Chapter 350 - 350: Community Thread

Eon dropped the mangled arm of the dead laborer onto the concrete floor. He turned his head away from the pile of crushed bodies and bleeding forms scattered across the factory.

His cosmic eyes scanned the Morval foundry and locked onto the sprawling network of automated sorting tracks spanning the room. Massive rubber conveyor belts churned continuously over steel rollers to transport crates of unrefined iron slag.

The infant raised his tiny hands and pointed his glowing fingers directly at the primary assembly line. Spatial rifts ripped open along the length of the machinery.

The dark portals swallowed solid steel support beams and entire sections of the moving rubber tracks. Industrial gears ground against themselves and shrieked as the foundational structure vanished into the void.

The production line collapsed inward, spilling thousands of tons of iron ore across the factory floor in a cascade of destruction.

Krax leaped from the upper catwalk and plummeted toward the ruined assembly line. The impact of his plated boots cratered the concrete floor directly between the toddler and the remaining functional machinery.

He kicked a severed steel beam out of the way and scooped up a large chunk of shiny iron slag.

"Look at the shiny rock, Eon." Krax tossed the glowing metal up and down in his palm to catch the swirling light reflecting in the infant's dark eyes.

Eon blinked and reached both hands toward the shimmering ore. A portal of swirling violet energy erupted in the center of the foundry floor. Krug stepped out of the spatial rift with his greataxe resting on his shoulder.

Gulag followed him through the gateway and surveyed the ruined conveyor belts surrounding the staging area. She pulled a dense tungsten teething ring from her belt pouch and held it out toward the infant.

"The Sovereign needs this machinery intact." Gulag waved the alloy toy to draw his attention.

Eon abandoned the iron slag instantly and grabbed the familiar object.

Krug walked over the scattered debris and hoisted the child securely against his chest plate. Violet sparks danced harmlessly across the steel armor as Eon bit aggressively into the tungsten ring.

Gulag gestured toward the open rift leading back to the Gildreath palace. The three commanders stepped through the swirling violet portal with the child and left the factory workers to clear the ruined machinery from the floor.

The swirling violet portal deposited Krug and Gulag onto the polished marble tiles of the Gildreath palace courtyard.

Krug held Eon securely against his chest plate. Crimson stains coated Eon's hands and face from the crushed bodies left behind on the factory floor. Kronos waited near the central crystal war table and stepped forward to meet the returning commanders.

Krug extended his arms to pass Eon to Kronos. Eon babbled happily and grabbed a fistful of Kronos's star-iron armor. Violet sparks danced across Eon's knuckles as he gnawed on the edge of the metal pauldron.

Kronos adjusted his grip to support Eon's compressed physical mass.

"Return him to Julia." Krug wiped a smear of gore from his own gauntlet. "We need to dispatch a cleanup crew to Morval before the processing belts jam with debris."

Kronos turned away from the war table and marched down the vaulted corridors of the residential wing. His plated boots clicked against the floorboards as he navigated the secure passageways.

Eon kicked his tiny legs and reached up to bat at the deep scar running across Kronos's jawline. The guards stationed outside the oak doors stepped aside and spun the locking wheel to open the chamber.

Julia sat curled on the edge of her stone mattress. She bolted upright the moment the oak doors swung inward. Kronos walked into the room to hold Eon out toward her. Julia scrambled across the floor tiles to snatch Eon from his arms.

Her fingers froze over the crimson smears coating Eon's skin and silver fur. A sharp scream tore from Julia's throat.

She frantically wiped the wet blood from Eon's cheeks and inspected his tiny limbs for lacerations. Trembling fingers checked his chest and back for any sign of a wound.

Tearing off his soiled tunic revealed completely unblemished skin beneath the gore. Eon simply giggled and shoved the engineered tungsten ring back into his mouth. A shower of violet sparks illuminated the dim cell as his gums ground against the metal.

Julia collapsed onto her knees to crush Eon against her collarbone. She wept into Eon's shoulder and rocked him back and forth on the bare stone.

Kronos stepped backward into the hallway and grabbed the iron handle. He pulled the oak door shut to leave her alone in the dark room.

The locking mechanism engaged with a sharp clack to secure Julia and Eon for the night.

Time was passing fast in Project Civilization, but outside in the real world, everything was calm. Except for the ones preparing for the exams and being unable to focus.

The Radiant Monarch stared at the glowing monitor of his computer terminal. A half-empty can of energy drink sat next to a stack of open calculus textbooks. Ignisar chewed on the end of a plastic stylus inside the video call window occupying the corner of the screen.

"I cannot focus on these derivatives." The Radiant Monarch rubbed his eyes. "That entire conversation with Rubedo keeps looping in my head. He knew the exact year of the summoning event."

Ignisar tossed the stylus onto his desk. "We have exams tomorrow. Leave the game alone for one night. If the developers programmed a sentient boss to mess with the players, let the forums figure it out."

Radiant Monarch dismissed the advice and clicked open a new browser tab. He navigated straight to the official Project Civilization community boards. His fingers clattered across the plastic keyboard to type out a new thread under the anonymous posting feature.

[Has anyone noticed the Cover Mascot NPC in Sector 17 is acting like a sentient player from 2024?]

He hit the submit button. The webpage refreshed instantly. The forum directory loaded with a completely blank space where his thread should have appeared.

"The moderators deleted it." The Radiant Monarch scowled at the empty directory. He dragged his mouse to refresh the page again.

The cursor froze in the center of the display.

The video call window containing Ignisar pixelated and vanished into white static. The cooling fans inside the computer tower spun wildly to vent an abrupt spike in thermal exhaust. The entire monitor shifted into a chaotic grid of corrupted code.

The static parted to render a highly detailed digital room. The silver-eyed girl from the game's official cover art stared directly out of the monitor. Her white hair drifted around her pale face in a simulated breeze.

The Radiant Monarch pushed his rolling chair backward. He tripped over the wheels and crashed onto the bedroom carpet. The girl on the screen tilted her head.

A line of stark white text generated across the bottom of the black display.

DO NOT DISTURB THE SOVEREIGN'S CALIBRATION.

The monitor sparked brightly and went completely black. A wisp of smoke drifted from the back of the computer tower.

The Radiant Monarch sat on the floor and stared at the dead screen.

"What the fuck was that?!"