Project Athena: Dawn of War Season 1

Chapter 1 Wylver POV Some are born into greatness, some aspire to be great, others forge the mantle of glory. Trickles of water filled the room with a barrage of unnerving sound, reminding us — the underpaid retail workers — about the future of our jobs. 'How many did we sell?" Dana, my colleague, leaned forward with half-curiosity and the other half not wanting to know the answer. I hesitated. I knew what it meant when I saw the low number on the screen. "Five." "Hundred?" Dana's eyes showed a tinge of hopefulness contrasting her rather hopeless demeanor. "Units." I felt guilt further downing my colleague's spirit, but I knew it was out of my control. Even I didn't know what I would do. "And only one of them exceeded a dollar amount." "That's why I have no choice but to close this shop." Our boss suddenly appeared beside them. His black fedora hat casing shadow on his face, making it hard to distinguish his facial features except for his bushy mustache, but I had seen his face for a number of times I could no longer keep track, and everytime I did see his face, bad news followed. "Please Mr. Garyl, give us a few more days and we will increase the sales of this shop." Dana kept switching her glance between me and Mr. Garyl, which she often do whenever she felt anxious or asks me for support, or both. I glanced at the poster with a large neon text which stated 'Forging of Destiny' beside the image of Aeson Gafort, the 'prodigy' himself. "The festival will be in five days. If we attend that, then we might be able to increase the sales from all the people gathering there." “Yes, but that'll only provide a temporary solution to our inevitable demise. Well, your demise, since I have other sources of them green bills." The old man chuckled while pulling out a cigar. "The closing of this store means nothing to me." Mr. Garyl blew smoke at our faces before turning to leave. With all the nervousness leaving her body, Dana accidentally pushed a laptop from its display, making it crash towards the ground. Mr. Garyl turned back before leaving. Dana's anxiousness returned. "Before I leave..." He took out a small envelope from his pocket and handed it to Wylver. "I met the mailman on my way here. It's definitely not the electricity bill, so that doesn't really matter to me, but I think it's from the university you are applying too." Dana let out a huge sigh when Mr. Garyl turned to her. "Oh, and that will come out of your last paycheck." Dana's eyes widened as Mr. Garyl left the nearly out of business electronics shop. "So, what does it say?" Dana leaned in curiously. I opened the envelope and took out a piece of paper. It was from Oracle University, one of the best in the world. My face lit up for a moment, but it was quickly replaced by a look of disappointment. Concluding that I had no intention of speaking, Dana snatched the paper out of my cold hands. "Why the long face? It says here that you've passed." "Yes, but the cost full put me in a hundred years worth of debt." "Didn't you apply for the scholarship though? What happened, didn't you pass?" "I did, but that would only cover half of the tuition. Not to mention all those other costs of living on campus." I could have applied to another college, but due to my family's record other schools would refuse to admit me. State colleges weren't an option either. Ever since the war started five years ago, the government no longer funds public education. Most of the budget would be invested for rebuilding structures and recovering all that was lost from the war. The war left a lasting impression. It has been two years since it ended, lasting for full three years. I couldn't complain though. I knew that I was one of the lucky ones. Other people lost most of their family members, or even orphaned. Businesses were destroyed, partially leveling the field between lower and upper class, though everybody still got it hard. When people seemingly lost all hope, brilliant minds such as Aeson Gafort started springing up out of nowhere producing revolutionary innovations and a promising hope for the future. I wanted to be one of those people, yet I could only do so if I went to college. Lack of resources made investors more cautious on where to put their trust, so a degree that could prove one's skills is almost a strict requirement. Almost. Companies would hire people even without a college degree if they could prove that they wouldn't be a waste of valuable resources. I thought about the idea. If I could present a groundbreaking invention, then I might be accepted in one of the largest tech companies without going to a fancy university. That had been my backup plan since the beginning. I had been working on a new technology for weeks, but is it enough? "So what do you think?" Dana broke me out of my contemplation. "I'm sorry, what?" Dana handed me a flyer. It was an advertisement of some new virtual reality game. Normally, people would not care about such trivial things in these times of distress, but due to the logo of Exodus Inc. imprinted on it, it had surely gathered people's attention. Exodus Inc. is one of the large innovation companies that sprang up after the war, and it was founded by Mr. Gafort and several other geniuses. "Why would they fund video games?" Dana shrugged. "Does it matter? They're offering a hefty amount of money." She pointed below the decription. It said that participants will have a monthly salary of ten grand. That's even bigger than what top class doctors and lawyers earn before the war. "That is a lot of gummy bears." I gave her a quick glance. "What? If you have that kind of money then you wouldn't really worry about what you're buying." I ignored her and kept reading. The virtual game will be like the traditional MMORPG games, but you can earn real money or buy and sell real life assets. It sounded too good to be true, and surely enough, it was. With the fairly limited resources the company have, only five hundred people will be selected for the first batch. Aspirants will have to compete for the position by demonstrating their particular real life skills. This will be further divided into categories depending on the skill level of each individual, with each category receiving varying levels of pay. "Why would they care about real life skills though? Isn't it a game?" Dana also looked at the part which I was reading. "Because they will also be used in the game." I pointed to another passage. The characteristics of a person, including his physical and mental traits, skills, and personality, will be taken into account when forming a character. Their attributes will be translated into their in-game stats which will be further augmented by what race the character is given. The race and background information of a character is decided randomly by an artificial intelligence program, but the person's characteristics can also greatly affect the probability of the character creation. Finally, the selected participants will live in a facility built for their accommodations until their contract is up. "That's quite nice though. We will have an equal playing field with the rich kids due to its random feature." I checked for more information, but it was the last page. "Unless if those kids' family have connections and be given better accommodations. And how random is the random feature, really?" I handed her back the flyer. "At least we will have a bit of advantage due to the skill translation." Dana scratched her head. "You may have an advantage, being enlisted in the military and knowing sword fighting and all, not to mention you're a tech genius, but I doubt I can pass that." "You could try beating them up with a stick, you're really good at it." Dana punched me in the arm. "You're right though, it is still a better option than scavenging scraps from trash cans. If I don't find a job, then I'll probably end up in the streets vibing with rats and rascals." Dana slung her backpack on her shoulder. "You're closing the store, right?" I nodded as Dana left. I wondered if Dana was right. This could be an additional opportunity if in case I wasn't able to impress the investors with my invention. Having a variety of choices is never bad, though it is still a long shot. The sky turned colorful with various lights emitting from the ground. The loud bass sound of an electric beat shook the ground. People screamed moved relentlessly. If I wasn't accustomed to these kinds of events, I would think that a natural disaster had hit the town. It was far from being a calamity though, as the Festival of Vulcan signifies the revolution of the technological industry. This event provides aspiring innovators such as me opportunities to showcase their ingenuity. They would be able to find investors, sponsors, suppliers, connections, and everything that could help them advance their research. Yet, that doesn't cross out the fact that it could turn into a disaster. It wasn't the first time that it happened. There were frequent cases of inventions malfunctioning that the organizers of the event created security protocols and safety procedures, along with a staff dedicated entirely to prevent disasters turning worse. I was good at hiding my worry, but Dana had known me for years. "It'll be fine. Stop worrying too much or you'll end up like that kid." She pointed to a boy, about a year younger than he and Dana, shaking with nervousness as he looked at the other inventions. His friend, a girl his age with a boyish cut and tattered jeans like those badass protagonists in cyberpunk movies, patted him on the back trying to reassure him, but to no avail. The boy shook more violently than the ground. His invention was a seven-foot-tall humanoid robot made from spare junk parts. Being made from recycled electronic parts didn't make it any less impressive, rather it actually gave it a more intimidating look contrasting with the minimalistic and generic smooth white design that most other roboticist made. With years of experience being an engineer myself, I saw the mech as remarkable. The boy noticed me looking at his invention. He looked at his, then to my invention, then to me which he immediately took away his gaze. I looked at my own work. It was a small metallic sphere completely without buttons. Instead, it activates on voice command and displays a holographic screen when activated. Its primary function was to disable enemy weapons and equipment by frying their electronic components using EMP. Electro-magnetic pulse technology wasn't new. Various kinds of them were already used in wars, but my device was unique. It can cover longer distances ranging from a few meters to a mile, and shoot at a precision level of centimeters, being able to disable only one device unlike the traditional EMPs that fries the circuitry of everything in the area. This particular reason was why most armies stopped using EMP altogether, because it also disabled their allies. With my work, I would be able to turn the tide of battles without harming people. Wars could be stopped without the need of killing, but by rather taking away their ability to fight. I smiled as I approached the duo. I noticed the headpiece that the boy was holding. The robot also had a similar device attached to its head. "A neurolinked battle mech. Impressive." I glanced at the blaster attached to the hand of the robot. When the kid realized that I was giving him a genuine compliment, his urge to speak about his invention overcame his anxiousness, such is the case for most inventors. "I actually made as a rescue bot, but Maeve here..." he motioned to his friend who had an indifferent expression, "insisted that we put blasters—" "Cause they're cool. No one wants a lame ass robot." The girl moved her hands around as she talked, as if needing hand gestures to accompany her already loud and powerful voice. "It's not lame, it's for helping people," the kid protested. The girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever." "Anyways, I agreed to put blasters as it can actually be used to clear debris when looking for people during calamities." "And I suppose that the functionality to link with the user's brain is that so he could stay at a safe distance?" I inspected the neurotransmitter headpiece. It was actually great idea. I wondered why I hadn't thought of that. "Smart." He nodded as if that was obvious. "It can even lift up to eight tons, and not to mention—" "Alright, I think we should stop the chat for now." His friend interrupted. "The judges are calling us." She turned to me. "Nice to meet you." "Wylver," I quickly added, even though the girl looked like she had no intention of knowing. "This is Dana." "Wylver and Dana, I'm Maeve and this is my talkative friend Elrin." "Well met." Dana reached out her hand, but the girl ignored it. "Let's go." She nudged Elrin's shoulder to help her pull the cart where their project stood. I peeked through the stage. A metallic disk flew in the air with a kid on top of it, driving it. On the ground was supposedly his grandfather or at least I thought so since he was an old man. They appeared to be doing well until the rear of the flying disk exploded. The kid lost control and hit his face on a billboard. Lucky for him, he didn't fell from high above, but the disk kept flying until it eventually exploded in the sky. "That takes some pressure off us. Less competitors?" Dana surprised me by springing to my side. I shrugged. "Next," one of the five judges said while writing something on her pad. The injured kid didn't seem to bother her or her companions, as it was common for those kind of things to occur. The next group was an all-girl group of five wearing matching glittery purple outfits that make it look like they were some sort of girl band about to perform a special number. And they did. "1, 2, 3." The girl in front of the formation snapped her finger and lights flickered above the stage. The lights soon turned to a hologram of a dozen more back-up dancers. The hologram turned into seemingly real people. I had seen holograms before, but this was on another level. The girls, weird as they were, undeniably possessed skills and great minds. It suddenly turned into a concert. The crowd watching the show cheered as if they were on a popular band's tour. Dana watched in awe. "They're so hot." "Damn you're right." One of the participants behind them stepped forward. "By the way, are you available this—" "Aren't they Wylver?” Dana cut him off. “You think one of them would agree on a date this Saturday?" "They're bizarre, but I don't see a reason why you shouldn't try." My keen eyes for technology and the girl band's device's lack of covering allowed me to see the flaw in the girl device. Two wires weren't connected properly to the motherboard, causing a disruption in the transmission of electricity. I was right, soon enough the holograms started flickering. "Sorry," Dana told the guy trying to hit on her, "I'm already busy this Saturday." "But I was gonna ask you for Sunday," the guy insisted. "Maybe another one of the girls would agree..." She rubbed her chin. "To go on a date with me on Sunday." "But you haven't even asked them yet." The guy tried to persist, but Dana ignored him. "Hey, what happened?" She asked while being annoyed at the guy. The holograms disappeared. They concert instantly fell silent. The sound of blowing wind and rustling leaves overtook the area. "Their device malfunctioned." I wondered why there were so many devices malfunctioning at an event where there is a strict requirements on quality. The malfunctions that happened prior to this event were all accidents caused by uncontrollable situations and not by incompetence and neglect. I turned back to Dana. "We should recheck the device." "Why?" Dana furrowed her brows. "I feel something is not right." "Relax. Their devices malfunctioned, so what? Maybe they were just not careful enough. We checked the device several times before coming, and at least a few times when we arrived. Besides, we're next after the anxious nerd guy and his sassy girlfriend. We won't have enough time for an inspection." "I guess so." My face filled up with confusion. "Wait, where's that guy?" "Who?" "The creepy weirdo trying to hit on you just a moment ago." Dana shrugged. "I dunno, maybe he realized his creepiness and went home to reflect on his decisions in life. I don't really care. If it's not about money, pizza, and hot babes I don't really give a shit." I turned back to the stage. Our newfound friends wasvnow presenting their rescue/battle bot. Elrin wore the helmet and its wires lit up with blue light. The visible wires outside the robot also glowed with the same light. Elrin moved his hand and so did the robot. The robot walked towards a prop car. Elrin moved his arms and legs as if lifting something invisible. The robot imitated the action, but he lifted the car. Even at the display of a marvellous work of engineering, the crowd seemed bored. They must have seen this kind of technology a hundred times. The directors seemed to have noticed its uniqueness though. The movements of the robot were much smoother than the regular bot connected to a person's mind. Maeve picked up on the boredness displayed by the crowd. She walked towards Elrin and pulled the neurolink headpiece from his head. This shocked the audience. "Hey," Elrin protested. Maeve ignored him and wore the neurotransmitter herself. She tested a few small movements, then broke down into a fighting stance. She demonstrated a few martial arts moves with much fluidity implying that she had been mastering the art for years. The robot followed with gracefulness unlikely of a robot made with scrap metals no less. The robot made it look effortless even though it probably weighed several tons. Maeve then proceeded to use the blasters, which awed everyone. The lasers easily passed through thick metals. It was going so well for them, until the robot discharged electricity. Maeve quickly pulled out the helm before it also discharged volts of electricity that could her. Thankfully she did, as it started catching fire. She threw it away and it exploded instantly as it hit the ground. The robot also exploded into a hundred pieces moments after the neurotransmitter helmet. An invisible barrier protected the judges and the crowd behind them from the explosion. Maeve pulled Elrin and ducked behind a prop car. The crowd booed as they got off stage. Maeve walked with a frown. Elrin was then the one trying to calm her down. Her hands flew into the air. "It was a sabotage. Someone is trying to mess with everybody's inventions." "Agreed." I nodded. The contest did seem rigged. I turned to Dana. "I told you we should check the device." "Yeah, I'm sure it wasn't your fault." Dana quickly stepped in, ignoring me. "Next." The judge tapped her pen impatiently. "What?" I exclaimed. "There were so many malfunctions happening consecutively and they don't even bother to check?" "I think they're just assuming that it's the fault of the participants. They don't really have time to check either, as there are more people participating here than usual. Probably in the hopes of gaining Exodus's attention to hire them in their virtual game job." "Yeah, we've heard of that." Dana eyes lit up again at hearing the gaming job again. One of the staff approached us. "Hey, I suggest you don't make the judges wait too much." He pointed towards the judge tapping her pen, now seemingly more irritated. "Good luck then." Elrin waved goodbye as he and his friend walked away, with Maeve still ranting about how they were sabotaged. "We're going to need a lot more than luck," I whispered to myself as we got on stage. I stood several feet away from Dana. She was holding a small lamp with its light on. I activated the device and the lamp short-circuited. The judges looked at their phones it they were affected, but realized that the EMP only affected the lamp. They nodded in acknowledgment. Next Dana pulled a board filled with rows of light bulbs very close to each other on top of it. Every light bulb had its own source of electricity, and I would target only one of them. I activated the device and only one of them turned off due to its wiring being toasted. This pulled the attention of the judges even more. Finally, Dana controlled a flying drone. She flew it high up in the sky where people could barely see it. This is it. I activated the device once more. It took a few moments, but the drone eventually started falling. It crashed on the ground with a small explosion. It was a success. The judges stood and clapped their hands. The audience cheered. My work was revolutionary. It would have had a huge impact on the world, until... The spherical device got out of control. It sent a shockwave of electricity, frying the circuits of everything in the area, or so he thought it only affected the area. In the distance, skyscrapers in the city also lost their power as their lights died out. What was but a moment of glory was now history, being replaced by shame that could last for a lifetime.