Harpy materialized just in time to take off and prevent me from crashing to the ground. I thanked him and he squawked with delight.I thought for a moment about what options I had, and in all of them I wondered why the hell I hadn't taken off with Gina and Dagon. I came to the conclusion that, when faced with difficult situations, nothing better than doing things in a big way."Thank you, Harpy!" I said as I jumped to the foot of the ridge the Allsionistas were beginning to climb. The rest of the place was abuzz with adventurers fighting against each other; the heartbreaking music of a war that threatened to take away thousands of travelers.I landed on the ground, cracks opening up under my feet. The extra strength was amazing. Although there was no time to throw flowers, because I was immediately surrounded by Allsionista with a thirst for blood."He's one of the leader's bodyguards!" shouted an Afronist. Let one group go up and finish off the other!"Nobody's going to get past here
The remaining Kurayami members in the clearing near the hillside managed to dispatch the last remaining Allsionistas. They let those who didn't put up a fight flee, and created a security fence so that Greek, Robert, and I could leave combat mode behind and travel to the planet where Gina had gone to meet Adam Leproiner.Robert didn't want to tell us because it was top secret. It was an unbreakable rule that no one was informed of the travels of Gina, the second in command after the leader, according to Robert.Gina was too smart and controlled Kurayami from the shadows. He managed to have complete freedom while millions of supporters of the cause did his dirty work. From an ethical point of view, I didn't know if it was worthy of praise, but it had a lot of merit.While we waited, Robert did not stop talking about her. I had her idealized. He didn't even realize that he was giving him as much or more importance than the leader, of whom he said nothing. It was so absurd that he hadn't
The show had started. From the very center of the garden a gate opened, lifting an enormous base of operations skyward. Many seated people appeared, around twenty of them, and they kept hammering their holographic keyboards while exchanging impressions. It seemed that nothing that happened around them was with them and not even ascending to the top of Neo Terra prevented them from distracting themselves from their work."This is my boys," Leproiner said, gesturing toward the platform. They are the team of hackers that will take us directly to the New World.The platform finished moving and was just above our heads, in full view of all the other guests. A large metal spiral staircase then unfolded, inviting Leproiner to join his hackers."I'll be with you right away," said the tycoon, joking with his guests.The wealthy Allzionists applauded their leader, whose graceful walk didn't break down even as he climbed the steps that led him to change the world.I didn't know what to do, but I
It didn't take anything more to say to find my back sagging as I was forced to dodge his fist. It was heading straight for my face with excruciating speed, without hesitation or condescension. I barely managed to parry the second blow, a kick to my side that smashed into an arm that came up automatically. She spun around and swept me with her legs, and I fell to the ground on my back and was upright, but she had done it before and I didn't see the soles of her ninja shoes coming. He threw me back ten feet and as I stopped I felt my mouth taste of blood. I had no choice but to spit and watch the weeds under my feet turn red; it was hard to believe that at this point in the movie Fire had not yet come to my aid.The beast was right behind Gina, crouching, its face shadowed with rage, its fangs bared, its fur bristling so bristly it seemed like thousands of volts were running through its body. Fire was caught in Gina's Binding , so I was forced to cancel the summon.It was no coincidence
"Family is not chosen," I commented without really knowing why. Sometimes friends are more faithful."That's right," he replied. But not the Leproiner family.It was so superb that I thought I'd summon Rexie to eat it in one bite."The Leproiner family is very close... because of the account that brings them," he said, smiling.Adam Leproiner had to lead it with an iron hand. What would he not do to his own family seeing how he treated the Allsionistas who revered him so much."I don't care about your family," I replied. You are the root of all problems."What are you going to do now, kid?" he asked with a smug half smile. You have postponed the data dump. I must admit that I didn't expect something like this to happen, but my hackfronists will continue the work. It won't be today, maybe not tomorrow either, but it won't be long before they take us to the New World.There were two possibilities: kill Leproiner on the spot and send him back to reality, or wait for his hackers to take u
After the storm came the calm, they used to say.Whoever came up with the phrase didn't have to put up with Gina's string of curse words when I finished explaining everything that happened to her about Adam Leproiner: from our talk about his plans to the information about his family's legendary paths and even his abrupt and mysterious death at the hands of a shadow. The latter, not happy with the murder of the tycoon, also wanted to kill me. And he almost did it except for the brilliant idea of throwing me down the stairs.Actually, I didn't know if it was chasing me or it was my lucubrations, but I didn't get rid of the feeling until I landed on my legs after a long fall.I had to lie down on the grass while Gina put me in the broth to relax my muscles. I didn't care that Neo Terra's eternal rain was soaking me to the bone."So that bastard is dead, huh?" It wasn't a question, it was already the fourth or fifth time Gina had repeated it."And Greek and Dagon?" “I asked for.“They are
Two weeks after coming back to reality my body was still in shit. He was stronger, yes, but he was far from an athlete; the physique improved and there was no trace of that extreme thinness that had scared me so much. I was lucky that my mother had left in the fridge foods that help regenerate muscle tone and body fat, products of the Leproiner empire.London was not a pretty city, it had lost the light that had once made it a cultural beacon of ancient Europe. Now it was a mere vestige of the past reduced to dust and stone, struggling to be reborn from its ashes.The world population had been drastically reduced and the birth rate had fallen in recent years, but hope was the last thing that was lost.And if the human being knew anything, it was about prevailing in the face of adversity.According to the latest news, the birth rate had finally increased, coinciding with the advent of the New World. It was the first time, in more than a decade, that such a brutal increase in birth rate
I spent the night as I could. Reluctant to lie down on that mat, sleep finally overcame me. Lucky not to have needed blankets; he preferred not to imagine what summers would be like there.My body rested, but my mind returned to Allsium, like every night. To a virtuality to which he no longer gave too much importance; reality was much more relevant at that time due to the imminent danger that the group was running. Even so, I found out about the worlds to which an adventurer could travel to train without running too much danger, something that in illegality was already a lot to ask.There was a world in Allsium where survival depended on hand”to”hand combat. It was a system similar to Nirn, although it was not infested with spiders and beasts accustomed to the polar cold, but with knights on the warpath. A world created by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski for his heroic fantasy novels: The Saga of Geralt of Rivia . A classic that was adapted to the video game in numerous editions, all
“Are you ready? asked Patrick Cork, stroking his beard."Yes," I replied. I had been waiting for this day for a long time.I was nervous, it was the day of the worldwide launch of Allsium.Millions of people queued at AfroCrop headquarters to have the chip implanted that gave them access to the system.Allsium would go on the market with two game modes.The first was the one I had experienced five years before: stories lasting a maximum of ten days, that is, a year and a half in Allsium. They were adventures of an individual type, everything was created by the experience, fears and dreams of the participating subject.The second dealt with massive virtual reality. Worlds that AfroCorp had created so that all the players in the world could go on adventures and interact with each other. It was something like the evolution of massive online role”playing games, a game mode that would take entertainment to a new level never seen before. Players could experiment, as I had done in Allsium in
It was curious to see how the leaves of the few trees that were left standing in that immense garden were stopped in the sky. The wind wasn't blowing, Gina didn't move a hair, and the black dot that the Leproiners' helicopter had become was still on the horizon. I walked around the place trying to figure out what had happened, wondering if it was the power of a path.What I didn't know was why only I could move."You have pronounced the magic words," I heard a deep voice full of wisdom. I couldn't explain it, but it was like that.I looked around, but I couldn't find the owner of the voice. I drifted away for a bit, but it wasn't long before I was back with Gina.I was astonished to see that there were two people next to her.“Who are you?They were an old man and a young girl who looked very much like Gina. I was blank and not knowing what to say."Wow, we do look alike, yes. “His voice and hair were the same, but the way he gestured and his firmness were not so similar. She wasn't a
I woke up suddenly to the feeling that thousands of ants were crawling across my face. It was Choco with his beak, he drilled me gently to see if I would come to my senses at once.“Shock… what happened?As golden and legendary as it was, the chocobo did not speak.All he let out was a grunt of pain that felt like my own.He had been shot and was on the ground trying to get up without success. He was exhausted, his last strength had been invested in saving my skin.Before he suffered any more, I thanked him and made him disappear.He did not feel the rest of the summons; no sign of Kody, Harpy, Fuego, nor of course Rexie.Losing consciousness was reason enough for the summons to dematerialize. I didn't understand Choco, but I had seen before that the golden chocobo seemed not to be subject to conventional rules."Have you come to yourself yet?" said a voice he hadn't expected.I tried to get up, but I only managed to sit down and had to hold on with my hands to keep from tipping over.
We had been fighting for about ten minutes and neither of us could finish the fight. Punches and kicks collided, dispelling waves of ice, fire, air, and electricity emanating from our pathing abilities. No wonder he was the champion of the battle arena, but given more time I would have been able to reach him in the Novingrad Coliseum.He had never fought anyone so evenly before.My ethereal, fire, thunder, or ice abilities were of little or no use against the power of his blows, which were also elemental charge. We both managed to freeze areas of our rival's body, burn others and shake discharges that left us at the mercy of the other; that when we did not use the power of the wind and we crashed against the walls of that viewpoint that began to be a shadow of what it had been."Looks like martial arts won't end this fight," Jackie Leproiner announced, a few bruises and blood on her face. You were in a hurry, right?"I don't think they'd mind waiting a bit," I replied, wiping the bloo
Chocobo Stampede ability increased his physical strength, speed, and power, as well as making him able to go through anything in his path. Needless to say, the barriers were going to be formidable challenges to his skill.We were going to check it out right away."Kuee!" He yelled when he saw me.The golden aura of his armor and plumage blinded me. Choco had also changed; he was slimmer and even more golden, if that was possible. Its feathers had grown much longer, its crest looked modern, and its beak was fearsome.Riding on it I felt capable of anything."Choco, we're surrounded by invisible barriers, see if you can break them," I suggested.Two steps back and the chocobo stampede began. He didn't know how, but Choco detected the barriers and gave them a peck, not too hard but very dry. He went on from here to there, going around and doing the same thing over and over again; we seemed to be in an invisible maze. I was going to ask him what the hell he was doing, but just as I wanted
I woke up in a dark place of no more than three square meters. A conditioned cell, shackles on the hands and feet and unbearable heat.Five days had passed since we arrived at Gardiners Island in virtuality, more than enough time for our bodies to have traveled from the old continent to New York in reality.“Anyone there? I yelled.The voice was lost in the echo of some facilities that seemed enormous."I'm here Vinci!" Greek replied. It seemed to be in the next cell. Where the hell are we?“Dagon! Are you here? “I asked for.There was no answer."Shit, Vinci, we have to get out of here now!" Greek yelled. I have my hands and feet tied, I can't materialize anything.I discovered that virtuality could no longer be accessed, it was as if that part of my brain had been torn out. The automatism that allowed anyone to enter Allsium had been switched off.Virtuality had passed into history and the New World had arrived.But somehow, I felt powerful.I took a deep breath and thought. In a te
Dagon took hours to recover and be able to walk. The fight against Ryan Leproiner had exhausted him and his healing abilities were slow to heal the severity of his injuries. Dark magic was like poison, eating away at everything in its path, especially wounds. Dagon might have lost his virtuality had he not been a holy paladin, as the damage from the dark was still taking its toll on him. Proof of this was that he could barely stand up.Gina's orders were very specific: we were to travel to New York to meet her at Gardiners Island, a private property that, apparently, was virtually Kurayami's base of operations for the American country. It was far from the big city, so it was perfect to wait for the arrival of the New World.We bought three tickets to New York. In a matter of blinks we reached New London, in the state of Connecticut. From there we had to travel by helicopter to Gardiners Island, where they were already waiting for us. I preferred to travel on Harpy's back, and since Da
London from Harpy's back looked dirtier and darker than ever. Its buildings were empty and any glimpse of art, which was not in short supply in the city, lay in ruins. An insult to history that the system could patch up over time if the New World didn't put an end to Allsium sooner. Security had fallen and, although I knew it was virtual, it hurt a lot to see how your hometown ended up demolished because of the same thing that had destroyed it in reality: human greed."There's something going on down there," Greek announced, looking up at Westminster Bridge.I took a look and ordered Harpy to come down. There was Ryan Leproiner, swelled with pride as he spoke to the masses and railed against the Kurayami rebels.However, as the Italian had pointed out, something seemed to be wrong.Dagon's limp body shimmered and broke into a shaft of light that shot up into the sky. The silence that had invaded us was broken by Harpy's high”pitched squawk.Instead of moving away from the bridge, the
"Any specific strategy?" He started asking someone who was next to me."Leave Ryan Leproiner to us," Greek replied. It's the only thing you should know, capito ?“That? He said strangely while looking at us from top to bottom, like most of those who marched next to us. And who are you?"The leader's shields," I answered with a smile on my face.There was a deathly silence, broken only by the screams of the Allsionista, who had about fifty meters to go to meet us."Are you the fucking shields?" But weren't there four? Where the hell is the leader? “were some of the questions that were heard from the different voices that were raised in the crowd, all of them with the same tone of disbelief.There was no time to answer them, but at least they had believed it. I supposed that no one in Kurayami would dare to proclaim themselves the leader's shield, especially in a situation as complicated as that one. It was funny that everyone still thought there were four, especially when that fourth s