TS6 - Chapter 44

Kat stood silently on the twenty fourth floor.  In front of her was a gleaming ziggurat made out of what looked to be a single carved block of obsidian.  Etched into its side were drawings of warriors from a thousand different races, each of them depicting the individual triumphing over some challenge or the other.  At the peak was a large bell fashioned from some iridescent metal that practically glowed from the amount of mana invested in it.

A peal of trumpets cut through the air, drawing Kat’s attention back from the pyramid.  Standing around her were almost twenty aliens of various races and classes.  Most were lokkel from clan Ahn, but about five of them belonged to allies or neutral observers.

Some twenty paces to her left, Mr. Jackson stood stoically, arms crossed in front of his chest with a similar number of stallesp crowding around him.  He was the only other human on the floor and he refused to look anywhere near Kat.  He didn’t even acknowledge the aliens clustered around him as they whispered tips and advice to him.

Mr. Jackson was completely locked in, calmly looking at the ziggurat and ignoring everything else.  A year ago, the display would’ve unnerved Kat.  There was something off about approaching the most momentous challenge of your life without any excitement or emotion, but that wasn’t enough to throw Kat off her game at this point.

Both her and the Millennium samurai had clawed their way up from the bottom.  At first, Kat struggled with the decisions she’d made to achieve power.  Her hands were covered with almost as much blood as Mr. Jackson’s.

At some point, that feeling had faded.  She wasn’t perfect, far from it actually, but Kat’s end goal was a better world and she was willing to get her hands dirty in order to achieve that goal.  A lifetime of poverty and suffering had convinced her that the world she grew up in was flawed, that Kat needed to destroy it so that a new reality could be born.  That wasn’t to say that she was some sort of blameless angel.  Kat refused to lie to herself.  There was selfishness and greed in her heart, but compared to the average executive she might as well run a soup kitchen.

Millennium was the other side of the coin.  Mr. Jackson tasted the same poverty and suffering as Kat.  The difference was that he turned that experience into hunger rather than an engine for progress.  He had gone without and he refused to ever go without again, no matter who he needed to crush underfoot in order to achieve his ends.

Kat glanced at him once again, watching out of the corner of her eyes as Valgreth floated out in front of the two crowds of people, a gecko looking alien with some sort of science fiction looking trumpet walking after him.  Looking at Mr. Jackson was like looking at a younger Belle Donnst.  He had fire in his gut and the will to do anything in order to achieve his goals.

She shook her head.  It was a hollow existence.  He’d sell his soul to the stallesp, ship millions of humans to do dirty and radioactive work in zero g only to be discarded once his utility was gone.

Honestly, Mr. Jackson should’ve known better.  They lived in a world where everything and everyone was disposable, a product to be used and discarded by the mega corporations.  People could survive in the cracks between the borders of each corporation, but that was only because it wasn’t worth the time and effort for the powerful to stamp them out.

Siding with the stallesp would just recreate the same story amongst the stars.  Mr. Jackson might attain temporary wealth and power, but it would only last so long as his masters decided to look the other way.

Kat was not going to play that game anymore.  She’d already seen how willing the ‘enlightened’ Galactic Consensus was to bend or break rules if enforcing them would be expensive or lead to difficult conversations.  The only solution was to create a future where humanity wasn’t forced to rely upon the good will of its neighbors, and that meant escaping from the routines and regulations that the Galactic Consensus used to silence and divert debate.

“Excuse me,” Valgreth’s reedy voice cut through the silence.  The small octopus bobbed in the air, his tentacles waggling inside his water bubble as he called everyone to attention.  “I would like to announce the rules for the Ascension Ritual.  Usually this is a formality as there is only one person attempting to evolve their class for the second time, but here we have two competitors.”

“Truly this is a momentous occasion,” the small cephalopod continued.  “It has been twenty eight years since the Galactic Consensus celebrated its last ascension and over one hundred and seventeen since such an ascension was contested.  Obviously there have been races that have joined the Galactic Consensus without the need for a probationary period in that time, but they are not why we are here today.  Instead, we are here because a young world has struggled and matured to the point where it can safely interact with its neighbors.  So long as one of the candidates completes the ritual today, that individual will have the power to sign treaties and trade contracts with anyone-”

“Enough blabbering!”  A stallesp shouted.  “Everyone knows the history and the stakes.  Just tell us the rules and get out of the way.”

“Well, I-” Valgreth blabbered unhappily.  “I cannot believe that you would be this rude during such a momentous-”

“We don’t have all sleeping period here!” The mole yelled back.  “Get a move on before I wake up.  I have to work tomorrow and my boss is expecting a report on the outcome of the ritual.”

“You can move on,” Kat interjected.  “They’re just going to keep shouting and complaining until the ritual actually starts.”

“Of course,” she continued, letting a sly smile slide onto her face, “I would like to lodge a formal complaint before we move on.  I previously signed a provisional contract with the representatives of the stallesp star nation.  That contract was contingent on them committing to the non interference that was supposed to be guaranteed by the rules and customs of the Galactic Consensus.  Yesterday, after I made it to the twenty fourth floor but before a report could arrive from the Galactic Consensus, my home was attacked by six Negotiator class armored vehicles.  Three were destroyed and three managed to retreat.  All three destroyed vehicles were piloted by stallesp technicians.  This has all been confirmed by on site independent investigators.”

A murmur of discontent rippled through the stallesp crowd, but Kat ignored them.  They could complain and protest all they wanted, the evidence was in a freezer under her compound.  The Galactic Consensus might wring its hands and force the sallesp to write a heartfelt letter of apology detailing how sorry they were for trying to kill Kat and everyone she loved, but that wasn’t how they handled things on Earth.

Not responding in kind was an act of weakness.  Flinching from a clenched fist only made your opponent more likely to throw a punch.  It was better to take the punch and swing back than live your life in fear of what might possibly happen.

“Obviously we will need to verify-” one of the stallesp began, puffing out his furry chest as he began some pre-prepared speech that Kat never intended to let him finish.

“No need,” she replied.  “I don’t expect justice from the Galactic Consensus.  I have already seen enough hypocrisy and inaction to last a lifetime.  I won’t deny that humans can be brutal and barbaric, but to my eyes the Consensus looks like nothing more than a heap of compromises and half measures.  I am done waiting and begging for someone else to give me justice.”

“I am not asking for anything new,” Kat said, smiling impishly.  “I am just publicly stating why I will be voiding my previous contracts with the stallesp.  Instead, I would like every credit owed to Earth paid within one month.”

“That’s absurd!”  The stallesp she had interrupted blurted out.  “That sum of money will take time to put together.  No one actually expected us to pay the full amount.  It is customary for the recipient of a fine in situations like this to voluntarily agree to lower the amount owed in order to maintain good-”

“Good relations?”  Kat asked with a smirk.  “I don’t want good relations.  I want you to die the same death that a large number of my employees suffered only yesterday.  Evidently, the rules of the Consensus doesn’t seem to care about the deaths of my companions so I can’t ask for your head in return unless you’re foolish enough to enter human space.  At that point, any stallesp will be tried for murder under our local laws.”

“But-” the stallesp sputtered, but Kat ignored him.

“You will pay the entire sum within a month, including interest.  My understanding is that it is common to charge eight to ten percent interest on an unsecured loan.  If you pay an additional eight percent that will be the end of things.  If you do not, I will bring this matter before the Consensus alongside my complaint about your continued interference.  I genuinely do not have any sympathy for your people.  If paying your fine bankrupts your star nation, that would bring me great joy.”

The stallesp that had been trying to argue with Kat lapsed into shocked silence.  After about five seconds without any sound, Valgreth cleared his tiny throat before speaking up again.

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, today is a momentous day.  Both candidates will enter the Pyramid of Ascension.  What takes place inside the Pyramid is between them and the dreamscape.  We know that there will be three miniature dungeons that they will share together, but we do not know what format they will take.  The candidates will compete against each other and the challenges laid out by the dreamscape itself, and the first to emerge shall ring the crystal bell atop the Pyramid of Ascension.  That act will release the mana contained within the bell, transforming their class and officially proclaiming the candidate to be Earth’s Ascendant.”

For the first time, Mr. Jackson stirred, his voice a smooth, practiced tenor.  “To clarify, you’re saying that hostile acts between the candidates are allowed?”

Valgreth’s bubble wobbled through the air as he waved his tentacles wildly.

“It certainly goes against the spirit of the ascension ritual to intentionally target the other candidate, but it is within the rules.  It seemed imprudent for us to ban activity that we cannot monitor or regulate.”

“Then I am ready to start,” Mr. Jackson finished evenly, glancing once at Kat before stepping away from his supporters and toward the pyramid.  “There is no reason to put this off any longer.”

Kat met his eyes before nodding slowly.  He was right.  There wasn’t anything to talk about.  If Mr. Jackson hadn’t asked the question about fighting inside the ritual, she would’ve asked the same.  There wasn’t any need to sugarcoat things.  Starting from his role in Xander’s death through the constant attempts on Kat’s life, there wasn’t any room for negotiation or reconciliation.  The stallesp might’ve been the ultimate force behind everything that had happened to Kat, but Mr. Jackson was the human face for those actions.

She could understand an ordinary enemy, but Mr. Jackson was something worse than that.  A Quisling.  A traitor to his entire species.  Only one of them was going to make it out of the pyramid alive, and Kat was very okay with that.

“Are you sure?” Valgreth asked hopefully, clearly eager to resume his overly grandiose speech.  “It hardly seems fitting that we simply proceed to the ritual when there are so many more details and embellishments that we could highlight on this important occasion.”

“Save it for the closing ceremony,” Kat said, shifting her attention back to the bell atop the ziggurat.  “I think everyone is a bit distracted right now.  We’ll have more focus to spare once this entire thing is over.”

The octopus wilted, his tentacles wiggling listlessly.

“Fine,” the alien said unhappily.  “Gresk.  Please open the way.”

At Valgreth’s side, the alien salamander raised its faux trumpet to a lipless mouth.  It quickly played a couple warbling notes, and a thrill of mana pulsed through Kat.  The air in front of the creature twinkled for a couple seconds before becoming a portal, woven from a crackling rainbow of energy.

“Approach,” Valgreth said begrudgingly.  “This is the most important moment of both of your lives, but you are restricted by the impulsivity and vulgarity of a younger species so I will avoid further formalities.  Enter the portal and-”

Mr. Jackson broke into a sprint, throwing himself into the portal while Valgreth was still speaking.  Kat was only a second behind him, tuning out the aggrieved sputtering of the tiny levitating octopus.

A static charge seemed to fill Kat’s body as the world dissolved around her in a riot of color and conflicting sensations.  Then, in a moment that seemed both instantaneous and almost a minute long, reality reasserted itself around her.

Kat was standing at the end of a hallway.  The walls, floor, around her were all made of aged and crumbling brick.  The material was dark, not quite as dark as the obsidian of the ziggurat itself, but it seemed to drink in the meager light cast by glowing crystalline orbs that seemed to be spaced once every twenty or so paces down the hallway that seemed to stretching infinitely away from Kat.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.  Distantly she could hear the sound of breathing, of feet shuffling against the brick floor, but nothing else.  No rustle of wind, no trickle of water, no coughs, or muttered words.

Kat shifted her head to the side, popping her neck and releasing some of the tension that had been building up in her shoulders.  She invested a couple points of mana into her domain, giving it a little more power and reach, and opened her eyes.

There were monsters ahead.  She didn’t have any idea how to finish the first level of the ziggurat, but she knew monsters.  Find them, kill them, and keep moving.  Eventually she would find a way out, it was only a matter of time.

She broke into a jog.  Just about when she got to the first of the ceiling mounted lights, a whisper of sound to her right alerted Kat an eyeblink before the wall fell away revealing a corridor that intersected the one she was running in.  More importantly, the hall was occupied.

A snake, dark green and almost five paces long reared up, fangs dripping venom that hissed as it plopped on the floor.

Kat didn’t even bother to fight it.  She was racing Mr. Jackson.  Pausing now would mean wasting time, stamina, and mana, all resources that she would need to confirm if she wanted to survive whatever ambush her opponent had in store for her.

Gravity wrapped itself around the snake like a fist, smashing it into a brick wall with bone jarring force before clutching and squeezing the squirming reptile.  It struggled helplessly as Kat darted past, and then she was clear.

Another couple dozen steps and another intersection revealed itself.  This time, Kat didn’t need to rely on her super hearing.  Gravity pulsed around just as a giant beetle covered in some sort of glistening ichor appeared, picking the alien insect up and accelerating it away from Kat.

She was halfway to the next hidden intersection when one of the bricks under Kat’s left foot depressed slightly as she put her weight on it.  Her eyes widened a scythe blade the size of the entire corridor erupted from the wall at waist height about three paces ahead of her.

Kat jumped, grabbing hold of herself with gravity to spin her lower body upward and let the sharp length of metal whizz safely past.

A second later she landed on the brick floor and broke into a run.  About five paces later she passed through an almost translucent membrane made of mana.  It popped audibly and spigots lining the walls of the tunnel opened up, spraying a thick yellowish gas toward her.

She hopped into the air, catching hold of herself with her domain as she quickly began casting Resist Poison and Resist Acid one after another.  There was no way for her to know for sure what manner of threat the gas posed, but it made sense to Kat to hedge her bets.  After all, it was better to be safe than sorry when there was a potential to melt all of your skin off.

The yellow fog slipped past Kat as she maneuvered deftly through the air.  To her left, a wall grated down, revealing a hovering figure eight made of shimmering silver that seemed to swim into the main corridor with her.

Kat ignored it.

Air whipped past her as she refused to touch down, instead flipping gravity so that she fell toward the end of the hallway, accelerating faster and faster as traps and hidden doorways activated behind her, unleashing a menagerie of alien confused alien beasts.  In the distance, she could hear them dying to the traps and battling each other.

After twenty seconds of flight she was moving too fast for any of the creatures to even spot her before they were released.  Evidently the monsters and traps were not set up to properly manage someone as fast as her.  A half smile flashed over Kat’s face as she imagined Mr. Jackson being forced to fight his way through each and every monster and dodge each individual trap.

Oh well.  Maybe she would’ve felt bad if he wasn’t an awful waste of carbon.

Kat eased back on the pull of gravity, ignoring the chaos in her wake as she squinted her eyes, trying to make out the end of the hallway.  She slowed down slightly, wind resistance warring with her steady ‘fall,’ but it didn’t take much concentration from Kat to tweak her domain here and there to ensure that she kept moving far too quickly for the ascension ritual to react.

After about a minute, she made out the end of the tunnel, a crackling portal that resembled the one she had taken to enter the ziggurat.  She slowed herself a little bit.  It would be beyond embarrassing for her to use her domain to streak through the entirety of the test’s first level only to turn herself into a red smear on the far wall.

That meant paying a little more attention to the monsters and traps that the hallway was trying to unleash on her, but compared to her near constant excursions to silver tier dungeons, their efforts felt a bit lacking.

Kat swerved around a blast of fire exhaled from what looked like a boar with a barbed tail.  It charged out into the corridor after her only for the floor to give way, dropping it into an endless pit.

A half dozen darts, all twinkling with enough enchantments to blow up a car, zipped toward her, swerving as her domain pulled them to either side and sending them flying past her and into some sort of huge crab with twelve legs.  They detonated, ripping it apart and pushing Kat forward on a wave of noise and warm air.

The exit portal drew closer and Kat slowed more.  The monsters behind her were rampaging down the corridor after her, many of them bearing injuries from the hallways traps while others became embroiled in fights with each other.  She ignored them, letting her challengers deal with each other.

Finally she passed the last set of secret doors.  It opened to reveal a hairless bear that was distorted and stretched until it was almost 10 paces long with a dozen legs on each side.  It snarled at her as Kat slowed down to a fast run, touching the ground just as she released her gravity domain.

The longbear lunged out its hallway, snaking around the corner to snap its jaws at Kat just as she touched the portal and the world dissolved into a shower of rainbow sparks and movement.

A second later, reality reasserted itself.  Kat fell a couple a half pace, landing with a splash on a soft, wet surface.  She blinked her eyes a couple of times as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.  The smell of rotting assaulted Kat’s nose and she was knee deep in water.

She was in a swamp.  Maybe it was better to call it a marsh, but either way, it was filled with waist high tufts of grass covering up brackish dark water.  Here and there, stunted and leafless trees stuck up out of the mire, the only shapes to break up the bland uniformity of the landscape except a hill that stuck up out of the grass about a league in the distance.  Atop it was a tree stump, big enough to have been from a Sequoya back on Earth except that it was jet black with another portal glittering at its top.

Kat took a step toward it, her shoes squelching in the muck as she pulled them free from the water, mud and roots that filled the space between the tufts of grass.  Behind her, a rustle of movement snapped Kat’s head around.

An avian head and neck popped up out of the grass some twenty paces away.  It stared at Kat for a second before opening its bill to hiss at her, revealing a pair of wicked fangs.  All around her, more heads emerged from the sea of vegetation, each one of them belonging to what she could only describe as a demonic goose crossed with a cobra.

Gozzlam.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
<-Previous<-

Index

->Next->