Path to the Apocalypse

It was really hard to resist pulling Beth into the private section of his space that night, but Chris managed it, simply cuddling with her as the squad huddled together in a corner of his space, enjoying the feeling of being with his fiancée. The next morning, the squad received their new lodging details and packed up everything from the barracks before heading over. “Did it say which platoon we got?” Nadia asked as they walked.

Beth frowned. “No, it just told us where to go… I'm not sure what that means.”

“Could we be forming a new platoon?” Derek wondered. “No platoon because the platoon doesn't exist yet?”

Nadia frowned. “I can't tell if that'd be a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Could it have something to do with what we talked to your dad about?” Chris muttered.

Beth hesitated. “Maybe… we may be waiting until certain things are in place? I don't know, I'll have to talk to him and see. Or maybe we'll know more when we get there.”

The squad nodded, continuing to walk in silence for a moment. “So…” Carmen began, nudging Beth. “I can't help but notice that absolutely stunning diamond on your finger~ I take it last night went well?”

Beth beamed, holding her hand up to show off the ring. “It did! Chris's proposal was amazing!”

“Oh was it now?” Derek raised an eyebrow at Chris.

Chris shrugged. “It was alright.” Beth shot a glare at him and he coughed. “And by that I mean it was the most romantic thing I've ever experienced.”

“That isn't exactly saying much.” Derek pointed out, causing Beth's glare to turn on him. “But I'm sure it was great!”

Beth crossed her arms with a huff. “It was beautifully romantic! He took us on a walk through all the significant points in our relationship and we talked about why they were important and how they affected us, ending at the place we both realized we loved each other! It was sweet and thoughtful and perfect!”

The rest of the squad shared a few looks, before Carmen coughed slightly. “So… are you going to do anything to announce your engagement?”

Chris cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

“You know, have a party, put pictures up on social media, send out postcards, stuff like that.” Carmen elaborated.

Chris frowned, glancing at Beth. “Do we want to do anything like that?”

“We should probably take some pictures for social media…” Beth muttered. “Then a small get together with family and close friends? Nothing big, just something so the people we're close to can celebrate with us.”

Chris scratched his head. “I suppose that works… is the fact that I don't have social media going to be a problem?”

Beth smiled, shaking her head. “No, it's mostly just to get ahead of the media. Everyone I want to know I can tell myself. But if we don't put something up, they'll make it out like it's some kind of scandal, which will make the paparazzi ravenous to get a scoop, and they'll end up harassing us even more than if we just put it out there.”

Chris nodded. “Gotcha. Alright, I can do that.”

It didn't take long for the squad to arrive at their new home and start setting up. Unlike the barracks, their new home allowed everyone to have their own room, giving them a measure of privacy, which would have been nice if they weren't spending every night in Chris's space for safety. Instead it just gave them slightly more room to store their equipment. They didn't find any indication of what their next assignment was going to be, leaving them a bit confused, but Beth quickly got them focused on their next task: getting material for Chris's space. They all wanted their own beds for the night.

They split the work into two teams, one to focus on getting mass while the other found things for Chris to build with. Chris, Derek, and Zack were on the mass team and they spent most of the morning hunting down a company that sold rock and sand, which meant traveling all the way down to the hundredth floor since they wanted to buy in bulk. You could get rock and sand on higher floors, but it'd be ten times more expensive due to transportation costs, so since they had the time, spending a few hours on the lifts for a deal was worth it, particularly since Chris was planning on buying four dozen tons. He didn't want to run out of material any time soon. Meanwhile, Beth, Nadia, Carmen, and Jello visited construction, flower, hobby, and electronics stores, picking up wood, bricks, cement, paint, plants, soil, lights, fabrics, wires, pipes, a toilet, a shower, a bathtub, and everything else Chris needed to build up his space.

Once they had everything, they met up for a quick lunch before heading into Chris's world to start building. The first thing they did was raise the height of the ceiling to four meters, the girls having picked up a meter stick so Chris could actually measure now. He then made a half meter tall wall hemming in a corner of the space and filled it with dirt, laying down a slab of concrete on top, leaving space along the edge for plants. Then the squad went through and started slowly building themselves a home, room by room. The whole process was a real workout for Chris's control over material, not because it was hard necessarily, but because it required him to do things he'd never done before. Connecting materials, cutting out sections, threading wires and pipes throughout, layering them, and so on. It quickly became clear he could do pretty much whatever he wanted with the material in his space.

Once the squad was satisfied with their new home, they started moving in, deciding to just live in the space instead of bothering with their new housing. The only thing Chris's space lacked was an internet connection, but if they really needed one, they could run a cable through a portal. While they did that, Chris set up something for his minions as well. He didn't have the space to set up something as nice as he had for the squad, but he at least got them a toilet and shower, along with a barracks style bunk room he'd put together after scanning the mattress from his room outside, so at least they all had their own bed, which they were all more than grateful for.

“So… what do we do now?” Zack asked, scratching his head. After spending months with little to no free time, it almost felt wrong to have nothing to do. For the period before graduation, they could focus on catching up with family and friends, or indulging in some of the things they'd missed during bootcamp, but now they were facing a whole month with nothing to do, then another that was just morning exercises.

“I'm going to look into some business classes.” Carmen announced.

“Me too.” Derek nodded.

“I'm going to look at some advanced tactics classes.” Nadia commented.

“I'll be looking at strategy.” Beth agreed, smiling as she glanced at her ring. “And planning my wedding.”

“I suppose I could look at some more engineering classes.” Zack muttered.

“I- think I might take the opportunity to do some exploring.” Chris announced.

The squad turned to look at him. “You're going to explore the Maze?” Derek asked, giving him a weird look.

“No.” Chris shook his head.

Beth's eyes widened as she realized what Chris was talking about. “You mean- Are- are you sure? You don't think it's too risky?”

“I've been thinking about it, and I either have to do it now, or wait until I'm so powerful nothing can touch me.” Chris explained. “Once I mutate again, risking dying would be too wasteful, but right now I have nothing to lose, so no matter what I do the worst case scenario is I lose some clothes. Of course, there's always the risk that something will be capable of breaking into my space, but that's going to be the same no matter when I do this.”

Beth grimaced uncomfortably as she thought it over, the squad looking between the two with confused expressions, before she let out a sigh and nodded in acceptance. “Okay, but you only have a week. Just enough to get an idea of what's out there.”

“Deal.” Chris agreed. He was only going to have a week anyway, since he'd need to mutate to recover his ability energy next week, once Jo and Salvador finished getting everything ready.

“Okay, what the hell are you guys talking about?” Derek asked, looking between the two of them.

“Oh, I managed to open a portal to the surface.” Chris shrugged.

“I knew it!” Zack exclaimed.

“Fucking how!?!” Nadia asked incredulously.

“It happened when I separated my private space.” Chris explained. “It connected to a random area, which happened to be on the surface.”

“So that's why you don't have more of those.” Carmen muttered. “I was wondering why you only ever had the one.”

Chris nodded. “Yeah, I don't want to risk connecting to someplace dangerous.”

“What, you mean like the surface?!?” Nadia growled. “Isn't that dangerous enough!?!”

“Eh?” Chris wiggled his hand. “It's in a forest clearing with no signs of anything intelligent nearby. Still not exactly safe, I suppose, but better than in the middle of a tribe, right?”

Nadia glared at him for a moment, before turning to Beth. “You knew about this?!? How could you not tell anyone!?!”

“It's too dangerous.” Beth explained. “The moment this becomes public, people are going to want to explore it, which means people will die. The surface is too dangerous. The only reason I'm letting Chris go is because… well, he's Chris. He's risking less and he'll be more cautious than anyone, and it's a good idea to figure out what's in the area, so we know if it's something we can use or something we should seal away forever.”

“Plus, I technically did tell you guys, you just didn't believe me.” Chris pointed out.

“Chris, using it to fuck with us doesn't count.” Derek grumbled, rubbing his temple.

Chris shrugged. “The information was communicated. I'm not in charge of how it was received.”

“Uh, what are the odds of something from the surface getting into here?” Zack asked, gesturing to the space.

Chris frowned. “I'm not sure. I can't tell how connected the two are. I know the other space has a connection to the surface, because I can feel my spatial sense over there, but the connection between this space and that space isn't as clear… except, I suppose, in the fact that they're both technically me? Since I kind of am the space.”

Zack's expression twisted. “Well now I don't know where to sleep.”

“Still here.” Nadia sighed. “Creatures from the surface are a maybe. Whatever tried to kill Chris is definitely out there.”

“Right.” Zack groaned, turning to Chris. “Please don't piss off some eldritch monstrosity while you're out there, okay? Or at least don't tell me about it. I don't need more nightmares.”

Chris raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Deal. But honestly, I'm not planning on actually doing anything out there. I'm just going to walk around.”

*

The next morning, Chris had breakfast with the squad and gave Beth a quick kiss goodbye before moving to the private space. He opened the portal to the surface and cautiously stepped out, the forest still fairly dark though the sky was getting brighter. Chris closed the portal, looking for any sign that something more than animals existed around him, hesitating for a moment before approaching one of the taller trees. He began to climb it carefully, occasionally using a barrier to give him a boost to a higher branch, particularly as he got higher, using the barriers more and more to support his weight until he was high enough to see over the forest, but still low enough that he remained mostly hidden by the tree he was in.

Looking around, there was only one notable feature he could see from the height he was at, some sort of break in the forest not far away. Possibly just another clearing, but it was all Chris had to go on at the moment. Quickly climbing back down the tree, he moved in the direction of the break, keeping his senses sharp for any creatures. Or at least any creatures nearby. The forest was filled with sounds, putting Chris on edge. The sounds didn't seem threatening, but the sheer amount was worrying. Thankfully none of them seemed to notice him yet, but Chris was missing being able to borrow Sidulpek's ability. A shroud of darkness would have made him feel a lot more comfortable at the moment.

After several minutes of careful creeping, Chris finally made it to the break, freezing as he found… a road? He frowned, kneeling down and touching the dark surface in front of him. Yeah, that was definitely asphalt… and definitely not a good sign. Animals didn't build roads, and roads meant cars, or at least some form of advanced transportation. So not only were there sapients around, they were just as advanced as humanity, if not more.

“Shit.” Chris cursed, looking up and down the road, wondering if he should just cut his losses here, when he froze again. “What the-” He walked closer to the sign, eyes widening in disbelief as he read it. Speed limit forty-five… in human! “How the hell is that possible?” Chris muttered to himself, scratching his head. Were- were there humans on the surface? Some subspecies that was stronger for some reason? But that didn't make any sense either… language was constantly evolving, and even in the City, if you brought someone back from four hundred years ago, you'd probably barely understand them! What were the odds that a separate civilization of humans would develop the same language?!? Probably the same as any other random civilization developing the same language.

Chris's ears perked up as he heard something coming down the road, quickly ducking back into the forest and peeking through some foliage to see what was coming. It was definitely a car, he could see that much, and… Chris blinked incredulously as he caught a glimpse of the driver. It was a human! Or at least it seemed like one… he could only see the head and arms. Should he stop them? Was it worth the risk? Before Chris could decide, the car sped past, continuing on its way, taking the decision out of his hands. Chris stared after the car for a moment, frowning in consternation, before making his way after it, following the road. He wasn't sure what was going on or what he'd find, but he knew he needed to get answers, one way or another.

Chris was only walking for about four minutes when another car came his way. He debated hiding again, but decided against it. He also debated waving them down, but decided against that as well. He wanted to see how these people reacted to a random human walking along the road. The car slowed down, pulling up next to him as the window rolled down. “Hey buddy, you alright?” The man in the car asked with a mix of suspicion and concern.

Chris paused, considering his answer for a moment. “I'm- not sure. I'm not sure where I am, to be honest.”

The man frowned. “Didn't you check your phone?”

Chris blinked. “I- don't have my phone with me.”

The man sighed, shaking his head. “Well… if you're looking to get back to town, you're going the wrong way. You have a good forty miles before you'll see anything in this direction. Town is about four miles back that way.”

Chris frowned slightly, wondering what a mile was. “I see… I'll head that way then, thank you.”

The man hesitated for a moment, checking his watch. “You know what? Hop in. I can at least get you to the edge of town.”

“You don't have to, I can walk.” Chris assured him.

“No, no, I insist. Who wants to be early on a Monday anyway?” The man replied, leaning over and popping the door open. Chris hesitated for a moment, but decided it'd probably be more suspicious to refuse, sliding into the seat and strapping in as the man turned the car around. “So how'd you get all turned around out there?”

“I- was in the forest and when I found the road, I wasn't sure which way led where.” Chris replied.

“Hm. You must have been pretty lost to end up all the way out here.” The man commented. “Did you just wander off into the forest?”

“Something like that.” Chris muttered. “I was exploring.”

The man snorted. “Exploring, huh? And you forgot your phone? Not the best idea, kid. Though even then, the signal out here can be pretty spotty… if you're going to make a habit of this, I'd suggest investing in a GPS.”

“That- sounds like a good idea.” Chris agreed, wondering what a ‘GPS’ was.

The car descended into an awkward silence after that, but thankfully a mile didn't seem to be that long a distance as they soon arrived at a dense cluster of buildings. “Don't go getting lost again, ya’ hear?” The man warned as he dropped Chris off, giving him one last wave as he turned the car around and headed back the way they came.

Chris looked around, studying the buildings that wouldn't look all that out of place in the City with a weird expression. He was more convinced than ever that there was something strange going on here. The town was just… sitting here! There were no defenses, no guards, no nothing to protect it from creatures! And the man had made zero mention of the fact that Chris was out in the wild without a weapon! Was he in some sort of protected area, like the City? But then… What about all the creatures he'd heard in the forest? Was it fake? An illusion?

Chris shook his head, making his way deeper into town, searching for someplace he could find answers. He wandered deeper into town, looking around, freezing as he saw one woman walking along with a dog! She had it on some kind of rope, just walking down the street as if there was nothing strange about it. Was she a dominator? Did the people of this place just let people walk around with their minions? Back in the City, he only got away with bringing Jello out because she looked human. Chris eyed the dog suspiciously for a moment, before moving on, continuing to explore until he found a place that might actually give him some information: the library.

Chris walked up to the front desk where an older woman was sitting. “Excuse me, do you have any- computers I could use?” Chris asked tentatively. There was definitely a computer on her desk, but he wasn't sure if they called it the same thing.

The woman eyed him suspiciously. “There are a few towards the back you can use. They have a web blocker on them, so don't try to look up anything you shouldn't.”

Chris blinked. That sounded… ominous. “I- won't?” He assured her tentatively, before making his way in the direction she'd indicated, feeling a judgmental glare on his back. He really hoped he wasn't about to set off some kind of alarm for searching for restricted information. He quickly found the computers and turned one on. It started to boot up… slowly. It took a good ten minutes before he could finally get on the internet, hesitating as he wondered what he should look up, eventually landing on ‘recent news’. That should be harmless enough, right?

The page took a while to load, before giving him a list of news sites. He clicked on the top link and started reading. There was apparently some sort of scandal with a politician, trouble in some place called the ‘Middle East’, an old celebrity that died, and- Chris's eyes widened, quickly clicking on the story. ‘The hit VRMMO The Maze releases its fourth expansion today Humanity's Rise! Following Purge of the Doppelgangers, this installment brings players to the surface, where they'll participate in the ongoing war between the Elven Kingdom and the Doppelganger Collective, featuring new races such as orcs, dwarves, halflings, and more!’ The rest of the article went into more detail about the expansion, mentioning a new advancement system called ‘cultivation’, but Chris barely skimmed it before returning to the search bar and looking up The Maze.

He looked up its origin, its history, theories, controversies, everything he could think of. It quickly became clear that not only was The Maze based on the City, it'd actually progressed further than the City, showing a future version that was… not very pleasant. Based on everything he'd found, Chris put together a basic timeline for the game, based on the expansions. The base game seemed to be the present in the City. No major conflicts, just people versus the Maze. Then came the first expansion, Rise of the Conqueror, which revolved around the City pushing deeper into the Maze, led by man with radically stronger abilities than anyone had seen in years, and yes, that was abilities plural. Glossing over the man who could not possibly be similar to anyone, the next event was Invasion of the Elves, in which the Elven Kingdom descended into the Maze, pushing humanity back down, forcing the Conqueror into hiding in the process. Then came Purge of the Doppelgangers, which was where things got… complicated.

Apparently humanity wasn't the only race living in the City, and when the elves got too close to the City, these doppelgangers revealed themselves, fighting off their initial invasion. Some people were grateful for the doppelgangers’ help, but others saw them as a threat, leading to… well, a purge. Since the doppelgangers could take on human form, people started accusing everyone of being doppelgangers and it turned into utter chaos, not helped by the fact that a second force of elves arrived, along with a force of doppelgangers, forcing people into two factions. Anyone who thought the doppelgangers were a threat joined the elves, working with them to eradicate the doppelgangers from the City. The other side supported the doppelgangers, seeing them as hidden allies. The whole conflict turned into a bloody civil war that divided humanity as both sides fought to claim territory in both the City and the Maze. Occasionally the Conqueror would appear, always in a devastating fashion, but it was never clear which side he was on, attacking both sides equally. Which then led to Humanities Rise, which apparently took the conflict to the surface.

Chris stared at the computer with a twisted expression, not sure what to do with this information. Was it true? He had no idea, but he couldn't exactly afford to ignore it, because what if it was? It was plain as day that he needed to do whatever he could to stop the elves from invading in the first place, but the problem was… no one actually knew why they had invaded. Some people thought it was because humanity started pushing higher into the Maze, but others pointed out that that conflicted with their willingness to ally with humans against the doppelgangers. Some thought they came for the doppelgangers, but then why had they attacked humanity instead of simply talking to them? Also, it was clear the doppelgangers were more of an issue on the surface, so why would the elves care about the ones in the City? Neither explanation made complete sense, but no one had any competing theories, so it just kept going back and forth.

Chris sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “I'm going to have to get this game and figure it out myself, aren't I?”