Path to the Apocalypse

The squad spent the rest of the night getting to know each other, which seemed to be the purpose of this first night. Sergeant Callista even assigned them a board game to play after dinner. Carmen was in a similar position to Derek, using the Scouts as a college replacement, planning on using the Scouts to build up capital and learn the skills she needed to start her own business. Nadia was on the other end, from a poor family on the outskirts of the hundredth floor of the City, putting all her hopes on climbing the ranks in the Scouts to build a life for herself.

As for Zack, he was in a weird position. See, families in the City had two methods of dealing with the reality of the Trial. The first, usually the tactic of those who were well off, was to only have one child and pour everything they had into giving them the best chance to survive, like with Beth and Derek's families. The other, usually the tactic of those who were not well off, was to have a number of children and hope at least one or two of them would make it. Only the rich, like the Families, could have multiple children they invested heavily into. Zack was the youngest in a family of four who had surprisingly had all their kids survive the Trial, and as grateful as his parents were to have all their children alive and well, by the time they got to him, they didn't have anything left to send him to college, which meant he either had to take out loans or join the military. Given that his ability was combat oriented, he'd gone with the military.

“Wait, wait, wait. You seriously had no idea you had an ability until you died in the Trial?” Zack asked skeptically.

“None.” Chris confirmed. “Otherwise I wouldn't even have been in the Trial. Cause you know, healing.”

“Right…” Zack muttered before shaking his head. “Shit dude, that's crazy. I can't even imagine going into the Trial like that! Essentially knowing you're going to die.” He shuddered. “Honestly, I might have offed myself the day before, just to save myself the suffering.”

“What good would that have done?” Nadia sneered. “No matter how hopeless a situation seems, there's always a chance. Giving up just ensures you'll never find it.”

Zack raised his hands defensively. “Hey, I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that in his position, that's where my mind would be. I mean, you can know something is dumb but still be compelled to do it anyway, you know? Like when a crazy chick starts getting really into you, and you know it's gonna end badly, but well… she's hot.”

“Dude.” Derek nodded in agreement, holding out his fist, which Zack promptly bumped.

Chris frowned. “Who was crazy?”

“Sarah Zimmerman.” Derek sighed wistfully.

“Really? She didn't seem so bad to me.” Chris replied.

Derek gave him a weird look. “Dude, she wanted us to drink each other's blood.”

Chris scratched his head. “It was only a few drops though? And if you're already swapping bodily fluids, it isn't that big a deal, is it? Plus, you really liked her. Seems like a minor issue to get worked up over in a relationship that was otherwise working just fine.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “It isn't the drinking of the blood that's the issue, it's the fact that she thought drinking each other's blood was a good idea. Plus, she's the one who broke up with me over it. Said I wasn't ‘committed’ enough.”

“I mean, if you let the relationship fall apart over a few drops of blood, she was kinda right, wasn't she?” Chris pointed out.

“Chris, please stop.” Beth pleaded with a grimace. She didn't want him getting any ideas, because while she probably would, she really didn't want to have to drink some of his blood so she could keep seeing him.

“Okay.” Chris agreed with a shrug. It wasn't an important enough argument to make Beth uncomfortable over.

Carmen looked between Beth and Chris with a strange look in her eye. “How did the two of you manage to get together? I doubt the Scout princess and an orphan from the forty-fourth floor would have many chances to meet each other.”

“We met in the Trial.” Chris explained. “She'd-”

“Hap!” Beth stopped him, flushing in embarrassment. “They don't need to know the details, Chris!” She hissed, before turning back to the others. “But yeah, we spent almost the entire Trial together. Ended up getting pretty close, and then afterwards, one thing led to another, and here we are!”

Zack blinked. “Huh… I honestly can't tell who's the lucky one in that scenario.”

“It's definitely me.” Beth immediately replied, leaning closer to Chris with a happy smile on her face, confident that finding Chris was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

“Short-term, maybe, but long-term I think I'm the lucky one.” Chris retorted, thinking she was referring to her close call with death and fully believing that he was the one who was lucky to have her.

“They're both stupidly lucky.” Derek grumbled. “All I got out of the Trial was brain damage and I'm just lucky Chris was around to fix it.”

*

Sergeant Callista came in at eight to tell them it was time for lights out and they all got to sleep for the night. The next morning Sergeant Callista got them up at five, immediately getting them out into the yard with the other three squads that formed their platoon for two hours of morning exercises. They then had half an hour to shower and see to the rest of their morning hygiene, before heading to the cafeteria for a quick breakfast. The rest of the morning was spent putting them through various drills, some with just the squad and some with the platoon, getting them used to working together.

They had lunch from eleven thirty to twelve, then an hour of hand to hand combat training before getting split up for training in their specific roles. Chris was in a bit of an awkward position since he was filling three roles, but his healing didn't need to be trained and utilities always had abilities that didn't fit into a standard role, so their training couldn't be standardized anyway. All he needed to do was learn what to look for as a scout and use the extra practice hour after job training to meet with an ability specialist to help him explore his ability.

They had two hours for training in their roles, then another two hours to learn a job. Chris chose to learn how to use and maintain the mechanical devices the squad used, things like traps, guns, ropes and pulleys, anything with moving parts. Beth chose to learn strategy, which focused on figuring out what their goal was and how they were going to achieve it. Derek chose to learn equipment management, figuring out how much weight they could carry and how to organize it so they all had everything they needed to pull off whatever assignment they were given. Zack chose to learn electrical device use and maintenance, which covered anything involving wires and electricity, while Carmen chose resource management, which covered figuring out how to use the resources in the Maze to supplement their supplies, as well as collecting the various valuable materials that couldn't wait for a dedicated resource collection team to arrive, such as finding and extracting a creature's ability core. Finally, Nadia chose to learn tactics, which focused on figuring out how to use the assets you had available to you to accomplish specific tasks. Basically, Beth would figure out what they wanted to accomplish and what they needed to do to pull it off, then Nadia would figure out who had to do what to make it happen.

After his mechanical devices class, Chris headed to a private training room to meet with the ability specialist. “Ah, you must be Recruit Vincent. Please, have a seat.” The ability specialist greeted him as he arrived, gesturing to a chair across from his own. “I'm Doctor Bartholomew Jacobs, formerly Captain Jacobs of the Scouts, but please, just call me Jacobs. I'll be helping you explore what your ability is capable of. How about we start with you telling me what you can do?”

“Don't you already know?” Chris asked as he sat down.

“Yes, but I want to hear how you describe it.” Jacobs insisted.

Chris raised an eyebrow before shrugging in acceptance. “I have this space I can open portals to, which heals anyone who dies inside it and lets me form connections with creatures so I can control them and open portals from the space to them as well.”

Jacobs nodded along to Chris's description. “Alright, let's start with the space then. You own it? You could even say you control it? You've stated you can alter the dimensions of the space and even separate it into different sections, yes?”

“Yes?” Chris frowned slightly, wondering what he was getting at.

“Then wouldn't it follow that anything the space does is under your control?” Jacobs continued. “So why can't you control whether someone is healed or not?”

Chris shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Hmm.” Jacobs hummed slightly. “Tell me, Chris, would you say you have an aversion to death?”

Chris blinked. “Doesn't everyone?”

“Yes, of course, no one wants to die or wants to see the people they're close with die, but I'm wondering if you want anyone to die.” Jacobs elaborated. “Does the thought of a goblin dying make you uncomfortable?”

Chris scratched his head. “Not particularly? Especially if they're trying to kill me. Not a lot of sympathy for them at that point.”

“I see.” Jacobs muttered, frowning slightly. “Ah, well, abilities have strange quirks sometimes. Let's move on to your portals. You usually open them against the walls of your space, yes? Making one side solid?”

Chris nodded. “Yeah.”

“Can you open one for me? Here? So the solid side is facing me.” Jacobs gestured to a space next to him. Chris did so as Jacobs stood, examining the portal for a moment before taking a step back and pulling out a small device that shot a bolt of energy at the portal. Chris's eye twitched as he felt a spike of pressure from the bolt. “Ah-ha! As I thought! Your portals can act as barriers! Now it's just a question of how much damage they can take.”

“How do I figure that out?” Chris asked.

“There's an ability management office on base. We'll visit it tomorrow, after we've explored more of what you're capable of.” Jacobs replied. The ability management department was in charge of cataloging and testing abilities, so they had all the equipment necessary to test the strength of Chris's barriers. “Your portals in particular open a few possibilities. For example, open two portals horizontally, one over the other so that when something falls into one it comes out the other.”

“Ah, so it creates an infinite loop, huh?” Chris nodded in understanding as he created the portals. “And now we drop a rock into it, right?”

“Precisely.” Jacobs agreed, pulling out a small rock, practically a pebble. “Be prepared to cut the portal if necessary.” He warned, before holding the rock in between the portals and dropping it. The rock quickly began to accelerate and Chris felt the pressure in his head begin to build until the rock pierced through the portal and cracked into ground, leaving Chris with a slight headache. “Hm. We'll have to work on the timing, but it looks like you can produce a fairly decent attack this way.” Jacobs muttered. “Not something you can put together quickly enough to qualify as an attacker, but good enough to help out in a fight.”

“Is it supposed to give me a headache?” Chris asked, rubbing his head. “Because it gave me a headache.”

Jacobs blinked. “From the build up or from when it broke through?”

Chris paused, considering it for a moment. “The build up created pressure, which turned to pain when it broke through.”

“Interesting.” Jacobs muttered. “The pressure must act as a warning sign that you're getting close to the limits of your ability! Did you feel any pressure when I hit the portal with my attack?”

“A little, yeah.” Chris replied.

“Excellent!” Jacobs clapped. “That gives us our first method of training! We'll need to push your portals so you can get a feel for when they're about to break, which will allow you to better manage their use!”

Chris's expression twisted. That sounded like it was going to be a real pain… literally. “Now?”

“No, no, of course not.” Jacobs shook his head. “We're still exploring what you can do. We've barely even started and we've already discovered methods for defense and attack!” He paused for a moment. “Do you need a break? I know opening portals can be pretty draining.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “I actually haven't had any issues with them. Opening them is pretty effortless.”

“Is that so?” Jacobs cocked his head curiously. “How long can you maintain them?”

“Indefinitely?” Chris replied hesitantly. “I've never tried to keep one open for more than a minute or so though.”

Jacobs frowned. “And your healing? Does that drain you at all?”

Chris shook his head. “Not that I've noticed.”

“And controlling the creatures you've dominated?” Jacobs asked, looking almost like he was scared to hear the answer.

“Nothing.” Chris shrugged.

Jacobs plopped into his chair as he pondered the implications of that. “We must have barely even scratched the limits of what you're capable of! If we consider the portals to be an ancillary capability and they're already at least mid-tier in strength…” Jacobs eyed Chris with an intense, almost hungry gaze, before he dismissed whatever he was thinking with a shake of his head. “Something to consider later. Right now we have a few more tests to do with your portals. First, once you've established a portal, can you move it?”

Chris opened a small portal on his right, before sliding it to his left. “Apparently I can.”

“Okay, now try to move it as far away from yourself as possible.” Jacobs ordered and Chris sent the portal as far away as he could, reaching a bit over three meters away from himself. “Okay, bring it back.” Jacobs continued once he saw the portal wasn't going any further, bringing out a small stick and swiping it at the portal, harmlessly passing through it. “Interesting… did you feel anything from that?”

Chris shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Hm.” Jacobs hummed thoughtfully, passing the stick through the portal a few more times before glancing at Chris, who just shook his head, confirming that he still felt nothing. Jacobs raised an eyebrow, then stuck the stick through the portal, before trying to swipe it out.

“Okay, that's getting pressure.” Chris announced.

“Is it?” Jacobs muttered. “Try closing the portal on the stick.” Chris did as he asked, feeling a pressure start to build as he tightened the portal around the stick, but it quickly went away as he stopped trying to close the portal. “Keep going.” Jacobs insisted. Chris frowned, but did as he said, trying to close the portal through the stick as the pressure built until suddenly the portal snapped closed, cutting the stick in half! “How much pressure did that take?” Jacobs asked. “The mental kind, I mean.”

“About halfway to the breaking point, I guess?” Chris replied, feeling a bit tired. It seemed like even if the pressure didn't cause pain, it still took effort.

Jacobs nodded, making a mental note of the information before moving on. “Okay then, last experiment for the portals. Make a horizontal portal with the barrier side facing up.”

Chris took a moment to decode what he wanted, before making a portal to the floor of his space. “Like this?”

“Yes, now get on it.” Jacobs waved at the portal.

Chris had already pieced together what Jacobs was thinking as he hopped up onto the portal and began to move it, drifting in a lazy circle around the room. “Zack is going to be jealous.” He muttered in an amused tone. “There's pressure, and it increases as I go faster.” He added in a louder voice.

Jacobs nodded. “I would expect as much. Your portals seem to act as telekinetic energy barriers, though they're a bit less- hm, wait, can you shape them? Make them curved or angled?”

Chris blinked, opening another portal and trying to curve it, which… kind of worked, but the portal in his space curved as well, lifting off the wall. He'd already tried to manipulate the walls to section off portions of his space, and they were stuck being flat. “The portals, yes, the barriers no.” Chris told Jacobs as he closed the portal.

“Hm, pity.” Jacobs muttered. “But still! Your portals don't even seem to be the main focus of your ability, yet they're already incredibly versatile!” He rubbed his hands together with a grin. “I can't wait to see what we find as we explore the connection aspect!”

Chris eyed him weirdly. “I don't think I'm comfortable with you being more excited about my ability than I am.”

Jacobs snorted. “Then get more excited, because your ability is fascinating! If only your parents were still around so we could learn more about the circumstances that led to its creation.” Jacobs muttered absently.

Chris’s eyes narrowed for a moment, before he shook his head. “So are we moving on to the connection aspect now?”

Jacobs shook his head. “No, for now we're simply going to focus on the portals and your space. We'll be getting some creatures for you to dominate in a few weeks, so we'll explore your connection then.”

Chris blinked. “You're getting me minions?”

Jacobs grinned. “There are some influential parties that seem to believe your ability is worth investing in, and from the little I've seen today, it's hard to argue.”

“Huh…” Chris grunted. Did this count as David abusing his authority? He'd have to thank him next time he saw him. “Alright then, what are we working on today then?”

Jacobs considered it for a moment. “Let's see if we can make something out of launching rocks with your portals.”

Chris nodded. “Sounds good.”