Chapter 25 The Skybreakers

The voice. It had been heavily modulated, synthetic even, otherworldly. Nothing could have been further from the Stone Epoch as I slowly turned to see the metal god standing before me. He towered. Twenty feet tall, in a suit of metal beyond my comprehension. It wasn’t sleek, or futuristic. In a strange way, it looked ancient, with sigils carved into it I didn’t understand.

‘What-‘

The metal god raised its hand and blasted a supernova at us. My entire vision flashed, blinding me. I dropped to my knees, my eyes watering, waiting for the end. In my last moments, I wondered why Reaver’s object hadn’t warned me. Maybe they’d just closed the distance, maybe they were simply that fast.

I waited. I waited some more, but when my vision finally returned. I wasn’t dead. I hadn’t even taken any damage. My heart thudded, as I got uncertainly to my feet.

I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel the rage of the metal god as its metal fist crashed against the boundary. The boundary blasted back however, red tendrils coming from it. It seemed to hurt the metal god, though that didn’t stop him banging several more times and firing off another supernova. Eventually, once it became clear he wasn’t getting through, he took a step back.

‘Lucky meat,’ said the metal god, as it blasted away.

‘What the actual fuck,’ I said. Miggy grinned. ‘What are you smiling about?’

‘I just had to test it,’ he said sheepishly.

‘Test what?’

‘That they couldn’t cross into this zone.’

I stared at him. I stared at him some more. Even Larry seemed indignant.

‘You called them here?’

I stared at him in disbelief. My retinas still burned with the afterimage of the attack. ‘You risked our lives to test a theory?’

‘I was almost certain we’d be fine,’ Miggy pushed back. ‘You know I’ve managed to stay alive with those things flying across the skies for months now, right.’

I wanted to be angry, but the honest to God truth was, I was impressed. He’d somehow understood the system, and he’d been sure enough to actually call them here.

‘How did you call them?’

Miggy’s brow creased. ‘Trial and error. Not sure I really understand. Just whatever it is that allows me to perceive the non-PvP zones from across the map, I can sense them too. I think they can sense me, and if I…make myself louder, they’ll always come. They’ve wanted to kill me for a long time.’

That was interesting. Either he hadn’t realised it or was intentionally downplaying it but Miggy could sense the ways the system had been corrupted. Where there were gaps from being abandoned for more than two centuries. Once more he was less than forthcoming. Again, truthfully? I could respect that.

‘Okay,’ I said, ‘let’s go.’ He looked surprised but happy nonetheless. Probably surprised I’d let him off the hook so easily. I was just glad he was on my side. He was smart, and he had an overpowered ability that I didn’t. Besides, in this place there were always going to be battles you couldn’t simply fight your way out of.

The quest log had given a marker a few miles trek away. As we headed into the valley of the disputed lands, I began to see signs that things weren’t quite as idyllic as they’d first seemed. I saw skeletons, human and vandal, litter primitive battlefields. We saw altars where skulls were crushed and displayed.

The skies too seemed to darken somewhat. It had grown colder as we reached the destination given to us in the quest log.

We looked around, seeing only an abandoned village. There were mud huts, ten or so, surrounded by a primitive wooden palisade. It looked different to the one that had surrounded Adrian’s, and when I inspected them I saw that these had not been crafted by avatars.

‘Where is everyone?’ I muttered, as Miggy and I stepped in. I had no idea where Larry was. Off chasing his dinner, I suspected.

An arrow fired, sinking into the mud directly at my feet. I stopped, spear in hand, looking for the source of the attacker. Then I saw a single woman standing twenty feet away. I was impressed at her accuracy at such range. She looked to be in her twenties with dark brown tangles of hair and deep blue eyes. She would’ve been beautiful, aside from the fact that every line of her face was etched in rage.

She fired a second arrow, this one landing so close to the first it almost split it. ‘I told you before, the Komo tribe will never bow to you or your Warlord.’ She practically spat the words.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I put my hands up, edging slowly back as I stowed my spear. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I said, ‘but we don’t fight for any Warlord. And we certainly wouldn’t ask you to bow.’

‘We’re progressive like that,’ shouted Miggy, unhelpfully.

The woman was already nocking another arrow. ‘Hey, wait, wait! Look I don’t know who this Warlord is, or what your quarrel is with him, but look – do we really look like his tribe?’ It was a bit of a shot in the dark, but it was enough to make the woman falter slightly. Maybe even soften.

‘They speak the truth Ayla.’ An old woman appeared from one of the mud huts, with several small children cowering behind her. ‘They are not of the Warlord.’

‘Oma!’ said the woman whose name was Ayla. ‘It is dangerous! Get back inside now!’

‘There’s no danger from these two.’ The old woman looked to me. ‘Is there?’

‘No,’ I said firmly. I took another tentative step forwards and was rewarded by a third arrow that almost pierced my foot. I took a step back.

‘Lady would you quit it!’ shouted Miggy. That was when Larry chose to make his appearance, beside me. Oh no. I couldn’t imagine bringing a war beast with me like Larry would de-escalate things. Like claiming you were coming to a peace talk and laying a Gatling gun down. Mercifully Larry was in a playful mood, as he was most of the time these days, and began to purr.

I didn’t even know sabretooth tigers could purr. The children moved forwards, intrigued. The oldest of them couldn’t have been more than six.