Glitch stands motionless against the black sky. His pixellated features show a flat and empty expression, eyes staring out unfocused across the distance, mouth set in a dispassionate line against his unmarred face. Beneath his feet, the ground is a simple plane of a vivid fuscia hue. It stretches out into another intricate deathmaze, daunting in its sheer size and scope. No realistic architecture or objects is seen in this level, no metal platforms or wooden beams, just pure geometry, labrythine paths and walls in stark monochrome against an utter blackness. The figures lurking in its corridors, moving along in the distance, are not fleshy monsters or armored robots, but mere abstract glyphs, low-resolution figures that may vaguely resemble a head or mouth, or some thing with legs. This is the Game World stripped down to its fundamentals, without any artifice of familiarity: Shape, sound, color, motion, and death.
Ready Player Two: Teagan appears next to him. They blink slowly, turning their head left to right, and then rest their hand on the hilt of their machete. It comes with them, at least in thought-form, in Dream-form. It's only a manifestation here because they want it to be; it has none of the Token's innate powers. They listen intently, and then Teagan tips their chin up at Glitch. They don't say anything: sound might draw attention unwanted, after all.
It's not clear if Glitch even registers Teagan's presence at first. He stares emotionless at the course ahead, and it's clear to Teagan that this is much further into his Durance. He's been ground down by countless time spent doing this, over and over again, for who knows how long. The stage before them seems to be a reflection of his progress, a challenge suited for his skill and experience. He slowly turns his head towards Teagan for just a moment, barely betraying an awareness of them. Again, a deep and artificial voice reverberates from seemingly everywhere at once: "LEVEL START."
Despite his shell-shocked stare, the Gameplayer immediately launches into violent motion, breaking into a dead sprint forward. The floor soon ends, dropping a good two meters onto a patch of triangular spikes, which Glitch hops over with barely a glance. As barely-animated enemies swoop towards him, Glitch unleashes his sword to cut through them without interruption, his face still a nearly sedated blankness. There are plenty of monsters to go around, though, and as Teagan follows his trail, at least three of them that were fortunate enough to not be in Glitch's path begin to fly directly towards them.
That shell-shocked stare is one that Tegaan knows well, and their fractured-mirror eyes reflect it back to Glitch in more ways than one. Their hand reaches out to touch his, silent understanding. They might be about to say something, but then the voice reverberates all around them: "LEVEL START," and the Mirrorskin's hand snaps back; it drops to the handle of their machete and the machete drops into their hand as easily as a breath taken in. That this happens at exactly the same time as Teagan sprints forward probably isn't surprising. While this may not actually be Baby, it's Baby in their mind. Literally.
They don't know the level the way that Glitch does, but their free-running abilities serve them here, and their reflexes carry them over the pit; as enemies come in at Teagan, they stutter-step, trying to judge which will come at them first, and spin the thought of a machete toward the memory of a Durance-opponent.
The things that slide towards Teagan through the air defy description, ineffable messes of squares that suggest a face and limbs no more than a Space Invader would. Most of them seem to at least portray two dead, staring black eyes that lock onto the Mirrorskin as they pursue them. As the machete swings forward, it rips through one of them, scattering it into a torn clump of solid pixels that dissipate and disappear, accompanied by harsh electronic noises, deep bass beeps and trills and static hisses. This is enough to clear the path forward. As Teagan catches up with Glitch, he glances to them momentarily, before his rote rampage through the level begins to take on an even stranger quality. A series of bright green platforms hang in the air, dotted here and there with creeping enemies, seemingly the only way to reach the top of the massive wall in front of him. Glitch runs clear past the platforms towards the base of the wall. He leaps, but not nearly high enough, the apex of his jump carrying him only a short way up the wall. A moment later, he collides with the wall, hard, and his entire body flickers for a moment, before he's suddenly shot upwards, flung to the top of the wall at an impossible angle. He finally pauses for a moment, looking back over his shoulder for a mere second, either down at Teagan or at the spot where he accomplished his odd feat, before turning back to continue barrelling forward.
tbc
|
