Vae victis 2 an apocalyp.., p.1
Vae Victis 2: An Apocalypse LitRPG, page 1
VAE
VICTIS
BOOK 2
Ivan Kal
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from Podium Publishing.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2024 by Ivan Kalinovic
Cover design by Antti Hakosaari
ISBN: 978-1-0394-5549-8
Published in 2024 by Podium Publishing
www.podiumaudio.com
Contents
Alone
End Times
Teaching
The Dungeon
The Scarlet
The Soul Space
Teacher
First Steps
Interlude: Concrete Jungle
Revelations
Trust
Awkward
Offer
Tragedy
Reality
Failure
Planning
The Pass
Superiority
Interlude: Desert Camp
Introductions
Going Forward
The Arena
New Home
Rift Raiding
The Red Rift
Journey
The Red Rift Part 2
Challenge
Equipped for War
Disagreements
Group
Old and New Friends
Trial of the Summit
Team Sunny vs.
Overwhelming
Legacy
The Future
Epilogue Elders
About the Author
Alone
Isat on the cold wooden floor, my back against the wall behind me, and my knees bent so I could lean my hands and chin on them. I listened to the sounds around me, to the cries of birds as the sun rose above the cabin. I could feel it crawling across the sky, and the sensation was not pleasant at all. I wondered what the other vampires were doing right now. I wondered if they even knew that the sun would not hurt them now.
The fear of the sun was so ingrained in us that I couldn’t imagine anyone just testing it, even if they felt different while the sun was out. If I hadn’t woken up with light striking my face a month ago, I would’ve never let it touch me for fear of burning up from the inside.
I rested for a couple of hours, as Saia told me to. I hadn’t had a chance to really rest since before I fought the pack of kiji. Saia’s field protected us from any animals that might’ve been alerted to our presence, though I hadn’t noticed anything other than the birds. I assumed that the field was working as it was supposed to on Earth’s wildlife. The jungle around the estate had always had animals, with snakes probably being the most dangerous thing that I could encounter. Though a jaguar or a bear were also possibilities.
I knew that I had to be careful, especially after the encounter with the boa. I didn’t know how the Source had affected the Earth’s wildlife, but all of it was changed.
From what Shadow had said, the year that the Earth spent isolated would also come with an accelerated gain of Investment— boon that the Grand Spell allowed for the newly integrated worlds, allowing them to catch up to the rest of Kirios, somewhat.
Though Shadow had said that it was unlikely that many people would cross the Fourth Investment. Apparently, there was a set amount of the extra potential Investment assigned to the new world. And the higher people reached, the more it would get depleted.
I had an advantage compared to the rest of the world, and I had to make use of it. Not only had I survived the most dangerous place on Kirios, I also knew what was happening. The majority of the world would still have no idea, though the two moons in the sky might give them some clues. That would change soon: the other twenty-nine Exemplars had returned to Earth, just as I had, if they survived their ordeals, at least.
What worried me the most was that my skills were yet to return. The only thing that I knew was that using my skills in conjunction with my Mask put them on a long cooldown. I had no idea how long, though, and it had already been days.
“Saia,” I started, as an idea occurred to me. “Can you use that [Mask Reader] engram for me? Maybe it’ll give us an idea of how long my skills will be down.”
The tiny dragon AI that was bonded to me tilted her head, and then her eyes flashed, and text appeared in my vision. I blinked at the sudden appearance, but then focused and started reading. Immediately, I noticed a change.
“Uh, Saia, my name, did you change that?” I asked.
“Feedback: I did. Was I wrong to?” Saia responded.
I looked at the text where she had changed my name from Marianna Rojas, the name I had gone by for the most of my life, to the one given to me by Shadow. I shook my head.
“No, you weren’t,” I told her, then read the entire list.
The Star That Dances in Blood Beneath the Light of the Broken Moon
Mask of the Blood Invoker (Weave, Esoteric) — First Investment; Third Carving
Ornament of the Revelator (Weave, Esoteric) — No Investment; Fourth Carving
Ornament of the Student (Physical, Weave, Esoteric) — No Investment; Eighth Carving
Attributes:
Physical: C
Weave: F
Esoteric: C
Skills:
P1-Beast Bonus
[Mist Step]
[Lesser Strength]
[Debilitating Wave]
P2-Beast Bonus
[Sonic Screech]
[Lesser Impale]
[Quick Claw]
[Swap Profile]
[One Truth Verified]
[A Lesson Remembered]
[Practical Learning]
There was nothing in the list indicating how long my skills would remain on cooldown. I sighed, even though I didn’t really expect there to be anything. Then I took another look at everything. My Mask had gained three Carvings just from drinking Shadow’s blood, which was the same amount that I had gained from the sikiri. Though since at the time I drank Shadow’s blood I was on a higher Investment, it meant that his blood was more potent, since the Investment requirements increased with Carvings. Still, I was just a tiny bit disappointed that I hadn’t gotten a new skill.
I knew better than to expect it, as Shadow had explained that a single Investment tier granted anywhere from one to a handful of skills, with two being the average. I had already gained three skills in my first tier from my Mask, my three [Empty Slot] skills. And I already gained a skill from my First Investment, the [Swap Profile] skill. I could expect one more at least, if my last tier was anything to go by.
My Ornaments had advanced too, but neither had given me a new skill, nor were their skills able to help me in combat. I could tell that they at least were available to me, and not on a cooldown. I still didn’t know how exactly my [One Truth Verified] skill worked. I would need to experiment as soon as I had the chance.
I settled down to wait as the sun moved across the sky. Sometime later, boredom got the better of me and I looked back at Saia.
“What are you doing?” I asked. The tiny dragon was smaller now than she used to be when we first bonded. She hadn’t consumed enough matter to create a bigger drone. Right now, she was about the same size as a sparrow. I remembered the body of the boa I had killed. We should probably go back for that. I made a mental note to get her some more biomass to consume. Our bond had grown stronger, and I had gotten stronger, which meant that I could sustain a larger drone.
“Feedback: I am reviewing and attempting to rebuild my engrams. So far I have had no success with any of them.”
“So Shadow’s gift didn’t help that much?” I asked.
“Feedback: Not so far, but it has given me an idea of which engrams might be more likely to still work under the rules of this reality.”
I grimaced. That was unfortunate, for sure. From what Saia had told me, the engrams that she was capable of using would’ve come in handy.
Then, something else occurred to me. “Hey, couldn’t you just, like, create a weapon that doesn’t need Source to be used? Like how you make your drone, or turn into weapons for me?”
“Feedback: There are some number of weapons that the Ke Erzi utilized that weren’t reliant on the Source-Weave. And I am capable of recreating them, though not at this time.”
“Why not?” I tilted my head.
“Feedback: Because I lack the necessary ingredients to make them usable. I believe that the word you would use is ammunition. The material I am made of, ferosim, the living metal, is incredibly conductive to Source-Weave, which allows me to arrange my inner matrix in different formations to enable engrams. It cannot substitute any other type of resource.”
I nodded in understanding. Saia’s drone was made of a metallic substance that I wasn’t familiar with, but it was obviously strong and versatile. Though, she had sustained injuries in her drone form, which showed that the material wasn’t invulnerable. Still, it was definitely tougher than steel.
“So, if we find any of those resources, you could make weapons?” I asked.
“Feedback: I could, with sufficient biomass and materials, yes.”
“
“Feedback: A variety of light-based weaponry, as well as some defensive items that the Ke Erzi used in conjunction with the Armor form of this Unit. The materials that are necessary are mostly silica-based crystalline minerals. A few would be suitable, but the ones that would be the most effective are: enes, shikha, and brils.”
“I don’t think that we have anything like that on Earth,” I said as I heard the unfamiliar words. The Grand Spell’s translation would’ve translated the words if Earth had the same minerals.
“Statement: It is unlikely that the minerals are present on your world. While the minerals are not inherently very conductive to the Source-Weave, they do possess some qualities linked to it, as all materials on Erzi did. Your world had no Source.”
“So these materials might manifest themselves now? Or some of what is already present might change.”
“Feedback: Change is almost guaranteed. Whether materials will become something new or something that I am familiar with, I do not know.”
“Maybe it would be a good idea for you to start testing materials we come upon. You can detect their properties, right? Maybe we can find replacements?” I asked her.
“Feedback: I have some capabilities in that field, yes.”
I nodded, adding one more thing to my mental checklist.
“Hey,” I continued as another thing occurred to me. “You do know that you don’t need to clarify your sentences every time you say something.”
Saia tilted her head. “Query: This Unit doesn’t understand.”
I opened my mouth to try to explain, and then I paused. What I was hearing was a translation, she wasn’t actually speaking in my language. Some words weren’t translated, while others had meaning attached in the forms of images or sensations. It was possible that it was just a result of the translation from the syntax of the language Saia was speaking in.
“You are speaking in the Erzi tongue, right?”
“Feedback: Correct.”
“Can you learn my language?” I asked, wondering how that would even work. How it worked now even. I had no idea how an AI was hearing translated words.
“Feedback: Of course, this Unit will set aside processing power to learn your language.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, noticing something else. The tone of her voice was the same, but I could sense like there was something different. If she was a human, I would’ve said that her last sentence felt colder. Sometimes Saia would refer to herself as “this Unit” and other times she would simply use “I.” There was something more going on with Saia than what I had seen so far. For a moment I nearly asked her about it, but then decided not to push.
I turned my eyes to the window, and looked out through the faint shimmer of Saia’s protective field. I turned my mind toward the situation I was in. I had returned to my world, or at least what was now the continent of Earth on Kirios. I came back to the estates that had been my home for most of my life, the place where I had been hanged, and I found it empty. I wondered where everyone had gone. I could only assume that once the Grand Spell arrived, everything went to shit quickly. All forms of communication had probably shut down. Satellites were no longer above us after all, at least I didn’t think they were.
I tried to put myself in their shoes, imagine what I would do. Probably head back to civilization, seek out people. And the closest thing we had to that was a village nearby. Or perhaps the small town of San Pedro. Eventually, I would head to Medellín, hoping to find safety in the city.
It would be a long trek on foot. I could move fast, but even a vampire couldn’t sustain that pace for long. It would take me days to get down from the mountain.
I shook my head. There wasn’t much that I could do about that. I had to look for people. None of my plans mattered until I found survivors.
By the time nighttime drew close, Saia and I were ready to set out. It had been two days since I put on my Mask, and I still didn’t have access to my skills, which worried me somewhat. I didn’t want to risk entering my soul space, not yet, at least, as I didn’t know if I would be able to get out again. I knew that I had to experiment, but I was not in a space that was safe enough to do so.
I stepped out of my sire’s home, fully equipped for the trip, or as equipped as I could be. I wore woodland camo pants and a simple black tank top with a short jacket over it. On my shoulders I had a backpack filled with the few items I had managed to scavenge. The H-tech Rhino Model 3 revolver in its case, the photo I found of me and my sire, the gourd filled with blood from Ish Vimza, a line of rope that I found in the shifter camp, a few bottles filled with water, and some food. The food and water might not do much for me, but I wanted to be prepared in case I found survivors.
I also grabbed a face mask and sunglasses to store in my pockets in case I ran into anyone. I didn’t want people to immediately know that I was a vampire. On my shoulder I leaned the blade part of the serpent-tongue spear, and I had Shadow’s dagger on my hip.
The sky was painted in the orange light of twilight as the sun dipped beneath the horizon and the two moons rose above us. I felt myself growing stronger by the moment, and decided that it was time to head out.
“Saia, can you scout ahead? Report back any signs of life you see, animals or people, or anything of interest in general,” I told her.
“Feedback: Acknowledged,” Saia said and took to the skies, heading in the direction we had agreed on previously.
I took a deep breath and then started jogging down the road. I figured that staying on the proper path would be the best. The road was paved, something that the cartel had paid for by themselves, since the government had no need to make roads this far into the jungle. Nor did they want to, really. They didn’t control these lands.
The road was abandoned and overgrown in places. The asphalt was cracked, and plants grew up through it. Roots of the trees around the road had bulged in places, raising the road up. Everything was changed, even the plants. I could recognize most of them, but all looked like they had evolved. Larger leaves, thicker trunks—it was as if someone had given every plant some kind of a growth serum. And perhaps that was close to the truth. Source might as well be a super serum.
As the sun fully set and the world was thrown into darkness, I became wholly alive. The two moons above shone brightly enough that I could see everything. The forest around me was silent, save for a few bird calls in the distance that sounded like nightjars and owls to me.
It was about an hour of jogging later that Saia returned.
“Report: I discovered something of interest up ahead.”
“Of interest how?” I asked.
“Feedback: I believe that you should see it for yourself,” Saia responded.
I frowned but nodded, and had her lead the way.
A few minutes later, we reached it. It was hard to miss. The road ended in a sharp line, and a forest continued onward. Except that it wasn’t anything like the forest I knew should be there. The trees were different. These were not the Cedro trees that were behind me, but something else.
The trees were thinner and taller, the color of their leaves brighter green. I didn’t recognize them, though perhaps I did know them. With the arrival of the Source, it could be a tree I was familiar with, but that had changed.
But that wasn’t all there was of interest here. I walked over to the edge, where the road stopped, and knelt down. The soil that started from the edge of the road was different from what was behind me too. It was brown, tinted with orange.
“This shouldn’t be here,” I said out loud.
“Statement: The entire valley ahead is the same, though I can see that the terrain changes back again in the distance.”
It was as if someone had picked up a piece of land and just wedged it where it didn’t belong.
What Shadow told me now made more sense. He had said that the Grand Spell would take our world apart and then put it back together into a single landmass. That it would change our topography.
