Forbidden Zone (The System Apocalypse #11)

Gravity greater than Earth normal pulls us down. Still, it’s slight, barely an inconvenience for our System-assisted and boosted bodies. Silver and pale blue corridors flash past, the metallic flooring offering amazing grip as we sprint down the vast hallways. The lighting here is just a little brighter, the intensity of the invisible electromagnetic spectrum higher than would be comfortable for basic human eyes. Guaranteed cataracts if the System was not healing us every second of the day. Even the temperature is off—too cold for comfort, though nowhere near as bad as a Yukon winter. It’s more like a Yukon summer—a touch too chilly to wander around in a T-shirt, but warm enough that a jacket would be too much.
That’s Irvina for you. Everything is just a little off, just a little alien. And while we flee from the chaos I caused in the Galactic Council’s chambers, the sound of burgeoning warfare unable to be contained by the building’s privacy wards, I can’t help but be grimly satisfied. Satisfied and a little anxious.
The building itself shakes as Diplomats and Ambassadors, Bodyguards, Manservants, and Spies all communicate in the best way they know how. Creatures of the Galactic order, violence is in-built into them all. The building shakes and I know that the Weaver and its puppet are retaliating against those who would attack my doppelganger and the council chambers.
I grin as I focus on Mikito as she hurtles down the corridor, holding me aloft in a princess carry. The corridor we traverse takes us away from the Ambassador suites, toward the nearest teleportation platforms. We—and in this case, the “we” includes Mikito, Harry, Feh’ral the Heroic Librarian Corrupt Questor, Ali, and me—are attempting to flee before the Council puts a proper lock into place around the council chamber. We intend to get to the teleportation platforms as soon as possible, since plan A is to use my System Edit Skill to crack the shield and port us out.
A flash, a twist in the threads that connect me. The Extra Hand in the Council chambers is now dead, its presence and speech-giving abilities offering us the distraction we needed. The truth about the System Administrators, about the System Quest now reverberates not just through the Council chambers but the Galaxy at large.
It’s why I dragged Harry along. Why the War Reporter, with his Skills that connect directly to the System to allow him to bypass censors, was so important. We needed him here in the Council chambers, where they have lines encoded and systems in place to broadcast pronouncements to the entire galaxy. It’s why, even now, Harry hurries along, fingers twitching as he works his Skills and his channel.
“Did it work?” I ask.
He nods, generally smooth skin strained, the tight curls of his hair in slight disarray. “It’s everywhere. They tried to stop us, but there were too many Reporters. The news was too juicy. Never mind all the Diplomats and Ambassadors who were sending out the information too. My way was just a little smarter.” My inquiring look makes him flash a savage grin. “Encrypted and time delayed and through a backdoor in their own systems.”
My health crosses the top third and I wave at Mikito to let me down. Once I’m back on my feet, we resume running. Truth be told, as much as our little distraction has worked, I have every expectation that the Council itself will make their presence known. The only way they don’t already know is if the Lady’s ability to hide information works on them too. The power play between Legendarys and its results is not something I care to guess at—not even with the damn library in my head.
Considering System Administrators are in play, I’m not entirely sure that we can count on the Lady even if she can beat the rest of the Council. She was evasive when I asked her to block off the information flow to make our little plan work. I can understand her position. After all, we’re asking her to put herself in a very exposed position. Even if she has helped us before, nothing she’s done is something that she can’t explain or hide. This though is crossing the Rubicon.
What the hell is the Rubicon anyway? Always makes me think of those square cubes you twist around to make a pattern, which makes no sense.
Idle thoughts as we run away. Being able to weigh potential problems, play with my Skills, and keep track of the map while having idle, idiotic thoughts is just a side effect of my attributes. Stupid high Intelligence.
As fast as we hurry, we only make it most of the way to the teleportation platform before we are stopped. It’s not the guards who find us, but the lady herself. The other lady. The Duchess. A quick search of my memory tells me she wasn’t present on the Council floor itself, a fact that mildly surprises me now that I think of it.
“What a fascinating manner of completing your promise,” the Duchess says. Her tone is quiet, light, but there’s an edge to it.
Flanking her, a half dozen guards watch us, all of them dressed in overlapping jackets, tiny little, small swords by their sides and beam pistols on the other hip. The dark-skinned Truinnar men glare at us, their displeasure mirroring their employer’s. In the corner, Hondo stands with arms crossed, eyes fixed on me. Not that he’s the danger he was before.
“I always try to fulfill my promises.” I glance upward at my health, noting it’s nearly at my maximum. With a surge of Mana, I activate Soul Shield to give me an additional layer of defense. Not that the Advanced Skill isn’t showing its age, what with my opponents in the Heroic and higher levels these days.
“So the System is truly a program,” the Duchess says, eyeing me thoughtfully. “And Administrators run it.”
Something in her eyes, the way she looks at me, makes me think she’s pricing out my full utility. Pricing and weighing it against the cost of acquisition. She smirks, tall and predatory in a beautiful, elegant navy-blue gown that sparkles with little glints of light.
Her eyes grow cold, and I start talking. “I’m just a Junior Administrator. The little I can do is significantly constrained.”
“Still, a Junior Administrator is more than most have,” the Duchess says, tapping her lips.
“You might want to reconsider that, toots,” Ali says. “You might be powerful, but the Council will be searching for us. And whatever old boy-o here could provide, it ain’t going to be worth the shitstorm we’ve cooked up.”
“Like what you brought down on Earth?” the Duchess Kangana says. “It seems it might be better to capture you for them then.”
“It would seem like that.” I give my best wolfish grin, the one that lets the rage and insanity bleed into my eyes. “They can go after Earth if they want. That’s not my problem. You can get in my way, and I’ll just end you and your people.
“Because their secret is out now, and I don’t give a shit. Not anymore. I finally have a proper lead on the System Quest. A way to get an answer. I’m going to pull on it, pull on it until the entire string unravels. Lady like you, I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to make full use of that chaos when I’m done.”
“Do you really think that just betraying your planet is enough to convince them you no longer care about it?” the Duchess says. “After all that you’ve done?”
“No,” I say. “I could’ve voted against it, like I wanted to. I could try to stop them, but Earth would never have stopped being targeted. It’s too much of a disruption to the way you Galactics did things for it to be allowed to stay. Earth would always be on the defensive.” I grin, smile widening. “Now, I made sure what you all wanted happened. And I managed to pick up a few political favors along the way—not that they know it’s mine.” I tilt my head over to Feh’ral, who nods at the Duchess.
She startles a little, surprised to realize he was always there, floating along silently.
#CreepyLibrarian and his Skills.
“The Questors have garnered much from this action. More from Questor Lee’s revelation. We will be aiding his planet.”
“These favors…” Duchess Kangana’s eyes narrow on the Librarian in thought.
The Librarian inclines his head a little to the side. It’s entirely wrong, as if he’s missing a couple of vertebrae, more snake than humanoid.
She laughs. “Oh, well done. I expect I’ll have a visitor soon? Or, I assume, my man on Earth.”
Again, Feh’ral nods.
Her laugh rises, light and tinkling, filling the hallway.
“Great. So if that’s the case, we’re going to leave now. The chaos gave us a head start, but it’s not much of one, and unless you want to really stop me, we got to move. Or else all of this was for nothing.” I pause and then throw her a bone. “Again.”
The Duchess Kangana’s lips curl up in a sneer.
There are ways of removing memories—Skills and Classes and Spells that specialize in memory alteration. They’re all limited by the System, forced to work within strict constraints. If not, Mind Mages and Psychics would have been a major problem already, and not the generally reviled group they are in the Galactic ensemble.
The Questor’s library, the one that Feh’ral shoved into my head, is more than happy to remind me of numerous incidents when the constraints created by the System were insufficient. The Somaz incident, the Cull of Putaera, the Viridian Wastelands.
Now, with my own knowledge as a System Administrator, I can see how Administrators dealt with the loopholes afterward. I bet if I went poking, I could even find the patch details.
Not the time though. I push it all away, focusing on the now. Mikito makes a little humming noise next to me, reminding me there are things to do, problems to solve before our time runs out. In the distance, I hear the rumble of explosions, the high-pitched whine of beam pistols, the hiss of loosed spells and the crackle of flame. The smells of roasted flesh and spilled viscera filter toward us, blood coated in the sulfuric stench of torn alien bodies.
Death marches through the Galactic Council building as the Administrators and their allies attempt to cover up their secrets in the most violent way possible.
Seeing that the Duchess still hasn’t moved, I speak. “Now, are you going to move or are we going to have to move you?”
The guards tense, but she smirks and shakes her head, making them stand down.
“Go. Bring with you, chaos. I will watch how you run, and I will take pleasure in watching you struggle and bleed as you bring rack and ruin to my enemies and your allies. The halls of power will be emptier after today, and all that bloodshed—of victims and bullies alike—will lie on your head.” She pronounces the words with a smile, leaning forward. “Go, and know that I’ll be waiting to pick up the pieces. I’ll feast on the corpses of those who survive and grow stronger.
“Go, Chaos bringer, with my gratitude and curse.”
Her hands, clasped before her, twist a ring. The world twitches and she and her guards disappear, leaving an empty corridor. I take a step before a little blue notification appears.

Title Gained: Chaos Bringer
Some people create chaos wherever they go. Often, this chaos is localized—a messy room, dramatic relationships, a failed kingdom. You, however, have surpassed them all and caused chaos on a Galactic scale. There will be death and destruction in your wake, and all that you have done will reverberate for millennia.
Rewards: Reputation increase with certain factions. Major reputation decreases with most other factions. +50% increase in effects of luck (both negative and positive).

I look over the notification with a wry smirk before dismissing it. Time to go. We’ve wasted enough time talking.

Release Date: 1. September 2021

Pages: 430

Genre: LitRPG Sci-Fi

eBook ISBN: 9781990491061

Language: English

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