The long thin block seemed to be peaking around the corner at her. It was unbelievably creepy.
She pushed off the wall and ran across the room to get some space from the thing. <Hello blockbot. Mom, say hello, blockbot.>
Her brain shorted. What?
Val reached the far wall and spun, getting a full view of it. The blockbot was just that, a robot-looking creation of floating metallic blocks. Expanded with the air gaps between each brick, it was Valerie’s height.
The quarter-size bricks at the bottom had much smaller air gaps, and they were rotating like tank treads with invisible links. This caterpillar movement system of magically linked blocks extended a foot in front and behind its main body. These were making the clattering noise on the stone floor.
The whole stack leaned forward, and it rolled toward her. Lacking any distinguishing features, the construct felt ominous.
Nope, she sent to Virg, then took two strides and jumped over it, swinging backward with Virg as she did. Clang!
Landing, she crossed to the other side of the room. <Play blockbot! Mom play blockbot!>
She ignored Virg and skidded through an opening into another room–it was small with no exits. What was she even doing in here? Val wasn’t thinking clearly.
The plan! She needed to end this thing and get in position to fight the real threat–the malevolent sphere filled with evil energy.
She spun back to find the blockbot rolling toward her again. She ran at it. I’ll just knock its blocks off, she thought humorously.
<Play blockbot Mom, play!> Virg sent, far too excited for Val's comfort.
The bot slowed as she approached, and Val slid to its right, unleashing her combo attack–clang, clang, clang! The three blocks she hit shot out of alignment with the others, but were immediately sucked back in. She kept moving, clearing it, and checked her damage log as she ran…
You have done 1 damage to blockbot.
You have done 1 damage to blockbot,
Critical strike, you have done 2 damage to blockbot.
Blockbot heals for 4 damage.
Well shit. That’s not going to work.
Right behind her thought, Virg spoke again, <Blockbot no play Mom, no play Mom.> He sounded concerned.
What the hell are you saying, Virg? She sent, her tone thick with irritation.
<Blockbot no play, no play blockbot, Mom.>
So, don’t hit the blocks? she sent back. Virg didn’t reply.
Had he been responding to her last several mental projections? It had seemed like he was.
The animated stack of blocks spun about where she’d passed it. This time it didn’t advance on her. Instead, the top three blocks arched to the side in an uncanny personification of tilting its head at her.
A shadow flashed in front of the window to the canyon, and Erramir burst into the room, sword raised and shield braced out in front to ram.
“Wait!” She hissed at him. He slid to a stop but didn’t relax.
“What the hell, Val. What is this thing? Is it dangerous? You pissed off the orb, and it’s rolling this way, fast!”
Val played back Virg’s comments in her head. “No, it’s not. I don’t think so.”
Erramir was nearly panicked, “Yes, or No, Val! We need to fight or go!"
She looked at the strange assembly of metal bricks; it was curious, almost playful in how it moved. “It’s not. Go!”
He turned and broke through the door. The grinding sound filled the canyon. She slammed shoulder first into the wall beside the opening and watched Erramir dive over the pipe just in time to avoid being crushed by a ten-foot-high steel nightmare as it careened past.
It rapidly course-corrected, curving left and launching right over the pipe, then crashing back into the stone and accelerating toward Erramir. He had regained his feet and was crouched behind his shield. The thing was closing on him rapidly, and he wasn’t moving.
Was the man insane? She jumped out from the door and, without a thought, launched Virg at the sphere. “Move, Err!”
Carson nearly lost his feet and fell down as several tons of steel slammed into the canyon floor directly in front of his passage.
Fear ran rampant through his system, but the elephant-sized gray ball slowed, bent back down the canyon, then accelerated away. For whatever reason, it hadn’t detected him.
Carson turned and bolted up the stairs. “Fuuuck, that shit.”
“Move, Err!” Val’s words reached him through his panic-induced daze. The orb was accelerating toward him.
She’s right. I can’t stop this thing. He waited a second more–Val’s staff clanged inconsequentially off its side–Erramir bolted left and dove through a window.
He hit the inner wall, slid to the ground, and a heartbeat later, the sound of demolition assailed him. Stone was being obliterated and crashing down in a cacophonous riot. Instinctively, he pulled his legs in and covered himself with his shield, but nothing landed on him.
He snuck a look above his shield rim, gaped, then scrambled to his feet. The window he’d come through and the door beyond it were still intact, but the far window was gone, as was that entire side of the narrow entry room.
Through the hole, he could see an enormous curving arch of destruction. The whole next dwelling was gone. Tilting his gaze up, he could see into the canyon's vast darkness.
In the middle of the chaos, the remains of the dividing wall between the next two homes stuck up like a jagged tooth. Thousand-year-old ruins collapsed about it in huge chunks, shaking the ground.
A square-cut boulder the size of a crushed car smashed into the center of the mess, teetered, then fell back, triggering another wave of collapse. Beyond it all and completely undamaged, the sphere was already turning back toward him.
How the hell are we going to fight this thing? I can’t slow that down. For fuck’s sake, two stone houses can’t even slow it down.
He jumped back through the window. Val was standing in front of the unit where he'd left her. The strange robot made of metal bricks was nowhere to be seen. She looked oddly lost in thought.
“Val!” he yelled, searching frantically for some plan, any plan to slow the orb down without getting killed. The sound of the rolling mechanical beast accelerating lent urgency to his thoughts.
Looking back, he gaged the thing’s size as it built up speed. Can I jump it? I can jump pretty high, especially with my twitch boosted.
It was clear their plan to play hide and seek was a no-go. The destruction caused by the orb crashing through buildings was more likely to get them crushed than provide shelter. Maybe I could hide one more time?
He shot a glance at the pile of rubble; the cascade of collapse was slowing, but parts of the fourth floor hung precariously over the void.
Erramir wasn’t sure how much structural damage could be done to these lower units before a critical failure brought the whole side of the city down. Killed under an avalanche of stone sounded like a horrible way to go.
He tossed his shield aside and mentally adjusted his attribute amplification back to twitch from strength. “I’m gonna try and jump it!” He yelled blindly at Val, not sure if she’d heard him.
The orb closed on him, picking up speed as it did. When it loomed, nearly on him, Erramir jumped for everything he had, pulling his legs up as he did. He was instantly surprised by the height. Peaking several feet higher than needed, he looked down and watched the metal spin past.
Hitting the ground, Erramir was immediately greeted by the horrible sound of more stone being destroyed. His heart clenched, and he turned to look.
The orb had crashed right into the place where Carson had been hiding. His eyes flashed to Carson’s health bar; it was full–he exhaled in relief.
Carson must have moved. Maybe he saw the damage it did chasing Erramir and anticipated that his hiding spot wasn’t safe. He looked up, and his suspicion was confirmed. Further down, on the edge of the third level walkway, Carson was sitting and busily working his hands in intricate patterns.
The damage was less than the first time, creating a smaller cascade as the sphere's path was shorter.
These are like cul-de-sacs. If I just keep jumping it, maybe it'll just roll through these two destroyed areas. Erramir watched the orb roll clear of the debris, slowed but otherwise unaffected by the thousand-pound clunks that feel on its level 15 armored shell.
He grabbed his shield back up, now judging he had enough jump height to carry the extra weight.
This time it was coming more slowly, at a measured speed. That can’t be good, he thought as a faint hiss sounded from the sphere. But Erramir didn’t see any change; it just continued rolling steadily toward him.
Val’s voice rang out; she was standing just inside that same doorway, “Holes opened in the sides; something’s moving in there.”
At that, it started to accelerate again. He readied himself to leap, gripping his shield tight and preparing himself for a surprise.
The orb closed, Erramir jumped, feeling immediately that he’d still clear its height with room to spare. Then in a flash of unbelievable speed, two long metal arms burst from its sides like spindly spider legs.
Val screamed, but already airborne, it was too late for him to avoid them. The arms were tipped with foot-long plasma arcs.
His body reacted on its own, lifting his shield and keeping it between him and the dancing blue energy weapons. The plasma tips lifted several feet higher than his trajectory, and Erramir had to bitterly admit that this was not a stupid machine.
The damn orb had baited him into this, waiting to reveal its attack until after he jumped. It's a clever evil robot. That's gonna be a problem.
Time seemed to stretch as they loomed closer, and Erramir's attention was yanked on by his gut. The sensation felt like an explosion of butterflies so intense it bordered on nausea. The communication was clear, though, and with a split-second thought, he shifted his attribute boost from twitch to agility.
The sphere crossed beneath him, and Erramir lost sight of the arms just before his world was rocked by a hamming explosion of sparks on his shield.
The strike drove him down into the rear of the orb. His back hit the rotating surface, and he discovered it wasn’t smooth at all but gritty. The friction grabbed his body, and the rotation flung him upward and away.
Erramir once again found himself airborne, this time not of his design. The orb's rotation had unfortunately sent him spinning head over heels alarmingly fast. So, he ducked and went with the spin. The kite shield made this awkward, but he pulled in against his raised knees.
After a couple rotations, Erramir was able to orient himself. As his feet came around and he was nearly upright, he exploded out the tuck, slowing his spin. His feet hit the ground, and he churned his legs madly to keep from face planting. Unbelievably, it worked. He ran a dozen paces and skidded to a stop.
“HA! Did you see that! I can’t believe I just did that!” he exclaimed with elation despite the deadly circumstances.
“Christ Err, neither can I,” Val said from just on the other side of the pipe. “That was unreal; I thought for sure you were gonna get sliced in two.”
“My Spidey-sense helped blocked the strike; it moved my shield before I could even think about it. The rest was just boosted agility and some luck,” he replied, tracking the orb as it crunched and bounced through debris in a rapid turn-around. “You got any ideas? Jumping it obviously won't work. It's too smart. I'm not chancing that again. And, hiding in these houses is out–we’ll bring the whole city down."
“I thought of that too,” Val said, sounding frantic. "It's run, hide, or fight, and hide and fight aren't looking so good. Shit Err, I think running is our only option–but run where?”
Erramir hadn’t thought of running. They couldn't run up; that would almost certainly end in total collapse. How about toward the end of the canyon?
He had no time to think, and the canyon behind them suddenly looked really good. “Run it is!” he cried, then turned and bolted away with Val right beside him.
They were both incredibly fast, the wonder of his new body once again startling to Erramir. The sound of the grinding orb seemed to be barely gaining. “Shit Val, this just might work!” he exclaimed, glancing at her.
“Hell yeah!” she replied, smiling wickedly. It was the same look she got while racing–an expression he knew well, and which portended adrenaline-fueled fun.
He shot another glance back at the orb. The plasma arms had disappeared, and it was closing a bit faster now.
“We need a corner,” Val said. “We’re more nimble; that’s our only advantage. We need to use its momentum against it.”
Erramir totally agreed, he just hadn’t put it together as clearly, plus he hadn't realized he could run so damn fast. “I like it. Look for a tunnel.” They were covering ground at an astounding clip, and Erramir could see that the canyon was beginning to narrow.
“I see the end of the city,” Val said, and a moment later, so did Erramir. They both noticed an associated change immediately. The dark grey stone shaded to almost black just beyond the last building.
“The stone changes,” Erramir said. He noticed as he did that the grinding of the orb was getting much closer. “See a place to turn?”
“Not yet. And from the look of it... we’re running out of canyon!”
The noise of the mechanical mob threatened closer by the second. Another glance back revealed its arms still hadn’t come out. He silently hoped they couldn’t at this speed.
“There!" Val cried out. "I see a tunnel!”
“Go, go, go! I’m right beside you!”
Valerie cut right and leaped the pipe–Erramir ran with her step for step.
Erramir saw the tunnel now; it was round and about the size of the orb. That seemed like it couldn’t be a coincidence.
"Wait! Don’t run right at it. Make like we're going to run by to draw the orb in closer, then break on my mark.” He dropped a half step behind Val to shield her just in case this didn't work.”
“Got it!” she said.
Erramir suddenly saw they weren’t going to make it. “Faster, Val!” She sped up and started pulling away, then he flung his shield backward blindly and heard it clang off the evil ball. He might regret that later, but right now, dropping the weight allowed him to sprint full out and keep pace with Val.
The extra speed looked to be just enough, but it was going to be uncomfortably tight. Then he could feel the orb, its dark energy making his armored skin tingle.
“Now!”
As one, they dodged hard right. Val flew into the tunnel, Erramir a step behind, but the sphere clipped his trailing right foot, knocking it into his left, and he flew forward headfirst, feet tangled.
The benefits of Presence 2 saved him again. Instead of instinctively throwing his hands out, he drove them back while ducking his head, sending him into a forward roll.
Erramir’s shoulders struck the ground, his feet came around, planted, and he sprang up, momentum causing him to jump several feet up. He pushed off the tunnel ceiling to keep from smacking his head, his DrakkenWood scales protecting his hands. Then he was stumbling forward awkwardly. Val was running half-turned back, watching wide-eyed.
Erramir caught his balance and joined back up with Val. He smiled and shook his head at her in disbelief. “I don’t know... maybe I should focus on agility.”
“Damn right you should!” she exclaimed. “You’re like a big, scaly monkey!”
A howling scream swept down the tunnel, and Erramir’s smiling response caught in his teeth as instinctual horror stabbed into his enhanced nerves, overriding all conscious thought.
