Game Transcendence

11: Trapped

11: Trapped
Date Written: August 31, 2019

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The room was huge but empty. Aside from the moving images of stars jn the dark blue walls of the room, there was nothing else to see.

In each corner sat two youngsters. One of them was Kian who had his legs laid on the floor while his back was on the wall and Keiko who was hugging her knees.

An hour had passed yet silence still permeated the room. Kian couldn't help it anymore. The silence was defeaning.

When he tried to speak, he couldn't help but stop. Keiko was now gazing at him with teary eyes.

"Uwah!" It seems she didn't expect that he would look at her. She backed away quickly so her head met the wall.

The scene was so different from the previous atmosphere that Kian couldn't help but release a laugh. Keiko was surprised but also couldn't help but giggle. 

The change in the mood only went for a few seconds before it reverted back to the awkward atmosphere from before.

"Hey" Kian greeted.

"Hey" Keiko replied.

There was a brief moment of silence before Kian once again decided to look her into the eyes. There were lots of questions running on his mind and he intended to get them all answered today.

"So, how's it going?" he started.

"I'm fine. By some miracle" she smiled with bitterness on her face.

"Who were those guys? And what are these blue crystals in your head? Don't tell me you got involved in a cult or something" he tried to crack a joke to make himself look normal.

"Worst than a cult. You've seen them, right? The images on the windows." she faced Kian's gaze head on this time which made him feel slightly awkard in return.

"You shouldn't have saved me. Now you got yourself in this mess" she sighed with guilt in her eyes.

Kian didn't respond and let her talk. It was time to know the truth.

He knew that he was involving himself in a matter than could possibly endanger his life but he couldn't help it. Curiosity and an intense sense of crisis in the back of his head has been bugging him for months.

"Those guys are the reason why all of this happened. What you guys call the Dimension Separation occurred all because of their machinations..."

As he listened to her explanation, he couldn't help but become speechless. After Keiko finished speaking, she didn't urge Kian to speak as she knew that he was still digesting such a huge amount of information.

The creatures from the fourth dimension called Excelsis, the time reversal of the Sun which caused the Solar Age, and also the Dimension Separation. To think they would all be caused by a single race from a higher civilization.

A feeling of helplessness washed all over his body. If what Keiko said was true, then doesn't that mean that they were all finished? How could they go against such people?

"Why would they do this? Do they want domination?" he asked.

Keiko shook her head with a face full of unwillingness.

"They won't benefit from domination. They came here for a certain reason. Harvesting. They want to harvest the energy formed by the stats inside the players' body to open up a gate to return back to where they came from. This energy is called Psyche" she paused for a few seconds before she continued.

"Actually, the Excelcis themselves have a large amount of Psyche energy in their bodies since it's their main weapon in fighting interstellar battles. But do you think they would sacrifice their kind when there's an alternative source instead?" Keiko said.

Kian took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He sorted out his thoughts. To know that your race is about to be turned into a source of energy for just another race was infuriating. However, he knew that he couldn't really do anything.

"Then... What about you? How did you become a part of them?" he couldn't help but wander his eyes at the eye crystals on her head.

It seems that she didn't want to answer that question and she looked away.

Kian sighed and stood up. He approached the wall where the door was previously present and then took out his pistol.

He fired a large Phantom Bullet. To his surprise, the bullet actually didn't pass through the wall. Instead, it turned into normal metal after it made contact with the wall and lost the force behind it.

It fell to the ground and made a clinking sound as Kian's mouth couldn't help but open wide.

Not willing to give up, he fired off another round of attacks. Distort, Disrupt, Bullet and all the skills he had that could be used to attack wete used. However, none of them worked.

He couldn't help but feel frustrated. While screaming, he attacked once again even when his mana was rapidly dropping. He even landed multiple punches in them but nothing really changed.

"It's no use. None of your attacks would work." Keiko said behind him. Who knows since when did she stood up and approach him.

"Huh? You know something?" he asked with hope.

"This room is a cage for all abducted players. Only an Excelsis or halflings like me can enter and exit this place" her words made him cold.

"Still, there's something you could do to leave this place..." her words trailed off at the end.

Hesitation was visible on her face. However, Kian who was about to give up was quickly livened up.

"Is that true? Quick, tell me!" he said, his voice full of joy and excitement.

In his moment of excitement, he couldn't help but grasp her shoulders. Finally, he could leave this place which was giving off a depressing atmosphere.

"Become like me. A Half-Excelcis." Keiko's eyes met his as she said those words.

Kian who was so excited just a moment ago was now frozen on the spot. Her words were no different from a bucket of ice poured over his head.

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I think I messed up this one....