CHAPTER ELEVEN
ASCENDANCY The Lobby — The second phase
[ASCENDANCY MESSAGE]
Welcome back, Champions, to the Second Phase of the Ascendancy.
Three hundred years have passed on Adaeya since Earth’s champions last walked this world. As you wait, the lowest-ranking member of your team has been tasked with locating and reclaiming Earth’s original territory. Should this champion fall, the next lowest-ranking champion will take her place. That champion will spawn at a random location at an equal distance from the objective.
During your absence, three non-terrestrial species have been introduced to this world’s biome. One for each remaining civilization that’s still competing. All three species are classified as extremely aggressive and evasive.
Only the last champions standing will claim this world.
Tanya dismissed the window and completely fell apart. She crumbled to her knees as Yumi and ARi raced to her side.
“I don’t understand,” Tanya pleaded, looking up at ARi. “Why would they choose her?”
ARi threw a projection of the system window onto the wall. The glowing text was enough to illuminate the room. We were standing in the same seamless dark chamber we had all been in the first time, right before the system had taken me.
Yumi and Tanya both had tears falling freely, but ARi looked at the projection, then back at me, with anger in her eyes.
“They’re changing the rules, Gavin,” she said flatly.
“What do you mean they’re changing the rules?”
“I mean exactly that. They’re changing the rules. This wasn’t how the competition was initially laid out. I can only see the mechanics behind the changes, and I won’t be able to figure out any of the details until I have more context.”
She stood and walked around the space before raising her hand as if she were going to use her phase abilities, and the walls seemed to shimmer for a moment.
“I didn’t think we could use our abilities in here,” Kyle said.
“I need everybody to listen carefully.” She lowered her hand. “I just isolated this room. I don’t know how long we have before it gets noticed, so we need to talk fast.”
“What the hell is going on, ARi?” Tim said, leaning against the back wall with his arms folded.
“I think we all knew the Ascended were watching somehow. But after what happened with Maddie and Erica in the observation room, I have a better understanding of their limitations.”
She paused for a moment; she was thinking out her next words carefully.
“I think they’ve been using the same type of method to watch what’s happening inside the Ascendancy. I also think someone’s been working against us from the beginning.”
She steadied herself and took a long breath. “Something is making changes to the Ascendancy mechanics in a way that’s leveraging things against us.”
I stepped in front of the projection on the wall and looked back at her. “You think they’re manipulating the Ascendancy? That someone is tipping the scales?”
“I do, Gavin. I felt it in the observation room. I felt it the moment they suppressed Maddie and Erica. It was wrong. Like the very rules that have become a part of who I am were being ripped apart. The protections against outside interference during the Ascendancy go beyond the civilizations competing. And the fact that they had to use our kobolds to spy on us while we were on Earth kind of reinforces that. More than that, the changes that are being made to the mechanics feel foreign, different. Like they weren’t made by the system’s original creators.”
Kyle walked over. “Like a hack then. ARi, what are these new mechanics? If we know what they changed, maybe we can figure out why.”
“I can tell you the first time I noticed the competition rules had been altered was when they allowed you to bring me back to Earth. I didn’t say anything at the time because I didn’t understand what had happened. But I don’t think that quest reward was intended for us.”
Kyle nodded slowly. “Okay. That narrows it down. So somebody manipulated the system so that a competing team could bring an Ascendancy entity back to their world in a cradle.” He scratched the short beard on his chin. “ARi, what would have happened if we’d brought one of the cohorts back instead? Like Red or Charlie? Would they have just become regular living kobolds again?”
“I don’t understand what the benefit of that would be,” Tim said, pushing off the wall. “Spirit-born have serious advantages. And that’s not counting the fact that Gavin can put them in stasis and pull them back out. Those mechanics already exist; I don’t understand why similar classes couldn’t do the same.”
“I think the biggest difference is control,” I said, glancing back to ARi. “Look at what they did to Erica and Maddie. If they can take over spirit-born and suppress them like that, I’m having serious second thoughts about just how ‘free’ our cohorts actually are.”
“Which brings us to why they’ve suddenly changed the initial layout of phase two,” ARi said. She winced. “I’m pretty sure it’s my fault.”
“It isn’t your fault,” Tanya snapped. “We all agreed to bring you back to Earth.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” ARi said, cutting her off.
“ARi, what did you do?” I said it a little harsher than I intended.
“After watching them do that to our wraiths, I could see the mechanism they used to do it. When we’re in the Ascendancy, I’m the means by which all of those rules are applied. I take the system mechanics and apply them to your attributes, your skills, and your abilities. This includes the constructs and the cohorts.”
Tim smiled slowly, shaking his head. “You locked them out!”
“I did. And I did it in a way that’s permanent.”
“I don’t understand,” Yumi said. “How could you do that?”
“The same way she’s isolating this lobby right now,” I said. I looked at ARi. “So now they’re changing the rules to take us out. I still don’t understand why any of this would be enough for them to get directly involved.”
“Because somehow Earth poses a threat. Especially now.” Tanya’s voice was raw, but she was pulling herself together. “Think about it, Gavin. You and ARi are going to keep growing. We all are, but ARi isn’t just an Ascendancy entity anymore. I don’t think they have the same control over her that they did before, whether she was aware of it or not.”
“Gavin, she’s right,” Kyle said. “At some point you’re going to be capable of summoning thousands—hell, hundreds of thousands—of spirit-born. I’m not even sure there’s a real cap on how many you can bring into existence. When you summoned them on Earth outside of the Ascendancy, you brought all of their Ascendancy capabilities with them. And then ARi cloned herself, creating Roslyn, essentially doing the same thing.”
“If ARi just locked them out from having any control over our cohorts, and Roslyn has her core safely inside her quantum storage—”
“Kyle, if this is another conversation about my level-ups being—”
“I’m sorry, ARi, but this time, yeah, it is.” He didn’t flinch. “There’s no cap on your capabilities, and I’m pretty sure that you just broke one of their primary means of control. I’m not mad about it, ARi. I’m not upset at all. I told you I wanted to flip the game board.”
“But the plan that you and Rosalind came up with for replicating her core? ARi, she’s a clone of you, and you’re alive. Not just sentient, but alive. I don’t know if anybody else has thought about this yet or not, but ARi has essentially started a whole new species. A species that, at some point, I’m pretty sure is going to be more than capable of rivaling the Ascended themselves. The others in this room right now might not fully grasp some of the theory behind your capabilities as well as I do. But the second you were able to give Rosalind full access to the system—”
“Kyle, please,” ARi said. She glared at him for just a moment before the tension in her shoulders eased. “I don’t know if that’s possible yet, but if I can find a way—”
“Yeah, could the two of you bring the rest of us into this conversation, please?” Tim said.
“Tim, she wants to give everybody system capabilities. And I mean everybody. As in every man, woman, and child,” Kyle’s voice drifted.
I suddenly realized how dangerous this conversation was. “Alright, everybody, STOP. This is not a conversation that we can just openly have. None of this can leave this room.”
I put my hands on the back of my head, overwhelmed by what I was hearing. “ARi, just promise us that you’re not going to do anything that big without at least talking with us first. Okay?”
“Gavin, I would never do that without being completely transparent with all of you and anyone else involved.”
Tim glanced at Kyle and then moved his attention back to ARi. “That’s a lot of power, ARi.” He sighed, looking back to Kyle. “Man, I know exactly what you’re thinking.” He put his hand up to stop me before I could interrupt. “I get it, Gavin. I’ll be brief. Kyle, the situation that you’re freaking out over right now isn’t a whole lot different from our current predicament. We are just as reliant on ARi right now to save us, all of us.”
“Okay,” Kyle said. He looked to ARi, and I could see his expression soften. “I know why you want to do it, ARi. And honestly, you’re not doing anything that you didn’t say you were going to do from the beginning. I just don’t think anybody realized the scale. Not even you at the time. And I do trust you; you’ve become one of my closest friends. I just have to play devil’s advocate. If there isn’t someone to argue the other side of that equation… how are we really going to know that we’re making the right choice? That you’re making the right choice.”
ARi stopped glaring at Kyle and walked over and pulled him into a hug.
“I do want to just confirm something, though, ARi,” Tanya said. “So when we’re back on Earth, not even the Ascended could see what was happening without directly taking action like they did with the wraiths?”
“The rules about interfering with worlds that are contested or competing apply to them as well. That’s why they suppressed Maddie and Erica. It was a way for them to circumvent those rules. And I don’t think it was the first time that they had done it either. The stealth and phase abilities of our own rogues make them a dangerous thing when used against us. But they shouldn’t be able to do that anymore. Not without making major changes to Ascendancy mechanics again. And if they do that, I’m going to see it.”
“Okay then, I think we should wrap this conversation up now, and we wait until we’re back here before we talk about it again,” I said.
“Agreed,” Tim said, pushing off the wall. “And in the meantime, we should learn everything we can.” He looked at Kyle and Tanya. “You two should make sure you’re ready to go. We have to assume the system will spawn you down naked again. Be ready to get your weapons and armor out as quickly as possible, Tanya.” Kyle, if it does grab you, you should probably consider throwing up some kind of barrier around yourself while you get ready, even if it’s a thin one.
“If Hannah doesn’t make it, it’s gonna take me,” she said, wiping the last of her tears from her cheek. “Kyle and I might be the same rank, but I’m the weakest of the two of us combat-wise. We have to assume if something is tipping the scales, they’re not going to put a phasemancer down there over a healer.”
“Well, either way,” I said, “both of you guys need to be ready. If it’s really been 300 years, a lot of things could have changed. And I’m not just talking about the terrain. My suggestion is to look for the river. The addition of these evasive species that have been introduced could be a huge game changer too.”
Yumi stood up and walked over to stand next to Kyle. “I don’t think you guys are giving that girl enough credit. She’ll make it to the den. And when she does, we’re all going to get spawned into the middle of whatever is happening around her. I think we all need to be on our toes.”
