A Black Market LitRPG

The morning bell chimed loud and clear across the apartments dominating the landscape, surrounded on flanks by towering ice-capped peaks. The city of Utul slowly stirred into life, the arctech trams belching out waste gases as they chugged along. Factory workers swarmed the depot, clambering onto moving trams hoping not to get a pay cut for being late.

Under the incessant noise of industry and economy that reverberated around his flat, Jakub poured himself a cup of Poair tea, sighing as he sat down next to his wife in a dingy old dining room, the walls barely painted and the furniture creaking.

“Long day at work today?” His wife placed her hand on his.

Jakub sighed, thinking back to the old days of their life in Tenar. “Same old. I won’t be back for dinner.”

“How’s the job so far?”

“You know I can’t say, but it’s going well.”

“For the number of hours that you’ve been putting in, they could at least afford to put us somewhere nicer. Aren’t you a big shot?” His wife motioned with her head towards the dilapidated stoves and furnishing of the house, the décor slightly off-putting.

“You know everyone is working hard, if not harder than I am.” Jakub shook his head. “How was your first day at work?”

“Pretty simple. Basic factory stuff. Sewing bandages.” His wife mumbled, her eyes staring off into the distance. “I wish we’ll never have to use it.”

Jakub returned his wife’s grip tightly. “We won’t have to. I’ll make sure of it.”

Before he could lean in for a light peck on his wife’s cheeks, one of the doors’ in the apartment creaked open, revealing a young girl not more than seven, obviously still groggy as she rubbed her sleepy eyes, grabbing a small ragged plush toy while she stepped through the corridor—her only memorial of Tenar when they escaped.

“Daddy!” Jakub’s daughter screamed as she recognised him, running up to tackle him in a bear hug around his neck. “I didn’t see you for the last three days!”

“That’s because you haven’t been waking up on time!” Jakub grinned as he ruffled his daughter’s hair. “If you did, you would have seen me every morning.”

“But why don’t I see you at night? Mommy says its dangerous out at night.”

Jakub glanced at his wife, who played innocent. “What? It’s true.” His wife shrugged.

“Well…” Jakub was temporarily at a loss for words. “Daddy is out making sure that it isn’t dangerous for us at night! I’m working hard to protect both you and Mommy.”

“So the same thing at Tenar won’t happen?”

The words choked right in Jakub’s throat, unsure of what to say next. How could he tell his daughter that yet another imminent battle was guaranteed? Already word was spreading through the city that the rebels were on the move, preparing to assault Utul.

The morning bell rang again, indicating the half-hour mark. “Time for me to go. Don’t worry, little bunny. I got an off-day tomorrow, so we can go down to the large batteries and see them in action; how’s that?”

“YAY!”

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“Alright, alright, let go of my leg!”

Jakub finally wrestled himself out of his family flat as he put on a thick cloak, greeted by the same bleak atmosphere that dominated his and his wife’s minds while the cold winds of the mountains brushed against his bristles. I don’t know how much longer I can put up a façade for my daughter…

Pushing the thought out of his mind, he focused on getting to work, joining the throng of workers who, too, began to pour out of their apartments, dressed in a similar cloak. He blended in nicely, moving in unthinking motion, his muscle memory pulling him towards his workplace.

Daylight slowly spilt onto the paved streets, illuminating the pedestrians as they walked past towering flywheel generators and gravity batteries far above them, close to sixty meters high. Such technological innovations were the norm in the city, the birthplace of the renowned inventor Harrison.

Posters heralding his genius were all over the city, him being the sole leader of Utul. Even the university was named after him - the Harrison Innovation University. Yet, as Jakub walked past its small, constrained campus, it was completely devoid of students. Instead, it was used as a makeshift assembly plant, with workers and refugees from other industrialist-controlled territories assembling rations and medicine for wartime.

Utul still served as a major hub for shipments, a major trade route towards Josei on the other side of the mountain range. However, Jakub knew that they were slowly being cut off from the rest of Versia, with ADCON soldiers blockading supplies. He could already feel the squeeze coming, with more and more rationing implemented across the city.

The only thing that he was glad about was that he no longer had to serve as a combat arctech technician at the front lines. He had spent enough days fighting in both the current and previous wars. When he received an offer from Harrison while he was in Tenar, he immediately snatched the opportunity.

A small tap shook him out of his usual morning routine, his colleague greeting him, dressed in a similar cloak. It was almost like a uniform, but it was more because of a lack of fabric and a result of mass production. The textile factory could only produce so many variations.

“Mornin, Jakub. Think you can get that tolerance issue fixed?”

“Not sure. I think we need to change the material. Any thinner and the entire frame of that section won’t be able to handle the weight.”

“You can’t be serious. That’s the only thing blocking us right now. Every other department is almost done with their functional testing!”

“I don’t see any other options; otherwise, the pilot will simply have to live with it.”

“Boss Harrison isn’t going to like the sound of that.”

“He’s an engineer too, he’ll understand.”

They continued walking in silence, the loud clanging of steel factories and weapons being crafted surrounding them as they walked deeper and deeper into the factory area, the crowd slowly thinning out.

Soon, it was only just the two of them, walking to an inconspicuous warehouse that looked like just any other. It even had a logo of a stone processing plant on it, but Jakub knew that beyond its walls laid the foundation of Harrison’s technological advancement.

The moment he entered through the side door of the warehouse with his colleague, he was greeted by a military guard holding an arctech scanner, the air rippling around him automatically as it checked for any reaction from hidden engravings that were not regulated.

“Cleared, move along.”

Jakub and the colleague walked down a narrow aisle, windows above them on the second floor with guards peering down, confirming their identity before entering the main work area.

Instead of a stereotypical warehouse or production line, a large humanoid colossus loomed over them, taking centre stage as dozens of researchers and technicians poured over the metal hulk. It was clearly a remnant of a long-lost era, perhaps even an alien race. What Jakub did not know was that it was a robot, a relic of the Galactic Era. However, the sight of the advanced technology no longer amazes Jakub – he had already lost the initial excitement after a month of work here.

This was the source of the advancement in recent years, with new inventions continually springing up from this broken-down husk. The robot had no weapons that could be seen, but it provided a wealth of insight and a glimpse into a future technological path. It was already more than enough to leap multiple eras – if only they knew what they were looking at.

He immediately headed to his desk, where his team of engineers were already at work, some of them having never even left the research area. Sleeping bags and rations dominated the floor in a haphazard fashion while they scribbled down their findings on paper.

“Did you even sleep, Poyla?” Jakub glanced warily at the clearly sleep-deprived lady next to him as he plopped down into his chair.

“No, I still haven’t figured out how does the robot not operate on arcia energy. It’s fascinating. It’s a whole new form of energy that we have yet to discover and exploit. I can feel it, we’re so close on the edge…” She muttered to herself as she continued peering at the paper in front of her, a drawing of the assumed inner workings of the robot.

“Get some rest, Poyla. We’ll have the team meeting so-“

Suddenly, the alarm klaxons in the building began to blare out loud. At first, the researchers carried on per usual, thinking it was a false trip. Only when the alarm went on for more than ten seconds did they start to look at each other warily, some of them trying to shrug it off.

“Really, a contamination drill now? Haven’t they tested us enough on counteracting Agent Black?”

“Come on man, they are interrupting my work! How do they expect me to finish on time if they keep making us do this stupid drills?”

However, the mood instantly changed when the guards began to pour into the work area, escorting the researchers out.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Jakub asked the guard who approached him, but he was already afraid to hear the answer.

“We got word ADCON is on the move. We’ll need to bring you to the shelter for your safety.”

“What about the relic?”

“We’ll dispose of it.”

“WHAT?!” Poyla raged as she shot straight up from her chair. “You can’t destroy that – it’s our only shot at evolving society far beyond whatever we are now!”

“Can’t let the enemy have it ma’am. Orders are orders.”

“Well, you can tell Harrison to fuck right-“

[Warning: All military personnel to defensive stations. An unidentified object was spotted in the sky. Potential ADCON stealth hovercraft.] The arctech radio blurted out on the guard’s belt, confirming Jakub’s worst fear.

My daughter!

“I… I left a confidential document at home. I need to bring it back.” Jakub lied to the guard with a straight face while the other guards restrained Poyla, who was throwing a clear tantrum.

However, the guard did not falter, instead grabbing Jakub by the shoulder. “You’re to proceed to the evacuation shelter here. Your family will be taken care of. We promise you.”

The blatant lie clearly did not land with Jakub, who immediately grappled the guard down to the ground and twisted his rifle out of his hands. He quickly ran out towards the entrance, sprinting past the guards who were all caught off-guard.

“Shoot him!”

“Belay that order, are you fucking crazy! He’s one of the managers!”

With the guards conflicted, Jakub found enough leeway to push past the guards and run out of the warehouse, pumping his legs as hard as he could as he ran back to the house. He did not care about his duty, his job or his work any longer. All he cared about was his family. Fuck the war! Fuck the rebels! I’m not about to let my daughter suffer again! Not after Tenar!

The warning sirens blared across the city as defensive emplacements whirred into life, large custom-made arctech cannons swivelling to aim at the sky. Thunderous claps erupted as each cannon shot towards a nearly invisible target in the sky, timed explosive projectiles bursting into a cloud of smoke and high-speed fragments.

As he reached the centre of the streets, soldiers were already assisting with the evacuation procedure, but the panic was beginning to get out of control. He fought his way through the crowd, pushing against the flow of people as he watched for his wife and daughter. His eyes darted rapidly, yet he did not see any of them as he approached the apartment. My wife must not have left for work yet; she should still be at home!

Jakub kept a low profile, hiding his stolen rifle as he shoved the desperate citizens aside, keeping out of view of the evacuation soldiers. However, soon the crowd began to slow down a bit, instead looking up to the sky.

“Do you see that? What’s that?”

“Huh…?”

The more observant ones did not look any further as the point defence systems of the cities began to fire indiscriminately at the falling objects, their smoke trails streaking across the bright daylit sky in a kaleidoscope of colours, painting against the sunrise. The streaks spread far above Jakub as he too, looked up in curiosity, more than three hundred such streaks stemming from a source in the middle of the sky.

And all of them were heading for the city.

“MOVE! MOVE! GET TO THE SHELTERS!” The soldiers quickly urged, inducing yet another wave of panic. But it was far too late, as the first of the objects slammed straight into an apartment, tearing through the concrete as stone and glass were crushed, shattered and ground into powder. The impact was deafening; the cloud of dust kicked up imposing as soot drifted across the streets.

The people ducked and fled in any direction; those who were not confident in making it to the evacuation shelters in time quickly spread out across the district. Only one man fought against the tide, struggling to make it back to his apartment, his daughter.

With the dispersing crowd, Jakub’s face was clearly recognised by a few of the soldiers, as word of his escape had already begun to spread. “Manager Jakub!”

Ignoring their cries, Jakub sprinted as hard as he could, ignoring the burning sensation in his thighs as every footstep ached, the thuds thumping in his ears as the screams and sounds of panic erupted behind him. He did not turn around to see what happened, instead focused on getting home.

As he turned the corner, he finally saw his apartment, where his wife and daughter were out of the house, just starting to evacuate the apartment. But before he could even wave at them, the apartment was immediately broken in half by yet another object impact, this time collapsing the structure in a split second.

Jakub stood completely still, utterly dumbfounded at watching his wife and daughter crushed into nothing by a slab of concrete and furniture, jumbled and burnt by the ensuing fire, a result of torn-up arcia lines and fuel tanks, the blue flames lapping up against the now destroyed apartment. A veritable scene of hell stood before him, rendering him stunned even as pellets whizzed past him.

“Manager Jakub! Get down!” A soldier who managed to catch up to him grabbed Jakub by the neck and pulled him down to the ground, avoiding a sudden hailstorm of bullets as armoured ADCON drop troopers appeared from the hefty metal drop pod, bursting forth in violence as they shot everything that moved with impunity. A heavy arctech armoured man stepped out of the drop pod, clearly the leader of ADCON as his engravings glowed brighter, the armour far thicker than the regular troopers next to him.

“We need him for the project, bring him back quickly! Don’t let ADCON capture him!” The soldiers urged.

Jakub did not react to the restraints of the soldiers, even when they hauled him away from the battlefield as fast as they could, loading him into a wagon that sped off. Despair had completely taken over him, even as his eyes stared at the sky full of streaks, markings of every drop pod that delivered death and destruction all across Utul.

Hatred began to build within him, seeping through his bones as he sat up with clear determination, his eyes burning with rage as he stared at the plumes of smoke, results of ADCON’s wanton destruction. His mind locked onto the last image he saw of the leader. I know that person. I saw him at Tenar! I swear I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!

M.G.Driver