Helene’s breath came fast as she ran, then reared back, sliding on her heels to stop from tumbling into a seemingly bottomless pit that opened in front of her.
Don’t stop, jump! Kaiden almost shouted aloud. But Helene couldn’t hear him. She realized what she had to do, however, and launched herself across the pit. But she’d lost too much speed. She wasn’t going to clear it.
Kaiden’s view tilted sharply as Helene looked down to the pit below her – the pit she was falling into. Then she used an ability. Kaiden couldn’t see what class she was but it must have been some sort of non-warden equivalent to an enhanced warden. A dexterity-based class. There was an explosion in the air beneath her and then she was tumbling forward. She flipped end over end, but the blast from the ability had launched her forward enough. She came down on the far side of the pit, dirt and sand flying as she rolled to a stop.
Safe.
“Hey... she’s pretty good,” a voice rang out, echoing through the labyrinth. Odditor’s voice, Kaiden knew. He’d been commentating on the whole ordeal and switching the stream to whichever drone had the best view.
“You’ve, uh. Well, you’ve seen it for yourselves, folks. We have quite the competitor here,” Odditor said. He had a strange manner of speaking. The flow of his sentences was broken, jumbled. He paused after certain words, or stammered a syllable or two, as if he was thinking about what to say next on the fly. And yet, he still sounded intelligent. Like he had so many thoughts flying around in his head that he had trouble picking which to say aloud.
“Take that, you big roach!” Helene shouted as she shook a fist at the grachnid that had been pursuing her. The massive insect-like alien was stuck at the edge of the bottomless pit, hissing and screeching, but unable to make the jump. She flipped it the bird.
“Well now. That was, that was just... uncalled for.” Odditor said, disappointment in his voice.
Focus on the labyrinth! You’re almost there! Kaiden wanted to shout at Helene. The walls and ground were still moving around her, but Odditor had switched the camera to the aerial view and Kaiden could see she wasn’t far from the finish line. All she had to do was get to the exit of the maze and make it over one final jump.
“She’s close. Look, look! She’s close,” Odditor said, excitement building in his voice. At the same time, it somehow didn’t feel like he was excited for her, but for something else. “Oh, she might just have it…” His voice rang with an almost sing-song quality as he said the last line. Like someone dangling a toy in front of their cat, encouraging them to go for it, but ready to snatch it away at the last moment.
Helene was moving again, the brilliant red flag billowing in the wind as she sprinted around another corner, then slid under a closing archway. She came back up to her feet and then the exit was right in front of her. Twenty more paces to it.
She’s gonna make it!
Something stirred in the ground in front of her, but Helene didn’t see it. She was raising the flag, holding it high and sprinting toward the exit.
“We might have a winner today, everyone. Let’s give it up for HeleneSixer, huh? She did so well!”
A burst of dust exploded from the ground and a grachnid hissed as it rose from its hidden burrow. Insectile legs closed around Helene. She had just enough time to scream before the grachnid squeezed her tight, locking her in a cage of limbs, and slid back beneath the earth like a trapdoor spider retreating into its hole.
A single puff of dust shot into the air as the door to the grachnid’s burrow slipped shut. All that was left above ground was the lone red flag, lying in the dirt. Silence descended across the labyrinth. Even Odditor was quiet for a moment. Then, finally, he gave a little chuckle.
“Well, uh. There it is.” The camera cut back to him, watching from his command center above the labyrinth. His character was older, with slicked-back gray hair, a thick-rimmed pair of glasses, and a salt-and-pepper colored beard of stubble. He looked solemn as he spoke, but the corner of his lip was turned up ever so slightly, hinting at a smile. He shook his head.
“Helene, Helene. Oh, but you got so close! You almost had it!” The veneer of disappointment boiled away to be replaced by a knowing smirk. “But my menagerie is not so easily beaten, no, no.” He clapped his hands next, holding them up in the air. “Everyone, a hand for today’s competitors. They, uh, well. They tried.”
“Kai! You’re off target!” Zelda shouted through comms. “Kai!”
Kaiden pulled himself from the stream and back to the battle in front of him.
Oh, crap. She’s right.
He’d been trying to multitask, watching Odditor’s stream and battling the stolen light cruiser they were supposed to be crippling.
“Aim for the engines, Kai,” Zelda said, frustration clear in her voice. Deserved frustration, if he was being honest with himself.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ve got it now.”
He adjusted his crosshair and returned his barrage of fire to the enemy ship’s engines. The shields were already down, so each shot dealt hull damage to the enemy vessel. After a few seconds of concentrated fire one of the engine cones exploded and spun off into space. A moment later a shot must have hit a fuel line as what remained of the engines went up in a burning explosion of rocket fuel.
Quest Complete: Cripple the stolen cruiser
Reward: 7,000 EXP, 1,500 credits
Level 37 achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
Ability unlocked: Matter Shift
“Sloppy shooting, guys. But we did it, I guess,” Zelda said through comms.
“Sorry,” Kaiden said
