Unchosen Champion

A crisp spring breeze carried the sweet scent of maple sap through the hilly woods. Lush greenery, freshly sprouting, decorated the damp ground. The vibrant color was punctuated with radiant wildflowers and shaded by scattered, unsullied canopies. The enveloping buzz of cicadas droned on, the insects completely indifferent toward the intruders to the area, unlike just about everything else.

There were no monsters lingering in the settlement territory, controlled as it was, nor were there any other animals. The rambunctious crowd of humans streamed between the trees of the tame forest, far too noisy for any of the local creatures to be caught by surprise.

The trail they more or less followed was well-worn, but they spilled beyond its edges, taking the moderate hike as if they were a flood of water rather than a group of people. Babbling brooks with crystal-clear water could have made the scenes picturesque if not for the company. At least the mob treated the forest like a noble place, being mostly respectful of the environment as they mostly followed the example of their gang leaders.

“Why the hell are you walking through the woods with a meat cleaver?” A mocking exclamation rose above the clamor of voices, followed by rambunctious laughter that drew even more attention. A red-haired man carrying a black-jack at his hip pointed out the aspiring butcher to all who were nearby. “You look like a damn psychopath, Tony!” He concluded with unmitigated amusement as he caught up with a familiar face, slapping his knee dramatically.

“Oh, get over it Mickey.” The cleaver-wielding man responded, not finding the jibe funny. He lifted the implement between himself and his friend before mana surged through the metal blade, demonstrating the effectiveness of his weapon as a focus for his particular set of skills. “I ain’t foolin’ around.” He added as half a dozen people jumped away in surprise at the surge of energy, stumbling into bushes and splashing into shallow water. Several other skills were immediately prepped, forming floating firebolts and lightning lances, preceding outright violence between two rival groups.

“Hey! Knock it off you goofballs!” Platinum shouted at the circling crowd, already beyond exasperated with the freaks and knuckleheads she was heading to war alongside. They couldn’t even hike through the woods without causing problems.

Despite her personal movement abilities, she had been moving with the enormous crowd of fighters, much to her own annoyance. They represented a significant portion of the entire alliance of settlements, the vast majority of which had been consistently engaged in urban warfare with Primal Constructs. Most of them had successfully avoided openly fighting with other humans, maintaining a sort of code that at least prevented battles in the streets of Neon Park. If they hadn’t, they would face the wrath of one of the many powerhouses that kept the peace within their settlements. In that sense, Platinum was among the most forgiving.

Whether the punishment for disturbing the peace came from someone like Platinum, a borough lieutenant, or a block leader didn’t really matter. It was accepted that they weren’t meant to mess around within the settlement territories. Just because they were in the woods didn’t mean they were outside of the rules.

Taking them beyond the confines of the cities was akin to chaperoning a field trip full of extraordinarily deadly middle schoolers. Their excitement was barely contained. If it wasn’t for the threat of Primal Constructs and the looming settlement event, the energy could easily grow uncontrollable. Thankfully, they didn’t need to leave their territory completely in order to reach their destination, so external threats were well-under control.

They were preparing a massive invasion of the Underlayer, but migrating the entire group into the woods within their expanded territory had been a multi-day undertaking. The settlement event hadn’t even started and Platinum was already growing exhausted.

On the bright side, she didn’t have to personally be in charge of anybody. Most of the actual powerhouses were being given plenty of leeway to actually be effective, rather than babysitting the citydwellers from several different cities as they formed one massive warband. She would be unleashed once they made it into the Underlayer.

Calling her company a crowd was actually rather generous. It was a rabble. Every block in the City had intensified its own characteristics after the assimilation began, latching onto unique personalities and amplifying them. They were like miniature societies with their own internal rules and hierarchies, and there were probably thousands of unique petri dishes developing who knows what in terms of collective identity.

Off to her side, meandering along the edge of a deteriorated road on the opposite side of the creek, three dozen men and women were dressed like they were planning on attending an opera. Though their canes had been sharpened into deadly points, their top hats and parasols seemed purely decorative. Platinum shook her head at the nonsense, catching a peek at another group.

Up ahead of them, people wielded pipes, mana-modified switchblades, and clubs while wearing leather vests covered in colorful patches. Another squad wore matching trench coats, and another coordinated in grease-stained jumpsuits. New York had changed, but in some ways it stayed the same. They embraced differences in a way that was strangely inclusive, and weren't afraid to speak up for each other or speak their minds on their own. For as much internal drama as they tolerated, she almost pitied the external threats that united them.

Behind her, a second ragtag bunch in baggy clothes pushed their way past others while singing made up folk songs about how they would free themselves from alien conquerors. Rather than continue to ignore them, she let their words reach her ears as she momentarily felt a kind of comradery with the various freaks of her home.

“The City gleamed, bound by chains,

Under the cold, metallic reign.

Primal Constructs, with eyes of fire,

Steal our home, they do conspire.

But the heart of man, it won’t be swayed,

By shadows cast, and words betrayed.

We’ll rise again, ‘neath an open sky,

And sing this song, as our tyrants die.”

Platinum rolled her eyes as they finished the chorus. It was annoyingly catchy, but they were so dramatic it was actually embarrassing. She started to tune them out again, regretting the fleeting weakness that caused her to listen in, but the next verse personally drew her ire.

“In tunnels dark, where dreams grew thin,

A whisper rose, hope within.

Platinum’s light, a rallying call.

United our souls to resist the fall.”

She swung her head toward them upon hearing her own name, and gave them a look that said quit screwing around, but they were already returning to the chorus, this time inspiring others around them to join in. It was like they were trying to piss her off.

At her side, Neon hummed happily to the song, like they really were on a field trip hiking through the subdued forest. He was no help at all. At least the rest of the verses were about people other than herself.

The whole mobilization had taken plenty of work on Neon’s part. They hadn’t run into any major hiccups while coordinating with the subordinate cities, and outside of small individual flare ups, things were smooth, thanks to his effort. Still, Neon’s attitude pissed her off. She thought it was proof he needed to get out more, rather than living in the comfort of their mega settlement. Next time he sent her on an individual cross country trip, she would make him join her. Let him get a taste of what it was really like outside of settlement territory beyond what he learned from second hand reports. Heading to the Heartland would probably be a wakeup call, but entering the wilderness surrounded by reinforcements wouldn’t be the same.

Platinum had no idea how the actual battles would work with the entire alliance fighting together, but thankfully, she wasn’t meant to think about it. Her job was to team up with Neon and mess the aliens up the best way they knew how. There was less than a day left before the settlement event was supposed to begin, but she just wanted to get it started already.

As they approached the event, her main concern was with who they were leaving behind. She may have already committed to becoming members of the Lighthouse in the future, but she thought it was dangerous to leave Marcus behind, even if he was supervised. Neon was content with the arrangement, but she was worried they might lose control of their own settlement while they were gone. There was a reason one of them always stayed behind in the past. She viewed the Viceroy of Ghost Reef with the same esteem as Neon himself, which was to say he was a bit too smart for her to fully trust.

“What if we can’t get back? What if it’s a trap or something?” She grumbled to Neon, not fully accepting the sources of his research. She had already expressed her concerns multiple times in multiple different ways, but nothing moved her partner.

“I’ll send you off to find another way out.” Neon answered with a smile, glasses reflecting the sunlight that streamed through the leafy canopy. He knew exactly how to get under her skin. She just grumbled under her breath, not excited by the prospect of adding spelunking to her constantly growing set of travel skills.

When they finally emerged from the edge of the woods and entered a landscaped clearing, the cathedral-like cave opening greeted them all. The cave was an actual field trip destination for grade schoolers, with enough room to accommodate buses full of unruly brats: perfect for their army of gangs. It was called something like Stone Ridge Cave, but she hadn’t bothered memorizing its old name. Instead, it would be known as their passageway to the Underlayer.

She glanced across the variety of people who had already made it to the entrance and were soaking it all in. Springwater cascaded down part of the rock face, creating small trickling waterfalls that tumbled into a pool adjacent to the cavern’s heart, feeding the creek that had been at their side. Hundreds of people leaned against trees and rocks, watching the newcomers like they weren’t also tourists. She turned to join them, and caught glimpses at the canvas of people filling the forest, extending miles back.

“How many people are supposed to be here?” She asked Neon, finding herself surprised, despite herself.

He waffled before giving an inexact number. “Should be pretty close to five million once they all get here, give or take.” He answered, twisting his open hand back and forth as if he hadn’t made exact calculations.

She wondered if there was a greater force on all of planet Earth. The northeast alliance had mobilized enough people to match a third of Neon Park’s entire population, though they did it on a purely volunteer basis. It was another of Neon’s schemes, because not volunteering was also a roundabout way of volunteering, just for domestic protection duties rather than joining the expedition.

Platinum was impressed by the quantity. They had managed to band a significant number of people together in a short time. Hopefully, they would be able to prove themselves worthy of the accomplishment.

They prepared to start the procession into the darkness, with songs and arguments continuously ringing out, anticipating battle soon enough.

—

The atmosphere around Ghost Reef was unusually subdued. The time for the Underlayer Event to begin was approaching, and every available human resident was present.

Rather than growing agitated with energy, they were quietly waiting for the bombardment of system notifications indicating the initiation of the event. Only the steady ocean breeze caressing the crisp fronds of the familiar palm trees and the mellow rhythm of calm waves beneath the tropical sun continued as normal.

The hustle and bustle of regular activities in the center of the fort were momentarily on hold. Outside of Marcus and a handful of ambassadors scattered around the Lighthouse’s sphere of influence, none of the human residents were missing. Everyone waited with rare collective focus that ran contrary to the easy vibes of their shared island.

Coop stood dead center beneath Balor’s Tower, in front of the primary gateway. His breath was steady, and rather than feeling nervous, he patiently waited while an intense hostility bubbled below the surface. Unfortunately, the object of his indignation was unreachable. The Primal Constructs would make a reasonable proxy for the galactic community as a whole, but he was beginning to see them as only a small part of the problem. Still, they had placed themselves squarely in his crosshairs by claiming the right to claim Earth out of all the factions out there. He would relish the opportunity to firmly repudiate their investment and make them an example for the rest.

He took a deep breath and focused inward, concentrating on his physical presence, all the way down to his toes. He knew the seemingly endless chasm that dug deep into the Earth was directly beneath his feet, but he trusted in the stonemason’s construction, so he stood with confidence, surrounded by his friends and companions, looking forward to being unleashed.

Coop assessed the faces of his allies. They universally appeared calm, with only a few doing last minute checks to their equipment or warming up muscles, just in case the action started abruptly. Despite all of the advancements of the Lighthouse, Ghost Reef was small enough that virtually everyone would need to participate.

Camila smiled at Coop reassuringly when his eyes reached hers. “You ready for this?” She asked, causing Charlie to look up from the sleeves she was fidgeting with as well.

Coop shrugged, reflecting for a moment before responding. Since returning from the Yucatan, he had taken a day to hang out around the settlement, made some new scaly friends, grinded out some Slayer titles in the Everglades, and had another day of rest before it was time to lock in. He had no regrets other than that his reach was finite.

“I’m good to go.” He confirmed once he was sure. “You?” He returned the question.

“Oh, we’ve got something special we’re dying to show off.” Camila proclaimed. “Isn't that right, Charlie?” She prompted, nudging the timid former park ranger.

Charlie just smiled conspiratorially before turning away like she knew a secret that she could barely wait to share. Coop thought whatever the girls had cooked up, it was probably good if even Charlie was excited by it.

Unlike the first time around, Ghost Reef was filled with confidence and ambition. They weren’t aiming to claw out a barely achievable victory, just happy to survive another day of the assimilation. This time they were prepared to dominate. That attitude was reflected in the residents all around him, emanating from the people who had become teachers or waiters while pushing levels in their spare time, grinding monsters around the islands, in the mana well, and all the way to Central America.

“Woe to our enemies.” Coop muttered, recognizing the evolution of not only himself, but all of his allies.

“Here we go.” Camila observed excitedly, and whatever nervous energy that still lingered vanished. The residents watched their notifications as one.

The moment the event launched, the citadel illuminated from within, with bright red light leaking through the pillbox gaps as the civilization shard activated. A spotlight shot straight up, like a laser through the skylight until it abruptly stopped at an invisible layer high in the sky. An absolutely enormous mana dome expanded from a point far above them, beyond even his spear throw range. The mana dribbled out, falling along the edges of Ghost Reef’s settlement territory until it sank far beyond the horizon. It was visual confirmation that they had grown tremendously since the early days. The red haze barely reached the walls of the fort, the color dominated instead by the pleasant late morning sun.

All of the settlements would be contained within their own mana domes once again, substantiating Balor's declarations of the advantages in having a link to the Underlayer within their territory. Those who hadn’t discovered one at all would be in deep trouble. Effectively, they had already lost. Coop sighed as he checked his notifications.

[Settlement Event: Underlayer - Initiated]

[Temporary Leaderboards Available]

[025:00:00]

[1111:11:11]

Before Coop could do the math to figure out how long the event would last, Jones provided his observations. “First countdown is the time allotted for reaching the Underlayer before the Primal Constructs arrive.” Jones explained. “The second is the end of the event.”

“No waves?” Coop wondered, slightly perplexed by the lack of more timers.

“Just the one at the end of the first countdown.” Jones noted patiently. “For each settlement, anyway.”

The last time they did this, the first surprise was exactly how many timers they received. It looked like they wouldn’t have any serious surprises during the second event, but the people around him started murmuring all the same. Coop looked at Charlie and Camila, but they were both frowning, eyes unfocused as they checked the system display together.

Coop assumed they were already checking out the Challenge Assessments, recalling the second surprise of the Siege Event. He jumped to the leaderboards, finding the ‘Individual Scores’ unpopulated, but the ‘Settlement Scores’ already available. He sought what was holding the attention of everyone else.

Underlayer Event Settlement Scores:

Shinjuku Gardens - 0 (x25)

Gangcheon - 0 (x15)

Neon Park - 0 (x13)

Nyiragongo- 0 (x13)

Can Gio - 0 (x11)

Silvervalley - 0 (x11)

Englischer Garten - 0 (x8)

Ordesa - 0 (x7)

Aotearoa New Zealand - 0 (x5)

Arusha - (x5)

Coop scrolled and scrolled until he found Ghost Reef at rank 241 out of 245 with a Challenge Assessment of x1.

“Huh.” He grunted, unable to repress his disappointment in their initial rank. They were all primed to face anything, but they were being given an easier encounter than almost every other settlement on the planet. That meant their potential score would be significantly lower than everyone else.

The Siege Event Challenge Assessments had been out of their control, based on the variety of monster types within their settlement territory. Clearly, they lacked something compared to every other surviving settlement for the Underlayer’s assessment.

“Oh!” Charlie suddenly exclaimed, drawing the attention of all the gathered residents to herself. “Sorry! I just looked at Empress City and Neptune’s Bridge and realized the Challenge Assessment has us all ranked by population.” She timidly explained herself while averting her eyes, sounding genuinely apologetic for her insight.

Jones made an excited noise while Coop scrolled through the list himself. As it stood, almost 150 settlements were small enough to match Ghost Reef in challenge assessment, and that included Empress City and Neptune’s Bridge. Another 50 had x2 assessments, and a few more than 20 had x3. Population-wise, there was a large gap between the three settlements within the Lighthouse, so Coop didn’t even know where to start.

He wondered where the Yucatan settlement would have landed if it hadn’t been destroyed, guessing it would have remained in the top five with the Cult of Chakyum, but fallen to the bottom 150 with only the Jaguar Sun.

“500 million.” Jones announced more to himself than anyone else. He explained himself shortly afterwards as others looked to him expectantly. “500 million appears to be approximately how many could be accounted for as residents of all of the settlements worldwide…” His voice faded away as he looked at Elder Olani who tapped her gnarled staff on the stone. “It’s just a guess, based on a bunch of assumptions.” He added, sounding a bit regretful.

Coop scowled, feeling vaguely frustrated as he watched the shoulders of his companions sink with disappointment. He wasn’t sure what to make of the news, but acknowledging that billions were dead was one of those things that was difficult to know how to approach. It was disturbing even if he already knew it was the case in the back of his mind. Humanity had its fair share of evil, but he didn’t think so many would have deserved to die.

For a moment, he tried remaining optimistic. The event leaderboard wouldn’t be able to capture the people still living outside of settlement territory. The assimilation didn’t expect any of those without civilization shards to have lasted this long, but the Jaguar Sun was still out there. He hoped there would be more people digging in. Hopefully, the best of humanity was clinging to life.

Without getting hung up on the state of their planet, he activated the central teleportation circle, dispelling the enthrallment of his allies. They had a job to do. Coop and the rest of them may not have been particularly special, but they were in a position to help.

“Let’s save them all.” He insisted, glancing at the eyes of all those around him while the runes at his feet lit with energy. He didn’t detect any doubt from any of them as they slowly focused back up, rediscovering their confidence with his example.

Coop nodded as he took a deep breath and stepped onto the gateway. A moment later, his vision faded into blackness.