Cipher's Quest: (A Scifi Fantasy LitRPG) (Ciphercraft Book 1) Read online

  Ocia's responding stare did not lie. A curdling of anxiety mixed in and overtook the joy that had sat in her stomach seconds ago. "What's going on, Ocia?"

  She knew her people were being hunted across the galaxy, and losing the race for a place to hide from the Osuna, but that didn't mean she wanted to leave one scary place only to enter another. At least she'd had six years of survival training on Setuk.

  Ocia released a breath. "It's time to leave." He forced a flat smile. "The war is far from over. The good news is, where we're going, and the treatments we've given you…" Ehli caught the "we" from that statement, and wondered who else was involved. He'd never said it in the plural like that before. "The treatments have done more than help you with your and Emmit's nightmares. They've been more than just teachings." Ocia cupped her hand in his and squeezed. "They have been training. We're not going to run forever. I have not given up on finding Mera and Sae."

  Ehli's concern at not running met with the sympathy for his wife and son who'd been stolen by the Osuna as part of their forcing him into medical slavery. She tried not to respond selfishly when confronted with the fact that he still didn't have his family, and may never.

  "Where we're going—" Ocia sat back and nodded, as though to himself. He released her hand to squeeze a fist. "—we plan to fight back."

  He motioned for her to rest her head on the neuronet's face cradle. "And the clock is running. Please, lie down."

  Ehli reclined into the chair, positioning her feet and hands over the chair's sensors, while Ocia walked behind her.

  He parted her hair over the entry strip, peeled it open, and connected the n-jack into her head. "Along with today's treatment, I'm going to implant memories that will guide you to our ship."

  Ehli twisted her neck to see him. "You won't be there?"

  "I'll be there... I just won't be with you right away."

  "Why's that?"

  "Because I have to help distract the prison guards so you and Emmit can get there. Nassib will unlock your cell, but without my help. Where he has to take you, he wouldn't make it without suspicion from his superiors." He rested a hand on her wrist and smiled. "Relax. I want this treatment to help prepare you for our escape."

  She laid her head against the concave padding as he lowered the visor over her eyes. Nervous excitement threatened the likelihood of relaxing anytime soon. She forced a deep breath.

  "That's my girl. When you're done, Nassib will take you back to your cell. I'll send him the ready signal. He'll open your door. Then just follow your intuition."

  "My in—"

  The purple light from the visor cut her off as the neuronet sucked her into its blinding white rays.

  ***

  The western exit of Emmit and Adi's secret cave required squirming on your belly and sometimes digging to fit under the rock. Emmit chewed on the sweet juice of the green grapes their hideout supplied and handed a couple more to Adi from his pocket. Emmit's pet gecko tickled his neck as it licked its scratchy tongue over the sweat even this shaded area produced.

  The absence of hoofbeats, mule moans, and prisoner chit chat from outside encouraged Emmit to poke his head out to the sun-warmed air, squinting in the daylight. No one passed by on the dirt path overlooking the sharp descent to the quarry. On the far side, a long bridge marked the entrance to the prison. Red rock from the quarry formed the two-story frame that stretched three kilometers into Setuk's sprawling desert before curving out of sight.

  Getting out from under the rock and onto the trail was a race against the chance that a passing Osuna satellite could relay his location. The clear sky and lack of shuttles flying goods or passengers between the prison and orbit was one more sign that something was up.

  "Someone out there?" Adi asked from behind him.

  "No."

  "Then let's go." He nudged Emmit's foot. "We're late, Em."

  Emmit scraped a last swath of dirt, and had just started to wiggle out when his heart clenched and his body froze.

  An Osuna wolverine breached one side of the trail and disappeared behind the other side in two graceful gallops. If Emmit's intuition hadn't halted him, he'd have been halfway out and three quick breaths short of the end of his life. In his shocked stillness, another wolverine galloped past.

  How did wolverines get down here?

  "What are you doing?" Adi asked.

  Emmit stuck a finger back to silence him. A half-dozen hard heartbeats later, he decided the threat was gone and crawled into the open air. He quickly turned and pulled Adi to his feet, not letting go until they'd run to the near edge. He peeked out. The path leading up the mountain was clear. To his left, he traced the curve of the path's descent toward the bridge, and the thin dust cloud kicked up by the wolverines.

  "Em…" Adi's shock cut short his word, and he pointed instead. The two wolverines were only a small part of a pack chasing their food across the bridge to the prison.

  The lead wolverine leapt. A guard turned and fired levitor beams into its chest. His shot barely slowed the beast. A claw sliced the rifle in two in a blink before the beast's teeth cinched on his neck. The scream carried into the quarry.

  No guard fired again.

  Emmit cringed at the way life could end so quickly, and in so much gore. But he didn't feel sorry. The only guard worth a breath in this prison was Nassib, and he was safe inside, escorting his mom to her treatment with Ocia. He'd had his at sunbreak, but hers might not be done yet.

  Adi looked at Emmit, eyes lost in fear. "Where do we go?"

  Beep-beep-beep.... Beep-beep-beep.

  The sound chimed from his feet.

  Beep-beep-beep.

  In the weeds beside the rock. He reached for the sound. His fingers poked through the sticky bristles of the weeds and brushed against something metallic. He knelt and forced the shrubbery aside to reveal a silver beacon, the size of an orange, half buried in the dirt.

  "Do you think a guard dropped that when they were running away?" Adi asked.

  Beep-beep-beep.

  The chime was accompanied by a small green light at the center of a groove parting it at the center. Emmit pushed it, and the beacon opened like a clam shell. "I don't know."

  Inside was a folded piece of paper with the shading of scribbled writing on its hidden sides. Emmit opened it to a series of Bezel letters—the language of Osuna royalty. Circles. Slashes. Vertical lines. Dots—thick and thin, some in swirls that looped around and behind the solid lines.

  And they all spoke volumes.

  Regardless of any memory of seeing such shapes before, he knew them like the seashore of his first home. They told him it was time to leave.

  "Emmit." Adi's tone spoke of caution.

  A whiff of sour hormones, like those of an animal, entered Emmit's nostrils. Then he heard the wet wheezing of heavy, open-mouthed breaths.

  Emmit lowered the paper as a snort pushed it down on a fold. Trickles of snot peppered his arms from the wet snout of the Osuna wolverine standing before him. Emmit's bladder woke with fire, but he clenched it shut.

  The massive animal stood close enough to chomp off a hand before Emmit could blink. On all fours, its head rested under Emmit's chin. Emmit's stomach quaked as each breath shook his torso. He looked deep into the creature's brown eyes and black pupils, wondering which second would be his last. How is it not killing us right now?

  The black fur profile, slick snout, penetrating eyes, and red tongue lolling over sharp ivory incisors... all reformed in a memory, as if he'd seen this animal before. Not just a wolverine, but this exact one. In that memory, he walked beside it.

  Against reason, but with no alternative, Emmit followed what he'd somehow seen before. Heavy legs and lethargic muscles pressed on toward a connection with what should be. In the unknown past, he'd found a collar.

  Emmit reached into the thick black fur at the animal's neck. His fingers brushed over a leather collar.

  "Emmit," Adi whispered. His stare threatened to break in fear.
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br />   "It's okay," Emmit said. He scratched under the animal's collar. Its stillness spoke of rigid training. A warrior on all fours.

  In Emmit's memory, Adi was not there, but everything else was as his mind predicted: the blue sky over the mountain backdrop, the angle of his view into the alcove they'd just come from, the crack in the soil that ran across the ground near the animal's front foot. He knew what came next.

  Without a word, the wolverine lowered to its belly.

  Emmit lifted his leg over the creature's back.

  Adi covered his mouth.

  Emmit relaxed his weight onto the able beast and tucked his heels into the muscular ribcage.

  The wolverine rose, giving Emmit a towering view of his speechless friend.

  Emmit didn't know how, yet, but he did know that his time in this arid prison was over. The wolverine would take him—and Adi, if he wanted—down into the quarry, where a box of tools would be waiting for him, along with a grill extension to a Mericure Bubble p-drive that needed repairs.

  Emmit hitched his heels into the animal's ribs, prodding it into a slow creep toward Adi. "We're leaving. You should come." Emmit halted the animal with a tug on the collar.

  "How are you doing that?"

  "Does it matter? I am. Would you like to spend one more night under these stars?"

  "No." Adi stepped toward him, and the wolverine dipped its hind quarters to let him on. "No, I don't."

  "Not one more night," Emmit said. When Adi's grip locked around his waist, he kicked his wolverine into a descent fast enough to fill his cheeks with air and his heart with new life.

  Welcome to the path of light, Emmit, Level 1 Ultra. XP 0/130.

  *Quest to unlock the Cipher – Activated.*

  The wolverine's back curled inward. Emmit looked down, gripping the fur tighter. A twenty-foot gap loomed over the ledge of a rock. No. The wolverine leapt. Emmit's stomach caved. His breath caught in his throat. As they flew, air blowing sweat off his face, a new line of the strange blue text appeared:

  Fulfill your quest to unlock the Cipher for all. You have been granted provisional access to Level 1 Ultra class.

  *Mission to follow the general's son to freedom – Activated.*

  The wolverine stretched its front paws for the approaching boulder. Emmit tightened his legs against the beast's belly. They landed and sprang off toward another. Emmit reminded himself to breathe. What's an ultra? Will I survive long enough to find out?

  ***

  Guards ran past Nassib on their way to the stairs and the screams of terror that rose from the opened doorways to downstairs. Mixed with the cries of the dying were the snarling roars of powerful predators. Ehli almost felt bad for them, until a dozen memories of their treatment of prisoners caused her to shrug.

  Nassib turned his key inside the lock and opened the door. Like the revelation of a great secret, Ehli knew that something incredible lay on the other side.

  Welcome to the path of light, Ehli, Level 1 Ultra. XP 0/130.

  *Quest to unlock the Cipher – Activated.*

  Nassib took her hand and pulled her into the hallway, interrupting a strange draw to the blue words that stayed in front of her as they ran. She swiped her hand through them to see if it was a hologram, but it remained, unlike any hologram she'd seen before.

  The Cipher? That was the rare term some Rucien used for the mysterious power described in Ancient texts. The first Star General, Verily had, over three hundred years ago, commissioned the Rucien colonies to find it so the Rucien could defeat the more technologically advanced Osuna. Ehli's husband, Schaefer was the archeologist who’d found a new manuscript that, he said, revealed significant pieces to the puzzle of how to unlock the Cipher. The Osuna had located their planet not long after. She'd spent the last six years living with the guilt that she should have made Schaefer leave everything behind. He hadn't, and had died when the Osuna had raided their home. She and Emmit had been slaves ever since. Now she was the one on a quest? Had he ever seen writing like this? Why was it talking to her?

  As they neared a door at the end of the hall, the message disappeared, to be replaced by another.

  Fulfill your quest to unlock the Cipher for all. You have been granted provisional access to Level 1 Ultra class.

  *Mission to follow the general's son to freedom – Activated.*

  What's an ultra? What access? She waited for an answer, but no text responded.

  Nassib pushed the door to a stairwell open and led her down at a quick pace.

  She followed, being careful not to miss a stair as she considered the message in her field of vision. "Where's Emmit?"

  Nassib opened a door at the bottom. "Ocia made plans for him to meet us. Come on."

  The doorway exited to a tunnel that went deeper into the prison. Nassib led her to a mine car and offered a hand to help her in.

  She climbed in while he unlocked the brakes. As it gained momentum down the hill, he ran beside it and hopped in. Lanterns on the ceiling lit their rapid passage into the bowels of the quarry. Cool air blew through her hair, lifting it to whip in the breeze. Her teeth rattled as she clung to the car. It jerked and squeaked as it sailed down the tracks. "Is this the way to the general's son?" she shouted over the cart's passage.

  "What?" Nassib shouted back. He pointed ahead. "Ocia…"

  She couldn't make out the rest of what he said. This had to be the way. An odd peace settled about her, similar to how she'd felt when the words first appeared. Perhaps the sufferings of her years in prison had met rock bottom and Shephka's blessings would finally come. A wide smile filled her cheeks as wind blew the wetness from her eyes.

  3

  The hum of pullspace and its vibration deep inside Cullen's bones eased as the familiar itch across his tongue left its aftertaste of survival. They made it.

  *Task to pullspace to Setuk – Complete.*

  +20 XP to Cullen.

  20/110 to Level 2.

  Cullen read the Cipher text as he slowly took his mouthguard out. Okay…. What am I supposed to do with that information?

  Complete your quest to unlock the Cipher for all. You have been granted provisional access to Level 1 Bounty Hunter class. Bring the ultras and the texts of the Ancients to Vijil soil to earn your new class. Fail and your access to the Cipher will be erased permanently.

  Provisional granting of Cipher limits full scope of power and usage. Bonuses of power and abilities will be granted on completion of tasks and missions until the Cipher is unlocked in full.

  Cullen read the text with marginal confusion, but looked forward to what it meant by bonuses in power or abilities.

  "Cullen?" Torek waved a hand. "What're you looking at?"

  You and two ultras have been granted the Cipher's blessing. Your lips and minds will not reveal its secret until Shephka deems you ready.

  Had this text been written by a person, an alien… or an Ancient?

  Or I'm space crazy.

  When nothing else showed up, he tucked his mouthguard into the opening under his armrest. Confusion aside, they had a mission to accomplish. He wasn't about to argue with a prophecy unfolding to lead him to the Cipher. He unbuckled, and stood, relieved their bubble had been successful. Not everyone survived a bubble, and if one popped, it was better to be buckled in than have inertia throw you into the nearest hard object.

  Reaching toward the dash, he turned on the exterior lights, illuminating rock walls close enough to the Talis's nose to sniff the algae. Torek tapped a button to place a rectangular screen view on the windshield to show the bow of the ship. Behind them, the rock was farther back, and the Talis's lights illuminated a tunnel, casting shadows past stalactites and stalagmites. No enemies in sight, for now.

  At the bottom of the companionway, Cullen watched Jolnes removing his n-jack. "Nice pull."

  The young pilot smiled up at Cullen in a silent thank you.

  Torek climbed down behind Cullen. "Thanks for not planting us in that rock. Tight landing."


  "I know what I'm doing."

  Cullen turned to the weapons lockers on the deck immediately below. The metal hatch clanged against the bulkhead as Cullen reached inside for a levitor rifle. He handed it to Torek and followed it up with another two, along with blue and red vesparan cans for each—one blue for stun shots and four red for lethal fire.

  They loaded the vesparan cans into the rifles as they walked to the ship's stern. At the exit, Cullen popped a button. The hatch opened, and the exit ramp hissed as it separated like a tongue from the deck, extending until it reached its limit and lowered to the ground.

  Metal ground against rock, magnifying the silence awaiting them.

  Cullen slid the flashlight on his rifle barrel on to scan the dry rock walls that curved along the tunnel into darkness. The light landed on a spider as thick as a fist, curled up and hairy, motionless, and one with the wall.

  Jolnes had his rifle light on too, and took up flank beside Torek, who reached out to clear spider webs.

  Thin fingers of spider web clung to Cullen's face. He shivered and swiped it off his skin. "I hate spiders."

  Galloping footsteps echoed down the tunnel.

  "Do you have a call sign to alert them that it's us?" Cullen asked.

  "Yeah," Jolnes said. "Hoot like a monkey. You first?"

  To muffled snickers, Cullen just shook his head. "If I shoot—"

  A shape emerged from the shadows into the beam from Cullen's rifle light as the others swept theirs toward its footsteps. Approaching them was a fully-grown Osuna wolverine, a beast as large as a grown bear, but as muscular and agile as a panther. Bigger teeth, too. Its black coat blended with the shadows as it maneuvered low to the ground with a killer's grace. On its back were two boys, about twelve years of age, hunched over and clinging tight against the bounces of the beast's gallop.