The Eternal Sleep

Explorer's Quest

Luca suited up solemnly, changing his sniper rifle for a simple grappling hook and rope. This was labelled the ‘Explorer’s Quest’ and he’d never felt more out his element than today. The rules of the quests was to make it through the caves without the aid of a partner. They had to traverse the tunnels with a map only visible to the owner in one hour and retrieve the golden statue.

They all agreed to take the quest, to raise the chances of getting the statue and keeping an eye out for the card. To that, Rena added that it would be more fun to turn it into a competition for each other, the winner could claim bragging rights, to which Luca protested his retrieval of the ‘Race’ card and the clue for the ‘shady’ card.

“Whenever you all are ready.” Armando raised the confirmation screens to them, his avatar decked out in a simple vest and climbing boots. They organized themselves into a running position, Rena plastered a psychotic smile to her face, far too eager to test her limits.

“Ready.”

“In 3…2…1”

They shot off like bolts of lightning, using the rocks on the water as stepping-stones to trees. Luca whooped and teleported to the tree line, ignoring their yells of anger, he yelped as the dirt beneath his feet broke off and slipped into the water. With a rush of adrenaline, he teleported to a branch above him.

Taking stock of his advantage, he studied the map that had fused with his vision, giving him a real time account of his distance from the prize and the direction he needed to follow with a single blue line. He teleported to another branch, bringing himself to safer ground.

It was like a game of tag, they teased and tripped each other up where possible, following the directions on the map. This quest was far too easy, that should have been their first sign. It took Luca longer than he was comfortable with to notice it, the faint humming in the air, a feeling like they were in a dangerous place.

He settled against the branch of a tall tree, overlooking the entire cave. Nothing was amiss, the cave was a silent as the moment they entered. He couldn’t shake the feeling, however. Luca wanted to call the others, but the lack of communication devices was part of the rules. That’s when he noticed it, the trees were swaying ever so slightly.

There was no wind in the caves. Luca barely had a chance to brace himself against the branch, the hum raising to the pitch that he was certain the hair at the back of his neck were standing on end.

A loud explosion rocked the ground, throwing Luca off his branch. He yelped in surprise and grabbed at it, his gloved hand creating enough friction for him to cling on. The water rose with the movement, creating a small tsunami and causing the lights of the cave to flicker dizzyingly.

Luca hauled himself up onto the branch, taking stock of the situation. He couldn’t spot any of his crew member from here. The ground shook again, threatening to topple the tree and send both it and him crashing to the ground. His eyes hurt in response to the way the light flickered like a dying bulb.

His heart stuttered in his chest, an ear-splitting howl filled the caves, it wasn’t a natural cry. It pulsed like a siren, clear as a bell despite Luca desperately covering his ears in an attempt to block it out. He couldn’t teleport with the unpredictability of the light source.

Another yell filled the area, almost matching the volume of the ominous screech. Luca gasped, that wasn’t just another scream, that was an actual human cry for help, one of his team members were in danger. He didn’t have time to search the ground when something small, fast and sharp scratched his cheek. Luca pulled away sharply, shocked that the small injury actually hurt. He shouldn’t have been able to feel pain in this world.

The earth stabilized for a short time, allowing the light to shine brightly. Luca teleported to another tree, his eyes peeled of any sight of his crew. The screen that had fused with the quest glitched and flickered like an old television with little signal, blinding him at random moments.

“Luc!” he spun to face the sound, lightheaded from the panic. Jay was waving wildly at him, a rattled look on his face. Luca yelped as the ground shook again, tossing him mid-air. With a stroke of luck, he teleported above Jay, crashing clumsily onto him. 

“What the heck is going on?” He pulled himself off the ground, flinging his hand out to pull Jay up as well. It was near impossible to hear his friend over the pitch of the screech.

“No idea!” he puffed, dirt streaking his face and clothes, “I was on the cave wall when it happened, I lost track of Rena.”

“I haven’t seen the others, is this part of the quest?”

“No way, it’s supposed to be a parkour… what happened to your face?” Jay grabbed his face roughly, turning his head to the side.

“I dunno, I was on one of the tall trees when I got hit.” Jay pulled away in surprise when Luca flinched and hissed when he touched it.

“Luc, it’s got black veins around it, the wound itself is literally glowing purple.” Luca didn’t have the time to be worried at Jay’s comment, the sound abruptly cutting off, leaving them in eerie stillness.

“Is it done?” he whispered; shoulders hunched in fear. Luca didn’t know what they were dealing with, Armando wasn’t with them and their screens were glitching too much to contact anyone. He was surprised that the quest rules were still holding in place despite his blatant contact with Jay.

Jay didn’t have time to respond, the tree behind them exploding. Luca yelled in surprise, allowing his partner to drag him unceremoniously to the ground, covering his head with shaky hands as splinters rained down over them. “What the heck was that?”

“Someone shot at us!”

“That was a shot?” Luca screamed back as Jay pulled him up and under the cover of another group of trees, “That was a freaking explosion.”

“Can you teleport?” Jay grabbed his arms, shaking him a little to focus his attention to him.

“Y-yea.”

“Get us out of here, we need to find the others, whoever screamed was one of our own.” Luca nodded, teleporting was something he could do. He surveyed the area, grabbing Jay and teleporting at the bottom of a tree, trying to maintain cover.

He continued several more times, scouting the ground level for clues where his team might have traversed. The last jump placed his heart in his throat, evidence on the ground that one of them were standing right here. Olivia’s whip was muddy and scratched, the owner nowhere in sight. He picked it up, showing it to Jay with shaking hands.

Another scream echoed in the cave, Luca panicked, latching on to the sound and teleporting as close as he could to it. He barely had time to race for cover, another explosion rocking the ground. Luca realized his mistake far too late, he turned around in horror, catching Jay’s wide eyes.

Luca tried to teleport back to his side, get him out of there, but the light flickered. He could only stare Jay ran towards him, arm stretched out, a thin beam of light piercing through his side. He dissolved in a burst of black and purple dust, a cry of pain echoing in Luca’s ears.

He shook his head, trying to remind himself that this was just a game, Jay was fine, he was supposed to be safe. More beams of lights rained down, accompanied by an explosion from the sheer force of the blow. The force of the weapon was nothing like he’d ever seen before, cutting through everything and strong enough to rock the ground.

He grabbed a Lobaev Sniper rifle from his inventory, he contemplated taking something with stronger firepower, but he wanted to prioritize speed and accuracy over strength, he didn’t have a clue of what he was fighting. Luca took a chance, teleporting to a rock protruding from the wall of the cave, sweeping the scope of his gun over the general area he believe the shooter was standing.

There!

A person in dark clothing, standing at the entrance to another cave. He took aim, kneeling to keep his objective stable. He placed his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot when the impossible happened. It looked directly at him and smiled.

Luca’s hands shook in fear, his aim for to unsteady to shoot. The creature had the shape of a human, skin wrapped in shadows, eyes purple beads in its head and teeth white as snow. He knew he had to shoot but something stopped his finger from pulling the trigger, his physical strength having no effect.

He blinked and the creature disappeared, leaving him staring at the dark entrance to another cave. With a screech of warning from his natural instincts, Luca leaped off the rock into mid-air, narrowly missing a bullet aimed at his neck. He teleported to a tree, keep his shoulders hunched.

“Luc, over here!” he aimed his gun at the call, not taking any chances, it was Rena standing on the branch of another tree. A rustling noise caught his attention, he turned and came in view of the creature standing on the rock he’d previously occupied, its gun wrapped in shadows aimed directly at Rena.       

He didn’t have time to take aim at it without risking Rena’s health. He made the split decision to sling his gun over his back and teleport to Rena, grabbing her and teleporting her under the cover of the trees despite her protests.

“What the heck is going on?”