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  Chapter 1

  I grab Rachel’s hand and start to pull her to the end of the line. We need to get another Gate War in before it gets dark. It should be about 4pm right now, but without clocks it is hard to tell. We should be able to get one more battle in.

  The line of people waiting to enter their own Gate War has grown since we first entered. It makes sense, more people from around Denver are coming to fight at the Gate. I wonder briefly how spaced out the Gates are across the world. Maybe we got lucky being so close to one.

  The line winds itself through the Civic Center Park, not following any concrete paths. I push us forward faster, and we are jogging now, trying to reach the end of the line.

  “Will, wait up!” Rachel is a little out of breath from our block of running. This isn’t good. Rachel enjoys running for exercise, so her being out of breath from a jog is a large red flag. “My leg really hurts when I run. The line isn’t going anywhere, let’s slow down.” Rachel had been poisoned in our last battle against the orcs. While we came out victorious, the cost was high, maybe too high. My push to get us in another battle came because we need to purchase an antidote to her poison. We only have three more battles and then we will have earned enough Iron I tokens to purchase the Universal Antidote from the Gate Store.

  I squeeze her hand, “Does it hurt that bad?” She casts her eyes away from mine and slowly nods. Anger builds up inside of me. That damn orc with his poisoned dagger. After we killed the orc, he dropped his poisonous dagger, which was lucky. Without the dagger we wouldn’t even know what is wrong with Rachel. We slow down our pace and manage to make it to the end of the line without another wince from Rachel.

  “I can heal myself when we are fighting for our lives in the Gate, but out here in the non-aggression zone my heal doesn’t work.” I nod at Rachel’s statement. The area around the Gate was called the Iron Circle and classified as a non-aggression zone. In non-aggression zones active abilities didn’t work. I imagine it was some effort to make it so people don’t go to war over the Gates.

  All the commotion of the past few minutes has completely taken my mind away from the present and I am not paying attention when Rachel gives me a little shove to the shoulder. “As I was saying, where did you get that sword?” I look down at my hands, and I am surprised, but I am holding the Eversharp Blade that the other orc dropped. The blade has a gleaming bluish tint with a small circular hand guard and a hand and a half handle. It reminds me of a rapier crossed with a katana.

  “The orc dropped it,” I say blushing slightly and looking away from her eyes. Rachel rolls her eyes at me and slowly reaches for and grabs the sword from my hand. She steps out of line and give it some test swings. The blade gleams in the sunlight and I can see my wife smiling. She offers it back to me, but I shake my head. “You keep it. You need all the protection you can get. Besides I saw you with the hatchet. This will only make you deadlier.” Rachel’s face splits open with a grin and she nods her head.

  “Awesome, thanks Will. I won’t let you down.”

  “Speaking of loot, the other orc dropped the poisoned dagger which I’ll keep, and here is your share of the credits.” I take out 400 credits and hand them over to her. She pockets them with a smile. We continue to chat about the Gates and our plan for the upcoming battle when we over hear a conversation not too far away.

  “Where do you think everyone is?” a small woman with a green braid says, who is standing a few people ahead of us in line.

  “What do you mean? There are tons of people here,” her overly muscular companion replies in a deep voice.

  The woman looks puzzled, like the man has lost his senses, “Denver has six hundred thousand people, there is maybe two thousand here, tops.”

  “Kylie, these are only the people that have adapted to Ulterian mana. They are the only ones who got the message about where the Gate is. Well the adapters and people like you who are just along for the ride,” the muscled man says in a condescending tone.

  She cuts him off before he can speak down to her more, “This is the Capitol building. Where are the guards checking bags, where are the people who were just living their lives visiting the Capitol when Ulteria came? Where are the cars on the street?”

  “They went home.” It is the other man’s turn to chime in.

  “How?! Cars don’t work anymore.” Kylie is shouting at her friends now. She is exasperated from their apparent ignorance. Everyone is staring at her and she senses it. She looks around, and her eyes widen a little. She stalks off to her right into the crowd, apparently having had enough of her friends.

  Kylie and her outburst are quickly forgotten by the people in line as everyone continues to wait for their turn in a Gate War. Kylie’s conversation gets Rachel and I to talk about the strangeness of the new world, but the topic wasn’t very interesting. The lulls in the conversation get longer and pretty soon we drop the topic all together. In another half an hour, Kylie comes back and bumps into me from behind. I remember her face and that distinctive braid. She was the one having an argument with the people up in front of us. I remember the emotions, but not the words. It must not have been important. She joins her friends up further in line and they start to have a nice conversation. She pales slightly after talking with them, and stalks away. She must not have made up with them yet.

  It is about ten minutes after the girl with the green braid leaves when everyone receives a notification.

  Jacob has claimed the Capitol Hill mana crystal becoming the Mana Lord.

  Jacob has set an experience tax of 5% for killing in Capitol Hill.

  Jacob has set a credit tax of 5% for credits earned in Capitol Hill.

  Jacob has set Capitol Hill to be a non-competitive zone. Competitors and civilians will receive an honor penalty if they kill a player or civilian in a non-competitive zone. If you do not have the honor to deduct, you will be killed instead.

  Rachel and I talk about what the notifications mean for us and we overhear many others discussing the same thing. Who is this Jacob, what is a mana crystal, and taxes? It seems that even in this new world, taxes are a thing. Rachel has the bright idea of looking up mana crystals in the help section of the interface.

  Mana Crystal: Mana crystals are the central nexus of local Ulterian mana production. Competitors can take control of mana crystals to influence the reproduction of random monsters, the drop rate of rare ingredients, and the rules of combat within the zone. A mana crystal can only have one controlling competitor at a time. To gain control of the mana crystal touch a neutral crystal. Mana crystals are located in Mana Gardens.

  We think to look up some related terms in the help section as well.

  Mana Lord: Mana Lords are competitors who control one or more mana crystals. The more mana crystals controlled the greater the relative strength of the Mana Powers granted to the Mana Lord. Becoming a Mana Lord is a lifetime commitment.

  Mana Garden: Mana gardens are areas of dense Ulterian Mana flow. Usually situated on ley lines, Mana gardens give their Mana Lord the ability to create structures and defenses for the mana crystal. To access the Mana Garden interface, touch the mana crystal as the Mana Lord.

  I tell Rachel that there must be more to these Mana crystals and that we should look into it to see if we can find this Jacob. Ever the practical woman, she reminds me that we should focus on surviving for the next sixty-eight hours and getting her the antidote. Everything else can wait for now. Intellectually, I agree with her and we wait in silence, but my mind wanders to what a Mana Lord can do and what it would be to be one. Where is this Jacob now?

  We wait for another half an hour and then we find ourselves next in line to use the Gate. We place our hands on the Gate.

  Do you wish to participate in A Gate Wars match?

  I ment
ally confirm and a purple portal appears in front of us. Not wanting to be caught unaware I extend my shield and jump in. There is a pulling sensation just above my belly button and streaks of white light. The streaks form into pin pricks as they coalesce into stars and Rachel and I find ourselves on a savannah plain. In the distance bright purple flashes indicate that we are not alone.

  Chapter 2

  I tell Rachel to get behind me as I bring my shield forward. The tall grass brushes against my legs and the smell of something sweet is in the air. We both crouch down trying to make ourselves a small target. Hopefully, the grass will help with protection. I begin charging my energy beam. I brace my shield ready for the aliens to charge. The aliens don’t charge. Instead green bursts of artificial plasma bombard our position. It is a good thing we hid because my shield takes the brunt of the attack. The green bursts splash over my shield and slightly burn my hand. I scream out in pain, but manage to keep my shield up as the wave of bursts finally finish. The scream was more being startled than not being able to deal with the pain. It feels like I touched something hot from the microwave. Rachel hears my screams and touches my back. My burns scab over and then falls off. My burns are healed.

  We hear an explosive popping sound in the distance and the bombardment slows. I risk it and take a peek around my shield. There is only one figure on the horizon. Rachel screams and pulls on my shirt. I look backward and I see a blue skinned creature pointing a rifle at us about thirty yards away. The green bursts explode out of its gun, but I am not quick enough for both angles. Two bursts hit Rachel in the back before I get my shield around her. The first alien’s bombardment hasn’t stopped. My flesh sizzles as the plasma burns my back. The sweet smell in the air being replaced with the acrid smell of burnt flesh.

  I scream out in pain. I keep my shield in front of Rachel and angle my body backwards so my hand is pointing at the blue skinned alien on the horizon. My energy beam is at full charge, so he can feel what it is like to burn. Dark blue energy lances out of my hand in a straight line. The bombardment stops and a few feet before it would have hit him, I hear the same explosive popping noise and the alien disappears. My energy beam continues on over the grass as my target simply vanishes.

  My back starts to itch, a sign that Rachel is healing the wounds on my back. It will be nine seconds before I can fire my energy beam again. I see Rachel turn her head quickly to the left as a new blue skinned alien begins firing more plasma bolts at us. The green bursts splash across her legs leaving behind blackened burns and white bone. Rachel grunts in pain as her hands glow green and she places her hands on her legs. Her wounds heal, but her pants may never be the same.

  I was expecting them to rush us. These aliens, I decide I’ll call them elves, are content to fire at us from range. If it wasn’t for Rachel’s healing we probably would have already succumbed to their onslaught. They must be getting low on charges for their rifles. Rachel pulls out her Plasma Gun and fires at the alien in front of us. The green bolt flies and an explosive popping echoes across the plains. The elf vanishes.

  I catch a glimpse of movement to my right and I push Rachel down. I throw my shield arm over us just as a cascade of green energy burst rush toward us. The artificial plasma burns my legs and back. I feel like someone is jabbing a hot poker into my legs. I grunt and scream. I feel the familiar itch as the green glow from Rachel’s hand fades. I start to see sweat trickling from her head and she is breathing heavily. I need to do something to change the status quo. Right now, we will die from their never-ending plasma bolts. I attempt to start charging my energy beam, and it works.

  My energy beam gets to level two and I point it directly at one of the elves. I fire. Pop. The elf disappears moments before my light blue energy beam would have made contact. Damn these elves and their damn teleportation ability. How am I supposed to hit them if they can simply pop out of the way?

  I swivel my head around looking for his new location. I catch a bolt to the face from the other one. I see Rachel snap her head to the right slightly. I quickly follow her gaze and I see more green bolts in my periphery. I try to block, but I am not fast enough. Rachel’s shoulders and neck get badly burnt. My shield isn’t fast enough and it burns into Rachel’s shoulders and neck. The burns instantly start to heal.

  Rachel points her gun at the elf and pulls the trigger firing off one bolt of green plasma. The alien pops and disappears, just like I expected it to do. Half a heartbeat later, Rachel whirls around and fires five plasmas bolts into nothing. An instant later the blue skinned alien appears exactly where Rachel had fired and its body is pelted with five plasma bolts. It screams in pain.

  Your party has slain another competitor in honorable combat, you are awarded 100x2 experience, 50x2 honor points and 11x2 orange sigils.

  I stare at my wife slacked jawed. She had just predicted where the alien was going to teleport. I can barely keep things straight while being constantly bombarded by the green plasma. I drop my shield slightly and the artificial plasma burns my neck and back bring me out of my awe. This battle wasn’t over yet. I grunt out in pain to let her know I have been hit and I turn to face the one alien that is left. I try to charge my energy beam and it doesn’t charge. My shield and arm are starting to heat up and I hear a crack.

  Folding Shield: Durability 32/100 Hardness 10-2. A shield that folds in on itself enabling the bearer to hide the shield as a simple armband. The shield is damaged and suffers a penalty.

  My shield is getting damaged by this constant bombardment. Right now, it taking a hardness penalty, this means that it is more likely to suffer durability damage from the plasma bolts. I am on a timer now. If my shield ever gets to zero durability it will be destroyed. Rachel hides behind my shield and says, “My scan picks up where they are going to teleport. We can do this, Will. We just need to make this one teleport again.”

  I let another wave of bursts hit my shield. Durability is at twenty-eight now, it is dropping fast. If I am not careful, I could lose my best defense. I try again to charge my beam and this time it works. I need a rapid response, not a powerful response. I aim and fire as soon as the beam gets to level one. The blue beam travels through the air and I hear the popping sound. Rachel takes off running to the left. She is running with her blade pulled back ready to end the fight with a single stroke.

  She doesn’t make it in time. When the alien appears, he is still ten feet in front of her. Its eyes widen and it pivots and fires directly into my wife. The smell of burning flesh and hair fills the air and Rachel’s hand glows green. She stumbles, heaving with breath. Catching herself she swings her blade down, a little less forcefully than she would have wanted. The elf manages to raise its gun and use it like a make-shift shield. Rachel’s blade gets turned away and the force of the swing carries her to the ground. She pulls back up, but not fast enough, the alien manages to catch his bearings and punches her in the face. Her head jerks back and blood sprays backward.

  I start running away from the battle, toward the downed alien. Maybe if the dead alien drops his gun, I will be able to catch the other alien off-guard and it would be my turn to bombard him with plasma. I hear the popping noise. The elf in front of Rachel has vanished and she is already running and stumbling to her right. She is harrying him, not letting him catch the distance he needs to start his bombardment. This should give me the time to make the difference.

  I find the downed alien and start the looting process. It takes a few seconds, and in those seconds, I am able to charge my Energy Beam up to level 2. I see that the alien is between me and my wife. I have a clear shot, so I take it. I fire my beam directly at the alien, thinking that if the alien doesn’t see my energy beam, I’ll catch him by surprise.

  Pop. The alien vanishes and the obstacle between my beam and my wife vanishes with him. The beam is traveling directly at Rachel. Her eyes widen and she tries to dive to the ground. She isn’t quite fast enough, and the energy beam catches her in the shoulder and I get a moment where I can see the
white of her bones. Shit! She heaves herself back up and now she is heaving for breath, her face is beet-red. Her skin and muscle regrows, but if things don’t change quickly she is going to collapse. I need to change the game. I look over and see that the alien has fully decomposed and a pile of credits and sigils is left.

  You have obtained 15 blue sigils.

  You have obtained 232 credits.

  You have obtained Ring of X-Ray Vision.

  Ring of X-Ray Vision: Durability 22/25 Allows the wearer to selectively see through objects in a 150 ft radius for 30 seconds. This ring recharges using ambient Mana at a rate of 1 charge every 60 minutes. The power cell can hold 3 charges. Charges 2.

  This item isn’t a game changer. I slip the ring on even though it didn’t help me now, it could be useful later. I start to run forward toward Rachel. Rachel is running away from me toward the elf. She holds out her gun like she is going to shoot, but she doesn’t pull the trigger. The alien pops away, not wanting to risk getting shot. Rachel skids to a halt and almost topples over. She looks directly at me and mouths something. She points a little to my left. The alien suddenly appears right where she is pointing. The elf is only five feet away from me now, but he is facing Rachel. The alien takes aim with his rifle and begins to shoot her with the green plasma. I draw my Poisoned Dagger and lunge forward. My blade bites into his back and I hear a goat-like bleat. I draw out my blade and stab the goat-elf one more time. The elf manages to pull himself away from the blade and he turns his rifle on me and fires. Green balls of super-heated plasma hit my chest and I can smell my own flesh cooking. It smells like a pig roast, except I am the pig. I begin to charge my energy beam. I want to make sure it kills him. I run over to Rachel and she is looking to her left. She is panting and sweating. She looks like she can barely stand.

  Rachel stumbles her way forward and approaches the alien. He isn’t using the rifle anymore, instead he has a pistol and a club. The alien fires his pistol at Rachel and she heals herself. She swings down with her blade and the elf deflects it with his club with no apparent effort. Rachel begins to tremble from effort. She throws up in the tall grass. The alien is about to bring his club down on Rachel’s head when I throw my dagger at him and it buries itself in his shoulder. The alien bleats at me and pops away.