The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 6: Thinking Space. (Part 1)

Chapter 6: Thinking Space.

4 months, 1 day after the fall:

"Combat against the Rift Walkers requires specialised equipment and technique," an instructor stood at the front of our line. "As defenders of the Crysis Dungeon Bunker you will be learning new ways to fight these abominations. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" we replied as one.

"Good," the instructor nodded. "To begi,n Rift Walkers have been found to come in 10 ranks. 1 being the weakest, even your everyday player of old could handle it. At rank 3 and 4 you're looking at someone in the rankings. 6 and above you'd better be hoping for some serious support. At 10, only a living legend could take one on. Thankfully our combat instructions have come directly from one such legend." He displayed a screen and a women appeared wearing bright red armoured tailored to match her hair. Her purple eyes seemed to glow vividly even from the still image. "Meet Zen. Some of you may have heard of her before. Her style of martial arts blends Aura, Mana and a god damn destructive force that can snap the spines of a Rift Walker in half. That there is the trick. No simple spell, bullet or axe is gonna fly. A mixture is the key. Hope you're ready to burn your souls because that's the best way to do some damage. Even you spell slinger types will need to meld it in. Now give me a hurrah! "

"Hurrah!"

"Okay now follow my steps!"

That was my first lesson learning Zen's martial arts. A lesson I wished I had learnt long before.

*

It had been a long time since I had stepped into the university building, mentally at least. It was still quite early in the morning just past 9. I had done my daily work out and mana exercises before taking a light jog to the familiar building. It was a new age space and blended nature into the buildings landscape. Garden plots with trees and well-kept plant life were placed sporadically throughout the campus and majority of the ground floor was split with glass allowing plenty of natural light. My goal however was referred to as the dungeon.

Compared to the above ground buildings, the dungeon felt just like it sounded. Underground where no natural light reached and filled with corridors that were a little too tight. What it made up for was plenty of private lab space. I waited outside the heavy set door of one such lab. A simple plate was glued above it. Virtual Tech Lab. Professor C.Grayton.

The door eventually opened and standing behind it, a women in her early thirties wearing a stained lab coat. Her brown hair was tied back and at one point in time would have been quite neat. The bags beneath her eyes however indicated that she had probably not slept for quite a while. Her name was Sarah Colony

"Who are you?" she asked abruptly.

I smiled at the familiar brash and tired attitude, "I'm Ardent Friend, here to see Professor Grayton about the Honours project."

Sarah frowned, "You're not meant to be here till tomorrow."

"It is tomorrow...."

She checked her phone, "Well shit. I'll get the Professor ready. Umm take a seat over there." She pointed to a lone chair surrounded by several books that were on the verge of falling.

"Take your time," I sat down, knowing it could be a while. Sarah Colony... we were together when the Fall first began. The Merge had a big impact on the lab and because of it we lost funding. The result was me moving on to a new career path as a diplomat. It was a relatively normal day when I had visited. Then there was the alarm I had never heard before. By the time we got above ground, parts of the city had already been destroyed and people were desperately trying to find places to flee and hide. I remember leaving to find Aria and Dad, leaving Sarah to find the Professor who had gone for coffee. That was the last time I saw her.