Dark Matter Ascension

Days passed and Jace continued his journey across the broken landscape. He had stumbled across a road, and after consulting Ollie's map, found that the cracked, stone walkway more-or-less led to where they were going.

He was not wanting for shelter after the third day. Small villages with twenty-to-thirty houses were spaced out along the road or not too far from it – like the suburbs that rich people lived in back on Earth. He was able to hole up and get a decent night's rest. For some reason, the wildlife avoided the remains of the buildings – but he slept with his sword in hand just in case.

On the horizon he spotted the skyline of a city. "Any information on this place?" Jace asked as he continued to trudge along.

Ollie's eyes went black, "Accessing…" he shook his head, and the light returned to his vision, "Ah, this was one of their places of leisure. Like Las Vegas from Earth. This is where people would come to experience all types of interesting attractions."

Movement in the corner of Jace's vision stood out to him. Atop one of the skyscrapers that went up at least four-hundred feet, he saw a flickering light. "Did anyone from this civilization stay post-Cosmogenic Merging?"

"Yup. A few. Those that were affected by the magitech nanite swarm. They were part of the 'hive mind' of sorts. Now? They are little more than…the best equivalent on Earth would be zombies."

"Really? Slow, shambl-"

"No-no-no!" Ollie replied. "They are fast. And they are not…dumb. Just animalistic. Their higher reasoning was replaced by the hive mind, and so when it was stopped, they were left with their base instincts."

"What you're saying is they're not really human?"

Ollie laughed, "I mean they were never human. The native humanoid species that dominated the world were called Velenian."

<<<<<>>>>>

[Quest: Clear the Glimmerdust Skyscraper resort Complex.]

[Time Limit: 12 hours.]

[Reward: Legendary (Skill Evolution) Boon.]

[Sender: Dark Between Stars.]

<<<<<>>>>>

"Would you look at that," Ollie said with a grin. "Xera is still feeding you impressive Quest rewards."

Yeah. It is nice having these Legendary rarity rewards tossed my way. "Clearing a whole skyscraper is going to be tedious."

"First things first! Get to the city proper."

The mako-shark swam through the air alongside the armored woman. "New information," it growled. "A System query occurred one-hundred miles to the North-East. If the target is traveling towards the portal from their last known location, then they are most likely the one who sent the query."

The three-dimensional map of the world appeared just above and in front of the armored woman. "Zoom in and highlight the best path," she muttered. The map zoomed in and displayed a route that went along one of the cracked roads that her hypercycle could traverse. "Let the faction know we're almost there." She pulled up the Quest message to remind her of the sweet, sweet reward waiting for her if she succeeded.

<<<<<>>>>>

[Quest: Recover the Cyberconnect Integration Fluid.]

[Time Limit: Unlimited.]

[Reward: Equipment (Epic) Boon.]

[Sender: Nebula Alliance.]

<<<<<>>>>>

She pushed the hypercycle to its top speed as she traversed the shattered road, heading towards her prey.

Jace entered the city proper and looked up in awe at the enormous buildings. They were not made like the buildings on Earth – from concrete, stone, and steel. These buildings were fully made of dull, green metal. The way the light from the three suns reflected off them revealed tracing, winding lines of silver that intersected with the green. There were no windows as far as he could tell.

There were streetlights lining the road that were the same design as the lights within the bunker –bronze or copper casing around what should be an illuminated, sparking core. Old advertisements – painted onto large wooden panels – had rotted away and could barely be read.

The streets were completely empty. "Did they have transports of some kind?"

"Yup. Magitech vehicles that ran off arc reactor. I am surprised there are not any out here abandoned."

Jace traced the pattern with his fingers to manifest Dark Matter Shield (Rank 2) and Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending]. The tower shield manifested on his grapnel arm, and his whole sword ignited with the deep, purple energy with the crimson core. He felt slightly winded and had to catch his breath as the energy expenditure drained him of stamina.

He shut his eyes and focused on his sense of hearing. He heard the sharp howling of the wind through the buildings, blowing through the different alleys and buildings with high speed. Far above, he could hear the slight thwap of cloth that was flapping in the wind. "Doesn't sound like there's anything hostile nearby," he muttered as he opened his eyes.

Ollie pointed at a building a few blocks down the road, "There's the Complex." He twirled in the air and ascended to his maximum tether height. "Doesn't look like anything's approaching."

Jace nodded and headed to the building. The front doors were the same metal as the exterior of the building but were a deep green color. Glimmerdust Skyscraper was written in silver letters along the front of the building, along with the words resort and pleasure den. Jace raised a clawed leg and kicked forward.

The door slightly dented. Damn, tough stuff. He kicked out twice more – the door bending inward each time. Each kick led to an enormous clang noise that echoed throughout the city and surely alerted these zombie-like creatures that Jace was present. "What is this made of?" he asked as he pulled his leg back.

"No clue," Ollie replied. "Give it a few more kicks."

"Alright," Jace muttered as he did so, kicking in with his powerful prosthetic over and over. Finally, he had bent the door inward enough that he could squeeze through the gap.

<<<<<>>>>>

[Warning! You are about to enter a Complex!]

[This location has been marked by The Cosmic System as Tier 1.]

[Number of foes to clear out: 18.]

<<<<<>>>>>

All right. Into the breach. Squeezing through, he found himself in a lobby. His vision shifted to the purple hue as the light from outside could not penetrate the darkened interior. Sumptuous couches with end tables were spaced out all around. Dust coated every surface, and he could smell the scent of mildew as some of the bits of furniture had been soaked in ages past. There were a series of elevators next to a large set of stairs that doubled back on themselves, ascending higher.

Jace walked over to the counter and jumped behind it. There were a series of cubby holes with a small keyhole on the front. "Must be where they keep the room keys," Jace commented.

"I do not think there's any need," Ollie replied. "I doubt anything you find is going to be more valuable than what you have already acquired."

"Fair point," Jace replied. He headed to the elevator and tapped the button. Nothing happened. "As expected," he muttered.

"You could go find the maintenance area and try to turn on an arc reactor."

"I'd need a big jolt of magic to do that, right?"

"You have an ability that lets you shoot Dark Matter."

Jace frowned, "Does that count?"

"Maybe? I do not know. This is all new to me, too."

Jace nodded and went back behind the counter, opening a door that was labeled for employees only. He saw a series of lockers, and beyond that a door labeled maintenance. The door was open, and he walked down a set of stairs until he was in the basement. Something had flooded the space, and there was a layer of greyish water. At the back of the chamber, he spotted one of the arc reactors. "So, what? I just shoot it with a Dark Matter Dart?"

"Give it a try."

Jace raised his sword and pointed it at the generator. Dark Matter Dart (Rank 1). A bolt of deep purple energy in the shape of a short, sharp stick launched out from the tip of the blade. It raced forward and slammed into the arc reactor, going right through the device and boring into the far wall.

"Welp, that did not work," Ollie muttered.

Jace sighed and turned back to the stairs, heading up to the lobby and then looking up at the enormous double-back stairs leading higher. "Looks like I get to walk up then."

"Cheer up, it's only fifty stories."

Jace groaned and began trudging up.

She slowed the hypercycle and activated the silent-running mode. It would cause the vehicle to heat up, but due to her Nebula powers, she could simply encrust her weapon in ice and tap it to the engine to keep things cool.

"He's close," the mako-shark Wayfinder commented. "In that city."

"It's a big place," She muttered. "How will we find him?"

"Just wait to hear sounds of combat."

Jace did not feel much strain on his legs – but his hip flexors were burning. He had to stop a few times on the landings of some floors to stretch those out and catch his breath. Don't want to be out of breath when I end up finding these things, he thought.

For some reason they had not gone downstairs when he had made so much noise breaking in. The only reasoning he had was that these zombie-like things he was supposed to be finding up here just had crappy hearing. It did not make much sense if they were more animalistic, but then again Jace did not know what normal was anymore. He was wielding a sword – something he had never, ever thought he would be doing. Not to mention the magitech prosthetics and Dark Matter powers.

On the 48th floor, he heard a noise. It was faint, but he could make out a sound of chattering. Some type of communication that did not rise to the level of intelligible and translatable by his Universal Translation Skill. Holding his sword and shield at the ready, he slowly ascended the stairs to the next level.

There was a loud shriek that came from right above him and made him jump. Reflexively, he moved the tower shield up to cover his head, and he had to tense his legs in a squat as a heavy weight landed on it. The same type of humanoid creature that he had found desiccated in the bunker, but this one was crusted with the magitech nanites and had a bit more meat on its bones. It tried to flail around the shield to grab Jace.

Glancing over, an idea popped into his head. He slightly tipped the shield to his side and bucked up from the squat position. This tossed the creature off the shield and down the small gap running down the stairs. It crunched and slammed into the different landings before something snapped. One down. These things are weak. This shouldn't be a problem if I can funnel them onto one of the landings or keep them on the stairs.

There were more shrieks coming from further up, and he grinned as he pushed up the stairs. "Come on!" he shouted, feeling supremely confident in his abilities. "Bring it!"

Oliver whooped next to him but then turned around, "I'll watch your back!"

He charged up the stairs and saw a group of the creatures coming down from higher up. With a single slice, he carved the first one in half – their lack of any type of exterior shell making them an insignificant threat compared to the predators he had been fighting. Is it this easy to kill people? He thought. Well, used-to-be people. The ease at which he was dispatching them with shocked him.

I'm curious, he dismissed the shield and tried punching one of them. The magitech limb, combined with the strength increase from the serum injected into him, resulted in a blood-laced, gory explosion as the punch decapitated his target. Goddamn! They're so…flimsy. Perfect time to test out these legs.

He backed away down the hallway from the landing, luring the creatures out of the stairwell and past their dead companions. "What are you doing?" Ollie asked.

"Practicing," Jace replied as he jumped straight up, flipped upside-down, and latched his claw-feet onto the ceiling. Reorienting himself was jarring, and he felt the blood begin to rush to his head instantly – but he had to get used to this feeling. Fighting in an unconventional way like this would be useful against foes who could think. And this fodder was perfect practice. Thanks to Swordmage Stance (Rank 3), even though he was slightly disoriented, his body perfectly weaved a web of strikes before him.

Each foe that approached was carved apart. They were dying so quickly to singular strikes that he could not even see the Dark Matter Blade's (Rank 5) or [Rending] effects. I need to know what that looks like, he thought.

There were only two of the creatures left. He dispatched one with ease, and then flipped back down to an upright position as the last one charged at him. Nonlethal, he thought as he waited for it to come closer. His body instinctually responded to his will, and he sidestepped the charge. He smacked the creature in the head with the hilt of the weapon. It crumpled to the ground, dazed, and he followed up with a stab through the thigh.

The creature screeched, and Jace saw the effects take hold. The purple glow of the slowing effect spread more rapidly, and he could see small, black dots sparkled amongst the purple glow – the micro-singularities that were causing constant harm. Underneath the purple glow, there was a deep, crimson nebula that slowly spread through the thigh and gushed out of the humanoid zombie-like entity.

It shrieked and tried to turn around, but Jace planted his foot-claw on its back. The purple and crimson spread up through the thing's body, and it expired once the glow had reached its midsection. It must've bled out. He kicked it over and saw the large pool of black underneath where it lay. "Ollie, dust them."

Ollie nodded and held up his paw as Jace walked back towards the staircase. The bodies vanished and flooded towards the otter.

<<<<<>>>>>

[Stardust Acquired: 180.]

<<<<<>>>>>

[Quest Completed: Clear the Glimmerdust Skyscraper resort Complex.]

[Time Limit: 12 hours.]

[Reward: Legendary (Skill Evolution) Boon.]

[Sender: Dark Between Stars.]

<<<<<>>>>>

"Alright, let's hold onto that Boon," Jace stated.

Ollie nodded, "Ready to head out?"

Jace looked up the staircase, "I'm only two floors from the top. Might as well get up high and then get a good look at where we're going next."

She brought her hypercycle to a stop right in front of a skyscraper that doubled as a resort. The doorway was kicked in. She put the kickstand down and reached back into the cargo pod mounted to the side of the vehicle. She pulled out a shotgun, racked the slide, loaded it, and then slung it on her back. Last, she grabbed two grenades – one filled with sticky webbing meant to incapacitate, and another that would send out an EMP pulse.

"I can't find any information on this place," the mako-shark commented as it swam around her head. "The Complex was entered just-"

She heard a battle cry from somewhere high up. "Sounds like he's still up there." She took a deep breath and focused her will. Her armor crusted over with razor-sharp spikes of ice that would deflect blows and protect her from harm. Her large hammer grew the rime spikes that oozed out a deep, radiating cold.

She could not make it through the crack in the door caused by blunt force. "They must be weak," she muttered as she lifted her servo-assisted foot and kicked the door into the lobby with a resounding crack and thud. She walked in and her vision shifted to a pale blue color as darkness set in around her.

"The stairs," the mako-shark commented.

"No shit." She rumbled out as she walked to the stairs. A loud crack above her caught her attention, and she spotted a corpse of some creature – sliced in half and oozing a miasmic purple and crimson hue – come rocketing down towards her through the gap at the center of the staircase. "Huh." It splatted against the ground floor – still partly intact.

Her mako-shark Wayfinder hovered over the corpse and its eyes went deep, black. "Oh…that is not good. Stand by."

She stood there, waiting, hearing combat from far up. "Hurry up."

"That's a Dark Matter Skill," the shark replied as its eyes went deep, dark black.

"I didn't see that as an option," she replied.

"It is not an option. That is why it is weird…it is like they made the Cosmic Power source. I am being blocked from finding more information from the effects on the corpse. I need to see the Aspirant to query the System."

"Right." She began walking up the stairs, feeling the anticipation building and her heart thumping at the impending brawl with this secret power user.

Jace got to the door leading to the roof and opened it with ease. The metal swung outward, and he stepped onto the roof. Almost immediately he gagged at the wretched smell. He leaned over and retched. Piles of refuse and feces were splattered all around the rooftop entrance. "Is this where they-"

"Their bathroom, apparently." Ollie pointed to the left, "Looks like there is a clear path there."

Jace carefully moved around the piles of refuse as he made for the front of the building. Thankfully, once he got around the doorway leading to the stairs, the wind carried the foul odors away from him and he could breathe clean air. He stood on an open space with a spire of metal extending up higher – an antenna. Walking to the edge of the building, he clamped his feet and leaned over. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at a motorcycle.

Ollie floated over the edge, "Querying…That's a General Logistics hypercycle."

"Shit," Jace replied as he scanned the street below for any sign of the individual who he had been warned was hunting him down. "They must've gone into the building."

Ollie chuckled, "You could be a real bastard if you wanted. Just use your grapnel and the legs to get down along the exterior of the building…steal the cycle."

"That's a good id-" Jace stopped speaking as he felt a chill across his flesh. Not a chill of fear. A very real, biting cold that spread from his back and radiated outward. It sent his teeth to chatter, and he felt his body start to lock up.

"Crap!" Ollie shouted out as he turned in space to look behind Jace.

Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3), Jace thought. The bubble popped into place around him, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the cold feeling faded. But he felt weaker and a little tired from the activation of the Skill. Spinning around, he felt an actual trace of fear down his spine.

A person in the heaviest armor he had ever seen was lowering their hand as ice trickled from their palm. Her body was fully covered in icy protrusions and waves of visible frigid air flowed from her. Her right hand held a massive hammer with what looked to be an exhaust pipe on the back. "You have something I want."