ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 78: The Surge

Chapter 78

The Surge

Monday (Three Hours Earlier)

Time Until Integration: 1 Month, 26 Days, 21 Hours…

Alexa felt the moment she entered the localized teleportation field. In a second she went from being in her full tactical gear, which consisted of her school issued uniform with a few added augmentations, at TSI headquarters. Then the next, she was being zipped through time and space. For most they consider this time in between to be dead time, as they are unable to think or move at all, for Alexa she found her mind moving rapidly.

The entire experience would have to go down as something truly unique, the reason for this is that she felt like she was floating through Jello the entire time. Just a giant pool of Jello that was somehow sucking her along and pulling her off in the distance. Odder still was the fact that she felt like she was barely being contained in a small tunnel. Like the network of connections that she was now going through was the bare minimum to what was possible for there were gaps in the transport, moments when she could see through the spectrum of space and time. Moments when she felt like she was everywhere in the universe and nowhere at the same time.

Then there was the fact that she saw people, other travelers. The most noticeable was Bullford, who despite having entered before her, was now just ahead, and then behind her in a matter of seconds. Alexa wondered what could have caused this difference in speed but found her mind only drifting back to one answer over and over again, her Rank Viscountess gave her a 30% bonus to Fast Travel Times. At first, she didn’t know what that even meant, but now she wondered if it had anything to do with her current state of affairs and the way she was seemingly rocketing through these tunnels faster than most others around her.

As she traveled through the pipeline, Alexa couldn’t also help but feel that she had hundreds of sets of eyes watching her. Just as she felt she could peer into the voids of space, so too did she feel that space itself was staring back at her.

She didn’t know exactly what that meant, nor why she felt the weight of so many sets of eyes all staring at her.

Most would be unnerved by such a feeling, fortunately Alexa was able to think about the situation in her normally calm and detached mentality that let her try to analyze things from a different perspective. She found herself wondering about the state of Rune crafting in general and wondered what runes Polyglot and the others were using to create these interconnected gateways. She felt that with so much energy and so many clear openings that energy was clearly being wasted. If the idea was to create a continuous tunnel to save energy, then that should have been one continuous piece. The fact that so many gaps appeared showed either a lack of understanding, or clear disregard for the concepts that were being utilized.

At her core she knew that this was all new knowledge, new technology, that there were bound to be misconceptions and misconfigurations. In fact, she knew that she was the most likely source of bad assumptions, perhaps these were better than expected, but Alexa couldn’t help but feel that idea was somehow off. Especially considering the entire process of traveling often took minutes. Still faster than going there in person, but far slower than the near instantaneous travel that the dungeons seem to be capable of. Then again, dungeons were very impressive, that she had no doubts.

Then shaking her head, she couldn’t help but feel something was off about her last dungeon delve. A dungeon that had been chained, fought to save a dragon. Was it Stockholm Syndrome? A case where they were imprisoned for so long that they felt a level of attachment with their kidnapper? Or was there something else entirely? Thinking about that moment Alexa felt she had missed a golden opportunity. Her only reason for not declaring war on the dungeon right then and there was the fact that she didn’t know what would happen if she killed a dungeon while she was in one. Would the pocket dimension she was in collapse, killing her and the dragon? If so, then how could she escape? There were just too many unknown variables that came from such a reckless maneuver.

What was worse, she didn’t think she could talk about this with anyone. She didn’t think that many would understand her concern.

She had freed dungeons three of them. In so doing she was credited with completing three steps of the Dragon trials. Heck, even the last one, the one with the Stockholm dungeon she was given credit for finishing that one as well. Meaning she only had five more times to combat the dragons, while also only having five more steps for her Trials of Ascension. After that point she would supposedly gain a permanent class, at which point she would take her GED, graduate high school and see if she could go into the workforce as a Super. That was generally the plan for most overachieving Supers, as soon as you get your class immediately go out and apply for one of the big three. Federal, State, or Contractors.

Contractors were allowed more autonomy, not being bound to any jurisdiction or real command structure other than their own. The only real draw back was the amount of training and documentation they needed was triple that of other groups. There was the benefit that they were often some of the first troops called in for monster surges, particularly for dungeon breaks. As far as Alexa was concerned, this was perfect, as it meant she would be able to go to almost any dungeon at any time.

Knowing what she knew now about dungeons, she wondered what exactly caused monster surges. She knew it mainly only happened in dungeons that hadn’t been run in a long time, but what did that really mean? Was that the equivalent of a dungeon going to sleep and being forced to continuously produce monsters? Also were all dungeons imprisoned against their wills, or was it just higher-level dungeons that were imprisoned? She didn’t remember feeling the way she did with the last few dungeons in Bottomless Gorge. Also, Bottomless Gorge was one of the first few she remembered hearing about growing autonomously, all of the others were ones that just appeared. She didn’t remember the full details, but from all accounts and measures Bottomless Gorge seemed to be spawned, at least that was the current thought surrounding the Tier II dungeon from her hometown.

In fact, many of the Tier I dungeons were also thought of as having grown organically, rather than already being in existence. The only noted exception to this were the first dungeons, the ones that first began bestowing classes, before going crazy with their production of monsters.

If they were all chained dungeons like the one that taught her to use her Creation magic to create chocolate, she could see how they could rule the universe.

Whoom.

Then just like that, her accelerated travel and thoughts ended as she appeared on the far side of the tunnel.

Once there, she was met with the questioning gaze of Captain Johnston. “Bullford behind you?”

Alexa just nodded.

Ooof.

The next second Bullford exited the tunnel then looked to Alexa who was already standing there, then back at the tunnel where he had expected Alexa to appear from. Alexa even without the system prompt, Alexa could read the perplexed expression on his face.

“Come on. We got a dragon to kill.” Captain Johnston said, as a malicious smile filled her lips.

Alexa had known that sometime in the past Captain Johnston had become bound to the dragons, no one spoke about it of course due to the very intimate nature of such a conversation. After all, how exactly does one begin a conversation that would mostly begin with, “how did you become a slave to a dragon?”

If she didn’t feel it was appropriate to ask dungeons such a question, she knew for certain she shouldn’t ask a human that. Humans were fragile after all, at least that was Alexa’s opinion of them. Sadly, she felt that she could get along better with dungeons than humans. Maybe it was just the way they appeared emotionless, though they clearly had emotions, especially that first dungeon. The one that saw her and was patient enough to teach her how to use her power. Granted the idea was to teach her how to use her power to create a key that could ultimately be used to facilitate its release, but Alexa understood that, as that was a business transaction. Time and knowledge on how to wield power, for her to use said power to free it, simple. No cajoling, no extortion of her for more favors. It even taught her to make chocolate before teaching her how to craft the key. That was beyond kind of the dungeon and frankly speaking something she didn’t think the dungeon would do. If she was chained in place, would she have the patience to teach the person who had a key that could free her how to make a cuisine? Alexa felt that she likely wouldn’t have had such a calm reaction as the dungeon had.

Unfortunately for Alexa, she also realized that she would have to work out a means of transportation for the future. The reason for this is, that the dungeon on her school’s campus, the dungeon that the entire school had been built around was now blocked to her. At least that was what the system messages she had read told her, she identified the true purpose of said dungeon and would need to go to other dungeons to see what skills those dungeons taught. If her theory was right, then all dungeons had a particular focus, or area of interest. She thought that Bottomless Gorge might be based on Analytics of some kind, but that was a bad assumption to have. Basically, she needed more data points and more ways to prove her theory about what each dungeon is for, before going public with it. Right now, she just has text from one dungeon, text that can’t be shared. Also, if she tried to enter that dungeon people would instantly see her leave as she would likely be taken away to her sixth stage of her Trials of ascension.

“All right, we are on foot. The dragon started off as a level 70 Royal, but has since evolved to be a level 92 Matriarch. Our goal is to get rid of this beast before she takes up roost in the countryside and hatches a clutch of eggs. Do not feel squeamish about killing her, she is a monster plain and simple.” Captain Johnston said.

“What of air strikes?” Fletcher asked, though it was clear from his tone that this was a staged question.

“Good question, Kinetic and explosive ordinances of all kinds have so far proven to be useless against the creature. Right now we suspect that the creature is using some type of heat absorption power, while its tough body makes it extremely resilient to standard kinetic attacks.”

“Any supers coming?” A super in what appears to be a bright orange track suit asks.

“Good question, the answer is no. We are too far out of the way out here in little old Madison to be of any concern to the Feds. Besides they say we already have enough resources, which they are right. I present to you Aru’ka, on her fist mission in the field. Today’s your day to be a Super honey, tell the world what you think about that!”

With that Alexa felt several sets of eyes all turn to her, there was a Super whose sole purpose was to run around recording evidence and field videos for documentation purposes, he was the one that turned directly to Alexa, shining a bright light in Alexa’s face.

Alexa didn’t even flinch when the light came, instead, she just answered truthfully. “I think we are wasting a lot of time talking about what to do, rather than doing it.” Alexa said, her voice cold and passionless as she could have been talking about the weather.

“Hahaha! That’s what I love about you. Steve’s you are with Al…Aru’ka, make sure to document everything she does so we can all revel in this victory later. The rest of us will provide a distraction long enough for you to get close. Any questions?”

Silence.

“Good, what I like to hear. Move out, we strike in ten minutes.” Johnston said, taking her lieutenants. They were close, so close that they could hear the dragon slumbering between some grain silos that the dragon had clearly been pilfering from. Or maybe just resting on, as the silos were completely destroyed and made into a nest of sorts.

Judging by the shape and size, Alexa felt that the Captain’s depiction of what would happen wasn’t that far off. If she had to guess then she would swear that the dragon was preparing to lay eggs. The countryside showed signs of previous battles as scorched earth was visible from all directions in a massive arc of protection around the perfectly fine nest. A nest that would easily be lit up in flames, if any flames hit it, meaning that the nest was somehow important to the creature.

Alexa didn’t know how dragons fertilized their eggs, whether they needed a male dragon, or if the eggs had already been imprinted in some way while being created inside the female.

“How, how do you fee, feel?” The cameraman Steves asked. He was apparently frightened, though Alexa was surprised to see that he held the camera relatively steady despite the note of fear in his voice.

“Like normal.”

“Any concerns?”

“Nope.”

“This is your first mission, any thoughts?”

“That I have to wait nine minutes to do my job.” Alexa said. Then an idea struck her, as she began looking up to the sky and using Creationmagic in the air.

Gentle breeze.

At the same time Alexa used her Creation magic, she generated a gentle breeze to carry the tiny particles she was creating.

“Is that snow?”

At that thought, a slight smile filled Alexa’s lips, “not quite.”

“What is it then?”

Alexa just shook her head as more and more waves of silver flakes began to fly off into a spiraling vortex that went began flying out and over the sleeping dragon that was almost a mile away from their current location.

“Uh, shouldn’t we start heading out?” Steves said, as he looked at his watch indicating that it was almost the time that the Captain spoke of.

“No need, you will have the best view from here.” Alexa said calmly.

“Okay…”

“Charge!” Captain Johnston’s southern drawl battle cry could be heard echoing over the flat countryside.

RRROOOOAAARRR!!

WHOOOSHH!

The mighty lizard let out a torrent of flames one second, before an inferno erupted over the whole countryside.

“Holy F, what is that!” Steves exclaimed, as what could only be described as an inferno of white hot flame erupted, making the fields and countryside look like the fires of hell had erupted on the surface.

Even from the distance of a mile away, waves of heat could be felt blowing out over the pre-dawn sky.

Alexa waited for a few seconds, then nodded to herself before turning and walking away.

“Wait, you can’t go…” Steves said.

Alexa turned back to the cameraman. “Our job here is done. The dragon is dead.”

“But, but….the captain?”

Alexa just shook her head. “It will take more than a little heat to get her.”

“A little heat?” The cameraman said to himself, as he caught the final few seconds of Alexa walking off, away from an inferno. An inferno that she had somehow created.

“What in the world just happened?” He muttered to himself.