12:00 IST, Sixteenth day, Third month, 3079 PV | Arcos Bastion City / Command Room 2
“Well, the youngins are all here. So let's get this party started, shall we?”
The whole cast of our little space opera is gathered together in the same room. Rigar is sitting at the end of the large table. Ray (who is looking extremely cute, as always) is seated directly (I'm basically in her lap) to my right. Initae is at the head of the table. Emil is currently occupied in some form of holiday or something. Or at least, that's what Initae said. I wouldn't be surprised if she dropped him on some jungle planet and told him to survive.
Oh, Alex and Duck are also standing to the side of the room. Can't forget them, they truly are saints. We will definitely have to build that temple that I mentioned before.
Of course, everyone is snazzily done up in their uniforms. Which are super easy to put on, since they were designed to be easily mimicked by our exosuits. Though, of course this leaves them very plain. Basically just a skintight suit with some support in a few places.
“Ya, what Transcendent said. Let's get this party started, I've got some worlds to smash.” Says Rigar, in their way-to-loud voice that practically shakes the foundation of the room. Thankfully, our exosuits are able to damp the sound and our eardrums are super reinforced.
(Base AI): "Initiating connection with the IEC.”
After a few moments, a holographic projection appears of, you guessed it, The Gamekeeper. I wonder how long their speech will be today, hopefully it's not too long. I've got some things I'd rather do, and this cute devil sitting next to me wont want to put them off.
“Greetings, Contestant Kovon and Contestant Rayleigh, and associates. It seems you have been gathering quite a team. Good to see, I'm sure it will come in handy very soon, as you'll soon figure out.
Now, while I'd love to sit around and debate with you on the merits of spending hours lazing in bed every single day and thus delaying this communication.” Everyone in the room turns to look at Ray and I. Like, how is that fair, it could be referring to anyone in this room. “Ive got some important news to dispense. Regarding the second trial in Humanity’s Trial of Ascension, or Humanity’s Game as is the more popular term.
We will be holding the commencement ceremony for the second trial at precisely 14:00 IST, First day, Fourth month, 3079 PV. Please be sure to be in the antechamber by 13:45 to ensure that everyone is gathered on time.
I'm sure you two will quite enjoy this trial. So I do hope you will be excited.
May the stars be ever in your favor, contestants.”
Ray:”Welp, I guess that's it then. Our little vacation in Initae’s various hells is over. Boo, hoo, we will have to live in luxury cruisers and such for who knows how long. Darn, I'm really going to miss trekking across sweltering desert planets with very little water and food for days on end.”
“Kiddo, if you're that sad about it, I'm sure we can find a desert planet to hit up on the way to the designated venue.”
“Oh, that won't be necessary. I have darling Ko to comfort me in my distress.”
“Oi, how the klack did I get roped into this.”
She looks over to me and leans down a bit. Staring up into my eyes with puppy-dog-like eyes she asks, “hmm, is that a no that I hear in your voice?”
“Well, to be honest, I'd be glad to. If there is one thing I'm good at is working with devilish personalities.”
She leans over and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, “Good to know you haven't lost your senses.”
Initae:”Ray, what have we said about flirting in highly confidential military briefings?”
“Pff, the briefing is over. Woohoo, new trial, whatever, everyone is free to go and flirt with whomever they should like to.”
“Its not over yet, we still haven't gone over our travel plans.” Initae says, as Ray drags me out of the door. Oh well, I'm sure Initae will tell us when we gotta leave somehow.
Ray then proceeds to drag me into an empty room. About twenty minutes pass.
She drags me out of the room. Apparently, the thing she really wanted to do today is her classical favourite activity (second only to doting on me, of course). You can probably guess what it is by now.
One hour later
“Gimme annuder one, barkeep. Keep em coming, ive got space for several dozen more. *hic*”
If you guessed a bar, you'd be spot on. But this here isn't just any bar, it's a special bar. Now, what can possibly be special about a bar? Well, this one is a black market bar. I have no idea how Ray found this place, nor do I think it is very safe.
The entire room is filled with people, mostly Itokin (cause we are in a bastion city of course), who define the word ‘ruffian’. Covered in battle scars from brawling, wearing run down clothing (which must be intentional, since they could get perfectly clean-looking clothing from their exosuits and remove scarring pretty easily), smoking who knows what alien drugs.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Of course, Ray (who looks super cute in the aesthetic, as she always does) and I changed our clothes to fit the aesthetic. Though it's quite obvious that we don't belong. Like, everyone knows our faces and our status. But thanks to some insane IEC regulations, they act completely normal around us.
Ray (who is super cute, if I haven't mentioned) fits right in of course. It's like she is coming home after a long expedition to a bar full of comrades. Her ability to effortlessly assimilate into various social situations is god-level for sure.
The barkeep slides several more glasses of totally illegal liquor across the bar. Very smoothly, it's a strange technique that all barkeeps seem to have. I wonder if there is a school for sliding drinks across a bar or something.
Without missing a beat, Ray receives them and downs them with her own well-refined technique. That of a cute devil that has been relying upon her best friend to carry her unconscious corpse home from bars since she was eighteen.
“*burp* Hey Ko, you've gotta get in on this action. This stuff is like the old olympians ambrosia or something. I wonder how those guys are doing. You think their family circles are still circular?”
“You are aware that you are talking about ancient mythological beings that were dreamt up by a bunch of hippies living off government welfare, right? Though, I agree, the olympians were described to have very circular looking family trees. I would imagine they would be doing fine. Since they aren't who knows how far from Olympus drinking illegal liquor in a black market bar.”
She tries to rest her head on her hands and look over at me all cutesy (she doesn't even need effort though). But her hands aren't quite nimble enough because of the alcohol. So she ends up falling. Thankfully, with my super enhanced reflexes, I am able to catch her with a nice cloud of inae. Being a space wizard sure does come in handy for detailing with cute drunken devils.
“Mhhm, thanks, darrrrliiing Ko. You've always got me whenever I fall.”
“Which is far too often, one of these times I'm not gonna catch you and you're gonna be so confused.”
“Darling, why would you say such a mean thing? After I just gave you something that should earn your loyalty forever.”
“Im struggling to figure out what you could possibly mean.”
“Wat a jerkface. Listen up folks, we've got a big jerkface here! We should put him in some stocks and throw tomatoes at him for some giggles.” Many of the people in the bar look over at me, with a look of sympathy on their squidlike faces.
We continued drinking for several hours. I never did figure out what she was referencing. If you figure it out, feel free to hop in a time machine and come back here to tell me.
As I carry her back through the streets of Arcos, I stop to admire some of the sights. It's a fairly typical bastion city from what I can tell.
About half a billion inhabitants, mostly focused around the military training facilities that are located here. The buildings definitely look a bit sharper than I've seen before, perhaps the influences of the military have changed architecture to be a bit more practical.
Which I vehemently disagree with. Who cares how efficient it is if you're going around slaughtering millions while in a drab landscape. You wanna be surrounded by beautiful architecture to create a good contrast with the piles of corpses.
At least, that's what I read in a book the person who housed me left around when I was seven. He always left some quite interesting stuff around. Stuff that no normal kid should have ever had access to, let alone be able to read. Luckily, I was far from a normal kid.
A hybrid human-vikea in fact. Probably the only one to ever exist.
I pass by a pretty interesting building. It really stands out because of its uniqueness. Rather than being all square and boxy, it has hexagonal sides. I can't imagine how annoying it was to construct, imagining that architecture to form the inae must've been a pain.
Also, I don't know if I've mentioned, but practically all the structures in the bastions are made out of pure inae. Though some surfaces, like floors, are often covered with other material to make them more realistic and to save people’s eyes.
It does provide a cool look though. Everything looks like some hypermodern designer got a big blank check and just went crazy making everything just a solid clean white.
We make it back to the military base where we have been training for the past month or so. As I'm heading in, I notice a light on in the storage room. Which is strange, since there weren't any missions today that I was aware of. I set down Ray (who is looking mighty cute in her sleep) on a nearby bench. I'm sure she won't mind, considering she is unconscious.
I enter the storage room to find quite a hilarious sight.
Emil is standing in the corner, trying desperately to apply some healing salve thing. He is looking quite bedraggled.
It's quite hilarious, his wings are missing a few spots and his hair is all everywhere. His clothing is somehow run down and he is covered in bruises and looks quite sluggish. I can see his skin is quite red and flaking in places.
“Heya Emil, what have you been up to? We learned when the commencement for the second trial would be earlier.”
“Oh! It's just you, Kovon. Thank goodness it wasn't that little devil Archgodess. If I had known how she really was, I woulda never worshiped her.”
“Hmm, sounds rough. What did she have for you this time?”
“That bloody devil dropped me in the middle of a desert and told me to scale a mountain! She didn't even give me any rations or supplies. Said something about it being good for building my princely character. Such klackery.”
Poor Emil. Initae has been particularly rough on him. So much so that he has taken to using humanity’s profanities rather than his own.
I think she thinks that he should be tougher, considering he is also ancient like her. Thus he has been put through the ringer of training. Though, I do gotta say, his princely aura has improved. Prospective mates seem to agree too, they have been flocking to him in even greater numbers since our training started. Thankfully, it seems Ray won't be straying in his direction.
I leave Emil to tend to his wounds, he is a big guy, im sure a few bruises cant be too bad for him.
I pick up Ray (who is still super cute) from the bench and carry her back into our room. I set her down in the bed and put the covers over her. I sneak a quick kiss on her forehead and then I notice something.
Hovering in the air above the side table is a message written in inae. It reads:
“You little mischievous kiddos, you better be ready for departure tomorrow at 12:00 sharp. Don't be late. Flirting is not a valid excuse. - Initae, your benevolent commander.”
Well, I guess that settles that matter. We ship outa here tomorrow. So, don't mind if I do. But ima cuddle up with my super cute girlfriend and got some sleep in before tomorrow.
I'm sure whatever this second trial has to bring wont be a biggie. Ray and I will conquer it together, as always. So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 53
