Myth//OS - Chapter 60

I sat at a coffee house. Of course I did. Where else would I sit and wait for someone? The coffee was on the house too. It was some kind of special event or something? I was apparently their 100,000 customer. I wasn’t one to look down on free coffee. 

I sipped at the cup, doing a last minute check through Cloud Keep Temple. Interestingly, the biggest issue with this rift wasn’t necessarily the monsters. It was the environment itself. I’d have to be extremely careful about falling. Shouldn’t be too big of an issue with the Will Wire though. Actually, looking through the list, I was kind of the perfect counter for this rift.

”Moon! There you are!” A cheerful voice chirped from the entrance of the coffee shop. Her voice was loud and clear, cutting across the clamour of the shop. If I wasn’t already drawing attention just sitting here, then all eyes snapped to us at her call.

Rabbyte hopped over to my table completely uncaring for the eyes of dozens of normies all around us. I couldn’t exactly blame her for the situation though. We were likely to attract eyes anyway. I was in almost all white, and Rabbyte showed up in her power armor. We practically screamed Wardens.

My teammate for the upcoming runs popped her helmet off and slapped it onto the table. She shook her hair out, letting her lop ears flop around. So cute. “So? How are we looking?”

”Primo.” The rift would be ready for us in the next ten or twenty minutes. Our third this time was random, but it’d probably be fine between me and Rabbyte.

“Be right back!” She jumped from the table and headed for the line, abandoning her mascot dressed like a film director. Today it even had on a flat topped beret.

The abandoned bunny mascot looked between me and her. Its ears drooped tragically and it kicked lightly at the table. Its vacant eyes stared at the floor like its entire world just collapsed. Being abandoned by its master…

”Used. To it?” With how chaotic Clover was, I doubted this was the first time it’d been left behind. No- I knew this wasn’t the first time. It happened once or twice back at that Dark Zone.

The bunny mascot looked up at me. Even though it was entirely mechanical, it practically radiated a faint feeling of shock and despair. It shook its head and plopped down onto her helmet, making itself comfortable between the two mechanical ears sticking up from it.

[Nighteye wonders when you’re going to get a mascot.]

I had one. I reached into my bag and pulled out a small orb. It was given to me by Nightingale, my manager. Something about needing footage? It wasn’t nearly as high class as Rabbyte’s though. It was just the basic drone model that Wardens everywhere had.

[Nighteye rubs her paws together. Let her see what she can do.]

Yep, yep. It didn’t really matter to me what I had. As long as I didn’t have to worry about it while fighting. Maybe the drone would be better in that regard? It could fly around and avoid being destroyed.

Rabbyte returned to the table, sliding in opposite me with a cup of… orange juice? Maybe? She slurped on it through a straw. “You excited too? Been a while since we did anything together!”

“Yep. Why come?” When I invited her, I thought she'd shoot me down. She seemed the busy sort with being a Mythek and all. I sipped at my coffee and watched the pure excitement and energy radiating off the girl. 

”Ugh- my dad kicked me out. I bet it was Elion, that traitorous golem! Something about not getting enough sun?” She kicked at the floor, some of her excitement draining away. “Then you called and I decided why not.”

As far as teammates went, I could get a lot worse than Clover. As another bonus, I needed to get someone else to run rifts with Lucia, and the two were already close. “Boss. Next time?”

”Lucia?” Rabbyte froze for several long moments. “Uh- uh- yeah! Can’t wait! Will she be available though? I keep waiting for her call and it keeps not coming.”

”Should be.” She was busy with cleaning up the corporation, but I could see her desire to go out and run rifts. It might even be a nice bit of stress relief to just get away and do something drastically different? She needed to get some more Skills anyway.

”Any idea who our third is?” The Mythek shifted the topic back to the upcoming rift raid.

”…” I shook my head. Our third was through Throne’s Tower app. Could be literally anyone. I was hoping they wouldn’t be entirely useless. This was a D rank though, so chances were high we’d get a somewhat useful Vanguard. People at D rank were guaranteed to put at least some effort in.

Rabbyte got on her Glass and started scrolling through while we waited. About ten minutes later, I stood up and bought a refill. They still had their special event going, so I got another free coffee. I’d have to remember this place. More and more people had come in while we’d been sitting here, and it was practically booming now.

I sipped at my new cup and nodded my head to the Striker in passing. “C’mon.”

”Oh! Is it time?” Rabbyte popped up and snatched her helmet. The mascot flopped off to the side and fell to the floor. Not that she noticed. She was too busy hopping over to me. Her abandoned mascot’s head dropped for a moment and then followed after us with slow steps.

We headed out to an apartment building. A disguised CDF trooper sat in the lobby of the apartment building, stopping us before going up. “Wardens?”

”What gave us away?” Rabbyte chuckled. The red lights on her helmet danced around the room and a white SIGIL popped up over her armor. 

“Right, right.” The disguised CDF guard tossed a card onto the table. “Floor seventeen. Scan the card to unlock it. Your third is already up there.”

I stepped forward and swiped the card. “Thanks.”

“Oh! And would you bring this up to old Harvey?” The CDF trooper pulled out a bag of takeout food and set it on the counter. “I’d go myself, but someone’s got to watch the desk.”

”No problem!” Rabbyte moved over and swiped the bag of take-out food. “Let’s go!” 

“…” I followed the cheerful bunny to the elevator. After swiping the card, a hidden panel opened up for the seventeenth floor. Guess the residents didn’t know there was a rift on top of this place? Then again, it’d probably make the apartment's value plummet if they knew.

Unlike the rest of the floors here, 17 was a dummy floor. It looked tacked on to the top of the building after the initial construction. A crack in space and time rippled in the middle of the dummy floor. Several sensors were set up all around it, and a faint visage of an ancient looking pavilion appeared.

A familiar looking figure stood near a guard booth. I couldn’t quite place where, but he definitely rang a bell or two. The man, noticing us, put on an easygoing smile and approached. “Hello! Are you two my teammates for this one? Aggronaut, Vanguard.”

”Rabbyte! I’m the Striker!” Rabbyte wasted no time introducing herself. She passed the takeout bag to her mascot who struggled to carry it over to the old man manning the guard booth.

”Moon. Anchor.” I nodded my head to the man. No matter how much I looked at him, I just couldn’t quite place where he looked so familiar from.

He rubbed at the back of his and smiled lightly. It was kind of boyish and innocent, almost. There was a certain charm to it that was impossible to miss. ”I usually go with a regular fireteam, but they’re busy tonight… so, uh- I’ll be in your care?”

”No problem! Just follow behind-“ Rabbyte froze for a moment. “Ahem- I mean, we’ll support you from the rear!”

“You folks ready to head in?” The old man at the guard booth called out. “You know the risks with this ere rift? Once you fall…”

”Well aware, my good sir.” Rabbyte’s power armor shifted, revealing several small thrusters all over her armor. “Specially modified my armor just for this!”

Aggronaut nodded his head in amazement. “Not as fancy as your’s, Rabbyte, but I have the Grounded skill. What about you, Moon?”

“…” I summoned out the Will Wire. In a flash of ether, the thing popped out and wrapped around my torso. I started up a braid, reinforcing it with white Ebonshroud as it went, and looped it around several more times. Might as well keep it out for now. 

“Do you have an antidote?” The old man sighed and shook his head. “All sorts of foul winds in there if you’re not careful.”

Aggronaut took the lead and opened his bag to reveal dozens of small vials. “I’ve got enough for you guys as well, if need be.”

Rabbyte waved to her head. “I’ve got filters. I’ll be a hundred percent safe.”

I activated Radiance. A soft, gentle silver glow emitted from my body into the surrounding room. Under the light, our Vanguard straightened up immediately like a drill sergeant went by. “Group Cleanse.”

”Heh- well I won’t have to worry about these anymore, right?” The guy rubbed at the back of his head and closed his bag.

The old man settled back down at the booth and popped open the bag of take-out food. “Stay safe, youngsters.”

Aggronaut nodded to us and then stepped through the rift. Rabbyte and I followed a beat later, with the poor mascot running after us just before it could be abandoned again.

— — —

We entered a broken down pavilion. Pillars of wood surrounded us with chipped red paint, and the vaulted ceiling was half-collapsed on one side. Latticed windows were blown inward like they’d been hit by a hurricane.

It was ancient looking, with signs of weather all over it. From beyond the cracks in the pavilion, we looked out onto a sea of clouds. The distant sun, stuck at sunset, painted the entire sky with vibrant shades of pink and gold. The paper walls of the pavilion glowed with that vibrant color.

From beyond the broken door of the building, long stone bridges crisscrossed over a massive void. Several other pavilions and temples sat scattered around what looked like mountain peaks jabbing out of the clouds, each in just as much disrepair as the last. Who or whatever built this place looked like it hadn’t been back in a really long time even before Cloud Keep Temple became a rift.

Cloud Keep Temple was situated on a flying island, similar to Cathedral Guild’s Cathedral. A fall from up here… well, no one who had fallen beneath the clouds had ever come back to talk about it. Indeed, falling off the island was the biggest risk associated with this rift.

Rabbyte hurriedly picked up her mascot and tied it to her two mechanical ears, ensuring it would be secured. The little mascot finally perked up and grabbed on, magnetizing to the helmet. “Everyone here?”

”Yep.” I tossed out the small orb-like drone that my manager gave me. It unfolded mid-air, automatically flying around to record the scenery and me like some kind of magitech bird.

”Okay- we need to head to the grand temple for the boss. Every entry into Cloud Keep Temple is randomized, but it shouldn’t be that hard to find.” Rabbyte spoke like she was reading something off. 

“Etherblooms!” Our third called from the other side of the temple. He’d moved over and was crouched inspecting a group of flowers that’d grown through the cracks in the floor. “Should be that way.”

I let Ebonshroud flow down under my clothes, condensing in my hand. Hmm… what was I feeling this time around? The sniper? No- no, I should mix it up. It was strong, but it’d suck to become overly reliant on it. I was the Anchor though, so definitely a ranged weapon. Or should I just use Ether Strings? I had a feeling I was so close to cracking the code and getting access to two-string magics. Just a bit more practice…

Yeah, why not. Okay, no weapons this time. I was going to try and only use magic. Of course, that could change in a heartbeat if the situation looked like it would turn south. And if the first string magics were too weak—as they probably were since this was a D rank rift—I’d use throwing weapons. Perfect.

Ebonshroud flowed down under my jacket, creating dozens of throwing knives and bandoliers to hold them. They weren’t anything too fancy. The knives were perfectly weighted for throwing with sleek profiles. And pure white, of course.

”Alright.” Rabbyte moved for the door, motioning to the Vanguard. “We have a direction to head in now. Keep your senses peeled. The enemies of this rift are tricky to observe.”

Aggronaut stepped out of the door, leading us toward one of the stone bridges connecting the flying mountains.

— — —

AN: Woah, hard to believe this is already on chapter 60. Feels like just the other day I started writing Myth//OS.