Tsaimath
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Holiday-Interlude: Ruins of a Broken World
🕑 Added 2021-12-24 17:00:10 +0000 UTC- AN: Happy Holidays, everyone. I wish all of you the best of times, especially those who can't be with their loved ones, for whatever reason.
Just as announced, there was a new function within my capsule. Ruins of a Broken World(Alpha) and for a period of twelve hours in the real world, or forty-eight hours of accelerated time, I, along with all the other beta-testers, would be allowed to get a sneak peak at the next product currently in development by Pantheon Entertainment. They obviously didn’t just want to use the capsule-technology for Road to Purgatory, instead it looked like they planned to have Road to Purgatory capture the fantasy-market, while Ruins of a Broken World was supposed to be a survival-horror game. Not normally my type of game, but it was free and they had announced that providing good testing-data would be rewarded during the Road to Purgatory-launch. That alone made me want to do my best, even if I had a feeling the reward would be something minor, maybe a cosmetic title or something along those lines. But it might be another drop, added to the ocean I needed to accumulate to hopefully keep Sigmir by my side.
After logging in, the character-creation was completely bare-bones, a blue box informing me that it was not yet done and our characters would be based upon our real selves with some randomisation to provide anonymity. The only thing we could actually affect was our name. In my case, I decided not to go with Morgana, instead using the name Jade. Morgana had some baggage attached, which I didn’t need to deal with. I might be recognised by my features, depending how much that randomisation was, but the name was a much stronger indication.
The next step on my way into the Ruins of a Broken World was to pick my starting-location, similar to the way it had been in Road to Purgatory, only that there was no guide here, nor was there a map. Instead, I was allowed to pick from a variety of basic locations, from a supermarket, to a mall, a high-rise apartment, a dormitory and a suburban house with a few more strewn in. Normal places that one might work at, sleep at or visit during a normal day.
Without information, I couldn’t make an informed choice so I decided to go with what might net me the most information by virtue of height while also appealing to me on a personal level and chose the high-rise apartment. Just being able to take a look at whatever city we would be in from above should give me valuable information.
There was a short time of waiting, before the server opened and I was shifted into the Broken World, where a blue box told me the objective, before vanishing: Survive. After a moment of disorientation, I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to adapt to my surroundings. Instead of sitting on my Throne, I was lying on a comfortable bed in a dark room. Standing, I looked around, trying to get my bearings. It was a simple arrangement, a bed, night-stand and closet, nothing standing out, other than the lack of illumination. No stand-by lights from any electronic devices, just a faint bluish light filtering in from the window.
Walking to the window, I looked out and had to give it to Pantheon, if they wanted to make something scary, they damned well could. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if the sky-box was simply not finished or if it was part of the ambience, but the faint, blue-grey fire that filled the sky and formed a horizon in the distance caused a shiver to run down my spine. There was no way to guess what time it was in this broken world or if there would be a sunrise at some point. For now, there was only the dim, blue light of the flames above, illuminating the city below.
From my position roughly in the middle of an apartment-building, I could see quite a bit, the streets empty of the hustle and bustle one would expect. There were no cars or buses, no cyclists getting their morning exercise, but it wasn’t just human activity that was absent, I was also unable to make out any animals, even the wind seemed to be silent. The only movement came from weird forms that slowly shambled around the silent city.
Shaking my head, I walked over to the closet, only finding some clothes, choosing a practical set of outdoor clothes from them. While it wasn’t exactly sturdy, it certainly offered more protection than the sleepwear I had on when ‘waking up’.
Trying to make as little noise as possible, I walked around the apartment, finding nothing out of place in an average household, though nothing electric seemed to work. The most interesting find, from a practical survival perspective, was the knife-set in the kitchen, where I liberated a hair of filet knives and a meat-cleaver. They weren’t anything to write home about, but if I had to choose between having them or not having them, I would take them every time, especially in a survival-horror. In addition, there were some cleaning-supplies in the bathroom but sadly, I had no idea if there was any way to make something interesting from them. I did grab the small box with simple medical supplies though.
Those, alongside a bit of simple food from the kitchen, went into a backpack I had to empty first, finding a bunch of text and note-books, of which I kept one, just in case.
My exploration of the appartement managed to do one thing, the details seriously creeped me out. On the textbooks I had found was my name, though with an added last-name of Smith, there were framed pictures of my slightly altered face standing around, even some notes on the fridge in handwriting that looked remarkably similar to my own.
It was a little eerie, in Road to Purgatory, there was the constant existence of the interface, bare-bones as it was, to remind you that you were playing a game. Ruins of the Broken World lacked such a visual clue, which, along with the avatar that was only slightly different from my real body, made it easy to forget you were playing. Which might very well be the appeal, to immerse yourself into a horror-movie, I could bring up a menu, but that only gave me the option to log-out or contact a game-master, neither of which I needed at the moment.
Pushing away the chills going down my spine, I put on a pair of sneakers, the most sensible shoes in a small collection, and a windbreaker before listening at the apartment-door, trying to figure out if venturing out was safe. I didn’t consider staying in the apartment for too long, if I knew anything about survival-games, then it was that spawn-zones were only temporarily safe, if that. In addition, supplies and equipment would likely be limited, though being known to have any was not necessarily an advantage.
I could hear some noise in the distance, nothing loud enough to identify, which gave me the courage to push open the door and poke my head out into the hallway. Dark and empty, some stains on the walls, with a window at the end letting in the dim, outside light. Not even a helpful, friendly green sign pointing me to the exit, not that I’d necessarily follow such a sign.
Trying to minimize even the rustling of my clothes, I carefully made my way towards what I hoped would be the stairwell, when I heard the mechanical sound of a door being unlocked, causing me to freeze, pressing my backpack against the wall and having my cleaver at the ready. A couple doors down from my apartment, another door opened and another person came out, dressed in a similar, practical fashion as I was but instead of a meat-cleaver, they had a metallic baseball-bat.
Knowing that contact was inevitable, unless that person was a total dunce, I decided to show some initiative and let out a soft hiss, alerting the person, whom I now could identify as a slender guy with shoulder-length hair, to my presence.
It was a little gratifying to see him flinch in surprise, before spinning around, his eyes darting around before settling on me. Moving slowly, we approached each other, wary of any sudden movements, our chosen weapons ready but not raised, stopping about three meters away from each other.
“Name’s Jade, want to work together?” I asked, trying to pitch my voice as low as possible. The whole ambiance made me want to avoid any loud noises.
“Sure, I’m Trevor. Any ideas where to go?” he asked, with a nod. Stepping a little closer, I shook my head, as I wasn’t sure about tactics either. Nor was I certain that there were enemies, though the shamblers I had seen from the window certainly hinted at that.
“Let’s try to get somewhere with options for flight and retreat, first floor or ground-floor.” he suggested, getting a nod in response.
Trying to remember every lesson on stalking, sneaking and prowling I had learned on Mundus and from Mrs. Wu, I followed after my newly acquired ally and meat-shield, as we made our way to what turned out to be the stairwell.
While a part of me wanted to move up as high as possible, the high-ground wasn’t the place to be, it would only cut off space to retreat and avoid. Instead, we started to make our way down, hearing more movement in the apartments behind us. For a moment, Trevor looked over his shoulder, as if to check what was going on, but he never turned around, quietly going down the stairs.
After descending two flights, we heard a shrill scream of fear, coming from the level above us. We shared a look, before nodding to the other, turning back to investigate. At this point in time, information was key, understanding what was going on might just allow us to survive. People didn’t just scream for no particular reason, unless they wanted to use the noise to bait, so careful investigation was in order.
The hallway we found ourselves in wasn’t much different from the one above, next to our rooms, only that there were a few open doors here. Across the hall of one, a female form was sitting, back pressed against the opposite wall, staring into the open door. Even at the distance, I could see her rapidly moving chest, making me think that she had been the one screaming. Another door had been opened by just a crack, though I couldn’t make out if someone was trying to look out from it.
As I was considering whether to approach, my temporary companion started to move, taking the decision from me. For once, I was quite fine with his initiative, if he wanted to find out if the native zombies bit, I wouldn’t want to hold him back, just observe from a distance. Which was what I did, keeping my distance, keeping an eye out for opening doors, and my meat-cleaver firmly in hand.
Once he made it to the front of the door, he first took a look inside, letting out a clearly audible curse, before reaching out giving the woman’s shoulder a shake. For a moment, I thought she didn’t even notice, but then, she shook her head, visibly focusing on the guy in front of her, quietly asking something. I wasn’t quite sure what, she had spoken too quietly, so unless I wanted to abandon my companion at this point, I had to walk over.
While a part of me was apprehensive of a possible trap, it had only been a few minutes since the game started, meaning that people didn’t really have the time to form groups and prepare traps, so the risk should be manageable. With that in mind, I walked over, taking a glance into the room, just as the others had done.
I managed to keep from swearing, though it was close and I could understand why the woman had screamed earlier. Right behind the door, maybe two meters away, hung a body, though hanging was relative. Mrs. Wu’s lessons on anatomy sprung to mind, though I wasn’t sure if the normal rules applied in this game. If they did, there had been someone who killed the hanging person, as the chair lying nearby just wasn’t high enough to break the neck when falling down, yet the neck was clearly broken as the tissues had stretched grotesquely, as the body was half-slumped on the floor. For a moment, I considered stepping over the body, to investigate and possibly loot yet another appartement but decided against it, just as my companion suggested that we move.
“We should get going,” he said, reaching out to give the woman on the floor a hand.
“Agreed. Name’s Jade, this is Trevor. Want to go down with us?” I asked, not even trying to hide a smirk at the awful joke.
“Eh, I guess either we all hang together, or we’ll get hung separately.” the woman nodded, pulling herself up on Trevor’s hand. “I’m Cass, let’s get away from here.” she introduced herself, and we began making our way back to the stairwell, the hidden observer never making a move.
Now, in our group of three, we continued making our way downstairs and my ears started to pick up signs of activity around us, most likely other players. Or it might be monsters, if the starting-zone was only a very temporary safe-point, that quickly flooded with monsters, to force the players to start moving. Shaking my head, I glanced at the two people in front of me, before focusing on our surroundings again, especially the area behind us.
“This might work better than the bat.” Trevor muttered, after he pulled open a fire-safety locker of some sort that was installed in the stairwell. Inside, I could see a heavy, red-coloured fire-axe, obviously made to act as an emergency-lockpick to open doors in case of fire. It would certainly open other things too, like chests and maybe skulls, though it wouldn’t work for me. While I was strong for my physique, Trevor had roughly twice my mass and even Cass had a more physical presence, though that might be due to the two sizable lumps on her chest. She ended up with the bat Trevor had liberated, while he took up the axe and even put on a helmet and heavy coat he took from the locker. He looked a little ridiculous, though the equipment was supposed to protect in case of fire, hopefully it would do so in case of zombies as well.
We weren’t the only ones moving in the stairwell, I could hear people talking softly above and there were some people below, too, though we hadn’t caught sight of them just yet. When we were about to reach the third floor, we could hear a shout of warning from below, followed by a deep, guttural moan that caused shivers to run down my spine, and not the good kind of shivers. Whatever it was, when we froze in response to the moan, banging noises caused us to jump back into action and cautiously continue moving downwards.
There, pressing against the fire-safety door, were two guys, one equipped with a golf club, the other holding a kitchen knife. On the other side of the fire-safety door, we could make out a humanoid form, its eyes alight with blue fire. In addition to the burning eyes, the fact that the metal safety door had a visible dent in it drove home the fact that I didn’t want to get close to that thing.
“HELP!” one of the guys holding the door closed called out, taking a glance over his shoulder. Trevor moved up, adding his own weight to their effort, while Cass and I took a close look at the way the door was constructed, looking for a way to wedge it closed. The problem was, these doors were supposed to keep fires from spreading, while allowing people to escape, not keep in ravenous zombies, who were strong enough to dent metal with apparent ease. A loud bang, accompanied by another bulge, added urgency to our movements, until Cass simply pulled off the helm Trevor was wearing and wedged it into the door as good as possible, providing a limited, though hopefully good enough, seal for the door, before calling out that we all had to run.
While dashing into danger wasn’t really my idea of a good time, moving upwards and ultimately box ourselves in would be just as problematic, so with the zombie trying to get out, we simply ran down the stairs, speed substituting stealth in our flight for survival.
The sound of movement all around us, as if a switch had been flipped, managed to give us wings, one of the guys that had held the door shut crashing into the entry-door, breaking it open so we all could escape into the creepy, blue twilight.
Staying behind Trevor, Cass and I ran down the street, trying to get distance so we could take a moment to regroup and maybe get some planning done. Suddenly, a dark shape came lunging out from behind a dumpster, tackling Trevor to the ground. The blue, glowing eyes easily told the story of what we were facing and with no hesitation, I plunged the kitchen-knife into its spine. Compared to the many times I had killed in Mundus, this felt somewhat different, the lack of an interface blurring the line between game and reality. Still, Mrs. Wu had trained me well and the stab had gone between the disks and severed the spine, making the zombie flop ineffectually.
“You alright?” Cass asked, pulling Trevor up while I needed a second or three to get my mind back under control. It was just a game, just like Road to Purgatory.
“Yeah, thanks.” he nodded to me, and we continued moving, not quite as hurried as before but still, trying to move fast, without making noise.
“We should get off the main-street.” I suggested the smaller, narrow paths giving us options, especially if there were more than single enemies.
Trevor simply nodded, pausing right next to yet another alley between buildings, waiting and listening for a moment.
“Nothing, I think.” he observed, before turning to move into the alley, with Cass and me following behind. As we walked, I realised that with every minute, the overall noise-level was rising, as if the city was waking up, or maybe the zombies were waking up and starting to hunt.
Cass and I froze when Trevor raised his fist, his focus on a nearby dumpster. Focusing on the dumpster, too, I realised that there was the sound of movement within, scratching of some sort. Turning around, I made sure that nothing was trying to sneak up on us, taking advantage of our distraction. I had no idea just how intelligent these zombies might be, but I wasn’t taking any unnecessary risks.
“Cover me.” Trevor quietly told Cass, using the hook of his axe to open the dumpster, dodging away as it swung open, while Cass was already swinging down the bat, trying to bash the zombie hiding within. The screech coming out of the dumpster was piercing and shrill and a quick glance, right as Cass hit the metal rim with a loud clang, let me witness a raccoon, obviously scared out of its wits, clamber out of the dumpster, running for its life.
“Shit!” Cass swore angrly, rubbing her hand that had to sting from the rebound force. I was about to laugh, when I heard the sound of gravel above me. Looking up, I was just able to call out a warning to the other two, when a zombie used gravity to move at a good clip, trying to land on Cass and bring her to the ground. Cass managed to get away, thanks to the warning, while Trevor used his mighty axe quite proficiently, chopping off one of the arms.
The now armless zombie got its second arm bludgeoned by the recovered Cass, sending it tumbling to the ground again, where Trevor split his head with a mighty swing.
Hearing more noises from behind me, I took a glance, noticing a trio of zombies shambling into the alley.
“Up.” I ordered, stepping on some crates, to leap up the closed half of the dumpster before using the lid that was leaning against the wall behind it to scramble up even further, somehow managing to get a good grip on the roof above. With Trevor giving me a bit of support, I managed to scramble up easily, watching the Zombies come closer.
Cass wasn’t quite able to copy my movement but with a step-up and mighty heave from Trevor, she managed to crash into the wall high enough to let me catch her flailing hands. A small part of me winced in sympathy, that crash couldn’t have been pleasant, but at least she had a pair of air-bags that stopped her from hitting the wall face first. It took previous seconds, but Trevor and I were able to get Cass onto the roof and from there, Cass and I got him up, too, at least after he climbed the dumpster. It was just in time, or he would have been zombie-chow.
“We’ve got the high-ground, let’s find some spot to hide.” Trevor suggested, getting a nod in reply.
Making our way across the gravel roofs was a fun challenge, the distances we had to leap just short enough to allow us to get across, though it did limit our potential directions quite a bit. Below, we occasionally glimpsed both zombies and survivors but neither seemed to be interested in what was above them.
A quick balancing act across a dividing-wall, followed by a hop, skip and jump across a parked car that allowed us to access the roof of a car-port. From there, we could hop over a hedge and latch onto a sunroof, climb higher and finally, scramble up a drain into a couple of shrubs that were planted there. Looking through the shrubs, we saw a wonderfully planted, roof-top garden, complete with a gazebo in the middle. Whatever else it was, for us, it was the shelter we so desperately craved.
Looking around for a second or five, we decided to rest in the gazebo, at least for a bit, before moving on, if we even did.
“Let’s stay here, until we have to move again.” Cass said, her breathing laboured.
“Sounds good.” Trevor agreed, wiping off sweat from his brow. The heavy coat he was wearing had protected him from the odd zombie, but it had to be incredibly hot.
“I’ll take a moment to look around.” I told the other two, after catching my breath for a minute. Neither of them looked all that enthusiastic to move and I could understand them, our position was a good one. No easy scent-trail leading up, if the zombies followed that, no direct access and excellent visual cover in addition to relatively easy escape, if we were willing to jump down into the shrubs around the property. Not necessarily pleasant, but compared to getting gnawed on by a zombie, that sounded like a good idea.
“How long has it been?” Trevor asked, as I was quietly moving away, trying to get a good idea of the place.
“An hour? Five? I have no idea.” Cass admitted and I realised that I had little idea as well. The perpetual twilight, the blue glow from the burning sky, it messed up all sense of time. Shaking my head, I decided time didn’t really matter, this would be over, when it was over. Worrying about it would only distract, which, in turn, would kill us.
The opening into the house itself made me shake my head. For some reason, the owners had installed a small, artificial mountain, with water flowing out the top, forming an artificial spring that bubbled downwards, into a small, natural pool. The door was set into the mountain, cleverly concealed to look just like another part, but there were only so many places the entrance could be and when looking closely I had been able to find the seams.
Opening it was another problem, at least until I noticed a strangely out of place flower-pot that was set upside down near the pool. Turning it over revealed a key and a little careful searching revealed the lock it fit into, hidden behind a plastic cover to make it look like the rest of the mountain.
I had to contemplate for a moment but decided that there was safety in numbers, even for such a discovery. If nothing else, having Trevor up front if we ran into yet another zombie might be useful.
After getting the two of them, we made our way into the house and down the stairs, amazed at the opulence of the dwelling we were breaking into. It was gorgeous, with high ceilings, curious, modern decor and every appliance I had ever seen, and some I had never even heard of. We stuck together at first, but when nothing jumped out at us, we split, each of us looking on their own.
“Found something!” Trevor softly called out, his voice leading me into the library, arriving there just ahead of Cass. I had to stop myself from laughing, when Trevor pulled on one of the books and the shelf-unit swung open, revealing a secret door.
“Cliche much?” Cass muttered, causing a chuckle to escape my control.
“What was the book?” I asked, curious why he had pulled it.
“Dante’s Divine Comedy, the Second Part.” he replied, causing Cass and me to exchange a confused glance. But when there was no further explanation, we simply followed, as Trevor led us into the secret room, our collective nature as gamers and greedy loot-goblins taking over.
If the upper part of the house was gorgeous, modern opulence, the hidden part was mad-scientist’s lair, through and through. White, almost plastic-looking walls, bare, gleaming metal, a couple dark displays, nothing that actually gave away what the place was.
Still, curiosity managed to lure us further, when suddenly, with a loud, metallic chunk, a heavy blast-door crashed down behind us, sealing us in the room we had just entered. Before any of us could investigate further, a roaring sound got our attention and another door fell open, revealing a zombie. Or maybe calling it a monster would be more appropriate, the thing was easily twice the size of Trevor, who wasn’t a small man by any stretch of imagination. No, we were dealing with what I would have to call a Boss-Monster, humanoid in form, elongated arms that ended in razor-sharp claws and not only eyes burning with blue fire, but an entire skull that was burning with that blue fire, giving the distinct impression of a crown.
“Fuck!” Cass' single curse managed to sum my feelings up very well. For a moment, nobody moved, all of us frozen in indecision. The moment didn’t last though and with another roar, the beast moved forward, faster than a thing of its size had any right to, a massive limb trying to crush me into paste. My dodge was equal parts luck and training, as I somehow managed to vault over the swing, making it look easy.
Sadly, Cass was either lacking in the luck- or the training-department, or maybe those airbags on her chest simply got in the way, causing the next swipe to hit and sweep her off her feet. The crack I could hear when she hit the wall wasn’t promising and the minor scrape Trevor managed to inflict when hacking into the thing’s shoulder with his arm and what looked like all his strength finished off any optimism I had.
Not one to give up, I circled around, striking the moment the beast tried to go for Trevor, using the meat-cleaver to hack into its knees in an attempt to bring it down. There was a wound, there was a bit of blood but it was far from limiting its mobility. At the same time, the beast swung for Trevor, who managed to dodge away from the blow just in time to only take a glancing hit.
“Fuck.” I echoed Cass’ earlier sentiment, before dodging away from a smash that made the floor jump a little.
For a minute, Trevor and I moved in, attacked, dodged away, constantly moving, taking scrapes and trying to find anything to stop the monster.
For a minute, nothing worked.
For a minute, our strength was slowly sapped away, until Trevor failed to dodge, the monster managing to get one of its massive paws on him and squeeze. The sound was one I didn’t even want to remember, a wet, squelching sound and the smell of blood instantly filled the room, just as Trevor’s pained scream filled my ears.
Before I could consider a new tactic, the monster came for me again, charging like a bull. Desperately dodging, I jumped up, somehow managing to get a moment of purchase on one of its arms, scrambling to get leverage, anything to help me move. Blindly stabbing with one of the kitchen-knives, I felt it get yanked out of my hands, just as my body was flung aside, hitting the wall with a crunching sound.
There was only pain in my neck and I noticed absentmindedly that I wasn’t feeling my legs. Or anything of my body, really, just a slow, creeping cold where those sensations should be. I considered trying to fight the cold, but cold was my friend, I liked the cold. So, instead of trying to fight, I embraced it and somehow, my eyes popped back open and if I had been able to breathe, I would have laughed.
My desperate stab had, by hook or crook, lodged itself into the eye-socket of the zombie and as it had continued its charge after flinging me aside, it had slammed into the wall, maybe blinded by the pain. That slam had driven the knife into its head, the handle barely visible on the outside.
With my vision growing dim, I wanted to laugh. We had killed the zombie. If only any of us had been alive to claim the spoils.
Just before my vision turned black, I was shunted back into my capsule-space and received the message thanking me for my participation in the Ruins of a Broken World-Alpha. With a sigh, I leaned back on my throne and set about writing a test-report.
It was an interesting diversion, but I couldn’t wait to return to Mundus.
