivated hypercognition and re-sheathed the knife. He activated the Advanced Stealth Mode on his armor.

Reminder: Devoting primary resources to control Advanced Stealth Mode well, please do not task me with complicated tasks. Combat modeling will be slightly delayed as well.

What? Why’s that?

Basic Stealth Mode hides you from sight, from a small spectrum of electromagnetic waves. Advanced Stealth Mode allows armor to replicate and mimic nearly all other types of waves in addition to light waves. Sound, smells and all other manners of commonly used ways to detect someone may be mimicked as if the armor simply isn’t there. This near-perfect mimicry is extraordinarily taxing due to the fact you do not meet the requirements of the armor. Be quiet and let me focus.

Alan did so, calmly watching as the Predecessor’s life fell below 10%. One second ticked by, then the next. Its HP drain began to slow, from 1% a second to .5%. Alan watched. Then, finally, the HP bar reached zero. A couple of messages popped up before Alan, accompanied by a sudden crash.

ACTIVATE HYPERCOGNITION.

Alan immediately did so, quickly reading over the messages.

Alan looked up to see the two level 1500 Ancient Sentinels crash through the doorway, arms held aloft. Their hands glowed green, and had been transformed into hand cannons of some sort. While Eve attempted to scan the two guards Alan quickly tried to connect to the Chief Warden AI but his connection was blocked.

Scan inconclusive. 30% estimated chance of survival.

What? Don’t I need to just run past them?
 Alan asked worriedly as he slowly tried to make his way over to the Predecessor’s body to try to loot it.

Negative. Their long range scanners will detect us as soon as the power armor’s energy runs out. We must destroy them here and now.

With a sigh, Alan found a single vial of Predecessor DNA on the Lord of the Abyss’s body. He then unsheathed both soulsteel knives. His health was already dangerously low due to the cost, and Alan could feel that his body was low on blood. His energy shields were also already halfway drained.

Don’t worry. Based upon my estimations if we are hit once by those Sentinel’s attacks we would be vaporized instantly even if we were at full HP.

Great,
Alan replied, narrowing his focus on the golems. They stood side-by-side scanning the room with waves of bright green light that emerged from their central eyes. When the light reached Alan it passed through him like he was a ghost. He silently commended Eve as he began sprinting towards the golems, knives outstretched, planning on reaching the space between the two golems, attacking each in rapid succession. The moment his knife first penetrated a golem the invisibility matrix of his armor would unfortunately be breached and fall apart, which meant these few moments would likely determine the battle. Luckily, the armor still worked despite the holes and low durability status.

Eve quickly transferred her guidance to Alan, and he saw himself trying to deeply penetrate the left-hand golem’s eye while simultaneously cutting through one of its four arms, each of which held a large blade. Alan felt a bit ludicrous charging at the behemoth of metal only holding two tiny knives, but he followed Eve’s orders perfectly.

The knife in Alan’s left hand easily penetrated the golem’s eye until his hand was stopped while his other knife sliced through the armor covering its right hand, revealing wires and circuitry. Alan quickly reversed his grip, cutting through as many of the wires in the hand as possible while twisting the knife embedded in the golem’s eye viciously. Its HP bar appeared, dropping 40%.

Alan, however, was now revealed. Eve showed three cleavers descending at him in rapid succession, moving at a speed that almost rivaled the first Predecessor Alan had met. All Alan could do was barely adjust his grip with a slight, carefully calculated step, and watch the results. With miraculous precision two of the blades were perfectly blocked by the two soulsteel knives Alan held. As soon as each blade met the soulsteel knife it was cut in two where the blades met, the rest of the golem’s blade swishing through the air inches from Alan’s body. The third slash passed in front of Alan' face, embedding itself in the ground. Taking the opportunity, Alan sliced at the mechanical fingers that grasped the blade, watching as the blade was dropped to the ground.