NOVEL NEXT 65. Something is Building (Jack)
"The newscast is likely an op. Steering the media. Keeping the public afraid, chasing shadows," Jacob mused sardonically.
Still, his eyes remained glued to the channel as the images changed, and more stories of dungeon incursions played across the screen. Each report more frantic than the last. Each anchor struggling to maintain composure while reporting the impossible.
His eyes narrowed as the footage looped again -Jack leaping into the air, the runic-glow of the blade blazing like a flare in the dark.
He didn't need a second opinion. Didn't need AI facial recognition software. He knew that posture. That controlled madness behind the grace.
He knew it like his own reflection.
Because it was his reflection.
Muting the TV, he let his thoughts run through the risk assessment that was second nature to him. And the possibilities for potential rewards were undeniable.
He swallowed. Once. The sound audible in the suddenly quiet office.
"What if they figure out who you are? What if they tie you to me?" Jacob asked, concern evident in his posture as he took a swig of his drink, mouth suddenly dry.
"That's why you need to help me." Leaning forward, Jack tapped the edge of the desk with two fingers. Each tap left a small mark in the expensive wood. "You know what the locals call the deep dungeons in the Otherworld? Meat grinders. Tier 5 or higher monstrosities. Dungeons the size of small countries. I watched a squad of elite mercenaries -men and women fully decked out with enchanted gear and decades of training- get torn apart by one that looked like it was born fully formed out of a child's nightmare. It played with them. Toyed with them like a cat with mice in a trap. And then it absorbed them. Their bodies, their souls, everything."
His voice dropped to barely audible. His hand moved unconsciously to a scar hidden beneath his shirt, one he refused to have healed. A reminder.
"That's what's breaking through, Jacob. That's what's coming."
Jacob flinched, his hand tightening around his glass. The crystal threatened to break under the pressure. The tension in the room was palpable, the air charged with the weight of unspoken truths and years of unaddressed resentment.
"And that dungeon on the news was a worst case scenario."
"How do you mean?"
"It was going to breach. If we hadn't stopped it in time-" Jack's jaw tightened. "A breach doesn't just mean monsters, Jacob. It means reality breaking down. Neighborhoods where gravity stops working. Streets where time runs backwards. People who wake up one morning and their children never existed. Or worse. The thing in the mountains? If it had fully opened, half the nearby state would've been... gone. Not destroyed. Changed. Erased from existence or replaced with something else."
"We? There were others?" Jacob looked towards the screen, but didn't remember seeing anyone else. Except for- "You mean, the military?"
Jack shook his head, a rueful expression crossing his features. "No, someone else. A team of mercenaries, by all accounts."
"And they were good enough to help you close this dungeon before it breached?"
"Good enough, yeah. Especially," he trailed off as he thought of Jessica, Little Red. The smile that rose to his lips was answered by a cleared throat and a raised eyebrow from Jacob as he recognized the signs.
"I see," he said with far too much confidence.
"Anyway," Jack continued, momentarily caught off guard. "Yes, there were others, and some of them were competent. But they aren't enough."
I'm not enough, he thought grimly.
Jacob let out a frustrated breath, shaking his head. Ice clinked against glass as his hand trembled -barely perceptible, but Jack caught it. "Damnit, Jack. Yes, I got your message." His voice was clipped. "You said you needed a crew. No other explanations, nothing. Definitely not, this." He waved his hand angrily. "You only said that you'd go over it later."
Jack gestured vaguely toward the ceiling. "Didn't wanna just send it over the airwaves. Who knows what might get intercepted… and by whom."
He threw his hands in the air. Expensive cufflinks caught the light. "Well? Here you are. What exactly do you need?" Jacob asked sharply, with a decisiveness that made Jack smile, before muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a creative rearrangement of Jack's anatomical features.
"The best team you've got. The resources needed to equip them properly. And unrestricted access to every dungeon site your corporate tentacles can reach," Jack said simply.
Jacob laughed, short and humourless. The sound echoed off the office walls, bouncing back hollowly. "Oh, that's all? Just like that?"
"Just like that," Jack confirmed. He leaned back, straightening, suddenly serious. The casual mask dropping away to reveal something harder underneath. "Because, unlike anyone you might think to bring on to screw me over, I've been through this before. And I lived. Survived. I know what's coming through those dungeons, and trust me-" his voice dropped to something almost gentle, "-you're going to want to be on the right side of this one."
Something in his tone must have registered, because Jacob's expression shifted from skepticism to resignation. The businessman recognised a hostile takeover when he saw one.
"How bad?"
Jack stood, moving to stand once more at the window. Jacob stood to join him, and together they looked out at the glittering city, a million lives going about their business, blissfully unaware. The glass was cold against Jack's palm, but underneath his touch, blue energy swirled as it began to form into delicate patterns.
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"Remember that kid's book? 'Where the Wild Things Are'?" Jack asked.
Jacob nodded warily.
"Think that, but the wild things have teeth that can chew through a tank, they literally eat children, and they're very, very hungry." Jack's hand clenched at his side, knuckles white, the only sign betraying that behind his casual delivery lay memories that still visited him in the night. The energy continued to spread, forming shapes that looked almost like claws.
For the first time since Jack had known him, Jacob looked genuinely worried. The corporate armour finally cracking.
"I need that team yesterday," Jack said quietly. "And Jacob? Make sure they're people who can handle having their entire worldview shattered. Because that's just the entry fee for this particular game."
Without waiting for a response, Jack turned on his heel and strode toward the door. As he reached for the handle, he paused, glancing back over his shoulder. "I'll check back in when you have the list of recruits."
"Where will you be?"
"Don't worry about it. I have some things to take care of."
Jacob had reclaimed his chair and pressed a button to signal his assistant. Then he picked up his phone and started searching through his contacts.
A moment later, the door opened. And his assistant stepped into the room. She and Jack exchanged a brief glance. She was obviously curious, but knew better than to pry.
Jack nodded at her as he strode past.
"Oh, and Jacob? Level up. We have a war to win," he tossed over his shoulder.
"Against who?"
"You'll see."
Then he was gone.
∞
His phone was on silent, but now that Sys was tapped into it, she was able to alert him the moment he received a message.
During his meeting with Jacob, Jack had been too preoccupied to give it much notice, but now he saw a couple of notifications waiting for his attention.
Jessica: Hi, Jack. Got some trouble.
Jack stopped walking. Just stopped, right there in the middle of the downstairs lobby, letting the flow of corporate drones part around him like water around a stone. His breath caught -barely noticeable, but there it was.
How did she get my number? he thought in surprise as he read the message that sprang up in his vision, bypassing the need to actually withdraw the phone from his pocket, by way of system chicanery.
Sys: That was me. I made sure your number was in her contacts, just in case.
Jack: Great thinking. Thanks, Sys.
Sys: You're welcome, Jack.
Jack: Send her a reply. Track her coordinates, and find out where she wants to meet. Oh, and once you have the location, arrange transportation.
Sys: Okay, Jack.
As he left the corporate megastructure, he found himself anticipating Jessica's reply as he waited. His jaw was tighter than it had any right to be.
He didn't have to wait long.
Scanning over the message, he swore.
Once he understood the urgency of the situation, he took a moment to reply to a message Susie had sent and told her to finish up with her preparations. It was time to roll.
Slipping into his Mustang, he turned the ignition and paused a moment to feel the roar of the engine as it rumbled to life. Unfortunately, it would take too long to drive back across the country to Northern California. But what's the point in having bottomless wealth if you can't charter a private jet to get you places?
With a small smile, he shifted the car into first and then second gear and quickly left the parking garage behind as he headed out to grab Susie on the way to the New Jersey airport, and their waiting plane.
∞
During the flight, he briefed Susie on what Little Red had to say, and got her caught up on what he predicted they were going to run into.
"I don't like spiders," she said with a shiver of apprehension.
"Oh, they're not that bad. Just have a bad reputation, like snakes," he said with a smile. "The mythology on them is actually quite fascinating."
"I don't really like snakes either."
"Well, the good news is, it's very unlikely that it'll turn out like the last dungeon."
"Yeah, it sounds worse," she said with a shudder.
"Well, maybe it isn't even a dungeon. All Little Red said was, well, I'll just play you the message."
He unlocked his phone and hit play on the message she sent him. His fingers hesitated over the screen for just a moment.
"Hey, Jack. Long time no speak."
Jack's eyes closed involuntarily. Something in his chest tightened at the sound of her voice -rough around the edges but carrying that hint of warmth he remembered. Susie raised an eyebrow as she looked at Jack, and he shrugged, forcing his expression back to neutral.
"We've gotten wind of something serious near where we were originally supposed to go -diving-" He noticed that she was speaking in code, and didn't have to wonder why. It was the same reason he hadn't just left a message for Jacob explaining everything he needed.
You never knew who was listening. Thankfully, the messages Little Red and he were exchanging were end-to-end encrypted, courtesy of the adjustments Sys made to their link.
"Something's waking up in the coastal backwoods. And it's not just the urban legends this time. There have been multiple sightings of what locals are calling, Shadow Walkers."
They were both listening intently to the message, and Jack noticed the hairs on Susie's arm stand on end at the mention of the creatures. The cabin's recycled air seemed to thicken around them.
"There's been missing hikers, things that walk on too many legs leaving tracks that shouldn't exist, and animals fleeing down the mountain trails like something's hunting them from the trees. It's been concentrated around the old trails leading up to the ridgelines."
Jack pulled up a map of that area and shared it with Susie. He found that it was easier to interact with people who were not only awakened but had a system like his own. And he had experience with unlocking systems for those without one, as he did for his adventure party, and later his entire guild, during his time back in the Otherworld. So helping Susie gain access to one, not to mention Jacob, Jessica, and Madi, was par for the course. And a necessity, if things went the way they seemed to be heading.
"The locals say the air is wrong, it's too cold, and still. Like the forest is holding its breath. And Jack," she paused here, and if Jack didn't know better, he would have assumed she was doing it for dramatic effect. "It's not just another cryptid sighting. It's located directly in the vicinity of our -diving- spot."
They exchanged another look and continued listening. The plane's engines hummed beneath them, but somehow the sound felt muffled, distant.
"I don't like to second-guess myself, and I know that we gained a lot, especially in meeting you." Here she paused again, and Jack smiled in agreement. "But, I think we made a mistake at the last dive."
Jack thought about their newly acquired classes, the world first achievements, and the titles they unlocked, and while those were significant, he couldn't fault her doubts. She didn't know just how dangerous the world had truly become.
"We should have just gone where our benefactor had sent us. Maybe we could have done something about it. Maybe it wouldn't have begun… nesting, -growing?- I don't know. All I do know, is that it feels like what the one further south felt like, before we… Took care of it. I'm worried that if we can't stop this soon, it will breach."
Jack had already listened to the message while driving to pick Susie up before their flight. But even so, his pulse still picked up speed as she said it. A familiar chill crawled up his spine -not fear, exactly, but recognition. The kind of cold that preceded something terrible stirring awake.
"I'm sorry we had to call you, but we didn't want to go in blind. We learned our lesson with the last one," she hesitated, and Jack could sense something else beneath the context of her words.
"I've sent over a data packet on the case file that a friend of mine put together for the thing. He's sort of a Cryptid Hunter. He and his crew spend their time traveling the country looking for Bigfoot and similar myths."
Jack thought back to his youth, when he used to watch mockumentaries on everything from urban myths, to cryptid legends, with his dad. It was rarely more than a low-budget version of the X-Files, but they both loved it. The 'What if?' of it all. The idea of being a cryptid hunter as a profession sounded fun. Except that he now knew just how real and dangerous those myths could turn out to be.
"Hurry, Jack. Something is building. We decided to tackle this dungeon because it was the first one we were supposed to go to." He could practically hear her shrug. "I had a feeling we were needed. See you soon. Jessica."