Double-Blind: A Modern LITRPG

Miles picked off two more of the massive ravens with comfortable ease, scattering the remnants of the flock.

With some negotiation, Miles had spent the last few weeks paying off his bounty in service of Nychta, eliminating what she considered to be “Minor Pests” from her realm. That’d been a revelation to both of us at the time, that the deities that interfered with day-to-day life within the dome had realms of their own. Pocket dimensions that reflected their preferred environment. As a result, he’d been out of play for most of the month. And as the one who got him into that mess to begin with, I aided him as Myrddin to the best of my ability.

“Thought you punched out.” I said, maybe a little too casually.

“Sorry to disappoint.” Miles squinted, and fired off another arrow into the forest. There was a resulting squeal and thump of something heavy hitting the ground. “But reports of my death were greatly exaggerated.”

“Any idea what we’re dealing with?” I asked.

“Necromancy. What else?”

I’d noticed the similarities, and hoped I was wrong. “One-hundred percent?”

“They’re dropping human cores, so yeah. But… this is a cut above the usual shit.” Miles squinted. “For one, they’re less single-minded than I’m used to seeing. Capable of retreating and rethinking their approach.” He pulled back his bowstring and fired. I felt the wind from the arrow as it slammed into the heart of a pieced together bear wearing a woman’s face, knocking it flat. “And I could be imagining it, but I’m pretty sure they’re feeling out sight lines. We need to split. Now.”

That was all the prompting I needed. I hopped into the driver’s seat as Miles popped the trunk, hopping into the back as I started the car and stepped on the gas. He left the trunk open, giving himself wide clearance to fire from.

“What tipped you off?” Miles asked. In the rearview, I saw him reach up to grab a rear seat to steady himself as I spun the wheel, careening around a turn.

“Huh?”

“Got your message seconds before the fighting started.”

That presented a grim timeline, taken altogether. I thought quickly, trying to come up with something he’d accept. Before I could answer, something in my face gave it away.

Miles’ expression darkened. “It wasn’t a coincidence. They’re here for you. Came at you first, blew things up when it didn’t stick.”

“Not me. Her.” I angled myself so Iris couldn’t read the words. “First monster we encountered beelined for Iris and wasn’t exactly pulling its punches.”

Miles blinked. “You’re joking.”

“Do I strike you as someone with a sense of humor?”

“No.” A puzzlement grew in Miles’ expression. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

It was difficult to overstate the value of what my sister brought to the table. She’d helped numerous other regions with rebuilding efforts since she’d awakened to her ability. Some of that was diplomacy, other times it was simply spontaneous, out of the kindness of her heart. While healers and crafters existed, they were in the severe minority, with most User abilities centering on destruction in some form or another.

“Piss anyone off lately?” Miles asked, letting the question hang.

More people than you realize, but no one who knows me as Matt.

“No.” I said aloud, before I realized what he was implying. My hands tightened on the steering wheel. “You think someone’s targeting her to get to me?”

“Could be trying to make some sort of example of you or piss you off as a distraction.”

“Why?!”

“Dunno. Regardless, they’re idiots. Because there’s no unringing that bell.” A tiredness permeated his expression.

“Escalation.” I said, coldly.

Miles shook his head. “Again, I really hope I’m wrong. There’s enough dark shit going around without people carteling the loved ones of region leaders—Ahead, twelve o’clock!”

The Prius—previously pushing forty on the crowded city road—came to a shrieking halt. I slammed against the wheel, pain radiating through my body as the horn sounded a keening wail.

Painstakingly, I pushed myself back, and the honking ceased. A trickle of blood dripped down my forehead. The hood came loose in the impact and was bent straight up, blocking any visual of what I’d hit. Despite keeping an eye on the road, I hadn’t seen it. I glanced back at Iris. “You okay?”

My sister was wincing in the rear seat, an abrasion and the beginning of a bruise starting where the seat belt had bit into her shoulder. She nodded.

Behind her, Miles was already gone.

Where the hell—

My question was answered with the sound of whining metal, increasing in volume. A bloody hand gripped the hood, fingertips denting the metal as it was torn free.

Not bloody. Skinned.

The creature before me looked like Frankenstein's flayed minotaur, stitched together from countless bodies, human and animal. Its sharp teeth and open-cavity nose were lopsided, and it drew breath in rasping gasps, fogging the windshield. It left red smears wherever it touched.

“Found… you.” It said, voice a low rumble.

Iris screamed.

I slammed on the gas with every intention of running it over. It clung on instead, face twisted into a rictus of anger as I swung the wheel to the right, taking it clear off the road and through an alley, pumping the gas. There wasn’t an outlet to the other side, just a sheer brick wall that we smashed into, pinning it against the wall with the vibration of crumbling brick. The minotaur grunted. Slowly it reached down and grabbed the bottom of the car, arms bulging as the front wheels lost purchase. It smiled wide, its half-melted face the stuff of nightmares.

Seemingly from nowhere, a black hand gripped its shoulder, the person it belonged to dancing away as ice raced up the minotaur’s body, freezing it in place. It roared and writhed, trying to break the ice as it accumulated despite its limited mobility. For a moment, it looked like it might succeed.

Then an arrow took it in the side of the head. Its unfrozen parts slumped, leaving it half-rag dolled, half-standing as the ice encased it.

Sae was only half in disguise after she got the call. She’d managed the sunglasses, and the augmenting armor that smoothed her curves made her upper half look relatively normal, but merging into her torso were legs with too many joints that bent the wrong way. Black chitin covered her from legs to jaw.

She bent down next to the driver’s side window, staring at us through dark round sunglasses. “You good, Iris? Helpline?”

“Yeah.” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt and wincing from the impact. Before, this much would have probably been enough to put me under. But a couple weeks ago I’d finally buckled and raised my Toughness stat.

“Thanks for the assist. Needed to hit it with something big, but couldn’t risk missing.” Miles jogged over.

Beside the car, Sae twisted around to stare at him, her expression standoffish. “Lucky I was nearby. Or maybe not, since I live here. Got to wonder, what were you doing in the area, Miles?”

“The usual. Heard something big was going down and found myself loitering nearby. Wasn’t what I expected.” Miles said, stopping a few paces from her. If her appearance put him off, he didn’t show it. “Now can we get him to safety or do you want to stand around sticking fingers in each other's faces?”

Sae ignored him and lowered her voice so only I could hear. “Gemini’s on their way. Nothing from Numbers but it’s early.”

“It’s the middle of the day.”

“For him that’s early. Probably sleeping off a hangover. Orders?”

I immediately understood. “Gemini” referred to the system-titled Gemini mages, Astrid and Astria. Numbers was Max, an Estranged Officer class capable of estimating probability of an endeavor within a certain range that I’d poached from Roderick’s Lodge. Numbers, Gemini, and Sae formed the entirety of my strike team. Myrddin’s strike team.

Sae accepted that, though her expression seemed to indicate that she thought my continued caginess with the strike team was unwise. At the beginning, I’d started out intending to hide my Ordinator persona from everyone. That had proved next to impossible rather quickly, and I’d looped in Sae and a handful of others, which had helped. Sae would probably prefer it if I brought all the members of the strike team into a room and took my mask off. But there were already too many people in the know.

I skimmed my messages. Grit and Ire had gotten held up due to a massive outbreak of fighting on one of the center throughways.

“Roads are in a bad way so vehicles are out.” I called over to Miles, who took that as his cue to finally come closer. “Any ideas?”

Miles rubbed his chin. “I’d normally suggest taking this vertical with the flight charms, but—”

“The ravens.” I said.

“Yeah. Conspicuously absent overhead since we culled the herd. Still tempted to try it. Probably would, if we weren’t transporting a potential target.”

“Then we’re SOL and on foot.”

“It’s what, eight blocks from here? That’s a lazy Sunday morning walk.” Miles smiled, radiating confidence that read as false. He was trying to keep morale up, but something about this situation had unsettled him.

There was a resonant crack of breaking ice.