AnimaNova.exe (Arc1:Chp7)

Arc 1

Chapter 7 - The Mentor System

The Eastguardian bent over, placed his hands on his knees and shook his head in disbelief. Sophia noticed that the ragged bandage was staining darker with his blood, but he didn’t seem pained or bothered by it. He would need to have it looked at – for fresh blood, that did look good.

“Ermahgerd!” he exclaimed and expelled a heavy, growling sigh of relief. “I can’t believe I just did that! Armin’s Dread Aura is something else. Dealing with it and Gen’varel’s one at the same time is not fun. Although… we might have caused a rift between the two, we could capitalise on that if we played our cards right.”

Sophia squinted at him suspiciously.

“And what would that entail?” she responded drily.

“Well, I’m just winging it for now. But, at the very least, you’d want to be free of this place, right? Armin’s our best bet for that outcome.”

He wasn’t wrong. This place was dangerous. The outside could be more so, but she wouldn’t be trying to hide directly in enemy territory. She wanted to get to the Novus Animus, but not while the Order still occupied the mine.

“Is that why you helped me?” she asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

He laughed awkwardly. “To be honest, I wasn’t helping you. I was trying to stop Shuri from doing something he’d regret. Even if he weren’t in his right mind, it would have still eaten at him when he came back to his senses.”

“Fair enough,” she answered, satisfied with his answer. She pushed herself up from the floor.

“Do you think he’s safe? Shuri… I mean. What do you think Armin’s going to do with them?” he asked uncertainly.

Sophia looked at the alcove exit in thought.

“Armin doesn’t view the Titan Order as allies,” she whispered conspiratorially. “They felt the effects of his aura, too, when he used it on me. Maybe I’m just naïve…”

‘Heino thought so,’ she thought, still annoyed with his teasing.

“But I believe there’s some of the former hero left and I don’t think it’s buried that deep. I don’t think he would harm them intentionally. He’s not as corrupt as the Titan Order.”

“Not yet, anyway,” he mumbled. “I guess I’ll have to be fine with that for now.”

“Well, if you’re going to mentor me. You can start by telling me your name,” Sophia suggested.

The Eastguardian shivered.

“Brrr, No! Mentors die when they're no longer useful to the plot. Let’s go with – Allied Trainer. And it’s Nic… er… Karl Voet, Rogue-Ranger. At your service,” he answered, bowing with a flourish.

She chuckled. ‘So, we are using avatar names? Possibly the best course of action moving forward,’ she thought.

“Karl Voet, huh?” she giggled, bending over to look at his bare feet. “An apt name at the moment.”

Karl followed her gaze with an astonished look on his face, a smile playing at his lips.

“You get the joke,” he mused. “That’s interesting.”

‘Oh crap! I gave myself away already!’ she thought regretfully.

“Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me. It might even be so much more useful to communicate. Praat jy Afrikaans? Wat’s jou naam?” he asked, switching languages effortlessly.

“My naam is Arinya, Arinya Feline Clawsome,” she answered, confirming the first question by answering the latter. Hearing Afrikaans spoken with his character’s accent was a wild experience, let alone from her own slightly gruffer version of the Silvestra’s cutesy-patootsie voice.

She was a little rusty, though. It’s been a while since she’s used the language. The last time was with Clint, three years ago. He was right, though. It could be a great way to deal with eavesdroppers if they were planning to escape.

“I’m a War… Healer-Cleric, apparently. So, you’ve played Novus Animus?” she continued in Afrikaans.

“We all have. Everyone I’ve spoken to has played the game at some point, whether casual or hardcore. And before you ask, no one knows what's going on,” he answered, waving his arm at the tunnel around them. “One minute we were doing our own thing in the real world and the next we woke up here.”

‘Well, that’s disappointing,’ she thought. It would save her time and energy trying to solve that mystery.

“Karl,” she called.

“Yes?” he asked, still deep in thought.

“We need to do something about your arm,” she responded, her eyes dropping to his bandage.

His arm twitched when she brought it to his attention and he lifted it to inspect it. By now, the rags were soaked through, and drops of blood were running down his arm.

“Shit,” he hissed. “Shuri must have ripped the stitches. I can stop the bleeding for now, but it won’t heal properly without your help. Let’s get you levelled the safe way first, then find someone to gyppo that collar temporarily so we can actually use your skills.”

He walked to the entrance, peeked out, then turned and walked back to her after assessing the situation.

“Looks calm and quiet out there. But don’t let that deceive you. He’ll be looking for someone to blame. Keep your head down, mind your business and whatever happens, don’t… cry.”

He took her wrist and led her to the entrance.

“Who are you talking about?” she asked in a whisper.

“Cash Bandikewl. He’s managed to bypass some of the parameters of his collar without the Order knowing. Together with his class, his resourcefulness has made him the de facto leader of the players around here. He isn’t a rat, but he isn’t friendly either. If you’re not in with him, you’re out. Trust me, you’ll know him when you see him. Just make sure he doesn’t see you first,” he responded.

Karl led her into a larger area. It seemed like an intersection, one with many tunnels shooting off into the darkness. He let go of her arm to follow on her own.

‘How far below ground were they? How close to the prison?’ she wondered.

The sound of the pickaxes was loudest here, coalescing and echoing from every tunnel. It was crammed with people, most of whom were either mining, picking up rocks or transporting wheelbarrows filled with them in silence. Karl kept close to the wall as they made their way through.

Karl was right, though. She spotted Cash almost immediately. He stuck out among his peers because he was the only one doing absolutely nothing. The Silvestra-Vulpes had a mop of orange hair with a single thin plait hanging down the side of his head. He sat on the top of some scaffolding directly opposite, kicking his legs over the edge. His bushy orange-and-white tail swished happily from side to side, and he watched everything below with bright light-brown eyes and a self-important smirk plastered on his face.

He searched for something at his side and threw it down. It landed at the feet of a Silvestra-Lepus with shocking white, scruffy hair and expressive blood-red eyes while he was sorting rocks. The Lepus frowned, his rabbit ears flattening against his head as he looked at it. For a second, he looked like he was going to ignore it before he sighed in resignation and dropped his rocks to pick it up.

She tore her eyes away from the Lepus when she brushed against someone. She was about to mumble an apology when the man forcibly pushed her away from him.

“Move, slave!” the Order’s sycophant ordered, not sparing her a single look before he moved right along.

A putrid smell entered her nose, so vile that it choked her. She lifted her hand to cover her nose and block it off. Every hair on her body rose and her heart hammered in her chest. She turned to the source of her trepidation and jumped out of the way before the shuffling, rotting creature bumped into her.

She felt radiant magic tingle in her fingertips, and a subtle shock zapped her neck. The creature emitted a croaking growl in response to the magic it felt.

Karl took her hand, squeezing it in warning.

“Stop,” he hissed softly. “Use your magic without a conduit weapon, and it may end up hurting you more… if the collar doesn’t get you first. Calm yourself and don’t antagonise it.”

The sycophant laughed at her weak display before leading the slack-jawed creature away. Karl pulled her into motion, but Sophia's eyes didn’t leave the limp-haired, decomposing skull. Her back still crawled from its foul presence when he dragged her down a connecting tunnel.

‘I felt it!’ her mind screamed. ‘They’re real! Zombies are real!’

...

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