Valterion: The Space/Arch? Mage

Maja’s Adventures 4

Location: Magicon Empire; Armortec Duchy; Cintman System; Cintman 3; Peacekeeper Academy

Day 1…

The group of elite cadets sets out into the desert. Steven has found a mostly straight path that lets them avoid any major dunes, and so he naturally takes the lead. Maja and Ellie join him at the front, and all the others follow.

The hours pass by, and nothing happens. A few of the cadets start to get nervous as they expect one of the ten challenges to happen at any time. The sun steadily climbs higher and higher, and sweat starts to appear on the cadets’ foreheads. A few of them start struggling. When Steven doesn’t seem to notice, Maja taps his shoulder.

“Hey Steven, I think we should take a break.”

He turns to look at her. “Huh, why should we…?” His gaze follows to where Maja points at the others. “Oh… Yeah, you’re right.”

He didn’t even break a sweat. What kind of monster is that guy? I mean I have an excuse at least, but him?

Steven calls for a stop, and everyone sighs in relief.

“About time!” Someone calls out, which earns her a lot of agreement.

Steven looks a bit sheepish. “Sorry guys, I did a lot of walking in the past and well, held you to my standards… I guess it’s better if someone else sets the pace in the future.”

That earns him a few chuckles until Ellie speaks up. “But you’re not innocent either! Why did not one of you speak up? What if we’re ambushed right now? If you’re exhausted, tell someone. We’re a team!”

She’s right. An ambush right now could be ruinous.

Luckily, no ambush happens, and after eating a bit and drinking a lot, they return to their march through the desert. Maja catches a few comments that while it’s hot out there, it’s not as hot as one would expect from a desert.

I wonder if that’s intentional…

A few hours later, they arrive at their first destination. It looks just like an oasis with palm trees and a small lake in the middle. The group rushes the final meters and collapses in the shade of the palms. While everyone just wants to lie there for a while, Steven calls out again after being silent for most of the walking.

“We should set up camp before we all relax.”

Someone else calls out from the group. “I agree. And we also should set up a watch schedule. Maybe they try to ambush us at night or something. But even if they don’t, it’s always important to have a watch.”

That causes some grumbles, but also a lot of agreement. Then everyone gets up again and they start setting up their tents. They take up quite a lot of space, but the group manages to place them all on one side of the small lake.

As she doesn’t need to sleep, Maja offers to take the watch halfway through the night, but she’s quickly overruled by the group.

“No, you’ve done so much already, you deserve some rest!”

Ugh, now I wish I could tell them that I was an AI… It’s not that I need to sleep after all.

“Fine,” Maja answers and joins Ellie in the tent after dinner. Besides the five cadets that take first watch, everyone else goes to sleep as well.

“EVERYONE, WAKE UP!”

It happens in the middle of the night. First watch has just finished ten minutes ago when someone on second watch notices something strange moving across the sand in the light of their campfire.

This little something turns out to be a robotic spider, and it doesn’t come alone. There are dozens of them, and they aim for the cadets’ tents and try to destroy them.

The first challenge has arrived!

Maja is the first one up and immediately exits the tent. She takes stock of the situation and immediately barks out orders for the cadets after they exit their tents.

Everyone grabs their guns or rifles and opens fire at the spiders. Maja absently notices, that the weapons only fire stun bolts without the option to switch fire modes.

Probably to avoid friendly fire.

The spiders drop nonetheless, and after five minutes of shooting spiders, the last one drops. Unfortunately, five tents got destroyed as well, and the former occupants groan.

That’s going to be fun on the following nights… At least the tents should fit three people, even if it gets a bit cuddly…

Suddenly, Steven starts cursing. “Dammit, I knew we forgot something… How could I be so shortsighted? Did anyone think of a flashlight?”

Before anyone can reply, they are interrupted by a notification on their interfaces.

Challenge 1 completed!

Day 2…

The next day starts with a very exhausted group. After the night ambush, everyone had a hard time sleeping, and it shows on everyone’s faces. Maja does her best to blend in, but her best isn’t enough for Ellie.

“How the hell did you sleep last night? I feel like I didn’t get a second of sleep and you just laid there like a dead body.”

Maja can just shrug. “I don’t know, I guess the exhaustion caught up to me?”

Ellie laughs. “Good thing the others denied you the night watch. Who knows what the spiders would have done if you slept on the job.”

She punches Maja’s shoulder in a friendly manner but rubs her fist afterward. “Oww, what are you made of?”

Maja just laughs it off and winks at her. “I’m just strong…”

Following breakfast, the group sets out again. This time they go at a slower pace, as today’s distance is way shorter. Still, Steven predicts that they have to walk till early afternoon until they reach the next oasis.

“Hey Maja, do you see this?” Ellie points toward a darker speck a good distance to their right. Maja looks over and focuses. Her eyes widen when she notices just what Ellie is pointing at.

That’s gotta be the second challenge.

“Hey guys, wait up, please. Ellie found something. I think there’s a person over there!” Maja calls the group to a halt and points.

“You’re right!”

“We have to help them!”

“Agreed,” Ellie replies. “Who’s with me?”

The group decides to stay together, and so all the cadets walk over to where Ellie discovered the person. It’s a young man, a little older than the cadets. He just lies there and winks at them. Suddenly, there is another notification on their interfaces telling them that this is challenge 2 and that the man’s leg is broken and he’s unconscious.

The hell? He just winked at us, and his leg looks fine.

Others call out the same things Maja just thought while Steven goes a step further and asks the guy directly. He just shrugs, points at his right leg, and mimes it being broken.

Oh, so it’s just a game for him. Interesting. I wonder if this is a punishment for older cadets.

Steven nods in understanding. “I guess we have to help our survivor here. Can someone take care of his leg, please? And bring me our shovels and the destroyed tents.”

Ellie takes care of the leg, while Steven starts building a makeshift stretcher out of shovels and tents.

Fascinating.

They continue along their way and rotate who carries the stretcher every thirty minutes. The guy is still marked as unconscious, so he stays silent. Suddenly, there is another flash on Maja’s interface, saying challenge 3 begins now. Then nothing happens.

“Fuck!” Steven calls out and stops. Throughout the group, others curse as well.

What’s wrong?

“How can we find the oasis now?” Someone cries in desperation.

Maja looks at Ellie. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean what’s wrong? Our interfaces are gone!”

“Uhh, no?”

Now everyone who heard looks at Maja. “Yours is not gone?”

Oh, probably because I technically don’t have an interface. There must have been a signal of interference or something.

“No, everything’s fine here. I did get an upgrade to protect me from interfering signals a few years back. Maybe that’s why?”

Ellie raises an eyebrow but everyone else seems to accept her explanation.

“I guess you’re leading the way then,” Steven says.

They continue walking. Ellie catches up with Maja shortly after. “An upgrade, huh?”

Maja suppresses a grimace. “Yeah… I’ve got good sponsors.”

“Don’t tell me you’re like Steven.”

Maja winces.

I guess I have to tell her a little bit. Everything else would be cruel. I don’t want to hurt her.

“Something like that, yeah.”

“No way! Who is it?” Ellie asks with wide eyes.

“I caught the eye of someone from the Valterion family, and they sponsored me ever since. That’s also how I landed here in the command track.”

Ellie just shakes her head. “Crazy…”

Day 3…

Luckily, everyone‘s interfaces started working again after a few hours yesterday, so they found the second oasis without issues. Now, the cadets are about to set out for their third day.

The first surprise comes when they hear an unfamiliar voice calling out for food. It’s the injured man they picked up yesterday.

Oh, so now he’s awake it seems.

Maja is quick to hand him her ration, as she doesn’t have to waste a food eliminator stripe that way. “Finally awake, huh?” She asks.

“Yeah, this is the worst punishment ever…”

So I was right!

Ellie joins them. “What did you do? Oh and who are you? I’m Ellie, this is Maja.”

He laughs. “I’m Ben, a second-year cadet, and well… I pranked one of the instructors and it backfired…”

Oh my… Everyone knows that pranking a military instructor is like the dumbest thing ever.

Maja and Ellie both start laughing and Ben groans. “Yeah, I get it now too. It was dumb and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Just don’t drop me, please.”

“Sure,” Maja tells him with a wink. “I wouldn’t think of dropping you… But maybe there’s room for a small dropping prank?”

“Please don’t…”

The walk through the desert continues without further issues. Ben’s complaints get ignored by everyone after his story spreads through the group.

Right after lunch, something happens though. Suddenly, there are dark clouds in the sky, and it starts raining.

Huh, where did they come from? Magic?

“Fuck!” Steven cries out again. “We don’t have raincoats!”

“Use the tents,” Ben calls out and for the first time, he isn’t ignored. Steven even thanks him for this great idea.

Hours later they arrive at the next oasis, and the rain immediately cuts off. A notification tells them that they have completed challenge 4.

That was definitely magic!

Day 4…

Day 4 starts with bad news. Three cadets are at their limit and tell the others that they can’t get any further. Steven tries to cheer them up, but they say they are done. Ten minutes later, Lieutenant Dexter lands with a small shuttle and collects them. They ask him if that’s it, but he reassures them that they can retake the survival exam at a later date. Then they enter the shuttle, and it lifts off.

Because of this, the group heads out late and the sun is already high up in the sky. Luckily today’s route leads them along a half-destroyed road that has a row of trees next to it. Everyone is thankful for the shade. That’s when the fifth challenge begins in the form of a mechanical wolf pack that appears on top of a nearby dune and lets out loud howls.

The group sets down Ben and forms a protective circle around him. That’s all that happens until Maja takes charge. “Everyone with a rifle to the front. Take down the wolves! If you have a gun, protect the ones next to you and wait for an opportunity.”

With that, Maja grabs her own rifle and lines up with the others. Her aim is of course perfect, and she takes the first shot. It takes the leftmost wolf between the eyes, and it sinks to the ground and shows as defeated in her holographic overlay.

Her shot shakes the wolves out of it, and they start charging. The other cadets start shooting as well. More and more wolves get down until the cadets with pistols join in as well. Suddenly, there is only a single wolf remaining. It’s the biggest one.

Shit, the Alpha!

It charges straight for Steven. Everyone concentrates their fire on the final wolf, but it isn’t enough. It jumps. Ellie jumps as well and tackles Steven out of the way. Still, the wolf grazes her leg. Then it goes down to the cadets’ fire.

Surprisingly, Ellie doesn’t cry out despite clearly being hit by the wolf. “Are you alright?” Maja asks her.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but my interface tells me that I’m injured and am losing a lot of blood, so please help me?”

Oh, it’s just like Ben’s injury!

“I need a first aid kit!”

Someone quickly hands one over, and Maja starts to take care of Ellie’s injured leg. A dose of fake nanites finishes everything off, and Ellie’s interface tells her that she’s able to walk in another thirty minutes. The notification that they have completed challenges 5 and 6 appears as soon as Ellie is allowed to walk again. Then they continue their journey until they arrive at their destination – Just to find nothing!

What the hell? Does it ever stop today?

Another notification: Challenge 7: Find the oasis!

Everyone starts complaining. The group’s mood drops even further. The week can’t end soon enough. Most of the cadets have almost reached their limit.

Someone has the idea to split up and search for the oasis while connecting their interfaces together to enable communication among the groups. No one has a better idea, and so they head out in groups of ten. Maja subtlety enhances the range of the communication network and offers to stay with Ben.

It takes just fifteen minutes until one group is successful. Everyone else joins them, and they barely manage to set up their tents before they collapse. Maja happily takes the watch and this time no one argues against it.

Day 5…

Luckily, nothing happened during the night, and thanks to Maja everyone had a full night’s sleep. Nobody comments on it though, which comes as a relief for Maja, as she has no clue how to explain how she is still fully awake.

The group heads out after breakfast. Everyone is nervous, as the last day was very heavy on challenges.

Only three left…

Surprisingly, nothing happens during the day, and everyone starts believing that they caught a break on their fifth day.

That is until the cadets arrive at the oasis and find murky brown water instead of the clear lakes, they had the days before. As it was a rather hot day, the group drank most of their water.

Some cry out in despair. “How are we supposed to drink this?”

“There’s no way I make it through tomorrow with the amount of water I have left.”

Luckily, someone has an idea. “Hey, I’ve watched a nature documentary a few weeks back. There they boiled the water and filtered it through sand. How about we try this?”

As no one has a better idea, the group builds a campfire and uses one of the metal canteens to boil the water over the open fire. They sacrifice another canteen, fill it with sand, and cut a few holes in the bottom. Then they use it as a makeshift filter and collect the filtered water with a third canteen.

That’s when the notification arrives and tells them that they’ve mastered challenge 8. Everyone cheers, and they continue to fill the remaining canteens.

Maja takes the moment to subtly put her hand into her backpack and recharge her body with the hidden battery. The constant walking through the desert increased her power draw by quite a margin.

Day 6…

The day starts like every other with one noticeable exception: Ben starts cursing out loud. “Ah, for fuck’s sake! Why not two more days?”

Everyone who heard him looks at him curiously. “What is it?” Maja asks him, but he just shakes his head.

“Err, nothing, nothing. Everything is just fine. Carry on.”

That earns him even more suspicious looks until Ellie calls out. “You’re not injured anymore!”

His carriers immediately set the stretcher down and scowl at him. “Seriously?” One of them asks with a slight growl.

Ben sighs and stands up. “You guys are no fun…”

Steven just shakes his head. “And you want to call yourself a Peacekeeper? With that attitude?”

He doesn’t say it, but Maja can almost see the word pathetic on Steven’s lips.

He’s right… Ben is just a lazy asshole.

It’s now almost lunchtime, and nothing has happened so far. The cadets start to get nervous again, as there are still two challenges they have to face.

As if they challenged fate, challenge 9 arrives right after lunch break in the form of a massive sandstorm.

Steven is the first one to notice. “Shit, there’s a sandstorm behind us! We have to find shelter!”

Maja turns around and takes a look. It’s still on the horizon, but the sand clouds steadily come closer.

We definitely don’t want to be inside that storm!

“Where can we find shelter?” Someone cries out. “We’re in the middle of a dessert.”

“Caves maybe.” Someone else throws in an idea.

Maja immediately catches on and opens her map. Analyzing everything in close proximity to the group, Maja quickly finds something promising.

“I think I’ve got something. Half a kilometer straight ahead should be a cave. We must hurry though.”

The others agree, and the group takes off in a fast jog. They reach the destination some ten minutes later, only to find disappointment.

“There’s nothing here,” Steven points out the obvious.

This can’t be. They won’t make the challenges impossible. Maybe it’s hidden?

Maja starts circling the location, looking for clues. It takes another five minutes until she finds something. “Guys, I need a shovel. I think I found something!”

Ellie comes rushing over with two additional cadets. They all carry the shovels that are now freed from Ben’s stretcher.

Maja points at a ledge at the base of a dune. “I think the entrance is below that. We should be able to shovel the sand away in time.”

Ellie leans closer, then smiles. “You are right, there’s a slight draft of air. Let’s go.”

Maja grabs an additional shovel, and they start moving sand. The opening quickly becomes visible, and other cadets start helping with their bare hands.

The storm comes closer and closer.

But they make it in time. As soon as the opening is big enough, everyone enters the cave. Inside, they find a natural tunnel of stone, that leads further into the cave.

The challenge 9 completion message arrives soon after and everyone cheers. The group decides to take another short break as they can still hear the storm raging outside.

Half an hour later, the storm still hasn’t stopped, and the cadets start to worry.

“Guys, our maps have been updated!” Someone calls out. That shakes everyone out of it, and Maja immediately opens her own map.

She’s right… It now shows the tunnel system. Wait, is that another oasis at the end?

“Steven speaks up. “Thanks, Sofia. It looks like we’ve got a new destination. Are you ready to head out?”

He grabs his energy blade and activates only a short length of it. Still, the yellow blade works as a weak makeshift flashlight and illuminates the cave. Especially, when the others start copying his idea. Then the group heads out and walks further down the cave.

They are now at the final stretch of their route to the underground oasis when someone at the back cries out. “The spider robots are back, watch out!”

They come from both sides. When Steven activates the full length of his blade, the brighter light now shows about a dozen of the spiders coming from the front as well.

The cadets start forming a line at the front and back of the group and fend off the spiders with their blades. After they disabled a few, something else happens. A strange pulse emanates from one of the spiders, and every blade it crosses dies off.

It’s an EMP.

Maja’s body locks up for a moment, and she falls on her knees. Her systems reboot, and she manages to get back shortly after. Ellie sends her a concerned look, but Maja waves her off.

“Quick, take your normal knives!” Ellie calls out instead, and steps forward to disable one of the spiders. The others quickly follow her example, and soon after all the spiders are gone. There are a few simulated injuries among the cadets, but nothing their first aid kits can’t fix.

The best thing of the day happens soon after.

Challenge 10 completed!

Finally!

Day 7…

The underground route cut quite a distance from their remaining route, so they only have five kilometers to go on their final day. Everyone agrees to take it slow, and so the whole group can sleep in for the first time in what feels like months.

They set out after a big breakfast where they eat their remaining supplies and arrive at a cave exit shortly after.

From there on, it’s just a two-kilometer walk until Steven spots a military complex in the distance. They’ve made it!

When they arrive, Lieutenant Dexter greets and congratulates them all.

“Good work, cadets! Now go in and relax. Your real training begins the day after tomorrow!”

Real training? What was the past week then?