Journey to Kyron 4

The Journey | Chapter 2 - Part 1

Chapter 1 - Part 3

Vessel Zhongguo, the year 2550 

Jia Wei leapt from a tree branch to the soft ground below. He turned to see if he was being followed and, finding the hillside bare, he risked remaining on the ground and dashed towards the stream in the valley.

A voice sounded in his ear. “Is anyone in Lavender Five? I could use some help.”

Glancing down at the map on his forcon, he turned upstream.

“I’m on my way,” he replied, doubling his pace and tightening his grip on the quarterstaff in his right hand.

The smell of burning grass was growing stronger. He soon saw the bright orange flames leaping in the distance, just behind the crest of the hill under the massive expanse of cloudless blue sky. He left the gently gurgling river and ran towards the fire. The ground was warming up beneath his bare feet and as he rounded the hilltop, he saw the caller silhouetted against the dancing blaze: a huge man whose hairless head loomed above the black crewcuts of the attacking enemies. The giant of a man was strong, but he was outnumbered and couldn’t hold them off for long.

Jia Wei could hear him grunting with each powerful swing of his arms, but he held his position in the peripheral forest. Glancing up, he grabbed a low-hanging tree branch and pulled his weight up into the foliage, scrambling higher until he was well-protected by the blanket of tiny leaves that fluttered in the warm breeze around him. The temperature was noticeably increasing and he knew the fire was moving towards them without having to look. He could hear the occasional crackle over the noise of the battle below.

Keeping his legs bent, he crossed to another branch, closing in on the scuffle. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of green and brown army fatigues, confirming what he already knew; they’d be harder to face than most. He silently maneuvered his body until he was directly above the skirmish and, without warning, jumped into their midst, smashing through two with his first swing.

“Here to help,” he said, looking up at the fighter’s sweat-drenched face over the gigantic biceps and shoulders at his own eye level.

“Thanks. I could use it. Name’s Stone.” The man’s voice was low in pitch and he held a long dagger, which he was swinging at the group of attackers, keeping them temporarily at a distance. “Lost my firepower a while ago.”

“I’m Heavy.” Jia Wei only had time to introduce himself before he took a hit from behind and spun, bringing the staff around into the attacker’s side, causing him to double over and disappear.

“Good to - agh - meet you,” grunted Stone, tossing his knife into his left hand and landing a punch on another guy’s face. The guy fell, but wasn’t eliminated. He started to get to his feet. Jia Wei leapt over and swung his staff into the side of his neck, and then he was gone.

“Nice work,” said Stone.

Jia Wei didn’t take a moment to acknowledge the tiny victory. “We have to get out of here before the fire gets—”

He looked across at Stone just in time to see a zombie come crashing down onto his head. Then he was gone. 

“Where did they come from?” His forcon showed a wave of the undead emerging from the flames, their skin loose around vacant eyes. The impulses transmitted through the material wrapped around his forearm combined with virtual images and sounds from his headset to give an all-too-realistic feeling of hands, fingers, and teeth tearing at him, that was mercifully brief. The screen went dark, and the letters ACTIVATE NEXT LIFE? flashed in red. Lucky I didn’t have the pain receptors on high, he thought. That was worse than usual.

He sighed and switched off the module on his forcon. He bounced a couple of times to escape the feelings still surging through his body and checked the time. Gaming allowance all used up for today. Ah, that’s a shame. He would’ve liked to see that Stone guy again. It’d been a while since he’d responded to a call from a real player. Next time, he told himself, pulling the glasses off and loosening his short black hair away from his head with his fingers.

Adjusting his loose orange t-shirt and comfortable brown pants, he stepped out of the residence he shared with his parents and raced down the stairs to the grassy courtyard at the base. Throwing his head backward, he paused and reached his arms up in a giant stretch. Rather than wide open sky above, his view was of the green forest that covered the opposite side of the cylindrical world he inhabited. The lingering smell and feel of fire made him a little anxious and he took a little longer to inspect the length of the vessel from where he stood. He let his gaze drift past the traditional curved roof corners and intricate dragon decorations at the top of his building, past the transport tubes that crossed the central axis, and over at the light panel, which told him he had around half an hour to get to work.

All peaceful. Nothing on fire, he thought, a tiny grin playing on his lips.

He could just make out the tall structure of the farm in the distance and, taking stock of the gravel path bustling with activity as people came and went from their homes, he moved off to the side. With the same skills he had applied within the game, he reached upward and gripped a firm, wooden branch and swung his body up into a tree. Using all four limbs, he climbed, swung, and scrambled his way through the trees, scaffolds and arches that would lead him to his workplace.

The city he moved through covered a side of the turning ship. Buildings of varying shapes and sizes were scattered among trees, bushes, and grasses that led down to the edge of a large body of water that clung to another large portion of the ship’s inner surface. A few streams flowed through the occupied island as well as the wild island, a smaller plot of land that produced oxygen along with a treasured connection to their distant home planet.

The cylinder completed a spin every 90 seconds, smoothly passing across the stable outer shell that encased it. The shell in turn was connected to its neighboring vessels as well as the central hub, and the whole decagon traversed a vast black emptiness so quickly that space itself seemed to wrap around it and propel it forward.

Ever onward towards the still distant system it was targeting. A giant undertaking for humanity, but a mere blip in the vast vacuum that surrounded it on all sides.

A lonely point of life crossing the void.