Vivid Stars Online

It had been a long time since I’d been this low on energy before a fight had even started. As powerful as the equipment and abilities I had access to now were, I rarely considered just how dependent I had become on having sufficient Psi energy available.

With all the power I’d poured into getting us down here, and then again into repairing the generator, I was running on fumes. I could use a couple of abilities at the most before the strain knocked me out.

Even most of my weapons needed energy to function, and my armor was far weaker without a defensive power activated.

With a groan of annoyance, I holstered my rifle and pulled the old plasma pistol from where it had been sitting unused on my belt for months. I'd originally been smart enough to keep it around for just this circumstance but in the intervening time, I'd mostly left it there for nostalgia.

Part of me had been holding on to the first weapon I'd used in this world, and I couldn't be more thankful that I still had it around. I even had a couple of spare plasma charges sitting in the bottom of my bag. The ammo wouldn't last forever, but it would hopefully get me through this fight.

It took less than a minute to check the gun over and make sure it was functioning properly, but even that was nerve-wracking with an unknown enemy approaching. Finishing at last, I moved up to where Linnea was covering the door.

"Do we hold here or move up?" She asked, with only a hint of nerves in her voice.

"We can't risk damage to the generator," I responded. "We need it to make sure we get enough air down here, and there's no way I’m going to have enough energy to fix it again today."

"Right. Then I suggest we move up to the front entrance, it’s the most defensible spot after this.”

"Sounds like a plan," I said, bowing to her superior tactical awareness. Where I'd been focusing primarily on my technical abilities and leadership skills, Linnea had purely been studying tactics and combat skills. Her knowledge had easily surpassed mine, and I was smart enough to know when to follow her lead.

Following the plan, we moved up room by room, carefully scanning the way ahead for danger. Despite the continuing screeches in the background, we made it to the front door without incident.

There, we hurried to push the remnants of several rusted tables together to provide cover before settling in to wait. Despite the advantageous circumstances, my weakness still gave me pause as I cast about for any other options.

My eyes settled on the door itself as an idea struck me. This was a fully intact Arkathian facility, and even though it looked civilian in design, the external wall was made of thick metal.

If I could keep it locked down, then we might be able to delay the imminent battle for hours, or even longer. It was a risk to spend more energy before the fight had even started, but I felt like it was a worthwhile one.

With a long enough period of rest, we could emerge at full power and easily take out whatever was down here. The screeching sounds were rapidly coming closer, so I made a snap decision and reached out with my mind. It was the work of only a couple of moments to find and trigger the emergency lockdown.

Red lights flickered around the edge of the door as it slammed closed, barely giving us time to see an energy shield snap into place on the exterior.

"Hopefully that will hold whatever’s coming," I sighed as my headache intensified. “It looks like the same energy shield that kept us locked down before.”

Linnea lifted a hand to give a brief thumbs up but kept her attention fully on the door. Despite my hopes, I followed her lead and kept my pistol trained on the entrance.

Seconds passed in tense silence, and then everything changed between one moment and the next. Despite my precautions, the door slid open suddenly, revealing a skittering horde of crystal spiders beyond. There had to be dozens of them at least, each nearly the size of an adult human.

They looked to be the same kind that had once captured Elana, making them an extreme danger in close combat. I'd seen just how quickly they could wrap someone in thick webbing and with this many, we would be trapped in seconds if they got close.

Worse, the industrial nature of the facility worked against us here. With a door wide enough to fit a cargo container through, there was plenty of space for the agile creatures to swarm in.

"Fuck!" I shouted as I focused my mind towards the entrance. I didn’t know how they'd gotten past the lockdown, nor did I have time to figure it out. All I could do was block their advance. My little plasma pistol wasn't going to cut it here.

Before they'd gotten more than a couple of steps into the room, a glowing yellow shield flickered into existence. With no chance to halt their advance, the lead spiders crashed into the shield in a shower of sparks. Fell Vengeance took their impact as an attack, sending a flurry of sickly yellow lightning through them.

"I can't hold them for long!" I screamed as my remaining power bled from me like water. Fell Shield was perhaps my most expensive power and with the expenditure of forcing a lockdown, I was running on fumes.

"Just give me a second!" Linnea responded as she dropped her rifle and scrabbled for the plasma cannon slung across her back. It was risky to fire the powerful weapon underground, but I didn’t disagree with her choice to use it.

A cave-in might kill us, but a horde of spiders definitely would and I’d rather be crushed under rubble than eaten alive.

She was quick off the mark, but every second felt like an eternity as I held the shield in place. While the initial shock had shaken the spiders, they now seemed unfazed by the continued bursts of lightning.

They threw themselves against the glowing wall like mad, battering it down with their bodies. My focus narrowed down until I saw nothing but the shield, even as the ache grew in my head. Then her voice sounded like an angel descended to save me.

"I'm ready. Drop the shield!"

Gasping like I’d sprinted a marathon, I dropped the effect and slumped backward. My reserves were as empty as they'd ever been, and my vision had begun to fade as the throbbing migraine pounded away. Blearily, I could just see a massive ball of plasma fly forward before detonating in a shattering explosion.

It scattered the spiders like bowling pins and blew the sides of the metal door out as it did so. It felt like the walls shuddered as well, before mercifully stopping. For a moment, hope filled me as the creature’s bodies lay still, then I almost collapsed in despair as a second wave came pouring down the corridor.

"I need time to reload!" Linnea shouted from beside me. The sound only increased the pounding in my head and I groaned again as I tried to focus my wavering vision.

My chances of getting another shield off were slim to none, but it was our only hope. Ethereal roots wouldn't be able to hold all of them, and even an empowered rifle shot wouldn’t kill enough.

I'd been so arrogant in bringing us down here, bolstered by the ease of our recent fights and the power of our new equipment. Now we might pay the price. My full reserves would have pulled us through this fight easily but I’d pushed us down here even knowing it would drain me.

If I'd just waited for backup, for something to power the lift by mundane means, then none of this would have happened.

Dying here would set us back so far on our quest, not to mention the penalties for dying. No matter how low the chance was, I had to try.

Summoning everything I had left, I put it all into bringing forth one last shield.

It flickered into existence but immediately began wavering as the last motes of energy left the well of power inside me.

Then the first spiders slammed into it and I almost passed out as my ability demanded more power than I had. For a moment, the shield vanished entirely, before everything changed as power flowed into me again.

It was like I’d tapped an entire other well of power, one that was still brimming with energy.

My vision snapped back into focus just in time to see the shield shift back into being, before darkening to a deep black. Spiders who’d been halfway through were pushed back in a surge of black lightning.

It chained through them, striking the front wave in a flurry of explosions. Were before it had only inflicted mild shocks, now entire sections of their bodies disintegrated before my eyes.

I laughed in relief as I pulled myself up, unsure and uncaring about what had caused this change. This new source of power felt strong, if somewhat limited in size. At most, I put it at around a third of my normal reserves; more than enough to deal with the pitiful scum before me.

The frontline had already fallen, their brethren skittering over their bodies to continue the charge. Their stupidity was laughable, and I decided it was pointless to wait for them to come to me. With a flex of my mind, I pushed my blackened shield forward, something I hadn’t even known I could do.

This brought on another round of laughter as the shield smashed through their ranks in an explosion of lightning. The swarm pushed back, stalling my advance at great cost.

Their corpses piled up against the shield, forming a mound that reached more than halfway to the ceiling. Yet they never stopped, instead continuing to run over the ceiling, the walls, and even the corpses of their brethren.

It was amusing how desperately they sprinted to their destruction, but it also caused me more than a hint of frustration. Powerful I might be, but even my newfound might had limits. Limits that they were testing sorely.

My hyper-focus slowly faded as the power waned, and I heard distant shouting over the sound of my manic laughter. I could barely understand any of the words, yet some deep part of myself told me it was desperately important that I listen.

It was an annoying distraction from my wanton slaughter, but I still dragged a portion of my attention away to focus on the voice.

"Jar...I'm... Read...," I could now make out a few words, but the bulk of the message eluded me. It probably wasn’t important anyway, not when compared to the grand slaughter in front of me.

I ignored the niggling feeling for another minute until the bodies had piled so high that they reached the ceiling. With nothing else to draw my attention, I had nothing to do but listen.

"…even listening to me? Jared! I'm ready to fire, let whatever the hell that is go, and let me finish it. I’ll blow them away as soon as they're through."

It took me a disturbingly long time to recognize the voice as Linnea, the woman I loved. Something's wrong here, I slowly realized. I didn't feel like myself, as used to combat as I'd become I didn't glory in it, not like this.

With growing horror, I became cognisant of just how warped my perception had become and just how much I’d changed. I had to stop and trust that Linnea could finish the fight.

With an agonizing wrench, I began to release the power within me. It was difficult, so very difficult. The power fought me at every step of the way, first resisting like an immovable wall, then tempting me with the promise of achieving everything I'd ever wanted.

Inch by inch, I pushed back until finally, I was myself once more. Empty of energy again, my migraine returned with a vengeance as the shield in front of me shimmered to yellow before fading away. Exhausted, I slumped to my knees, unable to stand anymore.

In front of me, the remaining spiders had torn down the pile of bodies and gathered for a final push. Dozens had died around them, yet they marched forward undaunted. If anything, they looked more organized now than before as they marched forward in lockstep.

The front rank advanced carefully with legs probing the air as if looking for danger. Later I would think about the worrying level of intelligence that was displayed but for now, I could only watch in worry.

Then the roar of a plasma cannon sounded from behind and to my right as another blast shot past me. It detonated in their midst, disintegrating half their number and sending the rest flying in every direction. A moment later, it was followed by the clang of a falling cannon and the repeated crack of Linnea’s normal rifle.

Less than a minute later, there wasn’t a single living spider before me.

Then Linnea was there, hurtling into my side like a missile as she pulled me into her arms and burst into a flurry of questions. "What the hell was that? Are you okay? You’ve got crazy black veins all over you, that can't be normal. You had me so worried."

"I'm not sure," I croaked, unsure of even which question I was answering. It was so hard to think with the ache in my head, but it wasn't that hard to realize what must have happened. "I think it was the corruption, it gave me so much power when I needed it the most."

That was another thing I'd been arrogant about. I believed that just using the pills was enough and that a lack of obvious signs meant it was fully contained. Had the energy within my reserves been holding it back this whole time? Was it just waiting for me to empty myself to pounce?

Or had it just been building up all this time until it was finally ready to overwhelm me in a moment of mental weakness?

I might never know the full truth. The surge of power had saved us in a time of need, but at what cost? With shaking hands I detached one of my gauntlets to get a look at my skin.

As I stared down at the black veins running down my arm, I could only hope that I would be able to afford the price it had demanded.