Chapter 16: What Gives You the Right?

  I awoke screaming, as all about me, people swore and jumped away.

  "Putain de merde!" Ariel glared at me from a few feet away. Her hand rested on her dagger. “What’s wrong with you?”

  I staggered in a circle, taking in my surroundings. My mind throbbed. I remembered the darkness. The red bar ticking down to zero and then something, a room? Fire? A red planet seen from orbit? But it was gone.

  We were in a throne room, like something out of medieval Earth. Velvet banners hung in rows from the ceiling, and tapestries covered the walls, while a dozen roaring fireplaces filled the space with flickering gold—the whole kit. At the end of the room was a raised throne, with a banner behind it that showed a globe of the earth. A group had approached it, inspecting the throne form all angles. As I watched, an enormous man with a thick moustache climbed the two stairs and sat down.

  I tried to speak to Ariel, to ask her what had happened, but the words came out as a garbled mess. It felt like my nerves weren’t connected right. I braced my hands on my knees, hyperventilating as my mind snapped back. I remembered dying. I grasped where Gabe had stabbed me in the chest. My shirt was still wet with blood, torn into tatters, but all signs of the wound beneath were gone. I looked at the blood staining my fingers—my blood. Had it been real? My armoured left was still infected with a spiderweb of black veins, why hadn’t it returned to normal?

  “I’m healed?” I muttered, finally finding the words.

  Ariel looked at me oddly. “Yeah. Obviously. Priorita said that we would be fully healed between stages.”

  “Priorita?” Who the hell was that? It was like I had missed a slice of time that everyone else had lived.

  “The green jelly cube alien that runs this shitshow… Are you feeling okay, Allan? They explained all of this during the Round Table.”

  I had no idea what a round table was, but that cinched it, sure as shit. I’d missed something important.

  “You’re going to have to fill me in, kid. I didn’t catch whatever the round table was. The last thing I remember is bleeding out on the jungle floor with Gabe glued to my chest.”

  Ariel frowned, but whatever she was about to say was interrupted by the saccharine voice of the showrunner, Priorita?

  “Goooooood Morning Everyone and welcome to Stage Two! Now, I’m sure you’re all just dying to know what the theme of Stage Two is — and almost 73 Billion of you have already! Tehehe— But not to worry, the wait is almost over!”

  My mind reeled. 73 billion.

  “Over the next few minutes, I will explain the rules of this stage and also make some announcements regarding Stage One Prizes. So pay attention!”

  A drumroll, like one from a cheesy game show, played, and I jumped as digital fireworks exploded. Beneath it all, I could hear Priorita breathing heavily. Wasn’t she some kind of jelly creature? Did she even need to breathe?

  “As we all know, the theme of this years WARGAMES! is ‘War Through the Ages.’ In stage one we explored the primitive, tribal era of your civilisations. It showcased your natural, physical abilities and showed that early on, strength and savagery won out. But you, dear contestants are more than mere beasts! And it was your minds, and collective efforts that allowed you to rise and dominate your planets.”

  Behind her words, the theme music was building to a crescendo and it made the hair on my arms rise. People whispered and gathered into clumps, their tribes from the previous stage I realised. Ariel and I were left in our own pocket.

  “In Stage Two, our surviving contestant species have been amalgamated into groups of 5% of their remaining populating and you will be pitted against four other civilisations.” The rumble of millions of voices rose behind her words. Cheering, shouting, screaming. “That’s right folks! Stage two is a WARGAMES! Classic called: Capture the flag!”

  Trumpets blasted as a huge digital banner unfurled in my HUD. Golden letters ten feet high rippled in a breeze that wasn’t there. ‘Capture the Flag.’

  “To win this stage, you will need to gather the enemy team’s flag from their throne room and transport it to your own. The first team to collect all five flags will move on. Any survivors of a losing team will be… Recycled.”

  She let out a deep, throaty chuckle. Around me, the whispering rose in volume as arguments broke out within the groups. Fear had that effect.

  “This stage will be divided into two sections. The build phase will last for one standard galactic month. During this time, an impassable border will isolate each civilisation, preventing conflict between contestants. You can use this time to fortify your position, develop battle plans or do anything else you think might help you win the floor!”

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  My HUD pinged with a torrent of details as pillars of light descended to bathe me, and everyone else in the room. Some of the text fuzzed and changed so quickly I thought I must have imagined it. What I thought had said ‘Builder’ now read ‘Adventurer.’

  “You have been randomly assigned a role to play in your burgeoning civilisation. Different roles have abilities and restrictions. See your HUD for details. Dungeons will be randomly distributed across the territories and these can be challenged for city building resources, buffs and special loot! This is the primary method to grow your settlements, but oh boy! It’s gonna be dangerous!”

  My neck prickled, and I wondered if the showrunner— this Priorita— was still meddling with me.

  “Classes have been unlocked, and a role has been randomely assigned. See the relevant tab for more information!

  "Depending on your performance on stage one, you may have rewards waiting for you. Isn't that exciting? They're like presents! Check your notifications to see what you have been awarded.

  "Lastly, I know you’ve all been itching for this!" She let out a little giggle. "The level cap has been raised from 2 to 25.”

  A tingle ran through my body, curling my toes as I remembered the sensation of levelling the first time. I eyed the flaming skull icon of my Predator perk.

  “WOW. That was a lot of information! I know most of you are too stupid to take in any more today, so I’ll leave it there and check in to highlight important rules every morning. For summaries of what I have just said, as well as more rules, check your UI. That’s it from me! Enjoy stage two of WARGAMES!”

  The theme song played so loud that dust fell from the ceiling.

  A mess of boxes filled my vision and I tried to minimise as much of the clutter in my UI so I could see. I was tense. The feeling that something terrible was coming rose like a wave. After a moment, I realised what felt so wrong. After days of that guitar screaming in my ears, I had awoken with the predator perk disabled.

  The room was filled with conversation, a tangle of voices as my fellow humans discussed what Priorita had just explained.

  The crash of gong shut us up and drew my attention to the throne where the moustached man waited.

  He sat ramrod straight, like he had a stick up his arse and gestured to a black haired, black eyed lady in her middle years — who struck the gong again.

  “My fellow humans! My name is Victor Mayfair. Some of you may have heard of me.”

  It took a moment, but I recognised him from the news-streams. Victor was the son of an advanced pharmaceutical company’s founder, who had shunned the corporate life and turned politician. Now he dictated health policy across the planet. Truly people of all walks of life had been pulled into this game.

  Victor Mayfair: Level 2 Human.

  23

  Unlike most of the people in the room, his name was coloured in bronze.

  “What’s the number beneath his name mean?” I muttered to Ariel.

  She frowned. “Did you really not pay any attention to the Round Table? It’s his kill count.”

  I looked about at the folks nearby. Almost all of them showed between 5 and 9.

  “I didn’t see any damn Round Table or whatever” I hissed back at the kid. A middle aged lady with a fat tummy turned and shushed me, but the her eyes flicked above my head and something there made her eyes widen. She let out a squeak and scurried away. I brought up my HUD.

  Kills: 73

  Yeah that would do it.

  “And what about the bronze name-tag?” I looked at Ariel’s name and realised that what I thought had been white, like the majority of the people in the room, was actually silver.

  “It’s their personal ranking. Viewers across the universe cast votes at the end of each stage. Bronze means you’ve been ranked in the top 15% of your species. Silver in the top 10% and Gold—” her eyes flickered up. “Top 1%”

  Ariel looked like she wanted to say something but Victor rose to stand before the throne, the flag of earth rippling in an artificial breeze behind him. I had to admit he cut an impressive figure.

  “It is my privilege to lead this faction of Humanity. Together we will conquer the aliens that threaten our homes.”

  “Who made him leader?” I muttered and Ariel huffed a laugh.

  “You want the job?” She asked.

  “Fuck no.”

  Victor was droning on, something about creating a list of assigned roles and identifying synergies with available classes. It was all Political mumbo-jumbo as far I could tell. Setting up a committee that would tell us what to pick. It was the same old story, they wanted to control us.

  I brought up the Class tab in my HUD. There was a massive list of options, like hundreds of them. A few caught my eye. Knife-Fighter, Trapper, Armourer, and Weaponsmith were all marked as common, listed in white text that stood out from the grey—basic options. Three in brighter colours caught my eye.

  Class

  Electrician: Rare

  Adulterer: Rare

  Born Predator: Special

  Yeah, no bloody way I was choosing either of those second two.

  I clicked on Electrician, hoping for more information—and nearly shat myself when a bunch of digital confetti and fireworks burst around me. It was deafening in the silence and the whole room turned to look at me. The middle-aged woman who had shushed me before gave me a withering look. From atop the podium Victor scowled, but he wiped the expression from his face so quickly that I thought I had imagined it.

  “Er, Sorry” I muttered “Finger slipped.” My words echoed. Everyone stared. After a moment I straightened my spine and met Victor’s eyes. Fuck these guys, it was an accident.

  Victor cleared his throat. “The committee will ensure that no more talents are wasted.”

  He tried to stare me down and I scowled right back. What fucking right did he have?

  Slowly, the room turned to focus upon him once more.

  Ariel punched me in the ribs. But said nothing. I thought there was amusement in her eyes.

  I looked back at my class tab and froze.

  Class: Electrician-Predator*: Unique

  What the hell.

  I tapped the * for more information. Priorita’s voice popped into my head.

  “If you had read your achievements and rewards tab as instructed, I wouldn’t have to explain this! But here we are. As a special reward for defeating a tourist on stage one, you receive a second class! An unexpected interaction between the titles has resulted in a Unique, combination class being formed. Isn’t that exciting! Usually these aren’t available until stage five! Lucky you!”

  “I didn’t choose predator. I don’t want it.” I growled. Drawing attention from those nearby.

  Priorita snorted and cut the communication.

  I looked at my info tab.

  Allan Alberghini: Level 2 Human

  Class: Electrician-Predator

  Role: Adventurer

  Kills: 73

  My name was written in resplendent gold.