Luna, Kyle, and Gardner stood in frustration in the square outside Hazelton Stadium. They had been waiting for something to change; they didn’t care what. Since Aurin had summoned Gorunze, nothing had happened and the desire to know what was happening within the stadium was maddening.
“Come on!” cried Gardner, throwing his arms up. “The wait is killing me.”
“If he hasn’t had to summon anything else, that means he’s still holding strong with Gorunze,” said Kyle.
“Or he’s had his summoning stones taken from him. I’d take even Leo showing up right now because at least his Abysarex has a chance of breaking through the barrier.”
“Aurin is trusting Gray, and we have no choice but to do the same,” said Kyle, his voice growing louder. “I understand that it’s frustrating. Truly, I do. Whining about it, however, is not going to change the situation. We have to be ready for anybody emerging from the stadium or be ready to go inside if an opportunity presents itself.”
Luna squatted beside Innogon and stroked his head fin. “Not much longer, I’m sure,” she told the drake, who yapped in response.
Rather than sit idle, Gardner and Kyle did another ground and aerial lap of the building on Vinewolf and Wingbloom, respectively. Upon returning, Kyle had a strange look in his eye. He dismounted Wingbloom and nodded just past the bridge. Aurin’s Minakai parted, making way for Chief Knot and several of his officers.
“Oh,” muttered Luna. “We should probably have told him something was going to happen here tonight.”
“I already did,” said Kyle.
“Are the three of you watching?” asked Knot, stopping in front of them.
“Like hawks, Chief,” said Gardner, giving the policeman a salute.
“Not the building, son,” grumbled Knot. “The events inside are being broadcast online.”
“They’re… what?” asked Gardner, his jaw dropping.
Luna scrambled to pull her phone from her pocket. “Do you have the URL?” she asked Knot.
“Give it here,” he said, taking the phone and typing in the website address. “We were given the link a few hours ago in an envelope and told to keep an eye on it. See for yourself.”
Luna, Kyle, and Gardner leaned in to look at the video. They watched as a camera recorded Aurin ascending the stairs to the first floor with Gorunze clunking along behind him. The image contorted every so often and there was a staticky hum to the audio, but the footsteps were clear.
“Seventeen thousand viewers?” gasped Gardner, looking at the number underneath the video feed which ticked up by the second. “And it’s growing quickly.”
Kyle looked disturbed. “The fact that Alfred Ashmore has managed to send video and audio through the rift barrier is a feat. As far as I know, nobody has even been able to penetrate the domes at the top of the tower in the same way. Granted, it’s a different level of magical strength, but it makes me wonder what else he’s capable of that we don’t know.”
“And we’ve not been able to pull out anything about Project Virtugil,” said Knot. “I have a few guys digging out what they can on Alfred himself, but most of the information on him and his father is kept surprisingly quiet for a well-known family.”
“Gyah!” screeched Shamtile, pointing to where Breminia had been seconds before.
“Did Aurin summon her?” asked Luna.
“Woah!” called Gardner, tugging on his curly hair. “Ruby’s Minakai just set her ablaze!”
“What?” shouted Knot, looking at the video.
The four watched as Aurin’s Gorunze beat Spikruption brutally. As Gorunze took care of the other monster, Aurin summoned Breminia and was using her to put out the alight Blackjack. Luckily for her, his swift action had put the fire out before it could do too much damage.
“Why did the Spikruption turn on her?” asked Luna.
“Berserk trap?” asked Gardner. “That’s what would happen in the monster tower, right?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Alfred has tried to recreate some of the conditions of the tower?”
“He has,” confirmed Knot. “Right down to placing prize boxes in some of the rooms. The man’s a raving lunatic, as far as I’m concerned. It takes someone truly mad to put a setup like this in place.”
“And we’ve spiked to twenty thousand viewers,” said Gardner. “The audience is growing and growing. Why?”
“Public humiliation,” said Kyle with a grimace. “He wants to steer Aurin into a position where he’s going to lose and lose badly.”
“He’s held his own against them so far,” said Knot. “There’s more to this than we currently know. Let’s see if we can break our way in.”
“It’ll be no use,” said Kyle.
“Maybe not, but we need to see for ourselves. Gentlemen.”
Knot’s officers ran over to the windows of the stadium, pulled out their batons and smashed them with ease. They took several paces back as they laid eyes upon the magical barrier separating them from the corridor. They could see light coming from within and the silhouettes of various objects, but that was the extent of it.
“As we discussed,” called Knot. “I want you stationed at each entrance and keep your radios at the ready. The second there’s a crack in the dome, we move in. Understood?”
“Yes, Chief,” replied his men before moving out.
Luna looked at Shamtile, who was huffing on the ground about not being summoned. There had been a delay between Breminia disappearing and then appearing on the video feed. It should have been near-instantaneous, but the video appeared to be running at least ten seconds behind. It wasn’t a large time gap, admittedly, but who knows what precious seconds could be needed later.
“At least we’re not completely in the dark now,” said Gardner, watching the camera change to follow Aurin back down the stairs.
“Where’s he going?” asked Luna.
“I couldn’t hear it clearly over Chief Knot’s yelling, but it sounded like he was going to get medical supplies from the first aid room.”
“There’s something in the shadows,” said Kyle.
“He doesn’t see it!” howled Gardner.
“No!” wailed Luna.
*
Dr Holmes sat in his office chair, watching the remote monitoring program running on his screen. Project Virtugil had been going well so far, but the ultimate test was close to hand. The brilliant scientist lamented the fact that his shared vision with Master Ashmore had been cloaked in a silly game, but it was a compromise that he had to make.
He knew from the beginning that Alfred Ashmore was not a stable man, and his love of theatrics tended to overcomplicate things, but it mattered little. Without Alfred, Project Virtugil would never have gotten off the ground, nor would it have continued to this point if he had not inherited access to his father’s funding.
A knock sounded at the door. “Dr Homles?” came a voice.
“Come in, Miss Silver,” said the doctor, sitting forward.
Adriana slowly opened the door, entered, and shut it quietly behind her. She was a demure young lady, but that did nothing to deter her highly analytical mind. She was a prize of a find at the university, plucked straight out from the crowd after she finished her bachelor’s degree. It was a stroke of good fortune—and a costly expense—that she had been willing to abandon all intention of further education to work on Project Virtugil.
“After the long hours we’ve pulled over the past several months,” said Dr Holmes with a warm smile, “I’m surprise you are still awake.”
“I couldn’t sleep tonight,” said Adriana, approaching the desk slowly. She craned her neck to see the screen. “Are you watching?”
“No,” said the doctor, spinning the monitor round and revealing Virtugil’s vital signs. “I do not care for Master Ashmore’s game. I am watching and waiting patiently for the third stage to begin. Why do you ask?”
Adriana winced. “There’s been an… injury,” she said through gritted teeth.
Dr Holmes sighed. “I suspected there would be. Did one of the traps backfire?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“I warned Master Ashmore it was not sensible to use technology and magic to recreate the traps of the monster towers, but he did not listen. I am not surprised something has happened. Is it fatal?”
“It doesn’t seem to be, but it’s still serious. Is there no way you can convince him to pull the plug on the game?”
Dr Holmes let out a barking laugh. “What I’m about to say stays between us, alright?”
Adriana nodded. “Of course, Dr Holmes.”
The doctor clasped his hands on his desk and smiled up at the young lady. “Alfred Ashmore is one bad day away from his entire mind shattering. He has always been volatile, but since his father passed, he has become increasingly obsessive. If I tell him to reschedule the third stage, he would probably throw me out of the lab faster than I could take off my nametag.”
“Project Virtugil is as much as your project as it is his. That would be unfair.”
“That man plays fast and loose with fairness. He likes a degree of fairness within the games he poses, but he bends and twists it in ways when the need arises. He will resist at first, but he is malleable in that regard. If he thinks I’m trying to subvert him, everything we’ve worked for is in jeopardy.”
Adriana took a deep breath. “We’ve made groundbreaking steps in the world of Minakai genetic engineering. If he would throw that away for a petty disagreement—”
Dr Holmes held up a hand. “Everything is under control,” he said. “The Blackjacks knew there would be risks involved. As long as Aurin can be steered towards the third stage, we will see how Virtugil holds up outside of our simulations. Our research will finally be manifested in reality.”
“I think it was manifested in reality the second that artificial egg was created.”
“Perhaps so, but I have created many artificial lifeforms in my time and none of them have survived this long. Every project to date has been a failure due to either a lack of resources or errors in my own work. Virtugil is a success in that he has survived to reach his fully grown form, but if he cannot withstand the rigors of battle that he was born for, he is a failure.”
Adriana nodded. “I think we are less than an hour away from finding out the results.”
“Keep me posted,” said Dr Holmes, gesturing towards the door. “I don’t have the stomach to watch the feed. I prefer numbers and graphs.”
right here.
Aurin's Team:
Luna's Team:
