The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Consider this. No matter your skill or how well you play, a boneheaded whale without skill could surpass you. If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a game anymore.

Since he had received many fragments of the [Silver Orb] artifact from killing Melydia, Crucis decided that he might as well find all of the 100 that he would need to create the artifact. He spent about an hour grinding the [Blind Boar] enemy, and reached level 25 in the process. This gave him the 100 fragments he needed. However, he still had no way of synthesising these fragments into the artifact, because that would require access to an NPC in a government building which he wasn't allowed to enter. While this was frustrating, he decided that he could soon keep these fragments in Storage and take them out if he ever found a way of synthesising them.

He decided to check if Sardaukar's corpse was still there. If it had been unclaimed for two hours, then Crucis could loot it. Using [Agile Step] to enter a wall near the [Diablo] boss, Crucis heard the loud footsteps and grunts of the minotaurs whom he had used to kill Sardaukar. Navigating in the direction of the sound, Crucis saw that Sardaukar's corpse was still untouched. Crucis waited for a couple of minutes, watching carefully to make sure that nobody was nearby, and walked up to the corpse. On looting it, he found a [Silver Crucifix Dagger], a dark-grey iron dagger with a clear silver crucifix embedded on its hilt. He checked its stats:

[Silver Crucifix Dagger | Raises Agility by 5%. Deals 50% extra damage for 5 seconds when Agility is buffed by spells, skills, or non-equipment items, this does not stack. Base power: 120. Base attack speed: 170%.]

It was a clear improvement over his [Initiate's Dagger], which only had a base power of 70. The attack speed was also quite fast, a 70% increase on the default attacking speed. His current dagger only had an attack speed of 130%, but Assassin weapons tended to be faster than average in order to compensate for their lower base power. Some strong weapons in this game had attack speeds of lower than 60%, and were generally considered more appropriate for PvE boss battles than in the fast-paced PvP environment. While the Assassin class was a strong PvP class, it had several problems with high-level boss fights and this caused many people to prefer the [Arch-Knight] or even [Archer] classes if they wanted fast-paced characters. Assassins also had some issues with formal PvP tournaments, since the strictures of a formal battle made their stealth and pace slightly less unpredictable. The main appeal of the Assassin was usually to ganking Guilds like the Hashin.

When Crucis equipped his new [Silver Crucifix Dagger], he felt his feet grow slightly lighter as his Agility increased. Looking through his other loot from Sardaukar's corpse, he found an [Iron Hammer] which could be used for forging weaponry or armour, and a heavy iron [Green Lantern] which could be used to put out fires by emitting magical light. He recalled that Sardaukar and Jaxon had been walking here along a straight path and had to hide from the minotaurs, and since they had probably entered from the royal building in Kruxol, that entrance was probably somewhere beyond the minotaurs. Crucis decided that, if he found the entrance, he might be able to sneak in when another player came through. While he would have to be cautious, it was probably his best chance at getting the [Silver Orb] artifact. He could afford to be slightly less cautious now, since he had a map which he could use to return here and recover his corpse if he died.

Using [Stealth], he ran past the columns bordering the minotaur gathering, and evaded detection by the powerful beasts. He continued walking down a long, straight pathway, and noticed that the walls here had marble sculptures on top. They seemed to be depicting figures like Theseus and Minos, from the Greek legend of the Minotaur. He saw a sign down a rightwards path that said, 'Beware of the Minotaurs,' in multiple languages. Crucis turned and walked down this path, guessing that a sign about the minotaurs would be put up near the donator-only entrance to help such players to traverse the labyrinth safely. Crucis saw a small cross-roads just past the sign-post, with one path leading to the left and one to the right. He heard the sound of heavy, metallic armour thudding against the ground to his left, and used [Agile Step] to step inside the left wall, where he tried to remain still.

After thirty seconds, he saw a heavily-armoured level 39 Knight walking down the path, and crossing him by without noticing him. He was unlikely to get much success from fighting a level 39 player, so he let them pass by. As the jangling of the high-level player's armour grew distant, Crucis began to edge down the path which that player had come down. As he expected, he saw a walled stairway that led to a raised platform with a square, wooden trapdoor above it. The stairway was covered with a slightly grandiose, thin red carpet running through its centre, with the brown wood exposed on each side. The carpet was emblazoned in gold with the phoenix sign of the monarchy. This must be the entrance from the royal building. Walking carefully up to it, he crouched below the door and then tried to push on it and check for a latch or doorknob, but the door did not budge and he saw no way of opening it. There was a small card reader that seemingly required a pass to enter the building, but since he had no pass that wouldn't be of much use. Clearly, this door could only be opened from the other side, meaning that he would have to wait for someone to open it and then try to slip through.

He checked the trapdoor further, and saw that the hinges were on the right side of the door. He used [Agile Step] again to enter the walls on the left of the stairway, since this would make it easier to slip through if the trapdoor opened. While there was the occasional, muted sound of footsteps behind the trapdoor, it stayed closed. Crucis waited quietly, watching the trapdoor and waiting for it to open.

After about 5 minutes, it opened. Crucis readied himself to take advantage of this, but saw that it was a level 41 player. He decided not to risk entering now, as this player could easily endanger him. He stayed still as the player walked past. Crucis noticed that these higher-level players tended to explore near the minotaurs, perhaps because there were better treasures in that area but also tougher monsters. Since Crucis didn't have advance knowledge of this labyrinth, he had tried to be careful and look for the treasure pointed out on his map. An early unexpected or difficult encounter with, for example, a minotaur or powerful player could have easily sent him out of the dungeon without any way of re-entering. Players who were larger, and had advice from Guildmates on where to find treasure, were more prepared to find whatever valuable treasures lay near the minotaur lair. Crucis decided that he should try and seek knowledge about the layout of these maps if he had the chance of entering later, but without a Guild he had no surefire way of doing that yet.

After 10 more minutes of waiting, Crucis heard a loud noise as someone approached the door. The door creaked open, before the impatient player entering gave the door a hard shove. Looking through the open doorway, Crucis saw a level 12 warrior in heavy armour. The warrior was finding it difficult to move comfortably in the armour, but seemed to be wearing it as a matter of pride. After about 15 seconds, the warrior finally managed to plant their foot safely on the ground of the labyrinth and tried gingerly to lower themselves in without falling. Crucis circumspectly kicked out his own leg and upended the foot that the warrior was balancing on, sending the warrior hurtling to the ground. The fall left the low-level warrior at 65% HP.

Using [Stealth], Crucis leapt towards the open trapdoor and held it open with his left hand. As the warrior stumbled to his feet, Crucis grabbed him in a right arm [Chokehold], and noticed that the warrior's helmet was slipping off due to the fall. Using the dagger in his right hand, Crucis stabbed through the front of the warrior's neck with [Stunning Dagger]. This left the warrior at 20% HP, and Crucis delicately used [Black Spot] to cut a larger slit over the stabwound, leaving the warrior bleeding to death. The warrior's armour was so unwieldy that he could barely attack, and instead dropped his sword when he tried. Crucis could see that this player's name was [HoaxCassette].

As the warrior, angrily, rose and tried to flail at Crucis, Crucis instead slipped through the trapdoor, and used the warrior's rising momentum to thrust the bleeding slit on the warrior's throat squarely into the left edge of the doorway. HoaxCassette just about managed a yelp, but as he was choking this barely made any sound. Crucis crawled up through the trapdoor, keeping his foot planted firmly on the back of HoaxCassette's head to press the warrior's mouth to the floor and prevent him from making any loud noises. With the warrior's HP draining closer to 0%, Crucis used the warrior as a doorstop as the door closed automatically. The door did not slam into the warrior, and instead hovered about an inch over his head, due to a safety feature. This created a claustrophobic position for the warrior to choke to death in. While the warrior managed to push the door slightly open to gain breathing room, Crucis dropped the heavy [Green Lantern] on the trapdoor to hold it shut, and it again trapped the warrior in a tight space as he choked against the wooden floor on the left of the doorway.

Crucis looked around, and found that he was in a small side-room at the back of the royal building. After about 2 minutes, the door would automatically teleport the warrior out of the way, and close. Due to this, Crucis decided to hurry. He couldn't yet safely enter Kruxol from this royal building, because he had a red name.

Crucis used the [Amnesty Token], and it emanated a faint dark-blue glow. This would allow him to walk into the main hallway of the building, which was full of guards that would otherwise attack him. Swiftly, he ran out of this side-room into the main hallway, where he saw a host of fashionably-suited players. Sweeping his head around the room, he saw an NPC named [Sidney (Shard Crafter)], an old red-haired man with a small, trim beard. Crucis walked up to this man and greeted him.

"Good day, sir," replied Sidney, "Do you have any shards for me to fuse? Or do you want more information about shards?"

Crucis didn't have the time to ask questions about shards, so he quickly indicated that he had 100 fragments of [Silver Orb] in his bag. Sidney smiled, and accepted the fragments, then placed the glass-like shattered pieces onto a golden crucible besides him. This crucible was glowing faintly, indicating that it had been enchanted. Using a fire spell, he heated the crucible, and the fragments began to meld together. Crucis overheard a few snippets of conversation from the poshly-dressed people behind him.

"Why is this guy with a red-name allowed in here? He doesn't even look like he donated much, he's not wearing any high-quality clothing. Only big donators are supposed to be allowed into the Kruxol City Capital Building," said one player.

"There's a lot of hackers around right now, it's not just them. I bet it's the hacking that caused the game to break down," replied another player with a high-pitched voice and a thick California accent, "In fact, it's causing all kinds of weird things. You know Sally Donbass? She died during a fight a couple of hours ago, and never respawned. I wish these awful hackers just let donors like us get the valuable things and knew their place, but instead they wanted in so they used their hacking engines and now the game is broken."

"O, I have bought the mansion of a love,

But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold,

Not yet enjoy'd..."

"Oh, Sally disappeared? I hope she's alright."

"Don't worry, she's probably fine. There's some rumours going about, but pay them no mind."

After about 10 seconds, Sidney drew a glowing [Silver Orb] artifact from the crucible, with an arc of transparent, glittering material around the orb's equator that resembled diamond. Smiling, Crucis took the artifact, then used [Stealth] and scampered quickly back into the side-room before the effect of the [Amnesty Token] wore off. There, he saw that the trapdoor was still held open by the dead player. Lifting his [Green Lantern] and placing it back into his inventory, he raised the trapdoor and kicked the dead player out of the way. Leaping back into the labyrinth, he tried to recall the directions back towards the entrance he had originally used, from the temple. The temple might give him an opportunity to rest and wait for the red name to fade, before re-entering Kruxol.

Re-tracing his steps, he found his way back past the minotaurs, to the spot that he had first seen Sardaukar and Jaxon. Using [Agile Step], he crossed through the wall leading to his original entrance. Pushing it open, he found himself stepping back into the temple. As he finally closed the door the labyrinth and sat down quietly at the side of the temple to plan out his next moves, he found himself shivering softly, as if he had just emerged from a very cold place.

If he waited in this part of the temple, he might be noticed, and due to his red name players would be likely to attack him. He would have to hide in the tunnels where he had left Garulus to die.