The tendrils surged from the shadows around me. They coiled and whipped against the tank and wrapping around its turret and immobilizing its movements.
The man's roots came alive once again and shooting out from beneath the ground. They pierced through the cracked asphalt and tangling themselves around the tank's treads. One massive root broke through the underside of the tank then shattering its frame with a sickening crunch. The tank sputtered sparks flying as it collapsed in on itself.
I tried to summon another shadow strike but nothing happened. The shadow wrapping around my body like a protective cloak but refusing to extend beyond that. My breath hitched in frustration. I could only manipulate what I had, and even then it felt like walking on a tightrope of exhaustion and power.
A tank suddenly shot towards me. I instinctively pulled the shadows tighter around us.
[Skill Activated : Veil of Darkness]
Veil of Darkness enveloped the little girl and me, muffling the sound and absorbing the heat of the blast. We emerged unharmed and the shadows receding back to my body.
The man shattered the remnants of the tank with his roots opening a path for us to escape.
"We need to move now!" he barked.
I glanced at the timer.
[TIME REMAINING : 00:59:23]
The little girl clung to me tightly as we rushed through the ruins. Then the ground trembled and some humanoid robots emerged and circled us.
The street was dark covered in shadow by the towering buildings around us. I felt the shift in the air like the surge of energy coursing through me. The shadows around me thickened and responding to the darkness. A smirk tugged at my lips.
Passive skill Shadow Resonance is at work.
[Shadow Resonance Activated]
[Skill Augmentation Detected: Tendril Strike (Lv 1 + 3)]
Tendrils burst outward faster and sharper than before. One tendril whipped out and wrapped around the nearest robot's leg and crushing it with a metallic screech before flinging the entire machine into a wall.
Another robot lunged at me, its blade glowing red-hot but the shadows moved faster. They pierced through its chest and yanking it backward and tearing it apart mid-air. Shards of metal and sparks rained down around me.
Two of the remaining robots advanced as their glowing weapons charging. Before I could react, the man beside me stepped forward then his hand slamming into the ground.
The earth beneath the robots cracked open and the tendrils of wood wrapped around one robot's legs and pulled it into the fissure.
The last robot fired its plasma cannon but the man intercepted the blast with a massive wall of roots. A massive root erupted beneath the robot and lifting its mangled remains high into the air before tossing it aside like a broken toy.
I exhaled sharply and my body trembling with the intensity of it all. I turned to the man.
"Not bad," he said. "You're catching up fast."
"Let's go."
We moved swiftly toward the city center.
The city central loomed ahead where a massive circular plaza illuminated by faint lights embedded into the cracked pavement. The edges of the plaza were lined with dilapidated structures and their skeletal remains casting long shadows across the open space. The center pulsating with a light that bathed the area in a pale blue hue.
My legs burned and my breath came in shallow gasps as we finally crossed into the plaza. Relief surged through me but it was tempered by the sight of the others already gathered there.
Around hundreds of participants stood scattered across the plaza with their faces a mix of exhaustion and grim determination. Each participant had their citizen close by as some clutching their hands protectively while others stood guard.
I glanced at the timer floating in my screen.
[TIME REMAINING : 00:00:05]
Suddenly a commotion from behind drew my attention. A small group of stragglers sprinted toward the plaza. They were so close just feet away from the boundary of the central zone. But before they could cross, their bodies collapsed mid-step and crumpling to the ground like marionettes with their strings cut.
The silence that followed was deafening. No one moved to help them. No one even spoke.
The ground suddenly rumbled beneath us.
The system's voice chimed again:
[Mission Parameters Concluded]
[Synchronization Complete: 659 Active Participants]
The citizens around us froze mid-motion and their faces going blank. A collective gasp rippled through the crowd as they collapsed in unison where their bodies hitting the ground with a mechanical thud.
The pedestal's light expanded suddenly consuming the entire plaza.
The system voice echoed louder:
[Central Conduit Activation: Dimensional Shift Engaged]
The ground beneath us gave way and the circular platform descending smoothly like an impossibly large elevator. The sound of grinding metal filled the air.
As the platform came to a halt, the walls around us illuminated with white light. The chamber lined with hundreds of doors identical to the ones we had seen before.
The system's voice returned:
[Proceed to Assigned Chambers. Directive Compliance is Mandatory]
I walked toward my door as the number still etched into my memory. Inside the room, my original clothes lay neatly folded on the table. The voice in my ear resumed:
[Revert to Initial State. All Archetype Artifacts Must Be Abandoned]
As I changed back into my original clothes, I noticed my reflection in a glossy panel on the wall. My face looked hollow and my eyes darker. I wasn't the same person who had stepped into this place three days ago.
When I stepped out of the room the hallway had gone completely dark. The oppressive silence returned as though the air itself was waiting for something.
The system's voice echoed one last time in the hall:
[All Subject Transition Complete]
[Dimensional Integrity Stabilized. No Further Input Required]
***
My phone kept buzzing. I didn't want to talk to anyone but it refused to stop. Lili's name flashed on the screen. I sighed, picking up the call lazily.
"GIRL, YOU WANT ME TO DIE OF CURIOSITY?!"
Her voice was so loud I flinched.
"Where are you? You've been out of the office for three days! What happened to the LARP?"
"I'm having a fever," I lied with a flat and tired voice. "Talk to you soon. Bye."
Before she could say anything else, I hung up.
My body felt like it was on the verge of breaking as every joint aching with exhaustion. My thoughts twisted and turned replaying everything had happened. The more I thought about it, the more unreal it felt.
There was no trace left from what happened from the LARP event. It was as though I'd been dropped back into my ordinary human life, no shadows to summon, no floating screens appearing before me. It all felt like a surreal dream but the bruises on my body and the ache in my muscles screamed otherwise. The only tangible proof was the unexpected transaction that appeared in my bank account: an incoming payment of $200,000.
At first I thought it was an error. My eyes darted over the screen and the sender's name made my stomach churned, Altiris Labs.
I stared at the number for what felt like hours.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
My brother could stay coma in the hospital for a year with this!
A guilt clawed at me. This money comes from an organization clearly responsible for orchestrating a mass killing. The more I thought about it, the more my chest tightened.
I sat up in bed, my mind was made up.