NOVEL NEXT V1.12 Play To Win
Layith trudged through the streets towards the sounds of fighting. It was bad enough that he had to pull two shifts, but now he had to actually work. He could only hope that he wasn’t the only one who heard the noises. That way, he could pass off most of the responsibility to someone else.
The shaylip turned a corner and saw another shaylip lying on the ground, a slime unmoving, and two humans lying in a pool of blood next to one another.
"Great," Layith mumbled. "Paperwork. This will be a ton of paperwork."
He let out a sigh as he went to check on the two humans, since they were the closest. As he got closer, he recognized the female human lying on the ground.
"Rina?" Layith ran and turned her body over. She was still breathing, but the front of her body was completely covered in blood that was quickly coagulating and drying.
Layith laughed. "Why am I not surprised you’re involved?"
He checked her for any wounds but didn’t find any. Her clothes had some spots where they were damaged, but she had no wounds. The oddity of that was not lost on him as he pulled her out of the blood and checked on the other male human.
He was quite obviously dead. Layith pulled the dagger from the human and tossed it aside. He also picked up and tossed the two guns to the side as well.
Then Layith walked over to the shaylip, who was still bleeding. He checked the shaylip’s wounds and pulled the bullets out, and he noticed one of them was quite odd. It was a different color, and it looked like it had melted slightly.
He pulled out a small bottle filled with a red liquid. "You’re going to owe me for this, pal." Then he poured the red liquid down the shaylip’s throat and massaged it to make sure it went down the right tube.
He stood up and crossed his arms. "Someone’s gonna have to explain what happened here."
As he mused about what to do about the slime that seemed inert, the human man’s body convulsed. Layith eyed the corpse as its mouth stretched and a shadowy silhouette crawled out of it. The creature was all black except for two all-white eyes.
The creature made noises, but they were completely incomprehensible as it made movements towards the girl. Nothing the creature did affected the human, as if its body just passed through her.
"What are you?" Layith asked before his better judgment silenced him.
The shadow turned its attention towards Layith, who stood still. It lunged at him so quickly that he couldn’t react fast enough. But the creature just bounced off him. The two of them looked at each other. And even as expressionless as the shadow was, Layith knew that it was surprised as it hovered off the ground, motionless.
It let out an unnatural howl as it threw its head back. Its body began to stretch until it became so thin that it practically disappeared.
Layith stood in the middle of the street, dumbfounded. "I’m just going to leave that part out of my report. In fact, I’m going to drink until I forget that even happened once I get home." The slime started moving as the shaylip shook his head. He walked over and hoped that at least he could get some answers to what had happened. "I’m way too sober for this."
A long hallway with endless rows of doorways greeted the shadowy figure. All the silver metal doors were shut, and there were no handles. It looked around, trying to find a way out, but as it spun around, a door opened in front of it. The shadow took the opportunity to dive through.
The shadow not only failed to kill the artificial soul but was also expelled from the nexus when it tried to take over the strange, four-armed humanoid. It had taken over countless beings throughout the limitless expanse of time, but something was blocking it. Even when its host died, it took far longer and more effort than it should have for it to leave the body.
But that was all for another time as the shadow saw that it was in a small room with an elderly human sitting at a table drinking tea. But the shadow now knew exactly where it was, and that was not a human.
"Welcome," the man said as he pointed to a chair. "Please, have a seat."
As much as the creature didn’t want to, it complied. It looked around for another exit but couldn’t find one. The complete lack of shadows other than itself trapped it.
"What do you want?" the shadow asked. It was grateful that the person in front of it could understand it. "Why did you pull me out of the Soul Nexus?"
The man set his teacup on the saucer in front of him. "You misunderstand. I did not pull you from there. The Soul Nexus kicked you out. It deemed you a parasite that needed to be expelled, and I would have to agree with it. I merely guided you here." The man glared at the shadow. "Now, what is your name?"
The shadow squirmed. It didn’t want to, but defying the person in front of it would not benefit it in the long run. "Nyxnthix." It continued to squirm under the seemingly human glare. "Why am I here? And who are you?"
The man grinned. "I’m The Game Master. And I’ve seen signs that someone is playing a very dangerous game."
Nyxnthix’s body almost lost its definition at the mention of The Game Master. He was as powerful as the beings that normally employed him. But he was employed by someone else, and he was given strict orders not to share who it was. But at that moment, the shadow feared that The Game Master would force it to betray them.
"I can see that a war is brewing." The man paused and looked like he was lost in thought for a moment. Nyxnthix used that moment to try to look around again but found still no exits. "Maybe ‘war’ is the wrong word. There is definitely a shift in power coming, but I kind of like the status quo. Even The Judge is getting involved. What do you think?"
"I don’t think. I do what I am told." Nyxnthix made itself smaller because it knew lying would get it nowhere. "My orders are to kill the artificial soul."
The Game Master nodded. "I know. She is a special one. Something tells me what is coming will center around her. I will not lie. I am curious about her decision once she reaches the top of the Soul Nexus."
"You broke the rules." Nyxnthix pointed at the old man. "You should have destroyed her when you saw her. I should report you."
The Game Master leaned on the table and grinned. "But you won’t, will you? Not if you want to avoid telling them you failed too." Nyxnthix’s arm melted down to its side. It knew The Game Master never made the wrong move, but predicting him was beyond the simple assassin’s comprehension. "No, I’ve got a better use for you." The shadow froze. "You’re going to go back to the Soul Nexus. I’ll let you have your shot at completing your mission. And if you should fail, I’ll make sure you keep trying."
"Why? How?"
The Game Master waved a hand to the door. "How? You are not allowed to control someone who is connected to the Soul Nexus’s system. So that means you will just have to take a new host that is about to enter and start over every time she kills them." He waved his hand again, and the chair under Nyxnthix disappeared, and the shadow felt like it was being pulled to the doorway as it turned into a swirling portal to the Soul Nexus. "As for the why, you will make a great training tool for Rina. After all, she’ll need to be much stronger to reach the top."
Nyxnthix wanted to both kill and run away from The Game Master. But it was trapped—trapped to play his game. It was bound to do everything it could to kill Rina Lone, the artificial soul, but now it was being used as a tool to strengthen her. It saw how she healed from the wounds it gave her.
The shadow passed through the portal and took the first available body it could. If The Game Master wanted it to play his game, that just meant Nyxnthix had to win.