Chapter 74 - Unleashed
"..." Jin said watching Ami remain almost motionless on the bed. Seeing the rhythmic blinking of the lights on the helmet, he waited to see if something would happen. With nothing occurring, he tried to see if she would respond given what her origin was.
"...hey...can you hear me?" he whispered. Blinking and waiting for a response, nothing came.
"Can you hear me Selbith?" he repeated again. Again, she only breathed and did not reply.
Feeling a sense of freedom, the sophomore started backing up to the door. Keeping his eyes on the female teen, she continued to face up to the ceiling. Reaching the door and putting a handle on it, nothing happened. Slowly opening it and stepping backwards, the person on the bed still did not move. Closing the door, he left it open ajar.
'...finally...' Jin thought with a heavy sigh of relief.
Turning around, he walked to the kitchen area. Fixing himself something to drink and snack on, he brought both back to the couch. Sitting down and turning on the TV, he went through the channels. Finding nothing in particular to watch, he turned to the news. Listening and becoming focused on it, his mind started to slowly destress itself.
After Eve's voice slowly echoed to nothing, the screen went completely white. Blinking and looking around herself, Selbith felt strange. Almost floating for a couple of seconds, something started to pull her down. Recognizing gravity taking hold, she looked down. Slowly descending in a control free fall, Ami's senses were on overload.
Understanding what she was feeling, it was strange that the senses were more acute as a mortal than as a Reaper. Remembering the times of falling to the ground when residing in Jin's breaker character, she was not worried about slamming into the ground. Making it through the clouds, she saw a town reveal itself below. Seeing it being sizable, her descent was heading for the courtyard area. Orienting her feet to touch the ground first, she slowed down till they barely touched down.
'...so this is what they felt each time they entered the realm...' Selbith thought to herself standing up straight.
Looking around her surroundings, the environment and building styles gave away of what time frame and world she was in. Observing the people around her, she blinked a couple of times. A little startled, the towns people were actively moving around. Seeing other character types, there were numerous amounts of them. A majority of them were hustling to some destination while others were in large groups talking with one another.
Turning her head to look behind her, something in the sky caught her attention. Looking up and toward the horizon, there was a glow of white that seemed to overtake the blue skies. Getting the feeling of it being holy, something in peripheral made her glance to the right. Seeing the same color effect, it was gray. Feeling familiar with what aura it gave, something clicked with her.
'...if this is what I think it is...then a tunnel has opened for hell...' Selbith mentioned in her head. Turning right again, what was in the sky confirmed her statement. The remaining glow was that of black and red and gave a sinister sensation.
"So Armageddon has occurred...that is what happened to us," Ami muttered to herself looking down to the ground a little. "Surreality was just a ritual to unlock the barriers. With them down, anyone or thing can pass through."
"But if that is the case and we were needed to be imprisoned to keep it open...how can it stay so with me separated?" she continued pondering and crossed her arms. Thinking of something and remembering how she communicated previously, she started pacing around the courtyard. A pop up sign occurred on the bottom of her view as her thought was written in the space.
[...Jin...are you there?]
"..." she said waiting for a reply.
Not hearing anything, she tried again. After a minute, there was no response. Both irritated and paranoid, she went to open up her menu then stopped. Looking around at the people around her, there were a couple of characters that glanced at her before going back to their task. Deciding to go find a spot to be alone, she left the courtyard.
Back in the clone facility area, something was occurring in the second smaller building. Though the Eve clones continued with their duty inside of it, the chamber that housed the seven demons started emitting sounds. The Surreality ritual was still being active, but the women were vibrating in place. A couple of them gave screeches that sounded very far away. The frequency of them emitting their voices slowly increased to the point that all but one were give shouts.
As they continued, the energy that was flowing in the chamber started flickering. Its once glowing brightly and strongly light started to dim. As time progressed, the illumination emitting became a slow strobe effect. However, it became faster and faster as the demons vibrated and viciously yelled more. All of them felt something click within them as if a certain being entered in the game world.
One by one, each demon roared murderously at the center of the circle they were imprisoned in. The illumination and stronghold of the ritual flickered rapidly to give someone epilepsy. Shaking all over with rage to break free, a large spark erupted in the room. Without warning, a translucent sphere expanded rapidly from the center and went throughout the building. A few seconds of silence passed before the entire second building exploded.
Selbith walked through the main strip of Strantum to where the entrance was. Seeing the outdoors, there were less people walking about. Instead of continuing forward, she looked around. To her right, there was an edge. Heading towards it and stopping, she peered over. It was a straight drop into mass of gray clouds.
'...this is a floating island...' she thought confused. '...strange...are all the other locations the same way?'
Backing up away from the edge, she turned around and headed toward an open area of mild vegetation. With the town's entrance not too far away, she thought about how to contact Jin. Trying to remember how he navigated in selecting things from an invisible menu. A bar appeared near the bottom of her vision. Recognizing it, she swiped at it.
'...so this is how he accessed himself...' Ami stated in her mind. '...controlling every aspect of your creation...to appearance...toward growth...development of skills...and a path toward holy or demonic traits...'
'And he said there are more than a hundred of this realms where mortals can create beings,' she continued then came to an understanding. 'So...Hell's arch-nemesis statement is true...all mortals try to become an image of himself...how revolting.'
"...!?" the gunslinger reacted from feeling a sudden vibration.
Blinking and looking around her, no earthquake was occurring. The wildlife around her were not panicking or running a mock. Confused, she started to hear something distant. Turning slowly around, a certain direction made it clearer. Stopping and concentrating on the sound, it grew louder with an echoing effect. Recognizing what the noise was, goosebumps were felt on her arms.
[Surreality Destablizing. Deactivation in five minutes] a message appeared at the bottom of her screen.
"...so...they have broken free..." Selbith muttered to herself. Shaking her head, she accessed the her menu again. Scrolling to the last selection, it showed the exit icon.
[Your progress will be lost without saving. Save and exit?]
"YES YOU INSECT!" Ami shouted at no one. Once a file was made and showed her progress was marked, she left the realm.
[Surreality Destabilizing. Deactivation in four minutes]
"..." Jin spoke taking a sip of his drink.
Becoming bored with the news, he started flipping channels again. Still feeling a bit of enjoyment from not having someone hounding around him, he did not look at the guest room. Turning off the TV, he stood up. Heading toward the kitchen, he placed his glass on the counter near the sink. After throwing the wrapper in the trash, a sudden foreboding washed all over him.
'...no...' he thought blinking and shaking his head. '...it is nothing...it doesn't mean anything...'
For some odd reason, the dream of seeing his reaper self came to mind. Recalling the conversation, he tried to not think too deeply about it. Shaking his head again, he walked back into the living room. Getting to the foot of the stairs, he stopped. Feeling that his stomach was slowly going into a knot, his face turned into a glare.
'...I am not going back in there...' he thought firmly.
'...She is fine...she'll be exploring for who knows how long...'
'...I just need to take a shower and drown my head under the shower head of water...'
'...and then...and then...'
[...YoU cAnNoT...rEsIsT...] the words of his devil-self came into his mind.
"...tch..." the sophomore muttered. Turning around, he walked quietly to the guest room. Opening the door softly, he peered inside. Seeing that Ami was still plugged into the game and lying down, he narrowed his eyes.
'I'll give it five minutes,' he began in his mind. Walking toward the bedside, he stared down at her feeling like a vulture. Getting out his phone, he went to the timer feature. Inputting the number, he stared hard at her.
'Starting...now.'
Seeing everything fade to black, the atmospheric gray mist returned. Feeling antsy, the floating icons came up. Moving them to the last column, the exit icon was seen. Just as Selbith selected it, there was a distant sound of something piercing. Recognizing it as the same sound before, the goosebumps on her arms climbed and spread on her body.
Seeing the environment fading away around her, she slowly glanced behind her. There was something of a bright light coming from far away. Only doing a blink, a figure appeared flying at her at high speeds. About two yards away from her, she recognized the individual. As her face tensed up from seeing the wrath on the she-devil's face, Ami felt an odd sensation of closing her eyes.
"...!?" she reacted with fright. The last thing she heard was Eve screaming death at her.
"...!?" Jin reacted from seeing Selbith shoot up. Hearing her breath quicker, she ripped of the helmet as fast as she could. Startled and confused, he saw that she looked more than alarmed. Turning her head to look at him, she got off the bed. Stepping in front of him and not even saying anything, she held him to stabilize herself.
"...uh...what happened?" he asked a bit alarmed from her actions.
"...they have...broken free..." Ami stated in a low tone trying to calm her nerves.
"...who are you talkin about?" the sophomore questioned. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her. She looked back and blinked.
"...the others...the six demons...plus my demonic essence."
"Hmm...if they got out of the ritual...did something happen?"
"Yes...there was a message on the bottom of my view. It stated that Surreality was disabled."
"...I see...that would make sense."
"...Jin...you don't understand the gravity of closing Armageddon. The passageways to the realms above, below, and in transient will close," she remarked with seriousness.
"...okay...so that means whoever is in those places will be sealed up in them if they don't get out of them. Right?" he remarked with impassiveness.
"...yes...that is correct," Selbith responded with surprise. He seemed to understand and not seemed to worry about the other mortals that were roaming around in those areas.
"Aren't you worried about them?"
"...?" he replied with a lone eyebrow raise. "...no...should I be?"
"..." she spoke opening her mouth then closing it. Feeling a bit calmer, she thought about his question.
"...no...they are not a concern," the female teen said with a head nod. Looking up at him, she continued to hold him.
"...did something else happen?"
"...Eve...almost speared me...while I was leaving the intermission area."
"...!?" Jin reacted with veering back a little. "...she was able to find you?"
"Yes...I know she is an invader...but I did not think she would trace me that quickly."
[#$%#$%]
"..." both teens stated.
Turning their heads toward the helmet, they blinked and watched it. There was a sound of static along with broken transmission of something. It continued almost like it was repeating the same message. Jin narrowed his eyes and slowly walked toward it. Feeling Ami get behind him, she gripped him firmly and followed.
The teens got to the bedside and were looking at the head gear. It was still dully glowing from the inside. Normally when something leaves the menu area, the illumination from inside turns off. The only lights that remain on is the charging light if it is plugged in. Leaning his head toward it, he turned his ear to hear better. The broken message was a bit clearer despite the static and broken speech.
[#$%#I KNOW Y...THER#$% #SWER ME...WH#$%#IS#$%#$DARLING!?]
'...holy shit...Eve can do that!?' he thought in shock.
Not wasting any moment, he walked to the wall plug and yanked it out. Going to the helmet, he pulled the cord out as well. Backing away, Selbith backed up as well staring at the it. The lights on the head gear started to blink until they were flashing. As if what he did caused a reaction, Eve was screeching from the speakers of the helmet. Her tone aligned with the static and white noise that was building.
After a couple of minutes of not moving and staring, the head gear went dark. There was no lights or sounds emitting from it. Hearing a tired sign, Ami moved a little to see his face. The sophomore was rubbing his eyes and emitted a sense of being bewildered and trying not to care. Letting his hands go down to his side, he looked at her.
"..."
"...what?" she asked blinking.
"What the hell was that?"
"...Eve...possibly enraged..."
"Yeah, no shit. Sounded like she wanted to murder you."
"...well...we don't like each other...and the feeling is mutual," Selbith clarified and started to relax a little.
"Let me point something out," Jin stated and pointed at the helmet. "That...is a good enough reason why I do not want to go back in there."
"..."
"And don't you even say I'm scared or a wimp," he remarked pointing at her. "I don't feeling like getting myself butchered or possessed again."
"...I would have said that regardless...but I escaped barely as well..." she stated letting go of him. "I do not wish to be in this room."
"Fine by me," he agreed and nodded. When both left the room, he closed the door to be left ajar. Turning toward the living room, Ami was in front of him with a tense look.
"Now what?"
"I am in need of a drink. Make me that hot chocolate beverage."
"..." the sophomore replied staring at her then rolled his eyes. "You could learn to make it yourself you know."
"...aren't you supposed to be my care taker?"
"I'm not your servant."
"I don't trust-"
"I don't trust anything around me...yeah yeah, whatever," he stated then headed toward the kitchen. Selbith frowned and walked to be next to him. Once beside him, she punched his shoulder. All she got from him was a frown and a grunt.
At the local Gamco Inc. station near the town, the early morning workers were at their desks. Doing the first tasks assigned to them, they were busy at their computers. As they were working, the open cubical office space was relatively quiet. All the sudden, they heard a harsh soft sound. Ignoring it at first, one by one, the employees stopped to listen.
The closest one stood up and slowly turned his head in different directions. Others were looking at him as he had a look of puzzlement. A neighboring person was about to speak to him when the sound got louder. Everyone turned to the direction it emitted from. It was in the supervisor's office.
"...what is that?" a female worker asked feeling tense.
"Sounds like static from Phil's office," a male tech stated. Adjusting his glasses, he slowly headed toward the room.
"Do you think that is a good idea?" another asked.
"If is something that can be turned off, then we just have to do that."
"This is a scenario all to similar to horror movies."
"Don't say that!"
The male tech walked to be in front of the door. Leaning his head onto it, he listened to the sounds. The employees were looking at him with mild fright in their faces. After a minute passed by, the man leaned back straight. Turning to the others, he was confused more than scared.
"Someone...is on loudspeaker. But the signal is very broken and static."
"What can you make out?"
"Based on what I heard, something about where a devil and killer are?"
"...devil killer...?" all repeated and looked puzzled.
"Yeah...that is what I am hearing. I don't know if there is any more to the message through the white noise. Anyone have a key to Phil's office?"
"You want to go in there!?" a female worker asked veering back a little.
"I just want to confirm and hopefully stop the message. If we don't, who knows how long it will be till it stops."
"The security guard has a master key," another worker stated and picked up the phone on his desk.
"Wait," the male tech stated.
Putting a hand on the door handle, he was able to turn it. Pulling on the door, he opened it. The white noise messaging became louder to where nearby employees could make out the verbal statements. Going inside, others got up from their desk and tried to get a better view. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, they watch the technician look around from inside.
Seeing him turn to where the bench was in the office, the worker bent down. Watching him pull on what seemed to be wires, the noise continued. Without warning, the male tech jumped back and hit the desk behind him.
[hhheeellllooo#$...hhhhhiiiiii...GGGrrrreeeeeggggg#$#WHATAREYOUDOING!?] the unknown female voice shouted. It sounded normal until it became monstrous and vicious.
"...!?" the people watching reacted with shock. Leaning back alarmed, the male tech dashed out of the office. While shutting the door, the individual somehow became enraged.
[I SEE YOU!#$I HEAR YOU!#$%#ICANTASTEYOURFEAR#$%#$MORTAL!]
"...!?" the technician responded with apprehension. Closing the door hard, he backed away from it and didn't stop until he was near his desk. He knew the others were probably looking at him. However, he was trying to calm down from what happened in their.
"What the hell is going on?" the female worker asked scared.
"I don't know," the man replied. He took of his glasses and pulled out a little towel in his back pocket. He began to pat his forehead and the back of his neck from feeling cold sweat.
"What happened in there?" another asked approaching him and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Remember that VR head gear that the kid had," he began and turned to the employees. All of them remembered and nodded their heads slowly.
"That noise and voice was coming from it."
"T-That doesn't make any sense. It isn't even turned on."
"I know...but when I went inside, its lights were on as well as the cooling fans."
"A-Are you saying that unknown individual was making those threatening statements from the helmet?" the woman asked.
"...yeah..." the male tech answered then put his glasses on. "...what is worse...it called out me out and specifically said my name."
"...!?" the rest reacted with small amounts of fear. Before anyone could speak any further, the technician saw a notification that popped up on his screen. Looking at it, he saw that it was an update from the game Entrenchment: Darkened Eve. Reading it, his eyes widen a little.
"What is it now?" a male coworker asked seeing his face.
"...that recent expansion for E.D.E...says it is deactivating."
"Huh? The higher ups are closing it down?"
"Why would they do that to an expansion they just release and has become an overnight sensation?"
"...no...something in the game is shutting it down...there was no administrative message or code attached to the update," he corrected. All around the office space, everyone was looking bewildered. The white noise and voice in the supervisor's room continued to be heard.
[Surreality Destabilizing. Deactivation in three minutes] a message occurred on the monitors' screen at Gamco Inc. HQ.
"What is going on?" Adam spoke with haste after getting into the open office space. The monitor crew as well as the programmers were hastily typing at computers to figure out what just happened. One of the engineers called him earlier to inform that Surreality was shutdown on its own.
"We don't know. There is no administrative code that was used to disable it."
"Are we being hacked?" he asked going to one of the monitors and looking at his computer.
"To what I see, there are no hackers. Whatever is canceling the expansion seems to have happened from within," the person answered.
"...happening from within...that would mean..." Adam muttered to himself. Realization hit him hard as he clenched his teeth. Walking briskly to the board, he hit it to grab everyone's attention. Grabbing a marker, he started writing something.
"I want everyone to force transport any player that is in the three realms that came from the expansion. Use admin code 'DELTA-MAST_EXT_player's ID' then 'DELTA-MAST_TRANS-Strantum'. Frank and John get Hell. Sam and Ben get Purgagtory. Ron and Todd get Heaven."
"Roger!" the crew of monitors responded and executed.
[Surreality Destabilizing. Passageway integrity beginning to crumble. Deactivation in two minutes]
"Highlight all players accounts and copy it into the command. Code does not work like that, but the system will understand and accept it," Adam stated out loud.
Hearing confirmation from them, he looked at their screens. Seeing them doing what he was ordering, he could not relax with that message countdown. Only some seconds passed by as he anxiously waited for the team to tell him that player extraction was completed. Hearing movement, he looked over at one of the head programmers. Rodger had stood up and was backing up slowly. Without questioning him, he walked around the desks quickly.
[Surreality Destabilizing. Passageway integrity critical. Deactivation in one minute]
"...Adam...what...the hell...is that?" Rodger stated looking both unnerved and puzzled.
"..." he responded.
On the screen was two lists. One was the number of players that were in the three realms playing. The other was an extraction list of the players. One was still full while the other was empty. However, that wasn't what his worker was pointing out.
A command window popped up. There was no code being displayed; however, there was a written message in it. Reading it, it went away then displayed something a bit crude. Maximizing the window to be full screen, both men saw the image created.
It was of some woman like figure. The clarity of it was pixelated at best. Given how the person was dressed, it was something of a mage of some sorts. Seeing the numbers and symbols change to different ones, it gave the image of the figure's arms moving upward. A second Command window appeared and began displaying crimson text.
[...t...H...e...S...e...S...o...U...l...S...a...R...e...M...i...N...e...]
"..." Adam reacted gritting his teeth. He went to the keyboard and typed a question.
[Who are you?]
[Surreality Destabilization Complete]
[...L...a...M...a...S...h...T...u...]
[Deactivation Commencing in...5...]
"...no...no-no-no-no-no," Adam muttered to himself and typed quickly again.
[Why are you doing this?]
[4...3...2...1...]
[...fIgUrE...iT...oUt...2nd...A...d...a...m...] the message read before it closed itself as well as the large Command window.
[...0...Deactivation of Surreality Complete. Passageways closed]