SNAPCRAFT | Ch. 16 - Topographical Disorientation
Added 2023-10-23 13:53:59 +0000 UTCSpring of 346, A.D.
Unlike everyone else in the sector, Alex loved the outskirts. Kai never understood why he chose to live so far from everyone else or to have such a long commute to the bonfires every day. More than that, he couldn’t wrap his head around why he would go out of his way to be far from his sister. Whatever the reason was, one thing was sure: Alex loved it out here.
Kai had been roaming the outskirts of town every night since his friend started missing the bonfires. After a few patient evenings, he finally spotted and followed him to his new apartment. Then, he broke into it and waited for his friend under his bed.
The sound of the door opening woke Kai. He looked at his wristwatch. Why was Alex only coming back home at 2 a.m.? There were footsteps. Then, Kai heard a loud thump as his friend sat on the bed. Kai took a deep breath and released all his pent-up air and frustration.
“AAARRGH!”
Alex screamed in panic, and Kai realized that waiting beneath his apartment bed to surprise him had been overkill. As Kai crawled from beneath the bed, a pale Alex demanded explanations, “Kai! Goodness, what’s wrong with you? You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“Good! Now you know how I and the others have been feeling. I haven’t seen you since you stood me up and left me out to dry in the museum, Alex! Where have you been?”
“Well, I’m sorry for that. I didn’t want to worry you.”
For someone so proud to apologize quickly was uncharacteristic. The quick display of humility quelled some of Kai’s anger, but he kept eyeing him suspiciously, afraid that he would disappear if he looked away for too long.
Alex, on the other hand, was relaxed. He went to the cabinets and pulled out a bag of chocolate-flavored rations. “Have you had dinner?”
“I can have it a second time.” Kai watched Alex pour the bag into two bowls and throw him one. “But don’t you think for a second that this is enough to make it up to me!”
As they munched on it, only the crunching sound of the crispy rations echoed in the room.
“So, will you tell me where you’ve been?”
Alex looked away.
“Come on, man! You owe it to me. Aren’t we best buds?” Their eyes met, and Kai made sure to channel all the anger and frustration he had been feeling these past few days into his eyes. After a fierce staring contest, Alex finally looked down.
“Fine. But you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone.”
“Fine.”
“Do you swear?”
“Yes!”
“Do you swear on my sister?”
Kai felt it was a slightly awkward oath to take. “S-sure.”
“Do you swear on your late parents?” Kai’s face turned serious. He and Alex never talked about their parents. For Alex to bring it up like this, it had to be some serious stuff.
“OK. I promise you, Alex. Relax. I won’t tell.”
“Good. But you have to be patient. I’ll tell you when the time is right.”
“Fine.”
“If you pester me, I’ll ditch you, and the deal is off.”
“I said it’s fine!”
“Good.”
Kai felt some of his fury abate. He was finally going to discover what Alex had been hiding from him. “So, wanna play a board game or something?”
*
353rd Daisy Exams, Round of 128.
Five minutes before the clock timed out, Kai stretched his muscles. He knew his body was just a mental projection that Daisy was casting inside a simulator. But, even if that was the case, it felt good to stretch.
He was one of 256 trial runners left, and they were about to be sent to 128 different arenas in the next round of the exams. “Creativity and logical thinking. Creativity and logical thinking. Creativity and logical thinking,” he mumbled as if saying a silent prayer.
He opened his inventory and looked through all the cards he had left. As he turned each of them over in his hand, he reviewed all the recipes they were in and all that he knew about them. Once he was done rummaging through his inventory, he started recalling each of the cards that he had captured in the previous arenas and how they could be used.
Once he had mentally gone through everything he had learned about the game and counted all the proverbial arrows in his quiver, he did a total point count to determine his starting score this round. Once he was happy with all his preparations, he allowed his mind to venture to the world outside.
He imagined how Ariel was doing. She was probably in the museum, all by herself, reading a book and keeping herself busy. Maybe she was working in the nursery for their future children. They had been working in them for years and built several around town. He missed her. There was so much he wanted to share with her. Even though they had studied the exams all their lives, nothing could surpass experiencing it first-hand.
He stoked the fire in his heart. “Albert. Neil. Trudy. Alex. Clara. Ariel.” He wasn’t going to go back empty-handed. He wouldn’t disappoint Ariel. After all that they had gone through, they needed a win. He kept mumbling the names of everyone he had known in the sector in a different, deeper prayer, and just like that, the time finished counting, and he was transported to the new arena.
As his figure materialized in the new arena, the first thing that stood out to Kai was that the stage Daisy had prepared was pitch black. Above him, there were stars and a thin crescent moon. He had been right. Thank goodness! This stage really was at night. He couldn’t make out anything around him.
Kai shifted his weight between his feet, and he felt the ground give, coupled with a grinding sound. Sand.
The [Mystery Box] has been opened. You’ve unlocked [Scoreboard]!
The [Mystery Box] has been opened. You’ve unlocked [Text Description]!
What? The mystery boxes had opened? Numbers appeared in the upper part of his vision. On the top left corner, there was 51. He recognized the number. It was the total number of points in the cards that had survived the last round and were sitting in his inventory. On the other side of the scoreboard, there was the number 83.
Scoreboard? Could he now see how many points he and his opponent had? He gulped. That meant that he was starting at a disadvantage. How in the world did his opponent score eighty-three points? It was a ridiculous advantage of over thirty points over him.
Kai took off running while looking at the map. He had no time to space out. There was no time to feel fear of his opponent or regret for not having done better in the first two rounds. The most important thing right now was finding the map's middle. That was his priority. He would draw conclusions about the notifications and about his opponent’s point count as he ran.
Even with the light of the stars and the moon, all he saw around him were shadows. It didn’t help that there wasn’t a full moon tonight. The sliver of light that the crescent provided barely illuminated his surroundings. Where was the upgrade he had spent so many points on?
“Gaslamp!” he shouted. Nothing happened. “Inventory!”
As the floating window appeared, he saw an object next to the cards. He reached into the window, grabbed the icon, and a gaslamp materialized in his hand. It was equal to the one he had seen down at the mine of the quarry. The light wasn’t particularly powerful but it was enough to illuminate the area around him. That was better.
The first moments in a new arena were always the hardest. His brain was forced to work in overdrive. The scoreboard upgrade had only added to the burden and stress. He tried to slow his thoughts down and surmise one thing from his surroundings, just like in his training.
The first thing he noticed was that there was sand everywhere. Was this a desert? Or a dune? He wasn’t sure. The lack of light wasn’t helping. His momentum suddenly stopped as he collided with the invisible wall that Daisy had created around the arena. He had finally bumped into the shield. This time, instead of running half a circle, he would try to run only a quarter of its circumference. Hopefully, that would cut the time it took him to triangulate the middle of the map. He didn’t want to arrive second to the map’s treasure trove this time.
After finding the barrier, Kai felt his heart grow calmer. While keeping his hand on the barrier he took the time to think about the two notifications he had gotten at the start of this round. He peeked into his inventory and found that the [Mystery Box] cards had disappeared. He grinned. He wasn’t expecting the [Mystery Boxes] to contain random upgrades.
How many victory points had he just saved in these two upgrades? The scoreboard one in particular, had to be expensive. Keeping track of his opponent’s scoreboard was something that he had been craving for since the exam began. If he were Daisy, he wouldn’t sell it for anything less than 100 vps.
He still wasn’t sure what the [Text Description] upgrade did, but he was looking forward to finding out. Getting upgrades like this without spending victory points was a fantastic feeling. He looked at the top right corner. It read 89. In a matter of minutes, his opponent had already gotten eight points.
At the edge of his lamp’s light, slightly to his left, Kai saw for the first time something that wasn’t sand. It was a woody bush. He ignored it and kept running. Getting to the map’s treasure trove was paramount. Every second mattered. He took a mental note of where on the map he’d seen the bush. He would come back if necessary.
This time, Kai wasn’t going to let his opponent get to the treasure trove first. A desert at night looked like a very austere arena to find things in, and reaching the central area of the map where Daisy always hid a surprise seemed even more important than in previous arenas. Until he got there, he wouldn’t allow himself to get distracted for even a second.
Finally completing a quarter of a circle, Kai could pinpoint the arena's middle. Hopefully, this time, he would make it before his opponent did. Just as Kai started running toward the center of the map, his muscles suddenly froze, and he was unable to move.
Your opponent has used a stun bomb. You can’t move for 30 seconds.
What?! He groaned with the effort of trying to make his legs and arms move but couldn’t even budge. It was as if he had been transformed into a statue. What was this? How had his opponent done this? Was there foul play in this exam? Could trial runners target their opponents? Kai clenched his teeth as the implications sank in.
There had to be upgrades that allowed players to mess up with their opponent's gameplay. Whoever was playing against him had invested in such a disruptive tool and hadn’t hesitated to use it near the beginning of the stage. The timing couldn’t have been more devious. It was right at the moment that Kai had found his bearings and when he was drawing closer to the treasure trove. This suggested to Kai that his opponent was running a similar strategy and looking for the center of the map, too.
Kai was glad that Daisy had also paralyzed his lungs and mouth. All he wanted to do was scream unpleasant things at the obnoxious AI. Why in the world would it let opponents target each other like this?
The seconds ticked away. They felt like hours. Eventually, the stun effect wore off. The scoreboard showed that his opponent hadn’t gotten any more points. That told him that they hadn’t reached the middle of the arena yet. There was still hope. He ran up and down sandy hills, hoping that all this effort would pay off. There would be something worth capturing in the middle of this arena. So far, he had only seen sand and the occasional shrub. After spotting the first bush, with the help of his lamp, he noticed a few others. It was likely a common card. Kai wouldn’t move through to the next round if he didn’t target more precious cards. Just like in the quarry, he would only capture the shrubs if he didn’t have anything else to fill the slots with.
After climbing over the crest of another dune, Kai rushed down the sandy hill, aided by gravity. Even though it was uncomfortable, he ran with his arm stretched, keeping the gaslamp as high as possible. He hoped that the gaslamp would let him glimpse something worth capturing.
Down in this valley between dunes, he caught shadows from the corner of his eye. There was something here. He shifted directions. As he approached, what had been blurry, dark shapes became more defined and pronounced forms until he could make out the treasure trove that Daisy had hidden in this map.
Had it not been for the gaslamp, he wouldn’t have been able to find this place so quickly. Even with the stars above, the dunes around this valley kept the oasis hidden in their shadow. Sparing a look at the scoreboard, Kai smiled, grabbed the camera, and looked for whatever was worth capturing.
Camera in one hand and gaslamp in the other, he shone the light on the area around him. The concentration of bushes and patches of woody grass was higher here than anywhere else he’d seen in the arena. Compared to the scorched landscape he had seen under the starlight, this place was a paradise. He had found an oasis.
