Condition Evolution 2: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure by Sinclair, Kevin (black female authors txt) 📗

always seemed to be the most alert of us, confirmed what I'd suspected. There were the sounds of fighting coming from behind the door. We were all far too weak to go over and join in. That was assuming, Ogun and the crew had arrived.

No more than five minutes after we heard the fighting, it fell silent. We heard the storeroom doors open and all our hearts were in our mouths. Apart from Mick who was unconscious.

I cannot describe to you all just how grateful I was when Ogun, a bloody Astrid, and some other crew members appeared around the corner to our aisle. It had to be the happiest moment of my life. I hugged Ember next to me, no tears of joy forthcoming. I didn’t go in for the kiss either. It would be like a cracker sandwich.

Then, with the knowledge we were safe I fell asleep, or more likely, passed out.

C7

New Friends

I came awake with a sudden jolt. A doctor came rushing over to me.

“It’s okay, Shaun. You’re okay. You are back on the ship and safe,” he said, in a calming voice.

“Ember?” I croaked, “is Ember okay?”

“Ember is fine. Do not worry. Now, if you could wait there patiently, I’m just going to call Ogun. He wanted to be informed as soon as any of you came round.” The doctor went off to speak into his comm.

Moments later, Ogun came through the medical room doors. He came straight over to me. “Shaun! You’re awake! I thought you’d be out for another day yet, at least.”

“How long have I been out?” I asked, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

“Barely a full day. The others are still unconscious. We will probably keep Mick under for a few days to make sure, but he’s going to be okay.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear.” I didn’t even ask how he was.

“Let me guess. The first words past your lips were, ‘Is Ember okay?’”

I blushed a little and shrugged in response.

“Now, are you feeling up to a couple of questions? The whole ship is itching to hear how you managed to kill three Fystr, including the great Jotun himself. I must admit to being rather curious myself! Jotun is one of the oldest, most ferocious Fystr there is. There will be absolute uproar at his death.”

“Yeah. He was a scary bastard. I’m sorry about Cassia, as well. She was a good woman, despite our early clash.”

Ogun nodded sadly. “She will be missed. How did it happen?”

“We were hiding when one of the Fystr found us. They said we’d be killed if we didn’t surrender, so we did. Cassia was in the lead, as we walked toward the Fystr. Without warning, the bitch just threw her sword using her power to speed it up and control it. It went straight through Cassia’s neck.

“I attacked with my axes, but the Fystr fought on two fronts. She attacked my mind whilst fighting me with her sword. What she didn’t expect to find was Ember protecting my Mindscape. Ember distracted her internally, so I was able to kill her.”

“Amazing. Simply amazing. They will never believe you have a friend so casually running around in your Mindscape. It is unheard of, even for married couples,” Ogun said, shaking his head.

“To be honest, they seemed continually surprised by us. For such advanced people, they behaved pretty stupidly. I mean, we killed Jotun similarly. He attacked me with his axe in my Mindscape, so Ember appeared behind and stabbed him in the neck. Then we beat him until he died. I don’t know why he didn’t just leave. I know I would have.”

“Pride, if I had to guess. Although it is very strange. There was no real reason for him to stay and die in your Mindscape. Perhaps there is something we’re missing?”

“Mmh. Don’t know what it could be,” I said, as I thought about it. Nothing came to mind, so I continued. “Anyway, Jotun was the third one we took out. The second guy we killed took all four of us working as one. Gus and Mick were firing on him, while I dove from the shelves to attack with my axes. I thought he was distracted, but he saw me and managed to raise one of his swords. I would have been skewered if Ember hadn’t thrown her sword. She used telekinesis to guide it, and it hit his upraised sword arm allowing me to remove his head.”

“Fascinating. Do you realize you are famous among our ships now?”

“Ships?”

“Yes. We managed to rendezvous with Rufus and the people from the Ukraine base when we escaped the supply station. It was their arrival that allowed us to defeat our pursuer. We have also taken control of Jotun’s ship. Anyway, I won’t regale you with everything right now. Better to wait until Ember and Gus are back in action.”

I wasn’t particularly bothered to be honest. Something else was on my mind. Now I knew Ember was safe, there was one bit of information I needed to know.

“Okay, then. I’ve another question. The huge guy, Jotun. The one with that crescent axe.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have his axe?”

“Yes, we have the axe. There are currently four people competing against each other for the honor of possessing it. It’s a masterful weapon, famous among our people for the enemies that it has slain.”

“Yeah! Well, they can fuck off. It’s mine. I killed the bastard, with Ember’s help of course.”

Ogun laughed at that. “How diplomatic of you. Well, you have my blessing, for you do indeed deserve the axe. However, it’s not my axe to give, nor my place to handle such disputes. I am trying to maintain a meritocracy here. You will have to stake your claim with the others competing for the axe.”

“They should’ve checked with me because if it’s here, it’s mine.”

“What if I had taken possession of it?”

“Then you’d give it to me for services rendered, I imagine. There’s no world where that axe doesn’t belong to me.”

“You are