(WORM APOCALYPSE) INTERLUDE

Colin crossed through the doorway with the rest of the Brockton Bay Protectorate members, all of them still in their civilian clothes. Thankfully, the Wards had been spared whatever this was, although that did little to make the situation less absurd. They had agreed to follow whatever instructions the system gave them, reasoning that there was little point in provoking something capable of abducting them without warning. Even so, none of them had expected the white door to lead somewhere like this.

A volcanic landscape stretched out before them, vast enough that Colin could not see where it ended. Dark rock covered the ground for as far as he could see, broken by ridges and hardened flows, while several distant plumes of smoke rose into the air. Heat rolled across the landscape and pressed against his skin, carrying the smell of ash and sulfur with it, and somewhere beyond the nearest ridge came the low, irregular rumble of something moving beneath the earth.

Colin stopped just beyond the doorway and began taking stock of his surroundings.

There was no obvious sign of civilization anywhere. No buildings, roads, power lines, or other structures interrupted the terrain, and the empty horizon gave him no indication of where they had been taken. Several cracks in the ground emitted an orange glow, while a larger area farther away appeared to contain active lava.

Those were the hazards he could see, but the ones he couldn’t see concerned him more. The ground around volcanic vents could be unstable, and he had no way of knowing whether the hardened rock beneath their feet was as solid as it appeared. 

The fumes were another concern. Sulfur was already noticeable in the air, and if the wind shifted, the smoke from the vents could carry gases and ash directly toward them. Without their costumes, they had little protection from the environment, and prolonged exposure to the heat and volcanic gases could become dangerous long before they had any idea what was happening.

He watched the nearest plume for several seconds, following the direction of the smoke as it drifted across the sky. For now, the wind was carrying it away from them, which gave them some breathing room, but Colin knew better than to rely on something that could change at any moment. They had no water and no way to measure the temperature or determine exactly what was in the air, so if they were going to remain here for any length of time, they would need to avoid unstable ground, keep their distance from the lava, and stay clear of the heavier concentrations of smoke.

He looked toward the others as they began to spread out slightly, although nobody went very far from the group. Several were examining the terrain, while others kept glancing back toward the doorway or discussing what they should do next, and Colin could hardly blame them for their uncertainty when he had yet to find a satisfactory explanation himself.

Who had enough power to do this?

The question had been bothering him since they first arrived in the dark room, and the volcanic landscape had done nothing to make the answer easier to find. Every Protectorate member in Brockton Bay had been taken without warning, transported somewhere unknown, and deprived of their powers and equipment before being presented with a set of rules they barely understood, and now they had been moved again without any explanation of where they were going or why they had been brought here.

The Simurgh was the closest comparison Colin could think of, and that thought made him uncomfortable. She had demonstrated an ability to manipulate people and events on a scale that made planning around her extraordinarily difficult, yet even she seemed like a poor explanation for what had happened here. Teleportation was certainly possible, and there were Stranger powers capable of producing effects that were difficult to understand, while Tinkers had created technology that could look like magic to anyone who didn’t know how it worked. 

Colin had encountered enough unusual abilities during his career that he was reluctant to dismiss any possibility outright, but none of the explanations he could think of accounted for everything they had experienced.

Colin glanced back at the white doorway. It stood alone in the middle of the volcanic landscape, with no wall attached to it and no structure anywhere nearby. The darkness they had left behind was no longer visible from this side, and there was no indication that passing through the door again would return them to where they had started.

For a moment, he considered testing it, but the thought was quickly dismissed. They had already learned that the system didn’t explain its rules until after something happened, and Colin had no reason to assume the doorway would behave any differently. If it could take them somewhere else, stepping through without knowing where they would end up could make their situation considerably worse, while remaining where they were at least gave them an environment they could observe and assess.

For the time being, that would have to be enough.

His attention returned to the translucent window floating in front of him.

Rory had started calling it a status window, and the name had caught on quickly enough. Colin could understand why, since the thing resembled a character screen from one of the games the Wards had spent so much time talking about and playing, complete with attributes that appeared to measure different aspects of a person’s capabilities.

He brought it up again and studied the information displayed inside, comparing his own numbers with what he had seen on the others’ screens earlier. The values were different for everyone, and the differences appeared to correspond with their abilities to some degree. People whose powers relied heavily on physical strength tended to have higher Strength scores, while those whose abilities involved speed or physical coordination had corresponding differences in their attributes.

The pattern wasn’t exact, and Colin didn’t have enough information to determine precisely how the values were calculated, but there was enough of a correlation for him to take it seriously.

His own attributes leaned toward Intelligence, which made sense given his background, although the relatively low Wisdom score caught his attention. He had no idea what the system considered Wisdom to represent, so he couldn’t tell whether the number reflected an actual weakness or simply measured something unrelated to his usual strengths. His work as a Tinker had always depended heavily on analysis, engineering, and problem solving, and if the system was attempting to quantify existing capabilities, Intelligence would naturally be one of his stronger attributes.

The Classes presented a different problem, since he had been given five choices and the names provided very little information beyond their most obvious implications. Warrior suggested physical combat, Rogue implied some emphasis on mobility or stealth, while Mage and Scribe could have represented almost anything.

Crafter had stood out immediately. 

It was the closest thing on the list to a Tinker, and Colin couldn’t ignore the possibility that the similarity was intentional. That didn’t mean the Class would function like his power, since the name alone proved very little, but it gave him a direction he could understand.

He had considered Warrior for its potential physical advantages, while Mage seemed as though it might offer considerable versatility, but he had no idea what either Class would actually provide. Rogue was equally uncertain, and Scribe had given him nothing useful to work with, whereas Crafter at least suggested a purpose that was familiar to him. 

Building things, solving technical problems, and working with unfamiliar machinery were all areas where Colin already had years of experience, so if the Class determined what abilities became available to him, he would have somewhere to start learning from.

Colin lowered the status window and looked around the group again. Rory and Ethan were talking with several of the others, and much of their conversation revolved around the information they had managed to gather so far. They were trying to work out what their attributes meant, how the Classes might function, and what the system expected them to do, while the others occasionally offered their own observations or theories.

Colin listened for a while, resisting the urge to join them despite the voice in his head, sounding suspiciously like Dragon, telling him that he should go over and involve himself. He knew from experience that he wasn’t particularly good at this sort of thing, and forcing himself into the conversation would probably make things awkward, so he stayed where he was and paid attention to what they were saying.

The theories varied, and most of them were little more than educated guesses, but at least everyone was trying to make sense of their circumstances rather than allowing the situation to overwhelm them. Whatever had brought them here had stripped away most of their usual advantages, yet years of training and experience hadn’t disappeared with their powers, and Colin suspected that would matter more than anything else if the situation became dangerous.

He could only hope the system hadn’t accounted for that as well.

He looked toward the volcanic vents and noticed that the wind had begun to shift, with the nearest plume of smoke now drifting closer to their position. The smell of sulfur had grown stronger as well, and Colin didn’t want to wait until the fumes became a serious problem before doing something about it.

“Everyone, keep an eye on the wind,” Colin called. “Stay away from the fissures and anything that looks unstable, and keep clear of the lava.”

Several people turned toward him, following his gaze toward the nearest vents, and Colin was still considering where they could move if the fumes continued drifting in their direction when the status window disappeared.

He expected another message to replace it, but for a moment the space in front of him remained empty. Then a new translucent window appeared, and Colin immediately focused on the few words displayed inside.

Objective: Survive for 30 minutes.

A timer appeared beneath the instruction.

30:00

Colin stared at it as the first countdown began. 

29:59