Chapter 00110010 00110101
The training session was once again in the tundra and the cold slowed me down considerably. But Lily made up for that with her freakish growing ability. Though they came with a slight change. Some plants from what I know do some wierd growth thing over the winter. So I guess that knowledge was also applied to Persephone's skillset. Her plants had changed into holly and pine needle covered roots and vines. Red berries dotted them all over as they formed a circle around us. Lily wanted me to use only my chains and no bugs so that I would get a complete scope of my abilities with her help. I soon had it figured out. My chains were my greatest asset in the cold. Nothing could change that. I actually developed a cool strategy with Lily of all people. It was fun and I looked forward to testing it out later in the Dome.
It was three hours after we entered that we came out. The others were standing around the hollow screen watching the replays of some of our movements. And some were funny but in all honesty as a man my dignity died a while ago. Lily at one point used her vines to manhandle me around like a damn chained mace with my chains swinging all over hells half acre. The others had a good laugh and Lily looked at me as though waiting for something. I looked at her for a moment before tapping her shoulder with a fist. "Yuh done good chief." I said as I turned and quickly walked up the stairs away from everyone.
They gathered around and started chatting about the possible uses of the "Silent Mace" move as Horacio called it. I ended up sitting upstairs and taking a nice deep breath. I could finally relax away from people.
I had always been a bit of a loner and being around people was a constant drain on the social batteries. (I dont know how people do it. But this is difficult.) I thought to myself. I leaned back and enjoyed the feeling of sitting down. I had a sudden thought and checked my contribution points for the faction house. I was at 120 points after my last cleaning.
Tomorrow would be the dome battles and no cleaning could be done during those unfortunately. It was then that I had a realization. (Unless... I could leave behind a couple of the beetles to do the cleaning... I could fight and still get points. Might as well." I thought as I opened my pet ranch. But what I found made things even more interesting.
The Puffballs I had gotten from the dome had evolved. But not into the normal kind of Scarab. They were white and covered in fuzz. It was like looking at a bunch of plushies. The scarabs saw the opening and poured into the house. The fluffy ones didn't fly oddly but instead scurried out onto the floor where I tried to catch them. As I chased them around I realized that they were leaving the floor even cleaner than what I had left it as. "Cleaner Bugs... I guess I can deal with that. But why did they turn out this way?" I said to myself as Lily came up the stairs and was scared by one shooting past her. "What is that!?" She shouted as Beth caught it and picked it up. For her it was like child's play. She held the little thing in her hand as she petted it.
"Seems you managed to get a few deviants in your latest batch of pets huh Sil." She said as Lily took a closer look at it. It was cute with two beady black eyes against the white fluffy outside. It gave a cute squeak before hopping out of Beth's hand and running across the floor. They quickly realized the benefits of these ones.
"Why did you let them out though?" Beth asked confused. I looked at them both. "It's a way for me to earn contribution points even when I'm in the dome. They clean while I fight. I bet your guy's pets could do the same considering I haven't seen them in action yet." I said with my face full of pride at my most recent discovery.
Lily patted my shoulder. "Good job. You have figured out a way to slack off." She said sarcastically as she went past. I shrugged with a smile. "Hey! If it's effective I'll do it." I said. The little scarabs made quick work of the upper part of the house and were moving to the basement area. The 20 Cleaner scarabs had made quick work of everything really. Not a single spot in the house had a trace of dust left on it and the scarabs seemed happy enough.
Lily called down to Henry And Hoy (Horacio as they call him) while Beth and I went and sat at the table. A hologram rose from the tables surface to show a dome. The Dome.
Inside was a city scape laid out within. Like the ones I had seen in school videos and books. There were massive sky scrapers, small housing complexes, and parks for children to play. Lily gave a deep sigh and I realized why soon after. This was the next area for battle in the dome. I had run streets and housing complexes. I had lived and breathed the streets for years. And now a true earthly city scape was before me in all its holographic glory and I felt nervous. Nervous because this is what earth might've looked like to some degree before BL00D took over. Now it's laid out here in a fantastic place where it no longer truly exists.
"This is the next battlefield?" I asked nervously. Lily nodded. "Most likely. But the battlefields change and shift like fish in the sea. You never really know which one you'll get till you have it. But this one is one I haven't seen in months. It's bound to show up soon." She said as she spread her hands on the ball and made a pulling motion to widen it further so we could see it in detail.
"We need to be cautious. Remember what happened the last time we played this map guys?" Lily said as she looked about the group. The team nodded except for me who was oblivious and had no idea. "What happened?" I asked. Beth had a very grim look on her face when she spoke to me.
"The worm you fought in the plains isn't the only one of it's kind. Every field has one with exception to the aquatic one. That one has a megalodon. The worm crashed into a building we were in and crushed it with us inside. We were dead before we knew what hit us. It was only when we saw the footage that we realized what had happened." She said while Hoy ground his left fist into the palm of his right hand agitatedly.
I felt the pressure on me all of a sudden. "How big is this worm? I asked. Henry was the one that answered. "Twice the size of the one you fought. It's like Jormundgander. You never see the beasts tail. And if you ever do see it you are already dead." He said as he rubbed his scythe necklace in fear of the memory. I suddenly felt Lily's eyes on me and focused on the hologram again.
"Unlike last time we need to work as a team. No lone wolf crap got that Sil." She said pointing her finger at me. And I nodded energetically. I didn't like the feel of cities in general. I liked the hoods and slums. They were like home to me for the most part. My family had lived in the slums and I was more familiar with them. This twisted game had just given me another reason to hate cities.
The dome opened to lay everything out flat. The city was actually a repetitive loop. Every 10 blocks was the same identical sky scraper. And this layout was at least a hundred blocks long and wide. I noticed that the sky scraper points all met up with the crystal sun in the middle. It was kinda creepy to be honest. Knowing someone was in there watching everything. It was like the people who kept screaming about Big Brother watching people.
But regardless of that we started our planning for the next day. If it was the city scape that we were thrown into we had to get to a skyscraper. To the top of one no less. This would give us the best vantage point and give us the high ground. And yes. I know that reference. We kept planning out our routes and possible defensive positions. How we should fight in closed quarters. We did it all. And that night we waited for the Dome. We left early to get a place close to the front by the gate. It was still as big as I remembered. Two enormous slabs of hexagon patterned metal stretching a couple miles into the sky. And not a soul among us knew what was going to be behind those doors. Was it an Ocean? Or maybe a lava field? A jungle? Or even the city scape we had planned how to utilize? We wouldn't know until we arrived.
Crowds of people started pooling onto the platform and shifting into their battleforms. Many of them looked at me and nodded respectfully. I nodded back and after a bit I started to feel like I stuck out. "Why are so many people showing me respect?" I asked Henry. He shrugged. "You gave people points. It's natural for people to be grateful." He said as his battleform examined it's scythe like a butcher examining his knife before going to the slaughter house. Lily was holding her staff with the skull on top making herself the very image of a sorceress. Beth meanwhile was flipping her handkerchief around like it was pizza dough being spun. Hoy was just sitting cross legged on the ground like he was bored.
They looked the very image of people who had been around long enough not to care. I had already morphed and pulled out the Coffin. It was domineering compared to everybody else's equipment and made a great image for our group. I started looking around nervously and noticed three different banners being held around. They gathered different people to them very quickly. A small metallic looking spider was carrying around a guy with a metal arm and leg on top of it. It was obviously Vulcan by the look of him. He had a hammer in his right hand leaning against his shoulder as steam came from the spider beneath him. He looked the very image of the God of Blacksmiths. His group was filled with people dressed in a similar manner. All with aprons and tools covering them from head to toe. The builder faction.
The group next to his was obvious as it had Geb and Ymir at the front with a massive scarab between them. The Guardian faction. Filled to the brim with tanky looking people that exuded strength. I looked at the scarab between Geb and Ymir and realized it was Kehpri. The real Kehpri. He was bound in chains and exuded heat that I could feel even from 40 feet away. I could only imagine how Leroy and Geb felt standing so close to him.
The last faction was The Warrior faction. They came in with little energy to them but you could tell they meant business. Every person was covered in weapons and shields. Metal armor glinted against the light from the door. At its head was Ares. His shield was raised and a mighty roar echoed from behind him as his faction chanted. "Warriors! Warriors! Warriors!" It was a strange battle cry to here but it made a lot of people nervous in response. The only thing that made me calm was seeing a certain girl standing close to Ares. Bellona. Bell. And next to her was a guy with a massive eyepatch and thick Celtic looking armor. Odin. I waved at Bell till she noticed and lightly nodded in my direction glancing at Ares to make sure he didn't notice.