Jake's Story, ch 22

This was going to be another 2 chapter post, but the next chapter is kind of long and I didn't want to make you all wait.

This chapter is kind of short.

I love writing about the Faceted, though. lol

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Once Jake found the portal area he took a look around.  Everything looked okay, or at least there was no imminent danger nearby.  This far out in the woods, there weren’t even any monsters around and he could almost pretend it was a regular night before Purple Rain.  He briefly considered finding some more monster cores before entering the challenge portal, but that would have required hunting down monsters first.

He was a little worried about sustenance.  Being a zombie had sucked, but he also hadn’t had any real needs.  Now he got hungry.  Having a few more monster cores would make him feel a lot more confident about a long stay, but there was no telling how long it would take.

Jake thought about his situation for a moment.  He was a relatively powerful monster for this early in the apocalypse.  But he was going to likely kill a lot of people after finding out who was truly responsible for his family’s death.  Jake knew he was strong now, but he was not invulnerable.  He was still angry, just suppressing it.  Fighting with righteous fury felt good but it could backfire.  Usually did for most people.  Rage could make people strong, but not brilliant.

If he died from enemy gunfire or magic, he wouldn’t be able to finish avenging his family.  Aldina’s soul would be in limbo in his storage ring. And Jake also wasn’t sure what would happen when he died.  He didn’t exactly fear death, but he also wasn’t sure who actually could lay claim to his soul, now.  One thing he knew for certain was the he didn’t want Ahriman ever getting his hands on him, much less for eternity.

It was tempting to go in guns blazing, just plan to nuke his enemies from a distance with Demonic Contradiction Wave attacks.  That would be dumb, though.  Jake had made it a lifelong habit not to underestimate his enemies.  It was what had kept him alive through his adventuring days.

Unfortunately, his natural inclination toward caution also forced him to acknowledge where he was lacking before entering the challenge portal.  As a zombie he’d had a lot less to lose.  So now he felt underprepared but he also didn’t want to chance missing out on this opportunity.  Challenge portals could vanish at any time.

With a mental shrug, Jake entered and found himself standing in a woody glen, but the nearest trees were all made of metal.  Glowing stones poked out of the ground here and there.  The Faceted facilitating this challenge portal stood on what looked like a large stump, except it was made of metal.  Jake would have assumed it was an incredibly lifelike sculpture if he hadn’t seen the metal trees nearby.

The area appeared to be outdoors, and the sky was overcast, with an orange hue of light coming through.  He turned around.

Jake was immediately on his guard.  This was not a challenge portal that he was familiar with, which meant the Faceted would be an unknown quality, too.  The Faceted did not greet him right away, instead it just studied him, or at least Jake thought so.  Sometimes it was hard to tell what Faceted were ever actually looking at since they didn’t have any features.

But as it continued not to speak, his hackles rose.  This was not normal behavior, and Jake grew even more wary.

Finally, it said, “It is unmistakable.  I have read the mark of your successful completion of another Assessment Room.  This is most curious.”  As usual, its words had been transmitted directly to Jake’s mind.

For a moment Jake thought about how to reply, but eventually opted to not say anything.  He just regarded the facilitator levelly.

This standoff persisted for at least half a minute before the Faceted spoke again.  “You are not a natural, mortal being.  In fact I have never actually seen anything exactly like you are before.  But it seems you are somehow still born of your world.”

Jake stayed silent.

“You have a soul.”

“Correct,” said Jake.  He didn’t take the extra time to speak clearly.  “A human soul.  And I am a warrior.”

“Most curious.”  The Faceted was still acting oddly, standing still.  Usually they had readable body language.  Whether it was just to mimic humans, set them at ease as they entered the challenge portals or not, nobody had ever known.  The way this one was staying so motionless made Jake believe all their normal gesticulating really had all been a scam.

Its reaction was a little confusing, too.

Jake knew he was a special case, but he had a hard time believing that nobody had ever entered a challenge portal with a strange or inhuman body.  Then he admitted that he wasn’t just changed, he was a permanent monster now, and he remembered that this time period was during the start of the Purple Rain era.  Maybe this Faceted wouldn’t be so thrown if this meeting were happening 15 years in the future.

Finally, the Faceted launched into the standard challenge portal speil.  It said, “This is an Assessment Room, where you will be challenged and can receive a reward based on how you are ranked. Ranking will take place in a way your species understands, from F to A, with S and even SS being possible for the most mighty or most talented. At rank S or SS, a second reward may be chosen from the highest tier rewards possible, and more rewards will be available to choose from than at lower rankings. Do you understand my words so far, warrior?”

“Yes.”

“Good.  Now I must tell you that you are allowed a team for this Assessment.  Do you wish to wait for others, or go alone?”

“Alone.”

“So be it.  This choice has been factored into the final makeup for your trial.”  The Faceted cocked its head for a moment and continued, “This Assessment room’s challenge will be in two parts.  The second will be an elite, or “boss” fight.  Each area will be an actual, natural place in the universe that you will be transported to.  The space may be artificial, but its inhabitants won’t be.  Are you still following my explanation?”

Jake’s mind whirred as he tried to remember everything the Faceted was saying, or might not be saying,  “Yes.”

“Good.  You have three themes to choose from.  The fir--”

“Themes?  Please explain.”

Jake thought he might be feeling an emotion from the Faceted for the first time.  Irritation.  It explained, “Each challenge theme focuses on one creature archetype.  The three themes you have to choose from are rabbits, giants, and mermaids.”

That’s new.  I’ve never heard of this challenge before, either, thought Jake.  He said, “So I just need to pick one?”

“Yes.”  After a long pause, the Faceted said, “Would you like some advice?”

And suddenly, although he didn’t know its name, Jake thought he might know who this Faceted was.  “Yes, I would.  Can you help me?”

“I can give you advice since you asked for it.”  Now Jake was even more sure.  The creature continued, “It is my opinion that you should choose the rabbit theme.”

“Why is that?”

“Because its theme is a weaker type of monster than the rest.”

“I see.”  Jake put his chin in his hand and made a big show of pondering it.  Then he asked, “And how many rabbit creatures are there compared to in the other themes?”

The Faceted didn’t say anything at first, but then Jake repeated his question.  It replied, “More of them.”

“Oh, okay.”  Jake hid a smile.  Now he was sure of it.  This Faceted was The Advisor.  It didn’t show up very often, and its setting or room that it used wasn’t always the same, but it always asked if the adventurers or person challenging the Assessment Room wanted its advice.  Then it would generally proceed to give the worst advice possible.

“Will you answer any more questions?” asked Jake.

“No.  Make your choice, please.”

He’s been expecting that answer.  These things didn’t want anyone to perform well or go in with any prior knowledge.  Jake thought about what he knew.  Choosing rabbits would be a terrible decision, he’d already ruled that out.  He would never trust a Faceted.

So the other two choices were giants or mermaids.  A normal person new to real monsters might choose mermaids, but Jake knew better.  Unlike cute cartoon stories, real mermaids were dangerous and were part of the reason why sailing anywhere on earth was practically suicide after Purple Rain.  Plus, The Advisor had said that the challenge would take place at real places, likely where these things actually lived.  Mermaids were aquatic.  Jake could just imagine an asshole Faceted dumping him in the middle of some alien ocean somewhere.

So that left giants.  Jake was a little leery about this since giants sounded scary as hell, but that might have been the point.  He couldn’t ignore that The Advisor had suggested rabbits, and Jake was absolutely sure there was no way a Faceted had his best interests at heart.

He could always give up on a stage if it was too dangerous, too.  The Faceted seemed to love kicking a challenger out of a portal with every bone in their body broken, a moment from death.  There was usually a delay between giving up and the stage actually ending.  The trick was not to give up at the last possible minute.

Giving up would not be forfeiting the entire challenge, but it would affect one’s rating at the end.  A popular strategy for many adventurers who found challenge portals was to go all-in on one challenge stage they were well suited for and sandbag on the rest of them to avoid injury or death.

Of course, giving up was also something people hadn’t known about when the challenge portals had first been discovered.  This Faceted likely had no idea that Jake knew all of the rules.

With all of that in mind, Jake said, “I choose giants.”

“I see.  Then step to the area before me, please.  The circle.”  Sure enough, a pale, glowing band of runes had sprung up on the stony ground.

Jake had made his choice, so he stepped into the indicated area.  Then as he felt a space-time transition beginning to occur, probably-The Advisor said, “Good luck with your challenge!  Perhaps you would have fared better had you listened to my advice.  Now we will likely never know.”

Uh oh, he thought.  The Faceted had sounded very pleased with itself, maybe even smug.  Happy Faceted usually meant bad news for adventures.  Jake felt a powerful flash of worry before he was sucked into the void.  Maybe he had chosen wrong after all.