Chương 96: 2.37 The Space Between Worlds

For once, Hector listened to the warnings his aura system sent him, and he decided to stay put, awaiting the level update in the cave. Moreover, while the others sat, passing the time watching vids, playing games on their AUIs, or just sleeping—something everyone seemed to crave doing far more than was healthy—Hector ate and drank, and tried to meditate. For some reason, he'd become responsible for the six other lives in that cave with him, and he needed a plan.

If it were just a matter of getting everyone to the rift in time for the upcoming shift, he'd feel confident that they could pull it off. Now that he had more aura in his pool and the ability to stalk and assassinate even some of the more deadly rift denizens with uncanny ease, he knew that, if they took their time, he could get them there more or less intact. The problem was Freddy. Whoever had orchestrated the drone attack had also inserted an assassin—Simo—and leveraged one of their team members—Bobby.

The scheme spoke to a level of sophistication beyond a simple brute-force attack. If the conspirators had planned for contingencies not once, but twice, there were strong odds there'd be more. In Hector's mind, that meant they couldn't trust any rescue party to do any actual rescuing. He halted his deliberations when he saw Kristy stand and approach. Looking around, he saw that Freddy was sleeping again, and Mathews was back on watch duty. Damn. I think I'm losing time. //It's the level-up.

You're going to really start to feel it soon. Might be wise to sleep. //"Hey, um, Hector," Kristy said, gesturing to the stained cave floor in front of him.

"Mind if I sit for a minute?" He shrugged. Hector hated to admit it, even to himself, but it had stung a little—how quickly Kristy had been ready to blame him for Simo killing Perry and Bobby. He supposed the idea that she'd openly labeled him a monster didn't feel great either. Why? What are you, if not a monster? Didn't you tell Lemon you were a revenant? That was before you became half reaper! Kristy sat, groaning softly as she straightened her left leg, gingerly probing her knee.

"Something in there the bugs can't get right—maybe some shrapnel."

"Yeah? Gonna be able to walk?"

"I'll be fine. Just hurts if I straighten it all the way—not that I can't." She looked into his eyes, then down, then back.

"You're going to help us, right?" The question caught Hector by surprise. If he weren't going to help them, why the hell would he still be there? He'd already proven that he could survive just fine without the others—without their equipment.

"The hell do you mean?"

"I mean, like…" She looked around, from Freddy's sleeping form to the techs, then over to Paige who lay on her side, eyes flickering with tiny lights.

"I'm pretty sure you can move faster on your own." Hector sighed, leaning back on his palms as he regarded her. He tried to put himself in her shoes—tried to remember she was in the dark, aware that the kilometers between the cave and the new rift location might as well be measured in the thousands for all her ability to cross the distance alive.

"I'll get you to the rift. It's getting out that's the tricky part. I'm starting to get an idea, though."

"What do you mean by that? Why is getting out going to be hard?"

"Come on, you know why we're in this mess, right? I don't mean me, either. I mean the original mess—the drone." She looked at Freddy again.

"Someone's trying to kill our Royal." A moment's thought and she asked, "You think they'll be waiting at the rift…or on the other side? I mean, would someone openly attack a Royal? The whole point of the drone was to kill him here, right? If they attack over there…" She trailed off, looking at him for his opinion.

"If they attack him over there, it means that while he was in here, they made some other moves. I'm more concerned with a rescue party that's got some more characters like Simo, though."

"So, we go through before the rescue party comes—" She stopped short, realizing the flaw in the idea.

"We can't."

"Right. If we go through while the rescue team is in transit, we'll cause a ripple and everyone dies."

"Then we just have to let them come first—ambush." She brushed her hands together like it was a done deal.

"And if they aren't assassins? Or if there's only one assassin among a team of IG—medics and all? You want to massacre a rescue team just in case?" Kristy frowned.

"Did you talk about this with Mathews? Does she have a plan?"

"Her plan is to take it one step at a time—get to the rift, feel things out with the rescue team, and try to fight our way through if we have to." She mulled that over for a few seconds, mimicking his posture and leaning back on her palms as she stared up toward the damp ceiling. Her breathing was a little labored; the air in the cave was getting thick, but the team was trying to save the filtration systems on their helmets for their exit—replacement filters and air canisters were running low.

"I hope you have a better idea than that." Hector rubbed the short, sparse stubble on his jaw. At least the reaper infusion didn't change my skin or my hair. He didn't know whether to chuckle or shudder at the idea that Evie might have given him reaper skin or something. Aloud, he said, "I've got the kernel of an idea. There's a hook titan lingering around the rift—seems to be fascinated by it."

"Oh, Sisters!" Hector cocked his head at her. The whole "Sisters" thing had certainly taken hold of people a lot more than back in his day. He wanted to ask about it, but he didn't want to sound like a guy who'd just woken up from a two-hundred-year sleep. //I'll do some research when we get out. // Probably the best approach. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"What are you going to do about a hook titan?"

"Well," Hector said, giving voice to a vague idea that had been tickling the back of his mind, "I guess I could try to lure it off and kill it." Kristy looked at him like he'd swallowed his boot.

"They're eight meters tall."

"This one's closer to ten." Before she could protest again, he said, "If I could trip it up somehow, I think I could kill it before it got up." Waving a hand, he added, "That's just part of the plan, though. If I can lure it away, we'd be clear to set up a blind in the nearby woods. We'd have to turn off anything that's emitting a signal, but if we left something here—something broadcasting a distress beacon—" Kristy's eyes widened.

"Then the rescue team would move off, and we could go through the rift!"

"Yeah." Hector nodded, smiling.

"It's a rough plan, but you get the idea."

"Why not leave the titan to them?" Again, Hector cocked his head.

"How'd you like to come through a rift into the arms of a hook titan?" Kristy licked her lips, sniffing—her nose was congested from the air.

"I guess that's fair. We have to assume there are some decent people on the rescue team."

"It all means we need to head out there, sooner rather than later, though. It might take us half a day to get there if we're going slow, leaving room for me to scout—and clear —the path. I doubt the mules are going to work, and they're too damn noisy anyway, so you'll have to carry Ling." Hector nodded toward the two techs.

"Damn," she hissed, sniffing again. She didn't argue, but she looked at the polymer sheet hanging over the tunnel and then whispered, her voice barely audible, "Do you think she can hear me?"

"The commander?" Hector stared at the sheet, and Evie enhanced his low-budget optics to the max, making the shadowy cave bloom with washed-out light. He didn't see any hint of a shadow through the sheet or its many poorly mended tears.

"Not if you keep whispering."

"She seems different to me."

"You probably seem different to her. We're in a hell of a situation here." Kristy snorted.

"Fair." She visibly tried to shake the subject off, but then her eyebrows drew together, and she said, "I checked on her a few times when she was on guard—I mean when you were gone—and she was just sitting out there, staring. She didn't move a muscle the whole time I watched her. And, yeah, I know it's creepy I was watching her, but…" She shrugged.

"It's just a feeling."

"Well, she seemed pretty normal when she was grilling me about the similite. Of course, if she were a fiend, I guess it would know how to act." Hector sighed and shifted. He was feeling very lethargic, and he knew he ought to follow Evie's advice and sleep.

"The point is, we can't know, and it won't matter anyway; either as a human or a fiend, she's gonna want to get out of here, and her best chance at that is to cooperate with us."

"And if— when —we get out?" Hector propped himself on his elbow, reclining further.

"Mathews almost died. She went through hell crawling up to this cave. I don't think she's a fiend, and I don't plan to go making any reports to the damn IRC." While Kristy mulled the statement over, he added, "I'm about to pass out—another aura system update."

"Oh, okay. Well, I guess—" She started coughing as she clambered to her feet. When the fit passed, Hector said, "Just keep sharp. Hopefully, I won't be out long." She nodded, turned to leave, but hastily looked back at him.

"I'm glad we talked."

"Yeah, same." With that, Hector closed his eyes, and it wasn't long before sleep claimed him. ### For once, Hector wasn't lost in any fitful dreams, nor did he recall reliving any unpleasant memories. When he heard Evie's voice, and he blinked his eyes, squinting into the dim light of the cave, it felt like he'd only just fallen asleep. //The leveling process is complete. // A window flashed on his AUI, but before he opened it, Hector glanced at his timer for the rift: 35: 44: 09. Slept longer than I wanted to.

//From what I could gather listening to your auditory input, you didn't miss anything. Paige is working on the air processor, Kristy's on watch, and Mathews is sleeping. Frederick has been debating politics with Ling. I think Willa is sleeping, too, though her breathing is labored. // Considering the general disrepair of their equipment and the degrading health of the lower-vitality members of the team, Hector figured it was probably a good thing that the rift timer was winding down. Just a day and a half left.

Hell, we better start thinking about heading out. Feeling a renewed sense of urgency, Hector focused on his level report, expanding the window: //Corpus vivum conditioning complete and level advancement has been applied. Nascent pathways have broadened, leading to new avenues of advancement and novel aura abilities.

Level results are as follows: Strengthened aura pathways, increasing maximum load—use caution when exploring this limit to avoid aura overload Aura Pool increased from 50 to 56 Strength increased from 24 to 25 Speed increased from 26 to 26. 5 Vitality increased from 52 to 52. 5 Cognition rate enhanced, boosting Perception from 16. 25 to 17 Aura Potentia Available: 25 End Report. // The gains were excellent, though nowhere near the incredible jump from his last level.

He supposed it was to be expected; after all, this time he hadn't absorbed several million bits' worth of similite and a dozen kilograms of reaper biological material. Nothing to be disappointed about. What's the deal with the 'new avenues of advancement'? //I think you'll be intrigued.

// Evie sent another report to his AUI, and Hector expanded it: //Available Abilities and Boosts: New Archetype Discovered: Veilborn Duelist – boundaries crossed, opportunities seized, violence refined—specter, blademaster, finisher. Transition Cost: 80 aura potentia. Level Advance 11 -> 12. Cost: 102 aura potentia. Critical Eye -> Apex Trance: With an infusion of aura, you will effectively double your Perception for a short time.

As your Perception value transcends natural limits, you will experience moments of precognition, easing transition into the heightened mind-state of a battle trance. Cost: 75 aura potentia. NOTE: Phase Pathways 2 has established a new ability pathway. Current pathway density exceeds recommended thresholds. Suggested course of action is to rewrite current, unused ability: Berserk -> Shadow Step: With a surge of aura, briefly enter the veil and reappear a short distance away.

Cost: 50 aura potentia and loss of Berserk. Awaiting directive… // Hector's aura system had offered to replace "unused" abilities before; in fact, it was something Evie had been proud of in the past, so he wasn't surprised to see the suggested removal of Berserk. Apex Trance was more of an upgrade for Critical Eye, but it was another example of her trying to be efficient with his pathways. As for the new archetype, though… Evie, what's with the veilborn stuff?

//Well, your activities have opened connections that I've never seen before. You never had access to any sort of phasing in the past, and the term "veil" is often used colloquially to describe the space between dimensions—between worlds. In fact, some speculate that the rift world exists, to some degree, within the veil. Considering how you were on death's door, and how you were, in a sense, reborn with the infusion of similite and reaper flesh—// Ah, damn, Evie. Don't put it like that, okay?

//Regardless of your squeamishness, the description is apt. More importantly, I think the new archetype might lead you in a direction that will align with your current life-goals. // Hector snorted, shaking his head as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Fair enough. I'll think about it. There's no hurry, anyway. I need more potentia to do anything.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Freddy said. Hector stood in a single, fluid motion, looking around the cave.

"Thanks, Freddy. Let's get everyone else up; it's about time we took stock of things and made a plan. I think we should head out soon."