Cloudless Night in Neon WInter

Early signs of decay can go unnoticed, but if they cannot be rooted out, the system will be devoured from within. –Management Code 1123

/You have selected the Early Machinist Period. Please connect to our system, and accept the terms. Your challenge will begin shortly./

Cole absentmindedly skimmed through the terms, before allowing the foreign system to gain access to his vision. He realized that they were going to be doing something in augmented reality when he noticed the walls begin to shift and open.

The room that had seemed so small, expanded rapidly, and large cubes rose out of the floor and rushed out of the walls. Cole wanted to continue watching the change, but his vision flickered, allowing a new setting to come to life.

The cubes that had been growing out of the floor suddenly looked like fancy houses, with white pillars and decorative trim. The ceiling, once plain and barren, now housed a brilliant blue sky, and a blazing sun. The walls were nowhere to be seen, and the room appeared to stretch into a horizon of cobbled stone and unnecessarily decorated buildings.

"Let's split up and find the completion parameters." Ms. Hopkins seemed hellbent on pouring her usual energy into what Cole figured was a game. Since their superior had assumed a position of power, the group followed her directive and entered the nearest buildings.

The structure Cole entered turned out to be a house, and he was politely asked to leave by a man wearing a three piece suit. As he exited the house, Cole tried to get a sense of the setting. The inside of the home had been lit by a mixture of candles, and rudimentary lights. It felt like an ancient time, but Cole was not sure if the setting was based on a real time period.

As Cole returned to the street where the group had started, he saw Sinje talking to a young man. "Cole, this is Darby, he says he can guide us." Cole felt somewhat strange being introduced to a virtual character, but he retained a polite facade and greeted Darby.

As they waited for the rest of the team, Sinje explained how she had met Darby. She had chosen to enter a bar, and the instant the door swung open a fight had erupted. Sinje had been startled by the sudden outbreak of violence and Darby had pulled her out of the bar to safety. Darby had gone on to explain that there was a major problem that the city needed to be fixed.

It certainly sounded like SInje had found the introduction to the issue, and Cole was content to let her explain the situation again, when the others returned.

After getting the go ahead from Ms. Hopkins, the group followed Darby, and the scene began to shift. The decorative buildings faded into cracked wooden shacks, and dismally frail trees. The horizon no longer held the promise of life; it stretched out into dusty hills, bleeding some sort of inky substance. 

"Here we are." Darby spoke like a real person as he opened the door to the last building before the empty desert. The door gave way to a cramped room with a single exposed bulb, hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the room, there was a large wooden table with a map laid out on it.

"We are being plagued and need brave gunslingers to rid us of the source." Darby jammed a knife onto the map, stabbing a spot marked with a decayed apple core. "To reach the core you will need to take down the three terrors, cross the harrowing bridge, traverse the ruined jungle, and track down the key to dark one's castle."

Darby's finger traced a path along the map as he described the various challenges. "That's enough." Ms. Hopkins spoke up as soon as Darby paused. "We won't be doing all that. We are taking this path." Ms. Hopkins' drew a straight line across the map that had none of the points of interest that Darby had detailed. 

"But you nee–" Darby tried to speak, but was silenced by an impetuous wave of Ms. Hopkins's hand. Cole thought it strange to not follow the plot in a crafted story, but Ms. Hopkins seemed dead set on finding the swiftest way to accomplish the goal.

"Very well, but I am coming with you." Darby relented, and walked to the back of the room. He pulled a weathered curtain to reveal a row of weaponry. 

"You need some way to defeat the damned, each of you take your pick." Cole and the others approached the rack, observing overly complicated looking guns. Instead of the sleek simple exterior of modern guns, the firearms before them were decorated, and some even had mechanisms jutting off of their sides. Cole selected a handgun that had a circular cylinder where bullets needed to be loaded. Ms. Hopkins slung the largest rifle she could find over her shoulder, while Jam selected a small slingshot. Sara grabbed a crossbow with a large cog, and Sinje opened a box in the corner of the room, finding a small rifle with a long barrel. Sivil sneered at the offered weapons, but eventually settled on a pistol with a large red gem on the handle.

Once armed, the group walked into the horizon, following the path that Ms. Hopkins had detailed. They soon crested a hill, and the fortress that protected the core could already be seen in the distance.

*Bang.* A loud gunshot echoed and Darby shouted something before pointing at a human, rising from the dark sludge that covered the sand in front of them. Cole raised his pistol and fired off a shot. The gun screamed and jumped in his hand like some sort of creature. Cole smirked who would make a gun that fought its user for control.

Because of the unexpected kick, Cole felt that his shot had missed the mark, and he was quite surprised when he saw the sludge monster burst and splatter onto the ground. It seemed that in this reality, there was something that helped guide his shot.

More sludge men rose up to avenge their fallen compatriot, and a firefight broke out across the desert. Cole ducked behind a large rock, and saw Ms. Hopkins ruthlessly emptying her gun into any sludge creature she could spot.

Cole rolled out from behind the rock, firing his pistol. He barely needed to aim and a sludge monster would fall. It was laughably simple, and all the shots fired by the creatures never seemed to hit their mark.

After a few minutes of loud combat, there were no more sludge men to be seen. Sivil pompously spun his gun before returning it to his holster, his eyes screaming that he had been the best shot. "Whew, that was some good exercise." Jam patted Cole on the shoulder.

Cole frowned, he wasn't sure if his actual body was moving. How could the room keep them from bumping into the walls? Cole looked around, noticing Sara talking excitedly to Sinje, who was looking at Darby expectantly.

"We really should follow the path. You should understand the danger now." Ms. Hopkins chuckled coldly at Darby's words. Darby hung his head, following Ms. Hopkins as she walked towards the castle.

Once they reached the bottom of the hill, the landscape shifted. Tall rocks sprouted out of the ground in seconds. Even as their path was obscured, Ms. Hopkins continued forward, her every step filled with confidence.

"Look out!" Darby shouted. Stepping out from behind one of the rocks, was another sludge monster. However, this one looked different from the others, it was larger and more defined, with no apparent weaponry. Cole and the others quickly opened fire, and were surprised when their bullets did not burst the sludge man. It barely flinched under the barrage, as it raised both hands towards the group.

Cole quickly hid behind a nearby stone, watching as balls of sludge fired from the creature's hands. Most of the group had found cover with the exception of Sivil, who faced the attack head on. Cole's eyes widened as Sivil was encased in sludge, his figure melting in an instant.

It appeared that there was another reason to follow the path, there was a level system, and the group who made their own path was under leveled.

"Is Sivil gone for good?" Sinje looked at Darby who simply nodded. She brushed her messy hair out of her face and spoke again. "I saw a glowing orb on the back of its neck, it should be the weak spot."

"You and you draw its attention, the rest of us will rush from both sides to take it down." Ms. Hopkins pointed at Darby and Sinje as she outlined the plan. Before anyone could object she rushed out into the open, and the rest of the group burst into action.

Cole dove behind another stone to avoid a blast of sludge, pausing to catch a breath. Sinje and Darby had taken most of the creature's focus, but it was powerful enough to still attack the others.

Cole peaked around the rock before springing into motion, after that night on the rooftops with Alyx, the game did little to raise his heartbeat.

*Bang. Bang.* Cole fired two shots into the glowing orb, his gun no longer quite as overbearing as it had been at first. The sludge monster burst, and Cole tilted his head to the side, maybe Ms. Hopkins knew what she was doing.

A loud sob punched through his thoughts and he looked towards the noise. Sinje was crying as she looked down at the dissipating body of Darby.

"Oh you poor thing. The last person you looked at with that expression was Jake." Sara had muttered the words to herself, but Cole heard them, and his mind instantly started racing.

Sinje cared way too much about the character Darby, and it was because she had thought of him as Jake Jenkins. She had seemed so callous when talking about Mr. Jenkins' death, but was this her true sentiment?