“Dear God.”
Stan’s voice was barely perceptible as the two of them stared down the tunnel to their left. While the tunnel to their right had been largely empty and featureless, this one was anything but. The two stared down it in shock, stopped dead in their tracks by what they saw.
The corridor ahead was a robotic graveyard, filled with the broken remains of countless EvBots. The machines had been torn to shreds, their ruins littering the ground like soldiers lost to an ancient battle. The debris stretched as far as Jacob could see, seemingly going forever down the tube. Jacob estimated there must be hundreds - if not thousands - of EvBots scattered about, left where they had been ripped apart. Jacob squatted down and quiety picked up a piece of the closest bot, a twisted piece of aluminum that appeared to have once been an EvBot’s outer shell.
“I guess Rama was speaking from experience.” Jacob muttered “They really don’t like EvBots.”
“Look up.” Stan tapped Jacob on the shoulder and he glanced towards the ceiling.
“Dear God.” Jacob slowly stood up, still holding the piece of metal as he echoed what Stan had said earlier. Above them the ceiling was covered in thousands of Tokens, all of various sizes and colorations. They appeared to be sleeping, eyes closed, largely unmoving. They were peaceful and calm, and didn’t seem to have noticed Jacob and Stan.
Jacob glanced down the tube, and saw the huddle mass of tokens continued down it’s length. There was something especially eerie about seeing the cuddly creatures resting so peacefully above the dismembered bodies of their victims. If they woke up would Jacob and Stan join the EvBots? Would the pieces of their bodies be left to rot and decay amongst the EvBots? Would they ever be found? Or would they remain here, turning to bone as the Tokens slept peacefully above them?
Jacob shuddered at the thought, then carefully put the piece of metal down where he had found it.
“Well that’s clearly the way to go.” Jacob said quietly, staring down the tunnel.
“Yep.” Stan didn’t move, lowering his voice to echo Jacob’s. He gestured weakly towards the destroyed EvBots. “Ladies first.”
Jacob sighed, and slowly began walking down the tunnel, stepping carefully to disturb as little of the debris as possible.
“Follow the Tokens, follow the tokens, of course it’s follow the stupid tokens.” Jacob grumbled under his breath “Why couldn’t it be follow the pretty pink butterflies, just for once.”
“Keep muttering and you’ll wake them up.” Stan looked up nervously as he whispered to Jacob. Jacob rolled his eyes.
“Our bold hero, ladies and gentlemen.”
“Haha, very funny.”
Jacob froze suddenly, and cocked his head. Stan bumped into him gently, his attention focused on the tokens overhead, and grunted in surprise.
“What is it?” Stan looked past Jacob, staring into the never ending graveyard of EvBots and Tokens.
“Shut up.” Jacob held a finger over his mouth, indicating a need for silence “I hear something.”
The two stood in the tunnel together listening. Above them the tokens moved in their sleep, rustling slightly every now and then. Directly above Jacob one of the Tokens huffed, before trilling lightly in its slumber. The tunnel was otherwise silent, an ominous quiet filling the space. Jacob shook his head and opened his mouth to speak when he heard it again.
“Crying.” Stan whispered directly behind Jacob, trying not to awaken the creatures around them. Jacob nodded his head slowly.
“Veronica?” Stan moved to stand next to Jacob, cocking his head slightly to hear the noise better. Jacob nodded again quietly.
“She’s close.” Jacob muttered, running his eyes along the walls. The almost sound of sniffling continued, edging at the very reaches of his hearing. It wasn’t coming from their tunnel, but coming from an unseen break up ahead. Another passage split away just like the one they were in now had, though Jacob couldn’t see in the tunnels where. The home of the tokens was truly a maze, a labyrinthine complex that changed at will.
Jacob began slowly continuing down the corridor, stepping carefully amongst the remains of the EvBots, ignoring the tokens that slept around him. As he moved the crying slowly grew louder, slowly but surely becoming clearer as he traveled down the tunnel.
As he moved the crying slowly grew louder, slowly but surely becoming clearer as he travelled down the tunnel. Behind him Stan followed closely, continuing to glance suspiciously at the creatures along the ceiling. The Tokens above them didn’t react to their presence, continuing to rest peacefully. Gaining more confidence Jacob began to move more quickly, walking down the corridor as the crying grew more obvious. As they walked Jacob saw the walls ahead of them ripple slightly, the outlines of entrances to corridors appearing and disappearing as they approached.
“I think she’s down there.” Jacob whispered, without looking back. “In one of-”
CLANG!
Jacob whirled around to see Stan stumbling over the remains of one of the EvBots, a large chunk of which had fallen onto the tunnel floor. More peices of the bot fell off as Stan stumbled away, clattering onto the ground. Stan limped lightly in pain for a moment, clearly reacting to the pain of hitting the bot. The actor cursed quietly under his breath as Jacob glared at him.
“Of all the stupid…” Jacob hissed over to Stan.
Above them, the gentle trilling sounds stopped. The tunnel fell into an ominous silence, and the two men simultaneously looked upwards at the tokens.
Thousands of eyes greeted them, glaring down from the ceiling. Neither Jacob nor Stan moved, locked in a standoff with the creatures. A palpable anger fulled the tunnel, radiating off the fuzzy little creatures in a barely contained rage. The Tokens didn’t like others entering their territory. Jacob and Stan were intruders; the only reason they hadn’t been ripped to shreds was the “hospitality rules” Rama had mentioned earlier. Jacob had no idea what would set the Tokens off by breaking those rules, and he didn’t want to find out.
“Stan, move very closely towards me.” Jacob didn’t look away as he slowly raised his hand, gesturing gently at Stan to join him. In his peripheral vision he Stan slowly start moving. He tapped another one of the EvBots accidently with his foot, and froze when the thoursands of eyes suddenly locked on him in frustration.
“Don’t mind me.” Stan raised his hands slowly, trying to appear non-threatening. “Just passing through. Didn’t mean to disturb your Bot bits.”
The closest tokens began to hiss, and Stan moved a little quicker to close the distance between himself and Jacob.
“I don’t think they like it when you mention those.” Jacob said quietly, lightly gesturing at the EvBots. He slowly began to walk backwards, placing his feet carefully as he did.
“No whatever might give you that impression?” Stan replied sarcastically. The two continued to move backwards slowly, testing every step with their feet first to ensure they didn’t disturb any more bots. Each movement was watched carefully by the Tokens, who hugged the ceiling in silence.
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The creatures continued to project an aura of rage around them, though none moved to stop the pair. A stray thought entered Jacob’s head wondering what Rama and the EvBots had done to cause such violence; it seemed that despite their anger the Tokens took these hospitality rights incredibly seriously.
“At least we know we’re going the right way.” Stan continued to stare at them as they moved painfully slowly down the corridor “Rama did say to follow the Tokens.”
The creatures hissed again at the sound of Rama’s name, causing the two men to freeze momentarily. They glanced at each other at the same time, and Stan raised his hands apologetically.
“Got it, they don’t like mentioning that either.”
Jacob took the opportunity to slowly turn to face the other direction, seeing the Tokens behind them staring as well. The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, though the EvBot parts were slowly lessening as they moved. The two continued their arduous march forward, keeping their focus at the tokens around them. The crying sounds continued to grow louder, increasing in volume as the amount of EvBots decreased around them. The two of them finally emerged from the EvBot graveyard, and Jacob stopped at the edge of the robotic remains. The Tokens had similarly thinned out as they had walked, with the tunnel ahead being almost completely clear of the fuzzy monstrosities. Jacob frowned as he stared at the blank tunnel; despite seeing several shimmering entrances ahead no side paths had appeared for them, though Jacob could see several more in the distance.
More mysterious though, was the crying. From where he stood Jacob could swear that the crying was right beside him. It filled the tunnel as if Veronica were standing next to him, but no sign of her was anywhere in sight. The tunnel was completely empty ahead, in stark juxtoposition to the massive amounts of Tokens and debris behind them.
“Looks like we’re gonna make it.” Stan remarked quietly as he walked up to join Jacob “For a second, I was worried-”
Stan’s voice cut out as he suddenly fell, the floor opening up beneath him. Jacob had just enough time to look down before the floor disapeared from under him. Jacob plunged straight downwards into the tunnel that appeared below him, dropping ten feet before hitting the floor below. Jacob instintively tucked into a roll when he landed, tumbling forward several feet before hitting a wall hard. He felt the breath get driven from his body, and he grunted heavily at the impact. Jacob rested on the ground for a moment before slowly getting to his feet, his body sore from the impact. He rolled his shoulders experimentally, moving his arms to check that nothing was broken. Satisfied that there was no major damage he looked around the space, checking his surroundings.
The room Jacob had landed in was filthy, filled with garbage and soot. A strong bonfire smell filled the air, while the ground below jacob was slightly squishy. The majority of the trash in the room was cardstock from card printing, though pieces of odd objects ranging from furniture to food poked out of the mess at odd angles. The room was cylindrical, with circular openings spread around the walls that more trash occassionally fell through. The tunnel they had fallen through remained in the ceiling above them, and Jacob could see that it had since filled with the Tokens from the passage they walked through, all of which stared down at him. There was a groan, and Jacob looked over to see Stan lying on his back a few feet away. Jacob walked towards him and stood over the man, who was lying winded amongst the cardboard.
“All those action movies, and none of them taught you how to safety roll?” Jacob quipped, seeing no obvious injury.
“This is definitely against Union rules.” Stan coughed out, before smirking at Jacob “This is the stuff the stunt doubles should do.”
“I’ll be sure to contact your rep the moment we get out of here.” Jacob offered a hand to Stan, who took it. Jacob helped the actor up, and he grunted as he got to his feet. “Up and at em tough guy, time to do Hero stuff.”
“I think I’d be ok playing the sidekick for a while.” Stan looked around as he breathed in heavily, taking in their surroundings. “Maybe the plucky comedic side character. Where are we?”
“Judging by all the garbage and soot, I’d guess the furnace.”
“Any sign of Veronica?”
There was a large sniffling sound from their right, and Jacob glanced over at Stan. The actor shrugged, and the two walked towards the cylindrical wall. Against the wall they found Veronica huddled behind a small pile of garbage, hidden just out of sight of the entry tunnel. In her arms she cradled a small Token, which cooed and trilled as she et it. Tears streamed down her face, and Jacob noticed that one of her ankles was swollen and discolored - likely due to landing on it. She had a standard Wonder Corp heal card in the equipper on her arm, and her face was caked in soot. Jacob knelt down next to her and she continued to pet the Token, ignoring both of them. Jacob glanced back at Stan, who shrugged. Neither or the men knew what to say.
“I didn’t want to come.” Veronica spoke suddenly, startling Jacob slightly. He looked down at her, but she was still focused on the Token in her arms “I wasn’t supposed to come. He was supposed to get the ticket.”
“Who?” Jacob asked softly
“My father.” Veronica cocked her head to look at the token closely, the tears on her face starting to dry.
“You brought your father with you.” Jacob leaned forward slightly, trying to look at her face.
“Not him.” Another tear rolled down Veronica’s face, leaving a line in the soot that had started to coat it “My bio father. He was supposed to get the card. I was finding it for him.”
“But it wouldn’t work for him.” Jacob placed a hand on her shoulder, continuing to speak softly.
“The moment I touched it, the invite was mine.” Veronica smiled lightly, though there was no joy in her expression “The opportunity of a lifetime. He was furious when he found out.”
Veronica suddenly looked up, staring into Jacob’s eyes intently “You can help me.”
“Get out of here?” Jacob tried to continue the reinforcement “Yes, that’s why I’m here.”
“Get out of all of it.” Tears started flowing down Veronica’s face again, but she barely reacted “You saved the others. You can save me. From everything.”
“I don’t understand.” Jacob’s brow furrowed, but he tried to keep his re-assuring tone “I think you might have hit your head in the fall.”
“This was my mission.” Veronica looked down at the Token she held, which snuggled deeper into her arms happily “Get something they hadn’t released. Something that gives my father an edge. Do whatever I had to, since my father couldn’t do it himself. Corporate secrets, experimental tech, cards, blueprints, everything I could get my hands on.”
“Which is why you couldn’t wait for initial release of the tokens.”
“If I make a deal with you, can you protect me?” Veronica looked up at Jacob desperately “Can you protect my Dad? My mom? If I tell you everything?”
“Veronica, who is your biological father?” Jacob gripped her shoulder more tightly, though he had a suspicion he already knew.
“William Grant.” Veronica replied nervously, dropping her tone “CEO of DefTech.”
Jacob nodded silently as it sunk in. He had figured it was likely one of the other card company CEOs; DefTech was the most dangerous and powerful of all of them. It was attached to multiple national and international governments, and almost nobody knew how or why. What they produced was a mystery; the few cards that did make their way via the black market to tournaments were powerful and uncompromising. Military cards designed to end conflicts, often with explosive results. The memory of the factory raid replayed through Jacob’s head as the realization set in. Her excitement and near frenzy, her insistance on it belonging to her, her attempt to isolate the card. All of it to deliver to a father who refused to recognize her. William Grant famously had never married, and had no children. His will was public: when he died, DefTech went to his brother Robert. Veronica would interfere with the intended inheritance, and had to be illegitimate.
“What exactly can you tell us?” Jacob lowered his voice even further, so that Stan couldn’t hear them.
“Enough that you could shut down DefTech forever.” Veronica’s eyes steeled “And put a price on the heads of everyone both of us care about high enough to guarantee neither of us survives the week.”
Jacob nodded, and stood up. He looked over at Stan, then back at Veronica. “Stan you’re going to be a witness, pay attention.”
“Witness to what?” Stan looked at Jacob in confusion, a look he didn’t acknowledge.
“Under the National Protection of Witnesses Act I am placing this woman under the official protection of the government of Cascadia.” Jacob offered Veronica his hand, and she grabbed it. She stood up slowly, and looked at the two weakly “I authorize this under my authority as an officer in the National Intelligence of Cascadia, rank of Corporal, under the stipulation and consideration that the exposure of this witness would result in undue harm or termination of their life. This is done in full witness of an uninvolved party, who shall from this moment on be sworn to secrecy of the witness’s identity. Is everyone in understanding?”
“You’re putting her in witness protection?” Stan asked incredulously
“More than that.” Jacob looked at both of them seriously, making sure they were listening “I am placing her safety and security not only in the hands of my agency, but the Cascadian Government as a whole, and by proxy, all of its citizens. It requires a witness to invoke.”
“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Witness Protection?” Stan replied “Making it so yet another person knows they’re in hiding?”
“It’s supposed to make sure that someone isn’t being kidnapped by the government.” Jacob sighed “Though in this case, it’ll prove extra helpful. There’s five Cascadian citizens on this tour.”
“Who’s the fifth?” Veronica used a free hand to wipe some of the tears off her face, smudging the soot that had settled on it. The Token in her hand trilled, and she resumed petting it.
“Rama.” Jacob smirked a bit “Wonder Corp. was founded in Vancouver.”
“I think we have a larger problem on our hands.” Stan’s voice dropped to a whisper, as he glanced behind him
SLAM!
The ground shook, and the three turned around.
The King Token had appeared.
What did Jacob and Stan see? Turns out the question had multiple correct answers; I hope you found it fun. I don’t write dungeon crawler stories (not yet at least, maybe a future book?), so this was an interesting chapter to write. With everything going on I’ll admit it took a lot longer to release than I had anticipated, but hopefully everything will be on schedule from here on out. If you haven’t read the latest announcement please check it for the updated release schedule, I’ll be trying to keep posting consistently. Tomorrow’s post is a Lore Drop, and the next chapter drops on Thursday.
trust in the cards…
What do you think will happen with the King Token?
