Play Testers Wanted Pt. 14

"Impressive vampire," Amalgam tittered. "I thought he had you there with that sword strike. I believed he actually... aw damn!" The would-be goddess cursed as the dull thunk of Snow's head hit the floor reached my ears.

"I... I did not miss." I barely managed as the match ended and I tumbled the rest of the way to the floor.

The world went black. I woke in the recovery chamber of the pyramid. I was greeted with an active HUD screen. It read keep vampirism or take a payment of thirty-five thousand credit payout.

"What is the benefit of keeping it?" I muttered weakly. I could barely lift my hand off the Egyptian style couch I was lying on.

"One, permanent stat boosts to strength, agility, and stamina. Two, imbalance penalty of susceptibility to fire, sun, holy water, and holy weapons. Three, title and powers of Master Vampire restored to character. Four, finish Darth Nocturnal quest line now available." A mechanized voice stated.

"Since we are talking, I thought vampirism was removed from the game." I inquired confused at the sudden reversal.

"You earned and did not misuse the powers given to you." The voice declared. "The final decision is yours."

If I took the money it could break the game. I was tied to the Darth Nocturnal story and it was tied to the ship the 'Pride of Korriban'. I felt like I had no choice. I hit accept and felt the familiar sensation of ice water in my veins. I fell asleep as the final changes occurred. I was awoken by someone hugging me.

"Ghost! You are alive!" Void declared. "Everything happened so fast!" She stated cheerily now that we were reunited. "It took me forever to take out the Hunter-Killer. One of the first major bosses I took on in the game. I entertained her well I suppose. What did you get?"

"A mixed bag," I whimpered as the Thirst burned in my veins and forced my fangs to slide into view.

"Oh shit, I thought... I am confused." She bitched for good reason. If I were in her position I would be upset too.

"I was the first." I explained. "I only gave it to one other player. She, well she created a cult of followers. I have a matter tied to this that I cannot abandon." I stated doing my best to stay in character and remain in control. It felt like the time I had been free of the thirst had been distilled and injected into my veins.

We fell into silence. I forced myself into a meditative state as we waited for the others to appear one by one. Once we were gathered, I stood expecting to enter battle again, but a clock counted down for thirty minutes. I paced like a caged animal. If they had happy thoughts about being a vampire, second thoughts seemed to overwhelm them.

"Have you checked your new skill sets?" Gimmick offered and patted a spot near him. "I'll show you mine and all that." I laughed and that drove the Thirst away.

"Sure," I said and sat down. I brought Left up and displayed my various load outs for armor, weapons, and spells. I scrolled down examining them. "Load outs look good." I stated as Gimmick looked at me questioningly. "I got ahold of an item," I said not wanting to use the word relic or artifact. "Let us see how skills and whatnot are looking." I swapped over and the Devs, or developers, had changed the graphic interface again. This was like the fifth version of things. "Sheesh, they changed it again."

What had once been a flat disk with basic skills at the center was now a sphere with them on the surface and as you drilled down the more specific or precise, they became. By swiping left or right I rotated through powers, abilities, and lastly stats. I stuck with skills for now and noticed I was still twelve levels from being able to play with dark star alloy, the key material of the Svartalfar. Gimmick was mostly basic skills with a few exceptions that surprised me. He was a skilled Xenoarchaeologist. He studied alien cultures and structures.

"That explains why she called you historian." I stated. "We are running out of time. Traci, scan skills, abilities, and powers. Display optimization." The display split showing the current and potential version. Increases were shown in blue, decreases in red, and synergetic bonuses in green. I looked it over carefully and approved the changes.

"How the hell did you do that?" Gimmick cursed. I walked him through it. "I never knew there were synergetic bonuses!"

Soon we were all huddled and tweaking skills and abilities. They were thrilled to learn about the optimization choice. I sent a message to the Devs and they replied that they had received it and would inform the other players. The clock ran down, and it was my turn again. I kept my current set of armor and weapons. I was teleported to the battle ring and found Amalgam still leisurely stretched across her throne. Once more her eyes shone with the emerald energy. Was she tapping into the Time Stone or was this something else?

"Ooh, how the mighty have fallen. Let us see how you fare against them." She giggled.

"What the hell are you... aw come the fuck on!" I cursed when a dozen Xeno-Skrulls popped into existence. What did she mean by how the mighty have fallen? I was positioned in the middle of the circle and Left changed out my armor and weapons to full Yautja except for the improved needler on my right arm.

"Remember to entertain me Ghost," Amalgam leisurely reminded me.

"I am but a toy of the gods," I stated as my newly chosen combat music began to play. The aliens slowly closed the circle acting in their now familiar pack mentality I had grown to hate aboard the space station. I palmed the Darksaber into Left, dropped a thermal smoke grenade, and leapt straight up. Like many pack hunters sudden movement or change in the environment triggered a reaction. In this case they rushed into the smoke. I manually painted all twelve with the triangular targeting system on my mask. I began to fall and opened fire. Their exceptional sense of spatial awareness sent them scurrying. Two of them got caught up against one another and perished. The floor sizzled as the acidic blood melted deep craters in it.

"My floor!" Amalgam complained. I teleported in front of a group of three and went on the offensive. The Darksaber silently ignited and I performed a masterful horizontal slash. I managed to decapitate two of them, their lifeforce feeding me and curbing the Thirst. The third alien partially dodged and left ever shrinking smoking holes in the floor. While I could not leave the combat circle the Xenos could. They fled and gathered in a smaller pack and planned. While they were gone my stamina and mana pools regenerated. The floor healed itself and...

"Damn it all to hell! Where are my kills at?" I cursed seeing the bodies of perished aliens were missing.

"Why so upset?" Amalga asked.

"I just found a use for them. While their internals make for excellent and peculiar potions, their skin makes great leather for all sorts of projects. These guys are great for stealth capabilities, their natural shapeshifting is passed along into their leather. Oh, and it utterly acid resistant."

What the fuck was this stone-cold bitch up to? I reloaded the needler with flechette rounds, crouched, and waited. I could not turn invisible because that would not be entertaining. So, I was hamstringed in my ability to defend myself. I decided to channel Ynariel and the way she moved. I would be a blur. I would be clinically precise. I would become death incarnate. Suddenly, the exterior of the circle rose in a cloud of smoke. I teleported to the center of the circle. I began to sing. The music filled the circle. If it worked right it would act as echolocation and give me a map when they entered the circle. Amalgam was tapping her foot to the song when the Xenos attacked.

It worked. I had a clear mental map of them, all of them. Where the hell had the queen alien come from? She was surrounded by her drone bodyguards. I could feel her telepathic shroud and tendrils of control over her brood. If I was going to survive, I needed to propagate chaos among them. I tapped into my negamage skills and tried something terribly dangerous. If I could drain her psychic reservoirs, she would lose control. If I failed the backlash could be lethal.

"No guts no glory," I sang. I used my blink ability to perform short range teleports while I wove the psychic web around the queen. She must have felt it, she sent them out, and the drones charged me. I moved across the circle seconds before they reached me. It cost me mana to blink, and I was running out quickly. "Just a little longer." I hummed as I desperately tried to ensnare her. The Xenos bloodlust grew the longer I denied them the opportunity to tear and rend. My mana dropped so low I was forced to use raw speed and agility. "Catch me if you can!" I belted out as I raced across the battleground. "Gotcha!" The psychic pattern had been woven. Now, I faced the full wrath of the queen. The connection between our minds was forged. The air flared as the once invisible threads were revealed as primal energy coursed through it.

She screamed as her mental sanctum was invaded. She rose to her full height and bellowed as her drones looked around confused. Without her to guide them they drew close to her to defend from the unseen assault. My mana meter topped out in mere seconds. The backup meter slowly filled, starting off with a bright yellow but leisurely turning blood red. If the backup filled completely, I would die from burnout. I imagined few players even knew about the secondary power meter. Unless you pushed yourself over the top regularly you might never even see them. It was time to burn off the extra power.

My fingers crackled with violet-black lightning as I unleashed the hell storm upon them. The drones took the worst of the hit. I fried them midair as they sensed the threat too late and leapt. The queen withdrew from the battlefield and the corpses of the drones faded from view as the floor repaired itself. I took the rest of the excess power and healed myself and restored my stamina. All green, I thought as I looked at my meters. I was going to need it.

"Almost done," Amalgam chuckled. "You will witness the answer to your previous question. How the mighty had fallen, fallen from what?" She shifted to a sitting position, her hands on her knees as the last manifestation of the Xeno Queen strode out of the fog.

"Holy fucking shit!" I cursed as the nine-meter-tall Xenomorph Empress entered the circle the ground shaking under her multiton weight. Her chitinous head piece alone was three meters long and if there was any doubt that she remembered what I had done to her and hers the roar that followed removed all doubt. I clapped my hands over my ears to keep from being deafened. I plucked the smart disc from its sheath on the meaty part of my right leg. I hurled it at her and rolled away as she charged my position. Her sheer bulk made the circle seem much smaller. The disc cut along her head piece leaving a gouge but no more. I caught it as it returned and almost dropped it when the psychic attack struck.

I staggered and shoulder rolled to keep from being crushed. I was just rolling to my feet when her tail slammed into me. I was forced to tap into my vampiric abilities and take on the form of a shadowy cloud to keep from being propelled out the circle and losing. I looked at my meters and they were all in the yellow. This bitch was really pissing me off. I reverted to a solid form, drew Deathkiss, and went on the offensive. I pushed myself into the zone that Ynariel seemed to live in. I raced at the Empress and used my wrist shield to blunt her psychic attack. It worked after a fashion. The kaiburr crystal shook under the assault. It lasted long enough for the sword to bite deep. The sudden pleasure surprised and halted her attack. I drove the weapon deeper and gave it a savage twist. The thing's backfist sent me reeling. I was back in the green but Deathkiss was lodged in the beast. The Empress plucked the sword free and hurled it, I tried to use telekinesis to get it back, but the bitch struck out psychically while my attention was on my weapon. The sword flew outside the circle as I defended my mind.

"Now it is personal!" I growled while I shook my head to fight off the mental assault.

She was charging and I leapt up and out of her reach. I fired a dozen needler rounds into her head and spine. The hard-plated protection forced the flechettes to bounce off harmlessly. However, those that struck her spine and back dug deep and drew acidic blood. I landed beyond her and that massive head spun around her attention became laser focused. I activated both wrist shields, crossed them, and locked my legs beneath me. Her rage filled mental assault was redirected but only for so long. The right shield failed as the crimson crystal shattered. I cried out as my right arm broke and pulled out of the socket. I screamed in pain.

"Does it hurt?" She whispered her mind voice cold and feminine. I felt fear as she closed for the kill. "I will feed off your nightmares before I crack the rest of your bones and suck out the marrow."

She did not charge. She did not have to. Her approach was slow and languid. I tried to clutch my arm to my chest and whimpered at the ruin that was my limb. I dropped to my knees shaking and sniveling.

"Yes! Your fear is so sweet to me." The Empress purred as her wounds began to heal slowly. She was twenty feet away, then fifteen, ten, and then loomed over me. "Time to die!" She roared triumphantly. Amalgam was standing now waiting for the killing blow.

"Time... is on my side," I sang. "Yes, it is!" Left called Deathkiss from beyond the circle directly into my hand. With a howl of triumph, I drove the sword upward cleaving flesh and blood. The rush of energy filled me just enough to allow me to assume gaseous form and avoid the splash of acidic blood. I manifested on the Empress' right side. I slashed her with a shallow strike. "Time is on my side!" I sang as I leapt and as I fell, I used my body weight and the sword's keen edge to penetrate her armored head. Her psychic death cry nearly killed me. Deathkiss was the only thing that kept me from perishing. "Yes, it is." I whispered.

"NO!" Amalgam roared in her rage. "You cheated!"

"Deathkiss and I are bonded. We share a connection. Even if she were on another plane, I could call her back to me." I explained.

"Fine," Amalgam pouted angrily. "Go rest."

I was teleported to the rest area. Gimmick vanished once I appeared. I did not even have the chance to warn him. My healing factor kicked into full gear as I removed my wrist shields and examined them. Both Kaiburr crystals were dust. I used a smart station provided to vacuum out the bits and make sure those fragments had not migrated to other portions of the shields. They had so I repaired them and recalibrated them for vorpalite. I removed two high quality blue crystals, installed them, and tested their compatibility. I activated one and then the other safely. I closed them and slipped them back on.

"You okay, that took a long time." Void asked and I sat with her and Sentinel.

"Amalgam ran me through the wringer," I stated angrily. "Remember the Xeno-Skrulls?"

"Aw crap!" Sentinel cursed. "I hated those damn things!"

"We all did," Void agreed. "There is a kitchen area if you are hungry."

The three of us got up and wandered in the direction of the kitchen. A ball of blue flame marked my reward for my success in the second round. I touched it and standing there was a classically dressed vampire bride. I shrugged and was about to accept it when Void touched my shoulder.

"If you don't want her choose one of the others. All you have to do is swipe left or right." She informed me.

"All this time and I just accepted my rewards!" I exclaimed.

"No, it was implemented just a few upgrades back." Sentinel added as I swiped right. The first alternative was an impressive sniper rifle. Nah. The next was a pack of cosmetic costume and weapon options. Maybe. The last was salvage rights to one or more of the derelicts outside the ship.

"Now we are talking!" I declared. I selected the salvage. Though nothing was promised, it fit our current storyline the best. A sudden dizzy spell sent me careening into one of the tables. The girls helped me into a chair and Void's wrist was pressed against my mouth.

"Eat damn it!" She winced but then let out a moan. "Ooh, I see why the goth girls dig vampires."

I took a small amount of blood. She still had a fight ahead of her, they both did. Sentinel also offered and her blood was more potent. It could have been her alien origin or impressive healing factor. I let the blood do its magic and stood only when I was sure I was okay. Gimmick showed up ten minutes later and he looked quite proud of himself. He joined me in the kitchen while Void vanished for her second round. Gimmick was tight lipped about his second round and I respected that.

"Vampire again eh? How are you coping?" He asked clearly concerned.

"How the hell did you know about before?" I asked feeling vulnerable.

"I knew the player you brought across. She bragged to me. It is why I started playing. Not that I wanted to be a vampire just the full dive experience. You are a bit of a legend really." He stated. "I watched your concert, hell, I even have it saved on my play list when I fight."

"I'm flattered." I replied. I was going to log out if he asked for an autograph, consequences be damned.

"Hey! The ceiling is opening up!" Void called out.

"I guess we are done," I commented as we joined Sentinel and Void. Once we entered the rest area the floor acted like an elevator and raised us to the throne room. The combat circle was gone, and Amalgam seemed relatively pleased.

"It is nearly time for you to depart." She indicated with a casual gesture of her right hand. "However," she growled as she leaned forward and glared at us with violet energy framing her eyes. "I need to know what happened to my creators."

"I have no idea," Void blurted out. "I am no student of ancient history."

"Ditto," Sentinel added.

"Well?" Amalgam glared at me. "Your people have been around forever!" She snarled as her eyes went from purple to golden yellow. Her mind entered mine without warning or request. I did not resist for if I were correct then it would have been less than useless. I heard my body hit the floor as my astral aspect was ripped from it. Amalgam rooted through every memory both in game and outside it. Why? If this was a part of the game why use this moment to peruse my real-life recollections? Something else was going on and I was powerless to stop it for now. With the same disregard for my safety I was dropped back into my body. I felt it convulse in psychic shock. Was my actual body suffering? I hoped not.

"You... historian... what do you know about my people?" Amalgam asked as Void and Sentinel performed first aid and used what they could to stabilize me.

"Little." Gimmick replied. "There was not much left after your creators were quite literally wiped from history."

"I know. When I try to find out I reach a point where even my power fails." Amalgam states her voice shaky and unsure. "I am open to theories."

"The Celestials." Gimmick offered. "Perhaps your builders crossed a line and they were destroyed for reasons only such beings could fathom."

"Help me up," I requested from my companions. Once standing I addressed Amalgam. "I think I know why that race was sterilized." I growled still pissed at being treated so poorly.

"I examined your mind. You hold nothing I would be interested in." She fired back equally upset.

"Then we will be leaving. We have ships to salvage." I said as I turned and headed for the exit. I felt her this time since I was reaching out as I staggered away. I hit the invisible barrier she had erected. "What?"